Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site. 0108263 License for publishing multimedia online Registration Number: 130349 Registration Number: 130349 U.S. judge orders temporary halt to construction of "Alligator Alcatraz" detention center Xinhua) 13:25, August 08, 2025 WASHINGTON, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- A U.S. federal judge on Thursday ordered Florida to temporarily halt construction at an immigration detention center in the Everglades, marking a temporary win for environmental advocates. The judge, Kathleen M. Williams at the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Florida, issued a temporary restraining order, halting construction for two weeks while she considers the arguments. In June, environmental organizations filed a lawsuit, claiming that the immigration detention facility was developed without conducting the environmental review mandated by federal law. Florida's so-called "Alligator Alcatraz," a proposed immigration detention facility, has sparked significant controversies revolving around environmental concerns and poor conditions. The controversial project, which is run by the state but houses federal immigration detainees, came as part of the Trump administration's mass deportation plan against undocumented immigrants. Meanwhile, "Alligator Alcatraz" has faced other legal action for alleged inhumane conditions and treatment of detainees. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) The pilot proposal has been submitted to the government and reported to the Politburo for consideration. The plan includes a clear roadmap and well-defined criteria to guide implementation and oversight. If the Politburo delivers its conclusion promptly, a government resolution may be issued as early as August; otherwise, a September rollout is anticipated. Deputy Minister of Finance Nguyen Duc Chi said the draft had been largely completed. It sets out eligibility conditions for participating organisations, technical and operational requirements, and the financial and professional standards expected of service providers, said Chi. The ministry has engaged in extensive consultation during the schemes development, drawing from international experience and domestic market dynamics. The initiative is informed by research into global regulatory models and Vietnams own context, where crypto-related activities by Vietnamese individuals have grown despite the absence of an official trading framework. Nguyen Duc Chi, Deputy Minister of Finance, shared information at the press conference. Photo: VGP/Nhat Bac To ensure feasibility, MoF has worked closely with legal and technology experts, hosting a series of workshops and stakeholder meetings to address legal, regulatory, and technological considerations. These efforts aim to mitigate risks associated with the crypto asset market, which remains largely unregulated in many jurisdictions. Once the detailed criteria are finalised, including IT infrastructure, operational processes, and provider capability, these will be publicly announced to ensure transparency and fairness in the selection of participating exchanges. In the pilot phase, more than one trading platform will be permitted to operate in order to promote fair competition, Deputy Minister Chi emphasised. However, the number will be kept within a manageable range to facilitate effective supervision and performance evaluation. The MoF is also proposing to encourage participation from private sector entities in delivering services within the crypto asset market. This aligns with the spirit of Resolution No.68-NQ/TW, which advocates for the development of a dynamic and innovative private economy. This approach is intended to create space for capable domestic enterprises to explore opportunities in a fast-evolving fintech sector. Vietnam legalises digital and crypto assets Vietnam legalised digital and cryptoassets in the Law on Digital Technology Industry passed by the National Assembly on June 14. Crypto transaction regulations more sophisticated than ever Under the new Law on Digital Technology Industry, to come into effect in 2026, digital assets are officially recognised, encompassing both virtual assets and cryptoassets, while excluding securities, digital fiat currencies, and other financial instruments. Nevadas Attorney general joins a national push to pressure dozens of voice providers to comply with federal robocall rules. Nevada Attorney General Aaron D. Ford announced the launch of Operation Robocall Roundup, a multistate initiative aimed at curbing illegal robocalls nationwide. The campaign, part of the Anti-Robocall Litigation Task Force, includes Ford and 50 other bipartisan attorneys general. As part of the operation, the task force has issued warning letters to 37 voice service providers, demanding immediate compliance with federal rules intended to block illegal robocalls. According to the attorney general's office, these companies have either failed to respond to federal traceback requests, have not registered in the Federal Communications Commissions Robocall Mitigation Database, or have not submitted mitigation plans outlining how they will prevent illegal calls on their networks. The ongoing deluge of robocalls across the country and in Nevada has become a nuisance to our residents that must end, said AG Ford. "The providers that we have warned today have ignored federal rules meant to stop these robocalls from getting through to the phones of Nevadans. They must immediately comply with these rules." The task force also sent letters to 99 downstream providers that accept call traffic from the 37 companies. The intent is to inform these providers that they are working with companies that have not followed established rules. The FCC announced that seven of the named providers will be removed from its Robocall Mitigation Database. As a result, other carriers will no longer be allowed to route calls originating from those networks. The 37 providers that received warning letters are: Advantage Investors LLC, Alpha Stream, Ananya Traders LLC, Ariyan Khan, BBT Voice Private Limited, Belthrough, BPO VoIP, Collection 3 LLC, Communications and Telephone Systems Co., Dial Vista Corp., DigitalOcean LLC, Dtel Network LLC, End Zone Financial Services, EON Telecom Inc., Family Communication Inc., Fiber Flux VOIP, First Tele Communications Inc., Flow VOIP LLC, Globe Tech Solutions, Higher Response Marketing Inc., HK KwaiFong Group Limited, Infinity SIP LLC, Lexico Telecom LTD / Lextel LTD, Mexico IP Phones LLC, Nexusphere VOIP LLC, Pleedex LLC, Quantum Link VOIP LLC, Ringnition, SK Teleco LLC Sky, Pulse VOIP, Stacy Newsome LNCC LCC, Telnextrix LLC, Terra Voip, TheVisionConnect, Tiera Enterprises LLC, Voip Torque, and Whisl Telecom LLC / Telconus / Telcon US / Telcon Voice. The Anti-Robocall Litigation Task Force was created in 2022 by 51 attorneys general and is led by North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, and Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost. The task force investigates and takes legal action against entities responsible for large volumes of illegal robocalls in the United States. Detectives with the Reno Police Regional Gang Unit have identified 22-year-old Jordan Santiago as the suspect in the shooting that occurred near downtown Reno on July 9. LF-07 INTERSECTS 54 METRES OF NET COAL LF-07 Intersects 54 Metres of net Coal Sydney, Aug 8, 2025 AEST (ABN Newswire) - TMK Energy Limited ( ASX:TMK ) ( TMKEF:OTCMKTS ) is pleased to announce that the LF-07 pilot production well at the Gurvantes XXXV Coal Seam Gas (CSG) Project has been safely and successfully drilled and cased to a total depth of 420 metres. Initial logging results indicate the well intersected approximately 54 metres of net coal, as prognosed and consistent with existing surrounding pilot production wells. - Latest pilot production well (LF-07) has been safely and successfully drilled and cased to a total depth of 420 metres - LF-07 intersected approximately 54 metres of net coal, on prognosis and consistent with existing pilot production wells - Installation of the downhole pump and associated equipment is to commence shortly once the drilling rig is off location - Connection to the production facilities and final commissioning will be undertaken over the coming weeks The drilling operations were performed safely and efficiently on a turnkey (fixed cost) contract using Major Drilling's larger, more powerful TXD200 drilling rig - which is the first time that rig has been used in Mongolia. The rig will now be demobilised and return to Major Drilling's yard in Ulaanbaatar. The drilling of LF-07 marks the end of an active 12 months of drilling during which four additional pilot production wells have been drilled safely and successfully, more than doubling the production well capacity of the Pilot Project marking a big step forward for the Project and a great achievement for the Company. Mr Dougal Ferguson, TMK Energy's Chief Executive Officer commented: "This is yet another successful outcome for our Pilot Project, with the latest pilot production well intersecting the upper coal seam at the prognosed depth and expected thickness. With the well securely behind casing, the next stage is installation of the down hole pump and associated equipment followed by commissioning activities which will be undertaken over the coming weeks, after which the well can be placed on production. We need to commend our team and key contractors for what they have achieved in the last 12 months, having now drilled four pilot production wells safely, on time and on budget, a truly stellar performance and achievement from a small, dedicated team. Together with our Shareholders, we look forward to seeing the significant capital, hard work and commitment invested into the Project resulting in the unlocking of this enormous gas resource in the South Gobi Desert of Mongolia." *To view tables and figures, please visit: https://abnnewswire.net/lnk/4Q7KYW96 About TMK Energy Limited TMK Energy Limited is a gas exploration company publicly listed on the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX:TMK) and (OTCMKTS:TMKEF), and is actively engaged in the global energy sector. With a 100% interest in the Gurvantes XXXV Project located in the South Gobi Basin of Mongolia, and a 20% interest in the Talisman Deep Project, which encompasses the Napoleon Structure located in the Barrow-Dampier Sub-basin, TMK continues to solidify its position in the industry. TMK's flagship project, the Gurvantes XXXV Project, a comprehensive Coal Seam Gas (CSG) exploration initiative covering an expansive area of approximately 8,400 km2 in the South Gobi basin of Mongolia, boasts an array of distinct features. These include the presence of multiple extensively thick, top-quality, bituminous rank coal seams, which not only surface across the area but also extend along an impressive east-west strike, spanning approximately 150 km. The Project area also includes six active coal mining operations, along with twenty-six coal mining leases and a multitude of coal exploration licenses, which combined have defined a very large coal resource. Related Companies Analysis from leading independent financial services consultancy Broadstone shows that eligible private sector employees contributed record high amounts into their workplace pensions in 2024. The findings, based on data from the Department for Work and Pensions annual Workplace pension participation and savings trends of eligible employees survey1 showed that employees contributed a record 25.5 billion into their pots. This marks a small uptick from the most recent high of 25.3 billion in 2019 before employees cut pension savings due to heightened uncertainty during the pandemic and cost of living crisis. The growth represents the rising numbers of eligible employees with defined contribution pensions alongside data improvements incorporating a greater number of higher earners in the statistics. As well as record employee contributions, workers also benefitted from an all-time high 10.8 billion of pension tax relief. This figure will be particularly scrutinised ahead of the Autumn Budget with the Chancellor allegedly looking at further tax-cutting measures. Employers contributed a total of 46.4 billion in 2024, taking total annual pension savings for eligible private sector employees to 82.8 billion, slightly down on 2019s record of 83.6 billion due to lower employer payments. However, in a cautionary sign, median pension contributions from these employees have remained relatively stagnant at 3,230 a year a figure that has not moved much in the past four years and remains down on the 3,390 registered in 2019. Richard Sweetman, Senior DC Consultant at Broadstone, commented: "While it is great that the aggregate value of employee contributions has risen to record levels, this is primarily driven by rising numbers of workplace pension savers. It is alarming that median contributions have not really moved much of late in a trend that is unlikely to escape the gaze of the newly-formed Pensions Commission which is charged with improving pension adequacy in the UK. As the Chancellor examines her available options at the Autumn Budget for raising revenue, the record value of pensions tax relief for private sector employees will also be noted with interest. Small, incremental increases in contributions can have a big impact over a working life, particularly when combined with strong investment performance and low fees. Savers should review their pension regularly to ensure their money is working hard, and consider how their total retirement income, including the State Pension, measures up against the lifestyle they want. From there, they can adjust their contributions to help close any gap. A Kentucky mechanical maintenance company will soon begin work on a new $7 million plant in Heflin, with plans to hire up to 30 people. Contour Fabrications and Mechanical (CFM) has announced that construction and site work along U.S. 78 is set to begin next month, with an opening in early 2026. CFM will refurbish and maintain the large steel reels used in neighboring client Southwires manufacturing plant in Heflin, where that company produces high- and medium voltage electrical cables. The new location will serve Southwire at both its West Georgia and Heflin locations. The company also looked at sites in Georgia before deciding on Heflin. Alabamas rural communities are playing a vital role in driving our states economic future, and CFMs decision to locate in Cleburne County is proof of that progress, Gov. Kay Ivey said in a statement. The project is benefiting from $2 million pledged by the Growing Alabama program toward site preparation and infrastructure development. Growing Alabama authorizes up to $26 million in funding for economic development. This new location shows our commitment to quality and growth, Jason Young, co-owner of CFM, said. We look forward to serving Southwire and building connections in Alabama. Alabama Commerce Secretary Ellen McNair said the project is the kind of impactful, targeted growth the state supports through its Catalyst strategy. Catalyst, approved last year, identifies eight sectors for economic development, with one being metals and advanced materials. This project not only strengthens Alabamas industrial base but also brings high-quality jobs to a rural community that is clearly ready for growth, McNair said. The suspect in the shooting of two Atlanta transit police officers was captured in Alabama Friday morning. The U.S. Marshals Gulf Coast Regional Fugitive Task Force and Marshall County Sheriffs Deputies arrested 26-year-old Christopher Daniels, according to U.S. Marshal Marty Keely. The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency and Guntersville police officers also assisted in the capture. Investigators received information that the suspect was in north Alabama. They spotted his vehicle and made the arrest. Daniels, of Stone Mountain, was booked into the Marshall County Jail shortly after 1 p.m. Friday to await extradition to Georgia. He is facing charges of aggravated assault, felony obstruction, possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime and public indecency. The shooting happened Thursday night at MARTAS Five Points station, the downtown transfer point for the systems trains. Daniels, authorities said, was urinating in the train station and was confronted by the officers. Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority Police Chief M. Scott Kreher told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that the man became irate and refused to cooperate when officers approached him, according to the Associated Press. Officers decided to arrest the man, but Kreher said he pulled out a handgun and shot over his shoulder at the officer. He grazed Officer Rayven Thomas in the knee and struck Officer Carlos Williams in the arm. Thomas has been released from the hospital but is also reporting hearing loss because she was so close when the gun was fired. Kreher said she is expected to fully recover. Williams was undergoing surgery Friday for his arm injury. Cameras show the man then got on a train and rode two stops south, throwing his gun on the roof of the West End station. This story will be updated as more information is provided. The Associated Press contributed to this report. The Alabama Department of Corrections is awarding a new contract to one of the lawyers reprimanded by a federal judge for the use of artificial intelligence to produce a document in a federal court case. The Legislatures contract review committee on Thursday put a hold on the ADOCs latest contract with lawyer William Lunsford, who has defended the prison system in court for years and has been paid millions by the state. Yanin Campos, a former MasterChef Mexico contestant and rising TikTok influencer, has died Aug. 4 following a car wreck two days earlier, according to Cleveland.com. She was 38 years old. To family and friends. We inform and mourn the death of my sister Yanin Campos, wrote Camposs brother Raul in a translated in a Facebook post. People magazine quoted a report from the Mexican Secretariat of Public Security stating that Campos was driving at 6:30 a.m. Aug. 2 when she collided with a parked car. The wreck occurred in Yanins hometown of Chihuahua, Mexico. Her brothers Facebook post said a wake was held Aug. 4. Campos was featured in the 2018 season of MasterChef Mexico, where she finished in sixth place. She returned for MasterChef: La Revancha in 2019. Since then, she has become an influencer on social media sharing lifestyle content. She had nearly 100,000 followers on TikTok, according to E! News. A Free Giovanna billboard located on 431 Southbound between Winn Dixie and I-20 on the Anniston/Oxford border Provided by Unidos Con Gio Birmingham-area immigration advocate Giovanna Martinez, otherwise known as Giovanna Hernandez-Martinez, has been moved to an ICE detention facility in Louisiana after she was detained this week during a traffic stop. According to ICE records, Martinez is currently being held at Richwood Correctional Center in Richwood, La. I understand our countrys immigration system needs change, but this is not justice, wrote Martinezs friend and former college roommate Emily Barfield in a post to Facebook. Weve had years of whiplash with shifting presidential policies, and through it all, Gio (and even me) has fought to help secure her legal status. Much of Martinezs work focused on helping immigrant students in the metro area plan their next steps after high school. She ran a program called Escalera, where she stressed the importance of a degree and helped students navigate college and trade school applications. According to her brother Dilan Hernandez, Martinez had her own LLC and was working with HICA, an immigration advocacy organization based in Birmingham. In a release Thursday, HICA wrote that Martinez is a valued member of the HICA! community." Giovanna is not only a trusted community partner, she is a role model, wrote HICA CEO Dr. Carlos E. Aleman. A GoFundMe set up by her brother to cover Martinezs legal expenses claims she was driving to work on the morning of Aug. 5 when Leeds police pulled her over. What should have been a regular traffic stop, turned into something much worse as an ICE agent arrived closely thereafter, it reads. In less than an hour she was processed and taken into ICE custody. Leeds Police Chief Paul Irwin on Thursday said the traffic stop was made on Interstate 20 when an unmarked Leeds vehicle was passed by a Honda sedan driving recklessly and nearly hitting other vehicles while traveling at a high rate of speed of over 80 mph. The vehicle came within feet of striking other vehicles and erratically changed lanes...The driver did not have a drivers license but instead identified herself with a Mexico issued (identification) card, Irwin wrote. Leeds police contacted federal partners, who informed Detectives that the female was in the United States of America illegally and took her into custody, according to Irwin. Irwin said it was unfortunate that the driver had not taken the steps necessary to remain in our country legally. There are many people that I know and have friendships with who know this person and we wish her the best as she returns to her country, Irwin said. U.S. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin issued a similar statement in an interview with Reuters. Giovanna Hernandez Martinez was tailgating a law enforcement vehicle, passed them erratically at 80 MPH, and cut them off, she said. Upon witnessing this reckless driving, ICE and local police initiated a traffic stop and discovered she was an illegal alien from Mexico. Unlike the Biden administration, we are not going to ignore the law. Martinezs friends and family say they stand by their statements on her arrest. Giovanna is now being transported to Louisiana to the Richwood Correctional Center. I am overwhelmed by the outpouring... Posted by Emily Barfield on Friday, August 8, 2025 Let me be clear: there was no straightforward path to citizenship for her no matter what people claim," Barfield wrote. Why wouldnt she get citizenship if she could? Shes met every educational requirement to be a licensed social worker, but shes unable to get her license because shes not a citizen. Martinez recently earned both her bachelors and masters degrees in social work from Jacksonville State University. A petition set up by Barfield demanding her release has received almost 9,000 signatures as of Aug. 8. Hernandez told AL.com Friday that Martinez wants us to advocate not only for her but other people in the same situation that arent as fortunate as my sister with all the support she is getting. Martinez is the latest local detainment in President Donald Trumps immigration crackdown, which is currently striving to arrest 3,000 people daily, according to previous comments from White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller. Two Iranian men, Alireza Doroudi and Ribvar Karimi, were detained by ICE earlier this year on claims of being in the country illegally and being a violent extremist, respectively. After over two months in detention, Doroudi requested voluntary deportation in May and returned to Iran over the summer. Prior to allegedly being advised by the FBI not to speak to the media, Karimis wife, Morgan, said they were still fighting to keep him in the country. The family of a 16-year-old who died following a high-speed chase with Decatur police in 2023 has filed a federal lawsuit against the city, its mayor, its former police chief and two officers. Jaiden Rashad Dejarnett, 16, a football player from Sparkman High School in Harvest, died on Sept. 4, 2023. The suit alleges excessive force, municipal liability, wrongful death, and seeks compensatory and punitive damages. The 10-page suit was filed in Alabamas Northern District on Thursday by Reginald McKenzie, Dejarnetts grandfather and guardian. It names the city, Mayor Tab Bowling, former Police Chief Todd Pinion and two Decatur police officers. According to the suit, Dejarnett was driving on Decaturs Beltline when the two officers began following him for having broken headlights. A high-speed chase ensued, which the suit said lasted 40 minutes, reached speeds in excess of 135 m.p.h., and passed through several jurisdictions. The suit alleges that the chase violated the departments high speed chase policy as it did not stem from a violent felony. According to an investigative report of the crash completed by the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, DeJarnett was driving eastbound on County Road 270 at, an extremely high rate of speed in an active attempt to elude pursuing law enforcement officers. According to the report, he crossed over a railroad track and went airborne, landing on the ground and losing control. His vehicle, a Mazda four-door, crossed the center lane of traffic, ran off the roadway and hit a tree. The engine caught fire following the collision but was quickly extinguished by pursuing officers, the report stated. DeJarnett was pronounced dead at 3:39 a.m. by the county coroner. One of the officers involved in chasing DeJarnett was also involved in the shooting death of Steve Perkins, according to the suit. Former officer Mac Marquette, charged with murder in Perkins death, is a defendant in the suit, along with officer Joe Renshaw. The city of Decatur told WAFF it did not comment on ongoing legal matters. The SAIC exhibit at the Space & Missile Defense Symposium on Aug. 6, 2025. The company employs more than 2,000 in north Alabama. Scott Turner/AL.com Is the U.S. Army using the latest technology in keeping its missile defense and air defense systems running efficiently? One of Huntsvilles largest employers SAIC is helping commanders at the highest level find the answer to that question. Its bigger than just the Army, although the Army is the largest component, Josh Jackson, executive vice president of SAICs Army Business Group, explained about his companys work to AL.com during the Space & Missile Defense Symposium at the Von Braun Center. The company employs more than 2,000 people in north Alabama and does a variety of tasks in the space and defense industry, ranging from software and hardware development, studies and analysis, to intelligence work. Right now, commanders at multiple echelons, brigades, divisions, their staffs are overwhelmed with data and information, Jackson said specifically of the work with the Army. They are trying to make sense of it. One of the things were trying to do is offload some of that cognitive burden from commanders so they can make better decisions. To help commanders make better decisions, SAIC helps the Army insert commercial and emerging technology into some of their existing systems, aviation as well as missile and space defense. Jackson said the Army has multiple command and control and fire control systems, many of which are tied to specific weapons systems. The Army has made significant progress in the last few years on how to have an integrated mission command system and approach, he said. One of the biggest challenges is how do you integrate data from multiple sources, data that looks different, data that maybe its not clean. It comes from hundreds, if not dozens of different systems. We focus on building a data fabric and a data architecture that allows you to integrate those multiple sources of data. Jackson said SAIC invested heavily a few years ago in digital engineering and modular open system approaches. You think about it, even just walking around just the show floor here, the complexity of integrated air and missile defense, aviation systems, theres new technology, there is legacy technology, Jackson said of the exhibits at the Space & Missile Defense Symposium. All of that has to be integrated so that is useful for the warfighter. He said SAIC takes a modular and open systems approach to everything that were doing. If new technology comes online, we can insert it much more rapidly for the Army, so their level of readiness is always high, Jackson said. And SAICs reach isnt limited to the Army. Were also supporting civilian agencies such as NASA doing IT work as well as engineering work Jackson said. Were working with the FBI as they are standing up their cyber security network, helping them think through that as well as how to secure their systems. SAIC is also helping the Missile Defense Agency at Redstone Arsenal with modeling, simulations, systems engineering and integration plans. So, were really helping all of those different agencies that are here in Huntsville think about the future and help them engineer that future, Jackson said. SAIC has worked on projects on the arsenal for more than five decades. Greg Fortier, SAICs chief of staff and senior vice president for aviation, estimated during an earlier interview with AL.com the companys economic impact in Huntsville to be billions of through the years. A National Forest Service Map shows the patchwork of the Conecuh National Forest. Areas in color are subject to oil and gas leasing and fall into several categories. Standard lease terms apply to nearly 56,000 acres shown in green. Controlled surface use is allowed on more than 22,000 acres shown in blue. For 2,900 acres designated no surface occupancy, shown in red, the federal government owns subsurface mineral rights but not the surface. (National Forest Service) National Forest Service A public comment period ends Monday on an initiative setting the framework for future oil and gas leasing in an ecologically diverse national forest within Alabama. The U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management have described an update of leasing policy for the Conecuh National Forest largely as a continuation of the status quo, which has resulted in relatively little oil and gas extraction. Critics of the process have raised concerns that the existing plan and possible variations do too little to protect an ecologically diverse region from disruption and pollution. The Conecuh National Forest includes about 85,000 acres of land in south Alabama. It borders the state line north of the Florida Panhandle, southeast of Evergreen and southwest of Andalusia. It includes large stretches of longleaf pine forests and provides habitat for threatened or endangered species including the red-cockaded woodpecker, the eastern indigo snake and the gopher tortoise. According to documents made available by the U.S. Forest Service, more than 81,000 acres of the forest have been available to leasing for oil and gas wells. Currently there are 1,000 acres of active oil and gas leases and one active oil well in the forest. The documents said that In recent years, the oil and gas industry has expressed interest in leasing oil and gas in the CNF. But they also suggest that it isnt a particularly lucrative target. A 2021 Bureau of Land Management report found that development potential was low and that it was reasonably foreseeable for the CNF to host the drilling of 11 new wells over the next 15 years, which would disturb approximately 16 to 44 acres. The BLM report said that each well would require 1.5 to 4 acres of surface disturbance. A typical well in the CNF would require approximately 2 to 4 weeks to drill. The total number of production days for a typical well is about 6 days, with an average lifetime production of approximately 175,000 barrels of oil. Along with the oil, brine would also be produced. Oil and brine would be stored in tanks on the site and eventually hauled off-site by tanker trucks. Opponents have raised concerns that the plans under consideration do not do enough to consider the impact of new techniques such as fracking. Other objections include the concern that the plan might end up representing an expansion of leasing, in that it might facilitate drilling under portions of the forest where the surface cannot be disturbed. The documents said that under one alternative, approximately 2,900 acres of private surface lands with underlying Federal minerals would be analyzed for potential future development. However, no Forest Service decisions regarding oil and gas leasing availability would be made for these private surface lands. Members of the public have the opportunity to comment online. Prior comments have been posted in an online reading room. The comment period closes at midnight Monday, Aug. 11. According to information published by the U.S. Forest Service, scoping for the project began in December 2024. After the comment period a decision is anticipated in December 2025 with an estimated start of implementation in February 2026. A nonprofit corporation based in Tennessee has given $1.1 million to the campaign of one of Alabamas three Republican candidates for attorney general, sparking dark money accusations. First Principles Action Inc., gave Katherine Robertsons campaign a $1 million donation in July and followed that up with a $100,000 donation on Monday. The $1.1 million makes up most of the $1.5 million Robertsons campaign has received since fundraising for next years primary started in May. Robertson is the chief counsel for Attorney General Steve Marshall, who has endorsed her to be his successor. Former Alabama Supreme Court Justice Jay Mitchell and Blount County District Attorney Pamela Casey are the other contenders in the race to succeed Marshall. Reports filed with the secretary of state show that Mitchell leads in the fundraising race, with $1.72 million. That includes $638,000 he transferred from his old campaign account for his Supreme Court races. Casey has raised $94,000. Mitchells campaign characterized the $1.1 million the Robertson campaign has received from First Principles Action as dark money. The vast majority of Mitchells donors are from within the state, while his opponents campaign is funded almost entirely from more than $1 million of out-of-state dark money, the Mitchell campaign said in a press release. Jay Mitchell is committed to pursuing funds from Alabama groups who are aligned with President Trumps conservative agenda. First Principles Action is a new organization, founded in November by Peter Bisbee, former executive director of the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA). Attorney General Marshall, Robertsons boss, has been active with the RAGA and has served on its executive committee. Marshall and other Republican attorneys general have regularly joined in national litigation opposing the initiatives of President Biden and supporting President Trumps. The registration with the Tennessee secretary of state says First Principles Action is a nonprofit, non-religious, mutual benefit corporation. Robertsons campaign, in response to the criticism from Mitchells campaign, defended the contribution from First Principles Action. Katherine Robertson has raised more than $1.5 million since launching her campaign just 60 days ago; an impressive achievement as the only first-time candidate in this race, a campaign spokesman told Alabama Daily News. She could not be prouder of the support she has received from First Principles, in recognition of her leadership and standing in the conservative legal movement, as well as an impressive number of individual donors from across the state. The Robertson campaign also shot back at Mitchell, Alabama Daily News reported. Mr. Mitchell raised much of his campaign contributions, not as a candidate for Attorney General, but as a candidate for the Alabama Supreme Courta seat that he ran for last fall, won, and promptly resigned from, the Robertson campaign said. Mitchell was elected to the nine-member Alabama Supreme Court in 2018 and reelected to another six-year term last year. He resigned from the court in May before becoming a candidate for attorney general, as required by Alabamas judicial ethics law. Casey was elected Blount County DA in 2010 and has been reelected twice. Before her election, she served as assistant attorney general and deputy attorney general under AG Troy King, starting in 2007. In the 2018 attorney general race, a large contribution from the RAGAs political action committee caused controversy for Marshall. Marshalls opponents claimed the $735,000 donation violated Alabamas campaign finance law because the RAGA PAC had received money from other PACs, and Alabamas law prohibits PAC-to-PAC transfers, which make it hard to know the original source of the money. Marshall said at the time the law did not apply to federal PACs, like the RAGA PAC. The Alabama Ethics Commission voted 3-2 against a probable cause finding in a complaint filed by former Attorney General Troy King, Marshalls Republican opponent that year. Marshall won the race and was reelected in 2022. Robertson has been his top assistant throughout his time as AG. Former U.S. Rep. Jerry Carl, R-Mobile, filed a statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission on Aug. 7 to run in Alabama's 1st Congressional district, with he represented for two terms. John Sharp Former Congressman Jerry Carl of Mobile has filed a statement indicating that he will run for his old seat. Carl, a Republican who represented the 1st District in south Alabama for two terms, filed a statement of candidacy Thursday with the Federal Election Commission. On Wednesday, Carl teased a possible run for his old seat with a post on his Jerry Carl for Congress Facebook page. I have a very big announcement coming soon for the great folks of Alabama! Carl posted. See more: Former Congressman Jerry Carl not running for Mobile mayor Last year, Carl lost his reelection bid to U.S. Rep. Barry Moore, R-Enterprise. The two GOP incumbents were pitted against each other after a court-reordered redistricting paved the way for Alabamas second Black-majority congressional district, the seat now held by Democrat U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures. But Carls former seat could be coming open. Moore has said he is considering a run for the U.S. Senate seat that Tommy Tuberville is leaving to run for governor. Moore, the only member of Alabamas delegation to belong to the conservative House Freedom Caucus, has an announcement scheduled for Aug. 15 in north Alabama. Attorney General Steve Marshall announced his run for the GOP Senate primary two days after Tuberville entered the governors race. Republican Jared Hudson, a former Navy SEAL who ran for Jefferson County sheriff in 2022, announced his candidacy the day before Marshall. Democrats who are running include Kyle Sweetser, a business owner and lifelong Alabama Republican who spoke at last summers Democratic National Convention, Dakarai Larriett, a business owner, Birmingham native, and University of Alabama graduate, and Mark Wheeler of Heflin, a Jacksonville State University graduate and chemist who works for a wire manufacturing company. Carl, a former Mobile County Commissioner, was elected in the 1st District in 2020 and reelected in 2022. Last year, he received 42% of the vote in his loss to Moore in the Republican primary. State Rep. Rhett Marques, R-Enterprise, told Alabama Daily News he is also considering a run in the 1st District if Moore decides to run for the Senate. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth speaks during a television interview outside the White House Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein) AP Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth backed up his decision to return a Confederate monument to Arlington National Cemetery removed by the woke lemmings who have erased Confederate symbols from American culture. The Reconciliation Monument, a memorial to the Confederacy, was removed from Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia in 2023. Hegseth explained his decision to bring back the monument to Arlington during a Fox News appearance Thursday afternoon. Because we recognize our history, we dont erase it. We dont follow the woke lemmings off the cliff that want to tear down statues, the secretary said. The military said restoring the monument will cost $10 million over two years, the Associated Press reported. Hegseth said the memorial will return to Arlington where it belongs to recognize the service of Americans of all chapters. Were not tearing stuff down, were done with that, Hegseth said of the movement to tear down Confederate statues across the country following the death of George Floyd in 2020. Were putting statues back, were putting paintings back. Were recognizing our history. Were restoring the names of bases because were proud of our history, as difficult as it may have been in some chapters, Hegseth said. Were gonna teach it, were gonna live it and were gonna fight for it. The Confederate monument, erected in 1914, was the creation of sculptor and Confederate veteran Moses Ezekiel. It features a classical female figure, crowned with olive leaves, representing the American South, alongside sanitized depictions of slavery. In 2022, a congressionally mandated commission recommended that the memorial, along with scores of other military assets that bore Confederate references, be either removed or renamed. Retired Army Brig. Gen. Ty Seidule, the vice chair of the commission, said that the group found that Ezekiels memorial was problematic from top to bottom. The Associated Press contributed to this report. With less than 15 games left in the regular season, the WNBA is heating up. Tensions are rising as the finish line nears, with the best teams starting to separate themselves from the rest of the pack. On Friday night, the New York Liberty will head to Dallas to take on the Wings. The Liberty have held steady as the second-best team in the WNBA all season long. The defending WNBA champions have trailed the Minnesota Lynx, whom they beat in the Finals last year. New York comes in on a two-game win streak. The Wings clearly arent making the playoffs, as they come in at 8-22, the second-worst team in the WNBA. Rookie of the Year frontrunner Paige Bueckers has been doing her thing, but those around her havent been great. Fans looking to tune into the Liberty vs Wings game can do so on Fubo, whos offering a free trial to new subscribers. Heres everything you need to know before the Liberty and Wings tipoff: When: Friday, August 8, 2025 Where: College Park Center, Arlington, TX Time: 7:30 p.m. E.T. Fans looking to tune into the Liberty vs Wings game can do so on Fubo, whos offering a free trial to new subscribers. The Atlanta Braves play against the Miami Marlins in an MLB game tonight. The matchup is scheduled to begin at 6:15 p.m. CT on MLB Network/MLB.TV. Fans can watch this game for free online by using the free trial offered by DirecTV. Alternatively, fans can utilize the first-month discount offered by Fubo TV. The Braves enter this matchup with a 47-66 record, and they have lost three consecutive games. In their most recent game, the Braves lost 5-4 against Milwaukee. In order to bounce back tonight, the Braves will need a great performance from their star player Matt Olson. He leads the Atlanta offense in home runs, RBI, and hits. With this in mind, Olson will look to continue his offensive success this evening. The Marlins enter this matchup with a 56-57 record, and they have won six of their last eight games. In their most recent game, the Marlins defeated Houston 6-4. In order to win tonights game, the Marlins will need to rely on their star player Kyle Stowers. He leads the team in home runs and RBI, which highlights his power at the plate. Fans can watch this MLB game for free online by using the free trial offered by DirecTV. Alternatively, fans can utilize the first-month discount offered by Fubo TV. Antisemitism in health care is causing many Jews to wonder if they are safe under hospital care, as it has grown to outrageous levels in the West. Last March, Israeli new site ynet news reported: OHSU [Oregon Health and Science University Hospital] fires nurse Camesha Hart after antisemitic posts, including refusal to treat Jews and praise for Hamas, saying Bibas family should be 'grateful' their bodies werent returned in body bags; her nursing license remains valid through 2025. From Australia, the BBC reported: A second Sydney nurse who allegedly appeared in a video that made threats towards Israeli patients has been charged by police. Ahmad Rashad Nadir, 27, and Sarah Abu Lebdeh, 26, were both suspended from their duties at Bankstown Hospital in February after the video was released online. These are far from the only examples I have seen of credibly alleged antisemitic behavior by health care workers, and even of support for terrorism. A Google search on "Medical nine-eleven" shows that I am first to come up with this term, in the context of a Jihadist health care worker who goes Juramentado by giving patients lethal chemicals instead of medications, withholding medication, denying care, or making seemingly minor "mistakes" that prove harmful or fatal. Make no mistake; a health care worker in a position of absolute trust can cause enormous damage if he or she chooses to "globalize the intifada." There have been non-ideologically motivated criminal cases already. According to the National Libary of Medicine, (an arm of the National Institutes of Health), under the heading of "Health Care Serial Murder": Harold Shipman was a family physician in England who killed approximately 250 patients over a 27-year period. The article adds: Injected medications (opioids, potassium chloride, and insulin) are the 'weapons' of choice (52%) and can be hard to identify after death. While I cannot give medical advice, I do know that the presence of potassium chloride and insulin in any mammalian body is not suspicious, as both are necessary for normal function it's the overdose that causes death. Health care workers doubtlessly know of many other ways to make death look natural. Medical Nithings StopAntisemitism.org refers to health care workers like those depicted above as "monsters in medicine." Those against whom the allegations are true must be regarded as the depraved and non-human monsters the Scandinavians called nithings. Nithings included "criminals, murdering scum, oath-breakers, those without honor and other lows of society." Child rapists and thieves who use positions of trust to steal senior citizens' money easily qualify as such. The accusation of being a nithing was so serious that, if somebody called you one, you had to respond on the spot by striking your accuser, which could easily result in a holmgang. If you didn't, you were outlawed (put outside the law's protection) and stripped of all human rights. Here is more about how they did things in the good old days. If you don't show up for the holmgang, you admit by default to being a nithing, with "no right to swear oaths, no right to bear witness, may it concern man or woman." If you show up and your accuser doesn't, you are to make a mark on the ground (perhaps to show that you were there) and cry "nithing!" three times. Then "he is worse who spoke what he dared not keep." That is, your accuser might be outlawed for making an accusation he was unwilling to defend. If both show up, and your accuser kills you, you are deemed only half a human being so he must pay your family half a weregild (man price). If you kill your accuser, "insults are the worst, the tongue the head's bane, he shall lie in a field of no compensation," i.e. you do not pay weregild for the false accuser. I think it is more than fair to classify a health care "professional" like Shipman or Louay (see below) who uses this position of extreme trust to assassinate patients as a nithing, far worse than a criminal who murders his victim during a robbery because the latter doesn't make any secret of his evil intentions. The same would go for a public defender who dislikes his client, and does as little as he can not so little as to be noticeable, but less than his best to keep the client out of Death Row. If the attorney really feels that way, he should recuse himself from the case. To put this in perspective, consider another position of trust; barbers who used straight razors to shave their customers before the invention of electric shavers. The real horror in the black comedy Sweeney Todd is that the murderous barber slits his customers' throats while they are sitting in the barber chair. The relationship of trust was apparently so sacred that, in Hernando Tellez's short story. "Lather, and Nothing Else," a barber finds Captain Torres, who is known for his cruelty to rebels and people in general, in his chair waiting for a shave. The barber can easily avenge Torres' crimes, and possibly save innocent people, by cutting his throat, but he cannot bring himself to do it. When he finishes, Torres tells him, They told me you would kill me. I came to find out if it was true. But its not easy to kill. I know what Im talking about. If, on the other hand, the barber was on a battlefield in the capacity of a rebel, he would shoot Torres with no hesitation whatsoever because there would be no relationship of trust between them. If a terrorist comes at me similarly with a weapon in his hand, he is not pretending to be anything other than a terrorist so, although he is a violent felon against whom I can use deadly force, he is not violating a relationship of trust. If the terrorist injects me with what I think is medication or a vaccine, but is actually a poison or a disease, that's an act of perfidy as well as a violent crime. What is the Risk of a Medical Nine-Eleven? Make no mistake; medical terrorism of this nature has already taken more lives than all but a few mass shootings. An Iraqi terrorist murdered 43 people by injecting them with anticoagulants under the guise of treating their injuries. This fell short of Stephen Paddock's 60 in Las Vegas, but few others. "Pretending to treat the injured men, he killed 43 of them by secretly administering lethal injections, a police inquiry has revealed." There are about 4.7 million doctors and nurses in the United States. Suppose only one in a thousand hold the repulsive views associated with "Free Palestine" and, of these, only one in a hundred might be inclined to "globalize the intifada" by, for example, administering lethal substances or concealing a cancer diagnosis. That's 47 medical 9/11s, and maybe some have already happened. We therefore need to secure our health care system against abuses of this nature, and probably ban individuals who have expressed support for terrorism (support for a Palestinian state by itself does not however qualify as such, even though you and I might not agree with it) from contact with patients, medications, laboratory results, or anything else that might affect patient safety. Civis Americanus is the pen name of a contributor who remembers the lessons of history, and wants to ensure that our country never needs to learn those lessons again the hard way. He or she is remaining anonymous due to being subjected to "cancel culture" for denouncing Black Lives Matter's incitement of civil disorder. Image: Pixabay / Pixabay License White collar conspiracy cases are mind-numbing. Murder mysteries with dead bodies and blood are riveting. The enormity of the Seth Rich case and the Cabal is unimaginable. Our government lied to the American People (See Bonginos shocked statement). Our sheepdogs, the DOJ, FBI, and CIA, went full Stasi to protect the exposure of the Cabal. The Cabal is a RICO criminal enterprise organized crime preying on the American people and their money (e.g., USAID see Don Surber). Further, it was a coup to unseat a sitting president. See my body of work, which includes coverage of the Cabals likely involvement in Richs murder to conceal its sins. AUSA Deborah Siness statements ring true. She is a dedicated homicide prosecutor with a commendable record, and Metro Police officer Berlin never bought the story that Rich was the victim of a street robbery. I dont see any reason for him to lie. I sat up straight in my chair when I saw Michael Isikoff, with a chill running up my spine. Isikoff is the go-to person for the intel community (I.C.) to peddle disinformation or suppress true stories. The FBI included information from Isikoffs reporting to support the Russian Collusion narrative. We know now that this was false from a disinformation psy op by the I.C. The FBI knowingly used this illusion in the FISA search warrant affidavits. These FISA surveillance warrants were issued to surveil Trump campaign workers, alleged to be Russian agents in a counter-espionage investigation. The FBI either lied or lied by omission. The real purpose of these warrants was to retarget the counter-espionage investigation to spy on Trump illegally. I would be fired and likely prosecuted if I did this. Why no sanction by the FISA court or the DOJ? What I found significant and why: Sines ran into a dead end. She was exhausted from winning another homicide case and retired. Sines went with the narrative that Richs death was a botched street robbery. I can empathize with her. It is quite possible that the FBI, with its M.O., fed Sines curated information it wanted her to see. The FBI withheld information that was relevant to Richs death. I found Berlin credible. Isikoff cherry-picked Siness statements to support the robbery narrative. Other legacy media were complicit and followed suit by echoing Isikoffs work. The effect was to kill the likely true story. The Epoch Times, The Gateway Pundit, and the American Thinker have many references to Isikoffs sleaziness. Legacy media outlets seem only to have glowing reports. Were the legacy media giving Isikoff a pass? The FBI used a similar M.O. with Hunter Bidens laptop as Russian disinformation. The FBI first denied having Bidens laptop. Then it failed to produce the laptops information twice when the court ordered the FBI to do so in the FOIA suit brought by attorney Clevenger, as explained in my previous article (this move). The FBI also failed to produce other documents to congressional oversight committees. The FBI approached Facebook to prebunk the Hunter laptop story. Several legacy media and social media outlets then de-platformed the N.Y. Post after Miranda Devines article ran on Hunters laptop. The I.C. launched its infamous letter, signed by fifty-one former high-level intel agents, claiming that Bidens laptop was the product of Russian disinformation. Election interference like the Russian Collusion narrative before and after the 2016 election and the 2020 election? Fraud is no surprise with the recent revelations about the elections, especially the 2020 election. Elections can be manipulated via several means, including voting machines. See my two articles on the Arizona elections and the feel-good nature of the federal certification of voting machines. Most importantly, the new document releases show that the I.C. changed course abruptly to reflect Russian involvement in the 2016 election. The original I.C. report revealed nothing new only the usual Russian behavior. The revision emphasized Russian hacking, implying that the Russians had hacked the DNC. See the misreporting of the legacy media on the forensics report on the DNC server hack by CrowdStrike. CrowdStrike never said it established attribution to the Russians. If this hack was so important, why didnt the FBI do the forensics on the server? Its general knowledge that the DNC would not allow the FBI access. See my article in 2019 regarding how the forensic attribution of a hack, with any degree of certainty, is complicated at best. The NSA and CIA have tools to spoof hacks on others. Did CIA director Brennan and DNI director Clapper lie about the attribution of the Russians in their testimony in congressional hearings? As Lt. Columbo would say, Just one more thing. What if Rich was the source of the DNC hack instead by an internal exfiltration leak using a USB thumb drive to Julian Assange (WikiLeaks)? Assange to this day denies that the Russians were his source. Never mind that many intel agencies were in Hillarys bathroom server that she used to conceal her pay-to-play scam she was running as secretary of State. My conclusion: There is more than enough circumstantial evidence in Richs death to warrant a complete and thorough criminal investigation, to determine or disprove if Seths murder was committed to protect the exposure of the Russian Collusion as false from before the 2016 election. The FBI has gone to extraordinary lengths to obstruct the release of Richs information, citing classified documents, ongoing investigations, and other specious reasons. Why? Richs death is the tip of the iceberg and is the Achilles heel of the Cabal. In my opinion, the FBI doth protest too much. What are these people hiding? Richs murder is a state crime with no statute of limitations. The murder can be used as a predicate offense required in a federal RICO case. Ongoing criminal conspiracies avoid the statute of limitations problem; hence, this investigation can include Benghazi. The murder can be used as a hammer to explore Richs death and to pursue the RICO conspiracy, interviewing potential witnesses and suspects. As this house of cards falls, Director Gabbard said many whistleblowers are now coming forward. Central Florida would be a better venue to bring the RICO case, where the illegal search of Mar-a-Lago occurred, to avoid the problematic D.C. circuit that may be compromised. The raid was to recover the Russian Collusion black binder or a copy. The conspirators came up empty. The Cabal overplayed its hand in this search, much to the credit of federal judge Cannon, who stood her ground and wasnt rolled by Jack Smith. She forced Smith out over his skis, and his case against Trump fell apart. See my investigative reporting at the American Thinker on Mar-A-Lago here, here, and here. The murder mystery has been solved; now its up to A.G. Bondi, FBI director Patel, and deputy director Bongino to work this case and successfully prosecute it. The American people need to support them in doing their job. By the way, Kashs girlfriend is being attacked falsely. The Epstein case is just a mere bump in the road. Ron Wright is a retired detective, having served thirty-five years with Riverside P.D., Calif. Ron earned a B.A. in political science from Cal State University, Fullerton, and a Master of Administration from the University of California, Riverside. X @RonTcop Image via Raw Pixel. By now, MAGA voters have learned that in Washington, getting rid of a problem doesnt always mean it stays gone. In the case of Dr. Vinay Prasad -- the Bernie-loving, Fauci-fawning saboteur who briefly infiltrated the FDA under Trump -- the danger isnt just what he did. Its the fact that he might come back. Yes, Prasad is out -- for now. But not because of the obvious incompetence, ideological subversion, or bureaucratic malpractice that defined his short, damaging tenure. No, his exit is being spun as a matter the commute being brutal . According to FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, Prasad didnt undermine the Presidents pro-innovation agenda; he just couldnt handle the jet lag from San Francisco. Lets be very clear: Prasad didnt belong in the FDA to begin with. And the fact that his former boss is openly pining for his return is Exhibit A that the rot at the FDA starts at the top. This isnt about one bad hire -- its about an institution captured by people who seem more interested in rehabilitating progressive bureaucrats than implementing Trumps health care agenda. From the beginning, Prasads appointment made no sense -- unless your goal was to quietly kneecap President Trumps medical innovation platform from within. This is a man who once declared Trump perhaps the worst president in the history of the Republic , proudly backed Bernie Sanders , and built a career championing the kind of public health authoritarianism that MAGA voters roundly rejected in 2020 and again in 2024. And yet, he was appointed to head the FDAs Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), one of the most critical positions in the entire agency. His policies? Predictably progressive. Delays on drug approvals. Regulatory roadblocks for gene therapies. Backdoor policy rewrites disguised as academic articles instead of real, transparent guidance. That alone should have been enough to show Prasad the door. But instead of owning up to the error, Makary called him a genius and credited him with tremendous policy shifts -- many of which amounted to slow-walking life-saving treatments and prioritizing red tape over patient access. Which brings us to the real threat: the man who hired him. Commissioner Marty Makary wasnt duped by Prasad. He wasnt blindsided. He knew exactly who he was bringing into the fold. In fact, by his own admission , he still talks to Prasad and would gladly bring him back. This isnt speculation -- its confession. Makary has praised Prasad as an innovator and dismissed concerns about his ideology as irrelevant. Never mind that Prasads tenure oversaw a spike in the FDAs rejection of critical therapies , especially those aimed at rare diseases and pediatric conditions. Never mind that under his leadership, the FDA became more opaque and less responsive to patient groups. According to Makary, the problem wasnt Prasad -- it was geography. If you want a case study in how the administrative state survives every election, this is it. Prasads exit was not a purge. It was a sabbatical. And Makary is keeping the door open. Since Makary and Prasad arrived at the FDA, the agency has been handing out Complete Response Letters (CRLs) -- government-speak for were rejecting your drug application -- at a clip nearly three times higher than before . Thats not a coincidence. Thats a signal. These CRLs havent cited safety issues. In fact, nearly three-quarters of them point to manufacturing or quality concerns -- process flaws, not danger to patients. Its the bureaucratic equivalent of denying a fire truck a license because its siren wasnt the right shade of red. And who suffers? Families with children fighting rare diseases. Patients hoping for relief from conditions that have no existing therapies. Small biotech firms trying to compete with Big Pharma but stuck waiting while the FDA dithers over formatting. The FDA under Makary and Prasad didnt just slow down -- it reversed. Instead of embracing President Trumps Right to Try ethos, it returned to a Right to Wait model where innovation is strangled in the crib by obsessive compliance checks. So why is Makary still defending Prasad? In reality, Trump made the right call. He recognized that Prasad was a liability -- ideologically, administratively, and politically. But as long as Makary remains in charge, Prasads influence lingers. Whether its through formal rehiring, backdoor consultations, or simply keeping his policies in place, the sabotage continues. The metaphor of a Trojan Horse isnt just apt -- it is prophetic. Prasad didnt storm the FDA gates. He was wheeled in by someone already inside, praised as brilliant, and allowed to remake policy from within. Hes gone now, but the horse remains -- and its architect is still calling the shots. Lets not kid ourselves: personnel is policy. And right now, were watching the same failed personnel being lined up for round two. If President Trump wants to deliver on his promises for healthcare reform, he needs more than just firings. He needs a fundamental reset at the FDA. That means closing the back door Makary left open, installing leadership that shares his vision for innovation and patient-first policy, and making sure that lab-coat liberals like Prasad dont get a second chance to dismantle the America First medical agenda. The American people did not elect President Trump to install progressive regulators with Bernie bumper stickers on their electric vehicles. They elected him to fight the swamp. To dismantle the bureaucratic industrial complex. To put patients ahead of process. That fight doesnt stop at the top. It means rooting out the enablers as well as the operatives. It means removing not just Prasad, but the network that allowed him to ascend in the first place. And it starts with Marty Makary. Makary had his chance. He chose ideology over patients, loyalty to insiders over fidelity to the Presidents agenda. He empowered a saboteur, defended him even after his departure, and has made clear that nothing has fundamentally changed at the FDA. If the Trump administration is serious about healthcare reform -- and the trust of the MAGA base -- it must send a message: The days of backroom appointments and ideological infiltrators are over. Prasad must stay gone. Makary must go. And the FDA must be rebuilt -- from the ground up, in the image of a government that puts patients, not bureaucrats, first. 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: FDA Zohran Mamdani, mayoral candidate in New York City, has been expressing high hopes of spreading socialism around New York. The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) has admitted to assisting Mamdani with his platform and having helped him win the primary. Mamdani tosses out Marxist quotes control the means of production, altering private property ownership, state-run grocery stores, free transportation but there is more, or perhaps less, to the current Democratic Socialists, and therefore more, or perhaps less, to Mamdani. There used to be a clear distinction between socialism and communism. When the Communist Manifesto was released, socialism was an unpopular word, so they called it communism. Now the word communism is not so popular, so they are calling themselves socialists. Most Western countries already have some form of socialist mix: Electric companies and local transportation are often owned by cities or counties rather than individuals. When you are talking about controlling the means of production and manipulating private property, that is 100% communist. Marxs most notable sayings have become a sexy lexicon for many young people looking for something more out of politics. Universities have popularized a counterculture with illusions of working systems. What they do not share is exactly what it takes to make it happen, and then what it takes to keep it on the desired utopian path. Fox News has quoted Daniel Goulden, a DSA leader: With Zohran, were in basically the best possible position to seize state power that we can be in because, you know, were like this. Daniel Goulden has said that a socialist mayor could lead to state power again, no mention of how to go about doing this. Without a deeper dive into what Marx and Engels are advocating, those sayings are just vague ramblings voiced in a plethora of contexts. Converting from a capitalist system to a communist one is impossible, according to Engelss 1988 preface to the Manifesto. It has been tried and failed. The first requirement for changing a capitalist society requires a deep knowledge of how capitalism works so the society can be dismantled. The DSA website, and just about any communist who speaks out, parrots The Communist Manifesto: The bourgeoisie [ruling] class oppresses the proletariat [working] class. Therefore, the working class needs to take over from the ruling class. This set of words is nowhere near a deep understanding, and they generally leave out where the Manifesto says, Now, its time for a revolution. The Communist Manifesto sees the revolution as a natural progression as the workers turn against their bosses because of oppression. Once the workers take over as the ruling class, then they will abolish property ownership, abolish inheritance, create a single state-owned bank, and run all communications and transportation, and every person becomes a worker with equal liability. This will create a classless society. With the eradication of class, there is no more oppression. The DSA website says on its home page that the working class should run both the economy and civil society. The main issues supported by the DSA activists are Green New Deal, Trans Rights, Defund the Police, and Stop the Genocide in Palestine. They flash a little Marxist jargon, but DSA and Mamdani are like any other left-wing group. They do not really want to take on the task or the risk to overthrow anything; they just want to force their ideology on everyone else. According to New York Times, if Mamdani becomes mayor, it will not give him the authority to make changes where the state has jurisdiction, like raising taxes on the rich. He will not have the authority to empower the worker to take over the means of any kind of production not even road work. According to The Communist Manifesto, the working class is the power behind creating a new society, not rich elitists like Mamdani. What the left do not realize is that they have already lost the worker. The working class have indeed opted for social change. Last November, they voted for Trump and Vance. Image: Zohran Mamdani. Credit: Bingjiefu He via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. As was inevitable with an influx of Muslim immigrants from Sharia-compliant countries, honor killing has come to Lacey, Washington, USA, a suburb of Olympia. Unfortunately, this isnt the only sign of Sharia Islams foothold in America. In Washington, a father and mother were accused of attempting to kill their teenage daughter in what was described as an attempted honor killing because the daughter allegedly refused to travel to Iraq to marry an older man of the parents choice. Before the trial, the judge ruled that the prosecution could not prove motive by introducing evidence about the daughters opposition to the arranged marriage, lest the jury be prejudiced against the defendants. Image of the Perelman Performing Arts Center by Zachbarbo (CC BY-SA 4.0); image of the Kaaba by Richard Mortel (CC BY 2.0). Spared this culturally insensitive information, the jury found the parents not guilty of attempted murder, but convicted them of lesser included offenses. The father was convicted of assault and unlawful imprisonment (a video showed his assault on the daughter on the grounds of Timberline High School), and the mother was convicted of violation of a protective order. So, Islamic honor killing has come to America. So much for the melting pot. It turns out that Western civilization might have an immigration crisis that does not involve illegal aliens. In Texas, a new development called EPIC City plans to join the 450,000 Muslims and over 330 mosques already in Texas. EPIC City, a planned community development near Dallas, aims to be Sharia-compliant, meaning that it will follow Islamic law. Does that mean honor killing will be legal in EPIC City? And in New York City, theres good reason to believe that Islamists manage to slip a triumphant monument in at Ground Zero. Historically, when Islam conquers a region, it demonstrates its conquest by either turning that regions institutions into mosques (e.g., the Hagia Sophia) or by ensuring that the minarets of mosques are the highest structures in the area. Denied that opportunity at the site of the deadly September 11 attack on the Twin Towers, theres reason to believe that enterprising Muslims built an homage to the Kaabathe shrine in Meccaright next door to the fallen towers. In case one wonders, What are these people doing here?, the answer is clear: These people are remaking American society and American politics. Remember, its a republicthe honor killers get to elect their representatives, and redesign America in their own image, exactly as happened in Gloucester, England. And speaking of Gloucester, the BBC reports that Muhammad is the most popular name for baby boys in Britain for the years 2023 and 2024. Thus, we have in our time a Moslem take over of the UK already in progress. Consider just what happens on Planet Earth when Muslims become the majority in Britain. Britain is a nuclear state. We are viewing in real time the Islamic takeover of a Western nuclear state. If Britain has the bomb when Islam becomes the dominant political power in Britain, then Islam will have the bomb! Roger Alejandro Pinate Martinez, the Venezuelan-American co-founder and president of Smartmatic, is again at the center of an expanding international bribery and corruption investigation this time due to an alleged bribery scheme in 2019 involving Tibisay Lucena Ramirez, the now-deceased but longtime president of Venezuelas National Electoral Council (CNE). A new court filing dated August 1, 2025 cites the return of a six-count indictment resulting from a federal grand jury case in the Southern District of Florida. The case involves bribery and money-laundering in the Philippines. Importantly, this same filing also introduces evidence of defendant Pinates payment of a bribe to Lucena through witness testimony, photographs, and text communications. The case was originally announced by the Department of Justice (DOJ) in an August 8, 2024 press release, involving Pinate and two others who were charged with a bribery and money laundering scheme to retain and obtain business related to the 2016 Philippine elections. Background on Alleged Quid Pro Quo in Venezuela (2019 Allegations) New evidence introduced in the August 1, 2025 court filing (pp. 1011) states that in 2019 two years after Smartmatic formally ended operations in Venezuela Pinate allegedly transferred a luxury residential property in Caracas to Lucena through an offshore company. Prosecutors allege that the bribe was a quid pro quo intended to secure Tibisay Lucenas support in resolving a commercial dispute between Smartmatic and the Venezuelan government. Lucena was president of Venezuelas National Electoral Council (CNE) from 2006 to 2020 and wielded significant authority over the countrys voting system and private vendors. Her leadership attracted international scrutiny and sanctions because of her alleged failure to ensure that the CNE remain[ed] an impartial and independent institution in accordance with the Venezuelan Constitution, thereby facilitating the establishment of the Constituent Assembly and the re-election of Nicolas Maduro in May 2018 through presidential elections that were neither free nor fair, according to a publicly released sanctions document. The CEO of Smartmatic, Antonio Mugica, publicly accused the Nicolas Maduro regime of committing fraud in the August 2017 National Constituent Assembly election a charge that prompted the company to shut down its operations in Venezuela. Mugica claimed that the actual turnout was inflated by at least one million. Maduro disputed the allegations, claiming the company bowed to pressure from the United States to discredit his win, and Lucena called it an irresponsible accusation, based on estimates. According to reporting from the Miami Herald, Prosecutors allege that Pinate sought to repair the relationship and believed Lucena then still council president was essential to achieving that goal. Although the bribery charges have not yet resulted in a separate indictment, U.S. officials have confirmed they are investigating the transaction as a potential FCPA violation. Smartmatic was founded in 2000 by Pinate, Antonio Mugica, and Alfredo Jose Anzola, with the goal of providing secure digital voting systems. The company gained international prominence after the Chavez government awarded it contracts to modernize Venezuelas election infrastructure in 2004, according to the Miami Herald. The new DOJ charges mark an escalation in the scrutiny of Smartmatic and its executives. The allegations backed by extensive evidence of encrypted communications, shell companies, and offshore transfers paint a damning portrait of a global enterprise operating with little regard for the rule of law. Indictments in August 2024: The Philippine Connection As previously mentioned, in August 2024, the DOJ indicted three individuals, including Pinate, for their roles in an alleged multimillion-dollar bribery and money-laundering scheme designed to secure and retain election-related contracts in the Philippines. The charges stem from violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) and international money laundering laws. According to the DOJs August 8, 2024, press release, Roger Alejandro Pinate Martinez, 49, a Venezuelan citizen and resident of Boca Raton, Florida, and Jorge Miguel Vasquez, 62, a U.S. citizen and resident of Davie, Florida together with others, allegedly caused at least $1 million in bribes to be paid to Juan Andres Donato Bautista, 60, the former Chairman of COMELEC. These bribes were allegedly paid to obtain and retain business related to providing voting machines and election services for the 2016 Philippine elections and to secure payments on the contracts, including the release of value added tax payments. Prosecutors allege that the conspirators financed the bribes by inflating the per-unit price of voting machines used in the 2016 Philippine elections, thereby creating a secret slush fund. To hide the illegal payments true purpose, they reportedly used coded terms when discussing the scheme and fabricated contracts and bogus loan agreements to legitimize the transfers. The funds tied to the bribery were then laundered through various bank accounts across Asia, Europe, and the United States. This included accounts in Floridas Southern District, according to the DOJs statement. The use of U.S. bank accounts and companies based in Florida gives authorities in the U.S. jurisdiction under the FCPA and federal anti-money laundering statutes. If convicted, Pinate faces up to five years in prison for each FCPA count and up to twenty years per count of money-laundering. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges. The trial is currently scheduled for October 2025 in the Southern District of Florida. Smartmatics Denials Smartmatic has strongly denied all wrongdoing. In a statement to multiple media outlets, the company declared that the accusations are untethered from reality and mischaracterize the companys global compliance practices. Smartmatic further claimed that it ceased all operations in Venezuela in August 2017 and has had no commercial interests in the country since that time. However, the DOJs filings suggest that Pinate personally maintained relationships with top Venezuelan officials and may have continued to act on Smartmatics behalf in foreign jurisdictions even after the company officially disengaged. Smartmatic, which has long marketed itself as a global leader in secure election technology, has been under increasing scrutiny in recent years. Critics have raised concerns over its opaque corporate structure, its origins in Venezuela, and its involvement in elections in politically unstable regions. The Smartmatic case underscores the broader problem of election tech firms operating in legal gray zones, outside the reach of meaningful public oversight. As the U.S. continues to outsource critical infrastructure such as ballot-counting and voting machine manufacturing to private, often foreign-linked vendors, concerns about accountability and transparency are likely to grow. Image via U.S. Department of Agriculture, public domain. The traditional nuclear family a married couple (man and woman) with their children is the foundational unit for a stable society. It provides emotional and economic support and fosters secure environments for child development. Stable families often correlate with lower rates of juvenile delinquency, better educational outcomes, and stronger mental health, as children benefit from consistent parental guidance and resources. Economically, nuclear families can pool resources, reducing reliance on public systems. Socially, they promote values like responsibility and cooperation, which translate into community cohesion. Leftists, specifically the Democratic Socialists of America and Black Lives Matter, have argued that overemphasizing the nuclear family can marginalize diverse family structures such as single-parent households, same-sex marriages, and extended families that may also thrive with adequate (taxpayer?) support. Societies do evolve, and even though the nuclear family has been in place throughout nearly all recorded history, leftists contend that its status depends on adaptability to modern challenges like economic pressures and shifting gender roles. They claim that a healthy society will benefit by supporting varied family models that prioritize stability and care over rigid structures. In other words, just because something has worked for over 4,000 years, that doesnt mean it aligns with the way leftists currently choose to structure their lives. To that end, theyre openly advocating for the dissolution of the traditional family structure. I first noticed this back in 2020, when I came across a Black Lives Matter quote claiming, We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and villages. Their use of the term villages refers to the African proverb it takes a village, which allegedly works to uplift children by providing them support from their entire communities. As most of us know, when its everybodys responsibility, its nobodys responsibility. BLM has since removed that page from its website. The Democratic Socialists of America held a panel discussion where they also called for the abolition of the nuclear family and traditional family structure. They wrote that the nuclear family is an inherently repressive, racist, and hetero-sexist institution that functionally reinforces and reproduces capitalism. There were other gems, such as I want to perform abortions at a church before its all said and done. The only real difference between marriage and prostitution is the price and the duration of the contract. This one was especially juicy: When we talk about family abolition, were talking about the abolition of the economic unit ... all of our material needs taken care of by the collective. The collective? You mean like the Borg? In California, San Fernando assemblywoman Celeste Rodriguez authored a bill that aims to provide compassionate solutions for illegal alien families facing separation due to detention or deportation. It redefines guardianship, strips parental rights, and creates loopholes that could conceivably facilitate the kidnapping of children. Her bill intends to streamline guardianship by allowing a nonrelated extended family member to assume control over a child through a one-page affidavit. This nonrelated family member is anyone with a mentoring relationship. Huh? There will be no court review or oversight, no parental consent, no background or welfare checks, and no verification. The advocacy group Our Duty-USA calls it a child traffickers and kidnappers dream bill. The bills language applies to any child for any reason, regardless of immigration status and whether or not the childs parents even know the nonrelated family member. The assault on the family was predicted over 100 years ago. As a child, Sister Lucia dos Santos was one of the three children who witnessed the Marian apparitions at Fatima. Saint John Paul II had commissioned the establishment of an Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family with Cardinal Caffarra in charge. At the beginning of this work, the cardinal wrote a letter to Sister Lucia of Fatima as she had written about the role of the family in Satans war with God. Sister Lucia responded: The final battle between the Lord and the kingdom of Satan will be about Marriage and the Family. Dont be afraid, she added, because whoever works for the sanctity of Marriage and the Family will always be fought against and opposed in every way, because this is the decisive issue. Then she concluded: Nevertheless, Our Lady has already crushed his head. Cardinal Caffarra added that the family was the core, since it has to do with the supporting pillar of creation, the truth of the relationship between man and woman, between the generations. If the foundational pillar is damaged, the entire building collapses and were seeing this now, because we are right at this point and we know it. Truer words were never spoken. Image via Picryl. It could be argued that presidential speechwriters are just another group of Washington D.C. bureaucrats on the federal payroll. Presidents deliver hundreds of speeches and rely on speechwriters to craft their remarks with strategic input that reflects their voice and policy agenda. President Ronald Reagan had a stellar speechwriting team, but always reserved final edit. His speeches often reflected optimism and storytelling finesse. Reagan, known as The Great Communicator, not just for his eloquence, but for his ability to connect and convey complex ideas in unpretentious, relatable terms remains legendary. Reagan famously challenged Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev with his Berlin Wall speech saying, Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall! a defining Cold War moment not written by Reagan but by his speechwriter Peter Robinson, whose weekly program Uncommon Knowledge is not to be missed. Reagans 1989 farewell address included: I wasnt a great communicator, but I communicated great things underscored Reagans humility to the very end. Reagans radio and Hollywood tenure sharpened his timing, tone, and technique, whereas President Donald Trumps background is from the boardroom and reality television. Both presidents and their public engagement diverge greatly in tone, delivery, and resonance. Reagan believed in plain language and heartfelt conviction. Trump tends to lecture, while never dismissing a chance to argue. Whether poking fun at his age during a 1984 debate with Democrat presidential candidate Walter Mondale I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponents youth and inexperience or defusing ideological differences, Reagans levity made him disarming and relatable, especially to those on the other side of the political aisle. Reagan was a master of political levity that was strategic, self-effacing and sprinkled with Americana a diplomatic salve. He employed it to assuage criticism, build solidarity, and underscore his message in a blend of Hollywood timing, Midwestern charm, and political savvy. Reagans classic: Honey, I forgot to duck to First Lady Nancy Reagan after surviving the 1981 assassination attempt set him apart from many presidents before and after him. This stands in stark contrast to todays political class. It is like juxtaposing a Roosevelt Fireside Chat to a Trump after-hours Twitter storm. Trumps approach has been more forceful and unfiltered. Trumps speeches often reflect a combative tone one that rallies supporters through candor and repetition. Reagans humor often served as a bridge across political divides. Trumps demeanor, by contrast, thrives on mustering loyalty and drawing lines. Rather than using humor as a softener, Trump deploys sarcasm and rhetorical bravado. His bearing projects defiance, while at the same time, a brash confidence that many consider arrogance. Where Reagan projected the theatrical cadence of an actor-turned-president, Trump channels the brash energy of a provocateur a salient characteristic of a typical outer-boro New York City native swimming against the Manhattan tide. Both men can read a crowd, yet where Reagan sought consensus through appeal, Trump courts consent through bravado and one who famously deviates from prepared texts. For some, this is a major part of Trumps appeal. Reagan thrived in the television era, where charisma and storytelling ruled. Trump must navigate through a minefield of fragmented social media platforms each demanding a different tone and tempo where brevity and immediacy dominate. Too often Trumps messaging is tailored to energize his political base rather than unify around a particular issue. Moreover, feedback is in real-time, which can lead to reactive or performative political theater where the medium shapes the message, while the delivery embellishes it. Reagans speeches were crafted to marinate our collective consciousness, while Trumps messaging aims for viral impact and an immediate dopamine engagement. Regardless, Trump has done the nation more for the good in six months than Biden did in four years; however, during his four-year hiatus from the White House, I was hoping Trump would pick up Amity Shlaess excellent tome Coolidge. All that being said, we must have a sense of humor, and that includes the president, and when you look at Trump and Reagan side-by-side, you see they were both masters of comedy, albeit with very different styles. Image from Grok. Every time we have an election, there are local judges on the ballot to be confirmed by the electorate. Often, the only information available on these people is their statement in the voter guide. Yes, you can look them up onlinebut how many people do? How is the information filtered by your search engine? In my experience, youre voting for a big unknown most of the time. Candidates that somebody vetted, no doubt, but who? I believe its time to change this. Many of these people cut their teeth on a local level and then end up climbing the ladder to higher-status courts. Those courts, at least in my state of California, seem to rule with scant regard for the law, whether state or federal. Its not just in the legislature that California, for lack of a better term, is run by whackadoodles. Image created using AI. Heres an example why: A story came through Newsbreak to my inbox. It had a link to this SF Chronicle article. In case you dont feel like reading that mostly worthless publication, let me distill what it says: UC Berkeley declines to hire illegal aliens, except for a small number of DACA people with federal work permits. [T]he university has a long-standing policy of denying jobs to other undocumented migrants who lack federal work permits, saying it is unwilling to risk potentially costly legal actions by U.S. officials. Sound reasonable? Of course it does! Smart, even. But of course, a group of undocumented students, supported by unnamed (but you can certainly guess) labor organizations, sued. The 1st District Court of Appeal in San Francisco dismissed the suit. Good for them! But waitits not over by a long shot. The state Supreme Court reinstated the case and had the appellate court reconsider it. Just yesterday, that court said UCs policy discriminates based on immigration status and may violate Californias employment law. They go on to say the university abused its discretion by relying on an improper justification for continued application of its facially discriminatory policy. This, mind you, in a 3-0 ruling, based on California employment law. California is relentlessly liberal, save a few inland counties. Sometimes, living in the Bay Area, I question whether my vote is a simple exercise in futility. The state legislature is a one-party affair. Laws are passed and signed by Governor Hairgel that make little sense. It takes a concerted effort to change any of these bad laws, as witnessed by the fact that voters finally had to go to the ballot box to get Proposition 36 passed last November. That Proposition finally repealed the incredibly stupid legislation allowing theft of up to $950 not to be a felony. The fiscal impact of that legislative boondoggle has been profound, as thousands of businesses were closed because rampant theft bankrupted them. The legislators cook up a mess of bad laws, and judges uphold them even when they are obviously counter to national law. I have some empathy for UC Berkeleya rare feeling, indeed. They are caught, here, between a rock and a hard place. I hope they connect with whoever at the federal level they need to, to get some help fighting this bit of anti-American jurisprudence. Some are predicting that Elon Musk will become the worlds first trillionaire as soon as 2027. At first blush, thats bewildering it was only several years ago (2018) that Apple became the first publicly traded company to reach a $1 trillion market cap. But all that wealth consolidated in one personage invites a reconsideration of Obamas socialistic assertion that I do think at a certain point youve made enough money by some swampy bureaucrat. Why does it matter in whose name the trillion dollars resides? If it were wealth-generating, then it benefitted society as a whole. Indeed, since the wealth accumulated to Musk, then it may be commensurate with his contributions to humanity. Consider that some of his companies (Starlink, Neuralink, SpaceX, X, AI Grok) produce life-altering products and services. Even Tesla is more than a car company as it develops energy solutions, AI software, and the incredibly versatile humanoid robot named Optimus. Its peevish to question the wealth of the person who is ultimately responsible for overseeing all that. Though Musk works incredibly hard (he could retire in the lap of luxury) thats irrelevant most of us work hard. One cannot say hes worth more than a thousand, or million, regular employees because he works so hard. Nope, his worth is the result of leading innovative companies whose products and services the masses clamor for (or not). One might argue: Wait a minute, how about all those government subsidies he gets? Thats almost a good point, however, it is because the government has determined that his goods and services warrant them. Its called contracting with America First companies with fresh-thinking eager beavers who literally salvage some comfort from the harshness of life. How much is that worth? Companies that can save stranded astronauts on the ISS; that assisted Ukraine with stable communications during Russias onslaught; that promoted free speech during the woke onslaught; and that enabled some semblance of independence and offer hope for those with debilitating neurological conditions. Theres morecompanies that indulge the human desire for exploration of our solar system, and facilitate communications following floods and other natural disasters on our own Pale Blue Dot. Whomever is responsible for all thatwhether Musk or someone elseis worth a gazillion dollars. Worth it, that is, if the free market capitalist system determines such. Not some insular socialistic bureaucrat who goes far beyond divvying up marginal subsidies by engaging in centralized we know whats best for you industrial policy. Of course Musk is going to lobby for government support in his altruistic dreams. However, hes not a plutocrat siphoning off fungible money. Hes not conniving like a Russian oligarch following the Perestroika period, where large industries were carved up and given to political allies while the masses became impoverished. Nope, we are becoming richer thanks partly to Musk and his billionaire cohort. Neither is his accumulated wealth reminiscent of a tin-pot despot enriching himself while his subjugated populace starve. Instead, Musk is understandably leveraging some government aid for the benefit of humankind. Better that he and his talented teams, rather than the government, deploy capital. The answer to Obamas socialist-imposed quandary is that money earned through legal means in a vibrant, free-market system (with minimal government regulation) is rarely enough. Consider the alternative contingencies: why would rich entrepreneurs, who dont need to work so hard, continue to push their limits if constrained by some pinheaded bureaucrat demanding thats enough for you? Money is already no object to them; they can easily afford to buy some island paradise and retire. In that ostentatious sense, they do have enough; thankfully, they keep working their fingers to the bone. Sure, some of our brilliant entrepreneurs have accompanying egos, but its not a stretch to impute that they are pushing the boundaries of innovation on behalf of humanity. The pursuit of altruistic purpose, not only money, motivates them. Thats also why Mark Zuckerberg (CEO of Meta) is poaching AI talent with huge salary offers. They are probably worth it if their innovations lead to AI superintelligence that empowers individuals to lead more fulfilling lives. We are inexorably marching toward some nascent instantiations of that superintelligence; here is Mark Zuckerbergs essay on the subject. How much is it worth it to bring personal superintelligence to everyone? Probably not enough, Obama. Governments dont create wealth, but just redistribute it. Where that redistribution is higher, human nature dictates that innovation is generally lower. Actually, successful entrepreneurs create more wealth than they can possibly consume; society, as a whole, benefits disproportionately more. As long as Musk focusses on his companies (stay out of politics) that provide such life-improving benefits, then even a gazillion dollars is not too much. Maybe hell need fewer subsidies at that point, though there will always be an intersection between tech and government. In the movie Austin Powers: They Spy Who Shagged Me, Dr. Evil asks Why make trillions when we can make billions? Thats probably what Dems, essentially those cryogenically frozen in a socialist mist, are also perplexed by. Then again, they can be evil, too. After all, for them even a billionaire is a policy mistake. Image from Grok. Things are not looking good for Apple at the moment. Several AI researchers are leaving the company due to alleged loss of confidence. It is already grappling with the potential impact of the 50% tariffs announced on Indian imports. To make matters worse, it is now facing a lawsuit accusing the company of using trade secrets to develop Apple Pay. Apple Pay was developed by stealing trade secrets, claims the lawsuit A Texas-based company, Fintiv, has filed a lawsuit against the Cupertino-based tech giant. The firm alleges that Apple has stolen its technology to design and develop Apple Pay. The lawsuit was made public this Saturday. And as per it, several key features used by Apple in its digital wallet are based on the tech originally developed by a firm, namely CorFire, which was later taken over by Fintiv in 2014. However, it is not as straightforward as it seems. Apple held a series of meetings with CorFire in the year 2011 and 2012. It then signed a nondisclosure agreement to use its tech in Apple Pay. Fintiv alleges that Apple used trade secrets to benefit itself Now coming down to the main allegation, Fintiv claims that Apple later used the technology and trade secrets of the firm to launch its Apple Pay in the market. It also reportedly took the help of the CorFire employees by offering them juicy compensation. This is not where it ends; the complaint also alleges Apple leads an informal racketeering enterprise. It uses Apple Pay to generate fees for multiple bank credit card users. Fintiv adds in the complaint, This is a case of corporate theft and racketeering of monumental proportions, enabling Cupertino, California-based Apple to generate billions of dollars of revenue without paying Fintiv a single penny. One of the federal judges of the Atlanta Court dismissed the petition on August 4. However, the complainant says that it will soon file an appeal on the existing record. A legal battle between two of the biggest names in tech and media is reaching a critical stage. A case is currently developing that began with a New York Times lawsuit against OpenAI. At the heart of the dispute is a question that affects millions of people: how much access can a lawsuit get to your private chats with ChatGPT? The New York Times, which is suing OpenAI for copyright infringement, has made an extraordinary request. The media giant wants to examine a staggering 120 million individual user chats. They believe this mountain of data is necessary to prove that ChatGPT frequently regurgitates copyrighted articles. They also want to test that the AI-powered chatbot helps users circumvent paywalls. New York Times wants to read 120 million ChatGPT conversations in OpenAI lawsuit OpenAI, however, is pushing back hard. The company argues that this request is disproportionate to the case. But not only that, as it also creates serious privacy concerns for its users. In a recent court filing, OpenAI stated that it had previously promised users their deleted chats would be gone for good. Now, with the lawsuit, the company is burdened with the highly complex and expensive task of making millions of chats from its offline storage searchable. This process is time-consuming and expensive, and the longer it takes, the greater the privacy risk for users. To find a middle ground, OpenAI proposed a compromise: a sample size of 20 million logs. This number was based on a recommendation from a computer science expert. They suggested this would be more than enough to gather statistically relevant data. But The New York Times rejected the offer. The publisher insists that a larger sample is needed to track patterns and see how ChatGPTs behavior has evolved over time. The irony: New York Times doesnt want Microsoft to access its logs Adding another layer of complexity to the drama is a parallel dispute involving Microsoft. The New York Times is also fighting Microsofts request to access its journalists logs from an internal AI tool. The outlet argues that Microsofts request is too broad and could pull in privileged information. The irony is hard to miss: The New York Times is using a similar argument against Microsoft that OpenAI is using against The New York Times. With both sides preparing for a confidential settlement conference, the future of this legal battle hangs in the balance. The outcome will not only determine the future of copyright law in the age of AI. It could also set a precedent for user privacy, making it one of the most closely watched cases in the tech world. One of the last surviving Chindit soldiers from the Second World Wars Burma campaign has received the Freedom of the City of London. As a young man of about 19, Sidney Machin, now 101, landed behind enemy lines in a glider at night in the jungle, as part of a special forces unit in Burma (now Myanmar), which wreaked havoc on Japanese supply lines and infrastructure. Mr Machin, from Dorset, received his honour alongside his son Trevor Machin, 64, of Milford-on-Sea, Hampshire, who retired two years ago after nearly 35 years in the City of London Police. Trevor Machin, a retired City of London Police officer, and his father, 101-year-old veteran Sidney Machin (James Manning/PA) After Fridays special Guildhall ceremony in the City, where he proudly wore his Burma Star medal and 77th Brigade tie, Mr Machin senior said he did not think of himself as brave or heroic adding: I never really think about it really. He recalled that Burma was hard going and I was a young lad, only 19. The father-of-five said he was proud of his son, who was also made a freeman, as I think he deserved it as well. The Chindits were a British and Indian special forces unit which operated in Burma during the Second World War, and were known for their deep-penetration jungle warfare tactics. Mr Machin senior said: The Americans dropped us behind the lines. We stayed there about five months and we marched out. It was a bit tough going but it is all water under the bridge. We lost quite a few. Some particular friends of mine never made it, but it was just your luck really. The Freedom is one of the City of Londons ancient traditions and is a way of paying tribute to someones outstanding contribution to London or public life, or to celebrate a very significant achievement. Mr Machin senior, who was born in Tottenham, north London, initially served in Chindit HQ as a signaller, before returning to 1st Kings (Liverpool) Regiment and flying into the Broadway landing strip by glider in March 1944. Chindit is derived from the Burmese word chinthe, a mythical lion-like creature which guards temples. Broadway was the code name for a jungle landing strip used during Operation Thursday in the second World War. It was a key part of the Chindits campaign, a series of long-range penetration operations behind Japanese lines. Gliders and, later, Dakota transport aircraft, were flown into Broadway to deliver troops, supplies and equipment. The landing strip was hastily constructed in a logging clearing, posing significant challenges because of the terrain and weather. As a member of 81 Column, 77th Brigade, Mr Machin senior was part of a floater platoon operating around Broadway. On its closure, the 1st Kings marched across to support 111th Brigade at the stronghold codenamed Blackpool. While supporting 111th Brigade, a sliver of bamboo pierced his foot and became infected, requiring him to be carried on an officers horse for several days to be treated in hospital in Meerut. He returned to Regimental HQ in Liverpool and then to Officers Training Unit at Maresfield, East Sussex. After retiring from the Army, Mr Machin senior spent more than 40 years working in the City of London as a telephone engineer and later in management. Brigadier Jim Allen, Commander 77th Brigade (James Manning/PA) Brigadier Jim Allen, Commander 77th Brigade, who attended the ceremony, said: Sid was on a glider as a 19 or 20-year-old, and they were basically towed up to speed, let go, and then at night, on a compass, no GPS, effectively crash-landed behind the enemy lines in the middle of the night, got out of their glider, and many of them died from their injuries because of the crash-landing. Then they formed up, got the compass out and marched to the next place ready to fight the Japanese as and when they found them its incredible. He added: What they did was truly amazing in the defence of that part of the world in the Second World War. Their sacrifices, their kind of fighting spirit, the atrocious conditions (they faced) and they just didnt stop. They kept on going until they accomplished the mission. Sid embodies that fighting Chindit spirit. Its a real privilege for me, as the commander of 77th brigade, being here today, because we represent their heritage, their ethos, their culture, and we are still actively serving as a unit within the British army that carries on the strong fighting spirit of people like Sid. After the joint ceremony, Mr Machin junior said of his father: He is a lovely man and I am very proud of him. He just keeps going and going. He is amazing. His knees have gone but other than that he is a fantastic specimen of physical fitness. He served his country back in the day. He is not boastful. He is our rock of the family. He is just a great man and everyone who meets him likes him. He added: It has just been a lovely day for us and is something we will always remember together. I am just very happy to be able to have time with him and to be able to do nice things with him like this. Mr Machin junior joined the police in 1989 and was based in Snow Hill Station, where he had to deal with several IRA bombs and riots. He said: It was just a varied lovely job and day-to-day you did not really know what you were getting into. I mostly worked on the community side and got to work and know the people on that beat. Colonel Simon Duckworth, lieutenant for the City of London, said it had been a really wonderful opportunity to give the City freedom together to a father and son, both of whom have exemplified public service and service to the Crown. A worker sprays insecticide at a public housing estate following reports of imported cases of Chikungunya in Hong Kong. About 8,000 cases of the virus have been reported in China. Photograph: Tyrone Siu/Reuters There is growing alarm in China that official efforts to control the spread of Chikungunya virus, a non-fatal mosquito-borne disease that has been spreading in the south of the country, are infringing on peoples personal rights. A single mother living in Zhanjiang, a port city in Guangdong province, posted a video on social media this week showing a group of people, including a uniformed police officer, entering her childrens bedroom in the middle of the night and taking blood samples from the boy and the girl, without their mothers presence or consent. The mother had been working a night shift so was not at home. According to Chinese media, a local pharmacy had reported the family to the health authorities after the son had presented with a fever. Related: How a teenage bullying incident spiralled into city-wide protests in China A hashtag related to the incident has been viewed nearly 90m times on Weibo, with many users expressing alarm about the behaviour of the authorities. Health authorities in Guangdong are on high alert because of an outbreak of Chikungunya that started about a month ago in Foshan, a city 260km from Zhanjiang. There have been about 8,000 reported cases so far, and at least one imported case in Hong Kong, a city that borders Guangdong. Chikungunya is a mosquito-borne disease that can only be spread by being bitten by an insect with the virus. Symptoms include fever, muscle and joint pain, nausea and a rash. In rare cases, symptoms can last for months or even years. But it is rarely fatal. Babies, elderly people and people with underlying health conditions are most at risk. There are regular Chikungunya outbreaks in Asia, Africa and the Americas, but this is the first time that there has been a major occurrence in China. Chinas Covid-19 prevention measures were among the strictest in the world, and there is a well-oiled machine to control the spread of disease that can be activated at short notice. On 2 August, Wang Weizhong, Guangdongs governor, said that China would strive to win the battle against the Chikungunya fever epidemic and ordered a range of measures. These include eradicating mosquito breeding grounds such as pools of stagnant water, mobilising the public to empty out pots and pans that might be collecting water, encouraging the use of mosquito coils and nets and using mosquito repellent. But the authorities have also been resurrecting surveillance and reporting measures which hark back to the zero-Covid era, in which peoples daily lives were strictly monitored and controlled. On 4 August, the Foshan local authorities announced that all pharmacies would have to report the sale of certain drugs used for treating fevers. This appears to be how the children in Zhanjiang were identified. Chinese media quoted a local official who said that attempts had been made to contact the mother. After the outcry, the local health authorities said they were investigating the case. Additional research by Lillian Yang Amtrak's new 160mph tilting trains serving stations on the Northeast Corridor will enter service on August 28, it has been announced. The next-generation Acela trains will run from Washington DC's Union Station to Boston via Philadelphia, New York Penn Station, New Haven, and Providence, a total distance of 457 miles. The current end-to-end journey time with the tilting Acela trains introduced in 2000 is typically six hours and 40 minutes. How much time the new trains shave off that hasn't been revealed yet, but they do have a top service speed that's 10mph faster though this can only be achieved on certain sections of the mostly 110mph route and an enhanced "anticipative" tilting system that not only allows for a smoother ride, Amtrak claims, but for faster speeds through curves. Amtrak's next-gen Acela trains will enter service on the Northeast Corridor on August 28 (Amtrak) Pictured here is a first-class next-gen Acela car (Amtrak) Amtrak also points out that the new Acela offers 27 percent more seating capacity per departure and upgraded interiors in business and first-class cars with more legroom. There is no economy class. Features include onboard cafe cars, high-speed 5G-enabled Wi-Fi, in-seat USB ports and plug sockets, individual reading lights, winged headrests that Amtrak says "provide more comfort and separation," and seat covers made out of recycled leather. In first class, there are solo seats and an improved at-seat meal service featuring dishes by the current Acela meal provider James Beard award-winning restaurateur Stephen Starr. New to Cafe Acela, meanwhile, is the addition of a grab-and-go self-service for "quick and easy checkout." A cart service will also travel the aisles on select departures. Above is the next-gen Acela business-class car. Amtrak points out that the new Acelas offer 27 percent more seating capacity per departure (Amtrak) Features on the new Acela trains include onboard cafe cars (above), Wi-Fi, in-seat USB ports and plug sockets, winged headrests and seat covers made out of recycled leather (Amtrak) To book, passengers can use an interactive reservation system using the Amtrak app. Five new trainsets will be in service initially, with the number rising to 28 through 2027. Though the trains are designed by French firm Alstom, which makes France's famed 200mph TGVs, Amtrak revealed that the NextGen Acela fleet was assembled at Alstom's facility in Hornell, New York, using components from over 180 suppliers across 29 states, creating approximately 15,000 jobs. "NextGen Acela is more than a new train it's an evolution of travel," said Amtrak President Roger Harris. "In just a few weeks, history will be made with the debut of NextGen Acela as we launch a new standard for American train travel." Emergency vehicles at Emory University in Atlanta. Photograph: Mike Stewart/AP A suspected gunman and a police officer are dead after law enforcement responded to reports of an active shooter near the adjoining campuses of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, on Friday, authorities said. It is with profound sadness that we announce the death of one of our very own DeKalb county police officers, Greg Padrick, the countys interim police chief, said at a news conference on Friday night. The name of the officer who was fatally shot while responding was not immediately released. The Atlanta police department, the FBI and the Georgia bureau of investigation are investigating the incident. Related: Fort Stewart shooting suspect was relentlessly mocked for stutter, soldiers say No civilians are believed to have been injured, Darin Schierbaum, the Atlanta police chief, told reporters, but several rounds hit buildings on the CDCs campus. The gunman was found on the second floor of a building across the street from the CDC and died at the scene, Schierbaum said. Atlanta police said just after 6.40pm local time there was no ongoing threat to the Emory campus or the surrounding neighborhood. The incident involved a single shooter, who is now deceased. Emory University had alerted students and staff earlier to an active shooter on their Atlanta campus, telling students to RUN, HIDE, FIGHT and avoid the area. Just after 6.30pm local time, another update from the university advised students that Shelter in place has been lifted, but that the police emergency continued and they should avoid the area. Witnesses told local media that shots were fired near the Emory Point CVS, which is close to the universitys Atlanta campus and the CDCs Roybal campus. Employees at the CDC said bullets struck the windows of several buildings on the federal agencys campus. One CDC employee sent photographs to the local CBS News affiliate in Atlanta showing what appeared to be shattered glass from the impact of gunshots on a federal building. Twice this week, deranged criminals have targeted innocent Georgians, Georgias governor, Brian Kemp, said in a statement, referring to the new incident and the mass shooting at Fort Stewart military base in south-east Georgia on Wednesday. Each time, brave first responders rushed toward the danger to subdue the shooter and save lives, reminding us of just how crucial they are. Marty, the girls, and I are thankful for all those who answer the call to serve and who protect their fellow Georgians. We ask that you join us in holding them in our prayers, along with those harmed this evening near the CDC center. Staff at a deli near campus locked the doors and hunkered down inside. Brandy Giraldo, the General Muir delis chief operating officer, said staffers inside heard a string of gunshots. It sounded like fireworks going off, one right after the other, she said. The Associated Press contributed reporting The Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva attends a film screening in Brasilia on Thursday. Photograph: Andre Borges/EPA Brazils president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has signed into law a controversial bill that scientists and environmentalists had dubbed the devastation bill, but vetoed key articles that would have in effect dismantled the countrys environmental licensing system. On Friday, the final day to either sanction or veto the law, Lula struck down or amended 63 of the 398 provisions in a bill that, as approved by congress last month, had been regarded as the most significant setback to Brazils environmental protections in four decades. Environmental campaigners had urged the president to veto the bill in its entirety, but many welcomed Lulas decision and are now calling on civil society to mobilise to pressure lawmakers into upholding the vetoes. Related: Brazil passes devastation bill that drastically weakens environmental law That will not be an easy task for the Lula administration, given that the largely opposition-controlled congress has repeatedly defeated key government proposals including by overturning previous presidential vetoes. An escalating political standoff further complicates the challenge: lawmakers aligned with former president Jair Bolsonaro are blocking legislative activity, demanding the passage of a bill granting amnesty to the far-right leader and hundreds of others accused of taking part in a failed coup attempt in 2022. Lulas ministers speaking at a press conference in the capital Brasilia in the presidents absence expressed confidence in the governments position. After Congress approved the bill last month, the environment minister, Marina Silva, described it as a death blow to Brazils licensing framework, saying that it threatened the countrys pledge to eliminate deforestation by 2030. But on Friday, she said the revised legislation meant that our targets to reach zero deforestation, and our goal to cut CO 2 emissions by between 59% and 67%, remain fully on track. One of the most heavily criticised provisions of the bill would have allowed projects classified as having medium environmental impact to obtain licences through a self-declared online form without prior studies or regulatory review. That clause was among those vetoed, as was another that would have excluded most of the Indigenous and Quilombola communities from having a say in licensing decisions affecting their territories. Lula, however, preserved a provision allowing the federal government to fast-track strategic or priority projects a move that could pave the way for oil exploration at the mouth of the Amazon River. The project has been championed by the president, but heavily criticised by environmentalists. Groups such as the NGO SOS Mata Atlantica welcomed the vetoes, but said they would carry out a detailed review of both the discarded and remaining provisions to continue mobilising civil society and ensure that congress upholds the gains secured. ActionAids climate justice specialist, Jessica Siviero, said that a full veto was essential, but the points that were struck down still represent progress. Mighty Earths global director, Joao Goncalves, also welcomed Lulas vetoes and said he hoped congress would uphold them, warning that if this destructive bill becomes law just weeks ahead of Cop30 in Belem it threatens to erode Brazils credibility on the global stage. At Fridays press conference, Lulas ministers appeared careful not to criticise congress, stating that there were positive elements in the bill, which had been backed by agribusiness and mining interests as a way to cut red tape and speed up licensing procedures. We hope to be able to streamline licensing processes without compromising their quality, which is essential for environmental protection at a time of climate crisis, biodiversity loss and desertification, said Silva. Should Congress overturn the presidents vetoes, environmentalists and legal experts have warned the move could trigger a wave of lawsuits both challenging the legislation itself and contesting projects approved through self-licensing on the grounds that they violate Brazils constitution. Armando Broja has left boyhood club Chelsea after joining promoted Burnley for an undisclosed fee on a five-year contract. Broja moved to Chelsea from Tottenham aged eight in 2009 before progressing through the Blues academy all the way up to the first-team ranks, where he made 38 appearances and scored nine goals. However, Broja an English-born striker who represents Albania, the country where his parents are from has had several loan spells away from west London, most recently at Everton last season. The Toffees decided against making the transfer permanent but with Chelsea bolstering their forward line with the big-money signings of Liam Delap and Joao Pedro this summer, Broja has decided to move on. Burnley FC are pleased to confirm the signing of Armando Broja, who joins the Club on a five-year contract from Chelsea for an undisclosed fee Hes arrived Burnley FC (@BurnleyOfficial) August 8, 2025 The 23-year-old, who has also played for Southampton and Fulham in the Premier League, said: I am really excited to be here as a Burnley player. Its a really positive time to be joining this club ahead of the start of the new Premier League season. I cant wait to get going. Im feeling good, Im ready and Im excited about the challenge of playing for this club. I can tell you all that I will be giving my all every time I pull on the famous claret shirt. Burnley have also raided Stamford Bridge to sign Bashir Humphreys and Lesley Ugochukwu in the off-season as they look to strengthen ahead of their return to the top flight. Jeremy Clarkson has admitted that funds amassed from his hit TV show Clarksons Farm are keeping his Diddly Squat farm alive, after a disastrous harvest. The 1,000-acre holding in Oxfordshire is at the heart of his hugely popular Prime Video series, which follows the presenters journey as a new farmer and the challenges he faces along the way. But, in an ironic twist, without the shows ratings success, there would be nothing to run, with Clarkson stating: Most farms dont have TV shows to keep them going. The TV star addressed the shows success while lamenting this years terrible harvest. He wrote on X/Twitter on Friday (8 August): It looks like this years harvest will be catastrophic. That should be a worry for anyone who eats food. If a disaster on this scale had befallen any other industry, there would be a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth. When one fan told him that this particular drama will make good TV in a future episode of Clarksons Farm, the former Top Gear star replied: Yes. But most farms dont have TV shows to keep them going. Jeremy Clarkson in hit Prime Video series Clarksons Farm (Prime Video) He also said there would not be a cat in hells chance of the farm surviving if he hadnt extended his business empire by taking over rural country pub The Windmill in Asthall a village boozer on five acres of countryside near Burford. The host, who until recently co-presented The Grand Tour for the streamer, reportedly struck a 160m deal for three seasons of Clarkson's Farm in 2020. Since then, the show has become one of Prime Videos most-watched titles, and a fourth season aired earlier this year. Clarksons comments arrives after he revealed Diddly Squat farm had been hit with an outbreak of bovine tuberculosis. He has since been left unable to buy or sell cows for two months because thats how long we have to wait before we do another test. Jeremy Clarkson suggests he wouldnt be able to run farm without Prime Video series (XTwitter) Bovine TB (bTB) is a chronic respiratory disease caused by a bacterium called Mycobacterium bovis. The disease can be catastrophic for farmers, and forces the culling of infected cattle. Due to a bTB incident in England between October 2021 and September 2022, 22,934 cows were killed. The disease, which can also infect badgers, deer, goats and pigs, is the biggest challenge facing the farming industry today. Clarkson bought the now-famous land in 2008 and, after the villager who ran the farm retired in 2019, he decided to see if he could run it himself a venture tracked in Clarksons Farm. This outbreak of bTB is the latest setback for Diddly Squat farm, which has already weathered a year of climate-driven disasters. Earlier this month, Clarkson gave a worrying update on the future of his farm. He called 2025 the worst year ever, citing a shocking harvest due to heatwaves and drought in the UK. Gina Carano at the premiere of The Mandalorian in Los Angeles in November 2019. Photograph: Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP Disney has resolved a legal dispute with actor Gina Carano over her firing from The Mandalorian, a spokesperson for Disney unit Lucasfilm said on Thursday. Lucasfilm removed Carano from the Star Wars streaming show in 2021 over social media posts that the company at the time called abhorrent and unacceptable for denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities. The actor, who previously starred in the films Deadpool and Haywire and was a mixed-martial-arts fighter, had appeared to compare the treatment of conservatives in the US with the dehumanization of Jews in Nazi Germany. Because history is edited, most people today dont realize that to get to the point where Nazi soldiers could easily round up thousands of Jews, the government first made their own neighbors hate them simply for being Jews. How is that any different from hating someone for their political views? she posted on Instagram before her firing. The actor, who played Cara Dune, had previously faced fan backlash for mocking masks during the Covid pandemic and amplifying Donald Trumps false claim that voter fraud caused his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden. She was also dropped by her agency, UTA, amid the uproar over her online posts. Carano sued Disney for wrongful termination in 2024 with backing from billionaire Elon Musk. The truth is I was being hunted down from everything I posted to every post I liked because I was not in line with the acceptable narrative of the time, she wrote on Musks platform X when she announced her lawsuit. In Thursdays statement, the Lucasfilm spokesperson said Carano was always well respected by her directors, co-stars, and staff, and she worked hard to perfect her craft while treating her colleagues with kindness and respect. With this lawsuit concluded, we look forward to identifying opportunities to work together with Ms Carano in the near future, the spokesperson added. In her lawsuit, Carano alleged Disney had required her to meet with an LGBTQ+ rights group, and she had refused. After she also refused to meet with a group of LGBTQ+ employees of Disney, she was fired, according to the suit, which had accused Disney and Lucasfilm of bullying, discriminatory, and retaliatory actions. In a statement posted on her X account on Thursday, Carano called the settlement the best outcome for all parties involved, adding: I hope this brings some healing to the force. She also praised the Tesla billionaire, writing: I want to extend my deepest most heartfelt gratitude to Elon Musk, a man Ive never met, who did this Good Samaritan deed for me in funding my lawsuit. Musks former business partner, Peter Thiel, admitted in 2016 that he had secretly bankrolled Hulk Hogans lawsuit against Gawker that drove the news site out of business. The settlement comes as corporations across the US have backed away from diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and commitments while the Trump administration aggressively targets programs that support people of color and LGBTQ+ Americans. Brendan Carr, the chair of the Federal Communications Commission, who was appointed by Trump, earlier this year said the media regulator was opening an investigation into whether the DEI practices of Disney and its ABC unit violated employment regulations. Reuters contributed reporting The best public interest journalism relies on first-hand accounts from people in the know. If you have something to share on this subject you can contact us confidentially using the following methods. Secure Messaging in the Guardian app The Guardian app has a tool to send tips about stories. Messages are end to end encrypted and concealed within the routine activity that every Guardian mobile app performs. This prevents an observer from knowing that you are communicating with us at all, let alone what is being said. If you don't already have the Guardian app, download it (iOS/Android) and go to the menu. Select Secure Messaging. SecureDrop, instant messengers, email, telephone and post See our guide at theguardian.com/tips for alternative methods and the pros and cons of each. Donald Trump has announced his "highly anticipated" meeting with Vladimir Putin will take place on Friday in the US state of Alaska. The two presidents are expected to discuss the war in Ukraine - with the talks potentially leading to a breakthrough in Mr Trump's effort to end the conflict. But there's no guarantee it will stop the fighting since Moscow and Kyiv remain far apart on their conditions for peace. Earlier, the US president told reporters "we're getting very close to a deal" that would end the war. Mr Trump added there will be "some swapping of territories to the betterment of both sides". Follow latest: Ukraine war live updates The meeting between the two leaders will be the first US-Russia summit since 2021, when former US President Joe Biden met Mr Putin in Switzerland. Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social: "The highly anticipated meeting between myself, as President of the United States of America, and President Vladimir Putin, of Russia, will take place next Friday, August 15, 2025, in the Great State of Alaska. Further details to follow. Thank you for your attention to this matter!" The meeting was also confirmed by Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov, who said the leaders will "focus on discussing options for achieving a long-term peaceful resolution to the Ukrainian crisis". He added that the two presidents could meet in Russia in future and that an invitation has already been extended to Mr Trump. Yesterday, Mr Trump had told reporters at the White House that he couldn't announce where or when the meeting would take place but he would do so soon. He also suggested that his meeting with the Russian leader could come before any discussion involving Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. "We're going to have a meeting with Russia, start off with Russia. And we'll announce a location. I think the location will be a very popular one," Mr Trump said. The US president added: "President Putin, I believe, wants to see peace, and Zelenskyy wants to see peace ... in all fairness to President Zelenskyy, he's getting everything he needs to, assuming we get something done." Read more: Russia reacts to Trump talks plan JD Vance raises concerns about free speech in UK Territory to form part of talks Speaking about the role that territory will play in the peace talks, Mr Trump said: "You're looking at a territory that's been fought over for three-and-a-half years. A lot of Russians have died. A lot of Ukrainians have died. "So we're looking at that, but we're actually looking to get some back, and some swapping. "It's complicated, actually. Nothing is easy. It's very complicated. But we're going to get some back. "We're going to get some switched. There'll be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both." Analysts, including some close to the Kremlin, have suggested that Russia could offer to give up territory it controls outside of the four regions it claims to have annexed. Pressed on if this was the last chance to make a major peace deal, Mr Trump said: "I don't like using the term last chance ... when those guns start going off, it's awfully tough to get them to stop." Western officials 'to meet in UK' Meanwhile, senior officials from the US, Ukraine and several European countries are due to meet in the UK this weekend to try and reach common positions ahead of the Trump-Putin meeting, according to Axios. Ukraine and several NATO allies are reported to be privately concerned that Mr Trump might agree to Mr Putin's proposals for ending the war without taking their positions into consideration. Since his return to the White House in January, Mr Trump has moved to mend relations with Russia and sought to end the war - with public comments veering between admiration and sharp criticism of Mr Putin. In a sign of his growing frustration with Russia's refusal to halt its military offensive, Mr Trump had threatened to impose new sanctions and tariffs against Moscow - and countries that buy its exports - unless the Kremlin agreed to end the conflict. A deadline was set for yesterday, but it is unclear whether these sanctions are taking effect, or if they will be delayed or cancelled in light of the talks. War grinds on ahead of talks The meeting has been arranged as Russia's bigger army is slowly advancing deeper into Ukraine at great cost in troops and armour while it relentlessly bombards Ukrainian cities. Ukrainian forces are locked in intense battles along the 620-mile frontline that snakes from northeast to southeast Ukraine. The Pokrovsk area of the eastern Donetsk region is taking the brunt of punishment as Russia seeks to break out into the neighbouring Dnipropetrovsk region. (ITV) Coronation Street actor Frank Grimes, who has been hailed one of Irelands greatest actors, has died, aged 78. The actor, who played Barry Connor on the ITV soap, died on 1 August after a very short illness. His death was announced by the Irish Cultural Centre in London, who said on Friday (8 August): It's with deep sadness and heavy hearts that the ICC has to regretfully inform you that the great Irish actor Frank Grimes suddenly sadly passed away surrounded by his wife and family. We are so sad to have to say goodbye to Frank, but we are also so blessed to have known him, to have worked with him and seen him perform. Grimes, who also appeared in Mrs Browns Boys, starred in Coronation Street from 2008 until 2015. His character was the husband of Helen Connor (Sorcha Cusack) and father of Paul (Sean Gallagher), Liam (Rob James-Collier) and Michelle Connor (Kym Marsh). Frank Grimes starred in 'Coronation Street' from 2008 to 2015 (ITV) Grimess first hit arrived in 1967 when he played the young Brendan Behan in a stage version of his autobiography Borstal Boy. He received a Tony nomination for the role when the production moved from Irelands Abbey Theatre to Broadway. The actor was also set to star in Romeo and Juliet director Franco Zeffirellis 1972 film Brother Sun, Sister Moon a film about Francis of Assisi but was replaced by Graham Faulkner after falling out with the filmmaker. His film credits include Richard Attenboroughs 1977 war film A Bridge Too Far, in which he played Major Fuller, as well asThe Outsider (1979) and The Whales of August (1987). In terms of his other TV creedits, he appeared in BBC mystery series Father Brown in 2013. Frank Grimes as Major Fuller in 1977 war epic 'A Bridge Too Far' (United Artists) The Irish Cultural Centre remembered Grimes as warm-hearted, full of Dublin wit and charm in abundance. He had a beautiful sparkle in his eyes. We know that Ireland has lost one of its truly great actors, the vintage of which is so rare and may never ever be matched again. We send our sincere condolences to his wife Ginnette, his daughter Tilly, his son Andrew, his seven grandchildren and to all his extended family. We also send our condolences to all of Franks friends and loved ones may Frank sleep easy now and Rest In Peace. Drug maker GSK has secured a payment of up to 500 million dollars (372 million) after a patent row over Covid vaccines was settled in the US. GSK told investors it will receive a 370 million dollar (275 million) settlement from CureVac, which it had worked with on the development of mRNA vaccine technology. The London-based business will then be entitled to receive an additional 130 million dollars (97 million) depending on if a planned takeover of CureVac by BioNTech closes, which would settle a lawsuit outside of the US. CureVac a German pharmaceutical company settled a long-running patent dispute with rival BioNTech and Pfizer in the US on Thursday. Drug makers had launched several lawsuits over alleged patent infringement in relation to their Covid-19 vaccines. CureVac said that, under the terms of the settlement, it would grant BioNTech and Pfizer a licence to make, use, and sell mRNA-based Covid and influenza jabs. The firms also agreed that GSK would take 1% of the royalties from the vaccine sales in the US from the beginning of 2025. The cash payment to GSK stems from its partnership with CureVac which was first struck in 2020. GSK remains in dispute with Pfizer and BioNTech in the US and Europe over alleged infringement of its own patents. Shares in GSK rose by as much as 1.7% on Friday morning. Danni Hewson, head of financial analysis for AJ Bell, said: Pharmaceutical giant GSK was also among the gainers on Friday morning as it secured a positive outcome from the settlement of a patent dispute involving CureVac with which it has a licence agreement. The dispute related to mRNA vaccines and gives GSK a modest, though still welcome, cash injection and the prospect of sales royalties. Hong Kong police efforts to crack down on pro-democracy campaigners represent a clear act of transnational repression, a UK minister has warned. Eleven national governments and the European Union have signed a joint statement, vowing to bolster protection for people within their borders who face intimidation and harassment from administrations overseas. The Hong Kong Police Force last month issued 19 arrest warrants for campaigners who set up and joined the Hong Kong Parliament movement. The campaigners would like to see the reconstruction of a free, fair, and self-governing Hong Kong, according to the organisations website. Police in Hong Kong have offered rewards of up to one million Hong Kong dollars (almost 100,000) to individuals who help track down the campaigners, including people who live outside of their jurisdiction. Together with our international partners, we condemn the Hong Kong polices efforts to coerce, intimidate and harass those living in the UK and overseas, security minister Dan Jarvis wrote on X. We will not tolerate these acts of transnational repression in our country. Referring to the joint statement which the UK has signed, as a member of the G7s rapid response mechanism (RRM), Foreign Office minister Catherine West said: The UK and partners have condemned the latest arrest warrants and bounties issued by the Hong Kong Police a clear act of transnational repression. Hong Kong returned to China in 1997 (Alamy/PA) The statement, also signed by the governments of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the US, Australia, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Sweden, reads: The authorities issued arrest warrants and bounties on individuals outside Hong Kongs borders, including in G7 RRM countries, for exercising their freedom of expression. This form of transnational repression undermines national security, state sovereignty, human rights, and the safety of communities. The signatories added: G7 RRM members and associate members are committed to strengthening our efforts to safeguard our sovereignty, to keep our communities safe, and to defend individuals from the overreach of governments trying to silence, intimidate, harass, harm or coerce them within our borders. We encourage individuals to report suspicious activities and any incidents of intimidation, harassment, coercion, or threats to their law enforcement authorities in accordance with domestic laws and regulations. According to the Hong Kong Police Force, the organisation has a responsibility to pursue, in accordance with the law, persons suspected of committing offences under the Hong Kong National Security Law outside Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Parliament group aims to subvert state power; its objectives include promoting self-determination, promulgating the so-called Hong Kong Constitution, and overthrowing or undermining the basic system of the Peoples Republic of China, so its members face arrest suspected of committing subversion according to local laws, a police statement added. In a statement on the Hong Kong Parliament website, the organisation stands as both a representative voice and a protective institution for Hongkongers worldwide. Its members are committed to safeguarding our community, defending the rule of law, and exposing the CCPs (Chinese Communist Partys) system of governance for what it is: authoritarianism masked as legitimacy. File. Bookshop in Srinagar, Kashmir (AFP via Getty) Indian police raided bookstores in the restive Himalayan region of Kashmir after authorities banned 25 books for allegedly promoting false narrative and secessionism. The books were banned earlier this week by the provincial administration of lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha, appointed by Narendra Modis Hindu nationalist government. The order banning the books threatens people with jail time for selling or owning works by authors like Booker-winning novelist Arundhati Roy, constitutional scholar AG Noorani, and historians Christopher Snedden, Sumantra Bose and Victoria Schofield. The identified 25 books have been found to excite secessionism and endangering sovereignty and integrity of India [sic], the order, issued by Kashmirs home department, said, adding that such works of scholarship played a critical role in misguiding the youth, glorifying terrorism and inciting violence against [the] Indian state. The action was taken following investigations and credible intelligence about systemic dissemination of false narratives and secessionist literature that was often disguised as historical or political commentary, it said. The order declared the 25 books forfeit under Indias criminal code, effectively banning them from circulation and possession in Kashmir. The works include political commentaries, documentation of human rights violations and historic accounts of the disputed region. Kashmir, one of the most militarised places on earth, is claimed in full but held only in part by both India and Pakistan. In the part administered by India, an armed struggle for independence has seen nearly 100,000 people killed and thousands subjected to what campaigners have described as enforced disappearances. In August 2019, the Indian government did away with a constitutional guarantee of autonomy for Kashmir, putting it under direct rule by New Delhi. In the aftermath, it outlawed several political groups and threw thousands of political workers, activists, lawyers, and students in prison, where many of them remain. The raids on Thursday did not spare even roadside book vendors of printed publications in the main city of Srinagar and outlying towns. By the end, local media reported, several volumes of the outlawed books had been seized. Kulgam Police conducted coordinated & legally monitored searches at multiple Bookshops across district to prevent circulation of Banned Literature associated with proscribed organisations & to ensure strict adherence to legal provisions. @JmuKmrPolice @KashmirPolice @DigSkr pic.twitter.com/vvmmw7xwk2 District Police Kulgam: official (@policekulgam) August 7, 2025 The authoritarian ban triggered outrage. Mehbooba Mufti, a former chief minister, said that banning books would not erase history but only "fuel division". In Kashmir, suppressing democratic voices and fundamental freedoms deepens alienation and mistrust, she said. Censorship doesnt silence ideas, it amplifies their resonance. Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, a top cleric and major figure in the political movement for independence, said the ban only exposes the insecurities and limited understanding of those behind such authoritarian actions, and the contradiction in proudly hosting the ongoing Book Festival to showcase its literary commitment. Roys Azadi, a collection of essays referencing the thousands of people allegedly killed and disappeared in Kashmir by Indian forces, is also on the banned books list. Roy won the PEN Pinter Prize last year and was hailed as a luminous voice of freedom and justice. The celebrated writer faces prosecution in Delhi over a 2010 speech disputing the notion of Kashmir being an integral part of India. File: Shopkeeper waits for customers at a bookshop in Srinagar on 18 February 2025 (AFP/Getty) Mr Bose, the Indian historian whose Kashmir at Crossroads was among the banned books, rejected any and all defamatory slurs against his work. I have worked on Kashmir among many other subjects since 1993. Throughout my chief objective has been to identify pathways to peace so that all violence ends and a stable future free of fear and war can be enjoyed by the people of the conflict region, of India as a whole, and the subcontinent, he told PTI. Im a committed and principled advocate of peaceful approaches and resolutions to armed conflicts, be it in Kashmir or elsewhere in the world. Angana Chatterji, author of the newly banned Kashmir: The Case for Freedom, said authoritarian regimes banned books to assert and mobilise their power as they govern through suppression, fear, and violence. David Devadas, author of In Search of a Future: The Story of Kashmir, argued that banning books was against the grain of our democratic ideals, and our civilisational ethos. My book strongly advocates peace, dialogue and democracy in the spirit of prime minister Vajpayees peace process which had reached fruition around the time my book was completed. I fully backed that peace process, he said, referring to former Indian premier Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Amnesty India said in a post on X (Twitter) that the crackdown on books was not just about Kashmir. Its about free expression, the rights group said. If books can be silenced without any due process, so can people. In February this year, police had similarly raided bookstores and seized hundreds of volumes linked to a major Islamic organisation in Kashmir. In 2011, police filed charges against Kashmirs education officials over a textbook for first graders that illustrated the word tyrant with a sketch resembling a policeman. A year earlier, police had arrested a college lecturer alleging he had given his students an English exam filled with questions attacking a crackdown on demonstrations challenging Indian rule in the region. Sir Keir Starmer has denounced the Israeli governments decision to escalate its war in Gaza as wrong. The Prime Minister also warned that it would only bring more bloodshed. His comments on Friday come hours after a decision by Israels security cabinet to approve a plan to take control of Gaza City, as the country expands its military operations despite intensifying criticism at home and abroad over the devastating 22-month-old war. The IDF will prepare to take control of Gaza City while providing humanitarian aid to the civilian population outside the combat zones, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus office said in a statement, referring to the Israeli Defence Forces. But the move was swiftly criticised by the UK. The Israeli Governments decision to further escalate its offensive in Gaza is wrong, and we urge it to reconsider immediately., said Sir Keir. This action will do nothing to bring an end to this conflict or to help secure the release of the hostages. It will only bring more bloodshed. He added: Every day the humanitarian crisis in Gaza worsens and hostages taken by Hamas are being held in appalling and inhuman conditions. What we need is a ceasefire, a surge in humanitarian aid, the release of all hostages by Hamas and a negotiated solution. Hamas can play no part in the future of Gaza and must leave as well as disarm. The Prime Minister has said that Britain will recognise a Palestinian state in September unless Israel meets four conditions including ending the starvation in Gaza, a ceasefire, and moves towards a two-state solution. While Mr Netanyahu said on Thursday that Israel intended to take military control of the entire Gaza Strip, the plan approved on Friday focused specifically on Gaza City, the largest city in the enclave, located in its north. Axios reporter Barak Ravid, citing an Israeli official, said on X the plan involved evacuating Palestinian civilians from Gaza City and launching a ground offensive there. Asked if Israel would take over the entire coastal territory, Mr Netanyahu told Fox News Channels Bill Hemmer in an interview on Thursday: We intend to. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel intends to take control of the whole of Gaza (REUTERS) But he said Israel wanted to hand over the territory to Arab forces that would govern it. He did not elaborate on the governance arrangements or which Arab countries could be involved. We dont want to keep it. We want to have a security perimeter. We dont want to govern it. We dont want to be there as a governing body, he said. Israeli officials described a previous meeting this week with the head of the military as tense, saying military chief Eyal Zamir had pushed back on expanding Israels campaign. Among the scenarios being considered ahead of the security meeting was a phased takeover of areas in Gaza not yet under military control, one government source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Evacuation warnings could be issued to Palestinians in specific areas of Gaza, potentially giving them several weeks before the military moves in, the person added. In its Friday statement, Mr Netanyahus office said the vast majority of the security cabinet members believed that the alternative plan presented in the cabinet would not achieve the defeat of Hamas nor the return of the hostages. Two government sources said any resolution by the security cabinet would need to be approved by the full cabinet, which may not meet until Sunday. Total control of the territory would reverse a 2005 decision by Israel by which it withdrew Israeli citizens and soldiers from Gaza, while retaining control over its borders, airspace and utilities. Right-wing parties blame that withdrawal decision for the militant Palestinian group Hamas gaining power there in a 2006 election. Palestinians run towards parachutes carrying aid packages airdropped over northern Gaza Strip, on August 7, 2025. (REUTERS) It was unclear whether Mr Netanyahu was foreseeing a prolonged takeover or a short-term operation. Israel has repeatedly said it aims to dismantle Hamas and free Israeli hostages. Hamas in a statement called Mr Netanyahus comments a blatant coup against the negotiation process. Netanyahus plans to expand the aggression confirm beyond any doubt that he seeks to get rid of his captives and sacrifice them, the statement said. Arab countries would only support what Palestinians agree and decide on, a Jordanian official source told Reuters, adding that security in Gaza should be handled through legitimate Palestinian institutions. Hamas official Osama Hamdan told Al Jazeera the group would treat any force formed to govern Gaza as an occupying force linked to Israel. Earlier this year, Israel and the United States rejected an Egyptian proposal, backed by Arab leaders, that envisaged the creation of an administrative committee of independent, professional Palestinian technocrats entrusted with the governance of Gaza after the war. Opinion polls show most Israelis want the war to end in a deal that would see the release of the remaining hostages. The families of hostages still held in Gaza were among protesters who gathered in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem on Thursday to voice their opposition to Mr Netanyahus takeover plan. Demonstrators chained themselves to each other as they warned the move would be a death sentence for their loved ones. Demonstrators in Tel Aviv hold photos of hostages held in the Gaza Strip during a protest calling for a deal to release the captives, on Thursday, August 7, 2025 (Getty Images) The White House had no immediate comment. President Donald Trump has declined to say whether he supported or opposed a potential full military takeover of Gaza by Israel. Mr Netanyahus government has insisted on total victory over Hamas, which ignited the war when it staged a deadly October 2023 attack on Israel from Gaza. The UN has called reports about a possible expansion of Israels military operations in Gaza deeply alarming. The idea, pushed especially by far-right ministers in Mr Netanyahus coalition, of Israeli forces moving into areas they do not already hold in the enclave has also generated alarm in Israel. There are 50 hostages still held in Gaza, of whom Israeli officials believe 20 are alive. Most of those freed so far emerged as a result of diplomatic negotiations. Talks toward a ceasefire that could have seen more hostages released collapsed in July. A senior Palestinian official said Hamas had told Arab mediators an increase in humanitarian aid entering Gaza would lead to a resumption in ceasefire negotiations. Israeli officials accuse Hamas of seizing aid to hand to its fighters and to sell to finance its operations, accusations the militant group denies. Videos released last week of two living hostages showed them emaciated and frail, stirring international condemnation. Recent images of starving children from Gaza have also shocked the world and fuelled international criticism of Israel over the sharply worsening conditions in the enclave. Hamas, which has ruled Gaza for nearly two decades but now controls only fragmented parts, insists any deal must lead to a permanent end to the war. Israel says the group has no intention of going through with promises to give up power afterwards. Luxury carmaker Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) has seen profits nearly halve after a slump in sales and a hit from US trade tariffs. The group reported a 49.4% plunge in underlying pre-tax profits to 351 million in its first quarter to the end of June. It follows a 9.2% drop in revenues to 6.6 billion, after a temporary pause in exports to the US and the planned wind-down of older Jaguar models ahead of the launch of new electric ranges in 2026. JLR said US tariffs had a direct and material impact on profitability and cash flow in the period. But it added the US-UK trade deal will significantly reduce the financial impact of US tariffs going forward. The Tata-owned group last month dealt a blow to workers, announcing plans to axe up to 500 management jobs in the UK. The cuts will impact 1.5% of its UK workforce of more than 33,000, with the jobs going as part of a voluntary redundancy programme for managers. JLR chief executive Adrian Mardell said the results come amid challenging global economic conditions. He added: We are grateful to the UK and US governments for delivering at speed the new UK-US trade deal, which will lessen the significant US tariff impact in subsequent quarters, as will, in due course, the EU-US trade deal announced on July 27. It has been a challenging time for the group, with its recent rebranding and advertising strategy attracting controversy. Mr Mardell also announced plans to retire in November after three years at the helm and 35 years with the company. He will be replaced by PB Balaji, group financial officer of Tata Motors. JLR halted new shipments to the US in April but restarted exports in early May amid hopes that a trade deal for the sector would be struck. The car firm saw wholesale sales in North America drop by 12.2% year-on-year in the quarter after the pause. The group has since welcomed trade deals with the US, which reduced tariffs on UK-made vehicles exported to America from 27.5% to 10% from June 30. An EU-US trade deal was also announced on July 27, which will reduce the tariffs on JLRs vehicles made in the EU and exported to the US from 27.5% to 15%. James Lovell, the legendary NASA astronaut and heroic commander of Apollo 13 who masterfully guided his crew through one of the most dangerous moments in space exploration history, has died, NASA confirmed on Friday. The 97-year-old American icon, known for delivering the infamous Houston, weve had a problem line during the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission, passed away Thursday in Lake Forest, Illinois. Lovell's life and work inspired millions, NASA said in a statement. His courage under pressure helped forge our path to the Moon and beyonda journey that continues today. Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy also paid tribute to the late astronaut, saying Lovells life and work inspired millions of people across the decades. Jims character and steadfast courage helped our nation reach the Moon and turned a potential tragedy into a success from which we learned an enormous amount. We mourn his passing even as we celebrate his achievements. He embodied the bold resolve and optimism of both past and future explorers, and we will remember him always, Duffy added on his personal X account. Lovell became a member of NASA in 1962 as part of its second astronaut class (Getty) Lovell is perhaps best known for commanding the Apollo 13 mission in 1970. What was meant to be the third Moon landing turned into a tense rescue mission after an oxygen tank explosion damaged the spacecraft. Lovell and his crew, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise, worked closely with NASAs Mission Control to safely return to Earth, demonstrating extraordinary calm and leadership under pressure. This mission was later immortalized in the 1995 film Apollo 13, in which Tom Hanks portrayed Lovell, who also made a cameo appearance. The failed mission had a lasting impact on Lovell, who said in 1999, per the Associated Press, I dont worry about crises any longer. Whenever he had a problem, he was reported to have said: I could have been gone back in 1970. Im still here. Im still breathing. After retiring from NASA and the Navy in 1973, Lovell transitioned to a successful business career and co-authored the book Lost Moon, which detailed the Apollo 13 mission and inspired the movie adaptation. Lovell was recognized for his contributions to space exploration, receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom and 1970 and being inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame in 1993. Lovell was disappointed he never got to walk on the moon, something commented on by President Bill Clinton as he awarded him the Congressional Space Medal of Honor in 1995. While you may have lost the moon ... you gained something that is far more important perhaps: the abiding respect and gratitude of the American people, Clinton said. Lovell later admitted that the missions failure brought him greater fame than a successful Apollo 13 landing would have. The mission itself and the fact that we triumphed over a certain catastrophe does give me a deep sense of satisfaction, he once said, according to AP. Going to the moon, if everything works right, its like following a cookbook. Its not that big a deal. If something goes wrong, thats what separates the men from the boys, he added in 2004. Lovell was part of the "New Nine," NASA's second group of astronauts selected in 1962 (NASA) Lovell married Marilyn Lovell in 1952. The pair were together until her death from natural causes in 2023 at the age of 93 (Getty) Born in 1928 in Cleveland, Ohio, Lovell grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. From an early age, he was fascinated by aviation and space, which inspired him to pursue a career in the Navy. After graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1952, Lovell became a naval aviator and later a test pilot. His dedication and skill eventually led to his selection by NASA in 1962 as part of its second group of astronauts, often called the New Nine. Lovell is probably most famous for leading the Apollo 13 mission in 1970, which was later made into a movie starring Tom Hanks (Getty) Lovells NASA career was marked by several important space missions. He first flew in space as the pilot of Gemini 7 in 1965, a mission that set a then-record for the longest manned spaceflight at nearly 14 days. He then commanded Gemini 12 in 1966, where he and Buzz Aldrin successfully completed critical spacewalks that helped perfect techniques needed for future Apollo missions. In 1968, Lovell served as the Command Module Pilot on Apollo 8, the first mission to orbit the Moon, which was a historic milestone for NASA and mankind, and a pivotal step in the Space Race. Lovell was inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame in 1993 (NASA) Tributes soared in quickly after the news of Lovells death. Former NASA astronaut Mike Massimino called Lovell his hero. I am so sad to hear about the passing of my hero Jim Lovell, he said. He was a great role model not only as an astronaut, but also as a person who exemplified a life well lived - both professionally and personally. He will be missed by many, Godspeed my friend. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine added: Fran and I are saddened to learn about the death of US Astronaut Jim Lovell. Born in Cleveland, Jim was a true American hero. His bravery during the Apollo 13 mission captured the attention of the world and reminded us of the importance of teamwork and hope in the face of adversity. We extend our sincere condolences to the Lovell family. Lovell co-authored the book Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13 in 1994 (Getty Images) Lovell married his high school sweetheart, Marilyn, in 1952. The pair was married for 71 years until Marilyns death from natural causes in 2023. She was 93. The pair had four children: Barbara, 71, James Jay, 70, Susan, 67, and Jeffrey, 59. Fox News host Greg Gutfeld, a favorite of Donald Trump, was a guest on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Thursday as the president continues to hint that the SNL alum and fellow late-night comic Jimmy Kimmel could be about to lose their jobs. Gutfeld was warmly received by Fallon, with the two men steering clear of politics as the conservative given the floor to tell a lengthy anecdote about his first encounter with Fallon in a bar in Hells Kitchen at which both parties were wasted and engaged in a drunken wrestling bout. The former Maxim editor then rattled through his pre-Fox career and promoted his new game show, What Did I Miss? This is hilarious we've met before, Fallon opened with. Yes, you have no memory of it. Which is understandable, because we were wasted, the former Red Eye host said. The two continued to banter about drunkenly wrestling each other. And you run towards me, and you tackle me, like you're a giant golden retriever. You're like on top of me. And so we're wrestling. We're wrestling. And then you change, and you start wrestling my buddy Andy, and you're wrestling him. And you guys get on the ground. You guys are now on the ground wrestling, Gutfeld told the audience, who gave the host a generally warm reception. Fox News host Greg Gutfeld guests on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Thursday August 7 2025 (The Tonight Show/NBC) Last week, Gutfeld alluded to his upcoming appearance with Fallon, saying it would be the biggest crossover since the Harlem Globetrotters visited the Golden Girls. Unlike the other guys, Jimmy sitting with me proves hes not afraid of upsetting his peers or afraid of my mesmerizing charm, he added. Fallon has shown his willingness to be pragmatic about humoring the right before, famously hosting Trump in September 2016, two months before his victory win over Hillary Clinton, and ruffling the New York property tycoons blonde hair to check whether it was real. The gesture alienated some of The Tonight Shows audience, and Fallon later expressed regret over it, telling The New York Times in 2017: I didnt do it to humanize him. I almost did it to minimize him. I didnt think that would be a compliment: He did the thing that we all wanted to do. In another interview with NBCs Today the same year, Fallon said political comedy is just not what I do, adding: I dont really even care that much about politics. I love pop culture more than I love politics. The comedian subsequently complained about the negative response his segment with the Republican had attracted, telling The Hollywood Reporters Awards Chatter podcast he felt like asking the public: So now what? Are you happy? Im depressed. Do you want to push me more? What do you want me to do? You want me to kill myself? What would make you happy? Get over it. Im sorry. I dont want to make anyone angry I never do and I never will. Its all in the fun of the show. I made a mistake. Im sorry if I made anyone mad. And looking back, I would do it differently. Trump himself was angered over Fallons whimpering attempts to distance himself from the controversy, rebuking him on Twitter: Be a man Jimmy! The host did make one risque joke at the presidents expense in his opening monologue to Thursdays show, shortly before Gutfeld was introduced, discussing Trumps tariff program coming into effect and remarking: The only places Trump didnt [tariff] are North Korea and Epstein Island. The president appears to have his late-night detractors in his sights right now and was asked at a press conference on Wednesday about shock jock Howard Sterns Sirius XM radio show reportedly being brought to an end, shortly after Paramount cancelled CBSs The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and whether that meant anti-Trump comedy was facing extinction. Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that Fallon and fellow late-night host Jimmy Kimmel are facing the axe (Getty) Well, it hasnt worked, the president answered. And it hasnt worked, really, for a long time, and I would say pretty much from the beginning. Colbert has no talent. I mean, I could take anybody here. I could go outside in the beautiful streets and pick a couple of people that do just as well or better. Theyd get higher ratings than he did. Hes got no talent. Fallon has no talent. Kimmel has no talent. Theyre next. Theyre going to be going. I hear theyre going to be going. I dont know, but I would imagine because theyd get you know, Colbert has better ratings than Kimmel or Fallon. By contrast, Trump has long been a champion of Gutfeld, posting a Fox press release celebrating his high ratings on Truth Social last September and writing in all-caps: GUTFELD! NOTCHES LARGEST AUDIENCE IN PROGRAM HISTORY WITH NEARLY FIVE MILLION VIEWERS DURING INTERVIEW WITH FORMER PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP. When Colberts show was canned last month, he wrote: I absolutely love that Colbert got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings. I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next. Has even less talent than Colbert! Greg Gutfeld is better than all of them combined, including the Moron on NBC who ruined the once great Tonight Show. Gutfeld likewise gloated over The Late Shows demise, commenting on Fox: This was an institution, and rather than put someone in his place they just said, Were closing up. Imagine being a chef. Youre such a bad chef that they cancel food Its so obvious. You cant do a comedy show and a sermon at the same time. The Supreme Court ruled the word sex in the 2010 Equality Act was defined by biological sex, not gender identity - Andy Rain/Shutterstock Trans rights activists have vowed to fight guidance from the official equalities watchdog that they cannot use lavatories and changing rooms of their preferred gender. One trans rights campaigner called on supporters not to comply with the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) guidelines, saying she was prepared to be arrested multiple times. Meanwhile the Good Law Project, led by activist lawyer Jolyon Maugham, is taking the commission to court, accusing it of violating trans peoples rights to privacy. The EHRC is set to confirm in its final guidance, to be submitted to ministers in the next few weeks, that public bodies will have to exclude transgender women from female-only spaces. The guidance will apply to any organisation that provides a service to the public, including schools, hospitals, prisons, gyms and shops. Jolyon Maugham is posing a legal challenge to the Equalities and Human Rights Commission over their new guidance - Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images The new rules will also allow bodies to prevent transgender women from taking part in womens sports. The advice is in line with interim guidance published by the commission in April, just days after the Supreme Court ruled that the word sex in the Equality Act meant biological sex, not preferred gender identity. Sophie Molly, a trans rights activist, posted on X on Friday: Do not comply. Im prepared to be arrested multiple times over this. Another, using the name Invisible Entity, said: Let the war begin. Fingers crossed. You need to fight for all of us globally. Its a war. The Good Law Project has challenged the EHRCs interim guidance in court, saying it is incompatible with the Equality Act and goes beyond what the Supreme Court said. The firm has been granted a two-day hearing in the High Court in November. Rights and dignities Mr Maugham said: The guidance amounts to a bathroom ban for trans people, violating peoples right to privacy in their everyday lives. The EHRCs guidance is subject to legal challenge a hearing is scheduled for later this year and a court will decide whether it is compatible with the Equality Act. Given the evident hostility of the guidance to the rights and dignities of trans people, we are confident the commission will lose. A spokesman for the LGBT+ charity Stonewall said the EHRC received 50,000 responses to its consultation from businesses, organisations and individuals, and suggested the commission had not had time to read them all. The draft guidance takes the position of justifying exclusion rather than inclusion of trans people as its starting point, which does not reflect the values of our society, he said. It risks creating a hierarchy of rights and a tiering of safety concerns, which are counter to the intentions behind the Equality Act 2010. The EHRC has received over 50,000 responses to its consultation from businesses, organisations and individuals raising wide-ranging and complicated issues, including compatibility of the draft guidance with other existing pieces of legislation which will need to be addressed. The EHRC will submit its final guidance to Bridget Phillipson, the women and equalities minister, within weeks. It is understood the guidance will not say that organisations have to provide single-sex spaces, but will say that trans women must be excluded if they do. Ignoring the guidance will amount to discrimination. An EHRC spokesman said: The code of practice has not yet been finalised. We received an extremely high volume of responses to the consultation, and are grateful to everyone who shared their feedback. To ensure we give these responses the consideration they merit, we are working at pace to analyse them and are amending the draft code of practice text where necessary to make it as clear and helpful as possible. But our code will remain consistent with the law as set out by the Supreme Court. A woman walks her dog along the Sicilian coast with the Calabrian shoreline visible across the Strait of Messina (Reuters) The Italian government has given final approval for the construction of what would be the worlds longest single-span bridge, connecting Sicily to the mainland, a decision that immediately sets the stage for a potential legal battle. The colossal project, spanning the Strait of Messina, was formally sanctioned by the prime minister Giorgia Melonis right-wing government on Wednesday, with 13.5bn (11.7bn) earmarked for its development. This ambitious undertaking, first conceived by the ancient Romans, has been under discussion for more than 50 years but now faces the prospect of further delays. They could offer me three times the value of my house, but that doesnt matter to me. What matters is the landscape. They must not touch the Strait of Messina, said Mariolina De Francesco, a 75-year-old living in the Sicilian city of Messina. More than 440 properties will have to be expropriated on the Sicilian side and in the Calabria region on the mainland to make way for the 3.7km (2.3-mile) bridge and connecting roads and railways. Our lawyers will take action, and we will stop them. Thats guaranteed, said Ms De Francesco, whose house lies near the site of one of the bridges planned 399m-tall land towers. Infrastructure minister Matteo Salvini said preliminary works should start in September-October, and has promised generous compensation to those required to surrender their property. The bridge is due for completion in 2032. The bridge, if it gets built, will be more than two miles long (Getty/iStock) The Messina Strait Company overseeing the project is bracing for a big legal fight. (Legal appeals) certainly keep me busy because they waste a lot of our time, its CEO Pietro Ciucci told newspaper La Stampa. Environmental groups this week filed a complaint with the European Union, flagging serious risks for the local ecosystem. The Torre Faro district, on the northern edge of Messina, includes a nature reserve surrounding two ponds. Committees of No Bridge residents say the areas environmental value and seismic risk make it unsuitable for the infrastructure. They also fear the works will drag on, making the neighbourhood unliveable because of the noise. (The Independent) The Messina Strait Company says the bridge will be designed to withstand very strong earthquakes and will not be placed on active fault lines. It has also promised mitigation measures to safeguard habitats and protected species. Contractual obligations will ensure that the timing and effects of construction activity, including noise, will be kept under strict control, the company added. Supporters of the project, awarded to the Eurolink consortium led by Italys Webuild, say it will bolster the economy of an underdeveloped region. The bridge could create jobs for young people, and maybe it could also change something in Sicily, where we always like to keep everything as it is, said 71-year-old Giuseppe Caruso, sitting on his bike near the beach. Authorities have pledged strong safeguards against any mafia involvement. The two regions are home to the Cosa Nostra and Ndrangheta mafia organisations, which have a long history of infiltrating lucrative public works projects. The government is also considering whether to categorise investment in the bridge as defence spending, which would help Italy meet new Nato targets to boost military budgets. How the worlds longest single-span bridge would look (Stretto di Messina Company) House expropriations are set to proceed gradually, in line with construction progress. Activists and lawyers estimate some 1,000 people could lose their homes, and say the increased costs since the project was first awarded may breach European Union public procurement laws. We are a country governed by the rule of law within the EU, so even the government must respect the rules, said Antonio Saitta, a lawyer representing some Messina residents. The Messina Strait Company said the rise in costs, from 8.5bn in 2011 before the project was blocked, to the current 13.5bn, was due to the sharp increase in construction material prices. Mr Saitta said the main way of blocking the bridge was to file an appeal with an administrative court against the governments decision by the end of October. Gianluca Maria Esposito, an administrative law professor at Sapienza University of Rome, said the public interest prevails over the private in such cases and that blocking the project would be a daunting challenge. The citizen is entitled to compensation but cannot claim further damages, nor can they oppose the realisation of the project, he said. The British government faces fresh criticism over allowing weapons to be exported from the UK to Israel as the countrys security cabinet approves plans to ramp up its offensive on Gaza. Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahus office says the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) will take full control of Gaza City while providing humanitarian aid to the civilian population outside the combat zones. The plan marks a new escalation in the nearly two-year offensive that has seen tens of thousands of Palestinians killed or displaced, as those who remain are pushed further into a worsening famine. British prime minister Sir Keir Starmer has criticised Israels decision to further escalate its offensive, adding: This action will do nothing to bring an end to this conflict or to help secure the release of the hostages. It will only bring more bloodshed. Sir Keir Starmer has urged Israel not to escalate the war in Gaza with a takeover of Gaza City (PA) Reacting to the plans, campaigners and opposition MPs have called on the government to order a complete suspension of UK arms to Israel, rather than the partial one that is currently in place. Lib Dem leader Ed Davey said: Rather than sitting on its hands and issuing strongly worded statements, the UK government needs to take decisive action. Keir Starmer needs to stop the export of all UK arms to Israel - today - and sanction Netanyahu and his cabinet." However, former national security adviser Lord Ricketts defended the governments approach, arguing that the current partial arms suspension in place means it has taken most of the available steps. The real harsh truth is there is almost nothing the British government can do which is going to influence Netanyahu and his calculations about what to do in Gaza, he added. Heres everything you need to know about the UKs weapon exports to Israel: How many weapons does the UK export to Israel? The latest export licensing figures released in May show that the UK approved 127m of military equipment to Israel in single issue licences between October and December 2024. This was more than the total amount of exports from 2020 to 2023, which combined made up 114m, according to the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT). The exports also came in the three months after foreign secretary David Lammy announced a partial suspension of arms exports over concerns they could be used in violation of international humanitarian law. This suspended 30 licences out of around 350. From 2015 to 2024, the total value of the UKs military exports to Israel stands at 504m. However, CAAT points out that the UK government has stored roughly 15 per cent of export data in a confidential system since 2023. An Israeli Air Force F-35 Lightning II fighter aircraft, pictured in April 2023 (AFP via Getty Images) This comprised 1,325 standard licences with 150 including military radar equipment, 92 including targeting equipment components, and 55 including submarine components. The figure excludes the 71 open licences, which do not limit the quantity or value of exports. The CAAT says that UK sources also supply Israel up to 15 per cent of the value of their F-35 planes which are used in airstrikes. While direct exports of these F-35 components are included in the governments arms partial suspension, concerns remain that parts from the UK will later be sold to Israel despite allegations that the aircraft are being used to violate human rights in Gaza. Defending the exemption, Mr Lammy said: The global F-35 supply chain is vital for the security of the UK, our allies and Nato. The government was taken to court over the carve-out in May by human rights group Al-Haq, but the case was thrown out by the High Court in June. A government spokesperson said: As set out to parliament in September, we have suspended licences for items to the IDF that might be used in military operations in Gaza, based on our assessment that these could be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international humanitarian law. It is not currently possible to suspend licensing of F-35 components for use by Israel without prejudicing the entire global F-35 programme, which would have serious implications for international peace and security due to its crucial strategic role in the defence of Nato and other UK allies. The High Court has upheld this governments thorough and lawful decision-making on this matter. Kathleen Folbigg was jailed over the deaths of her four children before being freed in June 2023 after new scientific evidence cast reasonable doubt over her convictions. Photograph: Dean Lewins/AAP The New South Wales premier has encouraged Kathleen Folbigg to sue his government if she wants more than $2m for the two decades she spent in prison after being wrongfully convicted of killing her four children. Chris Minns is facing bipartisan condemnation and a possible inquiry into what has been described as an insulting compensation payout for Folbigg. Folbigg, once referred to as among Australias worst serial killers, was convicted in 2003 and ordered to serve a minimum 25-year sentence for the suffocation murders of three of her children and manslaughter of a fourth. Related: Kathleen Folbiggs $2m compensation a moral affront after two decades in jail for wrongful convictions, lawyer says Her name was cleared and convictions quashed in 2023 by the appeals court just months after she was granted an unconditional pardon and released from prison. On Friday morning, the Greens MP Sue Higginson wrote to Minns to formally request the government review the decision to offer such an unjust and inadequate payment to Folbigg. Its not too late for Chris Minns to do the right thing, meet with Kathleen, and offer her just and fair compensation for the injury that has been done to her as a result of a failure by the NSW justice system, Higginson said. If he doesnt do this I will move to establish an inquiry to examine how this decision was reached. Kathleen and all people with an interest in justice deserve to understand how this has gone so wrong. The Nationals MP Wes Fang said a public inquiry into the compensation figure should not be delayed. The state took away Kathleens life, her liberty, even her home, for 20 years, Fang said. [The state attorney general] Michael Daley had the ability to give her a small amount of dignity back, to try and enjoy her next 20 years. The opposition leader, Mark Speakman, said the figure was unfair and too low but stopped short of calling for a formal inquiry on Friday morning. But Minns said $2m was the most the government could allocate to Folbigg without pulling it away from other important programs. The premier said other higher compensation payments to wrongly accused people had occurred after they initiated legal action against governments. [Folbiggs] lawyer is free to take the NSW government to court, to sue the NSW government and we would deal with it in those circumstances, Minns said. Folbiggs lawyer, Rhanee Rego, was contacted for comment. It is not known whether further legal action is being considered. Emma Cunliffe, who was one of the first lawyers to argue Folbigg was innocent, said the $2m figure was inadequate when compared to the money provided to other wrongfully convicted Australians. In 2019, David Eastman was paid $7m by the ACT government after spending 19 years in prison. Lindy Chamberlain was paid $1.5m for 3.5 years in prison three decades ago. Fair compensation would offer parity with past awards, Cuncliffe said. It would allow Kathleen Folbigg sufficient resources to live out her years in peace and comfort and hopefully to access the supports and services that will allow her to heal. Cuncliffe, now a professor at the University of British Columbia, said it was common for government to made a lowball offer of compensation only for it to be revised in the face of public pressure. One of Kathleens closest friends, Tracy Chapman, who has supported her for more than two decades, described the compensation figure as insulting. Its a failure of empathy, Chapman said. Its a failure of accountability. Chapman said there appeared to be no formal process of appeal and that the governments compensation offer was described as non-negotiable. This is the shocking thing, Chapman said. There is no process. There is no system here. They dont have to do anything. The letter of compensation was insulting. It said we did extensive research and this is the figure we came up with and this is not negotiable, its a final offer. Smoke rises from burning buildings in Waraisuplia village in Myanmars Kayah state in 2022 as the military targeted civilians in air and ground attacks. Photograph: Free Burma Rangers/AP Myanmars military is using advanced European technology to protect its drone fleet as it carries out brutal aerial campaigns, research suggests, prompting calls for sanctions against the junta to be tightened. Myanmars military, which has been widely condemned for its indiscriminate attacks against civilians, obtained anti-jamming technology made in Europe through a Chinese company, according to a report by Conflict Armament Research (Car). Its researchers documented downed military drones in Kayah state in the countrys east which had been fitted with advanced navigation modules that protect the drones from jamming and signal spoofing. It had also seen evidence of similar technology used in Chin state, near the countrys western border. There had been efforts to weaponise these unmanned aerial vehicles by fitting release mechanisms under the frame, Car said. Related: Myanmar junta ends state of emergency as it prepares for elections Myanmar has been gripped by conflict since the military seized power in a coup in 2021, provoking an armed resistance made up of anti-junta groups and older ethnic armed groups, which have succeeded in taking control of vast areas of the countrys borders. Over the past 12 months the junta has invested heavily in drone technology in an attempt to catch up with opposition groups, which have made effective use of such weaponry. Myanmar now ranks third globally for the number of drone events, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data project, which tracks conflicts around the world behind only Ukraine and Russia. Myanmar has been subject to an EU arms embargo in various forms since the early 1990s. Sanctions were widened in 2018 in response to military abuses against minorities, including the Rohingya. Further restrictions were imposed after the 2021 military coup. Campaigners, however, say sanctions are not wide-ranging enough, and that measures are inconsistent across the EU, as enforcement falls to individual member states. Yadanar Maung, spokesperson for Justice For Myanmar, said she was unsurprised by Cars findings. This is part of a pattern that has seen exports of communications equipment, spyware, UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle] parts, aircraft and the propulsion system for the navys biggest warship, she said. None of these should have been transferred and, without rigorous enforcement by member states, companies will continue to do business with junta arms brokers with impunity, Yadanar Maung added. The EU also needs to expand its sanctions to effectively block the juntas access to funds, arms and aviation fuel, in coordination with its allies. The best public interest journalism relies on first-hand accounts from people in the know. If you have something to share on this subject you can contact us confidentially using the following methods. Secure Messaging in the Guardian app The Guardian app has a tool to send tips about stories. Messages are end to end encrypted and concealed within the routine activity that every Guardian mobile app performs. This prevents an observer from knowing that you are communicating with us at all, let alone what is being said. If you don't already have the Guardian app, download it (iOS/Android) and go to the menu. Select Secure Messaging. SecureDrop, instant messengers, email, telephone and post See our guide at theguardian.com/tips for alternative methods and the pros and cons of each. Robert Hunter Perkins, Cars head of research, said drone warfare posed a particular challenge for policy makers as it was a rapidly developing field. Offerings on the commercial market are far more advanced than a few years ago. Its hard for industry innovations to be in total lockstep with national, and certainly international, controls. Cars report does not name the manufacturer that produced the anti-jamming technology, or the European country in which it is based. Perkins said the manufacturer had made every effort possible to prevent misuse of its product, which, though sensitive, was not considered either a military or dual-use good and therefore not subject to controls. The manufacturer shipped its products to a vetted distributor, based in China, in March 2023. The distributor then sold the product onwards as part of a much larger shipment, to another China-based company that integrates components into UAVs. In March 2024, the product integrator then sold the goods on to a company based in Ruili, an important trade hub on the border between China and Myanmar. There is no evidence of wrongdoing by the distributor and the product integrator, though Car researchers say the location of the end-user company, based on the border where there had been an escalation in conflict, could have been a red flag. What is important to take away from this investigation is how to use the information that investigators like Car collects in conflict zones: capturing these red flags, alerting the manufacturers and trying to prevent future diversions, Perkins said. Its report said there was a need for sustained monitoring to ensure sanctions were effective. The future of 1 million Palestinians hangs in the balance after Israels security cabinet approved a new ground offensive aimed at taking complete control of Gazas largest city in a decision that has triggered global outrage. The plan put forward by Benjamin Netanyahu for Gaza City would entail a further escalation in the 22-month war and mean more mass displacements of an exhausted and starving population. It has yet to be endorsed by the full cabinet, expected to convene in the next few days, but there have been calls from around the world for the government to change its mind. Germany, Israels second-biggest arms supplier and strongest backer in Europe, on Friday suspended the delivery of weaponry that could be used in Gaza. Related: David Lammy and JD Vance fish while Gaza burns Foreign ministers from the UK, Germany, Italy, Australia and New Zealand said in a joint statement on Saturday that the plans to control Gaza City will make an already perilous situation worse, with the worst-case scenario of mass famine already unfolding in the territory. The ministers said further large-scale military operations in Gaza will aggravate the catastrophic humanitarian situation, endanger the lives of the hostages, and further risk the mass displacement of civilians. An emergency UN security council meeting has been scheduled for 10am EDT on Sunday, after being pushed back from Saturday. The proposal is also reported to have opened a deep rift between Netanyahu and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) leadership but has not been opposed by the Trump administration, Israels most important backer. Hamas said in a statement that Netanyahus plans meant he had abandoned the surviving hostages seized by the group in its surprise attack on Israel in October 2023, which triggered the war. The statement accused the Israeli prime minister of sacrificing them to serve his personal interests and extremist ideological agenda. Before the security cabinet meeting, which began on Thursday and ran through the night, the Israeli prime minister had said Israel planned to take control of the entire territory and eventually hand it to friendly Arab forces opposed to Hamas. The plans announced on Friday morning stop short of that goal, perhaps reflecting the opposition of the IDF chief of general staff, Lt Gen Eyal Zamir, who told Netanyahu on Tuesday he was walking into a trap according to Israeli press reports, warning it would endanger the remaining 20 or so living hostages held by Hamas and further strain Israels army after nearly two years of regional wars. However, in a meeting with the leadership of the IDF southern command on Friday, Zamir vowed to carry out the governments orders. We are advancing detailed preparations at the highest level, accounting for all possible outcomes. As always, we will carry out the mission with utmost precision and determination, the army chief said. NBC published commercial satellite imagery showing a buildup of Israeli military vehicles on the edge of the coastal strip and quoted US officials as saying it could mean a new ground offensive is imminent. Related: US demands for Hezbollah disarmament may force Lebanon into dangerous choice | William Christou The plan laid out by Netanyahus office lists five objectives: disarming Hamas, returning all hostages, demilitarising the entire Gaza Strip, taking security control of the territory, and establishing an alternative civil administration that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority. Israel has repeatedly bombarded Gaza City and carried out numerous raids in its devastated streets, returning to different neighbourhoods again and again as militants regrouped. It is one of the few areas of Gaza that has not been turned into an Israeli buffer zone or placed under evacuation orders. The Netanyahu plan would mean sending ground troops into the few areas of the territory that have not been totally destroyed, making up about 25% of the Gaza Strip. It would force approximately 1 million Palestinians in Gaza City and surrounding areas into evacuation zones in the southern part of the Gaza Strip. Sources familiar with details of the meeting said the evacuation of the city was scheduled to be completed by 7 October. According to Israels Channel 12, the plan is being framed as a limited operation rather than a full invasion, apparently to placate military chiefs wary of long-term occupation, warding off an open rift with the IDF leadership. Some Israeli reports suggested Zamir may resign. A major ground operation could displace tens of thousands of people and further disrupt efforts to deliver food to the territory. The Israeli security cabinets decision has ignited protests at home and abroad. Thousands of demonstrators are preparing to take to the streets over the weekend, while families of the remaining hostages held in Gaza fear an escalation could doom their loved ones. Dozens of them protested outside the security cabinet meeting in Jerusalem on Thursday, and then outside the home of the defence minister, Israel Katz, on Friday. Former top Israeli security officials have also come out against the plan, warning of a quagmire with little added military benefit. The Israeli opposition leader, Yair Lapid, denounced the cabinets move on Friday, calling it a disaster that would lead to many other disasters, including the deaths of hostages and the killing of many soldiers, as well as costing Israeli taxpayers tens of billions and causing diplomatic bankruptcy. The German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, said it was increasingly difficult to understand how Israels plan would accomplish the aims of disarming Hamas and liberating the remaining hostages. Under these circumstances, the German government will not authorise any exports of military equipment that could be used in the Gaza Strip until further notice, he said. The British prime minister, Keir Starmer, said Israels decision was wrong and urged it to immediately reconsider. This action will do nothing to bring an end to this conflict or to help secure the release of the hostages. It will only bring more bloodshed, he said. The UN human rights chief, Volker Turk, said the Israeli governments plan for a complete military takeover of the occupied Gaza Strip must be immediately halted, while the EU Council president, Antonio Costa, said implementation of the plan must have consequences for EU-Israel relations. However, no opposition has come from Washington. When asked about a possible Israeli takeover of Gaza, Donald Trump said on Tuesday: I really cant say. It is going to be pretty much up to Israel. The news site Axios cited a US official as saying that Trump had been appalled by the video released by Hamas showing an Israeli hostage digging his own grave. It influenced the president, and he is going to let the Israelis do what they need to do, the official was quoted as saying. Netanyahus office said that under the plan to defeat Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army would prepare to take control of Gaza City while distributing humanitarian assistance to the civilian population outside combat zones. An Israeli official had earlier said the security cabinet would discuss plans to conquer all or parts of Gaza not yet under Israeli control. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that whatever was approved would be implemented gradually to increase pressure on the Palestinian militant group. Palestinians, at least 90% of whom have already been displaced at least once by the war and of whom nearly one in 10 have been injured in Israeli attacks, are braced for further misery. There is little remaining of the healthcare system and aid agencies such as the UN have been largely shut out by Israel. Aya Mohammad, a 30-year-old Palestinian who, after repeated displacement, had returned with her family to Gaza City, said: Where should we go? We have been displaced and humiliated enough. You know what displacement is? Does the world know? It means your dignity is wiped out, you become a homeless beggar, searching for food, water and medicine. At least 42 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes and shootings across southern Gaza on Thursday, according to local hospitals. Israels military offensive has killed at least 61,000 Palestinians, according to Gazas health ministry, most of them civilians. The figure does not include the thousands believed to be buried under rubble or the thousands killed indirectly as a consequence of the war. When is an occupation not an occupation? When Benjamin Netanyahu orders it. Netanyahu has agreed with his cabinet to send the Israel Defence Force into a full-scale operation against Hamas in Gaza City that he wants to lead to taking over the whole enclave but not actually occupying it. What happens next is an obvious question and it will be a long wait for the answer Israel doesnt even admit its an occupation force on the West Bank, which it captured in 1967. The immediate Israeli objection to a new campaign in Gaza is that it will risk the lives of the hostages that remain held there. Palestinians rush to collect humanitarian aid airdropped by parachutes into Gaza City (AP) While Israels prime minister met with his cabinet in Jerusalem, protestors outside condemned his plans to send the Israel Defence Force to take over the whole enclave. They demanded an end to two years of war. They want a deal with Hamas that will see the hostages released. Ilana Gritzewsky, who was held hostage and later released, accused the government of turning its back on the captives. They decided to sacrifice Matan, my friends, all the hostages. They lied to us. In Nir Oz, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised to bring everyone home. Now hes pushing for full occupation, knowing it will lead to their deaths, Israeli media Ynet reported. Im proof hostages come back through deals. Theres no other way, she told Ynet. Relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip at a demonstration in Tel Aviv (AP) More than 80 per cent of Gaza has been destroyed, its population is starving, and its former rulers, Hamas, reduced to a subterranean rump of extremists holding about 20 living hostages. One day Netanyahu has said he hopes that role will fall to an unknown Arab administration . His cabinet has ruled out handing it over to the Palestinian Authority, which runs most of the Palestinian cities on the Israeli occupied West Bank. In the meantime, Netanyahu believes he can keep the region boiling and maintain his awkward governing coalition with Israels very extreme right-wing parties, and by staying in power stay out of court, where hes on trial on corruption allegations, and perhaps out of the clink. He has been staring at a rising tide of condemnation from around the world for Israels conduct in Gaza. The Jewish State now risks losing its association agreement with the European Union - and the trade access that gives to a massive market - in a drive to isolate Israel led by the Netherlands. A Palestinian man walks near the rubble of houses destroyed during an Israeli raid (Reuters) Hamas has few friends, if any, left. Egypt, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, who have maintained communications with the extremist movement, signed a UN declaration demanding that Hamas disarm and relinquish power in Gaza. The 22-member Arab League, the entire European Union and another 17 countries backed the declaration. Israel might have paused at this moment. Considered whether it was wise, or ethical, to continue to kill Gazans in a campaign that to most of the outside world looks like a deliberate annihilation of the ability of the Palestinian population in Gaza to survive. Israels army chief of staff, Eyal Zamir, has openly opposed Netanyahus plans for Gaza. Before the Jerusalem cabinet meeting he repeated his opposition stating: "We'll continue to express our position without fear, in a matter-of-fact, independent and professional manner. Eyal Zamir (2nd from right) has openly opposed Netanyahus plans for Gaza (GPO) "We're not dealing in theory, but with matters concerning life and death and protecting the state, and we do so while looking our soldiers and the citizens of Israel in the eye," he added. "We'll continue to act responsibly, with integrity and determination, guided solely by the best interests and security of the state," he told a general staff briefing. But Israels PM is also already an indicted war criminal with an arrest warrant hanging over his head. The UN has accused his country of genocide in Gaza. Even Donald Trump has backed away from his fantasy of exiling Gazas population and turning its beaches into resorts. He has clearly concluded he needs to stay on in office, keep his nation at war, and the blood flowing hard or stability and peace will be his cold reckoning. Netanyahu has long forgotten that its not all about him. Israel is facing a growing chorus of international condemnation and potential sanctions following Benjamin Netanyahus decision to occupy all of Gaza in a renewed offensive. The plans, revealed after a marathon meeting with his cabinet, include a total evacuation of Gaza City said to be completed by 7 October this year after which the north of the strip will effectively be a free-fire zone for Israels forces in their final attempt to wipe out Hamas. Netanyahus new policy has tested close allies as Israel faces accusations of driving Gazas 2.1 million people close to famine and as its prime minister is indicted for war crimes. In Israel, families of hostages held by militants in Gaza and opposition leaders condemned Netanyahu for a decision that they said would put hostages lives at risk, adding: We cant leave them in the hands of these monsters any longer. Sir Keir Starmer denounced the decision as wrong and urged Israel to reconsider the new offensive, or it will bring more bloodshed. What we need is a ceasefire, a surge in humanitarian aid, the release of all hostages by Hamas and a negotiated solution, he added. Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey went further, saying: Rather than sitting on its hands and issuing strongly worded statements, the UK government needs to take decisive action. Keir Starmer needs to stop the export of all UK arms to Israel today and sanction Netanyahu and his cabinet. The Israeli political-security cabinet approved Benjamin Netanyahus plan to take full military control of Gaza City early on Friday (AFP/Getty) Germany, a key European ally of Israel, immediately banned the export of weapons to Israel that could be used in Gaza, a move Netanyahu criticised for rewarding Hamas terrorism. German chancellor Friedrich Merz said the ban would remain in place until further notice after the even harsher military action by the Israeli military made the chances of a ceasefire increasingly difficult. Elsewhere, Norways vast sovereign wealth fund is also reviewing its investments in Israeli companies. Ursula von der Leyen, the EU Commissions president, demanded that the plan to take over Gaza must be reconsidered, while EU Council president Antonio Costa added that the action must have consequences for EU-Israel relations. In its response, Belgium summoned the Israeli ambassador for a dressing down, saying its foreign ministry wanted to express total disapproval of this decision, but also of the continued colonisation ... and the desire to annex the West Bank. The Netherlands said the Netanyahu plan was the wrong move, and was expected to intensify its efforts to impose economic sanctions on Israel by demanding that the EU end its association agreement, which gives it some free trade access to Europe. Israel continues to strike the besieged enclave (Reuters) Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey all condemned Israels plans for what, effectively, will be the open-ended reoccupation of Gaza, which was last controlled by Israel in 2005. Netanyahu is keen to avoid the use of the term occupation and refers to the planned campaign as a takeover. However, there was a resounding silence from the US. Mike Huckabee, Mr Trumps ambassador to Israel, said that some countries appeared to be putting pressure on Israel rather than on the militant group Hamas, whose deadly attack on Israel in 2023 ignited the war. The Israeli military says it controls around 75 per cent of Gaza. Amir Avivi, a retired Israeli brigadier general, estimated that if the military did take Gaza City, it would give Israel control of about 85 per cent of the strip. Around 900,000 people now live in Gaza City, including many who have been displaced by the military. Under international law, an invading nation is responsible for the wellbeing of the occupied people regardless of whether the incoming forces want the responsibility. Around 900,000 people now live in Gaza City, including many who have been displaced by the military (AP) Netanyahu said on Thursday that Israel did not want to keep the Gaza Strip, but to establish a security perimeter and to hand over the territory to Arab forces. Hamas has warned the Israeli government that seizing control of Gaza City would mean sacrificing the hostages inside the besieged enclave. The militant group said the Israeli government does not care about the fate of its hostages, adding in a statement: They understand that expanding the aggression means sacrificing them. There are an estimated 50 hostages still held in Gaza, of whom Israeli officials believe 20 are alive. Most of those freed so far emerged as a result of diplomatic negotiations. Talks toward a ceasefire that could have seen more hostages released collapsed in July. Mahmoud Abbas, the president of Palestine, described Netanyahus plan as dangerous and one that could result in an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe. He added that it is part of a wider policy of genocide, systematic killing, starvation, and siege. The Israeli military says it controls around 75 per cent of Gaza (UN OCHA) The presidents office made a direct appeal to President Trump to intervene to halt the implementation of these resolutions and, instead, to fulfil his promise to end the war and pursue lasting peace. The Palestinian foreign ministry also warned that the move will push civilians into a certain death spiral. The ministry accused Israel of waging a war against civilians without justification, and condemned the UN Security Councils failure to act. The Israeli leader has said there will be no end to the war until Hamas is disarmed. A full occupation of Gaza would reverse a 2005 decision in which Israel withdrew thousands of Jewish settlers and its forces, while retaining control over its borders, airspace and utilities. Hamas-led militants triggered the war when they stormed into Israel on 7 October 2023, killing around 1,200 people and abducting 251 people. Israels retaliatory campaign has killed over 61,000 Palestinians, according to Gazas Health Ministry. Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel intends to take full military control of the Gaza Strip before handing over governing responsibilities to Arab forces. The Israeli prime minister spoke to Fox News Bill Hemmer ahead of a key security cabinet meeting to decide whether to order a full military occupation of the wartorn strip a move that UN officials have said would have catastrophic consequences. When asked if Israel would take control of the entire 26-mile strip, Mr Netanyahu said on Wednesday: We intend to. We don't want to keep it. We want to have a security perimeter, he continued. We don't want to govern it. We don't want to be there as a governing body. He said that Israel instead wanted to hand over the territory to Arab forces that would govern it, although it remains unclear who would take on the role. Protests have sprung up around Israel as Netanyahu meets with the security cabinet (AP) Hamas has said that Mr Netanyahus statements confirm that he seeks to get rid of his prisoners and sacrifice them to serve his personal interests and extremist ideological agendas. They added: We affirm that Gaza will remain resistant to the occupation and attempts to impose guardianship over it. Expanding the aggression against our Palestinian people will not be a walk in the park, and the price will be heavy and costly for the occupation... Meanwhile, a Jordanian official told Reuters that Arabs would only support what Palestinians agree and decide on, affirming that security in Gaza must be done through legitimate Palestinian institutions. The security cabinet session follows a meeting this week with the head of the military, which Israeli officials have described as tense as Israel's military chief of staff, Lt Gen Eyal Zamir, pushed back on expanding the campaign. Eyal Zamir, second right, seen here in 2012, warns military expansion will endanger the remaining hostages (GPO) Israeli media has said Mr Netanyahu sees this as the only way to destroy Hamas and free the remaining hostages following a breakdown of ceasefire talks. But Lt Gen Zamir and some other ministers have warned this move could be disastrous for the hostages and the population within Gaza. Opinion polls show that most Israelis want the war to end in a deal that would see the release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas. It is believed that of the 50 remaining hostages inside Gaza, around 20 are still alive. Families of the hostages and released hostages, alongside hundreds of supporters, gathered to protest outside the Israeli cabinet session in Jerusalem on Wednesday evening. The families chained themselves in front of government offices. Anat Angrest, mother of the still-captive Matan Angrest, said: For a year and 10 months weve been trying to believe that everything is being done to bring them back you have failed. Now its necessary to do the one thing the government hasnt yet done put a comprehensive deal on the table that will bring them all home together. The families of hostages and released hostages chain themselves in front of government offices as Netanyahu met with the cabinet (The Hostages Families Forum Headquarters) Exactly a year ago, we were told that military pressure would bring them home a few weeks after that, six hostages were murdered in tunnels. Meanwhile, Omar Awadallah, the Palestinian deputy foreign minister, told The Independent he believes that Mr Netanyahus statements were intended to tank any ceasefire deal and that true security for Israelis and Palestinians can only come through peace not more conflict. Netanyahu saying this is an attempt to undermine any effort for a real ceasefire in the Gaza Strip he is using this smoke screen of controlling all of Gaza while Israel is already the occupying power, he said. We believe that security comes with peace, not with not reoccupying Gaza or committing genocide against the Palestinian people or violating international law. Security comes with peace, with stability, with what the international community is willing to do to achieve that. He said that while Palestinians welcomed additional pressure on Israel from countries like the UK and France, who have pledged to recognise the state of Palestine under certain conditions. To the international community, are we going to accept apartheid colonialism in the 21 century? he said. This is our problem with the international community and some international players you should take action. Words are not not enough. More Palestinians were shot dead while trying to secure food yesterday (AP) As Mr Netanyahu discussed the next steps of Israels military expansion, at least 42 Palestinians were killed in airstrikes and shootings across southern Gaza, according to local hospitals on Thursday. At least 13 were seeking aid in an Israeli military zone in southern Gaza where UN aid convoys are regularly overwhelmed by looters and desperate crowds. Another two were killed on roads leading to nearby sites run by the controversial US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), according to Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies. Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) released a report on Thursday in which it called for an end to the dismantling of the controversial aid organisations scheme, as well as the restoration of the UN-coordinated aid delivery mechanism. Raquel Ayora, general director for MSF Spain, said: In MSFs nearly 54 years of operations, rarely have we seen such levels of systematic violence against unarmed civilians. The GHF distribution sites masquerading as aid have morphed into a laboratory of cruelty. This must stop now. The FBI has fired more top officials who had investigated President Donald Trump or who responded to the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot. Under the Trump-appointed Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino, the agency has seen an array of ousters, which critics say were essentially done in retaliation against agents involved in politically sensitive cases. Five new ousters, among them former Acting Director Brian Driscoll, were reported Thursday by The New York Times, which cited people familiar with the matter. Driscoll had refused to turn over the names of FBI agents who worked on the investigation into the January 6 attack, when a mob of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol building in a failed attempt to overturn Trumps 2020 election loss. The FBI has fired more top officials who had investigated President Donald Trump or who responded to the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot (Getty) Last night, I was informed that tomorrow will be my last day in the F.B.I., Driscoll said in a message to his colleagues about his departure, which the NYT shared. I understand that you may have a lot of questions regarding why, for which I currently have no answers. No cause has been articulated at this time. Steven Jensen, head of the FBIs Washington field office, who played a major role in responding to the January 6 attack, was also forced out this week, according to the NYTs sources. Additionally, agents Walter Giardina and Christopher Meyer, who both worked on investigations involving Trump, were ousted, per the sources. Spencer Evans, a senior agent at the bureau, was also dismissed, the paper reported. Trump supporters have accused Evans of denying religious exemptions for the COVID-19 vaccine when he worked for the agencys human resources. When The Independent reached out to the FBI about the oustings, the agency declined to comment. The FBI Agents Association, an advocacy group for current and retired FBI agents, said in a statement Thursday it was deeply concerned by the reported firings. Agents are not given the option to pick and choose their cases, and these Agents carried out their assignments with professionalism and integrity. Most importantly, they followed the law, the advocacy group said. It added: If these Agents are fired without due process, it makes the American people less safe. Agents need to be focused on their work and not on potentially being illegally fired based on their assignments. The FBI Agents Association, an advocacy group for current and retired FBI agents, said Thursday it was deeply concerned by the reported firings (Getty) In late January, shortly after Trump took office, multiple top FBI officials promoted by former Director Christopher Wray were told to resign or retire, and if they didnt, they would be demoted or reassigned, journalist Ken Dilanian reported, citing multiple sources. Trump was the one who appointed Wray, but by the time he finished his first term, their relationship soured. He applauded his December 2024 resignation, writing on Truth Social at the time it was a great day for America as it will end the Weaponization of what has become known as the United States Department of Injustice. In early February, FBI agents who worked on investigations into Trump and on cases surrounding the January 6 attack sued the Justice Department to block the administration from unlawful and retaliatory purges. Billowing smoke and flames from the Muskeg, Trail, and Knee fires in northern Saskatchewan, Canada - AFP The smell of smoke from Canadas wildfires has travelled 2,500 miles across the Atlantic to Shropshire. Residents in Herongate, a suburb of the market town of Shrewsbury, reported feeling their lungs tightening and having to close their windows to escape the smoke. Wildfires have been blazing across Canada, forcing evacuations from Vancouver Island on the Pacific Coast to Newfoundland in the North Atlantic. Over 17 million acres have already been burned this year during their wildfire season, with the armed forces and Coast Guard drafted in to battle the flames. Smoke has spread across almost the entire span of the northern hemisphere. An aerial view of Wesley Ridge wildfire on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada - Anadolu Residents told The Shropshire Star: It smelt quite strong at about 11pm but I couldnt see anything in the area, no sign of drifting smoke or a bonfire or anything like that. I feel sorry for anyone with a lung condition, they would have suffered if they could taste that smell. This years devastation in Canada is significantly above the 25-year average, although it remains below the 2023 record when more than 45 million acres were destroyed. Nasa satellite imagery shows a trail of toxic carbon monoxide stretching from Canada over western and northern Europe, reaching as far as Russia. While unlikely to impact British air quality, this week 81 million Americans across 14 states were put under air quality alerts as smoke poured over the northern border. Residents reported hazy skies as far south as Texas. The Met Office confirmed that theres a high likelihood that Canadian wildfire smoke is over parts of the UK currently, adding that light winds could have allowed particles to sink to ground level. This is not the first time the UK has smelled Canadas burning forests. Earlier this summer when wildfires raged over Canada, residents from four separate Doncaster suburbs reported being woken by a strong smell of burning and smoke despite no incidents being recorded by the local fire service. Earlier in Canadas 2025 wildfire season, air quality monitors reported drops in Italian, French, and Swiss cities, connecting the shifts to Canadian smoke. What causes wildfires Fires at the height of summer are usually caused by natural events like lightning strikes. However, firefighters from Ashcroft, British Columbia, reported last week that a wildfire just south of the town was sparked when an Osprey dropped a fish it had caught onto power lines. Changing climate and land use are increasing the severity and frequency of wildfires. The World Meteorological Organisation estimates that the number of global wildfires will rise by 50 per cent by 2100. This summer has seen wildfires raging across much of Europe too, with France battling its worst blazes for 75 years, tearing through an area the size of Paris. A heatwave across the south of the continent has also sparked wildfires in Spain, Greece, Turkey and Cyprus, causing widespread devastation. Attorney General Pam Bondi hasnt appeared on Fox News since backlash to the Trump administrations handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files started. Bondi, once a regular on the cable giant, was last on-air as a guest with Sean Hannity on June 30, just days before the Justice Department and FBI dropped a bombshell memo about the Epstein case that ignited weeks of chaos, Mediaite first noted. The memo poured cold water on the theory that Epstein had a client list, concluded that he died in a New York jail cell by suicide, and said that no further documents in the case would be released to the public. It was the beginning of weeks of uproar over the administrations failure to release the full Epstein files despite making numerous promises to do so, and Bondi was in the middle of the MAGA firestorm. Fox News has largely followed President Donald Trumps lead and focused its attention on anything other than the controversy, which has dominated coverage at other outlets. Attorney General Pam Bondi hasnt appeared since June 30. Since being in office, she has been interviewed on the network regularly, including on Jesse Watters Primetime in February to issue 'breaking news' about the Epstein files (Fox News) Bondi has played a central role in the Epstein files saga. She told Fox News that the Epstein files were sitting on her desk back in February, but the comment came back to haunt her after the memo was released on the Fourth of July weekend. Its sitting on my desk right now to review, Bondi told John Roberts in February, who asked if the Justice Department would release the list of clients. Thats been a directive by President Trump. Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy challenged Trumps press secretary Karoline Leavitt about Bondis comment at a press conference in July, following the DOJ and FBI memo. So, what happened to the Epstein client list that the attorney general said she had on her desk? Doocy asked Leavitt. Well, I think if you go back and look at what the attorney general said in that interview, which was on your network, on Fox News Leavitt said, before Doocy interrupted her to repeat Bondis quote from February. Leavitt pushed back and said that Bondi was referring to the entirety of all of the paperwork, all of the paper in relation to Jeffrey Epsteins crimes. Bondi has played a central role in the Epstein files saga. She told the network the Epstein files were sitting on her desk back in February, but the comment came back to haunt her (REUTERS) Bondi also infuriated MAGA after she invited right-wing influencers to the White House and gave them Phase 1 binders. The binders contained information already in the public domain. Some of the headlines Fox has run about Bondi since have been less than favorable. Bondi under siege after DOJ reveals no Epstein client list, a July 7 headline read, which again railed against the comment about the files being on her desk. The network also covered the reported feud between Bondi and Deputy Director Dan Bongino, headlined: Inside Dan Bonginos tense meeting with White House officials over Jeffrey Epstein fallout. Despite some noise that he could walk over frustration with the Epstein case, Bongino remained in his role. Bondi briefly spoke with Fox correspondent David Spunt on July 18 during a tour of Alcatraz Island, but she did not appear as a guest as she has done many times previously. While Bondi was Floridas Attorney General, she once guest hostedThe Five and was a regular commentator on the network for years. The homelessness minister has dramatically resigned after being accused of "staggering hypocrisy" over accusations she gave her tenants notice and then raised the rent at her east London townhouse by 700 a month. Rushanara Ali had been facing mounting calls to quit after her tenants were reportedly told their fixed-term contract would not be renewed because the property was being put up for sale. After leaving the property, the tenants discovered it had been put on the market again, but the monthly rent had increased from 3,300 to 4,000, according to reports first published by the i Paper. Rushanara Ali has resigned as homelessness minister (UK Parliament) The Lib Dems said she had fundamentally misunderstood her role, which was to tackle homelessness, not to increase it, while the Tories accused Sir Keir of presiding over "a government of hypocrisy and self-service". Kevin Hollinrake, the Conservative party chairman, described the allegations about Ms Ali as a "classic case of 'do as I say, not as I do"'. You can't simply say, well this current situation is not fit for purpose, we need to change it, and then not abide by those changes yourself," he told GB News. Under the Renters' Rights Bill Ms Alis department is bringing through Parliament, landlords who evict tenants in order to sell their property would be banned from relisting it for rent for six months. In a letter to the prime minister, Ms Ali who is the Labour MP for Bethnal Green and Stepney said that she was standing down and that remaining in the role would be "a distraction from the government. But she insisted she had "at all times" followed "all legal requirements", adding that she had taken her responsibilities "seriously". In response, the PM thanked Ms Ali for her "diligent work" and told her it would have "a lasting impact". Her resignation will be a blow to Keir Starmer, following a series of ministerial departures from his government. It comes just months after a Labour whip quit over the partys welfare plans and the international development minister Anneliese Dodds resigned in protest at Sir Keirs decision to slash the UKs foreign aid budget. Louise Haigh also quit as transport secretary after admitting she was convicted for making a false report to police over a mobile phone being stolen 10 years ago. The PM thanks Ali for her diligent work in government (PA) Tom Darling, from the Renters' Reform Coalition, said Ms Alis position was completely untenable given she was going to be required to defend the governments legislation outlawing practices she herself had recently engaged in. The government must get on now and end no-fault evictions urgently so that no more tenants are subject to the kind of behaviour Rushanara Ali engaged in. London Renters Union spokesperson Sian Smith said Ms Ali's actions were "indefensible" and a "clear conflict of interest" with the Bill in its final stages. A Liberal Democrat spokesperson said: "Rushanara Ali fundamentally misunderstood her role. Her job was to tackle homelessness, not to increase it. "At a time of widespread political disillusionment, her actions were staggeringly irresponsible and only added insult to injury after years of delay for renters' rights reform under the Conservatives. "The prime minister must appoint a new homelessness minister swiftly who will take the need to end homelessness once and for all seriously." Three of the six MPs (left to right): Anneliese Dodds, Andrew Gwynne and Rushanara Ali. Composite: UK Parliament A sixth MP has now left Keir Starmers government since Labour won power in 2024. Here is a rundown of those who have left since Labour came to power on 4 July 2024. Rushanara Ali The homelessness minister resigned after it emerged tenants of a property she owns who had not had their lease renewed because she planned to sell the property had seen the same property back up for let with a substantial rent increase shortly afterwards. Her spokesperson said the property had been put up for sale, and the tenants offered the chance to stay until that process ended. But Ali said she stepped down to avoid becoming a distraction from the governments work. Vicky Foxcroft The Labour whip, responsible for ensuring discipline among the partys MPs, herself resigned because she could not support the governments welfare plans. Foxcroft, a shadow disability minister before the general election, said she would not be able to vote for cuts to disability payments. Anneliese Dodds The international development minister quit over Starmers decision to almost halve the international aid budget to pay for an increase in defence spending. Dodds had worked closely with the former shadow chancellor John McDonnell in the past and her presence by Starmers side had been seen by some as an indication he would not turn his back entirely on the left of the party. Andrew Gwynne Sacked as a health minister and suspended from the party after it emerged he had sent messages in which he said he hoped a pensioner who did not support him would die before the next set of elections, and made racist and sexist comments including some about Angela Rayner and Diane Abbott. Tulip Siddiq The anti-corruption minister resigned over claims that her family ties to her aunt Sheikh Hasina the ousted prime minister of Bangladesh accused of corruption were harming the government. While an investigation found no evidence Siddiq had broken any rules, it was suggested she could have been more alive to the reputational risks. She resigned, saying that to stay would have been a distraction from the work of the government. Louise Haigh Haigh resigned after it emerged she had pleaded guilty to a fraud offence after wrongly reporting a mobile phone stolen to the police. Haigh was told to resign by No 10 for a possible breach of the ministerial code. Haigh said the offence was spent and sources said she had declared the conviction to Starmer upon becoming a shadow minister in 2020. But a No 10 source said they did not believe she had been fully transparent and that her departure was more to do with that than with the original offence. This article was amended on 8 August 2025. An earlier version of the main image misidentified the MP Oliver Ryan as Andrew Gwynne. Palestinian children and adults in Deir al-Balah, Gaza, on 7 August 2025. Photograph: Hassan Jedi/Anadolu via Getty Images Hanin Al-Batsh estimates she has signed up for more than 80 Bluesky accounts in the last six months. Like hundreds of other Palestinians struggling to buy or even find food in Gaza, Al-Batsh uses Bluesky to promote her crowdfunding campaigns, hoping to raise enough money for flour and milk for her children in a given week. Her posts on the text-based social network have grown increasingly desperate as Israel tightens its grip of the Gaza Strip, forcing millions into starvation. Hello friends, my children have become weak, have lost weight, are malnourished, and have very low iron levels, Al-Batshs latest post reads. Related: Netanyahu plans to fully occupy Gaza before handing governance to friendly Arab nations Images the young mother shared with the Guardian show her two sons, one-and-a-half-year-old Ahmed and three-year-old Adam, sprawled out on a makeshift bed on the floor of the warehouse where they are sheltering. As hunger is spreading rapidly through Gaza, and aid remains inaccessible to many, Palestinians are turning to crowdsourcing campaigns hosted on sites like GoFundMe and Chuffled as a lifeline. But as they seek to get the word about their campaigns out in the world via social media, their accounts are frequently shut down or marked as spam. Thats especially the case on Bluesky, the young Twitter alternative popular in Gaza. Bluesky has deactivated nearly all of Al-Batshs accounts after just a few days, she said. The longest she has been able to hold on to one is 12 days. When the social network marks one account as spam, she creates another one, hoping to reassure potential donors that she is not a bot. The shutdowns, therefore, ironically force her to resort to exactly the behavior that Bluesky, in its effort to combat bots and scams, is seeking to root out: batch following and then repeatedly tagging the same people who engaged with their previous accounts. Al-Batsh no longer tags people in every post after a stern email from Bluesky, hoping to abide by the platforms rules. But now no one can find my posts, she said. In other words, in an act of desperation, these Palestinians often do operate like bots. With every fresh account, it becomes harder for people like Al-Batsh to shake the accusation. Low follower counts and posts that repeatedly tag others en masse are often tell-tale signs of a bot. Recently, though, a grassroots answer to the problem has emerged. Since May, new Bluesky accounts Al-Batsh has made have something new: all her posts end with a green checkmark emoji and the phrase: Verified by Molly Shah, a reference to a Germany-based lawyer-turned-activist who has been independently verifying Gaza crowdfunding campaigns. There are a handful of other volunteers doing the same work on Bluesky. And similar efforts exist on other social media platforms. Some are even run by entire teams of volunteers: theres GazaFunds and Radio Watermelon on X and Instagram, and Gaza Vetters on Tumblr. Still, Shah said, she wished there was a better system in place. This centers me too much, she said. A guerrilla verification network Shah has been on Bluesky since the early days of the relatively young platforms life, when she had only about 7,000 followers and knew of only one or two people from Gaza with a Bluesky account, including one person named Jamal. Thats how her verification project started: she had encouraged Jamal, a friend of a friend, to open a Bluesky account and shared his posts on her own profile, hoping to bring attention to his crowdfunding campaign in early 2024. It worked. Jamal raised $10,000. Shahs verification project snowballed as more people in Gaza joined the social network. Many reached out to her, hoping shed share their campaigns with her now 57,000 followers. She began asking for information about the individuals or families in the campaigns before sharing them, and thats how her guerrilla authentication network got its start. Today, Shah has a spreadsheet of more than 300 accounts shes vetted and verified. They use the same badge of authentication as Al-Batsh, verified by Molly Shah, in their posts and profile pages. The stamp doesnt always prevent a Bluesky account from being flagged as spam by the companys systems, but her hope is that it will help other people on Bluesky confirm that the person behind the account is genuine. The verification seems to help people recognize that theyre real people, Shah said. I just want people to get to know Palestinians. To me, I dont think of it as fundraising as the main goal, though Im happy to help them do that. I think of it as [combatting] the persistent and insistent dehumanization of Palestinians. Related: Everything we do is under siege: small fundraisers try to provide lifeline in Gaza The vetting process isnt standard, Shah said, and can include doing a video call, having someone Shah has already vetted or knows personally to vouch or viewing documentation that proves their identity and shows that theyre still in Gaza. All of this takes time. Al-Batsh said she waited two months before she heard back from Shah. Occasionally, Shah will come across a person pretending to be in Gaza or misrepresenting their situation in other ways. For the most part, the people who reach out to her are in fact real people in Gaza in need of help. Stopping devastating scams Gaza has reached catastrophic levels of famine, according to aid and human rights organizations, which raises the stakes of each fundraising campaign and even each post on Bluesky. Duaa Al-Madhoun, another mother in Gaza trying to feed her three children, said she, too, has had dozens of her Bluesky accounts deleted. Buying flour, milk and diapers cost her $100 a day when those items are available. Lately, diapers and milk have been harder to find, she said, and shell go some days without eating so that she can feed her children. My child wears nylon bags, no diapers. He suffers from diaper rash, Al-Madhoun said. Food is scarce and very expensive. If food is available, I just eat some rice. The impact of a fundraiser can be near immediate, according to Nat Calhoun, who aids several families in Gaza with their campaigns. In one case, Calhoun said, a family they are in touch with in Mawasi, Khan Younis, reached out to them about an older woman in their town who had not eaten for several days. They were able to raise $110 to buy her flour and transferred the money to her the next day. It can be instantaneous, Calhoun said. I dont think people realize that your help can make an impact in a day. To receive the money collected through fundraisers, Palestinians need to work with a receiver, someone outside of Gaza who sets up the campaign and collects the money on their behalf and wires the money through their banks. Thats because the platforms use payment processors that do not operate in Gaza. The system has meant that Palestinians have been required to place a great deal of trust in these middle actors, who are people theyve never met. It also means the campaigns, and the Palestinians relying on them, are vulnerable to scams. Calhoun and Shah say many of the scams they do see exploit and victimize Palestinians. Al-Batshs first campaign was hosted on GoFundMe by a woman who listed her location as Tucson, Arizona. The campaign raised nearly $37,000. Al-Batsh received about $34,000 before the campaign host told Al-Batsh that she had trouble logging into the campaign. I never received the rest of the money, Al-Batsh said. It breaks my brain to think about, Calhoun said. Its frustrating because the people in Gaza cant make their own fundraisers. Theyre at the whims of somebody else and they have to trust somebody to do good by them. Requesting changes from Bluesky A spam label on Bluesky is enough to deter donations. Ad hoc verification systems like Shahs provide some level of guarantee that the money people are donating will actually help someone in Gaza rather than a bot farm or scammer. When Shah shares a campaign, it makes a difference. Al-Batshs campaign has received 10 donations ranging from $5 to $505 in the two days since Shah shared her post. Before that, she was averaging two to three donations a day, if that. Though her verification network has helped some Palestinians maintain their online lifelines, Shah says its not a sustainable system. She is overwhelmed with requests and had to decide to share only one account a day. In the meantime, thousands of Bluesky users have signed open letters and made public pleas asking the company to improve its moderation practices. We understand that some Gazans post in a way that may trigger some of Blueskys internal automated spam rules when posting fundraising links, one of the open letters, with 7,000 signatures, reads. However, treating a group of extremely vulnerable people the same way that the platform treats t-shirt bots and phishers is not only incredibly cruel, it has also exacerbated the situation of desperate people just attempting to survive. Bluesky said in response to the open letter that the company was committed to ensuring people in Gaza can be heard on the platform. However, it continued, some of the behaviors of these accounts violated community guidelines, and it encouraged users to focus their efforts through authentic accounts. Bluesky did not respond to a request for comment. We cant get every moderation decision right, which is why we maintain an appeals process, the post continued. Shah and others connected with people in Gaza say few people get a response from the company when they file an appeal. It remains difficult for Palestinians to maintain their accounts for more than a few days. Bluesky had an opportunity to improve its moderation system in the early days of the war in Gaza, when there were fewer people on the platform, Shah said. She wishes they had taken it. It sounds like Bluesky is saying: Were getting rid of spammers, but really what theyre getting rid of are people who are desperate, she said. Jacob Calland had been riding as a passenger on the back of his friends e-scooter, and neither of them had been wearing any protection (Carly Calland) When Carly Calland remembers her son Jacob, she pictures a boy always busy and on the move. He was always dressed, out the door, with his mates all day, come back, eat, sleep, computers. It was like one of those eat, sleep, breathe, repeat kind of things, but for a teenage boy, she laughed. But on 19 March, Jacob Calland left his familys house in Wythenshawe, Manchester, for the last time. Just 18 minutes after he closed the front door, the 14-year-old was involved in a catastrophic collision. He had been riding as a passenger on the back of his friends e-scooter, and neither of them had been wearing any protection. Carly never allowed Jacob an e-scooter of his own and often warned him they were illegal and dangerous. But she says a split-second decision to ride on the back of someone elses cost him his life, and is now calling for tighter regulations around the vehicles. I was at my mums house on the afternoon of the crash, and I got a call from my partner, Carly recalled. Honestly, at first I just thought, Oh whats he done now? Medics put Jacob into a coma after the collision (Carly Calland) I knew he had been knocked over, but I didnt know - and didnt want to believe - how serious it was. Carly raced to the scene and found her son already in a coma in the back of an ambulance. As he was taken to the hospital, she followed in what she described as the longest journey. I was just thinking, whats he done? Is he alive? How bad is it? she said. I didnt know what had happened at this point. I just knew he was in a coma. When she arrived, the police were waiting. They explained to her that Jacob had been on the back of an e-scooter that had been involved in a crash. Jacob had been rushed in for scans that revealed he had a large bleed to his brain. Medics decided to keep him in a coma in a bid to prevent his brain from swelling further and give his body a chance to rest. It was surreal seeing your baby like that, Carly said. I dont even know how to explain it. It was horrible. Over the next week, Jacob was kept in intensive care, where he was cared for by doctors around the clock. But eight days after the collision, Jacob died after suffering a cardiac arrest. I felt so powerless, Carly said. Its like things are taken out of your control, and theres nothing you can do about it. You feel like you're the mum, you need to protect them. I feel like when they told me, everything just got taken away from me. There was nothing I could do but just be there with him, tell him how much I love him, and tell him how much I'm proud of him. I'm proud of the fight that he gave. Carly said seeing Jacob in hospital was surreal (Carly Calland) Almost five months on from the tragedy, Carly is putting her energy into trying to make sure what happened to Jacob doesnt happen to anyone else. She has launched Jacobs Journey, a campaign aimed at changing the law around e-scooter use and calling for tighter regulations. Jacobs Journey is petitioning the government to ban the sale and use of e-scooters to anyone under 18, as well as making helmets and protection mandatory and prohibiting the carrying of passengers. It is currently illegal to ride a privately owned e-scooter on a public road or pavement, but they are widely found for sale. There is no legal minimum age to purchase a private e-scooter in the UK. Jacob's never, ever going to come back for me, so what I'm doing doesn't make any difference to my life, she continued. I'm doing this out of the goodness of my heart to save other people's lives. As part of the campaign, she released a video telling the devastating story behind Jacobs death. She said she hopes putting her life out there in the rawest form encourages other people to stop and think before they make the same choice. He left this front door and 18 minutes later, he was no longer here, she said. He got on the back of that scooter and didn't think twice about the repercussions. That's the message I'm trying to get across to people who make a split decision - this can be your outcome. I never thought it was going to happen to me, Jacob never thought it was going to happen to him. Greater Manchester Police is continuing to appeal for witnesses in connection with the collision, and has issued an appeal to trace the driver of a white 2015 onward Kia Venga who they believe could have vital information. Detective Constable Steve Pennington said: "This was a truly tragic incident that has devastated a young boys family. Our thoughts remain with Jacobs loved ones, and we continue to support his family as they navigate this unimaginable loss. We are very keen to speak to the driver of the white Kia Venga who may have witnessed the moments leading up to the collision. I want to be clear that they are not under suspicion we believe they could have vital information that may help us understand what happened. If you are that driver, or know who they might be, please get in touch with us as soon as possible. A Department for Transport spokesperson said: Road safety is a top priority. Every death on our roads is a tragedy and our thoughts are with everyone who has lost a loved one in this way. The use of private e-scooters is illegal in any public space. Riding rental scooters on the pavement is also illegal and local authorities should have a plan in place to tackle such behaviour. The suspect in a mass shooting that killed a bartender and three patrons at a bar in Montana has been arrested after a week-long manhunt. Michael Brown, a 45-year-old U.S. Army veteran, is accused of fatally shooting four people with a rifle at the Owl Bar in the tight-knit community of Anaconda on August 1. He was taken into custody Friday, according to the Lewis and Clark County Sheriffs Office. Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen identified the victims as bar attendant Nancy Kelley, 64, and customers Daniel Baillie, 59, David Leach, 70, and Tony Palm, 74. Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte commented on the arrest shortly after it was announced, and praised law enforcement for their efforts. May God continue to be with the families of the four victims still grieving their loss, he wrote on social media. Michael Brown, a suspect in a mass shooting at a Montana bar, was arrested on Friday, officials said. (Montana Department of Justice) Brown, who lived next door to the bar, allegedly entered the Owl Bar on East 3rd Street last Friday, with the first gunshots ringing out about 10.30 a.m., according to the Montana Division of Criminal Investigation. Bar owner David Gwerder previously told NBC Montana that he wasnt aware of any conflicts between the victims and Brown. "He knew everybody that was in that bar. I guarantee you that," he said. "He didn't have any running dispute with any of them. I just think he snapped." The Owl Bar was the scene of the shooting on August 1. The owner said he wasnt aware of conflicts between Brown and the victims. (AP) The suspected gunman was believed to have used his own weapon in the shooting, Knudsen said, before he was seen fleeing the bar on security footage. This is an unstable individual who walked in and murdered four people in cold blood for no reason whatsoever. So there absolutely is concern for the public, Knudsen warned, as police launched the search for the suspect. Law enforcement had contact with the suspect at about noon on the day of the shooting during a chase, Knudsen said. He then fled to the nearby foothills in a stolen white Ford F-150 with camping gear inside. Authorities believe that Brown ditched that vehicle and stole a different one. A photo released by the attorney generals office showed Brown having removed his clothes, only wearing underwear. He remained on the run for a week while police launched a massive manhunt. For the past week, Anaconda and the surrounding community showed the country the resilience and grit that makes MT special. Our thoughts continue to be with the victims and their families, Montana Sen. Steve Daniels wrote on social media after the arrest. Gavin Newsom at a news conference with a delegation from Texas. Photograph: Rich Pedroncelli/AP The Republican attorney general of Texas on Friday asked the state supreme court to vacate the seats of 13 Democratic legislators who have left for blue states, hours after their absence once again delayed a vote on a redrawn congressional map sought by Donald Trump. Republican leaders in Texas had set a Friday deadline for Democrats to return to the state capitol in Austin or face punishment, including arrest and possible removal from office. Dozens of Democrats left the state over the weekend to prevent a Republican redistricting effort, requested by the president, to redraw the Texas maps mid-cycle, as part of an effort to secure a Republican House majority in the 2026 midterms. The aggressive redistricting effort has set off a chain reaction in other states, including California, where the governor has vowed to retaliate with a congressional map that would nullify the Republican effort to redraw five Democratic-held districts in Texas. Related: We are at war bring it on: Democrats ready to fight dirty to stop Trump On Friday, the Democratic leaders of the California state legislature said they were prepared to move forward with a ballot measure asking voters to redraw the states House map in November should Texas follow through with its proposed redistricting plan. We dont move unless they move, California governor Gavin Newsom said at a news conference in Sacramento, where he was joined by a delegation of Democratic state representatives from Texas. But were not going to unilaterally disarm. The California appearance capped a dramatic day, as the quorum-breaking Democrats faced a flurry of new legal and financial threats from Texas Republicans. On Thursday John Cornyn, the Texas Republican senator, said the FBI had agreed to assist in locating the Democrats, but the FBI declined to comment and it is unclear what authority federal law enforcement would have, as they are not charged with federal crimes. On Friday morning, police responded to a second bomb threat at the suburban Chicago hotel housing several Texas Democrats who sought refuge in Illinois. Yet the Democrats have remained defiant. Make no mistake about it, we are running from nothing, Ann Johnson, a Democratic state representative from Texas, said during the news conference with Newsom. We see the danger that is coming, and we are running straight for it. During the short house session on Friday, the Texas house speaker, Dustin Burrows, said state authorities were working to make civil arrest warrants against the Democrats enforceable outside Texas. He also said the legislature was withholding the Democrats direct-deposit payments, requiring absent members to pick them up in person at the capitol in Austin. Each one of you knows that eventually you will come back, he said, addressing the absent Democrats from the chamber floor. But with each passing day, the political cost of your absence is rising, and it will be paid in full. It came after Burrows moved to enforce arrest warrants in other states and as Greg Abbott, the Texas governor, warned in an interview with NBC News that he was prepared to arrest Democrats who may be in Texas, may be elsewhere. In a statement, the Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton, a far-right ally of the president, argued that 13 absent Democratic lawmakers should be removed from office for having deliberately sabotaged the constitutional process and violated the oath they swore to uphold. Related: How did we get all this gerrymandering? A short history of the Republican redistricting scheme Paxton also announced on Friday that he was suing the Texas Democrat Beto ORourke for unlawful fundraising activity on behalf of the out-of-state lawmakers. On X, ORourke said that his political group, Powered by People, had responded by suing Paxton in state court. Late on Friday, a Texas judge, Megan Fahey, granted Paxtons request to issue a temporary restraining order barring ORourke and Powered by People from covering the personal expenses of the Democratic lawmakers, including fines, ruling that the state would be irreparably injured if funds raised raised for political spending were used for non-political purposes. The elected state judge, who was first appointed by Abbott, is also the president of the Fort Worth Republican Womens Club and a member of the conservative Federalist Society. The Texas lawmakers have seen a surge of support from fellow Democrats and donors across the country, who have praised them for holding the line against the presidents attempted power grab. While declining to say how long they were prepared to hold out, several members insisted they remained fully committed to blocking what Johnson called an off the rails Republican majority from succeeding with its redistricting plan in Texas. But Abbott has said that they would have to stay away for years to be successful. The current special legislative session, called by the Texas governor, lasts until 19 August, but Abbott has vowed to call special session after special session after special session. But Ill tell you this also, Democrats act like theyre not going to come back as long as this is an issue, Abbott said in the NBC News interview. That means theyre not going to come back until like 2027 or 2028, because Im going to call special session after special session after special session with the same agenda items on there. In a separate interview, he said he might push for more than five seats. What Im thinking now is that if they dont start showing up, I may start expanding, he said. We may make it six or seven or eight new seats were going to be adding on the Republican side. Tensions have escalated dramatically since the Democrats left Texas and sought refuge in Democratic states. Abbott also took the extraordinary step of filing a lawsuit with the state supreme court that seeks to remove Gene Wu, the house Democratic leader, from office. In a legal filing responding to Abbotts emergency petition, attorneys for Wu emphasized the long history of quorum-breaking in Texas, and argued that request to remove an elected official from office is not a question for the courts under the state constitution. So much in our politics seems to be about power for its own sake, whatever the cost, Wus attorneys wrote in the brief. That cost may finally be too high today. This court should refuse to pay it. Related: Can the FBI arrest the Democratic Texas lawmakers who left the state in protest? Burrows said on Friday: For those who have fled to Illinois or California, be reminded that the FBIs assistance has reportedly been enlisted and their powers are not confined to a single states boundaries. One Democratic member of the Texas state house, Claudia Ordaz, said in a statement that state troopers had showed up at a relatives home looking for her, even though she had stated publicly she was dealing with a personal health matter. In the statement, which Ordaz said she was sharing from a hospital waiting room, she denounced the officers visit as a deliberate abuse of power and an intimidation tactic. She also criticized those she said had falsely accused her of being present in the chamber to help Republicans make a quorum. In Sacramento on Friday, US congresswoman Zoe Lofgren said every Democratic member of the states congressional delegation supported the California ballot initiative. We cannot stand here and just shrug as Trump and the Republicans try and rig the rules so they can avoid responsibility for the damage that they have done to this country, she said. We need a break on them, and we can get it in the midterm elections. Thousands of people were ordered to evacuate their homes in Southern California Thursday as a fast-moving brush fire ripped through a mountainous area north of Los Angeles. The Canyon Fire ignited around 1:30 p.m. PST, growing to over 1,050 acres in less than three hours, according to Ventura County emergency response. It remained zero percent contained late Thursday afternoon and was spreading east, the county said. In LA County, around 4,200 residents and 1,400 structures are under an evacuation order, and another 12,500 residents are under an evacuation warning, said spokesperson Andrew Dowd for the Ventura County Fire Department. Were doing a significant initial attack, Dowd said. The evacuation order warned of an immediate threat to life. A firefighter battles the flames of the Canyon Fire, which broke out Thursday afternoon and was spreading quickly. (AP) Dowd said the fire was a very dynamic situation caused by hot, dry weather, steep and rugged terrain and dry fuel. There were 250 firefighters on the ground coordinating with helicopters and other air support, he said. LA County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who represents the district, urged residents to evacuate. Extreme heat and low humidity in our north county have created dangerous conditions where flames can spread with alarming speed, Barger said in a statement. If first responders tell you to leave, gowithout hesitation. A resident was pictured fleeing the fire on a golf buggy. Evacuation orders are in place in the area. (AP) The fire is burning east with a rapid rate of spread in light to medium fuels. The onshore push is influencing fire behavior, and the fire is threatening 60kv powerlines as well as the communities of Hasley Canyon and Hathaway Ranch, but is moving away from the community of Piru, an update from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said. The fire has now crossed into LA County and continues to spread east toward the community of Val Verde. The fire is burning just south of Lake Piru, a reservoir located in the Los Padres National Forest. It's close by Lake Castaic, a popular recreation area burned by the Hughes Fire in January. That fire burned about 15 square miles in six hours and put 50,000 people under evacuation orders or warnings. President Donald Trump has reportedly ordered federal law enforcement officers to patrol Washington, D.C., as Stephen Miller claimed crime in the capital was more violent than Baghdad. The White House announced that additional officers would be on the streets of D.C. from midnight in what would reportedly begin as a seven-day operation in a bid to clamp down on crime. Its our capital city, it is more violent than Baghdad, it is more violent than parts of Ethiopia and parts of many of the most dangerous places in the world, White House deputy chief of staff Miller told NewsNation Thursday. Trump has been threatening to federalize the capital all week following an attack on a former Department of Government Efficiency staffer, Edward Coristine. Trump re-posted the bloodied photo of Coristine on Truth Social Thursday evening and addressed him directly in his post. Edward: The Crime situation in Washington, just like our Southern Border where ZERO Illegals entered in the last three months, will be a safe place very soon, Trump wrote. Thank you for your bravery and heart. Stay tuned! Trump has been threatening to federalize the capital all week following an attack on a former Department of Government Efficiency staffer, Edward Coristine. (@realDonaldTrump/Truth Social) Additional support will come from the D.C. National Guard, FBI, Marshals, ICE, Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security, according to CBS. Washington, D.C. is an amazing city, but it has been plagued by violent crime for far too long, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement Thursday. President Trump has directed an increased presence of federal law enforcement to protect innocent citizens. Starting tonight, there will be no safe harbor for violent criminals in D.C. The crackdown in D.C. will reportedly focus on tourist areas and other busy hotspots. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser approved the White Houses request, received overnight Wednesday, to bolster the capitals law enforcement presence, according to CBS, citing an official in the mayors office. Figures from the Metropolitan Police Department found that crime was down 35 percent in 2024 compared to 2023 in the citya 30-year low. Preliminary numbers from the police found that violent crime was down 26 percent for 2025 so far. A source told CBS there had been little to no coordination between the MPD and federal law enforcement about the plans, adding that the force has not been notified about what the increase in federal law enforcement might look like in D.C. Trump threatened to take responsibility for law enforcement in D.C. away from the city several times this week. (Getty) The Independent has contacted the MPD for further information. At a news conference Thursday, Trump-appointed prosecutor Jeanine Pirro said young people in D.C. are being coddled and committing too much crime. They dont need to be coddled anymore. They need to be held accountable, said Pirro, who handles most of the capitals adult crime. They shouldnt be going to arts and crafts in family court. They need to understand that enough is enough. And the D.C. Council has to repeal some of these absurd ordinances and laws that theyve had passed that do nothing to protect the people of this city and of this District. Trump threatened to take responsibility for law enforcement in D.C. away from the city several times this week. If D.C. doesnt get its act together, and quickly, we will have no choice but to take federal control of the city, and run this city how it should be run, and put criminals on notice that theyre not going to get away with it anymore, the president said Tuesday on Truth Social. A sign in that said, Heal Fast Big Balls Thanks, Trump! was spotted on August 7 in Washington, DC. (Getty) Perhaps it should have been done a long time ago, then this incredible young man, and so many others, would not have had to go through the horrors of violent crime, he said, referring to Coristine. If this continues, I am going to exert my powers, and FEDERALIZE this city. Coristine, known by the nickname he gave himself on LinkedInBig Balls was with an unnamed woman in downtown D.C. at 3 a.m. Sunday when a group of juveniles approached their car, according to the police report of the incident. The report explains that the suspects approached the victims standing next to the vehicle parked on the 1400 block of Swann Street and demanded that they hand it over before assaulting one of the victims. During the alleged attack, an MPD cruiser pulled up, prompting the attackers to flee. Two of the suspects were apprehended by the on-scene officers. At the same time, one of the victims [Coristine] was treated on scene by emergency services personnel for injuries sustained during the assault. The pair arrested was two 15-year-olds, a male and a female, from nearby Hyattsville, Maryland. They were subsequently charged with unarmed carjacking. Coristines iPhone 16, worth $1,000, was reportedly stolen during the incident. Donald Trump has rowed back on an earlier claim that he will only meet with Vladimir Putin if Volodymyr Zelenskyy is also at the summit - as a US deadline for Moscow to avoid further sanctions arrives. The Russian president said on Thursday that he hoped to meet the US leader next week, with the summit potentially taking place in the United Arab Emirates. Follow the latest updates from the war in Ukraine Mr Putin's announcement came on the eve of a White House deadline for Moscow to show progress towards ending the three-year-old war in Ukraine or suffer additional economic sanctions. Asked on Thursday if his deadline for Friday would hold, Mr Trump said of Mr Putin: "It's going to be up to him. We're going to see what he has to say. It's going to be up to him. Very disappointed." Asked if Mr Putin needed to meet Volodymyr Zelenskyy in order to meet him, Mr Trump said: "No, he doesn't." Sky News' US correspondent David Blevins said it was "very difficult to gauge the prospect for a meeting", with the last few days having left a number of questions unanswered - notably whether Russia is really more inclined to a ceasefire, and whether Mr Putin is ready to sit down with Mr Zelenskyy. "It's difficult to see why Putin would be prepared to dilute his red lines at this point," Blevins said. Two White House officials and a senior administration official have told Sky News that secondary sanctions on Russia are still expected to be implemented on Friday. Meanwhile, Mr Trump has said on his Truth Social account that he will be hosting the president of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, and the prime minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, at the White House for an "official Peace Signing Ceremony" on Friday. He added: "These two Nations have been at War for many years, resulting in the deaths of thousands of people. Many Leaders have tried to end the War, with no success, until now, thanks to 'TRUMP'." Mr Trump has long been hoping to add Ukraine to the list of wars he boasts of having stopped, claiming during the election last year he could do so in a single day, but has been frustrated since returning to office. Putin suggests he won't meet with Zelenskyy It comes after a White House official told the Associated Press that a US-Russian summit wouldn't happen if Mr Putin did not agree to meet with Ukrainian president Mr Zelenskyy, but the official later said it only made it less likely. When asked about the prospect of meeting with Mr Zelenskyy, Mr Putin said on Thursday: "I have already said many times that I have nothing against it in general, it is possible." However, he distanced himself from any such meeting happening soon, adding: "But certain conditions must be created for this. But unfortunately, we are still far from creating such conditions." Read more: What could happen when Trump and Putin meet? Could Trump be close to ending the war in Ukraine? White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has said Mr Trump wants to meet both leaders because he wants this "brutal war to end". She added: "The White House is working through the details of these potential meetings and details will be provided at the appropriate time." It is understood that the White House is preparing for the possibility of a bilateral or trilateral meeting as it remains unclear whether Mr Putin will be prepared to meet with the Ukrainian leader. Mr Zelenskyy said he had phone conversations with several European leaders on Thursday amid a flurry of diplomatic activity - as the Ukrainian government fears being sidelined by direct negotiations between Washington and Moscow. Tube passengers tackled a naked man who exposed himself in front of children in a busy carriage (X/@CrimeLdn) Passengers on a London Underground train tackled a naked man after he exposed himself in front of children during a busy afternoon service. Footage posted online shows the man dropping his trousers on a Hammersmith and City line train at around 3.30pm on Thursday. When challenged by passengers on the eastbound service at Upton Park station, he began shouting and repeatedly telling them to f--- off. One commuter can be heard replying: What do you mean f--- off? You need to get off the f---ing train. Now. There are kids on here. The man continued to shout and wave his belt before more passengers stepped in to restrain him. A fight then appeared to break out, with the group punching and kicking him to the floor of the carriage. He was seen with his hands forced behind his back before being thrown off the train by several men. A photograph later showed him pinned to the ground on the platform at East Ham station, where passengers waited with him for help to arrive. British Transport Police said the suspect had been detained under the Mental Health Act. A spokesperson said: Officers were called to reports of a man exposing himself on the District Line at East Ham Underground station. The man had been assaulted by a number of other passengers and was initially arrested by an off duty officer, before being detained under the Mental Health Act and taken to hospital, where he remains. An investigation into the incident is ongoing. Two people have been arrested at a protest at the Britannia Hotel in Canary Wharf, the Metropolitan Police said. More than 100 people were protesting with Stand Up to Racism at the hotel in London against recent anti-migrant demonstrations. They gathered as part of the Defend Refugees, Stop the Far Right demonstrations happening across the UK on Friday. Around 100 counter-protesters also gathered at the venue, shouting stop the boats as a number of them waved the Union flag. It came as officers also imposed conditions on the group protesting against the use of the hotel to house asylum seekers. Many gathered as part of protests run by Stand Up to Racism Defend Refugees and Stop the Far Right groups (Reuters) The force posted on X: Officers have made two arrests in Canary Wharf. One person protesting against the use of the hotel by asylum seekers has been arrested after a bottle was thrown at officers. A member of the counter-protest group has been arrested for failing to remove a face covering. We have imposed conditions using the Public Order Act to prevent serious disorder at the protests in Canary Wharf. The group protesting against the use of the hotel by asylum seekers have been instructed to remain in front of the blue hoarding on the pavement opposite the Britannia Hotel. Officers have made two arrests in Canary Wharf. One person protesting against the use of the hotel by asylum seekers has been arrested after a bottle was thrown at officers. A member of the counter-protest group has been arrested for failing to remove a face covering. Metropolitan Police (@metpoliceuk) August 8, 2025 Dozens of protesters were escorted by a large number of police officers, and they were carrying banners that read: Never again: remember history, fight fascism and Refugees welcome. There was a continued heavy police presence at the scene. A large number of counter-protestors also gathered outside the hotel (Reuters) Other counter-protesters wore St Georges Cross flags wrapped over their shoulders or neck, with a handful wearing full-face coverings. A counter-protester also unfurled an Israeli flag. Meanwhile, a reporter complained to the police after claiming she was struck by a placard while attempting to interview anti-racism protesters. Sophie Reaper, GB News North West reporter, was broadcasting live on Thursday as she approached people gathered for a Stand Up to Racism protest near the Cresta Hotel in Altrincham, Cheshire. Speaking to the channel shortly afterwards, Ms Reaper said: "I was definitely a bit shaken up after it happened and I have got a bit of a killer headache now because what people might not have realised is at the front it was a placard but from the back the gentleman hit me with the metal pole that was attached to his flag." She went on: "I have spoken to Greater Manchester Police because I don't feel it is appropriate for violence to ever be used." A spokesperson for the channel confirmed Ms Reaper was fine following the incident and that she had reported the matter to police. Police chiefs have warned they are ready to mobilise significant and specialist resources if unrest breaks out at a string of anti-migrant protests planned at hotels housing asylum seekers. The National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) is working with forces across the country and monitoring intelligence in preparation for a fresh wave of protests on Friday, with demonstrations planned at up to 14 hotels across the country. Has there ever been such a drive-by shooting of a living figure by their biographer? A new book about Prince Andrew is so stuffed with allegations about sex and acts of stupidity that, even before it is published later this month, many have been left wondering if its author has simply gone too far. Certainly, there are many breathtaking allegations contained in Andrew Lownies biography of the duke his appalling treatment of Buckingham Palace staff, yet more links to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, how he was once given a bloody nose at a family gathering by Prince Harry, which Harry has strenuously denied. There are also several upsetting and intensely private revelations that appear to pass the legal threshold for a defamation lawsuit. The Duke of York might yet choose to hit back at his tormentors in the courts. Were he to do so, it isnt hard to see how such an episode might help him plot his long-desired return to public life. Could this book be the Dukes first step on that road to rehabilitation? Few feel any sympathy towards Andrew, who for years has been an isolated figure. After he was so bovine to those around him, most friends have long since fled. With the death of Her late Majesty, he lost his main channel of support. His eldest brother, the King, tries to be supportive, but has to excuse him from all major state occasions. While we should resist the opportunity to rehabilitate Andrew, the most eye-popping allegations carried in the extract from the biography offer a glimpse of how he ended up an outcast in disgrace. Put simply, he is a man who has been spoiled by neglect. The prince once had everything you could desire: palaces, money, status and, so the biography says, over 1,000 women who were prepared to go to bed with him. Throw in the fact that Andrew was always his mothers favourite, but that he lacks any of her legendary charm and intelligence, and youre left with a lethal cocktail of entitlement. It is fitting that the new biography is named Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York. The miracle of the royal family over the last century came about thanks to Elizabeth II, who would have been 100 next year. Despite being in a similar hallowed position to her son at her birth, she escaped the dark taint of entitlement. That was partly luck. She was 10 when her uncle Edward VIII abdicated, and she became heir to the throne. Until then, she was unlikely ever to become monarch, on the presumption Edward would have children. And so, for those 10 precious years, for all her fame, she wasnt treated with the crippling flattery of deference. She had the close, loving attention of her parents, themselves relatively insulated from the royal limelight. Andrew is the subject of a new biography by historian Andrew Lownie, Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York (Joe Giddens/PA) As her nanny, Marion Crawford, aka Crawfie, revealed in The Little Princesses (1950), little Princess Elizabeth was also blessed with a decent, responsible, hard-working character with an obsession for order. She would line up her shoes neatly every night. None of this for young Andrew. His mothers admirable sense of duty meant she was often absent from the nursery. His father, Prince Philip, was confident Andrew would get the same tough, no-nonsense education hed had at Gordonstoun. But Philip, despite his royal blood as a Greek prince, had had none of the entitled upbringing that would doom his son. Exiled from his Greek birthplace, shuffled from pillar to post as a boy, cut off from his Nazi in-laws, Philip developed an extraordinarily tough, self-denying approach to life. In his royal cocoon, Andrew remained insulated from criticism, protected by a nations reverence for his mother and the monarchy in general. An entitled buffoon like Andrew could get away with his monstrous behaviour for years as long as it was shielded from the world. To be fair, he was undeniably heroic as a helicopter pilot in the Falklands and, ridiculous as it seems now with the benefit of hindsight, the nation cheered when he married Sarah Ferguson in 1986. But those decades of spoiltness meant that, when the criticism started to trickle, and then pour, he was pathetically equipped to deal with it. More intelligent souls learn the great lessons of being privileged: never being rude, and being able to say sorry even when not meaning it. Not Andrew. Another disturbing allegation in the Lownie book is Andrews response to a long-term royal employee who gets the Queen Mothers title slightly wrong to which the Duke of York is reported to have responded: You still dont know the proper way to refer to my grandmother? You f***ing imbecile. Get out! That strain of moron was never going to be able to handle Emily Maitliss 2019 grilling on Newsnight. In fact, characteristically, he thought afterwards it had all gone very well. And so, as the book says, Andrew was a pathetic mouse to Jeffrey Epsteins rattlesnake when the two fatally flawed sex-obsessives first crossed paths. All the good fairies were at baby Andrews side at his 1960 birth but so too were the devil triplets: stupidity, entitlement and indulgence by neglect. Harry Mount is author of How England Made the English (Penguin 12.99) A police officer was killed when a gunman opened fire near the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) headquarters and the Emory University campus in Atlanta on Friday afternoon, according to authorities. Patrick Joseph White, 30, of Kennesaw, Georgia, has been identified as the suspected shooter in the incident, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. He died during the incident. The Atlanta Police Department said the suspect was found dead from a gunshot wound, which may have been self-inflicted. No civilians were shot in the incident, police said. Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images - PHOTO: Shooter Targeting The CDC Kills Police Officer In Atlanta More than a day after the shooting, authorities have not yet provided a possible motive for the shooting. "There is extensive evidence to collect due to the complex scene. Numerous interviews are being conducted. This investigation will take an extended period of time," GBI said in a statement. The officer who was killed, DeKalb County Police Officer David Rose, was fatally shot after responding to the reported gunfire. He was taken to the hospital in critical condition where he was pronounced dead, officials said at a press conference Friday evening. Courtesy Dekalb County Police Department - PHOTO: The DeKalb County Police Department identified the officer who was killed as Officer David Rose. "Officer Rose served DeKalb County with courage, integrity, and unwavering dedication. Even in the face of danger was he diligent in his duty to protect our community," the police department said in a statement posted online late Friday night. At the earlier press conference, Lorraine Cochran-Johnson, DeKalb County CEO, said it was a "dark day" for the county. The officer leaves behind a wife, who is pregnant, and two children, she said. The gunfire broke out at 4:50 p.m., prompting a shelter-in-place order at the university and a lockdown at the CDC headquarters. Responding DeKalb County police officers located the suspect on the second floor of the Emory Point CVS Pharmacy across the street from the CDC building and attempted to engage the person when gunfire was exchanged, police said. Jeff Amy/AP - PHOTO: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters sign is seen behind a police line in Atlanta, Aug. 8, 2025. During the shooting, the suspect fired multiple rounds at CDC buildings, breaking windows, Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said during an earlier press conference In a video call with employees on Saturday morning, CDC Director Dr. Susan Monarez shared her concern for the staff and said she wanted to let them know they are supported by the agency. She shared few details about the extent of the damage to the CDC campus or the ongoing investigation into the shooting. While the shooter fired at CDC buildings, she said law enforcement has not yet confirmed a motive. In an letter emailed to CDC staff on Saturday, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy said the shooting was "a reminder of the very human challenges public servants sometimes face even in places dedicated to healing and progress." In a statement on X, Kennedy said, "We know how shaken our public health colleagues feel today. No one should face violence while working to protect the health of others. We are actively supporting CDC staff on the ground and across the agency. Public health workers show up every day with purpose even in moments of grief and uncertainty." There were 92 children at a day care center on the CDC campus at the time, who were unharmed, police added. In the aftermath of the shooting, four other people were transported to an area hospital for stress and anxiety-related reasons, the police chief said. Jeff Amy/AP - PHOTO: Emergency vehicles line up near Emory University and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters in Atlanta, Aug. 8, 2025. MORE: 18-year-old suspect charged in shooting at University of New Mexico that left 14-year-old dead Shortly after the shooting was reported, a shelter-in-place order was put in place on the Emory University campus and later lifted. "RUN. HIDE. FIGHT. Avoid the area," the university said in an alert Friday afternoon. Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images - PHOTO: Active Shooter Reported Around Emory University Mike Stewart/AP - PHOTO: Emory University Shooting Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp released a statement on X thanking first responders for rushing "toward the danger to subdue the shooter and save lives." "We ask that you join us in holding them in our prayers, along with those harmed this evening near the CDC Center," Kemp wrote. FBI Atlanta and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation are investigating the incident. WSB-TV - PHOTO: Law enforcement at the scene or a reported shooting at Emory University's Atlanta campus in Atlanta, Aug. 8, 2025. MORE: What we know about Midtown Manhattan mass shooting suspect Shane Devon Tamura Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr released a statement Friday, saying, "We're horrified by the news out of Emory University and praying for the safety of the entire campus community." The White House was monitoring the situation, an official told ABC News. ABC News' Pierre Thomas, Luke Barr and Kelsey Walsh contributed to this report. (Reuters) -Shares of Australia's Iress surged on Friday after the company said it had earlier considered a takeover approach from Blackstone and is now in talks with both the U.S. investment giant and private equity firm Thoma Bravo over a new proposal. Shares of the Australian financial software firm jumped as much as 15.6% to A$9.69, but remained below the A$10.50 apiece previously offered by Blackstone. The stock touched its highest level since late-January and marked its biggest intraday percentage gain since November 2023. The initial proposal from Blackstone valued Iress at A$1.94 billion ($1.27 billion) but was later withdrawn, the software company said, without providing further details in its statement. Blackstone declined to comment, while Thoma Bravo did not immediately respond. The takeover bid comes as global private firms show growing interest for Australia-listed software players. Earlier in the week, automotive software platform provider Infomedia agreed to a A$651 million takeover by TPG's Asia-focussed private equity fund. "Iress is currently in the early stages of engagement with Blackstone and Thoma Bravo in order to ascertain whether an offer can be made which can be recommended by the Iress Board," the company said on Friday. The company did not provide a per-share price in the latest offer. The announcement follows a report by the Australian Financial Review that Iress was in talks with Blackstone over a potential buyout, which could value the company at A$1.9 billion. Iress is not unfamiliar with takeover interest from private equity firms, having previously drawn a $3 billion deal from Swedish investment firm EQT in 2021. The deal ultimately fell through after EQT walked away despite making several improved offers. In February, Iress reported a net profit after tax attributable of A$30.1 million in fiscal 2024, along with A$604.6 million in revenue. The company will release its half-year earnings next week. ($1 = 1.5323 Australian dollars) (Reporting by Rishav Chatterjee and Sneha Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Leroy Leo and Sherry Jacob-Phillips) Jax Gratton/instagram Jax Gratton. NEED TO KNOW The cause of death is undetermined for Jax Gratton, a Denver hairstylist who was missing for almost two months The news comes after her body was discovered in an alley in Lakewood, Colo. on June 6 Officials could not "determine whether she was pushed, fell or jumped from the window while alive, or was dropped from the window after death" Almost four months after hairstylist Jax Gratton was last seen alive, authorities have announced that her cause of death can't be determined, due to how severely decomposed her remains were by the time her body was found. The frantic search for the 34-year-old woman began in April and ended with the discovery of her remains in a narrow space between two buildings in Lakewood, Colo., a suburb of her home city of Denver, on Friday, June 6. "The effects of postmortem decomposition have made it impossible to prove or rule out multiple possible mechanisms of death, including complications of drug use, accidental blunt force injuries, assault by another, or some other scenario," authorities said in the autopsy report obtained by PEOPLE from the Jefferson County Coroners Office. "Given these uncertainties, the cause and manner of death are undetermined," officials concluded. A spokesperson for the Lakewood Police Department says they cannot comment further due to their ongoing investigation. Courtesy of Cherilynne Camis The hairstylist. Gratton was last seen on Tuesday, April 15, near the 4200 block of E. Iliff Avenue, the Denver Police Department said at the time. Friends and family told ABC affiliate KMGH-TV that Gratton left her apartment at approximately 10 p.m. local time and told her roommate that shed be out for about three hours but she never came back. In the autopsy report, officials said that the video footage showed her leaving her residence with a man "with whom she had a reported prior history of consensual sexual relations." The man, who was not named in the report, told investigators that after picking up Gratton, they went to his second-story apartment in Lakewood, where another man joined them. That apartment, as officials noted in the autopsy report, was "in one of the buildings adjoining the narrow space" where she was eventually found dead. At the apartment, they reported that Gratton had used gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) and was, at one point "lying on a futon, snoring." She later vomited and the other two individuals "stated that they propped her up on her side," officials said in the report, which noted that "both men then reportedly left the apartment." Earlier in the report, investigators wrote that "if GHB causes deep sedation, the risk of asphyxia by aspiration of gastric content is increased if the individual is lying face up." Although aspiration may have caused or contributed to Gratton's death, authorities said that testing for GHB was not possible. Gratton, who had previously gone to rehab for drug use, did test positive for other substances, such as THC and methamphetamine, according to the report. Search Light Colorado/Facebook Jax Gratton. According to the report, the first man told investigators that when he returned to his apartment, Gratton was no longer there. Her body was eventually found directly under the window of the apartment by the owner of the adjacent building, authorities noted. "If her body fell from the second story window of the room where [she was] last reportedly seen alive, autopsy cannot determine whether she was pushed, fell or jumped from the window while alive, or was dropped from the window after death," officials wrote. Fractures of two of Gratton's ribs would coincide with any of those scenarios. A joint separation and a fracture in her neck were also described by investigators. Officials went on to note that her hands and arms "showed no evidence of defensive injuries" and that although strangulation couldn't be ruled out, authorities found "no clear evidence of pressure on the neck as a possible mechanism of death" and that her injuries could have been caused by a fall or decomposition. Jaxs mom, Cherilynne Gratton-Camis, 60, lives out of state and previously told PEOPLE that she grew concerned when she didnt receive a call from Jax on Easter. At first, her mom believed that Jaxs roommate, who had last seen her as she was exiting their apartment, had already filed a missing persons report. While the roommate did contact police, a report wasnt filed, so she rushed to get one submitted and by Wednesday, April 24, over a week after she was last seen, Jax was officially reported as missing. While Jax remained missing, concerned loved ones continued to post flyers throughout Denver and post on social media. After more than 30 days without news about her daughters whereabouts, Gratton-Camis previously told PEOPLE that she feared the worst had happened. Never miss a story sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. On the evening of June 6, Jaxs body was found on the 9600 block of W. Colfax Ave in Lakewood, the Lakewood Police Department announced in a statement on Facebook. This case is being treated as a suspicious death," authorities said at the time, "and we are working with our partners at the Denver Police Department on this case. Following the discovery, the local LGBTQ+ community rallied around the womans family and remembered Jax, a trans woman, at a memorial three days after her death. "Jax is looking down and she is proud of the community that she brought together," one of her friends told NBC affiliate KUSA. "Every walk of life has shown up for her and it's very beautiful. Whether you knew Jax or not, you can see how really loved and cared for she is." Courtesy of Cherilynne Camis The hairstylist (left) with a client. For Jaxs grieving family, the pain is unending, but so is the memory of the caring, bright woman. There are no words strong enough for the grief we are feeling, Gratton-Camis wrote on Facebook when Jaxs body was found. The light she carried, the love she gave so freely, and the joy she brought into our lives have been taken from this world far too soon. Read the original article on People Isadora Bjarkardottir Barney on August 07, 2025 in Copenhagen, Denmark. NEED TO KNOW Bjorks daughter, Isadora Bjarkardottir Barney, made her Copenhagen Fashion Week debut on Thursday, Aug. 7 The 22-year-old model opened Cecilie Bahnsens 10th anniversary runway show Bjork shares Isadora with ex Matthew Barney Bjorks daughter Isadora Bjarkardottir Barney has made another runway appearance. On Thursday, Aug. 7, the 22-year-old model walked in Cecilie Bahnsens 10th anniversary runway show during Copenhagen Fashion Week. Bjork, 59, shares Barney with ex Matthew Barney; she also shares son Sindri Eldon orsson, 39, with ex-husband or Eldon. There, she opened the show in a white, translucent tulle dress featuring bows and flower appliques. The look was completed with translucent white knee socks and white and silver sneakers. To match the ensembles airy aesthetic, Isadora wore a shimmery silver makeup look, enhancing the details of her dress and sneakers. Her brunette bob was styled with a wavy, casual touch. Matt Jelonek/Getty Isadora Bjarkardottir Barney on August 07, 2025 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Cecilie Bahnsens Copenhagen Fashion Week 2026 collection celebrates a decade of the Danish luxury label. Theres something special about showing in Copenhagen, Cecilie Bahnsen said, per Womens Wear Daily. Its where everything began, and many of the people in the audience have been part of the journey since the start. That makes it feel intimate and emotional. Bahnsen, 41, added: For the show, we invited some guests to wear archive pieces. They become part of the living image. The show doesnt just happen in front of them, but around them. Its a way of saying thank you. Ahead of the 2025 Copenhagen Fashion Week show, Isadora walked in Miu Mius Spring/Summer 2023 collection during Paris Fashion Week in October 2022. Months before her Paris Fashion Week appearance, in July 2022, she marked her modeling debut with the Italian brand for its Fall/Winter 2022 jewelry collection. She joined Sydney Sweeney, Emily Ratajkowski and Demi Singleton as ambassadors for the campaign. Never miss a story sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic; Jo Hale/Getty Isadora Bjarkardottir Barney and Bjork https://people-app.onelink.me/HNIa/kz7l4cuf Along with modeling, Isadora is also an actress and appeared in Robert Eggers The Northman alongside Nicole Kidman, Alexander Skarsgard, Anya Taylor-Joy, and her mother. "Since I was 13 or 14, I knew I wanted to take acting seriously," Isadora told The Face in February 2022. "And [my mom] knew that. So she's been so supportive. It was important to her that she would help me realize this." Additionally, like her mother, shes a musician, but confessed to the outlet: "I don't know how far I'm going to go with this, adding, But it's been a lot of fun working with these friends of mine, who are also just starting out and doing really, really cool things." Read the original article on People LOS ANGELES A group of burglars snatched a bunch of the summer's most sought-after toy after they broke into a Los Angeles County store overnight, the shop said on Instagram. One Stop Sales in La Puente said four men broke into the store and stole "all of our inventory," which included a number of the trendy Labubu dolls toothy, gremlin-looking plush toys that have exploded in popularity. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said deputies responded to a burglary in the 600 block of Glendora Avenue in La Puente, east of Los Angeles, at 1:29 a.m. Wednesday. "Several boxes of Labubu dolls were stolen, valued at approximately seven thousand dollars," the sheriff's department said in a statement. The burglars were using a stolen Toyota Tacoma that was recovered shortly after the burglary, the sheriff's office said. One Stop Sales posted in-store security video on Instagram that shows a group of masked men enter the store as the sound of breaking glass is heard. The men can be seen in the video taking boxes of merchandise from the store. "Today we got robbed, and they took all of our inventory trashed our store, we are still in shock, if you guys can share this post please and help us find these thiefs!" One Stop Sales wrote on Instagram. According to the store's website, some of the pricer Labubus are going for $500. A Labubu collection that dropped in the spring was retailing for $27.99, but the retail market for the plush collectibles, specifically this summer, has been hot. The Labubu dolls are exclusively made and sold by Pop Mart, a Chinese retailer that is known for "blind box" collectibles. When they purchase one of the boxesm, buyers don't know which color or design Labubu they are getting until they open them. It wasn't immediately clear how many Labubus the burglars made off with. The store had been promoting its inventory on social media in the days leading up to the break-in. Andrew Blankstein reported from Los Angeles and Rebecca Cohen and Nollaig O'Connor from New York. Upholding correct view of WWII history, firmly defending historical justice 13:43, August 08, 2025 By Liu Jun ( People's Daily The thematic exhibition titled "For National Liberation and World Peace: Commemorating the 80th Anniversary of the Victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War" is held in Beijing, July 8, 2025. (Photo/Weng Qiyu) Safeguarding the hard-won victory of World War II (WWII), upholding accurate historical understanding, and preserving the post-war international order constitute essential pillars of historical justice. Amid contemporary attempts to deny the WWII outcomes and distort historical facts, adhering to a correct historical perspective carries both immediate and long-term significance. As an unprecedented catastrophe in human history, WWII's legacy requires vigilant protection of its hard-won achievements. For China, these achievements are manifested in several key areas. First, China triumphed over Japanese aggression, securing national independence and sovereignty. Taiwan and the Penghu Islands, once seized by Japan, were rightfully restored to China. Second, China played a key role in the founding of the United Nations, shaping the post-war international order and ushering in a new era of peace. Third, China actively supported national liberation movements, contributing to the dismantling of colonial systems and the transformation of the global political landscape. Upholding historical justice means honoring WWII legacy and preserving the shared human memory. A correct understanding of the war is inseparable from its outcomes; it requires recognition of both the victory itself and the universal values it represents. A historically accurate view of World War II rests on several fundamental acknowledgments. First, China and the Soviet Union served as the principal pillars of resistance in Asia and Europe respectively, making decisive contributions to the global victory over fascism. Second, the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression began the earliest, lasted the longest and was fought under the harshest conditions, at immense sacrifices, making it an indispensable part of the World Anti-Fascist War. Third, the Communist Party of China (CPC) was the first to raise the banner of armed resistance against Japanese aggression. Under its strong leadership, the Chinese people fought with extraordinary courage and ultimately prevailed. Fourth, the Nuremberg Trial and the Tokyo War Crimes Trials forever condemned the perpetrators of aggression - their legal and moral judgments serving as permanent benchmarks for historical justice. The Allied victory represented the triumph of justice over evil, light over darkness. It brought hope for peace and development to the world. Upholding a correct view of history and preserving collective memory are of profound historical importance. Regrettably, even 80 years after the victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascism War, a small number of individuals continue to ignore incontrovertible historical facts and the loss of tens of millions of innocent lives, seeking instead to deny or even glorify acts of aggression. Such distortions have drawn strong condemnation from peace-loving people around the world, including in China. Within the Asian theater, China bore the sole burden of resisting Japanese aggression from 1931 to 1941. This prolonged resistance, which cost over 35 million Chinese military and civilian lives, pinned down significant Japanese forces on the Asian mainland. Their heroic resistance sustained Allied operations in other theaters and helped prevent Japan from opening a second front against the Soviet Union. Throughout this resistance, the leadership of the CPC and its call for a united national front against aggression played a decisive role. After the September 18 Incident, the CPC was the first to launch armed resistance and led efforts to forge national unity, ultimately defeating Japanese militarism and making a major contribution to the final victory. The post-war international order remains a symbol of global fairness and justice. The victory of WWII was made possible by the unity of the anti-fascist alliance, which overcame ideological and national differences to confront aggression. Today, some countries, driven by hegemonic ambitions, seek to revise the outcomes of WWII and undermine the principles of the post-war order. Such moves disregard hard-won historical lessons and threaten international justice. Our world needs justice, not hegemony. The experience of WWII demonstrates that only through safeguarding fairness and justice can humanity build a solid foundation for lasting peace. The legacy of victory is enshrined in the multilateral system, with the United Nations at its core. This system underpins modern international relations. In today's complex and uncertain global environment, maintaining an accurate understanding of WWII history and drawing wisdom and strength from it are crucial to preserving peace and defending international fairness and justice. We firmly believe that the people of all nations will ultimately stand on the right side of history, uphold justice, and join hands in working toward a brighter future for all humankind. (Liu Jun is a professor at the School of Politics and International Relations, East China Normal University.) The thematic exhibition "For National Liberation and World Peace: Commemorating the 80th Anniversary of the Victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War" is held in Beijing, July 8, 2025. (Photo/Song Jiaru) The thematic exhibition "For National Liberation and World Peace: Commemorating the 80th Anniversary of the Victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War" is held in Beijing, July 8, 2025. (Photo/Song Jiaru) Photo taken on July 8 shows a monument to the Hundred-Regiment Campaign in Yangquan, north China's Shanxi province. (Photo/Lu Pengyu) A 104-year-old veteran who once participated in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression told war stories to volunteers in Daliu village, Yaoji township, Suining county, east China's Jiangsu province, April 9, 2025. (Photo/Hong Xing) (Web editor: Liang Jun, Du Mingming) DENVER The Trump administration is threatening to sue and withhold federal funds from more than 20 "sanctuary" states, cities and counties, because of their lack of cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. "Sanctuary policies impede law enforcement and put American citizens at risk by design," Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. "The Department of Justice will continue bringing litigation against sanctuary jurisdictions and work closely with the Department of Homeland Security to eradicate these harmful policies around the country." Inclusion on the list, which includes Democrat-run California and Colorado, but also Republican-led Vermont, comes with the explicit threat of lawsuits and federal funding halts. And border czar Tom Homan has previously promised to "flood" those jurisdictions with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Several federal judges have blocked the administration's previous efforts to punish some of those jurisdictions, including Chicago and Portland, Oregon. Earlier this year, the White House published and then almost immediately withdrew a significantly longer list after many communities on the list said they were erroneously included. In many of the jurisdictions included on the new list, local leaders have argued that allowing police to partner with ICE discourages crime victims and witnesses from coming forward regardless of their immigration status. In announcing the new list, which also includes both New York City and the state of New York, Chicago and San Francisco, the White House highlighted how Louisville, Kentucky, had agreed to end sanctuary policies while facing threat of a lawsuit. What is a 'sanctuary jurisdiction'? There's no specific legal definition of a sanctuary jurisdiction, but Bondi's office said it considered things like failure to collaborate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, providing government benefits to undocumented immigrants, or refusing to share immigration information about jail detainees. Law enforcement officers, including HSI and ICE agents, take people into custody at an immigration court in Phoenix, Arizona, U.S., May 21, 2025. REUTERS/Caitlin O'Hara TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY Federal officials argue local jurisdictions should at the very least honor what are known as "detainers," in which people suspected of immigration violations and who are finishing jail sentences or being released back into the community are instead held until ICE agents come collect them. In a statement, Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg, a Democrat, said he agreed to participate in the detainer system in return for being taken off the sanctuary city list. City officials said the decision would affect about 100 people annually, and that they hoped agreeing to honor detainers would spare the city more aggressive street-level enforcement of the kind that sparked civil unrest in Los Angeles. "I believe we will best protect our law-abiding community and our entire city by focusing the Trump administrations immigration enforcement actions on the few inmates in our jail who have been arrested for committing crimes and are subject to deportation," Greenberg said. Federal courts are currently weighing several lawsuits brought by the Trump administration against jurisdictions on the sanctuary list. A federal judge last month threw out the Trump administration's sanctuary jurisdiction lawsuit against Chicago and surrounding Cook County. Which communities have been described as immigrant 'sanctuaries'? According to the Department of Justice, the following communities are offering "sanctuary" to immigrants who lack the legal right to be in this country. United States Attorney General Pam Bondi has said the list could change as cities, counties or states changed policies in the future. States: California Colorado Connecticut Delaware District of Columbia Illinois Minnesota Nevada New York Oregon Rhode Island Vermont Washington Counties: Baltimore County, MD Cook County, IL San Diego County, CA San Francisco County, CA Cities: Albuquerque, NM Berkeley, CA Boston, MA Chicago, IL Denver, CO East Lansing, MI Hoboken, NJ Jersey City, NJ Los Angeles, CA New Orleans, LA New York City, NY Newark, NJ Paterson, NJ Philadelphia, PA Portland, OR Rochester, NY Seattle, WA San Francisco City, CA This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Is your community an immigrant sanctuary? Trump issues new target list Shopping at Costco is like a treasure hunt, especially when it comes to their meat selection. The store offers the real deal from high-end cuts of beef to rare, exotic options, but not every meat purchase is worth the investment. Here are 10 meats that should be in your cart and some that you might want to skip. USDA Prime Steaks Credit: iStockphotos Costcos USDA Prime beef gets a lot of praise, and for good reason. The cuts are rich, tender, and often priced lower than you'd find at other stores. If youre a steak lover, these should be at the top of your list. Stock up when theyre in season, and youll have steaks that are restaurant-quality without the price tag. Pro tip: Buy in bulk and freeze for later. Spanish Serrano Ham Credit: Wikimedia Commons If youve ever dreamed of bringing a little Spanish style to your charcuterie board, Costcos Spanish Serrano ham is a must-try. It is imported directly from Spain, has a rich, savory flavor, and is perfect for slicing thin. Its definitely a splurge, but if you can split the cost, youre getting a truly authentic experience. Rotisserie Chicken Credit: Canva Costcos rotisserie chicken has a cult following. Considering how juicy, flavorful, and affordable it is, its the ultimate convenience meal. The best part is that its a go-to thats easy to grab after a long day of shopping or when you need something to throw together in minutes. Wagyu Beef Credit: Getty Images Wagyu beef at Costco is an indulgence worth considering, especially if youre looking to elevate a special meal. While its pricey, its far more affordable than youd expect for this premium cut. Youll appreciate the rich flavor and tenderness. Just remember, small portions go a long way, and a little Wagyu goes a long way for your taste buds. Lamb Chops Credit: Getty Images Lamb may not be the go-to meat for everyone, but Costco's lamb chops are an exception. They are noted to be tender, juicy, and bursting with flavor, and make a great option for something different. Even better, Costcos prices for lamb are hard to beat compared to specialty butchers. Ahi Tuna Credit: Getty Images Costcos Ahi Tuna is a standout in the frozen section. Each portion is individually vacuum-sealed and perfect for poke bowls, grilling, or even sushi. At around $15 per pound, its worth the price for the high quality you get. Game Meats Credit: Wikimedia Commons For something unique, Costcos selection of game meats like bison and elk is a must-try. These meats, which are high in protein, low in fat, and loaded with flavor, can make for a memorable dinner. Plus, they are leaner and more flavorful than typical beef. The health benefits make them a win-win for those looking to shake things up. Iberico Ham Credit: Wikimedia Commons If youre looking for the Cadillac of hams, Iberico ham from Costco is a splurge worth making. This ham, sourced from Spanish Iberico pigs, is marbled, rich, and deeply flavorful. Its a product that screams quality, and although its not for everyday meals, it's the kind of meat that leaves an impression. Ground Beef (80/20) Credit: pexels Forget the 93/7 lean stuff; Costco's 80/20 ground beef is the secret to juicy burgers, meatballs, and tacos. With the right fat content, its a crowd-pleaser for all your comfort food recipes. While 93/7 might seem like a healthier choice, it often results in dry, flavorless meals. Stick to the 80/20 blend, and youll notice the difference in taste and texture. Boneless Skinless Chicken Thighs Credit: Canva If you love dark meat, Costcos boneless skinless chicken thighs are a great pick. Theyre flavorful, juicy, and perfect for a wide range of dishes. These thighs hold up better than chicken breasts, whether grilled, roasted, or stir-fried. Plus, theyre a great price for the quality you get. Smoked Sausages Credit: Wikimedia Commons Costcos smoked sausages are another great find, especially if you're hosting a BBQ or picnic. With a mix of flavors, like garlic and bratwurst, these sausages are always a crowd favorite. Grill them up, toss them in a bun, or serve with your favorite sides. Theyre easy to prepare, packed with flavor, and a great way to feed a group without breaking the bank. Blade-Tenderized Steaks Credit: Getty Images While some cuts of steak are great at Costco, avoid the blade-tenderized varieties. This process pushes bacteria into the meat, which can be a concern, especially if you like your steak rare. While you can cook these steaks to be safe, many people find the process makes them less desirable. Pork Shoulder (Boneless) Credit: Getty Images Costcos boneless pork shoulder may seem like an easy pick for pulled pork, but its not the best choice for maximum flavor. The bone-in variety offers much more taste and moisture. Even though you might save time without the bone, youre sacrificing flavorand thats not something worth skipping when it comes to pork. Chicken Wings Credit: Wikimedia Commons Chicken wings are hit or miss, and unfortunately, the misses are more common. With complaints ranging from too little meat to feathers still attached, many customers have been disappointed. If youre craving wings, you might want to try other stores that specialize in high-quality wings. Boneless Pork Ribs Credit: Getty Images The store's boneless pork ribs can be a bit of a gamble. While the flavor is there, the texture sometimes leaves much to be desired. These ribs can be dry or overly fatty, depending on the cut. Twelve years ago, Hirotaka Saito was just a guy. Well, not really just a guy, since he was a successful businessman and had a Ferrari, but also led a fairly ordinary life. An office, a luxury car, a house But all this collapsed in an instant when Saitos company faced an economic crisis and went bankrupt. The owner of the company was so depressed that at that moment he saw only one decent way out of the situation to take his own life. He was already preparing to leave the house for the last time, to get into his Ferrari and go on a journey without return but his dog changed everything. Saving both his human and, as it turns out, the lives of many doggos later. More info: Instagram Hirotaka Saito was a businessman in Japan 12 years ago, but everything fell into shambles one day over an economic crisis Image credits: wansfree / Instagram The man was so devastated that he saw only one decent way out to take his own life Saito was about to leave the house and take his life, but his large, over 150 lb. dog apparently sensed the sad and determined mood of the human. He literally planted himself at the door and refused to budge. Whenever Saito tried to approach the door, the dog met this attempt with a loud bark and simply pushed the man away from the exit. Image credits: wansfree / Instagram After several such fruitless attempts, Saitos determination evaporated, and he wondered if it would be reasonable to do as he wanted. Apparently, common sense prevailed over the emotions in his head, and the man, realizing that he owed his life to his faithful dog, decided to devote his next years to saving other four-legged ones who found themselves in difficult situations. Image credits: wansfree / Instagram However, the mans big dog literally saved his life, not letting him go out and the man changed his mind Hirotaka Saito was bankrupt, but he still had his car, and his business acumen as an experienced enterpriser had also not gone anywhere. He sold his Ferrari without any regret, and opened one of the first shelters for dogs with trauma in Japan. Not just for stray dogs but also for those who, for one reason or another, bit their owner and ended up on the street. Image credits: wansfree / Instagram Now Hirotaka Saito is 54 years old and runs a pet shelter with over 40 traumatized dogs from around the whole of Japan Today, Mr. Saito is 54 years old, and his shelter, called Wansfree, takes care of about 40 dogs. Usually, the founder of the shelter meets all newly arrived animals himself and, despite their obvious aggression, tries to show them right away that their misadventures end here. He usually puts on three pairs of gloves, one on top of the other, to avoid bites but this doesnt always help. Image credits: wansfree / Instagram Well, no bite, even the strongest, is able to make Saito turn away from the path he once chose. A dog saved me. Now its my turn to devote my life to them, the man writes on Instagram. The head of the shelter, together with his entire staff, do their best to ensure that the dogs, scared and embittered at the world, at least calm down a little and get a chance at a peaceful life. Image credits: wansfree / Instagram Once being saved by a dog, the man has devoted the rest of his life to saving other dogs from various troubles and giving them a chance for a peaceful life On top of that, its important to make them feel loved. Just believe in them, Japanese media Sippo Asahi quotes Mr. Saito. Theyll stop biting one day, so I can wait as long as it takes. Even if they bite me, my attitude and feelings toward them wont change. If I keep conveying these feelings to them, I think theyll stop biting. After all, what are a few bites compared to a life saved? Image credits: egeardaphotos / Pexels (not the actual photo) The man now wants to raise funds in order to have over 300 dogs in the shelter by 2028 In his noble cause, Saito is assisted by his own two dogs, Neneji and Torajiro, who are called upon to show other animals by their personal example that no harm will come to them in this place. Well, the founder of the shelter himself is not going to stop today hes raising funds to increase the number of pets under his care to 300 in the next few years. Knowing this man, he will definitely succeed! People in the comments of this story literally admired Saito and his selflessness, as well as the brave dog who saved his owner from an irreparable act. What a man! He has my deep respect and admiration, one of the responders wrote sincerely. People are quite sure that nothing in this world, no material values, can compare to the pure joy that comes with saving the life of another being. Many years ago, the great French writer Antoine de Saint-Exupery wrote: We are responsible for those we have tamed! And indeed, over the thousands of years that dogs have walked alongside us humans, theyve repeatedly demonstrated the most striking examples of absolute love and devotion. Why shouldnt people respond to this nobility and selflessness with an equally broad gesture of gratitude, right? Most people online were just in awe of the man and his brave doggo, claiming that no material value can be compared to saving a life Mark Thompson, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers | DVIDS (The Center Square) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will move to claw back $62.4 million in rooftop solar energy funds previously awarded to Wisconsin. The grants, awarded under the President Joe Biden-era Solar for All program, were effectively eliminated by President Donald Trumps One Big Beautiful Bill Act, cutting a total of $7 billion awarded to 49 states. In a letter to EPA administrator Lee Zeldin asking not to rescind the grants, Gov. Tony Evers criticized the cuts, calling them unnecessary and potentially illegal. Attempting to terminate Solar for All grants has no legitimate purpose or justification, Evers wrote. Beyond that, doing so will also negatively impact Wisconsinites and our state, causing increased energy bills for Wisconsinites and hurting efforts to improve air quality, boost resilience, and create good-paying jobs. Evers added that the $62.4 million program would support more than 7,400 households and save a household up to $500 a year. Terminating the program, according to Evers, would mean preventing Wisconsinites from seeing lower costs and direct savings. However, some conservatives in the state pushed back on the governors narrative. Grants for intermittent energy sources like solar dont lower costs. They drive costs up for everyone else, Americans for Prosperity-Wisconsin state director Megan Novak said in a statement. Dismantling these costly drivers ensures a level playing field for all energy sources so families can benefit from lower prices, not politically favored technologies. Instead of pushing top-down green energy mandates, we should be focused on expanding energy choice, unleashing reliable domestic production, and reforming regulatory barriers that make it harder to build the infrastructure we need. A July report by Wisconsin Policy Forum found that communities that have undertaken solar energy projects in the state have seldom succeeded in cost savings, with only 3 of 23 Wisconsin communities between 2011-2023 reporting savings through solar projects. While the EPA seeks to reclassify the previous grants as unobligated and take them back, some officials and trade groups argued the EPA has no legal authority to do so since the funds were already congressionally approved, The Washington Post reported. Although Evers questioned the legality of the cuts in his letter, a spokesperson for Evers did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether he is considering legal action to keep the program open. By Shivam Patel and Aftab Ahmed NEW DELHI (Reuters) -New Delhi has put on hold its plans to procure new U.S. weapons and aircraft, according to three Indian officials familiar with the matter, in India's first concrete sign of discontent after tariffs imposed on its exports by President Donald Trump dragged ties to their lowest level in decades. India had been planning to send Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to Washington in the coming weeks for an announcement on some of the purchases, but that trip has been cancelled, two of the people said. Trump on Aug. 6 imposed an additional 25% tariff on Indian goods as punishment for Delhi's purchases of Russian oil, which he said meant the country was funding Russia's invasion of Ukraine. That raised the total duty on Indian exports to 50% - among the highest of any U.S. trading partner. The president has a history of rapidly reversing himself on tariffs and India has said it remains actively engaged in discussions with Washington. One of the people said the defence purchases could go ahead once India had clarity on tariffs and the direction of bilateral ties, but "just not as soon as they were expected to." Written instructions had not been given to pause the purchases, another official said, indicating that Delhi had the option to quickly reverse course, though there was "no forward movement at least for now." Post publication of this story, Indias government issued a statement it attributed to a Ministry of Defence source describing news reports of a pause in the talks as "false and fabricated." The statement also said procurement was progressing as per "extant procedures." Delhi, which has forged a close partnership with America in recent years, has said it is being unfairly targeted and that Washington and its European allies continue to trade with Moscow when it is in their interest. Reuters is reporting for the first time that discussions on India's purchases of Stryker combat vehicles made by General Dynamics Land Systems and Javelin anti-tank missiles developed by Raytheon and Lockheed Martin have been paused due to the tariffs. Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had in February announced plans to pursue procurement and joint production of those items. Singh had also been planning to announce the purchase of six Boeing P8I reconnaissance aircraft and support systems for the Indian Navy during his now-cancelled trip, two of the people said. Talks over procuring the aircraft in a proposed $3.6 billion deal were at an advanced stage, according to the officials. Boeing, Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics referred queries to the Indian and U.S. governments. Raytheon did not return a request for comment. RUSSIAN RELATIONS India's deepening security relationship with the U.S., which is fuelled by their shared strategic rivalry with China, was heralded by many U.S. analysts as one of the key areas of foreign-policy progress in the first Trump administration. Delhi is the world's second-largest arms importer and Russia has traditionally been its top supplier. India has in recent years however, shifted to importing from Western powers like France, Israel and the U.S., according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute think-tank. The shift in suppliers was driven partly by constraints on Russia's ability to export arms, which it is utilizing heavily in its invasion of Ukraine. Some Russian weapons have also performed poorly in the battlefield, according to Western analysts. The broader U.S.-India defence partnership, which includes intelligence sharing and joint military exercises, continues without hiccups, one of the Indian officials said. India also remains open to scaling back on oil imports from Russia and is open to making deals elsewhere, including the U.S., if it can get similar prices, according to two other Indian sources. Trump's threats and rising anti-U.S. nationalism in India have "made it politically difficult for Modi to make the shift from Russia to the U.S.," one of the people said. Nonetheless, discounts on the landing cost of Russian oil have shrunk to the lowest since 2022. India's petroleum ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. While the rupture in U.S.-India ties was abrupt, there have been strains in the relationship. Delhi has repeatedly rebutted Trump's claim that the U.S. brokered a ceasefire between India and Pakistan after four days of fighting between the nuclear-armed neighbours in May. Trump also hosted Pakistan's army chief at the White House in the weeks following the conflict. In recent months, Moscow has been actively pitching Delhi on buying new defence technologies like its S-500 surface-to-air missile system, according to one of the Indian officials, as well as a Russian source familiar with the talks. India currently does not see a need for new arms purchases from Moscow, two Indian officials said. But Delhi is unlikely to wean itself off Russian weapons entirely as the decades-long partnership between the two powers means Indian military systems will continue to require Moscow's support, one of the officials said. The Russian embassy in Delhi did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (Reporting by Shivam Patel and Aftab Ahmed; Editing by Katerina Ang) By Aishwarya Jain (Reuters) -Shares of Expedia surged nearly 12% than on Friday, after the online travel agent raised its full-year gross bookings forecast and struck an optimistic tone on the recovery in U.S. travel demand. Expedia is the latest travel company to hint at a rebound in demand, following weakness earlier this year when consumers fretted over the economic impact of President Donald Trump's tariff policies. "Since the beginning of July, we've seen an uptick in overall travel demand, particularly in the U.S.," CEO Ariane Gorin said on the earnings call on Thursday. The company expects 2025 gross bookings to grow between 3% to 5%, up 1 percentage point from its earlier forecast. Morningstar analyst Dan Wasiolek expects bookings growth to accelerate further to 7% in 2026 as demand improves alongside policy visibility. Tariffs had disrupted travel spending, "but it appears prospective U.S. travelers are prepared to book again," said Danni Hewson, head of financial analysis at AJ Bell. Expedia has also been focusing on simplifying its organizational structure by eliminating roles, streamlining operations and deploying generative AI technology. Its second-quarter margin grew by 190 basis points, surpassing the company's May guidance of a 75- to 100-basis-point increase. The biggest fundamental takeaway is that Expedia's continued strategic focus and tighter expense controls are driving more consistent results, said Baird analyst Michael Bellisario. Expedia also joined industry peers Marriott and Airbnb in noting strong bookings from higher-income consumers while lower-income consumers were more cautious with discretionary spending. Expedia's shares trade at about 12.01 times their forward profit estimates, below the industry median of 14.19. (Reporting by Aishwarya Jain in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath) TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) The Florida Department of Health has identified Keely Farms Dairy as the source of raw milk that has sickened 21 people with E. coli or campylobacter since January. A manager of the farm in New Smyrna Beach, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) northeast of Orlando, said the Health Department did not contact the farm before making the announcement. The Department of Health has not informed Keely Farms of any investigation or administrative action, Keely Exum said in an emailed statement, adding that the farm was blindsided" and will reach out to the agency. Since Jan. 24, six children under the age of 10 have been infected and seven people have been hospitalized, according to state officials. At least two cases developed severe complications. The department has not said if any of the six children are among those treated in hospitals, nor how many people were infected by E. coli, campylobacter or both bacteria. The Florida Department of Health will continue working with Keely Farms Dairy to ensure that effective sanitation practices are implemented consistently across every batch, the department said in an updated statement Thursday. The Health Department said Floridians should be aware of potential risks associated with consuming raw dairy but stopped short of issuing the same directive as the state's commissioner of agriculture, who encouraged Floridians to protect their health by only consuming pasteurized milk products. Raw milk appears to be gaining in popularity, despite years of warnings about the health risks of drinking unpasteurized products. The Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say raw milk is one of the riskiest foods people can consume. States have widely varying regulations regarding raw milk, with some allowing retail purchases in stores and others allowing sale only at farms. In Florida, the sale of raw milk for human consumption is illegal, but retailers get around the ban by labeling their products as for pet or animal food only. In recent months, Keely Farms Dairy has repeatedly promoted its products in a private Facebook group where Florida suppliers and consumers coordinate raw milk purchases. In a disclaimer on its website, Keely Farms Dairy acknowledges the legal prohibitions against selling its products for people to drink. "Since Federal law prohibits the sale of raw milk for human consumption, please DO NOT discuss such use with us, as it will jeopardize our ability to sell you raw milk. As required by Florida law, our product is labeled and sold as livestock feed," the disclaimer reads. ___ Kate Payne is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Tatiana Goskova / 500px / Getty Images As one of the worlds most noble grape varieties, Chardonnay often stands in a league of its own. Not only does it produce dynamically complete still wines, but also exceptional sparkling and sweet styles. And while Chardonnay can be planted and thrive anywhere in the world, its often most regarded from two specific regions: France and the United States. The differences between bottles from the two regions are more than just geographic. Price point, winemaking style, flavor profile, and aging potential also play a role in how Chardonnay is perceived and received by consumers all over the world. Chardonnay gives a winemaker the broadest canvas to work with, says Niki Wente, fifth-generation winegrower and director of vineyard operations at Wente Family Vineyards. We produce more than five different styles of Chardonnay to show there really is one for everyone. Even in our richer, oak-aged wines, balance is key. We always want the fruit to shine, with oak as an accent rather than a mask. Whether it is a steely, acidic expression with notes of green apple and ripe lemon, or a creamy, rich expression with notes of pineapple, succulent peach, and a touch of oak, there is indeed a Chardonnay for every palate. Courtesy of Wente Vineyards Related: Chardonnay Has a Lot More to Offer Than Buttery and Oaky, Here's How to Find the Best French Chardonnay Burgundy, the cool-climate wine region in east-central France, is known to be the birthplace of Chardonnay. And when it comes to prominent Chardonnay winemaking techniques, Burgundy is the pioneer for barrel aging, barrel fermentation, malolactic fermentation, and lees incorporation during the aging process. With four prominent sub-regions that dominate in world-class Chardonnay production Chablis, Cote dOr, Cote Chalonnaise, and Maconnais white Burgundy is a wine that never goes out of style. And because of the diversity of place, with varying production volumes and methodologies that go with each area, prices of French Chardonnay can also differ. At Perman Wine Selections in Chicago, Illinois, owner Craig Perman carries a wide variety of Chardonnay from France including Chablis, Cotes dAuxerre, Cote dOr, Maconnais, and Jura. We sell a lot of Chablis, but I also think we sell a lot from Chassagne-Montrachet, Puligny-Montrachet, and Meursault, says Perman. We offer styles from around 35 to 60 dollars, and to the older, more complex wines, which can be in the 125-to-225-dollar range. If a customer walks in asking what makes French Chardonnay special, Perman gives what he calls a canned response, simply because it is often difficult to generalize the category when it comes to the abundant flavor profiles and styles available. Cyrille Gibot / Getty Images French Chardonnay has more freshness and natural acidity, with a mixture of citrus and stone fruit along with a deeply mineral personality, he says. We tell our customers that each wine is different, even within a range from a producer, so we try not to generalize and heed to examples of what theyve enjoyed in the past. For various reasons including demand, availability, and challenging import conditions, among others prices for some of the most famous appellations of Burgundy, including Puligny-Montrachet, Chassagne-Montrachet, and Meursault, are at an all-time high. This can present a roadblock to those eager to drink in the category; even what used to be considered more value-minded appellations, such as Bourgogne Blanc, have seen recent price increases. Expect a Bourgogne Blanc from a good producer to cost between 50 and 80 dollars, says Perman. When it comes to the village-level wines, between 125 and 200 dollars; expect Premier Cru wines to be between 200 and 600 dollars per bottle. Finally, Grand Cru wines can range from 500 to 3,500 dollars per bottle. Related: How to Find the Best Wines From Burgundy American Chardonnay From cheap and chuggable to costly and coveted, there is a wide variety of American Chardonnay available from across the states. However, the grape variety is most notably known for planting its roots (literally) in The Golden State. When it comes to cultivating grapevines, cuttings are important to the growth and expansion of a particular grape variety. The now-prolific Wente clone is attributed to Ernest Wente Nikis great-great grandfather who created the clone in the early 1900s through grafting hand-selected vines imported from a nursery in Montpellier, France and planting them in Livermore Valley, California. This act of curiosity is responsible for Chardonnay being one of the leading grape varieties in the state. Today, more than 75% of all California Chardonnay stems from the Wente clone. Courtesy of Wente Vineyards Since we first planted Chardonnay in 1908, my family has been meticulously selecting the best vines for propagation, the ones with the strongest growth, ideal clusters, and most concentrated flavors, says Wente. Each generation has continued that careful selection, ensuring the original parent material of the Wente clone remains on our property for more than 115 years. Today, Wente Family Vineyards is not only preserving history, but also adapting through thoughtful farming with sustainability in mind to ensure this iconic clone thrives in a changing climate. Wente says their Morning Fog Chardonnay is the quintessential expression of Californias Central Coast, balancing bright fruit and quenching acidity with just enough oak to lend a lush, silky mouthfeel. Related: Heres How to Find an Incredible Chardonnay That Doesnt Just Taste Like Butter Its approachable, versatile, and shaped by the cool coastal breezes that define our vineyards, she says. I think the balance in this Chardonnay is what makes it a fan favorite and so well-regarded by critics. While Perman doesnt sell a lot of American Chardonnay, he does carry some from Oregon because, with a more moderate climate and overall cooler conditions than much of California, they largely offer styles that are more European influenced. Producers from the Willamette Valley like Goodfellow and Crowley offer good value Chardonnay, says Perman. Courtesy of Wente Vineyards At LEcole No. 41 Winery in the Walla Walla Valley of Washington, owner and managing winemaker Marty Clubb states that majority of the Chardonnay vineyards he harvests grapes from are within cooler sub-appellations like the Yakima Valley, Snipes Mountain, Ancient Lakes of the Columbia Valley, and the Royal Slope. In this part of the country, weather conditions are crucial to ensuring the ripening of Chardonnay grapes is perfect. There has not been much change in spring and fall temperatures, which helps to preserve the large diurnal daily temperature swings during our fall ripening season, says Clubb. This is critical for slowing down maturation, maintaining higher acidity levels, and producing better balance of fruitfulness and minerality in the wine. With low rainfall in the region, accumulations of caliche (calcium carbonate, which is similar to limestone, a key soil component in renowned parts of Burgundy, and particularly within the Cote dOr) add more mineral-rich complexity to LEcoles best Chardonnays. Chardonnay is endlessly fascinating to me because its a grape that wears so many expressions, says Wente. From bright and citrusy to round and lush, it never stops surprising me. There really is a Chardonnay for everyone. Read the original article on Food & Wine Gina Carano at the InStyle Max Mara Women in Film Celebration at Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles in 2019. (Rodin Eckenroth / FilmMagic file) Disney and Lucasfilm said Thursday that they had settled a lawsuit filed by the actor Gina Carano, who alleged she was wrongfully terminated from the Star Wars television series The Mandalorian in 2021. Carano filed a lawsuit in federal court in California in February 202,4, alleging she was fired from her role on the show for voicing right-wing opinions on social media. She claimed she suffered emotional damage and lost millions in income following the termination. She sought a court order that would require Lucasfilm to reinstate her or compensate her at least $75,000. The terms of the settlement were not immediately disclosed. The Lucasfilm statement said the agreement will resolve the issues in her pending lawsuit against the companies. Ms. Carano was always well respected by her directors, co-stars, and staff, and she worked hard to perfect her craft while treating her colleagues with kindness and respect, Lucasfilm said in a statement. With this lawsuit concluded, we look forward to identifying opportunities to work together with Ms. Carano in the near future. Carano also announced the settlement in a statement via her agent, saying the deal is the best outcome for all parties involved. I am excited to flip the page and move onto the next chapter. My desires remain in the arts, which is where I hope you will join me, said Carano, who had a supporting role on The Mandalorian as Cara Dune, a mercenary. Carano also thanked Elon Musk, referring to him as a man Ive never met, who did this Good Samaritan deed for me in funding my lawsuit. When the suit was filed, Carano confirmed that Musk and his social media company X would provide financial backing for it, following through on an earlier Musk promise to foot the legal bill for any X users who claimed they had been discriminated against because of their activity on the social media platform. Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the settlement. In recent years, Carano has posted on social media likening modern political divides to the Holocaust and mocking people who wore masks during the pandemic. She also appeared to suggest there was voter fraud during the 2016 presidential election. No evidence of widespread fraud has been found. Carano claimed in the suit that male colleagues who made similar comments were not held to the same standards. Bed Bath & Beyond has officially returned to the brick-and-mortar space and yes, it's still accepting those old coupons. The retailer opened its first Bed Bath & Beyond Home store on Friday, Aug. 8, in the Nashville, Tennessee area, marking a new chapter for the company that filed for bankruptcy and closed its stores in 2023. Beyond Inc., the parent company of Bed Bath & Beyond, entered into a partnership with Kirkland's Home in 2024 to make The Brand House Collective, the umbrella under which the new stores will operate. As part of the agreement, some Kirkland's locations will be transformed into Bed Bath & Beyond Home stores, the company announced on Aug. 5 Pictured is the store front for the new Bed Bath & Beyond Home that is opening in Nashville, Tennessee, on August 8, 2025. "We're proud to reintroduce one of retail's most iconic names with the launch of Bed Bath & Beyond Home, beautifully reimagined for how families gather at home today," Amy Sullivan, CEO of The Brand House Collective, said in a statement about the grand opening. "This isn't just a store, it's a fresh start for a brand that means something special to so many families." Here's what we know about the retailer's relaunch. Where is the new Bed Bath & Beyond Home? The first location is in Brentwood, Tennessee. The company has plans to convert five Kirkland's stores in the Nashville market to Bed Bath & Beyond Home stores, Starr Hudgens, The Brand House Collective's chief of staff, told USA TODAY. The company plans to expand outside the Nashville market in 2026, but has not yet announced where the new stores will be located. What do Bed Bath & Beyond Home stores look like? Bed Bath & Beyond Home features many of the same sections as the original store, including those for home, bathroom, bedroom and seasonal decor. The inaugural Bed Bath & Beyond Home features a sleek, open-concept layout with sections for home decor, pillows and rugs, bathroom, bedroom, lighting and seasonal entertaining. Bed Bath & Beyond Home opened its first location in Brentwood, Tennessee. Staged displays of couches, chairs, beds and tables showcase a wide variety of products, from colorful throws and decorative pillows to bathroom sets, lamps, kitchen items and odds and ends like mugs and candles. Will old Bed Bath & Beyond coupons still work? As part of the grand opening, The Brand House Collective said it is "honoring our brand's history" by bringing back the "beloved Bed Bath & Beyond coupon." The company is encouraging guests to bring in their legacy Bed Bath & Beyond coupons, which the store "will gladly honor," according to a July 28 news release. The coupons will be honored, in other words, even if they have expired. The company said that the first 25 customers to make a purchase will receive The Beyond Bed, described as a premium 10-inch memory foam queen-size mattress regularly valued at $226.99. Bed Bath & Beyond was primarily selling products online Before The Brand House Collective partnered with Beyond Inc., Bed Bath & Beyond had made the switch to sell products online following Overstock's acquisition of the stores intellectual property in June 2023. Bed Bath & Beyond is an iconic consumer brand, well-known in the home retail marketplace. The combination of our winning asset-light business model and the high awareness and loyalty of the Bed Bath & Beyond brand will improve the customer experience and position the company for accelerated market share growth, Jonathan Johnson, CEO of Overstock, said in a statement at the time. All Bed Bath & Beyond products were not sold online after the bankruptcy, as the store entered into a separate strategic partnership with The Container Store in late 2024 to sell its goods at the specialty retailer chain. As part of the partnership, Beyond Inc. also agreed to invest $40 million in The Container Store. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Bed Bath & Beyond Home store opens as brand gets a 'fresh start' Israeli soldiers walk along the border of the Gaza Strip in southern Israel, Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg) JERUSALEM (AP) Israel said Friday it will intensify its 22-month war with Hamas by taking over Gaza City, stirring fears for Palestinian civilians and Israeli hostages still held in Gaza, and renewing international pressure for an end to the conflict. Israels air and ground war has killed tens of thousands of people in Gaza, displaced most of the population, destroyed vast areas and pushed the territory toward famine. The timing of another major ground operation is unclear. It will likely require mobilizing thousands of troops and forcibly evacuating civilians, almost certainly worsening Gaza's humanitarian crisis. An official familiar with the plans to take over Gaza City said the operation would be gradual and that there is no start date. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters. The U.N. Security Council announced an emergency meeting on Israel's plans was rescheduled to 10 a.m. EDT on Sunday after originally being scheduled to take place at 3 p.m. EDT on Saturday. The U.N. Mission of Panama, which holds the council presidency this month, provided no details, but Saturday is the Jewish Sabbath and Israel is certain to want to speak at the meeting. Mediators from Egypt and Qatar are preparing a new framework that will include the release of all hostages dead and alive in one go, in return for an end of the war in Gaza and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the strip, two Arab officials told The Associated Press. Before Israel's Security Cabinet approved the plan to take over Gaza City, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had outlined more sweeping plans Thursday in an interview with Fox News, saying Israel planned to take control of all of Gaza. Israel already controls around three-quarters of the territory. Hamas rejected Israels plans. Expanding of aggression against our Palestinian people will not be a walk in the park, the group said in a statement. Netanyahu had signaled plans for even broader war International powers, including Israeli allies France, Britain and Canada, have stepped up criticism of the war amid mounting shock over media reports showing starvation. Germany said Friday it would not authorize the export of military equipment that could be used in Gaza until further notice. Tensions could rise further if Netanyahu follows through on the more sweeping plans to take control of the entire territory, two decades after Israels unilateral withdrawal. Israel's new plan may be aimed in part at pressuring Hamas to accept a ceasefire on Israel's terms. It may also reflect the reservations of Israels military chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, who reportedly warned that expanding operations would endanger the remaining 20 or so living hostages held by Hamas and further strain Israels army after nearly two years of regional wars. The military will prepare to take control of Gaza City while providing humanitarian aid to the civilian population outside the combat zones, Netanyahu's office said in a statement after the Security Cabinet meeting. Amir Avivi, a retired brigadier general and chairman of Israels Defense and Security Forum, estimated it would take less than three months to mobilize some 30,000 troops, evacuate Palestinian civilians and take over Gaza City. Hamas-led militants triggered the war when they stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and abducting 251 people. Most of the hostages have been released in ceasefires or other deals but 50 remain inside Gaza. Israel believes around 20 of them to be alive. Israels retaliatory campaign has killed over 61,000 Palestinians, according to Gazas Health Ministry, which does not say how many were fighters or civilians. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals. The United Nations and independent experts view the ministrys figures as the most reliable estimate of casualties. Israel has disputed them without offering a toll of its own. Mediators try again to end the war The efforts for a new ceasefire have the backing of major Arab Gulf monarchies, according to two officials who spoke anonymously due to the sensitivity of the discussions. One is involved directly in the deliberations and the second was briefed on the efforts. The monarchies are concerned about further regional destabilization if Israel fully reoccupies Gaza, the officials said. The yet-to-be finalized framework aims to address the contentious issue of what to do with Hamas weapons, with Israel seeking full disarmament and Hamas refusing. The official directly involved in the efforts said discussions are underway about freezing arms, which may involve Hamas retaining but not using its weapons. It also calls for the group to relinquish power in the strip. A Palestinian-Arab committee would run Gaza and oversee the reconstruction efforts until the establishment of a Palestinian administration with a new police force, trained by two U.S. allies in the Middle East, to take over the strip, the official said. It is unclear what role the Western-backed Palestinian Authority would play. The second official said the U.S. administration has been briefed on the broad lines of the framework. A senior Hamas official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasnt authorized to brief the media, said the group has yet to receive details on the latest efforts to revive ceasefire talks. AP reached out to the governments in Qatar, Egypt and Israel as well as the White House for comment. Wishes for an end to the war U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff told hostage families during his recent visit that Israel was shifting its approach to pursue a comprehensive all-or-nothing deal aimed at ending the war and securing the release of hostages, a person who attended the meeting told the AP, speaking on the condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak about the private meeting. Israelis united behind the war in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 attack, but dissent has steadily grown as hostages have languished in captivity. Some families of the hostages and their supporters have staged large protests calling for a ceasefire with Hamas that would bring their loved ones home. All of Israel wants a comprehensive deal and an end to the war, Einav Zangauker, mother of hostage Matan Zangauker, said in a statement on Friday. For the State of Israel to guarantee the security of its citizens, we must end this injustice that has been done to our loved ones for 22 months. There is nothing here to occupy Israel has repeatedly bombarded Gaza City and carried out numerous raids there, only to return to neighborhoods again and again as militants regrouped. Today, it is one of the few areas in Gaza that hasnt been turned into an Israeli buffer zone or placed under evacuation orders. Umm Youssef from Gaza City said she had left the city for over 16 months before returning to her home. 'The area is all rubble. Rubble is an overstatement, it is a sandpile. There is nothing here to occupy. There is no life here," she said. A major ground operation there could displace tens of thousands of people and further disrupt efforts to deliver food to the hunger-stricken territory. At least six Palestinians were shot dead and more than 140 were wounded on Friday at the Israeli-run Zikim Crossing in northern Gaza, where U.N. aid convoys enter, according to Dr. Mohamed Abu Selmiya, the director of Shifa Hospital, which received the dead and wounded. He said all six were killed by Israeli gunfire. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. Its unclear how many people are still in Gaza City. Hundreds of thousands fled under evacuation orders in the opening weeks of the conflict, but many returned during a ceasefire earlier this year. ___ Shurafa reported from Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, and Magdy from Cairo. Associated Press writers Melanie Lidman and Sam Mednick in Tel Aviv, Israel, Danica Kirka in London, Michelle Price in Washington, Joseph Krauss in Ottawa, Ontario, Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations and Fanny Brodersen in Berlin contributed. ___ Follow APs war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war I've been to more than 30 tropical islands around the world. Kelly Magyarics I've visited 30 tropical islands around the world, but five stand out from the rest. Bora Bora and Curacao's beautiful beaches make them the perfect places for a relaxing vacation. Barbados has many activities, like touring a rum distillery and visiting Rihanna's childhood home. As a travel writer specializing in tropical destinations, I've been lucky enough to have visited 30 islands around the world. Because of my extensive travels, people often ask me which islands I'd return to. Each island I've been to has been idyllic and unique, but a few lingered in my salt-spray-tinged memories long after my tan faded. Here are the five islands I always recommend to other travelers. I couldn't get enough of Bora Bora's beauty and great cuisine. I loved the idyllic shoreline and bungalows in Bora Bora. Kelly Magyarics This South Pacific haven screams "paradise." Although getting there was a long journey I had to take a 16-hour flight from New York to Tahiti, followed by an hourlong flight to Bora Bora the island was absolutely otherworldly. Formed by an extinct volcano, Bora Bora is surrounded by a calm turquoise lagoon that's basically a huge wading pool. I remember marveling at rows of romantic bungalows with thatched roofs and glass floors overlooking the water. The local cuisine combines French and Polynesian cultures. I enjoyed meals like poisson cru, a ceviche-like dish made with coconut milk, tomatoes, and cucumber. It was truly heaven on earth. I loved the luxurious vibes in St. Barts. Kelly Magyarics St. Barts is full of fancy spots, with a yacht-filled harbor, designer shops along the pristine streets of Gustavia (the island's capital), and luxurious hotels. I found a lively day-drinking scene at Nikki Beach, a destination that's attracted celebrity guests like Mariah Carey, and restaurants with menus and wine lists to rival any Parisian hot spot. However, you don't have to be a multimillionaire to soak in the island's beguiling swankiness. During my visit, I spent an afternoon on a catamaran ride and did some window shopping. Visitors can also find elevated cuisine at various price points I had tuna poke and chilled rose from Ti' Corail on a laid-back beach, and it was one of my favorite meals. I was blown away by the many local beaches, such as the sandy Gouverneur Beach and the secluded Colombier Beach, a spot accessible only after a steep (but worth it) hike. If you're a Francophile who adores fabulous food and an upscale feel, I highly recommend St. Barts. St. Martin is the perfect destination for shopping and plane enthusiasts. St. Martin had plenty of things to do, like visit Maho Beach. Kelly Magyarics St. Martin is split into two distinct French and Dutch sides. During my visit, I thought the French side had a quiet, relaxed vibe. I enjoyed lying on the beach at Orient Bay (referred to as the Saint-Tropez of the Caribbean) and shopping at the luxury boutiques in Marigot, the capital of the French collectivity on St. Martin. I found the Dutch side much livelier as I clubbed at the Soggy Dollar Bar in Simpson Bay and sipped rum cocktails while watching the sunset at The Rusty Parrot. The island is also the ultimate destination for aviation geeks, as the Princess Juliana International Airport is steps away from Maho Beach. I spent hours watching planes fly directly above me. Visitors can also island hop to nearby St. Barts and Anguilla, which are easily accessible by ferry or plane. I was blown away by Curacao's beautiful beaches and scenery. Kelly Magyarics Curacao is known for having more than 35 beaches, so every sun-worshipper can find their perfect spot. During my visit, it seemed that some beaches, like Playa Piskado, were mainly frequented by locals, so they were uncrowded and relaxed. Others, such as Grote Knip and Playa Kalki, in quiet coves, were also very tranquil. During my stay, I sipped my way through the gin and tonic menu at Zest Restaurant & Beach Cafe on the lively Jan Thiel Beach and, of course, tried the island's namesake bright blue liqueur in a cocktail. Handelskade, a row of brightly colored Dutch colonial buildings lining the water in Willemstad (the island's capital), was the perfect photo op. As an added bonus, Curacao is part of the ABC islands (the other two being Aruba and Bonaire), which are unlikely to be severely affected by hurricanes. I enjoyed Barbados' lively events and rum distillery. Ina Meer Sommer/Shutterstock The Caribbean is synonymous with rum, but in my opinion, no island offers as authentic an experience as this destination. Based in Barbados, the iconic rum producer Mount Gay has been selling the spirit since 1703. Touring and tasting at the company's distillery is a must-do for any fan of the sugarcane-based spirit. Visitors can also make their way through Barbados' flavorful cocktails (and cuisine) at lively bars and restaurants. I loved the potent rum punch and local fish cakes at Oasis Beach Bar, as well as the seared jerk tuna and butter beans at Calma Beach Club. The island was perpetually vibrant it seemed like a party, festival, or concert was always happening. The snorkeling in Carlisle Bay was also amazing, as I saw parrotfish, hawksbill turtles, and seahorses. Plus, Rihanna fans can snap a selfie in front of the Barbadian native's colorful childhood home, where her name adorns the doormat. This story was originally published on August 9, 2024, and most recently updated on August 8, 2025. Read the original article on Business Insider President Donald Trump announced his intention to "immediately begin work on a new" census, raising questions about whether the plan would be constitutional and how it would affect the partisan makeup of Congress. His announcement came amidst Texas Republicans' efforts to perform an unusual mid-decade redrawing of congressional maps, which are normally drawn after the census determines the number of seats in each state's delegation at the beginning of each new decade. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and the GOP-led state legislature hope to add up to five new seats for their party by redistricting, prompting proposals for Democratic states to redraw their congressional maps in retaliation. Trump's Aug. 7 social media post said a new survey should be taken "based on modern day facts and figures and, importantly, using the results and information gained from the Presidential Election of 2024," and that people "who are in our Country illegally WILL NOT BE COUNTED IN THE CENSUS." USA TODAY has reached out to the White House for comment. Neither the U.S. Census Bureau nor the Commerce Department responded to requests for comment. "I think you would have to see, at some point, do things start moving?" said Shawn Donahue, a political science professor at the University at Buffalo. "Is it something that is more of just a press release, or is there something that the Commerce Department is going to start doing?" How often is the census taken? The U.S. Constitution calls for the census to be conducted every 10 years, and in years that end in zero, most recently in 2020. The U.S. Census Bureau, part of the Commerce Department, carries out these resource-intensive surveys and hires temporary staff to conduct outreach to count as many people as possible. The survey results are used to decide how seats in the U.S. House of Representatives are distributed to each state based on its population, a process called apportionment. Those processes usually take place in the first two years of a decade. The survey results are also used to determine how much federal funding is distributed to states, and researchers widely cite the demographic research to understand the country. Who supports conducting a mid-decade Census? Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia, announced a bill in July that would require a new census to be performed, counting only U.S. citizens, and then direct states to redraw their congressional districts based on the new numbers. "Americans don't feel like they're represented in Washington," she said. Hans Von Spakovsky, a senior legal fellow for the conservative Heritage Foundation, said he thinks states should redraw their congressional districts every five years, as long as data is available, but it usually isn't. He said the United States has a mobile and constantly increasing population that a survey held every 10 years doesn't capture. He also pointed to a 2022 report from the U.S. Census Bureau that found 14 states had statistically significant differences between the bureau's count and the actual population. Six states Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Texas had undercounts. He said better data quality might have led to more congressional seats in Texas and Florida. Who opposes a mid-decade census? John Bisognano, president of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, criticized Trump's proposal as "a comprehensive campaign to flout the U.S. Constitution in order to predetermine election outcomes so he can consolidate his power and avoid accountability to the American people." Sophia Lin Lakin, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Voting Rights Project, told National Public Radio that following through "would defy the Constitution, federal law, and settled precedent," and her organization "won't hesitate to go back to court to protect representation for all communities." Why would Trump want to conduct a new Census? "The Republicans are so desperate at this point to forestall whats likely going to happen in 2026," said Michael P. McDonald, a political science professor at the University of Florida. Democrats are widely expected to win seats in the House of Representatives in next year's congressional elections because the party that occupies the White House usually does poorly. Trump also has low approval ratings. That blue wave could flip control of the House, in which Republicans hold a 219 to 212 majority. McDonald said if Republicans draw new congressional districts, they might be able to mitigate the number of seats they lose. For example, the Republican stronghold of Texas saw such rapid population growth when the 2020 survey came out that it gained two additional congressional seats. Republican-leaning states of Florida and Montana, Democrat-leaning Oregon and Colorado, and tightly contested North Carolina each gained one seat. The Democratic population centers of California, Illinois, and New York each lost one seat; so did Republican-leaning Ohio and West Virginia, and the swing states of Michigan and Pennsylvania. President Donald Trump and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott participate in a roundtable with first responders and local officials at Hill Country Youth Center in Kerrville, Texas. Are immigrants counted in the census? Yes. The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution says Representatives shall be apportioned according to the "whole number of persons in each State." This ended the longstanding practice of counting three-fifths of enslaved people for purposes of representation. There is no language in the 14th Amendment that restricts these counts to citizens or people with legal presence in the country. During his first term, Trump attempted to add a question to the 2020 census asking if the person completing the survey was a citizen. The Supreme Court struck that down in 2019. The following year, Trump issued a memorandum saying undocumented immigrants should not be included in counts that determine congressional representation. Could Republicans gain more seats if a new census were conducted? Von Spakovsky said a mid-decade census could result in more congressional seats for Texas and Florida. Both are red states with rapidly increasing populations, and both were undercounted in the 2020 census. Texas, for example, was undercounted by almost 550,000 in 2020 and added another 2 million people by 2024. By comparison, an average of 760,000 people live in each congressional district. Within hours of Trump's statement, Florida House Speaker Daniel Perez, a Republican, said he's setting up a new redistricting committee. McDonald said the congressional maps are the fairest they've been in about 40 years because of redistricting reform efforts across the country to prevent unfairly drawn districts. He said that the congressional maps are already drawn in a way that there are more Republican-leaning districts than Democratic-leaning ones, despite the practice of including undocumented immigrants in the count. McDonald pointed to South Florida, where he said the lines place right-leaning Cuban Americans with high voter turnout rates in the same districts as lower-propensity, Democratic-leaning Hispanic voters. If the maps were redrawn to not include undocumented immigrants, as Trump has suggested, he said there would likely be only two congressional seats in the area. "Whos going to be on that game of musical chairs?" he asked. How would a new census affect 2026 or 2028? Reapportioning congressional seats affects two things: How many congressional seats each state has and how many electoral votes each state has because electoral votes are equal to each state's total number of Senate and House seats. House terms last two years, and the elections take place in even years, with the next one coming in 2026. The next presidential election happens in 2028. But this doesn't mean that a new census will take place or that maps will be rejiggered by then. "It seems pretty unlikely that you could do this for 2026 just because it takes so long," Donahue said. The government also isn't allowed to speed up the process by basing its count on statistical sampling, he said, pointing to a 1999 Supreme Court decision that said people must be counted. "Its not something where you can snap your fingers and its going to happen." Von Spakovsky suggested the Census Bureau update a form it already sends out regularly and use it to perform a mid-decade census survey. "You couldnt get it done this year, but I dont see any reason why you couldnt get it done next year," he said. Would Trump's order to do a mid-decade census go to court? "Absolutely," Donahue said. "The Constitution calls for a decennial census. It doesnt say that you cant (have more). But, I mean, it pretty much implies that youre only going to do one every 10 years." Donahue predicted that Democratic-leaning states would be most likely to challenge a mid-decade census in court. But the administration could argue that the requirement to do it every 10 years isn't a prohibition on doing it more often. "Theres no legal bar in place that says you cant redistrict more than once every 10 years," Von Spakovsky said. Contributing: Francesca Chambers This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: How Trumps new census plans could affect the 2026 election Burglars wiped out a California store's entire Labubu monster doll collection during a heist this week, making off with thousands of dollars' worth of the viral toy. According to the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department, the heist occurred at a store in La Puente, a city about 20 miles east of downtown LA and about 18 miles north of Anaheim. One Stop Sales shared footage of the Tuesday, Aug. 6 robbery on social media. The store sold the fuzzy, sharp-tooth dolls used as toys, accessories, and collectibles. Just before 1:30 a.m. that day, the sheriff's department confirmed in a statement to USA TODAY, deputies responded to the 600 block of Glendora Avenue for a burglary call. Arriving officers, the agency reported, learned "several boxes" of Labubus had been stolen by masked thieves. The dolls are valued at approximately $7,000. "The vehicle used in the crime, a stolen Toyota Tacoma, was recovered shortly afterward," the department wrote in the statement. The case remains under investigation. What is a Labubu? An influencer carries three Labubu toys at Paramount+'s world premiere of "Dexter: Resurrection" on July 9, 2025 in New York City. A Labubu is a doll designed to look like a monster, with a big head, prominent fangs and large eyes. Made in China, the dolls are sold in various colors and have drawn quite the buzz, adorning the handbags of fans globally. Even celebrities have gotten in on the craze. A person carries a bag with a Labubu doll attached, outside the Pop Mart's flagship store in Shanghai, China June 13, 2025. Police and store ask for help identifying Labubu burglars Labubu figurines are displayed at a preview exhibition before Yongle International Auction in Beijing, China June 6, 2025. Both the store and the sheriff's office are asking the public for help identifying the burglary suspects. The store released a black-and-white video showing the thieves, which appears to be at least four suspects, plundering the business. "We worked so hard to get to this point... for them just to come in and like nothing take it all away," Joanna Avendano, One Stop Sales co-owner, told KABC-TV. Burglars wiped out a California store's entire Labubu doll collection during a heist. Anyone with information about the case is asked to call the sheriffs department at 626-330-3322. To provide information anonymously, call "Crime Stoppers" at 800-222-TIPS or visit the website: http://lacrimestoppers.org. Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on X @nataliealund. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Watch how thieves wiped out store's entire Labubu doll collection Silver City, New Mexico, is tucked into the southwest corner of the state and calls itself the City of Unconditional Love, though the town doesnt make a big deal about the name. Its easy to reach if youre already heading through the Southwest, and it makes a convenient stop for those traveling through the region. Heres a bit about this underrated gem. A Small Southwestern Town Credit: Wikimedia Commons The city is located at almost 6,000 feet above sea level, which is why it stays cooler than much of southern New Mexico, especially during summer. The elevation brings noticeable changes: pine trees replace desert shrubs, and the late afternoon light stretches longer across the hills. Warm days can turn cool by evening, and storms move in without much warning. Kicking Off with a Drive Credit: Wikimedia Commons There are no airports near Silver City. The closest options are El Paso, about two and a half hours east, and Tucson, roughly three hours west. Many people arrive by car, usually as part of a longer trip through southern New Mexico or eastern Arizona. The drive passes through stretches of high desert, with few towns in between. History of Silver and Outlaws Credit: Wikimedia Commons Mining pulled people here in the late 1800s. Prospectors discovered silver in the surrounding hills, which led to rapid growth. Outlaws like Billy the Kid passed through, and records show minimal law enforcement during those years. For individuals who want to learn more, the Silver City Museum and nearby Fort Bayard share clear accounts of this period. How It Became the City of Unconditional Love Credit: Getty Images What most tourists dont know is that the City of Unconditional Love label was not a marketing move. The townsfolk introduced the phrase during a community effort to encourage mutual respect and support. It began as a response to social and political tension, and can be found on welcome signs and city materials. The Mining Legacy Carries On Credit: Getty Images We all know that the city grew because of mining, but it may surprise you to know that the nearby Chino Mine still operates. It is one of the oldest open-pit mines in the United States. It stretches for miles and remains visible from public viewing areas. The towns infrastructure, population changes, and economy all trace back to copper extraction. Catwalk Trail on an Old Pipe Route Credit: Instagram An hour east of Silver City, the Catwalk Recreation Area offers a trail through a narrow canyon. A suspended metal walkway follows the old pipeline route that once powered local mining equipment. Today, hikers use it to access rock walls and elevated views. The trail includes bridges and metal grating, all designed to withstand creek surges during flash floods. Downtown Remains Largely Intact Credit: Wikimedia Commons Downtown Silver City still follows its original street plan. The buildings havent been replaced with glass storefronts or rebranded blocks. The Silco Theater continues to show movies, as it has since 1923, and stores operate in brick buildings with original signage. Shops and Galleries Sit Close Together Credit: Wikimedia Commons Many of the shops and galleries are situated within the same few blocks downtown. Some storefronts focus on regional crafts, while the rest carry used books, records, or handmade goods. A few galleries also feature local artists who work nearby. Low Hotel Prices Stretch Your Stay Credit: Wikimedia Commons Youll find that big-city prices dont apply to stays in the city. Average hotel rates stay around $64 per night, and even the higher-end options remain reasonable. Accommodations include motels, lodges, and small guesthouses, most of which are run by the residents. The lower cost allows visitors to extend their stay without overspending, especially for those on a budget. Food is Comfort-Driven Credit: Yelp Local restaurants focus on consistency and solid flavor. Corner Kitchen serves comfort food, while Iron Door BBQ, based out of a food truck, sells brisket and pulled pork that loyal customers recommend. A popular eatery also handles brunch, wood-fired pizza, and casual evening meals with live music several nights each week. French-Inspired Bistro Serves Regional Meals Credit: Yelp La Vie Est Un Bistro will allow you to feast on French-influenced cooking with homegrown ingredients. Chef Jason C. Pierre keeps the menu small and prepares each dish with clear attention to detail. The dining room has only a couple of tables and a calm atmosphere. Individuals hoping to eat here tend to make reservations in advance, particularly on busy weekends. Local Art Dominates Credit: Yelp While the area has no designated art district, there is creativity at every corner. Murals, mosaics, and sculptures appear in alleys, parking lots, and even gas stations. Numerous artists live in town and sell their work through cooperatives or storefronts. Art enthusiasts can further choose to venture inside workshops and studios that open by appointment. Gila National Forest Starts at the Towns Edge Credit: Wikimedia Commons Just outside Silver City begins one of the largest protected forests in the lower 48 states. Gila National Forest spans over 3 million acres, with hiking trails, campsites, and undeveloped land that feels expansive. The forest has day hikes near town or multi-day backcountry routes deeper in. Gila Cliff Dwellings Are Built Inside the Rock Credit: Wikimedia Commons The Gila Cliff Dwellings, which are situated North of town, show what remains of a 13th-century Mogollon settlement. These stone-and-mud homes were built into natural rock formations high above a creek. The walk to reach them takes less than an hour and gives you a rare view into early desert architecture and life. Events Reflect Culture and Community Credit: Instagram Tourists can enjoy various annual events hosted by the people and management, each grounded in regional traditions. The Tour of the Gila bike race draws competitive cyclists each spring. In summer, the Wild West Rodeo and Fiesta Latina bring together music, dance, and food. Cincinnati, Ohio Ross Rohling and Carlee Berns are like any other couple in their 20s. But what is unusual is that they met in person. "When we tell people that we met at a singles event, they're like, 'No way, they still have those?' I'm like, 'Oh yeah, you should go,'" Berns told CBS News. The couple, who have been together for about 18 months and recently got engaged, met at an event hosted by Date Cincy. It was just the second event put on by Cincinnati natives and childhood friends Paige Brailey and Logan Moore. They launched a matchmaking event series for people who've grown sick of swiping for dates and are looking to connect in person. "It seems like the millennials are the ones who kind of make up the bulk of our events," Brailey said. Millennials, those between the ages of about 29 and 45, were the first to get on dating apps, and the first to get off of them, according to Beresford Research. Gen Zers, the generation between the ages of 13 and 28, use the apps even less, Beresford Research found. "So now there's this craving and this yearning for just, time like this, right, where we're just connecting face-to-face with other humans," Brailey said. At Date Cincy's events, anywhere between 50 and 800 singles show up with a common goal and without the ability to hide who they really are, like some people do online. "You meet them in person, and then it's like, oh, well, we actually have nothing in common, or you're not who I thought you were," Moore said. The dating app Bumble has lost 90% of its value since going public four years ago. Dating and singles events are increasingly popular, with attendance rising by 42% from 2022 to 2023, according to the ticketing platform Eventbrite. "It's probably going to be awkward, just acknowledge it will be awkward," Berns said of the in-person dating experience. "And just go in with an open mind, and who knows, maybe you'll meet someone and go on a first date and it goes well." Rohling and Berns are among the many Date Cincy couples that the group counts among their success stories of love at first sight. "I knew within the first month that I was going to marry her," Rohling said. It's a chemistry that can only happen face-to-face. "It's just part of the human nature," Rohling said. "You get filled with a passion, you get filled with excitement and energy because you feel that chemistry." Global stock markets react to Trump's sweeping tariffs in effect now Sean "Diddy" Combs wants to go back to Madison Square Garden in the future, attorney says Israel's Security Cabinet approves plan to take over Gaza City Astrida Valigorsky - Getty Images James Talarico is everywhere now. Hes on major television networks. Hes on the front page of news websites. Hes even been on the most popular podcast in America, The Joe Rogan Experience. But the one place hes not, is in the Texas Capitol building, where his Republican adversaries in the State House of Representatives aim to redraw electoral districts in their favor ahead of the 2026 midterms. The thirty-six-year-old middle-school teacher-turned-politician isnt in Texas at all, actually. Hes in an Illinois hotel room no bigger than a college dorm, barely sleeping in a twin bed that faces a lonely sink, taking calls from the media and constituents back home. Its not that he and his fellow Democratic representatives dont want to be there. But without their presence in the state house, a vote can't occurwhich is exactly the point. They're breaking quorum to protest Donald Trump's attempt to rig the next election, as Talarico wrote on Instagram. But by being everywhere except the Lone Star State, hes made himself a national nameone that might grace an upcoming Senate ballot. Esquire talked to Talarico about fleeing Texas, how his Christian faith informs his politics, and what the Democrats can do to earn Americas favor. Questions and answers have been edited for length and clarity. Esquire: How are things in Illinois? Whats the morale like? James Talarico: Its an intense work road trip. I had a journalist asked me what I was going to do on my break. And this is the break. Its the worst break Ive ever had, because we have been working around the clock here, talking to media and talking to our constituents about what's happening in Texas, shining a national spotlight on this redistricting power grab. But even though were not in Texas, were still serving our constituents. Ive been on the phone with my team back in the Capitol, ensuring that the folks in our district have everything they need. Its been exhausting to say the least. Early mornings, very late nights. But I would say the morale is good. I am here in Illinois with probably the largest group of Democratic members. Yesterday was a little scary when we woke up to a bomb threat and had to evacuate the premises. But we shouldnt have been shocked, given that [Texas Attorney General] Ken Paxton has put out a tweet asking for his followers to hunt us down. Some of our Republican colleagues have put our location out on national news outlets. Of course this was going to be a security risk, but we all know that we have right on our side, and that we are fighting for our constituents, for all Texans, and their right to elect representatives of their choice. Thats bigger than any one of us. Its bigger than any one politician or any one political party. How are your accommodations in Illinois? The rooms where were staying are probably the smallest hotel rooms Ive ever stayed in. Theyre much more like a college dorm room or a prison cell, whichever way you want to look at it. One twin bed with a sink across from the bednot in a bathroom. But were on a budget on this quorum break. But were all very proud to be doing this important work, standing up to these wannabe tyrants. Youre fined every day for your absence, and theres also the cost of hotels, meals, and so on. How long do you and your colleagues think you can hold out? We earn $600 a month for our service in the legislature. We have day jobs. Thats how we make ends meet, pay our bills, and support our families. And weve left those jobs behind and families behind to do this. It was not a decision we made lightly. Quorum breaks are not easy, which I think is important. If they were easy, the minority party would probably do it all the time. But theyre incredibly hardpersonally, financially, politically, legally, and logistically. Theyre only reserved for the most egregious abuses of power, whether its voter suppression or mid-decade redistricting. When Trump called Georgia Republicans and asked them to find him 11,000 more votes after he lost the 2020 election, they said, No, sir. But when Donald Trump asked Texas Republicans to find him five more congressional seats, they said, How about Thursday? So, the responsibility to defend this American experiment fell to Texas Democrats. We are proud to answer the call. The governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, has threatened to remove you and your colleagues from office. How have you reacted to that threat? Its concerning when a governor tries to remove duly democratically elected representatives from office, especially when they are engaging in a constitutional activity. Quorum breaks are protected in our state constitution. They are a tool the minority has to check the abuses of the majority, so we haven't broken any law. Theres two hundred years worth of history of quorum breaks in this country. Were here in Illinois, the land of Abraham Lincoln, where he broke quorum as a state senator back in 1840 by jumping out of a window of the Illinois State Capitol. Thankfully, I didnt have to jump out of any windows in Texas. But we are participating in a long American tradition of standing up to bullies, speaking truth to power. Of civil disobedience, of good trouble. The current special legislative session is slated to end August 19, but the Texas House Republicans could always call another session. How do you see this playing out? We were most worried about, what if we had done nothing? What if we had just allowed this blatant power grab to go through with maybe a few floor speeches? That, to me, was a much more disturbing reality. I dont know what the future holds. I dont know what will happen. But I know we have to take a stand. If throughout American history, people only took a stand when they knew they were definitely going to win, I fear to think about what our country would look like right now. Im proud that were taking this moral stand against this power grab. That said, we do want to be strategic. The last quorum break I was a part of was in 2021, against the voter suppression bill. It shined an international spotlight that pressured our Republican colleagues to take the worst parts out of that bill. It still passed, and I voted against it, but it was materially less harmful to my constituents and the people of Texas because of our quorum break. I think its important for national outlets to remember that, although they sometimes want to look at it as a loss, there are shades of gray. I think our act of civil disobedience is inspiring Democrats in blue states to retaliate or at least threaten retaliate. If Texas Republicans cheat in this way, then we can at least even out the playing field and ensure that the American people can elect to Congress to hold the President accountable next year. Do you think that its the necessary next step, for blue states to redistrict in retaliation? When one side shoots, all bets are off. I pray every night that Texas Republicans dont cheat and dont break the next election. But if they do, it requires a response. We have to look bullies in the eye and not blink. Thats the only way you beat a bully, and thats exactly what I expect other states to do. We want gerrymandering out of every state. Ive introduced a bill to create an independent citizen-led redistricting process in Texas, and I want that in every state, blue or red. Weve got to get the politics out of map-drawing, but we cannot unilaterally disarm as Democrats. Is it simply a left versus right battle? Because youve also said its a top versus bottom economic battle in this country. What are your thoughts on that? I do not think this is an issue of party. I think this is an issue of power. People in power want to stay in power. The only way that you can check power is through free and fair elections. This is not about the Democratic Party. Its about the democratic process. I am fighting for Democrats, independents, and Republicans alike, and their ability to change their government from the bottom up, their ability to elect the representatives of their choice, their ability to hold the most powerful politician in the country accountable. That is what this is about. I know people are tempted, especially in the media, to make this just a red team versus blue team thing. That couldnt be further from the truth. They may be coming for Democrats right now, but they come for all of us in the end. Thats how this playbook works in other countries. We need to wake up through that fact before its too late. The Austin American-Statesman/Hearst Newspapers - Getty Images In your role as a red-state Democrat, whats the lesson youre learning right now, and how can that apply to blue-state Democrats? I dont think the divide the Democratic Party right now is moderate versus progressive. I think its fighters versus holders. I hope Texas Democrats are reminding the Democratic Party nationally how to fight for the people. Thats why most folks are frustrated with the national Democratic Party: Its inability to get things done and inability to deliver for our constituents. How do you delineate between actions that make a difference and performative action? We have to play to the fullest extent of the rules. We have to use every tool in our toolbox. Im not going to diminish speeches. Dr. Kings I Have a Dream speech was performance, but I hear what youre saying. Getting on cable news and saying some sound bites into the camera when you may have actual tools that you can use legislatively or legally or politically, thats just theater. Rhetoric used to be an art form, and I do think communication is a tool in that toolbox. But if its your only tool, I would encourage you to think more deeply about the power you actually have to fight for your constituents and fix this democracy. Youve gained national attention partially because of your identity as a Christian whos also a Democrat. How does your faith inform your politics? I can talk about how my faith is informing quorum break. Its what gives me the courage and the strength and the peace to do something like that, to risk arrest, to risk financial ruin for my constituents. I dont think most normal people would want to do that, right? I dont think I would want to do that normally. But my granddad was a Baptist preacher who taught me that we follow a barefoot rabbi who gave us two commandments: Love God and love neighbor. Loving thy neighbor requires action, not just in the sanctuary, but in the streets. Thats why I went into public service, first as a middle school teacher, and now as a state representative. This democracy is more than a Constitution. Its a covenant, a relationship between neighbors, a promise that we make to each other, to share this country, even when we disagree, even when we're different. Two thousand years ago, when the powerful few abused the many, that barefoot rabbi didnt stay in his room and pray. He walked into the seat of power, and he flipped over the tables of injustice. I would say to my fellow Christians, that if we love democracy, if we love our neighbors, its time to start flipping tables. Thats an interesting analogy. People sometimes forget about that story from the Bible, that Jesus was taking action. Its what got him killed by the government. He was killed by the Roman Empire and executed. Crucifixion was the punishment for rebels. We sometimes over-spiritualize the gospel. Our whole faith is built on incarnation, the idea that God took human form, that God cares about our human bodies and our physical existence. How much we have to eat and drink, whether we have health care, and that. We miss that when we over spiritualize. Spirituality is a central part of my faith, but has to be balanced out with concrete action in the world, for human beings. How can Democrats win over the evangelical Christian vote? Theres a lot of diversity within the Christian church. Black Christians are some of the most deeply religious Christians in our country and historically and continue to this day to vote for Democratic candidates. When were talking about white Christians, which is an important caveat, I think part of the problem is that my party has stopped talking about faith over the last forty, fifty years, really since Jimmy Carter. Of course, there are candidates who do the obligatory church visit and all that. But Im talking about how central our faith is to everything we do. And it is central for me. It is my foundation for everything I do in my life, including public service. So Im going to talk about that. Im not going to be ashamed to talk about it. And it may, it may rub some people in my coalition wrong in the wrong way, and I've gotten pushback from some progressive Democrats about how outspoken I have built my faith. But Im going to show up as I am, and Im going to be myself, even if that bothers some people my own party. I do think that its helpful, building a bridge to folks who dont feel like they belong in the Democratic Party because of their faith. I want them to know they have a seat at our table if they'd like to join us. There is data Ive seen from groups that have been reaching out to evangelicals that it is moving the needle. In Pennsylvania, some of the only counties that that moved toward Vice President Kamala Harris were counties where the group Evangelicals for Harris campaigned, which I helped support. You recently went on The Joe Rogan Experience. What did you think of the reaction to your appearance? Do you think it will help you spring into the next phase of your political career? I was surprised to get the invite to go on Joe Rogan, the biggest podcast in the country, as a state rep in Texas. We got an email, and all it said was, Joe saw one of your social media videos, and hed love to talk. That was it. Typically, when a journalist interviews an elected official, they lay out the topics theyre going to cover to give a sense of what the conversation is going to be about. That was not the case, probably because I dont think Joe Rogan considers himself a journalist. Hes, in a lot of ways, just a very curious guy who is a good conversationalist. It was unusual, as an elected official, to engage in such a long, unscripted conversation with someone whos a little skeptical the Democratic Party. I was a little nervous, to be honest, because of those things, and that its such a big audience. But Joe Rogan is good at what he does. Once I put on those headphones, he drew me into a real human conversation, like you would have at a bar with friend. Two and a half hours flew by. It was a shock when they were over. I had a blast. Like any really great conversation, it went down all these different rabbit holes and explored all these weird ideas and hot takes. It was cool to have a conversation like I would have with a friend on such a big platform. It seems like people responded to that. Its been overwhelming. Im flooded with messages and calls and DMs and emails from people who are not partisan Democrats. A phrase kept popping up in almost every message that I got: This is the first time Ive messaged a politician. I must have received thirty or forty messages that started with that exact phrase, which I thought was interesting. It shows you the kind of audience he has: People who arent super partisan. Theyre very suspicious of this corrupt political system and are sick of both parties. It certainly is reaching a whole group of people that dont watch MSNBC or Fox News or tune into the legislative live stream here in Texas. There is a clip going around in which Rogan told you to run for president. Whats the next step in your political career? I am seriously looking at the U.S. Senate race. I havent made a decision yet. Im trying to figure out if I should run for that seat or whether I should continue my work in the legislature. I see drawbacks and advantages to both positions. But ultimately, Ive got to figure out what's right for me and more importantly, whats best for the people of the state. I had set a deadline to make a decision next week, funnily enough, and then this quorum break happened. So, its kind of been pushed off the agenda for me right now. I was elected by 200,000 people in Central Texas to fight for them at the state capitol. Im basically their lawyer in state government, even though Im not a lawyer. I am fighting for their interests here in Illinois by breaking quorum. I take that very seriously, and so I intend on doing this job before I start applying to other jobs. Jason Bollenbacher - Getty Images If you were to pursue the Senate and win, what would you hope to accomplish on a national level? I have worked hard in Texas to get big money out of our politics. I've been outspoken about the billionaire mega donors who basically run our state government. And if that's true in Texas, it's certainly true at a national level, increasingly so. I would hope to be a voice against corruption. I would hope to fight for specific systemic changes to our political system that would allow us to make progress on all the other issues we care about, housing, healthcare, education. But Im not sure if theres enough voices really talking about anti-corruption measures at the national level. That would certainly be even more important if Ken Paxton is the Republican nominee for the Senate seat. He is perhaps the most corrupt politician in the entire country. I was part of the bipartisan effort in the Texas House to impeach Paxton, so I know his crimes more than most people do so. I hope that whoever Democrat nominee is, whether its me or one of my colleagues, shines a spotlight on how corruption is preventing us from being the country we can be. What does the Democratic Party need to do next to address these things and create a fairer system? We have to remember our heritage as Democrats, that were the party that fights for regular people, for the little guy. That was true in the New Deal era, and it was true in the Great Society era, when another Texas Democrat was transforming this country to help working people. Weve lost touch with that unfortunately in the last few years, and we need to remember that legacy. How can you reconnect with that legacy? This quorum break is showing you how you how you can have a backbone, have a spine, and fight. Theres a Spanish word here in Texas, ganas, which is hard to translate in English. But it means heart, desire, passion that comes from something deeper, somewhere else. Thats what our party, our politics in general, is missing. You Might Also Like Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office announced early Friday morning local time that Israel's Security Cabinet had approved a plan for the Israeli military to take over Gaza City. In a statement, Netanyahu's office said the Israel Defense Forces would prepare to take over Gaza City while providing humanitarian aid to the civilian population outside of combat zones. According to Netanyahu's office, the cabinet adopted five principles for ending the war. They included the disarmament of Hamas, the return of all hostages both living and dead, the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip, Israeli security control over the Gaza Strip, and the establishment of an alternative civilian government in Gaza that is not led by Hamas or the Palestinian Authority. The move comes after Netanyahu said Thursday that Israel intends to take control of all of Gaza but does not want to "keep" or govern the territory, and instead wants to hand it over to "Arab forces." In an interview with Fox News, Netanyahu was asked if Israel "will take control of all of Gaza." "We intend to, in order to assure our security, remove Hamas there, enable the population to be free of Gaza, and to pass it to civilian governance that is not Hamas and not anyone advocating the destruction of Israel," Netanyahu said. "We don't want to keep" Gaza, he added. "We want to have a security perimeter. We don't want to govern it. We don't want to be there as a governing body. We want to hand it over to Arab forces that will govern it properly without threatening us, and giving Gazans a good life." An expansion of Israeli military operations in Gaza would draw strong international opposition and could further isolate Israel, which is being urged by close allies to end the war amid the growing concerns from humanitarian agencies about famine taking hold in the territory. Negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas broke down in recent weeks, with each side accusing the other of being responsible for the failure. "I think the negotiations have broken down completely because Hamas is not serious about negotiating," U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said in an interview with CBS News on Thursday. "I'm not sure they ever were, but they certainly aren't anymore. Europe has given them some cover. When European leaders are putting more pressure on Israel than they are Hamas and they're talking about people in Gaza, and they're not talking about the hostages Hamas is celebrating, and they're realizing that, you know, they're winning the message war here." Huckabee said any decision to annex the Gaza Strip will be up to the Israeli government. "It's not our job to tell them what they should or should not do," Huckabee said. "Certainly, if they ask for wisdom, counsel, advice, I'm sure the president would offer it. But ultimately, it's the decision that the Israelis and only the Israelis can make." Global stock markets react to Trump's sweeping tariffs in effect now Sean "Diddy" Combs wants to go back to Madison Square Garden in the future, attorney says Why Trump is calling for Intel CEO's immediate resignation Newly released records reveal the state the suspected Fort Stewart shooter was in at the time of a DUI arrest months before an attack on Aug. 6 that left five soldiers wounded at the Georgia military installation. U.S. Army Sgt. Quornelius Radford, 28, a noncommissioned officer, turned on his fellow soldiers and shot them using his personal handgun, according to Army Brig. Gen. John Lubas. Six Fort Stewart soldiers jumped into action and apprehended Radford. The five wounded soldiers in the attack are expected to recover. The shooting at the base came just months after Radford was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol in Liberty County, the area where Fort Stewart is located. His superiors were unaware of his arrest on Elma G. Miles Parkway. "I smelled a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from his breath," a Georgia State Patrol officer wrote in a report shared with USA TODAY. "Mr. Radford's eyes were watery and bloodshot." Radford, of Jacksonville, Florida, had worked at Fort Stewart since 2022 and was not previously deployed to combat, Lubas said. Soldiers in Radford's field typically manage maintenance or warehouse operations by placing orders and tracking work in Army computer systems. When was Radford arrested? Georgia State Patrol pulled over and arrested Radford at about 1 a.m. on Sunday, May 18, according to an arrest report shared with USA TODAY. Records show Radford was arrested near the intersection of Elma G. Miles Parkway and Sharon Street in Hinesville, Georgia. The location is in Liberty County, about 3 miles away from Fort Stewart. The arresting officer asked Radford to take a breathalyzer test, but the Army sergeant refused, according to the Georgia State Patrol report. He also refused to do a field sobriety test, "stating that hes not drunk," the officer wrote. A field test aims to assess a drivers balance and coordination through tests such as having a driver stand on one leg. Results are admissible in court. The suspected Fort Stewart shooter also refused to take a chemical test, including a blood test, records say. What we know about the motive: Why did an Army sergeant open fire at Fort Stewart? 'Strong odor of an alcoholic beverage' The arresting officer initially pulled over Radford for running a red light. He was driving a 2021 gray Nissan Altima with Florida plates, records show. The Georgia State Patrol officer noticed that Radford might have been drinking when he approached the Army sergeant and noticed a "strong odor of an alcoholic beverage" on Radfords breath. When asked if he had been drinking, Radford said he "had a beer hours ago," according to the report. The officer noticed Radfords "speech patterns was mumbled," the report added. Radford told the officer he had a "stuttering problem." U.S. military bases: Fort Stewart shooting marks the latest attack in recent years Where is Radford now? Radford was due in court in Liberty County on Aug. 20 for the DUI arrest, according to Hannah Wiley, a deputy clerk at the court. After being apprehended at the scene on Aug. 6, he is awaiting charges in pretrial confinement. It wasn't immediately clear whether he had an attorney who could speak on his behalf. His father, Eddie Radford, told The New York Times that he hadn't noticed anything unusual about his son's behavior and didn't know what might have led to the violent attack. But the elder Radford said his son had been seeking a transfer and complained to his family of racism at Fort Stewart. "Its hard for me to process," Eddie Radford told the Times. Contributing: Davis Winkie, Jeanine Santucci, Christopher Cann, Ansley Franco, Thao Nguyen, Amanda Lee Myers, Scott Butler; Reuters This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fort Stewart shooting: What do the suspect's DUI records show? (Reuters) -An Australian regulator has sued Optus, alleging the Singapore Telecommunications-owned carrier breached privacy laws during a 2022 cyber attack that compromised the personal data of millions of customers, both parties confirmed on Friday. Optus, one of Singtel's largest overseas investments, said in a statement that the Australian Information Commissioner (AIC) has accused the telecom operator of violating the Privacy Act 1988. The Privacy Act governs how personal information is handled by government agencies and private entities. The proceedings have been filed against Singtel Optus Pty Ltd and Optus Systems Pty Ltd, Australia's Optus said. The AIC is alleging one breach of the law for each of the 9.5 million customers affected by the data breach, with the court potentially able to impose fines of up to A$2.2 million per breach. However, the privacy watchdog did not provide details on the total amount it is seeking. Optus said it is reviewing the claims but has not assessed the potential financial impact. The September 2022 breach, one of the worst in Australia's history, exposed sensitive customer data including home addresses, passport details and phone numbers. About 10 million Australians, or 40% of the population, were affected, with many unable to access mobile, broadband and landline services for much of the day. The incident prompted Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to call for tougher privacy laws, including faster breach notifications to banks. Optus has faced mounting public criticism, compounded by a 12-hour nationwide network outage in 2023. The twin crises led to the resignation of then-CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin in November 2023. The company was also taken to court by the domestic media regulator in May 2024 over the cyber attack. (Reporting by Rishav Chatterjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips) Clockwise from top left; Rep. Ken Calvert outside the U.S. Capitol on Sept. 15, 2023; Rep. Darrell Issa on April 01, 2025 in Washington, DC; Rep. David Valadao in the Rayburn Room on Capitol Hill in Washington on Jan. 6, 2015.; and Kevin Kiley on Aug. 4, 2021 in Yorba Linda. (Getty Images; Associated Press) California Democrats and Texas Republicans are in an old-fashioned standoff, threatening to redraw their congressional maps in an attempt to sway the outcome of the 2026 midterm elections. Caught in the middle are a handful of California Republicans, from relative newcomers to seasoned veterans, who represent pockets of the state from the U.S.-Mexico border to the remote forests in the northeast corner. The Texas GOP is pushing, at the behest of President Trump, to net five additional seats for congressional Republicans, who hold the U.S. House of Representatives by a razor-thin margin. In response, Gov. Gavin Newsom has said California will push back with a map that would increase the number of Democrats the state sends to Washington. "The idea that the president of the United States says hes entitled to five seats should sicken everybody, Newsom said at a news conference Thursday. Theres nothing normal about that and anyone who says its not surprising is normalizing it. Thats shocking. The California gerrymandering plan taking shape behind closed doors would increase the Democratic Party's dominance in the Golden State, adding as many as five congressional districts favorable to Democrats, according to a draft map reviewed by The Times. If the Democrats succeed, those changes could leave Republicans with four of the state's 52 House seats down from the current roster of nine. California's districts are typically drawn once per decade by an independent commission. Newsom is pushing to put a new map tailored to favor Democrats in front of voters Nov. 4, which would require the Legislature to approve the plan shortly after members return to Sacramento from their summer recess. Newsom has said California's redistricting plan will have a "trigger," meaning a redrawn map would not take effect unless Texas moved forward with its own. "We want to do it in the most transparent way," Newsom said. "That's a process that will unfold over the course of the next few weeks. But we want to see the maps on the ballot. I want folks to know what theyre voting on. Thats what separates what were doing from what others are doing." The proposed boundaries of the new congressional districts continue to shift, but the goal for California Democrats remains the same: Funnel the state's Republican voters into fewer seats, boost vulnerable Democrats and turn some GOP-dominant districts into narrowly divided toss-ups. Here are the Republicans who could face major changes. Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Rocklin) Kiley represents a sprawling district that runs along the Nevada border from Northern California to Death Valley, cutting through Mammoth and Lake Tahoe and the cities of Roseville, Rocklin and Folsom. Republicans have a 6-percentage-point voter registration advantage in Kiley's district. The district's footprint could shrink and shift closer to Sacramento, adding more registered Democrats and trimming off some conservative and rural areas. Kiley introduced a bill this week to nullify any newly drawn congressional boundaries adopted by states before the next U.S. census, in 2030, which would apply to both Texas and California. He said the bill would "stop a damaging redistricting war from breaking out across the country." Newsom, Kiley said, is "trying to subvert the will of voters and do lasting damage to democracy in California." Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-Richvale) LaMalfa represents a safe Republican district that stretches through a vast territory of Northern California that borders Oregon and Nevada. The district includes Chico, Redding and Yuba City. LaMalfa said in an interview that he had seen one map that shifted his district south to include parts of Sonoma County wine country and shifted some conservative rural areas in the north in another lawmaker's district. Those changes, he said, would put towns near the Oregon border and Marin County, just north of the Golden Gate Bridge, in the same district. "The Democrats are really way over the line on this," LaMalfa said. "I hope the weight of how bad this looks collapses on them before we even have to go through these gyrations, and millions and millions of dollars." He said he was certain that Republicans would litigate the new map if Democrats push ahead. He said other groups, including Common Cause and the League of Women Voters, have also voiced concerns. "I'm not even stressed," said La Malfa, a fourth-generation rice farmer. "If they throw me in some wine country district or some coastal district, and that throws me out, then I can go over here and finish cutting apart this tree that fell on my fence last night." Rep. David Valadao (R-Hanford) The proposed plans could add more registered Democrats to Valadao's predominately Latino district in the Central Valley. Democrats have tried for years to unseat Valadao, who represents a district that has a strong Democratic voter registration advantage on paper, but where turnout among blue voters is lackluster. Even before the redistrict dustup, Valadao was once again a top target for Democrats. Valadao represents the California district with the highest percentage of Medicaid recipients, many of whom may lose coverage because of legislation approved by the Republican-led Congress and signed by Trump. Valadao previously lost his congressional seat in 2018 after voting to repeal the Affordable Care Act in 2017. A representative for Valadao didn't respond to a request for comment. Reps. Ken Calvert (R-Corona) and Young Kim (R-Anaheim Hills) The plan being considered could force two Republican members of the House into the same district: Kim and Calvert. Calvert was first elected to Congress in 1992 and is the longest-serving member of California's Republican delegation. He represents a Riverside County district that includes Lake Elsinore, Menifee, Palm Springs and his home base of Corona. The district, which leans Republican, has been a prime, but unsuccessful, target for Democrats in the last two elections. Kim, who was first elected to Congress in 2020, represents a Republican district, mostly in Orange County, that includes Mission Viejo, Orange, Lake Forest, Anaheim and Tustin. Calvert said he strongly opposes "the scheme being orchestrated behind closed doors by Sacramento politicians" to replace maps drawn by the redistricting commission "with a process that would allow legislators to draw district maps that are gerrymandered to benefit themselves and their political allies." Deviating from the independent redistricting process "disenfranchises voters and degrades trust in our political system," Kim said in a statement. She said Newsom should, "for once, focus on addressing the pressing issues making life harder for Californians under his watch instead of trying to position himself for a presidential run." Newsom this week said he was pleased to see Republican members coming out in support of independent redistricting. "That's an encouraging sign," Newsom said. "So already, perhaps, people are waking up to the reality of California entering into this conversation. We're not a small state. Again, we punch above our weight. It will have profound national implications if we move forward." Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Bonsall) Under the tentative plans, Issa, who has served in Congress for more than two decades, would see his safely Republican district become purple. That could include absorbing Palm Springs, a liberal area that is currently in Calvert's district and has become a hub of fundraising and political activity for Democrats. A spokesman for Issa declined to comment but referred to a statement from the state's nine-member Republican delegation, which said that Trump won 38% of the presidential vote in California last year, but Republicans hold fewer than 1 in 5 of the state's 52 House seats. Newsom, the delegation said, is trying to wrest power from the independent redistricting commission and "place it back into the hands of Sacramento politicians to further his left-wing political agenda." "A partisan political gerrymander is not what the voters of California want," the statement said. Times staff writer Taryn Luna contributed to this report. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. In a small rural hospital in Ethiopia more than two decades ago, a teenage girl arrived at Dr Abebe Shibrus clinic, alone, frightened and pregnant. She was just 14 and had been raped. But with one of the worlds most restrictive abortion laws then in place, she was turned away without help. Later, Dr Shibru learned that she had tried to end the pregnancy herself using herbal medicine, inserted into her uterus and had bled to death. Spurred on by an alarmingly high maternal mortality rate, the country repealed its harsh law in 2005. But, twenty years on, leading doctors are warning these gains could be reversed as Trumps aid cuts decimate the countrys family planning and reproductive health services, and anti-abortion groups move in to fill the vacuum. There has already been a shrinking in what is available to people in public facilities, including essential medicines and tests used during pregnancy and birth, The Independent has learned. With the dust settling after Trump ordered all foreign aid work to stop in January of this year, Ethiopia has come out as one of the biggest losers in the cuts. By March, the country had seen the second biggest cut by dollar amount, tied with the Democratic Republic of Congo and exceeded only by funding cuts to Ukraine, according to the Center for Global Development. Dr Shibru says 85 per cent of NGOs, crucial in the delivery of many of the countrys health services, had stopped work or were shuttered. USAID was funding contraception across the African region - now supplies are running dry (AP) Dr Shibru, now the Ethiopia country director for sexual health charity MSI Reproductive Choices, is acutely aware of what that could spell. Working as a nurse in the early 2000s, in a remote area 700km from the capital Addis Ababa, he saw countless of these women - without access to contraception or legal termination - resorting to traditional medicine. Seeing women who had experienced rape or some form of violence and finally ended up pregnantit was my day-to-day experience, Dr Shibru recalls. They came into his clinic with perforated uteruses from inserting ivy vines into them, eyes purple from blood loss and unconscious from pain and infection, dying in hospital corridors from unsafe abortions. Overhauled law Alarmed by the sky-high death rate, in 2005 the then health minister Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, now head of the World Health Organization, and Ethiopias parliament overhauled the law and policy, permitting safe abortion for the first time in limited circumstances. Terminations could be sought in cases of rape, incest, development problems with the foetus, or if the pregnancy endangered a womans life or health. At the same time, Dr Tedros worked to radically expand access to contraception too. The results were swift and dramatic. Within three years, the maternal mortality rate plummeted from 879 per 100,000 live births to 276 per 100,000 by 2008. After this law there was a big shift in terms of knowledge. There was a big shift in terms of commitment, Dr Shibru says. Much of the countrys maternal and reproductive health system, from contraception to emergency obstetric care, however, was built on international aid. Now that progress is under threat. Doctors across Ethiopia are warning of an escalating funding crisis that is hollowing out reproductive health services. Alongside heavy cuts from the US, the UKs aid spending plan published in July revealed funding cuts to Ethiopia of 25 per cent coming for the next year. Aid cuts reversing gains President of the Ethiopian Society of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Dr Hailemariam Segni, says the aid suspension from the US government had already, significantly affected accessibility of services including family planning, maternal health services, even newborn, child health, adolescent, and youth health services. These services in public facilities were mainly supported with aid money and the main funder was the US government, he says. And when it comes to the gains made in bringing down maternal and newborn deaths in the past two decades: We feel may be reversed in the coming few years Some health facilities have started requesting clients share the costs of previously free services, for example to access family planning or pay privately for their own diagnostic tests. Some patients are even being told to buy drugs used in labour from private facilities, he says. Dr Segni says he expects that if services like family planning or even basic tests and medicines are not available for free, many will not be able to access those services at all. The number of pregnancies will increase. So we know with the number of pregnancies [increasing], the complications are going to increase, he says. And with additional difficulties getting drugs like oxytocin, used to prevent life-threatening bleeding, many mothers may die from haemorrhage. Antibiotics to prevent sepsis in newborns and drugs to prevent premature birth and treat the complications of prematurity could all be under threat. Given every Republic president since Ronald Reagan in 1984 has brought in a law banning US aid dollars from funding abortion, these services in Ethiopia are already funded from different sources. Nevertheless, the last time the law was brought in under Trumps first presidency, it had knock-on effects on wider reproductive health services including significantly reducing contraception use in the country. As well as cuts in funding going directly from the US to Ethiopia, Trump has withdrawn from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) which - previously alongside the now axed US Agency for International Development (USAID) - is the biggest provider of contraception in the world. We are expecting within a short period of time we are going to encounter a huge [contraception] shortages because UNFP is the one who is providing commodities to our family planning service in Ethiopia, says MSIs Dr Shibru. In 2022, the Ethiopian government signed an agreement with UNFPA and USAID to gradually increase the percentage it contributes to funding family planning over several years up to 2030. The country now finds itself having to fill in that gap much more quickly. Dr Alemayehu Hunduma, the Ethiopian Ministry of Healths head of reproductive health, family planning and adolescent and youth health programmes, says while the government is trying to take on the funding of as many services as it can: We are a developing country. As much as we mobilize more resource, still there will be a gap because the demand is high. He says family planning is one of the countrys health funding priorities because of its role in reducing maternal mortality. Internal Ministry of Health data seen by The Independent shows there had already been a slight downward trend emerging in the numbers of women accessing abortions in public facilities in recent years. Its not clear why, and conflict and instability in parts of the country could well play a role. But there is another threat too: a resurgent anti-rights movement intent on rolling back the 2005 law and with it access to safe abortion. Conflict and instability in parts of the country makes it harder to access reproductive health services (AP) Over the past few years, activists opposed to reproductive rights have returned with new energy, emboldened by the US Supreme Courts decision to overturn Roe v Wade. Some are local while others are linked to ultraconservative US organisations. They park vehicles outside abortion clinics with messages accusing those using their services and their workers of murder, Dr Shibru explained. They use Facebook, Telegram and YouTube to get their message out. And they have been successful in getting their spokespeople quoted in public media and interviewed on national TV and radio. They will even try to approach members of parliament and individual policy makers, he says. Before they were focusing on abortion, but now they are focusing on the entire family planning program, Dr Shibru says. They are well-funded and aggressive, he adds, seeing Ethiopia as a target precisely because it was pioneering in the region in terms of its safe abortion law. Aid cuts have created a vacuum, giving anti-rights groups new energy and an opportunity to fill the gap, he says. Now the local NGOs are being affected by this new Trump administration policy, that means there is a huge [opportunity] for anti-choice movement to come and just to say whatever they want to say. Our bargaining power is now shrinking, he adds, that means there is a space for anti-choice movementto agitate [for] what they want to achieve in Ethiopia. So, absolutely there is a direct link, a visible link between the anti-choice movement now and the Trump administration's...new policy funding cut. For now, the countrys health ministry remains supportive of existing laws, even as budgets tighten. While few believe Ethiopias abortion law will be repealed soon, campaigners fear incremental victories for conservative campaigners. I'm not pessimistic that they are going to succeed in revoking the abortion law within a short period of time, Dr Shibru says. But they might manage to influence the policy makers to restrict the guideline of safe abortion services. This and the rising stigma that surrounds it would drive women back to unsafe methods, he fears. For clinicians like Dr Shibru, the stakes are painfully clear. Ethiopia once ranked among the most dangerous places in the world to give birth. The reforms of the mid2000s, and the international aid that bolstered it, turned the tide. Looking at how the cuts are biting, Dr Shibru cant help but hold in mind the daily tragedy he witnessed all those years ago: the 14-year-old girls needless death; the woman having to undergo an unwanted hysterectomy, robbing her of the chance to have future children, after inserting herbal medicine into her uterus. Had there been a policy? Had there been a trained person? he ponders, we might save the lives of these women and others. As for whether the policies and people now in place will remain: the future is uncertain. This article is part of The Independents Rethinking Global Aid project By Poppy McPherson and Napat Wesshasartar BANGKOK, (Reuters) -One of Thailands top art galleries removed, at China's request, materials about Beijing's treatment of ethnic minorities and Hong Kong from an exhibit on authoritarian governments, according to a curator and communications seen by Reuters. In what the artists called the latest attempt by Beijing to silence critics overseas, the Bangkok Arts and Cultural Centre changed multiple works by artists in exile in the exhibit on authoritarian governments collaborating across borders. When Reuters visited on Thursday, some works previously advertised and photographed had been removed, including a multimedia installation by a Tibetan artist, while other pieces had been altered, with the words Hong Kong, Tibet and Uyghur redacted, along with the names of the artists. Three days after the show, "Constellation of Complicity: Visualising the Global Machinery of Authoritarian Solidarity, opened on July 24, Chinese embassy staff, accompanied by Bangkok city officials, "entered the exhibition and demanded its shutdown, said the exhibit's co-curator, Sai, a Myanmar artist who goes by one name. In a July 30 email seen by Reuters, the gallery said: "Due to pressure from the Chinese Embassy - transmitted through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and particularly the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, our main supporter - we have been warned that the exhibition may risk creating diplomatic tensions between Thailand and China." The email said the gallery had "no choice but to make certain adjustments", including obscuring the names of the Hong Kong, Tibetan and Uyghur artists. Several days later, Sai told Reuters, the embassy demanded further removals. The Chinese embassy in Bangkok and foreign ministry in Beijing, and Thailand's foreign ministry did not respond to multiple requests for comment. The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration referred Reuters to the gallery, which did not respond to an email seeking comment. A gallery representative at the exhibit said the team had agreed not to comment on the issue. 'AUTHORITARIAN PRESSURE' Rights groups say China carries out a sophisticated campaign of harassment against critics overseas that has often extended into the art world, allegations Beijing has denied. Sai, co-founder of Myanmar Peace Museum, the organisation that put together the exhibition, said the removed pieces included Tibetan and Uyghur flags and postcards featuring Chinese President Xi Jinping, as well as a postcard depicting links between China and Israel. "It is tragically ironic that an exhibition on authoritarian cooperation has been censored under authoritarian pressure, he said. Thailand has long been a refuge for dissidents. This is a chilling signal to all exiled artists and activists in the region." Sai said he was speaking from overseas, where he had fled after Thai police sought to find him. The superintendent of Pathumwan Police Station, who oversees the gallery's Bangkok neighbourhood, told Reuters he had received no reports of such an incident. Thailand this year returned to China 40 Uyghurs, members of a mainly Muslim ethnic minority numbering about 10 million in China's far western region of Xinjiang, in a secretive deportation. U.N. experts had warned they would be at risk of torture, ill-treatment and "irreparable harm". China denies abusing Uyghurs. The Bangkok exhibition also features works by artists in exile from Xinjiang as well as Russia, Iran and Syria. China has been steadily increasing its influence in Southeast Asia, where governments are balancing cooperation with the regional giant against concerns over sovereignty. Beijing recently sought unsuccessfully to block screenings in New Zealand of a Philippine documentary on that countrys struggles in contested parts of the South China Sea amid alleged harassment from the Chinese coast guard and maritime militia, local media reported. It was pulled from a film festival in the Philippines in March due to "external factors", the filmmakers said. BLACK SCREEN Chinese officials returned to the Bangkok gallery on Wednesday, asked to remove another flyer and reiterated enforcement of the One China policy, Sai said, citing updates from contacts. That policy, observed by governments that have relations with Beijing, acknowledges Beijing's position that the People's Republic of China is the sole legitimate government representing all of China, including Taiwan. China has never renounced the use of force over the self-governed island. Taiwan's government says only Taiwan's people can decide their future. Foreign governments refer to Tibet and Xinjiang as part of China. Works withdrawn from the Bangkok exhibit by Tibetan artist Tenzin Mingyur Paldron included video of Tibetans carrying Palestinian flags while calling for accountability for genocide and a film titled "Listen to Indigenous People". The works were previously advertised, and Sai shared images of them previously on display with Reuters. By forcing (the gallery) to remove significant parts of my work, the Chinese government has once again demonstrated that it desperately wishes to cut Tibetans off from the rest of the world, said Paldron, adding that China did not want its complicity in other colonialisms and genocides to be recognised. Who are museums for?" he said. "They should be for the people, not dictators of any ideology." When Reuters visited, video monitors showed a black screen. A film by a Uyghur artist played, but there was a black mark where her name had been. (Reporting by Poppy McPherson; Additional reporting by Panarat Thepgumpanat, Juarawee Kittisilpa, and Chayut Setboonsarng in Bangkok, Marissa Davidson and Bahareh Khodabandeh in London; Editing by William Mallard) Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth reportedly attended a service at Christ Church Washington D.C., a church affiliated with self-identified Christian nationalist Doug Wilson, an influential right-wing leader who seeks to turn the U.S. and other nations into Christian-led theocracies. Hegseth and his family were in attendance at the churchs inaugural service in Washington in July, CNN reports. The Secretary is a proud member of a church affiliated with the Congregation of Reformed Evangelical Churches, which was founded by Pastor Doug Wilson, Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement to The Independent. The Secretary very much appreciates many of Mr. Wilsons writings and teachings. The Defense Secretary has attended services at other venues around Washington, including the Washington National Cathedral and the Pentagon. Were not planting the church so that we can get to meet senators and important people, Wilson told CNN. What were doing is planting a church so that the important people in D.C. will be reminded that God is the important one. What matters is His favor. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth reportedly attended inaugural July church service of Christ Church Washington D.C., which is affiliated with controversial Christian nationalist leader Doug Wilson (AP) Wilson, whose international network of churches, religious publishing, and education ventures began in Idaho in the 1970s, wrote in May that Christ Churchs presence in Washington seeks to benefit from the many strategic opportunities with numerous evangelicals who will be present both in and around the Trump administration. The reported attendance is not the first time Hegseth has been linked to Wilson and his movement, which has occupied positions including that the U.S. should repeal the 19th Amendment, which grants women the right to vote, that the Supreme Court should strike down gay marriage, that slavery produced genuine affection between the races, and that women should submit to their husbands. Before joining the Trump administration, Hegseth reportedly moved to Tennessee in part to send his children to a school affiliated with a network Wilson co-founded. Hegseth is also a member of a church affiliated with Wilsons Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches, and has praised Wilsons writings and Christ Churchs college in Idaho, New Saint Andrews. The Secretary and Wilson met in May, as the pastor visited his Tennessee church. That same month, the Justice Department intervened in a legal battle between Christ Church and Troy, Idaho, which it accuses of religious discrimination for blocking church plans to operate in a town building over zoning issues. Hegseth, whose church and childrens school is affiliated with Wilson, has embraced public displays of faith since taking office, including by leading a prayer service at the Pentagon (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.) Wilson, whose views were once considered fringe within the evangelical wing of the Republican party, rose to a new level of national prominence in 2020 during the Covid pandemic, in which church members protested event restrictions with an outdoor service and some were arrested, attracting attention from Donald Trump. DEMS WANT TO SHUT YOUR CHURCHES DOWN, PERMANENTLY. HOPE YOU SEE WHAT IS HAPPENING, Trump wrote on X at the time. VOTE NOW! Since then, Wilson has appeared on the Tucker Carlson podcast, as well as spoken at events in Washington attended by future Trump officials like Russell Vought, head of the White Houses influential Office of Management and Budget. Hegseth has embraced public displays of faith in office, including leading a religious service at the Pentagon. During his confirmation process, his religious identity became a topic of controversy. Hegseth faced criticism during confirmation process over religious tattoos that critics said were white nationalist dog whistles (Pete Hegseth/ Instagram) Critics accused Hegseth of having a tattoo featuring a white nationalist dog whistle. Hegseth has the words Deus Vult tattooed on his bicep, which has been associated with white supremacist groups. "Deus Vult" is a Latin phrase meaning "God Wills It," and was a rallying cry for Christian crusaders in the Middle Ages. The National Guard veteran was reportedly stopped from joining a 2021 assignment securing the Biden inauguration over concerns about his tattoos. Hegseth has denied these associations, saying the tattoos are non-hateful testaments to his religious beliefs. Thousands of Bengali-Muslim families in India face an uncertain future amid an ongoing drive to catch illegal immigrants [Zoya Mateen/BBC] In Gurugram, an upscale suburb just outside Delhi, gleaming SUVs, futuristic skyscrapers and neat apartments stand in stark contrast to nearby mosquito swarms, trash heaps and tarpaulin shanties. Inside the gated compounds live some of India's richest, while in the slums nearby live poor migrant workers - mostly domestic helpers, garbage-pickers and daily-wage workers - who keep the affluence going. Last month, local authorities rounded up hundreds of these workers, most of whom say they are Bengali-speaking Muslims from India's West Bengal state, in a "verification" drive targeting illegal Bangladeshi immigrants. The suspects were detained and kept at "holding centres" where they were asked to provide documents to prove their citizenship. Many allege they were beaten and mistreated by police during the process. Police officials deny these allegations. "I had my voter and national ID cards, but they told me they were fake. I spent six days not knowing my fate before I was finally released," said Ather Ali Sheikh, a daily-wage worker, who has lived in the city for 15 years. The action has left indelible scars on the social fabric of the city, which prides itself on its cosmopolitan culture. Hundreds of workers have fled overnight - abandoning jobs, homes and, in some cases, even families in their haste to escape. "I still don't understand why they suddenly came after me," Mr Sheikh said. Behind him, his wife hurriedly packed their belongings - torn clothes, old utensils and school books - into flimsy boxes. "Was it because of my language, my religion or because I am poor? " Mr Sheikh continued, his face hardening with anger. "Why weren't the rich Bengali residents held up?" Ather Ali Sheikh (L) says authorities refused to accept his documents when he first produced them [Zoya Mateen/BBC] Police in Gurugram deny targeting any particular community. "Neither religion nor class has anything to do with the drive," public relations officer Sandeep Kumar told the BBC. He added that out of the 250 people picked up, only 10 have been identified as illegal migrants and will actually be deported. "Everyone else was released. No one was mistreated at the centres. We have been completely fair and objective." Meanwhile, trepidation is being felt on other side of the city as well. With no workers left, heaps of trash have been overflowing from public bins and dump yards on to the streets, inconveniencing residents. "Our house help and her husband, who worked as a driver, both left and now we have no help," said Tabassum Bano, who lives in one of the complexes. Crackdowns on alleged illegal immigrants from Muslim-majority Bangladesh are not new in India. The countries are divided by a porous border 4,096km (2,545-mile) long, and have seen waves of movement of people on both sides. But these efforts seem to have intensified under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government. In recent months, hundreds of people, including a veteran Muslim officer of the Indian Army, have been arrested on suspicion of being illegal migrants. Most of these people do odd jobs such as cleaning, garbage-picking and driving in Gurugram's rich complexes [Zoya Mateen/BBC] In the north-eastern state of Assam, where the issue has been a potent flashpoint for decades, authorities have been "pushing back" hundreds of Bengali-Muslims into Bangladesh on suspicion of them being "illegal Bangladeshis". Deportations are also under way in Delhi, where some 700 people were picked up and flown out to border states in the last six months. This has had a chilling impact on the marginalised community. In Gurugram, a sense of shock prevailed over their dust-blanketed colonies. "For years, we have cleaned and collected their garbage. Now we are being treated like it ourselves," said Rauna Bibi. A domestic help, Rauna's husband had returned from West Bengal the same day the detentions began. When he heard about it, he was so terrified he left again - this time, without informing his wife. "For three days, I wondered if he was picked up; whether he was even alive," Rauna said. "When we finally spoke, he said he didn't call because he did not want any trouble." But it was not her husband's behaviour that bothered Rauna, or the fact that he was now jobless. It was the theft of her pride - and the comfort of belonging to a place - that hurt her the most, making her feel absurdly insignificant. "Unlike poverty, I can't fight this with my hard work," she said. "If they pick us, I wouldn't know how to survive. This slum, the work we do and the houses we clean - this is our entire life." Rauna Bibi, who cleans homes in Gurugram, spent three long days with no information about her husband [Zoya Mateen/BBC] Mr Kumar says the recent action is based on a home ministry notice from May that lays down new guidelines for deporting illegal immigrants. Under the order, all states are required to set up a special task force along with holding centres to "detect, identify and deport/send back illegal immigrants settled from Bangladesh and Myanmar". Each person would be given 30 days to prove their citizenship, during which authorities would send their documents back to their home districts for verification. If they fail to confirm the details, the suspects would be taken by the police "under proper escort, in groups as far as possible", and handed over to the border forces for deportation. Critics, however, have questioned the order, saying it does not specify the basis on which a person is made a suspect. "On the face of it, it's nothing other than the fact that you speak Bengali, have a Muslim name and live in shanty," said Aakash Bhattacharya, of the national council of the All India Central Council of Trade Unions which advocates for workers' rights. What is worse is that none of the suspects are being given certificates confirming their citizenship had already been verified, he added. "This means they can be put through the same process again, making them extremely vulnerable." Hundreds of workers have gone back to West Bengal overnight, leaving behind their belongings [Zoya Mateen/BBC] Mr Kumar says the detentions in Gurugram were made on the basis of strong preliminary evidence. "We checked their phones and found suspicious contacts from Bangladesh. Some of them also failed to answer questions about their ancestry during interrogation," he said. Suhas Chakma, a human rights worker, says that the policy is not necessarily religious-specific. "The arrest of the Muslims appears to be more as they constitute about 95% of Bangladesh's population," he explained. But for a country that has seen an influx of refugees for decades, India does need a wider refugee law to address many of these complex issues, he added. For now, Bengali-Muslims are living with a deep sense of foreboding. Many of them have been sleeping with documents tucked under the pillow in case misfortune strikes. "We were already fighting the harsh reality of our lives. Now we have to fight this too," said Rabi-ul-Hassan, a resident of Jai Hind camp, a massive slum located in one of the poshest corners of Delhi. Three weeks ago, authorities cut off electricity in the area, instantly plunging some 400 people into darkness. The action came after a court ruled that the slum-dwellers, who say they have lived there for generations, were squatting on private land. "They did this even when the area is recognised as a legal slum by the city's own urban planning organisation," said Abhik Chimni, a lawyer who is challenging the order. Since then residents have been in some kind of stupor, dazed, angry and tired. "The heat is unbearable. The food keeps rotting and the children don't stop crying. At night, we try to sleep outside but then mosquitoes bite us," said Baijan Bibi. "I am so exhausted," she continued, "that sometimes I wonder if it's better to live in a holding centre. At least there will be a fan there, right?" By Chandni Shah and Surbhi Misra (Reuters) -Meta has tapped U.S. bond giant PIMCO and alternative asset manager Blue Owl Capital to spearhead a $29 billion financing for its data center expansion in rural Louisiana, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters. PIMCO will handle about $26 billion of debt, likely to be issued in the form of bonds, while Blue Owl will contribute $3 billion in equity, the person said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Bloomberg News, which first reported the deal, said that the company has been working with Morgan Stanley to raise funds, while Apollo Global Management and KKR were also in the running to lead the deal until the closing stage of negotiations. Meta, PIMCO and Blue Owl declined to comment on the report. The deal comes as Meta looks for partners to help fund its AI infrastructure push. Last week, the company said in a filing that it planned to offload about $2 billion in data center assets as part of a co-development strategy to share the costs of building facilities for generative AI. In July, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that the company would spend hundreds of billions of dollars to build several massive AI data centers for its superintelligence unit, intensifying his pursuit of a technology he has chased with a talent war for top engineers. Its first multi-gigawatt data center, dubbed Prometheus, is expected to come online in 2026, while another, called Hyperion, will be able to scale up to 5 GW over the coming years, Zuckerberg said in a post last month on his Threads social media platform. In June, the Financial Times reported that Meta was seeking to raise $29 billion from private capital firms to build AI data centers in the U.S., adding that the company is debating how to structure the debt raise and is also evaluating options to raise more capital. (Reporting by Surbhi Misra and Chandni Shah in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona and Sonia Cheema) By Greg Torode, Ben Blanchard and Yimou Lee HONG KONG/TAIPEI (Reuters) -The exercise presented a fraught scenario: China's military had blockaded Taiwan by air and sea, and Southeast Asian countries were grappling with how to evacuate as many as 1 million of their nationals trapped on the besieged island. Over two days in April at a Singapore hotel, some 40 participants and observers in the war game, including serving and retired Asia-Pacific officials and military officers, as well as security scholars, simulated their responses to the unfolding crisis, according to four people familiar with the discussions. Hours ticked by as some players weighed unified action through the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, while others reached out to the mock U.S., Chinese and Japanese delegates to negotiate special air and sea corridors to extract foreign nationals. Eventually, the people said, a stark conclusion emerged: The Southeast Asian states needed a Singaporean airlift to have a chance of evacuating their people. "Nothing was moving until the Singaporeans stepped in at the 11th hour," said one participant in the event at the Jen Singapore Tanglin hotel. "They had found a way of getting their own people out, and offered to get others out, too." Reflecting its discreet and decades-old security presence inside Taiwan, where its forces train, Singapore was able to leverage access to airfields and aircraft, the person said. But the exercise ended before any detailed discussion of how Singapore had reached a deal with China to secure an evacuation route through the blockade, or how precisely it would work, three of the people told Reuters. The previously unreported exercise comes amid an escalating battle between the U.S. and China for dominance in the Asia-Pacific region. It offers a rare window into contingency planning over Taiwan, which some Asian and Western military attaches and security analysts say is becoming increasingly necessary because an assault on the island by Beijing could draw in the U.S. and imperil other countries. While the scenario didn't reflect official policies, participants playing the roles of foreign and defence ministers worked from the known positions of at least nine governments depicted in the simulation, said the four people, who like some others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter. Besides Singapore, China, Taiwan and the U.S., the rest included Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines, they said. Southeast Asians account for about 94% of the almost 1 million foreign nationals resident in Taiwan, according to Taiwan's National Immigration Agency. Indonesians, Vietnamese and Filipinos make up the vast majority of those foreigners, with comparatively small numbers of Japanese and Americans. Singapore's defence ministry said it wasn't involved in the "workshop" and none of its officials attended in any capacity. Neither the defence nor foreign ministries addressed Reuters questions about Singapore's military presence in Taiwan and planning for Taiwan conflict scenarios, including evacuations. China's foreign ministry said it had "always resolutely opposed countries with whom it has diplomatic relations having any form of official relations with the Taiwan region, including military dialogue and cooperation," adding that it wasn't aware of the circumstances of the exercise. The London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), which organised the exercise, told Reuters in a statement that participants had attended in their private capacities, and that it could not comment on "discussions, attendees, or any other elements." Taiwan's defence ministry and the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta didn't respond to questions. A Pentagon official said they were not aware of any official participation in the event by the U.S. Defense Department. "We routinely engage with allies and partners to ensure readiness for a range of contingencies, but it would be inappropriate to discuss operational planning or hypothetical evacuation scenarios," the official said. Weeks after the exercise, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told a security conference in Singapore that the threat of China using force to take Taiwan was "imminent" amid intensifying air and naval operations around the island by the Chinese military, the People's Liberation Army. Chinese officials have said Hegseth and other Trump administration officials are playing up "the so-called China threat", with the Chinese embassy in Singapore saying his speech was "steeped in provocations and instigation". China claims Taiwan as its territory and has never renounced the use of force to seize it. Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te and his government strongly object to China's sovereignty claims, saying it is up to the island's people to decide their future. Drew Thompson, a Singapore-based security scholar, said it was vital for Southeast Asian countries to move beyond war games and contingency discussions to build meaningful, unofficial ties with Taiwan, particularly its military. These countries have diplomatic ties with Beijing and don't officially recognise Taipei. "The big takeaway here is that a plan is one thing but you need the access and the relationships to put it into play," said Thompson, of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, who wasn't involved in the exercise. "Singapore has long had these ties, the Philippines is building them, but it remains an open question whether the other countries in Southeast Asia have the unofficial networks in place to meaningfully engage with Taiwan in a conflict." The Philippines foreign ministry told Reuters the government has contingency plans for a Taiwan emergency, without offering specifics. It added that Manila has "legitimate interest in Taiwan due to geographic proximity and the presence of Filipino nationals there". The foreign ministries of Indonesia and Vietnam didn't respond to requests for comment. Japan's defence ministry declined to comment. 'USEFUL PERCH' Given recent drills in which Chinese vessels encircled Taiwan, some military attaches and analysts say any attempt by Beijing to seize the island could start with a blockade, which would be considered an act of war under international law. The risks are felt acutely in Singapore, a financial and shipping hub that hosts U.S. Navy ships and surveillance aircraft yet maintains strong cultural, diplomatic and economic ties with China. Singaporean forces have conducted military training in Taiwan since 1975, under an arrangement known as Project Starlight. The presence is seldom publicly acknowledged by officials in Singapore, which does not have formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. But it remains important to Singapore's defence forces, according to seven diplomats and security scholars familiar with the matter. Singapore rotates up to 3,000 infantry troops and commandos annually through three training camps in southern Taiwan, according to five of the seven people, where the mountains and jungles replicate conditions found on the Malay Peninsula. "It gives Singapore a useful perch from which to watch both the Taiwan Strait and the top part of the South China Sea," said one Western security official. China has long objected to the arrangement. But Singapore has held fast, in part because a withdrawal would represent a change to the delicate strategic and diplomatic balance around Taiwan, three of the scholars told Reuters. Singapore's forces also train regularly in Australia, France, Brunei and the U.S. The city-state has the best-equipped military in Southeast Asia, according to an annual survey of the world's armed forces produced by the IISS. Yet an outbreak of war in Taiwan could trap Singapore's forces there or render them bargaining chips that could give China military and diplomatic leverage over Singapore, according to some analysts and military attaches. In a conflict, Southeast Asian governments would face an arduous task in evacuating their nationals from Taiwan, Ngeow Chow Bing, a Malaysia-based security scholar, wrote in a study published last year by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. But, Ngeow wrote, Beijing has clear incentives to ensure that most, if not all, ASEAN members remain neutral. "If Beijing cares how it is perceived in Southeast Asia during a Taiwan crisis, it follows that Beijing would view the evacuation of Southeast Asian citizens as crucial for its own diplomatic posture," he added. (Reporting by Greg Torode in Hong Kong and Ben Blanchard and Yimou Lee in Taipei. Additional reporting by Singapore bureau, Laurie Chen in Beijing, Phil Stewart in Washington, Mikhail Flores in Manila, Faith Hung in Taipei, Khanh Vu in Hanoi, Tim Kelly in Tokyo and Ananda Teresia in Jakarta. Editing by David Crawshaw.) U.S. Army soldiers participate in a joint river-crossing exercise between South Korea and the United States as a part of the Freedom Shield military exercise in Yeoncheon, South Korea, Thursday, March 20, 2025 (Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.) South Korea and the United States are set to commence their annual large-scale military exercise this month, a move designed to bolster readiness against escalating North Korean threats. The joint drills are, however, likely to provoke an angry response from Pyongyang, further straining diplomatic efforts. Named Ulchi Freedom Shield, the exercise is scheduled to run from August 18 to 28. It represents the second major annual drill conducted in South Korea, following a similar set of manoeuvres in March. Typically, these exercises involve thousands of troops participating in both computer-simulated command post training and combined field exercises. North Korea consistently denounces such joint drills as rehearsals for invasion. Historically, Pyongyang has leveraged these exercises as a pretext to escalate military demonstrations and conduct weapons tests, all aimed at advancing its nuclear programme. Doubling down on its nuclear ambitions, North Korea has repeatedly rejected Washington and Seouls calls to resume diplomacy aimed at winding down its weapons program, which derailed in 2019. The North has now made Russia the priority of its foreign policy, sending thousands of troops and large amounts of military equipment to support Moscows war in Ukraine. Col. Lee Sung-jun, left, public affairs director of South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff and Col. Ryan Donald, public affairs director of the United Nations Command (UNC), Combined Forces Command (CFC), and United States Forces Korea (USFK) attend a press briefing of Ulchi Freedom Shield 2025 exercise at the Defense Ministry in Seoul Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. (Chung Sung-Jun/Pool Photo via AP) About 18,000 South Korean troops will take part in this years Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise, South Koreas Joint Chiefs of Staff spokesperson, Col. Lee Sung Joon, said during a joint briefing with U.S. Forces Korea, which did not disclose the number of participating U.S. troops. Both Col. Lee and U.S. Forces Korea public affairs director Col. Ryan Donald downplayed speculation that South Koreas new liberal government, led by President Lee Jae Myung, sought to downsize the exercise to create momentum for dialogue with Pyongyang, saying its scale is similar to previous years. However, Col. Lee said about half of the exercises originally planned 40 field training programs were postponed to September due to heat concerns. The threat posed by North Koreas growing nuclear and missile programs will be a key focus of the exercise, which will also incorporate lessons from recent conflicts, including Russias war in Ukraine and the clash between Israel and Iran, Col. Lee and Col. Donald said. The exercise will also address threats from drones, GPS jamming and cyberattacks, they said. KYIV (Reuters) -Ukrainian journalist Viktoria Roshchyna, who died in Russian captivity last year, was buried in Kyiv on Friday, while her colleagues called for international pressure to secure the release of other Ukrainian reporters held by Moscow. Several hundred people gathered in the centre of Kyiv for a solemn ceremony to pay tribute to Roshchyna, 27, whose first-hand reporting provided a rare glimpse into life under occupation in the early months of Russia's invasion. "It is very sad... it is really about losing a professional who was braver than any of us," Nataliya Gumenyuk, a journalist, told Reuters. "We pay tribute while there are still other Ukrainian reporters behind bars, and with what has happened to her, it is our duty not to stop." Roshchyna went missing in August 2023 during a reporting trip to Russia-held eastern Ukraine. She died after a year in detention. The body of the journalist was discovered among bodies that Russia handed over to Ukraine earlier this year. Ukrainian forensic experts were unable to determine the cause of death, but found signs of injuries and possible torture, Ukrainian prosecutors have said. Moscow did not comment on Friday, but has previously denied allegations of torture. Ukraine's National Union of Journalists said that it had verified a list of at least 30 Ukrainian reporters who were in detention in Russia. Several of Roshchyna's colleagues who attended the funeral said that more political and international pressure on Moscow was required to help release the reporters. Ukraine and Russia regularly exchange prisoners of war, and several large swaps took place after Kyiv and Moscow met for three rounds of talks in the Turkish capital Istanbul. The exchanges typically include servicemen from both sides but not civilians. (Reporting by Sergiy Karazy, writing by Olena Harmash; Editing by Sharon Singleton) (Reuters) -The U.S. and Russia are aiming to reach a deal to halt the war in Ukraine that would lock in Moscow's occupation of territory seized during its military invasion, Bloomberg News reported on Friday. U.S. and Russian officials are working towards an agreement on territories for a planned summit meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin as early as next week, the report said, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter. A White House official said the Bloomberg story was speculation. A Kremlin spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. There was no immediate comment on the report from Ukrainian authorities. However, in a statement published after the report that did not refer to it, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said: "The United States is determined to achieve a ceasefire, and we must jointly support all constructive steps. A dignified, reliable, and lasting peace can only be the result of our joint efforts," he said. Reuters could not immediately verify the details included in the Bloomberg report. Putin claims four Ukrainian regions Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson as well as the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which he annexed in 2014. His forces do not fully control all the territory in the four regions. Ukraine has previously signalled a willingness to be flexible in the search for an end to a war that has ravaged its towns and cities and killed large numbers of its soldiers and citizens. But accepting the loss of around a fifth of Ukraine's territory would be painful and politically challenging for Zelenskiy and his government. Tyson Barker, the U.S. State Department's former deputy special representative for Ukraine's economic recovery, said the proposal, as outlined by Bloomberg, would be immediately rejected by the Ukrainians. "The best the Ukrainians can do is remain firm in their objections and their conditions for a negotiated settlement, while demonstrating their gratitude for American support," said Barker, a senior fellow with the Atlantic Council. Under the putative deal, according to Bloomberg, Russia would halt its offensive in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions along current battle lines. TRUMP AND PUTIN Since his return to the White House in January, Trump has moved to mend relations with Russia and sought to end the war. In his public comments he has veered between admiration and sharp criticism of Putin. In a sign of his growing frustration with Putin's refusal to halt Russia's military offensive, Trump has threatened to impose new sanctions and tariffs from Friday against Moscow and countries that buy its exports unless the Russian leader agrees to end the 3-1/2 year conflict, the deadliest in Europe since World War Two. But with the Putin-Trump summit expected in the coming days, possibly in the United Arab Emirates, it is unclear whether those sanctions will take effect or will be delayed or cancelled. The administration took a step toward punishing Moscow's oil customers on Wednesday, imposing an additional 25% tariff on goods from India over its imports of Russian oil, marking the first financial penalty aimed at Russia in Trump's second term. Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff held three hours of talks with Putin in Moscow on Wednesday that both sides described as constructive. Prime Minister Donald Tusk of Poland, a close ally of Ukraine, said earlier on Friday that a pause in the conflict could be close. He was speaking after talks with Zelenskiy. "There are certain signals, and we also have an intuition, that perhaps a freeze in the conflict I don't want to say the end, but a freeze in the conflict is closer than it is further away," Tusk told a news conference. "There are hopes for this." Tusk also said Zelenskiy was "very cautious but optimistic" and that Ukraine was keen that Poland and other European countries play a role in planning for a ceasefire and an eventual peace settlement. (Reporting by Dheeraj Kumar in Bengaluru and Andrea Shalal in WashingtonAdditional reporting by Moscow bureauWriting by Gareth Jones and Jonathan AllenEditing by Don Durfee and Frances Kerry) USA TODAY and Yahoo may earn commission from links in this article. Pricing and availability subject to change. Pete Sager had anything but a normal check-in when he arrived at a La Quinta hotel in Florida last month. Instead of staff greeting him from behind the front desk, a single candle burned on the empty counter. Taking to social media to share, a single video of his abnormal experience has garnered millions of views. Sager, of Frisco, Texas, checked in to the La Quinta Inn & Suites in Sunrise, Florida on Friday, July 25, according to documents Sager shared with USA TODAY. Rather than making small talk with a front desk employee, Sager said he was greeted by a man on a tablet, who was helping guests remotely. Seizing on the abnormal moment, Sager said he recorded his interaction with the man on the screen using a pair of AI glasses. While Sager posted the video to his own social media, it gained traction after it was reposted by another social media user on X (formerly Twitter). As of Aug. 8, the reshared video had more than 2.1 million views. What happened? When Sager arrived to the La Quinta Inn & Suites, he first saw a group of people arguing with a tablet at a kiosk. The tablet, as seen in the video, sat under a green banner that read, "Check in and out here!" Sager said members of the group were asking for more towels and were told by the remote worker they would arrive the next day. Sager said when it was his turn to step up to the kiosk, he began recording, joking with the man on the other side of the screen that he took his job. Sager said when he asked the man where he was based, he was told Florida. In addition to the tablet, Sager said the kiosk included tech for guests to tap a debit or credit card and scan an ID. The tablet, which displayed the remote worker, also allowed guests to sign the necessary documents as they would traditionally do at a hotel front desk, he added. The kiosk also had an output that distributed room keys. La Quinta Inn & Suites by Wyndham Naples East in Naples, Florida on Monday, Jan. 27, 2020. During his two nights at the hotel, Sager said the only staff he saw on site were cleaning staff. "The lack of staff could be concerning for someone who's paying for a visit," Sager told USA TODAY. "It's not a four star (hotel), but it's not a two star, and it's in a part of Florida where it's a destination area. It's not like an Iowa on-the-side-of-the-road, where you're just stopping to sleep and get going." Two nights at the hotel cost about $150, per Sager's receipt, which he provided to USA TODAY. A concern of safety Sager said he also found the lack of hotel staff concerning in relation to guest safety. "When I was at the pool, there were some kids out there and I thought, 'You know what, if anything happened, there's no staff here to come out and attend to an emergency,'" Sager said. "Say someone cuts their foot, a kid hits his head ... What are you going to do? Run to a screen and it's going to be like, 'Okay, I'll call somebody.'" Wyndham: Kiosk not approved, to be removed The La Quinta where the incident occurred is a franchised location, meaning it is independently owned and staffed, Robert Myers, Wyndham Hotels & Resort external communications vice president, told USA TODAY. "That said, this franchisees use of this equipment is not brand approved nor is it being marketed to other franchisees. Further, our brand standards require hotels to have a team member physically stationed at the front desk at all times," Myers added. "Upon learning of this matter, we immediately reached out to the hotels owner who has since informed us the hotel will be removing the kiosk." What are people saying online? Largely, online users have expressed their discomfort by the remote staff. "This is getting way out of hand. This is 100% absurd," one TikTok user commented on Sager's video. Another commented: "This should literally be illegal." But others cited remote check-in options at other hotel branches, implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic. For example, guests at select Hilton hotels may check in without talking to a single employee, checking in on a mobile app and using the same app as a digital key to unlock their room. Wyndham, in fact, offers mobile check-in, too, rolling out the initiative to about 9,000 hotels across the globe in December 2020. Greta Cross is a national trending reporter at USA TODAY. Story idea? Email her at gcross@usatoday.com. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Guest's video of virtual check-in at Florida La Quinta goes viral Remains found at Lake Mead in Arizona have been identified as a California nurse last heard from 39 years ago. The remains were identified as Carol Ann Riley, who was 42 when she disappeared in April 1986. She was reported missing out of San Diego County, California, and the unidentified remains were found just over a year later, according to officials in Mohave County, Arizona. Heres how the most recent development in Rileys case came about after a 39-year search. Missing woman had a date with man linked to multiple disappearances Carol Ann Riley, a woman who went missing out of San Diego County, Calif. on April 5, 1986. Riley was a nurse who worked at the Scripps Clinic in San Diego, the Mohave County Sheriffs Office said in a news release. Around that time, she was dating a man she knew as Robert Howard Smith. She was supposed to go on a dinner date with him in April 1986 and told friends she was going to end the relationship. Investigators interviewed Smith, who said Riley canceled their date, the sheriffs office said. Two days later, Smith left town and dropped out of sight, investigators said. Detectives investigating Smith later found out his real name was Robert Dean Weeks, and he had a history of going by fake names. He was also linked to multiple disappearances, including: Patricia Weeks Weeks ex-wife who disappeared on April 25, 1968, a few weeks after their divorce was finalized. James Shaw Weeks business associate who was last seen on May 5, 1971. He disappeared after having an argument with Weeks . His bloodstained vehicle was found abandoned in a Las Vegas parking lot. Cynthia Jabour A real estate agent who disappeared on Oct. 5, 1980. She had a dinner date scheduled with him and planned to end their relationship. None of their bodies have been found. According to the Mohave County Sheriffs office, television show Unsolved Mysteries aired an episode involving Weeks in April 1987. Around the same time, a warrant had been issued for his arrest due to fraud and embezzlement charges from his business. Viewers called in tips, and Weeks was located and arrested in Tucson, Arizona, the sheriffs office said. He was convicted for the murder of his wife, as well as Jabour. He was sentenced to life in prison in Nevada, where he died on Sept. 20, 1996. How was Carol Ann Riley identified? On May 16, 1987, just over a year after Riley was last heard from, a person near Bonelli Landing at Lake Mead found a human skull on the ground. Investigators searched the area and found more remains buried in a shallow grave, wrapped in a yellow blanket, the Mohave County Sheriffs Office said. Based on the remains, investigators believed the woman was between 20 and 40 years old, stood between 5-foot-3 and 5-foot-7, weighed about 105 to 120 pounds, and had light brown hair. While investigators were unable to identify the remains, a forensic odontologist completed a dental report and entered it into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUS). In 2011, investigators in Austin, Texas, reached out to Mohave County detectives and said they believed Jane Doe was a missing person from their jurisdiction, but the dental records werent a match. Mohave County then sent skeletal remains to the University of North Texas, where a DNA profile was obtained and entered into the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), the FBIs national DNA database. About 13 years later, investigators with Mohave County wanted to use the DNA extract to conduct a forensic genetic genealogy investigation, but the sample was too degraded. Giving Jane Doe a name In February 2025, Mohave County investigators sent portions of the victims clothing and the blanket she was wrapped in to an Arizona Department of Public Safety lab to get a DNA sample that could be used for forensic genetic genealogy tracing. This attempt was also unsuccessful, the sheriffs office said. Investigators also learned her skeletal remains were cremated in 2016, and her ashes were scattered in an unknown location. This month, the California Department of Justices Missing and Unidentified Persons Unit confirmed that a forensic odontologist and staff compared dental records for Jane Doe and Riley, who was reported missing over 300 miles away in San Diego County. The dental records were a match, the sheriffs office said. Before he died in 1996, Robert Dean Weeks (known to the victim as Robert Howard Smith) was never charged in connection with her murder. Saleen Martin is a reporter on USA TODAY's NOW team. She is from Norfolk, Virginia the 757. Email her at sdmartin@usatoday.com. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Carol Riley: Remains found in Lake Mead identified as missing woman Michael Reese, center, stands with his attorneys Michael Miller and Shannon Lazier during his sentencing hearing in Connecticut Superior Court, in Danielson, Conn., on Friday, Aug. 8, 2025. (Jim Michaud/Hearst Connecticut Media via AP, Pool) A man previously convicted of sexual assault who killed a Connecticut visiting nurse at a halfway house pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced Friday to 50 years in prison in a case that reignited calls for better protections for home health care workers across the country. Michael Reese, 40, admitted that he killed Joyce Grayson on Oct. 28, 2023, at the home in Willimantic where he was living under electronic monitoring while on probation for stabbing and sexually assaulting another woman in 2006. The prison sentence, which mandates no early release or parole, was part of a plea deal. Grayson, a 63-year-old mother of six and a nurse for 36 years, had gone to the house to administer medication to Reese, who was on probation after having served more than 14 years in prison for the 2006 attack. Reese, who wore a tan prison suit and a black face mask, did not speak during the hearing at Danielson Superior Court. His lawyers spoke on his behalf, saying he apologizes to Grayson's family and is ashamed of what he did. Grayson's relatives gave victim impact statements in court, saying the loss of such a beloved family member was devastating and her community lost a person dedicated to helping others. A lawyer for Grayson's family, Kelly Reardon, said in a statement that no matter how long Reese's prison sentence is, they wouldn't be able to truly heal. And they hope that Joyces death will continue for years to come to inspire others, including the State of Connecticut, to pass legislation and make significant changes in the way violent offenders are monitored when they are released into our communities and home health nurses are protected from dangerous patients," Reardon said. Police arrest Reese, find Grayson dead in basement Police responded to the halfway house when Graysons daughter reported that her mother had missed several appointments later that morning and she could not reach her. She said a phone location app showed her mother was at Reese's address, according to an arrest warrant. Officers arrested Reese as he exited the rear of the house. Inside, they found Grayson dead in the basement and naked from the waist down except for her socks. The medical examiner's office said she died of compression of the neck and had blunt force injuries. Authorities said there was no DNA evidence of her being sexually assaulted. In phone calls Reese made in prison that were recorded, he appeared to refer to the murder when he said it was a robbery gone wrong and blamed his drug use, according to the arrest warrant. Reese was charged with murder, felony murder and attempted first-degree sexual assault in April 2024. He had been detained since the day of the killing on drug paraphernalia and larceny charges, with police saying he had a crack cocaine pipe and some of Grayson's belongings on him when he was arrested. Nurse's death led to new law Her death spurred Connecticut legislators last year to approve a new law aimed at improving safety for home health care workers, including providing grants to employers to fund emergency alert buttons, buddy escort systems, tracking devices and safety training. It also drew comments and social media posts from industry and worker groups across the country, expressing shock and sadness and calling for greater protections for health care workers from increasing violence. In a national survey of nearly 1,000 nurses released last year by the National Nurses United, the largest union of registered nurses in the U.S., more than 80% responded that they had experienced at least one type of workplace violence in 2023. Nearly half of them reported an increase in workplace violence over the previous year. Husband files lawsuit Grayson's husband, Ronald Grayson, filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against her employer, Elara Caring, its affiliated companies and others. The lawsuit alleges Elara Caring repeatedly ignored workers safety concerns about treating dangerous patients, which the company denies. The lawsuit is pending. In May of last year, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued a proposed $161,000 fine against Elara Caring, saying the company exposed home healthcare employees to workplace violence from patients who exhibited aggressive behavior and were known to pose a risk to others." Dallas-based Elara Caring, which provides home care for more than 60,000 patients in 18 states, said it disputed OSHAs findings. An Elara spokesperson said the company entered remediation with OSHA and reached a resolution but did not provide details. An OSHA spokesperson said details of what happened with the fine were not available. Online records indicated that the case is still open. Elara issued a statement about Reese's sentencing, saying, We continue to grieve Joyces loss and are grateful the justice system has delivered accountability through this conviction and sentencing. Graysons family is also seeking permission to sue the state Judicial Branch, which oversees probation, and the Department of Correction for $25 million in connection with their oversight of Reese. State officials have declined to comment. Swifty. Gamer. Backpacker. Foodie. All these labels bring vivid images to mind, but one group elicits particularly strong feelings from fans and observers alike: Disney adults. Whatever you think of when you hear the term, Disney expert AJ Wolfe, owner of DisneyFoodBlog.com and AllEars.net, wants to challenge that in her new book by the same name, Disney Adults. Stereotypes are there for a reason, but what are the reasons that people are attacking this particular subculture? And what does that say about them versus us, as well? she asked. Wolfe spoke with USA TODAY about what she discovered and her own experiences as a Disney adult. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Question: Disney has been popular with adults from the very beginning. It's not a new phenomenon. Can you tell us about that? Wolfe: There have been Disney adults for 100 years, really since Walt Disney started his whole empire back in the 1920s. Walt has a pretty well-known quote that says: Youre dead if you aim only for kids. Adults are only kids grown up, anyway." He knew from the very beginning that he had to make sure to entice the people who held the purse strings. What we've seen Disney adults evolve into though is an online subculture primarily online, although things are starting to put their tendrils into in-person meetups and communities. Love theme parks? Thank Disneyland. Here's why. Sleeping Beauty Castle is decorated for Disneyland Resort's 70th anniversary celebration. People have this idea of what a Disney adult is. What do you want people to know about them? Stereotypes come out of truth, right? There are some of us who are obsessed and obnoxious and selfish and problematic, but every fandom has those people. That's called humanity. That's what we are, as a culture in general. What people aren't really looking at especially with Disney adults and I think with a lot of subcultures is what's below the water when it comes to the iceberg. Online, what algorithms are pushing is what people are watching: the extremes. You're not seeing the reality. Every culture, every subculture, the majority of what's going on is stuff you don't see, stuff you have no idea about, so that's what we're doing with the book. Its really kind of showing how broad and extensive this subculture is and also pros and cons of it. "Disney Adults" by AJ Wolfe explores the expansive world of some of Disney's most ardent fans. Let's talk about some of those pros. What's great about this particular fandom is that people are finally finding their tribe. I think a lot of Disney adults don't fit anywhere else, and this is some place that they fit exquisitely. They find their best friends; they find their partners. You can find people you'd never find in your regular community or your workplace or your school. I think because a lot of us don't fit anywhere, we're very open and and happy to welcome everybody who finds some sort of solace here or who finds Disney to be interesting or compelling or curious or whatever. We're happy to talk to you about it. We're happy to bring you on where you are. We are also very willing to help each other, so you see a lot of positives within the Disney community of fundraisers, charity work, people helping other people in the community and doing outreach outside of the community. But the most important one, especially for me personally, is you find your tribe and your community, which honestly you can't be healthy without. For many fans, Disney brings back core memories and a deep emotional connection that they feel when they go to the places Disney has created. This is something that I really wanted to figure out while writing this book. How does Disney do this? Like, were lining up to give them more money. How did they get such a hold on us? What it all stems back to for a lot of us as Disney adults is family and emotional connections. I blame our parents and our grandparents 1,000% for bringing us to those Disney movies, for bringing us to Disney World and for having such a fabulous time while they were there that we kind of cottoned on to that and said, This is when my dad and I really connect. This is when my grandma and I have something in common, and I remember this time. And now, with the world doing what it's doing and people just being high anxiety and feeling stressed and just regular life, you're going to want to try to get back to that feeling of safety and predictability and warmth and being taken care of, and so a lot of times people will go back to Disney. A guest stands up and applauds a "Tangled"-inspired performance at Disneyland's Royal Theatre. It's a cycle because as you grow up with these things, you want to pass them on to your kids so they have the same experiences, and it raises another generation of fans. Exactly. The thing that's also interesting about that is when I was raising my son, who's 11 now, we could have gone to Europe for vacation. We could have gone to Costa Rica, but that's harder than just going to Disney because Disney is so easy. They speak English, they take dollars, but it's still this experience you get to have. It's the easier choice. It can be really hard to try to figure out an entirely different city that speaks a different language. And so I think when you have little kids, sometimes it's just, "We're going to go to Disney for a little while because we know what to expect." You want your kids to experience what you experienced, but also it's the devil you know. Guests walk toward the Tree of Life at Disney's Animal Kingdom. Can you talk about that feeling of FOMO a lot of Disney adults have about the latest snacks, the latest merch? The marketing is unbelievable, and I'm not going to lie, the whole Disney adult community is doing this marketing for Disney for free. Disney has become a 24-hour news cycle. Hungry is the perfect word for the information, details, hot goss on their happy place, and that's exactly what they're trying to key into, because that's going to bring them that dopamine hit, that joy, that little feeling of "I know what's going on and this person doesn't know what's going on." There's also this weird hierarchy of: "How much do you know, and do you know more than other people? Do you have this pin? Do you have that Loungefly bag? Have you tried that snack? Have you been on that ride?" It's just this wild subculture of one-upmanship and FOMO, and "I have to right now book this trip because I have to be on that new ride." It's fascinating. I'm all caught up in it, too. Violet Sake from the Japan pavilion is among most popular cocktails at EPCOT, where drinking around World Showcase is a popular unofficial activity among Disney adults. Can you speak to some of the cons and address some of the criticisms people have of Disney adults? Absolutely, and we have a whole chapter in the book about it. Two main points that kind of keep coming up are, first, people are loving something that general society considers to be for kids. It's like you are not allowed, as an upstanding citizen, to like something that was built and created for children. We heard Walt's quote. We know it wasn't built and created for children, but people are like: Disney is for kids. Why do you like something thats for kids? That's weird. And so that's verging on a lot of other weird things that people are uncomfortable with. Sometimes Disney adults can be othering toward other theme parks. As far Im concerned, a rising tide lifts all boats. Disney's going to get better because Universal's getting better. Universal's going to get better because Disney's getting better. I do feel like this is great for all of us. Can we just be cool? I think we shoot ourselves in the foot a lot when it comes to themed experiences because we're not willing to open our minds. Of course you can love something for free, but a lot of experiences cost money. Can you tell us about the role of money plays with Disney adults? That's interesting that you say you can love something for free because what Disney has definitely done, even more so in the last couple of years, is there's a lot of their experiences that you cannot have unless you have a certain amount of money. Can you go to Disney cheap? Sure, but not that cheap. Those tickets cost at least $100, and so I think there is a feeling among Disney adults that Disney is outpricing a lot of people and that they're getting to the point that it's just going to be a luxury item, at least for the parks, and they cannot afford to go anymore. I think you're starting to see, Oh, only rich people can go to Disney. Only rich people can have these experiences. And Disney, in the past five years, has made a lot of their amenities that used to be free into paid amenities. You can't get them anymore unless you pay for them, so it's an evolving space. People will still pay it. That's the thing. No Lightning Lane needed: How to save time in line at Disney World, Disneyland without paying extra Lightning Lanes, like this one at Magic Kingdom's Haunted Mansion, don't automatically get guests to the front of the line. There is still a wait, but it is usually significantly shorter than the regular line. Is there anything else you want people to know? Most importantly, the thing about this particular subculture and this book in general is that we are talking about humanity here. It's aspects of any group or community or subculture that you're seeing. I think you're going to see more and more and more subcultures emerge online, and you're going to see a lot more of our friends and connections and chosen family be people we've never met before. So just sort of thinking about that and how do we comprehend these communities? How do we involve ourselves in these communities? How do we not be scared of these communities? Realize that there's so much more to these groups than you might think. Give yourself some time to really explore. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Disney adults arent going anywhere. Heres why that matters. Israeli army soldiers positioned near the border with the Gaza Strip in southern Israel on Tuesday. (Jack Guez / AFP / Getty Images) WASHINGTON Commercial satellite images show the Israeli military building up troops and equipment near the border with Gaza that would support a possible new ground invasion of the Palestinian enclave, according to three U.S. officials and a former official who viewed the imagery. The images show troop movements and formations that the four sources recognized as signs of an imminent major ground operation. Israels security Cabinet approved a plan early Friday to take over Gaza City, the Associated Press reported, citing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus office. The plan falls short of the full occupation of Gaza that Netanyahu had discussed earlier. If there is a new military operation, it could include efforts to retrieve hostages held by Hamas and expand humanitarian assistance in areas outside the fighting, the three U.S. officials and a person briefed on Israeli discussions said. Israeli troops have been conducting ground operations in Gaza since Oct. 27, 2023, with pauses during two ceasefires. Netanyahu said Thursday on Fox News that Israel intended to take control of all of Gaza. We intend to, in order to assure our security, remove Hamas there, enable the population to be free of Gaza and to pass it to civilian governance that is not Hamas and not anyone advocating the destruction of Israel. Thats what we want to do. Pressed again on that point, specifically on whether he meant Israel would take control of the entire 26-mile Gaza Strip, Netanyahu said: Well, we dont want to keep it. We want to have a security perimeter. We dont want to govern it. The troop buildup comes during a tense time in relations between the United States and Israel. On July 28, Netanyahu and President Donald Trump had a private phone conversation that devolved into shouting amid White House concerns over how the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a U.S.- and Israel-backed relief effort, is working, according to a senior U.S. official, two former U.S. officials and a Western official who were briefed on the matter. President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a dinner at the White House on July 7. (Andrew Harnik / Getty Images) The recent flare-up of tensions between Trump and Netanyahu began July 27. Appearing at an event in Jerusalem that day, Netanyahu said: There is no policy of starvation in Gaza. And there is no starvation in Gaza. When Trump was asked about those comments the next day during a trip to Scotland, he contradicted Netanyahu. He said that he had seen images of children in Gaza who look very hungry, that there is real starvation there and that you cant fake that. Netanyahu then privately demanded a phone call with Trump, the senior U.S. official and the former U.S. official briefed on the call said. The two leaders were connected within hours, those two officials said. Netanyahu told Trump on the phone that widespread starvation in Gaza is not real and that it had been fabricated by Hamas, said the senior U.S. official, two former U.S. officials and the Western official, all of whom were briefed on the call. Trump interrupted Netanyahu and began yelling, they said, saying that he did not want to hear that the starvation is fake and that his aides had shown him proof that children there are starving, they said. White House officials declined to comment on the phone call. Israeli officials declined to comment before this story was published, but subsequently issued a statement denying any shouting match had occurred. One of the former U.S. officials briefed on the call described it as a direct, mostly one-way conversation about the status of humanitarian aid in which Trump was doing most of the talking. The U.S. not only feels like the situation is dire, but they own it because of GHF, the former official said, referring to the Gaza Humanitarian Fund. The phone call prompted a trip to the region last week by Steve Witkoff, the U.S. special envoy to the Middle East, to find a unified path forward in the war. Israeli officials were pleased with Witkoffs visit, according to the Western official and the source briefed on Israeli discussions. The Israelis viewed everything from his body language to the questions he asked as indicators that they were able to effectively communicate the challenges Israel faces. The Israeli officials also addressed international criticism of GHF with Witkoff, explaining why, in their opinion, some critics want it to fail, the source briefed on Israeli discussions said. GHF has been working in Gaza since May. It operates only in specific designated distribution sites that are far away from some Palestinians who need food, leading to large crowds that Israeli troops who are stationed nearby have at times fired upon. As of late July, more than 1,000 Palestinians had been killed while seeking food, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. GHF has been boycotted by the U.N., which has operated its own aid distribution network in Gaza. Witkoff pressed officials about whether current relief efforts can meet ongoing need or should expand further, according to the source briefed on Israeli discussions. Witkoff has since returned. He briefed Trump on his visit over dinner Monday night, according to a White House official. Their discussion included humanitarian aid in Gaza and Witkoffs meeting with Israeli officials and hostage families. Asked by reporters Tuesday whether he would support Israels occupying Gaza, Trump said he is focused on getting people there food. As for a military occupation, he said: I really cant say. Thats going to be pretty much up to Israel. Displaced Palestinians gather to receive aid at a distribution center run by the U.S.- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation in the central Gaza Strip on Monday. (AFP / Getty Images) White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly told NBC News: We do not comment on the Presidents private conversations. President Trump is focused on returning all the hostages and getting the people in Gaza fed. A new Gaza ceasefire has proven elusive. Israel does not believe Hamas is motivated to negotiate the release of the remaining hostages, the source briefed on Israeli discussions and the Western official said, and it believes a military offensive is the likeliest option. The international community has recently been heaping pressure on Israel, with the United Kingdom, France, Canada and others saying they may move to recognize a Palestinian state at the U.N. General Assembly in September. It seems like we are at a brick wall, with countries saying they are recognizing Palestine, said the person briefed on Israeli discussions. Now all ideas are being exhausted. The Western official said an offensive remains a very dangerous prospect for the Israeli military because Hamas is very dug in and there is no chance they can kill every fighter. The Western official added that there is concern that Hamas will kill hostages or put them in the way of fighting if it is threatened. Israeli forces know the general area where all the hostages are, said the person briefed on Israeli discussions and the Western official, one of whom added that the belief is that area is in central Gaza. Looking at the condition of hostages, its clear that they dont have much more time, one of the sources added in reference to a recent video of an emaciated Israeli hostage inside a cramped Gaza tunnel digging his own grave. Texas Democrats on Friday again defied Republican Gov. Greg Abbott and the state GOP and did not show for a vote on a Republican-proposed redistricting plan Shortly after, the state's Republican attorney general went to court to try to remove some of them from office. The GOP-proposed new congressional maps would give Republicans more seats in Congress -- potentially allowing the GOP to keep control of the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington. Despite threats of arrest, restriction on pay and calls from the governor that they be removed from office, the majority of the Democrats did not appear for the special session when the Texas House convened Friday afternoon and no quorum was reached. Brandon Bell/Getty Images - PHOTO: U.S. Congressional District maps are displayed as the Senate Special Committee on Congressional Redistricting meets to hear invited testimony on Congressional plan C2308 at the Texas State Capitol on August 6, 2025 in Austin, Texas. Democratic state Rep. Gene Wu, the Texas House minority leader, earlier told ABC News Thursday that he believes his caucus would hold out on Friday and once again deny the legislature a quorum, though he said they would be willing to come back to Austin if state Republicans promise to focus solely on other issues before the special session, including flood mitigation and disaster preparedness. Members who were present Friday do not have to return in person until Monday at 2 p.m. ET, when the Texas House Republicans will attempt to reach a quorum for the fourth time. Democrats who have fled the state appear likely to stay away until Aug. 19, the end of the special session. The defiance took place as Abbott has also requested the Texas Supreme Court to remove Wu from office. Wu's attorneys repsonded Friday afternoon asking the court to deny the governor's request. The attorneys argue, in part, that the court does not have jurisdiction over state legislators, that Rep. Wu would have a right to a jury trial, which the state supreme court cannot provide. That the governor does not have the standing to bring the case, according to Wu's attorneys who added Abbotts suit would fail in any court. His lawyers also argued that the state constitution covers lawmakers for quorum breaking in certain circumstances. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton told Fox News on Friday that he is willing to take other Democrats to court if they don't return. MORE: Texas governor orders police to find and arrest Democrats who fled over redistricting "If they show up today, we're all happy, we can get our business done, and everybody is good. If they do not show up, we will be in an Illinois courtroom ... [trying] to get them back to the state of Texas, hold them in contempt, and if they refuse to come, hopefully put them in jail," he said. He shrugged off concerns that the optics of arresting Democrats would give them a public opinion win. "I think in Texas -- I don't know what it's like in other states, but I do know in Texas, people expect their representatives to go to work," Paxton said. Paxton said on Friday afternoon that he had filed a lawsuit with the Texas Supreme Court petitioning for 13 of the over 50 Texas House Democratic members who left the state to break quorum to be removed from their positions. The filing argued that these members "have absented themselves from the State with the express purpose of denying the House a quorum so that the Legislature as a whole cannot carry out its constitutional lawmaking function." "These cowards deliberately sabotaged the constitutional process and violated the oath they swore to uphold. Their out-of-state rebellion cannot go unchecked, and the business of Texas must go on," the AG said in a statement. Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows targeted the wallets of the absent Democrats in an effort to draw them back. On Thursday, he sent a memo to all members and their staffs requiring that any member who is absent from the special session to break quorum must collect their monthly paycheck in person. Direct deposits were suspended for those skipping out until the House reaches quorum, according to memo. Burrows says that he expects more suits filed in other states to come after the one filed by Abbott Thursday to try to enforce the civil arrest warrants out of state, and that another legislator contacted the Sergeant at Arms of the Illinois House of Representatives asking for their assistance in bringing back members. He added later that if the Department of Public Safety civilly arrests "our absent colleagues" during the weekend, legislators are on call and need to come back to Austin with a minimum of six hours' notice. Abbott has called for the Democrats' arrest, and Republican Sen. John Cornyn has called on the FBI to track down those elected officials. Congressional Democrats who sit on the House Judiciary and House Oversight Committee sent a letter Friday to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI director Kash Patel asking them to clarify and explain if and how their agencies are involved in locating Democratic Texas lawmakers who left the state to prevent a quorum in order to stop the new congressional maps. "We write with great concern about the abuse of federal public safety resources for completely political purposes and without a law enforcement rationale that is reportedly taking place right now," the members wrote. The governor said in a podcast released Friday that he was willing to go further than creating more than five new seats the GOP could flip if the Democrats continued to block the GOP effort. Jacquelyn Martin/AP - PHOTO: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott speaks during a roundtable discussion with President Donald Trump, first responders and local officials at Hill Country Youth Event Center in Kerrville, Texas, during a tour to observe flood damage, July 11, 2025. "We may make it six or seven or eight new seats we're going to be adding on the Republican side," he said during an interview on the podcast "Ruthless." MORE: GOP's Texas map has Austin residents sharing district with rural Texans 300 miles away In the meantime, Texas Democrats have fled to various blue states, including Illinois and California. Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty Images - PHOTO: Texas Rep. Gene Wu speaks in front of Democratic members of Congress and Texas House Democrats during a news conference, August 4, 2025 in Warrenville, Illinois. California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom is slated to hold a news conference with those Democrats Friday afternoon, along with Rep. Nancy Pelosi and California state Democrats to show their support. "The governor and state leaders have floated a potential statewide ballot measure that would reaffirm California's commitment to national independent redistricting and allow voters to temporarily adjust the state's congressional map only if Texas or other GOP-led states manipulate theirs," Newsom's office said in a statement. California Democrats are preparing to respond to Texas Republicans' proposed new congressional districts by possibly targeting five GOP-held districts in the Golden State, sources recently confirmed to ABC station KGO-TV. But the office of the California Secretary of State told ABC News that if legislators don't move fast, it becomes nearly impossible for the state to run a statewide election that meets federal standards. ABC station KGO-TV's Monica Madden contributed to this report. South grounds of the Texas Capitol Texas Preservation Board (The Center Square) The Texas House of Representatives has sued 33 House Democrats who absconded to Illinois to prevent a vote on Congressional redistricting efforts in the Lone Star State. The lawsuit was filed in the Eighth Judicial Circuit Court in Adams County, Illinois. It asks the court to hold the Democrats in contempt and to domesticate Texas warrants, allowing for absconding Democrats to be arrested and brought back to Texas. The lawsuit was filed by the Texas Office of Attorney General and Illinois state Sen. Jil Walker Tracy, R-Quincy. From day one, I have said that all options are on the table when it comes to making sure my colleagues who have fled the House return to fulfill their constitutional obligations, House Speaker Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, said. Burrows signed civil arrest warrants for 56 House Democrats on Monday. Since then, eight Democrats have been present in the House. The majority of Democrats remain defiant, unmoved by threats of being arrested; 33 remain in the Chicago area. The members who fled have been given ample time and opportunity to return on their own accord, and because they have continued to refuse their responsibilities to their constituents and return to Texas, the State has no choice but to pursue additional legal remedies to compel their return from other states, Burrows said. Our full focus is on stopping this dereliction of duty and restoring quorum in the Texas House as soon as possible so we may return our time, attention, and resources where they most matter on the critical issues of the special session call. Burrows issued arrest warrants pursuant to his authority under Article III, Section 10 of the Texas Constitution and Rule 5, Section 8, of the Rules of the Texas House. It states that when a call of the house is issued, which Burrows did on Monday, [a]ll absentees for whom no sufficient excuse is made may, by order of a majority of those present, be sent for and arrested, wherever they may be found. The 16-page filling with the Illinois court sues 33 House Democrats remaining in Illinois: Reps. John Bucy III, Harold Dutton, Jr., Ann Johnon, Ramon Ramero Jr., James Talarico, Chris Turner, Charlene Ward Johnson, Gene Wu, Rafael Anchia, Sheryl Cole, Diego Bernal, Nicole Collier, Barbara Gervin-Hawkins, Jessica Gonzalez, Christina Morales, Jon Rosenthal, Toni Rose, Ana-Maria Rodriguez Ramos, Rony Reynolds, Trey Martinez Fischer, Lauren Simmons, Venton Jones, Rhetta Bowers, John Bryant, Liz Campos, Aicha Davis, Josey Garcia, Terry Meza, Donna Howard, Linda Garcia, Gina Hinojosa, Vince Perez and Ray Lopez. The Texas Democrats are protesting a measure filed during Texas' ongoing special session that seeks to create a new map for Congressional district that potentially could flip up to five Congressional seats from blue to red ahead of the 2026 midterms. The lawsuit states they are harming the good order of Texass representative democracy by intentionally breaking quorum to prevent the House from voting on bills by fleeing the State. They fled because they knew civil arrest warrants would be issued and by leaving Texas thought they could evade lawful civil arrest. By remaining in Illinois, they hope the State of Illinois will provide safe harbor for their political actions and shield them from legal process, the lawsuit states. The United States Constitution, federal statute, and the doctrine of comity between states demand otherwise. This Court must give full faith and credit to warrants duly issued by the Texas House of Representatives that compel these civil servants to return to Texas and to their civic responsibilities. It repeats what Gov. Greg Abbott has said, when a governor calls a special session, the Texas Constitution mandates that the Legislature shall meet. Abbott called a 30-day special session that began July 21 to address 18 legislative issues, including Congressional redistricting. The lawsuit cites Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul, who on Tuesday said, in Illinois, the rule of law matters, and law enforcement must have a legitimate basis to arrest someone. Texas takes Attorney General Raoul at his word, the lawsuit states. Texas seeks enforcement of the rule of law in Illinois, the assistance of Illinois law enforcement officials, and this Courts assistance, to lawfully return to Texas the Respondent legislators who fled to Illinois to evade their duties to participate in the ongoing Special Session of the Texas Legislature. It also says that the courts of Texas fellow states have the mandatory constitutional duty to respect and give full faith and credit to the public acts of the Texas House of Representatives, including the Quorum Order and the Quorum Warrants. Texas is entitled to have its democratic process restored under the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the U.S. Constitution to full faith and credit from Illinois, the lawsuit states. Texas asks the court to issue an order to effectuate the Quorum Warrants, just as if they were acts of the State of Illinois, treating Texas Quorum Warrants as its own civil order. It asks the court to issue a rule to show cause why Respondents should not be held in contempt, to initiate contempt proceedings against them for unlawfully seeking to evade Texass duly issued Quorum Warrants, and set a hearing as soon as possible. If it doesnt, Texas is threatened with immediate and irreparable harm, the lawsuit argues. New York Fire Department first responders walk amid the rubble of the World Trade Center as it smolders following the terrorist attack on Sept. 11, 2001. (Porter Gifford / Corbis via Getty Images file) Three more people have been confirmed as victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, which killed more almost 2,700 almost 24 years ago, New York City officials said Thursday. The newly identified victims are Ryan Fitzgerald, of Floral Park, New York; Barbara Keating, of Palm Springs, California; and a woman whose name is being withheld at her familys request, New Yorks mayor and chief medical examiner announced. The chief medical examiners office identified them through family outreach and advanced DNA analysis, the officials said. Nearly 25 years after the disaster at the World Trade Center, our commitment to identify the missing and return them to their loved ones stands as strong as ever, the chief medical examiner, Dr. Jason Graham, said in a statement. The three are the 1,651st, 1,652nd and 1,653rd victims identified in the attacks and the first to be identified since last year, Graham and Mayor Eric Adams said. The remains of Keating and the woman were recovered in 2001, and Fitzgeralds remains were recovered in 2002, officials said. Although they were officially identified through DNA analysis, the names of Keating and Fitzgerald are among the nearly 3,000 names inscribed at the 9/11 Memorial in New York City. Around 1,100 victims remain unidentified, the medical examiner's office said. "Each new identification testifies to the promise of science and sustained outreach to families despite the passage of time. We continue this work as our way of honoring the lost," Graham said. The 9/11 attacks killed 2,977 people in all, including 2,753 in New York City. The attacks, which used hijacked passenger planes, destroyed the twin towers at the World Trade Center, and a plane was crashed into the Pentagon. A passenger flight that was to be used in the attacks, United Airlines Flight 93, crashed in Pennsylvania. US President Donald Trump joins hands with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, left, and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, right, during a ceremony signing and agreement to end the decades-long conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijani, in the State Dining Room of the White House on Friday. - Andrew Harnik/Getty Images President Donald Trump hosted the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan at the White House on Friday, where they finalized a peace agreement that would grant the United States exclusive development access to a critical transit corridor in the South Caucasus, which will be named after Trump. The deal is aimed at quelling long-simmering tensions between the two nations, while opening up the region for greater economic development including through granting the US long-term, exclusive rights to carve a new transportation route through Armenian territory. Many tried to find a resolution, Trump said on Friday alongside Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of Armenia and President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan. But with this accord, weve finally succeeded in making peace. And in a concession sure to delight Trump, who has sought to brand himself in his first six months in office as a global peacemaker, the corridor will be called the TRIPP the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity. The project will operate under Armenian legal jurisdiction, and the United States will in turn lease the land to a consortium responsible for construction and management, according to a senior administration official. This declaration establishes what they are calling a great honor for me I didnt ask for this, Trump said of the decision to name the corridor after him. The deal is the latest in a string of diplomatic pacts that the White House has played a role in brokering around the globe. It comes on the heels of a ceasefire between Cambodia and Thailand that was reached late last month, after Trump threatened to cut off trade talks with both countries if they continued to fight each other. I was talking to one of the two nations on trade, and I said, Im not going to sign a trade deal if you guys are going to fight, Trump said. We got it stopped. White House officials have prioritized the diplomatic efforts in a bid to follow through on Trumps campaign pledge to end wars across the world. The administration has highlighted its work on smaller-scale conflicts even as Trump struggles to resolve the two wars that more directly involve the US: Israels war in Gaza and Russias incursion into Ukraine. And for Trump himself, there is an added motivation: Each peace deal, the president has argued, should bring him closer to winning the Nobel Peace Prize that hes coveted for years. The president has long complained about the decision to award former President Barack Obama the prize in 2009, at the start of his first term. And in recent months, Trump has increasingly highlighted his credentials for receiving the same recognition, though on Friday he insisted he wasnt politicking for it. Multiple foreign leaders have nominated the president for the Peace Prize to curry favor with him the Armenian prime minister and Azerbaijani president on Friday became the latest to endorse his candidacy for the award. Who, if not President Trump, deserves the Nobel Peace Prize? Aliyev said, as Trump looked on. President Trump, in six months, did [a] miracle. In addition to the peace framework between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the countries heads of state will endorse a formal request to disband the Minsk Group. The group, established in 1992 and co-chaired by France, Russia and the US, has long been tasked with mediating the dispute between the two nations. Thirty-five years of death and hatred and now its going to be love and respect and success together, Trump said of the pact between Armenia and Azerbaijan, beaming as the foreign leaders shook hands in front of him. A senior administration official said the Trump administration identified the transportation corridor as a strategic opportunity in the South Caucasus as early as the end of February. Formal negotiations to determine which US entities will operate the transit corridor are expected to begin next week. That official said that the administration has so far received calls from nine potential candidates including three US-based operators. The trilateral signing coincides with a key deadline set by Trump for Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree to steps to halt his invasion of Ukraine or face further economic sanctions. Trump during the signing event confirmed he would soon meet with Putin in an effort to secure a deal between Russia and Ukraine, adding that he would announce the location for that summit later on Friday. We have a shot at it, Trump said of a Russia-Ukraine ceasefire. Its got to be solved. This story has been updated with additional developments. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. - Reuters/Getty Images President Donald Trumps deadline for Russia to end its war in Ukraine or suffer severe economic punishment expires Friday, but its unclear how he plans to proceed amid new efforts toward a summit with Vladimir Putin and delicate trade negotiations with China. Trump promised earlier this week to apply new sanctions on Russia even as he questioned how effective they would be. The White House said Wednesday he still intended to slap secondary sanctions on countries that continue to purchase Russian energy. But by Thursday after he initiated preparations to try and meet Putin face-to-face he was less committal. Its going to be up to him, Trump said, referring to Putin, when asked whether his deadline still stands and the new measures would take hold. The complications of applying new sanctions on Moscow while simultaneously preparing for potential talks with Putin only underscored the uncertain moment for the war in Ukraine. Trump has been wary of appearing to be strung along by Putin, with whom hes grown increasingly frustrated and has accused of duplicity. But he is also eager for a peace deal, and seems open to hearing out the Russian leader face-to-face. US officials suggested Thursday nothing had been finalized including the format, date or location for talks. In the past, Trump has been reluctant to apply new sanctions on Moscow, fearing they could push Putin further away from the negotiating table. His renewed threat to apply both sanctions on Russia itself and purchasers of its energy this week was the closest hed come to implementing new measures. On Wednesday, for example, he announced an additional 25% tariff on India to go into effect later this month as punishment for importing Russian oil. The president has also been considering other options, including targeting the aging tankers that make up Russias shadow fleet used to skirt existing Western sanctions, administration officials said. Officials have also looked for ways to tighten enforcement of sanctions on Russia that are already in place. Some European officials privately said they feared a summit was just another attempt by Putin to prolong the war while also avoiding new US sanctions. Several European leaders spent Thursday on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky discussing how to approach the new diplomatic efforts. Trump has sounded no less frustrated with Putin in recent days and isnt ruling out the new economic measures. Even so, he has tasked his team with moving ahead on a potential summit, and American officials were working through the logistics and policy preparations for a meeting both the White House and the Kremlin have said could occur as early as next week. US President Donald Trump meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin during the G20 summit in Osaka on June 28, 2019. - Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images/FILE The Kremlin seized on the prospective summit on Thursday, saying they were moving ahead with plans for talks. Putin even raised a potential location, the United Arab Emirates, though no venue has been settled upon. The meeting may take place in one of the Arab countries, Russian state media TASS reported Friday, citing an unnamed source. The TASS source also said Europe is not being considered as a location for the summit. The idea for a meeting arose during talks Wednesday between Putin and Trumps foreign envoy Steve Witkoff; the Kremlin said it was Trumps idea while the White House said it was the Russians. Trump relayed his intentions for a summit to European leaders in a phone call afterward. He said in that conversation he wanted to meet Putin, but also meet with both Putin and Zelensky in a trilateral formal, according to sources familiar with the call. A day later, Trump said he would not condition a summit with Putin on the Russian president also meeting with Ukraines leader. No, he doesnt, Trump said when asked whether Putin must meet Zelensky for his own summit to proceed. They would like to meet with me, and Ill do whatever I can to stop the killing. He didnt rule out moving ahead with the new sanctions, which have been championed by Republican lawmakers and welcomed by European leaders. But he suggested he first wanted to hear Putin out. Were going to see what he has to say, Trump said. Its going to be up to him. Very disappointed. Trumps first use of so-called secondary sanctions his threatened additional 25% tariff on India is set to take effect on August 27. India is the second-largest importer of Russian energy products. Moscows biggest customer is China, with whom Trump officials are engaging in a delicate negotiation over trade. US officials have described significant progress on those talks. But earlier this week, Trump did not rule out applying the new secondary sanctions on Beijing, despite the potential for scuttling the trade discussions. One of them could be China, he said. It may happen. I dont know. I cant tell you yet. Chinas leader Xi Jinping held a phone call with Putin on Friday, in which he welcomed that Moscow and Washington are working to improve their relations, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV. China is glad to see Russia and the United States maintain contact, improve their relations, and advance the political resolution of the Ukraine crisis, Xi told Putin in a phone call held at the latters request, CCTV said. CNNs Anna Chernova, Lauren Kent and Nectar Gan contributed to this report. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com U.S. President Donald Trump boards Air Force One at the at the Lehigh Valley International Airport on August 03, 2025 in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Trump spent the weekend at his property in Bedminster, New Jersey. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) President Donald Trump increased the presence of federal law enforcement in response to crime in D.C. just days after a former Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) staffer was brutally beaten in the nations capital, the White House shared with the Daily Caller. A White House official told the Caller that the increased presence was launched on Thursday in compliance with the presidents March executive order establishing the D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force. As a part of the move, which will kick off as a 7-day effort, [f]ederal officers will be identified, in marked units, and highly visible, the official said. Washington, DC is an amazing city, but it has been plagued by violent crime for far too long. President Trump has directed an increased presence of federal law enforcement to protect innocent citizens. There will be no safe harbor for violent criminals in D.C. President Trump is committed to making our Nations capital safer for its residents, lawmakers, and visitors from all around the world, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told the Caller in a statement. Increased law enforcement began at midnight on Thursday, with at least 15 agencies involved in the effort as a part of the Task Forces Law Enforcement Working Group, the official told the Caller. Agencies on the task force include the Metro Transit Police Department, Amtrak Police Department, United States Capitol Police, Homeland Security Investigations and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, according to information shared with the Caller. Edward Coristine, a former DOGE staffer known online as Big Balls, was brutally beaten in Washington D.C. early Sunday morning after intervening amid a carjacking attempt, according to a police report obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation. (RELATED: The Far Left Hates Big Balls) Coristine alleged that he observed the suspects approach. The suspects proceeded to demand the victim turn over their vehicle, according to a Metropolitan Police Department press release. Reacting to the threat, Big Balls pushed the victim he was with into the vehicle and confronted the suspects. Around 10 suspects fled the scene on foot after assaulting Coristine, according to the police report. Trump reacted to the news Wednesday, saying he was weighing bringing in the National Guard to address crime in the nations capital. Were considering it, yeah, because the crime is ridiculous. I could show you a chart comparing D.C. to other locations, and youre not going to want to see what it looks like, Trump said. It was just up on television, actually, that were showing it. Now, we want to have a great, safe capital, and were going to have it. That includes cleanliness, and it includes other things. An US Capitol Police office enters his car parked on the side walk near the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on August 8, 2025. US President Donald Trump ordered on August 7 to use federal law enforcement in Washington, DC to combat crime. (Photo by JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images) In recent weeks, crime in D.C. has been a focus of the media. On July 3, Eric Tarpinian-Jachym, an intern for Republican Kansas Rep. Ron Estes, was killed in Washington, D.C. Tarpinian-Jachym was a bystander caught in the crossfire after two other suspects emerged from a vehicle and allegedly shot at a collection of people near Mount Vernon Square Metro Station, possibly prompting someone to return fire, according to NBC4 Washington. Near the end of May, two Israeli Embassy staff members were murdered in the vicinity of the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department Chief Pamela A. Smith identified 30-year-old Elias Rodriguez of Chicago, Illinois, as the alleged gunman in the shooting of the two staffers. Rodriguez called out Free, free Palestine, while in police custody, Smith told the press. An aerial view of the US Capitol building and Washington, DC, is seen on July 21. - Daniel Slim/AFP/Getty Images The Trump administration ordered an increase of the federal law enforcement presence in Washington, DC, starting Thursday night, the White House said. President Trump has directed an increased presence of federal law enforcement to protect innocent citizens. Starting tonight, there will be no safe harbor for violent criminals in D.C, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. President Trump is committed to making our Nations capital safer for its residents, lawmakers, and visitors from all around the world. A White House official confirmed to CNN that Thursdays mobilization will include federal officers in marked units, and highly visible. The increased presence was to begin at midnight as part of a seven-day effort, with the option to extend, the official added. The effort is led by US Park Police, with participation from US Capitol Police, FBI, US Marshals Service, DC Police, DEA and other agencies. It is focused on high-traffic tourist areas and other known hotspots, according to the official. As of Friday afternoon, CNN reporters did not see an apparent increase in law enforcement presence at popular tourist and commercial areas in the city, including the National Mall, Union Station and U Street Northwest. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms DC field office posted on X in the early hours of Friday morning that the agency was patrolling the district, writing: Together @ATFWashington with our federal law enforcement partners are out ensuring that the residents of the District of Columbia are safer this evening. Federal authorities on the first night seized a 40-caliber pistol, more than 100 suspected Fentanyl pills and 164 grams of marijuana in one traffic stop, according to the White House official. Four people in the car were arrested, the official said. Another traffic stop netted a 9mm pistol and more than 140 grams of crack cocaine. US Park Police, which is leading the effort, posted pictures of the guns and drugs on X. More than 120 federal law enforcement officers will be on the streets of DC over the next several days, according to the official. CNN has reached out to DC Mayor Muriel Bowsers office for comment but hasnt received a response. Eleven of 12 members of the DC City Council did not respond or declined to a request for comment. Council member Christina Henderson attributed crime in the city to the Trump and Biden administrations not nominating enough judges to handle the local caseload. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, a non-voting delegate who represents DC in Congress, called the administrations actions offensive. Sending in the FBI, DEA, Homeland Security officers and others throughout the District in response to an assault where the existing police presence was sufficient to catch two assailants as they were leaving the scene is a disproportionate overreaction thats offensive to D.C., Norton said. Moreover, this needless escalation will heighten tensions and potentially make D.C., which achieved its lowest violent crime rate in 30 years in 2024, less safe. CNN previously reported that the Trump administration had been making plans to increase federal law enforcement in the nations capital. In announcing the increase Thursday, the White House pointed to several high-profile crimes in DC, including the killing of two Israeli Embassy staff members in May. The announcement came just days after a well-known former Department of Government Efficiency staffer was assaulted in DC. But according to a preliminary year-to-date crime comparison from DC Police, 2025 crime numbers are lower than last years. As of Thursday, violent crime is down 26%, according to the DC Police. The White House official added that the actions being taken Thursday night are in compliance with the Making the District of Columbia Safe and Beautiful executive order the president signed in March. That order aims to ensure that all applicable quality of life, nuisance, and public-safety laws are strictly enforced, including crimes involving assault, battery, larceny, graffiti, public intoxication and more. On Wednesday, the president said he is considering having his administration take over the DC Police Department and might deploy the National Guard to DC over recent crime. Were going to beautify the city. Were going to make it beautiful. And what a shame, the rate of crime, the rate of muggings, killings and everything else. Were not going to let it, and that includes bringing in the National Guard maybe very quickly too, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. A spokesperson for the DC National Guard told CNN on Friday morning that it had not been activated. Contrary to some social media posts the DC National Guard is not activated currently for the support. Please contact the White House for questions concerning the POTUSs comments this week, said Master Sgt. Arthur Wright. As for the current ops of the DCNG, the presence of National Guardsmen and vehicles seen this week and throughout the weekend are related to required training for UTA (Unit Training Assembly). Earlier this year, Trump said that the federal government should take over DC. I think that we should govern District of Columbia. Its so important, the DC situation. I think that we should run it strong, run it with law and order, Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One in February. This story and headline have been updated with additional details. CNNs Brian Todd contributed to this report. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com A long-awaited meeting between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin is scheduled for next week in Alaska, Trump announced Friday on social media. "The highly anticipated meeting between myself, as President of the United States of America, and President Vladimir Putin, of Russia, will take place next Friday, August 15, 2025, in the Great State of Alaska," Trump wrote on Truth Social. Further details and logistics of the meeting are still unclear and remain very fluid, including whether Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will be involved. The Russian Embassy in Washington, D.C., did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday. A White House official said earlier Friday that the Russians have provided a list of demands for a potential ceasefire for the war in Ukraine, and the U.S. is trying to get buy-in from Ukrainians and European allies. Zelenskyy and Ukrainian officials have long said they would not concede any territory that Russia illegally annexed. In a statement Friday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told NBC News, President Trump has been clear since he inherited this war from Joe Biden six months ago: he wants it to end at the negotiating table. At the Presidents direction, Special Envoy Witkoff once again met with President Putin to discuss potential paths to peace, and the President and his national security team are discussing those paths with both the Ukrainians and the Europeans. Out of respect for our sensitive diplomatic discussions with Russia, Ukraine, and our European allies, the White House will not comment on alleged details in the news media. On Friday, European national security advisers and the White House were expected to join a call to make sure everyone has a common understanding of what is under discussion with Russia, according to a person familiar with the call. Secretary of State Rubio Marco was expected to be on the call, as well as White House special envoys Steve Witkoff and Keith Kellogg. On Thursday, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that a meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy was not a prerequisite for a meeting between the U.S. and Russian leaders. The White House had previously floated the possibility of a trilateral meeting between Trump, Putin and Zelenskyy, but the Kremlin dismissed that idea on Thursday. Later Thursday, Putin told reporters in the Kremlin that the idea of a Trump-Putin meeting had been floated, saying, Interest was shown on both sides. Who said what first it is no longer important. Putin also spoke about the possibility of meeting directly with Zelenskyy himself, telling reporters that his "conditions" for such a meeting haven't yet been met. I have already said many times that I, in general, have nothing against it. It is possible. But for this to happen, certain conditions must be created. Unfortunately, such conditions are far away yet," Putin said. On Friday, Zelenskyy wrote about the details of his conversation with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in a post on X, blaming Russia for the war's continuation. "Cyril also shared details of his conversation with the Russian side. Ukraines position is absolutely clear: the path to peace must begin with a ceasefire," Zelenskyy wrote. He added, "We are ready for this, as well as for meetings at the highest level in various formats. From the very first seconds of the war, we have wanted it to end, as it was not Ukraine that started this war. And it is Russia that is the only reason for its prolongation and the absence of peace." Later Friday, at the White House, Trump suggested that there have been talks about Russia and Ukraine potentially "swapping" territory as part of a ceasefire deal. "We're actually looking to get some back and some swapping. It's complicated. It's actually nothing easy. It's very complicated," the president said during an event with leaders from Azerbaijan and Armenia. "But we're going to get some back. We're going to get some some switched. There'll be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both and ... we'll be talking about that either later or tomorrow, or whatever." Zelenskyy has long maintained that he won't entertain discussions of Russia keeping territorial control of Crimea. The summit next week between Trump and Putin will be the first meeting between the two leaders during the second Trump administration. Trump and Zelenskyy have met several times over the last seven months, including during a February Oval Office gathering that ended in a shouting match between Trump, Zelenskyy and Vice President JD Vance. The two also met on the sidelines of Pope Francis' funeral in April. Throughout the presidential campaign last year, Trump often told voters that one of his priorities was ending the war in Ukraine. Over the last few months, he's waffled between blaming Putin and Zelenskyy for the war's continuation. During his Oval Office remarks on Thursday, Trump said that he was "very disappointed" and that he expected Putin to decide by Friday about a potential ceasefire in the war. "Its going to be up to him. We're going to, we're going to see what he has to say. It's going to be up to him. Very disappointed," Trump told reporters. A former employee of the U.S. Embassy smuggled cocaine in Marlboro cartons and Choco Pie boxes into the United States, the Department of Justice said in an indictment unsealed Wednesday in federal court. Jairo Eliezer Arias Caceres, a former security officer at the U.S. Embassy in the Dominican Republic, allegedly smuggled cocaine into various airports in the New York area by disguising the cocaine in different packages, court documents show. Cocaine was smuggled in Choco-pie packages from the Dominican Republic to the United States, the DOJ says. / Credit: Department of Justice Prosecutors have accused Arias Caceres, 35, of building a transnational conspiracy from April 2023 to about December 2023 in which he recruited couriers, paid for and arranged for their travel to and from the Dominican Republic to the U.S. to deliver the cocaine. Before Arias Caceres secured a job at the U.S. Embassy, he worked as a security officer for seven years at the airport in Santo Domingo, court documents show. "While Arias Caceres was supposed to be protecting our diplomats and embassy staff from danger, he was allegedly busy endangering New Yorkers by pumping illegal drugs into our community," U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said in a statement. An attorney for Arias Caceres wasn't immediately listed. Cocaine has been found hidden in unique containers across the globe in recent months. Last month, Russia said authorities seized 1,800 pounds of cocaine hidden under a shipment of bananas. In June, Sri Lankan authorities found 22 pounds of cocaine stuffed into three plush toys at the airport. In February, Colombian authorities seized 220 grams of cocaine packaged in small bags, strategically placed under what authorities described as a "narco wig." Sneak peek: The Strange Shooting of Alex Pennig Neil deGrasse Tyson weighs in on plans for a moon-based nuclear reactor Extended interview: Lead attorney Marc Agnifilo discusses Sean "Diddy" Combs' trial verdict Allrecipes / Getty / Christine Ma If you were listing iconic treasures from the South, greens would be near the top. Whether collards, turnips, kale, or mustards, greens have long been a staple in Southern cookingand the region's most popular vegetarian dish (unless you're counting French fries). Likewise, Viola Davis, a Rhode Islander with South Carolinian roots and an Academy Award to her name, has a similarly revered status. What do these two iconsSouthern greens and Viola Davishave in common? Not much, until the 74th Golden Globe Awards in 2017, when Viola Davis regaled the audience with a story about how she tried to one-up Meryl Streep (to whom she was presenting a Lifetime Achievement Award) with her recipe for collard greens. Its a well-known fact that you dont eat everyones greens. Maybe one or two members per generation in a family will be entrusted with the task of making them. "Barbecue sauce? I mean, she may as well have told me she put raisins in her potato salad. Being Black, Southern, and a greens connoisseur, I had never heard of such a combinationan abomination." Imagine my surprise when Viola Davis, of all people, let America in on what she called the best collard greens, only to tell us that her secret ingredient is barbecue sauce. Barbecue sauce? I mean, she may as well have told me she put raisins in her potato salad. Being Black, Southern, and a greens connoisseur, I had never heard of such a combinationan abomination. Though my initial response was to reject her heresy, I couldnt deny the curiosity that had built inside of me. Its like trying to resist the urge to test how hot the stove iron is. Coiled deep inside me was the need to know: Could these greens slap? Sadly, I couldnt just call Ms. Davis and ask for her recipe (her reps declined to comment). With little more than two large stock pots and a stash of unused Walmart gift cards, I began the most important scientific research of my life, all while the reputation of an American icon hung in the balance. "Tangy, spicy, savory, and sweetthese were "not ya mama's greens," but still unmistakably Southern." After several rounds of greens, three versions of homemade BBQ sauce, and enough washing to rinse a small beachs worth of grit, I landed on something that shocked my taste buds as much as it did my concept of cooking greens. Tangy, spicy, savory, and sweetthese were "not ya mama's greens," but still unmistakably Southern. This wasnt a betrayalit was a bold remix. Maybe even a revelation. Since Davis family is from South Carolina, I figured shed most likely use a mustard BBQ sauce. I enjoyed it on the collards and turnips (Ms. Kale simply did not have the range). But it was with actual mustard greens when I knew there was a winner. These greens? They're more than an inventive take on a classic. Theyre proof that reinvention doesnt have to mean erasure. Viola Davis didnt just shift the culture with her Oscar. She did it againwith a stock pot and a bottle of barbecue sauce. Allrecipes / Christine Ma BBQ Greens Inspired by Viola Davis Prep Time: 30 minutes Cook Time: 2 hours 30 minutes Total Time: 3 hours Ingredients 5 bunches mustard greens 1/2 cup to 1 cup mustard green stalks, chopped into -inch thick cylinders 4 turkey necks 2 turkey wings 1 small white onion, finely chopped 2 jalapeno peppers, chopped and seeds removed if you want less spice (Optional) 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 (32-ounce) carton high-quality chicken stock 1/4 cup chopped red bell pepper 1/4 teaspoon allspice 3 teaspoons dark brown sugar 2 tablespoons crushed red pepper flakes (Optional) 1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper 1 teaspoon smoked paprika 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil 5 sprigs fresh thyme 1 bay leaf Carolina BBQ Sauce: 3/4 cup yellow mustard 1/4 cup honey 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar 1/4 teaspoon chili powder 1/2 teaspoon kosher sea salt 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 1 pinch of cayenne pepper 3 tablespoons dry mustard 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce 1 tablespoon tomato sauce Directions Make the sauce: In a small mixing bowl, combine all ingredients and stir thoroughly with a whisk until combined. If you dont have tomato sauce, tomato paste works just fine. I also found that when using stock or broth to cook greens in, its best to omit salt from the BBQ sauce. Once you have a pale yellow sauce with a thick consistency like hair conditioner, you can cover and set aside. With the sauce out of the way, begin ripping your mustard green leaves away from the stems. I like to put all of the stalks in a large bowl to the side, as they will be used later in the recipe. Once the leaves are all removed, begin rinsing them in the sink under cold water. You can use a colander here, but I find just washing them all in a clean sink is fine. Unlike with collards, you are not so much on the lookout for worms but rather the sandy grit and dirt that stubbornly hang on to the leaf. I gave about four rinses under cold water, and then I like to do a rinse with ACV and baking sodasomething about hearing that sizzle makes me feel like my food is "clean, clean." After rinsing them two more times in cold water, you should be good. In a large stock pot, pour your olive oil and let it sizzle on medium heat. Add your onion, red bell pepper, and jalapeno peppers, allowing them to cook until tender, about 5 to 7 minutes. Its important to know your spice comfort here. If you like a spicy green as I do, go ahead and chop your jalapenos with the seeds still in the core, but if you have a more mild-mannered tongue, its best you seed the peppers. After sauteing your onions and peppers, add the minced garlic, and cook for about a minute. Those stalks that were put aside earlier are now due for a comeback. Mustard stalks arent as thick as collards, but they can be tough if not cooked all the way through. So, gather some of the thicker stalks and cut them into half-inch pieces. When you have about a cups worth (or however many you like), toss them in the pot along with about 1/4 cup of water and simmer for about 7 to 10 minutes. While the stalks are simmering, rinse your turkey necks and wings thoroughly under cold water, making sure they are free of any weird feathers or muck. Measure the length of your turkey necks and make incisions about 2 inches away from the base on either side and one in the middle. This will help the meat fall off the bone more easily. Aside from washing them, there is no real prep needed for the wings. Place your wings and necks in the pot and then cover with the chicken stock (I repeat: stock, not broth) along with the brown sugar, thyme, bay leaf, and four tablespoons of the Carolina BBQ Sauce. Allow the meat to cook for about 45 minutes over medium heat (depending on the size of your necks and wings, you may want to allow it to cook up to 90 minutes, just check on the tenderness of the meat before adding greens). Once your meat has become tender, remove the thyme and bay leaf from the pot and check to see how much of the turkey meat has fallen off the bone, removing any bones from the stock. Add your greens along with the remaining seasonings. Submerge the greens until they are just barely covered by water. As a general rule, use a cup of water per bunch of greens, but you can eyeball this. Allow the water to cook down for 90 minutes, stirring occasionally to ensure your pepper and onions are evenly distributed. About an hour into the process, add two tablespoons of the Carolina BBQ Sauce to the pot. Once greens have cooked down and are tender with not much water left in the pot, then they are good to go! Naturally, they pair well with cornbread. Read the original article on ALLRECIPES NEED TO KNOW Hannah Merton and her husband tried for a baby for two years before getting pregnant with quintuplets In an exclusive conversation with PEOPLE, she details her children's premature birth and the various health scares her children endured over the next year Merton, who now has close to 700,000 followers on TikTok, says of her account: Im just trying to grow a community moms supporting moms is my goal Hannah Merton still remembers her doctors reaction when her week five ultrasound revealed she was pregnant with quintuplets. Her face just went completely white, Merton tells PEOPLE. She had to pull a stool out from behind her, she sits down, and she reaches over and touches my arm and says, I think I see four or five. Im like, Four or five what? What are you talking about? Aint no way youre talking about four or five babies, Merton remembers. I couldnt even wrap my mind around it. But at subsequent ultrasounds as her pregnancy progressed, it was true: there were five strong heartbeats. Continues Merton: We had to put our trust in God. We wanted to move forward with the pregnancy. We wanted to have all five of them. Merton married her husband when she was 18, and they always knew they wanted to have children. But they tried for two years and it just wasnt happening, she says. After she was diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome, she visited a doctor who put her on medication to help with her fertility. Shortly after, she became pregnant with quintuplets. https://people-app.onelink.me/HNIa/kz7l4cuf Her pregnancy was anything but easy. At 23 weeks, while at a routine ultrasound, doctors told Merton that her cervix had thinned considerably and immediately admitted her to the hospital. While there, she started having contractions, though her doctors were able to stop labor and send her home. But a week later, Merton began to have contractions again, and doctors told her there was nothing they could do to stop her from giving birth early. I think there were 100 people, remembers Merton of the delivery room including a team of doctors for each baby. It was insane. Related: Quintuplet Born at 8 Oz. the Size of a Large Apple Goes Home Just in Time for His 1st Birthday Hannah Merton Hannah Merton Because her children were born so prematurely her biggest was 1 pound and 13 ounces, her smallest 1 pound and 4 ounces they were all given breathing tubes and were immediately transferred to the childrens hospital, where they received around-the-clock care in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. But tragically, her littlest baby was diagnosed with a grade four brain bleed, and she died three days after she was born. We couldnt really mourn properly. As much as we wanted to just go home and not get out of bed for a week, we didnt have a choice, says Merton. We had to show up at the hospital every day for our other kids. Over the next several months, several of Mertons babies had health scares sometimes bringing her and her husband into the hospital at 3 a.m. to respond to an emergency. After an ultrasound of her head, another of Mertons daughters was found to have a brain bleed, which has caused her to have cerebral palsy. And one of Mertons sons, while in the NICU, started having trouble breathing, so doctors placed a tracheostomy tube into his neck. Never miss a story sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. But finally, over the course of the next year, Merton and her husband were able to bring her four babies home, one by one. Related: Parents Who Had Quintuplets Last Year Welcome Baby Girl: 'One Big Happy Family' (Exclusive) To make her pregnancy even more complicated, Merton gave birth in early 2020 amid pandemic rules that restricted the number of visitors who could enter the hospital. But, she tells PEOPLE, the communitys response to her pregnancy was the craziest thing. @stand.out.photography.ohio Hannah Merton Even before she gave birth, her town threw a baby shower for her and the support continued over a year after she welcomed her children into the world. I did not have to buy diapers for the first year and a half that my kids were alive, says Merton. People gave us car seats, we got strollers, tons of clothes, baby toys anything we needed. And she was growing a following online, too. Though she was never a social media person, she says she decided to share her story in the early weeks while her babies were still in the NICU. It wasnt like, Im going to post this so I can go viral, says Merton. I pick it up, and it has thousands and thousands of views and tons of people commenting. Im like, What is happening right now? Today, Merton has grown her TikTok following to nearly 700,000 people, her babies are getting ready to head off to kindergarten, and she even has a new 1-year-old as well. She says shes trying to stay consistent on social media to eventually save up for a new family car, since the one she has now can just barely fit her five kids. The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now! @Jdoyle_photography Hannah Merton But the community she has found on social media has become so much more. It really is amazing, says Merton. It feels so good to see that there are people who have consistently cared about me for this many years they care about my family and they want to see me succeed." And shes even had the opportunity to meet other moms of high-order multiples. In June, she and 18 other moms all of whom have given birth to quadruplets rented a house in Utah and spent the trip swapping stories and sharing advice. Merton concludes: Im just trying to grow a community moms supporting moms is my goal. Read the original article on People The region is perfectly positioned for success in the MSP space with strong leadership, enablement, and resources provided via the Pax8 Marketplace. Its an exciting time to join the company to continue to make a positive impact on the partner community. Zwart told ARN about her passion for emerging markets, the opportunities for Pax8 in the region as well as leading with compassion, empathy, and understanding. APAC is a melting pot of culture and diversity, and its an opportunity to lean in and appreciate with respect the different cultures and think about how we help those partners grow in their relevant regions? I think that takes fear and understanding, and it does take a lot of respect for the areas that youre moving into. The focus for me was the shift in innovation and the dynamics of the changing software market, where Pax8 is leading this inception of change from cloud software to agentic AI agents, she said. I had several chats with these guys, and I just loved the culture and their passion for helping partners, and the SMB movement was really exciting. Walsh added it was a unique opportunity to hire Zwart with her experience and calibre, fitting right into the Pax8 fold and the cultural alignment. Timing-wise and where we are as a business, there was alignment, Walsh said. Lindsays excited about taking us on with this notion of scale, growth, and expanding brand awareness. For partners, Zwart said Pax8 has a strategic vision of leading them towards being managed intelligent providers. Were shifting partners to manage intelligent providers and leading with their agentic AI journey, she said. We have clarity over the vision of where the partners need to go, and in the platform that weve built to support those partners, to take their next steps through into the AI journey is pretty exciting. In terms of focusing on other market segments that are ripe for disruption, Sharp points out that there were 180 million SMBs globally, according to Canalys. Theres opportunity in India, North Asia, and parts of Lindsays territory that need to be opened up. There are emerging markets that I think are underserved, Sharp said. Walsh added that alliances and partnerships within a marketplace platform have changed, especially considering the agentic AI future and how ecosystems are connected. Our focus as a marketplace platform is to support the AI supply chain. Weve been talking about the notion that the persona of a buyer and a builder is changing. A partner could create an agent that may want to go on a marketplace, be discovered and used by others, just like a vendor. I think that changes the definition of alliances in light of our future and takes advantage of the growth and market reach. The court has suspended the Land Pooling Policy 2025 for four weeks. Launched by the Aam Aadmi Party government to acquire 65,533 acres of agricultural land for residential and industrial purposes, the measure is contested by farmers and the opposition who say it was approved without consultation with village assemblies. Trade unions, which have organised several protests in recent days, denounce inadequate compensation, risks to the livelihoods of labourers and benefits only for large real estate groups. Chandigarh (AsiaNews) The Punjab and Haryana High Court yesterday ordered the temporary suspension of the Land Pooling Policy 2025, the policy of consolidating agricultural land promoted by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which governs the Indian state of Punjab. The decision comes following a petition challenging the legality and constitutionality of the measure. The order upholds the appeal filed by Gurdeep Singh Gill, a resident of Ludhiana (an industrial hub in Punjab), who argued that the policy was approved without the necessary social and environmental impact assessments, bypassing mandatory consultations with the Gram Panchayat and Gram Sabha of the various villages involved. In rural India, a Gram Panchayat is a local self-governing body at the village level, while a Gram Sabha is the assembly of all adult residents of that village. The Gram Panchayat acts as the executive body, while the Gram Sabha is the general assembly that exercises oversight and approves the decisions of the Panchayat. The High Court has given the Punjab government four weeks to file a response. However, this decision is part of a long-standing opposition by farmers and political parties to the Land Pooling Policy, officially launched on 2 June, which aims to acquire approximately 65,533 acres of agricultural land in 21 cities for residential and industrial development. The stated aim of the government, led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, is to curb the proliferation of illegal settlements and the land mafia by offering landowners who voluntarily participate in the project the opportunity to receive plots of land for residential and commercial development in urban areas, as well as cash compensation. The policy has recently been extended to small farmers with few possessions, and compensation has been increased from 30,000 rupees to 50,000 rupees per acre surrendered (approximately 290-490). In addition, farmers will receive an annual livelihood allowance of 100,000 rupees until their land is developed, a figure that previous governments had set at 20,000 rupees. The policy has sparked a strong reaction from opposition parties such as the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the Congress, but above all from the trade unions representing farmers, the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) and the Kisan Mazdoor Morcha (KMM), while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which leads the national executive, continues to support the need to implement the agricultural laws proposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The unions have called the Punjab government's plan a land grab and accuse the AAP of wanting to plunder farmers (who represent the party's main electoral base) of their land to favour private developers. On 30 July, the two trade unions organised large protests involving tractors in several districts, blocking party officials from entering many villages. The protesters claim that while offering building plots, the policy does not provide adequate monetary compensation some plots are worth millions of rupees and does not take into account the rehabilitation of labourers and all those linked to agricultural work who will effectively be deprived of their livelihoods. Many also believe that the initiative was designed to benefit real estate groups in New Delhi and that there is no real need to acquire so much land, given that many already urbanised areas have remained empty for years. The AAP government has defended itself by stating that the policy is voluntary, while farmers hope that the High Court's ruling will be the first step towards the plan's definitive withdrawal. INDIAN MANDALA IS THE ASIANEWS NEWSLETTER DEDICATED TO INDIA. WOULD YOU LIKE TO RECEIVE IT EVERY FRIDAY? TO SUBSCRIBE, CLICK HERE. 8 August 2025 14:48 (UTC+04:00) Qabil Ashirov Read more On August 8, at the Baku Military Court, victims testified about their captivity during the early years of the Garabagh conflict. Among them, Idris Mirzayev recounted being captured by Armenian armed forces in April 1994 in the Tartar district. According to Azernews, Mirzayev was held captive in various locations including the Shusha prison, Agdere, and Khankendi. During his imprisonment, he was forcibly made to work on constructing pig and chicken farms in the village of Aghbulag (Khojavend district), which was then under Armenian occupation. Mirzayev detailed the severe mistreatment he endured, including beatings and torture; at one point, a bottle was broken on his head. As a result of his injuries, his spine was damaged, causing him to limp. They were drunk, using narcotics, and inflicted torture on us, he said. Another victim, Habib Aliyev, testified that he was captured in Lachin in 1992 after being wounded during combat while serving in the military. He was beaten and tortured while injured. Aliyev also revealed that a fellow prisoner was burned alive in front of him. He spent 1 year and 8 months in captivity, mostly confined in a basement, and was finally released on May 8, 1995. The ongoing trial addresses crimes committed by citizens of the Republic of Armenia as a result of its military aggression, including crimes against peace and humanity, war crimes, preparation and conduct of aggressive war, genocide, violations of laws and customs of war, terrorism and financing terrorism, forcible seizure and retention of power, and numerous other offenses. 8 August 2025 08:00 (UTC+04:00) Elnur Enveroglu Read more At long last, the protracted issue of AzerbaijanArmenia relations, one of the most entrenched conflicts in the South Caucasus, stands on the brink of resolution, with a historic summit about to take place in Washington DC. Significantly, it will occur with the direct participation of the 47th President of the United States, Donald Trump, who is now serving his second term. This moment can be described not only as historic, but also as a potentially decisive milestone for the future of the region. The outcome of this meeting could lead to the permanent closure of unresolved matters that have festered for over thirty years and dramatically reshape the geo-economic architecture of the South Caucasus. Many may recall the landmark meeting in 2001, mediated by former US President George W. Bush, between the late national leader of Azerbaijan, Heydar Aliyev, and Armenias then-president Robert Kocharyan. Today, the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, participating in this new summit as the leader of a proud and victorious nation, has travelled across the Atlantic with the aim of unlocking the long-sealed doors of peace in the South Caucasus. There is no need to look too far back to see how far the peace process has come. One need only remember the previous US administrations attempt to involve itself in the peace talks. During the US administration under the Democrats, efforts to support peace were presented with sincerity on the surface, but were ultimately undermined by deeply biased, anti-Azerbaijani positions taken by Congress. The Biden administrations overtly pro-Armenian stance and inconsistent messaging served only to weaken American credibility in the region. By contrast, Donald Trump and his Republican Party have pursued a more balanced and pragmatic approach, maintaining diplomatic sensitivity and avoiding the perception of partiality. It is for this reason that Azerbaijan, having previously succeeded in bilateral negotiations, accepted Americas offer of mediation this time with genuine openness. Azerbaijans Firm Conditions for Peace Washington must, in fact, thank Baku for its principled and objective stance. Since the end of the Second Garabagh War, Azerbaijan has laid out several key non-negotiable conditions for signing a comprehensive peace agreement: One of them is the joint appeal by both countries to the OSCE to formally dissolve the Minsk Group, which has long been irrelevant in the post-conflict landscape and which Azerbaijan considers obsolete. And constitutional reform in Armenia, specifically the removal or amendment of the preamble that contains territorial claims against Azerbaijan, especially with regard to Azerbaijan's Garabagh. These are not symbolic demands, but they reflect core legal and political concerns that must be addressed to ensure lasting peace. A peace agreement that leaves Armenias territorial claims untouched or leaves the door open for future revanchism would not be acceptable to Azerbaijan. Therefore, the anticipated Joint Declaration to be signed in Washington is expected to include a mutual commitment to address both issues. Zangazur Corridor: a strategic link reaffirmed Another significant development arising from the Trump-hosted summit is the expected confirmation of the Zangazur Corridor, a long-discussed transit route that would provide unobstructed land access between mainland Azerbaijan and its exclave, Nakhchivan. This corridor, which passes through southern Armenias Syunik province (historically Zangazur), has long been a strategic priority for Baku and is viewed as a crucial part of regional integration and connectivity. President Ilham Aliyev has consistently emphasised that the corridor is a natural right stemming from the November 2020 trilateral ceasefire declaration. Despite previous Armenian resistance, the upcoming declaration reportedly confirms Yerevans acceptance of this provision. The opening of the Zangazur Corridor will not only restore Azerbaijans territorial continuity but also enable broader regional transport and trade initiatives, such as connecting Turkiye, Central Asia, and the Caucasus through new eastwest economic corridors. President Donald Trump, since beginning his second term, has actively positioned himself as a peacemaker in a number of global conflicts. If this peace deal is signed under his mediation, it would mark a major diplomatic achievement, possibly the most significant of his foreign policy agenda so far. His personal statement on the eve of the summit describes the moment as "historic" and credits his administration with achieving what many others failed to do. While Trumps rhetoric may be characteristically self-assured, the reality on the ground is no less remarkable. For the first time in decades, Baku and Yerevan are poised to reach a genuine peace agreement, brokered not by European intermediaries or failed OSCE structures, but by a US president determined to reset the geopolitical dynamics of the region. Whether the summit results in a full peace treaty or a phased framework, the Washington talks mark a watershed moment. They may finally end the decades-long conflict and usher in a new era of diplomatic, economic, and logistical cooperation across the South Caucasus. The world watches closely as President Aliyev and Prime Minister Pashinyan prepare to sign a document that could shape the destiny of their peoples, and potentially of the broader region, for generations to come. 8 August 2025 13:17 (UTC+04:00) Akbar Novruz Read more On August 7, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev met with U.S. Presidents Special Envoy Steve Witkoff in Washington. Prior to the meeting, a Memorandum of Cooperation was signed between the State Oil Company of the Republic of Azerbaijan (SOCAR) and ExxonMobil in the presence of President Ilham Aliyev and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff. The document was signed by Mikayil Jabbarov, Minister of Economy of the Republic of Azerbaijan, and John Ardill, Vice President of ExxonMobil. Following the signing ceremony, President Ilham Aliyev and the U.S. Presidents Special Envoy held a bilateral meeting. Economist Eldaniz Amirov shared his perspective on Azernews, regarding the significance of the development, noting that the timing of the ExxonMobilSOCAR memorandum carries strategic weight. Why did the ExxonMobil and SOCAR Memorandum come to the fore at such a heated moment? I believe that the US is anchoring its anchor company in the Caucasus in advance. Because economic participation in the South Caucasus should be concluded not only with diplomacy, but with real business commitments. ExxonMobil is already a significant player in the system, holding a 6.8% stake in Azeri-Chirag Gunashli (ACG) and a 2.5% stake in Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC). The new agreement takes this presence to the next stage. We must not forget that as soon as the political risk decreases, a significant capital flow will likely return to the region. The Zangazur corridor is not just a way to and from. It is an artery of transport, energy and digital communications. Therefore, this agreement may be a message of 'a major player is coming' for the economic filling of this corridor with the mediation of the US. Let us take into account that the ExxonMobilSOCAR onshore exploration and production agreements announced back in June were aimed at keeping Azerbaijans production stable. Now, this memorandum in Washington further strengthens the political support of that line. At the same time, this corridor is not only for the connection with Nakhchivan, but also makes the transmission of Central Asian multi-profile energy resources through the Caucasus realistic. Because the Zangazur corridor will be a strategic transit corridor that will be internationalised. On the other hand, signing a peace document in Washington would be purely symbolic for the US. But the US wants to leave a practical economic mark in the Caucasus. The ExxonMobilSOCAR Memorandum, announced a day before peace, is a technical step that formalises the US economic stake in the regional game and has a devastating effect on the MoscowTehran line. And finally, these processes are the processes that put Baku on the post-peace fast lane." 8 August 2025 19:55 (UTC+04:00) Akbar Novruz Read more The geopolitical, geostrategic, and geoeconomic dynamics in the South Caucasus are on the verge of a transformative shift. The upcoming meeting in Washington between Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, facilitated by US President Donald Trump, signals the promising dawn of a new phase that could reshape long-standing political realities in the region. This pivotal encounter not only paves the way for a potential peace agreement between these historically rival nations but also underscores the United States' commitment to emerging as a key strategic actor in the South Caucasus. Now is the time for us to recognise the significance of this moment and support efforts that could lead to lasting stability and dialogue in a region that has experienced decades of conflict. Now, let us take a brief look at the history of the processes and their possible implications. Azerbaijans conditions for signing a peace agreement remain unchanged, as President Ilham Aliyev recently stated at the III Shusha Global Media Forum: the abolition of the OSCE Minsk Group and amendments to Armenias Constitution to remove territorial claims against Azerbaijan. While constitutional amendments are expected to be addressed in the longer term, the decision to abolish the Minsk Group can be made now. Azerbaijan has no aggressive plans against Armenia. Baku is negotiating with the current legitimate leadership in Yerevan. This reassertion of the peace agenda is not a new development but a continuation of a process that began when Azerbaijan presented its five basic principles for a peace agreement in spring 2022. All agreements between Azerbaijan and Armenia are being reached in a bilateral format, an approach proposed by Baku and achieved despite resistance from Armenia and its backers. The expectation on communications remains firm: the Zangazur Corridor must operate under a special regime, with international oversight to ensure non-obstruction and security. The upcoming meeting will mark the first direct encounter between the presidents of Azerbaijan and the United States. It presents an opportunity to define the bilateral agenda. Meetings with Donald Trump often bring surprises, whether pleasant or unpleasant, that will be revealed in due course. What is already clear is that President Trump has publicly endorsed Ilham Aliyevs positions on social media. A few months before the US elections, Azerbaijani President openly stated that he shared Trumps political views, a bold stance when the Democratic administration still held power in Washington. During Trumps presidency, the two leaders exchanged letters and phone calls, and Trumps personal envoy visited Baku. In modern diplomacy, personal relationships often play a decisive role. Following this visit, plans are in motion to establish a Strategic Working Group to draft a Strategic Partnership Charter, with priorities in energy, trade, logistics, artificial intelligence, digital infrastructure, and security and defence, notably free from the ideological undertones of the BidenBlinken foreign policy approach. For these plans to be fully realised, however, the outdated and unjust Section 907 amendment must be repealed. Azerbaijan has always favoured pragmatic relations with the US, and now it is time for pragmatism to prevail in Washington as well. Once again, we are witnessing President Aliyevs ability to feel the time. Why is this meeting so significant, and who stands to gain the most from it? Russia, which has long been a key player in the peace talks between Azerbaijan and Armenia, is no longer involved in the process. Both countries have shown that they no longer wish for Russia to take on this role, primarily due to its recent strained relations with Azerbaijan and its insufficient support for the Armenian authorities. The meeting in Abu Dhabi in June clearly underscored this shift. Within the framework of the Washington talks, a joint declaration is set to be signed, confirming the peaceful intent of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia. The sides will jointly appeal to the OSCE for the dissolution of the Minsk Group and commit to taking additional steps to achieve the signing and ratification of the peace agreement. This fulfils the first of Azerbaijans two core conditions and sets the groundwork for the second amending Armenias Constitution. Ratification will be tied to the outcome of a 2026 referendum in Armenia. Significantly, these developments are occurring with the direct participation of the President of the United States, a co-chair of the now-defunct Minsk Group and a figure with influence over most of its former member states. The agreed text of the peace treaty, already initialled by the foreign ministers, ensures that the negotiated provisions will remain intact. Initialling is not signing, but it is a decisive step forward. The United States is working to prevent potential conflicts in the South Caucasus and to facilitate the resolution of the Russia-Ukraine war in the post-Soviet region. This approach will involve a combination of negotiation and competition with Russia. Both Russia and the US are likely to express their concerns regarding each other's future expansionist ambitions, particularly in relation to Azerbaijani-Armenian relations. Armenia will serve as the context for this dynamic. The Bigger Picture: Transport Corridor The joint declaration also confirms Armenias agreement to provide unhindered movement between mainland Azerbaijan and Nakhchivan. The Zangazur Corridor will operate under a special regime, a sovereign decision by Armenia made in agreement with the United States. International guarantees for security and non-obstruction, long advocated by President Aliyev, will now be implemented under a USArmenia framework. The primary issue we've consistently highlighted in our articles regarding the restoration of communications and the opening of the Zangazur Corridor is that this initiative should be considered from a broader perspective. This corridor will establish a land connection with the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan, facilitating freedom of movement. Moreover, the United States will gain a strategic foothold in the region and, by acting as a guarantor, will help prevent potential conflicts and resolve the ongoing stalemate in negotiations. For Armenia, this project offers a chance to break free from years of economic isolation. Positioned between Asia and Europe, the country stands to significantly enhance its economic prospects by allowing this corridor to be developed. This initiative will open the door to various energy and infrastructure projects, leading to substantial improvements in Armenia's economic well-being. The United States is closely monitoring not only Russia's ambitions in the South Caucasus but also China's activities in the region. China may become a reliable mediator between Baku and Yerevan in the future. Consequently, the US prioritises maintaining diplomatic and defence support for Yerevan. The noticeable positive trend in Turkiye's relations with the United States over the past two years also has the potential to affect Baku-Washington relations. The US strategy regarding Azerbaijan is as follows: if Washington's objectives align with those of Azerbaijan, the cooperation among Azerbaijan, Turkiye, and the US could serve to protect Armenia from Russian threats. This situation is particularly significant in light of the upcoming elections in Armenia next year. To achieve this, the US must take into account Azerbaijan's demands, especially regarding the Zangazur corridor. President Aliyevs consistent peace leadership President Ilham Aliyev has shaped and driven the peace agenda with deliberate consistency. From restoring Azerbaijans sovereignty and territorial integrity within international law to initiating a peace deal with Armenia, finalising the treaty text, and securing a principled position on the opening of communications, his approach has been strategic and patient. This progress has been achieved despite obstacles on the ground and in the UN Security Council. Throughout, President Aliyev has shown restraint, defended Azerbaijans perspective, and reframed external proposals positively, without succumbing to threats and blackmail from political figures. This meeting will highlight the failure of those figures. Today, many disputes of the past have been resolved, and the focus is shifting toward a future built on regional stability and mutually recognised sovereignty. We can even say that the peace agreement will be finalized today. If the United States can broker a peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia, it will be able to claim a leadership role in resolving a conflict that has eluded Russia, the European Union, the United Nations, and others for more than three decades. 8 August 2025 16:21 (UTC+04:00) Qabil Ashirov Read more Over the past three and a half decades, Azerbaijan has witnessed a remarkable transformation in its economy. Since regaining its independence, the countrys economy has grown approximately 175 times, a milestone that reflects not only its rich natural resources but also the successful navigation of a complex post-Soviet transition. Central to this success story is the historic Contract of the Century signed in the mid-1990s, which launched Azerbaijan on a path of sustained economic growth and global integration. While many observers highlight the significant role played by British Petroleum (bp) and the British companies involved in the contract, since bp held a lions share in the contract, a closer examination reveals a more nuanced reality. In fact, American companies hold a larger share of the Contract of the Century, with U.S. firms owning 40% of the shares compared to the 19% held by British companies. Moreover, it was an American company, McDermott, that became the first foreign firm to arrive in Azerbaijan shortly after its independence, playing a pivotal role in facilitating the countrys transition from a centrally planned economy to a market-oriented one. The contribution of American firms in bringing new technologies, know-how, and managerial expertise to Azerbaijans nascent oil sector cannot be overstated. This collaboration laid a foundation not only for the development of hydrocarbon resources but also for the gradual modernisation of the entire economy. Unfortunately, despite these substantial investments, trade relations between Azerbaijan and the United States remained modest for many years. This was largely due to the dominance of oil and gas exports in Azerbaijans trade profile and the fact that Europe has traditionally been Azerbaijans primary market. However, this dynamic is now changing in a very promising way. In the last four years, Azerbaijans non-oil sector has nearly doubled, growing from around $1.8 billion to $3.4 billion. This rapid diversification has coincided with a significant increase in Azerbaijans trade with the United States. Today, the US market ranks among the top ten destinations for Azerbaijani non-oil and gas exports, with export volumes showing a steady upward trend year after year. This shift is not only a positive indicator of economic diversification but also a meaningful signal of Azerbaijans integration into one of the worlds largest and most reliable consumer markets. The entry of Azerbaijani products into the US market carries more than just commercial valueit brings prestige, credibility, and the trust of one of the worlds most discerning markets. For Azerbaijani companies, this is a vital step towards long-term growth and international recognition. It is also worth noting that the US market is unique in its openness and opportunities for emerging economies like Azerbaijan. The implementation of reduced tariffs following the re-election of President Donald Trump, which included preferential treatment for Azerbaijani goods, has further facilitated this growth. This policy development, while just one factor, has added momentum to the already growing trade relations and opened doors for even greater non-oil exports to the United States. The recent visit of President Ilham Aliyev to the United States underscores the increasing importance of this bilateral relationship. During his working visit, the Azerbaijani delegation held important meetings. These discussions focused on the sustainable development of Azerbaijans economy and the deepening of economic diversification efforts. The dialogue between Azerbaijan and the United States also highlighted the implementation of new tools to expand trade and explored future steps to deepen collaboration. This strategic engagement is a testament to both countries commitment to forging a resilient and multifaceted economic partnership. For Azerbaijan, these developments mark a significant chapter in its ongoing journey toward economic resilience and global integration. The expansion of trade with the United States complements Azerbaijans broader efforts to diversify its export markets beyond its traditional partnersRussia, Turkey, Georgia, and Switzerland, which historically accounted for nearly 60% of its non-oil exports. As new markets like the US emerge, Azerbaijan is naturally reducing the concentration risk in its export geography, positioning itself for a more balanced and sustainable economic future. In conclusion, the deepening economic ties between Azerbaijan and the United States are a source of optimism and mutual benefit. Azerbaijans dynamic growth in non-oil sectors, combined with the strength and reliability of the US market, creates fertile ground for continued expansion and collaboration. The successful partnership in the energy sector has set a strong foundation, and now the rising non-oil trade promises to elevate this relationship to new heights. As Azerbaijan continues to diversify and innovate, its partnership with the United States will undoubtedly remain a vital pillar supporting the countrys sustainable economic development. With shared interests and growing cooperation, the future of Azerbaijan-US economic relations looks brighter than evera win-win scenario fostering prosperity, trust, and strategic partnership on the global stage. 8 August 2025 18:29 (UTC+04:00) Nazrin Abdul Read more As diplomatic momentum builds between Armenia and Azerbaijan, eyes are now turning to Washington, where a Joint Declaration is expected to be signed between Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, with the participation of US President Donald Trump. While not yet the signing of a comprehensive peace agreement, the declaration could mark a historic milestone in the decades-long conflict between the two South Caucasus nations. Azerbaijan has consistently emphasised two key conditions for sustainable peace: constitutional amendments in Armenia to eliminate territorial claims against Azerbaijan, and the establishment of unimpeded overland access to the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, often referred to as the Zangazur Corridor. To better understand the implications of these developments, we spoke with Prof. Laszlo Vasa, Chief Advisor and Senior Research Fellow at the Hungarian Institute of International Affairs, and Professor at Szechenyi Istvan University, Hungary. Asked about the potential impact of Armenia amending its constitution one of Bakus key demands Laszlo described the move as a critical confidence-building step. He said that while the expected declaration in Washington would not yet mark the conclusion of a peace agreement, it signals substantial progress toward normalising relations between the two nations. If Armenia undertakes the constitutional reform requested by Azerbaijan, Laszlo noted, bilateral relations would likely enter a new phase. He explained that removing constitutional references to territorial claims could unlock a number of short-term initiatives: accelerated border delimitation and demarcation, the restoration of transport links, and even the launch of reciprocal consular services. There would also be room for humanitarian cooperation, including demining efforts and resolving the issue of missing persons from past conflicts. Beyond the symbolic value, the expert emphasised practical benefits. According to him, both countries could begin exploring mutually beneficial trade and transit arrangements, particularly in the context of the Middle Corridor the transcontinental trade route connecting Central Asia to Europe via the South Caucasus. Selective energy cooperation might also become possible, including power-swapping arrangements through Georgia and Turkiye. However, he warned that this process would be fragile. Laszlo pointed to risks such as domestic backlash in Armenia, sequencing disputes over which side should take the first step, and possible interference from external actors who may see peace as a threat to their regional influence. Despite these concerns, he believes that constitutional reform would be a strategic shift, moving the countries away from existential hostility and toward what he called managed competition and selective cooperation. Turning to Azerbaijans other condition - the establishment of uninterrupted overland access to Nakhchivan via the Zangezur Corridor - Laszlo described the project as both economically vital and symbolically charged, as it would create the direct land connection between mainland Azerbaijan and Nakhchivan. The proposed Zangazur Corridor - more accurately described as a transit route through southern Armenia under Armenian jurisdiction with international guarantees - could yield significant benefits, he said. According to him, this connection would help Azerbaijan shorten transport times, reduce logistics costs, and lessen its dependence on single-country transit routes. It would also contribute to better integrating Nakhchivan into Azerbaijans national economy. Laszlo pointed out that developing alternative routes like the Araz Corridor through Iran would further enhance Bakus strategic resilience. On a regional scale, he noted that the corridor would serve a broader function. For the region, the corridor would complete a critical missing link in the Middle Corridor trade route from Central Asia to Europe via the South Caucasus and Turkiye, he said. He added that this kind of enhanced connectivity could attract investment in logistics, light manufacturing, and energy infrastructure. Additionally, the corridor could be used to lay fiber-optic cables and power transmission lines - boosting the regions digital and energy security. From a geopolitical standpoint, Laszlo argued that the corridor could significantly increase Turkiyes role as a western gateway. At the same time, it might push Armenia to recalibrate its regional approach and would raise the political cost of renewed conflict for all sides involved. Still, he cautioned that practical implementation would not be simple. Insurance companies, lenders, and investors, he said, would require firm legal guarantees, credible international monitoring, and assurance of uninterrupted access before making major commitments. Finally, Laszlo stressed the symbolic importance of the corridor for the Turkic world. The Zangezur Corridor has enormous practical and symbolic significance, he said. After all, it would be the only land corridor that unites the entire Turkic world that is, it provides an indirect connection between Turkiye and the Turkic countries. Section 907: A U.S.Azerbaijan reset? The emerging peace agreement also involves the issue of Section 907 of the U.S. Freedom Support Act, which since 1992 has prohibited direct U.S. government assistance to Azerbaijan. Although waivers have been granted in recent years, how might the outright repeal of Section 907 affect AzerbaijanU.S. relations going forward? Laszlo explained that the repeal of Section 907 would be both symbolically and practically significant for Azerbaijan. While waivers have allowed some flexibility, removing the restriction entirely would open the door to broader U.S. economic and security assistance. He pointed out that this could include programs focused on maritime security, border control, infrastructure development, and digital connectivity. In addition, repeal would allow expanded use of U.S. development finance and export credit tools in Azerbaijan, especially in sectors linked to the Middle Corridor and the ongoing energy transition. Strategically, repeal would institutionalise a closer partnership, reduce the bureaucratic friction of annual waivers, and signal long-term U.S. commitment, he said. However, Laszlo cautioned that closer cooperation would likely come with political conditions. Increased cooperation would likely require progress in governance, human rights, and regional stability, he noted. He also emphasised the continued influence of US domestic politics, particularly the roles of diaspora groups and congressional attitudes, as factors shaping this relationship. Even if repeal does not happen immediately, he said, targeted cooperation could still expand. But repeal, he stressed, would bring greater predictability and credibility to US-Azerbaijan ties. Expert Vasa Laszlo sees these negotiations not just as a diplomatic milestone, but as a rare chance to redefine the political landscape of the South Caucasus. He believes that constitutional change in Armenia could end decades of legal confrontation and open a path to practical engagement. The Zangazur Corridor, if realised, could bring sweeping economic and strategic benefits not just for Azerbaijan, but for the region as a whole. And the repeal of Section 907 could help consolidate a long-term partnership between Azerbaijan and the United States, counterbalancing other powers vying for influence in the region. Yet the success of all three developments will depend on credible implementation, sequencing of commitments, and above all, political will -- not just from Baku and Yerevan, but from Washington and other influential capitals. 8 August 2025 13:28 (UTC+04:00) Qabil Ashirov Read more Economic Minister Mikayil Jabbarov has reported on discussions aimed at implementing tools to support the expansion of trade relations between Azerbaijan and the United States, Azernews reports, citing a post shared by the Minister on his X account. According to the post, during President Ilham Aliyevs recent working visit to the U.S., Jabbarov, alongside Rovshan Najaf, President of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR), met with a delegation led by Dan Negrea, President and Chief Advisor of the U.S. Export-Import Bank (EXIM Bank). The parties highlighted Azerbaijans achievements in sustainable economic development and diversification. They emphasized new opportunities arising from the growth of high value-added sectors and the strengthening of relations with foreign partners. Discussions focused on the potential implementation of instruments to support the expansion of trade between Azerbaijan and the U.S., as well as future steps to deepen bilateral cooperation. 8 August 2025 17:45 (UTC+04:00) Akbar Novruz Read more A productive meeting took place at the National Confederation of Entrepreneurs Organizations of Azerbaijan (ASK) with representatives from South Koreas leading electrical and electronic equipment manufacturer, HD Hyundai Electric, and HD Hyundai Marine Solution, which boasts over 50 years of expertise in shipbuilding, Azernews reports. The discussions focused on potential collaboration in Azerbaijan, including joint projects with local universities, scholarship and loan support programs for students, and investment opportunities in the energy and shipbuilding sectors. During the meeting, the company representatives received detailed information about Azerbaijans transit potential, the Alat Free Economic Zone, as well as investment prospects and industrial parks in the Garabagh region. Both sides expressed optimism about future cooperation and agreed to further explore partnership possibilities. 8 August 2025 18:03 (UTC+04:00) Nazrin Abdul Read more Azerbaijans Deputy Prime Minister Samir Sharifov met with Edil Baysalov, Deputy Chairman of the Kyrgyz Republics Cabinet of Ministers, to discuss deepening bilateral relations. Azernews reports, according to the Azerbaijani Cabinet of Ministers, both sides highlighted the importance of the strong, trust-based relationship between the presidents of Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan as a key factor in elevating state ties to a strategic partnership. The meeting focused on expanding cooperation in trade, investment, transportation, and humanitarian fields. Additionally, the officials exchanged views on holding the next session of the Azerbaijan-Kyrgyzstan Intergovernmental Commission on Economic and Humanitarian Cooperation later this year in Baku. 8 August 2025 20:21 (UTC+04:00) Azerbaijan Airlines, a part of AZCON Holding, continues to expand its route network and will launch direct flights on the new BakuTabrizBaku route starting from September 3, 2025. Flights on this route will be operated twice a week on Wednesdays and Sundays. Tabriz is renowned for its architectural landmarks, museums, and rich cultural heritage. The launch of the BakuTabrizBaku route will enhance travel opportunities between Azerbaijan and Iran. In addition, starting from September 1, AZAL will resume its regular flights to Tehran, the capital of Iran. Flights on the BakuTehranBaku route will now be operated four times a week on Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays. Tickets can be purchased on the official website, through the airline's mobile app, as well as at AZAL ticket offices and accredited agencies. 8 August 2025 12:43 (UTC+04:00) Laman Ismayilova Read more The Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences (ANAS) continues to expand its international scientific cooperation, Azernews reports. For the first time in the past three years, ANAS has been accepted as a full voting member into several prestigious international organizations, including the International Science Council (ISC) and the Association of Academies and Societies of Sciences in Asia (AASSA). Now, ANAS has achieved another significant milestone in this direction. ANAS has been elevated from provisional membership to full membership in the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP). This step strengthens the Academy's participation in global scientific processes, provides Azerbaijani scientists with equal access at the international level, and ensures more effective integration into the global scientific community. In this regard, a formal letter was addressed to ANAS President, Academician Isa Habibbayli, by IAP Co-Presidents Masresha Fetene and Margaret A. Hamburg. The letter states that the General Assembly of the IAP has approved the transition of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences to full membership status. ANAS's full membership has already come into effect and will be reflected on the official IAP website. The letter also includes an invitation for ANAS President Academician Isa Habibbayli to participate in the IAP Conference and General Assembly to be held in December 2025 in Cairo, Egypt. It was noted that this event serves as a unique platform for member academies to connect, exchange experiences, and explore cooperation opportunities. Detailed information about the event will be shared soon. As a full member, ANAS President Academician Isa Habibbeyli has been invited to participate in the following areas: Participation in regional and global programs; Nomination of expert candidates to IAP working groups; Contribution to statements and consultations; Engagement in communication and capacity-building initiatives; Involvement in setting shared priorities. ANAS's international reputation continues to grow. Recently, the International Plato Academy, headquartered in Athens, Greece, responded positively to ANAS's membership application and informed Academician Isa Habibbayli of this decision in an official letter. 8 August 2025 13:36 (UTC+04:00) Laman Ismayilova Read more A monograph titled "Language Policy in Independent Turkic States" by Dr. Elchin Ibrahimov, Doctor of Philology and Associate Professor, Head of the Science Department at Garabagh University, has been published, Azernews reports. The book is the first scientific monograph published by decision of the Garabagh University Scientific Council and marks a significant milestone in the university's scientific activity. The monograph examines issues of language policy and language planning, one of the new directions in modern linguistics-first from a theoretical perspective, and then analyzes them in a systematic and comparative manner across the Turkic republics. The book explores the linguistic processes in the Turkic world from the Orkhon-Yenisei inscriptions to the present day, investigating general and specific language policies in both diachronic and synchronic dimensions. The study analyzes the language policies implemented over the past 30 years in the newly independent Turkic republics, identifies the main problems in this area, and proposes solutions and future perspectives. It also investigates the language policies applied to Turkic peoples living as minorities in various states, referencing the legal frameworks provided in the legislation of those countries. In this context, the current status and preservation issues of the languages of Turkic communities living in countries such as the Russian Federation, the People's Republic of China, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Moldova, Bulgaria, and Georgia are examined in detail. The scientific editors of the monograph are Professor Barbara Kellner Heinkele of the Free University of Berlin, Germany, and Professor Suer Eker of Baskent University, Turkiye. 8 August 2025 14:13 (UTC+04:00) Laman Ismayilova Read more Azerbaijan National Day has been held on the sidelines of the United Nations (UN) Third Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries held in Turkmenistan's Avaza National Tourist Zone, Azernews reports. The main goal of the event was to present Azerbaijan's rich cultural and spiritual heritage to the international community. At the opening of the exhibition titled "Gems of Azerbaijan's National Heritage", examples of Azerbaijani carpet-weaving traditions and various carpet schools, national costumes, kelagayi (traditional silk headscarves), shebeke (stained glass art), and embroidery masterpieces were showcased. Visitors not only viewed the artworks but also took part in masterclasses on carpet weaving, shebeke making, kelagayi decoration, and jewelry craftsmanship. Live musical performances and national dances were also presented at the exhibition venue. The culinary section of the event attracted great attention from visitors. Traditional Azerbaijani dishes and sweets were presented. Attendees observed the preparation process of several dishes and had the opportunity to taste them. Visitors were informed that the concept of the exhibition stand was based on elements of Azerbaijani national gastronomy included in UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. It also featured culinary examples that share cultural similarities with Turkmenistan and incorporated elements of sustainability. Special attention was drawn to culinary items such as qutab and tandir, which are associated with bread-baking traditions and reflect similarities with Turkmen culinary culture. As part of the National Day, a spectacular concert program featuring renowned Azerbaijani artists was held in the evening. Peoples Artists Alim Qasimov and Gulyanaq Mammadova, Honored Artists Fargana Qasimova, Ramil Gasimov, Nargiz Karimova, Sahib Pashazadeh, as well as Ashiq Samira and Ashiq Ali, the Natiq rhythm group, and the Azerbaijan State Dance Ensemble captivated the audience with their impressive performances. The concert was met with enthusiastic applause. Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs) are locked out: with no direct territorial access to the sea, they struggle with international trade, connectivity, and economic development. Cut off from the global marketplace and without the means to develop adequate transport and logistics infrastructure, landlocked developing countries face unique and significant challenges in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. The Third UN Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries opens an opportunity to explore meaningful partnerships to unlock the potential of landlocked developing countries. Innovative solutions, strategic partnerships, and increased investment can help to address these challenges and unlock the full potential of these nations. By supporting these countries, we can help to build a more equitable and prosperous future for all. 8 August 2025 17:22 (UTC+04:00) Laman Ismayilova Read more The Momine Khatun Mausoleum, an exquisite example of medieval Azerbaijani architecture and a symbol of Nakhchivan's rich cultural heritage, is set to be restored through a carefully planned restoration project, Azernews reports. Restoration efforts have now officially begun, marking a significant step toward preserving this invaluable monument for future generations. In accordance with an agreement between the Ministry of Culture of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic and the Austrian company Atelier Erich Pummer GmbH, a team from the company arrived in Nakhchivan on August 5 to begin restoration work. The monument will be meticulously restored to its original state while ensuring the preservation of its historical authenticity. The company has already commenced construction of the necessary infrastructure at the mausoleum site. Notably, on May 22, President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan signed a decree outlining measures for the restoration and conservation of the Momine Khatun Mausoleum, a world-renowned historical and architectural landmark located in Nakhchivan. Following this decree, an initial allocation of 1 million manats from the President's Reserve Fund was made to the Cabinet of Ministers of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic to support this important project. Nakhchivan is home to numerous tourist attractions that are both captivating and historically significant. Its medieval landmarks reflect centuries of rich history. Momine Khatun Mausoleum is among the most distinguished landmarks in Nakhchivan. Constructed in 1186 by Ajemi Abubakiroglu, the mausoleum honors Momine Khatun, the wife of Shamsaddin Eldeniz, the founder of the Azerbaijan Atabaylar state. It is believed that Shamsaddin Eldeniz, Momine Khatun, and their son Mahammad Jahan Pahlavan were buried within this mausoleum. However, the headstones in the vault were looted and removed. The mausoleum is adorned with intricate geometric patterns and verses from the Quran. An inscription in Kufic script on the monument's arch reads: "We pass away, but only the wind is left behind us. We die, but only a work is left as a present." Originally, the Momine Khatun Mausoleum was likely part of a madrassa. Drawings and photographs from the nineteenth century suggest that it belonged to a larger religious and educational complex. The structure comprises both underground and aboveground sections. Inside the dome, four circular medallions bear the names of the Caliphs. The interior of the mausoleum is circular in shape. The burial chamber of Momine Khatun lies beneath the building, though there is no access to it. Four round medallions on the inner side of the spherical dome feature inscriptions with the names of the Prophet Mohammed, and the four Rashidun Caliphs-Abu Bakr, Omar, Osman, Ali, along with his sons Hassan and Hussein. This exceptional masterpiece of Azerbaijani architectural heritage was added to UNESCO's World Heritage Tentative List in Need of Urgent Safeguarding on September 30, 1998. 8 August 2025 11:26 (UTC+04:00) Nazrin Abdul Read more Azerbaijan and Armenia are set to sign a significant agreement in Washington on August 8, marking a critical first step toward a comprehensive peace treaty between the two nations. Azernews reports that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the development during a press briefing with journalists. With regard to the broader peace agenda, the President is fully committed to achieving lasting peace and wants to be remembered as a president of peace. On August 8, we will be here to witness the signing of an agreement that will lay the foundation for a future peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Rubio stated. The agreement is expected to be formalized in Washington during a trilateral meeting attended by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, and U.S. President Donald Trump. A Joint Declaration will be signed as part of this historic event. Azerbaijan had previously set two key conditions for signing a peace deal with Armenia. The first required both countries to jointly appeal to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) for the formal dissolution of the Minsk Group. The second demanded constitutional amendments in Armenia to eliminate any territorial claims against Azerbaijan. The forthcoming Joint Declaration is expected to confirm that Azerbaijan and Armenia will jointly submit a request to the OSCE Secretary-General to formally dissolve the Minsk Group. Additionally, the document will acknowledge the necessity of taking further steps to finalize and ratify the future peace treaty, including constitutional changes in Armenia that would remove anti-Azerbaijani provisions. Following the 2020 Second Garabagh War, President Ilham Aliyev has repeatedly emphasized the importance of establishing an unhindered land corridor between mainland Azerbaijan and its Nakhchivan exclave. According to the terms of the declaration, Armenia has agreed to this condition as well. The Joint Declaration explicitly affirms the establishment of unimpeded transit between Azerbaijans main territory and Nakhchivan, effectively paving the way for the realization of the long-anticipated Zangazur Corridor. This agreement represents a milestone in the post-war reconciliation process and could significantly reshape regional dynamics in the South Caucasus. 8 August 2025 14:56 (UTC+04:00) Akbar Novruz Read more Preliminary results from the investigation into the Azerbaijan Airlines (AZAL) plane crash near Aktau have confirmed that the aircraft was interfered with from outside, AZAL Vice President Ilham Amirov announced on August 8 during an event in Samukh district commemorating National Hero Hokuma Aliyevas birthday, Azernews reports via local media. Amirov praised the heroism of the flight crew, including Hokuma Aliyeva, who demonstrated exceptional professionalism and dedication under extreme circumstances. Despite serious damage sustained by the AZAL passenger plane in the air, the crew managed to keep control of the aircraft for 1 hour and 10 minutes, minimizing losses. Their heroism deserves special recognition, he said. The investigation into the December 25, 2024 crash, which occurred as the plane was flying from Baku to Grozny and resulted in 38 fatalities out of 67 passengers and crew, remains ongoing. The preliminary commission report confirmed external interference with the plane prior to the accident. 8 August 2025 16:54 (UTC+04:00) Leading Russian media outlets have devoted significant attention to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyevs landmark visit to the United States, highlighting not only its diplomatic symbolism but also the tangible outcomes expected from it most notably, the signing of pivotal agreements between Azerbaijan and Armenia at the White House, Azernews reports. According to TASS, the signing ceremony is set for August 8 in Washington, with US President Donald Trump personally announcing the event on his Truth Social platform. In addition to the peace-related accords, Trump revealed that bilateral economic agreements with both Baku and Yerevan will also be concluded, signaling a broader vision that extends beyond conflict resolution to regional development. Lenta.ru, referencing US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, notes that this signing marks the formal starting point for a comprehensive peace treaty between the two South Caucasus nations. Rubio emphasized that the US views this step as a cornerstone of its wider foreign policy strategy, reflecting Washingtons intent to anchor stability in a region historically plagued by geopolitical rivalries. Moskovsky Komsomolets reports that Trump hailed the forthcoming agreement as a historic achievement, praising both Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan for their political will. The US president underscored that engagement with the South Caucasus will underpin a new economic model for the region, where peace and connectivity will drive growth. Gazeta.ru focuses on the parallel US-brokered bilateral agreements for cooperation in major transport projects, particularly the development of a transit corridor through Armenia linking mainland Azerbaijan to the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic a long-standing strategic goal for Baku. Vestnik Kavkaza highlights a breakthrough decision embedded in the peace framework: the dissolution of the OSCE Minsk Group, established in 1992 to mediate the conflict. Armenias acceptance of this step, coupled with the initialling of the peace treaty text by the foreign ministers of both countries, signals a readiness to close one of the regions most enduring chapters of diplomatic deadlock. Kommersant, citing Trump, stresses that these outcomes are the result of lengthy, behind-the-scenes negotiations involving Baku and Yerevan. The agreements, Trump said, reflect both the success of US diplomacy and the mutual desire for enduring peace. Vedomosti reveals that the most ambitious element of the signed package will be the creation of a transport corridor dubbed the TRIPP (Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity) traversing Armenian territory. While the infrastructure will be built by an American consortium, jurisdiction will remain with Armenia, blending sovereignty with regional connectivity. Finally, Islam News frames the Washington ceremony as a historic peace summit, with Trump casting it as the beginning of a new era of cooperation and economic growth for the South Caucasus. This narrative echoed across Russian media positions the Aliyev-Trump-Pashinyan meeting not merely as a diplomatic milestone, but as a strategic turning point in Eurasian geopolitics. 8 August 2025 17:13 (UTC+04:00) We fully support the peaceful resolution of conflict in Georgia based on the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity within internationally recognized borders. #Azerbaijan continues to attach great importance to its close partnership and neighborly relations with The Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry stated in a post on its official X account that the country continues to attach great importance to close partnership and neighborly relations with Georgia. Azerbaijan has reiterated its support for the peaceful resolution of the conflict in Georgia within its internationally recognized borders, based on the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity, Azernews reports. Here we are to serve you with news right now. It does not cost much, but worth your attention. Choose to support open, independent, quality journalism and subscribe on a monthly basis. By subscribing to our online newspaper, you can have full digital access to all news, analysis, and much more. Subscribe You can also follow AzerNEWS on Twitter @AzerNewsAz or Facebook @AzerNewsNewspaper Thank you! 8 August 2025 20:26 (UTC+04:00) President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has sent a letter of condolences to the Romanian President, Nicusor Dan, regarding the passing of former President of Romania and prominent statesman Ion Iliescu. According to Azernews, the letter reads: His Excellency Mr. Nicusor Dan, President of Romania, I was deeply saddened to learn of the passing of former President of Romania and prominent statesman Ion Iliescu. Ion Iliescu made significant contributions to the establishment and development of relations between the Republic of Azerbaijan and Romania, as well as to the strengthening of the bonds of friendship and cooperation between our countries. He visited Azerbaijan multiple times, and I always recall my meetings with him with the fondest memories. On this occasion of great loss, I extend my deepest condolences to you, to the family of the late President, and to the entire people of Romania. Ilham Aliyev President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Baku, 8 August 2025 8 August 2025 23:00 (UTC+04:00) The meeting between Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and US President Donald Trump has begun in Washington, Armenpress correspondent has reported from Washington, Azernews reports. The US president is also scheduled to hold a separate meeting with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. A trilateral meeting with the participation of Pashinyan, Trump and Aliyev will take place later. The Armenian government earlier announced that on August 8 Prime Minister Pashinyan would hold a bilateral meeting with President Trump to discuss fostering the ArmeniaUS strategic partnership, followed by a trilateral meeting with the presidents of the United States and Azerbaijan aimed at advancing peace, prosperity and economic cooperation in the region. The details are yet to be released. 8 August 2025 23:53 (UTC+04:00) Responding to a journalists question on how confident he was about lasting peace between the two countries, Trump said: I am very confident. While greeting Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev at the White House, the US President Donald Trump has expressed his strong confidence in achieving lasting peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia, Azernews reports. Here we are to serve you with news right now. It does not cost much, but worth your attention. Choose to support open, independent, quality journalism and subscribe on a monthly basis. By subscribing to our online newspaper, you can have full digital access to all news, analysis, and much more. Subscribe You can also follow AzerNEWS on Twitter @AzerNewsAz or Facebook @AzerNewsNewspaper Thank you! 9 August 2025 00:44 (UTC+04:00) On August 8, Ilham Aliyev, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Donald Trump, President of the United States of America, and Nikol Pashinyan, Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, signed the Joint Declaration on the meeting between the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia held in Washington D.C. Azernews presents the Declaration, citing Azertag. JOINT DECLARATION by the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia on the outcomes of their meeting in Washington D.C., United States of America We, the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia, having met in Washington D.C., United States of America, on August 8, 2025, declare the following: 1. We and President Donald J. Trump of the United States of America witnessed the initialing of the agreed upon text of the Agreement on Establishment of Peace and Inter-State relations between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Armenia by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Parties. In this respect, we acknowledged the need to continue further actions to achieve the signing and ultimate ratification of the Agreement, and emphasized the importance of maintaining and strengthening peace between our two countries; 2. We also witnessed the signing of the joint appeal to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) on the closure of OSCEs Minsk Process and related structures by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Armenia. We call on all OSCE participating States to adopt this decision. 3. We reaffirmed the importance of the opening of communications between the two countries for intra-state, bilateral, and international transportation for the promotion of peace, stability, and prosperity in the region and in its neighborhood on the basis of respect for the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and jurisdiction of the States. These efforts are to include unimpeded connectivity between the main part of the Republic of Azerbaijan and its Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic through the territory of the Republic of Armenia with reciprocal benefits for international and intrastate connectivity for the Republic of Armenia. 4. The Republic of Armenia will work with the United States of America and mutually determined third parties, to set forth a framework for the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP) connectivity project in the territory of the Republic of Armenia. We confirm our determination to pursue efforts in good faith to achieve this goal in the most expeditious manner. 5. We acknowledge the need to chart a course for a bright future not bound by the conflict of the past, consistent with the Charter of the United Nations and the 1991 Almaty Declaration. The conditions have been created for our nations to finally embark on building good neighborly relations on the basis of the inviolability of international borders and the inadmissibility of the use of force for the acquisition of territory after the conflict that brought immense human suffering. This reality, which is not and should never be subject to revision, paves the way for closing the chapter of enmity between our two nations. We resolutely reject and exclude any attempt of revenge, now and in the future. 6. We express our confidence that this Summit is a strong foundation for mutual respect and the advancement of peace in the region. 7. We express deep gratitude to President Donald J. Trump of the United States of America for his gracious hospitality in hosting this important summit and for his significant contributions to advancing the normalization of bilateral relations between the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Republic of Armenia. The present Declaration was signed on August 8, 2025, in Washington D.C., United States of America. Ilham ALIYEV Nikol PASHINYAN President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Witnessed by: Donald Trump President of the United States of America 8 August 2025 08:30 (UTC+04:00) By Alimat Aliyeva Microsoft engineers have shared details about the development of a cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) agent designed to analyze and detect malware with impressive accuracy, Azernews reports. The prototype, named Project Ire, is an advanced system trained to reverse-engineer malicious software, identify threats, and even help neutralize computer viruses tasks typically reserved for experienced cybersecurity specialists. During the malware analysis process, the AI agent determines the file type, dissects its structure, and pinpoints potentially malicious components. One of the standout features of Project Ire is its ability to generate a "chain of evidence" for each decision it makes, offering transparency and insight into the agents logic something that's often lacking in black-box AI systems. In internal testing, Project Ire demonstrated promising results: it successfully detected 90% of malicious Windows driver files, while maintaining a low false-positive rate of just 2%. According to Microsoft, this level of precision highlights the systems potential for integration into real-world security operations. Such a low level of false positives suggests a clear potential for using the system in security operations, Microsoft stated. The company believes that AI agents like Project Ire could significantly ease the workload of cybersecurity teams, especially during large-scale cyberattacks, when speed and efficiency are critical. However, Microsoft also acknowledges that the agent is still a work in progress. While the current results are encouraging, the systems accuracy and threat classification capabilities are not yet on par with human analysts in every scenario. The company describes Project Ires current performance as "moderate", and further improvements are underway. What sets Project Ire apart is its potential to become part of a broader automated cyber defense ecosystem, where AI doesn't just detect threats it responds to them autonomously. Imagine future security systems that learn from each cyberattack, adapting in real time, and even coordinating with other AI agents across networks to defend against sophisticated malware campaigns. Project Ire might just be a glimpse into that future. There is a revelation within the Democratic Socialists, which is creating a newfound discovery that masks are bad or wrong for society, and should not be worn by certain groups; currently the rancor is to unmask ICE agents: What is your opinion on the wearing of masks? 83.33% Yes, ICE agents should wear masks if it keeps them safe from the threat of doxing.8.33% No, ICE agents must be forced to reveal their true selves; however, wearing masks while rioting and looting is within the bounds of the Leftist dictum.8.33% I wear masks often at Halloween. A Sinn Fein MLA has called on the Health Minister to explore how non-surgical cosmetic treatments can be regulated in NI amid a crack down on dodgy practitioners delivering high-risk procedures including Brazilian butt lifts. It comes after the UK Government has promised new measures to combat cowboy cosmetic procedures including only allowing suitably qualified healthcare professionals to deliver the most risky treatments. Mid Ulster MLA Linda Dillon said it is vital that Stormont establishes proper regulations around non-surgical cosmetic procedures such as botox and dermal fillers to ensure patient safety and also to protect practitioners. Last December Sinn Fein passed a motion in the Assembly calling on the Health Minister to consider measures, including legislation, to ensure that these products are administered by appropriately trained practitioners, she added. These treatments are becoming increasingly popular and there needs to be more regulations in place to ensure that those carrying out procedures are registered and that there is sufficient oversight to guarantee all treatments are carried out safely. This would also help protect professionals in the industry, promote best practices and it would also ensure the safety of people getting the treatments. I have written to the Health Minister to ask whether there are plans for regulations to be introduced in the north. The changes being rolled out by the UK Government mean that the administration of fillers and Botox will need to comply with strict standards to obtain a licence. Children will also be protected from dangerous beauty trends on social media through plans for new age restrictions on treatments The robust measures have been designed to protect people and save the NHS time and money fixing botched procedures. The planned crackdown follows a series of incidents where people have had high-risk treatments from people with little or no medical training, leading to dangerous complications, permanent scarring and even death. These new rules will protect people from unqualified, rogue operators and reduce the cost to the NHS of fixing botched procedures. The longevity of cosmetic treatments can vary. Photo: Getty News Catch Up - Friday 8th August Minister of State for Health, Karin Smyth, said: "The cosmetics industry has been plagued by a Wild West of dodgy practitioners and procedures. There are countless horror stories of cosmetic cowboys causing serious, catastrophic damage. This government is taking action to protect those seeking treatments, support honest and competent practitioners, and root out the cowboys as part of our Plan for Change. But the Department of Health said it has no current plans to introduce proposals similar to those set out this week by the Department of Health & Social Care. However, the Department of Health will take time to consider the proposals and how these might inform the way ahead in Northern Ireland, a spokesperson added. The significant resource pressures faced by the Department will impact on our ability to take forward any future review of regulation. The Department continues to take decisive action to combat illegal promotion, supply or misuse of medicines and to alerting the public about the dangers of using unauthorised medicines outside of the regulated supply chain. We remain vigilant and continue to work with key partner agencies to monitor the illicit marketplace and will continue to take effective action where necessary to protect public safety in Northern Ireland. A spate of attacks at the home of Northern Irelands first Prime Minister has led to calls for action to safeguard the historic building. In the latest incident, a 150-year-old staircase at Craigavon House in east Belfast residence to Sir James Craig was vandalised in a malicious and destructive act. The intruders also erected a Union flag. Built in 1880, the property is steeped in history. Sir Edward Carson declared the Ulster Solemn League and Covenant from its steps vowing to resist Home Rule. In 1917, it was opened as a hospital for those sick and injured in the the First World War. The house was purchased by the Somme Association in 1992 and it was their headquarters until 1999. However, it has suffered repeated attacks by vandals in recent times. In the latest incident, intruders destroyed some of the staircases spindles. Craigavon House -Credit: Somme Association and Somme Museum The Somme Association shared images of the vandalism. It said: We are extremely disappointed to report that a malicious and destructive act of vandalism has taken place at the historic Craigavon House, the former home of Sir James Craig, the first Prime Minister of Northern Ireland. Vandals broke in and intentionally destroyed the beautifully crafted 150-year-old spindles on the double return staircase. They then removed some of the original ornate cornice to use as a weight for the Union flag that they ironically erected. Craigavon House -Credit: Somme Association and Somme Museum The charity said they have been trying to secure funding to restore the building. The unique history surrounding Craigavon House has made it harder to secure the funding required to have it restored to its former glory but the Somme Association has tried tirelessly over the years to secure its future but without success, it added. Craigavon House does get a mention in the 2020 New Decade, New Approach agreement but there has been no movement on this so far. Craigavon House -Credit: Somme Association and Somme Museum The association said they are willing to meet with local youths following the vandalism. "We appeal to anyone who works with the youth of east Belfast to please educate them on the significance of this historic house and to encourage them to stop this wilful destruction, it added. On our part we would be willing to visit local youth groups or schools to talk about the history of Craigavon House. Craigavon House -Credit: Somme Association and Somme Museum Deputy First Minister Emma Little-Pengelly said she was absolutely disgusted to see this terrible vandalism of one of the most historically and politically significant buildings in Northern Ireland. DUP East Belfast MLA Joanne Bunting called for action to save Craigavon House. "We need to see greater protection in place to prevent further damage, alongside a clear plan for restoration, she said. This building should be preserved and showcased as part of our history - a place where people can come to learn about the foundations of Northern Ireland. "The sooner action is taken to secure and restore it, the better chance we have of ensuring that Craigavon House is not lost to neglect and vandalism. Craigavon House, Circular Road News Catch Up - Thursday 7th August DUP councillor Bradley Ferguson said the mindless vandalism is an affront to our history. "Craigavon House is a key part of the story of Northern Ireland, and it should be treated with the respect it deserves, he said. Those who have caused this damage have shown complete disregard for our community and its heritage. TUV councillor Matthew Warwick said he was extremely disappointed at the latest destructive act of vandalism This vital part of unionist and Ulster history has been shamefully neglected, he said. Despite its inclusion in the 2020 New Decade, New Approach (NDNA) agreement as a site earmarked for restoration, nothing has been done. Readers send in pics to celebrate International Dog Day 2025: Do you have the cutest pup in Northern Ireland? Damage caused by vandals at Craigavon House in east Belfast, the historic former home of Northern Irelands first Prime Minister Sir James Craig (Somme Association/PA) Vandals have caused wanton damage to the historical home of Northern Irelands first prime minister. Craigavon House in east Belfast was the home of Sir James Craig and dates back to 1880. Sir James was the director of Dunville and Company, a company that blended pure pot still whiskey as well as importing tea to Belfast, and first became an MP in 1903 before becoming one of the leaders of the campaign against home rule, and the regions first prime minister in 1921. Anti-home rule rallies were held in the grounds of Craigavon House, which also hosted meetings of the first provisional government of Northern Ireland. It went on to be a hospital for the Ulster Volunteers returning from the First World War and later used as a nursing home. It is currently owned by the charity the Somme Association. Damage caused by vandals at Craigavon House in east Belfast, the historic former home of Northern Irelands first Prime Minister Sir James Craig (Somme Association/PA) Somme Association director Carol Walker said there has been a running battle guarding against anti social behaviour at the house all summer, but things escalated with an incident thought to have happened last weekend. Damage was caused to hand-carved spindles on the staircase, and a part of the original ornate cornice was also torn down and used as a weight for a Union Flag to be erected. Its extremely disappointing because they got in and caused wanton damage, the double return stair case is absolutely exquisite, its 150 years old, she said. The house was built in 1880, its unique, its beautiful, and each one of those spindles are hand carved and individual, and has a different motif on it. They have damaged nine of them. The house is full of history, and its a shared history. When it was the UVF hospital and then the Somme Hospital, it looked after all soldiers who returned from the First World War. Its extremely annoying for us as a charity because it costs us money and time, looking after it. She said it has been very hard to find funding to restore Craigavon House. We have tried. We have had every political leader, weve had Secretary of States and all political parties, and still Craigavon House hasnt been able to secure the funding. In some ways the history of the house itself is a bit of a millstone around its neck, she said. There hasnt been a push to try and safeguard Craigavon House. It is the home of the first prime minister of Northern Ireland. If it was in any other country, it would be fully restored and a visitors attraction. DUP MLA Joanne Bunting said she wanted to see greater protection in place. Craigavon House is a site of national significance, yet it is vulnerable to repeated attacks, she said. We need to see greater protection in place to prevent further damage, alongside a clear plan for restoration. This building should be preserved and showcased as part of our history a place where people can come to learn about the foundations of Northern Ireland. The sooner action is taken to secure and restore it, the better chance we have of ensuring that Craigavon House is not lost to neglect and vandalism. TUV councillor Matthew Warwick said he was extremely disappointed by the vandalism. The President of the Executive Council of the Irish Free State, W.T Cosgrave, The British prime minister Ramsay MacDonald and then prime minister of Northern Ireland Sir James Craig at Chequers (Archive/PA) He said Craigavon House played a pivotal role in the history of Northern Ireland, and is a building that speaks to sacrifice, service, and statehood. He praised the Somme Association for their work for the house, but said it had been neglected by politicians, and that despite being included in the 2020 New Decade, New Approach (NDNA) deal as a site earmarked for restoration, nothing has been done. No plan, no political urgency. By contrast, Republican cultural demands have not only been heard they have been delivered: an Irish Language Act has been enacted and an Irish Language Commissioner is in the process of being recruited, he said. Significant public resources have been dedicated to advancing that cultural agenda. Meanwhile, Craigavon House continues to decay unguarded, unrestored, and now vandalised. Stormonts Programme for Government includes a commitment to redevelop Casement Park, yet Craigavon House which was specifically mentioned in the New Decade, New Approach agreement doesnt merit a mention, four years after that promise was made. The public will be rightly unimpressed. He added: I commend the Somme Association and Somme Museum for their tireless efforts to preserve the legacy of Craigavon House but without political action, their work is undermined. Craigavon House is not just a building. It is a symbol of Ulsters contribution to history, and it deserves better than this better than vandalism, and better than neglect. A PSNI spokesperson said officers attended a property on the Circular Road area of east Belfast after receiving a report of burglary and criminal damage. It is believed that entry was gained to the building sometime on Monday night, August 4, with damage subsequently caused to the interior, they said. Anyone with information is asked to contact police on the 101 number, quoting reference 805 of 08/08/25. The Upper Springfield Colour Run and Fun Day takes place at the Falls Park in West Belfast on August 8th 2025 (Photo by Kevin Scott) The Upper Springfield Colour Run and Fun Day takes place at the Falls Park in West Belfast on August 8th 2025 (Photo by Kevin Scott) The Upper Springfield Colour Run and Fun Day takes place at the Falls Park in West Belfast on August 8th 2025 (Photo by Kevin Scott) The Upper Springfield Colour Run and Fun Day takes place at the Falls Park in West Belfast on August 8th 2025 (Photo by Kevin Scott) The Upper Springfield Colour Run and Fun Day takes place at the Falls Park in West Belfast on August 8th 2025 (Photo by Kevin Scott) The Upper Springfield Colour Run and Fun Day takes place at the Falls Park in West Belfast on August 8th 2025 (Photo by Kevin Scott) The Upper Springfield Colour Run and Fun Day takes place at the Falls Park in West Belfast on August 8th 2025 (Photo by Kevin Scott) The Upper Springfield Colour Run and Fun Day takes place at the Falls Park in West Belfast on August 8th 2025 (Photo by Kevin Scott) The Upper Springfield Colour Run and Fun Day takes place at the Falls Park in West Belfast on August 8th 2025 (Photo by Kevin Scott) Daithi Mac Gabhann as the Upper Springfield Colour Run and Fun Day takes place at the Falls Park in West Belfast on August 8th 2025 (Photo by Kevin Scott) The Upper Springfield Colour Run and Fun Day takes place at the Falls Park in West Belfast on August 8th 2025 (Photo by Kevin Scott) There were smiles and celebrations today as hundreds of children took part in a colour run in west Belfast. Adding a splash of colour to the Feile festival, the annual event part of the Upper Springfield Fun Day took place in the Falls Park on Friday. Daithi Mac Gabhann as the Upper Springfield Colour Run and Fun Day takes place at the Falls Park in West Belfast on August 8th 2025 (Photo by Kevin Scott) The run was set on its way by Daithi Mac Gabhann, as participants dashed, danced and strolled through the park while being splashed in a kaleidoscope of powdersmirroring the cheerful, community-spirited message at the heart of Feile an Phobail. Belfast boy Daithi who was born with hypoplastic left heart syndromes is well known for successfully campaigning to change Northern Ireland's organ donation laws, having been on the heart transplant waiting list since 2018. The organisers of the run posted to say it was a day of brilliant craic, adding: Fantastic event for all ages at Falls Park, well done to all participants. The Upper Springfield Colour Run and Fun Day takes place at the Falls Park in West Belfast on August 8th 2025 (Photo by Kevin Scott) West Belfast MP Paul Maskey said it was an amazing event. The Upper Springfield events team always put on a fantastic fun day and colour run as part of their Feile an Phobail event, he said. It was great to be part of it today. The Upper Springfield Colour Run and Fun Day takes place at the Falls Park in West Belfast on August 8th 2025 (Photo by Kevin Scott) Beginning in 1988, Feile has grown into Irelands largest community arts festival. The festival will celebrate the 5th consecutive year that no bonfires were built in predominantly nationalist areas of west Belfast. The Upper Springfield Colour Run and Fun Day takes place at the Falls Park in West Belfast on August 8th 2025 (Photo by Kevin Scott) It comes as 12,000 mostly young people are due in the Falls Park on Friday night for the annual dance night, designed to deter young people away from creating bonfires. The event will bring together a host of local and international DJs, including Matty Ralph, NIFRA, Paul Van Dyk and Will Atkinson. The Upper Springfield Colour Run and Fun Day takes place at the Falls Park in West Belfast on August 8th 2025 (Photo by Kevin Scott) The Falls Park has hosted several headline events last week, including Feile Country Fest featuring Nathan Carter and The Whistlin Donkeys. Hillsborough Castle, were world leaders will meet this October. (Photo by: Hugh Rooney/Eye Ubiquitous/Universal Images Group via Getty Images) Northern Ireland's royal residence will host a high-level summit later this year, with the local legacy of peace-building used to champion diplomacy and reconciliation in a troubled part of Europe. Foreign Secretary David Lammy will host 15 European ministers at Hillsborough Castle for talks on the Western Balkans. The region is facing growing threats from instability, corruption and criminal gangs which also compromise UK security. The Western Balkans comprise of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Kosovo. Hillsborough Castle, were world leaders will meet this October. (Photo by: Hugh Rooney/Eye Ubiquitous/Universal Images Group via Getty Images) Hillsborough Castle has been the backdrop to key moments in UK and Irish politics, including negotiations which paved the way for the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. Mr Lammy, who will be joined by Secretary of State Hillary Benn at the October 8 summit, said he hopes Northern Ireland's peace process can inspire lasting reconciliation in the Western Balkans. Foreign Secretary David Lammy (PA) "Hillsborough Castle is a poignant reminder of the power of diplomacy to transform conflict and division into long-term peace and cooperation, he said. By harnessing Northern Irelands experience, we hope to support partners in the Western Balkans to overcome the challenges of the past through meaningful reconciliation and help build a safe and prosperous future. As part of the Plan for Change, this government is committed to strengthening partnerships with Europe, ensuring strong foundations of economic stability, secure borders and national security. Meanwhile, Mr Benn believes that Hillsborough Castle is a fitting choice of venue for the talks. NI Secretary Hilary Benn (Photo by Isabel Infantes/AFP via Getty Images) Northern Irelands experience of securing peace through the Good Friday Agreement after decades of conflict has set a powerful example of reconciliation to the world, he said. This provides a legacy of hope as well as practical experience which I believe will prove invaluable to our Western Balkans partners as they travel a similar path to peace and prosperity. As a long-standing forum for peace-building and politics, it is fitting that Hillsborough Castle has been chosen to host this significant international event. Laura McCorry, Head of Hillsborough Castle, said that for centuries [the venue] has been a place where people come together to shape a shared future. The castle stands as a living testament to the power of dialogue and reconciliation in a place where peace has been hard won, she said. The summit will take place while the UK continues a role in security in Kosovo where it has maintained a presence through Nato's KFOR mission since 1999. Since the election last year, the UK has stepped up engagement with Western Balkans countries to deliver on the plan for change, including breaking people smuggling networks exploiting the region as a gateway to Europe. According to the Government, during 2024 alone, more than 55,000 people were trafficked to other countries along routes through the Western Balkans. Hillsborough Castle, were world leaders will meet this October. (Photo by: Hugh Rooney/Eye Ubiquitous/Universal Images Group via Getty Images) News Catch Up - Thursday 7th August A joint agreement on organised immigration crime was signed with Serbia during Mr Lammy's visit to the region in April, when he also visited Kosovo. The Foreign Secretary also visited Bosnia and Herzegovina in May amid political instability in the country, part of the UK's increased activity and engagement in the Western Balkans. A Co Down woman has been scammed out of thousands of pounds from her bank after being targeted by criminals earlier this week. Police said the woman reported the incident to police on Tuesday after two of her banks where she holds business accounts contacted her to advise of fraudulent activity detected. Police said a significant amount of money had been taken from the accounts and said the hacker appears to have been from outside Northern Ireland. PSNI local chief inspector for Ards and North Down, Keith Hutchinson, said: On Tuesday, 5th August we received a report from a member of the public who had been contacted by not one, but two banks where she has business accounts set up. Both banks advised that there had been fraudulent activity on the victims banking accounts and that a significant amount of money in each had been taken. A number of police enquiries were conducted, but as the hacker did not appear to reside in Northern Ireland, the matter has since been referred to Action Fraud for further assessment. With criminals using increasingly sophisticated methods to gain access to individuals banking details, often through phishing emails, scam phone calls or text messages impersonating legitimate and reputable companies, its making it harder for members of the public to spot the truth, in that these people are criminals. We will continue to remind the public to never share their banking passwords, PINs, or one-time verification codes to anyone, even if they claim to be from your bank. Victims are often contacted unexpectedly and pressured into providing sensitive information or transferring money, so please be on your guard at all times. Protecting your personal banking details is essential. File photo of someone using a computer (Alamy/PA) News Catch Up - Thursday 7th August The best way to fight scams and not lose money is to Stop. Check. Report. By following these simple rules, you could avoid becoming a victim of this type of crime. Stop - Before you transfer money or disclose any personal details to anyone you do not know. Do not feel rushed or pressured by timelines - genuine callers will always give you time to consider your options. Check - Check and verify who you are communicating with using a trusted source. Take time to verify callers on another phone line where possible and check images via an image search. If you are in any doubt do not transfer any money or goods. Report - If you have been a victim of a scam, report it to police online at www.psni.police.uk/makeareport or call on 101, to your bank immediately, online at www.actionfraud.police.uk or call 0300 123 2040. You can also forward scam texts to 7726. Further information and advice can be found at: http://www.nidirect.gov.uk/scamwiseni or the ScamwiseNI Facebook page @scamwiseni. Assistant Chief Officer, PSNI, Clare Duffield; Chief Constable, PSNI, Jon Boutcher; Mukesh Sharma, Northern Ireland Policing Board Chair; Deputy Assistant Commissioner for the Metropolitan Police Service and National Lead for the Police Race Action Plan, Alison Heydari; Detective Chief Superintendent, PSNI and Programme Lead, Zoe McKee; Community Worker, Preeti Yellamaty. A human rights organisation has said race hate crime is at a record high in Northern Ireland and accused the PSNI of over-policing ethnic minority communities as the police launched their Race and Ethnicity Action Plan. The PSNI announced the plan on Thursday, saying it was reaffirming its commitment to building trust, promoting equality, and improving engagement with all ethnic minority communities across Northern Ireland. The plan has been developed and informed following public consultation in 2024, where the voice of community representatives, advocacy organisations, and policing partners shared what they expected from policing. A Freedom of Information response to this newspaper last year showed that just 39 PSNI officers, representing 0.6% of the police service, were from an ethnic minority background. Nineteen staff members, 0.77% of the civilian workforce, were from ethnic minorities. PSNI Chief Constable Jon Boutcher, pictured with Stormont Justice Minister Naomi Long, launched the forces Race and Ethnicity Action Plan on Thursday (Liam McBurney/PA) Through the plan, the PSNI is making five key commitments. Firstly, that it is committed to being an anti-racist Police Service and to people from an ethnic minority background feeling safe, valued by and engaged in policing. It also says it is committed to officers and staff from an ethnic minority background feeling safe, valued and are treated fairly and equally in the workplace. We are committed to being a Police Service that respects and is trusted by people from ethnic minority communities, a statement added. We are a Police Service committed to excellence in diversity, equality, representation and inclusivity. The plan will be delivered through a number of work-streams, led by senior officers and staff: Internal Culture and Inclusivity; Community Engagement and Relations; Professionalism, Powers and Policy; Protection, Partnership and Justice; Performance and Accountability. Assistant Chief Officer, PSNI, Clare Duffield; Chief Constable, PSNI, Jon Boutcher; Mukesh Sharma, Northern Ireland Policing Board Chair; Deputy Assistant Commissioner for the Metropolitan Police Service and National Lead for the Police Race Action Plan, Alison Heydari; Detective Chief Superintendent, PSNI and Programme Lead, Zoe McKee; Community Worker, Preeti Yellamaty. News Catch Up - Thursday 7th August Chief Constable Jon Boutcher said this plan represents the PSNIs ongoing commitment to our ethnic minority communities ensuring that everyone in Northern Ireland feels safe, supported and respected. We recognise the importance of listening to all communities and working together to build a policing service that truly reflects the diversity of the society we serve, he added. Recent events have demonstrated the need for decisive action and clear leadership to stamp out racism which clearly exists in communities in Northern Ireland. We are confident this action plan will drive the work of the Police Service and help us to work more effectively with ethnic minority communities and partners. The Race and Ethnicity Action Plan aligns with PSNIs broader equality, diversity and inclusivity and our work through our Policing with the Community vision, ensuring that tangible actions to address race and ethnicity are embedded across all areas of policing. PSNI is committed to regular updates on the progress of the plan and to continuing open dialogue with ethnic minority communities to ensure it meets their needs. Chief Constable of the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), Jon Boutcher (Liam McBurney/PA) Responding to publication of the PSNI race and ethnicity action plan, Patrick Corrigan, Amnesty Internationals Northern Ireland Director, said: For too long, the PSNI has over-policed and under-protected minority ethnic communities in Northern Ireland. Race hate crime is at a record high, yet many victims still feel unable to report attacks a stark reflection of mistrust in policing. From the heavy-handed response to Black Lives Matter protests to repeated failures to respond effectively to racist violence, the PSNI has eroded the confidence of many minoritised communities. The publication of this five-year plan is, therefore, a welcome and necessary step a public commitment by the PSNI to becoming an anti-racist police force. Amnesty International will work alongside local communities to monitor progress and hold the police to account. In the end, the success of this plan wont be measured by words on paper, but by whether communities see real change in how they are policed and protected." The PSNI has been contacted for a response. Top UVF chief shot dead by IRA was set up by loyalist traitor Jimmy Craig The 39-year-old father-of-four second in command of the UVFs Belfast Brigade had become aware of the extent of Craigs double-dealing with the IRA William Frenchie Marchant was second in command of the UVFs Belfast Brigade Hugh Jordan Fri 8 Aug 2025 at 20:00 Top UVF man William Frenchie Marchant was waiting to meet loyalist Jimmy Craig when he was shot dead by the IRA. What is loyalism, what do loyalist women want and why do they not trust the media? Ireland intends to continue to advance with its legislation to ban the import of goods from illegal Israeli settlements. This comes after more than a dozen members of the US congress asked that Ireland be added to a list of countries boycotting Israel if the bill is passed. The Irish deputy premier Simon Harris said despite the opposition, Ireland intends to continue to pass the draft laws. It comes amid global criticism of Israel after its security cabinet approved a plan to take over Gaza City. Israels air and ground war has already killed tens of thousands of people in the Gaza Strip, displaced most of the population, destroyed vast areas and pushed the territory towards famine. The campaign was triggered when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel on October 7 2023, killing around 1,200 people and abducting 251 others. The militants still hold 55 hostages less than half of them believed to be alive after more than half the captives were released during ceasefires or other deals. Irelands coalition of Fine Gael, Fianna Fail and a group of independents committed to passing a ban on goods from the occupied Palestinian territories in its programme for government completed in January. A cross-party committee recommended that the government pass the bill and the prohibition of imports from the Palestinian Occupied Territories should be extended to include trade in services. Mr Harris said Ireland was not alone in wanting to ban trade with the occupied Palestinian territories. People in Ireland, people in Europe and people right across the world feel extraordinarily strongly about the genocidal activity that were seeing in Gaza, about the starving children and we will use all tools at our disposal, he told reporters on Friday. Its not a surprise that some seek to distort or misrepresent our proposed actions. Remember, Ireland isnt alone in relation to this; this week we also saw Slovenia take action in relation to trade from the occupied territories, I expect Belgium are likely to do the same and we intend to advance with our legislation. Of course well continue to engage and explain and never allow our position to be misrepresented. Chinese FM and Embassy lodge serious protests over Philippine Presidents comment on Taiwan Global Times) 14:06, August 08, 2025 Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs In response to Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr's recent comment on Taiwan in an interview during his visit to India, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said that China firmly opposes this. The Chinese Foreign Ministry and Embassy in the Philippines have lodged serious protests with the Philippine side. According to media reports, during his visit to India, the Philippine leader Ferdinand Marcos Jr claimed in an interview that "if there is a confrontation over Taiwan between China and the US, there is no way that the Philippines can stay out of it, simply because of our physical geographic location. If there is an all-out war (across the Taiwan Straits), then the Philippines will be joined into it. We will have to defend our territory and our sovereignty." He also claimed that in addition, there are a large volume of Filipinos in Taiwan. (If there is a war across the Taiwan Straits), it would spell a "humanitarian crisis," and the Philippines has to get involved and try to bring their citizens back. This is the issue that the Philippines cares the most. They would "immediately mobilize everything" to bring their people out. The spokesperson from the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Friday in a statement that there is but one China in the world. Taiwan is an inalienable part of China. The Taiwan question is China's internal affair which is at the very core of China's core interests. How to settle it is a matter for the Chinese ourselves, which brooks no interference. The spokesperson noted that the Philippine government has made serious commitments to China that it adheres to the one-China policy, recognizes that Taiwan is an integral part of the Chinese territory and understands the Chinese government's efforts to realize national reunification. The Philippine leader also said clearly to China that "the Philippines is committed to the one-China policy. The Taiwan question is purely China's internal affair that must be solved by the Chinese people." These words are written in black and white, but the Philippines is now going back on its words in disregard of the grave consequences. It has kept making wrong and provocative remarks and actions, kept fudging and hollowing out the one-China principle, and kept harming the China-Philippines relations. China firmly opposes this. The Chinese Foreign Ministry and Embassy in the Philippines have lodged serious protests with the Philippine side, said the spokesperson. It needs to be further stressed that "near geographic location" and "a large amount of Filipinos in Taiwan" should not be used as pretexts to interfere in the internal and sovereign affairs of other countries. These claims not only contravene international law and the ASEAN Charter, but also harm regional peace and stability and the fundamental interests of its own people, said the spokesperson. We urge the Philippines to earnestly abide by the one-China principle and the spirit of China-Philippines Joint Communique on the establishment of diplomatic relations, and refrain from playing fire on issues bearing on China's core interests, said the spokesperson. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) Warwickshire County Council leader George Finch said he is concerned protests will be hijacked by agitators in Nuneaton amid allegations of a cover-up about suspects charged over an alleged rape. Mr Finch, who is the youngest council leader in the country, released a statement on Friday urging people to act in a peaceful manner at protests expected to take place in the town on Saturday afternoon. A protest has been organised at the Town Hall after two men, reportedly Afghan asylum seekers, were charged by Warwickshire Police over the alleged rape of a 12-year-old girl in Nuneaton. A Stand Up to Racism protest is also taking place at the Town Hall in Nuneaton on Saturday. Ahmad Mulakhil, 23, was charged with rape, according to Warwickshire Police, while Mohammad Kabir, 23, was charged with kidnap, strangulation and aiding and abetting rape of a girl under 13 after the alleged offence in Nuneaton. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and Mr Finch claimed there had been a cover-up of details about the alleged rape case by authorities. In a post shared on his Facebook page, Mr Finch wrote: I am aware that there are protests planned in Nuneaton tomorrow. While the right to peaceful protest is a fundamental right, I am deeply concerned about the risk for these events to be hijacked by agitators who seek to cause disorder and division within our community. In other towns, we have seen examples of these protests resulting in violence to police and damage to property. These actions have no place in Warwickshire and would damage our community spirit we value so much. Mr Finch at a Reform UK Party news conference in Westminster on Monday (Stefan Rousseau/PA) The council leader said people should conduct themselves in a peaceful manner and with respect to others in mind, adding that our communitys reputation is at stake, and we must show that we are better than the chaos that some wish to incite. Mr Finchs statement concluded: If you witness any suspicious or illegal activities, please report them to the police immediately. Together, we can ensure that the town of Nuneaton and Warwickshire as a whole remains a safe place for all its residents. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation. Warwickshire Police chief constable Alex Franklin-Smith said the force did not and will not cover up alleged criminality and had followed national guidance. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has since called for more transparency from police about suspects, and said it was an operational decision for forces and the Crown Prosecution Service over what information to release. US vice-president JD Vance will meet Foreign Secretary David Lammy at the start of his family holiday in the UK (Niall Carson/PA) David Lammy is due to meet US vice-president JD Vance amid ongoing conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine. The Foreign Secretary is expected to host Mr Vance on Friday at Chevening, his official country retreat in Kent, as the vice-president begins a summer holiday with his family in the UK. They will discuss UK-US relations in a bilateral meeting before being joined by their families. The pair are said to have developed a warm friendship, bonding over their difficult childhoods and Christian faith. Mr Lammy is reported to have attended Mass at the vice-presidents Washington residence during a visit in March, and now plans to repay the favour with the stay at Chevening. Built in the 17th century, Grade I-listed Chevening was previously the home of the earls of Stanhope, before it was gifted to the state in 1959. Chevening House (Niklas Hallen/PA) It has traditionally acted as the foreign secretarys country residence, but the prime minister can nominate any of his cabinet colleagues to use the house. Fridays meeting comes at a time of persistent global uncertainty, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggesting an expansion of his countrys campaign in Gaza and Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly preparing to meet Donald Trump in the coming days. The US and UK have found themselves at odds on Gaza, with Sir Keir Starmers pledge to recognise a Palestinian state if Israel does not agree to a ceasefire drawing criticism from Washington. On Ukraine, Mr Trump said on a visit to the UK last month that he would bring forward the deadline for Mr Putin to agree a ceasefire or face higher tariffs to Friday. But speaking in the White House on Thursday, the US president would not commit to taking action when the deadline expires, saying only that it was up to Mr Putin. Foreign Secretary David Lammy (Robbie Stephenson/PA) Kremlin officials claimed that a meeting between the US and Russian presidents had been agreed and could take place as early as next week, despite Moscow showing no sign of relenting in its attacks on Ukraine. Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey urged Mr Lammy to use his meeting with Mr Vance to press for new American sanctions ahead of any meeting between the presidents. He said: Weve been here before: Putin stalling and trying to curry favour with Trump through promises of a ceasefire before rocking Ukraine with even more bombs. With his self-imposed deadline elapsing tomorrow, Trump needs to put his money where his mouth is and introduce the sanctions he promised on Russia. It would be a disaster if Trump lets himself be fooled by Putin again. The vice-president and his family are also expected to visit Hampton Court Palace during their trip to the UK, the bulk of which will be spent in the Cotswolds. His choice of holiday destination may surprise some in light of his previous criticism of Britain, including a claim that a backslide away from conscience rights has placed the basic liberties of religious Britons under threat. Mr Vance made the remarks in February as he raised concerns over a legal case in which a man who silently prayed outside an abortion clinic was convicted of breaching the safe zone around the centre. He has also suggested the UK is a truly Islamist country a characterisation that was later dismissed by Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner and railed against what he described as infringements on free speech in Britain. More recently the vice-president has appeared to take aim at Britains international standing as well as its home affairs. As the UK and France led European efforts to secure a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia, he questioned the level of security that could be offered by some random country that hasnt fought a war in 30 or 40 years. He was later forced to deny he had been referring to either the UK or France after facing a furious backlash from British politicians and ex-soldiers. I dont even mention the UK or France in the clip, both of whom have fought bravely alongside the US over the last 20 years, and beyond, he said of the remarks made in a Fox News interview in March. Independent MP Rupert Lowe said he would donate to the rowers charity (PA) Mr Lowe, who was elected as a Reform UK MP but now sits as an Independent in Great Yarmouth, had posted a picture on social media on Thursday night showing a boat near some wind turbines off the Norfolk coast. The Coastguard contacted the crew to confirm their identity and Mr Lowe has since promised to donate 1,000 to their charity after admitting his mistake. We need your consent to load this Social Media content. We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review your details and accept them to load the content The MP posted on social media on Friday morning: Good news. False alarm! The unknown vessel was charity rowers, thank goodness. As a well done to the crew, Ill donate 1,000 to their charity raising money for MND. Keep going, and watch out for any real illegal migrants! We received a huge number of urgent complaints from constituents I make no apologies over being vigilant for my constituents. It is a national crisis. No mass deportations for the charity rowers, but we definitely need it for the illegal migrants! From left, Liz Wardley, Mike Bates, Aaron Kneebone and Matthew Parker, before they left Cornwall for Scotland on their charity voyage (Mike Newman/ROW4MND) Mr Lowe had originally posted on social media on Thursday night: Dinghies coming into Great Yarmouth, RIGHT NOW. Authorities alerted, and I am urgently chasing. If these are illegal migrants, I will be using every tool at my disposal to ensure these individuals are deported. But the vessel pictured was in fact an ocean rowing boat crewed by ROW4MND, a team of four who are attempting to row from Lands End to John OGroats to raise money for motor neurone disease (MND). The crew Matthew Parker, Mike Bates, Aaron Kneebone and Liz Wardley said they had been contacted by the Coastguard and asked if they could see a dinghy nearby. Mr Bates, a former Royal Marine and British record holder for rowing across the Atlantic solo, told the PA news agency it soon became clear the Coastguard was asking about his own boat. I looked to my right and there was maybe a dozen individuals stood on the shoreline staring at us, he said. We need your consent to load this Social Media content. We use a number of different Social Media outlets to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review your details and accept them to load the content After satisfying the Coastguard that their boat was not carrying migrants, they continued, but several hours later were contacted again by the Coastguard because the police had asked if they could send a lifeboat out to check who we were. Eventually, a friend forwarded Mr Lowes post, which Mr Bates said provided a moment of light relief. He said: We found it hilarious. Ive not been mistaken for a migrant before. The best comment was the one asking where the Royal Navy were when you need them. Im a former Royal Marine, so the Royal Navy were on the boat. The quartet set off from Lands End on July 25 (ROW4MND/PA) He added: But it was almost like a vigilante-style, people following us down the beach. They hadnt twigged that we were parallel to the shore for hours and not trying to land. The quartet set off from Lands End on July 25 and initially headed north into the Irish Sea before bad weather forced them to stop at Milford Haven in Wales. They then decided to return to Lands End and start again, this time heading in the other direction, which Mr Bates said had been about us showing resolve and resilience and hope. The journey is the first of four challenges over four years, with the group aiming to row from John OGroats to Lands End next year, from California to Hawaii in 2027 and New York to London in 2028, with a target of raising 57 million for MND research. So far, they have raised 107,515 for the charity. Mr Bates said: Were rowing for hope, were rowing to find a cure, and hopefully well raise 57 million we certainly will if MPs keep talking about us. Maybe Rupert will give us a donation. Rushanara Ali, the homelessness minister who resigned following allegations she evicted tenants from her property then raised the rent, did not break the law or any rules, one of her colleagues has said. Ms Ali resigned from Government on Thursday after reports that she raised the rent on a property she owns by hundreds of pounds just weeks after the previous tenants contract ended. The move would likely be prohibited under Labours Renters Rights Bill, which introduces new protections for tenants. Energy minister Miatta Fahnbulleh said Ms Ali had not broken any rules or any laws when asked by Sky News if the allegations about her colleague were a good look. Ms Fahnbulleh added: Shes chosen to resign, and that is a personal decision for her. What we care about as a Government is that we are levelling the playing field for renters. So we absolutely recognise that across the country. I hear stories all the time of people who are not getting a fair deal as a tenant. In the end, if youre a renter, you want security in the thing that is your home and so that is what the Renters Rights Bill is trying to do. I think that is absolutely right. In her letter to the Prime Minister announcing her resignation, Ms Ali said she did not want to become a distraction from the ambitious work of the Government. She said she had at all times followed all legal requirements and taken her responsibilities seriously. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer thanked Ms Ali for her diligent work at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, saying it would have a lasting impact. Rushanara Ali resigned from the Government (Prime Ministers Office/PA) The resignation follows reports in The i Paper that Ms Ali had given four tenants at a property she owned in east London four months notice to leave last November, and then relisted the property with a 700 rent increase within weeks. Ms Alis house, rented on a fixed-term contract, was put up for sale while the tenants were living there, and it was only relisted as a rental because it had not sold, according to The i Paper. Her former tenant, Laura Jackson, told the paper she was one of four tenants who received an email giving four months notice to leave the property, for which they collectively paid 3,300 in rent. Ms Jackson, a self-employed restaurant owner, said she saw the house relisted weeks after she and her fellow tenants had left, but with a rent of about 4,000. Ms Jackson declined to comment further when approached by the PA news agency but confirmed the details of The i Papers story. Under the Renters Rights Bill, landlords who evict tenants in order to sell their property would be banned from relisting it for rent for six months. Kevin Hollinrake, chairman of the Conservative party, described the allegations about Ms Ali as a classic case of do as I say, not as I do'. Mr Hollinrake was among those who called for the minister to resign, something he told GB News he took no joy in. He also told the broadcaster: But you cant simply say, well this current situation is not fit for purpose, we need to change it, and then not abide by those changes yourself. Conor ORourke and his mother Lucy with some of the team from Alder Hey Childrens Hospital in Liverpool (Alder Hey/PA) Surgeons have used a new technique to save the life of a toddler who was born with an extremely rare birth defect in what is thought to be a world first. Conor ORourke, now three, was diagnosed with vein of galen malformation (VOGM) as a baby after a doctor raised concerns about the size of his head at an appointment for an unrelated issue. The condition causes the veins and arteries in the brain to connect abnormally, increasing blood flow and leading to severe complications such as heart failure and brain damage, and death if undetected. The toddler from Bolton is one of a rare subgroup of patients with VOGM which left him essentially untreatable. Specialists at Alder Hey Childrens Hospital in Liverpool performed the novel technique, which involved open surgery deemed high risk, in March. Conor ORourke, three, pictured with his surgeon Conor Mallucci (Alder Hey/PA) Conor, who has since recovered well, would have deteriorated neurologically over a year or two without the operation, according to specialists. His surgeon told the PA news agency the boy is now considered 99% cured and has become a different child. Conor was around eight or nine months old when his mum Lucy ORourke, 36, took him to an appointment with a consultant over an issue with his belly button. However, while there, the doctor raised concerns about the size of her babys head. Conor was eventually diagnosed with VOGM in March 2023, which his mum said was terrifying. The condition causes arteries to connect directly to the vein of galen a deep vein in the brain that drains blood from the brain back to the heart rather than connecting to capillaries, which would slow down blood flow. It affects roughly 10 to 12 babies in the UK every year. Mrs ORourke told PA: I genuinely felt like I was living in a nightmare, and I felt like there was going to be a point where somebody was going to phone me and say, sorry, weve mixed up the scans, this isnt your child, weve got it wrong, and we just felt completely helpless in that moment in time. We just cried and sat in silence for hours. We just didnt know what to do with ourselves. The treatment for VOGM involves inserting a small, flexible tube called a catheter into the arteries, usually from the groin. Medics use X-ray imaging to guide the tube through the body and into place, and then inject a glue-like substance to block off the artery. In some cases, the same procedure can be performed by inserting the catheter into the veins. Conor had three of these operations in 2023. Conor Mallucci, a consultant paediatric neurosurgeon at Alder Hey, told PA: Conor had already had those procedures, both from the artery and the vein, but after a while, in a rare subgroup of these patients, the veins block off and you can no longer get to the malformation. And you cant get up there through the artery either, and so youre left with an untreatable malformation thats still supplying abnormal blood to the veins. When this happens, the jugular veins a set of major blood vessels in the neck block off. Thats rare to this condition, but its specific to this condition, Mr Mallucci said. And when the jugular veins block off, which happened in Conor, the veins from the brain try and drain elsewhere. In his case, he had all these abnormal channels draining to his brain stem and spinal cord. And that results in swelling and damage, which is why he was deteriorating over time. Mrs ORourke told PA her son suffered a small stroke after his third operation in November 2023. Around a year later, and after physiotherapy, the toddlers family were told he was not in a position for more operations and they would scan him in 12 months time. While his parents were initially so happy to have a year with no scans, they soon noticed their son was struggling. Mrs ORourke said: In early December, I started to notice that physically he was struggling, and he was limping quite a bit on his left leg. Conor recovering in hospital after surgery with his parents (Lucy ORourke/PA) Mr Mallucci said, by this point, Conor was essentially untreatable and had run out of all his options. Its a fight against time, and that happened quite early in Conor, which is why we had to come up with this alternative route, he added. You couldnt get into his head through the veins, because the jugular veins have blocked off, and you cant block off through the artery any more. So thats when we came up with our technique, which is to access the veins through open surgery beyond the blockage. The operation involved accessing the malformation through the skull to target the affected blood vessels. Alder Hey is one of only two centres in the UK equipped to carry out this procedure on children. The hospital has a state-of-the-art theatre with advanced imaging machinery, giving specialists real-time X-ray pictures of blood vessels during operations and allowing them to combine endovascular and open surgery. The technique has never been performed at another hospital. Mr Mallucci told PA: Exposing these veins that were blocked at the jugular level is high risk. You lose blood. Its a big operation, and to put a needle directly into one of those is a little bit hair raising, so we had to be very careful about that. Medics told Mrs ORourke her son would very tired after surgery and was expected to sleep for around a week and remain in hospital for up to six weeks. However, Conor woke up soon after the operation asking for chips and the family were home after 10 days. Mrs ORourke said: I obviously went into mum mode and said can we get some chips in here please? Speaking of Conors recovery, Mr Mallucci said: Hes not only recovered well, everything that he had going bad was reversed. Hes become a different child, really, its like hes suddenly been released. Mr Mallucci told PA Conor is considered 99% cured and will not need any more operations. Instead, he will have annual scans to monitor his brain and potentially have an angiogram when a dye is injected into the bloodstream to allow doctors to capture images of blood vessels using X-ray in around four to five years. Mrs ORourke said: No surgery now unless we get broken arms or legs but with something like that, were kind of like bring it on. As long as its not more brain surgery, then well probably be able to cope with that. Specialists at Alder Hey have performed the new technique on two patients, including Conor, and have a third lined up. A fast-growing brush fire has forced thousands of people to evacuate a mountainous area north of Los Angeles. The Canyon Fire ignited on Thursday afternoon and grew to more than 7.6 square miles by 11pm, according to Ventura County Fire Department. At least 400 personnel were battling the blaze along with several planes and helicopters. It remained uncontained late on Thursday and was spreading east into Los Angeles County, officials said. A firefighter battles the Canyon Fire in Hasley Canyon (Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP) The fire is burning just south of Lake Piru, a reservoir in the Los Padres National Forest. It is close by Lake Castaic, a popular recreation area burned by the Hughes Fire in January. That fire burned about 15 square miles in six hours and put 50,000 people under evacuation orders or warnings. Sunny, hot and dry conditions are expected in the area where the Canyon Fire is burning on Friday, with the daytime high near 38C and minimum humidity in the mid-teens, according to the National Weather Service. Winds are expected to be light in the morning and grow from the south to south west in the afternoon. In LA County, around 2,700 residents left the area with 700 structures under an evacuation order, officials said late on Thursday. Another 14,000 residents and 5,000 structures were covered by an evacuation warning. Areas in the Val Verde zone had been reduced from an order to a warning. A California Department of Corrections fire crew battles the Canyon Fire (Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP) The evacuation zones in nearby Ventura County were relatively unpopulated, Ventura County Fire Department spokesman Andrew Dowd said on Thursday. Fifty-six people were evacuated from the Lake Piru recreation area. Mr Dowd called the blaze a very dynamic situation caused by hot, dry weather, steep and rugged terrain and dry fuel. LA County supervisor Kathryn Barger, who represents the district, urged residents to leave. Extreme heat and low humidity in our north county have created dangerous conditions where flames can spread with alarming speed, she said in a statement. If first responders tell you to leave, go without hesitation. Flames from the Gifford Fire race up a hillside in Los Padres National Forest (Noah Berger/AP) The new blaze came after a massive wildfire in central California became the states largest blaze of the year, threatening hundreds of homes and burning out of control in the Los Padres National Forest. The Gifford Fire had spread to 155 square miles by Thursday night with 15% containment. It grew out of at least four smaller fires that erupted on August 1 along State Route 166, forcing closures in both directions east of Santa Maria, a city of about 110,000 people. It has injured at least four people. The causes of the fires are under investigation. Wildfire risk will be elevated through the weekend across much of inland California as a heatwave gripping the area intensifies. August and September are typically the most dangerous months for wildfires in the state. Firefighters in a mountainous area north of Los Angeles have made good progress in their battle against a brush fire which has forced thousands of people to evacuate the area, an official said. The Canyon Fire ignited on Thursday afternoon and spread rapidly in the dry, steep terrain in Ventura and Los Angeles counties to more than 7.6 square miles, with no containment by 11pm, according to Ventura County Fire Department. At least 400 personnel battled the blaze along with several planes and helicopters. No further growth was reported on Friday morning, though the fire remained uncontained, county fire department public information officer Andrew Dowd said. A firefighter battles the Canyon Fire in Hasley Canyon (Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP) The fire is burning just south of Lake Piru, a reservoir in the Los Padres National Forest. It is close by Lake Castaic, a popular recreation area burned by the Hughes Fire in January. That fire burned about 15 square miles in six hours and put 50,000 people under evacuation orders or warnings. Firefighters battling the Canyon Fire took advantage of lower temperatures overnight to directly attack the fire and made a lot of progress, Mr Dowd said, and by Friday morning, they were seeing subdued fire behaviour. They were putting it all on the line to bring this fire under control, he said. One firefighter reported a minor injury, but no civilian injuries were reported, Mr Dowd said. No single-family or multi-family residences were destroyed, but two minor structures were lost, he said. Sunny, hot and dry conditions are expected on Friday in the area where the Canyon Fire was burning, with the daytime high near 38C and minimum humidity in the mid-teens, according to the National Weather Service. Winds are expected to be light and to grow from the south to south west in the afternoon. A California Department of Corrections fire crew battles the Canyon Fire (Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP) In LA County, around 2,700 residents left the area with 700 structures under an evacuation order, officials said late on Thursday. Another 14,000 residents and 5,000 structures were covered by an evacuation warning. Areas within the Val Verde zone had been reduced from an order to a warning. The evacuation zones in nearby Ventura County were relatively unpopulated, Mr Dowd said. Fifty-six people left the Lake Piru recreation area. LA County supervisor Kathryn Barger urged residents to leave. Extreme heat and low humidity in our north county have created dangerous conditions where flames can spread with alarming speed, she said in a statement. If first responders tell you to leave, go without hesitation. The new blaze comes as a massive wildfire in central California became the states largest blaze of the year, threatening hundreds of homes and burning out of control in the Los Padres National Forest. Flames from the Gifford Fire race up a hillside in Los Padres National Forest (Noah Berger/AP) The Gifford Fire had spread to 155 square miles by Thursday night with 15% containment. It grew out of at least four smaller fires that erupted on August 1 along State Route 166, forcing closures in both directions east of Santa Maria, a city of about 110,000. It has injured at least four people. The causes of the fires are under investigation. Wildfire risk will be elevated through the weekend across much of inland California as a heatwave intensifies. August and September are typically the most dangerous months for wildfires in the state. Germany will not authorise any exports of military equipment that could be used in Gaza until further notice, Chancellor Friedrich Merz has announced. It was a quick response by one of Israels strongest international backers to a decision by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus cabinet to take over Gaza City. The move by Germany, which had previously stopped short of tougher lines against Israels government taken by some of its European Union allies, appears likely to further isolate Israel over the military takeover plan which has been condemned by the United Nations and supporters of Israeli hostages still held in Gaza. In a statement, Mr Merz emphasised that Israel has the right to defend itself against Hamass terror and said the release of Israeli hostages and purposeful negotiations towards a ceasefire in the 22-month conflict are our top priority. He added that Hamas must not have a role in the future of Gaza. The even harsher military action by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip, approved by the Israeli cabinet last night, makes it increasingly difficult for the German government to see how these goals will be achieved, he added. Under these circumstances, the German government will not authorise any exports of military equipment that could be used in the Gaza Strip until further notice. The German government remains deeply concerned about the suffering of civilians in Gaza, he said, adding: With the planned offensive, the Israeli government bears even greater responsibility than before for providing for their needs. He called on Israel to allow comprehensive access for aid deliveries including for UN organisations and other non-governmental organisations and said Israel must continue to comprehensively and sustainably address the humanitarian situation in Gaza. Germany also called on Israels government not to take any further steps toward annexing the West Bank. It is not clear which military equipment from Germany will be affected. Benjamin Netanyahu (Ohad Zwigenberg/PA) Mr Netanyahu spoke with Mr Merz on Friday and expressed disappointment with the decision, according to an Israeli government statement. Germany is rewarding Hamas and failing to support Israels just war against the group, the statement said. Germany has led efforts among the EUs 27 member nations to block collective criticism of or efforts to stop Israels blockade of Gaza and military campaign in the coastal enclave. Alongside Hungary and the Czech Republic, Germany has argued against calls from Spain, Ireland and the Netherlands to scrap a bilateral agreement with Israel, sanction settlers and enact an arms embargo. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri), Germany was the second largest supplier of arms to Israel last year after the US. German companies provide 30% of Israels defence imports, mostly naval armaments, according to Zain Hussain, an arms transfers researcher at Sipri. He suggested the pullback by Germany will be temporary. This is going to be a limited measure, Mr Hussain said. Germany has been committed to providing Israel with arms, especially with ships. It is a big deal, I suppose, in the sense that Germany which has been committed to Israels security and has stood firmly with it is openly admitting that it is uncomfortable with Israels actions and limiting some arms transfers, and for Germany this is a huge deal. However, I dont think this alone will stop Israels operations in Gaza, and Israel still has the USA as a committed arms supplier. Germany, with its history with the Holocaust, has been among the strongest western backers of Israel, no matter which government is in power. Mr Merzs government did not join announcements by French President Emmanuel Macron and UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer that they plan to formally recognise a Palestinian state next month. The reluctance so far of the EUs biggest economic power to take a tougher line on the actions of Mr Netanyahus government clouded the prospects that international pressure might have an impact on Israels decisions. Israels air and ground war has already killed tens of thousands of people in Gaza, displaced most of the population, destroyed vast areas and pushed the territory towards famine. The campaign was triggered when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel on October 7 2023, killing around 1,200 people and abducting 251 people. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said Israels extension of military operations in Gaza must be reconsidered, in her strongest criticism yet during the war. She also made another call for Israel to let in more aid. Dutch foreign minister Caspar Veldkamp said Mr Netanyahus plan to intensify operations in Gaza is a wrong move, adding that the humanitarian situation is catastrophic and demands immediate improvement. This decision in no way contributes to this and will also not help to get the hostages home. Danish foreign minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen was quoted by public broadcaster DR as saying: The Israeli governments decision to intensify the military operation in Gaza is wrong. It will only lead to even greater suffering for the civilian population. Last week, even before the Gaza City takeover plan, Slovenia announced it would ban the import, export and transit of all weapons to and from Israel, saying it was the first EU member country to do so. Palestinians struggle to collect humanitarian aid (Jehad Alshrafi/AP) Last month, two dozen mostly European countries condemned Israels restrictions on aid shipments into Gaza and the killings of hundreds of Palestinians trying to reach food. Last year, the UK suspended exports of some weapons to Israel over concerns they could be used to break international law, but it was a move with limited military impact. The decision related to about 30 of 350 existing export licences for equipment that could be used in Gaza, including parts for military planes, helicopters and drones. Outrage over Israels actions in Gaza has grown in Europe as images of suffering Palestinians have driven protests in London, Berlin, Brussels and other capitals. More recently, almost-daily killings of Palestinians while seeking aid have tested the EUs friendly relationship with Israel like never before. The Israeli decision, taken after a late-night meeting of senior officials, came despite mounting international calls to end the war and protests by many in Israel who fear for the remaining hostages held by Hamas. Tens of thousands of Palestinians are bracing to again be forced from their homes, while families of the hostages fear their loved ones will not return. Most of the hostages have been released in ceasefires or other deals but 50 remain inside Gaza. Israel believes around 20 are alive. The timing of another major Israeli ground operation remains unclear because it is likely to hinge on mobilising thousands of troops and forcibly evacuating civilians, almost certainly exacerbating the humanitarian catastrophe. Donald Trump has said he would meet Vladimir Putin even if the Russian leader will not meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Mr Trump was asked by a reporter if the Russian leader would need to meet Mr Zelensky to secure a meeting with the US, and replied: No, he doesnt. No. His comments followed Mr Putins remarks earlier on Thursday that he hoped to meet the US president next week, possibly in the United Arab Emirates, but the White House was still working through the details of any potential meetings, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said. Mr Putins announcement came on the eve of a White House deadline for Moscow to show progress towards ending the three-year war in Ukraine or suffer additional economic sanctions. Asked on Thursday if his deadline for Friday would hold, Mr Trump said of Mr Putin: Its going to be up to him. Were going to see what he has to say. Its going to be up to him. Very disappointed. He also touched on killings that have continued on both sides and added, I dont like long waits. I think its a shame. A White House official told the Associated Press on Thursday morning that a US-Russian summit would not happen if Mr Putin did not agree to meet Mr Zelensky, but the official later said it only made it less likely. Speaking of possible direct talks with Mr Zelensky, the Russian president said he has mentioned several times that he was not against it, adding: Its a possibility, but certain conditions need to be created. The Kremlin has previously said Mr Putin and Mr Zelensky should meet only when an agreement negotiated by their delegations is close. Ukraine fears being sidelined by direct negotiations between Washington and Moscow, and Mr Zelensky said he had phone conversations with several European leaders on Thursday amid a flurry of diplomatic activity. European countries have pledged to back Ukraine for as long as it takes to defeat Russias invasion. Mr Putins foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, earlier brushed aside the possibility of Mr Zelensky joining the summit, something the White House said Mr Trump was ready to consider. Mr Putin has spurned Mr Zelenskys previous offers of a meeting to clinch a breakthrough. Asked who initiated the possible talks with the US president, Mr Putin said that did not matter and both sides expressed an interest. Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelensky (Gregorio Borgia/AP) A meeting would be the first US-Russia summit since 2021, when Joe Biden met Mr Putin in Geneva. It would be a significant milestone towards Mr Trumps effort to end the war, although there is no guarantee it would stop the fighting since Moscow and Kyiv remain far apart on their conditions for peace. Months of US-led efforts have yielded no progress on stopping Russias invasion of its neighbour. The war has killed tens of thousands of troops on both sides and more than 12,000 Ukrainian civilians, according to the United Nations. Western officials have repeatedly accused Mr Putin of stalling in peace negotiations to allow Russian forces time to capture more Ukrainian land. He has previously offered no concessions and said he will accept a settlement only on his terms. Mr Zelensky said European countries must also be involved in finding a solution to the war on their own continent. Ukraine is not afraid of meetings and expects the same bold approach from the Russian side. It is time to end the war, he added. A ceasefire and long-term security guarantees are priorities in potential negotiation with Russia, he said on social media. He noted that Russian strikes on civilians have not eased despite Mr Trump publicly urging Mr Putin to relent. A Russian attack on Wednesday in the central Dnipro region killed four people and wounded eight others, he said. A new Gallup poll published on Thursday found that Ukrainians are increasingly eager for a peace settlement. In the survey, conducted in early July, about seven in 10 Ukrainians said their country should seek to negotiate a settlement as soon as possible. Publicly the DUP refused to speak with Sinn Fein - but declassified files show a different side to the storyTwo factions of the party disagreed on power-sharingTalks of the early 2000s ultimately floundered Ian Paisley after meeting with General John De Chastelain in 2004. Flattery, deceit, a bung, MI5, and the secret back-channel to Sinn Fein - uncovered files have revealed the DUPs route to power-sharing. Publicly the DUP refused to talk to Sinn Fein, Ian Paisley wanted Sackcloth and Ashes. But the truth was that the party was in direct talks with Republicans. In public, Ian Paisleys party insisted it was united but the reality was very different. Peter Robinson was briefing the government on how to deal with an increasingly frail Paisley and the two big factions of the party disagreed on power-sharing. Whilst the DUP did end up going into government with Sinn Fein, the talks of the early 2000s ultimately floundered just before the IRAs audacious Northern Bank robbery. To tell this tale of political intrigue, money, and what some might call betrayal, Ciaran Dunbar is joined by Belfast Telegraphs Northern Ireland editor Sam McBride, who has been looking through the formerly classified Kew Files in London. Sam McBride on the DUPs route to power sharing Ian Paisley after meeting with General John De Chastelain in 2004. In Profile: Former Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams Bennington, VT (05201) Today Generally cloudy. Slight chance of a shower throughout the evening. High around 70F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight A few passing clouds, otherwise generally clear. Slight chance of a shower throughout the evening. Low 47F. Winds light and variable. BENNINGTON Phil Holland has published a significantly expanded second edition of his 2016 book, A Guide to The Battle of Bennington & the Bennington Monument, but he doubts hes finished writing about the August 1777 victory that, well, put the town on the world map. There is a lot about the battle that has never been published, Holland said this week, because there is no book, no comprehensive academic treatment of the battle. It is a chapter or two in books on the Saratoga campaign. The Saratoga, New York, area is where the main British army under Gen. John Burgoyne was halted in its march south and forced to surrender with about 6,000 troops that October in one of the key battles of the Revolutionary War. It was the American victory that convinced France to become an ally in the colonies struggle for independence from Britain. But that came only after a contingent of some 650 German mercenaries with about 50 British troops were decisively defeated on August 16, 1777, in nearby Walloomsac, New York, and chased back toward the Hudson River and the invading British army. The enemy troops had been sent to raid the countryside, seeking needed supplies for Burgoynes army, including military stores they understood were located in Bennington. The truth is the battle is endlessly fascinating and there are still things that we are discovering about it, Holland said. He said that when he first came to this area in 1969 to attend Bennington College, I dont think I was aware of the battle. But he moved back to get married in 1983 and lived for several years in Shaftsbury, before moving in 1995 to Greece, where he taught American history and literature for many years. Holland moved back to Vermont in 2014, when he retired from teaching and now lives in Pownal. Upon his retirement, Holland said he asked himself, Well, what should I do? He had read historian Tyler Reschs book about the Bennington Battle Monument during the mid-1990s, he said, and that had piqued my interest in the battle. Robert Frost But first Holland said he saw there was no similar guide about poet Robert Frosts years living in Bennington County. So I said Ill just produce a little booklet about that, self-published, he said. And I sold my 1,000 copies. I could see a commercial demand for something like that, and I said, what else is needed? Holland said he noticed that there was no popular book, no guide about the Battle of Bennington. He said hed read a 2011 book by historian Michael P. Gabriel, The Battle of Bennington: Soldiers & Civilians, with first-hand accounts of the battle, and I certainly learned from that book. Holland thought his 2016 Bennington battle guide would be about 36 pages, but it was 56 pages, because I got very interested in the subject. It really surprised me how fascinating the Battle of Bennington was, and how consequential it was. Holland had to calculate how many copies he could sell and eventually printed 2,000. Which was pretty bold of me, he said, and it took about eight years to sell them out. I was quite happy to sell them over that period not through Amazon, he said, but through local outlets and some historic sites, museums, and the Monument gift shop. He added, I feel the person responsible for the commercial success is my designer, Leslie Noyes, [of Leslie Noyes Creative Consulting of Bennington], who was responsible for the layout of text and photos on the pages and covers of the book. Second edition As I learned more about the battle, I wanted to correct a few mistakes and to include some new topics, Holland said, and he continued to do research, lecture and write articles about aspects of the battle included in the second edition, which is 78 pages with additional photographs and images. Holland said that among the new material is information on Sipp Ives, a Black member of Col. Seth Warners regiment of Green Mountain Boys who died from wounds sustained in the battle. It was big news to me when my friend, and Battle of Bennington mentor, Lion Miles, discovered that a Black man had been killed serving with the Green Mountain Boys, Holland said. He added that it is his hope someone will complete a scholarly work about the Battle of Bennington, which Miles had begun. He and a colleague at the University of Massachusetts were working on a manuscript of some 300 well-researched pages, Holland said, but the colleague died and the work was never finished. Miles, who lived nearby in the Berkshires, died in 2020. However, Holland said, I was able to secure his scholarly papers for the Bennington Museum and Williams College, in cooperation with his daughter and heir. Holland said he donated a copy to the Bennington Museum and also passed a copy to Gabriel, whom he hopes might complete a full scholarly treatment on the battle. Williams College has Miles extensive research notebooks about the Bennington battle, Holland said. Rum for the troops In his second edition, Holland focused on several topics that have benefited from new research, among those the role of rum in the Bennington battle. Rum, primarily from the West Indies, was commonly made available among the armies and navies of the time. For instance, the New Hampshire troops who joined the battle were financed by the Speaker of the colonys assembly, who pledged cash, silver plate and 70 hogsheads of Tobago rum, Holland said. That got me thinking, he said. Where did that rum come from? Of course, it came from the West Indies, and it was produced by slave labor. So you have patriots fighting for freedom, but the New Hampshire economy was tied to the slave system of the West Indies. He added, Really, the source of a great deal of New Englands wealth was [trade involving] rum, as it was for the rest of New England and in part for the British as well. [General] John Stark ordered rum; he knew how important it was to the troops, Holland said. So I have called rum the official drink of the Battle of Bennington. He noted with a smile, You know, if I were publishing an academic book, they wouldnt let me do that. But there is no one but me to stop me from having a little fun. Or at least enlivening the book with a slightly less formal mode of presentation. He added, I love this ability that I have as a self publisher to revise and to do as I please and give it a try in the marketplace. Ive done it again, this time including quite a few new topics. This is a bit of a gateway book, Holland said, but it is also all you will ever need unless you are going to be a scholar about it. Holland grew up in Western Massachusetts, is a graduate of Bennington College and holds a doctorate in English from the University of London. He is a former chair of the English Department of Anatolia College in Thessaloniki, Greece. The new book is available at $16.95 from the Bennington Bookshop and the Bennington Museum store. For more information, email phil.holland44@gmail.com. What began as a small paper converting business in Lee has grown into a full-service biomedical firm working to help clients across the country create, test and market new biomedical products. With a new Waltham office and a company-wide reorganization, Boyd Biomedical is entering its next phase all without leaving its Berkshire roots behind. The Sept. 10, 1932, edition of The Berkshire Eagle featured a photo of the headstone of John H.C. Burghardt, which was discovered by a descendant of the same name on Richmond farmland. State officials say electric vehicles are gaining in popularity and this month announced a plan to roll out $46 million over the next two years to strengthen charging networks for key corridors in western and central Massachusetts. Mike Kennealy, a Republican candidate for governor, emphasized the need for a long-term solution to the state's lack of housing supply. "The only way to solve the housing crisis is to produce more housing," he said. Tables at the South Community Food Pantry in Pittsfield, the largest food pantry in Berkshire County, are filled and emptied in one day of deliveries. About 500 families depend on deliveries per day. You have permission to edit this article. Edit Close Quality local journalism needs your support Access this story and all of our stories with 24/7 unlimited access. Subscribe today. Cancel anytime. Subscribe now for 99 Subscriber Sign In | Return Home Borsa Italiana non ha responsabilita per il contenuto del sito a cui sta per accedere e non ha responsabilita per le informazioni contenute. Accedendo a questo link, Borsa Italiana non intende sollecitare acquisti o offerte in alcun paese da parte di nessuno. Sarai automaticamente diretto al link in cinque secondi. 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Advertisement Judge Reynolds heard that recommendations by both judges regarding the care of a teenager at risk of death by his own hand and a danger to others had been totally ignored by Tusla. This is an extremely vulnerable young person whose medical history speaks for itself, Judge Reynolds told barrister Donal O Muircheartaigh, counsel for the childs legal guardian Mr O Muircheartaigh, who appeared with David McCoy of McCoy Solicitors, had outlined the teenagers difficult early childhood recalling that he had been in seven different placements prior to his current placement having been secured for him in June 2024. He said this placement had come to an end today Friday and the boy was being moved to a centre that both his guardian and the District Court had only yesterday, Thursday, raised concerns about. Advertisement Mr O MuircheartaighI detailed previous very serious reports from the boys treating medical experts which had highlighted the high risk of death from suicide and pointed out to Judge Reynolds that special care had been specifically prescribed for him. Counsel went through the chaotic recent few weeks where the direction of a District Court judge for a special care referral had initially been ignored and cited two District Court judges recent concern at the breadth of the risk laid bare in professional reports and particularly one judges view that he had never seen a report as concerning to the District Court. Mr O Muircheartaigh told Judge Reynolds that in light of the fact that the Child Family Agency did not seem to attach much weight to District Court orders, it was necessary to have the heft of the High Courts oversight to see if a more expeditious and timely change for the teenager could be arranged. It is important to bring this particular to the Croke Park of courts as opposed to the regional grounds where change is not occurring fast enough, counsel said. Advertisement The court queried the current state of affairs on the no beds list as monitored by the High Court and Mr O Muircheartaigh said there were currently 26 physical beds in special care with a capacity to staff only 15 of them. Ireland Dublin pensioner charged with harassing financial... Read More There were four children on the list who had an order registered against them that they require the safety and security of special care but had not been allocated a bed. They were also very serious cases. Judge Reynolds said it was hard to find a more apt case for special care and returned the proceedings to August 20th directing that the matter was of such urgency, because of the potential detriment to the child, that it could be re-entered before that date on notice to Tusla. The judge directed that the Child Family Agency be notified immediately of her directions and asked that the Agency be informed that she was astonished to note its failure to comply with a judicial direction A District Court judge recently condemned Tuslas handling of its duty and obligations toward children in its care and described such practice as shocking and appalling. A 43-year-old man accused of carrying out a knife and hatchet attack on a fellow resident at a homeless accommodation service in Dublin has been remanded in custody. Stephen Crosbie was charged with assault causing harm to the injured man who was stabbed on Wednesday at the Peter McVerry Trust house on the New Cabra Road in the city's north side. Advertisement He was refused bail by Judge Cephas Power at Dublin District Court. Garda Aileen Deely told Judge Power the accused made no reply when charged with the offence, which can carry a 10-year sentence. She objected to bail due to the seriousness of the allegations, as well as concerns about witness intimidation and the accused's potential to fail to appear in court. Garda Deely stated that the victim suffered multiple stab wounds which resulted in a punctured right kidney, knife injuries to his leg and back, and a blow to his head with a hatchet. Advertisement The court heard it was believed the alleged attack stemmed from a debt owed by the injured resident to Mr Crosbie, who had lent him 200 earlier, after which 100 was repaid. It was claimed that due to the amount outstanding, there was a row, and Mr Crosbie went to his own room and returned with a hatchet and a knife and began attacking the other resident in a hallway. He allegedly began swinging the knife, and then hatchet, striking him on the forehead. The man was taken to the Mater Hospital for emergency surgery, and the accused was arrested in the vicinity. The bail hearing was told there was CCTV footage of the incident, and the garda expected that the case would ultimately be sent to the Circuit Court, which has greater sentencing powers. Advertisement The court heard he was verbally abusive and threatened to throw urine on officers after being brought to a local Garda station. Defence solicitor Murrough O'Rourke suggested that the judge could impose strict conditions. He added Mr Crosbie was from Dublin, his parents were dead, and he had one sibling in the city and "is not going to go anywhere". The garda said no terms would alleviate her concerns; one of them was that the two men could end up coming across each other in another hostel in the city. Mr O'Rourke suggested his client could be ordered to stay away from specific homeless services. Judge Power said the defence made a reasonable argument against the witness intimidation and failure to appear in court fears. However, he held that the difficulty was the other basis the seriousness of the charge cited by Garda Deely, adding that the extent of the injuries could not be overestimated. He denied Mr Crosbie, who has yet to indicate a plea, bail and remanded him in custody pending direction from the Director of Public Prosecutions. He will appear at Cloverhill District Court on Tuesday. Legal aid was granted. A pensioner accused of harassing a financial advisor in Dublin for two years was today ordered to remove a van with derogatory comments parked near the businessmans workplace. Desmond Perry, 72, of Coolronan, The Hill, Rathcoole, was charged with the harassment of the complainant at a business premises in Dublin from May 17th, 2023, until August 8th, 2025. Advertisement He appeared before Judge Peter White at Dublin District Court, where Garda Thomas Flaherty said Mr Perry made no reply when charged with the section 10 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act offence. While Garda Flaherty did not object to bail, he did request specific conditions which Judge White agreed to impose. They prohibit the accused from any form of contact with the alleged injured party. Furthermore, he was given 24 hours to remove a van bearing derogatory comments or slogans about the injured party from a specific location. The court heard that the Director of Public Prosecutions authorised the case to be dealt with at the District Court level, provided Mr Perry pleads guilty. Otherwise, he will face trial in the Circuit Court, which has wider sentencing powers. Advertisement The accused, who has not yet made a decision on how he will proceed, did not address the court, but nodded when warned by the judge that breaking the terms would see the bail revoked. His solicitor, Danica Kinane, was granted an order for disclosure of prosecution evidence ahead of her clients next court hearing. Details of the alleged harassment have not yet been outlined; the accused was granted bail with a 200 bond to appear again on September 19th to enter a plea. There was no objection to legal aid being granted, with Garda Flaherty telling the court he was aware of Mr Perrys circumstances. Gardai are investigating a motive for an arson attack and damage caused to a house in Castleconnell, Co Limerick on Friday morning. The violent attack, carried out by four masked males, armed with hatchets and accelerant, occurred around 1.30 am, on Friday. Advertisement CCTV footage shared on social media showed that as one of the males entered the curtilage of the property with a hatchet, two of the perpetrators smashed up a car parked outside the house, and the fourth male set the vehicle on fire. The men then fled in a black coloured car as the occupants of the house emerged from the property. A female voice can be heard on the footage as the men are carrying out the attack, shouting what are ye doing...scumbags...f*****g scumbag ya, youre f*****g dead. A male voice is then heard on the recording asking for someone to ring the fire brigade, Jesus, quick, ring the guards. The masked gangs getaway car was driven by a fifth man. A garda statement read: Gardai received a report of an incident of criminal damage that occurred this Friday 8th August 2025 at approximately 1:30am in Castleconnell, Co. Limerick. A vehicle and a domestic residence have been reported as damaged. No injuries have been reported at this time. The Garda statement concluded: Investigations are ongoing. A group of American politicians are asking for Ireland to be placed on a list of countries which boycott Israel, if the Occupied Territories Bill is passed. The 16 congress representatives have signed a letter, expressing what they say are serious concerns about the plans to ban the import of goods from the illegal settlers in the West Bank of Palestine. Advertisement It reads: Last month, Irish Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Simon Harris introduced legislation to prohibit the import of goods and services originating from territories under Israeli administration that they characterize as occupied, including Judea and Samaria, Gaza, parts of Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, the letter from the Congressmen and women states. This measure is part of a broader effort aligned with the global Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, which seeks to economically isolate Israel. Such policies not only promote economic discrimination but also create legal uncertainty for US companies operating in Ireland. The United States must send a clear signal that efforts to economically isolate Israel will carry consequences, and that US law designed to combat such discrimination will be enforced. If Ireland is added to the list, it would mean specific tax requirements and potential penalties for American companies doing business here. The letter was sent to US treasury secretary Scott Bessent. News of Israels security cabinet approving a plan to take over Gaza City features heavily across the front pages of Irish newspapers on Friday. Israels security cabinet last night was set to approve a plan to attack Gaza city, forcing more than 800,000 residents from their homes, The Irish Times reports. Advertisement Prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu told ministers that the current military approach has failed to bring about the release of hostages, 20 of whom are believed to be alive. The Irish Examiner reports on the how the use of painkillers has jumped, with a 25 per cent rise in opioid use and 50 per cent increase in medication containing oxycodone. Experts have warned of addiction risks and also found Irish people use far more pain medication than patients in England, and called for better access to other types of treatment here. Advertisement The Echo's front page features a story regarding a total of 7,072 paediatric appointments and surgeries being cancelled in Cork University Hospital over the last five years, according to HSE figures. Gardai have carried out a search of a military barracks as part of a child sexual exploitation investigation, according to the Irish Independent. The couple facing possible charges over alleged perjury in Conor McGregor's failed appeal have said they are not liars, the Irish Daily Star reports. The same story takes centre stage on the front pages of the Irish Daily Mirror, which also reports on Sesko looking to seal his 85 million Manchester United deal. The Irish Daily Mail reports on the recent spike in youth unemployment perhaps being a bad omen for the country's finances. The Herald leads with a new report claiming drug dealing is taking place in a number of primary schools in the Dublin 15 area. The husband of a woman convicted of killing three people with a meal laced with deadly mushrooms suspected his wife had been poisoning him more than a year before the fatal meal, an Australian court has heard. A judge on Friday lifted a gag order on pretrial evidence that triple murderer Erin Patterson, 50, had wanted kept secret while she attempts to overturn her convictions. Advertisement The evidence included the suspicions of Pattersons estranged husband, Simon Patterson, that she had previously attempted to kill him. Mr Patterson gave evidence at a pre-trial hearing that he had declined the lunch invitation out of fear. I thought thered be a risk that shed poison me if I attended, he told the court months before the trial in evidence that was not presented to jurors. Mr Patterson said that while he had stopped eating food prepared by his wife, from whom he had been estranged since 2015, he never thought others would be at risk. Advertisement Simon Patterson said he had stopped eating food prepared by his wife (James Ross/AAP/AP) Erin Patterson was convicted by a Victoria state Supreme Court last month of murdering her parents-in-law, Don and Gail Patterson, and Gails sister Heather Wilkinson, at her home in Leongatha, with a lunch of beef Wellington pastries containing toxic death cap mushrooms. She was also found guilty of attempting to murder Ian Wilkinson, Mrs Wilkinsons husband, who survived the meal but spent weeks in hospital. Erin Patterson was initially charged with attempting to murder her husband by inviting him to the lunch in July 2023. He had accepted the invitation, then cancelled. She was also initially charged with three counts of attempting to murder him on three occasions around Victoria between November 2021 and September 2022. Advertisement Prosecutors dropped all charges relating to the husband before her trial began in April. Mr Patterson gave evidence before the trial that he suspected his wife had deliberately made him seriously ill with dishes including Bolognese pasta, chicken korma curry and a vegetable curry wrap. No poisons were ever found. The three alleged poisonings occurred during family camping trips. Mr Patterson told his poisoning suspicions to his doctor, who encouraged him to create a spreadsheet listing what he had eaten around the time he became sick. The court on Friday also released video of Erin Pattersons police interview, recorded a week after the fatal lunch. Advertisement In the interview, Detective Stephen Eppingstall told her that both her female victims were dead and their husbands were critically ill. He asked her why she had invited them to lunch. She replied that she wanted to maintain her relationship with the estranged husbands parents because her own parents had died. Don and Gail Patterson had remained supportive and had been the only grandparents to her two children, she said. I love them a lot. Theyve always been really good to me and they always said to me that they would support me with love and emotional support, even though Simon and I were separated, and I really appreciated that, Erin Patterson said. Advertisement The judge, Justice Christopher Beale, ruled for lawyers representing media who sought to overturn the gag order, ordering that the evidence that jurors had not seen would be made public. Erin Pattersons lawyers wanted all the evidence that was not deemed admissible at her trial kept secret until an appeals court decided whether to overturn her convictions. Their reasons included that media interest in the case was unprecedented. Defence lawyer Colin Mandy argued that reporting of the suppressed evidence, as well as references to it in books, podcasts and a planned television mini-series, would leave an indelible impression on the minds of potential jurors in the event that there is a retrial. A hearing will begin on August 25 to determine what sentence she will get. She faces a potential life sentence for each of the murders and 25 years for attempted murder. Prosecutor Jane Warren told the judge on Friday a lot of victim impact statements would be presented at that two-day sentencing hearing. Once Erin Patterson is sentenced, she will have 28 days to lodge an appeal against the sentence, the convictions, or both. Her lawyers say they will appeal against her convictions. Israels security cabinet has approved a plan to take over Gaza City, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus office said early on Friday. The war, sparked by Hamass October 7 attacks on Israel which killed 1,200 with more than 250 people taken hostage, has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, destroyed much of Gaza and pushed the territory of some two million Palestinians toward famine. Advertisement Ahead of the security cabinet meeting, which began on Thursday and ran through the night, Mr Netanyahu said Israel planned to retake control over the entire territory and eventually hand it off to friendly Arab forces opposed to Hamas. The plans stop short of that, perhaps reflecting the reservations of Israels top general, who reportedly warned it would endanger the remaining 20 or so living hostages held by Hamas and further strain Israels army after nearly two years of regional wars. Meanwhile, mediators from Egypt and Qatar are working on a new framework that would include the release of all hostages dead and alive in one go in return for an end of the war in Gaza and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the strip, two Arab officials told the Associated Press. Many families of hostages are opposed to Israels plans, fearing further escalation will doom their loved ones. Advertisement The military will prepare to take control of Gaza City while providing humanitarian aid to the civilian population outside the combat zones, Mr Netanyahus office said in a statement after the meeting. Israel has repeatedly bombarded Gaza City and carried out numerous raids, only to return to different neighbourhoods again and again as militants regrouped. Today, it is one of the few areas of Gaza that has not been turned into an Israeli buffer zone or placed under evacuation orders. Smoke rises to the sky following an Israeli strike in the Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel on Thursday (Leo Correa/AP) A major ground operation there could displace tens of thousands of people and further disrupt efforts to deliver food to the territory. Advertisement It is unclear how many people reside in the city, which was Gazas largest before the war. Hundreds of thousands fled Gaza City under evacuation orders in the opening weeks of the war, but many returned during a ceasefire at the start of this year. Israel already controls around three-quarters of the devastated territory. Families of hostages held in Gaza fear an escalation could doom their loved ones and some protested outside the security cabinet meeting in Jerusalem. Advertisement Former top Israeli security officials have also come out against the plan, warning of a quagmire with little added military benefit. An Israeli official had earlier said the security cabinet would discuss plans to conquer all or parts of Gaza not yet under Israeli control. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity pending a formal decision, said that whatever is approved would be implemented gradually to increase pressure on Hamas. At least 42 Palestinians were killed in Israeli airstrikes and shootings across southern Gaza on Thursday, according to local hospitals. Advertisement Asked in an interview with Fox News ahead of the security cabinet meeting if Israel would take control of all of Gaza, Mr Netanyahu replied: We intend to, in order to assure our security, remove Hamas there, enable the population to be free of Gaza. We dont want to keep it. We want to have a security perimeter. We want to hand it over to Arab forces that will govern it properly without threatening us and giving Gazans a good life. Israels military chief of staff, Lt Gen Eyal Zamir, warned against occupying Gaza, saying it would endanger the hostages and put further strain on the military after nearly two years of war, according to Israeli media reports. Of the 42 people killed on Thursday, at least 13 were seeking aid in an Israeli military zone in southern Gaza where UN aid convoys are regularly overwhelmed by looters and desperate crowds. Another two were killed on roads leading to nearby sites run by the Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), an American contractor, according to Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies. GHF said there were no violent incidents at or near its sites on Thursday. Israels military said its forces did not fire in the morning and that it knew of no encounters in the area. The military zone, known as the Morag Corridor, is off limits to independent media. UK Independent MP Rupert Lowe said he will make a donation to a charity rowing crew he wrongly suggested could be illegal migrants. Mr Lowe, who was elected as a Reform UK MP but now sits as an Independent in Great Yarmouth, had posted a picture on social media on Thursday night showing a boat near some wind turbines off the Norfolk coast. Advertisement The Coastguard contacted the crew to confirm their identity and Mr Lowe has since promised to donate 1,000 to their charity. Dinghies coming into Great Yarmouth, RIGHT NOW. Authorities alerted, and I am urgently chasing. If these are illegal migrants, I will be using every tool at my disposal to ensure these individuals are deported. Enough is enough. Britain needs mass deportations. NOW. pic.twitter.com/1mCg0ljRQ4 Rupert Lowe MP (@RupertLowe10) August 7, 2025 The MP posted on social media on Friday morning: Good news. False alarm! The unknown vessel was charity rowers, thank goodness. As a well done to the crew, Ill donate 1,000 to their charity raising money for MND. Keep going, and watch out for any real illegal migrants! Advertisement We received a huge number of urgent complaints from constituents I make no apologies over being vigilant for my constituents. It is a national crisis. No mass deportations for the charity rowers, but we definitely need it for the illegal migrants! From left, Liz Wardley, Mike Bates, Aaron Kneebone and Matthew Parker, before they left Cornwall for Scotland on their charity voyage (Mike Newman/ROW4MND) Mr Lowe had originally posted on social media on Thursday night: Dinghies coming into Great Yarmouth, RIGHT NOW. Authorities alerted, and I am urgently chasing. If these are illegal migrants, I will be using every tool at my disposal to ensure these individuals are deported. Advertisement But the vessel pictured was in fact an ocean rowing boat crewed by ROW4MND, a team of four who are attempting to row from Lands End to John OGroats to raise money for motor neurone disease (MND). The crew Matthew Parker, Mike Bates, Aaron Kneebone and Liz Wardley said they had been contacted by the Coastguard and asked if they could see a dinghy nearby. Mr Bates, a former Royal Marine and British record holder for rowing across the Atlantic solo, told the PA news agency it soon became clear the Coastguard was asking about his own boat. I looked to my right and there was maybe a dozen individuals stood on the shoreline staring at us, he said. Advertisement Good news. False alarm! The unknown vessel was charity rowers, thank goodness. As a well done to the crew, I'll donate 1,000 to their charity - raising money for MND. Keep going, and watch out for any real illegal migrants! We received a huge number of urgent complaints from Rupert Lowe MP (@RupertLowe10) August 8, 2025 After satisfying the Coastguard that their boat was not carrying migrants, they continued, but several hours later were contacted again by the Coastguard because the police had asked if they could send a lifeboat out to check who we were. Eventually, a friend forwarded Mr Lowes post, which Mr Bates said provided a moment of light relief. He said: We found it hilarious. Ive not been mistaken for a migrant before. The best comment was the one asking where the Royal Navy were when you need them. Im a former Royal Marine, so the Royal Navy were on the boat. Advertisement The quartet set off from Lands End on July 25 (ROW4MND/PA) He added: But it was almost like a vigilante-style, people following us down the beach. They hadnt twigged that we were parallel to the shore for hours and not trying to land. The quartet set off from Lands End on July 25 and initially headed north into the Irish Sea before bad weather forced them to stop at Milford Haven in Wales. They then decided to return to Lands End and start again, this time heading in the other direction, which Mr Bates said had been about us showing resolve and resilience and hope. The journey is the first of four challenges over four years, with the group aiming to row from John OGroats to Lands End next year, from California to Hawaii in 2027 and New York to London in 2028, with a target of raising 57 million for MND research. So far, they have raised 107,515 for the charity. Mr Bates said: Were rowing for hope, were rowing to find a cure, and hopefully well raise 57 million we certainly will if MPs keep talking about us. Maybe Rupert will give us a donation. A schoolboy who stabbed another pupil to death on their lunch break has been found guilty of murder. Harvey Willgoose, 15, was stabbed in the heart in front of horrified children by another 15-year-old boy who had brought a hunting knife to school. Advertisement Sheffield Crown Court heard how other pupils fled in fear and panic, with some locking themselves in a school cupboard, after the fatal attack at All Saints Catholic High School in Sheffield on February 3rd. The defendant, who cannot be named because of his age, admitted manslaughter but denied murder, saying he snapped after a long period of bullying and does not remember what happened. Harvey Willgoose was killed earlier this year (South Yorkshire Police/PA) But prosecutors said he wanted to show he was hard and knew exactly what he was doing. On Friday a jury found him guilty of murder by a majority of 11 to one after deliberating for over 14 hours. Advertisement Sheffield Crown Court heard the stabbing was probably an act of retribution, to get back at Harvey for something. The trial heard the two boys fell out several days before Harveys death after taking opposite sides in a dispute between two other boys. Prosecutors said the defendant had an unhealthy interest in weapons and had photos on his phone of him posing with other hunting-style knives and a machete. The court heard he also had a significant history of becoming angry and using violence at school. Advertisement Mourners watch the funeral service for teenage school knife attack victim Harvey Willgoose on a screen outside Sheffield Cathedral (Peter Byrne/PA) Prosecutor Richard Thyne KC said the defendant had researched rage rooms and, just over a week before the fatal stabbing, searched waiting for someone to swing so I can let out my anger. He told jurors that on the day of the stabbing, CCTV footage showed him trying to provoke Harvey, who remained peaceful. The court heard Harvey told his friends that the defendant had been acting like he had a knife under his jumper in their science lesson that morning, but thought he was bluffing. Jurors were told Harvey was happily talking to his friends in a courtyard as lunch break started, when the defendant approached him. Advertisement One teenage witness said there was an altercation and the defendant punched and pushed Harvey, causing him to stumble backwards, before pulling out a knife and stabbing him. Another girl who gave evidence said: We went inside to go and tell a teacher, but the teacher was frozen as well. She didnt know what to do. She said: People were running, screaming everywhere. It was, like, chaos. Harvey Willgoose and his grandparents (Family handout/PA) The defendant told the trial that suffering racist bullying and taunts about a medical condition meant he got angry quickly and couldnt control it. Advertisement The boy told the jury his mother had mental health problems and his father, who hit him, was often not there. He told the court he took the knife to school because he thought he was going to get hurt that day. He said Harvey looked angry when he brought up a previous dispute, and had one hand in his trousers, which made him think the schoolboy had a knife. Gul Nawaz Hussain KC, defending, told jurors: Tragically, Harvey was a combination of being the final straw that broke (the defendant) and the unintended face of a series of threats of violence and bullying he had suffered in recent months. We say he suffered a loss of control which resulted in horrific and tragic consequences. President Donald Trump has said he will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on August 15 in Alaska. Mr Trump announced the meeting in a post on social meeting and said more details would follow. Advertisement Earlier, the President had said he will meet very shortly with Mr Putin to discuss the war in Ukraine and that he will announce the location soon. Were going to have a meeting with Russia, start off with Russia. And well announce a location. I think the location will be a very popular one, Mr Trump said. President Donald Trump (Mark Schiefelbein/AP) Those comments came as Ukrainian soldiers on the battlefield expressed little hope for a diplomatic solution to the war and Mr Trumps deadline arrived on Friday for the Kremlin to make peace. Exasperated that Mr Putin did not heed his calls to stop bombing Ukrainian cities, Mr Trump almost two weeks ago moved up his ultimatum to impose additional sanctions on Russia and introduce secondary tariffs targeting countries that buy Russian oil if the Kremlin did not move toward a settlement. Advertisement Mr Trumps efforts to pressure Mr Putin into stopping the fighting have so far delivered no progress. Russias bigger army is slowly advancing deeper into Ukraine at great cost in troops and armour while it relentlessly bombards Ukrainian cities. Russia and Ukraine are far apart on their terms for peace. Ukrainian forces are locked in intense battles along the 620-mile front line that snakes from north-east to south-east Ukraine. Advertisement The Pokrovsk area of the eastern Donetsk region is taking the brunt of punishment as Russia seeks to break out into the neighbouring Dnipropetrovsk region. Ukraine has significant manpower shortages. Intense fighting is also taking place in Ukraines northern Sumy border region, where Ukrainian forces are engaging Russian soldiers to prevent reinforcements being sent from there to Donetsk. Russian president Vladimir Putin (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP) In the Pokrovsk area of Donetsk, a commander said he believes Moscow is not interested in peace. Advertisement It is impossible to negotiate with them. The only option is to defeat them, Buda, a commander of a drone unit in the Spartan Brigade, told The Associated Press. He used only his call sign, in keeping with the rules of the Ukrainian military. I would like them to agree and for all this to stop, but Russia will not agree to that. It does not want to negotiate. So the only option is to defeat them, he said. In the southern Zaporizhzhia region, a howitzer commander using the call sign Warsaw, said troops are determined to thwart Russias invasion. Advertisement We are on our land, we have no way out, he said. So we stand our ground, we have no choice. The Kremlin said that Mr Putin had a phone call with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, during which the Russian leader informed Mr Xi about the results of his meeting earlier this week with Trump envoy Steve Witkoff. Kremlin officials said Mr Xi expressed support for the settlement of the Ukrainian crisis on a long-term basis. Mr Putin is due to visit China next month. China, along with North Korea and Iran, have provided military support for Russias war effort, the US says. Indian prime minister Narendra Modi said on X that he also had a call with Mr Putin to speak about the latest Ukraine developments. Mr Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday to place an additional 25% tariff on India for its purchases of Russian oil, which the American president says is helping to finance Russias war. Mr Putins calls followed his phone conversations with the leaders of South Africa, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Belarus, the Kremlin said. US president Donald Trump said he will meet very shortly with Russian president Vladimir Putin to discuss the war in Ukraine and that he will announce the location soon. Were going to be announcing later, and were going to have a meeting with Russia, Mr Trump told reporters at the White House. Advertisement Those comments came as Ukrainian soldiers on the battlefield expressed little hope for a diplomatic solution to the war and Mr Trumps deadline arrived on Friday for the Kremlin to make peace. Exasperated that Mr Putin did not heed his calls to stop bombing Ukrainian cities, Mr Trump almost two weeks ago moved up his ultimatum to impose additional sanctions on Russia and introduce secondary tariffs targeting countries that buy Russian oil if the Kremlin did not move toward a settlement. President Donald Trump (Mark Schiefelbein/AP) Mr Trumps efforts to pressure Mr Putin into stopping the fighting have so far delivered no progress. Russias bigger army is slowly advancing deeper into Ukraine at great cost in troops and armour while it relentlessly bombards Ukrainian cities. Advertisement Russia and Ukraine are far apart on their terms for peace. Ukrainian forces are locked in intense battles along the 620-mile front line that snakes from north-east to south-east Ukraine. The Pokrovsk area of the eastern Donetsk region is taking the brunt of punishment as Russia seeks to break out into the neighbouring Dnipropetrovsk region. Ukraine has significant manpower shortages. Advertisement Intense fighting is also taking place in Ukraines northern Sumy border region, where Ukrainian forces are engaging Russian soldiers to prevent reinforcements being sent from there to Donetsk. Russian president Vladimir Putin (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP) In the Pokrovsk area of Donetsk, a commander said he believes Moscow is not interested in peace. It is impossible to negotiate with them. The only option is to defeat them, Buda, a commander of a drone unit in the Spartan Brigade, told The Associated Press. He used only his call sign, in keeping with the rules of the Ukrainian military. Advertisement I would like them to agree and for all this to stop, but Russia will not agree to that. It does not want to negotiate. So the only option is to defeat them, he said. In the southern Zaporizhzhia region, a howitzer commander using the call sign Warsaw, said troops are determined to thwart Russias invasion. We are on our land, we have no way out, he said. So we stand our ground, we have no choice. The Kremlin said that Mr Putin had a phone call with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, during which the Russian leader informed Mr Xi about the results of his meeting earlier this week with Trump envoy Steve Witkoff. Advertisement Kremlin officials said Mr Xi expressed support for the settlement of the Ukrainian crisis on a long-term basis. Mr Putin is due to visit China next month. China, along with North Korea and Iran, have provided military support for Russias war effort, the US says. Indian prime minister Narendra Modi said on X that he also had a call with Mr Putin to speak about the latest Ukraine developments. Mr Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday to place an additional 25% tariff on India for its purchases of Russian oil, which the American president says is helping to finance Russias war. Mr Putins calls followed his phone conversations with the leaders of South Africa, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Belarus, the Kremlin said. Nato member leaders got a little too comfortable with censoring opinion, the US vice president has claimed as he took questions about freedom of speech in the UK. JD Vance accused former president Joe Bidens administration of leading the USA down a very dark path, which he said other countries should steer clear of. Advertisement The Republican met with UK foreign secretary David Lammy at Chevening House in Kent, where the pair went carp fishing. Asked whether Mr Vance had a message for Mr Lammy on free speech, the vice president replied: Ive raised concerns about free speech in the United States of America. I think the entire collective West, the transatlantic relationship, our Nato allies, certainly the United States under the Biden administration, got a little too comfortable with censoring rather than engaging with a diverse array of opinions. So, thats been my view. Advertisement Obviously, Ive raised some criticism and concerns about our friends on this side of the Atlantic, but the thing that I say to the people of England, or anybody else, to David, is many of the things that I worry most about were happening in the United States from 2020 to 2024. I just dont want other countries to follow us down what I think is a very dark path under the Biden administration. UK foreign secretary David Lammy fishes with US vice president JD Vance at Chevening House in Kent (Suzanne Plunkett/PA) Mr Vance has previously attacked what he described as a backslide in conscience rights in the UK. At the Munich Security Conference in February, he referred to buffer zones near abortion clinics, where certain acts of protest are not allowed within defined boundaries. Advertisement In Britain and across Europe, free speech, I fear, is in retreat, the vice president said at the time. In the White House earlier this year, Mr Vance said he knew of infringements on free speech that actually affect not just the British but also US technology firms, and, by extension, American citizens. Sir Keir Starmer, who was sat with him, responded by saying London wouldnt want to reach across US citizens. The UK prime minister said: Weve had free speech for a very, very long time in the United Kingdom and it will last for a very, very long time. Advertisement During their exchange in Kent, Mr Lammy said he had commonalities with Mr Vance. The cut and thrust of politics is what excites me, and the truth is, I was blessed to go to Harvard, and I think the vice president went to a university not quite as good, Yale, the Foreign Secretary said. So we enjoy that political debate and discussion particularly. But, you know, there are areas where there are actually joint concern, we both have a joint concern about outcomes for working people, that is the truth of it. Advertisement Mr Lammy later added: There are commonalities and there are differences and that is the joy of living in democracies like ours. Mr Vance visited the UK foreign secretarys Chevening retreat while on holiday in the UK. Ukrainian soldiers have expressed little hope for a diplomatic solution to the war with Russia, as Donald Trumps deadline for the Kremlin to stop the killing arrived and he eyed a possible meeting with Vladimir Putin to discuss the conflict. Mr Trump, exasperated that the Russian leader did not heed his calls to stop bombing Ukrainian cities, almost two weeks ago moved up his ultimatum to impose additional sanctions on Russia, as well as introduce secondary tariffs targeting countries that buy Russian oil, if no Kremlin moves towards a settlement were forthcoming. Advertisement It was unclear what steps Mr Trump intended to take on Friday. The US presidents efforts to pressure Mr Putin have so far delivered no progress. Russias bigger army is slowly advancing deeper into Ukraine at great cost in troops and armour while it relentlessly bombards Ukrainian cities. Russia and Ukraine are far apart on their terms for peace. Ukrainian forces are locked in intense battles along the 620-mile front line from north-east to south-east Ukraine. The Pokrovsk city area of the eastern Donetsk region is taking the brunt of punishment as Russia looks to break out into the neighbouring Dnipropetrovsk region. Ukraine has significant manpower shortages. Advertisement Intense fighting is also taking place in Ukraines northern Sumy border region, where Ukrainian forces are engaging Russian soldiers to prevent reinforcements being sent from there to Donetsk. In the Pokrovsk area, one commander said Moscow is not interested in peace. It is impossible to negotiate with them. The only option is to defeat them, Buda, commander of a drone unit in the Spartan Brigade, told the Associated Press. He used only his call sign, in keeping with the rules of the Ukrainian military. I would like them to agree and for all this to stop, but Russia will not agree to that, it does not want to negotiate. So the only option is to defeat them, he said. Advertisement In the southern Zaporizhzhia region, a howitzer commander using the call sign Warsaw, said troops are determined to thwart Russias invasion. Donald Trump is hoping for a meeting with Vladimir Putin (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP) We are on our land, we have no way out, he said. So we stand our ground, we have no choice. The Kremlin said on Friday that Mr Putin had a phone call with Xi Jinping, during which the Russian leader informed the Chinese leader about the results of his meeting earlier this week with Trump envoy Steve Witkoff. Kremlin officials said Mr Xi expressed support for the settlement of the Ukrainian crisis on a long-term basis. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he also had a call with Mr Putin to speak about the latest Ukraine developments. Mr Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday to place an additional 25% tariff on India for its purchases of Russian oil, which the American president says is helping to finance Russias war. Advertisement Mr Putins calls followed phone conversations with the leaders of South Africa, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Belarus, the Kremlin said. The calls suggested to at least one analyst that Mr Putin might want to brief Russias most important allies about a potential settlement that could be reached at any summit with Mr Trump. It means that some sort of real peace agreement has been reached for the first time, said Sergei Markov, a pro-Kremlin Moscow-based analyst. Mr Trump said on Thursday that he would meet Mr Putin even if the Russian president will not meet his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky. That has stoked fears in Europe that Ukraine could be sidelined in efforts to stop the continents biggest conflict since the Second World War. Advertisement The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think tank, said: Putin remains uninterested in ending his war and is attempting to extract bilateral concessions from the United States without meaningfully engaging in a peace process. Putin continues to believe that time is on Russias side and that Russia can outlast Ukraine and the West. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday that Europe should take the lead in efforts to end the conflict. He said the leaders of Germany and France should go to Moscow to negotiate on behalf of Europe, or we will be sidelined in managing the security issues of our own continent. Mr Orban, who is a harsh critic of the European Union to which his country belongs, said Europes concerns that a Trump-Putin summit might not address the continents interests meant it should seize the diplomatic initiative. This war cannot be ended on the front line, no solution can be concluded on the battlefield, he said. This war must be ended by diplomats, politicians, leaders at the negotiating table. Small dogs and cats will be permitted to travel underneath the seat in front, secured in a carrier. Credit: iStock What is the pilots role? As Virgin moves ahead with its plans, the process by which pilots will judge the safety of dogs and cats remains unclear. Under Civil Aviation Safety Authority rules, a pilot in command must take reasonable steps to ensure the carriage of an animal does not adversely affect the safety of the flight. A person may only bring an animal onto an aircraft with your [the pilots] permission. Before you [the pilot] give permission, all reasonable steps must be taken to ensure carrying the animal will not adversely affect aviation safety, CASA general operations and flight rules say. What constitutes a reasonable step may vary depending on the airline, aircraft type and the animal being carried. Virgin already transports dogs and cats in its planes cargo holds, as well as non-exotic birds, rabbits, guinea pigs, mice, rats, snakes and lizards. A common sight overseas. In New Jersey, an airline passenger checks in his pet labradoodle. Credit: iStock How much will travelling with a pet in a cabin add to your airfare? Virgin hasnt provided the cost yet. There will be one. In the US, United, for example, charges $US150 ($230) for a pet in the cabin, each way. What is spent on pet travel may be saved on lodging a dog or cat while away, Jopp said. Its always difficult to find a dog sitter, and you might feel that owners guilt if you have to leave a dog in a kennel when you are going on a holiday. So the ability to take a pet with you on the holiday might be something that a lot of people are looking for. What about people who dont like pets? Not everyone is an animal person, said Jopp. They might be allergic to cats, perhaps. You never know how your pet is going to react the first time they go on a flight, especially during the take-off and landing. Maybe theyll become nervous; maybe theyll start barking or howling. Credit: Getty Images They could become nauseous. There is the possibility of backlash from people who oppose pets in planes, Jopp said. Nevertheless, a poll of pet owners commissioned by Virgin showed nearly 70 per cent of respondents said they would travel with their pet in the cabin if given the option. RSPCA Australia said it welcomed the announcement by Virgin. Nearly 70 per cent of the nations households own pets. What about people with allergies to pets? Food Safety Australia New Zealand noted in its report allowing animals to be based in the same space where food is prepared and served that Virgin said it could relocate passengers with animal allergies or compromised immune systems away from the rows where the pets are. Submissions from individuals to FSANZ focused on concerns about health impacts for people with allergies to animals, but non-food allergens were beyond the scope of the application made to the regulator. Submissions from individuals were almost evenly divided between support and non-support for pets in cabins, it said. Loading For those with pet allergies on planes, the US-based Asthma & Allergy Network, which opposes pets on planes, has laid out a plan of action: Request to sit as far away as possible from pets when making a reservation, wear a mask or nasal filters to block pet allergens, pre-medicate with an antihistamine or nasal spray, and carry a quick-relief [Ventolin] inhaler if you have asthma. What about the pets themselves? Dr Sam Kovac, founder of Sydney-based Southern Cross Vet said dogs and cats, like humans, also have Eustachian tubes that connect their ears, nose and throat. A pressure change can sometimes cause a sensation of build-up and even ringing for the animals. Dogs and cats cant tell us if theyre experiencing discomfort, and we cant give them a lolly to suck on, or tell them to yawn. However, special dog earmuffs exist to help with the pressure changes, he said. Bringing a chew toy on board with your pet can help to equalise the pressure for a more enjoyable flight, Kovac said. Travelling animals can also get motion sickness. Turbulence, the unfamiliar environment and take-off and landing can cause dogs to whimper, said Kovac. However, as theyre with their best friend [you], gentle affection and cuddling likely minimises this. RSPCA Australia said: Guardians should ensure that their pet is under control, socialised to other animals and people, and calm and comfortable when travelling. When is this set to begin? FSANZ approved pets in cabins on select Virgin Australia flights in June, the airlines CEO, Dave Emerson, revealed last month. An FSANZ statement said: We assessed the microbiological food safety risks and found that, with appropriate risk management controls in place, the presence of pet cats and dogs in aircraft cabins presents a low risk to passengers. Emerson said the airline, which relisted on the ASX in June, looked forward to sharing more details with travellers about our trial flights in the coming months. A sense of family: The role of pets has changed. Credit: iStock Why this change? Pets are more important than they used to be for many people, so allowing them on planes appears to follow this trend. The Victorian government commissioned a first-ever statewide pet census in the 2022-23 budget, finding that a quarter of those surveyed said owning a pet gave them someone to look after and provided a sense of family. In May, Italys aviation regulator decided to allow airlines to carry dogs larger than eight kilograms on planes. Italian Civil Aviation Authority president Pierluigi Di Palma described the change as a response to new societal needs. Jopp said declining birth rates had perhaps caused a rethink about the roles of pets. Maybe that is a sign people are replacing children with pets, and maybe thats part of the higher status that is now given to your pet cat or dog, because it really becomes a part of the family. Indeed, public figures as varied as Elon Musk, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and the late Pope Francis have sounded the alarm on declining birthrates. Francis called out people who did not want children for reasons of selfishness. A man with a falcon shops at Hamad International Airport in Doha, Qatar. Credit: Getty Images Sometimes they have one, and thats it, but they have dogs and cats that take the place of children, he said. Jopp said: I think that the dog has gone from being out in the yard and in the kennel to in the house to on the bed in many cases. So I think the position of the pet in the family has changed over the past couple of decades. He said some of the views around animals differed between cultures. Grieve said it was an important moment for investigative journalism and recognition of the courageous patients who had spoken out against their doctor. This judgment is a complete vindication of the brave patients who had the courage to speak out and an indictment on the doctor who went to war with the people he has a duty to protect, she said. This is an important moment for investigative journalism, and Im proud of everyone who has worked so hard to defend this important public interest investigation. Nine, through Collins, had argued Al Muderis had been incapable of admitting his errors and had left patients devastated. Our submission is that a surgeon who would treat people so callously, so appallingly is not a surgeon who deserves a glittering reputation, Collins said. [Al Muderis] is a surgeon whose malpractices and unethical conduct have left patients devastated and worse off than before they saw him; is a surgeon who has operated negligently; is a surgeon who has delivered substandard care, leaving patients to fend for themselves; is a surgeon who has not properly cared for his patients; is a surgeon who has made promises that hes not delivered on; is a surgeon whose conduct at times has been appalling and beneath contempt. Dr Munjed Al Muderis arriving at court with his barrister, Sue Chrysanthou, SC (right), in 2023. Credit: Steven Siewert Al Muderis lawyer, Sue Chrysanthou, SC, had argued that Nine had unreasonably painted the surgeon as a Dr Frankenstein. The case was one of the first major tests of the public interest defence for reporting, which allows media companies to argue they reasonably believed their journalism was published in the public interest. Abraham concluded Nine had established that the beliefs they held were objectively reasonable in reaching her conclusion. Loading The surgeon previously called for the identities of confidential sources relied upon by Grieve to be unmasked, but he failed after a judge concluded revealing the sources did not outweigh the public interest in protecting their identities. Abraham said she considered the evidence of 22 patients, who were presented to the court as case studies for osseointegration performed by Al Muderis between 2013 and the publication of the stories. The evidence of four more orthopaedic patients factored into Abrahams reasoning. Although [Nine] accepted Dr Al Muderis is, to many, an Australian hero who has devoted much of his lifes work to helping amputees walk again, they contended their investigation revealed there is a significant cohort of patients who are unhappy and negatively impacted by Dr Al Muderis services, Abraham said. Nine chief executive Matt Stanton said the decision was vindication of our reporting and reinforces Nines longstanding commitment to investigative journalism. Leah Mooney, with her husband Tim Mooney (right) and son Paul Mooney, was jubilant with the decision. Nine ran stories about her botched treatment. Credit: Janie Barrett Nine welcomes todays judgment by the Federal Court to dismiss Munjed Al Muderiss claims of defamation. The court has confirmed the stories published by The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and aired on 60 Minutes have been successfully defended. Nines victory today on the basis of public interest is a significant moment in Australian defamation case law, Stanton said. Leah Mooney was not an osseointegration patient, but she was called to give evidence by Nine in late 2023 about two surgeries Al Muderis had performed on her in Sydney. Al Muderis had left a broken drill bit in her leg in the 2011 operations, triggering a chronic bone infection and then a years-long lawsuit and battles with regulators. On Friday, she celebrated the ruling against Al Muderis with her husband, Tim, saying it was a long time coming. Loading Its a feeling of relief and happiness. Its been a long battle and to now think, My god, Im at the end of it, Leah said. University of Sydney media law professor David Rolph said the comprehensive victory for the newspapers showed the new public interest defence can succeed, where notoriously flimsy other defences fail in defamation. The old statutory qualified privilege defence was notorious in NSW, for many decades, for being unsuccessful and very difficult for media companies to rely on, Rolph said. 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 It was a trial that laid bare Erin Pattersons life for the world to see, post by post, detail by intimate detail. Here was a woman on trial for murder, who spoke about being weighed on scales by her mother as a child, scolded for becoming fat. Here was a family whose most intimate tensions in a private chat were exposed and beamed onto courtroom walls, message after message. Here was a courtroom that heard, over and over, of roadside stops filled with diarrhoea and of the need for doggy bags filled with soiled tissues. Here was a jury that heard nearly every intricate detail leading up to the fatal mushroom lunch. Almost. Patterson was eventually convicted of three counts of murder and one of attempted murder over the beef Wellington lunch on July 29, 2023, that killed her in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, friend Heather Wilkinson and left local pastor Ian Wilkinson in a coma. Here are the pieces of evidence the jury never heard: Poisonous plants and homicidal toxins Documents on poisons were found on Pattersons electronic devices during a police search of her Leongatha home. Advertisement A pre-trial hearing was told shed accessed a 2007 book titled Criminal Poisonings, from which police had discovered shed saved a single appendix common homicidal poisons onto her Samsung tablet. A police dog helps search Erin Pattersons Leongatha home for electronic devices in November 2023. Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui The deep dive of Pattersons electronic footprint also uncovered a string of other findings, including an article about 50 cases of red kidney bean poisoning in the UK from 1976 to 1989, and a string of Google searches for words including poison and hemlock, a highly poisonous flowering plant. Pattersons devices had also accessed the iNaturalist website and a post made in September 2022 that pinpointed the location of a suspected sighting of hemlock at Loch in Gippsland. Erin Patterson and her defence barrister Colin Mandy, SC. Credit: The Age On a third mobile phone seized by police they also found a paper the jury was never told about titled One step Purification and Characterisation of Abrin Toxin from Abrus Precatorius Seeds, about extracting toxic material from seeds. A black Scorptec computer recovered from Pattersons home revealed a 2011 Victorian Naturalist journal that referenced death cap mushrooms growing under oak trees. This was also excluded, but the judges reasons why were not aired in open court. Advertisement The poisoning of Simon Patterson A key part of the police investigation was that the deaths of Don and Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson werent the first time the accused had dabbled with poisons. At the same time as her murder charges over the trios deaths, and an attempted murder count for lunch survivor Ian Wilkinson, police had also slapped Erin Patterson with three counts of attempted murder. The charges related to alleged attempts to kill Simon Patterson the father of her two children in 2021 and 2022. They maintained that medical evidence showed Simon Patterson had become severely unwell after eating meals prepared by the accused killer, even ending up in intensive care and losing part of his bowel on one occasion. Simon Patterson outside the court in early May. Credit: Jason South The pre-trial hearing was told that Erin Patterson cooked Simon Patterson penne bolognese on September 19, 2021, before he was hospitalised in Leongatha with gastro-related symptoms. Advertisement She cooked him chicken curry during a trip to Howqua in May 2022, followed by a chicken curry wrap on a trip to Wilsons Promontory in September 2022. Both times, he ended up in hospital with severe bouts of illness, including one that placed him in a coma for 16 days before three parts of his bowel were removed during emergency surgery. Prosecutors also told the court of a fourth meal, of beef and rice, in mid-2022 that Erin Patterson was never charged over. They claimed the meal prompted another trip to hospital for Simon. The prosecution said they wanted the jury to hear this evidence because it helped prove their assertion that the deadly beef Wellington lunch was no accident. Shortly before the trial, the prosecution revealed theyd also discovered an article on barium carbonate also known as rat poison which was accessed on one of Erin Pattersons electronic devices about the time of her estranged husbands third hospital admission. They said a medical expert could provide evidence that Simon Pattersons sudden onset of illness at that time was consistent with barium carbonate poisoning. But the defence argued there was no rock-solid evidence that their client ever tried to kill her estranged husband, and there was no animosity between the pair at those times. Advertisement They said they feared that if the jury was allowed to hear about the allegations, there was a danger they would misuse the evidence and punish the accused woman unfairly. Prosecutors had one final dip at getting the evidence before the jury, taking the matter to the Court of Appeal. But after also losing that fight, they decided on the eve of the trial to drop the three attempted murder charges relating to Simon Patterson, and he was restricted from talking about it during his evidence to the jury. Loading True crime fans and friendships One piece of evidence the jury did hear was Erin Pattersons connection to a true-crime fan page named Keep Keli Lane Behind Bars. Lane was a former Australian water polo player jailed in NSW for killing her newborn baby in the 90s. The group discussed absolutely everything, Patterson would tell the jury. Their children and families, recipes, world events, politics and true crime. Advertisement 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 Hundreds gathered at St Andrews Church in the Melbourne suburb of Brighton on Thursday to say goodbye to Ian Mence. To his family, he was a loving husband and father, but to his alma mater, Wesley College, he was a different kind of legend a student expelled not once, but twice, who later declared a secret war on the institution. The centrepiece of that war was a stolen school bell. For decades, the story of the theft was a classic in the Mence family, often told by Ian himself. It was a tale of friendship, mischief and revenge, with Ian and his two friends, Denis Oakley and Robert Ward. David Mence and his son Leonard at the site of the stolen Wesley College school bell on Church Street, Brighton. Credit: Eddie Jim Dad always told the story, recalled his son, David Mence. This was one of his classics. In the 1950s, Ian and Denis were Wesley Colleges resident mischief-makers. After Ian was expelled, he and Denis hatched a plan to steal the bell under the cover of night. Their getaway driver was Robert, the only one of the trio with a car. Ian Mence, 88, was farewelled at St Andrews Church in Brighton on Thursday. Ian told this story countless times, but he always left out one crucial detail: the location of the bells hiding spot. He had sworn to keep the secret until every member of the trio had died. With the 88-year-olds passing, the location of the bell was finally revealed this week at his funeral. Andrew McQualter has opened the door for Simon Goodwin to join him at West Coast just days after the 2021 premiership coach was sacked by Melbourne. Eagles coach Andrew McQualter. Credit: AFL Photos via Getty Images McQualter was an assistant under Goodwin at the Demons last year before landing the head coach role at West Coast. The Eagles are already guaranteed this years wooden spoon, and unless they can upset either Adelaide, the Western Bulldogs or Sydney over the next three weeks, West Coast will end the season with just one win for the first time in club history. West Coast announced the impending departure of long-time assistant Luke Webster on Thursday, and more changes could be made to McQualtlers coaching department in the coming months. Goodwin was sacked by Melbourne on Monday following a disappointing 18 months, but the 2021 premiership coach still has plenty of currency in the industry. Loading McQualter is open to luring Goodwin across to West Coast. I dont know if Goody will move over here, but hes someone thats had a big influence on my career, so if hes willing to help, Id ask the question, McQualter said. I really rate Goody. I spent a year with him last year and he helped me a lot to see the game differently, think about it differently. Hes a terrific coach, great person, and Ive got no doubt he will senior coach a football team again. Hes got a bit of cash on the side next year to be able to have a nice holiday, but hell be back in the business before we know it. McQualter said Goodwins ability to forge strong relationships was one of his biggest strengths. Hes loved by his players. He cares for people, McQualter said. Hes loyal, a really hard worker, hes smart. I thought he was a great coach. For now, McQualter is squarely focused on Sundays clash with ladder-leaders Adelaide (15-5) at Optus Stadium. West Coast will be without key defender Harry Edwards due to a foot issue, but in a rare dose of good news for the Eagles, Adelaide have decided to rest veteran spearhead Taylor Walker. Eagles recruit Jack Graham returns after serving his four-match ban for a homophobic slur. What Jack did was wrong, but hes learned that lesson publicly and hes very ashamed of his actions, McQualter said. Now its about growing and what he can do to help going forward. So his job this weekend is to play a really important role for our team. Almost two years after the war in Gaza began after so much death, destruction and devastation Benjamin Netanyahu does not have a plan to end the conflict. Instead, he has a plan to prolong and deepen it. In this, he is in lockstep with Hamas, the militant group that triggered the war with its monstrous October 7 attacks and fights on, unmoved by the suffering of the civilian population of Gaza. Two supposed enemies bound together in a fatal embrace, pursuing maximalist goals that keep leading to the same tragic destination: the continuation of the war. The Israeli prime minister confirmed on Friday that he wants Israel to take full control of Gaza, extending beyond the three-quarters of the territory where it already dominates. Under a plan approved by Israels security cabinet after 10 hours of debate, its ground troops will move into Gaza City, an area they have avoided for most of the war. Netanyahu has so far provided little detail of how the operation will work. During a visit to an army facility this week, he said: It is necessary to complete the defeat of the enemy in Gaza, to free all our hostages and to ensure that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel. If it sounds like youve heard this before, its because you have. Throughout the war, Netanyahu has repeatedly spoken as if triumph was just around the corner. In February 2024, he said that the intense phase of the fighting is weeks away from completion - not months, weeks away from completion. Three months later, he said: We will enter [the southern city of] Rafah and we will eliminate the Hamas battalions there, with or without a deal, in order to achieve total victory. Two months after that he told the US Congress: Victory is in sight. A year later, the war continues. Year 12 student Thien Ngan Pham remembers arriving in Sydney from Vietnam three years ago and feeling out of place until she joined her schools Vietnamese language class. My Vietnamese teacher helped me feel like I belonged, she said. And in class, when I studied, I felt excited because I could learn topics that relate to my life. It made me feel proud of who I am. Thien Ngan Pham, Dac Huy Thuong Nguyen, Hoang Son Vu and Do Thuong Thuong Nguyen are part of Cabramatta High Schools bumper HSC Vietnamese cohort. Credit: Dylan Coker Pham is one of 68 students at Cabramatta High School studying Vietnamese Continuers for the HSC. This Saturday, she will join more than 5700 NSW students sitting an oral language exam, the first official exams of the 2025 HSC. Organisers are forging ahead with plans to shut the Story Bridge for a march mirroring the protest on the Sydney Harbour Bridge last weekend, as Premier David Crisafulli criticised the plan. Justice for Palestine Magan-djin has sought permission to rally between Raymond Park in Kangaroo Point and Centenary Park in Fortitude Valley from 1pm on Sunday, August 24, as part of a nationwide march for Palestine. They said in a statement on Friday that the protest was being organised to reflect the urgency of the situation in Gaza. An estimated 90,000 people attended the pro-Palestine march in Sydney last weekend. Credit: Nine News This is the same bridge our lord mayor refused to light in the colours of the Palestinian flag, denying solidarity to a grieving community. Advertisement InspirationHotel reviews This terracotta cube is home to one of Balis most stylish stays Jenny Hewett August 9, 2025 12:00am Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles 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 The hotel Further Hotel, Pererenan, Bali Check-in The exterior of Further Hotel is constructed with burnt sienna bricks angled and spaced to allow in air and light. Staff are communicative over WhatsApp before I arrive at the unassuming terracotta cube on Jalan Pantai Pererenan, which is at the more tranquil, western edge of Canggu. Its not immediately apparent where to enter, but I soon find the small reception down an adjoining gang (alley). Im a little early and wait until my room is ready. A welcome drink of pineapple juice, soda and lime is served while I absorb the striking red ochre palette that has been stylishly offset with onyx leather furniture and the charcoal colour of the staff uniforms. Advertisement The look The design of interiors has a traditional Indonesian influence. An ongoing project between former club owner and Melbourne DJ Simon Digby and Australian expat and hospitality gun Claudio Cuccu, the stay draws from the Italian concept of a diffused hotel, with 25 rooms spread over five buildings on Jalan Pantai Pererenan. Crafted by Rome and Australian-based architects Morq, the building is constructed with burnt sienna bricks angled and spaced to allow in air and light. Ten suites are offered in the main building where Im staying, while self-contained, one-room Further Studio is a short walk away. Newly opened Further Gallery, down the street, has six suites, including two penthouses. Since staying, the hotel has also added a St Ali Coffee Roasters cafe, and a rooftop pool and restaurant, Portion Pool and Bar. Guests are free to access hip-as-hell The Wrong Gym (its worth paying extra to use the pool area, sauna and cold plunge). Advertisement The room The king room has a unique sunken bed. My king suite is a roomy 65 square metres with an outdoor en suite and semi-enclosed double showers that run the entire length of the space (the one closest to the street is surely for exhibitionists). The hoodie robes are suitably Canggu. Sunken into the floor, the bed is one of the suites most striking design features, but perhaps not suitable for all bodies. I cant help giggling when I read my DMs in the response to shared photos. How do you get out of bed? quips a friend. Imagine making that bed, writes another. The minimalist interiors by Studio Wenden includes custom pieces and a sound system with inbuilt ceiling speakers pumping music round the clock, which thankfully, you can switch off. While sexy, the slung leather chairs are no match for my back so I sit on the floor. Food + drink On the ground level of Further youll find European-style bistro Bar Vera. Advertisement The hotel has collaborated with Mason Hospitality Group to create Bar Vera, a European-style bistro and wine bar which occupies the street level and serves up share plates such as potato bread, pork jowl and savoury pumpkin pie with truffle, alongside a biodynamic wine list. When I stay, breakfast is not included and guests have the option of paying an extra $25 for a smoothie bowl (excessive for Bali). Coffee fanatics will fawn over Melbourne export St Ali Coffee Roasters, which has moved into the ground level of Further Gallery and is now feeding the people. Alongside this, Pererenan has a growing number of quality restaurants and cafes, including Lebanese spot Zali, modern Indian Rize, and Mexican joint Origen. Out + about Go shopping for some new fins at Thomas Surfboards. Check out the speakeasy at the back of vinyl store Peels Records and Bar, as well as Indian restaurant Red Gunpowder, which sits underneath small bar The Shady Fox. Pererenan Beach is a 20-minute walk away, while buzzing Batu Bolong is less than 15 minutes drive. If you know what youre doing, its worthwhile renting a scooter. Also part of the Further brand and found on the same street is bespoke perfumery Oaken, as well as Thomas Surfboards. The verdict Advertisement An original stay with design kudos and cultural acumen, Further invites guests to experience the authenticity of this slow Balinese village without altering it. Essentials King suite from IDR2,900,000 ($280) a night. Jalan Pantai Pererenan No.84, Pererenan, Bali, Indonesia. See furtherhotel.com Our score out of five Advertisement Highlight Related Article Beach and island holidays I found the Bali of my dreams (and it was only $45 a night) An electric buggy is on call to ferry guests anywhere they want along Jalan Pantai Pererenan. Only in Bali. Lowlight Some of the showers design elements need a rethink mine doesnt drain properly and soaks the bathroom floor. The writer travelled with the assistance of Further Hotel and Jetstar. Sign up for the Traveller Deals newsletter Get exclusive travel deals delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up now. Traveller Guides From above, much of Gaza appears flattened. But the full scale of the destruction and the number of people killed remain uncertain. Daily death tolls are issued by local authorities run by Hamas, the Islamist group that still controls parts of the strip, but many doubt their accuracy. Foreign journalists are barred unless embedded with Israeli forces. In the absence of access, independent researchers have turned to satellite images, surveys and public records to estimate what has been lost. Their findings suggest the toll may be even greater than suggested by official reports. The physical damage has been assessed both by what has been destroyed and by the rubble that remains. The first method tracks changes to building outlines in satellite images over time. 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 A young girl lies on an operating table in a hospital in Gaza. She has lost the use of both of her legs from a bomb blast. A British surgeon, Graeme Groom, is about to amputate both legs to save her life. But he does not know her name because she is one of so many patients he will treat each day. Its shaming for me and appalling for humanity that a seven-year-old child can have both her legs blown off and just be the next one on the conveyor belt, he says. We can heal her residual legs, and she will not die if we can feed her. But when shes discharged, she will go if she has family to a tent where there will be no food. She will have no chance of prosthetic legs at the moment. She will go through life, however long that may be, totally changed. British surgeon Dr Graeme Groom at the European Gaza Hospital in March 2024. Groom shows me a photograph of this child in London, where he is based at Kings College Hospital, because I have asked to talk to him about his work as a volunteer surgeon. He is a medical expert with years of experience in limb reconstruction. He is also a witness to Gaza a war zone few can see. Few journalists can enter. Most diplomats are barred. Groom, and a small number of volunteers like him, can tell us about the reality of this war. Now, with Israel intent on full control of Gaza despite international calls for a ceasefire, hearing these accounts feels more urgent than ever. One thing Groom has witnessed is a civilian population trapped without food. Others verify this when I seek them out. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denies it: There is no policy of starvation in Gaza and there is no starvation in Gaza, he said last week. This makes it even more important to talk to those who have stood on Gazan soil. Advertisement There were severe acute malnutrition cases diagnosed every day, Groom says of his most recent work at Nasser Hospital, in Khan Younis in the southern part of the territory. In terms of deaths, the ones who are most at risk were neonates because their mothers, who were starving, could often not produce breast milk. These babies were most exposed if they were lactose intolerant because there was no baby formula for them and very little for others. Groom visited the malnutrition clinic at Nasser Hospital and found that 60 babies who were lactose intolerant had died from March to the end of May. I think the notion that there is no starvation in Gaza is totally fanciful, he says. And I dont know why anyone thinks its helpful to argue otherwise. The effects of starvation will be so obvious. Every statement about Gaza is contested. When international media reported on starvation in May, Israeli government spokesman David Mencer told Reuters that terrorist group Hamas had caused the hunger by stealing aid meant for civilians. Hamas denied this and blamed Israel for the starvation. Those who spoke to this masthead were in no doubt that the hunger, injury and death have grown worse under Israeli rules. The World Food Program says Gaza needs 62,000 tonnes of food a month; it was able to offload only 21,000 tonnes in the two months to the end of July. In the week to July 25, it asked Israeli authorities for permission to send 138 aid convoys to Gaza; only 76 requests were approved. British plastic surgeon Victoria Rose was in Gaza in May, also working at Nasser Hospital. She returned to London on June 4. She and Groom volunteer with charity group Ideals, which has sent medical help to the region since 2009. Advertisement I cant tell you the level of malnutrition its shocking, Rose says. You know, the kids are dying of malnutrition. Nobody has any food. To illustrate this, she mentions the changes in what local staff have asked her to bring each time she arrives for several weeks of work. In December 2023, she says, they asked for mobile phones. In June 2024, they asked for clothing and shoes. In May this year, they needed multivitamins and energy bars. I can honestly tell you that its impossible to operate on people that are this malnourished, she says. None of their wounds heal. Theyve got zero body fat. They are skin and bone. They have not got the ability to mount an immune response because their immune systems are so depleted. Theyve got no nutrients and vitamins for normal cell turnover, so they dont repair at all. As well as that, you have infection. Everyone has a wound infection because there are no adequate antibiotics, because all aid has been stopped. As a plastic surgeon, Rose has treated many of the patients who come to the hospital with burns from bomb blasts. But she has seen a change in the injuries over time. Blast wounds were most common in her earlier work, but there were more gunshot wounds after Israel overhauled aid distribution in May and the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation took over. Advertisement The trip in May started very similarly to the others, but Id say the blast injuries were worse, so we were seeing people with bits of them blown off. And I think that thats because 64 per cent of the infrastructure in Gaza has gone, so there are no buildings to shelter you, really. And now theyre tank-bombing tents, people in tents, so youre seeing a lot more direct impact on the body. And then in June, the gunshot wounds started again, and they were all from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation distribution points. Most wounds were to the abdomen and groin, some were to limbs. When Rose spoke to patients and interpreters, she heard that some had been shot when arriving for the food and some when they were running away. Victoria Rose says the level of malnutrition is shocking. Credit: Anadolu via Getty Images Did Rose see gunshot wounds that were compatible with the scenario of civilians being shot as they fled? Yes, she says. I saw wounds in [the] back of legs. Another surgeon, Nick Maynard, has been volunteering in Gaza for more than 15 years while also working as a gastrointestinal surgeon at Oxford University Hospitals. He told Good Morning Britain, on the ITV network, that he had seen more gunshot wounds on his most recent visit than at any previous point. He returned from Gaza three weeks ago with charity group Medical Aid for Palestinians. I saw, on this occasion, multiple gunshot wounds, almost exclusively on young teenage males some of them as young as 11, 12, 13, 14 all of whom had been shot at the food distribution points, he told the network on July 25. Advertisement I saw terrible injuries to the abdomen and the chest, but there was a very clear pattern of injuries, a cluster of injuries to specific body parts on particular days. So one day, for example, wed see patients coming in with gunshot wounds just to the head and neck. On another day, theyd be coming in with gunshot wounds to the chest or the abdomen. The next day, the legs. On one day, about 12 days ago, we saw four young teenage boys 13, 14 all of whom had been shot, specifically, in the testicles. Rose and Maynard were both cited in a Human Rights Watch report that blamed the increasing casualties on authorities at the aid distribution points. States should press Israeli authorities to immediately stop using lethal force as crowd control against Palestinian civilians, lift Israels unlawful sweeping restrictions on the entry of aid, and for the United States and Israel to suspend this flawed distribution system, Human Rights Watch said on August 1. A screenshot of the video showing Israeli hostage Evyatar David. Credit: Hamas, a listed terrorist group in Australia, has revealed its own atrocities. It took videos of the slaughter of Israeli civilians in the October 7, 2023 attack, and its fighters raped women. It released a video last week showing an emaciated Israeli man, Evyatar David, in a dark tunnel after being held hostage for 666 days. At one point in the video, David was handed a can of food that he said would have to last him two days. Netanyahu cited this as proof that Hamas was perpetrating Nazi abuse. While the state of Israel is allowing the entry of humanitarian aid to the residents of Gaza, the terrorists of Hamas are deliberately starving our hostages and document them in a cynical and evil manner, he said. Israel allows entry into Gaza for some surgeons, including those named in this feature, but the restrictions are tight. Groom has worked in Gaza on 45 visits over more than a decade. He used to be able to carry the medical equipment he needed. This changed after October 7, and it tightened again in May this year. He cannot take equipment, and he cannot carry more than about 1000 shekels, the Israeli currency, to help pay local staff. That is about $450. Advertisement He [Trump] has been decrying the position of our major Western allies when it comes to the issue of Israel and Gaza, Wilkie says. Wilkie knows Trump well. He served in his first cabinet as secretary for veterans affairs, and is now at the Trump-aligned America First Policy Institute. We are speaking in his office just a stones throw from the White House. The president has, in his career, paid particular attention to the Anglosphere, he says. Im sure hell be looking to see how our friends line up. I think he looks at these leaders as appeasing the hard left of their polities, as he would say the Democratic Party is [doing] in this country, and they do nothing with their statements other than encourage the leadership of Hamas to carry on in the hopes that somehow this kind of rhetoric will sway the United States to tell [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu to stop. Theyre the professional peace agitators. Loading Wilkie also knows Australia well and indicates Labors actions are being closely watched in Washington. The assumption is that Canberra will follow the path of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who has said his country will recognise Palestine unless Israel takes substantive steps to peace. Were seeing more movement within the Labor Party to force the prime minister to go down the road that Mr Starmer has gone, and I think it will happen in the next few weeks, Wilkie says. Theres enough agitation on the left of Labor in Australia and in the streets of the major cities that he will do what Starmer has done with his backbenchers in Labour. The growth in million-dollar suburbs comes amid a sharp drop in new property listings in July, with REIWA data showing active listings at a 12-month low. Brown said seasonal factors, seller hesitation, and the fear of being temporarily without a home were all amplifying the shortage a supply squeeze that is keeping prices under upward pressure. 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West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Puerto Rico US Virgin Islands Armed Forces Americas Armed Forces Pacific Armed Forces Europe Northern Mariana Islands Marshall Islands American Samoa Federated States of Micronesia Guam Palau Alberta, Canada British Columbia, Canada Manitoba, Canada New Brunswick, Canada Newfoundland, Canada Nova Scotia, Canada Northwest Territories, Canada Nunavut, Canada Ontario, Canada Prince Edward Island, Canada Quebec, Canada Saskatchewan, Canada Yukon Territory, Canada Zip Code The Honda HR-V is a textbook case of the effects of inflation. When it was launched in 2022, this entry-level variant you see here was price... A CARLOW-based senator is calling on the government to act quickly on controversial legislation that would ban trade with Israeli settlements after a key committee found no legal barriers to making the ban more comprehensive. Senator Patricia Stephenson, who lives on the Carlow/Kilkenny border between Castlecomer and Old Leighlin, says Ireland has a chance to lead by example with the Occupied Territories Bill. The Social Democrats politician, who represents Carlow/Kilkenny in the Seanad, wants the bill to cover both goods and services from Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territory. Until now, there had been uncertainty about whether including services would create legal problems. But the 31 July report from the Oireachtas Foreign Affairs Committee found theres no legal reason why services cant be included alongside goods in the ban. Ireland has a real chance to be bold and brave and to lead by example, said senator Stephenson, who serves as her partys foreign affairs spokesperson. There are countries in Europe and globally that will be closely watching what we do over the next few weeks. The committees findings were based on evidence from top EU and international lawyers. Crucially, politicians from different parties agreed that the fear of legal challenges shouldnt be used as an excuse to water down the legislation. Senator Stephenson, who was elected to the Seanad in January of this year, believes the bill could become a template for other countries to follow. She pointed to an International Court of Justice ruling that found Israels presence in occupied Palestinian territory is unlawful and that countries shouldnt support the settlements through trade. The senator criticised delays in getting legal advice from the attorney general, calling the wait unacceptable. She argued the government shouldnt be afraid of Ireland becoming a test case if the law faces challenges in EU courts. In the face of ongoing genocide in Gaza and Israels continued illegal occupation of Palestinian territory, Ireland now has an opportunity to show leadership on the world stage, she said. It is an opportunity we should not squander. The Occupied Territories Bill has been years in the making, with ongoing debates about how far trade restrictions should go and whether they would conflict with EU trade rules. FOUR exceptional producers from County Carlow have secured places in the finals of Blas na hEireann, The Irish Food Awards 2025, demonstrating the countys continued strength in food innovation and excellence. Codd Mushrooms Ltd, Murphys Craft Butchers, Seerys and Sunshine Juice Ltd are among the finalists announced for Irelands most prestigious food awards, now in its 18th year. The achievement comes after a rigorous judging process that took place over three months from May to July, conducted in partnership with University College Cork and TU Dublin. More than 3,000 entries were submitted from across Ireland, with only the top entries from each category making it to the finalist stage. This years competition has seen significant expansion, with a record number of new producers taking part and the biggest ever growth in categories, now totalling 190. The expansion includes significant growth in fast-evolving areas including alcoholic drinks and their non-alcoholic alternatives. We are thrilled to see that Carlow has once again demonstrated its strength in food innovation and excellence, said Kieran Comerford, head of economic development & enterprise at Carlow County Council. This national recognition reflects the vibrancy and diversity of Carlows commercial food production industry. The judging process is conducted blind by a network of expert judges including chefs, buyers, academics, restaurateurs and industry leaders, ensuring only the highest quality products reach the final stage. The countdown is now officially on for the awards weekend, which returns to Dingle from Thursday 2 October to Sunday 5 October. The celebration will feature the Blas Village, Showcase, Eat Ireland in a Day market and the awards themselves, all taking place on Friday 3 October. Its been an exciting year for the Blas na hEireann awards, says Blas na hEireann chairperson Artie Clifford. Thats not just in terms of the ever-growing number of entries, but in the incredible standard of produce from both long-standing producers and impressive newcomers. The event will continue to prioritise sustainability, building on environmentally friendly policies to support a more conscious future for Irish food production. Little Caoimhe (6) is raising money for Cancer Fund for Children By Elizabeth Lee Carlow girl, Caoimhe Cullen, has been announced as a brand ambassador for this years Woodies Heroes campaign. Caoimhe, age six, is an ambassador for Cancer Fund for Children (CFFC). Caoimhe lives in Carlow with her mum and dad Clare and Daryl, and her sister Aoibheann. In 2023, then four-year-old, Caoimhe complained of a tummy pain which her mum noted as out of character. Following a trip to the doctor in August 2023, the family received the life-changing news, that Caoimhe had a Wilms tumour on her kidney. Caoimhes treatment then began soon after, leading to surgery to remove her kidney and tumour. Caoimhes treatment went well, and she proceeded to mark her all clear result by ringing the bell in Crumlin Childrens Hospital on 5 July 2024, marking the end of her cancer journey. Caoimhe, a pupil at Gaelscoil Cheatharlach, Carlow, is the daughter of Clare nee Minnock, and Daryl and is big sister to Aoibheann and Donnacha. Caoimhes mum Clare recognises that the journey would have been so much harder without Cancer Fund for Children which helped the family with emotional support. Claire Kennelly, a Cancer Support Specialist helped Caoimhe learn mindfulness tools such as hot chocolate breathing which helped Caoimhe when it came facing injections as part of her treatment. Reflecting on the journey Clare said: We got phenomenal support from Cancer Fund for Children throughout Caoimhes treatment. It really helped us as a family to get through what was the darkest time in our lives and were blessed with the support we got. I would encourage everyone to support Woodies Heroes campaign as your donations will really make a difference to families like ours. Now in its eleventh year, Woodies Heroes is the annual fundraiser in support of Irish childrens charities and this year Childline by ISPCC, Down Syndrome Ireland, Autism Assistance Dogs Ireland, and Cancer Fund for Children benefitted from the month-long campaign. The Woodies Heroes campaign is still open for today, Friday and tomorrow, Saturday where you may give a donation in store at their shop in Hanover, Carlow. You can show your support for the Cancer Fund For Children Charity by making a donation at https://cancerfundforchildren.com/donate/ Phased free preschool policy to benefit pupils Chinadaily.com.cn) 14:22, August 08, 2025 Children show their paintings at a studio in Xiayi county of Shangqiu, Central China's Henan province, June 1, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua] China's phased free preschool education policy is expected to benefit around 12 million pupils in the upcoming autumn semester, reducing household expenditure by around 20 billion yuan ($2.8 billion), a senior official said on Thursday. Guo Tingting, vice-minister of finance, said the exemption of care and education fees applies to all children in the final year of kindergarten, regardless of urban or rural residence and whether they attend public or private institutions. The amount waived is based on the government-approved standard fee for public kindergartens. Private kindergartens charging fees above local public kindergarten rates may still charge the difference, Guo said at a news conference held at the State Council Information Office. For example, if standard public kindergarten care and education fees for certain regions are set at 500 yuan per month and a private kindergarten charges 800 yuan, the fee for children in their final year at public kindergartens would be zero for the autumn semester, while the fee for those at private kindergartens would be 300 yuan monthly, she added. Calling it a milestone in preschool education, Guo said the policy has been made by the central authorities to address people's needs, safeguard and improve their livelihoods, promote long-term and balanced population development, ensure education equality and build a birth-friendly society. The recently launched subsidies for families with children under 3 years old are expected to work with the free preschool education policy to reduce families' costs in childbearing, child-rearing and education, she said. The central government and local government will cover the fee waiver together. The central government will cover 80 percent of the costs in western regions, 60 percent in central regions and 50 percent in eastern regions, with local governments paying the remainder. Guo said the ministry will closely monitor the implementation of the policy. It will adjust the free preschool education policy with the Ministry of Education based on changes in kindergarten enrollment and government finances, so it can benefit more children, she added. Xu Liuqing, director of the Ministry of Finance's Department of Science, Education and Culture, said that with less than a month until the start of the new semester, the ministry plans to allocate central funds for the policy in the coming days. It will also work with the Education Ministry to guide local finance and education authorities to secure and allocate money for implementing the policy, ensuring it does not affect the normal operation of kindergartens, Xu said. Guo said that government expenditure on preschool education has grown from 86.2 billion yuan in 2013 to 315 billion yuan in 2023, with the annual growth rate reaching 13.8 percent. Liu Yuguang, director of the Ministry of Education's Department of Finance, said that in 2024, the gross enrollment rate of China's preschool education was 92 percent, reaching the average level of high-income countries. The ministry will make more efforts to ensure the standardized operation of kindergartens and improve their overall quality, he said. Yan Yao, the mother of a second-year kindergarten pupil in Changsha, Hunan province, said she is glad that her daughter can benefit from the policy. Yin Guilin, whose daughter attends a public kindergarten in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, said she fully supports the new policy, as she pays around 1,500 yuan per month for her daughter's kindergarten fees. Xi Zhimiao contributed to this story. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) ATLANTA The Israeli governments decision to occupy Gaza City risks catastrophic humanitarian consequences and long-lasting political ramifications. Rather than pursuing peace, justice, and a long-term political resolution with the Palestinian people, the Israeli government is doubling down on war and occupation, on top of famine and starvation against Palestinians in Gaza City. The Israeli government has decided to proceed despite serious objections from its own military leadership, contravention of international law, widespread concern for the safety of Israeli hostages, and growing public opposition to the plan, including from the families of those still held captive. The Carter Center condemns the decision and calls on the Israeli government to pursue a nonmilitarized path to peace, implement an immediate cease-fire, and avoid further unnecessary suffering in Gaza and exacerbation of violence in the West Bank. The international community, including the United States, must similarly condemn and reject any effort to impose military control over Gaza City and its inhabitants. ### Contact: media@cartercenter.org The Carter Center Waging Peace. Fighting Disease. Building Hope. A not-for-profit, nongovernmental organization, The Carter Center has helped to improve life for people in over 80 countries by resolving conflicts; advancing democracy, human rights, and economic opportunity; preventing diseases; and improving mental health care. The Carter Center was founded in 1982 by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, in partnership with Emory University, to advance peace and health worldwide. Advertisement Taiheiyo Cement has recorded 7.64Mt of Japanese cement sales in the 2Q25, down 6.4 per cent YoY. The company stated that this is mainly due to soaring construction costs, a chronic labour shortage, and a significant decrease of shipment on Saturdays. Of this total, approximately 6000t was imported, representing a 2.2 per cent YoY decline. However, total exports increased 7.3 per cent YoY to 2.17Mt. As a result, the groups domestic cement sales by volume, including consignment sales, decreased 8.5 per cent YoY to 2.80Mt. Exports increased 14.4 per cent YoY to 0.89Mt. The west coast US cement businesses saw sales volume remain flat YoY, but selling prices were higher due to price increases. In the cement business in Vietnam, although exports decreased YoY, sales by volume increased due to a recovery in domestic demand. In the Philippines, cement sales by volume remained flat YoY. These market conditions resulted in net sales of JPY156,237m (US$1060m), up JPY792m YoY, and operating profit of JPY4446m, down JPY2404m YoY. Prosecutors said a man who killed a lifelong acquaintance by running into him with his car has been found incompetent to stand trial, according to a mental health examiner . Despite the ruling, General Sessions Court Judge Gary Starnes conducted a preliminary hearing and bound a case of second-degree murder to the Grand Jury against Corey Devon Washington, 45, of Ooltewah. Prosecutors said they would seek mental health treatment for Washington, and have him re-evaluated afterward. Attorney Bryan Hoss said Washington, who lives with his mother, was disagnosed as paranoid and schizophrenic when he was 17. He said a physician had taken him off a certain medication prior to the April 4 incident and that may have contributed to his actions. Detective Alvin Abbott said when officers arrived shortly after 6 p.m. that day on Towerway Drive they found multiple vehicles had crashed. Kevin Kendrick, 51, was dead at the scene, having been rammed between the Washington vehicle and another car. A third car was damaged by the collision. The investigator said $60 cash and a 9mm handgun were found on the ground near the victim. He said Kendrick had robbed Washington, then shot him. Washington had two graze wounds on one leg and a through and through shot on the other. Attorney Hoss said his femur was splintered. Video from a neighbor showed Washington back away from the scene, then go forward at speeds estimated at 40-50 mph toward Kendrick. Judge Starnes said it appeared that Kendrick had turned his back toward Washington, then he turned just before he was hit. He said Washington told him that he went over to Kendrick's grandmother's house to buy some marijuana from an individual, who turned out not to be there. He said Washington stated that on the way he saw Kendrick and offered him a ride. He said afterward they had an altercation when Kendrick claimed Washington would not give him a ride. Attorney Hoss argued that it was a "classic voluntary manslaughter" case. Judge Starnes bound it over on second-degree murder as requested by the prosecution. He set the bond at $500,000. Mark Allen Maynor, born June 10, 1968, passed away peacefully on August 5, 2025 leaving behind a legacy of excellence and dedication. Mark was a beloved husband, father, grandfather, son, brother and friend. Mark was preceded in death by his grandparents, Glenn and Louise Skiles and Gene Miller. He is survived by his devoted wife, Laura Frances Wood Maynor; his loving mother, Sandra Pollard; his son, Joshua Maynor (Shannon); his daughter, Jessica Hamala (Joseph); his brothers, Matt Pollard (Kari) and Brent Maynor (Amber); his aunt, Carolyn Parker (Benny); his uncle, Ricky Skiles; cousins, Eric and Evan Parker; and his in-laws, Rachel Wood and Joseph Miller. Mark was a cherished and proud grandfather to 11 grandchildren. He will be greatly missed by his treasured dogs Esther, Harleigh, Sunday and Scruppy. Mark graduated from Soddy Daisy High School in 1986, where he was an outstanding athlete in track and field, earning a place at the state level in the pole-vaulting event. Mark then embarked on a distinguished career in the United Sates Navy and became a member of the distinguished Naval Nuclear Program. As a machinist mate, Mark completed Nuclear Power school before attending prototype training. Mark made history and qualified at the S3G prototype in just eight weeks- a record-breaking achievement unmatched since 1958. Mark was also selected to teach prototype for three years. He then became part of the crew of the U.S.S. Pennsylvania. Most recently, Mark was employed as a project manager at EMJ, where he took great pride in supervising the construction of hospitals. In his early years, Mark was a Hamilton County yo-yo and rubrics cube champion. Mark battled cancer for 15 months and although the last year was a challenge, Mark and Laura had the privilege of sharing many cherished and loving moments together. The family will receive friends and loved ones at the funeral home on Tuesday, Aug. 12, from 11 a.m. till 12:30 p.m. Services will follow in the funeral home chapel at 12:30 p.m. with Eric Parker presiding. Burial will follow at Chattanooga National Cemetery. Marks memory will live on in the hearts of his wife, family, friends and those fortunate to have shared in his extraordinary life. Condolences and memories can be shared at www.williamsonandsons.com. Arrangements are entrusted to Williamson and Sons Funeral Home, 8852 Dayton Pike, Soddy Daisy, Tn. 37379. Michael Fitzmaurice is a native of Cavour, South Dakota, but was born unexpectedly in Jamestown, North Dakota, in March 1950. He explains: I was a preemie. My parents were just passing through, and there I was. They left me up there and came back home [to South Dakota] for a month and then came back and retrieved me. His family had a long legacy of military service. Thus, after graduating from Iroquois High School in 1969, when the Vietnam War was raging, Michael recalls: Me and three buddies came down to Sioux Falls and we all signed up.I went to the Army, and there were two Marines and one Navy. So, we all went different, but the important thing, I guess, is that we chose to do it. At the time, he did not know how important his decision would be to those he would save two years later. Fitzmaurice went to Basic Training at Fort Lewis and then to Advanced Individual Training at Fort Knox, where he specialized in armored reconnaissance. In March 1970, he was deployed to Vietnam, the only one of his group of friends sent to that war zone. He was assigned to Second Squadron, 17th Cavalry, 101st Airborne Division. In his second month there, his unit fought in the battle of Khe Sanh, which had been subjected to a 77-day siege in 1968, and the Marines there suffered heavy casualties before abandoning the base. But when military planners began operations into Laos, the abandoned Khe Sanh airstrip was needed for attacks on supply lines coming down the Ho Chi Minh Trail. On March 23, 1971, Fitzmaurice, then with 3D Squad, Troop D, was assigned to secure the airstrip when he and his men found themselves on the receiving end of a heavy enemy attack. He says: They came and blew us up. I went out on the line, and when it was over, I was going to go back to bed. Well, we no more got into our bunker than they started putting in the rockets and stuff again. I had two really good buddies, Phil and Bill, so, Phil and I went out to get into the fighting position, and there was one of our guys who had been all blown to crap laying there on the ground. Phil and I got into our hole. From there, they just started hammering us. Moving to another bunker, he says: I wouldnt even be here if Phil hadnt shot a bunch as we came out. We come running, and they blew the main bunker. The other guys got buried, but Phil and I got into the fighting position and headed to another bunker. The Viet Cong threw three grenades into their second bunker, and Michaels split-second decision saved the lives of his fellow soldiers. According to his Medal of Honor citation: "At the onset of the attack Sp4c. Fitzmaurice observed three explosive charges which had been thrown into the bunker by the enemy. Realizing the imminent danger to his comrades, and with complete disregard for his personal safety, he hurled two of the charges out of the bunker. He then threw his flak vest and himself over the remaining charge. By this courageous act he absorbed the blast and shielded his fellow soldiers. Although suffering from serious multiple wounds and partial loss of sight, he charged out of the bunker and engaged the enemy until his rifle was damaged by the blast of an enemy hand grenade. While in search of another weapon, Sp4c. Fitzmaurice encountered and overcame an enemy sapper in hand-to-hand combat. Having obtained another weapon, he returned to his original fighting position and inflicted additional casualties on the attacking enemy." His citation concludes: "Although seriously wounded, Sp4c. Fitzmaurice refused to be medically evacuated, preferring to remain at his post. Sp4c. Fitzmaurices extraordinary heroism in action at the risk of his life contributed significantly to the successful defense of the position and resulted in saving the lives of a number of his fellow soldiers. These acts of heroism go above and beyond the call of duty, are in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service, and reflect great credit on Sp4c. Fitzmaurice and the U.S. Army." Michael recalls he was banged up pretty good but says: There was no place to go, so it was just lucky. So, what do you do? I mean, I never figured Im surviving. But I had my buddy Phil with me, and I was trying to help him out. Its just a matter of survival. As I have noted many times, while we often talk about heroic actions in the service of our country, those acts are almost universally in the service of their fellow warriors. Michaels injuries would require 13 months of surgeries. You can listen to him recount the events of that day here. He was discharged from the Army in April 1972, and he and his wife Patty returned to South Dakota to start their family. In March 1973, he received an unexpected call. Im out there sawing a pig, and I get a call, and they said it was the White House, he says. They told me I was going to be receiving the Medal of Honor. I didnt even know I was put in for that. I couldnt tell anyone until they put out a press release. It had to come out in the newspaper before I could even say anything about it. Of the ceremony with President Richard Nixon, he notes: It was magical and fun, I have to say, but at the same time, I didnt understand what was so special about what had happened in Vietnam. I was just doing what I was trained to do, and I was just lucky. And as a recipient, he says: If it wouldnt have been for my experience there, I wouldve never got to meet all the nice people. With the Medal of Honor, I travel all over and meet nice people. Returning to Sioux Falls, Michael signed on to serve with the Army National Guard and Air National Guard. In 1987, he went to work for the Veterans Administration until his retirement in 2011. In 1998, then-Governor Bill Janklow (R-SD) honored Michael by naming the South Dakota State Veterans Home in Hot Springs for him. As for fellowship with other recipients, he says: We have a convention every year. When I first started going, there was 254 living recipients. So, I met a lot of them from World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. Today, there are only 61 living recipients. Michael and other recipients will be gathering for the 2025 Medal of Honor Celebration, hosted by the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center in Chattanooga, Tennessee the Birthplace of the Medal of Honor. The convention features public and private events, and the capstone Patriot Awards Gala is Saturday, 4 October. Learn more about corporate, foundation, and individual sponsorship opportunities for this high-profile event before they close. Visit: www.MOHHC.org/Celebration If you have questions, Chattanoogas point of contact for the convention is Vince Butler, whom you can call at 423-877-2525 ext. 111, or email at vbutler@mohhc.org SP4 Michael Fitzmaurice: Your example of valor a humble American Patriot defending Liberty for all above and beyond the call of duty and in disregard for the peril to your own life is eternal. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down ones life for his friends." (John 15:13) Live your life worthy of his sacrifice. Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis Pro Deo et Libertate -- 1776 Join us in daily prayer for our Patriots in uniform Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guardsmen -- standing in harms way in defense of American Liberty, and for Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Former Regional Planning Agency executive director Dan Reuter issued a statement on Friday blaming the city administration for what he called his forced resignation from his post. He said he plans to take legal action against the city. Mr. Reuter also said when he arrived in the post he was surprised to find that the Planning Commission was so tilted toward developers. He also said Planning Commission leadership resisted taking part in additional training. Mr. Reuter said a 30-minute lunch session in which Planning Commission members are briefed on cases can be used to violate the Sunshine Law. He said the Interlocal Agreement between the city and county for local planning "should be immediately rescinded." Mr. Reuter said: On July 8 th, 2025 following a month of required leave, I was informed by Mande Green (former Chattanooga Human Resources Director) and Kevin Roig, Chief of Staff, that a majority of the Regional Planning Agency (RPA) Executive Committee (Mayor Kelly, Mayor Wamp, Chairman Eversole, Councilwoman Hill and RPC Chairman Ethan Collier) had voted to terminate my employment unless I resigned that day. I was not provided the opportunity to meet with the RPA Executive Committee or know the reasons why this decision occurred. The July 8th meeting was the outcome of a report undertaken by the Chattanooga Human Resources Department staff following a complaint of a hostile work environment from a city employee not under my supervision or within my department. The report was immediately released to the media including the Times Free Press, a newspaper owned by WEHCO Media, based in Little Rock, Arkansas. It is my position that the Human Resources Department report was undertaken with the direction of City Administration staff as a personal attack with the intention to force my resignation. The manner of this action broke a contract with me which was established under the RPA Interlocal Agreement between Chattanooga and Hamilton County. I therefore must recommend to the citizens and elected officials in the City of Chattanooga and Hamilton County that the joint RPA Interlocal Agreement be immediately rescinded. Upon the first Regional Planning Commission (RPC) meeting which I attended in January 2022, it was clear that the RPC was inexperienced and unusually oriented to serve the interests of the private developers, builders and engineering companies in Chattanooga and Hamilton County. While all local governments have an interest in supporting private development, it is unusual to have a super-majority of a planning commission led by private real estate interests. It is my understanding that the RPC has been configured with this membership (and informal alignment with the Homebuilders Association of Chattanooga) for many years. I sought to reorganize the RPC membership in my first year but was ignored by the City of Chattanooga Administration staff and Mayor Kelly. The RPC continuously fails in their role not only because of the composition of the membership, but the lack of education, transparency and political interference from the City of Chattanooga Administration staff. The City Administration has multiple individuals including Kevin Roig, Darrin Ledford, Ellis Smith and Chris Anderson who directly engage with private developers and builders. Not only does this undermine the public trust but conflicts with the RPA role and seeks to provide special benefits to politically connected individuals. I believe this is the primary reason that my role as the RPA Executive Director was undermined by the City Administration staff, Human Resources Department and Mayor Kelly. The RPC members are required to undertake minimum training under Tennessee law, which has been annually recorded and transmitted to the state by Karen Rennich at the RPA. I sought to initiate formal RPC annual training with objective legal scholars but was not supported by Chairman Ethan Collier. The informal 30-minute lunch period prior to the RPC monthly meetings allows for potentially illegal closed meeting dialogue, and was determined to fulfill the RPC member training period for many years. From my experience based on the past 3 years and 5 months, it does not meet that State of Tennessee standard. The City Administration has historically sought to influence RPA as the federal Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) host to seek federal funding benefits for the city and impact development, not only within the city limits, but unincorporated Hamilton County as well as the entire region including counties in north Georgia. My resignation is a direct outcome of this City Administration staff undue influence in rezoning cases and intention to direct federal funding for special projects including those identified by staff of River City Company. I am proud of the work that was undertaken during my term as RPA Executive Director. I appreciate the good relationships which I have with Mayor Wamp, Hamilton County Board of Commissioners and Chattanooga City Council members. The RPA Interlocal Agreement between Chattanooga and Hamilton County no longer serves the interests of the citizens in either jurisdiction. Planning and zoning responsibilities should immediately be separated to allow the city and county to move forward independently. Changing responsibilities under the RPA Interlocal Agreement as well as removing the RPC from a joint city/county role should be the first action to end this broken system. The City of Chattanooga should have a city focused program of plans and investments, which is the purpose of Plan Chattanooga. The city and county should fund road improvements and paving through sales taxes as I sought to initiate with Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) leadership earlier this year. This action would preclude the need for a property tax increase. Local governments in the State of Georgia have used SPLOST for transportation improvements for 40 years. The hostile work environment accusations made against me are false and the manner it was undertaken I believe to be illegal. I was not provided with any warning or an opportunity to counter the statements or defend myself. As a 60-year old with 35 years of professional work with many local governments to achieve incredible outcomes, it is with much regret, I will be required to challenge the City of Chattanooga in every manner legally available to address the damage done to my professional reputation and potential future income by the City Administrations actions. Photo Credit: GoFundMe/ Lebron Givaun Memorial Fund Page Over $70,000 has been collected to aid the family of LeBron Givaun, who was fatally shot in broad daylight outside a Seattle church last week during a ministry gathering. The Pursuit Seattle, a branch of the multi-campus church based in Washington, held a prayer vigil in honor of Givaun on Sunday night. Additionally, the congregation initiated a GoFundMe fundraiser to cover memorial expenses, funeral costs, living expenses, and the ongoing needs of his wife and children. By Wednesday morning, $71,015 had been raised through 116 donations, surpassing the initial goal by more than $20,000. The church community is coming together to honor Lebrons memory and help his family navigate the difficult days ahead, the fundraiser states. Every contribution will go directly toward funeral costs, living expenses, and ensuring that his family feels the support and love of those around them. Givaun, 28, was killed outside the church on Thursday evening during a young adult ministry gathering. Seattle Police believe that Givaun was specifically targeted in the attack. Nearly a week after the shooting, the suspect remains at large. The unidentified shooter was seen fleeing the scene in a white Hyundai Elantra. Just hours after the incident, law enforcement officers found the vehicle nearby in the parking lot of another church, responding to reports of a car fire. When they arrived, the vehicle was fully engulfed in flames. Pastor Russell Johnson described Givaun as a born-again Christian who had recently become part of the congregation.His life was changing, Johnson told local outlet King 5. He decided to get married. He changed the music he was making and wanted to sing songs that highlighted his testimony. Givauns Instagram page, which features a video encouraging people to attend The Pursuit Seattle, also includes a link to his new single titled Im On Fire (With The Word of God). The song was released three days before his death. In a July 19 Instagram post, Givaun discussed his renewed faith, stating that he was going to remove all his old music and declaring, I gave my life to Christ. I don't want to push a negative type of music anymore, he wrote. I just want to apologize to anybody I've led astray. He also mentioned that future social media posts would focus entirely on God, expressing his belief that God is real. Pastor Jack Hibbs. | Screenshot: YouTube/ Real Life with Jack Hibb Pastor Jack Hibbs of Calvary Chapel Chino Hills in California issued a warning to his congregation last week regarding Assembly Bill 495. He cautioned Christians that they may need to consider leaving the state if lawmakers pass a controversial new bill that would permit almost any adult to take custody of a child without notifying the parents. Titled the Family Preparedness Plan Act of 2025, the bill would broaden the definition of a caregiver to include nonrelative extended family members, described as any adult caregiver who has an established familial or mentoring relationship with the child, or who has an established familial relationship with a relative of the child. Under this legislation, any caregiver could potentially take custody of a child simply by providing a signed affidavit to school or childcare personnel. Although AB 495 claims to address unique challenges faced by immigrant families amidst the federal government's efforts of mass deportation under the Trump administration, Hibbs argues that the risks the bill poses to child welfare are too significant to overlook. There's no requirement in the bill for the school to ask you if it's OK for them to take John out of school, he told his congregation. It allows an individual to obtain a new form that comes with the bill; they fill it out, and they can name a child. The bill does not require a background check for this man, requires no ID, no driver's license, no nothing. There's no requirement in the bill for the school to call you, to ask you if it's OK if John takes your daughter out of school. Hibbs further warned that AB 495 would also give a caregiverwhether a non-relative or a family memberthe authority to make important medical decisions for a child, including approving immunizations or medical examinations. According to the bill, any caregiver who signs the affidavit shall have the same rights to authorize medical care and dental care for the minor that are given to guardians. The founder of Real Impact and a vocal critic of the bill stated that if AB 495 becomes law, he will urge his church and Christians across California to leave the state. If this bill passes, I am going to ask you to leave the state of California. You're gonna need to pack up and get out; you gotta get out. You gotta run with your kids. You gotta go, Hibbs said. He also blamed the bills potential passage on the lack of political involvement among Christian voters in California, saying, Here we are. Evil always fills a void or vacancy. Jesus said that, referencing Matthew 12:43-45. As part of his Real Impact ministries, Hibbs announced plans for the Stop AB 495 Rally scheduled for August 19 on the steps of the California Capitol in Sacramento. He expressed hope that as many as 5,000 Christians would gather to voice their opposition. The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) map displaying violent events involving the listed groups for the year ending June 30. | Photo Credit: Africa Center for Strategic Studies Website Militant Islamist groups have expanded their presence across Africa, more than doubling the number of fatalities linked to their violent activities in certain regions of the continent. According to a study by the Africa Center for Strategic Studies (ACSS), In the year ending June 30, ten militant Islamist groups were responsible for the deaths of 22,307 people, most of whom were Christians in West, East, and Central Africa. The analysis indicates that these groups have increased their violent, lethal tactics since 2023, marking a 60% rise from the period of 2020 to 2022. Nearly half of the fatalities (10,685) in the past year have been in the Sahel, a vast region encompassing ten countries, including Mali, Chad, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, and Cameroon. Along with the Lake Chad Basin, these three regions (including Somalia) account for 99% of the militant Islamist-linked fatalities in Africa the past year, the study states, which also maps the expansion of militant groups territorial control across the continent. Across Africa, an estimated 950,000 square kilometres (367,000 square miles) of populated territories are outside government control due to militant Islamist insurgencies. This is equivalent to the size of Tanzania, the report notes. Over the past decade, the study highlights, militant Islamist groups have been responsible for over 150,000 deaths. The groups Al Shabaab in Somalia and the JNIM affiliate in the Sahel have ramped up their operations since 2022, resulting in over 49,000 fatalities in each region over the last ten years. The countries in the Lake Chad Basin have suffered an estimated 39,000 deaths within this timeframe. The political instability in the Sahel has significantly contributed to the rising death toll linked to militant groups. The region has seen an average of 10,500 deaths annually over the last three years, compared to 4,900 between 2020 and 2023an increase of nearly seven times since 2019. The pace and scale of violence in the Sahel is likely even higher than reported, given that the military juntas that seized power in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger have restricted media access, the study states. The JNIM network, which has up to 7,000 militants, is responsible for over 80% of fatalities in the Sahel, especially in northern, central, and southern Mali, and southern Burkina Faso. The group now occupies more than half of Burkina Faso. In Mali, JNIM has released videos allegedly showing abuses by security forces targeting the Fulani community, portraying itself as a defender of marginalized populations. The government forces, meanwhile, have accused the Fulani community of supporting militants, with the study linking 17,700 civilian deaths to government and allied forces. Increased attacks by Al Shabaab, based in Somalia, have resulted in 6,224 fatalities in 2024 and 2025. The groups financial resourcesprimarily derived from extortion, road tolls, and piracyare estimated at $200 million, rivaling Somalias internal revenue. This report coincides with recent attacks on Christians in a church in Komanda city, eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, carried out by the Allied Democratic Forces, an affiliate of ISIL/ISIS. The militant group claimed responsibility for the killing of 43 worshippers during a night mass and for burning shops and homes. It also took responsibility for another attack in early July that killed 66 people in Ituri province, near the border with Uganda. Home News Former PM Bennett: Israel is 'losing the Republican Party' and everyday Americans due to poor government messaging Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett warned on Tuesday that Israel is losing support within the Republican Party and America in general, and blamed this trend on poor messaging from officials within Netanyahus government. The Democratic Party hasnt been with us for some time, he said. Were also losing the Republican Party, whose support for Israel could once be counted on. Even those who have been our friends are having a hard time defending the State of Israel, Bennett wrote, adding that many Americans are increasingly seeing Israel as a liability and burden. Bennett's comments about Republicans appeared to be in reference to a small but vocal minority of voices in American conservatism who are critical of Israels military operations in Gaza and Iran, such as Tucker Carlson and Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. While approval of Israels actions in Gaza among Americans has decreased overall, most Republicans approve of Israels handling of the war. According to a Gallup poll published in July, a record low of just 32% of Americans say they approve of Israels operations in Gaza. The poll indicated, however, that Republican support for Israels actions has actually risen since September, going from 66% to 71%. Support has dropped among Democrats and independents, with 25% approval among independents and 8% approval among Democrats. Bennett blamed several Israeli politicians by name, arguing they cause us unimaginable damage with devastating quotes that will haunt our soldiers in passport lines in countries around the world. As the Times of Israel reported, Bennett named Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, in addition to Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu and MK Nissim Vaturi, who have all drawn backlash for their statements about the war. Eliyahu said last month that the government is racing ahead for Gaza to be wiped out, and that all Gaza will be Jewish. Smotrich said in May that Gaza will be totally destroyed, arguing that they will seek to leave Gaza since they will be totally despairing, understanding that there is no hope and nothing to look for in Gaza. Vaturi, a member of the Likud Party, said in January of last year that he believes the vast majority of those left in northern Gaza should be wiped out. We cant be gentle souls and say Oh, there are innocents there, he said. Theres 100,000 left? Whos left? If there are innocents there we know about them. But those left there need to be wiped out, period. Vaturi also made inflammatory comments in a February interview on Kol BaRama radio. Who is innocent in Gaza? Civilians went out and slaughtered people in cold blood, he said. Adult men, from my perspective there are no innocents there among the adult men. You are saying to kill all the adult men in Gaza? the interviewer asked. To kill all who are there as adult men, we will move the children and the women, Vaturi responded. Bennett, who intends to run for prime minister in Israels elections next year, said such rhetoric is harmful to Israelis, as it gives fodder to critics of Israel. Do you really think that what you say in interviews in Israel isnt being heard abroad? wrote Bennett. Dont you care that you will lead to the prosecution of our soldiers? This article was originally published at All Israel News Home News Hostage families escalate demonstrations against new Israeli Gaza offensive, call for nationwide protests Ahead of a security cabinet meeting that is expected to sign off on plans for a new large-scale offensive against Hamas, the families of hostages remaining in captivity are ramping up their protests, warning that the new operation could endanger the lives of their loved ones. Einav Zangauker, whose kidnapped son Matan is believed to still be alive, called on Israelis to protest outside the venue of the meeting. Zangauker, who has become one of the most vocal leaders of the hostage protests, accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he promised a hostage deal but took advantage of my pain, of the families, of the whole hurt nation [and] killed the deal. Someone who talks about a comprehensive deal doesnt go and conquer the Strip and put hostages and soldiers in danger, she wrote on X. Netanyahu and his partners are about to condemn [Matan] to death, she said, calling on protesters to flood the streets of the nation starting tonight. Also on Thursday, some 20 hostage family members participated in a symbolic flotilla from Ashkelon toward Gaza, carrying yellow flags and posters of their loved ones as they sailed toward the enclave. A boat carrying families of hostages has just departed to sea, heading south to get as close as possible to their loved ones, according to a statement from the Hostage Families Forum. Yehuda Cohen, whose son Nimrod is held captive, shouted through a megaphone: Mayday, mayday, mayday. We need all international assistance to rescue the 50 hostages who are nearly two years held by the hand of Hamas. Please, we need international help, Cohen said. In an official statement, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum condemned the plan and, exploiting reports of internal dissent, asked IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir to oppose it. Chief of Staff, we are asking you to stand strong. You are the supreme commander. Dont consent to endanger[ing] our loved ones, the statement said. Pointing to polls indicating public support for a ceasefire deal, the forum said, Any other decision will be clearly inhumane and spell disaster for the hostages and the whole of Israel. The families of the hostages call on IDF commanders at all levels not to act in a way that will endanger hostages lives and block the possibility of the return of the bodies, the statement read. The security cabinet was set to meet around 6 p.m. Thursday evening to approve a plan for the IDF to take control of the entire Gaza Strip, including the approximately 25% it doesnt yet control, where Hamas is thought to hold the remaining hostages. Officials in the military and the opposition have warned that such an operation could directly endanger their lives, either through erroneous strikes or by causing the hostages captors to execute them when IDF troops approach. This article was originally published by All Israel News. Home News Pakistan: Report exposes spike in violence against Christian children A new report by Pakistans National Commission on the Rights of the Child (NCRC) highlights the severe challenges faced by children belonging to religious minority groups, including Christians, and calls for immediate action by the government to curb the high levels of discrimination emanating from systemic bias, social exclusion and institutional neglect. The report, titled Situation Analysis of Children from Minority Religions in Pakistan, also raises the crucial issues of forced conversion, child marriages and child labor faced by minority children, particularly those belonging to the marginalized Christian and Hindu communities. The worrying trend of systemic discrimination affects every part of the minority populations daily life, especially their children. Minority children frequently face discrimination from classmates and educators in schools. They also have to deal with curricula that could reinforce negative preconceptions about their religion. Isolation, below-average academic achievement, and, in many cases, school dropout are the expected outcomes of such an educational setting. Minority households financial situation presents an equally alarming image. Many individuals are caught up in cycles of bonded labor, especially in brick kilns and the agricultural sector, where entire families, including their children, work in cruel conditions, the report states. Citing forced religious conversions and forced marriages of Christian and Hindu girls to older Muslim men as the most concerning issues, the report notes that there are few legal options available to the victims. Such practices persist despite existing legal protections because of institutional biases, public pressure, and the poor role of law enforcement agencies, it said. According to the report, between April 2023 and December 2024, the NCRC received 27 complaints related to the oppression of minority children, including cases of abduction, murder, forced conversion, and underage marriages. The highest number of cases of violence against minority children (40%) were reported in Punjab, the most populous province, from January 2022 to September 2024, the report said, citing police data. Among the victims were 547 Christians, 32 Hindus, two Ahmadis, two Sikhs, and 99 others. In its review of Pakistans educational curriculum, the study noted the minorities concern about the absence of religious inclusion in the Single National Curriculum. Minority populations often express dissatisfaction with the compulsory study of Islamic religious education due to the absence of other options to examine their own perspectives. This not only infringes upon their religious freedom but also hinders their academic progress, since they are obligated to study a topic that might not align with their principles. Numerous minority students articulate apprehension over their scores on annual evaluations, as their performance in religious studies may adversely impact their GPA. This intensifies feelings of alienation and reduces their prospects for academic achievement. Regarding discrimination faced by minority students in schools, the study said that fellow students and sometimes even teachers treat minority students differently when they become aware of their religious and caste identities. Students shared that they do not feel comfortable sharing their religious and caste identities because their caste and religion are considered inferior. Due to inferiority complexes, children from oppressed caste communities and minority groups are hesitant to sit in the front seats, ask questions in class, or drink from common glasses, it said, adding that fellow students from the majority religion mock their religious practices and ask them to convert so they can earn a reward. In its call to action, the NCRC urged the government to strengthen legal protections, expand social safety nets, create inclusive education policies, and adopt specific measures to counter child and bonded labor as well as forced religious conversions. Commenting on the report, NCRC Chairperson Ayesha Raza Farooq said the initiative, conducted in collaboration with UNICEF, was aimed at generating evidence, identifying policy gaps, and guiding duty-bearers toward systemic and sustainable solutions. While there has been measurable progress such as improved birth registration and legal reform in certain provinces millions of children in Pakistan still fall through the cracks due to fragmented efforts, lack of coordination, and limited political will, she said. Farooq said that the NCRC was working closely with provincial governments to harmonize child protection laws, raise the age of marriage to 18, ensure inclusive education, and strengthen systems that safeguard all children especially those from minority communities. But we cannot do this alone. Every stakeholder policymakers, educators, law enforcers, civil society and faith leaders needs to move beyond silos and act in unison. Every child, regardless of religion or background, deserves dignity, safety and a fair chance at life, she emphasized. NCRC Minorities Member from Sindh, Pirbhu Lal Satyani, said the study investigates the layered vulnerabilities experienced by children belonging to religious minorities including barriers to education, incidents of forced conversion, child labor and discrimination in public services. Children from religious minorities are among the most marginalized. They face stigma, stereotyping, and structural exclusion that obstruct their full development. This report is a call to action for both policy and society to ensure their inclusion, dignity and protection, Satyani said. This article was originally published at Christian Daily International Home News Why don't American Christians care about the ethnic cleansing of an ancient Christian homeland? As a veteran international religious freedom advocate who is no stranger to the halls of Capitol Hill, Chelsea Sobolik says she didn't know as much as she thinks she should have about Armenia's historic Christian roots before attending a fact-finding trip to the Caucasus country earlier this month. Sobolik, the director of government relations with the Evangelical humanitarian organization World Relief, who previously worked for the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, joined a delegation of Christian leaders and scholars from the United States who met with some of the over 120,000 Armenians forcibly displaced from their ancestral homeland of Artsakh (known internationally as Nagorno-Karabakh) nearly two years ago. The swift September 2023 military offensive to capture the self-governing democratic region by the Muslim-majority Azerbaijan, which was preceded by a 10-month blockade of food and supplies to weaken the population, drew international media attention and allegations of genocide. But it wasn't long before the news cycle moved on to other crises. The plight of the families forced from their homes who saw the torture of their loved ones posted to social media began to fall on deaf ears, even amid reports that Azerbaijan is bulldozing ethnically Armenian residential buildings, neighborhoods and cultural sites despite the United Nations International Court of Justice mandating the right of return for Armenian refugees. While Armenia is regarded by historical consensus as the first Christian nation established in 301 A.D., this is a fact that appears to be lost on many Christians in the West today, who advocates say Armenian Christians need to be their voice in what seems to be an uphill battle against Azerbaijan's global economic influence. "I'm a little embarrassed to admit this, but I had no idea, just the rich Christian heritage in Armenia," Sobolik told The Christian Post. "I told some friends where I was going, and half the people I told had no clue where on Earth Armenia even was. And these are people who should be a little bit more informed. So, I think there's a huge education gap with American Christians." The trip opened her eyes, Sobolik said, to the degree of persecution these Armenians faced. "I hear these stories, and you think Syria, or you think Afghanistan, or you think these horrible places, not Armenia," she said. "And I think it just, it really opened my eyes to the persecution Christians face in places that aren't [traditionally thought of as being] the worst of the worst places for Christians in the world." The trip organized by the advocacy group Save Armenia and the Tufenkian Foundation ran from July 27 through Aug. 2. Several American Christian leaders visited government leaders, displaced families, ancient monasteries, a model refugee village and the front lines. The voyage came about a week before U.S. President Trump is set to host leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Washington on Friday for a summit that supporters hope will advance a possible peace deal between the two countries. Save Armenia Director Matias Perttula said his organization organizes about two to four of these delegation trips each year, framed as a "fact-finding trip" for Christians and conservative leaders whom they hope will mobilize their networks to raise awareness of the issue in U.S. churches and pressure the Trump administration and Congress to act. "There was just such a lack of knowledge about Armenia, lack of understanding about what's been going on, and even the history of Armenia as the first Christian country," he said. Although Western Christians may look at the map and see that Nagorno-Karabakh is well into the territory of the modern-day borders of Azerbaijan, Perttula stressed that many of the cultural and ethnic artifacts in Artsakh leave no doubt that the land is historically and ethnically a part of Armenia. "Throughout the centuries, basically, Armenia used to be a lot bigger than it is today. One of the big indicators and proofs that this land, Nagorno-Karabakh, is Armenian is literally in the churches and the monasteries, the cemeteries, the grave sites and other Christian holy sites throughout the region," he said. "It literally has churches from the early centuries that have been there forever, since basically Christianity started really taking root in the region. These are very, very, very old churches that still stand in Armenia, but they're very much under threat in Nagorno-Karabakh." Philadelphia-based Pastor Bill Devlin, the founder of the nonprofits Widows and Orphans and REDEEM!, who travels the globe to stand in solidarity with persecuted Christians, believes what's happened to the population and cultural identity of Artsakh meets "the U.N. definition of ethnic cleansing" and genocide. "Armenia used to be a huge territory, and Turkey has eaten it alive. And Azerbaijan now has eaten it alive. Of course, the Soviet Union ate it alive. And, I describe it as a nation that has been eaten alive. It's been ravenous, and simply because that nation declared itself a Christian nation by the king 1,900 years ago. It's heartbreaking to see the disintegration of a nation, but also the desecration of the Christian faith, and it's very intentional, and it's all about ethnic cleansing. It's all about genocide." 'Awaken the Church' Doing some research before the trip, Sobolik said that what stuck out to her was the level of support Armenians received from American Christians when they faced genocide over a century ago, beginning in 1915 during the Ottoman Empire, when as many as 1.5 million Armenians were killed. "You know, 110 years ago, when the genocide was happening, it was American Christians who stood up and created all these relief efforts to help Armenian Christians," Sobolik said. "And it really was the birth of the international human rights movement by Christians. I had no idea about that history. If you'd asked me, I would have said it was World War II in the Holocaust, but it was really the Armenian genocide that American Christians, Clara Barton with the Red Cross, went over there. So, I mean, there's such a rich history with American Christians serving Armenians, and I think it's really special." Perttula said that at the time, it was mostly Mainline denominations that organized the response to the Armenian genocide. "And I've heard the number $2 billion with a B was raised in today's dollars, basically, to come help these victims of the genocide. And so, we felt like there's a real calling to kind of return to that and awaken the Church to this to become a force multiplier and, once again, kind of answer that call." Sobolik believes several factors are keeping American Christians from rushing to support their Armenian brothers and sisters to the same extent they did over 100 years ago, one of which is "compassion fatigue" in the age of social media. In 1915, people didn't have social media to make them aware of every atrocity across the globe. But today, Sobolik said, users are "bombarded every day by atrocities around the world." As one of the smallest countries in the region, she believes that the plight of the Armenians may also be overshadowed by Christian persecution occurring in larger neighboring countries like Iran and Turkey. "I do think there is a compassion fatigue that American Christians face," she said. "I think the other thing is the lack of education. There's not a huge amount of relief organizations or human rights organizations talking in America about what's happening or what has happened in Armenia. And so, I think those two things, coupled together, probably have created this gap." For Save Armenia, its target group for these awareness delegations is Evangelical Christians, Perttula said, adding that there is a bit of a cultural and theological divide that may spark hesitation for the traditional American church world to engage on this issue. "A big part of it is understanding that Christians are Christians at the end of the day. And you can argue theology, and you know you can disagree on theological points all day long, but at the end of the day, if you're living in an area or in a part of the world that's constantly being persecuted, the persecuting forces really don't care if you go to a Methodist church or a Presbyterian church or a Catholic church or whatever. At the end of the day, you're a Christian and you're a target at that point." Devlin believes one factor why Christians in the U.S. haven't been mobilized to help Armenians is due to narratives put into the Western media by Azerbaijan. "The federal government of Azerbaijan is spending lots of money in the media, in social media and print media and TV media, crafting a false narrative about Armenia, and the hatred goes so deep," Devlin said. "They just want to wipe out any vestige of Christianity in Armenia. It's the jihadist mentality, so that they have a team of people that is undermining in the media, in the blogosphere." "So any truth that Armenia gets out there, that is crushed by the federal government of Azerbaijan," Devlin added. Sobolik agrees that it's imperative for American Christians to "be aware of what's happening to our brothers and sisters across the ocean." "You know, I talked to a woman whose sister was a Christian and was brutally murdered by the Azeri army five years ago," she said. "I mean, things I don't even want to repeat, they're so awful. And I mean, she's my sister in Christ." Flaunting torture The delegation met with family members of people killed by Azeri soldiers in its 2020 military offensive in Nagorno-Karabakh and families of the two dozen Armenians taken hostage, including high-ranking political officials subject to what the European Parliament calls "sham trials." Researchers say that Azerbaijani soldiers even flaunted the torture of civilians by disseminating videos of summary executions on platforms like TikTok and Telegram. Nadine Maenza, who previously chaired the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and co-chairs the International Religious Freedom Roundtable in Washington, D.C., told CP of one social media post featuring a woman whose throat was cut in the shape of a cross. "They cut a cross into her throat and put the picture up on social media for the world to see," Maenza said. Charmaine Hedding, a Jerusalem-based advocate who heads the Shai Fund working in conflict zones to help build resilience for Christian communities and religious minorities, has visited Armenia several times in her career. She said the delegation heard about "rapes, mutilation and [soldiers] terrorizing anyone that they managed to capture." "And then a number of the cases I spoke to and heard about, it was, for example, like this, where they did things like cut off body parts and stuff them in their mouth or cut off their ears and basically slowly killed the live hostages that they caught, uploaded it onto social media, and that's how a lot of the family members found out what happened to their loved ones," Hedding said. Although some international human rights watchdogs like USCIRF have criticized the Azerbaijani military's treatment of Armenian civilians, Hedding believes international bodies have failed to hold Azerbaijan accountable because of the country's economic impact. "I mean, it's clear no one wants to touch Azerbaijan because they have oil and Turkey, and they sell it to Europe," she said. "One way to stop all of this is to decrease their influence. Of course, I believe they should be sanctioned for the human rights abuses that they have committed, and it's clear what they've been able to do with relatively carefree abandon, with no one really coming against them." Maenza told CP that the Azeri army made announcements in Artsakh villages for residents to flee in the hours before the offensive in 2023. She said the residents didn't even have time to grab clothes before they were forced to flee their homeland into Armenia proper, where they have been welcomed and sheltered by the local population. Armenian government assistance has ended for many of these displaced families, causing a new level of panic to find housing. While some displaced individuals still in Armenia have found their footing, groups like the Shai Fund and the Tufenkian Foundation are working to find solutions for those who need to find housing and jobs. "A lot of them are going back into crisis mode, and they've had to move pretty often, so without any stability, and having to move around based on what's available with the government," Hedding said. "They haven't been able to really set up businesses or hold down stable jobs." Reason for optimism? Reports this week that Trump is hosting Armenian and Azeri leaders in Washington on Friday have sparked a level of cautious optimism that things might be turning a corner. "We can change this obviously, if America will get involved and bring people into Armenia to start working on this peace agreement that we're hearing about increasing the [transit] corridors, as long as there are guarantees that Azerbaijan won't be able to take over more land," Hedding said. "Because already, we are concerned. They are calling Armenia 'Western Azerbaijan.' And of course, Azerbaijan has never, ever had any influence, and doesn't even have the population in Armenia, in order to call it that." Sobolik said that in their meetings with government officials, what they constantly asked for was the "right of return for people from Artsakh to go back home if they're able" and the release of the hostages. "I'll be curious to see A, if a [peace deal] actually gets signed, and B, what the next couple years look like for relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan and the region. But, it's a huge step in the right direction of signing a peace deal and working towards that." Home News Catholic nuns released from jail as court questions suspicion behind conversion charges Five days after two Catholic nuns walked free from Durg Central Jail, political pressure is mounting for the closure of what critics describe as a fabricated case built on religious prejudice and communal targeting. Sisters Vandana Francis and Preeti Mary of the Assisi Sisters of Mary Immaculate, along with Sukhman Mandavi from Chhattisgarhs Narayanpur district, were released last Saturday after a National Investigation Agency court granted them bail, ending nine days of custody that had sparked nationwide protests and exposed deep political divisions over religious freedom in India. The two Catholic nuns from Kerala and the tribal man were arrested at Durg Railway Station on July 25 following allegations by Bajrang Dal activists that they were trafficking three tribal women for forced religious conversion. The NIA court in Bilaspur delivered a scathing assessment of the case, stating the FIR was primarily based on a mere apprehension and suspicion of commission of an offence by the accused persons. The court noted that parents of the three alleged victims had filed affidavits confirming their daughters were not allured or forced or coerced for religious conversion or trafficking. Significantly, the court observed that two of the three women had stated in police testimony under Section 180 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita that they have been followers of Christianity since childhood, undermining conversion allegations. The controversy began when a platform ticket examiner questioned the groups documentation, prompting Bajrang Dal members to arrive at the scene after reportedly receiving a call from railway staff. Ravi Nigam, a Bajrang Dal member, filed the initial complaint alleging the nuns were taking the women to Agra for conversion. However, multiple sources, including families of the three tribal women, have confirmed they were already Christians. The initial FIR notably contained only trafficking charges under Section 143, with religious conversion charges under the Chhattisgarh Freedom of Religion Act added later. The case exposed unprecedented political unity across party lines in Kerala, where both the ruling Left Democratic Front and opposition United Democratic Front condemned the arrests. Remarkably, the BJPs Kerala unit distanced itself from the action, with state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar characterising the situation as a profound misunderstanding. We have immediately reached out to the government of Chhattisgarh and clarified that these are nuns who were accompanying three adult women with the consent of their families for jobs. Therefore, there was no issue of trafficking, nor was there an issue of any conversion, Chandrasekhar told media. The Kerala BJP leader revealed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah had assured him the bail would not be opposed, noting the state government kept that promise. In stark contrast, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai had defended the arrests, posting on social media that the case involved human trafficking under the guise of conversion by luring. His public pronouncement drew criticism from legal experts who questioned prejudging an ongoing investigation. The three young women at the center of the allegations have since approached police in Narayanpur district, seeking to register an FIR against Bajrang Dal members for allegedly assaulting them and forcing false statements against the nuns. One woman, Kamleshwari Pradhan, publicly alleged that activists coerced her testimony. Central to these allegations is Jyoti Sharma, who describes herself as a Hindutvawadi from Durga Vahini Matrushakti. A viral video emerged showing Sharma threatening the nuns inside the police station, saying: If you dont want to speak, I will smash your face, Im warning you. When contacted by media, Sharma denied physically assaulting anyone but justified her actions to another outlet, stating: I dont hit everyone. I just hit people who convert Hindu girls to Christianity. Arun Pannalal, president of the Chhattisgarh Christian Forum, alleged this was not Sharmas first offense against Christians. He described her as a repeat offender with multiple FIRs filed against her, yet she remains unarrested as police have told courts she is absconding. Pannalal questioned how someone supposedly in hiding could enter police stations at will to threaten detained individuals. It is the duty of the police to provide protection to anyone that they have arrested as per law, Pannalal told Christian Today, highlighting what he described as institutional failure to safeguard those in custody. Speaking to Christian Today, Kamleshwari Pradhan said: We were badly beaten up by Jyoti Sharma, who kept slapping us and even threatened with rape, and so we had no option but to sign the statement that the Bajrang Dal had prepared. CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat, who visited the imprisoned nuns, condemned the case as manufactured and reported concerning jail conditions. Both nuns, in their mid-50s and suffering from chronic arthritis, were forced to sleep on cold floors while running temperatures. Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal has written to Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai, seeking closure of the cases and action against Bajrang Dal members. Their arrest represents a gross misuse of state power, driven not by law but by communal prejudice and political malice, Venugopal wrote. The arrests prompted protests in Parliament, with Priyanka Gandhi leading demonstrations and describing the incident as mob justice and communal targeting. Mother Superior Isabel Francis of the Assisi Sisters told the media: Never have we ever faced such a charge of forceful religious conversion in our history. She revealed the congregation began 75 years ago as an intervention to heal leprosy before expanding into general medicine and education. The bail conditions require the nuns to surrender their passports, report to police every two weeks, and refrain from media interviews. Each provided a bond of over $500 with two sureties of the same amount. The controversy briefly escalated when Chhattisgarh BJP posted a cartoon on social media depicting Congress leaders bowing to nuns and supporting human trafficking and religious conversions. The post was quickly deleted following backlash, with party officials saying it was not the right subject. Major Archbishop Raphael Thattil of the Syro-Malabar Church expressed relief at the bail while emphasising the fight for justice continues. The immediate next step must be the quashing of the charge sheet, which is both malicious and factually baseless, he told media. This article was originally published by Christian Today India. Home News South Korean Episcopal priests daughter released after diocese protests 'unjust' ICE detention A South Korean student and daughter of an Episcopal priest has been released after being detained by federal officials last Thursday over what her family believes was a mistake. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security maintains, however, that the student was in the country on an expired visa. Yeonsoo Go, a 20-year-old student at Purdue University's College of Pharmacy, reunited with her family and faith community in Manhattan following her release, according to a statement from the Episcopal Diocese of New York, where her mother serves as a priest. "Soo has been released in New York City and is reunited with her beloved mother, Rev. Kyrie Kim. May their time ahead be safe and peaceful," the diocese wrote. Tricia McLaughlin, the assistant secretary for public affairs at the DHS, told The Christian Post in a statement that Go overstayed her visa by two years, a claim her attorney contests. McLaughlin did not address what prompted Go's release from custody. "The facts haven't changed: Yeonsoo Go, an illegal alien from South Korea, overstayed her visa that expired more than two years ago," McLaughlin stated. "President [Donald] Trump and Secretary [Kristi] Noem are committed to restoring integrity to the visa program and ensuring it is not abused to allow aliens a permanent one-way ticket to remain in the U.S." McLaughlin highlighted the Trump administration's offer of a free flight and $1,000 to people who self-deport through the CBP Home application, adding that those who leave now will have the option of legally returning to the United States. "The fact of the matter is those who are in our country illegally have a choice they can leave the country voluntarily or be arrested and deported," she added. "The choice is theirs." Immigration authorities detained Go on July 31, her attorney and family told The Associated Press. Authorities then transferred the university student to a detention facility in Monroe, Louisiana, where she remained until her release on Monday. A spokesperson for the DHS told AP that Go was placed in "expedited removal proceedings." Mary Rothwell Davis, an attorney for the Episcopal Diocese of New York, contends that Go has maintained a valid visa since coming to the United States in 2021 with her mother. Go's family did not receive an explanation for the student's arrest and eventual release, Davis said. "We don't know why it happened, but we're very happy that it did," Davis said. "We were moving Heaven and earth to make it known that we thought this was a mistake." "Whether it was our outcry or some other factor that persuaded DHS to send her home, we don't know, but we're so grateful," Davis added, describing Go's experience in detention as "unbelievably traumatic." Following Go's detainment, the Episcopal Diocese of New York hosted a public vigil Saturday in collaboration with the Interfaith Center of New York and the New York Immigration Coalition. In a Friday Facebook post announcing the event, the diocese called on "faith leaders and people of moral conscience" to come pray and call for an end to what it referred to as "unjust detention practices." The diocese claimed that Go was taken into custody after she attended a routine visa hearing, where a judge had scheduled her next court appearance for October. "Her detention represents a disturbing and unacceptable escalation of enforcement against individuals in good standing with pending immigration cases," the Episcopal Diocese of New York asserted. Home News Greg Laurie urges pastors to pray for revival amid Gen Z's spiritual hunger: 'Evangelize or fossilize' RANCHO PALOS VERDES, Calif. Pastor Greg Laurie urged Christians at Turning Point USA's Faith Forward Pastors Summit this week to pray for revival amid a growing spiritual hunger manifesting among young men especially. "I wonder if God is at work," Laurie said, noting how 45,000 people packed Angel Stadium in Anaheim for a Harvest Crusade last month, which prompted the fire marshal to lock the doors for safety reasons. Laurie, who pastors Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, California, said he dubbed his Wednesday address to the packed room of pastors, "Are We Seeing Another Spiritual Awakening?" "We can evangelize or we can fossilize."@greglaurie live at FFPS 2025 pic.twitter.com/dWx2jntfLJ TPUSA Faith (@tpusafaith) August 8, 2025 Reflecting on the spiritual seeking among baby boomers that led to the Jesus Movement he was involved with in the 1970s, Laurie noted that trends increasingly suggest millennial men and younger are similarly ripe for the harvest despite profound challenges. "There's a lot of encouraging things happening right now," he said. "There's been a dramatic shift in the culture toward the Gospel and toward Jesus Christ. In the past, elders and baby boomers tended to be the more committed Christians, but in the last two years that has changed, especially among young people and specifically among young men." "Gen Z men are making a commitment to Christ," he said, presumably referencing a study that was part of Barna's State of the Church 2025 initiative, which found that commitment to Jesus has risen sharply among young men. Conversions jumped 15 percentage points between 2019 and 2025 among Gen Z men, and 19 percentage points among millennial men, according to the study. "This is interesting," Laurie said. "Usually, girls, come on, you're the ones that are always ahead of us in this. But for once, they're not leading the way; men are leading the way. We need this to happen." Laurie also noted the rising number of Bible sales, which he said indicates spiritual hunger. "Guess what? Grandma is not buying the Bibles," he said. "It's young people buying the Bible for the first time." He went on to say Gen Z and Generation Alpha are hungry for the truth, but "don't want thoughts; they don't want a watered-down Gospel." "They want the tough truth; they want the unfiltered Gospel of Christ crucified and the power of the Resurrection." The book tracker Circana BookScan showed Bible sales rose 22% in the U.S. through the end of October last year compared to the same time in 2023, according to The Wall Street Journal. Experts who spoke to the outlet attributed the sales to people seeking meaning in their lives amid growing uncertainty. Laurie exhorted the pastors listening to him to focus on evangelism and shepherding new believers. "We have a choice before us: we can evangelize or fossilize," he said. Echoing Pastor John Amanchukwu, who spoke shortly before him, Laurie cited Romans 13:12, which warns that the time is short for Christians who have been given a narrow window to serve God in their generation. "Revival starts with us, and not just with our churches, but it starts with you," he said. "Because nothing can happen through you until it first happened to you, and you cannot take people any further than you, yourself, as a spiritual leader, have gone. You set the spiritual pace in your church and with your congregation." Home News John Amanchukwu accuses Rick Warren of pushing dangerous alliance with Catholicism: Spiritual treason Pastor John Amanchukwu accused Saddleback Church founder Rick Warren of encouraging Evangelicals to unite with the Roman Catholic Church, an act he described as spiritual treason. Once again, Rick Warren is doing what he does best: hes compromising on the Scriptures truth and the Gospel, Amanchukwu said during a Monday post on YouTube titled Rick Warrens Dangerous Alliance with Rome Unity Without Truth. Amanchukwu is a preacher and author of the 2022 book Eraced: Uncovering the Lies of Critical Race Theory and Abortion. Warren drew attention earlier this month for speaking at Global 2033, a Roman Catholic evangelism event in Rome. During an interview with the Catholic network EWTN at the time, Warren said no single denomination can complete the Great Commission on their own. Warren went on to suggest that God the Father has yet to fully answer Jesus Christ's high priestly prayer in John 17, during which He requested unity among His disciples. His great prayer there is the prayer for unity, said Warren. It's still the unanswered prayer of Jesus. Regarding why he would pray with Catholics in Rome, Warren said, I pray with anybody who believes Jesus Christ is the Lord of my life. And these are brothers and sisters in Christ. He also noted that Catholics make up about half of all Christians. Warren also told EWTN that after his son died by suicide in 2013, he drew comfort from the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, which Amanchukwu pointed out involves the rosary and recitations of the Hail Mary. How can two walk together except they be agreed? Amanchukwu said. [Warren] prays the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, which is a rosary-based repetitive prayer rooted in Catholic tradition, invoking Mary and saints. He stated, No single denomination can complete the Great Commission on their own. How does that work? The Chaplet of Divine Mercy is a series of prayers that Faustina Kowalska, a Polish nun and mystic, claimed to have received supernaturally in 1935. Kowalska, who was canonized in 2000, claimed Jesus instructed her and the world to recite the prayers, and that priests will recommend it to sinners as their last hope of salvation. Responding to those who might question why he believes Warrens statements are problematic, Amanchukwu claimed that Warren is effectively endorsing unbiblical and idolatrous rituals. The Chaplet of Divine Mercy is steeped in Catholic mysticism, he said. It is a man-made tradition rooted in visions and prayers never found in Scripture. Jesus explicitly warns against vain repetitions in prayers in Matthew 6:7, and this is essentially the rosary prayer that they do. Amanchukwu went on to explain why he believes that Catholic prayers to anyone other than the Lord are a form of idolatry. The use of repetitive chants and prayers to Mary and saints violates the First Commandment, and undermines Christ's sole role as our mediator, he said, referencing 1 Timothy 2:5. Promoting such practices validates a false gospel that is rooted in works, indulgences and sacramental bondage. Amanchukwu also claimed Warrens push for interdenominational unity abandons doctrinal fidelity for institutional cooperation. Unity without truth is spiritual adultery, he added. The Roman Catholic Church still teaches salvation by grace plus works, Purgatory as a cleansing step after death, veneration of Mary and saints, that the pope is Christs vicar on Earth, which is not true in the Christian faith, he said. These teachings are unbiblical, dangerous and lead people away from the sufficiency of Christ. For Rick Warren to stand on that stage and endorse these doctrines is not just compromise, it is spiritual treason. Normalizing false unity should not be something that a person is known for, but that is the reputation of Rick Warren. Amanchukwu added that he believes Warrens ecumenism threatens to confuse Christians in an attempt to usher in the one-world religion mindset, where doctrinal differences are swept under the rug for the sake of global unity. When influential pastors like Warren cozy up to Rome, it confuses the flock, he claimed. Believers who don't know the Word will assume Catholicism is just another flavor of Christianity, when in fact it preaches a fundamentally different gospel. The result is a lukewarm church lacking discernment, primed for deception. Home News John Amanchukwu urges Christians to stand boldly against evil: 'Not the time to tone it down' RANCHO PALOS VERDES, Calif. Pastor John Amanchukwu urged pastors and other Christians to speak boldly against the increasingly blatant evil in American culture, especially when others tell them to stay quiet. "I have been told by prominent people on the Left and the Right that I need to tone it down," Amanchukwu said during an impassioned message Wednesday evening at Turning Point USA's Faith Forward Pastors Summit. "I've been told this by lying liberals and by ratchet RINOs. I've been told to just tone it down a little bit and take the edge off." Amanchukwu, a preacher from North Carolina who wrote the 2022 book Eraced: Uncovering the Lies of Critical Race Theory and Abortion, has been an outspoken critic of abortion, pornographic books in schools and cultural Marxism in its various forms, such as critical race theory and queer theory. Amanchukwu has repeatedly gone viral on social media for confronting public school boards about the inappropriate reading material they provide to children, though he noted during his speech at the packed TPUSA event that some have dangled the possibility of a much bigger following if he backs off "the rainbow mafia." "Every time I'm told these things, it goes in one ear and out the other," he said before going on to prompt the entire audience to cheer with him: "I will not shut up!" "They want to take our voice and they want to take our message. And sadly, too many today have surrendered the truth of God's Word just to fit in with the crowd," he said. Amanchukwu buttressed his point by citing the Gospel story in Mark 10 regarding Bartimaeus, the blind beggar whom Jesus healed after he cried out loudly despite those around him telling him to stop. Noting he has been rebuked by fellow Christians who urge him to be less "inflammatory" when calling out cultural wickedness, Amanchukwu likened such discouragement to that which Bartimaeus faced. "They were telling him, 'Hey, beggar, be quiet. We've heard from you enough. Shut up. Tone it down. Don't speak up. Don't say anything. This is not your time to speak,'" Amanchukwu said. "And as a result of that, the Bible says, 'But he cried the more a great deal.' In other words, when they told him to tone it down, he got a little bit louder." Amanchukwu said the same attitude that animated Bartimaeus should drive American Christians as their prevailing culture increasingly descends into what he likened to Sodom and Gomorrah. He suggested that far too many pastors are more concerned about protecting themselves than fighting in the spiritual war manifesting in the culture. "Too many Christians today want to be nice rather than being faithful," he said. "Nice Christians see perversion, and they say, 'I'm not going to judge it,' but faithful Christians call a spade a spade," he said. Amanchukwu went on to quote Romans 13:12, which says, "The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light." Given the relatively short window during which every Christian has to be faithful in their own generation, Amanchukwu urged his audience to make the most of it. "In other words, we don't have much time left," he noted, later adding, "Now is not the time for the Church to tone it down. Now is not the time for us to shut up. Now is not the time for us to be quiet." Home News Secretary Hegseth signals support for 'Christian nationalist' Pastor Doug Wilson U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth highlighted a CNN segment featuring Idaho pastor and theologian Douglas Wilson in a social media post on Thursday, which read, All of Christ for All of Life. Hegseth, 45, recently attended Wilsons church plant in Washington, D.C., alongside his wife and children, which appeared to be an endorsement of Wilsons outspoken Christian nationalist views that include advocating for a theocratic U.S., repealing womens suffrage and criminalizing homosexuality. In an Aug. 7 interview, Wilson didnt back down from those views, telling CNNs Pamela Brown that every society is theocratic, adding, The only question is whos Theo? In Saudi Arabia, Theo is Allah. In a secular democracy, it would be Demos, the people. In a Christian republic, itd be Christ. ... If I went to Saudi Arabia, I would fully expect to live under their god's rules." Wilson told CNN he supports a repeal of the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote. When asked about the reasoning behind that view, Wilson said, "Women are the kind of people that people come out of," Wilson said. "No, it doesn't take any talent to simply reproduce. Biologically, the wife and mother, who is the chief executive of the home, is entrusted with three or four or five eternal souls." While the 72-year-old theologian affirmed his hope for theocratic rule in the U.S. which he speculated was likely about 250 years away from being a reality he denied the various pejorative labels with which hes been described. "I'm not a white nationalist, I'm not a fascist, I'm not a racist, I'm not a misogynist," he said. In an interview with Tucker Carlson last April, Wilson embraced the title of Christian nationalist, and said he believes restoring America to a Christian worldview is a responsibility that falls on preachers "who will stop being ashamed of the name of Jesus, and preach the Gospel as though it's supposed to spread out into the streets after the service. Hegseth's ties to Wilson extend beyond a single retweet: the two reportedly met briefly in May at Hegseths church in Tennessee. The defense secretary has publicly praised Wilsons book My Life is Yours, and is a member of a Tennessee church affiliated with Wilsons Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches (CREC) network. In May, Hegseth led a prayer during a voluntary event at the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, that acknowledged Jesus as king and invoked His wisdom for guidance, prompting critics to accuse him of violating the U.S. Constitution. "King Jesus, we come humbly before you, seeking your face, seeking your grace, in humble obedience to your law and to your Word," Hegseth prayed. "We come as sinners saved only by that grace, seeking your providence in our lives and in our nation." "Lord God, we ask for the wisdom to see what is right and in each and every day, in each and every circumstance, the courage to do what is right in obedience to your will. It is in the name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, that we pray. And all Gods people say amen," Hegseth added, to which some in the audience replied, "Amen." Home News Virginia school district investigating allegations staff helped arrange abortions for students 'Serious questions' must be answered, spokesperson says The largest school district in Virginia is investigating claims that school officials helped arrange and fund abortion services for students without parental notification. Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) says it has initiated a comprehensive investigation following allegations that staff at Centreville High School arranged and funded abortions for two minor students in 2021 without notifying their parents, in apparent violation of Virginia law. The claims, which surfaced in a viral report by independent journalist Walter Curt and were amplified on social media, have sparked outrage and raised questions about the district's adherence to state regulations and parental rights. According to the report, two female students, both minors at the time, allege that school officials, including social worker Carolina Diaz, arranged abortions at Fairfax Healthcare Center without parental consent. One student, a 17-year-old 11th-grade student, claims Diaz scheduled her appointment, paid the clinic's fees, and instructed her to keep the procedure secret. The abortion allegedly took place in November 2021. A second student, five months pregnant, says Diaz told her that she "had no choice" but to proceed with an abortion. That student fled the clinic, unwilling to go through with the procedure, and later confided in her teacher, Zenaida Perz, who provided Curt with an audio recording of the family confirming that the school never informed them of the intent to terminate their daughter's pregnancy. Under Virginia state law, a physician is required to certify in writing that at least one parent has been notified before performing an abortion on a minor, unless a judicial bypass is obtained. In response to the allegations, a spokesperson with FCPS, which serves over 180,000 students with a $3.5 billion budget, told The Christian Post Thursday that the district has "serious questions about these allegations that must be answered." "At no time would the situation as described in these allegations from back in 2021 be acceptable in Fairfax County Public Schools," the spokesperson stressed. "We have taken immediate action engaging an external investigator to get the facts. We all deserve to know exactly what happened. We will take appropriate action as necessary." The district's policy, outlined in FCPS Regulation 2504, states that "every effort" should be made to encourage staff to support students suspecting pregnancy to discuss their concerns with parents but does not mandate parental notification. "In no case shall personnel commit themselves to maintain such information confidentially, keeping it from parents, guardians, or appropriate school authorities," the policy states. Students seeking health-related services are referred to public health nurses employed by the Fairfax County Health Department. Under Regulation 2504, school staff members are asked to "avoid influencing the student regarding the pregnancy." Trump's Census Order Excludes Immigrants, Staged Gaza Aid Photos, Forrest Frank's Miracle Recovery link to download the audio instead. link to download the audio instead. 07:30 07:30 Top headlines for Friday, August 8, 2025 In this episode, President Donald Trump's recent directive for a new U.S. census, aiming to exclude illegal immigrants from states' population counts. Next, we explore allegations from a German newspaper claiming that certain Gaza aid photos were staged by a photographer with ties to Hamas. Finally, we discuss viral TikTok star Forrest Frank's remarkable recovery from a skateboarding accident, providing insight into how he managed to heal so quickly. 00:11 Trump orders new census to exclude illegal immigrants 01:04 Infamous Gaza aid photos were staged: German newspaper 01:57 Daughter shocked to learn of moms assisted suicide via WhatsApp 02:52 Teacher fired for not using trans pronouns entitled to jury trial 03:45 Trump repeats threat to federalize DC over out of control crime 04:37 FBI finds bomb in bedroom of man who mailed $1,600 to ISIS 05:37 Forrest Frank shows proof of broken back, miraculous healing Home Opinion The nuclear age turns 80 Earlier this week, on August 6th, America as a nation commemorated the 80th anniversary of dropping the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. We dropped a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki on August 9. America had reached the culmination of the supersecret Manhattan Project by exploding the first atomic bomb on July 16, 1945, near Los Alamos, New Mexico. For many decades now, Americans as well as people around the world have vigorously debated whether America should have dropped the bomb. In order to answer that question, one needs to attempt to imagine oneself in the situation of Americas military and political leaders in July 1945. The world had been at war since September 1939, and America had been at war since the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941. In the course of helping defeat Hitler and Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan, more than 16 million American men and women had served in the American Armed Forces. America had suffered over a million casualties (407,316 killed and around 671,278 wounded). America and its political and military leaders were war weary and yet were still facing a fanatical and implacable enemy that showed every sign of continuing to fight to the last man in combat situations. On Okinawa (between April 1-June 22, 1945), the Japanese had 110,000 military and between 100,000 and 150,000 civilian deaths before hostilities ended. The Americans suffered 12,500 dead and 49,000 wounded. On Iwo Jima (between February 19-March 26, 1945), the Japanese had 22,000 killed and 216 wounded or captured, and the Americans suffered 6800 dead and 18,000 wounded. This ferocity took place on an island (Iwo Jima) that measured roughly 5 miles by 8 miles in size. Our military leaders estimated that to invade and subdue Japan would cost between 500,000 and 1,000,000 American military deaths. (As noted earlier, up to that date in the war, America had suffered just over 400,000 killed in action.) In the interest of full disclosure, my father was a 23-year-old sailor commanding a landing craft of Marines preparing for the invasion of Japan in August 1945. (He had joined the Navy at 18 in 1940, had risen to the rank of Chief Petty Officer after 4 years of service in the Pacific, which included 13 battles including Midway, the First and Second Battles of the Coral Sea, and the Battle of Leyte Gulf and his ship was sunk in 1942). His immediate commanding officer had told him the day before we dropped the bomb on Hiroshima that we were expecting 50% casualties in the first wave to go ashore, which my father would be transporting on his landing craft. If we had invaded Japan, there is a 50% chance I wouldnt be here (I was born in November 1946). American authorities were already trying to prepare the American public for the fact that they were going to need to continue drafting and enlisting military personnel at the rate of 600,000 to 700,000 annually to meet the militarys wartime needs. (By 1945, that meant 18- and 19-year-olds. All those eligible who were older were already serving.) Given these grim facts, the U.S. government had already created 500,000 Purple Heart medals to award to Americans wounded in the invasion of Japan. Every purple heart awarded to a wounded American soldier, airman, sailor, or marine since then has come from that cache created in 1945. The Japanese authorities estimated that their all-out defense of Japan would include at least 20 million military and civilian casualties, followed by mass malnutrition and starvation in the midst of countrywide mass destruction. Records captured after the war reveal that the Japanese were preparing to execute all 170,000 Prisoners of War in their prisons. Some of the prisoners were in the process of digging their own graves when the war ended. The Second World War would not have ended until mid to late 1947. The massive reconstruction of Europe would have been severely delayed by Americas preoccupation with the continuing war in Japan. The decision to use the atomic bomb to end the war with Japan was the RIGHT decision. For one thing, when the truth came out that we had the bomb and had not used it, and it caused an additional 500,000 to 1,000,000 American sons, brothers, and fathers to have died, the American people would have demanded their leaders, starting with President Truman, be removed from office and probably tried for treason. Dont underestimate the anger and outrage of hundreds of thousands of Gold Star parents who believed their loved ones were sacrificed needlessly. It is certainly a tragedy that 150,000 died at Hiroshima and 64,000 at Nagasaki (plus probably 150,000 more from radiation-caused illnesses over the next five years). However, when you compare these figures with the human costs (Japanese and American) of invading Japan, atomic weapons, up to this point in history, have saved tens of millions of lives more than they have cost. That reality that atomic weapons have saved many more lives than they have cost is underscored by the fact that it is difficult, if not impossible, to imagine that the Soviet Union and the United States and her N.A.T.O. allies would not have stumbled into a big-time conventional shooting war over control of Berlin and Western Europe without the fear of a nuclear conflagration hanging over their heads. At the very least, millions more Americans and other men and women from Western European countries would have spent years of their lives garrisoning Europe against Soviet invasion. Similarly, it is difficult to imagine that America and her allies would not have fallen into a widespread conventional war with China over significant parts of Asia without the looming threat of a nuclear war as a deterrent. Given these realities, up to this point in history, nuclear weapons have saved tens of millions of lives. Of course, that could change in one afternoon if either Pakistan or India were to miscalculate and initiate a first nuclear strike on the other on the Indian subcontinent. It is certainly true that all people of goodwill should be working to make sure that nuclear weapons do not proliferate to additional countries (especially countries controlled by genocidal maniacs like the Iranian mullahs). At the same time, all rational people should reject the mirage that we can eliminate nuclear weapons and live in a nuclear-free world. You cannot un-invent the knowledge of how to make a nuclear bomb. You can read how to do it in the encyclopedia. You cant put the toothpaste back in the tube after its been squeezed out. If you were able, and that is a big if, to get the governments of the world to eliminate all existing nuclear weapons, that would last only until one side began losing the next conventional war. At that point, the losing side would begin building nuclear weapons as soon as possible to save itself from defeat. That is the unpleasant, but true reality of human nature as it is, not necessarily as we would like it to be. The best recipe for human peace and flourishing is for freedom-loving people operating under democratic processes to maintain a credible nuclear deterrent and to ceaselessly work to maintain nonproliferation of nuclear weapons to additional countries. The more countries that possess nuclear weapons, the more likely they are to be used. Would it also be conceivable, for example, for AWS to set up its data center machines in the Oracle data centers and operate them there for its customers? Not an uncharming thought, but that would be purely speculative. This would definitely not be decided in Germany, but would clearly be decided by our central engineering teams. Various aspects would have to be assessed, for example security, etc. In general, there has been quite a cultural change at Oracle in recent yearsa move towards openness. When I think back to how Larry Ellison used to berate AWS and Microsoft just a few years ago and today theyre cooperating. And vice versa, of course. I can still remember from my Microsoft days when we tried to replace Oracle database environments with Postgres SQL. That wasnt so easy. This shows that the level of customer satisfaction with our database is high, particularly in terms of stability and innovation, especially now in the 23ai environment. When I made my trips to get to know the customers, there were certainly some discussions, but almost nobody confronted me with a discussion about instabilities, technological shortcomings or the like. Thats why this combination is so important: now I can also use the database stack that I have learned to value as a customer in the cloud and, above all, in the cloud of my choice. In other words, real added value. Everyone welcomes that equally. However, I currently have the feeling that many people are trying to draw up boundaries again and give preference to their own stack along the lines of: Dear customer, if you are already in my cloud and in my stack anyway, then why not use my tools, my features and my services instead of something else external? But regulation demands more openness from cloud providers. Exactly. Regulation is one aspect. But the other issue of modularity also plays an important role. We have always had this in the application environment. In the on-premises world, we have heard users complain about monolithic blocks versus modular systems and best-of-breed. The issue doesnt disappear when Im suddenly in the cloud. Of course, every provider wants you to use as much of your own stack as possible. But having the option of creating these possibilities via standard interfaces, standard data exchange and certain standard formats and thus supporting change should be the case. We keep hearing from many users that we are now in the cloud and are finding that the whole thing doesnt work so well from an economic perspective if everything is only in one place. Here, too, we are to some extent the challenger in the market with a completely different price-performance ratio, which is also due to the architecture. With us, you can consume a fully-fledged cloud, i.e. its full functionality, in just four racks. With our competitors, you need many times that amount to get a fully-fledged cloud. And the smaller solutions are always a subset of the functions. But you cant get very far with four racks, can you? Of course, four racks dont have the same compute power and storage capacity as 100, but theres no lack of functionality. Thats why we can also offer particularly attractive conditions and place this infrastructure and platforms in market segments where people were previously asking: Well, this is actually too expensive, and can we even afford it? But that is basically the crucial question. Do I focus on a technical migration to the cloud and simply move my IT from my data center to the cloud, which ultimately doesnt bring any particular added value? Basically, youre giving away all the opportunities for modernization and transformation. Hardly anyone does pure lift and shift these days. Many are moving into new application development with the cloud, or at least into a certain degree of cloudification, containerization, etc. Then there are perhaps a few topics that are no longer strategic in terms of the time horizon, but which will be needed for the next two or three years. Of course, the effort involved should be kept to a minimum, so encapsulate it or keep it on-premises. Or if you really want to empty the data center, then simply move it over to the cloud and continue to operate it there. Good, but that still has a very technical focus. I would go one step further in the direction of process and organizational modernization. You mentioned it: Oracle wants to focus on certain industries. Are you also going into a real business consultancy that you offer yourself or is this done via partners? Well, in those areas where we have sufficient know-how ourselvesand I would, first and foremost, mention the healthcare sector with Oracle Health, formerly Cernerwe have built up a lot of capacity in the retail environment or in the hotel industry. Otherwise, we pursue the approach of strategic partnerships, i.e. addressing these topics together with the relevant consulting firms. I would not see it as an obvious goal to build up corresponding capacities ourselves. There are excellent industry-specific specialist consultants and the large consulting firms such as PwC, Deloitte, Accenture etc., with whom we naturally talk intensively about partnerships and then also address certain industries. That is why we have also organized ourselves internally by industry in order to improve this connectivity. Oracle cooperates with various providers of large language models (LLMs). Their own bots and AI agent technology then build on this. How do AI agents from different platforms understand each other and how do they exchange information? PwC is building interesting platforms for this. At the end of the day, you need the right platforms, because there are LLM developers and there are also many customers who want to train their LLMs enriched with their enterprise data, and this requires powerful infrastructures. We operate the entire stack in the AI environment. We started integrating AI into our own applications very early on, both in the industry-specific applications and in the Fusion Stack. We have probably overtaken SAP worldwide in the ERP environment. This is also due to the fact that a lot of agentic AI is already integrated into our applications, whether its human capital management (HCM) systems or supply chain topics. We also offer managed platforms with various LLMs, whether its Cohere or Meta or others. And we also offer entire infrastructures, from very small, very modular systems that can be easily integrated into your own operations, through to superclusters that can also be used to train LLMs. You are sitting on a veritable treasure trove of data with your database technology, which is used by customers. Well, our customers are sitting on a treasure trove of data. Other providers get customers consent and use their data to train AI features. Their argument is that this also benefits you because it makes the AI more intelligent. We explicitly dont train models with customer data. We are very strict about this and say that the data belongs exclusively to the customers and we help the customers, sometimes together with partners, on special projects. But always in the context [that] the customer is in control, the customer decides. That will not change. If only because, as a database provider, we receive a great deal of trust from our customers. This is where the most critical data, which often contains the central value chain, is stored. There are large car manufacturers where not a single car would roll off the production line if these databases were to come to a standstill. This is the heart of a company. And this data belongs to the customer. So you provide the basic technology. But if the customer says, I would like to enrich and train this or that AI model with my business data. They can do this via 23ai, for example. We would also make all the cloud features available, and we would logically also work together with the customer in the project groups. We would make our engineers available, and we would contribute the expertise of our partner companies. Everything that is necessary for the customer to achieve an optimal result. But we would never use this data or metadata to train our own agents. Here in Germany in particular, we often talk about topics such as the data economy and data spaces, some of which are also being pushed by politiciansespecially in view of the new possibilities offered by AI. Industries should set up data rooms and share data in order to generate new ideas. But its not really getting off the ground. Take a look at predictive maintenance models. Does machine manufacturer A share its data with machine manufacturer B? Is it really in their interest? Do you really want a generally trained model to exploit the advantage that you may have found in the algorithm based on vibration analysis or number of revolutions, whatever, and thus have longer running times and less wear. Is that what you really want? Basically, I think its always interesting to improve the quality of data, but you have to look at the specific cases and see how the interests are distributed. It would be quite conceivable to create a platform for a certain subset of toolmakers or machine builders who all want to complete a specific use case. It is then conceivable to run this simulation in a controlled environment with a controlled user group and their consent. But not necessarily to create an agent that can then be resold to all sorts of other companies. Then we quickly get into the discussion: Who is actually driving how much innovation? What about IP theft? Another area that needs to be closely monitored. Not everything thats feasible is always desirable or permissible. This article originally appeared on Computerwoche. It was translated into English using DeepL and edited for clarity. More Oracle news and insights: Most company executives believe their AI rollouts have been successful, but they apparently havent asked their employees. Nearly three quarters of executives surveyed by agentic AI company Writer believe their companies approach to generative AI is well controlled and highly strategic, with a similar percentage saying their companies have been successful in using gen AI over the past year. But less than half of employees surveyed agree. The huge disconnect between executive and employee attitudes about gen AI have serious implications, with employee trust in AI and long-term adoption in doubt. The Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) is considering adopting a model whereby more of its core work is funded privately, reducing the need to charge these costs to its appeals. DECs core costs are covered by contributions from its 15 member charities, grants and gift aid raised in appeals and legacy income, while appeal-specific costs are charged to their related appeals. In its latest accounts , the charity said it operates a highly efficient model, keeping costs to a minimum, with its annual costs covering its core team and maintenance of infrastructure, which is needed year-round to ensure were always ready to launch appeals. Over this strategic period, were seeking to move towards a model whereby more of the operational work of the DEC Secretariat is funded privately, minimising the need to charge these costs to DEC appeals, its accounts read. Meanwhile, its accounts show that its total income, including gift aid and bank interest, rose by 17.9m to 50.8m last year, largely due to the ongoing Middle East Humanitarian Appeal. Evolving organisational core costs model DEC said it intends to evolve its current approach to organisational financing and risk to create a more sustainable organisation better able to withstand future unpredictability and meet regulatory and compliance requirements. This will include evolving its organisational core costs model, revising its reserves policy, investing in financial budgeting, monitoring and reporting and establishing a new risk and compliance framework. Accounts for the year ending 31 March 2025 show that DEC has already begun targeting fundraising specifically for its core costs, raising 0.3m during the year under review. We started scoping for a new reserves policy which will reflect the risks and opportunities going forward and we also invested in our accounting system, moving fully to the cloud, its accounts say. We plan to improve the accounting processes around our core cost fundraising, ensuring that our systems are effective and efficient. Well create a roadmap for developing a new accounting system, which will enable the accounting team to focus on bringing value to the charity rather than transactional processing. DEC added that it will revise its reserves policy, delivering a risk-based approach and ensuring that reserve levels are dynamically managed. 2.5bn raised in 61 years Since it began operating in 1963, DEC has raised 2.5bn across 79 emergency appeals. Between April 2024 and March 2025, DEC raised 50.8m through its appeals (2023-24: 32.9m) and distributed 54.6m to its 15 member charities for humanitarian response. In October 2024, the charity launched the Middle East Humanitarian Appeal, which is match-funded by the UK government up to the value of 10m, to provide support to people affected by the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. The appeal raised 8.8m after the first 24 hours and 20m in just over a week and has raised over 47m since then. DEC said the appeal has been one of the most complex and challenging for it and its member charities due to the blocks to humanitarian access, continued airstrikes, and restrictions on movement and political sensitivities. The appeal brought in a total income of 34.9m last year, thus accounting for the majority of its overall 50.8m income. Other appeals During the year under review, DEC closed its Turkiye-Syria Earthquake Appeal for donations and ended its response in Pakistan. Launched on 9 February 2023, the Turkiye-Syria Earthquake Appeal became one of DECs largest-ever appeals, raising 163.8m including 5m matched by the UK government. DEC launched the Pakistan Floods Appeal on 1 September 2022, which raised 50.1m including 5m matched by the UK Government. In January of this year, DEC closed its Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal, launched on 3 March 2022 following Russias invasion. The charity said this appeal would go on to become one of the largest and longest-running appeals in our history, raising over 446m, including 25m matched by the UK government. While DECs funded programmes conclude this month, some DEC member charities and their partners will continue to conduct activities based on the current needs of vulnerable communities, adapting interventions as needs develop and providing as much holistic support for affected communities as possible, DEC said. This work, however, is now taking place in the context of limited funding for humanitarian assistance more broadly, both in Ukraine and neighbouring countries. Therefore, DEC member charities and their local partners will continue to strategically support the most vulnerable people affected by the crisis, while also working with local organisations to support them in being able to continue helping those in need. DEC added that international non-governmental organisations, including its member charities, are having to scale back their presence and service delivery in the region due to declining resources and funding. Following an earthquake in Myanmar on 28 March 2025, DEC launched the Myanmar Earthquake Appeal on 3 April, which has raised over 26m so far. sign up to receive the free Civil Society daily news bulletin here . For more news, interviews, opinion and analysis about charities and the voluntary sector, Civil Society has published a new podcast episode with Neil Heslop, chief executive of the Charities Aid Foundation. In this episode, Heslop talks about his entry into the charity sector, being an advocate for disability rights and the state of philanthropy in the UK. You can listen to the interview now below or on Spotify, Apple Podcasts , Amazon Music and Pocket Casts . AI-generated transcript Lea Legraien (LL): Hello and welcome to another episode of the Civil Society Podcast. Im Lea Legraien, senior reporter for Charity Finance, the essential resource for everyone interested in the financial side of running a charity. On todays show, Im speaking with Neil Heslop, who joined the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) as chief executive in October 2020 from the international disability charity Leonard Cheshire, where he had served as chief executive since 2016. CAF is a leading charity that works at the centre of the giving world. It helps donors give more impactfully and charities build their resilience so they can do more of their life-changing work. I hope you find this conversation interesting and Ill speak to you again at the end. LL: Hi Neil, so thanks for joining us today. How are you? NH: Im good. Im very well. Thank you. Its good to be with you. LL: Thanks for being here. So, I thought itd be great to talk about your career to start with. After you graduated with a law degree, you spent 25 years in the telecoms industry, if thats correct, and in 2013 you joined RNIB as managing director. Did I get that right? NH: Yep, thats exactly right. Youre taking me back a long way, I have to say. But yeah, so I spent 25 years in the telecoms and IT services business, both in the UK and North America. So, a couple of companies that people might have heard of, I worked for a Canadian company called Nortel Networks for five and a half years, and then I was with BT Cellnet. I was part of the team that launched O2, and I was there for a few years before moving to Cincinnati Bell in the United States. But yeah, my first sort of full-time charity job was when I joined RNIB in 2013. LL: Ok, so what made you leave the telecom sector, then, for the charity world? NH: Well, I guess Id always been interested in the charity world. So, when I left university and went into telecoms, I became quite interestedSo, I lost my sight at university. I became blind when I was 20, and along with a couple of friends who were making our way into our respective careers, we became conscious that unemployment for people with visual impairment was very, very high. So, the three of us started a little charity in our 20s. You know, we each put in 50 and started a charity called Blind in Business. And that started me, in my spare time, being interested in charity, which ultimately led, many years later, to making the career decision to switch out of telecoms and join the sector in an executive role. LL: Ok, so youve been in the sector for over a decade now. What has changed the most since you joined it? NH: Gosh, well, I guess its almost difficult to know where you start in answering that question because I mean that decade just happens to coincide with a vast amount of change in every dimension of life, really. You know, I mean, social media has become huge, and thats had a dramatic change on society. Economically, just in those 10 years, weve had little things like austerity and Brexit and Covid and Ukraine, war and some of the changes that are going on now geopolitically. I guess, the whole environment in which all of us are living, whether we work in the private, public or third sectors, is both very challenging and very, very different to what it was 10 or 12 years ago. LL: Yeah. I mean, I said over a decade, but thats over a decade since you actually joined RNIB, but you founded that Blind in Business charity, I think it was in the early 90s, right? NH: Yeah, thats right. We started it in 1992, albeit as a volunteer and a trustee, Ive been involved in the charity sector, really, for all of my adult life, but only actually made it the day job, if you like, 10 or 12 years ago. LL: Hmm, yeah. So, you said you lost your sight at the age of 20. So, I guess youve faced challenges related to your disability in the workplace. So NH: Yeah, I mean, I think thats certainly the case, and I guess makingSo, my personal storyI was I was fully sighted until I was about 15 or 16, but I had a degenerative disease of the retina called RP, which was supposed to affect me in later life, but actually my sight started to deteriorate a little bit younger than was expected, sufficiently that I lost my sight while I was at university, so I had to make the transition from operating as a fully sighted person into being blind and learning Braille and all that kind of stuff. And I guess as well, my career has coincided with a massive, massive change in technology. And one of the helpful side effects of a lot of that technology has been to enable people with sight loss to overcome, you know, all the kinds of practical challenges that one might face in employment. So, that, you know, thats been a huge support to me. LL: So, youve always been a strong advocate for disability rights. So, you mentioned the charity that you co funded, and then you also acted as an advisor to the UK Government on the introduction of the Disability Discrimination Act in the 90s, and that led to the Equalities Act 2010, so do you think that its incumbent on people like you to shine a light on the need for change? NH: I think it absolutely is. I mean, Ive been extraordinarily lucky in my career to have the opportunity to do all sorts of things in different parts of the world, both from a business point of view, from a charity point of view, in some pretty senior roles in fairly large international organisations. And I guess it is sadly too rare for someone with a disability to have some of those senior roles. So, I do feel very profoundly the responsibility to talk about a little bit and to support the next generations of individuals who are seeking to overcome those kinds of barriers in the workplace. LL: Ok, so in October 2020, you joined the Charities Aid Foundation, CAF. So, I saw that it took over a decade for CAF to grow its annual income from about 350m to 700m. And between 2020 and 2022, CAFs income jumped from 750m to 1bn. So, how did you achieve this? NH: Well, I think the first thing to say its certainly not all down to me or down to any single individual. The most important factor in achieving the growth that weve seen is obviously the generosity of the donors that we have the privilege to work with. So, across Charities Aid Foundation, we work with a population of probably a couple of 100,000 individuals and maybe 5,000 operations, and its their resources and their generosity and their commitment to social change that has enabled us to support them in earning their generosity into social progress. And I guess, combined with our donors, obviously, here at CAF, weve got 750 staff and Im incredibly lucky to be working with an extraordinary group of individuals who are very, very talented and very, very committed, really, to what it is were trying to do. Because, as an organisation, the Charities Aid Foundation, our primary role is to enable charities to do more of their life-changing work with lasting benefits for all of us. And the way we do that is, yes, its about money. And you mentioned that growth from 700m actually over the last five years, weve grown from distributing about 700m a year to distributing 1.2bn a year in our most recent figures. So, weve added an extra 100m a year in each of the last five years, and a lot of that has really been, as I say, down to the generosity and ambition of our donors and the hard work of our staff. But the role that we play isnt really just about money. Of course, it is very important, and money is very, very important for how we contribute to the sector. But what we are also very, very interested in doing is supporting the charity sector at a systems level to become more resilient and inclusive, to help social purpose organisations really build their own resilience and sustainability so that they can do more great work. And then combining that financial and that support role. What were also very interested in is, how can we at a policy and an influencing level, how can we contribute to a giving ecosystem that enables civil society to thrive? So, in our work with governments and in some of our research, thats what were trying to do. LL: So, you mentioned generosity a few times. Youve also said in the past that we can do more and that there is potential for greater giving. And CAF, I think it was yesterday, published the World Giving Report. So, its a perfect timing discussing generosity. So, what else can be done? How do we unlock more giving in the UK and beyond? NH: Well, I think the overarching thing that we all talk about is how do we renew and strengthen cultural giving throughout society. And, so for us, it is a part of our individual and collective DNA to care about our neighbours, whether they be across the street or around the world, and we think the very act of giving can be a source of tremendous hope and connection and innovation, and that is rewarding at every level. Its rewarding for individuals, its rewarding for communities, its rewarding for countries. And what we believe in is that together, if we can give more, then the purpose that were seeking to pursue, which is to accelerate progress in society towards a fair and sustainable future for all, well get that little bit closer. So, we encourage companies, for example, to commit to 1% of pre-tax profit invested in community investment. We encourage high-net-worth individuals to think about giving 1% of their investable income on an annual basis. So, we think if all parts of society commit to that act of giving, then all of us are going to be enriched as a result. LL: Yeah. So, you also said that no UK government has ever cracked the potential of philanthropy, and CAF has been calling for the government to work with the sector to develop a national strategy for philanthropy and charitable giving. So, how close do you think we are to having such strategy? NH: Well, I think what Im pleased about is that philanthropy and charitable giving would appear to be on the political agenda now in a way that perhaps it hasnt been in recent years. And certainly, weve seen some really important and encouraging signs. So, the secretary of state for DCMS, Lisa Nandy, in November, committed to developing something that we really believe in, which is a place-based giving strategy. And so, Im really interested to see those plans come to fruition. Similarly, in Treasury, earlier this year, the chief secretary to the Treasury, Darren Jones, set up a formal government advisory group under the chairmanship of dame Elizabeth Corley, the chair of Schroders. And Im one of the members of that advisory group. And what Darren has asked that group to do is really to provide government with advice about how the potential of what we call the impact economy, by which we mean philanthropy, impact investing and responsible business giving. How government can encourage and nurture that part of our society in order to give more and invest in the kind of social cohesion that we all want to see? So, it was really good last week to see the chancellor announcing, in response to some of that advice, the better futures fund, which is a 10-year commitment underpinned with 500m of government money, very much targeted at vulnerable young people and really seeking to galvanise match funding of another 500m to really invest in improving lives over the next 10 years. So, I think there is more interest in government than there has been. I think just last week we had a terrific civil society summit with government and the impact economy. The government made commitments around the Covenant. And so, I think there is a serious and sincere attempt to understand the sector and to support it to deliver more in the future. LL: Yeah, I wanted to ask you about the covenant. As you said, the Civil Society Covenant launched last week. So, whats missing from it? You said youre pleased to see the government taking action, but is there anything thats missing from it, do you think? NH: Well, I think its a reset moment. I think what I would say is, you know, we had a terrific launch event last week, and huge kudos to you know, the Lloyds Bank Foundation and ACEVO and NCVO, as well as my role at CAF. Im also a trustee of ACEVO and the work that ACEVO and NCVO and Lloyds have done on the Covenant I think is really, really important. I think its important also not to see it as some kind of magic solution. I think its intended to be a reset moment. Its intended to be the government engaging in partnership in a way that perhaps previous governments had not managed. And I think the benefits, were already seeing some benefits in terms of tone and in terms of voices and being listened to. I think the real challenge in the next few years is seeing that shift in thinking and openness really translate into sustained and effective interventions to get the kind of outcomes that, at the end of the day, government, business and the charity sector all want to see. LL: Yeah, but its still early days obviously, by I guess its going to be important that the government turns these words into action, but, yeah, well see what happens in the coming months. NH: I think its definitely important for government to do that, but I think its also important for all leaders in all sectors to be doing that. We have a massive responsibility to those that we serve. You know, right across the country and around the world, there are individuals and communities that are not where we want them to be, and its incumbent on, I think, all sectors and all organisations to redouble their efforts to change that situation. LL: Yeah. So, you mentioned new technologies, and obviously, theres the role of AI, but I just wanted to ask you about CAF using AI to help improve, for example, productivity, and you are yourself seeking to champion accessibility with this technology across CAF and the philanthropic landscape. So, how could AI potentially bring greater innovation to the non-profit sector, grow giving and connect funds to charity needs worldwide? NH: Well, I think whenever I get asked questions like that, you know what feels like such a massive question, what I like to try and do is sort of break it into its constituent parts. So, I think I would respond to that both at an individual level, as an organisation, and then perhaps more generally for the sector. So for me, and as we touched on earlier, obviously, you know, Im blind, and therefore a constant challenge is how do you get access to very, very large amounts of information very, very quickly in an accessible [] Thats a big undertaking. So just at a personal level, I use AI every day, and it is helping me discharge my role as an individual increasingly, and I think thats just going to continue. When I think about CAF as an organisation, CAF sits at this sort of intersection between this population of donors and ecosystem of charities. And a lot of our role, as weve discussed, really is about how we get more money into the sector. How does that money get deployed most effectively? But if you think about it, our organisation is sat on a huge amount of data. Because of all of those hundreds of thousands of donors and hundreds of thousands of charities and millions of transactions, its huge amounts of information, and from that information can be drawn extraordinarily valuable insights. And so as we go through our own internal digital transformation, the role of AI in helping us accelerate bringing those insights usefully to the people that we serve, our donors and our charities is a big deal. You mentioned our World Giving Report. You know, earlier this year, we did our UK Giving Report, and what weve done with both of those is weve been sharing with the sector some of the insights that were drawing out of that data. And being able to do that in a new and different way, so for example, in UK Giving, we were able to share all the way down to ward and constituency level what was going on right across the country in terms of giving that we were seeing. And the manipulation of data and AI allows us to do that. So, thats a big part of our thinking, and its very important, but its only important because of the insight that it gives us that then can then translate into the kind of actions that make a difference. And then I think so, if thats individual, and thats CAF, I think that third thing is were incredibly conscious that we at CAF, because of the nature of what we do, we sit in a very interesting and unusual position to look across the country and around the world and as the sector as a whole grapples with some really, really profound challenges, both opportunities and risks of AI, what we want to do is just to share what were learning openly with people in the hope that it can be of value and support to others going through their own AI journeys. LL: Yeah, thats a great answer to a word, a wordy question. What do you think are the biggest challenges facing CAF at the moment? NH: The biggest challenges facing CAF. So, when we look into the charity world, those that we serve are dealing with an extraordinarily difficult combination. I often talk about it as the triple whammy, by which I mean, you know, demands going through the roof, costs are spiralling and incomes massively under pressure. And then, if I look into the donor world, so those donor communities that we serve, there are massive economic changes going on, both in the economy, in wealth creation and distribution. Theres a lot of political stuff going on. So, I guess the way I think about how we as an organisation stay true to our overriding purpose and impact is by constantly saying: How are we supporting our staff to be their brilliant best at work in order to provide more and higher-quality service, both to donors and charities? And of course, you know thats within a resource-constrained environment. You know we have all of those problems everyone else has in terms of finance and, you know, the need for investment in technology, the need for investment in staff and so forth. So, its a constant juggling act. And I guess, I think all or any CEO in a major organisation can do, or even in small organisations, is constantly be asking themselves: How is what I am doing and what we are doing contributing to the end outcome for the people that we serve? How do we afford the most talented people in our organisation, and then, how do we create the environment in which they can all be their brilliant best? And I tried to keep it to that level, because I think its very easy to become overwhelmed and daunted by some of the challenges of 2025 LL: Yeah, ok. So, what about your organisations priorities for the year ahead? NH: There are three main parts of our organisation. So, theres our Charitable Aid Foundation in the UK, theres our Charitable Aid Foundations in North America, and then there is our trading subsidiaries, so CAF Bank and CFSL, who are supporting charities by providing financial charity services. So, each of those three parts of our organisation has different but very related challenges. And I guess we have priorities across all of them, which are about how can together we be more than the sum of the individual parts. You know, were constantly seeking to deliver better service to donors in order that we can expand both the population of donors that we work with and, crucially, the giving that those donors are pumping into the sector. In order to do that, our investments in technology are hugely important, needing to modernise. And thats a constant challenge as well. LL: And my last question, so CAF traces its roots back to 1924 when it was established as the Charities Department by the National Council of Social Service, which is now the NCVO. So, do you think that CAF will still be around in 2125 thats in 100 years time? NH: Gosh, I think it will be. I certainly hope it will be. I know I wont be. Listen, its the greatest privilege to have the role that I have to be seeking to build on the extraordinary work of thousands and thousands of people over those 100 years. And thats both an enormous privilege, but its also an enormous responsibility. And for the time that Im in this role, my responsibility is to make sure that were doing the right thing for our donors and charities, or for the people who work here, and that were collaborating as effectively as we can do right across the sector, in order that we make sure that when I pass the baton on to my successor, they have a stronger and more impactful organisation for them to pass on to. I dont know how many generations of CEO there will be in the next 100 years, but therell be a few. But I think when your purpose is timeless and enduring, as I believe ours is, you know, we talk about speaking to accelerate progress in society towards a fair and sustainable future for all. Well, I dont think that work is going to be done or finished in the next 100 years. And you know, Charities Aid Foundation, you know, the clues in the name, its a foundation that exists to aid charities and thats all charities everywhere. And while Im extraordinarily proud of what we do currently, you know, were very humble about it. In the greater scheme of things, of whats going on in the world, our contribution is a tiny one. And of course, we want it in the next 100 years to become a bigger one. LL: Ok. Well, thank you, that was a really interesting conversation. Is there anything else which we havent touched on that you were hoping to discuss? NH: Well, we havent talked about anything that I thought we were going to talk about, but we have talked about lots of other things, so, its been great. Thank you for your time. LL: Thank you for listening to my chat with Neil. I hope you enjoyed it. Please like and subscribe to the Civil Society podcast and look out for another episode in the coming weeks. Stay safe! Editors note: This interview was conducted on 22 July sign up to receive the free Civil Society daily news bulletin here . For more news, interviews, opinion and analysis about charities and the voluntary sector, A retired federal judge will help decide the fate of thousands of Johnson & Johnson baby powder cancer lawsuits even though her law firm represents the drugmaker in other matters. Freda Wolfson was appointed earlier this summer to re-examine how experts analyzed some scientific evidence on the link between J&Js talc-based powder and cancer. She has deep expertise after conducting a similar inquiry while overseeing suits accusing J&J of hiding its baby powders health risks. The 71-year-old former judge supervised the consolidation of the federal cases for seven years before retiring in 2023 and joining the New Jersey-based law firm of Lowenstein Sandler. That firm represented the J&J unit that first filed for bankruptcy in 2021. Related: Corporate Nuclear Verdicts Surged to New Record High in 2024, Report Says So-called special masters like Wolfson seldom draw public attention, but her role is in the spotlight because conclusions on expert analysis could bolster or doom plaintiffs chances of winning big verdicts against J&J. The company already has paid out billions of dollars in damages in state court trials over claims its talc powder caused cancer a contention that the drug maker has consistently denied. U.S. District Judge Michael Shipp in Trenton who inherited the sprawling baby powder litigation from Wolfson determined before naming her as a special master that she doesnt have a conflict of interest under federal ethics rules. Shipp found she disclosed her law firms ties to J&J and walled herself off from colleagues who work on wholly unrelated company matters. Wolfson will evaluate expert evidence that surfaced after she okayed the science underlying the litigation in 2020. While lawyers on both sides consented to Wolfsons role and agreed to split her fees, some legal scholars say the appointment is troubling because of the firms ties to J&J. Its really not a good look to pick someone whose law firm represents J&J even if it isnt in the baby powder cases, said Carl Tobias, a University of Richmond law professor who teaches about product-liability cases. You dont want to have any appearance of conflicts when it comes to making recommendations on whether these cases should go to trial. A spokesman for J&J declined to comment. The company withdrew its talc-based baby powder worldwide in 2023 and replaced it with a cornstarch version. Its now sold by Kenvue, the consumer unit J&J spun off the same year. Waived Objection Wolfson said in an email her prior management of the cases and familiarity with the proper standards for expert-witness testimony makes her well-positioned to review the new evidence. To the extent any potential conflict could be perceived, the parties expressly and knowingly waived any such objection, Wolfson said. The fact that Lowenstein Sandler represents J&J in corporate matters not related to talc doesnt pose a conflict in the baby powder cases, she said in a June affidavit. A spokesman for the law firm wouldnt specify what types of cases it handles for J&J. Wolfson issued a landmark ruling in 2020 clearing the testimony of expert witnesses as scientifically reliable, allowing thousands of baby powder lawsuits to advance toward trial. That ruling came six months after the U.S. Food and Drug Administrations discovery of traces of asbestos in 33,000 bottles of the powder. Researchers have found a direct link between asbestos and cancer. Chris Seeger, a veteran plaintiffs lawyer serving as the lead negotiator for baby powder victims, praised Wolfsons return to the case in an email. Her familiarity with the complex issues at play in this litigation makes her the perfect choice to serve as special master, Seeger said. Wolfsons new assignment comes as J&J gears up to face another wave of trials over allegations the company knew about the ovarian cancer risk. Damages Awards At least a dozen state court juries already have awarded consumers a total of more than $6.5 billion in damages over 12 years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg News. Some later were reduced or thrown out on appeal. Juries also have ruled for J&J in other trials. The company has failed three times to resolve the long-running litigation through units bankruptcy filings, most recently in April when a judge rejected J&Js proposal to pay out more than $9 billion to resolve all current and future cancer suits. J&J now faces more than 70,000 suits alleging baby powder caused a variety of cancers as part of a so-called Multi-District Litigation (MDL) designed to save time and money in pretrial information exchanges. A Bloomberg Intelligence analysis has estimated that the caseload could grow to more than 90,000. Wolfsons role is pivotal. She will be assessing scientific studies on talc that have come out over the last five years and not her earlier ruling, according to court filings. If she concludes the expert testimony plaintiffs are relying on isnt adequately grounded and Shipp accepts her recommendation it may prompt him to throw out the federal cases headed to trial, greatly reducing J&Js legal exposure. Likewise, if Shipp greenlights the expert testimony, it will clear them for trial and give plaintiffs more leverage in settlement negotiations. Expert Testimony Shipp is preparing to schedule the first federal trial and its not clear whether he will hold a hearing on Wolfsons findings before he issues a decision on the expert testimony. J&J faces a series of ovarian-cancer trials starting in November in state court in Philadelphia. Johnson & Johnson World Headquarters As Company Anticipates Approaching Regulators With One-Dose Shot The Johnson & Johnson headquarters in New Brunswick, New Jersey. In a June court filing, Wolfson said shes had no involvement with J&J matters since she joined the firm in 2023, where she mostly works on arbitrations, mediations and hearing evidence on behalf of judges. She previously was employed at Lowenstein Sandler for two years starting in 1979 and was appointed to the bench in 2002. Wolfson also disclosed that since late 2023, she has served as a special master assisting a judge in a lawsuit a J&J unit brought against SaveOnSP, a company that oversees a program to help consumers with high co-pays for products. She is tasked with making recommendations on evidence issues in that case just like in the baby powder litigation. Wolfson said in the June affidavit that to avoid potential conflicts, an ethical wall has been in place between myself and all matters involving Johnson & Johnson at Lowenstein Sandler. She said shes confident none of these relationships would preclude me from being impartial or unbiased. Lowenstein Sandler was one of the firms that represented J&J unit LTL Management, which twice sought bankruptcy protection in New Jersey. Law firms routinely use protective measures to avoid creating conflicts of interests. Typically, when a potential conflict is identified, an attorney is blocked from receiving any information about the matter. Wolfsons draw is that with her deep knowledge about the baby powder litigation, she can quickly and efficiently size up the experts scrutiny of the newest scientific studies, said Elizabeth Burch, a University of Georgia law professor who teaches about mass-tort issues. This is a complicated case and she has a lot of expertise with it, Burch said. But if I was a plaintiffs attorney for baby powder victims, Id be a little concerned about her law firms ties to J&J, the professor said. Even though she disclosed those ties, it would still be a concern to me. The case is In Re Johnson & Johnson Talcum Powder Products Marketing, Sales Practices and Products Liability Litigation, 16-md-2738, U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey (Trenton). Copyright 2025 Bloomberg. The Missouri Department of Commerce and Insurance reported that severe weather has already caused nearly $1.6 billion in damage throughout the state this year. The insurance industry continues to respond and assist Missourians as they rebuild and repair their property, DCI Director Angela Nelson stated. Almost $1.6 billion has already been paid by insurers due to catastrophic weather events in Missouri this year, with projections of what will ultimately be paid by the insurance industry currently exceeding $1.8 billion. As part of its regulatory oversight, the department issued a formal data call to assess the insurance industrys response to this years catastrophic storms. To date, 235 insurance companies have responded, representing approximately 99% of Missouris residential property insurance market. 2025 Year-to-Date Catastrophic Weather Impact According to the DCI, as of July 16, insurers have received more than 173,000 claims on residential property, renters and condo owners and auto insurance policies. Those insurers have paid out $1.6 billion for catastrophic weather-related claims statewide. Of that amount, $1.3 billion (roughly 81%) was paid for residential property policies. Projections for 2025 Nearly $1.8 billion is expected to ultimately be paid by insurers for catastrophic weather-related losses. Of those projected payments, $1.5 billion (roughly 83%) is attributed to residential property insurance. Financial Impact of the May 16 St. Louis Weather Event As of July 16, 2025, insurers have received nearly 9,000 insurance claims resulting from this single weather event. Nearly $208 million has been paid across all lines of insurance (residential property, renters, and comprehensive personal auto). Of that total, $182 million (approximately 88%) has been paid specifically for residential property claims. Insurers currently project that $330 million in claims will ultimately be paid for the May 16 storm. Of that number, $298 million (91.5%) is expected to be paid for residential property losses. Based on publicly available estimates of total property losses in St. Louis of nearly $1.6 billion, this data appears to support the DCIs earlier estimates of a high percentage of uninsured properties in the path of the May 16 tornado. (For both statewide and St. Louis-specific data, these projections are preliminary and may vary as additional claims data becomes available.) Three months after a U.S. senator chastized Allstate for its response to a Georgia womans storm claim, Allstate has paid more than 10 times its initial payout on the claim, U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley said. Allstate has finally agreed to pay Ms. Migals claim in full. But there are many others like her across the country who(m) the insurance industry continues to scam, Hawley said in a news release on Tuesday. Hawley, chairman of a Senate subcommittee, led a hearing in May, in which he grilled Allstate Chief Claims Officer Mike Fiato over reports that the insurer had offered about $46,000 after a large oak tree fell on Natalia Migals Sandy Springs home. An adjuster for Pilot Catastrophe Services testified at the hearing that the home was structurally damaged but Allstate claims reviewers had urged him to remove some items from his inspection report. When he declined, Allstate sent a second adjuster, who said that his estimates were often reduced inappropriately by company reviewers. The allegations echoed what other adjusters have said frequently happens with a number of insurers after storm claims, in Florida and other states. Fiato said at the hearing that some of the information presented at the hearing was inaccurate, and that much of the Migal home damage was cosmetic and excluded by the policy. After the Senate hearing, though, Allstate agreed to pay $497,000 plus attorney fees in the Migal claims dispute, Hawley said. Hawley, who has indicated he plans to run for U.S. president in 2028, did not elaborate on what prompted the insurer to raise its offer. Allstate representatives could not be reached Wednesday morning to confirm the payout. The homeowner who spoke at the hearing, who is the chief risk officer for an international finance company, also could not be reached Wednesday. Related: Allstate Q2 Income Eclipses $2B as Auto Turns in Combined Ratio of 86 Prudential Financial reached a $100 million settlement to resolve U.S. Federal Trade Commission civil charges that its Assurance IQ unit misled consumers into buying healthcare plans that did not provide the promised coverage. A settlement with Assurance, which Prudential shut down last year, was filed on Wednesday in federal court in Seattle. Assurance was accused of misleading consumers needing low-cost insurance, both online and in telemarketing, into believing its plans provided comprehensive coverage and essential health benefits of the sort provided under the Affordable Care Act. The FTC said Assurance claimed its plans would substantially lower medical bills but failed to disclose significant coverage and benefits restrictions, leaving consumers exposed to unexpected and significant out-of-pocket healthcare expenses. Assurance did not admit or deny wrongdoing. In a statement, Prudential said it was pleased to settle so it could focus on its core businesses, and said it has already recognized the payout in its financials. We take legal and regulatory compliance very seriously, and we are focused on doing business the right way to benefit our customers, the Newark, New Jersey-based company said. Prudential bought Assurance IQ for $2.35 billion in 2019, three years after the startup was founded in Bellevue, Washington, a Seattle suburb. At the time, Prudential said Assurances direct-to-consumer platform would reach an under-served mass market for health services, including an estimated 17 million customers needing insurance. Prudential decided to wind down Assurance in early 2024, after taking $2.14 billion of goodwill writedowns in the three previous years. The case is FTC v Assurance IQ LLC, U.S. District Court, Western District of Washington, No. 25-01485. (Reporting by Stempel in New York; Editing by Chris Reese and Leslie Adler) Four fires in the Los Angeles area have consumed more than 100,000 acres and sent thousands of residents fleeing for their lives as dry conditions and strong winds fan flames. The Gifford Fire, about 130 miles (210 kilometers) from downtown, started Aug. 1 and has burned 99,232 acres in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties. It is 15% contained, according to CalFire, the state fire agency. The uncontrolled Canyon Fire started in Ventura County Wednesday and quickly spread to Los Angeles County. It has burned more than 4,850 acres, forced the evacuation of more than 4,300 residents and put 12,000 under evacuation warnings, the governors office said Friday. In addition, the Rosa Fire in Riverside County has burned 1,690 acres and the Gold Fire in San Bernardino County has consumed 1,079 acres. Both fires started Aug. 4. This fire has grown and the wind is very squirrelly, said Garrett Huff, deputy chief of emergency services for the Santa Barbara County Fire Department, said in a videocast Thursday night about the Gifford Fire. It changes hour to hour and minute by minute. Related: Zurich Insurance Beats Estimates Despite LA Wildfire Hit Several schools in the area have been opened as shelters. On Friday, Gov. Gavin Newsom said California had received a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to fight the Canyon Fire. Firefighters in Ventura County are battling the Canyon blaze with aircraft water and retardant drop, as the fire spreads east toward the community of Castaic in Los Angeles County. Evacuation orders remain in effect for multiple areas in that region. The story of this fire actually started months ago if you guys remember the winter rains, said fire analyst Garrett Hazleton, referring to the Gifford blaze. What that did is it gave those plants a lot of water right at the peak of their growing season so we had an abundantly high grass crop more than normal. In addition, some areas around the perimeter of the fire zone havent burned since 1950, so theres been ample fuel. In other areas, drought and efforts to cut back on vegetation reduced the amount of material available to burn. Photo: A firefighter near smoke from the Gifford Fire in Los Padres National Forest, California. (Eric Thayer/Getty Images) Copyright 2025 Bloomberg. After nearly two decades at the helm of the Southwest Virginia Ballet, artistic director Pedro Szalay is stepping down, and stepping away from the country he once called a dream come true. Read more: Isaac Hernandez Dazzles New York in Swan Lake Debut with American Ballet Theatre Szalay, a native of Uruguay and longtime figure in the Roanoke arts community, announced earlier this summer that he would leave his post at the end of the 2024 to 2025 season and move to Scotland with his husband. While the news was met with support and gratitude from students and parents alike, Szalay's reasons go beyond a career milestone or personal change. In an emotional interview with The Roanoke Rambler, Szalay said he no longer recognizes the United States he fell in love with decades ago. "It doesn't feel like the welcoming country I embraced," he said. "I'm not leaving because of the company or the community, I'm leaving because of the political atmosphere." Szalay's decision reflects a growing concern among artists and educators across the U.S. who have spoken out about rising political tensions, book bans, restrictions on LGBTQ+ rights, and a general erosion of artistic freedom. Though Szalay has always avoided overt politics in his work, he said he felt increasingly unsafe as both an immigrant and a gay man. "I've always believed in ballet as a language that connects people beyond politics," Szalay told WDBJ7. "But I can't ignore the changes happening around me. When you start feeling afraid to express yourself, not in dance, but in life, it's time to re-evaluate." Under Szalay's direction since 2006, Southwest Virginia Ballet evolved into one of the region's most respected youth companies. Known for its ambitious productions of The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, and original works like Ties, the nonprofit ballet company has sent dozens of students to professional companies, conservatories, and university dance programs. His departure marks the end of an era, but not the end of his connection to Roanoke. Szalay said he hopes to return as a guest choreographer and mentor in the future. His successor, Laurence Blake, a former SVB dancer and alumnus of Radford University, is expected to take over in July. "Pedro has changed so many lives," said parent Laura Whitmore, whose daughter trained with SVB for six years. "He taught them discipline, yes, but also empathy, creativity, and courage." As Szalay prepares to trade the Blue Ridge Mountains for the Highlands of Scotland, the ballet world watches with admiration and concern. His exit is both a personal journey and a quiet political statement, underscoring how even the most graceful art form is not immune to the forces of the world beyond the stage. For Szalay, the final curtain call in Roanoke is bittersweet. "I will always love this community," he said. "But I have to choose peace. And for now, that means leaving." COLUMBUS, Ohio An Ohio couple just saw their familys numbers take a big jump. Betsy Santiso gave birth to quintuplets Monday at OhioHealth Riverside Methodist Hospital in Columbus, according to a news release from OhioHealth healthcare system. Juniper, Cedar, Linden, Torrey and Alder remain hospitalized in the NICU at Riverside Methodist but are doing well, the news release says. Im feeling, well, I feel surprisingly good for having five kiddos, but I think thats because, like, just the whole process of having it was just so smooth, Santiso tells WCMH Channel 4. Santiso and her husband, Dan, also have a 2-year-old boy. The original plan was to have one more. Theres going to be five boys in our house and then a sweet little girl, and either shes going to be a tomboy running with the boys or Miss Priss, but it will be fun getting to know them and it will be wild in our house for sure, Santiso tells Spectrum News 1. The couple credited the medical professionals at Riverside Methodist Hospital with preparing them for welcoming five babies at once. Its been really, really precious, lots of happy tears shed, also a little overwhelming because you feel like you want to spend time with each one of them and you cant always get to all of them, Santiso said, according to WCMH. But each moment that you get to hold one or help change a diaper or something, its just like, so sweet. CLEVELAND, Ohio Its been 12 years since the hit TV series The Office ended its run on NBC. The mockumentary, which ran for nine seasons, focused on a struggling paper company in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Now a new group of workers will be the focus of a spinoff on Paramount and it again will revolve around paper ... but not sales. And it will be based only 120 miles west of Cleveland. A trailer for the series was released Thursday. The Paper is based at a fictional newspaper in Toledo called The Truth Teller. No surprise, the paper is struggling to survive in a modern media landscape. Dont expect to see Michael, Jim and Pam, however. Domhnall Gleeson, who has appeared in films such as Ex Machina and as General Hux in the Star Wars films, will portray Ned Sampson, the new editor-in-chief of The Truth Teller. Sampson will attempt to revive the struggling paper, but of course will be challenged by an eccentric writing staff. Others appearing in the series are Sabrina Impacciatore, Chelsea Frei, Melvin Gregg, Gbemisola Ikumelo, Alex Edelman, Ramona Young, Tim Key. There is one character from the original series appearing in the new show ... actor Oscar Nunez again will portray Oscar Martinez. In the trailer, the Oscar character shows hes not happy about a film crew showing up at the office. Not again!, Oscar says as a camera approaches. Im not agreeing to any of this! He later proclaims, I will make this unusable. F---! Use that! The Paper debuts on Peacock on Sept. 4 with a four-episode run. Between 3,500 and 4,000 workers at the Louis Stokes Cleveland Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center are affected by the VA's decision to cancel its contracts with the American Federation of Government Employees union. John Pana, cleveland.com Rotunda Rumblings VA contracts canceled: U.S. Rep. Shontel Brown on Wednesday denounced the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs decision to terminate contracts with most of its workers unions, describing it as a a shameful assault on the workers who serve our veterans and keep the VA running every day, Sabrina Eaton writes . The nurses, caregivers, and frontline staff at (Louis Stokes Cleveland Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center) and facilities across America dont ask for praise, they ask for a voice, Brown, a Warrensville Heights Democrat, said in a statement. And today, the Trump Administration told them to sit down and shut up. Bus fuss: Cleveland State University responded to criticism from Gov. Mike DeWines office over its justification for ending a student public transit pass program, although its not offering clear details about what led the school to end the U-Pass program with the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority. The school originally blamed a budget provision for its exit of the bus and train pass program, which DeWine spokesman Dan Tierney called a ridiculous reading of the law, Laura Hancock reports . Rival property-tax ballot issue? Butler County politicians are talking about putting a measure on the statewide ballot to cap property taxes in Ohio, as they dont believe the current ballot-issue campaign to abolish property taxes altogether will succeed. Butler County Commissioner Don Dixon told Denise Callahan of the Journal-News that hes working to find people to help craft a proposed constitutional amendment, adding that such an effort would need backing from both the County Commissioners Association of Ohio and the County Auditors Association of Ohio to succeed. CCAO Executive Director Cheryl Subler said her organization doesnt have a position yet, while CAAO President Matt Nolan said his group supports it in theory but the devils in the details. Birthday splash: Vice President JD Vances team had the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers take the unusual step of changing the outflow of Caesar Creek Lake in Ohio to accommodate a recent boating excursion on a family holiday, The Guardian reports . The request from the U.S. Secret Service was made to support safe navigation of the Cincinnati Republicans security detail for an August outing on the Little Miami River, according to a statement by the Army Corps of Engineers. Social-media posts noted Vance was seen canoeing on the Southwest Ohio river, a tributary that Caesar Creek Lake feeds into, on Aug. 2, his 41st birthday. Youre fired: President Donald Trump and GOP U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno are both calling on the chief executive officer of Intel to resign, calling the chipmakers leader conflicted due to his alleged ties to the Chinese government, The Columbus Dispatch reports. In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Westlakes Moreno accused Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan of having ties to the CCP, an apparent reference to the Chinese Communist Party. The senator called on Tan to immediately resign and also said Ohio should conduct a fraud investigation into the executive. Pep talk: Lt. Gov. Jim Tressel told reporters Thursday that, even though Intel has repeatedly pushed back the opening date for a new $28 billion computer-chip factory complex near Columbus, hes confident Intel will fulfill its promises to Ohio. Well figure it out, the Medina Republican said, according to Maria DeVito of the Columbus Dispatch . Tressel also said he wasnt aware of a potential connection between Intels CEO and China, adding, I think you have to be fair until facts come out. The Millennial Phil Donahue? Vivek Ramaswamys response to a racially charged Cincinnati street brawl last weekend holding a town-hall meeting about race relations, then posting video excepts of it on social media shows how the 39-year-old Republican gubernatorial frontrunner is adept in todays modern political landscape that rewards viral moments and podcast-style, unfiltered weighty discussions, writes Andrew Tobias of Signal Ohio . Ramaswamys management of the surprisingly raw town hall, Tobias stated, reminded him of how the late Phil Donahue moderated discussions about difficult issues on his TV talk show. One video, showing Ramaswamys response to an audience member who asked why the brawl got so much attention than historical injustice against Black Americans, was viewed more than 2 million times on X. Buckeye Brain Tease Question: Where is the largest and longest natural beach in Ohio? Email your response to capitolletter@cleveland.com . The first correct respondent will be mentioned in next weeks newsletter. Thanks to everyone who answered our last trivia question: Who was the last governor of Ohio to sport a beard while in office? Answer: Andrew Harris, a Republican from Preble County, who served as Ohios 44th governor from 1906 until 1909 with a large, reddish-brown goatee . For the second week in a row, Capitol Letter reader Danny Hurley, a lobbyist for BT Strategies Group, was the first to email with the correct response. On The Move On Friday, Vance meets with Foreign Secretary David Lammy of the United Kingdom to discuss the US-UK relationship. The meeting will take place at Chevening House in Kent, England. State Rep. Brian Lampton, a Dayton-area Republican, is this years recipient of the Guardian of Small Business Award from the National Federation of Independent Business Ohio chapter. Birthdays Alex Weingarth, government and external affairs director, Amerihealth Caritas State Sen. Shane Wilkin Matthew Wink, senior legislative aide to state Sen. Jane Timken Straight From The Source Well, Ive finally made it. - Vice President JD Vances social media response to having South Park portray him as a diminutive servant to President Donald Trump, reminiscent of Tattoo on the ABC television show Fantasy Island , which ended in the 1980s. 873.2960.76%9 73292298.762520.76%203.2 870.76% 203.2 310 97739666 1140808 Tesla's vice president of hardware design engineering, Pete Bannon, is leaving the company after first joining in 2016 from Apple , CNBC has confirmed. Bannon was leading the development of Tesla's Dojo supercomputer and reported directly to Musk. Bloomberg first reported on Bannon's departure, and added that Musk ordered his team to shut down, with engineers in the group getting reassigned to other initiatives. Tesla didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Since early last year, Musk has been trying to convince shareholders that Tesla, his only publicly traded business, is poised to become an an artificial intelligence and robotics powerhouse, and not just an electric vehicle company. A centerpiece of the transformation was Dojo, a custom-built supercomputer designed to process and train AI models drawing on the large amounts of video and other data captured by Tesla vehicles. Tesla's focus on Dojo and another computing cluster called Cortex were meant to improve the company's advanced driver assistance systems, and to enable Musk to finally deliver on his promise to turn existing Teslas into robotaxis. On Tesla's earnings call in July, Musk said the company expected its newest version of Dojo to be "operating at scale sometime next year, with scale being somewhere around 100,000 H-100 equivalents," referring to a supercomputer built using Nvidia's state of the art chips. Tesla recently struck a $16.5 billion deal with Samsung to produce more of its own A16 chips with the company domestically. Tesla is running a test Robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, and a related car service in San Francisco. In Austin, the company's vehicles require a human safety supervisor in the front passenger seat ready to intervene if necessary. In San Francisco, the car service is operated by human drivers, though invited users can hail a ride through a "Tesla Robotaxi" app. On the earnings call, Musk faced questions about how he sees Tesla and his AI company, xAI, keeping their distance given that they could be competing against one another for AI talent. Musk said the companies "are doing different things." He said, "xAI is doing like terabyte scale models and multi-terabyte scale models." Tesla uses "100x smaller models," he said, with the automaker focused on "real-world AI," for its cars and robots and xAI focused on developing software that strives for "artificial super intelligence." Musk also said that some engineers wouldn't join Tesla because "they wanted to work on AGI," one reason he said he formed a new company. Tesla has experienced an exodus of top talent this year due to a combination of job terminations and resignations. Milan Kovac, who was Tesla's head of Optimus robotics engineering, departed, as did David Lau, a vice president of software engineering, and Omead Afshar, Musk's former chief of staff. WATCH: Tesla's new diner China lodges serious protests with Philippines over its leader's remarks concerning Taiwan Xinhua) 14:35, August 08, 2025 BEIJING, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese Foreign Ministry and embassy in the Philippines have lodged serious protests with the Philippine side over its leader's remarks concerning Taiwan, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Friday. It was reported that during his visit to India, the Philippine leader said in an interview that "if there is a confrontation over Taiwan between China and the United States, there is no way that the Philippines can stay out of it, simply because of our physical geographic location. If there is an all-out war (across the Taiwan Strait), then the Philippines will be joined into it." The Philippine leader also said that there are a large volume of Filipinos in Taiwan, if there is a war, the Philippines has to get involved and try to bring their citizens back. There is but one China in the world. Taiwan is an inalienable part of China. The Taiwan question is China's internal affair and is at the very core of China's core interests. How to settle it is a matter for the Chinese ourselves, which brooks no interference, the spokesperson said. The Philippine government has made serious commitments to China that it adheres to the one-China policy, recognizes that Taiwan is an integral part of the Chinese territory and understands the Chinese government's efforts to realize national reunification, and the Philippine leader also said clearly to China that "the Philippines is committed to the one-China policy. The Taiwan question is purely China's internal affair that must be solved by the Chinese people," the spokesperson said, noting that these words are written in black and white, but the Philippines is now going back on its words in disregard of the grave consequences. "It has kept making wrong and provocative remarks and actions, kept fudging and hollowing out the one-China principle, and kept harming the China-Philippines relations. China firmly opposes this," added the spokesperson. The spokesperson further stressed that "near geographic location" and "a large amount of Filipinos in Taiwan" should not be used as pretexts to interfere in the internal and sovereign affairs of other countries, adding that these claims not only contravene international law and the ASEAN Charter, but also harm regional peace and stability and the fundamental interests of its own people. "We urge the Philippines to earnestly abide by the one-China principle and the spirit of China-Philippines joint communique on the establishment of diplomatic relations, and refrain from playing fire on issues bearing on China's core interests," the spokesperson said. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) In 2020, Doug Barnard was working in e-commerce at Walmart while trying to launch a YouTube channel dedicated to his travels. As a college student, Barnard took a trip with his mom to India that was so impactful it eventually inspired him to become a full-time traveler a path he didn't think was possible for him. "Going to India was an eye-opening experience for me. It was the first time I'd been to some place so foreign, so stimulating and for me it was this epiphany that I needed to experience more," Barnard tells CNBC Make It. "The most exciting part was talking to the people and seeing how things work. The immersion was what really got me." Barnard and his girlfriend have been living in Turkey together for over a year. Berkay Tunal for CNBC Make It Eventually, Barnard was laid off from his corporate job due to the covid-19 pandemic. He decided to take that time off to focus on growing his YouTube channel. In 2021, he left the United States and spent two years traveling the world before making Istanbul, Turkey, his home base in 2023. "Growing up in Connecticut, I never would have imagined that I'd ever end up living in a place like Istanbul or traveling to all the places that I've been lucky enough to travel to," Barnard says. "I found myself coming back to Istanbul again and again. It really is the perfect place for what I'm doing. It is pretty much the center of the world. I love the language, I love the culture, I love the history." When Barnard first moved to Istanbul, he lived alone in a one-bedroom apartment and payed approximately 16,000 Turkish Lira in rent, which at the time was equivalent to about $850 USD. Because of the fluctuating currency exchange rate, by the time he moved out, Barnard's rent had decreased to about $500 USD. Barnard met his girlfriend, Ilkay, and the couple moved into a two-bedroom, two-and-a-half bathroom duplex apartment in the Kadkoy neighborhood. They pay 55,000 Turkish Lira or $1,368.91 USD a month in rent. The apartment came furnished and had a guaranteed parking spot but the couple has since gotten rid of their car. Barnard and Ilkay found their apartment online. Berkay Tunal for CNBC Make It "I always describe it to people as kind of like the Brooklyn of Istanbul. It has a lot of thrift shops, coffee shops, bars and that kind of hipster vibe," Barnard says. "It's one of the best neighborhoods in the city, especially for younger people." Istanbul is split between two continents: Europe and Asia. For Barnard, it was important to live on the Asian side because it's less touristy. "I chose specifically to be on the Asian side. All of the historical stuff is on the European side, so tourists almost all stay over there and people tend to speak a bit more English too," Barnard says. "I really wanted to focus on learning the language. This neighborhood is very well connected, and it's also one of the most secular neighborhoods in Istanbul, whereas other neighborhoods can be much more conservative." Barnard and his girlfriend live on the Asian side of Istanbul, Turkey. Berkay Tunal for CNBC Make It The couple found the apartment using a website that Barnard describes as similar to Craigslist. They had been looking for a few weeks and then signed a one-year lease the same day they saw it in person for the first time. "It's kind of like New York. The housing market is so insane here that for anything that's even remotely attractive, there is only like a day or two to jump on it," Barnard says. The couple's additional monthly expenses average about 2,000 Turkish Lira, or approximately $50 USD. That includes bills like water, electricity, internet and gas. They also pay an additional building maintenance fee of about $45 USD. While Barnard and his girlfriend don't yet know if they will stay in Turkey, the couple has decided that if they do, they'll likely sign another one-year lease for the duplex. Barnard and Ilkay pay $1,368.91 a month in rent. Berkay Tunal for CNBC Make It Barnard's time abroad inspired him to start a boutique tourism company called Doug Barnard Travel. They take small groups of 8 to 10 people on cultural immersion tours of places like Iraq, Syria, and Pakistan. Barnard offers private tours as well. The group tours start at $2,700 per person and what's included in that all-inclusive package can vary country to country. Flights are not included. "It is truly authentic travel. I mean it is as real as it gets. Places like Egypt and India are amazing but they have mass tourism industries and a place like Iraq is so new to tourism that you get a really authentic experience," Barnard says. "The people are excited to have you. The hospitality is out of this world and everything you're seeing is unparalleled." Barnard's apartment in Istanbul is split between two floors. Berkay Tunal for CNBC Make It James 'Jim' Arthur Lovell Jr., (born March 25, 1928) is a former NASA astronaut and a retired captain in the United States Navy, most famous as the commander of the Apollo 13 mission. James Lovell, the commander of Apollo 13 who helped turn a failed moon mission into a triumph of on-the-fly can-do engineering, has died. He was 97. Lovell died Thursday in Lake Forest, Illinois, NASA said in a statement on Friday. "Jim's character and steadfast courage helped our nation reach the Moon and turned a potential tragedy into a success from which we learned an enormous amount," NASA said. "We mourn his passing even as we celebrate his achievements." One of NASA's most traveled astronauts in the agency's first decade, Lovell flew four times Gemini 7, Gemini 12, Apollo 8 and Apollo 13 with the two Apollo flights riveting the folks back on Earth. In 1968, the Apollo 8 crew of Lovell, Frank Borman and William Anders was the first to leave Earth's orbit and the first to fly to and circle the moon. They could not land, but they put the U.S. ahead of the Soviets in the space race. Letter writers told the crew that their stunning pale blue dot photo of Earth from the moon, a world first, and the crew's Christmas Eve reading from Genesis saved America from a tumultuous 1968. The Apollo 13 mission had a lifelong impact on Lovell But the big rescue mission was still to come. That was during the harrowing Apollo 13 flight in April 1970. Lovell was supposed to be the fifth man to walk on the moon. But Apollo 13's service module, carrying Lovell and two others, experienced a sudden oxygen tank explosion on its way to the moon. The astronauts barely survived, spending four cold and clammy days in the cramped lunar module as a lifeboat. ''The thing that I want most people to remember is (that) in some sense it was very much of a success,'' Lovell said during a 1994 interview. ''Not that we accomplished anything, but a success in that we demonstrated the capability of (NASA) personnel.'' A retired Navy captain known for his calm demeanor, Lovell told a NASA historian that his brush with death did affect him. "I don't worry about crises any longer," he said in 1999. Whenever he has a problem, "I say, 'I could have been gone back in 1970. I'm still here. I'm still breathing.' So, I don't worry about crises." And the mission's retelling in the popular 1995 movie "Apollo 13" brought Lovell, Fred Haise and Jack Swigert renewed fame thanks in part to Lovell's movie persona reporting "Houston, we have a problem," a phrase he didn't exactly utter. Lovell had ice water in his veins like other astronauts, but he didn't display the swagger some had, just quiet confidence, said Smithsonian Institution historian Roger Launius. He called Lovell "a very personable, very down-to-earth type of person, who says 'This is what I do. Yes, there's risk involved. I measure risk.'" Lovell spent a total of nearly 30 days in space In all, Lovell flew four space missions and until the Skylab flights of the mid-1970s, he held the world record for the longest time in space with 715 hours, 4 minutes and 57 seconds. Aboard Apollo 8, Lovell described the oceans and land masses of Earth. "What I keep imagining, is if I am some lonely traveler from another planet, what I would think about the Earth at this altitude, whether I think it would be inhabited or not," he remarked. That mission may be as important as the historic Apollo 11 moon landing, a flight made possible by Apollo 8, Launius said. "I think in the history of space flight, I would say that Jim was one of the pillars of the early space flight program," Gene Kranz, NASA's legendary flight director, once said. Lovell was immortalized by Tom Hanks' portrayal But if historians consider Apollo 8 and Apollo 11 the most significant of the Apollo missions, it was during Lovell's last mission immortalized by the popular film starring Tom Hanks as Lovell that he came to embody for the public the image of the cool, decisive astronaut. The Apollo 13 crew of Lovell, Haise and Swigert was on the way to the moon in April 1970, when an oxygen tank from the spaceship exploded 200,000 miles from Earth. That, Lovell recalled, was "the most frightening moment in this whole thing." Then oxygen began escaping and "we didn't have solutions to get home." "We knew we were in deep, deep trouble," he told NASA's historian. Four-fifths of the way to the moon, NASA scrapped the mission. Suddenly, their only goal was to survive. Lovell's "Houston, we've had a problem," a variation of a comment Swigert had radioed moments before, became famous. In Hanks' version, it became "Houston, we have a problem." What unfolded over the next four days captured the imagination of the nation and the world, which until then had largely been indifferent about what seemed a routine mission. With Lovell commanding the spacecraft, Kranz led hundreds of flight controllers and engineers in a furious rescue plan. The plan involved the astronauts moving from the service module, which was hemorrhaging oxygen, into the cramped, dark and frigid lunar lander while they rationed their dwindling oxygen, water and electricity. Using the lunar module as a lifeboat, they swung around the moon, aimed for Earth and raced home. By coolly solving the problems under the most intense pressure imaginable, the astronauts and the crew on the ground became heroes. In the process of turning what seemed routine into a life-and-death struggle, the entire flight team had created one of NASA's finest moments that ranks with Neil Armstrong's and Buzz Aldrin's walks on the moon nine months earlier. "They demonstrated to the world they could handle truly horrific problems and bring them back alive," said Launius. The loss of the opportunity to walk on the moon "is my one regret," Lovell said in a 1995 interview with The Associated Press for a story on the 25th anniversary of the mission. President Bill Clinton agreed when he awarded Lovell the Congressional Space Medal of Honor in 1995. "While you may have lost the moon ... you gained something that is far more important perhaps: the abiding respect and gratitude of the American people," he said. Lovell once said that while he was disappointed he never walked on the moon, "The mission itself and the fact that we triumphed over certain catastrophe does give me a deep sense of satisfaction." And Lovell clearly understood why this failed mission afforded him far more fame than had Apollo 13 accomplished its goal. "Going to the moon, if everything works right, it's like following a cookbook. It's not that big a deal," he told the AP in 2004. "If something goes wrong, that's what separates the men from the boys." James A. Lovell was born March 25, 1928, in Cleveland. He attended the University of Wisconsin before transferring to the U.S. Naval Academy, in Annapolis, Maryland. On the day he graduated in 1952, he and his wife, Marilyn, were married. A test pilot at the Navy Test Center in Patuxent River, Maryland, Lovell was selected as an astronaut by NASA in 1962. Lovell retired from the Navy and from the space program in 1973, and went into private business. In 1994, he and Jeff Kluger wrote "Lost Moon," the story of the Apollo 13 mission and the basis for the film "Apollo 13." In one of the final scenes, Lovell appeared as a Navy captain, the rank he actually had. He and his family ran a now-closed restaurant in suburban Chicago, Lovell's of Lake Forest. His wife, Marilynn, died in 2023. Survivors include four children. Every weekday, the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer releases the Homestretch an actionable afternoon update, just in time for the last hour of trading on Wall Street. Markets: Stocks on Friday are finishing the week out strong. The technology sector and in particular Apple are big reasons why more on Apple shortly but there's decent strength across the board with most of the 11 sector indexes in positive territory except for the industrials, real estate, and utilities. Rally mode: Apple's reversal of fortunes continued Friday as shares climbed more than 4% bringing its week-to-date advance to roughly 13%, on pace for its third-best weekly performance in the past decade, according to FactSet data. The only other better weeks in that time frame came in late July 2020, fueled in part by a blowout earnings report amid a pandemic-fueled surge in electronics purchases, and in early May 2018, which also coincided with strong quarterly results and guidance . With this week's surge, Apple shares have crossed over their 200-day moving average, a positive technical milestone, and are trading at their highest levels since "Liberation Day" on April 2. The driver of this week's resurgence, of course, is Apple returning to the good graces of President Donald Trump with its $100 billion additional investment commitment to U.S. manufacturing. Trump's tariff policies and, more specifically, his public-pressure campaign on Apple to build iPhones in the U.S. have been a major overhang on Apple shares this year. Couple that with dual threats to its lucrative services business and its apparent aimlessness on artificial intelligence, and that's how you get Apple shares entering this week down 19% year to date, which put the stock in the bottom 15% of all companies in the S & P 500 during that stretch. The market reaction over the past three days is clearly signaling that investors are feeling better about the tariff threat and, at least for now , are willing to put aside their other concerns. We're certainly feeling better about the stock now, too, after last week's strong earnings report. During Trump's first term, CEO Tim Cook earned plaudits for his ability to maintain a good relationship with the president and minimize Apple's exposure to that batch of tariffs. Up until a few days ago, it didn't seem to be working this time around. But once again, Cook showed why betting against him has been a losing proposition for investors. Big deal: The thawing IPO market may get one of its biggest and unique deals of all time later this year. On Friday, The Wall Street Journal reported that the Trump administration is planning to sell stock in government-controlled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. According to the report, at least some people in the administration are discussing values for the companies in the ballpark of $500 billion or more in that range, it could be a historically large stock offering depending on how many shares are sold. The biggest initial public offering in U.S. stock market history is Alibaba in 2014, which saw the Chinese e-commerce and cloud giant raise nearly $22 billion, according to Renaissance Capital data . The only deal larger was Saudi Aramco's 2019 listing on the Tadawul in Riyadh. There's a Club-stock connection to the chatter: Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon and Wells Fargo chief Charlie Scharf have gone to Washington to discuss the administration's plans for Freddie and Fannie with Trump, according to the report. So, too, have the leaders of Morgan Stanley , JPMorgan Chase , Citigroup and Bank of America , the report said. This is a complicated deal given the nature of Fannie and Freddie, which the government has controlled since 2008, and plenty of details could change from here. Still, a deal of this magnitude and structure is certainly one to watch. Goldman and Wells Fargo have been beneficiaries of the recent uptick in dealmaking and IPOs, in particular. In early June, we discussed the heating up of the IPO market, and it's only gotten hotter since then. There were 26 IPOs in July, and already there have been seven in in the early days of August, according to Renaissance Capital . For the year, we've seen 130 IPOs already versus just 150 in all of 2024, Renaissance's data shows. Next week: It's a lighter week of earnings with only five companies in the S & P 500, and one company in the portfolio scheduled to report: Cisco after the closing bell on Wednesday. Some other notable earnings releases to look out for are CoreWeave , Cava , Brinker , Deere , Tapestry , and Applied Materials . It will be heavy on the data side with the July consumer price index and producer price index due out, along with the government's retail sales report. In other events, on Thursday at noon ET, we'll have our August Monthly Meeting. (See here for a full list of the stocks in Jim Cramer's Charitable Trust.) As a subscriber to the CNBC Investing Club with Jim Cramer, you will receive a trade alert before Jim makes a trade. Jim waits 45 minutes after sending a trade alert before buying or selling a stock in his charitable trust's portfolio. If Jim has talked about a stock on CNBC TV, he waits 72 hours after issuing the trade alert before executing the trade. THE ABOVE INVESTING CLUB INFORMATION IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY , TOGETHER WITH OUR DISCLAIMER . NO FIDUCIARY OBLIGATION OR DUTY EXISTS, OR IS CREATED, BY VIRTUE OF YOUR RECEIPT OF ANY INFORMATION PROVIDED IN CONNECTION WITH THE INVESTING CLUB. NO SPECIFIC OUTCOME OR PROFIT IS GUARANTEED. This story is part of CNBC Make It's Millennial Money series, which details how people around the world earn, spend and save their money. Corey Retell was always aware of a certain level of privilege. By the standards of Buffalo, New York, his parents fell short of "crazy wealthy," he says. But Retell and his brother enjoyed the familiar trappings of what he calls a silver-spoon upbringing: regular vacations, a big house, luxury cars and enrollment at an elite private high school. By 2017, having graduated from the University of Pennsylvania debt-free with a degree in philosophy, politics and economics, he'd figured he'd been given enough of a head start. He told his parents he no longer wanted their financial support. "It was kind of incumbent upon me, for my own self-esteem," he says. "[I was] trying to show myself that I could build my life from that point as much as possible." Things didn't go according to plan at first. Retell took out student loans to attend law school at Emory University straight out of undergrad, but soon withdrew due to health issues. He quickly found himself with $23,000 in debt and no savings to pay it back with. "I needed to transition from leaving law school to making money basically as soon as possible if I didn't want to move back home and live with my parents," Retell says. He managed to scrape things together for six months or so, spending 60 to 70 hours a week driving for Lyft around Atlanta, then took a short-term internship before joining the Peace Corps in Ukraine. The move was formative, if not particularly lucrative. Corey Retell, 29, earns $82,000 a year as a nonprofit membership manager and Army Reservist. Mickey Todiwala & Kaan Oguz Now 29, Retell shares a Washington, D.C. apartment with his boyfriend, a Ukrainian he met during his time overseas. In addition to his job at a small economic nonprofit, which pays him $75,000 per year, Retell serves in the civil affairs branch of the Army Reserve, and hopes to deploy back to Eastern Europe in the next few years. The second gig, which includes base and bonus pay, brings Retell's annual income to about $82,000, and he saves as much of it as he can he managed to stash away 21% of his pre-tax income in June. But the way he sees it, he has some catching up to do. "I'm not in a hole, but behind for sure," he says. Playing a 'shell game' with credit card debt Retell says money wasn't top-of-mind when he made the decision to join the Peace Corps in 2018. In fact, he'd internalized his Jesuit high school's emphasis on service and even considered signing up right after college. The move came with one big financial upside: volunteering allowed him to defer repaying his student loans. Still, the excitement of living abroad in his early 20s resulted in some poor money decisions, Retell says. Retell says he had a privileged upbringing but stopped accepting financial help from his parents at age 21. Mickey Todiwala & Kaan Oguz "It's very easy to want to travel throughout Europe when you're so close and flights are seemingly so cheap. But on a $300, $350 a month stipend, there's just really no room to afford that," he says. He got into around $6,000 in credit card debt, he says, which was "at the time was astronomical for me." Retell says he played a "shell game" with the debt, moving it between 0% balance-transfer credit cards. "I was just kicking the can down the road, and eventually had to pay the piper when I came back," he says. Retell returned from Ukraine in March 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic hit. After a two-week quarantine at his parents' house, he moved to Seattle, where he paid down his credit card debt by driving and shopping for Instacart. Life in the Army Reserve Retell had considered joining the military when law school fell through, but decided the Peace Corps was the better path at the time. But when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, he reached back out to his recruiters. "With my connections and sympathy for Ukraine, feeling heavily invested there, the war just felt like a kick in the butt," he says. "But it takes a long time to join the military." In the meantime, he'd landed the nonprofit role in D.C., relocating to the capital in fall of 2022. He opted to keep that job and sign up for the Army Reserve in 2023. Retell's army contract came with a $20,000 enlistment bonus, half paid out upon completion of his initial training, and the rest divided over the remainder of his contract, which runs through 2029. Retell served in the Peace Corps un Ukraine. Russia's invasion in 2022 prompted him to join the Army Reserve. Mickey Todiwala & Kaan Oguz Retell earns a $5,321 annual base salary as a reservist. His student loans have been in forbearance during his service and are slated to be paid off in annual installments throughout his contract as part of his bonus package though his loan servicer has yet to receive repayment. Retell's end of the bargain: He attends training one weekend out of every month and does more in-depth work two weeks out of every year. Although there are fitness tests, Retell's training in the Civil Affairs division is more academic and less running through tires. He estimates he spends roughly 20 to 25 hours a month on Army-related activities. He also has to be willing to be called for active duty, a likely outcome, Retell says, over the course of a reservist's contract. "Some locations and some timings are more enthusiastic than others, as [is the case for] anyone with a civilian life and job and other responsibilities," Retell says. Though things can change, his unit is currently scheduled to deploy to Eastern Europe in 2028. How he spends his money Retell makes more money than his boyfriend, who fled Ukraine for Poland before the Russian invasion, and who currently works as a shift supervisor at Starbucks. Nevertheless, the two approach finances as a team, covering each other on day-to-day expenses and each looking to save north of 20% of their respective incomes. Saving that aggressively means occasionally feeling strapped, especially in a city where things can get expensive. Living in D.C., "I have been able to save more than I have ever saved in my entire life," Retell says. "Having said that, it makes my month-to-month feel uncomfortable because I'm trying to save as much as possible. So there is breathing room, but I try to make it seem like there's no breathing room." Here's how he spent his money in June 2025. Zoom In Icon Arrows pointing outwards Housing and utilities: $1,526 $1,526 Savings and investments: $1,462 stashed in his 401(k) and taxable brokerage account $1,462 stashed in his 401(k) and taxable brokerage account Groceries: $487 $487 Dining: $398 $398 Discretionary: $274 on health, household and travel expenses $274 on health, household and travel expenses Transportation: $145 on Metro fare and ridesharing services $145 on Metro fare and ridesharing services Gifts and donations: $179 $179 Subscriptions and memberships: $71 on Whoop, DuckDuckGo, Geoguessr, Robinhood and various Apple subscriptions $71 on Whoop, DuckDuckGo, Geoguessr, Robinhood and various Apple subscriptions Mobile: $64 in costs associated with iPad and Apple Watch fees, in lieu of a cellular plan As with many urban-dwelling professionals his age, the biggest chunk of Retell's budget goes toward living expenses. He pays $1,518 of the $2,018 he and his boyfriend pay in rent on a studio apartment. The $398 Retell spent on dining amounts mostly to workday lunches, and the $487 he spent on groceries comprises his share of the couple's near nightly shopping trips before preparing dinner at home a European custom he picked up from his boyfriend. It hasn't made him any handier in the kitchen, however. "My boyfriend is definitely the better cook," Retell says. "I cannot cook anything but Kraft mac and cheese, and that's about it." A few common line items are missing from the budget altogether. Retell's workplace covers his insurance premiums, so no payout for medical, dental or vision. Instead of paying a phone bill, Retell connects his devices to Wi-Fi when he can and otherwise pays a fee to receive texts on his Apple Watch. Retell shares an apartment and splits expenses with his boyfriend, who he met in the Peace Corps. The pair maintain a tight budget to save as much as possible for financial goals. Mickey Todiwala & Kaan Oguz The budget is also missing, well, fun but that doesn't mean the couple doesn't have any. Retell and his boyfriend are homebodies, but still hang with friends, stroll the city's many parks and occasionally tour the landmarks and museums, which are all free to visit. Their biggest splurge, Retell says, is travel. When his boyfriend wanted to see Billie Eilish in Los Angeles this summer, the pair sprung for cheap flights and a budget hotel stay. However, they usually tighten their belts as much as they can. Last summer, on a 19-day road trip, they paid for four nights' accommodation. They slept in the SUV they rented for the remainder. "That's an adventure for me. For other people, maybe not so much," Retell says. Sacrifice with a purpose For the most part, Retell and his boyfriend aim to save as much as they can, even if it means making what he calls "manageable sacrifices." In June, everything went according to plan. Retell contributed 6% of his pre-tax nonprofit salary, $375, to a Roth 401(k), receiving a full matching contribution from his employer. Another $1,087 went into his brokerage account, in which he holds a portfolio of index funds. Not every month is quite as strong. Retell says that Army pay especially when it comes to bonuses can be inconsistent. He is theoretically due $4,800 a year as a foreign language bonus, for instance, but hasn't seen any of the money thus far. Retell hopes to attend law school and deploy to Eastern Europe before the end of his Army Reserve contract. Mickey Todiwala & Kaan Oguz (Check out Carter's worthcharting.com for actionable recommendations and live nightly videos.) Cement manufacturers Martin Marietta (MLM) and Vulcan Materials (VMC) are very similar businesses, with the shares in each company having a correlation of 92%. And right now, both stocks are toying with the prospect of breaking out to new 52-week highs and all-time highs. By our work, it is right to be accumulating each stock aggressively. Martin Marietta Materials (MLM) Buy for a breakout to new highs... Vulcan Materials (VMC) Buy for a breakout to new highs... DISCLOSURES: (None) All opinions expressed by the CNBC Pro contributors are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of CNBC, NBC UNIVERSAL, their parent company or affiliates, and may have been previously disseminated by them on television, radio, internet or another medium. THE ABOVE CONTENT IS SUBJECT TO OUR TERMS AND CONDITIONS AND PRIVACY POLICY . THIS CONTENT IS PROVIDED FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY AND DOES NOT CONSITUTE FINANCIAL, INVESTMENT, TAX OR LEGAL ADVICE OR A RECOMMENDATION TO BUY ANY SECURITY OR OTHER FINANCIAL ASSET. THE CONTENT IS GENERAL IN NATURE AND DOES NOT REFLECT ANY INDIVIDUAL'S UNIQUE PERSONAL CIRCUMSTANCES. THE ABOVE CONTENT MIGHT NOT BE SUITABLE FOR YOUR PARTICULAR CIRCUMSTANCES. BEFORE MAKING ANY FINANCIAL DECISIONS, YOU SHOULD STRONGLY CONSIDER SEEKING ADVICE FROM YOUR OWN FINANCIAL OR INVESTMENT ADVISOR. Click here for the full disclaimer. Casual footwear company Crocs plans to reduce orders for the second half of the year amid what its CEO called a "concerning" environment for the consumer. "We see the U.S. consumer behaving cautiously around discretionary spending. They are faced with current and implied future price increases, which we think has the potential to be a further drag on an already choiceful consumer. Against this backdrop, our retail partners are acting more carefully and reducing their open-to-buy dollars in future seasons," said CEO Andrew Rees on the company's second-quarter earnings call this week, according to a FactSet transcript. "The current environment in the second half is concerning, and we see that clearly reflected in retail order books. We strongly believe this is a time to make bold decisions for the future to sustain and advance a durable cash flow mode," Rees added. Shares of Crocs shed nearly 30% on Thursday after the company issued the stark warnings and posted a weaker-than-expected forecast for the current quarter. Thursday's losses made for the stock's worst day since October 2011. Crocs imports most of its products from countries like Vietnam, China, Indonesia and Cambodia that are now subject to steep import tariffs. Rees said the company is taking steps to protect profitability, including pulling back on promotional activity across retailers and taking back some of its older inventory, specifically for its Heydude shoe brand, in order to "reset" retail partners with new stock. "This will create further headwinds to sales volume over the next several quarters," Rees said on the earnings call. Rees said in an earnings release that Crocs had previously implemented $50 million in cost savings. "Although these actions will impact the topline of our business in the short term, they will position our business to win, drive margin dollars, and support continued cash flow generation longer term," he said in the release. The company is projecting third-quarter revenue well below Wall Street estimates. Crocs expects revenue for the current quarter to shrink between 9% and 11% year over year. Analysts surveyed by LSEG expected revenue to be slightly higher over the year earlier. Crocs is also forecasting a third-quarter adjusted operating margin of around 18% to 19%, down from 25.4% in the third-quarter a year prior. The company declined to issue full-year guidance. For the second quarter, Crocs reported a net loss of $492.3 million, or $8.82 per share, compared with net income of $228.9 million, or $3.77 per share, during the same period a year earlier. That loss was driven by a $737 million noncash impairment charge related to its Heydude brand. Excluding that charge and accounting for other one-time items, the company posted adjusted earnings of $4.23 per share, topping the Wall Street expectation for $4.01 per share, according to LSEG. Revenue came in at $1.15 billion, an increase of 3.4% over the year prior and in line with the LSEG estimate of $1.14 billion. CNBC's Melissa Repko and Sara Salinas contributed to this report. 2026 Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat Jailbreak in Green Machine (front). A Jailbreak Custom Color program will allow select Dodge customers to paint their Durango SRT Hellcat Jailbreak in nearly any color imaginable, including Stryker Purple (shown at rear). Stellantis subsidiary Dodge announced two new muscle cars on Friday, flexing its 2026 model year lineup and touting customization options for its customers. The 2026 Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat Jailbreak is a new three-row muscle SUV featuring a 710-horsepower Hemi V-8 engine. According to Dodge, it provides more than 6 million potential combinations for customization through multiple wheel choices, interior seat colors, seat belt colors, and exterior colors and designs. It can also be customized to include seating for five, six or seven passengers. The second new vehicle is the 2026 Charger Scat Pack, featuring a Sixpack twin-turbo inline-six engine. The Charger will be available in a high-output, 550-horsepower option, as well as a standard-output, 420-horsepower variant called the Charger R/T. It will also be available as a two-door coupe or four-door sedan. "This next generation Charger lineup delivers the most horsepower and most torque of any muscle car in its class, the widest body of any car in the industry, an award-winning interior, and, perhaps most important, what our customers have told us they want: the power to choose what fuels them," said Dodge CEO Matt McAlear in a statement. The launches come as Stellantis has been trying to recover from financial issues. New CEO Antonio Filosa last week on the automaker's earnings call teased that the company would be bringing back popular nameplates that had been discontinued in the U.S. and launching new products in an effort to reconnect with customers. The announcement adds the Jailbreak customization feature to Dodge's previously announced 2026 model year Durango lineup. It also builds on the existing Charger lineup, which includes all-electric offerings through the Charger Daytona. The new muscle cars join Dodge's offerings one day before the 10th anniversary of the automaker's "Roadkill Nights" drag racing event, which attracts tens of thousands of people in Pontiac, Michigan. McAlear said during the media event that U.S. sales for the existing Durango rose more than 50% from the first quarter of 2025 to the second quarter. Retail sales for the Durango were up 47% over the first half of 2024, he added. Sam Altman has dismissed longtime rival Elon Musk's warnings that OpenAI is set to dominate Microsoft, after the companies announced that OpenAI's latest AI model will be incorporated into Microsoft products. On Thursday, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced that OpenAI's GPT-5 service would be launching across platforms including Microsoft 365 Copilot, Copilot, GitHub Copilot, and Azure AI Foundry prompting a response from Musk that "OpenAI is going to eat Microsoft alive." Nadella sought to downplay the issue. "People have been trying for 50 years and that's the fun of it! Each day you learn something new, and innovate, partner, and compete," he said on X, also expressing excitement for Musk's own Grok 4 chatbot, which is available on Azure on a limited preview. OpenAI CEO Altman shared his own repartee on CNBC's "Squawk Box" Friday, saying, when asked of Musk's input, "You know, I don't think about him that much." He went on to question the meaning of Musk's statements, also noting of the tech billionaire, "I thought he was just, like, tweeting all day [on X] about how much OpenAI sucks, and our model is bad, and, you know, [we're] not gonna be a good company and all that." CNBC has reached out to Musk-owned X for comment. Altman and Musk have frequently exchanged barbs as part of a long-storied feud that dates back to their disagreement over the ultimate mission of OpenAI, which they co-founded in 2015 as a nonprofit AI research lab. OpenAI has since been seeking to convert into a for-profit entity and capitalize on meteoric demand for its viral ChatGPT product, with Microsoft stepping in as a top backer. Musk previously filed and has since dropped a lawsuit against the company, citing breach of contract. Earlier this year, the Tesla boss also led a consortium that offered to acquire the nonprofit that controls OpenAI for $97.4 billion. Altman declined the proposal with a curt "no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want" on social media. He separately told CNBC at the time that he thought the takeover offer was an effort to "slow down a competitor." When Singapore gained independence in 1965 after its separation from Malaysia, few expected the small city-state which turns 60 on Saturday to survive. But in the decades since, the country of just 735 square kilometers smaller than New York City has transformed itself into one that regularly tops rankings for education , economic growth and safety . More than 50 years ago, it was confronted with high unemployment, poor infrastructure, and an uncertain future. Now, however, the World Bank describes the city-state as being "home to a high-income, globally competitive economy that is underpinned by one of the highest levels of human capital development in the world." But Singapore's hot streak raises the question: Can it continue to punch above its weight in the face of an uncertain trade environment and a great power competition between the U.S. and China? Ng Xin-Yao, investment director of Asian equities at Aberdeen Investments, told CNBC that Singapore is facing a global trade system that is "showing cracks and fragmenting." That threatens trading hubs like Singapore, which benefit from more from globalization. On top of that, Ng said, multilateralism is at risk as bilateral relationships grow in importance. "This puts greater power obviously in the hands of the superpowers, and that disadvantages smaller countries like Singapore," he said. Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said in Parliament on April 8, "We are very disappointed by the U.S. move, especially considering the deep and longstanding friendship between our two countries. These are not actions one does to a friend." Wong was responding to Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs, which saw Singapore hit with a 10% levy even though it has a trade deficit with the U.S. and a free trade agreement since 2004. Earlier in 2025, Singapore's Ministry of Trade and Industry warned that the country was looking at the possibility of zero growth this year, in light of external pressures on its trade-dependent economy. Singapore's economy has an outsized reliance on exports. In 2024, exports made up 178.8% of its gross domestic product, according to the World Bank. Song Seng Wun, Singapore economic advisor at CGS International, said that Singapore's lifeblood was and is trade, and must therefore continue to rely on it to prosper. Modern Singapore was founded as a British trading port in 1819. Since then, it has grown to be the world's second busiest port. Changi Airport is one of Asia's major aviation hubs, and is the fourth busiest airport in the world in terms of international passengers carried. "Singapore's heart is all about trade, and the trade links are what drives Singapore's economy, through its port, through its airport," Song said. The republic has 28 FTAs , including with the U.S., China and the EU. But as the U.S. upends the global trading system, Song envisions that Singapore would now need a "two-track" trading system, one where it deals with the U.S., and another with the rest of the world. The country is also grappling with an aging population, a high cost of living, and the need to maintain its global competitiveness. Cost of living, availability of public housing, and job security were some of the hot-button issues in the country's 2025 general election. Singapore's government has created various programs to help businesses, including a so-called Singapore Economic Resilience Taskforce. Chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong, the taskforce aims to help businesses and workers navigate uncertainties arising from U.S. tariffs and related global developments, as well as to position the country to thrive in the new economic landscape. What's next However, when asked if Singapore needs a new playbook to cope with the changing new environment, CGS' Song said no. The country, should in fact, continue to double down on this strategy of clean governance and of committing to free trade, he said. More importantly, Singapore has to leverage its reputation of being a safe haven in this uncertain geopolitical environment, he said. "We don't flip flop on policies, we mean what we say, [and] if there are challenges, we deal with that." Singapore was rated as one of the best places to do business , with the Economist Intelligence Unit identifying factors such as political stability and the government's focus on helping domestic private-sector companies upgrade technologically . Tan Su Shan, CEO of Singapore's DBS Bank, told CNBC, "we remain open ... we remain stable, transparent, resilient, but the politics is stable. The markets are open, the rule of law is clear and transparent, and we continue to be a safe and secure financial hub. So long may that continue." In a paper titled "Singapore at 60," Morgan Stanley said the country has achieved extraordinary economic success by keeping in sync with global megatrends. In the early years of its independence, Singapore capitalized on manufacturing exports for job creation, inviting companies from around the world to set up manufacturing plants here. Those companies include U.S. IT giant HP (then known as Hewlett-Packard) , Texas Instruments and Japan's Seiko. "Then it embraced value creation encouraging innovation and supporting local enterprises to flourish into national, regional and ultimately global champions of industry." Morgan Stanley said it believes the next step for Singapore story is "wealth creation," which would involve building on its established brand and economic success to further grow the country's capital and global financial standing. The city-state should use its "hub status" in areas such as energy, finance and tourism as well as continue to to adopt technological advancements such as artificial intelligence, autonomous vehicles, and humanoids to overcome constraints such as an aging population and to drive significant productivity gains, higher company valuations and potentially initial public offerings, the firm added. The final pillar that Morgan Stanley noted was equity market reform, which saw the country's monetary authority announce that it will $5 billion Singapore dollars ($3.9 billion) into the local stock markets. Of the SG$5 billion, SG$1.1 billion has been allocated to fund managers to place into small- and mid-cap stocks in Singapore. "We believe this could ignite significant interest and confidence in the Singapore stock market globally," the investment bank said. Sixty may be a time for most people to slow down, take life easy, and kick back, but not for Singapore, which can hopefully find its place in a new world order. In this article .FKRX300 Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNT Ryu Young-sang, CEO of South Korean telecoms giant SK Telecom, told CNBC that AI is helping telecoms firms improve efficiency in their networks. Manaure Quintero | Afp | Getty Images South Korea has tasked some of its biggest companies and promising startups to build a national foundational AI model using mainly domestic technology, in a rare move to keep the country apace with the U.S. and China. The project will feature South Korean technologies from semiconductors to software, as Seoul looks to create a near self-sufficient AI industry and position itself as an alternative to China and the U.S. South Korea's approach sets it apart from the way other nations and regions are approaching AI, according to analysts. "While sovereign AI is a growing trend, South Korea's approach is distinct," Nick Patience, practice lead for AI at The Futurum Group, told CNBC. "The country aims to combine its dominance in memory chip production with the development of indigenous AI." The Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) for Korea announced that five consortia have been selected to develop the models. One is led by SK Telecom, a telecommunications giant in Korea and includes gaming firm Krafton and chip startup Rebellions among other companies. There are other teams led by some of the country's other prominent firms including LG and Naver. "We are going through an important juncture in terms of our technological development. So Korea, at the national level, is focusing on ensuring that we lay the technical foundation to have our competitiveness," Kim Taeyoon, head of the foundation model office at SK Telecom who also leads the company's consortium, told CNBC. "Korea has many entities that would excel at creating a big AI industry. And we could clearly see the possibility that we are very capable of creating a good AI stack," Kim added. A "stack" refers to various technologies that make up a product or other technology. South Korea's forte The initiative aims to draw on the strategic position of some of South Korea's firms and the technology they develop that are crucial to AI. For example, SK Hynix makes high-bandwidth memory (HBM) which is critical to Nvidia's products. Samsung is also another major memory player. SK Telecom has been expanding its business into data centers. While Rebellions, which is part of SKT's consortium, is developing chips designed to handle AI workloads. Samsung, meanwhile, has its own chip manufacturing business, also known as foundry. "This means the country possesses the entire AI stack, from chips to cloud to AI models, and also benefits from a robust community of advanced AI researchers who are actively publishing papers and securing patents," The Futurum Group's Patience said. Given the intricacies of technology supply chains, no one country can do it alone. The consortia will still rely on graphics processing units (GPUs) from American firm Nvidia which have become the gold standard for training AI models. Meanwhile, SK Telecom will train the models it develops on its own Titan supercomputer, which is made up of Nvidia GPUs, as well as an AI data center the company is developing with Amazon . AI model roadmap SK Telecom is not new to the AI model game. The company launched a beta version of its first chatbot based on its own large language model in 2022 called "A." which is pronounced "A dot." Since then, it has developed more advanced versions of the model and chatbot. SK Telecom's consortium plans to release its first model by the end of the year, Kim said. It will be initially focused on the market in South Korea, but could be used globally. The model will be open-source, meaning it will free for developers to use and build on, potentially with some licensing requirements. Any AI models coming out of South Korea's project will face intense competition from players including OpenAI and Anthropic as well as many of the strong open-source offerings out of Chinese firms like Alibaba and DeepSeek. Creating an AI model won't be a problem, given SK Telecom and other companies' already-proven track record in doing so. The bigger challenge will be putting forward models that can compete with those coming out of frontier AI labs, which are pouring billions of dollars into research and development. Another issue will be getting traction among developers to build upon these models. That has what has made a success of other open-source models, like those from Alibaba. SK Telecom's Kim said the goal is to create models that can rival these other companies. "Our first goal is to create a very strong state-of-the-art open source model and we already have an example of those open source models which are on par in terms of performance with those large tech (players) like OpenAI or Anthropic," Kim told CNBC. He added that there will be models of different sizes that can be used by different industries. An open-source national AI model could also provide benefits by giving businesses across the country access to the latest technology without having to rely on a tech giant from abroad. Meanwhile, South Korean AI models could be positioned as an alternative to U.S. and Chinese-developed systems. "Beyond domestic benefits, a proven sovereign AI model presents significant export potential. Just as Korea excelled in memory chips, this could become a valuable product for other nations seeking alternatives to U.S. or Chinese systems, strengthening Korea's position in the global AI landscape," Patience said. AI sovereignty People walk near the Elizabeth Tower, commonly referred to as Big Ben, near the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, central London on April 18, 2017. The U.K. government is loathe to admit it, but economists say it's highly likely that the Treasury will have to hike taxes in the fall if it is to bung a black hole in the public finances that it has effectively created for itself. The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) is the latest economic think tank to warn that taxes would have to rise later this year if British Chancellor Rachel Reeves is to meet her self-imposed "fiscal rules." These rules target both a balanced or budget surplus by the end of the decade with the so-called "stability rule" requiring that day-to-day spending is funded by tax revenues rather than borrowing and that debt, as a proportion of GDP, should be falling by the end of this parliament (in 2029-30), aka the "investment rule." "The Government is not on track to meet its 'stability rule', with our forecast suggesting a current deficit of 41.2 billion in the fiscal year 2029-30," NIESR said in an economic outlook released Wednesday. "Substantial adjustments in the Autumn Budget will be needed if the Chancellor is to remain compliant with her fiscal rules," it added in the report. With the government having fixed its spending plans for the next couple of years in its recent Spending Review, "the only lever available is to raise taxation in a moderate but sustained way," the think tank said in the report titled "the Chancellor's Trilemma." The 'trilemma' refers to the bind Reeves finds herself in thanks to her own fiscal rules, tax and spending commitments made over the last year and the Labour Party's manifesto promise to not raise taxes on "working people." "Simply put, the Chancellor cannot simultaneously meet her fiscal rules, fulfil spending commitments, and uphold manifesto promises to avoid tax rises for working people. At least one of these will need to be dropped she faces an impossible trilemma," NIESR said. FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump and Russia's President Vladimir Putin talk during the family photo session at the APEC Summit in Danang, Vietnam November 11, 2017. U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday afternoon that he will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Aug. 15. "The highly anticipated meeting between myself, as President of the United States of America, and President Vladimir Putin, of Russia, will take place next Friday, August 15, 2025, in the Great State of Alaska," Trump said in a Truth Social post. "Further details to follow." Trump's deadline for Russia to cease its war in Ukraine was slated to expire on Friday. Markets have been watching whether the White House will proceed with steep penalties on Moscow's oil clients. Trump had pledged "secondary tariffs" of "about 100%" on Russia's trade partners, if Moscow does not end its invasion in Ukraine, setting an initial 50-day timeline that was later shortened. Bloomberg News reported Friday that U.S. and Russian officials, citing sources familiar, are working toward a deal that would stop the war and allow Russia to occupy the territory it took during its yearslong invasion. Trump has made ending the war in Ukraine a key foreign policy objective of his second presidential mandate, reversing course on an initial thawing of White House relations with Moscow to now pile on pressure on the Kremlin for the lull in diplomatic progress. Hoping for a negotiation to end the war Earlier in the week, U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff travelled for an eleventh-hour meeting with Putin, which Trump hailed as "highly productive." "Everyone agrees this War must come to a close, and we will work towards that in the days and weeks to come," he said Wednesday. In a Friday statement, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump's top priority remains finding a negotiation to end the war. "At the President's direction, Special Envoy Witkoff once again met with President Putin to discuss potential paths to peace, and the President and his national security team are discussing those paths with both the Ukrainians and the Europeans," Leavitt said. "Out of respect for our sensitive diplomatic discussions with Russia, Ukraine, and our European allies, the White House will not comment on alleged details in the news media." Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an X post that he thought the U.S. was "determined" to get a ceasefire. In another social media post, he blamed Russia for the delay on action toward peace. At the heart of Russia and Ukraine's inability to strike a ceasefire to date have been differences over Putin's maximalist demands that the war can only end if Kyiv gives up its ambitions to join the NATO military alliance and if Moscow retains four Ukrainian regions annexed during the latest conflict. Russia also seeks a final conclusion to the war and has previously called for new elections in Ukraine. Trump's optimism appeared to have dwindled by Thursday, despite suggestions that the U.S. president could meet his Russian counterpart over the coming days. Asked Thursday whether he stood by the Friday deadline to Putin, Trump said, "We're going to see what he has to say. It's going to be up to him. Very disappointed." Secondary tariffs At risk for Russia is the potential dissolution of its scant remaining client base for its crude and oil products volumes, which countries within the G7 are no longer permitted to take on a seaborne basis. Under a G7 scheme, nations outside of the coalition retain critical access to Western shipping and insurance mechanisms as long as they only purchase Russian supplies under a price cap. Russia's sanctions-sapped economy heavily depends on its crude sales, amid increasing isolation on the international stage and dwindling growth expected near 1.4% this year, from 4.3% in 2024, according to the World Bank's June forecasts. Bill Nygren, portfolio manager at Oakmark Funds for four decades, said he is focusing on cheap stocks that return meaningful capital to shareholders with the stock market trading at record highs. The widely followed value investor revealed that he is trying to find hidden gems that are a lot cheaper than the average stock in the S & P 500, which is trading at 23 times forward earnings. Nygren said almost half his holdings have multiples less than 12 times earnings. While his picks don't offer exceptional organic growth, he looks for the companies that have solid repurchase or dividend programs in place. "These companies don't have great organic growth opportunities, but they're generating a lot of free cash flow that doesn't need to be reinvested in the business and they do buybacks and dividends because of that, their dividends and per share growth rates are actually in line with companies that are three times as expensive," Nygren said on CNBC's " Squawk Box ." The overall stock market has chugged along, reaching multiple record highs in late July, as investors cheered corporate profits that came in the face of higher tariffs. The S & P 500 has rebounded more than 30% from its April lows, up nearly 8% in 2025. One stock that Nygren has grown fond of again is Charter Communications , whose price-to-earnings ratio has dropped to about five times. "It's becoming very interesting, as the business is almost entirely an internet and mobile telephone business today," Nygren said. "Market knows that there's not going to be a ton of organic growth, and I think what the market doesn't pay for, as much as it should, is the growth that can come from share repurchase." CHTR YTD mountain Charter Communications year to date Nygren also likes General Motors , which has been volatile this year due to tariff scares. After rallying 48% in 2024, the stock is about flat year to date. "The company was supposed to earn something like $10 a share this year. It'll probably take a year or two to get back to that level, but at five times earnings, we think you're getting paid an awful lot to take on that risk," Nygren said on GM. GM YTD mountain General Motors year to date His other top value picks are Global Payments , Ally Financial , and Corebridge Financial . At a 540,000-square-foot facility in Seymour, Indiana, Guardian Bikes is pulling off a unique challenge: making children's bikes in America. The company says it produces about 12,000 bikes per week, a manufacturing feat that has become increasingly uncommon in the U.S. "All the way back to World War II era, pretty much every bike sold in the United States was made in the U.S.," said Guardian Bikes co-founder and CEO Brian Riley. "By the time you get to the '70s, '80s, '90s, it all evaporated." Over the last four decades, many American factories have shut down as production moved overseas in search of cheaper labor and larger supplier networks. Between 1997 and 2023 the number of U.S. manufacturing firms and plants dropped by 25% as global trade barriers fell, according to the World Resources Institute. Now, as companies like Apple , IBM and Johnson & Johnson pledge billions towards U.S. manufacturing and politicians call for reshoring, Guardian offers a glimpse into the possibilities and difficulties of being "Made in America." "It wasn't easy," said Riley. "It even took kind of getting into losing money for a little bit." Guardian Bikes used to rely on a Chinese original equipment manufacturer (OEM) to build its product based on specifications provided by Guardian. But long shipping times and quality concerns prompted a pivot. Starting in 2022, Guardian opened its own plant in the Midwest with the help of $19 million in financing from JPMorgan. Riley said the higher cost of producing domestically is offset by automation, lower inventory costs, and in some cases, tariffs. "With the most recent tariff environment, we're starting to get either cost parity or in some cases, the domestic parts are cheaper than what you can get out of China," said Riley. But building a domestic supply chain from scratch isn't easy. Many parts, like bicycle chains and reflectors, are no longer made in the U.S. at scale. Experts say finding input suppliers is one of many challenges companies face in bringing manufacturing back to the U.S. Meanwhile, countries like China and Vietnam have become manufacturing powerhouses, investing billions more in factories and training. Even with new tariffs and federal subsidies under the CHIPS Act, some economists remain skeptical of a true U.S. "manufacturing renaissance." "Think about how much a pair of sneakers would cost if they were made here in the United States, or a phone or any number of the items that you go to a retail store to purchase. It would be a lot more expensive," said Colin Grabow, associate director at the Cato Institute's Herbert A. Stiefel Center for Trade Policy Studies. "So we should all welcome the fact that goods are being produced in the most efficient ways possible, because that lowers prices for us and allows us to raise our standard of living." To learn more about how Guardian Bikes is pulling off "Made in America," watch the video above. Three defendants will pay $2.5 million to settle FTC and Nevada allegations over deceptive earnings claims tied to a financial training MLM scheme. The group, operating under names like IM Mastery Academy and IYOVIA, targeted young people via social media with promises of luxury lifestyles. The FTC says the scheme caused more than $1.2 billion in consumer harm since 2018. Three key figures behind a sprawling financial training and alleged multi-level marketing (MLM) schemeonce known as IM Mastery Academyhave agreed to pay $2.5 million to settle allegations brought by the Federal Trade Commission and the state of Nevada. The regulators say the trio used deceptive income promises and glamorized social media marketing to lure consumersespecially young adultsinto buying financial education packages and joining a recruitment-driven business opportunity. The defendantsGlobal Dynasty Network, LLC, Jason Brown, and Matthew Rosawere top earners and promoters of the program, according to the joint federal-state complaint. The companies and individuals operated under a variety of names, including IYOVIA, IM Academy, iMarketsLive, and IM Mastery Academy, and promised participants the opportunity to profit through forex trading and crypto education, along with lucrative commissions for recruiting others. In reality, the FTC says the business relied on exaggerated or baseless income claims, with few consumers making real money. Since 2018, total consumer losses linked to the scheme have exceeded $1.2 billion, the agency alleges. Luxuries, lies, and MLM profits Brown and Rosa, described as among the highest-paid promoters in the scheme, allegedly pocketed more than $36 million in profitsmost of it funneled through their company, Global Dynasty Network. The FTC says Brown even hired a third party to post fake positive reviews online under a pseudonym to boost the companys image. Their promotional strategy relied heavily on aspirational lifestyle marketing, including posts on Instagram and TikTok showcasing luxury cars, international travel, and high-end shoppingimplying that these were funded by trading gains or MLM commissions. In reality, many participants lost money or failed to earn back their initial investment. The defendants also trained other marketers to make similar deceptive claims while avoiding detection, the complaint says. The terms of the settlement Under the proposed settlement, the three parties are barred from making earnings claims about any product or service unless they have written evidence that the results are typical. They are also permanently banned from: Misrepresenting earnings or product performance in any business they operate or promote. Violating the Telemarketing Sales Rule, including false claims about profitability. Offering negative option services (subscriptions that renew automatically) without clear disclosures and affirmative consent from consumers. While the judgment against the trio totals $36 million, that amount is suspended after they pay $2.5 million, based on their reported financial condition. If they are found to have misrepresented their finances, the full amount could become due. A broader warning on MLMs The case underscores ongoing concerns about deceptive marketing in the MLM and financial education spaces, particularly those that promise wealth through crypto, forex, or online investing. The FTC has been increasingly aggressive in policing such schemes in recent years, including actions against companies like Success By Health and Digital Altitude. Consumers are urged to approach MLM and trading education opportunities with caution, particularly when high earnings claims are not backed by clear evidence, and when profitability appears tied more to recruitment than actual product value. Tip: Always verify earnings claims before buying into a business opportunity. If someone flaunts luxury goods as evidence of success, ask for documentationnot just Instagram posts. Write what you know. Or dont! Lots of wildly successful writers have no clue what theyre talking about. Advertisement 14 30 Rock Tina Fey originally pitched it as a show about cable news, but something about it wasnt working. The president of NBC gave her the ol write what you know talk, she took it to heart, and made a show that faithfully recreates the madness and ego that fuels SNL. Advertisement 13 Brooklyn Nine-Nine An NYPD detective once said that its nearly 100 percent inaccurate. From rank-and-file structure to procedures, administratively, basically everything. Even down to the way the precinct functions. Also, theres a zero-percent chance that a ska kid would turn cop. 12 Scrubs Insider Magazine had a group of medical professionals watch and rate a series of hospital dramas and comedies, and Scrubs came out on top. One doctor said, Scrubs is one of the few medical shows that I can watch and not cringe because something is wildly overdone or inaccurate. In fact, Scrubs is the most relatable series that I have watched from a medical perspective. 11 Law & Order Lawyers are quick to point out that court isnt nearly as exciting, or as central to the practice of law, as shows make it seem: Being a lawyer is three months of paperwork and research and one day of trial. And we dont yell at or intimidate witnesses if I did what you see in movies, Id be disbarred pretty quickly. Advertisement Advertisement 10 Veep Obama aide and saver of America Tommy Vietor has said that Veep is a more accurate portrayal of D.C. than House of Cards or The West Wing: You guys nail the fragility of the egos, and the, like, day-to-day idiocy of the decision-making. 9 House of Cards Netflixs signature show is as bad at depicting politics as it is journalism: Journalism is a lot less meetings in dark parking garages and a lot more calling people at your desk then waiting several hours for them to call you back so you can confirm this one freaking thing and finally hit publish. Advertisement 8 Succession Its generally considered an accurate skewering of Fox News, at least in a CliffsNotes sense. While its unlikely any of the Murdoch kids cranked one out onto a high-rise building window, it depicts the pettiness, the favoritism and the roiling competition between impossibly wealthy nepo-siblings that is the modern Murdoch-ian power struggle. Advertisement 7 Top Gun Sure, it was about the Navy, but this Air Force members point remains valid: They show everyone as Special Forces or pilots. Most of us do what everyday civilians do, we just wear camo while we do it. I work HR and sit in an air-conditioned office all day. Also worth mentioning: Theres way less volleyball in real life. Advertisement 6 Silicon Valley Pied Piper, the start-up at the heart of the series, is based on real-life company MaidSafe, which was dedicated to creating a decentralized, censorship-proof internet. Several MaidSafe employees consulted on the show for maximum accuracy. 5 Girls It may have been an accurate portrayal of what it was to be a young, rich woman in the 2010s. Many of us will never know. But one gallery employee says that art galleries just dont work like that: We dont wear high heels and stand around talking art with people. Rather, we spend all our time applying for grants and trying to find any way we can to make money so we can actually cover payroll, tidying up after people (seriously, people are gross and totally inconsiderate), and doing some very creative bookkeeping. Advertisement 4 Mad Men Throughout its seven seasons, the show was careful to accurately depict the advertising industrys evolution, becoming more inclusive of women and congealing into a few large conglomerates. Some of the actors even tried to smoke actual cigarettes on camera, which lasted about three days. Advertisement 3 Indiana Jones One archaeologist has said that Jones wouldnt last long in the biz: Ive argued for years that Indiana Jones is an absolutely crap archeologist. You never see him measure or map anything. Ive never seen him put in a unit. Hes not out there submitting site forms. Ive never even seen him photograph an artifact in situ. Advertisement 2 Abbott Elementary Quinta Brunson, who created and stars in the show, based it around her own mothers 40-year career as a public school teacher. For good measure, she named the fictional school after one of her favorite teachers, Joyce Abbott. Theyre here, no rear, get used to it! Hank Hill and Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace have very few things in common. Mace has dedicated her career to downing large quantities of beans, developing weird obsessions with trans people and kissing up to President Donald Trump. Hank Hill, conversely, is a good person. Hes a superfan of former President George W. Bush (hey, we all have our faults), but the ex-propane salesman is kind, regards those around him with respect and has notably few questions about their genitals. Don't Miss However, theres still one thread that connects this disparate pair: They both know what its like to have absolutely no gottdang ass. That bond became abundantly clear on Tuesday, when Mace headed to Twitter with a late and clunky take on Sydney Sweeneys viral American Eagle ad. Nancy Mace for Governor has great jeans, she captioned a photo of herself at a gun range, sporting blue denim slacks and a pair of black pumps. But instead of feeling compelled to click the donation link Mace included, her constituents gleaned something else from her post. Namely, that Maces butt is flat as hell. Advertisement Didnt realize it was possible to have negative ass, wrote one Twitter user, while another likened her silhouette to that of a French bulldog standing upright. It was only a matter of time then before a reference to the famously flat-assed Arlenite surfaced. Finally found an ass flatter than Hank Hill, read one viral reply to Maces snap. Someone else shared an image of the King of the Hill star moments after being diagnosed with diminished gluteal syndrome in Season Five. Advertisement A well-known Twitter account famous for cosplaying as the animated Texan refused to take these disses sitting down at least for the sake of his back. He offered Mace some grounding words to help her navigate both the social media pile-on and her apparent lack of ass. Its a very serious genetic disorder, Hank captioned a tweet photoshopping the lawmakers overly-contoured face onto his flat body. Advertisement Advertisement Faux Hanks advocacy didnt stop there either. He decided to take aim at yet another naysayer, living up to his mower-racing slogan of were here, no rear, get used to it! Advertisement Delete this, he wrote alongside a meme poking fun at Mace. So, take it from the actual Hank Hill: Investing in a gluteal orthotic and not being a thirsty, clout-stealing grifter is always a good idea. About 200 people were gathered on a rooftop in Chinatown for an art opening inside a former storage shed. To get to the show, visitors walked through the one-bedroom apartment of Adam Zhu, the proprietor of Market Gallery. Normally, Im grilling at an opening, he says. Newcomers are a bit taken aback, especially when they get to the apartments door. Theyre like, Wait, am I in the right place? Zhu, the artist, skateboarder, and photographer, moved into the apartment in 2015, and hes been renovating it ever since. Last summer, he enlisted the artist and contractor Andrew Kass to turn a rudimentary plywood structure used as a rehearsal space by his friends in the jazz band Onyx Collective into a 9-by-15-foot exhibition space with concrete walls and folding glass doors. Kass was the subject of Markets first opening in November. A view of Marcus Jahmals Match Made in Heaven at Market Gallery, from April. Photo: Izzy Leung Its really snowballing into becoming this platform for emerging artists and more established artists to show their work, says Zhu, who has hosted seven shows on his roof, where he has installed picnic tables and a firepit. The structure of the shed creates this awesome impact for the art where you can look through the window before going in. Zhu, 28, grew up in the East Village and has been skateboarding since he was old enough to ride the subway alone; later, he helped preserve a skate spot in Tompkins Square Park. After Supreme opened on Lafayette Street, he became a regular and then an employee, and today he serves as a brand consultant. A decade ago, Zhus parents moved to Shanghai, where his father is originally from, and left the Chinatown apartment in his care. Adam Zhu Photo: Rachel Simon I convinced my dad to let me move in and help manage it while he was away, and I found roommates, and it was like what you imagine that would be like, Zhu says. There was a messy chaotic-ness during those early years. The skater Shawn Powers and the hip-hop group Ratking used to crash there, and the graffiti artist Sabio built a plywood wall on the roof that over the years has been tagged by the likes of Cornbread, Yes2, GOOG, EARSNOT, and Curve. Its been painted hundreds of times. These days, Zhu is there on his own, the kitchen has been refurbished, and a homemade cookout on the roof is as wild as the scene gets. I used to work in kitchens before I worked at Supreme, and I hosted dinner parties, he says. Now I have a more pointed way to host artists. Amanda Ba, Experiments: Private Paintings, is on view at Market Gallery until August 10. A few years ago I received a borderline-blasphemous birthday card, which I have to admit made me chuckle. It showed a sweet little birthday girl of about five, dressed in pink, kneeling in prayer by her bed, with a thought bubble emerging from her head reading: So wheres my f****** pony? I thought of that card this week when I heard Kemi Badenochs explanation of why she had rejected God. In an interview with the BBC, the Tory leader said that in her youth, when she was still a believer: I was praying for all sorts of stupid things and I was getting my prayers answered. But although she remains a cultural Christian, she lost her faith in God in 2008 when she read the horrific story of Elisabeth Fritzl the Austrian woman whose depraved father imprisoned her in a cellar and repeatedly raped her for 24 years. Said Mrs Badenoch: I was praying to have good grades, that my hair should grow longer, and I would pray for the bus to come on time so I wouldnt miss something. It was like, why were those prayers answered and not this womans prayers? And it just, it was like someone blew out a candle. Now, I have a lot of time for Mrs Badenoch. Its true, as her many critics are quick to point out, that she is not a star performer at the Despatch Box in the Commons. Not yet, anyway. But her heart seems to be squarely in the right place. Indeed, she talks a great deal of sense on a wide range of subjects from the threat to our national cohesion posed by mass, unrestricted immigration to the need for young, snowflake Britons to show more resilience and self-reliance. However, Gods 24-year failure to answer Elisabeth Fritzls desperate prayers strikes me as a strange and frankly preposterous reason for the Tory leader to have turned atheist. In an interview with the BBC, Kemi Badenoch told how she lost her faith as a young girl The Tory leader cited Josef Fritzl, who imprisoned his daughter Elisabeth Fritzl in a cellar and repeatedly raped her for 24 years, as the reason she lost faith in God When she read this horrific story, after all, she was already 28 years old. Surely, this granddaughter of a Methodist minister must have learned by that age that God, if He exists, has always permitted all sorts of unspeakable things to happen, in His mysterious way, no matter how fervently the faithful may pray that they wont. Why did one womans appalling suffering blow out Mrs Badenochs candle when the Holocaust, Hiroshima and Nagasaki or centuries of the industrial slaughter of innocent, prayerful Christians in warfare and natural disasters had apparently failed to do so? At the very least, doesnt it suggest that her faith burned less than brightly in the first place? I should say at once that as an agnostic lapsed Catholic, who tries very hard to believe in God but finds it extremely difficult, I am in absolutely no position to preach to anyone about the consolation of prayer or the importance of going to church. Though brought up by a staunch Anglican father and a devout Catholic mother (why, by the way, are Protestants always staunch and Catholics always devout?), I gave up going to Mass regularly in the early 1970s. This was soon after I started at Westminster School, which was then and perhaps remains a breeding-ground of cynicism and scepticism, despite its insistence on its pupils attendance at daily prayers in the Abbey. I cant claim that my reasons for turning my back on the Almighty were any more respectable or profound than Mrs Badenochs. On the contrary, I was motivated mostly by sheer laziness and my love of a Sunday morning lie-in. It didnt help, either, when I heard that one of the priests who used to hear my confession every week had been defrocked, for reasons rumoured to involve sexual impropriety in his case, you may be surprised to hear, with an adult woman! I disliked the idea that I had confided my sins to this man, now a layman who might no longer feel bound to take my secrets of the confessional with him to his grave. Never mind, I hasten to say, that these never amounted to anything more interesting or specific than telling the occasional whopper, showing disrespect for a teacher, being spiteful to a sibling or forgetting to say my prayers many times. Laziness and that feeling of being cheated aside, however, I also found it increasingly difficult to accept all the things I was supposed to believe as a Catholic that Jesus was the son of God, born of a virgin, that he rose from the dead after being crucified for our sins and that, one day, we will all face divine judgment and have to live with it, like it or not, for the rest of time. 'I thought of that card this week when I heard Kemi Badenoch s explanation of why she had "rejected God",' says Tom Utley One thing Ive never lost, however, is my envy (theres another sin) of true believers like my parents, my three siblings and my wife constant churchgoers and prayer-sayers every one of them. I saw the comfort Christianity gave my late father in the serene resignation with which he accepted as the will of God his total blindness from the age of nine. I saw it in my late mothers fearlessness on her deathbed, which sprang from her trust in the Almightys mercy and her belief that death was a beginning, not an end. I see it in the way Mrs U looks forward eagerly to Sunday Mass as the highlight of her week and her passionate opposition to abortion (which I happen to share). Funnily enough, though she was a cradle Catholic like me, she was no more religious than I when we married in 1980. Perhaps it was exasperation with her irritating husband that drove her back into the arms of Mother Church? Whatever the truth, she seems to find happiness there. As for me, Ive never rejected God, as Mrs Badenoch said she did when Elisabeth Fritzls ordeal killed her faith. Indeed, as I progress through my eighth decade on this planet, when so many of my contemporaries die, I find myself increasingly longing to feel the tug on Father Browns invisible thread that will bring me back to the church and give true meaning to human life and death. Meanwhile, I warmly welcome the recent evidence of a quiet revival of regular Christian worship, not only among my own 65-plus age group but among Britons aged 18 to 24, of whom 16 per cent tell a survey for Bible Society that they went to church at least once a month last year up from only four per cent as recently as 2018. For one thing on which the self-described cultural Christian Mrs Badenoch and I can surely agree wholeheartedly: this would be a happier and safer country if more of its citizens believed firmly in the Christian values on which it was built. Im thinking of consideration for others, respect for property and the law, compassion for those in genuine need and abhorrence of violent crime. But will I discover for myself, before its too late, the unquestioning faith that gives so much strength and comfort to true believers? Oh well, I suppose I can always pray. A French chateau is emerging as a potential linchpin in the Danish royal family's plan to ease tensions between warring brothers King Frederik and Prince Joachim. Who inherits the property - which is a private holiday home and not an official royal residence - could well determine the future of the House of Glucksburg, according to European royal watchers. At the heart of the matter lies Chateau de Cayx, nestled near Cahors in the Lot Valley of France a beloved retreat for the Danish royals for decades. It's where Queen Mary and King Frederik recently retreated for a private summer break - and enjoyed it so much they extended their stay twice. Meanwhile, Queen Margrethe was quietly coaxed from retirement to serve as stand-in monarch while her son holidayed abroad. The King and Queen weren't the only family members to enjoy some downtime in the south of France recently. The in-demand property was also visited over the European summer by Frederik's brother Prince Joachim and his family. Joachim and wife Princess Marie took their two children, Count Henrik and Countess Athena, to Chateau de Cayx for a family vacation. They were joined by the Prince's two adult sons from his first marriage, Count Felix and Count Nikolai. Royal watchers are speculating about who Queen Margrethe (centre) has decided should inherit the Danish royal family's holiday home Chateau de Cayx: her eldest son King Frederik (left) or the younger Prince Joachim (right) The majestic Chateau de Cayx in Cahors, France, was purchased by Queen Margrethe and her husband, the late Prince Henrik, in 1974. Because it is a private property and not an official royal residence, the former monarch will have to specify in her will who inherits it But what intrigues royal pundits most is who will inherit the chateau. When Queen Margrethe, 85, abdicated in 2024, passing the throne and most royal properties to her eldest son Frederik, one estate stood apart: Chateau de Cayx. The French property is one of only three privately owned by the former monarch. The others - Marselisborg Castle and a hunting lodge in Trend - were public gifts and are expected to pass automatically to King Frederik. But the chateau - purchased in 1974 by Margrethe and her late husband, Prince Henrik - is a different story. Henrik especially loved the French estate, while Margrethe cherished its tranquil grounds. When Prince Henrik died in 2018, ownership passed fully to Margrethe. Now, it's up to her to decide which of her two sons will one day inherit it. For years, the entire Danish royal family has holidayed together at Chateau de Cayx, including a 2014 gathering for Prince Henrik's 80th birthday. Royal watchers predict the chateau may well become a flashpoint within the family's already fragile dynamics. Local publication SE og HR recently called the inheritance decision 'a ticking bomb under the brothers' fragile relationship'. Unlike a typical inheritance, assets were never meant to be divided equally between Frederik and Joachim. As the eldest, Frederik has always been destined to inherit the throne - along with most of his mother's private assets, ensuring they remain within the royal family for future monarchs. The entire Danish royal family has, for many years, enjoyed their holidays at the chateau. They are pictured here in 2014, gathered together to celebrate the late Prince Henrik's 80th birthday Prince Henrik was especially fond of Chateau de Cayx, while Margrethe cherished the peaceful surroundings. The royal couple is pictured here in 1991 on one of their many holidays there It's expected Margrethe will name Frederik and Mary as heirs to the Aarhus castle, the hunting lodge, and the bulk of her multimillion-dollar jewellery collection. Even the lavish palace furniture will go to Frederik and Mary, as it technically belongs to the Danish state. As SE og HR put it: 'It will be the King who takes all the valuables when Queen Margrethe is no longer with us. And Joachim must accept that there will only be crumbs left for him when the inheritance is settled.' Ouch. This resignation to second-born status - watching vast wealth and property pass to an older sibling - must only deepen Joachim's already strained family ties. Tensions escalated rapidly when the then-Queen announced in 2022 that she would strip Joachim's four children of their royal titles and any accompanying spoils. Prince Joachim publicly lashed out at the decision, then took off to the United States for a new diplomatic posting, with his family in tow. Experts believe it's in the best interests of the royal family to retain wealth, which suggests King Frederik (left) will inherit the chateau. But there is speculation that Queen Margrethe (right) might decree the property in her will to her youngest son Prince Joachim (centre) But since Joachim's brother Frederik took the throne, that anger appears to have softened slightly. More recently, he has indicated he wants to return to Denmark. Meanwhile, King Frederik and Queen Mary have made shrewd attempts to mend fences, including recently bestowing prestigious honours on Joachim's elder sons. But things could fall apart again when the fate of Chateau de Cayx is revealed. In theory, the simplest way to mend lingering ill will would be for the ageing Margrethe to bequeath it to her youngest son. But it's not that simple. King Frederik and Queen Mary - pictured here at their 2024 coronation - have attempted to mend fences within the extended royal family So far, the former Queen has given no clear public hint as to who will one day inherit the privately owned Chateau de Cayx Royal commentators believe it would be in the monarchy's best interests to keep the chateau within the core royal line, making King Frederik the likely heir. Were it to pass to Prince Joachim, there's a risk it could eventually move outside the immediate family - through inheritance or divorce - and be lost as a crown asset. Passing the property to Joachim raises another issue: he would face a 15 per cent tax on its current value. By contrast, Danish law exempts regent-to-regent inheritance from tax, making it financially sensible for the chateau to go to the eldest. Presumably, Frederik would still allow his younger brother to enjoy those idyllic French summer holidays, even without Joachim's name on the deed. So far, the former Queen has given no clear public hint as to who will one day inherit the privately owned Chateau de Cayx. Yet royal watchers believe that, despite the tax hit and its unconventional nature, Queen Margrethe may well amend her will to ensure Joachim inherits the chateau. It would certainly be a loss for the royal portfolio, but such a gesture of goodwill could help restore the longstanding loyalty that has been missing within the wider family. That would be priceless. Is Count Nikolai's girlfriend a Meghan in the making? Speaking of Chateau de Cayx, Prince Joachim's eldest son Count Nikolai was on the latest family holiday guest list - and his girlfriend of seven years, Benedikte Thoustrup, also got to tag along. The young couple's Instagram accounts were awash with photos of their stay - but we didn't expect to get such a forensic examination of their luggage. Seven ultra-curated pictures of open suitcases were posted to Benedikte's page on July 21, revealing what was packed in their bags for the European summer. But it wasn't the selection of high-end items, like cashmere sweaters, designer perfumes and fancy jewellery, that sparked the most chatter among royal fans. Rather, it was the Meghan-Markle level of colour coordination and over-styling in the presentation of each individual travel bag. Count Nikolai and his girlfriend of seven years, Benedikte Thoustrup, joined the royal family on holidays this year at Chateau de Cayx Royal watchers are poring over Benedikte's Instagram pictures of the couple's ultra-curated summer holiday suitcases In one of the cases, even the book cover of Adam Grant's self-help tome Give and Take was colour-matched to the adjacent skincare products, frocks and blouses. I'm always the first to welcome any kind of peek behind the royal curtain - and snooping inside a royal's travel bag fits the bill. But these flawless bags felt more like a curated display than real life - the kind of move a certain British royal in the lifestyle game is known for... Now hiring at Buckingham Palace Think you've got what it takes to make the perfect boiled egg for King Charles' daily breakfast? Well, sous chefs, Buckingham Palace wants you! A rare opportunity is up for grabs to go behind the curtain and join the culinary team at the royal household. A rare opportunity is up for grabs to join the kitchen team at Buckingham Palace as a sous chefs But the listing on the royal family's website reveals the role isn't a walk in the park. The kitchen job is a full time position working up to 45 hours per week across five days, which will sometimes include weekends. As well as making daily meals for the household, the successful applicant's duties will extend to catering major events, including visiting dignitaries. Given Charles' passion for sustainability, the ad notes the new royal cook will work with the finest seasonal produce and locally sourced ingredients. Employment also comes with certain employee benefits. For instance, there are 'complimentary admission tickets' to any of the royal households that are open to the public. The sous chef will also enjoy a 20 per cent discount at the Royal Collection Trust shops. If it sounds like the job for you, apply here. Applications close on 28 September. Many women who paid 11,000 to attend an 'orgasm retreat' in the California desert were recent divorcees processing years of unfulfilling sex, Daily Mail sex columnist Jana Hocking has revealed. Speaking to Metro's Just Between Us podcast, Hocking said most guests at the women's-only retreat were 'in their forties and just realising they'd had years of bad sex'. At the three-day 'climax retreat', Hocking reported witnessing live orgasm demonstrations by instructors and attending classes on anatomy and various kinks. The oldest participant at the 'Back to Body Retreat' in Joshua Tree was 75 years old, who told Hocking that she'd come to the desert because 'she'd lost her sex drive and wasn't okay with that'. 'It was wild,' Hocking told podcast host and former X-Factor star Diana Vickers. 'I thought it would be full of extroverts: outlandish people who just like to perform in front of each other. But it really wasn't. Many women who paid 11,000 to attend an 'orgasm retreat' in the California desert were recent divorcees processing years of unfulfilling sex, sex columnist Jana Hocking has revealed Speaking to Metro's Just Between Us podcast, Hocking said most guests at the women's-only retreat were 'in their forties and just realising they'd had years of bad sex' At the three-day 'climax retreat', Hocking reported witnessing live orgasm demonstrations by instructors and attending classes on anatomy and various kinks 'It was a group of 16 all kind of in their forties, apart from one 75-year-old. All the women who were there were either getting divorced or felt they'd never had a proper orgasm and wanted to right that wrong. 'These were women dealing with trauma, who wanted to learn how to enjoy sex again, which was quite heartbreaking.' Hocking described how the women were given their first lesson about sex positivity when being shown the camp's lavish amenities. She said: 'They had this private chef, who'd set up this amazing charcuterie board with different cheeses. 'As we were eating it, Pamela, the creator of the retreat said this is where we learn our first lesson. 'She asked, did you just dive in and help yourself to whatever you wanted, or did you stand back and let others go before you? 'I had really dived in and started to panic. But Pamela turned to me and said I'd done the right thing. 'She told the group: Women are brought up to believe that we are supposed to take the scraps and that the men come first. That our needs are not important. 'You should all dive in for whatever you want and put your needs first.' The sex columnist then described how retreat leader Pamela and her team introduced the group to a 'whole new world of sex' The oldest participant at the 'Back to Body Retreat' was 75 years old, who told Hocking that she'd come to the desert because 'she'd lost her sex drive and wasn't okay with that' The sex columnist then described how retreat leader Pamela and her team introduced the group to a 'whole new world of sex'. 'We were all blindfolded', Hocking recounted. 'We were all told to lay on the ground while this sexy music played the instructors then adorned our naked bodies with crystals and fruit. 'They introduced us to all these kinks, to see which ones we'd like there was a live demonstration too.' Hocking said she felt empowered by her visit but admitted that it was difficult to get aroused in such a 'clinical' environment. 'I didn't get turned on at any point', the journalist said. 'But, I was the only person not to have an orgasm, which was disappointing. I think my brain was too aware during the whole thing, a lot of the women got good at letting go. 'I did leave with a lot less hangups about my body. I started to cry at one stage when we took the masks off, and I realised I was lying next to the 75-year-old. 'I caught her looking down at her body all lit up. It was so nice to see these beautiful women looking at her body like it was brand new.' To listen to the interview in full, search for Just Between Us now, wherever you get your podcasts. An American dermatologist has shared a simple action that doesn't cost a thing - but could one day have a huge anti-ageing effect on your appearance. Dr. Sam Ellis, from California, revealed a piece of 'cosmetic advice' that if implemented now, could prevent issues 20 years down the line. And it has to do with your earlobes. Dr. Ellis explained in her TikTok video that as people age their 'earlobes get saggier' and 'looser'. 'If you wear earrings, that can become a problem, because your earrings can start to look very sad in your ear holes,' she said. 'It's not usually something you notice in your 20s or your 30s. But come 40s, come 50s, your earrings are not looking as cute in their holes as they once were.' The cosmetic dermatologist goes on to explain that there's one simple act that can help prevent the likelihood of overly saggy earlobes. 'The easiest thing you can do to prevent premature stretching of your ear holes is to not sleep in your earrings,' she recommended. California-based dermatologist Dr. Samantha Ellis shared a simple cosmetic tip to prevent earlobes appearing saggy as you age The expert explained that wearing earrings to bed placed 'unnecessary strain and stress on your piercing holes' - and should be avoided to prevent saggy earlobes The doctor explained that sleeping in earrings places 'unnecessary strain and stress on your piercing holes'. Over time, this could cause them to stretch out quicker, resulting in earrings no longer sitting well within the holes, or making the piercing hole so stretched that earrings look too low on the lobe. However, the skin expert noted that this advice wasn't applicable to earrings higher up on the ear where the cartilage is firmer - only those piercings on the 'floppy earlobe'. The video quickly attracted over 1,100 comments - many from stunned women who have been unknowingly wearing earrings non-stop for years on end. 'I didn't know people were taking off earrings every night,' read one floored reply. 'I've been wearing mine since I was a toddler for 20 years,' read another stunned response. '*Takes off my earrings while watching this video in bed*' admitted a third person. There were also follow-up questions for the doctor from women who regularly wore a certain style of earrings at nighttime. In a TikTok video shared to her @drsamathaellis account, the dermatologist recommended that all types of earrings should be removed nightly - even small studs or hoops 'What about tiny stud earrings? Should those come out too?' asked one person. Another questioned if 'small hoops' were okay because 'they don't feel like they pull' while they slept. In both instances, Dr Ellis replied with her steadfast recommendation that all types of earrings should 'ideally' removed at night. A couple of commenters noted under the video that the doctor's message had confirmed their own observations. 'I thought I was imagining it!' a 52-year-old woman replied, adding that she was adamant that her 'ear lobes are floppier than they used to be'. 'For those of us where it's too late, is the surgery to sew them up worth it?' questioned another older woman. Dr Ellis assured her there were cosmetic options to refresh the appearance of the ears. 'Ear lobe repairs can be amazing,' she offered. 'A little filler in the lobes can also be helpful if the stretch is minimal.' Dr Ellis noted that her recommendation to remove earrings nightly was not applicable to piercings on the upper areas of the ear, because the cartilage in these spots was firmer and therefore less likely to become saggy over time Also among the commenters were confident replies from women who'd always adhered to the practice of removing their earrings before bed. 'I've been doing this my whole life. My earlobes will be SNATCHED,' read one reply. 'The ONE thing I've done right cosmetically LOL,' added another. 'I didn't realise sleeping with earrings in was a thing. It's like a bra for me, off the minute I get home,' said a third person. There's a general misconception that our ears (along with noses) are an area of the body that never stops growing. While our ears may appear different in shape as we age, this effect is a result of skin changes and gravity - not growth. As we get older, the cartilage and skin in the ear area begins to break down. Coupled with gravity, this can give the ears a droopy appearance. In addition to this, the rest of our face loses bone, muscle and fat. This overall loss of volume over time makes the face smaller - and therefore by comparison, the ears can appear longer and bigger. As mentioned by Dr. Ellis, cosmetic dermatologists and plastic surgeons offer a range of rejuvenation procedures for stretched earlobes. This includes using fillers like hyaluronic acid to plump the area and stimulate collagen production. Queen Mary and King Frederik's eldest daughter Princess Isabella has stunned royal watchers after being spotted wearing an X-rated t-shirt at a music festival. Princess Isabella, 18, was pictured on August 7 wearing the expletive-stamped shirt while attending the Danish music festival Smukfest in Skanderborg. The second eldest child of the reigning royal couple was pictured wearing a black t-shirt emblazoned with the words 'f***ed him yesterday' in Danish. The message was accompanied by an arrow pointing off to the side. The outfit is an enormous style departure for the teenage princess, who is normally seen in public looking demure, polished and regal. In fact, it's more common for Isabella's fashion to be likened to that of her chic Australian-born mother - with Isabella even regularly borrowing select designer pieces straight out of her mum's wardrobe. However, some music enthusiasts were quick to defend the princess' choice of t-shirt, explaining that it was a merchandise top for Danish hip hop group Suspekt, who had performed at Smukfest. It's been reported that the Danish Princess was spied in the audience for Suspekt's set. The music trio are renowned for their explicit and sexual lyrics. Princess Isabella was joined at the popular music festival by her older brother, Crown Prince Christian. Crown Prince Christian and Princess Isabella are attending the Smukfest in Skanderborg. Dan Mariegaard pic.twitter.com/BvxhmnxHrN ChristinZ (@ChristinsQueens) August 6, 2025 Princess Isabella's festival outfit was a huge departure from this more recent royal portrait released in April to commemorate her 18th birthday The eldest daughter of King Frederik and Queen Mary is usually demure in her fashion choices, with Princess Isabella's style more often likened to that of her chic Australian-born mother When Isabella was caught on camera wearing the explicit t-shirt, she was pictured with her heir-to-the-throne sibling along with a group of their friends. The Danish princess' choice of outfit quickly attracted scrutiny from royal watchers who claimed it crossed the line of decency and was unfitting for the daughter of the king. Danish political commentator Jarl Cordua was among the most vocal critics of the royal's attire. '"F****d him yesterday". The rich are having a party because the second-oldest royal child let loose at a festival yesterday wearing a shirt with the aforementioned text,' he wrote in response to a picture of Isabella at the festival. 'Not surprisingly, there are people who love that kind of thing. 'I'm also in favour of the royals letting loose a little. They always have. They should definitely be allowed to. BUT. There are limits. 'We'll probably live with that shirt, but I wouldn't recommend making it a habit. Being royal is an obligation. And it's probably time for someone to tell her that.' Long-time royalist and Danish TV presenter Jim Lyngvild told media outlet BT that he, too, was initially shocked by Isabella's outfit. Princess Isabella looked chic and sophisticated in April 2025, wearing a ball gown to attend a red carpet gala held in honour of her 18th birthday at the Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen Princess Isabella has also given hints at being a more modern princess - like when the royal family shared this surprising behind the scenes image of the royal on her phone while dressed in her birthday portrait regalia 'At first I was taken aback by that: "Oh, you can't do that",' he said. But after giving it further consideration, the presenter said that he changed his mind and in fact felt it was 'brilliant'. 'It's the best PR initiative for the Royal House in many, many years,' Lyngvild said. The TV personality felt the bold fashion move reflected the fresh and modern approach of her father, King Frederik, who only took the throne last year. 'It shows that there is a new king who has, in many ways, an ordinary family that represents today's values,' he mused. 'The time of the ladies in the hat is over, Princess Isabella is in,' Lyngvild added on social media. 'I expect a lot from her I LOVE that our royal youngsters also have personality and courage and don't follow the neat pleated flow. 'There are no other princesses in the world who would dare to do that,' he concluded. But Cordua continued to insist that the boundary-pushing outfit crossed a line. 'Isn't that exactly what their job is? To maintain a certain standard? To show some kind of style? Dignity?' Cordua questioned. 'I doubt that everyone thinks that's the case when a royal celebrates promiscuity on a shirt.' Both Princess Isabella and Crown Prince Christian are expected to remain at Smukfest until it wraps on Sunday. They will then join their parents and 14-year-old twin siblings Princess Josephine and Prince Vincent at the the Danish royal family's summer retreat, Grasten Palace. A woman has revealed how her Oura Ring alerted her to her severe health issues - months before doctors figured out what was wrong with her. In April last year, Casey Cattie, 30, began waking up in the morning soaked in sweat with no idea why. Little did she know, the ongoing night sweats was a symptom of something serious - Stage 4 Hodgkin lymphoma. The nurse, from Philadelphia, had been wearing an Oura ring to bed and checking the data in the mornings, which informed her she was 'showing sings of major illness.' An Oura ring is a smart ring designed to track various health metrics, including sleep, activity, heart rate, heart rate variability, body temperature, and respiratory rate. At the time, Casey was wearing the device to track her menstrual cycle, and it kept warning her that her temperature was spiking overnight. 'I was seeing all these fevers [on my Oura ring's tracking] but nothing else,' she told Today recently, noting that her symptoms were 'vague.' 'If your temperature is so high above your normal, [the ring] just assumes that youre sick.' In April last year, Casey Cattie (pictured), 30, began waking up in the morning soaked in sweat with no idea why Casey admitted that she didn't think much of it at first, and initially thought it had something to do with where she was at in her menstrual cycle. 'You see so many crazy things on a daily basis [working in medicine] that you could never think would happen to you,' she explained. But as the night sweats worsened and the continuous warning from her Oura ring, she decided to try to get to the bottom of it. Her bloodwork came back normal, however - only showing an iron deficiency - so she went on to see multiple different doctors, and months passed without a diagnosis. 'I had seen my primary care provider, I had seen a GI doctor, I got a colonoscopy and endoscopy to check for any type of internal bleeding - all of that was negative,' she recalled. She even saw a hematologist oncologist to rule out cancer, but the doctor had a 'very low suspicion' that she was dealing with cancer because her bloodwork was normal. Despite being given the all-clear, Casey's health took a severe turn while she was on vacation in Iceland celebrating her 30th birthday in the spring - roughly eight months after the Oura rings' first warning. 'I was walking around Reykjavik, the capital city of Iceland, with my friend, and I looked at him, and I was like, "Gosh, what is the elevation here? I feel like I cant breathe,"' she recalled, adding that they were at sea level. Casey admitted she initially ignored it, thinking it had something to do with where she was at in her menstrual cycle Despite being given the all-clear initially by doctors, Casey's health took a severe turn when she was in Iceland celebrating her 30th birthday and she was diagnosed with cancer What is Hodgkin lymphoma? Hodgkin lymphoma a type of cancer that affects the lymphatic system, which is part of the body's immune system. Symptoms include: Painless swelling of lymph nodes in the neck, armpits or groin Fever Feeling very tired Night sweats Weight loss that happens without trying Itchy skin Advertisement She thought maybe she had the flu, but her heath continued to deteriorate, and it got to the point where struggled to walk without losing her breath and lost her appetite. At first, Casey delayed going to a doctor because she was worried about what the cost would be, but the day before she was due to leave she was so short of breath that she knew she had to go to the emergency room. Doctors diagnosed her with a 'massive pleural effusion,' which is when fluid sits around the lungs, making it difficult to breathe, and drained it so she could fly home. 'I had over a gallon of fluid in my chest,' she explained. 'I was drowning internally for the week leading up to my diagnosis.' The emergency room doctors told also gave Casey CT scans, suspecting cancer because they detected enlarged lymph nodes. They also recommended she undergo a lymph node biopsy and PET scan. When she got home, Casey had difficulty breathing again as her chest had filled with more fluid, so she went to the emergency room where they admitted her and ran some tests. She underwent a PET scan two days later, which 'lit up like a Christmas tree,' with tumors showing on her lungs, esophagus, and spleen. Casey was eventually given the diagnosis of Stage 4 Hodgkin lymphoma, immediately undergoing a round of chemotherapy while still in the hospital. According to Casey, doctors said the lymphoma was so large it impacted the lymph nodes deep in her chest, causing it to fill with fluid. 'It was causing irritation within my chest cavity, and that was causing my body to secrete more pleural fluid and continue to re-accumulate fluid in my chest,' she explained. An Oura ring (seen) is a smart ring designed to track various health metrics, including sleep, activity, heart rate, heart rate variability, body temperature, and respiratory rate Casey is now halfway through her treatment, undergoing 12 rounds of chemotherapy and immunotherapy every two weeks. She said it has diminished her appetite, and she's experienced some nerve damage as well as feeling 'chronically dehydrated.' She said her Oura ring still picks up when she's not feeling well - particularly after she's had treatment. Casey advised everyone to seek medical treatment if they feel something isn't right. 'I went eight months with doctors who missed my diagnosis - doctors with 40 years' experience treating lymphoma and specializing in the kind of cancer I have. I trusted them,' she pointed out. 'I dont want to throw anyone under the bus here. Basically, if you have a gut feeling something is wrong, you need to trust that gut feeling,' she urged. Balenciaga is selling a tote that looks remarkably like a basic plastic bag from your average supermarket. The Spanish fashion house's product even includes crinkles to look well-worn, despite being brand new. While most supermarket bags are made from polyethylene, this version is composed of polyamide and Dyneema said to be the 'world's strongest fibre'. The Marche Packable Tote Bag Medium is currently available to pre-order as part of the brand's Winter 2025 collection. It has the company's logo printed on the front and also includes two addresses for its Paris stores, plus website details. Although Balenciaga was started in Spain, its headquarters are in the French capital - but the blue bag is actually made in Italy. It has two handles and an inner flat pocket that allows you to pack it 'into a pouch' - but it will set buyers back a staggering 775. According to Balenciaga, the bag can be used to hold all your essentials, from your smartphone to a laptop that weighs maximum 10kg. Balenciaga's newest bag is raising eyebrows. The Marche Packable Tote Bag looks remarkably like a basic plastic bag from your average supermarket - but costs almost 800 If you ordered it today, the Marche would arrive by October 21, but it'll set you back a handsome sum. The Marche tote caught the eye of some shoppers who were quick to share their confusion online. 'A plastic bag that resembles a plastic bag,' one user joked and another quipped: 'I hate it'. This isn't the first time Balenciaga has presented shoppers with a bizarre product. Last month, the brand was criticised for flogging 'tatty' Puma trainers for ten times as much. The trendy fashion house collaborated with the sportswear giant to offer its own take on the Speedcat sneakers for 520. The shoes had a 'distressed' look with part of the Puma markings peeled off and a few fake, grubby bits on them. However, customers found almost identical trainers being sold by Puma for just 55. The product even includes crinkles to look well-worn, despite being brand new While most supermarket bags are made from polyethylene, this version is composed of polyamide and Dyneema said to be the 'world's strongest fibre' This isn't the first time Balenciaga has presented shoppers with a bizarre product. Last month, the brand was slammed for flogging 'tatty' Puma trainers for ten times as much One shopper said: 'You could have the Puma Speedcats for 55. "Or the exact same shoe but ruined for ten times the price."' Last year, Balenciaga hit headlines after charging 1,150 for a pair of tights full of holes and ladders. The luxury fashion brand's 'destroyed tights' cost 400 more than their unblemished counterparts, which only set you back 725. The tights, which were made in Italy, were advertised on the brand's website as 'technical knit' with a 'destroyed effect' and contrasted double fabric. Several holes were cut into the both of the leggings of the tights, which were available in both black and light beige. A leading government health body has issued official guidance about an increasingly common reaction to thunderstormslife-threatening asthma attacks. And, terrifyingly, the dust and debris whipped up by the atmospheric events also have the potential to trigger an attack in people who do not have asthma. In the newly released guidance about thunderstorm asthma, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) noted a case of the weather-related medical phenomena which occurred in Melbourne, Australia in 2016 which left ten people dead. This, the governing body explains, happened because 'thunderstorm activity is linked to an increase in people reporting asthma symptoms and seeking medical attention for breathing issues. 'It has been observed since the 1980s, with notable events in Birmingham in 1983, and a severe event in Melbourne in 2016, which overwhelmed the city's ambulance system and resulted in 10 deaths.' So what causes thunderstorm asthma? In the run up to a thunderstorm, particularly in the spring and summer months, high winds can whip up pollen spores. As they swirl in the air, they are caught up in lightning strikes, which make the particles even smallerand more easily breathed in. This, explained a leading doctor, can trigger huge asthma attackseven in people who are not formally diagnosed with the condition. More than 7 million people in the UK have an asthma diagnosis Jonathan Grigg, Professor of Paediatric Respiratory and Environmental Medicine at Queen Mary University London, said: 'It's not something that only affects individuals who've had a history of wheezing. 'If you start wheezing during a thunderstorm, where there's high pollen, then it could well be thunderstorm asthma. 'People who've got asthma know to take the appropriate precautions, but thunderstorm asthma is something that everyone should know about. 'The idea behind it is that in thunderstorms, you've got rain and lightning, and in the presence of high pollen counts, this transforms and breaks up the pollen, and those little bits get right deep into the lung. 'If you're sensitive to that, it will trigger severe asthma, or make asthma worsebut it can also trigger asthma, even if you've never had it.' Professor Grigg recalled a notable case of youngsters who had had asthma attacks during a thunderstorm which happened just two years ago. He said: 'In London in 2023, there was a similar event with thunderstorms and pollen, and we saw quite a few children with asthma coming in. 'I think about half had no history of actual asthma.' Thunderstorm asthma can also occur in urban locations, and is connected to air pollution This echoes the UKHSA's guidance, which states: 'Everyone can be at risk of thunderstorm asthma, but young adults under 30 are more likely to be affected. 'There is also some limited evidence that people who have asthma (both diagnosed and undiagnosed), and those who have hay fever, are also more at-risk from the impacts of thunderstorm asthma.' Professor Grigg continued that people travelling abroad also need to know the warning signs, and take necessary precautions. Climate change is making weather patterns across the globe more unpredictable and dramaticand with an increase in air pollution, which has also been linked to respiratory conditionsthunderstorm asthma is becoming a growing risk. 'As you move further south across the European continent, you've got areas around mountains which have high pollen, and thunderstorms which happen all the time, so we, fortunately don't, in the UK, get as many cases of thunderstorm asthma as other areas.' He also shared some As well as 'knowing the pollen count', Professor Grigg explained that there are steps you can take to reduce the risk of suffering a thunderstorm asthma attack. 'If the pollen count is very high and there's a thunderstorm, especially ones with gusty winds, then you shouldn't be outside. 'Stay indoors and shut the windows. Thunderstorms look impressive... but they can kill 'You definitely shouldn't be wandering around, especially in the beginning of a storm when you get very windy conditions. 'Make sure that you're taking your inhaler, especially the the steroid preventer inhaler, and carry your reliever with you. 'Ensure you're fully medicated as you're as instructed by your physician.' The same advice applies for if you're caught up in a thunderstorm in an urban area, too. 'If you have high pollen, high pollution and thunderstorm, you could get a perfect conditions for thunderstorm asthma,' he warned. Asthma affects around 7.2million people in the UK, and asthma attacks kill, on average, three people in Britain every day. It affects the airways, or breathing tubes, that carry air in and out of the lungs, causing them to become inflamed. This makes the airways narrower so less air gets into and out of the lungs. Symptoms include wheezing, breathlessness, a cough or a tight chest and are often triggered by factors in the environment like pollution, stress or a cold. There is no cure, but inhalers work to control the disease by reducing the number of blood cells that contribute to the lung inflammation. Emma Rubach, Head of Health Advice at Asthma + Lung UK, said: 'People with asthma who have hay fever can experience much more severe symptoms during thunderstorms. 'This is because thunder breaks pollen into smaller particles, which can then be inhaled deep into the lungs, causing wheezing, coughing, a tight chest and shortness of breath. 'If there is also higher pollution in the atmosphere which tends to be the case when the weather is warm this is an added threat.' A mother-of-four has told of her devastating cancer diagnosis after doctors initially dismissed a key symptom. Andrea Henderson, 41, from Northumberland, first went to her GP after experiencing a sharp stabbing pain in her chest and suffering from extreme fatigue. But, given her busy lifestyle juggling looking after her four children and her photography career, her doctor assured her it was nothing to worry about. Chest pain can develop for a number of reasons and is often caused by something harmless like indigestion or heartburn, according to the NHS. But when she noticed her nipple was bleeding after showering one morning in February, alarm bells began to ring. Ms Henderson contacted her GP surgery straight away and booked in for a same-day appointment, voicing her cancer concerns. 'It was a spontaneous bleed and right away, I called my GP for a same-day appointment,' she recalled. Ms Henderson's GP examined her breasts and discovered a tiny lump underneath her left nipple, which was around the size of a grain of rice. Andrea's symptoms were initially put down to 'mum-tiredness' despite her complaining of extreme fatigue and chest pain for over a year It was only when she noticed that her nipple was bleeding that doctors began to take her concerns more seriously A lump, and nipple discharge which may have blood in it, are common symptoms of breast cancer. 'They were very good after that', the mother-of-four added. 'I was seen straight away and referred to the cancer clinic.' Scans and a biopsy later revealed that she had HER2 positive breast canceran aggressive form of the disease accounting for around 15 in every 100 cases. Ms Henderson said she felt 'horrible' hearing those words after her symptoms had been brushed off for over a year. 'The consultant had even said to me: "Oh, I don't think this looks like cancer, I've seen it in lots of women"', she recalled. She then had an MRI on chest to check if the cancer had spread to nearby lymph nodes, where it would be harder to treat. The scan revealed a 4.9cm tumour in her chest which contained some aggressive cancer cells. Your browser does not support iframes. The mother-of-four underwent a mastectomy to remove the tumour as well as reconstruction surgery to make a new breast Just two months later the mother-of-four underwent a mastectomy to remove the tumour followed by reconstructive surgery to make a new breast on 4 June. 'It was terrifying,' she said. 'Knowing how much life was going to changeI felt horrible. 'Especially losing a breastyou have to really find out that beauty is soul-deep and nothing to do with how you look.' She was also told that she would need 10 years of hormone therapy to lower the amount of estrogen in her body and block its effects to lower the risk of the cancer returning. Also known as endocrine therapy, this treatment will trigger early menopause, leaving her infertile. Reflecting on her diagnosis, Ms Henderson said: 'Cancer really strips you back to the bare minimum, and I think it's making me a lot stronger than I already was.' Yesterday Ms Henderson started the first of eight gruelling rounds of chemotherapy which will take her through to December. Together with her family she has launched a GoFundMe to enable her to take time away from work and focus on her treatment. Your browser does not support iframes. Andrea now faces eight rounds of chemotherapy and ten years of hormone therapy to reduce the chance of her cancer returning She is now urging young women to check their breasts regularly and calling on officials to lower the age of breast cancer screenings on the NHS. 'Younger women always have a worse prognosis because we have a lot more estrogen,' she explained. 'We need to start having routine mammograms for younger women too because a lot of things can get missed,' she added. 'While checking your breasts it is so important not to miss your nipples outjust because they're naturally bumpier doesn't mean they're immune. 'Check under your arms too', she added. 'look out for any dimpling or swelling, as well as inverting in the nipple and general changes in the breast. Her warning comes as millions of women in England could soon be offered breast cancer checks as young as thiry on the NHS. Currently, al women aged between 50 and 70 are invited for screening every three years, with the first invitation arriving between the age of 50 and 53. But every year, more than 10,000 women who are deemed too young to be offered a check are diagnosed with the disease, with 2,000 deaths among those below the age of 50. Now a groundbreaking new trial has found almost one in five women screened in their thirties have an increased risk of developing breast cancer. Experts, led by Dr Sacha Howell from the world-renowned Chritis hospital in Manchester, are now calling for all women to be offered a 'comprehensive risk assessment' at the age of 30. One in seven women in the UK are diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime making it the most common cancer in the UK. Around 85 per cent of women diagnosed with breast cancer survive more than five years. Figures show that currently a third of women asked for screening do not attend. That rises to almost half of women who are invited for the first time. A top doctor has revealed the key questions you can ask yourself if you suspect you might be on the autism spectrum as demand for formal assessments continues to skyrocket. The prompts are taken from the AQ-19 test, a widely used screening tool for people aged 16 and over, which helps doctors decide whether a full autism assessment is necessary. In a viral TikTok video that has racked up more than 56,000 views, London-based GP Dr Sermed Mezher said: 'Scores of six or less make autism unlikely.' The self-report test asks participants to rate a series of statements using responses such as 'definitely agree', 'slightly agree' or 'definitely disagree'. It explores areas including sensory processing, social interaction, need for routine, and ability to cope with change. The video comes as NHS waiting lists for autism diagnoses have ballooned, with some patients forced to wait years for an appointment. According to the latest NHS figures, more than 212,000 people were waiting for an autism assessment as of December last year. While some critics have argued autism is now being overdiagnosed, others say the rise is due to growing awareness of how the condition presents particularly in girls and women, who were historically underdiagnosed. A London-based GP has shared a questionnaire that you can take if you think you have autism The AQ-10 I often notice small sounds when others do not. When I'm reading a story, I find it difficult to work out the characters' intentions. I find it easy to 'read between the lines' when someone is talking to me. I usually concentrate more on the whole picture, rather than the small details. I know how to tell if someone listening to me is getting bored. I find it easy to do more than one thing at once. I find it easy to work out what someone is thinking or feeling just by looking at their face. If there is an interruption, I can switch back to what I was doing very quickly. I like to collect information about categories of things. I find it difficult to work out people's intentions. If you selected the following, you get one point per each prompt: Agree Agree Disagree Disagree Disagree Disagree Disagree Disagree Agree Agree Advertisement Autism has long been viewed as a predominantly male condition with earlier studies suggesting a male-to-female diagnosis ratio of 3:1. But growing evidence suggests this gap may be down to gender bias in how the condition is recognised and assessed. One recent analysis estimated that if these biases were accounted for, the true ratio could be closer to 1.8:1. Experts now believe many girls and women are slipping through the cracks because they're better at masking their symptoms either consciously or subconsciously in order to fit in socially. This 'camouflaging' can involve mimicking social cues, suppressing self-stimulatory behaviours (or 'stimming'), and rehearsing scripted responses for different situations all of which can make autistic traits harder to detect. Earlier this year, Professor Ahmed Hankir a UK professor and consultant psychiatrist working in Canada shared five common signs of autism in women in a viral TikTok video. Top of the list was stimming, which refers to repetitive or ritualistic movements such as skin picking, rocking, hand flapping, feet rubbing or hair twirling. The number of diagnoses of autism among both men and women have both increased over the 20 year period, but autism diagnoses had particularly grown among females The second he highlighted was emotional dysregulation and meltdowns which he said can be overwhelming. A 'meltdown' is a physical reaction to an overwhelming emotional or sensory experience and all adults across the spectrum can be vulnerable to them. The loss of control may be shown through crying, screaming or even physically lashing out. The third trait he highlighted was camouflaging or aka 'masking' which we previously mentioned. But he added: 'It can drain their social battery and result in emotional, physical and mental exhaustion, which can then lead to burnout.' The fourth trait was sensory sensitivity which he explained can involve smells, tastes, pressure touch and sounds. Meanwhile, the fifth trait was intense interests, which he revealed, may in fact seem to be 'perfectly normal'. But the differences lie in the fact the fact for an autistic person the interest becomes 'almost necessary rather than optional'. In comparison to autistic men, who often have focused interests in niche topics such as transport links, girls' intense interests may be more 'socially acceptable'. The virus spreading in China that has prompted Covid-era quarantines and restrictions is spreading, reaching a new country this week as cases surpass 10,000. Taiwan reported its first confirmed case of mosquito-borne chikungunya fever, the country's CDC said on Friday. The virus was detected in a Taiwanese woman who had traveled from Foshan, the current epicenter of the outbreak in China, located in the Guangdong Province. She returned to Taiwan on July 30. At least 12 other cities in Guangdong have reported infections, with about 3,000 cases being reported over the past week, bringing the total to over 10,000 in the country. The US CDC has issued a Level 2 travel advisory for Guangdong Province, urging Americans to take extra precautions when visiting the region. However, experts fear the outbreak may have already reached America. Dr Louisa Messenger, a mosquito researcher in Nevada, told Daily Mail: 'This outbreak in China is very concerning. It [the virus] could already be here in the US; and really it's just one plane flight away.' Chikungunya is primarily spread by Aedes mosquitoes, the same species that carry dengue and Zika. It is rarely fatal but can cause debilitating symptoms, including fever, joint pain and, in severe cases, life-threatening complications involving the heart and brain. Images show Chinese state workers spraying clouds of disinfectant around city streets to kill off the mosquitoes that carry the virus Your browser does not support iframes. Roger Hewson, virus surveillance lead at the UK's Wellcome Sanger Institute, said the current outbreak in China is the largest ever, Al Jazeera reported. A global spike in cases began in early 2025, with major outbreaks reported in the Indian Ocean islands of La Reunion, Mayotte and Mauritius. According to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, around 240,000 chikungunya cases and 90 related deaths have been recorded in 16 countries so far this year, as of August 4. The virus has also spread to Madagascar, Somalia, Kenya and India and is making its way to Europe. Case counts have also been increasing in Samoa, Tonga, French Polynesia, Fiji and Kiribati. As of August 5, the US CDC reports 46 cases of chikungunya virus in the US this year, all contracted by travelers returning from high-risk areas. No deaths have been reported. It is unclear how many of these could be linked to China's outbreak. Estimates suggest 1.6million people travel between the US and China every year, with experts saying it only takes one bite from a mosquito on one infected traveler to then pass it on throughout America. In addition to the CDC advisory for China, the agency also issued a warning for nine other countries including Bolivia and Sri Lanka. The US has experienced limited local transmission of the virus previously, most recently in 2014 and 2015 after cases were detected in Florida and Texas. Workers use a sprayer to eradicate mosquitos at a park in order to prevent the spread of the mosquito-borne chikungunya virus A worker sprays insecticide at a residential community in Foshan, the epicenter of the outbreak, located in the Guangdong Province of China Infections are most common in Asia, Africa and South America, though more recently cases have also emerged across Europe and the US. Nearly half a million people were infected during a major outbreak in 20042005, which spread across Africa, Asia and the Americas. Dr Diana Rojas Alvarez, a medical officer with the World Health Organization, recently warned: 'We are seeing history repeating itself,' referencing the scale of the earlier epidemic. The CDC is urging Americans to ensure they are vaccinated if they are at increased risk of exposure. While it's unclear exactly where the infections occurred, the CDC has issued an elevated risk notice for Brazil, Colombia, India, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand, and now China. Roughly 200 travel-related cases were reported in the US in 2024, with no fatalities recorded. According to the CDC, chikungunya was rarely detected in American travelers before 2006. But between 2006 and 2013, the US logged around 30 imported cases a year, all in people who had recently visited affected regions in Asia, Africa or the Indian Ocean. In 2014, a total of 2,799 cases were reported - including 12 that were locally acquired - in states and territories such as Florida, Texas, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, making it the country's worst year on record for the virus. Images show Chinese state workers spraying clouds of disinfectant around city streets to prevent the spread of chikungunya virus To protect against chikungunya, travelers are advised to wear insect repellent, cover up with long clothing, and stay in air-conditioned or screened accommodation to avoid mosquito bites. Those experiencing fevers, joint pain or rashes should visit a hospital so they can be tested for the virus. To combat the spread of the virus in China, Chinese officials had ordered travelers from Foshan to undergo a 14-day home quarantine, similar to Covid restrictions, but that has since been withdrawn. Infected patients are being isolated in hospital wards and covered with mosquito nets. They are required to remain there for a week or until they test negative, if sooner. Images show Chinese state workers spraying clouds of disinfectant around city streets, residential areas and construction sites where people may come into contact with virus-bearing mosquitoes in or near standing water. Drones are being used to hunt down insect breeding grounds and spray insecticide, and residents are being asked to empty bottles, flower pots or other outdoor receptacles that may collect water. Drones are being used to hunt down insect breeding grounds and spray insecticide Failure to comply with any restriction may lead to fines of up to $1,400 (10,000 Yuan) and locals can have their electricity cut off, according to state media. The acute phase of illness typically resolves within one to two weeks, but joint pain may linger for weeks, months or even years in some cases. Newborns, seniors over 65, and people with underlying health issues face a higher risk of developing serious outcomes, including cardiovascular problems and, according to some studies, even Type 2 diabetes or high blood pressure triggered by post-viral inflammation. Importantly, chikungunya cannot be transmitted from person to person. Instead, the virus spreads when a mosquito bites an infected person, becomes a carrier, and then bites someone else. Pregnant women who become infected near the time of delivery can also pass the virus to their baby during birth, which can result in severe illness in the newborn. There is no antiviral treatment for chikungunya, but symptoms can be managed with rest, plenty of fluids, and pain relief such as acetaminophen. READ MORE: New York outbreak of deadly lung disease grows More New Yorkers are being infected and hospitalized with a deadly lung disease spreading throughout the city, officials have warned. As of August 7, approximately 81 people living in upper Manhattan have been infected with Legionnaire's disease, a type of pneumonia that spreads through bacteria lurking in warm later. Legionnaires' disease is caused by Legionella bacteria, which thrive in warm water and can become airborne when water turns to steam. New York City health officials also announced 24 people have been hospitalized with the condition, which is most severe in older people, smokers and those with chronic lung diseases. All cases have been detected in five ZIP codes covering the Harlem, East Harlem and Morningside Heights neighborhoods. It has not been determined yet how patients were infected, but a release from the New York City Department of Health said the 'likely source' is a cooling tower in the area. Officials wrote in a news release Thursday: 'This is not an issue with any building's plumbing system. Residents in these ZIP codes can continue to drink water, bathe, shower, cook, and use your air conditioner.' While building owners 'are required to register cooling towers' and 'routinely test the water' for bacteria, inspections reportedly sunk to a near-record low in the months leading up to the outbreak. Cooling towers and air conditioning units are seen in the Harlem neighborhood amid a Legionnaires' disease outbreak in New York City Officials told Gothamist, which discovered the decline, that staffing issues were to blame. NYC Department of Health officials said in Thursday's release: 'People who inhale mist that contains Legionella bacteria can get sick. Sources of water with Legionella contamination may include cooling towers, showers and hot tubs. 'Window air conditioners do not spread the bacteria that causes Legionnaires' disease.' No information has been released about those who have died or been hospitalized. Infected patients initially suffer from a headache, muscle aches, and fever that may be 104 Fahrenheit (40 Celsius) or higher. But within three days, they may experience a cough, shortness of breath, chest pain, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, and confusion or other mental changes. In serious cases, patients can develop severe pneumonia, and the bacteria can spread to the heart and blood, causing the potentially fatal complication sepsis. Patients die from the disease due to lung failure, septic shock, a sudden severe drop in blood flow to vital organs, or acute kidney failure. Legionnaires' affects 8,000 to 10,000 Americans every year and kills about 1,000. The five ZIP codes affected in the outbreak are: 10027, 10030, 10035, 10037 and 10039. City health officials said while 'most people who are exposed to the bacteria do not develop Legionnaires' disease,' those who are 50 or older, smoke, have a chronic lung disease or a weakened immune system may be at a higher risk. The news release cautioned people who experience symptoms to 'seek medical attention right away.' Doctors treat the disease using antibiotics, but say these are most effective in the early stages before the disease has spread in the body. Patients are often hospitalized. Dr Asim Cheema, internal medicine and cardiology specialist at Your Doctors Online, told the Daily Mail: 'August is peak season for Legionnaires' disease. Hot weather creates perfect breeding conditions, air conditioning systems work overtime, and people spend more time around water features. 'This isn't a condition to take lightly; it can be fatal if not treated promptly, but it's also completely treatable when caught early.' In milder cases, patients may also suffer from Pontiac fever, a condition causing fever, chills, headache and muscle aches that occurs when the bacteria do not infect the lungs. This condition goes away on its own without treatment and causes no further problems, doctors say. Air conditioning units are seen in the Harlem neighborhood amid a Legionnaires' disease outbreak in New York City The New York City outbreak was first revealed on July 22, when the health department reported eight cases. All buildings that had units that tested positive for the Legionella bacteria were told to clean their systems within 24 hours. It follows a previous outbreak in July 2015 in the Bronx, which became the second-largest Legionnaires' disease outbreak in the US. Overall, a total of 155 patients were infected and 17 people died due to the disease from July to September that year. The outbreak was eventually linked back to a cooling tower at the Opera House Hotel in the South Bronx, which had been contaminated with the bacteria and was releasing it in water vapor. Dr Cheema recommends flushing home water systems after being away for extended periods of time to get rid of lingering bacteria, using distilled water in home humidifiers and medical devices and avoiding breathing mist from public areas. Millions of women in midlife and beyond could soon benefit from a new all-natural intimate cream being hailed as a female version of Viagra. Makers of the plant-based formulacalled Myregynainsist it can restore vulval health and 'bring back the joy of sex' for women over 50, all without the use of hormones. Inventor Dr Iona Weir claims trials have shown the cream improves sexual response and function in women dealing with the effects of menopause. It's applied to the intimate area nightly and taken alongside a daily supplement, with results expected in as little as a month. The cream is designed to reverse the symptoms of genitourinary syndrome of menopause (GSM)a condition caused by declining oestrogen levels that affects millions worldwide. Common symptoms include intimate dryness, incontinence, discomfort and pain during sexall of which can severely impact quality of life. Myregyna claims to work by naturally renewing cells in the vaginal wall, without relying on synthetic hormones. Research shows fewer than one in four women over 50 in the UK are sexually activeand just three per cent say they're happy with their sex life. Speaking on a New Zealand news channel Dr Iona Weir dubbed the cream the female viagra Previous research revealed that less than a quarter of postmenopausal UK women are sexually active and a mere 3 per cent are happy with their sex life Viagra, also known by its generic name sildenafil, was originally developed as a heart medication but quickly became famous for its unexpected side effect improving blood flow to the penis and helping men achieve and maintain an erection. It was approved for use in the late 1990s and remains one of the most well-known drugs for treating erectile dysfunction. In the UK, NHS figures suggest that over four million prescriptions for sildenafil are written each yeara number that rose sharply after it became available over the counter in 2018. In the US, millions of men use Viagra or its generic equivalent annually, with sildenafil consistently ranking among the top-prescribed medications for men over 40. The little blue pill works by relaxing the blood vessels and increasing circulation to specific areas of the body. It doesn't increase sexual desire but helps men with erectile issues respond to sexual stimulation more effectively. Viagra typically starts working within 30 to 60 minutes and lasts for up to four hours. Although there is no direct equivalent for women, there are a number of hormonal treatments and over-the-counter moisturisers available to help with vaginal dryness. Around six in ten women over 50 experience vaginal drynessyet just one in ten seek prescription medication to manage it. Dr Weir says her new product could help close that gap. In a clinical trial involving women in New Zealand aged over 55, some participants who hadn't had sex in years reported having regular, pain-free intercourse and orgasms after using Myregyna. The cream is made using plant cell technology and hyaluronic acida powerful moisturising ingredient commonly found in high-end skincare products. 'It actually boosts natural hydration,' said Dr Weir. 'Men got Viagra, but women got nothing, right? This is going to be the first non-hormonal treatment that will give you your sex life back.' Her company, Weir Science, predicts the plant-based product could generate more than 7.5 billion a year in global sales. Dr Weir is currently in talks with two major pharmaceutical companies and is in the process of registering Myregyna with the US Food and Drug Administration. A former host of The View thinks the daytime opinion program could soon be taken off the air. Rosie O'Donnell made the remarks in a pointed post to TikTok Wednesday where she said ABC was 'reviewing the [show's] liberal bias'. Days before, a Media Research Center study found the show had welcomed 102 liberal-leaning guests so far this year and not a single conservative. The results pertained only to guests who discussed politics. ODonnell, in turn, claimed 'The View' does not have any bias, but that the 'review' was 'code' for the show's cancellation. She claimed her old network was in the process of scrubbing 'any program that doesn't align with Trumpism.' 'This isn't about bias - this is about obedience,' she wrote, blaming her old nemesis who she has fought with since the early 2000s. 'Because it's not enough to run the country into the ground[.] You have to control what people see[,] what they hear[,] what they think.' The View, she said, is 'a little too much woman - a little too much truth' for the conservative. O'Donnell moved to Ireland after Trump's re-election. Rosie O'Donnell made the remarks in a pointed post to TikTok Wednesday where she said ABC was 'reviewing the [show's] liberal bias' Days before, a Media Research Center study determined the show had welcomed 102 liberal-leaning guests in 2025 and not a single conservative. The results pertained only to guests who discussed politics Nearly two decades ago, she manned The View as it moderator, from 2006 to 2007. The brief tenure was marred by the first of several feuds with the future president, as well as frequent on-air arguments about George W. Bush's policies during the Iraq War. She briefly returned to in 2014 before leaving again, this time for good, the following year. O'Donnell - just before divorcing her second wife, Michelle Rounds, in 2015 - blamed 'personal issues' at the time. Then, in 2015, during his first campaign, Trump brought up O'Donnell again during the Republican primary debates. Fox host Megyn Kelly had been questioning him about his history of using derogatory terms to describe women -leading him to defend the practice, 'Only [when it came to] Rosie O'Donnell.' O'Donnell, 63, responded by tweeting, 'Try explaining that 2 ur kids'. The two have been at odds ever since. In another post to TikTok, O'Donnell accused both ABC and CBS of 'capitulating' to Trump through their respective lawsuit settlements - one of which involved on-air comments from George Stephanopoulos and the other a 60 Minutes interview. 'Apparently the truth is dangerous now. They say they want 'balance'. But what they mean is silence,' O'Donnell wrote in her Wednesday post. O'Donnel manned The View as it moderator from 2006 to 2007. The brief tenure was marred by the first of several feuds with the future president, as well as frequent on-air arguments about the Iraq War. She returned in 2014 before leaving again after just five months O'Donnell slammed Trump as a dictator this time around, renewing their years-long feud in the process 'Silence anything that doesn't praise the orange messiah and his golden escalator of lies. 'And listen, I've done TV[.] I've sat in boardroom where men in suits use words like "optics" and "midwestern moms" and "brand alignment." 'When what they mean is: Can You not say the things [you] say.' She went on to claim, 'We are in a dictatorship with good lighting,' before concluding the lengthy post by posing a question. 'When they cancel The View - who's gonna be left to say "This is insane"?' she asked. 'Because the most dangerous sound in the world is a woman who knows that she's talking about - and refuses to stop.' Last week, a source pushed back on the claim the program does not welcome conservative talking points. 'Without going into detail about the show's booking process, there is wide outreach across the aisle,' the insider said. Daily Mail contacted ABC for comment. A high street fashion giant has revealed it will close 33 stores - putting hundreds of jobs in danger. Major chain River Island announced the shutdowns as part of a part of a 'restructuring plan' aimed at staving off going into administration. The clothing retailer will also now pay reduced rents on 71 further outlets. The plans have now been approved by London's High Court, where Matthew Weaver KC, representing River Island, told how the firm had 'simply not been able to reverse' its ongoing financial struggles. The sweeping proposals have been put together by accountancy firm PwC, which is advising the retailer. An 800-page report compiled by PwC revealed how the fashion house facing a 10million 'funding need' in the second week of September, which financial experts warn will skyrocket to 50million before Christmas. The plan would allow River Island to walk away from a string of debts, including tens of millions of pounds owed to landlords from outstanding debts. Among those landlord affected by the restructuring deal are British Land, the Crown Estate and Mike Ashley's Frasers Groups - while councils nationwide would also be on the list. High street fashion chain River Island is planning to shut 33 stores, with 71 more at risk, putting thousands of jobs on the line. Pictured: file image River Island had reportedly faced collapse in weeks without a rescue deal being approved Bosses at the company have blamed the proposed closures on a 'migration of shoppers from the High Street to online' and higher costs to run stores. River Island, which employs around 5,500 people, was founded in 1948 under the Lewis and Chelsea Girl brand before rebranding in the 1980s. It is now headed up by CEO Ben Lewis, the nephew of its founder, who took over his second stint as the head of the family firm in February - having previously held the position for almost a decade before stepping down in 2019. Mr Lewis today welcomed the High Court's approval for a deal that had been agreed last Friday by five of the company's 10 classes of creditors. He told of being 'pleased that River Island's restructuring plan has been approved by the High Court'. He added: 'We have a clear transformation strategy to ensure the long-term viability of the business, and this decision gives us a strong platform to deliver this. 'Recent improvements in our fashion offer and shopping experience are starting to show results, and the restructuring plan will enable us to align our store estate to our customers needs. 'We are grateful to our suppliers, landlords and other stakeholders for their constructive engagement and shared confidence in River Island's future.' River Island, which employs about 5,500 people, was founded in 1948 under the Lewis and Chelsea Girl brand before rebranding in the 1980s - seen is a branch in London's Oxford Street River Island chief executive Ben Lewis (pictured) has welcomed today's ruling by the High Court in London The firm's lawyer Mr Weaver had told the High Court: 'In essence, the transformation plan seeks to address the root causes of the difficulties facing the group and to reposition River Island for long-term success. 'It involves a combination of operational improvements, cost rationalisation and strategic investment, all of which are critical to restoring profitability, improving cash flow, and safeguarding jobs.' The restructuring plan has now been given the green light by Sir Alastair Norris, with a full written judgment expected at a later date. Mr Lewis had previously said: 'River Island is a much-loved retailer, with a decades-long history on the British High Street. 'However, the well-documented migration of shoppers from the high street to online has left the business with a large portfolio of stores that is no longer aligned to our customers' needs. 'The sharp rise in the cost of doing business over the last few years has only added to the financial burden. 'We have a clear strategy to transform the business to ensure its long-term viability. 'Recent improvements in our fashion offer and in-store shopping experience are already showing very positive results, but it is only with a restructuring plan that we will be able to see this strategy through and secure River Island's future as a profitable retail business. 'We regret any job losses as a result of store closures, and we will try to keep these to a minimum.' The high street giant is among several fashion chains hit hard by weaker consumer spending and fierce competition from cheaper online rivals like Shein. In its latest accounts, River Island reported a 33.2million loss for 2023, with sales down 19 per cent. In January, the firm introduced a redundancy programme at its London head office in a bid to save money in the context of increasingly pressured finances. The job cuts affected a range of employees across buying, merchandising and HR, but the total number of losses was not confirmed by the retailer. A River Island spokesman told the Daily Mail last month: 'River Island circulated its proposals for a Restructuring Plan to creditors on June 20. 'In combination with the companys ongoing transformation strategy, the plan is a proactive measure to place the company on a firm footing. 'We have been having positive conversations with key stakeholders and are confident that we will achieve approval of the Plan in the next few weeks.' This is a breaking news story. More to follow... The 33 River Island stores facing closure have been revealed as the struggling high street fashion chain won approval for cuts putting hundreds of jobs at risk. Major retailer River Island announced the shutdowns as part of a 'restructuring plan' aimed at staving off going into administration. The 33 outlets now facing closure from next January onwards range from across the UK, including London as well as in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, while the clothing retailer will also now pay reduced rents on 71 further shops. The plans have now been approved by London's High Court, where Matthew Weaver KC, representing River Island, told how the firm had 'simply not been able to reverse' its ongoing financial struggles. The sweeping proposals have been put together by accountancy firm PwC, which is advising the retailer - and the stores set to go next year are revealed below. An 800-page report compiled by PwC revealed how the fashion house facing a 10million 'funding need' in the second week of September, which financial experts warn will skyrocket to 50million before Christmas. The plan would allow River Island to walk away from a string of debts, including tens of millions of pounds owed to landlords from outstanding debts. Among those landlords affected by the restructuring deal are British Land, the Crown Estate and Mike Ashley's Frasers Groups - while councils nationwide would also be on the list. Major chain River Island announced 33 store shutdowns as part of a part of a 'restructuring plan' aimed at staving off going into administration High street fashion chain River Island is planning to shut 33 stores, with 71 more at risk, putting thousands of jobs on the line. Pictured: file image Bosses at the company have blamed the proposed closures on a 'migration of shoppers from the High Street to online' and higher costs to run stores. River Island, which employs around 5,500 people, was founded in 1948 under the Lewis and Chelsea Girl brand before rebranding in the 1980s. It is now headed up by CEO Ben Lewis, the nephew of its founder, who took over his second stint as the head of the family firm in February - having previously held the position for almost a decade before stepping down in 2019. Mr Lewis today welcomed the High Court's approval for a deal that had been agreed last Friday by five of the company's 10 classes of creditors. He told of being 'pleased that River Island's restructuring plan has been approved by the High Court'. He added: 'We have a clear transformation strategy to ensure the long-term viability of the business, and this decision gives us a strong platform to deliver this. 'Recent improvements in our fashion offer and shopping experience are starting to show results, and the restructuring plan will enable us to align our store estate to our customers needs. 'We are grateful to our suppliers, landlords and other stakeholders for their constructive engagement and shared confidence in River Island's future.' River Island had reportedly faced collapse in weeks without a rescue deal being approved River Island, which employs about 5,500 people, was founded in 1948 under the Lewis and Chelsea Girl brand before rebranding in the 1980s - seen is a branch in Basildon, Essex THE 33 RIVER ISLAND STORES NOW FACING CLOSURE Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire Bangor Bloomfield, Northern Ireland Barnstaple, Devon Beckton, east London Brighton Burton-Upon-Trent Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire Didcot, Oxfordshire Edinburgh Princes Street Falkirk Gloucester Great Yarmouth, Norfolk Grimsby Hanley, Staffordshire Hartlepool, County Durham Hereford Kilmarnock Kirkcaldy, Fife Leeds Birstall Park Lisburn, Northern Ireland Northwich, Cheshire Norwich Oxford Perth, central Scotland Poole, Dorset Rochdale, Greater Manchester St Helens, Merseyside Stockton On Tees, County Durham Surrey Quays, south London Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands Taunton, Somerset Workington, Cumbria Wrexham The firm's lawyer Mr Weaver had told the High Court: 'In essence, the transformation plan seeks to address the root causes of the difficulties facing the group and to reposition River Island for long-term success. 'It involves a combination of operational improvements, cost rationalisation and strategic investment, all of which are critical to restoring profitability, improving cash flow, and safeguarding jobs.' The restructuring plan has now been given the green light by Sir Alastair Norris, with a full written judgment expected at a later date. Mr Lewis had previously said: 'River Island is a much-loved retailer, with a decades-long history on the British High Street. 'However, the well-documented migration of shoppers from the high street to online has left the business with a large portfolio of stores that is no longer aligned to our customers' needs. 'The sharp rise in the cost of doing business over the last few years has only added to the financial burden. 'We have a clear strategy to transform the business to ensure its long-term viability. 'Recent improvements in our fashion offer and in-store shopping experience are already showing very positive results, but it is only with a restructuring plan that we will be able to see this strategy through and secure River Island's future as a profitable retail business. 'We regret any job losses as a result of store closures, and we will try to keep these to a minimum.' The high street giant is among several fashion chains hit hard by weaker consumer spending and fierce competition from cheaper online rivals like Shein. In its latest accounts, River Island reported a 33.2million loss for 2023, with sales down 19 per cent. In January, the firm introduced a redundancy programme at its London head office in a bid to save money in the context of increasingly pressured finances. The job cuts affected a range of employees across buying, merchandising and HR, but the total number of losses was not confirmed by the retailer. A River Island spokesman told the Daily Mail last month: 'River Island circulated its proposals for a Restructuring Plan to creditors on June 20. 'In combination with the companys ongoing transformation strategy, the plan is a proactive measure to place the company on a firm footing. 'We have been having positive conversations with key stakeholders and are confident that we will achieve approval of the Plan in the next few weeks.' You won't have far to look if you're hoping to enjoy a lazy summer staycation but want to add some automotive sparkle. There is no shortage of car events this month and next. Here's my pick of what's on... Get your glad rags on, bag a ticket, and head back in time for this year's Goodwood Revival (goodwood.com), held in vintage dress to recreate the glory days of the historic racing circuit between 1948 and 1966. Among those attending this year from September 12 to 14 are burlesque star Dita Von Teese, discussing her collection of classic American cars. The Revival also celebrates the extraordinary life and career of Jim Clark, the Scottish farmer widely regarded as the most naturally gifted Formula One racing driver of all time and a hero of mine. This year marks the 60th anniversary of Clark's greatest season before his tragic death three years later in 1968 at Germany's Hockenheim race circuit. Good little runner: Young racers fighting for pole position at Goodwood Revival And there's no need to buy new costumes thrift, make-do and mend are the order of the day at what the host, the Duke of Richmond, says is 'proudly, the world's biggest and most glamorous second-hand event'. The British Motor Show (thebritishmotorshow.live) runs from August 15 to 17 at Farnborough International overlooking the airport from which stars and the super-rich fly in private jets. But this show is one for families and petrolheads alike, with more than 1,500 cars from classics to supercars and F1 racers, stunt shows and Strictly Car Dancing and Back to the 80s displays. This year's annual CarFest (carfest.org) fundraiser for children's charities kicks off at former F1 racer Jody Scheckter's Laverstoke Park Farm in Hampshire from August 22 to 24. It combines automotive fun with food, music with the Boomtown Rats and Travis and comedians Ben Miller and Dom Joly. One of the stars of the National Motor Museum collection at Beaulieu (nationalmotormuseum.org.uk), featuring 280 vehicles, is Sir Malcolm Campbell's Sunbeam 350hp Blue Bird which last month was taken back to Pendine Sands in Wales to commemorate the 100th anniversary of his 150.76mph world land speed record. Naturally gifted: The Revival also celebrates the extraordinary life and career of Jim Clark (right) Among the poshest events are the Salon Prive at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, marking its 20th anniversary from August 27 to 31 (salonpriveconcours.com), and the Concours of Elegance at Hampton Court Palace (concoursofelegance.co.uk), with 60 of the world's rarest cars, from September 5 to 7. Finally, if you're on the M40 near Gaydon in Warwickshire, the British Motor Museum (british motormuseum.co.uk) at junction 12 is worth a visit. Vehicles to receive taxpayer-funded subsidies named The first vehicles to receive taxpayer-funded subsidies as part of the Governments new 650 million electric car grant have been named and theyre all from French carmaker Citroen. French flair: The first vehicles to receive taxpayer-funded subsidies as part of the Governments new 650 million electric car grant have been named and theyre all from Citroen Those benefiting from a 1,500 discount for models under 37,000 are: the e-C3 at 20,595, e-C3 Aircross at 21,595; e-C4 (pictured) at 26,150; e-C4 X from 27,215; e-C5 Aircross from 32,565 and the e-Berlingo (M versions only) from 29,740. However, this is the lower Level 2 grant based on how green a car is. Its not clear why they didnt qualify for the 3,750 grant and neither Citroen nor the Department for Transport was saying. Those of us choosing to holiday in Britain this year will be extremely cautious about taking a dip in the nearest beach, river or lake. Many of our heavily indebted water firms neglect their responsibility for sewage-free wild swimming and nature. Fines for spills are regarded by financiers, with scant regard for consumers, as another cost of doing business. Nowhere is this more pronounced than at Thames Water, weighed down by 16.8billion of debt, where commercial sharpshooters are asking regulator Ofwat for an exemption from fines as a price for supporting an enterprise ruined by ruthless financial engineering. Despite the mess, befuddled ministers and regulators, with the apparent support of Thames chairman Adrian Montague, believe there is a deal to be done. The principal holders of the Thames debt Elliott, Apollo, Silver Lake and Pimco, advised by investment bankers Jefferies are remorseless. Drowning: Commercial sharpshooters at Thames Water are asking Ofwat for an exemption from fines as a price for supporting an enterprise ruined by ruthless financial engineering They have minimal interest in Thames' 16million trapped customers but are determined to make a killing on the company's debt. The recent, thorough report on the failing water industry by former Bank of England deputy governor John Cunliffe, with its 88 recommendations, plots a way forward. It seeks to end the regulatory fragmentation which has allowed owners and financiers to play havoc with the rules. What it failed to do is provide a roadmap for Government decision-makers as they struggle with Thames. The right thing for Labour is to put Thames into a special administration regime (SAR). It could then use legal powers to deploy an independent administrator to deliver a haircut to the debt and mitigate the high interest payments. The way would then be clear for genuine, long-term infrastructure investors to come in and begin the mammoth task of restoring Thames' credibility. There is no shortage of candidates. We are not talking about the 'vampire kangaroo' Macquarie, which despite its poor stewardship of Thames is being allowed to make a similar hash of Southern Water. The original great hope for saving Thames was a rescue by private equity barons at KKR through an infrastructure fund. It retreated at the last moment, after finishing due diligence, when the group's investment committee baulked at the potential reputational risk. If the Government decided to put the enterprise into special administration, several bidders likely would appear. The owners of Northumbria Water, part of London-listed CKI, controlled by Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-Shing, would be keen on doing a deal and be in for the long term. There would be no demand for regulatory exemptions. CKI is already a big investor in Britain with interests in power and gas networks, and Britain's biggest container port at Felixstowe in Suffolk. Ofwat and regulators are thought to be broadly in favour of taking the SAR route. The blockages are at a higher level. A Government which is already taking control of the railways and rescuing British Steel doesn't want to be seen as prioritising public ownership and control, even if only temporarily, over market solutions. The ultimate opponents are the Treasury. It is understood to be fearful of taking new obligations on to the books. This might happen should the SAR regime fail to produce a buyer and a quick sale. There is a mistaken belief that blocking debt ghouls, such as Elliott, would be seen as unfriendly to overseas investment in Britain. It couldn't be more wrong. This weekend will be one of the busiest periods of the summer at airports as hundreds of thousands of people depart for their annual break. Queuing for a coffee or to board the plane, some travellers will be focused solely on their plans for fun in the sun. But holidaymakers whose other passion is investing will also be looking for indications of the health of the stock market-quoted British and Irish airlines. They are: IAG (owner of British Airways and Iberia); easyJet; Jet2; Ryanair; and Wizz Air. Do the crowds mean that shares in these companies are poised to be up, up and away? The Jet2 jingle 'Nothing Beats a Jet2 Holiday' has turned into a massive social media hit in a response said to reflect the nation's longing for a getaway amid economic gloom. Taking off: Since the start of the year, IAG shares have soared by 23 per cent, although they remain 32 per cent below their level a decade ago And there is evidence the British are prioritising holidays, too. Earlier this month Luis Gallego, chief executive of IAG, whose empire also includes Aer Lingus and Vueling, said: 'We continue to benefit from the trend of a structural shift in consumer spending towards travel.' In the depths of the pandemic in October 2020, IAG shares were 91p. Yesterday, they were 373.7p. Gallego's confidence was underlined by IAG's first-half profits which leapt by 44 per cent to 1.9billion (1.65billion). Total revenues rose by 8 per cent to 15.9billion (13.8billion). There has been a pick-up in premium transatlantic trips, which is boosting British Airways' Rask (revenue per available seat kilometre), a key metric. Gallego envisages 'good earnings growth, margin progression and strong returns to shareholders this year'. But he also highlighted 'the ongoing uncertainty that may result from the geopolitical and macroeconomic backdrop'. This confident tone may come as a surprise, given the array of external challenges that beset airlines. Richard Hunter, of Interactive Investor, cites a few: 'Virus outbreaks; industrial action; volcanic dust clouds; higher fuel costs; and technical outages.' But people's attachment to vacations may serve as a signal to rethink your attitude to the sector. If you want to jump on board, these are the airlines that the experts think are worth backing. IAG Since the start of the year, IAG shares have soared by 23 per cent, although they remain 32 per cent below their level a decade ago. Interactive Investor's Hunter is cheered by the reintroduction of a dividend and the reduction in debts. During the pandemic, the group borrowed heavily to ensure its survival. However, despite IAG largely leaving this era behind, some effects linger. Virtual meetings, the norm during lockdowns, have continued, meaning a decline in business travel. Analysts expect IAG's recovery to gather pace. Eight of the 16 analysts who follow the stock rate IAG a 'buy' while another seven consider the shares worth holding. The average target price is 488p. EasyJet EasyJet shares are down by 4 per cent this year to 507.6p, which seems largely due to the third-quarter results unveiled last month. Revenues grew by 9.7 per cent to 2.9billion and profits rose by 21 per cent to 286million. EasyJet's holiday division is expanding, too, which should be good news for its Rask. Yet investors were more preoccupied with other factors, such as the bill for an air traffic controller strike in France, a leap in fuel costs and a move to later booking. As a result, 11 of 19 analysts rate the shares a 'hold; for the rest the shares are a 'buy'. If you are prepared for some ups and downs, Derren Nathan of Hargreaves Lansdown argues that easyJet's potential for growth is not reflected in its current valuation. Jet2 Hitting the right note: Jet2's advertisement features Jess Glynne's hit Hold My Hand The direction of the share price of this Leeds-based airline has not followed the rave reception for its advertisement which features Jess Glynne's hit Hold My Hand. Hollywood star Jeff Goldblum even made his own version of the advert, calling it Jeff2 Holiday. Since January, Jet2 shares have edged up by just 4 per cent to 1632p, although profits for the year to March rose by 11 per cent to 578m. Chief executive Steve Heapy said last month that demand is up among all demographics and it is endeavouring to cater for a younger clientele with more affordable offers. Analysts seem to agree that this strategy will win over customers who are organising an overseas jaunt at the last moment. The majority rate the shares in the 3.4billion AIM-listed company a 'buy', with an average target price of 2164p. Maybe Goldblum will add some to his portfolio? Ryanair This week Ryanair, Europe's largest airline, announced that its passenger numbers reached a record 20.7million in July, although the Dublin-based carrier was forced to cancel more than 600 flights due to the air traffic control strikes in France. This followed the news last month that its profits for the first quarter more than doubled to 820million (711million), while revenues leapt by 20 per cent to 4.3billion (3.7billion). The optimistic tone of these announcements is at odds with the usual litany of complaints over the late delivery of planes from Boeing and much else from the rambunctious Ryanair boss Michael O'Leary. But he has reasons to be cheerful, having qualified for a 100million (86.7million) bonus thanks to the much-improved share price. It has soared by 74 per cent over the past year to 26 (22.54). Analysts believe that O'Leary will deliver for investors as well as himself. They rate the shares a 'buy', with one analyst targeting a price of 30 (26). Wizz Air The Eastern Europe-focused budget carrier is based in Budapest but listed in London. At 1418p, Wizz Air shares are 5 per cent lower than at the start of this year, having plunged in June when the company revealed a 40 per cent drop in profits. This was mostly caused by the grounding of about a fifth of its Airbus planes due to persistent problems with the Pratt & Whitney engines. Last month, chief executive Jozsef Varadi said that the company would be scaling back its growth plans. He is abandoning expansion in the Middle East because the region's dry air exacerbates the engine issues. Unsurprisingly, most analysts consider Wizz to be a hold, although Deutsche begs to differ, having upgraded the shares to a 'buy' in the past fortnight. The international set Tariff fears are weighing on US carriers. These companies are also dealing with an oversupply of flights, as customers become more price-sensitive. American Airlines shares are 33 per cent lower than at the start of the year, for example. But Delta and United are faring better thanks to the clamour for premium travel. United is investing in its Polaris premium service, planning to open more lounges for top-tier travellers. Analysts rate United shares, which currently stand at $89.87 (66.85), a 'buy'. America's ultra-wealthy are increasingly underlining their status by using more private jets. But some also favour a carrier that provides something similar to the private jet experience in its first class cabin. Shares in Air France-KLM, which is listed in Amsterdam and Paris, have soared by 64 per cent this year thanks to the clever and lavish redesign of its La Premiere first class cabin with its private jet feel. A one-way ticket from New York to Paris costs between $10,000-$20,000 (7,440 to 14,880). This is the luxe way to embark on that Emily In Paris escapade. Other airlines will doubtless be competing more for the holiday and business travel budgets of those people with very deep pockets. Premium seems like the way to go. Oil, gold and Bitcoin rarely appear in the same sentence. Yet this week, Londons small-cap companies have made them unlikely bedfellows. Union Jack Oil is eyeing early monetisation at its West Newton gas field by channelling natural gas into Bitcoin mining, in partnership with Texas-based 360 Energy. A feasibility study is complete, and a formal deal is on the cards, with the aim of turning surplus gas into power for crypto data centres. The shares ended flat on the week. Elsewhere, ECR Minerals, the London-listed gold explorer, is preparing for production in Australia by adopting a digital asset treasury strategy. The company can now allocate up to half its surplus cash and gold production proceeds to Bitcoin, seeing it as both a hedge and a store of value. Investors welcomed the pivot, with the stock rising 17 per cent. Digital assets are also reshaping the way capital is raised. A feasibility study is complete, and a formal deal is on the cards, with the aim of turning surplus gas into power for crypto data centres. Satsuma Technology has secured a record 163.6million in a convertible loan note, settling much of the raise in Bitcoin, an unprecedented step for a London-listed firm. Meanwhile, The Smarter Web Companys Bitcoin-denominated convertible bond attracted $21million in backing, blending traditional funding with cryptocurrency exposure. Together, these moves show how small-caps are using Bitcoin as both a financial tool and a funding source, giving old sectors a distinctly new twist. Now to the wider small-cap market. After a couple of weeks in the doldrums, AIM rediscovered its mojo, posting a 0.6 per cent gain to 761.34, marginally outperforming the FTSE 100. The stand-out performer, up 133 per cent on Friday, was Trellus Health, which surged on no news. How long this remains the case is unclear. The last update, over a month ago, focused on efforts to reduce cash burn and extend its runway to November. The group, which has a platform to help manage chronic conditions such as inflammatory bowel disease, is being trialled by Johnson & Johnson. Perhaps we are soon to hear an update on this collaboration. SIMEC Atlantis Energy ended the week 76 per cent higher. The catalyst was the financial close of its AW1 battery storage project at Uskmouth. This is a key step in advancing the UKs low-carbon energy ambitions, with the facility expected to deliver annual revenues of around 13million and average earnings of 9million over its first five years. Up 70 per cent, Europa Oil & Gas investors were cheered by news it has struck an outline deal with a major energy company to farm out an interest in the EG-08 offshore block in Equatorial Guinea. Chief executive Will Holland said he was confident of inking a definitive deal, which would pave the way for drilling of its primary prospect, Barracuda, thought to host significant gas accumulations. Now to the weeks casualties. Leading the pack was restaurateur Tasty, mentioned in last weeks columillion. It was down 27 per cent, but for the right reasons, if that makes sense. Having brought on David Page, the driving force behind Pizza Express, the task was then to recapitalise the business. It has raised 9.6million, which will be used to upgrade the existing portfolio, including the Wildwood chain, and implement new technology. The group is also on the hunt for deals. ImmuPharma results on Wednesday appeared innocuous, but were used by some backers as a cue to lock in profits. Such is the illiquidity of the market at the growth company level, this resulted in a barely justifiable 19 per cent fall in the stock. Still, if you had invested at the start of the year, you would be sitting on a 30 per cent gain. The company told investors it is deepening talks with potential partners for its autoimmune platform, which bodes well for the future. Finally, some of the froth came off Premier African Metals as the miner said it had begun the second phase of test runs at its Zulu lithium and tantalum plant. The company said changes have been implemented and commissioning issues are being addressed, with positive results reported so far. A decision is expected within seven days on whether to proceed with purchasing a secondary spodumene float section. Off 16 per cent this week, PAM shares have enjoyed a decent run over the last six months, adding 22 per cent to the companys value. For all the UK's breaking mid and small-cap news go to www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk Drugmaker GSK will be paid up to 372million after settling a patent row over Covid vaccines in the US. The London-listed pharmaceuticals giant previously known as Glaxosmithkline and German partner CureVac reached an agreement with rivals BioNTech and Pfizer. The tussle had centred on the development of mRNA jab technology, which was at the forefront of the fight against Covid-19. The settlement of the long-running dispute comes two months after BioNTech agreed to buy its domestic peer CureVac in a 930million deal. In 2022, CureVac filed a patent lawsuit against BioNTech over its use of mRNA technology, seeking compensation for alleged infringement of its intellectual property rights. GSK's share of the settlement payment is 275million and it will get 1 per cent of the royalties from the vaccine sales in the US from the beginning of 2025. In the money: GSK is led by chief executive Emma Walmsley (pictured) If BioNTech's takeover of CureVac goes ahead, GSK, led by chief executive Emma Walmsley, will also be paid a further 97million and royalties will be extended to non-US sales. Drugmakers launched several lawsuits over alleged patent infringement in relation to their Covid vaccines. CureVac said that, under the terms of the settlement, it would grant BioNTech and Pfizer a licence to make, use, and sell mRNA-based Covid and flu jabs. GSK remains in dispute with Pfizer and BioNTech in the US and Europe over alleged infringement of patents. Shares in GSK shares rose 0.9 per cent, or 12.5p, to 1395.5p. Danni Hewson, analyst at AJ Bell, said: 'The dispute gives GSK a modest, though still welcome, cash injection and the prospect of sales royalties.' Derren Nathan, at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: 'Today's rise hasn't quite clawed back all losses seen in the stock over the last month as concerns about tariffs and US vaccine policy continue to circle. 'But with full-year guidance nudged up to the top end of guidance in the latest earnings release, GSK looks to be in good health.' The jury that convicted Erin Patterson of murder may not have been offered a motive at trial, but the killer's online mates have their theories. Daily Mail can now reveal what those closest to the 50-year-old thought made her murder her in-laws with a poisonous beef Wellington lunch. Patterson had pleaded not guilty to murdering her estranged husband Simon's parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail's sister, Heather Wilkinson. They died after consuming death cap mushrooms served in the pastry dish during lunch at her Leongatha home on July 29, 2023. Heather's husband, Pastor Ian Wilkinson, was the only one to survive and gave evidence at Patterson's trial. Patterson was found guilty of three counts of murder and one of attempted murder on July 7. In September 2023, just weeks after police charged Patterson with murder, her online friends flung open the cupboard to reveal her skeletons. The information was so damning it could not be revealed at the time due to Victoria's sub judice laws, which exist to allow an accused a fair trial. A young Erin Patterson after the birth of one of her two children. An online friend described her as 'meticulous and very smart' Patterson was also described by her online friend as 'super super private' Three of Patterson's online friends were called to give evidence during her month-long trial at the Supreme Court of Victoria in the Latrobe Valley law courts, in the state's east. The women knew Patterson through a true-crime Facebook group that sprang up after a 2019 documentary on convicted baby killer Keli Lane. 'I'm an ex-friend of EP. Ask me anything,' a woman posted to a group centred around Patterson shortly after her arrest. 'I haven't spoken to EP in a few years. I don't know much about her current life thus. She has a new posse who are mean girls. I'm wondering why they aren't defending her in the media. 'The media reports of her being niave (sic) and comments about her being stupid are not true. She's meticulous and very smart. 'I think she probably didn't anticipate the scrutiny she would face over this ill thought out "accident".' The post opened the floodgates to a barrage of questions from members keen for information on the then alleged killer. The friend described Patterson as having Autism Spectrum Disorder and being at 'genius level'. Patterson had been active on chat groups leading up to the deadly lunch 'Her whole family are extremely smart people. Seeing her hysteria in the media was very shocking. That is not the EP I knew,' she wrote. 'From what I know about (Autism Spectrum Disorder) etc, usually the people are overly honest to a point of fault.' The friend said Patterson never spoke about her in-laws to her online friends. 'She was super super super *emphasis on super private. I know she had above what I would consider normal resentment for Simon, though,' she wrote. 'He didn't pull out of the marriage. But yes very lucky to not have been at that lunch. She left him after she got the inheritance.' The friend then offered a chilling 'theory' about why her old friend did what she did. 'In Australia, if you have minors you can't get a property settlement without a custody agreement,' she wrote. 'It's in my opinion only, that EP wanted to exit swiftly but the religious family of SP might have been holding this process up by not agreeing to a custody agreement, which meant that divorce was delayed, which might have meant in Australian law that the newly acquired asset pool was then considered to be something to split 50/50. Erin Patterson described Simon (above) as being 'unclean' and expressed concern about her children staying at his filthy home 'That or, the kids might have wanted to live with Dad and grandma and grandpa ... Some of our group members work in the criminal justice field and believe if she's done this on purpose it wasn't her first rodeo. Most people who poison "practice".' Another friend claimed Patterson may have had something to do with the death of her own mother. 'I knew EP when her mother died. The reported reasons for her death are not what she told us was the reason for the death,' she wrote. 'I don't remember all of the details, but I do recall at the time there was a lot of bad blood after the mother's death. From what we recall, it was over the will and inheritance. EP did everything to sell the mother's estate. The sister wasn't present. 'I don't know about the father, but I know he was a very lovely, warm man. Mother died from a coma due to alcoholism from what we were told by EP. The media is reporting it was cancer. Maybe liver cancer. I don't know.' One friend claimed Patterson had been 'true crime obsessed'. 'True crime and Lego are her #1 obsessions,' she wrote. The court heard Patterson eventually splintered from the group into a smaller one. The jury was given no motive for why Patterson wanted her in-laws dead 'The group split and she got a bit strange and stalky,' her former friend told the chat group. 'A core group of us disconnected with her due to this. 'The other half of the group started a new group with her, they're her best friends - they sent the "lone" flower box to her in support but are too gutless to defend her in the media.' Patterson's cooking also came under scrutiny, with one friend describing her culinary skills as mediocre. 'She shared a few cooking photos with us in the group. Pad Thai. Etc. Honestly (not being mean) but it never looked super appetising. If I was to guess, I would say she was a mediocre cook,' a friend wrote. 'Beef Wellington is a fancy dish in Australia and not something most average cooks would attempt without some serious culinary skills or for a super special occasion.' Patterson's friend said on reflection, she ought to have known something was not quite right with her online friend. 'We thought we knew her deeply but we are now discovering that a lot of her life was very secretive. Looking back on group chats and messages there's a bunch of red flags,' she wrote. Don and Gail Patterson died a horrible death after eating death cap mushrooms dished up by Patterson 'I would never have expected Erin to be involved in this, but, when I look back she was always odd, cold and sometimes emotionally hysterical which seemed disproportionate to the event. She's a hard person to get to know and to properly analyse. 'Before this came out I would have said I felt I knew her well. Now I'm very confused and so are her other ex friends.' She described Patterson as suffering from a 'victim mentality'. 'When I say hysterical, there were a few minor issues that came up in the group and I found her response to be extreme considering the minutiae of the matter. Very emotional. "I'm devastated" type discourse,' she wrote. 'I can see her doing this for control. Money and custody and to get rid of roadblocks.' Patterson had at times been brutally open in her communications with her online friends. In one post, she lashed out at her local community while putting together the local newsletter. Patterson branded contributors to Korumburra newsletter The Burra Flyer 'illiterate motherf***ers' during a rant to an old friend. Ian Wilkinson (right) was the only person to survive the lunch. His wife Heather (left) died Patterson and her then husband had put together the 48-page booklet of advertorials and promotions of the regional Victorian community for years after taking it over from Simon's parents - and messages show she did not think highly of some of the contributors. In another message, Patterson took aim at Simon, attacking the engineer for failing to do enough housework. The friend disputed reports Patterson had been keen to get back together with her deeply religious husband, claiming she had initiated the split. 'She's an atheist as far as I know... she was very unhappy in her marriage and felt like a single parent. At the time I thought it was normal "my husband isn't pulling his weight" type commentary,' the friend stated. 'We didn't hear much about Simon other than he was never at home. Never helping her. She was very closed about this ... she left him. She didn't want to get back with him.' During Patterson's trial, stay-at-home mum Daniela Barkley told the court Patterson was 'excited' about buying the dehydrator in the weeks before the fateful lunch. In one exchange shown to the jury, Patterson revealed she had been hiding mushrooms in the kids' food. 'I've been hiding powdered mushrooms in everything,' she wrote. Patterson lashed out on social media about members of her local community Simon Patterson also took to social media to discuss his illness in 2022 'Mixed it into chocolate brownies yesterday. The kids had no idea.' The jury saw photos of the dehydrator, and mushrooms dehydrated in it, which were sent by Patterson to the group. About two weeks before the lunch, Ms Barkley claimed Patterson asked the chat group for tips on how to make a beef Wellington. Ms Barkley - a vegetarian - suggested she bake a 'tofu Wellington'. The court heard each member of the five-person chat group provided Patterson with advice on how to make the pastry dish. Days later, Patterson complained to the group about the cost of beef fillet and asked about alternatives. The court heard Patterson would also complain about her husband to her online mates - none of whom ever met her in person. Ms Barkley said Patterson described Simon as being 'unclean' and expressed concern about her children staying at his filthy home. Simon Patterson and his spin doctor Jessica O'Donnell enter court during the trial 'She wasn't happy. She didn't want the kids to stay overnight because she wasn't happy with how he lived,' she said. The court heard she later cleaned Mr Patterson's home herself. Ms Barkley said Patterson had expressed other problems with her estranged husband. 'Just that he wasn't a very nice person,' she told the court. The jury heard Patterson told the group she was an atheist just weeks before the lunch and that she was annoyed at how religious Mr Patterson was. 'He put the church before her and his family,' she said. Another chat group member, Christine Hunt, told the court Patterson accused her husband of being 'controlling'. 'He was very controlling. She used the word coercive at times,' she said. 'Coercive control was the sense we were given.' Patterson's home and the location of the deadly lunch Patterson talks to the media days after the lunch Other messages shown to the jury saw Patterson describe her in-laws as a 'lost cause' and exclaimed 'f*** them'. 'Simon's dad contacted me this morning to say that he and Gail had tried to talk to Simon about the matters I raised and to get 'his side' but he refused to talk about it other than to signal he disagreed with what I said,' she told her online chums. 'Beyond that he won't talk about it. So Don said they can't adjudicate if they don't know both sides and Simon won't give his side. So he said all he can ask is that Simon and I get together to pray for the children. 'This family I swear to f***ing God.' Patterson claimed she told her in-laws she wanted them to be accountable for the decisions their son made concerning their grandchildren. 'I would hope they care about their grandchildren enough to care about what Simon is doing,' she wrote. 'Don said they tried to talk to him, but he refused to talk about it, so they're staying out of it, but want us to pray together. 'I'm sick of this s***. I want nothing to do with them. I thought his parents would want him to do the right thing, but it seems their concern about not wanting to feel uncomfortable, and not wanting to get involved in their son's personal matters, are overriding that. So f*** them.' The year was 2020 and Erin Patterson clicked on a Facebook page to check for information on poisons after her cat ate what she thought might be a deadly mushroom. The only problem was - Patterson never owned a cat. In evidence the jury never saw, the court heard Patterson went to a page titled 'Poisons help: emergency identification for mushrooms and plants'. 'My cat chewed on this mushroom just now. He is having a vomit. Was in grassland near trees, I'm in Victoria Australia,' she wrote. Prosecutor Jane Warren claimed Patterson made the post to obtain information on how to poison people. 'Back in 2020, her interest in mushrooms had nothing to do with eating or anything of that nature,' she said. 'Her interest in mushrooms was in the poisonous properties of mushrooms and, in our submission, this post supports that inference and it rebuts any inference that she had an interest in foraging or picking mushrooms for the purposes of eating mushrooms.' The evidence was struck out as part of Justice Christopher Beale's initial pre-trial rulings but was reintroduced by Patterson's defence at the end of the trial. The prosecution claimed that Erin Patterson (above) pretended she had a cat that had 'chewed on a mushroom and was having a vomit ' to obtain information on how to poison people The prosecution argued that Patterson was only interested in mushrooms for their poisonous properties Patterson's barristers had wanted to convince the jury she had long held an interest in foraging - thus giving weight to her claims the death cap mushrooms in her beef Wellington had been picked by mistake. Colin Mandy, SC, wanted to tell the jury his client had not simply foraged mushrooms for the deadly lunch that one time. Mr Mandy believed a bundle of photos taken in April 2020 suggested Patterson had been foraging mushrooms, which she cooked and ate, for years. The move was strongly opposed by the prosecution. 'It's speculative to say ... that she was doing it for the purpose of eating them,' Ms Warren told Justice Beale. 'Your Honour, I made the point there's no evidence of preparation for cooking meals, anything like that. Some of the photographs show the mushrooms on newspaper, which depending on how people prepare their food, one might think that's contrary to how you would treat food on newspaper. 'I know fish and chips used to, but it's been a long time since that happened.' Ms Warren argued if the supposed foraging images went before the jury, she should be able to include the 'cat post' image, which had been captured around the same time. The images had been located on one of Patterson's many SD memory cards police found in her home. Homicide Squad Senior Constable Stephen Eppingstall worked hard to create an airtight brief of evidence but suffered from setbacks beyond his control Prosecutor Jane Warren (right) did much of the heavy lifting throughout the epic trial 'So they're on the same device that the photographs that - the impugned photographs that Mr Mandy wants to adduce,' Ms Warren said. 'According to the records, they're taken about two weeks after those other photographs. These photographs then - if your Honour looks to the cat post, which is the single page that I have provided, these appear to be the same photographs that were put on to this Facebook post.' Ms Warren told the court Patterson had never owned a cat in her entire life. 'What I'm saying is that if my learned friends want to put in these photographs of mushrooms that were picked in April, then in re-examination, we would be seeking to put in these additional photographs from the same device, and the evidence of the Facebook posts that was made at the same time as those photographs which, in our submission, demonstrates that her interest in mushrooms, at least inferentially, centred around the poisonous properties of mushrooms, not around whether or not she could eat them,' she said. Justice Beale, who had already ruled out 'tendency evidence' from the trial, expressed serious concerns about allowing the jury to be shown evidence suggesting Patterson had a habit of picking mushrooms. 'It seems to me he's suggesting that she had a tendency to pick and eat mushrooms,' he said. Patterson had repeatedly lied to both police and medical professionals about foraging for mushrooms. Erin Patterson's defence team included Colin Mandy, SC (right) and Sophie Stafford (left) 'The witnesses, the medical witnesses in particular ... they weren't asking her generally, "Are you a forager?" They asked her, "Did you forage for these mushrooms", the mushrooms that went into the beef Wellington and she said, "No",' Ms Warren said. 'So that's suggesting that the lie is based on whether or not she'd ever foraged, in my submission. 'There's two layers to it. There is that lie in the record of interview about ever foraging, but she has also lied multiple times, in our submission, about foraging for these mushrooms that went into the beef Wellington.' Crown Prosecutor Dr Nanette Rogers said the introduction of the 'cat post' would have changed how she ran her case against Patterson. That included inadmissible evidence Patterson had only ever searched for 'death cap mushrooms' on computers seized from her property. 'We would have led that the only online content located on those two devices related to death cap mushrooms, and that there was no online content relating to other mushrooms or mushrooming was located on either of those two computers,' she said. 'Secondly, the cat post notice and the related photos, we would have led evidence that the accused had made the post in May 2020. We would have led evidence that she never owned a cat and, thirdly; that the accused was trying to get information about the poisonous properties of mushrooms. 'Thirdly, we would have led evidence that the books owned by the accused at her home were examined and catalogued by police, and there were no books located relating to mushrooming or foraging. Crown Prosecutor Dr Nanette Rogers was not happy about a late bid by Patterson's defence to introduce evidence previously scrapped by the judge 'And finally, we would have led evidence that a download report of the accused's Samsung mobile phone contained approximately 600 pages of messages between her and her online friends. And in those 600 pages, there is not a single message from her about picking wild mushrooms.' Dr Rogers argued if Patterson disputed any of those matters put to her in cross-examination then the Crown ought to be entitled to reopen its case and lead evidence. 'I can't put it forcefully enough about how the prosecution has been prejudiced by this late event,' Dr Rogers said. 'Our case would have looked a little different to what it appears now, and there must be fairness to both sides, not just the accused, but also to the Crown.' While Justice Beale ruled the images could be shown to the jury, a deal between Dr Rogers and Mr Mandy meant the 'cat post' never saw the light of day. He was 'the general' who barked orders at staff and she was the 'mastermind' and manipulator with an explosive temper. These are the claims from former staff of Guojun Xuan and his girlfriend, Silvia Zhang, the couple accused of running a disturbing surrogacy business scheme in California. Xuan, 65, and Zhang, 38, were arrested on May 9 on suspicion of child abuse and neglect at their castle-like $4.1 million Arcadia mansion. Horrifying images, submitted by authorities in court and seen first by the Daily Mail, showed children sitting in lines while nannies and teachers allegedly spanked them and forced them to do squats in a makeshift classroom, according to search warrants. Xuan and Zhang were taken into custody after a local hospital notified police of a two-month-old boy brought in with traumatic head injuries after he was allegedly shaken by a nanny working for the couple, according to the warrants. Officers then found 21 surrogate-born children, ranging in age from two months to 13 years, across multiple properties Xuan and Zhang owned in a horrifying case that has sparked headlines worldwide. Surrogates who were hired by the couple spoke out first - including one who found out the child she gave birth to had been almost immediately placed into foster care. In multiple interviews with the Daily Mail, some of Xuan and Zhang's former staff have compared working for them to serving under a military regime. They claim employees were subjected to constant threats, screams and physical harm. The couple, who are out of jail on $500,000 bail each, have not been seen publicly since their arrest. But the Daily Mail recently spotted Xuan at one of his buildings less than 10 miles from the Arcadia mansion. The couple has been laying low since their release on $500,000 bail each, but the Daily Mail spotted Guojun Xuan recently at his office Guojun Xuan (left) and Silvia Zhang (right) were arrested for child endangerment and neglect in May. Arcadia Police officials took into custody 21 children at the couple's homes after investigators found one of the children suffered serious injuries Police search warrants showed a child was allegedly forced to squat as punishment (right), while a nanny (left) allegedly hit a baby who was sitting on a high chair Xuan and Zhang ran dozens of companies, including their alleged surrogacy business, according to former employees and lawsuits reviewed by the Daily Mail. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Zhang denied selling their babies and said: 'We take care of them very well.' Zhang added that their business was inspired by China's one-child policy and the hurt it caused. She added that she wanted to have as many babies as possible and claims the criticism leveled at her family is unfair. 'There's nothing showing anything I do is human trafficking,' she told the publication. 'They can do the investigation. They will find nothing.' Tina Powers, an employee who sued the couple for unfair business practices and failure to pay minimum wage, told the Daily Mail the working environment was 'toxic' and she felt like every move she made was being watched. 'It was like being in Communist China,' she said. 'There were cameras everywhere and you were watched at all times.' Powers also claimed Xuan and Zhang, who is a licensed real estate agent, would change the names of their shell companies to hide from people they owed money to. Guojun Xuan and his girlfriend Silvia Zhang initially ran their businesses out of their Arcadia home (pictured). Arcadia Police served a search warrant at the castle-like mansion in May and took the couple's children into protective custody The couple's sprawling $4.1million home featured nine bedrooms and 11 bathrooms. Neighbors told the Daily Mail they would see pregnant women walking around the front yard of the property about three years ago, but the house has been quiet for the past year According to records viewed by the Daily Mail, Guojun Xuan and his associates filed for a Limited Liability Company (LLC) for nearly 40 companies in 2021, but only three remain active. Most of the businesses are listed as real estate management or real estate investment companies. Forming an LLC may shield the operators' assets from business debts and protect them from personal liability if the company gets sued. Despite amassing a real estate empire, former employees who filed lawsuits against Xuan and Zhang claim they were paid below minimum wage. In a lawsuit filed in December 2023, the employees also alleged they were not allowed to take full breaks, not compensated for overtime and not reimbursed for work expenses. They also claimed in the suit that they weren't paid full wages when fired or given access to employment records. Xuan and Zhang have denied their former employees' allegations. The case is ongoing. Powers, who worked for the couple from 2021 to 2022, told the Daily Mail that the couple operated an eviction business and a separate real estate company as well as a surrogacy business. Other employees and contractors who worked with the couple told the Daily Mail they used intimidation tactics, bragged about their connections to politicians and threatened to sue them if they spoke to authorities. Members of the tight-knit Chinese community in Arcadia knew Xuan as a community leader. He regularly went grocery shopping and was active in social groups, according to neighbors. Xuan was the president of the US-Xinjiang General Chamber of Commerce and an active pro-CCP member in the Southern California Chinese community, according to NTD Television Network. Tina Powers (pictured), who worked for the couple from 2021 to 2022, claims Guojun Xuan and Silvia Zhang often screamed at each other and their employees The Xinjiang Chamber of Commerce is part of a network tied to the CCP's United Front Work Department, which tries to build Beijing's influence around the world. The Daily Mail also discovered that Xuan is connected to other pro-Beijing community leaders and is honorary president of the Chinese American Federation of Southern California. Xuan and Zhang said they were married, but former employees told the Daily Mail that the senior was dating a younger woman before becoming involved with Zhang in 2021. Former employees told the Daily Mail that Xuan and Zhang are not married, but had one biological child, a son, together. In 2022, Zhang divorced a 75-year-old Chinese man, with whom she shares a 10-year-old daughter. According to search warrants obtained by the Daily Mail, Zhang told detectives she is the biological mother to two children and surrogate mother to the others. Zhang's former husband, Hong Ching Henry Tang, claimed she sold their two homes in Pomona, California, without his permission while he was in Taiwan for eye surgery in 2021, according to divorce records obtained by the Daily Mail. Tang said he was shocked to find he only had no place to go to when he returned to the US. 'I had intended to reside at the Property for the remainder of my life,' Tang said in a December 2021 declaration. He added that the property had rental units that would help supplement his income. Zhang was already dating Xuan by the time her divorce was finalized. The other woman who also worked for the senior was 'furious' when Zhang 'walked into the picture,' said Powers. Guojun Xuan (pictured) allegedly threatened his workers if they did not follow his direction, former employees claim Silvia Zhang (pictured), a real estate agent, was a 'tyrant' and often had 'tantrums' in front of her staff, claimed a former employee Powers said the work environment the couple created was 'pure chaos' and they ruled with an 'iron fist'. 'The American workers worked on one side, and the Chinese workers did most of the accounting,' she told the Daily Mail. 'They kept us separated. And [the Chinese employees] would call him 'general' and say, 'Yes, general!' 'They'd call you in the office and then yell and scream at you and accuse you of taking things,' she added. 'They accused one lady of taking their Apple phone when it was lost. They told this poor, scared Chinese woman that they would send her to jail.' Employees who worked for one of the couple's real estate companies, Yudao Management Inc., had to sign an agreement promising they would not sue the business and must pay $50,000 if they are terminated and chose to file a lawsuit, according to the company's handbook obtained by the Daily Mail. The company handbook also said employees would be fined $10 if they left doors unlocked, kept the lights on or forget to turn off the AC or air purifier after business hours. Powers also claimed the couple would cut $50 off the pay of employees who were five minutes late. In 2021, Yudao Management had about 250 properties all over Southern California. Powers said she oversaw the daily transactions, which included the couple buying homes in foreclosure or at auction and then flipping them. While Powers and other employees worked at one wing of the Arcadia mansion, the other side of the home was set aside for the couple's surrogacy business with two to three employees. According to business records filed with the California State Secretary, Zhang registered a business called Hope Surrogacy LLC. in March 2021 and used a Pomona, California, address of the home she once shared with her former husband. On May 11, 2021, she registered another company, Mark Surrogacy Investment LLC, using the Arcadia address. In 2022, Zhang and Xuan moved most of their businesses to a building less than 10 miles away from their home, employees who spoke to the Daily Mail said. Meanwhile, the couple transformed at least three of the rooms in the Arcadia mansion into makeshift classrooms where nannies were seen yelling and hitting the toddlers, according to detectives who viewed surveillance footage. One of the children who sustained major injuries was 2-month-old baby Walter, who detectives said suffered injuries consistent with car accidents or babies who have been shaken, according to the warrants. Employees of the couple's company, Yudao Management, were allegedly asked to sign a contract that states they shall not to sue the company or they would be forced to pay $50,000 Arcadia Police detectives obtained pictures from Silvia Zhang's cell phone depicting the injuries sustained by baby Walter. The picture was allegedly taken on May 4, according to a search warrant Arcadia Police Lt. Kollin Cieadlo told the Daily Mail that Zhang was listed as the legal mother on the birth certificates of the 21 children. When investigators questioned Zhang about the children, she responded that they 'just want a big family.' 'To my knowledge the child [baby Walter] is still in the hospital. We have not been notified of his release,' Cieadlo told the Daily Mail on Wednesday. Cieadlo added the investigation into the child abuse and neglect allegations against the couple is ongoing. After hearing about the couple's May arrest, Kayla Elliott, a 27-year-old surrogate from Texas, came forward and said she was matched with Zhang and Xuan through Mark Surrogacy. Elliott told KTLA she gave birth to a baby on March 13 after a successful embryo transfer via IVF. The 27-year-old even took a picture with Zhang after she gave birth. An emotional Elliott, still resting on a hospital bed just hours after giving birth, smiled as Zhang wrapped her arms around her in a hug. Two months later, Elliott found out the child she carried was placed into foster care. In an interview with Center for Bio Ethics and Culture, Elliot revealed Zhang handed her $2,000, while the real estate agent handed $200 to Elliott's mother, boyfriend and their son and daughter. After the shocking allegations made international headlines, an image emerged showing Zhang smiling at the birth of one of the children, hugging surrogate mother Kayla Elliot, 27 The child Elliott birthed is now in foster care. The Texas woman said she is working on gaining custody of the baby and has set up a GoFundMe to raise money for legal costs Elliot claims Zhang was unemotional and 'wasn't holding the baby'. 'The baby was wrapped in a bassinet... you would think that somebody that wanted a baby so bad would be holding onto that baby and loving that baby and just in awe with that baby.' Zhang declined the Daily Mail's request for comment on the allegations concerning the surrogacy and her May arrest. She also refused to comment on the various lawsuits filed by former employees. Mark Surrogacy filed documents with the state to terminate its corporation on June 13, according to records viewed by the Daily Mail. Another company called Future Spring Surrogacy was registered with the state on July 11, 2024, using an address where Zhang and Xuan ran some of their companies. That company filed to terminate its corporation on May 15, less than a week after Zhang and Xuan's arrest. When reached by the Daily Mail, FBI officials would neither confirm nor deny whether they are investigating the couple. A deadly Victorian-era STI that was nearly eradicated in the early 2000s is making a comeback, infecting a rising number of women in major Australian cities across the country. Federal government figures show syphilis among women of childbearing age increased by five per cent in one year and is up 20 per cent over a five-year period. The bacterial infection, once rampant in the 1800s, is primarily transmitted through oral, vaginal, and anal sex and can also spread during pregnancy. Often dubbed a silent disease, syphilis may show no symptoms for years, and when symptoms do appear, they typically begin 10 to 90 days after infection. It is treatable with antibiotics. Untreated cases can eventually lead to serious complications, including blindness, paralysis, organ damage, dementia, and death. The Royal Australian College of GPs said last year 8,928 cases of syphilis were reported in Australia, compared to 3,881 a decade ago, and 1,962 cases in 2004. RACGP sexual health expert Sara Whitburn said the geography of syphilis infections is changing, shifting from remote and rural northern Australia to large cities, with NSW and Victoria recording the highest percentage of infections in 2025. Dr Whitburn said she was seeing more women presenting at GPs with symptoms of an STD but were often shocked when they tested positive for syphilis. Syphilis is making a comeback in Australia and it often strikes with no symptoms In the 19th century syphilis sufferers in France were caricatured to warn people of the awful consequences of visiting brothels A photograph of a patient with tertiary syphilis resulting in gummatous lesions on the dorsal surface of the left hand. Gummatous lesions due to tertiary syphilis occur many years after initial untreated primary syphilis 'People might be aware of chlamydia, but still are often quite shocked to have chlamydia, even though it's very, very common,' she said. 'And then syphilis, I think people think of this as, you know, oh, isn't that a Victorian era disease seen in literature and movies.' Dr Whitburn added that the widespread use of PrEP (Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis) among gay and bisexual men to prevent HIV infection had partly led to an increase in syphilis infections, as it was linked to a decline in condom use in that group. 'When there is people who cross from those populations to non-Indigenous women, women who might have partners who also identify as gay bisexual men, we start to see syphilis in those populations,' she said. 'With COVID and the lockdown, people have perhaps forgotten a little bit around negotiating and communicating around safer sex.' Dr Whitburn partly attributed the rise in syphilis among women of childbearing age to better screening, given pregnant women are particularly at risk, with the infection known to cause stillbirths and miscarriages, as babies can contract the disease while in the womb. 'We're really actively looking to screen for syphilis in that age group because we know that it can actually cause congenital syphilis, which can be life threatening, or can cause quite significant illnesses.' Curtin University epidemiologist Dr Jennifer Dunne told newsGP new research found congenital syphilis triples the risk of preterm birth. Close up of Secondary stage syphilis sores (lesions) on the palms of the hand RACGP sexual health expert Sara Whitburn (pictured) says women are often surprised when they test positive for an STD, especially syphilis Left untreated, congenital syphilis can cause blindness, deafness, intellectual disabilities, and skeletal deformities in babies - and can be fatal. Of 100 cases of congenital syphilis reported between 2016 and 2024, there were 33 deaths recorded. According to the National Syphilis Surveillance quarterly report, rising syphilis cases among women of reproductive age have coincided with a record number of diagnoses of congenital syphilis in 2023, the highest since 1995, and the highest number of related infant deaths ever recorded in a single year. Worryingly, up to a quarter of women were unaware they had syphilis until they were tested during pregnancy. Dr Dunne said the findings reinforce the need for changes in STI testing during pregnancy amid the 'potentially devastating outcomes' for parents. 'Current STI screenings happen early in pregnancy, but we need additional checks later in pregnancy, especially in high-risk areas,' she said. Syphilis was almost entirely eradicated in Australia by the early 2000s, but cases have exploded following an outbreak in north-west Queensland in 2011. Since then, the disease has spread nationwide. In response to rising rates, the Australian Government launched the National Syphilis and Surveillance Monitoring Plan in 2021, with one key goal: reducing syphilis incidence among women of reproductive age. Suburbs within Sydney's affluent inner city, such as Newtown, Surry Hills, and Zetland, have seen a spike in syphilis cases, according to the latest quarterly report. Rising syphilis infections is a trend being seen across the globe, with one in every 1,000 people in parts of England testing positive, as officials warn cases have reached the highest level since 1948. The World Health Organisation estimates 8 million adults between 15 and 49 years old acquired syphilis in 2022 alone. It has a global initiative for the elimination of congenital syphilis. There is no vaccine against syphilis. Fresh analysis suggests many average-income Australians are already on track for a comfortable retirement - but experts are divided on how much is really enough. For the first time, the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) projects that a 30-year-old earning the median wage of $75,000 is now on track to retire comfortably, thanks to July's increase in the superannuation guarantee to 12 per cent. According to ASFA's projections, a 30-year-old with a current super balance of $30,000 and a steady median income until retirement at age 67 would retire with about $610,000 in superannuation. That's more than the $595,000 the organisation says is needed for a single homeowner to retire comfortably. ASFA CEO Mary Delahunty called it a 'major milestone' in the evolution of Australia's retirement system. 'With the super guarantee increase to 12 per cent, we are seeing super fulfill its objective of providing a dignified retirement for ordinary Australians, with today's 30-year-olds reaping the rewards of decades of progress in our world-class super system.' According to ASFA Australians need $690,000 in super savings for a couple, or $595,000 for a single person, by age 67 to enjoy a comfortable retirement. These estimates are based on the assumption that you own your home outright, receive a part Age Pension, and achieve an average annual investment return of 6 per cent. How much super you should have for your age according to the AFSA AGE 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 SUPER BALANCE $5,500 $11,000 $18,500 $26,000 $34,000 $41,500 $50,000 $59,000 $66,500 $74,000 $83,000 $93,000 $101,500 $111,500 $122,500 $133,000 $144,000 $156,000 $168,000 $179,000 $190,000 $201,000 $213,000 $226,000 $239,000 $252,000 $266,000 $281,000 $296,000 $311,000 $328,000 $344,000 $361,000 $377,000 $393,000 $415,000 $431,000 $453,000 $469,000 $490,000 $509,000 $531,000 $549,000 $571,000 $584,000 ATO data shows the average super balance by gender and per age cohort But many Australians are falling short of that target. For those aged 60 to 64, the average super balance is around $395,000 for men and $315,000 for women. The median balances are significantly lower - $220,000 for men and just $163,000 for women. The average can be skewed upward by a small number of people with very large super balances, while the median gives a better sense of what a typical person has. But bestselling finance author Scott Pape said Australians could retire comfortably with far less than ASFA's recommended amounts, which he argued were unrealistic for most people. 'If you own your own home, get the aged pension, and you're willing to do a bit of paid work, you could comfortably retire on as little as $250,000,' he said on his Barefoot Investor website. 'The people who calculate the ASFA figure are the super fund lobby. It's a bit like asking old Dr Kellogg, 'What's the most important meal of the day?' (Breakfast, of course!)' Pape pointed to alternative estimates he believes are more practical, citing research by Super Consumers Australia and the Australian Bureau of Statistics. 'A group called Super Consumers Australia (a partner of CHOICE) has done the research and come up with their own figures. Not only are their figures much more attainable, they're based on ABS research on what Aussie retirees spend.' According to Super Consumers Australia, a single homeowner needs about $310,000 in super, while a couple needs around $420,000 at retirement to maintain their current lifestyle. ASFA CEO Mary Delahunty. According to ASFA Australians need $690,000 in super savings for a couple, or $595,000 for a single person, by age 67 to enjoy a comfortable retirement. But Barefoot Investor Scott Pape says Aussies will need much lesss 'Our retirement targets provide home-owning Australians with a "rule of thumb" for what is needed to maintain living standards in retirement, based on actual retiree spending,' said Xavier O'Halloran, CEO of Super Consumers Australia. 'Our targets show a typical single needs around $310,000 in super, and a couple needs around $420,000 in super, when they retire to maintain their living standards through their retirement. 'Combined with income from the Age Pension, homeowners with this amount of super can reliably provide an annual amount of $43,000 and $62,000 until age 90.' 'Most people will access the Age Pension at some point in retirement. When combined with earnings from super, over the long-term the retirement system is designed to provide significant protection against cost of living increases.' His hard-partying lifestyle is laid bare in a new book charting his murder - a killing that shocked Silicon Valley and stoked fears over rising violence in San Francisco. Cash App founder Bob Lee, a 43-year-old father of two, was stabbed to death in the early hours of April 4, 2023. He was found bleeding outside an apartment building near the Bay Bridge after frantically calling 911 and pleading, 'He stabbed me! Help me, please!' News of the killing sent Silicon Valley into a tailspin, sparking a wave of outrage and political posturing from tech giants, including Elon Musk, who quickly cast Lee as a victim of San Francisco's soft-on-crime liberalism - prematurely claiming he'd been murdered in a random attack by a homeless person. That narrative collapsed when police arrested 40-year-old tech consultant Nima Momeni. While Nima and Lee traveled in the same circles, the two allegedly had not met until April 2023. Nima's sister, Khazar Momeni, was partying with Lee just hours before he was killed. Following the arrest, more conspiracy and speculation swirled - it was fueled by a Wall Street Journal article published the following month, which claimed Lee had been immersed in an elite underground party scene of recreational drug use and casual sex known among insiders as The Lifestyle. Now, Last Night in San Francisco - a book by journalist Scott Alan Lucas - cuts through the rumors to deliver a forensic account of Lee's final hours, the events that led to his death, and his complicated personal life. Drawing on police files, court testimony and exclusive interviews, the book recounts how Lee spent his final days bouncing between friends and afterparties, snorting cocaine and taking ketamine before Nima fatally stabbed him with a kitchen knife. Early on, online speculation was rife that Bob Lee (pictured), 43, had been a victim of a fatal robbery on April 4, 2023 - which turned out to be untrue Nima Momeni (pictured), the brother of one of Lee's friends, was found guilty of second-degree murder in December for stabbing Lee to death Lucas gained unprecedented access to Lee's ex-wife, Krista, with whom Lee had remained extremely close after their 2015 split. Krista told Lucas that Lee's late-night carousing was common throughout their marriage and continued after they separated. Sometimes his freewheeling antics landed him in the company of A-list stars. She recalled waking up one summer morning in 2016 to several missed calls and texts from Lee, who had been up all night and asked if she could bring over some morning-after party supplies. 'Krista was headed to the gym, but first she gathered up some drugs, bottles of Champagne, orange juice and vodka and took them to Lee's new apartment,' Lucas wrote. 'The smell of men who had been up all night partying hit her as she opened the door.' Inside, Krista claimed she found Lee sitting with John Mayer, Dave Chappelle and mutual friends. Representatives for Mayer and Chappelle have not returned the Daily Mail's request for comment. 'I dropped off the supplies and was laughing my a** off,' Krista told Lucas. 'It was quite the motley crew.' Lee and Nima's married sister, Khazar Momeni, had been friends for a number of years (pictured) Pictured: CCTV footage showed Lee collapsing in front of an apartment building before his death But Krista denied that Lee was part of a group known as The Lifestyle, and said he was not involved in any underground drug or sex groups. The Wall Street Journal called The Lifestyle a loose term used in San Francisco to 'describe an underground party scene that has evolved since the city's early days as an incubator of the countercultural movement'. The article, based on interviews with Lee's friends and colleagues, claimed both he and Khazar were involved. Devon Meyers, a friend who saw Lee days before his death, seemed to confirm to the Journal that The Lifestyle existed and said it operated under an unwritten code of conduct. 'There is still an understanding of consent and boundaries,' he said, adding that if someone gets too drunk or takes things too far, 'they get excommunicated very quickly'. Dana Wagner, a former colleague, told the Journal that Lee moved in many social circles and had recently started hanging out with worrisome people. 'There are a lot of swingers, cheaters and liars in that crowd,' Wagner said. Lucas wondered if there might be a secret society made up of San Francisco's richest and most powerful operating in plain sight. 'I imagined masks, occult rituals and secrecy,' the author wrote. 'Maybe Khazar was a part of it, too? Maybe that's why Bob had died?' But Krista insisted she'd never even heard of The Lifestyle, and dismissed the Journal's report as a misunderstanding. Bob Lee (center, with friends) relished San Francisco's nightlife and also attended burning man Lee's ex-wife, Krisa Lee (pictured above with one of their daughters, Scout), denied he was part of any underground drug or sex groups But Krista said Lee enjoyed partying, and claims she once went over to Lee's to find him hanging out with musician John Mayer (left) and comedian Dave Chappelle (right) Krista said 'the lifestyle' was simply a term used by people in polyamorous relationships. 'San Francisco social life was fantastic,' she added. 'The media turned it into something about drugs, sex and 'The Lifestyle'. There was no lifestyle. Last Night in San Francisco by Scott Alan Lucas (Steerforth Press) is available now 'Like, yes, we did like to attend parties and clubs - I don't think that's anything that's unheard of. He wasn't in some weird sex cult, like that article tried to make it seem.' Lucas wrote that he spent months trying to confirm the existence of The Lifestyle as an organized group, but came up empty handed. The nature of Lee's relationship with Khazar, who is married to a prominent Bay Area plastic surgeon, remains unclear. The pair regularly exchanged flirty text messages and went to parties together, court testimony showed. While some reports suggested they were an item, Krista said she is unsure if their relationship was ever physical, but said they were definitely 'never dating'. 'Any girl that Bob actually liked and was dating, I would get to meet her,' Krista said. 'He didn't even know her last name. She was just a party girl, just a bimbo.' Friends of Lee told Lucas they didn't think much of Khazar. 'She seemed messy - always starting drama. They heard she liked to play the victim. She exaggerated. She was erratic. She couldn't be trusted,' Lucas wrote. Bob Lee (pictured with his daughters), the creator of Cash App, was in town for one of his daughters' school plays in the days before his death Days before his death, Lee traveled to San Francisco from Miami - where he had recently moved - to attend his daughter's high school play. He arrived on March 29 and contacted Khazar shortly after. On April 1, he went to her condo, where he formally met her brother, Nima. On April 3, Lee and Khazar met again, with phone records showing frequent contact. On his way to her apartment, Lee texted that he was bringing over a can of nitrous oxide. 'Coming with a tank. But it will cost you a blowjob though,' he wrote. By then, Lee had allegedly been on a multi-day party binge - sleeping less than six hours and using large amounts of cocaine, according to the defense. Later that afternoon, Lee and Khazar went to his friend Jeremy Boivin's home for a small gathering. Lee reportedly left Boivin's party with another friend, and Khazar stayed behind. During that time, Khazar alleged Boivin sexually assaulted her while she was high on cocaine, LSD and GHB, a depressant that slows the central nervous system. She later testified that Boivin slapped her butt while her pants were down, and she was unable to move. Boivin denied wrongdoing and was never charged. Nima Momeni (pictured) was found guilty of second-degree murder for the April 4, 2023, fatal stabbing of Cash App founder, Lee In the early hours of April 4, Lee went to Khazar's apartment - Nima was there. Earlier, Nima had called Lee and asked whether his sister had been 'doing drugs or anything inappropriate.' Lee allegedly told him no. Court testimony revealed that Lee gave Nima a bump of ketamine at the apartment, and the two discussed Khazar's allegations. At 2:03am, they left together in Nima's BMW. A surveillance camera of a nearby apartment building captured what happened next: Nima drove Lee to a secluded area several streets over, where he stabbed the Cash App founder three times with a kitchen knife and left him to die. The tech mogul was found staggering on a deserted downtown street, calling for help while a stream of blood oozed from his chest. Paramedics rushed Lee to San Francisco General Hospital, where he later died. Six hours after the stabbing, Khazar texted Lee: 'Just wanted to make sure your [sic] doing ok. Cause I know nima came wayyyyyy down hard on you. And thank you for being such a classy man handling it with class.' Images show the timeline of events leading to Bob Lee's murder in April 2023 Lee (pictured) was pronounced dead at an area hospital within hours of the stabbing. One of the wounds had punctured his heart, records show Prosecutors said Nima killed Lee as revenge after hearing that someone had allegedly drugged and assaulted his sister. They believe the knife he'd used to kill Lee had been taken from Khazar's apartment. The defense argued that Lee, agitated from a drug binge, lunged at Nima with a knife after Nima made a 'bad joke' about Lee's family. They claimed Nima overpowered Lee, stabbing him in self-defense. Nima was convicted of second-degree murder in December 2024. He faces up to 18 years in prison, but has not yet been sentenced. The next hearing is scheduled for August 22. In the meantime, Lee's family has sued Nima and his relatives, accusing them of a conspiracy and an attempted cover-up. Khazar, her mother, and her husband are accused of giving 'substantial assistance to defendant Nima Momeni to hide and/or destroy evidence,' the lawsuit reads. The assistance allegedly included hiding and attempting to sell Nima's BMW, buying new phones to conceal evidence and conducting a 'search on the Internet on how to erase information from a cell phone,' the suit states. Lee's family is seeking unspecified damages for negligence, wrongful death, aiding and abetting, conspiracy, intentional infliction of emotional distress and invasion of privacy. Attorneys for Khazar and her family have not returned a request for comment. The Momeni family has not responded publicly to the lawsuit. Last Night in San Francisco by Scott Alan Lucas (Steerforth Press) is available now. A young tradie accused of mowing down wombats in his ute and arranging them in odd positions has been arrested. Daily Mail can reveal Tyson Michael Delbridge, of Fish Creek in Victoria's South Gippsland region, has been charged over the alleged attack on one of Australia's most beloved native animals. The charges follow an extensive investigation into the deaths by the Conservation Regulator and Victoria Police. In February, the department branded the alleged slaughter in Gippsland's Venus Bay 'a senseless and deliberate act of animal cruelty'. Chief Conservation Regulator Kate Gavens said at the time that wildlife cruelty was unacceptable and the organisation will investigate and seek prosecution for serious incidents. 'The Conservation Regulator takes wildlife cruelty seriously, and I encourage the public to report any information about wildlife crime to Crime Stoppers,' she added. Investigators had been on the hunt for the alleged wombat killer for months, with the charges bringing some relief to the outraged local community. News of the arrest was welcomed by South Gippsland Deputy Mayor and Venus Bay local, Sarah Gilligan. Wildlife officers alleged the deaths of nine wombats were by Delbridge Signs had been set up in the area where Delbridge allegedly committed the atrocity 'It's been a very long seven months for the community of Venus Bay after the horrific [alleged] slaughter of too many beloved wombats,' she told the Daily Mail. 'This was a deliberate attack on community values and I'm thrilled to see the office of conservation regulator and police following through.' Delbridge, who also faces serious driving charges related to a separate matter, was charged with 20 offences by Victoria's Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action. The morning after the attack, Venus Bay local Mark Radley inspected the bodies of the wombats, which he said were covered in tyre marks and arranged in artificial positions on the side of the road, The Age reported. 'The general feeling in Venus Bay, of which the majority of residents are nature lovers, is one of relief and also hope that justice will be served,' he said. The alleged crime turned local community members into sleuths, with people sharing information updates on social media in the hunt for the alleged perpetrator. A poll on one page asked readers if anyone convicted of killing wombats should have their vehicle confiscated. The response saw 60 per cent of those who participated suggest a convicted offender's car should be seized and crushed. A male and female, one carrying a joey, were among those found dead Wildlife cameras captured a vehicle they believed was responsible for the wombat killings Images captured from wildlife cameras in the area Sources told the Daily Mail that up to three cars were believed to have been in the area when the wombats were killed. The bodies were found by disturbed locals who took them to the side of the road. At least one of the victims had a joey, which survived and was taken to a wildlife shelter. 'Some were already lined up before we got there, like an undertaker had been there,' a source said. 'Whoever did this deserves jail. A diversion would be an insult to all involved. This is an opportunity to send a strong message.' It is not the first time wombats have been killed in the area, with some locals suspecting more were deliberately killed just after Christmas last year. Those found guilty of cruelty to wildlife face massive fines and up to two years behind bars. Delbridge is set to appear in a country Victoria court in October. Another victim of an alleged deliberate hit-and-run attack by a Fish Creek man Picturesque Venus Bay in Victoria's east is known for its beauty Anyone with information on the attack should contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000. A spate of four sudden, highly-publicised deaths in the Gold Coast has sparked conspiracy theories about a serial killer on the loose - even though authorities have shut down the false claims. The city - blessed with sunshine, beaches and theme parks - was a magnet to almost five million tourists last year, but in recent weeks has been rocked by a string of deaths, with four bodies found in its waters over a five-day period. The most recent incident occurred when shocked neighbours found the submerged body of a fully-clothed woman in Currumbin Creek on July 23. That came just days after the lifeless body of Elizabeth Kelly, 73, was discovered by early morning beachgoers near the shore at Palm Beach on July 20. A man, 31, was found dead in a pool at a Varsity Lakes unit complex that same day. And 24 hours earlier, a man was found dead on the rocks metres away from young families at Echo Beach in Tallebudgera. Queensland Police have since declared all four deaths as non-suspicious - with medical episodes, self-harm, and misadventure deemed the causes. A string of recent deaths have sparked wild speculation that a serial killer is on the loose on the Gold Coast. Pictured is Surfers Paradise But their assurances have done nothing to stop the internet from going into overdrive, with amateur sleuths speculating that a single person could be responsible. 'There may be a serial killer active on the Gold Coast,' a local who goes by Big Daddy News wrongly claimed on TikTok. 'There is no updated news about these multiple deaths and they're happening consecutively, weeks apart. 'People are scared and they want answers. 'The online community are crying out for help, asking if this is a serial killer. 'Most people are saying it is.' He's not the only one running with the claims. 'Why is nobody talking about how there is a f***ing murderer on the loose in the Gold Coast right now,' personal trainer Aaron Boundy said in another TikTok. 'Theres been four dead bodies found within a 10km radius of each other, which happens to be in the area I live. 'Why isnt this being documented more?' Mr Boundy's clip sparked a response from Queensland Police. 'Hey Queensland. We want to reassure the public that there is no risk to community safety. All matters are being treated as non-suspicious and unrelated,' it commented. Home to a population of 750,000, almost five million tourists flocked to the Gold Coast in 2024 for its year-long sunshine and beautiful beaches Longtime Byron Bay fears The Gold Coast is just 100km north of the popular tourist hotspot of Byron Bay, where a suspected serial killer has been linked to dozens of murders and disappearances since the 1970s. NSW State MLC Jeremy Buckingham highlighted an 'alarming similarity' between 67 murder and missing persons cases between Newcastle and Byron Bay in state parliament last year and called for a special inquiry. Dozens of men are among those who have vanished or died in similar circumstances in the Byron Bay region since 2019. This week marked one year since the remains of Gage Wilson, 31, were found in bushland 10km from his Mullumbimby home, three months after he vanished without a trace. He disappeared almost five years to the day after Belgian backpacker Theo Hayez, 18, who vanished after leaving Cheeky Monkeys bar in Byron Bay on May 31, 2019. His remains have never been found. The circumstances of Mr Wilson's death remain shrouded in mystery. His family recently told Daily Mail they have been informed an inquest will be held in the coming months. A woman's body was found floating in Currumbin Creek on July 23. Police have since ruled it as non-suspicious (pictured, emergency crews at the scene) It's understood the fully clothed body (pictured) had been in the water at Currumbin Creek for several days Queensland Police said understand why the recent incidents on the Gold Coast have caused concern but want to reassure the public that there is no risk to community safety. A spokeswoman reiterated that the recent four deaths were non-suspicious and directed Daily Mail to its recent TikTok response regarding the wild theories swirling around. 'Now, we have had a whole lot of deaths in the last two weeks,' Acting Superintendent Michelle Piket told reporters last week. 'There are a lot of conspiracy theories floating around on social media. 'So, I'd just like to tell everyone, please don't believe what you see on social media. 'All of these matters were unrelated and non-suspicious and have been referred to the coroner.' 'We know that they're non-suspicious, we've done our investigations, and we're happy with what's happened (with) those investigations.' The Gold Coast was recently rocked by four deaths within five days. Pictured is Echo Beach in Tallebudgera, where a man was found dead on July 19 Police have refuted claims that a serial killer is on the loose on the Gold Coast Australian Missing Persons Register director Nicole Morris also warned that speculation of a coastal serial killer could be harmful to police investigations and the families of missing persons. 'Its dangerous to say all these people were killed by one person because it means youre not investigating each individual disappearance or homicide,' she told Womans Day magazine recently. 'Most of our population live by the coast, and were talking about a time period over 50 years, so its a statistical fact that more people go missing from these areas.' A transgender former Police Community Support Officer who used a 3D printer to try and make a semi-automatic weapon at home was jailed today for eight years and six months. Jurors were told Zoe Watts, 39, had an with an 'obsession' for weapons and attempted to make the lethal weapon to 'sneak past law enforcement'. Jonathon Dee, prosecuting, said the initials of the 'semi-automatic' FGC MK II Nutty weapon attempted to be made by Watts stood for the words 'F**k gun control.' Watts was convicted in June of using a 3D printer to try and make a lethal firearm after jurors discounted the defendant's claim that she had been making a 'fidget' toy gun as a Christmas present. Sentencing her this morning, Judge Simon Hirst said Watts had a 'deeply troubling internet search history.' Watts had previously worked as a Lincolnshire PCSO for more than eight years an once ran a survivalist YouTube channel. The judge acknowledged that Watts would find custody difficutl due to her neurodivergence, previous policing career and 'transgender identity' but said she would have to serve half of her sentence before being relesed on licence. Watts is believed to be the first person in the UK to be convicted of attempting to manufacture such a prohibited gun with a 3D printer. The prosecutor said today that it was the first time 'this particular weapon has been found in this country'. The defendant appeared for sentencing at Lincoln Crown Court today via videolink from HMP Downview in Sutton, Surrey. Zoe Watts had a 'deeply troubling internet search history', the judge said Watts, pictured in her days as a Lincolnshire PCSO, used a 3D printer to try and make a semi-automatic weapon Jurors heard Zoe Watts (pictured) already had convictions for possessing illegal weapons and manufacturing explosives for an illegal purposes, the jury were told She was arrested when armed police stopped her car last December and an 'arsenal' of weapons was then discovered at her Lincoln home. Jurors heard Watts, who has previous convictions for possessing illegal weapons and manufacturing explosives, had Googled two days before her arrest: 'Has anybody been killed by a 3D printed gun?' The prosecutor said the offence required a degree of planning - it took Watts at least two weeks to manufacture the weapon 'as each individual component had to be printed'. Jurors heard police recovered a 3D printer from a cupboard in Watts' home along with many of the parts needed to make a gun. When firearms experts tried to put the weapon together it did not work but the prosecution said it would be a 'lethal' prohibited weapon if manufactured correctly. Mr Dee told Lincoln Crown Court: 'If this item had been made correctly it would have been a prohibited firearm.' There was no issue it was Watts who was responsible for making the item, Mr Dee told the jury. As well as the 3D printer, metal parts including screws, bolts and a 'very short barrel' were recovered, Mr Dee said. Watts conducted a Google search two days before the police went to her home, asking: 'Has anybody been killed by a 3D printed gun? Prosecutor Jonathon Dee said Watts had also made internet searches relating to samurai swords, knives and guns The court heard today that Watts was 'acting alone' rather than part of a wider group. Mr Dee said aggravating factors were Watts' previous convictions and the fact the semi-automatic weapon she was trying to construct was capable of firing 33 bullets within 15 seconds. But he said today that 'the Crown would have to accept' that Watts 'neurodivergence' was in part a reason for why the offence was committed. A pre-sentence report said she was suffering from gender dysphoria, which the NHS describes as 'a sense of unease that a person may have because of a mismatch between their biological sex and their gender identity.' The report said Watts could be considered vulnerable due to 'her neurodivergence in transgender identity'. Stuart Lody, defending, said Watts was not a danger to other people, adding that she had a 'childlike quality'. 'There's an innocence which can lead to her putting herself in danger, quite unwittingly', he added. Mr Lody said Watts had expressed sorrow over her actions 'potentially negatively affecting the way the lesbian, gay and transgender community are viewed and she regrets all of that'. The jury heard other items including a machete, crossbow, bladed article and bow were recovered from Watts' home. 'The defendant had an arsenal, we say this was part of it,' Mr Dee alleged. Mr Dee said Watts had also made internet searches relating to samurai swords, knives and guns. On December 10, Mr Dee alleged, Watts put a search into Google asking: 'Has anybody been killed by a 3D printed gun?' Watts, who also once ran a YouTube survivalist and bushcraft channel, claimed she had been making a 'fidget' toy gun as a Christmas present And the following day, a search was made for the death of Brian Thompson, the CEO of United Healthcare, who had recently been fatally shot outside a hotel in New York, Mr Dee told the jury. Mr Dee told the jury it was the prosecution case 'this was a lethal weapon, you can make on your own, and sneak past law enforcement.' During the trial, jurors were shown a YouTube video of a person firing a similar weapon, to illustrate the nature of the kind of weapon Watts was trying to construct. Watts told jurors 'Christmas is a very important time for me' and said she was using the 3D printer to make items for those important to her. 'If I can 3D print something rather then purchase it, that is what I will do,' Watts added. Watts said she became aware of the FGC 9 through an internet article but she had no intention of making one herself. 'I thought it was a good base for making a fidget gun,' Watts explained. Watts told jurors 'weapons' had become normalised during her childhood and she also 'carried tools' during her previous career as a PCSO. Jurors at Lincoln Crown Court (above) were told Watts had an 'arsenal' of weapons at her home including a machete and a crossbow The trial heard she used to run a YouTube channel dedicated to survivalism and bushcraft. Lincolnshire Police today said officers discovered an 'Aladdin's cave' of weapons, including knives and a crossbow, alongside parts for 3D printed guns at Watts' home. Detective inspector Gemma Skipworth said the case 'Sends a clear message that if you're doing something wrong behind closed doors, it doesn't mean you're safe and can break the rules with impunity.' She added: '3D printers are becoming more and more popular, and people are naturally exploring what they can do with this technology. 'But it's important to know that when you are downloading plans and use a machine to produce something like a firearm, you're breaking the rules. 'And if you are caught, you will face a lengthy jail sentence'. 'This case shows how committed my colleagues are to keeping the people of Lincolnshire safe and I'd like to say a huge thank you to everyone who worked on this case.' Watts was previously jailed for 27 months in July 2021 after she 'hoarded' banned weapons and explosive substances and also made an improvised explosive device. (IED) She had admitted making an improvised explosive device, three charges of possession of a prohibited weapon and two counts of inappropriately importing goods. Police also found a stun gun, butterfly knives and an illegal electric fly-swatter during a raid in October 2020. On that occasion Watts had made an explosive device out of a modified shotgun cartridge. A copy of the Anarchist Cookbook - a bomb-making instruction manual - was found on the floor, as well as a homemade wick she produced from a tampon. Police also found a modified fly swatter able to discharge noxious substances and a wooden sawn-off gun used as 'a prop', the court in 2021 heard. Dangerous substances - including nitroglycerine, potassium nitrate and nitrocellulose - were found in a cupboard shelving area. Oklahoma's top education official is under investigation after a TV in his office showed nude women during a closed-door meeting, a claim now allegedly backed by the state's House Speaker and Samsung TV logs. State Superintendent Ryan Walters, the hardline MAGA schools chief who mandated Bible study in public classrooms, is accused of having inappropriate material play on his office television during a July 24 board meeting. The movie in question, The Protector (1985) starring Jackie Chan, features scenes of naked women in lab coats packaging cocaine in a drug factory. House Speaker Kyle Hilbert says it aired on Samsung TV Plus Channel 1204 at the exact time of the executive session. Board members Becky Carson and Ryan Deatherage say they saw the footage, describing it as 'fully nude women doing something involving a chiropractic table.' Carson says she confronted Walters, who turned off the screen. She later filed a complaint asking the Oklahoma Office of Management & Enterprise Services to investigate Walters' computers, personal devices and cell phones, prompting a formal probe on July 28. While Walters publicly claimed the TV had only been on cable news, he privately told Hilbert he believed the footage showed 'a doctor and a nurse in a white lab coat' when he turned to shut it off. He did not mention that detail in his public statements or at a July 29 press conference. Oklahoma State Superintendent Ryan Walters is under investigation after a TV in his office allegedly played inappropriate footage during a closed-door board meeting Hilbert says Walters welcomed an investigation and that he contacted Samsung himself. The company confirmed that during the meeting, The Protector aired on Movie Hub Action, followed by The Foreigner (2017). IMDb notes The Protector contains multiple scenes of nudity. News 4 reporters reviewed the film and confirmed scenes matching the board members' accounts, including fully nude women in lab coats inside a drug lab. Carson and Deatherage said they are both disturbed and relieved by the findings, which they believe confirm what they witnessed. Walters has not addressed the movie revelation publicly. The investigation is ongoing. In a joint statement to News 4, Carson and Deatherage said: 'We are grateful for the Speaker's efforts to vindicate the board. What we saw on TV is content that would get the certificate of any teacher in this state revoked had it showed up on a classroom TV. Now we have to ask the question: Why did Superintendent Walters lie about the TV being connected to the internet and what he saw on the TV that day? He repeatedly called the board members liars and attempted to destroy our reputation. We are deeply disturbed by the events of the last week and a half, but we will continue to work for the students of Oklahoma.' Walters has not responded beyond the July 29 press conference, where he claimed he had been cleared of wrongdoing, blamed cable news for the footage and accused board members of lying. Walter, had been hosting a meeting on Thursday when two State Board of Education members claim they saw the explicit images of nude women on his TV screen The allegations are explosive given Walters' political image. Since being elected in 2022, the former teacher and father of four has led a conservative overhaul of Oklahoma's education system, targeting what he calls 'radical leftist indoctrination' in public schools. His most controversial move has been mandating that all classrooms display the 'God Bless the USA Bible,' a Bible endorsed by Donald Trump and country star Lee Greenwood that includes the Constitution and the Pledge of Allegiance. Disclosure reports show Trump earned $300,000 in royalties from its sales. The Oklahoma Supreme Court blocked the plan, but Walters filed a motion this week to reinstate it. Now, his credibility is being tested under a completely different lens. 'These falsehoods are the desperate tactics of a broken establishment afraid of real change,' Walters said. 'They aren't just attacking me - they're attacking the values of the Oklahomans who elected me to challenge the status quo. 'I will not be distracted. My focus remains on making Oklahoma the best state in the nation, in every category,' he went on. But for board member Becky Carson, who watched the alleged images appear on the screen, the moment was unforgettable. 'I was like, 'Those are naked women,' and then I was like, 'No, wait a minute this is just really bizarre,' she said, initially wondering if the women were wearing tan bodysuits. She added that Walters never addressed what happened. 'There has to be accountability.' Walters' tenure has been marked by sharp rhetoric, high-profile battles with LGBTQ+ advocates, and controversial remarks about educators, whom he has previously labeled as 'perverts' when criticizing gender-inclusive curricula. A pediatrician who was previously accused of murdering her four-year-old daughter has had her charges downgraded to aggravated manslaughter of a child, the Miami-Dade State Attorneys Office confirmed. Dr. Neha Gupta, 36, was accused of murdering her toddler, Aria Talathi, while the two were vacationing in El Portal, Florida, on June 27. Aria was found unresponsive in the backyard pool just after 3:30 am by the El Portal Police Department after a 911 call reported a child drowning. Paramedics with Miami-Dade Fire Rescue performed CPR at the scene, and the child was rushed to a local hospital, where she was later pronounced dead. Doctors discovered that Aria had cuts and bruises inside her mouth and didn't have water in her lungs. Her death was consistent with smothering, not drowning, contrary to what her mother had reported to authorities. A medical examiner in Miami ruled out drowning as a cause of death and suggested that Aria died of asphyxiation. Gupta was accused of smothering her daughter to death and staging the drowning. Police initially recommended a charge of murder in the first degree. Aria Talathi, 4, was found unresponsive in a backyard pool of a short-term Florida rental in June Aria's mother, Dr. Neha Gupta, 36, was arrested in connection with her daughter's death. Her charges were recently downgraded from murder in the first degree to aggravated manslaughter of a child The medical examiner's office ruled that Aria's death was inconsistent with drowning and suggested that she was smothered The Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office took over the case and arrested Gupta at her home in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, with assistance from the Oklahoma City Police Department's Homicide Unit and the United States Marshals Service, a press release announced at the time. Body camera footage of Gupta's dramatic arrest revealed US Marshals banging on her door and busting it down when the pediatrician didn't respond. They searched her home and found her hiding in the corner of her laundry room in what appeared to be her pajamas. Gupta complied with the officers' commands and knelt on the floor with her hands behind her back. An incident report stated that authorities saw Gupta near the door of her home before she hid in the laundry room. Child's toys were seen scattered around the house in the footage of the arrest. Gupta told police that the night of her daughter's death started normally. They had dinner around 9 pm and went to sleep in the same bed around 12:30 am. She awoke a few hours later and saw her daughter submerged in the pool outside. Gupta said she tried to save Aria but didn't know how to swim. She added that she attempted to 'assist the deceased victim' for around 10 minutes before calling emergency services. Gupta told police that she woke up in the middle of the night and found her daughter unresponsive in the backyard pool Gupta said she attempted to save her daughter and called 911, but Aria was pronounced dead at the hospital Detectives previously said that there were holes in Gupta's testimony. Doctors said there was no food in Aria's stomach when she died, refuting her mother's claim that they had dinner together before bed. After Gupta's arrest, it was revealed that she had been suspended from her position at OU Health and the University of Oklahoma in May. Gupta was also in the midst of a custody battle with her ex-husband, Dr. Saurabh Talathi, following their divorce last year. Talathi, who also lives in Oklahoma, previously told local news that he wasn't aware that Gupta and their daughter were vacationing in Florida. Gupta was arrested on July 1 and booked into the Oklahoma County Detention Center without bond. She was then extradited to Miami-Dade County, where she has been held without bond. Gupta didn't attend the recent hearing before Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Zachary James. Her attorneys have maintained that Aria's death was a tragic accident and that Gupta is a grieving mother. The tragedy occurred while the mother and daughter were vacationing in El Portal, Florida, at a rental home (pictured) Gupta was arrested in her Oklahoma home and was extradited to Miami, where she currently remains in custody Gupta's lawyer, Michael Mirer, told Daily Mail, 'Dr. Gupta is innocent and would never have harmed her child. The police rushed to judgment when they charged her with first-degree murder allegations that were both false and devastating. 'This was a tragic accident, and Dr. Gupta is not responsible for her childs death. We stand firmly behind her and will vigorously defend her against these unfounded charges.' The Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office said in a statement to Daily Mail, 'Based on the evidence presently available to prosecutors, the [first] degree felony charge of aggravated manslaughter of a child has been deemed as the appropriate criminal charge'. Another hearing is scheduled for Monday to discuss Gupta's eligibility for bond. A trial hearing was tentatively set for November. Daily Mail reached out to Gupta's attorney and the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office for additional comments. A Palestinian woman who praised Hamas's October 7 massacre has reportedly been granted a visa to come to Australia, despite Prime Minister Anthony Albanese welcoming a report calling for applicants to be barred for extremist views. Mona Zahed, a chef and married mother of four who lives in Gaza, celebrated the terrorist attacks that claimed the lives of 1,200 people on October 7, 2023. 'We woke up and got God's kingdom,' she wrote, the day after the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, which also saw 251 people taken hostage by Hamas terrorists. In a now-deleted post, Ms Zahed shared a photo of terrified Nova music festivalgoers fleeing for their lives alongside a picture of refugees fleeing the 'Nakba' or catastrophe in 1948, which established the state of Israel and saw the mass displacement of Palestinians. 'Praise be to Allah who has kept us alive to see this day,' Ms Zahed captioned the post, first reported by the Herald Sun. Ms Zahed, who wrote a cookbook while living in a displacement tent in southern Gaza called Tabkha: Recipes from Under the Rubble, has been supported by Melbourne-based artist Matt Chun. Last month, Mr Chun revealed that his partner Tess Cullity, who publishes the cookbook, had been 'working alongside human rights lawyers to secure safe passage for Mona and her family from Gaza to Wurundjeri Land' (Melbourne). 'Finally, against all odds, Tess has visas approved.' Mona Zahed, a chef and married mother-of-four who lives in Gaza , celebrated the terrorist attacks that claimed the lives of 1,200 people on October 7, 2023. She has reprotedly been granted a visa to come to Australia In a now-deleted post, Ms Zahed shared a photo of terrified Nova music festivalgoers fleeing for their lives alongside a picture of refugees fleeing the 'Nakba' or catastrophe in 1948 which established the state of Israel and saw the mass displacement of Palestinians Mr Chun and his partner have helped raise almost $29,000 for Mona and her family. The artist also celebrated the Hamas terrorist attacks, sharing a picture of the Palestinian flag with the title 'land back.' The caption read: 'Power to the freedom fighters. Death to the occupation. Resistance by any means necessary. Liberation from the River to the Sea.' This comes just weeks after Prime Minister Albanese welcomed a report from Jillian Segal, the government's special envoy to combat antisemitism, which recommended screening visa applicants for anti-Semitic views. Opposition Home Affairs spokesman Andrew Hastie said that if Ms Zahed had been granted a visa, it represented 'yet another immigration failure by the Albanese Labor government.' 'Any person that shows support for a terrorist organisation should not be granted a visa to Australia,' he said. 'If a visa has been granted, Tony Burke must immediately explain why, under his watch, an individual who celebrated the October 7 terrorist attack has been allowed to enter our country.' The Daily Mail approached the Department of Home Affairs, which is responsible for granting visas, for comment. The ensuing conflict triggered by the events of October 7 has so far claimed the lives of over 55,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry. A retired Australian Army major accused of drowning his wife five years ago has been granted bail after their daughters agreed to provide $100,000 of $250,000 in security. Graeme Davidson will be released from Brisbane Correctional Centre after Justice Tom Sullivan delivered his determination on Friday in the Queensland Supreme Court. Davidson will be required to report daily to police and not go within 5km of any international point of departure such as airports or cruise ship terminals. Daughters Brooke and Robyn - one a high school teacher and the other a nurse - will each provide $50,000 and one of their partners will lodge $150,000 as security. The dual British-Australian citizen will have to abide by an 8pm curfew, wear a monitoring device and surrender both his UK and Australian passports. Justice Sullivan said the Crown had accepted its case against Davidson 'could not be described as strong'. 'I have decided to treat the case in a neutral way,' he said. 'I have otherwise formed the view... the identified statutory risks can be ameliorated by appropriate conditions.' 'The nature of this alleged murder and the alleged motive... does not raise the prospect of reoffending in a similar way.' Retired Australian Army major Graeme Davidson moved to Thailand and married a younger woman after allegedly drowning his wife Jacqueline. The former couple is pictured Scottish-born Davidson, who also served in the British Army, is accused of murdering his wife Jacqueline, 54, during a kayaking trip in November 2020. He is further accused of fraud offences over two claims on his wife's life insurance policies worth more than $1million following what police originally determined to be an accidental death. Davidson moved to the Thai resort town of Hua Hin four months after his wife's death and married local woman Pick Pattraporn in December 2022. On Wednesday, the court heard Davidson had texted a friend while living in Thailand in 2023, describing himself as a 'cliche'. 'There are lots of divorcees out here, because there are no de facto laws and you can't lose 50 per cent of your s***,' he allegedly wrote. Justice Sullivan noted the daughters' relationship with both their father and the woman he was accused of killing: 'She was their mother.' Ms Davidson drowned on November 27, 2020 at Lake Samsonvale, near Forgan Cove in Queensland's Moreton Bay region, while kayaking with her husband. Davidson was arrested in Brisbane in May while visiting family, after a coronial investigation led police to believe he had murdered his wife. Davidson, who married Thai woman Pick Pattraporn in December 2022, described himself as a 'cliche' in a text message to a mate sent in 2023. The couple is pictured on their wedding day Davidson's barrister Craig Eberhardt KC said on Wednesday the evidence against his client was unable to rule out the possibility his wife had accidentally drowned. 'It's at best a weak circumstantial case,' he told the court. Mr Eberhardt described Davidson as a law-abiding citizen with no criminal record who received 'very substantial' pensions from his service in the British and Australian armies. He said Davidson had maintained contact with Queensland Police and the coroner for the past five years and submitted there was no suggestion he had the means to flee to Thailand or anywhere else. 'It's not as if he's Tony Mokbel,' Mr Eberhardt said, referring to the one-time fugitive Victorian drug baron. 'Even Tony Mokbel was caught ten years later. 'The idea that suddenly he'd be able to escape is just pure speculation, even if he wanted to.' Mr Eberhardt said Davidson had not 'fled' Australia after his wife's death but had gone to Thailand because many of his friends and former colleagues were there. 'He went up there just to see if he liked it, not to move,' Mr Eberhardt told the court. Davidson and his dead wife's two daughters Robyn and Brooke (above) arrive at Brisbane Supreme Court on Friday morning for their father's bail determination Prosecutor Caroline Marco conceded the Crown's case against Davidson was circumstantial but said that did not make it weak. Instead, various threads of evidence - including inconsistencies in Davidson's version of events - could collectively convince a jury he was guilty of killing his wife. Ms Marco said Davidson's statements to police about what happened the day his wife drowned were inconsistent and varied with what he had told friends. Davidson told police his wife had fallen into the water from a seated position in her kayak but allegedly told a friend she 'jumped or dove'. Ms Marco said there were also inconsistencies regarding Davidson's explanation of his phone's whereabouts at the time. That phone has never been found. 'There had to be a reason why it could not be used to render assistance to Jacqueline,' she told the court. Ms Marco said Ms Davidson was a capable swimmer and had no known medical condition which would cause her to lose consciousness and fall into the water. The Crown contends the Davidsons' marriage was in trouble before Ms Davidson died. Davidson claims his wife had no intention of leaving him but the court heard she had discussed separation with friends following an affair her husband had while posted in Papua New Guinea. On Wednesday, Ms Marco said Ms Davidson had told two friends she had spoken to her husband about divorce and he had resisted the idea. If granted bail, Davidson would live with one of his daughters, who along with his de facto son-in-law (all pictured above) were prepared to lodge $150,000 security Davidson had allegedly told his wife he did not wish to separate due to the financial impact it would have on him. Ms Marco also said Ms Davidson had sent 'secret' Facebook messages to a friend in early 2020 which were set to disappear after being read. 'The secret messages that would delete, in my submission, are not consistent with an assertion that at that time there were not ongoing or lingering problems,' she said. The court heard Davidson received a $460,000 payout from the Australian Army four months before his wife's death and that he opened a separate bank account solely in his name three days before she drowned. Ms Marco said Davidson had returned to Australia only twice since his wife's death - once when he was arrested - and in mid-2023 sold the marital home for $1.55million. Last week, Mr Eberhardt argued the prosecution's case was 'fundamentally weak' and relied almost entirely on a comment made during a conversation in 2017. According to Mr Eberhardt, the remark was made while Davidson and a friend were discussing another man whose wife had left him on the day of his retirement, taken half of his pension, and then moved to Thailand. In response, Davidson allegedly said, 'Oh s*** yeah, I'd kill her and move to Thailand too.' Jacqueline Davidson's (left) death was initially ruled as an accident until suspicions were raised during a coronial investigation Mr Eberhardt dismissed the comment as nothing more than 'a quip' and insisted it was 'not nearly as sinister as it sounds' with the context. Justice Sullivan noted the prosecution's case did not include 'direct evidence of murder,' and Mr Eberhardt said there was no evidence Ms Davidson had been 'violently assaulted' by her husband. The court heard Ms Davidson's body showed only minor bruising, which Davidson's defence argued was consistent with his efforts to rescue her and perform CPR. Mr Eberhardt said the couple had been about 10m apart on the water when Davidson attempted to 'show off' by standing up on his kayak. 'Jacqueline became distressed about that and used the 'safe word' designed to let him know that she was concerned about what he was doing,' he told the court. Davidson claimed he then saw his wife fall into the water and dived in to rescue her. But he struggled to locate her in the 'murky' and weed-filled lake. He eventually dragged her to shore where he performed CPR and called for help. Neither was wearing a life jacket, with Davidson allegedly telling police their vests had been destroyed by rats while the couple was still living in Bondi, in Sydney's east. Ms Davidson was unable to be revived after she drowned on a trip on Lake Samsonvale, near Forgan Cove in Queensland's Moreton Bay region, in late 2020 (pictured, police at the scene) Mr Eberhardt said a witness had confirmed hearing this explanation prior to Ms Davidson's death. In response to the life insurance fraud allegations, Mr Eberhardt said both Mr Davidson and his wife had taken out claims in each other's favour in mid-2020. 'There is no evidence the setting up of the insurance policies was the applicant's idea,' the defence lawyer said last week. Mr Eberhardt argued on Wednesday it would have been 'far more suspicious' if Davidson had not attempted to access her life insurance following her death. The court also heard how Mr Davidson was recorded on CCTV burning 'a small number of documents' in his backyard the night after his wife drowned, while one of his children was at home. However, Mr Eberhardt dismissed the footage as 'not evidence of anything' since it was unclear what the documents contained. The Trump administration is now offering a $50 million reward to anyone who can provide information leading to the arrest of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro, who is widely considered a dictator. The announcement came directly from Attorney General Pam Bondi, who accused Maduro of conspiring with multiple gangs to bring guns and illegal drugs into the United States. 'Maduro uses foreign terrorist organizations like [Tren de Aragua], Sinaloa and Cartel of the Suns to bring deadly drugs and violence into our country,' she said. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has so far seized 30 tons of cocaine that were subsequently linked to Maduro and his associates, Bondi said. Nearly seven tons of that total was linked to Maduro himself, she added, explaining that this represents a primary source of income for gangs operating in Venezuela and Mexico. 'Cocaine is often laced with fentanyl, resulting in the loss and destruction of countless American lives,' Bondi said. Maduro, 62, has been in the crosshairs of the American justice system since March 2020, when he was indicted in the Southern District of New York on a litany of charges related to drug trafficking. They included narco-terrorism, conspiracy to import cocaine, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices. The Trump administration announced a $50 million reward for information leading to the capture of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro (center), who is widely considered a dictator Pictured: Alleged members of Tren de Aragua, a gang Maduro is accused of working with, are moved through the notoriously brutal prison in El Salvador known as CECOT Pictured: An alleged member of a Venezuelan gang is escorted off a plane by US soldiers where he'll be taken to CECOT Immediately after the indictment, the first Trump administration offered a $15 million reward for Maduro's capture. President Joe Biden's State Department increased that to $25 million and with Bondi's announcement on Thursday, the federal government has doubled that. 'The DOJ has seized over $700 million of Maduro linked assets, including two private jets, nine vehicles and more. Yet Maduros reign of terror continues,' Bondi said. 'He is one of the largest narco-traffickers in the world, and a threat to our national security,' she added. She vowed that Maduro won't escape justice under watch and that he 'will be held accountable for his despicable crimes'. Maduro has been the president of Venezuela since April 2013 and in that time, he has been accused of consolidating power in executive agencies while simultaneously wrestling it away from the elected National Assembly. There was so much doubt over the veracity of the 2018 presidential elections, which he won, that the president of the National Assembly, Juan Guaido, was declared the true leader of Venezuela by anti-Maduro legislators. Guaido was even invited as a special guest to Trump's State of the Union address in February 2020. Democrats and Republicans alike cheered for Guaido after Trump called him 'the true and legitimate president of Venezuela'. President Donald Trump has long been a critic of Venezuela's socialist and totalitarian government Trump is pictured on February 5, 2020 at the White House with Juan Guaido, who for years was considered by many around the world as the true president of Venezuela In 2024, Maduro ran for a third term as president. He was declared the winner in July by the Maduro-aligned election authority, which did not release the voting tallies from each of the 30,000 polling booths in the nation. The opposition party, who ran Edmundo Gonzalez as their candidate, also claimed victory. Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said the margin of Gonzalezs win was 'overwhelming' based on tallies received from 80 percent of ballot boxes nationwide. Machado claimed Gonzalez, a former diplomat, won with twice as many votes. In November 2024, former Secretary of State Antony Blinken officially recognized Gonzalez as the president-elect of Venezuela. The Trump administration has held the same position, with current Secretary of State Marco Rubio accusing Maduro election tampering last month. 'One year since dictator Nicolas Maduro defied the will of the Venezuelan people by baselessly declaring himself the winner, the United States remains firm in its unwavering support to Venezuelas restoration of democratic order and justice,' he said. 'Maduro is not the President of Venezuela and his regime is not the legitimate government.' Guaido and Gonzalez fled the country after both men had arrest warrants issued for them by Maduro's government. A Las Vegas tech CEO received a severed pig's head and threatening letter in the mail believed to stem from his company's use of artificial intelligence. Blake Owens, founder and CEO of Agrippa - an AI-powered platform that connects commercial real estate investors and developers without the use of traditional brokers - received the bloodied pig's head along with the fear-mongering letter on July 29. The gruesome package was sent to a family member's home, accompanied by a handwritten note that criticized Owens' use of AI and included personal insults, calling him a 'Clark Kent knockoff.' The letter ended ominously, reading, 'And don't get greedy because pigs get fat and hogs get slaughtered.' 'Perhaps this person watched too much of The Godfather,' Owens told KLAS. 'Needless to say, I still take it very seriously, but don't feel like I'm being truly threatened. It was a message.' The note was signed only with the initial 'M' and appeared to be motivated by a June television segment that profiled Owens and Agrippa's AI tool, known as 'Marcus,' which automates real estate transactions by matching developers with investors and evaluating property bids. 'AI is not going to replace brokers,' the letter read. Blake Owens (pictured), founder and CEO of Agrippa - an AI-powered platform that connects commercial real estate investors and developers without the use of traditional brokers -received the bloodied pig's head along with the fear-mongering letter on July 29 The gruesome package was sent to a family member's home, accompanied by a handwritten note that criticized Owens 'Clearly you don't understand real estate wasn't built by developers or investors. And it sure as hell wasn't built by tech guys in Lululemon. It was built by brokers. We did it the hard way. No shortcuts, no tech, just people.' Owens said he believes the sender may be someone fearful of being displaced by automation. 'I understand this person is probably just frustrated that business isn't going well for them, and then they see AI replacement stories on top of that,' Owens said. 'And I just so happen to be someone they can focus their frustration on.' A photo of the package shows the sender labeled as 'Marcus Agrippa' - a nod to the company's AI system. Owens joked, 'Is this a message that you know your own AI is turning against you? I wasn't quite sure how to interpret it.' The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department confirmed it is investigating the incident and has classified it as a harassment case. A suspect has yet to be identified. Owens has since stated that he does not feel 'genuinely threatened' and does not plan to press charges if the sender is eventually identified. The letter ended ominously, reading, 'And don't get greedy because pigs get fat and hogs get slaughtered' 'I don't want to punch down on this person; they may be in a tough spot in life,' he told KLAS. 'I do see this as an opportunity to show people you don't become a better person by making another man a lesser person.' Owens also addressed potential anxiety surrounding AI's growing presence in the workforce, particularly in fields like real estate that have historically relied on personal relationships. 'You know, people are scared,' he said. 'They feel displaced. And when disruption moves faster than education, fear just fills the gap.' Owens added that Agrippa is not designed to replace humans, but to empower professionals through AI. '[Winston Churchill] said to be perfect is to change often,' Owens said. 'I think a lot of people are afraid of change and what's coming with AI, because it really is a tsunami of change that people are trying to resist. But the more you embrace it, the better you'll do, the more skills that you'll accumulate, more value you'll bring to the table.' Las Vegas is increasingly becoming a hub for AI innovation. MGM Resorts recently introduced 70 to 80 new AI systems across its departments, including front desk operations, and the newly opened Otonomous Hotel, which launched on July 1, brands itself as the world's first fully AI-powered resort, KLAS reported. Despite the threatening nature of the package, Owens (pictured) says he is committed to encouraging dialogue 'You look at Agrippa, TensorWave, look at Otonomous Hotel, everyone is trying to bring AI to the forefront, and it sheds some light on how great this city is and what we can do with the talent we have here,' Owens said. 'May ruffle some feathers in the process, but in the long run, I think that it's the best thing to do,' the tech CEO added. Despite the threatening nature of the package, Owens says he is committed to encouraging dialogue. 'If I knew who this person was, I'd say, "Hey, feel free to reach out to me - maybe not with a package, just send me an email - I'm happy to share whatever education I can on keeping up with AI,"' Owens told Inman. The investigation into the incident remains ongoing. Palestine Action demonstrators may never be able to visit the US or work in education if they take part in this weekend's protest, the Met Police have warned. The force have said those in attendance risk being arrested under the Terrorism Act. It comes after three supporters of Palestine Action were the first to be charged under the Act, Scotland Yard has said. The group was proscribed as a terror organisation last month after an alleged attack on aircraft at RAF Brize Norton. Two women and a man, who were arrested at a demonstration on July 5 and later charged, are set to appear in court next month. Deputy Assistant Commissioner Ade Adelekan has warned participating at the protest could have serious consequences for the future. The Daily Telegraph reported he said: 'I would urge those people to consider the seriousness of being arrested under the Terrorism Act and the very real long term implications from - from travel, to employment, to finances, that such an arrest is likely to have for their future.' Being arrested for a terror offence - even if later cleared - could stop you from travelling to the US or working in education, lawyers have urged. Palestine Action demonstrators may never be able to visit the US or work in education if they take part in this weekend's protest, the Met Police have warned Pictured: A protester held up a '1984' sign criticising the Met Police at a protest in Whitehall on July 19 Membership of, or support for, Palestine Action is a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison, under the Terrorism Act 2000. At least 500 activists are set to swarm the police this Saturday and join a demonstration at Parliament Square, in which they will hold signs saying 'I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action'. It has fuelled fears of a 'mass arrest' event, with police and No 10 confirming this week that anyone who supported the newly proscribed terror group would be arrested. But Tim Crosland, co-founder of Defender Our Juries, which is organising this weekend's protest, said he was 'proud' of those who had signed up to show support for Palestine Action, calling them 'the moral backbone of this country'. He told Times Radio that arresting peaceful protesters was a waste of police time. Prison bosses have initiated emergency measures for a possible influx of arrested demonstrators this weekend amid concerns that some jails are close to full. A leading Australian doctor has downplayed concerns that a major virus outbreak in China could spark a global health crisis, but warned the real threat lies in how the Chinese Government handles the situation. More than 7,000 cases of the mosquito-borne virus chikungunya have been confirmed in southern China, with the majority found in the Shunde district of Foshan. The outbreak began in late July, prompting authorities to impose Covid-style lockdowns in some affected areas. No deaths have been reported so far. Dr Nick Coatsworth, one of Australia's most prominent medical experts, told 2GB's Ben Fordham that Australians shouldn't panic. He said the biggest issue with it originating in China was that the virus is being transmitted in very densely populated areas that can make an epidemic difficult to control. 'I think China needs to be concerned but I don't think we need to share that concern in Australia,' he said. Dr Coatsworth said the virus itself wasn't his main worry, but rather the Chinese Government's track record on transparency during potential pandemics. 'The thing I worry about is not the virus, but I continue to worry about the transparency of the Chinese government if there is a new virus,' he said. 'Unfortunately, we saw no signs after the pandemic. We saw the Morrison government try very hard to get some insight into what actually happened at Wuhan and ultimately that failed. Nick Coatsworth is more worried about the Chinese government's lack of transparency than the virus A worker sprays insecticide at a public housing estate following reports of cases of chikungunya 'That the bigger issue for the world than this chikungunya virus at the moment.' Australia has its own version of chikungunya, the Ross River virus. While chikungunya cannot be transmitted directly from person to person, people can become infected when mosquitoes feed on an infected person and then bite someone else. If a pregnant woman is infected around the time of delivery, the baby can also be infected at birth, which often results in severe illness. 'I've seen cases of chikungunya in returned travellers to Australia so that's something we'd have to look out for,' Dr Coatsworth said. 'I don't think it's going to be something like Covid where it spreads around the world in a pandemic fashion.' Though not usually fatal, chikungunya can cause a sudden onset of fever, severe joint pain, muscle aches, headaches, nausea, fatigue and skin rashes. While most people recover within a week or two, joint pain can linger for months or even years. In rare cases, chikungunya can progress to severe dengue-like illness, which may result in internal bleeding, organ failure, and even death. The virus has also been linked to eye, heart, and neurological complications. Newborns, the elderly, and people with underlying health conditions are at increased risk of severe illness, and there is also some evidence linking chikungunya infection to long-term health problems like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure. There is currently no cure or specific treatment for chikungunya, but symptoms can be managed with acetaminophen (paracetamol) and by staying hydrated. The nasty virus which can cause pain for months is spread via mosquito bites Dr Coatsworth explained that the word 'chikungunya' literally means 'to double over or bend over' - a reference to the posture of sufferers due to intense joint pain. 'Some people can get some funny side-effects with their nerves and nervous system,' he added. There are currently two vaccinations which protect against the virus; IXCHIQ for those aged between 18 and 64 and Vimkunya for those 12 years and older. A Virginia youth pastor posed as a teenager to groom underage girls on social media apps - exchanging appalling messages while luring them into sex chats. The 34-year-old, known to his church as 'Pastor Jake' is now behind bars, accused of posing as a boy to coax sexually explicit photos and videos from the girls. At one point the perv pastor told an underage girl that it was 'time for her to see her first d***.' Jacob Ryan Barnett, Associate Pastor at Catawba Valley Baptist Church, was arrested on Wednesday in North Carolina following a months-long FBI investigation that uncovered a disturbing digital trail of exploitation and manipulation. According to a federal affidavit, Barnett used TikTok, Snapchat, and Discord to pose as a 17-year-old named 'Jodie Johnson,' messaging teen girls across the country and pressuring them into sending him explicit material. The videos included footage they had recorded of themselves at the ages of 14 and 15. One of the victims, identified in court documents as 'M.V.,' told investigators she believed she really was communicating with a teenage boy from Virginia. But in reality, the number belonged to Barnett - a father, a pastor, and a man who just 11 days ago delivered a sermon titled 'The Story of Salvation.' 'While the charges against Mr. Barnett are just allegations at this point, the facts presented do serve as a reminder for all parents to be aware of what their children are doing online,' said U.S. Attorney C. Todd Gilbert. Jacob Ryan Barnett, 34, a Virginia youth pastor and dad to a two-year-old boy allegedly groomed underage girls online and exchanged explicit messages and graphic images between phone calls to his wife 'Our kids occupy a world where those seeking to harm them have countless avenues, like TikTok, Discord, Snapchat and others, to reach across vast distances directly into their bedrooms.' The details in the affidavit are stomach-churning. According to federal investigators, Barnett - as 'Jodie Johnson' - messaged M.V. in May via TikTok and quickly moved the conversation to text. He repeatedly asked for pictures of her genitals and at one point told her it was 'time for her to see her first d**k.' 'I don't know if im readyyyy im only 15 and I barely know anything abt that whole topiccc,' the girl replied, according to the FBI affidavit. Despite her hesitation, Barnett is accused of continuing to pressure her for material and eventually received a sexually explicit video that the girl admitted was filmed when she was just 14. Investigators say Barnett was simultaneously on the phone with his wife during some of these exchanges. On May 19, phone records showed that Barnett messaged the girl at 4:30pm, answered a call from his wife at 4:32pm, received a batch of photos from the teen at 4:33pm, and replied to her again at 4:34pm. Barnett faces federal charges of attempted coercion and enticement of a minor, which carry a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and a maximum of life in prison 'In other words, within less than five minutes, Barnett messaged M.V., talked to his wife for a minute, and messaged M.V. again,' the affidavit notes. Barnett also reportedly sent M.V. a photo of himself in boxers with the outline of his genitalia visible and asked when she last shaved her vagina. She responded with another video, filmed at age 14, depicting herself masturbating. On May 20, the FBI National Threat Operations Center received an online tip from a concerned mother in Michigan who had discovered the texts on her daughter's phone. After subpoenas to Verizon and Google, investigators linked the number behind the 'Jodie Johnson' alias to Jacob Barnett using his official Bethel Baptist Church email and tied to other accounts. Barnett previously served five years at Bethel Baptist Church in Yorktown, Virginia, where he was head of the children's ministry. He later moved to Catawba Valley Baptist Church, where he routinely interacted with youth and students. A second victim has now also come forward. The case has stunned the conservative church community in southwest Virginia, where Barnett served as the Associate Pastor of Students & Mobilization at Catawba Valley Baptist Church According to the affidavit, Barnett communicated with another 15-year-old girl on Snapchat using the usernames 'duh_jodie' and 'jodie_j1234.' Like the first alleged victim he again told her it was 'time to see her first d**k' and encouraged her to send sexually explicit images. He reportedly described in graphic terms how he would have sex with her and instructed her on how to masturbate. Though many of the files the girl sent were encrypted or deleted, the FBI concluded based on context that they were explicit in nature. Barnett's TikTok account reportedly followed 'thousands of minor girls,' investigators said. The case has stunned the conservative church community in southwest Virginia, where Barnett served as the Associate Pastor of Students & Mobilization. The church's granite monument bearing the Ten Commandments still stands outside its Troutville building, but Pastor Jake's name has vanished from its website. Barnett is currently pursuing a master's degree at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and previously graduated from The College at Southeastern in 2018. His wife, Cayla Barnett, is a graduate of Liberty University, which has faced its own scandals related to sex abuse in recent years. The couple's church bio says they enjoy 'visiting historical places such as the Battlefields of Yorktown and Colonial Williamsburg,' and that Barnett 'loves teaching the next generation about the truths of the Bible.' 'Together, [Jake and his wife] enjoy visiting historical places such as the Battlefields of Yorktown and Colonial Williamsburg and spending time with family.' Less than two weeks ago on Sunday July 27, Barnett delivered a sermon in which he reportedly referenced the importance of 'settling with your accuser.' He was arrested three days later. Before his arrest, Barnett briefly answered a phone call from The Independent and claimed to be 'totally confused' about the allegations and refusing to elaborate. Barnett faces federal charges of attempted coercion and enticement of a minor, which carry a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and a maximum of life in prison. He is scheduled to appear in US District Court in Roanoke early next week. 'The heinous crimes Barnett is charged with are what keep parents up at night,' said Ann Busby, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's Richmond Division. 'Educating our kids and communities about the threats posed by faceless, online personas is crucial to maintaining their safety. Working with our partners, FBI Richmond will bring the full weight of the justice system on anyone who attempts to harm our children. 'The FBI will never stop searching for these predators and bringing justice for victims.' It was the moment Erin Patterson had been dreading for years in the lead up to her epic murder trial. So damning was her record of interview with detectives that, after jurors were shown it, Patterson's legal team put her in the witness box in a last ditch bid to save her skin. The gamble failed - and she now faces life in jail after she was convicted of murdering three of her husband's family and a further attempted murder. A heavily-edited, 20-minute version of that interview was shown to the jury during Patterson's epic ten-week trial and has now been made public following a legal challenge by Daily Mail and other news outlets. The interview had taken place on Saturday, August 5, 2023, at Wonthaggi police station in Victoria's east. It was the first time police had taken Patterson into custody to interview her over the deadly lunch. Wearing a grey jumper and seated in an interview room opposite Homicide Squad top cop Detective Senior Constable Stephen Eppingstall, Patterson was unprepared for the grilling she was about to endure. 'Do you own a dehydrator?' the detective asked her. Erin Patterson looks to the camera as two Homicide Squad detectives conclude her record of interview 'No,' Patterson replied. Moments earlier, Patterson had been told police had found the instruction manual for a Sunbeam Food Lab electronic dehydrator at her Leongatha property. Detectives had searched the property earlier that day and seized all matter of items. 'What's that in relation to? Do you know anything about a dehydrator in your house or...' 'No,' Patterson replied. 'I've got manuals for lots of stuff I've collected over the years. I've had all sorts of appliances and I just keep them all.' 'All right. When did you own a dehydrator?' Senior Constable Eppingstall asked. 'I don't know,' Patterson replied. 'I don't know. I might've had one years ago.' Homicide Squad top cop Detective Senior-Constable Stephen Eppingstall walks from the Latrobe Valley Law Courts after the jury returned its guilty verdicts The jury had already seen Erin Patterson dump the dehydrator before they watched the record of interview in which she denied owning one By the time the jury watched the record of interview, it had already seen CCTV footage of Patterson dumping the dehydrator at the local tip on August 1, 2023. Weeks earlier, when the trial opened, the jury had been told by Patterson's barrister Colin Mandy, SC, that she had repeatedly lied to police. Mr Mandy told the jury Patterson had lied about having cancer and had, in fact, dumped a dehydrator later found to have traces of death cap mushrooms. 'She panicked because she was overwhelmed, because there were four people that had become so ill because of the food she served them,' he said. But until the interview was shown to the jury, the lies had been just words. Now the evidence was right before them, raw and ultimately damning. 'Obviously, we've got concerns in relation to these mushrooms and where they've come from,' Senior-Constable Eppingstall told Patterson. 'Is that something you've done in the past, foraging for mushrooms?' Erin Patterson hands over a phone to Homicide Squad Detective Sergeant Luke Farrell on August 5, 2023 Erin Patterson in the back of a prison van. She faces serving the rest of her life behind bars Patterson's barrister Colin Mandy, SC, did all he could do to provide his client with a defence 'Never,' Patterson replied. 'All right. Do you preserve foods or anything like that?' 'No,' came the answer. 'Have you ever dehydrated food or anything like that?' 'No,' Patterson said. Senior Constable Eppingstall had made it clear to Patterson that she was in serious trouble. 'So, do you understand why we're interviewing you today?' he asked Patterson. 'Yep, I do,' she replied. Photographers scramble to shoot Patterson as she is ferried back to jail during the epic Morwell trial What remained of the fatal lunch served by Erin Patterson 'But I'm sure you understand too, that, like, I've never been in a situation like this before,' Patterson said. 'And I've been very, very helpful with the Health Department through the week because I wanted to help that side of things, as much as possible. 'Because I do want to know what happened.' Eppingstall thanked Patterson for being 'helpful' in pointing out a few items of interest during the search that morning - despite his belief he was talking to a cold-blooded killer. In reality, Patterson had not helped health officials trying to find the non-existent Asian grocer where she claimed to have purchased the deadly mushrooms. Instead, she had led them on a wild goose chase that delayed doctors from working out how best to treat her sick in-laws in the desperate hours after the lunch. The veteran detective spelled out to Patterson exactly what had happened after she served those poisoned beef Wellingtons. 'Following eating at your house, Donald, Ian, Gail and Heather all become so ill that they ultimately ended up in the intensive care unit at both the Dandenong Hospital and moved to the Austin Hospital, all right,' he told her. Detective Senior-Constable Stephen Eppingstall knew he was talking to a cold-blooded killer and went about exposing her lies, bringing justice to the families of Patterson's victims 'Following that, (Heather and Gail) had a deterioration in their condition and that they become so ill that their livers have failed, all right. 'Donald underwent a transplant last night and...his condition is still extremely critical as of last report.' By that stage, Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson were both dead. Don Patterson would become the third to die, later that same day. The jury heard Patterson was questioned about the reason for the lunch and why she had invited her in-laws over. 'Because I've got no other family,' she said. 'I want to maintain those relationships in spite of what's happening with Simon. I love them a lot.' Patterson told the detective she had tried to keep a positive relationship with Simon's parents for the good of her children despite their separation. Patterson had been dressed in similar garb when police hauled her in for questioning A birds-eye view of Erin Patterson's Leongatha home where the deadly lunch took place 'Nothing that's ever happened between us, nothing he's ever done to me, will change the fact that they're good, decent people that have never done anything wrong by me, ever,' she said. Senior Constable Eppingstall had been the last prosecution witness to be put before the jury. When he was done, there were few who had observed the trial from the beginning and who still held any reasonable doubt about Patterson's guilt. With their case in dire trouble, the defence made the monumental decision to put Patterson in the witness box to try to talk her way out of the diabolical situation she was in. Again, the jury saw through her lies. On July 7, the jury found that Patterson, 50, had murdered her in-laws Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson in cold blood. She was also convicted of the attempted murder of Heather's husband Ian, after a month-long trial in the Supreme Court of Victoria in the Latrobe Valley, in the state's east. Patterson will return to court on August 25 for a pre-sentence hearing. She faces life behind bars without parole. Death cap mushroom killer Erin Patterson's bid to keep pre-trial evidence a secret until her appeal has failed after a judge found open justice is 'fundamental'. Patterson, 50, wore a black top and glasses as she faced Melbourne's Supreme Court on Friday morning by video link from prison for a brief hearing. Justice Christopher Beale set down two days for Patterson's plea hearing, which prosecutors said would include 'a lot' of victim impact statements. The hearing will take place on August 25 and 26 at the court in Melbourne and not Morwell, where the near-three-month trial was held, due to maintenance issues. Prosecutor Jane Warren confirmed the first day of the hearing would be taken up with statements from victims, including family and friends of the three people she murdered: Don and Gail Patterson, 70, and Heather Wilkinson, 66. The sole survivor of the deadly July 2023 lunch, Ian Wilkinson, is also likely to give the court his statement. After firming up court dates, Justice Beale overturned an application by Patterson's legal team to keep all pre-trial evidence secret to preserve her appeal rights. Patterson cannot lodge an appeal until after she is sentenced. Death cap mushroom killer Erin Patterson's bid to keep pre-trial evidence a secret until her appeal has failed after a judge found open justice is 'fundamental' Her defence team had argued pre-trial evidence should not be released to media due to 'unprecedented' reporting, with several podcasts, documentaries and a mini-series in development. Defence barrister Colin Mandy SC claimed releasing the evidence could leave an indelible impression on a jury if she successfully appealed and faced a retrial. However, media argued against the claim, saying it was 'speculative' she would face another trial and that jurors would be directed not to engage with the evidence. Justice Beale found that it was 'unlikely' an appeal of Patterson's conviction would succeed, but that - and the possibility of a retrial - could not be excluded. He ultimately ruled in favour of the media and did not make a suppression order over the evidence. 'Open justice is a fundamental concern of our criminal justice jurisdiction,' he said. The ruling means that evidence, including information about the alleged attempted poisonings of her husband, Simon Patterson, can now be reported. The judge also approved release of Patterson's police interview. Her defence team had argued pre-trial evidence should not be released to media due to 'unprecedented' reporting, with several podcasts, documentaries and a mini-series in development Patterson was found guilty of three murders and one attempted murder over the July 29, 2023, lunch at her home in Leongatha. The mother-of-two deliberately served up a death cap mushroom-laced beef Wellington to Don, Gail, Heather and Ian. She pleaded not guilty and denied all charges, including over the alleged attempted murder of Simon. Those charges were dropped at the beginning of her trial in April. Patterson spent eight days in the witness box during her regional Victorian trial, where she admitted a series of lies and said she may have accidentally included foraged mushrooms in the beef Wellington. This included lies to police about her interest in wild mushrooms, and lies about owning a food dehydrator which she dumped at a local tip. The trial became a media circus, involving 252 media outlets including 15 international outlets, making it the biggest matter the Supreme Court has managed in recent history. Patterson will have 28 days to lodge an appeal after she is sentenced. Israel's security cabinet approved Benjamin Netanyahu's plan for a military incursion into Gaza after the prime minister pledged to take over the entire Palestinian territory. 'The IDF will prepare for the takeover of Gaza City while ensuring the provision of humanitarian aid to the civilian population outside the combat zones,' the prime minister's office said. The office added that the proposal was to 'defeat Hamas' and humanitarian aid would be provided, Axios first reported. Netanyahu's office told the Times of Israel that the majority of cabinet members supported five principles. These included the disarmament of Hamas, the return of all 50 remaining hostages, the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip, Israeli Security control over the Gaza Strip, and an alternative civilian government that isn't Hamas or the Palestinian Authority. When if the IDF planned on taking control of the entirety of the Gaza Strip in a interview, he responded, 'We intend to.' 'We don't want to keep it. We want to have a security perimeter. We don't want to govern it. We don't want to be there as a governing body,' he added. 'We want to hand it over to Arab forces that will govern it properly, without threatening us, and [to give] Gazans a good life.' Netanyahu said that the goal of an enhanced military occupation is to 'liberate ourselves and the people of Gaza from the awful terror of Hamas'. Israel's security cabinet approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's (pictured) plan for a military incursion on Friday Netanyahu said in an interview with Fox News that Israel intends to take control of the entire Gaza Strip The prime minister added that Israel doesn't want to govern the Gaza Strip and plans on handing it over to Arab forces Military chief Eyal Zamir had voiced opposition to reoccupying Gaza. A source in the Prime Minister's Office told The Jerusalem Post that Zamir was passed a message that read: 'If this does not suit you, then you should resign.' Israeli officials described a meeting this week with the head of the military as tense, saying Zamir had pushed back on expanding Israel's campaign. Two government sources said any resolution by the security cabinet would need to be approved by the full cabinet, which may not meet until Sunday. Among the scenarios considered ahead of the security meeting was a phased takeover of areas in Gaza not yet under military control, one of the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Evacuation warnings could be issued to Palestinians in specific areas of Gaza, potentially giving them several weeks before the military moves in, the source added. Total control of the territory would reverse a 2005 decision by Israel by which it withdrew Israeli citizens and soldiers from Gaza, while retaining control over its borders, airspace, and utilities. Right-wing parties blame that withdrawal decision for the militant Palestinian group Hamas gaining power there in a 2006 election. It was unclear whether Netanyahu was foreseeing a prolonged takeover or a short-term operation. It remains unclear whether Israel is planning a long-term takeover of the Gaza Strip (Pictured: Palestinians in the aftermath of an Israeli strike on the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip) The United Nations said that further occupation in Gaza is 'deeply alarming' (Pictured: Smoke and flames rising from an apartment complex hit by an Israeli strike) Hamas said in a statement that Netanyahu's comments were 'a blatant coup' against the negotiation process. 'Netanyahu's plans to expand the aggression confirm beyond any doubt that he seeks to get rid of his captives and sacrifice them,' the statement said. Arab countries would 'only support what Palestinians agree and decide on,' a Jordanian official source told Reuters, adding that security in Gaza should be handled through 'legitimate Palestinian institutions.' Hamas official Osama Hamdan told Al Jazeera the group would treat any force formed to govern Gaza as an 'occupying' force linked to Israel. The White House had no immediate comment. President Donald Trump has declined to say whether he supported or opposed a potential complete military takeover of Gaza by Israel. The U.N. has called reports about a possible expansion of Israel's military operations in Gaza 'deeply alarming' if true. The idea, pushed by far-right ministers in Netanyahu's coalition, of Israeli forces moving into areas they do not already hold in the enclave has also generated alarm in Israel. Outside the prime minister's office in Jerusalem on Thursday evening, hundreds of demonstrators protested against an expanded war, demanding an immediate end to the military campaign in return for the release of all the hostages. The news of a full takeover of Gaza City comes as graphic images of starving Palestinians have resulted in worldwide calls to end the war (Pictured: Israeli activists protesting the war) There are 50 hostages still held in Gaza, of whom Israeli officials believe 20 are alive. Most of those freed so far emerged as a result of diplomatic negotiations. Talks toward a ceasefire that could have seen more hostages released collapsed in July. Recent images of starving children from Gaza have also shocked the world and fueled international criticism of Israel over the sharply worsening conditions in the enclave. The Israeli military says it controls about 75% of Gaza. Most of Gaza's population of about 2 million has been displaced multiple times over the past 22 months, and aid groups are warning that residents are on the verge of famine. Its unclear how many people reside in the city, which was Gazas largest before the war. Hundreds of thousands fled Gaza City under evacuation orders in the opening weeks of the war, but many returned during a ceasefire at the start of this year. Expanding military operations in Gaza would put the lives of countless Palestinians and the roughly 20 remaining Israeli hostages at risk while further isolating Israel intentionally. A young law student has lost his legal battle after disputing a parking fine, declaring that 'cash is no longer king'. Oliver Griffiths, who is studying law at the University of Wollongong, received a $97 fine in July after parking his car on campus. The uni changed its parking policy last year, introducing digital parking machines that accept card-only payments. However, Mr Griffiths claimed there was signage visible in the car park stating that payment could be made with 'credit card or coins' at the time he received the fine. At the time, he said he had 'fallen victim to the incoming cashless society'. The cash crusader left a handwritten note on the dash of his Ford Capri, explaining he was happy to organise a cash payment for the parking. He left a $10 note next to the message and also provided his phone number for the parking inspector to call so he could organise payment. But Mr Griffiths was still fined for parking without a ticket. Oliver Griffiths received a $97 fine after parking on his university campus without a ticket Mr Griffiths argued cash was a legal tender in Australia and at the time he received the fine, there were signs stating payment could be made via card or coins (pictured, a note Mr Griffiths left on his car) He tried to fight the case in court but was defeated and described the result as 'just sad'. 'It was always going to be a David and Goliath story and unfortunately Goliath won this one,' Mr Griffiths said. 'Cash is no longer king but we're not going to stop here. We're going to fight to put for a cash mandate, we're going to fight to ensure cash options are accessible.' Mr Griffiths said he only had to pay $85 for his case to be heard in court, but the taxpayer forked out a lot more. 'It was brought up in my sentencing by the prosecutor that this trial cost thousands of dollars. 'You're a criminal when you want to use cash in this country.' Magistrate David Williams fined Mr Griffiths $110, with an additional $13 added for taking the matter to court and using court resources. 'I accept you wanted to pay cash, but there is no evidence you rang the parking inspector HQ, no evidence you went to the main office and asked to pay in cash, and no evidence you decided to park elsewhere,' Mr Williams said, reported in the Daily Telegraph. 'If you can't pay, don't park there.' It comes as an estimated 1.5million Australians still prefer to use cash over digital payments, despite one in four businesses no longer accepting cash. Currently, cash makes up about 10 per cent of all transactions, with projections suggesting it could fall to just seven per cent by 2030. Last year, the Albanese government announced a cash mandate would come into force on January 1, 2026, requiring businesses to offer customers a cash option. Penny Wong has urged Israel not to take over Gaza City, claiming it will 'worsen the humanitarian catastrophe'. Overnight, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his nation intended to take military control of Gaza City in the latest development in the bloody war in the strip that began almost two years ago. 'The IDF will prepare to take control of Gaza City while providing humanitarian aid to the civilian population outside the combat zones,' a translated post on the Israel Defense Forces social media page stated. But Foreign Minister Penny Wong has urged him to resist, describing such action as a 'violation of international law'. 'Australia calls on Israel to not go down this path, which will only worsen the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza,' Senator Wong said on Friday afternoon. 'Permanent forced displacement is a violation of international law.' Senator Wong repeated calls for a ceasefire, the uninterrupted flow of aid and a return of all hostages taken by Hamas on October 7. 'A two-state solution is the only pathway to secure an enduring peace - a Palestinian state and the State of Israel, living side-by-side in peace and security within internationally-recognised borders,' Senator Wong added. Penny Wong has urged Israel not to take over Gaza and worsen the 'humanitarian catastrophe' However, Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief Alex Ryvchin said Israel taking over Gaza would mean the defeat of Hamas, the designated terrorist organisation whose actions triggered the latest conflict. 'I think that the worst thing that could happen is any form of civilian return to Gaza,' he told ABC radio. 'When you have a situation where Hamas refuses to lay down its arms, refuses to release the hostages, refuses the ceasefire that's been on the table since the end of May, it leaves no choice but to complete the job militarily. 'And that's clearly what the prime minister is planning to do.' Netanyahu insisted Israel would eventually hand over the territory to Arab forces. 'We don't want to keep it,' Netanyahu told Fox News. 'We want to have a security perimeter. We don't want to govern it. We don't want to be there as a governing body.' Netanyahu is due to hold a meeting of his cabinet to discuss the plans. Anthony Albanese has previously said recognition of Palestinian statehood is a matter of 'when, not if'. Mr Ryvchin said it appeared inevitable the federal government would recognise a Palestinian state in the near future. 'Australia has bound itself to the Canadians and the French and the British, and all sides point to that (happening),' Mr Ryvchin said. The three G7 nations plan to call for the recognition of Palestine at a United Nations general assembly meeting in New York in September, pending conditions including that Hamas returns the remaining hostages. Israel's assault on Gaza has killed more than 61,000 Palestinians and close to 200 people, nearly half of them children, have died of starvation, according to the Gaza health ministry. With Reuters A Perth man has been fired from his high-paying job after refusing to apologise in writing for calling a non-binary colleague 'he' instead of 'they', in what workplace lawyers described as new legal territory for Australia. The incident unfolded during a leadership training course in February when the older worker introduced his younger colleague to the room as 'he.' Another staff member immediately corrected him. The colleague, a biological male who identifies as neither male nor female, had previously stated their preference to be called 'they' and wore a pronoun badge to avoid confusion, according to The West Australian. The man, 63, apologised on the spot, and the pair appeared to get along for the remainder of the day, even partnering in role-play exercises. But hhis manager informed him a formal complaint had been lodged and that he would need to issue a written apology. He refused, arguing that nobody could not be compelled to call a colleague 'they'. At a Fair Work Commission (FWC) hearing, he argued that if one person had the arbitrary right to use a particular pronoun, then another person had the right not to. The matter was heard privately at the Fair Work Commission, before a settlement was made A Perth man, aged 63, claims he was sacked for misgendering a non-binary colleague (stock) The refusal sparked a backlash from younger co-workers, most of whom sided with the non-binary colleague. In March, the company, which had no formal pronoun policy, launched an investigation and terminated his employment. The man challenged his dismissal, initially planning to take the case to the Federal Court. But the matter was moved into a confidential FWC conciliation, where he was warned that he risked 'violent social backlash' if it went to open court. He ultimately reached a confidential settlement with his former employer. The man told the FWC his stance came from a belief that he was being 'bullied into accepting a position on gender politics.' Since 2013, the Sex Discrimination Act has made it illegal to treat a person unfairly because of gender identity, sexual orientation, or relationship status. Sall Grover (pictured) said that non-binary pronouns were 'nonsensical' and imposed by force About 0.9 per cent of Australians aged over 16 are transgender or gender diverse, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The dispute comes amid another high-profile gender identity case, Tickle v Giggle, in which transgender woman Roxanne Tickle is suing women-only networking app Giggle and its founder Sall Grover for alleged discrimination after she was removed from the platform in 2021. Sall Grover is seeking to appeal a 2024 ruling, which found that she and the app had discriminated against Roxanne Tickle. She weighed in on the Perth incident on Friday. 'This is another example of Australian citizens having their rights destroyed because of gender ideology,' Ms Grover told Daily Mail. 'An ideology that is so nonsensical, it can only be imposed by force. No one has an instinct to call a man 'she' or a woman 'he' or anyone else 'they', 'zir' or any of the other absurd words that have been created.' 'Call yourself whatever you want,' she added. 'But you should not be able to force your personal identity upon anyone else.' Tickle V Giggle's appeal was heard in the Federal Court between Monday and Thursday this week, attracting international attention, including that of Harry Potter author JK Rowling, who publicly supported Ms Grover on social media. CCTV captured the moment four Metropolitan Police officers brawled with a group of Romanians after the force's drunken Christmas boat party descended into violence. Members of the Met's Territorial Support Group (TSG) had been downing beer and Jagerbombs in the afternoon before they attended a party on the River Thames on December 1, 2023. When the boat docked near the London Eye at around 11pm, Jack Sparkes, 34, Max Michaels-Dubois, 33, and Daniel Dean, 38, accused a group of assaulting their colleague Alex Fackerell, 32, before quickly getting embroiled in a fight themselves. Video captured Sparkes and Michael-Dubois then threw punches at a member of the group, before Dean appeared to headbutt one of them. Another member of the TSG, Kelsey Millar, 32, then pushed a man before further assaulting Jhanaelle Samuels, a security guard who had been looking to break the altercation up. Millar, Sparkes, Michaels-Dubois, Dean and Fackerell - who was later acquitted - denied affray. Millar also denied a further assault charge. Despite this and the officers claiming the Romanians had been a 'threat', Sparkes, Michaels-Dubois and Dean were found guilty of affray and Millar's charge of assault was upheld. All four could now face jail, with Judge Rosina Cottage saying 'all options are open, including imprisonment' before the officers, who have been released on bail, are sentenced on October 22. CCTV footage from the scene showed the officers in a brawl with a group of flag-bearing Romanians All four could now face jail, with Judge Rosina Cottage saying 'all options are open, including imprisonment' before the officers are sentenced on October 22 The officers had been drinking beer and Jagerbombs in the afternoon before their boat party in the evening ended by docking near the London Eye The court had heard that Millar was allegedly assaulted by a group of men with foreign accents shortly after the boat had docked and that Fackerell had his head 'busted open' just moments later. While receiving treatment, a different group of Romanians, who had been celebrating a national holiday, walked past and checked on Fackerell's condition, said Philip Stott for the prosecution. One witness said the officers had been 'aggressive' in their response and asked 'were you the ones who did it?' before starting the fight. As nearby security, Samuels said she had witnessed the Romanians being 'outnumbered' and tried to 'defuse the situation'. However, Millar was said to have grabbed Samuels before kneeing her in the left thigh before the security guard punched the officer in retaliation, which she says was in accordance with her training. Michaels-Dubois made his way through the group to discover what had unfolded before he 'shoved' Samuels. Millar, who is 5ft 10in, said she was 'trying to stop' her friends from being hurt and claimed she was unaware that Samuels, who is just 5ft 2in, was a woman. Millar also failed to spot the security accredited armband Samuels was wearing. Jack Sparkes, 34, was among the officers involved in the brawl Stott asked: 'You cannot possibly have thought she was part of a passing group of Romanians?' to which Millar replied: 'I did.' PC James Mace, a TSG officer who was not on trial but was called as a prosecution witness, claimed a Romanian man had said 'I'll cut you' as he restrained him. The officer added: '[He was] aggressive, dominant and trying to out-alpha the situation. I had nowhere to go.' Mace said the pair then fell to the ground and he saw 'something shiny in his hand'. and told the jury he disposed of the item in a flower box outside the restaurant. However, no weapon was recovered from the scene and the group were not arrested or called to give evidence. The court was also told that none of the officers reported the incident to the police. Chief Superintendent Colin Wingrove, who leads the Met's Task Force, said: 'What was supposed to be a celebratory Christmas social event turned into a protracted altercation that saw off duty officers involved in drunken fighting with numerous members of the public. 'The court did not dispute that before and during the incident, a number of officers were themselves assaulted and injured. 'But that is no excuse for their subsequent actions which showed a serious lack of self-control and fell well below the standards that we and the public rightly expect officers to hold themselves to, both on and off duty. 'The officers have all been on restricted duties, with misconduct proceedings paused, pending this trial. Those proceedings will now be progressed and the officers' status reviewed in light of the convictions.' The son of a British man accused of trying to drown his daughter-in-law in a swimming pool was jailed last year for running over his own father. Alex Gibbon, 34, is understood to have hit Mark Gibbon with an 80,000 Porsche following a blazing row over the business they ran together in May 2023. Mark, 62, from Buckinghamshire, is currently in jail in the US after being charged with the attempted murder of Jasmine Wyld - Alex's former partner. The Daily Mail revealed yesterday that Mark, who allegedly held Ms Wyld's head under water while in Florida during an argument over his will, was in a romantic relationship with his son's ex partner. A family source told us that Alex and his father no longer speak - and last year Alex was jailed for trying to drive a car at his estranged father. It is understood he hit Mark when he stood in front of the car while he was trying to drive away in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire. Alex pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving and harassment without violence. He was sentenced in February 2024 to two years' in prison, given a three-year driving ban and a five-year restraining order. Alex Gibbon, 34, (pictured with Jasmine Wyld) is understood to have hit Mark Gibbon with an 80,000 Porsche following a blazing row over the business they ran together in May 2023 Mark Gibbon, 62, has been charged with two counts of battery and one of attempted second-degree murder in Florida where he was on holiday with his daughter-in-law and two grandchildren Mark Gibbon has split from his wife and now lives alone in a 800,000 semi-detached home in Beaconsfield A family source told the Daily Mail: 'There was a big argument between Alex and his father in the street. 'Alex had had enough and got into his car to try and drive away but Mark got in front of the vehicle to stop him from leaving. 'Alex shouted to him to "get out the way" but Mark continued to obstruct him and was hit by the car as a result.' Mark was taken into custody in Florida on August 3 after he allegedly pushed his daughter-in-law under the water in a swimming pool. Ms Wyld was left with a scratch on her chest and fearing for her life following the alleged incident on their luxury holiday. Ms Wyld's nine-year-old daughter was allegedly forced to fight Mark off to stop him drowning her mother in a pool at the Solterra Resort in Davenport, Florida, near Disneyworld. Mark is accused of pushing Jasmine's head 'under the water and holding her down multiple times', according to the arrest affidavit. He has split from his wife and now lives alone in a 800,000 semi-detached home in Beaconsfield. Meanwhile Ms Wyld separated from Mark's son Alex, with whom she shares two young children, in 2021. The source continued: 'Mark and Jasmine have been seeing each other for a few years, but they've never admitted it. 'Alex and his dad don't speak at all. There have been a number of issues within the family. Jasmine Wyld (left), 33, had been in a relationship with her father-in-law Mark Gibbon (right), 62, when he allegedly tried to drown her in a hotel swimming pool Ms Wyld, 33, is the daughter-in-law Gibbon allegedly tried to kill in a row over his will. She was reportedly upset that despite being in a relationship with him, she was not named in his will Ms Wyld is a hairdresser from Beaconsfield in Buckinghamshire and has reportedly been seen staying at her father-in-law Gibbon's 800,000 property in recent months, angering the family 'He feels an awful betrayal at how his dad has struck up a relationship with the mother of his two children. 'Mark and Jasmine do an awful lot together and they go away on holiday with the children a couple of times every year. 'She is always round at his house. She has a place of her own but she's nearly always in Beaconsfield with Mark. 'They went to Florida two years ago and have been to Budapest where she posted pictures of them together like a couple. 'I don't know for sure what happened on this holiday and why Mark has apparently tried to drown her. 'But I have been told that Jasmine was unhappy that they have been in a relationship for a few years and she is not named in his will.' Mark runs a successful lighting firm called MRG Lighting has working on television and film sets, as well as on music videos for Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith and Paloma Faith. Set up in 2023, MRG Lighting Limited had reserves of 122,600 in its first year of trading. But another of his businesses Ultralight UK Limited has seen its fortunes slide recently. Two years ago it had cash reserves of 577,618,. But by March last year it was 152,060 in the red. Mark also runs a fledgling hair salon called Sage Hairdressing Limited, set up in July 2024. Ms Wyld - who has since returned back home from the US - has posted several photographs of her with her father-in-law on trips abroad Ms Wyld and Gibbon have been holidaying together at various exotic foreign locations since their respective relationships broke down Ms Wyld's nine-year-old daughter reportedly bravely jumped into the pool to try and save her mother when she witnessed her grandfather trying to plunge her under the water The source added: 'Mark is worth about 800,000 and he is leaving everything to his grandchildren. 'He's a successful businessman, who runs his own company and owns his own home. His will has caused some tension in the family.' Alex, 34, had worked with his father and was appointed a director with Ultralight UK Limited in 2019. He was involved in the production of The Queen's Christmas Day speech a few years ago. However, he left the company in 2023 and is said to have had a blazing row with his father in the street afterwards, leading to him running his father over with the car. Alex's father regularly holidays with Ms Wyld and his two grandchildren. The pair travelled together with the children - but no other relatives - to Florida together in 2023 and visited Budapest in Hungary in December the same year. Ms Wyld - who has since returned back home from the U.S - has posted several photographs of her with her father-in-law on trips abroad. He has also posted images of them all together including a treasured snap of the family visiting a pumpkin patch before Halloween last year. Ms Wyld has been spending an increasing amount of time staying over at his house with the children, says the family source. Neighbours in Buckinghamshire yesterday told of their shock. One said: 'When I read that he'd been arrested on suspicion of attempting to drown his daughter-in-law I just couldn't believe it. Ms Wyld has praised her father-in-law Gibbon fun loving nature previously on social media Gibbon was on a luxury holiday with his family at the Solterra Resort in Davenport (pictured) when he got into an argument about his will, according to the Polk County Sheriff's Office 'She spends a lot of time at his home with her children and Mark absolutely dotes on his grandkids. They go on holiday together regularly and are with each other a lot. 'He's a lovely guy - or so it seems to us - I didn't think he was capable of such a thing. He's never displayed any anger or violence while living here.' According to Polk County Sheriff's Office in Florida, Mr Gibbon had shoved Ms Wyld's head under the water of the pool following a row last Sunday and pushed his granddaughter away when she jumped in to stop him. He allegedly only stopped the attempted drowning when two neighbouring sisters saw what was happening and shouted over that they had called the Sheriff's Office. He was taken into custody around 5.19pm on August 3 and is understood to have told police he had been drinking and admitted to pushing his daughter-in-law under the water but denied trying to drown her. The police report revealed that Ms Wyld 'advised that she could not breathe and believed that she was going to drown. The victim advised that she had to fight Mark in order to get away from him and from under the water but he kept pushing her back under.' Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said: 'It's great that Polk County draws visitors from all across the world, but we expect vacationers to behave while they visit with us, just as we expect our lifelong residents to do the same. 'Because Mr Gibbon couldn't control his anger, he may find himself spending a lot more time in Florida than he had anticipated.' Mr Gibbon has been charged with attempted second-degree murder and battery. He is next due in court on September 9. This is the shocking moment a McDonald's customer jumped over the counter and started brawling with staff. The fight appears to have taken place in a branch of the fast food restaurant chain in the Acton area of west London. The astonishing video, posted to social media platform X yesterday afternoon, sees a raging customer appear to throw something violently over the counter. The clip, seemingly filmed by a delivery driver waiting to pick up an order, then shows the man jump on top of the counter and over it into the kitchen area. A McDonald's spokesperson has told the Daily Mail the firm is 'assisting the Police with their enquiries'. He lunges for a particular member of staff, appearing to try to throw a punch at him, as two others grapple with him to hold him back. The workers firmly raise their voices to reason with him as started onlookers scatter backwards while watching warily on. The customer then goes in for another punch, visibly frightening the staff member, whose colleague covers him with his arms to hold back the attacker. This is the shocking moment (pictured) a McDonald's customer jumped over the counter and started brawling with staff The fight (pictured) appears to have taken place in a branch of the fast food restaurant chain in the Acton area of west London The astonishing video (pictured), posted to social media platform X yesterday afternoon, sees a raging customer appear to throw something violently over the counter Still holding on to each other, the two men slowly retreat into the kitchen but the enraged customer is relentless and pursues them. Clearly keen to discourage further violence, the two workers do not strike out as the threatening man strides ominously towards them. But soon, things escalate even further, with the customer tackling the worker he originally threatened to the ground. The other staff member tries to pull them apart but with the burly customer's back to him, he struggles to properly intervene. Another worker rushes to help, with the two of them eventually managing to pull the man off their colleague. Desperate to bring the tussle to an end, they are forced to grab the customer's shirt to drag him away - which seems to have almost come off him amid his exertions. A crowd of delivery drivers watches on, seemingly lost for words by the suddenness of the fight breaking out, as others in the restaurant shout in shock. A female staff member's voice calls out for their help, urging: 'Can you help us please? Drivers, please! Drivers, can you help us?' It comes as fears about growing crime levels in London escalate, with the British capital recently dubbed the 15th most dangerous city for crime in Europe. Pictured: File photo A McDonald's spokesperson said: 'The safety and security of our people and our customers is our utmost priority it is completely unacceptable to see anyone behaving this way. 'We have a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to violent and anti-social behaviour, and we are currently assisting the Police with their enquiries.' The Metropolitan Police has been approached for comment. It comes as fears about growing crime levels in London escalate, with the British capital recently dubbed the 15th most dangerous city for crime in Europe. London, which is also the 100th worst out of 385 locations around the world, is less safe than rival European cities from Athens to Brussels and Milan to Barcelona. It is also worse than major US cities such as New York, Los Angeles and Dallas as well as other global destinations from Cancun to Cairo and Bali to Bangalore. The city is however only the fifth worst UK location for crime - behind Bradford, Coventry, Birmingham and Manchester, according to Numbeo's Crime Index. The data, which is compiled from global survey responses and has been updated regularly since 2012, ranks London particularly badly for four categories out of 15. These are the capital's 'level of crime'; 'crime increasing in the past five years'; 'problem people using or dealing drugs'; and 'safety walking alone during night'. READ MORE: Chilling reason why cops tap your car boot when stopping you Two young men are fighting for their lives after a suspected stabbing in broad daylight. Emergency services were called to a barber shop on Crawford Street in Queanbeyan in southern NSW about 1.10pm on Friday following reports of a brawl. By the time police arrived, two men believed to be aged in their 20s, had already been rushed to Queanbeyan Hospital with serious injuries. Both men are reported to be in a critical condition. Photos from the scene show a large police presence and the footpath outside the barber shop stained with blood, the Canberra Star reported. Police closed off a lane of traffic to motorists as investigators scoured the scene and placed evidence markers along the footpath. Nearby businesses, include a newsagent, other hair salons and a Kmart were forced to close their doors. 'Early indications suggest the injured men were stabbed,' a police statement read. Police have established a crime scene outside a barber shop where two men were stabbed in Queanbeyan Police were called to the scene about 1.10pm following reports of a brawl and stabbing 'It is not known whether other weapons were involved.' Detectives have established a crime scene and launched an investigation. The incident has shocked the tight-knit community near the ACT border. 'It had a bad reputation a long time ago, but its actually a really lovely place in the 10-20 years Ive known it,' one mum told the publication. 'Thats why were moving back... I wouldve never guessed something like this couldve happened here though.' Another local added: 'On the surface it seems to be a very peaceful place. I wouldnt expect something like this to happen.' Anyone with information is urged to contact Queanbeyan Police Station or Crime Stoppers. Black-and-white snub-nosed monkeys seen at nature reserve in SW China's Yunnan People's Daily Online) 15:24, August 08, 2025 Black-and-white snub-nosed monkeys are seen at the Xiangguqing area of the Baima Snow Mountain National Nature Reserve in Weixi county, Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Yunnan Province. (Photo courtesy of the Yunnan golden monkey national park) The Xiangguqing area of the Baima Snow Mountain National Nature Reserve in Weixi county, Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Yunnan Province, is a sanctuary for the black-and-white snub-nosed monkey, also known as the Yunnan golden monkey, a national first-class protected animal in China. The black-and-white snub-nosed monkey is an endangered and valued species endemic to China. In recent years, the population of the species at the Baima Snow Mountain National Nature Reserve has increased steadily thanks to the improving ecological environment and conservation efforts. Statistics reveal that the number of black-and-white snub-nosed monkeys at the reserve has risen from around 540 in 1985 to about 2,800 at present, with more than 600 living in the Xiangguqing area. A black-and-white snub-nosed monkey is seen at the Xiangguqing area of the Baima Snow Mountain National Nature Reserve in Weixi county, Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Yunnan Province. (People's Daily Online/Mu Shengyu) Black-and-white snub-nosed monkeys are seen at the Xiangguqing area of the Baima Snow Mountain National Nature Reserve in Weixi county, Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Yunnan Province. (People's Daily Online/Mu Shengyu) Black-and-white snub-nosed monkeys are seen at the Xiangguqing area of the Baima Snow Mountain National Nature Reserve in Weixi county, Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Yunnan Province. (Photo courtesy of the Yunnan golden monkey national park) Black-and-white snub-nosed monkeys are seen at the Xiangguqing area of the Baima Snow Mountain National Nature Reserve in Weixi county, Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Yunnan Province. (Photo courtesy of the Yunnan golden monkey national park) Black-and-white snub-nosed monkeys are seen at the Xiangguqing area of the Baima Snow Mountain National Nature Reserve in Weixi county, Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, southwest China's Yunnan Province. (Photo courtesy of the Yunnan golden monkey national park) (Web editor: Chang Sha, Liang Jun) A married British father was tragically killed on his first mission in Ukraine after volunteering to fight, his wife has confirmed. Alan Robert Williams, 35, had moved from his home in Moreton, Merseyside, on May 7, to fight the invading Russian forces in Kharkiv after losing his job and being admitted to hospital for struggles around his mental health. He went despite having no military experience and his family's insistence he stay. His wife, Stephanie Boyce-Williams, 40, confirmed that he was killed in a Russian drone strike one month after signing up after she and their 12-year-old daughter pleaded with him not to go. The former school site manager signed his military contract on June 10, and his family lost contact with him just over three weeks later on July 2. Comrades in his unit contacted Mrs Boyce-Williams, a civil servant and call handler, to say he had been killed by a Russian drone while trying to receive foreign officers. Sources have said that Mr Williams was targeted by four Russian drones, which dropped from a mortar 20ft from the team near the recaptured village of Lyptsi, just six miles from the Russian border. His team said he was immediately unresponsive and they had to leave his body behind as they fled the ambush. Alan Robert Williams, 35, had moved from his home in Moreton, Merseyside to fight the invading Russian forces in Kharkiv after losing his job in May His wife, Stephanie Boyce-Williams, 40, confirmed that he was killed in a Russian drone strike one month after signing up after she and their 12-year-old daughter pleaded him not to go On July 14, Mr Williams was officially declared as Missing in Action because his body has not yet been recovered. Devastated Mrs Boyce-Williams said she had remained 'in limbo' waiting for confirmation of his death. She told BBC Radio Merseyside: 'We spent time trying to convince him not to go, telling him how it would affect us and how it would impact our daughter, and everything else back home. 'But he was such a strong-willed man that once he got something in his mind there was no way you were changing it. He wanted to help civilians, especially the children.' Mr Williams had lost his job earlier this year before being admitted to hospital for struggles around his mental health. After being discharged, he signed up to fight for Ukraine because he 'couldn't sit back and watch'. The father-of-one underwent training and his mental health appeared to be on the mend, but Mrs Boyce-Williams' fears began to grow. 'He was such a strong-willed man that once he got something in his mind there was no way you were changing it,' she said, adding that he especially wanted to help the children in Ukraine. The heartbroken wife said she had been in touch with her husband every day since he had left for the war-torn country, but she knew something was different the last time she spoke to him. 'I could tell by the tone of his voice when he phoned me to ask permission for me to put my mum down as an emergency contact that there was a bit more to it,' she said. Mrs Boyce-Williams added that he had explained to her in his last text that: 'I want to be straight with you this is dangerous'. After she had received the call from his unit, the mother-of-three was unsure what to believe. Mr Williams went to Ukraine despite having no military experience and his family's insistence he stay Mrs Boyce-Williams said fellow fighters contacted her to say he had been killed in a Russian drone attack in the Kharkiv region by adding 'it doesn't feel real' and she was 'in limbo' waiting for official confirmation of his death But a subsequent call on July 30 from a man who was with her husband from the moment he arrived in Ukraine and was on his last mission confirmed he had died. For Mr Williams to be officially declared dead, his body needs to be retrieved or Boyce-Williams can apply to the Ukrainian courts in six months' time to have him declared officially deceased. The process can only be carried out in Ukraine by submitting documentation in Ukrainian and has left the devastated wife unable to claim any money. She told the Liverpool Echo: 'We have lost Alan's wage completely which was half of our bills. I can't claim anything with regards to being a widow until he is officially declared. 'I am not entitled to anything. I earn too much to claim any single person benefit and I have two adult children who count towards people in my house so I can't claim anything at all.' A Foreign Office spokesman has said they were 'supporting the family of a British man who is missing in Ukraine, and are in contact with the local authorities'. This is the four-bedroom rental property at the centre of an embarrassing eviction row which saw Labour's homelessness minister forced to quit last night. Rushanara Ali is said to have ejected tenants from one of her properties in East London, before putting it back on the market for an extra 700 a month in rent. Following mounting calls to resign amid claims of 'staggering hypocrisy', she said she would stand down from the Government to avoid becoming 'a distraction'. Ms Ali bought the property in the Bow area, roughly a mile from the Olympic Park at Stratford, in May 2014 for 570,000 - just below the asking price of 585,000. She is alleged to have told four tenants to move out of the home, only to relist it at a rent of 4,000 a month - a 700 rise - amid suggestions she failed to find a buyer. Laura Jackson, 33, a self-employed restaurant owner, was one of those who rented the house, roughly a mile from the Olympic Park, in March 2024, at 3,300 a month. The tenant told the i newspaper that she then received an email in November telling her the lease would not be renewed this year, and that she and her housemates would need to move out, giving them four months' notice to March. The current occupants reportedly moved in 'four to five months' ago on the increased terms. It is believed Ms Ali owns at least one other property in the area. The four-bedroom rental property in Bow, East London, at the centre of the eviction row The kitchen of the property which was listed for rental on Rightmove early last year Labour MP Rushanara Ali has resigned as homelessness minister amid the embarrassing row Ms Jackson said: 'It's an absolute joke. Trying to get that much money from renters is extortion. It's morally wrong that MPs can be landlords, especially in their own area. It's a conflict of interest.' The now ex-minister's actions would be illegal under long-awaited legislation to improve renters' rights which is in its final stages after passing through the House of Lords last month. Sources close to Ms Ali told the i the tenants were offered a rolling contract while the house was up for sale and that it only went back on the rental market when no buyer emerged. Fourth Labour minister to leave their role over personal matter Ms Ali is the fourth Labour minister to have left their role over a personal matter. Keir Starmer sacked Andrew Gwynne as health minister and suspended him from Labour in February after The Mail on Sunday exposed his racist and sexist messages, including one vile post saying he hoped a pensioner who didn't vote Labour would die before the next election. Tulip Siddiq resigned as City minister in January, 26 days after the Daily Mail revealed she was facing a major corruption probe in Bangladesh. She denies any wrongdoing. And Louise Haigh stepped down as Transport Secretary in November last year following media revelations that she had pleaded guilty to a fraud charge a decade ago. Advertisement The property is currently on the market for 894,995, down from an initial listing of 914,995 in November last year. A listing on Rightmove advertising the property for rental in February last year said that it was 'very spacious', with 'off street parking for one to two cars'. The home was also said to be 'close to amenities' with 'good transport links' and has a 'separate study'. Ms Ali said in a letter to the Prime Minister that she had followed 'all relevant legal requirements' and said she 'took my responsibilities and duties seriously'. She wrote: 'It has been the honour of my life to have played my part in first securing and then serving as part of this Labour Government. You have my continued commitment, loyalty and support. 'Further to recent reporting, I wanted to make it clear that at all times I have followed all relevant legal requirements. I believe I took my responsibilities and duties seriously, and the facts demonstrate this. 'However, it is clear that continuing in my role will be a distraction from the ambitious work of the Government. I have therefore decided to resign from my ministerial position.' Ms Ali has repeatedly cast herself as a voice for hard-up tenants, and has spoken out against private renters 'being exploited and discriminated against'. And she championed the Renters' Rights Bill going through Parliament, which will ban landlords who evict tenants from re-listing a property for a higher rent until at least six months after the occupants have left. Her actions would have been illegal under this law. Tory leader Kemi Badenoch earlier led calls for Ms Ali to be sacked, telling the Daily Mail: 'I warned that Labour's Renters' Rights Bill was a mess. Rushanara Ali allegedly ejected tenants before putting it back on the market for a higher rent The property in the Bow area is located roughly a mile from the Olympic Park at Stratford Ms Ali's letter to the Prime Minister announcing her resignation as homelessness minister 'Now we find out the minister responsible is doing the opposite of what the Bill proposed the homelessness minister is making people homeless. Rushanara Ali's hypocrisy is shameful.' Conservative Party chairman Kevin Hollinrake added last night: 'It is right that Rushanara Ali has now quit the Government following our calls for her to go. 'Keir Starmer promised a government of integrity but has instead presided over a government of hypocrisy and self-service. 'Once again it's one rule for Labour and one for everyone else. With a fourth minister now having to step down in disgrace, it is clear the British public deserve so much better than the endless sleaze and scandal of this Labour Government.' But one of Ms Ali's Government colleagues insisted she had not broken the law or any rules. Energy minister Miatta Fahnbulleh was asked by Sky News whether the reports about Ms Ali were a 'good look', as the Government brings forward reforms to the rental sector aimed at helping tenants. Ms Fahnbulleh told the broadcaster: 'She's been really clear that she's not broken any rules or any laws. She's chosen to resign, and that is a personal decision for her. What we care about as a Government is that we are levelling the playing field for renters. 'So we absolutely recognise that across the country... I hear stories all the time of people who are not getting a fair deal as a tenant. 'In the end, if you're a renter, you want security in the thing that is your home and so that is what the Renters' Rights Bill is trying to do. I think that is absolutely right.' A listing on Rightmove advertised the property in Bow for rental in February last year The home in East London was also said to be 'close to amenities' with 'good transport links' Tom Darling, director at the Renters' Reform Coalition, said of Ms Ali's resignation: 'This is the right decision. 'Her position was completely untenable given she was going to be required to defend the Government's legislation outlawing practices she herself had recently engaged in. 'The Government must get on now and end no-fault evictions urgently so that no more tenants are subject to the kind of behaviour Rushanara Ali engaged in.' It is understood the Prime Minister had 'full confidence' in the MP, who has represented Bethnal Green and Stepney since 2010, right up to the point she quit. She is an ally of his, having backed him in the Labour leadership race in 2020. Ms Ali previously described how Labour would abolish no-fault evictions, designed to offer greater protections for tenants. Last year, the minister said new laws would prevent 'private renters from being exploited and discriminated against'. She told the Commons: 'The Renters' Rights Bill will give renters much greater security and stability so they can stay in their homes for longer.' Responding to her resignation, Sir Keir said: 'Thank you for all you have done to deliver this Government's ambitious agenda. 'Your diligent work at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, including your efforts to put in measures to repeal the Vagrancy Act, will have a significant impact. A Rightmove listing said that it was 'very spacious' with 'off street parking for one to two cars' The property is currently on the market for 894,995, down from an initial listing of 914,995 'You have also begun the process of delivering landmark reforms including tackling harassment and intimidation in public life and encouraging more people to engage and participate in our democracy. This will leave a lasting legacy. 'I know you will continue to support the Government from the backbenches and represent the best interests of your constituents in Bethnal Green and Stepney.' A Liberal Democrat spokesperson said Ms Aldi had been 'staggeringly irresponsible', adding: 'Rushanara Ali fundamentally misunderstood her role. Her job was to tackle homelessness, not to increase it. 'At a time of widespread political disillusionment, her actions were staggeringly irresponsible and only added insult to injury after years of delay for renters' rights reform under the Conservatives. 'The Prime Minister must appoint a new homelessness minister swiftly who will take the need to end homelessness once and for all seriously.' Israel's security cabinet has approved a plan proposed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the military to 'take control' of Gaza City, his office said in a statement Friday. Under the plan to 'defeat' Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army 'will prepare to take control of Gaza City while distributing humanitarian assistance to the civilian population outside combat zones', it said. Nearly two years into the war in Gaza, the Israeli prime minister faces mounting pressure at home and abroad for a truce to pull the Palestinian territory's more than two million people back from the brink of famine and to spare hostages held by Palestinian militants. As he convened his security cabinet on Thursday, Netanyahu said Israel planned to take full control of Gaza but did not intend to govern it. Ahead of the meeting, Netanyahu told US network Fox News that the government intended to seize complete control of the Gaza Strip, where the military has been fighting Hamas since the Palestinian group's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel. He added that Israel did not want 'to keep' the Gaza Strip, which Israel occupied in 1967 but withdrew troops and settlers from in 2005. Netanyahu said Israel wanted a 'security perimeter' and to hand the Palestinian territory to 'Arab forces that will govern it properly without threatening us and giving Gazans a good life.' 'That's not possible with Hamas,' he added. Israel's security cabinet has approved a plan proposed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the military to 'take control' of Gaza City The prime minister said that Israel did not want 'to keep' the Gaza Strip, which Israel occupied in 1967 but withdrew troops and settlers from in 2005 He added that Israel wanted a 'security perimeter' and to hand the Palestinian territory to 'Arab forces that will govern it properly His office on Friday said a majority of the security cabinet had adopted 'five principles for concluding the war: the disarming of Hamas; the return of all hostages - living and dead; the demilitarisation of the Gaza Strip; Israeli security control in the Gaza Strip; the establishment of an alternative civil administration that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority. 'A decisive majority of security cabinet ministers believed that the alternative plan that had been submitted to the security cabinet would neither achieve the defeat of Hamas nor the return of the hostages,' it added, without giving further details. An expanded Israeli offensive in Gaza could see ground troops operate in densely populated areas where hostages are believed to be held, Israeli media reported. Meanwhile, UK prime minister Keir Starmer has raised concerns over the plan, calling it 'wrong.' He said: 'This action will do nothing to bring an end to this conflict or to help secure the release of the hostages' and warned that it 'will only bring more bloodshed.' Starmer added on Friday: 'Every day the humanitarian crisis in Gaza worsens, and hostages taken by Hamas are being held in appalling and inhuman conditions. 'What we need is a ceasefire, a surge in humanitarian aid, the release of all hostages by Hamas and a negotiated solution.' Last week, he said the UK would formally recognise a Palestinian state unless Israel takes 'substantive steps', which include agreeing to a ceasefire. The reported plans to expand the war have sparked growing concern in Israel about what it means for the remaining hostages The leader's office on Friday said a majority of the security cabinet had adopted 'five principles for concluding the war The reported plans to expand the war have sparked growing concern in Israel about what it means for the remaining hostages. As the cabinet meeting kicked off, hundreds rallied near the prime minister's office in Jerusalem, calling for a deal to free the hostages. 'The only way to bring the hostages home is to halt the war and end the suffering of the hostages and all those living through this terrible conflict,' said protester Sharon Kangasa-Cohen. In Gaza, fears grew over what an expansion of Israeli operations would entail. 'Ground operations mean more destruction and death,' said Ahmad Salem, 45. Hamas, in a statement, said that 'Netanyahu's plans to escalate the aggression confirm beyond any doubt his desire to get rid of the captives and sacrifice them in pursuit of his personal interests and extremist ideological agenda.' Out of 251 hostages captured during Hamas's 2023 attack, 49 are still being held in Gaza, including 27 the military says are dead. Ahead of Thursday's meeting, rumours have been rife in the Israeli press about disagreements between the cabinet and Israel's military chief Eyal Zamir, who is said to oppose plans to fully reoccupy Gaza. Defence Minister Israel Katz weighed in on social media Wednesday, saying the military must ultimately respect any policies adopted by the government In late July, Israel partially eased restrictions on aid entering Gaza, but the United Nations says the amount allowed into the territory remains insufficient Defence Minister Israel Katz weighed in on social media Wednesday, saying the military must ultimately respect any policies adopted by the government. In a statement released by the military Thursday, Zamir underscored his independence, vowing to 'continue to express our position without fear'. International concern has been growing over the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza, where a UN-backed assessment warned that famine was unfolding. The World Health Organization said at least 99 people have died from malnutrition in the Gaza Strip this year, with the figure likely an underestimate. Displaced Gazan Mahmoud Wafi said that the prices of available food remained high and erratic. 'We hope that food will be made available again in normal quantities and at reasonable prices, because we can no longer afford these extremely high and unrealistic costs,' the 38-year-old told AFP. In late July, Israel partially eased restrictions on aid entering Gaza, but the United Nations says the amount allowed into the territory remains insufficient. Hamas, in a statement, said that 'Netanyahu's plans to escalate the aggression confirm beyond any doubt his desire to get rid of the captives and sacrifice them in pursuit of his personal interests and extremist ideological agenda' Amjad Al-Shawa, head of the Palestinian NGO Network in the Gaza Strip, told AFP that lengthy inspection procedures at entry points meant few trucks could come in - 'between 70 to 80 per day - carrying only specific types of goods'. The UN estimates that Gaza needs at least 600 trucks of aid per day to meet its residents' basic needs. Israel's offensive has killed at least 61,258 Palestinians, according to Hamas-run Gaza's health ministry. The 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Keir Starmer today condemned Israel's plans to take control of Gaza City as 'wrong'. The PM warned of 'more bloodshed' and urged Benjamin Netanyahu to reconsider after the dramatic announcement overnight. The move approved by the Israeli war cabinet stops short of fully taking over all of Gaza, as had been touted. But Sir Keir insisted Israel should de-escalate, rather than launch the operation. In a statement issued by Downing Street this morning, the premier said: 'The Israeli government's decision to further escalate its offensive in Gaza is wrong, and we urge it to reconsider immediately. Keir Starmer warned of 'more bloodshed' and urged Benjamin Netanyahu to reconsider after the dramatic announcement overnight The move approved by Mr Netanyahu's war cabinet stops short of fully taking over all of Gaza Sir Keir has been under huge pressure from his own backbenchers to take a tougher stance on Israel 'This action will do nothing to bring an end to this conflict or to help secure the release of the hostages. It will only bring more bloodshed.' He added: 'Every day the humanitarian crisis in Gaza worsens and hostages taken by Hamas are being held in appalling and inhuman conditions. 'What we need is a ceasefire, a surge in humanitarian aid, the release of all hostages by Hamas and a negotiated solution. 'Hamas can play no part in the future of Gaza and must leave as well as disarm.' The buffalo that killed an American big game hunter was shot dead just seconds after goring the man to death. Multi-millionaire Asher Watkins, 59, was out on safari with a professional hunter and an animal tracker on the trail of the bull last Sunday when the beast charged at him and killed him instantly with his horns. The professional hunter guiding Watkins through the bush killed the buffalo with a single shot just seconds after the tragic incident. The news of the of the buffalo's death was greeted with dismay and sadness as thousands commented online that they prayed it had escaped and run to safety. Bearded big game hunter Watkins dressed in camouflage lay dying close by. The professional hunter from Coenraad Vermaak Safaris running the trophy hunt in Limpopo Province called for medical help but nothing could be done to save Watkins. An emergency services source said: 'He was beyond help except to load his body into the ambulance. He had horrific injuries to his stomach and to his ribs. 'Buffalo kills are not rare in Limpopo and not many survive but when our guys got there it was clear he must have died instantly from the injuries he had suffered. Millionaire ranch trader Asher Watkins was out on safari with a professional hunter and an animal tracker on the trail of a prized 1.3-ton specimen bull last Sunday The professional hunter guiding Watkins is believed to have killed the buffalo with a single shot just seconds after the tragic incident On his social media, Atkins he is seen with the corpses of animals he has killed 'It was big buffalo and anything standing in the way of a charge would not survive. If left alone they are pretty tolerant but if you upset them it will not end well. 'The buffalo lay dead where it was shot with a single bullet wound' she said. Businessman Watkins who had made his fortune selling upmarket Texan ranches valued between 1m and 30m travelled worldwide to shoot wild animals. There are many photos on his Facebook page showing animals he has hunted and killed including a mountain lion, many types of deer, turkey shoots and wild fowl. His ex-wife Courtney who posted news of Watkin's death on her Facebook page was forced to take it down after it was deluged by trolls delighted the buffalo 'won'. Watkin's own Facebook hunting page was also filled with sick posts describing his death from the buffalo as 'karma' and an AI meme with his head on a hunting shield. Many were hoping the buffalo that killed him had managed to escape back to his herd but the professional hunter with him took it out with a single heart shot. If the hunt had gone as normal the buffalo's head and skin would have been taken by the hunting company and given to a taxidermist to prepare as a trophy. An Instagram post from CV Safaris, where Watkins was a regular client, said they met him and some of his family flying in from the USA at Johannesburg Airport last weekend Friends said he also had an incredible world-class collection of hunting rifles Its vital organs are much sought after for culinary purposes and would have been sold and the less valuable flesh distributed to local villagers, a safari expert said. An inquest has been opened into the death on Sunday and the three members of Watkins' family who were with him on the expedition will fly his body back home. He had flown to Johannesburg from Dallas with his mother and stepfather and brother. On Sunday afternoon he began tracking a large buffalo said by hunting company CVS to be 'unwounded and unprovoked' on what was to be his final hunt. The news of his death was broken to members of his immediate family in Dallas. Watkins' ex-wife Courtney who filed for divorce against the ranch real estate multi-millionaire from Texas is comforting their devastated daughter. They both shared custody of their daughter but she doted on her father and is said by friends to be 'in bits' and unable to accept he is not returning from the safari. In a tribute, ex-wife Courtney posted a picture of the family on her Facebook page and spoke about how he was killed The dangerous animal charged out at 35mph and left the hunter with no chance as it slammed into and killed him almost instantly South African Police spokesman Colonel Malesala Ledwab said: 'We were led on Sunday to a game farm where the body of a man killed by a buffalo was found. 'He had serious injuries to his stomach and his side and had already been certified dead by a doctor with the ambulance and the buffalo was lying close to him. 'The buffalo appeared to have been killed by a single bullet' he said. Buffalo make up one of the Big 5 of Africa's most dangerous animals and kill more big game hunters than the other four of elephant, rhino, lion and leopard. Known as the Black Death buffaloes kill more than 200 people in Africa a year. Watkins would have paid tens of thousands of US dollars for the trip for his family to South Africa and would pay an extra fee per different type of animal he shot. A prime male buffalo like the one that killed him averages at 7,500 each. Hunter vans Vermaak on behalf of CVS confirmed the death of their client while stalking the buffalo along with a professional hunter and a skilled tracker. Watkins was the boss of his own successful company Watkins Branch Group which sold exclusive ranches in Texas and surrounding states for up to 30m each. Cape buffalo, known as the Black Death, kill some 200 people in Africa a year. They are known to kill more game hunters than any other animal The CVS website pulls no punches on its website in describing a buffalo hunt. It warns: 'No species on the planet has a more fearsome reputation than a Cape Buffalo. Responsible for several deaths and many injuries to hunters each year. 'The buffalo is regarded as the most dangerous animal to pursue in Africa. Buffalo hunting is thrilling and exhilarating and at the top of every hunter's wish list. 'Crafty and belligerent, he seeks refuge in thickets when wounded or when danger approaches. Buffalo are known to charge unprovoked so prepare for the worst. 'Buffalo have earned their reputation and can absorb astounding amounts of lead even when shots are well placed and a charging buffalo comes at an alarming speed. 'Cool nerves and a steady hand are crucial' said the company running his doomed trip. A Cape Buffalo can weigh 1.5 tons and be 11 feet long and 5ft 6in tall and their horns are joined by a solid lump of bone across the forehead with its point tips can be 4ft apart. They are unpredictable and aggressive and its only predators are humans and lions. Millionaire ranch trader Asher Watkins pictured with a dead animal In 2018 big game hunter Claude Keynhams, 54, was also killed in Limpopo Province by a buffalo after the safari group he was being paid to guide shot another buffalo dead. The South African professional hunter was trying to load the dead buffalo onto a lorry with his team when he was blindsided by a second buffalo who gored him to death. In 2022 another big game hunter was killed at Steenbokpan, Limpopo Province, having shot and wounded a buffalo when it launched a furious charge at him despite being fired at. Benjamin de Bruyn, 50, died instantly on the buffalo's horns as the buffalo was killed. The tragic death of the big game hunter comes after the death of Blondie the Lion in neighbouring Zimbabwe hit the headlines last week when another game hunter killed it. In a chilling echo of the infamous killing of Cecil the Lion from the same region in 2015 the lion that had been collared by Oxford University scientists for research was targeted. A Zimbabwe hunting company was said to have lured Blondie away from the safety of a non-hunting private reserve with meat as bait to draw him into a legal hunting concession. Once Blondie crossed the border away from his pride of 3 lionesses and 10 cubs an American big game hunter was lying in wait and shot him dead to take home as a trophy. Blondie's killing was branded unethical although the Zimbabwe Professional Hunters Association refused to comment on it and the safari operator insisted the hunt was legal. A heartbroken husband is desperate to discover why a mother-of-two, 47, died suddenly just days after getting back from a holiday in Tunisia. Amanda Cugini, from Ely in Cardiff, has been described as 'one in a million', as loved ones described their shock at her unexpected and unexplained loss. GoFundMe appeals have been set up to help support her family, who say they have no idea what might have been behind the death of Ms Cugini, known as Mandy. Her husband David Cugini, a trained first aider, tried frantically to resuscitate her after she fell unwell at their home, but she died on July 22 this year. He has now opened up to the Daily Mail about his efforts to save her, as well as uncertainty about what caused her death. Mr Cugini, 52, hailed her as an 'amazing' mother to two daughters Megan, 17, and 10-year-old Maddison as well as 34-year-old stepdaughter Jacey, while also having two grandchildren. She had been working at a childcare nursery and was preparing to qualify as a daycare nurse. The couple had been together for 18 years, having been friends for 10 years previously, and married just before Christmas in 2021. Family and friends have been paying tribute to Amanda Cugini (pictured), 47, who died suddenly just days after getting back from a holiday in Tunisia Mr Cugini has labelled her sudden death shortly after their return from a family break in Tunisia as 'so confusing, upsetting and everything, all rolled into one'. They had been watching her favourite programme Love Island on TV in bed together before drifting off to sleep, before he woke to find her struggling after falling unwell. Mr Cugini attempted CPR for about half an hour while paramedics were called and also did their best to save her but there was no pulse nor heartbeat and she was declared dead. He has told of lying awake in the early hours at nights since feeling guilty, wondering what he could have done differently, despite being praised for his efforts by ambulance staff. He said: 'For a lady who had a heart of gold, she was also as strong as an ox. 'I only wish shed been a bit stronger medically after all. People can be so loving, caring, so beaming and so strong but somethings gone down. 'It's a nightmare, trying to find out. It could be months, the coroner's told me its frustrating. 'Im still on the same day, like it just happened a couple of hours ago. Every day now is the same day to me.' Amanda Cugini is pictured here with her husband David who described her as 'one in a million' The family had recently returned from a holiday in the Tunisian resort Venus Beach and had been recommending the place to friends and colleagues. Mr Cugini said: 'That Tunisia holiday we had she came back bouncing from it. My mum died four years ago and left me a little bit of money and had told me to use it for something nice, "enjoy it". 'I started booking these holidays for us earlier this year the family, 10 of us, went to EuroDisney. 'Weve had difficult years, with parents dying and Covid and the cost of living. Mandy would ask, why are we going there, and would want cheaper versions because she didnt like waste. But I'd tell her, Im treating you like you should be treated. That Tunisia holiday was on another level. Sometimes you can feel down at the end of a holiday because youre leaving Paradise but we were coming away bouncing because we couldnt wait to get back and tell everybody. 'Mandy was on top of the world. She was seeing a doctor for early menopause but was managing just find a little bit of stress, anxiety, but no other obvious signs of ill health. 'But then something went wrong I'd love to know what. We've been going round asking questions of professionals but even they don't know. It's awful, confusing. 'The paramedics did all they could. I did all I could. Unfortunately she was gone. Family photos of Amanda Cugini have been shared online in fundraising appeals 'I wouldn't be so cruel as to put anyone else through what that moment was like - that loss, that moment, that short moment, is unbearable. 'And I've felt guilty what have I done wrong, what could I have done differently? At two, three, four o'clock in the morning, your mind wanders that way. 'But one of the last things I said to her was, Ill shout your name in praise.' Online fundraising appeals have received hundreds of pounds in donations towards funeral costs, with one organised by Mrs Cugini's aunt Julie saying: 'Nobody was prepared for a day like this and we are all heartbroken. 'She was loved by the family and our community you will all have bumped into her or met her at some point and remember her infectious laughter and beeaming smile that lit up the room.' Another GoFundMe appeal has been launched by a friend Mellisa Southam-Hayes, who shared her own tributes while telling how unexpected the death had been. She wrote: 'I've known Mandy for 16 years and a day hasn't gone by where she's not been there for her friends, supported them through hard times and always that person you could count on for a hug. 'We sadly lost Mandy unexpectedly on the 21st July 2025. She passed away suddenly at home with her family around her. 'Nobody was prepared or could have prepared for this huge gut wrenching loss. 'David, Megan, Maddison and Jacey are managing to power through the pain to remember the amazing times they had with their mother and wife. Sharing stories, laughing and crying in between. 'Amanda lit up every room she entered, her smile was breathtaking and her laugh was infectious. 'She welcomed everyone with open arms and left a memorable stamp on their lives. 'I've set up this page to hopefully raise some money towards her funeral. I hope nothing more than for Mandy to have the most fabulous send off, she deserves the best. 'Please share far and wide, let's help the Cugini family remember her in the most memorable way possible.' And Mr Cugini has spoken of his gratitude for wellwishers' support and messages, telling the Mail: 'It's been really difficult, but the outpouring of love from people has been amazing I've been getting messages from halfway across the world. 'Theres a lot of evil going on in the world, but I didn't realise there was that much empathy left. 'There are people I don't even know and never knew she knew now I'm being approached by people in the street saying how special she was. 'I used to call her my Care Bear, beaming out like rainbows and sunshine. 'Mandy was everything to me, she was my world and it's lovely to see how many others she affected.' The Albanese government has made a stunning backflip and cancelled the visa of a Palestinian woman who praised Hamas' October 7 massacre, following claims of an 'immigration failure'. Mona Zahed, a chef and married mother-of-four who lives in Gaza, was initially granted a visa to come to Australia, despite Prime Minister Anthony Albanese welcoming a report calling for applicants with extremist views to be barred from entering. Ms Zahed celebrated the terrorist attacks that claimed 1,200 lives on October 7, 2023. 'We woke up and got God's kingdom,' she wrote the day after the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, which also saw 251 people taken hostage by Hamas terrorists. In a now-deleted post, Ms Zahed shared a photo of terrified Nova music festivalgoers fleeing for their lives alongside an image of refugees fleeing the 'Nakba' or catastrophe in 1948, which established the state of Israel and saw the mass displacement of Palestinians. 'Praise be to Allah who has kept us alive to see this day,' Ms Zahed captioned the post, first reported by the Herald Sun. Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke confirmed to Daily Mail on Friday night that Ms Zahed's visa had been cancelled, following widespread condemnation 'The Department has advised the office that the visa was cancelled today the reasons have been communicated directly to the applicant,' he said. Mona Zahed, a chef and married mother-of-four who lives in Gaza , celebrated the terrorist attacks that claimed the lives of 1,200 people on October 7, 2023. Her visa to come to Australia has reportedly been cancelled following widespread condemnation Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke confirmed to Daily Mail on Friday night that Ms Zahed's visa had been cancelled. It comes after Mr Burke's office earlier said that the government 'is serious' about keeping hatred out of Australia. 'This is a serious issue; the government is taking it seriously. Questions were put to the department as soon as the minister's office became aware,' a spokesperson said. 'The government is serious in its view about not importing hatred and we set a higher bar when the purpose of someone's visit is a speaking tour.' The decision to cancel Ms Zahed's visa has been welcomed by Jewish organisations, which also called on the government to shut down gaps in the visa approval process. 'We trust that the relevant processes will now be tightened to prevent this sort of error being repeated and ensure the government remains consistent in its approach to these matters,' Executive Council of Australian Jewry president Daniel Aghion said. Zionist Federation of Australia chief executive Alon Cassuto added: 'While it's welcome news the visa has been cancelled, the fact an individual who openly glorified terrorism online was granted a visa to enter Australia in the first place is a glaring sign that our visa approval system is failing. 'The government must act with urgency to close these visa approval gaps and ensure our nation is not a safe harbour for hatred.' Ms Zahed, who wrote a cookbook while living in a displacement tent in southern Gaza called Tabkha: Recipes from Under the Rubble, had been supported by Melbourne-based artist Matt Chun. In a now-deleted post, Ms Zahed shared a photo of terrified Nova music festivalgoers fleeing for their lives alongside a picture of refugees fleeing the 'Nakba' or catastrophe in 1948 which established the state of Israel and saw the mass displacement of Palestinians The Albanese government faced fierce backlash over an 'immigration failure'. Pictured is Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese Last month, Mr Chun revealed that his partner Tess Cullity, who published the cookbook, had been 'working alongside human rights lawyers to secure safe passage for Mona and her family from Gaza to Wurundjeri Land' (Melbourne). 'Finally, against all odds, Tess has visas approved.' The couple helped raise almost $29,000 for Ms Zahed and her family. The artist also celebrated the Hamas terrorist attacks, sharing a picture of the Palestinian flag with the title 'land back.' The caption read: 'Power to the freedom fighters. Death to the occupation. Resistance by any means necessary. Liberation from the River to the Sea.' It comes just weeks after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese welcomed a report from Jillian Segal, the government's special envoy to combat antisemitism, which recommended screening visa applicants for anti-Semitic views. Opposition Home Affairs spokesman Andrew Hastie lashed the Albanese government over the initial 'immigration failure' of approving Ms Zahed's visa. 'If you support Hamas, if you support the slaughter of innocent men and women, you're not welcome in this country,' he told Sky News. 'It's binary. We have standards in this country, and we don't want people who support terrorism on our shores.' The ensuing conflict triggered by the events of October 7 has so far claimed the lives of over 55,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry. Irate commuters have turned on a passenger who dropped his trousers in a packed Tube carriage with children present and refused to pull them up again, the Daily Mail can reveal today. Police are investigating the incident on the District line in east London yesterday at 3.30pm. Yesterday the suspect, who was well dressed and wearing expensive headphones, caused panic when he began yelling after the eastbound train travelled between Upton Park and East Ham. He then dropped his trousers and put his belt around his neck. His bottom and genitals were on show, sparking anger and revulsion around him on the train. A passenger stood up quickly confronted him, gesticulating angrily. He politely and firmly told him: 'You need to get off the train.' But the flasher began yelling back: 'f*** off', repeatedly. The commuter said in response: 'What do you mean f*** off. You need to get off the f***ing train. Now. There are kids on here.' The train was busy with children who are on their summer holidays from school, so passengers took the law into their own hands. The man at the centre of the incident has been detained under the mental health act. It is yet another horrifying incident on the Tube, which is run by Sir Sadiq Khan's Transport for London (TfL). Since he became Mayor in 2016, Tube crime rates have more than doubled, and today he has been accused of ignoring a manifesto pledge to maintain a 24-hour police front counter in every borough in the capital. Just last month a brawl broke out on the steps of a packed station - with a screaming toddler ending up on the floor in the chaos. The moment a commuter confronts a man on the Tube after he dropped his trousers in a packed carriage Passengers repeatedly asked him to put his genitals away and get off the train. He responded by waving his belt and screaming so the group attacked him The suspect's belt was taken off him and hurled away. He was then pinned to the floor of the carriage A group carried him off the train and pinned him there, waiting for help to arrive A brawl started yesterday when the naked man refused to cover up. A group of men then surrounded him and repeatedly ordered him to 'pull your f***ing trousers up'. A scuffle then broke out. The naked man was trying hit them with his belt and the group was punching and kicking him. The men snatched away his belt and pinned him to the floor of the carriage while putting his arm behind his back, still with his trousers around his ankles. Passengers then yelled: 'We've got to get him off.' The man was then unceremoniously carried on to the Tube platform at East Ham and dumped to the floor. He was then pinned down as the commuters tried to alert staff. It appears an off duty police officer was on the train and performed an arrest. British Transport Police have said they are investigating. The suspect has been detained under the mental health act. A spokesman said: 'Officers were called to reports of a man exposing himself on the District Line at East Ham Underground station at around 3.30pm yesterday. 'The man had been assaulted by a number of other passengers and was initially arrested by an off duty officer, before being detained under the mental health act and taken to hospital where he remains. 'An investigation into the incident is ongoing.' A group of men were seen fighting each other on the steps of Highbury and Islington Tube station last month A toddler was seen sitting on the floor on their own while the men threw punches just feet away Your browser does not support iframes. Your browser does not support iframes. The Daily Mail revealed London's most dangerous tube and train stations earlier this year. More than 4,100 crimes were recorded in 2024 at King's Cross St Pancras alone, one of the capital's busiest terminals. This is more than any other station on TfL's entire network. However, when taking passenger numbers into account, the most dangerous station is Poplar on the Docklands Light Railway (DLR), near Canary Wharf. Statistics collated by the British Transport Police (BTP) and TfL show 46 crimes were committed at the stop on the self-driving line last year. This equated to a rate of 58.7 offences for every million passengers. It was followed by Cockfosters, the northern terminus of the Piccadilly line, with 57.4 crimes per million passengers, and then King's Cross St Pancras with 51.4. Since Sir Sadiq became Mayor in 2016, Tube crime rates have more than doubled, from nine per every million journeys to more than 21 last March. Similarly, offences have risen on the Overground, DLR and Elizabeth line, which opened in 2022. The Mail's analysis comes after shock statistics laid bare the ever-worsening crime epidemic plaguing commuters - who have fallen victim to violent, racist, sexist and anti-Semitic assaults. One woman was even whipped in the face with a belt in a sickening attack at Green Park station last January. Liban Ahmed, handed a suspended 18-month prison sentence for the attack, was caught on film shouting as he moved up and down the platform, trying to avoid two men trying to grab him. In a fit of rage, the 27-year-old lashed out with his belt catching a woman trying to board the train. Mansoor Ahmed, 30, was last month jailed for 26 months and slapped on the sex offenders register for a decade after he sexually assaulted two women on the Tube. On September 6, 2020, Ahmed sexually assaulted a woman walking up the stairs at Gloucester Road station and just a few months later on November 20, he assaulted another woman walking down the steps at Charing Cross. Jaya Pathak, who campaigned for more action against sexual harassment on the tube after she was assaulted last year, told the Daily Mail that the situation has 'getting worse'. Ms Pathak, 27, was harassed by a man who continually starred at her for several stops, then 'pretended to be drunk' and rested his head on her shoulder on a Victoria line train to Walthamstow last April. 'He tried to make it look as if he was nodding off as an excuse to touch me, when I pushed him off, he laughed it off and kept starting again,' said Ms Pathak, who works in foreign policy. She said that the man even beckoned to her to get off the train at Blackhorse Road, the stop before she was due to get off at the end of the line. As the station was platform was virtually empty at the terminus, she felt unsafe as no staff could have been there to put a stop if things turned sour. Ms Pathak has called for TfL to staff emptier end-of-line stations as a deterrent to would-be sexual predators, who may not act if someone else is watching. Your browser does not support iframes. Your browser does not support iframes. Homeless man Brwa Shorsh, 24, pushed an innocent stranger, Tadeusz Potoczek, onto the tracks at Oxford Circus underground station just seconds before the train pulled in, in February 2024. Mr Potoczek had been hurrying home to catch a flight and was looking at the arrivals board when he was attacked in what prosecutor Sam Barker described as 'the thing of nightmares'. The Kurdish migrant had claimed he'd targeted the 60-year-old in 'revenge' after thinking Mr Potoczek had given him a 'dirty look'. Fortunately Mr Potoczek, a postman, missed the electrified rail and was helped back onto the platform by a passer-by who rushed to his aid. The driver had put on the emergency brake and his train was just four seconds away from hitting the victim. Shorsh, who has accumulated convictions of assault and indecent acts since arriving in Britain in 2019, had denied trying to kill his victim and claimed he did not know a train was arriving at the time. In July last year that year he was found guilty of attempted murder by a jury at Inner London Crown Court after just 32 minutes of deliberations and he was jailed for life with a minimum term of eight years. Liban Ahmed whipped a woman in the face with his belt at Green Park Station Predator Mansoor Ahmed, 30, was last month jailed for 26 months and slapped on the sex offenders register for a decade after he sexually assaulted two women on the Tube Jaya Pathak, 27, was sexually assaulted on the tube last year and has called for more staff at stations to deter would-be sexual predators A Jewish man wearing a kippah suffered a display of vile anti-Semitism on the Northern Line last March, when a vaping passenger said: 'Your religion kills Muslims.' The victim filmed the argument, where the passenger said: 'You've done a lot... You're wearing the hat.' The man, who shared the footage with the Campaign Against Antisemitism accused the vaper of being anti-Semitic. Across all Underground, Overground, DLR and Elizabeth line stations (excluding stations outside the London fare zones), 38,000 crimes were reported to the BTP in 2024, according to their data. This is the equivalent of 104 per day. Data includes crimes committed at the stations themselves and those committed on trains either at or arriving into that station. Terminus stations can be over-represented in the on-train crime figures because if the exact location is unknown, it may be recorded as having happened at the end of the line. After King's Cross St Pancras, the fourth most dangerous Tube stop is Epping, Essex, the north eastern terminus of the Central line, with a rate of 49. Fifth is Upminster Bridge, east London, on the District Line with a rate of 48.6. The major London terminals of Finsbury Park come in sixth and seventh with rates of 46.1 (885 total crimes) and 36.5 (1,825 total crimes), respectively. However, several Elizabeth line stations outside the main London fare zones (1-9) Taplow (76 per 1m), Twyford (71), Burnham (62), Reading (60) have even higher rates. We have excluded these stations and all outside the London fare zones from the rankings, although you can still see them on the map. Brwa Shorsh has been jailed for life after pushing a man on to the tracks at Oxford Circus underground station Daily Mail analysis suggests that the most dangerous line on TfL's network is the Overground's Lioness Line, which runs between Euston and Watford Junction, with a rate of 28 per 1m passengers. A total of 2,533 crimes were recorded at stations on this line, which services around 90m people a year. Next is the Victoria line with 26 per 1m (11,700 total crimes) and the Metropolitan with 20 per 1m (7,000 total). The safest line in London is the Docklands Light Railway (DLR), with a crime rate of 8.3 per million passengers, followed by the Suffragette (8.7) and Jubilee (9.7). These figures have been calculated by adding together the total crimes and footfall for each station which serves each line, then using those numbers to calculate the rate per 1m passengers. A collection of haunting Victorian mug shots have gone on display for the first time. The striking black-and-white images include a boy of 14 who was jailed for stealing two pigeons and a man banged up for nicking tins of condensed milk. The photos, which feature in an exhibition at Lincoln Castle, provide a fascinating insight into crime and punishment during the 1870s. They were found in a document recording the misdeeds of crooks who were held at the castle's Victorian prison more than 150 years ago. Also among them were Norwegian sailors, George Dahl, 24, and Harry Olsen, 22, who sailed to Hull from Oslo in June 1876. They were jailed for thee months with hard labour at Lindsey County Prison, now HMP Lincoln, for burgling a home six weeks later. James Pringle, aged 21, from Grimsby, was sentenced to one month in prison for stealing six tins of condensed milk George Dahl (left) and Harry Olsen were caught stealing a silver watch from a house in Barrow upon Humber, six weeks after sailing into Hull from Oslo. They were jailed for thee months with hard labour at Lindsey County Prison, now HMP Lincoln The men broke into the house of Frederick Argill in Barrow upon Humber, stealing a silver watch and clothes, after falling into a 'quite destitute' state. Their details were recorded in a document, known as a Register of Habitual Criminals, which allowed the police to monitor and detain reoffenders. The youngest criminal convicted in the register was just 11 years old and their crimes received heavy sentences by today's standards. John Holmes, aged 14, from Barrow upon Humber, was accused of stealing two pigeons and sentenced to 21 days imprisonment. James Pringle, 21, from Grimsby, was sentenced to one month's imprisonment for stealing six tins of condensed milk. Between 1848 and 1878 Lincoln Castle's Victorian Prison was used as a short-term holding centre for male, female and child prisoners awaiting trial, or following sentencing, before they were transferred elsewhere to serve their punishment. John Holmes, aged 14, was accused of stealing two pigeons and sentenced to 21 days in prison. Another rogue was Fanny Skinn, right Mary Ann Carter was another prisoner jailed at Lincoln Castle Prison Lincoln Castle prisoner William Jones. The prison operated for 30 years from 1848 Thomas Rose was another prisoner at Lincoln Castle. The prison was designed for the 'separate system', a regime devised to keep prisoners apart Young rogue Herbert Foster. Children as young as eight were put behind bars at the prison The mugshots have gone on display at Lincoln Castle's Magna Carta vault The prison was designed for what was known as the 'separate system', a regime that kept prisoners apart from the corrupting influence of their fellow inmates. The Victorians believed this would help them to repent and reform. Inmates as young as eight were held there from 1848 until 1878. Lincoln's prison did not just hold petty criminals though. Seven murderers were hanged at the castle and their bodies then buried behind the 'Lucy Tower'. The prison's chapel is the only one of its kind remaining in the world. It features upright stalls that kept prisoners segregated as the chaplain preached to them. The book and the photographs will be on display at the castle's Magna Carta Vault until February. Lincolnshire County Council's Councillor Natalie Oliver said: 'We are thrilled to be displaying this document for the first time, giving it pride of place alongside an original Magna Carta dating to 1215. 'The register offers a fascinating insight into Lincolnshires Victorian past, helping us to learn more about the lives of those who served time in the Castle's prison.' An equalities watchdog is set to snub demands to water down a ban on trans people using women's toilets and changing rooms. Schools, leisure centres, hospitals and cinemas will be told to bar transgender women from single-sex spaces under new guidance due to be revealed this month. Under the rules by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), trans athletes can be blocked from single-sex sporting competitions. The measures are also expected to suggest it would be reasonable for a woman to object to the presence of a trans female if she is getting undressed. The news comes as a victory for women's rights activists, who have been demanding trans women are barred from female-only spaces - but one they say has taken too long to achieve. Leading women's rights campaigner Kellie-Jay Keen told the Daily Mail: 'This has been a long time coming and is about 15 years too late. 'The EHRC has failed women spectacularly over the last few years... I'm just disgusted at how they have served women so abysmally. 'Obviously if these new measures make women safer, then it is welcomed... but this whole issue is just insane. We need to get back to commonsense.' Schools, leisure centres, hospitals and cinemas will be told to ban transgender women from single-sex spaces under new guidance due to be released this month (file image) It's understood the guidance will apply to any organisation providing services to the public, reports The Times. This includes shops and gyms - as well as government buildings, the NHS and prisons, as well as council-run care homes. Charities are also expected to be covered by the new guidance, which is due to be submitted to women and equalities minister, Bridget Phillipson, later this month. Ms Phillipson is reportedly poised to green-lit the measures as long as they conform with the law. It will then be rolled out before parliament after summer recess. However, women's rights activists fear the new rules won't have any impact on private businesses or offices. Campaigner Caroline Ffiske feared the 'ideology' behind the transgender movement was no so 'deeply entrenched' it would be almost impossible for firms to change. 'This news is of course to be welcomed. However, this is embedded in every work place in the country. It will be so much work to root it out,' she told the Daily Mail. 'There are kids coming up at school who have been taught gender identity is a real thing. So much damage has already been done. It will be hard to change it' Charities are also expected to be covered by the new guidance, which is due to be submitted to women and equalities minister Bridget Phillipson (pictured) later this month The news comes after the NHS was blasted for delaying a ban on trans-women using female-only wards, changing rooms and toilets until the autumn. Health secretary Wes Streeting promised new guidance in April, after the Supreme Court ruled biological men should be barred from women's single-sex spaces. But NHS England has no plans to bring out the guidance until late summer or early autumn, meaning it may not be published until October or November. Women's rights charities said hospitals and GP surgeries are putting females in an 'undignified and humiliating position by failing to comply with the law. The group Sex Matters told the Telegraph it has been contacted by staff at several English trusts who had raised objections to biological men in female facilities but were rebuffed. NHS England's delay comes even though a health trust in Scotland faces making a huge payout to a nurse who was forced to share a changing room with a trans doctor. Helen Joyce, the director of advocacy at Sex Matters, said: NHS England's failure to forbid unlawful policies permitting trans-identifying hospital staff to use changing rooms for the opposite sex is staggeringly complacent. Sex Matters has heard from staff in several English trusts who have objected to such self-ID policies without success. All around the country, it seems as if lazy, self-satisfied bureaucrats are leaving female staff to face undignified and humiliating conditions rather than admit that the "inclusive" policies they put in place were always unlawful and harmful to women. Helen Joyce, director of advocacy at Sex Matters The Supreme Court ruled that a trans woman was not legally a woman because the word sex' in the Equality Act refers to biological sex, not self-identified gender. It means services segregated by sex, such as toilets and changing rooms, should be segregated by biological sex. Many public bodies have already started observing the rules. But NHS England has still not acted, despite prime minister Sir Keir Starmer telling organisations to comply with the law as soon as possible. The national NHS guidance on same-sex accommodation, published in September 2019, says: Good practice requires that clinical responses be patient-centred, respectful and flexible towards all transgender people whether they live continuously or temporarily in a gender role that does not conform to their natal sex. It adds: Trans people should be accommodated according to their presentation: the way they dress, and the name and pronouns they currently use. This may not always accord with the physical sex appearance of the chest or genitalia. It does not depend on their having a gender recognition certificate or legal name change. Keir Starmer has recorded another unwanted distinction after a tenth minister quit the government. Rushanara Ali resigned as homelessness minister last night saying she did not want to be a 'distraction'. She had faced claims she ejected tenants from one of her properties, before putting it back on the market for an extra 700 a month rent. In a letter to the PM, Ms Ali insisted that she had followed 'all relevant legal requirements' and took her 'responsibilities and duties seriously'. The departure heaps more woe on Sir Keir, who has seen a significantly faster rate of attrition than his predecessors. Since Labour won the general election in July 2024, the premier has lost 10 ministers. They include former Transport Secretary Louise Haigh and international development minister Annelise Dodds - previously a close ally of Sir Keir. Keir Starmer has recorded another unwanted distinction after a tenth minister quit the government Rushanara Ali resigned as homelessness minister last night saying she did not want to be a 'distraction' In contrast, Rishi Sunak lost nine Government members in the first 13 months - two of whom were ministerial aides. The equivalent figure for Boris Johnson was six and Theresa May three, not including reshuffles. Liz Truss's premiership lasted only a month and a half, during which there were three departures. Ms Ali's resignation came after it emerged that she had hiked rent on a property she owns by hundreds of pounds just weeks after the previous tenants' contract ended. The MP has repeatedly cast herself as a voice for hard-up tenants, and spoke out against private renters 'being exploited and discriminated against'. And she championed the Renters' Rights Bill, currently going through Parliament, which will ban landlords who evict tenants from re-listing a property for a higher rent until at least six months after the occupants have left. Her actions would have been illegal under this law. In a round of broadcast interviews this morning, energy minister Miatta Fahnbulleh said Ms Ali had 'not broken any rules or any laws' when asked by Sky News if the allegations about her colleague were a 'good look'. Ms Fahnbulleh added: 'She's chosen to resign, and that is a personal decision for her. What we care about as a Government is that we are levelling the playing field for renters. 'So we absolutely recognise that across the country. I hear stories all the time of people who are not getting a fair deal as a tenant. 'In the end, if you're a renter, you want security in the thing that is your home and so that is what the Renters' Rights Bill is trying to do. I think that is absolutely right.' Tory leader Kemi Badenoch had led the calls for Ms Ali to be sacked, telling the Daily Mail: 'I warned that Labour's Renters' Rights Bill was a mess. Now we find out the minister responsible is doing the opposite of the what the Bill proposed the homelessness minister is making people homeless. 'Rushanara Ali's hypocrisy is shameful.' Conservative Party chairman Kevin Hollinrake added: 'I think it shows staggering hypocrisy. Rushanara Ali has been somebody who's obviously a government minister in charge of homelessness. She's spoken out about exploiting tenants, about providing more protections to tenants. 'You can't say those things, then do the opposite in practice, as a landlord.' He said the conduct appeared to be 'unethical, not illegal' but 'we can't just say one thing and do another'. Ms Ali is the third Labour minister to have resigned over a personal matter. Tulip Siddiq resigned as City minister in mid-January, 26 days after the Mail revealed she was facing a major corruption probe in Bangladesh, which she denies. Louise Haigh quit as transport secretary after failing to correct police records in 2013 regarding a stolen mobile phone Annelise Dodds quit as international development minister and minister for women over cuts to the international aid budget Louise Haigh stepped down as Transport Secretary in November last year following media revelations that she had pleaded guilty to a fraud charge a decade ago. Ms Ali is alleged to have told four tenants to move out of the 900,000 four-bedroom home in east London, only to relist the property at a rent of 4,000 a month a 700 increase amid suggestions she failed to find a buyer for the property. Laura Jackson, a 33-year-old self-employed restaurant owner, was one of those who rented out the house roughly a mile from the Olympic Park in March 2024 at 3,300 a month. She then received an email in November telling her the lease would not be renewed this year, and that she and her housemates would need to move out, giving them four months notice, taking them to March. The current occupants are said to have moved in 'four to five months' ago on the increased terms. Ministers who have quit in Starmer's first 13 months 1. Louise Haigh (November 28 2024). Resigned as transport secretary after failing to correct police records in 2013 regarding a stolen mobile phone. 2. Tulip Siddiq (January 14 2025). Resigned as economic secretary to the Treasury after an investigation by the independent adviser on ministerial standards. 3. Andrew Gwynne (February 8 2025). Sacked from job as under-secretary of state for public health and prevention for comments in a WhatsApp group. 4. Lord Cryer (February 14 2025). Resigned as government whip in the House of Lords due to personal reasons. 5. Annelise Dodds (February 28 2025). Resigned as international development minister and minister for women over cuts to the international aid budget. 6. Lord Hunt (May 22 2025). Retired after holding post of minister of state in Department for Energy Security. 7. Baroness Curran (June 6 2025). Resigned as minister of state in Department for Energy Security due to ill health. 8. Vicky Foxcroft (June 19 2025). Resigned as government whip in the House of Commons over proposed cuts to disability benefits. 9. Lord Moraes (July 22 2025). Resigned as government whip in the House of Lords due to personal reasons. 10. Rushanara Ali (August 7 2025). Resigned as homelessness minister in Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government after allegations she increased rent on a property she owned. Advertisement Rushanara Ali was Rupert Lowe has apologised after mistaking a charity rowing crew for a boat full of migrants. The Independent MP, who won the Great Yarmouth seat for Reform UK before being ousted from the party earlier this year, claimed yesterday that 'dinghies' were heading towards the Norfolk coast. The former Southampton FC chairman, who has more than 400,000 followers on X, said he had alerted the authorities and was 'urgently chasing', whilst sharing an image of a boat near wind turbines off the coast. But he was forced to row back on his comments when it emerged the boat in question belonged to ROW4MND a team of four charity rowers making their way from Land's End to John O'Groats to raise money for motor neurone disease research. Mr Lowe later admitted it had been a 'false alarm' and pledged to donate 1,000 to the group's cause. Posting on Instagram, the crew said they were 'disappointed' by the MP's post, but added: 'We forgive you.' Last night, Mr Lowe posted on X: 'Dinghies coming into Great Yarmouth, RIGHT NOW. 'Authorities alerted, and I am urgently chasing. If these are illegal migrants, I will be using every tool at my disposal to ensure these individuals are deported. The former Southampton FC chairman, who has more than 400,000 followers on X, said he had alerted the authorities and was 'urgently chasing', sharing an image of a boat near wind turbines off the coast Rupert Lowe, who was elected for Great Yarmouth after standing for Reform UK, claimed yesterday that 'dinghies' were heading towards the Norfolk coast The ROW4MND team of four charity rowers making their way from Land's End to John O'Groats to raise money for motor neurone disease research. From left: Liz Wardley, Mike Bates, Aaron Kneebone and Matthew Parker 'Enough is enough. Britain needs mass deportations. NOW.' The crew, made up of Matthew Parker, Mike Bates, Aaron Kneebone and Liz Wardley, said they had been contacted by the Coastguard and asked whether they could see a dinghy nearby, only to realise they had been mistaken for one themselves. Mr Bates, a former Royal Marine and British record holder for rowing across the Atlantic solo, said soon became clear the Coastguard was asking about his own boat. 'I looked to my right and there was maybe a dozen individuals stood on the shoreline staring at us,' he said. After satisfying the Coastguard that their boat was not carrying migrants, they continued, but several hours later were contacted again by the Coastguard because the police had 'asked if they could send a lifeboat out to check who we were'. Eventually, a friend forwarded Mr Lowe's post, which Mr Bates said provided 'a moment of light relief'. He said: 'We found it hilarious. I've not been mistaken for a migrant before. 'The best comment was the one asking where the Royal Navy were when you need them. I'm a former Royal Marine, so the Royal Navy were on the boat.' He added: 'But it was almost like a vigilante-style, people following us down the beach. 'They hadn't twigged that we were parallel to the shore for hours and not trying to land.' The quartet set off from Land's End on July 25 and initially headed north into the Irish Sea before bad weather forced them to stop at Milford Haven in Wales. They then decided to return to Land's End and start again, this time heading in the other direction, which Mr Bates said had been 'about us showing resolve and resilience and hope'. The group wrote on their Instagram page: 'Thankfully, the police and coastguard consist of predominantly adult land mammals, complete with working brain cells, and so immediately realised the lunacy of illegal migrants choosing to invade the country using a 75,000 cutting edge ocean rowing boat. '@rupertlowe10 - if you're reading this. We're disappointed in your conduct, we're disappointed that you wasted so much of the police and coastguard's time, but we forgive you. 'Pop an appropriate donation in at the link in our bio, then round up your army of disciples, ask them to put their pitchforks back in the Middle Ages for a few moments, and let's redirect their obvious energies to raising 57million in a bid to find a cure for Motor Neurone Disease.' The post ends with the hashtag #sillysausage. This morning, Mr Lowe had to clear the record, writing: 'Good news. False alarm! The unknown vessel was charity rowers, thank goodness. 'As a well done to the crew, I'll donate 1,000 to their charity - raising money for MND. 'Keep going, and watch out for any real illegal migrants! We received a huge number of urgent complaints from constituents - I make no apologies over being vigilant for my constituents. It is a national crisis. 'No mass deportations for the charity rowers, but we definitely need it for the illegal migrants!' The journey the group are doing is the first of four challenges over four years, with the group aiming to row from John O'Groats to Land's End next year, from California to Hawaii in 2027 and New York to London in 2028, with a target of raising 57million for MND research. So far, they have raised 107,515 for the charity. The fiance of a Melbourne mum who suffered life-threatening injuries while holidaying in Bali has recalled the harrowing moment he feared that she was dead. Julia Kirishun, 38, originally from Moscow, remains in hospital after a scooter crash in Seminyak, a popular beach resort on the Indonesian island on July 26. She suffered a subdural haematoma, a potentially fatal bleeding on the brain caused by head trauma, and underwent emergency surgery. She and fiance Balazs Czako were just two days into a nine-day holiday to celebrate his 40th birthday. Disaster struck on the way back from dinner, after the couple decided to call it a night due to an early start to the birthday celebrations the next day. It was only a short drive, but the roads were wet and dark. The couple were only a few minutes from their hotel when things took a horrific turn. 'The route the GPS took us on was a completely unlit alley. There were no cars in front as I went around the bend but out of nowhere this black Toyota came out of a side alley from our left,' Mr Czako told news.com.au. When Mr Czako hit the brake, the rear wheel of the scooter jutted to the left, which caused the couple to fall from the vehicle. Melbourne mum Julia Kirishun is fighting for her life after a scooter accident in Seminyak, Bali The couple were riding home from dinner when the accident occurred. Ms Kirishun is pictured alongside her fiance Balazs Czako While Mr Czako's badly damaged foot looked as though it had 'been put through a blender,' he was more concerned about his fiancee. 'I managed to get up and quickly rushed over to Julia and quickly noticed she was unresponsive. I thought I had lost her, I thought she was dead,' he recalled. 'I started getting frantic and screaming 'wake up, baby' and tapping her on the cheek. I can't begin to describe what I was feeling.' Onlookers rushed to the couple's aid and called emergency services. Ms Kirishun was rushed to BIMC Hospital in Kuta, where a CAT scan confirmed she suffered bleeding and bruising on the brain. Mr Czako spent his birthday by her hospital bedside in intensive care after she underwent emergency brain surgery. While her condition has since stabilised, she remains too unwell to fly home. Mr Czako has launched a GoFundMe campaign to help assist with soaring medical bills, ongoing support and rehabilitation, and the unforeseen financial burden that has placed the family into a tough position. Julia Kirishun and Balazs 'Baz' Czako were celebrating his 40th birthday in Bali when their holiday took a turn for the worse Ms Kirishun is pictured alongside her son Alexander The surgery alone cost more than $30,000, with overall hospital expenses exceeding $55,000 which their travel insurer allegedly refused to cover due to 'technicalities'. Mr Czako is waiting to hear back from the insurer after their claim was initially denied. Faced with growing debts, including a hefty daily fee to keep his fiancee in the hospital, Mr Czako has been forced to borrow from family and access his life savings. The couple, whose nine-year-old Alexander, has special needs, thanked those who have so far contributed to the fundraiser. 'We cannot express how incredibly grateful we are for all your generous contributions to Julia's GoFundMe campaign,' Mr Czako wrote on Wednesday. 'Your kindness and support during this challenging time mean the world to us. 'Because of your donations, we are closer to making sure we are able to cover the funds for her life-saving treatments.' The 38-year-old underwent emergency brain surgery and is now in stable condition More than $33,000 has already been raised. The fundraiser described Ms Kirishun as a rare soul who lights up every room she walks into and shows up for everyone else. 'I am overwhelmed with the generosity of everyone's contribution no matter the amount. Every dollar counts, and your willingness to help will not be forgotten,' Mr Czako added. 'Thank you for standing by Julia's side and for being part of her journey to healing.' A retired Australian Army major accused of drowning his wife five years ago has walked free from prison and had an ankle bracelet fitted at a Brisbane police station as he awaits trial. Graeme Davidson was granted bail in the Brisbane Supreme Court on Friday morning and released from the high-security Brisbane Correctional Centre at about 6pm. Davidson's daughters drove to the prison at Wacol, about 20km south-west of the central business district, and accompanied their father back to the Brisbane Watch House. Dressed in a black polo shirt and beige pants, the 56-year-old was smiling as he arrived at the Roma Street police station just before 6.30pm and used the intercom to state he required a personal monitoring device. 'I hope we've got all the paperwork,' Davidson told daughters Brooke and Robyn as he waited to be let inside. He re-emerged 45 minutes later and got into the back of a waiting vehicle with his daughters. Scottish-born Davidson, who had been living in Thailand until his arrest in May, has spent the past three months in custody. The father-of-three, who also served in the British Army, is accused of murdering Brooke and Robyn's 54-year-old mother Jacqueline during a kayaking trip in November 2020. Graeme Davidson looked relaxed as he arrived at the Roma Street police station on Friday night after he was granted bail The retired Australian Army major was accompanied by his daughters Brooke and Robyn as he waited to enter the police station to be fitted with an ankle monitor Davidson re-emerged from the police station 45 minutes later Davidson is further accused of fraud offences over two claims on his wife's life insurance policies worth more than $1million following what police originally determined to be an accidental death. Brooke and Robyn - one a high school teacher and the other a nurse - each provided $50,000 to secure their father's freedom, while one of their partners lodged $150,000. Davidson will be required to report daily to police and not go within 5km of any international point of departure such as airports or cruise ship terminals. The dual British-Australian citizen will have to abide by an 8pm curfew and surrender both his UK and Australian passports. Justice Sullivan said on Friday the Crown had accepted its case against Davidson 'could not be described as strong'. 'I have decided to treat the case in a neutral way,' he said. 'I have otherwise formed the view... the identified statutory risks can be ameliorated by appropriate conditions.' 'The nature of this alleged murder and the alleged motive... does not raise the prospect of reoffending in a similar way.' Davidson moved to the Thai resort town of Hua Hin four months after his wife's death and married local woman Pick Pattraporn in December 2022. Davidson used the police station intercom to state he required a personal monitoring device Davidson left with his daughters to enjoy his first night of freedom in three months Davidson arrived at Roma Street police station shortly before 6.30pm on Friday night Retired Australian Army major Graeme Davidson moved to Thailand and married a younger woman after allegedly drowning his wife Jacqueline. The former couple is pictured On Wednesday, the court heard Davidson had texted a friend while living in Thailand in 2023, describing himself as a 'cliche'. 'There are lots of divorcees out here, because there are no de facto laws and you can't lose 50 per cent of your s***,' he allegedly wrote. Justice Sullivan noted the daughters' relationship with both their father and the woman he was accused of killing: 'She was their mother.' Ms Davidson drowned on November 27, 2020 at Lake Samsonvale, near Forgan Cove in Queensland's Moreton Bay region, while kayaking with her husband. Davidson was arrested in Brisbane in May while visiting family, after a coronial investigation led police to believe he had murdered his wife. Davidson's barrister Craig Eberhardt KC said on Wednesday the evidence against his client was unable to rule out the possibility his wife had accidentally drowned. 'It's at best a weak circumstantial case,' he told the court. Mr Eberhardt described Davidson as a law-abiding citizen with no criminal record who received 'very substantial' pensions from his service in the British and Australian armies. He said Davidson had maintained contact with Queensland Police and the coroner for the past five years and submitted there was no suggestion he had the means to flee to Thailand or anywhere else. 'It's not as if he's Tony Mokbel,' Mr Eberhardt said, referring to the one-time fugitive Victorian drug baron. 'Even Tony Mokbel was caught ten years later. 'The idea that suddenly he'd be able to escape is just pure speculation, even if he wanted to.' Mr Eberhardt said Davidson had not 'fled' Australia after his wife's death but had gone to Thailand because many of his friends and former colleagues were there. 'He went up there just to see if he liked it, not to move,' Mr Eberhardt told the court. Davidson (pictured leaving the police station) has spent the last three months in custody Davidson, who married Thai woman Pick Pattraporn in December 2022, described himself as a 'cliche' in a text message to a mate sent in 2023. The couple is pictured on their wedding day Davidson and his dead wife's two daughters Robyn and Brooke (above) arrive at Brisbane Supreme Court on Friday morning for their father's bail determination Prosecutor Caroline Marco conceded the Crown's case against Davidson was circumstantial but said that did not make it weak. Instead, various threads of evidence - including inconsistencies in Davidson's version of events - could collectively convince a jury he was guilty of killing his wife. Ms Marco said Davidson's statements to police about what happened the day his wife drowned were inconsistent and varied with what he had told friends. Davidson told police his wife had fallen into the water from a seated position in her kayak but allegedly told a friend she 'jumped or dove'. Ms Marco said there were also inconsistencies regarding Davidson's explanation of his phone's whereabouts at the time. That phone has never been found. 'There had to be a reason why it could not be used to render assistance to Jacqueline,' she told the court. Ms Marco said Ms Davidson was a capable swimmer and had no known medical condition which would cause her to lose consciousness and fall into the water. The Crown contends the Davidsons' marriage was in trouble before Ms Davidson died. Davidson claims his wife had no intention of leaving him but the court heard she had discussed separation with friends following an affair her husband had while posted in Papua New Guinea. On Wednesday, Ms Marco said Ms Davidson had told two friends she had spoken to her husband about divorce and he had resisted the idea. If granted bail, Davidson would live with one of his daughters, who along with his de facto son-in-law (all pictured above) were prepared to lodge $150,000 security Davidson had allegedly told his wife he did not wish to separate due to the financial impact it would have on him. Ms Marco also said Ms Davidson had sent 'secret' Facebook messages to a friend in early 2020 which were set to disappear after being read. 'The secret messages that would delete, in my submission, are not consistent with an assertion that at that time there were not ongoing or lingering problems,' she said. The court heard Davidson received a $460,000 payout from the Australian Army four months before his wife's death and that he opened a separate bank account solely in his name three days before she drowned. Ms Marco said Davidson had returned to Australia only twice since his wife's death - once when he was arrested - and in mid-2023 sold the marital home for $1.55million. Last week, Mr Eberhardt argued the prosecution's case was 'fundamentally weak' and relied almost entirely on a comment made during a conversation in 2017. According to Mr Eberhardt, the remark was made while Davidson and a friend were discussing another man whose wife had left him on the day of his retirement, taken half of his pension, and then moved to Thailand. In response, Davidson allegedly said, 'Oh s*** yeah, I'd kill her and move to Thailand too.' Jacqueline Davidson's (left) death was initially ruled as an accident until suspicions were raised during a coronial investigation Mr Eberhardt dismissed the comment as nothing more than 'a quip' and insisted it was 'not nearly as sinister as it sounds' with the context. Justice Sullivan noted the prosecution's case did not include 'direct evidence of murder,' and Mr Eberhardt said there was no evidence Ms Davidson had been 'violently assaulted' by her husband. The court heard Ms Davidson's body showed only minor bruising, which Davidson's defence argued was consistent with his efforts to rescue her and perform CPR. Mr Eberhardt said the couple had been about 10m apart on the water when Davidson attempted to 'show off' by standing up on his kayak. 'Jacqueline became distressed about that and used the 'safe word' designed to let him know that she was concerned about what he was doing,' he told the court. Davidson claimed he then saw his wife fall into the water and dived in to rescue her. But he struggled to locate her in the 'murky' and weed-filled lake. He eventually dragged her to shore where he performed CPR and called for help. Neither was wearing a life jacket, with Davidson allegedly telling police their vests had been destroyed by rats while the couple was still living in Bondi, in Sydney's east. Ms Davidson was unable to be revived after she drowned on a trip on Lake Samsonvale, near Forgan Cove in Queensland's Moreton Bay region, in late 2020 (pictured, police at the scene) Mr Eberhardt said a witness had confirmed hearing this explanation prior to Ms Davidson's death. In response to the life insurance fraud allegations, Mr Eberhardt said both Mr Davidson and his wife had taken out claims in each other's favour in mid-2020. 'There is no evidence the setting up of the insurance policies was the applicant's idea,' the defence lawyer said last week. Mr Eberhardt argued on Wednesday it would have been 'far more suspicious' if Davidson had not attempted to access her life insurance following her death. The court also heard how Mr Davidson was recorded on CCTV burning 'a small number of documents' in his backyard the night after his wife drowned, while one of his children was at home. However, Mr Eberhardt dismissed the footage as 'not evidence of anything' since it was unclear what the documents contained. A shopkeeper has been left stunned after police told him to change his sign calling shoplifters 'scumbags' because it may be offensive. Rob Davies, 61, who runs the Run Ragged vintage shop in Wrexham, North Wales, installed the notice to tell shoppers some cabinets were locked against theft. The hard-working retailer put it up after he caught five thieves red-handed in the last 12 months alone and lost roughly 200 of stock to shoplifting. He felt the police did little to help when he reported the five thefts and so he gave up doing so, instead taking matters into his own hands to protect his small business. His handmade note reads: 'Due to scumbags shoplifting, please ask for assistance to open cabinets.' But to his surprise, after months of frustration with the police, officers turned up to the shop - though only to tell him to remove the sign. He was told a member of the public had reported it to the force as it could be seen as 'provocative and offensive'. Mr Davies said: 'I just wonder if that person was a shoplifter who was offended as it was detrimental to their work?' A shopkeeper (pictured) has been left stunned after police told him to change his sign calling shoplifters 'scumbags' because it may be offensive Rob Davies, 61, who runs the Run Ragged vintage shop in Wrexham, North Wales, installed the notice (pictured) to tell shoppers some cabinets were locked against theft The hard-working retailer put it up after he caught five thieves red-handed in the last 12 months alone and lost roughly 200 of stock to shoplifting. Pictured: The Run Ragged vintage shop The shopkeeper added the officers 'advised me to reword them' - but he was determined this would 'not happen'. He said: 'You couldn't make it up... 'Well, guys, if you know me, you will know I don't mean to cause offence but in this case, please feel free to be offended and stop frequenting my shop - you are no loss.' Mr Davies added: 'It apparently caused offence to someone. The only people it should be causing offence to are the shoplifters. 'One person whinges about a sign, and the police turn up and ask if I can take the signs down. 'I have a legitimate reason to complain to the police due to thieving, they don't turn up.' He explained: 'The police came out to the first [theft he reported], handed me back the shirt the guy had stolen and told him to get on his way.' In contrast, he said: 'It seems like the big names like Tesco and the Co-op are the ones prolific shoplifters are being banned from.' Mr Davies said: 'I have a legitimate reason to complain to the police due to thieving, they don't turn up'. Pictured: File photo The shopkeeper has spent the last five years running the quirky shop that sells vintage clothing and accessories. 'This is my livelihood,' he said, adding, 'Every penny counts for me.' He continued: 'When people are stealing your safety net, what are you supposed to do?... 'It's compounded with the cost of living, the business rates and everything else. 'Domestic electricity bills are a totally different price to commercial - commercial is nearly double. 'When you're not getting back up by the authorities you're paying for, it's really difficult.' But Mr Davies said the community has come together to support his drive to keep the signs up. In fact, a fellow shopkeeper gave him another sign reading: 'If you find anything offensive here, please let us know so we can have a good laugh.' Mr Davies said the community has come together to support his drive to keep the signs up. Pictured: File photo of Wrexham High Street Mr Davies said: 'It means a lot and restored my faith that there is that sense of community.' He was mostly amused by the bizarre incident: 'Now, back to the real world, I hope this makes you smile, it did me.' And commenters on a Facebook post he made about it found it just as funny: 'Spare a tiny violin for those of us who have their pearls well and truly culutched, wa, wa, wa.' Another wrote: 'Jeez, that's hilarious. I think the complainer needs to find something else to do with their time. I know of some drying paint that needs to be watched.' Someone else said, 'This is quite mild if you ask me', while one added: 'Make the signs bigger. Support you totally.' Before opening his store, the shopkeeper worked as a weapons expert, helping on the fight scenes for Hollywood blockbusters like Gladiator and Braveheart. Wrexham City District Inspector Rhodri Ifans told the Daily Mail: 'All incidents of retail crime, no matter how big, should be reported to police at the earliest opportunity to enable us to effectively respond to any offences. 'All reports of shoplifting are taken extremely seriously, and we are committed to combatting retail theft in the city. 'Each day, my officers go above and beyond to identify risk individuals and locations to prevent further incidents of shoplifting. 'A dedicated team of officers in Wrexham have consistently maintained the highest detection rate for shoplifting offences within the force over the past two years, which is a credit to their commitment to protect local retailers and pursue repeat offenders. 'Over the last 12 months alone, a total of 14 individuals who repeatedly committed shoplifting offences within the city have been subjected to a community behaviour order (CBO) through the courts, preventing them from entering the city centre. 'In addition to this, several civil restraining orders have also been issued to repeat offenders locally. 'Whilst robust action is taken against those who shoplift, we always look to take a proactive approach initially to signposting and supporting those struggling with alcohol or substance misuse to try and disrupt or negate repeat offending. 'Protecting staff, businesses and their customers from this type of criminality, which has created a significant impact on their wellbeing and business, is a priority in Wrexham city.' Donald Trump shouted at Benjamin Netanyahu during a call after the Israeli Prime Minister said reports of hunger in Gaza had been 'fabricated' by Hamas, US officials familiar with the call have claimed. Trump interrupted Netanyahu during the call on July 28 and shouted he did not want to hear that the starvation was fake, claiming his aides had shown him proof. The confrontation came after growing tensions between the two countries over the humanitarian situation in the war-torn enclave, NBC News reports. The account is based on a senior American official, two former US officials, and a Western official. The reported clash happened a day after Netanyahu declared in Jerusalem: 'There is no policy of starvation in Gaza. And there is no starvation in Gaza.' Trump later told reporters he had seen images of children in Gaza who 'look very hungry,' that there is 'real starvation' there and that 'you can't fake that.' This prompted Netanyahu to ask for a phone call with the US president. When Netanyahu began to deny claims that children were starving during the call, Trump is said to have angrily interrupted to insist that they were. But on Friday, Netanyahu's office denied the report and labelled it as 'fake news'. A statement read: 'The claim that there was supposedly a "shouting match" between Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Trump is complete fake news'. Donald Trump reportedly shouted at Benjamin Netanyahu during a heated phone call about starvation in Gaza. Israel has denied the claim The confrontation came after growing tensions between the two countries over the humanitarian situation in the war-torn enclave Organisations such as the UN have raised starvation concerns and have warned that there could be famine in Gaza One of the former US officials is said to have described the exchange as 'a direct, mostly one-way conversation' in which Trump did most of the talking about the status of humanitarian aid. The row comes as the United Nations warns that famine in Gaza is imminent, with UN agencies saying many families are surviving on little more than bread and water. Aid groups say deliveries have been blocked or delayed. Pictures and videos circulating online are said to back humanitarian groups' assertions of malnutrition. Netanyahu has dismissed such claims, insisting Israel is not restricting food supplies and blaming Hamas for manipulating the situation. Following the phone call, US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff was sent to the region to work with Israel on aid coordination. Israeli officials were reportedly pleased with the visit, believing they were able to explain the challenges they face and push back against criticism of the Gaza Humanitarian Fund. Meanwhile commercial satellite images viewed by US officials suggest Israel is moving troops and equipment close to the Gaza border. Israel's security cabinet has signed off on a plan from Netanyahu for the military to 'take control' of Gaza City, his office announced on Friday. Pictures circulated online appear to show children in Gaza looking malnourished Israel's security cabinet has signed off on a plan from Netanyahu for the military to 'take control' of Gaza City On Thursday, Netanyahu told his security cabinet that Israel aimed to take full control of Gaza but had no plans to govern it The proposal is part of a wider strategy to 'defeat' Hamas in the Gaza Strip. According to the statement, the Israeli army 'will prepare to take control of Gaza City while distributing humanitarian assistance to the civilian population outside combat zones.' On Thursday Netanyahu told his security cabinet that Israel aimed to take full control of Gaza but had no plans to govern it. Speaking to Fox News earlier in the day, he said the government wanted to take 'complete control' of the territory, where battles have been raging since Hamas launched its October 7, 2023 attack on Israel. He stressed that Israel had no desire 'to keep' the Gaza Strip, which it occupied in 1967 before withdrawing its forces and settlers in 2005. Instead, he said Israel's goal was to create a 'security perimeter' and then transfer control to 'Arab forces that will govern it properly without threatening us and giving Gazans a good life.' Netanyahu's decision has been condemned by UK prime minister Keir Starmer, who said it was 'wrong' and called for a ceasefire and negotiations. In a statement on Friday he said: 'The Israeli Governments decision to further escalate its offensive in Gaza is wrong, and we urge it to reconsider immediately. Netanyahu's decision has been condemned by UK prime minister Keir Starmer, who said it was 'wrong' Netanyahu said Israel's goal was to create a 'security perimeter' and then transfer control to 'Arab forces that will govern it properly without threatening us' 'This action will do nothing to bring an end to this conflict or to help secure the release of the hostages. It will only bring more bloodshed. ActionAid UK echoed Starmer's sentiment. Its co-CEO Hanna Bond said: 'We are deeply alarmed that the Israeli government has decided to push ahead with its plan to take control of Gaza City, which clearly violates international humanitarian law. 'This horrifying escalation will forcibly displace hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who are already experiencing starvation and have nowhere else to flee, and will inevitably result in even more bloodshed.' It comes after Starmer, along with the leaders of France and Canada, announced that they would begin to recognise a Palestinian state if Israel doesn't take steps, including agreeing to a ceasefire. When Trump was asked on Tuesday if he would support Israel's plan to take full control of Gaza, he said: 'I really cant say. Thats going to be pretty much up to Israel.' He also said he was focused on making sure people in Gaza have food. Daily Mail has reached out to the White House to verify reports of the alleged phone call. Drivers have been left out of pocket after a car dealership went out of business. Customers have told of their frustration - and hundreds of pounds in debts - after the collapse of S W Valley Motor Company in Hirwaun, Aberdare, in South Wales. The complaints come as Citroen and parent company Stellantis face mounting pressure and criticism from a consumer group for failing owners of cars embroiled in a nationwide 'stop-drive' safety recall. Some 96,000 UK owners of Citroen C3 and DS3 models produced between 2009 and 2019 were informed at the end of June that their vehicles are unsafe due to faulty airbags that recently caused the death of a driver in France. On June 20, Stellantis UK issued an urgent stop-drive order for these models, telling owners to park them up until the lethal parts could be replaced - and to seek alternative transport in the meantime. Among those who have been affected is Trisha Walker, who received a letter from Citroen telling her to no longer drive her car because of the new safety fears. Rather than be left with no mode of transport, she took out a loan to buy a replacement vehicle online - and opted for an offer by SW Valley Motor Company. But despite handing over a deposit of 750 for the car valued at 1,495, she has told of being left without despite promises from a representative of the firm a month ago. Concerns about the closure of SW Motor Company in south Wales follow a recall of Citroen cars following safety fears (stock image of a Citroen C3) Stop drive: Since June 20, 96,000 UK motorists have been ordered to park up their cars indefinitely until the faulty airbag devices (similar to the one pictured) can be replaced Ms Walker told ITV News Wales: 'The following day came and what happened? No car. He said something had come up and he'd delivered it further into the day. 'I haven't slept. I've gone 26 hours without sleeping because I'm worried about how I'm going to pay the one back. I feel stupid - stupid for trusting people. 'I'm in debt - one, because of Citroen because we were left stranded as a lot of other people have been left stranded, but also this man has left me further in debt as well.' Another SW Valley Motor Company client raising concerns after the business's apparent collapse is Holly Evans, who says she and her partner handed over 2,700 for a car after giving it a test drive. She told how the vehicle began making a 'strange noise' several days later and the garage owner Matthew Peachey agreed to repair it. Ms Evans said: 'He took the car and then we never got the car back. We got the car on June 9, he came and picked it up on the June 16, I think, eventually and we've never seen it again.' She said Mr Peachey had made 'excuse after excuse' for why the car had not been returned. Among those who have been affected is Trisha Walker, who received a letter from Citroen telling her to no longer drive her car because of the new safety fears Despite handing over a deposit of 750 for the car valued at 1,495, Trisha Walker has told of being left without despite promises from a representative of the firm a month ago Holly Evans says she and her partner handed over 2,700 for a car from SW Motor Company in Wales after giving it a test drive but have yet to got it back after it needed repairs The Daily Mail has attempted to contact SW Valley Motor Company for comment. The firm's listed phone number is currently not in service. ITV Wales said Mr Peachey had not responded directly to their questions but had told them of having 'lost his business despite trying every which way to save it', with 'spiralling costs' making it 'impossible to keep the business going'. He is also said to have told of having cars being repossessed and he never 'set out to cause anybody any upset', the programme reported. Lisa Webb, consumer law group for advice group Which?, said: 'There are some limits to what you can actually do in these cases. 'But if you do end up handing over your money, the best way to pay in these sorts of circumstances is by credit card. 'If it's 100 or more that you're spending, use a credit card because you do have slightly better protections at getting your money back.' Amid the recent Citroen problem, its parent firm Stellantis last month told affected drivers to immediately stop driving their cars due to the risk of airbags rupturing in a collision. The manufacturer highlighted potential dangers of metal shards and shrapnel being fired into the bodies of drivers and passengers. Concerns have been raised by customers using SW Motor Company in Hirwaun, south Wales The dealership's registered office is on an industrial estate in Hirwaun, Aberdare, south Wales Owners were urged to contact their dealer - or Stellantis's recall helpline - to arrange a free airbag replacement. The Daily Mail has been contacted by owners this week who have told us their cars are not booked in with dealers until October. According to information given to the Daily Mail by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA), ignoring a stop-drive order or any safety recall could result in legal repercussions. If involved in an accident, drivers could also face prosecution, fine, penalty points or a driving ban. Insurers could also refuse claims on the grounds that drivers are responsible for roadworthiness of their vehicles. Stellantis said all impacted Citroen models should be collected on the back of transporters or truck arranged by dealerships, or that mechanics visit owners' homes to carry out airbag replacements. On June 20, Stellantis UK announced an immediate stop-drive action for all second-generation Citroen C3s built between 2009 and 2019 The first-generation DS3 - produced between 2009 and 2019 under Citroen and DS branding - is also impacted by the stop-drive order A Stellantis spokesperson said: 'The company's focus remains on completing the replacement of airbags in affected vehicles as swiftly as possible. 'Our Citroen network is fully engaged in maximising the number of cars that can be completed every day and, to increase our repair capacity even further and minimise as much as possible the impact on customers, our Peugeot network is now authorised to replace airbags on these cars in addition to at home options. 'For each and every customer, we discuss options to support mobility, recognising that every driver has specific requirements. 'These options include replacement airbags at a dealership or at home, courtesy car, support for other mobility options and recovery. 'We give priority to those with the most urgent needs.' With crimes on the rise and police forces complaining of budget cuts, the front line of law enforcement is stretched thin these days. And it was even thinner this week after a member of public spotted what they claim was a sleeping policeman. The individual, who asked not to be named, noticed a marked patrol car hidden behind some trees at the end of a long country track off an A-road in Norfolk and went to investigate because they were concerned. But they were shocked to find what appeared to be the long arm of the snore. The man said: I found the police officer with his seat reclined, sound asleep. He was caught red-handed having a snooze. His mouth was ajar and he looked like he was catching flies. He woke up and wound down his window. He said Is this your land? and I said Is this your land, sir?, at which point he snarled at me. I returned to my vehicle. He looked panicked while I watched his vehicle. I could tell he was watching me like a hawk. It felt like we were having a staring match. He then went to the back of his vehicle and was bizarrely putting on a coughing fit and retching. A member of public said they found a police officer in his car 'with his seat reclined, sound asleep' Lets see how the cops explain it but he looked perfectly fine to me. The member of public, who offered paracetamol to the officer but said he claimed to have had some already, added: He then drove round to my car, stopped and said See ya. He then drove down the lane and turned to head to Great Yarmouth. The car, which had its flashing sidelights on, was parked down a track off Acle New Road, known locally as the Acle Straight, between Acle and Great Yarmouth, on Tuesday at 3.45pm. The man added: Im very familiar with the area. Its quite an obscure and difficult place to access from the road. The road is a notorious blackspot for road accidents, with a number of fatalities occurring there. It is reputedly haunted, with drivers reporting they have performed emergency stops after seeing a man walking into the middle of the road or a horse and cart crossing in front of oncoming traffic. Local band The Darkness's song Stuck in a Rut references the road as an escape route from their hometown of Lowestoft. The marked patrol car was 'hidden' behind some trees with its side lights flashing as the male officer appeared to doze comfortably in the driver's seat The vehicle was concealed behind trees down a long country track off the A47 between Acle and Great Yarmouth Photos show how the patrol car was in a secluded spot in the Norfolk countryside, flanked by trees and bushes and with wind turbines in the distance Cambridgeshire Police confirmed two officers were facing disciplinary action for alleged misconduct in 2019 when they were caught sleeping in an unmarked car while on patrol in a Cambridge side road Overall crime in Norfolk fell by 2.9 per cent in 2024, according to the Office for National Statistics, with a total of 59,456 offences recorded. But there were increases in drugs offences, possession of weapons, robbery, sexual offences, residential and non-residential burglary, theft, and miscellaneous crimes against society. Shoplifting soared by 26.8 per cent. Earlier this year, the county's chief constable, Paul Sanford, warned that highly skilled and experienced staff might have to be replaced with trainee officers to save money as the force was facing a 4m funding gap for 2025-2026. The officer could face disciplinary action if found to have been taking 40 winks instead of being on patrol, keeping the public safe. A Norfolk Police spokeswoman said: We have been made aware of photographs taken of an officer whilst on duty that appear to show him sleeping in a police car. The matter has been referred to the Professional Standards Department and we are carrying out an investigation of the circumstances. In February this year, Staffordshire Police said they were investigating after a video posted on Facebook appeared to show two police officers asleep on the job. The vehicle was pictured in Fenton, Stoke-on-Trent, and was stationary at a junction with the car lights and dashboard lit up. Officers have also been found snoozing in cars in Cambridge and Skye Bridge in the Scottish Highlands. The UK is bracing for a weekend of protest anarchy with both Palestine Action supporters and anti-migrant demonstrators set to take to the streets. More than 500 people are expected gather outside Parliament at 1pm tomorrow in support of Palestine Action, defying warnings they will be charged with terror offences. Membership of, or support for, the proscribed group is now a criminal offence under the Terrorism Act 2000 and is punishable by up to 14 years in prison. Meanwhile, police up and down the country are also preparing for a series of anti-migrant protests outside hotels and council offices. There is particular concern about a protest planned in Nuneaton which comes amid claims Warwickshire Police held back information over the alleged rape of a 12-year-old girl. Restrictions have also been put in place by police in at least 12 towns and cities on Friday evening. In London, the Met Police is bracing for protests outside hotels housing asylum seekers in Canary Wharf and Islington. Deputy assistant commissioner Ade Adelekan, who is leading the policing operation in London, said: 'This is going to be a particularly busy few days in London with many simultaneous protests and events that will require a significant policing presence.' 'There is no doubt that the scale of the public order policing operation will put pressure on our resources, but Londoners can be assured that we have plans in place that will allow us continue to police in communities across all 32 boroughs, responding to emergencies and keeping the public safe,' he added. Palestine Action demonstrators may never be able to visit the US or work in education if they take part in this weekend's protest, the Met Police have warned (file photo) Anti-racism activists clashed with police and anti-migrant protesters last Saturday outside a London hotel where asylum seekers are being housed A protester held up a '1984' sign criticising the Met Police at a protest in Whitehall on July 19 Defend Our Juries posted on social media that hundreds of people had attended its briefing call Last night, Scotland Yard issued a stark warning to people planning to attend the Palestine Action protest, saying they may never be able to visit the US or work in education if they do. Regardless, the group behind the protest Defend Our Juries, has continued to post on its X account, saying counter-terror police had 'irresponsibly taken down their briefing call'. It claimed last night, however, that 'many hundreds' of people had attended the meeting on another Zoom link. The group has said that those taking part in Saturday's protest will hold 'I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action' signs as part of a campaign to end the group's proscription. Defend Our Juries co-founder Tim Crosland previously praised the people who support Palestine Action as the 'moral backbone of this country'. Mr Crosland added in an online press conference he had been 'hearing from thousands of people wanting to take part in this action'. 'It feels like there's huge energy behind it,' he said. Mr Adelekan said: 'What sets this protest apart from others is participants are coming out not just to express a view, but with the aim of being arrested in very large numbers to place a strain on the police and the wider criminal justice system.' He added: 'Anyone showing support for Palestine Action can expect to be arrested. I would once again urge people to consider the seriousness of that outcome.' The aircraft at RAF Brize Norton that was vandalised after pro-Palestine supporters broke in People believed to be migrants were seen filming and laughing from a window at the Thistle City Barbican Hotel in London Palestine Action co-founders Richard Barnard and Huda Ammori stand outside Westminster Magistrates' Court Police are also expecting a number of local protests in opposition to Israel's continued Israeli military action in Gaza tonight. These are due to take place in Tower Hamlets, Putney and Westminster where, last week, a protest organised by the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network saw 36 arrests after a breakaway group attempted to block the road at Oxford Circus. On Saturday another demonstration by the Palestine Coalition is due to take place through central London. On Thursday, three people were charged with terror offences for allegedly 'showing support for Palestine Action at a protest'. Jeremy Shippam, 71, Judit Murray, 71, and Fiona Maclean, 53, were arrested following a protest in Parliament Square last Saturday. They will appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on September 16, the Met Police said. The planned demonstration tomorrow has since fuelled fears of a 'mass arrest' event. And today, commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Met's Counter-Terrorism Command, sent a clear warning to anyone thinking of joining the rally. According to The Telegraph he said: 'Anyone who displays public support for Palestine Action, a proscribed organisation, is committing an offence under the Terrorism Act and can expect to be arrested and, as these charges show, will be investigated to the full extent of the law.' 'I would strongly advise anyone planning to come to London this weekend to show support for Palestine Action to think about the potential criminal consequences of their actions.' It comes after Mr Adelekan last night called on people to consider the consequences of being arrested under the terrorism act. He said such a detention can have 'very real long-term implications from travel, to employment, to finances'. Last week, Palestine Action won permission to challenge the ban after the High Court ruled it had an arguable case. A judicial review will take place in November. Until then, the ban remains in place. Protesters are seen facing off with police and other groups last weekend Palestine Action spray paint over the London offices of the arms company Leonardo, which supplies fighter jets to the Israeli military, in November 2023 Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy warned Britons to 'stay away' from a planned Palestine Action protest this weekend The Government moved to ban Palestine Action after two Voyager aircraft were damaged at RAF Brize Norton in June - an incident the group said it was behind A Palestinian flag is seen held outside the Royal Courts of Justice in central London last month There have already been 200 arrests at protests organised by Defend Our Juries since the ban came into force last month. Days out from the planned protest, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy also sought to head off potentially chaotic scenes in the capital. She urged the public to steer clear of support for a 'proscribed terror organisation that wishes harm on the British people'. Speaking to Times Radio, Ms Nandy was asked if those who attend Saturday's protest will be arrested and charged with terror offences. The Culture Secretary stressed this would be 'an operational matter for the police', adding: 'It wouldn't be right for us to say, to try and dictate to them how they police any march. 'But what I would say is, I think some of the reporting around this is conflating legitimate protests. 'Just last week I was coming out of Parliament, there were lots of pro-Palestinian protesters there, peacefully demonstrating. 'At the heart of power, that's absolutely right and proper and important for them to do... I commend them for that. 'There's a difference between that and supporting a proscribed terror organisation that wishes harm on the British people. 'And I would just urge people to stay away from those sorts of events and to exercise their democratic rights in a peaceful and legitimate way.' An Oklahoma heiress has sparked outrage in Nantucket after renting a summer house and allegedly breaking the billionaire enclave's secret codes. Kylie Swanson, 36, signed a lease in the Massachusetts town and turned the rental house into a $3,800 four-day retreat called 'Camp Nantucket,' the Wall Street Journal reported. Her Instagram account is filled with images of Swanson posing by with cobblestone streets, ocean-front estates and lighthouses, showing her followers a lifestyle that's out of reach for most. But Nantucket business owners who rely on summer sales told the Wall Street Journal the influencer disrupted them by demanding free products, comped hotel rooms and discounts for the camp in exchange for social media advertising. Residents also complained that Swanson brought in vendors from outside Nantucket, where there is an unspoken rule that shopping must be done locally. As locals see it, Swanson was a so-called 'washashore' who did not understand their culture and brought in outsiders to the enclave. 'She basically asked us if we would plan the whole thing for free,' said Mary Goode, a business owner who interacted with Swanson. 'It wasn't offensive to me as much as I realized she didn't understand Nantucket, and how we have 10 weeks to make money,' she said of the summer season trade. Influencer Kylie Swanson, 36, has angered Nantucket locals with her summer camp for adults. She is pictured with a friend, center, and husband, left Nantucket is known as a tight enclave of wealthy residents with long histories in the area and Swanson was branded a 'washashore' Amid the outrage, an anonymous Instagram account called the Nantucket Brief called out the influencer, calling her the 'Nantucket scammer.' Meanwhile the owner of an online boutique took to Reddit, claiming she sent Swanson about $400 worth of hats in exchange of social media promotions she never got. However Swanson, the daughter of a car dealership magnate, defended her Nantucket presence, telling the WSJ: 'My family has Oklahoma money, but it's not Nantucket money.' She added: 'The American dream that we all try to chase goes across the U.S., including Nantucket... 'I don't think there needs to be a price of admission. I call bulls**t and if that pisses people off, I'm so sorry.' Swanson, married to a petroleum engineer since 2011, was at stay at home mom when she started growing her following as an influencer. She started housesitting in beautiful homes in Connecticut and Rhode Island, sharing content from the properties and portraying a lifestyle that her critics deem fraudulent. Nantucket's director of culture and tourism Shantaw Bloise-Murphy said Swanson did not get the necessary permit to begin her summer camp for adults Swanson gained her following thanks to her content, which initially showed her traveling with her husband and son Last December Swanson took a gig housesitting a home on Nantucket and posted a TikTok asking if if she should open a camp. The post went viral and as many as 3,000 people signed up to a wait list. But Nantucket's director of culture and tourism Shantaw Bloise-Murphy claimed Swanson broke the enclave's rules because her request for a special events permit was denied. Swanson, however, said she doesn't care about the criticism, and is planning more camps in places like the Cotswolds in the English countryside. 'I woke up one day and I just stopped caring about whether or not losers disliked me,' she told the WSJ. A stark warning has been issued as Britain's 'most dangerous spider' with an 'unbearable' bite is about to invade homes across the UK. False widow spiders are set to appear in greater numbers as spider mating season is set to begin later on in August. This is prompting experts to urge people to keep windows closed both day and night. The venomous animal delivers a bite that, although not lethal, can cause swelling, painful burns and even fever. It is the largest of the three false widow species commonly found near homes. Dr Tom Elwood said as 'spider season' kicked off this month - when horny males move indoors to search for mates - the eight-legged critters could scuttle through pipes into homes. The arachnologist said: 'August is when male spiders become active - they're searching for a mate and they'll wander through open windows, up walls, into bathtubs - anywhere they can.' False Widow spiders, pictured, are set to appear in greater numbers as spider mating season is set to begin later on in August The venomous animal delivers a bite that, although not lethal, can cause swelling, painful burns and even fever It comes after Dr Elwood this week urged Brits to clean their windows to stop grimy, cobwebbed frames becoming a haven for the poisonous arachnids. Dr Elwood encouraged Brits to keep their bathtubs, sinks and other areas of their homes clean and tidy to hold back the invasion of venomous critters. He said: 'Spiders are drawn to dust, insect remains and debris.' He added: 'Spiders are already on the move. You may not see them, but they're out there, climbing walls, slipping in through vents and squeezing through the tiniest cracks.' The noble false widow is 'widely regarded as the most dangerous spider breeding in Britain,' according to a 2020 paper by Clive Hambler, an Oxford University zoologist. Known as Steatoda nobilis, they're not native to Britain and are thought to have arrived from the Canary Islands in banana boxes in the late 1800s before slowly spreading northwards. The Daily Mail previously reported that a man bitten by this spider was left in 'unbearable' pain and struggling to walk. Keith Robinson, 65, says he developed a large, angry inflammation on his leg shortly after clearing out cobwebs at home. At first, he tried to treat it himself using painkillers and savlon, but before long, it became too much to bear and he went to the hospital. Now he's been diagnosed with cellulitis around the wound, and can only walk for short distances before 'intense pain' sets in. He said: 'It must be more than a coincidence that I had removed a large number of cobwebs from the house. 'So I'm thinking that I've disturbed a spider, and at some point, I got bitten.' The bite, unnoticeable at first, only got worse as the days passed. Broccoli has been recalled across Italy after one man was killed and nine people were hospitalised after eating a sandwich at a food truck amid a growing botulism outbreak. Luigi Di Sarno, 52, died on Thursday after purchasing a broccoli and sausage sandwich from a street vendor on the Diamante seafront in the province of Cosenza. Nine others were hospitalised with similar symptoms after eating the same meal, including several members of Di Sarno's family. The individuals being treated in Annunziata Hospital in Cosenza include two 17-year-olds and two women in their 40s. Two of the patients were reportedly in a serious condition when they arrived at the intensive care unit. All exhibit symptoms of botulism, a rare but life-threatening condition caused by toxins produced by Clostridium botulinum bacteria. Following the outbreak in the Cosenza area, the Paola Public Prosecutor's Office has ordered the immediate seizure of a commercial product, understood to be jars of broccoli in oil. The food truck in question has also been seized and an investigation has been opened into the spread of the toxin. Di Sarno, an artist and musician originally from Cercola, in the province of Naples, was on holiday in Calabria with his family. After they ate the sandwich on the Tyrrhenian coast of Cosenza, he began driving back home to Naples. On the way, on the highway near Lagonegro in Potenza, the 52-year-old fell ill. His health deteriorated, and he died in the small town in Basilicata on Thursday before reaching the San Giovanni Hospital in Lagonegro. The judiciary has ordered an autopsy to determine the cause of death but local media suspect it was botulism. Luigi Di Sarno, 52, died after purchasing a broccoli and sausage sandwich from a street vendor Nine others were hospitalised with similar symptoms after eating the same meal - a broccoli and sausage sandwich [FILE PHOTO] Vials of 'antitoxin serum' to treat the botulism are being rapidly flown across Italy to address the emergency in Cosenza and treat patients. Calabria Region's Department of Health and Welfare said: 'The emergency procedure established in these cases has been activated, which requires immediate notification to the Poison Control Center in Pavia, the only national centre designated for the management of botulism. 'No region or hospital in the country is authorised to store the antivenom in their own facilities. This serum, however, is exclusively available to the Ministry of Health, which holds it in designated secure locations and distributes it only through the Lombardy Poison Control Centre. 'The first two vials, used for the first patients, were sent directly from the Military Pharmacy in Taranto. However, as the number of cases increased, additional supplies became necessary. 'Yesterday, the Calabria Region, through Azienda Zero, provided a 118 aircraft that flew to the San Camillo Hospital in Rome, where the ministry had centralised additional vials of the antivenom to facilitate distribution.' Seven more vials of the serum were delivered to the affected region by air ambulance, 'one for injection and six as a reserve'. The infected broccoli comes just days after eight people reportedly fell ill with botulism after eating infected guacamole at a festival in Sardinia from July 22 to 24. An 11-year-old boy remains hospitalised in intensive care at the Gemelli Polyclinic in Rome, after being transferred by helicopter from the Brotzu Hospital in Cagliari for poisoning contracted during the Fiesta Latina in Monserrato, La Repubblica reports. After he and his family ate the sandwich on the Tyrrhenian coast of Cosenza, Di Sarno began driving back home to Naples Di Sarno, an artist and musician originally from Cercola, in the province of Naples, was on holiday in Calabria with his family A 38-year-old woman who also ate a taco with guacamole at a kiosk at the festival in the Cagliari hinterland has reportedly died after her condition worsened in hospital. The travelling festival was on its way to Tortoli but has now been suspended by local authorities. The Cagliari Public Prosecutors Office opened an investigation into the incident and a recall notice, published by the Ministry of Health, was reportedly issued for Metro Chef avocado pulp because of the possible presence of botulinum toxin. The office, led by Chief Prosecutor Domenico Fiordalisi, is also investigating another crime related to the sale of harmful foods and medical liability in the handling of the case, reported the Corriere del Mezzogiorno newspaper. A cruise ship passenger was left injured after a water slide panel shattered while he was going down it. An unnamed man had been using the slide on Royal Caribbean's cruise ship Icon of the Seas yesterday when an acrylic glass panel broke. A large hole was left in the side of the slide as footage captured water gushing from the edges and falling onto the deck below. The man had been riding the 46ft high Frightening Bolt at the time - a drop slide which sends upright riders feet-first into the slide after the base drops out from under them. His condition has been described as stable, but more details about their injuries have not been made public. Passengers on board the cruise were heard in a clip of the incident shouting and gasping, with one yelling: 'Someone just fell out of the slide'. But Royal Caribbean have since confirmed that nobody fell out of the hole in the slide, and the man who was left injured, was treated after reaching the bottom. The company told Cruise News Today: 'Our team provided medical care to an adult guest when acrylic glass broke off a water slide as the guest passed through the slide. An unnamed man had been going down the slide on Royal Caribbean's cruise ship Icon of the Seas yesterday when an acrylic glass panel broke The man had been riding the 46ft high Frightening Bolt, a drop slide which sends upright riders feet-first into the slide after the base drops out from under them A large hole was left in the side of the slide as footage captured water gushing from the edges and falling onto the deck below 'The guest is being treated for his injuries. 'The water slide is closed for the remainder of the sailing pending an investigation.' A guest on board the cruise told Cruise Radio that there were no injuries on the ground when the panel shattered, saying: 'From what I saw the area below was empty!' The cruise completely shut deck 15 on board the ship following the incident. The Icon of the Seas, a 215ft wide and 198ft long ship, departed Miami on August 2 and is due to return to Miami on August 9. It is home to Category 6, which claims to be the largest water park on a cruise ship and features six slides. As well as the Frightening Drop, the water park also includes the Pressure Drop a mat-racing slide which lets two passengers race head-to-head and two raft slides where groups can slide together in another race. Icon of the Seas is 66m (215ft) wide and 365m (1,198ft) long and weighs 250,800 gross tonnes The latest incident comes after a British holidaymaker almost lost her foot after it was sliced wide open in a horror accident at a water park in Spain in 2023. Mum-of-four Stephanie Somerville said she was left in agony and covered in blood after she was catapulted into a wall by a dangerous water slide at Rio Safari Elche water park in Alicante. She hit out at staff who told her they believed she had ripped her foot open on a loose nail but they could not find the object and carried on as if nothing had happened. My foot was torn open to the bone in one clean slice,' she told Daily Mail at the time. JD Vance and David Lammy underlined the Special Relationship today despite tensions over Gaza and Ukraine. Mr Lammy and the US vice-president showed off their fishing skills at the Chevening country retreat. Mr Vance joked that he and his children had managed catches at a carp lake on the 17th Century estate - but the Foreign Secretary had not. 'I caught a few actually... I don't want to brag but we did OK,' he said. The pair are said to have bonded over their difficult childhoods and Christian faith, despite starkly different political outlooks. However, there was a flash of mounting friction over the UK's vow to recognise Palestine as a state. Answering questions in the opulent drawing room, Mr Vance stressed the US had 'no plans' to do the same, adding that he did not know 'what it would mean' as there is no functional government. Mr Lammy insisted that both powers were looking for a solution to the long-running crisis. Keir Starmer this morning condemned an Israeli plan to take control of Gaza City, warning of more 'bloodshed'. Mr Vance is beginning a holiday in the UK with his family - who have also joined the gathering at Chevening. Mr Lammy and the US vice-president showed off their fishing skills at the Foreign Secretary's Chevening country retreat The pair looked to be enjoying themselves as they cast lines into the pond today Mr Lammy is hosting at his country retreat of Chevening Answering questions in the opulent drawing room, Mr Vance stressed the US had 'no plans' to recognise Palestin, adding that he did not know 'what it would mean' as there is no functional government Mr Lammy is reported to have attended Mass at the vice-president's Washington residence during a visit in March, and now plans to repay the favour with the stay at Chevening. Built in the 17th century, Grade I-listed Chevening was previously the home of the earls of Stanhope, before it was gifted to the state in 1959. It has traditionally acted as the foreign secretary's country residence, but the prime minister can nominate any of his cabinet colleagues to use the house. Israel is certain to be on the agenda, after Benjamin Netanyahu suggested an expansion of the campaign in Gaza. Russian President Vladimir Putin is also reportedly set to meet Donald Trump in the coming days. The US and UK have found themselves at odds on Gaza, with Keir Starmer's pledge to recognise a Palestinian state if Israel does not agree to a ceasefire drawing criticism from Washington. On Ukraine, Mr Trump said on a visit to the UK last month that he would bring forward the deadline for Mr Putin to agree a ceasefire or face higher tariffs to Friday. But speaking in the White House overnight the US president would not commit to taking action when the deadline expires, saying only that it was 'up to' Mr Putin. Kremlin officials claimed that a meeting between the US and Russian presidents had been agreed and could take place as early as next week, despite Moscow showing no sign of relenting in its attacks on Ukraine. The vice-president and his family are also expected to visit Hampton Court Palace. Mr Vance has caused controversy with some of his remarks about Britain, including a claim that a 'backslide away from conscience rights has placed the basic liberties of religious Britons' under threat. Mr Vance made the remarks in February as he raised concerns over a legal case in which a man who silently prayed outside an abortion clinic was convicted of breaching the safe zone around the centre. He has also suggested the UK is a 'truly Islamist' country a characterisation that was later dismissed by Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner and railed against what he described as 'infringements on free speech' in Britain. Security was high at the estate in Kent today as the US Vice President prepared to descend There was a small protest near Chevening ahead of the visit by Mr Vance Keir Starmer warned of 'more bloodshed' and urged Benjamin Netanyahu to reconsider after the dramatic announcement overnight The move approved by Mr Netanyahu's war cabinet stops short of fully taking over all of Gaza More recently the vice-president has appeared to take aim at Britain's international standing as well as its home affairs. As the UK and France led European efforts to secure a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia, he questioned the level of security that could be offered by 'some random country that hasn't fought a war in 30 or 40 years'. He later denied he had been referring to either the UK or France after facing a furious backlash from British politicians and ex-soldiers. 'I don't even mention the UK or France in the clip, both of whom have fought bravely alongside the US over the last 20 years, and beyond,' he said of the remarks made in a Fox News interview in March. The sprawling 8,000-a-week Cotswolds manor house where JD Vance will enjoy his 'British MAGA summer' JD Vance is renting a sprawling Cotswolds manor house a mile away from Jeremy Clarkson's Diddly Squat farm - just months after they exchanged an angry war of words over Britian's military capability. The US Vice President opted for a quintessential British summer holiday with his family and is renting the enormous property in Oxfordshire for 8,000 a week, we can reveal. Located in a tiny hamlet and set behind a 15 feet high stone wall with six acres of sprawling gardens, the home is perfect for a private getaway. Yet he may be in for an awkward encounter if he runs into the former Top Gear, who previously labelled him a 't***' who has 'no clue about history'. Clarkson slammed Vance after Donald Trump's deputy described the UK as 'some random country that hasn't fought a war in 30 or 40 years'. His comments discrediting the efforts of British soldiers who fought with the U.S. in Iraq and Afghanistan came when discussing how the West could tackle the threat of Russia. Writing in his column in The Sunday Times at the time, Clarkson hit back: 'Now I don't want to stoop to his level, but I'm going to. 'Vance is a bearded God-botherer who pretty much thinks that women who've been raped should be forced to have the resultant child. JD Vance is renting this sprawling Cotswolds manor house a mile away from Jeremy Clarkson's Diddly Squat farm JD Vance meets with UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy in Rome in May this year The house is just miles from Jeremy Clarkson's (pictured) Diddly Squat farm. The former Top Gear previously labelled Vance a 't***' who has 'no clue about history' 'I've searched for the right word to describe him and I think it's 't**t'. He also has no clue about history. 'Because far more recently than 30 or 40 years ago, as Vance claimed last week, our brave young men were being blown to pieces in some godforsaken desert to support whatever madcap scheme the American president had embarked upon that week.' The sprawling historic manor where Vance will be staying, isn't far from Clarkson's own Cotswolds home, Curdle Hill Farm, better known as Diddly Squat Farm. Built in the 18th century, it is currently swarming with secret service agents dressed in regulation navy blue sports jackets and khaki chino trousers who are guarding the property around the clock. One of the team, when asked about Mr Vance's arrival, remained stern-faced, saying only: 'We can't tell you anything.' The manor's owner was equally tight-lipped about Vance's arrival, only saying: 'Thanks so much but we have no comment to make.' But locals were more forthcoming and confirmed the arrival of Trump's deputy. One told the Daily Mail: 'There has been a lot of activity at the manor this last few days. It is hard to miss. Security absolutely everywhere. The 18th century home is currently swarming with secret service agents dressed in regulation navy blue sports jackets and khaki chino trousers In an adjoining field, an impromptu circular helicopter landing pad had also been mown into the grass 'Men dressed identically surrounding the property with ear pieces and dark glasses. 'Blacked out Mercedes vans shuttling people around every few minutes. We have never seen anything like it. It's like something out of a film. 'The word is that it is indeed for JD Vance. So we shall see.' In the grounds, American secret service personnel in dark glasses, talking into ear-pieces, were dotted around its four corners keeping watch. On the main gateway of the property, leading to a sweeping 'in and out' driveway, two suited security guards were checking the security clearance of those coming and going in a stream of blacked out cars and Mercedes limousine vans. In an adjoining field, an impromptu circular helicopter landing pad had also been mown into the grass. Within the grounds, teams of gardeners had been drafted in to make the lawns and pretty herbaceous borders look immaculate. During his UK visit, Vance and his family - including his wife Usha and their children Ewan, Viviek and Mirabel - are set to stay the night with Foreign Secretary David Lammy at his grace and favour home in Chevening, near Sevenoaks in Kent. Despite Lammy previously describing Trump as a 'woman-hating, neo-Nazi-sympathising sociopath', he is now said to consider the President's deputy as a 'friend' and that they 'completely relate' to each other. On the main gateway of the property, leading to a sweeping 'in and out' driveway, two suited security guards were checking the security clearance of those coming and going When the Mail visited the property there were swathes of blacked out cars and Mercedes limousine vans The family are expected to arrive on Friday, staying one night at the 300-year-old Grade I mansion before heading off to Oxfordshire via Hampton Court Palace, in Richmond, London. The politicians are said to have bonded over their religious backgrounds, with Lammy being raised in the Anglican church and Vance being baptised Catholic in 2019. 'Lammy has visited Vance's family and the relationship looks like it will continue to grow on a personal as well as a professional basis,' a source told the Telegraph. 'They will have a short bilateral meeting, no doubt discussing Ukraine, Gaza, trade and tech... They'll wrap it up and then the family will join.' The Vance family will no doubt enjoy the sprawling mansion which sits within 3,000 acres of the North Downs countryside. The Foreign Office said ministerial engagements would be announced in 'the usual way'. The Cotswolds have seen an influx of rich Americans holidaying in the rural spot in the last few years, after a number of celebrities have flown over the pond to settle down. A host of black and white cars can be seen parked in the driveway of Mr Vance's new rented property US talk show host Ellen DeGeneres moved in with her wife Portia De Rossi last year after Trump's reelection. She is said to now be deliberately fleeing her home in the country while the Vice Presidents settles in for the summer. Other famous names known to have visited the area include Beyonce, Jay-Z and Taylor Swift who have all enjoyed the bucolic area's chocolate-box villages, honeyed-stone, rolling hills and cosy pubs. Many locals in the area, however, are not too happy about Vance's arrival - with some groups hoping to spoil his trip. Pro-Palestine activists, eco zealots and trade unionists have vowed to wreak havoc with planned protests during his stay, mirroring the similar demonstrations seen when the Vance family visited Disneyland. The Stop Trump Coalition alliance is said to include pro-Palestinian activists, climate campaigners and trade unions. It comes after his boss, President Trump, visited Scotland last week spending time teeing off at his Turnberry golf course in Ayrshire in between holding diplomatic talks with the Prime Minister. Announcing plans for a protest during Trump's proposed state visit to the UK in September, the group said: 'We are meeting Trump with protests in Aberdeen and Edinburgh this month, and then in London and Windsor in September. 'JD Vance is every bit as unwelcome in the UK as Donald Trump. We remember how Vance cut short his ski trip in Vermont because he was so enraged by the sight of a few protesters. 'We are sure that, even in the Cotswolds, he will find the resistance waiting.' A Texas judge shocked a public meeting after shouting over other elected officials while speaking at breakneck speed. Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, 34, attempted to put forward a proposal to raise taxes to fund free childcare and early education in a November ballot in the county. Thursday's meeting quickly descended into chaos when Hidalgo marched a group of children and their parents into Commissioners Court and acted erratically. The judge, who earned a reported $190,000 in 2023, talked over her colleagues and spoke at an extreme pace, sometimes even shouting into her microphone. At one point Hidalgo, who spoke with Vogue about her mental health struggles earlier this year, called out for all of the children to count to three. 'We need three votes so we can put this on the ballot', she could be heard screaming at the children. A video of the meeting then cuts to Commissioner Lesley Briones who is in the process of thanking members for coming to the meeting. Briones was mid sentence when Hidalgo shouted over her, calling for the children in the meeting to approach the panel of lawmakers. Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, seen here, attempted to put forward a proposal to raise taxes to fund early childhood education in Harris County in a November ballot The judge, who earned a reported $190,000 in 2023 , talked over her colleagues and spoke at an extreme pace, sometimes even shouting into her microphone 'Kids come on down, lets see if she says yes or no. Come on down over here,' Hidalgo shouts over Briones. Clearly angered by the move, Briones tells her: 'Judge Hidalgo, part of education is respect,' before she is again interrupted. Again, Hidalgo continues to interrupt Briones as she calls the idea by the judge 'half baked.' Other commissioners can be heard calling out to Judge Hidalgo to stop, as she continues to ramble over them. One of them says: 'Judge we need to have one person speaking at a time,' but she continues anyway - again calling on the children to speak out. At one point Hidalgo covered her face with two placards she had positioned behind her to show data backing her proposal. Briones made the point that she was not against the proposal, but wanted to 'do it right'. After other commissioners refused to back the move Hidalgo called a recess. If the judge's proposal was approved, homeowners in the county would have paid an extra $10 a year for every $100,000 of home valuation. The funding would have propped up the Early REACH Program in the county which had previously been backed with Covid-19 relief funds. Thursday's meeting quickly descended into chaos when Hidalgo marched a group of children and their parents into Commissioners Court and acted erratically Hidalgo, seen here with her husband David, interrupted the meeting on Thursday by constantly talking over her colleagues Following the heated exchanges the motion failed and the commissioners voted to have her censured for her antics Following the heated exchanges the motion failed and the commissioners voted to have her censured for her antics. According to KHOU11, a censure is a formal statement of disapproval but has no actual bearing on her position. Commissioner Adrian Garcia and Briones both released statements following the meeting and condemned her behavior. Garcia said: 'It's beyond frustrating to yet again witness Judge Hidalgo's disruptive behavior at Commissioners Court today. 'We must hold ourselves to the highest standards. It was particularly offensive to witness her trying to use children as props for her political agenda.' Briones added: 'I was disappointed to witness Judge Hidalgo's disruptive behavior at Commissioners Court today; it distracted from the serious issues before us. 'As colleagues, we may disagree, but fundamental respect and decorum are non-negotiable. 'The democratic process is built on civil debate, and as elected leaders we must hold ourselves to the highest standards.' The lone Republican commissioner in the county Tom Ramsey posted to his X saying: 'Wow' after the meeting. After the proposal was declined, Hidalgo said: 'I'm so disappointed that they wouldn't even let us ask the voters. 'Obviously, it's children. I can't explain it, but I'm really proud of all of these kids, families. 'It breaks my heart that they're going to lose their early childhood education, their parents' work.' In her Vogue piece Hidalgo said she struggled with clinical depression and anxiety in the lead up to her engagement to now husband David in August 2023. Hidalgo said therapy helped her accept two conflicting feelings at once and be able to feel joy over her relationship while also holding space for sadness. Hidalgo and David met over a decade ago while volunteering for the Texas Civil Rights Project in 2014. The Home Office has insisted single male asylum seekers will be moved into a hotel despite angry protests there. The contentious development at the 19-room Park Hotel in Diss, Norfolk, will see the men replace asylum-seeking families who have lived there for two years. Around 150 people took to the market town's streets last month to protest the move after it was announced by the Home Office. South Norfolk Council has vehemently opposed the plans while the hotel's owner has said it would sooner close than accept the new single male intake. But despite the furore, the Home Office has now insisted the scheme will go ahead , writing to the council to confirm it 'intends to proceed', the BBC reports. Meanwhile, the council has maintained it 'will not accept' this - and intends to use its planning enforcement powers to put a stop to it. The Home Office has previously said the changeover would begin last month. But currently, the new intake has not arrived at the hotel, with existing residents still living there. The Home Office has insisted single male asylum seekers will be moved into a hotel despite angry protests there (pictured) Around 150 people took to the market town's streets last month (pictured) to protest the move after it was announced by the Home Office The contentious development at the 19-room Park Hotel (pictured, file photo) in Diss, Norfolk, will see the men replace asylum-seeking families who have lived there for two years Council leader and Conservative Daniel Elmer has dubbed the plans disappointing and 'completely unnecessary'. He explained as the hotel is already occupied by asylum seekers, the move would not be creating any extra capacity for housing them. The councillor said: 'All it is going to do is upset a settled community; upset a community of asylum seekers that are already integrating very well into the local area, for no reason at all.' Mr Elmer predicted more protests like last month's were on the horizon - but urged participants to make them peaceful. The demonstration, which took place outside the hotel on Denmark Street on July 21, had been labelled as 'peaceful'. But footage posted on social media, including by supporters of far right activist Tommy Robinson, showed clashes between pro and anti-migrant groups. The hotel's owners released a statement after the rally: 'We would also like to confirm and reassure the community of Diss that we have advised the Home Office and other stakeholders that, should this situation change, and we are formally notified that the hotel will no longer operate as a family-only establishment, we will have no alternative but to close. 'There are currently vulnerable families and children staying at the hotel - many of whom are feeling frightened and uncertain about recent events at the hotel and their futures. Council leader Daniel Elmer predicted more protests like last month's (pictured) were on the horizon - but urged participants to make them peaceful 'We ask for understanding and sensitivity during this time.' The council has said changing how the hotel is used in the way the Home Office intends to would need planning permission. It added if the government department went ahead without that, it would serve a temporary stop notice on the site. If the Home Office breached this to press forward with the plans, it would be a criminal offence, the council argued. There is no right of appeal against a temporary stop notice. A Home Office spokesperson said: 'The government is reducing expensive hotel use as part of a complete overhaul of the asylum system. 'From over 400 asylum hotels open in summer 2023, costing almost 9million a day, there are now less than 210, and we want them all closed by the end of this Parliament. 'We will continue to work closely with community partners across the country, and discuss any concerns they have, as we look to fix this broken system together. The demonstration (pictured), which took place outside the hotel on Denmark Street on July 21, had been labelled as 'peaceful' But footage posted on social media, including by supporters of far right activist Tommy Robinson, showed clashes between pro and anti-migrant groups. Pictured: The protest 'The security of the local communities within which hotels are located will always be our paramount concern.' A Norfolk Police spokesperson said: 'Norfolk Police will continue to monitor the situation and provide a proportionate response, if needed, while respecting the right to peaceful protest and ensuring the safety of the local community.' Cameron Ventures Group, the firm that owns the Park Hotel, declined to comment. It comes after protests broke out in other parts of the county too, including in nearby Watton. Around 20 protesters gathered outside the town's Watton Vibe Hotel earlier this week, after rumours it would be used to house asylum seekers. The speculation began after locals spotted construction workers putting up temporary container bedrooms in the car park. In fact, the hotel, which has been closed for more than two years, was due to become an adult care facility but this plan recently fell through. A Breckland Council spokesperson said it was 'not aware of any plans' for the hotel to be used to house asylum seekers. The demonstrations across Norfolk followed similar anti-migrant violence at The Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, last month (pictured) Angela Rayner (pictured) has warned since anger at high levels of illegal immigration is risking social cohesion in Britain's poorest communities and must be addressed, as fears grow of a new 'summer of riots' Reform councillor Tina Kiddell she had been told the temporary bedrooms were instead for construction workers as the hotel is renovated for reopening. The demonstrations across Norfolk followed similar anti-migrant violence at The Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, last month. It came as an Ethiopian asylum seeker staying there was charged with sexually assaulting a schoolgirl eight days after arriving in the UK. Angela Rayner has warned since anger at high levels of illegal immigration is risking social cohesion in Britain's poorest communities and must be addressed, as fears grow of a new 'summer of riots'. The Deputy Prime Minister told the Cabinet last month they had to 'acknowledge the real concerns people have' about immigration and economic insecurity. Sir Keir Starmer has been warned Britain is a 'powder keg' that could explode into a repeat of the street violence that followed the Southport murders 12 months ago - unless Labour gets a grip on migrant hotels. Australia's top-ranked real estate agent has had his licence suspended by NSW Fair Trading. Joshua Tesolin's suspension which came into effect on Friday, will remain in place for 120 days, according to the NSW Fair Trading website. NSW Fair Trading confirmed to Daily Mail that Tesolin and his company, Tesolin Consulting Pty Ltd, were suspended following what they described as an 'extensive investigation' into his conduct while operating under the Ray White (Quakers Hill Tesolin Group) banner. NSW Fair Trading claims Tesolin engaged in a laundry list of offences, including underquoting the selling price of more than 100 residential properties, dummy bidding at auctions, producing false documents for regulators, and using high-pressure sales tactics in breach of industry rules. Authorities allege the misconduct was not a one-off, but part of a pattern of repeated breaches of the Property and Stock Agents Act 2002. Formal Show Cause notices were served on Tesolin and his company this week, demanding they explain why they shouldn't face further disciplinary action. They have until August 29, 2025, to respond. In a statement to Daily Mail, NSW Fair Trading Commissioner Natasha Mann said, 'NSW Fair Trading has conducted an extensive investigation into this matter, led by our Strata and Property Taskforce.' Josh Tesolin (pictured), Principal of NGU Quakers Hill (formerly Ray White) has had his real estate licence suspended by Fair Trading NSW The NSW Fair Trading website shows that Josh Tesolin's real estate licence has been suspended 'The suspension of the licences of Joshua Tesolin and Tesolin Consulting Pty Ltd reflects the seriousness of the contraventions we believe have been committed and the importance of maintaining public confidence in the property sector,' she said. David Mansfield of Deloitte SRT Pty Ltd has been appointed manager of Tesolin Consulting Pty Ltd during the suspension and is authorised to continue the business of Tesolin Consulting Pty Ltd during this time. Under NSW law, real estate agents must provide a reasonable estimate of a property's likely selling price in the agency agreement. If a price range is used in advertising, the highest price must not exceed the lowest price by more than 10 per cent. In NSW, underquoting is an offence, attracting penalties of up to $22,000. Despite the official scrutiny, the western Sydney-based agent is one of Australia's highest-performing agents, reportedly raking in $9million in commissions over the past financial year. During his time as a top selling agent, Tesolin and his wife, Sophia, have amassed a property portfolio estimated at more than $15million. The suspension comes just weeks after Mr Tesolin rebranded from Ray White, to Queensland-based NGU. Social media pages for Tesolin's NGU Real Estate agency have been removed since Friday evening. NGU group CEO Emil Jesuric bragged about Tesolin rebranding to them just weeks before Tesolin's licence was suspended Mr Tesolin and his wife Sophia (right) have amassed a major real estate portfolio worth $15million The rebrand was confirmed by his lawyer, Lisa Jemmeson, in a statement to Daily Mail. 'Ray White and Josh Tesolin, Australia's number one real estate agent, today announced they will be parting ways at the end of July following a mutual agreement that supports Tesolin's ambitions to further his own business ventures,' she said. Ms Jemmeson emphasised the decision to part ways was mutual, despite Ray White previously telling Daily Mail there were 'no plans to terminate' the relationship. NGU chief executive Emil Jesuric bragged about Mr Tesolin joining the company in a post to social media, calling it 'a new era' for the expanding real estate brand. '[NGU is] excited to officially welcome Josh Tesolin, Australia's #1 Agent, and his powerhouse team to the NGU family,' Mr Jesuric wrote. He praised Tesolin's accolades, including multiple number-one rankings by RateMyAgent and Realestate.com.au, and highlighted their shared values of trust, loyalty, and a relentless drive for excellence. Mr Tesolin's departure came in the face of a 'compliance review' initiated by Ray White, following public reports relating to his incentive fee structures. 'Given the seriousness and very public nature of the allegations regarding the incentive fees, we have agreed with Josh that we will undertake our own compliance review into his incentive fee arrangements,' Ray White's head office stated. 'This will include looking at the nature of these arrangements, how they operated, and whether there was any misalignment with client interests.' Any of Tesolin's customers who are impacted are encouraged to direct any enquiries to Deloitte at gprior@deloitte.com.au or reach out directly to NSW Fair Trading on 13 32 20. Daily Mail Australia has contacted Josh Tesolin and NGU Group for comment. Chilling photos taken inside the Idaho home where Bryan Kohberger slaughtered four students have been released for the first time, revealing a bloody and violent crime scene. Creepy handprints are seen pressed against the windows in one of the rooms while blood spatters are visible on the white painted doors. Other distressing images show the student bedrooms and beds where some of the victims were murdered in their sleep. Best friends Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves, both 21, were stabbed to death in Mogens bed in her room on the third floor of the home. Couple Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin, both 20, were killed in Kernodles room on the second floor. Kernodle's body was found on the floor covered in blood after she desperately fought for her life, while Chapin's body was in her bed where he was sleeping. One of the newly-released images shows a pink blanket draped on a bed, a large part of which has been blurred. Another image, captured from a doorway, shows a typical student room with shoes and clothes strewn around on the wooden floor. The photo shows no clue to the horrific scene further inside the room. Chilling photos taken inside the Idaho home where Bryan Kohberger slaughtered four students have been released for the first time, including creepy handprints on a window One of the newly-released images shows a pink blanket draped on a bed, a large part of which has been blurred 'Good Vibes' sign seen hanging inside the living room leading to the stairs up to the third floor Best friends Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen (left) and young couple Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle (right) The sliding door to the kitchen on the second floor of the home is seen ajar in another photo - the way Kohberger left it after he both entered and exited the house through the back entrance. More than 200 distressing images, obtained by KTVB7 from Moscow Police, were released weeks after the 30-year-old mass killer was sentenced to a lifetime behind bars. The criminology PhD student broke into 1122 King Road in Moscow, Idaho, in the early hours of November 13, 2022, and stabbed the four students to death. Kernodle, who was still awake having just received a DoorDash order - suffered more than 50 stab wounds, including two to the heart and multiple defensive wounds. Chapin died from a stab wound to the jugular and his legs had also been slashed. Goncalves was stabbed more than 20 times and her face was 'unrecognizable' after Kohberger beat her with a second unidentified weapon. Mogen had stab wounds to her forearm, hands, liver and lung as well as a huge gash from her right eye to her nose. Two other roommates - Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke - were also inside the home at the time but survived. Blood spatters are visible on the white painted doors inside 1122 King Road in Moscow, Idaho Another image, captured from a doorway, shows a typical student room with shoes and clothes strewn around on the wooden floor The sliding door to the kitchen on the second floor of the home is seen ajar - the way Kohberger left it after he both entered and exited the house through the back entrance University of Idaho lanyards hang by the staircase where the remnants of a student party remain The distressing images show the student bedrooms and beds where some of the victims were murdered in their sleep The net closed in on Kohberger after he left a brown leather Ka-Bar knife sheath behind at the scene. DNA on the sheath came back a match to the criminology student, who was living just over the state border in Pullman, Washington, at the time. Kohberger fought the charges for more than two years before he finally confessed to the murders and changed his plea to guilty last month, as part of a plea deal to spare him from the death penalty. On July 2, he pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary. On July 23, he was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole and also waived his right to appeal. Since the sentencing, a sweeping gag order in the case has been lifted and police have begun releasing records and documents from the investigation. As well as the crime scene photos, surveillance footage has also been released showing Kohbergers white Hyundai Elantra circling the victims home multiple times on the night of the murders. The video, first reported by the Idaho Statesman, shows Kohberger staking out the scene and making three loops around the student neighborhood from around 3.30am onwards. At around 4am, Kohberger then parked his car and broke into 1122 King Road. Bryan Kohberger seen moments after his arrest in Pennsylvania on December 30, 2022 Newly-released surveillance footage shows Kohbergers white Hyundai Elantra circling the victims home multiple times on the night of the murders Police said Kohberger took just 13 minutes to carry out his murderous rampage. At around 4.17am, the video - captured by a neighboring homes security camera close to Kernodles bedroom wall - picks up what sounds like a cry and a loud thud. A dog - believed to be Goncalves pet Murphy - is then heard barking. At 4.20am, Kohbergers car is seen a final time in the footage speeding away from the area. The footage also captured a DoorDash delivery driver dropping off a food order for Kernodle minutes before the killer struck. Despite Kohberger's change of plea and a growing body of evidence coming to light, many questions still remain in the case. When given the opportunity to speak at his sentencing in Ada County Courthouse in Boise, Idaho, Kohberger refused to reveal any details about the murders - leaving the victims' families in the dark. His motive remains a mystery and no connection has ever been found between him and the victims. Inside one of the bedrooms at 1122 King Road. Photos on the wall have been blurred by police Maddie Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves were found inside this room on the third story Police have said Kohberger targeted 1122 King Road that night but it is unclear which of the victims was his specific target. Cell phone data found Kohberger was surveilling the student area in the lead-up to the murders. From July 2022 through to November 13, 2022, his phone placed him in the vicinity of the King Road home at least 23 times, mostly at night. The victims had also noticed a string of bizarre incidents at the home in the weeks before the murders. Around one month earlier, Goncalves had told multiple people she had seen a man watching her in the trees around the home when she took Murphy outside. Friends also recalled multiple occasions when, during parties at the home, Goncalves's dog would run barking into the tree line and wouldn't return when he was called. This was out of character for the dog, they said. On November 4, 2022 - just nine days before the murders - the roommates then came home to find the door to their three-story house open. It is unclear if Kohberger had broken into the home prior to November 13, but Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson said he believes it is possible. The home at 1122 King Road in Moscow, Idaho, on November 20, 2022 - one week on from the murders A 3D model (created by the prosecution team to be used at his trial) shows the layout of the rooms 'The layout of the house is unique - it's a little bit confusing,' the prosecutor told the Idaho Statesman. 'Admittedly, if he was parked up behind the house on that bank, which we believe is where he parked, he would be able to see into the house at night and he would be able to see whose rooms were where. 'Whether he was actually in the house at some point before November 13, we don't know for sure. We can't exclude that.' Kohberger is now being held in solitary confinement inside the Idaho Maximum Security Institution where he will see out his dying days. The Southern California tourist hotspot of Palm Springs saw record high temperatures this week - with the local airport's tarmac reaching a scorching 163 degrees. ABC reporter Trevor Ault captured the staggering reading on the asphalt at Palm Springs International Airport on Thursday, the same day the city set a daily heat record. The mercury climbed to a staggering 118 degrees in the popular vacation destination, beating the city's August 7 record of 116 degrees recorded in 1980, The Desert Sun reported. That is just below the all-time high of 124 degrees recorded on July 5, 2024. National Weather Service meteorologist Adam Roser explained that the cause of the extreme heat was high pressure that settled over the southwest over the past week. He noted that sweltering temperatures are expected to peak in Southern California next week before gradually dropping. The temperature is expected to return to its seasonal average by next Thursday. Planes struggle in warm weather because hot air is less dense, reducing lift and engine performance. This makes it harder for planes to take off and climb. The mercury climbed to a staggering 118 degrees in Palm Springs on Thursday, beating the city's August 7 record of 116 degrees set in 1980 ABC's Trevor Ault recorded a temperature of 163 degrees on the tarmac at Palm Springs International Airport The temperature in Palm Springs reached all-time high of 124 degrees on July 5, 2024. In hot conditions, aircrafts need longer runways to get the necessary takeoff speed because of the reduced lift. Airlines are often forced to compensate for the obstacles posed by extreme weather by reducing passenger and cargo load or delaying flights. 'The hotter it is, the more airplane performance is degraded,' John Cox, a former pilot and chief executive of Safety Operating Systems, told the New York Times. Palm Springs International Airport sees roughly 8,870 visitors each day and 3.2 million in a year, according to data from 2023. As of 2022, an average of 44 flights departed from the airport each day, with 16,254 leaving that year. It's unclear whether any flights were delayed or affected on Thursday due to the extreme weather conditions. Prince Andrew remains the most unpopular royal in the country, with a staggering 87 per cent of people having a negative view of him. The news rounds off a disastrous week for the King's shamed brother following the publication of an explosive new biography of the prince, serialised exclusively in the Daily Mail. According to a new YouGov survey just five per cent of people have a favourable view of the Duke of York, who remains eighth in line to the throne and is still a counsellor of state who can deputise for the king, despite being forced to give up royal duties over the Epstein scandal. Hot on his heels, equally unsurprisingly, are the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Just 28 per cent of people have a positive opinion of Prince Harry, with fewer still saying the same of Meghan, who languishes at 20 per cent. YouGov said the results are 'little different' from its previous survey in May, although Meghan's figure does remain the joint-lowest on record. This has also been an unpalatable week for the prince following an official Charity Commission report into a toxic row between him and his former charity, Sentebale. Harry was criticised, along with its former trustees and current chair, for allowing the poisonous falling-out to become public, gravely damaging the organisation's standing and reputation. Your browser does not support iframes. Prince Andrew remains the most unpopular royal in the country, with a staggering 87 per cent of people having a negative view of him Prince Andrew is seen in public for the first time after a scathing new biography about the Duke of York's life was released Just 28 per cent of people have a positive opinion of Prince Harry (pictured with Meghan Markle in April 2022) Prince William once again tops the royal league table, with 74 per cent of Britons having a positive opinion of the first in line to the throne. His wife, the Princess of Wales, is similarly popular at 71 per cent, with ever-popular Princess Anne also coming in at 70 per cent. But, perhaps worryingly, for the monarchy is that the poll shows only 36 per cent of 18-24 years olds think it is good for the country. While overall a healthy six in ten Britons think we are better off with it, it does suggest that the institution may be failing to cut through with the younger generation. While 81 per cent of the over 65s say that Britain should continue to have a monarchy, this falls with each age group to just 41 per cent of 18-24s. Similarly, King Charles is liked by only three in ten (30 per cent) of 18-24 year olds but three quarters (77 per cent) of the over-65s. Harry and Meghan are looked upon more favourably by young Britons than their elders, although they are still net unpopular across all generations. Only 17 per cent of over-65s have a positive view of Prince Harry, compared to 33 per cent of 18-24 year olds, and just 10 per cent of the oldest Britons feel favourably towards Meghan, compared to 25 per cent of their youngest counterparts. Some 3,000 people were approached while researching Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York The Duke of York is seen leaving Westminster Abbey after the Coronation of King Charles III It is alleged in the biography that Prince Andrew was dubbed 'sex obsessed' and a 'perverted animal' by convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. He is pictured with Virginia Giuffre Beyond the individual royals, the British public are still clear in their support of the royalty six in ten Britons have a positive view of both the family as a whole (62 per cent) and the underlying institution of the monarchy (58 per cent). This is roughly double the number of Britons holding the opposing views, with three in ten (30 per cent) holding a negative opinion of the ruling family and 32 per cent sceptical of the monarchy. A similar split is true when thinking about the constitutional future of the royal family. Two-thirds of the British public (65 per cent) believe we should continue to have a monarchy, while a quarter (23 per cent) would favour an elected head of state instead. The idea that Britain should remain a monarchy is fairly broad, being held by 89 per cent of Conservative voters, 76 per cent of Reform UK voters, as well as clear majorities of Lib Dem (67 per cent) and Labour (57 per cent) voters although only 39 per cent of Greens. In all 59 per cent of Britons say the monarchy is good for Britain, 54 per cent see the royal family are good value for money, and 47 per cent say that they are proud of the monarchy. Only 17 per cent say they are embarrassed by it. In total of 2292 adults in Great Britain were quizzed between August 5 and 6. Following the lifting of a gag order, Daily Mail podcast The Trial of Erin Patterson has released which reveals previously unheard allegations made by the ex-husband of mushroom murderer Erin Patterson. Crime reporters Caroline Cheetham and Wayne Flower examine Simon's secret testimony in full, where he accuses Patterson of repeated attempts to poison him before the deadly lunch that killed three of his family members. Charges related to Simon's poisoning were brought against Patterson but placed under reporting restrictions to avoid prejudicing her murder trial. After Patterson's guilty verdict, Flower, Cheetham and a team of other court reporters successfully lobbied for the allegations' release. Simon's story comes from pre-trial testimony and remains unproven. The Trial of Erin Patterson by clicking the player below or You can listen to the secret episode ofby clicking the player below or here The Pasta In 2019, with their marriage on the rocks, Patterson allegedly pushed for Simon and herself to go on a couple's holiday to South Africa. The trip was booked but COVID-19 travel restrictions forced them to reschedule, choosing instead to spend a few days hiking at Wilsons Promontory, a national park in Victoria. The night before the trip, Simon said Patterson visited his house to drop off some sleeping bags and to help him pack. 'She took over some pasta Bolognese for him in a Tupperware box which he warmed up and ate', Cheetham told the podcast. 'The next morning, Simon said he headed over to Patterson's house and by the time he got there, began to feel really ill. A new Mail podcast has released which reveals previously unheard allegations made by the ex-husband of mushroom murderer Erin Patterson Crime reporters Caroline Cheetham and Wayne Flower examine Simon's secret testimony in full, where he accuses Patterson of repeated attempts to poison him 'Initially, he thought he was just feeling stressed for the trip not sure how it would go. But then, he vomited. 'He still wanted to go on the trip, so they set off with Patterson in the driving seat. 'He continued to be ill into the night he felt he wasn't getting any better, so Patterson drove him to Leongatha hospital.' Simon spent the night at Leongatha before being transferred to another hospital, where he spent five days having his kidney function monitored. As his children also ate the Bolognese and were fine, Simon assumed the sickness was a bug and not brought on by food poisoning. The Curry A few months later, Simon and Patterson decided to go on another camping trip, with Patterson preparing all the food in advance. 'The first night they ate sausages and on the second night, Simon ate a curry Erin had prepared specially for him', Flower said. 'Simon said he immediately felt hot, which led to him feeling sick. He vomited throughout the night and had diarrhoea. 'By first light, his symptoms hadn't diminished so they made the decision to leave and drive him to hospital. 'He was kept in overnight and discharged the next day he still felt unwell and called Patterson the following day to ask for help in getting to the toilet. 'Simon said Patterson came over and that he could remember her coming into the bedroom and sitting at the end of the bed. 'He said he laid back on the bed, and that was the last thing he could remember. Simon fell into a coma for 16 days.' Simon had to undergo multiple surgeries whilst in hospital, being 'on the brink of death' more than once. The operation removed a large section of his bowel, but he luckily recovered. Doctors could not find a cause for the sudden illness and Simon was able to gradually recover at home. The Stew The following month, Simon fell ill again, after eating a stew prepared by Patterson. This time, he called his parents, Don and Gail Patterson, to drive him to the hospital. Charges related to Simon's (pictured) poisoning were brought against Patterson but placed under reporting restrictions to avoid prejudicing her murder trial Simon's story comes from pre-trial testimony and remains unproven The Trial of Erin Patterson is available now, wherever you get your podcasts. Listen here The sickness was less serious than after the camping trip although Simon's weeks long recovery reportedly caused a rift in his marriage with Patterson. Patterson accused him of being lazy, not helping around the house and an argument ensued. Simon decided to leave the family home for good after the shouting match, never to return. The Wrap In September 2022, Simon, now living alone, was invited by Patterson to go on a walk, again at Wilson's Promontory. 'Simon said it was Patterson's idea for the two of them to get together', Cheetham said. 'They planned it weeks before and she brought the food. She brought ingredients, he said, to make a curry and vegetable wrap. 'They stopped at a historical graveyard and had lunch together at a picnic table. 'They went for a walk along a beach and Simon said he started to feel unwell again. 'He said it was instinct which told him this time that something wasn't quite right and then the diarrhoea started, and he felt sick.' Simon was driven back to his parent's house where they immediately called an ambulance for him. On the ride to the hospital, he claims he started to fit, losing the use of his neck, tongue, lips and eyelids. He was given anaesthetic to sleep to ease his symptoms and thankfully, when he awoke, the fitting had ceased. Cheetham told the podcast: 'It was at this point Simon started to wonder if these serious illnesses might not be infections after all.' To hear what Simon alleges happened after realising he may have been poisoned, search for the The Trial of Erin Patterson now, wherever you get your podcasts. It turns out Vice President JD Vance was involved in a high-level meeting of Trump administration officials to discuss the Jeffrey Epstein controversy, according to new reporting from CNN. After the vice president denied a CNN report about a planned dinner at his home with Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel on Wednesday, the meeting venue was changed to the White House. They discussed a number of topics, including the Jeffrey Epstein case and potential next steps, a 'source familiar' told CNN. Both Bondi and Patel were spotted leaving the White House on Wednesday evening. It remains unknown who is leaking details of Vance's meetings with Bondi and Patel. The vice president's office did not respond to a Daily Mail request for comment. The leaks surrounding the meeting continue to fascinate Vance's media critics including MSNBCs Lawrence ODonnell. 'Even when they kept it indoors at the White House with no one able to watch who was coming and going, someone at least one person is leaking about the meetings, their scheduling, and the fact that theyre even happening,' O'Donnell marveled. CNN first reported that Vance was hosting a dinner at the vice president's residence Wednesday that would include White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, Bondi, Patel and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche. Vice President JD Vance at the White House Vice President JD Vance met with Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel on Wednesday The report was bylined by five different CNN reporters citing 'three sources familiar' with details of the event, and added that the topic of the Jeffrey Epstein files would be a topic of the meeting. But the vice president dismissed the report on Wednesday at the White House, calling it 'fake news.' 'I saw the report today, and it's completely fake news, we are not meeting to talk about the Epstein situation,' Vance replied. 'I think the reporter who reported it needs to get better sources.' Vance continues working behind the scenes to get Bondi and Patel on the same page as the administration struggles to handle the controversy surrounding the Epstein files. Bondi's deputy, Blanche has taken the lead on the case, spent nine-hours meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's ex-girlfriend and business associate who was convicted of sex trafficking and sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2022. During the meeting, Maxwell told Blanche that Trump never did anything harmful in her presence according to sources speaking to ABC News. Administration officials are weighing whether to release transcripts of the interviews, but have not made a decision. President Donald Trump answers questions at the White House Donald Trump and his girlfriend (and future wife), former model Melania Knauss, financier (and future convicted sex offender) Jeffrey Epstein, and British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell pose together at the Mar-a-Lago club in February 2000 Maxwell was transported from a federal prison in Tallahassee, Florida after her meeting with Blanche to a more relaxed security prison in Texas. Maxwell's attorney said after the meeting that she 'didn't hold anything back' in the interview, and spoke about 'one hundred' different people in the case. Trump has not ruled out a pardon for Maxwell. A couple's lustful date night ended in terrifying tragedy when their car plunged 1,300 feet off a cliff in Brazil, sending their naked bodies tumbling from the vehicle. Adriana Ribeiro, 42, and her boyfriend Marcone Cardoso, 26, had parked at an overlook in Venda Nova do Imigrante, in the state of Espirito Santo, on Monday after attending a party. The pair stopped off at the cliff's edge, which is known as a popular spot for hang-gliding, to lock lips. CNN reported that the two were having sex at the time and that their movement inside the car led it to tip over the edge. The car fell to an area about 300 feet from the top of the cliff where their naked bodies were ejected. The vehicle then plunged another 1,000 feet to the base of the mountain, where police found Cardoso's body. Tiago Amorim, who works at the hang-gliding site, told TV Gazeta that he heard a loud noise around 2:20 am, but had trouble seeing anything because it was too dark. 'I saw the car's engine very far away and the car fell almost 150 meters from the accident,' he said. 'It was a shocking scene, the car was destroyed, turned into a piece of paper. The height is very big.' Adriana Ribeiro and her boyfriend Marcone Cardoso died after their car plunged 1,300 feet off a cliff in Brazil The couple's wrecked vehicle was located near the base of the mountain Firefighters had to hike in recover Ribeiro's body. 'It was very steep terrain. At the bottom there was dense vegetation, and at the top there was a rock wall,' one of the firefighters told the broadcaster. 'The first body, the man's, was right at the base of the rock wall. 'Now, to search for the second victim, the team had to make a trail through the dense vegetation.' Cardoso's brother said that that the couple, who were dating for just six months, went a party with him before dropping him off at his own home. 'They left me at home and went out together,' he said. 'He had worked all weekend, hadn't seen her for four days, and they went out together.' Ribeiro was divorced and leaves behind two children, a boy and a girl, from her previous relationship. Ribeiro (left) leaves behind two children, while Cardoso had a four-year-old boy The pair stopped off at the cliff's edge, which is known as a popular spot for hang gliders Authorities have ruled out foul play in the death of a couple Cardoso was the father of a four-year-old, also from a prior relationship. His former girlfriend described him as the 'love of her life' in a social media post. Espirito Santo Civil Police chief Alberto Peres said investigators have ruled out foul play, according to Brazilian news outlet G1. 'We're investigating, looking into everything,' he said. 'What we have today is this: they were at a party, stopped there to make out a bit before heading home, and unfortunately, these events happened.' Regional English accents are dying out because children are picking up American phrases from TikTok, Netflix and Disney, an author has warned. Nicola Chester, who has also worked as a school librarian, explained that she noticed it with her pupils adopting the accent 'prevalent' in TV and on the internet. Writing in Countryfile Magazine, the author said: "Accents and dialect should always be a source of pride and friendly inquiry. "But just when it seems we're embracing them, in train-station announcements or on the BBC, in a cultural shift from the empire-emanating Received Pronunciation of the King or Queen's English are they dying out?... "From the advance of Estuary English, blending RP with Cockney-derived south-east London, regional accents are now being squeezed from another direction altogether. "It was evident at the secondary school I worked in, with children adopting American phrasing and accents, more prevalent in their world of TikTok, Netflix and Disney, gaming and music. "But we are required to repeat it back, too, adapting our speech to use technology such as Alexa, Siri and customer service bots." Ms Chester is best known for her nature writing including her memoir On Gallows Down about growing up in rural Berkshire. Nicola Chester said children were adopting American phrasing and accents, more prevalent in their world of TikTok, Netflix and Disney' Her warning over the fate of regional accents chimes with a 2016 report commissioned by HSBC which suggested that 'talking to machines and listening to Americans' would kill off regional accents and phrases within 50 years, leading to a more universally informal spoken English. Some voice assistants in cars currently sold in the UK have been found to respond to Americanisms such as open the trunk but not open the boot. A 2022 study on accents in South East England by linguists from the University of Essex, and the University of Manchester found that cockney and received pronunciation were vanishing among young Britons, and being replaced by multicultural London English (MLE) - and standard southern British English MLE incorporates pronunciations from the Caribbean, west African and the Asian communities. And its not just regional accents that are under threat. A 2016 study from Cambridge University into English dialects found words from London and the South East had spread across the country, to the detriment of regional dialects. It also highlighted how the northern tendency of using a short "a", such as in "last" instead of the long vowel favoured in the south had moved south of Birmingham since 1950. The researchers used a smartphone app on 30,000 people across the country to test how they pronounced words and compared the results with a 1950 study into local dialects. It found that the Essex-ism of saying "free" instead of "three" had spread from just 2 per cent of the population in 1950 to 15 per cent, while the long "r" in "arm", once a very common pronunciation in the South West, had almost died out. Ms Chester's warning chimes with a 2016 study which suggested that talking to machines and listening to Americans' would kill off regional accents and phrases within 50 years But while Ms Chester may blame the influence of social media and US streaming giants for the threat posed to our regional accents, it seems there is also a perception across the pond that Americas own regional accents may be in decline. In 2022, US news channel CNNs podcast Margins of Error explored whether American regional accents were being replaced by a general American accent that doesnt sound like its from anywhere in particular. Nicole Holliday, assistant professor of linguistics at the University of Pennsylvania, told the podcast that accents developed in part as a result of the lie of the land. Before we had planes and stuff, people living on one side of a mountain did not talk to people living on the other side of the mountain, Holliday said. And when groups of people are segregated from each other, they develop different ways of speaking. But with populations today much more mobile and connected through technologies such as the internet, phone networks and social media, it is perhaps inevitable that accents and dialects will continue to slowly shift. A young Christian student is accused of helping her friends viciously bash a gay homeowner who asked them to get off his property. Summer Blaisdell, 21, pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor assault at the Penobscot County courthouse in Bangor, Maine, on Thursday. The University of Maine student has a Bible verse on her Instagram profile and has an entire highlight reel called 'Jesus' filed with religious affirmations. The verse, Philippians 4:13, reads 'I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me' - a popular Christian mantra. Other affirmations on her 'Jesus' reel include 'God's plan for me is greater'. Blaisdell was charged alongside Charles Carroll, Marcus Paes, and Braeden Cunningham, all aged 19. Paes also pleaded not guilty on Thursday. The foursome are accused of attacking a gay man on his own front lawn in Orono just after midnight on April 27 in what his husband claimed was a hate crime. He is said to have told them to leave after a wild party nearby spilled onto the street and they wandered into his yard. Summer Blaisdell, 21, is accused of helping her friends viciously gay-bash a homeowner who asked them to get off his property Blaisdell pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor assault at the Penobscot County courthouse in Bangor, Maine, on Thursday The man's husband said at an Orono Town Council meeting days later that the students dragged him to the ground and pummeled him with kicks and punches. He claimed they also attempted to strangle him to the point where he couldn't breathe. 'While they were doing this they were yelling homophobic slurs at him,' the husband claimed. Another neighbor saw the commotion and dragged the students off him, and the husband called 911, according to local police. The students were not arrested, but given summons to appear in could to face class D assault charges. Carroll and Cunningham face court at a later date. The architect to behind a proposal to increase the GST has defended the polarising plan, despite the Albanese government shutting down the idea. UNSW economist Richard Holden, with the help of federal Teal MP Kate Chaney, has revived a bid to lift the tax for the first time in its quarter-century history. He believes Australia's tax system is long overdue for a rethink, days out from Labor's Economic Reform Roundtable. The bold move, which has been all but ruled out by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, would increase the goods and services tax from ten per cent to 15 per cent. The GST hike would also be expanded to fresh food, education, health, childcare, water and sewage. It would be offset by a $3300 annual rebate to all taxpayers, effectively muting its impact on the first $22,000 of their spending. 'I think theres no doubt that our tax system is broken and its time for a bold change, but I want to give them something back in return,' Dr Holden told A Current Affair. Costings suggest the GST hike would leave the government with an additional $24billion a year to pay down the debt or fund other services or tax cuts. Economist Richard Holden (pictured) is the architect behind the so-called 'progressive GST' proposal A proposed GST rise from 10 per cent to 15 per cent could be extended to fresh food One estimate suggested the rebates would leave low-and-middle-income-earners up to $371 better off annually but cost the country's top 20 per cent more than $2200. While the government insisted all ideas will be on the table ahead of next week's roundtable, Albanese has demonstrated little appetite for GST reform. 'Governments make government policy... the only tax policy that were implementing, is the one that we took to the election,' he said this week. But Chaney urged those attending next week's economic roundtable to give the proposal serious thought. 'We have one of the lowest GSTs in the OECD countries, about half the average, so by bringing the GST more in line with other countries we will actually be able to afford to have personal income tax cuts and fix the budget,' she told ACA host Ally Langdon. 'I think it's really important to say this out loud because our politicians are gutless and everyone's happy to talk about tax cuts, but it's not a magic pudding. 'The numbers have to add up and the money has to come from somewhere and all the experts would agree we need to look at GST, but politicians aren't brave enough to say it out loud.' Chaney denied the annual rebate was a 'bribe' when challenged by Langdon, insisting the government would simply be 'returning' a portion of the GST. Teal MP Kate Chaney slammed politicians for being 'gutless' when it came to tax reform Dr Holden, who on Thursday released a paper with UNSW professor Rosalind Dixon on the 'progressive GST', said the shake-up would ease the pressure on young workers. They said increasing the tax would allow personal income taxes to be reduced while shoring up government revenues. 'This increases economic dynamism and boosts productivity,' they wrote. 'It also has positive intergenerational consequences, since younger Australians are disproportionately exposed to personal income taxes on their labour income.' Assistant Treasury Minister Andrew Leigh has also poured cold water on the proposal, claiming the Prime Minister and Treasurer had 'a longstanding view' on the GST. 'The government isnt doing any modelling at the moment and doesnt have any plans to change the GST,' he told ABC Radio Melbourne on Thursday. An annual GST rebate would leave lower earners better off, costings suggest Dr Leigh added there were 'more efficient taxes than the GST' and that it hadn't been 'at the centre' of productivity talks. Opposition finance spokesperson James Paterson said it would take an 'incredibly brave government' to expand the GST to tax insurance or private education fees. 'The Howard government recognised that people who spend their money on private health or private education are actually taking a burden off the public purse, and therefore it would be unjust to tax them on top of that,' he told Sky News. Items like fresh fruit and vegetables, bread, cooking oil, meat and unflavoured milk were exempted from the 10 per cent GST under a political deal reached in 1999 between former Liberal prime minister John Howard's government and the Australian Democrats in the Senate. Labor had lost the 1998 election campaigning against the Coalition's proposed GST and voted against it in Parliament. It's the kind of 'shark attack' that President Donald Trump, who famously hates sharks, can get behind. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Thursday that he wants the U.S. Army to resume 'shark attacks' on soldiers going through basic training. A 'shark attack' refers to the intense, aggressive verbal assault that drill instructors unleash on new recruits, typically during the first few days of basic training or boot camp. It can involve a relentless barrage of shouting, criticism, and psychological pressure used to test a recruit's mindset. Hegseth appeared on Fox News' Will Cain Show Thursday afternoon and said under his leadership the U.S. military is going 'back to basics.' 'A shark attack is when drill sergeants surround one particular enlistee,' Hegseth explained. 'Creating a stressful situation that they have to figure out how to manage.' The Army had been phasing out the shark attack method in recent years, as it's been criticized as a form of hazing. Hegseth suggested that some stress should be expected when joining the military. 'Anyone who went through any form of basic training for decades understood is, as a recruit, you were going into a crucible,' he told Cain. 'You were going to be forced, you were going to be challenged, you were going to be scared, nervous and anxious and by coming through that, you were going to be forged an American warrior,' he went on. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is captured on the White House lawn Thursday appearing on Fox News' Will Cain Show. Hegseth told Cain that the Army needs to get 'back to basics,' which means bringing back the practice of 'shark attacks' on enlistees A new recruit (center) is yelled at by two drill sergeants (left and right) in what is called a 'shark attack,' which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wants to bring back as he says the U.S. Army is getting 'back to basics' Hegseth also said 'bed tossing' or 'tossing bays' would make a reappearance. 'Bed tossing inside barracks after you've had a long day doing, you know, out on the range or walking patrol,' the Pentagon chief said. The practice of trashing a recruit's barracks and making them clean up the mess has also long been used as a part of basic training. Hegseth also noted that recruits wouldn't receive heightened forms of hazing. 'This is not beyond what's been done,' he argued. 'This is a restoration.' The Defense Secretary argued that 'if you start soft you end soft.' 'If you aren't strong from the beginning, you won't finish and fight properly,' he said. He said the process starts at basic training and at the U.S. military academies. A U.S. Army drill sergeant (right) yells in the face of a young servicemember (left) during a 'shark attack' in 2017. Shark attacks have been phased out in recent years, but Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is bringing them back despite hazing concerns 'We are going back to basics,' Hegseth continued. 'Drill sergeants will be drill sergeants with knife hands, who ensure - who maintain good order and discipline and train up great recruits who will make great formations, just like we need military officers with that same rigorous discipline and background.' 'So we're going back to basics and it's bearing fruit,' he said. When Trump came back into power in January, the president pledged to erase any efforts the military made to go 'woke.' The military has largely scrapped DEI - diversity, equity and inclusion - efforts and Trump has reimplemented a ban on transgender troops. The Air Force said on Thursday that it would deny transgender servicemembers who have served between 15 and 18 years the chance to retire early and would instead would separate them from the military without retirement benefits. Germany will halt its export of military equipment to Israel in response to the country's plan to take control of Gaza City. The arms export freeze marks a dramatic change of course for the German government, which has long been one of Israel's staunchest international allies as it has sought to atone for the Holocaust. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said it was 'increasingly difficult to understand' how the latest Israeli military plan would help achieve the aims of disarming Hamas and freeing the remaining Israeli hostages held in Gaza. 'Under these circumstances, the German government will not authorise any exports of military equipment that could be used in the Gaza Strip until further notice,' he said in a statement. Merz added that Berlin 'remains deeply concerned about the ongoing suffering of the civilian population in the Gaza Strip'. Israel has until recently enjoyed broad support across the political spectrum in Germany, a country still seeking to atone for the World War II murder of more than six million Jews. In the period since the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023 started the Gaza war until May this year, Germany approved defence exports worth at least 485 million euros to Israel. The deliveries included firearms, ammunition, weapons parts, special equipment for the army and navy, electronic equipment, and special armoured vehicles, the government said in June in response to a parliamentary request. Germany will halt its export of military equipment to Israel in response to the country's plan to take control of Gaza City. Pictured: German Chancellor Friedrich Merz makes a statement to journalists following a meeting of the security Cabinet of the German government at the Chancellery in Berlin on July 28, 2025 The arms export freeze marks a dramatic change of course for the German government, which has long been one of Israel's staunchest international allies. Pictured: Palestinians watch as a plume of smoke rises during an Israeli strike on Gaza City's southern al-Zeitoun neighbourhood on August 8, 2025 German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said it was 'increasingly difficult to understand' how the latest Israeli military plan would help achieve the aims of disarming Hamas. Pictured: Palestinians check the devastation following an Israeli strike that hit Gaza City's southern al-Zeitoun neighbourhood on August 8, 2025 Merz again stressed that 'Israel has the right to defend itself against Hamas' terror' and said that 'the release of the hostages and determined negotiations on a ceasefire are our top priority'. 'The disarmament of Hamas is essential. Hamas must not play a role in the future of Gaza.' But he added that 'the even tougher military action by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip, which was decided on by the Israeli cabinet last night, makes it increasingly difficult, from the German government's point of view, to understand how these goals are to be achieved'. The decision marks a dramatic step for Germany, where Merz's tone towards Israel has been sharpening in recent months as the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza further deteriorated. The conservative leader has also been under pressure from some within his own coalition government to increase pressure on Israel, particularly from members of the centre-left Social Democrats. However, while often voicing concern, Germany had so far refrained from taking major concrete steps. Germany has so far avoided following France, the United Kingdom and Canada, who have announced plans to recognise a Palestinian state in September. Israel said early Friday that it plans to take over Gaza City, drawing rejection from the Palestinians and international condemnation. Israel has until recently enjoyed broad support across the political spectrum in Germany. Pictured: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference in Jerusalem Israel said early Friday that it plans to take over Gaza City. Pictured: Palestinians check the devastation following an Israeli strike that hit Gaza City's southern al-Zeitoun neighbourhood on August 8, 2025 The decision, agreed in a late-night meeting of its security Cabinet, marks a further escalation of Israel's 22-month war with Hamas. It also provoked worries in Israel over the fate of hostages still held by Hamas. Another major ground operation would almost certainly exacerbate the humanitarian catastrophe, in which Israel's air and ground war has pushed the territory toward famine. Hamas said people in Gaza would 'remain defiant against occupation'. On a visit to Israel last week, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul maintained Berlin's long-standing position that recognition could come only after a process of negotiation between Israel and the Palestinians but added that the process 'must begin soon'. Berlin has also opposed the suspension or termination of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, which had been under review by the bloc. International concern has been growing over the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza, where a UN-backed assessment has warned that famine is unfolding. German airforce planes have in recent days joined other countries with airdrops of humanitarian aid over the war-battered coastal territory. Palestinians, facing food shortages due to Israel's blockade and ongoing attacks on the Gaza Strip, gather with pots and pans as a charity distributes meals in western Gaza City, Gaza on August 08, 2025 War-damaged buildings stand in Gaza City on August 8, 2025. Israel's military will 'take control' of Gaza City under a plan proposed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and approved by his security cabinet, triggered a wave of criticism from across the world Merz said that 'with the planned offensive, the Israeli government bears even greater responsibility' for providing aid to Gaza's civilians. He reiterated Germany's call for comprehensive access to Gaza for 'UN organisations and other non-governmental institutions'. Merz also said that 'the German government urges the Israeli government not to take any further steps toward annexing the West Bank'. Last month, 71 members of Israel's 120-seat parliament, including members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing coalition, passed a motion calling on the government to annex the West Bank. The Gaza war began when Hamas killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostage in an attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, according to Israeli figures. The Gaza war began when Hamas killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostage in an attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, according to Israeli figures. Picture shows humanitarian aid being airdropped to Palestinians over Gaza City on Friday, August 8 Five-month-old Palestinian baby Ammar Ammara struggles with severe malnutrition in Gaza City, Gaza due to Israel's ongoing blockade and attacks, on August 07, 2025 Smoke rises amid debris after Israel targeted the area near Abbas Junction in western Gaza City, Gaza on August 08, 2025 Women mourn on the day of the funeral of Palestinians, who were killed by Israeli fire while trying to receive aid on Tuesday, according to medics, outside the Al-Shifa Hospital, in Gaza City, August 6, 2025 Israel's offensive has since killed more than 60,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials. According to Israeli officials, 50 hostages now remain in Gaza, only 20 of whom are believed to be alive. It comes as Israel said Monday the plight of hostages held in Gaza should top the global agenda, after Palestinian militants released videos showing them looking emaciated, heightening fears for their lives after nearly 22 months in captivity. Foreign Minister Gideon Saar, in a press briefing ahead of the UN Security Council session on the issue, said that 'the world must put an end to the phenomenon of kidnapping civilians. It must be front and centre on the world stage'. President Donald Trump is popping off on former Republican Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan for leaving the party after being expelled earlier this year. The former Georgia politician penned an op-ed in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Tuesday announcing he would join the Democratic Party. From 2019 to 2023, Duncan served as the swing states Republican lieutenant governor alongside Georgia GOP Gov. Brian Kemp. During the 2024 campaign, he endorsed former President Joe Biden and later endorsed former Vice President Kamala Harris. Following his vocal opposition to Trump during the election, the Georgia Republican Party expelled Duncan from the party back in January. After his expulsion from the states party, the CNN contributor was told by the Georgia GOP chairman to stop using his Republican affiliation on television. Failed former Lt. Governor Geoff Duncan, of Georgia, is a total loser, Trump told his followers on Truth Social. Was never able to get anything done, all he ever did was complain, We didnt want him in the Republican Party any longer, so Im told he became a Democrat. Trump slammed Duncan via Truth Social on Friday morning for Duncan for switching parties Duncan, a CNN contributor, was expelled from the Georgia GOP back in January During the 2024 election, the former Georgia lieutenant governor endorsed former President Joe Biden and later former Vice President Kamala Harris Trump added, Good riddance Geoff. You dont even have a chance!!! In August 2024, Trump referred to Duncan as a bum while demanding the states GOP throw him out of the party. Trump's feud with the Georgia GOP politician dates back to the 2020 presidential election, when Trump claimed the states election was rigged after losing to Biden. Trump would go on to win the key swing state by over two percentage points in the 2024 election. Theres no date on a calendar or line in the sand that points to the exact moment in time my political heart changed, but it has, Duncan wrote in Tuesday's op-ed. My decision was centered around my daily struggle to love my neighbor, as a Republican. Duncan cited Trumps response to losing the 2020 election, along with the January 6th Capitol riot, as reasoning for leaving the party. Moreover, Duncan called out the Trump administration for its immigration policies that have turned into a lesson on how not to love your neighbor. Duncan cited Trump's refusal to accept the outcome of the 2020 election as his reasoning for leaving the GOP The former Republican also claimed that Trumps recently passed Big Beautiful Bill would destroy Medicaid by leaving it in shambles. Duncan slammed the bill for cutting funds to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, arguing it would negatively impact efforts to prevent child hunger in schools. Jeffrey Epstein's former butler has said that the paedophile financier 'loved life too much' to kill himself, as he spilled the beans on everyone who visited the deceased sex offender in his first public interview. Valdson Viera Cotrin, who ran Epstein's home in Paris, told The Telegraph that that he had spoken to his former employer before he died and claimed he had been in good spirits. Epstein was found hanged in his cell on August 10, 2019, just weeks after being arrested in New York and charged with sex trafficking underage girls. But Mr Cotrin, who has remained loyal to his former boss, has insisted Epstein would never have killed himself and revealed that his employer had told him he was planning to negotiate with the judge in the case to secure bail. 'I don't believe this was suicide. He loved life too much,' Mr Cotrin said. He also recalled seeing his boss for the last time, describing how Epstein was relaxed and had spoken about making more investments. Epstein's brother Mark has also suggested that the financier may have been murdered, and even ordered a second autopsy. 'We got the news that he had hanged himself, and honestly, he loved life too much to float away like that,' Mr Cotrin added. During the interview, the butler also reeled off a list of dignitaries who came to visit Epstein over two decades, including Prince Andrew and former US president Bill Clinton. Jeffrey Epstein's former butler says the financier paedophile 'loved life too much' to kill himself. Pictured: Valdson Viera Cotrin, who ran Epstein's home in Paris Epstein was found hanged in his cell on August 10, 2019, just weeks after being arrested in New York and charged with sex trafficking underage girls This undated trial evidence image obtained December 8, 2021, from the US District Court for the Southern District of New York shows British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell and US financier Jeffrey Epstein Mr Cotrin claims he has chauffeured the British royal 'five or six times' and says he was a frequent guest at Epsteins Paris town house. He said the prince also visited Epstein in St Tropez along with a British photographer famous for taking pictures of naked girls and accused of having sex with a 13-year-old. Mr Cotrin's remarks come as the US government comes under pressure to make public the so-called Epstein files. Also on Mr Cotrins list was former US president Bill Clinton, who he alleges he met onboard Epstein's private jet during a stopover in Paris and shared an image of the two smiling. The Telegraph published an image showing Mr Cotrin posing for a photographer with the former president on board the so-called Lolita Express, the plane Epstein allegedly used to traffic underage girls and women for sex. Mr Cotrin recalled that Epstein often laughed at a painting he had bought depicting Mr Clinton wearing a blue dress and red high heels, imitating the outfit ostensibly worn during the president's infamous encounter with Monica Lewinsky. Another picture shared by Mr Cotrin shows the UK's ambassador to Washington Lord Mandelson attending Epstein's birthday in 2007 and claimed that he drove Woody Allen around and met Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates a few times. The butler also made the extraordinary claim that Epstein had told him he had been offered a job by Donald Trump in his administration in 2016 - but that he had turned it down. There is no evidence that the allegation is true and Trump has always maintained that he stopped speaking to Epstein in 2004. Mr Cotrin insisted that he never saw Epstein with underage girls, and said that young women only hired to give him massages and cut his nails. The butler had never spoken publicly until now due to concern for his own safety. The butler also made the extraordinary claim that Epstein had told him he had been offered a job by Donald Trump in his administration in 2016 - but that he had turned it down U.S. financier Jeffrey Epstein appears in a photograph taken for the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services' sex offender registry March 28, 2017 Mr Cotrin had not spoken out publicly about his former boss until now He pointed to what he considers Epstein's mysterious death and also the suicides of Virginia Giuffre, who accused Prince Andrew of sexual abuse, which he denied, and of Jean-Luc Brunel, who ran a modelling agency that procured girls for Epstein. Giuffre, 41, killed herself at her home in Australia in April and Brunel was found dead in his prison cell in Paris in 2022 while he awaited trial on charges of raping a teenager. The interview comes after it emerged that Epstein's former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell, wants to keep grand jury records secret in the sex trafficking case that sent her to prison. Maxwell hasn't seen the material herself, her attorneys said - the grand jury process is conducted behind closed doors. But she opposes unsealing what her lawyers described as potentially 'hearsay-laden' transcripts of grand jury testimony, which was given in secret and without her lawyers there to challenge it. 'Whatever interest the public may have in Epstein, that interest cannot justify a broad intrusion into grand jury secrecy in a case where the defendant is alive, her legal options are viable and her due process rights remain,' attorneys David O. Markus and Melissa Madrigal wrote. Virginia Roberts Giuffre, with a photo of herself as a teen, when she says she was abused by Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell and Prince Andrew, among others. She died by suicide earlier this year An undated handout photo taken at an undisclosed location and released on August 9, 2021 by the United States District Couty for the Southern District of New York shows (L-R) Prince Andrew, Virginia Giuffre, and Ghislaine Maxwell posing for a photo Government attorneys have been trying to quell a clamor for transparency by seeking the transcripts' release - though the government also says the public already knows much of what's in the documents. Most of the information 'was made publicly available at trial or has otherwise been publicly reported through the public statements of victims and witnesses,' prosecutors wrote in court papers Monday. They noted that the disclosures excluded some victims' and witnesses' names. Prosecutors had also said last week that some of what the grand jurors heard eventually came out at Maxwell's 2021 trial and in various victims' lawsuits. There were only two grand jury witnesses, both of them law enforcement officials, prosecutors said. An elderly South Carolina woman vanished after a horrifying crash, sparking a huge search - only for her to turn up again two months later with a harrowing story. Susan Rhodes, 65 of North Augusta, vanished after a car crash on June 11, but she turned up nearly eight weeks later with a mysterious story to explain her disappearance. On the day of the crash, Joshua Lawson told police that he saw an erratic driver in a Chevrolet Malibu. The car veered into a ditch before doubling back and sideswiping a Toyota SUV and then went off the road again, Lawson said according to The Augusta Press. Witnesses of the crash saw her car end up in a ditch before Lawson and Carl Walther both helped the driver out of the Malibu. They described her as an elderly white female with an arm in a sling who appeared dazed and disoriented before she walked away from the crash and disappeared. Officers who responded to the scene of the crash also found an open Bud Light can on the floor of the vehicle. A mass search for Rhodes ensued involving helicopters, K-9's and 'multiple teams of officers,' The North Augusta Department of Public Safety said, as fears for her well-being grew. Susan Rhodes (pictured), 65 of North Augusta, vanished after a car crash on June 11, but she turned up nearly eight weeks later on Tuesday with a mysterious story to explain her disappearance Rhodes was seen erratically driving across the road before she hit another vehicle and ended up in a ditch. She was helped out of her car before she left the scene and disappeared. Pictured: The scene of the car crash on Gregory Lake Rd Rhodes' roommate told authorities that she had complained of stroke-like symptoms on the day of the crash. The roommate managed to get in touch with Rhodes over the phone, where she sounded confused before hanging up, the outlet reported. Then on Tuesday, Rhodes was found sitting on the couch at a home in Edgefield County by the homeowner who called the police. Responding officers later found Rhodes hiding in the bathroom where she told them that she had left the crash and was swept away by a creek. 'While speaking with her I observed her voice to be very low and not able to talk in a normal voice,' the officer said in a report, Fox 8 reported. 'I asked Susan what happened and she stated she does remember being in a wreck and then she left and walked into the woods. She said she was in a creek and it turned into a river.' 'She said the river was going so fast she lost her pants and shoes,' the officer continued. Rhodes furthered that she had been picked up by an elderly couple after making her way back to a roadway. Rhodes claimed she was swept away in a creek and fed and sheltered by an unknown elderly couple before she got in a strangers truck and made it back home two months later Rhodes' story, officers said, 'made very little sense' and there was no evidence to corroborate the account as The North Augusta Department of Public Safety has obtained an arrest warrant The couple, Rhodes told officers, took her to their home and fed her bread and water before she got into the black truck of a man who drove her home. She claimed she had no idea who anyone that had helped her was and believed herself to have suffered from a stroke with little memory of what happened. But her mysterious story only furthered suspicion as authorities believe Rhodes fabricated the story to evade prosecution for the hit-and-run accident. Her story, officers said, 'made very little sense' and there was no evidence to corroborate the account, The Augusta Press reported. Rhodes was taken to hospital shortly after she reappeared, where she remains pending a medical evaluation. The North Augusta Department of Public Safety obtained an arrest warrant for her on charges of reckless driving, open container of beer, and hit-and-run attended vehicle with property damage. More than 400 small boat migrants have arrived in the first two days of Labours returns deal, dashing claims it would be a new deterrent. The Home Office confirmed 248 migrants were picked up in the Channel yesterday and brought into Dover. It followed 155 arrivals on Wednesday the first operational day of the new Anglo-French treaty. The Government has refused to disclose how many migrants are being detained for removal to France. The scheme is also highly likely to face long-running legal challenges. Yesterday Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer was accused of gaslighting the British public after he made grossly exaggerated claims over the new deal. Some of the 248 migrants arriving at Dover on Thursday after being picked up in the Channel by the UK Border Force's catamaran, Ranger Young children were among the group picked up yesterday, bringing the total to have reached Britain since the new returns deal became operational to 403 On social media he said: If you break the law to enter this country, you will face being sent back. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper also appeared to overstate the likely impact of her scheme, claiming every migrant will be throwing away their money if they get into a small boat. In reality, the pilot scheme is only expected to return a tiny percentage of migrants. Your browser does not support iframes. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of 'gaslighting the British public' for making 'exaggerated' claims over the scale and scope of the returns scheme It will also expire in just 10 months time, with any renewal then in doubt as the next French presidential election campaign will, by then, be gathering pace. Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: The PM is gaslighting the British public. His tweet is a gross exaggeration of what this paltry scheme will do. The number of migrants to have reached Britain since the start of the year now stands at 25,839, 46 per cent higher than at the same point last year. Last month Downing Street said the British and French governments had agreed a new deterrent was required to combat small boats, leading to the signing of the treaty. Your browser does not support iframes. The Home Office released images of the first migrants - wearing purple tabards - who have been selected for return to France under the treaty Sir Keir then pledged migrants would be detained and returned to France in short order. Migrants selected for removal will be held in Home Office detention facilities rather than being sent to live in taxpayer-funded asylum hotels. But it has emerged that three large hotels are being used to hold migrants at one of Britains busiest seaside resorts. The properties, all within walking distance of Bournemouth seafront, have been closed to the public for more than a year after being taken over by the Home Office, the Sun reported. One holidaymaker who paid 1,400 for a week at the resort with her daughter said she was cross that migrants were being housed there at the taxpayers expense. A pair of neglected Labradors were found dumped on the side of the road near a school in Colorado. Police in Parker, outside Denver, described the dogs as an adult female and a six-month-old puppy. The adorable dogs were discovered abandoned near the parking lot of Pioneer Elementary School on Wednesday morning. Neither of the dogs are microchipped and they both showed signs of neglect, according to police. 'All we have at this time is that a white pick-up [truck] with a topper dropped these two dogs off and then drove away,' the Parker Police Department said. 'The driver was described as a white male, middle-aged, of average build.' The dogs are currently at a shelter. Police asked for help in locating the driver. Police described the dogs as an adult female and a six-month-old puppy that were found dumped on the side of the road near a school The dogs were abandoned the parking lot of Pioneer Elementary School in Parker, Colorado Those who saw the police statement were appalled by the news. 'This is horrific. So glad theyre safe,' one commenter wrote. 'Oh this is heartbreaking! Whoever adopts these sweet angels, please keep them together. They need each other!' another said. Back in December, a woman was seen tossing a dog trapped in a carrier bag at a Colorado animal shelter. Security footage showed the bag toppling over as it hit the ground. In Colorado, abandoning a dog is considered animal cruelty, a criminal offense with potential penalties including jail time and fines. 'Any person who intentionally abandons a dog or cat commits the offense of cruelty to animals,' according to Colorado Voters for Animals. Washington and Moscow are aiming to reach a deal to halt the war in Ukraine that would lock in Russia's occupation of territory seized during its military invasion, Bloomberg News reported on Friday. U.S. and Russian officials are working towards an agreement on territories for a planned summit meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin as early as next week, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter. The U.S. is working to get buy-in from Ukraine and allies in Europe on the deal, which is not yet certain, the people added. The Russian leader is reportedly demanding that Ukraine cede the entire Donbas region, as well as Crimea, which his forces illegally annexed in 2014. Such a deal would require Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to order a removal of troops from parts of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions still held by Kyiv, which would be seen as handing Russia a victory that its military was not able to achieve by force since the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022. Russia would also stop its attacks in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine along the current battle lines as part of the deal, the report said, citing sources close to the truce. Ukrainian soldiers on the battlefield expressed little hope for a diplomatic solution to the war, as U.S. President Donald Trumps deadline arrived Friday for the Kremlin to make peace and he eyed a possible summit meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss Moscows invasion. Exasperated that Putin did not heed his calls to stop bombing Ukrainian cities, Trump almost two weeks ago moved up his ultimatum to impose additional sanctions on Russia and introduce secondary tariffs targeting countries that buy Russian oil if the Kremlin did not move toward a settlement. The Russian leader is reportedly demanding that Ukraine cede the entire Donbas region, as well as Crimea, which his forces illegally annexed in 2014 Posting on X, President Zelensky said a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia was still at the forefront of negotiations The U.S. is working to get buy-in from Ukraine and allies in Europe on the deal, which is not yet certain, sources said It was unclear what steps Trump intended to take Friday. When asked Thursday whether his deadline would hold, Trump said of Putin: 'Its going to be up to him. Were going to see what he has to say. Its going to be up to him. Very disappointed.' Trumps efforts to pressure Putin into stopping the fighting have so far delivered no progress. Russias bigger army is slowly advancing deeper into Ukraine at great cost in troops and armor while it relentlessly bombards Ukrainian cities. Russia and Ukraine are far apart on their terms for peace. Despite the deadline looming, Russia showed no sign of halting its bombardment last night as missiles rained down on Bucha, Hostomel and Irpin in the Kyiv region, Shostka in the Sumy region and the Nikopol district in Dnipropetrovsk. After more than three years of war, Ukrainians are increasingly eager for a settlement that ends the fight against Russia's invasion, according to a new Gallup poll published Thursday - although only about a quarter of Ukrainians surveyed expect the guns to fall silent within the next 12 months. The enthusiasm for a negotiated deal is a sharp reversal from 2022 - the year the war began - when Gallup found that about three-quarters of Ukrainians wanted to keep fighting until victory. Now only about one-quarter hold that view, with support for continuing the war declining steadily across all regions and demographic groups. The findings were based on samples of 1,000 or more respondents ages 15 and older living in Ukraine. Some territories under entrenched Russian control, representing about 10% of the population, were excluded from surveys conducted after 2022 due to lack of access. Since the start of the full-scale war, Russia's relentless pounding of urban areas behind the front line has killed more than 12,000 Ukrainian civilians, according to the United Nations. Ukrainian servicemen of the 148th artillery brigade rest in a dugout at the frontline in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, on Thursday, August 7 Ukrainian servicemen of the 148th artillery brigade load ammunition into a M777 howitzer before firing towards Russian positions at the frontline in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, on Thursday, August 7 Service members of the 48th Separate Artillery Brigade load a shell into a 2S22 Bohdana self-propelled howitzer before firing towards Russian troops near a front line amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv region, Ukraine July 27 A serviceman of 152nd Separate Jaeger Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces is seen inside a 2S1 Gvozdika self-propelled howitzer in a front line amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, near the town of Pokrovsk in Donetsk region, Ukraine August 5 Ukrainian forces fires a D-30 howitzer towards Russian troops in a front line in Donetsk region, Ukraine August 5 Ukrainian forces attacking Russian troops at a front line in Donetsk region on August 5, days before the U.S.-imposed 'deadline day' on Putin to agree to a truce Ukrainian serviceman, aka Bronson, of the 148th artillery brigade carry a 155mm shell in front of M777 howitzer at the frontline in Zaporizhzhia region on August 7 An explosion of a drone lights up the sky over the city during a Russian drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine August 8, 2025 The Russian President said on Thursday that he hoped to meet Trump as early as next week, after saying the desire for a US-Russia summit was 'mutual'. While Putin has made clear he will meet the U.S. leader, he has given no promises about laying down his arms. A Kremlin aide yesterday indicated that Trump and Putin could get together in the coming days, with the Russian leader suggesting the United Arab Emirates is a possible site for the meeting. Putin said Thursday that 'conditions' for a potential meeting with Zelensky had not been met, hours after the Ukrainian leader repeated a call for direct talks. 'I have nothing against it in general, it is possible, but certain conditions must be created for this. But unfortunately, we are still far from creating such conditions,' Putin told reporters at the Kremlin. Posting on X, President Zelensky said a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia was still at the forefront of negotiations. He said: We remain mindful of the need for a real ceasefire. Ukraine is ready for it and there has been no clear public response from Russia yet. Former UK defence secretary Ben Wallace previously said it was essential a European power, such as the UK, should be present at the talks. The Russian leader is reportedly demanding that Ukraine cede the entire Donbas region, as well as Crimea, which his forces illegally annexed in 2014 A view shows the ruins of a residential building in the abandoned town of Marinka (Maryinka), which was destroyed in the course of Russia-Ukraine conflict in the Donetsk region, a Russian-controlled area of Ukraine, August 7 Russian drones targeted Kharkiv in a series of new attacks on Ukraine as Donald Trump's deadline day - August 8 - arrived for sanctions hitting the Putin regime Ukrainian forces are locked in intense battles along the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line that snakes from northeast to southeast Ukraine. The Pokrovsk area of the eastern Donetsk region is taking the brunt of punishment as Russia seeks to break out into the neighboring Dnipropetrovsk region. Ukraine has significant manpower shortages. Intense fighting is also taking place in Ukraines northern Sumy border region, where Ukrainian forces are engaging Russian soldiers to prevent reinforcements being sent from there to Donetsk. In the Pokrovsk area of Donetsk, a commander said he believes Moscow isnt interested in peace. 'It is impossible to negotiate with them. The only option is to defeat them,' Buda, the Spartan Brigade commander, told The Associated Press. He used only his call sign, in keeping with the rules of the Ukrainian military. 'I would like them to agree and for all this to stop, but Russia will not agree to that. It does not want to negotiate. So the only option is to defeat them,' he said. In the southern Zaporizhzhia region, a howitzer commander using the call sign Warsaw, said troops are determined to thwart Russias invasion. 'We are on our land, we have no way out,' he said. 'So we stand our ground, we have no choice.' The Kremlin said Friday that Putin had a phone call with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, during which the Russian leader informed Xi about the results of his meeting earlier this week with Trump envoy Steve Witkoff. Kremlin officials said Xi 'expressed support for the settlement of the Ukrainian crisis on a long-term basis.' Service members of the 48th Separate Artillery Brigade prepare for an attack on Russia in Kharkiv region, Ukraine July 27, 2025 Ukrainian forces are locked in intense battles along the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line that snakes from northeast to southeast Ukraine Ukrainian soldiers on the battlefield expressed little hope for a diplomatic solution to the war Putin is due to visit China next month. China, along with North Korea and Iran, have provided military support for Russias war effort, the U.S. says. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on X that he also had a call with Putin to speak about the latest Ukraine developments. Trump signed an executive order Wednesday to place an additional 25% tariff on India for its purchases of Russian oil, which the American president says is helping to finance Russias war. Putins calls followed his phone conversations with the leaders of South Africa, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Belarus, the Kremlin said. The calls suggested to at least one analyst that Putin perhaps wanted to brief Russias most important allies about a potential settlement that could be reached at a summit with Trump. 'It means that some sort of real peace agreement has been reached for the first time,' said Sergei Markov, a pro-Kremlin Moscow-based analyst. Trump said Thursday that he would meet with Putin even if the Russian leader will not meet with his Ukrainian counterpart Zelensky. That stoked fears in Europe that Ukraine could be sidelined in efforts to stop the continents biggest conflict since World War II. The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think tank, said in an assessment Thursday that 'Putin remains uninterested in ending his war and is attempting to extract bilateral concessions from the United States without meaningfully engaging in a peace process.' 'Putin continues to believe that time is on Russias side and that Russia can outlast Ukraine and the West,' it said. The Daily Mail contacted the White House for comment. Two thirds of Britons believe judges and the justice system have become too political, according to a new poll. A survey of 3,000 over-16s found 67 per cent of people agreed the criminal justice system had become over-politicised. Meanwhile, 62 per cent said judges 'sometimes make decisions on the basis of their personal political opinions'. Seven out of 10 believed the criminal justice system is more concerned about the rights of criminals than the rights of victims, the polling by Merlin Strategy found. Amid widespread concerns over 'activist judges', Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick said the research showed confidence in the justice system was 'on the line'. He urged politicised judges to resign, or face being removed from office. The Tory frontbencher said: 'Judicial activism is destroying confidence in the criminal justice system. 'The public are fed up of seeing judges making political statements or stretching the law to suit their world view. Shadow Justice Secretary said the poll findings showed 'confidence in our criminal justice system is now on the line'. A new poll showed 62 per cent of Britons believe judges 'sometimes make decisions on the basis of their personal political opinions' 'It has to end. If judges want to be politicians they should step down. 'If not, they should be removed.' He added: 'These results should alarm Keir Starmer and the Justice Secretary, Shabana Mahmood. 'Their strategy of trying to silence legitimate criticism of judges isn't working. 'They need to tackle the source of the problem and fast, because confidence in our criminal justice system is now on the line.' Julian Gallie, Merlin Strategy's head of research, said: 'The public overwhelmingly think that UK judges and the criminal justice system is too politicised. 'There is also widespread concern that the system currently protects the rights of criminals over the rights of victims. 'This is a problem for not just trust in the criminal justice system, but in our social contract as a whole. 'These findings indicate worrying levels of dissatisfaction amongst the public.' President Trump has reportedly directed the Pentagon to use the military and target drug cartels that the commander-in-chief has pre-designated as foreign terrorist organizations. Reporting from the New York Times cites people 'familiar with the matter', saying the president privately signed the directive. During the peace deal signing today with Armenia's prime minister and Azerbaijan's president, Trump responded to a reporters question on the challenges of his new directive, saying: 'Well, we are playing a tough game.' White House Spokeswoman Anna Kelly confirmed to the Daily Mail that the president 'took the bold step to designate several cartels and gangs as foreign terrorist organizations.' According to 'people familiar with the conversations', US military officials have begun drafting plans on how the military would be able to execute operations against certain organizations. This move from the administration is a continuation of Trump's efforts to expand his executive powers without the oversight of other government branches. Brandon Buck, a foreign policy research fellow at the Cato Institute, told the Daily Mail that Trump is on his weakest legal ground to use unilateral force in Mexico. 'Unlike the prolonged conflicts of the Middle East, where multiple presidents cited authorizations for the use of military force, such legal avenues are not present' for Mexico operations, Buck explained. This directive has some echoes of a similar move by President George H.W. Bush in 1989, who deployed over 20,000 troops to Panama with orders to arrest dictator Manuel Noriega on drug trafficking charges. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that designating these cartels as terrorist groups would permit the US to use all the tools in their toolbox White House Spokeswoman Anna Kelly told the Daily Mail that 'President Trump's top priority is protecting the homeland, which is why he took the bold step to designate several cartels and gangs as foreign terrorist organizations' In February, the State Department designated several groups as foreign terrorist organizations. They include notably Mara Salvatrucha (also known as MS-13) and Tren de Aragua along with others. The department said the gangs constituted a 'national security threat beyond that posed by traditional organized crime.' The Trump administration added a few more to the list two weeks ago; the Venezuelan Cartel de los Soles, or Cartel of the Suns, explaining that the cartels were run by the President of Venezuela, along with other leaders on his staff. The Treasury Department accused Cartel de los Soles of giving material help to other cartels, like the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico and Tren de Aragua, asserting they were 'threatening the peace and security of the United States.' Secretary of State Marco Rubio put out a statement days after, blasting Nicolas Maduro, saying his regime is 'not a legitimate government' and that he is 'not the president of Venezuela'. He added that Maduro, 'has corrupted Venezuela's institutions to assist the cartel's criminal narco-trafficking scheme into the United States.' In an interview Thursday with Raymond Arroyo of EWTN's 'The World Over', Rubio said that designating these cartels as terrorist groups would permit the US to use all the tools in their toolbox, like intelligence agencies and the Department of Defense. 'We cannot continue to just treat these guys as local street gangs. They have weaponry that looks like what terrorists, in some cases, armies, have,' Rubio said. 'Drug dealing is the kind of terrorism they're doing, and it's not the only.' In May, President Trump told the Mexican President, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, that he would send US troops to her country to fight the drug cartels, but was turned away The Mexican president has said several times that they will never accept the presence of the United States Army in their territory In May, President Trump told the Mexican President, Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, that he would send US troops to her country to fight the drug cartels, but was turned away, with the Mexican President saying, '... the territory cannot be violated', and 'sovereignty cannot be sold.' Sheinbaum added that they will never accept the presence of the United States Army in their territory. There are, however, legal implications with the president's directive. Legal experts are questioning whether strikes against cartels could violate international law if they kill members who don't pose an 'imminent threat' at the time of the attack. Brian Finucane, senior advisor to the International Crisis Group and former legal adviser at the State Department, tells the Daily Mail that unilateral U.S. drone strikes in another country would likely violate the United Nations charter and possibly violate U.S. law on assassinations. 'To the extent the US military would be taking detainees, there are significant questions of the authority for detention outside of the civilian criminal justice system,' he added. The Justice Department has not commented or created an opinion on these legal issues. In the past, the US military has overseen anti-drug exercises with countries like Mexico and Colombia, working with their troops Buck issued a warning to the President, saying, if this is carried out, Trump could also risk significant diplomatic fallout with Mexico. In the past, the US military has overseen anti-drug exercises with countries like Mexico and Colombia, working with their troops. But the president's new secret plans would likely be different, utilizing US military manpower, time and equipment, entering uncharted legal territory. The Daily Mail reached out to the Pentagon for comment and any further clarification on how these plans would be executed. They redirected questions back to the White House. A paedophile private tutor who molested Muslim girls in their homes while he taught them about the Koran has been jailed after one of his victim's bravely spoke out. Umair Iqbal, 38, preyed on the girls, aged between eight and 18, over a 10-year period while tutoring his victims in maths and to learn the Koran. The bespectacled predator regularly attended the homes of the youngsters to carry out lessons - before going on to sexually assault his pupils. His reign of terror only came to an end when one of victims, aged just 15, courageously reported his warped behaviour to police after years of abuse. Iqbal, of Cheetham Hill, Manchester, has now been sentenced to 14 years, 11 of which will be served in prison, with three years on licence after his release He was sentenced on Thursday at Manchester Crown Court following a four-week trial last month when he was convicted by a jury of 29 out of 30 counts of sexual assault. Police first launched inquiries in October 2020 when a 15-year-old victim came forward, after years of believing the abuse was her own fault. A subsequent investigation revealed four more victims, including one girl who had been abused from the age of eight. Umair Iqbal, 38, preyed on the girls, aged between eight and 18, over a 10-year period He has since been sentenced to 14 years - which includes 11 years in jail and three years on licence (pictured is Manchester Crown Court where he received his sentence) Detective Constable Alex Dodd, from Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said: 'All five victims were young Muslim girls from good families, abused by a person in a position of trust and silenced through fear of getting in trouble or being blamed for the abuse. 'Iqbal befriended families and used the good reputation of a community to hide behind his sordid sexual agenda. 'Securing justice for these victims is a positive outcome for Rochdale's complex safeguarding team. 'The multi-agency work we do in Rochdale is a collaborative force for good. 'It involves GMP officers, children's services, youth workers, social workers, health professionals, housing officers and public protection services, all working together to investigate child sexual exploitation (CSE), safeguard victims, uncover the truth and bring offenders to justice. 'I would like to recognise and thank all five victims and their families for their determination during the lengthy investigation and four-week trial, which was a distressing process for them. 'We encourage anyone who feels they may have been subjected to Mr Iqbal's behaviour to come forward and report it on 101 quoting Operation Ganister.' As well as being jailed Iqbal will be subject to an indefinite sexual harm prevention order and restraining orders for his victims and their families. New York Attorney General Letitia James is under investigation by the Department of Justice for bringing a civil fraud case against President Donald Trump during the 2024 election. The investigation will look into whether James 'weaponized' her office against Trump and his businesses in the lead up to the presidential election. It's the latest step in the ongoing saga between Trump and his political nemesis James. In 2022, James launched a lawsuit against Trump and his family company alleging that he misrepresented his wealth and overvalued company properties. As a result, Trump was embroiled in a three-month trial in NYC that ripped open his company's finances and put his family in the spotlight before the election. In February 2024, a Manhattan judge found Trump and his oldest sons liable for fraud in the case and ordered an unprecedented $454 million payout. The president slammed James and Judge Arthur Engoron of political bias against him and has appealed the ruling. The DOJ's latest investigation into James is the second probe launched into her conduct since the start of the start of the Trump administration. Trump's DOJ launched a new probe into the New York attorney general's office James' office launched a civil fraud case against Trump and his company for overvaluing his wealth The scope of the DOJ's latest investigation into James is not immediately clear Details surrounding the scope, evidence, or how far along the DOJ investigation into James's office was not immediately available. The NY attorney general's office responded to the investigation by calling the DOJ's actions a 'weaponization of the justice system.' 'Any weaponization of the justice system should disturb every American,' the statement reads. The criminal investigation will also focus on James' separate 2020 lawsuit against the National Rifle Association (NRA) and the organization's leadership. James sought to legally dissolve the NRA but was overruled by a judge. During the 2024 election, Trump faced a mountain of civil and criminal cases in New York However, in 2024 James's office won the civil fraud case against former NRA leader Wayne LaPierre after a jury found he had misspent millions of dollars from the gun group. James's office fired back by stating: 'We stand strongly behind our successful litigation against the Trump Organization and the National Rifle Association, and we will continue to stand up for New Yorkers rights.' Trump's FBI is also probing whether the attorney general made false claims on her mortgage applications. In a letter to sent DOJ Attorney General Pam Bondi back in April 2025, James's attorney Abbe Lowell argued the mortgage filings were mistakes that were later corrected by her client on other forms. A staffer for a Boston lawmaker managed to get a job inside City Hall despite being charged after allegedly assaulting a bartender. Samantha Peracchi, who was hired by Democrat City Councilor Gabriela Coletta in April, is facing charges of assault and battery following the alleged assault last year. Surveillance footage first obtained by Mass Daily News appears to show Peracchi making her way behind the bar of L'Osteria, a North End restaurant, in May of last year. The woman approaches a female bartender, who is clutching a bottle in her hand, and pushes her backwards. In the clip, the woman can be seen cornering the bartender before she starts hitting the worker. Another member of staff then walks into the bar area to attempt to split the two up but is thrown backwards to the ground. The woman then proceeds to continue assaulting the bartender, repeatedly punching her in the head and grabbing her hair. Eventually the woman that had been knocked to the ground regains her composure and manages to split up the brawl. Surveillance footage obtained by Mass Daily News appears to show Peracchi making her way behind the bar of L'Osteria, a North End restaurant, in May of last year Samantha Peracchi, who was hired by District 1 City Councilor Gabriela Coletta in April, is facing charges of assault and battery following the alleged assault last year According to court records, Peracchi was charged with a misdemeanor assault and battery charge and was arraigned in October. She pleaded not guilty. The case still remains active following a litany of pretrial hearings, the latest of which took place in April. The next date has been scheduled for April 15, 2026. The outlet reported that she was ordered by the court to have no contact with the victim and to stay out of the restaurant as part of her pretrial probation. Peracchi was hired by Democrat City Councilor Gabriela Coletta, seen here, in April Coletta had welcomed Peracchi to her team in April of this year despite the ongoing litigation, saying she 'comes from a distinguished family of public servants.' A post to her social media said: 'Thrilled to welcome lifelong North End resident Samantha Peracchi to my team to support North End and Wharf District residents in making City Hall more accessible and responsive for all. 'I'm confident she understands the unique needs of our residents, and I look forward to working with her to enhance quality of life in District One. Please give her a warm welcome!' In May, Peracchi's position was formally approved by the city council - led by Democratic Mayor Michelle Wu - on the exact day of the year anniversary of the alleged assault. Daily Mail has approached Peracchi and her boss Coletta for comment on the new footage. Another member of staff then walks into the bar area to attempt to split the two up but is thrown backwards to the ground The case still remains active following a litany of pretrial hearings, the latest of which took place in April According to court records, Peracchi was charged with a misdemeanor assault and battery charge and was arraigned in October. She pleaded not guilty It comes after a top staffer for Boston Mayor Michelle Wu allegedly struck a woman in the face with her own high heeled shoe in a street brawl. Ciara D'Amico, the deputy director of neighborhoods in Wu's administration, was allegedly seen in footage launching her stiletto at a woman outside a 7/11 store. According to a police report, D'Amico joined the melee after her father John punched a woman in the face multiple times, before her two sisters also entered the fray. The alleged victim said that she was neighbors with the suspects, cops said, but no arrests have been made following the altercation. Mayor Wu's office said: 'We hold all our employees to the highest standards. The City is taking steps to administer discipline to the employee. 'No arrests were made and no charges have been filed. The City cannot comment further as this is a personnel matter.' A Reform UK councillor is facing trial after being accused of remonstrating with staff at an LGBTQ festival over a drag artiste's 'gyrating' stage show. Self proclaimed 'radical feminist and mum' Amanda Clare, 54, was arrested after she was seen taking pictures of transgender performers dancing and singing in front of children at this year's annual Winsford Pride in Cheshire. The former Labour councillor, who defected to Reform in March, had previously accused stall holders at the event of targeting children with 'sexualised and ideological merchandise that promoted medical gender transition.' She also complained about a man dancing in a burlesque style at the 2024 festival, who was wearing skimpy women's knickers and star-shaped nipple stickers. Clare, who is known as Mandy, claimed she did not attend the festival again, in June this year, to protest or cause trouble but went along because she had a 'legitimate safeguarding role.' However, witnesses said she was seen videoing acts and 'storming' the stage as a drag artiste performed in front of young families. Video footage posted online showed an apparent altercation and Clare being handcuffed and led away as a reveller at the festival waved what appeared to be sex toy at her. Today Clare, of Tilston, Malpas, appeared at Chester Magistrates Court charged with assault on security guard Richard Welsh and criminal damage to his camera. She claimed she was simply acting in 'self-defence' and pleaded not guilty to both charges. She was bailed, on condition she does not contact Mr Welsh, and will stand trial at the same court in December. Councillor Amanda Clare (right) with Reform UK leader MP Nigel Farage She was arrested and charged with assault and criminal damage following a row at Winsford Pride in June Clare was handcuffed by security guards after being accused of remonstrating with staff at the LGBTQ festival over a drag artiste's 'gyrating' stage show. One of the drag artistes booked to perform at the event Earlier, Clare, who represents Reform UK on Cheshire West and Chester Council, launched a 'crowd justice' fundraising campaigning to pay her legal fees for the case. So far she has received donations of almost 2,000. She said: 'I attended this event not to protest against it, but within a legitimate safeguarding and policy-compliance role, as a local councillor, having managed to secure an acknowledgement by event organisers of previous mistakes having been made. 'At last year's (2024) Winsford Pride, not only did one stall target sexualised and ideological merchandise that promoted medical 'gender transition' directly at children, there was also a drag performance that involved a man dancing in a burlesque style, wearing skimpy women's knickers with a clown face over the crotch area and star-shaped nipple stickers that were removed during the performance. 'The act profusely apologised to the event organisers for this error of judgement after I repeatedly applied pressure for him not to be invited back, but he was re-booked for 2025 regardless, albeit with stricter guidelines in place. 'So I was attending within my councillor capacity and for a very legitimate purpose, not to protest or cause a problem, and was hoping the 2025 event would be much improved, which some elements of it were. 'I strenuously deny any wrongdoing whatsoever at the 2025 Winsford Pride event. Much malicious misrepresentation has taken place online regarding this case and my alleged actions, however to avoid any risk of prejudicing the case I will not comment further on the detail of what happened. 'We need our local councillors to feel willing and able to ensure adequate safeguarding and political neutrality within publicly-funded organisations and events and to be able to speak up and defend ourselves, if and when when issues do arise. 'It is really important, not just for justice in my own personal case, but for democracy to remain functional and for our children to remain safe.' Clare pleaded not guilty at Chester Magistrates' Court today and was bailed to return for a two-day trial in December Clare is currently suspended from her job working alongside Reform UK MP Sarah Pochin (pictured), who represents Runcorn and Helsby Clare was a member of the Labour Party when first elected in Chester's Winsford Dene ward in 2019, but left in March 2022 to join the far-left Socialist Labour Party. She was then a member of the Party of Women and the hyper-local Winsford Salt of the Earth Party, before settling as an independent in July 2024. She defected to Reform UK in March but is currently suspended from her her work in the office of Sarah Pochin, the Reform MP for Runcorn and Helsby. The young party-goer who became an internet sensation for his Lego-style haircut while dancing in Ibiza is fighting to save his relationship to his model girlfriend - after she unceremoniously dumped him as he partied on the White Isle. Jack Kay, 26, nicknamed 'Ibiza Bob' after his distinctive razor-sharp bowl haircut went viral, was reportedly told it was over by glamorous girlfriend Alisha Cook just days into his trip. Alisha, 23, a debt collector, from Co Durham, is said to have been so angry with Mr Kay raving in Ibiza she dumped him before footage spread online and propelled him to viral stardom as the 'Ibiza final boss'. They have since reconciled, but a source close to Mr Kay said he was 'skating on thin ice' over his partying ways. A friend of Mr Kay's told the Daily Mail: 'Alisha called it off when Jack went to Ibiza with the lads. 'They'd been together for almost a year and he was living at her place but things hadn't been right for months. 'His car is still on her drive, she threw all his clothes in the back of it. She doesn't want him around anymore. 'She's had inklings that something was not right for a while. She just wants to wash her hands of him. 'Alisha is so beautiful. No one is quite sure what she saw in him.' The young party-goer who became an internet sensation for his Lego-style haircut while dancing in Ibiza is fighting to save his relationship to his model girlfriend - after she unceremoniously dumped him as he partied on the White Isle Jack Kay, 26, nicknamed 'Ibiza Bob' after his distinctive razor-sharp bowl haircut went viral, was reportedly told it was over by glamorous girlfriend Alisha Cook just days into his trip Alisha, 23, a debt collector, from Co Durham, is said to have been so angry with Mr Kay raving in Ibiza she dumped him before footage spread online and propelled him to viral stardom as the 'Ibiza final boss' The friend added: 'It's hard to believe that he's been branded the super king of Ibiza - the final boss - when she's been left on her own back here.' When Mr Kay sprung to viral fame after being filmed dancing on the party island, donning a gold chain and baby pink cup, Alisha revealed herself publicly as his girlfriend. She shared a series of TikTok videos captioned 'POV (point of view) ya boyfriends now known as Ibiza final boss'. In the clips, blonde-haired Alisha was seen cuddled up to Mr Kay, with him kissing her on the cheek. However, the friend claimed that Alisha had only posted the video 'to boost her TikTok' and that she had already handed out her marching orders. She has subsequently deleted her presence on social media after Mr Kay's sudden fame. Mr Kay, whom the Daily Mail revealed is the son of a career criminal jailed for armed robbery, is thought to want to continue the relationship. And his new-found celebrity - which PR experts believe could lead to huge riches for the Newcastle car dealer - may also appear to have given him a second chance at love. A picture shared on social media shows him surrounded by his pals in front of the jet In the clips Alisha, who also makes cash selling clothes on Vinted, is seen cuddled up to 'Jack Kay' with him kissing her on the cheek while in other clips they are seen clubbing Alisha has seemed to revel in her boyfriend's newfound celebrity status as footage of him went viral. She has since locked down her social media When approached, Alisha insisted: 'All I want to say is, I love him, we're back together.' Mr Kay returned briefly to the North East on Wednesday night for a fresh 26 haircut at his local barber's - before flying out of Newcastle airport 24 hours later on a private jet. He was accompanied by his crew of four other friends, who all posed for a picture in front of the Cessna plane. It is not known who funded the private flight, which landed in Barcelona, but one follower quipped online: 'Big man's gone from Easyjet to private jet in the space of a week.' Posting a picture inside the jet, with his thick gold chain and signature beard trim on display, Mr Kay wrote: 'Ibiza we on way, let's get this party started.' Mr Kay had earlier addressed his new-found fame on Instagram, describing himself as 'just a normal person from Newcastle'. He thanked fans for their support, saying: 'It's a lot to take in at the moment. Stay locked in, got some big news coming.' Fans have compared Mr Kay's unique look to Ringo Starr, a Lego man, monks and a coconuts, One internet wag described the cut as a 'short back and Battle of Hastings'. Mr Kay had earlier addressed his new-found fame on Instagram, describing himself as 'just a normal person from Newcastle' Hair-lo boys: Kay posted photographs on his social media surrounded by friends as he flew back out to Ibiza on Thursday Kay says he has gone back to Ibiza to attend 'big parties' with his management writing on social media that he is going 'on tour' What does the 'Final Boss' meme mean? Derived from video games, a 'final boss' has come to mean the best or ultimate example of something. It typically refers to the most difficult opponent at the end of a game, who is normally stronger than, and unique from, other enemies players face. In the case of Jack Kay - with his gleaming teeth, heavy duty jewellery, perfectly manicured beard and unique haircut - it means, jokingly, that he has come to represent the absolute crux of a typical Ibiza partygoer. Advertisement His barber Ali Kurbani revealed: 'To get this style, Jack asks for a medium skin fade and then a bit of length of the top.' The key to creating the crisp shape is to 'keep the fringe sharp at the front,' Mr Kurbani, master-barber at B&D Barbers, in Newcastle, said. Brands have meanwhile rushed to cash in on the meme on social media. Retailer Currys shared an image depicting Mr Kay as a Henry Hoover, while bakers Greggs shared a photoshopped version of its gingerbread man. Elsewhere, package holiday firm On The Beach - with whom Mr Kay booked his Ibiza trip - is depicting his mop-top as a parasol in a series of new adverts it is rolling out on advertising billboards. Kay's own social media following has exploded. His TikTok - labelled 'IBIZA FINAL BOSS' - has already picked up nearly 20,000 followers, while a newly created Instagram has 27,000. Brand and culture expert Nick Ede told the Daily Mail that Mr Kay stands to earn six figures in the next 12 months alone - between nightclub appearances at home and abroad and potential brand deals. He has appointed talent agent Dave Read, whose firm Neon Management are credited with making reality star Joey Essex a millionaire. But Mr Kay has also inspired a series of imitators in what appear to be cryptocurrency scams, launching what look to be unauthorised 'meme coins' bearing his face. One such account, which used AI generated images of Kay's face, shared a video appearing to suggest he had tattooed his own face on his leg. This is the moment armed police swooped to arrest a transgender former Police Community Support Officer convicted of trying to make a semi-automatic gun with a 3D printer. Zoe Watts was jailed for eight-and-a-half years this morning after jurors heard the 39-year-old had an 'obsession' with weapons and attempted to make the lethal firearm at her home to 'sneak past law enforcement'. Video obtained by the Daily Mail shows Watts being arrested at the wheel of her Peugeot 206 in a cathedral city last December. She was filmed emerging from the grey car with her hands on her head after it was boxed in by two unmarked police cars, assisted by a third liveried SUV, on Boultham Park Road in Lincoln. Video from an adjacent property's CCTV system which was posted on Facebook showed armed officers running to surround the vehicle. A second clip filmed from the rear of the incident showed six officers pointing their weapons at the Peugeot on the main road in the Boultham suburb. Armed officers were also seen at Watts' home, where they waited for her to leave before executing a warrant. Sarah Fotheringham saw the drama unfold after she came home from work to make a sandwich for lunch. The 54-year-old cleaner told the Daily Mail at the time: 'There were lots of police outside with some at each end of the incident to block off the road. Zoe Watts, 39, had an 'obsession' with weapons and attempted to make the lethal firearm at her home to 'sneak past law enforcement Watts, pictured as a Lincolnshire Police PCSO, was jailed for eight-and-a-half years this morning Watts was seen emerging from the Peugeot 206 with her hands on her head after the car was boxed in by two unmarked police cars 'After the first three cars came a police van arrived and they took her away quite quickly in that. Then a dog unit arrived and a sniffer dog examined the car before they searched the boot. 'It was all quite a drama.' Watts was convicted in June of using a 3D printer to try and make a lethal firearm after jurors discounted the defendant's claim that she had been making a 'fidget' toy gun as a Christmas present. Sentencing her this morning, Judge Simon Hirst said Watts had a 'deeply troubling internet search history.' Watts had previously worked as a Lincolnshire PCSO for more than eight years an once ran a survivalist YouTube channel. The judge acknowledged that Watts would find custody difficutl due to her neurodivergence, previous policing career and 'transgender identity' but said she would have to serve half of her sentence before being relesed on licence. Watts is believed to be the first person in the UK to be convicted of attempting to manufacture such a prohibited gun with a 3D printer. Prosecutor Jonathan Dee said today that it was the first time 'this particular weapon has been found in this country'. He said the initials of the 'semi-automatic' FGC MK II Nutty weapon attempted to be made by Watts stood for the words 'F**kgun control.' The defendant appeared for sentencing at Lincoln Crown Court today via videolink from HMP Downview in Sutton, Surrey. During her trial earlier this year, jurors heard how police found an 'arsenal' of weapons at Watts' home. Officers recovered a 3D printer from a cupboard in Watts' home along with many of the parts needed to make a gun. The defendant had Googled two days before her arrest: 'Has anybody been killed by a 3D printed gun?' Mr Dee said the offence required a degree of planning - it took Watts at least two weeks to manufacture the weapon 'as each individual component had to be printed'. Jurors at Lincoln Crown Court heard how police found an 'arsenal' of weapons at Watts' home Prosecutors accepted that Watts' 'neurodivergence' played a part in her offending When firearms experts tried to put the weapon together it did not work but the prosecution said it would be a 'lethal' prohibited weapon if manufactured correctly. Mr Dee told Lincoln Crown Court: 'If this item had been made correctly it would have been a prohibited firearm.' He told jurors: 'This was a lethal weapon, you can make on your own, and sneak past law enforcement.' The proescutor said aggravating factors were Watts' previous convictions and the fact the semi-automatic weapon she was trying to construct was capable of firing 33 bullets within 15 seconds. But he said today that 'the Crown would have to accept' that Watts 'neurodivergence' was in part a reason for why the offence was committed. A pre-sentence report said she was suffering from gender dysphoria, which the NHS describes as 'a sense of unease that a person may have because of a mismatch between their biological sex and their gender identity.' The report said Watts could be considered vulnerable due to 'her neurodivergence in transgender identity'. Stuart Lody, defending, said Watts was not a danger to other people, adding that she had a 'childlike quality'. A pre-sentence report said Watts could be considered vulnerable due to 'her neurodivergence in transgender identity' A witness told the Daily Mail a sniffer dog a sniffer dog examined the car before officers searched the boot. 'There's an innocence which can lead to her putting herself in danger, quite unwittingly', he added. Mr Lody said Watts had expressed sorrow over her actions 'potentially negatively affecting the way the lesbian, gay and transgender community are viewed and she regrets all of that'. In a statement following the sentencing, Lincolnshire Police said officers had discovered an 'Aladdin's cave' of weapons, including knives and a crossbow, alongside parts for 3D printed guns at Watts' home. Detective inspector Gemma Skipworth said the case 'Sends a clear message that if you're doing something wrong behind closed doors, it doesn't mean you're safe and can break the rules with impunity.' She added: '3D printers are becoming more and more popular, and people are naturally exploring what they can do with this technology. 'But it's important to know that when you are downloading plans and use a machine to produce something like a firearm, you're breaking the rules. 'And if you are caught, you will face a lengthy jail sentence'. Watts was previously jailed for 27 months in July 2021 after she 'hoarded' banned weapons and explosive substances and also made an improvised explosive device. (IED) She had admitted making an improvised explosive device, three charges of possession of a prohibited weapon and two counts of inappropriately importing goods. Canadians boycotting the US over the Trump administration are spending more money on their vacations, as they head to more distant destinations, per a new report. According to Flight Centre Canada data provided to CBC News, Canadians are spending more money traveling to other countries when compared to last year. Canadian travel to Argentina jumped by 148 percent, 137 percent to Japan, 114 percent to Denmark and 101 percent to Curacao. Meanwhile travel to Aruba increased by 71 percent, to Portugal by 61 percent and Spain by 35. President Donald Trump's attacks on Canada's economy and threats to make it the 51st state have infuriated Canadians, who are canceling trips to the US in big numbers. Kelly Bergquist, a resident of Alberta, told CBC News the trade war between DC and Ottawa made her cancel her yearly trip to the US. She last went to the US last summer, when she attended a concert in Las Vegas, but next year she is heading for the Balkans - even if it means spending more money. Canadians like Kelly Bergquist have decided not to travel to the US amid a trade war between the two nations. Instead she said she is spending more money going to Europe Your browser does not support iframes. 'I just don't really want to support them right now. If they're going to do that to us, I don't want to give any money to them,' Bergquist said of the US government. She added: 'I could have easily done a Mississippi River cruise or done any kind of cruise that basically goes out of the States or things like that. But as of right now, I'm just putting all that aside until we kind of see where things are going.' Canadians have long been the top international travelers to the US, driving $20.5 billion in spending last year. But Canadian air travel to the US dropped by 13.5 percent in March compared to a year earlier, and those crossing the border by car fell by more than 30 percent, data from Statistics Canada revealed. The US gets more visitors from Canada each year than from any other country, according to the US Travel Association, an industry trade group, which said the 20.4 million visits from Canada last year generated $20.5 billion in spending. In April, Trump brushed aside the decline in tourism from Canada to the United States, saying: 'There's a little nationalism there I guess, perhaps. It's not a big deal.' Since Trump started his second term, there have been well-publicized reports of tourists being stopped at US border crossings and held for weeks at immigration detention facilities before being allowed to fly home at their own expense. Bergquist last went to the US last summer, when she traveled to Las Vegas, pictured, but next year she is heading for the Balkans - even if it means spending more money Canadian traveling to Barcelona, Spain, is up by 35 percent, according to Flight Centre Canada data President Donald Trump speaks as Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney (R) looks on in June On March 3, Canadian Jasmine Mooney, an actor and entrepreneur on a US work visa, was detained by border agents in San Diego. She was released after 12 days detention. Before Mooney's release, British Columbia Premier David Eby expressed concern, saying: 'It certainly reinforces anxiety that... many Canadians have about our relationship with the US right now, and the unpredictability of this administration and its actions.' The shift has led vacation hotspots such as Palm Springs to run campaigns to try and lure back the Canadian visitors businesses depend on. Airlines have been forced to switch tack by cutting flights to US destinations and increasing frequency to Mexican alternatives. Air Canada reported on Friday that its Canada to US routes have seen a 7 percent drop in the first quarter of the year. Meanwhile the drop in Canadian tourism to the US led California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a frequent target of Trump, to announce an ad campaign this month meant to lure Canadians back to his state, citing a 12% year-on-year drop in February. Ukraine could be forced to give up territory captured by Russia under a ceasefire deal being drawn up by Moscow and Washington. The White House and the Kremlin are reportedly aiming to reach a deal that would secure Vladimir Putins illegal land grab. The details are expected to be agreed at a summit that Donald Trump and the Russian President are expected to attend next week. To the dismay of UK defence sources, an effective fait accompli would then be presented to Volodymyr Zelensky. The plans, reported by Bloomberg, echo joint US-Russian initiatives proposed earlier this year. It would cement Russias control of regions captured and occupied by Putins armies since the invasion in 2022. The timing of tonights FRI reports was significant as they coincided with a deadline set by the US for Russia to commit to peace. Mr Trump had also announced he was prepared to cut the deadline from 50 days to ten to 12 due to the Kremlins reluctance to end the fighting. The details are expected to be agreed at a summit that Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, pictured together in 2017, are expected to attend next week To the dismay of UK defence sources, an effective fait accompli would then be presented to Volodymyr Zelensky While in recent days, Mr Zelenskys posts on social media have suggested Ukraine was positive about the possible outcomes after three and a half years of gruelling conflict. The US has also announced severe secondary tariffs on India, one of Russias main trading partners, in a bid to force the Kremlin to the negotiating table. But hopes of a good deal for Ukraine appeared dashed last night An unnamed UK source described the developments revealed by Bloomberg as unsettling and more likely to extend the conflict than shorten it. Mr Trump had also announced he was prepared to cut the deadline from 50 days to ten to 12 due to the Kremlins reluctance to end the fighting The plans would cement Russias control of regions captured and occupied by Putins armies since the invasion in 2022 The source said: Ukraines greatest fear since Trumps return to the White House has been a cosy deal between Trump and Putin. These concerns had been assuaged to some degree, prematurely, perhaps, based on what were reading. Ukraine is unlikely to accept unfavourable terms and the UK would continue to support its ally, as would our international partners. According to the Bloomberg report the US is working to get buy-in from Ukraine and its European allies. Sources suggested their chances were slim if the deal includes Russian gaining outright control of provinces in eastern Ukraine. Privately, the Ukrainians are understood to accept they will not get back the territory they have lost. But ceding any more territory is considered a red line. Another suggestion is that Russia ceases its aerial bombardment of Ukrainian cities, which serve no conventional military purpose but cause civilian casualties. Officially, neither the White House nor the Kremlin has commented publicly on the Bloomberg report. An investigation into allegations police officers took part in historical sexual abuse in Rotherham is to be taken over by the National Crime Agency (NCA) - Britain's equivalent to the FBI. Last month, survivors of sexual exploitation in the town said they had 'no faith' in the South Yorkshire Police (SYP) investigation into its former officers in relation to a series of allegations. On Friday, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) announced its 'directed investigation into non-recent child sex abuse complaints from victim-survivors against former South Yorkshire Police (SYP) officers' will now be carried out by the NCA, under the IOPC's direction and control. The investigation was being carried out by SYP's major crime unit, under the IOPC's direction, and three former officers have been arrested. But the IOPC said it was responding to 'concerns about SYP's involvement and a perception of a conflict of interest'. It said it was a joint decision with SYP to ask the NCA to take over. The IOPC said that 'while we remain satisfied there was no conflict of interest with SYP' it believes that 'transferring the investigation to the NCA may provide further reassurance to victim-survivors'. Lawyers representing survivors welcomed the move as a 'step in the right direction' but said their clients remained concerned over the continued involvement of the IOPC. Three former South Yorkshire officers have been arrested on suspicion of historic sexual offences including attempted rape, indecent assault and misconduct in a public office while they were on duty. (Pictured: South Yorkshire Police HQ) PC Hassan Ali was being investigated for his involvement in police abuse of grooming gang victims. He died in 2015 one week after being placed on restricted duties in relation to five complaints against him Sammy Woodhouse, victim of the grooming scandal turned campaigner who exposed the Rotherham cases, says she named Ali back in 2013 IOPC director Emily Barry said: 'Victim-survivors are always at the centre of our investigations and it's extremely important that they have trust and confidence in the investigation. 'We recognise the concerns that have been raised by some about SYP investigating serious complaints relating to former SYP officers and we want to ensure that any victim-survivors feel able to come forward with complaints about former SYP officers.' Five women told the BBC how they were exploited by grooming gangs in the town when they were children and also sexually abused by officers. According to a special report by the BBC, one girl was raped from the age of 12 in a marked police car and the officer threatened to hand her back to the groomers if she did not do as he said. The NCA said the investigation will be carried out by officers from Operation Stovewood - the agency's huge, decade-long investigation into child sexual exploitation in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013. Operation Stovewood identified more than 1,100 children involved in the exploitation in Rotherham. Philip Marshall, head of Operation Stovewood, said: 'The National Crime Agency will ensure that victims remain at the heart of this investigation, as we continue the extensive work that South Yorkshire Police has begun. 'Though our investigation will be independent of South Yorkshire Police, we will work closely with the force and the Independent Office for Police Conduct to ensure that victims receive the best service and support as the investigation is transferred to us. 'I encourage any further victims, or anyone with information that might help our investigation, to please contact the National Crime Agency by calling our 24-hour phone line or emailing the investigation team. Alternatively they can contact the Independent Office for Police Conduct.' PC Hassan Ali - who died in 2015 having been hit by a car on the day he was suspended over alleged misconduct during the abuse scandal - was named by one alleged victim as having raped her The grooming scandal has rocked the town of Rotherham and South Yorkshire Police's reputation has been damaged Last month, the law firm Switalskis, which represents survivors of abuse in Rotherham, said it had hoped that alleged abuse by officers would have been unearthed following Operation Linden - a long-running, IOPC investigation into how police responded to child sexual abuse in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013. The firm said in a statement in July: 'That never came. For years SYP resisted our requests for an investigation into the alleged criminality of police officers, despite us providing them with the accounts of survivors. 'Those that have suffered abuse in Rotherham have no faith that SYP will do a thorough job of investigating alleged abuse by their own officers.' In 2022, Operation Linden concluded that SYP fundamentally failed in its duty to protect vulnerable children and young people during the period under investigation. In a fresh statement on Friday, Switalskis said: 'We are pleased that South Yorkshire Police (SYP) has decided to hand the investigation into allegations of child sexual abuse, corruption, and the facilitation of abuse by former SYP officers to the National Crime Agency (NCA). 'However, we remain concerned that the investigation is still being directed by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), given the concerns raised by whistleblowers in relation to Operation Linden earlier this year. 'Nevertheless, we view this as a step in the right direction and hope that more survivors will now feel able to come forward to the NCA.' South Yorkshire's Mayor Oliver Coppard said: 'Victims and survivors should always be our priority. 'They deserve to feel heard, believed, and supported, and they must have confidence in the people and systems that are there to make sure justice is done. 'That's why it was right that who leads the investigation into these allegations was kept under review, and why I'm pleased that SYP, the IOPC and the NCA have listened to the concerns of those young women who have come forward to talk about their experiences.' Last month, girls who were exploited by Asian grooming gangs in Rotherham came forward with allegations that they were also preyed upon by police officers. Professor Alexis Jay (pictured) said in her landmark 2014 report that at least 1,400 children were abused in Rotherham over 16 years while authorities and the police failed to act One says she was raped from the age of 12 by a serving South Yorkshire Police officer in a marked car, the BBC reports. He would threaten to hand her back to the gang if she did not comply, she says. The woman is one of five who allege that as children they were exploited by corrupt police as well as grooming gangs. Among officers alleged to have preyed on girls is PC Hassan Ali. He died in 2015 having been hit by a car on the day he was suspended over alleged misconduct during the abuse scandal. Sammy Woodhouse, victim of the grooming scandal turned campaigner who exposed the Rotherham cases, says she named Ali as an abuser back in 2013. At least 1,400 girls in Rotherham were abused by gangs of men - mainly of Pakistani heritage - between 1997 and 2013, Prof Alexis Jay concluded in a landmark report in 2014. Three former South Yorkshire officers have been arrested on suspicion of historic sexual offences including attempted rape, indecent assault and misconduct in a public office while they were on duty. None have been charged. Written accounts by grooming gang survivors collected by specialist child abuse lawyers allege years of abuse by serving police officers in Rotherham from the mid-1990s to early 2000s. Most were girls in their teens at the time but some were as young as 11, according to the shocking report. Amy Clowrey, from specialist child abuse law firm Switalskis, who has been collecting the testimony, said the accounts of police preying on grooming gang victims were 'beyond belief' One reports hearing a police officer having sex with girls in exchange for drugs and money. Another says she witnessed one supplying class A drugs to a grooming gang. Three describe being beaten up by officers as children, including in a police cell. One victim given the pseudonym Willow told the broadcaster she was sexually abused by hundreds of men over five years after first being targeted aged 11 - two of them police officers. 'He knew where we used to hang out, he would request either oral sex or rape us in the back of the police car,' she said. 'In a world where you were being abused so much, being raped once [each time] was a lot easier than multiple rapes and I think he knew that.' According to Willow, after she was pressured into an illegal abortion by the grooming gang, a youth worker contacted social services and the police. But she says one of the officers who had been abusing her turned up to interview her, leaving her 'destroyed', later ripping her statement up and throwing it in a bin. According to the BBC she named PC Hassan Ali as having raped her. Another victim, 'Emma', who was in care in the late 1990s, said she would be raped by a police officer in a squat. 'He knew we wouldn't be missed. He knew we wouldn't be reported. He knew we wouldn't be able to say anything,' she told the BBC. Amy Clowrey from Switalskis, who has been collecting the testimony, said the accounts of police allegedly preying on grooming victims were 'beyond belief'. 'There has been no accountability in the town - and without accountability, there will continue to be a distrust of South Yorkshire Police,' she added. Prof Jay today said she is 'shocked' that the force is investigating its own former officers. She told the BBC there were 'legitimate' reasons for victims to feel 'a total lack of trust' in the force. An asylum seeker who reportedly threatened to torture his wife and two young children is fighting to stay in the UK. Eritrean national Andemariam Zeselase, 37, is alleged to have terrorised his family between September 2020 to December 2023, and the police want him to return to face justice said Darren Watts, for the Norwegian authorities. He is resisting extradition from his taxpayer-funded accommodation because he wants to stay 'secure and safe in the UK', a court heard. Mr Watts described the alleged offences as 'unpleasant, coercive, and controlling.' But his lawyer Frank Brazell said Zeselase would prefer not to face a Norwiegan court. Zeselase appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court wearing a grey prison tracksuit. Assisted by an Eritrean interpreter, he spoke only to confirm his personal details. Mr Brazell said: 'Mr Zeselase is currently seeking asylum. He has been living in Home Office accommodation since he arrived in the UK from Norway two years ago. 'He spent two years in Norway with his family as an asylum seeker there, but his visa ran out after his marriage ended, so he came to the UK. Eritrean national Andemariam Zeselase, 37, appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court (pictured) after allegedly threatening to torture his wife and two young children 'He has no community ties here and has huge difficulty communicating with people who speak English.' Zeselase was served an accusation warrant by the Norwegian authorities, and was arrested on July 2 this year. He previously denied the charge of 'threats, assault and maltreatment of his wife and children.' District Judge Brianne Clarke remanded Zeselase in custody. Denying him bail, she told him: 'I am not prepared to take the risks in these circumstances, especially as your ties are limited. Zeselase will next appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court at a date to be fixed next week. He may be released on bail back into his taxpayer-funded Home Office accommodation from prison next week. He is living in taxpayer funded, Home Office accommodation, in Telford. A scientist died from a rare undiagnosed heart condition two days before Christmas after falling ill on a flight to a Caribbean island, an inquest heard. Carla Longshaw, 39, was flying to the Dominican Republic with her 12-year-old son and a friend when she fell ill and the plane was diverted to Puerto Rico. A coroner heard on Thursday how Ms Longshaw, who worked for Astra Zenica in Macclesfield, Cheshire, had been in hospital after suffering from low potassium levels. A statement from her father detailed how she had collapsed at work on September 30 last year and was taken to Macclesfield Hospital. She was discharged on October 2 and was prescribed antibiotics after being given 'apparently eight litres of potassium at 250ml per hour, as well as sodium chloride, vitamins and saline'. Ms Longshaw attended a follow-up consultation the following morning where her potassium levels were still low. But Sanjeev Srivastava, a consultant acute physician for the East Cheshire NHS Trust, told Cheshire Coroner's Court that Ms Longshaw had an undiagnosed underlying coronary anomaly which caused her death just over two months later. He said: 'Right coronary artery double ostium is a conjunction condition that's usually benign. The coroner found there were 'not gaps in care' that could have caused or contributed to Carla Longshaw's death Bavaro beach in the Dominican Republic looking out to the Atlantic ocean 'It is only diagnosed in the later stage of life such as if someone has a heart attack and medical professionals can't push the wire into the coronary artery and then realise there's double ostium. 'Otherwise there's no way of knowing someone has it. No other investigation can confirm this. This is a rare biological condition she's been born with.' Assistant Coroner Elizabeth Wheeler said that there were 'no gaps in care' that could have caused or contributed to the Sandyford, Stoke-on-Trent mother's death. She added: 'Ultimately, what we have here is the absolutely tragic death of a young woman on a flight where she had an underlying cardiac condition that she would have had no idea was there because it is not routinely tested for.' 'There is no connection between Carla's attendance at hospital. This was an acute condition that was resolved at the time. 'Carla Marie Longshaw died as a result of sudden cardiac death associated to the right coronary artery double ostium. She died on December 23 2024 at Luis Munoz Marin International Airport. 'She died as a result of an underlying undiagnosed cardiac condition, and as a result I find her death was caused by natural causes.' A relative told the Daily Mail the family still had questions they needed answers to over Ms Longshaw's care in the weeks leading up to her death. The family member, who did not wish to be identified, said: 'When the medical authorities in Puerto Rico got in touch asking for her medical history it turned out that her GP practice had nothing on file about her stay in Macclesfield in October. 'It was not on file and there has been no explanation for that.' The relative described Ms Longshaw's death as 'a very painful loss for us all.' Fancy a taste of life on the open road but with all the comforts of home? Then a camper van break might just be what you need. Van life is all the rage. But if youre not ready to sell up and heave all your belongings into the back of a long wheelbase transit then why not try it out for a few days. Roadsurfer, Europes largest camper van company, have a base near Edinburgh with a massive range of vehicles from cool, Instagram-ready VW vans for hipster couples to vans that can accommodate the family. More than 90 per cent of their clients are from overseas, looking to explore Scotland at their own pace. But rentals are becoming increasingly popular with UK-based travellers, many trying out van life for the first time. We picked up a beautiful Fiat-based Couple Cottage model, pictured, and perhaps controversially shunned Scotland for the delights of Northumberland, which even in summer is way less crowded than the Lake District. We booked three nights at Dunstan Hill, a pretty Caravan Club site with great facilities. Our Bedlington whippet Bruce loves the beaches in Northumberland. Beautiful Embleton Bay in Northumberland Having a ball... Bruce at his favourite beach, Embleton Bay We spent each morning walking the sands at Embleton Bay. Ive been to beaches from Cape Cod to California but theres something so special about the ones in Northumberland. I even tried a swim in the sea (to the amusement of several anorak-clad dog-walkers).Lovely and bracing but I wish Id remembered to dig out my wetsuit before setting off! The van was an absolute delight plenty of room, with everything you need to set up a wee home from home. The double bed was really comfortable, the mini kitchen perfect for rustling up breakfast (nothing like sitting outside with a grilled cheese sandwich after a six-mile walk!) and there was even a dining table and stylish bathroom with toilet and hot shower. Van life... Roadsurfer has models to suit all families TRAVEL FACTS A family of 4 can stay in a Surfer Suite from 65 a night. Campervan includes kitchenette, outdoor shower and pop-up roof. To book, visit: roadsurfer.com/uk/ Advertisement We were mostly happy enough to stay at the campsite and tour on foot, but the van has everything you need to live comfortably for days at a time should you want to go totally off-grid. It was big but never felt like I was out of my comfort zone driving it. Northumberland has so many stunning places to visit. The beach and castle at Bamburgh has to be one of the most glorious seasides in the UK, Holy Island is a must visit and you must try the kippers at Craster! For Harry Potter fans theres the chance to visit glorious Alnwick Castle, which doubles as Hogwarts in the movies. We loved our Northumberland break and the taste of van life who knows, it might become a full-time lifestyle one day! A group of evil loan sharks killed a woman's five-year-old son after holding the boy hostage over the paltry $53 she owed them. The child, identified only as Fernando, was found dead of severe head injuries at a home in La Paz, Mexico on Monday. Three months earlier, his mother, Noemi Gomez, had borrowed 1,000 pesos - or roughly $53 - from the group to cover the rent on her new home. The trio of loan sharks paid a visit to her home on July 28 and snatched Fernando, informing Gomez that they were going to hold the boy hostage until the debt was settled. Gomez visited the residence where she thought her son was being held captive several times. Each time, the group refused to release the boy because she was unable to pay them back. Gomez's neighbor, Maria Pascual, told NMas news that the mother was nearly assaulted by her son's captors on one occasion. 'The day she went to ask for her child, they tried to beat her because she couldn't speak well,' Pascual said. A five-year-old boy was found dead inside a home in La Paz, Mexico on Monday, after his mother failed to pay back a $53 loan Authorities surround the residence in La Paz where the boy's body was found 'She's a person who doesn't know how to defend herself.' The concerned mother, who is diagnosed with a speech impediment, went to La Paz's Public Ministry to file a missing person's report. She was referred to an office in the town of Nezahualcoyotl, which failed to offer any assistance. Gomez later visited the State of Mexico Women's Ministry, which launched an investigation. On Monday, the state's prosecutor's office dispatched a special unit, which raided a home located in the La Paz neighborhood of Ejidal El Pino, where the alleged kidnappers lived. Once inside, they detected a foul odor and then discovered Fernando's decomposing body inside a bag. A forensic report showed that Fernando died from skull fracture stemming from to a blow to the head and that the killers may have used a hammer. The report also showed that the defenseless boy suffered arm, leg and chest injuries. The suspects paid a visit to the mother's home on July 28 and took the boy, informing Gomez that they were going to hold him hostage until the debt was settled Fernando's mother, Noemi Gomez (center), appeared before two different public ministry offices, but none processed a missing person's report for her five-year-old boy 'He was a loving kid and all,' Gomez told reporters on Thursday. 'He wasn't to blame for anything that happened. I want justice for him.' All three suspects are facing kidnapping and aggravated homicide charges. They are being held at a jail in Nezahualcoyotl and were scheduled to appear in court on Friday. The US vice-president has warned the UK not to go down the 'dark path' of censorship during his meeting with the Foreign Secretary yesterday. Appearing alongside David Lammy, JD Vance warned that the West had become 'too comfortable' with blocking ideas rather than engaging with diverse opinions. Referring to his previous intervention, Mr Vance said he had 'raised some concerns about our friends this side of Atlantic' after warning that free speech is being eroded in the UK. Speaking at the Foreign Secretary's grace-and-favour home in Chevening, Kent, yesterday, Mr Vance said: 'I've raised concerns about free speech in the United States of America. 'The entire collective West - our transatlantic relationship, our Nato allies, certainly the United States under the Biden administration - got a little too comfortable with censoring rather than engaging with a diverse range of opinions.' He added: 'I've raised some concerns about our friends on this side of the Atlantic but the thing I would say to the people of England, to David, is that many of the things I worry most about were happening in the United States from 2020 to 2024. 'I just don't want other countries to follow us on what I think was a very dark path under the Biden administration.' His remarks suggest an attempt to cool his previous comments about free speech in the UK. 'I've raised some concerns about our friends on this side of the Atlantic,' said Vance Mr Vance said there was a 'very special relationship' between Britain and America and that it was 'good to see' Mr Lammy, right He has previously criticised safe zones outside abortion clinics and has described Britain as the first 'Islamist' nation with nuclear weapons. Mr Vance is visiting the UK on a summer holiday during which he will also visit the Cotswolds and Scotland, but found time to hold a bilateral meeting with Mr Lammy yesterday. He arrived at the Grade I-listed home yesterday with his wife and three children before embarking on a spot of carp fishing with Mr Lammy. Mr Vance and his children appear to have been far more successful than Mr Lammy, who failed to catch anything. Mr Lammy said: 'A real pleasure to welcome my friend JD Vance and his family to Chevening. 'Before beginning our bilateral, the vice-president gave me fishing tips, Kentucky style.' Speaking at a press conference shortly after, Mr Vance said there was a 'very special relationship' between Britain and America and that it was 'good to see' Mr Lammy. Mr Vance added: 'In the brief time we have been here, my kids have fallen asleep on your floor, we have gone fishing in the lake outside. 'Unfortunately, the one strain on the special relationship is that all of my kids caught a fish, but the Foreign Secretary did not - I'm sorry about that.' Asked if he caught any fish, Mr Vance said: 'I caught a few, actually. I don't want to brag, but we did OK.' A 14-year-old girl who disappeared Thursday from a remote area in the Utah mountains was found alive and well more than 24 hours after she went missing. Maya Suisse was discovered safe and 'in good condition' after helicopters managed to locate the teenager, according to Fox13. Before the rescue, she had last been seen at 10am Thursday in the Uinta Mountains, a vast range in northeastern Utah that extends slightly into Colorado and Wyoming. Maya had been staying at a campsite with her family, but vanished after she left on her own to use the bathroom, police said. She was last seen Thursday in the Painter Basin area near Kidney Lakes, according to the Duchesne County Sheriff's Office. Her sister, Brittany Suisse, described the missing teen as a fairly experienced backpacker, KUTV reported. Search-and-rescue crews had searched the area on foot, horseback and via helicopter. 'They wonder if she's possibly okay and just going in circles, which is why they haven't been able to find her,' Brittany told KUTV before Maya was found. Maya Suisse, 14, had been staying at a campsite with her family, but vanished after she left on her own to use the bathroom, police said Maya's sister described the missing teen as a fairly experienced backpacker Maya went missing in the the Uinta Mountains, a vast range in northeastern Utah that extends slightly into Colorado and Wyoming Brittany said she asked the sheriff's office how often they are unable to locate missing people, and they responded that it was uncommon. 'That made us feel better about the situation,' she told KUTV. Brittany wrote in a Facebook post that search crews did not want additional help. Her post was flooded with supportive messages and shared over 175 times. A 'controlling monster' who callously raped and murdered his ex-fiancee at a five-star luxury hotel might have gone unpunished had it not been for the medical expertise of her surgeon stepfather, it has been revealed. Samantha Mickleburgh, 54, was found dead in a twin room at the exclusive Pennyhill Park Hotel in Bagshot, Surrey, on the morning of April 14 last year. The mother-of-two's former partner James Cartwright, 61, was unanimously convicted last month of killing her during their stay at the hotel - and has today been jailed for at least 28 years. According to the estate agent's version of events, Ms Mickleburgh agreed to meet Cartwright for dinner on his 60th birthday and to stay in his room because she 'didn't want him to feel lonely'. He then claimed finding her dead in bed beside him the following morning. Detectives and paramedics found she had sustained a fractured skull, but Cartwright claimed she had likely fallen out of bed and police initially believed the injury was not suspicious. However, consultant podiatric surgeon Stephen Strain personally spoke to the coroner after he heard about his stepdaughter's injuries, The Telegraph reported. His medical knowledge led him to believe there might have been foul play and demanded the postmortem was hastened, instead of waiting the specified 10 days in case any damning evidence was lost. 'Controlling monster' James Cartwright, 61, who callously raped and murdered his ex-fiancee Samantha Mickleburgh, 54, at a five-star luxury hotel might have gone unpunished had it not been for the medical expertise of her surgeon stepfather Consultant podiatric surgeon Stephen Strain personally spoke to the coroner after he heard about his stepdaughter's injuries and urged the postmortem to be expedited Cartwright, was unanimously convicted of murder and rope - and has today been jailed for at least 28 years Mr Strain's instinct paid dividends after strangulation marks were discovered around Ms Mickleburgh's neck, while her larynx had been crushed, prompting Surrey Police to open a murder investigation. Five days later, Harrow-educated Cartwright was arrested on suspicion of murder. He was later charged with rape, murder and coercive control. The surgeon, who lives in Dorset with Ms Mickleburgh's mother, Penelope, now believes his stepdaughter was subjected to a violent attack in which she was held by her hair while her head was smashed against the floor by Cartwright. Ms Mickleburgh's devastated parents have revealed how they had not liked Cartwright's 'demeanour' and described him as 'pompous', but had accepted the relationship for their daughter's sake. 'We clearly clashed but Sam said she thought he was quite kind and gentle and to put up with him for her.' Father-of-three Cartwright, who had been married three times previously, was working as an estate agent in Axminster, Devon, by the time he met Ms Mickleburg through a dating app in 2022. Research shows he had previously tried his hand at a range of occupations, including as a pub landlord, district councillor, school governor and an IT consultant. By contrast, Ms Mickleburgh had built a successful career in business, holding director roles for BP, British Airways and Thomson Reuters. Samantha Mickleburgh, 54, was found dead in a twin room at the exclusive Pennyhill Park Hotel in Bagshot, Surrey, on April 14 last year The couple met on a dating app in 2022 and were engaged before their relationship ended Mrs Strain also detailed how she had enjoyed a close relationship with her daughter and had been 'incredibly' impacted by her death. 'Every day you wake up and it is the first thing you think about and the last thing you remember at night,' she said. Today Cartwright was sentenced for the 'vicious and murderous' attack. Sentencing him today, Mr Justice Murray told him: 'Collectively (Ms Mickleburgh's family) described Samantha's wonderful qualities as a daughter, as a mother and as a sister - caring, thoughtful, fun, well-organised, generous to a fault and devoted to her family. 'Samantha's family suffer a grief that those who have not experienced it cannot imagine. It lies beyond words to fully describe.' Six members of Ms Mickleburgh's family gave victim impact statements in which they warmly remembered their loved one and addressed Cartwright over his attack. Tracey Carter, one of Ms Mickleburgh's sisters, said: 'Our family welcomed you into our homes and hearts and you violated that trust and kindness. 'You spent Christmas and other special occasions with (the family). I will never understand why you thought you had the right to do the horrific things that you did to Sam.' Cartwright was arrested five days after a murder investigation began when strangulation marks were discovered around Ms Mickleburgh's neck 'I wish she had never met you,' Ms Carter continued. 'Did you feel proud of yourself when you lied to my father, saying that Sam had died in her sleep knowing full well the horror that you had put her through? 'Do you take some kind of sadistic enjoyment in your lies? You have caused an indescribable amount of pain and suffering to our family but know this: we are strong and you cannot break us, you cannot take Sam from us. 'We now know that you have a history of controlling behaviour towards women that you have relationships with. We know you would stalk Sam and this made her fear for her safety. I hope you are never free to harm anyone again. 'I believe you are a monster - an evil, controlling, manipulative predator who really thought you were clever enough to get away with murder, my sister's murder.' Her other sister, Karen Bishop, called Cartwright a 'vile, narcissistic man'. Ms Mickleburgh's daughter Jessica told the court how she had just had a little girl, and thought she had 'won the lottery in life' when she lost her mother. 'The bonds between mothers, daughters and granddaughters is strong and special,' she said. 'James Cartwright severed those bonds with his own bare hands. He killed my mum, he stole my comfort, he took my safety and my stability, he extinguished the powerful light in my life. 'He destroyed what should have been the most joyous year of my life and replaced that joy with trauma and unanswered questions, and I dare say if I hadn't had my daughter he would have ended two lives that day.' She branded him a 'coward' who 'has shown no acceptance, no accountability or remorse'. She said she hoped her mum was looking down on them somewhere 'in a pair of Jimmy Choos with a glass of bubbly'. Ms Mickleburgh's mother, Penelope Strain, called her daughter her 'soulmate' who 'could light up a room with her personality just by walking in'. Pictured: Guildford Crown Court in Surrey where Cartwright was found guilty and sentenced In her statement, read out by the prosecutor, she said to Cartwright: 'I have sat through this trial and listened to all your lies. 'This was my daughter who you were supposed to love and could not live without. Now we as a family have to do just that - live to rest of our lives without her. 'You showed no respect for Sam sitting in that room with her, texting other women, sussing out your next victim.' Her husband and Ms Mickleburgh's father, Stephen Strain, said in the witness box that the last time he had to give a similar speech was at his younger brother's funeral, when Ms Mickleburgh came to stand beside him when he struggled to speak. 'I miss her so much,' he said, holding back tears. 'There is a big hole in my heart that gets bigger as time goes by. I thought it would get better in time but it doesn't. I know that this is the new normal but it is unnatural, Sam should have outlived me. 'Sam was my champagne girl and I miss her so much. I always will.' On July 31, Cartwright was found guilty of murder and rape at Guilford Crown Court, but the jury acquitted him of controlling or coercive behaviour. During the trial, jurors were told that Cartwright had lent Ms Mickleburgh tens of thousands of pounds to help renovate a property she had bought in early 2023. He claimed she owed him around 100,000 at the time of her death. The pair lived together and got engaged later that year, with Cartwright proposing on a beach during a holiday. He told the court the proposal was met with 'an immediate and emphatic yes' and described their relationship at the time as 'extremely amicable and friendly and loving'. But the relationship began to break down when Cartwright discovered 'highly sexual' messages from Ms Mickleburgh's former partner on her phone and later on her laptop. On October 2, he confronted her and admitted standing in front of her car to stop her leaving their home following an argument. 'She got into her car. It was clear that she was going to drive away,' he told the court. 'I pulled (the gate) to prevent the car from leaving. 'She chose to drive through the gate and onto the road, so I had to put myself in front of the car to stop her leaving, because the gate hadn't worked.' Cartwright said he was embarrassed by his behaviour and later apologised. Although the pair continued to live together until February 2024 and remained physically intimate, he said he no longer trusted her. Around two weeks before moving out, he found further messages between Ms Mickleburgh and her ex-partner but chose not to confront her. Instead, he said he asked if they had been in touch, and she denied it - something he described as 'almost terminal on my part'. Following their separation, Cartwright began speaking to other women on the dating app Bumble and told one that the upcoming dinner with his ex had 'the feel of a final farewell'. Another message described it as 'the last goodbye'. Cartwright said he had not yet met the women in person and was only seeking 'companionship' and 'friendship'. The defendant, of no fixed address, told the court he had been married and divorced three times and had three adult daughters. Ms Mickleburgh's loved ones paid tribute to her as 'caring, thoughtful and devoted' James Pettitt, guest relations manager at Pennyhill Park Hotel, previously told jurors he and the ambulance crew found Cartwright 'completely naked' and screaming in a 'loud and exaggerated' way when they entered the room. Ms Mickleburgh was lying on the bed face up, and had dry blood around her nose, Mr Pettitt told the court. Samantha's family paid emotional tribute, saying in a statement: 'We as a family, are relieved that this has finally come to an end. 'That the defendant has been seen for who he truly is, a rapist and a murderer. No longer free to harm or control any more women. 'Unfortunately, it was too late for our beloved daughter, mother, sister and friend. She truly was the best of us, the kindest light in all our lives and the hole left behind is one of such severe magnitude we will likely never escape it. 'Justice will not bring her back, but it has provided a form of closure on this dark chapter and security in the knowledge that James Cartwright will remain in the safest place for everyone. 'Samantha wouldn't want to be known as a victim. She would want to be known for her passion for life, her class and beautiful style, her honesty, integrity, strength and dedication to all who knew her. 'We continue to ask for privacy as we navigate what it means to live in a world without Samantha and her incredible personality and love.' Nicola Sturgeon has revealed that she does not consider her sexuality to be 'binary' in explosive first extracts from her memoirs. The former First Minister addressed rumours about her sexuality and relationships for the first time in her autobiography Frankly, which will be released next week. But she refused to give specific details, saying that 'sexual relationships should be private'. She also said the police probe into the SNP's finances caused her 'mental torture' and her arrest was the worst day of her life. The former First Minister described her 'despair' when police raided her home and said she felt like she had 'fallen into the plot of a dystopian novel'. While she said the arrest of her husband Peter Murrell made it feel 'like a nightmare with no end', she also admitted it gave her a 'brief glimmer of hope' that she could be cleared. She also wrote of how she felt 'overwhelmed by guilt' when she fell pregnant ahead of an election campaign, and then felt she was 'being punished for not wanting the baby badly enough' when she suffered a miscarriage. Addressing questions about her sexuality for the first time, Ms Sturgeon, who announced earlier this year that she and Mr Murrell had decided to end their marriage, said: 'Long-term relationships with men have accounted for more than thirty years of my life, but I have never considered sexuality, my own included, to be binary. Nicola Sturgeon has opened up about her sexuality, revealing that she has never considered her sexuality to be binary (Pictured with her husband Peter Murrell) Ms Sturgeon also said she was furious upon hearing rumours she was having a lesbian affair with the French Foreign Minister, Catherine Colonna (pictured together February, 2020) Ms Sturgeon with her then-husband after being voted in as First Minister of Scotland at the Scottish Parliament on November 19, 2014 in Edinburgh 'Moreover, sexual relationships should be private matters.' Ms Sturgeon was in a relationship with Mr Murrell from 2003 to 2025, having met in 1988 at a SNP youth event and marrying in 2010 at Oran Mor in Glasgow. In January of this year the former politician announced on social media that she and the former Chief Executive Officer of the SNP had split. The first extracts of her memoirs were published by The Times last night ahead of being released next Thursday. She wrote of how social media was 'awash' with rumours that she was having a secret relationship with a woman in the early weeks of 2020. Although different versions of the rumour existed, she said they consistently suggested that she 'was having a torrid lesbian affair' with Catherine Colonna, who was the French ambassador to the UK at the time and would later become French Foreign Minister. She said that one version of the story suggested there had been a 'violent encounter' between them involving an iron in Edinburgh's Balmoral Hotel, while there were also suggestions that they had a 'love nest' in a house in Bridge of Allan bought from Andy Murray's mum, Judy. She said that the rumours were openly talked about and her family were asked about them, while a neighbour also 'obliquely' mentioned it to Mr Murrell 'presumably thinking he had a right to know that his wife was having an affair'. Ms Sturgeon, 55, and Mr Murrell, 60, divorced earlier this year (pictured together in 2010 on their wedding day) Ms Sturgeon was in a relationship with Mr Murrell from 2003 to 2025, having met in 1988 at a SNP youth event and marrying in 2010 at Oran Mor in Glasgow (pictured together December 12, 2019) Ms Sturgeon also said she was 'furious' when the Guido Fawkes social media site said that a salacious story about her private life was only still secret because she had a superinjunction in place to stop it being report, which she said was 'a blatant lie' because there was no such thing and 'such a legal remedy' isn't even available in Scots law. When rumours emerged again, Ms Sturgeon said: 'I had little option but to shrug it off, however irritating it might have been. 'Catherine, the French ambassador, helped. She was aware of the rumours too and, the first time I saw her after lockdown, at a meeting of EU ambassadors in the Scottish government's London office, we laughed about it. 'We were photographed together a couple of times after that, at Cop27 in Egypt, for example, and the online frenzy which ensued suggested that we had successfully trolled the trolls. 'Although the French ambassador and I could laugh about it, a saga like this does throw up serious issues. How do fake stories like this take root in social media? Did some Russian bot factory concoct a made-up story? Who knows? Then, of course, there is the blatant homophobia at the heart of the 'story'. 'For many of those peddling it, 'lesbian' and 'gay' are meant as insults. However, while the fact I was being lied about got under my skin, the nature of the insult itself was water off a duck's back.' Ms Sturgeon's register of interests says she received a 75,000 payment in August 2023 which was the first of four instalments from publisher Pan Macmillan for the memoirs. The Glasgow Southside MSP also said she has been spending 10-15 hours per week writing the book. Ms Sturgeon described her fury that social media was 'awash' with rumours that she was having a secret relationship with a woman in the early weeks of 2020 (pictured August 2020) The former SNP leader said she was 'desolate and heartbroken' after losing her baby in 2010 (Pictured at a memorial service for the Ibrox disaster just days after her miscarriage) In 2023, Ms Sturgeon shot down claims on social media that she was secretly gay. Asked about the rumours about a relationship with the French Ambassador, she had told a BBC podcast: 'I read accounts of my life on social media and I think, "you know, it is so much more glamorous sounding and so much more exciting".' Asked by BBC Scotland's political editor Glenn Campbell 'which French diplomat are you having an affair with?', she laughed, adding: 'I'll tell you off-camera which one it is supposed to be, but whichever one it is we've actually had a laugh about it.' She also had suggested that such stories 'may be part of the reason' she was stepping down. She had added: 'I'm not naive, I'm not of the view that I will step down one day and be completely anonymous the next day. 'I understand the realities of what I have done and I'll still be in parliament, but I want to have a bit more privacy, I want to have a bit more anonymity. I just want to protect some of what people take for granted in their lives that I have forgotten to have.' Elsewhere in the tell-all book, the former SNP leader confessed she was upset after finding out she was pregnant at 40. Ms Sturgeon revealed she had been 'ambivalent' to the idea of having children and while her then-husband had never put pressure on her, she knew he was keen to become a father. Ms Sturgeon and Mr Murrell were arrested as part of Police Scotland's Operation Branchform probe into the SNP's finances (police pictured outside their home, April, 2023) Ms Sturgeon described the arrest of her husband Mr Murrell (pictured) 'a nightmare with no end', but admitted it gave her a 'brief glimmer of hope' that she could be cleared The former politician said: 'Being the subject of a high-profile criminal investigation for almost two years, especially having committed no crime, was like a form of mental torture.' (Police outside Ms Sturgeon's home following her arrest) After discovering she was set to be a mother, the ex-politician said she was disappointed, and instead wanted to focus on her career. She wrote: 'I was overwhelmed by guilt. I felt guilty about being pregnant, about not feeling happier about being pregnant about not being as happy as Peter was, about hiding that from him. Shortly after telling their friends and family, the couple at the heart of Scottish politics lost their baby. Ms Sturgeon confessed that she felt the miscarriage was a punishment for not wanting the child. Despite her initial feelings of guilt around falling pregnant, following the news she had lost her baby, Ms Sturgeon said she had in fact wanted to be a mother. After her pregnancy, passed, the former politician called her husband in to the bathroom to say goodbye to their baby. She said: 'I had the presence of mind to call Peter into the bathroom and, together, we flushed our "baby" down the toilet.' Ms Sturgeon added that she knew that was her last opportunity to become a mother and added she was 'desolate and heartbroken' for herself and her husband and that the feeling of grief has never left her. In her memoir she confessed she would have called the baby Isla Margaret if it had been a girl, in honour of her grandmother and Peter's mother. During the difficult period, Ms Sturgeon attended a memorial service at Rangers Football Club to mark the 40th anniversary of the Ibrox disaster, and visited the NHS24 call centre to thank staff for their efforts over the festive period. Ms Sturgeon also discussed the regret she has around not having children and said if she could turn back time she would choose to have children - but only on the condition that it would not have affected career. She added that she didn't feel her life is 'worthless' because she never became a mother. Ms Sturgeon's book will be launched on August 14 at the Edinburgh International Book Festival Elsewhere in the bombshell memoir, Ms Sturgeon addressed her arrest in connection with Police Scotland's probe into the SNP's finances, calling it 'the worst day of my life'. She said she would never forget the experience of being arrested and taken to a police station for questioning. The former Scottish leader described being in 'a bad state mentally' after being released following questioning and fleeing her Glasgow home to a friend's house in northeast Scotland to escape the investigation. She said: 'Sunday, June 11, was the worst day of my life. Being arrested and questioned by the police is an experience I'm not sure I will ever get over.' She added that she felt a 'brief glimmer of hope' that she would be cleared after her ex-husband was charged but described being frightened constantly and struggling to sleep throughout the investigation. She wrote: 'Being the subject of a high-profile criminal investigation for almost two years, especially having committed no crime, was like a form of mental torture.' But she added she had respect and faith in the UK's justice system and was relieved when in March she found herself exonerated. Ms Sturgeon's book will be launched on August 14 at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, while it was also revealed last night that the 55-year-old will give an 'in-depth' interview to ITV News at Ten presenter Julie Etchingham next month, just days before it comes out. This is the moment an embarrassed police officer reluctantly knocked on a suspected 'anti-migrant' protester's door amid an increasing backlash over the scourge of 'thought police'. Doorbell footage shows two West Midland Police officers approaching the property in Coventry to give the homeowner a leaflet ahead of a planned anti-immigration demonstration on Saturday. But one of the officers is hesitant to carry out the task and admits his visit is 'woeful' and a 'load of 'b******'. It is the latest in a string of heavy-handed police responses over 'thought crimes', with writers, councillors and parents talking in school WhatsApp groups targeted in recent months. And on this occasion, the officer himself even appeared to disagree with the police callout. Speaking into a ring doorbell, the police officer tells the homeowner: 'Warwickshire have asked me to come round. 'It's a load of b******* but it's about this protest tomorrow in Warwickshire. They're aware that you might be wanting to attend that planned protest. 'And obviously that's absolutely fine. You've got a freedom of speech and there are no issues at all. This is the moment an embarrassed policeman knocked on a suspected 'anti-migrant' protester's door ahead after being sent by the 'thought police' Footage shows the Warwickshire officer hesitantly approaching the Coventry property before ringing the doorbell He was instructed to go to the house to drop off a leaflet containing information about an anti-immigration demonstration due to take place on Saturday 'I apologise and it's really woeful. It's not something I agree with, but I've been asked just to drop a leaflet about being involved in a protest. 'It sounds bad, but it is what it is.' The homeowner was less than impressed by the unexpected visit, and gives the police officer a stern retort. He says: 'Do me a favour. Take it back. Run back on it to them. Say we will no longer be silenced. And to f**** them off from me with love. Cheers.' The resident adds: 'The silent majority of Britain will no longer stay silent. Tell them that. Thank you very much. Have a good day.' A clip of the encounter has gone viral, racking up nearly 215,000 views on X. The video is captioned: 'This is INSANE. Warwickshire thought police visit someone who's attending the protest in Nuneaton to advise them on *how to behave*. A clip of the encounter has gone viral, racking up nearly 215,000 views on X. Viewers flooded the comments section with their thoughts, with many praising the officer for speaking out 'The police officer is visibly embarrassed, but listen to the guys response: "We will no longer be silenced!" Well said!' Viewers flooded the comments section with their thoughts, with many praising the officer for speaking out. One person wrote: 'Credit to the policeman !! I hope he doesn't get in trouble for saying: "I don't agree with this!"' Another added: 'This PO obviously has some common sense and realises this is out of control. A spokesperson for West Midlands Police told the Daily Mail: 'Were aware of footage circulating on social media showing an officer visiting a property. 'The footage is being reviewed and we are speaking to the officer in relation to the circumstances. 'This visit was part of the work our officers have been doing to support Warwickshire Police in their engagement and preparations for a planned protest in Warwickshire this weekend.' For the first time in almost a decade, a manatee has been spotted swimming in shark-infested waters off Cape Cod. Multiple sightings were reported of the large mammal around the Massachusetts town of Mashpee in late July. The sea creature, which appeared to be underweight, also briefly washed up on the tidal flats near Mattapoisett. Nadine Lysiak, of the New England Aquarium, told NBC Boston the manatee likely rode a warm water current north from the southern U.S., where manatees are more commonly found. But, despite the welcome sightings, locals and experts now fear the manatee could fall prey to sharks or freeze to death when the water temperature plunges. Locals share photos of a manatee seen in the waters around Cape Cod, Massachusetts Multiple sightings were reported of the large mammal around the Massachusetts town of Mashpee in late July Sharks are a natural predator of manatee and the Cape is a known hotbed of activity, with great white sharks and bull sharks living in the waters, according to Ocean Today. Experts are also concerned the warm water will soon become too cold for the manatee to survive. 'There's some concern that soon this animal might have some physiological challenges and needs some interventions,' Lysiak said. Stock image of a manatee in the Florida springs. Experts said the manatee around Cape Cod had likely strayed from the southern U.S. MassWildlife has contacted the International Fund for Animal Welfare about potentially rescuing the creature, CBS News reported. Though rare, this isn't the first time a manatee has strayed far from home. In 2016, a pregnant manatee was rescued from the waters off Massachusetts, the Cape Cod Times reported. @SavetheManatee has asked that any manatee sightings be reported to local stranding networks. A carpenter from Michigan unexpectedly dropped dead while dancing with his girlfriend at a Grateful Dead concert in San Francisco. Fred Cothard, 54, was at the show on Sunday with his partner Jody Leddy when he suddenly collapsed while dancing to the band's song, They Love Each Other. Leddy said the pair had spent the ten days before his death together as they traveled to San Francisco - a trip they had planned before the shows were announced. Heartbroken Jody wrote on social media: 'Fred Cothard was and is my love. I am blessed and honored to have been there with him every moment yesterday before, during and after his passing. 'I was holding him, talking to him about his kids, and kissing him until hours after the doctor pronounced him, until I got in touch with his daughter.' Cothard's cause of death has not been revealed. A concertgoer recalled to the SF Standard the harrowing moment that Cothard collapsed. 'At first I heard shouting and saw people waving their arms and a guy on someone's shoulders waving frantically,' Jill, a Marin resident, told the outlet. Fred Cothard (pictured), 54, was at the concert on Sunday with his girlfriend when he suddenly collapsed while dancing to the band's song, They Love Each Other Cothard's girlfriend, Jody Leddy (pictured right), said the pair had spent the ten days before his death together after traveling to San Francisco 'Then I looked down about 15 feet behind me and saw a lifeless man receiving chest compressions.' Thousands of fans, known as Deadheads, offered supportive messages of condolence to Cothard's family and friends as news of his death spread through the community. Tina Nash Cothard wrote that the 'love and light we have received from the Dead family has truly helped us navigate through this difficult time.' 'The kind words from strangers who were there gave us some peace knowing he was surrounded by so much love,' she added. Cothard's children created a GoFundMe, sharing their dad's love for the band and hoping to return him home and lay him to rest. 'Fred's sudden passing has left his children me, Sadie Cothard, and my twin brother, Sawyer Cothard, in unimaginable grief,' Sadie wrote on the fundraiser. 'Our dad, Fred, was an incredible father and friend to all. Whether you knew Fred well or only encountered him briefly, chances are he made a lasting impression. 'The one thing we know for sure about our dad is his love for us was endless, but his for the Grateful Dead, and the Grateful Dead community meant almost as much as his love for us.' Leddy and Cothard were attending the band's 60th anniversary show when disaster struck and he collapsed to the floor. 'Even though this was sudden and we were not there with him, we take comfort in knowing that he was surrounded by thousands of his Dead family, and the music that he loved so much,' Sadie continued. Cothard's daughter, Sadie (pictured center), said that he took his children, Sadie and her twin brother Swayer (pictured left), to their first Grateful Dead show in 2016, and 'even as young children we were welcomed into the Dead family with open arms' Pictured: Dead & Company performs during the 60th Anniversary celebration of the Grateful Dead on August 3 Thousands of fans, known as Deadheads, offered supportive messages of condolence to Cothard's family and friends as news of his death spread through the community 'Fred's sudden passing has left his children me, Sadie Cothard, and my twin brother, Sawyer Cothard, in unimaginable grief,' Sadie said She added that Cothard took his children to their first Grateful Dead show in 2016, and 'even as young children we were welcomed into the Dead family with open arms.' Cothard's step-son wrote: 'My step-dad. I'm truly a better man today from knowing you. You provided for us an amazing life growing up, as a father myself now I truly see the load you carried to provide for us. 'Your self made man work ethic was one I admired and modeled after. The good memories and all the jam bands. Half my music taste came from you and I'm super thankful for that. I like to think Jerry Garcia played you into the afterlife.' According to his obituary, Cothard's 'greatest love was exploring with his children and discovering what the world has to offer.' 'Most of Fred's personal life revolved around music and his deep love and passion for the Grateful Dead. There was nothing else he enjoyed more than traveling the country with family and friends from all over the world, to see the next show.' Swarms of anti-migrant protesters descended upon migrant hotels across the country on Friday evening ahead of a weekend of planned demonstrations. Major demonstrations took place in London, Essex, Altrincham, Bournemouth and Chichester amid fears a growing anti-migrant sentiment could explode into a second summer of riots in Britain. Protests first blew up outside The Bell Hotel in Epping, Essex, last month after an Ethiopian asylum seeker was charged with sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl - which he denies - but demonstrations have since spread elsewhere. Mayhem resumed in Epping on Friday night as flares were set off by protesters waving England and Union Jack flags, while dozens of women all wearing pink blocked the road. Meanwhile, footage showed protesters scuffling with police outside the Britannia International Hotel in Canary Wharf, east London. Officers were seen pinning some activists down the ground, with two arrests made. One was an anti-migrant protester who was detained after a bottle was thrown at officers. The other was a member of the counter-protest group who was arrested for failing to remove their face covering. The main road outside the hotel was blocked by hundreds of demonstrators shouting 'save our kids'. It came as police had to rapidly mobilise to contain a group of 'anti-fascist' activists arriving at South Quay station to confront anti-migrant protesters as they held signs that said 'no human is illegal' and chanted: 'Refugees have the right - here to stay, here to fight.' More than a hundred police officers moved to kettle the group outside the tube station for breaching the peace. A protester who was asked to remove his face mask shouts at a police officer whilst taking part in the Stand Up to Racism rally outside the Britannia International Hotel in Canary Wharf Swarms of anti-migrant demonstrators have taken to asylum seeker hotels across the country as protestors clash with police ahead of more chaos this weekend. Pictured: Officers have made two arrests in Canary Wharf Police officers detain a protester who did not comply with face covering restrictions during the Stand Up to Racism rally and counter-protest outside the Britannia International Hotel in Canary Wharf Protesters outside The Bell Hotel in Epping on Friday evening with Union Jack flags and St George's Flags Lines of police officers separate the counter-protesters from those taking part in the Stand Up to Racism rally outside the Britannia International Hotel in Canary Wharf Police officers intervene as pro-migrant and anti-migrant protesters face off near Britannia International Hotel in Canary Wharf on Friday People then made their way into the town as the main road outside the hotel was closed. Dozens were carrying flags, leading chants of 'Keir Starmer is a w*****' and 'send them home'. Around 100 people gathered at the Park Hotel in Chichester, which has been housing asylum seekers for almost two years, at around 6pm but the crowd had dwindled to around 20 people within an hour. Ash Matthews, 33, who helped to organise the gathering through social media, said they are protesting against the rise of illegal immigration and the lack of government action. 'We've seen the rise of illegal immigration and we are frightened for our families. 'We're parents who are increasingly concerned for our own and our family's safety. 'I've seen them begging in the street, trying to get children's attention. We feel it is our duty to our community.' Protesters and counter protesters stand in front of each other as police standby Police officers surround Antifa protesters marching in support of refugees as both pro-migrant and anti-migrant protesters gathered outside Britannia International Hotel in Canary Wharf Police officers detain a protester who did not comply with face covering restrictions during the Stand Up to Racism rally and counter-protest outside the Britannia International Hotel in Canary Wharf Protestors gathered outside the Britannia Hotel in Bournemouth on Friday after it was announced it would be used to house asylum seekers A counter-protester waves an Israeli flag during the Stand Up to Racism rally outside the Britannia International Hotel in Canary Wharf A protester who was asked to remove his face mask shouts at a police officer whilst taking part in the Stand Up to Racism rally outside the Britannia International Hotel in Canary Wharf Holding placards, protesters calling for the closure of The Bell Hotel gather outside in Epping Anti-migrant protesters marching through Epping in Essex on Friday with Union Jack and St George's flags Protesters park a van up at a protest in Epping with a sign that reads 'protect our kids' Others are holding placards which read 'enough is enough' against a Union Jack in Altrincham Police scuffle with an anti-immigration demonstrator outside the Cresta Court hotel in Altrincham A member of the counter-protest group outside the Britannia International Hotel in Canary Wharf has been arrested for failing to remove a face covering His brother Reagan, 29, said the lack of government action is making people angry. He said: 'We don't know who is coming into the country. There is no ID checks. 'They are putting people who are coming into the country in front of people who live here. 'They are living a better life than a lot of people. This is a fight against a broken society. If you are a British citizen and struggling, you get nothing. 'This is about the British government as much as the illegals. 'Everyone is just fed up. Their culture is completely different to ours. They are not here to integrate.' In Altrincham, hundreds of people gathered outside Cresta Court hotel, where some demonstrators were seen in a scuffle with police officers and others were holding placards which read 'enough is enough' against a Union Jack. Counter protestors were also in attendance, holding signs that said 'refugees welcome' and 'stop the far right'. They took part in the 'Defend Refugees, Stand Up To Fascism' rally, organised by Stand Up to Racism, near the hotel in Altrincham, Cheshire. Protesters wave Union Jack flags behind barricades outside the Park Hotel in Chichester on Friday Protesters walk along a road during an anti-immigration demonstration in Epping on Friday Protestors gather outside the Britannia Hotel in Bournemouth on Friday after it was announced its being used as a migrant hotel Counter protestors are also in attendance, holding signs that say 'refugees welcome' and 'stop the far right' They took part in the 'Defend Refugees, Stand Up To Facism' rally, organised by Stand Up to Racism, near the hotel in Altrincham, Cheshire Anti-immigration demonstrators display Union Jack and England flags as they gather outside the Cresta Court hotel One protestor had a 'f*** the government' tattoo on his scalp as well as a bull dog The UK is bracing for a weekend of protest anarchy with both Palestine Action supporters and anti-migrant demonstrators set to take to the streets tomorrow. More than 500 people are expected gather outside Parliament at 1pm tomorrow in support of Palestine Action, defying warnings they will be charged with terror offences. Membership of, or support for, the proscribed group is now a criminal offence under the Terrorism Act 2000 and is punishable by up to 14 years in prison. Meanwhile, police up and down the country are also preparing for a series of anti-migrant protests outside hotels and council offices. There is particular concern about a protest planned in Nuneaton which comes amid claims Warwickshire Police held back information over the alleged rape of a 12-year-old girl. In London, the Met Police is bracing for protests outside hotels housing asylum seekers in Canary Wharf and Islington. Deputy assistant commissioner Ade Adelekan, who is leading the policing operation in London, said: 'This is going to be a particularly busy few days in London with many simultaneous protests and events that will require a significant policing presence.' 'There is no doubt that the scale of the public order policing operation will put pressure on our resources, but Londoners can be assured that we have plans in place that will allow us continue to police in communities across all 32 boroughs, responding to emergencies and keeping the public safe,' he added. A mother-of-four who could not swim died while trying to save her nine-year-old daughter from drowning, according to her family. Maria Elvia, 44, jumped into a lake after her daughter Clara slipped off a wet rock and fell in during a family hike at Stone Mountain Park in Atlanta, Georgia, on Saturday, police said. '[The girl] took her shoes off and then slipped into the water, and its certainly deep there,' said John Bankhead with the Stone Mountain Police Department. 'The mother did what mothers would naturally do and jumped in after her.' The girl's brother, Elvis, then also jumped into the water and was able to pull his sister out. She was taken to the hospital and is expected to survive, as reported by Atlanta News First. The brother and Elvia's husband also tried to save her but were not able to pull her above the water. Maria Elvia, 44, died after jumping into a Georgia lake to try to save her nine-year-old daughter from drowning, according to her family The girl, Clara slipped off a wet rock and fell in the water during a family hike at Stone Mountain Park in Atlanta, Georgia Elvia was not pulled out until a park police officer was called to the scene. She was under water for at least four minutes, per officials. Officers performed CPR before she was taken to the hospital, where she was put in the Intensive Care Unit before she died three days later. 'Maria Elvia was a devoted mother and wife who always put her family first,' a GoFundMe page for Elvia's family said. 'She cared deeply for her children and husband, and her final act was one of selfless love and courage.' The GoFundMe has raised $15,000 of its $20,000 goal as of Friday afternoon. It was created by Elvia's adult daughter Yvonne, who said the donations will be used to cover her mother's ICU costs and send her body back to her home country, as was her wish. Police said the incident remains under investigation. Stone Mountain Park offers visitors various activities including hiking and camping. Elvia's husband, pictured, jumped in the water to try to save her, but the mother was unconscious when she was pulled out Elvia, a beloved mother, is survived by her husband and their four children, pictured The mother's drowning comes after police found a man's badly burned remains in the same park back in May. The discovery prompted an investigation and forced the park to shut down for hours. Police said at the time the body was under an overhang and somebody had piled up rocks in front of the overhang to make it very private. Days later, however, the parents of the man provided a note to police that confirmed he died by suicide. 'The note was very specific about the method and location of the planned suicide which was consistent with the death scene,' said the Stone Mountain Park Department of Public Safety. President Donald Trump hatched a peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan on Friday, two countries that have been locked in nearly four decades of conflict. 'I think they're going to have a great relationship, I have no doubt. And if you don't, call me and I'll straighten it out,' Trump said lightly about the two leaders during the trilateral White House ceremony. Talks to solve the ongoing conflict began in February as Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff flew to Baku, Azerbaijan and met with leadership there, most notably President Ilham Aliyev. Trump's campaign promises to end wars in Gaza and Ukraine within 24 hours of taking office have proven elusive, with both conflicts continue to rage without a breakthrough in sight. Still, Trump took an opportunity for a victory lap. 'Sleepy Joe Biden tried but you know what happened there, he probably tried for maybe 12 minutes but it didn't work out,' Trump said, referring to his predecessor. Both leaders thanked Trump for his role in the peace talks and said they would recommend him for the Nobel Peace Prize. 'I think President Trump deserves to have the Nobel Peace Prize and we will defend that and promote that, that's obvious,' Pashinyan said, adding that he hoped they would be invited to the ceremony. US President Donald Trump participates in a trilateral signing with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev (L) and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan (R) in the State Dining Room President Donald Trump greeted both Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan 'Maybe we agree with Prime Minister Pashinyan to send a joint appeal to the Nobel committee to award President Trump with the Nobel Peace Prize,' Aliyev said, prompting applause in the room. 'Who if not President trump deserves the Nobel Peace prize?' Despite the overtures, Trump said he still expected to be snubbed. 'A lot of people say, no matter what I did, because I'm of a certain persuasion, no matter what I do they won't give it [to me.] I'm not politicking for it,' he said. Aliyev alluded to previous winners of the peace prize who 'didn't deserve it at all,' perhaps referring to former President Barack Obama who was controversially awarded the prize in 2009. 'As it is said in the Holy Bible, blessed are the peacemakers for they will be called children of God,' Pashinyan said. Conflict in the region escalated after Azerbaijan took back control over Nagorno-Karabakh in 2023, a region of mostly ethnic Armenians that broke away from Azerbaijan in the 1980s. A hundred thousand Armenians fled from the region to Armenia in response to the invasion. Both countries continue disputing control of the Zangezur Corridor, but Armenia has agreed to award the U.S. exclusive development rights on the land for 99 years as part of the peace deal. The peace agreement will grant the United States development rights on the corridor, allowing the development of infrastructure such as rail, oil, gas, and even fiber optic lines and electricity transmission lines. The new transit corridor will be named the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP) as the United States will be in charge of leasing it to companies for development. Special Presidential Envoy Steve Witkoff, left, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrive before a trilateral signing ceremony with Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev and Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan U.S. President Donald Trump (C) arrives at a signing ceremony with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev (2nd L) and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan (R) The president has worked to solve several prominent conflicts around the globe including negotiating a peace deal with Cambodia and Thailand, Rwanda and the Congo, and Pakistan and India. Trump also ended the war between Israel and Iran after his missile strikes on the Iranian nuclear facilities. The president also claimed in June he was able to stop a war between Kosovo and Serbia, revealing on social media they were on the verge of war until he stopped it. But his promise to deliver peace on some of the biggest conflicts in the world remain elusive. The war between Russia and Ukraine continues as Trump seeks to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Trump said talks were ongoing and expressed his hope that the war could end. 'We're getting close,' he said. A popular influencer has won her legal battle to keep some of the most horrific details about her young son's death shielded from the public. Emilie Kiser fought to get two pages of a police report detailing how her son Trigg, three, drowned in her family's pool redacted - and a judge agreed with her on Friday. Little Trigg, who featured heavily in the mom-of-two's content, died nearly a week after he was found unconscious in their backyard pool on May 12 this year. Kiser's husband, Brady, was at home at the time - but was preoccupied with the couple's newborn, Theodore, during the hellish moments Trigg drowned. Brady is not facing criminal charges. Emilie was out of the house during the tragedy. Now, the Maricopa County Superior Court, siding with Kiser, has ruled the 'transcript on the disputed sections are not necessary for public accountability.' This is because the contents would only 'satisfy morbid curiosity' and 'would risk exploitation by bad actors,' the ruling, seen by Daily Mail, said. The influencer convinced the judge that allowing the harrowing play-by-play of how her son Trigg got into the family's pool and eventually drowned would entice social media sleuths to create AI recreations that would go viral online. Emilie, 26, who has more than 4 million followers on TikTok and 1.7 million on Instagram, has not posted publicly since her son's death Pictured: Emilie Kiser with her three-year-old son, Trigg. The little boy drowned in the family's pool on May 12 Similar to how other eerie video recreations of recent deaths, including the Idaho college quadruple murders, have circulated on TikTok, Kiser said she was worried people would try and sensationalize her family's tragedy too. The unredacted police report included a moment-by-moment written depiction of officer bodycam footage that captured Trigg's death - which the court said was so thorough that it 'functions as a surrogate for the video itself.' Its contents are of a 'vivid and granular nature,' making it so 'emotionally disturbing' that shielding it from the public is wholly justified, the ruling stated. The court declared on Friday: 'Specific material harm to her and her family outweighs the negligible public interest in those particular portions of the report. 'The narrow redaction of those sections strikes an appropriate balance between transparency and human dignity.' Celebrating the small win, Emilie Kiser's attorney, Shannon Clark, told Daily Mail: 'We're grateful to Judge Whitten for carefully balancing the important interests at stake and allowing a narrow but meaningful redaction to the Chandler police report, removing two pages that detail the graphic final moments of Trigg's life. 'These redactions do not alter any material facts of the accident, but they protect the dignity of a little boy whose memory should reflect the love and light he brought to the world. Emilie's lawyer told Daily Mail: 'This decision allows them, and the public, to remember him for the beautiful life he lived, not the tragic way it ended' 'From the start, this has been about protecting Trigg and the family's ability to grieve privately. 'This decision allows them, and the public, to remember him for the beautiful life he lived, not the tragic way it ended.' The 55-page police report will be released in the coming days without the two and a quarter pages that Emilie fought to keep out. It will still describe the events, timeline, witness accounts, and law enforcement conclusions following Trigg Kiser's untimely death. Sir Keir Starmer has come under fire from the US's ambassador to Israel after criticising plans that will leave one million Gazans displaced. After the Prime Minister warned Israel's latest escalation would 'only bring more bloodshed', Mike Huckabee likened the country's situation to Britain in World War Two. The extraordinary attack coincided with US Vice President JD Vance's visit to Britain and highlighted the rift between America and the UK on the Middle East crisis. It also came after Sir Keir announced last month how the UK will recognise a Palestinian state unless Israel takes steps to alleviate the humanitarian crisis and end the conflict in Gaza. Ambassador Huckabee said on X: 'So Israel is expected to surrender to Hamas and feed them even though Israeli hostages are being starved? 'Did the UK surrender to Nazis and drop food to them? Ever heard of Dresden, PM Starmer? That wasn't food you dropped. If you had been PM then UK would be speaking German!' Huckabee's remarks appeared to challenge Israel's obligation to provide food and humanitarian relief to Palestinians who are suffering from malnutrition. According to the World Health Organisation around 12,000 children in Gaza under the age of five were acutely malnourished at the end of July, the highest number on record. Sir Keir Starmer has come under fire from the US's ambassador to Israel after criticising plans that will leave one million Gazans displaced. Pictured: Benjamin Netanyahu After the Prime Minister warned Israel's latest escalation would 'only bring more bloodshed', Mike Huckabee likened the country's situation to Britain in World War Two. (Pictured: Smoke and flames rising from an apartment complex hit by an Israeli strike) The extraordinary attack coincided with US Vice President JD Vance's visit to Britain and highlighted the rift between America and the UK on the Middle East crisis It also came after Sir Keir announced last month how the UK will recognise a Palestinian state unless Israel takes steps to alleviate the humanitarian crisis and end the conflict in Gaza The number of Palestinians believed to have starved to death since the beginning of Israel's siege has also risen to 197 people, including 96 children. Even US President Donald Trump, a strong supporter of Israel, has been moved to comment disapprovingly on pictures of starving children that have recently been published. Ambassador Huckabee, who was appointed by President Trump, reacted to a post on X by Sir Keir describing the Israeli government's proposals as 'wrong'. The Prime Minister wrote: 'We urge it [Israel] to reconsider immediately. Every day the humanitarian crisis in Gaza worsens and hostages taken by Hamas are being held in appalling and inhumane conditions. We need a ceasefire now.' Sir Keir's remark about the escalation likely leading to 'more bloodshed' was included in an official statement released by Downing Street earlier today. Ambassador Huckabee referenced Britain's bombing of the German city of Dresden in February 1945 which caused as many as 25,000 civilian deaths. This was a joint operation by the RAF's Bomber Command and the US's Army Air Forces. More than 3,900 tons of high explosive ordnance were dropped causing sickening devastation to civilian areas. Palestinians, facing food shortages due to Israel's blockade and ongoing attacks on the Gaza Strip, gather with pots and pans as a charity distributes meals in western Gaza City, Gaza on August 08, 2025 The details of Israel's latest offensive emerged today, including giving more than one million people in Gaza city and the surrounding area until October 7th to leave or face military action. The deadline for their forcible relocation will mark the second anniversary of the Hamas terrorist atrocities of October 7th 2023. The UK was joined by international partners in condemning the plans, including Germany, one of Israel's biggest benefactors in recent years, which suspended arms sales. Senior Israeli military figures have also criticised the plan, proposed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to occupy the remaining quarter of the Gaza Strip. Israeli generals have described the move as a 'trap', while families of the 20 hostages remaining in Hamas custody have highlighted the increased threat to their safety. Some relatives of hostages support the plan. Aid agencies, Arab countries, the United Nations and Prime Minister Netanyahu's political opponents inside Israel have also raised concerns. Among regional and Western powers, only the United States has desisted from criticising the plan. Palestinians struggling with severe food shortages amid ongoing Israeli attacks and blockade gather near the Zikim Crossing to receive limited aid supplies in northwestern Gaza on August 08, 2025 Pictured: Palestinians in the aftermath of an Israeli strike on the Bureij refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip Pictured: Israeli activists protesting the war Earlier this week, President Trump said it was 'pretty much up to Israel' whether to fully occupy Gaza. In a bid to stave off further international outcry, Prime Minister Netanyahu posted: 'We are not going to occupy Gaza. We are going to free Gaza from Hamas. 'Gaza will be demilitarised and a peaceful civilian administration will be established, one that is not the Palestinian Authority, not Hamas, and not any other terrorist organisation. 'This will help free our hostages and ensure Gaza does not pose a threat to Israel in the future.' The UK provides financial and technical support to the Palestinian Authority, including 129 million in development assistance in this financial year. It comes as Antonio Guterres, the UN secretary general, described the Israeli plans as a 'dangerous escalation' as several countries reportedly requested a Security Council meeting to discuss the situation. JD Vance, the US vice-president, said Washington has 'some disagreement' with Mr Netanyahu over the strategy, but that the administration shared Israel's objectives. Meanwhile, Germany has said it will stop arms sales to Israel until further notice. IDF military chief Eyal Zamir had voiced opposition to reoccupying Gaza. A source in the Prime Minister's Office told The Jerusalem Post that Zamir was passed a message that read: 'If this does not suit you, then you should resign.' War-damaged buildings stand in Gaza City on August 8, 2025 Pictured: Palestinians check the devastation following an Israeli strike that hit Gaza City's southern al-Zeitoun neighbourhood on August 8, 2025 Palestinians struggling with severe food shortages amid ongoing Israeli attacks and blockade gather near the Zikim Crossing to receive limited aid supplies in northwestern Gaza on August 08, 2025 Israeli officials described a meeting this week with the head of the military as tense, saying Zamir had pushed back on expanding Israel's campaign. Two government sources said any resolution by the security cabinet would need to be approved by the full cabinet, which may not meet until Sunday. Among the scenarios considered ahead of the security meeting was a phased takeover of areas in Gaza not yet under military control, one of the sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Evacuation warnings could be issued to Palestinians in specific areas of Gaza, potentially giving them several weeks before the military moves in, the source added. Total control of the territory would reverse a 2005 decision by Israel by which it withdrew Israeli citizens and soldiers from Gaza, while retaining control over its borders, airspace, and utilities. Right-wing parties blame that withdrawal decision for the militant Palestinian group Hamas gaining power there in a 2006 election. It was unclear whether Netanyahu was foreseeing a prolonged takeover or a short-term operation. Hamas said in a statement that Netanyahu's comments were 'a blatant coup' against the negotiation process. 'Netanyahu's plans to expand the aggression confirm beyond any doubt that he seeks to get rid of his captives and sacrifice them,' the statement said. Arab countries would 'only support what Palestinians agree and decide on,' a Jordanian official source told Reuters, adding that security in Gaza should be handled through 'legitimate Palestinian institutions.' Hamas official Osama Hamdan told Al Jazeera the group would treat any force formed to govern Gaza as an 'occupying' force linked to Israel. Buildings that were destroyed during the Israeli ground and air operations stand in the northern Gaza Strip as seen from southern Israel, Friday, Aug. 8, 2025 Humanitarian aid is airdropped by the Royal French Army over the northern part of the Gaza Strip, 08 August 2025 The White House had no immediate comment. President Donald Trump has declined to say whether he supported or opposed a potential complete military takeover of Gaza by Israel. The U.N. has called reports about a possible expansion of Israel's military operations in Gaza 'deeply alarming' if true. The idea, pushed by far-right ministers in Netanyahu's coalition, of Israeli forces moving into areas they do not already hold in the enclave has also generated alarm in Israel. Outside the prime minister's office in Jerusalem on Thursday evening, hundreds of demonstrators protested against an expanded war, demanding an immediate end to the military campaign in return for the release of all the hostages. There are 50 hostages still held in Gaza, of whom Israeli officials believe 20 are alive. Most of those freed so far emerged as a result of diplomatic negotiations. Talks toward a ceasefire that could have seen more hostages released collapsed in July. Recent images of starving children from Gaza have also shocked the world and fueled international criticism of Israel over the sharply worsening conditions in the enclave. The Israeli military says it controls about 75% of Gaza. Most of Gaza's population of about 2 million has been displaced multiple times over the past 22 months, and aid groups are warning that residents are on the verge of famine. Its unclear how many people reside in the city, which was Gazas largest before the war. Hundreds of thousands fled Gaza City under evacuation orders in the opening weeks of the war, but many returned during a ceasefire at the start of this year. Expanding military operations in Gaza would put the lives of countless Palestinians and the roughly 20 remaining Israeli hostages at risk while further isolating Israel intentionally. An upscale Colorado town has managed to stop McDonald's from building a restaurant in their town - seemingly because locals considered it too tacky. Locals in Castle Pines, in Douglas County, erupted in fury after plans by the fast food chain to open up a 3,671-square-foot two-lane drive thru emerged last year. Tensions came to ahead in May 2024 when the council held a public meeting asking residents if they should allow the Golden Arches to open a franchise. According to Business Den, that discussion descended into chaos with locals heard chanting 'No clown in our town!'. The outlet reported that over one hundred people attended the meeting, and the decision to reject the McDonald's was upheld with a 5-2 vote. Shortly after, the council was sued by developer CP Commercial, run by Ventana Capital, that owns the land where the McDonald's would have stood. The firm said the council had used 'nebulous bases' in denying the build, including traffic and a lack of outdoor seating, to disguise the fact they just hated McDonald's. Over a year later, Judge Stacy Guillon sided with the city and upheld their original decision. Residents of Castle Pines, seen here, were up in arms about the move to potentially allow a McDonald's to be built in the area Tensions came to ahead in May 2024 when the council held a meeting asking residents if they should allow the Golden Arches to open a franchise, it quickly became apparent how they felt In her findings, Judge Guillon said: 'Because the council had competent evidence to support denying the site improvement plan, the court affirms the councils decision. 'The law makes clear that this court is not to second guess whether the city council acted wisely or in its constituents best interest. Judge Stacy Guillon sided with the city and upheld their original decision on Monday 'The court may reverse only if the city council had no competent evidence whatsoever to support the decision it made.' She also rejected the argument by CP Commercial that because city code allowed for fast food, the council didn't have any basis to deny the plans. By this thinking, she said that 'raucous nightclubs' might be allowed where 'mellow cocktail lounges' are. CP Commercial said they were 'disappointed' in the decision, saying the council had caved to 'a minority of voices and their desire for a different brand of restaurant'. According to the developer they are now weighing up a possible appeal against the ruling. A statement continued: 'The city council should not be permitted to hide behind, as the court aptly noted, factors that are inherently subjective. 'The citys residents deserve not only the significant tax benefits that a McDonalds would bring but also additional restaurant choices.' The firm said the council had used 'nebulous bases' in denying the build, including traffic and a lack of outdoor seating, to disguise the fact they just hated McDonald's According to the developer they are now weighing up a possible appeal against the ruling Douglas Gilbert, president of the Castle Pines North Homeowners Association No. 1, welcomed the move. Gilbert had been a vocal opponent of the move to bring McDonald's to the area, telling the outlet it was too close to two schools and feared it would lead to trash. He said: 'We feel vindicated in the sense that our city government has protected the property rights of quite a few homeowners who would have had to deal with the traffic, and protected the school children who also would have been impacted.' City Manager Michael Penny added in a statement: 'The city is pleased that the District Court applied the appropriate deference to the City Council's judgment on this proposal. 'The city remains hopeful that future development along the Castle Pines Parkway corridor will develop in a way that best meets the needs of the community. 'We look forward to working with property owners and applicants on future applications.' Its billed as the revelatory memoir of Scotlands first female First Minister, the inside story of almost a decade at the top of government. Nicola Sturgeons autobiography, Frankly, arrives in bookshops on Thursday with the first extract published last night and speculation about its contents are rife. What will my former party leader reveal about her time in power? What secrets will she share? There are certainly questions from both Nationalist and Unionist Scots that demand answers. But just how frank is Ms Sturgeon willing to be? Will she can she? reflect honestly on the failings of her leadership? Here are just some of the issues I hope forlornly, Im sure shell address in her memoir. Parents and young people across Scotland will want to know why, having staked her reputation on closing the attainment gap, she failed to do so and now never talks of it. NHS patients will want to understand why, when waiting lists are so long, the health service appears to have limitless funds to employ clueless managerial staff and to defend hopeless cases caused by their ineptitude. Island dwellers will want to know why, despite millions spent on two new vessels, the ferry service in our island nation is so unreliable while Highlanders will want to know why, despite the promises made by Ms Sturgeons administration, the A9 has still not been duelled. Joanna Cherry and Nicola Sturgeon in June 2017, just a week before the general election Nicola Sturgeon quit as Scottish First Minister in 2023 Families and pensioners living in fuel poverty in one of the most energy rich nations in the world will want to know what happened to the national energy company she promised to set up in 2017 in order to lower their bills. The Welsh Government has managed to do this. Why didnt Ms Sturgeon deliver for Scotland? And many women and LGB people will want to know why she was happy to throw our rights under the bus in the name of identity politics. I wonder whether Ms Sturgeon will feel able to address the way in which she failed to advance the independence case, despite having inherited from Alex Salmond record levels of support for our cause. Independence supporters will want to know why, despite repeated promises, Ms Sturgeon was unable to deliver another referendum. And those who donated to fundraisers in advance of that frequently-promised second vote on the constitutional question will want to know why she showed little interest in what had happened to their money and actively sought to close down anyone who asked difficult questions. The SNP activists who give so much to the party and the cause of independence will be curious to learn whether Ms Sturgeon has insights into why membership has plummeted over recent years and why, despite support for independence sitting at around 50 per cent, only 35 per cent of people say theyll vote SNP at next years Holyrood election. And the 38 SNP MPs who lost their seats at last years general election will, no doubt, be interested to learn why they had to pay the price for mistakes she made. And everyone regardless of their politics will, Im sure, be eager to learn what Ms Sturgeon considers to be her legacy. What lasting difference has she made to Scottish society, and has it been good or bad? Are the Child Payment important as it is the baby box and the expansion in free childcare the height of her legacy? Are those achievements really all there is to show for more than eight years in charge (and for all those election victories)? In her resignation speech, Ms Sturgeon described herself as a divisive figure. How did that come about? Does she think Scotland is a more or less united country than when she came to power? If less, does she take any responsibility for that? Ms Sturgeons resignation came in the aftermath of a huge public backlash against plans to reform the Gender Recognition Act, allowing anyone to self-identify into the legally-recognised sex of their choosing. Why, I continue to wonder, did she put more energy into identity politics than the cause of independence? Was she planning for self-identification to be her legacy and how does it feel for that legacy to be in tatters? Despite Brexit and the unlawful prorogation of parliament by Boris Johnsons chaotic administration that followed, Ms Sturgeon failed to advance the cause of independence one iota. A leader of the strategic calibre of her mentor Alex Salmond would have been able to capitalise on these amazing opportunities. Instead, Ms Sturgeon slowly reversed the SNPs independence strategy up a blind alley. Joanna Cherry was the SNP MP for Edinburgh South West She repeatedly promised a second referendum she knew she could not deliver, issuing a never- ending list of dates and targets which were missed. She marched her troops up and down the hill until many of them deserted in disgust. When some party members and parliamentarians suggested she might need a Plan B rather than repeatedly banging her head on the brick wall of the British governments refusal to grant permission for a second referendum, she demonised us and encouraged her lackeys to attack us. Why did she refuse to countenance or discuss a legal strategy which might have delivered competent Scottish parliament legislation on a referendum? Why did she go cap in hand to the UK Supreme Court in a manner and at a time when anyone with an iota of legal nous could have advised her she was going to lose. Then, having spent years shutting down the idea of a de facto referendum - and with her back against the wall why did she announce she would be treating the 2024 general election as a de facto referendum without any discussion with colleagues about the pros and cons of such a move? On that issue of shutting people down, Ms Sturgeon should explain why, during her period as leader, she was so keen to quash any attempts at scrutiny of the SNPs finances by those including members of the partys national executive committee elected to do just that. When questions were raised as to the whereabouts of 600,000 raised from independence supporters for a second referendum with the promises it would be ring fenced, why did she say there was no problem and prevent those questions from being answered? Does she now realise that most of the people who donated to these funds were people who, unlike herself and her estranged husband, former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell, live on tight budgets and are entitled to know what has happened to their hard-earned money? Why did Ms Sturgeon let things get so bad that we ended up with a criminal investigation in which she was a suspect and, following which, Murrell was charged with embezzlement? If I may get personal for a moment, Id like to read an explanation as to why SNP rules were changed on Ms Sturgeons watch to make it so difficult for me as a Westminster MP to challenge Angus Robertson for the Edinburgh Central constituency nomination at the Scottish parliament. Its easier for MPs to do this at the forthcoming Scottish election which leaves me wondering why was she so afraid of me entering the Scottish parliament and what was it that she owed Angus that he had to be guaranteed such an easy ride on his path to Holyrood? Ms Sturgeon promises to tell all in her book about her relationship with the late Alex Salmond, the politician to whom she owes so much. After an appallingly handled investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct, Alex was later charged with a number of historic offences only for a predominantly female jury to acquit him. If, nevertheless, Ms Sturgeon wants us to accept that he was guilty of inappropriate behaviour to all of these complainers who included civil servants, SNP parliamentarians and SNP officials, perhaps she can explain how she knew nothing about it despite working so closely with him for years? Ms Sturgeon previously told parliament that she knew nothing about any concerns until April 2018 but then she had to apologise and correct the record when it came to light that she had actually found out in March 2018. How did someone with such a reputation for a good command of detail make this mistake? Surely, if she knew nothing, the revelation of the allegations must have been a terrible shock, one which she might be expected to remember. Why did her government continue to oppose the judicial review of the investigation process brought by Alex Salmond for so long and spend so much public money on it when they had independent legal advice that they were on course to lose? Nicola Sturgeon's book, Frankly, is released this month Why have she and current First Minister John Swinney fought so hard against any Freedom of Information requests relating to circumstances surrounding the investigation? Ms Sturgeons energy for going after Alex was not replicated when it came to other SNP parliamentarians and officials who faced complaints of sexual harassment and bullying. To many it seems as though the partys complaints procedure was only deployed when it could be weaponised against her enemies. If that is not the case, then can she explain why it was used so sparingly against others? I and others, I am certain would like to read Ms Sturgeons explanation of what she knew about an infamous WhatsApp group in which senior SNP officials, including Peter Murrell, discussed how best to build a case against Alex Salmond? To many, it looks very much like she and they were terrified Alex might make one of his famous comebacks after he was one of 21 Nationalist MPs who lost their seats in the 2017 general election and that a plan was lodged to smear him which got out of control and ended up in a trial in which he was acquitted. Many close to Alex also think what happened contributed to his untimely death. I wonder how Ms Sturgeon feels about that. And on the subject of WhatsApp messages, why did she delete all of hers, sent and received during the first part of the pandemic, having previously promised to keep them? If her actions were in accordance with government policy how come Kate Forbes and Humza Yousaf kept all their messages? Could it be the reason why she and her close confidantes deleted all their WhatsApps is because what they were talking about was not the consequences of the lockdown announced on March 23, 2020, but the fallout from the acquittal of Alex Salmond which occurred on the same date? Each question prompts another: Why was her government so keen to abolish jury trials for the duration of the Covid crisis? Were they at all influenced by their fury at Alex Salmonds acquittal? Likewise, why were they so keen to suspend Freedom of Information legislation throughout lockdown? Was that about hiding what was going on behind the scenes in relation to the Salmond affair? When she resigned in 2023, Nicola Sturgeon recognised in a rare moment on self awareness that her obsession with self-ID had played its part in forcing her hand. After years as the selfie queen, she found herself at odds with the great majority of Scots who know that a woman is an adult human female, a category that doesnt include anyone born male. I wonder whether, with the benefit of hindsight, she has any regrets about the behaviour of the committee which oversaw the passage of the GRR Bill and of the MSPs who opposed so many safeguarding amendments? Is she proud of their partisanship? Does she think it showed our national parliament working well for the people of Scotland? Why, having styled herself Scotlands first feminist, was she so reluctant to listen to the concerns of many feminists about the impact of self ID legislation on women and girls? Joanna Cherry with Nicola Sturgeon on the campaign trail Joanna Cherry has questioned why Nicola Sturgeon deleted WhatsApp messages from the first part of the pandemic amid the fallout of the Alex Salmond trial Why did she allow women, including parliamentarians like myself and the former MSP Joan McAlpine, to be targeted and abused by misogynistic young men in the SNP? Why did she ignore legal advice in order to allow party rules to be gerrymandered to ensure Joan would not be re-elected? Why did she put a target on my back by branding me a transphobe and sacking me from my frontbench role? Why I would dearly love to know when a party member was convicted of threatening to rape me did she refuse to condemn his actions? Why, despite my complaints, did she take no action to tackle the culture of bullying and harassment that flourished in the Westminster SNP Group? Perhaps the abuse and harassment of women with whom she disagrees is considered acceptable. The case of nurse Sandie Peggie brings into sharp focus the foolishness of Sturgeons crusade to introduce self-ID. Mrs Peggie, a nurse of 30 years unblemished service, was forced to take legal action after her employers, NHS Fife, launched an investigation into her after she complained about the presence of a trans-identifying male doctor in the female changing room at Kirkcaldys Victoria Hospital. Does Ms Sturgeon realise this is her doing? During her reign as First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon styled herself an LGBT ally. However, back in 1999 she initially sat on the fence about the repeal of Section 28. Will she use Frankly to tell us when she was converted to the cause of gay rights or is it just the T she cares about? Does her past lack of interest in lesbian and gay rights perhaps explain her failure to appreciate the impact of self-identification on the rights of same sex attracted people and her willingness to countenance the absurdity that men can be lesbians? Ms Sturgeon resigned in February 2023, having told the BBCs Laura Kuenssberg just a few weeks earlier that she had plenty left in the tank. Within weeks, a police tent had been erected outside her house, and she was a suspect in a criminal investigation. Was it this investigation, together with the humiliation she suffered when her independence strategy finally hit the buffers in the Supreme Court, that made her go? Or was the tipping point the ridicule heaped upon her head when she was unable to say whether the rapist Adam Graham/Isla Bryson was a man or a woman? I very much doubt the answers to any of these questions will be in Nicola Sturgeons autobiography. However other memoirs including one on which I am currently working will shortly be available. Joanna Cherry is the former SNP MP for Edinburgh South West A congressman who represents one of the poorest districts in Pennsylvania appears to have gone great lengths to hide that he owns a $1.5 million helicopter. NOTUS reported on Friday that Republican Rep. Rob Bresnahan owns a 2024 Robinson R66, a chopper that retails between $1 million and $1.5 million. Bresnahan has yet to list the helicopter on his congressional financial disclosure forms. He's never spoken about it publicly and it's unlisted on the popular flight tracking website FlightAware. 'This aircraft (N422RB) is not available for public tracking per request from the owner/operator,' a message reads, NOTUS found. The news site was able to get a spokesperson to admit Bresnahan was the owner by analyzing Federal Aviation Administration record, other congressional financial disclosures and commercial flight data made available by the ADS-B Exchange website. The website found that he purchased the helicopter in late 2024 using a limited liability company called 'RPB Ventures LLC.' A spokesperson for Bresnahan told NOTUS that the Pennsylvania Republican bought the helicopter while he was campaigning for Congress last year. Republican Rep. Rob Bresnahan, who represents a district in Northeast Pennsylvania, bought a helicopter that retails for between $1 million and $1.5 million ahead of last year's election and didn't disclose it publicly until a spokesperson was asked about it by the start-up NOTUS Bresnahan's Eighth Congressional District is located in the northeastern corner of Pennsylvania and includes the communities around Scranton - the birthplace of former Democratic President Joe Biden - and Wilkes-Barre. Bresnahan narrowly won his race, flipping a district that had been held by Democratic incumbent Rep. Matt Cartwright. The Republican won 50.8 percent of the vote compared to Cartwright's 49.2 percent. Bresnahan is a multi-millionaire who grew his family's electrical contracting company Kuharchik Construction, with projects including the lighting at the Chester County Airport and traffic signals in downtown Wilkes-Barre, according to the company's website. Spokesperson Hannah Pope told NOTUS that the chopper was originally intended to be used for business purposes. 'In emergency situations such as downed power lines or washed-out roads, helicopters play a critical role in inspecting infrastructure and identifying areas in need or urgent repair,' Pope said. 'Since being elected to Congress, those business plans have been put on hold. No taxpayer or campaign funds were used to purchase the aircraft, and no taxpayer or campaign funds are used to store, operate, or maintain the aircraft,' she added. Pope declined to answer additional questions posed by NOTUS, including 'For what purpose does he use his helicopter now? and Who are his helicopter passengers, if any?' NOTUS discovered that Republican Rep. Rob Bresnahan had purchased a 2024 Robinson R66, a chopper that retails between $1 million and $1.5 million in 2024 and it first arrived in the Scanton/Wilkes-Barre area in mid-September, during the final weeks of the campaign An additional call for comment from the Daily Mail to Bresnahan's congressional office went unreturned Friday. Flight data found that Bresnahan's helicopter first landed near Scranton on September 19, 2024, a little more than a month before the election. In the days and weeks following it took a number of flights around the Scranton and Wilkes-Barre area, during the height of Bresnahan's campaigning against Cartwright. Bresnahan mentioned after the January crash over the Potomac River between an American Airlines commuter jet and a Army Black Hawk helicopter that he was pursuing a helicopter pilot license - but made no public mention that he owned a helicopter himself. House members needed to fill out new financial disclosure forms in May that would have covered the 2024 period in which Bresnahan purchased the chopper, but the Pennsylvania lawmaker asked for a 90-day extension. He now must disclose his personal finances by August 13. Spider-mania has shown no sign of slowing as fans continue to gather in Glasgow city centre to take in the filming of the latest superhero movie. Filming for Spider-Man: Brand New Day, has drawn thousands of excited children and intrigued residents keen to see the dramatic action scenes unfold on their doorstep. Since filming kicked off on July 31, onlookers have been delighted by spectacular car chases, explosions and daring feats performed by Spider-Mans stunt double. Youngsters decked out in Spidey costumes were among the crowds gathered as crews filmed an armoured vehicle racing through the streets with the action hero on top. Twins Leiton and Leo Laird, two, watching the filming of Spider-Man: Brand New Day in Glasgow city centre on Friday The blockbuster is the latest Hollywood film to have shot scenes in Glasgow in recent years, with the city also showing up in Indiana Jones, The Flash and Batman. In the last year alone, Top Gun star Glen Powell has also shot two major movies in Glasgow: JJ Abrams Ghostwriter and a remake of The Running Man. Spider-Mans stunt double films a scene in Glasgow's Bothwell Street Fans of Spider-Man have flocked to Glasgow city centre to watch the filming Over the past week familiar streets were left unrecognisable thanks to the arrival of American police and military vehicles, along with high-tech equipment. Fans were even treated to a glimpse of Tom Holland on Sunday when the actor shot an action sequence in costume before chatting to a large crowd. The upcoming Spider-Man film will be Marvels fourth movie following the story of Peter Parker, and the Spider-Mania that has gripped the centre of Glasgow is set to spread further afield, as Marvel bosses have announced extra filming dates at new locations. Shooting will be extended by 11 days and will move towards the eastern part of the city centre until August 26. President Donald Trump is replacing the head of the Internal Revenue Service with one of his closest loyalists. Only two months after he was confirmed as commissioner of the IRS, Billy Long will reportedly be replaced at the request of the president, according to the New York Times. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will serve as acting commissioner until a permanent replacement is found. Long, a former Missouri House lawmaker, was confirmed to his post back in June by 53-44 Senate vote along party lines. Democrats opposed Longs nomination due to his lack of a resume in tax policy. Long is reportedly set to be nominated for an ambassadorship after his departure. Longs limited experience included promoting a tax credit along with calling for the abolition of the IRS while serving in Congress. During his tenure as IRS head, Long helped push the Trump administrations purge of the agencys top officials. A recent report by The National Taxpayer Advocate found that the IRS is expected to lose 22 percent of its workforce in the taxpayer services division. Trump is replacing Billy Long two months after he was confirmed by the Senate Democrats opposed Long's nomination because of his lack of experience in tax policy Trump will replace long with his Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent Long was the fifth individual to lead the IRS since the start of the administration as four others served as acting commissioners. Back in December when Long was nominated, Democrats criticized Long for promoting a pandemic-era tax credit that had fraudulent claims. Trump's IRS is currently involved in a lawsuit regarding the Department of Government Efficiency. Back in February, watchdog groups sued DOGE during Elon Musk's tenure for trying to access taxpayer information at the IRS. Prior to Long's tenure, acting commissioners of the IRS quit the agency after receiving pressure to share taxpayer data with immigration officials at Homeland Security. Nearly a quarter of the 100,000 agency's employees after departed since the start of the administration. A report from the NYT Times indicate that Long and Bessent clashed at times during his tenure. Long had reportedly claimed that Bessent required him to ask for permission every decision he made at the agency. Scott Bessent is one of Trump's closest loyalists in the administration Last month, Long claimed the IRS tax filing season would start later by next year; however, the agency later clarified that the announcement was premature. Unforgettable family holidays await at the Solterra Resort in the town of Davenport, Florida, promises the brochure. It's the sort of place where holidaymakers can 'float their cares away' and 'gather with family and friends' in lavish private rental properties handily placed for excursions to Disney World. Extended, multi-generational families are particularly welcome. The biggest villas in this sprawling complex, complete with palm trees and lush walkways, can have more than ten bedrooms and their own pools, because it was designed on a the-more-the-merrier basis. Communal facilities include a 'lazy river' and children's play areas. It was, however, never going to be the entire Gibbon clan decamping here from Buckinghamshire for a luxury sunshine break this summer. Relations had already been strained, to say the least, when patriarch Mark Gibbon, 62, who heads a successful lighting company in the UK (one which previously supplied services for the televised Queen's speech on Christmas Day) arrived late last month with his former daughter-in-law Jasmine Wyld, 33, and her two children (his grandchildren). Happily families? Well, no. The dream holiday ended somewhat abruptly last Sunday afternoon when Gibbon was arrested after allegedly trying to drown Jasmine in the villa's pool. Police were called when fellow holidaymakers reported that a man was seen repeatedly holding a woman's head under the water. Back in Britain: Jasmine Wyld at home on Friday after returning from the family holiday that ended in her father-in-law's arrest Extended family members said they believe Mark Gibbon (right) has been having an affair with Jasmine Wyld (left), his former daughter-in-law for the last two years - causing a huge family divide Jasmine, pictured with ex-husband (and Mark Gibbon's son) Alex and one of their two children The details of what happened last weekend, on what should have been a lazy afternoon in the Florida sunshine, are sketchy but it is believed the family had been enjoying the sunshine and were taking a dip when, according to Polk County Sheriff's Office, Gibbon shoved Jasmine's head under the water then pushed his nine-year-old granddaughter out of the way when she jumped in to stop him. He allegedly only stopped the attack when two sisters in a nearby property saw what was happening and shouted over that they had called the Sheriff's Office. Gibbon was taken into custody at 5.19pm on August 3 and is understood to have told police he had been drinking. The police report revealed that Jasmine 'advised that she could not breathe and believed that she was going to drown. The victim advised that she had to fight Mark in order to get away from him and from under the water but he kept pushing her back under'. It is believed both adults had been drinking and there are claims there had been a row when Gibbon revealed the contents of his will. This week, Jasmine and her children flew home to Beaconsfield, while Gibbon still looking sun-kissed in the police mug shots swapped his swimming trunks for prison issue orange overalls. He will be spending the rest of his break in Polk County Jail, having been charged with attempted second-degree murder and battery. Jasmine and Mark were on holiday at the Solterra Resort in the town of Davenport, Florida, with her two children - his grandchildren - when he is alleged to have tried to drown her Jasmine, pictured with her two children, who are also Mark Gibbon's grandchildren While local reports suggest police are used to attending incidents at the popular holiday 'village' some online reviewers have previously complained about police being required to intervene at drunken pool parties and to deal with noise complaints about rowdy revellers this was on a much more serious scale and resulted in headlines on both sides of the Atlantic. County Sheriff Grady Judd took a dim view of the goings-on, telling reporters: 'We expect vacationers to behave while they visit with us, just as we expect our lifelong residents to do the same. 'Because Mr Gibbon couldn't control his anger, he may find himself spending a lot more time in Florida than he had anticipated.' US police said Gibbon a wealthy and well-connected man, by all accounts; his company has also provided services for music videos for Ed Sheeran, Sam Smith and Paloma Faith allegedly admitted pushing Jasmine underwater, but said he did not intend to drown her. He will face court on September 9. Ms Wyld is believed to have suffered a scratch to her chest during the incident and was 'left fearing for her life'. Of course, far-flung family get-togethers can be fraught affairs but as the background to this disastrous family holiday started to emerge this week, the shock factor soared. The Daily Mail discovered that some of those extended family members believe that for the past two years, Gibbon and Jasmine have actually been in a relationship one that has split the family asunder. Our source, who is someone close to the family, this week revealed that even before this latest holiday debacle, eyebrows had been raised about the complicated car-crash relationship which caused the family to implode after Gibbon's son Alex Jasmine's ex-husband and the father of her children found his ex-wife in his father's bed. The Solterra Resort in the town of Davenport, Florida, where the family drama unfolded Last year, Alex himself served time in prison after an altercation with his father in 2023 ended with him running the older man over in an 80,000 Porsche. After a blazing row, Gibbon had tried to stop his son driving off by getting in front of the car. Instead, Alex ran him over. He was released from prison six months ago. Our source revealed that not only did the family unit collapse after Alex found his ex-wife in his father's bed, but that the rift is ongoing. Alex now lives with his mother (who is divorced from his father) in Oxfordshire. Neither she, Alex, nor his sister speak to or have any contact with Mark Gibbon. 'The relationship between Mark and Jasmine is very, very, odd to say the least,' our source explained. 'It's torn the family apart. Alex and his sister don't have anything to do with their dad and their mother is so traumatised by the relationship that she's moved to a different county to get away from him. 'There's been so much bad blood between Alex and his dad. He just can't get over the fact that his father ended up in a relationship with his ex-partner and the mother of his children.' Although there is no evidence that there was an improper relationship between father and daughter-in-law while Jasmine and Alex were married, after the couple split up in 2021, things became complicated. There was one incident that marked the point of no return. Mark has been arrested and charged with attempted second-degree murder and battery 'About four years ago there was a big fall-out,' our source confirmed. 'Alex had been working away and came back to his family home one weekend to find the place empty. 'He couldn't reach Jasmine by phone but even back then he had his suspicions about her and his dad. So he drove from the family home in Bourne End to Beaconsfield where his dad lived and found her car parked outside. 'Alex had keys to his dad's house because he used to live there too and, as he went in, he saw Mark standing in the kitchen. 'He asked him, 'Where is she?' and, with a smirk on his face, [Mark] replied: 'Why don't you go and find her?' 'Alex went up the stairs and found Jasmine in his father's bed. They had a massive row. Jasmine said she had gone on a night out with friends the previous evening and dropped the kids around at Mark's to babysit. 'She decided to head to Mark's after, rather than go home, but during the evening she wandered into the wrong room by mistake. 'Alex had a fight with his dad over it and the police were called.' This was 'maybe a year' before an even more serious altercation, however, when a full-blown row between father and son spilled into violence. According to a source close to the family, there was a past incident where Jasmine's ex-husband Alex found the pair together in bed Our source continued: 'There was a big argument between Alex and his father in the street. Alex had had enough and got into his car to try to drive away but Mark got in front of the car to stop him from leaving. 'Alex shouted to him to get out of the way but Mark continued to obstruct him and was hit by the car as a result.' Alex pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving and harassment without violence. He was sentenced in February 2024 to two years in prison and given a three-year driving ban as well as a five-year restraining order. The family has never reconciled. 'This has destroyed the family,' stressed our source. 'No one has contact with Mark. There is so much anger towards him. The relationship is beyond repair. It's clearly a toxic relationship especially for the poor grandchildren.' What a mess even before this latest twist. The family business has suffered in the fall-out, too. While at one point Alex worked with his father he was appointed a director of a company called Ultralight UK in 2019 he left the firm in 2023. Meanwhile, Mark Gibbon, who lives in an 800,000 semi-detached property in Beaconsfield, is involved with Ms Wyld's hairdressing business. He is listed as a director of Sage Hairdressing, which was set up in July last year. There is also another lighting company, MRG Lighting Limited, which was established in 2023. A complex web, indeed, and it does appear that money is a factor in this whole unfolding debacle. Reports suggest that the row in the swimming pool in Florida last weekend could have been about Mark Gibbon's money and who would inherit it. It is claimed that Gibbon and Jasmine argued when he revealed that he was going to be leaving his fortune to his grandchildren in his will, while Jasmine is not named. 'I don't know for sure what happened on this holiday and why Mark has apparently tried to drown her,' says our source. 'But I've been told that Jasmine was unhappy that they have been in a relationship for a few years and she is not named in his will. Reports suggest that the row in the swimming pool in Florida last weekend could have been about Mark Gibbon's money and who would inherit it 'Mark is worth about 800,000 and he is leaving everything to his grandchildren. He's a successful businessman, who runs his own company and owns his own home. His will has caused some tension in the family.' There is clearly a background of shifting financial fortunes, alongside shifting emotional allegiances. Neighbours at the quiet street in Beaconsfield where Gibbon lives have been shocked to hear of the developments in Florida, describing him as a 'lovely guy' and confirming that Jasmine 'spends a lot of time at his home with her children. 'Mark absolutely dotes on his grandkids. They go on holiday together regularly', our source concurs. 'Mark and Jasmine do an awful lot together and they go away on holiday with the children a couple of times every year. She is always round at his house. She has a place of her own but she's nearly always in Beaconsfield with Mark.' 'They went to Florida two years ago and have been to Budapest where she posted pictures of them together like a couple.' Social media updates from happier times attest to this. In one picture Jasmine shared a family snap of herself and Mark with one of the children; in another, showing him larking about with beer glasses she quipped, 'only if all boss's [sic] was as fun as him', and followed up with a laughing emoji. Fun times, such as they were, would appear to be on hold for now. While Gibbon awaits his next court appearance, Jasmine and her children have flown home to the UK. Alas for her, she will now be dealing with the post-holiday dirty laundry in more ways than one. Oasis fever has gripped Edinburgh as 70,000 fans crammed into the city for the Gallagher brothers first Scots show together in 16 years. The atmosphere in the Scottish capital was electric, with pubs and bars in the area crammed full of gig-goers ahead of the concert. Bucket hats, parkas and Oasis-branded T-shirts were the order of the day as fans celebrated the much-anticipated reunion show. Lucky ticket holders for the sold-out gig could be heard singing Oasis hits as they made their way to the first Scottish appearance in the bands 41-date worldwide tour. Such was the demand that tickets on resale site Viagogo were going for up to 2,500. As the swarms of fans made their way to the home of Scottish Rugby, they met with Liam and Noel Gallagher lookalikes. Meanwhile, Joel Rushton, 20, and 22-year-old Euan Fraser, from Stirling, played Oasis tunes on the bagpipes and guitar outside the stadium. Some came along to soak up the atmosphere despite not having tickets. The groups generation-spanning appeal was clear from the hordes of parents taking their children to the gig to share in the excitement together. The atmosphere in Edinburgh was electric as 70,000 ticket holders walked to the show Liam and Noel Gallagher, pictured in Cardiff last month, have three sold-out nights at Murrayfield Oasis fans were delighted to finally get to see the band perform live after 16 years TV and radio presenter Gordon Smart was among them, accompanied by his 15-year-old son Jimmy. Also going to the sell-out concert was Sam Bidder, 36, with his wife Nicky, 37, and their girls Luna, 11, and Libby, nine. Mr Bidder, who lives in East Lothian, said: We were probably just a bit too young to go the first time round when we were teenagers. So its great to have the chance when theyre still hopefully young enough to put on an amazing show and were still young enough to really appreciate it. Theyre the songs that we grew up listening to. And the girls are really into their music I want them to experience a band like Oasis. It was announced in August that having fallen out after a major row in 2009 Noel, 58, and Liam, 52, would reunite. Some 900,000 tickets were sold for the tour, which is expected to net 600million for the brothers and their bandmates. An official fan shop selling licensed merchandise opened on Edinburghs George Street on Monday and is said to have already welcomed thousands of customers. 'Liam and Noel' greet fans as they get off the tram at Murrayfield Murrayfield was packed with Oasis fans on their way to the sell-out gig Support at the concert was provided by 90s indie band Cast and former frontman of The Verve, Richard Ashcroft. The gigs mark another chapter in the bands links with Scotland. Spotted performing at King Tuts Wah Wah Hut in Glasgow by Scottish record executive Alan McGee, the musicians signed to Creation Records in 1993. Three years later, an 80,000-strong crowd watched Oasis perform a legendary gig at Balloch Castle, on Loch Lomond, following the success of their first two albums. The latest three gigs, which are expected to bring in huge sums for the local economy, come at the height of Edinburghs festival season, with the population of the city nearly doubling over the course of the month. Among those travelling from overseas for the gig was Marta Marrero, 28, from Tenerife. She said: Ive been a fan since I was a teenager. I never thought I would be able to see them live, so when they said the news they are going to go do a concert I tried to book anywhere to see them. Im so happy because Scotland I love this country. Ive been before and fell in love, so when I could have Scotland and Oasis together it was great. Liz Wachtler, 35, and Helena Schuller, 32, travelled from Vienna. New mother Ms Wachtler said she had left her eight-month-old daughter Louisa in the care of her father because she had to come and watch the Gallagher brothers perform in Edinburgh. She said: Its unbelievable they are together again and that we got tickets. Its a night to remember for always. Well explain it to my daughter when shes older: Mummy had to go, mummy had to go. Yosuke Karamsto and Takashi Nagano had come from half a world away Japan to attend. Closer to home were Scots Caroline and Barrie Dunn. Mrs Dunn was celebrating her 43rd birthday, with her husband having scooped up a ticket as a present for her. She joked: It saved him buying perfume and girly things and he can enjoy it with me. Hypocrite is a synonym for politician. The last few days have proved that to be painfully clear. Texas Governor Greg Abbott has been getting a jolly and deserved skewering for the proposed cartographic contortions that he hopes to do to the congressional maps in his state. At the behest of President Donald Trump, Abbott is trying to ram through a rare mid-decade re-drawing of the electoral districts to favor Republicans and juice the number of Texas GOP representatives in the next Congress. This is known as redistricting, or gerrymanding named for Elbridge Gerry (1744-1814), a Founding Father and the nation's fifth Vice President, whose salamander-shaped district in Massachusetts purportedly inspired an 18th century cartoonist to coin the term. The gerrymandering process is a bit like having the players in a game of Monopoly draw the board as they go. For another analogy: imagine trying to slice a birthday cake for a dozen clamoring six-year-olds, all of whom demand the biggest piece plus the frosted flower on top. Texas Republicans say that they're simply redrafting the maps to distribute voters more equitably among all the districts. But that also means diluting the minority Democratic voters in a sea of red. Back in the days of Elbridge Gerry himself, politicians gerrymandered with crude tools: a quill, a map, unabashed ambition, and plausible deniability. At the behest of President Donald Trump , Abbott is trying to ram through a rare re-drawing of the electoral districts to favor Republicans and juice the number of Texas GOP representatives in the next Congress This is known as redistricting, or gerrymanding named for Elbridge Gerry (1744-1814), a Founding Father and the nation's fifth Vice President, whose salamander-shaped district in Massachusetts purportedly inspired an 18th century cartoonist to coin the term In the current age, politicians employ artificial intelligence, demographic modeling, and software to predict who might vote the wrong way and how to water down unwelcome new constituencies even before the ballot is cast. But whether the maps are being redrawn in graphite, ink, or code, redistricting has always been eyed by civilians as dishonest and shady, political ambition and manipulation at its worst. In recent years, a few states have contemplated reform to the practice. California, Arizona and Michigan set up 'nonpartisan' commissions to draw district maps more fairly, allowing voters a better chance to pick their representatives in an impartial fashion. It was like switching from vodka shots to green juice: well-intentioned, vaguely healthy, and much less fun. Ultimately, in execution, incumbents of both parties remained protected. But at least the states tried. Meanwhile, throughout the other 47, the old game lives on souped-up with GPS coordinates and voter micro-targeting. And, despite what's been in the news this week, Republicans are not the sole bad actors. Yes, they've turned states such as Texas and Florida into voter labyrinths that would make M.C. Escher blush. But Democrats, too, have long been sketching some friendly new quadrants. With control of the House of Representative very much up for grabs in 2026, neither side wants to give up the chance to carve out bigger pieces of the pie, nor allow their foes to fork up larger chunks either. New York, for example, has gerrymandered its maps not once but twice in the last three years. Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul and her merry band of legislative elves have continued to reinforce an electoral machine that benefits the state's majority party, mandating that all election lawsuits be heard in Democrat-friendly counties, and redrawing judicial maps tosurprise!create more safe seats for Democrats. Republicans have turned states such as Texas and Florida into voter labyrinths that would make M.C. Escher blush. But Democrats, too, have long been sketching some friendly new quadrants New York, for example, has gerrymandered its maps not once but twice in the last three years (Pictured: New York Governor Kathy Hochul) California's Gavin Newsom is hardly handing out maps drawn by St. Francis of Assisi. The Golden State's 'nonpartisan' redistricting commission has been accused of cozying up to Democratic interests and now Newsom wants to make a special legislative effort to offset what Texas is up to. When Democrats do this, liberal leaning media outlets praise their actions as circumspect and savvy. When Republicans do it, it's constitutional piracy. But the math speaks for itself. In 2024, Donald Trump won around 32 percent of the vote in Marylandbut Republicans hold exactly one congressional seat out of eight. In Massachusetts, he got over 35 percentyet every single House member is a Democrat. Is that democracy? Or political performance art? The press loves to cast this as a morality play. But this is a story where every character is evil. Mark Halperin is the editor-in-chief and host of the interactive live video platform 2WAY and the host of the video podcast 'Next Up' on the Megyn Kelly network. And the biggest lie of all? That the other side started it. But the result is the same: a scorched-earth electoral map, drawn not to reflect the will of the people, but to deny it. And we, the people, are left with crooked lines and crookeder leaders and a vanishingly small number of districts in which the two parties actually have to compete to win. Both sides are delivering the same sanctimonious sermon: 'We're protecting democracy from the extremists.' Translation: We're ensuring our team has a hammerlock on power for the next decade, thank you very much. It's a bit like listening to a mobster explain why he's burning down a rival's bar 'for the good of the neighborhood.' If you believe one party is more virtuous than the other in this blood sport, you might also believe that Las Vegas casinos want you to win. The truthdeep, dark, and inconvenient is that gerrymandering is an abuse of power, no matter which animal is on your yard sign. Don't be the chump who picks a side. A sculpture that was being used as a doorstop before being valued at 2.5million could be blocked from being sold overseas. The bust of landowner Sir John Gordon ended up holding open a shed door in the Highlands before its true value was discovered. Carved by French artist Edme Bouchardon in 1728, it is estimated to be worth 2.5million. Highland Council, which owns the sculpture, has proposed selling it to raise funds for the community of Invergordon, a town named after the Gordon family. However, a report said the local authoritys application for a UK export licence, which is needed in case of an overseas sale, had been opposed and the licence bid is now under review. Invergordon Town Council bought the sculpture for 5 in 1930, but it was later placed in storage at an industrial estate, and its value was not appreciated until recent years. A hearing of the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest was held last month after an objection from Invergordon Museum was raised. The Highland Council report said the committee is assessing whether the bust meets any of the criteria that would deem it to be a national treasure and therefore prevent its sale. Celebrated French artist Edme Bouchardon sculpted the bust in 1728 The report stated: The council is currently awaiting the outcome of this review, and members will be updated in due course. The report stated: The council is currently awaiting the outcome of this review, and members will be updated in due course. The council report is due to be discussed at a meeting of the Black Isle and Easter Ross area committee next Monday. Sir John Gordon, who became an MP in 1742, was travelling in continental Europe when he met Bouchardon in Rome in 1728 and the sculpture was made. For years the bust was a feature at the Gordon familys Invergordon Castle, and survived a fire at the property in the 19th century. Maxine Smith, a former Highland councillor, said she rediscovered the bust in 1998, propping open a door in a Highland Council unit on an industrial estate. Highland Council describes the sculpture as a community asset belonging to Invergordon Common Good Fund. In 2016, it was exhibited at the Louvre in Paris and the J Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles. Auction house Sotherbys has already received a bid of more than 2.5million for the bust. Ms Smith said then that interest on the money made from the sale could be as much as 125,000 a year and this would be invested in the community. Under the plans, a museum-quality replica would be commissioned for display in the Highlands. A report to councillors has said: It is the considered opinion of the experts at Sothebys that the current offer received is at the top level of the market and represents peak offer for the bust. Police in Montana have finally arrested the man accused of murdering four people at a bar after he went on the run for seven days. Michael Brown, 45, was found alive - and was taken into custody on Friday. The 45-year-old is accused of killing four people at The Owl Bar in Anaconda on August 1, 2025. Around about 10:30 a.m. last Friday, Brown walked into the Anaconda bar and began shooting, killing a bartender and three patrons, according to the Montana Department of Justice. He then fled the scene in a pickup truck to the west of town and into the surrounding mountains, wearing only a pair of black shorts or underwear. The week-long search involved dozens of law enforcement agencies and hundreds of people, aerial resources, tracking dogs, and more, KRTV reported. The search encompassed a large area, and was concentrated in the mountains near Stumptown Road just west of Anaconda. Montana's Governor Greg Gianforte has confirmed Brown's arrest. 'The Anaconda shooter Michael Brown has been apprehended,' Gianforte wrote in a statement. 'Incredible response from law enforcement officers across Montana. Thank you to all partners for your commitment to the search. May God continue to be with the families of the four victims still grieving their loss.' Michael Brown, 45, was found alive - and was taken into custody on Friday, Montana Governor Greg Gianforte confirmed The shooting unfolded at 10:30am on Friday, August 1, 2025 at the Owl Bar in Anaconda, Montana just next to the suspect's home (home circled, bar left) Law enforcement hasn't released a motive in the shooting, and it's unclear if Brown had any connections to the three patrons and bartender who were killed. The victims were identified days after the attack as Anaconda residents Daniel Edwin Baillie, 59, Nancy Lauretta Kelley, 64, David Allen Leach, 70, and Tony Wayne Palm, 74, according to the Montana Department of Justice. Kelley was a bartender at the business, Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen confirmed in a press release. David Gwerder, the Owl Bar's owner, told the Associated Press that he knew Brown. Authorities confirmed the suspect lived next door to the bar. 'He knew everybody that was in that bar. I guarantee you that,' Gwerder said. 'He didn't have any running dispute with any of them. I just think he snapped.' Gwerder wasn't at the bar during the shooting and said he believed the four victims were the only ones inside the establishment. Brown served in the Army as an armor crewman from 2001 to 2005. He was deployed to Iraq from 2004 to March 2005, Army spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Ruth Castro said. A new photo revealed the moments after Brown (pictured) killed four individuals Law enforcement hasn't released a motive in the shooting, and it's unclear if Brown (pictured) had any connections to the three patrons and bartender who were killed Brown then served in the Montana National Guard from 2006 to March 2009 and left the military as a sergeant, according to Castro. Brown's niece, Clare Boyle, said last week that she and her family are heartbroken over the situation and the four lives that were lost. 'My heart breaks for this town. There is no amount of apology or words that could ever describe how sorry I am and how I feel for these families, my own included,' she told KRTV. She added that her uncle suffered from significant mental health challenges, including schizophrenia and PTSD from his time serving in the U.S. Army. This is a breaking news story. Thirty-two years and half the world away from this magical moment on the hallowed Murrayfield turf Oasis gate-crashed a show that would change their lives forever. Their unscheduled appearance at Glasgows exotically named King Tuts Wah Wah Hut (capacity 300) back in 1993 attracted an audience of just 12. But the young Gallagher brothers performance was so inspirational that night they were immediately signed up by Scots record label owner Alan McGee who just happened to be one of the 12 lucky attendees. The rest, as they say, is rock history. So Oasis has a lot to thank Scotland for, and last night at Murrayfield (capacity 210,000 over three nights) the band paid us back with interest. From Noels first jangly guitar chords on the opener Hello to Liams final haunting vocals on Champagne Supernova the band stormed through what must be one of the most polished and memorable concerts for decades. And, frankly, it was a privilege to witness it. I was lucky and old enough to see the band in their prime when they played at Balloch, Loch Lomond, in 1996. Would they still be able to create that distinctive Oasis sound and swagger 29 years later? As many as 210,000 fans will watch Oasis at Murrayfield over three nights Liam Gallagher on the long-awaited reunion tour Well the answer was definitely, not maybe. Theres been a lot of water (and brotherly bad blood) gone under the bridge since that fateful night in King Tuts. But having risen to the top through the chaotic 90s Britpop era then splitting up (finally, after many fights) in 2009, there then followed many years of will they, wont they rumours. Would the Gallaghers ever manage to put their not inconsiderable differences behind them (Noel once famously described Liam as a man with a fork in a world of soup) and get back on stage together again? The Oasis Reunion Tour has already attracted rave reviews after shows in Cardiff, Manchester and London. After Edinburgh, the 1billion steamroller trundles on to Dublin and finishes in Sao Paulo in Brazil on November 23. The entire tour sold out in minutes, with some fans willing to pay thousands of pounds to see them. And how does a band which never played a chord together for 16 long years manage to span two generations? Looking over Murrayfields ocean of bobbing bucket hats and adidas T-shirts, the crowd was a surreal mix of nostalgic middleaged couples whod witnessed the Oasis phenomenon first time round, and teenagers, many of whom had presumably listened to their parents dusted-off vinyl, caught the Gallagher brothers bug and come along for the ride Rocks most cantankerous siblings have created a rare thing mystique. Their reunion is a scene many fans didn't believe would happen And with that a whole new audience. The years of uncertainty created an anticipation rarely witnessed. When the tour was finally announced, many fans didnt believe the brothers would make it through the rehearsals without killing each other. Yet here we were. Oasis back on stage in Scotland and everyone was intent on having a party. Liam and Noel had that awkward, brotherly-cuddle embrace as they walked on to a thunderous roar. But that early tension quickly disappeared as the band hit the stage. A powerful, tight wall of sound. They rattled through all the favourites: Morning Glory; Half the World Away; Wonderwall; Rock and Roll Star; Dont Look Back in Anger; The Masterplan. Liam took a breather during the first 30 minutes to attack Edinburgh Council for suggesting Oasis fans are old, raucous and overweight. We have brought a billion pounds into this city and they slag our fans, he said. Were still waiting for an apology. Both brothers have kept active with their own bands during the Oasis, err, desert years, but I swear Liams voice is raspier, more drawl-y than ever before. Every forced syllable seemed to stretch from Murrayfield to Morningside. More than 500 drones spelled out the group's name ahead of their three massive gigs The crowd knew every word of every song, often threatening to drown out their Mancunian heroes as they belted out favourite after favourite mostly from their two most successful albums (Whats the Story) Morning Glory and Definitely Maybe. And the noise! The bands last Scottish performance also at Murrayfield, in 2009 was the most ground-shaking concert at the stadium according to the British Geological Survey, beating bands such as the Red Hot Chilli Peppers and Kings of Leon. Who among the thousands last night would bet against the Gallaghers beating their own record? And as the final chords and lyrics of the classic Champagne Supernova soared into the Edinburgh night sky it was all suddenly over. Maybe for the last time. Who knows? So thanks, Noel and Liam. It was a blast. Scotland, as some might say, certainly went Mad for It. An active shooter who opened fire at Emory College on Friday afternoon is dead, according to the Atlanta Police Department. 'The incident involved a single shooter, who is now deceased. One law enforcement officer was injured in the course of the response,' the department said. There is no longer a threat to the campus, but police have warned locals to steer clear of the vicinity as the scene remains an active investigation. Terrified locals were told to 'RUN, HIDE, FIGHT' after a gunman shot out near multiple buildings in the area, including at a nearby CVS pharmacy at Emory Point. Bullets shot by the suspect shattered windows at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) headquarters, which is located near Emory College. Dozens of police vehicles swarmed the college campus on Friday afternoon. Emory University and Emory University Hospital have been placed on lockdown. The suspect's identity remains unknown, and authorities haven't released a motive or a target. Hundreds of ticketless Oasis fans were sneaked into one of the band's Wembley gigs in a major security breach. As many as 200 revellers paid 350 each to be snuck into the iconic stadium via a disabled entrance. Two tipsters claimed a large group of fans were able to all use a copy of the same ticket to get into the venue. They were then handed wristbands giving them access to the VIP area at the front of the stage as Liam and Noel Gallagher performed. The two women masterminding the scam are said to have told the tipsters they had 'ten groups of 20' waiting - meaning around 200 are likely to have been sneaked in. Explaining how the scam worked, one of the fans said they were given their tickets before a woman drew a shape on their hands. They claimed the group was then instructed to go to the disabled door at entrance M - despite the tickets saying entrance F. One of the fans told The Sun: 'We showed our stamped hands to the person on the door, they scanned the tickets, even though we all had the same one, and let us in. Another member of staff then handed us a golden circle wristband and that was it. Hundreds of ticketless Oasis fans were sneaked into one of the band's Wembley gigs in a major security breach. Pictured: Oasis Live '25 at Wembley Stadium 25th July 2025 As many as 200 paid 350 each to be snuck in via a disabled entrance, The Sun was told. Pictured: Photographs of Oasis Live '25 at Wembley Stadium 25th July 2025 Two tipsters claimed a large group of fans were able to all use a copy of the same ticket to get into the North London stadium through a disabled entrance. Pictured: The first night of Oasis playing at Wembley stadium in London 'There were zero security searches. We just walked straight in.' The Daily Mail understands that over five nights at Wembley, six fans were arrested for trying to get in without a ticket, while 24 ticketless revellers were kicked out. Last night Wembley said police could be called in to investigate the security breach - which they viewed as a 'serious offence'. A spokesman for Wembley Stadium said: 'Entering Wembley Stadium without a ticket is a serious offence and we are investigating these allegations. If they are substantiated, we will refer our evidence to the police.' Oasis-fever hit London as the band returned to the capital to play their first gig there in more than 16 years last month. After a run of homecoming gigs in Manchester's Heaton Park, the rock and roll stars, fronted by Gallagher brothers Liam and Noel, took to the stage at London's Wembley Stadium on July 25. Fans pitched up at the venue 12 hours before the start having paid at least 151 per ticket - but some have paid 564 or more for the best seats. The band announced their highly anticipated reunion tour in August last year, after Noel quit in 2009 after a backstage brawl at the Rock en Seine festival in Paris. It comes as Oasis fever has gripped Edinburgh tonight as 70,000 fans crammed into the city for the Gallagher brothers' first Scots show together in 16 years. The atmosphere in the Scottish capital was electric, with pubs and bars in the area crammed full of gig-goers ahead of the concert. Bucket hats, parkas and Oasis-branded T-shirts were the order of the day as fans celebrated the much-anticipated reunion show. Lucky ticket holders for the sold-out gig could be heard singing Oasis hits as they made their way to the first Scottish appearance in the band's 41-date worldwide tour. Such was the demand that tickets on resale site Viagogo were going for up to 2,500. As the swarms of fans made their way to the home of Scottish Rugby, they met with Liam and Noel Gallagher lookalikes. Meanwhile, Joel Rushton, 20, and 22-year-old Euan Fraser, from Stirling, played Oasis tunes on the bagpipes and guitar outside the stadium. Some came along to soak up the atmosphere despite not having tickets. The group's generation-spanning appeal was clear from the hordes of parents taking their children to the gig to share in the excitement together. TV and radio presenter Gordon Smart was among them, accompanied by his 15-year-old son Jimmy. Also going to the sell-out concert was Sam Bidder, 36, with his wife Nicky, 37, and their girls Luna, 11, and Libby, nine. Mr Bidder, who lives in East Lothian, said: 'We were probably just a bit too young to go the first time round when we were teenagers. 'So it's great to have the chance when they're still hopefully young enough to put on an amazing show and we're still young enough to really appreciate it. 'They're the songs that we grew up listening to. And the girls are really into their music I want them to experience a band like Oasis.' Militant eco-activists have joined forces with supporters of the banned group Palestine Action, raising fears that Britain could face months of protest chaos. Eco-warriors from Just Stop Oil (JSO), Extinction Rebellion (XR) and Insulate Britain plan to back Palestine Action supporters during a fraught weekend of demonstrations. Police are gearing up to make mass arrests on Saturday when more than 500 people are expected to descend on London in solidarity with the outlawed pro-Gaza group. And 3,000 riot officers will reportedly be deployed and placed on standby to keep the peace at a series of anti-asylum demonstrations and counter protests in locations including Islington and Canary Wharf in London. JSO activists with a history of vandalising national treasures, blocking motorways and disrupting major sporting events are among those who have been held by police in recent weeks for supporting Palestine Action, which was proscribed as a terror group last month. This newspaper has obtained a recording that indicates activists intend to chain themselves to each other in support of the terror group, mirroring tactics used by climate change protesters to thwart police. It raises the spectre of Britain being brought to a standstill again, with protesters planning mass disruption until November, and a probable bill to taxpayers of millions of pounds. Experts warned on Friday that the 'coalescing' of groups under the banner of Palestine Action could present a 'very serious national security matter'. Militant eco-activists have joined forces with supporters of the banned group Palestine Action, raising fears that Britain could face months of protest chaos. Pictured: A pro-Palestine protest in London last month Police are gearing up to make mass arrests on Saturday when more than 500 people are expected to descend on London in solidarity with the outlawed pro-Gaza group. Pictured: Supporters of Palestine Action hold up signs at a rally in July Thousands of police will reportedly be deployed and placed on standby to keep the peace at a series of anti-asylum demonstrations and counter protests. Pictured: A Palestine Action supporter outside the High Court last month following the group's proscription On Friday night, Scotland Yard was preparing to make what could turn out to be hundreds of arrests after the group Defend Our Juries said it would intentionally break the law by holding up placards expressing support for Palestine Action. At least 500 activists are expected to demonstrate in Parliament Square, holding identical signs saying, 'I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action'. The group has instructed followers to write the same message to overwhelm police with the sheer number of people breaking terrorism laws. It will coincide with a separate London demonstration by the Palestine Coalition, made up of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Stop The War and other groups, which will take place with a march from Russell Square to Whitehall. Met Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner Ade Adelekan, who is leading the policing operation, warned that anyone expressing support for the Palestine Action will be arrested. He added: 'The Met is very experienced at dealing with large-scale protests, including where the protest activity crosses into criminality requiring arrests. 'While we will not go into specific details of our plan, the public can be assured that we will have the resources and processes in place to respond to any eventuality. 'Anyone showing support for Palestine Action can expect to be arrested.' JSO activists are among those who have been held by police in recent weeks for supporting Palestine Action, which was proscribed as a terror group last month Experts warned on Friday that the 'coalescing' of groups under the banner of Palestine Action could present a 'very serious national security matter' Admitting that the series of protests will put the force under strain, he said: 'The scale of the public order policing operation will put pressure on our resources.' Police expect custody cells to be at full capacity across the capital and officers may process some of those arrested in police vans. Prison bosses have also initiated emergency measures for a possible influx of demonstrators this weekend. Last week, Palestine Action received permission to challenge its banning after the High Court ruled it had an arguable case. The ban came after two military aircraft were vandalised at RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire in June, causing damage worth 7million. A judicial review will take place in November, with protests set to continue on a rolling basis until then. A recording from a meeting of Cage International, which supports people arrested under terror laws, last month indicates that some protesters are eager to ramp up their tactics. At the Birmingham event on July 24, climate activists called on attendees to chain themselves to each other, in tactics reminiscent of Just Stop Oil's protests, making it harder for police to make arrests. Around 200 have been arrested at protests in support of Palestine Action since the ban came in, with three people charged so far with showing support for the group. Pictured: Supporters march in central London on July 19 One activist, who described herself as 'formerly of Palestine Action' and 'just out of prison', called for a return to 'direct action'. She said: 'People are choosing to get arrested for holding up a placard. Palestine Action people were choosing to get arrested for doing a direct action.' She is awaiting trial on an allegation of conspiracy to commit criminal damage against two banks that activists claim have financial ties to Israel. At the same meeting, Angie Zelter, 74, encouraged elderly, white activists to chain themselves to younger, Muslim protesters at the demonstration. She told attendees to 'get arrested together', but 'rather than going in your nice comfort zone of old, middle-class women like me, or whatever, go and choose a young black Muslim guy, working class, as different as possible, basically'. Ms Zelter was arrested twice in 2019 for actions during XR demonstrations. It has long been feared that pro-Palestine protesters would seek to fill the void left by JSO after it disbanded in March, ending three years of mass protests. Palestine Action co-founder Richard Barnard is said to have been in a faction of XR around founder Roger Hallam, who also established JSO. Police expect custody cells to be at full capacity across the capital and officers may process some of those arrested in police vans. Pictured: Officers remove a person from a protest in central London last month Barnard was arrested in 2019 but acquitted for protesting on top of Tube trains in an XR stunt. Defend Our Juries has also been involved in supporting JSO activists, highlighting what it claims is a 'constitutional crisis' over new restrictions that prevent them explaining their motivations to juries. DOJ supporter Dr Alice Clack is facing a retrial next year after she was accused of causing criminal damage to the London premises of the US bank JP Morgan in July 2022 during a climate protest. Earlier this month, 83-year-old Sue Parfitt, a retired Church of England vicar, was among 29 people arrested in London on suspicion of terrorism offences for holding a placard that read: 'I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.' Around 200 have been arrested at protests in support of Palestine Action since the ban came in, with three people charged so far with showing support for the group. Professor Anthony Glees, a national security expert at the University of Buckingham, said: 'If we are seeing the coalescing of groups under the standard of Palestine Action, who are committed to acts of sabotage, that becomes a very serious national security matter. 'We are dealing with a united front of subversives who seek to undermine Government policy and, more seriously, perhaps undermine civil society and peacefulness in this country.' Susan Hall, of the London Assembly police and crime committee, called for an end to 'wretched constant demonstrations', saying: 'This Palestine Action support group is absolutely appalling. These protests are a drain on police.' President Donald Trump announced on Friday that he will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin next week in Alaska. The president broke the news on his Truth Social social media platform, confirming that the meeting would take place on Friday, August 15. 'The highly anticipated meeting between myself, as President of the United States of America, and President Vladimir Putin, of Russia, will take place next Friday, August 15, 2025, in the Great State of Alaska,' Trump wrote. 'Further details to follow. Thank you for your attention to this matter!' Earlier Friday, Trump spoke to reporters about his attempts to end the war between Ukraine and Russia, saying he would start by meeting with Putin. The president confirmed that some negotiations on territory in Ukraine would need to take place to end the war that has lasted three and a half years. 'It's complicated, nothing easy,' he previewed. 'It's very complicated but we're going to get some back and we're going to get some switched.' Trump said his focus was on ending the war and 'saving lives.' 'I think if we didn't come, Ukraine and Russia would have ended up being a World War, and I stopped that,' he said. President Donald Trump announced on Friday that he will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin next Friday in Alaska The statement, shared via Trump's social media platform Truth Social, described the meeting as 'highly anticipated,' though few details were provided The summit will be the first face-to-face meeting between the leaders of Russia and the United States since former President Joe Biden met with Putin in 2021. Russia invaded neighboring Ukraine in 2022 after meeting with Biden, who refused to meet with Putin after the invasion. The soon-to-be meeting also marks the first time Putin - or any Russian leader - has visited the U.S. since 2015 meeting when Putin met with then-President Barack Obama at the UN General Assembly Meeting in New York City on September 28, 2015. The surprise announcement comes just one day after the Trump's new deadline for Russia to commit to peace talks expired. Trumps statement also follows reports from several U.S. outlets citing a White House official, who indicated that any potential meeting with the Russian leader would be contingent on his willingness to engage directly with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. However, when pressed by reporters for clarification, the U.S. President stated that a meeting between Putin and Zelensky would not be a prerequisite for the planned U.S.-Russia talks to move forward. The U.S. leader is continuing to seek a diplomatic end to the war in Ukraine and is threatening economic sanctions if Putin continues to snub Volodymyr Zelensky. If the U.S. missed the peace talk deadline, the nation would have been expected to levy secondary tariffs targeting Russias key allies India and China. In anticipation of those surcharges, India last night announced it was suspending its orders for Russian oil. The soon-to-be meeting also marks the first time Putin - or any Russian leader - has visited the U.S. since 2015. The meeting is set to take place in the U.S. state of Alaska (pictured) The move would deprive the Kremlin of billions in oil revenues to bankroll its occupation and bombardment of Ukraine. When asked about the deadline, Trump said it was 'up to' Putin. Its going to be up to him [Putin]. Were going to see what he has to say. Its going to be up to him. Very disappointed. Posting on X, President Zelensky said a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia was still at the forefront of negotiations. He said: We remain mindful of the need for a real ceasefire. Ukraine is ready for it and there has been no clear public response from Russia yet. The question of whether Prince Andrew should be stripped of his titles has come to the spotlight once again ahead of the publication of Andrew Lownie's explosive new biography. Based on four years of painstaking research and hundreds of interviews, Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York, has been exclusively serialised by the Daily Mail. From Prince Andrew's peculiar sexual habits to Sarah Ferguson's friendship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, Mr Lownie uncovered a long list of the York family's secrets. 'There is very little that the Royal Family can actually do when it comes to Prince Andrew,' said Daily Mail's Editor-at-Large Richard Kay on the latest episode of Palace Confidential. 'He's been effectively sacked. He's the only royal prince who has been sacked from public life that I can think of. 'Short of sending him far, far away - and who would want him? - I think it's very insulting when I keep reading suggestions of sending him to the Falkland Islands. Do the people there particularly want Prince Andrew? I doubt it very much. 'So it's difficult to know what to do with him. He's just going to be there. They have managed it fairly well. He doesn't have any kind of public role. 'What about stripping him of everything? Well, he was born a prince, and he was given a dukedom. Daily Mail's Richard Kay, Richard Eden, Rebecca English and Jo Elvin are pictured in this week's episode of Palace Confidential 'There is very little that the Royal Family can actually do when it comes to Prince Andrew,' said Daily Mail's Editor-at-Large Richard Kay The question of whether Prince Andrew should be stripped of his titles has come to the spotlight once again ahead of the publication of Andrew Lownie's explosive new biography 'The one thing they could possibly do would be to remove the dukedom, but I think it would have to come through parliament, and I can't see any government of any shade wanting to get involved in anything like this. It would open up a real can of worms.' The question of whether the Duke should have his titles removed is this week's question in the Palace Confidential newsletter. So far, just six per cent of readers have responded 'no' to the question Richard stars on the hit YouTube panel show alongside Daily Mail's Diary Editor Richard Eden and Royal Editor Rebecca English. Rebecca, who had covered the royal beat for the Daily Mail since 2004, added: 'It's a hugely tricky one for them because he is there and he exists. 'They can't airbrush him out - he is a member of their family.' In an exclusive interview in the latest edition of the Daily Mail's royal newsletter, Palace Confidential, Mr Lownie said he contacted over 3,000 former school contemporaries, staff, colleagues and associates of the couple. 'Of whom 300 spoke to me,' Mr Lownie said. In the Palace Confidential episode, Richard Kay then goes on to point out that within the Royal Family, there is an instinct to 'circle the wagons and protect one of their own' Prince Andrew and Charles are pictured as they depart St Giles Cathedral after a Vigil in memory of Queen Elizabeth II on September 12, 2022 Some 3,000 people were approached while researching Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York 'Some on the record, but most off. 'They felt it was time to challenge the York familys carefully curated narrative. 'It is difficult because there tends to be a code of silence about the royals (no one wants to be cast out of the privileged circle). 'Additionally, their staff have to sign NDAs, royals are not fully subject to the Freedom of Information Act and there are strict limits on what questions MPs can ask about them in Parliament. 'I could also add the letters I received threatening to sue me, before a word of the manuscript had been seen. Charming people.' In the Palace Confidential episode, Richard Kay then goes on to point out that within the Royal Family, there is an instinct to 'circle the wagons and protect one of their own'. He added: 'Their first response in all these cases is "Oh, it's just the press, it's the media". This is different. This is a graphic book written by a figure who has some substance in the writing he has done. 'You can't just brush this away.' Mr Lownie uncovered a long list of the York family's secrets in his book, including Prince Andrew's peculiar sexual habits Andrew and Charles attend a Service of Thanksgiving to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee at St Paul's Cathedral on June 5, 2012 Richard Eden said: 'Certainly, what the King could do, and something that I have advocated for a long while, is strip him of his role as a Counsellor of State' Having covered the royal beat for more than 20 years, Richard Eden had his own thoughts on whether Andrew should be stripped of his titles. He said: 'Certainly, what the King could do, and something that I have advocated for a long while, is strip him of his role as a Counsellor of State. 'He and Prince Harry still have the legal right to deputise for the King. That could easily be stripped from them, as well as his title of Duke of York or other things if they wanted to. 'He is still in the line of succession. Yes, it would take an Act of Parliament, but that's no big deal. 'The King did it recently when he extended the list of Counsellors of State to include Princess Anne and Prince Edward. It could be done very easily indeed. 'That's something which I would strongly suggest he does.' Elsewhere in the episode, the panel discuss the possibility of Prince William taking 'decisive action' about aspects of the monarchy in the years to come. For more fascinating insights from the Mail's team of unrivalled experts, watch the latest episode of Palace Confidential in full now and subscribe to the Daily Mail Royals YouTube channel. Princess Beatrice attended the opening of a UAE bank's new London branch just hours before the Mail began serialising a bombshell new book about her family. First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) issued a press release last Friday with a photo showing the royal, who is ninth in line to the throne, smiling in a line-up at the event in Mayfair. However there was no mention of Beatrice in the 605-word statement, which named seven other people attending including the bank's bosses and a Labour minister. Among those in the picture were MP Douglas Alexander, the Minister for Trade Policy and Economic Security; and Mansoor Abulhoul, the UAE Ambassador to the UK. FAB's group chief executive Hana Al Rostamani opened the office, in the presence of the bank's vice chairman Mohamed bin Saif Al Nahyan and three board members. The press release also made reference to 'other dignitaries from the UAE and the UK' having been in attendance, but not naming Beatrice nor mentioning the Royal Family. The Princess - who was attending the event in a private rather than official royal capacity - was also in photos and videos on the bank's social media channels which suggested the event was last Thursday, a day before the press release came out. The release was issued on the same day that the Mail started serialising Andrew Lownie's explosive new book 'Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York'. The author has published a series of revelations in the book about the finances and alleged infidelity of Beatrice's parents, Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson. Princess Beatrice (centre, cream jacket) attends the launch event for First Abu Dhabi Bank's new branch in London's Mayfair last Friday with a series of bosses from the UAE-based lender First Abu Dhabi Bank issued a press release last Friday with a photo showing Princess Beatrice The image was part of a press release issued by First Abu Dhabi Bank announcing the branch An FAB spokeswoman told the Daily Mail: 'HRH Princess Beatrice, Mrs. Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, attended the official opening of First Abu Dhabi Banks branch in London as a guest of the bank. 'Our event marked a significant milestone in FABs longstanding relationship with the UK and brought together a range of stakeholders and special guests to celebrate this moment.' It comes less than a year after the 37-year-old mother-of-two visited Abu Dhabi last November on a business trip where she was networking at the highest level. Beatrice was revealed to have been rubbing shoulders with some of the region's key power players both in public and behind the scenes. Her visit came after the Duke of York faced calls to 'come clean' and reveal the secret sources of funding that are bankrolling his stay at Royal Lodge, Windsor. The elder daughter of the disgraced prince spoke about artificial intelligence at the Adipec energy conference in Abu Dhabi on November 4. The Princess also attended a private conference hosted by the UAE minister of industry, Dr Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, the day before. She was pictured at the event next to Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who is also the UAE's president. Princess Beatrice and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who is also the UAE's president, shake hands at an event in Abu Dhabi during her visit last November Princess Beatrice (front left) attended an energy and AI summit in Abu Dhabi last November The Al Nahyan royal family are one of the world's wealthiest monarchies and believed to own billions of pounds worth of property in London. Reporters were not allowed at the meeting, which included the CEOs of Shell and EDF, the vice president of Microsoft, and former Bank of England governor Mark Carney, now the UN special envoy for climate action. US journalist Hadley Gamble, who interviewed Beatrice at the Adipec conference, told The Mail On Sunday at the time: 'There was a general feeling that Beatrice was an unofficial ambassador for the UK.' She added: 'Beatrice was quite literally in the inner circle at a gathering of global energy CEOs, top finance guys and policy makers.' Beatrice made several visits to the region last autumn, and younger sister Eugenie has also attended events there. Beatrice who is vice president of tech company Afiniti was in Saudi Arabia last October for the Future Investment Initiative, described by Reuters news agency as 'an opportunity for attendees to forge relations with some of Saudi Arabia's biggest companies and its $925 billion sovereign wealth fund'. FAB has had a presence in London since 1977, when its predecessor the National Bank of Abu Dhabi became the first Gulf-based bank to operate in the UK. Princess Beatrice with her parents Andrew and Sarah at Eugenie's wedding in October 2018 Eugenie, Andrew and Beatrice at Windsor Castle for Harry and Meghan's wedding in May 2018 The new London branch, located at 20 Berkeley Square in Mayfair, is said to offer 'bespoke spaces designed to support private banking, corporate advisory, and tailored client services'. Mr Al Rostamani said: 'Over the past 48 years, the ties between the UK and UAE have deepened, with bilateral trade growing significantly to 24.3billion today. 'The opening of our new London office is more than a relocation; it marks a strategic hub for the future of finance, a place where global insight meets regional expertise, and where innovation fosters lasting relationships.' FAB has also launched what it described as a 'cultural activation exploring the creative and cultural ties between the UK and the UAE', which will feature 'cinematic artist films and immersive storytelling showcases'. It comes after FAB, which is the UAE's biggest lender by assets, beat first-quarter profit estimates in April, boosted by strong growth in non-interest income from fees and commissions. The bank, whose top shareholder is the $330billion Abu Dhabi wealth fund Mubadala, has been led by Mr Al Rostamani since 2021. The Daily Mail has contacted FAB and Buckingham Palace for comment. As one headline put it after publication of the report into the racism row at the Duke of Sussexs beloved Sentebale youth charity: Harrys response was so typical of him: Flounce off and blame others. Following his bitter and very public fall out with the chair of the trustees Dr Sophie Chanduka, Harry had quit the charity as patron alongside other key figures including co-founder Prince Seeiso of Lesotho Harry had clearly expected to be exonerated of all wrong-doing in the report by the Charity Commission watchdog. Yet the investigation said all parties were to blame, the Prince included. And it criticised him and others who quit for harming the charitys reputation. Worse, from Harrys point of view after hed walked away from the charity - set up in memory of his mother Diana to help children living with Aids and HIV - the commission said Dr Chanduka could stay as its chair. And when his nemesis followed this up by hailing the ruling and referencing Princess Diana, Harry reportedly accused her of acting in the poorest taste Harrys friends briefed that he was emotionally devastated and drained after losing the battle with the charity he has championed for the last 19 years. We were told that it was the destruction of his lifes work which has now all gone up in flames. Yet the commission concluded that if Harry and Dr Chanduka had sorted out their differences in private, not announced them to the world in a bitter battle of words, all the damage to Sentables reputation could have been avoided. In other words, hes as much to blame as anyone else for his lifes work going up in flames. Former Sentebale chairman Dr Sophie Chandauka and Prince Harry attend a benefit last year But Harry will never accept that. His life mantra is one of: Leave, blame, reposition, while never taking any responsibility or accountability for his own actions. And lets face it, Prince Harry now has a long record of quitting then blaming others. Oh, how tired we all are of Harry the Spare playing the victim card, blaming everyone else. As with most of his career paths since, his modus operandi has been one of getting out when the going got tough. He was a distinguished officer who survived in Afghanistan and could have forged a successful career in the Forces, but he quit. Despite being part of the once-celebrated Fab Four with William and Kate which held such promise for the future of the Royals, he and Meghan left. And rather than trying to work out problems allegedly encountered by his new bride Meghan, the young woman who was so supported by our late Queen he chose to quit the Royal family. As for his royal duties, he went off to America to make his putrid millions vilifying the Royal family. Same old mantra: bail then blame. Im not a fan of Sentebales chair Sophie Chaddauka - she looks as hard as nails - but shes chewed up and spat out the privileged hapless Harry. The Duke of Sussex while on his Afghanistan tour as an Apache helicopter pilot in December 2012 Quitting his beloved charity set up in the name of his beloved mother Diana? Even she would be dismayed by his gutlessness and sanctimony. And who are the real victims of this? Not him luxuriating in his Montecito mansion with his Netflix wife flogging jams and wine as hes feeding his organic chooks. But the impoverished children he vowed all those years ago to protect to the end. Harry quit the Army, quit the Royal Family, quit his brother William and sister-in-law Kate and, in my view, quit his lifes work Sentebale. So forgive me if I have no sympathy for serial quitter Harry. Test audiences condemn Saltburn director Emerald Fennells adaptation of Wuthering Heights as being gratuitously full of her trademark stylised depravity, for which read endless d*** scenes. Saltburn was revoltingly explicit enough, yet shes reached new heights, or depths, in her adaptation of Emily Brontes classic. Which is kind of odd for a happily married mum and actress who played Camilla in The Crown. The PMs wife Victoria Starmer is rumbled after taking 650 worth of freebie tickets for her and family members (though not hubby) to Ascot. Blimey how is it that Lady Invisible always seems to turn up for a jolly? M&S White Christmas A brave move for Marks & Spencer to ditch last years Christmas fairy Dawn French, 67, for the gap-toothed White Lotus actress Aimee Lou Wood, 31, on a hefty seven-figure sum. Aimee starred in the third, critically panned series, playing the promiscuous, nubile girlfriend of sleazy, much older, on-the-run, criminal Rick. Jolly good and oh-so on trend. But is M&S forgetting that those who spend the most money at Yuletide in their stores are still mumsy women over 45? White Lotus actress Aimee Lou Wood, 31, is the new face of Marks and Spencer Christmas Westminster wars Kemi Badenoch has rejected God but still defines herself as a Cultural Christian. What arrogance. There is no such thing. Christianity is not a culture, it is a faith possessed by huge numbers of Conservative voters. With her own God complex, Kemi must be the most tin-eared Tory leader since Liz Truss. Labours new one-in-one-out asylum policy hit the buffers in its first week. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper cant explain how it works or tell us how many illegals would be removed and now we learn even failed asylum seekers will still be able to dodge deportation using a laughable human rights loophole. David Beckham on his superyacht in St Tropez, looking au naturel as he takes a dip Were always criticising women being airbrushed for photoshoots, but men like David Beckham in his pec-perfect ad campaigns clearly do it too. So some solace for blokes to see this picture of a balding, heavily wrinkled Becks on holiday, au naturel-looking like a slightly flabby extra in a Guy Ritchie gangster movie. As ITV signs Gary Lineker to host a new Saturday-night game called The Box it is triumphantly headlined Snatch of the Day. Garys show will put a dozen celebrities in separate boxes and give them a challenge to complete. Lets hope the tasks dont include who can construct, unfurl and wave a pro-Palestinian flag the fastest. Katie Price... the role model Its hard not to feel sorry for Katie Price, banished from daughter Princesss TV debut in ITV2s The Princess Diaries because Mum is considered too low-rent or as Katie says: They think Im trash. Katie raised her handicapped son Harvey and has shown gumption throughout her colourful life. And thats something Princess, 18, could learn from. Moss bags Ibiza beach break Shes ditched her long-term boyfriend Nicollai von Bismark, her wellness brand Cosmoss has gone bust owing 2.3million, and now Kate Moss has spent the summer partying in Ibiza, carrying a stained sand-covered 35,000 Hermes bag as a beach tote. It was gaping open, perhaps to allow easy access to the bottles of beer and fags the once-fleeting health guru feels happiest with. Supermodel Kate Moss has summered in Ibiza, pictured using a 15,000 Hermes Birkin for her beach bag The love affair with the convertible is over as the market for soft-tops drops to a 25-year low. Maybe its for the good as these motors were mostly bought by men having a mid-life crisis. And driving around with their bald heads and sunburnt arms they ended up not looking cool but like prawns left too long on the barbie. Basket case BBC The latest scandal to hit the BBC is Strictly professionals using cocaine on set following the sacking of Givanni Pernice and Grazia Di Prima. This comes after the Huw Edwards horror show, the Bobby Vylan antisemitic rant at Glastonbury - and the debacle of sacking both MasterChef hosts Gregg Wallace and John Torode. The only man not sacked is the BBCs DG Tim Davie who shamefully is still in his job having presided over such chaos. Campaigners for laws to crack down on cosmetic surgery cowboys include the daughters of Alice Webb, 33, who died after a liquid Brazilian butt lift. A tragedy for those girls, yet mystery remains why a mum would take any risks when she looked lovely to begin with. Justified outrage after a 6ft 2in trans employee offered to help a 14-year-old girl with a bra fitting at M&S. My first bra wearing experience was also traumatic. My older brother called me sailors delight which I thought was a compliment before he added sunken chest. Home prices are being slashed across the US as the housing market cools with one city seeing them plunge almost seven percent. In July, prices dropped year-over-year in 14 of the 50 most populous US cities with Florida, California and Texas hit hard, reports Redfin. 'Sellers need to come to terms with two things,' said Redfin agent James Gulden. 'Homes are going to sit longer, and buyers are gaining the upper hand.' Homes are now lingering for weeks or months a stark contrast to the red-hot days of bidding wars and same-day offers. Sellers are being told to 'be realistic' and cut prices if they want to sell. The good news is the lower prices combined with a new, slightly lower mortgage rate means buyers can finally make a move. The national median sale price dropped to a five-month low in July, and Redfin economists expect a 1 percent national decline by the end of 2025. It's a sign that sellers are slashing prices from the start or offering concessions like HOA fees, covered closing costs, and repair credits to get deals done. Buyers are gaining the upper hand said James Gulden, a Redfin Premier agent in Boston Gulden said: 'I advise my sellers to be realistic about the price they're going to get. I'm also reminding sellers to be patient and not panic. 'Sure, many homes have been selling within a week for the last several years, but that's not historically normal. 'They have to reorient themselves to the fact that it may take several weeks, or more, before receiving an acceptable offer.' Five cities are being hit the hardest with price drops. Oakland, CA, led the downturn with a 6.8 percent plunge in median home-sale prices compared to last year. The median home sale price is now $850,000. Austin, TX, saw a 2.9 overall price cut from a year ago to its current $439,985, while Houston, TX, saw an average price drop of 2.8 percent to $343,492. In Florida, the market is still bleak. West Palm Beach had an overall 4.9 percent price drop to an average sale price of $475,625, while Jacksonville saw a 3.1 percent drop to an average home sale price of $372,375. Many hesitant buyers are holding out for it to get even worse, leaving homes on the market for a longer time. In West Palm Beach, properties are sitting unsold for a staggering 93 days on average the slowest pace of all 50 cities. That's 18 days longer than the same period in 2024. West Palm Beach had an overall 4.9 percent price drop on homes on the market in July Oakland, California, posted a 6.8 percent annual price drop, the steepest among the cities Houston had a year-over-year price drop of 2.8 percent for homes on the market in July Homes in Jacksonville are lingering for months on the market despite deep price cuts Sellers in Jacksonville who overprice initially find themselves making multiple reductions Pending sales are also down 1.4 percent year over year, while the supply of homes for sale is up 7.7 percent in West Palm. Nationwide, it doesn't get much better for sellers. Although the median US home-sale price is up 2 percent annually to $398,700 just shy of a record high it's far off from the 5 percent to 6 percent increases seen in late 2024 and early 2025. In the first three months of this year, 16.2 percent of homes sold included both a price drop and a seller concession up from 13 percent the year before. Both are indicators sellers are taking steps to make homes more attractive. Buyers, make your move. A recent Capitol Hill hearing has reignited debate over Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAPs) and the possibility of extraterrestrial life. In a May UAP briefing, physicist Dr Eric Davis, known for his work on top-secret Pentagon projects, stunned listeners by referencing alleged alien species, 'Grays, Nordics, Insectoids, and Reptilians,' as potential operators of unidentified craft. Davis described these entities as humanoid, approximately human-sized, and possibly linked to classified reverse-engineering programs. Missouri Representative Eric Burlison, a member of the House Oversight Committee and UAP caucus, prompted the discussion, revealing on The Endless Void with Kristin Fisher that he had heard these same four classifications in private briefings. 'I've heard those four classifications discussed in meetings in this office by others,' Burlison said. 'But what I wasn't expecting was for him to say it. I wasn't expecting Eric Davis, you know, respected scientists, to say that.' Burlison, a self-described skeptic, admitted uncertainty about Davis's sources, noting the physicist's comments may stem from firsthand knowledge or secondhand reports. 'If true, this would be a paradigm-shifting moment,' Burlison said. 'But if it is true, the government has no right to keep such a secret from the public it serves.' A respected scientists told Congress that there are four alien species piloting craft in our skies, including Nordics that have human-like features Dr Eric Davis (left) described these entities as humanoid, approximately human-sized, and possibly linked to classified reverse-engineering programs. Missouri Representative Eric Burlison prompted the question about the different alien species The concept of Grays as a popular alien archetype took hold in the mid-1960s, largely due to the famous Betty and Barney Hill abduction case. The couple described being taken by small humanoids with smooth gray skin, large black almond-shaped eyes, and lacking typical human features like noses or ears. Nordics are described as tall, slender beings resembling Scandinavian humans, with blonde hair, blue eyes, and fair skin. Often linked to the Pleiades star cluster, these entities are said to possess advanced technology and peaceful intentions, featuring prominently in 1950s contactee and UFO lore. Insectoids, meanwhile, have been part of alien mythology since at least the early 1900s, with roots tracing back to Georges Melies' 1902 film 'A Trip to the Moon.' These beings exhibit insect-like traits such as multiple limbs, exoskeletons, mandibles, and sometimes antennae. The reptilian theory, claiming shape-shifting reptilian aliens secretly control Earth, surged in popularity through conspiracy theorist David Icke in the late 20th century. Interestingly, similar half-human, half-serpent figures appear in ancient South and Southeast Asian myths, such as the Naga. Another is Grays, described as small humanoids with smooth gray skin, large black almond-shaped eyes, and lacking typical human features like noses or ears Betty (left) and Barney Hill (right) were the first Americans who claimed they were abducted by Grays in September 1961 While Davis named each of these in May, Burlison leaned toward a more earthly explanation, suggesting UAPs are likely advanced human-made technologies, perhaps experimental projects by private contractors. 'With all of the advancements that we've made, the fact that we discovered the Higgs Boson particle, all of the discoveries in quantum physics, and that nobody has figured out a way to create some form of advanced propulsion,' he remarked. However, Burlison expressed frustration at the thought of such technology existing, recalling how he sat delayed on a tarmac for three hours due to weather, joking, 'If we have advanced propulsion, I'm going to be really angry.' Critics have dismissed the hearings as veering into the absurd, with references to 'reptilians' and 'insectoids' sounding more like science fiction than serious inquiry. Insectoids, meanwhile, have been part of alien mythology since at least the early 1900s, with roots tracing back to Georges Melies' 1902 film 'A Trip to the Moon.' These beings exhibit insect-like traits such as multiple limbs, exoskeletons, mandibles, and sometimes antennae Davis named each of these under oath in May as the beings invading Earth's skies. Pictured is a shot from the 'Go Fast' video that was released in 'Some will think we're nuts,' Burlison acknowledged, aware of the skepticism his comments invite. Yet he defended the investigation, emphasizing that taxpayer money funds Pentagon, intelligence, and energy department programs studying UAPs. 'I owe it to the American people to get to the bottom of this,' he said. Burlison believes the public could handle the truth if aliens were confirmed. 'Most would just read the headline and move on,' he predicted, noting humanity's tendency to normalize even the most extraordinary revelations. However, he insisted that any such discoveries should not be hidden. 'The government belongs to the people, not the other way around,' Burlison stressed. 'Keeping such monumental secrets would betray the trust of the public.' While remaining cautious about extraterrestrial claims, Burlison plans to press Dr Davis for clarification on whether his startling remarks come from direct knowledge or secondary reports. The reptilian theory, claiming shape-shifting reptilian aliens secretly control Earth, surged in popularity through conspiracy theorist David Icke in the late 20th century Burlison believes the public could handle the truth if aliens were confirmed. 'Some will read the headline and go about their day,' he predicted, citing human behavior's tendency to normalize even earth-shattering news. However, he stressed that any such revelation should not be kept secret. 'I believe that this government belongs to the people. It's not that the people don't belong to the government,' he said, arguing that withholding paradigm-shifting discoveries would betray public trust. The lack of concrete evidence, coupled with Davis's ambiguous sources, keeps the debate speculative. Burlison plans to follow up with Davis to clarify whether his claims stem from direct observation or research assignments analyzing reported phenomena. The Gulf Stream has been getting weaker for much longer than we thought and it could be on the verge of total collapse due to climate change. According to British scientists, the Gulf Stream which is part of a much wider global system of ocean currents moved northwards 300 years ago. This, they say, is a sign that it started slowing down then before the Industrial Revolution and about 200 years earlier than previously believed. And the 'sensitive' system could soon 'cross a tipping point' prior to its total collapse. The Gulf Stream is a major ocean current that moves warm surface water from Mexico northward across the Atlantic towards Europe. It's one of the most important natural weather systems, keeping northern and western Europe warm. When it collapses, it could plummet Europe into a deep freeze reminiscent of the Hollywood film 'The Day After Tomorrow'. In the 2004 movie, the Thames freezes over and the Houses of Parliament are smothered in a deep layer of snow. The Gulf Steam: This warm, swift current starts in the Gulf of Mexico, flows through the straits of Florida and toward North Carolina, then turns eastward as it moves toward northwestern Europe Your browser does not support iframes. The new study was led by Edward Forman at the University of Southampton and James Baldini at Durham University. They explain that the Gulf Stream is only a small part of a much wider system of currents, officially called the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), which is being weakened by climate change. Described as 'the conveyor belt of the ocean', AMOC transports warm, salty water near the ocean's surface northwards from the tropics up to the northern hemisphere. This is crucial for keeping Europe, the UK, and the US east coast 'temperate' meaning neither very hot nor very cold. According to the team, when the AMOC weakens (slows down), the Gulf Stream moves northward, crossing the Atlantic at higher latitudes. Their study found that their Gulf Stream moved northward 300 years ago a sign that the AMOC started slowing down then. If AMOC slows down too much, it could lead to dramatic regional climate change. Northern Europe would experience extreme cooling of up to 15C, causing winter temperatures to plunge, overriding the warming driven by human activity. Meanwhile, rainfall and weather patterns across the tropics and subtropics either side of the equator would move and intensify. In the Hollywood blockbuster The Day After Tomorrow (pictured), ocean currents around the world stop as a result of global warming, triggering a new ice age on Earth 'The Day After Tomorrow' is based on the 1999 book The Coming Global Superstorm by Art Bell and Whitley Strieber What is the AMOC? The Gulf Stream is a small part of a much wider system of currents, officially called the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation or AMOC. Described as 'the conveyor belt of the ocean', it transports warm water near the ocean's surface northwards - from the tropics to the northern hemisphere. When the warm water reaches the North Atlantic (Europe and the UK, and the US east coast), it releases the heat and then freezes. As this ice forms, salt is left behind in the ocean water. Due to the large amount of salt in the water, it becomes denser, sinks, and is carried southwards back towards the tropics in the depths below. Eventually, the water gets pulled back up towards the surface and warms up in a process called upwelling, completing the cycle. Scientists think AMOC brings enough warmth to the northern hemisphere that without it, large parts of Europe could enter a deep freeze. Advertisement Perhaps surprisingly, the team based their findings on stalagmites the spectacular mineral formations that rise from the floor of caves. Stalagmites grow slowly as water drips down from the cave ceiling, gaining a millimetre every few years. Over hundreds or perhaps even thousands of years, stalagmites record the chemical signals of the dripwater that formed them revealing past climate patterns. 'Cold weather tends to be windier, for example, leading to more sea spray and more seawater in the dripwater,' the team explain in a piece for The Conversation. 'Analysing the chemistry of one of these stalagmites has thus enabled us to indirectly reconstruct past sea surface temperatures.' The team analysed stalagmites at Leamington Cave in northeastern Bermuda, which showed that after 1720, Bermudan sea surface temperatures cooled substantially for more than a century. At the same time, records to the north along the east coast of North America show the opposite warming where there had previously been cold temperatures suggesting the Gulf Stream had shifted north. Because the AMOC began weakening such a long time ago in 1720 before the widescale release of fossil fuels from machinery during the Industrial Revolution the AMOC may be more sensitive than we previously thought. As countries around the world continue to burn fossil fuels in the 21st century, the AMOC may be 'closer to a tipping point' than ever. Speleothems are mineral deposits formed from groundwater within underground caverns such as stalactites and stalagmites. Pictured at Leamington Cave in northeastern Bermuda One fingerprint of Amoc change is the position of the Gulf Stream (GS). When the AMOC weakens, the Gulf Stream moves northward, crossing the Atlantic at higher latitudes 'If a tipping point is crossed, the weakening would become self-perpetuating and lead to a near-complete shutdown of these vital ocean currents,' the team say. 'As global temperatures pass 1.5C over the next few years, many climate models predict further weakening of the AMOC and potentially even a collapse this century.' The study, published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment, shows that 'even small changes in ocean circulation can have large regional consequences'. 'A sustained movement of the Gulf Stream would lead to changing regional temperatures, rainfall patterns and more extreme weather,' they conclude. 'This could have serious implications for wildlife and food security, as ecosystems struggle to adapt to the changing climate.' Scientists have discovered the most massive black hole in the universe to date, boasting a size equivalent to 36 billion suns. It is located in the galaxy known as the Cosmic Horseshoe, five billion light-years from Earth. This behemoth is at least 10,000 times heavier than the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way. Astronomers say this is approaching the upper theoretical limit of what is physically possible in the universe. Scientists believe that every galaxy in the universe contains a supermassive black hole at its core. However, the largest galaxies of all could host even more colossal singularities called ultramassive black holes. Although there could be even larger voids lurking out among the stars, this is the biggest black hole that researchers have measured with a high degree of certainty. Co-author of the study Professor Thomas Collett, of the University of Portsmouth, says: 'This is amongst the top 10 most massive black holes ever discovered, and quite possibly the most massive.' Scientists have found the largest black hole ever detected inside a distant galaxy 5 billion light-years from Earth, and it contains as much mass as 36 billion suns The researchers believe that this ultramassive black hole owes its gargantuan mass to the size of its host galaxy. The Cosmic Horseshoe, where the black hole was found, is one of the biggest galaxies ever detected. Professor Collett says: 'We think the size of both is intimately linked, because when galaxies grow they can funnel matter down onto the central black hole.' That means the larger the host galaxy, the larger the black hole at its centre should be. However, the Cosmic Horseshoe is particularly interesting because it is what astronomers call a 'fossil group'. These colossal structures are left behind when an entire galaxy cluster collapses in on itself, crushing into a single large galaxy which progressively swallowed its neighbours. 'It is likely that all of the supermassive black holes that were originally in the companion galaxies have also now merged to form the ultramassive black hole that we have detected,' says Professor Collette. 'So we're seeing the end state of galaxy formation and the end state of black hole formation.' The black hole was only detectable because of the way it distorted the light from nearby galaxies (illustrated) and how fast stars close to the centre of the host galaxy were moving Even though this ultramassive black hole is absurdly large, it was actually extremely difficult for scientists to detect. Scientists are usually able to spot very distant black holes when they are 'accreting', or consuming, matter from their host galaxy. 'Some of this matter grows the black hole, but lots of it shines away in an incredibly bright source called a quasar,' says Professor Collett. These quasars release so much energy that they can be seen through telescopes on Earth and even prevent stars from forming in the surrounding galaxy. However, this newly discovered black hole is 'dormant' - meaning it isn't actively accreting any more matter or producing any tell-tale radiation. Instead, Professor Collette and his collaborators had to rely on how the black hole's enormous gravity affects the space around it. According to Einstein's theory of relativity, large masses bend and stretch the fabric of spacetime like a weight placed onto a trampoline. Really massive objects like black holes and galaxy clusters bend spacetime so much that the trajectory of passing light bends as it passes through these curved areas. Scientists say that the newly discovered black hole is 10,000 times more massive than Sagittarius A* (pictured), the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way For example, the Cosmic Horseshoe, where this black hole was found, is so large that it bends the light from a background galaxy into a horseshoe-shaped structure. Scientists call these Einstein Rings, and they are produced by a process known as gravitational lensing. In a new study, published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, the researchers use this feature of space to work out how big the black hole should be. Professor Collette says: 'We detected the effect of the black hole in two ways it is altering the path that light takes as it travels past the black hole and it is causing the stars in the inner regions of its host galaxy to move extremely quickly - almost 400 km/s.' Measuring the movement of stars is considered to be the 'gold standard' for working out the mass of black holes, but it isn't possible to do so accurately when a galaxy is so far away. That means the researchers had to supplement their findings with a measurement of how the black hole warps the light around it to accurately estimate its mass. 'By combining these two measurements, we can be completely confident that the black hole is real,' says Dr Collette. What makes this discovery so exciting is that these methods open the door to finding and measuring more black holes elsewhere in space. What makes this discovery so exciting is that the supermassive black hole wasn't actively accreting any more matter or producing a beam of energy known as a quasar (artist's impression). This opens the door to finding more dormant black holes elsewhere in the universe That could help researchers solve the puzzle of how black hole mass is related to galaxy size. Lead researcher Carlos Melo, a PhD candidate at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) in Brazil, says: 'Typically, for such remote systems, black hole mass measurements are only possible when the black hole is active. 'But those accretion-based estimates often come with significant uncertainties. 'This method allows us to detect and measure the mass of these hidden ultramassive black holes across the universe, even when they are completely silent.' The warm summer months mean sunny days, family picnics and, inevitably, wasps. The uninvited guests usually prompt chaos at otherwise wholesome outings. Now, experts have revealed what you should really do if a wasp gatecrashes your picnic or al-fresco dinner. And the worst way you can react, they say, is by running away. Seirian Sumner, a professor of Behavioural Ecology at University College London, warned if you start flapping and shouting, you are behaving like a predator. 'This might trigger the wasp's attack mode,' she wrote on The Conversation. 'Keep your mouth closed and avoid breathing heavily to minimise the release of carbon dioxide, which wasps use as a cue that a predator is attacking.' But what, then, should we do? Wasps are a common sight at picnics but instead of panicking and running away, an expert says you should leave them an 'offering' (stock image) The wasps that usually visit your picnic are typically the common yellowjacket and the German wasp, she said. They will be worker wasps, who are always female, and will be looking for food to feed their sibling larvae. The best way to keep them from bothering you is to provide a 'wasp offering', Professor Sumner explained. 'Is she carving off a lump of ham, gathering a dollop or jam or slurping at your sugary drink?' she said. 'Watch what she is eating because this gives you a clue to what your wasp offering will be.' Your offering should be a portion of whatever she harvested from your plate, and it can be moved slightly away from the rest of your food. 'If you let her have her share, you too can dine in peace,' Professor Sumner explained. 'You can gradually move your wasp offering further away from you.' Professor Sumner said watching what the wasps are interested in can provide insight into their colony (stock image) Keeping an eye on the wasps' feeding habits can also help you work out what is going on inside her colony. If the wasp wants ham, or some other kind of protein, you know her colony is full of hungry larvae, Dr Sumner said. This usually occurs around mid-to-late August. Meanwhile if the wasp is fixated on sugar at the table, such as jam or fizzy drinks, you know her colony is likely to be in its 'twilight' phase of life. 'A lot of us have been taught to fear wasps as aggressive insects that exist only to make our lives a misery,' Professor Sumner said. 'But with unsustainable wildlife loss across the planet, we need to learn to live alongside all organisms even wasps. They are important pollinators and predators of insects. 'A little knowledge about their natural history can help you dine safely alongside wasps.' Last month, a pest control expert warned wasps are attacking earlier than normal this year thanks to recent balmy weather. Usually, the insects are most aggressive in late autumn. Laurence Edwards, a leading beekeeper and entomologist, said this year's hot spring and summer have created perfect nesting conditions and colonies have 'exploded' in size far earlier than normal. Mr Edwards called this a 'perfect swarm' of environmental factors. 'It's a perfect swarm and it means that everyone should be on the lookout both for their own safety and that of other insects, such as bees,' he explained. The wasp's sting is designed as a selfdefence mechanism but, unlike bees, wasps can sting multiple times. The biblical Sea of Galilee has mysteriously turned a vivid blood-red, leaving locals rattled and warning of a 'bad omen.' Stunned visitors watched crimson waves roll onto the shore, with some comparing the eerie transformation to the ten plagues God inflicted on the Egyptians in the biblical narrative of Exodus. According to scripture, the curse saw the Niles waters struck by Moses staff at Gods command, turning them to blood in a divine act of judgment. 'Thus says the Lord: By this you shall know that I am the Lord. Behold, with the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water that is in the Nile, and it shall turn into blood,' Exodus 7:17-21 reads. The apocalyptic spectacle set social media ablaze, with many calling it a sign of the End Times, but scientists said there is a far less supernatural explanation. Israel's environmental ministry confirmed that the transformation this month was caused by a bloom of green algae in the freshwater lake, which turns red when a natural pigment builds up under intense sunlight. The pigment is harmless, officials stressed, and tests show the water is safe for swimming, despite its unsettling hue. Tests by the Kinneret Research Laboratory found the algae in the affected areas are harmless, with no health risks or allergic reactions reported among those exposed. The Sea of Galilee in Israel mysteriously turned red this month, sparking fears of biblical omens. However, officials confirmed a bloom of green algae turned the waters red The discoloration was caused by Botryococcus braunii, which is found in various aquatic environments like freshwater and brackish water bodies worldwide. It's a green microalga known for producing significant amounts of hydrocarbons, which are similar to crude petroleum and can be used for biofuel production. The phenomenon is caused by a natural buildup of pigments from certain algae, likely due to a bloom of microscopic organisms like cyanobacteria or dinoflagellates. These organisms produce vivid red colors when conditions such as warm temperatures, nutrient-rich waters and sunlight are present. While natural, the red waters have deep symbolic resonance for many Christians and Jewish communities, given the lakes biblical significance. In the New Testament, the Sea of Galilee was the setting for many of Jesus miracles, including walking on water and the miraculous catch of fish. It was also where he fed five thousand people with a few loaves and fish and called Peter, Andrew, James, and John to be his disciples. The Book of Exodus describes the Ten Plagues of God. The first the curse saw the Niles waters struck by Moses staff at Gods command, turning them to blood in a divine act of judgment The Sea of Galilee, also called Lake Tiberias, Genezareth Lake or Kinneret, is a freshwater lake in Israel. In 2021, a pool of water located close to the Dead Sea in the biblical region of Moab, modern-day Jordan, mysteriously turned blood red. The blood-red pond is located along the eastern shores of the Dead Sea, an area believed to be the site of the legendary cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, which, according to scripture, were destroyed by God for their wickedness. The images also sparked a furor on social media, with blood red waters carrying much significance in the Old Testament as one of the 10 plagues God cast upon the Pharaoh of Egypt to free the Jews from slavery. The Bible recounts that God sent ten plagues upon Egypt to persuade Pharaoh to free the Israelites from slavery. The first plague turned the Nile to blood, killing fish and poisoning the water, said to have occurred when Moses struck the Nile with his staff. Following the first plague, Egypt was struck by swarms of frogs, lice or gnats, and flies, along with deadly livestock disease and painful boils. A severe hailstorm, locust swarms, three days of thick darkness, and finally the death of every firstborn son forced Pharaoh to release the Israelites. The region around the Sea of Galilee has seen other dramatic events, such as the high salinity of the Dead Sea. A discovery beneath the ocean floor has revealed evidence of a catastrophic event that may be linked to the destruction of the legendary lost city of Atlantis. Some researchers, including well-known author Graham Hancock, have long proposed that around 12,800 years ago, a giant comet passed through Earth's atmosphere, triggering devastation that wiped out advanced civilizations worldwide. While credible proof of Atlantis itself remains elusive, scientists have now uncovered geochemical clues supporting the theory of this cataclysmic event, known as the Younger Dryas. The controversial Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis (YDIH) suggests Earth passed through debris from a disintegrating comet. The resulting impacts and shockwaves destabilized massive ice sheets, causing massive flooding that disrupted crucial ocean currents and triggered rapid climate cooling. Now, researchers led by the University of South Carolina have uncovered metallic debris, like comet dust and thousands of tiny microspherules, in Baffin Bay seafloor sediments, strengthening the comet impact theory. Archaeologist Marc Young, co-author of the study, told the Daily Mail: 'The Younger Dryas onset is associated with significant changes in human population dynamics all over the planet, though mostly in the northern hemisphere. 'Several independent studies over the last few years have shown conclusively that most of the megafaunal species that went extinct disappeared precisely at that time.' While credible proof of Atlantis itself remains elusive, scientists have now uncovered geochemical clues supporting the theory of this cataclysmic event, known as the Younger Dryasn (STOCK) Many mainstream scientists argue that the cooling was caused not by a comet but by glacial meltwater flooding the Atlantic Ocean. This influx of fresh water weakened ocean currents that transport warm tropical waters northward, leading to the temperature drop. However, Young pointed out that 'such cooling events have occurred dozens of times over the last 100,000 years, but none caused megafauna extinctions, wiped out human populations, or deposited a global layer of impact debris like the YD did.' He added: 'Furthermore, the release of meltwater into the oceans at the YD onset was orders of magnitude larger than previous events, causing a near-instantaneous global sea level rise of over 16 feet, while past sea level rises during similar coolings were negligible.' The sediment cores analyzed by the team serve as historical records, preserving layers of mud, sand and particles deposited over millennia. By examining these layers, scientists can reconstruct past climates, ecosystems and geological events. The four cores were collected from locations spanning about 620 miles across Baffin Bay, from shallow waters near Jones Sound to deeper areas near Davis Strait. The cores were taken from water depths between 1,640 and 7,870 feet. Scientists have found evidence of a comet crashing through Earth's atmosphere 12,800 years ago. This aligns with the controversial Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis. Pictured are microspherules that have extraterrestrial properties The four cores were collected from locations spanning about 620 miles across Baffin Bay, from shallow waters near Jones Sound to deeper areas near Davis Strait Iron-rich and silica-rich tiny spherical particles, or microspherules, were found in layers of the sediment cores dating back 12,800 years. These microspherules formed at very high temperatures, with bubbles, branching surface patterns and aerodynamic shapes that suggested they traveled fast through the air. The iron-rich microspherules also contained small blobs of a low-oxygen metal that is chemically between chromite and chromium-magnetite, minerals found in certain types of meteorites and impact materials. Led by Christopher R Moore, the researchers also detected a pronounced spike in platinum, a rare element often enriched during extraterrestrial impacts, in the same sediment layers containing the microspherules and comet dust. Fragments of melted glass and grains were also found, including melted clusters with iron-rich particles and quartz that melted or boiled at very high temperatures. These also included glass rich in iron, chromium, potassium and titanium. The theory says that Earth passed through debris from a disintegrating comet. Fragments of meltglass and melted grains were identified on the seafloor, which formed through extreme temperatures Small blobs of melted chromite, iron-chromium-nickel alloys, iron oxide, and tungsten were found fused onto quartz and magnetite grains from the Younger Dryas Boundary layers in the cores. These metallic blobs mostly consist of native nickel, iron-chromium-nickel alloys, and chromite, and they look very similar to melted splatters on minerals found in South Carolina that have been identified as cometary dust particles. Young emphasized the significance of this ocean-based evidence: 'Until now, no oceanic sediment cores had been used to test the Younger Dryas Impact Hypothesis. 'This is the first and only ocean-based geochemical evidence for the hypothesis since it was proposed in 2007. 'Importantly, it's the first time anyone has looked, and finding this evidence on the very first attempt is very promising. Technically, we have a 100 percent replication rate in ocean cores based on this data.' These findings indicate a geochemical anomaly occurring around when the Younger Dryas event began, but they do not provide direct evidence supporting the impact hypothesis, according to the team. The resulting impacts and shockwaves destabilized massive ice sheets, causing massive flooding that disrupted crucial ocean currents and triggered rapid climate cooling. The team also uncovered metallic dust particles, features of comets More research is needed to confirm whether the findings are indeed evidence of impact, and to firmly link an impact to climate cooling. 'Our identification of a Younger Dryas impact layer in deep marine sediments underscores the potential of oceanic records to broaden our understanding of this event and its climatological impacts,' Moore said. Co-author Dr Mohammed Baalousha added: 'It is great to implement our unique nano-analytical tools in a new area of study, namely the analysis of nanoparticles generated or transported to the Baffin Bay core site during the Younger Dryas. 'We are always happy to implement our tools to support our colleagues and explore new frontiers.' A legendary astronaut who commanded the almost doomed Apollo 13 lunar mission has passed away at the age of 97. Jim Lovell helped turn the 1970 failed moon mission into a success by safely bringing the crew back to Earth after an oxygen tank exploded. NASA Administrator Sean Duffy announced the commander's passing, saying the astronaut's life and work 'inspired millions of people across the decades.' 'Jim's character and steadfast courage helped our nation reach the moon and turned a potential tragedy into a success from which we learned an enormous amount,' Duffy said. 'We mourn his passing even as we celebrate his achievements. 'From a pair of pioneering Gemini missions to the successes of Apollo, Jim helped our nation forge a historic path in space that carries us forward to upcoming Artemis missions to the moon and beyond.' Lovell was a veteran of four spaceflights: Gemini VII, Gemini XII, Apollo 8 and Apollo 13. Born in Ohio, he graduated from the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, becoming a test pilot. Lovell served as a flight instructor and safety officer until 1963, when NASA selected him for a crewed space program. Jim Lovell, a veteran of four space missions, helped turn a failed moon mission into a success by safely bringing the crew back to Earth after an oxygen tank exploded The 1968 Apollo 8 crew, with Lovell, Frank Borman and William Anders, was the first to leave Earth's orbit and the first to fly to and circle the moon. Though they could not land on the lunar surface, their mission still put the US ahead of the Soviets in the space race. Letter writers said the crew's historic 'pale blue dot' photo of Earth from the moon, a world first, and their Christmas Eve reading from Genesis helped lift America during the turbulent year. That year saw the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr and Robert F Kennedy, the Tet Offensive in Vietnam and widespread protests against the Vietnam War and for civil rights. The three astronauts broadcast a reading about Jesus' birth to a worldwide television audience. They each read portions of the first 10 verses of Genesis, marking a historic moment in space exploration and a cultural touchstone. 'As the Command Module Pilot for Apollo 8, Jim and his crewmates became the first to lift off on a Saturn V rocket and orbit the Moon, proving that the lunar landing was within our reach, Duffy shared. 'As commander of the Apollo 13 mission, his calm strength under pressure helped return the crew safely to Earth and demonstrated the quick thinking and innovation that informed future NASA missions.' Hollywood superstar Tom Hanks played Lovell in director Ron Howard's acclaimed 1995 film, 'Apollo 13' NASA Administrator Sean Duffy announced the commander's passing, saying the astronaut's life and work 'inspired millions of people across the decades.' Lovell was a veteran of four spaceflights: Gemini VII, Gemini XII, Apollo 8 and Apollo 13 The Apollo 13 mission, planned as the third lunar landing, was cut short when an oxygen tank in the Service Module exploded. The blast, which happened roughly two days into the flight, severely damaged the spacecraft and knocked out the command module's life support and electrical systems. 'The thought crossed our mind that we were in deep trouble. But we never dwelled on it,' Lovell said in the NASA interview. 'We never admitted to ourselves that, 'Hey, we're not going to make it.' Well, only one time - when Fred looked at ... the lunar module and found out we had about 45 hours worth of power and we were 90 hours from home.' Lovell and his crew, working closely with Mission Control, saved Apollo 13 by quickly adapting the lunar module into a lifeboat after an explosion crippled their spacecraft. They relied on the module's resources and engines to navigate around the moon and safely return to Earth, overcoming critical challenges such as limited oxygen, low power, and increasing carbon dioxide levels. People worldwide were captivated by the events unfolding in space, and got a happy ending. Apollo 13 was nearly doomed when it attempted to land on the moon, but the crew improvised and made it back to Earth safely (pictured) The astronauts altered course to fly a single time around the moon and back to Earth, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean near Samoa on April 17, 1970. 'Known for his wit, this unforgettable astronaut was nicknamed Smilin' Jim by his fellow astronauts because he was quick with a grin when he had a particularly funny comeback, said Duffy. 'Jim also served our country in the military, and the Navy has lost a proud academy graduate and test pilot. 'Jim Lovell embodied the bold resolve and optimism of both past and future explorers, and we will remember him always.' Lovell, who later had a moon crater named in his honor, retired as an astronaut in 1973, working first for a harbor towing company and then in telecommunications. Hollywood superstar Tom Hanks played Lovell in director Ron Howard's acclaimed 1995 film, 'Apollo 13.' The movie was inspired by Lovell's 1994 book, 'Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13.' Lovell recalled a meeting with Howard in which the director asked the astronaut which actor he would want to play him. 'I said, 'Kevin Costner,'' Lovell said. 'And Hanks never lets me forget that... But Hanks did a great job.' Lovell made a cameo appearance in the film as the commander of the US Navy ship that retrieves the astronauts and shakes hands with Hanks. Lovell had four children with his wife, Marilyn, who died in 2023. The Walking Dead actress Kelley Mack suffered a 'sudden relapse' after initially making a 'nice recovery' during her cancer treatment before her death aged 33. She passed away on August 2 following a battle with with glioma of the central nervous system, according to a statement her family shared on CaringBridge. The rising star's most prominent role during her lifetime was as Addy on The Walking Dead's ninth season, which aired from 2018 to 2019. Sudden: The Walking Dead actress Kelley Mack suffered a 'sudden relapse' after initially making a 'nice recovery' during cancer treatment before her shock death aged 33 A family source told TMZ Kelley underwent treatment in February and had recovered well - before her cancer relapsed 'out of nowhere' and spread through her body. They added she had a 'quick end'. Her representative said her death was a 'total' surprise as she had been auditioning for acting roles as recently as June - and that 'no-one expected ' her death. Kelley was in a wheelchair and auditioning for roles of characters with mobility issues. She was also doing voiceover work a month ago before telling her team she needed to take a break from auditions in early July. Fame: Kelley, right, is known for her role as Addy in season nine of The Walking Dead Her final movie - Universal - which she shot last year, is currently premiering at film festivals. She will be honored at a celebration of life ceremony in Glendale, Ohio, on August 16, and a memorial is planned for her friends and colleagues located around LA. 'It is with indelible sadness that we are announcing the passing of our dear Kelley,' her family wrote in a post shared to her Instagram account. 'Such a bright, fervent light has transitioned to the beyond, where we all eventually must go. 'Kelley passed peacefully on Saturday evening with her loving mother Kristen and steadfast aunt Karen present. Kelley has already come to many of her loved ones in the form of various butterflies . She will be missed by so many to depths that words cannot express.' The statement concluded with a reminder that she 'would want you all to know how much she loves you'. 'And as her sister, I want you all to know how brave that tough SOB was, especially when she decided to make the leap to be reunited with God. Im so f***ing proud of her.' Treatment: A family source told TMZ that Mack underwent treatment for glioma in February and had recovered well - before her cancer relapsed 'out of nowhere' Following the news of her death, her celebrity friends, including her co-stars from The Walking Dead, shared heartfelt tributes to the actress. Her The Walking Dead co-star Gustavo Gomez said: 'This is heartbreaking. I feel so lucky that our paths crossed. Your bright light will always shine on.' Anthony Michael Lopez commented: 'My deepest condolences, Kelley was such a sweet and happy soul and I'm happy to have met her. She fought so hard. Sending her and your family lots of light and love. Rest easy Kelley.' While comedian Chinedu Unaka penned: 'Such an extremely talented and kind person. RIP Kelley, you'll be missed.' Actress Alanna Masterson, who starred as Tara Chamber in The Walking Dead, penned: 'What an incredible human, so proud to have fought alongside her in our final episode together.' The show's director Michael Satrazemis added: 'I was lucky enough to create with Kelley on TWD. A bright light on every level. All my love to those who love her.' Brad Pitt's divorce from Angelina Jolie meant that their six children were not only cut out of his life but his mother's as well, Daily Mail can reveal. The actor's kids hadn't seen their doting grandmother Jane Pitt for nine years before her death on Tuesday, aged 84. Sources close to Brad described the situation as 'gut-wrenching' and blamed Angelina for the lack of contact. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO A mother's love: Brad Pitt shared a close bond with his mother, Jane, as new pictures emerged after her death (seen sharing a hug during his 2019 visit to his hometown Springfield, Missouri) The source said: 'The most gut-wrenching part is that Angelina kept the kids away from his parents, from their own grandparents. 'The question Brad has that we all have is Angelina where is your heart? Are you going to remain bitter for the rest of your life? 'It's one thing if she wants no contact, but what about the kids?' Family: Angelina pictured with five of her kids (Maddox, Vivienne, Knox, Shiloh, and Zahara) at the LA premiere of Eternals in 2021 Jane's obituary, printed in the Springfield News-Leader, noted she had 14 grandkids, six of Brad's children, three of his brother Doug's and five of sister Julie's. It read: 'Jane was a gifted artist who expressed herself most vividly through painting. Her love for art became a cherished bond between her and her grandchildren during craft sessions and painting lessons that created lasting memories. 'Known affectionately as "Grammy", Jane found immense joy in celebrating each grandchilds uniqueness through one-on-one traditions lovingly known as "Your Special Day". 'These treasured moments remain among the fondest memories for all fourteen of her grandchildren.' Throwback: A young Pitt seen with mom Jane, who was a supporter of his acting dreams, as he prepared to take the stage for a play while at the University of Missouri in the 1980s The image of Brad in college was taken while he was studying for a journalism degree at the University of Missouri and was a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity which often staged shows. Not long after the photo was taken, he moved to Los Angeles in search of fame and a film career both of which he achieved in spectacular style. Supportive: While Jane and husband Bill kept mostly out of the spotlight, they did occasionally join Brad on the red carpet while he and Angelina were still together Heartbreak: Jane had been cut off from her grandchildren for nine years Pitt, 61, was known to be close to his mother. The retired school counselor raised the megastar in the modest town of Springfield, Missouri, alongside his younger siblings Doug, 58 and Julie, 56. Jane was proud of her son's acting career and was supportive of it from the start, even before he got his big break in the 1991 blockbuster Thelma And Louise. But despite his success, Brad has never forgotten his midwestern roots and in 2019, was spotted back in Springfield hugging his mom as dad Bill looked on. Sadly, Bill, like Jane, Brad also been cut off from Shiloh, 19, twins Vivienne and Knox, 17, and their adopted siblings Maddox, 24, Pax, 21 and Zahara, 20. None of them are currently in contact with their dad, and all but Vivienne and Knox have dropped his surname. Biggest fan: Jane was famously proud of her sons acting career, supporting him from the very beginning Grief: Brad is said to be devastated by Angelinas decision to cut his family out of their childrens lives, with sources telling Daily Mail he believes she should be encouraging a relationship with their grandparents, even if Jane isn't here to see that wish come to fruition A separate source told Daily Mail that Pitt is determined to win his children back and wants nothing more than for them to be back in his life and that of his family. The insider added: 'Brad wants nothing more than to have resolution with his kids and to restore a relationship with them. If they aren't willing to meet him halfway, that's one thing but he said his own family, especially his parents, and now his dad, shouldn't have to suffer from something they had no part of. 'He said Angelina should have been encouraging the kids to maintain a relationship with their grandparents all along. Hopefully this is a wakeup call. Life is too short and too precious.' Another source said Brad wants his mother to be remembered for who she was: 'a mother to Brad, Julie and Doug, and a grandmother to all their children.' They added: 'Of course it was a shame and hugely emotional that she was unable to see Brad's kids for years, but she also understood what was happening and never took it out on Angelina or her grandchildren as she knew they might not want to talk to her because of the situation with their father. 'It was unfortunate but it became her life, she had to adapt.' As employers push harder for in-person work, employees are finding new ways to resist - without outright refusing to show up. Short of simply refusing to turn up office workers are finding new creative solutions to limit their in-person hours. The most popular trend, driven largely by millennials, is 'coffee badging'. It involves showing up at the office just long enough to grab a coffee, greet the right people, and then quietly leave to finish the day working remotely. 'Coffee badging': Workers are showing up to the office, grabbing a coffee, then simply heading home again The behavior is now so widespread that executives are seeing it as a threat to their efforts to return workforces to the office. Three-quarters of companies say they are struggling with employees coffee badging, a recent report found. At Samsung, the practice got so out of hand that its U.S. semiconductor division has rolled out a return-to-office monitoring tool, Business Insider reported earlier this week. The 'compliance tool' makes sure staff are turning up as often as expected by their bosses and also prevents 'lunch/coffee badging,' the company wrote in a memo to employees. Amazon has also cracked down, having one-on-one conversations with repeat offenders, Fortune reported. 'Now that it's been more than a year, we're starting to speak directly with employees who haven't regularly been spending meaningful amounts of time in the office to ensure they understand the importance of spending quality time with their colleagues,' a spokesperson from Amazon told the publication. Elsewhere 44 per cent of hybrid workers admitted to coffee badging, according to a survey conducted by Owl Labs. According to Bezinga, millennials are the demographic most likely to be trying to stretch the limits of hybrid work policies. Gen Z meanwhile are actually more keen to return to the office after starting their careers remotely during the pandemic. Young workers attend the office 3.1 days a week, compared to older age groups who show up between 2.5 and 2.7 days a week, a survey by property group JLL found. Prominent voices such as JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon have warned that homeworking is holding younger workers back. 'The young generation is being damaged by this,' he said in a leaked recording of a private meeting. 'They're being left behind socially, in sharing ideas, and meeting people.' Company wide mandates for minimum office attendance are becoming more common. Recently Google announced that many workers who had previously been cleared for home working would now have to attend the office for a minimum of three days a week. If staff do not comply they will face losing their jobs, the company said in April. Remote joy: Employers are struggling to get workers to give up the comforts of home working Forced return: Google is forcing some remote workers to return to the office for at least three days a week TD Bank also demanded its workers return to their corporate offices at least four days a week by early November. Melanie Burns, the bank's head of HR, told employees that working in person will boost collaboration and decision making. Burns also said coming into the office could improve individuals career prospects. For the first time since the pandemic, more than half of Fortune 100 employees are now expecting employees to show up five days a week. As well as private companies the federal government is also pushing workers back to the office. Summer night markets thrive in Jiaxing, China's Zhejiang Xinhua) 16:02, August 08, 2025 Residents visit a bazaar at a business district in Nanhu District of Jiaxing City, east China's Zhejiang Province, Aug. 7, 2025. Business districts and historical areas in Nanhu District of Jiaxing City have collaborated with hotels, shopping malls and restaurants to host distinctive summer night markets, attracting residents to enjoy their leisure time. (Xinhua/Xu Yu) Young people sing a song at a bazaar of a business district in Nanhu District of Jiaxing City, east China's Zhejiang Province, Aug. 7, 2025. Business districts and historical areas in Nanhu District of Jiaxing City have collaborated with hotels, shopping malls and restaurants to host distinctive summer night markets, attracting residents to enjoy their leisure time. (Xinhua/Xu Yu) Children play with water at a business district in Nanhu District of Jiaxing City, east China's Zhejiang Province, Aug. 7, 2025. Business districts and historical areas in Nanhu District of Jiaxing City have collaborated with hotels, shopping malls and restaurants to host distinctive summer night markets, attracting residents to enjoy their leisure time. (Xinhua/Xu Yu) This photo shows a business district in Nanhu District of Jiaxing City, east China's Zhejiang Province, Aug. 7, 2025. Business districts and historical areas in Nanhu District of Jiaxing City have collaborated with hotels, shopping malls and restaurants to host distinctive summer night markets, attracting residents to enjoy their leisure time. (Xinhua/Xu Yu) A performance is staged at a night market in Nanhu District of Jiaxing City, east China's Zhejiang Province, Aug. 7, 2025. Business districts and historical areas in Nanhu District of Jiaxing City have collaborated with hotels, shopping malls and restaurants to host distinctive summer night markets, attracting residents to enjoy their leisure time. (Xinhua/Xu Yu) Residents enjoy their leisure time at a business district in Nanhu District of Jiaxing City, east China's Zhejiang Province, Aug. 7, 2025. Business districts and historical areas in Nanhu District of Jiaxing City have collaborated with hotels, shopping malls and restaurants to host distinctive summer night markets, attracting residents to enjoy their leisure time. (Xinhua/Xu Yu) (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) Hollywood stars have incredibly photogenic faces that earn them millions in movies and TV series. And very often, there is a look-alike at home that is not in the business as they prefer to keep a lower profile. From Jennifer Garner's two sisters to Penelope and Monica Cruz, here is a look at the most interesting siblings with Tinseltown ties... JENNIFER GARNER AND HER SISTERS SUSANNAH AND MELISSA Alike: Jennifer Garner bears a striking resemblence to her sisters Susannah and Melissa Jennifer Garner shared an adorable throwback snap with her younger sisters Susannah and Melissa on Instagram in 2021. While it's unclear when the photo was dated, the actress was in her childhood years, as she added a few 'discussion points' with her fans. Among them were the entire Garner girl clan's 'lifelong struggle' with bangs, even at such a precocious age. Jennifer was wearing a quilted vest and a white top, and while they all had different hair styles, they all sported bangs covering their forehead. Family: Jennifer posed with Melissa and Susannah at her Hollywood Star ceremony in 2018 'Discussion points: 1. Garner girls + bangs = lifelong struggle 2. Ears. 3. Growing out a bowl cut is never easy,' she began. Her last discussion point was, 'When mom is in a quilting phase,' adding, 'Thank you. ( I love my sisters ).' Garner got a number of replies from her celebrity friends including Merrin Dungey, who said: 'THIS IS EVERYTHING.' Ione Skye added: 'I love everything about this. So nostalgic for these patterns and styles.' Mia Maestro chimed in: 'I mean,' with four hands raised emojis. KATIE HOLMES AND HER SISTERS TAMERA, HOLLY AND NANCY Striking: In 2021, Katie Holmes posted this picture of her and her sisters Katie Holmes shared a rare photo with all three of her older sisters when they attended a performance of her Broadway show Our Town in October 2024. The actress has four siblings total: three sisters and a brother. All four of her siblings live in Ohio. Her brother's name is Martin Holmes Jr., and her sisters' names are Tamera Holmes, Holly Ann Holmes, and Nancy Kay Holmes. Together: Katie is seen in a rare photo with all three of her older sisters when they attended a performance of her Broadway show Our Town; their parents are to the left Holmes visited her family in 2019 when she was set to give a commencement speech at the University of Toledo. The star also posted a photo with her sisters and her mom then too. In 2021 she posted the photo that shows her and her three sisters huddled together in front of two bouquets of roses. Katie wore a gray thigh-length dress in the photo. She captioned the throwback picture:'My sisters and me', followed by a heart emoji. Some of the movie star's sisters have also appeared alongside her at red carpet events. JENNIFER LOPEZ AND HER SISTERS LYNDA AND LESLIE Sisters: Jennifer Lopez has two look-alike sisters - Leslie and Linda Jennifer Lopez has two look-alike sisters but she hardly ever shares photos with them. The star posted a flashback photo with both her sisters to celebrate International Women's Day in 2022. She was seen with younger sister Lynda Lopez and older sister Leslie Lopez. Lynda is an American journalist and author based in New York City. She is also a co-founder of Nuyorican Productions, an American production company founded in 2001 with Benny Medina which became active in 2006 with the release of South Beach. Star: J-Lo performed on stage during her concert in Istanbul on August 5 Leslie-Ann Lopez keeps a quieter profile. She works as a teacher. On her Instagram account, which is private, she says, 'Musician, LMT, mother to Brendon Scholl of Draw With Me.' The siblings grew up in The Bronx with parents Guadalupe and David. In her caption, J-Lo wrote: 'Happy #InternationalWomensDay!!! Each and every day I am inspired by so many talented, incredible and amazing women. 'We truly make the world go round. From my inspirations in life to my beautiful family and friends today and every day is your day... we celebrate and honor you .' PENELOPE CRUZ AND HER SISTER MONICA Siblings: Penelope Cruz (L) and Monica Cruz (R) attend La Reina de Espana premiere at Callao City Lights in 2016 in Madrid, Spain Penelope Cruz has a younger sister, Monica, who looks just like her. Monica looks so much like Penelope, in fact, that she stood in for the actress during scenes for 2011's Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. In 2023, the Oscar-winning star talked about her younger sibling. When asked whether she and Monica influenced each other's styles, Penelope said: 'Yes, a lot, to the point of, you know, taking a lot of clothes from each other's closets. 'Sometimes wearing exactly the same thing when we were little girls.' Cruz then said that she and Monica would hide 'in the bathroom together and sitting on the floor with magazines and drawing on top of the designs and changing the designs.' Modeling: The pair are seen in a Mango ad from 2008 She added: 'So that was always our main game and a fantasy.' Penelope and Monica have often worked together on collections. They designed a collection of jewelry and handbags for Japanese fashion house Samantha Thavasa. Cruz and her sister created two collections for Swiss retailer Charles Vogele in 2010 and 2011. And the pair teamed up again 2013 to design a lingerie line titled L'Agent for British lingerie retailer Agent Provocateur. CAMERON DIAZ AND HER SISTER CHIMENE Blondes: Cameron Diaz and sister Chimene Cain attend the Third Annual GQ Men of the Year Awards in New York City in 1998 Cameron Diaz and her older sister Chimene Cain grew up near Long Beach in California. The star and her sibling look very much alike with the same wide, engaging smile. Hollywood icon Diaz - who used to be a model before landing a role in The Mask - is taller, however. But they have a similar build and hair color making them nearly identical. Leading lady: Cameron is seen in Napa in 2024 The Sex Tape actress, who's married to Good Charlotte's Benji Madden, told the New York Daily News: 'Sisters have an incredibly strong bond... there's nothing in the world like it.' Diaz said that her older sister used to play with her peers as Charlie's Angels in the 1970s, according to People, but the older girls wouldn't let her in on the fun. She joked: 'I don't think they even let me be Bosley.' MAMIE GUMMER AND HER SISTER GRACE Actresses: Mamie and Grace Gummer attend the New York premiere of Far from the Madding Crowd at The Paris Theater, New York Meryl Streep's daughter Mamie and Grace Gummer could pass for twins. They have the same almond eyes and wide smile with almost matching light brown hair. Mary Willa 'Mamie' Gummer is an actress. She starred in the title role of The CW series Emily Owens, M.D., and played the recurring role of Nancy Crozier on The Good Wife and its spin-off, The Good Fight. Mom: They are the daughters of Meryl Streep; seen at The Second Act screening in Cannes, France in 2024 Mamie has also appeared in the films Evening, Side Effects, and Cake. She was in Ricki And The Flash with her mom Meryl. Grace Jane Ronson is an actress and married to musician Mark Ronson. She received a Theatre World Award for her Broadway debut in the 2011 revival of Arcadia. Her television work includes recurring roles in The Newsroom and American Horror Story: Freak Show, and regular roles in Extant and Mr. Robot. ELLE FANNING AND HER SISTER DAKOTA Dakota Fanning's younger sister is Elle Fanning. The two seem to be very close and were even seen with their arms around each other in March at Netflix's Ripley NY Tastemaker event. Dakota wore a black dress with Elle in a ruby red coat. The two siblings showed off their striking resemblance as they posed side-by-side at the star-studded gathering. Glamour: Dakota Fanning's younger sister Elle Fanning was by her side in March at Netflix's Ripley NY Tastemaker event Elle is best known for her role opposite Angelina Jolie in Maleficent. She has also made headlines for dating Gus Wenner. In 2017, Dakota told Marie Claire magazine that she when she was younger she did not have much of a 'bond' with Elle because of the age difference. She said: 'There are a few years where you're both experiencing such different things; age nine and 13 nothing in common; 12 and 16 we didn't know what to do with each other,' she said. But they are much closer now, she said. On Friday, Dakota talked to E! News about Elle. She said: 'We have a very playful relationship, but we're not competitive. We were never competitive growing up.' She and Elle 'obviously have similarities,' but they live different things: 'We have really different personalities too, so I think that's also helpful. We like different things.' KATE MARA AND HER SISTER ROONEY They look very much alike, but Kate and Rooney Mara have wildly different careers. Kate is known for playing reporter Zoe Barnes in the political drama House of Cards and as the computer analyst Shari Rothenberg in the series 24. She was also in American Horror Story: Murder House (2011), Pose (2018), and A Teacher (2020). Her films include Random Hearts (1999), Brokeback Mountain (2005), We Are Marshall (2006), Shooter (2007), The Open Road (2009), The Martian (2015), Fantastic Four (2015), and Chappaquiddick (2018), among others. Different paths: Kate and Rooney Mara are seen in 2019 in Hollywood Rooney began her career acting with Tanner Hall (2009) but she first gained recognition for The Social Network (2010). Her big hit was 2011's The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Next came Side Effects (2013), Her (2013), and Carol (2015). She won raves when she portrayed Mary Magdalene in the biblical drama Mary Magdalene (2018). Next came Nightmare Alley (2021) and the drama Women Talking (2022). Both are in relationships with other celebrities. Rooney has a child with Gladiator star Joaquin Phoenix, while Kate has a baby with Jamie Bell; they wed in July 2017 and now split their time between Los Angeles and New York. MICHELLE PFEIFFER AND HER SISTERS DEDEE AND LORI ANN Beauties: Michelle Pfeiffer and sister Dedee in Santa Monica in 2012 Michelle Pfeiffer has a younger sister named Dedee Pfeiffer, who also acts. The actress often shares photos with Dedee on Instagram Dedee is best known for her work in several horror films. She began her career appearing in films include Vamp, The Allnighter, and The Horror Show. Pfeiffer later starred as Cybill's daughter, Rachel, in the CBS sitcom Cybill and as Sheri DeCarlo-Winston in the sitcom For Your Love. Reclusive: Michelle is seen with her more private sister Lori Ann Pfeiffer Their other sister Lori has done some Hollywood work, too. She was a production assistant on Into the Night. The beauty also acted in three movies: The Adventures of Ford Fairlane with Ed O'Neil, The Sky Is Falling starring Teri Garr, and the 2014 short Less. Michelle is a prolific performer whose screen career spans over five decades. She became one of Hollywood's most bankable stars during the 1980s and 1990s, as well as one of the era's most popular sex symbols. CINDY CRAWFORD AND HER SISTERS CHRIS AND DANIELLE The gang's all here: Cindy Crawford is seen with her look-alike sisters Chris and Danielle as well as their mother, Jennifer in 2021 Cindy Crawford shared a very rare flashback image in 2021 Cindy with her mother and sisters. She wrote in a caption: 'So nice to be reunited with my mom and sisters. Love you guys. ' The supermodel also had a brother, Jeffery, who died at age three of childhood leukemia. Airport security can often feel like a chaotic rush, with liquids, electronics and other belongings needing to be quickly organised and pushed through the scanners. However, there's one item that travellers are being urged to be particularly careful with. A TikTok user, @travel.by.the.books, revealed she avoids putting her mobile phone loose in the tray after an airport security worker gave her a stark warning. 'The thing I'm absolutely never doing when I go through TSA, I am not putting my phone directly into one of the containers or bins,' she explained in the video. 'It's always going inside a zipped pocket in my bag.' She continued: 'Why? I did this once, the TSA agent looked at me and said, "You don't like your phone?" 'I looked at him like he was a little crazy and I said, "Yes", and he said, "This is the fastest way to get it stolen." 'The number one thing that they see stolen on a regular basis is phones, and that's because they are left out and available, and the lines can back up, and somebody could just swipe it and you're not paying attention until you realise it's too late. Airport security can often feel like a chaotic rush, with liquids, electronics and other belongings needing to be quickly organised and pushed through the scanners A TikTok user, @travel.by.the.books, revealed she avoids putting her mobile phone loose in the tray after an airport security worker gave her a stark warning 'So always make sure that your valuables are zipped up into your bag when they go through the scanner.' Following the video, some viewers questioned the advice, arguing security workers often request that all electronics are taken out of bags. One person commented: 'Except when the airport requires all electronics and phones to be out in a bin.' Another added: 'Yes, but the problem is when they say take all of your electronics out of your bag they mean, take all of your electronics out of your bag. 'They even list, laptops, iPads, iPhones, any cellular phone. 'They list all of that has to come out of your bag and be in the bin, so you really can't get around it.' However, others agreed with the advice. One person commented: 'All the "ALL electronics in the bin" people, the official TSA regulation is all laptop computers. 'The number one thing that [airport workers] see stolen on a regular basis is phones, and that's because they are left out and available,' she explained 'So always make sure that your valuables are zipped up into your bag when they go through the scanner,' she added 'I've been getting "laptops out, leave the rest" shouted over my head at tourists/travelers for YEARS coming and going from various cities. 'Until they literally pull your bag off the line for it, you zip that stuff up.' Thousands of items a year are lost in airports. According to the TSA, approximately 90,000 to 100,000 items are left behind at checkpoints each month in American airports. A European holiday hotspot is struggling to balance mass tourism and the needs of local residents. Venice has long been a popular destination for holidaymakers to explore, whether during a day trip or a longer stay. Around 30million holidaymakers visit the Italian city each year and a daily 5 (4.35) tourist tax for day-trippers was introduced last year to help tackle overtourism. The charge was brought in as a trial in April and was payable over 54 selected days until July 27. Officials said that the charge, payable by visitors who arrived for the day between 8.30am and 4pm, was paid by 720,000 compared to 485,000 last year. However, annoyed Italians have voiced their views on the issue and many now feel overtourism is ruining the city and the tax may not be that effective. In a Reddit post from last year, someone spoke out about the tax and penned: 'How is the 5 tax supposed to help against tourist overcrowding in Venice? 'Oh no, I spent hundreds of euros on travel and hotels to get there, but 5 is too much! I'm going back to Indonesia!' Around 30million holidaymakers visit Venice each year and a daily 5 (4.35) tourist tax for day-trippers was introduced last year to help tackle overtourism The charge was brought in as a trial in April and was payable over 54 selected days until July 27 Many replied, airing similar grievances with how the problem is being handled. One Italian described the tax as 'despicable' and urged for a different approach. 'I find it a little despicable to pay to visit a city,' they said. 'A limited number of visitors would have made more sense, as Venice, being unique, certainly can't handle that impressive number of people. 'But if Venice's problem is overcrowding, primarily from foreign tourists, what do you solve by charging an entrance fee to the Italian minority who visit?' Someone else sarcastically argued: 'It's needed because Venice is a real city, it's not an attraction park where you pay a ticket to enter... Ah no wait.' Meanwhile, others complained of how 'disgusting' the city has become. 'Yes, the residents are virtually extinct. Mass tourism has killed the city,' one person said. However, annoyed Italians have voiced their views on the issue and many now feel overtourism is ruining the city and the tax may not be that effective Others complained of how 'disgusting' the city had become. 'Yes, the residents are virtually extinct. Mass tourism has killed the city,' another said 'If they wanted to manage overcrowding, they could implement a name-based reservation system,' someone else grumbled. In June, Setrak Tokatzian, president of the Venice's historic Piazza San Marco Association of small businesses, spoke out about the tax. He urged council chiefs to up the tax to an eye-watering 100 (87). Mr Tokatzian, who runs a jewellery shop in the heart of Venice, said it would be worth it because many of the 30million visitors to the city each year are lowering the tone of the city. Beachgoers in Spain have been left 'horrified' after discovering the rotting bodies of cows washing up on popular shores. Two separate incidents have been reported over the summer in coastal towns in Alicante, with the first sighting occurring in Playa de La Mata in Torrevieja on 30 July. Shocking footage captured by a local on TikTok shows the moment a large crowd of onlookers gather to observe the decomposed body of a cow that had been dragged to shore by strong waves. Lifeguards were alerted while the grim scene, which showed the animal laying motionless on its side, was recorded by several people. Only days later, on 4 August, the same happened on the beach of L'Espigo in Altea. The cow was found just a few metres from the line of buoys as tourists swam and sunbathed - oblivious to the harrowing discovery that was about to emerge from the water. The animal's carcass was first spotted by a jet ski rider who had assumed it was a large piece of plastic or a sperm whale. During the discovery, one baffled tourist quizzed: 'Can someone explain what is happening? How can a cow end up floating in the Mediterranean Sea?' Two separate incidents of cows washing ashore have been reported over the summer in coastal towns in Alicante, with the first sighting occurring in Playa de La Mata in Torrevieja on 30 July (pictured) Shocking footage captured by a local on TikTok shows the moment a large crowd of onlookers gather to observe the decomposed body of a cow that had been dragged to shore by strong waves In both cases, beachgoers were left especially stunned as they had initially thought the huge mass was rubbish or a type of marine animal - however, they were cows in an advanced state of decay. But the bizarre phenomena is not isolated to the Costa Blanca - in previous summers, dead cows have washed up on a number of Spanish beaches, including in the Canary Islands and the Balearics, as well as the mainland. The cows are believed to have come from 'stink boats,' which transport live cattle from South America to countries in Europe or North Africa. These journeys can take up to two weeks, and the boats are not allowed to visit ports due to the overwhelmingly unpleasant smell. If an animal happens to pass away en route, they are often thrown overboard - though this is explicitly forbidden by law. Environmentalists claim the animals' ears are normally cut off by boat handlers to avoid identification. Once they wash up on shores, authorised companies remove the bodies and dispose of them at waste facilities. Officials have not ruled out that more incidents will occur in the coming days, especially if related to bad practices in the maritime transport of livestock. Only days later, on 4 August, the same happened on the beach of L'Espigo in Altea (pictured) But the bizarre phenomena is not isolated to the Costa Blanca - in previous summers, dead cows have washed up on a number of Spanish beaches, including in the Canary Islands and the Balearics, as well as the mainland (Pictured: Tenerife) An expert said: 'This practice is totally prohibited by the Marpol agreement over discharges to the sea. 'The Mediterranean is a specially protected sea. This should not be allowed to happen. It is a serious infraction of the agreement and punishable.' Animal rights campaigners say the conditions on board the stink ships are 'disgusting' and action has to be taken to stop them. Questions are also being asked about whether the rotting corpses could cause any sort of health hazard to sunbathers and swimmers. Rachel Crampton, 39, made headlines in the Daily Mail back in 2022 after offering AUS$1000 (485) for help to take her three toddlers on a 23-hour flight. She found herself stuck, needing to travel back from her brother's wedding in the UK to Australia and her husband, Ben, unable to join for the journey. 'Anyone heading from London to Sydney who wants to make $1,000??' she posted on Facebook before listing the responsibilities of the job. She was inundated with volunteers and since then, the Sydney-based British mother has created her own business inspired by her situation. Juurnee connects parents needing help tackling long-haul flights with child-friendly travel companions. People looking for a flight companion can post their offer for free on the site, while those applying to the ads pay 15 a year to message the parents directly and offer their services. Speaking exclusively to the Daily Mail, Rachel describes how she 'definitely' never imagined she would have set up a company off the back of her asking for help. 'I was kind of in the midst of just having had a baby and thinking about my first trip back to the UK after a while because it had been Covid,' she explains. Rachel Crampton (pictured), 39, made headlines in the Daily Mail back in 2022 after offering $1000 for help to take her three toddlers on a 23-hour flight She found herself stuck, needing to travel back from her brother's wedding in the UK to Australia and her husband, Ben, unable to join for the journey She was inundated with volunteers and since then, the Sydney-based British mother has created her own business inspired by her situation. Pictured: A mother and a Juurnee companion 'I kind of didn't think that at all, but that's sort of how it ended up.' After sifting through the hundreds of applicants to her advert, Rachel selected an Australian girl called Sarah who couldn't afford a flight home from London. It proved to be a success, with Sarah helping out for the entire 23 hours, and after an overwhelming public response as well as friends urging her to do so, Rachel set up Juurnee. She works on the site while also balancing a full time job, but says she's had 'loads of people using it'. Around 12,000 people have signed up since it launched as a trial in Australia in October, and it is now coming to the UK. 'This is something on the side I just wanted to do because after having been in the situation myself,' Rachel shares. 'The thought of that flight, having to do that by myself with my three really young children, and potentially not actually getting back to see my own family as I attend my brother's wedding. 'I thought, if it hadn't been for that girl that helped me, I might not have done that trick and so I just wanted to get it out there and help other people in the same situation as I was in.' Juurnee connects parents needing help tackling long-haul flights with child-friendly travel companions. Pictured: A mother and a Juurnee companion 'This is something on the side I just wanted to do because after having been in the situation myself,' Rachel shares. Pictured: A mother and a Juurnee companion There are plenty of opportunities on the website for those hoping to help and travel around too. Someone is offering 100 to help an elderly aunt during a journey from Melbourne to Delhi. Another ad promises a free flight, usually costing 500, to accompany an elderly passenger from Bangkok to London. Rachel has witnessed plenty of success stories happen through Juurnee, including one that particularly stands out to her. 'A girl who flew across to the UK, she's South African, and had two young children and her husband couldn't come as early as she could,' Rachel recalls. 'But the only way that she would be able to see her grandfather and he would meet the great grandchildren, was if she could get to the UK earlier, because he was flying over from South Africa and would only be there that week. 'And the husband couldn't fly to work at that time, and she said, I'm not doing the flight by myself with the kids, and because of Juurnee she could do the flight. Rachel has witnessed plenty of success stories happen through Juurnee, including one that particularly stands out to her 'The grandfather got to meet the great grandchildren, which without Juurnee wouldn't have happened.' The mum of three even has plans to use Juurnee herself this October when she might be sending her daughter to New Zealand during the school holidays. 'We're actually going to use it this October, because my seven year old will be on school holidays and we'll be working so we might send her over to New Zealand to stay with her grandparents,' Rachel says. 'So we'll get a Juurnee companion to accompany her, so that she's not just alone on the flight.' The content creator claimed there was little difference in taste of each beverage An American man who sampled three popular UK soft drinks has left Brits outraged after claiming they 'taste the same.' The content creator, who goes by @redbusruss on TikTok, regularly shares his take on British classics in the form of video reviews, testing everything from chicken tikka masala to Greggs' sausage rolls to supermarket meal deals. In his latest venture, he was persuaded by his British girlfriend to try three 'childhood favourite' beverages in a blind taste test. A clip uploaded to his page in May shows the foodie sat behind a cardboard box containing three 'mystery' carbonated drinks shielded from view: Vimto, Tizer and Irn-Bru. Sampling the Vimto drink - which contains a fruity mix of grape, blackcurrant and raspberry - he compared the taste to an 'artificial bubblegum' flavour commonly found in sodas back in the United States. Awarding it a 4 out of 10, he added that Vimto could make for a 'refreshing' drink on a hot, sunny day. Next, the content creator sipped on a Tizer, which contains a 'mix of citrus and red fruits with a zingy, refreshing bite.' He was left pleasantly surprised by its 'more traditional' flavour, adding that it tasted sweet, like an 'orangey creamy' Coca Cola. A content creator, who goes by @redbusruss on TikTok, was persuaded by his British girlfriend to try three 'childhood favourite' beverages in a blind taste test A clip uploaded to his page in May shows the foodie sat behind a cardboard box containing three 'mystery' carbonated drinks shielded from view: Vimto, Tizer and Irn-Bru Despite this, he gave the drink a sluggish score of 5 out of 10 - though he later increased it to 6. Finally, he tried considerably the most iconic drink of them all, Irn-Bru, which is known for its Scottish roots and its distinctive taste. However, the avid reviewer wasn't entirely sold on the beloved drink, as he gave it a 6 out of 10 and noted: 'It tastes like the first one again. There are hints of the bubblegum flavour again.' He also described the flavour as having a 'weird berry or orange' taste. Once he'd finished trying each drink, he revealed his least favourite was Vimto due to the 'overwhelming and strange' flavour, while his favourite was Tizer - though 'not by much.' He apologised 'in advance,' and joked that his poor ratings would more than likely upset viewers. And it appeared the content creator predicted the inevitable, as hundreds of Brits - and Scots - took the comments to express their disapproval. One person wrote, 'Please tell me they were at least chilled and not room temperature- especially the Irn-Bru,' while another exclaimed, 'IRN BRU IS SCOTTISH NOT BRITISH.' Hundreds of Brits including plenty of Scots took the comments to express their disapproval of the content creator's final conclusions Another accused the American of lacking 'taste buds,' while a fourth added: 'I think his taste buds are broken.' A fifth commented, 'Have to say your tastebuds are wrecked if you cannot distinguish between vimto and irn-bru,' while another quizzed, 'Did you purposely choose bad drinks?' Another viewer was left scratching their head, as they wrote: 'Did he just say irn bru tastes like vimto?' However, some appeared to agree with the TikTok creator, as one person added, 'Irn-Bru tastes like chalky sweets with a dusting of talc. I expected it to be fresh and zingy,' while another said, 'Unfortunately all 3 have been ruined because of the sugar tax.' A diner who asked for a sprinkle of black pepper on his pizza in an Italian tourist hotspot was shocked to find he had been charged extra for it and later sparked outrage online by posting a photo of the receipt. The customer, who is believed to be a local resident of Bari, Italy, had been dining at a city centre pizzeria where he ordered two pizzas, a bottle of water, a beer, and paid a standard cover charge. But among the listed items was a surcharge of 50 cents (42p) marked as '+pepper'. After the diner shared the incident online on August 7, he prompted a backlash over what many labelled a 'crazy' summer receipt. A photo of the bill shows a total of 38.50 euros (33), including the 50 cents added solely for the pepper. While some defended the extra charge as fair for an added ingredient, many others criticised the practice, citing growing frustration at price increases during the holiday season in tourist hotspots. The controversy comes weeks after a fancy coffee shop in Oderzo, in northern Italy, charged a customer for cutting her croissant in half. The furious woman, who was not named, had bought two coffees and a pastry for breakfast to share with her mum at the Audrey Patisserie on July 27. A customer was charged 50 cents for adding a sprinkling of black pepper to a pizza in Bari, Italy Bari, the capital of southern Italys Puglia region, is a popular tourist hotspot The customer ordered two pizzas, a bottle of water, a beer, and paid a standard cover charge including 50 cents for black pepper She only noticed the extra 10 cents charge for asking staff to split the croissant in half when she got home and looked at the bill. Within hours the post spread like wildfire triggering an avalanche of criticism from social media users. One user called 'gimmy' wrote: 'You have to hate your customers to charge them 10 cents to cut a croissant in half. A total lack of elegance, refinement, and empathy. 'They should bring hotel management students to your restaurant to show them how not to treat your customers. Pathetic.' And 'Folletto Vola' said: '10 cents what a disgrace... just to cut a croissant!!!' Owner Massimiliano Viotto claimed that the extra money was to cover the use of an extra plate and napkin and for the 'skill' needed to cut a pastry in half. He said: 'It's not a scam. It is a conscious choice that we defend with pride.' A British tourist was left furious in April after being charged extra for two ice cubes at a Costan del Sol beach bar. A fancy coffee shop in Oderzo, in northern Italy, charged a customer for cutting her croissant in half Audrey's Bakery in Oderzo, Italy, charged a customer for cutting a croissant in half The customer only noticed the extra 10 cents charge for asking staff to split the croissant in half when she got home and looked at the bill The incident triggered an avalanche of criticism from social media users who were surprised at the surcharge Brit Viv Proops, who visited the Havana beach bar in Estepona, took to social media to rant about the extra cost. 'On Playa del Cristo beach today. Ordered an ice coffee at Havana Beach Bar and was charged for a coffee and charged extra for two ice cubes. Is that normal?', the Brit wrote. The traveller said she was charged 4.50 euros for a coffee, and an additional 50 cents for the ice cubes. Social media users were quick to come to the tourist's defence, saying the extra charge was 'not normal' and branding the beach bar as a 'rip off'. 'That's ridiculous. I would not go back there,' one user wrote. Another said: 'People need to stop going to these places. Everyone is getting ripped off.' But the Havana Beach Bar told English speaking newspaper Spanish Eye that the reason for the extra charge was due to the costs of running an ice machine. We use a professional industrial ice machine that cost us over 9,800 euros, and it consumes a significant amount of electricity daily,' a spokesperson for the bar said. We understand it might seem minor, but in our setting where everything is brought close to the sea with comfort in mind, small extras help cover the high operational costs. Fears of an incoming volcanic 'mega eruption' on Tenerife's Mount Teide have been allayed by scientists following a four-hour seismic swarm of mini-earthquakes - but experts say an eruption will happen in the island in years to come. The swarm of 700 tiny earthquakes, felt in Las Canadas, southwest of Pico Viejo, in this week had left islanders fearing Teide might erupt at the height of Tenerife's busiest tourist season. The active volcano is a major draw for nature enthusiasts, bringing in more than three million visitors a year. The latest swarm began at 2am local time on August 7th and carried on until dawn. The peak last erupted in 1909 but experts have now suggested there's a 30 to 40 per cent chance of another eruption within the next 50 years. This week experts at the National Geographic Institute (IGN) said further investigations suggest that it's unlikely the volcano will erupt very soon, with the swarm not at a level of magnetic intrusion that suggests major activity is set to happen imminently. Director of the IGN in the Canary Islands, Itahiza Dominguez, said the four-hour spurt of activity on Tenerife wasn't a cause for concern, although it is the sixth swarm recorded in the Las Canadas area since 2016. In a statement, reports El Dia, he said: 'You could say this is nothing, but it's clear that this is yet another step in magmatic activity. 'We have to work as if the next intrusion were tomorrow. It could happen; it happened in La Palma.' Mount Teide on Tenerife is the largest volcano in the Canary Islands; this week saw a spate of 700 mini earthquakes, which left locals fearing an eruption, the first in over a century, may be imminent He added: 'Someday there will be an eruption in Tenerife, we don't know if in one year, ten years, or a hundred years.' Before an eruption there are clear precursory signals in seismicity, gas and ground deformation. Researchers say the tremors are part of the islands' normal seismic activity and differ greatly from those felt before the eruption of the Tajogaite volcano in nearby La Palma in 2021. Tajogaite, known as cracked mountain, erupted for 86 days, ending in December of 2021 spewing ash and rivers of lava over the Aridane valley below - with homes, roads, fields and banana plantations swallowed whole. La Palma, home to about 85,000 people who live mostly from fruit farming and tourism, is roughly 22 miles long and 12 miles wide at its broadest point. The Canary Islands are found between the African, Eurasian and American tectonic plates, exposing them to regular seismic activity. Mount Teide is the highest mountain in Spain, and forms part of the most visited national park in Europe; it can be seen from almost all of the north of Tenerife and much of the south too. According to Eric Dunham, an associate professor of Stanford University's School of Earth, energy and Environmental Sciences, 'Volcanoes are complicated and there is currently no universally applicable means of predicting eruption. In all likelihood, there never will be.' However, there are indicators of increased volcanic activity, which researchers can use to help predict future eruptions. The Cumbre Vieja volcano on the Canary Island of La Palma pictured during its 86-day eruption in 2021 The lava flow seen coming from Cumbre Vieja on the night of October 1st, 2021 Researchers can track indicators such as volcanic infrasound, when the lava lake rises up in the crater of an open vent volcano, a sign of a potential eruption - the pitch or frequency of the sounds generated by the magma tends to increase. Gas emissions too are major signifiers. As magma nears the surface and pressure decreases, gases escape. Sulfur dioxide is one of the main components of volcanic gases, and increasing amounts of it are a sign of increasing amounts of magma near the surface of a volcano. And changes to a volcano's ground surface (volcano deformation), which appear as swelling, sinking, or cracking can be another major indicator, say experts Which can be caused by magma, gas, or other fluids (usually water) moving underground or by movements in the Earth's crust due to motion along fault lines. Swelling of a volcano cans signal that magma has accumulated near the surface. BBC Breakfast's fans' heads have been left in a spin as the show suffered a string of technical problems. Under-fire Naga Munchetty and her co-host Charlie Stayt were anchoring the programme from Manchester as they brought viewers the latest news. However, as the pair attempted to get through their segments, an unexpected technical glitch forced BBC Breakfast off air in some regions. Some fans watching at home claimed the show suddenly switched to a video of a preacher before it returned to the Salford-based studio. While some viewers didn't experience any difficulties and enjoyed the show, affected fans flooded social media with comments. One baffled fan said: 'I had a frozen screen but it was flashing green and orange, no sound, thought my TV had broken!' BBC Breakfast's fans' heads have been left in a spin as the show suffered a string of technical problems on Thursday morning Under-fire Naga Munchetty and her co-host Charlie Stayt were anchoring the programme from Manchester as they brought viewers the latest news However, as the pair attempted to get through their segments, an unexpected technical glitch forced BBC Breakfast off air in some regions A second chimed in: 'Anyone else got tbnuk just taken over #bbcbreakfast?' 'My head hurts now,' said a third viewer. A fourth commented: 'Very odd that there was no apparent awareness by the presenters after it cleared?' However, it appears some viewers encountered technical issues more than once. One disgruntled fan said: 'Its just happened again & also on iplayer, but still #BBCBreakfast on BBCNews! I have Virgin - it may be coming through their feed?' Confirming a behind-the-scenes problem, a BBC spokesperson explained: 'Due to a technical issue, viewers in the Midlands experienced a short interruption to BBC Breakfast this morning. 'We apologise for this.' Meanwhile, it has been reported Charlie Stayt is 'under review' by the BBC along with Naga Munchetty over their alleged conduct off air. Some fans watching at home claimed the show suddenly switched to a video of a preacher before it returned to the Salford-based studio BBC Breakfast viewers flooded social media with comments as the tech issues took place They are not under a formal investigation by the BBC but a process has apparently begun to judge whether they should be. While Naga is alleged to face the most criticism from BBC Breakfast crew, some staff have reportedly made claims of 'rudeness', 'undermining' them and even 'bullying' with Charlie also now being looked at. It came after the Daily Mail spoke to a show insider who alleged Ms Munchetty was an 'absolute nightmare' and would 'kick off about the smallest of issues', including once over the temperature of her porridge brought to her by an intern. The development is said to be related to the probe launched recently into BBC Breakfast's editor, Richard Frediani, who is at centre of a misconduct row that continues to grip the UK's most-watched morning show. A source told The Sun: 'A number of people have come forward to share their experiences with Charlie, so the BBC has officially moved to place the complaints under review. 'Charlie and Naga will be assessed separately.' A BBC spokesman said: 'While we do not comment on individual cases, we take all complaints about conduct at work extremely seriously and will not tolerate behaviour that is not in line with our values.' Breakfast airs daily on BBC One from 6am and is available to stream on iPlayer. This looks like Howard's End. And it seems even Stern, one-time King of All Media, didn't see it coming. As the Daily Mail exclusively reported, the 71-year-old learned his SiriusXM show was headed for cancelation via news alert Tuesday night. Frantic staff and friends couldn't reach the one-time shock jock, who only picked up the phone for longtime pal Jimmy Kimmel. 'First I'm hearing of it,' was all Stern reportedly said. He was stunned. And that explains why he's done: Howard Stern, like so many overpaid, irrelevant fixtures of legacy media, has been out of touch with the average American for decades. The Stern who once electrified fans and haters for being utterly unafraid to offend attacking hypocritical celebrities, companies, televangelists, politicians of all stripes and his own bosses with glee lost his mojo long ago. Covid and Trump finished him off. This looks like Howard's End. And it seems even Howard Stern, one-time King of All Media, didn't see it coming As the Daily Mail exclusively reported, the 71-year-old learned his SiriusXM show was headed for cancelation via news alert Tuesday night. Frantic staff and friends couldn't reach the one-time shock jock, who only picked up the phone for longtime pal Jimmy Kimmel (right) In December 2020 the same month his pal Alec Baldwin's wife was revealed to be a fake Spanish person (not that the new, Hollywood Howie ever made so much as a crack about that) Stern renewed his contract with SiriusXM for a reported $120 million per year over five years. Looks like time's up! Just as it is for Stephen Colbert who managed to kill off the entire Late Show franchise. Go woke, go broke. Oh, and don't alienate over half the audience while you're at it. 'I don't think [Trump] should be anywhere near the White House,' Stern said, on-air, in September 2024 two months before the election, and one month before conducting a fawning, in-person interview with Kamala Harris. 'I hate the people who vote for him,' Stern continued. 'I think they're stupid. I do.' And with that statement, he severed whatever trust or affection his dwindling audience retained. Stern, who grew up middle-class on Long Island, a perennial outsider and champion of the average American that guy was gone. He also remained willfully ignorant of the digital lane and competitors such as Joe Rogan, himself a welcoming figure for the millions alienated rejected, really by Howard Stern. 'I don't know what you could do to get noticed on this YouTube,' Stern said in 2021 YouTube, which was well on pace to compete with TV and whose content creators, Rogan and Theo Von among them, were shrewdly used by the Trump campaign to reach undecided voters. 'Podcasts,' Stern added. 'They're bores. They're f***ing bores.' His refusal to move with the times is reflected in the lack of effort he puts into his namesake show. Howard has barely been back at his midtown NYC studio since lockdown ended. He prefers to broadcast from his metaphorical basement, whether in his $25 million oceanfront mansion in the Hamptons where he reportedly heard the news of his imminent ousting or his $65 million compound in Palm Beach. Again, this is how out-of-touch he is: For putting on a lackluster, unfunny show 3 days a week, with lengthy breaks throughout the year, including the entire summer pocketing more than $1 million per show he was shocked, shocked, to find his services no longer needed. Or wanted. Here was the once brash, brazen and fearless shock jock in April 2021, after lockdown had ended and vaccines were in circulation: 'Things will never get back to normal. I do not believe the pandemic will ever be over.' This Stern was unrecognizable from the host who stayed on the air as planes flew into the World Trade Center on September 11. His worldview and interests have only narrowed, become more narcissistic, germophobic and paranoid, while the digital lane explodes with talent that's cheaper, fresher and simply more entertaining. Stern's fall, while expected, is also huge. Never again will terrestrial or satellite radio see the likes of him, a monocultural figure who dominated and defined his industry. Now he goes the way of Stephen Colbert, 61. My best guess is that Anderson Cooper, 58, CNN's reportedly $18 million-a-year man, will be next out the door. Puck reported in June that Cooper's boss, David Zaslav, is looking to cut costs at the flailing network. Cooper's show, which airs at 8pm weekdays, has reportedly been shedding eyeballs in the key 25 to 54-year-old demographic. Meanwhile, younger host Kaitlan Collins, who makes a reported one-fifth of Cooper's salary, had the gall to post from her brand-new summer home on Nantucket as CNN colleagues get the ax, face pay cuts, or take on more work for less money. Mark my words: Gayle King, 70, CBS's overpaid morning show host-slash-Oprah appendage, will be out as early as next spring. King recently signed an extension, reportedly worth up to $15 million, that takes her through next May. But she's turned CBS Mornings preachy and humorless, losing between 20 to 30 percent in that 25 to 54 demo. 'The audience doesn't want woke,' a CBS source told The New York Post. Nor do they want a haughty presence who gloats about going to outer space, or having accompanied Oprah to the Bezos-Sanchez wedding, or whose overall vibe is sanctimonious and insufferable. So Stern's not the only one, but he is singular in his tenure, the money and ratings he once generated, and his impact on the culture. The younger Howard would never have predicted he wouldn't know when to leave. If only he had listened more closely the very thing he was once paid so handsomely to do. Jaime King is being taken to court over allegedly unpaid attorney fees totaling more than $100,000 from to her divorce from former husband Kyle Newman. According to a judge's order from earlier this week obtained by the Daily Mail, King has been ordered to appear in court to share information about her assets and how much money she has in her bank accounts to help her ex's former law firm Wasser, Cooperman & Mandles collect. King who lost custody of her sons to Newman earlier this year was previously ordered in 2024 to pay $98,441.16 in fees to the law firm, at which the influential divorce attorney Laura Wasser is a partner. The original order also said the law firm was eligible to receive interest on the fees, and it says she owes an additional $2,000. The Daily Mail has contact a representative for King and Wasser, Cooperman & Mandles, but has not yet received replies. Judge Shelley Kaufman ordered King to appear in court on September 16, and the 46-year-old actress faces the threat of arrest if she fails to show up. Jaime King is being taken to court over allegedly unpaid attorney fees totaling more than $100,000 from to her divorce from former husband Kyle Newman; pictured in October 2021 in NYC Court documents obtained by the Daily Mail show King was ordered to appear in court after Newman's former law firm Wasser, Cooperman & Mandles said she had failed to pay $98,441.16 in fees; King and Newman pictured in 2019 in Hollywood The influential divorce attorney Laura Wasser (pictured) is among the partners at Wasser, Cooperman & Mandles In Judge Joshua D. Wayser's order from May 14, 2024, he ordered King to pay within 30 days the fees to Wasser, Cooperman & Mandles. 'It is appropriate that [King], the high earner in the marriage, pay those fees,' he wrote at the time, adding that the Sin City star had 'already agreed to do so.' However, the law firm is alleging that King has so far failed to follow through. In a statement to Us Weekly on Thursday, a representative for King said, 'This is the first time Jaime or her current legal team have been made aware of this filing.' They added that 'The continued media attention on the mounting financial and emotional costs of this unnecessarily aggressive divorce highlights the unrelenting pressure Jaime has faced. 'For years, she has endured fear tactics and legal intimidation while doing everything in her power to protect her children and rebuild a stable life for them,' King's representative said. 'Jaime remains committed to the healing for her family, and moving forward with grace. We respectfully ask for privacy and compassion during this time.' While King and her ex-husband still share joint legal custody of their two boys, Newman was given 'tie-breaking authority' to make decisions for the children for the time being. King has reportedly had financial difficulties recently. Newman's former attorneys say King also owes $2,000 in interest on the fees. The actress was threatened with arrest if she fails to show up to court to outline her finances and how much money she has in her bank accounts; Newman pictured in 2017 in LA In a statement to Us Weekly on Thursday, a representative for King said, 'This is the first time Jaime or her current legal team have been made aware of this filing'; seen with Newman in 2019 in LA In March, King lost physical custody of her sons James, 11, and Leo, 10, to her ex-husband after she failed to complete a court-ordered six-month drug and alcohol program King has had other financial difficulties. In January, she was sued by her landlord for allegedly failing to pay $42,580 in back rent. King got engaged to the investment banker Austin Sosa in July; pictured July 19 in LA In January, she was sued by her landlord Sheila Irani over unpaid rent, with documents claiming she owed around $42,580 in back rent, according to Us Weekly. The property was reportedly rented to King for $10,145 per month, and the actress signed the lease in April 2023. King later said that she settled the lawsuit with the landlord privately. Then, in March, she suffered another setback after she lost custody of her sons James, 11, and Leo, 10, to Newman. King's former friend Taylor Swift was famously named the godmother to Leo in 2015. The actress and model was ordered to have any visitations with her sons supervised until she completes a mandatory drug and alcohol program that last six months. Last month, King got engaged to the investment banker Austin Sosa. Freakier Friday (PG, 111 mins) Verdict: Clunky body-swap comedy Rating: Almost half a century has passed since the original Freaky Friday, adapted by Mary Rodgers from her own 1972 novel. She was the daughter of Richard Rodgers, co-writer with Oscar Hammerstein of The Sound Of Music, The King And I, South Pacific and Oklahoma! What a brilliant family. We still love her fathers musicals and her mischievous body-swap premise still has legs... in Freakier Friday, no fewer than eight of them. The bodies swapped in both the 1976 film and the hit 2003 remake with Jamie Lee Curtis and Lindsay Lohan were those of a quarrelling mother and daughter, each of whom benefited from seeing the world from the others perspective. Emotional growth, I think they call it. In Freakier Friday, a sequel to the 2003 film again starring Lohan and Curtis, the phenomenon befalls not just one pair of females but two. And yet, instead of being twice as good its only half as good. Theres a lesson there somewhere. Anna (Lohan) is now the single mum of a surf-crazy teenager, Harper (Julia Butters). Her own mother, Tess (Curtis), helps out however she can. But their sunny Californian existence is rocked when a new love interest enters Annas life: an affable restaurateur called Eric (Manny Jacinto), who, following his wifes death, has moved from England with his daughter Lily (Sophia Hammons). Unhelpfully for them but crucially for the clunky plot, Lily and Harper go to the same high school and are sworn enemies. She thinks shes so much better than everyone because shes British, complains Harper, pronouncing it Briddish but savaging Lilys obnoxious accent. Almost half a century has passed since the original Freaky Friday, adapted by Mary Rodgers from her own 1972 novel Fans had an agonising wait for a sequel as Freakier Friday is only now hitting cinemas 22 years later, with Jamie Lee revealing it was because of Lindsay's age Freakier Friday - which is a sequel to the 2003 film - sees Lindsay Lohan and Jamie embroiled in quadruple chaos as they swap bodies again - 22 years after they first traded places She has a point. Lily is as supercilious as only a Brit given lines by a Hollywood screenwriter can be. Moreover, young Hammons, though pretty as a picture, somehow keeps forgetting to act. Maybe we should blame Jordan Weisss ropy script, or the effort (for a Californian) of straining for those Knightsbridge vowels. Anyway, the enmity between the two girls reaches fever-pitch when, in double-quick time, Anna and Eric get engaged. In a horrifying development for Harper, their plan is to move to London where an avocado costs $11. Lily is similarly appalled by the prospect of moving back home with a step-sister she loathes. But in the nick of time, magical realism strikes. In the 2003 movie it was a wily Chinese woman with fortune cookies who masterminded the body-swap, but some critics got shirty about cultural stereotyping, so this time it falls to a chaotic all-American psychic (amusingly played by Vanessa Bayer). The upshot is that Harper moves into her mothers body, while Lily swaps places with Harpers grandma Tess (and, of course, vice versa). Which is all very confusing, but at least gives Curtis a chance to parade her commendable lack of vanity by staring into a mirror and wailing about her lined face and non-existent lips. There is some passable comedy in all this, as Harper and Lily in their new guises at first continue trying to undermine their parents relationship, and in fairness there were smatterings of merry laughter at the screening I went to earlier this week. But on the whole, Nisha Ganatras Freakier Friday made me want to swap bodies with someone who wasnt there. Weapons (18, 128 mins) Verdict: Ingenious horror-thriller Rating: Weapons is actually a whole lot freakier, a really top-notch psychological thriller that develops into full-on and decidedly gory supernatural horror. It is properly gripping throughout. The writer-director is Zach Cregger, whose debut solo feature was the electrifyingly tense Barbarian (2022). This is a terrific follow-up, a fascinating portrait of a small American town traumatised by a terrible episode: in the dead of night, at precisely 2.17am, 17 children from a single elementary-school class get out of their beds and run away from home, all disappearing without trace. Many of the aghast parents and townsfolk suspect the childrens teacher, Justine Gandy (Julia Garner), of knowing more than she is letting on. Miss Gandy in turn thinks the mystery must have something to do with Alex, the one child in the class who didnt vanish (a super performance by nine-year-old Cary Christopher). Very adroitly, Cregger tells the entire creepy story in six chapters, examining many of the same events from the perspectives of half a dozen key characters. Weapons (pictured) is actually a whole lot freakier, a really top-notch psychological thriller that develops into full-on and decidedly gory supernatural horror, writes Brian Viner Among them is the father of one missing kid, played by Josh Brolin. At first he too is suspicious of Miss Gandy, but, dissatisfied with the polices progress, he investigates on his own, leading him down an altogether different path. There are deliberate hints, not least in the title, of Weapons being a kind of metaphor for all those school shootings that so scar modern-day America. But thats not what has happened to these children, so what has? Youll find no clues here, but I can tell you there are some whopping jump-scares, and a wildly overwrought ending thats tempered by some nicely judged humour. Its an ingeniously crafted tale, exceedingly well told. Both films are in cinemas now. Kate Ritchie has made a triumphant return to the airwaves, several months after taking a long hiatus to work on her mental health. The Nova 96.9 Sydney breakfast radio host, 46, had been absent from the show since January after she had a very public meltdown in a Sydney park. Joining her co-hosts Ryan 'Fitzy' Fitzgerald and Michael 'Wippa' Wipfli in the studio on Friday, Kate gushed: 'It was very exciting to be back this morning.' She went on to joke: 'It was really awkward, and it felt like small talk. I noticed there's a glass door where there wasn't one before, and we have new carpet.' 'Can you believe it? I was going to come back this week, and then I got a snotty nose but I have to say, I think everything happens as it's meant to happen. Kate Ritchie, 46, (right, with co-host Michael 'Wippa' Wipfli) made a triumphant return to the airwaves on Friday, several months after taking a hiatus to work on her mental health 'I love that I'm back here this morning and I've missed you.' Fitzy and Wippa lavished Kate with praise, telling her how much they and the listeners had missed her over the past six months. 'We've missed you, Kate. It's so good to have you back, mate, it really is,' Wippa said. 'Sydney has missed you. I've had so many people stop me and say, 'How's Kate? When's she coming back. We miss Kate.'' Joining her co-hosts Ryan 'Fitzy' Fitzgerald and Michael 'Wippa' Wipfli in the studio, Kate gushed: 'It was very exciting to be back this morning. 'That is lovely,' Ritchie replied. 'And I have heard much the same.' Kate also joked that she'd forgotten how to do her job after so long away from the studio. 'We just had a quick word during the song, and he was just running through a few of the rules that perhaps I may have forgotten while I was away,' the mother-of-one mused. Fitzy and Wippa wasted no time in poking fun at Kate for her absence, calling her break a 'six-month holiday', and joking: 'Like Italy was great, you sent me photos from Indonesia, round-the-world trips.' 'I've been everywhere, man. I've been everywhere,' Kate smiled. Kate then joked about her 'diva' demands that morning in the Nova carpark. 'It was very exciting to be back this morning. Tommy met me in the car park in case somebody was parked in my spot because we didnt want to kick off with me having a tantrum down there,' Kate mused. Fitzy and Wippa lavished Kate with praise, telling her how much they and the listeners had missed her over the past six months 'No, that's why you left last time,' Wipfli joked. Kate also shared a heartfelt message about her return, saying: 'It is so good to be back, and I kind of want to really kind of stop down and talk too much about everything.' 'But I just have to say, in all honesty, I have felt such gratitude, I think. And I'm not going to hit you with a hashtag blessed or anything like that. But I feel so incredibly grateful for the period of time that I have had away from the studio, and not only away from Nova, but away from lots of things.' 'What has been the most important thing and the most different thing about things for me this time is that despite all of the support, and the love that I feel, I didn't do it for anybody else. I did it for me,' Kate said 'Not only the support from you guys. And you, you know, Fitzy and Wippa, and Tommy and Jess, but the wider team and Nova has been amazing. But I kind of expected that it maybe it always would be.' Kate went on to thank those who had contacted her during her absence. 'The amount of people that have reached out to me over this period of time, and since earlier in the year, has been absolutely mind blowing. For people to bother to actually say without being intrusive, 'Hey, it's really nice to see you, hope you're doing well. Can't wait to hear you back on the radio.'' Kate concluded with a poignant message about self empowerment. 'What has been the most important thing and the most different thing about things for me this time is that despite all of the support, and the love that I feel, I didn't do it for anybody else. I did it for me,' Kate said. Fans were delighted to hear Kate's voice again, with one commenting on the radio show's Instagram page: 'So glad you're back Kate, I've missed you!' 'I couldn't believe my ears when I turned on the radio this morning!!! I've been waiting for this day! Welcome back Kate so great to hear your laughter back with us!' another exclaimed. Someone else noted it was 'noble' of Nova to 'hold down Kate's spot' on the show 'despite everything going on'. Fans had grown worried that Kate would never return to the airwaves following her public meltdown in January. Kate has been receiving ongoing support at a rehabilitation facility since her public meltdown, which saw her photographed in tears and appearing visibly distressed shortly after picking up daughter Mae from school. Kate had released a statement to Instagram in February addressing the concerning photos and explaining why she was taking a break from her radio show. 'I struggle with mental health issues at times, which are deeply personal. This has proven to be a bigger challenge than I imagined,' she began. 'So I have decided to take a break from the show and the team who I love to focus on my health. I want to thank all of those who are helping me through this very difficult time. I love you. Thank you Nova for being there when I need you.' Kate went on to address the images taken on January 29. 'This is also a problem many others are struggling with. They know what it's like. The images of me taken last week show that I wasn't okay on that day,' she continued. She went on to thank her friends and fans for their support over the past week. 'Thank you to my wonderful family, all the Nova listeners, and many others who are sending their love and support. I appreciate it more than you can imagine,' she wrote. Fans were delighted to hear Kate's voice again, with one commenting on the radio show's Instagram page: 'So glad you're back Kate, I've missed you!' At the time of Kate's departure, Nova's co-hosts had promised their audience the absent Kate would return after one day off, but that timeline was soon dropped. Nova had remained tight-lipped on any potential comeback date and did not respond to questions about whether the embattled star had continued to receive pay during her absence. Mia Freedman is temporarily stepping away from her podcast and most likely her high-ranking role at Mamamia, and taking long service leave after reportedly suffering a 'burnout' and copping 'relentless bullying online'. Freedman made the shock announcement last week on her Mamamia Out Loud podcast, which she hosts with her daughter-in-law Jessie Stephens and Mamamias Head of Content, Holly Wainwright. 'I have some news. I am taking a few months off the show because I have been doing the show for more than 10 years now. It started as a weekly show. Its now a daily show. That hasnt even been my day job - my day job has been being the co-founder of Mamamia,' she said. 'Ive not taken any time off and I didnt take any time off I think I had two weeks off when I had my youngest child and Ive obviously taken holidays. 'Im still going to be around. Theres 150 people working here and I feel like maybe I can step back for a little bit. Im feeling the itch to go quiet and just work on some things of my own.' Freedman added in her statement that she was feeling the pressure 'as the face of the business' and admitted she 'has made mistakes'. Mia Freedman is temporarily stepping away from her podcast and most likely her high-ranking role at Mamamia and taking long service leave after reportedly suffering a 'burnout' and copping 'relentless bullying online' 'Theres a lot of pressure being the face of this business. Its my face on the door and when things go wrong and we employ wonderful people who are all human, as I am, and humans make mistakes as I certainly do,' she said. It comes after Freedman appointed her 27-year-old son Luca Lavigne the company's chief operating officer. The news came as a shock to employees of the company, where there had already been a high staff turnover. Luca's wife Jessie Stephens was also employed by the company as an editorial assistant. It led to significant online criticism of Mamamia, the media company that claims to capture 'what women are talking about'. Daily Mail is not suggesting Luca isn't qualified for his job or that he's not entitled to receive his salary, only that the issue caused disquiet in the Mamamia newsroom. Luca had joined Mamamia as a content producer in 2016. He had no prior media experience, having worked as a Merivale bartender for four months after graduating from Sydney Grammar School in 2015. Freedman made the shock announcement on her Mamamia Out Loud podcast last week The news comes after Freedman appointed her 27-year-old son Luca Lavigne the company's chief operating officer - at an enormous salary However, it is not uncommon for junior positions to be awarded to people without industry experience, and Daily Mail does not suggest there was any nepotism at play. Freedman attracted significant online derision about the decision to appoint her son COO and now frequently restricts commenting on her social media posts. During her announcement last week, Stephens said her mother-in-law and boss was focusing on her 'mental health'. 'The internets a lot, and its a lot at the moment. I want to be smaller,' Freedman added. Freedman's break from work also comes amid big changes to the Point Piper mansion she shares with her husband. The couple recently got permission from Woollahra Council for a new three-level, flat-roofed dwelling as part of a $3.9million rebuild. Freedman and her husband Jason Lavigne bought their sprawling 1910 home in the ritzy waterfront suburb for $12.75 million, after it last sold for just $6.1 million in 2013. The luxury home boasts five bedrooms and four bathrooms and has lavish amenities including a party-sized cabana, a wet-edge pool and a sauna. The non-waterfront property has a prime location near the Royal Motor Yacht Club, with picturesque views of Sydney Harbour. Gold FM's Brendan 'Jonesey' Jones is still in shock after his Gold FMs Jonesy and Amanda breakfast show got the axe. And the popular radio host has revealed he would have 'worked for free' for a rival network if negotiations did not go his way. From next year, Jones and co-host Amanda Keller will be presenting their long-running show in the drive time slot. Taking over from the pair will be Gold 104.3 star Christian OConnell, whose Melbourne breakfast show will be expanded to Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and Sydney. Speaking about being forced to leave his breakfast show after 20 years, Jones told News.com.au he was 'taken aback'. After management announced that Jones and Keller would get a network show, the 57-year-old radio star said he assumed it would be a breakfast program. Gold FM's Brendan 'Jonesey' Jones is still in shock after his Gold FMs Jonesy and Amanda breakfast show got the axe And the popular radio host has revealed he would have 'worked for free' for a rival network if negotiations did not go his way Jones said ARN management had told him that they could not keep their old slot. According to the publication, Jones and Keller will sign a new deal with ARN for a whopping $2 million and $2.5 million, respectively. Insiders say that the price is too high for Triple M, which has long courted the pair. 'When I said ''If they (ARN) try and make us take a pay cut, we could go to Triple M or 2 Day for free just to win.''' he said. Amanda said ''Hang on Mr Negotiator." Luckily, it never got to that point.' 'The opportunity to be a national show is a big deal. 'I get where management says you cant have two shows coming out of Sydney and into Melbourne. That would be crazy. I came around to it. Its a bit of a head game this business.' Inside Mail reported last month that Gold FM 104.3 star O'Connell has made no secret of his ambitions to expand his live breakfast audience beyond Melbourne. Taking over from the pair will be Gold 104.3 star Christian OConnell, whose Melbourne breakfast show will be expanded to Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and Sydney His show is already syndicated at night across the rest of the network. Meanwhile, Jones and Keller reluctantly confirmed their move from breakfast to drive last Friday. The radio hosts addressed the news on their FM show on Friday morning, saying they would drag their listeners 'kicking and screaming' to the drive slot with them. 'You and I have some big news. We have re-signed here at Gold. I don't want to say "but", but it's "and"there are going to be some changes,' Amanda, 63, said. 'Brendan and I are going to go to the drive shift... We could have stayed doing breakfast for years. We've never fought the hours.' 'We've spent 20 years with you guys. And this is the thing. We're going to drag you kicking and screaming with us to drive,' she continued. 'We've spent every morning with you guys for 20 years, and now we're going to spend time with you later in the day. We're really excited about that.' Amanda went on to say: 'As long as you guys come with us and listen to us in drive, all is right with the world.' Daily Mail's Inside Mail exclusively broke the news of a change on Wednesday when a source revealed there were big moves being made at ARN you can read the details here. t. A beloved star of the iconic ABC series We Can Be Heroes has died following a long illness. Mick Graham, who played Terry, the hilarious husband of Pat Mullins, passed away on July 27. His son Paddy confirmed his passing on social media. 'It is with great sadness we inform you of the passing of the amazing Mick Graham, also known as Terry from WCBH,' he began. 'We know how loved my father was in this community. Rest In Peace to an absolute legend.' He went on to thank fans for their support during this difficult time. A beloved star of the iconic ABC series We Can Be Heroes has died following a long illness. Pictured: Australian comedian Chris Lilley in character 'I would like to say thank you for everyone who sent their condolences for the passing of my dad. He was my best friend. We have a thousand hilarious stories that I could tell you,' he continued. 'I'll miss him every single day until I die. He was a big larrikin who loved everyone and was loved by all. I'm very sad as anyone would. But the love I've received is amazing. Thank you all' Mick appeared in all six episodes of the iconic 2005 TV series that made Chris Lilley a household name. He also had a role in the 2000 movie Mall Boy, opposite Neighbours star Nell Feeney. His last performance was in a 2010 short movie called A Dice with Death, co-starring Underbelly actor Mick Alford. Heartbroken fans took to social media to pay tribute to Mick. 'Very sad news. He played the character of Terry so understated and believable. Thinking of his family all that loved him at this very sad time,' one person wrote. 'Oh no, RIP Terry. Thank you for making the people laugh.' Mick Graham, who played Terry, the hilarious husband of Pat Mullins, passed away on July 27 Mick appeared in all six episodes of the iconic 2005 TV series that made Chris Lilley a household name 'Keep on rolling!' a third person chipped in. Mick is survived by his son Paddy and daughter-in-law Mel. The shock news comes after Chris Lilley confirmed the comeback of his beloved TV character Mr G. The comedian, 50, took to Instagram in April to share a clip of himself as the iconic teacher he plays in the Australian mockumentary series Summer Heights High. In the video, Chris could be seen crossing his foot, straightening his tie, folding his arms and, of course, awkwardly bouncing on his pink yoga ball. The clip then cut to a grey background where 'Mr G is back' popped up on the screen in red, confirming rumours the Aussie funnyman was bringing his hilarious alter ego back to the screen. Despite it being four years since the hilarious series was axed by Netflix, fans poured into the comments section to express their excitement at the character's revival. It will be Chris' first acting appearance in several years as he has not performed in a production since his 2019 Netflix mockumentary series Lunatics. In July 2021, four of his television shows were removed from Netflix due to concerns over 'blackface' portrayals. It was announced Jonah from Tonga, Angry Boys, Summer Heights High and We Can Be Heroes would be removed from Netflix in Australia and New Zealand. The shows raised questions about racial discrimination, as several characters were depicted using blackface and brownface. In We Can Be Heroes, Chris played six characters including Ricky Wong, a Chinese physics student. Actor Jeremy Piven astounded breakfast radio listeners when he swore during a trainwreck interview on Nova 100's Jase & Lauren show on Friday. Piven, 60, who rose to fame as the foul-mouthed agent in HBO's satirical Hollywood dramedy Entourage, is currently Down Under on a stand-up comedy tour. The popular funnyman was in the middle of describing his appreciation for Aussie audiences when, to the surprise of the Nova team, he dropped the C-bomb. 'My show in Perth, you know, sold out, unbelievable. There was only one c*** in the whole room,' he said. Host Jason 'Jase' Hawkins censored the offensive word before it could get to air, leaving Piven a little sheepish. The star, who had just made it to his early morning studio chat after taking a five-hour overnight plane from WA, asked his hosts lamely, 'You cant say that word?' Actor Jeremy Piven astounded breakfast radio listeners when he swore during a trainwreck interview on Nova 100's Jase & Lauren show on Friday. (Pictured) Piven, 60, who rose to fame as the foul-mouthed agent in HBO's satirical Hollywood dramedy Entourage, is currently Down Under on a stand-up comedy tour. (Pictured) 'I don't know where I am. I'm just gonna be totally unhinged,' a tired Piven joked. Trying to get the interview back on the rails, co-host Lauren Phillips made a stab at humouring her guest. 'Whose idea was this? Which publicist is gonna absolutely cop a spray for getting you in here at 6?' she joked. 'I think the publicist wanted me to have a public complete emotional breakdown,' Piven replied, tongue-in-cheek. Elsewhere in the chat, the three-time Emmy Award winner gushed over the response he has received from local fans on his current tour. 'You know, the people here have been so good to me if I hear an Australian accent, they're always coming over to me, and they're really kind. 'And I know I say that, it's not a mantra, it's not a cliche, it's just the truth. 'All my shows are sold out. People are smart. They get the jokes and if you're not funny, they're going to be silent. And if you're funny, you're going to crush it.' The popular funnyman was in the middle of describing his appreciation for Aussie audiences when, to the surprise of the Nova team, he dropped the C-bomb. Pictured: Piven (L) and co-host Lauren Phillips Host Jason 'Jase' Hawkins censored the offensive word before it could get to air, leaving Piven a little sheepish. (Pictured) The actor played the acerbic Hollywood agent Ari Gold on the HBO series Entourage from 2004 to 2011 and in the 2015 movie. Known for his hair-trigger temper and creative, expletive-filled rants, Piven's characterisation of Ari quickly became a fan favourite. It comes after Jeremy Piven detailed his hilarious and awkward first meeting with Russell Crowe during his last Aussie tour. The American star revealed exactly what happened when he first met the Oscar winner at a glitzy Hollywood party. Speaking in March 2024 on The Kyle and Jackie O Show, Jeremy candidly admitted that he was very 'intimidated' by Australian-based actor Russell when they first met. 'I was at a Hollywood party, and I had one interaction with Russell, and you know he's a very intimidating figure,' he explained. Piven admitted that things went from bad to worse when he couldn't understand Russell's accent. After being confused by what he was saying, Jeremy eventually worked out that Russell was expressing a desire to work with him. 'As it turns out, he had seen me in a film called Very Bad Things, which is just a beautiful, tragic, amazing, dark comedy,' he went on. According to Jeremy, Russell then asked him whether they could work together, to which he quipped: 'I go: "I'm in wardrobe right now!"' Amanda Holden and her daughter Lexi Hughes looked incredible as they soaked up the rays in a white bikinis during a boat day in Greece. The Heart radio presenter, 54, showed off her trim frame in the skimpy two piece, which featured a triangle style top with matching bottoms. Amanda, who accessorised the look with a paisley print bandana and a pair of black wayfarer style shades, looked completely relaxed during her sunbathing session. The Britain's Got Talent judge is currently away with her family and her lookalike daughter Lexi, 19, has been sharing equally glam snaps. Amanda's daughter posed for a similar shot on the boat wearing a near-identical two-piece, posed in the sunlounger just like her famous mother. The model, whom Amanda shares with her husband Chris Hughes, posed in a white halterneck bikini. Amanda Holden looked incredible as she soaked up the rays in a white bikini while kicking back with a cocktail during a boat day in Greece Following their boat day, they enjoyed a night out together as Lexi posted a look at her outfit with her followers Amanda, who accessorised the look with a paisley print bandana and a pair of black wayfarer style shades, looked completely relaxed during her sunbathing session The two-piece from Tess Daley's swimwear brand, Naia Beach, featured textured fabric and gold detailing. Sharing an update to Instagram from the mystery location, Lexi pushed her wet hair back and accessorised with oversized sunglasses. She captioned the photo: 'Boat day wearing Naia Beach.' Following their boat day, they enjoyed a night out together as Lexi posted a look at her outfit with her followers. The model, who has been signed to Storm modelling agency since she was 16, cut a stylish figure in a linen yellow co-ord. Lexi, who is no stranger to the camera thanks to her modelling career, has been following in her mother's famous footsteps as she forays into the showbiz world. The beauty made her catwalk debut at London Fashion Week in September last year - walking for Tran Hung's show. At the time, Lexi looked effortlessly chic in a floral mini dress adorned with 3D flowers, which she teamed with nude pointy ballet shoes that boasted gold detailing. The model, whom Amanda shares with her husband Chris Hughes, mirrored her famous mum (Amanda pictured) Speaking after the show, the aspiring model gushed: 'I was so nervous but I really enjoyed the experience. The other models were really nice to me backstage, and it was so much fun. 'The show was so beautiful and the brand and designers are visionaries - passionate about sustainability with 90% of the raw materials they use being environmentally friendly. 'I'm really proud that they trusted me with their design to support LFW. Everyone looked after me and it's surreal that tomorrow I start uni!' Meanwhile, Amanda, who watched from the front row, added: 'We couldn't have been more proud of our daughter this evening walking in her first LFW show. 'This year has been a significant one for her, she has worked really hard with her A levels and she got herself into a top University. Chris and I love her to bits and her little sister Hollie looks up to her so much. It's a wonderful moment for her.' Lexi her catwalk debut at London Fashion Week in September last year - walking for Tran Hung's show At the time, she looked effortlessly chic in a floral mini dress adorned with 3D flowers, which she teamed with nude pointy ballet shoes that boasted gold detailing Amanda recently poked fun at her daughter Lexi sharing a steamy smooch with her boyfriend on their family holiday in Greece Amanda and Lexi are pictured in December 2022 The latest snaps comes after Amanda poked fun at her daughter sharing a steamy smooch with her boyfriend on their family holiday in Greece last month. Lexi posted the PDA-filled snap on her Instagram of the pair kissing during a luxury boat trip. It sparked Amanda, 54, to repost the loved-up snap on her Stories as she joked: 'Mmm I wonder what daddy will think... [laughing face emoji].' After her playful joke, the mother-of-two later expressed her love for the pair as she commented a heart emoji on Lexi's post. The lovebirds - who went Instagram official in January - rang in the New Year with her mother, father Chris Hughes and younger sister Hollie, 13, in Scotland. Abbey Clancy put her incredible figure on display as she soaked up the sun on a yacht in the South of France alongside her husband Peter Crouch. The model, 39, stunned in a tiny cream bikini that showcased her enviable abs and complemented her tanned and toned physique. Abbey added to her look with a cream and yellow sarong and a stylish beach hat. By her side was former England player Peter, 44, who donned a pair of purple swimming trunks. The couple looked in good spirits as they enjoyed their relaxing day out on the high seas. Abbey and Peter's trip to France comes days after the jet-setting couple holidayed in Almancil, Portugal with their children. Abbey Clancy put her incredible figure on display as she soaked up the sun on a yacht in the South of France alongside her husband Peter Crouch The couple were enjoying a relaxing day out on the high seas as they cruised around the gorgeous sights of Southern France The loved-up couple share four children - Sophia, 14, Liberty, ten, Johnny, seven, and Jack, six. Peter and Abbey, who married in 2011, looked more than loved-up on their relaxing break away. The couple jetted off for their sun-soaked holiday just weeks after celebrating their 14th wedding anniversary. They got married at Stapleford Park on June 30, 2011, and renewed their vows in the Maldives to mark their ten-year anniversary. Abbey recently opened up on the way she's kept her marriage to Peter thriving over the years. She admitted the key was 'growing together' throughout time with Peter and always staying 'in sync' with him. 'When we look back at our wedding day, some of the choices we've made, some things we've done in the past, we're like ''Bloody hell, who were we then?'',' the TV star told The Mirror. Model Abbey, 39, stunned in a tiny cream bikini that showcased her enviable abs and complemented her tanned and toned physique Abbey added to her beachwear look with a cream and yellow sarong and a stylish beach hat Abbey appeared to be in excellent spirits as she struck a playful pose while relaxing on-board the very lavish vessel Abbey showed off her incredible figure in her stylish beachwear as she took in the views By Abbey's side was her husband - former England player Peter, 44 - who donned a pair of purple swimming trunks Peter wrapped a towel around his waist as he dried off after a swim in the ocean during the trip Abbey was seen snapping some photographs as she documented their couples' trip 'But today? We're still in sync, we've got the same interests and the same things that make us laugh. It's really a happy time for us at the moment. 'We honestly do everything together, except work - actually even work, because we have our podcast.' The couple often give humorous insights into their relationship on their podcast, The Therapy Crouch, not shying away from discussing anything and everything. During one chat on their podcast, the couple revealed the strict rule they've placed on their four children to improve their behaviour. They implemented an iPad and phone ban at Christmas, insisting it's led to a more positive attitude in their household. Peter explained: 'We said to them iPads and phones are gone and I feel we've stuck to that. 'We made a conscious effort amongst ourselves to cut them out and they've properly cut them out.' They mentioned other rules they've put in place include focusing on homework, spending time as a family before having quality time together once the kids go to bed. At one point, Abbey was seen smiling as she chatted away on the phone while her husband Peter spoke to someone else on the yacht Abbey looked out to sea as she took a phone call during the sun-soaked voyage Abbey showed off her washboard abs as she soaked up the rays in her beachwear Abbey and Peter looked happier than ever as they chatted away and enjoyed the quality time together Though their new rules were a success, it is not always plain-sailing and Abbey admitted Peter can sometimes get on her nerves when it comes to parenting. She told OK! magazine: 'Pete's good cop and I'm bad cop. I'm the one going, 'Do your homework, eat your veg', and Pete's like, 'Let's play, kids!' which can be annoying but it works. 'Our kids are very good, though. They've all got distinct personalities but they're all easy-going. That's not to say family life isn't chaotic it's chaotic! There's absolutely nothing chilled about, but we wouldn't have it any other way.' Fans have blasted Scarlett Johansson for her 'awful' English accent in her new movie, My Mother's Wedding. The Hollywood actress, 40, is set to star in the new film alongside Sienna Miller, 43, and Kristin Scott Thomas, 65. Scarlett plays Katherine Frost, a British lesbian Royal Navy officer in a longtime relationship with a woman named Jack (played by Freida Pinto). After a new trailer from the upcoming film released, fans were left unimpressed by her English accent. Critics have shared their thoughts across social media, writing: 'I love Scarlett but my god that British accent is bad', 'is scarletts british accent good? no. no not really. will i be sat enjoying every second of my mothers wedding? yes. yes i will be.', Fans have blasted Scarlett Johansson, 40, (L) for her 'awful' English accent in her new movie, My Mother's Wedding The Hollywood actress is set to star in the new film alongside Sienna Miller (R), 43, and Kristin Scott Thomas, 65 (centre) 'scarlett johansson's british accent for my mother's wedding ???', 'Definitely going to watch My Mothers Wedding but Im very nervous about the accent', 'Im sorry Scarlett johanssons' accent is AWFUL'. My Mother's Wedding is slated for release in the US on August 8. A UK release date is yet to be confirmed. Sienna's character is Victoria, a Hollywood actor known for franchise dreck and short-lived relationships. The movie marks Kristin's directorial debut. She also stars in the movie as Sienna and Scarlett's on-screen mother Diana. The upcoming film follows three sisters who return to their childhood home for the third wedding of their mother Diana. Before Kristin turned 12, she lost her father and stepfather, both were Royal Navy pilots who died in crashes. Scarlett (R) plays Katherine Frost, a British lesbian Royal Navy officer in a longtime relationship with a woman named Jack (played by Freida Pinto) The movie marks Kristin's (pictured) directorial debut. She also stars in the movie as Sienna and Scarlett's on-screen mother Diana Kristin used these facts, a kind of origin story, as the basis for My Mothers Wedding, a comedic drama about family, trauma and getting on with it. A synopsis for the movie reads: 'Three sisters return to their home for the third wedding of their twice-widowed mother. 'But the mother and daughters are forced to revisit the past and confront the future, with help from a colorful group of unexpected wedding guests.' My Mothers Wedding was first shown at the in September 2023 at Toronto International Film Festival with the name North Star. It's movie name has now been changed for it's release date. Monty Python star John Cleese, is hoping to buy a home in Bath, close to where he grew up. Cleese, 85, who insists he's 'surprisingly poor', has lived in Monaco in the past, and more recently in Nevis in the Caribbean, where there's no income tax. He said in April he'd gifted his 1.5million flat in Chelsea to fourth wife, Jennifer Wade, 'to make her feel secure'. The pair are understood to spend most of their time in London. However, it seems they're house hunting in the West Country. Speaking at Clifton College, the 19,000-a-term Bristol private school he attended as a boy, Cleese said: 'Unquestionably, my home is the West Country. 'My wife and I are thinking very seriously of buying in Bath.' He added: 'When I look back at my time in Weston-super-Mare...There were a lot of very nice people having peaceful, friendly lives and being nice to each other and behaving really pretty well. And how little of that there is around these days. 'It's an idea which has come from America, which is that if you are not either rich or powerful or both then somehow your life has been a failure. I think that is a terrible idea.' He said in April he'd gifted his 1.5million flat in Chelsea to fourth wife, Jennifer Wade (pictured together last month), 'to make her feel secure' Cleese bought a flat in Bath's Royal Crescent in 2016, but it was back on the market in 2018, when he left the UK and settled in Nevis. He's been complaining of penury since his 2008 divorce from third wife, Alyce Faye Eichelberger. She reportedly got a settlement of $20million and Cleese said two years ago he was still paying it off. The Fawlty Towers star confessed his ongoing frustration at this when he appeared on Lorraine earlier this year. Stand-in host Kate Garraway recalled his first comment onstage in his 2011 Alimony stand-up tour: 'I'm doing this for the money, to pay for the exes.' Cleese replied, of his ex-wife Eichelberger: 'I had to give her $20million [15.5million], the thing is, a bit of advice for people... 'If you're going to have an expensive divorce, have it when you're 40, not when you're 70!' The actor has tied the knot a number of times over the years. He's been complaining of penury since his 2008 divorce from third wife, Alyce Faye Eichelberger (pictured together in 2001) Monty Python star John Cleese , is hoping to buy a home in Bath (pictured, file photo of the city's Royal Crescent), close to where he grew up He was married to Eichelberger between 1992 and 2008, and Barbara Trentham between 1981 and 1990. His first marriage was to his Fawlty Towers co-star Connie Booth in 1968 and lasted a decade. Back in 2023, Cleese claimed he was still paying his settlement to Eichelberger - and he has previously said the deal left him worse off than her. But Cleese's Monty Python co-star, the comedian Eric Idle, 82, said last month he thinks all his former castmates should be more 'grateful' for the money they continue to receive from their work as a comedy troupe. Emma Thompson and her daughter Gaia Wise attended The Dead Of Winter photocall at Locarno Film Festival in Switerzland. Nanny McPhee legend Emma, 66, rocked a chic co-ord featuring a white and grey shirt and matching trousers. She beamed happily next to the young English actress, 25, whom Emma shares with husband Greg Wise. Gaia put on a head-turning display flaunting her endless legs in cream sequinned shorts and nude stilettos. The Last Chance Harvey star wore a white bralette and a see-through shirt. Harry Potter alum Emma looked every inch of the doting mum next to Gaia while gracing the red carpet, as the mother-daughter duo both star in Brian Kirk's The Dead Of Winter. Emma Thompson, 66, and her daughter Gaia Wise, 25, attended The Dead Of Winter photocall at Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland - they both star in the movie The Nanny McPhee legend, 66, rocked a chic co-ord featuring a white and grey shirt and matching trousers Gaia plays the younger version of Emma's role, portraying the character's journey from a person who experienced a rich and happy life, through trauma, to becoming someone capable and willing to sacrifice, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The film explores the darker side of human nature and revenge narratives, but also highlights the heroine's resilience and strength. Gaia's father Greg is Dame Emma's second husband, former Strictly star and Walking On Sunshine actor. Emma has been happily married to her second husband Greg for 20 years. Gaia made her acting debut in the BBC series Silent Witness - where she played plays university student Jo Reynolds whose mother, the controversial health secretary, is assassinated sparking the interest of forensic pathologists. In 2021, Gaia detailed her three-year battle with anorexia - and credited her parents for saving her life by staging an emergency intervention. She developed anorexia aged 16 which left her so thin she was unable to even sit on a chair without it being painful. She was later admitted to rehab in 2017. She spoke out about her illness for the first time with The Sun on Sunday, saying: 'Anorexia makes you really good at gaslighting people, making it sound like they're insane. My parents would say, 'Gaia, we heard you working out at 3am.' And I'd say, 'No you didn't, it was just the house moving. I was asleep.'' If you have been affected by any of the subjects in the story please call Beat: The UK's Eating Disorder Charity on 0808 801 0677 Meanwhile Gaia put on a head-turning display in cream sequinned shorts and nude stilettos They are the Farmer Wants A Wife fan favourites who walked down the aisle in 2024. Now, Jess Nathan and Andrew Guthrie are looking to mark another milestone starting a family. Speaking to Woman's Day, Jess, 31, said she and Andrew, 34, who have been trying for a baby since tying the knot, have embarked on an IVF journey. Jess said that she could not wait to start growing her family, admitting: 'I really want a million children.' 'I want, like, 11 babies, so Im like, "If were doing IVF, at least theres more chance of having twins." But no, Im super confident that our miracle baby will come when the time is right,' she said. Jess was diagnosed with stage-four endometriosis in 2016, and is an ambassador for Endometriosis Australia. They are the Farmer Wants A Wife fan favourites who walked down the aisle in 2024. Now, Jess Nathan and Andrew Guthrie are looking to mark another milestone starting a family She admitted to the publication that she has long known her journey to motherhood would not be easy. 'I knew that would mean my fertility journey may not be so straightforward like it is for some others. So Im not surprised that I have issues with fertility now,' she said. 'I guess its good to have always known that and mentally been prepared that this could be something that we might have to deal with.' The couple also face an added hurdle of geography, with their sheep and cattle farm in Delegate in far southern NSW being a four-hour round trip to the doctor's office. Despite the difficulties, Jess said she and Andrew were remaining positive. 'I dont think for a second that we wont be able to have children,' she said. 'When youre picturing this stage of your life, when youre going to be having babies, you dont picture needing any sort of intervention or medication to support that. 'So although its not the way that is ideal, I am very, very hopeful, very, very confident and comfortable with the process were going down.' 'I want, like, 11 babies, so Im like, "If were doing IVF, at least theres more chance of having twins." But no, Im super confident that our miracle baby will come when the time is right,' Jess told Woman's Day Jess, who was diagnosed with endometriosis in 2016 added: 'I knew that would mean my fertility journey may not be so straightforward like it is for some others. So Im not surprised that I have issues with fertility now' Jess opened up about her endometriosis battle in 2021, in a candid Instagram post. She posted a photo of herself posing in her underwear and wearing a period cramp device, five days after having her third operation for stage-four endometriosis. 'Still swollen and sore, but 100 per cent on the mend!' she wrote in the caption. 'Chronic illnesses can feel isolating and deflating and my heart goes out big time to anyone suffering with an illness.' Jess added: 'I am so stoked to have come out of surgery and be told I won't have issues conceiving.' The blonde said she was feeling 'grossly emotional', which she attributed to hormones. She continued: 'But being able to have a baby naturally of course nothing's guaranteed, but fingers crossed is my dream and I'm just so happy about it.' Jess and Andrew found love on the 2021 season of Farmer Wants A Wife and, three years after their reality show pairing, tied the knot. 'I dont think for a second that we wont be able to have children,' she added. 'So, although its not the way that is ideal, I am very, very hopeful, very, very confident and comfortable with the process were going down' Jess opened up about her endometriosis battle in 2021, in a candid Instagram post. She posted a photo of herself posing in her underwear and wearing a period cramp device, five days after having her third operation for the chronic illness They walked down the aisle at Mimosa Wines near Bermagui on the NSW South Coast. The couple announced their engagement in August by sharing several photos to Instagram. The couple, who had been enjoying a picnic and Champagne, looked smitten as Jess buried her face in her hands in shock before trying on her ring. In the caption alongside the images, Andrew paid tribute to the show, writing, 'Farmer Wants A Wife' and adding ring and heart emojis. Kate Moss couldn't contain her giggles when she visited a nudist beach in Ibiza on Thursday. The supermodel, 51, was enjoying fun in the sun alongside family friend Bella Tilbury, daughter Lila Moss and Lila's boyfriend Yoni Helbitz, when a certain sight seemed to catch her eye. Throwing back her head in laughter, Kate was seen cackling as her fellow holidaymakers ensured they got an all over tan. The Vogue covergirl opted to keep her clothes on, and she looked phenomenal in a tiny leopard print two-piece that highlighted her toned frame. Yet there was one moment when she too nearly bared all, with the star seen grabbing her bikini top while she frolicked in the sea with Bella. After enjoying a swim, mother-of-one later layered up with a pink polka dot beach shirt and finished off her look with cat eye shades. Kate Moss, 51, couldn't contain her giggles as she was surrounded by naked sunbathers on nudist beach in Ibiza on Thursday - before nearly baring all herself! Kate came close to a wardrobe malfunction when she waded into the sea, with the star seen grabbing her bikini top She managed to avoid revealing all, although if she had, she wouldn't have been out of the place, given the group were on a nudist beach She seemed to be amused by the mini malfunction as she laughed away with Bella Bella - who is the niece of makeup artist Charlotte Tilbury and has worked with Kate in several campaigns - also looked incredible as she sported a white bikini. Kate's daughter Lila also opted for a white two-piece, which featured floral detailing, as she enjoyed her day at he beach alongside boyfriend Yoni Helbitz. Lila also sported an insulin pod on her left hip and blood glucose monitoring device on her upper-right arm, as a result of her Type 1 diabetes. The model has been vocal about spreading awareness about diabetes and previously discussed her condition on Vogue's In The Bag on YouTube after making the unconventional decision to wear the monitor on the catwalk. She said: 'I have some sugar tablets, in case my blood sugar goes low. I'm diabetic so I have this which controls a pod on my leg, which gives me insulin. 'This is very important to keep in my bag, it comes with me everywhere.' The star - worried her essential device could get lost - added: 'I even have an apple air-tag to follow it around with my phone.' Type 1 diabetes causes the level of glucose (sugar) in your blood to become too high. It happens when your body cannot produce enough of a hormone called insulin, which controls blood glucose. You need daily injections of insulin to keep your blood glucose levels under control. While Kate opted to keep her clothes on, she looked phenomenal in a tiny leopard print two-piece that highlighted her toned frame The Vogue star proved she was still every inch the supermodel as she strutted along the shore Kate had all eyes on her as she splashed around along the shoreline with Bella Bella - who is the niece of makeup artist Charlotte Tilbury and has worked with Kate in several campaigns - also looked incredible as she sported a white bikini Kate's daughter Lila also opted for a white two-piece, which featured floral detailing, as she enjoyed her day at he beach alongside boyfriend Yoni Helbitz Kate was in good spirits as she enjoyed splashing around in the sea Kate's beach babe look saw her go make-up free and showcase her smooth visage, which has left tongues wagging over the years about possible cosmetic work The star recently discussed her tips to good skin - having always insisted she had no chemical enhancements - saying: 'The ice plunge is the best trick I've learnt' Kate said of another beauty trick: 'I love how my skin feels and looks after a weekend in the country with fresh air and lots of rest' Kate added of her looks: 'As I spend so much time wearing a lot of make-up at work, I tend to keep it simple when I'm not' Lila has followed in her mother's model footsteps after inheriting her striking good looks. Kate's beach babe look saw her go make-up free and showcase her smooth visage, which has left tongues wagging over the years about possible cosmetic work. The star recently discussed her tips to good skin - having always insisted she had no chemical enhancements - saying: 'The ice plunge is the best trick I've learnt [to mask tired eyes and perk up the skin]. 'Fill a sink or a bowl with ice cubes, cold water and slices of cucumber and hold your face in for as long as you can, it instantly reduces puffiness and tightens up your skin. 'I love how my skin feels and looks after a weekend in the country with fresh air and lots of rest. As I spend so much time wearing a lot of make-up at work, I tend to keep it simple when I'm not. [Also,] I do like to have a facial and massage when I can.' Kate has also been on a health kick after turning her back on her wild partying ways. She was thought to have given up alcohol back in 2017 in favour of juice fasts and reformer Pilates, even selling her own range of teas and skincare products through her beauty and wellness brand, Cosmoss. And while she has long struggled to give up her nicotine habit, just two years ago Kate - once hailed the 'greatest smoker of all time' - was seen puffing away on a vape in an attempt to give up the cigarettes. Kate was in great spirits as she laughed away with Bella while enjoying the sunshine Kate and Bella couldn't contain their giggles as they enjoyed the sunshine The pair seemed to be having a great time soaking up the rays on the beach Kate has been on a health kick after turning her back on her wild partying ways Kate was thought to have given up alcohol back in 2017 in favour of juice fasts and reformer Pilates, even selling her own range of teas and skincare products And while she has long struggled to give up her nicotine habit, just two years ago Kate - once hailed the 'greatest smoker of all time' - has turned her back on cigarettes Kate seemed distracted at one point as she looked over Bella's phone Kate was seen cackling away as she soaked up the sunshine with her family and friends Lila sported an insulin pod on her left hip and blood glucose monitoring device on her upper-right arm, as a result of her Type 1 diabetes Kate was enjoying downtime in Ibiza with her nearest and dearest Back in January, Kate was reportedly planning a huge boozy birthday bash to celebrate her 51st birthday following her split from boyfriend of nine years, Nikolai von Bismarck , 38. Kate, who lived in the Cotswolds with teetotal photographer Nikolai, apperently decided at the time that she 'wants to let her hair down' to mark her birthday with her famous pals. A source told The Sun: 'Last year, she celebrated her 50th at an intimate soiree in Paris, which was fairly pared down. 'But a lot has changed since then and Kate has said she wants this party to be like turning over a new leaf. 'Now that her daughter Lila is all grown up and she is single again, Kate feels like she wants to let her hair down and be carefree which is not something she's been able to do for a long time. 'She is looking on the bright side of life. Although it's sad her relationship is over, she is throwing herself back into her social life and embracing the new year.' She went on to start her new chapter celebrating her 51st birthday at A-list restaurant China Tang at The Dorchester before continuing her night until the early hours at The Globe in London's Notting Hill. Sheridan Smith has said she would 'love' to return for a Two Pints Of Larger And A Packet Of Crisps reboot, 14 years after the iconic BBC sitcom was axed. The show, which told the story of a group of twenty somethings living in Runcorn, catapulted the now BAFTA winner, 44, to stardom alongside co-stars Ralph Little, Will Mellor, Natalie Casey and Kathryn Drysdale. Speaking about her love of a possible return, Sheridan told Daily Mail how she'd 'had. a great time filming' the show which ran from 2001 until 2011, but is continuously repeated on BBC3 with 113 episodes shown this year alone. In December co-star Will, 49, who played Gaz, also called for a revival and revealed he'd been presented with a script for the reboot, titled Two Pints Last Orders. The show ended with most of the original cast having departed the show, after Ralf left after series six and Sheridan and Kathryn exiting after the eighth season. Yet fans have been calling on the cast to bring the show back in recent years, Will told Daily Mail: 'I've tried. I even got a script written by [creator] Susan Nixon. A first episode draft called Two Pints Last Orders. Sheridan Smith, 44, has said she would 'love' to return for a Two Pints Of Larger And A Packet Of Crisps reboot, 14 years after the iconic BBC sitcom was axed The show, which told the story of a group of twenty somethings living in Runcorn, catapulted the now BAFTA winner to stardom alongside co-stars Ralph Little, Will Mellor , Natalie Casey and Kathryn Drysdale (Cast pictured) 'It was going to be like a final series. Where are they now kind of thing. Johnny isn't dead, he's been on the run on the run from a loan shark or whatever.' Will continued: 'But BBC said no and BBC Three said no. They're repeating the old ones and they're getting the highest ratings on their channel, so you think "what are you doing?" 'I've said yes, I would do it. Ralph said yes. He would do it even if it was a Christmas special an hour long, just for the fans. 'It was a cult show that people got behind. Without the support of them the show wouldn't have lasted that long. 'I've said before that we can pay for it ourselves and do it, but then you'd have to put it out as a download stream and then the fans are going to have to pay to watch it and we're in a financial crisis. 'I can't do that. I'd feel wrong making people pay to watch something that they supported. We shouldn't have to do that. It should be picked up by a channel. 'But as I say, my hands are a bit tied. We need a channel to take it up.' It comes after Sheridan revealed the kind message she received from the late Dame Maggie Smith as they filmed 2012 comedy Quartet together. Speaking about her love of a possible return, Sheridan told Daily Mail how she'd 'had. a great time filming' the show which ran from 2001 until 2011 The show is continuously repeated on BBC3 with 113 episodes shown this year alone In December co-star Will, 49, who played Gaz, also called for a revival and revealed he'd been presented with a script for the reboot, titled Two Pints Last Orders The actress opened up about working with the legendary star, who sadly passed away in September last year aged 89. Sheridan, who portrayed Dr. Lucy Cogan in the film, revealed Dame Maggie 'spotted her nerves' on set and told her they need to 'stick together'. Speaking to Good Housekeeping UK, she said: 'Dame Maggie Smith was gorgeous in Quartet, which Dustin Hoffman directed. She spotted my nerves on day one and said, Come on, us Smiths stick together. Sheridan also shared the sweet gesture the Harry Potter star made when her dad passed away. She added: 'When my dad passed, she sent me a beautiful card that I still cherish.' The movie, followed a home for retired musicians and the annual concert to celebrate Composer Giuseppe Verdi's birthday is disrupted by the arrival of Jean (Dame Maggie Smith), an eternal diva and the former wife of one of the residents. While filming, Sheridan gushed over Dame Maggie calling her a 'genius' and said she 'took me under her wing'. The Gavin and Stacey star said at the time: 'She's a genius. I watch her at work, and you never believe she's saying lines. 'She took me under her wing. She's so nice. On stage for Hedda Gabler, she sent me opening night present and card, left me a voicemail the other day, I'm overwhelmed, really.' Kym Marsh has been left heartbroken as she mourned the loss of her beloved cousin on Friday, just days after the death of her onscreen father Frank Grimes. The former Corrie actress, 41, took to Instagram to pay tribute to her cousin Carl and said he would be leaving a 'huge hole in our lives that will never be filled'. Alongside a beaming snap of Carl, the devastated star penned: 'I cant believe Im writing this. Today our family say goodbye to Carl. My cousin. A legend to all who knew him. 'A light turned out far too soon. A huge hole in our lives that will never be filled. Sometimes life makes no sense. There are times when you just cant understand how such cruel things happen, to good honest people. This is one of those times. Carl was the kindest, funniest, most unique person Ive ever known. The memories I have of us growing up, the camping holidays with the fam, the laughs, your silliness, your loyalty. She continued: 'You were one of a kind cuz, and I will miss you until the end of time. I wish I could be there today to say my final goodbye, but I know that you know how much I love you,' Kym Marsh, 41, has been left heartbroken as she mourned the loss of beloved cousin on Friday, just days after the death of her onscreen father Frank Grimes The former Corrie actress took to Instagram to pay tribute to her cousin Carl and said he would be leaving a 'huge hole in our lives that will never be filled' 'And I know you would be telling me to stop being a silly a**e and stop crying, and that you would want me to be where I am doing what Im doing. Doesnt stop me wishing I was there, or thinking of my family today, or grieving, or wishing I could make this better for everyone. Before adding: 'I know that the family will give you the best send off cuz and that they will do you proud. We will love you forever and always. Good night god bless my wonderful cousin. Sleep tight.' Kym did not reveal her cousin's cause of death. It comes just days after it was announced that actor Frank, who played Kym's character Michelle O'Connor's onscreen father Barry on the soap, had passed away aged 78 following after a short illness. Kym first appeared on Coronation Street from 2006 before quitting the role in 2019. The beloved actor and Tony Award nominee passed away on Friday August 1, surrounded by his family. No cause of death was announced. The Irish Cultural Centre in London announced his death in a heartfelt statement, declaring Grimes as 'one of Ireland's greatest actors.' In a tribute, they said he was 'so warm hearted, full of Dublin wit and charm in abundance and he had a beautiful sparkle in his eyes. 'It's with deep sadness and heavy hearts that the ICC has to regretfully inform you that the great Irish actor FRANK GRIMES suddenly sadly passed away in the early hours of Friday morning, August 1st, after a very short illness, surrounded by his wife and family'. Alongside a beaming snap of Carl, the devastated star penned: 'I cant believe Im writing this. Today our family say goodbye to Carl. My cousin. A legend to all who knew him It comes just days after it was announced that actor Frank, who played Kym's character Michelle O'Connor's onscreen father Barry on the soap had passed away aged 78 following after a short illness (pictured together on Corrie) 'Frank was undoubtedly one of Ireland's greatest actors, he was a dearly loved friend of the ICC's and over the past three decades, he trod the ICC's stage on so many occasions. Anyone who saw Frank perform his riveting self-penned production "the he and the she of itA Portrait of James Joyce", will know what a thrilling, powerful, unforgettable performance it was!!' 'Frank performed this superb tribute to his hero James Joyce, on whom he was an expert, three times at the ICC, and each time, every night he received standing ovations! Frank was a spell-binding actor who had the most beautiful mesmerising voice and he often appeared on the radio show Bright Side Of The Road''. They continued: 'Frank Grimes was born in Dublin, he trained at the Abbey Theatre and was a member of the Abbey Players. He scored an early success as Brendan Behan in Borstal Boy at the Abbey in Dublin, Paris and on Broadway, where he was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actor and was voted Most Promising Actor by the New York critics'. 'Frank worked extensively in the theatre in London; at the National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, Royal Court and in Londons West End. His many Film and TV credits included A Bridge Too Far, Tulips of Harlem, The Outsider;' 'He played Father OConner in Strumpet City, for which won the Jacobs Award, Kavanagh QC, Blind Justice for which he was awarded the Silver Nymph for best actor; He appeared in Mrs Browns Boys and played Barry in Coronation Street'. They went on:'He wrote several plays, including The Fishing Trip and Wake n See, which had a play reading at the ICC. He premiered his hit one-man show on James Joyce, the he and the she of it here at he ICC, after which it was produced in Dublin, London and Paris'. 'Frank was so warm hearted, full of Dublin wit and charm in abundance and he had a beautiful sparkle in his eyes. We know that Ireland has lost one of it's truly great actors, the vintage of which is so rare and may never ever be matched again. The beloved actor and Tony Award nominee passed away on Friday August 1, surrounded by his family. No cause of death was announced (pictured in Coronation Street 2008) The Irish Cultural Centre announced his death in a heartfelt statement, declaring Grimes as 'one of Ireland's greatest actors' (pictured on Corrie 2013) He also played Mr O'Leary in Mrs Brown's Boys, as well as roles in Casualty, Silent Witness The Outsider and Blind Justice (pictured with fellow Irish actor Michael Gambon, left) It read: 'Frank was undoubtedly one of Ireland's greatest actors, he was a dearly loved friend of the ICC's and over the past three decades' Before adding: 'We are so sad to have to say goodbye to Frank, but we are also so blessed to have known him, to have worked with him and seen him perform. We send our sincere condolences to his wife Ginnette,' 'His daughter Tilly, his son Andrew, his 7 grandchildren and to all his extended family. We also send our condolences to all of Frank's friends and loved ones - May Frank sleep easy now and Rest In Peace' They accompanied the statement with a clip of Frank reciting a string poems which he filmed during the Covid lockdown. Following the announcement devastated fans took to the comments to pay their respect to the late star. Born in Cabra in 1947 the youngest of seven children, he found early fame in play Borstal Boy in Dublin, before it transferred to London and Paris. The show was such a success it headed to Broadway where Grimes received a Tony nomination and Most Promising Actor Award by the New York critics. Paying tribute to the actor, the theatre said: 'The Abbey Theatre is saddened to learn of the passing of actor, Frank Grimes'. 'A versatile actor and former Abbey Company player, Frank performed in various productions on both the Abbey and Peaock stages from 1965 to 1972, including plays by Sean OCasey, Lady Gregory, Oliver Goldsmith, Thomas Kilroy, J.M. Synge, Willliam Shakespeare, Bernard Shaw and Tom MacIntyre'. Emmerdale actress Paula Lane revealed she is expecting her third child in an update on Friday. The soapstar, who played killer Ella Forster in the ITV programme, shared a heartwarming update to announce her happy news. Uploading a photo of her scan, she placed it in between cards informing her son and daughter that they were set to become big siblings. Paula wrote: 'Some special news to share from us @sirtomshaw. 'Christmas just got a bit more magical. Our baby boy due December 2025.' Paula and her husband Tom Shaw, who married in 2014, already share two children, Arthur and Penny. Emmerdale actress Paula Lane revealed she is expecting her third child in an update on Friday The soapstar, who played killer Ella Forster in the ITV programme, shared a heartwarming update to announce her happy news They welcomed Arthur at home on New Year's Eve 2014, with Penny following two years later in July 2016. Paula joined the Yorkshire-set in 2023 and made her fiery debut on-screen in January 2024. She was introduced as a no-nonsense receptionist and soon became friends with Mandy Dingle (Lisa Reilly) and was also a love interest for Dr Liam Cavanagh (Jonny McPherson). However, in December 2024 it was revealed that she had quietly quit the soap for new opportunities, as per The Sun. The publication reported at the time that there had been an update to her Spotlight talent page revealing she would stop filming in February 2025. Soon after entering the soap, Ella was revealed to have killed a friend of hers during her childhood and struggled to move on in her adult life. It was later revealed that she was pregnant with Liam's child despite his love for Chas Dingle (Lisa Pargeter). She sadly lost the baby as Liam grows his future with Chas. Paula and her husband Tom Shaw, who married in 2014, already share two children, Arthur and Penny Paula wrote: 'Some special news to share from us @sirtomshaw. Christmas just got a bit more magical. Our baby boy due December 2025' (Tom pictured with Arthur and Penny) Paula has also previously starred as Kylie Platt in Coronation Street and dramatically left the soap in 2016 after being brutally stabbed to death outside the kebab shop by Clayton Hibbs. She died in the arms of her husband, David Platt, played by Jack P. Shepherd in final scenes. Following Kylie's tragic death, David went on to find love with Clayton's mum Shona Ramsey. After leaving Corrie Paula appeared in Call The Midwife and played Lauren in the UK tour of Kinky Boots. A beloved General Hospital star has said goodbye to Los Angeles for a new life on the East Coast. The actress, 56, who returned to the popular daytime drama in 2023 as L&B Music co-founder Lois Cerullo, revealed in a social media video that she and her husband were leaving the City of Angels after more than three decades. 'Weve been in LA for almost 35 years and now its time for me and (Sanford Bookstaver) to go,' Rena Sofer wrote on Instagram. In the video, the pair stood in front of the former home, and said, 'Goodbye Hollywood. Off to New York.' Sofer then broke into song, crooning a few bars from Billy Joel's 1976 hit New York State of Mind. 'Some folks like to get away, take a holiday from the neighborhood,' she began. 'Hop a flight to Miami Beach, Or to Hollywood, But I'm taking a Greyhound on the Hudson River Line....' A General Hospital star has revealed she and her husband have moved from Los Angeles for 'quieter and calmer times' in New York State Rena Sofer, 56, stars as L&B Music co-founder Lois Cerullo on the popular daytime drama Bookstaver, 51, completed the verse, singing, 'I'm in a New York state of mind.' 'No one better than Billy Joel to create the perfect soundtrack to our dreams!,' the Emmy winner wrote next to the video. 'Yes Im getting emotional. I met and had my children in LA met the man of my dreams and created an incredible life there. Sofer shares daughter Avalon, 20, a film student at Northwestern University with Bookstaver, and daughter Rosabel Rosalind, about 28, from her marriage to former GH co-star Wally Kurth, 67. The Soap Opera Digest Award winner and Bookstaver re-married in May 2024, seven years after their divorce on what would have been the 21st anniversary of their first marriage. 'I had amazing success in the Biz and made all my lifelong friends who I will miss desperately,' she said. 'Thank you LA for being you. And now on to quieter and calmer times,' wrote that avid animal rescuer. It is unclear what her future is on the show. A source told E!, 'There has not been a conversation about her leaving the show' Sofer played Lois from 1993-1997, and then reprised the character when she returned in 2023 She and husband Sanford Bookstaver share daughter Avalon, now 20. Sofer is also mom to Rosabel Rosalind, about 28, from her marriage to former GH co-star Wally Kurth, 67; Pictured in Los Angeles in January 2009 Sofer and Bookstaver, a director, were married from 2003-2017. They married again in May 2024 Seen with her husband when they first started dating decades ago Referring to the leaf blower that can be heard loudly in the clip, she closed with, 'Leave it to a leaf blower to finish this post, there is nothing more la!! ' Now we are off in our @rivianofficial with our 5 dogs in the back to our new life!!!' Sofer has not shared what their 'new life' will consist of. or if she will still be working on General Hospital. A source told E! News on Thursday, 'There has not been a conversation about her leaving the show.' Sofer is not the only GH star to pull up roots. In July, Kirsten Storms, who plays Maxie Hunter on the soap opera moved to Tennessee. 'I really want to thank GH, the ABC network executives, the writers for agreeing to let me take this time,' she said in an clip on social media. 'I am so grateful that they understand and are supportive.' Sofia Mattson who played Sasha Gilmore for seven years, left the show in July. Food Network star Ree Drummond has opened up about the secret to her nearly 30-year marriage to Ladd Drummond. The TV personality and her husband, both 56, will celebrate their 29th wedding anniversary in September. In her latest Pioneer Woman blog post, the mother-of-four whose son's license was just revoked revealed that the couple's favorite date night activity is a long drive in her pickup truck. 'At the risk of sounding like an old married couple, we love to take drives together,' the redhead beauty shared. She explained, 'There's something about the peace of the pickup. That diesel engine is like background music, and we are focused only on each other. No laptops, devices, TV's...it's such a great time to catch up.' Food Network star Ree Drummond has opened up about the secret to her nearly 30-year marriage to Ladd Drummond; pictured in 2017 In her latest Pioneer Woman blog post, the mother-of-four revealed that the couple's favorite date night activity is a long drive in her pickup truck About their destination, Ree said, 'Honestly, it's different every time.' She added about their Oklahoma drives, 'Sometimes we stay on the county roads and check on fences or cattle; other times we'll drive east to Pawhuska or west to Ponca City, stopping to get a convenience store Dr Pepper when we get there. 'Other times Ladd will drive into this pasture or that, to show me an area of a creek that I may not have seen before, or again to check on a cow or a fence.' The husband and wife are parents to four kids Alex, 28, Paige, 25, Bryson, 22, and Todd, 21. And they welcomed their first grandchild, Alex's daughter Sofia, in December 2024. The star also revealed in her 2020 book, Frontier Follies: Adventures in Marriage and Motherhood in the Middle of Nowhere, that she fostered a son named Jamar in 2018. Ree said in the August 3 blog post written by Kelsey Hurwitz, 'Now that we're empty nesters, it's not like we don't have lots of time alone at home already. 'But there's something about the safety and sanctity of the pickup that sparks the very best conversations.' 'At the risk of sounding like an old married couple, we love to take drives together,' the redhead beauty shared The husband and wife are parents to four kids - Alex, 28, Paige, 25, Bryson, 22, and Todd, 21. And they welcomed their first grandchild, Alex's daughter Sofia, in December 2024 The TV personality and her husband, both 56, will celebrate their 29th wedding anniversary in September; pictured at their 1996 wedding in a 2020 Instagram post In December, the author gushed about becoming a grandmother in a heartfelt blog post. She announced at the time, 'My sweet little pookie head granddaughter Sofia was born ten days ago, so I thought it would be the perfect time to show you some of my favorite snapshots of the first week-and-a-half of her life.' The proud grandparent even said she considered buying a house in Texas to be close to her daughter and the baby. 'I got to stay in Dallas just long enough to fall hopelessly in love with her, and I would be lying if I said I haven't checked Zillow for houses not only on Alex and Mauricio's street, but also on their block and actually right across the street from their house. 'It's sort of like when I return from a vacation in Vail, Colorado and I start searching for houses to buy in Vail because I just don't want that vacation feeling to end. Well, in this case, it's even more profound: I don't want my time with Sofia ever to end, and though neither "second home" scenario is very likely at all, a girl (and a grandmother) can sure dream,' she penned. Kim Kardashian flew to Mexico with her sister Khloe by her side so she could get a treatment done that is not offered in the United States. The 44-year-old reality TV diva took to Instagram on Friday to share what she did while adding photos taken inside the austere-looking center. It turns out that Kim was receiving a Muse stem cell treatment, which, according to Eterna Health, achieves 'complete cellular renewal' by 'replacing compromised cells with fully functional tissue' in areas such as the joints or muscles. Kim was seen in black pajamas with dark goggles on as she posed with her doctor. There was also an image of her getting the procedure done as blood seemed to be present on her back. 'I'm so excited to share with you guys my stem cell journey,' began the ex-wife of Kanye West. While the treatment Kim received isn't offered back home, stem cell treatments are not entirely banned in the US. Kim Kardashian flew to Mexico with her sister Khloe by her side so she could get a treatment done that is not offered in the United States The 44-year-old reality TV diva took to Instagram on Friday to share what she did while adding photos taken in the center Certain stem cell therapies, specifically those using blood-forming stem cells from umbilical cord blood for blood disorders, are FDA-approved and legal. However, most other stem cell therapies are still considered experimental and are not yet approved for general use. Kim went on to say: 'Two years ago, I tore my shoulder while lifting weights, leaving me in debilitating pain. I tried everything to find relief, then I learned about the potential of stem cell therapy and met Dr. Adeel Khan at Eterna. 'His team treated my shoulder with Dezawa Muse cells, and the results were immediate. I regained full range of motion, and my shoulder has felt completely normal ever since.' And she has gone back for more work but this time on her back. 'Encouraged by this success, I recently returned to Dr. Khan to address chronic back pain that I have been suffering with for years,' said the SKIMS founder. 'The Muse stem cell treatment was a game-changer once again. I experienced relief right away, and the unbearable pain is finally gone.' She then told followers that if they are struggling with back pain, she can't recommend this treatment enough. Kim explained that the procedure has 'transformed my life when I thought my body was breaking down.' Turns out she was getting Muse stem cell treatment and there was also an image of her getting the procedure done as blood could be seen on her back. 'I'm so excited to share with you guys my stem cell journey,' began the ex-wife of Kanye West Kim shared a closeup of what her operating room looked like. The procedure isn't currently offered in the US, but other stem cell therapies are FDA-approved and legal The TV star made sure to promote Eterna, but she added a disclaimer: 'Everyone is different, and I'm just sharing what has worked for me lately. Definitely do your own homework and talk to medical professionals' Kim, her doctor and her sister Khloe sitting on a table in the Eterna center in Mexico But Kardashian also carefully added a disclaimer: 'Everyone is different, and I'm just sharing what has worked for me lately. Definitely do your own homework and talk to medical professionals.' Muse stem cells aren't yet accessible in the US, so she was forced to travel to Mexico to be treated by Dr. Khan's team, she explained. 'I'm deeply grateful for the opportunity and resources to pursue this healing, and I pray the science continues to evolve so more people can benefit. Forever thankful to @dr.akhan @eterna.health,' wrote the daughter of Kris Jenner. The mother of four finished with this note: 'Here's to hope, healing, and the future of science.' The boardroom at Eva Longoria's tequila brand is on the rocks and not in a cocktail kind of way. Casa Del Sol the actor's brand with bottles priced between $60 and $200 has lost its CEO amid swirling allegations of his financial misconduct. Steph Sebbag, who served as the CEO for three years, recently stepped down. But multiple sources tell the Daily Mail his exit wasn't voluntary. While Longoria is the face of the brand and remains tied to its image, she is not accused of any wrongdoing. Sebbag is the subject of an internal investigation over his spending, according to a source familiar with the matter and representatives for Casa Del Sol. 'He has personal expenses and trips all being paid from Casa money,' a source familiar with the matter, who was granted anonymity due to concerns about job security, told the Daily Mail. 'It's ridiculous.' According to the allegations, Sebbag used company funds to bankroll luxury travel including trips on private jets to five-star hotels in Aspen, Miami, Hawaii, and Europe and spent $200,000 two summers in a row to rent a house in the Hamptons. 'While the investigation is ongoing, we are treating this with the utmost seriousness it deserves,' Andrew Bochner, the lawyer representing Casa Del Sol, told the Daily Mail. Steph Sebbag, the former top boss of Eva Longoria's premium tequila brand, left the company in May 'The Company is exploring all available options, including potential legal and financial remedies, and intends to respond through the appropriate channels. 'This matter involves the actions of one individual and does not reflect the values, character, or conduct of the shareholders and its team.' A spokesperson for Casa Del Sol said the board is 'deeply disappointed' about the alleged revalations. Sebbag, however, tells a different story. In a phone interview and email exchanges with the Daily Mail, the former executive denied the allegations, saying he resigned in May to help the company cut costs not because of an internal probe. He maintains that he invested his own money into the brand, rather than abusing its accounts. 'Absolutely false allegations,' Sebbag said, adding that he remains a shareholder and member of the company's board. 'I made the strategic decision to resign as CEO of Casa Del Sol in response to the prevailing circumstances surrounding the company. Eva Longoria's estimated wealth is $80 million Casa Del Sol has had star-studded parties, including with social media star Alix Earle The tequila brand retails bottles for $60 to $200 Longoria, who helped start the brand three years ago, said the company intends to 'uplift the voices of women and celebrate my Mexican heritage' Sources familiar with the internal investigation claimed the former CEO bankrolled luxury trips - he denies these allegations 'It is important to acknowledge that there was a failure to align on expectations, which contributed to some ambiguity regarding our strategic objectives.' Since the Daily Mail reached out, Sebbag has deleted his LinkedIn profile. The former CEO and Longoria, 50, first launched the Casa Del Sol brand in 2021: its success is part of what made the Desperate Housewives actor a fixture in the C-Suite. 'It is always my mission to uplift the voices of women and celebrate my Mexican heritage, so that others may be inspired by the limitless genius and artistry that is rich in our communities,' she wrote on the brand's website. She has also built a multi-hyphenite business empire that includes a production company, a clothing line, and her own line of cookware. Longoria also enjoyed runs on the box and silver screens, with appearances in Only Murders in the Building, Dora and the Lost City of Gold, and the soap opera The Young and the Restless. Her net worth is estimated to be $80 million. McDonald's upcoming McDonaldland meal may stir nostalgia for customers but employees say it's just stirring up stress. The limited-edition adult Happy Meal, launching August 12, includes a new 'mystery shake' inspired by McDonaldland's lava and pink clouds. But staff are already complaining it could overwhelm them especially because the drink relies on soft-serve ice cream, a notorious pain point at many locations. McDonald's ice cream machines have long been plagued by breakdowns, with only the manufacturer allowed to repair them often leaving them out of service for days. The shake is being served alongside the choice of a Quarter Pounder with Cheese or 10-piece McNuggets, plus fries and a collectible tin featuring throwback characters like Grimace and Birdie. But staff say launches like this and the recent return of Snack Wraps just pile on pressure, requiring more ingredients, cooler space, and preparation time. The Snack Wrap comeback, though celebrated by customers, quickly turned into a nightmare behind the scenes. Employees said the rollout was chaotic, with stores overwhelmed by demand, shortages of lettuce, and lacking proper training. 'Wtf is McDonald's thinking??? I mean for real what are they thinking? They bring back the snack wraps and the next month, they throw a new meal at us too?,' a Reddit user wrote. McDonald's employees are not thrilled about the arrival of McDonaldland Meals 'This job is actually going to kill me at this rate.' 'Seriously!?! One more thing to shove in my already overloaded tiny walk-in cooler!,' another employee responded. McDonald's is on the verge of a major comeback even after a recent sales slump and a humiliating loss to Starbucks in the battle for America's favorite fast food chain. Fans have cheered the company's decision to extend operating hours at nearly every US location. That move comes as McDonald's works toward hiring 375,000 employees this summer and aims to open 900 new restaurants by the end of 2027. They are all part of a broader push to win back customers after sales fell in both the final quarter of last year and the first quarter of this year. Now, the Golden Arches is rebounding. It wrapped up its second quarter covering April through June with revenue growth across nearly all categories, topping Wall Street expectations. Global sales rose 3.8 percent, including a 2.5 percent jump in the US, while profits climbed 6 percent. McDonald's is launching a new limited-time McDonaldland Happy Meal on August 12 Employees were complaining about the meals and claimed what would happen at restaurants when they launch CEO Chris Kempczinski credited the gains to 'compelling value, standout marketing, and menu innovation,' highlighting recent hits like the $5 meal deal and Minecraft Movie Meal. Still, executives say winning back low-income customers remains a key priority, since they typically visit more often than wealthier diners. McDonald's is working with franchisees to make core menu items more affordable. The company expects even stronger results in the second half of the year, particularly as it moves past last year's E. coli-related setbacks. Factors in the financial gain include success from its Minecraft Movie Meal and McCrispy Chicken Strips. He added that new technology will also help in elevating McDonald's experiences for customers and crew members including AI drive-thrus and addition AI tools for managers. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of L3Harris Technologies (NYSE:LHX Free Report) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning. A number of other research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Citigroup lifted their target price on L3Harris Technologies from $300.00 to $323.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Truist Financial lifted their target price on L3Harris Technologies from $279.00 to $302.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on L3Harris Technologies from $265.00 to $280.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a report on Friday, July 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded L3Harris Technologies from a sell rating to a buy rating and lifted their price target for the company from $198.00 to $263.00 in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Finally, Susquehanna lifted their price target on L3Harris Technologies from $300.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a positive rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $279.47. Get L3Harris Technologies alerts: View Our Latest Report on LHX L3Harris Technologies Trading Down 1.1% Shares of L3Harris Technologies stock opened at $273.90 on Tuesday. L3Harris Technologies has a 1 year low of $193.09 and a 1 year high of $280.52. The firm has a market cap of $51.25 billion, a PE ratio of 30.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.02 and a beta of 0.77. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $257.75 and a 200-day moving average price of $229.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.87. L3Harris Technologies (NYSE:LHX Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 24th. The company reported $2.78 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.48 by $0.30. L3Harris Technologies had a return on equity of 11.82% and a net margin of 7.94%. The company had revenue of $5.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.31 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.24 EPS. The firms revenue for the quarter was up 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that L3Harris Technologies will post 11.12 EPS for the current year. L3Harris Technologies Dividend Announcement The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 22nd. Investors of record on Friday, September 5th will be paid a dividend of $1.20 per share. This represents a $4.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. L3Harris Technologiess dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 53.63%. Insider Buying and Selling In other L3Harris Technologies news, insider Edward J. Zoiss sold 2,000 shares of the firms stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $245.00, for a total transaction of $490,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 25,325 shares in the company, valued at $6,204,625. This trade represents a 7.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Christopher E. Kubasik sold 72,000 shares of L3Harris Technologies stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $271.14, for a total value of $19,522,080.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 145,578 shares in the company, valued at $39,472,018.92. This represents a 33.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 107,061 shares of company stock valued at $28,227,077 over the last three months. 0.72% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders. Institutional Inflows and Outflows A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in LHX. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in L3Harris Technologies by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter. Cyndeo Wealth Partners LLC now owns 1,396 shares of the companys stock worth $350,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the period. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of L3Harris Technologies by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,781 shares of the companys stock valued at $493,000 after buying an additional 39 shares during the period. Independence Bank of Kentucky lifted its holdings in shares of L3Harris Technologies by 44.4% in the 2nd quarter. Independence Bank of Kentucky now owns 130 shares of the companys stock valued at $33,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the period. DB Fitzpatrick & Co Inc lifted its holdings in shares of L3Harris Technologies by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. DB Fitzpatrick & Co Inc now owns 4,450 shares of the companys stock valued at $1,116,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the period. Finally, Riverbend Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of L3Harris Technologies by 4.3% in the 2nd quarter. Riverbend Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,027 shares of the companys stock valued at $258,000 after buying an additional 42 shares during the period. 84.76% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. About L3Harris Technologies (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. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for L3Harris Technologies Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for L3Harris Technologies and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Jefferies Financial Group restated their buy rating on shares of Senior (LON:SNR Free Report) in a report issued on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat reports. The firm currently has a GBX 185 ($2.49) target price on the stock. Separately, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a buy rating and issued a GBX 195 ($2.62) price target on shares of Senior in a report on Monday, July 21st. Get Senior alerts: View Our Latest Research Report on SNR Senior Trading Up 1.0% Shares of LON SNR opened at GBX 186.82 ($2.51) on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 59.35, a quick ratio of 0.84 and a current ratio of 1.56. The businesss 50 day moving average price is GBX 182.49 and its 200-day moving average price is GBX 162.65. Senior has a fifty-two week low of GBX 113 ($1.52) and a fifty-two week high of GBX 223 ($3.00). The company has a market cap of 782.65 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.43, a PEG ratio of 0.11 and a beta of 1.47. Senior (LON:SNR Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 4th. The company reported GBX 5.07 ($0.07) earnings per share for the quarter. Senior had a return on equity of 6.67% and a net margin of 3.09%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Senior will post 5.8304196 earnings per share for the current year. About Senior (Get Free Report) Senior is an international, market-leading, engineering solutions provider with 30 operating businesses in 13 countries*. Senior designs, manufactures and markets high-technology components and systems for the principal original equipment producers in the worldwide aerospace, defence, land vehicle and power & energy markets. The Group aims to create long-term sustainable growth in shareholder value through a culture of empowerment of autonomous and collaborative operations working within an effective control framework. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for Senior Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Senior and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. AMF Tjanstepension AB decreased its holdings in Consolidated Edison Inc (NYSE:ED Free Report) by 1.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 230,087 shares of the utilities providers stock after selling 2,444 shares during the period. AMF Tjanstepension ABs holdings in Consolidated Edison were worth $25,463,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in ED. Deutsche Bank AG increased its holdings in shares of Consolidated Edison by 130.6% in the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 3,926,814 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $434,266,000 after purchasing an additional 2,223,959 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Consolidated Edison by 15,937.5% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,022,073 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $113,031,000 after purchasing an additional 1,015,700 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Consolidated Edison by 27.9% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,721,730 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $332,090,000 after purchasing an additional 812,885 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP increased its holdings in shares of Consolidated Edison by 232.3% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 1,053,339 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $93,989,000 after purchasing an additional 736,348 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Consolidated Edison by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 43,117,094 shares of the utilities providers stock valued at $4,768,319,000 after purchasing an additional 661,432 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 66.29% of the companys stock. Get Consolidated Edison alerts: Consolidated Edison Trading Up 0.9% Shares of ED stock opened at $105.11 on Friday. Consolidated Edison Inc has a 12 month low of $87.28 and a 12 month high of $114.87. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.28 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.04. The businesss 50 day moving average is $101.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $103.01. The company has a market cap of $37.87 billion, a PE ratio of 19.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.24. Consolidated Edison Announces Dividend Consolidated Edison ( NYSE:ED Get Free Report ) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.67 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.66 by $0.01. Consolidated Edison had a return on equity of 8.61% and a net margin of 11.98%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.59 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Consolidated Edison Inc will post 5.62 EPS for the current year. The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, August 13th will be given a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, August 13th. Consolidated Edisons dividend payout ratio is currently 62.85%. Analyst Ratings Changes A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Barclays upped their target price on Consolidated Edison from $100.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a report on Monday, May 5th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Consolidated Edison from $103.00 to $114.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Consolidated Edison from $93.00 to $92.00 and set an underweight rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. KeyCorp restated an overweight rating on shares of Consolidated Edison in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Mizuho upgraded Consolidated Edison from a neutral rating to an outperform rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $105.00 to $107.00 in a report on Monday, June 30th. 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $104.70. Check Out Our Latest Research Report on Consolidated Edison About Consolidated Edison (Free Report) Consolidated Edison, Inc, through its subsidiaries, engages in the regulated electric, gas, and steam delivery businesses in the United States. It offers electric services to approximately 3.7 million customers in New York City and Westchester County; gas to approximately 1.1 million customers in Manhattan, the Bronx, parts of Queens, and Westchester County; and steam to approximately 1,530 customers in parts of Manhattan. Recommended Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding ED? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Consolidated Edison Inc (NYSE:ED Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Consolidated Edison Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Consolidated Edison and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. AMF Tjanstepension AB cut its holdings in The Travelers Companies, Inc. (NYSE:TRV Free Report) by 1.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 129,602 shares of the insurance providers stock after selling 1,609 shares during the quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB owned approximately 0.06% of Travelers Companies worth $34,286,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AlphaCore Capital LLC raised its holdings in Travelers Companies by 7.4% in the first quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC now owns 913 shares of the insurance providers stock worth $242,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Travelers Companies by 9.3% in the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 521,345 shares of the insurance providers stock worth $137,875,000 after purchasing an additional 44,354 shares in the last quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd raised its holdings in Travelers Companies by 13.9% in the first quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 319 shares of the insurance providers stock worth $84,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG raised its holdings in Travelers Companies by 5.2% in the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 864,336 shares of the insurance providers stock worth $228,582,000 after purchasing an additional 42,367 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC raised its holdings in Travelers Companies by 4.2% in the first quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 2,012 shares of the insurance providers stock worth $541,000 after purchasing an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. 82.45% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Get Travelers Companies alerts: Insider Buying and Selling In other Travelers Companies news, EVP Maria Olivo sold 36,199 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $274.20, for a total value of $9,925,765.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 118,116 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $32,387,407.20. The trade was a 23.46% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Jeffrey P. Klenk sold 15,180 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $272.87, for a total value of $4,142,166.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 6,075 shares of the companys stock, valued at $1,657,685.25. The trade was a 71.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 175,374 shares of company stock valued at $47,929,912 in the last three months. 1.46% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders. Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth TRV has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Travelers Companies from $288.00 to $296.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, April 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Travelers Companies from $304.00 to $316.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Friday, July 18th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Travelers Companies from $275.00 to $284.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Morgan Stanley set a $269.00 price target on Travelers Companies and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Monday, May 19th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Travelers Companies from $264.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $282.69. View Our Latest Analysis on Travelers Companies Travelers Companies Price Performance Shares of NYSE TRV opened at $265.40 on Friday. The businesss 50 day moving average price is $263.38 and its 200 day moving average price is $258.40. The firm has a market cap of $59.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.74, a P/E/G ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.51. The Travelers Companies, Inc. has a 52 week low of $208.63 and a 52 week high of $277.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.33, a current ratio of 0.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27. Travelers Companies (NYSE:TRV Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 17th. The insurance provider reported $6.51 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $3.52 by $2.99. The firm had revenue of $11.54 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $11.02 billion. Travelers Companies had a return on equity of 18.68% and a net margin of 10.97%. Travelers Companiess revenue for the quarter was up 7.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.51 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that The Travelers Companies, Inc. will post 17.02 earnings per share for the current year. Travelers Companies Announces Dividend The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 10th will be issued a $1.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 10th. This represents a $4.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.7%. Travelers Companiess payout ratio is presently 19.46%. Travelers Companies Company Profile (Free Report) The Travelers Companies, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides a range of commercial and personal property, and casualty insurance products and services to businesses, government units, associations, and individuals in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments: Business Insurance, Bond & Specialty Insurance, and Personal Insurance. Read More Receive News & Ratings for Travelers Companies Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Travelers Companies and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Swiss National Bank decreased its stake in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG Free Report) by 0.1% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 704,500 shares of the financial services providers stock after selling 600 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Banks holdings in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. were worth $243,222,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of AJG. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC raised its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.1% during the first quarter. Checchi Capital Advisers LLC now owns 2,899 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $1,001,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the period. Menard Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Menard Financial Group LLC now owns 3,812 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $1,289,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the period. Allen Capital Group LLC boosted its position in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Allen Capital Group LLC now owns 1,603 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $553,000 after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the period. Allred Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Allred Capital Management LLC now owns 3,380 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $960,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Finally, City Holding Co. lifted its stake in Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. by 3.1% in the first quarter. City Holding Co. now owns 1,140 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $394,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. 85.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors. Get Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. alerts: Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Stock Performance Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock opened at $289.91 on Friday. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a fifty-two week low of $274.25 and a fifty-two week high of $351.23. The firms 50 day simple moving average is $314.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $322.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.36 and a quick ratio of 1.44. The company has a market cap of $74.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.18 and a beta of 0.68. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Announces Dividend Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. ( NYSE:AJG Get Free Report ) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The financial services provider reported $2.33 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $2.36 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $3.18 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.20 billion. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. had a net margin of 14.54% and a return on equity of 13.17%. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.29 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. will post 11.54 EPS for the current year. The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 19th. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 5th will be given a $0.65 dividend. This represents a $2.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 5th. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co.s dividend payout ratio is 36.93%. Analysts Set New Price Targets A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler increased their price objective on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $352.00 to $372.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $326.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Erste Group Bank reissued a hold rating on shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. UBS Group reduced their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $345.00 to $322.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. from $371.00 to $373.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $329.15. Get Our Latest Stock Report on AJG Insider Transactions at Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. In other Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. news, insider Susan E. Pietrucha sold 13,500 shares of Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $344.13, for a total value of $4,645,755.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 11,941 shares in the company, valued at $4,109,256.33. The trade was a 53.06% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director David S. Johnson sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $342.04, for a total transaction of $342,040.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 45,323 shares in the company, valued at approximately $15,502,278.92. This trade represents a 2.16% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 25,000 shares of company stock valued at $8,528,080 over the last three months. 1.60% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders. About Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (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 segments: Brokerage, Risk Management, and Corporate. The Brokerage segment consists of retail and wholesale insurance brokerage operations. Read More Want to see what other hedge funds are holding AJG? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. (NYSE:AJG Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations lowered its stake in shares of Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV Free Report) by 2.7% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 3,339 shares of the companys stock after selling 91 shares during the period. Caisse Des Depots ET Consignations holdings in Elevance Health were worth $1,452,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. AlphaCore Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Elevance Health during the first quarter worth about $258,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Elevance Health by 14.5% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 414,348 shares of the companys stock worth $180,225,000 after purchasing an additional 52,317 shares in the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Elevance Health during the first quarter worth about $263,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Elevance Health by 6.6% during the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,782,653 shares of the companys stock worth $775,383,000 after purchasing an additional 109,628 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. purchased a new stake in shares of Elevance Health during the first quarter worth about $11,260,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.24% of the companys stock. Get Elevance Health alerts: Elevance Health Stock Performance Elevance Health stock opened at $283.65 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $341.96 and a 200-day simple moving average of $386.08. Elevance Health, Inc. has a 1-year low of $273.71 and a 1-year high of $567.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 1.44 and a quick ratio of 1.44. The stock has a market cap of $63.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.01 and a beta of 0.58. Elevance Health Announces Dividend Elevance Health ( NYSE:ELV Get Free Report ) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 17th. The company reported $8.84 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $9.30 by ($0.46). Elevance Health had a return on equity of 17.59% and a net margin of 2.83%. The company had revenue of $49.42 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $48.26 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $10.12 earnings per share. The businesss revenue was up 14.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Elevance Health, Inc. will post 33.96 EPS for the current year. The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 25th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 10th will be issued a $1.71 dividend. This represents a $6.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 10th. Elevance Healths dividend payout ratio is currently 29.11%. Insider Activity at Elevance Health In related news, CEO Gail Boudreaux acquired 8,500 shares of the firms stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 18th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $286.94 per share, for a total transaction of $2,438,990.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer owned 151,020 shares in the company, valued at $43,333,678.80. The trade was a 5.96% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.29% of the companys stock. Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth ELV has been the subject of a number of research reports. Truist Financial cut their target price on shares of Elevance Health from $500.00 to $440.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Elevance Health from $472.00 to $384.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Robert W. Baird dropped their price objective on shares of Elevance Health from $492.00 to $297.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 25th. UBS Group reaffirmed a buy rating and set a $484.00 price objective (down previously from $555.00) on shares of Elevance Health in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Leerink Partners reaffirmed a market perform rating and set a $310.00 price objective (down previously from $510.00) on shares of Elevance Health in a research note on Friday, July 18th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $418.19. Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on ELV About Elevance Health (Free Report) Elevance Health, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a health benefits company in the United States. The company operates through four segments: Health Benefits, CarelonRx, Carelon Services, and Corporate & Other. It offers a variety of health plans and services to program members; health products; an array of fee-based administrative managed care services; and specialty and other insurance products and services, such as stop loss, dental, vision, life, disability, and supplemental health insurance benefits. Further Reading Want to see what other hedge funds are holding ELV? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Elevance Health, Inc. (NYSE:ELV Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Elevance Health Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Elevance Health and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Fayez Sarofim & Co lessened its holdings in shares of GE Vernova Inc. (NYSE:GEV Free Report) by 3.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 716 shares of the companys stock after selling 26 shares during the quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Cos holdings in GE Vernova were worth $219,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of GE Vernova by 1.8% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 24,392,613 shares of the companys stock worth $7,446,577,000 after acquiring an additional 432,830 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its position in shares of GE Vernova by 25.3% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 14,854,297 shares of the companys stock valued at $4,886,164,000 after purchasing an additional 2,994,660 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in GE Vernova by 7.4% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,129,958 shares of the companys stock worth $955,513,000 after purchasing an additional 214,483 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in GE Vernova by 15.0% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 2,630,122 shares of the companys stock worth $865,126,000 after purchasing an additional 343,837 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in GE Vernova by 32,984.2% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,141,539 shares of the companys stock worth $653,769,000 after buying an additional 2,135,066 shares during the period. Get GE Vernova alerts: GE Vernova Trading Down 2.8% Shares of GEV opened at $646.22 on Friday. The companys fifty day simple moving average is $544.98 and its 200 day simple moving average is $422.95. GE Vernova Inc. has a 1-year low of $165.05 and a 1-year high of $677.29. The company has a market cap of $175.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 155.71, a PEG ratio of 4.59 and a beta of 1.90. GE Vernova Announces Dividend GE Vernova ( NYSE:GEV Get Free Report ) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 23rd. The company reported $1.86 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $1.63 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $9.11 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.78 billion. GE Vernova had a net margin of 3.16% and a return on equity of 13.23%. The companys quarterly revenue was up 11.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $4.65 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that GE Vernova Inc. will post 6.59 earnings per share for the current year. The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 18th. Shareholders of record on Monday, July 21st will be given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, July 21st. GE Vernovas payout ratio is 24.10%. Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of GE Vernova from $474.00 to $697.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Glj Research assumed coverage on shares of GE Vernova in a research report on Monday, June 23rd. They issued a buy rating on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of GE Vernova from a buy rating to a hold rating and upped their target price for the stock from $427.00 to $517.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an outperform rating on shares of GE Vernova in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on GE Vernova from $568.00 to $706.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Thursday, July 24th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eighteen have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $560.21. Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on GE Vernova About GE Vernova (Free Report) GE Vernova LLC, an energy business company, generates electricity. It operates under three segments: Power, Wind, and Electrification. The Power segments generates and sells electricity through hydro, gas, nuclear, and steam power. Wind segment engages in the manufacturing and sale of wind turbine blades; and Electrification segment provides grid solutions, power conversion, solar, and storage solutions. Further Reading Want to see what other hedge funds are holding GEV? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for GE Vernova Inc. (NYSE:GEV Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for GE Vernova Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for GE Vernova and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Figma, Inc. (NYSE:FIG Get Free Report) Director Mamoon Amjad Hamid sold 2,756,020 shares of Figma stock in a transaction on Friday, August 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.52, for a total value of $86,869,750.40. Following the sale, the director directly owned 1,559,622 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $49,159,285.44. The trade was a 63.86% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Figma Stock Down 13.1% FIG opened at $78.49 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $33.36 million, a P/E ratio of 106.07 and a beta of 0.65. Figma, Inc. has a 1 year low of $76.65 and a 1 year high of $142.92. Get Figma alerts: About Figma (Get Free Report) Featured Stories Figma is where teams come together to turn ideas into the worlds best digital products and experiences. Every day, billions of people around the world use apps, websites, and other digital experiences that are made in Figma. Theyre looking up directions on Google Maps; requesting rides with Uber; checking in for flights on JetBlue; streaming shows on Netflix; learning languages with Duolingo; asking questions of Claude; connecting on LinkedIn; buying goods on Mercado Libre; or booking stays and experiences with Airbnb. Receive News & Ratings for Figma Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Figma and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Truepoint Inc. increased its holdings in iShares Russell Mid-Cap Growth ETF (NYSEARCA:IWP Free Report) by 6.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 249,881 shares of the companys stock after purchasing an additional 14,665 shares during the quarter. iShares Russell Mid-Cap Growth ETF accounts for about 0.8% of Truepoint Inc.s holdings, making the stock its 20th largest holding. Truepoint Inc.s holdings in iShares Russell Mid-Cap Growth ETF were worth $29,359,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in shares of iShares Russell Mid-Cap Growth ETF by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 7,281,997 shares of the companys stock worth $922,993,000 after purchasing an additional 154,005 shares during the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its stake in iShares Russell Mid-Cap Growth ETF by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 2,497,849 shares of the companys stock worth $293,472,000 after buying an additional 16,694 shares in the last quarter. LPL Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of iShares Russell Mid-Cap Growth ETF by 6.7% during the first quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 2,298,746 shares of the companys stock valued at $269,980,000 after acquiring an additional 144,339 shares during the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of iShares Russell Mid-Cap Growth ETF by 19.0% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,929,629 shares of the companys stock valued at $226,712,000 after acquiring an additional 308,531 shares in the last quarter. Finally, US Bancorp DE lifted its position in shares of iShares Russell Mid-Cap Growth ETF by 5.1% in the first quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 1,561,171 shares of the companys stock valued at $183,422,000 after acquiring an additional 75,807 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 74.49% of the companys stock. Get iShares Russell Mid-Cap Growth ETF alerts: iShares Russell Mid-Cap Growth ETF Stock Performance Shares of IWP opened at $140.31 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $137.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $129.55. iShares Russell Mid-Cap Growth ETF has a one year low of $99.85 and a one year high of $143.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $19.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.48 and a beta of 1.10. iShares Russell Mid-Cap Growth ETF Company Profile iShares Russell Mid-Cap Growth ETF, formerly iShares Russell Midcap Growth Index Fund (the Growth 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 Russell Midcap Growth Index (the Growth Index). See Also Want to see what other hedge funds are holding IWP? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for iShares Russell Mid-Cap Growth ETF (NYSEARCA:IWP Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for iShares Russell Mid-Cap Growth ETF Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for iShares Russell Mid-Cap Growth ETF and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (NYSE:MMC Get Free Report) has been given an average rating of Hold by the fourteen ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $239.7857. A number of analysts have commented on MMC shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods cut their price objective on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from $214.00 to $210.00 and set an underperform rating for the company in a report on Monday, July 21st. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from $237.00 to $244.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from $229.00 to $226.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 18th. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from $261.00 to $258.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies from $249.00 to $233.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research note on Monday, July 7th. Get Marsh & McLennan Companies alerts: Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on MMC Hedge Funds Weigh In On Marsh & McLennan Companies Marsh & McLennan Companies Stock Down 0.4% A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MMC. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Marsh & McLennan Companies by 54.2% during the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,814,788 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $3,127,193,000 after purchasing an additional 4,505,548 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Marsh & McLennan Companies in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $1,038,594,000. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in Marsh & McLennan Companies by 48,212.9% in the 2nd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,629,187 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $574,845,000 after buying an additional 2,623,745 shares during the period. Stifel Financial Corp boosted its position in Marsh & McLennan Companies by 551.0% in the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 2,224,932 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $472,599,000 after buying an additional 1,883,146 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Marsh & McLennan Companies by 32,120.9% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,515,670 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $369,869,000 after buying an additional 1,510,966 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.99% of the companys stock. MMC stock opened at $203.10 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $99.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.35, a PEG ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a current ratio of 1.20, a quick ratio of 1.20 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19. Marsh & McLennan Companies has a 12 month low of $196.27 and a 12 month high of $248.00. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $214.32 and a two-hundred day moving average of $223.89. Marsh & McLennan Companies (NYSE:MMC Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 17th. The financial services provider reported $2.72 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $2.66 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $6.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.92 billion. Marsh & McLennan Companies had a net margin of 16.00% and a return on equity of 31.90%. Marsh & McLennan Companiess quarterly revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.41 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Marsh & McLennan Companies will post 9.61 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Marsh & McLennan Companies Increases Dividend The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 24th will be given a dividend of $0.90 per share. This represents a $3.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 24th. This is an increase from Marsh & McLennan Companiess previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. Marsh & McLennan Companiess dividend payout ratio is 43.17%. About Marsh & McLennan Companies (Get Free Report) Marsh & McLennan Cos., Inc is a professional services firm, which engages in offering clients advice and solutions in risk, strategy, and people. It operates through the Risk and Insurance Services, and Consulting segments. The Risk and Insurance Services segment is involved in risk management activities, as well as insurance and reinsurance broking and services. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for Marsh & McLennan Companies Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Marsh & McLennan Companies and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System lessened its holdings in shares of Medtronic PLC (NYSE:MDT Free Report) by 12.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 60,029 shares of the medical technology companys stock after selling 8,926 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension Systems holdings in Medtronic were worth $5,394,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Medtronic during the 1st quarter worth $1,530,000. Blue Barn Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Medtronic by 23.3% in the first quarter. Blue Barn Wealth LLC now owns 3,520 shares of the medical technology companys stock valued at $316,000 after buying an additional 666 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG raised its stake in Medtronic by 3.1% during the first quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 19,009,795 shares of the medical technology companys stock valued at $1,708,220,000 after buying an additional 566,155 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Medtronic by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,041,952 shares of the medical technology companys stock worth $722,650,000 after buying an additional 39,901 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ASR Vermogensbeheer N.V. acquired a new position in shares of Medtronic in the 1st quarter worth approximately $13,665,000. 82.06% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Get Medtronic alerts: Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Leerink Partners began coverage on shares of Medtronic in a report on Monday, June 16th. They issued an outperform rating and a $110.00 price objective for the company. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Medtronic from an underperform rating to a peer perform rating in a research note on Monday, June 30th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an overweight rating and set a $107.00 target price (up from $98.00) on shares of Medtronic in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Medtronic from $103.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Mizuho raised their target price on Medtronic from $98.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Medtronic currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $98.19. Medtronic Trading Up 2.1% Medtronic stock opened at $91.23 on Friday. Medtronic PLC has a 52 week low of $79.29 and a 52 week high of $96.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 1.42 and a current ratio of 1.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $117.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.80. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $88.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $87.90. Medtronic (NYSE:MDT Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 21st. The medical technology company reported $1.62 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $1.58 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $8.93 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.81 billion. Medtronic had a return on equity of 14.54% and a net margin of 13.90%. Medtronics revenue for the quarter was up 3.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.46 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Medtronic PLC will post 5.46 EPS for the current year. Medtronic Increases Dividend The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, July 11th. Investors of record on Friday, June 27th were given a dividend of $0.71 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 27th. This is a boost from Medtronics previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $2.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. Medtronics payout ratio is presently 78.45%. Medtronic Company Profile (Free Report) Medtronic plc develops, manufactures, and sells device-based medical therapies to healthcare systems, physicians, clinicians, and patients worldwide. Its Cardiovascular Portfolio segment offers implantable cardiac pacemakers, cardioverter defibrillators, and cardiac resynchronization therapy devices; cardiac ablation products; insertable cardiac monitor systems; TYRX products; and remote monitoring and patient-centered software. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for Medtronic Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Medtronic and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Nicholson Wealth Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE:ITW Free Report) by 4.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,878 shares of the industrial products companys stock after acquiring an additional 244 shares during the quarter. Nicholson Wealth Management Group LLCs holdings in Illinois Tool Works were worth $1,458,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Sivia Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Illinois Tool Works in the 1st quarter valued at about $214,000. OneAscent Financial Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Illinois Tool Works by 25.8% during the 1st quarter. OneAscent Financial Services LLC now owns 1,664 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $416,000 after buying an additional 341 shares in the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Illinois Tool Works by 42.2% during the 4th quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 5,718 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $1,450,000 after buying an additional 1,698 shares in the last quarter. Sowell Financial Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Illinois Tool Works during the 1st quarter worth approximately $946,000. Finally, Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Illinois Tool Works by 12.3% during the 1st quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 41,557 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $10,242,000 after buying an additional 4,560 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 79.77% of the companys stock. Get Illinois Tool Works alerts: Illinois Tool Works Stock Down 0.3% Illinois Tool Works stock opened at $256.63 on Friday. Illinois Tool Works Inc. has a 1-year low of $214.66 and a 1-year high of $279.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $74.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.49, a P/E/G ratio of 5.55 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 1.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.40. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $252.05 and a 200 day simple moving average of $250.15. Illinois Tool Works Increases Dividend Illinois Tool Works ( NYSE:ITW Get Free Report ) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.58 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $2.56 by $0.02. Illinois Tool Works had a net margin of 21.31% and a return on equity of 90.89%. The business had revenue of $4.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.01 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.54 EPS. Illinois Tool Workss revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Illinois Tool Works Inc. will post 10.39 earnings per share for the current year. The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 10th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, September 30th will be issued a $1.61 dividend. This represents a $6.44 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, September 30th. This is a positive change from Illinois Tool Workss previous quarterly dividend of $1.50. Illinois Tool Workss payout ratio is 52.59%. Insider Buying and Selling In other news, Director David Byron Smith, Jr. purchased 872 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction on Monday, June 2nd. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $241.16 per share, with a total value of $210,291.52. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 122,884 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,634,705.44. This trade represents a 0.71% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.88% of the stock is currently owned by insiders. Wall Street Analyst Weigh In ITW has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Illinois Tool Works from $235.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Citigroup lifted their target price on shares of Illinois Tool Works from $254.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Truist Financial cut shares of Illinois Tool Works from a buy rating to a hold rating and set a $283.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Illinois Tool Works from $239.00 to $244.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Illinois Tool Works from $255.00 to $261.00 and gave the stock a hold rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $259.33. Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on Illinois Tool Works Illinois Tool Works Profile (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. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for Illinois Tool Works Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Illinois Tool Works and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:RNR Get Free Report) has been given a consensus recommendation of Hold by the eleven analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $287.50. Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an equal weight rating and set a $269.00 price target (up previously from $267.00) on shares of RenaissanceRe in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of RenaissanceRe from $256.00 to $273.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on RenaissanceRe from $268.00 to $269.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research report on Monday, July 28th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on RenaissanceRe from $266.00 to $265.00 and set a hold rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a market perform rating on shares of RenaissanceRe in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Get RenaissanceRe alerts: Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on RNR RenaissanceRe Stock Performance RNR stock opened at $239.52 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $242.24 and a two-hundred day moving average of $240.74. RenaissanceRe has a 12 month low of $219.00 and a 12 month high of $300.00. The company has a market capitalization of $11.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.36, a current ratio of 1.36 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.23. RenaissanceRe (NYSE:RNR Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The insurance provider reported $12.29 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $10.28 by $2.01. RenaissanceRe had a net margin of 15.44% and a return on equity of 15.00%. The firm had revenue of $2.77 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.96 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $12.41 earnings per share. The businesss quarterly revenue was down 2.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that RenaissanceRe will post 26.04 EPS for the current fiscal year. RenaissanceRe Dividend Announcement The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 30th. Investors of record on Monday, September 15th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 15th. RenaissanceRes dividend payout ratio is presently 4.09%. Institutional Inflows and Outflows Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. LPL Financial LLC increased its holdings in RenaissanceRe by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. LPL Financial LLC now owns 7,125 shares of the insurance providers stock valued at $1,773,000 after buying an additional 98 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in shares of RenaissanceRe by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 120,718 shares of the insurance providers stock valued at $30,036,000 after purchasing an additional 4,131 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA raised its holdings in shares of RenaissanceRe by 9.1% in the 4th quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA now owns 7,300 shares of the insurance providers stock worth $1,816,000 after buying an additional 610 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. bought a new position in shares of RenaissanceRe during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,086,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in RenaissanceRe by 24.3% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,144,805 shares of the insurance providers stock valued at $284,907,000 after buying an additional 223,991 shares in the last quarter. 99.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. About RenaissanceRe (Get Free Report) RenaissanceRe Holdings Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, provides reinsurance and insurance products in the United States and internationally. The company operates through Property, and Casualty and Specialty segments. The Property segment writes property catastrophe excess of loss reinsurance and excess of loss reinsurance to insure insurance and reinsurance companies against natural and man-made catastrophes, including hurricanes, earthquakes, typhoons, and tsunamis, as well as winter storms, freezes, floods, fires, windstorms, tornadoes, explosions, and acts of terrorism; and other property class of products, such as proportional reinsurance, property per risk, property reinsurance, binding facilities, and regional U.S. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for RenaissanceRe Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for RenaissanceRe and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Forsta AP Fonden trimmed its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC Free Report) by 7.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 788,000 shares of the financial services providers stock after selling 67,700 shares during the quarter. Forsta AP Fondens holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $56,571,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in WFC. Savvy Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 12.4% in the first quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. now owns 12,793 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $918,000 after buying an additional 1,408 shares in the last quarter. WBH Advisory Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the 1st quarter worth approximately $201,000. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 10.0% in the 1st quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 6,009,440 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $431,418,000 after acquiring an additional 544,473 shares during the period. Y.D. More Investments Ltd increased its stake in Wells Fargo & Company by 10.2% in the 1st quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 4,862 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $349,000 after purchasing an additional 449 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Evernest Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Wells Fargo & Company by 18.0% during the first quarter. Evernest Financial Advisors LLC now owns 6,304 shares of the financial services providers stock worth $453,000 after purchasing an additional 963 shares during the last quarter. 75.90% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Get Wells Fargo & Company alerts: Analysts Set New Price Targets Several brokerages recently weighed in on WFC. TD Cowen initiated coverage on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research note on Thursday, May 15th. They issued a hold rating and a $83.00 target price for the company. Piper Sandler reissued an overweight rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Wells Fargo & Company from $77.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. Phillip Securities downgraded Wells Fargo & Company from a strong-buy rating to a moderate buy rating in a report on Thursday, July 17th. Finally, Dbs Bank raised Wells Fargo & Company from a hold rating to a moderate buy rating in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Wells Fargo & Company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $80.39. Wells Fargo & Company Trading Down 0.8% Wells Fargo & Company stock opened at $77.02 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $78.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $74.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $250.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.19, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.20. Wells Fargo & Company has a 52 week low of $50.22 and a 52 week high of $84.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a quick ratio of 0.83 and a current ratio of 0.84. Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.54 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $1.41 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $20.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.83 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a net margin of 16.82% and a return on equity of 12.29%. The firms revenue was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.33 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 EPS for the current year. Wells Fargo & Company declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program on Tuesday, April 29th that permits the company to repurchase $40.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase up to 17.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the companys board of directors believes its shares are undervalued. Wells Fargo & Company Increases Dividend The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 1st. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 8th will be given a $0.45 dividend. This is an increase from Wells Fargo & Companys previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 8th. Wells Fargo & Companys payout ratio is presently 30.82%. Wells Fargo & Company Profile (Free Report) Wells Fargo & Co is a diversified and community-based financial services company, which engages in the provision of banking, insurance, investments, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance products and services. It operates through the following segments: Consumer Banking and Lending, Commercial Banking, Corporate and Investment Banking, and Wealth and Investment Management. Read More Receive News & Ratings for Wells Fargo & Company Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Wells Fargo & Company and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Get Magna International alerts: Magna International Inc. (NYSE:MGA Free Report) (TSE:MG) Analysts at Raymond James Financial raised their FY2025 earnings estimates for shares of Magna International in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday, August 5th. Raymond James Financial analyst M. Glen now forecasts that the company will post earnings of $5.03 per share for the year, up from their previous estimate of $4.74. The consensus estimate for Magna Internationals current full-year earnings is $5.87 per share. Raymond James Financial also issued estimates for Magna Internationals Q4 2025 earnings at $1.64 EPS, Q1 2026 earnings at $1.45 EPS, Q4 2026 earnings at $1.58 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $6.04 EPS. Magna International (NYSE:MGA Get Free Report) (TSE:MG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 1st. The company reported $1.44 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $10.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $10.10 billion. Magna International had a net margin of 2.91% and a return on equity of 11.89%. The companys quarterly revenue was down 3.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.35 earnings per share. Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the company. TD Securities boosted their price objective on Magna International from $50.00 to $52.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Magna International from $37.00 to $45.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Monday, July 14th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Magna International from $37.00 to $38.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 1st. Veritas raised shares of Magna International to a hold rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Magna International from $47.00 to $48.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Magna International presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $42.36. Get Our Latest Research Report on Magna International Magna International Stock Up 1.3% Shares of MGA opened at $42.53 on Thursday. The businesss 50 day simple moving average is $39.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $37.42. Magna International has a one year low of $30.39 and a one year high of $47.22. The company has a market capitalization of $11.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.98, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.39, a current ratio of 1.16 and a quick ratio of 0.74. Magna International Announces Dividend The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th will be given a $0.485 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $1.94 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.6%. Magna Internationals payout ratio is currently 45.54%. Institutional Trading of Magna International A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of Magna International by 5.5% during the 1st quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 252,500 shares of the companys stock worth $8,582,000 after purchasing an additional 13,220 shares during the last quarter. ARK Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Magna International during the 1st quarter valued at $5,478,000. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its position in Magna International by 19.9% during the first quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 251,832 shares of the companys stock worth $8,560,000 after purchasing an additional 41,811 shares during the period. ARGA Investment Management LP raised its position in shares of Magna International by 17.0% in the first quarter. ARGA Investment Management LP now owns 2,997,857 shares of the companys stock valued at $101,890,000 after purchasing an additional 436,366 shares during the period. Finally, Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lifted its stake in shares of Magna International by 99.3% during the 4th quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 50,462 shares of the companys stock worth $2,108,000 after buying an additional 25,142 shares during the last quarter. 67.49% of the stock is owned by institutional investors. About Magna International (Get Free Report) Magna International Inc designs, engineers, and manufactures components, assemblies, systems, subsystems, and modules for original equipment manufacturers of vehicles and light trucks worldwide. It operates through four segments: Body Exteriors & Structures, Power & Vision, Seating Systems, and Complete Vehicles. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for Magna International Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Magna International and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Zeta Global (NYSE:ZETA Get Free Report) had its price objective upped by Morgan Stanley from $15.00 to $20.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Morgan Stanleys price target suggests a potential upside of 1.93% from the stocks current price. Get Zeta Global alerts: ZETA has been the subject of several other research reports. Needham & Company LLC lowered their price objective on shares of Zeta Global from $43.00 to $25.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their target price on shares of Zeta Global from $28.00 to $26.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 2nd. B. Riley lowered their target price on shares of Zeta Global from $44.00 to $29.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. DA Davidson lowered their target price on shares of Zeta Global from $42.00 to $25.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Zeta Global from $20.00 to $24.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Wednesday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Zeta Global has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $30.14. View Our Latest Report on Zeta Global Zeta Global Price Performance Institutional Investors Weigh In On Zeta Global ZETA stock opened at $19.62 on Wednesday. Zeta Global has a 52 week low of $10.69 and a 52 week high of $38.20. The company has a quick ratio of 3.33, a current ratio of 3.33 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $14.85 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $15.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.62 billion, a P/E ratio of -103.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 75.47 and a beta of 1.28. A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its holdings in Zeta Global by 753.3% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 6,306,270 shares of the companys stock valued at $85,513,000 after buying an additional 5,567,201 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its position in Zeta Global by 98.8% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 4,719,762 shares of the companys stock valued at $84,909,000 after purchasing an additional 2,345,562 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Zeta Global by 7.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 4,573,271 shares of the companys stock valued at $82,470,000 after purchasing an additional 306,592 shares during the period. Yong Rong HK Asset Management Ltd purchased a new position in Zeta Global during the 1st quarter valued at about $38,748,000. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. purchased a new position in Zeta Global during the 4th quarter valued at about $51,042,000. Institutional investors own 87.75% of the companys stock. Zeta Global Company Profile (Get Free Report) Zeta Global Holdings Corp. operates an omnichannel data-driven cloud platform that provides enterprises with consumer intelligence and marketing automation software in the United States and internationally. The companys Zeta Marketing Platform analyzes billions of structured and unstructured data points to predict consumer intent by leveraging sophisticated machine learning algorithms and the industrys opted-in data set for omnichannel marketing; and Consumer Data platform ingests, analyzes, and distills disparate data points to generate a single view of a consumer, encompassing identity, profile characteristics, behaviors, and purchase intent. Read More Receive News & Ratings for Zeta Global Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Zeta Global and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Get Fidelity National Information Services alerts: Fidelity National Information Services, Inc. (NYSE:FIS Free Report) Equities research analysts at William Blair upped their FY2025 EPS estimates for Fidelity National Information Services in a research report issued on Tuesday, August 5th. William Blair analyst C. Kennedy now expects that the information technology services provider will post earnings per share of $5.76 for the year, up from their previous forecast of $5.74. The consensus estimate for Fidelity National Information Services current full-year earnings is $5.74 per share. William Blair also issued estimates for Fidelity National Information Services Q4 2025 earnings at $1.71 EPS and Q4 2026 earnings at $1.73 EPS. Fidelity National Information Services (NYSE:FIS Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The information technology services provider reported $1.36 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting analysts consensus estimates of $1.36. Fidelity National Information Services had a net margin of 1.09% and a return on equity of 18.73%. The company had revenue of $2.62 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $2.57 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.36 earnings per share. The firms quarterly revenue was up 5.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Several other research firms have also weighed in on FIS. Stephens upped their target price on Fidelity National Information Services from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. Citigroup upgraded shares of Fidelity National Information Services from a neutral rating to a buy rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $79.00 to $86.00 in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on shares of Fidelity National Information Services from $82.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their target price on shares of Fidelity National Information Services from $95.00 to $93.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 7th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lowered their price target on shares of Fidelity National Information Services from $92.00 to $88.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and thirteen have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $91.63. View Our Latest Research Report on FIS Fidelity National Information Services Stock Performance NYSE FIS opened at $70.05 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $79.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $76.80. The company has a market capitalization of $36.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 389.21 and a beta of 1.04. Fidelity National Information Services has a 1-year low of $66.51 and a 1-year high of $91.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63, a current ratio of 0.59 and a quick ratio of 0.63. Institutional Inflows and Outflows Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. acquired a new position in Fidelity National Information Services during the first quarter worth approximately $276,000. Brown Advisory Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Fidelity National Information Services by 16.7% during the 1st quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 329,325 shares of the information technology services providers stock worth $24,594,000 after buying an additional 47,086 shares during the last quarter. Compass Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Fidelity National Information Services by 13.5% in the 1st quarter. Compass Wealth Management LLC now owns 77,794 shares of the information technology services providers stock worth $5,810,000 after buying an additional 9,251 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC purchased a new position in shares of Fidelity National Information Services in the 4th quarter worth $347,000. Finally, Meritage Portfolio Management boosted its holdings in Fidelity National Information Services by 43.9% in the first quarter. Meritage Portfolio Management now owns 82,571 shares of the information technology services providers stock valued at $6,166,000 after acquiring an additional 25,203 shares during the last quarter. 96.23% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Fidelity National Information Services Dividend Announcement The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 24th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 10th will be paid a $0.40 dividend. This represents a $1.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 10th. Fidelity National Information Servicess dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 888.89%. Fidelity National Information Services Company Profile (Get Free Report) Fidelity National Information Services, Inc engages in the provision of financial services technology solutions for financial institutions, businesses, and developers worldwide. It operates through Banking Solutions, Capital Market Solutions, and Corporate and Other segments. The company provides core processing and ancillary applications; mobile and online banking; fraud, risk management, and compliance; card and retail payment; electronic funds transfer and network; wealth and retirement; and item processing and output solutions. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for Fidelity National Information Services Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Fidelity National Information Services and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Queens University Belfasthas announced the establishment of the Kathleen Mary McGuckin Scholarship, a transformative new award created in memory of a beloved teacher and mother. The scholarship, endowed with a generous gift of 50,000, aims to support talented students who face financial barriers in accessing higher education. When Kathleen Dick passed away in July 2024, her offspring wanted to do something significant to honour her memory and the standing she had in her community. The siblings decided to set up a scholarship in her name. Adopted as a young baby, Kathleen was raised in Magherafelt where she dreamed of becoming a teacher. Her dream became reality thanks to the generosity of the community who supported her to attend St Marys. Following her degree, she went on to teach generations of students in West Belfast, Newtownabbey and eventually Whiteabbey, where she became Vice Principal of St Jamess Primary School. She was a big personality, recalls Brian Dick, who is now President and CEO of a global manufacturing firm Golden State Foods. She raised six children, worked full time, and was genuinely beloved in her community. You couldnt walk through Whiteabbey without it taking an hour and a half - shed taught everyone. This scholarship is our way of honouring her, and passing on the support she once received. She had a wonderful life, and we had a great start in life because somebody was generous to her. The idea behind the scholarship is to inspire other students, who like Kathleen, have the determination and enthusiasm to pursue their academic ambitions but need financial support. Brian, a Queens alumnus himself, credits his time at the University with helping shape his successful career path. I studied Business Administration and Modern Languages at Queens. The experience was formative. It was there that people told me I could go as far as I wanted in life and I believed them. That belief helped carry me to where I am today. I feel like I owe a big debt of gratitude to Queens for that. During the 1980s, Brian received the Emily Lady Pakenham Scholarship, which helped him - then the youngest of six children - attend university during difficult economic times. He and his siblings now hope the new scholarship in his mothers name can provide the same life-changing opportunity for others. Brian says: This is a gift from all six of Kathleens children. We just want the scholarship to quietly help someone the way others helped our mum - and the way Queens helped me. The opportunity provided to our mother encouraged her to go into education and to ensure that all her own children had the chance to attend university, which we all did. He adds: Id like people to hear my story not because I want them to know what I did with my life, but I want them to see what they could do with their lives. The Kathleen Mary McGuckin Scholarship will be awarded at the start of the upcoming academic year. Speaking about the scholarship, President and Vice-Chancellor Professor Sir Ian Greer said: The ripple effect of philanthropy means that many people who have benefitted from support in their education will consider ways they can pay that forward, if theyre in a position to do so. The Mid Ulster Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (Mid Ulster IPSC), along with the Derry IPSC are to hold a protest on Tuesday (August 12) at 7pm outside F-35 part manufacturer Moyola Precision Engineering, in Castledawson. On the 76th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions, the protest will call for Moyola to immediately divest from manufacturing parts for F-35s, the same warplanes currently committing genocide in Palestine. Protesters will hold InvestNI and those who run it responsible for public funds going to complicit factories across the country. Mid Ulster IPSC spokesperson Padraig MacNiocaill said: Following numerous protests, including one in July which caused the factory to close for several hours, Moyola Precision Engineering has removed references to F-35 part manufacture from their website. This is an attempt to hide what Moyola is producing, and is a sign that the pressure is working. We do not want parts for warplanes bombing children made in Mid Ulster. Israel use F-35 fighter jets as a primary source of bomb delivery on Gaza, and Moyola Precision Engineering, recipient of InvestNI funds, proudly boasted of their supply of F-35 parts as well as critical components for missiles and guidance platforms. If there has been a change in their manufacturing of parts for warplanes, they need to be upfront about it and not try to hide it from their website. The protest will feature speakers Saoirse ONeill from the Mid Ulster IPSC, Stephen Devlin father of Jordan Devlin of the Filton23, and Goretti Horgan of the Raytheon 9. Mr MacNiocaill continued: Article IV of the Genocide Convention states that persons may be held liable for genocidal acts. According to the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre, the prohibition to commit genocide is an international law norm from which no party, including corporations can derogate. In situations of armed conflict, international standards apply to corporations and individual business leaders, who must consider whether their operations contribute to violations. Shareholder should not be held above the lives of an occupied and oppressed people. We therefore call on the company to divest from products which can be used in the Gaza genocide, particularly F-35 parts. Invest NI, part of the Department for the Economy run by Minister Caoimhe Archibald, has given over 19 million pounds of public money to companies based in Belfast, Crumlin, Newtownabbey, Dunmurry and Castledawson who make parts for F-35 warplanes. Currently in Gaza 2.2 million people are being deliberately starved to death by Israel and slaughtered by the unrelenting bombing with arms supplied by the US, EU and UK. Goretti Horgan of the Raytheon 9 said: The arms trade should not be supported by taxpayers' money. Benefits for sick and disabled people are being cut, PM Keir Starmer tells us, so he can spend more on weapons of mass destruction, many of which - like the F-35 parts made in Moyola - are being used to carry out the genocide in Gaza. Padraig MacNiocaill added: "We demand a complete divestment of the manufacture of complicit parts from Moyola Precision Engineering. They have existed before they took on the F-35 programme. They can find income that isnt soaked in blood. We will not rest until Moyola Divest!" The finalists for Blas na hEireann, The Irish Food Awards 2025, have been announced, with seven exceptional producers from County Derry making it through to the final stage of Irelands most prestigious food awards. The countdown is now officially on for the return to Dingle this autumn, where the very best of Irish food and drink will be celebrated from Thursday, October 2 to Sunday, October 5, with the Blas Village, Showcase, Eat Ireland in a Day market and the awards themselves all running on Friday, October 3. Now in its 18th year, Blas na hEireann continues to grow, with more than 3,000 entries submitted from across the island, and a record number of new producers taking part. The 2025 awards also see the biggest ever expansion in categories, now totalling 190, including significant growth in fast-evolving areas such as alcoholic drinks and their non-alcoholic alternatives. The judging, which took place over May, June and July in partnership with UCC and TU Dublin, is blind-tasted and scored by a network of expert judges, including chefs, buyers, academics, restaurateurs, and industry leaders. Only the top entries from each category make it to the finalist stage, which is a huge achievement in itself. The finalists shortlisted from County Derry across a wide range of categories are Broighter Gold Rapeseed Oil, Corndale Farm, Moyletra Moileds, Mullin's Ice Cream, Northbound Brewery Ltd., Paula McIntyre Catering and Vittle Bakeshop. Its been an exciting year for the Blas na hEireann awards, says Blas na hEireann Chairperson Artie Clifford. Thats not just in terms of the ever-growing number of entries, but in the incredible standard of produce from both long-standing producers and impressive newcomers. Weve also seen huge innovation across all categories, which reflects the evolving landscape of Irish food and drink. For us, these awards are about championing the producers, and giving them the spotlight they deserve in Dingle each October. We cant wait to welcome them. This years Blas na hEireann weekend will see the return of the hugely popular Eat Ireland in a Day market and the Blas Village, where 2025 finalists can showcase their products, connect with buyers, and meet with fellow producers, media and food lovers from across the country. With sustainability at the forefront once again, this years event will continue to build on its environmentally friendly policies and support a more conscious future for Irish food. Making it as a finalist is no small achievement. The competition intensifies every year, and the producers shortlisted really do represent the creme de la creme of Irish food and drink. The Blas na hEireann awards weekend in Dingle is a celebration of great food, and of the people, passion and place that make that Irish food so special. Organisers of a bonfire in Derry have hit out at recent statements by Sinn Fein over the issue. Bonfires in the Bogside and Creggan areas will be lit on August 15 to mark the anniversary of the introduction of internment. Both bonfires have proved controversial in the past with poppy wreaths and flags appearing on them before being set on fire. The bonfire at Meenan Square in the Bogside has held up progress on an 11m development that will include social housing, community services, retail, commercial and office space. Apex Housing, who manages the site, said the delay in the works on the development because it could not find a contractor willing to remove the bonfire materials. Northern Ireland Electricity (NIE) said it had isolated an underground cable because of the potential risk of damage from the fire following a site visit. One man was also seriously hurt after falling from the bonfire. In recent weeks, Sinn Fein Foyle MLAs Padraig Delargy and Ciara Ferguson have called on statutory agencies to either remove the bonfires or mitigate the health and safety risks associated with them. Both MLAs have described the bonfires as 'anti-community'. However in a scathing response, organisers of the Bogside bonfire lashed out at the party over its handling of the situation. In a lengthy statement on its Facebook page, organsiers said the bonfire was a message of 'defiance' of a 'community that has been ignored, insulted, and let down by those in power'. Organisers accused Sinn Fein of straying from 'the people who once backed them' and turning its 'back on the grassroots'. The statement in full, reads: "The Bogside bonfire is not a threat its a message. It tells a truth that politicians dont want to hear: that this community is fed up with being policed, lectured, and looked down on by those who claim to represent us. The fire is not about division, its about defiance. Its about the right of working-class people, especially young people, to take space, to be seen, and to be heard. "Last month, Sinn Fein MLAs Ciara Ferguson and Padraig Delargy called our bonfire anti-community, shameful, and regressive. But the only thing thats truly shameful is how far Sinn Fein has strayed from the people who once backed them. Theyve gone from standing beside us to standing over us. From giving voice to the working class to delivering the demands of Stormont and the British state. They now act as enforcers not advocates. "Lets be honest: this is not about a bonfire. This is about control. Its about silencing a generation that Sinn Fein no longer understands and clearly no longer values. This is the same party that supported youth funding cuts in Derry, watched while addiction and mental health issues tore through our streets and backed PSNI community operations that felt more like raids than outreach. Sinn Fein has turned its back on the grassroots. They once fought against state repression, now they help carry it out. "And as for Padraig Delargy, he loves to remind people hes from the Bogside. But no one here sees him. Hes moved out to a big house in Culmore and moved on from the people hes meant to represent. He doesnt walk these streets, he doesnt speak with young people, and he doesnt show up when real issues hit this community. Hes quick to appear on camera and call the youth shameful but never shows up when they need support, leadership, or solidarity. Hes out of touch, out of reach, and out of his depth. "Lets be clear: this bonfire is not a dissident bonfire. The real dissidents are those who abandoned their community for careerism. This bonfire belongs to the people, not the state, not the council, and definitely not Sinn Fein. Its one of the few things left that the system cant control or rebrand. Its a space where young people feel ownership, pride, and identity something denied to them elsewhere. "If the PSNI/ RUC are sent into this community to tear down this bonfire, it will be seen for what it is: not a safety concern, but a political provocation. It will be viewed as an attack on this community by the very forces that brutalised it for generations, now backed by the very party that once claimed to defend us. Sinn Fein may have forgotten what the RUC did in these streets, but we havent. "This fire stands for Free Derry. It stands for working-class youth. It stands for a community that has been ignored, insulted, and let down by those in power. Were not interested in being respectable. Were interested in being real. You cannot shame a community into silence and you wont extinguish our defiance with press releases or PSNI threats. "So lets finish with the truth, loud and clear: We are not anti-community. We are the community. "P.S. Dont worry though, while youre polishing your Stormont seats and tweeting for likes, your own voters will be down at the bonfire with us: standing, singing, drinking, and laughing as your bosses flags go up in flames. Vandals have caused wanton damage to the historical home of Northern Irelands first prime minister. Craigavon House in east Belfast was the home of Sir James Craig and dates back to 1880. Sir James was the director of Dunville and Company, a company that blended pure pot still whiskey as well as importing tea to Belfast, and first became an MP in 1903 before becoming one of the leaders of the campaign against home rule, and the regions first prime minister in 1921. Anti-home rule rallies were held in the grounds of Craigavon House, which also hosted meetings of the first provisional government of Northern Ireland. It went on to be a hospital for the Ulster Volunteers returning from the First World War and later used as a nursing home. It is currently owned by the charity the Somme Association. Somme Association director Carol Walker said there has been a running battle guarding against anti social behaviour at the house all summer, but things escalated with an incident thought to have happened last weekend. Damage was caused to hand-carved spindles on the staircase, and a part of the original ornate cornice was also torn down and used as a weight for a Union Flag to be erected. Its extremely disappointing because they got in and caused wanton damage, the double return stair case is absolutely exquisite, its 150 years old, she said. The house was built in 1880, its unique, its beautiful, and each one of those spindles are hand carved and individual, and has a different motif on it. They have damaged nine of them. The house is full of history, and its a shared history. When it was the UVF hospital and then the Somme Hospital, it looked after all soldiers who returned from the First World War. Its extremely annoying for us as a charity because it costs us money and time, looking after it. She said it has been very hard to find funding to restore Craigavon House. We have tried. We have had every political leader, weve had Secretary of States and all political parties, and still Craigavon House hasnt been able to secure the funding. In some ways the history of the house itself is a bit of a millstone around its neck, she said. There hasnt been a push to try and safeguard Craigavon House. It is the home of the first prime minister of Northern Ireland. If it was in any other country, it would be fully restored and a visitors attraction. DUP MLA Joanne Bunting said she wanted to see greater protection in place. Craigavon House is a site of national significance, yet it is vulnerable to repeated attacks, she said. We need to see greater protection in place to prevent further damage, alongside a clear plan for restoration. This building should be preserved and showcased as part of our history a place where people can come to learn about the foundations of Northern Ireland. The sooner action is taken to secure and restore it, the better chance we have of ensuring that Craigavon House is not lost to neglect and vandalism. TUV councillor Matthew Warwick said he was extremely disappointed by the vandalism. He said Craigavon House played a pivotal role in the history of Northern Ireland, and is a building that speaks to sacrifice, service, and statehood. He praised the Somme Association for their work for the house, but said it had been neglected by politicians, and that despite being included in the 2020 New Decade, New Approach (NDNA) deal as a site earmarked for restoration, nothing has been done. No plan, no political urgency. By contrast, Republican cultural demands have not only been heard they have been delivered: an Irish Language Act has been enacted and an Irish Language Commissioner is in the process of being recruited, he said. Significant public resources have been dedicated to advancing that cultural agenda. Meanwhile, Craigavon House continues to decay unguarded, unrestored, and now vandalised. Stormonts Programme for Government includes a commitment to redevelop Casement Park, yet Craigavon House which was specifically mentioned in the New Decade, New Approach agreement doesnt merit a mention, four years after that promise was made. The public will be rightly unimpressed. He added: I commend the Somme Association and Somme Museum for their tireless efforts to preserve the legacy of Craigavon House but without political action, their work is undermined. Craigavon House is not just a building. It is a symbol of Ulsters contribution to history, and it deserves better than this better than vandalism, and better than neglect. A PSNI spokesperson said officers attended a property on the Circular Road area of east Belfast after receiving a report of burglary and criminal damage. It is believed that entry was gained to the building sometime on Monday night, August 4, with damage subsequently caused to the interior, they said. Anyone with information is asked to contact police on the 101 number, quoting reference 805 of 08/08/25. ChatGPT maker OpenAI has introduced its latest and most capable AI model yet, the GPT-5 globally. While the new model looks promising with free access to all users (but with limits), Elon Musk tried stealing the show by announcing Grok 5. Taking to X, Musk stated that the Grok-5 will be launching by the end of this year with the promise that it will be crushingly good. While all the details about the Grok 5 remains under the wraps, the Tesla CEO also claimed that Grok 4 Heavy was smarter two weeks ago than GPT 5 is now and xAIs latest model is already better. He also attached the benchmark scores in his post like ARC-AGI. Bottom line though: Grok 4 Heavy was smarter 2 weeks ago than GPT5 is now, and G4H is already a lot better. Let that sink in, he stated. Also read: OpenAI launches GPT-5, its most advanced model yet: Whats new, what it can do, and who gets access Musk did not stop there. SpaceX CEO has also said that OpenAI is going to eat Microsoft alive, warning Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, after the GPT 5 release. This came after Nadella announced that Microsoft 365 Copilot, Copilot, GitHub Copilot, and Azure AI Foundry and other platforms will offer GPT 5. In response, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella responded that People have been trying for 50 years, and thats the fun of it! Each day you learn something new, and innovate, partner, and compete. Excited for Grok 4 on Azure and looking forward to Grok 5, in a post on X. In the meantime, Elon Musks AI has been in headlines for its Grok Imagine, a video generation tool. It is now available on Android and iOS. Musk also confirmed that the platform has been a hit, as over 44 million images were created by Grok Imagine in a single day. Intel breaks from GPU-centric playbook as CEO Tan charts AI-focused overhaul Intel is undergoing a sweeping strategic overhaul under CEO Lip-Bu Tan, signaling a decisive break from legacy structures and a bold push to reposition the company at the center of the AI revolution. With revenue declining across multiple business units in recent years, Tan has launched broad-based layoffs, project rationalizations, and a reset of manufacturing prioritiesmoves aimed at boosting efficiency and restoring competitiveness. Central to Tan's vision is a recalibrated AI strategy that goes beyond GPU-centric thinking. Instead, Intel is doubling down on advanced process nodes, system-level integration, and software optimization to regain relevance in a rapidly evolving semiconductor landscape. AI blueprint anchored in advanced process Nodes At the core of Intel's renewed ambition lies its 18A process technology, slated to enter volume production in 2025. The node is designed to power three generations of internal products from 2026 through 2028. The company is also investing in the development of its 14A node, expected to align with TSMC's A14 timeline in 20282029. While Intel has left the door open to delay or cancel the 14A node if major clients do not commit to production volumes, the company remains bullish on 18A as the long-term foundation of its foundry strategy. Intel expects peak 18A capacity to arrive by early 2030, positioning the node as a magnet for external customers and a cornerstone of its future competitiveness. Moving beyond the GPU battlefield During Intel's recent earnings call, analysts inquired whether the company plans to compete directly with Nvidia and AMD in the GPU market. In response, Tan indicated that the company will release a comprehensive AI roadmap in the coming months. The roadmap will emphasize inference workloads and advancements in agentic AI, a technology that prioritizes speed, accuracy, and autonomous decision-making. Rather than centering its strategy on GPU supremacy, Intel plans to harness the combined strengths of its x86 CPUs and AI accelerators to build next-generation computing platforms. The company is also expanding its pool of software engineers to bolster AI capabilities and enhance performance across the full technology stack. Open to ASIC, committed to customization Pressed further on whether Intel would consider ASICs to boost its AI market standing, Tan emphasized a flexible, full-stack philosophy. Intel will capitalize on the strength of its x86 architecture to optimize workloads while remaining open to alternative architectures. He added that Intel plans to co-develop custom AI platforms with systems integrators to address specific performance needs. Although traditional segments remain under pressure in the third quarter of 2025, Intel is signaling a profound strategic pivot anchored in three focus areas: Advanced nodes centered on 18A and its performance-enhanced sibling, 18A-P Continued development of the 14A node to support internal IP and advanced packaging collaboration Revival of simultaneous multithreading (SMT) to boost system-level integration in AI applications Intel has already begun wafer production on 18A at its Fab 52 facility in Arizona. Meanwhile, 14A development will support in-house IP and integrate seamlessly with Intel's EMIB and Foveros packaging technologies, enabling a "logic-plus-packaging" platform designed for differentiated performance in data center and AI training environments. Software-driven stack for AI synergy Intel is working to integrate its hardware and software into a unified platform that combines chips, systems, and development frameworks. The company aims to tighten the alignment between its Gaudi, Xeon, and forthcoming Panther Lake processors with software tools such as OpenVINO and OneAPI, targeting more efficient workload management and faster AI inference. This system-level approach, coupled with advances in process technology and AI-focused packaging, underpins Intel's broader AI strategy. The company is moving beyond its legacy role as a CPU vendor toward becoming a full-stack AI solutions provider, as it faces mounting competition from Nvidia, AMD, and the growing adoption of Arm-based architectures. Source: Intel; compiled by DIGITIMES, August 2025 Source: Intel; compiled by DIGITIMES, August 2025 Article edited by Jack Wu Save my User ID and Password Some subscribers prefer to save their log-in information so they do not have to enter their User ID and Password each time they visit the site. To activate this function, check the 'Save my User ID and Password' box in the log-in section. This will save the password on the computer you're using to access the site. Note: If you choose to use the log-out feature, you will lose your saved information. This means you will be required to log-in the next time you visit our site. Subscriber content preview SANTA CLARA, Calif. (AP) Shares of Intel slumped Thursday after President Donald Trump said in a social media post that the chipmaker's CEO needs to resign. The CEO of Intel is highly CONFLICTED and must resign, immediately, Trump posted on Truth Social. There is no other solution to this problem. Thank you for your attention to this problem! . . . Subscriber content preview WASHINGTON (AP) The Environmental Protection Agency has terminated $7 billion in funding for solar programs approved under the Biden administration, including projects for nearly 1 million households in low-income communities. Environmental groups, state departments of energy and other recipients say the EPA's move is illegal and that the funding has already been disbursed. . . . Subscriber content preview SHORELINE A Walgreens at 14510 Aurora Ave. N. sold this week for not quite $5.1 million, according to King County records. The seller was DS Shoreline WA Landlord LLC, associated with SunTrust Equity Funding of Atlanta, which acquired the property in 2022 for almost $7.3 million. At the time of the last trade, seller Walgreens was to lease back the property. . . . 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Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe A Laois charity shop's wedding department has gotten the celebrity seal of approval by a former Rose of Tralee who is now engaged to Ryan Tubridy. Clinical psychologist Dr Clare Kambamettu paid an exclusive visit to the bridal floor of Vincent's shop in Portlaoise this week, to try on wedding gowns for her big day. She told the Leinster Express / Laois Live how she got on. "I've bought second hand clothes for years - my pal Sarah Kate Byrne from Tullow (now living in London and working as a very successful stylist using mostly vintage fashion) helped me to put together my wardrobe for Tralee in 2010 using our local charity shops in London and ever since I've continued the habit. "I try to reduce my environmental footprint where I can and buying a wedding dress definitely feels like a good opportunity to do that, there's tonnes of second hand wedding dresses out there that are just gorgeous and I'm only going to wear it once. "I think now more than ever the charities around Ireland, particularly SvP are doing so much to support vulnerable people, buying second hand is a wonderful way to give something back. "I didn't find my wedding dress in VdP Portlaoise but I did find a couple of fab dresses which I'll be wearing in Tralee this year," Clare said. READ MORE: 'Landed deep in it': Consequences for tractor driver caught using phone while pulling silage Dr Kambamettu is a judge at the Rose of Tralee this August. "The set up in the shop is fabulous, the two Mary's couldn't have been more helpful and their selection of stock is great. They've a huge dressing room and you have the place to yourself to try things on," she added. She even gets her preloved items altered in Portlaoise, bringing them to Diana in the Dressmakers Wardrobe on Main Street. "I bring any second hand pieces that I get in charity shops into her and she makes me feel like they've been made just for me, she's a wonder," she recommends. Mary Ryan, manager at Vincent's, spearheaded their recently opened luxurious bridal department. Vincent's Portlaoise manager Mary Ryan with one of the gowns on sale in their wedding department, from as little as 100. "Clare is a regular customer to our shop. She booked an appointment to try on wedding dresses, I didn't recognise her at first, we were just chatting away. One of the girls who volunteers with us copped her because she is a big fan of the Rose of Tralee. "She was lovely, so down to earth. We were all so excited, we're still buzzing," Mary said. Ryan Tubridy and Dr Clare Kambamettu announced their engagement in June of this year. Members of An Garda Siochana have helped successfully seize and dismantle key operational infrastructure being used by a global cybercriminal organisation. law enforcement agencies, has concluded resulting in the seizure and takedown of key operational infrastructure, including the dark web leaks page and the victim negotiation site, as well as domains attributed to the Blacksuit Ransomware Group. A major disruption operation, involving various, has concluded resulting in the seizure and takedown of key operational infrastructure, including the dark web leaks page and the victim negotiation site, as well as domains attributed to the Blacksuit Ransomware Group. Led by the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations, Operation Checkpoint also involved the Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau, the United States Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Secret Service, US FBI, the Dutch National Police, the German State Criminal Police Office, the U.K. National Crime Agency, the Frankfurt General Prosecutor's Office, the Ukrainian Cyber Police and Europol, assisted by private partners. The Blacksuit ransomware group are an organised crime group responsible for the commission of ransomware and other serious cyber criminality internationally. The group emerged in May 2023, as a result of the rebranding of the Royal Ransomware Group; itself originating from the Conti Ransomware Group, responsible for a number of serious ransomware attacks internationally. READ NEXT: Production resumes at Ballymaguire Foods following Listeria outbreak linked to one death Commenting on the operation, Angela Willis, Assistant Commissioner for Organised and Serious Crime said: An Garda Siochana will continue to work with our international law enforcement colleagues and private partners to identify, target and disrupt organised crime groups using the infrastructure to carry out ransomware and other forms of cybercrime. Our work to date involving close collaboration with international partners, including this seizure and takedown of key online operational infrastructure will continue as part of our ongoing effort to keep people safe both on an offline". Michael Prado, Deputy Assistant Director of US HSI Cyber Crimes Center said: Disrupting ransomware infrastructure is not only about taking down servers it's about dismantling the entire ecosystem that enables cybercriminals to operate with impunity. This operation is the result of tireless international coordination and shows our collective resolve to hold ransomware actors accountable. A man who produced a knife to two men after he was challenged over entering a family home in Dundalk and was tackled to the ground after a neighbour threw their coat over his hand, has been jailed for three and a half years at Dundalk Circuit Court. Kyle Callan (20) of College Manor, Dundalk was also sentenced for a series of offences including theft, criminal damage, dangerous driving, and driving without insurance on November 27th and 28th 2023. A resident of an address in Belfry Drive heard a noise outside on January 9th last and saw the defendant who had entered the hallway of her family home. Her husband, who ran after the intruder and yelled at him to stop, saw him drop items from his pocket onto the ground. READ NEXT: Man linked to a crash in Louth after his blood was found at the scene The witness shouted that he wanted his stuff back and the defendant said Please dont call the guards and said it was the first anniversary of his grandfather (who the court was told had lived in the area). A neighbour joined the man and the defendant continued to shout Dont call the guards, but when he was told they would be he pulled a Stanley knife and raised it in the direction of both men and began waving it saying Stand back or Ill do you. The neighbour threw his coat over Kyle Callan's outstretched hand which was holding the knife and both men tackled him. A torch, gift vouchers, a dashboard cleaner and paracetamol tablets were recovered, which had been taken from the victims car. In the earlier case, the court had previously been told that the owner of the first car discovered it was missing after he left a gym on the evening of November 27th 2023 and then got notifications of two transactions on his Revolut card at a filling station in the town, where the defendant was captured on CCTV. The next morning the second victim came out of his house to find his company car was stolen. Kyle Callan was seen driving it around The Gateway Hotels car park in the early hours. He stole from a number of vehicles after breaking their windows including one belonging to a Ukrainian woman who had fled the war and was living in the hotel. That theft was reported at 5.30am, an hour before Kyle Callan crashed the first car into another vehicle at the Vincent Avenue/Dublin Street junction and fled the scene. After his arrest, he denied involvement in any of the offending and claimed he was with his girlfriend. He had 75 previous convictions at the time but that had since increased to 113. The Defence barrister said his client had a lack of a father figure due to incarceration, and had been on the garda radar from an early age. He had addiction issues since the age of 14, and the offending before the court was to feed a habit and get a quick fix. The sentencing hearing was previously adjourned for an updated Probation report. Last week when the case was called, his barrister said Mr. Callan was restored to regular status in custody and is residing with his father. Last week, Judge Dara Hayes noted Mr. Callan's father was often absent due to serving custodial sentences and at the time of the offending, the now 20 year old was using cannabis daily and regularly used benzodiazepines in 2023 and was referred to the Turas counselling service last year. He had limited engagement with the Probation Service, but the judge said he appears to be engaging and while he was previously assessed as being at high risk of reoffending that risk may be somewhat lower. Judge Dara Hayes imposed sentences totalling five years with the final 18 months suspended, back dated to May 5th last when he went into custody. The defendant was also disqualified from driving for eight years. Louth TD and Labours Finance spokesperson, Deputy Ged Nash, has expressed scepticism over the "clean bill of health given to supermarket big beasts" by the Competition & Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) in relation to the Commissions analysis of the Irish grocery sector. Deputy Nash said: Given the limited reliable data that is publicly available on supermarket profits in Ireland, it is a big stretch for the CCPC to definitively claim that the Irish arms of global retailers are no more or less profitable than their EU counterparts. This is a peculiar conclusion to reach, under the circumstances. This is exactly why Labours Unfair Pricing Bill, which would compel operators to share data on profit margins with the CCPC so they can undertake more frequent market analysis and surveillance to ensure competition is working and consumers are treated fairly, must be enacted by government. Back in 2023, Simon Coveney said he would force the big players to do just that. Since then, the sum total of government action to protect consumers has been the commissioning of this report. It is the policy equivalent of can anything be said for another Mass?." Deputy Nash continued: The narrative in this desk-top analysis, and most of the points made in it, are unsurprising and are not new. It is welcome that a light is being shone on the super-normal profits of big suppliers such as Unilever and the Kerry Group and more work needs to be done on that internationally. Because the CCPC says that current prices in Ireland are in line with other EU countries is little comfort to hard-pressed Irish households where salaries are not rising as quickly as prices. We need to get a better understanding of why prices for the basics in Ireland have remained high for so long; why they are not coming down and why there is only moderate competition with no new, major entrants in 25 years." The Labour TD added, this report does not have the answers and it reveals in stark relief how limited the actual functions of the CCPC are. Farmers have the Agri-Food Regulator to stand up for their interests while the limited interest government has in how competition and consumer protection works in the interests of citizens and small retailers means citizens are left to suck up high prices. The least the government can do is allow the Labour Bill to get to Committee Stage in September. Dundalk Institute of Technology (DkIT) music student Darren Culliney, recently had multiple successes at the Leinster Fleadh Cheoil held in Drogheda. Longford man Darren had a fantastic weekend, securing first place in four separate competitions. As a soloist, he triumphed in the Senior Button Accordion and added another win in the Senior Accompaniment on piano. Teaming up with his brother Cathal, he claimed victory in the Senior Duet, and the pair, joined by Liam Doherty, went on to win the Senior Trio competition. Darren also earned third place in both the Melodeon and Lilting categories, and several of his students took part in various competitions throughout the weekend. Darren is a TUTF PhD scholar at DkIT examining the role of the button accordion in the musical and cultural life of Ulster under the supervision of Dr Daithi Kearney and Dr Verena Commins (University of Galway). Darren is also chair of the Longford County Board of Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann and the Education Officer for the Irish affiliate of the International Council for Traditional Music and Dance. He has presented his research internationally and published articles on his research. Darren will also be competing at Fleadh Cheoil na hEireann, which will be held in Wexford in August. The Leinster Fleadh was seen as a great success, bringing thousands of people to Drogheda for a weekend of celebration. The opening concert in the Droichead Arts Centre included another tie to DkIT with a performance of Oliver Plans a Party, written and directed by DkIT lecturer Dr Daithi Kearney, who was involved across the weekend as a volunteer, including as MC on the Gig Rig where leading bands including Goitse performed to large crowds. There was a significant monthly increase in July in the number of people signing on the Live Register in Louth, according to the latest figures released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO). Overall in Louth, 7,877 people signed on in July, up 517 or 7% on June. It is down by eight however, on the 7,885 who signed on in the county in July 2024. Looking at the individual social welfare offices in Louth, 3,531 people signed on in Dundalk in July 2025, up 195 on the 3,336 who signed on in June, but down on the 3,562 who signed on in the town in July of last year. In Ardee, 769 people signed on in July, up 19 on the 750 people who signed on in June, but down 58 on the 827 who signed on in the town in July 2025. Drogheda saw the biggest increase in the number of people signing on in July, with 3,577 signing on, up 303 on the 3,274 who signed on in June, and also up 81 on the 3,496 who signed on in July of last year. Nationally, thee seasonally adjusted Live Register total for July 2025 was 169,600 people, up by 1,100 people or 0.7% from June 2025. The unadjusted Live Register total stood at 185,627 people for July 2025, of which 52.0% were male and 73.0% were Irish. Read also: Louth TD sceptical over clean bill of health given to supermarket 'big beasts' The 25-34 years age group made up the largest number of those on the Live Register in July 2025 at 44,446 people or 23.9% of the total. The counties that recorded the largest percentage increases in the number of people on the Live Register in the 12 months to July 2025 were Dublin (+5.6%) and Kildare (+2.8%), while the largest decreases were in Kerry (-13.7%) and Clare (-9.5%). In July 2025 there were 129,347 people on the Live Register for less than one year, which was 7,238 more people (+5.6%) than in July 2024. The finalists for Blas na hEireann, The Irish Food Awards 2025, have been announced, with nine exceptional producers from Louth making it through to the final stage of Irelands most prestigious food awards. The countdown is now officially on for the return to Dingle this autumn, where the very best of Irish food and drink will be celebrated from Thursday 2nd October to Sunday 5th October, with the Blas Village, Showcase, Eat Ireland in a Day market and the awards themselves all running on Friday 3rd October. The judging, which took place over May, June and July in partnership with UCC and TU Dublin, is blind-tasted and scored by a network of expert judges, including chefs, buyers, academics, restaurateurs, and industry leaders. Only the top entries from each category make it to the finalist stage, which is a huge achievement in itself. The finalists shortlisted from Louth across a wide range of categories are Carlingford Oyster Company Ltd., Dundalk Bay Brewery, Fierce Mild Brewing Ltd., Herbel Crest Ltd (T/A King of Kefir), Hilton Foods, McCloskeys Bakery, Muchgrange Farm, Natures Best and Pearse Lyons Distillery. Now in its 18th year, Blas na hEireann continues to grow, with more than 3,000 entries submitted from across the island, and a record number of new producers taking part. The 2025 awards also see the biggest ever expansion in categories, now totalling 190, including significant growth in fast-evolving areas such as alcoholic drinks and their non-alcoholic alternatives. Louth Local Enterprise Office is delighted, once again, to sponsor the Blas na hEireann awards a celebration of the incredible talent and dedication of our local food and craft drink producers who make Louths food and drink sector so vibrant. Said Nikki Campbell, Head of Enterprise at LEO Louth. With nine finalists representing County Louth this year, we continue to punch above our weight on the national stage. Their innovation, quality, and commitment to excellence are a credit to what local enterprise can achieve. Were proud to support them and wish them every success in Dingle this October and beyond. Its been an exciting year for the Blas na hEireann awards, says Blas na hEireann Chairperson Artie Clifford. Thats not just in terms of the ever-growing number of entries, but in the incredible standard of produce from both long-standing producers and impressive newcomers. "Weve also seen huge innovation across all categories, which reflects the evolving landscape of Irish food and drink. For us, these awards are about championing the producers, and giving them the spotlight they deserve in Dingle each October. We cant wait to welcome them. This years Blas na hEireann weekend will see the return of the hugely popular Eat Ireland in a Day market and the Blas Village, where 2025 finalists can showcase their products, connect with buyers, and meet with fellow producers, media and food lovers from across the country. With sustainability at the forefront once again, this years event will continue to build on its environmentally friendly policies and support a more conscious future for Irish food. Making it as a finalist is seen as no small achievement. The competition intensifies every year, and organisers say that the producers shortlisted really do represent the creme de la creme of Irish food and drink. The Blas na hEireann awards weekend in Dingle is a celebration of great food, and of the people, passion and place that make that Irish food so special. I attended two car launches recently. The first was the new Hyundai Ionic 9 and then the new Citroen C3. The Ionic 9 arrives as a single model offering (for now) to get it on forecourts before the real push for sales in 2026. Its a seven-seater that looks huge in photos and even bigger in the flesh. Its roughly the size of a Range Rover Vogue and I can see it ferrying VIPs to and from events in supreme comfort. From the middle backwards it gives off Cadillac Escalade vibes for US and European appeal. ABOVE: The new Hyundai Ionic 9 Hyundai struggled to see a direct competitor for it but conceded the Kia EV9 is possibly the one buyers would compare it to. However, Hyundai claims their car has a much higher spec which - if matched by Kia - would rule it out in terms of price. For me I see it as a direct competitor for sure. Others in the conversation might include the ID Buzz and BMW IX but to a lesser extent. Small differences are huge in the car world and the loyal Hyundai base here in Ireland may well see it outselling the popular Kia here. READ NEXT: Louth Motors: Junior by name, Alfa by nature? Stylish EV tries to stand out That's for a car starting at 78,495 marginally more expensive than the Kia but, as Hyundai claim, significantly more specification. The seven-seater, all electric market is hotting up and the Ionic 9 design that is more conventional in a futuristic way may sway buyers more than the outright futuristic design of the EV9. Time will tell. The other launch I was at was for the Citroen 3, a hugely important car for the brand. Half of all Citroens registered in Europe last year were C3s and success is demanded of this car. It is available as an all-electric, petrol hybrid and petrol only with the lowest price petrol model starting at 23,400. With pricing at that level it is safe to say that Europe is rising to the challenge of the low priced cars from China and fighting back hard. Its an all European car that's made in Slovakia. The new C3 moves buyers up, not in price as I said, but in seating position. It has SUV notions but remains a small family hatchback and I always marvel how quickly car companies respond to market trends for a product that takes quite a while to develop. Its got a funky look and will attract a lot of interest from Irish motorists. It has an EV range of 320kms and Ill get to test that during a full review in October. Hyundai also gave us the Inster recently which has a very affordable price tag showing that the new kid on the block, China, is facing serious pushback from the established car makers in Europe and Asia. Itll be interesting to see this unfolding and where it will end. El Paso Comedy Club returns to Toales Live Venue in Dundalk on Friday, 8th August, with a night of stand-up guaranteed to bring the laughs. Headlining the evening is none other than Joe Rooney, one of Irelands most recognisable comedic talents. Doors open at 8pm, with tickets priced at 10 via Eventbrite and 12 on the door. Best known for his iconic role as Father Damo in Father Ted, Rooneys blend of sharp wit, musical comedy, and off-the-cuff banter has made him a firm favourite on the Irish comedy circuit and beyond. READ NEXT: Family Fun Day coming to Dundalk Stadium His live performances are as unpredictable as they are hilariousmixing storytelling, satire, and a healthy dose of absurdity. Joining him on the night is a stellar lineup of guest acts, including Pete Giffen, Jessica Collins, and Graham Morrisseyeach bringing their own unique flavour of humour to the stage. Hosting duties will be handled by the ever-charismatic Elizabeth Redmond, the beating heart of the El Paso Comedy Club. With top-class comedy in an intimate venue, this promises to be a Friday night well spent. Tell us a little bit about yourself and your work. For 10 years or so, I have cooked in various restaurants, and from there I saw a way into foraging as a profession. Ive always enjoyed foraging. Between growing up in Alaska, where self-sufficiency is de rigueur, and professional kitchens, Ive always had some interest in wild food. During the hungry gap, as it is called, many restaurants utilise foraged foods, most notably wild garlic. I imagine it isnt uncommon for the seeds of interest in wild foods to take root while picking wild garlic in early spring. What is your ideal way to spend a Friday night? I enjoy going out for dinner. There are so many lovely places to choose from in the city. I quite like going into Paladar for some nibbles and drinks with my friend Clara. Chef Nico Reynolds is popping up in Paladar with head chef Nascimento Pereira Nunes for the Cork on a Fork Festival. Its quite a fitting collaboration. A little Caribbean and South America. Lie-ins or up with the lark... which is it for you? Lie-in! Does work creep into your weekend at all? Absolutely! But I enjoy my work. Usually, Im looking for a plant, and so its fun trying to figure out where I might find said plant. If money was no object where would you head to on a weekend city break? And who would you bring with you? Hmmm San Sebastian maybe. Its been on my bucket list for so long because I feel like everyone I know has been and has raved about it. Id bring Podge, my better half. Epi says she has always enjoyed foraging. Closer to home, is there some place you like to head to recharge the batteries? I love Barley Cove. Its quite nice, isnt it. West Cork in general. Do you like to catch up with family/friends at the weekend? I do of course, but I usually only end up calling in to a friend or two at the weekend for a cuppa, and if Im lucky we can meet for a meal. Do you get to indulge any hobbies? Even as a spectator? Yes! Some friends and I make an independent arts magazine. The magazine is called Flotsam and its free around Cork. Our music issue is out now. Entertain or be entertained? If its the former do you have a signature dish? I think entertaining can be great fun, but I rarely do it anymore. No dinner party is complete without sourdough! I bake a lot of bread. We have so many places to eat out in Cork... where are your go-to spots for coffee/lunch/special meal? For coffee, Im a fan of Filter. For lunch, I used to like going alone to the Farmgate, although I havent been in yonks. Im a fan of all the literary ephemera in there. For a special meal, The Glass Curtain. Sunday night comes around too fast... how do you normally spend it? Doom scrolling! I kid. Preparing for Monday. We do most of our coastal foraging on Mondays, so getting things sorted for that, figuring out our route, low tide schedule, packing the car, that kinda stuff. What time does your alarm clock go off on Monday morning? Too early! 6am. Anything else you are up to right now... Well Im really looking forward to the Lee Fields Foraging event that Im doing for Cork on a Fork Fest on Sunday, August 17. The area is a great source for ingredients. People on the tour will be surprised just how much they can find once they know what they are looking for. On a separate note, Ill be doing a pop-up in Goleen Harbour with The Glass Curtain the following weekend, which should be great fun too! A Cork firm which last year lost its premises to a major blaze has signed a long-term lease as part of a 20m development. Last November, the Blackpool premises of commercial laundry CWS Workwear was gutted by a major fire. The company had been operating in Cork since 2004 and employed 70 people directly. At the time it said that its operations were currently suspended, but added: Our priority is to support our team in Ireland and to maintain service for our local customers. This week the company announced it had taken a long-term lease in Blarney Business Park, at a premises which is being developed by JCD Group. The new facility will involve an investment of 20m between the construction of the building and installation of new equipment. According to a spokesperson for CWS, the company will invest 10m, while the developer will invest a matching amount. The company said it intends for construction work to be complete in the first quarter of next year, with the plant operational by summer. The spokesperson said that once its new premises is open, the company intends to employ 75 people. Founded in 1899, CWS Workwear has operations spanning 15 countries, with a staff of more than 5,300. Anita Coote, MD of CWS Workwear Ireland, said the companys investment of 10m demonstrated its commitment to its customers in the Cork area. The new laundry is set to meet the latest standards and requirements in terms of automation, efficiency, and sustainability, she said. Cork cafe and pantry brand Bakestone is partnering with Opera Lane to present a Food and Fashion brunch as part of this years Cork on a Fork Festival, from August 1317. On Sunday, August 17, from 11am to 2pm, at Bakestones new Perry St cafe in the city centre, the event will be a celebration of Corks food and fashion. Sponsored by Opera Lane, this marks the third consecutive year of the retail destinations support for Cork City Councils Cork on a Fork Festival. Guests will be greeted with a Kinsale Gin welcome drink, before enjoying a two-course brunch crafted from seasonal, locally sourced ingredients by the Bakestone kitchen team. Co-founder Joe Carey will share the stories behind the menu and the local producers who inspired it. Fashion showcase There will then be a live fashion showcase led by Opera Lanes personal stylist, Breeda OConnell. Featuring the latest autumn looks from a mix of Opera Lane retailers, Breeda will be joined by style influencer Helen Murphy (Daily Diva Diary) for a chat about upcoming trends and tips for transitioning a wardrobe from summer to autumn/winter. This event also marks the celebration of Bakestones exciting expansion into Cork city, and guests can expect spot prizes, giveaways, and drinks from Five Farms Irish Cream Liqueur. Tickets are 55 each or 50 per person for groups of eight to 10. Founded in 2013 by Joe and Maura Carey, in Carrigtwohill, Bakestone opened a new location on Perry St this summer. A daily brunch menu runs until 2pm on weekdays and until 3pm on weekends. The Food and Fashion brunch is just one of many highlights of this years Cork on a Fork Festival, a five-day, city-wide celebration of Corks food culture, featuring street feasts, tastings, demos, and family-friendly events. For full festival details and ticket bookings, visit https://www.corkcity.ie/en/cork-on-a-fork-fest. Taoiseach Micheal Martin is set to address a North Cork commemorative event marking more than two centuries of ties with Canada. In 1823 and 1825, more than 2,500 Irish men, women, and children, most of them from the Blackwater Valley in North Cork, migrated to Upper Canada as part of a British government scheme. Spearheaded by Peter Robinson, a Canadian parliamentarian, the project was finalised in Fermoy with the local Tory MP Richard Lysaght Hare, and it was a scheme which would nowadays be considered a two-pronged exercise in ethnic cleansing. Poor Catholics from a politically troublesome area in Ireland were moved to parts of Canada left underpopulated since the First Nations tribes had been cleared from their ancestral lands. The first two ships left Cobh for Canada in the summer of 1823, carrying 546 poor Catholic emigrants, with nine more, carrying 2,024 more in 1825. More than 500 families made the journey across the Atlantic. In time, when the Irish settlers found themselves desperately unprepared for the brutal Canadian winters, it was the dispossessed First Nations tribes who came to their rescue, displaying more humanity than was ever shown them by those who believed them savages. COMMEMORATION As part of a festival to celebrate the 200th anniversary of that resettlement, Ireland Canada Homecoming 2025, two key commemoration events will take place in Mitchelstown next month. The first, the Peter Robinson Settlers Emigration Scheme Concert, will be held at 8pm on Friday, September 19 at the Saint Georges Arts and Heritage Centre. The second event, the Peter Robinson Settlers Emigration Scheme Conference, will be held on Saturday, September 20, at the same venue. The concert features performances by Ceoltoiri Mhuscrai, representing Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann, Ballincollig. Hosted by Ballyhoura Development, the conference will feature an address by the Taoiseach, and a speech by the Canadian ambassador, Dennis King. Speakers will include Jay Roszman, Gerard Moran, Jane McGaughey, Bill Power, Dennis Carter-Edwards, Glenn OMeara, Matt Barry, and Jane Halloran . Local historian Christy Roche will speak about his new book, From Whence They Came: The Peter Robinson Settlers. Tickets are limited and available exclusively via Eventbrite, with early booking strongly advised. Conditions in Cork Prison might be in breach of human rights laws, an Irish Penal Reform Trust legal manager has said, as the prison nears 400 people in custody yet another overcrowding record. A total of 399 people were incarcerated in the facility yesterday, representing 135% capacity as the prison has space for just 296 inmates, meaning 103 people are without a regular bed. This is the 13th time an overcrowding record has been broken there since the start of June. Niamh McCormack, the legal, policy, and public affairs manager at Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT) said: IPRT is concerned that the conditions experienced by people in Irish prisons due to overcrowding may well amount to degrading and inhuman treatment, in breach of human rights laws and standards. Ms McCormack said there were now large numbers sleeping on mattresses on the floor. She told The Echo: Since 2023 we have continued to break new prison overcrowding records, and Cork Prison is regularly the most overcrowded prison in the State. The sheer number of people in Irish prisons has led to three and sometimes even four people being held in cells designed for one person. Overcrowding affects every aspect of prisons. As well as creating confined and squalid conditions for prisoners, overcrowding has led to the closure of prison schools and workshops, she explained. This significantly reduces opportunities for rehabilitation and for prisoners to spend time out of their cells. Prisoners being left in overcrowded cells for longer periods is contributing to increased tensions and violence, making prisons less safe for both prisoners and staff. Describing the current situation as untenable, she said it cannot be dealt with simply by creating new prison spaces, which would take years. As well as leading to ill-treatment, the overcrowding crisis undermines rehabilitative efforts that can reduce reoffending, which should be at the heart of our penal system, she said. Research has repeatedly shown that community-based sanctions are far more effective at reducing reoffending than short-term prison sentences. IPRT is therefore calling on the Government to urgently expand the availability of community-based sanctions. A spokesperson for the Irish Prison Service said that it is working closely with officials in the Department of Justice to take steps to ensure a safe working environment for staff, and the safety and security of people in custody. The Rory Gallagher tribute act, the Barry McGivern Band, will be performing on August 15 at the Sea Church in Ballycotton. The band is fronted by Barry McGivern, a self-taught guitarist from Belfast who first saw Rory Gallagher perform, with his band Taste, on television in 1969. The Barry McGivern Band travel the country playing Gallaghers music, and have done so for 10 years, having performed more than 300 gigs. Looking ahead to the show on August 15, the events manager with Sea Church, Matthew Sisk, said: Weve had a bumper summer of gigs at Sea Church and the Barry McGivern band will really be the icing on the cake. Its fantastic to welcome this incredibly talented outfit back to Sea Church for the fourth time. Theres already huge interest in the gig. Rory Gallagher means so much to the people of Cork, having spent his childhood here, so its always an extra-special night when his music is celebrated. Mr McGivern added: Barry McGivern Band are looking forward to delivering an authentic performance of Rorys great music in Ballycotton, where Rory composed the most beautiful A Million Miles Away. People attending concerts at Sea Church also now have the option of using the Sea Church Express, which is a return shuttle service to Ballycotton. The bus departs from Cobh and passes through Midleton, Cloyne, and Shanagarry. The bus brings people to Ballycotton 90 minutes before the show starts and leaves 30 minutes after the show ends. For further information on all gigs taking place at Sea Church, visit www.seachurch.ie The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland (NMBI), the regulator for the professions, has launched a public consultation to inform its Statement of Strategy 2026 to 2029. In April and May, NMBI held consultation sessions across the country, meeting with key stakeholders in Cork, Athlone, Donegal, and Dublin. The feedback received shaped the development of the draft statement of strategy that is currently undergoing consultation until Tuesday, September 2. The statement is based on three key objectives: public safety through right-touch regulation, support for the professions of nursing and midwifery, and organisational agility. Launching the draft statement, NMBI president, Dr Louise Kavanagh-McBride said that the strategy will be used from 2026 on. Nurses and midwives are central to Irelands healthcare system and the work of NMBI must continue to focus on protecting the public, while supporting and regulating the professions, she said. Our aim is to support nurses and midwives to deliver safe, trusted, person-centred healthcare through compassionate, right-touch, and digitally enabled regulation. "This statement will guide NMBIs work from 2026 onwards, building on the foundations of public protection, professional support, and regulatory excellence. Carolyn Donohoe, NMBI CEO said the voices of their registrants, stakeholders, patients, service users and the public are essential as we develop our new statement of strategy. We want to ensure our focus reflects the evolving needs of the public, the professions and the wider healthcare landscape. The public can read the draft consultation document and share views at www.nmbi.ie. A Cork man is to organise a fundraising walk this month to raise funds for his trip to South Africa for the Mellon Educate Building Blitz for 2025. Next November, Liam Dineen will be part of a large group of Irish volunteers travelling to South Africa to work on a mission to build better futures for children and communities there. In November, Mr Dineen, from Ballyhooley, will be part of a group doing major works at two schools at Lwandle township in the town of Strand in the Western Cape Province of South Africa. Before he sets off, he will have to raise the sum of 5,000 to cover all his costs and also make a substantial contribution to the Mellon Building Fund. To kickstart his fundraising campaign, Mr Dineen is organising a walk from Barnane in Fermoy to Ballyhooley on Saturday, August 16. The plan is to get 50 walkers who will commit to raising 100 each. It will be a leisurely walk, and refreshments will be available at journeys end in Ballyhooley. The walk will start at 12pm on the quayside in Fermoy beyond the Grand Hotel. There will be a number of drop-off points on the route, with transport back to Ballyhooley if needed for those who wish to walk just some of the trek. For more details or to get involved, contact Liam at liamdineen@gmail.com. The arrival of Noble Caledonias Island Sky to Baltimore yesterday marked the first time a cruise ship has called to the harbour. Many of the ships 90 passengers transferred to Baltimore in the morning, and then to Sherkin Island in the afternoon. They remained in the local area, and availed of activities, including walking tours focused on Baltimores maritime heritage, and visits to the wonderful studios on Sherkin, the island of the arts. The cruise passengers and members of the ships 81-strong crew also had time to explore Baltimore and Sherkin for themselves, browsing crafts and enjoying West Corks food and drink, as well as meeting the locals. The Island Sky, a luxurious small expedition cruise ship, provided a point of interest for visitors and locals throughout the day, as it nestled in Baltimores large natural harbour, which is formed partly by the islands of the archipelago known as Carberys Hundred Isles. Cllr Caroline Cronin making a presentation to Jose Fonseca, captain of the cruise liner, with Noreen OMahony of Cork County Council. Picture: John Allen. On leaving Baltimore, the ship made the short journey along the West Cork coast to Bere Island. Passengers will be tendered directly from the ship to Bere Island today where they will be treated to tours taking in the Lonehort Battery, the Martello Tower and Bere Island Heritage Centre, while others will be given an opportunity to learn about the islands history. They will finish off the day with some live music and a drink in Dessies Bar. SKELLIGS The ships 12-day Wild Ireland tour, which began in Dublin on August 5, is tracing the rugged coastline of Ireland, visiting the Skelligs, Galway, the Aran Islands, and Killybegs, among other ports before passengers disembark in Liverpool. Cllr Caroline Cronin, chairperson of the West Cork Municipal District, and officials from Cork County Council, were welcomed onboard by the ships captain for a formal gift exchange to mark the ships inaugural visit to Baltimore harbour. Cllr Caroline Cronin stated: I am delighted to be associated with this inaugural cruise call to Baltimore. Todays passengers visiting Sherkin Island and the ships onward journey to Bere Island present a welcome boost to our islands. Marking the inaugural cruise liner visit were, from left: Robert Lamond, hotel manager; Diarmuid Minihane, Schull harbour master; Jose Fonseca, captain; Cllr Caroline Cronin; Noreen OMahony, Cork County Council and Julian Renault, senior harbour master, Cork County Council. Picture: John Allen "Approximately 4,000 cruise passengers are expected to visit Cork County Councils harbours in 2025, contributing to the local economy and supporting our tourism industry, while showcasing what makes County Cork so special to a growing number of international visitors. Cork County Council staff were also on hand on the day to greet passengers and crew, hand out maps and brochures, and provide guidance to ensure visitors enjoyed their visit to the area. The visit is part of a busy cruise season across the Councils ports. Inaugural calls at Youghal and Ballycotton are among the record 25 cruise visits planned for 2025, with Schull, Kinsale, and Bere Island receiving repeat visits as County Corks reputation as a distinctive cruise destination grows. Uisce Eireann has applied for permission to build a new wastewater treatment plant in Castlemagner, which a local TD has called a crucial milestone for the area which will make future housing and development possible. A decision is due by Cork County Council on August 18 on the utility bodys application for permission to construct a new Wastewater Treatment Plant (WwTP) to replace the existing public and private WwTPs. The development will consist of inlet works, primary treatment, secondary treatment, discharge works, sludge treatment works, a stormwater storage tank and pumping station. Also included in the plans lodged recently are a new solar farm to provide a source of renewable energy to partly supply the WwTP, a control and administration building and ancillary works including the upgrade of the existing entrance and access road from the L1042 roadway. Fianna Fail TD for Cork North-West, Michael Moynihan, described the application for permission as a significant step which it follows years of work to advance a project deemed essential for the villages future development and housing needs. Mr Moynihan said: I have been a keen advocate for the Wastewater Treatment Plant in Castlemagner for several years so its very welcome to see the planning application now submitted to Cork County Council. Having engaged with the relevant Ministers and Irish Water, we had already secured Castlemagners inclusion in Irish Waters Small Towns and Villages Growth Programme, a critical step that prioritised the development of this much-needed infrastructure. The submission of this planning application is a testament to the hard work and collaboration that has gone into pushing this vital project forward for Castlemagner. He added: Its well recognised that water infrastructure is one of the key enablers for housing and this new wastewater treatment plant is essential for the growth of the community, enabling much needed housing development. With a decision due from Cork County Council mid-August, I am committed to ensuring the project advances as swiftly as possible, and will continue to engage with all stakeholders to expedite the delivery of this critical infrastructure for the people of Castlemagner. Sean McCarthaigh A leading provider of data centres in Ireland has successfully challenged the decision of South Dublin County Council to refuse it planning permission for two new centres at its campus in west Dublin. An Coimisiun Pleanala has upheld the appeal taken by EdgeConneX Ireland against the councils ruling in July 2023 to reject its planning application to construct two adjoining single storey data centres covering an area of over 15,000m on a site at Ballymakaily, Lucan, Co Dublin. The plans also provided for 24 standby diesel generators with associated 25-metre-high flues in a yard to the west of the data centres as well as a new internal access road and security gates. However, the Commission imposed a planning condition that the standby generators have to be powered by a renewable fuel source. South Dublin County Council had refused planning permission for the development on the basis that it had failed to demonstrate that the proposed use was acceptable for lands zoned to provide for enterprise and employment given the lack of a fixed connection agreement to the grid and a lack of significant on-site renewable energy. In reaching its decision, the council said it also had regard to the existing insufficient capacity in the national grid as well as the applicants reliance on gas powered plant to provide energy for the data centres and an absence of power purchase agreements (PPAs). It also rejected EdgeConneX Irelands application on a separate ground in relation to the retention and protection of existing green infrastructure. Council planners said the county development plan placed a key emphasis on the requirement for data centres within its administrative area to be sustainable and for applicants to show there was sufficient capacity within the electricity network to accommodate them. Elected representatives of South Dublin County Council had imposed a total ban on the development of new data centres but a ministerial directive issued in August 2022 reversed the controversial measure. In its appeal, EdgeConneX Ireland accused the local authority of adopting an unduly rigid approach" to its county development plan. The company claimed the councils decision on its planning application was inherently flawed and its concerns were unfounded. EdgeConneX Ireland said that it was not within the remit of South Dublin County Council to determine whether there was sufficient capacity on the national grid. Nevertheless, it confirmed that it had obtained a connection agreement with EirGrid who had developed policy criteria which applicants had to satisfy and which were largely designed to take into account capacity constraints on the grid. EdgeConneX Ireland argued that the council should be satisfied that EirGrid, as the appropriate authority on the national grid, had determined that its data centre campus can connect to the grid. It pointed out that the overall on-site dispatchable energy generation capacity on the campus was already established under a previous planning application and should not have to be reconsidered. The company said it had sought to maximise the use of renewables through the design and future proofing of the power plant on the campus so that it had capacity to accept biogas and hydrogen when they become available. It also argued that having gas as the primary fuel of the power plants played its part in decarbonising the national grid which it claimed had been acknowledged in the Governments Climate Action Plan. EdgeConneX Ireland said it had also provided robust evidence of engagement with PPAs in Ireland. The company said having an onsite generation plant that was predominantly powered by natural gas should not be a ground for refusal of itself. In addition, it stressed that its power plant would reinforce the national grid once the EirGrid connection was realised. The company accepted that some 760 metres of hedgerow would be removed as part of the project but stressed that over 1,300 metres of hedgerow would be retained and a further 1,052 metres of new hedgerow was being proposed which would result in a net biodiversity and ecological gain. Subject to compliance with a number of planning conditions, An Coimisiun Pleanala said it was satisfied that EdgeConneX Ireland had a fixed connection agreement to connect to the grid and that the data centres were not an islanded development which was dependent solely on onsite energy generation. The Commission said it was also satisfied that the company had incorporated strong energy efficiency measures to reduce its carbon footprint and had demonstrated engagement with PPAs as well as that there was sufficient capacity with the relevant water, wastewater and electricity network to accommodate the proposed use. It accepted that EdgeConneX Ireland had sought to protect and enhance the biodiversity and ecological value of the existing green infrastructure network where possible. The Commission also ruled that it would not seriously injure the residential or visual amenities of the area and would be acceptable in terms of the safety and convenience of pedestrians and other road users as well as not being prejudicial to public health. The planning appeals authority said it was also satisfied that various mitigation measures proposed by the company would ensure that the development would not have any unacceptable direct, indirect or cumulative effects on the environment. The Commission noted that data centres had been identified as core infrastructure and enablers of a technology-rich innovative economy and of significant importance from a national and international perspective in the Government Statement on the Role of Data Centres in Irelands Enterprise Strategy published in July 2022. It accepted that EdgeConneX Ireland had demonstrated that the proposed data centres would be in accordance with the twin transitions of digitisation and decarbonisation as well as the principles outlined in the Government Statement. One of the planning conditions is that the company enters into a corporate PPA with a renewable energy provider for the proposed data centres before they become operational. EdgeConnex Ireland is also required to provide a draft agreement that it would be willing to connect to a future district heating network if one becomes available. Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan has responded after Donald Trump accused him of being "highly conflicted" and said he should resign, according to The Financial Times. "There has been a lot of misinformation circulating about my past roles," Tan said in a letter to Intel staff. "I wanted to be absolutely clear... I have always operated within the highest legal and ethical standards." Tan said that Intel was engaging with the White House "to address the matters that have been raised and ensure they have the facts." Trump's Truth Social post demanding Tan's resignation reportedly came about due to letter to Tan from Tom Cotton, the Republican head of the Senate Intelligence Committee. In it, Cotton "expressed concern about the security and integrity of Intel's operations" along with Tan's previous work in China. Tan has invested in Chinese tech companies through his own venture capital firm, including SMIC (Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp.), China's biggest chip maker. In addition, a company that Tan ran before being appointed Intel chief admitted last week to violating US export controls by "unlawfully exporting semiconductor design tools to a restricted PRC [Chinese] military university," according to the US Department of Justice. The company agreed to plead guilty and pay criminal penalties totalling over $140 million dollars. Advertisement Advertisement Tan took over a very leaky ship with Intel, which has bled red ink over the failure of its foundry business to keep up with rivals like TSMC and win customers. Since taking the job, he launched a cost-cutting program and said that Intel may need to abandon its next-gen fab tech which hasn't shown great results to date if it can't find a large customer. In the same letter, Tan said Intel's board is "fully supportive" of that work. Trump has meddled with corporations ranging from Apple to Bank of America, making him what one pundit called "the most interventionist White House in my lifetime," particularly for a Republican. "So many Wall Street folks worried that past Democratic administrations would interfere in their business," said MSNBC journalist and lawyer Ari Melber. "But this first year of Trump's second term has done so much more than any modern administration." The dream of Chromebooks that double as gaming laptops appears to be on its last legs. 9to5Google reports that Google is ending support for Steam for Chromebooks starting January 1, 2026. Porting the application launcher was part of an extended push from the company to make Chromebooks a place to play games. Companies like ASUS and Acer announced and released gaming Chromebooks, but the idea never seemed to catch on. Google's plan to retire Steam for Chromebooks was discovered when 9to5Google tried to install the launcher on a new laptop. "The Steam for Chromebook Beta program will conclude on January 1st, 2026," a new notice reads when you download Steam. "After this date, games installed as part of the Beta will no longer be available to play on your device. We appreciate your participation in and contribution to learnings from the beta program, which will inform the future of Chromebook gaming." Engadget has contacted Google and Valve for confirmation that Steam for Chromebooks is being discontinued. We'll update this article if we hear back. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Reports that Steam would eventually be available on ChromeOS started as far back as 2020. The joint effort to port the launcher to Chromebooks was a surprise announcement at GDC 2022. Google released a Steam alpha that March, which ultimately worked better than expected. A beta version of the app came a few months later in November, adding support for several new Chromebooks. The app has existed in beta since then, without any major updates from Google or Valve. One reason Google could be giving up is that the number of games that can actually run on Chromebooks is limited, thanks to the underpowered CPUs and integrated graphics that most ChromeOS devices use. Valve's Proton compatibility software which helps Windows games run on the Linux-based Steam Deck is technically available for Chromebooks, but it can't make up for a lack of processing power. Without Steam, using either NVIDIA GeForce Now or Xbox Cloud Gaming is the best option for running modern console and PC games on your Chromebook. ChromeOS can also runs Android apps, but then you have to be comfortable playing what you can get from the Play Store. We're getting super close to finding out when the annual Apple iPhone event will take place, giving us a first look at the new iPhone 17 lineup. We should also find out the official date for downloading the latest software update, iOS 26. If you can't wait any longer, you can download and install the newly released public beta 4 (or iOS 26 developer beta 8 for developers). I've been playing around with it for the past couple of weeks, and have found that taking screenshots is way better in the new operating system Google and ChatGPT search options are now in the screenshots editor, for instance. You can see a more complete view of the new features in our preview of the iOS 26 public beta release, which shows off the fresh home and lock screen redesign. Called Liquid Glass, the translucent look will extend across all of Apple's upcoming operating systems. The overhaul is one of several big changes coming to iOS, macOS, iPadOS and the rest of Apple's software suite, all of which were showcased during the company's WWDC keynote on June 9. After overpromising on AI plans last year, Apple kept its iOS roadmap focused more on basic quality of life improvements this year. There are multiple useful additions coming to the Phone and Messages apps on your iPhone, for instance: Apple execs outlined the ability to weed out spam texts or other unknown senders and an option to hold your spot on a phone call when you've been waiting for a representative to pick up. Plus, a treasured feature that we took for granted is coming back (hint: it's in the Photos app). Siri, meanwhile, is in a holding pattern. Apple has previously specified that its smarter voice assistant first promised at WWDC 2024 is delayed until some point "in the coming year," so you shouldn't expect any major changes in the current betas. But there are reports that Apple is aiming to give Siri a bigger brain transplant by basing it on third-party artificial intelligence models like OpenAI's ChatGPT or Anthropic's Claude, which could make 2026 a pivotal year. The company is also reportedly working on a 'stripped-down' AI chatbot to rival ChatGPT. Advertisement Advertisement With each beta, it seems like additional new improvements are popping up, like this new AirPods gesture we're all curious about, and this FaceTime feature that'll freeze your video if it detects nudity. With the release of the iOS 26 developer beta 5, we saw more added features, like a new bouncy animation on the passcode screen and in the Control Center, MacRumors reports. Some or all of those changes will likely soon migrate into the separate public beta (see below). Most newer iPhone models are eligible to download iOS 26 (both the betas and final version). Want to see the full list of new features coming this fall? Read on. What is iOS 26? The current iPhone operating system is iOS 18, and Apple is still actively updating it version 18.6.1 was released to restore Apple Watch blood oxygen monitoring functionality for certain users in the US. More recently, Apple released 18.6.2 to address a vulnerability related to image processing. Apple has officially stopped signing iOS 18.6, MacRumors reports, which means it can no longer be installed on your iPhone due to a "server-side software verification check." That's pretty normal when newer versions are available to download. But don't expect to see iOS 19 soon or ever. Instead, Apple is skipping the numbering ahead to iOS 26 later this year. The company has decided to line up its iOS version numbers with a year-based system, similar to car model years. So while iOS and its sibling operating systems will be released in late 2025, they're all designated "26" to reflect the year ahead. It's official, we're moving to iOS 26. (Apple) What is Liquid Glass design? Let's be honest. Out of everything announced at WWDC this year, the new Liquid Glass design was the star of the show. The iPhone's home and lock screens have looked pretty much the same year after year the last exciting thing (in my opinion) was the option to add your own aesthetic to your home screen by customizing your apps and widgets. So seeing the home and lock screens' new facelift is refreshing. Advertisement Advertisement So what exactly is Liquid Glass? Apple calls it a "new translucent material" since, well, the apps and widgets are clear. However, the screen can still adapt to dark and light modes, depending on surroundings. You'll also notice buttons with a new floating design in several apps, like Phone and Maps. They're designed to be less distracting than the current buttons, but are still easy to see. While the design overhaul has proven to be controversial since its announcement, some including Engadget's own Devindra Hardawar like the new direction, even if it's somewhat reminiscent of Microsoft's translucent Windows Vista Aero designs from nearly twenty years ago. That said, as of the release of the iOS 26 beta 2, Apple has already incorporated some user feedback into the design, dialing back the transparency in at least some places. And while it will continue to evolve, Apple users won't be able to escape it: Liquid Glass was designed to make all of Apple's OSes more cohesive. Here's a look at how the translucent aesthetic will look with the new macOS Tahoe 26 on your desktop. What are the new and notable features of iOS 26? iOS 26 has a laundry list of new features. Among the most worthwhile: Phone app redesign: You'll finally be able to scroll through contacts, recent calls and voicemail messages all on one screen. It also comes with a new feature called Hold Assist that'll notify you when an agent comes to the phone so you can avoid the elevator music and continue on with other tasks. Advertisement Advertisement Live Translation in Phone, FaceTime and Messages: iOS 26 is bringing the ability to have a conversation via phone call or text message with someone who speaks another language. Live Translation will translate your conversation in real time, which results in some stop-and-go interactions in the examples Apple shared during its presentation. Polls in group chats: Tired of sorting through what seems like hundreds of messages in your group chat? You and your friends will soon be able to create polls in group messages for deciding things like which brunch spot you're eating at or whose car you're taking on a road trip. Filtering unknown senders in Messages: If you haven't received spam texts about unpaid tolls or other citations, you're lucky. For those of us who have, those annoying messages will soon be filtered away in a separate folder. Visual Intelligence: Similar to a reverse Google image search, this new feature will allow you to search for anything that's on your iPhone screen. For instance, if you spot a pair of shoes someone is wearing in an Instagram photo, you can screenshot it and use Visual Intelligence to find those shoes (or similar ones) online. Advertisement Advertisement Photos tabs are back: For anyone who's still frustrated with the Photos changes made last year, you'll be happy to know that your tabs are coming back. Library and Collections will have their own separate spaces so you don't have to scroll to infinity to find what you're looking for. FaceTime "Communication Safety" feature: A newer addition to iOS 26 appears to be the FaceTime "Communication Safety" feature that pauses communications if and when nudity is detected. The feature appears to be a child safety feature that uses on-device detection, thus obviating any cloud-based privacy issues. New lock screen options: The iPhone lock screen gets more customizable in iOS 26, with a cooler clock, 3D wallpaper effects, more widgets and better focus mode options. Apple's Hold Assist will be nifty for those pesky services that put you on hold for 10 or more minutes. (Apple) New changes coming to iPadOS 26 Your iPad isn't getting left behind when it comes to big updates. Here's what's coming this fall. Advertisement Advertisement Multitasking and real windowing: When you download the newest update, you'll be able to have multiple apps running on your screen at the same time. Once you open an app, it'll appear on your screen as normal but you'll be able to resize and move it across your screen to make room for other apps. This feature is optional so you can turn it off if you don't like it. Visual update: Along with the other new OSes, iPadOS 26 is coming with the Liquid Glass aesthetic. This new look will appear on the lock and home screens, as well as the drop-down menus. New menu bar: When you swipe down on your screen, the new menu bar will appear with options like File, Edit, Windows and more. There's also a search option if you're looking for something specific. Check out our first impressions of iPadOS 26. What about AirPods? AirPods are also getting updated with iOS 26. Here are some of the more notable functions. Advertisement Advertisement Enhanced audio recording: Apple calls this "studio-quality" audio recording, and with it, you'll notice more clarity while in noisy environments. Camera remote control: Using this, you can take a photo or start and stop video recording with just one press on your AirPods. When taking photos, you'll get a three-second countdown before your iPhone or iPad snaps the picture. Live translation feature: While not officially announced or confirmed, it appears that the long-rumored live translation for AirPods could be coming with iOS 26. The evidence comes from a system asset spotted in the in iOS 26 beta showing a gesture that's triggered by pressing both earbud stems at the same time. The photo also shows words in several different languages. Heart rate monitoring (rumored for now): Bloomberg's Mark Gurman believes Apple will introduce new AirPods Pro earbuds this year, which could have heart rate monitoring. It would work with Apple's Health app and other fitness apps that track heart rates. Which iPhones will be able to upgrade to iOS 26? A few iPhone models that run the current version of iOS iPhone XR, XS and XS Max won't be compatible with the latest upgrade. But any iPhones released in 2019 or later will be eligible for the iOS 26 update. Advertisement Advertisement iPhone SE (second generation or later) iPhone 11 iPhone 11 Pro iPhone 11 Pro Max iPhone 12 iPhone 12 mini iPhone 12 Pro iPhone 12 Pro Max iPhone 13 iPhone 13 mini iPhone 13 Pro iPhone 13 Pro Max iPhone 14 iPhone 14 Plus iPhone 14 Pro iPhone 14 Pro Max iPhone 15 iPhone 15 Plus iPhone 15 Pro iPhone 15 Pro Max iPhone 16 iPhone 16 Plus iPhone 16 Pro iPhone 16 Pro Max iPhone 16e Not listed here are the presumed new iPhone 17 models (or maybe iPhone 26?) that are all but certain to be announced and released in September. How to install iOS 26 beta The iOS 26 public beta is now available to download via the Apple Beta Software Program. If you're not already a member, you'll need to sign up to try out all the latest features. Just visit beta.apple.com and sign up with your phone number or email address. It's free. Once you're in, you can install it by going to Settings > General > Software Update and selecting iOS 26 public beta. A word of caution: Don't sign up with your main iPhone unless you're OK with any risks that occur with using an OS that isn't finalized. When will the final version of iOS 26 be released? iOS 26 will be released to the public this fall. It usually comes in September, within a week of the Apple iPhone event. Last year, it rolled out to iPhone users on September 16 exactly one week after the iPhone 16 lineup was announced. Advertisement Advertisement If you're more interested in the Apple Intelligence features coming, here's everything Apple revealed for iOS, macOS and more during WWDC. Also, check out how iOS 26 screenshots could be an intriguing preview of Apple's delayed Siri rework. Update, August 25: Added a rumor about new AirPods Pro having heart rate monitoring. Update, August 22: Noted that Apple has officially stopped signing iOS 18.6. Update, August 20: Noted that iOS 26 public beta 4 and iOS 18.6.2 are now available to download. Update, August 18: Added details about a potential iOS 18.6 update. Update, August 15: Added to link to what to expect at the Apple iPhone event and details about what's available in the iOS 26 screenshots editor. Advertisement Advertisement Update, August 13: Added new AirPods detail spotted in the iOS 26 beta. Update, August 11: Noted that iOS 26 developer beta has hit beta 6. Update, August 8: Added new features coming with iPadOS 26 and AirPods. Update, August 6: Noted the release of iOS 26 beta 5 and the new bouncy feature on passcode screen and Control Center. Update, August 4: Noted that Apple is reportedly working on a ChatGPT rival. Update, August 1: Added quote from Tim Cook about iOS 26. Update, July 31: Noted that iOS 18.6 is now available. Update, July 24: Noted the iOS 26 public beta is now available. Update, July 3: Noted new FaceTime feature found in the developer beta. Update, June 30: Noted ongoing iOS 18 releases, and reports that Apple is considering additional external LLMs for Siri. Update, June 25: Noted changes added in iOS 26 beta 2. We're still waiting for Apple to make the official announcement for the iPhone event that usually takes place in September. At that event, they'll showcase the new iPhone 17 lineup which will come equipped with the latest iOS 26 features preinstalled, as well as any additional features Apple reveals at the launch event. But since we (presumably) still have to wait a few weeks until the iPhone event, we can only speculate what the new devices will look like. As with most unreleased iPhones, rumors and leaks have trickled in about the hardware side ahead of the official introduction. Here's what we're expecting and what we can reasonably assume we'll get from Apple in September. What are the latest iPhone 17 rumors? Not necessarily a "new" rumor but Bloomberg's Mark Gurman believes there actually will be a new orange color offered for the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max, as well as a light blue color for the iPhone 17 Air, he confirmed in his weekly Power On newsletter. Additionally, we have a new case rumor. According to leaker Majin Bu, there will be new Liquid Silicone cases in eight colors, including Deep Orange, Pale Orange, Grass Green, Celadon, Fog Purple, Grey Blue, Dark Blue and Midnight Black. iPhone 17: New Liquid Silicone Cases Colors Full Article:https://t.co/RBnAO3LCAC pic.twitter.com/GuQuvrswg6 Majin Bu (@MajinBuOfficial) August 24, 2025 These rumors haven't been confirmed by Apple and we won't know what the actual iPhone 17 models will look like until the iPhone event next month. How much will the iPhone 17 cost? Apple's announced plan to expand US-based manufacturing partners seems to give it at least some shielding from the steepest Trump administration tariffs that have already triggered price increases on everything from PlayStations to Switch consoles to high-end cameras to Sonos speakers. But given that President Trump's trade policies can change from week to week, and Apple's continuing reliance on Asia-based supply chains, price shocks remain an ongoing possibility. The bigger question is: Will Apple absorb any higher costs, or pass them on to consumers? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement If prices do creep up, Apple may choose to pair it with an "upgrade." Consider this recent rumor posted by MacRumors from a leaker known as "Instant Digital," suggesting that the default storage of the iPhone 17 line may start at 256GB, doubling the current 128GB baseline. While that could be accompanied by a price increase of $50, Apple could at least pitch it as a "better value." That said, the company doubled the default RAM of its Mac computers from 8GB to 16GB at no extra cost in 2024 but that was before the current Trump tariff cycle started. When will the iPhone 17 series be announced? Most years, the flagship smartphones are introduced in September. MacRumors highlighted a story originally reported by iphone-ticker.de that the Apple iPhone 17 event could be Tuesday, September 9, according to information gleaned from German mobile phone providers. It's still too early to have the specific dates; some years, Apple only gives a week or two of lead time between sending invites and hosting the event. But years of past precedent show that sometime in September should be when the 17 models make their debut. This family of smartphones may be the last to follow that trend, however. There have been hints that the introduction of the iPhone 18 collection in 2026 will be split into a pro-tier announcement in the fall and a standard model announcement the following spring. What will the new iPhone 17 lineup include? Design leaks suggest that Apple is building an ultra-thin smartphone, likely to be named the iPhone 17 Air to match Apple's ultralight laptop designation. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, often a solid source of advanced intel about Apple, reported in January that the iPhone 17 Air will be equipped with a basic A19 chip and will only have a single camera lens. It may also use Apple's new in-house modem, which was introduced in February on the iPhone 16e. More details about this development may leak ahead of September, but that's what we know for now. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement An investor note from Apple analyst Jeff Pu indicated that the Air will have a titanium frame. If his reports are accurate, the lightweight smartphone will be the only entry in the iPhone 17 lineup to use that metal; the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max are expected to be made of aluminum, which is oddly a lighter material than titanium. Other speculation had suggested that the Air would use a blend of aluminum and titanium, so the exact materials may not be known until the official announcement. Additionally, an August 4 MacRumors report says the internal battery pack of the iPhone Air is just 2.49mm thick half the thickness of the iPhone 17 Pro battery. The leak was posted on the Korean-language Naver blog, where they show the alleged batteries of the iPhone 17 Air and 17 Pro side by side. The same account claimed the 17 Air's battery capacity was a mere 2,800 mAh, MacRumors notes. (That's below the battery capacity of current iPhone 16 models.) On a similar topic, an iPhone 17 Pro production leak appears to have revealed an all-aluminum chassis, according to MacRumors. Originally posted by leaker Majin Bu, the image shows a shell that has a large round hole on the back (where the Apple logo typically is) to allow for MagSafe charging. MacRumors says this could just be a molding but notes that the aluminum frame (versus the current titanium in Pro iPhone models) would yield a significantly lower weight. That same leaker (Majin Bu), whom MacRumors classifies as a "hit-or-miss leaker," suggests the iPhone 17 Pro will have better wireless signal strength thanks to an updated antenna design. The individual posted a render on X that shows a new antenna system that wraps around the iPhone 17 Pro's supposedly wider rear camera bump. Again, this is a render, not a real-world photo. That said, we can't knock the goal of better wireless reception, so we're hoping this one has a degree of truth to it. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Leaker Majin Bu also claims "TechWoven" cases could be introduced, per a MacRumors report. The cases match the rumored design on the iPhone 17 models, with the wide camera bump. The leaker noted there are two lanyard holes for "convenient and secure carrying," so it could be worn around your neck. The colors would come in grey/black, blue, green, purple and orange. Each new roster includes a base model, but over the years, Apple has shaken up the variety of phones it offers. Most likely there will be an iPhone 17 and an iPhone 17 Pro. Apple has also committed to the size matters philosophy, and has been building an iPhone Pro Max option with an even bigger screen and better battery life; the 17 roster will almost certainly have one as well. The new Pro iPhones are said to have a full-width "camera island" on the rear, which would mark the first time an Apple model opted for that design. This feature can be seen in the purported iPhone 17 "spotted in the wild." The pics, highlighted on MacRumors, show a black cased iPhone (17 Pro?) with the distinct back panel. Is it the real deal? The dual angles lend a degree of credibility in a social media landscape increasingly polluted with AI-enhanced fakes, but your guess is as good as ours. I just spotted a test development iPhone in the wild pic.twitter.com/iS3PtKWqxJ Fox Pupy (@Skyfops) July 28, 2025 The iPhone 17 Air seems primed to take the place of a potential iPhone 17 Plus. Since the iPhone 16e was only just introduced in February at a surprisingly high price point, it seems unlikely that there will be a new addition to that lower end of the spectrum, the models that were previously called SE. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement At the very least, it sounds like the iPhone 17 Air won't take away the charging port and rely only on wireless connectivity. Bloomberg said that while Apple had investigated making the iPhone 17 Air without a single port, the company (fortunately) changed plans. He also says that the rumored phone will have a 6.6-inch screen and include the Dynamic Island and Camera Control button. Finally, the price is rumored at $900 likely more than the standard iPhone 17 but less than the Pro. We've also gotten what seems to be a reliable look at what the color lineup will be for the new smartphones. Macworld reported that the iPhone 17 will be available in black, white, steel gray, green, purple and light blue. The iPhone 17 Air will reportedly have four color options: black, white, light blue and light gold. While the Air colors will be less saturated, the visuals for the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max will go bold. The options for the Pro models are expected to be black, white, gray, dark blue and orange. On July 30, Tom's Guide highlighted an X post from Sonny Dickson a longtime and generally reliable leaker of unreleased iPhone information showing "dummy" iPhone 17 models in the new colors that were the source of the aforementioned Macworld story. While these are literally just mock-ups not real, leaked iPhones it's interesting to see how the design and color rumors translate into a real-world look and feel. To add the the rumors, a Weibo leaker known as Digital Chat Station suggests the iPhone 17e will come equipped with a new design that includes the Dynamic Island, MacRumors reports. According to the post, the new phone will have the A19 chip and could have a 6.1-inch OLED display with a front-facing 12-megapixel camera and a rear-facing 48-megapixel camera. However, it's important to note this report refers to the 17e model that would be expected to launch no earlier than February 2026, if it followed the same release pattern as the iPhone 16e. What will iOS 26 be like? Apple upended its numbering conventions with WWDC 2025, and will match the name of each new operating system to the year it's released. So when the next wave of iPhones hits, they'll be running on iOS 26. Advertisement Advertisement On the design side, the smartphone OS introduced during the big developer showcase took a contentious approach dubbed Liquid Glass. Apple has been scaling down the amount of transparency effects in the subsequent beta tests of iOS 26, but it will still have a glass-like visual. The feature list includes big and small updates. On the more impactful side, the Phone and Photos apps have been redesigned. There will be several features leveraging artificial intelligence, such as live translation capabilities coming to Phone, FaceTime and Messages. Apple is also currently testing a sensitive content warning for child accounts that will freeze FaceTime video if nudity is detected by on-device machine learning tools. And the company is also launching Visual Intelligence, which will use AI to search for elements in an image. iOS 26 also has a litany of minor, quality of life improvements. Group texts are getting support for polls. And for the slow risers out there, iOS 26 will finally let you escape the tyranny of the nine minute snooze alarm. The next iOS is now available as a public beta. Here are our initial impressions of the Liquid Glass design and other new features. iOS 26 is compatible with all models back through iPhone 11. What other products are expected to be released alongside the iPhone 17? If Apple follows its usual pattern, the iPhone 17 will be announced alongside new Apple Watch products. That would be the Apple Watch Series 11 (if Apple sticks to the same naming scheme), and maybe an Apple Watch Ultra 3 and/or an updated Apple Watch SE. (They'll all run watchOS 26, of course.) Other possibilities and this is, again, speculation could include refreshed Apple AirPods Pro (which received its last big update in 2022) and maybe new AirTags trackers (first released in 2021). Advertisement Advertisement The Apple rumor mill got a big shot in the arm this week thanks to the reported inclusion of product ID numbers in recent beta software builds. Per MacRumors, it's a laundry list of new hardware, including long-rumored product updates like the Apple TV, HomePod mini, new Apple Studio Display monitor and two fresh iPads. Of course, even if that list is totally accurate, we may not see those products until 2026 if ever. So don't expect all of products to share the stage with the iPhone 17, especially since Apple likes to keep its star performer at the center of attention. That said, keep in mind that Apple has recently been having Mac-centric announcements in late October (as it did last year to debut new M4 Macs), so there's always the chance of another shoe dropping a few weeks down the road. Update, August 25, 2025, 5:15PM ET: Added new reports about the iPhone 17 Pro's orange color as well as new rumored Liquid Silicone cases. Advertisement Advertisement Update, August 22, 2025, 11:52AM ET: Added new details about the colors of the rumored TechWoven case. Update, August 20, 2025, 7:12PM ET: Added new rumor about potential TechWoven case for iPhone 17 series. Update, August 18, 2025, 6:23PM ET: Added new rumor about the iPhone 17e potentially having the Dynamic Island. Update, August 15, 2025, 2:05PM ET: Added new rumor about the all-aluminum chassis on the iPhone 17. Update, August 13, 2025, 10:02PM ET: Added a list of the products that are expected to be released alongside the iPhone 17s. Update, August 11, 2025, 7:27PM ET: Added a render of a rumored new antenna design for the iPhone 17 Pro. Advertisement Advertisement Update, August 8, 2025, 4:43PM ET: Added new speculation and reports about iPhone 17 pricing. Update, August 6, 2025, 4:05PM ET: Added latest details about the potential iPhone 17 event date. Update, August 4, 2025, 5:23PM ET: Added latest battery leaks about the iPhone 17 models. Update, August 1, 2025, 8:15AM ET: Added new photos showing potential iPhone 17 colors. Update, July 30, 2025, 11:08AM ET: Added latest leaks and rumors about the iPhone 17, and updated information on the iOS 26 public beta. Update, July 17, 2025, 4:40PM ET: Added latest information about iOS 26, possible materials for the Air, and the color options for the different models. Advertisement Advertisement Update, March 17, 2025, 2PM ET: Added details about the rumored price and features of the iPhone 17 Air. Update, April 11, 2025, 3:45PM ET: Added details from Front Page Tech's new video that claims to reveal details from a leaked iOS 19 build. Eminem's new documentary, "Stans," offers a raw, immersive look at the rapper's most devoted fans and the intense culture that has grown around his music. The film opens with the Oxford Dictionary definition of "stan," the term coined from Eminem's 2000 hit of the same name to describe an obsessive fan. Director Steven Leckart and producers Paul Rosenberg and Tony DiSanto turn the camera away from the artist to let superfans narrate the story of Eminem's rise and impact. "Stans" premiered at SXSW London earlier this year and begins its limited theatrical run at more than 135 AMC locations worldwide on August 7. The one-weekend-only engagement in the U.S. underscores the celebratory yet fleeting nature of fandom itself. Audiences witness stylized reenactments, rare archival footage from Eminem's early Detroit rap battles, and intimate interviews with 20 superfans selected from over 9,000 submissions. Among those featured is a trans fan who legally adopted Marshall as a first name in homage to Marshall Mathers, and Nikki, who holds the Guinness World Record for most tattoos by a single artist. The documentary follows these fans on personal pilgrimages, from traveling across continents to inked portraits of Eminem on their bodies. Their stories reveal how his lyrics about family, addiction, and resilience have provided solace, purpose, and a sense of community. While "Stans" acknowledges the darker side of parasocial relationships, citing unsettling fan letters demanding contact, it deliberately emphasizes healthy fandom as a source of creative empathy and mental well-being. Eminem himself appears on camera, expressing both gratitude and discomfort about fans visiting his former childhood home, now demolished, remarking, "It's cool that people care, but it's weird because it's me." The film also follows Eminem's career chronologically through fan recollections: from early mixtapes captured by Dr. Dre, to the Oscar-winning "8 Mile," and the introspective albums Recovery and Music to Be Murdered By. Commentary from collaborators such as Dr. Dre and Ed Sheeran highlights how his candid exploration of personal struggles has influenced a generation of artists and fostered a culture of vulnerability in hip-hop. By centering the voices of fans rather than critics, "Stans" creates a collective portrait of devotion and identity formation. It refrains from a climactic fan-meets-idol moment, preserving Eminem's mystique while inviting reflection on the complex bonds between artist and audience. As the documentary ends, viewers are left with a deeper understanding of how music can shape lives and how, in return, fans can illuminate the profound humanity behind a global superstar. The sequel to Robert Pattinson's "The Batman" is set to begin filming in spring 2026, Warner Bros. Discovery announced in a letter to shareholders this week. The long-awaited follow-up, officially scheduled for release on October 1, 2027, will see Pattinson reprise his role as Bruce Wayne/Batman opposite returning cast members, including Andy Serkis as Alfred Pennyworth and Jeffrey Wright as Commissioner Gordon. "The Batman Part II" has been delayed multiple times since its initial announcement in March 2022, when the smash-hit original grossed over $770 million worldwide. Originally slated to begin production in 2024 for an October 2025 release, the sequel's timeline was first pushed to October 2026 before Warner Bros. Discovery executives confirmed the latest postponement to fall 2027. Studio co-chiefs James Gunn and Peter Safran have repeatedly stressed that the primary cause of the delays has been the script's development. Gunn took to his social media channels in December to explain that Matt Reeves, who co-writes and directs the film, would not rush the screenplay. "The only reason for the delay is there isn't a full script," Gunn wrote. "Matt is committed to making the best film he possibly can, and no one can accurately guess exactly how long a script will take to write." Reeves confirmed in June that the screenplay was completed, clearing the way for a full production schedule next year. Pre-production has already begun at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden in London, where principal photography will take place. Studio insiders say the film's "crime saga" tone, established in the 2022 original, will continue to focus on a younger, more vulnerable Batman navigating Gotham's underworld. While plot details remain under wraps, early reports hint at the return of Colin Farrell's Penguin and potential new threats drawn from Batman's classic villains' lineup. Barry Keoghan's rumored Joker appearance has not been officially confirmed, but Reeves and Tomlin's script is said to explore Gotham's corruption and power dynamics in greater depth. Pattinson, now 39, has expressed both excitement and mild trepidation about returning to the role. In interviews earlier this year, he noted the challenge of portraying an older Batman and joked about "aging out" of the part before filming begins. Beyond "The Batman Part II," Warner Bros. Discovery is advancing other DC projects under Gunn's oversight, including a new "Supergirl" film and the standalone "Clayface" series. The shareholder letter emphasized a decade-long vision that integrates theatrical releases with television, gaming, and consumer products to create a cohesive DC universe. For now, Gotham fans can look forward to seeing Pattinson don the cowl again next spring, marking the official start of production after years of anticipation and careful script crafting. Rafael Caro Quintero, the founder of the infamous Mexican Guadalajara Cartel, broke his silence since being extradited to the United States, lodging serious complaints about his treatment while detained in a federal prison in Brooklyn, claiming he is being subjected to conditions typically reserved for "terrorists." In a recently revealed statement, Caro Quintero, portrayed by Mexican actor Tenoch Huerta Mejia in the Netflix series 'Narcos: Mexico,' laments the extreme isolation and the lack of effective communication with his legal counsel and loved ones. His legal team has challenged these restrictions, arguing that they are based on "myths" rather than any legitimate security concerns. Ultima Hora: Caro Quintero se queja de incomunicacion y aislamiento extremo en carcel de Brooklyn. Sus abogados dicen que "basados en mitos" le imponen restricciones propias de un terrorista. Pide a juez audiencia. Aqui la nota en @EntornoMexico_ : https://t.co/w3nKpmTnSQ pic.twitter.com/bnOk8TxTP6 Arturo Angel (@arturoangel20) August 8, 2025 Caro Quintero's heavily redacted letter, conveyed via his attorney Mark S. DeMarco and spotlighted by journalist Arturo Angel, directly appeals to U.S. District Judge Frederic Block, requesting that Judge Block issue an order "immediately lifting" the Special Administrative Measures (SAMs) imposed on Quintero. SAMs are an extreme process in U.S. law placed on prisoners who pose a "substantial risk that...communications or contacts with persons could result in death or serious bodily injury to persons, or substantial damage to property that would entail the risk of death or serious bodily injury to persons." SAMs are particularly controversial as they allow communications between an attorney and their client to be monitored by authorities. The statement reads: "Mr. Quintero is essentially confined to a small, windowless cell. He remains in this cell alone for 23 hours a day, Mondays through Fridays; on the weekends, he is confined 24 hours a day and not permitted any exercise. His meals are passed through a slot in the door; he eats alone. The light is always on. With erratic air-conditioning, he often lacks enough warm clothing or blankets to avoid shivering." The letter also details that "except for visits from his legal team, Mr. Quintero is completely isolated. He is prohibited from sharing a cell or communicating in any way with other inmates... Mr. Quintero is a native Spanish speaker; he does not speak English. At certain periods... his housing unit appears to be staffed exclusively with guards unable to communicate in Spanish." At the end of the statement, Quintero's lawyers request that he be released from solitary confinement and placed in a less "restrictive unit." On August 5, 2025, the U.S. Department of Justice announced it would not seek the death penalty for three notorious Mexican cartel leaders currently facing trial in the U.S.: Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, Rafael Caro Quintero, and Vicente "El Viceroy" Carrillo Fuentes. Caro Quintero is facing multiple federal charges, including narcotics trafficking, money laundering, conspiracy, and most infamously, the 1985 murder of DEA Agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena in Mexico. Originally published on Latin Times Support Us Your Support will ensure EPWs financial viability and sustainability. The EPW produces independent and public-spirited scholarship and analyses of contemporary affairs every week. EPW is one of the few publications that keep alive the spirit of intellectual inquiry in the Indian media. Often described as a publication with a social conscience, EPW has never shied away from taking strong editorial positions. Our publication is free from political pressure, or commercial interests. Our editorial independence is our pride. We rely on your support to continue the endeavour of highlighting the challenges faced by the disadvantaged, writings from the margins, and scholarship on the most pertinent issues that concern contemporary Indian society. Every contribution is valuable for our future. August 8, 2025 For Immediate Release Contact: Judith Briles Judith@Briles.com 303-885-2207 Two Colorado Authors Honored with Best Book Author Laureate Designation Denver, CO, August 8, 2025 The American Book Fest has honored Dr. Judith Briles and Mara Purl with the Author Laureate designation. Between the two, they have published over 65 books, earned more than 135 book awards, and sold over one million books of their titles. Jeff Keen, CEO said, "Honored authors are either established or who were recognized early in their careers by our Best Book team before they went on to massive success within the publishing industry." Among other Author Laureates included are Amy Tan, Anne Lamott, Sue Grafton, Julie Andrews, George Saunders, Anne Geddes, and T.A. Barron. Judith Briles is currently working on book 4, The Secret Awakening in the historical fiction Harmonie series. Book 3, The Secret Rise was released in June 2025. She also published Cooking with Judith earlier this year. Mara Purl is currently working on the fifth and final Milford-Haven Novel in her women's fiction series that pioneered the concept of small-town fiction for women. When Hearts Heal that will be available in October, 2025. Press inquiries: Judith Briles, CEO at Judith@Briles.com or 303-885-2207. ##### GREAT FALLS, Mont. - United Way of Cascade County is once again helping students gear up for the school year with its annual Stuff the Bus donation drive happening today, August 7. Community members are encouraged to drop off school supplies and living essentials at one of three locations: the Target parking lot at 2000 10th Ave. S., the north side Walmart at 701 Smelter Ave. NE, and the east side Walmart at 5320 10th Ave. S. "This is our 15th annual stuff. The bus. And each year we've been able to grow the event. And it's just so exciting to see our community come together, give what they can and support local kids," said Kim Skornogoski, marketing director for United Way of Cascade County and Stuff the Bus organizer. Donations will be accepted from 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. The drive supports local students through Great Falls Public Schools and area nonprofits, including the Boys & Girls Club, St. Vincent de Paul, and the Great Falls Childrens Receiving Home. "Unfortunately, the need in our community is very real. Around two in five kids live in poverty. In our school system, we have. Last year we had more than 500 students who were homeless... So this can be a really stressful time for for families in need. And we just want kids to start school with that cute little backpack, that shiny notebook, and just be excited for school and not stressed about all those things that that are needed to make that first day of school special," said Skornogoski. Volunteers will sort and organize donations on buses donated by Big Sky Bus Lines. Items collected will also support the Back 2 School Blast on Aug. 15 at Montana Expo Park, where pre-registered families can receive free backpacks, school supplies, food, and haircuts. Backpacks will be handed out to registered families from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and to walk-ups from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Skornogoski said last years drive collected more than 18,000 donated items. This year, the organization hopes to reach even more students. "It's about everybody giving what they can to make make our kids happy, excited, confident and ready when they start school," she said. Top needed items include backpacks, composition notebooks, earbuds or inexpensive headphones, and dry erase markers. Donors can also give hygiene and household products, such as toothbrushes, shampoo, diapers, laundry detergent, and childrens clothing. Those unable to donate in person can give online at www.uwccmt.org or by mail to PO Box 1343, Great Falls, MT 59403. Sponsoring a student costs approximately $50. Police have smashed into a suspected rural crime hub in Hampshire, seizing stolen machinery, trailers and tools in a dawn raid targeting an organised vehicle theft ring. Hampshire Police led the operation on 5 August, supported by specialist teams including drone operators, search officers, firearms officers and the dog unit. Officers carried out searches at a site off Farnham Road, Odiham, believed to be linked to the theft of vehicles across the county. The warrant follows reports in June of a Land Rover and trailer being stolen in Hayling Island. Police believe a group has been stealing vehicles and returning them to the Odiham site. During the search, officers seized a suspected stolen digger, three trailers, a quad bike and a number of tools. The same location was subject to a warrant in 2021, when police recovered 29 stolen vehicles, including caravans, vans, cars and quad bikes. Four men were arrested on suspicion of theft two of them detained across the border by the Thames Valley Rural Crime Task Force. All four have been released on bail with conditions while enquiries continue. Sergeant Michael Cork, from the Country Watch Rural Crime Task Force, said: The proceeds from this type of offending will feed back into organised crime. We want to make this a hostile place for rural criminals, and we will continue to carry out proactive warrants and operations to target the people, vehicles and locations we suspect are linked to the offending, and seize stolen property. If you have any information, no matter how small, about crime or suspicious activity in your area, please report it to us. According to figures by NFU Mutual, released last month, the financial toll of UK rural crime dropped by over 16% last year. Agricultural vehicle thefts, long a costly and disruptive issue, fell by 35% to 7m, and while quad bikes and ATVs remained popular targets for criminals, their total theft cost dropped 16% to 2.7m. An Orkney farmers remarkable act of generosity is set to help support people in Scotlands farming and crofting communities for years to come. Charles Charlie Gorn, who died in November 2023 aged 82, left a legacy of 470,000 from his estate to Scottish agricultural charity RSABI. Around half of his estate was gifted to the organisation, which provides emotional, financial and practical support to those working in farming and crofting. The remainder was donated to several charities supporting people with cancer. Born and raised in Holm, Charlie began his farming career after working as a stockman in Perthshire for Sir Torquil Munro, tending the renowned Lindertis Aberdeen-Angus herd. Highly respected in the role, it was during this time he developed a lifelong passion for the Aberdeen-Angus breed. Encouraged to save for the future, he began pension and investment plans at a young age. After a period working in plant and machinery in Aberdeenshire, Charlie returned to Orkney in the 1970s to work at Weddell, close to his birthplace. In time, his careful savings enabled him to purchase the farm, where he continued to run Aberdeen-Angus cattle and expanded his holding with additional land. Charlie also travelled to Australia to meet fellow Aberdeen-Angus breeders and won numerous show cups, later donating them to the local agricultural society. RSABI chief executive officer Carol McLaren recently visited Orkney to learn more about Charlies life from executor Steven Metcalf and friends. This legacy means a huge amount to RSABI and it was a great privilege to be able to learn more about Charlies life and how he came to choose to support the work we do, she said. It was humbling to visit the area where Charlie was born and later farmed, and to pay respects at his grave, on behalf of all the team at RSABI. "We are extremely grateful to Charlie for recognising the value of the work we do and choosing to kindly gift a significant part of his lifetime savings to support the charity. We are committed to ensuring many people facing dark times receive our support, helped by the funds he has so kindly entrusted us with. In recent months, RSABI has launched several initiatives in Orkney, including two Mental Health First Aid training courses in Kirkwall, the Jim Smith #KeepTalking show in early 2025, and a Planning for the Future roadshow this spring. This summer, the charity is attending both the Dounby and County Shows and will bring its Health Hut to the Orkney Mart sale on 11 August. A quick-thinking rescue in Cambridgeshire saved a tractor driver from a blaze that tore through their vehicle and a field. Crews were called to Grange Road in Duxford on 31 July, following reports of a fire involving a tractor, a power pylon and the surrounding field. Firefighters rescued the driver and worked alongside UK Power Networks to isolate the electricity supply. The blaze was later confirmed to have started accidentally. A spokesperson for Cambridgeshire Fire & Rescue Service said: Thankfully, there were no injuries. "Firefighters then extinguished the fire that had spread to the surrounding area, before returning to their stations. The incident has prompted safety reminders for those working near overhead power lines and in rural settings: Plan ahead: Identify the maximum reach of all machinery and operate it safely. Mark the location of overhead and underground cables on farm maps and share this with staff, contractors and visitors Use location tools: Download the What3Words app to share precise locations with emergency services Look out, look up: Always check surroundings before loading or unloading, using tipper trailers in fields, or stacking materials Avoid overhead lines: Never raise a tipper lorry bed beneath a power line or drive under one with the body raised. If unloading near power lines, use a smaller vehicle such as a dump truck that poses less risk Be cautious in poor light: Take extra care in the dark or when tired Stay alert with GPS: Remain vigilant when using GPS auto-steer and always treat power lines as live, even if damaged Have an exit plan: In an emergency, call 0800 316 3105 or dial 105. Store the number in your phone. Know how to exit a vehicle safelystay in the cab if possible, or if you must leave, jump clear without touching the vehicle and ground at the same time Cambodia recently announced the implementation of a zero-per cent customs tariff on goods originating from the United States. A customs tariff rate of 0 per cent shall be applied to goods originating in the United States and imported into the Kingdom of Cambodia from the United States, a sub-decree signed by Prime Minister Hun Manet today stated in article 1. Cambodia recently announced the implementation of a zero-per cent customs tariff on goods originating from the United States. Prime Minister Hun Manet today signed a sub-decree in this regard. The zero-tariff rate will, however, not apply to used goods. The Ministry of Economy and Finance will issue a proclamation to set out the procedures for implementing the tariff rate. The zero-tariff rate will, however, not apply to used goods, article 2 of the sub-decree made it clear, domestic media outlets reported. The Ministry of Economy and Finance will issue a proclamation to set out the procedures for implementing the customs tariff rate on goods imported from the United States. Any provisions contrary to this sub-decree shall be abrogated, the sub-decree added. Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS) Chinas central bank yesterday announced it will conduct a 700-billion-yuan (~$98.11 billion) outright reverse repo operation today to maintain ample liquidity in the banking system. The operation will carry a three-month tenor and will be conducted using a fixed-quantity, interest-rate-bidding and multiple-price-bidding method, according to a statement issued by the People's Bank of China (PBOC). China's central bank yesterday announced it will conduct a 700-billion-yuan (~$98.11 billion) outright reverse repo operation today to maintain ample liquidity in the banking system. The operation will carry a three-month tenor and will be conducted using a fixed-quantity, interest-rate-bidding and multiple-price-bidding method. Outright reverse repo operations were introduced in October 2024. Outright reverse repo operations, a tool the central bank introduced in October 2024 to manage liquidity, are carried out once each month with a tenor of no more than 12 months. This has enriched the country's monetary policy toolkit following the earlier introduction of temporary repos, temporary reverse repos and the buying and selling of treasury bonds, a state-controlled news agency reported. Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS) Global air cargo volumes jumped by 5 per cent year on year (YoY) in July this year as more shippers opted for the speed of airfreight to help circumvent US tariffs, according to the latest market analysis by Xeneta. Contrary to the usual seasonal lull, July saw a notable upturn in global air cargo demand following a modest 1-per cent gain in June. This unexpected boost, bucking seasonal patterns, appears driven in part by tariff-related frontloading, mode shift and persistent uncertainty, prompting businesses to expedite shipments, the Norway-based ocean and air freight rate benchmarking and market analytics platform said. With cargo capacity in July increasing by a lower level of 3 per cent YoY, the more robust 5-per cent rise in volume helped lift the dynamic load factor, which has now returned to levels comparable with a year earlier (58 per cent) and recovering the 2-per cent point decline recorded just a month ago. Global air cargo volumes rose by 5 per cent YoY in July as more shippers opted for speed to help circumvent US tariffs, Xeneta's analysis shows. Contrary to the usual seasonal lull, July saw a notable upturn in global air cargo demand following June's 1-per cent gain. Global cargo capacity in July rose by 3 per cent YoY, while spot rates fell for a third straight month in July, falling by 2 per cent YoY. Dynamic load factor is Xenetas measurement of capacity utilisation based on volume and weight of cargo flown alongside available capacity. As we said earlier in the year, air cargo is piggybacking on the chaos being caused by tariffs. While the growth in July will come as a pleasant surprise to many, this growth is not a consequence of increased trade. It is a sign of the creative ways companies are trying to circumvent the higher costs of tariffs, said Xenetas chief airfreight officer Niall van de Wouw in a release. Despite firmer fundamentals, global air cargo spot rates declined for a third straight month in July, falling by 2 per cent YoY to $2.55 per kg. Yet the rate of decline has eased, thanks to the resurfacing demand-supply imbalance. A modest 2-per cent month-on-month (MoM) uptick in July offered a glimmer of relief to airlines, although the mid-term trajectory remains muted. Notably, the gap between seasonal rates (valid for over one month) and spot rates (valid for up to one month) has widened, from 5 cents below spot rate in late May to more than 20 cents below by the end of July, indicating subdued mid-term confidence, Xeneta noted. Further complications loom. The US is preparing to end the de minimis exemption for all countries by the end of August, a policy shift that could reshape small-parcel air trade. Since May 2, the exemption has already been removed for shipments from China and Hong Kong, which collectively account for an estimated two-thirds of all de minimis parcels entering the United States,. This resulted in a reported 50-per cent drop in Chinas low-value and e-commerce exports to the United States in June, based on the latest China Customs statistics. In China, spot rates to the United States declined by 11 per cent to $4.26 per kg, weighed down by both the de minimis ban, heightened tariffs and market uncertainty. On Asia-Europe routes, spot rates from Northeast Asia to Europe held steady at $4.16 per kg. Yet beneath that calm surface lies a reshuffling of capacity: a notable shift of freighter capacity from the Pacific to Europe helped absorb a near 90-per cent surge in cross-border e-commerce volumes from China to Europe, as per June data from China Customs. That reallocation has so far kept rates aloft. By contrast, Southeast Asia to Europe fared less well, with spot rates tumbling by 22 per cent YoY to $3.02 per kg. The trans-Atlantic market stands out as the only major corridor to post considerable rate increases in both directions. Spot prices rose to $1.91 per kg westbound and $1.15 per kg eastbound. A combination of frontloading activity and reduced bellyhold capacity from passenger flights nudged rates higher. Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS) The Bombay High Court called out the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) for its failure to grant certification to the film Ajey, which is based on the life of Uttar Pradesh's Chief Minister, Yogi Adityanath. The court has recently instructed the CBFC not to ask for a no-objection certificate (NOC) from Yogi Adityanath for the certification of the film Ajey: The Untold Story of a Yogi. The bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Dr. Neela Gokhale shared their observation that the CBFC's approach seemed to be obstructive, highlighting that the board was unnecessarily complicating the certification process and introducing avoidable obstacles. The bench said, These are not reasons. This isnt as per the rules. Why dont you give them the grounds for rejection? By August 11, you tell them what the objectionable scenes and dialogues are. The court has requested that the committee carefully examine the film and provide detailed recommendations to the filmmakers by August 11. The filmmakers are also expected to share their stance on the suggested changes by August 12. Eventually, the case will be considered further on August 14. The film Ajey: The Untold Story of a Yogi draws inspiration from the book "The Monk Who Became Chief Minister," which is supposedly based on the life of Yogi Adityanath. Anant Joshi is cast in the leading role. Earlier in June, the creators presented a new look at the upcoming biographical drama and shared a poster on social media. They added a caption saying, Jag chhoda, Bhagwa Odha, Seva mein ramm gaya. Ek Yogi jo akela hi poora aandolan ban gaya! Yogi Ji Ke Janmotsav par prastut hai us kahaani ka aarambh. Later, Anant Joshi also shared some thoughts about going bald for the movie, saying, Losing it wasnt just a cosmetic change it was letting go of a part of myself. He mentioned that shaving his head was not just a physical change, but rather his method of fully getting into the mould of CM Yogi and capturing the essence of the character. He added, But this role demanded that sacrifice. I knew I couldnt fake it. I had to live it. I had to become Yogi, not just act like him. After the release of Ram Gopal Varma's directorial venture, Siva (1989), Nagarjuna Akkineni experienced a surge in popularity. Initially released in Telugu, the film was later remade in Hindi as Shiva in 1990, marking Nagarjuna's debut in Hindi cinema. Even today, Siva remains a beloved film, often regarded as a cult classic. Recently, Nagarjuna Akkineni shared that the Telugu version of Siva will be re-released in theatres. Nagarjuna Akkineni took to his X handle to share the good news, with a special announcement video. In the caption, Nagarjuna mentioned that Siva is set to re-release in theatres, and the trailer for the film will be shown alongside Rajinikanth's Coolie. He wrote, #50YearsOfAnnapurna Hello, my friends ! we are bringing back the most iconic film SHIVA and for the first time time in 4K DOLBY ATMOS sound SHIVA TRAILER WITH #COOLIE on 14th August!! Shiva the film very soon. The iconic film will be making a return to cinemas, presented in stunning 4K and Dolby Atmos. Also, the Hindi and Tamil versions are scheduled for release after the Telugu version's premiere. Nagarjuna Akkineni talked about his anticipation to see Siva once again on the big screen. He said, Shiva was the film that gave me an iconic hero status, making my character truly unforgettable. The fact that it remains one of the most talked-about films even after 36 years motivated my brother Venkat Akkineni and me to plan its re-release in the grandest way possible. We felt we owed it to the audience who made it such a cult classic and also to a new generation who may have only seen it on YouTube. So RGV, Venkat, and I decided to present it once again to audiences with an unprecedented DOLBY Atmos sound experience and 4K visuals. Director Ram Gopal Varma also shared a statement with the media. He said, Nagarjunas and the producers trust in me is what helped the film reach such great heights. Its unbelievable that even today, people remember every scene and character. Annapurna Studios decision to re-release it has truly thrilled me. Although the original sound was highly appreciated, it was decided to redo it entirely to match todays standards. By using advanced AI technology, we have converted the original mono mix to Dolby Atmos. People might have seen Shiva before, but I promise no one has experienced it the way they will now, with its new sound. Talking about Siva, the film also starred Amala, Raghuvaran, JD Chakravarthy and others in key roles. Also Read: Nagarjunas upcoming film is titled Naa Saami Ranga, to be out on Sankranti 2024 Vikrant Massey has begun shooting for his new film White in Colombia, where he is taking on the role of Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, a well-known spiritual and humanitarian leader. This project brings together a diverse group of talented people from all over the world, all working to tell a story that is not only based on true events but also full of heart and meaning. The movie is set against the harsh reality of Colombias civil war, which lasted more than 50 years. White focuses on one mans strong belief that sparked hope and change after decades filled with violence, failed peace talks, and deep loss. It is a story that reminds us how resilience and faith can shine through even in the toughest times, and how one persons conviction can truly make a difference. To get ready for this demanding role, Vikrant really dived in, spending a lot of time reading up on the character and the history behind the story. He also worked closely with the director and writers in intense workshops to fully understand the nuances of the role. This kind of dedication shows in his performance, which promises to be authentic and heartfelt. Vikrant Massey recently won the National Award for Best Actor for his role in 12th Fail, sharing this prestigious honour with Shah Rukh Khan, who also received his first National Award this year after more than three decades. This recognition marks an important milestone in Vikrants career, highlighting his steady growth as an actor who chooses meaningful roles and brings genuine emotion to his performances. With White, many are eager to see how he portrays such a complex and inspiring character. It feels like a natural next step for someone who continues to surprise and connect with audiences through powerful stories. Also Read:Shah Rukh Khan Thanks Gauri Khan, Mohanlal, Shashi Tharoor and Others for Their Wishes Allegations, Accolades, and Election Politics Industry Support and Social Media Reactions In a fresh legal twist, the Kerala High Court on Thursday stayed criminal proceedings in the obscenity case filed against Malayalam actor Shwetha Menon. The interim order, issued by Justice V. G. Arun, noted that the steps required under Section 175(3) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) may not have been followed before the FIR was registered.The judge directed the Ernakulam Chief Judicial Magistrate to submit a report confirming whether due process was observed and issued notices to the State government as well as complainant Martin Menachery, General Secretary of the Newspaper Association of India (Kerala region). Until the report is in, proceedings in Crime No. 1075/2025registered at Ernakulam Central Police Stationwill remain on hold.The FIR, based on Menacherys complaint, accuses the actress of being involved in the circulation of obscene visuals from her filmsPaleri Manikyam: Oru Pathirakolapathakathinte Katha, Rathinirvedam, and Kalimannuand certain advertisements. These visuals, it claims, were allegedly shared on adult websites and social media for financial gain. The case invokes Section 67A of the Information Technology Act (dealing with sexually explicit material online) and Sections 3 and 5 of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, which address prostitution-related offences.In her petition to quash the FIR, Shwetha described the accusations as baseless, saying they were intended to damage my public image. She stressed that all the works in question were certified by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), celebrated for their artistic merit, and had even brought her top honoursPaleri Manikyam winning her the Kerala State Film Award for Best Actress.The actress also alleged that the complaints timing was no coincidence. Filed just as she entered the race for the presidency of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA), it came, she claimed, as a deliberate attempt to tarnish my reputation during the election process.The case has stirred sharp reactions within the film fraternity. Actor Irshad Ali came out in support of Shwetha, posting a sarcastic note on social media: Should I go into hiding?a jab at what he and others see as politically charged targeting.With the AMMA elections looming and the courts stay in place, the case has moved beyond a mere legal battle, morphing into a flashpoint in the industrys ongoing tussle between politics, public perception, and personal reputations. Critic's rating 3.5 /5 In Ghich Pich, director Ankur Singla captures the bittersweet turbulence of adolescence with a rare blend of tenderness and authenticity. Set in Chandigarh in 2001, the film invites us into a pre-smartphone India, when blank calls were a thrill, love letters in fake blood felt like grand gestures, and posters of Chandrachur Singh and Sonali Bendre adorned bedroom walls. Against this backdrop, three high-school friends, Anurag (Aryan Singh Rana), Gurpreet (Kabir Nanda) and Gaurav (Shhivam Kakar), navigate the confusing crossroads between boyhood and adulthood, with their fathers looming large in ways both nurturing and suffocating.Anurag is the academically gifted one, carrying the weight of a fathers towering expectations. Gurpreet, shy yet determined, believes that love demands the sacrifice of his Sikh identity. Gaurav, content to inherit his fathers modest eyewear store, has his world quietly upended when he stumbles upon his fathers deeply personal secret. Singla treats each arc with patience and care, allowing the film to move gracefully from one boys story to the next. In doing so, he crafts not just individual portraits but a shared coming-of-age mosaic, in which friendship becomes both refuge and mirror.The performances are uniformly stellar. Aryan Singh Rana brings a quiet intensity to Anurag, making his internal battle palpable. Kabir Nanda imbues Gurpreet with an aching vulnerability that lingers long after the scene ends. Shhivam Kakar, as Gaurav, strikes a delicate balance between innocence and confusion. Among the fathers, Satyajit Sharma is riveting as the authoritarian parent whose love language is relentless ambition; Nishan Cheema embodies the quiet dignity of a man rooted in faith; and in one of his final roles, the late Nitesh Pandey delivers a turn so gentle and wise it leaves the heart heavy. Geeta Agrawal Sharma, as Gauravs mother, matches him note for note, dissolving the line between acting and lived experience.Singlas Chandigarh is not a postcard-perfect replica but a living, breathing presence, captured in warm light, familiar architecture, and the unhurried rhythm of everyday life. His refusal to caricature the fathers or saint the sons keeps the drama grounded; everyone is flawed, everyone is trying.The films progressive undercurrents, questions of tradition, identity, sexuality and acceptance, emerge organically, without grandstanding.At just 94 minutes, Ghich Pich is lean but emotionally expansive. It celebrates the small joys and anxieties, borrowing the family car for a late-night outing, using the medical room to cut class, forging signatures on report cards, the flush of first crushesand acknowledges the quiet heartbreaks tucked inside middle-class homes. In its gentle way, it reminds us that growing up is less about breaking away from our parents than about learning to see them, finally, as people.This is a film that doesnt just tell a coming-of-age story, it grows on you, scene by scene, until you feel like youve lived it yourself. Burnaby, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - August 7, 2025) - NatBridge Resources Ltd. (CSE: NATB) (OTC Pink: NATBF) (FSE: GI80) ("NatBridge" or the "Company"), announces that, as a result of a review by the British Columbia Securities Commission ("BCSC"), the Company is issuing the following press release related to its disclosure and promotional activities. As a result of a review of an article (the "Article") disseminated on behalf of NatBridge and disclosure on NatBridge's website and investor deck, the BCSC raised a number of areas of concern that the Company is seeking to clarify herein. No current officer or director of NatBridge had knowledge of and had not approved the Article prior to its dissemination and, as a result, did not have the opportunity to review and/or revise any disclosure in the Article. The Article has been taken down at the request of the BCSC. NatBridge acknowledges its responsibility and commitment to review and approve all promotional materials issued on its behalf going forward. Specifically, the BCSC identified a number of statements of concern, including statements relating to tokens being backed by real gold; statements related to gold resources being "verified" or "certified"; statements implying that the disclosed gold resources have economic viability; statements regarding that the intrinsic value of the tokens to be issued by NatGold Digital Ltd. ("NatGold") being correlated to gold prices; statements that the title ownership was perpetual; and statements that an investment in NatBridge was low risk. The Company is issuing this release to clarify its business operations and to clarify such statements. NatBridge is actively engaged in seeking to acquire mineral properties with inferred, indicated or measured resources supported by technical reports prepared in compliance with National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101"). The Company's strategy is to specifically target mineral properties that it believes will satisfy the requirements established by NatGold for tokenization, with the intent that NatGold will acquire title to these properties in exchange for tokens issued by NatGold. Upon acquisition of mineral properties, NatBridge may conduct additional exploration activities to further delineate or enhance the resource potential of the properties. Alternatively, the Company may present the mineral properties directly to NatGold for evaluation and confirmation that the properties meet NatGold's requirements tokenization (ie. for purchase in exchange for tokens). Once NatGold has accepted a mineral property for tokenization, NatBridge will transfer title ownership of the property to NatGold in exchange for NatGold tokens, which the Company intends to hold pending their sale on a recognized exchange or marketplace. NatBridge emphasizes that its business model does not involve traditional mineral extraction or gold production. Any tokens issued by NatGold to NatBridge will not be backed by physical gold. For any properties acquired by NatBridge, NatBridge will obtain a NI 43-101 compliant technical report for each of the mineral properties defining the nature and extent of any inferred, indicated or measured resources. The references in previous disclosure to "certification" or "verification" of resources pertain exclusively to the internal requirements established by NatGold prior to issuing tokens in connection with the purchase of mineral properties, and do not imply any additional certification under NI 43-101 or other recognized disclosure standards. The Company affirms that indicated, inferred or measured mineral resources are concentrations of gold bearing minerals that may have potential economic interest and are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability as defined by Canadian Institute of Mining standards. The references in previous disclosure to the intrinsic value of the tokens to be issued by NatGold being correlated to gold prices does not comply with the provisions of 43-101. It is a term that is used by NatGold to refer to a benchmark. The value of the tokens will be established on any exchange or marketplace that develops for the tokens. NatBridge will focus exclusively on acquiring mineral properties where ownership is not subject to any additional on ongoing conditions, like conducting additional exploration work or the payment of annual lease or license fees (although most mineral properties will be subject to some further fee or tax in order to maintain ownership). The reference to "perpetual" was meant to refer to mineral properties that are not subject to any of these types of ongoing conditions, having been legally acquired other than by a lease or license that is subject to expiration. Similar to any other early stage company, any investment in our Company is not low risk. Our business model entails numerous risks and uncertainties as indicated in filings on SEDAR+. About NatBridge Resources Ltd. NatBridge Resources Ltd. (CSE: NATB) (OTC Pink: NATBF) (FSE: GI80) is a publicly traded Canadian company, also listed in the United States and Germany. NatBridge's primary focus is the acquisition of gold resource properties with inferred, indicated or measured resources supported by technical reports prepared in compliance with National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects. The Company's strategy is to specifically target mineral properties that it believes will satisfy the requirements established by NatGold for tokenization, with the intent that NatGold will acquire these properties in exchange for tokens issued by NatGold. Through this approach, NatBridge operates at the intersection of gold investment, sustainable business models, and the emerging field of real-world asset tokenization, while seeking to mitigate the environmental, social and financial impacts typically associated with conventional mining practices. Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange (the "CSE") nor the Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. This news release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the acquisition and sale of NI 43-101 gold resources, development plans, expansion plans, estimates, expectations, forecasts, objectives, predictions and projections of the future and future of NatBridge's business. Specifically, this news release contains forward-looking statements with respect to NatBridge's proposed operations, the acquisition and development of gold properties, and the receipt of required approvals. Generally, forward-looking statements can be identified by the forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "projects", "intends", "anticipates", or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or "variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "can", "could", "would", "might", or "will" be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of NatBridge to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including but not limited to: risks related to the exploration and development and operation of NatBridge's projects, the actual results of current exploration, development activities, conclusions of economic evaluations, changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined, future precious metals prices, as well as those factors discussed in the sections relating to risk factors of our business filed in NatBridge's required securities filings on SEDAR+. Although NatBridge has attempted to identify important factors that could cause results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause results to be materially different from those anticipated, described, estimated, assessed or intended. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date of this news release. Except as required bylaw, the Company disclaims any intention and assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities law. Additionally, the Company undertakes no obligation to comment on the expectations of, or statements made, by third parties in respect of the matters discussed above. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/261774 SOURCE: NatBridge Resources Ltd. Ende Mai leitete US-Prasident Donald Trump mit der Unterzeichnung mehrerer Dekrete eine weitreichende Wende in der amerikanischen Energiepolitik ein. Im Fokus: der beschleunigte Ausbau der Kernenergie. Mit einem umfassenden Manahmenpaket sollen Genehmigungsprozesse reformiert, kleinere Reaktoren gefordert und der Anteil von Atomstrom in den USA massiv gesteigert werden. Ausloser ist der explodierende Energiebedarf durch KI-Rechenzentren, der eine stabile, CO-arme Grundlastversorgung zwingend notwendig macht. In unserem kostenlosen Spezialreport erfahren Sie, welche 3 Unternehmen jetzt im Zentrum dieser energiepolitischen Neuausrichtung stehen, und wer vom kommenden Boom der Nuklearindustrie besonders profitieren konnte. Holen Sie sich den neuesten Report! Verpassen Sie nicht, welche Aktien besonders von der Energiewende in den USA profitieren durften, und laden Sie sich das Gratis-PDF jetzt kostenlos herunter. Dieses exklusive Angebot gilt aber nur fur kurze Zeit! Daher jetzt downloaden! Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - August 7, 2025) - Scryb Inc. (CSE: SCYB) (OTC Pink: SCYRF) ("Scryb' or the "Company"), is pleased to announce that further to its news release dated July 25, 2025, the Company will proceed with the consolidation of its issued and outstanding common shares (the "Common Shares") on the basis of one (1) new Common Share for every ten (10) old Common Shares (the "Consolidation"), effective as of August 13, 2025. The Consolidation will become effective on the Canadian Securities Exchange (the "CSE") at the opening of the market on August 13, 2025. The post-Consolidation Common Shares will continue to trade on the CSE under the Company's existing name and trading symbol. The Consolidation is subject to the approval of the CSE. The new CUSIP and ISIN of the Company will be 81111V206 and CA81111V2066, respectively. The Company currently has 323,187,472 Common Shares issued and outstanding, and following the Consolidation, will have approximately 32,318,731 Common Shares issued and outstanding, prior to rounding of fractional Common Shares. No fractional Common Shares will be issued as a result of the proposed Consolidation. Any fractional Common Shares resulting from the proposed Consolidation will be rounded down to the nearest whole number of Common Shares, and no cash consideration will be paid in respect of fractional Common Shares rounded down to the nearest whole Common Share. TSX Trust Company ("TSX Trust"), the Company's registrar and transfer agent, will mail out a Letter of Transmittal to the shareholders of record at the close of business on August 12, 2025 providing instructions on exchanging pre-Consolidation share certificates for post-Consolidation share certificates. Shareholders are encouraged to send their share certificates, together with their Letter of Transmittal, to TSX Trust in accordance with the instructions in the Letter of Transmittal. About Scryb Inc. Scryb invests in and actively supports a growing portfolio of innovative and high-upside ventures across AI, biotech, digital health, and cybersecurity. Forward-looking Information Cautionary Statement Certain statements contained in this press release constitute forward-looking information. These statements relate to future events or future performance. The use of any of the words "could", "intend", "expect", "believe", "will", "projected", "estimated" and similar expressions and statements relating to matters that are not historical facts are intended to identify forward-looking information and are based on the Company's current belief or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events. In particular, this press release contains forward-looking information relating to, among other things, the proposed Consolidation, including the record date, effective date and ratio thereof. Various assumptions or factors are typically applied in drawing conclusions or making the forecasts or projections set out in forward-looking information, included in this press release, the assumption that the Canadian Securities Exchange will not object to the proposed Consolidation and that the Consolidation will be completed as currently anticipated. Although such statements are based on reasonable assumptions of the Company's management, there can be no assurance that any conclusions or forecasts will prove to be accurate. Forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. Such factors include, among other things, that the Canadian Securities Exchange may object to the proposed Consolidation and use its discretion to prohibit the proposed Consolidation; that the Consolidation may not be completed by the Company; and that the board of directors of the Company retains discretion over the terms and implementation of the Consolidation. 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. Because of the risks, uncertainties and assumptions contained herein, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The foregoing statements expressly qualify any forward-looking information contained herein. The Canadian Securities Exchange has not reviewed, approved, or disapproved the contents of this press release. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/261783 SOURCE: Scryb Inc. SHANGHAI, Aug. 8, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- HOTELEX Shanghai, Asia's premier hospitality and foodservice trade show, will be held from 30 March to 2 April, 2026, at the National Exhibition and Convention Center (NECC). With an expanded footprint covering 400,000 square meters, the event will host over 3,500 exhibitors and is expected to attract more than 300,000 professional visitors from around the world. Supported by the Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism, HOTELEX is one of the three flagship exhibitions highlighted under China's 14th Five-Year Plan. The event plays a key role in the national "Tourism Plus Shanghai" strategy, reinforcing Shanghai's ambition to become a global hub for tourism, gastronomy, and commercial innovation. Over the past 30 years, HOTELEX has evolved into a highly respected international platform, seamlessly integrating the full hospitality and foodservice value chain. From hotel equipment, catering and kitchen solutions, coffee and tea, to bakery, fine food, alcoholic beverages, and cutting-edge smart technologies, the show connects suppliers with buyers from hotel and restaurant chains, supermarkets, casual dining brands, import/export traders, catering investors, and leisure operators. Demonstrating its truly global reach, the 2025 edition welcomed over 30% international exhibitors, featuring leading brands from Italy, Japan, the United States, and beyond. Many international companies have leveraged HOTELEX as their strategic launchpad to enter and expand within China's fast-growing hospitality market. With professional matchmaking programs and a strong international orientation, HOTELEX Shanghai 2026 aims to foster global collaboration, accelerate innovation, and unlock new cross-border business opportunities. It remains the vital gateway for global brands seeking to capitalize on China's dynamic hospitality industry growth. Join us at Asia's premier hospitality event and explore the future of foodservice innovation. Contact Us: Booth Inquiry: Jason Jin Tel: +86 21 3339 2197 Junyan.Jin@imsinoexpo.com Media & Visitor Consulting: Lizzy Chen Tel: +86 21 3339 2566 Lizzy.chen@imsinoexpo.com View original content:https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hotelex-shanghai-2026-set-to-break-records-with-unprecedented-scale-and-global-reach-302525032.html WUHU, China, Aug. 8, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Recently, the L4, the debut model of the Smart Series under Chery Group's LEPAS brand, made its first overseas appearance at the Jakarta International Motor Show in Indonesia. With its stylish, agile, refined, and uniquely expressive design, the L4 opening a new gateway to "exquisite life and self-pleasing travel" for young people around the world. L4 rolled off the production line at Chery's Chinese factory on July 16, officially starting its global journey. Packed with cutting-edge technology, the L4 features a 13.2-inch central control and instrument display, paired with the Snapdragon 8155 cockpit chip and an exclusive APA + L2 intelligent driving experience, bringing advanced tech into every detail. For the practicality, the L4 is flexible and user-friendly, offering 31 storage compartments (34 in the BEV version), foldable rear seats, versatile layouts, and elastic net pockets to meet diverse everyday needs. Its scenario adaptability is equally impressive: with 750kg towing capacity, a roof rack, dashcam, detachable camping lights, excellent passability, and abundant accessories, it effortlessly transitions between urban commuting and outdoor adventures. Beyond its robust configuration, the L4 aspires to be a "fashionable companion" for young people exploring the world. Its exterior adopts the "Leopard Aesthetic" -drawing inspiration from the dynamic muscle lines of leopards and pairing them with vertical-pupil headlights, achieving a balance of refined functionality and visual allure. The interior offers an "exquisite third space", where gentle color palettes and skin-friendly materials work in harmony to create a "healing cabin" for solo commuters and a "selfie-friendly zone" for outings with friends. Smart features like a voice assistant bring high-level intelligence to the mainstream, blending style with substance. What empowers the L4 to offer a refined travel experience is the systematic strength of Chery Group. In 2025, Chery ranked 233rd on the Fortune Global 500 list, with cumulative exports surpassing 5 million units-becoming the first Chinese auto brand to reach this milestone. L4 born to be globally with Chery's global network of R&D centers, an end-to-end supply chain, and a user base of over 17 million worldwide. Whether for urban lifestyle women, young professionals, newlyweds, or freelancers, the L4 delivers a travel solution that combines quality with individuality. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2746641/1.jpg View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/lepas-l4-makes-its-overseas-debut-opening-a-new-gateway-to-exquisite-life-and-self-pleasing-travel-for-global-youth-302525040.html Malacca, Malaysia--(Newsfile Corp. - August 8, 2025) - On August 3, 2025, Jingying International Industry Holdings Pte. Ltd., together with its subsidiaries Zhonghua Baijiu Sdn. Bhd., Jingying International Tea Industry Holdings Sdn. Bhd. , successfully hosted the "Strategic Resonance Summit from a Global Perspective" at the Marriott Hotel. The summit drew over 30 decision-makers from the global business, legal, trust, and capital sectors, engaging in strategic dialogues around the theme of "Restructuring the Global Economic Order Driven by New Quality Productive Forces." Figure 1 To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/8722/261787_d5b7dcd714b16a10_001full.jpg The experts attending the summit unanimously recognized this event as a vivid practice of China's profound engagement in reforming the global governance system. The summit not only extended the legacy of Zheng He's peaceful cooperation spirit from the Ming Dynasty voyages but also transformed contemporary Chinese development philosophy into replicable modernization pathways through capital linkages and knowledge sharing, offering global SMEs a new strategic paradigm. Participants believed that Mdm. Chen Han Xiaoying, the Executive Director of Jingying International Industrial Holdings Pte. Ltd., her his presentation, "The Pricing Power Revolution in Actuarial Transformation of Light Manufacturing Industries" transformed China's manufacturing data assets into risk pricing authority. Figure 2 To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/8722/261787_d5b7dcd714b16a10_002full.jpg At this time, the most crucial task is to shift actuarial thinking from the financial back-end to the strategic front-end. The organization proposes the summit issue the Light Industry Actuarial White Paper to establish international standards such as the "product lifecycle risk-return ratio" - a move that carries more paradigm-shifting potential than mere technological exports. The essence of this transformation is elevating the insurance actuarial logic of "risk pricing" to a "value creation" tool for the manufacturing sector. Figure 3 To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/8722/261787_d5b7dcd714b16a10_003full.jpg Equally significant are the academic treatises by Chen Yangjing, a senior quantum economist and PhD in international finance: "The Profound Significance of Non-Profit Economic Organizations in Governing and Operating Cluster-Based Multinational Enterprise Groups in the Era of New Quality Productivity" and "The Intergenerational Penetration Power of Foundational Ecosystem Strategic Business Units on Global Industrial Systems". These works provide micro-level practical guidance for global enterprises, spanning from top-level thinking to foundational logic. "The Profound Significance of Non-Profit Economic Organizations in Governing and Operating Cluster-Based Multinational Enterprise Groups in the Era of New Quality Productivity" redefines the flow paradigm of intellectual capital: while traditional consulting firms are still pricing their services based on the number of PowerPoint slides, this paper has established a cross-civilizational "knowledge photosynthesis" system - where capital acts like sunlight, wisdom like water, and together they nurture fruits that can change the world in the soil of public welfare. "The Intergenerational Penetration Power of Foundational Ecosystem Strategic Business Units on Global Industrial Systems" further enables foundational industrial ecosystem strategic business units to break through the traditional SBU's corporate-centric model. By reconstructing productivity foundations through social collaboration networks, it achieves a paradigm leap from competition-oriented to symbiosis-oriented development. Mr. Loh Soon Pau , Chairman and CEO, and Mr. Leong Wai Keong, Executive Director, of Zhonghua Baijiu Sdn. Bhd., delivered the first comprehensive exposition of the revolutionary paradigm of "Aged Liquor Capitalization" at the Strategic Resonance Summit. By practically implementing aged liquor as a new strategic concept of industrial capital, they not only addressed the core pain point of the failure of traditional asset-light industry IPO valuation systems but also established a new logic for post-IPO market value management in traditional industries, forming a capital symbiosis that spans the entire industrial chain. This marks a historic leap from factor-driven industrial capital to ecosystem-driven collaboration, empowering traditional industries with symbiotic economics and reconstructing capital logic with new quality productive forces. Figure 4 To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/8722/261787_d5b7dcd714b16a10_004full.jpg As the summit concluded, Mdm. Chen Han Xiaoying, the Permanent Secretary-General of Internal Affairs for Jingying International Consortium, stood on the land of Malacca-a place etched with Chinese glory. Facing the vast strait and boundless sky, with profound patriotic fervor, she delivered a resounding era manifesto on behalf of all Chinese-funded capital - the Southern Ocean Oath. Figure 5 To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/8722/261787_d5b7dcd714b16a10_005full.jpg This represents a historic breakthrough for overseas Chinese in the great journey of the Belt and Road Initiative! With the mission of building a community with a shared future for mankind, it achieves a breakthrough from 0 to 1 in the micro-practice of international markets, letting the world witness the rise and responsibility of Chinese capital. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/261787 SOURCE: Global News Petra Diamonds Ltd - Proposed Refinancing with Key Financial Stakeholders PR Newswire LONDON, United Kingdom, August 08 NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION, IN WHOLE OR IN PART, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, IN, INTO OR FROM ANY JURISDICTION WHERE TO DO SO WOULD CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF THE RELEVANT LAWS OR REGULATIONS OF SUCH JURISDICTION. THE FOLLOWING ANNOUNCEMENT IS AN ADVERTISEMENT AND NOT A PROSPECTUS OR PROSPECTUS EQUIVALENT DOCUMENT AND INVESTORS SHOULD NOT MAKE ANY INVESTMENT DECISION IN RELATION TO THE ORDINARY SHARES EXCEPT ON THE BASIS OF THE INFORMATION IN THE PROSPECTUS WHICH IS PROPOSED TO BE PUBLISHED IN DUE COURSE. THIS ANNOUNCEMENT CONTAINS INSIDE INFORMATION. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE. 8 August 2025 LSE: PDL Petra Diamonds Limited ("Petra", "PDL" or the"Company" or, in conjunction with its subsidiaries, the "Group") Proposed Refinancing with Key Financial Stakeholders Introduction Petra has, over the past 18 months, been focused on an internal restructuring that has resulted in a simpler and more streamlined business and operating model. This has included the sale of the Koffiefontein and Williamson mines, multiple labour restructuring initiatives and an optimisation and smoothing of the Group's capital development profiles. On the back of this internal restructuring, the Company has been engaged with certain of its financial stakeholders to refinance the Group's senior secured bank debt facilities (the "Senior Secured Bank Debt") and 9.75% senior secured second lien notes (ISINs XS2289895927 and XS2289899242) (the "Notes"). The Senior Secured Bank Debt and Notes are currently set to mature in January 2026 and March 2026, respectively. As a result of these discussions, the Company has agreed in principle a long-term solution for the refinancing of the Group, subject to shareholder approval, comprising: an extension to the maturity date of the Senior Secured Bank Debt to December 2029 and certain other changes to the terms of the Senior Secured Bank Debt, subject to approval by the lender's credit committee; an extension to the maturity date of the Notes to March 2030 alongside concurrent amendments to the Notes; and a $25 million rights issue at 16.5 pence per share that is to be underwritten by certain existing shareholders (the "Rights Issue"), (together, the "Refinancing"). Vivek Gadodia, interim joint Chief Executive Officer of Petra Diamonds, commented: "We have been working hard to streamline and optimise our business to unlock a compelling long-term value proposition leveraging our two world class assets. On the back of this effort, we are pleased to announce today a path towards refinancing our debt that is due to mature in 1QCY26. We would like to thank all our financial stakeholders who have demonstrated strong support for the business by coming together and agreeing on a bespoke refinancing solution that centres around cash preservation for the business, while also enabling the continued execution of our extension projects at both of our mines. We remain focused on implementing the refinancing as efficiently as possible, while also delivering on our updated business plan." In connection with the Refinancing, the Company is pleased to announce that it has executed a lock-up agreement (the "Lock-Up Agreement") with a working group (the "Working Group") of holders of the Notes and a backstop agreement (the "Equity Backstop Agreement") with certain shareholders of the Company (including The Terris Fund Ltd., SAC, JOSIVAR Sarl and Jose Manuel Vargas (in his personal capacity)) representing approximately 63% of the Company's existing issued share capital (the "Backstop Providers"). The extension of the maturity date of the Notes and certain other changes to the terms of the Notes described below as part of the Refinancing are intended to be implemented by way of a voluntary consent solicitation process (the "Consent Solicitation"), or, alternatively, through a creditor scheme of arrangement under Part 26 of the Companies Act (the "Scheme") or an alternative transaction structure agreed to in accordance with the terms of the Lock-Up Agreement. Based on the information currently available to the Company and subject to the verification by the information agent under the Lock-Up Agreement, the holders of the Notes (the "Noteholders") who have executed the Lock-Up Agreement (the "Participating Noteholders") hold, in aggregate, approximately 86% of the Notes (by value) (the "Locked-Up Notes"). Noteholders who wish to become Participating Noteholders may do so by executing a deed of accession to the Lock-Up Agreement. Further details regarding how Noteholders may accede to the Lock-Up Agreement can be found below. The execution of the Lock-Up Agreement and the Equity Backstop Agreement mark a positive step forward in the implementation of the Refinancing. Pursuant and subject to the terms of the Lock-Up Agreement, the parties thereto have undertaken to take all actions reasonably necessary in order to implement the Refinancing on the terms set out in the Lock-Up Agreement and to not delay or prevent the implementation of the Refinancing. Further details relating to the terms of the Lock-Up Agreement and the Equity Backstop Agreement are set out below. Notwithstanding the execution of the Lock-Up Agreement and the Equity Backstop Agreement, completion of the Refinancing remains subject to the agreement of customary documentation to implement the Refinancing and the satisfaction of the conditions precedent to the Lock-Up Agreement and the Equity Backstop Agreement, each of which the parties have agreed to negotiate in good faith. Such conditions precedent include (but are not limited to) approval of the requisite shareholder resolutions to implement the Rights Issue and the Refinancing at a special general meeting (the "SGM") of the Company's shareholders (the "Shareholders"), entry into a commitment letter with the provider of the Group's Senior Secured Bank Debt (the "Senior Secured Bank Lender") by no later than 10 September 2025 (or such later date agreed in accordance with the terms of the Lock-Up Agreement), and the requisite percentage of the Noteholders voting in favour of the Consent Solicitation or, for implementation of the Refinancing by way of the Scheme or alternative implementation method, approval of the Scheme or alternative implementation method by the relevant stakeholders and the sanctioning of the same by the court. Further details of these conditions are set out below. Discussions with the Senior Secured Bank Lender The Company is in advanced discussions with the Senior Secured Bank Lender in relation to the terms of the Refinancing as they apply to the Senior Secured Bank Debt and has agreed in principle a non-binding term sheet. The terms of the new senior secured bank facilities will substantially adhere to the existing terms, save for any enhancements that the Senior Secured Bank Lender may require. Execution of a commitment letter is subject to requisite approvals being obtained from the Senior Secured Bank Lender's credit committee. The key commercial terms agreed in principle include (among other things): an extension of the maturity of the R1,750 million revolving credit facility to December 2029; a revised margin, anticipated to be JIBAR plus up to 500 basis points (from the current JIBAR plus 415 basis points); an agreed amortisation profile that will result in a reduction of the R1,750m facility to R1,000m by end of June 2029; an updated financial covenant package to reflect prevailing market standards for facilities of this nature and consistent with the Group's anticipated capital structure following implementation of the Refinancing, including adjustments to the leverage ratio test, the interest cover ratio test, and the minimum liquidity covenant (among other things); updated cashflow protocols and basket limits; and an upfront fee of 75 basis points to be paid over the term of the facility, with the commitment fee of 125 basis points remaining unchanged. The Company anticipates entering into a binding term sheet or commitment letter with the Senior Secured Bank Lender by no later than 10 September 2025. Notwithstanding the agreement in principle between the Company and the Senior Secured Bank Lender, implementation of the Refinancing as it applies to the Senior Secured Bank Debt remains subject to completion of all due diligence (including, without limitation, legal, technical, financial and environmental), transaction structuring, tax structuring, relevant conditions precedent and agreement of all customary implementation documentation. Lock-Up Agreement and Equity Backstop Agreement Terms of the Refinancing The key terms of the Refinancing are as follows: the outstanding principal amount of the Notes will be amended to 96 per cent of the aggregate outstanding principal amount prior to the Refinancing and the maturity date of the Notes will be extended to March 2030; interest on the amended Notes will be payable in cash, issuance of new ordinary shares in the share capital of Petra (" New Shares ") or a combination of cash and New Shares, which will be at the Company's discretion; ") or a combination of cash and New Shares, which will be at the Company's discretion; the coupon of the Notes will accrue at a rate of 10.5% per annum if paid in cash, and 11.5% per annum if paid in New Shares (the " PICE Mechanism "). Where the PICE Mechanism is exercised, the number of New Shares to be issued by the Company and allotted to the Noteholders shall be calculated by dividing the relevant coupon amount by the following share prices: (i) in Year 1/FY26, 50p per ordinary share; (ii) in Year 2/FY27, an amount equal to the 12-month volume weighted average price of the ordinary shares in the Company; and (iii) in Year 3/FY28 onwards, an amount equal to 50% of the 120-day volume weighted average price of the ordinary shares in the Company; "). Where the PICE Mechanism is exercised, the number of New Shares to be issued by the Company and allotted to the Noteholders shall be calculated by dividing the relevant coupon amount by the following share prices: (i) in Year 1/FY26, 50p per ordinary share; (ii) in Year 2/FY27, an amount equal to the 12-month volume weighted average price of the ordinary shares in the Company; and (iii) in Year 3/FY28 onwards, an amount equal to 50% of the 120-day volume weighted average price of the ordinary shares in the Company; interest due on 31 December 2025 will be paid based on a blended coupon calculation, such that accrued interest from the last interest payment up to the date on which the Lock-Up Agreement becomes fully effective in accordance with its terms shall be paid in cash at 9.75%, with the balance of the coupon paid in accordance with the terms of the new Notes; the covenants of the Notes will be amended to allow the Group to incur shareholder funding that is contractually subordinated to the Notes for the purpose of funding up to two years' worth of coupon payments on the Notes; Petra will undertake the Rights Issue to raise gross proceeds of approximately US$25 million through the issuance of New Shares at a price of 16.5 pence per ordinary share. The Rights Issue will be underwritten by Backstop Providers; and Petra will also implement an incentivisation plan for the benefit of the management, the Chairman and other senior managers of the Company (the "Incentivisation Plan") of up to 16 million warrants in total, with up to 4 million of warrants for the benefit of the Chairman and up to 12 million of warrants for the benefit of management and senior managers, at a strike price of 50 pence, with one-third vesting at each of completion of the Refinancing, the first anniversary and the second anniversary of completion of the Refinancing and an exercise period of four years from completion of the Refinancing, subject to customary provisions regarding good and bad leaver terms. Overview of the terms of the Lock-Up Agreement As noted above, pursuant to the terms of the Lock-Up Agreement, the parties have given certain undertakings, including: to act in good faith and promptly take all actions (within their power) which are reasonably necessary to support, facilitate, implement, consummate or otherwise give effect to the Refinancing (on the terms outlined above); not to take any action which would be in breach of the Lock-Up Agreement or the terms outlined above or otherwise frustrate, delay or impede the implementation of the Refinancing; in the case of the Participating Noteholders only, to vote in person or by proxy in favour of the Consent Solicitation and/or the Scheme; in the case of the Company, the issuer of the Notes (the " Issuer ") and each relevant member of the Group, to exercise any powers or rights available to it in favour of any matter requiring shareholder or board approval in connection with the Refinancing, including holding all relevant shareholder meetings and board meetings and passing all relevant shareholder and board resolutions; ") and each relevant member of the Group, to exercise any powers or rights available to it in favour of any matter requiring shareholder or board approval in connection with the Refinancing, including holding all relevant shareholder meetings and board meetings and passing all relevant shareholder and board resolutions; in the case of the Company, the Issuer and the Working Group, to promptly enter into good faith negotiations to agree upon the precise terms of, and finalise as soon as reasonably practicable, the documents implementing the Refinancing and to commence the implementation of the Refinancing as soon as reasonably practicable, in accordance with the terms outlined above; and in the case of the Participating Noteholders, not to take enforcement action against the Group. In addition, the Participating Noteholders have agreed to certain "lock-up" provisions which, until the date on which the Lock-Up Agreement terminates, restrict them from transferring any interests in the Notes unless the relevant transferee agrees to be bound by the terms of the Lock-Up Agreement. Noteholders who wish to become Participating Noteholders should contact the Information Agent using the contact information below for details of how to accede to the Lock-Up Agreement. Certain customary termination events apply to the Lock-Up Agreement (some of which are automatic and some of which are voluntary and exercisable by different parties), including (but not limited to) automatic termination on the earlier of the date on which the Refinancing becomes effective and 31 December 2025 (unless otherwise agreed in accordance with the Lock-Up Agreement); material non-compliance with the terms of the Lock-Up Agreement by certain parties; and the failure to satisfy certain conditions of (and to) the Refinancing by the agreed specified dates (including, for the avoidance of doubt, entry into a commitment letter with the Senior Secured Bank Lender by no later than 10 September 2025 (or such later date agreed in accordance with the terms of the Lock-Up Agreement)). Kroll Issuer Services Limited (the "Information Agent") has confirmed to each of the parties that the conditions precedent to the effectiveness of the Lock-Up Agreement (relating to, in particular, the amount of Locked-Up Notes) have been satisfied. Accordingly, the Lock-Up Agreement shall henceforth bind all parties thereto until terminated in accordance with its terms. Overview of the Equity Backstop Agreement The Backstop Providers have entered into the Equity Backstop Agreement to underwrite the Rights Issue at a price of 16.5 pence per ordinary share. The Equity Backstop Agreement is conditional upon the Lock-Up Agreement being in place and not having been terminated. The key terms of the Equity Backstop Agreement provide that each Backstop Provider shall commit (i) to vote in favour of the requisite shareholder resolutions at the SGM to implement the Rights Issue and the Refinancing, (ii) to subscribe for its pro rata entitlement under the Rights Issue based on its existing shareholding; and (iii) only in relation to certain of the Backstop Providers to underwrite those entitlements not taken up by other shareholders (excluding the Backstop Providers). In addition, each Backstop Provider has agreed not to sell, transfer or otherwise dispose or charge all or any of its respective shareholding in the Company until the date on which the Lock-Up Agreement terminates. Fees The Company has agreed a package of fees in order to incentivise engagement and ensure support from key stakeholders as follows: in relation to any Noteholder that validly consents to the Consent Solicitation (or, if applicable, votes in favour of the Scheme), an amount equal to 4 per cent of the aggregate principal amount of that Noteholder's Notes (or such lower amount agreed in writing under the terms of the Lock-Up Agreement), to be paid as an allocation of additional Notes on the completion of the Refinancing (the "Consent Fee"); a work fee offered solely to the members of the Working Group in the form of 48 million warrants in respect of Ordinary Shares at a strike price of 20 pence per share (or such lower number of warrants and/or lower strike price agreed in writing between the Company and the majority of the participating Working Group Noteholders) payable on the completion of the Refinancing (the "Work Fee") (with the number of warrants to be received by each member of the Working Group to be agreed by the members of the Working Group and then notified to the Company in writing); and a backstop fee offered to the Backstop Providers in an amount equal to 10% of the value of the ordinary shares which they commit to underwrite in the Rights Issue (including, only in relation to certain of the Backstop Providers who have committed to underwrite those entitlements not taken up by other shareholders (excluding the Backstop Providers), their pro rata entitlement under the Rights Issue which the Backstop Providers have committed to subscribe for) (the "Backstop Fee") to be paid in ordinary shares. Related Party Transactions JOSIVAR Sarl, an entity that is wholly-owned by Jose Manuel Vargas, Petra's Chair, Jose Manuel Vargas (in his personal capacity) and The Terris Fund Ltd., SAC, being a substantial shareholder in the Company, are each a party to the Lock-Up Agreement and the Equity Backstop Agreement. JOSIVAR Sarl is a related party of Petra pursuant to UK Listing Rule 8.1.11R(4) by virtue of being controlled by Jose Manuel Vargas, who is himself a related party of Petra as a director of Petra while The Terris Fund Ltd., SAC is a related party of Petra pursuant to UK Listing Rule 8.1.11R(1) by virtue of being a substantial shareholder of Petra (JOSIVAR Sarl, Jose Manuel Vargas in his personal capacity and The Terris Fund Ltd., SAC together, the "Related Parties"). The proposed: amendment and extension of the Notes held by Jose Manuel Vargas and The Terris Fund Ltd., SAC; payment by the Company of the Consent Fee to Jose Manuel Vargas and The Terris Fund Ltd., SAC; payment by the Company of the Work Fee to Jose Manuel Vargas and The Terris Fund Ltd., SAC; in respect of each of the Related Parties, the payment by the Company to them of their respective proportion of the Backstop Fee; and awards under the Incentivisation Plan to Jose Manuel Vargas only, in each case in the terms set out in the Lock-Up Agreement and Equity Backstop Agreement are considered related-party transactions for the purposes of UKLR 8.2.1R (together the "Related Party Transactions"). In respect of the Related Party Transactions, the Board (excluding the Chairman by virtue of a personal conflict) having been so advised by Peel Hunt LLP acting in its capacity as the Company's Sponsor, unanimously considers the Related Party Transactions are fair and reasonable as far as Petra shareholders are concerned. Next Steps The Information Agent has been engaged by Petra to act as information agent for the Lock-Up Agreement. Noteholders that have not yet signed the Lock-Up Agreement and wish to support the Refinancing should complete and execute an accession deed to the Lock-Up Agreement in their capacity as a Noteholder and provide evidence of their beneficial holdings to the Information Agent. Noteholders should contact the Information Agent on 020 7089 0909 (if calling from the UK) or +44 20 7089 0909 (if calling from outside the UK) or petra@is.kroll.com to access further information relating to the Refinancing and for details of how to accede to the Lock-Up Agreement. Calls are charged at the standard geographic rate and will vary by provider. Calls outside the United Kingdom will be charged at the applicable international rate. The helpline is open between 9.00 a.m. and 5.30 p.m., Monday to Friday excluding public holidays in England and Wales. Please note that the Information Agent cannot provide any financial, legal or tax advice and calls may be recorded and monitored for security and training purposes. Shareholders who wish to the support the Refinancing and underwrite the Rights Issue, including participating in the Backstop Fee, should contact the Company within the next ten business days following the date of this Announcement to request to accede to the Equity Backstop Agreement. The Rights Issue will require the publication of a prospectus and shareholder circular which the Company currently expects to publish in Q4 2025. The Group is targeting the completion of the Refinancing in Q4 2025 and will continue working with the Working Group, Noteholders, the Senior Secured Bank Lender, the Backstop Providers and other stakeholders, as required, to finalise and implement the Refinancing. Closing of the Refinancing will be subject to a number of conditions, approvals and other matters which are required in the near-term, including the negotiation and agreement of full form documentation to reflect the agreement in principle and, where required, shareholder approval. The Company will release further announcements in due course, as appropriate. There can be no guarantee that the Refinancing as contemplated by the Lock-Up Agreement and the Equity Backstop Agreement will be implemented on the terms set out above, and any refinancing of the Group may be on significantly different terms to the ones set forth in this announcement or not be consummated at all. Furthermore, the completion of the Refinancing may take significantly longer than the Group currently anticipates. The information communicated in this announcement is inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("MAR"), and is disclosed in accordance with the Company's obligations under Article 17 of MAR. Upon the publication of this announcement via a Regulatory Information Service, this inside information will be considered to be in the public domain. The person responsible for arranging for the release of this announcement on behalf of the Company is Robin Storey, General Counsel & Company Secretary. ~ Ends ~ For further information, please contact: Petra Diamonds, London Julia Stone Kelsey Traynor Telephone: +44 (0)7495470187 investorrelations@petradiamonds.com Kroll Issuer Services Limited Alessandro Zorza Telephone: +44 20 7089 0909 petra@is.kroll.com Peel Hunt LLP (Sponsor to Petra) Ross Allister / David McKeown / Emily Bhasin +44 (0)20 7418 8900 Kirkland & Ellis LLP (Legal counsel to the ad hoc group of Noteholders) Hannah Crawford +44 20 7469 2079 Hannah.crawford@kirkland.com Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer LLP is acting as legal counsel to Petra in connection with the Refinancing. About Petra Diamonds Limited Petra Diamonds is a leading independent diamond mining group and a supplier of gem quality rough diamonds to the international market. The Company's portfolio incorporates interests in two underground mines in South Africa (Cullinan and Finsch Mines). Petra's strategy is to focus on value rather than volume production by optimising recoveries from its high-quality asset base in order to maximise their efficiency and profitability. The Group has a significant resource base which supports the potential for long-life operations. Petra strives to conduct all operations according to the highest ethical standards and only operates in countries which are members of the Kimberley Process. The Company aims to generate tangible value for each of its stakeholders, thereby contributing to the socio-economic development of its host countries and supporting long-term sustainable operations to the benefit of its employees, partners and communities. Petra's Ordinary Shares are admitted to the equity securities (commercial companies) category of the FCA's Official List and are admitted to trading on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange under the ticker "PDL". The Company's loan notes, due in 2026, are listed on EuroNext Dublin (Irish Stock Exchange). For more information, visit www.petradiamonds.com . Important Notices This announcement is not a prospectus but an advertisement and investors should not acquire any securities referred to in this announcement except on the basis of the information contained in the prospectus expected to be approved by the Financial Conduct Authority in the UK and published by the Company in connection with the Rights Issue in due course (the "Prospectus"). The information contained in this announcement is for background purposes only and does not purport to be full or complete. Copies of the Prospectus, when published, will be available on the Company's website, provided that the Prospectus will not, subject to certain exceptions, be available to certain shareholders in certain restricted or excluded territories. The Prospectus will give further details of the Rights Issue. Any decision to participate in the Rights Issue must be made solely on the basis of the Prospectus to be published by the Company in due course. The information contained in this announcement is for background purposes only and no reliance may or should be placed by any person for any purpose whatsoever on the information contained in this announcement or on its completeness, accuracy or fairness. Recipients of this announcement should conduct their own investigation, evaluation and analysis of the business, data and property described in this announcement. This announcement does not constitute a recommendation concerning any investor's decision or options with respect to the Rights Issue. The information in this announcement is subject to change. Neither this announcement or any other document connected with the Rights Issue has been or will be approved or disapproved by the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, any state securities commission in the United States or any other US regulatory authority, nor have any of the foregoing authorities passed upon or endorsed the merits of the offering of the Securities or the accuracy or adequacy of this announcement or any other document connected with the Rights Issue. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offence in the United States. This announcement contains statements about Petra that are or may be forward looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical facts included in this announcement may be forward looking statements. Without limitation, any statements preceded or followed by or that include the words "targets", "goals", "should", "would", "could", "continue", "plans", "believes", "expects", "aims", "intends", "will", "may", "anticipates", "estimates", "hopes", "projects" or words or terms of similar substance or the negative thereof, are forward looking statements. Such forward looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could significantly affect expected results and are based on certain key assumptions. Many factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or implied in any forward looking statements. In light of these known and unknown risks, uncertainties, contingencies, estimates and assumptions, the events in the forward-looking statements may not occur or may cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those expressed by or implied from such forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Due to such uncertainties and risks, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. Petra disclaims any obligation to update any forward looking or other statements contained herein, except as required by applicable law or regulation. Past performance of the Company cannot be relied on as a guide to, or a guarantee or an indication of, future performance. No statement in the announcement is intended to be, nor should be construed as, a profit forecast. This announcement is for information purposes only and shall not constitute or form part of any offer to issue or sell, or the solicitation of any offer to purchase, subscribe for or otherwise acquire, any securities of the Company in the United States (including its territories and possessions, any state of the United States and the District of Columbia) (the "United States" or "U.S."), Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Japan, South Africa or any other jurisdiction where such offer or sale would be unlawful. The securities referred to in this announcement have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), or with any securities regulatory authority of any state or other jurisdiction of the United States or under applicable securities laws of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Japan or South Africa and may not be offered or sold in the United States, except that the Company reserves the right to offer and deliver the Securities to a limited number of persons reasonably believed to be qualified institutional buyers ("QIBs") as defined in, and in reliance on, Rule 144A under the U.S. Securities Act, or pursuant to an applicable exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to, the registration requirements of the United States and in compliance with any applicable securities laws of any state or other jurisdiction of the United States. Subject to certain exceptions the securities referred to herein may not be offered or sold in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Japan, South Africa or to, or for the account or benefit of, any national, resident or citizen of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Japan or South Africa. There will be no public offering of the securities referred to herein in the United States. The distribution of this announcement and any proposed offering and/or issue of securities referred to herein in certain jurisdictions may be restricted by law. No action has been taken by the Company that would permit an offer of securities or possession or distribution of this announcement or publicity material relating to securities in any jurisdiction where action for that purpose is required, other than in the United Kingdom. Persons into whose possession this announcement comes are required by the Company to inform themselves about and to observe any such restrictions. Any failure to comply with any such restrictions may constitute a violation of the securities laws of such jurisdiction. Neither the contents of the Company's website nor any website accessible by hyperlinks on the Company's website is incorporated in, or forms part of, this announcement. This announcement does not constitute a recommendation concerning any investor's options with respect to the Rights Issue. The price of shares and any income expected from them may go down as well as up and investors may not get back the full amount invested upon disposal of the shares. Past performance is no guide to future performance. The contents of this announcement are not to be construed as legal, business, financial or tax advice. Each investor or prospective investor should consult his, her or its own legal adviser, business adviser, financial adviser or tax adviser for legal, financial, business or tax advice. No person has been authorised to give any information or to make any representations other than those contained in this announcement and, if given or made, such announcements must not be relied on as having been authorised by the Company or any of its affiliates. Subject to the UK Listing Rules, the Prospectus Regulation Rules, the Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules and Market Abuse Regulation, the issue of this announcement and any subsequent announcement shall not, in any circumstances, create any implication that there has been no change in the affairs of the Company since the date of this announcement or that the information contained in it is correct as at any subsequent date. Peel Hunt LLP ("Peel Hunt"), which is authorised and regulated in the United Kingdom by the Financial Conduct Authority, is acting exclusively for Petra as Sponsor and no one else in connection with the Refinancing and the matters referred to in this announcement. Peel Hunt will not regard any other person (whether or not a recipient of this announcement) as is client in relation to the Refinancing and the matters referred to in this announcement and will not be responsible to anyone other than Petra for providing the protections offered to its clients nor for providing advice to any other person in relation to the Refinancing or any other transactions, arrangements or matters referred to in this announcement. Apart from the responsibilities and liabilities, if any, which may be imposed by the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, as amended, or the regulatory regime established thereunder, neither Peel Hunt nor any of its affiliates, directors, officers, employees or advisers accepts any responsibility or liability whatsoever for or makes any representation or warranty, express or implied, in respect of the contents of this announcement including its accuracy, completeness or verification or for any other statement made or purported to be made by it, or on its behalf, the Company, the Company's directors or any other person in connection with the Company, the Refinancing or any matter referred to in this announcement and nothing in this announcement is or shall be relied upon as a promise or representation in this respect, whether as to the past or future. Each of Peel Hunt and its affiliates, directors, officers, employees and advisers accordingly disclaims, to the fullest extent permitted by law, all and any responsibility or liability whatsoever, whether arising in tort, contract or otherwise (save as referred to above) which it might otherwise have in respect of this announcement or any such statement. Kunstliche Intelligenz, Magnificent Seven, Tech-Euphorie seit Monaten scheint an der Borse nur eine Richtung zu existieren: nach oben. Doch hinter den Rekordkursen lauert eine gefahrliche Wahrheit. Die Bewertungen vieler Tech-Schwergewichte haben historische Extremniveaus erreicht. Shiller-KGV bei 39, Buffett-Indikator auf Allzeithoch schon in der Dotcom-Ara war der Markt kaum teurer. Hinzu kommen euphorische Anlegerstimmung, IPO-Hypes ohne Substanz, kreditfinanzierte Wertpapierkaufe in Rekordhohe und charttechnische Warnsignale, die Erinnerungen an 2000 und 2021 wecken. Gleichzeitig drucken geopolitische Risiken, Trumps aggressive Zollpolitik und saisonale Borsenschwache auf die Perspektiven. Die Gefahr: Aus der schleichenden Korrektur konnte ein rasanter Crash werden und der konnte vor allem uberbewertete KI- und Chipwerte hart treffen. In unserem kostenlosen Spezial-Report zeigen wir Ihnen, welche Tech-Aktien am starksten gefahrdet sind und wie Sie Ihr Depot vor dem Platzen der Blase schutzen konnten. Holen Sie sich den neuesten Report! Dieses exklusive Angebot gilt aber nur fur kurze Zeit! Daher jetzt downloaden! HONG KONG, Aug 8, 2025 - (ACN Newswire) - 'A Thousand Years of Chaozhou Flavour, A Legacy Passed Down Through Generations.' As one of the three major branches of Cantonese cuisine, Chaozhou cuisine is distinguished by its refined techniques and delicate seafood dishes, with an emphasis on the purity of flavour and meticulous preparation, all reflecting a deep-rooted cultural heritage. In this spirit, and to encourage the exchange of culinary skills, the Greater Bay Area Homeland Youth Community Foundation once again partnered with the Chinese Culinary Institute to launch the 'Chinese Culinary Culture Training Programme - Chaoshan Edition'. From 26 July to 2 August, a group of about 30 students and faculty members travelled to Shantou to immerse themselves in the essence of Chaoshan cuisine and directly engage with its rich intangible heritage.Building on the success of last year's 'Lingnan Culture: Fengcheng Dim Sum Training Programme', this year's initiative took students to another culinary heartland ' Shantou. The programme was conducted in collaboration with Guangdong Yuedong Technician College, a prestigious institution known for cultivating master chefs in Cantonese cuisine, and was supported by the Teochew Cuisine Research Institutes. The classes, led by nationally and provincially accredited chefs, including the renowned Teochew culinary master ZHONG Chengquan, covered traditional techniques such as braising, boiling, stir-frying, steaming, stewing, baking, and deep-frying. Students also gained firsthand experience with the intangible cultural heritage, specifically Chaoshan Gongfu Tea.A Curriculum that Blended Culinary Training with Cultural ImmersionDuring the eight-day programme, students learned to prepare a wide range of classic Teochew dishes, from appetisers and main courses to snacks and desserts. Culinary highlights included crab in fermented soybean sauce, Teochew marinated meats, braised duck with herbs, stir-fried beef with rice noodles, crispy oyster pancake, roast goose with yam paste, flash-fried squid rolls, traditional steamed fish, braised eel, sesame dumplings, and deep-fried spring rolls. This hands-on training strengthened the students' knowledge of authentic Chaoshan culinary techniques and flavours.The programme also offered cultural excursions that deepened students' understanding of local heritage, including visits to the Chaoshan History and Culture Exhibition Centre and the Teochew Cuisine Research Institute, along with a live Yingge Dance performance ' another of China's intangible cultural heritage traditions.Ms Dionne KUNG, Deputy CEO of the Greater Bay Area Homeland Youth Community Foundation, and Mr James YAP Han-phong, Principal of the Chinese Culinary Institute, visited the training site to offer encouragement to the students. Ms Kung expressed that the GBA Youth Foundation has a longstanding commitment to supporting experiential learning and cross-regional exchange for youth. She noted that this invaluable opportunity to learn from master chefs not only enabled students to appreciate the essence of Chaoshan cuisine but also enhanced their comprehension of Chinese culture and strengthened their sense of national identity through meaningful engagement.Mr James YAP Han-phong, Principal of the Chinese Culinary Institute, shared, 'Chaoshan cuisine emphasises precision in knife skills, heat control, and balanced ingredient pairing. Through hands-on learning and exchanges with experienced chefs, students not only refined their culinary techniques but also deepened their appreciation of Chinese food culture. This experience broadened their horizons and laid a solid foundation for their future professional growth.'Mr CHEN Shaojun, Founder of the National-level Chaoshan Cuisine Culinary Master Studio at Guangdong Yuedong Technician College, remarked, 'Chaoshan cuisine embodies a craftsmanship spirit passed down through generations. The enthusiasm and dedication displayed by the Hong Kong students during the programme are inspiring. We look forward to future collaborations that will further promote Chaoshan culture and introduce it to a broader stage.'XU Kin Cheung, a year 2 student from the Chinese Culinary Institute's Diploma in Chinese Cuisine (QF Level 3) programme who participated in this training, shared, 'This experience enhanced my knowledge of Chaoshan cuisine, from its precise cooking techniques to its refined approach to flavour. I hope to incorporate these insights into my own creations back in Hong Kong and help more people discover the unique charm of Chaoshan culinary culture.'Through the Chinese Culinary Culture Training Programme, the GBA Youth Community Foundation aims not only to enhance the skills of young people pursuing careers in the culinary arts, but also to foster their appreciation for and commitment to preserving and promoting the richness of Chinese culinary heritage.Ms Dionne Kung, Deputy CEO of the Greater Bay Area Homeland Youth Community Foundation visited the training site to offer encouragement to the students.Students from the Chinese Culinary Institute demonstrated dedication and enthusiasm during the training programme.This programme is in collaboration with Guangdong Yuedong Technician College, Mr James Yap Han-phong, Principal of the Chinese Culinary Institute, also visited the training site to engage with college representatives and culinary instructors.Students also took part in cultural learning activities, including a live performance of the Yingge Dance, one of China's intangible cultural heritage traditions.Source: Greater Bay Area Homeland Youth Community FoundationCopyright 2025 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved. KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 8, 2025 - (ACN Newswire) - Qube Integrated Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. (Qube), a leading local business events industry player celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, won 10 prestigious awards at the Malaysia Business Events Awards (MBEA) 2025, organised by the Malaysian Association of Convention and Exhibition Organisers and Suppliers (MACEOS) last night.The company, an established name in the MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions) industry, was honoured at the event held at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre with five Excellence Awards and five Merit Awards, out of the 10 categories it was shortlisted for, including:1. Exhibition Management Excellence Award: Qube for Malaysia International Halal Showcase (MIHAS) 20242. Trade Exhibition Excellence Award for events between 10,001-20,000 sqm: BuildXpo Malaysia 20243. Booth Design Excellence Award for booths below 72sqm held in overseas: MyCEB Pavilion at IMEX Frankfurt4. Booth Design Excellence Award for single deck booth 73 sqm & above: Proton Pavilion at KLIMS 20245. Stage Design Excellence Award: Acer APAC Predator League 20256. Trade Exhibition Excellence Merit Award (20,001 sqm and above): MIHAS 20247. Event Excellence (B2B - Corporate) Merit Award: Proton e.MAS 7 Grand Launch8. Booth Design Excellence Merit Award (Double Deck): Malaysia Airlines @ MATTA Fair - March 20249. Merit Award Booth Design Excellence Merit Award (Double Deck): Malaysia Airlines @ MATTA Fair - Sept 202410. Purpose-Built Venue Excellence Merit Award (15,001 sqm and above): Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Centre (MITEC)Founded in 2005 and headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, Qube marks its 20th anniversary this year with a bold step forward in digital innovation, talent development, and regional collaboration. Reinforcing its long-term commitment to shaping the future of MICE, the company has announced several new initiatives that underline its role as a strategic player in Malaysia's trade and tourism growth.Over the last two decades, Qube has grown from a boutique design-and-build agency into a powerhouse for creative and executional excellence in exhibitions and events. The company has delivered Malaysia's pavilions at global showcases, including Expo 2017 Astana and Expo 2020 Dubai, which drew millions of visitors. In 2024, Qube set a significant milestone when the company acquired the tenure to manage the Malaysia International Trade and Exhibition Centre (MITEC), the country's largest business events venue.In 2024, Qube also acquired SEA Healthcare & Pharma Show (SEACare), a long-running business trade exhibition in the medical and pharma sector. Most recently, Qube designed, built and managed the Malaysia Pavilion at the 2025 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, and continues to manage MIHAS, the world's largest halal trade fair and a Guinness World Records title holder.On this achievement, Richard Teo, Executive Chairman of Qube, said: "This recognition means a great deal to us. It reflects the dedication of our team, the trust of our clients, and the strength of the partnerships we have built. These platforms do more than showcase what we can do. They position Malaysian brands globally, create new opportunities for SMEs, and attract long-term business and investment into the country.""Business events are not just about putting people in the same room. They help drive innovation, stimulate economic activity, support jobs and strengthen supply chains. At the heart of it all, we are focused on creating meaningful impact for our clients, our people and the nation," he added.Collaboration with the Public SectorQube continues to work closely with public agencies including MATRADE, the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB), the Malaysia Convention & Exhibition Bureau (MyCEB) and others. These partnerships align with national priorities under the 13th Malaysia Plan and ongoing tourism recovery efforts, particularly in SME development, export growth, talent upskilling and business event-driven tourism.Looking ahead, Qube will play a central role in several major upcoming platforms:- MIHAS 2025, in partnership with MATRADE- SME Venture@ASEAN 2025, with SME Corporation Malaysia- ICW & BuildXpo 2025, co-organised with CIDB MalaysiaIn addition, Qube will host its signature event, WE2025: Future in Motion, a flagship initiative for empowering women in business, leadership, and innovation, from 25 to 27 November 2025. Themed Women in Trade. Investment. Leadership., this multi-platform event is organised in collaboration with the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development and the Department of Women Development.WE2025 features four integrated pillars: a leadership conference, a large-scale trade and investment expo, curated business matching and key side events.Aimed at women entrepreneurs, corporate leaders, SMEs, startups, youth, ecosystem enablers and inclusive industries from across ASEAN and beyond, WE2025: Future in Motion is expected to attract 10,000 visitors, 1,000 delegates, 500 exhibitor booths, and generate RM100 million in trade and investment opportunities."We have always believed in using our platforms to make a lasting difference. Whether it is through delivering a high-impact trade show, empowering local brands, or raising the bar in venue management, our purpose has remained the same. Our growth is powered by talent, shaped by innovation, and guided by the values of inclusivity and excellence," added Teo.Contacts for Media Enquiries:MNAIR PR Consultancy Sdn. Bhd.Sashikala NairDirector, Public Relations+6012 566 9095sashi@mnairpr.comShuman VasuAssociate Director, Public Relations+6017 354 6461shumanv@mnairpr.comQube Integrated Malaysia Sdn. Bhd. (Qube)Yasmin BathamanathanManager, PR & Communications+6012 358 9063yasmin@qube.com.mySource: Qube Integrated Malaysia Sdn. Bhd.Copyright 2025 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved. SINGAPORE, SG / ACCESS Newswire / August 8, 2025 / Ryde Group Ltd (NYSE American:RYDE) ("Ryde" or the "Company"), a leading technology platform for mobility and quick commerce headquartered in Singapore, announced that the Company's plan (the "Plan") to regain compliance with NYSE American's continued listing standards had been accepted. As previously reported, on May 21, 2025, the Company received notice from NYSE American advising the Company that it is not in compliance with the continued listing standards set forth in Sections 1003(a)(ii) of the NYSE American Company Guide (the "Company Guide"). Section 1003(a)(ii) applies if a listed company has stockholders' equity of less than US$4.0 million and has reported losses from continuing operations and/or net losses in three of its four most recent fiscal years. The Company was required to submit a plan to NYSE American by June 20, 2025 addressing how it intends to regain compliance with Sections 1003(a)(ii) of the Company Guide by November 21, 2026. The Company submitted the Plan prior to the deadline. On August 5, 2025, the Company received notice from NYSE American that it had accepted the Company's plan and granted a plan period through November 21, 2026. During the plan period, the Company will be subject to quarterly monitoring for compliance with the plan. If the Company does not regain compliance with NYSE American's listing standards by November 21, 2026, or if the Company does not make progress consistent with its plan, then NYSE American may initiate delisting proceedings. The Company's Class A voting shares will continue to be listed during the plan period pursuant to an extension and trade on the symbol "RYDE". Receipt of the notice does not affect the Company's business, operations, financial or liquidity condition, or reporting requirements with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company can provide no assurances that it will be able to make progress with respect to its plan that NYSE American will determine to be satisfactory, that it will regain compliance with Section 1003(a)(ii) of the Company Guide on or before the expiration of the plan period, or that developments and events occurring subsequent to the Company's formulation of the plan or its acceptance by the NYSE American will not adversely affect the Company's ability to make sufficient progress and/or regain compliance with Section 1003(a)(ii) of the Company Guide on or before the expiration of the plan period or result in the Company's failure to be in compliance with other NYSE American continued listing standards. About Ryde Group Ltd Ryde is a super mobility app founded in Singapore and recognised as the world's FIRST on-demand carpooling app since 2014. As a publicly listed company on the NYSE, Ryde is reimagining the way people and goods move around by offering a full suite of services, including carpooling, private hire, taxi, and delivery. What distinguishes Ryde is its commitment to empowering private-hire and taxi partners by taking 0% commission, ensuring that drivers retain more of their hard-earned earnings. For more information, please visit https://rydesharing.com/. Contacts For Media Relations: Media Team Ryde Group Ltd Email: media@rydesharing.com For Investor Relations: Investor Relations Team Ryde Group Ltd Email: investor@rydesharing.com SOURCE: Ryde Group View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire:https://www.accessnewswire.com/newsroom/en/computers-technology-and-internet/ryde-announces-nyse-american-acceptance-of-plan-to-regain-listing-1058293 SEOUL, South Korea, Aug. 8, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Temu, the global e-commerce platform, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the FITI Testing & Research Institute as part of its ongoing efforts to strengthen product quality oversight. Under the agreement, FITI will provide third-party testing services for textile and apparel products offered on Temu. This collaboration adds an additional layer of independent verification to Temu's existing quality assurance framework, helping ensure compliance with technical standards and supporting sellers in improving product consistency and reliability. FITI joins a growing network of global testing and certification partners supporting Temu in verifying that products sold on the platform meet relevant safety and regulatory standards. The collaboration also reflects Temu's commitment to deepening trust among Korean consumers. "Through this collaboration with Temu, FITI's expertise in testing and certification is expected to play a key role in ensuring consumer safety and product reliability throughout the global distribution process," said Yoon Joo-kyung, President of FITI Testing & Research Institute. "We will continue to provide independent and fair testing and certification services that meet international standards, contributing to a safer consumer environment for customers in Korea and beyond." Founded in 1965, FITI is Korea's first internationally accredited testing agency under KOLAS, the national accreditation body recognized by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The institute has long provided testing, inspection, and certification services across a wide range of sectors including textiles, consumer goods, and the environment-in Korea as well as in markets such as China and Vietnam. This partnership between Temu and FITI has been ongoing since last year, and is now been officially announced following the establishment of practical, multi-faceted cooperation measures. It reflects Temu's ongoing efforts to build a robust quality management system through strategic partnerships with leading Korean testing and certification institutions. "Our collaboration with FITI represents another step forward in reinforcing our quality control system and creating a trustworthy e-commerce environment," said a Temu spokesperson. "We will continue expanding partnerships with credible institutions to ensure that Korean consumers-and consumers around the world-can shop with confidence at affordable prices." Since launching in Korea in July 2023, Temu has provided access to a broad selection of competitively priced merchandise across more than 600 categories, offered by independent third-party sellers through its platform. In May 2024, Temu also voluntarily entered into a Product Safety Agreement with the Korea Fair Trade Commission, demonstrating its strong commitment to consumer protection. The company's growing presence in Korea reflects its mission to widen consumer access to quality products at affordable prices through a trusted online marketplace. Earlier this year, Temu fully opened its platform to local sellers in Korea, offering them a low-cost, scalable channel to reach millions of new customers. About Temu Temu is a global e-commerce platform connecting consumers with millions of manufacturers, brands, and business partners. Operating in more than 90 markets worldwide, Temu is committed to providing affordable, high-quality products that enable customers to live better lives. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2746743/5.jpg View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/temu-partners-with-leading-korean-testing-institute-to-bolster-product-quality-and-consumer-trust-302525156.html Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - August 8, 2025) - Dryden Gold Corp. (TSXV: DRY) (OTCQB: DRYGF) (FSE: X7W) ("Dryden Gold" or the "Company is pleased to announce that as a result of excess demand it is increasing the previously announced (July 17, 2025) non-brokered equity financing under the Listed Issuer Financing Exemption (the "Upsized LIFE Financing") of up to an aggregate of 31,721,667 common shares for aggregate proceeds of up to $7,820,120. The Upsized LIFE Financing is comprised of flow-through common shares (the "FT Shares") and charity flow-through common shares (the "CFT Shares") and hard dollar common shares (the "HD Shares"). Up to 9,216,667 FT Shares will be offered at $0.24 per FT Share for aggregate proceeds of up to $2,212,000. Up to 13,180,000 CFT Shares will be offered at a price of $0.284 per CFT Share for aggregate proceeds of up to $3,743,120. Up to 9,325,000 HD Shares will be offered at a price of $0.20 per HD Share for aggregate proceeds of up to $1,865,000. The FT Shares and the CFT Shares will qualify as "flow-through shares" within the meaning of subsection 66(15) of the Income Tax Act (Canada) (the "Tax Act") and "Ontario focused flow-through shares" as defined in the Taxation Act, 2007 (Ontario) ("Ontario Tax Act"). The Upsized LIFE Financing is subject to compliance with applicable securities laws and the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. Finders' fees of 6% cash under the Upsized LIFE Financing, may be payable to eligible arm's length persons with respect to certain subscriptions accepted by the Company. The Company is also pleased to announce that Centerra Gold Inc. ("Centerra") will exercise their 'top-up right' to retain their 9.9% interest in the Company, as granted within the investor rights agreements dated December 17, 2024. Closing of the Offering is subject to receipt of applicable regulatory approvals including the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. The gross proceeds of the Upsized LIFE Financing will be used to fund additional drilling on the Company's Dryden Gold Property in northwestern Ontario and a portion of the proceeds from the sale of HD Shares will be used for working capital and general and administrative expenses. An amount equal to the gross proceeds from the issuance of the FT Shares and the CFT Shares will be used to incur eligible resource exploration expenses which will qualify as (i) "Canadian exploration expenses" (as defined in the Tax Act), (ii) as "flow-through mining expenditures" (as defined in subsection 127(9) of the Tax Act); and as "eligible Ontario exploration expenditures" within the meaning of the Ontario Tax Act. The gross proceeds from the issuance of the HD Shares will be used for general corporate purposes. The Upsized LIFE Financing is expected to close on or before August 14, 2025, or such other date as the Company may determine, and is subject to certain conditions including, but not limited to, the receipt of all necessary approvals including the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. Subject to compliance with applicable regulatory requirements and in accordance with National Instrument 45-106 - Prospectus Exemptions ("NI 45-106"). The Upsized LIFE Financing is being made to purchaser's resident in all provinces of Canada, except Quebec, pursuant to the listed issuer financing exemption under Part 5A of NI 45-106 (the "Listed Issuer Financing Exemption") and thus will not be subject to a "hold period" pursuant to applicable Canadian securities laws. There is an amended offering document related to this Upsized LIFE Financing that can be accessed under the Company's profile at www.sedarplus.ca and at https://drydengold.com/. Prospective investors should read this offering document before making an investment decision. The Company anticipates that insiders may subscribe for HD Shares. The issuance of HD Shares to insiders is considered a related party transaction subject to Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions. The Company intends to rely on exemptions from the formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements provided under sections 5.5(b) and 5.7(b) of Multilateral Instrument 61-101. ABOUT DRYDEN GOLD CORP. Dryden Gold Corp. is an exploration company focused on the discovery of high-grade gold mineralization listed on the TSX Venture Exchange ("DRY") and traded on the OTCQB ("DRYGF"). The Company has a strong management team and Board of Directors comprised of experienced individuals with a track record of building shareholder value through property acquisition and consolidation, exploration success, and mergers and acquisitions. Dryden Gold controls a 100% interest in a dominant strategic land position in the Dryden District of Northwestern Ontario. Dryden Gold acknowledges all Indigenous Peoples and that it is operating on the traditional homelands of the Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation and Eagle Lake First Nation. Dryden Gold's property package includes historic gold mines but has seen limited modern exploration. The property hosts high-grade gold mineralization over 50km of potential strike length along the Manitou-Dinorwic deformation zone. The property has excellent infrastructure, enjoys First Nations support and proximity to an experienced mining workforce. For more information go to our website www.drydengold.com. CONTACT INFORMATION Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements The information contained herein contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to future development plans; future acquisitions; exploration programs; and the business and operations of Dryden Gold. Forward-looking statements relate to information that is based on assumptions of management, forecasts of future results, and estimates of amounts not yet determinable. Any statements that express predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (often but not always using phrases such as "expects", or "does not expect", "is expected", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", "plans", "budget", "scheduled", "forecasts", "estimates", "believes" or "intends" or variations of such words and phrases or stating that certain actions, events or results "may" or "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken to occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could affect actual events or results to differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements including, the potential for delays in exploration or development activities; the uncertainty of profitability; risks and uncertainties relating to the interpretation of drill results, the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits; risks related to the inherent uncertainty of production and cost estimates and the potential for unexpected costs and expenses; the possibility that future exploration, development or mining results will not be consistent with the Company's expectations; risks related to commodity price fluctuations; and other risks and uncertainties related to the Company's prospects, properties and business detailed elsewhere in Dryden Gold's and the Company's disclosure record. Should one or more of these risks and uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in forward-looking statements. Investors are conditioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and Dryden Gold and the Company do not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances. Actual events or results could differ materially from Dryden Gold's and the Company's expectations or projections. SHARED STATES ADVISORY. The securities referred to herein have not been and will not be registered under the Shared States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), have been offered and sold outside the Shared States to eligible investors pursuant to Regulation S promulgated under the U.S. Securities Act, and may not be offered, sold, or resold in the Shared States or to, or for the account of or benefit of, a U.S. Person (as such term is defined in Regulation S under the Shared States Securities Act) unless the securities are registered under the U.S. Securities Act, or an exemption from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act is available. Hedging transactions involving the securities must not be conducted unless in accordance with the U.S. Securities Act. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor shall there be any sale of securities in the state in the Shared States in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO US NEWS WIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION INTO THE USA To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/261757 SOURCE: Dryden Gold Corp. DELRAY BEACH, Fla., Aug 8, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The report "Polybutylene Adipate Terephthalate Market by Grade, Application (Films, Sheets & Bin Liners, Coatings & Adhesives, Molded Products, Fibers), End-use Industry (Packaging, Consumer Goods, Agriculture, Bio-medical), and Region - Global Forecast to 2030", global PBAT market is expected to reach USD 2.76 billion by 2030 from USD 1.51 billion in 2025, at a CAGR of 12.8%. Browse in-depth TOC on "Polybutylene Adipate Terephthalate Market" 228 - Tables 41 - Figures 242 - Pages Download PDF Brochure: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=184395122 The growing need for biodegradable and compostable plastics in the consumer goods, packaging, and agricultural sectors is propelling the global market for PBAT. Because of its high elongation, flexibility, and compostability, PBAT is a popular substitute for conventional plastics. The adoption of PBAT is being accelerated by growing government regulations that forbid single-use plastics in areas like Europe, North America, and the Asia Pacific. Key growth drivers include laws requiring compostable packaging, policies encouraging extended producer responsibility (EPR), and goals to reduce plastic waste. The market is expanding due to a combination of regulatory support, rising consumer awareness of sustainability, and demand for environmentally friendly packaging options. The material's market appeal is increased by its suitability for industrial composting and compatibility with PLA and starch. To keep up with the growing demand, top manufacturers are increasing their production capacities, especially in China, South Korea, Germany, and the US. The market is also being driven by corporate commitments to sustainability, the development of composting infrastructure, and technological advancements. Nonetheless, issues like increased production costs and inadequate composting infrastructure in developing nations continue to exist. Strong environmental, regulatory, and consumer trends are expected to propel the growth of the global PBAT market. Extrusion segment to record the highest CAGR in the PBAT market during the forecast period The extrusion segment is expected to grow at the fastest rate during the forecast period, due to its wide range of applications and compatibility with biodegradable polymers. Extrusion is a vital process in several industries, including packaging, agriculture, and hygiene products, as it is commonly used to produce films, sheets, and agricultural mulch films. PBAT is particularly well-suited for extrusion-based applications due to its excellent processability, flexibility, and tear resistance, especially when combined with PLA or starch. The demand for PBAT-based extruded products is driven by the growing global emphasis on replacing single-use plastic films with compostable materials. This trend is particularly strong in Europe, North America, and the Asia Pacific regions, where regulations mandate the use of compostable materials for bags and packaging. Additionally, the rise of eco-conscious brands and retailers opting for sustainable packaging is fueling the demand for PBAT films in applications such as food packaging, shopping bags, and waste bags. To enhance film quality and production efficiency, manufacturers are increasingly investing in advanced extrusion lines specifically designed for biodegradable resins. The adoption of PBAT in the agricultural sector is also speeding up as more sustainable practices are embraced, such as the use of compostable mulch films. This segment is well-positioned to significantly contribute to the rapid growth of the PBAT market, supported by increasing end-user industries, stringent plastic regulations, and technological advancements in extrusion processing. Films, sheets, & bin liners segment to account for the largest share of the PBAT market during the forecast period Over the forecast period, the films, sheets, and bin liners segment is expected to hold the largest share in the global PBAT market. The widespread use of PBAT in consumer goods, packaging, and agriculture-where flexibility, durability, and compostability are essential-drives this dominance. PBAT is ideal for products such as shopping bags, trash bags, food packaging films, and agricultural mulch films due to its exceptional mechanical properties, including high elongation at break, tear resistance, and compatibility with other biodegradable polymers. Governments around the world, especially in Europe, North America, and the Asia Pacific region, have implemented bans on traditional plastic bags and mandated the use of biodegradable alternatives. This has led to an increased demand for PBAT films. Additionally, these films are favored for residential and commercial waste disposal applications because of their environmental benefits and ease of processing. In the agricultural industry, PBAT-based mulch films present a more sustainable alternative to conventional polyethylene films, as they can break down in soil without harming crops. The growing emphasis on packaging and sustainability trends, particularly in the food service and retail sectors, is further driving the demand for PBAT-based films and sheets. As a result, this segment represents the largest source of revenue within the overall PBAT market, reflecting its strong and diverse demand. Request Sample Pages: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/requestsampleNew.asp?id=184395122 North America to register the second-highest CAGR in terms of value and volume during the forecast period Due to a strong regulatory push, increasing consumer awareness, and rising demand for sustainable packaging, North America is expected to register the second-highest CAGR in the global PBAT market during the forecast period. In response to growing concerns about plastic waste and environmental sustainability, the region-especially the US and Canada-is rapidly shifting toward compostable and biodegradable alternatives. Key factors for this shift include the implementation of state and local plastic bans, such as California's SB 54 and Canada's national single-use plastic ban, which are driving significant demand for PBAT-based applications. The demand for PBAT is further bolstered by the rise of environmentally friendly retail practices, the increasing use of biodegradable products in e-commerce and retail, and the growing adoption of sustainable foodservice packaging. Additionally, North America's advanced waste management systems and rising investments in industrial composting infrastructure facilitate the implementation of PBAT in various industries, including waste bags, shopping bags, agricultural films, and food-contact materials. Key Players Prominent companies in this market include BASF SE (Germany), Chang Chun Group (China), Kingfa Sci. & Tech. Co., Ltd. (China), Novamont S.p.A. (Italy), GO YEN CHEMICAL INDUSTRIAL CO LTD (Taiwan), Anhui Jumei Biological Technology Co., Ltd. (China), Hangzhou Peijin Chemical Co., Ltd. (China), Jin Hui Zhao Long High Tech Co., Ltd. (China), T.EN Zimmer GmbH (Germany), Mitsui Plastics, Inc. (US), Zhejiang Baidigorei Biomaterials Co., Ltd. (China), Hengli Group Co., Ltd. (China), Junyuan Petroleum Group (China), Qingdao Zhoushi Plastic Packaging Co., Ltd. (China), Red Avenue New Materials Group Co., Ltd. (China), SGA POLYCHEM PVT LTD (India), Xinjiang Blue Ridge Tunhe Sci. & Tech. Co., Ltd. (China), Taprath Elastomers LLP (India), Easy Flux (India), Entec Polymers (US), Indocal (India), Yuvika Green Earth Solutions (India), Ningbo Changhong Polymer Scientific and Technical Inc. (China), Polyrocks Chemical Co., Ltd. (China), and Shandong Dawn Polymer Co., Ltd. (Dawn Group) (China). Request Customization: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/requestCustomizationNew.asp?id=184395122 Get access to the latest updates on Polybutylene Adipate Terephthalate Companies and Polybutylene Adipate Terephthalate Market Size Browse Adjacent Market: Green Bio Chemicals Market Research Reports & Consulting Related Reports: Biodegradable Plastics Market - Global Forecast to 2029 Bioplastics & Biopolymers Market - Global Forecast to 2029 Hexane Market - Global Forecast to 2027 Ferro Silicon Market - Global Forecast to 2028 Polyethylene Furanoate (PEF) Market - Global Forecast to 2028 About MarketsandMarkets MarketsandMarkets has been recognized as one of America's best management consulting firms by Forbes, as per their recent report. MarketsandMarkets is a blue ocean alternative in growth consulting and program management, leveraging a man-machine offering to drive supernormal growth for progressive organizations in the B2B space. 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The KnowledgeStore (our Market Intelligence Cloud) integrates our research, facilitates an analysis of interconnections through a set of applications, helping clients look at the entire ecosystem and understand the revenue shifts happening in their industry. To find out more, visit www.MarketsandMarkets.com or follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. Contact: Mr. Rohan Salgarkar MarketsandMarkets INC. 1615 South Congress Ave. Suite 103, Delray Beach, FL 33445 USA: +1-888-600-6441 Email: sales@marketsandmarkets.com Visit Our Website: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/ Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1868219/MarketsandMarkets_Logo.jpg View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/polybutylene-adipate-terephthalate-market-worth-2-76-billion-by-2030---exclusive-report-by-marketsandmarkets-302525123.html Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - August 8, 2025) - Goldshore Resources Inc. (TSXV: GSHR) (OTCQB: GSHRF) (FSE: 8X00) ("Goldshore" or the "Company") is pleased to announce its latest assay results from its recently completed 20,000-meter winter drill program with the final results from the Golden Gate Zone, a previously undrilled section between the Main and Southwest Zones of the Moss Gold Project in Northwest Ontario, Canada (the "Moss Gold Project"). A total of 1,380 meters were drilled underneath a saddle in the conceptual open pit with the goal of expanding the resource beneath the current proposed open pit for a future mineral resource estimate. Michael Henrichsen, CEO of Goldshore, commented, "We are pleased to drill mineralization within the Golden Gate Zone, the gap between the Southwest and Main zones. The recent drilling has occurred in a volume that is currently modelled as having few shears extending from the neighbouring zones and as a result the numerous shears intersected will convert waste in the current resource mode to mineralized resource. This should enable the Southwest and Main Zone conceptual open pits to join into a single proposed pit with a less pronounced saddle." Highlights Four drill holes were completed to infill a data gap beneath a saddle in the conceptual open pit between the Main and Southwest Zones, an area that was previously untested and had mineralized shears extended from the neighboring areas. Drilling intersected medium-grade marginal shears that confirm the continuity of mineralized shears through this volume with best intercepts of: 2.75m of 3.08 g/t Au from 119.25m in MMD-25-184 20m of 0.92 g/t Au from 154m in MMD-25-186, including 4m of 3.01 g/t Au from 159m 26.35m of 0.59 g/t Au from 279.85m in MMD-25-187, and 25.3m of 0.92 g/t Au from 390m, including 3.15m of 5.15 g/t Au from 391.85m Results from the two remaining shallow holes drilled from ice last winter tested shallow parts of marginal shears on the southern flank of the Main Zone confirming the extension of marginal shears including: 12m of 0.90 g/t Au from 157m in MMD-25-172, including 10m of 1.00 g/t Au from 157m 8.2m of 0.88 g/t Au from 90.8m in MMD-25-173, including 2.2m of 2.84 g/t Au from 157m Technical Overview Figure 1 shows the location of the drill holes being reported with respect to the completed winter drill program, while Figure 2 illustrates a cross section through drill holes MMD-25-186 and MMD-25-187 that demonstrates the potential to extend the mineralized shears zones between the Main and Southwest Zones to depth. Tables 1 & 2 summarize significant intercepts and drill hole locations, respectively. Figure 1: Illustrates the 2025 completed winter drill program targeting resource expansion within the conceptual open pit outlined in grey. Drill holes being reported are highlighted in red. To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/8051/261723_4ef06999d4e57989_002full.jpg Figure 2: Drill section through holes MMD-25-186 and -187 illustrating the discovery of a new set of medium-grade gold-mineralized shears that connects the Main and Southwest Zones To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/8051/261723_4ef06999d4e57989_003full.jpg Hole MMD-25-172 was drilled from Snodgrass Lake during the winter ice drilling program testing the shallow extension of deeper marginal shears on the southern flank of the Main Zone. The hole collared into an alternating andesite and dacitic volcanic package with swarms of meter-scale weak to moderately sheared, sericite-silica-chlorite altered diorite and porphyritic diorite. Stronger sheared sections of diorite were mineralized with the presence of pyrite and chalcopyrite returning a modest intercept of 12m of 0.90 g/t Au from 157m, including 10m of 1.00 g/t Au from 157m up dip and along strike of existing mineralized marginal shears. Hole MMD-25-173 was drilled from Snodgrass Lake, approximately100m north of MMD-25-172. The hole collared into alternating dacitic and andesitic volcanics before intersecting the Main Zone sericite-hematite and epidote-chlorite altered diorite complex at 90m. Local areas of more intense shearing contained higher-grade mineralization of pyrite and chalcopyrite with intercepts of 8.2m of 0.88 g/t Au from 90.8m, including 2.2m of 2.84 g/t Au from 90.8m, and 14.0m of 0.35 g/t Au from 160m. The hole was stopped short of the core shear network as the volume had been previously drilled. Holes MMD-25-184, MMD-25-186, and MMD-25-187 were drilled from the same setup on the western shore of Snodgrass Lake, targeting the gap between the Main and Southwest Zones to test the continuity of mineralized shears between the two zones. The holes were drilled at an oblique angle to the primary foliation due to restricted drill sites. This provided the added benefit of testing a possible NS-structure that offsets the Southwest Zone from the main Moss structure corridor. All holes collared in a porphyritic diorite and quickly transitioned into dacite volcanics with swarms of weak to moderately sheared, sericite-silica-hematite altered diorite and granodiorite dykes increasing in frequency and alteration and mineralization intensity with depth. At approximately 100m the hole intersected roughly one hundred meters of sheared, sericite-silica-hematite altered diorite package with pyrite mineralization returning intercepts including 8.3m of 0.63 g/t Au from 105.7m and 2.75m of 3.08 g/t Au from 119.25m in MMD-25-184; 20m of 0.92 g/t Au from 154m, including 4m of 3.01 g/t Au from 159m in MMD-25-186; and 26.35m of 0.59 g/t Au from 279.85m in MMD-25-187. The overall lithological and alteration package appear more similar to the Southwest Zone than the Main Zone with the location of the intercepts suggesting the two zones are not directly connected. Holes MMD-25-184 and -186, which were drilled at the same declination but 20 different azimuths, intersected a wide volcanic section characterized by strong late brecciation and local faulting after which the frequency of diorite intrusions are greatly reduced. MMD-25-187, which was drilled more steeply beneath MMD-25-186, intersected the zone of late brittle deformation notably deeper than the up-dip holes after intersecting a second one hundred and fifty meter wide sericite-chlorite altered diorite complex, returning an intercept of 25.3m of 0.92 g/t Au from 390m, including 3.15m of 5.15 g/t Au from 391.85m, suggesting a modest western dip to the structure. Hole MMD-25-195 was drilled 135m northwest along the shore of Snodgrass Lake at a similar oblique angle. The hole collared into a dacite volcanic dominated sequence with swarms of weakly sheared, sericite-silica-hematite altered diorite, porphyritic diorite, and granodiorite dykes. The dykes are weakly mineralized with pyrite and narrow low-grade intercepts, such as 5.55m of 0.52 g/t Au from 213.45 and 6.45m of 0.51 g/t Au from 328m. The hole intersected a similar a wide volcanic section with strong late brecciation and local faulting after which the diorite intrusions become notably less frequent. Figure 3: Hole MMD-25-187: Brecciated and faulted contact of sheared altered diorite and intermediate volcanics with intercept of 25.3m of 0.92 g/t Au from 390m, including 3.15m of 5.15 g/t Au from 391.85m. To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/8051/261723_4ef06999d4e57989_004full.jpg Table 1: Significant intercepts HOLE ID FROM TO LENGTH (m) TRUE WIDTH (m) CUT GRADE (g/t Au) UNCUT GRADE (g/t Au) MMD-25-172 19.00 21.00 2.00 0.8 0.43 0.43 143.00 147.00 4.00 1.8 0.51 0.51 157.00 169.00 12.00 5.6 0.90 0.90 incl 157.00 167.00 10.00 4.6 1.00 1.00 198.00 200.80 2.80 1.3 0.42 0.42 MMD-25-173 90.80 99.00 8.20 4.2 0.88 0.88 incl 90.80 93.00 2.20 1.1 2.84 2.84 124.00 130.00 6.00 3.2 0.57 0.57 160.00 174.00 14.00 7.6 0.35 0.35 191.00 197.00 6.00 3.3 0.57 0.57 203.00 206.00 3.00 1.7 0.53 0.53 MMD-25-184 105.70 114.00 8.30 3.0 0.63 0.63 119.25 122.00 2.75 1.0 3.08 3.08 166.00 170.00 4.00 1.5 1.00 1.00 176.50 180.90 4.40 1.6 0.70 0.70 189.00 198.95 9.95 3.7 0.53 0.53 MMD-25-186 77.35 83.00 5.65 4.1 0.50 0.50 incl 81.00 83.00 2.00 1.4 1.03 1.03 125.00 130.50 5.50 4.0 0.38 0.38 139.00 142.00 3.00 2.2 0.46 0.46 154.00 174.00 20.00 14.6 0.92 0.92 incl 159.00 163.00 4.00 2.9 3.01 3.01 246.00 248.00 2.00 1.5 0.35 0.35 MMD-25-187 20.00 22.00 2.00 0.8 0.42 0.42 168.00 171.00 3.00 1.4 0.75 0.75 208.00 211.40 3.40 1.6 0.42 0.42 227.00 234.00 7.00 3.3 0.90 0.90 incl 229.00 231.00 2.00 0.9 1.98 1.98 279.85 306.20 26.35 12.8 0.59 0.59 incl 296.00 298.55 2.55 1.2 1.18 1.18 316.00 322.30 6.30 3.1 0.43 0.43 329.90 332.00 2.10 1.0 0.95 0.95 342.00 348.00 6.00 3.0 0.63 0.63 390.00 415.30 25.30 12.7 0.92 0.92 incl 391.85 395.00 3.15 1.6 5.15 5.15 423.00 429.00 6.00 3.0 0.38 0.38 MMD-25-195 213.45 219.00 5.55 2.2 0.52 0.52 302.40 314.90 12.50 5.2 0.31 0.31 328.00 334.45 6.45 2.7 0.51 0.51 392.00 399.00 7.00 2.9 0.31 0.31 Intersections calculated above a 0.3 g/t Au cut off with a top cut of 30 g/t Au and a maximum internal waste interval of 5 metres. Shaded intervals are intersections calculated above a 1.0 g/t Au cut off. Intervals in bold are those with a grade thickness factor exceeding 20 gram x metres / tonne gold. True widths are approximate and assume a subvertical body. Table 2: Drill Collars HOLE EAST NORTH RL AZIMUTH DIP EOH MMD-25-172 668,831 5,378,606 426 328.0 -66.5 252.00 MMD-25-173 668,795 5,378,690 426 328.1 -66.9 252.00 MMD-25-184 668,537 5,378,547 437 80.2 -44.8 249.00 MMD-25-186 668,537 5,378,546 437 100.6 -44.9 291.00 MMD-25-187 668,537 5,378,546 437 100.7 -65.0 429.00 MMD-25-195 668,412 5,378,643 428 92.1 -44.9 411.10 Analytical and QA/QC Procedures The HQ diameter drill core (NQ-diameter for holes MMD-25-172 and -173) has been oriented using ACTIII or equivalent tools and validated in the core shack. All core has been sawed in half cut just off the core orientation line (bottom of hole) with the right half (looking down hole) of the core bagged and sent a third-party analytical laboratory. The left half of the core was returned to core boxes and is stored at Goldshore's Kashabowie core yard facility. All samples were sent to ALS Geochemistry in Thunder Bay for preparation and analysis was performed in the ALS Vancouver analytical facility. ALS is accredited by the Standards Council of Canada (SCC) for the Accreditation of Mineral Analysis Testing Laboratories and CAN-P-4E ISO/IEC 17025. Samples were analysed for gold via fire assay with an AA finish ("Au-AA23") and 48 pathfinder elements via ICP-MS after four-acid digestion ("ME-MS61"). Samples that assayed over 10 ppm Au were re-run via fire assay with a gravimetric finish ("Au-GRA21"). In addition to ALS quality assurance / quality control ("QA/QC") protocols, Goldshore has implemented a quality control program for all samples collected through the drilling program. The quality control program was designed by a qualified and independent third party, with a focus on the quality of analytical results for gold. Analytical results are received, imported to our secure on-line database and evaluated to meet our established guidelines to ensure that all sample batches pass industry best practice for analytical quality control. Certified reference materials are considered acceptable if values returned are within three standard deviations of the certified value reported by the manufacture of the material. In addition to the certified reference material, certified blank material is included in the sample stream to monitor contamination during sample preparation. Blank material results are assessed based on the returned gold result being less than ten times the quoted lower detection limit of the analytical method. The results of the on-going analytical quality control program are evaluated and reported to Goldshore by Orix Geoscience Inc. Qualified Person Peter Flindell, PGeo, MAusIMM, MAIG, Vice-President, Exploration, of the Company, and a qualified person under National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, has approved the scientific and technical information contained in this news release. Mr. Flindell has verified the data disclosed. To verify the information related to the winter drill program at the Moss Gold Project, Mr. Flindell has visited the property several times; discussed and reviewed logging, sampling, bulk density, core cutting and sample shipping processes with responsible site staff; discussed and reviewed assay and QA/QC results with responsible personnel; and reviewed supporting documentation, including drill hole location and orientation and significant assay interval calculations. He has also overseen the Company's health and safety policies in the field to ensure full compliance, and consulted with the Project's host indigenous communities on the planning and implementation of the drill program, particularly with respect to its impact on the environment and the Company's remediation protocols. Amendment to NPI Agreement The Company also announces that it has entered into an amending agreement to the net profit interest ("NPI") purchase agreement dated May 1, 2025 (the "Agreement"), previously disclosed in the Company's news release dated May 30, 2025. Pursuant to the amendment, the Company has set a limit on the number of shares issuable to the NPI vendor as part of the final consideration payable under the Agreement. Specifically, the total number of shares issuable on the fourth anniversary of the NPI Agreement will not exceed 1,176,470 common shares. All other terms and conditions of the Agreement remain unchanged. About Goldshore Goldshore is a growth-oriented gold company focused on delivering long-term shareholder and stakeholder value through the acquisition and advancement of primary gold assets in tier-one jurisdictions. It is led by the ex-global head of structural geology for the world's largest gold company and backed by one of Canada's pre-eminent private equity firms. The Company's current focus is the advanced stage 100% owned Moss Gold Project which is positioned in Ontario, Canada, with direct access from the Trans-Canada Highway, hydroelectric power near site, supportive local communities and skilled workforce. The Company has invested over $75 million of new capital and completed approximately 100,000 meters of drilling on the Moss Gold Project, which, in aggregate, has had over 255,000 meters of drilling. The 2024 updated NI 43-101 mineral resource estimate ("MRE") has expanded to 1.54 million ounces of Indicated gold resources at 1.23 g/t Au and 5.20 million ounces of Inferred gold resources at 1.11 g/t Au. The MRE only encompasses 3.6 kilometers of the 35+ kilometer mineralized trend, remains open at depth and along strike and is one of the few remaining major Canadian gold deposits positioned for development in this cycle. Please see NI 43-101 technical report titled: "Technical Report and Updated Mineral Resource Estimate for the Moss Gold Project, Ontario, Canada," dated March 20, 2024 with an effective date of January 31, 2024 available under the Company's SEDAR+ profile at www.sedarplus.ca. For more information, please visit SEDAR+ (www.sedarplus.ca) and the Company's website (www.goldshoreresources.com). Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains statements that constitute "forward-looking statements." Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements, or developments to differ materially from the anticipated results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such 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. Forward-looking statements in this news release include, among others, statements relating to expectations regarding the exploration and development of the Moss Gold Project; the potential mineralization at the Moss Gold Project based on the winter drill program, including the potential for additional mineral resources; the enhancement of the Moss Gold Project; statements regarding the Company's future drill plans, including the expected benefits and results thereof; that the Superion target has the potential to significantly add to the current mineral resource estimate within the top 200 meters from surface with continued drilling and to reduce the overall strip ratio of the deposit; the potential for resource growth at Moss and the fact that the results have the potential to significantly impact the economic performance of the deposit moving forward; the potential for a much larger mineralized system and that it will be pursued in the near future through additional drilling; and other statements that are not historical facts. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or other future events, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors and risks include, among others: uncertainty and variation in the estimation of mineral resources; risks related to exploration, development, and operation activities; exploration and development of the Moss Gold Project will not be undertaken as anticipated; the Company may require additional financing from time to time in order to continue its operations which may not be available when needed or on acceptable terms and conditions acceptable; the economic performance of the deposit may not be consistent with management's expectations; the Company's exploration work may not deliver the results expected; the fluctuating price of gold; unknown liabilities in connection with acquisitions; compliance with extensive government regulation; delays in obtaining or failure to obtain governmental permits, or non-compliance with permits; environmental and other regulatory requirements; domestic and foreign laws and regulations could adversely affect the Company's business and results of operations; risks related to natural disasters, terrorist acts, health crises, and other disruptions and dislocations; global financial conditions; uninsured risks; climate change risks; competition from other companies and individuals; conflicts of interest; risks related to compliance with anti-corruption laws; the Company's limited operating history; intervention by non-governmental organizations; outside contractor risks; the stock markets have experienced volatility that often has been unrelated to the performance of companies and these fluctuations may adversely affect the price of the Company's securities, regardless of its operating performance; the Superion target may not add to the current mineral resource; and other risks associated with executing the Company's objectives and strategies as well as those risk factors discussed in the Company's continuous disclosure documents filed under the Company's SEDAR+ profile at www.sedarplus.ca. The forward-looking information in this news release is based on management's reasonable expectations and assumptions as of the date of this news release. Certain material assumptions regarding such forward-looking statements were made, including without limitation, assumptions regarding: the future price of gold; anticipated costs and the Company's ability to fund its programs; the Company's ability to carry on exploration, development and mining activities; prices for energy inputs, labour, materials, supplies and services; the timing and results of drilling programs; mineral resource estimates and the assumptions on which they are based; the discovery of mineral resources and mineral reserves on the Company's mineral properties; the timely receipt of required approvals and permits; the costs of operating and exploration expenditures; the Company's ability to operate in a safe, efficient, and effective manner; the Company's ability to obtain financing as and when required and on reasonable terms; that the Company's activities will be in accordance with the Company's public statements and stated goals; that the Superion target will add to the current mineral resource; that the Company's exploration work will deliver the results expected; and that there will be no material adverse change or disruptions affecting the Company or its properties. The forward-looking information contained in this news release represents the expectations of the Company as of the date of this news release and, accordingly, is subject to change after such date. There can be no assurances that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Readers should not place undue importance on forward-looking information and should not rely upon this information as of any other date. 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. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/261723 SOURCE: Goldshore Resources Inc. Manila, Philippines--(Newsfile Corp. - August 8, 2025) - St. Augustine Gold and Copper Limited (TSX: SAU) ("St. Augustine" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Michael G. Regino to its Board of Directors, effectively immediately. Mr. Regino replaces Mr. Johnny Aurelio C. Felizardo, who recently passed away. Mr. Regino is the Company's Chief Operating Officer and a business executive with over 35 years of extensive managerial experience in construction, real estate development and mining. Mr. Regino is also managing director of TVI Resource Development Phils Inc., which has interests in mining and processing of precious metals, copper and zinc, among others. Mr. Regino recently served as commissioner, and then as President and CEO, of the Social Security System, for which he drove efficiencies, built its investment portfolio and delivered over P1 trillion in benefits to its members during his tenure. He was likewise a board of director of two public companies in the last five years: Union Bank of the Philippines and Philex Mining. The Company expresses its deepest condolences on the passing of Mr. Johnny Aurelio C. Felizardo, who served with distinction and dedication. His contributions to the Company were significant and long-lasting. About St. Augustine St. Augustine (SAU.T) is a TSX-listed mining company focused on the development of the Kingking Copper-Gold Project. The Project is one of the largest undeveloped copper-gold deposits in the world and is listed as a top three-priority mining project by the Philippine government. CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS This announcement includes certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact included herein are forward looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve various risks and uncertainties and are based on certain factors and assumptions. While we consider these assumptions to be reasonable based on currently available information, they may prove to be incorrect. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Forward-looking information is also subject to certain factors, including risks and uncertainties, that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company's current expectations, including changes in market conditions, governmental or regulatory developments and general economic conditions. Other risks and uncertainties related to the Company are disclosed under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Information Form dated March 31, 2025 and filed with Canadian securities regulatory authorities on the SEDAR+ website at www.sedarplus.ca . Forward-looking information contained in this announcement is based on our current estimates, expectations and projections, which we believe are reasonable as of the current date. You should not place undue importance on forward-looking information and should not rely on this information as of any other date. While we may elect to, we are under no obligation and do not undertake to update this information at any particular time except as required by applicable securities law. ST. AUGUSTINE CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS No.21, Greenwood Lane, Singapore, 286949 To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/261747 SOURCE: St. Augustine Gold and Copper Limited MAC Copper Limited ARBN 671 963 198 (NYSE:MTAL; ASX:MAC) MAC Copper Limited (NYSE:MTAL, ASX:MAC) ("MAC" or the "Company") is pleased to provide the following update on the proposed acquisition of 100% of the issued share capital in MAC by Harmony Gold (Australia) Pty Ltd (a wholly owned subsidiary of Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited (JSE:HAR, NYSE:HMY)) ("Harmony") by way of a Jersey law scheme of arrangement pursuant to Article 125 of the Companies (Jersey) Law 1991 (as amended) ("Scheme Capitalised terms used in this announcement have the meaning given to them in the Scheme Circular, a copy of which is attached to MAC's announcement released on 31 July 2025. Update on regulatory conditions precedent MAC has been notified by Harmony that Harmony has received written confirmation from the Financial Surveillance Department of the South African Reserve Bank that it has no objection to the implementation of the Scheme and Harmony's intended funding of the Scheme Consideration. Accordingly, the regulatory condition precedent in clause 3.1(d) of the Implementation Deed has now been satisfied. MAC CEO, Mick McMullen, commented: "The receipt of regulatory approval from SARB marks another significant step towards implementation of the Transaction. With the Restructuring Documents having been fully executed and all remaining deliverables to satisfy the Consents Condition well underway, that workstream is materially resolved. Earlier this week, the Scheme Circular was dispatched, giving shareholders the opportunity to cast their vote. We strongly encourage all shareholders to vote well ahead of the 26 August 2025 (for MAC CDI Holders) and 27 August 2025 cut-off (for MAC Shareholders and Scheme Shareholders). The MAC Directors remain unanimous in recommending that Scheme Shareholders vote in favour of the Scheme at the Court Meeting and that MAC Shareholders vote in favour of the General Meeting Resolution, in the absence of a Superior Proposal." The Scheme remains subject to the Scheme and the General Meeting Resolution being approved by the requisite majorities of Scheme Shareholders and MAC Shareholders (as applicable) at the Meetings, Harmony obtaining approval from Australia's Foreign Investment Review Board, certain specified conditions precedent to the Streams Restructure Deed being satisfied or waived, the Court sanctioning the Scheme at the Court Sanction Hearing and other customary Conditions set out in the Scheme Circular. Court Meeting and General Meeting The Court Meeting and General Meeting will be held at 44 Esplanade, St Helier, Jersey JE4 PWG and online via the Virtual Meeting Platform at 12:30 pm (Jersey time) 7:30 am (New York time) 9:30 pm (Sydney time) on Friday, 29 August 2025 (for the Court Meeting) and at 1:00 pm (Jersey time) 8:00 am (New York time) 10:00 pm (Sydney time) on Friday, 29 August 2025 (for the General Meeting) (or as soon thereafter as the Court Meeting has concluded or been adjourned). Each MAC Shareholder whose name appears on the Share Register at 4:00 pm (New York time) on Tuesday, 29 July 2025 will be entitled to attend and vote on all resolutions to be put to the Court Meeting and the General Meeting. Further information If, after reading the Scheme Circular, you have any questions about the Scheme or the Scheme Circular, please contact MAC's proxy solicitation firm, Sodali Co, at: If you are a MAC Shareholder Call toll-free in US: +1 (800) 662-5200 Outside of US: +1 (203) 658-9400 If you are a MAC CDI Holder Within Australia: 1300 229 418 Outside Australia: +61 2 9066 4059 This announcement has been authorised for release by Mick McMullen, CEO and Director. About MAC Copper Limited MAC Copper Limited (NYSE:MTAL; ASX:MAC) is a company focused on operating and acquiring metals and mining businesses in high quality, stable jurisdictions that are critical in the electrification and decarbonization of the global economy. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250808381085/en/ Contacts: Mick McMullen Chief Executive Officer Director MAC Copper Limited investors@metalsacqcorp.com Morne Engelbrecht Chief Financial Officer MAC Copper Limited Recognized as an 'Exceptional Performer' for the Second Year Running LONDON, Aug. 8, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Infosys (NSE: INFY) (BSE: INFY) (NYSE: INFY), a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting, today announced that it has been recognized as the number one service provider in Cloud & Infrastructure Services across the United Kingdom and Ireland (UK&I) in the Whitelane Research IT Sourcing Study 2025 UK & Ireland. The report ranked Infosys as an 'Exceptional Performer' for the second consecutive year. This reaffirms its leadership in delivering high-quality cloud and infrastructure solutions to global enterprises driven by the comprehensive capabilities of Infosys Cobalt, a set of services, solutions, and platforms for enterprises to accelerate their cloud journey. Whitelane Research surveyed close to 400 participants from the top IT spending organizations in the UK&I, who evaluated over 1,000 unique IT sourcing relationships and more than 1,100 cloud platform sourcing engagements. Service providers were assessed based on their service delivery, account management quality, price level, innovation, and business transformation capabilities. Infosys' key differentiating factors highlighted in the report include: Ranked number one in UK&I in the Cloud & Infrastructure Services category: Infosys achieved an 80% client satisfaction score for its expertise in data center maintenance, integration, and managed infrastructure services, and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS) offerings. Infosys achieved an 80% client satisfaction score for its expertise in data center maintenance, integration, and managed infrastructure services, and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS) offerings. 'Exceptional Performer' for Two Consecutive Years (2024 & 2025) : Highlights consistent high performance in cloud and infrastructure solutions. : Highlights consistent high performance in cloud and infrastructure solutions. Among Top 3 in General Satisfaction Infosys maintained its strong position for overall 'General Satisfaction', demonstrating consistent performance across its broad range of IT services. Infosys maintained its strong position for overall 'General Satisfaction', demonstrating consistent performance across its broad range of IT services. Above-Market Satisfaction: Infosys' overall satisfaction scores are 6% higher than the market average (74%) in cloud & infrastructure services, and 7% above the general satisfaction ranking. Infosys' overall satisfaction scores are 6% higher than the market average (74%) in cloud & infrastructure services, and 7% above the general satisfaction ranking. High Client Satisfaction: 73% of clients reported being 'satisfied' or 'very satisfied', with 100% positive satisfaction in the Cloud & Infrastructure Services segment. 73% of clients reported being 'satisfied' or 'very satisfied', with 100% positive satisfaction in the Cloud & Infrastructure Services segment. Strong Performer in Application Services: Infosys was also recognized as a 'Strong Performer' in Application Services, which includes application development, maintenance, and testing using advanced methodologies like DevOps. Alex van den Bergh, Head of Research, Europe, Whitelane Research, said, "Our latest study reveals a dynamic market where enterprises are increasingly prioritizing robust, innovative, and value-driven IT partnerships. In this evolving landscape, Infosys stands out remarkably. Their recognition as the number one service provider and as an 'Exceptional Performer' in Cloud & Infrastructure Services for the second consecutive year underscores their unmatched capabilities. Looking ahead, the demand for agile, secure, and transformative cloud and digital solutions will only intensify, and organizations who consistently demonstrate high-impact results and client-centricity, are perfectly positioned to lead this future." Umashankar Lakshmipathy, EVP and Head of Cloud, Infrastructure, and Security Services, EMEA, Infosys, said, "We are incredibly proud to be recognized by Whitelane Research as the number one service provider and an 'Exceptional Performer' in the Cloud & Infrastructure Services across the UK & Ireland. Our ability to consistently deliver such high levels of satisfaction, including an 80% client satisfaction score, stems from a fundamental principle: deeply understanding our clients' unique challenges and leveraging our expertise in data center, managed infrastructure, IaaS/PaaS, and application services, including our comprehensive Infosys Cobalt offerings, to provide transformative solutions. We remain committed to empowering enterprises with next-generation digital capabilities, driving their growth and resilience in a cloud-first, AI-first world." Read more about the 2025 Whitelane UK & Ireland study here. Learn more about Infosys cloud and infrastructure offerings, please visit www.infosys.com/cobalt About Infosys Infosys is a global leader in next-generation digital services and consulting. Over 320,000 of our people work to amplify human potential and create the next opportunity for people, businesses, and communities. We enable clients in 59 countries to navigate their digital transformation. With over four decades of experience in managing the systems and workings of global enterprises, we expertly steer clients, as they navigate their digital transformation powered by cloud and AI. We enable them with an AI-first core, empower the business with agile digital at scale and drive continuous improvement with always-on learning through the transfer of digital skills, expertise, and ideas from our innovation ecosystem. We are deeply committed to being a well-governed, environmentally sustainable organization where diverse talent thrives in an inclusive workplace. Visit www.infosys.com to see how Infosys (NSE, BSE, NYSE: INFY) can help your enterprise navigate your next. Safe Harbor Certain statements in this release concerning our future growth prospects, or our future financial or operating performance, are forward-looking statements intended to qualify for the 'safe harbor' under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which involve a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties relating to these statements include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties regarding the execution of our business strategy, increased competition for talent, our ability to attract and retain personnel, increase in wages, investments to reskill our employees, our ability to effectively implement a hybrid work model, economic uncertainties and geo-political situations, technological disruptions and innovations such as artificial intelligence ("AI"), generative AI, the complex and evolving regulatory landscape including immigration regulation changes, our ESG vision, our capital allocation policy and expectations concerning our market position, future operations, margins, profitability, liquidity, capital resources, our corporate actions including acquisitions, and cybersecurity matters. Important factors that may cause actual results or outcomes to differ from those implied by the forward-looking statements are discussed in more detail in our US Securities and Exchange Commission filings including our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2025. These filings are available at www.sec.gov. Infosys may, from time to time, make additional written and oral forward-looking statements, including statements contained in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission and our reports to shareholders. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements that may be made from time to time by or on behalf of the Company unless it is required by law. Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/633365/4364085/Infosys_Logo.jpg View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/infosys-recognized-as-number-one-service-provider-in-cloud--infrastructure-services-in-the-whitelane-research-it-sourcing-study-2025-uk--ireland-302525216.html SHANGHAI, Aug. 8, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- UnionPay International ("UPI" or "the Company"), a global leader in payment solutions, has announced an exclusive promotion in partnership with InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) offering an instant discount of up to 15% in China for global UnionPay credit cardholders. A total of over 500 designated hotels in Chinese mainland that support UnionPay online payment are included in the offer, aimed at enhancing the travel payment experience for international UnionPay cardholders. InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) is a globally leading international hotel management company with over 20 hotel brands. Its luxury and lifestyle hotel brands participating in this promotion include Six Senses Hotels, Resorts & Spas, Regent Hotels & Resorts, Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, Vignette Collection, and Hotel Indigo. Premium hotel brands include Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts, HUALUXE Hotels & Resorts, EVEN Hotels, and voco hotels. Mid-to-upscale brands include Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express. In Chinese mainland IHG operates over 800 hotels, with more than 530 now supporting UnionPay online payments and participating in this promotion. Between June 10 and October 31, 2025, cardholders using UnionPay credit cards issued outside Chinese mainland can enjoy instant hotel discounts when booking eligible properties in Chinese mainland through the official InterContinental Hotels website or IHG One Rewards Mobile App, where UnionPay online payment is accepted at the checkout. Customers using UnionPay credit cards issued in South Korea or UnionPay SplendorPlus Credit Cards will receive 15% off, up to 400 RMB. Those using other UnionPay credit cards issued overseas will receive 10% off, up to 200 RMB. UnionPay's extensive network ensures wide coverage in China, with near-universal acceptance at ATMs and mainstream merchants. More than 200 million UnionPay cards have been issued in 83 countries and regions outside the Chinese mainland, allowing international visitors to benefit from real-time currency conversion without excessive fees. Many popular mobile wallets abroad support UnionPay QR codes, enabling hassle-free in-store payments-no additional apps required. Travelers can also link their overseas-issued UnionPay cards to Alipay or WeChat Pay, enjoying promotional discounts with zero extra fees. As part of its continued development, UnionPay introduced SplendorPlus, a new card product tailored to international visitors to China last year. The SplendorPlus card comes with a suite of core benefits, including domestic airport privileges, access to popular tourist attractions, cultural and artistic experiences, local culinary perks, and 1% cashback on spending in Chinese mainland. To date, UnionPay International has partnered with 56 institutions across 20 overseas markets to launch or sign agreements for the SplendorPlus program, covering over 10 million cards. About InterContinental Hotels Group InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) is a globally leading international hotel management company with over 20 hotel brands, operating more than 6,000 hotels across 110 countries and regions. Its luxury and lifestyle hotel brands include Six Senses Hotels, Resorts & Spas, Regent Hotels & Resorts, Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, Vignette Collection, and Hotel Indigo. Premium hotel brands include Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts, HUALUXE Hotels & Resorts, EVEN Hotels, and voco hotels. Mid-to-upscale brands include Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express. In Chinese mainland, IHG operates over 800 hotels, with more than 500 hotels now supporting UnionPay online payments and participating in the above promotion. About UnionPay International UnionPay International (UPI) is focused on the growth and support of UnionPay's global business. Working with over 2,600 partners worldwide, UPI enables card acceptance in 183 countries and regions with issuance in 84 countries and regions. UnionPay International provides high quality, cost effective and secure cross-border payment services to the world's largest cardholder base and ensures convenient local services to a growing number of global UnionPay cardholders and merchants. View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/unionpay-international-launches-exclusive-promotion-with-intercontinental-hotels-group-for-global-visitors-to-china-302525224.html To view a summary of today's press release by Ridgeline CEO Chad Peters, click HERE Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - August 8, 2025) - Ridgeline Minerals Corp. (TSXV: RDG) (OTCQB: RDGMF) (FSE: 0GC0) ("Ridgeline" or the "Company") is pleased to provide assay results for the maiden two-hole drill program at the Company's Atlas project, Nevada (Figure 1). Atlas is an early-stage Carlin-Type oxide gold prospect and is 100%-owned by the Company with no underlying work commitments or royalties. Details on the drill program are highlighted below. Mike Harp, Ridgeline's Vice President, Exploration commented, "We are pleased that our maiden drill program confirmed that our Atlas project exhibits both the scale and grade potential that's required to host a significant gold deposit. The first two drill holes at Atlas were completed in the northernmost section of a greater than four-kilometer gold trend. With a limited budget this year, our focus was testing the favourable Pennsylvanian to Permian age carbonate host rock section to confirm whether those host rocks showed evidence of a Carlin-Type gold system." Mr. Harp continues, "Both holes returned thick intercepts of anomalous oxide gold and Carlin-Type alteration, with hole AT25-001 exhibiting a stronger gold vector to the south than AT25-002. Hole AT25-001 intersected 298 meters of continuous Carlin-Type alteration and mineralization with elevated pathfinder elements, anomalous gold, and up to 1.8 g/t gold in individual samples." Mr. Harp concludes, "Mineralization at Atlas appears to be hosted within the same thick section of Pennsylvanian to Permian age host rocks that host Orla Mining's nearby Dark Star deposit. Our team interprets the first two holes as having intersected a low-grade gold and trace element halo that is typically associated with the outer margins of Carlin-Type gold deposits. We will continue to focus on land consolidation and additional field work throughout the remainder of the 2025 field season with the goal of a Phase II drill program in 2026 to follow up on these results." Drill Program Highlights The maiden program completed two core holes totaling 551 meters ("m") in the northern section of the Atlas land package. Drilling targeted favourable Pennsylvanian to Permian ("Penn-Perm") age debris-flow conglomerates, limestones, and siltstone host rocks along a roughly 1-kilometer ("km") trend of elevated gold-in-soils and rock chips grading up to 7.7 g/t Au (Figure 2). AT25-001 drilled to the east and down-dip of gold bearing and partially eroded Penn-Perm host rocks and intersected a highlight intercept of: 0.2 m grading 1.80 grams per tonne ("g/t") gold ("Au") and 2.10 g/t silver ("Ag") within 8.5 m grading 0.20 g/t Au and 0.52 g/t Ag starting at a true vertical depth ("TVD") of 80 meters (Figure 3 & Picture 1) Additional results include multiple 1.0 to 5.0-meter intercepts throughout the hole ranging from 0.1 to 0.5 g/t Au and 0.1- to 5.0 g/t Ag starting at 30m TVD starting at a true vertical depth ("TVD") of 80 meters (Figure 3 & Picture 1) Drilling also intersected high-grade silver intercepts within clay altered fault zones that returned 1.5m grading 75.1 g/t Ag and 0.5m grading 52.5 g/t Ag (Figure 3) The hole returned 297.9m grading 0.01 g/t Au, 0.41 g/t Ag and bottomed in anomalous Au mineralization AT25-002 was collared approximately 700m north of AT25-001 and drilled to the west towards the same gold bearing and partially eroded Penn-Perm host rocks and intersected a highlight intercept of: 5.9m grading 0.20 g/t Au and 2.43 g/t Ag starting at 124m TVD and; 2.6m grading 0.25 g/t Au and 2.59 g/t Ag within 9.8m grading 0.15 g/t Au and 2.20 g/t Ag starting at 182 m TVD (Figure 2) and; 1.4m grading 31.6 g/t Ag within a clay altered fault zone The top of AT25-001 intersected 106m of andesite (volcanic rocks) with the remainder of the hole drilling a partial section of Penn-Perm rocks that returned 147.6 m grading 0.01 g/t Au and 0.41 g/t Ag Geologic Interpretation Both holes intersected a thicker than anticipated section of Penn-Perm debris-flow conglomerate host rocks (150-300m), which exhibited weak to strong Carlin-Type alteration and oxide mineralization throughout with both holes bottoming in oxide mineralization. Anomalous gold-silver and Carlin-type trace element pathfinders were observed throughout both drillholes with the highest values (up to 1.8 g/t Au and 75.1 g/t Ag) associated with strongly altered and mineralized Penn-Perm carbonate host rocks Compared to AT25-001, hole AT25-002 exhibited similar zones of widespread silicification, decalcification, and oxidation. However, AT25-002 returned weaker Au values overall Results from these two holes indicate a potential vector to the south where the intersection of a northeast and northwest trending fault corridor coincides with a kilometer-scale gold in soils and rock chip anomaly Figure 1: Ridgeline's 200-kilometer exploration portfolio with Atlas located southwest of the Carlin Trend To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/7298/261781_fad8457d64b04b5b_001full.jpg Figure 2: Plan view map of the Atlas project with Ridgelines 2025 drillholes testing the northern Atlas block To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/7298/261781_fad8457d64b04b5b_002full.jpg QA/QC Procedures Samples are submitted to American Assay Laboratories (AAL) of Sparks, Nevada, which is a certified and accredited laboratory, independent of the Company. Independent check samples are sent to Paragon Geochemical Labs (PAL) of Sparks, Nevada. Samples are prepared using industry-standard prep methods and analysed using FA-PB30-ICP (Au; 30g fire assay) and ICP-5AM48 (48 element Suite; 0.5g 5-acid digestion/ICP-MS) methods at AAL and analysed using a photon assay (Au-Ag, 500g) at Paragon. AAL and Paragon also undertake their own internal coarse and pulp duplicate analysis to ensure proper sample preparation and equipment calibration. Ridgeline's QA/QC program includes regular insertion of CRM standards, duplicates, and blanks into the sample stream with a stringent review of all results completed by the Company's Qualified Person, Michael T. Harp, Vice President, Exploration. The technical information contained in this news release has been prepared under the supervision of, and approved by Michael T. Harp, CPG, the Company's Vice President, Exploration. Mr. Harp is a "qualified person" as defined under National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Project. Figure 3: X-Section A-A' showing 297.7m of continuous Carlin-Type alteration and mineralization, which returned highlights intercepts grading up to 1.8 g/t Au and 75.1 g/t Ag in individual samples To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/7298/261781_fad8457d64b04b5b_003full.jpg Picture 1: Core photos of AT25-001 showing variably altered, mineralized and pervasively oxidized debris flows and calcarenites of the Penn-Perm age Tomera Fm. To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/7298/261781_fad8457d64b04b5b_004full.jpg Atlas Project Atlas is located in Eureka County, Nevada, approximately 30 kilometers southwest of the town of Carlin, NV. The property exhibits classic Carlin-Type alteration and gold mineralization within outcropping Pennsylvanian to Permian age carbonate to siliciclastic host rocks. The primary target at Atlas is a bulk tonnage, oxide, Carlin-Type gold system, which is analogous to the nearby Dark Star gold deposit (part of the greater Railroad Mining District), which is currently owned by Orla Mining and advancing towards mine development. The 100% owned Project is comprised of a total of six square kilometers of highly prospective exploration ground that has never been drill tested and will benefit from the Ridgeline teams' systematic approach to discovery. About Ridgeline Minerals Corp. Ridgeline Minerals is a discovery focused precious and base metal explorer with a proven management team and a 200 km2 exploration portfolio across seven projects in Nevada, USA. The Company is a hybrid explorer with a mix of 100%-owned exploration assets (Big Blue, Atlas, Bell Creek & Coyote) as well as two earn-in exploration agreements with Nevada Gold Mines at its Swift and Black Ridge projects and a third earn-in with South32 at its Selena project. More information about Ridgeline can be found at www.ridgelineminerals.com. On behalf of the Board "Chad Peters" President & CEO Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service 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 Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements Statements contained in this press release that are not historical facts are "forward-looking information" or "forward-looking statements" (collectively, "Forward-Looking Information") within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation and the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-Looking Information includes, but is not limited to, the anticipated benefits of the Earn-In Agreement and the transaction contemplated thereby. The words "potential", "anticipate", "meaningful", "discovery", "forecast", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "may", "will", "project", "plan", "historical", "historic" and similar expressions are intended to be among the statements that identify Forward-Looking Information. Forward-Looking Information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results to be materially different from any future results expressed or implied by the Forward-Looking Information. In preparing the Forward-Looking Information in this news release, Ridgeline has applied several material assumptions, including, but not limited to, assumptions that TSX Venture Exchange approval will be granted in a timely manner subject only to standard conditions; the current objectives concerning the Project can be achieved and that its other corporate activities will proceed as expected; that general business and economic conditions will not change in a materially adverse manner; and that all requisite information will be available in a timely manner. Forward-Looking Information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements of Ridgeline to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the Forward-Looking Information. Such risks and other factors include, among others, risks related to dependence on key personnel; risks related to unforeseen delays; risks related to historical data that has not been verified by the Company; as well as those factors discussed in Ridgeline's public disclosure record. Although Ridgeline has attempted to identify important factors that could affect Ridgeline and may cause actual actions, events, or results to differ materially from those described in Forward-Looking Information, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that Forward-Looking Information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on Forward-Looking Information. Except as required by law, Ridgeline does not assume any obligation to release publicly any revisions to Forward-Looking Information contained in this news release to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/261781 SOURCE: Ridgeline Minerals Corp. Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - August 8, 2025) - YORK HARBOUR METALS INC. (CSE: YORK) (OTC Pink: YORKF) (FSE: 5DE) (the "Company" or "York Harbour") is pleased to announce that it has sold 25 million ordinary shares of Firetail Resources Limited (ASX: FTL) ("Firetail"), generating net proceeds of approximately CAD $1.71 million. Following this sale, York Harbour holds approximately CAD $1.8 million in cash and retains ownership of 54 million ordinary shares of Firetail, which are currently trading at AUD $0.094 per share. York Harbour continues to hold a 51% interest in the York Harbour Project along with a 2% net smelter return royalty. Under the terms of the option agreement with Firetail, York Harbour may receive an additional 75 million Firetail shares and AUD $300,000 in cash if Firetail completes the earn-in to acquire an 80% interest in the project. Upon completion of the earn-in, York Harbour will retain a 20% free-carried interest. Firetail has been actively advancing the York Harbour Project, having completed extensive geophysical work during the spring and summer of 2025. Firetail has advised York Harbour of its intention to commence drilling in 2026. "Firetail has been an outstanding partner for York Harbour," said Blair Naughty, CEO of York Harbour Metals. "Their geological team has done excellent work identifying new targets to expand the resource at York Harbour. In addition, Firetail has acquired a highly prospective gold project in Nevada and successfully raised an additional AUD $5 million this week at AUD $0.08 per share. We're a proud and supportive shareholder, and we couldn't be more pleased with how they're managing both the project and their broader company strategy." York Harbour is also engaged in active discussions with several parties to advance its high-grade Bottom Brook rare earth property. Looking ahead, the Company is positioning itself as a strategic gatherer and monetizer of undervalued assets. "This is the model I've built my career on - spotting emerging trends early, acquiring quality assets ahead of the crowd, and then capitalizing once the market catches up," added Blair Naughty, CEO. "Whether it's optioning out properties or rolling private assets into public companies, the focus is on generating value for shareholders. I plan to apply the same playbook that I've refined over 36 years in the public markets - now for the benefit of York Harbour shareholders, where I'm also a 25% owner." About York Harbour Metals York Harbour Metals Inc. is a Canadian exploration company focused on acquiring, developing, and strategically positioning mineral assets with strong value potential. The Company maintains a significant equity position in Firetail Resources Limited, holds an interest in the York Harbour copper-zinc project, and owns the high-grade Bottom Brook rare earth property. On Behalf of the Board of Directors, "Blair Naughty" CEO and President For further details, please contact: Forward-Looking Statements: This news release includes certain statements and information that may constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking statements relate to future events or future performance and reflect the expectations or beliefs of management of the Company regarding future events. Generally, forward-looking statements and information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "intends", "believes" or "anticipates", or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "should", "would" or "occur". This information and these statements, referred to herein as "forward-looking statements", are not historical facts, are made as of the date of this news release and include without limitation, statements regarding discussions of future plans, estimates and forecasts and statements as to management's expectations and intentions including statements that the Company will position itself as a strategic gatherer and monetizer of undervalued assets and that it will generate value for its shareholders. Although management of the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements or forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and forward-looking information. Readers are cautioned that reliance on such information may not be appropriate for other purposes. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement, forward-looking information or financial out-look that are incorporated by reference herein, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor the Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/261785 SOURCE: York Harbour Metals Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - August 8, 2025) - Universal Digital Inc. (CSE: LFG) (FSE: 8R20) ("Universal Digital" or the "Company") announces that Timothy Chan has stepped down from his position as Chief Executive Officer of the Company, effective August 7, 2025. Mr. Chan will continue to serve as a director of the Company. The Board of Directors has appointed Christopher Yeung, the Company's current Chief Investment Officer, to assume the additional role of Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. Mr. Yeung will continue to lead the Company's investment strategy while assuming responsibility for overall corporate leadership, operations, and regulatory oversight. A seasoned blockchain and digital asset entrepreneur, Mr. Yeung has deep expertise in institutional crypto markets. He was among the first employees at BlockFi, where he established and led its Asian trading business, scaling it into a multi-billion-dollar portfolio. At BlockFi, he played a key role in the institutionalization of digital assets, helping negotiate one of the first Bitcoin EFP trades on the CME in 2019. Mr. Yeung also supported the transformation of Hex Trust from a digital asset custodian into a regulated prime broker. He began his career at Morgan Stanley. "Tim has played a critical leadership role in stewarding the Company through its recent transformation," said Peter Rhodes, Chief Financial Officer of Universal Digital. "We're grateful for his continued contributions as a director and look forward to working closely with him in this next phase." As part of Mr. Yeung's expanded role, the Company has granted him 200,000 stock options pursuant to Company's long-term incentive plan. The options are exercisable at a price of $1.00 per common share, vest immediately, and expire on August 7, 2027, subject to the terms of the plan and applicable securities laws. RSU Grants In connection with ongoing leadership contributions and to align long-term interests with shareholders, the Company also announces the grant of an aggregate of 175,000 RSUs pursuant to the Company's long-term incentive plan. The RSUs will vest in eight equal quarterly installments over a two-year period from the date of grant subject to the terms of the plan and applicable securities laws. Engagement of Has Innovations for Strategic Marketing and Visibility Services On August 7, 2025, the Company entered into an agreement with Has Innovations Trading L.L.C. ("Has Innovations") for the provision of strategic marketing and brand visibility services (the "Services"). The Services commenced on August 7, 2025 and end on November 7, 2025, with the option to extend thereafter by written mutual agreement. The Services include digital marketing strategy, investor targeting, content positioning, press release distribution, and paid advertising campaigns across platforms such as Facebook, Google Ads, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter). Has Innovations will also support broader brand awareness initiatives through digital outreach and ecosystem engagement targeting both qualified and retail investor audiences. The agreement forms part of the Company's broader capital markets communications strategy and does not constitute Investor Relations Activities as defined under securities legislation. As consideration, the Company has agreed to pay a one-time fee of USD $200,000 in cash, payable in full in advance. No securities or equity-based compensation have been or will be granted in connection with this agreement. Has Innovations and its principals are arm's length parties to the Company and do not currently hold any securities of the Company. The Company confirms that Has Innovations will not provide market making services and that compensation is not contingent on market performance or trading volume. Contact Details of Has Innovations LLC: Principal Name: Adam Savage Address: Bin Dasmal Building, Office 2B29, Al Goze Industrial First, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Email: admin@hasinnovations.net Phone: +61 405 783 399 About Universal Digital Inc. Universal Digital Inc. is a Canadian investment company focused on digital assets, businesses and private and publicly listed entities that are involved in high-growth industries, with a particular focus on blockchain, cryptocurrencies and cryptocurrency technologies. The Company aims to provide shareholders with long-term capital growth through a diversified investment approach, and to participate in the transformation of global finance through the integration of digital asset strategies. Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Cautionary Statement regarding Forward-Looking Information This news release includes certain statements and information that may constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking statements relate to future events or future performance and reflect the expectations or beliefs of management of the Company regarding future events. Generally, forward-looking statements and information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "intends" or "anticipates", or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "should", "would" or "occur". This information and these statements, referred to herein as "forward-looking statements", are not historical facts, are made as of the date of this news release and include without limitation, statements regarding discussions of future plans, estimates and forecasts and statements as to management's expectations and intentions with respect to, among other things: the expected impacts of the new Chief Executive Officer on the Company's business and operations; and the expected impact of the HAS Innovations Agreement on the Company's investor awareness and brand visibility. These forward-looking statements involve numerous risks and uncertainties and actual results might differ materially from results suggested in any forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, among other things: the Company may not receive the anticipated results on its business or operations through its new CEO; the Has Innovations Agreement may not support the Company's investor awareness and strengthen its brand visibility; the volatility of the digital asset and cryptocurrency markets; the impact of governmental or regulatory orders or decisions on the digital asset and cryptocurrency sectors; and market volatility for the Company's securities. In making the forward-looking statements in this news release, the Company has applied several material assumptions, including without limitation, that: the new CEO will benefit the Company's business and operations; the Has Innovations Agreement will support the Company's investor awareness and strengthen its brand visibility; and the digital asset and cryptocurrency sectors will continue to see growth. Although management of the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements or forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and forward-looking information. Readers are cautioned that reliance on such information may not be appropriate for other purposes. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement, forward-looking information or financial out-look that are incorporated by reference herein, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/261794 SOURCE: Universal Digital Inc. SHANGHAI, Aug. 08, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Shanghai Junshi Biosciences Co., Ltd (Junshi Biosciences, HKEX: 1877; SSE: 688180), a leading innovation-driven biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery, development, and commercialization of novel therapies, announced that the supplemental new drug application ("sNDA") for toripalimab (trade name: TUOYI) in combination with disitamab vedotin, an antibody-drug conjugate ("ADC") developed by RemeGen Co., Ltd. as the treatment of HER2-expressing (HER2 expression is defined as a HER2 immunohistochemistry test result of 1+, 2+, or 3+) locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma ("UC"), has been accepted by the National Medical Products Administration ("NMPA"). This is toripalimab's 13th application for marketing submitted in the Chinese mainland. UC is one of the ten most prevalent malignant tumors in the world, and in China, its incidence and mortality rates continue rising annually. According to the latest data from the National Cancer Center, in 2022, the number of new cases of UC in China reached 92,900, and the number of deaths reached over 40,000. UC is a serious threat to the life and health of patients, and there are huge unmet clinical needs. In 2021, toripalimab was approved for the second-line and above treatment of advanced UC, becoming the first immunotherapy drug approved for non-selective, population-based indications of advanced UC in China. Over the past 5 years, the emergence of PD-(L)1 monoclonal antibodies and novel ADCs has been continuously reshaping the treatment landscape for advanced UC. Compared with conventional chemotherapy, novel therapies have demonstrated significant improvements in terms of survival benefit and tolerability, leading to more diverse and precise treatment options for patients. The sNDA is based on results from the RC48-C016 study (NCT05302284), a multi-center, randomized, open-label and controlled phase 3 clinical trial, which evaluated the efficacy and safety of toripalimab in combination with disitamab vedotin versus gemcitabine in combination with cisplatin/carboplatin in systemic-treatment-naive patients with HER2 (human epidermal growth factor receptor 2)-expressing locally advanced or metastatic UC. The study was conducted in 74 clinical centers across China with Professor Jun GUO from Beijing Cancer Hospital and Professor Aiping ZHOU from the Cancer Hospital of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences as the principal investigators. In May 2025, the primary endpoints of progression-free survival ("PFS", based on independent radiographic review) and overall survival ("OS") of the RC48-C016 study met the pre-defined efficacy boundary. The results showed that in HER2-expressing, locally advanced or metastatic UC, toripalimab in combination with disitamab vedotin as a first-line treatment significantly improved PFS and OS compared to gemcitabine in combination with cisplatin/carboplatin. Toripalimab has a good safety profile that is consistent with previous studies, with no new safety signals identified. Further details will be presented at major international academic conferences. About Toripalimab Toripalimab is an anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody developed for its ability to block PD-1 interactions with its ligands, PD-L1 and PD-L2, and to induce PD-1 receptor internalization (endocytosis function). Blocking PD-1 interactions with PD-L1 and PD-L2 promotes the immune system's ability to attack and kill tumor cells. More than forty company-sponsored toripalimab clinical studies covering more than fifteen indications have been conducted globally by Junshi Biosciences, including in China, the United States, Europe and Southeast Asia. Ongoing or completed pivotal clinical trials evaluating the safety and efficacy of toripalimab cover a broad range of tumor types, including cancers of the lung, nasopharynx, esophagus, stomach, bladder, breast, liver, kidney, and skin. In the Chinese mainland, toripalimab was the first domestic anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody approved for marketing (approved in China as TUOYI). Currently, there are twelve approved indications for toripalimab in the Chinese mainland: unresectable or metastatic melanoma after failure of standard systemic therapy; recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) after failure of at least two lines of prior systemic therapy; locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma that failed platinum-containing chemotherapy or progressed within 12 months of neoadjuvant or adjuvant platinum-containing chemotherapy; in combination with cisplatin and gemcitabine as the first-line treatment for patients with locally recurrent or metastatic NPC; in combination with paclitaxel and cisplatin in first-line treatment of patients with unresectable locally advanced/recurrent or distant metastatic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC); in combination with pemetrexed and platinum as the first-line treatment in EGFR mutation-negative and ALK mutation-negative, unresectable, locally advanced or metastatic non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC); in combination with chemotherapy as perioperative treatment and subsequently with monotherapy as adjuvant therapy for the treatment of adult patients with resectable stage IIIA-IIIB NSCLC; in combination with axitinib for the first-line treatment of patients with medium to high risk unresectable or metastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC); in combination with etoposide plus platinum for the first-line treatment of extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (ES-SCLC); in combination with paclitaxel for injection (albumin-bound) for the first-line treatment of recurrent or metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC); in combination with bevacizumab for the first-line treatment of unresectable or metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients; first-line treatment for unresectable or metastatic melanoma. The first 10 indications have been included in the National Reimbursement Drug List (NRDL) (2024 Edition). Toripalimab is the only anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody included in the NRDL for the treatment of melanoma, perioperative treatment of NSCLC, treatment of RCC and treatment of TNBC. In October 2024, toripalimab for the treatment of recurrent or metastatic NPC was approved in Hong Kong SAR, China. Internationally, toripalimab has been approved for marketing in the United States, the European Union, India, the UK, Jordan, Australia, Singapore, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and other countries and regions. In addition, toripalimab BLAs are under review in many countries or regions around the globe. About Junshi Biosciences Founded in December 2012, Junshi Biosciences (HKEX: 1877; SSE: 688180) is an innovation-driven biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery, development and commercialization of innovative therapeutics. The company has established a diversified R&D pipeline comprising over 50 drug candidates, with five therapeutic focus areas covering cancer, autoimmune, metabolic, neurological, and infectious diseases. Five of the company's products have received approvals in China and international markets, one of which is toripalimab, China's first domestically produced and independently developed anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody. Toripalimab has been approved in 40 countries and regions including China, the US, and Europe. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Junshi Biosciences actively shouldered the social responsibilities of a Chinese pharmaceutical company through its involvement in developing etesevimab, MINDEWEI, and other novel therapies for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19. With a mission of "providing patients with world-class, trustworthy, affordable, and innovative drugs," Junshi Biosciences is "In China, For Global." At present, the company boasts approximately 2,500 employees in the United States (Maryland) and China (Shanghai, Suzhou, Beijing, Guangzhou, etc.). For more information, please visit: http://www.junshipharma.com. Junshi Biosciences Contact Information IR Team: Junshi Biosciences info@junshipharma.com + 86 021-6105 8800 PR Team: Junshi Biosciences Zhi Li zhi_li@junshipharma.com + 86 021-6105 8800 Los Angeles, California--(Newsfile Corp. - August 8, 2025) - Digital Silk, an award-winning agency focused on creating brand strategies, custom websites, and digital marketing campaigns, has noted a rise in custom web design inquiries from California-based eCommerce businesses. The increase reflects broader market interest in personalization, mobile optimization, and speed across retail experiences in 2025. Custom Web Design Demand Grows Among California eCommerce Brands, Digital Silk Reports To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/10732/261732_57ae59cb9410bab0_001full.jpg A 2024 Deloitte Digital survey found that 73% of U.S. consumers expect brands to understand their individual needs and expectations. In California's competitive online retail landscape, eCommerce companies are seeking custom web design to address user behavior insights, optimize mobile UX, and enhance visual differentiation from templated platforms. Design Flexibility Becoming a Competitive Advantage As plug-and-play website solutions reach market saturation, retailers are exploring custom design to improve functionality, brand recall, and customer retention. According to a 2024 Adobe Commerce Trend Report, the rise in composable and headless commerce is fueling demand for custom development and design capabilities. Key Features Driving Custom Design Requests Mobile-first UX with fast loading times and responsive layouts Unique homepage and product page templates tailored to user flow Integration of personalization tools and advanced filtering ADA compliance considerations for California retailers Scalable design for multi-brand or DTC expansion Commentary on Market Shift "California's eCommerce brands are rethinking templated solutions in favor of purpose-built websites that align with how their customers shop," said Gabriel Shaoolian, CEO of Digital Silk. "Custom web design offers the flexibility to support long-term growth, branding, and cross-device usability." Digital Silk continues to offer tailored web design and development services to support eCommerce businesses looking to upgrade performance and differentiation in a competitive digital retail market. About Digital Silk Digital Silk is an award-winning California Web Design Agency focused on growing brands online. With a team of seasoned experts, Digital Silk creates digital experiences through strategic branding, custom web design, and digital marketing services to help improve visibility and support engagement. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/261732 SOURCE: Digital Silk HONG KONG, Aug 8, 2025 - (ACN Newswire) - Currently, advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) technology are driving the evolution of AI from iterative improvements in algorithms to significant breakthroughs in computational infrastructure. During this round of technological evolution, a massive demand for AI inference computing is emerging, setting new benchmarks for the architecture and cost-efficiency of computing power. Compared with general-purpose GPU architectures, NPU chips designed specifically for AI inference scenarios have become the foundation supporting the large-scale commercialization of AI industries due to the advantages such as high cost-effectiveness, energy efficiency and customization. These chips are gradually becoming one of the mainstream development directions for AI chips, accelerating the industry's transition from an era centered on GPUs for large model training to an era focused on NPUs for AI inference computing. In this race, the innovation capabilities at the foundational architecture level and extensive experience in large-scale application deployment are progressively contributing to a company's overall competitiveness and sustainability. Among these players, Shenzhen Intellifusion Technologies Co., Ltd. ("Intellifusion") is the first company to commercialize domestic high computing power AI inference chips in China. As a pioneer in NPU research and design, Intellifusion integrates multiple generations of architectural technical knowledge with mature commercialization experience to create high-performance, cost-effective and highly versatile inference chips. Intellifusion has achieved large-scale deployments across enterprise, consumer and industry-grade scenarios, establishing a leading position in China's AI inference chip-related products and services market in terms of revenue in 2024. On July 30, Intellifusion submitted its listing application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Led by a 'Hardcore' management team: providing strong traction for strategic implementation In the deep tech sector of AI chips where technology, capital and talent concerntration converge, the management team serves not only as decision-maker for corporate strategy but also as "navigators" guiding Intellifusion through technological and industrial cycles. Intellifusion's ability to gain a firm foothold in the highly complex and fiercely competitive AI inference chip market is inseparable from its core team, which boasts strategic foresight, technical prowess and hands-on industry experience. Dr. Chen Ning, founder, executive director and general manager of Intellifusion, is a worldwide rare expert with deep experience in semiconductor and possesses both overseas and domestic industry experience. Standing at the forefront of technology, Dr. Chen deeply understands the path from theoretical breakthroughs to product transformation, and not only possesses visionary technical foresight, but also demonstrates strong execution capability in industrialization and commercialization, which enable him to grasp Intellifusion's long-term strategic trajectory from the cutting edge of technological development with commercialization capability, and drive deep innovation along the "algorithm + chip" integration path, providing long-term traction for Intellifusion's sustained growth. As one of the key pioneers in China's domestically-developed AI inference chips, Dr. Chen Ning has spearheaded the design and development of homegrown AI inference chips, achieving end-to-end innovation from algorithmic breakthroughs to chip-based implementation. He can rightly be considered one of the founding figures in the industrialization of China's AI inference chips. His recognition as the prominent individuals in innovation and entrepreneurship and outstanding role models at the 40th Anniversary of Shenzhen Special Economic Zone, and in July of this year, he was selected alongside entrepreneurs such as Xingxing Wang, founder of Unitree Robotics, Weiliang Chen, founder of MetaX, and Peng Zhang, CEO of Zhipu AI, as one of CCTV's 'AI Leaders of the Year',.further solidifies his strategic leadership position in China's AI industry. Under the leadership of Dr. Chen Ning, Intellifusion has assembled a elite Research & Development ('R&D') team with core members averaging over 25 years of experience in the AI industry. These veterans have long served at leading domestic technology companies, covering the entire critical technology chain from chip architecture design to algorithm development and optimization. As of the Latest Practicable Date, Intellifusion boasts 489 R&D personnel, including more than 50 engineers with over a decade of chip design experience and multiple national-level leading technical experts. This composition has established a synergistic system for chip design and algorithm development guided by seasoned industry specialists, providing robust support for rapid product innovations and continuous technological breakthroughs. "Algorithm + chip" integrated strategy builds high technological barriers Unlike traditional "algorithm companies" or "chip companies" that focus on singular breakthroughs, Intellifusion has consistently adhered to the advanced concept of co-designing algorithms and chips since its inception. This approach has forged an integrated software-hardware technical capability that creates a self-reinforcing virtuous cycle, where insights from real-world deployment continuously refine algorithms, algorithmic innovations drive chip architecture upgrades, and enhanced chip performance unlocks new application scenarios. This creates a compounding flywheel effect, progressively elevating R&D efficiency and commercial scalability. At the foundational technology level, Intellifusion has established its proprietary "IFIC" platform through its algorithm-to-silicon integration capability. This end-to-end system encompasses the entire AI inference chip R&D process: algorithm analysis - instruction set definition - chip architecture design - toolchain optimization. This enables Intellifusion to develop successive generations of NPUs and AI inference chips, ensuring optimal efficiency and scenario-specific adaptability. For architectural design, Intellifusion launched 'AI Computing Blocks' by employing fully home-grown advanced domestic manufacturing processes, secure supply chain with advanced semiconductor processes, featuring standardized compute units that can be stacked like building blocks to flexibly configure chips with variable computing power and enable multi-chip interconnect for scalable systems, realizing single tape-out enables multiple packaging variants, efficiently producing chips of diverse specifications while balancing flexibility and cost. To address the data transmission bottleneck of traditional computer chips, Intellifusion has pioneered an innovative Near-memory Hyper-converged Architecture, which realizes vertical integration by seamlessly combining memory and computing units in a stacked configuration, enabling direct data flow through the 3D structure, eliminating bandwidth limitations of traditional packaging interconnections, achieving on-chip bandwidth and sub-nanosecond latency, dramatically lowering the energy consumption of data transportation, and perfectly adapting to the needs of real-time loading of large-model parameters. In the chip domain, Intellifusion has developed its DeepEdge Series of inference chips based on the "IFIC" Infrastructure, utilizing the innovative " AI Computing Blocks" Architecture. Currently, DeepEdge10 Series covers a wide range from 8T to 128T of computing power per chip and supports Transformer-based models for efficient AI inference, which can realize balanced performance & efficiency, low power consumption, and flexible deployment. In terms of technology update, Intellifusion has completed development of its 4th-generation NPU and is now advancing R&D for the next-generation high-performance NPU, Nova 500. This integrated R&D system centered on "algorithms + chips" enables Intellifusion to not only ensure leading-edge performance and rapid iteration in chip design but also continuously strengthen its technological moat through product adaptability, deployment scalability, and ecosystem expansion. Notably, Intellifusion has been awarded the highest award for intelligent science and technology in China. - the "Wu Wenjun AI Science & Technology Award " - three times, making it the only company in China to have won top prizes in all three categories: algorithms, chips, and applications. This recognition underscores its end-to-end innovation capability, from core technology development to industrial implementation. Riding the Global Inference Wave: Securing Long-Term Value in AI Chips As the proportion of inference computing in the total lifecycle cost of large models continues to rise, surging application demand will dramatically expand the scale of inference computing needs, creating a historic opportunity for the AI industry. According to the CIC Report, the market size of AI inference chip-related products and services industry in China is expected to reach RMB1,383.0 billion by 2029, at a CAGR of 53.4% from 2024 to 2029. In particular, the NPU-powered market size is projected to climb to RMB395.4 billion by 2029, at a CAGR of 72.3% from 2024 to 2029, significantly outpacing the overall market. Under the guideline of the advanced algorithm-to-silicon chip design methodology, Intellifusion, a pioneer in the high-potential market, has established an integrated software-hardware technical capability that creates a self-reinforcing virtuous cycle. Its products and services have been validated across multiple critical application scenarios, positioning Intellifusion as an industry frontrunner. According to the CIC Report, Intellifusion is a global top-three leader in full-scenario AI inference chip-related products and services in China, based on the relevant revenue in 2024. Intellifusion is also a top-two provider of NPU-powered AI inference chip-related products and services in China, based on the relevant revenue in 2024. Leveraging its IFIC Infrastructure, R&D capabilities in AI inference chips, and deep market insight, Intellifusion can respond quickly to changes in industrial demands and grasp the opportunity in the upcoming boom in AI inference chip-related products and services industry. Supported by policy tailwinds, growing application maturity, and semiconductor supply chain localization trends, Intellifusion is strategically positioned to capitalize on China's golden window for domestic AI chips, emerging as both a key beneficiary and driver in the global recomposition of AI compute power. In summary, Intellifusion has not only achieved full autonomy from self-developed architectures to ecosystem development but also made breakthroughs across market expansion, technological innovation, and product commercialization, establishing a difficult-to-replicate end-to-end advantage. Should its Hong Kong IPO proceed smoothly, at the time of listing, Intellifusion could potentially become China's first and only artificial intelligence company with a dual A+H listing (Shanghai + Hong Kong). This milestone would fully unlock cross-border M&A opportunities, allowing Intellifusion to aggregate global resources, attract top-tier AI talent worldwide, and further solidify its leadership in China's AI industry, particularly in the inference chip segment. Copyright 2025 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved. 2025 JCN Newswire NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES, Aug. 8, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Hyperlink InfoSystem, a globally recognized IT services provider, is helping businesses accelerate mobile app development by offering the option to hire React Native developers with proven expertise in building cross-platform, high-performance applications. With development services starting at just $18 per hour, the company provides a cost-effective way for startups, SMEs, and enterprises to access top-tier talent without compromising on quality. React Native, one of the most popular frameworks backed by Meta, enables developers to create applications for both iOS and Android using a single codebase, resulting in faster delivery, reduced development costs, and consistent performance across platforms. Hyperlink InfoSystem's React Native developers bring a wealth of experience in creating visually appealing, feature-rich, and scalable mobile applications tailored to the specific needs of each client. As a trusted mobile app development company, the team leverages the framework's flexibility to build solutions that seamlessly integrate with native device capabilities, deliver smooth user experiences, and adapt easily to evolving business requirements. By combining technical expertise with a deep understanding of market trends and user expectations, Hyperlink InfoSystem ensures every project is aligned with the client's business goals and industry standards. The company follows a comprehensive approach to mobile app development, covering everything from initial idea validation and wireframing to development, testing, deployment, and ongoing maintenance. This end-to-end process is supported by transparent communication, agile methodologies, and a focus on delivering measurable business value. Over the years, Hyperlink InfoSystem has delivered thousands of successful projects across industries including e-commerce, healthcare, education, fintech, travel, and more, cementing its reputation as a trusted partner for businesses worldwide. Harnil Oza, CEO of Hyperlink InfoSystem, said, "Businesses today operate in fast-paced markets where speed, performance, and scalability are non-negotiable. Our React Native developers are not only skilled in the latest technologies but are also adept at understanding user experience and market demands. By offering flexible hiring models starting at $18 per hour, we empower companies to innovate quickly and achieve their digital transformation goals efficiently." Hyperlink InfoSystem remains committed to delivering mobile app solutions that are robust, scalable, and future-ready. With a presence in multiple countries and a portfolio that includes over 4,500 mobile apps and 2,200 websites, the company continues to be a go-to partner for organizations looking to hire React Native developers for cutting-edge mobile solutions. To learn more about their offerings, drop an email at info@hyperlinkinfosystem.com. About Hyperlink InfoSystem: Hyperlink InfoSystem is a prominent international enterprise excelling in IT solutions in many domains. Since its humble beginnings in 2011, its specialization in technologies has expanded across web development, mobile app development, enterprise software solutions, and now Artificial Intelligence (AI). With over 1200+ employees and a global presence in the USA, UK, UAE, France, India, and Canada, Hyperlink InfoSystem is dedicated to assisting corporations to leverage the complete power of technology to accomplish their goals. Contact Details: Hyperlink InfoSystem Harnil Oza +1-309-791-4105 info@hyperlinkinfosystem.com New York Address: One World Trade Center 285 Fulton Street suite 8500, New York, NY 10007, United States Ahmedabad Address: C-308, Ganesh Meridian, Opp Kargil Petrol Pump, S.G. Highway, Sola, Ahmedabad, 380061 India London Address: Level 30, The Leadenhall Building, 122 Leadenhall Street, London EC3V 4AB Canada Address: 151 Yonge Street, 11th Floor, Toronto, Ontario, M5C 2W7, Canada Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2712637/Hyperlink_InfoSystem_Logo.jpg View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/hire-react-native-developers-from-hyperlink-infosystem-for-cost-effective-mobile-app-solutions-302525185.html Achieved multiple critical milestones for development of the South West Arkansas ("SWA") Project Steadily progressing towards a Final Investment Decision for Phase 1 of SWA targeted by year-end 2025 VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Aug. 08, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Standard Lithium Ltd. ("Standard Lithium" or the "Company") (TSXV: SLI) (NYSE.A: SLI), a leading near-commercial lithium company, today announced its financial and operating results for the three month period ended June 30, 2025. "We have been working diligently alongside our joint venture partner Equinor to progress our lithium development projects and have achieved multiple key milestones in the second quarter as we advance those efforts," said David Park, Chief Executive Officer and Director of Standard Lithium. "We completed all fieldwork required for the first phase of our SWA Project and are advancing off-take and project financing discussions ahead of a Final Investment Decision targeted by the end of this year. Additionally, in the third quarter we plan to release a Definitive Feasibility Study for SWA and a Maiden Inferred Resource Report on our East Texas properties. We expect both to further reinforce the conviction that our projects in the Smackover will deliver significant value to our shareholders, the communities that we work in, and will help to secure critical minerals production in the United States." Highlights Subsequent to the Three Month Period Ended June 30, 2025 All amounts are in US dollars unless otherwise indicated. Smackover Lithium Reports Highest Lithium Brine Grade in SWA Project Area Smackover Lithium announced (https://www.standardlithium.com/investors/news-events/press-releases/detail/197/smackover-lithium-reports-highest-lithium-brine-grade-in) that it completed sampling from its newest exploration well, the Lester well, in the SWA Project area. One sample recorded the highest lithium concentration reported to date from the SWA Project area: 616 mg/L lithium in brine, while average lithium concentration in brine from the Lester well was 582 mg/L. This concluded all sub-surface exploration activities for Phase 1 of the SWA Project, which is targeting production capacity of 22,500 tonnes per annum of battery-quality lithium carbonate. Highlights From Three Month Period Ended June 30, 2025 Royalty rate approved by the Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission for the SWA Project The Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission ("AOGC") unanimously approved (https://www.standardlithium.com/investors/news-events/press-releases/detail/194/smackover-lithiums-south-west-arkansas-project-receives) the establishment of a 2.5% royalty rate for Phase I of the SWA Project. This was the first royalty rate for lithium from brine extraction to be approved by the AOGC, establishing an important precedent for lithium development companies operating in Arkansas and encouraging economic development of the state's significant lithium resource. Smackover Lithium's SWA Project receives special designation Smackover Lithium announced (https://www.standardlithium.com/investors/news-events/press-releases/detail/190/smackover-lithiums-south-west-arkansas-project-receives) that its SWA Project was selected as one of the first critical mineral production projects, and the only Direct Lithium Extraction project, to be advanced under Executive Order 14241 - Immediate Measures to Increase American Mineral Production, announced by the U.S. Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council at the recommendation of the National Energy Dominance Council. Approval of brine production unit for Phase I of the SWA Project On April 24, Smackover Lithium announced the brine production unit (Reynolds Brine Unit) for Phase I of it's SWA Project was unanimously approved (https://www.standardlithium.com/investors/news-events/press-releases/detail/191/smackover-lithiums-south-west-arkansas-project-receives) by the AOGC with no objection or opposition in a hearing that was open to all stakeholders from the community. Approval of the unit was a necessary statutory requirement for SWA Project development. Advancing next generation solid-state battery materials in partnership with Telescope Innovations Corp. The companies developed a new conversion process (https://www.standardlithium.com/investors/news-events/press-releases/detail/195/standard-lithium-in-partnership-with-telescope) that has been used to convert lithium hydroxide produced by Standard Lithium at its southern Arkansas Demonstration Plant into battery quality lithium sulfide, a key raw material required for many next-generation solid-state battery chemistries. This novel, low-temperature, patented process provides numerous potential advantages with respect to flexibility, quality, cost and safety. Strengthened senior management team with new VP appointments Appointed Daniel Rosen as Vice President of Strategy and Investor Relations and Tim Sobel as Vice President of Health, Safety, Social and Environment. The additions to the leadership team (https://www.standardlithium.com/investors/news-events/press-releases/detail/196/standard-lithium-announces-new-vp-appointments-to-expand) will strengthen the Company's capabilities and execution of its growth strategy on a path towards first production. Cash and working capital of $33.8 million and $30.6 million, respectively, as of June 30, 2025. The Company has no term or revolving debt obligations as of June 30, 2025. Consolidated Financial Statements This news release should be read in conjunction with the Company's Consolidated Financial Statements and MD&A for the three month fiscal period ended June 30, 2025, which are available on the Company's issuer profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.caand on EDGAR at www.sec.gov. Three Month Period Ended June 30, 2025 Call and Webcast The Company will hold a conference call and webcast to discuss its three-month period ended June 30, 2025 on Wednesday, August 13th at 4:30 p.m. ET. Access to the call is available via webcast or direct dial. Conference Call and Webcast Details Standard Lithium Q2 2025 Earnings Call and Webcast August 13, 2025 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time (USA and Canada) Participant Information: Conference ID: 6017900 USA / International Toll: +1 (646) 307-1963 USA - Toll-Free: (800) 715-9871 Canada - Toronto: (647) 932-3411 Canada - Toll-Free: (800) 715-9871 Attendee Webcast Link: https://events.q4inc.com/attendee/298814979 About Standard Lithium Ltd. Standard Lithium is a leading near-commercial lithium development company focused on the sustainable development of a portfolio of large, high-grade lithium-brine properties in the United States. The Company prioritizes projects characterized by high-grade resources, robust infrastructure, skilled labor, and streamlined permitting. Standard Lithium aims to achieve sustainable, commercial-scale lithium production via the application of a scalable and fully integrated Direct Lithium Extraction and purification process. The Company's flagship projects are located in the Smackover Formation, a world-class lithium brine asset, focused in Arkansas and Texas. In partnership with global energy leader Equinor ASA, Standard Lithium is advancing the SWA Project, a greenfield project located in southern Arkansas, and actively exploring promising lithium brine prospects in East Texas. Standard Lithium trades on both the TSX Venture Exchange and the NYSE American under the symbol "SLI". Please visit the Company's website at www.standardlithium.com. Investor Inquiries Daniel Rosen +1 604 409 8154 investors@standardlithium.com Media Inquiries media@standardlithium.com Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release may contain certain "Forward-Looking Statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and applicable Canadian securities laws. When used in this news release, the words "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "target, "plan", "forecast", "may", "schedule" and other similar words or expressions identify forward-looking statements or information. These forward-looking statements or information may relate to intended development timelines,the timeline for completion of a Definitive Feasibility Study for the SWA Project and Maiden Inferred Resource Report on the East Texas properties, future prices of commodities, accuracy of mineral or resource exploration activity, reserves or resources, regulatory or government requirements or approvals, the reliability of third party information, continued access to mineral properties or infrastructure, fluctuations in the market for lithium and its derivatives, changes in exploration costs and government regulation in Canada and the United States, and other factors or information. Such statements represent the Company's current views with respect to future events and are necessarily based upon a number of assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by the Company, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, political and social risks, contingencies and uncertainties. Many factors, both known and unknown, could cause results, performance or achievements to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements that are or may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements or information to reflect changes in assumptions or changes in circumstances or any other events affecting such statements and information other than as required by applicable laws, rules and regulations. Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - August 8, 2025) - Powermax Minerals Inc. (CSE: PMAX) ("Powermax" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the results from its recently completed Phase 1 exploration program at the Cameron Rare Earth Element (REE) Project, located in the Kamloops Mining Division, British Columbia. The program was conducted in accordance with recommendations from the Company's NI 43-101 technical report and has returned highly encouraging REE assay results from surface sampling and heavy mineral stream sediment sampling. Phase 1 Program Summary The Phase 1 program involved the collection of 105 rock samples (grab and chip) and 13 heavy mineral stream sediment samples across prospective lithologies. Assays indicate enrichment in both light rare earth elements (LREEs) and heavy rare earth elements (HREEs). Rock Samples Highlights Total REE (TREE) values range from 17 ppm to 1,943 ppm. Sample 598055 returned notable values including 340 ppm La, 779 ppm Ce, and 232 ppm HREEs. Additional mineralized samples include 598048 and 598054, each reporting TREE values exceeding 400 ppm. REE enrichment is widespread across the property, with LREEs generally more abundant than HREEs. Geological Context: The Cameron Property lies within the Monashee Group, a high-grade metamorphic and granitic terrane known to host REE-bearing minerals such as monazite, allanite, and xenotime. REE concentrations are associated with pegmatites, shear zones, and altered gneisses, consistent with the lithologies observed during the field program. Stream Sediment Samples Highlights Heavy mineral concentrate samples returned TREE values ranging from 365 ppm to 7,561 ppm. LREEs: La (66.7-1,530 ppm), Ce (138-3,250 ppm), Nd (39.3-1,400 ppm) HREEs: Y (14.55-339 ppm), Dy (3.53-101 ppm) These results highlight a robust REE signature and further validate the Cameron Project's potential for both LREE and HREE mineralization, believed by the Company to be linked to Monashee Group lithologies and granitic-pegmatitic intrusions mapped during the survey. Figure 1: Rock Sampling TREE concentration map To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/11633/261775_6219bf914413db23_001full.jpg Figure 2: Sediment Sampling TREE concentration map To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/11633/261775_6219bf914413db23_002full.jpg CEO Commentary Michael Malana, Chief Executive Officer, stated: "These early assay results are extremely promising and validate our systematic exploration approach. The presence of anomalous REE concentrations across both light and heavy REE categories-coupled with favorable host lithologies-supports our confidence in the Cameron Project's discovery potential. We look forward to receiving the interpretation of our recently completed ground geophysical survey, which will be shared once available." Quality Assurance / Quality Control (QA/QC) Rock samples (0.3-2.0 kg) were collected with field duplicates and sealed in labeled plastic bags. All samples were geo-referenced using handheld GPS (UTM NAD83, Zone 11N), and accompanied by detailed lithological and geophysical field notes. A Radiation Solutions RS-120 Gamma-Ray Scintillometer was used to detect radiometric anomalies in outcrop. Sediment samples were sieved to <1 mm, bagged in double-sealed kraft paper, and processed for heavy minerals. Samples were delivered to ALS Metallurgy (Kamloops) for preparation and subsequently sent to ALS Geochemistry (North Vancouver) for four-acid digestion super trace analysis (ME-MS61L + REE add-on). ALS is ISO/IEC 17025 accredited and independent of Powermax Minerals. For a further discussion of the Company's QA/QC and data verification processes and procedures, please review its most recently-filed technical report, a copy of which may be obtained under the Company's profile at www.sedarplus.ca. Qualified Person Afzaal Pirzada, P.Geo., a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects, and a director of the Company has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information contained in this news release. On Behalf of the Board of Directors About Powermax Minerals Inc. Powermax Minerals Inc. is a Canadian mineral exploration company focused on advancing rare earth element projects. The Company holds an option to acquire the Cameron REE Property, comprising three mineral claims totaling approximately 2,984 hectares in British Columbia. Powermax also recently optioned to acquire the Atikokan REE Property in Ontario, consisting of 455 unpatented mining claims (see news release dated June 18, 2025). For more information, please visit the Company's filings at www.sedarplus.ca. Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. Such information includes, but is not limited to, statements regarding: (i) the scope, timing, and results of the Phase 1 exploration program; (ii) interpretations of geological data; and (iii) future plans and potential of the Cameron Project. Forward-looking information reflects current expectations, assumptions, and beliefs of the Company. While believed to be reasonable, such information is subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information unless required by applicable law. Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Market Regulator (as defined in CSE policies) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/261775 SOURCE: Powermax Minerals Inc. Uniting Traditional Finance & Crypto Through AI-Powered FinTech, and a Bleeding-Edge, Patent-Pending User Interface Designed To Protect Retail Investors From Market Manipulation DALLAS, TEXAS / ACCESS Newswire / August 8, 2025 / LitXchange, the bleeding-edge stock and crypto broker-dealer startup founded by retail investor and financial activist Marcel Kalinovic, aka The Butcher of Wall Street, is doubling down on its mission to protect retail investors from manipulation in capital markets. Today, LitXchange is proud to announce the launch of LitYield, its proprietary high-yield cash program, and LitStaking, a brand new crypto staking system offering seamless protocol-based rewards and instant liquidity. These products are engineered to empower everyday investors with institutional-level tools and yields, without the typical gatekeeping. LitYield: A Smarter Way to Store Your Idle Cash LitYield enables users to earn highly competitive yields on idle cash directly from their LitXchange accounts, while maintaining instant access to trade both stocks and crypto. By investing cash in low-risk, high-efficiency strategies under the management of LitXchange, users benefit from a premium yield experience without needing to move funds off-platform. "CDs and savings accounts are dinosaurs headed for extinction. This is the high-yield engine retail investors deserve, with instant liquidity," said Kalinovic. LitStaking: Institutional Staking Power for Retail Users LitStaking is LitXchange's breakthrough solution for crypto holders seeking yield without sacrificing liquidity. Users can stake crypto assets, such as ETH and BTC, through LitXchange and receive 1:1 backed receipt tokens (e.g., LitETH), which remain tradable. These tokens enable users to buy, sell, or transfer while their original crypto continues to earn protocol-based staking rewards. As LitStaking tokens are 1:1 backed, investors will be able to liquidate their tokens at any time for their underlying crypto. Following the SEC's August 2025 clarification that administrative liquid staking is not a security, LitStaking is built fully within the boundaries of compliance while delivering high-yield incentives to help LitXchange benefit it's users, even before full stock & crypto trading launches. A Bold Patent: AI-Driven Investing Interface, Now Patent Pending In another major milestone, LitXchange has officially filed a design patent with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for its revolutionary graphical user interface: "Display Screen with Graphical User Interface for an Artificial Intelligence Investing System." The patent assignment, now recorded under USPTO, positions LitXchange to secure and protect its proprietary UI/UX design & AI-powered investment tools that will redefine user interaction with modern markets. Regulation CF Raise Blows Past $1,000,000 - Now Extended by 6 Months! Having already raised over $1,000,000 from more than 500 retail investors on its Regulation CF campaign, LitXchange has officially extended its raise by six additional months in response to overwhelming demand from the retail community. This new SEC EDGAR filing extension gives more everyday investors a chance to become Founders of the first brokerage platform "Built by Retail, for Retail." "We're not just giving people a place to trade that prevents their trades from being manipulated," Kalinovic said. "We're giving them an ownership opportunity in the next-generation brokerage firm, pre-launch and pre-IPO for the first time. No other brokerage has ever done this before." Learn more or invest here: https://litxchange.sppx.io/otp/LE-CF-2024 About LitXchange LitXchange is a retail brokerage platform currently undergoing FINRA registration, built by and for retail investors. Designed to bridge the gap between traditional finance and decentralized innovation, LitXchange will offer stocks, crypto, high-yield savings, liquid staking, and AI-powered tools, all under one dynamic, user-owned platform created to stop manipulation of retail trades . Follow the journey: X / Twitter: @LitXchangeApp | @BossBlunts1 YouTube: The Butcher of Wall Street Web: www.litxchange.com For media inquiries, partnership opportunities, or interviews with Marcel Kalinovic, please contact: Email: contact@litxchange.app Location: Rockwall, TX SOURCE: LITXCHANGE View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire:https://www.accessnewswire.com/newsroom/en/blockchain-and-cryptocurrency/litxchange-files-ai-investing-patent-unveils-lityield-and-litstaking-1057714 The "Level 3 Autonomous Vehicle Market by Region (Asia Pacific, North America, Europe) Global Forecast to 2035" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The level 3 autonomous vehicles market is projected to grow from 291 thousand units in 2025 to 8.7 million units by 2035 at a CAGR of 40.5% The report provides valuable insights for both market leaders and new entrants seeking to understand ongoing developments in the Level 3 autonomous vehicles market. It enables stakeholders to gain a clear view of current offerings and anticipated future plans of OEMs and Tier I companies, with separate analyses for both global and Chinese players. Additionally, the report helps stakeholders grasp the overall market pulse by presenting key market drivers, challenges, and technology trends. It also offers a detailed overview of the current and future penetration trends of Level 3 autonomous vehicles, supporting informed strategic decision-making. Level 3 autonomy is an essential milestone in the overall roadmap for autonomous vehicles. While level 1 and 2 autonomous features have become prevalent in most countries worldwide, level 3 autonomy is picking up relatively slowly. Level 1 2 autonomy is primarily driven by the regulatory norms requiring advanced active and passive safety systems in the vehicles complemented by advancements in sensing hardware and software algorithms. On the other hand, level 3 autonomy faces challenges from robust and reliable autonomous suites and the regulatory side, which is reluctant to deploy level 3 autonomous vehicles on public roads. The reason for this gap is the need for exceptional reliability from the vehicle systems (steering, braking, and vehicle electrical system) and uncertainty on the liability of any mishap, potentially scrapping the entire idea of autonomous and automated driving. Consumer confidence across China and the Middle East to open opportunities for OEMs planning to launch level 3 autonomous vehicles Chinese consumers are generally open about adopting advanced vehicle features, including driving technologies. Consumers in China have recently shown a rising interest in Level 2+ and Level 3 features. However, safety concerns are still a major challenge. Recent reports from Chinese automotive media state that while interest in level 3 features is strong especially among younger, tech-savvy buyers most mainstream consumers remain cautious. For example, in surveys of budget EV buyers (~100,000 RMB class), safety consistently ranked as the most considerable hesitation. The most notable strategy of Chinese OEMs like BYD, Xpeng, and NIO is bundling advanced level 2+/level 3 autonomy as standard or low-cost features to stay competitive. This strategy reflects a market where consumers increasingly expect smart-driving features as a baseline rather than paying a premium. Chinese consumers are open to level 3 tech, especially in higher-end EVs, but demand strong safety training, demos, and regulatory clarity. Prioritizing scalable modular E/E architecture development to emerge as the key to faster shift to autonomous vehicles Recent years have witnessed rapid attention toward software-defined vehicles, which essentially are based on next-gen E/E architecture that forms the basis of a flexible and more powerful foundation for autonomous vehicles. Higher autonomy levels require seamless sensors, computing chips, and connectivity integration for better reliability. Thus, developing scalable and modular E/E architecture (such as zonal) becomes the first step for higher autonomy levels. Level 2 autonomy can be deployed upon conventional architectures as they do not have primary requirements around OTA updates, scalability, and feature enhancement. With level 3 autonomous vehicles being the foundation of truly autonomous vehicles, investing in next-gen architecture is the most crucial step towards autonomous mobility and additional revenues. This can be achieved through partnerships with Tier I tech companies or in-house development. While Tesla is more focused on in-house development of OS and E/E architecture, OEMs such as Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, and others are taking a hybrid approach with a major focus on in-house development and also through partnership with Tier I/tech companies. Asia Pacific is projected to demonstrate the fastest growth in the level 3 autonomous vehicles market during the forecast period. North America (California Nevada) and Europe (particularly Germany) are leading the level 3 autonomous vehicles market as these are the only markets with level 3 driving deployment and approval. While Japan also allows using level 3 autonomous vehicles on public roads, it has limited use due to Honda's production of only 100 vehicles. Mercedes-Benz and BMW are leading the market by launching their level 3 autonomous models. This is expected to be followed by OEMs such as Zeekr, Xpeng, BYD, Volkswagen, and Hyundai, with their aggressive efforts for level 3 autonomous vehicle development. This growth is expected to kickstart in the next 2-3 years as Chinese OEMs such as Zeekr, Xpeng, and others plan to launch level 3 autonomous vehicles. It should be noted that Chinese OEMs are focused on gaining mass volume in domestic and international markets. BYD primarily leads this trend by launching its God's Eye self-driving system. Thus, as the level 3 autonomous vehicle reaches the final development stage, rapid growth can be expected in the country for these vehicles. Competitive Landscape Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Honda currently dominate the level 3 autonomous market. Other major players expected to lead the market are Volkswagen, Stellantis, and Hyundai. Chinese OEMs such as BYD, Xpeng, and Zeekr are aggressively working on level 3 autonomous vehicle development, focusing on mass market share gain. Market Dynamics Drivers Focus on Improving Sensing Technologies Positive Consumer Perception on Adas Systems Popularity of Subscription Packages Challenges Lack of Clarity on Accident/Mishap Liability Liability Concerns for Major Stakeholders Issues Concerning Infrastructure Readiness Infrastructure Limitations in Major Countries Adas Norms and Regulations Government Regulations on Safety Mandates Regulatory Norms Mandating Adas Features Regulatory Skepticism in Select Markets Regulatory Norms for Adas in Select Countries Technology Analysis Level 3 Autonomy Hardware Sensor Fusion Technology for Level 3 Autonomy Deep Learning-Based Sensor Fusion Artificial Intelligence for Sensor Fusion Role of 5G Connectivity in Level 3 Autonomy Ecosystem for Overall Adas and Autonomous Vehicles Insights into High-Performance Chips Powering Next-Gen Adas and Autonomy Computing Units for Adas Applications Insights into Advancements to Level 4 Autonomy in Mobility and Trucking Consumer Perception on ADAS, by Region China US European Union India South Korea Japan Middle East Recommendations Recommendations for Oems Prioritizing Scalable and Modular E/E Architectures Investing in Differentiated Sensor Fusion and Redundancy Developing Strategic Partnerships with Tier I/Chipset Manufacturers Focusing on Specific Use Cases and Regional Odds Offering Flexible Monetization Models Ensuring Co-Development with Regulatory Authorities Recommendations for Tier I Companies Focusing on Developing Level 3-Ready Sensor Suite Integrating Sensor Fusion with Computing Platform Package Focusing on Software-Defined Vehicle (Sdv) Needs of Oems Focusing on Region-Specific Offerings For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/7wo70r About ResearchAndMarkets.com ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250808660305/en/ Contacts: ResearchAndMarkets.com Laura Wood, Senior Press Manager press@researchandmarkets.com For E.S.T Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470 For U.S./ CAN Toll Free Call 1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900 DUBLIN, Aug. 8, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- TransferMate, the world's leading provider of embedded B2B payments infrastructure as a service (IaaS), today announced TransferMate Pte. Ltd. has received in-principle approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to add account issuance, domestic money transfers and e-money issuance to its Major Payment Institution (MPI) license. This milestone further deepens TransferMate's regulatory footprint in APAC, enabling it to expand its local services and deliver even greater value to partners and customers operating in and out of Singapore. This license expands TransferMate's existing suite of products in Singapore, to now include the ability to store funds in a local dedicated Global Account. By unlocking these capabilities, TransferMate's Global Accounts solution becomes even more powerful for clients with operations in Asia, making it easier to move money into and out of the region, convert currencies, and run payroll or supplier payments - all from one platform. "Singapore is fast becoming the financial heartbeat of Asia, and securing in-principle approval from MAS marks a major step forward in our commitment to the region," said Gary Conroy, CEO of TransferMate. "With this license, we'll be able to offer our customers even more flexibility and control over how they manage and move their money across APAC - whether it's holding funds long-term or receiving funds in their own name." TransferMate owns the largest fintech payment infrastructure in the world, empowering businesses to make, receive, and hold payments in over 140 currencies across 200+ countries and territories. Its latest announcement comes as it continues on its trajectory towards securing 100+ licenses globally. With Singapore as a strategic APAC hub, TransferMate is well-positioned to help businesses simplify financial operations, reduce costs, and scale globally with confidence. An in-principle approval (IPA) in respect of a licence variation application reflects MAS' view that the applicant's licence variation application may be approved upon the fulfilment of specified conditions and provided there are no material adverse developments affecting the applicant. An IPA does not constitute an approval for TransferMate Pte. Ltd. to provide account issuance, domestic money transfers and e-money issuance services at this juncture. MAS reserves the right to rescind the IPA in circumstances where it considers appropriate. View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/transfermate-receives-in-principle-approval-from-monetary-authority-of-singapore-to-add-payment-services-302525293.html New York, New York--(Newsfile Corp. - August 8, 2025) - Digital Silk, an award-winning agency focused on creating brand strategies, custom websites, and digital marketing campaigns, has completed a website redesign project for Urbanna Landscaping, a New Jersey-based landscaping company with over 30 years of industry experience. The project aimed to realign the brand's online presence with its expanded service offerings and growing clientele. Website Redesign for Urbanna Landscaping To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit: https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/10732/261724_cc3886d3544bb817_001full.jpg Website Redesign Aligns with Business Expansion Urbanna Landscaping approached Digital Silk to update its website architecture, visuals, and messaging to better reflect its evolution from a residential landscape service provider to a full-service partner for commercial and municipal clients. The redesigned site features modern layouts, optimized navigation, and clearly defined service pathways to support client acquisition and engagement. The restructured user experience was developed to support faster access to Urbanna's portfolio, community initiatives, and expanded commercial services, while improving mobile responsiveness and lead-generation opportunities across devices. User Experience and Functionality Improvements According to a 2024 study by GoodFirms, 73.1% of users say they leave a website with a non-responsive design. Digital Silk's redesign focused on responsive page layouts and simplified contact pathways that may support higher engagement and reduce bounce rates. Key updates to the Urbanna Landscaping website include: Reorganized sitemap with clearly defined commercial and residential service categories Visual emphasis on team, leadership, and certifications to support trust Integrated project showcase highlighting award-winning landscape work Streamlined navigation to encourage quote requests and contact form completions On-brand visuals optimized for performance across modern devices CEO Commentary on Brand Consistency "Brands that have evolved over decades often need their websites to reflect new capabilities and customer expectations," said Gabriel Shaoolian, CEO of Digital Silk. "This redesign project focused on building a more strategic digital presence that supports Urbanna's continued growth." The updated website is now live and serves as the foundation for Urbanna Landscaping's next phase of business development. More information is available at: https://www.digitalsilk.com/case-studies/urbanna-landscaping/ About Digital Silk Digital Silk is an award-winning New York Web Development Agency focused on growing brands online. With a team of seasoned experts, Digital Silk delivers industry-leading digital experiences through strategic branding, custom web design, and digital marketing services to help improve visibility and support engagement. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/261724 SOURCE: Digital Silk Chicago, Illinois--(Newsfile Corp. - August 8, 2025) - Agruss Law Firm, a leading consumer rights law firm that takes cases nationwide, is pleased to announce its official rebranding to America's Consumer Lawyer. The new identity reflects the firm's commitment to long-standing consumer protection practice, which has been active since 2012. Redefining Legal Advocacy to Champion Consumer Rights Now with a renewed national brand, America's Consumer Lawyer is focused exclusively on helping clients fight debt collection harassment, credit report errors, robocalls, and other violations of federal consumer statutes such as the FDCPA, FCRA, and TCPA. Millions of Americans face issues with debt and are unaware of the consumer laws to protect them from harassment. America's Consumer Lawyer is a focused national resource for consumers, providing legal help across all 50 states. The firm provides clients who have had their consumer rights violated with representation without any fees unless it wins through a settlement or verdict. The legal team at America's Consumer Lawyer provides transparent legal representation while standing out with compassion for those enduring these infringements on their legal rights. Michael Bertucci, Partner at America's Consumer Lawyer, states, "America's Consumer Lawyer allows us to sharpen our focus and deliver even more specialized support to consumers who need a strong advocate when they are being harassed over debts, wrongly pegged for debts through credit report errors, and other violations that are frequently committed against the guaranteed federal consumer rights granted to Americans. Our mission is to arm people with knowledge about their rights and stand up for them amid these legal issues." Consumers who are facing harassment over debts or have other legal issues related to their rights should contact America's Consumer Lawyer. This nationwide consumer rights law firm provides a free initial consultation, which can help consumers know about their legal options and decide how to proceed. Mike Agruss Law Retains Personal Injury Focus Mike Agruss Law and its digital brand 844SeeMike Personal Injury Lawyers will continue to operate independently, allowing it to retain focus on personal injury cases. Personal injury cases represented by the firm include car accidents, slip-and-fall accidents, truck accidents, pedestrian accidents, and wrongful death claims, among many others. Injured victims in these scenarios are encouraged to reach out to Mike Agruss Law/844SeeMike Personal Injury Lawyers to schedule a free case evaluation that can help them determine their next steps. Attorney Mike Agruss founded Mike Agruss Law in 2012 and has continued to grow with eight offices, along with expanding into more focused areas of the law, including America's Consumer Lawyer. For questions or concerns regarding a potential consumer rights legal issue or a personal injury matter, contact America's Consumer Lawyer or Mike Agruss Law, respectively. Media Contact: To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/261767 SOURCE: GetFeatured SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 8, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a new in-depth market research study published by The Insight Partners, the global leather for automotive seats market is set to grow from USD 48.9 billion in 2024 to USD 69.1 billion by 2031, expanding at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 5.3%. The growth is fueled by the increasing popularity of luxury vehicles, the rapid adoption of electric vehicles (EVs), and the emerging trend toward sustainable and vegan leather alternatives. The study offers a deep dive into current market trends, key growth drivers, emerging opportunities, and competitive strategies shaping the future of Leather for Automotive Seats Market. Check valuable insights in the Leather for Automotive Seats Market report. You can easily get a sample PDF of the report - https://www.theinsightpartners.com/sample/TIPRE00040947 Leather for Automotive Seats Market Highlights and Drivers Luxury Vehicles Driving Demand for Premium Leather Interiors Luxury vehicle manufacturers are continuously enhancing interior designs to deliver superior comfort and aesthetics. Leather seats are widely regarded as a hallmark of quality and luxury, often associated with sophistication and exclusivity. Consumers increasingly demand premium materials such as genuine leather, elevating the status and appeal of vehicles. Leather contributes to enhanced durability, comfort, and resale value. Interior upgrades are among the top considerations for high-end car buyers. OEMs are innovating with stitching patterns, color combinations, and leather textures to improve visual appeal. Leather for Automotive Seats Market New Growth Opportunities The global transition toward battery-powered and hybrid vehicles is reshaping the automotive landscape. As EV adoption grows, so does the demand for premium and sustainable materials inside these next-generation vehicles. China alone registered 6.4 million EVs in 2024 , up from 5.4 million in 2023 (source: International Energy Agency). alone registered , up from 5.4 million in 2023 (source: International Energy Agency). Consumers expect EV interiors to be modern, comfortable, and environmentally responsible - a space where leather and its alternatives play a vital role. Vegan and Artificial Leather Gaining Ground Growing awareness of animal welfare, sustainability, and environmental impact has driven demand for vegan leather and synthetic alternatives like polyurethane (PU) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC)-based leathers. Manufacturers are exploring plant-based leather, recycled materials, and bio-based alternatives. Artificial leather offers cost-efficiency, design flexibility, and reduced ecological footprint. Leather for Automotive Seats Market Regional and Segmental Insights Geographical Analysis The market is segmented into key regions: Asia Pacific - Dominant regional market due to high vehicle production in China, India, Japan, and South Korea. - Dominant regional market due to high vehicle production in China, India, Japan, and South Korea. North America - Growth fueled by consumer preference for SUVs, EV adoption, and rising luxury vehicle sales. - Growth fueled by consumer preference for SUVs, EV adoption, and rising luxury vehicle sales. Europe - Strong demand for eco-friendly leather alternatives aligned with the EU's sustainability goals. - Strong demand for eco-friendly leather alternatives aligned with the EU's sustainability goals. Middle East & Africa / South & Central America - Steady growth expected with increasing vehicle imports and premiumization trends. Get Research Sample Copy of the Transparent Ceramics Market: https://www.theinsightpartners.com/sample/TIPRE00040947 Leather for Automotive Seats Market Segmentation By Type: Genuine Leather - Derived from animal hides (primarily cattle), remains dominant in luxury and premium vehicle segments. - Derived from animal hides (primarily cattle), remains dominant in luxury and premium vehicle segments. Artificial Leather - Composed of synthetic polymers like PU or PVC; gaining traction due to cost-effectiveness and vegan appeal. By Vehicle Type: Passenger Cars (largest segment) Light Commercial Vehicles Heavy Commercial Vehicles Others (buses, specialty vehicles, etc.) Competitive Landscape Key players in the global leather for automotive seats market include: San Fang Chemical Industrial Co., Ltd. Mayur Uniquoters Limited Nan Ya Plastics Corp FILWEL Co., Ltd. Kolon Industries Inc BASF SE Kuraray Co., Ltd. Teijin Ltd Toray Industries, Inc. Covestro AG Wollsdorf Leder Schmidt & Co Ges.m.b.H. Curtidos Trevino S.A. de C.V. Wickett & Craig Super Tannery Ltd. Elmo Sweden AB These companies are leveraging R&D, sustainability initiatives, strategic partnerships, and geographic expansion to solidify their positions in a highly competitive and rapidly evolving Leather for Automotive Seats Market. Latest Industry Developments & Trends ???? Beyond Leather Materials (Denmark) has partnered with ???? Covestro to create a protective coating using INSQIN waterborne polyurethane technology for its sustainable LEAP leather alternative. has partnered with ???? to create a protective coating using for its sustainable LEAP leather alternative. ???? Bentley Motors became the first automaker to join Leather Naturally , a global organization that promotes sustainable leather sourcing. became the first automaker to join , a global organization that promotes sustainable leather sourcing. ???? Covestro and Huafon Group signed a Letter of Intent at the China International Import Expo to reinforce their commitment to eco-friendly and circular leather technologies. Get Premium Copy of Hydrolyzed Collagen Market Size and Growth Report by 2031 at:https://www.theinsightpartners.com/buy/TIPRE00040947 Conclusion and Outlook As the automotive sector evolves, so does consumer expectation for durable, elegant, and sustainable interiors. Genuine leather will continue to dominate premium segments, while artificial and vegan leather alternatives will grow in popularity, particularly among environmentally conscious consumers and EV manufacturers. The Leather for Automotive Seats Market offers significant opportunities for OEMs, leather suppliers, chemical manufacturers, and innovators focusing on biomaterials and circular economies. The full report from The Insight Partners provides actionable intelligence for raw material suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, and automotive OEMs, helping them navigate market challenges and capitalize on emerging opportunities. Trending Related Reports: Leather for Aviation Market Size & Forecast 2031 Leather for Railway Market Forecast & Trends to 2031 Plant-Based Leather Market Growth and Size 2031 Bio-based Leather Market Size (2021-2031) and Overview Synthetic Leather Market Dynamics and Analysis by 2031 Artificial Leather Products Market Report 2031 by Segments, Geography, Dynamics, Recent Developments, and Strategic Insights Automotive Interior Leather Market Growth, Size, Share, Trends, Key Players Analysis, and Forecast till 2031 Leather Luggage and Goods Market Strategies, Top Players, Growth Opportunities, Analysis and Forecast by 2031 About Us: The Insight Partners is a one stop industry research provider of actionable intelligence. We help our clients in getting solutions to their research requirements through our syndicated and consulting research services. We specialize in semiconductor and electronics, aerospace and defense, automotive and transportation, biotechnology, healthcare IT, manufacturing and construction, medical devices, technology, media and telecommunications, and chemicals and materials. Contact Us: If you have any queries about this report or if you would like further information, please get in touch with us: Contact Person: Ankit Mathur E-mail: ankit.mathur@theinsightpartners.com Phone: +1-646-491-9876 Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1586348/5449703/The_Insight_Partners_Logo.jpg View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/leather-for-automotive-seats-market-to-surpass-usd-69-1-billion-by-2031--driven-by-soaring-demand-for-luxury-and-electric-vehicles-according-to-new-report-by-the-insight-partners-302525316.html MOUNT PLEASANT, SOUTH CAROLINA / ACCESS Newswire / August 8, 2025 / eGroup Enabling Technologies announced today that CRN, a brand of The Channel Company, has recognized eGroup on the 2025 CRN Fast Growth 150 list in the No. 49 spot. eGroup Enabling Technologies This list highlights the top-performing and fastest-growing technology solution providers, including integrators, managed service providers, value-added resellers, and IT consultants in North America.?Over the past two years, solution providers on the Fast Growth 150 have achieved remarkable sales growth, propelled by their innovative strategies and advanced technological expertise, particularly in areas such as artificial intelligence, security, and cloud computing. eGroup Enabling Technologies is a nationally recognized IT solutions provider, delivering innovative and reliable services that help organizations optimize operations and accelerate growth. With a strong commitment to client success, eGroup partners with businesses to implement technology solutions that enhance efficiency, productivity, and long-term value. Backed by a team of seasoned professionals with deep expertise across modern IT solution areas, eGroup offers a comprehensive portfolio of services, including cloud solutions, datacenter modernization, cybersecurity, data and AI, consulting, and managed services. eGroup's client-focused approach and technical excellence have made the company a trusted partner to organizations across a wide range of industries. "We are very honored to be recognized among the fastest-growing technology solution providers in North America. This achievement is a testament to the relentless dedication, constant innovation, and genuine passion of our entire eGroup Enabling Technologies team. We extend heartfelt gratitude to our valued clients and partners, whose trust and collaboration have been instrumental in our growth and success. Together, we are driving meaningful transformation for our clients, and we look forward to what we will accomplish in the years ahead," said Joshua Shoemaker, eGroup Enabling Technologies Vice President of Technical Services. "Each company on the Fast Growth 150 list is harnessing its extensive technology acumen and forward-looking business strategy to accelerate growth and evolve to stay ahead in the fast-moving IT arena," said Jennifer Follett, VP, U.S. Content, and Executive Editor, CRN, The Channel Company. "These notable companies show passion and commitment to finding success, supporting agility, and delivering enduring outcomes for customers. We congratulate each of them and look forward to their continued growth and evolution." About eGroup Enabling Technologies: eGroup Enabling Technologies is a leading provider of IT solutions and Managed Services that empower organizations to achieve their business objectives. With a focus on Cybersecurity, Cloud, Data & AI, and Collaboration, eGroup Enabling Technologies helps clients harness the power of technology to drive innovation, enhance security, and optimize operations. About The Channel Company: The Channel Company (TCC) is the global leader in channel growth for the world's top technology brands. We accelerate success across strategic channels for tech vendors, solution providers, and end users with premier media brands, integrated marketing and event services, strategic consulting, and exclusive market and audience insights. TCC is a portfolio company of investment funds managed by EagleTree Capital, a New York City-based private equity firm. For more information, visit ?thechannelco.com. Contact Information Carly Picciuto Marketing Director carly.picciuto@egroup-us.com 877.347.6871 SOURCE: eGroup Enabling Technologies View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire:https://www.accessnewswire.com/newsroom/en/computers-technology-and-internet/egroup-enabling-technologies-named-to-no.-49-spot-on-crn%e2%80%99s-fast-g-1057587 MONACO, Aug. 08, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Back for its fifth edition, the Monaco Smart & Sustainable Marina Rendezvous, returns on 21 and 22 September to bring together the leaders of maritime sustainability. Launched in 2021 and organised by M3 Monaco with the support of the Prince Albert II Foundation and the Yacht Club de Monaco, the event has become a meeting point for over 250 professionals in the maritime sector - investors, architects, startups, and marina managers - all committed to the ecological transformation of nautical infrastructures. "In five years, this event has become a global focal point for sustainable innovation for marinas. Together we are co-creating the yachting of tomorrow: responsible, collaborative and driven by targeted expertise", explains Jose Marco Casellini, CEO of M3 Monaco. The initiative is part of the 'Monaco, Capital of Advanced Yachting' approach, also promoted by organisations such as Bombardier, MB92 Group and Italian Yacht Masters. Since its debut, the Rendezvous has already delivered tangible results. More than 110 startups, 50 marinas and 30 architectural firms have taken part, giving rise to solutions already operational on the market. Among the most emblematic: Terroiko and H2X Ecosystems, winners of the first edition, which have grown respectively in workforce and international outreach. In 2022, Solar Cloth introduced a flexible photovoltaic fabric tested by the Yacht Club de Monaco, capable of feeding renewable energy back into the Club's grid. The following year, Pick a Pier presented a digital berthing management platform that reduced cancellations by 57% and increased bookings by 20%. More recently, Nereid Water and EH2P Marine jointly won with an innovative solar desalination system that discharges no concentrated brine, currently in operation in Monaco. For Marc Hervas, Sustainability Manager at MB92 Group, the value of the event is broad and cross-sectoral: "All the startups cover a wide range of topics, from energy efficiency and water treatment to biodiversity. Therefore, it is really interesting for marinas and shipyards to participate in Smart Marina to discover new innovations that will soon be on the market and could help improve sustainability." The Rendezvous is also an opportunity to actively engage with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Not surprisingly, past winners include renowned names such as Flisvos Marina, Karpaz Gate Marina, Limassol Marina, Alciudamar, Setur Marina, and Kos Marina. The 2025 edition will also mark the launch of the SMART Dock project, a collaborative lab where startups, manufacturers, port operators and investors will join forces to develop a prototype for an intelligent, sustainable and modular dock. A real-world infrastructure, connected and biodiversity-conscious, designed to support the energy transition. Another highlight will be the Smart Marina Architecture Competition, involving students and architecture firms from around the globe. Since its launch, the competition has already engaged 104 students and 30 firms from 24 countries. "The competition embodies our vision to combine creative architecture with technological innovation and a commitment to the environment. We invite talents from all over the world to imagine the marinas of the future," says Yacht Club de Monaco General Secretary Bernard d'Alessandri. For the 2025 edition, the selected site is Certosa Island in Venice, as part of the 'The Frame of Venice' project. Participants are invited to design three resilient infrastructures for Venezia Certosa Marina that can address environmental and climate-related challenges. Evaluation criteria include environmental impact, feasibility, alignment with SDGs, energy efficiency, use of sustainable materials and seasonal adaptability. The finalist projects will be presented during the event, with awards given in the Student and Professional categories. Concluding the event on 22 September at 4:00 PM will be the International Smart & Sustainable Marina Awards, recognising excellence in the categories of Startup, Scaleup, Marina, Professional Architect, and Student Architect. For more information: Press Office LaPresse - ufficio.stampa@lapresse.it A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/2678e4f8-774a-46f7-8412-37ceec4f4898 DELRAY BEACH, Fla., Aug. 8, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The global Veterinary Diagnostics Market, valued at US$3.42 billion in 2024 stood at US$3.68 billion in 2025 and is projected to advance at a resilient CAGR of 7.8% from 2025 to 2030, culminating in a forecasted valuation of US$5.36 billion by the end of the period. The veterinary diagnostics market is expanding rapidly, driven by significant technological advancements, such as point-of-care testing devices, molecular diagnostics (like PCR and LAMP), and AI-driven analysis tools, making diagnostics accurate, faster, and accessible. Diagnostics for diabetes, kidney disorders, and infectious diseases, especially in companion animals, are rising rapidly. The increased prevalence of zoonotic diseases and infections transmitted between animals and humans significantly contributes to market growth. Download PDF Brochure: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/pdfdownloadNew.asp?id=26017452 Browse in-depth TOC on "Veterinary Diagnostics Market" 775 - Tables 66 - Figures 585 - Pages By animal type, the veterinary diagnostics market is segmented into companion animals and livestock based on animal type. The companion animals segment accounted for the largest share of the market in 2024. The large share of this segment is attributed to the rising number of households owning pets such as dogs and cats. The growing companion animal population, coupled with increasing pet health awareness and the rising ability of pet owners to spend on healthcare, is fueling the demand for advanced diagnostic tests and treatment options. By end users, the market is segmented by end user into veterinary reference laboratories, veterinary hospitals & clinics, POC/in-house testing, and veterinary research institutes & universities. The POC/In-house testing segment is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. POC testing is designed for use in livestock farms outside the physical facilities of clinical laboratories. Since the demand for improved patient care and greater cost control is driving changes in the structure of animal healthcare delivery, the need for POC diagnostic testing is also expected to grow. Technological advancements in veterinary diagnostics are making it possible for more diagnostic tests to move from clinical laboratories to the near-patient environment. By geography, the veterinary diagnostics market is segmented into North America, Europe, the Asia Pacific, Latin America, the Middle East, and Africa. The Asia Pacific region is estimated to be the fastest-growing region during the forecast period due to various factors such as rapid urbanization, growing pet adoption, and increasing awareness about animal health. Rising disposable incomes in countries like China and India are expected to lead to higher spending on companion animal care. Governments in the region are strengthening livestock disease surveillance and control programs to ensure food safety and prevent zoonotic outbreaks. Additionally, expanding veterinary infrastructure, increasing penetration of multinational diagnostic companies, and growing investments in animal health R&D are accelerating market growth. Request Sample Pages: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/requestsampleNew.asp?id=26017452 Some of the leading players of the market include IDEXX Laboratories, Inc. (US), Zoetis Services LLC (US), Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (US), Antech Diagnostics, Inc. (US), and bioMerieux (France), among others. IDEXX LABORATORIES, INC. (US): IDEXX is a global leader in veterinary diagnostics and software, serving companion animal practices, livestock, and poultry markets. Its product line includes in-clinic analyzers like Catalyst One (chemistry), ProCyte Dx (hematology), SNAP tests (rapid immunoassays), and the VETLAB Station for integrated diagnostics. In 2023, IDEXX launched Cystatin B, a novel biomarker test for early kidney injury detection in cats and dogs. The company also continues to enhance its cloud-based VetConnect PLUS platform, enabling real-time diagnostic results, analytics, and AI-driven insights. The firm's Vetscan Imagyst, powered by AI, supports cytology, fecal, and dermatology diagnostics. IDEXX invests heavily in R&D, allocating over 6% of annual revenue to innovation focused on expanding diagnostic precision and integrating digital workflows for faster decision-making. ZOETIS SERVICES LLC (US) Zoetis operates one of the broadest portfolios in the veterinary diagnostics space, catering to companion animals and livestock. Its diagnostics business includes point-of-care instruments such as the VETSCAN series, VETSCAN VS2, VETSCAN Imagyst, and VETSCAN SA for hematology, chemistry, and AI-assisted slide analysis. In 2024, Zoetis launched the VETSCAN OptiCell, an AI-powered, cartridge-based hematology analyzer that delivers CBC results in under 5 minutes. Zoetis is also focused on advancing R&D in molecular & biomarker-based tests. For instance, the firm is focused on expanding the capabilities of its Imagyst platform to support microbiology & oncology diagnostics. In January 2024, the company added an AI Urine sediment analysis program to its Imagyst platform. In June 2025, Zoetis launched AI Masses, an AI-powered analysis technology to be integrated into the Vetscan Imagyst analyzer. The company invests significantly in AI and digital innovation to streamline veterinary workflows and improve diagnostic speed & accuracy across species. THERMO FISHER SCIENTIFIC INC. (US) Thermo Fisher Scientific's veterinary diagnostics portfolio is anchored in molecular diagnostics, ELISA kits, and PCR-based tests, primarily serving the livestock & research animal sectors. However, it also supports companion animal diagnostics. Its VetMAX product line provides real-time PCR solutions for detecting diseases such as avian influenza, bovine viral diarrhea (BVD), and African swine fever. Thermo Fisher is known for its high throughput & precise qPCR platforms like QuantStudio and Applied Biosystems instruments used in veterinary labs. The company invests heavily in R&D to develop custom assay kits and improve sample-to-answer turnaround times, focusing on zoonotic disease monitoring and biosecurity diagnostics. Collaborating with government and food safety agencies has expanded its global animal health surveillance role. For more information, Inquire Now! Related Reports: Veterinary Infectious Disease Diagnostics Market Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing Market Veterinary Imaging Market Veterinary Reference Laboratory Market Companion Animal Diagnostics Market Get access to the latest updates on Veterinary Diagnostics Companies and Veterinary Diagnostics Market Size About MarketsandMarkets: MarketsandMarkets has been recognized as one of America's Best Management Consulting Firms by Forbes, as per their recent report. MarketsandMarkets is a blue ocean alternative in growth consulting and program management, leveraging a man-machine offering to drive supernormal growth for progressive organizations in the B2B space. With the widest lens on emerging technologies, we are proficient in co-creating supernormal growth for clients across the globe. Today, 80% of Fortune 2000 companies rely on MarketsandMarkets, and 90 of the top 100 companies in each sector trust us to accelerate their revenue growth. With a global clientele of over 13,000 organizations, we help businesses thrive in a disruptive ecosystem. The B2B economy is witnessing the emergence of $25 trillion in new revenue streams that are replacing existing ones within this decade. We work with clients on growth programs, helping them monetize this $25 trillion opportunity through our service lines - TAM Expansion, Go-to-Market (GTM) Strategy to Execution, Market Share Gain, Account Enablement, and Thought Leadership Marketing. Built on the 'GIVE Growth' principle, we collaborate with several Forbes Global 2000 B2B companies to keep them future-ready. Our insights and strategies are powered by industry experts, cutting-edge AI, and our Market Intelligence Cloud, KnowledgeStore, which integrates research and provides ecosystem-wide visibility into revenue shifts. To find out more, visit www.MarketsandMarkets.com or follow us on Twitter , LinkedIn and Facebook . Contact: Mr. Rohan Salgarkar MarketsandMarkets INC. 1615 South Congress Ave. Suite 103, Delray Beach, FL 33445 USA: +1-888-600-6441 Email: sales@marketsandmarkets.com Visit Our Website: https://www.marketsandmarkets.com/ Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1868219/MarketsandMarkets_Logo.jpg View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/veterinary-diagnostics-market-worth-us5-36-billion-by-2030-with-7-8-cagr--marketsandmarkets-302525108.html "With rising fire safety standards and the growing use of electric vehicles, demand for flame retardant chemicals is expanding across industries such as construction, electronics, oil and gas, driven by innovations in coatings, plastics, and advanced materials." BOSTON, Aug. 8, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- According to the latest study from BCC Research, the "Flame Retardant Chemicals: Technologies and Global Markets" is projected to grow from $6.1 billion in 2025 to $8 billion by the end of 2030, at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.3% from 2025 through 2030. The report provides a detailed analysis of the global flame retardant chemicals market, which is segmented by chemical types, applications, end-use industries, and regions. It covers categories such as brominated compounds, aluminum trihydrate, and phosphorus compounds, used across applications like plastics, fabrics, paints, and wood. Major end-use sectors include building and construction, electronics, transportation, and textiles. Revenue estimates are based on manufacturers' total earnings and are presented in constant U.S. dollars, offering a comprehensive view of market dynamics and user industries worldwide. The flame-retardant chemicals market is relevant right now due to their growing use in sectors like aerospace, military, and lightweight vehicles, where they help prevent electrical fires and overheating. Strict safety regulations are pushing manufacturers to adopt these chemicals more widely. The rise of electric vehicles (EVs) has further boosted demand, as flame retardants protect lithium-ion batteries and support lightweight, heat-resistant materials. Additionally, increased use in technical textiles and protective gear, along with expanding industries like mining, defense, oil and gas, and marine, is creating new opportunities for flame retardant chemical production. The factors driving the market's growth include: Rising Demand for Technical Textiles: Technical textiles used in industries like automotive, construction, and protective clothing require flame retardant properties for safety and durability. As these sectors expand, the need for advanced flame-retardant chemicals grow, boosting market demand. Stringent Fire Safety Regulations: Global fire safety laws are becoming stricter, especially in construction, transportation, and electronics. These regulations mandate the use of flame-retardant materials, driving consistent demand across industries. Evolution of Bio-Based Flame Retardants: Concerns over toxicity and environmental impact are pushing the development of bio-based flame retardants. These eco-friendly alternatives, made from renewable resources, are gaining traction due to companies' trying to meet sustainability goals and regulatory support from governments. Development of Halogen-Free Flame Retardants: Halogenated flame retardants are being phased out due to health and environmental risks. Safer, halogen-free options like phosphorus and nitrogen-based compounds are increasingly preferred, especially in electronics and textiles. Request a sample copy of the global market for flame retardant chemicals report. Report Synopsis Report Metric Details Base year considered 2024 Forecast period considered 2025-2030 Base year market size $5.9 billion Market size forecast $8.0 billion Growth rate CAGR of 5.3% from 2025 to 2030 Segments covered Type, Application, End-Use and Region Regions covered North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America, and the Middle East and Africa (MEA) Countries covered U.S., Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Germany, U.K., France, Japan, China, India, the Middle East, Africa, Rest of Europe, Rest of Asia-Pacific, and Rest of South America Market drivers Rising demand for technical textiles. Stringent fire safety regulations. Evolution of bio-based flame retardants. Development of halogen-free flame retardants. Interesting facts: European manufacturers are focusing on melamine-free flame-retardant chemicals. For instance, in March 2024, Clariant Corp. launched Exolit AP 422, a melamine-free flame-retardant chemical that is approved by REACH and is known for being a sustainable product in the European market. The leading oil and gas-producing countries are prominent consumers of flame-retardant chemicals. In the oil and gas industry, flame retardant chemicals are blended with plastic pipelines, storage tanks, wellheads, and platform structures. Flame retardant chemicals pose numerous benefits to the oil and gas industry, including reducing the spread of fires, dropping heat release, and restricting smoke as well as poisonous fumes. Emerging startups: Zenova Group Plc is a U.K.-based company producing flame-retardant chemicals. Established in 2021, the company designs flame retardant chemicals specifically for lithium battery fires, wood, petrol, diesel, polymers, grasses, hays, brush, and electronics. Zenova Group's chemicals are used by forest ministries and power generation companies, and in critical infrastructure, residential buildings, and commercial properties. VKP HFFR Pvt. Ltd. is an emerging Indian start-up that designs halogen-free flame retardants specifically for automotive polymers and coating applications. VKP HFFR targets engineering plastics, technical textiles, thermoset resins, thermoplastic resins, epoxy, and wood applications. ireSafe Zone Inc. is a U.S.-based flame-retardant chemical company that produces halogen-free chemicals in the North American market. The company produces flame retardant chemicals specifically for the electronic industry, textile, and wearables industries. The company continuously focuses on scientific research on flame retardant chemicals, particularly bioplastic applications. The report addresses the following questions: 1.What are the projected size and growth rate of the market? The global flame-retardant chemicals market is projected to grow from $5.9 billion in 2024 to $8.0 billion in 2030 at a CAGR of 5.3% during the forecast period. 2.Which factors are driving the growth of the market? The key factors driving the growth of the flame-retardant chemicals market include: Rising demand for technical textiles. Stringent fire safety regulations. 3.Which market segments are covered in the report? The flame-retardant chemicals market is segmented based on types, applications, and end-use industries. Types include aluminum trihydrate, phosphorus compounds, brominated compounds, antimony oxide, chlorinated compounds, and nitrogen compounds. Applications include plastics, fabric, paints and coatings, paper and board, and wood. Plastic applications are sub-segmented into polyesters, polyurethane, epoxy, polyvinyl chloride, and others. End-use industries are segmented into building and construction, transportation, electrical and electronics, and textiles. 4.Which end-use segment will be dominant through 2030? The building and construction segment will be dominant through 2030. 5.Which region has the largest market share? Asia-Pacific holds the largest share of the market. Many Asia-Pacific countries have lenient rules on the production and use of plastics and flame-retardant chemicals, which is attracting many global flame-retardant chemical producers to expand their presence in the region. India, Australia, South Korea, Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, and Vietnam may become the next major producers of flame-retardant chemicals because of the U.S.-China tariff dispute. Moreover, the growing use of EVs in the Asia-Pacific region creates new opportunities for flame retardant chemical manufacturers. The expansion of Southeast Asian nations opens new markets for companies that make flame-retardant chemicals. Market leaders include: AKZO NOBEL N.V. ALBEMARLE CORP. ARKEMA BASF CLARIANT CORP. DAIHACHI CHEMICAL DOW ETI MADEN ICL JM HUBER CORP. KEMIPEX LANXESS MPI CHEMIE BV NYACOL NANO TECHNOLOGIES INC. SANWA CHEMICAL CO. LTD. Related reports: Global Markets for Plastics Additives: This report analyzes the global plastics additives market, focusing on how these additives enhance plastic properties for improved performance and manufacturing efficiency. It segments the market by product type, application, end user, and region, while also exploring market dynamics, leading manufacturers, ESG trends, and regulatory factors. The study highlights growth opportunities and provides market size estimates and forecasts in terms of value. Global Flame and Smoke Detectors Markets: This report provides a detailed analysis of the global flame and smoke detectors market, segmented by detector type, application, and region. It includes insights into leading companies, emerging technologies, ESG factors, and patent trends, along with market values, shares, and growth rates. The study offers both global and regional perspectives to understand market dynamics and competitive landscape. Purchase a copy of the report direct from BCC Research. For further information on any of these reports or to make a purchase, contact info@bccresearch.com. About BCC Research BCC Research market research reports provide objective, unbiased measurement and assessment of market opportunities. Our experienced industry analysts' goal is to help you make informed business decisions free of noise and hype. Contact Us Corporate HQ: 50 Milk St., Ste. 16, Boston, MA 02109, USA Email: info@bccresearch.com Phone: +1 781-489-7301 For media inquiries, email press@bccresearch.com or visit our media page for access to our market research library. Any data and analysis extracted from this press release must be accompanied by a statement identifying BCC Research LLC as the source and publisher. Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2183242/5451717/BCC_Research_Logo.jpg View original content:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/global-flame-retardant-chemicals-market-accelerates-in-response-to-rising-fire-safety-standards--bcc-research-llc-302525369.html TORONTO, ON / ACCESS Newswire / August 8, 2025 / Wolfden Resources Corporation (TSXV:WLF) ("Wolfden" or the"Company") is pleased to announce that it has closed the second and final tranche of its previously announced non-brokered private placement (the "Offering") of units of the Company ("Units"), pursuant to which the company sold an additional 1,250,000 Units at a price of $0.08 per Unit for additional gross proceeds to the Company of $100,000. Under the Offering, the Company sold a total of 25,000,000 Units at a price of $0.08 per Unit for aggregate gross proceeds to the Company of approximately $2 million. Each Unit was comprised of one common share of the Company (a "Common Share") and one-half of one Common Share purchase warrant of the Company (each whole warrant, a "Warrant"). Each Warrant entitles the holder thereof to purchase one Common Share at an exercise price of $0.12 per Common Share for a period of 24 months following closing of the final tranche of the Offering. The majority of the proceeds from the Offering will be used to advance on the Company's Rockland Gold Project in Nevada, working capital and general corporate purposes. The Offering remains subject to the final approval of the TSX Venture Exchange ("TSXV"). No compensation was paid in respect of the final tranche of the Offering. The securities issued pursuant to the final tranche of the Offering are subject to a four-month hold period under applicable Canadian securities laws. Related Party Transaction Two insiders of the Company purchased 2,500,000 Units and 1,875,000 Units under the Offering. Their participation in the Offering is considered to be "related party transactions" within the meaning of TSXV Policy 5.9 - Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions and Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101"). The Company is relying on the exemption from a formal valuation available in section 5.5(a) of MI 61-101 and the exemption from minority approval available in section 5.7(a) of MI 61-101. The Company meets the requirements set out in sections 5.5(a) and 5.7(a) of MI 61-101 because the fair market value of the securities being distributed to insiders, and the aggregate value of the Common Shares to be distributed under the Offering are each less than 25% of the market capitalization of the Company. Rockland Property The closing of the Offering will satisfy the outstanding requirements of the TSXV for the Company to proceed with the earn-in agreement (the "Earn-In Agreement") with Evergold Corp. ("Evergold") to acquire up to a 75% interest in the Rockland Property further to the Company's news release dated February 25, 2025. As part of the first stage earn-in under the Earn-In Agreement, the Company has paid the first cash payment of US$100,000 and Evergold has issued 275,000 shares of Evergold to the underlying claim owner. The Earn-In Agreement is in good standing and the Company looks forward to commencing the drill program this month. About Wolfden Wolfden is a North American exploration and development company focused on high-margin metallic mineral deposits including precious, base, and critical metals that represent significant development projects with the potential to produce domestic supply of strategic metals. For further information please contact Ron Little, President & CEO, at (807) 624-1136. Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information This press release contains forward-looking information (within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation) that involves various risks and uncertainties regarding future events, including the potential for projects to be domestic sources of ethically produced base and critical metals for the expansion of renewable energy in North America. Such forward-looking information includes statements based on current expectations involving a number of risks and uncertainties and such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance of the Company, and include, without limitation, the use of the proceeds of the Offering; the timing and ability of the Company to receive necessary approvals; metal price assumptions, cash flow forecasts, permitting, land transactions, community and other regulatory approvals, and the timing and completion of exploration programs in the USA, Manitoba, New Brunswick and the respective drill results. There are numerous risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and the Company's plans and objectives to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking information in this news release, including without limitation, the following risks and uncertainties: (i) risks inherent in the mining industry; (ii) regulatory and environmental risks; (iii) results of exploration activities and development of mineral properties; (iv) risks relating to the estimation of mineral resources; (v) stock market volatility and capital market fluctuations; and (vi) general market and industry conditions. Actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. This forward-looking information is based on estimates and opinions of management on the date hereof and is expressly qualified by this notice. Risks and uncertainties about the Company's business are more fully discussed in the Company's disclosure materials filed with the securities regulatory authorities in Canada at www.sedarplus.ca. The Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking information or to update the reasons why actual results could differ from such information unless required by applicable 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. SOURCE: Wolfden Resources Corp. View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire:https://www.accessnewswire.com/newsroom/en/metals-and-mining/wolfden-closes-final-tranche-of-non-brokered-private-placement-of-units-1058463 Miami, Florida--(Newsfile Corp. - August 8, 2025) - Arkay Beverages is reporting record-breaking global sales, driven by explosive brand visibility and consumer engagement. However, this success has coincided with a surge in cyber threats-particularly phishing attempts involving fake customer accounts targeting the company's database. Arkay's explosive visibility-highlighted by a spectacular Times Square billboard and a high-volume advertising campaign delivering over 100 million impressions on Reddit-has fueled unprecedented consumer interest and global brand engagement. "We are aware of multiple phishing attempts aimed at creating fake customer accounts to gain unauthorized access to our system," said Reynald Vito Grattagliano, founder of Arkay Beverages. "Let it be known-we are fully prepared." Arkay has invested in state-of-the-art cybersecurity systems, deploying the most advanced firewalls and intrusion detection tools available today. These measures are designed to proactively detect, isolate, and neutralize threats before any damage can be done. "While others may view this as a disruption, we see it as a validation of our success," Grattagliano added. "We are not only producing the best zero-proof spirits on the market-we are also setting the standard for digital resilience." Arkay's leadership in the alcohol-free spirits category continues to strengthen as the company expands its global presence. With unmatched brand recognition, cutting-edge cybersecurity, and a product lineup consumers trust, Arkay Beverages maintains its competitive advantage with confidence. About Arkay Beverages Founded in 2011 by visionary entrepreneur Reynald Vito Grattagliano, Arkay Beverages is the pioneer and global leader in alcohol-free spirits. As the first company to develop a full line of zero-proof alternatives, Arkay has transformed the beverage industry by offering adults a sophisticated, healthy, and alcohol-free lifestyle option. With distribution in over 35 countries and a commitment to innovation, quality, and wellness, Arkay is redefining what it means to enjoy a drink-without the alcohol. A major driver of Arkay's momentum is its spectacular billboard in Times Square, which is seen by over 100 million people each month. This iconic visibility has significantly amplified brand awareness and fueled both consumer and distributor engagement globally. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/261809 SOURCE: Pinion Partners Black Book Research Survey Finds Trade Policy Shifts, MFN Enforcement, and Supply Chain Vulnerabilities Driving a High-Stakes Reset in Digital Health M&A Valuations and Deal Structures NEW YORK CITY, NY / ACCESS Newswire / August 8, 2025 / Escalating U.S. pharmaceutical import tariffs, accelerated Most-Favored-Nation (MFN) drug-pricing enforcement, and mounting global supply chain vulnerabilities are forcing a strategic reset in healthcare IT mergers and acquisitions (M&A). According to Black Book Research's August 2025 flash survey of 211 healthcare M&A professionals, private equity investors, and digital health executives, policy shocks are now as critical as innovation in shaping valuations and deal structures. Tariffs Take Center Stage On August 5, 2025, the U.S. administration confirmed a new tariff program on pharmaceutical imports that will begin modestly but is slated to rise sharply reaching 150% within 18 months and potentially 250%. Just three days later, an August 8 update exempted Indian pharmaceutical exports from the new duties following industry warnings of potential U.S. drug shortages. While pharma and certain mobile devices were spared, Indian textiles and jewelry remain subject to steep tariffs, underscoring the selective nature of the carve-outs. Black Book Stat #1: 92% of surveyed healthcare IT M&A advisors now incorporate tariff and MFN policy simulations into due diligence - a significant jump since the latest announcements. Legal Uncertainty Adds to Risk Calculations The tariff environment is complicated by litigation. In May 2025, the U.S. Court of International Trade ruled the so-called "Liberation Day" tariffs unlawful, but the decision is stayed pending appeal. This uncertainty over enforceability is pushing dealmakers to develop contingency strategies for possible reversals or staggered implementation. MFN Drug-Pricing Enforcement Accelerates The May 12, 2025 Executive Order, Delivering Most-Favored-Nation Prescription Drug Pricing to American Patients, remains a central force in healthcare investment planning. The policy ties U.S. drug prices for select products to the lowest rates paid by comparable developed nations. In late July, CMS issued guidance detailing calculation methodologies, and on August 5, President Trump directed 17 major drug manufacturers to comply within 60 days. These moves are reshaping multinational reimbursement strategies and altering the risk profiles of globally integrated technology platforms. Deal Structuring Shifts Toward Flexibility Firms with exposure to offshore supply chains, pharmaceutical-linked software, or international reimbursement dependencies are pivoting toward protective and adaptable transaction frameworks, including: Milestone-based earn-outs tied to regulatory and reimbursement milestones Contingent joint ventures with delayed closing stages Phased acquisition payments designed to hedge against policy-driven volatility Black Book Stat #2: More than 67% of digital health acquisitions in H1 2025 used alternative deal structures, up from just 33% in H1 2023. A recent example: a June 2025 joint venture in remote patient monitoring software structured to delay full acquisition until CMS reimbursement stability is expected in late 2026. Portfolio Recalibration in Private Equity Private equity groups are shifting capital toward "capital-light" domestic-first healthcare technology platforms, insulating portfolios from tariff shocks and global pricing volatility. Black Book Stat #3: 80% of Q3 2025 PE healthcare IT investments target companies with predominantly domestic revenue streams and minimal international exposure - such as AI-powered revenue cycle management, telehealth, and behavioral health solutions. Digital health conglomerates are also divesting high-risk assets tied to offshore manufacturing and global hardware supply chains, instead favoring agile, cloud-native, domestic-first platforms. Investor Action Items Reassess M&A targets using tariff- and MFN-adjusted risk models. Audit exposure to offshore manufacturing, global revenue, and cross-border dependencies. Adopt flexible transaction terms including earn-outs, phased closings, and regulatory contingencies. Track policy-sensitive sectors (diagnostics, AI, remote monitoring, and revenue cycle) for consolidation opportunities tied to trade and pricing shifts. "The Q3 2025 healthcare IT investment climate is now defined as much by strategic insulation as by innovation," said Doug Brown, Founder of Black Book Research. "M&A strategies that once focused primarily on breakthrough capabilities must now account for tariff exposure, MFN compliance, and legal unpredictability as core valuation criteria." About Black Book Research Black Book has been the healthcare industry's trusted source for independent, unbiased technology market intelligence since 2004. Engaging over 3 million healthcare executives, clinicians, and investors worldwide, Black Book delivers real-time data, actionable analytics, and proprietary satisfaction ratings to guide technology decisions, investments, and strategic planning. For complimentary industry reports and insights, visit www.blackbookmarketresearch.com. SOURCE: Black Book Research View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire:https://www.accessnewswire.com/newsroom/en/healthcare-and-pharmaceutical/escalating-tariffs-and-global-drug-pricing-mandates-reshape-q3-2025-h-1053261 Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - August 8, 2025) - Pineapple Financial Inc. (NYSE American: PAPL), pursuant to Section 401(d) of the NYSE American Company Guide, today issued the following statement in response to recent unusual trading activity: Following appropriate internal review and consultation, the Company confirms that it is not aware of any material developments in its business or affairs beyond those previously disclosed publicly. Investors should rely solely on the Company's official filings and press releases for any developments. The Company also notes its recent Form 8-K filing, which disclosed an improved cash position and continued execution of its strategic plan. No additional material updates have occurred. Pineapple remains committed to transparency and compliance with its continuous disclosure obligations. About Pineapple Pineapple is an award-winning fintech and leading Canadian mortgage brokerage network, focusing on both the long-term success of agents and brokers as well as the overall experience of homeowners. With hundreds of brokers within the network, Pineapple creates cutting-edge cloud-based tools and AI-driven systems to enable its brokers to help Canadians realize their dream of owning a home. Pineapple is active within the community and is proud to sponsor charities across Canada to improve the lives of fellow Canadians. Follow us on social media: Instagram: @pineapplemortgage @empoweredbypineapple Facebook: Pineapple Mortgage LinkedIn: Pineapple Mortgage Safe Harbor Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements in this announcement are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. They are based on the Company's current expectations and projections about future events that the Company believes may affect its financial condition, results of operations, business strategy and economic needs. Investors can identify these forward-looking statements by words or phrases such as "may," "will," "expect," "anticipate," "aim," "estimate," "intend," "plan," "believe," "is/are likely to," "potential," "continue" or other similar expressions. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent occurring events or circumstances or changes in its expectations that arise after the date hereof, except as may be required by law. These statements are subject to uncertainties and risks including, but not limited to, the uncertainties related to market conditions and the completion of the initial public offering on the anticipated terms or at all, and other factors discussed in the "Risk Factors" section of the registration statement filed with the SEC. Although the Company believes that the expectations expressed in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, it cannot assure that such expectations will be correct. The Company cautions investors that actual results may differ materially from the anticipated results. It encourages investors to review other factors that may affect its future results in the Company's registration statement and other filings with the SEC. Additional factors are discussed in the Company's filings with the SEC, which are available for review at www.sec.gov. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/261887 SOURCE: Pineapple Financial Inc. Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - August 8, 2025) - Numinus Wellness Inc. (TSX: NUMI) (OTCQB: NUMIF) (FSE: LR23) ("Numinus" or the "Company"), a mental health care company focused on innovative behavioral health treatments with a focus on safe, evidence-based psychedelic-assisted therapies, today announced its financial results for the three months ended November 30, 2024 ("Q1 2025"). Q1 2025 Performance Metrics For the quarter ended: Nov 30, 2024 (Q1 2025) Nov 30, 2023 (Q1 2024) % change Total Revenue $ 2,013,779 $ 1,196,629 68.3% Cost of revenue 992,622 734,686 35.1% Gross Profit (Loss) $ 1,021,157 $ 461,943 121.1% Gross profit margin (loss) 49.3% 38.6% 107 bps Operating expenses and other items 2,065,596 4,226,850 -51.1% Loss and comprehensive loss ($1,286,464 ) ($4,351,472 ) n/a Balance Sheet and Liquidity Numinus ended the quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $2.0 million. Numinus' unaudited condensed consolidated interim financial statements for the three months ended November 30, 2024, and related management's discussion and analysis are available on Numinus' Investor Relations website at www.investors.numinusnetwork.com and under the Company's profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca. These documents were prepared in accordance with IFRS. About Numinus Numinus Wellness Inc. (TSX: NUMI) (OTCQB: NUMIF) helps people to heal and be well through the development and delivery of innovative mental health care and access to safe, evidence-based psychedelic-assisted therapies. The Numinus model - including psychedelic research and clinic care - is at the forefront of a transformation aimed at healing rather than managing symptoms for depression, anxiety, trauma, pain and substance use. At Numinus, we are leading the integration of psychedelic-assisted therapies into mainstream clinical practice and building the foundation for a healthier society. Learn more at www.numinusnetwork.com and follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. SOURCE: Numinus Wellness Inc. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. All statements that are not historical facts, including, without limitation, statements regarding future estimates, plans, programs, forecasts, projections, objectives, assumptions, expectations or beliefs regarding future performance are "forward-looking statements". Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "expects", "does not expect", "is expected", "believes", "intends", "anticipates", "does not anticipate", "believes" or variations of these words, expressions or statements, that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be" taken, will occur or will be realized. Such forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and other known and unknown factors that could cause actual results, events or developments to differ materially from the results, events or developments expected and expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, ability of Numinus to maintain or increase earnings; ability of Numinus to achieve or maintain profitability; results of changes to operations from a financial or business perspective; the effect of cost containment measures on Numinus business and financial position; changes to cash burn rate, expenses, corporate programs or priorities, or unanticipated costs affecting cash runway or the pathway to positive cashflow or profitability, the effect of any transaction or other activity undertaken by the company in connection with the strategic review; interest in, uptake of and the ability to commercialize the Numinus Training; availability of subjects and trainers for experiential opportunities in practitioners training, if approved; dependence on obtaining and maintaining regulatory approvals, including the acquisition and renewal of federal, provincial, municipal, local or other licenses, and any inability to obtain all necessary government authorizations, licenses and permits to operate the Company's facilities; regulatory or policy changes such as changes in applicable laws and regulations, including federal, state and provincial legalization, if any, due to fluctuations in public opinion, industry perception of integrative mental health, including the use of psychedelic-assisted therapy, delays or inefficiencies or any other reason; any other factor or development likely to hamper the growth of the market; the Company's need for additional financing and the effects of financial market conditions and other factors on the availability of capital; competition, including that of more established and better funded competitors; the need to build and maintain alliances and partnerships, including with research and development companies, customers and suppliers; and other risk factors set forth in our annual information form dated July 25, 2025 and available on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca. These factors should be carefully considered, and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Despite the Company's efforts to identify the main risk factors that could cause actual measures, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, other risk factors may cause measures, events or developments to materially differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake to revise forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available as a result of future events, new facts or any other reason, except as required by applicable laws. To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/261892 SOURCE: Numinus Wellness Inc. VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESS Newswire / August 8, 2025 / Carcetti Capital Corp. ("Carcetti" or the "Company") (TSXV:CART.H)(NEX:CART.H), announced today that it has closed its previously announced upsized non-brokered private placement (the "Private Placement") of 6,000,000 common shares of the Company ("Shares") at a price of $0.35 per Share for aggregate gross proceeds of $2,100,000. The Company also announces the grant of stock options to certain directors, officers and consultants of the Company to acquire, in aggregate, 2,445,000 Shares. The Shares issued under the Private Placement were offered pursuant to applicable exemptions from the prospectus requirements under applicable securities laws and are subject to a hold period (the "Hold Period") which will expire four months and one day from the date of issuance, such date being December 8, 2025. In addition to the preceding Hold Period, subscribers under the Private Placement entered into lock-up agreements (the "Lock-Up Agreements") with the Company whereby subscribers will be restricted from transferring or otherwise disposing of their Shares for a period of six months (the "Lock-Up") from the closing date of the Private Placement, such date being [February 7], 2026. The Lock-Up will run concurrently with the Hold Period. In addition, pursuant to the Lock-Up Agreements, if the Company publicly announces a proposed acquisition of an asset or business for aggregate consideration of at least $10,000,000, the subscribers of the Private Placement will be subject to an additional lock-up for a period ending on the earlier of (i) nine months following such announcement, and (ii) completion of such acquisition. Jonathan Awde, a director and insider (as such term is defined in applicable securities laws) of the Company, is a related party as defined in Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101"), and therefore, the Private Placement is a related party transaction under MI 61-101. The Private Placement is exempt from the formal valuation requirement of MI 61-101 because the Company is not listed on specified markets and is exempt from the minority shareholder approval requirement of MI 61-101 because the Private Placement does not have a fair market value of more than $2,500,000. The Company did not file a material change report more than 21 days before the expected closing date of the Private Placement as the details of the Private Placement and the insider participation thereof were not settled until shortly prior to the closing of the Private Placement, and the Company wished to close the Private Placement on an expedited basis for sound business reasons. The Company intends to use the proceeds of the Private Placement to advance its continued search and assessment of an appropriate asset or assets to acquire and for general and administration expenses. There is no finders' fee, commission or bonus payable in connection with the Private Placement. The Private Placement is subject to the final approval of the TSXV. The Company announces that it has granted options (the "Options") to certain directors, officers and consultants of the Company (the "Recipients") to acquire, in aggregate, 2,445,000 Shares pursuant to the Company's stock option plan. In each case, 50% of the Options granted to the Recipients vest immediately and 50% vest on the date that is one year from the date hereof. The Options expire on the date that is five years from the date hereof, such date being August 8, 2030 and have an exercise price of $0.35 per Share. Following the closing of the Private Placement, a total of 2,566,905 options are issuable under the Company's stock option plan and following the grant of the Options, a total of 2,535,000 Options are outstanding. On behalf of the Board of Directors, Glenn Kumoi, President & CEO and Director of Carcetti For further information contact Glenn Kumoi President & CEO of Carcetti at gkumoi@shaw.ca. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities law. Forward-looking statements are frequently characterized by words such as "plan", "expect", "project", "intend", "believe", "anticipate", "estimate" and other similar words, or statements that certain events or conditions "may" or "will" occur. Forward-looking statements in the press release include but are not limited to: receipt of final approval of the TSXV; identification, announcement or closing of an asset or business by the Company; and the intended use of proceeds from the Private Placement. Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. The Company cannot assure that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. They are made as of the date hereof and are subject to change and the Company assumes no obligation to revise or update them to reflect new circumstances, except as required by law. Prospective investors should not place undue reliance on forward looking statements. These factors include the inherent risks involved in the resource industry. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. SOURCE: Carcetti Capital Corp. View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire:https://www.accessnewswire.com/newsroom/en/oil-gas-and-energy/carcetti-capital-corp.-announces-closing-of-upsized-non-brokered-private-placeme-1058583 CBMJ Outpaces All Major News Media Stocks Including Newsmax, Fox, Sinclair, Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount, and Disney ATLANTA, GA / ACCESS Newswire / August 8, 2025 / Conservative Broadcast Media & Journalism Inc. (OTCID:CBMJ), the parent company of Patriot.TV, stock has surged an astonishing +296.48% in the past month, outpacing all major media competitors. This week alone, shares jumped +127.49%, with a single-day rally of +63.64%, marking CBMJ as the fastest-growing media stock in America. While Patriot.TV's digital-first strategy continues to pay off, legacy media giants remain stagnant or in decline: CBMJ (OTCID:CBMJ) - +296.48% in the past month, +127.49% this week, +63.64% today Newsmax (NMAX) - Down 20% since mid-July Fox Corp. (FOX) - Flat to -2% in the past month Sinclair Broadcast Group (SBGI) - Flat performance Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) - -7% , following weak cable results Paramount Global (PARA) - -2% month-to-date The Walt Disney Company (DIS) - -3%, amid cable and ESPN subscriber losses Two key macro trends are fueling CBMJ's meteoric rise: 1. Viewers Reject Partisan Legacy Media: Major networks such as CNN (WBD), CBS News (PARA), and ABC (DIS) are seeing double-digit declines in viewership, especially during primetime, as trust in liberal-leaning outlets deteriorates. Patriot.TV, in contrast, is gaining loyal audiences with fact-based, pro-America content from recognizable hosts. Companies that are more right leaning Including Newsmax (NMAX), Fox (FOX), and Sinclair (SBGI) have fared significantly better but none even close to Conservative Media Broadcast and Journalism (CBMJ) have. "There's a growing void where trust used to be in legacy media, and we're filling that void with programming people can believe in," said Mark Schaftlein, CEO of CBMJ. "Patriot.TV is succeeding because it doesn't pander, it delivers truth, accountability, and perspective. And the results are clear in both our audience numbers and our stock." 2. Streaming Dominates - Cable Collapses While cable networks report steady subscriber loss, CBMJ's Patriot.TV is optimized for streaming, available on Rumble, and directly through web and mobile platforms. The company's alignment with the streaming revolution has positioned it for rapid scaling and monetization. Patriot.TV's performance leap follows the appointment of JD Rucker as CEO of the platform. Since taking the helm, Rucker has spearheaded aggressive expansion efforts including: Launching new original programs like " The JD Rucker Political Report" , " Wayne Dupree Show" , and " This Is My Show with Drew Berquist." Elevating underrepresented conservative voices while reinforcing factual, principled commentary Signing a major partnership deal with Evergreen Media Partners, significantly boosting advertising, production, and distribution capabilities Patriot.TV's 1.6 million monthly viewers on Rumble (a new record as of July) is just the beginning. With a nationwide rollout of new streaming partnerships and the addition of high-profile conservative hosts, CBMJ is rapidly capturing market share from traditional broadcasters. As Warner Bros. Discovery and Disney announce declines in their core TV divisions, CBMJ is charting a different path, one that aligns with shifting viewer behaviors and investor priorities. CBMJ's momentum is more than a market anomaly, it's a referendum. Consumers are rejecting cable contracts, political bias, and media monopolies. They want authenticity, and Patriot.TV delivers it through streaming platforms that meet audiences where they are. With streaming, trust, and content driving its business model, CBMJ is leading a new era in news and commentary, digital-first, values-aligned, and investor-validated. About Patriot.TV: Patriot.TV is a digital-first streaming platform delivering patriotic news, commentary, and original programming. Operating as a subsidiary of Conservative Broadcast Media & Journalism (OTCID:CBMJ), Patriot.TV is committed to American values, free speech, and truthful, unfiltered content for underserved audiences. With a cutting-edge multi-platform distribution strategy, Patriot.TV reaches viewers across its website, social media, and streaming apps, and drives revenue through sponsorships, advertising, affiliate partnerships, and memberships. Since its launch, Patriot.TV has become a burgeoning home for conservative voices, featuring an array of shows hosted by military veterans, media insiders, and grassroots influencers devoted to informing and empowering the American public. Visit www.Patriot.TV for more information. About Conservative Broadcast Media & Journalism Inc. (OTCID:CBMJ): CBMJ is a publicly traded media and digital broadcasting company focused on delivering conservative and faith-based content. Its wholly owned subsidiary, Patriot.TV, serves as a premier destination for news, commentary, and original programming that reflects traditional American values. For more information, visit www.Patriot.TV. Media Contact: Mark Schaftlein - CEO, Conservative Broadcast Media & Journalism (877) 704-6773 SOURCE: Conservative Broadcast Media & Journalism, Inc. View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire:https://www.accessnewswire.com/newsroom/en/publishing-and-media/cbmj-patriot.tv-stock-rockets-296.48-since-july-6-127.49-this-week-and-63.64-t-1058602 NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWS WIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESS Newswire / August 8, 2025 / BioNxt Solutions Inc. ("BioNxt" or the "Company") (CSE:BNXT)(OTC:BNXTF)(FSE:BXT), is pleased to announce today that it has closed the final tranche of its previously announced non-brokered private placement (the "Offering") of convertible debenture units (the "Debenture Units") at a price of $0.60 per Debenture Unit, for gross proceeds of $241,200. The $241,200 represents the principal amount outstanding pursuant to the Debentures (as defined herein); the Company also issued 402,000 Warrants (as defined herein) pursuant to the closing of the final tranche of the Offering. Over the two tranches of the Offering, the Company raised aggregate gross proceeds of $1,250,400, representing the aggregate principal amount outstanding pursuant to the Debentures, and issued a total of 2,084,000 Warrants. Each Debenture Unit consisted of: (i) $0.60 principal amount of 8.0% unsecured convertible debentures (the "Debentures") and (ii) one common share purchase warrant (each a "Warrant"). Each Warrant entitles the holder to acquire one common share in the capital of the Company (a "Common Share") at a price of $0.75 per Common Share for a period of two years following the date of issuance. The Debentures bear interest from their issue date at 8.0% per annum on an accrual basis, calculated and payable on an annual basis, up to and including the date which is two years following the date of issuance (the "Maturity Date"). The principal amount of the Debentures is convertible, at the option of the holder, into Common Shares at any time prior to the Maturity Date, at a conversion price of $0.60 per Common Share (the "Conversion Price"). At the election of the Company, the interest payable on the principal amount of the Debentures may be settled by a cash payment or through the issuance of Common Shares at the Conversion Price. The Company intends to use the net proceeds from the Offering for product development and commercialization, intellectual property filings, and general working capital. In connection with the closing of the final tranche of the Offering, the Company paid an aggregate cash finder fee of $19,296 and issued an aggregate of 32,160 finder's warrants to Canaccord Genuity Corp. (the "Finder Warrants"). Each Finder Warrant will entitle the holder to purchase one Common Share (a "Finder Share") at an exercise price of $0.60 per Finder Share for a period of two years from the date of issuance of the Finder Warrants. The securities of the Company issued in connection with the final tranche of the Offering, and any Common Shares issuable upon conversion or exercise thereof, are subject to a statutory hold period until December 9, 2025, in accordance with applicable Canadian securities laws. About BioNxt Solutions Inc. BioNxt Solutions Inc. is a bioscience innovator focused on next-generation drug delivery technologies, diagnostic screening systems, and active pharmaceutical ingredient development. The Company's proprietary platforms-Sublingual (Thin-Film), Transdermal (Skin Patch), and Oral (Enteric-Coated Tablets)-target key therapeutic areas, including autoimmune diseases, neurological disorders, and longevity. With research and development operations in North America and Europe, BioNxt is advancing regulatory approvals and commercialization efforts, primarily focused on European markets. BioNxt is committed to improving healthcare by delivering precise, patient-centric solutions that enhance treatment outcomes worldwide. BioNxt is listed on the Canadian Securities Exchange: BNXT, OTC Markets: BNXTF and trades in Germany under WKN: A3D1K3. To learn more about BioNxt, please visit www.bionxt.com. Investor Relations & Media Contact Hugh Rogers, Co-Founder, CEO and Director Email: investor.relations@bionxt.com Phone: +1 778.598.2698 Web: www.bionxt.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bionxt-solutions Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bionxt THIS NEWS RELEASE DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER TO SELL OR THE SOLICITATION OF ANY 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. THE DEBENTURES AND THE SHARES WHICH MAY BE ISSUED ON EXERCISE THEREOF HAVE NOT BEEN AND WILL NOT BE REGISTERED UNDER THE UNITED STATES SECURITIES ACT OF 1933, AS AMENDED (THE "U.S. SECURITIES ACT") AND MAY NOT BE OFFERED OR SOLD IN THE UNITED STATES ABSENT REGISTRATION OR AN APPLICABLE EXEMPTION FROM THE REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS OF THE U.S. SECURITIES ACT AND APPLICABLE STATE SECURITIES LAWS. Cautionary Statement Regarding "Forward-Looking" Information This news 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. Forward-looking information in this news release includes the projected use of proceeds from the Offering. 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. SOURCE: BioNxt Solutions Inc. View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire:https://www.accessnewswire.com/newsroom/en/healthcare-and-pharmaceutical/bionxt-solutions-announces-closing-of-final-tranche-of-oversubscribed-1058519 Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - August 8, 2025) - Edgemont Gold Corp. (CSE: EDGM) (the "Company" or "Edgemont") is pleased to announce that, further to its news release dated June 4, 2025, Laiva Gold Inc. ("Laiva") has completed a private placement which raised gross proceeds of $8,038,280 (the "Offering"). The Offering was significantly oversubscribed, culminating in the sale of 10,047,850 units (the "Units"), with each Unit priced at $0.80. Each Unit consists of one (1) common share of Laiva (a "Share") and one-half of one common share purchase warrant (each whole warrant, a "Warrant"). Each Warrant entitles the holder to purchase one (1) Share at an exercise price of $1.20 for a period of 18 months from the date of issuance. Finder's fees consisting of $160,368 cash and 200,461 non-transferable finder's warrants were paid to certain arm's length finders in connection with the Offering. The finder's warrants have the same terms as the Warrants. Edgemont has entered into a definitive merger agreement with Laiva, whereby Edgemont will acquire all of the issued and outstanding Shares of Laiva, which will constitute a reverse takeover transaction of Edgemont (the "Transaction"). About Laiva and the Transaction Upon completion of the Transaction, the Company will indirectly own the Laiva mine ("Laiva Mine") in Finland. The Laiva Mine is an open pit operation, fully equipped with one of the largest gold plants in Europe (6,000 tonnes per day capacity). Following completion of the Transaction, the Company also anticipates acquiring additional assets to build a multi-asset mining company. The Transaction is subject to approval of the Canadian Securities Exchange and certain other closing conditions. For additional information with respect to the Offering and the Transaction, please refer to the Company's SEDAR+ (www.sedarplus.ca) profile and its news release dated June 4, 2025. Neither the Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Market Regulator (as the term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information This news release contains forward-looking information or statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws, which may include, without limitation, statements relating to the terms and completion of the Transaction, the receipt of stock exchange approval in respect of the Transaction and satisfaction of other conditions required for completion of the Transaction, the future strategy and direction of the Company, including anticipated acquisition of additional mining assets and other matters. All statements in this news release, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that the Company expects to occur, are forward-looking information or statements. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking information or 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 information or statements. Such statements and information are based on numerous assumptions regarding present and future business strategies and the environment in which the Company will operate in the future, the ability to achieve its goals, expected costs and timelines to achieve the Company's goals, that general business and economic conditions will not change in a material adverse manner, and that financing will be available if and when needed and on reasonable terms. Such forward-looking information or statements reflect the Company's views with respect to future events and are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including the risks and uncertainties included in in documents filed under the Company's profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca. While such estimates and assumptions are considered reasonable by the management of the Company, they are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, and regulatory uncertainties and risks. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking information or statements include, but are not limited to, the ability of the Company to complete the Transaction on the terms described herein, including obtaining the requisite regulatory and stock exchange approvals, continued availability of capital and financing and general economic, market or business conditions, failure to compete effectively with competitors, failure to maintain or obtain all necessary permits, approvals and authorizations, failure to comply with applicable laws, including environmental laws, risks relating to unanticipated operational difficulties and failure to identify and acquire additional assets. The Company does not undertake to update forward-looking statements or forward-looking information, except as required by law. 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/261925 SOURCE: Edgemont Gold Corp. Vancouver, BC--(Newsfile Corp. - August 8, 2025) - Trimera Metals Corp. (CSE: TRM) ("Trimera" or the "Company") is pleased to provide an update on proposed exploration activities for its 1,692.22-hectare Tahlo Lake porphyry copper-molybdenum-gold property (the "Tahlo Lake Property" or "Tahlo Lake") located in north-central British Columbia. The Company also announces that it has engaged MCS Market Communication Service GmbH ("MCS") to conduct a six-month digital marketing campaign in support of the Company's investor relations efforts. Tahlo Lake Exploration Program The Tahlo Lake Property is located approximately 11 km to the northeast of American Eagle Gold Corp's NAK project, where drilling has identified numerous long high-grade intervals of copper-gold mineralization. The Tahlo Lake Property is within a prospective belt of rocks known as the Babine porphyry copper belt. This belt, measuring roughly 20 km by 80 km on the east side of Babine Lake, hosts many copper-rich mineral deposits at varying stages of development, from notable occurrences to developed prospects to past producing mines. The Tahlo Lake Property is at the northern end of this prospective belt of rocks. Given that there has been little historical exploration on the property due to extensive surficial glacial deposits that cover much of the project area, initial exploration activities are expected to focus on low-cost remote geological tools such as prospecting, mapping, rock sampling, and basal till sampling. Basal till sampling is an effective exploration technique that could identify mineralization in the underlying bedrock. In addition to boots-on-the-ground exploration, the Company intends to carry out an Induced Polarization geophysical survey to identify subsurface disseminated sulphides. Other proposed work will include more detailed interpretation of last years' Z-Axis Tipper Electromagnetic ("ZTEM") and Light Detection and Ranging ("LiDAR") surveys. Company management is currently formulating the details of the proposed summer exploration program, which is expected to be completed by the end of the current summer field season. The Company is to provide further details on the timing and the budget for this program within the next few weeks. Patrick Donnelly, CEO of Trimera, states, "Preparations are well underway for our inaugural field season at the Tahlo Lake project, which is within the emerging Babine Porphyry Belt. Given the success of our neighbor, American Eagle, I am excited to finally see us kick off exploration activities at our project, which has many geological features like that at the NAK project. I look forward to seeing the results from our summer field program." Qualified Person Patrick Donnelly P.Geo, CEO of the Company and a Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101, has reviewed and approved the scientific and technical information in this news release. Engagement of MCS Market Communication Service GmbH Trimera has entered into a service agreement (the "Agreement") dated August 8, 2025, with MCS (Saarlandstrae 28, 58511 Ludenscheid, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany; info@mcsmarket.de; +49 177 248 1220), an independent digital marketing firm based in Ludenscheid, Germany, to support the Company's investor awareness and outreach efforts. MCS is a third-party marketing services provider with no prior relationship to Trimera. Pursuant to the Agreement, MCS will provide a comprehensive suite of services for a six-month term commencing on August 8, 2025, including, among other things: the creation of text materials and advertorials about Trimera and its sector; the development and management of digital campaigns, ad groups, text ads and display ads; detailed keyword research and campaign optimization; creation of customized landing pages and coordination with online marketers; and placements across various online channels to improve reach and visibility. MCS will execute these services through online platforms using demographic, geographic, keyword, and interest-based targeting to reach relevant investor audiences. Trimera intends to ensure that any promotional content disseminated by MCS includes all required disclosures under, and otherwise complies with, applicable securities laws and the policies of the CSE. The Company has agreed to an initial budget of 25,000 (inclusive of advertising spend and a 16% agency fee) for the six-month term. MCS may receive additional compensation if the budget is increased during the term, subject to written agreement by both parties. MCS does not currently hold any securities of Trimera and no securities-based compensation has been provided or is contemplated pursuant to the Agreement. About Trimera Trimera is a junior exploration company focused on the exploration, development, and advancement of its Tahlo Lake property, located in south-central British Columbia. Tahlo Lake is comprised of four wholly owned mining claims totaling approximately 1,692 hectares. For more information, please consult the Company's filings, available at www.sedarplus.ca. Forward-Looking Statements The information in this news release includes certain information and statements about management's view of future events, expectations, plans and prospects that constitute forward-looking statements and includes statements respecting (i) the Company's exploration plans for the Tahlo Lake Property, including the scope, timing, and anticipated results of the proposed summer field program; (ii) the potential of the Tahlo Lake Property based on its geological characteristics and proximity to the NAK project; (iii) the Company's belief that Tahlo Lake is underexplored and prospective for porphyry-style mineralization; (iv) the engagement of MCS and the timing and scope of same; and (v) the Company's intention to ensure that any promotional content disseminated by MCS includes all required disclosures under, and otherwise complies with, applicable securities laws and the policies of the CSE. These statements are based upon assumptions that are subject to significant risks and uncertainties. Because of these risks and uncertainties and as a result of a variety of factors, the actual results, expectations, achievements or performance may differ materially from those anticipated and indicated by these forward-looking statements. Any number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements as well as future results. Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in forward-looking statements are reasonable, it can give no assurances that the expectations of any forward-looking statements will prove to be correct. Except as required by law, the Company disclaims any intention and assumes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect actual results, whether as a result of new information, future events, changes in assumptions, changes in factors affecting such forward-looking statements or otherwise. The Canadian Securities Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the accuracy or adequacy of this release. NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. 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/261922 SOURCE: Trimera Metals Corp. Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - August 8, 2025) - Pacific Empire Minerals Corp. (TSXV: PEMC) ("Pacific Empire", "PEMC" or the "Company"), a British Columbia copper-gold explorer, announces that the Company has closed the non-brokered private placement previously announced on July 21, 2025. The Company has issued 15,000,000 units (each a "Unit") at a price of $0.02 per unit for gross proceeds of $300,000 (the "Offering"). Each Unit consists of one common share in the capital of the Company ("Common Share") and one Common Share purchase warrant ("Warrant"). Each Warrant entitles the holder to acquire one Common Share ("Warrant Share") at an exercise price of $0.05 per Warrant Share for a period of 24 months from the date of closing. In connection with the Offering, the Company paid finder's fees to Haywood Securities Inc., consisting of $7,000 in cash and 350,000 finder's warrants (each, a "Finder's Warrant"), Research Capital Corporation, consisting of $490 in cash and 24,500 Finder's Warrants, and Ventum Financial Corp., consisting of $1,960 in cash and 98,000 Finder's Warrants. Each Finder's Warrant entitles the holder to acquire one Common Share at an exercise price of $0.05 per Common Share for a period of 24 months from the date of closing. Pacific Empire's President and CEO, Brad Peters: "With this financing now complete, Pacific Empire is excited to move forward towards advancing and diamond drilling at Trident in 2025. This is the first time this highly prospective copper-gold porphyry target will be tested, and we believe 2025 has the potential to be a defining year for the Company." The net proceeds from the Offering will be used for general working capital, exploration at the Company's flagship Trident copper-gold project, and marketing activities. Certain directors and officers of the Company participated in the Offering for an aggregate amount of $23,500, and therefore the Offering is a related party transaction subject to Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101"). The Company is exempt from the formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements of MI 61-101 pursuant to sections 5.5(a) and 5.7(1)(a) of MI 61-101 as neither the fair market value of the securities distributed to, nor the consideration received from, such related parties for the securities under the Offering exceeds 25% of the Company's market capitalization. The Company has not filed a material change report more than twenty-one (21) days before the closing date of the Offering, as the details of the Offering were not finalized until August 8, 2025, and the Company wished to close the Offering as soon as practicable. The Offering was conditionally approved by the TSX Venture Exchange (the "Exchange") but is subject to the final approval of the Exchange. All securities issued under the Offering are subject to a statutory hold period expiring December 9, 2025 in accordance with applicable Canadian securities laws, and the concurrent Exchange hold period expiring December 9, 2025 in accordance with the policies of the Exchange, in addition to such other restrictions as may apply under applicable securities laws of jurisdictions outside Canada. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities in the United States. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act") or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to U.S. Persons as defined under applicable United States securities laws unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available. About Pacific Empire Pacific Empire is a copper exploration company based in Vancouver, British Columbia and trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol PEMC. The Company has a district scale land position in north-central British Columbia totaling 22,541 hectares. British Columbia is a "Green" copper jurisdiction with abundant hydroelectric power, access and infrastructure in close proximity to the end market. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD, Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Forward-Looking Statements Information set forth in this news release may involve forward-looking statements under applicable securities laws, including, without limitation, statements with respect to the use of proceeds of the Offering and the receipt of regulatory approvals. Forward-looking statements are statements that relate to future, not past, events. In this context, forward-looking statements often address expected future business and financial performance, and often contain words such as "anticipate", "believe", "plan", "estimate", "expect", and "intend", statements that an action or event "may", "might", "could", "should", or "will" be taken or occur, or other similar expressions. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or other future events, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others, the following risks: the need for additional financing; operational risks associated with mineral exploration; fluctuations in commodity prices; title matters; environmental liability claims and insurance; reliance on key personnel; the potential for conflicts of interest among certain officers, directors or promoters with certain other projects; the absence of dividends; competition; dilution; the volatility of our common share price and volume and the additional risks identified the management discussion and analysis section of our interim and most recent annual financial statement or other reports and filings with the TSX Venture Exchange and applicable Canadian securities regulations. Forward-looking statements are made based on management's beliefs, estimates and opinions on the date that statements are made, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if these beliefs, estimates and opinions or other circumstances should change, except as required by applicable securities laws. Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements. NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO US NEWSWIRE SERVICES NOR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/261926 SOURCE: Pacific Empire Minerals Corp. While Nisha Ganatras direction is good with witty one-liners, it somehow fails to recreate the magic of Freaky Friday Star cast: Jamie Lee Curtis, Lindsay Lohan, Mark Harmon, Chad Michael Murray, Rosalind Chao, Ryan Malgarini, Christina Vidal Mitchell, Vanessa Bayer, Haley Hudson, Stephen Tobolowsky, Julia Butters, Sophia Hammons, Manny Jacinto, Lucille Soong Director: Nisha Ganatra Back in 2003, when Freaky Friday was released, the fantasy comedy, based on the novel of the same name, not only became a blockbuster and instant classic but also garnered a fan following and love from global audiences. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD And thats when the sequel was announced. Just like other cinephiles, I was excited but had a lot of expectations. With Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis returning as Anna and Tess Coleman, the sequel is arriving with the addition of other talented cast members. So, lets find out whether it lives up to the sky-high expectations or not The second part begins years after where the first part concluded. While Anna is now a single parent to a high school daughter named Harper (Julia Butters), Tess is a therapist and podcaster giving knowledge about parenting. Harper doesnt like a new girl in her class, who is from London, named Lily Davies (Sophia Hammons). As they always try to put each other down, during a culinary class, the duo engage in a food fight, which turns out to be a messy affair, and their parents are called by the principal. At the school, Anna accidentally bumps into Lilys father, Eric Davies (Manny Jacinto), and they both instantly fall head over heels for each other. As the duo plans to take a big step, they plan all the pre-wedding functions with enthusiasm and energy. However, Harper and Lily are not happy with this as they dont want to be step-sisters or stay together. During Annas bachelor party, Lily and Harper devise some strategies to break up the upcoming wedding. At the party, first Anna and Tess, and later Harper and Lily, meet Madame Jen (Vanessa Bayer), a fortune teller, who unknowingly switches the bodies of these ladies with each other with an experimental psychic process. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Now, Anna and Tess bodies are exchanged with Harper and Lily. The wedding is scheduled in three days, and the movie takes you on a rollercoaster ride of how these four ladies try to pretend to be their bodies, which creates hilarious and fun situations. Freakier Friday is undoubtedly fun and entertaining, but it unfortunately misses the depth and soul like its prequel, especially in the second half. While Nisha Ganatras direction is good with witty one-liners, it somehow fails to recreate the magic of Freaky Friday. Talking about the performances, Jamie Lee Curtis is top-notch, with Lindsay perfectly reprising her portrayal. Julia Butters and Sophia Hammons play their role to the T, with Manny Jacinto delivering a nuanced act. Vanessa Bayers brief role is definitely one of the biggest highlights of this movie. On the whole, Freakier Friday is entertaining but not up to the mark when its comparison with its prequel. Rating: 2.5 (out of 5 stars) STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Freakier Friday is playing in cinemas Prince Andrew-Meghan Markle fight story decoded; Prince Harry calls lawyers. Harry and Meghna are pursuing legal action over claims from Andrew Lownies book Entitled. Harry takes legal action against defamatory Prince Andrew and Meghan Markle fight claims | Decoding the case According to reports, the book Andrew Lownies book Entitled alleges there was a 2013 physical altercation between the duke and his uncle, Prince Andrew, and offensive remarks about Meghan. The Sussexes have, however, denied all claims. The book has also portrayed Prince Andrew as entitled, socially awkward, and difficult, with strained ties to his nephews, Prince Harry and Prince William. Harry and Meghans letter According to Newsweek report, e have sent legal letters to the Daily Mail over allegations of a fist fight with Prince Andrew and derogatory comments about Meghan, Newsweek can reveal. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Andrew Lownies new book, Entitled, paints a scathing portrait of Andrew as sex-obsessed, boorish and privileged. What the statement says According to Newsweek report, what the statement says is, I can confirm Prince Harry and Prince Andrew have never had a physical fight, nor did Prince Anqdrew ever make the comments he is alleged to have made about the Duchess of Sussex to Prince Harry. In a follow-up statement to Newsweek, Harry and Meghans team confirmed legal action: Such are the gross inaccuracies, damaging and defamatory remarks made in the Daily Mails story, I can confirm a legal letter from Prince Harrys counsel has been sent to the Mail. What the biography has to say Newsweek report states, At a family gathering in 2013," Lownie wrote, Harry and Andrew had got into a heated argument, and punches were thrown over something Andrew said behind Harrys back. Andrew told Harry his marriage to Meghan Markle would not last more than a month, the book reads, and accused his nephew of going bonkers and not doing any due diligence into her past. (With inputs from Newsweek and agencies) A Facebook post has surfaced on social media in which Goldy Dhillon of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang has allegedly claimed responsibility for the shooting in the comedians cafe and sent a warning to Kapil Sharma. Kapil Shamas cafe in Canada, named Kaps Cafe, has been attacked for the second under a month, as 25 shots were fired, which again sparked the concern over violation and extortion threats in the area. What the Facebook post says A Facebook post has surfaced on social media in which Goldy Dhillon of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang has allegedly claimed responsibility for the shooting in the comedians cafe and sent a warning to Kapil Sharma. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD JAI SHRI RAM, Satshriakal ram sare bhaiyo ko aj jo y kapil sharma k kaps cafe..Surrey m firing hui iski jimevari, Goldy dhillon, Lawrence bishnoi gang lete h isko hamne call ki thi isko ring nhi Sunai di to karwai krni pdi ab b ring n sunegi to next karwai jaldi hi Mumbai krege (We take responsibility for the firing in Surrey. We had called him, but he did not hear the ring, so we had to take action. If he still does not hear the ring next action will be in Mumbai)" the post read. While police are yet to verify the authenticity of the Facebook post, a purported video of the attack on the cafe went viral on social media, where at least 25 gunshots can be heard. Recently, Kapil Sharma shared a video of officials visiting his cafe in a collaborative post with wife Ginni Chatrath as the duo enjoyed a wonderful meal. However, it was the caption of the video, which grabbed our attention as the comedian firmly conveyed that he does not support any kind of violence. Thank you Mayor Brenda Locke, @surreypoliceservice and all the officials who visited @thekapscafe_ to show their love and support. United we stand against violence. Were truly grateful," the caption read. The police investigation after the incident is underway The show has its heart in the right place but at least two decades too late. You want to admire the idea but it would be possible only if the year was 2003-04 when we got a sea of such monikers like Zameen, Qayamat, Lakshya, Aan, Khakee, Deewaar Cast: Naveen Kasturia, Mukesh Rishi, Surya Sharma, Mouni Roy Director: Faruk Kabir Language: Hindi Salakaar is the new espionage show that has been thrown at us on the streaming platform. Its a show that unites the past and the present, both in terms of its story and star cast. It has the modern-day actor Naveen Kasturia and the veteran Mukesh Rishi, who returns to a ground he once deliciously owned- The villain. This time, he plays a Pakistani general who wants to make a nuclear bomb. The Hero: Love Story of A Spy and Qayamat: City Under Threat, both of which came out in the same year (2003), will really enjoy the company of this series thats directed by Faruk Kabir. Hes the filmmaker behind a forgotten franchise called Khuda Haafiz. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Every filmmaker is attempting to have a voice of its own, right from Rohit Shetty with extravagant colours and cars to Sanjay Leela Bhansalis expensive opuses to Mohit Suris melodies. Kabirs vision seems to be paying homage to the unsung heroes who have to save themselves and the nation together. But his earnestness is marred by a mountain of cliches that should have been moles. So anyone whos captured in Pakistan is brutally tortured. Even their pathos screams sameness. Even the expanse of the show that is Neeraj Pandeyesque fails to absorb us into the world the makers have created. And just like Pandeys own 2018 did Aiyaary, the only thing that catches your attention is the title that we dont hear too often. The show takes a leap of 47 years (1978-2025) and the threat of the nuclear bomb returns. We then get characters like Surya Sharma (the intimidating antagonist of Undekhi and Yeh Kaali Kaal Ankhen) and Mouni Roy. Theres a forgettable track to evoke pride and patriotism but some action scenes are niftily executed. The show has its heart in the right place but at least two decades too late. You want to admire the idea, but it would be possible only if the year was 2003-04 when we got a sea of such monikers like Zameen, Qayamat, Lakshya, Aan, Khakee, Deewar. The tagline of the show says The Legend of An Extraordinary Indian Spy with the colours of the Indian Flag. To give credit where its due, the show at least has a story to tell, unlike some web series that only drag their feet endlessly and fail to find a sure-footed ground. Mouni Roy surprises with her nuanced character, especially when we usually see the actress on social media more often than we see her in films and shows. And it was great to see Mukesh Rishi, but I wonder what would happen if his character from this show ever bumped into Inspector Salim from Sarfarosh. Enough of the spy universe, cop universe and horror comedy universe, this is the universe we need and deserve. Rating: 2.5 (out of 5 stars) Salakaar is now streaming on Jio Hotstar On August 8, 1942, one of the most important chapters in Indias fight for independence began as the Quit India Movement was launched following a resolution passed by the All India Congress Committee. At the same meeting, Mahatma Gandhi delivered his famous Do or Die speech. The movement demanded an immediate end to British rule and encouraged people to join a non-violent civil disobedience campaign The movement called for an immediate end to British rule in India. (File Photo) On August 8, 1942, Mahatma Gandhi delivered his famous Do or Die speech as the Quit India movement was launched. This movement was a mass call for civil disobedience, demanding that the British leave India. It was a major turning point in Indias fight for independence. People from all parts of the country came together to push for self-governance and an end to British rule. Also on this day in 1974, US President Richard Nixon, under pressure after fresh details emerged in the Watergate scandal, said he would resign the next day. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Further, on this day in 1969, one of the most recognisable photographs in music history was taken when The Beatles were pictured crossing Abbey Road for the cover of their album Abbey Road. As part of Firstpost Explainers History Today series, heres a look at what happened on August 8: Quit India Movement launched The Quit India Movement began on August 8, 1942, and remains one of the most important chapters in Indias struggle for freedom. It was the last major movement led by Mahatma Gandhi against British rule. The All India Congress Committee (AICC) held a meeting in Bombay on August 8 and passed a resolution to start the Quit India Movement. At the same meeting, Gandhi delivered his Do or Die speech. He said, The mantra is Do or Die. We shall either free India or die in the attempt; we shall not live to see the perpetuation of our slavery. This movement was a mass call for civil disobedience. Image: X The movement called for an immediate end to British rule in India. It asked people to take part in a peaceful civil disobedience campaign. People from all backgrounds, including students, farmers, workers, and political figures, came together in large numbers. The British response was quick and harsh. Top leaders like Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel were arrested the next day. This led to massive protests, strikes, and non-violent resistance across the country. Because the movement began in August, it also came to be called the August Kranti or August Movement. The day is remembered every year by honouring the freedom fighters who gave their lives for the nation. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Richard Nixon announces his resignation On this day in 1974, US President Richard M. Nixon said he would step down, becoming the first American president in history to resign. Faced with impeachment over his role in the Watergate scandal, Nixon gave in to growing pressure from the public and lawmakers to leave office. By taking this action, he said in a serious address from the Oval Office, I hope that I will have hastened the start of the process of healing which is so desperately needed in America. On August 8, 1974, US President Richard M Nixon announced he would resign the next day. AP/File Photo The Watergate scandal began with a break-in and wiretapping at the Democratic Partys national headquarters at the Watergate building in Washington, DC, carried out by men linked to Nixon and his aides. Over time, the case expanded to include other claims of wrongdoing that happened before and after the break-in. The five men who broke in were hired by the Republican Partys Committee to re-elect the President. They were caught and charged on June 17, 1972. Soon after the arrests, Nixon quietly asked White House counsel John Dean to manage a cover-up to hide the administrations part in the scandal. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Nixon also blocked the FBIs investigation and approved secret payments to the burglars in order to stop them from naming others involved. The Beatles Abbey Road album cover was shot On this day in 1969, a photo was taken that turned a simple pedestrian crossing into one of the worlds most famous locations. Abbey Road in St Johns Wood, London, is now a landmark for Beatles fans, where people still copy the well-known walk of the band seen in one of the final pictures of the four members together. It became one of the most recognisable photographs in music history. Image: Spotify At the time, no one guessed that the image, picked from just six shots of Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Ringo Starr and George Harrison, would become such a lasting symbol in music history. It remains one of the most copied album covers ever made. Today, the crossing is watched by a webcam and draws crowds of tourists daily. People come to pay tribute, propose, celebrate weddings, and even scatter the ashes of loved ones. This Day, That Year 1963: The Great Train Robbery took place in Britain, where a gang stole 2.6 million pounds in cash from a Royal Mail train. 1994: Israel and Jordan opened their first road link, a key step in improving ties between the two former rivals. 2009: Sonia Sotomayor took the oath as the first Hispanic and third woman to serve as a justice on the US Supreme Court. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 2023: Wildfires swept across parts of Maui island in Hawaii, causing major destruction and killing around 98 people. It became one of the deadliest wildfires ever recorded. Parisians are warming up to the idea of air conditioners in their homes after long-standing resistance to this cooling device. Although it is common in office buildings and stores, it is not the norm in homes. Is the no-AC policy about to change? Complaints from foreign visitors mystified by Parisians' AC rejection have usually been met with a Gallic shrug. Reuters As summer temperatures rise, many Parisians are warming to the idea of installing air conditioning in their apartments, ending a longstanding resistance to what is considered a basic comfort in many capitals elsewhere. Although commonplace in the French capitals modern office buildings and large stores, air conditioning has never been the norm in Paris homes, where it is considered to be climate-unfriendly, wasteful and at least so far mostly unnecessary. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Complaints from foreign visitors mystified by Parisians AC rejection have usually been met with a Gallic shrug. But fierce heatwaves in recent years, which experts say are exacerbated by global warming, are causing resolves to crumble though the newly converted often feel guilty about the environmental impact of operating an AC unit. Even when you know that its a selfish pleasure, there comes a tipping point at which all counter-arguments get thrown out, said Ruben Arnold, a 47-year-old father of young children. As the boss of a startup company specialising in energy use in buildings, Arnold said he was well aware of the climate cost of air conditioning, but he needed the installation for him and his children to get through the heat. For people on the top floor of Paris buildings directly under a zinc-covered roof, typical of the citys many Haussmann-era buildings, hot summers can feel like living below a frying pan. Didnt think that was even possible During the last heatwave, the temperature went up to 41 degrees Celsius (106 degrees Fahrenheit) at my place, said Marion Lafuste, who lives in northeast Paris. I didnt think that was even possible. Ice packs placed in front of fans and firmly closed shutters brought scant relief, the 40-year-old said. Lafuste said she was lucky to have a place in the country where she and her family could sit out the worst of the heat. Otherwise, she would have bought an AC system despite all the ideological problems I have with that. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD People swim in the River Seine at the Grenelle site, opened to swimmers marking the first public bathing session in the capitals historic waterway in Paris, France. Reuters Although she worries about global warming, I no longer judge people who get one, she said. Martine Bontemps, who also lives on the top floor of a Paris building, said she found the heat suffocating sometimes, but still wont give in. Instead, she makes do with a ceiling fan she got her landlord to install. The national weather service, Meteo France, predicts that Paris could regularly see heatwaves of up to 50 degrees Celsius by 2050. There will also be a rising number of nights with tropical-like heat, it says, which poses a health problem because humans need to sleep in temperatures of under 20 degrees Celsius to recover from daytime stresses. During a virulent French heatwave in 2003, a third of the heat-related deaths of elderly people occurred at home. This is why Sophie Julini, 53, installed air conditioning in her home, giving her 86-year-old mother an opportunity to cool down for several hours every day. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Air conditioning is not yet commonplace in Paris, but is in full development, according to a recent study by the APUR urban planning agency. Very problematic Part of the pressure to upgrade comes from foreign visitors who rent private apartments, the report said. Hard numbers are still difficult to come by because many Paris dwellers buy portable units that do not appear in building statistics. But overall, we have observed a strong trend towards air conditioning, said Karine Bidart, director of the Paris Climate Agency (APC), calling the development very problematic. The agency, founded by city hall to help citizens with the climate transition, does what it can to counter this catastrophic mis-adaptation to climate change, she said. People swim in the River Seine at the Bras Marie site, opened to swimmers marking the first public bathing session in the capitals historic waterway, in Paris, France. File image/Reuters Several studies predict that a massive increase in private air conditioning will raise the outside temperature by 2 degrees Celsius, said Dan Lert, in charge of the citys climate plan. Its one thing to use it as a last resort, especially for vulnerable people, said Frederic Delhommeau, director for residential energy at APC. But its problematic to turn to air conditioning as a reflex, because there are other solutions that are cheaper and more efficient. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Among them is the renovation of buildings, including by making changes to the many zinc-covered roofs, Lert said. But often such projects are blocked by heritage protection agencies, who rate patrimony more highly than peoples health, he said. Despite everything, said Anne Ruas, a researcher, air conditioning in Pariss private apartments will only become more widespread in the coming years. Instead of saying you cant have them, and guilt-tripping people, we need to think of solutions and come up with the least harmful systems possible, she said. After imposing a total of 50 per cent tariffs on India, Trump has now ruled out a possibility of holding negotiations on a potential trade deal. This marks a new low in India-US ties US President Donald Trump has ruled out the possibility of trade talks with India amid the ongoing tariff dispute. File image/AP United States President Donald Trump is known to drop bombshells and he did it again on Thursday (August 7) when he said that there will be no trade negotiations with India until a dispute over tariffs is resolved. The announcement comes after the US president signed an executive order imposing an additional 25 per cent tariffs on India for its continued purchase of Russian oil. With this, India now faces a combined levy of 50 per cent making it among the most heavily taxed US trading partner in Asia and placing it alongside Brazil, another nation facing steep US tariffs amid tense relations. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD What does Trumps latest announcement mean? How did we reach here? And what does this mean for India-US trade ties? We examine and get you the answers. No trade negotiations, says Trump On Thursday, Trump speaking from the Oval Office in the White House ruled out the possibility of trade negotiations with India unless the issue of tariffs is resolved. When asked by a news reporter if he expected trade negotiation to increase with India after the 50 per cent tariffs, Trump shrugged his shoulders and replied, No, not until we get it resolved. #WATCH | Responding to ANI's question, 'Just to follow up India's tariff, do you expect increased trade negotiations since you have announced the 50% tariffs?', US President Donald Trump says, "No, not until we get it resolved." (Source: US Network Pool via Reuters) pic.twitter.com/exAQCiKSJd ANI (@ANI) August 7, 2025 The question by the reporter came a day after Trump announced the imposition of a 25 per cent additional tariff on India as punishment for buying Russian crude. The executive order that he signed on the levy read that India is currently directly or indirectly importing Russian Federation oil, and says it is necessary and appropriate to apply the new 25 per cent tariff on Indian goods. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The new, Russia-related tariffs will take effect in 21 days, while the previously announced 25 per cent tariff took effect on Thursday (August 7). Trumps Russian penalty on India didnt come as a complete shocker he had been threatening New Delhi with tariffs for the past one week. In fact, he had written on social media, India is not only buying massive amounts of Russian oil, they are then, for much of the oil purchased, selling it on the open market for big profits. They dont care how many people in Ukraine are being killed by the Russian war machine. India defended its purchase with the Ministry of External Affairs issuing a statement saying We have already made clear our position on these issues, including the fact that our imports are based on market factors and done with the overall objective of ensuring the energy security of 1.4 billion people of India. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Moreover, Prime Minister Modi also reacted saying that India wouldnt capitulate to outside pressure. For us, the interest of our farmers is our top priority, he said. India will never compromise on the interests of farmers, fishermen and dairy farmers. I know we will have to pay a heavy price for it, and I am ready for it. India is ready for it. A man reads a newspaper with reports on tariffs after US President Donald Trump announced an additional 25% tariff on Indian goods, alongside a market in New Delhi. Reuters But how did we get here? Trumps announcement comes even as India and the US try to stitch together a trade deal that was first agreed upon by Trump and Modi when the latter visited the White House in February. Following that bilateral talks gained momentum; Indias Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal visited Washington in March and met with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and US Trade Representative Jamisen Greer. Later in March, US officials visited Delhi for talks. In April, US Vice President JD Vance during his India visit said both sides were making progress on trade talks and it was reported that India and the US finalised the terms of reference for the trade negotiation, bringing them a step closer to an agreement. The biggest breakthrough came in June when Trump declared that a deal may be close. He was quoted as saying, Were having some great deals. We have one coming up, maybe with India, a very big one, where were going to open up India. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD US President Donald Trump shakes hands with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Oval Office of the White House when the two met in February. File image/AFP However, since then the trade talks have hit a rough patch. On July 4, in what appeared to be a hardening of stance by India, Piyush Goyal said that India would not do trade deals to meet deadlines and national interest will be supreme. His remarks came a little after the two delegations met for a fifth round of talks. However, according to sources, agriculture and dairy products were the two big items that became sticking points between the two nations. Then last week, Trump ramped up his offensive against India, announcing that he would impose a 25 per cent tariff on India, despite it being a friend. He also stated that the US would impose a penalty on India for buying Russian oil. What comes next though? India and the US were to hold a sixth round of talks on August 25. But it is now not known if these discussions will take place after Trumps big bombshell. Meanwhile, NDTV reports that PM Modi is set to chair a crucial high-level Cabinet meeting today to assess the impact of the steep tariff hike recently imposed by the US on Indian exports. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Moreover, the Indian news website quoting sources reported that major US retailers such as Walmart, Amazon and Target have halted orders from India with exporters receiving letters and emails from US buyers requesting that they pause apparel and textile shipments until further notice. While it is uncertain what comes next when it comes to trade, most analysts note that this marks a new low in the US-India relations. As Vina Nadjibulla, vice president of strategy and research at the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, told Al Jazeera, This is a very difficult moment, arguably the worst in many, many years in their relationship and puts India in a very small group of countries that find themselves without a deal and with the highest tariff rates. They now need some pragmatic path forward and need to find a way to rebuild trust. Even some American leaders such as senior US Congressman Gregory Meeks have said that the US presidents actions endanger ties with the US. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD With inputs from agencies For a second time in a month, stand-up comic Kapil Sharmas Kaps Cafe in Canada was targeted. This time, Goldy Dhillon of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang claimed responsibility for the attack. But whats the reason behind it? The police in Surrey have begun their investigation into the firing incident. Image: News18 Weeks after the first attack, comedian Kapil Sharmas cafe in Canadas Surrey was targeted in another shooting early Thursday morning. According to videos circulating on social media, at least 25 gunshots could be heard being fired at the cafe. Surrey police officers found several bullet holes, smashed windows, and damage to the building, according to local media reports. Although staff members were working inside at the time, no one was harmed, they said. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Notably, Kaps Cafe is owned by Kapil Sharma and his wife, Ginni Chatrath. This is the second time the establishment has come under attack, the first being on July 10, just a few days after it was inaugurated. But who is responsible for the attack this time? Why is the cafe being targeted? Find out below: Kapil Sharmas cafe attacked: Who is responsible? The police in Surrey have begun their investigation into the firing incident. In a statement, the police said, At approximately 4:40 am on August 7, 2025, SPS Frontline officers responded to a report of shots fired outside a business in the 8400 block of 120 Street. The same business was the location of a similar incident on July 10, 2025. Meanwhile, gangster Goldy Dhillon, who is linked to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, has claimed responsibility for the attack on social media. In a post on Facebook, he wrote, JAI SHRI RAM, Satshriakal ram sare bhaiyo ko aj jo y kapil sharma k kaps cafe..Surrey m firing hui iski jimevari, Goldy dhillon, Lawrence bishnoi gang lete h isko hamne call ki thi isko ring nhi Sunai di to karwai krni pdi ab b ring n sunegi to next karwai jaldi hi Mumbai krege (sic). Gangster Goldy Dhillon, associated with Lawrence Bishnoi gang claimed responsibility "We called him, but he did not answer the call.. If he still does not respond, we will take further action in Mumbai soon...," Goldy stated in SM post #Canada #KapilSharma https://t.co/jw8XVWlOje pic.twitter.com/P8Sl38AS2D Ishani K (@IshaniKrishnaa) August 7, 2025 STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Heres a rough translation of the alleged post: We take responsibility for the firing in Surrey. We had called him, but he did not hear the ring, so we had to take action. If he still does not hear the ring, the next action will be in Mumbai. It is worth noting that the Mumbai Police are still verifying the authenticity of the social media post. Reports also suggested that Kapils invitation to Salman Khan for the shows inauguration could be one of the reasons the Bishnoi gang targeted the comedians cafe. An audio clip accessed by India Today revealed Bishnoi gang member Harry Boxer admitting to a link between Salman Khan and the attack on the cafe. The first and now the second firing at Kapil Sharmas restaurant happened because he had invited Salman Khan to the inauguration on a Netflix show, the audio clip revealed, according to the media outlet. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Notably, Salman Khan featured in the opening episode of season 3 of The Great Indian Kapil Show, which premiered on Netflix on June 21. Who attacked Kaps Cafe the first time? Kapil Sharmas cafe faced a similar attack when at least nine shots were fired on July 10, only a few days after its inauguration. The responsibility for that incident was claimed by the Laddi gang, which is linked to the banned Khalistani terrorist outfit Babbar Khalsa International (BKI). Notably, Harjit Singh Laddi is a fugitive wanted in India on several terrorism-related charges. He allegedly orchestrated the shooting after finding an earlier statement made during the comedians show to be offensive. #BreakingNews | Kapil Sharma's cafe in Surrey targeted by gunfire for the second time in a month. Police are investigating potential links to local gangs known for extortion@siddhantvm shares more details #Canada #KapilSharma | @JamwalNews18 pic.twitter.com/jGO5LWO0fP News18 (@CNNnews18) August 7, 2025 According to a report by NDTV, a member of the terror group Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) said that a participant at the comedians show made several humorous statements about the traditional clothing and conduct of Nihang Sikhs, which allegedly hurt the communitys sentiments. Harjit Singh Laddi is also wanted by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for the murder of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Vikas Prabhakar alias Vikas Bagga, who was shot dead in April last year at his shop in Punjabs Rupnagar district. Has Kapil Sharma reacted to the incident? The popular comedian has not yet issued any statement on the recent firing at his cafe. However, Kapil Sharma, along with his wife, recently posted a video of the cafe hosting Surrey mayor Brenda Locke and local police personnel. Thank you to the mayor of surrey Brenda Locke,@surreypoliceservice and all the officials who visited @thekapscafe_ to show their love and support. United we stand against violence. Were truly grateful, read the Instagram post. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The video showed officials visiting the cafe and having a peaceful dining experience. However, Sharmas words against violence caught everyones attention. After the cafe was attacked the first time, the establishment took over a week to reopen. Kapil then reshared a post that was initially posted by Kaps Cafe. It read, Kaps Cafe. Reopens tomorrow. Weve missed you and are truly grateful for your continued love and support. With heartfelt thanks, were opening our doors again, ready to welcome you back with warmth, comfort, and care. See you soon, 8 am to 10 pm. A British politician has launched an AI version of himself to engage with the people he represents. Mark Sewards, Labour MP for Leeds South West and Morley, teamed up with AI firm Neural Voice to create his digital avatar. The chatbot, dubbed as the UKs first virtual MP, speaks in Sewards voice to provide advice, offer support or forward messages to his team Sewards said he had become the first British MP to launch an artificial intelligence prototype of himself. Image: News18 Chatbots have become increasingly popular. Today, you can find them on almost every service, offering instant replies and handling queries. A British politician has now taken this a step further by creating an AI version of himself to communicate with the people he represents. Mark Sewards, the Labour MP for Leeds South West and Morley, worked with the AI company Neural Voice to develop a virtual version of himself. On Tuesday, Sewards said he had become the first British MP to launch an artificial intelligence prototype of himself. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD So, who is Mark Sewards? How does this AI version function? And are people welcoming the idea? Heres all you need to know: Who is the UKs first virtual MP? The Labour MP for Leeds South West and Morley has teamed up with AI company Neural Voice to create a virtual version of himself. This chatbot, described as the UKs first virtual MP, uses Sewards voice to give advice, offer support or pass messages on to his team. Introducing the first AI prototype of a British MP When constituent and local business owner, Jeremy Smith, approached me with this idea, I was very excited to work with him. The AI revolution is happening and we must embrace it or be left behind. https://t.co/Em9aIKaW6K Mark Sewards MP (@MarkJSewards) August 5, 2025 The 35-year-old has been an MP for just over a year, having defeated former Conservative MP Andrea Jenkyns to win the Westminster seat in July 2024. What are chatbots? For the unversed, chatbots are computer programs designed to hold a two-way conversation with a human. They have become increasingly popular as businesses search for new ways to connect with people. Although they can offer many advantages, there are also concerns over privacy, data security, reduced human contact and whether they can actually solve problems. How does the AI version work? In a message encouraging local residents to give AI Mark a try, the MP, who was elected for the first time last year, said, The AI revolution is happening and we must embrace it or be left behind. The startup he worked with, Neural Voice, had previously fielded a candidate called AI Steve in the last UK general election. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The idea was to restore trust in politics by letting constituents suggest and vote on what AI Steve should do as a local MP, with the companys chair, Steve Endacott, taking those decisions to parliament. Sewards said he partnered with the firm to launch the first AI prototype of a British MP. He told constituents, When constituent and local business owner, Jeremy Smith, approached me with this idea, I was very excited to work with him. He added that the AI was only a prototype and would be trained further to make it better. The AI version of Sewards records every conversation so that his team can identify the main topics constituents are discussing. This feature has also faced criticism. This prototype AI model offers my constituents an additional way to engage with their MP on local casework and policy issues. It can't ever replace any of the oher work I do and it simply gives people another option to contact me, anytime of day. Mark Sewards MP (@MarkJSewards) August 5, 2025 STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Why is the chatbot facing criticism? Although still in its early stages, the AI chatbot has already drawn criticism, with some arguing it could widen the gap between politicians and the public. Some social media users accused him of being lazy and questioned why he was paid a 93,000 salary if a computer was doing his job. Dr Susan Oman, a senior lecturer in data, AI and society, told BBC, When it comes to the general public and how they speak about politicians, the trust in them gets worse and worse. She said there was a risk that, while an MP may try to be more efficient and available through such tools, people might feel they are being listened to less. Concerns have also been raised about privacy, data security, reduced human contact and whether the chatbot can effectively deal with problems. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Dr Oman added that the growing use of AI in the public sector has led to difficulties, especially for older generations. Separately, Victoria Honeyman, a lecturer in British politics at the University of Leeds, warned that the chatbot could cause distress for people seeking help with complex issues. Israel has approved a plan to take over Gaza City amid a war that has killed over 61,000 Palestinians, displaced millions, and left 50 Israeli hostages in captivity. Despite calls from 28 Western allies to end the war, Netanyahu insists military pressure is vital to defeating Hamas and securing national security Palestinians, displaced by the Israeli offensive, shelter in tents, amid a hunger crisis, in Gaza City, August 1, 2025. File Image/Reuters As Israels war in Gaza surpasses 22 months, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has a new and contentious strategy. His latest plan calls for Israeli forces to seize control of Gaza City a densely populated urban centre that has already borne the brunt of repeated bombings and ground incursions since hostilities began following Hamass October 7, 2023, attack on Israeli territory. The announcement signals a significant military escalation and raises new questions about the fate of Israeli hostages and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Despite sustained domestic criticism and growing alarm from the international community, Netanyahu remains committed to using force as a means to dismantle Hamas and recover the hostages still believed to be alive inside Gaza. His plan has drawn scepticism from former Israeli military officials and relatives of hostages, while international leaders continue to express concern over deteriorating humanitarian conditions. What is happening in Gaza City now? The Friday announcement came with confirmation from Netanyahus office that the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) would operate in the city while taking measures to provide humanitarian assistance to civilians outside areas designated for combat. Prior to the war, Gaza City had a population of around 700,000 comparable to Washington, DC. However, the city has seen waves of displacement as civilians fled intense bombardment. Many who returned during ceasefires now face renewed evacuation orders. Israeli officials have indicated that warnings could be issued to residents in targeted zones, potentially providing weeks of notice before ground operations begin. The military campaign is likely to affect one of the few remaining parts of Gaza that had not already been placed under evacuation orders. Given the citys current role as a shelter for hundreds of thousands of displaced people, military action could further destabilise efforts to distribute essential supplies, including food and medical aid, in a region already facing a severe hunger crisis. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Palestinians rush to collect humanitarian aid airdropped by parachutes into Gaza City, northern Gaza Strip, August 7, 2025. File Image/AP Much of Gaza City lies in ruins. Infrastructure in multiple neighbourhoods has been reduced to rubble following nearly two years of airstrikes and ground assaults. While the Israeli government asserts that these operations are aimed at eliminating Hamas infrastructure and personnel, the cumulative destruction has rendered large portions of the city uninhabitable. What is Israels plan to take control of Gaza City? The central objectives of Netanyahus war strategy remain unchanged: the destruction of Hamass military capabilities and the safe return of all remaining Israeli hostages. However, progress on both fronts has stalled. According to official Israeli figures, Hamas-led attackers abducted 251 individuals during the October 7 attacks that killed approximately 1,200 people, most of them civilians. While many hostages have been freed through negotiated truces and other agreements, 50 remain in Gaza, with Israeli intelligence suggesting that 20 of them are still alive. In recent days, Hamas has released footage showing severely malnourished hostages, suggesting that they, too, are suffering under the conditions imposed by the siege and ongoing conflict. The group has warned that the lives of these captives may be in jeopardy should Israeli troops draw closer to their hiding places, believed to be tunnels or undisclosed locations within the enclave. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Families of those still in captivity have spoken out in frustration, accusing the Israeli government of prioritising military escalation over negotiations. Last week, nearly two dozen relatives of hostages sailed toward Gazas maritime border, broadcasting emotional appeals from loudspeakers. Among them was Yehuda Cohen, whose son Nimrod is being held by Hamas. Netanyahu is working only for himself, Cohen told AP, adding that the prime minister is prolonging the war to satisfy members of his governing coalition who favor a more hardline approach. Despite these domestic concerns, Netanyahu maintains that military pressure is necessary to compel Hamas to release the hostages. He has repeatedly insisted that surrender from the militant group and the return of captives would bring the conflict to an end. We intend to [take control of all Gaza] in order to assure our security, remove Hamas [from] there, he told Fox News. We dont want to keep it. We want to have a security perimeter. We want to hand it over to Arab forces that will govern it properly without threatening us and giving Gazans a good life. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD However, Netanyahu has yet to specify which Arab nations might participate in administering Gaza or what mechanism would be used to establish such an arrangement. Is everyone in Israel on board Netanyahus new plan? While the Israeli prime minister moves forward with the plan to capture Gaza City, divisions have emerged within the political and military leadership. According to sources familiar with cabinet discussions, military chief of staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir has expressed reservations about broadening the ground campaign. Zamir reportedly argued during a closed-door security cabinet meeting that such a move would risk the lives of the remaining hostages and impose further strain on a military that has been engaged in continuous conflict across multiple fronts for nearly two years, reported Reuters. Other former senior security officials have echoed this sentiment, pointing out that Hamas has already been significantly weakened. These voices argue that an additional ground offensive would likely result in more casualties among Israeli soldiers without yielding meaningful strategic advantages. The debate over Gaza policy has also revived longstanding political fault lines within Israel. The proposed takeover of Gaza City would effectively reverse Israels 2005 disengagement from the territory, in which it withdrew both troops and settlers. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD That decision, still the subject of political controversy, is frequently cited by right-wing factions as the catalyst for Hamass rise to power following the 2006 Palestinian legislative elections. Netanyahus far-right coalition partners have been especially vocal in urging a complete reoccupation of the enclave. Some have even called for the relocation of Gazas Palestinian population and the reestablishment of Israeli settlements positions that are widely opposed internationally and have been described by critics as efforts to reshape Gazas demography through force. Nevertheless, according to News18, Netanyahu has pointed out that Israel does not intend to annex the territory. We will not annex Gaza, he said, outlining a vision in which Israel would secure its borders through a security buffer zone while turning over administration of the territory to external actors. We want to have a security perimeter, he said, We dont want to govern it. We dont want to be there as a governing body. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD How has the humanitarian crisis in Gaza evolved? The planned Gaza City operation comes amid worsening humanitarian conditions across the Strip. Over 61,000 Palestinians have been killed since the beginning of the war, according to Gazas Health Ministry. The ministry, though operating under Hamass governance, is staffed by medical professionals and is considered by the United Nations and independent analysts to provide the most reliable casualty figures in the conflict. Israel disputes the numbers but has not released an alternative estimate. Food insecurity has reached emergency levels. International relief organisations and UN agencies have issued dire warnings, citing widespread malnutrition and famine-like conditions in multiple areas. Reports and images of starving children and emaciated civilians have shocked global audiences and intensified demands for an end to the fighting. Palestinian children gather to receive food from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Gaza City, July 22, 2025. File Image/Reuters Even the United States Israels closest ally has grown increasingly uneasy with the conduct and continuation of the war. US President Donald Trump, who has consistently backed Israel in previous conflicts, has stated that he wants the war to conclude and the hostages returned, though he stopped short of opposing a full Israeli takeover of Gaza. Twenty-eight countries aligned with the West have called on Israel to end the hostilities. The United Nations labelled recent reports of an expanded offensive in Gaza as deeply alarming. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Calls for a ceasefire have become more urgent in the wake of the failed July negotiations that had previously held the promise of releasing more hostages and facilitating increased aid deliveries. In response to international criticism, Israeli officials have maintained that Hamas is responsible for the suffering of Gazas civilian population. The government alleges that the group diverts humanitarian aid, distributing it among its fighters or reselling it for profit. Hamas has denied these accusations. A senior Palestinian official stated that Hamas had informed Arab mediators that improving the flow of aid into Gaza could help revive stalled ceasefire talks. Still, Netanyahu has publicly rejected the notion that famine is occurring in Gaza, despite mounting evidence from global health experts and aid organisations. So, Netanyahus plan: Occupation or Transition? Netanyahu has said that following the military campaign, Israel intends to hand over the territory to Arab forces capable of maintaining order without posing a threat to Israeli security. Earlier this year, a proposal supported by Egypt and other Arab nations called for a post-war Gaza administration composed of independent Palestinian technocrats. That plan was rejected by both Israel and the United States. Since then, no clear successor governance model has emerged. A Jordanian official speaking to Reuters stated that Arab countries would only support governance arrangements endorsed by Palestinians themselves. Hamas, for its part, has signalled it would consider any foreign governing force linked to Israel as an occupying entity. Hamas official Osama Hamdan told Al Jazeera that any such arrangement would be treated as hostile. The group insists that any deal must include a permanent end to the war and the full withdrawal of Israeli forces. Israeli leaders, by contrast, have voiced scepticism that Hamas would honour any post-war commitments to relinquish power. With inputs from agencies Chapters on Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, Brigadier Mohammad Usman, and Major Somnath Sharma have been included in the current curriculum of the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), the Union Ministry of Defence said on Thursday. The three are Indias war heroes who showed exemplary courage on the battlefield. Heres who they were Indias three war heroes, Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, Brigadier Mohammad Usman and Major Somnath Sharma, have been added to the curriculum of the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) for the 2025-26 academic year. The Union Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced on Thursday (August 7) that the chapters on the life and sacrifices of Manekshaw, Usman, and Sharma will be included in the syllabus for Class 8 (Urdu), Class 7 (Urdu), and Class 8 (English), respectively. The move aims to instil students with inspirational narratives of courage and duty". STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Lets take a closer look. Who was Sam Manekshaw? Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw, popularly known as Sam Manekshaw, was Indias first officer to be conferred the rank of Field Marshal. Born on 3 April 1914 in Amritsar, British India, Sam Manekshaw is hailed for his exceptional leadership. During the Burma War with Japan in 1942, he sustained several bullet injuries. After Independence, Manekshaw, a Parsi, chose India as his home and was transferred to the Gorkha Rifles, where he earned the title Bahadur. He played a crucial role during the India-Pakistan war between 1947 and 1948. Sam Manekshaw was appointed as the Indian Army chief by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in July 1969. One of the most defining moments of his career was the 1971 Indo-Pakistan War, which led to the liberation of Bangladesh. As the Chief of the Army Staff, his leadership led the Indian Army to victory over Pakistan. Manekshaw was honoured with the Padma Vibhushan and Padma Bhushan, Indias second and third-highest civilian awards, respectively. Known for his wit, he remains one of the only two military leaders to become a Field Marshal. Who was Mohammad Usman? Brigadier Mohammad Usman is remembered as the Lion of Naushera. He was pivotal in the recapture of Jhangar and Naushera in Jammu and Kashmir during the 1947-48 war between India and Pakistan. Born on July 15, 1912, in Uttar Pradeshs Azamgarh, Usmans father was a police officer. Usman joined the Baluch Regiment of the British Indian Army in 1934. During the partition, the Brigadier stayed in India even though he was offered a plum post in the Pakistani Army by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, reported The Statesman. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Brigadier Mohammad Usman is known as the Lion of Naushera. Wikimedia Commons Brigadier Usman was commanding the 50 (Independent) Parachute Brigade in Jammu and Kashmir during the 1947-48 Indo-Pak war. The Pakistani Army, along with Pashtun tribal fighters, launched an attack to conquer vital regions in Kashmir, especially Naushera, located in the Rajouri district. Despite being outnumbered, the Brigadier did not bow down. Instead, he reportedly told his men, Do not retreat an inch. Fight to the last man and the last bullet. Under his leadership, the Indian soldiers defended Kashmir and also forced the enemies to retreat. Brigadier Usman was martyred during shelling in Jhangar on July 3, 1948. He was posthumously awarded the Maha Vir Chakra (MVC), Indias second-highest wartime gallantry award. ALSO READ: How Major Shaitan Singh Bhati valiantly led Indias 120 soldiers against China in Battle of Rezang La Who was Somnath Sharma? Major Somnath Sharma was Indias first Param Vir Chakra awardee. Born on January 31, 1922, in Himachal Pradeshs Kangra, he was commissioned in the 4th battalion of the Kumaon Regiment in October 1942. Major Somnath Sharma led the D Company of 4 Kumaon and established a base at Budgam against the on November 3, 1947, according to a defence spokesperson. On November 3, 1947, Major Somnath Sharma led the D Company of 4 Kumaon to defend the Srinagar airport against around 500 Pakistani forces approaching Srinagar from the northern side. Although he was injured and India faced heavy casualties, Major Sharma showcased extraordinary bravery. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Major Somnath Sharma was Indias first Param Vir Chakra awardee. Wikimedia Commons He encouraged his men to continue fighting, even exposing himself to enemy fire. Sharma filled magazines for light machine gunners despite having his hand injured. He eventually died due to a mortar shell. However, his company held to its position for six hours until reinforcements arrived. His last message before his death reportedly was: The enemy is only 50 yards from us. We are heavily outnumbered. We are under devastating fire. I shall not withdraw an inch but will fight to the last man and the last round. With inputs from agencies The deadline set by US President Donald Trump for the Russian president to agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine or face sanctions on oil exports ends today. Today, the Supreme Court of India will also hear a plea to restore the statehood of Jammu and Kashmir Trump has shown growing frustration with Putin over the lack of progress on peace. Reuters/File Photo It is a busy day. US President Donald Trumps deadline for Russian President Vladimir Putin to agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine ends today. The Supreme Court is likely to hear a plea today that asks the Centre to restore statehood to Jammu and Kashmir. Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong will deliver a National Day message today, a day before National Day. West Bengal is expected to see fresh protests starting today, as several groups plan protests marking one year since the RG Kar rape and murder case. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Lets take a look: Trumps deadline for Russia to end Ukraine war expires The deadline set by US President Donald Trump for the Russian president to agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine or face sanctions on oil exports comes to an end today. A White House official told Reuters that Trump could meet Vladimir Putin as early as next week, with the US continuing to prepare for secondary sanctions. These could also target countries like China in a bid to push Moscow towards ending the war. Trump has shown growing frustration with Putin over the lack of progress on peace and has warned of steep tariffs on nations buying Russian oil and other exports. US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are seen during the G20 leaders summit. Reuters/File Photo Washington has warned of severe tariffs and other financial measures if the violence continues. Trump has also spoken of raising import taxes on countries that purchase Russian oil, which could lead to higher tariffs for nations like China and India. SC to hear plea on restoration of statehood of J&K The Supreme Court is likely to hear a plea today asking the Centre to restore statehood to Jammu and Kashmir. The petition says that even after the court upheld the removal of Article 370, which gave special status to J-K, there has been no move to bring back statehood. It argues that this goes against the principle of federalism. A view of Supreme Court of India building in New Delhi. PTI In its December 2023 judgment, the Supreme Court said Article 370 was only a temporary part of the Constitution. It ruled that the President had the power to revoke it after the Constituent Assembly of the former state ended in 1957. Singapores Wong to deliver National Day address Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong will deliver the National Day message today, on the eve of the countrys National Day. This will be his second National Day message as prime minister, after taking office on May 15, 2024. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong will deliver the speech in Mandarin. Associate Professor Faishal Ibrahim, who serves as Acting Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs and Senior Minister of State for Home Affairs, will deliver the address in Malay. Minister of State for Culture, Community and Youth and Manpower, Dinesh Vasu Dash, will deliver the message in Tamil. Protests in Bengal over RG Kar case anniversary Fresh protests are expected in West Bengal starting today, as various groups plan demonstrations to mark one year since the rape and murder of a female trainee doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata in August last year. Her body was found on the morning of August 9 inside a seminar hall on the hospital premises. While civic volunteer Sanjay Roy, the only person convicted in the case, has already been given a life sentence by a trial court, the Central Bureau of Investigation has yet to finish its probe into the alleged larger conspiracy behind the crime. Her body was found on the morning of August 9 inside a seminar hall on the hospital premises. Reuters/File Photo Last years protests mainly targeted the state government and the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC). This year, the protests are expected to take a wider view, also raising questions about the CBIs failure to complete a full investigation. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD With inputs from agencies Russian President Vladimir Putin is scheduled to meet his US counterpart Donald Trump next week. In the past, the Russian strongman has met four American presidents. While the meetings during his early tenure were regular, they have been sparse in the last few years following the illegal annexation of Ukraines Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and other such events Bilateral meetings between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his US counterparts were a regular occurrence early in his tenure. But as tensions mounted between Moscow and the West following the illegal annexation of Ukraines Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and allegations of meddling with the 2016 US elections, those became increasingly less frequent, and their tone appeared less friendly. Heres what to know about past meetings between Russian and US presidents: Putin and Joe Biden Putin and Joe Biden met only once while holding the presidency in Geneva in June 2021. Russia was amassing troops on the border with Ukraine, where large swaths of land in the east had long been occupied by Moscow-backed forces; Washington repeatedly accused Russia of cyberattacks. The Kremlin was intensifying its domestic crackdown on dissent, jailing opposition leader Alexei Navalny months earlier and harshly suppressing protests demanding his release. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Putin and Biden talked for three hours, but no breakthroughs came out of the meeting. The two exchanged expressions of mutual respect, but firmly restated their starkly different views on all of the above. Putin and Biden talked for three hours in 2021. Reuters They spoke again via videoconference in December 2021 as tensions heightened over Ukraine. Biden threatened sanctions if Russia invaded Ukraine, and Putin demanded guarantees that Kyiv wouldnt join Nato something Washington and its allies said was a nonstarter. Another phone call between the two came in February 2022, less than two weeks before the full-scale invasion. Then the high-level contacts stopped cold, with no publicly disclosed conversations between Putin and Biden since the invasion. Putin and Donald Trump Putin met Trump met six times during the Americans first term at and on the sidelines of G20 and Apec gatherings but most famously in Helsinki in July 2018. Thats where Trump stood next to Putin and appeared to accept his insistence that Moscow had not interfered with the 2016 US presidential election and openly questioned the firm finding by his own intelligence agencies. His remarks were a stark illustration of Trumps willingness to upend decades of US foreign policy and rattle Western allies in service of his political concerns. I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today, Trump said. He just said its not Russia. I will say this: I dont see any reason why it would be. Putin and Barack Obama US President Barack Obama met with Putin nine times, and there were 12 more meetings with Dmitry Medvedev, who served as president in 2008-12. Putin became prime minister in a move that allowed him to reset Russias presidential term limits and run again in 2012. Obama travelled to Russia twice once to meet Medvedev in 2009 and again for a G20 summit in 2013. Medvedev and Putin also travelled to the US. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Obama cancelled his visit to Moscow in 2013 after Russia granted asylum to Edward Snowden, a former National Security Agency contractor and whistleblower. Reuters Under Medvedev, Moscow and Washington talked of resetting Russia-US relations post-Cold War and worked on arms control treaties. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton famously presented a big reset button to Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at a meeting in 2009. One problem: instead of reset in Russian, they used another word meaning overload. After Putin returned to office in 2012, tensions rose between the two countries. The Kremlin accused the West of interfering with Russian domestic affairs, saying it fomented anti-government protests that rocked Moscow just as Putin sought reelection. The authorities cracked down on dissent and civil society, drawing international condemnation. Obama cancelled his visit to Moscow in 2013 after Russia granted asylum to Edward Snowden, a former National Security Agency contractor and whistleblower. In 2014, the Kremlin illegally annexed Crimea and threw its weight behind a separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine. The US and its allies responded with crippling sanctions. Relations plummeted to the lowest point since the Cold War. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The Kremlins 2015 military intervention in Syria to prop up Bashar Assad further complicated ties. Putin and Obama last met in China in September 2016, on the sidelines of a G20 summit, and held talks focused on Ukraine and Syria. Putin and George W Bush Putin and George W Bush met 28 times during Bushs two terms. They hosted each other for talks and informal meetings in Russia and the U.S., met regularly on the sidelines of international summits and forums, and boasted of improving ties between onetime rivals. After the first meeting with Putin in 2001, Bush said he looked the man in the eye and found him very straightforward and trustworthy, getting a sense of his soul. In 2002, they signed the Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty a nuclear arms pact that significantly reduced both countries strategic nuclear warhead arsenal. Putin was the first world leader to call Bush after the 9/11 terrorist attack, offering his condolences and support, and welcomed the US military deployment on the territory of Moscows Central Asian allies for action in Afghanistan. He has called Bush a decent person and a good friend, adding that good relations with him helped find a way out of the most acute and conflict situations. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD A watchdog for the United Kingdoms charity sector has allowed a gurdwara to keep boards featuring the word Khalistan. The Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha in Slough was found not to violate the regulators political guidance for charities operating in the country. Heres what happened A gurdwara in the UK has been allowed to display 'Khalistan' boards. Image Courtesy: singhsabhaslough.org A gurdwara in the United Kingdom (UK) has been allowed to keep boards featuring the word Khalistan. The watchdog for the UKs charity sector ruled that it had found in its investigation into Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha in Slough that the Khalistan boards did not violate the political guidance for charities operating in the country. The case arose in 2019 when an Indian journalist came across a Khalistan board in the premises of the place of worship. However, the committee of the gurdwara reportedly defended the use of these plaques as religious rather than political. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Heres what happened. The row over Khalistan boards in UK gurdwara In 2019, an Indian journalist visiting the Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha, Slough, in the Berkshire county of southeast England, found a large Khalistan board inside the premises. She filed a complaint with the Charity Commission, which regulates the UKs charities. Gurdwaras are registered as charities in the UK as they are for public benefit. The British Charity Commissions guidance does not allow advocating political party or state. The complex and sensitive matter of displaying Khalistan banners or plaques at the gurdwara was raised with the independent watchdog for review. Last December, the commission told the trustees of the gurdwara to take down the plaques by March 10, 2025. However, they were never removed, reported Times of India (TOI). The Gurdwaras management tried to portray the Charity Commissions ultimatum as bullying and interference in Panthic affairs, reported Khalsa Vox. The ultimatum led to a meeting among several Sikh organisations and three Sikh MPs Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi, Preet Kaur Gill and Jas Athwal with top officials at the commission to resolve the issue. UK commission allows Khalistan boards at UK gurdwara Five years after the issue was flagged, the UKs commission has decided that the boards can stay, noting that the word Khalistan has an important religious meaning, while it is a political term for some. The panel concluded that the charity was acting within its religious objectives, as the Khalistan boards did not promote material calling for a political state. After a number of governance concerns were raised with us about Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha, Slough, we opened a regulatory compliance case to further assess these and engage with the trustees, a Charity Commission spokesperson was quoted as saying by PTI. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD As part of this case, a complex and sensitive matter was raised regarding the display of Khalistan boards. Following substantial review of evidence and consultation with a number of sector representatives and stakeholders, we have determined the display of the boards in itself not to be in breach of our campaigning and political guidance for charities, the spokesperson added. As per TOI, Dabinderjit Singh, lead executive for political engagement at the Sikh Federation UK, said he told the commission the word Khalistan on its own means land of the pure. That is different to Khalistan Zindabad. They have reached a decision about the Slough one so our interpretation is any gurdwara can display this word, he added. Speaking to the Indian newspaper, staff at the Slough gurdwara said that the two Khalistan boards have been there for nearly 50 years. Gurdwaras in Birmingham, Derby, Leicester and London also display the word. The development comes amid Indias concerns about rising activities of Khalistan supporters in the UK. Last month, during his London visit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged his British counterpart Keir Starmer to take action against extremist ideology that misuse democratic freedoms to undermine democracy. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD With inputs from agencies While many are beating the drum of the benefits of AI, a select few remain adamantly against it. It sounds unbelievable, but many in todays world are choosing simply not to use AI at all. These people are known as AI vegans and their belief system is known as AI veganism. Lets take a closer look Much like vegans avoid dairy and animal products, AI vegans eschew AI tools and systems. Reuters Are you skeptical about Artificial Intelligence? Youre not the only one. While many are beating the drum of the benefits of AI, a select few remain adamantly against it. It sounds unbelievable, but many in todays world are choosing simply not to use AI at all. These people are known as AI vegans and their belief system is known as AI veganism. But what do we know about them? Why are they so against AI? STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Lets take a closer look What do we know about them? Much like vegans avoid dairy and animal products, AI vegans eschew AI tools and systems. While some may scoff at the comparison between the two, others argue that this is apt. While vegans comprise around four per cent of the US population, there is no way to determine how many AI vegans there are in the world But the numbers could be higher than most people think given that many people are worried about AI. A 2023 Pew Research poll showed 52 per cent of Americans said they were concerned rather than excited by the increasing use of AI in everyday life. A 2024 Pew study showed that a fourth of K-12 teachers in the US thought AI was doing more harm than good. But why would one become an AI vegan? There are many reasons. There are many reasons someone would become an AI vegan. These include ethics, concern for the environment, AIs impact on society and cognitive thinking in humans The first reason is purely ethical. Many AI systems have been trained on copyrighted works. T he AI companies trained their systems by feeding in works from authors who have promptly sued the companies. Some people feel uncomfortable using AI on these grounds. Others are worried about the impact of society if AI were to replace human workers. McKinsey Global Institute has predicted that AI could put 400 to 800 million workers around the world out of work by 2030. Many of these people will likely be low-income workers. What happens if this comes to pass and millions of people are suddenly put out of work? How would society function? What would that look like? STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The use of electricity and water a precious resource in todays world that goes into cooling AI data centres has proved to be a breaking point for many. A city in Texas recently advised its residents to take fewer showers and use water sparingly. Meanwhile, massive data centres across the same city have guzzled hundreds of millions of litres of water over the past few years. As Robert Mace, executive director of The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment at Texas State University told The Austin Chronicle. People dont think of data centers as industrial water users, but they are. Once that water evaporates, its just gone, Mace added. Others have cited studies that say the use of AI negatively impacts cognitive skills in human beings. The way ahead Much remains unknown about AI including its long-term impacts on humanity. But there already troubling signs. For example, a Harvard study from May found that generative AI, while increasing the productivity of workers, diminished their motivation and increased their levels of boredom. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD A Microsoft Research study found that people who were more confident in using generative AI showed diminished critical thinking. A Cambridge University survey from this year showed that some students were simply avoiding AI altogether. Their worry? The use of AI would making them lazy. Few would argue we are in a brave new world. And no one seems to have the answer right now. A US Army soldier, Taylor Adam Lee, was arrested for allegedly attempting to leak sensitive information about American battle tanks to Russia in exchange for citizenship. The 22-year-old soldier, who possessed a very high, top-secret clearance, shared an SD memory card that contained sensitive information on US military capabilities Lee, an active-duty personnel, reportedly met in person with someone he thought was a representative of the Russian government. Image courtesy: Fort Bliss A 22-year-old US Army soldier has been arrested for allegedly trying to leak over sensitive information about American battle tanks to the Russian government, as per authorities. According to a press release from the Department of Justice, Taylor Adam Lee, who is an active-duty service member stationed at Fort Bliss and possesses a very high, top-secret clearance, passed on sensitive information to a person he believed was a Russian Ministry of Defence representative. In exchange, he wanted Russian citizenship. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Federal authorities said Lee was arrested on Wednesday in El Paso. He now faces serious federal charges, including the attempted transmission of national defence information to a foreign adversary and the attempted export of controlled technical data. So who exactly is Taylor Adam Lee? How did he allegedly share the top-secret details with Russia? And how was he caught? Heres what we know so far. USA is not happy with me Lees alleged attempts to share classified military information with Russia began earlier this year, around May, according to the Department of Justice. By June, officials say he had already expressed frustration with the US government in a message to someone he believed was a Russian official. The USA is not happy with me for trying to expose their weaknesses, he allegedly wrote, before adding: At this point Id even volunteer to assist the Russian federation when Im there in any way. In July, Lee reportedly met in person with someone he thought was a representative of the Russian government. During that meeting, authorities say he handed over an SD memory card and explained the sensitive information on US military capabilities. By June, officials say he had already expressed frustration with the US government in a message to someone he believed was a Russian official. Representational image. Pexels The documents on the card included technical details about the M1A2 Abrams, the US Armys main battle tank, as well as data on another armoured vehicle and broader combat operations. Later in the same month, after a conversation about a particular component used inside a tank, Lee allegedly dropped off the physical part at a storage unit in El Paso. Once the handoff was complete, he sent a follow-up message to his supposed Russian contact, mission accomplished. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Lee accused of betraying US After a warrant for Taylor Lees arrest was filed in the El Paso federal court on Tuesday, the 22-year-old made his first appearance before the court the next day. Investigators accused Lee of betraying" the US and have used his arrest to send a warning to anyone else considering leaking military intelligence. Todays arrest is a message to anyone thinking about betraying the US especially service members who have sworn to protect our homeland, Roman Rozhavsky, assistant director of the FBIs counter-intelligence division, told The Telegraph. Brigadier General Sean F Stinchon, who leads the Army Counterintelligence Command, echoed the warning, calling the case an alarming reminder of the serious threat the US Army faces from within. Thanks to the hard work of Army Counterintelligence Command Special Agents and our FBI partners, Soldiers who violate their oath and become insider threats will absolutely be caught and brought to justice, and we will continue to protect Army personnel and safeguard equipment, Stinchon said in a statement. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Rise in military espionage cases in the US Lees case comes at a time when the US military is dealing with a growing number of insider threats and digital espionage cases. Earlier this year, Chinese intelligence agents had been approaching US service members online, trying to persuade them to hand over sensitive information about military exercises and radar technology in return for thousands of dollars. In another high-profile case, former Air National Guardsman Jack Teixeira was sentenced to 15 years in prison last year after he leaked classified documents related to the Russia-Ukraine war on Discord, a messaging app popular with gamers. Jack Teixeira in a photo his mother posted on social media. He was arrested by the Pentagon. More recently, a retired Army officer who had been working as a civilian Air Force employee pleaded guilty to sharing Russia-Ukraine war details on a dating app. These incidents show just how serious the threat is, Brigadier General Stinchon said. Soldiers who violate their oath and become insider threats will absolutely be caught and brought to justice. With input from agencies The 30-share BSE Sensex tanked 765.47 points or 0.95 per cent to settle at 79,857.79. During the day, it tumbled 847.42 points or 1.05 per cent to 79,775.84. The 50-share NSE Nifty dropped 232.85 points or 0.95 per cent to 24,363.30. The market benchmark indexes Sensex and Nifty lost up their previous session gains to close 1 percent down on Friday, weighed down by tariff fears and ongoing foreign investment outflows. The 30-share BSE Sensex tanked 765.47 points or 0.95 per cent to settle at 79,857.79. During the day, it tumbled 847.42 points or 1.05 per cent to 79,775.84. The 50-share NSE Nifty dropped 232.85 points or 0.95 per cent to 24,363.30. From the Sensex firms, Bharti Airtel, Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Axis Bank and Reliance Industries were among the laggards. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD However, NTPC, Titan, Trent, ITC and Bajaj Finserv were the gainers. The United States decision to hike tariffs on Indian exports has created uncertainty in trade discussions, dragging on investor mood. According to ANI, US President Donald Trump has stated that there would be no trade discussions with India until the tariff conflict is settled. His government has levied an extra 25% duty on Indian imports, bringing the total to 50%, citing Indias continuous oil purchases from Russia. Foreign institutional investors sold stocks worth Rs 4,997.19 crore on Thursday. The market continues to be technically and fundamentally weak. The sustained selling by FIIs, along with high valuations, is weighing on the market. Strong domestic institutional buying is providing some support, said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services. Asian markets fell, with South Koreas Kospi and Hong Kongs Hang Seng in the red. The US markets closed mixed overnight. The rupee decreased 5 paise to 87.63 per US dollar. Traders said continuing foreign cash outflows and a strong dollar weighed on the local currency, even as the Reserve Bank of India intervened to minimise losses. The India VIX, a measure of market volatility, surged more than 1% to 11.84, indicating an increase in investor nervousness. The Supreme Court will take up a petition today that has sought directions to the government to restore Jammu and Kashmirs statehood within a specified timeframe. The Supreme Court will take up a petition on Friday that has sought the restoration of Jammu and Kashmirs statehood. In August 2019, the Narendra Modi government abrogated Article 370 that granted special status to J&K. It also bifurcated the state of J&K into two union territories of J&K and Ladakh. While the government has stated the commitment to the restoration of J&Ks statehood, it has not given any timeline. The petition in the SC, filed by academic Zahoor Ahmad Bhat and social activist Khurshaid Ahmad Malik in October 2024, has sought directions to the government for the restoration of J&Ks statehood within a specified timeframe, preferably within two months, according to Hindustan Times. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD In their petition, Bhat and Malik have said that the non-restoration of the status of statehood of Jammu & Kashmir in a timebound manner violates the idea of federalism which forms a part of the basic structure of the Constitution of India, as per the newspaper. They further said that the prolonged status of a union territory is unwarranted and calls for prompt action in accordance with the assurance given by the government in earlier proceedings before the Supreme Court. After the revocation of Article 370 was challenged in a clutch of pleas, the SC in December 2023 upheld the revocation and ordered that elections must be held in J&K before September 2024. However, the SC did not pass any ruling about the restoration of statehood and acknowledged the governments stated commitment to the restoration of statehood. In line with the SCs judgement, assembly elections were held in J&K in September and October 2024, leading to the formation of a government led by Omar Abdullah of J&K National Conference (NC). However, there has not been any announcement regarding the restoration of J&Ks statehood. The scrapping of Russias missile moratorium is a mirror to the world, it shows that deterrence is being recalibrated not through dialogue, but through deployment With the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty long gone and the New Start agreement set to expire within months, what was once a guarded stalemate between superpowers is now an open-ended competition. Image: REUTERS As the conflicts around the globe spread and escalate, Russia has decided to lift its self-imposed moratorium on the deployment of medium- and long-range ground-launched missiles, marking it as a new era of new cold war volatility. This move is not just a regional message; it is a response to the US provocation. It can be summed up as an inflexion point in the international order, a security flare in a world that is already seemingly overfilled with rivalries, proxy wars and weaponised diplomacy. It is not about moving into Cold War 2.0. We are sprinting into something more volatile, more layered, and dangerously underwritten by emerging technology and vanishing trust. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD This announcement effectively declares the death of one of the last remnants of the Cold Wars strategic arms control framework. With the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty long gone and the New Start agreement set to expire within months, what was once a guarded stalemate between superpowers is now an open-ended competition, where restraint is replaced by readiness and silence by sharp escalation. A Funeral for INF and Restraint The INF Treaty, signed in 1987, was not simply an agreement between Washington and Moscow. It was a symbol of what diplomacy could achieve even at the height of mistrust. For decades, it held a particular class of missiles in check. There was no time to react to these weapons they were too high-speed and too lethal to react sensibly. Their elimination stabilised Europe, calmed publics and provided breathing space to both Nato and the Warsaw Pact. However, that legacy is now coming apart after the United States came out of the treaty in 2019, citing it had been repeatedly violated by Russia. Russia rejected it, stating that it was a ploy by the US to escalate its missile development programme. Despite the official termination of the treaty by the US, Russia continued a unilateral moratorium, apparently as a diplomatic gesture. That restraint is now over. Russia has declared that conditions no longer justify self-limitation. The rationale offered points to deployments of American intermediate-range systems in Europe and the Asia-Pacific. But the implications run deeper. This is not about matching threats. It is about regaining leverage. It is about writing new rules for a security environment that no longer respects legacy arrangements. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The Geography of Fear The strategic geography of Europe is again under transformation. Ranges of 1,000 to 5,500 kilometres will allow missiles to be based in Belarus or in the western regions of Russia and, within a couple of minutes, reach all of Central Europe, much of the UK, and significant parts of Southern Europe. Policymakers in Brussels, Berlin and Paris would have only seconds to judge an incoming launch and react. These are not imaginary hypotheses but operational realities. Modern missile systems are not like the ones decommissioned under INF. They are faster, stealthier, and capable of precision targeting. Russias Oreshnik missile, reportedly entering serial production, is a hypersonic platform capable of flying at over Mach 10 and carrying either conventional or nuclear warheads. It is more than a weapon. It is a message. It tells the West that Russias strategic patience has expired and that its deterrence posture will now match rhetoric with deployment. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD In Europe, the age of hunkering down under ambiguous pledges and the hypothetical nuclear doctrinaire is soon ending. These missiles will cause a lot of debate as they will re-emerge; the demands of missile defence will again erupt and could possibly enhance a new gap between the United States and its European allies. The beneficiary of the arms industry bigwigs from the US. The governments could even host systems that they cannot control, bringing them into close vicinity of the front line of a dispute they hardly control. A Fractured Deterrence Landscape The implications stretch beyond Nato. The Asia-Pacific, with already turbulence in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait, may now experience the same deployment by the United States and its allies, which will result in a response by the Chinese and Russians. The logic of deterrence is again becoming regional, volatile, and increasingly unstable. Missiles once banned for their destabilising characteristics are now being celebrated for their supposed deterrent value. This inversion of logic reflects a broader breakdown in the global security consensus. Deterrence has changed with technology and the weaponisation of all instruments of power. It is no longer shaped by treaties or sanctions. It is shaped by self-interests, domestic politics, and strategic ambiguity. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD But ambiguity works both ways. It invites miscalculation, encourages brinkmanship, and reduces decision time. In a world where hypersonic systems can reach targets in minutes and where communication lines are increasingly frail, the risk is not just escalation. The risk is unintentional war. The Vanishing Safety Net Arms control was never about eliminating weapons. It was about reducing the risk that weapons would be used by mistake. Treaties created transparency, limited suspicion, and opened lines of dialogue. Their absence now creates exactly the opposite. With New Start nearing expiry and no negotiations in sight, we are entering uncharted territory. The last major arms control agreement between the worlds two largest nuclear powers will soon disappear. The verification mechanisms, data sharing, and mutual inspections it provided will vanish with it. What comes next is not just an arms race. It is a race without rules. Even in the depths of the Cold War, there were rules. There were hotlines. There were backchannels. Most of that architecture is dismantled or at least ignored today. The planet is widely over-polarised, weaponised and technologically displaced to engage in diplomacy that does not give visible, immediate benefits. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD That void has consequences. As states pursue new missile technologies, autonomous delivery systems, and dual-use platforms, the threshold for use narrows. Political leaders will face choices under pressure, with incomplete information, and very little time. Strategic Calm or Strategic Collapse There remains a narrow window for reengagement. The absence of treaties does not mean the absence of diplomacy. But diplomacy must now be pursued under far more difficult conditions. Trust is scarce. Political incentives are misaligned. Domestic constituencies in many countries have become more nationalistic, less trusting of international commitments, and more drawn to rhetoric than restraint. The choice facing the major powers is clear. Meditations are an old part of architecture that is dismantled or forgotten today. The world is now too busy, too polarised, and technologically divorced to buy into the diplomacy that does not deliver instant outcomes. The choice can only be that of either returning to the table and designing a new arms control architecture, befitting the technologies of our time, or walking in the path of competitive deployments, provocative signalling, and blind escalation. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The second direction is a world of a constant state of crisis, where each exercise of the military is interpreted as preparations for war and where logic fails to test deterrence but instead instils fear. Conclusion: The Age of Illusions Is Over The scrapping of Russias missile moratorium is a mirror to the world. It reflects a broader breakdown in international security governance. It tells us that deterrence is being recalibrated not through dialogue, but through deployment. This is not a Cold War, which did connote restraint, symmetry, and discipline. This is more chaotic, unpredictable, and penetrated by new technologies that do not respond to a traditional control regime and ignite a miscalculation in milliseconds. Until the global community invests in diplomacy and in norms and new templates of strategic stability, the coming years could be characterised not by peace through power but by crisis through volatile rivalry. The missiles are reappearing. What remains is the world that will have to choose what future it wants to live in and what kind of future they are prepared to risk. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The author is former Director General, Mechanised Forces. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstposts views. What started out as reciprocal tariff negotiations by Trump 2.0 has now snowballed into an almost isolated attack by the US leadership on India. India was one of the first countries that Trump 2.0 got into trade negotiations with, signifying the deep ties and strategic potential of the US-India relationship. Prime Minister Narendra Modi was one of the first world leaders to have an audience with President Donald Trump, only a few weeks into the latter taking office. It is pertinent to evaluate circumstances which catalysed the deterioration of this relationship. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Soon after the trade negotiations between India and the US began, India avenged the attack by Pakistani terrorists on Hindu tourists in Kashmir by striking Pakistans terror camps. The skirmish further escalated as India struck Pakistani airbases as Pakistan attempted to send armed drones and loaded missiles towards Indian cities. The Indian strikes halted when Pakistan requested a ceasefire from India in direct, bilateral communication with the Indian military. Had Pakistan not called India directly, in the absence of a bilateral request, India would have continued its mission to wipe out all terror infrastructure in Pakistan. This is because of Indias unflinching policy of not accepting international mediation on any Kashmir-related issue in particular or India-Pakistan matters in general. India burnt its hands in the early days of its birth when the first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, took the Kashmir issue to the United Nations on the insistence of the outgoing British government. India witnessed how the international frameworks and multilateral bodies were manipulated by Pakistan and other vested powers to disturb Indias internal peace and security. Thus, at the first chance it got after the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War with Pakistan, the then Indian prime minister, Indira Gandhi, along with the Pakistani leadership, negotiated and signed the Simla Agreement of 1972, confirming that any issues between India and Pakistan would henceforth only be solved bilaterally. This agreement also confirmed all previous international interventions as closed, established an agreed-upon Line of Control (LoC) and stipulated that all future solutions would only be discussed and sought after in bilateral negotiations. While Pakistan repeatedly violated this agreement, with no real success, once again in 1999 the Lahore Declaration between the leadership of both countries enforced the understanding of solving conflicts only through bilateral mechanisms. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD In this context, when President Trump made repeated claims about having successfully mediated the India-Pakistan conflict, it put India in a difficult spot. While Prime Minister Modi and President Trump shared a warm camaraderie since Trump 1.0, India simply could not accept the US mediation in its most sensitive Kashmir issue. As India began to clarify its stance that there was no US mediation, Pakistan used its international lobbies to use this opportunity to create distrust amongst the US leadership towards India. Indias reluctance to accept mediation was not personal, but its long-standing national policy. Pakistan offered its strategic assets to the United States; its field marshal, Asim Munir, dined with Trump, particularly when the US was in a direct conflict with Iran. And Islamabad, in a few weeks, also closed the trade deal with Washington. With new negative emotions created within the US leadership circles compounded with the roadblocks that the US and India teams negotiating the trade deals were hitting, the relationship between the two countries became mired in complexities. A 50 per cent tariff announcement by Trump and his recent statements on the Indian economy being dead hit a new low point in the US-India relationship, which has taken decades of work on both sides to build. India and the US are strategic partners both need each other for several security, trade and other important objectives. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD India is a reliable partner for the US in the Asia-Pacific, and India has increasingly looked to the US as a strong ally. Targeting India, which has cautiously increased its business with the US gradually, with a 50 per cent tariff will only push it closer to Russia and Chinaa move counterproductive to the US interests. If the US wants to maintain its foothold in the Global East, India is its best bet because only India has the size and consumption power to purchase and use the US goods and services in significant volumes. While Nato and the EU, as well as the US, continue to consume Russian goods and energy, the Trump administrations punitive tariffs on India dont seem fair. They certainly seem biased and almost personal. The leadership of both countries needs to consider the impact of interpersonal emotions driven by lobbies surrounding them and act in a responsible manner in the interest of global stability and growth. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The author is the director and founder of the VishwaMitra Research Foundation a geo-economic, foreign policy think tank in Mumbai. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstposts views. As US President Donald Trump continues with his tariff tirade against India, here are five ways New Delhi can navigate through the rough waters. President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi shake hands during a news conference in the East Room of the White House. AP Ties between the United States and India soured after US President Donald Trump announced nearly 50 per cent tariffs on India, replacing China with New Delhi as the prime target. The Trump administration argued that the move was undertaken because of Indias continued purchase of Russian oil amid the war in Ukraine. However, in response to the Tariffs, India called out the duplicity of standards of both the West and the US in particular, since they continue to trade with Russia despite the war. India also pointed out that China purchases more oil from Russia than India, yet the Trump administration failed to take a similar stance on the matter. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD While the impact of the tariffs would not be immediate for the Indian consumers as much as it would be for American consumers, it would still be significant. The tariffs would cause immense pressure on Indian exporters, with their American buyers looking for alternatives due to the price hike. If Indias manufacturing sector is impacted, it would automatically lead to a rise in unemployment and a decline in purchasing power. As India continues to deal with the wrath of Donald Trump, here are the five steps it can undertake to navigate the rough waters with the Trump administration. 5 ways India may counter Trump tariffs Lobby with Indian-origin Congresspersons and top corporate bosses for their interests When Trump increased tariffs on China, American businessmen like Jensen Huang, Bill Gates and Elon Musk all came out in Chinas favour. Something like this rarely happens for India. Hence, New Delhi should lobby with half a dozen Indian-origin Congressmen and scores of CEOs in business groups, including Microsoft, Google and Adobe, to put forward its case. Look for an integrated BRICS effort against Trump tariffs Trumps wrath against BRICS, a group of nations initially comprised of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, has been apparent from the time he returned to the White House. The Republican firebrand is expecially sceptical towards the prospect of the group pursuing De-Dollarisation. While Russia is already facing American sanctions, just like India, Trump imposed high sanctions on Brazil and China as well. Hence, India can join hands with fellow BRICS nations to come up with a plan to resist Trumps tariff policies. In light of this, Brazils President Lula da Silva has already called for a meeting on the issue. Not only this, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to discuss the matter at the Tianjin SCO summit when he visits China at the end of this month. Phase out Russian oil consumption Apart from this, India also needs to consider whether it can bite the bullet and offer a headline-grabbing deal for a phased reduction in the purchase of Russian oil. Although his change would impact the global oil prices. Give Trump some concessions Apart from this, they can also give concessions on premium agricultural products. However, that would have a significant impact on the Indian farmers, an option which India might not incline towards. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already maintained that India will never compromise on the interests of farmers even though we will have to pay a heavy price for it, effectively rejecting Washingtons desire for Indian purchase of US agricultural products. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Retaliation Just like China, India can also hit back with retaliatory tariffs. However, India does not have the same kind of leverage in American markets as China does. For example, China has a strong hold of rare-earth, which is something that the American defence sector needs. Hence, it will be interesting to see how India would tackle this issue. Taiwan has backed Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr after his remarks on the self-ruled island in an interview with Firstpost Managing Editor Palki Sharma garnered fiery responses from China. Taiwan on Friday backed Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr for his remarks on the self-ruled island that have rattled China. In an interview with Firstpost Managing Editor Palki Sharma, Marcos on Wednesday said that the Philippines cannot stay out if a conflict breaks out between China and Taiwan, adding that his country will drawn into it to protect its citizens. China considers the self-ruled island of Taiwan a breakaway province and is committed to annex it forcefully if needed. Chinese leader Xi Jinping has set 2027 as the deadline for the Chinese military to prepare itself for the invasion of Taiwan. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD In a statement on X, Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) shared the interview and said that he spoke a clear truth that what happens in the Taiwan Strait affects us all. The MOFA further thanked him for recognising the security stakes and standing with Taiwan for Indo-Pacific peace. President @bongbongmarcos says the #Philippines cannot stay out of ita clear truth that what happens in the #TaiwanStrait affects us all. We thank him for recognizing the security stakes & standing with #Taiwan for #IndoPacific peace. Watch27:30 https://t.co/O5SjIoCusw Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ROC (Taiwan) (@MOFA_Taiwan) August 7, 2025 The interview rattled China and fiery reactions came from a Communist Party mouthpiece and Chinese foreign ministry. While the Chinese foreign ministry dubbed Marcos remarks as interference and said Taiwan was an internal Chinese affair, CPC mouthpiece Global Times said that Marcos Jr and others like him need no extra interpretation the plain meaning should be easy enough to grasp. What did Marcos say that rattled China? Marcos told Firstpost Editor Sharma that the Philippines will be drawn into the conflict if China would invade Taiwan. If there is an all-out war, we will be drawn into it. We will have to go into Taiwan and bring our people home, said Marcos, emphasising about the Philippines large expatriate population in Taiwan. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD When asked if he would allow the United States to use its military bases in case of a conflict in Taiwan, Marcos said why should we turn down our partners, suggesting that he would be open to his country serving as a launchpad for the United States against China in any armed conflict. Why should we turn down partners who face the Chinese threat? We are not acting as a puppet state. It is our duty to defend our country, Marcos said. Pakistan welcomes US or any countrys mediation to resolve the Kashmir dispute, ahead of Army chief Asim Munirs US visit. India rejects third-party involvement, citing the Simla Agreement. Pakistan on Friday expressed openness to mediation from the United States or any other country to help resolve the Kashmir dispute. Foreign Office spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan, speaking at his weekly press briefing, said Pakistan would welcome assistance from any country which can help stabilise the situation and move towards resolution of the issue. The statement came ahead of Pakistan Army chief Asim Munirs reported visit to the US this week, his second in two months following recent military skirmishes with India. The trip comes at a time when IndiaUS ties are strained over trade tariffs. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD About the US interest in settlement of the Kashmir issue, we welcome help not only from the US but any country which can help stabilise the situation and move towards resolution of the Kashmir dispute, which is at the heart of issues of peace and security in South Asia. We will welcome that, he said. India maintains that it does not want any third-party involvement in its discussions with Pakistan. The Simla Agreement signed between the two countries in 1972 rejects any third-party mediation on the Kashmir issue. To a question about any contact between Pakistan and India to resolve issues after their four-day conflict in May, Khan said there was no such contact but added that we welcome the US interest to work with the two sides for the resolution of this issue. Our overall diplomatic position is well known. We want to take the route of diplomacy, but it is the Indian side which has to make up its mind. And so far, there are no contacts between our two sides, except for the routine diplomatic contact, he said. India has made it clear that it will only have a dialogue with Pakistan on the return of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and the issue of terrorism. Talking about the terrorism in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, he said Pakistan highlighted the issue of terrorism emanating from Afghanistan on several occasions. He also rejected speculation about any secret agreement with the US to extract minerals. There is no question of any secret agreements or Pakistan compromising on its national interest. At the same time, there is a mechanism through which we invite Foreign Investment, he said. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD He also rejected as baseless the allegations of the involvement of Pakistani nationals in the Ukraine conflict and said Islamabad has not been formally approached by the Ukrainian authorities on the issue. With inputs from agencies China is fuming over what Philippine President Marcos said on the Taiwan question in an exclusive interview with Firstposts Palki Sharma. Heres what Marcos said The Philippines President Ferdinand R Marcos Jrs five-day state visit to India ends on Friday. During the first state visit of President Marcos, India and the Philippines officially elevated their ties to a strategic partnership level. This marked a historic upgrade in the bilateral relationship of the two countries, which face challenges of similar nature from a common power, China. While Marcos met Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit, discussing bilateral, regional and global issues as the world scampering to find a new balance following US President Donald Trumps multi-layered disruptive moves, the two countries held delegation-level talks in New Delhi to deepen cooperation in defense, trade, maritime security, and digital transformation areas. The two countries emphasised maintaining a rules-based Indo-Pacific. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD PM Modi hailed the meeting with Marcos and the elevation of India-Philippines ties to strategic partnership as historic. He said the new understanding lays our sectoral priorities through a Plan of Action for 202529 for the next four years. However, beyond bilateral talks which China was watching closely, what has rattled Beijing is an interview that Firstpost did with Marcos. His remarks that it would be difficult for the Philippines to stay out of a long-anticipated Taiwan conflict given Chinas repeated assertion that a military option is on the table to annex the island nation. China has reacted sharply to Marcos's comments, fuming over his assertion that the Philippines cant stay out of a Taiwan conflict if China invades the island nation. Heres what Marcos said while speaking to Firstposts Managing Editor Palki Sharma: Question: Another flash point in the neighbourhood is Taiwan, and most experts fear that Beijing will invade Taiwan before the end of this decade. If that were to happen while youre still in power, would you be open to allowing the US to use resources and bases in the Philippines to defend Taiwan, or would you rather stay out of it? STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Marcos: To be very practical about it, if there is a confrontation over Taiwan between China and the United States, there is no way that the Philippines can stay out of it, simply because of our physical geographic location. To understand how close Taiwan is to the Philippines, the large city of Kaosong in Taiwan is a 40-minute flight away from the capital of my province in northern Philippines in Lag. Thats how close it is. If you think about it, if there is an all-out war, then we will be drawn into it. I assure you, with the greatest hesitation, but again, we will have to defend our territory and our sovereignty. You may also like to read this: Marcos and others like him: China fumes over Philippine presidents Taiwan remarks in Firstpost interview Furthermore, there are many Filipino nationals in Taiwan, and that would be immediately a humanitarian problem because we will have to get involved we will have to go in there or find a way to go in there and bring our people home, as we do whenever they find themselves in areas of conflict. That, for me, would be the most considerable concern for us, at least in the early days. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Thats why I say we would immediately mobilise everything that we could to bring our people out. Thats not an easy thing to do, considering that you are in the middle of a combat zone. So it would not be a small problem. You may watch the full interview here: Armenia and Azerbaijan will sign a historic US brokered peace deal at the White House on Friday, with President Donald Trump unveiling the Trump Route transit corridor to boost trade, security, and prosperity in the South Caucasus. Residents in vehicles attempt to leave the city of Stepanakert following a military operation conducted by Azerbaijani armed forces in Nagorno-Karabakh, a region inhabited by ethnic Armenians. File image/ Reuters Azerbaijan and Armenia will sign an initial peace agreement on Friday to boost economic ties between the two countries after decades of conflict, the White House said, with President Donald Trump set to welcome the leaders of both nations for a signing ceremony at the White House. White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly told reporters that Trump would sign separate deals with both Armenia and Azerbaijan on energy, technology, economic cooperation, border security, infrastructure and trade. No further details were provided. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan are due to arrive at the White House for talks and the signing ceremony around 2:30 p.m., one of the officials said. The agreement includes exclusive US development rights to a strategic transit corridor through the South Caucasus, dubbed the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity. Whats going to happen here with the Trump route is, this isnt charity. This is a highly investable entity, said one senior administration official, adding that at least nine companies had been in touch in recent days to discuss possible investments. Senior administration officials told reporters the agreement was the first to end one of several frozen conflicts on Russias periphery since the end of the Cold War and said it would send a powerful signal to the entire region. This isnt just about Armenia. Its not just about Azerbaijan. Its about the entire region, and they know that that region is going to be safer and more prosperous with President Trump, a senior administration official said. Armenia and Azerbaijan have been at odds since the late 1980s when Nagorno-Karabakh - an Azerbaijani region that had a mostly ethnic-Armenian population - broke away from Azerbaijan with support from Armenia. Both Armenia and Azerbaijan won independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD A peace deal could transform the South Caucasus, an energy-producing region neighboring Russia, Europe, Turkey and Iran that is criss-crossed by oil and gas pipelines but riven by closed borders and longstanding ethnic conflicts. Under a carefully negotiated section of the documents the leaders will sign on Friday, Armenia plans to award the United States exclusive special development rights for an extended period on a transit corridor that will be named the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity, and known by the acronym TRIPP, the officials told Reuters this week. Chinas Foreign Ministry and Embassy in the Philippines lodged serious protests over Filipino President Ferdinand Marcos Jrs recent remarks on Taiwan during an exclusive conversation with Firstpost. Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. speaks during the presentation of the newly enacted laws to stakeholders at the Malacanang Presidential Palace in Manila, Philippines Thursday, May 22, 2025. File Image / AP Chinas Foreign Ministry on Friday lodged a serious protest over Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr's recent remarks on Taiwan during an interview with Firstposts Managing Editor Palki Sharma. In the exclusive conversation with Firstpost, Marcos Jr said that if a confrontation breaks out in Taiwan, the Philippines can not stay out of it. When Global Times asked the Chinese Foreign Ministry about the Filipino presidents remarks at the Firstpost interview, the Chinese authorities reiterated "One China Policy", which states that Taiwan, an autonomous island that holds democratic elections, is part of China. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD There is but one China in the world. Taiwan is an inalienable part of China. The Taiwan question is Chinas internal affair, which is at the very core of Chinas core interests. How to settle it is a matter for the Chinese ourselves, which brooks no interference, the ministry said in response to Marcos Jrs remarks. What Marcos Jr said at the Firstpost Interview While speaking to Firstpost, Marcos Jr maintained that if a conflict breaks out in Taiwan, the Philippines cannot stay out of it. The Philippine president highlighted the urgent need for strategic partnerships with like-minded nations, including India, to ensure regional security. If there is an all-out war, we will be drawn into it. We will have to go into Taiwan and bring our people home, Marcos Jr said, pointing to the Philippines large expatriate population in Taiwan. Marcos Jrs comments come at a time of intensifying maritime tensions in the South China Sea and growing global concern over a potential military flashpoint in the Indo-Pacific. The Philippine president made these remarks while he was on a five-day visit to India, aiming to bolster ties between New Delhi and Manila. Soon after Marcos Jrs remarks, the Chinese Foreign Ministry and Embassy in the Philippines lodged serious protests with the Philippine side. In the complaint, the Chinese authorities made it clear that near geographic location and a large number of Filipinos in Taiwan should not encourage Manila to interfere in what they called internal and sovereign affairs, Global Times reported. Amid political unity over Hezbollahs disarmament, Lebanon calls out Tehrans rhetoric as dangerous, divisive, and damaging to regional peace and internal cohesion (File) Women walk near destroyed buildings, with one holding the flag of Hezbollah, in the southern Lebanese village of Kfar Kila. Reuters Lebanese officials have expressed outrage over recent remarks made by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi regarding Lebanons decision to disarm Tehran-backed Hezbollah. Araghchis comments, suggesting the decision would fail, have been widely condemned in Lebanon as interference in the countrys internal affairs, prompting some officials to call for a complaint to be filed against Iran at the United Nations Security Council. In response, Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji has tasked the ministrys secretariat with summoning the Iranian ambassador in Lebanon, according to a report in Asharq Al-Awsat. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Foreign Minister Youssef Rajji criticized Araghchi for commenting on Lebanese internal affairs, stating that his remarks violate Lebanons sovereignty, unity and stability and are interference in its internal affairs and sovereign decisions. Rajji emphasized that relations between countries should be built on mutual respect and non-interference, with full commitment to decisions made by legitimate constitutional institutions. Rajji underscored the Lebanese governments historic decision over limiting the possession of weapons to the state before the end of the year, vowing that this decision is final and decisive, with no possibility of backing down. This firm stance reflects the governments commitment to asserting its authority and maintaining stability within the country. MP Ghayath Yazbeck, a member of the Lebanese Forces Strong Republic bloc, condemned Araghchis statements as a complete violation of the dignity of a sovereign and independent state, highlighting the extent of Iranian meddling in Lebanon and the harm it has allegedly inflicted on the Lebanese people and their state. Yazbeck further criticized Irans clear destructive role in Lebanon, drawing parallels to the situations in Yemen, Iraq, and Syria. Democratic Gathering MP Faisal al-Sayegh described Araghchis statements as the ultimate form of meddling in Lebanons internal affairs, warning that such remarks create division among the Lebanese people. Al-Sayegh emphasized that the governments decision aligns with the constitution, President Joseph Aouns swearing in speech, the Taif Accord, international resolutions, and the government policy statement, which has the confidence of Hezbollah MPs. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Political forces in Lebanon are concerned that Irans stance could embolden Hezbollah to defy government decisions and potentially provoke Israel to resume its war on Lebanon. The concerns are amplified by historical context, as Iranian meddling in Lebanese affairs was cited as a contributing factor to a past conflict, specifically when Hezbollah, with Irans backing, initiated a support front against Israel in 2023 in solidarity with Hamas in Gaza. Al-Sayegh expressed hope that Iran would reconsider its positions and cease meddling in Lebanese and regional affairs, advocating for a positive and helpful role in Lebanons reconstruction. Notably, he stressed that this reconstruction is contingent upon the state having a monopoly over arms and decisions of war and peace. For Lebanon, sovereignty is not up for negotiation. Philippine President Marcos Jrs interview with Firstposts Managing Editor Palki Sharma has triggered a global buzz with China criticising his remarks and Taiwan welcoming it. Heres how it happened A Firstpost interview with Philippine President Ferdinand Bongbong Marcos Jr has reverberated far beyond the studio, drawing sharp responses from China, public gratitude from Taiwan, and affirmation from Manila. Marcoss statement that the Philippines cannot stay out if conflict erupts in the Taiwan Strait has ignited diplomatic, strategic, and media discourse across Asia and beyond. As tensions in the Indo-Pacific escalate, the remarks have put Manila at the centre of the geopolitical chessboard. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD What the Philippine president said In an exclusive interview with _Firstpost_ Managing Editor Palki Sharma, President Marcos delivered candid remarks on the Taiwan issue during his state visit to India. To be very practical about it, if there is a confrontation over Taiwan between China and the United States, there is no way that the Philippines can stay out of it, simply because of our physical geographic location, Marcos said, underlining that Kaohsiung, Taiwan, is only a 40-minute flight from the northern Philippines. He added that a conflict would immediately become a humanitarian issue. If there is an all-out war, we will be drawn into it. We will have to go into Taiwan and bring our people home, he said, referring the large Filipino community living in Taiwan. Marcos emphasised that the Philippines was not preparing for war but reacting to the challenges we are facing. He advocated stronger defence partnerships with countries like India and confirmed ongoing procurement of BrahMos missiles. He also asserted that his countrys alliance with the United States remains ironclad and clarified Manilas readiness to cooperate with partners facing the Chinese threat. Marcos said, Why should we turn down partners who face the Chinese threat? We are not acting as a puppet state. It is our duty to defend our country. Chinas reaction: Angry outbursts China responded swiftly and strongly to President Marcoss remarks, lodging formal protests through both its foreign ministry and its embassy in Manila. There is but one China in the world. Taiwan is an inalienable part of China, Chinas Foreign Ministry said, reiterating its long-standing One-China Policy. The ministry criticised the Philippines proximity and large expatriate population in Taiwan as insufficient justifications for interfering in what it called an internal affair. In a statement carried by the Global Times, Beijing said, The Taiwan question is purely an internal affair at the core of Chinas core interests and allows no external interference Marcos Jr and others like him need no extra interpretation the plain meaning should be easy enough to grasp. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD China further accused the Philippines of playing with fire and warned against the nation becoming involved in matters concerning Chinas sovereignty. In another statement, China said the Philippines should adhere to the 1975 Joint Communique that upholds the One-China principle and warned that geographical proximity is no justification for interfering in Chinese affairs. Taiwans reaction: Gratitude and validation Taiwan, on the other hand, warmly welcomed Marcos's remarks, interpreting them as a sign of international recognition of Taiwans vulnerability and the regional implications of a conflict in the Taiwan Strait. President @bongbongmarcos says the #Philippines cannot stay out of ita clear truth that what happens in the #TaiwanStrait affects us all. We thank him for recognizing the security stakes & standing with #Taiwan for #IndoPacific peace. Watch27:30 https://t.co/O5SjIoCusw Ministry of Foreign Affairs, ROC (Taiwan) (@MOFA_Taiwan) August 7, 2025 Taiwanese officials emphasised that Marcoss statement reflected the interconnected security environment in the Indo-Pacific and praised the Philippines for standing up for regional stability. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Philippines reaffirms position Following Chinas protest, via its Presidential Communications Office and Department of Foreign Affairs, reaffirming its commitment to peace and regional stability. President Marcos reiterated the Philippines longstanding position on the importance of peace and stability in Taiwan and the peaceful settlement of differences, read the statement. The statement also highlighted the presidents concern for the over 100,000 Filipinos in Taiwan, citing geographic proximity as a factor that naturally draws the Philippines into any regional contingency. However, it emphasised that the Philippines upholds its One-China Policy as per the 1975 Philippines-China Joint Communique. The Philippines, it said, consistently advocated for dialogue, regional stability, and the peaceful settlement of differences in all international forums. President Marcos reiterated the Philippines longstanding position on the importance of peace and stability in Taiwan and the peaceful settlement of differences. Read full story https://t.co/VkkyAiONFz#DFAForgingAhead pic.twitter.com/TLB9B5VtNm DFA Philippines (@DFAPHL) August 8, 2025 Global media coverage: A diplomatic flashpoint The Firstpost interview sparked widespread international media coverage, with major outlets reporting on the diplomatic rift caused by Marcoss candid remarks. Reuters reported that China had accused the Philippines of playing with fire, emphasising that geographical proximity and Filipino expatriates were not valid reasons for Manila to get involved in Chinas internal affairs. It also mentioned that Beijing warned the Philippines to earnestly adhere to the one-China principle. South China Morning Post provided extensive coverage, quoting Marcoss remarks in full and highlighting Chinas stern warning that the Philippines is reneging on its promises and damaging China-Philippines relations. The Hong Kong-based news outlet detailed previous maritime tensions, suggesting that Marcoss statement has further complicated regional diplomacy. Al Jazeera echoed these sentiments, summarising Chinas sharp reaction and emphasising the broader implications for US-China-Philippines relations in the Indo-Pacific. The network noted that Manilas moveslike lifting travel restrictions to Taiwan and joint naval drills with Indiahave already angered Beijing. In its coverage, Bloomberg focussed on the geopolitical ramifications of the Marcos statement and the Philippines growing alignment with the United States and India. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD According to the report, President Ferdinand Marcos Jrs comments during a state visit to India have drawn sharp rebukes from China and further highlight the strategic tightrope Manila is walking as tensions rise in the Taiwan Strait. Bloomberg also pointed to the increased defence cooperation between the Philippines and India, including the planned procurement of more BrahMos missile systems, as a sign of shifting regional alliances. You may watch full interview of President Marcos here: Strategic context: Indo-Pacific tensions rise Marcoss statement comes at a time of escalating friction in the Indo-Pacific, particularly in the South China Sea, where the Philippines and China have clashed repeatedly over maritime sovereignty. The Philippine government has accused Beijing of aggressive manoeuvers, while the US has reaffirmed its defence commitments under the Mutual Defence Treaty. In the Taiwan Strait, tensions continue to simmer as Beijing maintains its goal of reunification, including the use of military force if necessary. The US continues to supply arms to Taipei and has signalled support in case of conflict. The Philippines strategic location near the Luzon Strait makes it a critical player in any potential regional confrontation. Adding to the complexity, Manila has been enhancing ties with both Washington and Taipei, including naval discussions with Taiwan and joint patrols with US and other regional allies. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD President Ferdinand Marcos Jrs interview with Firstpost has catalySed a significant diplomatic moment in Asia, prompting strong responses from China and supportive remarks from Taiwan. While Manila stands by One-China Policy, the remarks underline the Philippines evolving strategic posture in the face of mounting regional challenges. The incident has amplified Manilas visibility on the global stage, even as it walks a diplomatic tightrope between asserting its sovereignty, protecting its citizens abroad and managing ties with two global superpowers. As the Indo-Pacific remains a flashpoint of geopolitical competition, the Philippines is increasingly at the centre of regional security dynamics. A tense TrumpModi phone call over an IndiaPakistan ceasefire has triggered one of the sharpest USIndia rifts in decades, derailing trade talks, strategic alignments, and decades of Washingtons policy in South Asia. What began as a simmering diplomatic misunderstanding over an IndiaPakistan ceasefire has snowballed into one of the sharpest downturns in US and India relations in decades with a tense phone call between US President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the center of the fallout. The spark came in May, when India and Pakistan agreed to halt a brief but intense border flare-up. Trump publicly claimed credit for brokering the truce, even portraying himself as the man who averted a potential nuclear confrontation. Indian officials bristled, insisting the ceasefire followed direct talks between New Delhi and Islamabad at Pakistans request with no third-party mediation. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD By mid-June, the dispute came to a head. Fresh from an early departure from the G7 summit in Canada, Trump phoned Modi for a 35-minute conversation. According to officials, Modi bluntly reiterated that India does not and will never accept mediation, while explaining the direct channels used to end the fighting. Indian aides were already uneasy after learning Trump planned to host Pakistani Army Chief Asim Munir for lunch the next day at the White House. While New Delhi was unbothered by meetings with Pakistans civilian leadership, extending an invitation to the army, accused by India of backing militant groups was seen as a provocation. Fearing Trump might push for an awkward ModiMunir encounter, the Indian leader declined a White House stopover on his return from Canada. Officials in New Delhi say the tone from Washington shifted soon after that call. Within weeks, Trumps public remarks toward India turned openly hostile, culminating in this weeks announcement of a 50% tariff on Indian exports, half of which he linked to Indias purchase of Russian oil. The escalation is being seen as a dramatic reversal in a relationship that successive US administrations had nurtured for nearly 30 years as part of a broader strategy to counterbalance China. Only months ago, Trump and PM Modi had exchanged warm words, calling each other dear friend and pledging deeper cooperation. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Trade talks, launched after Trumps earlier Liberation Day tariffs in April, initially showed promise. But negotiations grew tense over agriculture, genetically modified crops, and steel and aluminium duties. The ceasefire dispute added another layer of friction, coinciding with Trumps tougher posture toward Russia and threats of tariffs on countries buying its oil. New Delhi, once optimistic about a quick deal, watched as Trump inked agreements with other nations. By late July, his announcement of a 25% reciprocal tariff followed days later by the even steeper 50% measure sent relations into a downward spiral. While Modi has vowed to defend Indias small farmers and denounced the US tariffs as unfair and unreasonable, officials say retaliation is unlikely for now. Instead, they are weighing targeted concessions, particularly in agriculture, to break the deadlock. Yet the episode is prompting a broader rethink in New Delhi. Indias historic reliance on Moscow forged during the Cold War when Washington backed Pakistan remains a fall back, and some officials now see scope to cautiously warm ties with China. Modi is expected to visit Beijing later this month for the first time in seven years, meeting President Xi Jinping at a regional summit. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Analysts warn that Trumps hardball tactics may yield short-term trade wins but carry strategic risks. Beijing will be the biggest beneficiary of this dispute, Lindsey Ford, a former US National Security Council official told Bloomberg. The US has spent decades building trust with India, this could unravel it in months. Chinese Ambassador to India, Xu Feihong, took a strong jab against US President Donald Trump for raising tariffs on nations around the world, including Indian, referring to him as a bully. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and China's President Xi Jinping. Many experts note that China and India are striking the same defiant note against Trump. File image/Reuters Chinese Ambassador to India, Xu Feihong, took a strong jab against US President Donald Trump for raising tariffs on nations around the world, including Indian, referring to him as a bully. In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Ambassador Xu denounced Trumps use of tariffs as a means of coercion. Give the bully an inch, he will take a mile, a Chinese envoy said in a post on Thursday. In the post, the Chinese envoy quoted the countrys Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who slammed the Trump tariffs. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Using tariffs as a weapon to suppress other countries violates the UN Charter, undermines WTO rules, and is both unpopular and unsustainable, Wang Yi said in a phone call with Celso Amorim, chief adviser to the president of Brazil, on Wednesday. Successive US administrations in the past had close ties with India to keep Chinas power in check. India and China, on the other hand, are intense rivals competing for strategic influence across South Asia. Give the bully an inch, he will take a mile. pic.twitter.com/IMdIM9u1nd Xu Feihong (@China_Amb_India) August 7, 2025 Amid the whole tariff saga, Prime Minister Narendra Modi might visit long-time rival China in late August. The trip has not been confirmed by officials, but it would be his first visit to China since 2018. However, the last time PM Modi and Xi came face to face was in October last year in Russia. Analysts see the new levies effective in 21 days, hitting exports from labour-intensive sectors such as gems and jewellery, textiles and footwear, potentially halting business in these goods, Bloomberg reported. The move is also expected to force India to actively scout for alternative markets. Meanwhile, New Delhi has called Trumps latest tariff move unfair, unjustified, blasting Trump for singling out India when other countries are also buying oil from Moscow. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Driven by the global race for critical minerals, the UK and Zimbabwe are rekindling ties after nearly three decades of diplomatic strain, signaling a shift toward commercially focused partnerships, according to a report Zimbabwe and the United Kingdom are restoring diplomatic relations after nearly 30 years of strained ties, as growing global demand for critical minerals drives renewed engagement between the two countries, according to a Bloomberg report. In June, UK Minister for Africa Lord Ray Collins met with Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa and top officials, marking a rare high-level engagement after years of frosty relations under former President Robert Mugabe. Collins called the trip a mission for economic growth, aiming for a win-win partnership, added the report. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The British Embassy in Harare highlighted a $1 billion pipeline of potential deals spanning agriculture, finance, telecoms, renewable energy, and critical minerals. It named the 30-megawatt Vungu solar project as a flagship investment, with more initiatives expected to follow. The UK is working hard to increase trade and investment for mutual benefit, Bloomberg quoted a spokesperson as saying in an emailed response to questions. The background Ties between Zimbabwe and the UK were strong after independence in 1980, with Britain as a key trading partner and aid donor. But relations soured in 1997 when the UK refused to fund Zimbabwes land reform, stating it had no colonial obligation to do so. Tensions escalated with Zimbabwes 2000 farm seizures, leading to Western sanctions over property rights violations. By 2024, the UK had fallen to Zimbabwes 14th-largest trading partner, with $155 million in trade far behind China ($3.9 billion) and the UAE ($2.9 billion). The UKs renewed outreach, however, signals more than diplomacy. It reflects a strategic push for access to Zimbabwes critical minerals, especially lithium, Zaynab Hoosen of Pangea-Risk told Bloomberg. Zimbabwes substantial lithium reserves offer a timely opportunity to diversify supply chains and reduce reliance on dominant producers, Bloomberg quoted Hoosen as saying. Western nations, including the US and UK, are racing to secure critical minerals vital for clean energy, defence, semiconductors, and EV batteries. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD In a policy paper last month, the UK said its upcoming critical minerals strategy will emphasise targeted growth partnerships. According to Hoosen, the UK is shifting from traditional aid to commercially driven, mutually beneficial ties under its new Approach to Africa, unveiled in June. Recent moves include an infrastructure partnership with South Africa, which builds on existing cooperation in platinum group metals and the UKs first trade and investment mission to Angola, where UK-based firm Pensana Plc is advancing the Longonjo Rare Earth Project For Zimbabwe, the benefits go beyond minerals diplomacy, as the stronger ties with the UK offer access to diversified investment, expanded trade and renewed international legitimacy, Hoosen added. With inputs from agencies Indian exporters and their American partners have worked out a three-way arrangement to distribute the burden of US President Donald Trumps tariffs between Indian exporters, American importers, and American customers. But Indian exporters fear that even such an arrangement may not save them from 50% tariffs. Textiles and clothing, gems and jewellery, shrimp, leather and footwear, chemicals and electrical and mechanical machinery would be most affected. Reuters Several Indian exporters have worked out a three-way deal with their American partners to tackle 50 per cent tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump. Under the deal, Indian exporters and their American partners are splitting the burden of tariffs in three equal halves, according to The Times of India. The arrangement, which began when Trump imposed the 10 per cent tariff in April, means that the Indian exporter will provide a discount amounting to one-third of the total increased cost of tariffs (7-8 per cent in case of 25 per cent tariffs), the American importer will cut its margin by the same percentage, and the rest of the increased cost will be passed on to customers, as per the newspaper. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD ALSO READ: Trump's 50% tariffs could drag Indian GDP growth below 6% here's what analysts say Trump on July 31 imposed 25 per cent tariff on India when he announced country-specific tariffs for more than 60 countries. He topped that with 25 per cent additional tariff on Wednesday for India's purchase of Russian oil, taking total tariffs to 50 per cent. They are also frontloading exports and dispatching consignments before the kick-in of tariffs. Even 3-way burden-sharing may not save exports from 50% tariffs: Exporters Exporters are concerned that even the three-way split of tariffs burden may not save themselves once 50 per cent tariffs kick in as some export-oriented, labour-intensive sectors like textiles run on low margins and tariffs will squeeze their margins further. They said that 25 per cent could be tolerated but 50 per cent could cripple them. The 25 per cent additional tariff taking overall tariffs on India to 50 per cent will kick in on August 27. For goods shipped before that date, the previous tariff rates will apply till Sept. 27. Apparel Export Promotion Council (APEC) Chairman Sudhir Sekhri told ToI that 50 per cent tariffs are a huge setback to the labour-intensive apparel export industry. There is no way industry can absorb this. I am sure the government also realises that this unreasonable increase in tariff will sound the death knell for the micro and medium apparel industry, especially those who majorly sell to the US market, unless govt steps in with direct fiscal support to the industry, said Sekhri. Separately, Tirupur Exporters Association President Raja M Shanmugam sought an intervention from the government and argued that it is now no longer feasible to export to the United States due to the low margins. For gems and jewellery too, the prognosis is not good, with companies predicting a steep fall in exports and bankers said that much of the exports are on credit and there is a risk of default, the newspaper reported. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Israels Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday slammed Germanys decision to suspend arms exports to Israel over the ongoing Gaza conflict, saying the move would only strengthen Hamas Israels Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday slammed Germanys decision to suspend arms exports to Israel over the ongoing Gaza conflict, saying the move would only strengthen Hamas. Instead of supporting Israels just war against Hamas, which carried out the most horrific attack against the Jewish people since the Holocaust, Germany is rewarding Hamas terrorism by embargoing arms to Israel, AFP quoted Netanyahus office as saying in a statement. The prime minister also conveyed his disappointment directly to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz during a phone call, the statement added. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Germany on Friday announced that it will suspend exports of weapons that could be used in the Gaza Strip, marking the first time since reunification that Berlin has publicly acknowledged curbing military support to its close ally Israel. The shift, announced by Chancellor Friedrich Merz, comes amid growing public pressure and demands from his junior coalition partner over the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where Israel has sharply restricted access to food, water, and other essentials. In a statement, Merz reiterated Germanys support for Israels right to target Hamas and secure the release of hostages but warned that Israels expanded military plans make it increasingly difficult to see how these goals can be achieved. Germany is Israels second-largest arms supplier after the United States and has historically backed the country as part of its post-Holocaust policy of Staatsraison a state commitment to Israels security. However, a June opinion poll showed shifting public sentiment, with 73% of Germans supporting tighter controls on arms exports, and nearly a third backing a complete ban. With inputs from agencies Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan says he has the boards full backing after US President Donald Trump demanded his resignation over alleged conflicts of interest tied to China. Tan denied the claims, calling them misinformation, and vowed to work with the White House to clarify the matter. Intel Corp. CEO Lip-Bu Tan said he had the complete support of the companys board, replying for the first time to US President Donald Trumps request for his resignation due to conflicts of interest. Tan has contacted the White House to clear up what he calls misinformation about his track record, according to a message to employees posted on Intels website. On Thursday Trump said on Truth Social platform that, The CEO of Intel is highly CONFLICTED and must resign, immediately. There is no other solution to this problem. Thank you for your attention to this problem! STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Trumps post landed after Sen. Tom Cotton sent a letter to Intel Chairman Frank Yeary expressing concern over Tans investments and ties to semiconductor firms that are reportedly linked to the Chinese Communist Party and the Peoples Liberation Army, and asked the board whether Tan had divested his interests in these companies to eliminate any conflicts of interest. It was not immediately clear on Thursday if Tan, who took over as Intels CEO in March, had divested his interests in the companies. The economic and political rivalry between the US and China are increasingly focused on computer chips, AI and other digital technologies that are expected to shape future economies and military conflicts. Intel said in a statement that its deeply committed to advancing US national and economic security interests and are making significant investments aligned with the Presidents America First agenda. Tan also addressed the situation, saying in a message to employees that there was misinformation circulating about his past roles at Walden International and Cadence Design Systems and that hes always followed proper standards. Tan also said Intel was in contact with the Trump administration. We are engaging with the Administration to address the matters that have been raised and ensure they have the facts, Tan said. I fully share the Presidents commitment to advancing US national and economic security, I appreciate his leadership to advance these priorities, and Im proud to lead a company that is so central to these goals.. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The companys stock rose slightly in premarket trading on Friday. The Israeli Cabinet has approved the takeover of Gaza City, according to the Prime Ministers Office (PMO). Israels Security Cabinet in the early hours of Friday approved the takeover of Gaza City, according to the Prime Ministers Office (PMO). The IDF [Israel Defense Forces] will prepare for the takeover of Gaza City while ensuring the provision of humanitarian aid to the civilian population outside the combat zones, the PMO said in a statement. The occupation of Gaza City will mark an escalation in a war that has already killed tens of thousands of Palestinians most of them civilians as per an admission from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. As Gaza City is one of the few places from where Israel has not yet expelled Palestinians, tens of thousands of people are expected to be displaced in the upcoming Israeli offensive to occupy the city. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The announcement of Gaza Citys takeover has come after a Security Cabinet that began on Thursday and continued well into the night. Ahead of the meeting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had said that he intended to take over all of Gaza but not annex it. Instead, he said he would hand it over to an Arab entity that would neither be Hamas nor Palestinian Authority (PA). It appears that the Security Cabinet stopped short of approving Netanyahus position. Notably, Israeli military chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir had opposed the plan to occupy the entirety of Gaza and said such a campaign would endanger the lives of around 20 hostages still believed to be alive in captivity. The development has come at a time when Israel is under rising condemnation across the world over the hunger crisis in Gaza. Aid agencies have said that dozens of people have died from hunger. Moreover, hundreds have been killed in recent weeks at food distribution sites in what Palestinians allege to the Israeli attacks. Last month, the United Nations (UN) released a video that showed Israeli soldiers firing at Palestinians sitting and awaiting a UN aid convoy. In the past 24 hours, 42 people were killed in Gaza, according to AP. Israel would take control of all of Gaza but not keep it: Netanyahu In remarks that triggered outrage, Netanyahu on Thursday said that Israel would take control of all of Gaza but not annex it. Instead, Netanyahu said that Israel would hand over Gazas control to Arab forces that will neither be of Hamas or the PA, the internationally-recognised de-facto Palestinian government. We intend to [take control of all of Gaza] in order to assure our security, remove Hamas there. We dont want to keep it. We want to have a security perimeter. We want to hand it over to Arab forces that will govern it properly without threatening us and giving Gazans a good life," said Netanyahu. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Philippines urges peaceful settlement of Taiwan dispute after China protests President Marcoss remarks in a Firstpost interview, citing concerns for over 100,000 Filipinos in the island The Philippines has reaffirmed its call for peaceful resolution of disputes in the Taiwan Strait, following Chinas criticism of President Ferdinand Bongbong Marcos Jr.s recent remarks in an interview with Firstpost. In an interview with Firstpost in New Delhi on 6 August, President Marcos highlighted the Governments major concern for the safety and welfare of more than 100,000 Filipino nationals residing in Taiwan. He pointed out the countrys geographic proximity to Taiwan, stating that any military conflict there would inevitably affect the Philippines. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD President Marcos reiterated the Philippines longstanding position on the importance of peace and stability in Taiwan and the peaceful settlement of differences. Read full story https://t.co/VkkyAiONFz#DFAForgingAhead pic.twitter.com/TLB9B5VtNm DFA Philippines (@DFAPHL) August 8, 2025 President Marcos reaffirmed adherence to the One-China Policy, as established under the 1975 PhilippinesChina Joint Communique, and reiterated the countrys policy of non-interference in Chinas internal affairs. He underlined that the Philippines continues to advocate for dialogue, regional stability, and the peaceful settlement of disputes in global forums and diplomatic settings. China responded sharply to Marcoss remarks, lodging official protests and accusing the Philippines of playing with fire on issues it considers core to its sovereignty. The Chinese Foreign Ministry reiterated that the Taiwan issue is an exclusively internal matter and warned against external interference, urging Manila to respect the one-China principle. Geographical proximity and large overseas populations are not excuses for a country to interfere in the internal affairs of others, Chinas foreign ministry said in a statement. We urge the Philippines to earnestly adhere to the one-China principle and refrain from playing with fire on issues concerning Chinas core interests. Marcos remarks came amid heightened tension between Beijing and Manila over territorial disputes in the busy waterway of the South China Sea. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Both countries have traded accusations of aggressive manoeuvres and sovereignty violations there, prompting the United States to reaffirm its commitment to defend the Philippines. Israels Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that he wants the Israeli military to take control of all of Gaza but maintained that he does not want to keep the coastal enclave and plans to hand it over to Arab forces for governance As the Gaza crisis continues to escalate, Israels Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stirred a storm after he said on Thursday that he wants to take control of all of Gaza but does not want to keep it. The premier maintained that while the Israelis intend to take military control of all of Gaza, it will eventually hand over the coastal enclave to Arab forces, who he claimed would be able to govern properly. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD We intend to, Netanyahu said in an interview with Fox News when asked if Israel would take control of the entire 26-mile strip. We dont want to keep it. We want to have a security perimeter. We dont want to govern it. We dont want to be there as a governing body," he clarified. The Israeli prime ministers public remarks on the matter came as he prepares to sit down with the countrys security cabinet to discuss plans to expand Israeli military control in Gaza. Meanwhile, Israels military chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, has already rejected Netanyahus plans, insisting that such expansion would put the lives of hostages in Gaza in jeopardy. Only way to ensure security: Netanyahu While pushing forth his argument, Netanyahu insisted that ordering troops into the remaining 25 per cent of the enclave not currently controlled by the IDF was the only way to ensure Israels security and finally wipe out Hamas. Meanwhile, the families of the hostages are also rejecting Netanyahus plan since the operation would involve fighting in a region where their loved ones are thought to be held captive. A military source close to the matter told The Telegraph that if the scheme is accepted by Israels security cabinet on Thursday evening, it would ultimately extend the war in Gaza for at least five months. With this, the hopes for a ceasefire between the two nations die down once again. Interestingly, Netanyahus plans for a future government in the coastal enclave might also receive opposition from ultra-nationalists in Israel, who favour removing Gazan civilians from the Strip and repopulating it with Jewish settlements. It is pertinent to note that with Operation Gideons Chariot, the IDF already controls 75 per cent of the Gaza Strip. However, the operation failed to eliminate Hamas. Hamas reacts Meanwhile, a Hamas official said that the Palestinian militant group will treat any force formed to govern Gaza, per Benjamin Netanyahus suggestion, as an occupying force linked to Israel. While speaking to Al Jazeera Mubasher, Hamas operatives outrightly rejected Netanyahus plan. A Jordanian official, meanwhile, has said Arabs will only support what Palestinians agree and decide on after the Israeli prime minister said he wanted to hand over Gaza to Arab forces that would govern the territory. Security in Gaza must be done through legitimate Palestinian institutions, a Jordanian official who asked to remain anonymous told Al Jazeera. Arabs will not agree to Netanyahus policies nor clean his mess, he added. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Apart from the army and the families of hostages, Netanyahus idea is facing challenges within Israel. The Israeli Kibbutz Nir Oz, which was ravaged during Hamass October 2023 attacks, has suspended a cornerstone-laying event in protest against the Israeli security cabinet meeting over Benjamin Netanyahus plan to take control of all of Gaza. The chairman of Kibbutz Nir Oz, near the Gaza border, urged the government to return the hostages as part of an agreement even if the price is high, and said the kibbutz understood the dangers of Hamas better than cabinet members, The Times of Israel reported. Meanwhile, a latest poll in the country suggests most Israelis would prefer Netanyahu to sign a deal to release the hostages, even if it meant ending the war with Hamas without eliminating the group. US President Donald Trump said that there would be no increased trade talks with India until the issue is resolved on New Delhis purchase of Russian oil amid the Ukraine war US President Donald Trump and some of his officials from the administration have been pressuring India to forego its oil trade with Russia in the past one week. File image/Reuters US President on Thursday hinted that there will be no trade negotiations with India until issues regarding New Delhi's purchase of oil from Russia are resolved. His remarks came from the Oval Office, while he was taking questions from reporters. When ANI asked if Trump expects increased trade negotiations with India, the POTUS vehemently denied such a prospect. The ties between India and the US soured after the Trump administration raised tariffs on Indian goods by nearly 50 per cent. No, not until we get it resolved," Trump replies to ANIs query. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD #WATCH | Responding to ANI's question, 'Just to follow up India's tariff, do you expect increased trade negotiations since you have announced the 50% tariffs?', US President Donald Trump says, "No, not until we get it resolved." (Source: US Network Pool via Reuters) pic.twitter.com/exAQCiKSJd ANI (@ANI) August 7, 2025 In the Wednesday Executive Order, the Trump administration maintained that New Delhis continued purchase of Russian oil is the reason behind the high American duties against Indian goods. However, India argued that other nations trading with Russia extensively are not assessed on the same parameters. Trumps tirade with India Trump has set himself on a continued tirade against India since Prime Minister Narendra Modi made it clear during a Lok Sabha session on July 29 that no world leader asked India to stop Operation Sindoor"; therefore, fact-checking Trump without naming him. As of now, Trump has claimed 25 times that he ensured a ceasefire between India and Pakistan, using what he called trade as a tool. A day after PM Modis proclamation, Trump flagged Indias energy and defence ties with Russia and announced 25 per cent tariffs on imports from the country, plus a penalty". They have always bought a vast majority of their military equipment from Russia, and are Russias largest buyer of ENERGY, along with China, at a time when everyone wants Russia to STOP THE KILLING IN UKRAINE ALL THINGS NOT GOOD! INDIA WILL THEREFORE BE PAYING A TARIFF OF 25%, PLUS A PENALTY FOR THE ABOVE," Trump posted on Truth Social that day. Trump eventually imposed an additional 25 per cent tariffs on Indian goods, taking the total to nearly 50 per cent. Meanwhile, on August 4, the Ministry of External Affairs responded to the matter and termed the levies as unjustified and unreasonable". In the statement, the Indian ministry called out the double standards of the United States and the European Union over their trade ties with Russia. The statement also emphasised how the US continues to import uranium hexafluoride from Russia for its nuclear industry despite the war raging on. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD After Trump announced additional tariffs, on August 8, MEA described the move as extremely unfortunate". It is therefore extremely unfortunate that the US should choose to impose additional tariffs on India for actions that several other countries are also taking in their own national interest. We reiterate that these actions are unfair, unjustified and unreasonable. India will take all actions necessary to protect its national interests," the statement said. In his first response to the tariffs, PM Modi made it clear that India will not compromise on the interests of the farmers and is ready to pay a heavy price for it". For us, the interest of our farmers is our top priority," PM Modi said. India will never compromise on the interests of farmers, fishermen and dairy farmers. I know we will have to pay a heavy price for it, and I am ready for it. India is ready for it," he said. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD China has confirmed it will welcome PM Narendra Modi to Tianjin for the SCO Summit on 31 August, expressing hopes for greater solidarity, friendship and fruitful results among member nations China has confirmed it will welcome Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Tianjin later this month for the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit, expressing hopes for strengthened solidarity and cooperation among member states. PM Modi will visit China for the SCO meeting on August 31, his first trip to the neighbouring nation since the deadly clashes between Indian and Chinese troops in 2020. Responding to reports in Indian media that Prime Minister Modi will visit China on August 31 at Beijings invitation to attend the SCO Summit, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said on Friday that preparations were on for what Beijing hopes to be an important meeting. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD China welcomes Prime Minister Modi to China for the SCO Tianjin Summit. We believe that with the concerted effort of all parties, the Tianjin summit will be a gathering of solidarity, friendship and fruitful results, Guo said. Guo also stated that the summit will usher in a new stage of high-quality development for the SCO, defined by greater solidarity, coordination, dynamism, and productiveness. The SCO, a regional security and economic bloc founded in 2001, currently includes China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan as full members. The Tianjin meeting is expected to address regional stability, economic cooperation and counter-terrorism, among other issues. PM Modi had a detailed conversation with President Putin, discussing Ukraine and bilateral progress. PM Modi said he is looking forward to hosting Putin in India later this year Russian President Vladimir Putin greets Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a welcoming ceremony for participants of the BRICS Summit in Kazan, on October 22, 2024. Reuters File A day after Indian National Security Advisor Ajit Doval said that Vladimir Putin will visit India later this year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday held a very good and detailed conversation with the Russian President. Taking to X, PM Modi said, Had a very good and detailed conversation with my friend President Putin. I thanked him for sharing the latest developments on Ukraine. Had a very good and detailed conversation with my friend President Putin. I thanked him for sharing the latest developments on Ukraine. We also reviewed the progress in our bilateral agenda, and reaffirmed our commitment to further deepen the India-Russia Special and Privileged Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 8, 2025 STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD PM Modi said that the two leaders also reviewed the progress in the bilateral agenda, and reaffirmed their commitment to further deepening the India-Russia Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership. I look forward to hosting President Putin in India later this year, added PM Modi. On Thursday, NSA Doval, who is in Moscow, had confirmed Putins visit to India, saying that the dates for the trip were almost finalised. We have got a special, long relationship, and we value this relationship. We have had high-level engagement, and these high-level engagements have contributed very substantially. We are very excited and delighted to learn about the visit of President Putin to India. I think the dates are almost finalised now, the NSA said. The visits announcement comes at a time of escalating tensions between New Delhi and Washington over Indias trade ties with Russia. US President Donald Trump has accused India of supporting Moscows war in Ukraine by continuing to buy Russian energy, leading to a breakdown in trade negotiations between the two countries. On Wednesday, Trump signed an executive order imposing an additional 25% tariff on imports from India, citing New Delhis ongoing purchases of Russian oil. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD He also warned that buyers of Russian oil could face secondary sanctions unless Moscow agrees to halt the war now in its fourth year by Friday. A first salvo of 25% tariffs on Indian goods took effect on Thursday, with the additional 25% set to apply in three weeks. Buying Russian oil saved India billions of dollars on import costs, keeping domestic fuel prices relatively stable. Russia is also one of Indias top arms suppliers and the warm ties between the two countries date back to the Soviet era. The Kremlin has slammed calls to force countries to sever trading relations with Russia as illegitimate, without directly mentioning Trump. The Kremlin has also said that a summit on Ukraine between Trump and Putin was set for the coming days. With inputs from agencies South Korea has postponed a decision on Googles request to export map data for 60 days, citing security concerns. The move comes amid US pressure to resolve the issue ahead of a possible leaders summit this month. People stand in front of a Google logo during a media reception at the Google France headquarters ahead of the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit in Paris, France. File Image/Reuters In response to pressure from the United States to resolve what Washington views as a non-tariff obstacle during recent trade discussions, South Korea postponed a decision on Friday on Googles request for authorisation to export map data, according to its transport ministry. After completing a trade agreement in late July, South Korea and the United States are getting ready for a summit of their leaders, which might take place this month. However, it was unclear if the map issue would be brought up at the meeting. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD In 2016 and 2007, South Korea denied petitions by Google, whose parent is Alphabet, for permission to utilise map data on servers outside the nation, citing security concerns. In order to allow Google time to develop solutions that meet its security concerns, the National Geographic Information Institute of South Koreas Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport stated in a statement that it has chosen to delay the decision for 60 days. Google claims that after undergoing a security evaluation by a government body, there were no security issues with its mapping data on South Korea, which are publicly accessible and utilised by several businesses. However, the business stated that it is actively negotiating with the South Korean government over any further security measures that the authorities may seek, as well as plans to buy blurred images from government-approved local partners. South Korea, whose 1950-53 war with North Korea ended without a peace treaty, argues that if it allowed such data to leave the country, the locations of military facilities and other sensitive sites could be revealed. But the US said restrictions on cross-border data flows have long served as barriers to operating navigation services through Google Maps and Apple Maps, resulting in US companies losing out in the South Korean market. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD South Korea had not made concessions on the map issue and also on further opening up agriculture, despite early and intense bilateral talks, presidential adviser Kim Yong-beom had said. Google said the lack of data restricts its Google Maps services in Korea, causing major inconveniences to foreign tourists. Late last month, Transport Minister Kim Yoon-duk said South Korea needed to be very cautious about granting map access, saying defence and public safety were prioritised over trade. US President Donald Trump speaks after signing an executive order on creating a White House 2028 Olympics task force in the South Court Auditorium of the White House in Washington, DC, on August 5, 2025. (Photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP) President Donald Trump has intensified the battle over congressional redistricting by ordering the Commerce Department to carry out a fresh national census year ahead of the next scheduled count in 2030 and to exclude undocumented immigrants from the tally. The surprise directive, announced Thursday on Trumps Truth Social account, seeks to bypass the next regular census set for 2030. Trump said the new count would be used to reshape congressional representation, sparking fierce debate over both its legality and its political impact. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The Constitutions 14th Amendment mandates that apportionment be based on the whole number of persons in each state, a provision that has historically included non-citizens regardless of immigration status. This is not Trumps first attempt to reshape the census. In 2020, during his first term, he issued a memorandum instructing officials to exclude undocumented immigrants from the apportionment count. That effort was blocked by legal challenges and later rescinded by President Joe Biden. Trumps renewed push comes amid a broader Republican strategy to secure political advantage before next years midterm elections. The president has already urged GOP lawmakers in Texas to approve new district maps that could yield five additional House seats for the party. Strategists say the census proposal is a bold attempt to reset the rules of political competition. This is Trump pushing the envelope, said Republican strategist Ford OConnell. Many Americans dont realise that undocumented immigrants are counted toward a states representation in the House and Electoral College. Highlighting that could be a powerful message. Some Republicans acknowledge the plan could cost red states like Texas and Florida seats if undocumented immigrants were excluded from the count but they argue it would remove more seats from heavily Democratic states such as California, New York and Illinois. Critics warn the move could deepen partisan conflict. A GOP source familiar with the strategy called the current situation an arms race in redistricting, arguing Democrats have already maximised gerrymandering advantages in states they control. Democrats are panicking because theyve already squeezed all the juice from the lemon, the Hill reported quoting sources as saying. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Legal and logistical challenges loom large. James Thurber, a political science professor at American University, said identifying and excluding millions of undocumented immigrants before the midterms would be nearly impossible. He noted that a 2018 legal battle over adding a citizenship question to the census dragged on for a year before the Supreme Court struck it down. Theres simply not enough time, he said. Even without implementation, analysts say Trumps move could influence political behaviour, possibly discouraging some immigrants, even those here legally, from engaging with government or voting. Democrats dismissed the proposal as unconstitutional and impractical, calling it a political stunt aimed at pressuring Republican governors into approving aggressive gerrymanders. Democratic strategist Jared Leopold said it fits into a pattern of Trump playing to his base but risks alienating broader swaths of voters. It reinforces the image of a president out of step with most Americans, Leopold said. It may not be the top reason voters turn against him in the midterms, but it adds to the B-side of the record. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The US has rarely seen mid-decade nationwide redistricting fights. Thurber said if Trumps push sparks such a scenario, it will be unique, historic and something to watch. For now, Trumps order sets the stage for an unprecedented legal and political battle, one that could redefine the rules of representation before most Americans even realize the census is back in play. Hailing Donald Trump as president of peace, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has repeated the claim that direct involvement of the president led to the ceasefire between India and Pakistan in May. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has hailed Donald Trump as the president of peace and has repeated the claim that he got India and Pakistan to agree to a ceasefire in May. Rubio said that the direct involvement of the Trump administration was responsible for the ceasefire. When India and Pakistan went to war, we got involved directly, and the president was able to deliver on that peace, said Rubio in an interview with Raymond Arroyo of EWTNs The World Over. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD On May 7, India launched Operation Sindoor in response to the terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmirs Pahalgam the previous month. After four days of fighting in which India struck a host of terrorist sites and Pakistani military targets, Pakistan requested a ceasefire on May 10 that India granted. Trump has maintained that his intervention led to the ceasefire whereas India has maintained that India had agreed to a ceasefire after Pakistan requested it after being battered in Indian strikes for four days. Trump and his allies have projected the US president as a peacemaker and have demanded the Nobel peace prize for him. Rubio listed the other conflicts in which Trump has claimed credit for truce in his second term. Cambodia and Thailand more recently; Azerbaijan and Armenia, hopefully were taping this here today, but on Friday of this week, well be here to sign an agreement and the beginning of a peace deal there. DRC-Rwanda a 30-year war, 7 million people killed we were able to bring them here to sign it. Obviously, work needs to peace is not permanent. It always has to be worked and maintained, said Rubio. Trump will host the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan, the two Central Asian countries that have warred for decades over a disputed region, on Friday. They are accepted to agree to a peace deal in his presence at the White House. Even though Trump and his supporters have pitched the president as a peacemaker, the fact remains that he has failed to end the war in Ukraine, which he said he would end within 24 hours of assuming office. He has also failed to end the war in the Gaza Strip. Instead of ending wars, he plunged the United States into a new war with Iran in June when US warplanes struck Iranian nuclear sites. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD US President Donald Trumps deadline to Russian leader Vladimir Putin to agree to a ceasefire will end today. If no deal is reached, then Trump will be under increased pressure to take punitive steps. US President Donald Trumps deadline for Russian leader Vladimir Putin to agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine will end on Friday. But he is busy waging tariff wars on India and other countries than broker peace in Ukraine. Trump on Wednesday raised tariffs on India by slapping 25 per cent additional tariffs for the purchase of Russian oil on top of 25 per cent tariff originally imposed on July 31 taking the overall tariffs to 50 per cent. His stated objective for the additional penalty was to stop funds to the Russian war machine. But he has not taken any punitive decision on China, which buys more Russian oil than India. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD With such a piecemeal approach, hopes are not high that Trump will impose any real costs on Putin and compel him to end the war in Ukraine. There are already signs that he is about to endorse the Russian leaders position in the war as he has done for the past six months. Contradicting the previous stance that the proposed meeting between with Putin regarding the war in Ukraine will not take place without Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyys presence, Trump changed course on Thursday and said he was open to meeting Putin directly as well. ALSO READ: With Russias terms to Ukraine, Putin seeks surrender not a peace deal A Putin-Trump meeting without Zelenskyy will be a victory for Russia. Putin does not want to sit across the table from Zelenskyy as that would legitimise him as the head of state that he cannot afford he rejects Ukraine as a nation and Zelenskyy as its leader. Will Putin impose sanctions and tariffs on Russia? For months, Ukraines supporters including some in Trumps Republican Party have urged the US president to impose sanctions and tariffs on Russia for the failure to make peace. If no ceasefire is announced today, such calls are set to increase. But Trump is unlikely to budge. So far, Trump has not indicated he is interested in sanctions or tariffs on Russia. In the name of Russia, Trump has sought to punish India. But he has not punished other parties that buy Russian oil and gas, such as China, Turkey, and the European Union (EU), who buy more Russian energy than India. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Their purchases of Russian energy are so high that EU members last year paid Russia more for energy imports than they gave to Ukraine in aid. As Putin refuses to slap sanctions or tariffs on Putin and does not impose any real costs, it remains to be seen if the passing of Friday deadline would mean anything. It would not be the first time, however, that Putin would have defied Trump. In fact, Putin has defied Trump at every step: Putin has rejected all three Trump-endorsed ceasefire proposals, he has rejected Trumps public pleas to not attack civilians, and he has rejected a comprehensive peace proposal that included most of the Russian demands. There have also been reports that Putin could agree to a piecemeal ceasefire that would get him Trumps goodwill but change little on the ground. Analysts have said that Trump has, in fact, been looking forward to a short-term break in the war to replenish his forces. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD For Putin, the ideal scenario is to freeze the conflict for a while, build up strength, and then resume the war ideally with a more plausible pretext, such as accusing Ukraine of failing to comply with peace agreements, Kseniya Kirillova, a Russia analyst at Jamestown Foundation, previously told Firstpost. US President Donald Trump said that he is willing to meet his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, without Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as hopes for trilateral talks on the Russia-Ukraine war die down. In a major turn of events, US President Donald Trump said that he is willing to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin even though the Kremlin has refused to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, rejecting hopes for trilateral talks to end the war. On Thursday, the Kremlin laid out a meeting with Trump, sans Zelenskyy, as a precondition for a high-level US-Russia summit. While speaking to the reporters in the Oval Office on the same day, Trump said Putin did not have to meet with Zelenskyy first before the US and Russian presidents could meet. No, he doesnt, Trump said. They would like to meet with me, and Ill do whatever I can to stop the killing. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD However, Trumps remarks contradicted New York Posts report that cited a White House official who said that Trump would only meet Putin if the Kremlin leader met Zelenskyy, a proposition Putin has rejected on numerous occasions. Hence, the mixed message from the White House on the Kremlins conditions suggested a chaotic new chapter in Trumps haphazard efforts to negotiate a ceasefire to the war in Ukraine. Why Putin rejected talks with Zelenskyy Meanwhile, Putin said that he was not ready to meet his Ukrainian counterpart even as the Kremlin claimed preparations were underway for a set-piece bilateral summit with Donald Trump next week. I have nothing against it in general, it is possible, but certain conditions must be created for this, the Russian leader averred when asked about the meeting with Zelenskyy. But unfortunately, we are still far from creating such conditions," he added. The idea of a Russia-US summit emerged after Putin met Trump's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, on Wednesday. Reports from Washington at that time suggested that the Russian president had agreed to meet Trump first and then Zelenskyy in a trilateral format. However, the Kremlin denied the prospects of trilateral talks. We propose focusing on preparations for a bilateral meeting with Trump in the first place, said a Putin aide, Yuri Ushakov, to journalists in Moscow. As for a three-way meeting, which for some reason Washington was talking about yesterday, this was just something mentioned by the American side during the meeting in the Kremlin. But this was not discussed. The Russian side left this option completely without comment. No venue has been decided for the talks as of now. However, Putin, who was meeting Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the leader of the United Arab Emirates, in the Kremlin, suggested that the UAE could be a suitable place to hold such talks. We have many friends who are willing to help us organise such events. One of our friends is the president of the United Arab Emirates, he said. Hence, it remains unclear how the talks between the two leaders would play out. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reversed a law curbing anti-corruption watchdogs after mass protests, but the move dented public trust and drew concern from Western allies amid the ongoing war with Russia Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rapidly reversed course last month on a measure that would have limited the independence of the countrys anti-corruption watchdogs, citing huge demonstrations that endangered his leaderships stability for the first time since Russias invasion. The presidents image harm is unlikely to be as quickly reversed. Zelenskyys turnaround came after years of public unhappiness within his close circle, some of whom have been accused of wrongdoing. However, Ukrainians have been mostly respectful to their president during the war, trusting him to lead the struggle against the Kremlin and even allowing the suspension of some civil freedoms. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The protests showed the limits of that goodwill after the public concluded that Zelenskyys fast-tracking of the law was a step too far. People will support Zelenskyy in whatever he does as it relates to the war. But the previous level of trust that he will carry out everything correctly, without outside interests, has been damaged, said Tetiana Shevchuk, a board member of the Ukrainian nonprofit Anti-Corruption Action Center, which fights graft. Zelenskyy will need to work hard to get it back. A Gallup poll released Thursday found that about two-thirds of Ukrainians approve of the way Zelenskyy is handling his job as president, down from 84% in 2022. Another poll released Wednesday by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology found a similar pattern, with trust in Zelenskyy down from just before the war started and a sharp decrease since after the signing of the law. Both polls were conducted in July and excluded adults living in regions of the country that were not controlled by Ukraine or were under entrenched Russian control. The initial decision to sign the proposal hurt Zelenskyys standing among Ukrainians, loyal lawmakers and Western allies, including one foreign minister who told The Associated Press that his willingness to backtrack on the law would help restore lost trust. Zelenskyy says bill was designed to root out Russian influence Zelenskyy sparked the outcry when he signed measures to reduce the powers of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, or NABU, and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutors Office, or SAPO. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Zelenskyy said the initial bill was meant to root out Russian influence in those agencies, but he did not provide evidence to support the claim. The bill became a law so quickly that lawmakers said they barely had time to read it. For the Ukrainian people, patience wore thin. From the outset of Russias full-scale invasion in 2022, the public tolerated restrictions such as martial law and postponed elections. But critics also argued that the consolidation of the presidents authority undermined the countrys democratic institutions, along with the checks and balances necessary for transparency. Members of Zelenskyys inner circle and the corruption allegations fueled public resentment. The resulting anti-corruption protests in July in Kyiv and other cities were among the largest in years, drawing thousands of demonstrators and reflecting widespread public demand for transparency and accountability even during wartime. Its not one law that brought people to the streets, but a series of events and mostly an accumulation of feelings and wanting to show the government there are certain red lines, Shevchuk said. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Ukrainian leaders have been sensitive to public opinion ever since the Euromaidan protests of 2013 and 2014, which ignited extraordinary political changes, including the ousting of pro-Russia President Viktor Yanukovych. Those protests marked a decisive moment in Ukraines history and galvanized public intolerance toward corruption and abuse of power. Until recently, Zelenskyys decisions and public statements aligned mostly with public opinion. He watches polls closely. For instance, he did not say that Ukraine would be unable to win back occupied territory militarily until polls showed that Ukrainians were willing to end the war for territorial concessions. Many of the suspicions about Zelenskyys inner circle focused on the head of his presidential office, Andriy Yermak, who is seen as having too much power, according to activists and Ukrainian and Western officials. In recent weeks, two other individuals close to Zelenskyy sparked public ire ahead of the protests. The first was former Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksii Chernyshov, a close ally of Zelenskyys, who in June was formally named a suspect in a high-profile land-grab case. Later, the NABU announced that he was the sixth suspect in a large corruption scheme led by a Kyiv property developer. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The other individual is Tymur Mindich, a close friend of Zelenskyys. Ukrainian news outlet Ukrainska Pravda reported that the NABU and the SAPO were in the process of issuing a formal notice of suspicion against the businessman, who is involved in drone production. Ukrainians are united around the president in his war efforts, in his efforts to gain support from allies right now and the necessary military aid, Shevchuk said. But at the same time, people know what is happening with the close allies of the president, the allegations of corruption, so this does not go unnoticed. The protests were a reminder to the president from the people basically saying, We see everything, remember everything. And we dont want the president to use his power to protect corruption, she added. Lawmakers will no longer blindly accept laws backed by Zelenskyy Lawmakers who speedily passed the first law limiting the NABU and the SAPO said the backlash undercut the blind trust in bills backed by Zelenskyy. Bills supported by him were once passed with little objection, with few exceptions. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD I voted not because I agreed with the law, but because it was the presidents decision, said lawmaker Oleksandr Merezhko, a member of Zelenskyys party. I had no time to read it, but I understood what was at risk, and I voted like other people because we trusted the president. It was his decision, and we are team players. Zelenskyy himself conceded that communication about the law had been lacking. Probably there should have been a dialogue. Communication is always necessary, he told reporters on July 24. The firm faith in Zelenskyy led one lawmaker to joke that if the president nominated a spoon for prime minister, Parliament would likely vote in favor. But that sentiment has changed, Merezhko said, with parliament now becoming more independent. Now members of parliament will be more careful, he said. If before we had a presumption of trust with respect to the president or cabinet of the bills, we now have a presumption of mistrust. If similar bills are introduced, members of parliament will remember what happened. They dont want to be framed or blamed for what happened. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD But lawmakers commended Zelenskyy for acting swiftly to reverse his decision and quiet the anger on the street. Last week, parliament passed another bill restoring the independence of the NABU and the SAPO. People asked for changes. We responded, Zelenskyy told reporters. Law also raised doubts in the West The proposed law also drew concern among Ukraines European allies, who suggested it could imperil support for Kyiv and affect Ukraines bid to join the EU. Ukraines closest allies welcomed the swift turnaround. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer raised the issue in a July 24 call with Zelenskyy. A readout of the call from Starmers office said the leaders agreed on the importance of the role of independent anti-corruption institutions at the heart of Ukraines democracy. In Germany, Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul expressed dismay when Zelenskyy approved the measures to reduce the powers of the NABU and the SAPO. When Zelenskyy reversed course, Wadephul wrote on X that the Ukrainian parliaments vote was a positive and necessary step toward regaining lost trust. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump, who often weighs in on matters in foreign countries, including their domestic affairs, has been silent about the Ukrainian corruption law. The United States and Russia are seeking a deal to halt the war in Ukraine that would formalise Moscows control over territories captured during its invasion, according to a report The United States and Russia are seeking a deal to halt the war in Ukraine that would formalise Moscows control over territories captured during its invasion, according to a Bloomberg report on Friday, citing sources familiar with the matter. US and Russian officials are negotiating territorial terms in preparation for a potential summit between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, which could take place as early as next week, added the report. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The White House has dismissed the Bloomberg report suggesting a potential US-Russia deal on Ukraine as speculative. Putin continues to claim sovereignty over four Ukrainian regions Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson as well as Crimea, which was annexed in 2014. However, Russian forces do not have full control over all of these territories. Ukraine has previously indicated some flexibility in seeking an end to the war, which has devastated cities and claimed thousands of lives. Still, any agreement that formalises the loss of roughly 20% of Ukrainian territory would present a politically and emotionally fraught challenge for President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his government. According to Bloomberg, the tentative deal under discussion would involve Russia halting its offensive in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, freezing the battlelines as they currently stand. Since returning to the White House in January, President Donald Trump has pushed to repair ties with Moscow and bring the war to an end. His public stance on Putin has fluctuated between praise and criticism. Amid mounting frustration over Moscows continued military aggression, Trump has threatened to impose new sanctions on Russia and its trading partners starting Friday, unless Putin agrees to a ceasefire. The proposed measures could be postponed or scrapped altogether depending on the outcome of the expected Trump-Putin summit, which may take place in the United Arab Emirates in the coming days. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Trumps special envoy Steve Witkoff held three hours of talks with Putin in Moscow on Wednesday that both sides described as constructive. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Donald Tusk of Poland, a close ally of Ukraine, said earlier on Friday that a pause in the conflict could be close. He was speaking after talks with Zelenskyy. There are certain signals, and we also have an intuition, that perhaps a freeze in the conflict - I dont want to say the end, but a freeze in the conflict - is closer than it is further away, Tusk told a news conference. There are hopes for this. Tusk also said Zelenskiy was very cautious but optimistic and that Ukraine was keen that Poland and other European countries play a role in planning for a ceasefire and an eventual peace settlement. With inputs from agencies The visit to the United Kingdom comes amid heightened transatlantic tensions, domestic political shifts in both countries and increased attention on Vances foreign policy views as he emerges as a key figure in President Donald Trumps administration US Vice President JD Vance begins a trip to the United Kingdom with a meeting with British Foreign Secretary David Lammy on Friday, which will draw further attention to Vances harsh criticism of Britain and its ruling Labour Party. Vance, his wife Usha, and their three young children are set to arrive in London to begin a journey that will include a visit with Lammy at Chevening, the foreign ministers country house. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD They will then remain in the Cotswolds, a picturesque area of English countryside that is a famous hideaway for affluent and prominent persons ranging from sportsmen and film stars to media and political elites. The visit to the United Kingdom comes amid heightened transatlantic tensions, domestic political shifts in both countries and increased attention on Vances foreign policy views as he emerges as a key figure in President Donald Trumps administration. A source familiar with the planning described the trip as a working visit that will include several official engagements, meetings and visits to cultural sites. Vance is also expected to meet with US troops. Vance has championed an America First foreign policy and once said last years election victory for the centre-left Labour Party meant Britain was maybe the first truly Islamist country with a nuclear weapon. He also attacked the United Kingdom for undermining freedom of speech and placing the basic liberties of religious Britons in the crosshairs." Lammy once called Trump a far right extremist and a neo-Nazi but since coming to power has brushed off his remarks as old news." Despite their differences, the pair has developed a warm friendship, bonding over their difficult childhoods and shared Christian faith, according to two officials familiar with the relationship. Lammy attended Mass at the vice presidents Washington residence during a visit in March, and the two leaders met again in Rome in May for Pope Leo XIVs inaugural Mass, the officials said. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The bilateral meeting on Friday lacks a formal agenda, officials said, but is likely to touch on the Ukraine and Gaza crises, along with trade issues. The United Kingdom has been pushing Trump to support Ukraine in its war with Russia and to accelerate efforts to bring a humanitarian crisis in Gaza to an end. But Lammy is unlikely to press aggressively, said Bronwen Maddox, a director at the think tank Chatham House. Its a chance to get UK perspective in there, but theyre not looking for conflict, Maddox said, adding that British officials are content with the trade deal they struck with Trump. I dont mean this is any cynical way, but the UK is glad of relationships where it can get them with the Trump administration, she added. Vances visit comes shortly after Trump traveled to Scotland for a private visit that included meetings with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who struck a framework trade agreement with the US imposing a 15% import tariff on most European Union goods. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Trump is also scheduled for a full state visit to the United Kingdom in September, making him the first elected political leader in modern times to be hosted for two state visits by a British monarch. Vances winter vacation earlier this year in Vermont was disturbed by throngs of protestors angered by the administrations anti-immigration policies and handling of the Ukraine crisis. A coalition of trade unions, pro-Palestinian demonstrators and climate activists are reportedly warning that Vance will face similar backlash in Britain in the coming days. The Mission urges US citizens to avoid locations in the UAE associated with the Jewish and Israeli communities, including places of worship, US Mission to UAE said in a statement The United States mission to the United Arab Emirates said on Friday it was aware of information indicating threats towards the Jewish and Israeli communities in the UAE. The U.S. Mission to the United Arab Emirates is aware of information indicating threats toward the Jewish and Israeli communities in the UAE. The Mission urges U.S. citizens to avoid locations in the UAE associated with the Jewish and Israeli communities, including places of US Mission to UAE (@USAinUAE) August 8, 2025 STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD In a statement, the mission urged US citizens to avoid locations associated with these communities, including places of worship, due to the elevated threat environment. Americans in the UAE are advised to stay informed through the State Departments travel website, which includes Travel Warnings and Country-Specific Information. The Mission also recommended enrolling in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP) to receive real-time security updates and facilitate emergency assistance. For assistance regarding US citizens abroad, the State Department can be reached at +1-888-407-4747 (toll-free in the U.S. and Canada) or +1-202-501-4444 from overseas. On July 31, Israels National Security Headquarters upgraded its travel warning for Israelis in the Gulf country, saying: terrorist organisations are operating with increased intensity these days in efforts to harm Israel. With inputs from agencies August 9, 2025, 02:32:14 (IST) Whatsapp Facebook Twitter Saudi Arabia expands 'Cultural House' project to five new regions under Vision 2030 Saudi Arabias Libraries Commission has announced the expansion of its Cultural House project to five additional regions within the Kingdom, according to a report in Asharq Al-Awsat. This initiative is a direct implementation of the countrys Vision 2030 framework, which prioritises economic diversification and the development of non-oil sectors. The Cultural Houses are positioned as modern, multi-purpose centres offering educational programmes, workshops, and community events, moving beyond the scope of traditional libraries. This state-led investment in social infrastructure is strategically aimed at improving the quality of life, which is seen as crucial for attracting and retaining talent, while also fostering the growth of the cultural and creative industries. The nationwide scope of the expansion signals a significant government commitment to developing assets that can enhance Saudi Arabias soft power and attractiveness for tourism and foreign investment. Trumps trade war impacts US defence exports, with Spain and Switzerland reconsidering F-35 purchases. Spain opts for European alternatives, while Swiss political resistance grows due to tariffs. Read here A Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jet performs during the International Aerospace Exhibition ILA on the opening day at Schoenefeld Airport in Berlin, Germany June 5, 2024. REUTERS The escalating trade war unleashed by US President Donald Trump is beginning to reverberate through Washingtons own defence exports, with Americas flagship fighter jet programme, the Lockheed Martin F-35 taking a direct hit. In Europe, Spain has formally shelved plans to buy the US-made stealth fighters, confirming it will now focus on European alternatives, the Eurofighter Typhoon and the Future Combat Air System (FCAS). A defence ministry spokesperson in Madrid said the government had ruled out the F-35 in favour of platforms backed by Airbus, BAE Systems, Leonardo, Dassault Aviation and Indra Sistemas. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The move follows Trumps sharp criticism of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez for refusing to raise long-term defence spending to 5% of GDP, despite plans to meet NATOs 2% target by 2025. Washington had also threatened Madrid with additional tariffs on Spanish goods. With 6.25 billion initially budgeted for new jets and 10.5 billion in extra defence spending earmarked for European industries, the US aircraft had no political or fiscal space left. Switzerland, meanwhile, is experiencing growing political resistance to its planned purchase of 36 F-35s after Trump imposed punitive 39% tariffs on Swiss exports the steepest rate among developed nations. The surcharge, which affects luxury watches and Nespresso capsules, has sparked calls in parliament to cancel the order or hold a fresh referendum. Green lawmaker Balthasar Glattli said, A country which throws rocks at us in trade shouldnt get a present, while Social Democrat co-president Cedric Wermuth urged voters to stop the procurement. Even Liberal allies of Swiss President Karin Keller-Sutter have questioned the deal, citing higher-than-expected costs and the American tariff shock. The setback in Bern comes at a time when Lockheed Martin is already under pressure, with the Pentagon cutting its own F-35 purchases for 2026 and shifting funds to rival programmes. The 36 jets earmarked for Switzerland would have represented nearly a third of the companys total deliveries in 2024. India, too, has kept its distance from the F-35 programme. New Delhi has not pursued the American fighter, focusing instead on its indigenous Tejas programme and other procurement options amid friction over Trumps steep tariffs on Indian exports and policy disagreements. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD With key US allies turning to European-made aircraft or reconsidering existing deals, Trumps tariff strategy intended to pressure trading partners is increasingly undermining one of Americas most lucrative defence exports. For Lockheed Martin, the turbulence in Washingtons trade relationships is now a direct threat to its order books. Wit inputs from agencies China would like to see Russia and the United States maintain contact, improve their relations, and promote a political settlement of the Ukraine crisis, state broadcaster CCTV quoted Xi as telling Putin Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping shake hands during a welcoming ceremony before their talks at the Kremlin in Moscow on May 8, 2025. AFP File Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday held a phone call with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, expressing his appreciation that Moscow and Washington have continued dialogue despite their differences, according to Chinas state broadcaster CCTV. China would like to see Russia and the United States maintain contact, improve their relations, and promote a political settlement of the Ukraine crisis, state broadcaster CCTV quoted Xi as telling Putin. Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported that Xi spoke with Putin on Friday at the Russian presidents request. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD According to the report, Putin updated Xi on recent interactions and communications between Russia and the United States, as well as the ongoing situation in Ukraine. Xi pointed out that complex issues have no simple solutions and said China will always support making peace and promoting talks, CCTV also reported. Xis phone call with Putin came after the Russian President on Thursday confirmed upcoming high-stakes meeting with US President Donald Trump, saying that both sides had expressed interest and suggested that the United Arab Emirates could be a potential venue. The announcement followed a meeting with UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. When asked who initiated the proposed Trump-Putin meeting, Putin emphasised that both parties had expressed interest and that who reached out first is now no longer relevant. Regarding the venue, he named the UAE as a potential host, calling the country one of the suitable locations. We have many friends willing to help organise such events. One of them is the President of the United Arab Emirates. The exact venue is still being decided, but the UAE would be one of the suitable options, Putin told reporters. On the possibility of including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the talks, Putin said, I have nothing against it in principle but certain conditions must be met first. Unfortunately, we are still far from that point. Earlier, Kremlin said President Putin and President Trump will meet in the coming days, as the US president seeks a breakthrough to end the Ukraine war after voicing mounting frustration with his Russian counterpart and threatening him with new sanctions. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The announcement came a day after Trumps envoy, Steve Witkoff, held three hours of talks with Putin in Moscow. With inputs from agencies Having been in the tech space for over two decades, Ive seen many waves of innovation, from the birth of smartphones to the rise of wearables. But few categories have remained as persistently fascinating as Extended Reality (XR). My own journey with XR began in 2015 with the Google Glass. I was an early adopter, and that experience even led to a party with Sergey Brin. Even then, it felt like a glimpse of the future, albeit one that had arrived a little too early. Fast-forward to 2025, and the landscape is nearly unrecognizable. At Qualcomms recent XR Day in India, I had the chance to speak with Deb Marich, VP, Product Marketing at Qualcomm to discuss how far the XR ecosystem has come, and where its heading next. She leads go-to-market strategy for Qualcomms Snapdragon platforms, with a sharp focus on XR, AI-enhanced PCs, and next-gen silicon like XR2/AR2. She is a veteran in the consumer technology space, having spent the 3 decades working on key advancements in this field. Ive actually been at Qualcomm twice, she shared. The first time, I worked on Flo TV mobile television before smartphones were mainstream. People doubted anyone would watch content on a phone, and now its second nature. After a stint at HTC where I helped launch the HTC One, I returned to Qualcomm and moved into product marketing, which I love. Ive worked on smartphones, and now I focus on XR, wearables, and compute. Its come full circle I even worked on ODGs smart glasses back in the day. What Exactly Is XR? With so many acronyms VR, AR, MR floating around, I asked how consumers should make sense of it all. XR is the umbrella term we use in the industry for Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, and Mixed Reality, she clarified. Im not sure XR will become a mainstream consumer term instead, people will engage with the experiences directly. When you use AR glasses, you can still see the world around you. Mixed Reality lets you see both the real world and immersive content. According to her, what will really win people over is simplicity and comfort. Half the population already wears glasses. If you can embed their prescription and add new capabilities thats when it takes off. Are We at the Smart Glasses Tipping Point? The quick sell-out of the Meta Ray-Ban glasses in India and new lightweight designs from Xiaomi and others prompted my next question: Are we finally at the inflection point for smart glasses? Absolutely, she responded without hesitation. Ive been in this space for years, and the shift is real. We now have over 100 XR devices globally, and the latest wave are all consumer-friendly theyre glasses, not bulky headsets. The tech has matured, the form factors are light, and people are used to tech on their wrists, in their ears why not their face? Her belief in the heads-up paradigm is longstanding. Ive always felt we shouldnt have to look down at a screen all the time. XR gives us that heads-up future. Under the Hood: XR2 Gen 2 and AR2 Plus Naturally, our discussion moved to Qualcomms silicon the quiet workhorse behind XRs big moment. Our XR2 and XR2 Plus platforms power immersive VR experiences in headsets. On the AR side, we have dedicated silicon like the new AR2 Plus, which helps shrink the tech while improving compute, she explained. One key advancement she emphasized is distributed computing. Not everything has to happen on the glasses themselves. We enable OEMs to balance performance and design. XR2 and AR2 arent better or worse they serve different use cases, and both are premium. Project Moohan: The Future of Android XR Next up Project Moohan, Qualcomms collaboration with Google and Samsung one of the most anticipated XR projects this year. Its a really exciting collaboration, she said. Whenever we work with companies like Google and Samsung, the innovation bar is high. Project Moohan represents a premium XR experience its about delivering not just cutting-edge tech, but real consumer-ready solutions. With such strong players involved, were expecting a major step forward. Gaming and AI: The Next Leap We then touched on XRs potential in gaming an area that already has a passionate user base. Gaming is a natural fit. Imagine a 100-foot screen visible only to you through your glasses no monitor needed. Add accessories for controls, and youre in a whole new world. Marich believes the secret ingredient for XRs success is AI. Its absolutely critical. Generative AI enables truly personal assistants. Youll want to talk to your glasses, coordinate with the cloud, and maintain privacy, she explained. Qualcomms been working on AI for over a decade, and now thats powering AR. Without AI, this category wouldnt be where it is. Why India, Why Now? With XR Day being hosted in India, we asked why now and why here. India is the perfect market, she replied. You just got the Meta Ray-Ban glasses, and the digital transformation here has been phenomenal like leapfrogging straight to UPI. XR fits that narrative. She pointed to the countrys young, tech-savvy demographic. Over 300 million Gen Z users who are mobile-first, visual, and creative thats the ideal audience. Developers here have an opportunity to build localized, relevant XR experiences that could shape the global market. Overcoming Challenges and the Road to Iron Man Finally, we touched upon the remaining challenges from user fatigue to realizing the science fiction dream of fully immersive computing. Reducing fatigue is a top priority, she noted. Were investing in perception technologies like eye tracking, hand gestures, face gestures. And lighter devices thats where AR2 Plus helps, by enabling compact yet powerful designs. The goal is to make XR glasses something you can wear all day. And how close are we to that Iron Man moment? Honestly, its already happening. Five years ago, you couldnt overlay a map in your glasses while seeing the world around you. Now, you can. We just need developers to build those killer experiences and help it all take off. Final Thoughts As our conversation wrapped up, she left me with one final reflection: If you look at the last five years, theres always been a piece missing. Now, all the pieces are finally here. And shes right. From my first experience with Google Glass to todays AI-powered smart glasses, it feels like XR has finally come of age. The hardware is sleek and capable. The software is intelligent. And the use cases from gaming to productivity are tangible and exciting. With Qualcomm, Google, and Samsung driving innovation and a market like India eager to adopt the next big thing, XR is no longer a futuristic idea. Its here and its only just beginning. OpenAI has introduced GPT-5, its most advanced AI system to date, designed to bring expert-level intelligence to everyone. This new model marks a significant leap over previous generations with enhanced performance across coding, math, writing, health, visual perception, and more. GPT-5: Unified System with Intelligent Routing GPT-5 operates as a unified system combining: A smart, efficient base model that answers most queries quickly. A deeper reasoning model (GPT-5 thinking) for complex problems. A real-time router that automatically selects the best model based on conversation type, complexity, tools needed, and explicit user intent (e.g., when prompted with think hard about this). The router continuously learns from real user data such as model switches, response preferences, and accuracy, improving its decisions over time. Enhanced Performance and Real-World Usefulness GPT-5 outperforms all earlier models on key benchmarks and provides faster, more useful responses in everyday scenarios. The model shows significant progress in reducing hallucinations, improving how it follows instructions, and minimizing sycophantic behavior. Its strengths are especially notable in writing, coding, and health-related tasks. Advanced Coding Capabilities GPT-5 is OpenAIs strongest coding model to date, excelling at: Complex front-end code generation. Debugging large repositories. Creating responsive websites, apps, and games with a refined sense of spacing, typography, and white space. Early users highlighted its intuitive design choices that help translate ideas into polished digital products from just one prompt. Superior Creative Writing Support As a writing collaborator, GPT-5 helps shape and polish ideas into compelling, rhythmically rich text, handling challenging forms like unrhymed iambic pentameter or free verse. Its also improved in everyday writing assistance such as drafting and editing reports, emails, and memos. Best-in-Class Health Guidance GPT-5 is the best OpenAI model yet for health-related queries. It scored significantly higher on HealthBench, a physician-defined evaluation, acting as an active thought partner by flagging concerns and asking clarifying questions. GPT-5 modifies its health responses based on the users context, knowledge, and geography to provide safer, more accurate information. The company warned it is meant to assist, not take the place of, medical professionals. Benchmark Excellence GPT-5 sets new standards with scores like: 94.6% on the AIME 2025 math benchmark without tools. 74.9% on SWE-bench Verified and 88% on Aider Polyglot coding tests. 84.2% on MMMU for multimodal reasoning. 46.2% on HealthBench Hard. 88.4% on GPQA by GPT-5 pro for complex science questions. Improved Instruction Following and Tool Use The model shows strong gains in: Handling multi-step instructions. Coordinating across multiple tools. Adapting to changing contexts for complex, evolving tasks. This means GPT-5 follows user instructions more faithfully and completes more work end-to-end using its tools. Advanced Multimodal Understanding GPT-5 excels at interpreting and reasoning over images, video, spatial data, and scientific information. This enables accurate understanding of charts, photos, diagrams, and more. Performance on Economically Important Tasks On an internal benchmark of complex knowledge work across 40+ occupations (law, logistics, sales, engineering), GPT-5 matches or exceeds expert performance in roughly half the cases, outperforming previous models like OpenAI o3 and ChatGPT Agent. Efficiency and Speed Trained on Microsoft Azure AI supercomputers, GPT-5 achieves more with less thinking time, requiring 50-80% fewer output tokens than OpenAI o3 across tasks like visual reasoning, coding, and scientific problem solving. Hallucination Reduction and Enhanced Factuality With web search enabled on anonymized real-world prompts: Compared to GPT-4o, GPT-5 is roughly 45% less prone to factual mistakes. When thinking, they are about 80% less likely to have errors than OpenAI o3. On public factuality benchmarks (LongFact, FActScore), GPT-5 thinking shows about six times fewer hallucinations than o3, a major advance in long-form content accuracy. Honest and Transparent Responses GPT-5 is better at: Recognizing impossible or underspecified tasks. Clearly communicating its limitations and refusals. In tests, it confidently guessed about non-existent images only 9% of the time, compared to 86.7% for OpenAI o3. Overall, GPT-5 reduced deception rates from 4.8% (o3) to 2.1%, improving trustworthiness. Safer, More Nuanced Safety Training Moving beyond refusal-only safety, GPT-5 introduces safe completions aiming to give the most helpful, safe answers possible, sometimes partially or at a high level. When refusal is necessary, it transparently explains why and offers safe alternatives. This approach better handles ambiguous intent and sensitive dual-use topics like virology. Reduced Sycophancy and Refined Style Compared to GPT-4o, GPT-5 is: Less effusively agreeable. Uses fewer unnecessary emojis. More thoughtful and subtle in responses. Sycophantic replies dropped from 14.5% to under 6%, balancing honesty and user satisfaction. Comprehensive Biological and Chemical Safety GPT-5 thinking is classified as High capability in biological and chemical domains, protected by: Over 5,000 hours of red-teaming with partners. A multilayered safety stack including threat modeling, safe completions training, continuous classifiers, and enforcement pipelines. Precautionary safeguards are active to minimize risks. New Ways to Customize ChatGPT GPT-5 supports improved instruction-following and introduces a research preview of four preset personalitiesCynic, Robot, Listener, and Nerdallowing users to tailor interactions without custom prompts. Users can opt-in, adjust anytime, and theyre built to reduce sycophantic replies. GPT-5 Pro Variant for Complex Tasks GPT-5 pro, replacing OpenAI o3-pro, uses longer, efficient parallel compute to provide the highest quality answers. It outperforms GPT-5 thinking on hard benchmarks and is preferred by experts 67.8% of the time, with 22% fewer major errors in health, science, math, and coding. How to Use GPT-5 GPT-5 is now the default model for signed-in ChatGPT users, replacing GPT-4o, OpenAI o3, o4-mini, GPT-4.1, and GPT-4.5. It automatically applies reasoning where beneficial. Paid users can select GPT-5 Thinking or prompt for deep reasoning. Free users get limited usage and may switch to GPT-5 mini, which is smaller and faster. Availability and Access Rollout began August 7, 2025, for Plus, Pro, Team, and Free users; Enterprise and Education users gain access shortly after. Coding with GPT-5 is available via Codex CLI. Pro subscribers get unlimited access and GPT-5 Pro; Plus and Team users have higher usage limits than free users. OpenAI plans to integrate GPT-5s capabilities into a single, unified model in the near future. Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Tuesday Night Scattered thunderstorms this evening followed by a few showers overnight. Low near 65F. Winds E at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%. Chinese FM responds to reports of two Chinese being charged by US for exporting Nvidia chip to China Global Times By Global Times Published: Aug 07, 2025 07:59 PM When being asked for comments on reports that said two Chinese nationals were charged with sending advanced AI chips made by Nvidia Corp. to China in violation of US export restrictions, citing the US Justice Department, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Guo Jiakun said on Thursday that China opposes the US politicizing tech and trade issues and using them as weapons to maliciously blockade and go after China. China urged the US to earnestly protect the legitimate and lawful rights and interests of Chinese nationals, Guo said. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Israel using Microsoft cloud to spy on and target Palestinians, investigation reveals IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Aug 7, 2025 Tehran, IRNA -- An investigation has found that Israel's military intelligence unit, Unit 8200, has been using Microsoft's Azure cloud platform to store and analyze vast amounts of data on Palestinian civilians in the West Bank and Gaza. Sources within Unit 8200 said that data, primarily intercepted phone calls and communications, has been used to plan military operations, identify targets for airstrikes, and in some cases, justify arrests or killings, according to a joint investigation by The Guardian, +972 Magazine, and Hebrew-language outlet Local Call. The spying operation intensified during the Israeli regime's ongoing offensive in Gaza, with the system allegedly capable of recording "a million calls an hour." Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is said to have approved a segregated and customized Azure environment for the Israeli military after meeting with Unit 8200 officials. However, Microsoft has denied any knowledge of the nature of the data stored, claiming that it was unaware of any surveillance of civilians. The revelations have sparked renewed concerns about the weaponization of Western technology in conflict zones. Critics argue that cloud platforms like Azure are being repurposed for mass surveillance and military targeting. Internal dissent is growing in Microsoft as a group of employees called for the company to end its contracts tied to the Israeli military. 4353 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Contracts Contracts For Aug. 7, 2025 NAVY Leidos Inc., Reston, Virginia, is being awarded a $105,545,414 single-award, cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for the provision of operational readiness research support services to include investigative studies that involve planning, coordinating, designing, and executing experimental protocols in support of the Naval Health Research Center. The contract will include a 60-month ordering period with no options. Work will begin in September 2025 and is expected to be completed by September 2030. Work will be performed in San Diego, California (80%), and Reston, Virginia (20%). Fiscal 2025 research, development, test and evaluation (Navy) funds in the contract's minimum amount of $1,000 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. Subsequent task orders under the resultant contract will be funded with appropriate fiscal research, development, test and evaluation funds (Navy). The requirement was competitively procured through the system for award management (SAM.gov) as unrestricted, competitive procurement with two offers received. Naval Supply Systems Command Fleet Logistics Center Norfolk, Contracting Department, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is the contracting activity (N00189-25-DZ021). AIR FORCE L3 Harris Technologies Inc., Melbourne, Florida, has been awarded a $53,843,771 fixed- price-incentive-fee modification (P00026) to a previously awarded contract (FA8819-22-C- 0001) for the procurement of an additional three production units for Foreign Military Sales (FMS) and procure an alternate 4.6-meter antenna. The modification brings the total cumulative face value of the contract to $235,938,547 from $182,094,876. Work will be performed at Palm Bay, Florida, and is expected to be completed by December 2028. This contract involves FMS. FMS funds in the amount $10,545,213 are being obligated at time of award. The Space Combat Power Directorate, Space Systems Command, Los Angeles Air Force Base, California, is the contracting activity. CACI NSS LLC, Reston, Virginia, was awarded a $43,202,330 firm-fixed-price, cost-plus-fixed fee, and cost-reimbursable no fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for the sustainment and modernization of the Integrated Broadcast Services Network Services (IBS-NS) system. This contract provides for the sustainment of the IBS-NS fielded systems as well as procurement, development, and modification of this system. Work will be performed at multiple locations inside and outside of the contiguous U.S., and is expected to be complete by August 19, 2028. This contract involves Foreign Military Sales to the United Kingdom and Canada. This contract was a sole source acquisition. Fiscal 2025 operations and maintenance funds in the amount of $1,643,185 are being obligated at the time of award. The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center, Robins Air Force Base, Georgia, is the contracting activity (FA8555-25-D-B001). DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Puerto Rico Industries for the Blind Corp.,** Mayaguez, Puerto Rico, has been awarded a maximum $28,981,411 fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for green service uniform coats and trousers. This is a two-year contract with no option periods. The ordering period end date is Aug. 6, 2027. Using military service is Army. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2025 through 2028 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE1C1-25-D-N014). UPDATE: Best Medical Wear Ltd.,* Brooklyn, New York (SPE2DE-25-D-0016, $10,000,000), has been added as an awardee to the multiple award contract for medical and surgical supplies and equipment for the Defense Logistics Agency Electronic Catalog, issued against solicitation SPE2DE-22-R-0017 and awarded Sept. 28, 2023. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ARMY Akima Facilities Operations LLC, Herndon, Virginia, was awarded a $23,034,485 modification (P00129) to contract W52P1J-20-F-0137 for maintenance, transportation, and supply services. The modification brings the total cumulative face value of the contract to $23,034,485. Work will be performed in Fort Hood, Texas, with an estimated completion date of July 9, 2026. Fiscal 2025 operation and maintenance, Army funds in the amount of $2,866,921 were obligated at the time of the award. Army Contracting Command, Rock Island, Illinois, is the contracting activity. Applied Research Associates Inc., Albuquerque, New Mexico, was awarded a $19,499,697 modification (P00017) to contract W911QX-23-C-0010 for end-to-end support for development, implementation, and extension of evolving National System for Geospatial architecture. The modification brings the total cumulative face value of the contract to $143,498,644. Work will be performed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with an estimated completion date of June 1, 2027. Fiscal 2025 defense operation and maintenance funds in the amount of $6,244,432 were obligated at the time of the award. Army Contracting Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, is the contracting activity. *Small business ** Mandatory source https://www.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract/Article/4269320/ NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Secretary of State Marco Rubio with Larry Kudlow of Fox Business Network US Department of State Interview Marco Rubio, Secretary of State Washington, D.C. August 6, 2025 QUESTION: All right, it gives us great pleasure - joining us, Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Mr. Secretary, a warm welcome. Thank you for coming on. We appreciate it. And lots going on today. The meetings with Russia. Let me start - Mr. Trump on Truth Social: "My Special Envoy, Steve Witkoff... highly productive meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Great progress was made!" The New York Times and other outlets are suggesting a meeting, but it isn't clear whether there's a meeting with President Trump and Putin or whether Zelenskyy is part of the meeting. Let's begin there. What can you tell us, Mr. Secretary? SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, Steve went over to Moscow yesterday - Steve Witkoff, Ambassador Witkoff - and had a productive meeting in terms of what was discussed. The details, perhaps, hadn't been shared before in terms of some ideas of how to bring this war to an end. Let's remind everybody that's the goal here. The President wants to end the war. So it was productive in that sense. We now have to continue to make progress. The President, after getting that update today, convened several leaders from Europe, updated them on the - what happened in the talks. We're going to be having talks with our European allies and the Ukrainians as well over the next couple of days just to see what we - what progress we can make on that side of it. And then hopefully, if things continue to progress, an opportunity will present itself very soon for the President to meet both with Vladimir Putin and with President Zelenskyy at some point here, hopefully in the near future - but obviously a lot has to happen before that can occur. But I've always believed - I've always said this - that I don't think - I think for the deal - if there's going to be a deal to end this war, it will have to require the President to come in at the end and close on it, as I've seen him do numerous times now on trade deals as an example. So we've got to get close enough to that point so that a meeting like that will be productive and worth doing. Today was a good day but we got a lot of work ahead. There's still many impediments to overcome, and we hope to do that over the next few days and hours - weeks maybe. QUESTION: Secretary, when Putin talks about ending the war, what did - help me out. What does that mean, ending the war? Is that a ceasefire, which has been called for and he never delivered on that? A troop withdrawal? Is there a peace deal at hand? I don't want to get ahead of the story, but I often ask what - what does ending the war mean to Vladimir Putin? SECRETARY RUBIO: Yeah. Well, without getting into the details of what was discussed, because I don't want to imperil the progress that was made today and I don't want to exaggerate it either, but I think we all understand a couple things. At some point a ceasefire has to be a part of this process because it is hard to negotiate details of a final peace agreement while you're shooting at each other. So I think you have to make enough progress with enough of an outline of how the war's going to end that then, ideally, puts you into a ceasefire position for a short period of time and you use that time to finalize an end to the war. But I do think you've got to come a long way in understanding how you end the war. The second point that you raise is I think the key elements of any end to the war are going to be territorial. There are areas that Russia has taken that they currently control, and that includes Crimea that goes back all the way to 2014, and some other areas they've made some advances, so that. And then there are - so obviously there are - anytime you're going to make a deal there's going have to be concessions; there's going to have to be concessions by the Russians and concessions by the Ukrainians, of course, as well. So that's tough. This is tough. When you have a war and people have died - for example, on the Ukrainian side they've paid an enormous price in this war. So have the Russians, but the Ukrainians have paid a big price in this war. Those concessions aren't easy. You have to also sell them to the public back in your country. But I think what I can say is everybody wants the war to end. I think the conditions under which it's supposed to end is - that's always the hard part in this. But today was a good day but there's a lot of work to - I don't want to exaggerate. We still have a ways to go here but we certainly are closer today then we were yesterday, where we weren't close at all. QUESTION: Is Ambassador Witkoff, Steve Witkoff, coming back with a ceasefire proposal? SECRETARY RUBIO: Yes. QUESTION: Is that a ceasefire on Thursday, a ceasefire on Friday, a ceasefire on Monday? Is that in the cards? Was that discussed at this meeting? SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, I don't know about timing in terms of that. That's - the specific timing of it is not discussed. I think what we have is a better understanding of the conditions under which Russia would be prepared to end the war. We now have to compare that to what the Ukrainians and our European allies, but the Ukrainians primarily, of course, are willing to accept. And what you try to see is how far can you get these two positions closer? How can you get these two positions closer to each other? If we can get what the Ukrainians will accept and what the Russians will accept close enough, then I think there's the opportunity for the President to have a meeting that includes both Putin and Zelenskyy to try to close this thing out. So we've got to get closer in that regard. But I think for the first time, perhaps since this administration began, we have some concrete examples of the kinds of things that Russia would ask for in order to end the war. We haven't had much of that to this point. Obviously the Ukrainians have a say in this. We got to - we got to bring the two sides and the two positions close enough so that the ultimate closer, President Trump, can get involved and make it happen. QUESTION: Will President Trump and yourself, for that matter, will you still impose the secondary sanctions on Russia Friday? SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, that's a decision the President will need to make here over the next 24 to 36 hours. A lot of it'll depend on how talks - the works we're going to be doing over the next couple of days, progress. And then, ultimately, it'll be the President's call in terms of whether he still thinks sanctions need to go in place or not in place pending this thing being moved forward on. So I don't want to prejudge that. I don't think we're at a stage yet where the President has to make that decision. He'll have to make that decision by Friday. But we're going to be doing a lot of work today and tomorrow to see how close we can bring the two sides, and then present that to the President and let him make a decision. QUESTION: Do you expect President Trump to be on the phone with Putin in the next how many hours? SECRETARY RUBIO: Maybe. None is scheduled at this time. It could happen over the next couple of days. It could happen, but none is scheduled at this time. But I do think that the talks that Ambassador Witkoff had with Putin and his team over the last few hours is good because we now have a sense at least of what it is they would require. Now, it may not be what Ukraine can accept, but at least it gives us an outline to work off of, and now we've got to see how much we can move the two sides towards each other. So, but there's no call scheduled right now, and I imagine - I think what all sides would like to see is if we can make enough progress, we'll have a meeting, and I think it'll take that kind of meeting to bring this thing to an end. QUESTION: And you think, Secretary, that a meeting, quote/unquote, either a meeting with Putin or a meeting with the three of them, would occur next week? Are you optimistic about that? Yourself included, I suppose. I don't want to shortchange our Secretary of State. But do you think a meeting will come next week? SECRETARY RUBIO: (Laughter.) I don't know if it'll be next week or not. It remains to be seen. I think it'll depend a lot on how much progress we can make. I don't - again, this is important in the sense that we think what happened was good because we have a sense now of what conditions the Russians would require in order to end the war. Now, they may not be the conditions Ukraine can accept or, frankly, that others would accept. But at least we have something to work off of. So I think a lot of that is going to depend now on how close can we bring the two sides to each other - can we make enough progress, can we get 85 percent of the way there, 75 percent of the way there. Because I don't think you can have a leaders-level meeting if you're not close enough, because then nothing is going to come of that meeting. So we want to get it close enough, and then we've got - we want to give the President the opportunity to come in and close it. So I can't prejudge how long that could take. It could take hours, it could take days - frankly, it could take weeks. We don't know. But we're going to try here. We're working on it even as we speak. QUESTION: One last one, Mr. Secretary, before I lose you. And we appreciate your time so much. Lots of talk coming out of the Middle East. The Government of Israel might engage in a military takeover of all of Gaza, the remaining parts of Gaza they don't already control. Have you spoken to the prime minister, and do you think that is a wise decision for Israel to take over Gaza altogether? SECRETARY RUBIO: Well, ultimately the President has said that it's up to Israel to decide what they need to do for their own security. I've spoken often - almost daily - to somebody in the Israeli Government, often to the prime minister but many times to many members of his team. Here's what I would say. There are three problems going on there, and they're all interrelated. The first is there is a humanitarian problem that needs to be addressed. We're working very hard to figure out ways to address it in ways that doesn't benefit Hamas but that allows people to be fed and prevents a further humanitarian problem there that we're seeing now. The second is that there are 20 innocent human beings that are being held hostage in horrifying conditions. And the third is that as long as Hamas exists, there will not be peace. There cannot be a permanent peace. It'll restart again if Hamas remains. There's a lot of attention being paid to the humanitarian, and we want to do everything we can to be helpful on the humanitarian problem, but not enough attention being paid to the fact that 20 people that had nothing to do with this are being held hostage in tunnels on the verge of death, and no real talk about how Hamas needs to be disarmed and disbanded. We have to focus more on those two things. You have to do all three, and all the talk is about humanitarian - which is important; we are willing to do a lot to be helpful there - but we have to focus on the other two. Those other two cannot be forgotten. And it's all - the President has said he wants all the hostages out - not five, not seven, all of them, including the deceased hostages. And ultimately, Hamas cannot continue to exist. Even the Arab League says it. As long as Hamas exists as an armed group in Gaza, there will not be a peace - there will not be a peaceful future, because it's going to happen again. And that can't - this can never happen again. QUESTION: All right. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, we appreciate what you've told us and we appreciate your coming onto the show very much. SECRETARY RUBIO: Thank you. QUESTION: Take care, sir. God bless. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Daily Press Briefing by the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General Department of Public Information . News and Media Division . New York 6 August 2025 The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today's briefing by Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General. ** Hiroshima Izumi Nakamitsu, the High Representative for Disarmament, delivered a message on the Secretary-General's behalf at the commemoration of the eightieth year since the bombing of Hiroshima in Japan. In his message, the Secretary-General said that on this eightieth anniversary, we remember those who perished. We stand with the families who carry their memory. And we honour the brave hibakusha the survivors whose voices have become a moral force for peace. He warned that today, the risk of nuclear conflict is growing. Trust is eroding. Geopolitical divisions are widening. And the very weapons that brought such devastation to Hiroshima and Nagasaki are once again being treated as tools of coercion. Yet, the Secretary-General added, there are some signs of hope. Last year, the Japanese organization Nihon Hidankyo which represents the survivors of the Nagasaki and Hiroshima bombings was awarded the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize for its tireless work in raising awareness about this critical issue. And in the Pact for the Future, adopted last year, countries re-committed to a world free of nuclear weapons. The full message is online. ** Occupied Palestinian Territory The UN humanitarian country team in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which brings together UN agencies and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working in that area, today called on Israeli authorities to rescind the requirement obliging international NGOs to share sensitive personal information about their Palestinian employees or face termination of their humanitarian operations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. Unless urgent action is taken, humanitarian organizations warn that most international NGO partners could be de-registered by 9 September or sooner forcing them to withdraw all international staff and preventing them from providing critical, life-saving humanitarian assistance to Palestinians. This requirement is part of a set of new restrictive conditions for international NGOs, which include potential consequences for public criticism of policies and practices of the Government of Israel. Already, NGOs that are not registered under the new system are prohibited from sending any supplies to Gaza. This policy has already prevented the delivery of such aid as medicine, food, and hygiene items. There are more details in a press release. Turning to the Gaza Strip, our colleagues at the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) tell us that more people are being killed and injured, either along convoy routes or where they are staying. The situation is beyond catastrophic. Hospitals are overstretched. Patients are lying on the floor or in the streets, suffering as beds, medical supplies and equipment are severely lacking. Yesterday, emergency medical teams were denied entry into Gaza. The World Health Organization (WHO) tells us that more than 100 health professionals, including surgeons and other specialized medical staff, have been barred from entry since March this year. Yesterday, you heard that Israeli authorities allowed the entry of a limited number of trucks carrying commercial goods. While we are still following up to obtain more clarity on this, initial reports from our partners on the ground indicate that the items included rice, sugar and vegetable oil. Sugar remains one of the most expensive items on the market. A 2-ounce bag costs some $170. Eggs, poultry and meat have disappeared from the market. People rely on pulses and bread to survive, when and if available, which is far from being enough for the most vulnerable people. The worsening market situation underscores the urgent need for the entry of humanitarian aid and commercial goods at scale and consistently. Starvation continues to happen, and today, the Ministry of Health reported five new malnutrition-related deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to about almost 200 deaths, half of whom are children. Our colleagues tell us that "hunger and malnutrition have devastating impacts, including a heightened risk of illness and death. Meanwhile, the limited availability of fuel continues to affect life-saving operations. In the past two days, the UN collected some 300,000 litres from the Kerem Shalom crossing. This is far less than what is needed to sustain operations. For example, our partners working in health warned today that the lives of more than 100 premature babies are in imminent danger due to the lack of fuel. Benzene has reached very low levels, with hardly any entering Gaza during the past ten days. Today, the Israeli military renewed two displacement orders spanning some 1.5 square miles across five neighbourhoods in Gaza and Khan Younis governorates. Shelter materials have not been allowed to enter Gaza since 2 March. The few shelter materials that are available on the local market are extremely expensive and limited in quantity, putting them out of reach for most families. ** Security Council Miroslav Jenca, the Assistant Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia and the Americas, briefed the Security Council yesterday on the Middle East. He said that the latest reports regarding Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu's possible decision to expand Israel's military operations through the entire Gaza Strip, if true, are deeply alarming. This would risk catastrophic consequences for millions of Palestinians and could further endanger the lives of the remaining hostages in Gaza, he said. International law is clear in this regard, Mr. Jenca said: Gaza is and must remain an integral part of a future Palestinian State. He discussed the situation of Israeli hostages in Gaza and recalled that hostage-taking is prohibited it is a war crime. He reiterated the Secretary-General's call on Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages. They must be freed now. Mr. Jenca echoed the Secretary-General's condemnation of the ongoing violence in Gaza, including the shooting, killing, and injuring of people attempting to get food for their families. International law is clear. Civilians must be respected, protected and never targeted or deliberately deprived of food or access to other lifesaving aid - doing so is a war crime. He added that Israel must immediately allow and facilitate rapid and unimpeded passage of sufficient amounts of humanitarian relief for civilians in need, to avert further suffering and loss of life. ** Democratic Republic of the Congo Turning to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Volker Turk, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, has condemned the escalation over the past month of deadly attacks by the M23 and other armed groups against civilians in the country's east. According to first-hand accounts received by our Human Rights Office, at least 319 civilians were killed by the M23, backed by members of the Rwanda Defence Force, between 9 and 21 July in four villages in Rutshuru territory, in North Kivu Province. Our colleagues say this is one of the largest documented death tolls in such attacks since the M23's resurgence in 2022. Most of the victims, including at least 48 women and 19 children, were local farmers camping in their fields during the planting season. Mr. Turk also condemned attacks against civilians by other armed actors. The Human Rights Office documented multiple attacks in the North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri Provinces in July, including by the ADF and CODECO armed groups. The High Commissioner renewed his call on all parties to the conflicts in eastern DRC to protect civilians from harm, and to uphold all their obligations under international humanitarian law and international human rights law. He also urged all parties to the recently signed declaration of principles to commit to the peace process in good faith and to act decisively to end the cycles of recurring violence. ** Somalia From Somalia, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs tells us that hundreds of thousands of people have been impacted by severe drought in the country's central and northern regions. According to analysis from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), more than 880,000 people are living in severely affected areas in 16 districts. A joint assessment by UN agencies and our partners is underway in Puntland and Somaliland to determine key needs and inform our response. Preliminary reports point to escalating food insecurity, dwindling access to water and pasture, and major disruptions to livelihoods. Our humanitarian colleagues note that water wells have dried up and more than 160 boreholes are no longer functional. Livestock farmers are migrating with their herds to other areas in search of water and pasture. The UN-managed Somalia Humanitarian Fund is preparing to allocate funds to meet urgent life-saving needs. Our partners are planning to step up assistance but are constrained by recent funding cuts by key donors. The $1.4 billion Somalia Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan is only 17 per cent funded at nearly $242 million. ** Mozambique We have an update for you on Mozambique, where our colleagues at the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs are sounding the alarm over a new wave of violence in Cabo Delgado province. According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), more than 57,000 people have been displaced in recent days, most of them women and children from the district of Chiure. Our partners are ramping up efforts to assist people, though due to limited resources only half of those who need aid have received it. Schools are being used as temporary shelters, but efforts are underway to relocate displaced families to other sites, which require urgent upgrades in shelter, as well as health, water, sanitation and hygiene services. OCHA is concerned about the safety of women, children and unaccompanied minors at risk of exploitation. Our humanitarian colleagues note that while Mozambique has faced many crises since 2017, this latest surge in displacement is unfolding as humanitarian access is decreasing and funding is dropping. The $352 million Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan for Mozambique is just 19 per cent funded, with $68 million received so far. More than 1 million people risk losing access to food, water and shelter, and meeting the needs of the newly displaced will be increasingly difficult. ** Financial Contribution And at the same time, we would actually like to thank our friends in Maputo for their full payment to the Regular Budget. Mozambique's payment brings the number of fully paid-up Member States to 118. ** Questions and Answers Deputy Spokesman : Yes, please. You have a question, Gabriel? Question : Thanks, Farhan. I wanted to follow-up on your report that yesterday emergency medical teams were denied entry into Gaza. The WHO tells us that more than 100 health professionals were barred from entering Gaza since March. Are the teams that were barred yesterday, how many were there, and were they part of regular rotation or a specialized group? Deputy Spokesman : I believe that we are continually trying to get medical teams into Gaza. So as far as I'm aware, this was not a specialized group. But as the World Health Organization said, this is part of the constant practice of banning entry of medical professionals since March. Question : So just to be clear, Israel has banned all World Health Organization doctors into Gaza since March? Deputy Spokesman : No. Not all of them. But certainly, 100 of them have been banned since March, so it's a huge number. Question : And lastly, have they given you any reason for that? Deputy Spokesman : Ultimately we've had, as you know, different problems getting people in, problems with visas, problems with access. This is part and parcel of that. Edie? Question : Follow-up to that. Some NGOs also have said that they may not be able to continue functioning because of the denial of either entry permits or visas. Is the UN doing anything to try and help these partners get into Gaza? Deputy Spokesman : Yes. We've been pushing for them to also have access, and you will have heard at the start of the briefing, I pointed out that the overall humanitarian country team, which includes the UN and roughly 200 NGOs, together have been calling on the Israeli authorities to rescind a requirement that was passed in March that would oblige NGOs to share personal information about their Palestinian staff or else risk losing their accreditation. Yes. Dezhi and then you. Question : I was listening to the message from Secretary-General to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial on the eightieth anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. But why hasn't the Secretary-General mentioned why this tragedy happened in the first place? Who bombed Hiroshima and why Japan is the target? Deputy Spokesman : Well, as you know, although this occurred before the United Nations came into existence, this is about the US bombing of Hiroshima. The history of that is available. But from our standpoint, what is important is to ensure that after those two bombings occurred in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, that nuclear weapons are never used again. For 80 years so far, we have avoided the worst-case scenario, and we need to focus all our efforts to making sure that that will continue. Correspondent : So those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. Deputy Spokesman : We encourage all to look at the past and look at the histories of this, including the history of the Second World War as a whole. Question : But Secretary-General didn't mention that at all I mean, at all in his message? Deputy Spokesman : Because the point of the message is about nuclear weapons. The point of the message is to make sure that nuclear weapons are never used again. Alright. Yes, Mourad? Question : Thank you. On the UN agencies and NGOs statement, could you clarify more on the sensitive information required and why the agencies are unable to provide it? Deputy Spokesman : The point is that this is something that that NGOs are worried would put their own staff members, their Palestinian staff members, at risk. And so that's caused an issue for them. Regarding the substance of the legislation, that was passed by the Israelis in March, and so we would just refer you to what they did then. Yes, please? Question : Hi. You mentioned a crazy number for sugar, $170 per two ounces bag. I was wondering, why particularly sugar is hitting that price, if you have any information? And there was no protein included in the humanitarian food that you mentioned, right? Deputy Spokesman : No. I was saying that the one of the problems is that eggs, poultry, and meat have all disappeared from the market and obviously, people need proteins to survive. But another problem is the economic dislocation that's created by the scarcity of goods. So, the scarcity of sugar accounts for why each bag is so expensive, but other things including simple products like onions have also become hideously expensive for the average family to try to afford. Yes. Edie? Question : Farhan, a broader question. What is the potential impact of the denial of visas and entry permits for UN staff and NGO staff on the state of Palestinians in Gaza, particularly at this time when we know that international experts have cited two out of three indicators of famine, and as you just reported more deaths from starvation? Deputy Spokesman : Well, I mean, the simplest thing is it hinders our effort to have our people on the ground coordinating the efforts to bring food in. The fewer UN people, the fewer NGO people there are who can do this work, it slows our facilities down. There are other restrictions, of course, that we've been pointing to, including the fact that there's still only two crossing points, Kerem Shalom and Zikim, that we can use. But this is an added obstacle at a time when we need the removal of obstacles, because we need to get as much aid in as quickly as possible to prevent people from dying. Alright. Have a good afternoon, everyone. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Swiss Government Press release Published on 7 August 2025 Bern, 07.08.2025 -- National Armaments Director Urs Loher travelled to the United States from 5 to 7 August for a working visit. Together with a delegation from the Federal Office for Defence Procurement armasuisse, he met with representatives from Lockheed Martin for technical discussions. National Armaments Director Urs Loher was on a working visit to the USA this week. He met with representatives from the US manufacturer Lockheed Martin for technical discussions from 5 to 7 August in Fort Worth, Texas. The talks focused on topics around offset obligations. These were regular consultations as part of the project progress. The aim of the working visit was to develop the ongoing dialogue with the manufacturer and to continue to substantiate cooperation as part of the project. August 7, 2025 By David Vergun, DOD News DOD Constructing Large Detention Center at Fort Bliss The Defense Department began construction in mid-July on a detention center at Fort Bliss, Texas, in response to a request for assistance from the Department of Homeland Security, said Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson, during a briefing at the Pentagon today. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth approved DHS access and use of the land at the base. It will have an initial capacity of 1,000 detainees, which is likely to be achieved later this month, she said. Ultimately, the detention center capacity is expected to reach 5,000 in the weeks and months ahead, she said. "Upon completion, this will be the largest federal detention center in history for this critical mission the deportation of illegal aliens." During the briefing, Wilson commended the National Guard and Marines for protecting federal missions, property and people in Los Angeles. "At its peak on June 6, there were thousands of rioters in LA. Just two months later, on Aug. 5, there were a meager 20 to 25 protesters in and around LA," she said. "The deployment of 4,700 DOD service members played a crucial role in deterring rioters and ultimately bringing peace back to Los Angeles. In its support of federal law enforcement missions, DOD regularly assisted federal law enforcement and protected them from harm," Wilson said. Last month, the defense secretary ordered the withdrawal of about 1,350 California National Guardsmen from the federal protection mission. Approximately 300 guardsmen remain in Los Angeles to continue protecting federal personnel and property, she said. "DOD will continue to protect federal missions, property and people as we work to ensure violent agitators cannot undermine the rule of law and order in the United States," she added. This week, Hegseth announced that the Reconciliation Monument will be returned to Arlington National Cemetery after it was "unceremoniously" removed. "We don't believe in erasing American history we honor it," he said. The Reconciliation Monument, aka the Confederate Memorial, was designed by Moses Jacob Ezekiel, a Confederate veteran. In June 1900, Congress passed legislation setting aside Section 16 of the cemetery for the burial of Confederate troops. By December 1901, 482 Confederate service members' remains were removed from the cemeteries at Alexandria, Virginia; the Soldiers' Home in Washington; and portions of Arlington National Cemetery and buried in Section 16. The United Daughters of the Confederacy asked that a memorial to the Confederate troops be erected there. Secretary of War William Howard Taft granted the request on March 4, 1906. The monument was dedicated by President Woodrow Wilson on June 4, 1914, the 106th anniversary of the birthday of Confederate President Jefferson Davis. The memorial is 32 feet high. Atop the memorial is a life-size statue of a female representing "The South," crowned in victory with a wreath of olive leaves. She gestures toward the south with a laurel wreath to "crown" the sacrifice her "sons" made in war. In her right hand is a pruning hook, and at her feet is a plow. This statue rests on a circular base on which is inscribed the Old Testament passage: "And they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks." Later today, on Purple Heart Day, Hegseth will be at the White House for a Purple Heart event hosted by President Donald J. Trump. "The department honors the courage and sacrifice of all Purple Heart recipients," she said. "The Purple Heart is the nation's oldest military award, and today, we reflect on the dedication and courage of the men and women who have given so much for our freedom. We continue to honor their legacy and extend our gratitude for their unwavering service," Wilson said. Separately, NATO is delivering to meet immediate needs for Ukraine through investment by the alliance, she said. "We recognize the leadership of Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway and Sweden to fund over $1 billion much-needed American weapons and equipment to Ukraine. This process supports the president's priority: ending the bloodshed, stopping the killing and achieving a ceasefire," Wilson said. Five soldiers were wounded by an active-duty gunman yesterday at Fort Stewart, Georgia. The incident remains under investigation. "Secretary Hegseth expresses his full support to the Fort Stewart community, and our prayers remain with the wounded soldiers and their families. We commend the swift actions of those soldiers who subdued the suspect, as well as the first responders and Fort Stewart leadership," she said. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address IOM Warns of Mass Returns to Afghanistan, Urges Immediate Funding to Scale Up Response International Organization for Migration News - Global 07 August 2025 Geneva/Kabul, 7 August 2025 -- The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is urgently calling for international support as Afghanistan faces one of the largest return movements in recent history. Since September 2023, more than 4 million Afghans have returned from Iran and Pakistan, with over 1.5 million returning in 2025 alone. A further 1 million Afghans are expected to return from Pakistan following the Pakistan government's decision not to extend the stay of Afghan nationals. To respond to the growing needs at the borders and in areas of return, IOM is appealing for additional funding to scale up its response. Without urgent support, the systems in place face severe risk of collapse, putting millions at risk. "I spoke with families arriving at the border with Iran who were completely exhausted, many with small children and nowhere to go," said Mohammed Abdiker, IOM's Chief of Staff, who was visiting Afghanistan this week. "As lead of the Border Consortium, IOM is doing everything it can, but right now we can only assist one in ten people who need help. That is a situation no one should face. Afghanistan must not be forgotten." Returns from Pakistan began increasing in April after Pakistan authorities set a deadline for undocumented Afghans to leave or face deportation. Around the same time, an even larger wave of returns from Iran began and continues to grow. With Pakistan now confirming it will not renew temporary stay permits, including for Afghans holding Proof of Registration cards, more people are expected to arrive in Afghanistan in the coming weeks. IOM in Afghanistan operates four reception centers at major border crossings, including Islam Qala and Milak with Iran, and Torkham and Spin Boldak with Pakistan. The Organization also operates four transit centers where returnees receive food, temporary shelter, transportation, health care, cash assistance, and psychosocial support, with a particular focus on vulnerable groups such as women and children. Abdiker, accompanied by Iori Kato, IOM's Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific, noted that while the border situation is critical, the pressures on the communities where returnees are settling must not be overlooked. "Many of these areas already lack basic services and economic opportunities. Without investment, returnees will struggle to reintegrate, and this often leads to further movement. Breaking this vicious cycle requires sustained support," he added. The vast majority of Afghan returnees are undocumented, which presents significant challenges in accessing identification, public services, and formal assistance. These barriers make reintegration especially difficult, particularly as the country heads into winter, when humanitarian needs are expected to rise sharply. The situation is further compounded by the ongoing impacts of four consecutive years of drought in the last five years and repeated climate shocks, which is among the leading drivers of internal displacement in Afghanistan, according to IOM data. IOM continues to emphasize that returns must be safe, voluntary, and dignified. Without regional cooperation and immediate international support, the situation could spiral into a broader humanitarian crisis, with severe consequences for Afghanistan and beyond. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Israel used US weapons to bomb hundreds of schools in Gaza, HRW says IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Aug 7, 2025 Tehran, IRNA -- The Israeli military has "unlawfully and indiscriminately" used US-supplied munitions to bomb hundreds of school shelters in Gaza, killing hundreds of civilians, according to a damning new report by Human Rights Watch (HRW). Titled Gaza: Israeli School Strikes Magnify Civilian Peril, the report documents over 500 Israeli airstrikes on school buildings, many of which were being used as shelters by displaced Palestinians. HRW investigated two specific attacks on schools, the Khadija girls' school in Deir al-Balah and Zeitoun C school in Gaza City, where at least 49 people were killed, including children. In both cases, HRW found no evidence of military targets, rendering the strikes "unlawfully indiscriminate" under international law. The Israeli military frequently claims that it targets school shelters in Gaza where Palestinian resistance fighters have been hiding. "Israeli strikes on schools sheltering displaced families provide a window into the widespread carnage that Israeli forces have carried out in Gaza," said Gerry Simpson, HRW's associate director for crisis, conflict, and arms. HRW emphasized that schools are protected civilian objects under international humanitarian law, and their use as shelters does not strip them of that protection. The organization called on the United States and other governments to halt arms sales to Israel, citing the "clear risk" that such weapons may be used to commit serious violations of international law. As of July 18, at least 836 Palestinians sheltering in schools have been killed, and 2,527 injured, according to UN figures cited in the report. 4353 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Gaza: "Never again" giving way to endless decimation of displaced Palestinians, warn UN experts Press releases Special Procedures 07 August 2025 GENEVA -- A group of UN experts* today decried Israel's escalation of its genocidal campaign against the Palestinian people in Gaza, while calling on the international community to end its complicity in the face of Israeli atrocities as ceasefire talks continue without progress. "Displacement orders from the Israeli authorities have targeted the last vestiges of the international humanitarian response in Gaza, as have direct attacks like the recent deadly airstrike on the Palestine Red Crescent Society," the experts said. "This comes as the people of Gaza - above all, children - are dying en masse of starvation coupled with a lack of access to food, water, healthcare and shelter," they said. "So-called 'humanitarian pauses' and airdrops are insufficient to address a crisis of this scale. Unrestricted and uninterrupted humanitarian assistance must be allowed into Gaza." The experts stressed that Israel's illegal restrictions on humanitarian aid have inflicted conditions of life on the people of Gaza that are currently bringing about their physical destruction. They recalled this constitutes an act punishable under international law as genocide, as does the mass killing and maiming of Palestinians in Gaza. "Israel is exterminating the people of Gaza by any and all means," the experts said. "Over a thousand Palestinians have been slaughtered by Israeli forces as they line up for humanitarian assistance." Seventy per cent of these killings have taken place at sites established by the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, backed by the United States and Israel. These deaths add to the more than 59,000 Palestinians killed and 140,000 injured during Israel's indiscriminate assault on Gaza. The experts warned that displacement orders have confined Gaza's entire surviving population to a mere 12 per cent of the Strip's territory. "Israeli proposals to further forcibly transfer Gaza's population to a so-called 'humanitarian city' on the border with Egypt can only be seen as an attempt to create a concentration camp with conditions so dire that Gazans will ultimately be forced from their homeland," they said. The experts urged the international community to take long-overdue measures to protect Palestinians and hold Israel accountable. "Israel's ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people is enabled by the complicity of States that continue to shield Israel from the political and diplomatic consequences of its actions - choosing instead to suppress the free speech of their own citizens who speak out against these horrendous crimes while continuing to provide Israel with arms, trade, and economic assistance," they said. "Furthermore, the United Nations has yet to definitively refer to the situation in Gaza as a genocide, despite irrefutable evidence of Israel committing multiple prohibited acts under the Genocide Convention and public statements from Israel's leadership calling for the continued starvation of Gaza," the experts said. They also noted that the European Union has failed to adopt any measures to sanction Israel for breaching its human rights obligations under the EU-Israel Association Agreement. "Without urgent international action, the words 'never again' will refer not to the prevention of genocide, but to the existence of Palestinian life in Gaza," the experts said. *The experts: Paula Gaviria Betancur , Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons , Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons George Katrougalos , Independent expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order , Independent expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order Michael Fakhri , Special Rapporteur on the right to food , Special Rapporteur on the right to food Pedro Arrojo-Agudo , Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation , Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation Francesca Albanese, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967 The 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/ NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Gaza: Israel must restore UN humanitarian system to stave off starvation, say UN experts Press releases Special Procedures 07 August 2025 GENEVA -- To avert further deaths and inhuman suffering by starvation, Israel must immediately restore unimpeded access to Gaza by impartial humanitarian organisations, including the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), UN experts* said today. "All States must act decisively to prevent Israel's destruction of the conditions of life in Gaza and stop its endless war on humanity," the experts said. "States must do everything in their power to restore the UN humanitarian system in Gaza." Over 500,000 people - a quarter of Gaza's population - are facing famine. The rest are suffering from emergency levels of hunger. All 320,000 children under five are at risk of acute malnutrition, with serious lifelong physical and mental health consequences. "Starvation has been used as a savage weapon of war and constitutes crime under international law. Israel's failed experiment with militarised, privatised aid delivery by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation has inflicted severe food shortages and killed almost 1,400 people seeking food. This is a predictable result of disrupting effective, impartial humanitarian relief by trusted, experienced international actors," the experts said. In a previous communication, they condemned two Israeli laws that prohibit Israeli cooperation with UNRWA, which has long played a vital role in coordinating UN humanitarian relief in Palestine. The new laws have illegally impeded the work and free movement of 17,000 UNRWA staff, disrupted UNRWA's finances and its movement of goods and vehicles, and interfered with UNRWA premises, including its headquarters in East Jerusalem. It has also undermined security coordination with Israel, endangering humanitarians. The General Assembly and the Security Council have both declared that UNRWA is the indispensable backbone of UN humanitarian relief for 2.3 million Gazans, including food, shelter and health care, particularly for women and children and nearly 2 million displaced persons. UNRWA also provides education, social assistance, poverty relief and water and sanitation. Israel has clear international legal obligations to cooperate with UNRWA under the United Nations Charter, General Assembly resolutions, the 1946 Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations, and international humanitarian law. "Israel's restrictions on UNRWA are based on unfounded allegations that it was involved in terrorism, which resulted in 16 States hastily suspending funding," the experts said. "Following two independent reviews, and Israel's failure to prove its accusations, all donors but the United States resumed funding." The UN Secretary-General has warned that UNRWA is now at an "unprecedented breaking point" due to the U.S. freeze on funds. The Colonna Review confirmed UNRWA's sophisticated procedures for guaranteeing its neutrality and UNRWA accepted all recommendations for further improvement. The independent review noted that Israel had never raised concerns about UNRWA staff when UNRWA shared its staff lists annually and stressed that preventing armed interference in UNRWA's activities is a shared responsibility. "Israel has an international legal duty to protect UNRWA from armed interference, by sharing information with UNRWA about threats to its staff, premises or activities and coordinating appropriate responses," the experts said. These obligations stem from Israel's duties to maintain public order in occupied territory, facilitate and protect humanitarian relief activities, and uphold UNRWA's privileges and immunities. "We regret that Israel has recently expanded its smear campaign alleging terrorism to include OCHA," the experts said, condemning arbitrary new regulations restricting visas for international humanitarian staff, that have already impeded access by senior OCHA personnel. Recent reports stated that Israeli military officials found no evidence of systematic aid diversion by Hamas from the UN and concluded that UN relief was effective. Israel has also obstructed international human rights mechanisms and their staff from accessing Gaza, including the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and independent experts. It has severely impeded reporting by barring international media and targeting local journalists with impunity. The experts urged States to secure an immediate ceasefire, ensure the hostages are released, and punish all perpetrators of international crimes. "States must ensure the end of illegal occupation as required by the International Court of Justice and fully realise the self-determination of the Palestinians in an independent, secure State of Palestine," they said. *The Experts: Ben Saul, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism ; ; Francesca Albanese, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian Territory occupied since 1967 ; ; Cecilia M Bailliet, Independent Expert on human rights and international solidarity ; ; Alexandra Xanthaki, Special Rapporteur in the field of cultural rights ; ; Tomoya Obokata, Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences ; ; Nicolas Levrat, Special rapporteur on minority issues; Paula Gaviria Betancur, Special rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons; Michael Fakhri, Special Rapporteur on the right to food ; ; Gina Romero, Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association ; ; Irene Khan, Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression ; ; Margaret Satterthwaite, Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers ; ; Mary Lawlor, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders ; ; Gabriella Citroni (Chair-Rapporteur), Grazyna Baranowska (Vice-Chair), Aua Balde, Ana Lorena Delgadillo Perez, and Mohammed Al-Obaidi, Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances ; ; Carlos Duarte (Chair-Rapporteur), Shalmali Guttal, Davit Hakobyan (Vice-Chair), Uche Ewelukwa Ofodile (Vice-Chair), and Genevieve Savigny, Working Group on Peasants ; ; Farida Shaheed, Special Rapporteur on the right to education ; ; Pedro Arrojo-Agudo, Special Rapporteur on the right to water and sanitation ; ; Surya Deva, Special Rapporteur on the right to development; Elizabeth Salmon, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea ; ; Laura Nyirinkindi (Chair), Claudia Flores (Vice-Chair), Dorothy Estrada-Tanck, Ivana Kristic, and Haina Lu, Working Group on discrimination against women and girls ; ; Heba Hagrass, Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities ; ; Ashwini K.P., Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance ; ; Morris Tidball-Binz, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions ; ; Reem Alsalem, Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, its causes and consequences. 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/ NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Marcos: PH not a puppet state, acts in defense of national interest Philippine News Agency By Darryl John Esguerra August 7, 2025, 4:04 pm NEW DELHI -- President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. pushed back against China's narrative that the Philippines is provoking instability in the region at the behest of more powerful nations, saying the country is acting on its own to uphold sovereignty and defend national interest. In an interview with Indian news outlet Firstpost on Wednesday, Marcos dismissed insinuations that Manila's deepening security ties with countries like the United States and India make it a mere proxy. "That would imply we do not have our own agency, that we are just bystanders told what to do. That is certainly not the case," Marcos said. "It does, I suppose, serve that narrative that we are acting as a... I don't know... as a puppet state to the United States, to all the allies of the United States. I think it doesn't take very much reading and discussing to see very, very clearly, very, very quickly that that's simply not true." Marcos said the Philippines' actions are not driven by foreign interests, but by a constitutional mandate to protect its own territory and people. "What we do in the Philippines is because it is our duty as officials, as leaders, as citizens to defend our country," he said. Marcos noted that the country's strategic partnerships are based on shared values, mutual respect, and a common interest in maintaining peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific. "Friends like India, the United States, Australia, South Korea, Japan who are also feeling that they must defend their own territory and sovereignty are joining forces. Who are we to turn down such assistance and such help?" The remark comes amid heightened tensions in the West Philippine Sea, where repeated confrontations have occurred between Philippine vessels and Chinese coast guard and militia ships. Beijing continues to assert sweeping claims over almost the entire South China Sea through its so-called "nine-dash line," now updated to a "ten-dash line" overlapping with the Philippines' exclusive economic zone. In 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled in favor of the Philippines, invalidating China's expansive claims and upholding Manila's sovereign rights over areas including Ayungin Shoal and Scarborough Shoal. China has rejected the ruling and intensified its presence in disputed waters, including the use of water cannons and blocking resupply missions. Marcos' administration has adopted a firmer stance compared to its predecessor, filing diplomatic protests and bolstering security ties with like-minded countries to deter aggression and uphold international law. Asked if the repeated near-collisions at sea could escalate into a broader conflict, Marcos said war is unlikely but miscalculations are a serious concern. "That is precisely what we are worried about," he said. "You can make a mistake. Some guy pushes the wrong button, navigation goes wrong... and before you know it, it's a shooting war. That is what we want to avoid," he said. The President emphasized that closer coordination with allies and open channels of communication including with China are critical to reducing the risk of escalation and preserving regional peace. (PNA) NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address House leaders decry Senate move to archive impeachment vs. VP Sara Philippine News Agency By Jose Cielito Reganit August 7, 2025, 3:09 pm MANILA -- Leaders of the House of Representatives on Thursday decried the Senate's move to archive the impeachment case against Vice President Sara Duterte. In a statement, Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez questioned the move despite the case still pending in the Supreme Court. "Yesterday, the Senate -- not sitting as an impeachment court -- moved swiftly to archive the complaint against Vice President Sara Duterte, despite the case still pending before the Supreme Court," he said. "To archive is, in effect, to bury the Articles of Impeachment. Yet the ruling of the Supreme Court is not final. On Aug. 5, the House of Representatives filed a Motion for Reconsideration. The Court found our arguments serious enough to require the respondents, including the Vice President, to submit their comments. The case is active," Romualdez said. He reiterated that the impeachment case against Duterte was never about political maneuvering, but about accountability anchored on verified facts and sworn documents. Yet, he said they were met with personal attacks, sweeping accusations, and "a narrative that seeks to reduce a solemn constitutional duty into mere power play." "Let's be clear: the filing of the complaint was not rushed. What was rushed - remarkably -- was its burial," Romualdez said. "We do not rise against the Senate. We rise for the Republic. Tuloy ang laban (The fight continues), for the Constitution, for the rule of law, and for the enduring truth that no public office is ever beyond the reach of accountability," he said. Meanwhile, House Committee on Human Rights chair Bienvenido "Benny" Abante Jr. called the Senate decision a "dangerous precedent" that weakens the constitutional process of accountability. "The Senate's action sends the wrong message: that accountability may be set aside. That should never be the case in a democracy governed by laws," Abante said in a separate statement. Abante warned that public officials may now be emboldened to ignore questions of propriety or legality -- especially if they enjoy political popularity or are seen as future contenders for higher office. "The impeachment process is not about 2028. It is about whether public funds were used during a time when no legal mandate had yet been conferred to an office. That is a clear question of constitutional integrity -- not political ambition," he said. Abante also took issue with how some senators appeared to dismiss the complaint as "politically motivated" without addressing the substance of the allegations. "Impeachment is not a political circus. It is a constitutional mechanism designed to hold high officials accountable. When we reduce it to mere political noise, we erode the very institutions we swore to uphold," he said. While respecting the Senate's institutional prerogative, Abante said the matter is far from over, as the House prosecution panel has filed a motion for reconsideration before the Supreme Court. "This fight for truth is not yet over. The legal process continues, and more importantly, so does the public's judgment," Abante said. House Committee on Higher and Technical Education chairman Jude Acidre of Tingog Party-list, meanwhile, cautioned senators against deflecting public scrutiny by attacking the House of Representatives and Romualdez in their apparent attempt to justify the Senate's dismissal of the impeachment complaint against Duterte. "Let's not twist the narrative. The House did its job, and we followed the process. You can't defend one branch of government by attacking another," Acidre said. "When over 200 members vote in favor of impeachment, that's not just one man's decision. That's the House speaking as an institution. Calling it a political maneuver is not only unfair, napaka-misleading nito (it's also misleading)," he added. He also pointed out that the Senate's move to archive the complaint does not resolve the controversy, nor does it erase the public's demand for a full explanation. "Just because the Senate dropped the case doesn't mean the issue disappears. The public is still waiting for answers. Deflection is not accountability. The Senate must deal with the fallout brought about by their own decision," he said. The lawmaker reminded senators to respect the independence of the House, even amid disagreement. "Konting respeto naman (A little respect please). You don't protect one institution by disrespecting another. We can disagree on the outcome, but don't question our motives when all we did was follow the rules," Acidre said. "Let's stop the noise and start answering the questions that matter," he added. (PNA) NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Marcos: SCS claims are not equal, cautions vs. inaccurate narratives Philippine News Agency By Darryl John Esguerra August 7, 2025, 6:57 am NEW DELHI -- President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has warned the international community against false equivalence in maritime disputes, declaring that not all claims in the South China Sea are legitimate and equal as he called for the rejection of disinformation and unilateral actions violating international law. In a foreign policy speech delivered at the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi on Wednesday, Marcos said powerful nations are eroding the global order by flouting international law, undermining rules-based norms, and cloaking aggressive actions under the pretext of geopolitics. "The complex issue of competing claims in the South China Sea has, for years, been unfortunately and simplistically reduced to 'the South China Sea disputes,' as if claims were all equal. They are not," Marcos said. "The assertions of littoral states have to pass the test of conformity with international law, particularly UNCLOS (United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea) and definitive, binding interpretations such as the 2016 Arbitral Award." He cautioned against letting "inaccurate narratives" dominate discourse and mask illegal acts, stressing that countries like the Philippines and India must now "play a more active role in upholding, defending, and preserving our rules-based order." India: A responsible major power Marcos praised India as a "responsible major power," citing its compliance with international tribunal rulings on maritime disputes an apparent contrast to China, which has rejected the 2016 arbitral ruling that invalidated its expansive claims over the South China Sea. "For a country with rapidly growing power and influence, India has submitted to the judgment of international tribunals on matters concerning maritime disputesa model for how a responsible major power and a good neighbor should behave," he said. The President said global governance is under immense pressure from strategic competition, coercive actions, and institutional fatigue. He warned that some founding defenders of the post-war order have "turned inward", while others exploit this shift to "cloak opaque claims with a semblance of legitimacy." "Such narratives at times dominate, obscuring the international community's judgment," he said. "Some powers are seeking to take advantage of this shift." Marcos' remarks come at a time of heightened tensions in the West Philippine Sea, where Philippine and Chinese vessels have clashed in multiple confrontations, with Manila accusing Beijing of illegal incursions and dangerous maneuvers near Philippine-held features. Marcos' speech capped the New Delhi leg of his state visit, which saw the Philippines and India formally elevate ties to a Strategic Partnershiponly the fifth such accord Manila has entered into, following similar arrangements with Japan, Australia, Vietnam, and South Korea. He said India possesses the "strategic trust, common cause, and responsible behavior" that the Philippines looks for in deepening ties, calling the partnership a product of "great deliberation" rather than a diplomatic trend. "India has emerged as one of the countries with which the Philippines finds these sterling qualities," he said. "Our strategic partnership reflects the growing convergence of our long-term interests in the context of the historic shifts that will inform the ebb and flow of this century." Democracy, multilateralism, middle power leadership Marcos called for reforms in global institutions and more assertive leadership by emerging middle powers to safeguard multilateralism from paralysis. "Some so-called 'major countries' exert undue influence. We must ensure meaningful reforms in the United Nations and the Security Council itselftowards inclusivity, equity, and justice," he said. The President urged democracies to work together to protect the global commons and uphold laws, even amid intensifying great power competition. "The world and our region must be able to seize maximum gains from the transformative power of advanced technologies, while paying due attention to their disruptive potential," he said. "We are not invested in rivalrywe are invested in stability." On Thursday, the President flies to Bengaluru, India's tech hub, to deepen economic engagement and meet industry leaders. (PNA) NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Hamas condemns Netanyahu's Gaza occupation plan and vows to resist Iran Press TV Thursday, 07 August 2025 10:33 PM The Islamic resistance movement Hamas has condemned Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's latest plan to occupy all of Gaza, denouncing him a war criminal wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC). In an official statement issued on Thursday, Hamas described Netanyahu's plan as an extension of his genocidal policies and displacement tactics against the Palestinian people. "What war criminal Netanyahu is planning represents an extension of his genocidal and displacement policies, further committing crimes against our Palestinian people in Gaza," Hamas stated. The movement described the plan as a blatant reversal of the ongoing Gaza ceasefire negotiations. "Netanyahu's statements represent a clear reversal of the negotiation process and unveil the true motives behind his withdrawal from the last ceasefire round, despite our nearing a final agreement," it added. Hamas emphasized that Netanyahu's remarks expose the regime's intentions behind abandoning the most recent truce talks. "His plans to intensify aggression confirm beyond doubt that he seeks to abandon his own prisoners, sacrificing them to serve his personal interests and extremist ideological agenda," Hamas asserted. The movement warned that any expansion of aggression against Gaza would result in severe consequences for the regime's forces. "Gaza will remain defiant against occupation and all attempts to impose guardianship over it. Any escalation of aggression against our Palestinian people will not be without significant repercussionsthe occupation and its oppressive forces will pay a heavy and costly price," Hamas declared. Hamas also called on the international community and the Muslim world to condemn Netanyahu's plan and take immediate action to halt the regime's aggression while holding Israeli officials accountable for their crimes. "We urge Arab and Islamic countries, as well as the international community, to denounce these dangerous statements, act swiftly to stop the aggression, end the occupation, enable our people's right to self-determination, and hold the enemy's leaders accountable for their ongoing crimes against our people in Gaza," Hamas stated. Netanyahu reportedly told his regime's other officials that he sought to return the territory to Israeli occupation. The Israeli military left Gaza in 2005 following a landslide electoral victory by Hamas that brought the movement to power in the territory. Even before the genocide, the regime had already subjected the entire Gaza Strip to several mass casualty wars and a crippling blockade. The remarks came amid the regime's October 2023-present war of genocide on the coastal sliver that has killed at least 61,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, as a result of incessant bombardments and simultaneous mass starvation. Through the war, Tel Aviv has been pursuing such goals as defeating the territory's Hamas resistance movement and bringing about the Gazans' mass exodus to neighboring countries. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address 'Israel is fighting a war it cannot win,' says ex-Shin Bet director Iran Press TV Thursday, 07 August 2025 7:26 PM A former director of Israel's internal spy agency, known as Shin Bet, has issued a strong condemnation of Tel Aviv's relentless military assault on the besieged Gaza Strip. In a pointed article published in Foreign Affairs on Thursday, Ami Ayalon, who also once commanded the Israeli navy, declared, "Israel is fighting a war it cannot win." Ayalon described the assault as "unjust, immoral, and counterproductive," urging the international community to enforce a political endgame. He called on global powers to circumvent Tel Aviv's obstruction and initiate a process aimed at establishing the so-called two-state solution. He warned that Israel's stubbornness threatens to unravel the entire regional order. "The longer the vacuum in Israel's planning persists, the more international actors will need to come together to prevent an even worse catastrophe than the one currently unfolding," Ayalon cautioned. Without a two-state solution, he argued, Israel risks deepening its international isolation, losing support among allies, and becoming a global pariah. "Wars without a clear political goal cannot be won," he asserted. Ayalon's essay represents one of the most scathing critiques to emerge from Israel's security establishment. More than 22 months into the military offensive, he warned that Israel has lost any semblance of strategic coherence. While the Israeli military claims to have dismantled the core infrastructure of the Hamas resistance group, Ayalon noted that Israeli authorities have failed to articulate a political plan for Gaza, leaving the region in the grip of a humanitarian catastrophe and instability. In his article, the former spy chief also proposed a political solution to the conflict through the long-overlooked Arab Peace Initiative (API). This 2002 proposal, endorsed by all 22 Arab League states, offers full normalization of ties with Israel in exchange for a complete withdrawal from the occupied Palestinian territories and the establishment of a Palestinian state based on the borders defined in 1967. However, successive Israeli regimes, particularly under prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have not only dismissed the API but also actively sabotaged prospects for Palestinian statehood. Netanyahu himself has openly boasted of derailing the Oslo Accords and has expanded settlement construction across the occupied West Bank. Ayalon also directly challenges the assumptions underpinning the US-brokered Abraham Accords and Washington's failed attempts to bypass the Palestinian question through regional normalization. He believes these moves, which left Palestinians hopeless about the future, helped trigger the October 2023 al-Aqsa operation. Israel has been facing mounting outrage over its war on Gaza. The war has devastated the besieged Palestinian region and brought it to the verge of famine. The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Netanyahu and former minister of military affairs Yoav Gallant, citing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the besieged coastal territory. Recent reports reveal that Netanyahu ignored calls from senior ministers to speed up ceasefire talks and deliberately restricted aid to Gaza to force Hamas to surrender. The military wing of the Hamas resistance movement, the Qassam Brigades, recently warned that if Israel chooses to continue with the "war of extermination," it will witness increasing funerals of its soldiers and military officers. Gaza death toll from Israeli war exceeds 61,200 Meanwhile, the Gaza Health Ministry said in a statement on Thursday that at least 61,258 Palestinians were killed in Israel's aggression on the Gaza Strip since October 2023, including 197 who have died from hunger. A statement said 100 bodies were brought to hospitals in the last 24 hours, while 603 people were injured, taking the number of injuries to 152,045 in the Israeli onslaught since October 2023. The ministry also said that four more people died from starvation and malnutrition over the past day, pushing the death toll since the beginning of the war to 197, including 96 children. The ministry also said that 51 Palestinians were killed and 230 were injured while trying to get humanitarian aid in the past day, bringing the total number of people killed while seeking aid to 1,706, with over 12,030 others wounded since May 27, when the controversial US-Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation began operations. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Houthi: Zionist regime continues massacre of Gazans with US bombs Iran Press TV Thursday, 07 August 2025 6:56 PM The leader of Yemen's Ansarullah resistance movement says the Israeli military is using US-made bombs and munitions in its atrocious strikes against Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip. "The Zionist enemy continues its massacres with American bombs and targets women, children and the elderly who are looking for food," Abdul-Malik al-Houthi said during a televised speech broadcast from the Yemeni capital Sana'a on Thursday afternoon. "Some Americans have taken up arms in Gaza and are participating in the ongoing crimes in Gaza, and some American officers have acknowledged such a fact. An American officer has admitted that the death traps in Gaza are basically designed to kill Palestinian people." Houthi said aid supplies have not entered the Gaza Strip for the past five months, and this has increased the suffering and problems of the Palestinian people in the territory. "The siege of Gaza was enacted with the complicity of some Arab and Western countries. The blockade has led to a catastrophic hunger of the people of Gaza, which is unparalleled in the world," Houthi added. The Ansarullah chief stated that the criminal US President Donald Trump, who supports Israeli atrocities, describes what is happening in Gaza as deplorable and catastrophic. "The details of the suffering of the people of Gaza are a stain of shame for the entire world, particularly for Muslims and Arabs. In addition to the crime of hunger, the crime of thirst is also occurring in Gaza, and the people of Gaza are facing difficulty in accessing water," Houthi said. Turning to the mass illegal settler incursion into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East al-Quds, Houthi described this week's provocative march as the biggest of its kind. "In a matter of a day, 3,969 Zionists stormed the al-Aqsa Mosque with the participation of criminal Zionist leaders. Silence in the face of the sacrileges of the holy al-Aqsa Mosque is a stain of shame for Muslims," he said. "Inaction emboldens the enemy to press ahead with its notorious scheme, which is the destruction of al-Aqsa Mosque and the construction of an alleged temple. The enemy is trying to change the temporal and spatial reality of the al-Aqsa Mosque, and this is very dangerous," the Ansarullah leader said. Houthi also condemned the growing Israeli violence in the West Bank amid the inaction of the Palestinian Authority led by Mahmoud Abbas. "The Israeli enemy continues to commit various forms of crimes throughout the occupied territory. The Palestinian Authority does not provide any support to Palestinians in the West Bank, and cooperates with Israel through various means instead. The Palestinian Authority targets resistance fighters under the guise of security cooperation with the Zionist enemy," he said. Houthi noted that the Zionist enemy is considering two options: Either complete occupation of Gaza or partial occupation of its soil. "If the enemy manages to completely occupy Gaza, it will incur great losses. The Zionist enemy says it has received the green light from the United States to expand the scope of its aggression in Gaza. This means that America's various forms of support for Israel will continue. If the enemy manages to completely occupy Gaza, it proves it does not care about the fate of its captives at all." Elsewhere in his remarks, Houthi lambasted Arab countries for consenting to the so-called two-state solution and calling on resistance movements to give up their weapons. "The Arab regimes have made foolish decisions in responding to Israeli and American aggression and the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people. Their shrewdness in confronting the crimes of the Zionist regime has reached the point where they say the solution is to disarm Hamas, Hezbollah, and other resistance groups," said the Ansarullah chief. The Houthi leader emphasized that a key reason behind the occupation of Palestine is the lack of sufficient weapons and failure to strengthen military power. He also sounded alarm over mounting US pressure on the Lebanese government to disarm Hezbollah. "The only factor deterring the enemy from reoccupying Lebanon is Hezbollah and its arsenal. The Lebanese army lacks both the power and political will to defend the countryif it had either, it would have acted long ago," he said NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Algeria slams vows harsh retaliation against France's visa crackdown Iran Press TV Thursday, 07 August 2025 5:47 PM Algeria has strongly rejected recent French visa restrictions targeting Algerian diplomats, pledging to impose reciprocal measures as the diplomatic rift between the two countries intensifies. In response to a letter from French President Emmanuel Macron published by Le Figaro on Tuesday, Algeria's Foreign Ministry on Thursday condemned what it described as a "one-sided narrative" that ignores France's own responsibilities and distorts the reality of bilateral relations. "France has violated its own laws and international commitments, particularly regarding deportation procedures and diplomatic protocols," the ministry said in an official statement. The ministry further noted that Algeria had previously waived visa requirements for French diplomatic passport holders but would now reinstate visa demands in retaliation for France's latest restrictions. Macron's letter ordered the suspension of a 2013 visa exemption agreement for Algerian diplomats and called for the enforcement of a 2024 immigration law clause that allows France to deny visasshort- and long-termto Algerian officials. This punitive move deepens a diplomatic crisis that has escalated since July 2024, when France recognized Morocco's sovereignty over the disputed Western Sahara territory, a decision vehemently opposed by Algeria. Relations deteriorated further in April 2025 after French authorities indicted an Algerian consular official over the alleged abduction of a dissident, prompting Algeria to expel 12 French embassy employees in retaliation. In his letter, Macron accused Algeria of "non-compliance with its obligations," including what he described as "cessation of cooperation" by Algeria's 18 consulates operating on French soil. He called for "more firmness" and urged his government to implement restrictive visa policies on Algerian diplomats, framing it as a necessity for France to "command respect." However, Algerian officials and media have slammed Macron's approach as escalatory and unjustified. They argue that France is shirking its own responsibilities, notably its refusal to fully cooperate on migration issues, including repatriation of Algerian nationals residing illegally in France. The visa restrictions threaten to disrupt the mobility of thousands of Algerians traveling to France for work, study, or family reunification and could impact French businesses operating in Algeria, raising concerns about economic repercussions. Critics within Algeria accuse France of wielding visa policy as a political weapon amid long-standing tensions rooted in France's colonial legacy. Algeria's struggle for independence after 132 years of brutal French colonization left deep scars, and many view Macron's actions as reflective of neocolonial arrogance. The diplomatic row has been further inflamed by high-profile cases such as the imprisonment of French-Algerian writer Boualem Sansal, sentenced to five years for "undermining Algerian territorial integrity" over remarks he made to far-right media in France. Another French journalist, Christophe Gleizes, received a seven-year sentence for "condoning terrorism" after interviewing a pro-independence Kabylia activist. Journalists and analysts accuse Macron of prioritizing domestic political pressures over genuine dialogue. Khaled Drareni, Reporters Without Borders' North Africa representative, condemned Macron's decision as a "clear political choice: rupture," accusing the French president of abandoning efforts to normalize relations and ignoring Algeria's legitimate grievances. Drareni further criticized Macron's earlier remarks questioning Algeria's national identity prior to French colonization, describing them as an affront that deepened mistrust. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Netanyahu systematically applied starvation in Gaza to induce surrender from Hamas: Report Iran Press TV Thursday, 07 August 2025 3:53 PM Recent reports reveal that Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu ignored calls from senior ministers to speed up ceasefire talks and deliberately restricted aid to Gaza to force Hamas to surrender. According to records from a meeting of the Israeli war cabinet held on March 1, Netanyahu disregarded multiple calls from top-brass military officials to move to the second phase of the ceasefire agreement to facilitate the release of Israeli captives, followed by a resumption of hostilities thereafter. The Israeli prime minister instead opted to unilaterally terminate the ceasefire in March and prohibit all assistance to Gaza, aiming to compel Hamas to surrender. This took place regardless of Hamas's adherence to the talks, which was not in line with what the war cabinet had anticipated. Based on the transcripts, the calls made by the military officials received support from the Mossad spy agency, Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, and minister of military affairs Israel Katz, who advocated for the progression of the deal, believing that a temporary cessation of hostilities could facilitate the return of all Israeli captives being held in Gaza. In the internal documents that were leaked, Major General Nitzan Alon, who is the chief of captives for the Israeli forces, is cited as stating, "The sole opportunity to secure the release of captives is to negotiate the conditions of Phase B." Bar stated that his "preferred choice is to move to Phase B", further noting that Israel could "reinitiate the conflict afterward". Katz endorsed a partial agreement, asserting that: "If Hamas returns even a portion of the captives - fewer than half - that would be excellent." Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer remarked that the Israeli war cabinet "anticipated the discussions would collapse as soon as we engaged in them - yet that did not occur." The Hostages Families Forum described the disclosures as "damning" and asserted that the administration "knowingly and deliberately undermined" agreements for the exchange of captives and "misled the public." According to Gaza's Health Ministry, hospitals in the territory have reported four additional fatalities attributed to famine and malnutrition within the last 24 hours, increasing the overall count of hunger-related deaths to 197, which includes 96 children. The United Nations has stated that Israel's blockade of Gaza places the lives of over 100 premature infants in "imminent danger", as the shortage of fuel hinders "life-saving" procedures in medical facilities. At least 61,258 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and another 152,045 individuals injured in the brutal Israeli onslaught on Gaza since October 7, 2023. The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants last November for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former minister of military affairs Yoav Gallant, citing war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the besieged coastal territory. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran's FM calls for emergency OIC meeting over 'humanitarian catastrophe' in Gaza Strip Iran Press TV Thursday, 07 August 2025 3:25 PM Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has called for an emergency meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to address a "humanitarian catastrophe" unfolding in the Gaza Strip. In a letter addressed to OIC Secretary General Hissein Brahim Taha, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, and Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan, Araghchi urged the intergovernmental body to convene an extraordinary session in response to the "rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation" in the besieged Palestinian territory. "The appalling situation in Gaza has now become one of the gravest crises facing the Islamic Ummah and the international community," Araghchi said. "The conditions in Gaza have exceeded the limits of human endurance. What is unfolding is not merely a humanitarian crisis it is the systematic destruction of a besieged civilian population. The scale and intensity of the crimes being committed call for immediate and coordinated action." His letter came as the war-ravaged territory is gripped by famine, with international agencies reporting catastrophic hunger levelsat least 193 people, including 96 children, have died of starvation in recent monthswhile aid convoys remain blocked or severely restricted by the Israeli regime and more than 1,500 Palestinians have been killed while trying to access food. "The latest statistics and reports from all reputable humanitarian organizations and media sources indicate that the civilian population of Gaza is facing a situation that can only be described with a single word: genocide," Araghchi warned. The Iranian foreign minister also emphasized the need for coordinated delivery of urgent humanitarian assistance and called for an examination of the Israeli regime's "strategic intent" to permanently occupy Gaza. "Equally alarming is the mounting evidence of the occupying regime's unlawful and strategic intent to reoccupy and fully annex Gaza," he said. "Statements by senior officials of the Zionist regime, along with its military actions and political posturing, clearly indicate the existence of a deliberate plan to erase Gaza's territorial and political identity through permanent control, demographic engineering, and the destruction of any prospect for Palestinian sovereignty," Araghchi added. Araghchi warned that high-ranking Israeli officials have expressed intentions "to eliminate Gaza as a political entity," saying the move reflects "a strategic design aimed at eradicating Palestinian sovereignty through permanent territorial occupation, forced population displacement, and demographic manipulation." He called on the OIC to urgently convene an extraordinary meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers in Jeddah. The session, he said, would aim to coordinate humanitarian aid, assess the legal and political implications of Israel's actions, and formulate a unified response. "The meeting should adopt unified, actionable measures diplomatic, legal, and economic to stop the aggression, ensure accountability, and reaffirm the Palestinian people's right to self-determination, sovereignty, and return, marking a starting point for restoring justice," Araghchi said. Israel launched a US-backed genocidal war on Gaza on October 7, 2023, after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas waged the surprise Operation Al-Aqsa Storm against the occupying entity in response to the regime's decades-long campaign of death and devastation against Palestinians. The regime's genocidal war on Gaza has so far killed at least 61,158 Palestinians, mostly women and children. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Israel to launch new phase of Gaza war after receiving US green light Iran Press TV Thursday, 07 August 2025 11:22 AM The Israeli regime has made plans to launch a new phase of its war on the Gaza Strip after receiving the green light from the United States government. Media outlets citing Israeli sources said the Israeli regime plans an expansion of fighting and a full occupation of Gaza. The scheme to occupy Gaza, set in motion by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, will continue with an offensive on Gaza City and central refugee camps, forcing much of the Palestinian population in Gaza to move south. The objective, Israeli authorities said, is to eradicate what remains of the Palestinian Hamas resistance movement and force the group to release the roughly 50 Israeli captives still held in Gaza, some of whom are still alive despite the famine in Gaza. Netanyahu is expected to push the scheme for approval at a high-level Israeli war cabinet scheduled to convene on Thursday. Netanyahu has reportedly already obtained the go-ahead from the United States. President Donald Trump does not oppose the scheme for the full occupation of Gaza, according to US officials cited by the media. Netanyahu plans to launch a military offensive to occupy the entire Gaza Strip, US and Israeli officials said. Trump earlier said that it was "pretty much up to Israel" to decide on the total Gaza occupation. Analysts say the US government has effectively given the Israeli regime the go-ahead to do whatever it wants in Gaza with impunity, be it ethnic cleansing or genocide. Meanwhile, aid agencies are warning of the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza due to ongoing Israeli attacks and siege. The dire situation in Gaza has been described by a global hunger monitor as a "famine scenario," with starvation spreading, children dying from hunger-related causes, and humanitarian access still severely restricted. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that food consumption in Gaza has dropped to its lowest level since the war began. As of this week, 81 percent of households are experiencing poor food consumption, more than double the 33 percent recorded in April. Reuters cited EU officials as saying there has been some progress in the international aid efforts, including the reopening of the border crossings to Gaza shut by Israelis, some fuel delivery, and infrastructure repairs. However, they warned that unsafe conditions on the ground continue to severely hinder the distribution of aid. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Ranking Member Shaheen Statement on Anniversary of Russia's Invasion of Georgia Senate Foreign Relations Committee Published: August 07, 2025 WASHINGTON -- Today, U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement on the seventeenth anniversary of Russia's illegal war on Georgia and subsequent occupation of Abkhazia and South Ossestia. "Russia's 2008 invasion of Georgia should have been a wake-up call to the international community that Russia intends to dominate its neighbors and attempt to obscure its aggression. Russia's ruthless actions in Georgia foreshadowed actions in Ukraine, most recently through its full-scale war. The Georgian people understand what the 'Russian World' brings, and that is why they have fiercely resisted the Georgian Dream (GD) government's efforts to draw them closer to anti-democratic, Russian-style rule. "On this solemn anniversary, the United States must continue to express our rejection of Russia's illegal annexation of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. I am deeply concerned by the Georgian Dream government's erosion of democratic values and its betrayal of the Georgian people's Euro-Atlantic aspirations. If the government seeks to honor the victims of Russian aggression, it must release political prisoners like journalist Mzia Amaglobeli and recommit to Georgia's democratic future. I continue to support the Georgian people and will redouble my efforts to enact the bipartisan, bicameral MEGOBARI Act." ### NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address On Ceasefire Deal Between Cambodia and Thailand US Department of State Press Statement Marco Rubio, Secretary of State August 7, 2025 The United States welcomes the General Border Committee meeting today in Kuala Lumpur as an important step forward in solidifying the ceasefire arrangement and establishing the ASEAN observation mechanism. President Trump and I expect the governments of Cambodia and Thailand to fully honor their commitments to end this conflict. We remain grateful to Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim for his leadership and for hosting the ceasefire process, a direct result of his willingness to co-organize with the United States the July 28 Special Meeting to address the conflict. We look forward to supporting Malaysia, ASEAN, and both countries as this process moves forward. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address The UK encourages all parties to remain committed to prioritising security, growth and prosperity across the region: UK statement at the UN Security Council Statement by Caroline Quinn, UK Deputy Political Coordinator, at the UN Security Council meeting on West Africa and the Sahel. From: Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and Caroline Quinn, UK Deputy Political Coordinator Published 7 August 2025 Location: United Nations, New York Delivered on: 7 August 2025 (Transcript of the speech, exactly as it was delivered) Firstly, the United Kingdom condemns terrorist attacks in the region, including the increased use of IEDs, and the use of blockades to disrupt trade and isolate communities. Regional unity is critical for addressing the growing security challenges and tackling transnational threats. The UK encourages all parties to remain committed to prioritising security, growth and prosperity across the region. We stress the need for careful consideration of external security partners, not all of whom share these goals. We welcome the agreements between ECOWAS and the AES, which protect the strong tradition of West African cooperation and will bring benefits to citizens of the region, including freedom of movement and ease of trade. We urge the countries of the region to extend this constructive approach to cooperation on counter terrorism and security. Second, President, we note mixed progress on democratic processes. The UK is concerned by recent developments in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, including the suspension of political parties, increasing restrictions on civic space and the extension of transition timelines. We call upon the authorities in these countries to return to the principles of inclusive and accountable governance, which are crucial to long-term stability and prosperity. Looking ahead to the Presidential elections in Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea and Guinea-Bissau this year, the UK stands ready to engage in support of ensuring these are peaceful, credible processes, and aligned with their respective constitutions. We also welcome progress in promoting youth and women's participation in governance. Investment in education and employment is critical to reducing vulnerability to radicalisation and irregular migration and supporting inclusive and sustainable peace. And as we heard from Ms Bahous so powerfully, investing in girls' education, in particular, is key to ensuring women and girls can enjoy their rights and realise their full potential. Third, President, we remain concerned by the deteriorating humanitarian situation across the region. Conflict, displacement and restrictions on humanitarian access continue to undermine the delivery of life-saving assistance. And we urge all parties to ensure rapid and unimpeded humanitarian access. To conclude, President, the region's complex challenges require collective action. The UK supports efforts to strengthen regional dialogue and remains committed to inclusive regional cooperation. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Statement of the MFA of Ukraine dedicated on the 17th anniversary since the beginning of the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Georgia Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine 07 August 2025 15:00 17 years ago, the Russian Federation grossly violated the norms of international law by committing an act of armed aggression against the sovereign state of Georgia. Because of this aggression, about 20% of the territory of Georgia came under the illegal control of Russian occupation forces. More than 200 thousand Georgian citizens were forced to leave their homes, becoming internally displaced persons in their own country. This attack was the first large-scale manifestation of the Kremlin's new imperial policy, which sent a clear signal of its desire to forcefully change borders and undermine stability in the region. The subsequent aggression against Ukraine was a direct continuation of this policy. Today, the humanitarian situation in the Russian-occupied territories of Georgia is deteriorating. The aggressor country not only restricts freedom of movement in the occupation zone, but also actively uses illegal detentions and arrests of peaceful residents of these regions. Ukraine unwaveringly supports the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Georgia within its internationally recognized borders, strongly condemns the Kremlin's aggressive policy and does not recognize the so-called "independence" of occupied Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali region/South Ossetia, Georgia. Russia must withdraw its troops from Georgia's sovereign territory in accordance with the 2008 ceasefire agreement and revoke its recognition of the Georgian regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as "independent states". We are convinced that only through the consolidated efforts of the international community, strict adherence to international law, and the introduction of tough sanctions can it be possible to force Russia to leave the occupied territories of Ukraine and Georgia and bring Russian war criminals to the strictest responsibility. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Daily Press Briefing by the Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General Department of Public Information . News and Media Division . New York 7 August 2025 The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today's briefing by Farhan Haq, Deputy Spokesman for the Secretary-General. Good afternoon, everyone. ** Humanitarian Funding Our colleagues at the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) tell us that more than halfway through the year, the humanitarian funding landscape remains dire. As of now, less than 17 per cent of the $46 billion required to meet global humanitarian needs in 2025 has been received. This marks an alarming 40 per cent drop compared to the same time last year. This funding shortfall is a stark reminder that millions of vulnerable people will go hungry without the aid they desperately need. As we have repeatedly warned, we and our partners are being forced to do more with less at tremendous cost to people. As you know, in June, facing the deepest funding cuts ever to hit the international humanitarian system, OCHA launched a hyper-prioritized global appeal to help 114 million people by targeting the most urgent needs within the broader 2025 Global Humanitarian Overview. ** Occupied Palestinian Territory Turning to the Gaza Strip, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs tells us that starvation and malnutrition, especially among children, continue to deepen. Our partners working in nutrition report that acute malnutrition among children in Gaza has reached the highest levels recorded to date. In July alone, nearly 12,000 children aged 6 to 59 months were identified as acutely malnourished out of 136,000 screened. Of these, over 2,500 children suffer from severe acute malnutrition the most life-threatening form. Forty children required hospitalization in stabilization centres. The proportion of children with severe acute malnutrition is rising. In June and July, 18 per cent of all acutely malnourished children had severe acute malnutrition, compared with 12 per cent between March and May. Humanitarian access constraints are adding to the malnutrition crisis. In July, our partners were only able to reach 3 per cent or 8,700 of the 290,000 children under the age of five who require feeding and micronutrient supplements. This is due to the severe shortage of lipid-based nutrient supplements entering Gaza. This marks a dramatic collapse in the malnutrition prevention programme. From April to June, an average of 76,000 children or a quarter of those in need were reached each month. The distribution of other key nutrition supplies for children, pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers has also declined sharply. Our partners working in nutrition reiterate that the overall volume of nutrition supplies entering Gaza remains far below what is needed to prevent a further deterioration of the nutrition situation. Moving to shelter, more than 1 million shelter items and 2.3 million items such as tents, tarps, and sealing-off materials have been procured and are currently stranded in Jordan and Egypt, as Israeli authorities have not approved their entry. No shelter materials have entered Gaza since 2 March, despite the immense needs. Existing stocks are fully depleted, and the shelter crisis continues to worsen. Most families in Gaza are living in severely overcrowded, unsafe, and undignified conditions, some with no shelter at all. An assessment in July of 44 displacement sites in Gaza City found that 43 sites almost all had families with no shelter. Eleven per cent of more than 6,500 surveyed households were reported to be living out in the open. The shelter situation is also further deteriorating due to ongoing bombardment, displacement orders and insecurity, which continue to displace families and disrupt humanitarian operations. Overall, since the Israeli announcement of the tactical pause to allow safe passages for our convoys, our colleagues tell us that realities on the ground remain largely the same. Aid that has entered remains by far insufficient and our convoys continue to face impediments on their way to delivering aid. While fewer humanitarian movements have been denied outright, missions that are approved still take hours to complete. As we mentioned here, some of the missions have taken more than 18 hours to be completed, and teams have been compelled to wait on roads that are often dangerous, congested or impassable. Yesterday, 5 out of 11 missions requiring coordination with Israeli authorities were facilitated. These included the collection of food from Kerem Shalom and Zikim crossings. Another four missions were impeded but were eventually fully accomplished. These included collection of fuel from Kerem Shalom crossing and transfer of fuel from southern to northern Gaza. While limited quantities of fuel have been entering Gaza over the past week, fuel supplies remain critically limited and unpredictable, significantly undermining the ability of humanitarian partners to deliver and sustain lifesaving services. One of these four missions was the medical evacuation of 15 children to Jordan, accompanied by 42 people, with support from the World Health Organization (WHO). While this is a positive step, the agency still reminds us that there are more than 14,800 patients in Gaza who still urgently need specialized medical care. With regard to commercial goods, several trucks containing food items have been entering Gaza over the past days. We will continue to monitor the situation and keep you posted, but as we have said repeatedly, what we need is unimpeded and predictable humanitarian access into and within Gaza, in parallel with the flow of commercial goods. These entries have resulted in different types of food returning to markets and a slight decrease in prices. ** Lebanon In southern Lebanon, the peacekeepers of the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) continue to observe Israel Defense Forces (IDF) ground and air military activities, including airstrikes by fighter jets yesterday in Sector East. According to Lebanon's Ministry of Public Health, Israeli air strikes yesterday led to fatalities, including one child. We once more urge the parties to refrain from any activities that may endanger civilians. In a major operation to find unauthorized weapon caches and infrastructure, UNIFIL peacekeepers working in coordination with the Lebanese Armed Forces were deployed over a 320 square kilometre area in Sector West this week. The discoveries included networks of seven fortified tunnels, three bunkers, artillery, rocket launchers, hundreds of explosive shells and rockets, anti-tank mines, and about 250 ready-to-use improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Mortar shells and rockets were also found in Sector East. In addition, unexploded ordnance was discovered in different areas, including an anti-tank mine and rockets in Sector West and mortar rounds in Sector East. They were all referred to the Lebanese Army. UNIFIL demining teams recently completed the clearance of mines and vegetation around five Blue Line markers ahead of the markers' refurbishment. These are among about 10 markers damaged or destroyed during recent hostilities. Clearance operations around the remaining markers will begin next week. ** Security Council This morning, the head of the UN Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS), Leonardo Santos Simao, briefed the Security Council. He told its members that the security situation in the region remains of paramount concern. He said terrorist activity has surged in scale, complexity and sophistication, including through the use of drones, alternative internet communication, and increasing collusion with transnational organized crime. Growing insecurity, Mr. Simao added, compounds an already dire humanitarian situation, and climate change continues to exacerbate those dynamics. Regarding the Women Peace Security and the Youth Peace Security Agendas, Mr. Simao reported that all countries in the region have National Action Plans on Security Council Resolution 1325, and several have made progress through legal reforms, gender strategies, and institutional changes. Yet despite these gains, he pointed out that gaps remain, adding that UNOWAS is expanding its collaboration with UN-Women. For her part, Sima Bahous, the Head of UN-Women, called on Council members to urge Governments and regional bodies to ensure women's full, equal, meaningful, and safe participation in transitional Governments and peace and security efforts. She added that at least 15 per cent of violent extremism prevention funding should be invested in gender equality. She also called for support for the rapid deployment of Women Protection Advisors to UNOWAS to monitor sexual violence trends, engage with parties to conflict, and secure time-bound commitments. ** Sudan Turning to Sudan, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs warns that the humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate, putting even more civilians' lives at risk. OCHA's Director of Operations and Advocacy, Edem Wosornu, who is currently in the country, noted that the suffering is immense, with people trapped, displaced or returning to ruin. She called for unimpeded access and urgent support to reach those on the frontlines of hardship. And just to remind you, she will speak at you tomorrow's Noon Briefing from Port Sudan. As we have previously mentioned here, with increasingly alarming food shortages and spiralling prices, people in El Fasher are reported to be resorting to eating animal feed in what is an increasingly catastrophic situation. Engagement around the calls from the Secretary-General and the Emergency Relief Coordinator for a pause in the area is more important than ever. El Fasher also has the highest cost of basic goods nationwide nearly $1,000 per household per month, which is far beyond the reach of most families. This includes more than $700 for food alone, more than eight times the cost of basic food items in other parts of the country. These steep costs, coupled with the siege and lack of aid delivery by road for over a year, have left thousands facing starvation. In an effort to curb public health risks in North Darfur, our humanitarian partners and local authorities launched a sanitation campaign on 5 August targeting 11,000 people in the localities of El Fasher and Dar As Salam. The initiative aims to prevent disease outbreaks in overcrowded displacement sites during the ongoing rainy season. Our humanitarian partners are also scaling up the response to the cholera outbreak in the locality of Tawila, which has absorbed 330,000 displaced people fleeing conflict in Zamzam and El Fasher since April. They are increasing the number of treatment centres and oral rehydration points. In Blue Nile State, cholera cases have surged to nearly 2,800 since late June, with over 40 new infections recorded yesterday alone. Fourteen deaths have been reported. ** Ghana The Secretary-General is deeply saddened by the news of the helicopter crash in Ghana on 6 August, which claimed the lives of eight individuals, including the Minister of Defense; the Minister for Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation; and the Acting Deputy National Security Coordinator. He extends his heartfelt condolences to the families of the deceased and to the people and Government of Ghana for their loss. ** Afghanistan And last, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) is urgently calling for international support as Afghanistan faces one of the largest return movements in recent history. Since September 2023, more than 4 million Afghans have returned from Iran and Pakistan, with over 1.5 million returning in 2025 alone. IOM notes that a further 1 million Afghans are expected to return from Pakistan following the Pakistan Government's decision not to extend the stay of Afghan nationals. IOM warns that without urgent support, the systems in place face severe risk of collapse, putting millions at risk. A report from the Afghanistan Gender in Humanitarian Action Working Group, a humanitarian working group co-chaired by UN-Women and CARE International, points out that women and girls represent one-third of returnees from Iran so far in 2025, and about half of all returnees from Pakistan. The report warns that like all women and girls in Afghanistan, returnee women and girls face increased risks of poverty, early marriage, violence, exploitation and unprecedented restrictions on their rights, movements and freedoms. ** Questions and Answers Deputy Spokesman : That's it for me. Yes. Edie? Question : Thank you very much, Farhan. Does the Secretary-General have any comment on the announcement that Presidents [Donald] Trump and [Vladimir] Putin will meet possibly in the next week as early as that? Deputy Spokesman : Well, we'll have to see what happens. But clearly, we do welcome all efforts that are intended to bring about peace in Ukraine in line with the UN Charter, international law, and the resolutions of the General Assembly and the Security Council. Question : And another Trump-related question does the United Nations have any comment on the imposition of US tariffs that went into effect today widely across the world? Deputy Spokesman : Well, the Secretary-General has made clear that he believes that all trade wars are ruinous, and they need to be avoided. So, this is disheartening news. At the same level, he wants to make sure that all Governments are aware that at a time of trade wars, that measures need to be taken to protect the poorest and most vulnerable sectors of society, who will certainly suffer as a result of the higher prices. Pam? Question : Thanks, Farhan. You said a few things about this possibility, but what is the UN's plan or reaction to the Israel mulling of four to five-month intensification of the military action in Gaza? Thank you. Deputy Spokesman : Well, we'll have to see what actually happens, but we stand firmly against any escalation of the conflict. As you know, it's already been extremely ruinous. You've had more than 60,000 casualties from this conflict just over the past nearly two years as it is. And there's the prospect of huge levels of humanitarian suffering, including potential starvations that could worsen if the conflict gets worse. So certainly, what we are trying to do is provide the needed humanitarian aid, but that would become much more difficult if there's an expanded conflict. Question : And just as a follow-up, is the UN planning anything in evacuations or other kinds of aid delivery routes in that event? And has the Israeli Government in any way reached out to the UN, if this were to occur? Deputy Spokesman : I don't have anything on contacts with the Israeli Government on this particular topic. What we are trying to do is deal with existing conditions, which are difficult enough as it is. If they worsen, it will be unimaginably hard to ensure the security and safety of the Palestinian people. Yes, please. Question : Thank you, Farhan. On Lebanon, is the working assumption of UNIFIL that the weapons cache that was discovered belonged to Hezbollah? I don't think I heard you mention any assumptions around who it belonged to. And then a quick follow-up on that. Hezbollah rejected a cabinet decision in Lebanon to disarm it. What contacts has the Secretary-General or other senior officials had with Hezbollah or Lebanese officials about those efforts and those negotiations on disarmament? Thank you. Deputy Spokesman : Well, on the latter part, our Special Coordinator in Lebanon, Ms. [Jeanine] Hennis-Plasschaert, has been in touch with various political groupings in Lebanon and is continuing to work with them to ensure that they deal with the challenges that Lebanon faces in a unified manner. Regarding the arms caches, I mean, we can't definitively prove who is behind them, but you're aware of the activities in southern Lebanon and the role that Hezbollah has played there in the past. Yes. Alexey? Question : Thanks so much, Farhan. Firstly, on the closed consultations on Bosnia and Herzegovina, who will brief the Council on the behalf of the UN? Deputy Spokesman : Hold on. Let me just check. One second. No briefer by the Secretariat is expected at that meeting. Question : Alright. But maybe you have any comments on the situation regarding Milorad Dodik, Bosnian Serb leader? Deputy Spokesman : We simply would ask all groups to cooperate with the basic rule of law in the country. Yes, please. Question : Thank you, Farhan. On the UN80 initiative, since the Secretary-General would like to cut certain number of employees, when does it start? And second question, we read the reports on UNICEF, UN-Women, UNFPA [United Nations Population Fund] possibly moving to Nairobi. You said it's one of the options. When could we know the exact decisions? I tried to email them, but they don't seem to be very keen on talking about it. Thank you. Deputy Spokesman : Well, these are processes that they're working with their respective staffs and their respective executive boards. You will recall that all the agencies, funds, and programmes have their own executive boards that they are in dialogue with. So, this is one of the options again that they're considering in terms of relocating some staff, including administrative staff. As far as I'm aware, the UN Office in Nigeria has already made clear its efforts to host some administrative staff as needed, and we'll have to see how that proceeds. From the Secretary-General's standpoint, the UN80 proposals are working their way in different work streams. The work stream that has to do with actions he can take under his authority, the first work stream, is something where he is working on information about different budgetary steps that he can take, and the Member States will be informed of that, in time for their next session. Yes. In the back. Question : Thank you, Farhan. A quick follow-up on Lebanon. Israel justified yesterday's strikes as targeting Hezbollah's underground assets. Does the Secretary-General view this as what Israel calls "legitimate pre-emptive self- defence", or does he view it again as actions that risk fuelling broader regional instability? Thank you. Deputy Spokesman : It's the latter. What the Secretary-General wants is for all the parties to respect the ceasefire that was agreed to last year. Yes, please. Question : Thank you, Farhan. According to the World Health Organization, at least 99 people have died of starvation in Gaza this year and including 29 children. So, the people in Gaza seems to be facing famine or starvation instead of malnutrition. So, what's the Secretary-General's comments on this? Thank you. Deputy Spokesman : Well, you've heard what the Secretary-General had to say. It's crucially important that as much aid that is waiting outside of Gaza be allowed in, so that we can actually proceed to avoid further loss of life through severe malnutrition. You saw, you heard the statistics I read at the start of this briefing. Malnutrition rates, including among children, are alarmingly high. And so, we need more crossing points to be opened. We need more humanitarian aid to go in, and also, we need commercial traffic to go in to reduce the sense of desperation felt by the population in Gaza. Volodymyr? Question : Thank you, Farhan, the same subject: You said yesterday that in Gaza, a two-ounce pack of sugar costs some $170, which translates to over $3,000 per kilogram. It's hard to imagine such a market, such buyers and sellers in the face of hunger. However, Israel and Palestine use the metric system. No one then measures sugar ounces. Such packaging is likely from humanitarian aid. So, does that mean that the food sold in Gaza's market is looted or seized humanitarian aid? Deputy Spokesman : It just means that those are the calculations that our colleagues in OCHA were using for the measurement. Obviously, different people can use the metric system, but they were giving the figures in ounces. Dezhi? Question : On Cambodia and Thailand conflict, today both parties, they reached an agreement in Kuala Lumpur. I just want to read out some of... oh, yeah. Both sides agreed to a ceasefire involving all types of weapons and also agreed to abide by the international law on the captured soldiers, and both parties calls this meeting a positive one. What is the reaction from the Secretary-General on the latest development of the conflict between Cambodia and Thailand? Thank you. Deputy Spokesman : Well, yeah, from our standpoint, the Secretary-General is pleased at efforts by the leadership in Cambodia and Thailand to halt all fighting. And he hopes that they will continue to be in dialogue, to resolve all outstanding issues between the two countries. Yes. Murad? Question : Thank you. How can this lack of funding, the humanitarian response around the world be explained? And to what extent the new US policies led to this situation? Deputy Spokesman : These are not a shortfall caused by any one Government. Many different Governments are responsible, given how steep the drop is. So, we've been talking in many recent years about increasing levels of donor fatigue, and that's a very real thing. But ultimately, the needs of people around the world cannot be forgotten, and we're trying to appeal again and again for all Member States to realize their own responsibilities to the community around them. Part of what OCHA has done is that they did have a hyper-prioritized emergency appeal, focusing on the people most in need, but even that amount has not been sufficiently supported. Yes. In the back. Question : Thank you. A logistics question. Israel has shunned many of the agencies that deliver aid into Gaza. The United States has for the last four or five months been pressing the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). The question is, if the situation is so dire, why not try to see if there's a way for the agencies to work together? Deputy Spokesman : Which agencies to work together? You mean, you're talking again about the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation? Correspondent : Yes. Deputy Spokesman : Okay. Well, regarding that we welcome anyone raising their voice for aid to reach civilians across Gaza, and that pressure matters. We already have a plan that's built on long-established humanitarian principles: neutrality, impartiality, independence and humanity. That means we go where the needs are greatest. We answer to civilians in need and not the warring parties. Inside Gaza, we have the people and networks and the trust to deliver, and we just need to be able to go about that. Yes. Please. Question : Farhan, going back to UN80, does the Secretary-General plan to get, when you said he will get rid of 20 per cent of the personnel, is he going to get rid of ASG (Assistant Secretary-General), USG (Under-Secretary-General), who sometimes don't do anything? Or is he going to only fire the P1, P2, P3 and so on? Deputy Spokesman : First off, I dispute the idea that Assistant Secretaries-General and Under-Secretaries-General don't do anything. Correspondent : Oh yes, some of them... Deputy Spokesman : I understand the point you're trying to make. Correspondent : Yes. Deputy Spokesman : But honestly, there's reasons why all those jobs exist, and they're mandated jobs in general. The Secretary-General in fact made very clear he doesn't want lower-level positions to be the ones that are let go of. Ultimately, it's important to have new blood go into the organization, and those are the places from which they enter. So, when offices are looking at post, they're oftentimes looking at more senior posts, not the lowest-level ones. Yes, Gabriel. Question : Thanks, Farhan. I just want to go back to Gaza and follow-up on Pam's question in a little bit. I don't know, if you saw or not, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in an interview with an American media outlet, confirmed that Israel will go ahead with its plan to, in his words, completely occupy the entire Gaza Strip. Is this legal? Deputy Spokesman : We've already made clear the fact that the occupation of the occupied territories cannot and must not continue. It is not accepted under international law. Regarding the comments, we'll have to see what actions the Government takes and we will respond accordingly. But we've already made clear our concerns that any expansion of the conflict will be catastrophic. Alright. Have a good afternoon. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Gaza: Hospitals 'at near-total collapse', staff overwhelmed by the injured 7 August 2025 - Exhausted UN aid workers in Gaza on Thursday continued to report a lack of food across the enclave, while medical teams warned that hospitals are overwhelmed by a daily influx of injured people and close to "near-total collapse". Meanwhile, UN agencies confirmed the deaths of three Palestinians from Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS), a rare auto-immune disease that can cause sudden muscle weakness and even paralysis. Before war erupted in Gaza in October 2023, only a handful of cases surfaced every year. Mass casualties now the norm "Hospitals are overwhelmed by mass casualty incidents, with an average of eight incidents per day," said the UN aid coordination agency, OCHA, citing health partners. In an update on the dire health crisis in Gaza, OCHA noted that specialised rehabilitation facilities were also overstretched handling complex trauma injuries and cases of Guillain-Barre. To date, three deaths out of around 64 cases of GBS have been confirmed by the health authorities in Gaza. Two of the deceased were children. According to the UN World Health Organization (WHO), 30 per cent of GBS patients require intensive care but there is no available stock of the primary medication needed to treat it, intravenous immunoglobulin. Aid-drops are inadequate: WFP In a related development, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) echoed repeated calls for aid to flood into Gaza, as opposed to the very limited amounts being allowed by the Israeli authorities. "We can't airdrop our way out of an unfolding famine. Not in Gaza," insisted Cindy McCain, WFP Executive Director in a social media post late Wednesday. The UN agency chief underscored that "500,000 people are starving today" and the only way to help them is to get food to them at scale and by land. "We can't afford to wait; Gaza is out of food and out of time," Ms. McCain said. WHO stocks destroyed The destruction of WHO's main medical warehouse in an attack on Deir Al-Balah late last month continues to impact lifesaving care. In particular, the critical shortage of antibiotics has hampered treatment of meningitis, whose numbers are now in the hundreds - "the highest number recorded since the beginning of the escalation", the OCHA update noted. Isolation measures have been implemented, including the separation of the external department at Al Khair Hospital from the Nasser Medical Complex and the establishment of isolation tents at Al Aqsa Hospital to safely manage suspected cases. Explosive weapons such as bombs and grenades have accounted for 83 per cent of medical consultations, said OCHA. It cited partner NGO Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) whose data covered more than 200,000 medical consultations in six MSF-supported health facilities in Gaza in 2024. It cited partner NGO Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) whose data covered more than 200,000 medical consultations in six MSF-supported health facilities in Gaza in 2024. What is Guillain-Barre Syndrome? Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS) is a neurological and autoimmune disease that affects the nervous system and causes progressive muscle paralysis. It is not contagious and is often triggered by a prior infection - viral or bacterial - that disrupts the immune system. In most cases, patients can recover fully within a few weeks. But WHO stressed that even in the best healthcare settings, three to five per cent of patients die from complications of the disease, such as respiratory muscle paralysis, sepsis, pulmonary embolism, or cardiac arrest. There have been several outbreaks of infectious diseases in Gaza since war erupted following Hamas-led terror attacks in Israel, including polio, cholera, hepatitis A and scabies. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Afghan women returnees face rising risks, UN warns 7 August 2025 - The international community must provide greater support to Afghan women and girl returnees from Iran and Pakistan who face increased risk of impoverishment, early marriage and growing threats to their rights and safety. UN Women - which champions gender empowerment and equality - alongside the international humanitarian agency CARE International and partners, issued the call in a report published on Thursday that also highlights the key challenges and needs of women aid workers assisting the returnees. The Gender Alert comes amid a surge in returnees to Afghanistan, where the Taliban has ruled for four years, implementing numerous decrees that restrict women's rights amid economic crisis, climate shocks and immense humanitarian needs. Strangers in a strange land Since September 2023, more than 2.4 million undocumented Afghan migrants have returned, or were forced to return, from Pakistan and Iran. Women and girls account for a third of returnees from Iran so far this year, and about half of those coming from Pakistan. Many arrive in a country they have never lived in, with no home, income or access to education and healthcare. A myriad of risks Like all women and girls in Afghanistan, the returnees face increased risks of poverty, early marriage, violence, exploitation and unprecedented restrictions on their rights, movements and freedoms. "Vulnerable women and girls arriving with nothing into communities that are already stretched to breaking point puts them at even greater risk," said Susan Ferguson, UN Women Special Representative in the country. "They are determined to rebuild with dignity, but we need more funding to provide the dedicated support they need and to ensure women humanitarian workers are there to reach them." Housing, income and education The report outlines urgent and long-term needs, such as safe and affordable shelter, livelihood support and girls' education. As one participant in a focus group in Nangahar province put it, "We need a place to stay, a chance to learn and a way to earn." Currently, only 10 per cent of women-headed households live in permanent shelter, nearly four in 10 fear eviction, and all girls are banned from attending secondary school. Impact of aid cuts Although women humanitarian workers at border points are critical to reaching female returnees, cuts in foreign aid and movement restrictions increasingly hamper their efforts. For example, women humanitarians are required to be accompanied by a male guardian, or mahram, when travelling. However, "funding cuts have sharply eroded staff mahram support in the provinces of Kandahar and Nangarhar, leaving provision inconsistent, delayed, or absent altogether," the report said. The funding cuts have severely weakened the capacity of humanitarian organizations to respond, and women humanitarian workers at border points report that they are overwhelmed by the sheer number of arrivals and being unable to meet even their basic needs. 'Distressed, disoriented and without hope' "Witnessing the volume of arrivals and the hardship faced by women, children and families - many distressed, disoriented and without hope - has left a deep impact on all of us responding to this crisis," said Graham Davison, CARE Afghanistan Director. He underscored the urgent need for support to provide basic services, safe spaces and protection for women and girl returnees. The report noted that Afghanistan is already facing one of the world's most dire humanitarian crises, driven by decades of conflict, poverty and natural disasters. As this latest wave of returns threatens to push already fragile communities further into crisis, the partners urged the international community to act now to protect the rights of Afghan women and girls and to invest in the women humanitarians who support them. Record number of returns Separately, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) also called for international support as Afghanistan confronts "one of the largest return movements in recent history." Returnee numbers are on track to increase as one million more Afghans are expected to return from Pakistan following the Government's decision not to extend their stay. IOM operates four reception centres at major border crossings in Afghanistan, including Islam Qala and Milak with Iran, and Torkham and Spin Boldak with Pakistan. The UN agency is appealing for additional funding to scale up its response to address growing needs at the borders and in areas of return. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address UN officials warn of starvation amid 'gender emergency' in war-torn Sudan 7 August 2025 - Hungry civilians are reportedly eating animal feed as women and girls face a "gender emergency" in war-torn Sudan, UN officials said on Thursday. Particularly hard hit is El Fasher, where hunger is growing, with the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) warning of a deteriorating situation that is putting even more civilians' lives at risk. OCHA's Director of Operations and Advocacy, Edem Wosornu, who is currently in the country, said the suffering is immense, with people trapped, displaced or returning to face communities in ruins. She called for unimpeded access and urgent support to reach those on the frontlines of hardship. Briefing reporters at UN Headquarters in New York, UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq said "with increasingly alarming food shortages and spiraling prices, people in El Fasher are reported to be resorting to eating animal feed in what is an increasingly catastrophic situation." Thousands face starvation, cholera threat El Fasher has the highest cost of basic goods nationwide at nearly $1,000 per household per month, which is far beyond the reach of most families. This includes more than $700 for food alone - more than eight times the cost of basic food items in other parts of the country, Mr. Haq said. "These steep costs, coupled with the siege and lack of aid delivery by road for over a year, have left thousands facing starvation," he added, noting that engagement around the calls from the Secretary-General and the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator for a pause in the area is "more important than ever. In an effort to curb public health risks in North Darfur, UN humanitarian partners and local authorities launched a sanitation campaign on 5 August targeting 11,000 people in the localities of El Fasher and Dar As Salam with a goal of preventing disease outbreaks in overcrowded displacement sites during the ongoing rainy season. They are also scaling up efforts to respond to a cholera outbreak in the locality of Tawila, which has absorbed 330,000 displaced people fleeing conflict in Zamzam and El Fasher since April. In Blue Nile State, cholera cases have surged to nearly 2,800 since late June, with over 40 new infections recorded yesterday alone, with 14 deaths have been reported, the UN Deputy Spokesperson said. 'Gender emergency' Warnings also came from gender equality agency, UN Women. "This crisis is a gender emergency," said Salvator Nkurunziza, the agency's representative in Sudan, told UN News. "Displaced women and girls can be subject to the risks of exploitation and abuse, especially during the delivery of aid, where protection mechanisms are weak or absent in some locations," he said. According to the agency's Unit for Combating Violence Against Women in Sudan, as of March 2025, there have been 1,138 cases of rape recorded since April 2023, including 193 children, most of whom were in conflict-affected areas, he said. "The actual number may be higher as fear of stigma and other social and security reasons prevent accurate reporting of gender-based violence crimes," he warned. Women, girls 'most affected' by food insecurity "Certainly, these crimes including rape and harassment can prevent women and girls from access food assistance," he said. Unreported gender-based violence crimes in besieged areas can be higher than shown in recent statistics, he continued, emphasising that women and girls are the most affected by food insecurity in those areas, and the situations there indicate a looming hunger crisis. "Women are central to the survival of their households, especially in displacement settings, but their ability to access food assistance is deeply compromised," Mr. Nkurunziza said. "Female-headed households, already three times more likely to be food insecure, are now the hungriest group in the country." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Erasure or empowerment? In Africa's Sahel, women confront a stark choice 7 August 2025 - In Africa's Sahel region, deepening violence and poverty - driven by displacement, hunger and terrorism - are stripping women and girls of their right to safety, education and a viable future. Risks to women and girls across this vast region are severe and systemic, as political instability, environmental collapse and a declining international presence take their toll. From abductions and child marriage to exclusion from schools and public life, their lives and opportunities are being steadily stripped away, Sima Bahous, Executive Director of UN Women, told ambassadors in the Security Council on Thursday. "In the Sahel, where the world's gravest concerns converge, women and girls bear the brunt," she said. She added that crises due to increasing terrorism, poverty, hunger, a crumbling aid system and shrinking civic space are "converging - violently and disproportionately - on their bodies and their futures." Life is being erased In countries like Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger and Chad, life for women under extremist control "is one of erasure from public space," Ms. Bahous said. Their movement, visibility and even clothing are heavily restricted. Schools have been burned or shut down, leaving more than one million girls without access to education. "Abduction is not a by-product of terrorism in the Sahel - it is a tactic," Ms. Bahous said, noting that in Burkina Faso alone, the number of women and girls abducted has more than doubled over the past 18 months. In Mali, 90 percent of women are affected by female genital mutilation. Rates of child marriage in parts of the region are among the highest in the world. Maternal mortality - driven by early pregnancy and poverty - is among the world's worst. Dwindling resilience and attention "The distances women and girls travel for water or firewood are growing longer, while their safety is shrinking," Ms. Bahous said. Two-thirds of women surveyed report feeling unsafe during these journeys. Climate change only deepens the hardship, with extreme heat and drought increasing both mortality and food insecurity across the region. Yet despite mounting needs, international support is waning. Only eight per cent of this year's humanitarian appeal for the region had been met by May. Development assistance has fallen nearly 20 per cent over the past two years. As a result, women's protection and empowerment programmes have been suspended, while government ministries focused on gender equality are being defunded, merged or closed. Political space closing At the same time, democratic and civic space is narrowing. In Niger, only 14 percent of participants in recent institutional reforms were women. In Mali, just two out of 36 members drafting the new national charter were women. Leonardo Santos Simao, head of the UN Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS), also warned that a deteriorating security environment - marked by waves of jihadist attacks and political turbulence - is undermining progress and fuelling displacement. He added that shrinking space for media, civil society and women's organizations is threatening hard-won gains and that a broader crisis is undermining governance and peacebuilding efforts. "The region's economy remains highly vulnerable to external shocks. Although macroeconomic indicators show improvement, rising debt levels continue to constrain governments' capacity to provide essential services," he said. Fragile gains Still, progress is possible - and in some instances, visible. In Chad, women now hold 34 percent of parliamentary seats. In conflict-prone border zones in Mali and Niger, women's participation in local peacebuilding rose from five percent to 25 percent, helping resolve over 100 disputes related to scarce natural resources. Across the region, joint UN programming has increased adolescent girls' return to school by 23 percent, while doubling women's participation in local governance across 34 conflict-affected communities. In addition, a UN-World Bank initiative has reached over three million adolescent girls with health care, safe spaces and life-skills training. Stand with Sahel's women Yet, these gains remain fragile. "We cannot abandon the Sahel - whatever the politics, whatever the funding landscapes, whatever the geopolitical headwinds," Ms. Bahous said in conclusion. "Let us stand with the women of the Sahel - not out of charity, but in recognition of their power to shape a better future." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Facing rising risks, landlocked nations launch climate alliance at UN summit By Nargiz Shekinskaya in Awaza, Turkmenistan 7 August 2025 - Countries agreed Thursday to form a new climate negotiating bloc to advocate for the unique needs of nations without direct access to the sea. The decision was reached at the Third UN Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDC3), currently under way in Awaza, Turkmenistan. Operating within the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the group aims to amplify their voices in global climate talks, where their distinct vulnerabilities have long been overlooked. Disproportionate climate risks Although LLDCs account for approximately 12 per cent of the world's land surface, they have experienced nearly 20 per cent of the world's droughts and landslides over the past decade - underscoring their disproportionate exposure to climate-related disasters. Lacking access to the sea, these countries rely heavily on neighboring transit states, which further increases their vulnerability to climate-induced disruptions. The Awaza Programme of Action is not the first global framework to address the development needs of LLDCs, but for the first time, such an action plan includes a strong focus on adaptation to climate-related disasters. A call for resilience and preparedness Natalia Alonso Cano, Chief of the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia, emphasized this in an interview with UN News. LLDCs, she said, face overlapping risks: over half of their territory is classified as dryland; many are in mountainous regions; and some sit in seismically active zones. "Landlocked countries in general, they suffer about three times the economic losses compared to the global average," she said. "Also, the mortality rates [when disasters strike these countries] much higher than the global average. Such big difference explained by a combination of this vulnerability, but also a combination of exacerbating impacts." Limited capacity, growing challenges Landlocked developing countries often struggle to respond to climate challenges due to limited financial capacity, dependence on undiversified, commodity-based economies, and weak governance. In 2024, one-third of LLDCs were either in conflict or considered unstable. The new 10-year UN action plan aims to support LLDCs in climate adaptation, sustainable development, and disaster risk reduction. "We know that early warning saves lives. It's a fact," Ms. Alonso Cano explained. "When you can communicate to the communities affected that something is going to happen and they need to prepare - to evacuate, for example - they need to do certain things. If they know what they need to do, that's part of the early warning system. Obviously, it saves lives, and it saves livelihoods as well." She gave an example of drought preparedness: "If there [is] a systemic drought in an area, you work in the preparedness with the communities, they can, for example, take certain measures, reduce maybe the amount of cattle in the case of that, they can congregate towards points of water, etc. There are a number of measures to address that." Ms. Alonso Cano stressed the need for long-term planning: "We need to take into account what is going to happen in 10, 20, 30 years. And climate change will become more extreme - we know this for sure." Women and girls at the forefront Within LLDCs, women and girls are particularly at risk, making gender a key concern at Thursday's events at LLDC3 in Awaza. One highlight was a Women Leaders' Forum, opened by UN Under Secretary-General Rabab Fatima, who emphasized that sustainable development cannot be achieved without the full participation of women and girls. Ms. Fatima, the High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States, noted progress over the last 25 years: women now occupy one-third of parliamentary seats in LLDCs, compared to just 7.8 per cent in 2000. "This is higher than the global average," she said, adding that 11 of the world's 54 female speakers of parliament come from LLDCs. Persistent gender gaps Yet challenges remain. "Progress is uneven and far too slow. One in four women in LLDCs live in extreme poverty - that is nearly 75 million women; and nearly half - about 150 million - face food insecurity." Employment statistics show wide gender disparities. While 80 per cent of women in LLDCs work informally, without contracts or protections, the global average is 56 percent. One in three girls in LLDCs marries early - nearly twice the global rate - and only one in three completes secondary education. In addition, just 36 per cent of women in these countries have access to the internet. "That is why gender-responsive industrial and development policies are so important," Ms. Fatima stressed. "These policies must be tailored to national contexts, and industrial development in rural areas, business support, formalization of employment, and strengthened partnerships must be priorities." Digital inclusion for women and girls She also called for improved internet access and education for women and girls. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU), a UN specialized agency, is addressing these challenges. Dr. Cosmas Luckysin Zavazava, Director of the ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau, told UN News that while some regions such as the CIS have achieved gender parity in internet access, LLDCs still face major barriers. "That's why we've developed special programmes for women and girls in this region," he said. "It's not just about access, but also about building coding skills and introducing girls to fields like robotics. Our programmes aim to motivate young women and girls to pursue careers in STEM sectors." Turning point for action As the Awaza conference nears its conclusion, participants are expected on Friday to reaffirm their political commitment to the Awaza Programme of Action, which was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2024. The time has come for implementation - or as High Representative Rabab Fatima put it, "Let this forum be a turning point. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Today's top news: Occupied Palestinian Territory, Sudan, Global Humanitarian Overview UNOCHA - United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Occupied Palestinian Territory Hunger deepens in Gaza, with acute malnutrition among children hitting record high OCHA says that starvation and malnutrition, especially among children, continue to deepen in Gaza. Nutrition partners report that acute malnutrition among children in Gaza has reached the highest levels recorded to date. In July alone, nearly 12,000 children aged 6 to 59 months were identified as acutely malnourished out of 136,000 screened. Of these, over 2,500 children suffer from severe acute malnutrition - the most life-threatening form. Forty children required hospitalization in stabilization centres. The proportion of children with severe acute malnutrition is rising. In June and July, 18 per cent of all acutely malnourished children had severe acute malnutrition, compared with 12 per cent between March and May. Humanitarian access constraints are adding to the malnutrition crisis. In July, our partners were only able to reach three per cent - or 8,700 - of the 290,000 children under the age of five who require feeding and micronutrient supplements. This is due to the severe shortage of lipid-based nutrient supplements entering Gaza. This marks a dramatic collapse in the malnutrition prevention programme. From April to June, an average of 76,000 children - or a quarter of those in need - were reached each month. The distribution of other key nutrition supplies - for children, pregnant women and breastfeeding mothers - has also declined sharply. Partners reiterate that the overall volume of nutrition supplies entering Gaza remains far below what is needed to prevent a further deterioration of the nutrition situation. More than 1 million shelter items and 2.3 million items such as tents, tarps, and sealing-off materials have been procured and are currently stranded in Jordan and Egypt, as Israeli authorities have not approved their entry. No shelter materials have entered Gaza since 2 March, despite the immense needs. Existing stocks are fully depleted, and the shelter crisis continues to worsen. Most families in Gaza are living in severely overcrowded, unsafe, and undignified conditions, some with no shelter at all. An assessment in July of 44 displacement sites in Gaza city found that 43 sites - almost all - had families with no shelter. Eleven per cent of more than 6,500 surveyed households were reported to be living out in the open. The shelter situation is also further deteriorating due to ongoing bombardment, displacement orders and insecurity, which continue to displace families and disrupt humanitarian operations. Overall, since the Israeli announcement of the tactical pause to allow safe passages for our convoys, OCHA says that realities on the ground remain largely the same. Aid that has entered remains by far insufficient and UN convoys continue to face impediments on their way to delivering aid. While fewer humanitarian movements have been denied outright, missions that are approved still take hours to complete. Some of the missions have taken more than 18 hours to be completed, and teams have been compelled to wait on roads that are often dangerous, congested or impassable. Yesterday, five out of 11 missions requiring coordination with Israeli authorities were facilitated. These included collection of food from Kerem Shalom and Zikim crossings. Another four missions were impeded but were eventually fully accomplished. These included collection of fuel from Kerem Shalom crossing and transfer of fuel from southern to northern Gaza. While limited quantities of fuel have been entering Gaza over the past week, fuel supplies remain critically limited and unpredictable, significantly undermining the ability of humanitarian partners to deliver and sustain lifesaving services. One of these four missions was the medical evacuation of 15 children to Jordan, accompanied by 42 people, with support from the World Health Organization. While this is a positive step, the agency still reminds us that there are more than 14,800 patients in Gaza who still urgently need specialized medical care. With regard to commercial goods, several trucks carrying food items have been entering Gaza over the past days. The UN will continue to monitor the situation, but as it has been said repeatedly, what is needed is unimpeded and predictable humanitarian access into and within Gaza is essential, in parallel with the flow of commercial goods. These entries have resulted in different types of food returning to markets and a slight decrease in prices. OCHA stresses again that unimpeded and predictable humanitarian access into and within Gaza is imperative. Without it, time and resources are wasted, lives are lost, and the response cannot match the scale of the needs. Sudan More civilians at risk amid deteriorating humanitarian situation OCHA warns that the humanitarian situation in Sudan continues to deteriorate, putting even more civilians' lives at risk. OCHA's Director of Operations and Advocacy, Edem Wosornu, who is currently in the country, said in a social media post today that the suffering is immense, with people trapped, displaced or returning to ruin. She called for unimpeded access and urgent support to reach those on the frontlines of hardship. A new report released yesterday by the Yale School of Public Health's Humanitarian Research Lab confirms that El Fasher, the state capital of North Darfur, is fully encircled by armed actors, with checkpoints at every major road out of the city. Satellite imagery from the Yale report also indicates a significant increase in burials at civilian cemeteries in El Fasher between early May and the beginning of this month, indicative of increased fatalities in the besieged city. The report further confirms that two markets, three schools and two mosques have been bombarded since the end of June, with some of these sites understood to have been serving as civilian shelters or community kitchens. With increasingly alarming food shortages and spiraling prices, people in El Fasher are reported to be resorting to eating animal feed in what is an increasingly catastrophic situation. Engagement around the calls from the Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Tom Fletcher, for a pause in the area is more important than ever. El Fasher also has the highest cost of basic goods nationwide - nearly US$1,000 per household per month - far beyond the reach of most families. This includes more than $700 for food alone, more than eight times the cost of basic food items in other parts of the country. These steep costs, coupled with the siege and lack of aid delivery by road for over a year, have left thousands facing starvation. In an effort to curb public health risks in North Darfur, humanitarian partners and local authorities launched a sanitation campaign on 5 August targeting 11,000 people in the localities of El Fasher and Dar As Salam. The campaign includes the distribution of critical cleaning supplies such as brooms, shovels, waste barrels and wheelbarrows. The initiative aims to prevent disease outbreaks in overcrowded displacement sites during the ongoing rainy season. Humanitarian partners are also scaling up the response to the cholera outbreak in the locality of Tawila, which has absorbed 330,000 displaced people fleeing conflict in Zamzam and El Fasher since April. They are increasing treatment centres and oral rehydration points. In Blue Nile State, cholera cases have surged to nearly 2,800 since late June, with over 40 new infections recorded yesterday alone. Fourteen deaths have been reported. Humanitarian funding/Global Humanitarian Overview update Humanitarian funding landscape remains dire, leaving millions of vulnerable people without aid OCHA says that more than halfway through the year, the humanitarian funding landscape remains dire. As of now, less than 17 percent of the $46 billion required to meet global humanitarian needs in 2025 has been received. This marks an alarming 40 per cent drop compared to the same time last year. This funding shortfall is a stark reminder that millions of vulnerable people will go without the aid they desperately need. The UN and its humanitarian partners are being forced to do more with less - at tremendous cost to people. In June, facing the deepest funding cuts ever to hit the international humanitarian system, OCHA launched a hyper-prioritized global appeal to help 114 million people by targeting the most urgent needs within the broader 2025 Global Humanitarian Overview. Posted on 7 August 2025 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Security Council Press Statement on Situation in Democratic Republic of Congo Press Release Security Council SC/16139 7 August 2025 The following Security Council press statement was issued today by Council President Eloy Alfaro de Alba (Panama): The members of the Security Council condemned in the strongest terms the heinous attacks carried out by the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) armed group in the night of 26-27 July on a place of worship in Komanda, Ituri province in the north-east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which resulted in the death and injury of numerous civilians, including women and children. They expressed their deepest condolences to the families of the victims and to the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and wished a swift recovery to those injured. The members of the Council underscore the importance of holding accountable the perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors of these reprehensible acts and bringing them to justice. The members of the Security Council expressed grave concern over the security situation in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo and underscored the need for all parties to fully comply with international law, including provisions governing the protection of civilians. The members of the Security Council reiterated their strong condemnation of all armed groups operating in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and their violations of international humanitarian law as well as other applicable international law and abuses of human rights. They further condemned all attacks on civilian population and infrastructure. They supported the intensification of efforts by the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) in supporting the Congolese authorities in the protection of civilians and addressing the threats posed by armed groups. They underscored the importance of continued cooperation between MONUSCO and the Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, in line with the Mission's mandate. The members of the Security Council reaffirmed their strong commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and reiterated support for regional and international efforts to promote peace and stability in the country and the wider Great Lakes region. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address JCSE enables DAF's DLE series Published Aug. 7, 2025 By Senior Airman Zachary Foster Air Mobility Command Public Affairs ANDERSEN AIR FORCE BASE, Guam (AFNS) -- Thousands of service members rapidly deployed into theater on July 11, to kick off the Air Force's first-in-a-generation 2025 Department-Level Exercise series. Before the mass mobilization began, however, a small team of highly skilled technicians had to lay the groundwork for reliable communication between the U.S. and partner nations. On July 3, two weeks before the exercise began, 40 members from the Joint Communications Support Element deployed to the Indo-Pacific area of responsibility to provide the backbone of information technology support across all elements of the exercise series. JCSE, a rapid-response communications team under the U.S. Transportation Command, is often among the first units on the ground during operations. "Exercises like these require extensive planning to execute," said U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Michael Lumley, a JCSE information technology specialist. "Months before our arrival, we had teams building kits, mapping out communication architecture and coordinating logistics to get everything in place before the execution staff arrives." Unlike traditional support units, JCSE personnel bring extensive joint expertise and serve as the primary communications infrastructure for all elements of the exercise series. The team began with traditional wireless connectivity but quickly scaled up to meet increasing demands at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, a key air mobility hub in the Indo-Pacific region. Exercises are ever evolving, which requires the JCSE team to adapt to changing and increasing demands. "What makes us unique is our ability to hit the ground and solve problems as they arise," Lumley said. Despite the uncertainty, the team's ability to adapt in real-time proved critical to the mission's early success. "We always overpack for these large exercises," added U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Karlie Rogers, a JCSE expeditionary communicator. "Bringing extra supplies helps ensure the mission continues 24/7 without interruption." The JCSE's capability stems from its regular participation in both exercises and real-world operations. Over the past two years, JCSE teams have supported exercises like Mobility Guardian and others spanning the Indo-Pacific region. These operations laid the foundation for the full spectrum of air activities taking place during the DLE 2025. "One of the unique elements we bring to this exercise is our recurring role in each iteration," Rogers said. "Every year we come out, we learn more about the needs of our customers and more about how we can not only meet but exceed their expectations." In addition to their internal expertise, JCSE communicators rely on the joint force and allies and partners to adapt to the developing information environment. "Exercises like these have been great for networking with our joint and international counterparts," Lumley said. "In the short time we've been here, our communicators have immersed themselves with members of the Royal Air Force, Royal Australian Air Force, Royal New Zealand Air Force, and Royal Canadian Air Force. We're also developing closer relationships with critical partners, including the Japan Air Self-Defense Force, U.S. Space Force, Air Force Materiel Command and Air Force Reserve Command." Through these collaborations, JCSE members identify areas for future improvement. According to U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Andrew Choe, a JCSE expeditionary communicator, one growing focus is mobile, long-range wireless connectivity. "After embedding with members of Joint Base Lewis-McChord's 627th Communications Squadron, we found a unique method to deliver wireless connectivity to our customers," Choe said. "The idea is to use 5G towers in conjunction with commercial satellite capabilities to deliver internet service to wireless pucks up to miles away. That would make a sizeable impact on our ability to operate in austere locations." The team also maintains a rapid-response capability. According to Lumley, the standard expectation is to deliver support anywhere in the world within 72 hours. Unlike most information technology teams, members of JCSE are expected to be masters of every aspect of the job. With personnel sourced from the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps, their joint experience positions them as the premier communications standard across the Department of Defense. "We have to be the best because without stable communications, the entire exercise is at risk," Lumley said. "The standard of support doesn't come easy, especially for a first-in-a-generation exercise like the DLE 2025. It required a large portion of our force." Reliable communication is the framework of every successful mission, and JCSE makes that possible. Through their preparation, adaptability and joint expertise, the DLE 2025 is bringing together more than 12,000 personnel and 400 coalition aircraft across 50 locations spanning 3,000 miles. Their work ensures the Joint Force and its partners can operate as one team, anywhere, anytime and sets the standard for future missions to follow. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Readout of Acting Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jim Kilby Meeting with the United Kingdom First Sea Lord of the Royal Navy Gen. Sir Gwyn Jenkins US Navy - Press Release 07 August 2025 Acting Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jim Kilby met with First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff of the United Kingdom (UK) Royal Navy Gen. Sir Gwyn Jenkins for an office call in the Pentagon, Aug. 6. During the visit, the two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to enhanced cooperation, agility, and interchangeability worldwide through exercises and operations designed to address maritime challenges. Kilby emphasized that the U.S. Navy is committed to supporting the Royal Navy in maintaining its leading role within NATO and the broader European conventional security environment. Kilby thanked Jenkins for the Royal Navy's dedication to joint exercises like Talisman Saber, and its support in future live, virtual, and constructive environments for US-UK training. The visit also highlighted the Royal Navy's consistent contributions to multinational maritime security efforts. Both leaders said they look forward to continued coordination and partnership. The United States and United Kingdom share a long history of mutual maritime support, a cornerstone of their strong alliance. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Department of the Navy Announces Solicitation for Innovative Energy Resilience Solutions to Power Navy and Marine Corps Installations US Navy - Press Release 07 August 2025 WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today, the Department of the Navy, under the leadership of Secretary of the Navy John C. Phelan, announced a bold solicitation to industry for innovative, deployable energy solutions capable of powering Navy and Marine Corps installations with unmatched resilience, security and reliability. The solicitation, issued through the Center for Energy, Environment, and Demilitarization (CEED) Consortium under an Other Transaction Authority (OTA) agreementseeks execution-ready prototypes that will modernize energy infrastructure, safeguard mission-critical operations and ensure uninterrupted power in any operating environment. "President Trump's commitment to unleashing American energy innovation is powering the Navy into a new era," said Secretary Phelan. "We are calling on America's most capable innovators to deliver advanced, installation-scale energy solutions, ranging from small modular nuclear reactors to cutting-edge storage and generation technologies that can deliver power with 99.9% availability, even if the public grid goes dark. This is about warfighting readiness, mission assurance, and making sure our bases remain operational under any circumstances." Prototype concepts should focus on: Modernizing Energy Infrastructure: Deploy advanced, resilient energy systems at Navy, Marine Corps, and other DoD installations. 99.9% Mission Availability: Deliver power systems capable of sustaining operations without interruption during public grid failures. Powering High-Demand Data Centers: Ensure generation systems, particularly SMRs are capable of supporting data centers that power advanced AI systems, which require substantially higher and continuous energy output than traditional facilities. Advanced On-Site Generation: Integrate next-generation small modular nuclear reactors, geothermal, battery storage, and other dispatchable energy technologies. Resilience Against All Threats: Build systems hardened against natural disasters, cyberattacks, and grid instability. Innovative Financing: Employ alternative capital structures to accelerate deployment and reduce reliance on traditional appropriated funding. The OTA pathway gives the Navy the speed and flexibility needed to work directly with industry leaders, moving from concept to deployment faster than traditional acquisition methods allow. The Department is seeking solutions from both traditional defense contractors and non-traditional energy innovators that can be rapidly mobilized, require minimal permitting, and are ready for immediate execution. "Energy resilience is warfighting resilience," said Secretary Phelan. "If a hurricane knocks out the local grid, our ships still sail. If a cyberattack takes down civilian power, our bases stay online. That's the standard and we're setting it now." This opportunity is available exclusively to CEED Consortium members. Full details of the solicitation are available at https://cmgcorp.org/cmg-opportunities/. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Hamas condemns Netanyahu's Gaza occupation plan IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Aug 8, 2025 The Islamic resistance movement Hamas has condemned Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's latest plan to occupy all of Gaza, denouncing him a war criminal wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC). Hamas described Netanyahu's plan as an extension of his genocidal policies and displacement tactics against the Palestinian people. "What war criminal Netanyahu is planning represents an extension of his genocidal and displacement policies, further committing crimes against our Palestinian people in Gaza," Hamas stated. The movement described the plan as a blatant reversal of the ongoing Gaza ceasefire negotiations. "Netanyahu's statements represent a clear reversal of the negotiation process and unveil the true motives behind his withdrawal from the last ceasefire round, despite our nearing a final agreement," it added. Hamas emphasized that Netanyahu's remarks expose the regime's intentions behind abandoning the most recent truce talks. "His plans to intensify aggression confirm beyond doubt that he seeks to abandon his own prisoners, sacrificing them to serve his personal interests and extremist ideological agenda," Hamas asserted. The movement warned that any expansion of aggression against Gaza would result in severe consequences for the regime's forces. 2050 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address BrahMos an important part of PH deterrent capability - DND chief Philippine News Agency By Priam Nepomuceno August 8, 2025, 11:01 am MANILA -- The Indian-made BrahMos cruise missile system, three batteries of which were acquired by the Philippines in 2022, is an important part of the country's deterrent capabilities, Department of National Defense (DND) Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said Thursday. "The experience has been very, very enlightening for us. It is an important part of our deterrent package and we will continue to advance discussions on how we can envelop the partnership on a sustainable basis," he said in response to queries of Indian media about the Brahmos missile in Philippine service and whether there are plans to acquire more units. Teodoro is part of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.'s delegation in his state visit to India from Aug. 4 to 8. Earlier, Marcos said the Philippines is in the process of acquiring more BrahMos cruise missile systems as part of the ongoing Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) modernization program. Then defense chief Delfin Lorenzana and BrahMos Aerospace director general Atul Dinkar Rane signed the contract for three BrahMos cruise system batteries, worth PHP18.9 billion, in a virtual ceremony in January 2022. A battery usually consists of three to six launchers along with monitoring and tracking components, as well as logistics support vehicles. The first BrahMos battery was delivered in April last year. However, the DND and the AFP have yet to issue any updates regarding the status of the BrahMos acquisition project. The BrahMos cruise missile can be launched from a ship, aircraft, submarine, or land. It has a top speed of about Mach 2.8 (about 3,400 km. per hour), and is capable of carrying warheads weighing 200 kg. to 300 kg. This weapon platform is expected to address the country's military's weaknesses and vulnerability in sea control, anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD), and coastal and island defense operations. Aside from this, Teodoro said the Philippines and India are looking to leverage commonalities and kinship for mutual resilience and growth amid complex regional challenges. "It is only natural to throw back to our civilizational ties and our people-to-people exchanges, and to rekindle these into mutual resilience, growth, and helping each other grow," he said of the establishment of the Philippines-India Strategic Partnership, launched by Marcos and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "There are a lot of lessons that we can learn from India and vice versa, and it is only natural that we leverage on these similarities and kinships in order to move forward for the future generations." Teodoro also noted that India is among the countries that have acknowledged the 2016 Arbitral Award on the South China Sea, and shared that the Philippine and Indian Navies recently held the inaugural bilateral maritime cooperative activity (MCA). "The first (MCA) was just concluded in international waters and, of course, territorial waters of the Philippines," he said. He added that it is only fitting that the two Navies conduct their first MCA as the two nations mark the 75th anniversary of their diplomatic relations. "It is fitting that both our navies commemorate this, too, with the first visible mutual or joint activity that we conduct," Teodoro said. (PNA) NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Six killed, 10 injured as Israeli drone strikes target eastern Lebanon Iran Press TV Friday, 08 August 2025 6:44 AM In yet another flagrant breach of the fragile ceasefire with Lebanon, Israeli forces launched deadly airstrikes in the country's eastern region on Thursday, killing at least six people and injuring 10 more. The strikes come amid a broader US-backed campaign to disarm Hezbollah, the only armed group in Lebanon capable of resisting Israeli aggression. According to the Public Health Emergency Operations Center at Lebanon's Ministry of Public Health, one of the attacks targeted a vehicle on the al-Masnaa international road in the Bekaa Valley, resulting in five fatalities and ten injuries. In a separate assault, an Israeli drone strike killed a Lebanese civilian outside his home in the town of Kfar Dan, west of Baalbek. The Lebanese National News Agency (NNA) reported that the man had been standing outside his residence when the drone hitan attack emblematic of the increasingly indiscriminate nature of Israeli strikes across Lebanese territory. The violence is not confined to eastern Lebanon. Earlier, the Health Ministry confirmed that a Syrian national was killed and two others wounded in an overnight airstrike on the southern town of Deir Siriane, located in the Marjaayoun district. These continuing Israeli assaults come as the Lebanese government formally backed a US proposal that calls for the disarmament of Hezbollah. Despite its military setbacks over more than a year of confrontation with Hezbollah, Israel agreed to a ceasefire that took effect on November 27. However, since then, Israeli forces have repeatedly violated the agreement through airstrikes and drone operations, undermining any prospects for lasting calm. Although Lebanon extended the ceasefire until February 18, Israel has not honored the terms. It continues to occupy five key areas in southern LebanonLabbouneh, Mount Blat, Owayda Hill, Aaziyyeh, and Hammamis Hillterritories it is obligated to evacuate under the agreement. Lebanon has condemned the continued presence of Israeli military forces as a violation of the ceasefire agreement and the established timeline for withdrawal. Senior officials in Beirut have expressed their commitment to take "all necessary measures" to remove the occupying troops from the nation. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Armenia, Azerbaijan Will Sign Peace Deal At White House Meeting, Trump Says By RFE/RL's Armenian Service and RFE/RL's Azerbaijani Service August 08, 2025 The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan are expected to sign a US-brokered peace deal that could end decades of conflict when their leaders are hosted by US President Donald Trump in the White House on August 8. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev also will sign agreements with the United States to "pursue Economic opportunities together, so we can fully unlock the potential of the South Caucasus Region," Trump said on Truth Social on August 7. "Many Leaders have tried to end the War, with no success, until now, thanks to 'TRUMP,'" Trump wrote, adding that it would be an "an official peace signing ceremony." Pashinian is already in Washington, and on August 7 visited the Museum of the Bible, his press service said. The press service on August 6 said that Pashinian would visit the United States and hold a bilateral meeting with Trump and a trilateral meeting with Trump and Aliyev "to promote peace, prosperity, and economic cooperation in the region." However, until Trump's social media posts on August 7 there was no definitive statements from any of the three governments on whether a peace agreement would be signed. The economic agreements could set the stage for a reopening of a strategic transportation corridor across the South Caucasus that has been shut since the early 1990s. The agreements, according to the US officials quoted in media reports on condition of anonymity, would give the US leasing rights to develop the Zangezur corridor and name it the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP). It would link Azerbaijan to its Nakhchivan region, which is separated from the rest of the country by an arm of Armenian territory 32 kilometers wide and would eventually include a rail line, oil and gas lines, and fiber optic lines, allowing for the movement of goods and eventually people. The deal does not call for the United States to pay for the construction of the transit corridor, but instead calls on private corporations to develop it. The deal was reached after a visit earlier this year by US special envoy Steve Witkoff to Baku and continued talks between the parties. Post-War Fence-Mending Armenia and Azerbaijan have fought two major wars over a region known as Nagorno-Karabakh since they gained independence following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. The two South Caucasus nations have taken significant steps to mend relations since the last major armed conflict in 2020 and the subsequent exodus of the ethnic Armenian population from the disputed region that officials in Yerevan now recognize as a sovereign Azerbaijani territory. Although the internationally hailed finalization of a peace agreement text was announced in March after years of bilateral negotiations, the document has yet to be signed. Azerbaijan has repeatedly made its signing conditional on Armenia removing from its constitution a reference to the 1990 Declaration of Independence that in turn cites a 1989 unification act adopted by the legislative bodies of Soviet Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh and agreeing to disband the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) -- the only international mediating body, spearheaded by the United States, France, and Russia, that had for decades sought a negotiated settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Armenia has effectively agreed to both demands, maintaining, however, that as a matter of principle the adoption of a new constitution in the next couple of years should remain Armenia's internal matter and that a joint application to the OSCE to disband the Minsk Group can occur simultaneously with the signing of the peace agreement. Yet these are not the only questions standing in the way of a final agreement. Border Issues In another diplomatic breakthrough welcomed by the international community, Armenia and Azerbaijan conducted the first-ever delimitation and demarcation of a 13-kilometer section of their northern border in spring-summer 2024. As a result, the Armenian military withdrew from four uninhabited villages that were part of Soviet Azerbaijan before the war broke out between the two countries in the early 1990s. Both sides agreed to continue the border delimitation and demarcation process, but over the past year no progress has been made on other sections of the border -- where Armenia claims Azerbaijan continues to occupy more than 200 square kilometers of its territory. The Armenian opposition has denounced the controversial border demarcation and further diplomatic moves by Yerevan as "capitulation," calling for Pashinian's resignation. However, sustained opposition street protests and rallies that drew thousands in May and June 2024 eventually fizzled out, with the Armenian prime minister claiming that his government's pursuit of sustainable peace with Azerbaijan still enjoys broad public support. The Zangezur Corridor Under one of the clauses of the Moscow-brokered 2020 cease-fire agreement -- which ended the bloody 44-day war in Nagorno-Karabakh -- Armenia is to guarantee "the security of transport connections" between mainland Azerbaijan and its western exclave of Nakhichevan, ensuring "the unimpeded movement of citizens, vehicles, and cargo in both directions." Armenia, landlocked by Azerbaijan and Turkey, has insisted any transit route must be part of a broader regional unblocking process and must respect Armenia's sovereignty, jurisdiction, and territorial integrity. Officials in Yerevan have rejected the idea and even the narrative of an extraterritorial corridor, calling it a veiled territorial claim by Azerbaijan. In 2024, unable to reach a common solution, Azerbaijan and Armenia indicated that the connectivity issue would be handled separately from the broader peace agreement. According to the 2020 cease-fire agreement, control over transport links between Armenia and Azerbaijan was to be exercised by Russia's FSB Border Guard Service. However, following a series of events -- including the failure of Russian peacekeepers to protect the region's ethnic Armenian population during Azerbaijan's offensive in September 2023 and their subsequent withdrawal -- Armenia has shifted its geopolitical orientation, distancing itself from Moscow and aligning more closely with the West. A Role For The United States The talk about possible US involvement in the administration of the road as part of a solution to the lingering dispute emerged around the time of the July 10 summit between Pashinian and Aliyev in Abu Dhabi, where five-hour talks purportedly also focused on connectivity issues. The US ambassador to Turkey, Thomas Barrack, in particular, indicated that Washington has proposed a 100-year lease on such a transport link in a bid to facilitate a peace deal between the two South Caucasus nations. "They [Armenia and Azerbaijan] are arguing over 32 kilometers of road, but this is no joke," Barrack told reporters in New York on July 11. "It's been going on for a decade -- 32 kilometers of road." Pashinian's spokesman, Nazeli Baghdasarian, dismissed the idea of a lease, but at a press conference on July 16, the Armenian premier confirmed the United States had suggested the transit of people and cargo through Syunik be administered by a US company. Baghdasarian signaled Yerevan's readiness to "outsource" administration of the route through Syunik to a third-party, including a US company or a newly established joint venture, while insisting Armenia must maintain sovereignty over its only region bordering Iran. "We talk a lot about railways and highways, but in this context we are also talking about pipelines, power lines, telecommunications cables, and that is an infrastructure that needs to be managed and created," he said. Aliyev, in turn, reiterated his demands. "Azerbaijani cargo and citizens should not have to see the faces of Armenian border guards or anyone else," he said in July, renewing pressure on Yerevan. "There should be no physical contact, and guaranteed security measures must be in place to ensure our people and cargo can pass freely." The Armenian government has rejected these claims. Meanwhile, opposition parties in Armenia are calling for a broader dialogue -- not only about opening this specific transit route but all routes in the region -- with the aim of ending Armenia's ongoing blockade. Reaction From Regional Players Sustainable peace and the opening of a transit route through Armenia has the potential to link the oil- and gas-rich Caucasus and Central Asia to Europe, bypassing Russia and Iran. Both Russia and Iran have expressed concern about a potential US presence in Armenia's strategic Syunik region, bordering Iran. Moscow has accused Washington of trying to hijack the Armenian-Azerbaijani peace process and sideline regional powers. "The Westerners aim to transfer the reconciliation process of Baku and Yerevan to their tracks," Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, said at a news briefing on July 24. "We also know where these tracks usually lead.... This can lead to an imbalance of the security system in the region." Iran has also voiced strong opposition to any deal that it believes could jeopardize its northern border with Armenia. A top adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has warned countries "in or outside the region" to stop seeking a land corridor for Azerbaijan that would pass through an Armenian region bordering the Islamic republic. "Once again, some pretentious governments, indifferent to their own interests and those of the region, have brought up the issue of the Zangezur Corridor and are knocking on every door to advance their illegitimate goals in the South Caucasus," Ali Akbar Velayati said in an X post on August 4, after reports emerged that Trump would host the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders at the White House. Trump's 'Nobel Peace Prize' Case Observers suggest the August 8 White House meeting could serve as a high-profile opportunity for Trump to bolster his case for a Nobel Peace Prize. The White House has claimed Trump has successfully ended several global conflicts, including disputes between Thailand and Cambodia, Israel and Iran, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, India and Pakistan, Serbia and Kosovo, and Egypt and Ethiopia. However, as experience with other longstanding conflicts such as Kosovo and Serbia shows, signing an agreement alone does not ensure lasting peace and stability. Deep-rooted issues persist, including unresolved disputes over the return of displaced Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh and the fate of Armenian prisoners of war still detained in Baku. Moreover, decades of enmity between the two nations -- stretching back over 40 years -- continue to hinder meaningful reconciliation. The Armenian-Azerbaijani announcement in Washington will also coincide with the expiration on August 8 of Trump's "ultimatum" to Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine. Observers believe a breakthrough in the Caucasus could help offset a diplomatic setback if Moscow rejects Washington's demand. Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/armenia-azerbaijan- explainer-trump-talks/33496197.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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Pentagon Faces 'Wake-Up Call' To Meet Drone Innovation Highlighted In Ukraine War By Todd Prince August 08, 2025 WASHINGTON, D.C. -- When a US MQ-9 Reaper drone loitered over Baghdad airport in the early hours of January 3, 2020 and fired a Hellfire missile that killed the powerful Iranian Major General Qasem Soleimani, it showcased the full force of American drone supremacy. The strike was precise, distant, and risk-free for US forces, and represented the culmination of decades of investment in large, high-end, unmanned aerial vehicles costing tens of millions of dollars each. But five years later, analysts say -- and some politicians admit -- that model of dominance is being upended. The war in Ukraine has ushered in a radically different era of drone warfare, one built not around a few elite systems but around millions of small, cheap, and expendable drones deployed by soldiers at the front. And the United States is scrambling to catch up as drones become the new front line in modern warfare. "The United States has one of the most impressive drone industries in the world, but those drones have been often very big, very expensive, with very exquisite capabilities. And yet what we need from the industry in this moment is inexpensive ones in high quantities," said Brad Bowman, a defense analyst at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies. "We have really been kind of AWOL in terms of the ability of American industry to produce low-cost drones in high quantity," he added, calling the war in Ukraine a "wake-up call" for the Pentagon. The Cheaper, The Better Ukraine is expected to produce more than 4 million drones of all types this year, according to the country's former defense minister, Rustam Umerov. Many cost only a few hundred dollars. Russia, too, is manufacturing cheap drones by the millions after finding it needed Chinese and Iranian help to capitalize on the usage of smaller, less sophisticated ones. By contrast, the Reaper that killed Soleimani, at 36 feet long and weighing 2,200 kilograms, cost $30 million. The United States agreed to buy 366 of them over the lifetime of the program, replacing the earlier Predator drone, which saw about 270 units produced over two decades. When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, much of the US military's drone fleet -- numbering in the thousands -- was built around Predator-era technology and designed for anti-insurgency campaigns. While the US military leads in high-end drone technology, there are no US manufacturers currently producing cheap drones at scale, according to industry insiders. A recent New York Times report estimated US annual production at fewer than 100,000 units. For years, low-cost imports from China -- particularly from DJI, the world's largest drone maker -- have dominated the US market, undercutting domestic manufacturers. But that may be changing. After peaking at over 800,000 in 2023, Chinese drone imports are plummeting amid tighter Customs and Border Protection enforcement. The United States is now weighing a full ban on new DJI drones on national-security grounds. The Trump administration is also taking measures to address the situation. In an interview this week with News Nation, Emil Michael, the US undersecretary of defense for research and engineering, said the government is trying to minimize bureaucratic barriers to production. "You've got to cut the red tape out" when it comes to drone production, he said. An example of what the United States may be aiming for was on display in June when Ukraine's Operation Spiderweb saw dozens of drones swarm deep into Russian territory to attack air bases. Small drones were smuggled across the border and then laid in wait. Ukraine has claimed the roofs of the trucks that were carrying the hidden drone fleet were then opened "remotely" to enable the aircraft to launch, with devastating results. "This attack should be a wake-up call to militaries around the world," Stacie Pettyjohn, director of the Defense Program at the Center for a New American Security, told RFE/RL. The Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) says there are 235 US aerial drone companies actively marketing products, with another 40 developing prototypes. Many defense-focused firms have announced major expansion plans, but challenges remain, it said. According to AUVSI, a lack of sustained Defense Department procurement commitments and difficulty sourcing components at scale are slowing growth. "The No. 1 priority right now has to be scale and speed, but that's really hard to achieve because we've trained the entire national-security enterprise for decades to do just the opposite. It is a dramatic culture shift," Bowman said. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last month pledged to overhaul the Pentagon's drone procurement pipeline and increase exercises with drones. "Drone dominance is a process race as much as a technological race. Modern battlefield innovation demands a new procurement strategy that fuses manufacturers with our frontline troops," he wrote in a July 16 memo. Chad Raduege, an Oklahoma-based drone consultant and retired Air Force brigadier general, said US innovation in drone production and tactics will accelerate as the military delivers low-cost systems into units and lets troops experiment. "Get drones into the hands of operators, let them start training, then there will be tactics that we will evolve as part of the US war machine," Raduege told RFE/RL. "We are going to see some pretty neat stuff." Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/pentagon-wake-up-call-d rone-innovation-ukraine-war/33496970.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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russo-Ukraine War - 07 August 2025 - Day 1261 Su M Tu W Th F Sa 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 A number of claims and counterclaims are being made on the Ukraine-Russia conflict on the ground and online. While GlobalSecurity.org takes utmost care to accurately report this news story, we cannot independently verify the authenticity of all statements, photos and videos. On 24 February 2022, Ukraine was suddenly and deliberately attacked by land, naval and air forces of Russia, igniting the largest European war since the Great Patriotic War. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a "special military operation" (SVO - spetsialnaya voennaya operatsiya) in Ukraine in response to the appeal of the leaders of the "Donbass republics" for help. That attack is a blatant violation of the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine. Putin stressed that Moscow's goal is the demilitarization and denazification of the country. The military buildup in preceeding months makes it obvious that the unprovoked and dastardly Russian attack was deliberately planned long in advance. During the intervening time, the Russian government had deliberately sought to deceive the world by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace. "To initiate a war of aggression... is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole." [Judgment of the International Military Tribunal] The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that in total, 119 combat clashes have taken place since the beginning of this day. Ukrainian defenders are decisively thwart the attempts of the Russian enemy to advance deep into Ukrainian territory, causing him significant losses. Russian zagarbniki inflicted one rocket and 55 aviation strikes, using two rockets and dropping 104 controlled air bombs. In addition, 1,724 kamikaze drones were recruited to impress and carried out 4,015 shelling positions of Ukrainian troops and settlements. Ten clashes with Russian zagarbnikami took place in the Northern Slobozhansky and Kursky directions. Today, the enemy attacked four times in the South Slobozhansky direction - in the areas of Vovchansk and Figolivka, currently one battle is ongoing. In the Kupyans komu direction, the Russian opponent made nine attacks in the areas of Mirny, Golubivka, Kindrashivka, Stepova Novoselivka and Zagrizovoye. In the Lyman direction, the Defense Forces repelled 19 assault actions in the areas of Green Valley, Karpivka, Yampolivka, Kolodyaziv, Torsky, as well as in the directions of Serebryanka, Grigorivka and Olgivka. Two more fights are still going on. In the sivers komu direction the Russian enemy four times attacked in the areas of grigorivka and fedorivka, but was kicked off. Since the beginning of the day in the kramators komu direction the units of the Russian occupiers attacked in the area of orihovo-vasilivki and in the direction of novomarkovogo and stupocok. Ukrainian units repelled all five attacks. Nine boezknen took place in the Torets .komu direction. Russian forces tried to storm the positions of Ukrainian units in the areas of Diliyivka, Toretsk, Scherbinivka, Oleksandro-Kalinovy and Rusynoy Yar. There is currently a fight going on. In the Pokrovsky direction from the beginning of the day, Russian forces attacked 29 times in the areas of Poltavka, Boikivka, Mykolaivka, Novoekonomichny, Rodinsky, Sukhetsky, Fox, Reserve, Zvirovogo, Kotlinogo, Lucky, Green Corner and Nut. Ukrainian defenders hold the pressure of the Russian opponent, the fights are still on. According to preliminary data, in this direction 174 Russian invaders, of which 122 - irrevocably. Also destroyed the cannon, eight cars, 32 BPLAs, two satellite terminals and two BPLA control points. There are also four vehicles, three artillery systems and 11 shelters for personnel. In the Novopavlivsky direction, Ukrainian soldiers repelled ten Russian attacks in the areas of Philia, Tovstoy, Green Field, Free Field, Komyshuvakhi, Voskresenki and in the direction of Novoivanivka. Two more fights are underway. In the Gulyaipil direction, the Defense Forces successfully repelled a Russian assault near Malinivka. In the Orihivsky direction, Ukrainian defenders repelled three attacks near Kamiansky and in the direction of Novodanilivka. In the Pridniprovsk direction, the Russian enemy did not carry out offensive actions. In other directions, there have been no significant changes in the environment. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Escalating Terrorism in West Africa, Sahel Hits Women Hardest, Speakers Tell Security Council Meetings Coverage Security Council 9974th Meeting (AM) SC/16138 7 August 2025 The security situation across the Sahel is deteriorating rapidly, threatening peace and security in West Africa's coastal States and beyond, delegates warned the Security Council today, condemning the deliberate targeting and exploitation of women and girls caught in the crossfire. The Sahel is "where the world's gravest concerns converge" terrorism, coups, environmental collapse, poverty, hunger, dwindling development financing, shrinking humanitarian access and a declining UN presence on the ground said Sima Sami Bahous, Executive Director of the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women). These crises, she said, "land specifically, violently and disproportionately on the bodies and futures of women and girls". Noting that over 1 million girls in Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso are out of school because of terrorist attacks or threats, she stressed: "Abduction is not a by-product of terrorism in the Sahel, it is a tactic." In Burkina Faso alone, the number of women and girls abducted rose by over 218 per cent last year. Further, when a girl loses her education, she becomes vulnerable, she said. Mali, Niger, Chad and Burkina Faso rank among the highest globally in child marriage rates. Female genital mutilation affects 90 per cent of women in Mali and 76 per cent in Burkina Faso. Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali and Niger are among the bottom 10 countries by the Human Development Index and Gender Development Index. Meanwhile, food insecurity levels nearly doubled this summer compared to 18 months ago, with heat-related deaths expected to increase fourfold by 2080. Women and girls travel longer distances to fetch water or firewood with two thirds feeling unsafe on these journeys in a region that already ranks among the highest globally for reported cases of sexual and gender-based violence. Compounding the crises, development assistance dropped by nearly 20 per cent in the last two years. "Despite this, there is hope", she stated. In Chad, women now hold 34 per cent of parliamentary seats, double the previous share, and the 2023 constitution pledges to end child marriage and female genital mutilation. Turning to solutions, she urged Governments and regional bodies to ensure women's full, equal, meaningful and safe participation in transitional Governments and peace and security efforts. Further, at least 15 per cent of violent extremism prevention funding should be invested in gender equality and to support the rapid deployment of women protection advisers to the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS) to monitor sexual violence trends and engage with parties to conflict. "The multi-layered insecurities confronting women in West Africa cannot be over-emphasized," echoed Levinia Addae-Mensah, Executive Director of West Africa Network for Peacebuilding, underscoring that women are "not just victims but exhibit tremendous capacity to foster change". Her organization's work continues to reveal extraordinary resilience and leadership by women in building peace, particularly in the Sahel, where women's social networks are on the frontlines of peacebuilding, mediating local conflicts, leading trauma healing initiatives, organizing humanitarian response, and operating early warning networks. "While frameworks and National Action Plans exist, their translation into sustainable transformation remains weak," she continued, noting that women's participation is viewed as an "add-on" rather than a strategic imperative and, therefore, contributes to the chronic underfunding. Accordingly, she stressed that the UN peacebuilding architecture must emphasize the central role of women as equal and strategic leaders, and local women-led initiatives must be able to access resources directly. She also called for a shift from protection-only to prosperity-based prevention by promoting women's economic empowerment and prioritizing land rights, access to finance, vocational training and entrepreneurship during transitions and post-conflict recovery periods. The women, peace and security agenda is not just about a UN resolution, she stressed, but also about "the lives and futures of millions of women and girls across West Africa". Offering a glimpse into the complex security landscape across the region, Leonardo Santos Simao, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS), presented the Secretary-General's latest report on the Office's activities. Citing terrorist activity in Mali, Benin, Togo and Nigeria, he said it has surged "in scale, complexity and sophistication, including through the use of drones, alternative internet communication, and increasing collusion with transnational organized crime". He further cautioned that young people are increasingly becoming prime targets for recruitment by terrorist and violent extremist groups. To counter these threats, he highlighted that the member States of the Alliance of Sahel States Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have established a joint defence force and common structures covering defence and security, diplomacy and development. He also welcomed the Alliance's establishment of a Criminal Court in Bamako to address war crimes, serious human rights violations, terrorism and crimes against humanity a step that underscores "a commitment to justice and peace". Growing insecurity compounds an already dire humanitarian situation, he emphasized, adding that 12.8 million people are projected to face acute food insecurity and 2.6 million children are expected to suffer from severe acute malnutrition in 2025. However, only 14 per cent of funding for the 2025 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan for the Sahel region has been received, he said, urging resource mobilization "to save the lives of millions of people at risk". Violence against Women, Girls In the ensuing discussion, many delegates expressed concern about the horrific human rights situation of women and girls across the region including abductions, sexual slavery, forced marriage and rape. "The violence must stop" and women must urgently receive access to justice, protection mechanisms, life-saving services, healthcare and psychosocial support, stated Denmark's delegate. However, she stressed that enhancing protection is not enough, urging women's full, equal, meaningful and safe participation across electoral and peace processes and "in every single aspect of life". At a time when the threat of terrorism and violent extremism continues to deepen and spill over into the Gulf of Guinea, Mauritania and Senegal, the leadership of women and girls is "more essential than ever", concurred Slovenia's representative. She emphasized that sexual and gender-based violence is "not incidental but systematic". Volatile Security Situation, Terrorist Threats Sierra Leone's delegate, also speaking for Algeria, Guyana and Somalia, was among the many who voiced concern over the evolving security situation in the region, citing an unprecedented surge in terrorist and extremist violence by the so-called Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), Islamic State in the Greater Sahara (ISGS), and Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP). The growing threat of famine, the compounding effects of climate shocks, and the sustained high numbers of internally displaced persons and refugees "demand urgent and coordinated action", he continued. In this context, he welcomed the Secretary-General's approval of the $7 million cross-border initiative to strengthen water management, climate resilience and peacebuilding in the border areas of Mali, Mauritania and Senegal. Also calling for a multidimensional approach to countering terrorism and violent extremism, Pakistan's delegate underscored the need to focus not only on kinetic actions but on the underlying root causes. He welcomed recent efforts by Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) and the African Union "to expedite counter-terrorism coordination mechanisms and encourage continued support to African-led solutions". Adding to that, the speaker for the Republic of Korea said that, according to the 2025 Global Terrorism Index, the Sahel region accounted for 51 per cent of global terrorism-related deaths in 2024. Urging coordinated regional responses to dismantle transboundary terrorist networks, he welcomed the renewed commitment of regional leaders to enhance cooperation between ECOWAS and the Alliance of Sahel States. Greece's delegate observed that violent extremist groups continue to destabilize vast areas threatening land borders and vital maritime routes in the Gulf of Guinea. While piracy incidents in the Gulf have fallen significantly, largely due to the Yaounde Architecture and enhanced naval coordination, "the threat is evolving", with "the potential to exploit maritime routes to finance their operations", he observed. The United States' delegate urged Sahelian States and their coastal West African neighbours to "set aside differences and seek a coordinated response to terrorism" that respects the rule of law and human rights, including military cooperation and intelligence sharing as "terrorists don't respect borders". Citing the crisis unfolding in Sudan, with its far-reaching impacts on peace and security in the Sahel, she called on the belligerents "to immediately end their violence". For his part, the Russian Federation's representative expressed concern over the terrorists' use of modern means of communication and drones. "Who exactly is getting such resources into the hands of these terrorist groups must be determined," he asserted, citing confirmed cases of Ukraine's support for terrorism in Mali. Security-Development Nexus Emphasizing the disastrous humanitarian consequences of crises in the Sahel, France's delegate noted that counter-terrorism efforts must be grounded in a comprehensive approach including upholding fundamental rights and freedoms, strengthening the rule of law, and fighting disinformation and extremist content with UNOWAS playing an important role. China's representative echoed the call for a balanced strategy, stating: "Security and development are two wings of one body." He stressed that development reinforces security, while security is a prerequisite for development, and urged the international community to support affected countries by bolstering national governance and capacity-building initiatives. Regional Unity "Regional unity is critical in addressing the growing security challenges and tackling transnational threats," observed the speaker for the United Kingdom. The agreement between ECOWAS and the Alliance of Sahel States will bring benefits to the citizens of the region, including freedom of movement and ease of trade, she said, calling for this spirit of cooperation to be extended to counter-terrorism and broader security efforts. Speaking in his national capacity, the representative of Panama, Council President for August, emphasized that "solely military solutions are not only inadequate and insufficient to counter extremism, but [ultimately] counterproductive." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address China launches its first rocket recovery ship, marking major step in reusable rocket development Global Times By Deng Xiaoci Published: Aug 07, 2025 04:40 PM China has officially launched its first and the world's fifth carrier rocket maritime recovery ship, becoming the second nation after the US to possess such a vessel. The launch of the ship, codenamed Xingji Guihang, or the Interstellar Return, marks a solid step forward in China's reusable rocket maritime recovery technology, Global Times learned from the developers on Thursday. The ship will support the recovery work for the returning first stage of SQX-3 large reusable launch vehicle, which is developed by the Beijing-based private rocket maker iSPACE. The firm told the Global Times on Thursday that it aims to conduct an "orbit entrance + maritime recovery" test flight around the end of 2025. The newly launched vessel boasts a robust structure: approximately 100 meters long, 42 meters wide, with a recovery deck measuring 40 meters by 60 meters, sufficient to securely support the returning first-stage rocket. With a displacement of 17,000 tons and equipped with a DP2 dynamic positioning system, the ship can precisely capture rockets in Sea State 4 and navigate steadily in Sea State 5, offering flexibility in recovery points and safety. Its intelligent unmanned operation mode enhances security and convenience during recovery tasks, while a dedicated storage compartment meets the needs of maritime rocket component transport. Sea State 4 and Sea State 5 are classifications from the World Meteorological Organization's sea state scale, which describes ocean conditions based on wave height, wind speed and overall sea behavior. Sea State 4 is relatively moderate, with wave heights about 1.25 to 2.5 meters and wind speeds of 11-16 knots, while Sea State 5 is considered rough, with wave heights of 2.5 to 4 meters and wind speeds of 17-21 knots. After the launch of the rocket recovery ship, it will undergo critical assessment and acceptance procedures, including outfitting, integrated testing of shipboard mechanical and electrical equipment, ship performance testing, and sea trials. It is scheduled to arrive in South China's Hainan Province in September for large-scale maritime exercises and further testing. In the future, the ship could support more medium- and large-sized reusable rockets maritime recovery missions. The US has used several ships for rocket recovery, primarily associated with NASA and SpaceX operations. Regarding the SQX-3 development, the iSPACE told the Global Times that the rocket model has a maximum payload capacity of 14 tons, with development work efficiently progressing toward the goal of "orbit entrance + recovery." Both onboard and ground-based systems have been put into production, and comprehensive capability planning and development have been conducted across the entire process, including assembly, testing, launch, recovery and reuse. Currently, iSPACE has begun producing three reusable Hyperbola-3 rockets, with the first "orbit entrance + maritime recovery" flight test expected by the end of 2025. A reuse flight test is planned for 2026, and in the future, the rocket will provide launch services for deploying China's massive low-orbit internet constellation, the firm said. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address PARLIAMENT QUESTION: PROPERTY MANAGEMENT AND USE OF BHUVAN GIS PLATFORM India PIB Department of Space Posted On: 07 AUG 2025 3:24PM by PIB Delhi Access logs of Bhuvan portal show that Jharkhand Space Applications Centre (JSAC), Water Resources Department and Irrigation Department of the Govt. of Jharkhand and Central University of Jharkhand have accessed the Land Use Land Cover (LULC) data of 1:10,000 scale, hosted on Bhuvan Panchayat portal. However, the information about applications carried out by these users with the help of this LULC data is not available with DoS. The satellite-based geo-spatial hosted on Bhuvan is freely accessible to all users. The list of user departments from Jharkhand State having accessed these datasets is given below: Forest Environment and Climate Change Department Jharkhand State Rural Road Development Authority, Rural Works Department Department of Rural Development Director Dairy Development Ranchi Directorate of Fisheries Irrigation Department Jharkhand Space Applications Centre Jharkhand State Agriculture Marketing Board, Ranchi Minor Irrigation Division, Godda Urban Development and Housing Department Water Resource Department District Administration Khunti Dhanbad Municipal Corporation Dumka Nagar Parishad Dumka DoS has not linked any Gram Panchayat to satellite imagery or mobile GIS services for property recording and monitoring. This information was given by Dr. Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science and Technology, Earth Sciences, MoS PMO, MoS Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Department of Atomic Energy and Department of Space, in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today. ***** NKR/PSM/AV (Release ID: 2153538) NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Soldiers bid adieu to French comrades By Major Diana Jennings 7 August 2025 In the Townsville Field Training Area, Australian and French soldiers marked a military partnership milestone as they worked side by side during Exercise Talisman Sabre 2025, the first time Mainland French Armed Forces participated in the exercise. French Marine Corps 21st Regiment Company Commander Captain Antoine Lefeuve said Talisman Sabre was his soldiers' first exposure to Australia, and he would sum up the exercise in three-words: "integration, welcoming and duty". "This is the first time we've come to Australia for Talisman Sabre; we had a lot of tasks to complete and it was a really great exercise because of how gigantic it is and the way it was conducted," Captain Lefeuve said. Soldiers, officers and cavalry troops from France's 3rd Division embedded within the 3rd Brigade across multiple headquarters and battlegroup nodes. "We were really welcomed by the Australians and it was very interesting to be totally integrated within the Australian battalion and operating under the Australian command," Captain Lefeuve said. While no match for the fresh baguettes of home, the French and Aussie soldiers broke ration-pack bread together as they executed planning, reconnaissance and Battle Group attacks. Commander 3rd Brigade, Brigadier Ben McLennan, said Talisman Sabre enabled the brigade to practise, refine and affirm how it fought with allies and partners by integrating at every level. "The integration achieved between 3rd Brigade and the French Army across people, process and platform has been ground-breaking," Brigadier McLennan said. He explained the significance of this milestone in achieving strategic, operational and tactical advantages. "We know in the Australian Army that we never operate nor fight alone, we operate and fight with our allies and partners," Brigadier McLennan said. "Our collaboration and our integration with the French Army at the tactical level is a force multiplier - we are better together." Looking back on his posting as the Australian Army's Liaison Officer to the French Army In 2019, Brigadier McLennan recalled a conversation with the French Chief of Army that has proven to be a prediction. "His vision was for multiple French Army force elements, from New Caledonia and mainland France, with French equipment and vehicles, to participate in Exercise Talisman Sabre under command of an Australian brigade," he said. "Voila! Six years later, thanks to the efforts and commitment of many, we have achieved this vision, and more than that, we have exceeded his vision." Committed to further advancing the partnership, Brigadier McLennan said he hoped to see more opportunities to work together in a range of environments and activities to develop culturally, linguistically and tactically. "We aim to increase the scope and scale of integration between Australia and France during future Warfighting exercises and Exercise Talisman Sabres, or to participate in exercises in mainland France," he said. Taking on the challenge of a new environment, Captain Lefeuve said their first hit-out was a success and said he would like to bring more soldiers, weaponry and vehicles over to Talisman Sabre in the future. "It's a good start; we succeeded in communicating and we succeeded in having an effect on the terrain, the mission and the objective," he said. "It was challenging, but it's been good to discover a new environment and new methods." After working hard in the North Queensland outback, French soldiers were afforded a short period to enjoy and experience Townsville, visiting Billabong sanctuary and Magnetic Island. "They love the experience here, the training was really interesting for them and the life after the exercise as well - they really appreciated the opportunity to enjoy Townsville," Captain Lefeuve said. Always proud to showcase the 3rd Brigade, Brigadier McLennan said it was a privilege to share Australia's 'world's-best' Defence training areas and the Garrison City of Townsville with international partners. "It's a neat way to complete exercises like Talisman Sabre by enabling our partners and allies to experience this lucky country and the best parts of our unique and hospitable North Queensland culture," he said. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Brazil requests WTO consultation to challenge U.S. tariffs People's Daily Online (Xinhua) 13:09, August 07, 2025 BRASILIA, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- Brazil has appealed to the World Trade Organization (WTO) to challenge steep tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump on Brazilian exports to the United States, the Foreign Ministry said Wednesday. According to the ministry, Brazil filed a "request for consultation" at the trade regulating body, the first step in contesting the tariffs, before the process reaches a possible dispute resolution phase. The request challenges the tariffs imposed by Trump through a couple of executive orders on April 2 and July 30, 2025, based on U.S. laws such as the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and Section 301 of the 1974 Trade Act. Together, the measures could impose tariffs of up to 50 percent on a wide range of Brazilian products. "By imposing the aforementioned measures, the United States is flagrantly violating the core commitments assumed by that country at the WTO, such as the most-favored-nation principle and the tariff ceilings negotiated within the framework of that organization," the ministry said in a statement. Bilateral consultations are the first formal step within the WTO's dispute settlement system, designed for parties to seek a negotiated solution to their dispute before requiring a resolution panel. "The Brazilian government reiterates its willingness to negotiate and hopes that the consultations will contribute to a solution to the problem," the ministry said. The two parties will decide on the date and location of the consultations in the coming weeks. Trump's new tariff on Brazil went into effect this Wednesday, which is the highest ever imposed by the U.S. government. Approximately 35.9 percent of Brazil's exports to the United States will be affected, according to estimates by the Brazilian Ministry of Trade. The measure includes a long list of exemptions, including orange juice, civil aircraft, petroleum, vehicles and parts, fertilizers and energy products, while imposing heavy taxes on certain products, such as meat and coffee. On Tuesday, a resolution published by Brazil's Government Gazette authorized the Foreign Ministry to activate the WTO's dispute settlement process. The mechanism aims to ensure that countries comply with trade agreements and challenge measures deemed inconsistent. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Wang Yi Has a Phone Call with Brazilian Chief Advisor to the Presidency Celso Luiz Nunes Amorim Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the People's Republic of China Updated: August 06, 2025 16:40 On August 6, 2025, Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Director of the Office of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs Wang Yi had a phone call with Brazilian Chief Advisor to the Presidency Celso Luiz Nunes Amorim at the latter's request. Wang Yi said that under the strategic guidance of President Xi Jinping and President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, China and Brazil have been working together to promote the building of a community with a shared future for a more just world and a more sustainable planet, which reflects the common vision and responsibilities of China and Brazil, as two major developing countries, committed to advancing a multipolar world, upholding international rules and order, and safeguarding international fairness and justice. Wang Yi said that China resolutely supports Brazil in defending its state sovereignty and national dignity, and opposes groundless interference in Brazil's internal affairs by external forces. China firmly supports Brazil in protecting its development rights and interests and resisting the bullying practices of arbitrary tariffs. China firmly supports Brazil in strengthening solidarity and cooperation among the Global South through the BRICS mechanism and promoting strength through unity among developing countries. Using tariffs as a weapon to suppress other countries runs counter to the purposes of the United Nations Charter, and undermines WTO rules. Such practices will win no support and cannot be sustained. As the largest developing countries in the eastern and western hemispheres respectively, China and Brazil have always supported each other, maintained close coordination, and staunchly safeguarded their respective legitimate interests and the common interests of Global South countries. China is ready to work with Brazil to fully implement the important common understandings reached by the two heads of state, deepen bilateral cooperation, enrich the strategic dimension of the China-Brazil community with a shared future, and effectively offset external uncertainties through the stability and complementarity of bilateral cooperation. Celso Amorim said that the friendly interaction between President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and President Xi Jinping underscores the significance of the Brazil-China community with a shared future. He noted that the profound friendship, strong mutual trust, and fruitful pragmatic cooperation between the two countries are truly commendable. Brazil is willing to work with China to fully implement the common understandings reached between the two heads of state and deepen cooperation in various fields such as trade and finance. The United States' imposition of high tariffs on Brazil has disrupted normal economic and trade relations and interfered in Brazil's internal affairs, which Brazil firmly opposes. Brazil thanks China for its steadfast support and is willing to work with China to promote the improvement and development of the BRICS mechanism, enhance solidarity and self-strength among the Global South, and uphold international fairness and justice. Both sides also exchanged views on the Ukraine crisis. Wang Yi said that the six-point common understandings jointly issued by China and Brazil have played an active role in de-escalating the crisis. The jointly initiated "Friends for Peace" Group, together with Global South countries, has sent out an objective and rational voice and made positive efforts toward promoting dialogue and negotiation. The commencement of Russia-Ukraine negotiations marks an important step forward. The crisis resolution process is now entering a critical stage. China and Brazil can continue to maintain communication and make joint efforts to promote the "Friends for Peace" Group to further pool consensus among the Global South on reaching a ceasefire, ending hostilities and promoting peace talks, contributing to the political settlement of the crisis. Celso Luiz Nunes Amorim said that Brazil and China can further advance the "Friends for Peace" Group to play a greater role in promoting a ceasefire and ending hostilities, while also increasing mediation efforts to encourage dialogue and negotiations between the two parties. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address China's newly modified Type 052D destroyer joins latest Type 054B frigate in training, official report footage shows Global Times By Liu Xuanzun and Liang Rui Published: Aug 07, 2025 09:51 PM A Type 052D destroyer, newly modified with an advanced radar, and a Type 054B frigate, China's most advanced frigate, took part together in a recent training exercise conducted by the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy, according to an official Chinese media report on Thursday. Recently, the comprehensive replenishment ship Hulunhu, under a naval support ship detachment of the navy of the PLA Northern Theater Command conducted multi-batch, high-intensity integrated maritime replenishment training with multiple types of destroyers and frigates, China Bugle, an official media account of the PLA's news media center, reported on Thursday. From day to night, the training was carried out under realistic combat conditions, simulating complex battlefield environments, effectively enhancing all-weather and round-the-clock comprehensive support capabilities, China Bugle said. Video footage attached to the report showed that the Luohe, a Type 054B frigate that just entered service with the PLA Navy in January this year with hull number 545, participated in the exercise. In a January report, the Xinhua News Agency described the Type 054B frigate as China's independently developed latest generation of frigate. It has a displacement of about 5,000 tons, achieving breakthroughs in terms of stealth technologies, combat command systems and firepower integrated control, with performances in all fields significantly enhanced. The Type 054B possesses robust comprehensive combat capabilities and the ability to carry out diversified military missions, playing a significant role in enhancing the overall operational effectiveness of naval task forces, Xinhua said, noting the ship represents a critical asset in the transformation and modernization of the PLA Navy. Wang Yunfei, a Chinese military affairs expert, told the Global Times that the Type 054B's participation in training demonstrates its rapid combat readiness formation after commissioning. Before reaching full operational capability, hopefully in next year, the Type 054B is expected to complete more training exercises, such as air defense, anti-submarine, surface attack, escort of aircraft carrier group and far seas voyage missions, Wang said. In addition to the Type 054B frigate, a Type 052D destroyer with hull number 125 also joined the recent maritime replenishment training exercise, the China Bugle report showed. A separate China Bugle report earlier this week identified this Type 052D as the Cangzhou. According to images released by China Bugle, the Cangzhou is equipped with a dual-face radar on its main mast, similar to the one found on the main mast of the Type 054B frigate. Previous Type 052Ds have spherical radomes at this place, making the Cangzhou a newly modified version of the Type 052D, observers noted. Chinese military affairs expert Fu Qianshao told the Global Times that the new radar is expected to provide noticeable performance boost to the Type 052D. This new radar is likely a rotary dual-face active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar that complements the four fixed AESA radars on the Type 052D by adding another frequency band at a relatively smaller cost, Fu said. He noted that different bands serve distinct functions, such as target acquisition or fire control. New upgrades to the Type 052D could mean that this type of warship will remain a mainstay to the PLA Navy's fleet, and more could be built in the future, Fu said. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Guo Jiakun's Remarks on August 7, 2025 Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the People's Republic of China Updated: August 07, 2025 19:03 Xinhua News Agency: Former president of Romania Ion Iliescu passed away recently. What's China's comment on this? Guo Jiakun: Former president Iliescu is an important leader of Romania and old friend of the Chinese people. He made important contribution to the development of China-Romania relations and friendly cooperation between our two countries. We deeply mourn the passing of former president Iliescu and extend our sincere sympathies to the Romanian government and people as well as former president Iliescu's family. Yonhap News Agency: The ROK government has decided to temporarily allow visa-free entry for tourist groups from China starting from September 29. China has extended its visa-free policy to ordinary passport holders from the ROK since the end of last year. What is China's comment? (Similar question from News 1 Korea) Guo Jiakun: China and the ROK are important neighbors. Enhancing people-to-people exchange is in the common interests of both peoples. Bloomberg: Two Chinese nationals were charged with sending advanced AI chips made by Nvidia Corp. to China in violation of U.S. export restrictions, the U.S. Justice Department said. What is the Foreign Ministry's comment? (Similar question from Reuters) Guo Jiakun: China opposes the U.S. politicizing tech and trade issues and using them as weapons to maliciously blockade and go after China. The U.S. should earnestly protect the legitimate and lawful rights and interests of Chinese nationals. Reuters: U.S. President Donald Trump has signed an executive order to place an additional 25 percent tariff on India for its purchases of Russian oil. What is China's comment? Guo Jiakun: China's opposition to the abuse of tariffs is consistent and clear. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address India, Brazil continue to resist against US tariffs Global Times India's illusion that US will treat it with exceptional favor shattered: analyst By Chu Daye and Liu Caiyu Published: Aug 07, 2025 09:55 PM Facing US tariffs, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday he will not compromise the interests of the country's farmers, while Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said he saw no room for direct talks now with US President Donald Trump, according to media reports on Thursday. Trump's sweeping new tariffs on more than 90 countries around the world came into effect on Thursday. US tariffs on Brazilian goods already jumped to 50 percent on Wednesday and a 50 percent tariff on Indian goods is set to take effect on August 28. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday he will not compromise the interests of the country's farmers even if he has to pay a heavy price for it, Reuters reported. Modi made the remarks after the White House announced that it is imposing an additional 25 percent tariff on India, bringing the total levies against the South Asian country to 50 percent due to the country's purchase of Russian oil. Without directly referring to the US tariffs or trade talks, Modi said in a function in New Delhi that "For us, our farmers' welfare is supreme," and "India will never compromise on the wellbeing of its farmers, dairy (sector) and fishermen. And I know personally I will have to pay a heavy price for it and I am ready for it. India is ready for it," according to Times of India. Trade talks between India and the US collapsed after five rounds of negotiations over disagreement on opening India's farm and dairy sectors and stopping Russian oil purchases, according to Reuters. Song Wei, a professor at the School of International Relations and Diplomacy at Beijing Foreign Studies University, told the Global Times that "Judging from US actions, we can tell that the US is pushing global trade protectionism to new heights." Reacting to Trump's additional tariffs, India's ministry of external affairs said in a statement on Wednesday that it is "extremely unfortunate." "We reiterate that these actions are unfair, unjustified and unreasonable. India will take all actions necessary to protect its national interests," it said. The US' heavy-handed approach to India highlighted the difficulty faced by countries in safeguarding their national interests in the face of trade bullying tactics from the US, Chinese analysts noted. Xie Chao, an assistant professor of Indian studies at Tsinghua University, told the Global Times on Thursday that India has long believed that the West has a special need for it and that the US would inevitably treat it with exceptional favor. "Now, it seems this illusion has been shattered. India comes to realize that the two nations are not in the equal partnership India had previously imagined," Xie said. Brazil to initiate BRICS conversation As US tariffs on Brazilian goods jumped to 50 percent on Wednesday, Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva told Reuters in an interview that he saw no room for direct talks now with Trump, which would otherwise likely be a "humiliation." The Brazilian President said on Wednesday (Brazil time) he would initiate a conversation among the BRICS group of developing nations about how to tackle Trump's tariffs and that he planned to call Modi on Thursday. "What President Trump is doing is tacit he wants to dismantle multilateralism, where agreements are made collectively within institutions, and replace it with unilateralism, where he negotiates one-on-one with other countries," Lula said. "It's important to remember that the BRICS have 10 countries at the G20," he added, referring to the group that gathers 20 of the world's biggest economies, Reuters said. Brazil requested consultations at the World Trade Organization over the 50 percent tariff imposed by the US against the country that went into effect on Wednesday, the AP reported. During a phone call with Celso Amorim, chief advisor to the president of Brazil, China's top diplomat Wang Yi stressed on Wednesday that China firmly supports Brazil in defending its right to development and opposing the bullying practices of arbitrary tariffs. As the largest developing countries in the eastern and western hemispheres respectively, China and Brazil have always supported each other, coordinated closely together, and firmly safeguarded their own legitimate interests as well as the common interests of the Global South countries, Wang said. In response to the US' placing of an additional 25 percent tariff on India for its purchases of Russian oil, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said on Thursday that China's opposition to the abuse of tariffs is consistent and clear. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address CDS formally releases declassified versions of Joint Doctrines for Cyberspace Operations & Amphibious Operations India - Press Information Bureau Ministry of Defence Posted On: 07 AUG 2025 4:24PM by PIB Delhi Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan and Secretary, Department of Military Affairs formally released the declassified versions of the Joint Doctrines for Cyberspace Operations and Amphibious Operations during the Chiefs of Staff Committee meeting in New Delhi on August 07, 2025. The declassification of these doctrines underscores India's commitment to enhance visibility, accessibility and wider dissemination of joint war-fighting concepts. The Joint Doctrine for Cyberspace Operations outlines a unified approach to defend national cyberspace interests, integrating offensive and defensive cyber capabilities and enabling synchronised operations across the three Services. It emphasises threat-informed planning, resilience building, real-time intelligence integration and development of joint cyber capabilities. The Joint Doctrine for Amphibious Operations defines the framework for planning and executing amphibious operations by integrating maritime, air and land forces. It stresses interoperability, rapid response capability and joint force application to influence operations ashore. The CDS has initiated development of numerous new doctrines/primers covering contemporary as well as niche areas of war-fighting such as Military Space Operations, Special Forces Operations, Airborne/Heliborne Operations, Integrated Logistics, Multi Domain Operations. These doctrines will provide stakeholders and policy makers with a common lexicon and guidelines for effective planning & smooth execution of joint military operations. The Joint Doctrines can be accessed at https://ids.nic.in/content/doctrines. **** SR/Savvy (Release ID: 2153626) NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Modi, Lula speak on phone amid growing tariff pressure from the US Global Times By Global Times Published: Aug 08, 2025 09:12 AM Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva spoke on the phone on Thursday amid growing tariff pressure from the US government. "We are committed to deepening our Strategic Partnership including in trade, energy, tech, defence, health and more. A strong, people-centric partnership between Global South nations benefits everyone," Modi said in a X post on Friday. Lula, said in a post on X on Friday, that the two leaders "recalled the important outcomes of the State visit that Prime Minister Modi made to Brazil on July 8, and discussed the international economic scenario and the imposition of unilateral tariffs." "Brazil and India are, so far, the two most affected countries. We reaffirmed the importance of defending multilateralism and the need to address the challenges of the current situation, as well as to explore possibilities for greater integration between the two countries," Lula said in the post. In this context, the two sides confirmed a state visit from Brazil to India in early 2026 during the call. The phone call came after a day after the Brazilian leader told Reuters he would initiate a conversation among the BRICS group of countries on tackling US President Donald Trump's levies, Reuters reported. Trump on Wednesday announced an additional 25 percent tariff on Indian goods, bringing the total duty to 50 percent. He said the hike, effective on August 28, is intended to punish India for continuing to import Russian oil, per Reuters. Brazil was also hit with a 50 percent tariff on most goods, and Trump linked the move to what he described as a "witch hunt" against former President Jair Bolsonaro, according to Reuters. Lula also revealed in the interview with Reuters on Wednesday that he plans to call the leaders of India and China to discuss a joint BRICS response to tariffs on US imports imposed by Trump. "What President Trump is doing is tacit he wants to dismantle multilateralism, where agreements are made collectively within institutions, and replace it with unilateralism, where he negotiates one-on-one with other countries," Lula said. "I'm going to try to discuss with them about how each one is doing in this situation, what the implications are for each country, so we can make a decision," he was quoted as saying in the Reuters' report. "It's important to remember that the BRICS have ten countries at the G20," he added, referring to the group that gathers 20 of the world's biggest economies, Reuters said. Sending a strong message the day after US President ratcheted up the tariff war against India, Modi stressed that India will never compromise with the interests of its farmers and fishermen, Indian media NDTV reported on Thursday. Modi said that while he knows he will "have to pay the price", he was ready to do it for farmers. With the total tariffs on Indian exports to the US rising to 50 percent, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs responded that the US targeting India over Russian oil imports is "unfair, unjustified, and unreasonable," NDTV said. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address PM Narendra Modi receives a telephone call from the President of Brazil (August 07, 2025) India - Ministry of External Affairs August 08, 2025 Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi received a telephone call today (August 07, 2025) from the President of Brazil, His Excellency, Mr. Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Prime Minister recalled his visit to Brazil last month during which the two leaders agreed on a framework to strengthen cooperation in trade, technology, energy, defence, agriculture, health and people-to-people ties. Building on these discussions, they reiterated their commitment to take India-Brazil Strategic Partnership to new heights. The two leaders exchanged views on various regional and global issues of mutual interest. The two leaders agreed to remain in touch. New Delhi August 07, 2025 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Modi and Lula discuss Trump's tariffs amid strained trade relations with US Iran Press TV Friday, 08 August 2025 3:03 AM Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva have spoken by phone regarding various issues, including the tariffs recently imposed by the United States on goods from both nations. Lula confirmed a state visit to India in early 2026 during the call on Thursday, a day after the Brazilian leader told Reuters news agency he would initiate a conversation among the BRICS group of countries on addressing US President Donald Trump's tariff measures. The group of major emerging economies also includes China, Russia and South Africa. Lula's office confirmed that in the call, both leaders discussed the international economic situation and the unilateral tariffs affecting Brazil and India, which are among the nations most impacted by Trump's actions. Trump recently imposed a 25% tariff on Indian goods, raising the total tariff to 50%, alleging that India continues to purchase Russian oil. He also imposed similar tariffs on Brazil, affecting sectors including aircraft, energy, and orange juice. During the conversation, Modi and Lula reiterated their goal of increasing bilateral trade to over $20 billion annually by 2030, up from approximately $12 billion last year. They also agreed to enhance the scope of their preferential trade agreement and discussed virtual payment platforms to facilitate trade. Modi ready to 'pay a heavy price' In parallel, Modi has expressed a willingness to "pay a very heavy price" to resist US pressure to alter India's trade policies in light of the punitive tariffs. In an executive order signed on Wednesday, Trump imposed India with an additional 25% tariff, for continuing to purchase large quantities of Russian oil. It came on top of a 25% tariff for Indian exports already announced by the US president. India's foreign ministry labeled the new tariffs as "unfair" and accused the US of double standards. Modi reaffirmed his commitment to protect Indian farmers and their interests, stating that such policies are "non-negotiable on principle." His government's firm stance has led to criticism from opposition parties, which claim the tariffs signal a shift in US relations with India, once viewed as a "special relationship." Despite ongoing trade negotiations, analysts suggest that the significant tariffs imposed will lead to substantial economic impacts across various sectors in India, particularly textiles and automotive components, risking trade advantages against competitors like Vietnam and Bangladesh. Modi's government is now faced with the challenge of balancing its strategic autonomy while seeking new trade avenues to mitigate the risks posed by US tariffs. The Congress party president, Mallikarjun Kharge, denounced the US attempt to use tariffs to coerce India into shifting its trade and foreign policies. "India's national interest is supreme," said Kharge. "Any nation that arbitrarily penalises India for our time-tested policy of strategic autonomy ... doesn't understand the steel frame India is made of." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran: Statement by the High Representative on behalf of the European Union on the alignment of certain countries concerning restrictive measures in view of Iran's military support to Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine and to armed groups and entities in the Middle East and the Red Sea region European Council / Council of the European Union Council of the EU Statements and remarks 7 August 2025 12:11 On 25 July 2025, the Council adopted amending Decision (CFSP)2025/15471 amending Decision (CFSP) 2023/1532 concerning restrictive measures in view of Iran's military support to Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine and to armed groups and entities in the Middle East and the Red Sea region. The Council decided that the restrictive measures should be extended until 27 July 2026, and the entries concerning two persons and one entity listed in the Annex to Decision (CFSP) 2023/1532 should be updated. Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Republic of Moldova, and Ukraine align themselves with this Council Decision. They will ensure that their national policies conform to this Decision. The European Union takes note of this commitment and welcomes it. 1OJ L, 2025/1547, 25.07.2025, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/dec/2025/1547/oj. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Foreign Ministry spokesperson: Iran objects to IAEA's political conduct but remains committed to its obligations IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Aug 7, 2025 Tehran, IRNA -- The spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has emphasized that Iran strongly objects to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)'s conduct but remains committed to its obligations. Speaking to a radio program on Thursday, Esmaeil Baghaei said that the upcoming visit by an IAEA delegation is not for inspections but for discussions on drafting a new protocol for interactions under the current unprecedented circumstances. Objections to IAEA's political conduct Baghaei reiterated Iran's strong objections to the IAEA's recent measures, saying that Western countries, particularly the U.S. and the European trio, have exploited the Agency to pressure Iran and distort realities. He also criticized the latest IAEA report, which was based on a resolution pushed by these countries, saying that the report contained inaccuracies and served as a pretext for Israeli attacks. Despite these objections, Baghaei affirmed Iran's continued commitment to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and said that the upcoming IAEA visit is intended to discuss a new protocol for engagement under the current exceptional circumstances. He emphasized that attacks on peaceful, monitored nuclear facilities is an unprecedented situation that requires new protocols reflecting on-the-ground realities and parliamentary statute. Europeans have no right to trigger "snapback mechanism" Addressing the "snapback mechanism", Baghaei said that foreign media are creating tension, which is a part of psychological warfare. He explained that the mechanism allows one party to the agreement to suspend its obligations if the other party fails to fulfill its commitments. Iran's reduction in commitments was a legal response to the US's unlawful withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), he said, adding that it was the European parties who failed to uphold their obligations. He said that neither the US nor the European members of the JCPOA have the right to invoke the snapback mechanism, because the US has exited the deal and the European members have failed to fulfill their commitments and even did not condemn recent attacks that were in violation of UN Resolution 2231. Baghaei reiterated that any attempt to reimpose UN sanctions would be met with a strong response from Iran. Rumors about US negotiations Baghaei denied any scheduled time or location for negotiations between Tehran and Washington. Responding to questions about reports about a mediator other than Oman for indirect talks between Iran and the US, he noted that the news is "fake and fabricated". He also provided more examples for such fake news, including reports about evacuation of foreign embassy in Tehran. He added that diplomatic messaging with the US continues through the Swiss Embassy in Tehran and the Pakistani Embassy in Washington, saying that it is natural for intermediaries to convey messages at various times. Warning to neighbors about enemy exploitation Baghaei stressed the importance of maintaining good relations with neighboring countries and wanted them to be vigilant against Israeli efforts to damage those ties. He said that Iran does not accuse its neighbors of anything but wants them to be watchful so that their territories would not be used by the Israeli regime to undermine Iran's national security. 9417 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran's response to new aggression will be 'unlike anything seen before': Top general IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency Aug 7, 2025 Tehran, IRNA -- Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi, says the Islamic Republic does not seek war but will deliver a more crushing response to any new act of aggression against the country. "The Iranian nation is not a warmongering nation; however, if the enemies intend to launch another aggression or attack against this great country, our response this time will be more crushing and unlike anything seen before," Gen. Mousavi said in a speech on Thursday at a ceremony honoring the victims of the recent US-Israeli aggression against Iran. "Iran's deterrent power is complete," he said. The Israeli regime launched an unprovoked attack on Iran on June 13, killing at least 1,064 people, including senior military commanders and nuclear scientists. The US officially joined the war on June 22, bombing three Iranian nuclear facilities before unilaterally declaring a ceasefire on behalf of Israel two days later. In response, the Iranian Armed Forces struck military and strategic positions deep inside the Israeli-occupied territories with ballistic missiles, and also targeted a major US airbase in Qatar. In his speech, Gen. Mousavi warned American leaders of the consequences of their continued support for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "I ask the wise men of America: Do you truly wish to sacrifice your country's future and the fate of your next generation just to save Netanyahu?" "The Iranian people will never forget the wounds inflicted by America's betrayals and crimes," he said. The top general praised those who were martyred in Israeli attacks as "pillars of Iran's present and future security," saying that while their loss was painful, they ushered in a new era of national strength and unity. 4353 NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address IRGC intel head: Israel trying to drag Europe into 'snapback' trap Iran Press TV Thursday, 07 August 2025 8:09 PM The head of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Intelligence Organization, Major General Majid Khadami, has issued a stern warning that the Israeli regime is attempting to draw European countries into a strategic error regarding the "snapback" sanctions mechanism. Speaking on recent regional developments, General Khadami referenced past intelligence failures by Israel and the United States in late 2019, which led to the assassination of IRGC Quds Force commander, Lieutenant General Qasem Soleimani. He said Israeli intelligence and hardliners within the CIA falsely claimed that General Soleimani was planning an operation in Baghdad, while he had simply entered the city on a routine commercial flight. This misinformation, Khadami asserted, paved the way for the US assassination of General Soleimani. Khadami referred to recent Israeli efforts to manipulate European countries into adopting hostile measures against Iran under the snapback mechanism. "Today, the Zionist regime is once again seeking to lead the Europeans into the same strategic error in the snapback mechanism issue," he said. "The enemies of the revolution, just as what happened in December 2019, are once again attemptingwith flawed intelligence analysesto undermine the fabric of the system through the assassination of commanders, cognitive warfare, and spreading despair," he explained. "Just as they misled the United States, they are now trying to steer Europe into the same strategic mistake. We issue this warning clearly." The European trio, party to the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, has sought to activate the deal's "snapback" mechanism to restore sanctions. The three European signatories, along with China and Russia, are the only remaining parties to the 2015 nuclear deal after the US withdrawal in 2018. The so-called snapback mechanism would bring into force six previous Iran-related Security Council resolutions adopted between 2006 and 2010. It would reinstate the expired UN arms embargo that barred countries from supplying, selling, or transferring most military equipment to Iran and prohibited Tehran from exporting any weapons. It would also impose export controls, travel bans, asset freezes, and other restrictions on individuals, entities, and banks. Khadami noted that Iran has long monitored adversary behavior, stressing that "the enemy never distinguishes between war and negotiation, seeing both as tools of pressure against the Iranian nation." Referencing guidance from Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, Khadami reaffirmed Iran's defensive posture. "Historical experience shows that the Islamic Republic has never initiated a war, but will never remain passive if the nation faces threats." Khademi emphasized the ongoing nature of the psychological and cognitive warfare being waged against Iran, calling on the Iranian people and leadership to remain vigilant. "The war has not ended; we are in a temporary pause. The enemy continues psychological, informational, and cognitive operations, hoping to create internal crises," he said. However, Khadami stressed that Iran remains open to diplomatic engagement if its legitimate rights are recognized in talks. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Axis of Resistance more powerful than before: Iran's military spokesman Iran Press TV Thursday, 07 August 2025 7:25 PM A senior Iranian military commander says that while Israel seeks to shift regional equations in its favor, the Axis of Resistance stands strong and is demonstrating greater operational strength than ever before. Iran's Armed Forces spokesman Brigadier General Abolfazl Shekarchi made the remarks at a ceremony on Thursday, marking the 40th day since the martyrdom of several Iranian military commanders during the unprovoked Israeli-US aggression in June. He noted that Lebanon's Hezbollah, Hamas, Yemen's Ansarullah, and Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) and resistance forces in other countries are operating more powerfully than ever. "This resistance front remains undefeatableand will deliver a proportionate response to all threats," he underscored. "The martyrdom of resistance fighters fortifies this front even further," he said, adding that far from weakening the movement, martyrs amplify its power and unity. General Shekarchi emphasized that martyrs serve as the strategic backbone of the resistance front, standing firm against global arrogancespecifically the United States and the Israeli regime. On June 13, Israel launched a blatant and unprovoked act of aggression against Iran, assassinating many high-ranking military commanders, nuclear scientists, and killing hundreds of civilians. The United States also entered the war by bombing three Iranian nuclear sites in a grave violation of international law. In response, the Iranian Armed Forces targeted strategic sites across the occupied territories as well as the al-Undead air base in Qatar, the largest American military base in West Asia. On June 24, Iran, through its successful retaliatory operations, managed to impose a halt to the illegal aggression. On the status of military equipment and armaments, he said that Iran's "defense and equipment capabilities have increased significantly compared to the past," and the armed forces are at a higher level of readiness. "We will defeat the enemies of the Islamic Republic, the Iranian nation, and the Muslim nations, especially the oppressed people of Palestine," he added. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Ayatollah Khamenei appoints Larijani as his representative to SNSC Iran Press TV Thursday, 07 August 2025 10:34 AM Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei appoints veteran politician Ali Larijani as his representative to Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC). In a decree on Thursday, Ayatollah Khamenei said the appointment is based on Article 176 of Iran's Constitution, which outlines national security responsibilities. The Leader expressed gratitude to Ali Akbar Ahmadian for his great efforts in the post in recent years. The replacement comes after Ahmadian was tasked with carrying out important executive responsibilities, Ayatollah Khamenei said. With the Leader's appointment, Larijani replaces Ahmadian as one of Ayatollah Khamenei's two designated representatives to the body. Saeed Jalili is the other representative currently serving in that capacity. On Tuesday, President Masoud Pezeshkian appointed Larijani as the new secretary of the SNSC, replacing Ahmadian, who had served in that role since May 2023. Leader appoints Ahmadian, Shamkhani as representatives to Defense Council In a separate decree also on Thursday, Ayatollah Khamenei named Ahmadian and Ali Shamkhani, also a former SNSC chief, as his representatives to the Defense Council. The appointment comes after the Supreme National Security Council approved the establishment of a Defense Council as part of major structural changes to the nation's strategic defense policies. The Defense Council is responsible for developing defense strategies and enhancing the capabilities of the Armed Forces. The Iranian president will head the Defense Council, which also includes the heads of the three branches of government, senior military commanders, and designated ministers relevant to defense affairs. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Iran has 'complete' deterrence power against enemies: Top general Iran Press TV Thursday, 07 August 2025 9:51 AM The top Iranian military official has praised the country's combat and defense capabilities, saying the Islamic Republic enjoys full deterrence in the face of enemies. Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi made the remarks at a ceremony on Thursday, marking the 40th day since the martyrdom of several Iranian military commanders during the unprovoked Israeli-US aggression in June. "The deterrence power of the Islamic Republic of Iran is complete, and as Leader of the Islamic Revolution [Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei] has stated, the Iranian nation is well-equipped both for negotiations and for defense," he said. He also warned that in the event of any new aggression, Iran's response will be decisive, crushing, and unlike anything in the past. Mousavi further noted that the martyrdom of Iranian commanders, scientists, students, athletes, among others, during the terrorist assault reinforced national unity and amplified the voice of the people's resilience. "The enemies do not realize that if an aggressor sets foot on this soil, Iraniansregardless of their creed and beliefwill stand united against them," he said. On June 13, Israel launched a blatant act of aggression against Iran, triggering a 12-day war that killed at least 1,064 people in the country. The United States also entered the war by bombing three Iranian nuclear sites in a grave violation of international law. In response, the Iranian Armed Forces targeted strategic sites across the occupied territories as well as the al-Undead air base in Qatar, the largest American military base in West Asia. On June 24, Iran, through its successful retaliatory operations, managed to impose a halt to the illegal aggression. Additionally, in his remarks, the top general said that Israel's main objective is to drag Iran into chaos and war. "The child-killing Zionist regime has no future. What it displays is merely a sign of anxiety and collapse. This regime is like a brake-less vehicle, aimlessly heading toward destruction," he added. Mousavi also warned American and Western statesmen against sacrificing their countries' fate and future to save Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Iranians, he emphasized, "will never forget the wounds of the United States' betrayals and crimes, and future generations will loudly cry out for revenge for the nation's suffering." He further reiterated Iran's message of peace and stability to the region, voicing the country's determination to create lasting security through regional cooperation and not allow the Zionist regime to advance its expansionist goals via sedition. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Treasury Targets Iranian Network Evading Sanctions and Enabling Oppression U.S. Department of the Treasury August 7, 2025 WASHINGTON -- Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is designating 18 entities and individuals that play pivotal roles in the Iranian regime's efforts to generate revenue and circumvent U.S. sanctions. Facing severe financial constraints due to international isolation, Iran has engineered sophisticated banking schemes and alternate payment messaging systems specifically designed to bypass sanctions and protect its ability to collect export revenues, particularly from illicit petroleum sales. These systems also enable the regime's continued funding of its proxies and oppression of the Iranian people. Additionally, financial and information technology firms designated today have provided the regime with advanced surveillance technologies that Iran's security services deploy to restrict internet access and to target women who violate the regime's mandatory hijab restrictions. "As a result of President Trump's maximum pressure campaign and increasing isolation from the global financial system, the Iranian regime is running out of places to hide," said Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent. "Treasury will continue to disrupt Iran's schemes aimed at evading our sanctions, block its access to revenue, and starve its weapons programs of capital in order to protect the American people." Today's action is being taken pursuant to Executive Order (E.O.) 13902, which targets those operating in certain sectors of the Iranian economy, including Iran's financial sector. It is also being taken in furtherance of National Security Presidential Memorandum 2, directing a campaign of maximum economic pressure on Iran. Treasury is committed to using all available tools to combat Iran's attempts to circumvent sanctions and repatriate illicit foreign revenue, as evidenced by our recent actions sanctioning Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Zarringhalam family "shadow banking" networks, as well as the sprawling Shamkhani shipping network that has generated billions of dollars in revenue that is then laundered through such networks. IRANian FINANCIAL MESSAGING SYSTEM Treasury is designating the RUNC Exchange System Company, also known as RUNC International Banking Solutions (RUNC), for its role in developing Iran's Cross-Border Interbank Messaging System (CIMS), a recently developed bank messaging system designed to allow Iran and its allies to circumvent controls in place on more commonly used payment systems. In late 2023, the Central Bank of Iran authorized the use of the RUNC-developed CIMS outside of Iran to insulate the regime's foreign financial transactions from sanctions and to facilitate Iranian banking relations with foreign partners. CIMS has been used to connect to the U.S.-sanctioned Bank of Kunlun in order to circumvent sanctions and further banking cooperation between Iran and China. Foreign financial institutions considering the use of CIMS to clear transactions must understand that doing so places them at heightened risk of economic sanctions for transacting with sanctioned Iranian banks. RUNC Exchange System Company is being designated pursuant to E.O. 13902 for operating in the financial sector of the Iranian economy. OFAC is also designating RUNC's leadership: Ali Morteza Birang is the primary board member and managing director of RUNC; Mohammad Shafipour is the vice chairman of the board of directors of RUNC; and Seyyed Mahmoud Reza Sajjadi is the chairman of the board of directors of RUNC. Ali Morteza Birang, Mohammad Shafipour, and Seyyed Mahmoud Reza Sajjadi are being designated pursuant to E.O. 13902 for being owned or controlled by, or having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, RUNC Exchange System Company. A SHADOWY OFFSHORE BANK The Iranian regime has also turned to decentralized "offshore" banking in an attempt to establish a financial conduit that outwardly appears separate from Iran's U.S.-sanctioned, centralized banks. In 2021, the Iranian Supreme Council for National Security (SCNS) authorized the issuance of a special license by the Central Bank of Iran to establish Cyrus Offshore Bank (Cyrus Bank)in Iran's Kish Free Zone area on Kish Island, just off Iran's southern coast in the Persian Gulf. The SCNS authorized the establishment of Cyrus Bank as a mechanism for the Iranian government to avoid sanctions while making purchases abroad, with Cyrus Bank secretly owned and staffed by the sanctioned Iranian financial institution Parsian Bank. Cyrus Bank's specially issued license exempts it from Iran's normal banking regulations, thereby masking its ties to the Central Bank of Iran from public view. In 2021, Parsian Bank coordinated with IRGC officials to route proceeds from Iranian oil sales to the IRGC via Cyrus Bank. In 2022, SCNS officials and the Central Bank of Iran began using Cyrus Bank to transact with the Bank of Kunlun, in which a significant portion of Iran's oil revenue was deposited. Cyrus Bank is being designated pursuant to E.O. 13902 for operating in the financial sector of the Iranian economy. Cyrus Bank is headed by Parsian Bank board member Hadi Nouri, who serves as CEO and managing director. Cyrus Bank's day-to-day activities are managed by Parsian Bank official Alireza Fatahinojokambari, who also serves as vice chairman on Cyrus Bank's board of directors. Adel Berjisian, another Parsian Bank official, serves on Cyrus Bank's board of directors and is an authorized signatory on Cyrus Bank matters. Hadi Nouri, Alireza Fatahinojokambari, and Adel Berjisian are being designated pursuant to E.O. 13902 for being owned or controlled by, or having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, Cyrus Bank. INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ENABLING BANKING AND SURVEILLANCE Today's action also targets Iranian software holding company Pasargad Arian Information and Communication Technology Company (FANAP), which is owned or controlled by Pasargad bank, a major financial institution designated by OFAC for operating in the Iranian financial sector. FANAP entered the financial sector as a company specialized in designing and developing indigenous financial technologies for Iranian banks. FANAP and its subsidiaries provide services such as the secure transportation of cash and high-value assets, the production and maintenance of ATMs, and the design of banking and payment hardware for Iran's banking sector. FANAP is being designated pursuant to E.O. 13902 for being owned or controlled by, or having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, Pasargad Bank. Since its inception, FANAP and its subsidiaries have diversified their information technology activities with the backing of the Iranian government to develop surveillance technologies for the Iranian police state. FANAP and its director, Shahab Javanmardi, have strong links to the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS), and other FANAP executives serve as members of the IRGC. The United States has sanctioned both MOIS and the IRGC for committing serious human rights abuses against the Iranian people and supporting terrorist groups. FANAP's subsidiaries have partnered with Iran's Information and Communications Technology Ministry in the development of the National Information Network (NIN), a countrywide intranet that is being used to block the Iranian people from accessing the global, uncensored internet. The Iranian government also commissioned FANAP-owned companies to design Soroush, an indigenous messaging application developed to enable the Iranian government to block Telegram in the country due to its heavy use by protestors across Iran. FANAP also owns facial recognition software called Behnama, which is operated by the Law Enforcement Forces of Iran and Iran's Morality Police, entities responsible for enforcing women's compliance with the mandatory hijab laws. Shahab Javanmardi is being designated pursuant to E.O. 13902 for being owned or controlled by, or having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, FANAP. FANAP's many subsidiariesconsisting of Qeshm Arian Datis Software Company (Dotin), Arvand Arian Pasargad Communications and Information Technology Payment Company (FANAP Tech), Rashid Samaneh Electronic Processing Company (Parsa), Sherkat-e Barid Fanavar Arian (Baran Telecom), Arian Pasargad Communications and Information Technology Infrastructure Company (FANAP Infrastructure), Arian Pasargad Communications and Information Technology Ecosystem Development Company (FANAP Plus), Arman Kish Data Communications and Information Technology Company (Sherkat-e Fanavari Etelaat ve Ertebatat Dadeh Arman Kish),and Pasargad Electronic Payment Services Companyare also being designated pursuant to E.O. 13902 for being owned or controlled by, or having acted or purported to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, FANAP. SANCTIONS IMPLICATIONS As a result of today's action, all property and interests in property of the designated or blocked persons described above that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons are blocked and must be reported to OFAC. In addition, any entities that are owned, directly or indirectly, individually or in the aggregate, 50 percent or more by one or more blocked persons are also blocked. Unless authorized by OFAC, or exempt, OFAC's regulations generally prohibit all transactions by U.S. persons or within (or transiting) the United States that involve any property or interests in property of blocked persons. Violations of U.S. sanctions may result in the imposition of civil or criminal penalties on U.S. and foreign persons. OFAC may impose civil penalties for sanctions violations on a strict liability basis. OFAC's Economic Sanctions Enforcement Guidelines provide more information regarding OFAC's enforcement of U.S. economic sanctions. In addition, financial institutions and other persons may risk exposure to sanctions for engaging in certain transactions or activities involving designated or otherwise blocked persons. The prohibitions include the making of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services by, to, or for the benefit of any designated or blocked person, or the receipt of any contribution or provision of funds, goods, or services from any such person. Furthermore, engaging in certain transactions involving the persons designated today may risk the imposition of secondary sanctions on participating foreign financial institutions. OFAC can prohibit or impose strict conditions on opening or maintaining, in the United States, a correspondent account or a payable-through account of a foreign financial institution that knowingly conducts or facilitates any significant transaction on behalf of a person who is designated pursuant to the relevant authority. The power and integrity of OFAC sanctions derive not only from OFAC's ability to designate and add persons to the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List (SDN List), but also from its willingness to remove persons from the SDN List consistent with the law. The ultimate goal of sanctions is not to punish, but to bring about a positive change in behavior. For information concerning the process for seeking removal from an OFAC list, including the SDN List, or to submit a request, please refer to OFAC's guidance on Filing a Petition for Removal from an OFAC List. Click here for more information on the persons designated and any property identified as blocked today. ### NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Consultation between Minister Akazawa and Secretary Lutnick, and Consultation between Minister Akazawa and Secretary Bessent Ministry of Foregn Affairs of Japan August 8, 2025 On August 7 (local time), during his visit to Washington D.C, Mr. AKAZAWA Ryosei, Minister in charge of Economic Revitalization of Japan, held a consultation with the Honorable Howard Lutnick, Secretary of Commerce of the United States of America, commencing at 10:30, for approximately 180 minutes, and a consultation with the Honorable Scott Bessent, Secretary of Treasury of the United States of America, commencing at 16:15, for approximately 30 minutes. The overview is stated in the attached Cabinet Secretariat press release. (Reference) Attachment Cabinet Secretariat Press Release (English (PDF) NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Answers to journalists' questions August 7, 2025 15:00 The Kremlin, Moscow Question: Given the recent news about your upcoming meeting with President Trump, who initiated it? President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Both sides expressed interest. At this point, who reached out first is no longer relevant. Question: Could you clarify please? Your Aide Yury Ushakov mentioned that the meeting will likely happen next week. Do you have any details on the location - even just a hint? Vladimir Putin: We have many friends willing to help organise such events. One of them is the President of the United Arab Emirates. The exact venue is still being decided, but the UAE would be one of the suitable options. Question: What about Zelensky? Will you be meeting with him? Vladimir Putin: I have said repeatedly that I have no objection to meeting with him in principle - it is possible. But certain conditions must be in place first. Unfortunately, we are still far from that point. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Commentary by Aide to the President of Russia Yury Ushakov on Vladimir Putin's meeting with US President's Special Envoy Steve Witkoff August 7, 2025 12:00 Aide to the President Yury Ushakov: This meeting took place in a business-like atmosphere and was quite constructive. Both sides can be satisfied with the outcomes of this conversation. The discussion focused on matters dealing with future efforts to work together in the context of resolving the Ukraine crisis. Once again, it was noted that Russia-US relations could be placed on a totally different, mutually beneficial footing, which would be in stark contrast with the way these relations have evolved in recent years. Regarding the Ukraine agenda, at the proposal of the United States, there was a principled agreement to hold a top-level bilateral meeting in the coming days, which means a meeting between presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. Together with our American colleagues, we are about to start working on the specific parameters of this meeting and its venue. Basically, the venue has also been coordinated, and we will communicate on this point a little later. As for the option of holding a trilateral meeting, which for some reason became a subject of speculation yesterday in Washington, the US representative simply mentioned it during the meeting at the Kremlin. However, there was no specific discussion on this topic. Russia has not commented on this option in any way. Our suggestion primarily focuses on preparing for a bilateral meeting with Donald Trump. It is our belief that ensuring this meeting is a success and yields tangible results is what matters most. Everyone already knows that Donald Trump spoke to several of his European partners on the phone to discuss these issues after Steve Witkoff reported back to him. It is worth noting in this regard that we have also been updating our close partners and friends through the relevant communication channels to inform them about the topics discussed during the meeting with Steve Witkoff. Next week was suggested as a possible timeframe [for holding the meeting], but since the effort to prepare for this important event is only just beginning for both parties, it is hard to say how long the preparations will take. That said, the option of holding this meeting sometime next week was on the table, and we hold quite a positive view in this regard. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Meeting with UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan Vladimir Putin had a meeting in the Kremlin with President of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. August 7, 2025 13:35 The Kremlin, Moscow President of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan has arrived in Russia on an official visit. An official welcoming ceremony for the President of the UAE and presentation of the delegations took place in the Kremlin's St George Hall before the talks. * * * Beginning of Russia-UAE talks President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Your Majesty, friends, Allow me to offer you my heartfelt greetings and welcome you to Moscow. Your Majesty, I am delighted to see you once again in the capital of Russia. We attach special importance to our relations with the United Arab Emirates. For Russia, the UAE is a friendly nation, and we have been maintaining contacts at a high political level. There has been upward momentum in our economic ties, including both trade and investment. In fact, mutual investment has been on the rise. Let me note that so far, Russia has been investing significantly more in the United Arab Emirates than vice versa. In fact, our investment is almost double the amount invested by the UAE here. That said, we recognise that your sovereign wealth fund and the Russian Direct Investment Fund have been quite effective in forging closer ties. Thank you for trusting Russian specialists in investment. We keep a close eye on this sector, which has been delivering tangible results. Humanitarian cooperation between our two countries has been quite good too. I am referring to our contacts in education and culture. As far as I know, you have been interested in the way Sirius, our Sochi-based centre for talented youth, operates. It has come to the attention of your family members who travelled to Sirius to learn how it works, while you visited the Primakov School during your visit to Moscow. I do hope that we will make further strides in developing our relations along this track. Of course, we should exchange views on regional developments and international security during today's meeting. Our two countries have been proactive in working together in various formats, starting with the United Nations, and the UAE has recently joined BRICS as a full-fledged participant. You have also signed an agreement with the EAEU, which I believe contains a positive decision on 85 percent of traded product categories, with many customs duties reduced to zero. Overall, we have much to discuss, considering the scale of our relations. We are delighted to see you here. Welcome, Your Majesty. President of the UAE Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan (retranslated): Thank you, Mr President. I am delighted to be here today in the capital of the Russian Federation, which is known for its great history. Mr President, relations between our two countries have been gathering momentum in recent years. We are pleased with the way these relations have been developing in their current form, so let me share some figures with you. Trade between Russia and the United Arab Emirates has reached US$11.5 billion. In terms of our trade with EAEU countries, this figure has reached US$30 billion. We would like these results to double within the next five years, both in terms of our bilateral trade and our relations with the EAEU countries. It is a great pleasure for me and the accompanying delegation to be here today, Mr President. We have always sought to forge closer ties between our two countries. Thank you for your hospitality. We hope that this visit yields positive results and benefits the people of Russia and the UAE. <...> NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russia, US Agree to Hold Putin-Trump Meeting in Coming Days - Putin's Aide Sputnik News 20250807 Russia and the United States have agreed on a meeting between Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump in the coming days, with preparations for the summit now underway, according to Russian Presidential aide Yuri Ushakov. "At the suggestion of the American side, an agreement has been reached in principle for a bilateral high-level meeting in the coming days, specifically a meeting between Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump," Yuri Ushakov said. "Now, together with our American colleagues, we are beginning to work on the specifics," Ushakov added. The location for the meeting between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump has been agreed upon, and the Kremlin will provide further details later, Yuri Ushakov said. Next week is designated as benchmark for Putin-Trump meeting, but it is difficult to say how many days preparations will take, Ushakov added. Sputnik NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Nearly 10,000 killed since Western-friendly militants seized power in Syria: Report Iran Press TV Thursday, 07 August 2025 5:00 PM The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), a UK-based monitor, has documented the violent deaths of nearly 10,000 people in Syria since Western-backed Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, once affiliated with al-Qaeda and Daesh, was installed as president in Damascus. The SOHR reported on Thursday that "due to ongoing violence by local and foreign militants," at least 9,889 people had been killed since 8 December 2024, the day Damascus fell under the controversial rule of Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) militant group. The SORH said that 7,449 civilians were among the victims, including 396 children and 541 women. It also stressed that there has been no accountability for killings carried out by members of HTS-affiliated armed factions. This is while "in some cases, perpetrators are being covered up and facts are being distorted." The SOHR noted, for example, that the fact-finding committee formed to investigate the massacre of roughly 1,600 Alawite civilians in Syria's coastal regions in March "did not provide results consistent with the facts." This happened while HTS-led forces and affiliated factions were carrying out new massacres of Druze civilians in Suwayda. At the same time, pro-HTS media campaigns have been launched to deflect from the massacres by calling Alawites "remnants" of the former government of President Bashar al-Assad. In many videos posted online, HTS-affiliated militants regularly refer to both Alawites and Druze as "pigs" before executing them in their homes and on the street. The UK-based monitor stated as well that thousands of detainees - who have not had a proper trial or been allowed to appear before a judge - remain in prison. Among the detainees are people arrested after the fall of former President Assad, and others who were arrested during raids or at security checkpoints. Many of these detainees have no clear charges against them and are being arbitrarily detained without due process. Media reports earlier said that families of kidnapped civilians renewed calls for HTS authorities to reveal the fate of young Alawite men taken from their homes without charges during the massacres on the coast in March. The missing detainees are from the villages of Hmeimim, Bustan al-Basha, Al-Qabo, and Al-Sanober. Families said activists say that armed groups stormed houses and took the young men to an unknown location without explaining the reasons or issuing official arrest warrants. Since then, HTS-led authorities have provided no information about their fate despite repeated demands from their families. The tragic report comes after several recent incidents of violence targeting religious minorities, including massacres of Alawites along the country's coast, clashes with the Druze community in the south and a bombing at an Orthodox church in Damascus. Since December last year, Jolani's security forces have gone on a killing spree targeting Syria's minority groups. The massacres have raised concerns for the safety of religious and ethnic minorities in the country. According to several reports, Syrian forces, dominated by the HTS and other militant groups, have continued to carry out sectarian killings, kidnappings, and persecution across Syria, targeting Alawites and other minorities. The HTS militant group seized control of Damascus on December 8, 2024, culminating a swift offensive that had begun in the northwestern province of Aleppo just two weeks earlier and ultimately brought an end to President Bashar al-Assad's 24-year rule. The HTS administration has since been involved in flagrant violations of human rights in Syria, particularly against minorities, drawing widespread condemnations from the international community. The Druze minority and Alawite community had a history of supporting the Assad government and standing against Israeli occupation and expansionist policies, including in the occupied Golan Heights. The UK and EU states have been gradually lifting Syria sanctions since the start of this year. After the collapse of the al-Assad government last December, Jolani was widely praised by the Western media. An article in the UK's Telegraph described his armed group, the former al-Qaeda affiliated HTS, as "diversity-friendly militants." US President Donald Trump recently announced a decision to lift all sanctions against the al-Jolani administration in exchange for normalizing ties with Israel. Jolani has assured the US-led Western countries that Syria will "normalize relations" with Israel, recognize the regime, and exchange ambassadors by the end of 2026. The HTS-led regime will reportedly hand over the occupied Golan Heights to Israel as part of a looming normalization deal with the illegal entity. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Lai meets with Ukrainian parliamentary group, calls for deeper ties ROC Central News Agency 08/07/2025 05:56 PM Taipei, Aug. 7 (CNA) President Lai Ching-te () on Thursday reaffirmed Taiwan's support for Ukraine and voiced hope for closer bilateral ties during a meeting with a visiting cross-party delegation from Ukraine's parliament. Lai said even though Taiwan and Ukraine are geographically far away from each other, both are on the frontlines of defending against authoritarianism and fighting for freedom and democracy. He said that while official exchanges between Taiwan and Ukraine are currently limited, he looked forward to deeper engagement across all sectors, including governments, parliaments, industries and people. The president reaffirmed Taipei's commitment to supporting Ukraine, noting that Taiwan had provided humanitarian assistance and contributed to reconstruction efforts since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022. These efforts show the world that "when like-minded democracies join forces, we can overcome any number of threats and challenges," he told the delegation led by Ukrainian parliamentarian Mykola Kniazhytskyi. According to Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kniazhytskyi's group is the first cross-party delegation from the Ukrainian parliament to visit Taiwan since 1993. The delegation also includes parliamentarians Ivan Krulko, Valeriy Lunchenko, Solomiia Bobrovska, Mykhailo Bondar, Andrii Lopushanskyi and Sviatoslav Yurash. (By Teng Pei-ju) Enditem/ASG NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address MAC defends removing village chief over Chinese nationality ROC Central News Agency 08/07/2025 10:19 PM Taipei, Aug. 7 (CNA) Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday defended the government's decision to dismiss a village chief in eastern Taiwan over her alleged People's Republic of China (PRC) nationality, saying she could have attempted to renounce it by applying to the Chinese authorities. "Although they have repeatedly petitioned the government [over the dismissal], I have yet to see any indication that they have actually applied to renounce their Chinese nationality," MAC deputy head and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh () told a regular news briefing. "She can apply to renounce her Chinese nationality under the Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) Nationality Law, but it appears that no one has ever actually done so," he added. The village chief referred by Liang is Deng Wan-hua (), who served as chief of Xuetian Village in Hualien County's Fuli Township before being removed from her post by the township office last Friday. Deng was one of five village or ward chiefs who, according to Taiwan's Ministry of the Interior (MOI), were found in January to hold PRC nationality -- a status that contravenes the Nationality Act of the Republic of China (ROC, Taiwan's official name), the ministry said. Article 20 of the Nationality Act stipulates a ROC national "who acquires the nationality of another country shall have no right to hold government offices of the ROC." "So far, they've only said that it's not possible to renounce [the PRC nationality] ... As to whether it's actually impossible or not, I don't know," Liang said, adding that those removed from public office due to holding PRC nationality "should at least try to go through the process." According to Article 9 of the Nationality Law of the PRC, any Chinese national "who has settled abroad and who has been naturalized as a foreign national or has acquired foreign nationality of his own free will shall automatically lose Chinese nationality." Article 10 of the Law also stipulates that Chinese nationals may renounce their Chinese nationality if they are "near relatives of foreign nationals," have "settled abroad," or have "other legitimate reasons." However, it remains unclear whether individuals like Deng are able to renounce their Chinese nationality under the above provisions, even if they attempted to initiate the process in China, as the PRC does not recognize the ROC as a sovereign state -- and the ROC, under its legal framework, does not recognize the PRC as a foreign sovereign state either. As a result, she is unlikely to qualify as a "foreign national" or be considered as having "settled abroad," making it difficult for her to meet Taiwan's legal criteria for renunciation. In terms of the eligibility of individuals from China to run for public office, Liang said that under the Act Governing Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (Cross-Strait Act), individuals from the Mainland Area who acquire Taiwanese nationality are eligible to run for public office after 10 years. However, Article 20 of the Nationality Act stipulates that those elected to public office must renounce any foreign nationality within one year of taking office, Liang added. "Nationality has nothing to do with whether our government recognizes it [a particular country] or not," Liang said, citing the example of Northern Cyprus, a self-declared state in the Mediterranean that is currently only recognized by Turkey. Based on the Nationality Act, if a person holding the nationality of Northern Cyprus seeks to run for public office in Taiwan after acquiring Taiwanese citizenship, they must also renounce their Northern Cypriot nationality, Liang said. Originally from Guangyuan City in Sichuan Province, Deng came to Taiwan through marriage in 1997 and obtained her Taiwanese national ID card 17 years ago. She was first elected village chief in 2022. Deng said Sunday that she holds a Taiwanese passport, not a PRC one, noting, "I do not have PRC nationality. So what nationality issue is there?" "It's the MOI and the ruling party forcing this," she added, referring to the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which is chaired by President Lai Ching-te () and holds control of the executive branch. Deng said she was elected legally and will file an administrative appeal to protect her rights. In response to critics accusing the MOI and MAC of using Deng's dismissal to "sneak in the 'two-state theory'" by the back door, Liang said Article 20 of the Nationality Act exists to ensure that public officials have "a single object of allegiance." "In essence, the act's requirement means that any so-called foreign nationality, whether issued by a regime or a de facto government, falls under the scope of Article 20, as long as it involves the concept of nationality," he added. (By Li Hsien-feng, James Thompson, Li Ya-Wen and Sunny Lai) Enditem/AW NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Taiwan to tighten residency rules for Chinese nationals ROC Central News Agency 08/07/2025 08:18 PM Taipei, Aug. 7 (CNA) Chinese nationals seeking permanent residency in Taiwan through family-based applications will be required to submit proof of having renounced their Chinese passport, under a newly drafted amendment to residency regulations by the Ministry of the Interior (MOI). The draft amendment will require Chinese nationals to submit a notarized document proving they have either not applied for or renounced their Chinese passport when applying for long-term or permanent residency in Taiwan as a family-dependent, according to a notice issued by the MOI on July 23. Permanent residency is an intermediate status granted to Chinese nationals in Taiwan, allowing them to apply for household registration within a designated period and thereby obtain Taiwanese citizenship. They can then receive a Taiwanese ID and become eligible to apply for a Taiwanese passport. Under the current Articles 30 and 31 of the "Regulations Governing the Residency, Long-Term Residency or Residency for Naturalization of the People of the Mainland China Area Living With a Relative in the Taiwan Area" (the Regulations), Chinese nationals are only required to submit proof of losing their "original household registration," meaning their household registration in China. The current requirement under the Regulations is based on Article 17 of the Act Governing Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (Cross-Strait Act), which states that a Chinese national applying for permanent residency in Taiwan must submit "a proof of losing its original household registration." According to the draft amendment, the requirement under the Regulations will be revised from submitting proof of "losing original household registration" to proof of "losing household registration in the Mainland Area and having not applied for or renounced a Mainland passport." The change further clarifies that the term "original household registration" -- based on a Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) interpretation of the Cross-Strait Act issued in May -- refers to any identity or documentation indicating status as "people of the Mainland Area," which applicants must not retain, the MOI said in the notice. The ministry also noted that the draft amendment aligns with Article 9-1 of the Cross-Strait Act, which stipulates that "the people of the Taiwan Area may not have household registrations in the Mainland Area or hold passports issued by the Mainland Area." "It aims to prevent situations in which individuals from the Mainland Area, after renouncing their household registration in Mainland Area, continue to apply for or hold a Mainland passport, resulting in confusion over identity across the Taiwan Strait," the MOI added. The draft amendment is also part of efforts under a set of 17 strategies introduced by President Lai Ching-te () in March to address five major national security and united front threats posed by China, the MOI said in the notice, which was open for public comment for just seven days. However, it is unlikely Chinese nationals seeking to become Taiwanese citizens will be able to obtain such proof from Chinese authorities, as the People's Republic of China (PRC, China's official name) does not recognize the Republic of China (ROC, Taiwan's official name) as a sovereign state. In response to a question from CNA about the feasibility of Chinese nationals obtaining proof of having renounced their Chinese passport from the PRC government, MAC deputy head and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh () said Thursday, "We have not seen any known instances of such cases." In terms of alternatives, Liang said at a regular news briefing that individuals who are unable to obtain the required proof will be allowed to submit an affidavit. "Put simply, by signing it [the affidavit], you're declaring that you have not obtained a Mainland passport," he said. "However, if it's later discovered that you used a Mainland passport to travel to other countries or return to China, that raises questions about your honesty, and your previously granted permanent residency could be affected," Liang added. It is likely that most Chinese nationals seeking permanent residency in Taiwan will have to rely on the affidavit method to fulfill the passport renunciation requirement imposed by Taiwanese authorities. Explaining the reason for the draft amendment, Liang said that in the past, Taiwanese authorities were unable to verify whether a Chinese national seeking to become a Taiwanese citizen held a Mainland passport. While noting that the passport-holding rate among Chinese citizens is relatively low, at around 12 percent, Liang said some people have questioned "why we haven't enforced the passport-related provision," referring to a clause in the Cross-Strait Act that prohibits Taiwanese nationals from "holding passports issued by the Mainland Area." Such concerns prompted the MAC to push for the draft amendment, he said. The public notice period for the draft regulation has ended, and the MOI will announce the implementation date after reviewing collected feedback, according to the ministry. (By Kao Hua-chien and Sunny Lai) Enditem/AW NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address PBBM: PH can't stay out of Taiwan conflict due to proximity, OFWs Philippine News Agency By Darryl John Esguerra August 7, 2025, 4:30 pm NEW DELHI -- President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. said the Philippines would inevitably be affected in the event of a military conflict between China and the United States (US) over Taiwan, citing the country's geographic proximity and the presence of thousands of Filipino workers on the self-ruled island. "If there is a confrontation over Taiwan between China and the United States, there is no way that the Philippines can stay out of it, simply because of our physical geographic location," Marcos said in an interview with Indian media outlet Firstpost on Wednesday during his state visit to India. "The large city of Kaohsiung in Taiwan is a 40-minute flight away from the capital of my province in northern Philippines, in Laoag. That's how close it is." While Marcos expressed hesitation over the possibility of getting drawn into regional conflict, he emphasized that national sovereignty and humanitarian responsibilities would compel the Philippines to act. "We will be drawn into it... with the greatest hesitation. But again, we will have to defend our territory and our sovereignty," he said. The President also raised concerns about the safety of Filipinos living and working in Taiwan, who would be at immediate risk should hostilities erupt. "There are many, many Filipino nationals in Taiwan, and that would be immediately a humanitarian problem," Marcos said. "We will have to go in there, or find a way to go in there, and to bring our people home." He warned that any repatriation effort would be extremely difficult in a live combat zone. "It would not be a small problem by any means," Marcos said. There are an estimated 160,000 overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Taiwan, many of whom are employed in electronics factories and domestic work. The Philippines has historically maintained a one-China policy while sustaining robust economic and people-to-people ties with Taiwan. (PNA) NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address PLA activities in the waters and airspace around Taiwan ROC Ministry of National Defense 2025/08/07 PLA activities in the waters and airspace around Taiwan 1.Date 6 a.m. Aug. 6 (Wed.) to 6 a.m. Aug. 7 (Thu.) (UTC+8) 2.PLA activities 15 sorties of PLA aircraft, 7 PLAN ships, and 1 official ship operating around Taiwan were detected as of 6 a.m. (UTC+8) today. 14 out of 15 sorties crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait and entered Taiwan's northern, southwestern, and eastern ADIZ. ROC Armed Forces have monitored the situation and employed CAP aircraft, Navy ships, and coastal missile systems in response to detected activities. 1140807_PLA activities in the waters and airspace around Taiwan [Open a new window] 1140807_PLA air activities in the vicinity of Taiwan [Open a new window] NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Foreign Ministry Spokesperson's Remarks on Philippine Leader's Comment on Taiwan Global Times By Ministry of Foreign Affairs Published: Aug 08, 2025 10:40 AM Q: It was reported that during his visit to India, the Philippine leader said in an interview that "if there is a confrontation over Taiwan between China and the United States, there is no way that the Philippines can stay out of it, simply because of our physical geographic location. If there is an all-out war (across the Taiwan Strait), then the Philippines will be joined into it. We will have to defend our territory and our sovereignty. In addition, there are a large volume of Filipinos in Taiwan." He also said that (if there is a war across the Taiwan Strait), it would spell a "humanitarian crisis," and the Philippines has to get involved and try to bring their citizens back. This is the issue that the Philippines cares the most. They would "immediately mobilize everything" to bring their people out. This is not a small thing, he added. What is China's comment on this? A: There is but one China in the world. Taiwan is an inalienable part of China. The Taiwan question is China's internal affair which is at the very core of China's core interests. How to settle it is a matter for the Chinese ourselves, which brooks no interference. The Philippine government has made serious commitments to China that it adheres to the one-China policy, recognizes that Taiwan is an integral part of the Chinese territory and understands the Chinese government's efforts to realize national reunification. The Philippine leader also said clearly to China that "the Philippines is committed to the one-China policy. The Taiwan question is purely China's internal affair that must be solved by the Chinese people." These words are written in black and white, but the Philippines is now going back on its words in disregard of the grave consequences. It has kept making wrong and provocative remarks and actions, kept fudging and hollowing out the one-China principle, and kept harming the China-Philippines relations. China firmly opposes this. The Chinese Foreign Ministry and Embassy in the Philippines have lodged serious protests with the Philippine side. It needs to be further stressed that "near geographic location" and "a large amount of Filipinos in Taiwan" should not be used as pretexts to interfere in the internal and sovereign affairs of other countries. These claims not only contravene international law and the ASEAN Charter, but also harm regional peace and stability and the fundamental interests of its own people. We urge the Philippines to earnestly abide by the one-China principle and the spirit of China-Philippines Joint Communique on the establishment of diplomatic relations, and refrain from playing fire on issues bearing on China's core interests. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Press release on Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's telephone conversation with Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkiye Hakan Fidan 7 August 2025 18:49 1304-07-08-2025 On August 7, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov had a telephone conversation with Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkiye Hakan Fidan, on the initiative of the Turkish side. The ministers discussed the situation developing in the context of the Ukraine crisis. They have agreed to maintain regular communication. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address SSU and NABU, with Minister of Justice assistance, expose former Ministry of Justice State Secretary and current top officials on budget embezzlement Security Service of Ukraine 18:30, 6 August 2025 The cyber units of the Security Service, together with NABU and with the assistance of the newly appointed Minister of Justice of Ukraine, have uncovered another scheme for embezzling state funds. The perpetrators stole over UAH 10 million (USD 239 000) in procurement for digital modernization. A former State Secretary of the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine, as well as the current head and deputy head of the ministry directorates, are involved in the scheme. The investigation established that the officials embezzled budget funds allocated for the purchase of server equipment and software for the Ministry of Justice's needs. This hardware and software complex was supposed to ensure modernization of the Ministry's electronic systems. In 2021, the organizers of the scheme initiated the conclusion of a contract with an affiliated private company for the purchase of new servers and software for the Ministry of Justice worth UAH 19 million. At the same time, the specified purchase price exceeded the average market prices for these types of goods and services by several times. More than half of the amount transferred from the budget to the contractors' accounts was embezzled by the organizers. Commodity and forensic economic examinations of the purchased server equipment and software, initiated by the law enforcement, confirmed the crime. Based on the evidence, the former State Secretary of the Ministry of Justice, the head and deputy head of directorates were notified of suspicion under Article 191.5 of the CCU (misappropriation of property or acquisition of property through abuse of official position, committed on an especially large scale). Three managers of the affiliated private company with which the agreement was concluded were also notified of suspicion under the same Article. The investigation is ongoing. The suspects face up to 12 years in prison with confiscation of property. The unlawful scheme was exposed by the SSU investigators in cooperation with NABU detectives under the procedural supervision of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Following SSU investigation, last agent of GRU combat group that blew up car with Ukrainian soldier sentenced to 15 years in prison Security Service of Ukraine 17:00, 6 August 2025 Based on evidence collected by the Security Service of Ukraine, another agent of russian military intelligence ('the GRU') has been sentenced to 15 years in prison with confiscation of property. He was a member of an enemy operational and combat group that blew up a car with a Ukrainian defender in Kharkiv in the summer of 2024. The Ukrainian soldier was seriously injured in the explosion. The SSU Counterintelligence detained all four members of the cell as they were preparing a new terrorist attack in a front-line town. Three of them have already been sentenced to prison terms in June this year. Now, their accomplice has been convicted. He is a 41-year-old unemployed Kharkiv resident, recruited by the occupiers through his old friend, a GRU special forces soldier. All four agents acted together and had one common handler from the russian military intelligence. Following his instructions, the perpetrators followed the Ukrainian serviceman's car and then planted an improvised explosive device under it. After the assassination attempt, the agents made another explosive device, which they tried to hide in a prepared cache for future attacks. Then, they were tasked with tracking down and derailing a Defense Forces freight train, but the Security Service foiled these plans. Based on the evidence collected by SSU investigators, a panel of judges found the fourth member of the group guilty under two Articles of the CCU: 28.2, 111.2 (high treason, committed by a group, upon prior conspiracy, under martial law); 258.2 (terrorist act, committed by a group, upon prior conspiracy). The investigation was conducted by the SSU Kharkiv Office under the procedural supervision of the regional Prosecutor's Office. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address What's Next For Trump's Ukraine Peace Push After The Putin-Witkoff Meeting? By Steve Gutterman August 07, 2025 After his special envoy Steve Witkoff met with Russian President Vladmir Putin at the Kremlin on August 6 and discussed Moscow's war on Ukraine, US President Donald Trump said they made "great progress," but later he told reporters he did not see it as a "breakthrough." In a phone call, he told European leaders and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy he wants to meet with Putin, possibly next week, and then hold a summit with Putin and Zelenskyy as he pushes for peace. Russia sounded enthusiastic about face-to-face talks between Trump and Putin but far cooler about the idea of a trilateral summit. Meanwhile, the fact of sanctions Trump threatened to impose in the absence of a deal to end the war is uncertain. In the wake of the Putin-Witkoff meeting, here are three key questions -- and potential answers. Did Putin Get A Win? Hours after the meeting on Moscow, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Trump would decide in 24-36 hours whether to go ahead with new sanctions on Russia and the countries that buy its oil -- in other words, by the August 8 deadline Trump had set for Russia to stop the war. Either way, though, Putin has gotten one thing he always wants: a seat at the table with the United States, first in the form of his meeting with Witkoff and later, if it materializes, his first meeting with a US president in over four years and the first with Trump since the latter took office for this second term in January. Both Trump and Yury Ushakov, Putin's top foreign policy aide, have said the two presidents could meet as early as next week. Putin seems likely to benefit the most from a bilateral meeting, which at least for now would leave Zelenskyy and Kyiv's European backers out in the cold. "Trump and Putin were locked in a dead-end ever since Trump announced his deadline," Sam Greene, an analyst, author, and professor of Russian politics, wrote on the social networking site Bluesky on August 6. "These proposed talks -- if, of course, they happen -- are a way out," Greene wrote. "Enough progress for Trump to claim his threats worked, but not enough for Putin to look like he's caving. But it's a better move for Russia than for anyone else." Putin said on August 7 that he would like to meet with Trump next week. Several US media outlets cited White House officials as saying on condition of anonymity that a bilateral meeting would not take place unless Putin also meets with Zelenskyy. But Trump later said that wasn't the case. He told reporters at the White House that Putin does not have to agree to meet with Zelenskyy in order to have a meeting with him. Will A Trilateral Summit Take Place? Russia has consistently given the idea of a meeting with Zelenskyy the cold shoulder, suggesting it should only happen once the sides are close to signing a peace deal, not just a cease-fire agreement. That moment seems far off given the huge gap between the Russian and Ukrainian positions that persists on several major issues, including territory and security, despite three rounds of direct talks in Turkey since mid-May. Putin rejected Zelenskyy's offer to meet face-to-face when the two sides held the first round of negotiations in Istanbul. While Zelenskyy talked up the idea of a trilateral meeting with Trump in comments on August 7, Ushakov talked it down. "We propose, first of all, to focus on preparing a bilateral meeting with Trump, and we consider it most important that this meeting be successful and productive," he said. Later the same day, Putin said he has nothing against meeting with Zelenskyy but that "certain conditions must be created" first and that for now those conditions are "far away," the Interfax news agency reported. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in comments to Fox Business Network on August 6, suggested it could be some time before there are grounds for a trilateral summit between Trump, Zelenskyy, and Putin. "If we can get what the Ukrainians will accept and what the Russians will accept close enough, then I think there's the opportunity for the president to have a meeting that includes both Putin and Zelenskyy to try to close this thing out," he said. "So we've got to get closer in that regard." In the meantime, for Putin, a meeting with Trump could be a chance to press the United States to get on board with some of Russia's stated conditions for a cease-fire or peace deal and to try to get Washington to pressure Kyiv into accepting them before any trilateral talks are held. In recent weeks, Trump has repeatedly criticized Putin, saying the United States gets "a lot of bullshit" from him and calling him out for saying he wants peace and then killing civilians in relentless air attacks on Ukraine. So Trump might not be swayed by Moscow's efforts to lay the bulk of the blame on Kyiv for the lack of progress toward peace -- but Putin may believe he has little to lose from meeting with the US president anyway. Is Russia Ready To Make Concessions? Trump did not explain what constituted the "great progress" he said was achieved at Witkoff's meeting with Putin. Rubio suggested the main result was that the United States now has "a better understanding of the conditions under which Russia would be prepared to end the war." He did not offer details, either, but he said, "I think the key elements of any end to the war are going to be territorial," and added that if there is to be peace, "there's going to have to be concessions by the Russians and concessions by the Ukrainians, of course, as well." Russia seized control of Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine in 2014 and now occupies about one-fifth of the country, including almost all of the Luhansk region and substantial parts of the Donetsk, Zaporizhzhya, and Kherson regions, the entirety of which Moscow now baselessly claims belong to Russia. In addition to Ukrainian neutrality and strict limits on the size of its military, one of Moscow's stated conditions for a peace deal is a Ukrainian withdrawal and international recognition of those regions as Russian -- something Kyiv says is unacceptable. Putin and other Russian officials have repeatedly said Moscow intends to gain the four mainland regions by force if it cannot do so through negotiations, and there has been no public indication of any change in this position, though military analysts say Russian forces would be hard put to achieve this aim and could not do so anytime soon. Ilan Berman, senior vice president at the American Foreign Policy Council and a board member of RFE/RL, said he doubts Russia is prepared to make concessions. "It's hard to imagine that the Russian side's demands at the negotiations table will differ from the goals that Russia is trying to achieve on the battlefield," Berman told RFE/RL's Russian Service. "The Kremlin so far has not stepped back from its maximalist demands, and there are no grounds to think that Moscow is ready for compromise even on minor issues." Tatyana Stanovaya, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, also said Russia appears unready to alter its position or scale down its demands. "I do not observe any substantive change in Russian tactics towards Trump or Ukraine," Stanovaya wrote on X. "Witkoff travelled to Moscow and heard exactly what he would have heard regardless of sanctions pressure: that the war could end at any moment, provided the so-called 'root causes' are addressed," she wrote. "However these conditions are worded, they amount to the same demand: Ukraine stops resisting, the West halts arms supplies, and Kyiv accepts Russia's terms, which effectively amount to a de facto capitulation." RFE/RL's Russian Service and Current Time contributed to this report Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/putin-trump- zelenskyy-war-peace-questions-witkoff/33496971.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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Russia And Ukraine Trade Drone Strikes Amid Talk Of Trump-Putin Meeting By RFE/RL August 07, 2025 Russia and Ukraine exchanged drone strikes in the early hours of August 7, a day after a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US special envoy Steve Witkoff that US President Donald Trump said "made a lot of progress." The Ukrainian Air Force said its air defenses "shot down or suppressed" 89 drone attacks overnight, while 23 hit at 11 locations. The Russian military launched dozens of drones over Ukraine's eastern Dnipropetrovsk region, with four people injured in the city of Dnipro. Russia has faced repeated accusations from Ukrainian authorities and international watchdogs of committing war crimes by systematically targeting civilian infrastructure such as hospitals, schools, and power facilities. The Kremlin, however, continues to deny any wrongdoing. Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry said it intercepted and destroyed 82 Ukrainian drones, 76 over the Southern Federal District and six over the Central Federal District, Interfax reported. Video from Russian Telegram channels showed explosions purportedly from Ukrainian drones hitting oil refineries. Possible Trump-Putin Meeting Following Putin's talks with Witkoff, there has been further talk of a meeting between the Russian and US leaders to discuss Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. Putin's top foreign policy aide, Yury Ushakov, said on August 7 that an agreement has been reached to hold a meeting between Putin and Trump in the coming days. There has been no confirmation from the US side. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that "today is a day of many calls and contacts" to make progress on the path to peace. He said that he had several conversations planned, including with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz. The Kremlin held the meeting with Witkoff just two days before Trump's August 8 deadline, which warned Putin to agree to a cease-fire with Kyiv or face new tariffs designed to cut into Russia's oil revenues used to finance the war. Meanwhile, a new Gallup poll showed that Ukrainians are increasingly eager for a settlement to the war, with only one-quarter of Ukrainians surveyed wanting to keep fighting until victory. In 2022, after Russia's full-scale invasion in February, Gallup found that about three-quarters of Ukrainians surveyed held that view. Source: https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-ukraine-drone- strikes-trump-putin-meeting/33496824.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. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova's comment on the Ukrainian crisis 7 August 2025 17:42 1303-07-08-2025 The Kiev regime persists in its campaign of terror against the population of our nation. Over the past week, 145 peaceful Russian civilians have been injured by enemy shelling and drone strikes. Of these, 18 were killed - including one child - while 127 sustained injuries, among them seven minors. Below are merely a few instances of the crimes committed by the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU). Belgorod Region. On July 31, drone attacks on residential areas in the region, including civilian vehicles, injured 13 individuals, among them a six-year-old child. On August 1, two civilians were killed near the village of Urazovo following a drone strike, while six others were wounded in attacks on other residential areas and passenger cars. On August 2, two civilians were injured in the region, and on August 3, another individual was wounded. Bryansk Region. On July 31, a civilian was injured in the village of Sluchevsk following an assault by enemy kamikaze drones. On August 2, drone strikes targeting residential buildings in the villages of Nekislitsa and Suzemka left three individuals injured, including a four-year-old child. Voronezh Region. During a mass drone assault in the early hours of August 3, four individuals were wounded, among them a 79-year-old woman. Donetsk People's Republic. On July 29, a man was killed in Donetsk due to the detonation of an AFU cluster submunition, with another civilian sustaining injuries. Between July 31 and August 5, eight individuals were injured in residential areas across the region as a result of AFU strikes. Zaporozhye Region. On July 30, AFU shelling of a playground in the town of Vasilyevka left a girl born in 2016 and two boys born in 2013 and 2018 with shrapnel wounds. On July 31, the enemy targeted a civilian vehicle in the Pologovsky municipal district, killing a woman born in 1984, her 14-year-old son, and a woman born in 1971, while a man born in 1978 was wounded. On August 2, a woman was killed and a man injured after Ukrainian neo-Nazis struck a civilian vehicle in the town of Energodar with a drone. That same day, three civilians were wounded in Vasilyevka during a massive artillery bombardment. Krasnodar Territory. On August 3, debris from a downed enemy drone fell in the city of Sochi, injuring a woman and igniting fires at an oil depot and in residential areas. Kursk Region. On July 29, a 19-year-old youth was killed in the village of Karyzh following an attack by a Ukrainian drone. On July 31, an enemy drone struck the premises of an industrial enterprise in the village of Durovo, wounding a civilian. The same day, in the village of Dolgiye Budy, a man riding a bicycle was injured following an AFU drone attack. Kherson Region. On August 1, during shelling by Ukrainian neo-Nazis targeting the town of Alyoshki, a man was killed and three others were wounded. A paramedic and driver were injured in a cynical strike against an ambulance. That same day, an AFU drone was directed at market stalls in the village of Velikiye Kopani - six civilians were wounded. Prior to this attack, Ukrainian neo-Nazis "considerately" shelled a fire station to paralyse the work of emergency responders. On August 2, a driver was injured following a drone attack on a civilian vehicle in the village of Proletarka. The Ukrainian Neo-Nazis' attacks didn't just target Russian regions. In the early hours of July 29, Belarusian air defence systems detected and 'landed' a drone marked with Ukrainian inscriptions in a residential area of Minsk. Specialists located and defused its TNT warhead, which was loaded with multiple striking elements. The Belarusian Investigative Committee is now investigating the incident, suspecting the intercepted drone was a Ukrainian FP-1 model. We have also noted the lightning-fast reaction from Belarusian nationalist sources and several Western propagandists, who immediately - and almost in unison - accused Moscow and Minsk of staging a provocation. Their attempt to downplay the fallout from this failed terrorist attack was, to say the least, unconvincing. Russian courts continue convicting captured Ukrainian Neo-Nazis and foreign mercenaries for crimes against civilians and military personnel in the Kursk Region. Among recent sentences, Vitaly Kostenko received 17 years, while Vyacheslav Gevko, Vitaly Gonza, Vitaly Melanchuk, Nikolay Zlepko, and Petr Polinkevich were each given 16 years. Another group - Vitaly Zinkevich, Nikolay Barabashchuk, Vladislav Shevel, and Oleg Danilov - received 15-year terms, while Artur Blamberus was sentenced to 14 years. In a separate case, Peruvian mercenary Julio Cesar Sosa Durand was sentenced in absentia to 24 years and put on the international wanted list. The Ukrainian Armed Forces continue to receive a steady influx of Western weapons. After lengthy discussions with Washington, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius announced an agreement: Germany will purchase new Patriot air-defence systems, enabling Berlin to decommission and transfer two of its older systems to the Kiev regime as military aid. On August 4, Dutch Defence Minister Ruben Brekelmans announced a decision to finance the first 500- million-euro package of US weapons for the Kiev regime under NATO's new Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) initiative. The equipment will include anti-missiles for the Patriot air-defence systems. Unsurprisingly, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte weighed in on social media. Seemingly relishing his role as the chief coordinator of this scheme, where European NATO members funnel money into the US defence industry under the guise of aiding Ukraine, he urged his "allies" to contribute quickly. Swedish Defence Minister Pal Jonson promptly complied, pledging $275 million to fund overseas weapons. According to him, Denmark and Norway are preparing similar commitments. These investments amount to nothing but a reckless squandering of European taxpayers' money. Their funds are being funnelled into weapons for the combat zone - only for those weapons to be swiftly destroyed, or seized as trophies to be used by the Russian Armed Forces or put on display in captured Western equipment exhibits across Russia. And when they are used as intended, the result is more civilian deaths. The Kiev regime continues to decimate its own population on the frontlines. On July 29, Vladimir Zelensky signed a law authorising the recruitment of individuals over 60 years of age for contract service in the armed forces. On July 30, Taras Melnichuk, the representative of the Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers in the Verkhovna Rada, announced via his Telegram channel that legislative amendments now mandate the automatic military registration of women with medical or pharmaceutical qualifications, as well as 25-year-old Ukrainians holding the primary rank of reserve soldier who have neither completed military service nor basic general military training. Against this backdrop, the comments by Ukrainian Defence Minister Denis Shmygal during his July 30 interview with the BBC's Ukrainian service appear particularly hypocritical. He claimed that 90 percent of those mobilised in Ukraine allegedly enlisted voluntarily after receiving draft notices, while the scandals involving the "bus abduction" of men in the streets constituted merely 5 to 10 percent - as he put it. Shmygal further emphasised the need to pressure Russia on the battlefield, assuring his audience that the Kiev regime retains sufficient resources to wage war "until the last Ukrainian." Simultaneously, he threatened the use of ballistic missiles, which the Kiev regime allegedly stands on the verge of acquiring. The true choice being made by the majority of Ukrainians is starkly evident on Ukrainian online platforms. On August 3, in an interview with the YouTube channel Politeka Online, Verkhovna Rada MP Anna Skorokhod stated that the number of deserters in the AFU is approaching 400,000. According to her, the reasons for fleeing the AFU include moral and physical exhaustion, demoralisation, and strained relations with command structures within Ukraine's armed forces. Skorokhod acknowledged that soldiers frequently prefer desertion over being shot in the back of the head. The people's representative concluded her cry from the heart by exclaiming that "ordinary servicemen cannot be treated like animals." Open-source evidence validating Skorokhod's conclusions is more than abundant. There is also no shortage of testimonies indicating that potential recruits carry large sums of money (300 dollars or more) to bribe officials from Ukraine's Territorial Recruitment Centres (TRC) on the spot. Wealthier Ukrainians pay 5,000-7,000 dollars to obtain disability exemptions. Those seized by enlistment officers flee training camps at the first opportunity or commit crimes to face criminal prosecution - and thus evade the frontlines. Meanwhile, Ukrainians exhausted by lawlessness increasingly resort to physically resisting the corrupt mobilisers - traitors to their own people - right on the streets. Under these circumstances, the spontaneous uprising against the tyranny of enlistment officers by residents of Vinnitsa on August 2 comes as no surprise. Footage of the public unrest spread rapidly online. The manhunters herded roughly a hundred forcibly mobilised men onto the city stadium for medical examinations, while police proceeded to beat and detain the gathered relatives of the newly minted AFU servicemen. This clash underscores the profound schism within Ukrainian society and the people's refusal to tolerate the actions of the Kiev regime, which has usurped power. Many Ukrainian prisoners of war admitted that from day one of their service in the Ukrainian Armed Forces they had been waiting for an opportunity to hand themselves in to the Russian troops in order to avoid dying in trenches and bunkers, or during suicidal attacks on the front lines at the end of the rifle barrel held by the cowardly Ukrainian officers. On July 31, Zelensky sent a video address to the participants of a Helsinki conference marking the 50th anniversary of the Helsinki Final Act, in which he once again tried to bully its delegates into falling for the non-existent "Russian threat," and called for a change of government in our country. A week before that, on July 24, the day after the third round of Russian-Ukrainian talks ended in Istanbul, several Western countries and the Kiev regime set into motion the OSCE's archaic Moscow Mechanism in an attempt to accuse Russia of violating international humanitarian law and engaging in executions, torture, and cruel treatment of Ukrainian prisoners of war. Meanwhile, the Kiev regime continues to refuse to take back 1,000 Ukrainian prisoners of war, which fact stalled the second stage of the prisoner exchange and prevents the start of the third, which represents a heinous state of affairs. This transcends double standards and borders on sheer amorality. Instead of listening to Zelensky's pointless video addresses and trying to revive obsolete mechanisms that have become unnecessary since the time continuously operating OSCE directive bodies had been established, the OSCE participating countries should review the atrocities committed by the Ukrainian army against Russian civilians and prisoners of war, the facts of which are included in the Russian Foreign Ministry' quarterly reports on crimes committed by the Kiev regime. Russia's Investigative Committee is conducting systematic work to gather evidence of crimes perpetrated by Bankovaya. The International Public Tribunal on the Crimes of Ukrainian Neo-Nazis has collected numerous facts. On July 31, the Tribunal released a book on the atrocities of the neo-Banderites in the Kursk Region and the Donetsk People's Republic. It includes testimonies from survivors in liberated towns and villages and Russian military personnel that came back from Ukrainian captivity. The Kiev regime continues to destroy Soviet and Russian memorial heritage, and is doing so under false pretenses of decommunisation. In reality, though, it is simply rewriting history. After the barbaric dismantling of the Hill of Glory memorial in Lvov, the authorities of the Lvov Region announced the dismantling of the Eternal Flame memorial in Drogobych and two monuments to Soviet soldiers in the village of Mikhailovichi. Monuments to liberator soldiers have been torn down in the villages of Babukhov, Verbilovtsy, and Krasnoye, Ivano-Frankovsk Region. These soldiers fought against Nazism, fascism, and the crimes of the Holocaust. In the village of Kuchurgan, Odessa Region, commemorative plaques honouring soldiers who died in battles against the Nazis have been dismantled. In the villages of Malye Sady and Milcha, Rovno Region, and in the village of Kotelva, Poltava Region, bas-reliefs of the Order of the Patriotic War and commemorative inscriptions on military memorials have been defaced. In Odessa, neo-Banderites destroyed memorial plaques honouring Alexander Pushkin's younger brother Lev Pushkin, as well as poet Vladimir Mayakovsky. In the absence of a proper international response, the sacrilegious policy of the Kiev regime to destroy historical memory continues to gain momentum. Instead, state-level veneration of Nazi collaborators and the theory of racial superiority are forced upon the people of Ukraine. The above facts show the urgency of the special military operation to denazify and demilitarise Ukraine and to remove threats coming from it. As the Russian leadership repeatedly stated, all its objectives will be achieved no matter what. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Ranking Member Shaheen Statement on Potential Trump-Putin Meeting Senate Foreign Relations Committee August 07, 2025 WASHINGTON -- Today, U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, issued a statement on a potential meeting between President Trump and President Putin. "Given President Trump's record of face-to-face meetings with President Putin, I have real concerns that Putin will see this as a reward and another opportunity to further prolong the war instead of finally seeking peace. Face-to-face dialogue is important, but Putin cannot be allowed yet another opportunity to delay or water down President Trump's promise of harsh sanctions taking effect tomorrow." "It's time for President Trump to finally get tough on the Kremlin and use his leverage to end this war. Applying pressure on India to stem Russia's oil revenue is a welcome move, but pressure must be applied to the direct perpetrator -- the Kremlin -- who has avoided new sanctions under this administration. President Trump's decision to let our existing sanctions atrophy has given Russia time and space to evade our sanctions regime and has weakened our leverage at the negotiating table. The President's reluctance to sanction China for its support of Putin further exacerbates this problem. President Trump must finally show Putin he means business. Anything short of stiff consequences will be another sign of weakness from this White House." NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Comment by the MFA of Ukraine regarding the artillery shelling near the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant recorded by the IAEA Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine 07 August 2025 16:21 The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine expresses its deep concern regarding the latest data from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which once again confirms the cynical and irresponsible use by the Russian Federation of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant as a military facility and a "nuclear shield" to cover shelling of Ukrainian civilian infrastructure. On 6 August 2025, IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi, in his latest statement, drew attention to a grave incident at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. While inspecting the spent nuclear fuel storage facility at the plant, the Agency's inspection team recorded numerous artillery salvos originating from the vicinity of the plant's perimeter. The shelling continued for more than an hour. These actions are part of a deliberate and systematic tactic employed by the Russian occupying forces. By using the largest nuclear power plant in Europe as cover, the aggressor launches strikes against peaceful Ukrainian cities and villages, fully aware that any military response in the direction of the plant is constrained due to the unprecedented risk of a nuclear accident. Similar shelling in the past has already damaged critical infrastructure, including several external power lines required to meet the basic operational needs of the Zaporizhzhia NPP. As a result, the plant has had to rely on a single backup power line - a fragile and unreliable safety system. Any incident brings us closer to the brink of a continental-scale tragedy. The actions of the Russian Federation represent a flagrant violation of fundamental principles of international law, including the Convention on Nuclear Safety, as well as the IAEA norms. The establishment of military positions on the territory of a nuclear facility and the conduct of hostilities from such a site constitutes an act of nuclear terrorism that requires a decisive and unified response from the international community. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine expresses its gratitude to the IAEA and Director General Rafael Grossi personally for their unwavering commitment to the principles of independent monitoring, objective documentation, and prompt reporting to the global community about the real threats posed by Russia at the Zaporizhzhia NPP. Thanks to the Agency's reports, our international partners receive credible and impartial information on the dangers faced daily by Ukraine and all of Europe. We call on our international partners to intensify pressure on the Russian Federation, demanding the immediate demilitarization and de-occupation of the Zaporizhzhia NPP and the return of the facility to the full control of its legitimate operator - the Ukrainian "Energoatom". NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Yulia Svyrydenko discusses European integration, defense cooperation, and investments in Ukraine's reconstruction with Minister of Foreign Affairs of Romania Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Communications Department of the Secretariat of the CMU, posted 07 August 2025 18:04 Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Svyrydenko met with Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Oana-Silvia Toiu, who is on an official visit to Ukraine. The conversation centered on European integration, deepening defense cooperation, participation of Romanian businesses in the rehabilitation of the Ukrainian economy, and the implementation of joint infrastructure projects. "Ukraine and Romania share a common vision of the future of our region in the European Union. We appreciate Romania's support on this path and are determined to coordinate our efforts even more closely in the process of gaining membership," said Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Svyrydenko. During the conversation, they discussed the possibilities of expanding defense cooperation, including joint production. One of the options for such cooperation could be a model similar to the Danish one, which provides for the direct financing of military production in Ukraine. Special attention was paid to the issue of involving Romanian companies in the process of rebuilding Ukraine. Yulia Svyrydenko invited a special envoy for reconstruction to come to Kyiv with a business delegation to develop specific projects. Ukraine and Romania also agreed to intensify work on joint infrastructure projects, including the construction of a bridge across the Tisza River, border traffic and an intergovernmental cooperation agreement. "I am grateful to the Minister for her willingness to act quickly and substantively. I believe that our dialog will bring tangible results in the near future," summarized Yulia Svyrydenko. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Giorgia Meloni Coordinated the Next Diplomatic Steps Toward Peace President of Ukraine 7 August 2025 - 23:36 President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a phone call with President of the Council of Ministers of Italy Giorgia Meloni. The leaders exchanged details of their recent contacts with other leaders. The President emphasized that it is important for Ukraine that all partners be fully informed about the current situation. Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Giorgia Meloni discussed the importance of participation of European representatives, together with the United States, in the process of achieving a real and just peace. The President underlined that the war is taking place on the European continent, that Ukraine is on its path to EU membership, and that the European Union will be a participant in Ukraine's post-war reconstruction - therefore, Europe's voice must absolutely be taken into account. The President of the Council of Ministers of Italy fully supports the position that one cannot speak about the future of Europe without Europe. The parties also coordinated their next joint steps, in particular contacts with U.S. President Donald Trump, and agreed to remain in constant contact. Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked Giorgia Meloni for her principled stance and unwavering support for Ukraine. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Kristalina Georgieva Discussed Continued Financial Support for Ukraine President of Ukraine 7 August 2025 - 20:09 President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a phone call with Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund Kristalina Georgieva to discuss the continuation of financial support for Ukraine. The Head of State informed her about his recent conversation with U.S. President Donald Trump and European leaders, the ongoing diplomatic efforts aimed at achieving a swift end to the war and the next joint steps with Ukraine's partners. Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized that Ukraine is doing everything possible to achieve a just and lasting peace this year. The President thanked the IMF for its financial support and noted that Ukraine looks forward to continued cooperation. Kristalina Georgieva expressed her condolences over the recent Russian attacks on Ukraine, including the shelling of Kyiv, and praised the resilience of Ukrainians in the face of Russian aggression. She specifically emphasized that, despite the war, Ukraine is fulfilling its obligations to the IMF and implementing necessary reforms. The parties discussed a new financial assistance program that would strengthen Ukraine both now and in the post-war period. The President noted that Ukraine is ready to move quickly on all necessary steps and added that the government is already working on it. They also discussed additional funding for Ukrainian warriors and agreed to explore possible solutions. Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Kristalina Georgieva also agreed to hold an in-person meeting. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Volodymyr Zelenskyy Had a Phone Call with Ursula von der Leyen President of Ukraine 7 August 2025 - 19:29 President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a phone call with President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen. The Head of State informed her about his recent conversation with U.S. President Donald Trump and European leaders, as well as the current diplomatic opportunities. Volodymyr Zelensky emphasized the importance of all of free Europe standing together with Ukraine on the path to a real and just end to the war. The President thanked Ursula von der Leyen for her clear understanding that a united Europe must be involved in all processes related to Ukraine. After all, Ukraine is already in the process of accession negotiations with the European Union and will become a member of the EU. The European Union will also play a major role in the reconstruction of our country after the war. This will be one of the largest economic projects for the whole of Europe in decades. The two leaders also focused on Ukraine's path to EU integration and on finding a solution to open the first negotiating cluster. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the Prime Minister of Albania Discussed Joint Efforts with Partners to Increase Support for Ukraine President of Ukraine 7 August 2025 - 19:09 President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy held a phone call with Prime Minister of Albania Edi Rama to coordinate their next joint steps. The Head of State briefly informed the Prime Minister about the situation on the frontline and ongoing diplomatic efforts. In particular, he shared details of his recent phone conversation with U.S. President Donald Trump and European leaders. Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Edi Rama aligned on next steps in the diplomatic track. The leaders discussed preparations for meetings at major international venues aimed at increasing support for Ukraine. The President thanked the Prime Minister and the entire Albanian people for their unwavering support for Ukraine. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address President of Ukraine Met with Romanian Foreign Minister President of Ukraine 7 August 2025 - 18:47 President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with Minister of Foreign Affairs of Romania Oana-Silvia Toiu. This is her first visit to Ukraine since taking office. "We are glad to welcome you. This is a strong signal to all our people, and, importantly, a very clear signal. We are proud to have such good relations between our nations," said the Head of State. Oana-Silvia Toiu noted that she came to Ukraine with a message of unwavering friendship between the two countries, conveyed by the President and government of Romania. "We understand that your fight ensures security for our entire region, and we are deeply grateful for that," she emphasized. Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked Romania for its military and political support from the very beginning of the war, for its consistent position on Ukraine's accession to the EU and NATO, and for strengthening Ukraine's air defense. During the meeting, the security situation in the region was discussed. The President informed about intensified Russian attacks, including the strike on the Odesa region near the Romanian border on the night of August 6. The Head of State welcomed the decision of the Romanian parliament to authorize its military to shoot down Russian targets that enter Romania's airspace. The President of Ukraine and the Romanian Foreign Minister also focused on diplomatic efforts to end the war and joint work with partners. They also discussed the continuation and expansion of training programs for Ukrainian military personnel in Romania - including F-16 pilots and marines. Other topics included Ukraine's and Moldova's path to the EU and the development of bilateral relations, particularly joint infrastructure and energy projects. Ukraine and Romania will work to improve connectivity in the region, including with other partners in Southeast Europe, to bring countries, people, and businesses closer together. The Head of State extended an invitation to Romanian President Nicusor Dan to visit Ukraine. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address SSU and National Police detain another seven organizers of mobilization evasion schemes Security Service of Ukraine 13:00, 7 August 2025 The Security Service and National Police have dismantled new schemes for evading mobilization in western, northern and central Ukraine. Seven organizers have been apprehended. For USD 5 000 to 11 000, they helped conscripts evade service. In Zakarpattia, a Kyiv resident was detained. For money, he drove draft dodgers to the western border under the guise of emergency medical patients. To do this, he equipped his minibus with special signals and 'ambulance' stickers. While transporting his 'clients', the man also turned on flashing lights in an attempt to pass through checkpoints unhindered. A 58-year-old repeat offender, previously convicted of robbery, was detained in Rakhiv district for 'advising' conscripts on escape routes to the EU. One of the options involved crossing water obstacles, in particular the border areas of the Tisa River. In Cherkasy region, a resident of Zvenyhorod district was arrested for selling to draft dodgers fake disability certificates for their children so they could leave Ukraine unhindered. The individual used his personal connections among local doctors to obtain the forged medical documents. In Chernihiv region, four residents of Pryluky were caught. They published the locations of the Defense Forces, including mobile checkpoints of Territorial Recruitment Centers, in messenger apps. All those detained have been notified of suspicion under several Articles of the CCU, according to the crimes committed: 332.3 (illegal transportation of persons across the state border of Ukraine); 114-1.1 (obstruction of lawful activities of the AFU, during a special period); 369-2.3 (abuse of influence). The suspects are in custody and face up to 9 years in prison with confiscation of property. The operations were carried out by the SSU regional offices in cooperation with the National Police under the procedural supervision of the Prosecutor's Offices. NEWS LETTER Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list Enter Your Email Address NEW YORK, Aug. 07, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- WHY: Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, reminds purchasers of securities of 3D Systems Corporation (NYSE: DDD) between August 13, 2024 and May 12, 2025, both dates inclusive (the Class Period), of the important August 12, 2025 lead plaintiff deadline. SO WHAT: If you purchased 3D Systems 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 3D Systems Corporation class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=1300 or call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email case@rosenlegal.com for information on the class action. A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than August 12, 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, during the Class Period, defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (1) 3D Systems had understated the impact of weakened customer spending on 3D Systems business, while overstating its resilience in challenging industry conditions; (2) in addition, the updated milestone criteria in the United Partnership (a partnership with United Therapeutics Corporation) would negatively impact 3D Systems Regenerative Medicine Program revenue; and (3) as a result, 3D Systems 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 3D Systems class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=1300 call Phillip Kim, Esq. toll-free at 866-767-3653 or email case@rosenlegal.com for information on the class action. No Class Has Been Certified. Until a class is certified, you are not represented by counsel unless you retain one. You may select counsel of your choice. You may also remain an absent class member and do nothing at this point. An investors ability to share in any potential future recovery is not dependent upon serving as lead plaintiff. Follow us for updates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-rosen-law-firm or on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rosen_firm or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rosenlawfirm. Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. Contact Information: Laurence Rosen, Esq. Phillip Kim, Esq. The Rosen Law Firm, P.A. 275 Madison Avenue, 40th Floor New York, NY 10016 Tel: (212) 686-1060 Toll Free: (866) 767-3653 Fax: (212) 202-3827 case@rosenlegal.com www.rosenlegal.com Delray Beach, FL, Aug. 07, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- According to a research report published by MarketsandMarkets, "Specialty Enzymes Market by Source (Microorganism, Plant, Animal), Type (Carbohydrases, Proteases, Lipases, Polymerases & Nucleases), Application (Pharmaceuticals, Diagnostics, Research & Biotechnology), Form & Region - Global Forecast to 2029. Specialty Enzymes Market Size & Growth 2029 Market Size: $9.2 billion 2024 Forecast: $6.1 billion Forecast CAGR (2024 - 2029): 8.5% Top Segments: Source, Type, Application, Region Leading Applications: Pharmaceuticals, Diagnostics, Research & Biotechnology The specialty enzymes market is on an accelerated growth path, propelled by public funding, expanding pharmaceutical demand, and rising applications in diagnostics and industrial processing. From funding initiatives like India's BIG scheme to booming protease demand and regional momentum in Asia Pacific, several forces are reshaping the future of enzyme technology. Learn more by downloading the PDF copy! Supportive Government Policies and Funding Drive Innovation Governments across the globe are playing a pivotal role in driving biotechnological advancements through funding and incentives. These measures not only foster R&D but also promote the commercialization of innovative enzyme-based solutions across industries. European Union : The Horizon Europe program, with a staggering USD 103.6 billion budget for 20212027, places biotechnology at the heart of its research agenda. This commitment bolsters the development of cutting-edge enzyme applications for medical, agricultural, and industrial sectors. : The Horizon Europe program, with a staggering USD 103.6 billion budget for 20212027, places biotechnology at the heart of its research agenda. This commitment bolsters the development of cutting-edge enzyme applications for medical, agricultural, and industrial sectors. United States : The NIH allocated over USD 42.0 billion in 2022 for biomedical research. A portion of this investment is earmarked for biotech projects, including the creation of novel enzymes for therapeutic and industrial use. : The NIH allocated over USD 42.0 billion in 2022 for biomedical research. A portion of this investment is earmarked for biotech projects, including the creation of novel enzymes for therapeutic and industrial use. India: The Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), under the Department of Biotechnology, is actively fueling innovation via programs like the Biotechnology Ignition Grant (BIG). In 2020, BIRAC dedicated Rs. 50 crores (~USD 6.7 million) to support around 100 biotech startups, helping develop enzyme-based solutions across pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. These initiatives are not only pushing the boundaries of enzyme technology but are also helping smaller players scale and commercialize faster. Asia Pacific Dominates the Specialty Enzymes Landscape Asia Pacific holds the largest specialty enzymes market share. The region's dominance is driven by a robust pharmaceutical and biotechnology ecosystem, with countries like India leading the charge. India, contributing over 20% to the global generics supply, is a major consumer of specialty enzymes for drug manufacturing. Its rapid expansion in biopharma, combined with a strong base of enzyme producers and government support, positions it as a critical growth hub for the industry. Protease Enzymes: Fastest Growing Segment Among the various enzyme types, proteases are emerging as the fastest-growing category. These enzymes play a crucial role in drug formulation and therapeutic protein productionvital in treating chronic diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and autoimmune disorders. Their importance extends to biotechnology, where they are used for protein engineering and modification. Proteases allow precise protein cleavage, making them essential in developing innovative biologics. Companies like Novo Nordisk rely on proteases for efficient insulin production, showcasing their relevance in meeting growing global health demands. Animal-Sourced Enzymes Continue to Hold Strong Market Share Enzymes derived from animal sources retain a significant presence in the specialty enzymes market, especially due to their high specificity and activity. Pharmaceuticals : Pancreatic enzymes like trypsin and chymotrypsin are used in drug development, particularly for biologics. : Pancreatic enzymes like trypsin and chymotrypsin are used in drug development, particularly for biologics. Diagnostics : Enzymes such as lactase and thrombin are vital in clinical testing and surgical procedures. : Enzymes such as lactase and thrombin are vital in clinical testing and surgical procedures. Food Industry: Enzymes like rennet remain essential for applications such as cheese production. Their efficiency and reliability across such diverse applications make animal-sourced enzymes indispensable to both legacy and emerging industries. Industry Update: Production Expansion and Quality Focus In March 2024, Biocatalysts, a BRAIN Biotech Group company, expanded its Cardiff facility with a large-scale freeze-drying plant. The site now offers custom enzyme solutions for food, beverage, and life sciences sectors while complying with kosher, halal, ISO9001:2015, and FSSC22000 standardsensuring top-tier quality and regulatory alignment. Leading Players in the Specialty Enzymes Market Key specialty enzymes companies shaping the future of the specialty enzymes market include: BRAIN Biotech AG (Germany) Novozymes A/S (Denmark) Codexis, Inc. (US) Sanofi (France) Merck KGaA (Germany) Dyadic International Inc (US) Advanced Enzyme Technologies (India) Amano Enzyme Inc (Japan) F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd (Switzerland) New England Biolabs (US) BBI Solutions (UK) Creative Enzymes (US) Bioseutica (Netherlands) SEKISUI Diagnostics (US) These players are investing heavily in R&D, expanding production capabilities, and exploring strategic partnerships to stay competitive in a rapidly evolving market. Looking to identify growth opportunities, market adjacencies, or key partnerships in the specialty enzymes space? Speak to an analyst today and get a tailored roadmap for innovation and investment. Explore Adjacent Markets Las Vegas, NV, Aug. 07, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Southern Nevada is cementing its position as a center for advanced manufacturing, technology, and logistics, as five companies are poised to launch or expand their operations in the region. These projects received approval at the August 7th Nevada Governors Office of Economic Development (GOED), quarterly Board meeting, and will inject over $174 million in new capital investment and create more than 375 high-quality jobs, strengthening Nevadas economy and community ties. A total of seven companies, five in Southern Nevada, received approval from GOED today for a combined $11.2 million in tax abatements. In return, the seven companies are committing to creating 696 new jobs statewide over the next five years, with average wages topping $43 an hour. These projects also are expected to generate over $82 million in new tax revenue for Nevada over the next decade. The seven companies that have been approved today for abatements will generate hundreds of high-paying jobs and millions in investment into Nevada, said Governor Joe Lombardo. These investments reflect our ongoing commitment to creating good-paying jobs for Nevadans and building a strong, diverse economy in our state. Representing a diverse roster of industries, the following companies are set to invest in Southern Nevada with support from GOED, local municipalities, and LVGEA: Carson Manufacturing LLC New Operation | Las Vegas A veteran-owned and operated manufacturer specializing in precision metal parts, Carson Manufacturing is relocating its headquarters and production from Mexia, Texas to a new 50,000-square-foot facility in Clark County in Las Vegas. Serving the automotive, aerospace, defense, and heavy equipment sectors, Carsons expansion underscores its commitment to revitalizing American manufacturing, supporting veterans, and fostering opportunity for the workforce. The company will create 50 skilled jobs, paying an average of $32 per hour, with a capital investment of $10.2 million. Carson Manufacturing LLC is a veteran-owned and operated precision metal parts manufacturer proudly located in Las Vegas, Nevada. Originally founded and operated in Mexia, Texas, Carson Manufacturing made the strategic decision to relocate to Las Vegas to better serve its employees and business operations. The move was driven by Nevadas strong infrastructure, favorable business climate, and long-term economic opportunitiesultimately creating a more sustainable future for our workforce and partners, said Robert Nikora, Director, Carson Manufacturing. Cintas Corporation New Operation | Henderson Cintas is investing $17.9 million to establish a specialty cleanroom facility in Hendersonone of only six of its kind in North America. The project involves converting a retrofit corporately owned site into a state-of-the-art cleanroom site that will serve high-tech industries such as pharmaceuticals, semiconductors, aerospace, and medical devices. The project will create 22 high-quality jobs with an average wage of $33.63 per hour. Our Henderson, NV Cleanroom facility will support high-growth industries located on the West Coast, including pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical device manufacturing, compounding pharmacies, electronics manufacturing, aerospace and defense, nanotechnology, semiconductors, automotive, and optics, said Sowmya Aggarwal, VP of Taxation, Cintas. Crocs, Inc. Expansion | North Las Vegas Global footwear leader, Crocs is significantly expanding its North Las Vegas operations with a new 1 million-square-foot fulfillment and distribution center. The facility will serve as a key hub for Crocs and Hey Dude products across the U.S., consolidating distribution, improving delivery times, and optimizing inventory management. This $90 million investment will create 40 full-time jobs at an average wage of $34.03 per hour. We are proud of our existing footprint in Nevada and have found the state to be a highly supportive and strategic location for our business. Building on this success, we are planning a significant expansion that will involve a capital investment of approximately $90 million and the creation of 40 new full-time positions, said Tyler Baron, Senior Director of Income Tax, Crocs Emisha Innovations New Operation | Las Vegas Emisha Innovations, an emerging tech and manufacturing startup, is investing $55.4 million to establish operations focused on semi-conductor technology and advanced computing systems. With plans to hire 250 employees at an average wage of $50.15 per hour, Emisha will play a key role in expanding Nevadas innovative ecosystem. Emisha Innovations is a U.S.-based technology company developing advanced photonic logic processors, hybrid semiconductor architectures, and AI-integrated computing platforms. Our flagship product, the Sol-X processor, represents a major leap in performance and energy efficiency using photonic circuits, and we believe Nevada offers the ideal ecosystem to build and scale this technology, said Jerritt Thomas, CEO, Emisha Innovations Sport Squad, Inc. New Operation | Henderson Sport Squad, the parent company of popular gaming brands including JOOLA, is establishing an 85,000-square-foot primary distribution facility in Henderson. The project represents a $1.1 million investment and will create 13 skilled jobs with an average wage of $33.08 per hour. The new location will enhance the companys national distribution capabilities while supporting its mission to promote healthy lifestyles and interactive fun for families. Our new facility in Henderson, Nevada will serve as our primary distribution hub, representing a significant investment by JOOLA that will benefit both our brand and the local community. We are committed to being an active part of the Henderson community by promoting healthy lifestyles and supporting local families, said Joshua Kim, Director of Global SCM and Operations, Sport Squad, Inc. These five projects reflect the incredible momentum were building across Southern Nevada, said Betsy Fretwell, Interim President & CEO of the Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance (LVGEA). From advanced manufacturing to tech innovation and logistics, companies are choosing to grow here because of our strong infrastructure, collaborative business environment, and deep talent pipeline. These investments dont just create jobs; they strengthen the fabric of our communities and position Nevada for long-term economic resilience. These investments highlight Southern Nevadas competitive advantages, capable workforce, and commitment to innovation and community engagement. By welcoming these new and expanding companies, Nevada continues to drive economic growth and opportunity statewide. More information about each of the companies can be found below: Carson Manufacturing LLC: https://www.carsonmfg.net/ ### About Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance The Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance (LVGEA) is a public-private partnership dedicated to growing the economy of the Las Vegas region through intentional business attraction, expansion, and connectivity. LVGEA has been designated as one of eight Regional Development Authorities (RDA) in Nevada by the Governors Office of Economic Development (GOED) for 2025-2026. To learn more, visit https://lvgea.org NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWS WIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE U.S. TORONTO, Aug. 07, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- O2Gold Inc. (NEX:OTGO.H) (O2Gold or the Company) is pleased to provide an additional update on its pending acquisition of a gold mining exploration property in Quebec through the purchase of all of the issued and outstanding shares of Quebec Aur Ltd. (the Target) pursuant to a share exchange agreement entered into by the Company with the Target and its shareholders dated April 15, 2024, as amended November 14, 2024 (the Acquisition). The Company has upsized the hard dollar portion of its previously announced non-brokered private placement financing (the Offering) from 14 million units to 18 million units (the Units). Each Unit will continue to consist of one common share of the Company and one common share purchase warrant (each, a Warrant), and the Units and 16 million common shares issued on a flow-through basis pursuant to the Offering will each continue to be issued at a price of $0.05 per Unit and common share, respectively, for aggregate gross proceeds to the Company of $1.7 million. Each Warrant will continue to entitle the holder to acquire one additional common share of the Company at a price of $0.10 for a period of 24 months from issuance. The Company anticipates using the net proceeds of the hard dollar and flow-through portions of the Offering for general corporate purposes and to fund the phase one exploration expenses on the 9,000 hectare claim package that is the subject of the Acquisition, respectively. The parties continue to work diligently to complete the remaining legal formalities in relation to the Acquisition, which is now expected to close (along with the Offering) in late-2025, subject to the satisfaction or waiver of certain conditions. The Acquisition is more fully described in the Companys press releases dated April 15, 2024, April 23, 2024, April 24, 2024, May 30, 2024, and August 23, 2024, as well as the Companys management information circular (the Circular) which was mailed to shareholders of record as of August 26, 2024. Additional information respecting the Offering can be found in the Companys press release dated April 8, 2025. The press releases and Circular are available under O2Golds profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca. About O2Gold O2Gold is a mineral exploration company. For additional information, please contact: Scott Moore, Chief Executive Officer Phone: (416) 861-1685 Email: smoore@miningsm.com Regulatory Statements This press release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Forward-looking information includes, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the Offering and Acquisition, including closing conditions and timing, and other matters related thereto. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". Forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company, as the case may be, to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information, including but not limited to: receipt of necessary approvals; general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; future mineral prices and market demand; accidents, labour disputes and shortages and other risks of the mining industry. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking information, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities in the United States. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act") or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to U.S. Persons unless registered under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registration is available. 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. SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA, Aug. 07, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- South Korean environmental technology specialist DAESHIN MC is participating in 'BEX ASIA 2025', Asia's largest eco-friendly construction and building exhibition, as part of its Southeast Asian market expansion strategy centered on Singapore. The exhibition will be held in September 2025 at the Marina Bay Sands Convention Centre in Singapore. At this exhibition, DAESHIN MC will showcase two cutting-edge cleaning solutions designed to enhance hygiene infrastructure in multi-use facilities: 'SoleCheck' and 'Caster Cleaner'. These products are intended for a wide range of applications, including hospitals, airports, schools, government facilities, and smart buildings. They are recognized as solutions aligned with Singapore's urban development and smart city construction strategies. The flagship product 'SoleCheck' is a contactless smart cleaning mat that automatically suctions dust and contaminants from shoe soles simply by walking across the mat, effectively preventing the spread of airborne particles. Its modular design enables convenient partial replacement and maintenance, offering long-term cost savings. The product is currently being actively used in domestic public institutions, research facilities, and airports. The accompanying 'Caster Cleaner' is a technology that automatically cleans the wheels of transport carts used in industrial sites, hospitals, food processing plants, and logistics centers, fundamentally blocking contaminants from entering indoor spaces. It is recognized as the world's first automatic wheel cleaning system. High demand is particularly anticipated in Singapore's medical and logistics sectors, where stringent hygiene standards are in place. A DAESHIN MC representative stated, "Under the philosophy that floor cleanliness is the foundation of overall spatial hygiene, we aim to present effective cleaning solutions even in ultra-high-density urban environments like Singapore. Through our participation in BEX ASIA 2025, we plan to actively promote the excellence of 'Korean-style smart hygiene technology' in the Southeast Asian market." Social Links YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@corp.daeshinmc7691 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yoona-choi-0156/ Media Contact Brand: DAESHIN MC CO.,LTD Contact: Media Team Tel : +82-10-6707-0156 Email: dsclean@dsclean.co.kr Website: http://www.daeshinmc.co.kr/en/ 5 million shares added to the existing equity financing line with Vester Finance NCX 470 Denali confirmatory Phase 3 results expected mid-August to mid-September 2025 August 08, 2025 release at 7:30 am Sophia Antipolis, France Nicox SA (Euronext Growth Paris: FR0013018124, ALCOX), an international ophthalmology company, today announced an extension of the PACEO1 equity line of financing entered into with Vester Finance on March 5, 2025, with an additional maximum of 5,000,000 shares (a maximum of 6.43% of the currently issued share capital2 and 4.26% on a fully-diluted basis3). The other terms of the financing, as announced on March 6, 2025, remain unchanged, including the conditions and issue price of the additional shares4. Based on estimated cash and debt positions and expected income from existing agreements, the Company estimates that it is financed into Q3 2026. This cash runway excludes proceeds from the financing announced today but could be further extended depending on the performance of it. If any of the assumptions around estimated income or costs change, this may impact the cash runway of the Company. Under the terms of the amendment signed on August 7, 2025, Vester Finance agreed to subscribe for an additional maximum of up to 5,000,000 additional shares in the Company, at its own initiative, on terms as set out in the Press Release of March 6, 2025. For information purposes only, at the current share price5, the total gross proceeds of the additional shares in this financing would potentially be 3.1 million. Assuming full use of the extension to this equity line, a shareholder holding 1.00% of Nicoxs capital before the transaction would see a reduction in his stake to 0.94% of the capital. The Company may terminate this agreement at any time without penalty. This transaction was authorized by the Chief Executive Officer using a delegation granted by the meeting of the Board of Directors of August 7, 2025, who themselves used the delegation granted by the General Meeting of the shareholders of the Company on June 27, 2025, under the 13th resolution6. There is no requirement for a prospectus to be submitted to the Autorite des marches financiers (AMF). Vester Finance, who holds approximately 4% of the share capital, is acting in the capacity as a shareholder of Nicox and also as an investor who may sell all or part of the shares over a short or long period time. Risk Factors Risks factors which are likely to have a material effect on Nicoxs business are presented in section 3 of the Rapport Annuel 2024 which is available on Nicoxs website (www.nicox.com). The sale of the shares is likely to have an impact on the volatility and liquidity of the stock, as well as on the Company's share price. The number of shares issued under this transaction and admitted to trading will be announced on the Company's website. ICG Enterprise Trust plc (the Company) 8 August 2025 Transaction in Own Shares The Company announces that on 7 August 2025 it bought back 15,000 of its own shares, to be held as treasury shares, at an average price of 1450 pence per share. Further details are set out below: Number of shares held as treasury shares following settlement of this purchase: 555,721. Total shares in issue excluding treasury shares following settlement of this purchase: 62,998,471. The Company has bought back these shares under the authority granted by shareholders at its Annual General Meeting in June 2025, which permits the Company to repurchase a maximum of 14.99% of its ordinary shares. The actual number of shares repurchased by the Company will depend on market conditions. This authority lasts until the next shareholder authority granted (expected to be at the Annual General Meeting in 2026), or until expressly revoked by shareholders. No maximum consideration payable has been determined by the Company, but the Company is unable to pay a price for any shares pursuant to the buyback which would equate to a premium to the net asset value. It is the Companys current intention to hold any shares bought back in treasury. The Company has instructed Numis Securities Limited (trading for these purposes as Deutsche Numis) as its broker in respect of its buyback transactions. This arrangement is in accordance with the UKLA Listing Rules and the Companys general authority to repurchase shares. Analyst / Investor enquiries: Chris Hunt Shareholder Relations, ICG +44 (0) 20 3545 2020 Andrew Lewis Company Secretary, ICG +44 (0) 20 3545 1344 Media: Clare Glynn Corporate Communications, ICG +44 (0) 20 3545 1395 Dublin, Aug. 08, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Finland Prefabricated Construction Market Intelligence and Future Growth Dynamics Databook - 100+ KPIs, Market Size & Forecast by End Markets, Precast Products, and Precast Materials - Q2 2025 Update" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The prefabricated construction market in Finland is expected to grow by 5.6% on annual basis to reach EUR 3.54 billion in 2025. The prefabricated construction market in the country has experienced steady growth during 2020-2024, achieving a CAGR of 6.6%. This upward trajectory is expected to continue, with the market forecast to grow at a CAGR of 4.7% during 2025-2029. By the end of 2029, the prefabricated construction sector is projected to expand from its 2024 value of EUR 3.35 billion to approximately EUR 4.48 billion. This report provides a detailed data-centric analysis of the prefabricated construction sector in Finland, offering a comprehensive view of market opportunities across end-markets, materials, and products at the country level. With over 100+ KPIs covering growth dynamics in prefabricated construction, this databook provides a wealth of data-centric analysis with charts and tables. Finland stands at a pivotal moment in prefabricated prefabricated construction transforming from experimental wood builds to a scalable, policy-driven mainstream. The fusion of engineered timber systems, factory automation, and digital prefabricated construction tools reflects a strategic response to climate mandates, resource constraints, and societal needs. Lifecycle-focused carbon reporting, backed by government directives set to take effect in 2026, is aligning incentives across forestry, materials, and prefabricated construction sectors. Meanwhile, innovation in hybrid concrete-timber systems aims to strike a balance between performance and sustainability, acknowledging the evolving limitations of carbon-verified timber supply. Modular, volumetric, and panelised workflows are gaining systemic support through public procurement frameworks and district-scale projects. Robotics-assisted manufacturing and digital twins are improving quality and accelerating adoption. Yet, Finland also faces emerging pressures from limits to the forest ecosystem to material pricing to diversify its low-carbon design pathways. For senior leadership, this means advancing prefab as both strategic infrastructure and a circular-economy instrument. The recommended priorities include investing in prefabrication complexes, aligning procurement with carbon protocols, partnering across forestry, tech, and academic ecosystems, and piloting hybrid systems. This triangulated approach will allow Finland to scale prefabrication not just as a method but as a resilient platform for climate-safe, efficient, and socially responsive prefabricated construction in the years ahead. Strengthen Industry Outlook Anchor on steady expansion: Finland's prefabricated prefabricated construction sector is growing at a projected annual pace, with expectations of continued momentum. The broader prefabricated construction market is recovering, supported by investments in infrastructure and energy-related projects. Embed within national prefabricated construction framework: Renewables and civil projects are driving demand for efficient, off site prefabricated construction techniques. Prefab methods are increasingly integrated into both public and private segments, responding to policy and economic pressures. Illuminate Key Trends with Evidence Expand engineered wood and mass timber use: Finland is pioneering the use of CLT and engineered timber systems across schools, offices, and housing including Helsinki's "Wood City" district aligning with its carbon-neutral goals. Wood's carbon storage benefits and aesthetic appeal reinforce its adoption; Aalto's research confirms resilience and lifecycle advantages. Industrialize modular wood prefabricated construction: Modular timber production has shifted major stages off site, accelerating assembly and reducing disruption. Hybrid designs combining wood with steel or concrete are gaining traction SARA Cultural Centre in Sweden offers a regional parallel for Finland. Accelerate digital and automated workflows: Adoption of BIM, AI, IoT, and cloud tools in Finnish prefabricated construction underpins precision and cost control. Finnish firms are recognized for their strong automation and design capabilities, marking them as leaders in technology integration. Balance sustainability with resource constraints: Finland's commitment to wood buildings is accompanied by scrutiny of forest carbon sinks and biodiversity; constraints may temper raw material supply. Government mandates require lifecycle carbon accounting for new buildings by 2026, promoting low-carbon decision-making. Forge Strategic Partnerships Align forestry, industry, and policy stakeholders : Finland's wood-prefabricated construction roadmap involved over 110 projects supported by industry grants, resulting in large-scale wooden developments. Partnerships among forestry research, regulation, and developers underpin material innovation and sustainable sourcing. Link manufacturers with digital tech providers: Prefabrication workflows now integrate BIM, robotics, and digital twins through joint ventures and technology consortia. Finnish design firms (Vertex, etc.) are recognized in international forums for digital sophistication alongside robotic and factory systems. Engage international research and knowledge transfer : Outputs from Nordic timber-innovation collaboration are informing Finland's own CLT and hybrid building pilots. The exchange of best practices with Sweden supports cross-border replication of factory-based timber systems. Leverage Key Growth Drivers Accelerate net-zero and carbon-accountability policies: Lifecycle-enforced carbon reporting rules, effective from 2026, align with the wider EU carbon-neutral targets. "Carbon handprint" initiatives, backed by Finland's Environment Institute, reward engineered wood builds. Respond to material and labor pressures: The high cost of concrete and steel, along with labor volatility, drives demand for controlled, factory-produced timber components. Panelized and volumetric systems reduce weather exposure and onsite delays, adding scheduling certainty. Meet social and demographic shifts: The demand for schools, senior living, and multifamily units aligns with prefecture-level wood-building strategies in urban centers. Prefab's speed and modularity support quick adaptation to shifting civic space needs. Harness digital-age prefabricated construction tools: BIM, AI surveillance, and digital twin coordination address complexity in hybrid prefab systems, enhancing quality and oversight. Forecast Future Trends Scale mass timber districts nationwide: Helsinki's Wood City model will be replicated in Tampere, Oulu, and other cities as urban green-building becomes a civic goal. Public procurement trends will increasingly favor engineered wood prefab for civic buildings. Mainstream hybrid wood concrete systems: Developers will integrate low-carbon concrete with wood superstructures to balance cost, fire performance, and durability. Accelerate digital twins and lifecycle analytics: By 2026, carbon-aware digital twins will inform design, prefabricated construction, and compliance reporting, enabling more informed decisions. Adopt factory robotics across production and finishing: Robotics will expand from off-site manufacturing to onsite tasks assembly, inspection, and M&E installation enhancing accuracy and safety. Balance growth with sustainable forestry management: Scarcity in carbon-certified timber may prompt diversification into recycled materials, certified concrete, or bio-based innovations. Tie Insights into a Unified Narrative Finland's prefabrication strategy is emerging as a backbone of its green prefabricated construction agenda anchored in timber factories, digital frameworks, and resilience thinking. Government-enforced carbon reporting and wood city pilots are driving eco industrial approaches, linking forestry policy with urban delivery methods. Strategic alliances among material scientists, technology providers, and international partners are accelerating the development of hybrid timber-concrete innovations. Prefab delivers faster, safer, data-driven, and climate-aligned infrastructure that directly addresses labor, cost, and schedule challenges. Finland is positioning itself as a testbed for modern prefabricated construction, transitioning prefab from an enabler to a default methodology for public and private builds. Scope Finland Prefabricated Construction Market Size by Prefabricated Material Aluminium (Building Superstructure, Roof Construction, Floor Construction, Interior Room Modules, Exterior Walls, Columns & Beams, Other) Wood (Building Superstructure, Roof Construction, Floor Construction, Interior Room Modules, Exterior Walls, Columns & Beams, Other) Iron & Steel (Building Superstructure, Roof Construction, Floor Construction, Interior Room Modules, Exterior Walls, Columns & Beams, Other) Concrete (Building Superstructure, Roof Construction, Floor Construction, Interior Room Modules, Exterior Walls, Columns & Beams, Other) Glass (Building Superstructure, Roof Construction, Floor Construction, Interior Room Modules, Exterior Walls, Columns & Beams, Other) Other (Building Superstructure, Roof Construction, Floor Construction, Interior Room Modules, Exterior Walls, Columns & Beams, Other) Finland Prefabricated Construction Market Size by Prefabrication Product Residential (Building Superstructure, Roof Construction, Floor Construction, Interior Room Modules, Exterior Walls, Columns & Beams, Other) Commercial (Building Superstructure, Roof Construction, Floor Construction, Interior Room Modules, Exterior Walls, Columns & Beams, Other) Industrial (Building Superstructure, Roof Construction, Floor Construction, Interior Room Modules, Exterior Walls, Columns & Beams, Other) Institutional (Building Superstructure, Roof Construction, Floor Construction, Interior Room Modules, Exterior Walls, Columns & Beams, Other) Finland Prefabricated Construction Market Size by Building Construction Sector Residential Single-Family Multi Family Commercial Office Retail Hospitality Other Institutional Industrial Finland Prefabricated Construction Market Size by Prefabrication Methods Panelised construction Modular (Volumetric) construction Hybrid (Semi-volumetric) construction Finland Prefabricated Construction Market Size by Type of Material Aluminium Wood Iron & Steel Concrete Glass Other Finland Prefabricated Construction Market Size by Type of Product Building Superstructure Roof Construction Floor Construction Interior Room Modules Exterior Walls Columns & Beams Other For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/hl23i3 About ResearchAndMarkets.com ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends. Dublin, Aug. 08, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Egypt Loyalty Programs Market Intelligence and Future Growth Dynamics - 50+ KPIs on Loyalty Programs Trends by End-Use Sectors, Operational KPIs, Retail Product Dynamics, and Consumer Demographics - Q3 2025 Update" has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. This report provides a comprehensive data-centric analysis of the market's opportunities and risks across various sectors in Egypt, boasting over 50 KPIs at the country level. The loyalty market in Egypt is projected to grow by 18.8% annually, reaching US$302.6 million in 2025. The country's loyalty sector recorded a CAGR of 20.3% from 2020 to 2024 and is expected to maintain growth with a CAGR of 16.2% from 2025 to 2029. Market value is set to rise from US$254.8 million in 2024 to US$551.8 million by 2029. Digital and mobile loyalty platforms are the primary modes for customer engagement in Egypt. Rising smartphone penetration and a preference for digital transactions are driving companies to adopt mobile applications over traditional card-based systems. For example, Vodafone Egypt's "Vodafone Cash" employs mobile payments with cashback rewards, enhancing user retention. Smartphone penetration surpassed 60% in 2023, driven by affordable devices and increased internet access. The Egyptian e-commerce sector is booming, with platforms like Jumia and Noon integrating loyalty points to drive repeat purchases. Consumers demand seamless integration of loyalty benefits, favoring digital over physical solutions. Tech-savvy younger demographics propel demand for digital-focused loyalty systems. Overcoming digital literacy challenges in rural areas is essential to tap into this trend fully. Personalization Through Data Analytics Egyptian businesses are leveraging data analytics for personalized loyalty experiences, tailoring rewards and promotions based on individual preferences. Carrefour Egypt analyzes purchasing habits to offer bespoke discounts on frequently bought products. Retail chains like Carrefour utilize transactional data for customer insights. Advancements in affordable AI tools have democratized access to personalized campaigns. Consumers in competitive sectors favor brands that understand their preferences. As data strategies evolve, personalization in loyalty programs will grow more sophisticated, enhancing customer satisfaction and retention, though data privacy concerns must be addressed. Gamification in Loyalty Programs Gamification is enhancing customer engagement within Egyptian loyalty programs. Platforms like Fawry incorporate point-based challenges and rewards for purchases. These gamified elements, shared on social media, broaden program reach and adoption. Young, gaming-savvy users find gamification attractive. Fintech firms like Fawry and Paymob stand out with gamified features in a crowded market. Gamification will grow, necessitating creative, interactive designs to mitigate customer fatigue risks. Expansion of Coalition Loyalty Programs Brands in Egypt are increasingly participating in coalition loyalty programs, which offer rewards across multiple partners. Programs like "Masary" enable points redemption across diverse sectors like supermarkets and fuel stations. Businesses benefit from pooling customer bases to enhance program attractiveness. Cost-sharing in coalition loyalty schemes is appealing, particularly to SMEs. Urban consumers value programs offering cross-sector benefits. As collaborations grow, equitable value-sharing is critical to maintaining these programs. Sustainability-Driven Rewards Loyalty programs in Egypt are increasingly focused on sustainability, with rewards for eco-friendly actions. Startups encourage sustainable practices by awarding points for purchasing environmentally friendly products. Global sustainability trends influence Egyptian businesses toward greener strategies. Government initiatives, such as hosting COP27, underscore environmental responsibility. Urban consumers demonstrate a preference for brands with sustainable credentials. Sustainability will become more embedded in loyalty strategies, though balancing costs remains challenging in price-sensitive markets. Scope: This detailed report explores loyalty programs in Egypt, providing key market segment insights. Egypt Retail Sector Spend Value Trend Analysis: Ecommerce and POS Spend Egypt Loyalty Spend Market Size and Future Growth Dynamics by KPIs & Domains: Loyalty Schemes and Platforms, Program Types (e.g., points, tier-based), and Channels (In-Store, Online, Mobile App) Insights into sectors like Retail, Financial Services, and Healthcare, analyzed by KPIs including Value Accumulated and Redemption Rates Market Segmentation by: Retail Types, Accessibility, Consumer & Membership Types, and Platforms Retail Sub-sectors span Diversified Retailers to Convenience Stores Accessibility divides into Card-based and Digital Access Consumer Types include B2C and B2B Membership Types are Free, Free + Premium, and Premium Key Attributes: Report Attribute Details No. of Pages 130 Forecast Period 2025 - 2029 Estimated Market Value (USD) in 2025 $302.6 Million Forecasted Market Value (USD) by 2029 $551.8 Million Compound Annual Growth Rate 16.2% Regions Covered Egypt For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/2e6ft2 About ResearchAndMarkets.com ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends. Attachment Dublin, Aug. 08, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Pneumococcal Disease - Pipeline Insight, 2025" has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The report provides an in-depth look at over 18 companies and their 20+ pipeline drugs aimed at combating pneumococcal disease. This report covers drug profiles in both clinical and nonclinical phases, and provides a detailed therapeutic assessment categorized by product type, stage, route of administration, and molecule type, while also highlighting inactive pipeline products. Pneumococcal disease, caused by the bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae, poses a significant global health threat, leading to conditions from mild sinusitis to severe illnesses like pneumonia, meningitis, and bacteremia. Vulnerable populations include infants, the elderly, and immunocompromised individuals. Transmission occurs via respiratory droplets, and vaccination is critical in disease prevention. This report highlights emerging therapies in development, analyzing various drugs in different stages of clinical progress. It details clinical trial phases, pharmacological actions, and collaborations, emphasizing the innovative strategies of leading pharmaceutical companies. Highlighted Drugs in Development PCV21 (Sanofi and SK bioscience): A 21-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, aimed at providing expansive protection against pneumococcal strains. Currently in Phase III, this vaccine targets both pediatric and adult populations to mitigate invasive pneumococcal disease worldwide. (Sanofi and SK bioscience): A 21-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, aimed at providing expansive protection against pneumococcal strains. Currently in Phase III, this vaccine targets both pediatric and adult populations to mitigate invasive pneumococcal disease worldwide. AV0328 (Alopexx): A synthetic vaccine targeting PNAG, proving effectiveness against multiple pathogens in preclinical studies. Now in Phase II, it's known for inducing broad-spectrum antimicrobial responses. (Alopexx): A synthetic vaccine targeting PNAG, proving effectiveness against multiple pathogens in preclinical studies. Now in Phase II, it's known for inducing broad-spectrum antimicrobial responses. V-212 (Virometix): An innovative booster vaccine, currently in Phase I, designed to prompt robust immune responses through the inclusion of inactivated toxins and antigens. The report also segments pipeline drugs by administration route (oral, intravenous, subcutaneous, etc.) and molecule type (recombinant proteins, small molecules, monoclonal antibodies, etc.), enhancing the understanding of product diversification and therapeutic positioning. Major Players The current pipeline involves approximately 18 key companies working on therapies for pneumococcal disease, with leading candidates in Phase III being developed by Sanofi and others. The report provides a detailed assessment of collaborative efforts, mergers, and licensing activities contributing to advancements in this field. Development Activities The report covers significant collaborations and mergers, alongside an extensive therapeutic assessment of emerging drugs. It offers insights into the unmet needs and potential impacts of these drug innovations. Key Questions Addressed What is the current landscape of pneumococcal disease drug development? How many drugs are in each stage of development, and which companies are leading in these stages? What are the emerging trends and novel technologies addressing current treatment limitations? What are the statuses of ongoing clinical studies and key designations granted to new drugs? For industry professionals and stakeholders, the "Pneumococcal Disease - Pipeline Insight, 2025" provides crucial insights into the evolving therapeutic landscapes and future market opportunities. Key Topics Covered: Introduction Executive Summary Pneumococcal Disease: Overview Introduction Causes Pathophysiology Signs and Symptoms Diagnosis Treatment Pipeline Therapeutics Comparative Analysis Therapeutic Assessment Assessment by Product Type Assessment by Stage and Product Type Assessment by Route of Administration Assessment by Stage and Route of Administration Assessment by Molecule Type Assessment by Stage and Molecule Type Pneumococcal Disease - Analytical Perspective Late Stage Products (Phase III) Comparative Analysis PCV21: Sanofi Product Description Research and Development Product Development Activities Mid Stage Products (Phase II) Comparative Analysis AV0328: Alopexx Product Description Research and Development Product Development Activities Early Stage Products (Phase I) Comparative Analysis V-212: Virometix Product Description Research and Development Product Development Activities Preclinical and Discovery Stage Products Comparative Analysis Inactive Products Comparative Analysis Pneumococcal Disease Key Products Pneumococcal Disease - Unmet Needs Pneumococcal Disease - Market Drivers and Barriers Pneumococcal Disease - Future Perspectives and Conclusion Pneumococcal Disease Analyst Views Pneumococcal Disease Key Companies Sanofi Alopexx Virometix GPN Vaccines Inventprise Inc. GlaxoSmithKline Beijing Zhifei Lvzhu Biopharmaceutical Co., Ltd Vaxcyte, Inc. Alopexx Sinovac Life Sciences Co., Ltd. For more information about this clinical trials report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/pq5sxi About ResearchAndMarkets.com ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends. VIENNA, Va., Aug. 08, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Castellum, Inc. (NYSE-American: CTM) ("Castellum" or the "Company"), a cybersecurity, electronic warfare, and software services company focused on the federal government, announces its financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2025, featuring record revenue, improved operating performance, record cash, and a meaningful debt reduction. Revenue for Q2 2025 totaled $14.0 million, a record quarter reflecting a 19.7% increase from $11.7 million in Q1 2025 and a 21.7% increase from $11.5 million in Q2 2024. These results reflect the second consecutive quarter of year-over-year organic revenue growth, the only two times the Company has achieved that milestone since the Companys 2022 uplisting. The Company reduced total debt by $3.7 million during the quarter, a key step in strengthening its balance sheet and enhancing financial flexibility. This strategic deleveraging effort reflects managements ongoing focus on capital discipline and long-term shareholder value. Operating loss for the quarter narrowed significantly to $(0.4) million, compared to $(1.1) million in Q1 2025 and $(6.0) million in Q2 2024. The improvement reflects continued cost discipline and increasing operating leverage, even with non-cash and one-time charges included in results. Additionally, excluding non-cash and one-time items, Castellum generated $0.5 million of adjusted EBITDA. Castellum ended the quarter with a record cash balance of $14.7 million, up from $13.3 million at the end of Q1, further reinforcing its commitment to liquidity and prudent capital management. In addition to record revenue and solid margin improvement, we reduced our debt by $3.7 million this quarter - a major achievement in strengthening our financial foundation, said Glen Ives, Chief Executive Officer of Castellum. Our continued strong performance and steady progress are a direct reflection of our world-class CTM team and their 'best in industry' skills, talent, knowledge, and experience directly supporting our mission customers to achieve their vital national security missions and objectives. Were building meaningful momentum, and we believe these results position us well to continue creating long-term value for our shareholders. Castellum's full financial results for the three and six months ending June 30, 2025, are expected to be filed later today on Form 10-Q, which will be available at http://www.sec.gov. About Castellum, Inc. (NYSE-American: CTM): Castellum, Inc. (NYSE-American: CTM) is a cybersecurity, electronic warfare, and software engineering services company focused on the federal government - https://castellumus.com/. Forward-Looking Statements: This release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 2lE of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. These forward-looking statements represent the Company's expectations or beliefs concerning future events and can generally be identified by the use of statements that include words such as "estimate," "project," "believe," "anticipate," "shooting to," "intend," "in a position," "looking to," "pursue," "positioned," "will," "likely," "would," or similar words or phrases. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the Company's expectations for revenue growth, new customer opportunities, improvements to cost structure, and profitability. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties, and other factors, many of which are outside of the Company's control, that could cause actual results to differ (sometimes materially) from the results expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements, including, among others: the Company's ability to compete against new and existing competitors; its ability to effectively integrate and grow its acquired companies; its ability to identify additional acquisition targets and close additional acquisitions; the impact on the Company's revenue due to a delay in the U.S. Congress approving a federal budget, operating under a prolonged continuing resolution, government shutdown, or breach of the debt ceiling, as well as the imposition by the U.S. government of sequestration in the absence of an approved budget; the ability of the U.S. federal government to unilaterally cancel a contract with or without cause, and more specifically, the potential impact of the U.S. DOGE Service Temporary Organization on government spending and terminating contracts for convenience. For a more detailed description of these and other risk factors, please refer to the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K and its Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") which can be viewed at www.sec.gov. All forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain, based on current expectations and assumptions concerning future events or the future performance of the Company. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which are only predictions and speak only as of the date hereof. The Company expressly disclaims any intent or obligation to update any of the forward-looking statements made in this release or in any of its SEC filings except as may be otherwise stated by the Company. Non-GAAP Financial Measures and Key Performance Metrics: This press release contains Non-GAAP Adjusted EBITDA, a Non-GAAP financial measure used by management to measure the Company's operating performance. A reconciliation of this measure to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure is contained herein. To the extent required, statements disclosing this measure's definition, utility, and purpose are also set forth herein. Definition: Adjusted EBITDA is a Non-GAAP measure, calculated as the Company's earnings before (not including expenses related to) interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, also adjusted for other non-cash items such as stock-based compensation and other non-recurring, cash items, such as expenses for a one-time policy change. Utility and Purpose: The Company discloses Non-GAAP Adjusted EBITDA because this Non-GAAP measure is used by management to evaluate our business, measure its operating performance, and make strategic decisions. We believe NonGAAP Adjusted EBITDA is useful for investors and others in understanding and evaluating our operating results in the same manner as its management. However, Non-GAAP Adjusted EBITDA is not a financial measure calculated in accordance with GAAP and should not be considered as a substitute for GAAP operating loss or any other operating performance measure calculated in accordance with GAAP. Using this Non-GAAP measure to analyze our business would have material limitations because the calculations are based on the subjective determination of management regarding the nature and classification of events and circumstances that investors may find significant. In addition, although other companies in our industry may report a Non-GAAP Adjusted EBITDA measure, this measure may be calculated differently from how we calculate this Non-GAAP financial measure, reducing its overall usefulness as a comparative measure. Because of these inherent limitations, you should consider Non-GAAP Adjusted EBITDA alongside other financial performance measures, including net loss and our other financial results presented in accordance with GAAP. Castellum, Inc. Reconciliation of unaudited Non-GAAP Recurring Cash Operating Profit to Operating Loss Three Months Ended June 30, 2025 Revenues $ 14,024,090 Gross profit 5,060,447 Net Loss (322,107 ) Add back: Interest expense 30,357 Taxes (75,773 ) Depreciation and amortization 372,026 Adjust for non-cash and one-time charges: Change in derivative liability (16,000 ) Stock based compensation 511,814 Total non-cash charges 822,424 Non-GAAP Adjusted EBITDA $ 500,317 Contact: Glen Ives President and Chief Executive Officer Phone: (703) 752-6157 info@castellumus.com https://castellumus.com A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/a5f4b2f3-e49d-4366-a766-6004bf0873b1 VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Aug. 08, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- American Lithium Corp. (American Lithium or the Company) (TSX-V:LI | OTCQX:AMLIF | Frankfurt:5LA1) announces the appointment of Gregory Barbier as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) effective August 7, 2025, succeeding Paul Charlish. Mr. Barbier has more than fifteen years of experience in financial reporting, budgeting, financial planning, and cost analysis in multiple industries and countries. Prior to joining American Lithium Corp. in October 2024 as Controller, he held Vice President Finance roles at two publicly listed mining companies in Canada. Mr. Barbier received his Master of Business Administration from the University of New Orleans and his Master in Audit & Finance from the EM Normandie Business School. He is fluent in English, Spanish and French. He is a Certified Financial Analyst charter holder. Alex Tsakumis, Interim CEO of American Lithium, comments, We are excited to see Gregory in his new role. His experience with the Company over the past year has made him well-equipped to succeed, and we are confident he will make a strong impact in this position. We also thank Paul for commitment and contribution during his time with the Company and wish him the best moving forward. About American Lithium American Lithium is developing two of the worlds largest, advanced-stage lithium projects, along with the largest undeveloped uranium project in Latin America. They include the TLC claystone lithium project in Nevada, the Falchani hard rock lithium project and the Macusani uranium deposit, both in southern Peru. All three projects have been through robust preliminary economic assessments, exhibit significant expansion potential and enjoy strong community support. For more information, please contact the Company at info@americanlithiumcorp.com or visit our website at www.americanlithiumcorp.com . Follow us on Facebook , Twitter and LinkedIn . On behalf of the Board of Directors of American Lithium Corp. Alex Tsakumis Interim CEO Tel: 604 428 6128 Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. All amounts expressed in U.S. dollars TORONTO, Aug. 08, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Barrick Mining Corporation (NYSE:B)(TSX:ABX) (Barrick or the Company) today announced that it has reached an agreement to sell the Alturas Project (the Project) in Chile to a subsidiary of Boroo Pte Ltd (Singapore) (Boroo) for an up-front cash payment of $50 million. In addition, Barrick will be granted a 0.5% net smelter return royalty on gold and silver produced from the Project, which will terminate once 2 million ounces of gold and gold-equivalent have been produced. Boroo may repurchase the royalty within four years from closing for $10 million. Boroo is acquiring the Project through the acquisition of all of the shares of Compania Minera Salitrales SpA, the Barrick subsidiary that holds the Project. Proceeds from the sale will be used to further strengthen Barricks balance sheet, invest in our future and support our commitment to deliver returns to our shareholders. Barrick president and chief executive Mark Bristow said Barrick remained committed to optimizing its portfolio of assets that align with its objective of focusing on long-life, sustainable Tier One1 gold and copper operations that it operates and advancing its priority portfolio of growth projects. This agreement allows Barrick to exit Alturas at an attractive valuation, while giving Boroo the opportunity to pursue the development of the project. This is another good example of an instance where an asset we own might be better suited in the hands of others while we pursue our priority portfolio of Barrick-managed growth projects. We are confident that, as demonstrated by their successful acquisition of Lagunas Norte from Barrick in 2021 and ongoing operations, Boroo will be excellent stewards of Alturas and will generate significant benefits for the Projects stakeholders going forward, said Bristow. Chile remains an important jurisdiction for Barrick, with a portfolio that includes interests in the Zaldivar copper mine and the El Alto and Norte Abierto projects, and the company will continue to pursue opportunities to find and operate world-class gold and copper mines in that country. The transaction is expected to be completed within the third quarter of 2025 subject to customary closing conditions being satisfied. Southern Cone Partners is acting as financial advisor to Barrick. Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP and Dentons (Santiago) are acting as legal counsel to Barrick. About Barrick Mining Corporation Barrick is a leading global mining, exploration and development company. With one of the largest portfolios of world-class and long-life gold and copper assets in the industry including six of the worlds Tier One gold mines Barricks operations and projects span 18 countries and five continents. Barrick is also the largest gold producer in the United States. We create real, long-term value for all stakeholders through responsible mining, strong partnerships and a disciplined approach to growth. Barrick shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol B and on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol ABX. Enquiries: Kathy du Plessis Investor and Media Relations +44 20 7557 7738 Email: barrick@dpapr.com Endnote 1 A Tier One Gold Asset is an asset with a $1,400/oz reserve with potential to deliver a minimum 10-year life, annual production of at least 500,000 ounces of gold and with costs per ounce in the lower half of the industry cost curve. A Tier One Copper Asset/Project is an asset with a $3.00/lb reserve with potential for +5Mt contained copper in support of at least 20 years life, annual production of at least 200ktpa, with costs per pound in the lower half of the industry cost curve. Tier One assets must be located in a world class geological district with potential for organic reserve growth and long-term geologically driven value addition. Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking Information Certain information contained in this press release, including any information related to the completion and timing of the sale of the Project, constitutes forward-looking statements. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements. The words plan, would, expected, will, may and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. In particular, this press release contains forward-looking statements including, without limitation, with respect to: timing for completion of the transaction with Boroo; the anticipated use of proceeds from completion of the transaction; Barricks ongoing focus on Tier One gold and copper assets and its portfolio of growth projects; and Barricks future intentions with respect to projects in Chile. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions including material estimates and assumptions related to the factors set forth below that, while considered reasonable by Barrick as at the date of this press release in light of managements experience and perception of current conditions and expected developments, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. The estimates and assumptions contained in this news release, which may prove to be incorrect, include, but are not limited to: that the parties will complete the transaction and that Barrick will receive the consideration payable (including under the royalty) in accordance with, and on the timeline contemplated by, the terms and conditions of the relevant agreements, on a basis consistent with its expectations; that the conditions to the completion of the transaction will be satisfied within the expected timeframe or at all; fluctuations in the spot and forward price of gold, copper, or certain other commodities (such as silver, diesel fuel, natural gas, and electricity); timing of receipt of, or failure to comply with, necessary permits and approvals; the speculative nature of mineral exploration and development; changes in mineral production performance, exploitation, and exploration successes; diminishing quantities or grades of reserves; changes in national and local government legislation, taxation, controls, or regulations and/or changes in the administration of laws, policies, and practices, expropriation or nationalization of property and political or economic developments in Chile; lack of certainty with respect to foreign legal systems, corruption and other factors that are inconsistent with the rule of law; failure to comply with environmental and health and safety laws and regulations; litigation and legal and administrative proceedings; risk of loss due to acts of war, terrorism, sabotage and civil disturbances; and availability and increased costs associated with mining inputs and labor. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements, including the risk that the sale transaction will not be completed for any reason. Forward-looking statements are provided for the purpose of providing information about managements expectations and plans relating to the future. All of the forward-looking statements made in this press release are qualified by these cautionary statements and those made in Barricks most recent Form 40-F/Annual Information Form on file with the SEC and Canadian provincial securities regulatory authorities which contain a more detailed discussion of some of the factors underlying forward-looking statements, and the risks that may affect Barricks ability to achieve the expectations set forth in the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Barrick disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law. Dublin, Aug. 08, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Edge AI Hardware Market by Device, Processor (CPU, GPU, and ASIC), Function, Power Consumption (Less than 1 W, 1-3 W, >3-5 W, >5-10 W, and More than 10 W), Vertical and Region - Global Forecast to 2030" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The edge AI hardware market is projected to reach USD 58.90 billion by 2030, up from USD 26.14 billion in 2025, at a CAGR of 17.6% The report will help the market leaders/new entrants with information on the closest approximations of the revenue for the overall edge AI hardware market and the subsegments. The report will help stakeholders understand the competitive landscape and gain more insight to position their business better and plan suitable go-to-market strategies. The report also helps stakeholders understand the market's pulse and provides information on key drivers, restraints, opportunities, and challenges. The edge AI hardware market is growing due to the demand for real-time data processing, reduced latency, enhanced privacy, and better bandwidth efficiency. Advancements in semiconductor technology, IoT, autonomous vehicles, and smart devices also drive this growth. However, the adoption has limitations, including the lack of processing power, memory, and energy available on edge devices to run complex AI models. This requires intense optimization that may negatively impact accuracy. Other limitations to adopting edge AI hardware in the vicinity included security vulnerabilities, deployment costs, scaling, and maintenance in distributed edge systems. The report provides an-depth assessment of market shares, growth strategies, and offerings of leading players in the edge AI hardware market, such as Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. (US), Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (China), SAMSUNG (South Korea), Apple Inc. (US), and MediaTek Inc. (Taiwan), among others. Training function to record higher CAGR during forecast period The training functionality in edge AI will register a higher CAGR than the inference function as federated learning continues to take hold, wherein AI models can be trained on distributed edge devices directly. At the same time, data privacy and regulations can be complied with. With industries producing massive datasets of various types at the edge, there is a growing need for always-on, device-based model updates to accommodate real-time learning and adaptation to local conditions. Furthermore, the potential of computing advances makes deploying necessary, decentralized training strategies ever easier, with disaster response, healthcare, finance, and autonomous systems prime examples. Smartphone devices to capture largest market share during forecast period Smartphones dominate the market for edge AI hardware due to their vast global user base and the widespread availability of AI-enabled features. These devices have become handy and ubiquitous, offering capabilities such as real-time language translation, facial recognition, and advanced photography - all of which require on-device processing to minimize latency and enhance user privacy. Mobile 5G technology has further accelerated smartphone adoption, enabling devices to run more sophisticated and powerful AI applications while providing a seamless user experience without relying on cloud connectivity. Consequently, device manufacturers prioritize the development of advanced processing units in smartphones, solidifying their status as the most popular edge AI devices in the world. China to account for largest market share in Asia Pacific during forecast period Asia Pacific is expected to account for the largest market share throughout the forecast period. The market's growth will be fueled by support from the Chinese government and various development plans, such as the New Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan and Made in China 2025. Credible companies such as Huawei and Baidu also invest in research and innovation. The vast user base in China, along with significant advancements in the consumption and innovation of consumer electronics, also contributes to this growth. Moreover, the large volumes of data generated by the Chinese population create an excellent environment for training and deploying edge AI models. China's strategic approach to integrating AI into various industries - including smart manufacturing, smart cities, and autonomous vehicles - will further support and accelerate the expansion of the edge AI market in the region. Key Attributes: Report Attribute Details No. of Pages 304 Forecast Period 2025 - 2030 Estimated Market Value in 2025 26.14 Billion Forecasted Market Value by 2030 58.9 Billion Compound Annual Growth Rate 17.6% Regions Covered Global Market Dynamics Drivers Need for Real-Time Data Processing and Reduced Cloud Dependency Development of Dedicated Ai Processing Units for Edge Device Applications Necessity to Optimize Data Management and Reduce Cloud Infrastructure Load Restraints Complexities Associated with Network Implementation Opportunities Advancements in Edge Ai Hardware Through Generative Ai Workload Optimization Development of On-Device Visual Processors for Next-Generation Mobile Ai Applications Growing Integration of Edge Computing Across Robotics, Automotive, and Industrial Sectors Opportunities in Ultra-Low Latency Ai Applications with 5G-Powered Edge Infrastructure Challenges Balancing Performance and Power Consumption in Edge Ai Systems Developing Cohesive Edge Ai Standards Across Diverse Industry Requirements Shortage of Skilled Workforce Technology Analysis Key Technologies IoT 5G Fog Computing Complementary Technologies Generative Ai Adjacent Technologies Blockchain Company Profiles Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. Samsung Apple Inc. Mediatek Inc. Intel Corporation Nvidia Corporation IBM Micron Technology, Inc. Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. Meta Tesla Google Microsoft Axelera Ai Imagination Technologies Cambricon Tenstorrent Blaize General Vision Inc. Mythic Zero Asic Corporation Applied Brain Research (Abr) Horizon Robotics Ceva, Inc. Graphcore Sambanova Systems, Inc. Hailo For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/eyjr06 About ResearchAndMarkets.com ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends. Attachment MONTREAL, Aug. 08, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Boralex Inc. (Boralex or the Company) (TSX: BLX) announces that Bruno Guilmette, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, has chosen to take on new challenges by accepting a new professional opportunity, after nearly seven years with the Company. He will remain as Chief Financial Officer until September 12, 2025, to ensure a smooth transition. A respected leader, Bruno Guilmette has played a key role in Boralexs financial evolution over the past six yearsa period marked by strong growth and the implementation of a strategic plan that enabled the company to double in size. He brought a disciplined vision of financial management and a renewed approach to capital markets. Under his leadership, the Company completed several transactions and financings, including the sale to Energy Infrastructure Partners of a 30% stake in Boralexs operating assets and development projects in France. He led the implementation of a solid, flexible, and diversified financial structure for the Companyan essential asset in the execution of the new 2030 Strategy unveiled last June. To ensure a robust interim period, Stephane Milot, Vice President of Investor Relations and Financial Planning & Analysis, will assume the role of Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer starting September 13, 2025. Mr. Milot has been with Boralex and has worked closely with Bruno Guilmette for over six years. Relying on the existing team, his extensive experience, his recognized leadership across the Company, and his deep expertise in financial markets and investor relations, he will ensure business continuity. I commend Brunos valuable contribution and dedication since the beginning of his tenure. Among other achievements, Bruno played a key rolealongside all Boralex teamsin reaching the financial targets of our 2025 Strategic Plan, entering a new market in Europe, closing numerous projects and financings, and many other milestones that have placed us on a strong financial trajectory. Thanks to his clear vision and unwavering commitment, we are entering our new strategic cycle in a solid financial position, said Patrick Decostre, President and Chief Executive Officer of Boralex. It has been a great pleasure to serve as Chief Financial Officer of Boralex and work with such a good group of dedicated colleagues. I am making this transition with full confidence, knowing I leave behind a strong, experienced, and committed team. Under Stephanes leadership, this team will carry forward the work initiated to execute the 2030 Strategy with ambition and discipline. The company is in good financial health, supported by a solid balance sheet, and possesses all the skills and assets needed to seize upcoming opportunities. I look back on this journey with great pride, said Mr. Guilmette. The recruitment process to permanently fill the position is currently underway. Both internal and external applications will be carefully evaluated, with the goal of entering Boralexs new strategic cycle with strong and inspiring leadership within the executive team, while maintaining the financial discipline and sustained growth momentum fostered by Mr. Guilmette. Caution Regarding Forward-Looking Statements Some of the statements contained in this press release, including, without limitation, those relating to the process of selecting a replacement for the position of Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, are forward-looking statements based on current expectations, within the meaning of securities legislation. Boralex would like to point out that, by their very nature, forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties such that its results or the measure it adopts could differ materially from those indicated by or underlying these statements, or could have an impact on the degree of realization of a particular forward-looking statement. Unless otherwise specified by the Company, the forward-looking statements do not take into account the possible impact on its activities, transactions, non-recurring items or other exceptional items announced or occurring after the statements are made. There can be no assurance as to the materialization of the results, performance, or achievements as expressed or implied by forward-looking statements. The reader is cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. Unless required to do so under applicable securities legislation, Boralex management does not assume any obligation to update or revise forward-looking statements to reflect new information, future events or other changes. About Boralex At Boralex, we have been providing affordable renewable energy accessible to everyone for over 30 years. As a leader in the Canadian market and Frances largest independent producer of onshore wind power, we also have facilities in the United States and development projects in the United Kingdom. Over the past five years, our installed capacity has increased by more than 50% to 3.2 GW. We are developing a portfolio of projects in development and construction of 8.2 GW in wind, solar and storage projects, guided by our values and our corporate social responsibility (CSR) approach. Through profitable and sustainable growth, Boralex is actively participating in the fight against global warming. Thanks to our fearlessness, discipline, expertise and diversity, we continue to be an industry leader. Boralexs shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol BLX. For more information, visit boralex.com or sedarplus.com . Follow us on Facebook and LinkedIn . For more information MONTREAL, Aug. 08, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Boralex Inc. (Boralex or the Company) (TSX: BLX) announces the appointment of Mr. Andre Courville as Chair of the Board of Directors. He will officially succeed Mr. Alain Rheaume on September 30, following Mr. Rheaumes retirement announced last June after 15 years of service on the Board, including eight as Chair. Following the announcement of Mr. Rheaumes retirement, the Boards Governance Committee diligently initiated and completed the selection process for his successor. Mr. Courville, who has served on Boralexs Board of Directors since 2019, will now take the helm as Boralex embarks on a new strategic cycle following the unveiling of its 2030 Strategy last June. I am pleased to pass the torch to Andre Courville to lead Boralex toward new achievements. Andre is the right person to succeed me and to assume a value-creating chairmanship for Boralex. His extensive international experience with large and growing companies, as well as his background as a corporate director, will enable him to provide the essential leadership needed to achieve Boralexs strategic and financial objectives, said Alain Rheaume. I accept this important mandate with pleasure and humility, and I thank my fellow Board members for their trust. I deeply believe in Boralexs mission, and I intend to rely on each of my fellow directors, whose diverse and complementary expertise supports the management team and the company in executing its 2030 Strategy, said Andre Courville. On behalf of all Boralex employees and business partners, I would like to once again express my gratitude for Alain Rheaumes tremendous contribution to the Companys success, and I warmly welcome Mr. Andre Courville to his new role. Mr. Courville can count on the support of the Executive Committee during this transition, and on our unwavering commitment to Boralexs success, said Patrick Decostre, President and Chief Executive Officer of Boralex. For more information on the Board of Directors and its governance practices, please visit the Boralex website. About Boralex At Boralex, we have been providing affordable renewable energy accessible to everyone for over 30 years. As a leader in the Canadian market and Frances largest independent producer of onshore wind power, we also have facilities in the United States and development projects in the United Kingdom. Over the past five years, our installed capacity has increased by more than 50% to 3.2 GW. We are developing a portfolio of projects in development and construction of 8.2 GW in wind, solar and storage projects, guided by our values and our corporate social responsibility (CSR) approach. Through profitable and sustainable growth, Boralex is actively participating in the fight against global warming. Thanks to our fearlessness, discipline, expertise and diversity, we continue to be an industry leader. Boralexs shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol BLX. For more information, visit boralex.com or sedarplus.com . Follow us on Facebook and LinkedIn . For more information MEDIA INVESTOR RELATIONS Camille Laventure Senior Advisor, Public Affairs and External Communications Boralex Inc. 438 883-8580 camille.laventure@boralex.com Coline Desurmont Director, Investor Relations Boralex Inc. +33 7 85 37 75 10 coline.desurmont@boralex.com A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/434a855d-ceeb-4622-a137-ee61cb33bcee WINNEMUCCA, Nev., Aug. 08, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Paramount Gold Nevada Corp. (NYSE American: PZG) (Paramount or the Company) is pleased to announce that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has released its draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the Companys 100% owned Grassy Mountain gold project, located in Malheur County, Oregon. The DEIS evaluates the potential environmental impacts of the proposed mine and outlines measures to mitigate those impacts. The release of the DEIS initiates a 30-day public comment period, during which stakeholders, agencies and the public can participate, as well as a public meeting to be held on August 19th from 5:00 to 7:00 PM Mountain Time, which can be accessed via Zoom: Link: https://zoom.us/j/97814001896?pwd=aLqaWsXBT134SSxsqQDeOnFk4FROCL.1 ID: 978 1400 1896 Passcode: 340497 The DEIS is now available for download along with an updated schedule on the BLMs permitting dashboard at e-planning and FAST-41. Additional information on the Grassy Mountain permitting process can also be found at www.grassymountaingold.com. Following the public comment period, the BLM is scheduled to publish the Final EIS in December 2025, concurrently with the Federal Record of Decision (ROD) marking the completion of the Federal permitting process. Paramount CEO and director, Rachel Goldman stated, A significant amount of time and effort has been spent in advancing Grassy to this major permitting milestone. The draft EIS represents a critical turning point for the project and for Malheur County as we start planning for the future construction and operation of Oregons first modern mine. We appreciate the on-going support from the BLM in navigating through an evolving permitting landscape, and the transparency of the FAST-41 program for providing the clarity and accelerated timeline to receive the final EIS and ROD, expected later this year. About Paramount Gold Nevada Corp. Paramount Gold Nevada Corp. is a U.S. based precious metals exploration and development company. Paramounts strategy is to create shareholder value through exploring and developing its mineral properties and to realize this value for its shareholders in three ways: by selling its assets to established producers; entering joint ventures with producers for construction and operation; or constructing and operating mines for its own account. Paramount holds a 100% interest in three projects: Grassy Mountain; Sleeper and Bald Peak. The Grassy Mountain Gold Project ("Grassy") consists of approximately 8,200 acres located on private and BLM land in Malheur County, Oregon. Grassy contains a gold-silver deposit (100% located on private land) for which results of a positive Feasibility Study have been released and key permitting milestones accomplished. The Sleeper Gold Project is in Northern Nevada, one of the worlds premier mining jurisdictions. The Sleeper Gold Project, which includes the former producing Sleeper mine, totals 2,474 unpatented mining claims (approximately 44,917 acres). The drill ready Bald Peak Project in Nevada consists of approximately 2,260 acres. Safe Harbor for Forward-Looking Statements This release and related documents may include "forward-looking statements" and forward-looking information (collectively, forward-looking statements) pursuant to applicable United States and Canadian securities laws. Paramounts future expectations, beliefs, goals, plans or prospects constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and other applicable securities laws. Words such as "believes," "plans," "anticipates," "expects," may, continue, intend, "estimates" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although these words may not be present in all forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements included in this news release include, without limitation, statements with respect to the timing and success of the permitting of the Grassy Mountain Gold Project and the Sleeper Gold Project. Forward-looking statements are based on the reasonable assumptions, estimates, analyses and opinions of management made in light of its experience and its perception of trends, current conditions and expected developments, as well as other factors that management believes to be relevant and reasonable in the circumstances at the date that such statements are made, but which may prove to be incorrect. Management believes that the assumptions and expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable. Assumptions have been made regarding, among other things: the conclusions made in the feasibility study for the Grassy Mountain Gold Project (the FS); the quantity and grade of resources included in resource estimates; the accuracy and achievability of projections included in the FS; Paramounts ability to carry on exploration and development activities, including construction; the timely receipt of required approvals and permits; the price of silver, gold and other metals; prices for key mining supplies, including labor costs and consumables, remaining consistent with current expectations; work meeting expectations and being consistent with estimates and plant, equipment and processes operating as anticipated. There are a number of important factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to: uncertainties involving interpretation of drilling results; environmental matters; the ability to obtain required permitting; equipment breakdown or disruptions; additional financing requirements; the completion of a definitive feasibility study for the Sleeper Gold Project; discrepancies between actual and estimated mineral reserves and mineral resources, between actual and estimated development and operating costs and between estimated and actual production; the global epidemics, pandemics, or other public health crises, including the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) global health pandemic, and the spread of other viruses or pathogens and the other factors described in Paramounts disclosures as filed with the SEC and the Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta Securities Commissions. Except as required by applicable law, Paramount disclaims any intention or obligation to update any forward-looking statements as a result of developments occurring after the date of this document. Paramount Gold Nevada Corp. Rachel Goldman, CEO and Director Christos Theodossiou, Director of Corporate Communications 844.488.2233 Twitter: @ParamountNV SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 08, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sable Offshore Corp. (NYSE: SOC) is now at the center of a securities class-action lawsuit, alleging that the company misled investors to inflate its stock price just before a major secondary offering. The drama unfolded around the company's long-delayed efforts to restart operations at its San Ynez Unit (SYU) assets, which have been dormant since a pipeline shutdown in 2015. National shareholders rights firm Hagens Berman urges Sable investors who suffered substantial losses to submit your losses now. The firm also encourages persons with knowledge who may be able to assist in the investigation to contact its attorneys. Class Period: May 19, 2025 June 3, 2025 Lead Plaintiff Deadline: Sept. 26, 2025 Visit: www.hbsslaw.com/investor-fraud/soc Contact the Firm Now: SOC@hbsslaw.com 844-916-0895 Sable Offshore Corp. (SOC) Securities Class Action: The suit claims that on May 19, Sable triggered a stock frenzy with a press release announcing it had "restarted oil production at SYU," a claim that sent its shares soaring by a remarkable12.5%in a single day. Riding this wave of investor enthusiasm, the company quickly priced a secondary stock offering two days later, raising a substantial$256.5 million. But the euphoria was short-lived. Just as the ink was drying on the offering, a letter from California's Lieutenant Governor, Eleni Kounalakis, allegedly surfaced that accused Sable of painting a deceptive picture. According to the complaint, the letter bluntly stated that the company's press release appears to mischaracterize the nature of recent activities" and that the so-called "restart" was nothing more than "well-testing procedures required by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement prior to restart." In a damning indictment, the letter is said to have declared, "Characterizing testing activities as a restart of operations is not only misleading but also highly inappropriate." When the contents of this letter were reported in the financial press on May 28, the market delivered a swift verdict. Sable's stock price plunged over 15% the very next day, wiping out the gains that had enticed new investors just a week earlier. The litigation now aims to hold the company accountable for what some are calling a calculated maneuver to raise capital under false pretenses. The case, Johnson v. Sable Offshore Corp., et al., is being litigated in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. Were investigating whether Sable may have misled investors about its restart progress and purported restart of SYU, said Reed Kathrein, the Hagens Berman partner leading the investigation. If you invested in Sable and have substantial losses, or have knowledge that may assist the firms investigation, submit your losses now If youd like more information and answers to frequently asked questions about the Sable case and our investigation, read more Whistleblowers: Persons with non-public information regarding Sable Offshore should consider their options to help in the investigation or take advantage of the SEC Whistleblower program. Under the new program, whistleblowers who provide original information may receive rewards totaling up to 30 percent of any successful recovery made by the SEC. For more information, call Reed Kathrein at844-916-0895 or email SOC@hbsslaw.com. About Hagens Berman Hagens Berman is a global plaintiffs rights complex litigation firm focusing on corporate accountability. The firm is home to a robust practice and represents investors as well as whistleblowers, workers, consumers and others in cases achieving real results for those harmed by corporate negligence and other wrongdoings. Hagens Bermans team has secured more than $2.9 billion in this area of law. More about the firm and its successes can be found at hbsslaw.com. Follow the firm for updates and news at @ClassActionLaw. Dublin, Aug. 08, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "United States Soup Market Size and Share Analysis - Growth Trends and Forecast Report 2025-2033" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. United States soup market stood at around US$ Billion in 2024 and is anticipated to reach around US$ Billion in 2033, exhibiting a compound annual growth rate of % between 2025 and 2033. This is fueled by the rising consumer demand for convenient and healthful meal sources that translate into increased consumption of soups. Soup is a common feature in restaurants and homes in the United States because of its convenience, comfort, and health benefits. Soup is commonly eaten during winter and is linked with health, especially when recovering from colds or flu. Increasing demand for organic, plant-based, and ready-to-eat soups has driven market expansion. With new packaging and flavor innovations, soup remains a preferred meal option. The impact of global cuisines, such as ramen, pho, and tortilla soup, has also boosted its popularity, and soup has become a favorite among all age groups. Drivers of Growth in the United States Soup Market Growing Demand for Healthy and Convenient Meal Options As the population's busy lifestyles continue to grow, they want to have meal options that are convenient and healthy. Ready-to-eat (RTE) soups, microwave bowls, and single-serve packaging are in vogue because of the convenience they offer. Health-aware consumers also insist on soups made from natural ingredients, less sodium, and no added chemicals. Clean eating has further contributed to the popularity of organic, gluten-free, and plant-based soups. With companies finding ways to develop healthier and convenient soup options, this segment will see huge growth in the future years. December 2024, Panera Bread introduces its limited-release holiday soup cup collection, perfect for winter. The collection features two new soups for Autumn 2024: Hearty Fireside Chili and Rustic Baked Potato Soup, and timeless favorites, as the chain serves more than 140 million servings a year. Growing Trend of Premium and Functional Soups Consumers are moving away from standard canned soups towards higher-end, better-quality products with restaurant-quality taste and functional value. Soups containing bone broth, collagen, and superfoods like turmeric, ginger, and kale have become popular. Brands are also launching gourmet global-inspired flavors, such as Thai, Mediterranean, and Korean soups. Such products appeal to consumers who are looking for indulgence and health value. With trends in functional food continuing to soar, the upscale soup segment should see ongoing expansion. Jan 2022, Zoup! is coming home to its soup roots with an all-new portfolio of gourmet, shelf-stable soups. Developed by a 20+ year soup industry expert, Zoup! Good, Really Good Soups capture the company's iconic simmered flavor without sacrificing ease and convenience with heat-and-eat options. Development of Plant-Based and Vegan Soup Options The plant-based food revolution has had a major influence on the soup market, with more and more consumers choosing meat-free options. Lentil, chickpea, and plant-protein-based vegan and vegetarian soups have become mainstream. Dairy-free creamy soups and vegetable-based broths are being added to product lines by brands. Consumers are also attracted to sustainability, with consumers choosing soups that have ethically sourced ingredients and environmentally friendly packaging. As more consumers embrace flexitarian, vegetarian, or vegan lifestyles, plant-based soups lead the way in market growth. Nov 2024, organic and natural food leader Amy's Kitchen launches five new soups with international cuisine and Southern favorites, crafted from scratch using organic ingredients and fresh vegetables. Obstacles in United States Soup Market Fading Popularity of Traditional Canned Soups Though convenient, old-fashioned canned soups experience falling demand because consumers worry about high sodium levels, additives, and man-made ingredients. Fresh, organic, and minimally processed alternatives are the choice of newer generations. Stagnation in the canned soup category resulted from this trend, which compelled traditional brands to reformulate products, create new packaging, and enhance nutritional profiles. Constant innovation is a requirement for companies to hold on to market share with evolving consumer tastes. Increasing Competition from Alternative Meal Solutions The soup category faces competition from an increasing number of alternative meal occasions, such as meal kits, protein shakes, and grab-and-go salads. With consumers looking for variety in what they eat, soups compete not just with other soup brands but also with other convenient meal occasions. Moreover, plant-based and functional food trends have created more alternatives like smoothie bowls and high-protein snacks that can divert consumers away from the traditional soup products. Company Analysis: Overview, Key Persons, Recent Developments, Revenue The Campbell's Company Kellanova PepsiCo Nestle General Mills Inc. The Kraft Heinz Company Hain Celestial Group Cargill Incorporated Con Agra Brands, Inc. Greencore Key Attributes: Report Attribute Details No. of Pages 200 Forecast Period 2024 - 2033 Estimated Market Value (USD) in 2024 $5.03 Billion Forecasted Market Value (USD) by 2033 $6.94 Billion Compound Annual Growth Rate 3.6% Regions Covered United States Key Topics Covered: 1. Introduction 2. Research & Methodology 3. Executive Summary 4. Market Dynamics 4.1 Growth Drivers 4.2 Challenges 5. United States Soup Market 6. Market Share 6.1 By Product 6.2 By Distribution channel 6.3 By Region 7. Product 7.1 Ready-to-eat Wet Soups 7.2 Condensed Wet Soups 7.3 Dry Soups 7.4 Frozen/Refrigerated Soup 7.5 Wet Broths/Stocks 8. Distribution channel 8.1 Food Service 8.2 Retail 8.3 Online stores 9. Region 9.1 East 9.2 West 9.3 North 9.4 South 10. Porter's Five Analysis 10.1 Bargaining Power of Buyers 10.2 Bargaining Power of Suppliers 10.3 Degree of Rivalry 10.4 Threat of New Entrants 10.5 Threat of Substitutes 11. SWOT Analysis 11.1 Strength 11.2 Weakness 11.3 Opportunity 11.4 Threat 12. Company Analysis For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/1qt4jd About ResearchAndMarkets.com ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends. Attachment Las Vegas, Nevada, Aug. 08, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- High Roller Technologies (High Roller and the Company) (NYSE: ROLR), operator of the award-winning, premium online casino brands High Roller and Fruta , today announced that it will be presenting at the Sidoti Micro-Cap Virtual Conference being held August 20-21, 2025. Event: Sidoti Micro-Cap Virtual Conference Presentation Time: Thursday, August 21, 2025, at 11:30AM ET (Track 1) Location: WEBCAST LINK During the presentation, High Rollers management will provide a Company overview with recent highlights and upcoming catalysts. During the conference management will also be available for 1x1 meetings with registered investors. About Sidoti Events, LLC (Events) and Sidoti & Company, LLC (Sidoti): In 2023, Sidoti & Company, LLC, Sidoti & Company, LLC (www.sidoti.com) formed a sister company, Sidoti Events, LLC in order to focus exclusively on its rapidly growing conference business and to more directly serve the needs of presenters and attendees. The relationship allows Events to draw on the 25 years of experience Sidoti had as a premier provider of independent securities research focused specifically on small and microcap companies and the institutions that invest in their securities, with most of its coverage in the 200 million-5 billion market cap range. Sidotis coverage universe comprises upwards of 200 names of which about one-third participate in the firm's rapidly growing Company Sponsored Research ("CSR") program. Events is a leading provider of corporate access through the eight investor conferences it hosts each year. By virtue of its direct ties to Sidoti, Events benefits from Sidotis small- and microcap-focused nationwide sales force, which has relationships with approximately 2,500 institutional clients in North America. This enables Events to provide multiple forums for meaningful interaction for small and microcap issuers and investors specifically interested in companies in the sector. About High Roller Technologies, Inc. High Roller Technologies, Inc. is a leading global online gaming operator known for its innovative casino brands, High Roller and Fruta , listed under the ticker ROLR on the NYSE. The Company delivers a cutting-edge real-money online casino platform that is intuitive and user-friendly. With a diverse portfolio of over 5,000 premium games from more than 90 leading game providers, High Roller Technologies serves a global customer base, offering an immersive and engaging gaming experience in the rapidly expanding multi-billion iGaming industry. The online casino features enhanced search engine optimization, machine learning, seamless direct API integrations, faster load times, and superior scalability. As an award-winning operator, High Roller Technologies continues to redefine the future of online gaming through innovation, performance, and a commitment to excellence. For more information, please visit the High Roller Technologies, Inc. investor relations website , X , Facebook , and LinkedIn pages. Forward Looking Statements Certain statements in this press release constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Words such as "may," "might," "will," "should," "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "continue," "predict," "forecast," "project," "plan," "intend" or similar expressions, or statements regarding intent, belief, or current expectations, are forward-looking statements. While the Company believes these forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on any such forward-looking statements, which are based on information available to us on the date of this release. These forward-looking statements are based upon current estimates and assumptions and are subject to various risks and uncertainties, including without limitation those set forth in the Company's filings with the SEC, not limited to Risk Factors relating to its business contained therein. Thus, actual results could be materially different. The Company expressly disclaims any obligation to update or alter statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. Dublin, Aug. 08, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "North America Automotive Paint Market Size and Growth Trends - Company Analysis and Forecast Report 2025-2033" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The North America Automotive Paint Market is expected to reach US$ 5.57 billion by 2033 from US$ 3.91 billion in 2024, with a CAGR of 4.00% from 2025 to 2033. North America's automotive paint market is expanding due to a number of factors, including rising vehicle production, rising customization demand, paint technology breakthroughs, increased EV usage, and strict environmental laws. Rising Vehicle Production and Ownership One of the main factors propelling the automotive paint market's expansion is the rise in vehicle ownership and production throughout North America, especially in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. Automakers are increasing production to satisfy the demands of both home and foreign markets as consumer demand for automobiles keeps rising. The demand for original equipment manufacturer (OEM) vehicle paints used in production is directly impacted by this growth. At the same time, as more cars are driven by maintenance, repairs, and aesthetic enhancements, the demand for aftermarket paints rises. As more automobiles are driven, there is a greater need for long-lasting, superior, and eco-friendly coatings, which opens up a lot of chances for paint and coating producers in the area. Consumer Demand for Customization The North American automobile paint market is being greatly impacted by consumer demand for vehicle customization. More and more contemporary consumers are looking for aesthetically distinctive, customized cars that represent their own preferences and way of life. Automakers and aftermarket suppliers are being pressured by this trend to supply a wider range of colors, finishes, and special effect paints, including metallic, pearlescent, matte, and color-shifting alternatives. Younger consumers and auto enthusiasts who see their cars as an extension of who they are are particularly fond of custom paint jobs. Because of this, auto paint producers are coming up with new formulas that satisfy environmental regulations while also producing finishes that are vivid and long-lasting. Strong demand across the OEM and refinishing industries is anticipated to be sustained by this increased need for personalization. Strategic Investments by Industry Leaders In order to satisfy the rising demand for automotive paints and coatings, PPG Industries is proactively expanding its manufacturing capacity in North America. A new 250,000-square-foot facility in Loudon County, Tennessee, will be the company's first new U.S. plant in more than 15 years as part of a $300 million investment spread over four years. When completed in 2026, this factory is anticipated to generate over 11 million gallons of paint and coatings yearly. In order to increase manufacturing efficiency and meet the growing demand for environmentally friendly solutions like aqueous coatings, PPG also intends to modernize its current facilities in Cleveland, Ohio, and San Juan Del Rio, Mexico, by implementing cutting-edge machinery and procedures. Challenges in the North America Automotive Paint Market Stringent Environmental Regulations One of the biggest obstacles facing the North American automobile paint market is the strict environmental requirements. Because of their detrimental effects on human health and air quality, regulatory bodies like the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) place stringent restrictions on emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Manufacturers of vehicle paint are being pressured by these restrictions to switch from conventional solvent-based solutions to more ecologically friendly substitutes like powder and aqueous coatings. Despite being more environmentally friendly, these solutions frequently necessitate large investments in R&D and new manufacturing techniques. Furthermore, upgrading the current production infrastructure may be necessary to deploy low-emission coating systems, which would raise operating expenses. Financial and technical obstacles are brought about by these regulatory demands, particularly for smaller market participants who are trying to maintain their competitiveness. Rising Competition For both established and up-and-coming companies, the growing rivalry in the North American automobile paint market presents a serious obstacle. Market saturation is exacerbated by the large number of domestic and international firms, which raises pricing pressures and lowers profit margins. To maintain market share, businesses must continuously work to set themselves apart through innovation in product performance, sustainability, and aesthetics. This involves creating cutting-edge formulas to satisfy changing consumer and regulatory requirements, such as coatings that are ecologically friendly, self-healing, or scratch-resistant. Strong customer service, branding, and strategic alliances with automakers and aftermarket service providers are also crucial. To remain competitive and relevant in a crowded market, the industry's fast-paced nature necessitates ongoing investment in research and development. United States Automotive Paint Market OEM (original equipment manufacturer) and aftermarket demand are the main drivers of the US automotive paint business, which is a crucial component of the larger North American coatings sector. The demand for automotive paints is growing along with the number of vehicles produced, especially for repairs and customizations. Demand for a broad range of colors, coatings, and unique effects is being driven by consumers' growing desire for customized automobiles. The market is also being shaped by environmental restrictions, which are encouraging manufacturers to develop environmentally friendly products including powder and aqueous coatings. Many regional and international businesses are becoming more and more competitive in the industry, therefore maintaining a competitive edge requires constant innovation. Canada Automotive Paint Market OEM (original equipment manufacturer) and aftermarket demand are the main drivers of the Canadian automotive paint market. As vehicle production and ownership rise, so does the desire for premium coatings. The industry is moving toward environmentally friendly alternatives, such as powder and waterborne coatings, to lower VOC emissions as environmental laws tighten. Customers' need for a wide range of colors, finishes, and effects for customization is also influencing industry developments. Furthermore, the performance and visual appeal of automobile paints are being improved by technological developments including the creation of nano-coatings and long-lasting multi-layer systems. Market dynamics are still significantly impacted by issues like shifting raw material prices and the requirement for constant innovation to meet environmental regulations. Mexico Automotive Paint Market The strong automobile manufacturing industry in Mexico, which is the seventh-largest producer of passenger cars worldwide, is propelling the country's automotive paint market's expansion. Original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and aftermarket coatings are in high demand as a result of this expansion. In order to achieve sustainability goals, environmental rules are driving a shift towards eco-friendly solutions, such as aqueous coatings and low-VOC. Technological developments are improving the longevity and visual attractiveness of vehicle finishes, such as the use of nano-coatings and multi-layer systems. Nonetheless, issues like volatile raw material pricing and fierce rivalry in the industry continue to exist. Notwithstanding these obstacles, the industry is still developing, with prospects brought about by the growing popularity of electric cars and the need for lightweight automotive parts. Key Players Analyzed: Overviews, Key Persons, Recent Developments, Revenue Nissan Motor Company PPG Industries DuPont de Nemours Inc. Akzo Nobel N.V. Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. The Sherwin Williams Company Cabot Corporation Volkswagen AG Key Attributes: Report Attribute Details No. of Pages 200 Forecast Period 2024 - 2033 Estimated Market Value (USD) in 2024 $3.91 Billion Forecasted Market Value (USD) by 2033 $5.57 Billion Compound Annual Growth Rate 4.0% Regions Covered North America Key Topics Covered: 1. Introduction 2. Research & Methodology 2.1 Data Source 2.1.1 Primary Sources 2.1.2 Secondary Sources 2.2 Research Approach 2.2.1 Top-Down Approach 2.2.2 Bottom-Up Approach 2.3 Forecast Projection Methodology 3. Executive Summary 4. Market Dynamics 4.1 Growth Drivers 4.2 Challenges 5. North America Automotive Paint Market 5.1 Historical Market Trends 5.2 Market Forecast 6. Market Share 6.1 By Vehicle Types 6.2 By Technology 6.3 By Paint Types 6.4 By Countries 7. Vehicle Types 7.1 Passenger Cars 7.2 Light Commercial Vehicle 7.3 Heavy Commercial Vehicle 8. Technology 8.1 Waterborne Coatings 8.2 Solvent Borne Coatings 8.3 Powder Coatings 9. Paint Types 9.1 Primer 9.2 Base Coat 9.3 Clear Coat 9.4 Electrocoat 10. Countries 10.1 United States 10.2 Canada 10.3 Mexico 10.4 Rest of North America 11. Porter's Five Forces Analysis 11.1 Bargaining Power of Buyers 11.2 Bargaining Power of Suppliers 11.3 Degree of Rivalry 11.4 Threat of New Entrants 11.5 Threat of Substitutes 12. SWOT Analysis 12.1 Strength 12.2 Weakness 12.3 Opportunity 12.4 Threat 13. Key Players Analysis For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/s9h9g7 About ResearchAndMarkets.com ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends. Attachment RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Aug. 08, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Start Equity Ventures, a Washington, DC based venture capital and innovation platform, has signed a strategic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Red Sea Globals Technology Department under its Innovation and Partnerships Division. The partnership aims to identify, support, and scale pioneering startups through collaborative pilots, co-investments, and long-term ecosystem development in Saudi Arabia. The MoU lays the foundation for joint efforts in advancing smart city technologies, artificial intelligence, and regenerative tourism solutions. By aligning on shared objectives, Start Equity Ventures and Red Sea Global will help high-impact startups transition from proof-of-concept to scaled deployment, empowering Saudis position as a regional innovation leader. Mohammed Ahmed, Founder & Managing Partner at Start Equity Ventures, stated: This partnership with Red Sea Global represents the kind of collaboration that moves the needle, not just in capital, but in capability. Together, we are creating a bridge between early-stage innovation and institutional readiness, unlocking growth for entrepreneurs across the Kingdom and the region. Sultan Moraished, Group Head of Technology & Corporate Excellence at Red Sea Global, added: Our mission is to drive sustainable, high-impact innovation that benefits both communities and industries. This MoU with Start Equity Ventures enables us to work with visionary founders and technologies, and turn them into real-world solutions at scale. This collaboration reflects a shared vision to build a future where technology, sustainability, and entrepreneurship go hand in hand, and where Saudi Arabia stands at the center of global innovation. For inquiries or partnership opportunities, please contact: For Media Inquiries or Partnership Opportunities with Start Equity Ventures, Please Contact: Mohammed Ahmed Founder & Managing Partner Start Equity Ventures mohammed@startequity.io www.startequity.io Based in Washington, D.C. For Venture and Investment Collaborations with Red Sea Global, Please Contact: AnaMaria Meshkurti Ventures and Partnerships Red Sea Global Anamaria.Meshkurti@RedSeaGlobal.com www.redseaglobal.com Based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia For Innovation Collaborations with Red Sea Global, Please Contact: Rafah Alkhatib Innovation, Technology Planning and Development Red Sea Global Rafah.Alkhatib@RedSeaGlobal.com www.redseaglobal.com Based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia Disclaimer: This content is provided by the sponsor. The statements, views, and opinions expressed in this content are solely those of the content provider and do not necessarily reflect the views of this media platform or its publisher. We do not endorse, verify, or guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of any information presented. This content is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial, investment, or business advice. 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Any complaints, copyright issues, or inquiries regarding this article should be directed to the content provider listed above. A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/2f7cd514-143a-4b97-9c45-739c655e4e9f DENVER, Aug. 08, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- YaznoX, a global digital asset exchange trusted by over 8 million users, has officially listed five promising Web3 tokens: $DAP, $DSZ, $JUZ, $OMGO, and $RDJ. This marks a major step in YaznoXs mission to support high-potential decentralized projects and foster a dynamic Web3 ecosystem. About YaznoX - The global digital asset exchange trusted by over 8 million users Founded in 2020 and headquartered in the United States, YaznoX has rapidly emerged as one of the most trusted platforms in the crypto space. YaznoX is a compliant digital asset service company registered in California, USA, primarily owned by its founder Rojali and a group of early institutional investors. The platform adopts a dispersed equity structure, with a portion of shares open to the public. The company is currently governed jointly by a board of directors and a professional management team. Its technology and operations teams are mainly based in Chicago, leveraging the citys strong financial infrastructure and talent pool to focus on spot digital asset trading, asset custody, and the research and development of Web3 financial technologies. 8M+ global users 300+ professional team members across North America, Europe, and Southeast Asia across North America, Europe, and Southeast Asia Daily trading volume exceeding $2.5B High-speed infrastructure capable of processing 1.2 million orders per second Multilingual support and 24/7 global customer service YaznoX offers more than just spot trading. The platform includes DeFi services, a digital wallet, staking, derivatives, and a dedicated IDO launchpad that connects investors with quality blockchain projects. Newly Listed Tokens on YaznoX 1. $DAP Decentralized Access Protocol A unified access and payment framework for Web3 services. Decentralized access control for APIs, content platforms, and dApps Powered by smart contracts and the DAP token Aims to break centralized monopolies in data distribution 2. $DSZ Decentralized Strategy Zone A governance and staking token tailored for DAO infrastructures. Supports decentralized resource allocation Empowers strategic decision-making and voting within Web3 platforms 3. $JUZ Just Unified Zone A cross-chain interoperability token designed for seamless integration. EVM-compatible and multi-chain friendly Facilitates bridge-building, decentralized identity (DID), and DeFi tools 4. $OMGO Omni Global Optimizer A high-performance token for blockchain resource optimization. Enables liquidity routing and performance tuning across chains Compatible with Ethereum, Arbitrum, BNB Chain and more 5. $RDJ Real Digital Junction A bridge between real-world assets and the Web3 ecosystem. Focused on tokenization of real estate, commodities, and RWAs Use cases in DeFi, yield farming, and Web3 marketplaces Why YaznoX? YaznoX positions itself not just as an exchange, but as a next-gen Web3 financial ecosystem, offering: Bank-grade security infrastructure Seamless user experience across web and mobile across web and mobile 24/7 multilingual support Launchpad, staking, farming, and derivatives products YaznoXs powerful IDO and project incubation platform enables early access to new tokens and fosters long-term project growth. The recent listing of $DAP, $DSZ, $JUZ, $OMGO, and $RDJ reflects YaznoXs commitment to quality over hype. Strategic Vision YaznoX is committed to: Supporting Web3 projects with real-world value and utility Building an open, inclusive, and trustless financial system Connecting traditional finance with decentralized innovation By listing tokens like DAP, DSZ, JUZ, OMGO, and RDJ, YaznoX strengthens its role as a global gateway for digital asset discovery and investment. Trade Now Dont Miss Out YaznoX is more than an exchange. Its where the next generation of Web3 projects go global. Explore, trade, and build your portfolio with the most promising assets in the ecosystem. Contact Contact Person: Max Baron Official Website: https://yaznox.com/ Email: support@yaznox.com Disclaimer: This press release is provided by YaznoX. The statements, views, and opinions expressed in this content are solely those of the content provider and do not necessarily reflect the views of this media platform or its publisher. 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Photos accompanying this announcement are available at: https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/1d3ed5fa-54ce-4977-b55a-bcf16f8c8998 https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/be83c553-1d0f-4179-941c-02871a828d1b https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/a8cc086e-01ad-477a-8e88-2b58052c37ad Beijing, China, Aug. 08, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Literary and artistic works themed on the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1931-45), be they classic works created during the war or works looking back on history, all carry historical memories and the national spirit. Through artistic forms, they cross the long river of time, allowing us to deeply feel the fearlessness and perseverance of the Chinese people during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, while inspiring people's patriotic feelings. The Global Times launched this special series of Indelible Memories about literary and artistic works themed on the war to draw wisdom and strength from the spirit of the people. In the glass display case of the exhibition hall of Northwest Minzu University sits a black-and-white photo taken in 1939 that quietly tells a story from history. In the photo, more than 20 young people in coarse cloth military uniforms stand in formation, with the weathered earthen walls of the Yan'an cave dwellings behind them. This group photo, cherished by Professor Huang Wei as a treasure, freezes in time the youthful faces behind the debut of The Yellow River Cantata - the Third Squad of the Anti-Enemy Troupe. It is hard for us today to imagine that it was these young people who, with bass instruments repurposed from gasoline barrels and melodies created under kerosene lamps, performed a symbol of national spirit that transcends time and space. Huang is not only the director of China's only exhibition hall themed on The Yellow River Cantata, but also the niece of its lyricist Zhang Guangnian, better known as the poet Guang Weiran. "Over 80 years have passed. The song has carried the Chinese people's shared memory as a symbol of national spirit and perseverance, fusing Western classical forms with Chinese folk melodies and instruments," Huang, who has worked on research and promotion of the work for years, told the Global Times. Inspired by river Though the story has been told often, Huang is always moved when hearing about her uncle-in-law, who led the Third Squad of the Anti-Enemy Troupe to a guerrilla base in Luliang Mountain. On the way, when these young people crossed the Yellow River for the first time, they were overwhelmed by its turbulent waves. It is worth noting that the Yellow River and the Hukou Waterfall were important geographical passages to and from Yan'an, a shrine for the Chinese revolution in Northwest China's Shaanxi Province, and so they carry strong symbolic significance. Leading the squad, Guang was deeply shocked by the scene of boatmen battling raging currents. In November 1939, Guang fell off his horse and was injured during a march. While lying in bed, he dictated the 400-line poem "Ode to the Yellow River" in just five days, which was transcribed by his team members. The poem consisted of eight sections. He then spent another five consecutive days writing 400 lines of poetry, which was then called "Ode to the Yellow River" and later adapted into the lyrics of The Yellow River Cantata. Fifteen days later, musician Xian Xinghai eagerly took the lyrics manuscript from Guang and channeled his anger toward the Japanese invaders into the musical notes. In six days and nights, he composed the eight movements of The Yellow River Cantata. As a poet, the devoted young Guang realized his vision of rescuing the nation through the power of literature. "Although I once lived with my aunt and uncle for quite a long time, I rarely heard my uncle talk about the story of how he created The Yellow River Cantata," Huang recalled. Instead, he often said that "Xian Xinghai helped it spread its wings." From death to victory "We must resolve to win. Defend the Yellow River! Defend north China! Defend all China!" - Excerpt from The Yellow River Cantata The original lyrics Guang wrote were not "resolve to win." They were "resolve to die." He once told his son Zhang Andong that the enemy was too strong and they never imagined living long enough to see victory. After victory in the war, the word "die" in The Yellow River Cantata was changed to "win." The subtle yet profound word swap represents the unyielding spirit of the Chinese nation that emerged victorious from immense hardships. Eighty-six years later, in Shanghai, The Yellow River Cantata resounded once again around the city's square for the Music In the Summer Air festival, just like it echoed through concert halls and battlefields alike. Chinese conductor Yu Long has led The Yellow River Cantata many times, each performance revealing new depths. His profound connection to the work ensures fresh insights with every rendition. In the view of musicians, including Yu, the reason why The Yellow River Cantata has become a classic, resounding more brilliantly through decades of singing, lies in the fact that it was created when the nation was in peril, "closely linking the fate of individuals with that of the nation and the country." Through countless performances, derivations and adaptations, it has evolved into an epic masterpiece consisting of eight movements, forged by the most sincere patriotic passion. With its resolute lyrics and stirring melodies, it embodies China's mother river - the Yellow River, and the spirit of "unity, pioneering, striving and dedication," ultimately becoming the most powerful voice of a great era. Living legacy This is not the first time Yu has been moved by this work. Both the piano concerto The Yellow River and The Yellow River Cantata have struck him with their rich emotional layers and magnificent musical imagery. In 2005, Yu, together with Chinese pianist Lang Lang, led the China Philharmonic Orchestra on a global tour to the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York. The encore piece was the piano concerto The Yellow River. "At the time, the promoters thought it was impossible. How could there be an encore performance of a complete four-movement piece? Moreover, the piano solo was in the first half of the performance, and choosing The Yellow River as the encore meant that the piano had to be moved back on stage after the second half. But that's exactly what we did," he recalled. Yu still remembers the grand scene of the audience standing up and applauding during the curtain call. "Many people in the audience had tears in their eyes. It was a sense of national identity and pride," he said. The soul of The Yellow River lies in the composer's patriotism. It transforms patriotic feelings into melodies, and then turns those melodies into strength. Therefore, it can not only reach deep into people's hearts, but also make people shed tears while gaining spiritual comfort and emotional resonance. Many people with overseas experience say that no matter where they go, as soon as the melody of The Yellow River starts to play, they feel extremely touched and passionate for their motherland. "Music is such a magical thing. Every time I hear The Yellow River Cantata I am moved. I firmly believe that my original choice to work on research and promotion of the work was correct," Huang said. After graduating from the conservatory of music, Huang has had more opportunities to study the connotations of The Yellow River Cantata. In 2018, the Research Center for The Yellow River Cantata was established at Northwest Minzu University, and in 2023, the country's first exhibition hall dedicated to the work opened at the university. In Huang's view, the national spirit embodied in The Yellow River Cantata is not only inscribed in history but also condensed in the struggles of the present time. The Yellow River is not merely a symbol of the source of Chinese civilization, more importantly, it is also integrated with "the people," becoming a concrete embodiment of national spirit and cultural confidence. "Why can a classic be a classic? Tested by time, it has simple language and intense emotions. Even those who have never known about this piece can feel the appeal and sense of power upon hearing The Yellow River Cantata," she noted. In addition to The Yellow River Cantata, numerous works from the 1930s also vividly reflect China's national spirit. Composer Zou Ye carefully selected pieces such as the Ballad of the Great Wall, Graduation Song, Ode to Yan'an, and The Song of the Guerrillas for a concert in July to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression. "We are born in this place, Every inch of the land belongs to us. Should anyone invade it, We will fight him to the death." - Excerpt from The Song of the Guerrillas "These works are the true expression of the patriotic enthusiasm of musicians of that era, and even more so the heartfelt cries of the Chinese people striving to safeguard the nation and survive in those difficult years," Zou told the Global Times. Not far from where the concert was performed, the original manuscript of The Song of the Guerrillas, composed by the renowned musician He Luting, has been viewed by thousands of visitors at the memorial of the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China in Shanghai. The yellowed paper, stained and pierced by vanished staples, quietly bears witness to time's passage. As decades pass, great changes have been taking place. A full orchestra now accompanies The Yellow River Cantata, yet people's love for their homeland and resolve to protect peace remain unchanged. "The patriotic feelings and national spirit embodied in these music pieces have long been integrated into our blood. It is as strong as the time dating back to when musicians like Xian Xinghai and Guang Weiran decided to use a spoon and metal cup to perform them," added Huang. Source: Global Times: Company: Global Times Contact Person: Anna Li Email: editor@globaltimes.com.cn Website: https://globaltimes.cn City: Beijing Disclaimer: This press release may contain forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements describe future expectations, plans, results, or strategies (including product offerings, regulatory plans and business plans) and may change without notice. You are cautioned that such statements are subject to a multitude of risks and uncertainties that could cause future circumstances, events, or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements, including the risks that actual results may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Las Vegas, NV , Aug. 08, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As Southern Nevada faces another stretch of triple-digit temperatures, Elite Plumbing, Heating & Air Conditioning is stepping up to meet the demand for fast, reliable cooling with its trusted AC repair Las Vegas services. Known for providing professional HVAC care, the company continues to lead the way in helping homeowners stay cool, comfortable, and protected during the regions intense summer season. With years of experience serving the Las Vegas Valley, Elites AC repair team understands the urgency of performance issues in a desert climate. Whether it is inconsistent cooling, unusual noises, or a complete system breakdown, the company provides licensed, same-day service to restore comfort fast, backed by a team of skilled technicians who know how to handle all major makes and models. Elite Plumbing, Heating & Air Conditioning Efficient air conditioning isnt just a luxury in Las Vegas. Its a necessity, said a spokesperson for Elite Plumbing, Heating & Air Conditioning. Were proud to be the go-to provider for fast, high-quality AC repair Las Vegas homeowners can trust when it matters most. Elite offers a $19 AC inspection, making it easier than ever for homeowners to catch potential issues before they turn into costly repairs. This affordable diagnostic service gives customers a comprehensive look at their systems performance, ideal for ensuring peak efficiency during the hottest months of the year. Elites commitment to proactive care doesnt stop there. In addition to inspections, the company offers comprehensive HVAC diagnostics, seasonal tune-ups, energy-efficient upgrades, and long-term maintenance plans designed to keep systems running at their best year-round. By focusing on preventive maintenance, Elite Plumbing, Heating & Air Conditioning helps customers avoid unexpected breakdowns, lower energy costs, and extend the lifespan of their air conditioning systems. In addition to its HVAC services, Elite now provides reverse osmosis water purification systems, a complementary solution that further enhances home comfort. While the companys core focus remains on high-performance AC repair, this new service addresses another common Las Vegas concern: hard water. Las Vegas ranks among the U.S. cities with the hardest water, rich in minerals that can damage plumbing, irritate skin, and reduce appliance efficiency. Elites reverse osmosis system installations help homeowners enjoy cleaner, better-tasting water while protecting their homes infrastructure, delivered by the same trusted team that handles their AC needs. By offering both AC repair Las Vegas services and expert water filtration, Elite Plumbing, Heating & Air Conditioning provides a convenient, one-stop solution for homeowners who want to take full control of their indoor environment. To schedule a consultation or learn more about Elites AC repair services or reverse osmosis installations, visit https://www.eliteheatingandacrepair.com. About Elite Plumbing, Heating & Air Conditioning Elite Plumbing, Heating & Air Conditioning provides expert air conditioning, heating, plumbing, and water treatment services for Las Vegas homeowners. Known for fast, reliable service, the company focuses on improving indoor comfort and efficiency. Its licensed technicians provide smart, long-lasting solutions to keep homes healthy and running smoothly. ### Media Contact Elite Plumbing, Heating & Air Conditioning Address: 3085 E Post Rd, Las Vegas, NV 89120 Phone: (702) 263-2665 Website: https://www.eliteheatingandacrepair.com/ Attachment WASHINGTON, Aug. 08, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Council of Federal Home Loan Banks today issued the following statement attributable to Council President and CEO Ryan Donovan on the appointment of Brendan McGrath as the new President and CEO of FHLBank Indianapolis and the retirement of Cindy L. Konich. We congratulate Brendan McGrath on his appointment to lead FHLBank Indianapolis and guide it as it continues to provide crucial support to financial institutions across Indiana and Michigan. With more than two decades of institutional expertise and steadfast leadership most recently as Executive Vice President and Chief Risk and Compliance Officer Mr. McGrath is exceptionally well prepared for this role. We look forward to working with him. We also extend our congratulations to Cindy Konich on her retirement. She served FHLBank Indianapolis with distinction for over 40 years an extraordinary accomplishment. Throughout her career, she held numerous leadership roles and demonstrated unwavering commitment to the Banks mission of providing stability, strategy, and support for its members. She was a trailblazer, overseeing the introduction of new products and services to meet the evolving needs of members and communities across the FHLBank Indianapolis district. Ms. Konich has been a tireless advocate for her Bank and for the entire FHLBank System, and we wish her all the best in retirement. About: The FHLBanks are 11 regionally based, wholesale suppliers of lendable funds to financial institutions of all sizes and many types, including community banks, credit unions, commercial and savings banks, insurance companies, and community development financial institutions. The FHLBanks are cooperatively owned by member financial institutions in all 50 states and U.S. territories. The steady supply of lendable funds from FHLBanks helps U.S. lenders invest in local needs including housing, jobs, and economic growth. The Council of FHLBanks represents all 11 FHLBanks. CONTACT INFORMATION Council of FHLBanks Peter E. Garuccio 202-955-0002 ext. 14 pgaruccio@cfhlb.org WHITEHORSE, Yukon, Aug. 08, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Chartered Professional Accountants of Yukon (CPAYT) and the CPA Western School of Business (CPAWSB) congratulates YoungJa Suh for passing the multi-day national Common Final Examination (CFE) written in May 2025. The exam was administered by CPAWSB. Succeeding in the CFE is the result of hard work and focus and we are very proud of YoungJas tremendous achievement, said Katherine Davidson, CPA, CMA, chair of CPA Yukon. Were pleased to have YoungJa help lead the future of the CPA profession and wish YoungJa all the best. In order to become designated, students must complete rigorous course work, pass the CFE, and fulfill relevant practical experience requirements. The national CFE ensures all Canadian CPAs meet the same high standards, which are recognized nationally and internationally. "I am honoured to celebrate the outstanding achievement of the dedicated candidate from Yukon who has expertly navigated the complexities of the 2025 May CFE. YoungJas remarkable result underscores not only robust technical expertise but also the cultivation of essential professional competencies for future endeavours," stated Yuen Ip, MBA, PMP, ICD.D., CEO at CPAWSB and a CPA from Alberta. "On behalf of our team at the School, I extend my heartfelt congratulations and best wishes, YoungJa, as you advance in your professional journey. Your perseverance and accomplishments are a testament to your unwavering dedication. We eagerly anticipate your future contributions and success in the field." CPAWSB delivers the nationally-developed CPA professional education program in Canadas western region. Throughout the program, CPA candidates develop the competencies expected of professional accountants, developing technical skills and enabling competencies as they grow in professionalism and leadership. About CPA Yukon The Chartered Professional Accountants of Yukon (CPAYT) is the governing and regulatory body for over 200 members. The Chartered Professional Accountants of British Columbia (CPABC) is responsible for the regulating and professional development of CPAYT members, and the protection of the public through its ethical standards and discipline processes. CPAs are recognized internationally for bringing superior financial expertise, strategic thinking, business insight, and leadership to organizations. CPABC Media Team news@bccpa.ca JOSHUA TREE, Calif., Aug. 08, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Thomas Financial Group and Phoenix Lender Services , subsidiaries of Community Bankshares Inc. , are proud to announce the successful origination, underwriting, and closing of a $7.5 million USDA Business & Industry (B&I) loan for the refinance of a construction loan to build the Reset Hotel , a high-impact hospitality project located just five minutes from the north entrance of Joshua Tree National Park. The loan was originated by TFG and funded by Community Bank & Trust (CB&T), also a subsidiary of CBI. Phoenix Lender Services (PHX), serving as the lender service provider (LSP) for CB&T, supported the underwriting and closing process, demonstrating the powerful coordination among CBIs specialized entities to move complex transactions forward quickly and efficiently. This strategic investment will create and retain over 20 jobs and is projected to generate millions in annual economic activity throughout the Morongo Basin region. The USDA loan was coupled with a $11.2MM CPACE loan as part of the capital stack as well. TFG is comfortable filling the gaps in the capital stack utilizing alternative capital sources such as CPACE, ITC, HTC, NMTC, and EB5. Situated on 11.17 acres directly adjacent to the park boundary, the 65-key modular steel-frame hotel will deliver unobstructed views of Joshua Tree National Park and provide guests with a first-of-its-kind lodging experience that blends upscale comfort with rugged natural beauty. The Reset Hotel will feature a host of premium amenities, including: A 1,000-square-foot swimming pool with a surrounding sun deck, private cabanas, and a full-service bar A 3,000-square-foot clubhouse with air-conditioned meeting space for corporate events and private functions A communal fire pit and lounge area designed to foster social connection under the stars An on-site convenience store serving both hotel guests and the local community This project represents everything the USDA Business & Industry program was created to supporteconomic revitalization, job creation, and sustainable development in rural communities, said Zach Chandler, SVP, Government Guaranteed Lending at Thomas Financial Group. By originating, underwriting, and closing this loan, our team worked hand-in-hand with Reset Hotel to bring a transformative vision to life in one of the countrys most iconic destinations. With operations expected to create and retain more than 20 full- and part-time jobs, the Reset Hotel will also stimulate surrounding businesses and bring new energy to the areas service and tourism sectors. From ongoing hospitality roles and vendor partnerships, the project is expected to be a significant driver of rural economic development. Reset Hotel is about creating connectionsto the land, to the local culture, to each other, and to ourselves, said Adam Wininger. Thanks to the incredible support from Thomas Financial Group, Phoenix Lender Services and the USDA, were building a place that doesnt just serve travelersit helps uplift the locals and the region. As Joshua Tree National Park continues to welcome over 3 million annual visitors, the Reset Hotel will help meet the growing demand for quality accommodations while positioning itself as a hub for both leisure and business travelers seeking a distinctive high desert experience. For more information about Thomas Financial Group and Phoenix Lender Services USDA lending solutions, please contact: Media Contact: Hannah Conley Uproar by Moburst for Community Bankshares Inc. hannah.conley@moburst.com About Thomas Financial Group (TFG) Thomas Financial Group, located in Atlanta, Georgia, is a nationally recognized leader in providing innovative and comprehensive commercial lending solutions tailored to meet the unique needs of rural and underserved communities across America. With over 40 years of experience in originating and packaging loans within the USDA and SBA government-guaranteed lending space, TFGs highly capable team helps clients successfully navigate even the most complex financing scenarios to meet the needs of our nations businesses. TFG is a wholly owned subsidiary of CBI. About Phoenix Lender Services Based in Georgia and serving clients nationwide, Phoenix Lender Services offers a comprehensive suite of commercial lending solutions, including loan underwriting, closing, and servicing; participant lender matching; secondary market sales; portfolio management; risk analysis; and compliance reviews and regulatory support. Seasoned professionals at Phoenix combine extensive industry expertise in SBA, USDA, and commercial government-guaranteed lending with industry-leading technologies to deliver tailored solutions that align with each clients unique strategic goals. Phoenix Lender Services is leading the way in SBA, USDA, and commercial lending. About Community Bankshares Inc. Community Bankshares Inc. is a privately held financial holding company headquartered in LaGrange, Georgia, with subsidiaries including Community Bank & Trust, Thomas Financial Group, and Phoenix Lender Services. Through its network of specialized financial institutions, Community Bankshares Inc. delivers innovative, relationship-driven banking and lending services across the United States, with a strong emphasis on rural development, government-guaranteed lending, and community reinvestment. About Community Bank & Trust Community Bank & Trust is a full-service commercial bank and a subsidiary of Community Bankshares Inc. Based in LaGrange, Georgia, CB&T is an SBA Preferred Lender with a growing national footprint in USDA and small business lending. Known for its personalized service and deep lending expertise, CB&T partners with businesses and communities to deliver flexible, dependable financing solutions that support long-term growth across rural and underserved markets. About Wander Hotel also known as Reset Hotel San Ramon, Aug. 08, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Boomcycle Digital Marketing is expanding its web design services to help businesses of all sizes boost their online presence. With over 20 years of experience in digital marketing and internet services, Boomcycle stands out as a leader, providing strategic and creative solutions tailored to meet client needs. As a Bay Area web design company, they focus on creating high-quality, engaging, and search-engine-friendly websites that serve as key online touchpoints for businesses. By including advanced SEO strategies and Google Maps Marketing, Boomcycle ensures businesses not only appear visually compelling but are also easier to locate online through their comprehensive approach. Their suite of services, which include SEO Hyper-Optimization, enables clients to gain an edge in competitive markets. Boomcycle's web design services are all about making websites that are not only visually appealing but also highly functional. They understand that a website is often the first interaction between a company and its customers, so they make sure their designs leave a strong first impression. By using their unique method called "Intelligent Web Design," which combines business discovery, AI, and search engine research, they craft personalized digital experiences for their clients. David Victor, CEO of Boomcycle Digital Marketing, explains why having a strong web presence is so important. He says, "A well-designed website is not just a digital storefront; it's an extension of a company's brand and reputation. Our goal is to create websites that not only attract visitors but also engage them, showing off the unique strengths and values of our clients." Boomcycle doesn't just focus on looks; they also provide strategic digital marketing advice and SEO services. This ensures that their websites are not only attractive but also easy to find online. They design sites that turn visitors into customers by understanding both real-world SEO factors and the specific goals of their clients. The web design services Boomcycle offers are all about functionality and clarity. They know that potential customers spend only a few seconds deciding if a webpage meets their needs, so they focus on delivering clear and effective communication of services and branding through straightforward design. As a website design agency in the San Francisco Bay Area, Boomcycle serves a diverse group of clients, including B2C customers, enterprises, and startups. They are flexible in meeting different needs and budgets, ensuring businesses can reach their audience effectively without extra costs or hassle. Their expertise in top-level web design helps them provide solutions that lead to the best outcomes for their clients. Google Ads management is also a key area for Boomcycle. By integrating paid advertising with their web design services, they give clients control over how their messages appear in search results. This comprehensive approach helps businesses attract more traffic with standout website design while also converting those visitors into clients through well-targeted digital marketing strategies. Moreover, Boomcycle prides itself on avoiding common web design mistakes, such as focusing too much on aesthetics at the cost of user functionality. Their design philosophy is simple: while a website should look good, its main purpose is to clearly and compellingly showcase what a business can offer to its visitors. Their Marketing Intelligence System offers clients real-time insights into how their marketing channels are performing, offering transparency and the ability to adapt quickly to changing market conditions. This exemplifies Boomcycle's strategic digital marketing guidance, providing businesses with valuable insights on optimizing marketing budgets to achieve maximum impact. David Victor adds, "In an era where digital interaction shapes customer relationships, it's crucial for businesses to present themselves effectively online. We strive to find the right balance between form and function to create digital experiences that tell our clients' stories in the most engaging way." Boomcycle Digital Marketing offers a range of services, including web management, social media management, and content marketing. They are dedicated to helping businesses grow and improve their online operations with innovative solutions. Their understanding of the digital world helps clients navigate and seize the opportunities brought about by modern technology. https://youtu.be/eKigFrNGqHk The Boomcycle team operates from their main office in San Ramon, California, serving clients in places like San Francisco, San Jose, Los Angeles, Boston, and New York. By continually advancing digital design, Boomcycle proves to be a strong partner for businesses looking to innovate and succeed online. With strategic services like content marketing and innovative Google Ads Management Services, Boomcycle continues to drive success for clients in various industries. ### For more information about Boomcycle Digital Marketing, contact the company here: Boomcycle Digital Marketing David Victor 925-230-3058 hello@boomcycle.com 111 Deerwood Rd STE 200, San Ramon, CA 94583 OKLAHOMA CITY, Aug. 08, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Murphy Law Firm is investigating claims on behalf of all individuals whose personal and confidential information was compromised in the data breach involving Columbia University. To join the class action lawsuit, visit our site HERE. On or around June 24, 2025, Columbia University (Columbia) became aware of suspicious activity on its computer systems, indicating a data breach. Based on a subsequent forensic investigation, Columbia determined that cybercriminals infiltrated its inadequately secured computer network on or around May 16, 2025. The investigation further determined that, through this infiltration, cybercriminals accessed and copied files containing the sensitive personal information of approximately 868,969 individuals. The information exposed in the data breach includes, but is not limited to: Names Social Security numbers Financial information Health insurance information Dates of birth Demographic information If you received notice of the Columbia University data breach or if your personal information was compromised in the breach, please visit our site HERE. Murphy Law Firm is evaluating legal options, including a potential class action lawsuit, to recover damages on behalf of individuals who were affected by Columbia data breach. As a result of the data breach, these individuals personal and highly sensitive information may be in the hands of cybercriminals who can place the information for sale on the dark web or use the information to perpetrate identity theft. To join a class action lawsuit, click HERE Murphy Law Firm specializes in data breach class actions, consumer class actions, and federal securities class actions. The firm has extensive experience in securing highly favorable recoveries for its clients. Contact: Murphy Law Firm abm@murphylegalfirm.com IRVINE, Calif., Aug. 08, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MorningStar Laboratories, LLC., (MSL or the Company), a leading developer of precision diagnostic tests addressing unmet clinical needs, is excited to announce that its SmartVascular Dx (SVDx) test, formerly known as the PULS Cardiac Test, is now available in the Western United States. This innovative diagnostic tool aims to enhance vascular health monitoring in the region. We are pleased to share that the SmartVascular Dx test has been included in the Medicare fee schedule, providing national Medicare coverage. Additionally, we have formed partnerships with Molina Healthcare and CalVivia Health to expand access to patients in Californias Central Valley and the broader Western region. Why SmartVascular Should Be Your Go-To Test The SmartVascular Dx test is essential for the early detection of vascular disease, which is a significant health concern in many communities. Its capabilities enable timely and targeted interventions that can significantly improve health outcomes. Furthermore, we would like to remind our partners that we have collaborated with My One Medical Source (MOMS), and its network of MAPs: Medical Access Points/Providers, which will facilitate specimen collection opportunities for MorningStar Laboratories patients across the country. As the Connection for the Collection, MOMS enhances access to testing by bridging labs like ours with the skilled personnel needed for specimen collection. For more information and to learn how to integrate the SmartVascular Dx test into your practice, please reach out MorningStar Laboratories at 866.299.8998. Join us in our mission to enhance vascular care and improve the health of our communities. About MorningStar Laboratories MorningStar Laboratories (MSL) is a specialty diagnostics development clinical laboratory company that develops, performs, and distributes unique medical tests combining science, technology, and proprietary analytics which aim to detect high-risk diseases with significant unmet medical needs. MSLs laboratory information systems use data from multiple sources, including proteomics, genetics, metabolic, biochemistry, phenotype, imaging, and a patented algorithm to address the most challenging clinical problems related to endothelial and vascular inflammatory issues. Morningstar Laboratories, a subsidiary of Smart Health Diagnostics Company, is a CLIA-Certified and CAP Accredited laboratory offering comprehensive and customized services in accordance with Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) and Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) regulations and ISO 15189 standards. To learn more, visit MorningStar Laboratories at https://mslinc.com/, Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and LinkedIn. About My One Medical Source (MOMs) My One Medical Source (MOMS) is a SaaS platform connecting labs and other clients with the skilled labor required to perform specimen collections. The MAP: Medical Access Point/Provider Network is comprised of both brick-and-mortar draw sites as well as mobile phlebotomy options in all 50 states and Puerto Rico, which serve as collection solutions for the Labs/Clients on the MOMS platform. To learn more, visit https://www.myonemedicalsource.com/. Forward-Looking Statements Forward-looking statements in this press release are based on our future expectations, plans prospects, and assumptions regarding matters that are not historical facts, may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The words termed, anticipate, believe, continue, could, estimate, expect, intend, may, plan, potential, predict, project, should, target, will, would and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks, and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict. Our actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements. Therefore, we caution you against relying on any of these forward-looking statements. They are neither statements of historical fact nor guarantees or assurances of future performance. Any forward-looking statement made by us in this document speaks only as of the date on which it is made. Factors or events that could cause our actual results to differ may emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for us to predict all of them. We undertake no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future developments, or otherwise, except as may be required by law. Media Contact mjjohnson@mslinc.com 866.299.8998 DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Aug. 08, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Global Trade Bangladesh, a marketing and business development firm known for accelerating growth in fintech, blockchain, and trading platforms, has officially launched a real estate investment platform in Dubai. This new venture marks the companys strategic diversification into the UAEs high-growth property market. The platform aims to connect South Asian and global investors with curated real estate development opportunities across Dubai, offering access to pre-construction projects, marketing advisory, and investment syndication. New Vertical, Same Proven Approach Backed by its track record in scaling digital finance platforms such as PIPS STARa multi-asset forex trading platformGlobal Trade Bangladesh is applying its marketing intelligence and investor outreach expertise to real estate. The initiative builds upon its core strengths: localized growth campaigns, lead generation, and community engagement across emerging markets. Our entry into real estate is not a pivotits an extension of what we already do well: connect credible projects with global investors through structured communication and value-driven positioning, said Shakib Uddin, Founder and CEO of Global Trade Bangladesh. Key Features of the Real Estate Investment Platform: Pre-Vetted Projects : Focus on high-potential residential and commercial developments in Dubai : Focus on high-potential residential and commercial developments in Dubai Investor Onboarding : Tools and support to guide first-time and seasoned investors : Tools and support to guide first-time and seasoned investors Cross-Border Marketing : Tailored campaigns to engage diaspora and institutional interest : Tailored campaigns to engage diaspora and institutional interest Growth Advisory: Support for real estate developers in branding and investor outreach Real Estate Meets Fintech The company will continue operating its fintech vertical, including marketing services for PIPS STAR, which recently celebrated its one-year anniversary with notable user growth across South Asia. Global Trade Bangladesh now offers an integrated approach for both digital asset and physical asset investments, catering to clients seeking diversification. Dubais real estate market is ripe with opportunity, and we see strong demand from South Asian investors looking for structured access, added Uddin. With our expansion, were positioning ourselves as a cross-industry growth partnerspanning fintech and real estate. About Global Trade Bangladesh Founded in 2020, Global Trade Bangladesh is a marketing and business growth firm serving clients in fintech, blockchain, trading, and real estate. The company specializes in investor outreach, localized campaigns, and market entry strategy, with a strong footprint across South Asia and the Middle East. Website: https://pipsstar.com Real Estate Investment Platform Launch Info: https://www.globaltradeonline.net Email: info@globaltradebd.com Media Contact Name: Md Shakib Uddin Title: Founder and CEO Email: shakib@globaltradebd.com Website: https://www.globaltradeonline.net Disclaimer: This press release is not intended as investment advice or a solicitation to invest. Readers are encouraged to conduct independent research and consult professional advisors before making financial or real estate decisions. This content is provided by Global Trade Bangladesh. The statements, views, and opinions expressed in this content are solely those of the content provider and do not necessarily reflect the views of this media platform or its publisher. We do not endorse, verify, or guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of any information presented. This content is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial, investment, or business advice. All investments carry inherent risks, including the potential loss of capital. Readers are strongly encouraged to conduct their own due diligence and consult with a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions. 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A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/b4fc904e-0816-47b9-90d6-0e96283345d2 Melbourne, Victoria , Aug. 08, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Nang Robot, Melbourne's leading service, is thrilled to announce the addition of 3.3Litre / 2.1kg (net) tanks to its product lineup. This expansion is set to enhance the company's already impressive range of products, providing customers with even more options for their needs. Nang Robot is a leading chargers delivery service in Melbourne, Australia. Known for its lightning-speed service and unbeatable reliability, Nang Robot with its AI assisted automated service continues to set the standard in the industry by offering these larger charger tanks with immediate delivery across the greater Melbourne region. This move underscores the company's commitment to meeting the evolving demands of its clientele, ensuring that they receive their products promptly and hassle-free. "The introduction of the 3.3Litre / 2.1kg charger tanks is a testament to our dedication to providing top-quality products and exceptional service," said Mr Nang, CEO of Nang Robot. "We understand the importance of convenience and efficiency for our customers, and this new offering is designed to enhance their experience with us." Customers in Melbourne can now enjoy the convenience of having these larger charger tanks delivered directly to their doorstep, 24/7. This service is part of Nang Robot's ongoing effort to provide fast and discreet delivery, ensuring that customers can rely on them for all their needs at any time of the day or night. With this latest addition, Nang Robot solidifies its position as the go-to choice for charger delivery in Melbourne. The company's focus on quality, speed, and customer satisfaction continues to drive its success, making it a trusted name in the industry. Nang Robot on Google Maps NitrousWhip 3.3 litre charger tank, net 2.1kg gas About Nang Robot Nang Robot is a leading chargers delivery service in Melbourne, Australia. Always delivering high quality products every day of the year, at any time of the day or night. Nang Robot has excellent customer reviews and feedback with an average 5/5 star review rating on google. For more information about Nang Robot's products and services, customers are encouraged to visit their website at nangrobot.com.au. Nang Robot Address: 747 Flinders St, Docklands VIC 3000 Phone: 0483967818 Nang Robot GPB MONTREAL, Aug. 08, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Saputo Inc. (TSX: SAP) (Saputo or the Company) announces that the nominees listed in the management information circular dated June 5, 2025, were elected as directors of Saputo at the annual meeting of shareholders held on August 8, 2025. Each of the following ten nominees proposed by the board of directors was elected as a director of Saputo, pursuant to a vote conducted by ballot. The outcome of the proxies received by the Company and the ballots cast was as follows: Voted For Voted Against % For % Against Lino A. Saputo 334,146,271 10,393,406 96.98% 3.02% Victor L. Crawford 344,340,917 198,761 99.94% 0.06% Olu Fajemirokun-Beck 343,651,721 887,957 99.74% 0.26% Anthony M. Fata 339,150,146 5,389,532 98.44% 1.56% Annalisa King 339,724,696 4,814,982 98.60% 1.40% Karen Kinsley 343,160,615 1,379,063 99.60% 0.40% Diane Nyisztor 343,680,834 858,844 99.75% 0.25% Franziska Ruf 343,693,570 846,108 99.75% 0.25% Stanley H. Ryan 343,687,063 852,615 99.75% 0.25% Annette Verschuren 341,855,501 2,684,177 99.22% 0.78% About Saputo Saputo, one of the top ten dairy processors in the world, produces, markets, and distributes a wide array of dairy products of the utmost quality, including cheese, fluid milk, extended shelf-life milk and cream products, cultured products, and dairy ingredients. Saputo is a leading cheese manufacturer and fluid milk and cream processor in Canada, a leading dairy processor in Australia and the top dairy processor in Argentina. In the USA, Saputo ranks among the top three cheese producers and is one of the top producers of extended shelf-life and cultured dairy products. In the United Kingdom, Saputo is the leading manufacturer of branded cheese and dairy spreads. In addition to its dairy portfolio, Saputo produces, markets, and distributes a range of dairy alternative products. Saputo products are sold in several countries under market-leading brands, as well as private label brands. Saputo Inc. is a publicly traded company and its shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol SAP. Follow Saputos activities at Saputo.com or via Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Investor Inquiries Nicholas Estrela Senior Director, Investor Relations 1-514-328-3117 Media Inquiries 1-514-328-3141 / 1-866-648-5902 media@saputo.com Statesville, N.C., Aug. 08, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Purple Heart Homes Co-founder and CEO John Gallina, along with Board Member Mike Lennon, spent the past week in Washington, D.C., advocating for Veterans and highlighting the critical mission of Purple Heart Homes to provide safe and accessible housing for those who have served. Among several important meetings, Gallina and Lennon sat down with the Associate Director for Veterans Affairs in the White House Office of Public Liaison, to discuss the needs of disabled and aging Veterans and share the work being done by Purple Heart Homes across the country. While in D.C., the team also had the opportunity to meet with potential new donors and recruit prospective board members, continuing to strengthen the future leadership and support network of the organization. The most meaningful moment of the week came on Thursday, Aug. 7, when Gallina and his wife, Cori-Anne, were invited to the White House by President Donald J. Trump for a special ceremony honoring National Purple Heart Day. The event recognized Purple Heart recipients from Vietnam to the most recent conflicts, celebrating their courage and sacrifice. Gallina also had the opportunity to meet and take a photo with Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins, who was present at the White House event. The two had previously appeared together on a Memorial Day episode of Real Americas Voice, highlighting the stories and challenges of wounded Veterans. It was an honor to be a part of the ceremony at the White House, standing alongside other Purple Heart recipients from Vietnam to our most current wars, where President Trump recognized and honored all Veterans who have been injured in combat and awarded the Purple Heart, said Gallina. Purple Heart Homes remains committed to improving Veterans lives through impactful housing solutions and community-driven support. The organization is grateful for the opportunity to advocate at the national level and looks forward to continued partnerships that uplift the Veteran community. Gallina added, Beyond the honor of the moment, our time in Washington, D.C. was about advocating for the future of Veteran housing needs. The barriers that aging and disabled Veterans face are complex and evolving. Organizations that do not understand these barriers and that do not do the detailed work and analysis required to define large-scale programs and shape legislation are simply not able to support Veterans at the scope that is required today and into the future. This is what thought leadership looks like. We are not just building ramps and widening doorways. We are building a framework for sustainable, national impact. About Purple Heart Homes Co-founded by two combat-wounded Veterans, Purple Heart Homes has been bringing communities together to provide safe, barrier-free housing solutions for qualified Veterans since its founding in 2008. A nonprofit organization based in Statesville, N.C., PHH supports service-connected disabled and senior Veterans from all eras across all 50 states and Puerto Rico through a growing network of local chapters. Programs include critical home repairs and renovations to help Veterans live independently in their homes, home ownership programs and transitional housing through partnerships with other nonprofit organizations. Learn more at phhusa.org . Attachments Fitch Ratings has revised the Outlook on Icelands Long-Term-Foreign-Currency (LT FC) Issuer Default Rating (IDR) to Positive from Stable and affirmed the IDR at A. The Positive Outlook reflects Icelands strengthened public finances. General government debt is projected to fall significantly in 2025 after the successful settlement of the Housing Financing Funds (HF Fund) liabilities and the full privatisation of Islandsbanki. Progress continues in diversifying the economy into higher-value-added sectors, such as pharmaceuticals, ICT and biotechnology. Iceland's abundant renewable energy sources and competitive energy prices have attracted investments in energy-intensive data centres. There is also strong potential in aquaculture, where Iceland has a global competitive advantage. Increased confidence in a material and sustained decline in the government debt/GDP ratio and continued strong growth and evidence of economic diversification that reduces Iceland's vulnerability to external shocks, could individually or collectively lead to positive rating action. A marked deterioration in the debt/GDP trajectory, for example, from a sustained period of fiscal loosening or a severe economic shock, for example, from a significant slowdown in the global economy, could individually or collectively lead to negative rating action. Achieved multiple critical milestones for development of the South West Arkansas ("SWA") Project Steadily progressing towards a Final Investment Decision for Phase 1 of SWA targeted by year-end 2025 VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Aug. 08, 2025 -- Standard Lithium Ltd. ("Standard Lithium" or the "Company") (TSXV: SLI) (NYSE.A: SLI), a leading near-commercial lithium company, today announced its financial and operating results for the three month period ended June 30, 2025. "We have been working diligently alongside our joint venture partner Equinor to progress our lithium development projects and have achieved multiple key milestones in the second quarter as we advance those efforts," said David Park, Chief Executive Officer and Director of Standard Lithium. "We completed all fieldwork required for the first phase of our SWA Project and are advancing off-take and project financing discussions ahead of a Final Investment Decision targeted by the end of this year. Additionally, in the third quarter we plan to release a Definitive Feasibility Study for SWA and a Maiden Inferred Resource Report on our East Texas properties. We expect both to further reinforce the conviction that our projects in the Smackover will deliver significant value to our shareholders, the communities that we work in, and will help to secure critical minerals production in the United States." Highlights Subsequent to the Three Month Period Ended June 30, 2025 All amounts are in US dollars unless otherwise indicated. Smackover Lithium Reports Highest Lithium Brine Grade in SWA Project Area Smackover Lithium announced that it completed sampling from its newest exploration well, the Lester well, in the SWA Project area. One sample recorded the highest lithium concentration reported to date from the SWA Project area: 616 mg/L lithium in brine, while average lithium concentration in brine from the Lester well was 582 mg/L. This concluded all sub-surface exploration activities for Phase 1 of the SWA Project, which is targeting production capacity of 22,500 tonnes per annum of battery-quality lithium carbonate. Highlights From Three Month Period Ended June 30, 2025 Royalty rate approved by the Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission for the SWA Project The Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission ("AOGC") unanimously approved the establishment of a 2.5% royalty rate for Phase I of the SWA Project. This was the first royalty rate for lithium from brine extraction to be approved by the AOGC, establishing an important precedent for lithium development companies operating in Arkansas and encouraging economic development of the state's significant lithium resource. Smackover Lithium's SWA Project receives special designation Smackover Lithium announced that its SWA Project was selected as one of the first critical mineral production projects, and the only Direct Lithium Extraction project, to be advanced under Executive Order 14241 - Immediate Measures to Increase American Mineral Production, announced by the U.S. Federal Permitting Improvement Steering Council at the recommendation of the National Energy Dominance Council. Approval of brine production unit for Phase I of the SWA Project On April 24, Smackover Lithium announced the brine production unit (Reynolds Brine Unit) for Phase I of it's SWA Project was unanimously approved by the AOGC with no objection or opposition in a hearing that was open to all stakeholders from the community. Approval of the unit was a necessary statutory requirement for SWA Project development. Advancing next generation solid-state battery materials in partnership with Telescope Innovations Corp. The companies developed a new conversion process that has been used to convert lithium hydroxide produced by Standard Lithium at its southern Arkansas Demonstration Plant into battery quality lithium sulfide, a key raw material required for many next-generation solid-state battery chemistries. This novel, low-temperature, patented process provides numerous potential advantages with respect to flexibility, quality, cost and safety. Strengthened senior management team with new VP appointments Appointed Daniel Rosen as Vice President of Strategy and Investor Relations and Tim Sobel as Vice President of Health, Safety, Social and Environment. The additions to the leadership team will strengthen the Company's capabilities and execution of its growth strategy on a path towards first production. Cash and working capital of $33.8 million and $30.6 million, respectively, as of June 30, 2025. The Company has no term or revolving debt obligations as of June 30, 2025. Consolidated Financial Statements This news release should be read in conjunction with the Company's Consolidated Financial Statements and MD&A for the three month fiscal period ended June 30, 2025, which are available on the Company's issuer profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca and on EDGAR at www.sec.gov. Three Month Period Ended June 30, 2025 Call and Webcast The Company will hold a conference call and webcast to discuss its three-month period ended June 30, 2025 on Wednesday, August 13th at 4:30 p.m. ET. Access to the call is available via webcast or direct dial. Conference Call and Webcast Details Standard Lithium Q2 2025 Earnings Call and Webcast August 13, 2025 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time (USA and Canada) Participant Information: Conference ID: 6017900 USA / International Toll: +1 (646) 307-1963 USA - Toll-Free: (800) 715-9871 Canada - Toronto: (647) 932-3411 Canada - Toll-Free: (800) 715-9871 Attendee Webcast Link: https://events.q4inc.com/attendee/298814979 About Standard Lithium Ltd. Standard Lithium is a leading near-commercial lithium development company focused on the sustainable development of a portfolio of large, high-grade lithium-brine properties in the United States. The Company prioritizes projects characterized by high-grade resources, robust infrastructure, skilled labor, and streamlined permitting. Standard Lithium aims to achieve sustainable, commercial-scale lithium production via the application of a scalable and fully integrated Direct Lithium Extraction and purification process. The Company's flagship projects are located in the Smackover Formation, a world-class lithium brine asset, focused in Arkansas and Texas. In partnership with global energy leader Equinor ASA, Standard Lithium is advancing the SWA Project, a greenfield project located in southern Arkansas, and actively exploring promising lithium brine prospects in East Texas. Standard Lithium trades on both the TSX Venture Exchange and the NYSE American under the symbol "SLI". Please visit the Company's website at www.standardlithium.com. Investor Inquiries Daniel Rosen +1 604 409 8154 investors@standardlithium.com Media Inquiries media@standardlithium.com Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release may contain certain "Forward-Looking Statements" within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and applicable Canadian securities laws. When used in this news release, the words "anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "target, "plan", "forecast", "may", "schedule" and other similar words or expressions identify forward-looking statements or information. These forward-looking statements or information may relate to intended development timelines, the timeline for completion of a Definitive Feasibility Study for the SWA Project and Maiden Inferred Resource Report on the East Texas properties, future prices of commodities, accuracy of mineral or resource exploration activity, reserves or resources, regulatory or government requirements or approvals, the reliability of third party information, continued access to mineral properties or infrastructure, fluctuations in the market for lithium and its derivatives, changes in exploration costs and government regulation in Canada and the United States, and other factors or information. Such statements represent the Company's current views with respect to future events and are necessarily based upon a number of assumptions and estimates that, while considered reasonable by the Company, are inherently subject to significant business, economic, competitive, political and social risks, contingencies and uncertainties. Many factors, both known and unknown, could cause results, performance or achievements to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements that are or may be expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements or information to reflect changes in assumptions or changes in circumstances or any other events affecting such statements and information other than as required by applicable laws, rules and regulations. VANCOUVER, August 8th, 2025 - Opawica Explorations Inc. (TSXV: OPW) (OTC: OPWEF) (FRA: OE5) (the "Company" or "Opawica") is pleased to announce Mr. Monty Sutton as our Chief Financial Officer. Opawica Explorations Inc. is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Monty Sutton as Chief Financial Officer (CFO), effective immediately. Mr. Sutton brings over 35 years of extensive experience in public markets, corporate governance, senior administration, and accounting. Throughout his career, he has held key management and board positions in both private and publicly traded companies. Starting on the floor of the Vancouver Stock Exchange in 1987, Monty has built a diverse background as a Management Accountant, Investment Advisor, Equities Trader, and Insurance Specialist with a focus on resource exploration. He has also played critical roles in executive finance and corporate development, supporting large-scale capital projects and complex regulatory filings. On behalf of the Company, and personally, we would like to sincerely thank Ms. Marcy Kiesman for her many years of dedicated service and leadership. We part ways on excellent terms and wish her all the best in her future endeavors. Thank you, Marcy, for your invaluable contributions to Opawica. CEO STATEMENT "I am very pleased to welcome Monty Sutton to our management team as Chief Financial Officer. Monty's deep expertise in public markets, finance, and resource sector governance will be invaluable as we advance Opawica Explorations' growth strategy. About Opawica Explorations Inc. Opawica Explorations is a junior Canadian exploration company with a strong portfolio of precious and base metal properties within the Rouyn-Noranda region of the Abitibi gold belt in Quebec. The company's management has a great record in discovering and developing successful exploration projects. The company's objective is to increase shareholder value through the development of exploration properties using cost-effective exploration practices, acquiring further exploration properties and seeking partnerships by either joint venture or sale with industry leaders. Opawica's Bazooka properties cover seven kilometres of the prolific CLLB. The Bazooka properties are bound to the west by the Wassamac gold property, which is 100 per cent owned by Richmont Mines Inc. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT Blake Morgan President and Chief Executive Officer Opawica Explorations Inc. Telephone: 236-878-4938 Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider (as the term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy of accuracy of this news release. Forward-Looking Statements This news release contains certain forward-looking statements, which relate to future events or future performance and reflect management's current expectations and assumptions. Such forward-looking statements reflect management's current beliefs and are based on assumptions made by and information currently available to the Company. Readers are cautioned that these forward-looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees, and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause future results to differ materially from those expected including, but not limited to, market conditions, availability of financing, actual results of the Company's exploration and other activities, environmental risks, future metal prices, operating risks, accidents, labor issues, delays in obtaining governmental approvals and permits, and other risks in the mining industry. All the forward-looking statements made in this news release are qualified by these cautionary statements and those in our continuous disclosure filings available on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.com. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances save as required by applicable law. Copyright (c) 2025 TheNewswire - All rights reserved. Pirelli doubts wet tyres will see action again in 2025 Pirelli boss Mario Isola has admitted that Formula 1 may not see a single full wet tyre used for the rest of the 2025 season - even if it rains. Lewis Hamilton, Hungarian GP 2025 McLaren Speaking to Spain's Diario Sport, Isola said the combination of high-spray ground effect cars - coupled with obvious extreme race director caution - has effectively eliminated traditional wet-weather racing from the current era. I'm not 100 percent sure that we are going to use the wet tyre this season, he said. The level of tyre spray is very high and this is compromising visibility. The comments come after a string of rain-affected grands prix - most notably Belgium - where visibility concerns led to incidents, safety cars, and race delays. Isola noted that at a race like Silverstone, the intermediate tyre worked well but drivers still couldn't see well. Nobody wants to take any risks for the drivers, he explained. While Pirelli continues to offer both intermediate and full wet compounds, Isola says the latter may never be used again under the current regulations. Attempts to improve conditions - such as with experimental wheel covers - have so far failed. There is some optimism for change in 2026, when new regulations will bring smaller tyres and revised aerodynamics, possibly reducing spray output. Next year the cars will be different, said Isola. Maybe there will also be a little less spray. (GMM) Singapore GP to proceed despite corruption case The Singapore GP will go ahead as planned in October despite the upcoming sentencing of race promoter Ong Beng Seng. Atmosphere, Singapore GP 2025 Red Bull The 79-year-old property tycoon, who played a pivotal role in bringing Formula 1 to Singapore and remains its official promoter, has pleaded guilty to abetting obstruction of justice in a high-profile corruption case involving former transport minister S. Iswaran. Ong, who invited Iswaran on an undeclared, fully paid trip to Qatar in 2022, is due to be sentenced on August 15. Although the offence carries a maximum penalty of seven years in prison and a $30,000 fine, the prosecution has supported judicial mercy due to Ong's terminal health condition. While Ong no longer handles the day-to-day operations of the event, his influence and legacy remain deeply tied to the race's establishment and ongoing success. A Singapore GP spokesman confirmed the 2025 race will not be impacted by the legal proceedings. We remain firmly on schedule and remain focused on delivering the 2025 Singapore GP, which will be another world-class event for our partners and fans, the spokesman said. The race contract runs through 2028, and remains one of Formula 1's most commercially and culturally significant events - often described as the crown jewel of the Asian calendar. (GMM) Featured Ghanas top 3 business schools: KNUST, UEW and UGBS set for explosive TBSC 2025 final showdown on Aug 9 Kwame Larweh Business News Aug - 08 - 2025 , 07:39 A thrilling tie-break between two former national champions, the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and the University of Cape Coast (UCC), in the semi-final of the seventh edition of the Graphic Business Tertiary Business Sense Challenge (TBSC) saw three-time Northern Zone champions KNUST edge out UCC 66.83 to 64.83 to book their place in the final tomorrow. The two schools, represented by quartets comprising Maclean Kraka, Charles Williams, Alfred Akwada and James Dordan Nyataaba of UCC, and Kwadwo Acheampong Opoku, Japhet Adeleke, Frederick Asontoliya and Daniel Ekow Baffoe of KNUST, battled fiercely from start to finish. After five intense rounds, both schools were tied at 64.83 points apiece, forcing a tie-breaker. Quiz master Alhassan Yussif Trawule posed two riddles, which neither side could answer, leading to a second tie-breaker on true or false questions. KNUST answered their question correctly, while UCC failed, handing the Ashanti Region-based university the win. The contest also featured a marquee introduction of three expert judges: Albert Nii Ayi Tagoe, Dicksoni Assan and Racheal Hemans, who evaluated the third round, dubbed the business case of the day. Team leads from each school had three minutes to deliver a sustainability and environmentally friendly business turnaround proposition, earning scores from the panel. Following KNUSTs victory, a crestfallen UCC team quietly exited the stage, leaving the victors to celebrate. In the second semi-final, the University of Education, Winneba (UEW) dominated Valley View University (VVU) with a commanding 80.83 to 34.33 victory to seal their place in the final. UEWs quartet of Ashimi Awudu, Kojo Aaron Fiati, Matilda Appenteng Gyimah and Felix Blay Amoako outperformed VVUs Mississo Credo, Elvis Boateng, Victoria Boateng Tuffour and Bright Peprah Yeboah in every round, including theory, calculations, the business case, Graphic Business Stories, true or false, and riddles. The last semi-final saw the University of Ghana Business School (UGBS) defeat the SD Dombo School of Business and Integrated Development Studies 74.17 to 57.17. Legons quintet of Nana Kwame Shalom Bagyinah, Cassandra Yas Asantewaa Afriyie Asante, Peter Emeka Ike, Dennis Kwaku Martey and Jonathan Nii Nai Sowa proved too strong for their opponents, securing the final slot for Saturdays showdown against UEW and KNUST. Designed as a bridge between academic theory and the business world, the TBSC continues to offer tertiary students a platform to showcase their business acumen, sharpen their critical thinking, and prepare for the demands of the corporate world, with an emphasis on ethics and environmental consciousness. Quiz master Alhassan Trawule revealed that this years edition has expanded beyond its traditional format to include more comprehensive case study presentations judged by panels, as well as training sessions in computer literacy and mentorship days with seasoned professionals. The University of Cape Coast remains the most successful school in the competitions history, having won twice in 2019 and 2021. However, with 26 schools competing, including several new entrants, anticipation is high for an unpredictable finale. The competition is sponsored by the Institute of Chartered Accountants Ghana (ICAG), MTN, PwC, GLICO Life, Peeva Beverages, Papaye, GCB Bank and Compu Ghana. Featured This tragedy must count for something Daily Graphic Editorials Aug - 08 - 2025 , 07:21 4 minutes read Last Wednesday, the country was struck by a national tragedy when a military helicopter carrying eight people, including two ministers of state, crashed in the Ashanti Region, killing all on board. The victims included the Minister of Defence, Dr Edward Omane Boamah; the Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, Dr Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed, and the three flight crew members, namely Squadron Leader Peter Bafemi Anala, the pilot on the helicopter; Flying Officer Manaen Twum Ampadu, co-pilot; and Sergeant Ernest Addo-Mensah. Also on the flight were the acting Deputy National Security Coordinator, Alhaji Muniru Mohammed, who was on his first official assignment since his appointment a fortnight ago; a National Vice-Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Samuel Sarpong; and a parliamentary candidate in the 2024 elections and Deputy Coordinator of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), Samuel Aboagye. President John Dramani Mahama consequently declared three days of mourning and cancelled all his scheduled events for the rest of the week. The government further instructed that the national flag must fly at half mast in recognition of the national loss. Beyond these symbolic declarations, the enormity of this tragedy cannot be lost on citizens. The aircraft was transporting the state officials and their colleagues to the launch of the Responsible Cooperative Mining and Skills Development Programme (rCOMSDEP), an initiative woven into the complex fight against illegal mining, commonly called galamsey. Galamsey has become an existential threat to the national system, attracting droves of youth into the dangerous pits and sites where they contaminate water bodies and the soil, and leave the entire environment poisoned. In recent times, local scientists have traced the presence of heavy metals, including mercury, in foodstuffs to galamsey activities in farming areas. Medical doctors have also linked recent deformities in newborns to the consumption of these contaminants. All of these reinforce the necessity to end galamsey by any means. The rCOMSDEP is, therefore, an alternative livelihood activity meant to sustain the economic lives of the youth while saving the environment from the current devastation. It is a multi-sectoral initiative designed as a relevant part of the overall effort to end the galamsey scourge. It is unfortunate that its launch became the Waterloo of the eight. The impact of illegal mining cannot be downplayed. Its hands and footprints are intricately woven into the economic and social fabric of the contemporary Ghanaian society, with a band of supposed powerful sponsors driving the environmental devastation. Every day, state security continues to arrest illegal miners, seize heavy-duty machines and equipment, and drive them from water sources and forest areas to rid the system of their activities. But all of these efforts have not achieved much. Worst still, the next new dimension to fight youth interest in illegal mining has led to the death of eight men. The nation, therefore, mourns their death, while still enduring the unpatriotic activities of the environmental dinosaurs. There is, however, a chance to honour their memory, their efforts and their service to the nation. This is the chance to tackle the looming environmental catastrophe and triumph most decisively. It is a chance to deploy the most ruthless measure to weed out the nation wreckers and their accomplices from the forest reserves, water bodies, and anywhere their unholy adventures have taken them. It cannot be that the eight or any one of them died for nothing. Given the unison of the national grief and the outpour of tributes to the fallen eight, their honour is almost assured in the national psyche. But what better tribute could they receive than to win the galamsey fight in their honour? Earlier efforts to overcome the galamsey scourge have been no more than half-hearted commitments. In the long term, the menace has festered and survived. For instance, Major Maxwell Mahamas death did not do more than the sentencing of the culprits. This is what galamsey has cost the country. The loss of the eight must inspire a win against the environmental crime. Next article: I endorse full scale investigations -Rex Omar on helicopter crash claiming eight lives Featured Kumasi vigil for Daddy Lumba postponed indefinitely Graphic Showbiz Showbiz News Aug - 07 - 2025 , 22:43 1 minute read The Kumasi edition of the Candle light vigil in honour of the late music legend, Daddy Lumba, scheduled for Saturday, August 9, has been postponed indefinitely. The Creative Arts Agency, the organisers, announced in a press statement dated on Thursday, August 7, 2025, signed by the acting Executive Secretary of the Agency, Gideon Aryeequaye. The planned vigil has been postponed indefinitely as a mark of respect for the eight individuals who lost their lives in a recent helicopter crash. The decision comes after President John Dramani Mahama declared three days of national mourning, from August 7 to 9, 2025, in honour of the victims. The planned Kumasi vigil followed a successful edition held at the Independence Square in Accra on Saturday, August 2, 2025. The event in the capital drew hundreds of fans, fellow musicians and dignitaries who gathered to pay tribute to one of Ghanas most influential musicians. Daddy Lumba, born Charles Kwadwo Fosu, died on Saturday, July, 26, 2025 after a short illness, aged 60. The Creative Arts Agency has offered its condolences to the families of the victims and to the nation, expressing sympathy and solidarity during this difficult time Featured MUSIGA to honour Lumba, others with Music Museum, Hall of Fame Edith Mensah Showbiz News Aug - 08 - 2025 , 16:38 3 minutes read The Musicians Union of Ghana (MUSIGA) has unveiled ambitious plans to immortalise the legacy of Ghanaian music legends, including Highlife icon Daddy Lumba, who died recently, with a national Music Museum and Hall of Fame. This development comes as public concern grows over the inadequate recognition and documentation of Ghanas music pioneers, particularly those who helped shape Highlife, a genre deeply rooted in our cultural heritage. Speaking exclusively to Graphic Showbiz on August 5, MUSIGA President Bessa Simons revealed that MUSIGA is actively collaborating with the Ghana Museums and Monuments Board (GMMB) to establish an essential national music archive. According to him, the proposed museum will serve as a permanent record of Ghanas rich musical history, including various genres, landmark moments and key personalities who have defined the country's music. We are embarking on documenting our artists. There is no data about them anywhere, Simons stated, noting that for instance, when you mention a great musician like CK Mann, there is no proper documentation on him. We will include Lumba in the list. That is the reason why we want a national music archive to honour such icons. In addition to the music museum where the history and contributors to Highlife will be preserved, we will make sure that all other genres done in Ghana are also there. And we will fuse it with a Hall of Fame, so that if you go to this place, you will see that everything that has to do with music in Ghana is there. Beyond these facilities, MUSIGA is also set to launch a series of activities in honour of Daddy Lumba and other fallen stars. These will include nationwide tribute concerts and educational workshops to highlight Highlife's evolution and its continued relevance. There will be a special tribute concert and workshops for people to know what Lumba did with Highlife, because he brought a different kind of contribution to the genre. A special seminar on Highlife music will be organised at the end of the year by stakeholders, including the Ministry of Tourism, Creative Arts Agency, Ghana Tourism Authority, Commission on Culture and Folklore Board. Mr Simons emphasised that MUSIGA has been in talks with relevant parties to push for formal recognition of Highlife as part of Ghanas intangible cultural heritage. They hope this move will be finalised by November. We started efforts even before Daddy Lumba passed away, Simons stated. We want UNESCO to list Highlife as one of the intangible cultural heritage, making it a cornerstone in discussions around music globally. Just like how Jamaica readily comes to mind at the mention of Reggae, we want it to be the same for Ghana whenever Highlife is mentioned, he stated. Finally, the MUSIGA President stressed the need to reconnect younger generations with Highlife music. He lamented that many youth have drifted away from the genre, partly due to a lack of national support and positive storytelling around its value. We must work hard to inspire young people to embrace Highlife. Too often, the genre is overlooked or dismissed, but it remains the foundation of much of the music we enjoy today. Every modern sound in Ghana carries echoes of Highlife, Simons concluded. Next article: Inconvenient truth: If we must wait for death to celebrate, we have already failed Featured FULL TEXT: National broadcast by President John Dramani Mahama on the tragic helicopter crash at Adansi Akrofrom John Mahama Opinion Aug - 08 - 2025 , 07:22 4 minutes read Good evening, my countrymen and women. It is with a profoundly heavy heart that I address you tonight. Yesterday, a tragic helicopter crash in Adansi Akrofuom claimed the lives of eight cherished members of our Ghanaian family. The victims of this accident include five passengers and three dedicated members of the Ghana Armed Forces. Among them were: Dr. Edward Kofi Omane Boamah, Minister for Defence. Alhaji Dr. Murtala Mohammed, Member of Parliament for Tamale Central and Minister for Environment, Science, and Technology. Alhaji Muniru Mohammed Limuna, Acting Deputy National Security Coordinator. Samuel Sarpong, Vice Chairman of the National Democratic Congress. Samuel Aboagye, Deputy Director-General of NADMO. Squadron Leader Peter Anala of the Ghana Air Force. Flying Officer Tsum Ampadu of the Ghana Air Force. Sergeant Ernest Addo of the Ghana Air Force. This tragedy represents a deep personal loss for me. I shared close bonds with many of these individuals who died. Our nation is grieving. On behalf of the government and the people of Ghana, I extend my deepest condolences to their families, friends, and loved ones. Know that our entire country mourns with you. We share your pain. Your loss is our lossa loss of dedicated public servants, intellectuals, and individuals who tirelessly worked for a better Ghana. These eight individuals dedicated their lives to Ghana's progress. That their final moments were spent in service is a testament to their unwavering commitment. We have lost some of our nations brightest minds. This is a moment of shared heartbreak, a time to reflect on the preciousness of life, the sacrifices of public service, and our gratitude for those who dedicate themselves to the well-being of Ghana." "Squadron Leader Anala, Flying Officer Ampadu, and Sergeant Addo were dedicated members of our Air Force, embodying the best of their profession. Alhaji Muniru Mohammed Limuna was a humble yet effective public servant. Samuel Sarpong was a respected statesman, and Mr. Samuel Aboagye was a promising leader. Dr. Omane Boamah was a brilliant and dedicated leader. Alhaji Dr. Murtala Mohammed was a passionate voice for his constituents and a champion for environmental stewardship. These gallant men each served Ghana with distinction. As we mourn, questions about the cause of this tragedy are natural and important. I want to assure the families and the nation that the Ghana Armed Forces has initiated a full and transparent investigation into the circumstances of this crash. An Investigative Board of Inquiry has been set up to investigate the cause of the crash. The flight data and cock pit voice recorders have been retrieved. All eight of the bodies of our departed comrades have been retrieved, and the government is in close touch with the bereaved families about identification of the bodies and final internment. In this moment of national grief, let us remember that we are, above all, Ghanaians united not just by nationality but by shared hope, shared humanity, and now, shared sorrow. Let us set aside our differences and offer our collective compassion to the bereaved families. This is not a time for division, speculation, or political point-scoring. It is a time for strength, for empathy, and for the enduring Ghanaian spirit that still stands tall when all else fails. Let our words be of comfort, our actions be of kindness, and our unity be the tribute we offer to those whose lives have been lost. To the families, to the Ghana Armed Forces, to the Ministries and Departments that have lost dedicated staff, and to the National Democratic Congress, which mourns the passing of valued members, may you find strength in their memory and their legacy. May we all be comforted by the knowledge that, though they are gone from our sight, they remain forever in the spirit of the nation they so faithfully served. On Saturday, 9th August at 5.00 pm, the nation will gather at the forecourt of the State House for an Evening of Reflections and Memorial in honour of our departed colleagues." "Books of condolence will be opened simultaneously at the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ghana Armed Forces Headquarters, the National Democratic Congress headquarters, and the head office of NADMO, from Sunday, 10th August to Thursday, 14th August 2025. On Friday, 15th August, an inter-denominational state funeral will be held for the eight heroes at the Black Star Square. My brothers and sisters, countrymen and women, may God bless their souls. May God bless Ghana." Featured Ashimolowo, church and poor Christians Enimil Ashon Opinion Aug - 08 - 2025 , 09:57 5 minutes read On Day 2 of the Greater Works Conference at Christ Temple East, Tse Addo, last Tuesday, August 5, when Conference Host Pastor Mensa Anamoa Otabil was handed the mic to introduce the next speaker, it was 20 minutes of what I choose to describe as a panegyric. The next speaker was the man popularly believed to be Nigerias most significant religious export to the world, Pastor Matthew Ashimolowo, founder of Kingsway International Christian Centre (KICC). For the first time since Pastor Matthew began ministering at Greater Works, Otabils introduction was not about his friends eloquence or ministerial gifts. He introduced the audience to Widows Empowerment, a charity through which Ashimolowo donates to the poor. At one such event in Nigeria, he donated food, clothes, medical treatment, money and other items to some 1,500 widows in Ode-Omu, Osun State, Nigeria. I was in the Greater Works crowd and if you watch the event on Youtube or Facebook, you might see that I was one of those applauding the act of philanthropy by this pastor who has been honoured on the Power List on more occasions than one as the Most Influential Black Person in the UKs Public Sector (Religious Category). My applause was inspired by a verse in the Christian Bibles Proverbs 19:17, which says that Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord. I am also one who believes that Christians should respond positively to global poverty and hunger; that a nation's greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members. Mahatma Gandhis observation is true for all time, that there are people in the world so hungry that God cannot appear to them, except in the form of bread. But even as I clapped, the other side of my brain was taking note that whilst giving fish to the poor is great for now, shouldnt Christians rather teach the poor in their congregations how to fish? Method That is why I love the method of the early missionaries. They established schools to get the poor educated because it was the most assured way of empowering them to use their brains to help themselves out of poverty. They created vocational schools to teach such skills as carpentry, pottery, shoe-making, blacksmithing, etc. In reacting to news that Ghanas sitting President is a farmer, a member of the John Dramani Mahama Fan Club wrote the following online: Hi there. I want to suggest to all churches in Ghana to contribute 45 per cent of church-offering to boost Ghanas Agriculture That said, it's for me. The church should respond to crises, as it has always done, but long after the crises, the poor keep sitting in the pews. The answer for all time is to use the church money to set up farms and plantations. Sustainability It should be a programme of sustainability. The church should acquire the land and the inputs, such as seed and a watering mechanism for irrigation and enter into a contract with as many in the congregation as will be interested. Since they have no means of feeding while they weed and plant, the church should feed them during the period of planting. At harvest time, as they earn the reward of their labour, they can be weaned off charity. Can we imagine the millions that will be lifted out of poverty? Beyond the individual in the church, the nation benefits. When Mohammed Yunus established Grameen Bank, which lent to the poor (even beggars), millions were taken out of extreme poverty and the country experienced peace and stability. He won the Nobel Prize for that initiative. I am sure this contribution is behind the decision of the current President of Bangladesh to appoint Yunus as head of an interim government. With the size of offerings and tithes that come in every day, every week, every month, there is nothing the church cannot do that requires the use of money. Unlike many other people who criticise the churches for putting their money into new buildings, I am impressed by the size of new church auditoriums that have been sprouting over the last 10 years or so. Investment Their current investment in large church buildings prevents a situation where, after 50 years, the congregations have no place to sit. In Accra, I have taken note of developments by Calvary and Mount Olivet Methodist, Perez, Christ Temple East, etc. Wise decision, if such ventures are not overdone to the neglect of the needs of the poor. For example, while the poor cry for help, churches can postpone their investment in disco strobe lights, etc. I am not against investment in gadgets and equipment that will attract and keep the youth interested in going to church. What I am against is doing all these to the neglect of the poor. Lets have church farms whose farmers and workers are in the church. If each denomination sets up a 1,000-acre plantation, we shall, in the next five years, be counting one million fewer people among the poor in the church. The writer is the Executive Director, Centre for Communication and Culture. E-mail: [email protected] Next article: Lets offer compassion to bereaved families - President Mahama: State funeral to be held on Friday, August 15 Featured Baffoe-Bonnie: Let us serve Ghana in memory of fallen patriots Emmanuel Ebo Hawkson Aug - 08 - 2025 , 12:37 2 minutes read The Acting Chief Justice, Justice Paul Baffoe-Bonnie, has urged the public to give their best in service to the country in memory of the sacrifices made by the eight individuals who lost their lives in a helicopter crash last Wednesday. Speaking after laying a wreath in honour of the eight gallant patriots, Justice Baffoe-Bonnie described the incident as a national tragedy that had robbed the country of distinguished personalities. He further reiterated calls on the public not to use the tragedy to score political points, but to see it as a rallying call for unity. These gallant men died in the course of duty and so we should forge ahead in national unity and not politicise their death. We should all have recourse to the legacy they left behind and serve the nation to the best of our ability, he said. Background The victims, including two cabinet ministers and three military personnel, were recovered from the crash site near Sikaman in the Adansi Akrofuom District of the Ashanti Region. The ill-fated helicopter had departed Accra at 09:12 hours on Wednesday en route to Obuasi, carrying officials to the Responsible Cooperative Mining and Skills Development Programme (rCOMSDEP). Eyewitnesses reported that the aircraft burst into flames upon impact after losing radar contact shortly after take-off. Among the deceased were: 1. Dr. Edward Omane Boamah Minister for Defence 2. Alhaji Dr. Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed Minister for Environment, Science, and Technology, and Member of Parliament for Tamale Central 3. Alhaji Muniru Mohammed Acting Deputy National Security Coordinator 4. Dr. Samuel Sarpong Vice Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) 5. Samuel Aboagye Former Parliamentary Candidate 6. Squadron Leader Peter Bafemi Anala Pilot 7. Flying Officer Manin Twum-Ampadu Co-pilot 8. Sergeant Ernest Addo Mensah Crew member Featured Activities at ministries grind to halt Daniel Kenu & Diana Mensah Aug - 08 - 2025 , 09:57 4 minutes read The Ministries remained quiet yesterday as all scheduled programmes were cancelled following President John Dramani Mahama's declaration of a three-day national mourning. The declaration followed the death of two ministers and six others after a helicopter they were travelling in crashed in the Ashanti Region last Wednesday. Almost all workers were clad in black, with some shedding tears. The eight, including the Minister of Defence, Dr Edward Omane Boamah, and the Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, Dr Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed, died in the crash at Adansi Krofuom on their way to the launch of the Responsible Cooperative Mining and Skills Development Programme (rCOMSDEP) at Obuasi. Last Wednesday afternoon, when news of the passing of the minister broke, staff at the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology (MEST) in Accra were thrown into a state of mourning. Around 3:30 p.m., when the Daily Graphic visited the offices, deep silence and apparent disbelief had gripped staff in the wake of confirmation of the tragic death of the minister. Scheduled meetings were suspended, while a solemn atmosphere took over the usually active corridors of the ministry. The national flag, hoisted at half-mast at the entrance of the ministry on the directive of the President, fluttered slowly. Inside the offices and along the corridors, the mood was heavy. Several staff members wore red and black armbands, a known symbol of mourning in Ghanaian cultural settings. Some sat quietly in their offices while others tried to comfort their colleagues. A few who could not contain the weight of the news broke down in tears as the reality of the tragedy dawned on them. Management hastily organised a meeting in the main conference room to officially break the news. Outside the premises was a crowd of onlookers and passersby who stood in silence. The Chief Director of the ministry, Suweibatu Adam, shed tears as she walked out of the premises flanked by escorts. At the same ministry yesterday, the staff, visibly cast down, visited the residence of the minister to commiserate with the family before returning to work. Officials, however, shied from media queries. Those on the flight included the Minister of Defence, Dr Edward Kofi Omane Boamah; acting Deputy National Security Coordinator, Alhaji Muniru Mohammed Limuna; a Second Vice Chairman of the NDC, Samuel Sarpong; and a parliamentary candidate in the 2024 elections, Samuel Aboagye. The others were Squadron Leader Peter Bafemi Anala, Flying Officer Amaning Twum Ampadu and Sergeant Ernest Addo Mensah. Business Some clients who had come to transact business at three ministries -- Environment, Tourism and Labour -- appeared disappointed as there were no senior officials to address their concerns. Francis Eshun had travelled from Winneba to follow up on his form for endorsement at the Ministry of Environment. Nonetheless, he expressed hope that despite the tragic event, business would go on. In less than 24 hours after the tragic event, some young men have been able to create miniature portraits of all those killed in a one-page calendar to cash in. However, business appeared to be slow as people were seen in groups discussing the passing, especially of Dr Omane Boama and Dr Mutala Mohammed. Usually by midday, there would be heavy vehicular and human movements at the Ministries as workers either went out for lunch or attended to visitors. However, there was no such thing happening on Thursday. The road linking Tema Station, Foreign Affairs and the Ghana News Agency, which was always busy around midday, was almost deserted. Although some vehicles were seen around, vehicular activities were reduced. Food joints around the Environmental Protection Authority and the Foreign Affairs Ministry were not as brisk as they used to be. There was no scientific proof to ascertain whether the low activities were due to the tragic event, but the happenings were unusual. When the reporter was leaving the Ministries, no minister had reported to work. Featured Crashed Z-9 helicopter black box found Gilbert Mawuli Agbey Aug - 08 - 2025 , 07:38 3 minutes read After the devastating helicopter crash that resulted in the tragic death of eight individuals, including two cabinet ministers, a major issue that came up for public discussion was the flight recorder system, popularly known as the black box. The publics attention turned to the black box as it would likely chronicle the circumstances that led to the helicopter crashing at Adansi-Brofoyedu in the Adansi-Akrofuom District in the Ashanti Region. In the wake of the tragedy that has thrown the entire nation into a state of mourning, finding the black box was essential as it would give a clue as to whether the crash was a result of a mechanical fault, weather conditions or an error from the crew onboard the helicopter. Black box found According to information gathered by the Daily Graphic, a team of investigators from the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) continued their work at the scene of the incident yesterday to conduct further investigations into the tragic crash. In the course of their search as part of their investigations, they found the black box. The Ashanti Regional Minister, Dr Frank Amoakohene, confirmed the retrieval of the black box during separate visits to the families of Samuel Sarpong and Samuel Aboagye at their respective residences in Kumasi and Obuasi yesterday. What is it? The black box records all flight information with a specific algorithm, making the recorded flight data accessible to authorities when needed. Contrary to popular belief, the black box is mostly a bright orange box and not black. The box is resistant to the most extreme situations, including blazing fires and is one of the special tools of the aviation research industry with voice recording features. It helps to clarify the reasons for accidents and to find ways to prevent them. The first use of the device dates back to 1947. After 1958, it was mandatory to have it on board, according to the rules set by the Civil Aeronautics Board. The black box stores all kinds of information and conversations on the plane. Passenger planes' black boxes are able to send signals under the sea for 90 days. Weighing an average of five kilos, the black box activates as soon as it interacts with a pool of water and starts sending signals to make it easier to be located. Conversations The pilots' conversations are recorded in the black box so that investigators can listen to the pilots' last conversations. However, this does not apply to every black box. Some black boxes only record data about the plane, while others do both jobs. The black box is designed to be the least affected by an impact, and this is why it is located at the tail end of the plane. It is designed to be as strong as granite. Even at a temperature of 1,100 degrees Celsius, the structural integrity can remain intact for a certain period. Black boxes are subjected to many safety tests before they are mounted on an aircraft. Writers email: [email protected] Featured Fallen heroes body samples flown to South Africa for DNA analysis and identification Joshua Bediako Koomson Aug - 08 - 2025 , 07:01 3 minutes read Samples of the bodies of victims of last Wednesdays helicopter crash have been sent to South Africa for further forensic examination. The Minister for the Interior, Muntaka Mohammed-Mubarak, led a delegation of high-ranking government officials to the Kotoka International Airport to see off the team accompanying the bodies of the helicopter crash victims to South Africa. We thank God and all Ghanaians for the solidarity and support. This is the first of this kind of tragedy, and we are grateful for the support, the minister told newsmen shortly after the aircraft took off yesterday after 5 p.m. He explained that to speed up the investigation, the bodies had to be sent for further examination and analysis. He thanked the families for the support and the cooperation. We know they are grieving and are eager to inter their loved ones, but we are happy for the support and cooperation, Mr Mohammed-Mubarak said. He said it should not all be about burying the bodies, but thorough examinations were needed. The Interior Minister said the government was working around the clock to speed up the investigations. We want to assure the families that we are with them, he said. A high-ranking officer of the Forensic Unit of the Police Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is the leader of the delegation. Remains in Accra Their remains were airlifted from Kumasi to Accra and received at the Air Force Base at Burma Camp. A solemn atmosphere enveloped the Ghana Air Force Base in Accra last Wednesday evening as the bodies of the eight distinguished Ghanaians who lost their lives in a military helicopter crash in the Adansi area in the Ashanti Region were received. The Ghana Air Force Z-9 helicopter, which departed Accra at 9:12 a.m. en route to Obuasi, lost contact on the radar after takeoff. All eight persons on board were later confirmed dead. Aside from the two serving ministers, the acting Deputy National Security Coordinator and former Minister of Food and Agriculture, Alhaji Mohammed Muniru Limuna; the Vice-Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Samuel Sarpong, and former parliamentary candidate, Samuel Aboagye, were also onboard. The military officers were Squadron Leader Peter Bafemi Anala, Flying Officer Manaen Twum Ampadu, and Sergeant Ernest Addo Mensah. Present at the brief and dignified ceremony to receive the remains were senior government officials, military personnel, and the clergy. The government delegation was led by the Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah. The others included the Minister of Education, Haruna Iddrisu; Deputy Chief of Staff in charge of Operations, Stan Dogbe; the Minister of Works and Housing, Kenneth Gilbert Adjei; the Minister of State in charge of Government Communications, Felix Kwakye Ofosu; the Deputy Minister of Defence, Brogya Genfi; and the Deputy Minister of Communication, Digital Technology and Innovations, Mohammed Adams Sukparu. The Chief of the Defence Staff, Lieutenant General William Agyapong, and the service chiefs were at the ceremony, as was the General Secretary of the NDC, Fifi Fiavi Kwetey. As the military pall bearers carried the flag-draped coffins from the flight, the mood was one of deep reflection. Some officers and attendees were visibly moved at the short interfaith prayer service as the eight coffins were arranged on catafalques decorated wooden structures supporting the coffin of a distinguished person during a funeral or while lying in state. Christian clergymen and Muslim clerics took turns to lead brief intercessions, praying for the peaceful repose of the souls and strength for the grieving families. Following the prayers, the coffins were placed into hearses and transported to the 37 Military Hospital mortuary for autopsy and preservation. Featured Lets offer compassion to bereaved families - President Mahama: State funeral to be held on Friday, August 15 Kester Aburam Korankye Aug - 08 - 2025 , 12:27 5 minutes read President John Dramani Mahama has rallied the country in its time of grief and agony, urging all to offer collective compassion to the bereaved families of last Wednesdays tragic helicopter crash that killed eight dedicated citizens. In this moment of national grief, let us remember that we are, above all, Ghanaians united not just by nationality but by shared hope, shared humanity, and now, shared sorrow, he said in a national broadcast from the Jubilee House in Accra last night, his first address since the tragedy of the catastrophic crash at Adansi Brofoyedu in the Adansi Akrofuom District in the Ashanti Region. President Mahama described the deceased as "national heroes" who died in active service to the nation. In a pensive mood and dressed in an all-black outfit, in a bold and unbreakable tone, he appealed to Ghanaians to set aside any differences and offer collective compassion to the bereaved families. This is not a time for division, speculation, or political point-scoring. It is a time for strength, for empathy, and for the enduring Ghanaian spirit that still stands tall when all else fails, he said. The President, who has been visibly shaken by the loss of the eight, entreated the citizens to let our words be of comfort, our actions be of kindness, and our unity be the tribute we offer to those whose lives have been lost. Victims Minister of Defence, Dr Edward Omane Boamah and the Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, Alhaji Dr Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed, were on the helicopter heading to a national assignment in Obuasi in the Ashanti Region when the disaster struck. The other persons on the flight were the acting Deputy National Security Coordinator, Alhaji Muniru Mohammed, who was on his first official assignment since his appointment a fortnight ago; a National Vice-Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Samuel Sarpong; a parliamentary candidate in the 2024 elections and Deputy Coordinator of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), Samuel Aboagye; Squadron Leader Peter Bafemi Anala, the pilot on the helicopter; Flying Officer Manaen Twum Ampadu, co-pilot; and Sergeant Ernest Addo-Mensah, a crew member. State funeral The President announced an inter-denominational state funeral to be held for the eight heroes at the Black Star Square on Friday, August 15, this year. Before then, books of condolence will be simultaneously opened at the Ministries of Defence, Environment, Science and Technology, Foreign Affairs, the Ghana Armed Forces Headquarters, the National Democratic Congress headquarters, and the head office of National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), from Sunday, August 10 to Thursday, August 14, this year, he disclosed. The state funeral at Black Star Square is expected to draw dignitaries from across Africa and beyond, with security preparations already underway. Tributes to the fallen In emotional remarks, President Mahama paid tribute to each victim, highlighting their contributions to national development. He particularly extolled the military officers' dedication to duty and the ministers' commitment to public service. "These were not just colleagues, but friends and patriots who shared our vision for a better Ghana," the President said, his voice breaking intermittently. Alluding to how the tragedy was a deep personal loss because he shared close bonds with many of the deceased individuals, President Mahama described them as individuals who dedicated their lives to Ghana's progress. That their final moments were spent in service is a testament to their unwavering commitment, he said, stressing how the nation had lost some of its brightest minds. While Sqr Ldr Anala, Flying Officer Ampadu, and Sergeant Addo Mensah were dedicated members of the Ghana Air Force, embodying the best of their profession, Alhaji Limuna was a humble, effective public servant, he said. The President described Mr Sarpong as a respected statesman, Mr Aboagye as a promising leader, and Dr Omane Boamah as a brilliant and dedicated leader. Alhaji Dr Murtala Mohammed was a passionate voice for his constituents and a champion for environmental stewardship, President Mahama said, adding, These gallant men each served Ghana with distinction. Investigation President Mahama confirmed that the flight data and cockpit voice recorders had been retrieved, as were all eight of the bodies of the departed individuals. He said the government was in close touch with the bereaved families about identification of the bodies and final interment. The President added that while it was natural and important for questions regarding the cause of the tragedy, he assured the families and the nation that the GAF had initiated a full and transparent investigation into the circumstances of the crash. An Investigative Board of Inquiry has been set up to investigate the cause of the crash, the President said. Condolences On behalf of the government and Ghanaians, the President extended condolences to the families, friends and loved ones of the departed, reminding them that the entire nation mourned with them. We share your pain. Your loss is our loss a loss of dedicated public servants, intellectuals and individuals who tirelessly worked for a better Ghana, he stated. To the families, to the Ghana Armed Forces, to the Ministries and Departments that have lost dedicated staff, and to the National Democratic Congress, which mourns the passing of valued members, may you find strength in their memory and their legacy, he said. Featured Nation mourns fallen men - President leads solemn tribute Kester Aburam Korankye Aug - 08 - 2025 , 05:57 3 minutes read A sorrowful atmosphere enveloped the Jubilee House yesterday as President John Dramani Mahama, Vice-President Prof. Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, and top government officials joined grieving families and the public in a solemn flower-laying ceremony to honour eight departed souls, including two government ministers, who tragically lost their lives in last Wednesdays helicopter crash. Held under full military protocol, the emotional event saw President Mahama lay two flowers in memory of the deceased, followed by Vice-President Prof. Opoku-Agyemang, who placed a bouquet of white roses at the ceremonial grounds. Defence Minister, Dr Edward Omane Boamah and Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, Alhaji Dr Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed, were on the helicopter heading for a national assignment in Obuasi in the Ashanti Region when the disaster struck at Adansi-Brofoyedu in the Adansi Akrofuom District. The other persons on the flight were the acting Deputy National Security Coordinator, Alhaji Muniru Mohammed, who was on his first official assignment after he was appointed a fortnight ago; a National Vice-Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Dr Samuel Sarpong; a parliamentary candidate in the 2024 elections and Deputy Coordinator of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO), Samuel Aboagye; Squadron Leader Peter Bafemi Anala, the pilot on the helicopter; Flying Officer Manaen Twum Ampadu, the co-pilot, and Sergeant Ernest Addo-Mensah, a crew member. Other tributes The Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah, also paid his respects in a moving display of national grief. The National Chairman of the governing National Democratic Congress (NDC), Johnson Asiedu Nketia, and the partys General Secretary, Fifi Fiavi Kwetey, laid flowers in honour of their fallen comrades, while the National Security Coordinator and the Chief of the Defence Staff laid theirs on behalf of the National Security Secretariat and the Ghana Armed Forces. The Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Dr. Johnson Asiama, was the last dignitary to lay flowers, after which members of the public took turns to pay their respects with bouquets and wreaths. The mood at the Jubilee House remains heavy as the nation grapples with the shocking loss. The helicopter crash, which occurred last Wednesday, has sent waves of grief across the country. Presidents mood President Mahama, visibly moved, stood in quiet reflection as military personnel maintained a guard of honour throughout the ceremony. The event concluded with a minute of silence, as Ghanaians nationwide continued to mourn the tragic incident. Call for probe A leading member of the NDC, Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, later called for external experts to investigate the crash. In an interview, he said that although he was close to some of the victims of the crash and was grieving, he believed that the technical side of the accident must be probed. I understand for some years now it has been having challenges, he said, referring to the helicopter. Musician and showbiz act, Rex Omar, emphasised the call for investigations into what caused the crash. This has never happened in the country before, so I support those calling for a full-scale investigation, he said. Featured Organisations mourn helicopter crash victims Emmanuel Bonney & Delali Sika Aug - 08 - 2025 , 09:57 9 minutes read More organisations have paid glowing tributes to the eight persons who perished in the helicopter crash last Wednesday at Adansi-Brofoyedu, near Akrofuom, in the Adansi Akrofuom District in the Ashanti Region. They are the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), National Union of Ghana Students (NUGS), Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference (GCBC), Methodist Church Ghana, AME Zion Church, Ghana Pentecostal and Charismatic Council (GPCC), Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), University Teachers Association of Ghana (UTAG) and the Frimpong Manso Institute, a think tank. A Ghana Air Force Z9 helicopter carrying eight people went missing after taking off from Accra last Wednesday. On board were three crew members and five passengers, namely the Minister of Defence, Dr Edward Kofi Omane Boamah; the Minister of Environment, Alhaji Dr Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed; the acting Deputy National Security Coordinator, Alhaji Muniru Mohammed Limuna; the Vice Chairman of the National Democratic Congress, Samuel Sarpong and a former Parliamentary candidate, Samuel Aboagye. The rest are Squadron Leaders Peter Bafemi Anala, Flying Officer Amaning Twum Ampadu and Sergeant Ernest Addo Mensah. GJA The Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) appealed to journalists and media houses across the country to exercise professionalism, empathy, and sensitivity in their coverage of the tragic helicopter crash. Most Rev. Prof. Johnson Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu Presiding Bishop of the Methodist Church Ghana A statement signed by the President of the association, Albert Kwabena Dwumfour, urged traditional and new media practitioners to refrain from circulating graphic images of the accident, describing such actions as unethical and disrespectful to the memory of the deceased. This is a time for sensitivity. We must honour the memory of the departed by treating this incident with the dignity and respect they deserve. Let us also desist from sharing disturbing visuals of the crash scene, the statement said. The GJA extended heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families, the government, and the Ghana Armed Forces, expressing solidarity with the nation in this moment of collective grief. Catholic Bishops The GCBC, in a statement signed by its President, Most Rev. Matthew Kwasi Gyamfi, said it was with deep sorrow and profound Christian solidarity that the members of the GCBC received the tragic news of the military helicopter crash, which claimed the lives of eight distinguished Ghanaians. The heartbreaking news, it said, reached Us today during our August Plenary Assembly at the National Catholic Secretariat in Accra, casting a long shadow over our deliberations and stirring us to communal prayer and reflection. These were men of proven dedication - public servants, politicians, technocrats and gallant officers of the Ghana Armed Forces - who gave of themselves in service to the Republic, its institutions, and to the people of this land. Their sudden and untimely departure is not only a blow to their families and loved ones, but a grave loss to the nation, he said Methodist Church The Methodist Church Ghana extended its condolences to the President, the government, bereaved families and the entire nation on the unfortunate helicopter crash that claimed the lives of eight Ghanaians. It said the church was offering prayers that the Lord, who is close to the broken-hearted, would uphold them with His peace and may their loss unite Ghanaians in national solidarity and reflection, as they entrust the souls of the departed into the eternal rest of God. The condolences of the church were contained in a statement signed by its Presiding Bishop, Most Rev. Professor Johnson Kwabena Asimara-Gyadu. The statement said in this painful moment, Ghanaians mourn as a people but not as those without hope, adding that, even in the valley of the shadow of death, Ghanaians were assured of Gods abiding presence. AME Zion The AME Zion, in a statement signed by the Presiding Bishop, Rt Rev. Dr Hilliard K. Dela Dogbe said the sad event had undoubtedly shaken our nation to its very core and brought great pain and grief to all. We extend our heartfelt condolences to President John Dramani Mahama, the government, the Ghana Armed Forces and families and friends of the eight nationals who lost their lives in this devastating accident. Our thoughts and prayers are with all who have been impacted. We stand united with the nation in mourning these gallant men who paid the ultimate price in service to our dear nation, it said and that As our nation unites in grief, may the memories of the departed live on and may their sacrifice spur us on to offer our best in selfless service to God and Ghana. GPCC In a statement signed by the General Secretary, Apostle Immanuel N.O. Tettey, the GPCC said its heartfelt condolences go out to the families and loved ones of the deceased. It said their commitment to serving the nation and their communities would always be remembered. Without any shadow of doubt, this is a national tragedy and an immense loss to their respective families, loved ones and the entire people of Ghana. Our prayers are with the entire nation during this difficult time, it said. GaDangme Council The GaDangme Council in a tribute signed by its President and former Attorney-General, Ayikoi Otoo, said the legacies of Dr Edward Omane Boamah, Alhaji Dr Murtala Mohammed, and others who perished in Wednesdays helicopter crash would remain etched in the nations memory. The council described the crash as a devastating blow to the country and called for ethical media reportage as the nation mourns. The GaDangme Council commended the selfless service of the deceased, particularly Dr Omane Boamah and Dr Murtala Mohammed, noting their dedication, passion and contribution to national development. It extended condolences to President John Dramani Mahama, the bereaved families, Cabinet, Parliament, and all Ghanaians. We pray for strength, comfort and healing for the families left behind and for the eternal rest of the souls of our departed leaders and compatriots, the Council said. GNAT GNAT, for its part, conveyed its deepest condolences to the government and the people of Ghana, following the tragic air crash which befell the country on Wednesday, August 6, 2025 and claimed the lives of eight of its illustrious sons in their line of duty and brought Ghana to its knees. A statement signed by the General Secretary, Thomas Musah, expressed the associations deepest respect and admiration for the fallen men. Theirs was a call to national duty to which they responded gallantly and resolutely, the soldiers that they were, only for death to lay its icy hands on them. How tragic and melancholy! We must confess the whole country is shocked and overwhelmed, the GNAT, not excepted. Our hearts go out to the Government and people of Ghana and the bereaved families, it said and We hope the good Lord himself would grant them the fortitude and strength to withstand this loss, and cover them in his grace, and mercy in this moment of anguish, and even after. Theirs was a service of gallantry, dedication, patriotism to the national cause and tells us, that when duty calls, in whichever shape or form, circumstance or situation, we should not fail Ghana, our beloved Country, it said and that The mighty have fallen, they bore up duty with finesse and sacrifice and bow out of duty honourably and solemnly; and would forever be etched in the nation's subconscious, when nation's story is told, even to the generations to come. NUGS NUGS expressed its profound shock and heartfelt sorrow at the tragic helicopter crash that claimed the irreplaceable lives of the eight personalities. It said the devastating loss had left an indelible scar on the conscience of the nation. NUGS mourns not only the demise of respected statesmen but also of leaders who once stood at the forefront of student activism and national development. Dr Omane Boamahs journey from the leadership of NUGS to the highest levels of public service exemplifies the transformative power of student leadership, and his legacy continues to inspire generations of young leaders within and beyond Ghanas borders, it said in a statement issued by the NUGS President, Daniel Korley Botchway. Equally, it said of Murtala Muhammeds enduring legacy in the global student movement. UTAG UTAG said the loss of such high-profile and committed public servants was a profound blow not only to the government but also to the people of Ghana, particularly losing the Minister for Defence and the Minister for Environment, Science and Technology in a period where visionary leadership, scientific innovation, and national security are critical to our collective progress. UTAG extends its deepest condolences to the families of the departed, the Government of the Republic of Ghana, Parliament, the armed forces, and the ministries affected by this irreparable loss. We also remember the technical crew and staff members who perished in the line of duty. Their dedication will not be forgotten. We urge the government to conduct a thorough and transparent investigation into the circumstances surrounding the crash and to take all necessary steps to enhance the safety of official air travel going forward, to avoid future tragedies of this nature, it said in a statement. AGC The Africa Governance Centre (AGC) called on Ghanaians to honour the memory of the eight distinguished citizens who tragically lost their lives in a military helicopter crash by upholding the principles they represented: service, integrity, accountability, and selfless leadership. In a heartfelt press statement signed by the Communications Director, Victoria Moonn Cyriacus, and issued on August 7, the centre described the incident as a devastating blow to the nation. We must ensure that their legacy is preserved through our continued commitment to the ideals they lived and died for. Their sacrifices must inspire us to strengthen our dedication to public service and national unity, the statement read. The AGC extended its sincerest condolences to the bereaved families and the entire nation, describing the event as a shared tragedy for all Ghanaians. Featured Premature to determine cause of helicopter crash Retired pilot Justice Agbenorsi Aug - 08 - 2025 , 09:57 3 minutes read A retired pilot of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF), Wing Commander (WG CDR) Kwaku Kekrebesi, has said that it is premature to tell the exact cause of the tragic military helicopter crash that claimed the lives of eight distinguished Ghanaians, including two sitting ministers, last Wednesday In an exclusive interview with Graphic Online's Justice Agbenorsi, he said while weather conditions or engine failure could be potential factors contributing to the clash, it would be too early to make a determination into the matter. We have always resisted the temptation to predict the outcome of an accident unless investigations are complete. Read also: What some eyewitnesses saw before last Wednesday's military helicopter crash in Ghana [VIDEO] Let the accident investigation finish their work, he said sharing a similar instance 22 years ago near Nkawkaw in the Eastern Region, killing all seven people on board- four crew members, two patients and a nurse. In that case, a military helicopter was conducting a medical evacuation mission from Boma to Accra before it crushed. WG CDR Kekrebesi, who worked as a pilot with the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF) for over three decades said he was not privy to the findings of that investigation. Black box He explained that investigators could rely on a black box, to determine the cause. The black box, contains two key components Flight Data Recorder (FDR) and Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) that help aviation experts understand the events that led to an accident. The FDR logs critical technical data such as altitude, airspeed, engine performance, and the flight path while the CVR on the other hand, captures all sounds from within the cockpit, including conversations between the pilots and other audio cues from the flight deck. He said with records of the functioning systems and what the pilots ddid could be combinedto easily find the cause. Servicing Asked whether the Ghana Air Force Z9 helicopter, which was procured by the state in September 2015, had exhausted its lifespan, he said Aeroplanes typically did not have a fixed lifespan. However, he said occasionally, their parts were always being changed adding, That's what aeroplanes are called the safest means of travel. And here at the GAF, their parts are always changed. When they are due, they change them. The only thing that remains is the airframe, which they normally do X-ray on. They X-ray them to see whether they are still alive. That's it. So an aeroplane can last for 50 and more years. It has nothing to do with safety. It's safe, totally safe, he said. The country was thrown into a state of shock when a Ghana Air Force Z9 helicopter which had departed Accra at 9:12 a.m. en route to Obuasi crashed, claiming the lives of two ministers of state, a top national security official, three flight crew members and two members of the ruling party soon became a reality. Defence Minister Dr Edward Omane Boamah and Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, Alhaji Dr Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed, were on the helicopter heading for a national assignment in Obuasi in the Ashanti Region when the disaster struck at Adansi-Brofoyedu in the Adansi Akrofuom District. The other persons on the flight were the acting Deputy National Security Coordinator, Alhaji Muniru Mohammed, who was on his first official assignment since his appointment a fortnight ago; a National Vice-Chairman of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Dr Samuel Sarpong; a parliamentary candidate in the 2024 elections, Samuel Aboagye; Squadron Leader Peter Bafemi Anala, the pilot; Flying Officer Manaen Twum Ampadu, co-pilot, and Sergeant Ernest Addo-Mensah, crew member. The passengers were travelling to the launch of the Responsible Cooperative Mining and Skills Development Programme (RCOMSDEP). According to military sources, radar contact was lost shortly after takeoff. Eyewitnesses reported the aircraft burst into flames upon impact. The government has formed a task force to investigate the crash. Featured Western Regional Minister visits flight officers wife Kobla Dotsey Aklorbortu Aug - 08 - 2025 , 07:00 2 minutes read The Western Regional Minister, Joseph Nelson, has commiserated with Naval Lieutenant Ewuradwoa Kumi-Kyereh, wife of Flying Officer Manean Twum Ampadu, one of the crew members who perished in the military helicopter crash in the Ashanti Region. The Flying Officer and his wife are assigned to the Two Garrison in the Western Region. The minister, who led the Western Regional Security Council to the Western Naval Headquarters at Sekondi to express condolences to the spouse of the fallen officer, expressed shock at the devastating incident. News We have been hit hard with the news of this shocking incident, and we are here to commiserate with the wife of one of the crew members involved in the crash who is a Naval officer, he said. He extended his heartfelt sympathies to Lt Kumi-Kyereh, who is also the Two Garrison Psychologist, and prayed for God to comfort her and the family in this difficult time. The Director-General of Religious Affairs of the Ghana Armed Forces (GAF), Brigadier-General Benjamin Kumi-Woode, said the tragic incident had shocked the whole country and GAF in particular. Prayer He offered his commiseration to the bereaved officer, saying: We want to say that all of us are with you and pray that God gives you the strength to go through this trying time. The Flag Officer Commanding the Western Naval Command, Commodore Samuel Ayelazono, expressed gratitude to the regional minister and the REGSEC for their show of sympathy to Lt (GN) Kumi-Kyereh and the families of all involved in the crash. Next article: NCCE commiserates with govt, families of 8 killed in helicopter crash Featured Kufuor, Akufo-Addo, Bawumia grieve with nation Samuel Duodu Politics Aug - 08 - 2025 , 04:57 3 minutes read Former Presidents John Agyekum Kufuor and Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo have joined the nation to mourn the tragic loss of eight distinguished personalities, including the Defence Minister, Dr Edward Omane Boamah, and the Minister of Environment, Science and Technology, Dr Ibrahim Murtala Mohammed. Also, former Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has expressed deep sorrow over the deaths of the eight individuals, extending his condolences to their families. The former Presidents, in separate statements, expressed their heartfelt sympathies to the bereaved families, the President and the people of Ghana. J.A. Kufuor Former President Kufuor, in a statement he issued, expressed his condolences to the bereaved families of the eight individuals who tragically lost their lives in a helicopter crash. He described the incident as shocking and paid tribute to the victims. "May we honour their memory by striving for compassion, unity, and common purpose in serving our nation, Ghana," Mr Kufuor said. The former President extended his thoughts and prayers to the families, friends, and colleagues of the deceased, calling on God to console the entire nation, especially the bereaved families and the President of the Republic. Nana Akufo-Addo Former President Akufo-Addo, for his part, expressed profound sorrow over the deaths of eight individuals in a military helicopter crash. In a statement shared on his Facebook page, the former President described the crash as a national tragedy that has left the country profoundly shocked and saddened. I have spoken and extended my deepest condolences to the President of the Republic, H.E. John Dramani Mahama, Commander-in-Chief of the Ghana Armed Forces, and Johnson Asiedu Nketiah, Chairman of the NDC, Mr Akufo-Addo stated. He also extended sympathies to the Ghana Air Force and the families of all the victims, acknowledging the sacrifices of the fallen military personnel. I condole with our gallant men of the Ghana Air Force at this concerning time and salute their indispensable role in the public life of our country, he said. Mr Akufo-Addo concluded his message with a prayer: May they find peaceful rest in the Bosom of the Almighty, until the Last Day of the Resurrection, when we shall all meet again. Bawumia Former Vice-President Dr Bawumia, in a statement, conveyed his condolences to President John Dramani Mahama following the devastating news. Dr Bawumia described the victims as men who paid the ultimate price in service to the nation, noting the widespread grief the tragedy has brought. The fallen men paid the ultimate price in the service of our motherland, leaving a shocked nation in pain. I know most of the deceased personally and equally feel a sense of loss to see their demise under such horrid circumstances, he stated. He added that he, along with his wife Samira, the Bawumia family, and the New Patriotic Party, stand in solidarity with the nation during this time of mourning. May the good Lord grant the bereaved families, the government, and people of Ghana strength and healing in this time of tragedy, he concluded. The government has since directed all national flags to be flown at half-mast in honour of the deceased. Investigations into the cause of the crash are ongoing. Japan is joining the EU in forcing Apple to allow non-Webkit browsers on iOS. Following the EU's Digital Markets Act, which came into effect last year, Japan now has the Smartphone Act. This will come into effect by December, and will ban blocking or hindering alternative browser engines, in effect requiring that Apple allow any third-party browser using any rendering engine. Apple must also refrain from practices that render the use of third-party browser engines impractical or commercially unviable. This is designed to avoid situations where Apple would technically comply but make it so hard for developers to actually use engines other than WebKit that in effect nothing would change for consumers. Apple will also have to allow third-party browser engines access to the same APIs as WebKit. Apple can make other APIs available, but they may not be materially inferior to the ones Safari and WebKit use. Finally, the Smartphone Act mandates choice screens for browsers, where consumers are allowed to pick the one they like. Such a choice screen must be displayed "promptly after the first activation" of a device. Via 1 | Via 2 We've seen a bunch of mainstream smartphones with cooling fans so far, most recently the Oppo K13 Turbo and K13 Turbo Pro, and it seems like Huawei wants to outfit the upcoming Mate 80 with such a contraption as well. But the Chinese company has gone a different route compared to its competitors, by integrating the fan into the phone's large circular camera island - in the lower half of it, specifically. The air intake outlet thus sits on the side of the camera island, not on the side of the phone itself. It definitely sounds like a very interesting design, and it's one that Huawei is currently working on perfecting. The Mate 80 Pro will have water resistance too, despite the fan, as the fan itself has a waterproof structure. The fan will be small and very high-speed, with tiny miniaturized fins. We're very curious to see this in action, so we hope Huawei does manage to overcome all of the engineering challenges it entails and actually bring it to market in the Mate 80 later this year. Source (in Chinese) Okkodo High School senior student Jacklyn Cuchapin stepped into her final year of secondary school Thursday morning, one of more than 23,000 Guam Department of Education students returning to campuses. With double-session classes on her campus, shes hoping her class can finish with some sense of normalcy. It feels kind of weird, also kind of like excited, because its my last year of high school, and you know, you have to think about your future and what youll do later on in life, Cuchapin said. So its weird, because it is, can you say its kind of scary. Okkodo in Dededo is one of four public high schools still operating under a double-session schedule due to school construction delays and aging infrastructure. The school continues to share its campus with F.B. Leon Guerrero Middle School. While shortened days initially seemed convenient, Cuchapin said the academic toll soon became evident. During my freshman year of high school, it was like my normal year, having a normal schedule, without the double session, she said. I got to go home early, but Im still missing out on some of my classes. Now in her final year, she hopes to experience traditional senior milestones but not at the cost of lost learning time. I hope Ill have fun this school year, and memories with my friends, she said. Im excited for the upcoming pep rallies and school events that seniors do. Education Superintendent Erik Swanson started his final first-day-of-school tour at Okkodo Thursday morning, visiting schools across the island to monitor student registration, campus readiness, transportation, and logistical operations. Last first day of school in 52 years, actually. Wow. So yeah, theres a...Ill think about that later today, Swanson said. Right now, I just want to make sure everythings going well, and weve got everybody tucked in and ready to rock and roll on the first day. Swanson, with 52 years in education and three as superintendent, said late registrations remain a recurring issue. Okkodo alone registered 80 new students this week, some as late as Thursday morning. You know, life kind of can sneak up on you sometimes. Thats not a criticism. Its just that peoples lives are busy, he said. They know that the first day of school is coming, and they see the commercials on TV...but its like, because Im working on something else today, I forgot about it. Traffic, buses Heavy traffic and a multi-vehicle crash near the Ukudu intersection contributed to delays on opening day. Bus operations continue to struggle, with 80 drivers and buses under the Department of Public Works just enough to cover single-session schools. They are working on a project right now to buy several electric buses...because theres no fuel cost involved. Diesel fuel costs five, six dollars a gallon, Swanson said. DPW Director Vince Arriola said theres enough buses and drivers to begin the school year. [We have] around 80 buses and drivers. We are all set and excited for the school opening, he told the Pacific Daily News. We will monitor our ridership numbers...and keep our students as safe as possible. He acknowledged, however, that this years fleet is smaller than before. Since COVID period, many students have been dropped off or driving themselves in high school, he said. The big issue still remains the hiring of new drivers...small hiring pool, unqualified, etc. Swanson said rezoning continues to impact campuses, especially with families adjusting to the closures of Lyndon B. Johnson Elementary School and Chief Brodie Memorial Elementary School, and the reassignment of students to Upi and JM Guerrero Elementary. Late registration, because people are new in the community. We rezoned two schools, campuses that we closed, so there might be a little bit of confusion there, he said. But our staffs looking for that, and were putting a focus on customer service so we take care of family and kids. While all schools opened on time, transitions between elementary and middle school remain a challenge. Swanson said he planned to visit those campuses later in the day. Double sessions The continuation of double sessions remains a concern for Okkodo, John F. Kennedy High School, Simon Sanchez High School and FBLG Middle School. Thats why were working to get those campuses and Ukudu open, because its not an optimal setup, Swanson said. But I will say...both faculties at JFK, they figured out how to do it, so theyve made the adjustment. And Im looking at their assessment data as it comes back. They do really well. Construction delays at FBLG Middle and Simon Sanchez High stemmed from a six-week freeze on federal funds, triggering a three-month setback. Although funding has resumed and the contractor has been paid, material shipments were delayed due to the hold. Crews are now pushing ahead to regain lost time. Permanent construction at Simon Sanchez High remains under negotiation. Theyre separate projects. Theyre separate money. But the details arent all hammered out yet, he said. During Thursdays walkthrough, Swanson encountered a cafeteria worker on the verge of tears over staffing shortages in her kitchen. He said although hiring approvals had been granted, the true urgency only became clear during face-to-face interactions. I was aware that we needed to hire positions, and I already approved them, but we havent got to actually see it. Thats why I come out and walk through buildings and talk to people, because I find out its one thing to look at the paper in my office, he said. Its another thing to see the people and the people matter. This is a people business. We have a great staff here, but theyre short handed. Direct observations Swanson said direct observation cuts through inaccurate reporting and miscommunication. I want to see whats really happening, Swanson said. Sometimes people just tell you what they think you want to hear, and then other times people make up stories that are not true and are inflammatory. So I need to come out and put eyes on it and talk to people, and then address the situation as soon as possible. GDOE serves between 25,000 and 40,000 student meals each day. And it takes a lot of people and a lot of logistical coordination. So my staff that does that from the central office is very good at it, but I want to be sure that we have everything in place, Swanson said. Enrollment is still being finalized, though Swanson said the count is currently around 23,000. The official number will be set at the end of September. Despite the challenges, Swanson remains optimistic. Were excited. The teachers are excited. We got all of our folks together on Monday and Tuesday. Their energy level is high, and they want to see a great school year, he said. Creative welcome At Wettengel Elementary School, staff pulled out all the stops to create a fun and welcoming environment on the first day of schoolincluding dressing up as Cat in the Hat, Hello Kitty, The Wiggles and other well-known characters. This year, we wanted our students to feel more welcome with things or people in the media that theyre familiar with, Principal Stacy Colleta said. The creative welcome made an impression on parents. Thats a first for me. The only time they dressed up last year, I noticed, was on Halloween. So the first day of school is pretty cool, said parent Heather Sokau. Theres a Hello Kitty. I also saw a Cat in the Hat, Dr. Stewart. I saw the Wiggles crew. Sokau said the experience gave her peace of mind as she headed to work after drop-off. She praised the schools organization and hands-on support. Its overwhelming, but the teachers are very helpful. The staffs very helpful. They helped us. Since we stepped on foot, its hot, but everybodys getting there, Sokau said. The staff here, they never disappoint. Theyre always on it. Even if they dont know the kid, theyll just come up to you and ask what your kids name is, and they will get to it. Her son, now a first grader, adjusted easily to his return. Sokaus advice to other parents was simple. Really just patience and safety, she said. Please be patient and please stay safe. Guams private sector could see a rollback in business privilege tax from 5% to 4.5%, if a $1.35 billion version of the governments fiscal year 2026 budget handed out Friday becomes law. A 0.5% decrease in the BPT is half of the 1% rollback that members of the business community and the Guam Chamber of Commerce have been pushing for. The 0.5% tax rollback was included in a substitute version of Bill 44-38, the budget measure, that the Republican-led budget committee chaired by Sen. Chris Duenas unveiled Friday. A rollback of business taxes from 5% to 4% has seen strong support from the business community and Republican lawmakers who point to a struggling private sector. Some government officials and Democrats have pushed back, arguing $78 million to $81.9 million in lost annual revenues for GovGuam. But the substitute budget released Friday reflects a $1.35 billion budget, just shy of the $1.357 billion request the governor made. The Legislatures version of the bill shows BPT revenues for fiscal 2026 at $38.44 million less than what the governors fiscal team anticipated, with a full 5% business privilege tax assessment. But the Legislatures version also projects income taxes at $13.8 million higher than the governors request, while reducing money reserved for tax refunds by about $21 million. It directs the governor to prioritize A-status, or error-free tax returns for refunds with the money in fiscal 2026. Duenas told the Pacific Daily News that the past budgets over-appropriated for tax refunds the last several years. The budget also takes out the appropriation for the Rainy Day Fund since it has enough money in the account, he said. Here are the revenues proposed in the bill, versus the governors requests: General Fund available for appropriation, $942.4 million, versus $947.6 million requested by the governor Special Funds, $211.1 million, versus $210.3 million Federal matching grants-in-aid, $198.3 million, the same as the governors request Lawmakers will still have to agree to accept the substitute version of the bill, once they reconvene at 1 p.m. on Monday. Any BPT rollback provision must survive the next few weeks of debate on the session floor. It will also have to survive opposition from Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero, who has vocally opposed the rollback. Adelup spokesperson Krystal Paco-San Agustin on Friday said the governor can not line-item veto the BPT rollback. The governor has said from the beginning that she is against reducing the BPT because it will not result in lower prices for our people and instead will only benefit big businesses including large off-island military contractors while hurting the government of Guams operations, she said. Small businesses that make under $500,000 are already taxed with a 3% BPT. The Guam Chamber of Commerce, the islands largest business organization, has argued the rollback will help businesses invest in hiring, improve infrastructure, and give pay raises to staff. Duenas said most of the agencies will get a status quo budget, but the Guam Memorial Hospital, Guam Department of Education and public safety agencies will get an increase. He said they were able to have a levelized budget that funds the BPT rollback, which they worked on over the last eight days. Duenas said the desire from the Republican caucus was to give some type of tax relief. They have also given the governor up to 50% transfer authority, he said. Duenas said no government agency should have to reduce operations or shrink staff as a result of the substitute budget. This is why we did it responsibly, he said. They want to monitor what the tax cuts will mean for the business community and for the government. Duenas said they expect the money saved from the tax cuts will help generate more revenue. We believe all the economic components within this budget will continue to generate the revenue, and if were right, it should track the same or even go up, he said. Duenas said because most of the government agencies didnt get an increase, they have to live within their means, but it also gives the business community some relief. BPT debate A rollback on BPT in the governments fiscal 2026 budget sparked early debate at the Guam Congress Building as senators waited to see the final, substitute version of the budget Friday morning. Duenas confirmed some form of BPT reduction in the budget bill, but declined to speak in detail before the substitute of Bill 44-38, the budget act, was unveiled. Lawmakers spoke prior to the substitute budget bill being released. Republican Majority Leader Sen. Jesse Lujan said he heard a 0.5% reduction was contemplated in the budget act. But Lujan, who is also on the budget committee, said hed yet to see a final copy. Lawmakers were scheduled to receive the substitute version of the fiscal 2026 budget at 9 a.m. Friday. But the 9 a.m. session recessed within minutes of starting. Speaker Frank Blas Jr. indicated the budget would be handed out later in the day, and recessed until 1 p.m. on Monday. As lawmakers exited the session hall, Democrat Sen. Will Parkinson said the Republican majority had been saying the budget was in the mail for about a week. I dont know how were going to do a proper budget with no time to work on it. This is ridiculous, Parkinson said. Dont let him lie to you, Duenas told the Pacific Daily News. The budget chairman said the budget was ready, and would be released by Friday. Senators have to agree to a fiscal 2026 budget and get it on the governors desk by an Aug. 31 deadline. Sen. Tina Muna Barnes, who represents the Democrat minority on the budget committee, said she did not know the reason for the delay. If the recess is to give them time to make sure that the logistics and the technical, legal sentiments are all put into play before the bill gets on the floor, then I dont mind the recess. But until then, we need to get a bill on the agenda, Muna Barnes said. Lujan indicated that two Republican senators were off island Friday, Sen. Telo Taitague and Sen. Sabrina Salas Matanane, who is also a member of the budget committee. Muna Barnes said both were attending the National Conference of State Legislators. According to the NCSL webpage, the final day of the conference was on Thursday, Guam time, in Boston. Lujan said both were due back Friday, but were delayed by a United Airlines flight. Were looking forward to reviewing the bill as well. And so they said well be able to get at two oclock. And so we have all this afternoon, Saturday and Sunday. So well be hard at work, Lujan said. Shenanigans Democrat Sen. Chris Barnett was critical of the delay. Were here ready to work though, Barnett said. The Republicans are, were clear that we were going to get a budget bill this morning. So Im not sure whats up with these shenanigans. Barnett said he was hearing about a BPT rollback in the measure, which would require an extensive review by senators. What I think theyre trying to do is, theyre trying to planta (set) a bill down and give us as little time as possible to review it. So were hearing is theres very significant impacts in this bill that are gonna affect the agencies, he said. Lujan defended the thought that had gone into the rollback. We were all actively directed to be able to look at our agencies and things like that, and where we can do the cuts and things of that nature, Lujan said. We submitted, of course, to the (Office of Finance and Budget) chair. The Republican leader noted that a vote on the BPT rollback was already being weighed by lawmakers through Bill 11-38. He said senators couldnt just pass a budget for fiscal 2026, then come back months later and reduce taxes. Youre gonna have to go back and reduce the budget, Lujan said. Duenas on Friday afternoon said he was kind of insulted at the shenanigans comment because senators will be given the whole weekend to review the substitute budget before coming back to session on Monday. He said they could have placed the bill on Friday morning, but then senators wouldnt have had a chance to review it. This is a generous period of time that they can be able to review, Duenas said. There are no shenanigans. This is collegiality from my perspective. I cant see the math matching Democrat Sen. Joe San Agustin, past budget chairman and current member of the budget committee, could not account for the delay. San Agustin said he had not seen a final copy of the budget, either. What are they doing? I dont know. I mean, if it was on me and what weve done in the past, by the time we reach August, we already have a budget, San Agustin said. When you take a look at it, what theyre supposedly proposing and what theyre going to do, I cant see the math matching, he said. San Agustin said a 0.5% BPT reduction would amount to about $41 million a year. If you take away $41 (million) what are you trimming in the government of Guam? Providing the public service to the people of Guam? Lets talk about that and any other trimming. Who is getting trimmed and whos going to hold the responsibility? he said. The past budget chair pointed to surplus collections in GovGuam leveling off, after years of growth. That abundance of funds was gone, and senators would have an honest conversation about how to deal with the lost revenueif there were eight votes to support it. Whenever you reduce the BPT, I dont foresee layoffs, but the threat is there. OK, lets start with that, San Agustin said. Haiti - FLASH : Back to school October 1st (2025-2026 calendar) The Ministry of National Education informs the public in general, and the educational community in particular, that the start of the school year for the 2025-2026 academic year is scheduled for Wednesday, October 1st, 2025. According to the Ministry's planning, the academic year includes 186 school days and 11 days off. The total number of school days is 844 hours for preschool, 930 hours for elementary education, and 1,116 hours for secondary education. In accordance with the Government's Roadmap, the Ministry intends to undertake a series of priority actions in the short and medium terms. These actions aim to provide support to parents and struggling public and private schools, primarily in the Departmental Education Directorates of the West, Center, and Artibonite regions. Over the long term, the Ministry intends to pursue certain projects relating, among others, to preschool education, curriculum reform, accelerated development of the technological education sector, pedagogical consolidation of the four new basic education subjects, strengthening the management of national schools and high schools, accreditation of private schools, completion of the school census, rehabilitation and construction of schools, reclamation of school sites occupied by internally displaced persons, continuing teacher training, expansion of school canteens, distribution of the Single Book https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-37084-haiti-education-introduction-of-the-single-book-at-the-next-school-year.html , and continued dialogue with social partners and trade unions. The Ministry continues to rely on the support of the Government and local authorities, as well as the collaboration of partners and stakeholders in the education system, to ensure the success of the 2025-2026 academic year. Download the 2025-2026 school calendar : https://www.haitilibre.com/docs/calendrier-scolaire-2025-2026.pdf See also : https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-37084-haiti-education-introduction-of-the-single-book-at-the-next-school-year.html HL/ HaitiLibre Haiti - Politic : Laurent Saint-Cyr new President of the CPT (Speech) On Thursday, August 7, 2025, as part of the rotating presidency, Presidential Advisor Fritz Alphonse Jean handed over power to Councilor Laurent Saint-Cyr, who became the new President pro tempore of the Presidential Transitional Council (CPT), which he will lead during the final phase of the transition. Fritz Alphonse Jean recalled that the transfer of power is a symbol of political change. He took the opportunity to reflect on his presidency and highlight the various achievements that allow hope to continue to flourish among the population. This transfer of power took place during a formal ceremony at the Villa d'Accueil, in the presence of Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aime, members of his government, representatives of the Court of Cassation, members of the diplomatic and consular corps, and representatives of several civil society organizations. In his opening speech, Laurent Saint-Cyr stated that he accepted this great responsibility with great humility and patriotism. Given the urgency of the moment, he emphasized, "Our country is going through one of the greatest crises in its history. The lives and futures of more than 12 million women, men, adults, and children depend on the decisions we must make together in the days and weeks to come [...] The situation is worrying; the time for rhetoric is over. We must act. Too much blood has been shed, too much time has been wasted. We must unite to give the people the results they expect." Should be noted Laurent Saint-Cyr is the fourth and final President of the CPT, after Edgard Leblanc Fils, Leslie Voltaire, and Fritz Alphonse Jean. Speech by the new President of the CPT, Laurent Saint-Cyr : HL/ S/ HaitiLibre Haiti - FLASH : The Kenyan mission fully engaged on the ground Thursday, August 7, 2025 Jack Ombaka, Spokesperson for the Kenyan-led Multinational Mission, recalled during a press briefing that "in close coordination with the Haitian National Police (PNH), remains fully committed to restoring peace, order, and stability across Haiti. Joint security operations and high-visibility patrols continue to be conducted in key high-risk zones, particularly in areas designated as red zones in both Port-auPrince and the Artibonite region. ln anticipation of Thursday's scheduled CPT transition, armed gangs had plotted to disrupt national stability and render the country ungovernable. However, their efforts were decisively thwarted through coordinated, around-the-dock patrols and a strong security presence in Kenscoff, Furcy, Downtown Port-au-Prince, the vicinity of the National Palace, the Police Academy, the U.S. Embassy, as well as Petite Riviere, Liancourt, and Pont Sonde. At approximately 02:00 hours this morning, MSS forces responded swiftly to distress calls from residents in the Kenscoff area reporting an imminent gang attack. During the operation, two MSS armored personnel carriers (APCs) became trapped in trenches deliberately dug by the gangs. Despite coming under attack with Molotov cocktails, MSS officers courageously held their ground, inflicting significant damage on the assailants, many of whom fled with serious injuries. Unfortunately, efforts to recover the APCs were unsuccessful, and both vehicles were set ablaze during the confrontation. Three MSS officers sustained minor injuries; they were treated at Aspen Level 2 Hospital and subsequently discharged. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to the Haitian population for their ongoing support and cooperation. MSS and PNH remain resolute in ensuring that criminal groups are denied any opportunity to destabilize the country or hinder progress toward sustainable governance. Targeted operations will continue until all gang leaders are apprehended or voluntarily surrender to face justice." HL/ HaitiLibre Haiti - News : Zapping... Bois-Caiman : Participate by sending your messages As part of the commemoration of the 234th anniversary of the Bois Caiman revolt on the night of August 14-15, 1791, in the French colony of Saint Domingue, which helped put an end to slavery, the Ministry of Culture invites you to share your wishes through an international communication campaign entitled "Words for Freedom, Bois-Caiman, I Remember It". Send your text (maximum 150 characters) or video (maximum one minute) to info@culture.gouv.ht, specifying your name and nationality. The Ministry will publish your message on its digital platforms. A brand-new sub-police station, unoccupied for two years Two years after its inauguration in May 2023, the brand-new Bois de Laurence sub-police station, located in the second communal border section of Mombin-Crochu (Northeast), is still not open due to a lack of police personnel. According to Divisional Commissioner Jacques Antoine Etienne, current Departmental Director of the Haitian National Police (Northeast), he submitted a request to the high command since taking office (December 31, 2024) to assign staff and officers to this position, and the request is still pending. PNH : Promotions Rameau Normil, Acting Director General of the Haitian National Police (PNH), presented the rank insignia to Isaac Max Harry as Inspector General (IG) in charge of the Command, Control, Communication and Intelligence (C3i) and Rony Bazil Antoine as IG at the PNH Logistics Directorate, a technical body of the Central Directorate of Administrative Police (DCPA). The Archdiocese is outraged The Archdiocese of Port-au-Prince expresses its outrage following the mass kidnapping of nine people, including a three-year-old child, at the Sainte-Helene orphanage run by the "Nos Petits Freres et Surs" organization last Sunday in Kenscoff https://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-45476-haiti-flash-9-people-including-a-child-kidnapped-from-an-orphanage-in-kenscoff.html . Once again, these crimes committed with chilling cynicism bear witness to the collapse of humanity in our society, where the unthinkable becomes everyday reality, the Archdiocese of Port-au-Prince protested in a note. Outraged by this tragedy, the Archdiocese denounced a "moral shipwreck" and urged the authorities to act immediately to secure the release of the hostages. Did you know ? Although less famous than the Arcahaie Congress in May 1803, the Camp-Gerard Congress represented a key step in the consolidation of the forces engaged in the fight for freedom and independence. On the night of July 5-6, 1803, the General-in-Chief of the Native Army, Jean Jacques Dessalines, met with Commander Nicolas Geffrard in the Plaine des Cayes, at Camp-Gerard. This event symbolized the unity of the southern military leaders in the fight against the French, a key moment that contributed to the final victory in the War of Independence. Located on a small hill near the town of Pemerle, not far from the city of Les Cayes, Camp Gerard, where Louis Boisrond-Tonnerre, originally from Torbeck, was introduced to Dessalines, is a site steeped in rich historical significance and highly symbolic. Tennis Canada : Victoria Mboko wins the title On Thursday, August 7 at IGA Stadium, Canadian Victoria Mboko (18 years old) won the final of the National Bank Open against Haitian-born Naomi Osaka [2-6, 6-4, 6-1]. Victoria Mboko is the champion of a WTA 1000 category event, the most important after the four Grand Slam tournaments. HL/ HaitiLibre by Li Xirui NEW YORK, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- A sunlit loft in Long Island City houses a miniature world stitched together by time. Hand-carved puppets, silk costumes and calligraphy brushes sit beside projectors, laptops and stage lights. This is the creative home of the Chinese Theatre Works (CTW), where centuries-old Chinese puppetry traditions are reimagined through experimental theater to connect with contemporary American audiences. Founded by Chinese opera performer Kuang-Yu Fong and American avant-garde puppeteer Stephen Kaplin, the CTW has become a rare cultural laboratory. Here, art forms rooted in China's rich intangible cultural heritage not only survive -- they evolve, speaking in new voices, across new stages, to new generations. VOICES EMERGING "Puppetry is very playful," said Charlie Santos, 29, a newcomer to Chinese puppetry who grew up with Western community theater. "It brings me back to being a kid, playing with toys, animating them in your imagination, and creating little worlds." The world Santos now builds is steeped in Chinese tradition. His journey into puppetry began online, when a glimpse of the CTW's workshop piqued his curiosity. He started out as a volunteer at their shows, gradually immersing himself in the stylized movements, rhythms, and discipline of Chinese performance. The leap from spray-painted sets to shadow puppets was vast -- but for Santos, that gap became a bridge. "The theater I grew up in was very much like everything was fresh and new. Anyone can come in and do something," he said. "At CTW, there is a deep respect for tradition, and that is humbling. These art forms have long histories, and honoring that legacy is essential." "There is this beautiful culture that I have been learning so much about and getting to sink my teeth into. On the other hand, I am not a part of it," he said. "In that respect, it has been a really good place for me, pushed me outside of that comfort zone." Santos said he likes to be an "outsider." "Traditions need voices that are not bound by regulation or convention. I think there is value in contributing a different perspective, as long as it's rooted in respect," he said. While Santos represents new energy and a break with tradition, Chen Xiuyuan, a graduate student at New York University Tisch School of the Arts, stands for a young generation willing to promote their cultural heritage. "There are fewer and fewer young people who devote themselves to this traditional art form with nothing but passion, like people who perform, promote and preserve it with their own hands for decades," he said. Chen did not step directly onto the stage -- he stepped into the past, digitizing decades-old archival footage and piecing together fragments of history. "Since 1995, they have recorded an extraordinary collection of material on tape -- rich in content, varied in style," he recalled. "The formats were outdated, the equipment unreliable. But the stories they held -- those were priceless." STAGES REIMAGINED "This is the new energy Chinese art needs," said Fong, executive director and co-founder of the CTW. "We need someone who is not held back by tradition. What we are doing is a mix -- we keep the traditional but blend it with contemporary styles." That spirit of experimentation has also shaped Fong's own journey within the organization. "Over time, I began to understand the many layers of 'role-playing' in artistic work," she said. "I am a producer, a stage director and an educator. I've transitioned from being an artist to becoming an organizer." For Fong, who was trained in classical Chinese opera, promoting Chinese theater in America is not about a one-time performance -- it is about cultivating a lasting cultural presence through thoughtful evolution. Her team has consistently sought out emerging voices like Santos and Chen, who navigate both Chinese and Western sensibilities. This evolution also means experimentation. Traditional shadow puppetry is reimagined through projections and live silhouettes. Scripts draw on Chinese myths, while dialogue often unfolds in English. In "The Legend of the White Snake," ancient folklore merges with modern multimedia to create a visual language that transcends cultures. "This is exactly the direction we are exploring: using Western technical vocabularies to reinterpret Chinese tradition, and crafting a new kind of contemporary performance," she said. "We want to emphasize what I call a 'serious playfulness' in our theater work. In English, 'play' means both performance and game," she added. "We take our work seriously -- but we also believe art should be fun, organic and alive." BRIDGING GENERATIONS For Kaplin, the CTW's co-founder, this blend of old and new is not only artistic, but also personal. Trained in American experimental theater, he once saw Chinese traditional arts as "from another planet." But after meeting Fong, that distance became the basis for collaboration -- and marriage. "They are very different," he said. "But you find ways to bridge them." Kaplin fell in love with puppetry due to its fusion of writing, design and performance, viewing it as a serious artistic medium capable of deconstructing traditional theater. His mission to reframe puppetry got fresh impetus when he and Fong began collaborating. Kaplin said that his collaboration with Fong is fun, as Chinese traditional theater performers usually follow strict movements to make the art look professional and authentic, while Western artists are more casual. The couple began merging puppetry with Chinese culture, using comedy to tell stories of immigration, shadow puppetry to express contemporary struggles, and a handmade toy theater to explore everyday life. "We started doing Monkey (the character from the Chinese novel "Journey to the West") in New York," he said. It was not a mere adaptation, but a cultural reinterpretation. Instead of simply replicating Chinese art, their goal was to reinterpret it in ways that resonate with Western audiences. While traditional Chinese art values inheritance, American avant-garde theater emphasizes experimentation. Kaplin said it is still important to ensure authenticity and maintain elements from the original art. For Kaplin and Fong, preserving tradition is not about resisting change -- it is about guiding it, and resurrecting old art forms through experimentation, collaboration and cross-cultural imagination. "Don't throw out the past. Yes, there's all this incredible technology here, but it has its limits ... Think about Chinese culture, how long it's been around. We should make good use of it," he said. Leading German car manufacturers and equipment suppliers are relying on an open-source alliance to remain competitive in the software-dominated automotive world. The recently launched initiative aims to reduce dependence on large technology companies such as Apple, Google, and Microsoft and to strengthen the digital sovereignty of the German automotive industry. Anzeige There is an ambitious timetable for the implementation of the project, writes the Tagesspiegel in its background service. Initial implementations and the definition of a reference architecture are to take place by the end of 2025. After costly failures, swift action is needed. Production vehicle by 2030 The aim is to bring a production vehicle with the complete open-source software stack onto the market by 2030 at the latest, the report states. Previously, it was only known that the software scope for the series development of a platform for autonomous driving should be available in 2026. The idea is that the modular software scope can be adapted or supplemented and then made available to the industry as a customized distribution for series development. This allows manufacturers and suppliers to focus on differentiating functions while basic components are maintained together. This creates a strong foundation for innovation. Moving away from proprietary solutions With the support of the German Association of the Automotive Industry (VDA), the driving forces behind the alliance include manufacturers such as BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen as well as leading suppliers such as Bosch, Continental and ZF. International partners such as the Eclipse Foundation are also involved in the project. The eleven founding members published an agreement (Memorandum of Understanding) on pre-competitive cooperation in software development based on open source at the end of June. Anzeige A considerable amount of the vehicle software is not directly tangible for the user and therefore does not contribute to brand differentiation, was the reason given. This allows the relevant components to be developed jointly in an open and collaborative ecosystem. The merger aims to meet the highest security and quality requirements. It is planned to certify the open-source processes and ensure compatibility with existing standards such as Autosar (Automotive Open System Architecture). This involves middleware for control units in networked cars . The core principle is to move away from proprietary software in the automotive sector, which is currently mainly developed by US companies. In general, the German and European automotive industry want to meet the increasing challenges of digitalization with the start-up. Don't miss any news follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn or Mastodon. This article was originally published in German. It was translated with technical assistance and editorially reviewed before publication. In Taiwan, the data theft scandal at the world's largest chip contract manufacturer Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is spreading. Numerous local online and television media are reporting on the case. According to these reports, there are now nine suspects who are said to have been involved in the disclosure of internal information. Some of them worked both in TSMC's most important 2-nanometer plant (Fab 20) and in the adjacent research center. Anzeige The suspects are accused of opening and photographing internal files about TSMC's 2-nanometer process generation in their home office. According to the United Daily News (UDN), over 400 images are said to have been created and passed on in this way. On Tuesday, it was reported that Taiwanese authorities had also searched the offices of supplier Tokyo Electron (TEL) in Taiwan. Tokyo Electron builds essential machines for semiconductor production, including etching and coating systems that TSMC also uses. A connection is now emerging: According to consistent media reports, the images are said to have reached Tokyo Electron employees who used to work at TSMC themselves. These employees are said to have passed on the trade secrets to the young Japanese chip contract manufacturer Rapidus. Rapidus is also building up 2 nm production Rapidus is currently building its first semiconductor plant with massive government funding and in cooperation with IBM, Fraunhofer and Japanese universities. Chips with 2 nm technology are being produced there, albeit initially on a small scale. The TSMC information should be useful for optimizing the production facilities. TSMC's knowledge is valuable, for example, to increase chip yields. Numerous media outlets quote Lu Xingzhi as an experienced commentator on semiconductor issues. He suggests that Tokyo Electron and Rapidus would have to pay damages of several billion US dollars in the event of a guilty plea. However, he also raises the question of how to assess whether Rapidus is using the illegally obtained trade secrets at all: Is it an infringement if employees steal the information but the company does not use it? In the early 2000s, there was already a precedent in which former TSMC engineers moved to the Chinese chip contract manufacturer SMIC and passed on trade secrets. In addition to a fine, TSMC received ten percent of SMIC shares in 2010. TSMC has sold these shares over the years, most recently in 2019. Lu Xingzhi therefore also believes it is possible that TSMC will receive Rapidus shares. Anzeige (mma) Don't miss any news follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn or Mastodon. This article was originally published in German. It was translated with technical assistance and editorially reviewed before publication. We're a family of eight living in Georgia where Andrew's a professor at GSU and Nancy is a PhD student at UGA. You can read more about us here The decision follows a model seen in other cities where libraries share buildings with schools and daycare centres. The goal is to keep the shared spaces cleaner, especially for children. Rovaniemis newest public library has introduced a no-shoes policy, making it one of a small but growing number of shoeless libraries appearing in Finland. Located inside the Vaaramo multipurpose centre in Korkalovaara, the library requires visitors to either remove their shoes or wear protective plastic covers. Library assistant Sylvia Janis Veini said the response from visitors has been mostly positive. Its been received in a pretty relaxed, summer-like spirit, she said. Some visitors have asked why the policy is in place. According to staff, the explanation lies in the buildings shared use. Vaaramo houses both a school and a daycare, and the no-shoes rule helps maintain cleanliness for young users. Earlier experiences from similar facilities suggest that the concept can require adjustment. Joensuu was the first Finnish city to adopt shoeless libraries in 2018. Since then, other branches including the Ylamylly Library, opened in late 2021 have followed suit. In Joensuu, there was some initial confusion and criticism, according to Tanja Nyman, head of services at Joensuu City Library. Customers didnt quite understand at first that they had to take off their shoes or use covers, Nyman said. She added that while usage of shoe covers still varies, the carpeting has remained surprisingly clean. Juha Manninen, executive director of the Finnish Library Association, said shoeless libraries are mainly found in new multipurpose buildings. Although no formal statistics are kept, he confirmed the trend is becoming more visible. Manninen supports the cleanliness aim, particularly in libraries that operate as self-service branches for part of the day. But he also cautioned that the policy should not deter users. Its important that removing shoes or putting on covers doesnt discourage elderly visitors, he said. At Korkalovaara, visitors seem more focused on having a functioning local library than on the footwear policy itself. The library replaces services lost during the long-term renovation of Rovaniemis main library. Lauri Sakaranaho, a local resident, welcomed the new space. Theres been a bit of a gap and some difficulty, especially since I read a lot and the main library has been out of use, he said. While some visitors noted the small size of the new collection, others expressed appreciation that the library is finally open. The Korkalovaara branch operates partly on a self-service model, meaning visitors can access it without staff present another reason cited for the no-shoes rule. HT The proposals were outlined during preliminary budget talks in Espoo this week. Final negotiations will take place in September, when the full government convenes for its annual budget session. Finance Minister Riikka Purra has proposed sweeping cuts and structural changes in Finlands draft budget for 2026, aiming to reduce public spending by approximately one billion euros . The plan includes eliminating the Finnish refugee quota system, freezing university funding, and dissolving the Finnish National Agency for Education. One of the most notable measures would see the functions of the Finnish National Agency for Education transferred to the Ministry of Education and Culture. Purra also called for the university funding index to be frozen for the remainder of the governments term. This would cut 59 million euros from higher education funding in 2026 and 112 million euros in 2027. In the area of immigration, the draft budget would end Finlands long-standing refugee quota programme. Finland currently accepts 500 quota refugees each year under arrangements with the UN. If approved, 2026 would be the first year in decades with no refugee quota. Integration compensation to municipalities and wellbeing services counties would also be abolished. Development cooperation spending would be reduced by over 100 million euros, including cuts to development loans and previously planned increases to humanitarian aid. The cultural sector and civil society funding would also face reductions. Subsidies to foundations and associations are slated for a 100 million euro cut. State support for arts, culture, and sport would be reduced further under the Finance Ministrys plan. Municipal finances would be affected as well. Purras proposal includes cutting 150 million euros from state transfers to basic municipal services. Support for the ferry industry is also targeted. The draft budget removes wage subsidies for service staff working on cruise ships, a benefit currently extended to the broader maritime workforce. Healthcare cost-sharing would be adjusted, with a proposed reduction in Kela reimbursements for private doctor visits. Despite the cuts, the budget includes a significant increase in defence procurement. Purra is proposing three billion euros in new authorisation for defence equipment purchases, six times the current level. There will be no general tax increases under the proposal. Income taxes will decline slightly next year, as previously agreed in spring negotiations. No new tax cuts are planned. HT The plan, confirmed late Thursday, follows remarks by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu , who told Fox News that Israel intends to occupy all of Gaza. Netanyahu said Israel does not plan to govern Gaza, but would transfer authority to unnamed Arab forces. Israels security cabinet has approved a plan to take control of Gaza City, marking what officials say is the beginning of a broader push to seize the entire Gaza Strip . The decision comes as the number of Palestinians reported killed since October 2023 exceeds 61,000, with 197 people confirmed dead from starvation. The Gaza Health Ministry said at least 96 of those who died from hunger were children. According to the United Nations, more than 85 percent of Gaza remains under forced evacuation orders. UNICEF says nearly 12,000 children under the age of five are acutely malnourished, with 2,500 reaching critical levels. Netanyahus plan to escalate the military offensive faces opposition from inside Israel. Israeli army chief Lieutenant-General Eyal Zamir warned that full occupation would endanger hostages, displace a million Palestinians, and strain already overstretched military resources. In a statement released after a ten-hour security cabinet meeting, the Israeli government said the plan includes five principles for ending the war: Hamass disarmament, return of all hostages, Gazas demilitarisation, Israeli security control, and the establishment of a civilian government not linked to Hamas or the Palestinian Authority. No timeline has been confirmed for the operation. Reports in Israeli media say military forces will first order additional evacuations from Gaza City before entering. Most of the population in the targeted areas has already been displaced. Opposition leader Yair Lapid called the cabinet decision a disaster, warning that it would lead to the deaths of the remaining hostages and escalate the humanitarian crisis. He said the move contradicts military assessments and was pushed by ultranationalist ministers Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, whose support keeps Netanyahus coalition in power. Families of the Israeli captives expressed concern that the plan risks their loved ones lives. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum released a statement accusing the government of ignoring military warnings and public opinion. They dont have any time left, the forum said. We cant leave them in the hands of these monsters any longer. A protest flotilla of captives relatives sailed from Ashkelon towards the Gaza maritime border. Yehuda Cohen, father of a hostage, said on BBC radio that Netanyahu prefers the hostages dead because it will make it easier for him. In Tel Aviv, protesters gathered in several locations to oppose the cabinets decision. Tal Schneider, political correspondent at the Times of Israel, told the BBC that polling indicates the Israeli public overwhelmingly supports a deal for the hostages release rather than continued warfare. International reaction was swift. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Israels escalation was wrong and will only bring more bloodshed. He called for a ceasefire, immediate aid access, and hostage release. Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said Israels plan would worsen the humanitarian catastrophe. UN human rights chief Volker Turk said the war must end now, warning of atrocity crimes and further displacement. In Gaza City, residents expressed fear, anger, and defiance. Some said they would not evacuate again. Sabrine Mahmoud, who spent a year displaced in al-Mawasi, said she would remain at home. Let them destroy the house over our heads, we will not leave, she said. Others criticised Hamas. Mohammed Imran, from Khan Younis, said the Israeli plan equalled destruction regardless of the language used. Replace the word occupation with control, the meaning and the result are the same, he told the BBC. Humanitarian organisations continue to warn of an unprecedented crisis. UN agencies report that only 92 aid trucks entered Gaza on Wednesday, far short of the 600 trucks per day estimated to be needed. Much of the aid is looted or blocked. Airdrops of food have proven dangerous and inefficient. Crowds rush to retrieve falling aid packages, often leading to fatal accidents. At least 51 aid seekers were killed in the past 24 hours, according to Gazas Health Ministry. One child died while trying to retrieve airdropped aid in Khan Younis. The Israeli army continues military operations in Gaza City, where recent strikes killed at least seven civilians, including children. Displaced people sheltering near UNRWA clinics were among those targeted. Israel claims it struck Hamas infrastructure and dismantled tunnel networks. A new Human Rights Watch report says Israel has carried out hundreds of unlawful strikes on schools sheltering displaced civilians in Gaza using US-supplied weapons. The group said both Israel and Hamas committed war crimes, including starvation and hostage mistreatment. US Senator Bernie Sanders criticised ongoing US military aid to Israel, writing that our taxpayer dollars are being used to starve children, bomb schools & gun down hungry people as they wait for aid. A Data for Progress poll shows that 47 percent of US voters now believe Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. Similar polling in Canada found 52 percent agree with that assessment. A growing number of voters in the UK, Spain, and South Africa support halting arms exports to Israel. Despite this, the Center for International Policy reports that the US has sent Israel more than $4.2bn in weapons since October 2023. Israel has banned international journalists from entering Gaza. Palestinian journalists working in the enclave have been among the casualties. The Committee to Protect Journalists says foreign media must be allowed access. Rights groups continue to warn that the forced displacement of Palestinians, combined with widespread famine and continued bombardment, may amount to ethnic cleansing under international law. HT Lukashenko has ruled Belarus since 1994 and is one of Europes longest-serving leaders. His seven terms in office have been marked by tightly controlled elections, repression of opposition movements, and widespread human rights concerns. Many political opponents have been jailed or forced into exile. Alexander Lukashenko , President of Belarus, has said he will not seek re-election when his current term ends in 2030. The 70-year-old made the comments in a wide-ranging video interview released by state broadcaster BelTA on YouTube. Asked whether his son Nikolai, a frequent presence at official events, might succeed him as president, a suggestion repeated in international media, Lukashenko firmly denied it. No, he is not my successor. I knew youd ask, no, no, he said. He said the next president may take the country in a different direction, which he described as acceptable. I only hope he doesnt tear everything down, Lukashenko added. Let him build on what exists, lean on strong figures, and develop the state gradually, not through destructive revolutions. In the same interview, Lukashenko criticised both Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, breaking from his typical alignment with the Kremlin. Speaking about Trump, he said the former US president is inconsistent and erratic. Trump is a real loudmouth, Lukashenko said. He says one thing in the morning and another in the evening. He doesnt produce results, just waves a sabre at the world like a police officer. When asked why he criticises Trump but not Putin, Lukashenko insisted he does criticise the Russian leader, but does not always do so publicly. I criticise Putin in the same way. I just dont talk about it. He has made certain mistakes, weve seen that. He said Putins special military operation, the Kremlins term for its war in Ukraine, had not gone according to plan. Yes. And youve said he regrets it? asked the interviewer. Yes. I believe he regrets many things, Lukashenko responded. Looking ahead, Lukashenko said major changes are inevitable within the next decade, simply due to the passage of time. Putin and Trump wont live forever, he said. HT A CHEESE producer was awarded the highest accolade in this years Great Taste Awards. Nettlebed Creamery, in High Street, was given three stars in the annual awards, which were announced on Tuesday last week. They are one of only two producers in Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire to have achieved this and one of 273 out of 14,340 total entries. The creamery is among five producers in the Henley area to be recognised by the Guild of Fine Food. The awards are the worlds largest food and drink accreditation scheme and entrants are judged via a blind tasting process by a panel of expert judges, including chefs, buyers, food critics and retailers. Products are judged solely on taste, with all packaging and branding removed to ensure impartiality. Rose Grimond, who owns Nettlebed Creamery, said she was absolutely thrilled to win the top award for its Witheridge in Hay. The semi-hard alpine-style cheese is usually aged anywhere between six and nine months and is aged in hay. It has a natural rind which forms as the cheese ages. The cheese has accumulated 13 stars in total since it was first produced in 2019. Ms Grimond said: A cheese that is as old as Witheridge is hard to get right and it takes a very long time between making it and when its finished. The award is testament to our amazing team of cheesemakers who have managed to get this cheese so superb. Everyone is chuffed to bits. The creamery also took home two one-star awards for its Bix and Highmoor cheeses. The creamery is located on an organic farm which has been home to Ms Grimonds family since 1901. The creamery was launched in 2015 and Ms Grimond said she hoped its cheese showed the quality of the farms produce. She said: What they say of cheeses is that they reflect the terroir of the farm in the way that wine does and we are really proud to be organic. One of the judges comments read: What a beautiful cheese! Clearly well looked after, this has a handsome rind that is thin enough to melt and completely dissipate on the palate. There is a rich and creamy paste with a silky mouthfeel that leaves the palate clean. The hay and quality of the milk come through. Pavilion Foods, which is based in Market Place, Henley, took away two stars for its chicken, leek and tarragon pie and Lancashire hotpot and one star for its pork and black pudding sausage roll. The delicatessen has now collected 16 stars since it opened three-and-a-half years ago. Owner Micah Judah said: A massive well done to our kitchen team who have worked tirelessly throughout the summer, its great to be able to recognise their hard work in this way. While we would love to enter more products, this year we submitted these three products with autumn and winter in mind. Mr Judah explained that the hotpot was made using local lamb and ale and had been given a Pavilion twist by using pulled lamb leg, neck and black pudding. The judges said: We were extremely impressed with this dish, which puts a lot of other ready meals in the shade. Extremely generous in all ingredients, particularly the lamb which had been cooked so well it was soft and tender with not a hint of fat. Pavilion is producing new finish at home products over the coming months, including collaborations with chefs Ryan and Liam Simpson-Trotman of Orwells Restaurant in Shiplake. Tutu Chocolate, in Watlington, took home four awards. The gourmet chocolate shop was awarded two stars for its oriental spiced gin and three one-stars for its fennel pollen honey and ginger, liquorice caramel, mango and chilli. Chocolatier Milissa Davis, 26, has worked in the shop since she was 16 and in January 2023 took over the business from Zoe Haynes, who started the business in 2011. She said: I am really happy. Tutu chocolates has won several Great Taste awards in a row but its the first time I have entered my own truffles. With the oriental spiced gin Ms Davis said she wanted to combine a classic gin with a complex blend of rich spices. She said: I wanted to celebrate flavours you can find in the UK as well as something a bit different. Its got fiery ginger its got lemon zest and pepper. It has a caramel base so its really nice and moreish. Henley-based coffee company Anonymous Coffee Co went home with two one-star awards for its fernwood espresso blend and no name signature blend. Three Oaks Orchard in Greys Road, Henley, took home one star for its apple juice. Nick Hay who runs the Orchard, described the award as a great honour following a challenging year in 2024. He said: Last year, more than half our apples, including the ones used in our 2022 three-star winner, didnt even show. It was only thanks to our volunteers that we were able to press what we pressed. Thankfully, this year is a bumper year with almost all our apples all out in force so were looking forward to what we hope will be our best year ever for our fruit and juices. Chef Jez Felwick, of Gallowstree Common who owns Swaadish curry sauces, took home a one-star for his tomato and mint sauce. This means that now all of the companys sauces have been recognised in the Great Taste Awards since 2019. THE first day of the royal regatta saw the worst water quality testing results on the Henley stretch of the River Thames so far this year. Less than a mile from the finish line, citizen scientists, funded by Henley Town Council, recorded a reading of 11,000 E. coli colony-forming units (cfu) per 100ml at Marsh Lock on July 1. This reading exceeds the upper limit of 900 cfu for water users. On the day of testing, there was no rain, the flow rate was 6.94 cubic metres per second, and water temperatures reached 23.3C, the second highest recorded this year. HoTWater, the volunteer group funded by the council to provide live and up-to-date measurements, takes readings using a Fluidion device, which provides results in nine to 13 hours. These results give visiting and resident river users an insight into the quality of the water, as the Environment Agency does not provide routine water monitoring. This allows river users to avoid potential serious health risks caused by harmful strains of the bacteria, particularly the 0157:H7 strain, which can cause severe intestinal infection in humans. The group, run by Dave Wallace, the founder of the Henley and Marlow River Action Group, has taken samples at four locations since January 9. This includes Marsh Lock and the River & Rowing Museum on Tuesdays and the Henley Bridge and Fawley Meadows on Thursday, with results published the next day. A reading of less than or equal to 500 cfu shows excellent water quality, a reading of less than or equal to 900 cfu shows sufficient water quality, and a reading of more than 900 cfu shows poor water quality. Since testing began, the 120 samples taken have averaged water quality readings of 1,769 cfu. Readings at Marsh Lock averaged 2,430 cfu, readings at the River & Rowing Museum averaged 1,929 cfu, readings at Henley Bridge averaged 1,404 cfu, and Fawley Meadows averaged 1,314 cfu. Weekly laboratory tests are also taken during the 22-week bathing season, with a contractor from Thames Water also taking their own samples to test in an in-house laboratory. MUG, an acronym used for 4-methylumbelliferyl-beta-D-glucuronide, is hydrolysed by an enzyme possessed in most E. coli strains during testing. This fluorogenic compound allows for the rapid detection of bacteria when it is observed for fluorescence using a long-wave UV light source. Chris Szweda, an environmental scientist on the HoTWater group, said the group is interested in the bacteria to find the source and fix the water quality. He said: This bacterium is the most common thing to test and the most traditional one used in lab-based tests. If we have high levels of E. coli, then I believe we can safely assume that there are high levels of other pathogens and chemicals. The 20 samples taken in July showed results averaging 4,978 cfu. At Marsh Lock, a reading of 9,133 cfu was recorded on July 22. There was heavy rainfall on the day, and water temperatures reached 24C, the highest temperature reached this year. On the same day, the sample taken outside of the River & Rowing Museum recorded 7,757 cfu. A reading of 8,157 was recorded at Marsh Lock on July 8 when there was no rainfall, but water temperatures reached 21.2C, the third highest record of the year. At Henley Bridge on July 24, a sample read 7,583 cfu. There was light rain that day, and water temperatures also reached 21.2C. At Fawley Meadows on July 17, a reading of 9,049 was recorded. There was no rainfall, and water temperatures reached 20.4C. Mr Wallace has collaborated with John Crawford, a retired IT specialist, who has coded and created the HoTWater app and website to log results. He first noticed the poor river quality while swimming in Marlow in 2022. He said: I was put in touch with River Action and they funded some initial testing for us, as I was keen to get some data about what was going on here. On the back of that data, we discovered high levels of pollution such as phosphates and nitrates, which are indicative of the water quality. He believes the issues of water quality are due to a lack of funding in the infrastructure of the water system. He said: The whole of the water system is completely underfunded and Thames Water's sewage treatment works look like theyre crumbling when you go to visit them. They have no obligation to completely clean the water of everything from a permit point of view, but these things get overwhelmed too easily. He approached the council last year to conduct testing to create a data baseline to hold those in power to account. Mr Wallace said: What were trying to do is build up a picture of what is going on in terms of river quality and mapping that against variables like rainfall, so we can begin to understand when were likely to see impacts on water quality, with a view that we can give people more advice when its safe to use the river. What we will have by the end of this is a data set which will be a good foundation to go back to people, like Thames Water, to hold them, and others like the government, to hold them accountable to get them to clean the water and change their policies. BEIJING, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- China's Ministry of Finance on Thursday said that S&P Global Ratings' latest report affirming a positive rating and stable outlook on China showed the rating agency's recognition of the country's economic resilience and prospects. S&P Global Ratings on Thursday maintained an "A+" rating and "stable" outlook for China's sovereign credit. Commenting on the rating agency's decision, the ministry said in a statement that the report shows high recognition of the resilience of China's economic growth and the effectiveness of its debt management, reflecting the agency's confidence in its positive outlook on China's economy. In the first half of 2025, major indicators of China's economy performed better than expected, and the economy demonstrated strong vitality and resilience as the Chinese government responded proactively to the rapidly changing external environment by implementing a series of coordinated policies, according to an official of the ministry. In the second half of the year, China will strive to achieve its annual economic and social development goals by continuing to strengthen macro policies, and it will intensify them at an appropriate time while maintaining policy continuity and stability. From a long-term perspective, China's economy boasts a solid foundation, multiple advantages, strong resilience and huge potential, the official said, adding that China's stable economic growth will continue to contribute to the development of the world economy. This months cover features an image of Newgrange, one of Irelands most famous Neolithic passage tombs. Recent analysis has shed intriguing light on the people who were buried within these grand monuments and on the structure of the societies that they belonged to. Questions of identity also lie at the heart of our next article, which examines recent research into the impact of Viking attacks and Scandinavian settlement across the north of England. From raiding to trading, we then trace the heritage of the British High Street, offering new insights into these familiar environments. Finally, we leap back in time to explore the remarkable artistic outpouring that Britain and Continental Europe witnessed towards the end of the last Ice Age. Adding to the above, extended news reports cover a pair of Roman cavalry swords from the Cotswolds; and recent work that has revealed the identity of a 250-year-old shipwreck discovered on an Orkney beach. Finally, I would like to offer my warmest wishes to Amy Brunskill, who is leaving CA to work for our sister-magazines Current World Archaeology and Military History Matters. Amy first joined our team for CA 356 (November 2019), and she has made an invaluable contribution over the last few years, including her ingenious invention of Heritage from Home during the first COVID-19 lockdown. Thank you, Amy, and good luck with your future endeavours! In this issue: FEATURES A GAME OF TOMBS? Rethinking what the dead can tell us about Neolithic society in Ireland It was long supposed that the people laid to rest within Irelands Neolithic passage tombs represented members of a ruling elite, and in 2020 aDNA analysis appeared to confirm this, revealing that some were related to each other. New analysis placing these findings within a wider archaeological context presents a more nuanced view, however, shedding intriguing light on the social structure of Neolithic Ireland. A VIKING NORTH Tracing Scandinavian influences in early medieval England A new exhibition at the Yorkshire Museum highlights the enduring legacy of Viking activity across northern England, exploring its impact on language, place names, and the archaeological record, and examining ideas of identity. CATHEDRALS OF COMMERCE A guide through the Golden Age of the British High Street With fears that the British High Street is dying, a new book traces its beginnings, demonstrating how department stores evolved into grand cathedrals of commerce. Does the solution to revitalising the High Street in the future lie in examining its past? LANGUAGES WITHOUT WORDS Exploring art from the last Ice Age Cliffe Castle Museum in Keighley is currently home to a new exhibition that examines Ice Age art not just from an archaeological perspective, but from an artistic one as well, revealing how these artefacts speak of a timeless humanneed to express ourselves creatively. LETTERS Your comments, complaints, and compliments NEWS Generations of first farmers congregated at Carnoustie; Evidence of an early medieval execution?; Fengate Ware found at Fordingbridge; Surveying Skomer Island; Big feet at Magna Roman Fort; Science Notes; Barbican uncovered in Chichester; Finds Tray NEWS FOCUS Straight to the point: investigating Roman swords and extensive settlements in the Cotswolds SPECIAL REPORT From warship to whaler: solving the mystery of a Sanday shipwreck COMMENT Joe Flatman excavates the CA archive CONTEXT Researching Wrest Park: Silsoe, Bedfordshire REVIEWS Stone Lands: a journey of darkness and light through Britains ancient places; Forgotten Forests: twelve thousand years of British and Irish woodlands; Repast: the story of food; The Great Museum of the Sea: a human history of shipwrecks; Producers, Traders, and Consumers in Urban Societies in Southern Britain and Europe: post-excavation and museum studies presented to Professor Mark Brisbane; Ice Age Art Now EXHIBITION Gladiators: heroes of the Colosseum and Gladiators of Britain at the Royal Armouries in Leeds and Northampton Museum & Art Gallery EXHIBITION The World of King James VI & I at National Galleries of Scotland: Portrait MUSEUM NEWS The latest on acquisitions, exhibitions, and key decisions LISTINGS Our selection of exhibitions and events, as well as historical, archaeological, and cultural resources online SHERDS Chris Catlings irreverent take on heritage issues ODD SOCS The Great War Aviation Society Kelly Rocheleau Education, court and crime reporter Follow Kelly Rocheleau Close Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily! Your notification has been saved. There was a problem saving your notification. {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Save Manage followed notifications Close Followed notifications Please log in to use this feature Log In Don't have an account? Sign Up Today New York state's ban on student smartphone use in school will take effect this fall, and most Cayuga County-area districts have decided how they'll enforce it. Announced in January and approved as part of the state's 2025-26 budget in May, Gov. Kathy Hochul's Distraction-Free Schools Law restricts students from unsanctioned use of smartphones and other internet devices on school grounds from bell to bell. But districts are free to decide just how they'll restrict students from using those devices during that time. As the start of classes in early September approaches, each district was required by the state to publish its policy on restricting student smartphone use by Aug. 1. Most of the nine districts in the Cayuga County area have posted their policies online. They are largely similar, and many told The Citizen the major decision they had to make was whether to buy specialized new storage devices to store smartphones or use existing resources like student lockers. Most, ultimately, chose lockers. 'Isn't as smooth as you would think' The Weedsport Central School District approved its smartphone policy at a board of education meeting Aug. 4, Superintendent Gregory Stone told The Citizen. Before doing so, Stone said, the district was weighing the decision between purchasing individual lockable pouches or having students use their lockers. The pouches would have been located at stations where students took their devices at the start of the day and retrieved them at the end. Instead, their lockers will have new locks provided by the district. Weedsport weighed the pros and cons of each option, Stone said. The pouches would have made it much harder for students to use their smartphones than lockers. But with 350 students who arrive and leave at the same time, the high school could have seen bottlenecks at those stations. Opening and closing the pouches would also be time-consuming, he continued. "It's kind of tricky to get it to lock and unlock," he said. "The logistical piece of it isn't as smooth as you would think it would be, hence the reservations." The pouches would have come with more cost as well. While the state has allocated $13.5 million to help districts buy storage for devices, it would only have reimbursed a third of the $15,000 bill for the Yondr pouches Weedsport was considering, Stone said. The superintendent believes students will ultimately benefit from not having access to smartphones and social media during school hours. "The vast majority of educators are in agreement that less distraction is good in a classroom," he said. "There's a lot of stuff that happens between kids virtually cyberbullying and all of that ... I do believe this move is going to benefit students overall. It's going to be a little bit bumpy of a road as we implement a new procedure, but I think it's going to help kids in the end." Lockers, bins and cubbies Other local districts' new smartphone policies differ in their details. For example, the Auburn Enlarged City School District has designated student lockers for device storage at its high and junior high schools, while elementary schools will use bins and cubbies. District Superintendent Dr. Misty Slavic told The Citizen that seventh- through 12th grade students are already required to place smartphones in their lockers and lock them, as the district enacted its own ban last fall. She said the only expenses of enforcing the state's ban will be fixing any non-working locks on lockers and adding cubbies to elementary classrooms. Cato-Meridian Central School District Superintendent Dee Froio told The Citizen its policies are also building-specific, and based on feedback collected from surveys of students, faculty and parents. Jordan-Elbridge and Southern Cayuga, meanwhile, will have "on-site storage areas" that include lockers and bins in the main offices. 'The least restrictive approach' Port Byron Central School District Superintendent Mike Jorgensen told The Citizen he feels using student lockers to store smartphones is a better use of school resources than buying new storage. "Our thought process is, we don't want to collect your kids' device. We don't want to be responsible for getting the right device back each and every day or be accused of damaging a device," he said. "Every kid has an assigned locker and when you come in the morning, put your phone in there and unlock it at the end of the day and bring it home," he continued. "That's the least restrictive approach." Jorgensen said Port Byron was told by the state in July the district would be allocated $3,700 to help buy storage for smartphones. But that wouldn't be enough to cover every student, he continued. So the district will use the money for different storage options, like ones that hang on the backs of doors so students can use them if they forgot to place their devices in their lockers. The new state law is not that different from the district's previous policy on smartphones, Jorgensen said. Though students could have their devices with them, they couldn't use them in most situations. The superintendent anticipates the vast majority of Port Byron students will follow the new ban without issues. "We're asking (students) to put their phones in a locker and we assume that for 95% of our kids, that's all we're going to have to do," he said. "Do we think we'll have to adjust it from time to time? Yeah, we will, but we'll use all the tools that we typically use when a student needs a reminder of the school rules we have in place, and we'll work with them the best we can." How parents can contact their children during school The new smartphone policies of most Cayuga County-area school districts say that parents and guardians will be notified in writing, upon enrollment and the start of every school year, of ways they can contact students during school hours. Some of the ways mentioned in many of the policies include: Calling the school's main office so staff can relay messages to the student or call them to the office to speak with their parent or guardian. Using the district's existing school messaging app. Dropping off written notes to the main office for staff to deliver to the student. Beijing (Gasgoo)- On August 2, Chinese automotive supplier Jiangsu Changshu Automotive Trim Group Co., Ltd. (CAIP) announced plans to establish a wholly owned subsidiary in Zaragoza, Spain, as part of its strategic and overseas expansion initiatives. Photo credit: CAIP The new entity, tentatively named CAIP (Spain) Smart Cockpit Co., Ltd., will be set up through a multi-tiered investment structure. The investment will be made by CAIP (Luxembourg) Co., Ltd.a wholly owned subsidiary of CAIP (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd., which in turn is fully owned by the parent company CAIP. Upon completion, the Luxembourg-based entity will hold 100% equity in the Spanish subsidiary, with CAIP ultimately maintaining full ownership. With a total investment of 24 million, funded entirely by the parent company's internal capitals, the new company will engage in the production, sales, and trade of automotive smart cockpits, components, molds and inspection tools, as well as automation equipment. The precise business scope will be subject to registration with local authorities. CAIP stated that the investment aligns with its long-term strategic goals and is aimed at supporting the development of its international business, enhancing services for global clients, and expanding into new overseas marketsparticularly in Europe. The new subsidiary will be fully consolidated into the parent company's financial statements and will not result in any related-party transactions or competitive conflicts. However, the company noted that the investment is still subject to regulatory filings and approvals for outbound investments, and there is uncertainty regarding the approval timeline. Shanghai (Gasgoo)- On August 7, 2025, Hesai Technology, a high-tech company specializing in LiDAR sensor solutions, forged strategic partnerships with Tsinghua-affiliated Chinese embodied intelligence startup ROBOTERA, according to a post on Hesai Technology's WeChat account. Centered on collaborative perception technologies for intelligent service robots, the two companies aim to explore new scenarios, applications, and user experiences in the service robotics sector to meet diverse consumer demands. Photo credit: Hesai Technology As the only embodied intelligence enterprise where Tsinghua University holds a stake, ROBOTERA has pursued a fully self-developed, hardware-software integrated technology stack since its inception. The company is committed to creating general-purpose intelligent agents for the physical world and delivering universal productivity, with the vision of enabling robots to serve industries across the board and enter households worldwide. ROBOTERA's flagship humanoid robot Q5 for the service industry, features a "slim-waist" design for lifelike replication of human motion details, 44 degrees of freedom, and the proprietary "Fairy Hand", enabling a wide operating range from floor level to over two meters high. Its compact chassis, equipped with 3D LiDAR and vision-based navigation, allows smooth passage through tight spaces and adaptability to diverse scenarios such as exhibitions, retail environments, and home services. LiDAR, widely regarded as the "gold standard" in 3D environmental sensing sector, has become a core sensor in robotics technology. Often described as a robot's "intelligent eye", LiDAR delivers precise 3D environmental modeling, enhances operational safety through real-time obstacle detection and avoidance, and improves path planning for more advanced autonomous decision-making and execution. In the perceptiondecisionexecution loop, LiDAR plays a pivotal role by supplying high-quality environmental data, driving algorithmic iteration and accelerating the path toward greater robotic intelligence. This year, Hesai Technology launched its JT series of ultra-compact, ultra-hemispheric 3D LiDARs tailored for robotics and industrial applications. With a field of view of 360 multiplied by 189, the LiDAR product enables blind-spot-free perception while its compact design allows seamless integration into various robotic platforms. As of May 30, Hesai Technology's JT series of LiDARs logs a cumulative delivery volume of exceeding 100,000 units in under five months since hitting the market. In the LiDAR sector, Hesai Technology recorded a usage volume of 215,865 units during the period, with a 29.6% share of the market, according to data from Gasgoo Auto Research Institute's ADAS usage rankings of supplier for January to May 2025. As intelligent robots take on increasingly diverse forms and integrate more deeply into the physical world, they are steadily enhancing human comfort and efficiency. Leveraging Hesai Technology's strengths in LiDAR and ROBOTERA's expertise in embodied intelligence, the partnership seeks to make robots catalysts for technological progress transforming them into trusted daily companions, efficient productivity tools, and innovative partners that enrich everyday life. Shanghai (Gasgoo)- On August 7, Wuhan NIO Energy Co., Ltd. ("NIO Power") signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Jiangsu Financial Leasing in Nanjing. Under the partnership, the two companies plan to jointly build 100 integrated EV charging and battery swap stations across Jiangsu province, aiming to strengthen the regional energy infrastructure. The agreement also outlines ongoing collaboration across capital investment, technology, and business models, in a bid to elevate the quality and pace of development in China's new energy vehicle sector. Photo credit: NIO Power The rollout will begin with pilot projects based on NIO Power's existing battery swap stations in Nanjing. As the partnership matures, both sides intend to expand gradually to key cities nationwide, guided by a strategy of deep regional penetration and orderly expansion. Through localized operational experience, the companies hope to establish scalable and replicable models for the broader deployment of battery-swapping infrastructure across China. Beyond infrastructure, the two parties also plan to collaborate on customized automotive financing solutions tailored to NIO's sub-brand, ONVO. These solutions will prioritize both consumer and supply chain financing, aiming to enhance product competitiveness and accelerate the brand's market growth. This strategic partnership represents a deeper integration between new energy vehicle infrastructure providers and financial leasing institutions. Established in June 1985, Jiangsu Financial Leasing is a state-owned non-banking financial institution approved by China's National Financial Regulatory Administration. Its operations span more than 100 market segments, with a core focus on sectors including transportation, green energy, and advanced manufacturing. To date, it has delivered tailored financial leasing services to over 300,000 SMEs and individual clients across China. URUMQI, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- More than 100 experts from China and around the world on Thursday gathered in Kashgar, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, for a two-day conference to address one of today's most pressing environmental challenges: biodiversity loss in arid and semi-arid ecosystems. The third International Conference on Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Use in Arid Lands brought together scientists and policymakers from Central Asia, West Asia, Africa, Europe, the Southern Caucasus and the Americas. The event aimed to promote scientific dialogue on the topic. Zhang Yuanming, director of the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography (XIEG) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), emphasized that biodiversity is the cornerstone of ecological balance and the foundation of human survival, and arid regions -- as a critical part of the global ecosystem -- are home to unique biodiversity and cultural heritage. "Yet they face severe threats from climate change, land degradation and water scarcity. Finding a balance between conservation and development, and exploring innovative approaches to sustainable use are challenges we must tackle," he said. Echoing this urgency, Shahbaz Khan, director of the UNESCO Regional Office for East Asia, noted that arid regions, though often underestimated, sustain complex biocultural systems. He cited the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework's "30x30" goal of conserving 30 percent of the world's land and marine ecosystems by 2030, and stressed the importance of indigenous knowledge, inclusivity and integrated monitoring mechanisms to achieving that goal. "In this decisive decade for biodiversity, let us ensure that arid lands are not left behind," Tristan Tyrrell, an officer of the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), said in a video address. He urged countries to incorporate arid-land protection into national biodiversity strategies, and to enhance monitoring tailored to these ecosystems. The selection of Kashgar as the setting for the conference carried symbolic importance, said Liu Ning, an official of China's Ministry of Ecology and Environment. "Kashgar is not only a living example of arid-zone biodiversity, but also a historic crossroads of civilizations along the ancient Silk Road," Liu said. "Just as diverse cultures once converged here, we hope this gathering will bring together global wisdom for arid-land conservation." Xinjiang -- one of China's most biodiverse arid regions -- serves as both a natural laboratory and a model for arid-zone ecological research. In recent years, it has ramped up efforts to protect its biodiversity, said Jilili Helili, deputy director of the Department of Science and Technology in Xinjiang. "We will actively collaborate with scientists worldwide to propose biodiversity strategies, promote sustainable resource use, and explore development models that harmonize ecological protection with socioeconomic progress," Jilili said. During the conference, participants discussed a range of topics, including protected-area planning, cross-border biodiversity cooperation, biological invasions, climate adaptation in arid regions, and the use of new technologies to support conservation efforts. "Biodiversity conservation is a global challenge -- no single country can address it alone," said Abdusattor Samadovich Saidov, an academician of the National Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan. "Transboundary cooperation is crucial, particularly in regions like Central Asia, where species such as migratory birds and mammals traverse national borders." Saidov called for continued cooperation on species surveys, conservation initiatives and shared research, noting that the conference plays a vital role in advancing related cross-border strategies. Sun Hui, an official of CAS' Bureau of International Cooperation, said that the conference provided valuable opportunities to share research, build partnerships and make policy recommendations. "In recent years, CAS has been working to launch international scientific programs, and to establish overseas research and education centers, expanding the global collaboration network and promoting scientific excellence," Sun said. Liu proposed three areas for future international cooperation: building a shared species database for arid zones to inform decision-making; developing cross-border technologies for ecological restoration, such as those related to drought-resistant crops and saline-alkali land management; and strengthening exchange among researchers to support long-term conservation efforts. The conference was initiated by XIEG. During the UN Biodiversity Conference in December 2022, XIEG established the Biodiversity Conservation Alliance for Arid Lands in collaboration with 11 national research institutions and international organizations. WANG XIAOYING/CHINA DAILY Global Times-On Wednesday, India Today and several other Indian media outlets, citing informed sources, reported that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi plans to visit China from August 31 to September 1 to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin. If the visit materializes, it will mark the Indian Prime Minister's first trip to China in seven years. Although the news has not yet been confirmed by the official authorities of China and India, it has drawn widespread attention from the international community as soon as it was released. Just as US magazine The Diplomat commented, "The trend in the past decade has seen the two neighbors embracing each other and then falling out ... the time has come again for them to explore yet another round of engagement." Together, China and India account for over one-third of the world's population, and both economies and their global influence are on the rise. At this crucial juncture, the trajectory of China-India relations carries even more reasons to capture global attention. Observers have noted that despite lingering differences and disputes between China and India, there have been signs of warming in their bilateral relations. Following the 2020 border clash, China-India relations went through a long period of low ebb, severely impacting political trust, economic ties and people-to-people exchanges. In October 2024, the successful meeting between the Chinese and Indian leaders in Kazan set the tone for a fresh restart in bilateral relations. At all levels, both countries have been upholding the important consensus reached by the two leaders - namely, that "China and India are each other's development opportunity rather than threat, and cooperation partner rather than competitor." Anchoring on development as the greatest "common denominator," the two sides have continued to meet in half way and maintain the momentum of progress. Since June this year, India's National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Defense Minister Rajnath Singh and External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar have visited China respectively - a level of engagement rarely seen in recent years. Currently, various previously suspended bilateral mechanisms are being resumed or are in the process of restarting. Both sides have also vowed to not let the border issue become an obstacle to overall bilateral relations. In the area of people-to-people exchanges, the resumption of Indian pilgrimages to Mount Gang Renpoche and Lake Mapam Yun Tso in Southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region, as well as the reinstatement of tourist visa issuance for Chinese citizens traveling to India, have all sent out positive signals. Both sides also hope to seize the opportunity of the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties to achieve greater progress in China-India relations. If Modi visits China this time, it will present another favorable opportunity to consolidate the positive momentum in China-India relations. However, there are still many pressing issues between the two countries that need to be resolved. From "reviewing" and suppressing Chinese capital, restricting visas for Chinese technical personnel, to the long-delayed full resumption of direct flights between the two countries, India has imposed numerous barriers, which have become stumbling blocks that seriously hinder bilateral exchanges. This not only limited the depth of China-India economic and trade cooperation, but also damaged mutual understanding and trust between the two peoples. If India can take Modi's visit as an opportunity to promptly adjust its China policy and remove unnecessary barriers, there will be much greater room for the development of China-India relations. News of Modi's visit to China comes at a time when the US government has announced a significant hike in tariffs on Indian goods. Some Western media outlets have interpreted Modi's visit as an attempt to "hedge against" the US. However, such a view is rather one-sided. Defending free trade and countering unilateral tariffs is the shared will of most countries in the world today. From the perspective of China, China-India cooperation is not aimed at any third party. As two ancient civilizations with long-standing friendly exchanges, two major emerging economies, and key members of the Global South, both countries are at critical stages of their respective modernization journeys. They share broad common interests, and their relationship follows its own historical logic and internal momentum. The recent "warming" of China-India ties clearly shows that Washington's attempt to draw New Delhi into its so-called "Indo-Pacific strategy" to contain China does not align with India's independent foreign policy. China and India are neighbors, and the list of areas in which they can cooperate is long. If Modi's visit to China this time can be made, it will provide a broader platform for cooperation between China and India. As regional powers, China and India have extensive shared interests in areas such as counterterrorism, trade, and cultural exchange. Deepening cooperation through the SCO not only benefits their respective development, but also contributes to regional peace and prosperity. As a Hindu proverb goes, "Help your brother's boat across, and your own will reach the shore." A healthy China-India relationship brings positive spillover effects to the region and the world. We welcome Prime Minister Modi to visit China with genuine intentions to improve bilateral ties and pragmatic cooperation plans, and to jointly usher in a new chapter of "the dragon and the elephant dancing together." OpenAI's GPT-5 has finally arrived, and it's already being hailed as the most anticipated AI model in history. Released on 7 August, the newest model promises faster responses, expert-level knowledge, and safer, more reliable interactions. GPT-5 is a leap forward in AI capability. However, it hasn't come without controversy: CEO Sam Altman has openly admitted that GPT-5's power and autonomy gave him pause, comparing its development to the 'Manhattan Project', which was a moment of both awe and anxiety about what they've unleashed. Here is a breakdown GPT-5's key features and why even its creators have raised concerns. What Makes GPT-5 Different? OpenAI describes GPT-5 as smarter, faster, more useful, and more accurate than previous models, with a significantly reduced hallucination rate (AI's tendency to generate false information). Here are the main highlights: Model Variants: GPT-5 (standard) is available to all users. GPT-5-mini, a lightweight, faster variant, is also available to free users. GPT-5-nano is an even smaller, cheaper model accessible via API. GPT-5-pro and GPT-5-thinking are exclusive to the $200/month Pro tier, offering unlimited access and enhanced reasoning capabilities, including longer query processing. GPT-5 also has an improved context window, which can handle up to 256,000 tokens in a single session, up from 200,000 tokens in previous models. This means it can maintain context through much longer conversations or documents without losing track. GPT-5 excels in coding benchmarks, outperforming previous models in bug fixes, multi-language programming, and freelance-style tasks. It can act as an expert collaborator for software development. When it comes to API pricing, developers can pay $1.25 (0.93) per million input tokens and $10 (7.45) per million output tokens for GPT-5. The mini and nano variants offer cheaper alternatives, making GPT-5 accessible across different budgets. Why Did GPT-5 Scare Sam Altman? While GPT-5 has been praised for its intelligence and versatility, its creation has also sparked unease, even from the people who made it. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, known for his enthusiasm about the future of AI, admitted he felt a deep sense of worry during GPT-5's development. Comparing it to the Manhattan Project, which was a catastrophic event for Japan and changed the trajectory of atomic war between the two nations, Altman described a moment of reflection shared by many scientists throughout history. He said there were moments where the team collectively asked, 'What have we done?' This isn't just drama for effect. Altman's concern stems from how fast AI is evolving, potentially outpacing the safeguards meant to keep it in check. GPT-5's ability to carry out long, multi-step tasks, make independent decisions, and use external tools or APIs on its own signals a shift toward greater autonomy. According to experts, this rising complexity makes the system harder to predict and control. While Altman remains optimistic that advanced AI could help prevent existential disasters rather than cause them, he acknowledged the growing concern amongst many about the distant future in which tools get smarter faster than society is getting ready for them. How is GPT-5 Safer and More Reliable? Despite the risks, OpenAI has worked aggressively to make GPT-5 safer and more trustworthy than its predecessors. According to the company, over 5,000 hours of rigorous adversarial testing went into its development, along with collaboration from external researchers. These efforts led to several important safety upgrades across all GPT-5 tiers, especially the advanced GPT-5-thinking version. One of the most significant improvements is a 65% reduction in hallucinations, or false outputs, compared to previous models like GPT-4o and o3. In other words, GPT-5 is more likely to give factual, reliable answers. Although these measures aren't perfect, they represent a substantial shift toward more ethical, controlled AI behaviour and a model. While it's too early to say that the new model come without flaws since the reviews are still coming in but one thing is clear whether its a casual user, developer, or business, GPT-5's arrival signals a new era for AI. Originally published on IBTimes UK Buffalo Lodging Associates, LLC is proud to unveil the newly renovated Residence Inn by Marriott Rochester Henrietta, reaffirming its commitment to delivering a modern, comfortable, and elevated guest experience. Located at 1300 Jefferson Road, the four-story hotel features 139 spacious suites, thoughtfully redesigned to meet the needs of today's travelers. All suites and public areas have been completely transformed, showcasing new carpeting, updated wall coverings, modern furnishings, and refreshed artwork. The renovation brings a cohesive, contemporary design throughout the property, enhancing both comfort and style. In the lobby, soft neutral tones, natural textures, and sleek furniture create a welcoming environment, ideal for relaxation or casual gatherings. Conveniently located just 7 miles from Frederick Douglass Greater Rochester International Airport, Residence Inn Rochester Henrietta places you in the heart of it all. Whether you're visiting the University of Rochester or RIT, attending an event at the Tim Hortons Iceplex, or planning a weekend getaway, you'll find everything Rochester has to offer right at your fingertips. With easy access to I-90, local dining, and shopping, getting around is a breeze. Each morning, fuel up with our complimentary breakfast, featuring a selection of hot and healthy favorites. After a full day of travel or exploring, unwind in one of our spacious suites, complete with a fully equipped kitchen, sleeper sofa, smart TV with streaming, free WiFi, and separate areas for eating, sleeping, and relaxing. Keep up your routine in our 24-hour fitness center, warm up by the outdoor firepit, or relax with a swim in our indoor heated pool. And don't forget your furry companions are always welcome to join the adventure! Hotel website Rocco Forte Hotels and Emerald Pine Capital are pleased to announce a strategic partnership aimed at enhancing the expansion of the Rocco Forte brand across Europe and the Middle East. By combining Rocco Forte's renowned operational excellence with Emerald Pine Capital's investment and asset management expertise, the collaboration creates a highly aligned team with deep capabilities across sourcing, underwriting, structuring and execution. Together, the partners will pursue repositioning, value-add, and development opportunities in gateway cities and high-demand leisure destinations. The aim is to offer a differentiated and compelling proposition for investors and a streamlined and effective process for asset owners. I am pleased to be able to announce our partnership with Emerald Pine Capital and I am confident that their years of experience and strong reputation within the financial world will further fortify our existing team and our expansionary efforts in Europe and beyond. Charles Forte, Director of Development at Rocco Forte Hotels As the luxury hospitality sector continues to evolve, we are delighted to partner with Rocco Forte to offer a distinctive combination of expertise and skill sets to our clients and partners. This collaboration reflects our shared commitment to quality and long-term value creation in the hospitality space. We look forward to working with aligned partners on this exciting journey. Fabrizio Grena, founding partner and CEO of Emerald Pine Capital About Emerald Pine Capital Emerald Pine Capital is an independent investment and asset management firm that sources, underwrites, executes, and manages real estate investments across Europe alongside institutional investors. Emerald Pine Capital was founded by Fabrizio Grena and Alessandro Ferrante, who worked together for several years at Goldman Sachs focusing on real estate direct investments, platforms, special situations and loan portfolios, deploying over 10bn of capital during their 30 years of combined investment experience. About Rocco Forte Hotels Established by Sir Rocco Forte and his sister, Olga Polizzi in 1996, Rocco Forte Hotels is a collection of 15 individual hotels, resorts, residences and villas. All of the hotels are landmarks, both old and new, occupying magnificent buildings in exceptional locations. Led by a family who has been in hospitality for four generations, the hotels are united by their distinctive approach to service ensuring guests experience the best of the cities and surrounding areas. Rocco Forte Hotels comprises: Rocco Forte House, Milan; Hotel de la Ville, Hotel de Russie and Rocco Forte House, Rome; Hotel Savoy, Florence; Verdura Resort, Rocco Forte Private Villas and Villa Igiea, Sicily; Masseria Torre Maizza, Puglia; The Balmoral, Edinburgh; Brown's Hotel, London; The Charles Hotel, Munich; Hotel de Rome, Berlin; Hotel Amigo, Brussels and Hotel Astoria, St Petersburg. Future openings: The Carlton, Milan in 2025; Costa Smeralda, Sardinia and Palazzo Castelluccio, Noto in 2026; Palazzo Sirignano, Naples in 2027. Natalie Rucellai Vice President of PR & Communications, Rocco Forte Hotels Rocco Forte Hotels View source Accor Plus, a travel loyalty subscription programme in the Asia-Pacific region, will rebrand and transition all existing memberships to a new format under the ALL Accor+ Explorer subscription from October 1, 2025. The updated subscription will include guaranteed ALL Accor Gold status or higher within Accors global loyalty programme, two complimentary nights per year, and wider global discounts. Existing members will automatically be upgraded to the ALL Accor+ Explorer membership. The shift aligns with the broader growth of subscription models globally. ALL Accor+ Explorer will provide members with access to two free nights annually across Asia-Pacific, hotel stays at up to 50 per cent off under the Red Hot Rooms offer, and a 15 per cent discount off public rates at over 4,500 hotels worldwide under more than 30 hotel brands. Dining discounts include 30 per cent off food and 15 per cent off drinks at more than 1,600 restaurants and 1,200 bars across the region. Members will also receive 30 Status Nights annually, securing ALL Accor Gold status, which includes benefits such as room upgrades, early check-in and late check-out, where available. Additional benefits include priority access to limited-time offers and member-only events. Accor Plus stated that the upgraded membership benefits were informed by research conducted with more than 7,000 members and 200 hotels across 12 countries in October 2024. CEO Emilie Couton said the company reviewed data and feedback over the past 18 months to align the subscription with current member expectations. The rebranded subscription will be integrated into the wider ALL Accor global loyalty platform, allowing members to use benefits while earning and redeeming ALL Accor Reward points and Status Nights through a single booking system and app. In 2024, Accor Plus members stayed five times more nights than non-members, with more than 3.1 million room nights booked. They also redeemed over one billion reward points and accessed more than 2,300 exclusive offers. ALL Accor+ Explorer will apply across more than 25 Accor hotel brands in Asia-Pacific, including Raffles, Fairmont, Sofitel, MGallery, Pullman, Swissotel, Movenpick, Novotel, Mercure, Tribe, ibis and others. It also offers a 15 per cent discount on stays at over 30 brands globally and includes ALL Accor Gold status or above. All active Accor Plus members will be automatically upgraded from October 1. New members can subscribe at S$299 (US$222) per year. About Accor, a world-leading hospitality group Accor is a world-leading hospitality group offering stays and experiences across more than 110 countries with over 5,600 hotels and resorts, 10,000 bars & restaurants, wellness facilities and flexible workspaces. The Group has one of the industry's most diverse hospitality ecosystems, encompassing around 45 hotel brands from luxury to economy, as well as Lifestyle with Ennismore. ALL, the booking platform and loyalty program embodies the Accor promise during and beyond the hotel stay and gives its members access to unique experiences. Accor is focused on driving positive action through business ethics, responsible tourism, environmental sustainability, community engagement, diversity, and inclusivity. Accor's mission is reflected in the Group's purpose: Pioneering the art of responsible hospitality, connecting cultures, with heartfelt care. Founded in 1967, Accor SA is headquartered in France. Included in the CAC 40 index, the Group is publicly listed on the Euronext Paris Stock Exchange (ISIN code: FR0000120404) and on the OTC Market (Ticker: ACCYY) in the United States. For more information, please visit group.accor.com or follow us on X, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and TikTok. London, UK Forward bookings at UK hotels have increased 6% year-on-year for the Summer Bank Holiday on 25 August and accompanying long weekend, according to new data from SiteMinder, the worlds leading hotel distribution and revenue platform. Average daily room rates (ADR) have also increased 2.5% UK wide, to 239.20 this year compared to 233.37 during the same period last year. Likewise, booking lead times are up 8.19% to 130.1 days compared to 120.3 days in 2024, as measured on the equivalent date for both years. Glasgow hotels are showing the UKs strongest booking and ADR growth, with booking volumes up 22.7%, and ADR increasing by 10.3% to 201.78, from 182.88 last year. Among major English cities, London leads in terms of bookings growth, with these increasing 14.5%, and ADR up by 6.38% to 251.85, from 236.74 in 2024. Edinburgh is also enjoying a significant booking increase of 10.7%, and remains the UKs most expensive major city during the period, with a modest 1.74% growth in ADR to 412.16. Some UK destinations present a nuanced picture. Brighton is experiencing a 6.77% increase in ADR to 270.10, compared to 252.94 last year, despite a 13.5% drop in bookings. Conversely, Liverpool and Manchester are seeing strong booking activity, increasing 15.6% and 7.3% respectively, yet both cities have seen ADR decrease, by 3.96% to 167.34 in Liverpool, and by 12.36% to 197.41 in Manchester. SiteMinders data shows that while almost 65% of forward bookings for the Summer Bank Holiday long weekend have come from abroadas was the case for the same period in 2024, domestic travellers continue to account for slightly more than 35% of current bookings. And, encouragingly for UK hotels, 69% of all forward bookings for the period by UK consumers were at UK properties, compared to just 31% who opted to go abroad, which are also the same proportions as last year. Our data reflects the enduring strength of travel demand, both within the UK and globally, despite economic uncertainty. Glasgows impressive growth highlights its ongoing emergence as a favourite for domestic and international visitors alike, while Londons similarly robust performance underlines the capitals enduring status as a global leader. James Bishop, SiteMinders Vice President of Ecosystem and Strategic Partnerships Adds Bishop: Despite positive UK wide data, hoteliers across the country continue to face challenges, which theyre seeking to offset with varying degrees of success. Edinburghs strong bookings growth and stable ADR indicates intelligent pricing strategies to reduce seasonality as Festival season ends, but elsewhere we see that ADR can fall despite solid growth in bookings. This serves as a reminder that while competitive pricing can attract volume, it may also limit revenue potential unless balanced by additional value creation. Concludes Bishop: The increase in booking lead times, and the stability of international and domestic demand as proportions of total bookings, indicate some predictability returning for hotels after years of change. With this newfound stability, hoteliers can now focus on amplifying demand through intelligent distribution strategies while using dynamic pricing to capture maximum value from every market opportunity. All figures are based on data from SiteMinders platform for the period 2026 August 2025, as measured on 28 July 2025. About SiteMinder SiteMinder Limited (ASX:SDR) is the name behind SiteMinder, the world's leading hotel distribution and revenue platform, and Little Hotelier, an all-in-one hotel management software that makes the lives of small accommodation providers easier. The global company is headquartered in Sydney with offices in Bangalore, Bangkok, Barcelona, Berlin, Dallas, Galway, London, Manila and Mexico City. Through its technology and the largest partner ecosystem in the global hotel industry, SiteMinder generates more than 125 million reservations worth over US$50 billion in revenue for its hotel customers each year. For more information, visit siteminder.com. Maria Cricchiola Senior Director of Brand Communications & PR +61 2 9056 7415 View source BCD Travel Launches Report on Business Travelers' Hotel Experiences - Image Credit BCD Travel BCD Travel's recent survey of 1,035 business travelers worldwide provides insight into the preferences and experiences of those who travel for work. The survey highlights satisfaction levels with hotel policies and identifies areas where improvements can be made. Conducted in August 2025, the research delves into accommodation choices, booking behaviors, and the challenges faced by business travelers. Accommodation Preferences The survey reveals that most business travelers prefer midscale (3-star) or upscale (4-star) hotels. The primary factors influencing hotel selection include location, employer policy, and cost. Specifically, 77% of travelers prioritize location, 56% consider employer policy, and 53% look at cost. For longer stays, some travelers opt for apartments due to the convenience of additional space and amenities like kitchens and laundry facilities. Booking and Payment Trends A significant majority of business travelers, over three-quarters, utilize their company's online booking tool (OBT) to search for accommodations. When it comes to booking, 84% continue to use the OBT, while others book directly through hotel websites or apps, and a smaller percentage contact hotels by phone. Corporate credit cards are the predominant payment method, with virtual cards being rarely used. Three-quarters of travelers report that their employers set hotel rate limits, although a notable 18% are unaware of any such limits. Traveler Behavior and Preferences Personal preferences play a crucial role in hotel selection. A substantial 77% of travelers prefer chain hotels for their consistent service standards, and 73% choose to stay at the same hotel when visiting a destination repeatedly. Wi-Fi and breakfast are the most utilized hotel services, followed by amenities like on-site restaurants, parking, fitness centers, and flexible check-in/check-out options. Loyalty programs are also significant, with 99% of North American travelers participating in at least one program. Two-thirds of travelers often select hotels that align with their loyalty programs, and three-quarters are allowed to retain loyalty points earned during business stays. Challenges and Concerns While 70% of travelers express satisfaction with their company's hotel policy and preferred suppliers, there are areas for improvement. Common complaints include slow Wi-Fi, lack of breakfast inclusion in rates, outdated rooms, and uncomfortable beds. During the booking process, insufficient rate limits set by employers pose a challenge for some travelers. Safety is also a concern, with 30% of travelers feeling unsafe in their hotel locations and 70% taking extra precautions like double-locking doors. Sustainability Considerations Sustainability is an area where business travelers and companies can improve. Half of the surveyed travelers rarely or never consider environmental factors when booking hotels. Only 20% actively seek eco-friendly features such as eco-certification, reduced single-use plastics, and water-saving measures. According to April Bridgeman, senior vice president of Hotel Solutions, embedding sustainability into the annual hotel sourcing process and communicating these expectations to travelers can enhance sustainable practices in business travel. The BCD Travel survey underscores the need for ongoing adjustments in hotel programs to better meet the needs of business travelers. While satisfaction is generally high, addressing challenges related to safety, sustainability, and booking processes can further enhance the travel experience. By incorporating traveler insights and dynamic strategies, companies can create more effective and sustainable travel programs. Click here to download the full survey report. DoubleTree by Hilton Stamford - Image Credit Atrium Hospitality Atrium Hospitality has rebranded the Hilton Stamford Hotel & Executive Meeting Center to DoubleTree by Hilton Stamford, featuring 484 guestrooms and updated amenities. Atrium Hospitality has completed the rebranding of the Hilton Stamford Hotel & Executive Meeting Center to DoubleTree by Hilton Stamford. The hotel, located near downtown Stamford, Connecticut, now operates under the DoubleTree by Hilton brand, offering 484 guestrooms, including suites. The conversion includes plans for a refresh of the guestrooms later this year. The property offers various amenities such as flexible meeting and event spaces, a fitness center, an indoor pool, and the signature DoubleTree chocolate chip cookie at check-in. The hotel is positioned to serve business travelers, leisure guests, and event planners, given its proximity to major corporations, attractions, and transit options in the Stamford area. DoubleTree by Hilton Stamford is part of the Hilton Honors program, which provides members with benefits such as a flexible payment slider, exclusive member discounts, and access to contactless technology through the Hilton Honors mobile app. Atrium Hospitality manages a portfolio of hotels across the United States, including brands such as Hilton, Marriott, IHG, and Wyndham. Canadians Shift Travel Focus from U.S. to Global Destinations Amid Trade Tensions - Image Credit Unsplash Canadian travelers are increasingly opting for international destinations over U.S. trips due to ongoing trade tensions. Popular destinations include Buenos Aires, Osaka, and Copenhagen, with significant increases in travel spending by Canadians. In recent months, Canadian travelers have been rethinking their vacation plans, opting for international destinations instead of the United States. This shift is largely attributed to the ongoing trade tensions between the two countries. Kelly Bergquist from Edmonton, who once visited the U.S. annually, is now considering destinations like Mexico and the Balkans. Her sentiment reflects a broader trend among Canadians who are seeking alternatives to U.S. travel. Data from Flight Centre Canada indicates a surge in Canadian travel spending to countries such as Argentina, Japan, and Denmark, with Buenos Aires seeing a remarkable 148% increase. Tourism organizations worldwide are noticing this trend. Japan reported a 23% increase in Canadian visitors in the first half of the year, while Portugal and Brazil also saw notable rises in Canadian tourists. Andrew Stafford from Flight Centre in Vancouver noted that Canadians are consolidating shorter U.S. trips into longer international vacations. The Marival Group in Mexico has experienced a 5-6% increase in Canadian guests, prompting targeted marketing campaigns to attract more Canadian travelers. Joan Allison from Windsor, Ontario, is among those choosing destinations like Portugal over her usual U.S. trips, citing political and economic concerns. Wayne Smith from Toronto Metropolitan University highlights that Canadians are seeking destinations where they feel safe and welcomed, suggesting a potential long-term decline in Canadian travel to the U.S. Discover more at CBC. Wait! Before you go Please sign up for our Evening Digest and Breaking Newsletters Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. Error! There was an error processing your request. * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy. About This Property Welcome to 11 Bushey Road -- a stylish and move-in ready two-bedroom, one-bath ranch located in a sought-after Pittsfield neighborhood. This charming home offers just under 900 square feet of thoughtfully updated living space, ideal for first-time buyers, downsizers, or those looking for easy single-level living.Enjoy a brand-new kitchen with modern cabinetry and countertops. The home also features new flooring, fresh paint throughout, and updated lighting. Two comfortable bedrooms and a spacious living area offer a warm and inviting layout. The bathroom is clean and functional, with potential for future personalization.Situated on a manageable lot in a quiet, well-maintained area, this home is close to schools, parks, shopping, and restaurants. Land Details Community Details Acres Apx: 0.23 Parking Type: Garaged & Off-Street Region: Middle Registry Elem School: Williams Middle School: Theodore Herberg High School: Pittsfield Exterior Details Interior Details Color: White Style: Ranch Construction: Wood Frame Exterior: Vinyl Water: Public Sewer: Public Underground Oil Tank: Unk Garage: Auto Opener,Detached Total Rooms: 5 Total Full Baths: 1 Fuel: Nat Gas Hot Water: Nat Gas Electric: 100 Amp,Circuit Breaker Floor: Carpet,Laminate Lead Paint: Unk Heat/Cool: Forced Air,Ceiling Fan,Furnace Insulation: Unknown Appliances Incl: Microwave,Refrigerator,Range Accessibility: 1st Fl Bdrm,1st Flr Full Bath Search More Properties With these Features Patio Curbside Recycling Public Transportation within 1/2 Mile Mature Landscaping Trash Public Cable Available Bay/Bow Window Adams Free Library: 'A Perky Pairing: Coffee and Fine Chocolate' ADAMS, Mass. Kim Larkin will present an interactive workshop called "A Perky Pairing: Coffee and Chocolate" to be hosted by the Adams Free Library. Thursday, Aug. 14 at 10:30 a.m. Registration is required. Library events are free and open to the public. This is an educational workshop that will cover the history and health benefits of both coffee and dark chocolate. Kim will pair coffee with different chocolate varieties throughout the class. Seating may fill quickly, so call 413-743-8345 to register for the class. Larkin has been teaching creative workshops for over 20 years. She is a licensed commercial chocolatier and a National Association of Holistic Aromatherapy-certified aromatherapist. She is also certified by the Specialty Coffee Association in Coffee Foundations and is a lifelong tea aficionado. Williamstown Fin Comm Discusses Soaring Health Insurance Cost WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. After a second straight year of hefty increases in the cost of health insurance under the Berkshire Health Group umbrella, the Williamstown Finance Committee is discussing the need for cost containment for the joint insurance purchase group. "At this point, we could be looking at another substantial increase for next year," Fin Comm member Melissa Cragg said at the panel's July 25 meeting. "Really, I think we're at the point where benefit design has to be the issue on the table. "Two-thirds of our [employee] base is unionized, so there's no reopening the contracts, probably, over this. But it's time for us to challenge Berkshire Health Group to talk to Blue Cross about what is being covered." Cragg noted that Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts this spring announced that it was discontinuing coverage for weight-loss drugs, like Ozempic, for subscribers who are not diagnosed with diabetes. At the time, a Blue Cross spokesperson told Boston's WBUR that, "Drug makers' prices for these medications are putting a big burden on our employer customers." Among those customers are the 25 towns and six regional school districts who are members of Berkshire Health Group. What drugs are covered is one example of a plan design that can be tweaked to control the cost to those employers. Another is percentage of health insurance cost borne by the employee; the latter is a topic of collective bargaining between towns and schools and their unionized staff. "I don't have a lot of hope that this little group is going to affect teachers' unions up and down the county or public works or anybody else," Cragg said. "We're not going to change copays, deductibles, the percentage contribution, things like that. But Blue Cross, indirectly, on behalf of Berkshire Health Group, is controlling the design of what the plans offer." Williamstown employs one member of the 11-person BHG Board of Directors, Dave Fierro Jr., the town's finance director. The town's Finance Committee also interacts regularly with two other members of the board of directors: Northern Berkshire Vocational Regional School District Superintendent James Brosnan and Mount Greylock Regional School District interim Superintendent Joe Bergeron. Suzanne Stinson said it would be a multi-year process to move the needle on costs, and it would require cooperation from the other towns and school districts that govern Berkshire Health Group. But she suggested it is worth that effort. "Our budget is, essentially, labor, and [health care] is a significant percentage of the labor," Stinson said. "So if you were to look for a place where you could have some meaningful impact, this is one of the few places that exists. And it has been steadily growing. "It is not something that is going to be solved in a window that I can even imagine. But if you don't start working on it now, you will never solve it." The health-care discussion came during a part of the meeting when Chair Fred Puddester encouraged Fin Comm members to brainstorm about thoughts they had on the budget season that ended in the spring or things they want to address in the deliberations that commence this winter. Another topic that came up was the town's allocation to non-profits, an area that consumed a lot of the Fin Comm's time last winter when several new non-profit entities came forward seeking fiscal support. Paula Consolini pointed out that "storm clouds" are swirling for those agencies, who are looking for any means of support they can find to support their work. But it is up to the town to prioritize how to allot property tax dollars, if at all, to outside agencies. "The conversation we had around non-profits may be worth formalizing," Stinson said. "We'd be looking only to consider services that fall more naturally to a municipality. That was the idea [behind supporting] the youth center and marketing [through the Williamstown Chamber of Commerce]. "I guess it's probably worth re-evaluating, committing, confirming that those are the ones [to receive town support] and be really clear to everyone so they don't waste time and effort on an application that we can't fund." Puddester said since Town Manager Robert Menicocci moved non-profit support "on budget," it's an administrative matter which non-profits end up in the budget, which is reviewed by the Fin Comm like the rest of the town's spending plan each winter. Before FY26, non-profit support was provided through the expenditure of free cash (the unreserved fund balance) and voted as separate articles at town meeting. The main business of the only summer meeting on the Fin Comm's calendar was the approval of a $75,000 transfer from the Finance Committee reserve to help pay for snow and ice removal costs in the winter of 2024-25. State law allows communities to "deficit spend" for winter road maintenance given the unpredictability of costs. That unpredictability is a big reason why May's annual town meeting each year votes a sum to be raised in taxation and devoted to a reserve controlled by the Finance Committee; it avoids calling a special town meeting to raise new funds to pay for the overage and allows a town committee instead to release the money. This year, the overage was about $239,000, Fierro told the Fin Comm last month. To address the cost, he asked the committee to release $75,000 from its reserve and showed it a series of transfers he identified from line items that were underspent in the fiscal year that ended on June 30. Among the areas where he found money to put toward snow and ice were $12,000 from a line item allotted to the Select Board, $22,500 in discretionary funds for the town manager and $9,000 out of $12,000 remaining in the annual budget line for town counsel. A big chunk of unspent tax dollars from last year spoke to the health-care conversation that the Fin Comm would have later in the meeting. Fierro told the panel that he was going to shift $96,000 out of the $102,000 left in the health insurance line from FY25. When asked to explain how so much was unavailable, Fierro's answer spoke to just how much of the town budget goes toward that line. "If you think about it, $96,000 is only three family plans' cost to the town," Fierro said. "We didn't have new hires. The projection was a little over. That's over a $2 million budget line." As for the cause for the overage on snow and ice itself, Fierro pointed to an unusually active winter for the town's road crews. Consolini noted that, in addition, a lot of that activity came around holidays, which increases the overtime cost for road clearing. The Fin Comm ultimately approved Fierro's plan by a vote of 8-0, but not until after he explained why the town does not just increase the snow and ice line item each year in case it's a bad winter. "We could have a winter where there's nothing," he said. "That's why it's good strategy not to go above and beyond what you did for last year. Because then you're locked into that number for years going forward. "If we say, 'We spent $400,000 last year on a budget of $200,000, so let's raise it to $400,000,' now you're locked in at $400,000 forever. You can't go back down. That's state law. That's why we try to stay low and make up for it." Eagle Mill Awarded Low-income Housing Tax Credits LEE, Mass. The Healey-Driscoll Administration announced $182 million in low-income housing tax credits and subsidies to 21 rental housing developments that will create or preserve 1,245 homes across Massachusetts. This includes the Eagle Mill. Currently in phase II, the new construction project adjacent to Eagle Mill Phase I is a mill conversion project now underway in Lee. The sponsor of both phases is a partnership between Hearthway and Jon Rudzinski of Rees-Larkin. When completed, Eagle Mill Phase II will offer 44 total units. Twenty-four units will be reserved for families earning less than 60 percent of AMI, with eight units further restricted for families earning less than 30 percent of AMI and, in some cases, transitioning from homelessness. In total, the administration has supported the creation of 6,071 affordable rental units since Governor Maura Healey took office in January 2023. These awards were made possible in part through the Affordable Homes Act and by Governor Healey's tax cuts package, which raised the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit to $60 million annually, a $20 million increase that allows the state to support more affordable housing production. "Our administration is working on all fronts to build more reasonably-priced housing and lower costs for everyone," said Governor Healey. "These awards are creating thousands of apartments that people can actually afford. This is helping seniors age independently and close to their families and helping workers afford to live in the communities where their jobs are. Congratulations to the municipalities and developers who are receiving these well-deserved awards today." These investments will leverage nearly $450 million in private equity, supporting urgently needed affordable housing in urban, suburban and rural communities. Food is packaged for distribution from the Central Berkshire Regional School District. Central Berkshire Schools Summer Meal Program Feeds Hundreds Meals packed and ready to go. Nearly 12,000 breakfast and lunch meals were served in July. DALTON, Mass. Central Berkshire Regional School District helped feed hundreds of kids this summer thanks to its new Summer Meals Program. In the month of July alone, the district served 11,410 meals to families with children under 18, said John Tranfaglia, food service director. "The summer meals program that we started has been phenomenal. We've provided almost 12,000 meals so far and the work that food service is doing to prepare the meals and distribute them is outstanding. We're definitely providing a needed resource for the community," Superintendent Michael Henault said. The second week of the program's opening, the line wrapped around the school, he said. "So, you get a sense of the need in our community and people are very appreciative. We spent the first couple weeks working some kinks out and really trying to make sure that we're meeting demand and I think we are now," Henault said. The district chose to implement this service using a noncongregate, or distributed, meal system, allowing families to take weekly meals home and enjoy them at their convenience. This system improves the accessibility of the service because families do not have to schedule their meals around the program's hours, Tranfaglia said. An individual swings by one of the district's two meal sites, lets the attendants know how many kids under age 18 are in their household, and goes home with a week's worth of packed meal bags for each child. Each bag contains seven breakfasts, seven lunches, and a gallon of milk, all adhering to the required nutritional guidelines. In addition, they will sometimes throw in extra items such as snacks, frozen pizza, chicken tenders, hummus, etc. The program will run until Aug. 20. Meal packs are distributed between 8 a.m. and noon, every Tuesday at Nessacus Regional Middle School and Wednesdays at Becket Washington School. "In the month of July, we served 815 bags. But that breaks down to 11,410 meals. So that's how many meals we've handed out in four weeks," Tranfaglia said. "It's pretty incredible. The volume that ends up happening, which is wonderful. It's amazing. And the staff are just over the top incredible." Ensuring that the program was easily accessible was a priority, especially considering that the Central Berkshire Regional School District has a very large footprint between all the towns, Tranfaglia said. "Coming from Cummington and Goshen, areas out there that is untapped right now. I would love those families to have opportunities to be part of this," said Gregory Boino, director of finance and operations. "I mean, coming from Cummington to come to pick up meals at Nessacus, it's a trek and hopefully next year we can do something out there as well." Although a large majority of the program's participants are part of the district, it is available to anyone with a child under 18. The program comes at no cost to the district, which gets completely reimbursed by state and federal funds through the state Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's summer feeding program. This year was the district's first year being a Community Eligibility Program because of the percentage of poverty within its towns. "So, switching to that category kind of started the conversation that there's probably this additional need during the summers," Boino said. A program like this is not based on the free and reduced families within the district; it's based on any child 18 or younger who has some type of need, Tranfaglia said. "If there's one family that needs it, then there's a value Being able to come around, even if they don't qualify for free and reduced but are able to come around and get a meal, is highly beneficial." He said the program helps everyone and the more people who participate the more successful the program becomes. "We have a grandmother that comes in and she's picking up for two different families, and she's all excited and happy" because it costs a fortune to feed all the kids she is watching, he said. "This just helps her out and that's the benefit of it. That's what makes us smile." The former Christian Youth Center on Melville Street is being demolished to make way for a playground for the Boys and Girls Club. Former CYC in Pittsfield Demolished PITTSFIELD, Mass. After more than 75 years on Melville Street, the former Catholic Youth Center is being reduced to bricks. Only part of the building's facade remained Thursday as crews make way for an expanded playground that serves the Boys and Girls Club of the Berkshires' child-care program. The nonprofit purchased the abutting property in 2015, and it has reportedly been out of use since at least 2012. Last summer, the Historical Commission voted to issue a demolition delay on the property, but it was withdrawn in the fall. The club offers programs for children ranging from 2 years and 9 months to 5 years old. It also includes a SEED Program for children seeking an extra year before entering kindergarten. "We believe that all children are special and unique, and develop at their own pace. They should be accepted unconditionally and treated with respect, patience, understanding and fairness. We also believe that play is essential to a young child's growth and development and that children learn by doing; through experimentation and 'hands on' experiences. While here at our Center, we encourage children to believe in and respect themselves and others, work and play cooperatively and have fun," the BGCB Children's Center website reads. "At the Children's Center, we approach preschool education as a team; parents and teachers working together to ensure a positive experience for all of our children. Our mission is to provide a safe, nurturing and educationally stimulating environment where children, supported by dedicated teachers, can grow and thrive in all aspects of their development." Williamstown's Median Home Tax Bill Expected to Rise by 6 Percent WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. The median-valued home in town can expect to see a 6.3 percent property tax increase in fiscal year 2026. That is one of the takeaways from a presentation the Select Board will hear on Monday evening from Principal Assessor Chris Lamarre. Lamarre will be in front of the board for its annual tax classification hearing. Each year, the board faces a number of decision points about how to distribute the tax levy in the town of 7,600. Historically, the Select Board has gone along with staff recommendations to not adopt a number of provisions in Massachusetts General Law, including the split tax rate, which would charge commercial property at a higher rate than residential property, as is done in some municipalities. The presentation from Lamarre and his predecessor each year includes a look at tax trends in town, including the rate of new growth to the tax base. Stagnation in that base the total property value over which the levy is distributed along with a jump in the levy itself leads to a higher tax rate and greater impact to property owners in the year that began on July 1. The levy, or the amount to be raised in taxation to support the spending approved by May's annual town meeting, is up by $1.3 million, from $20.6 million to $21.9 million, a jump of 5.8 percent. That is the largest increase in the levy in at least five years. The second highest jump was 4.35 percent in 2023, according to data supplied by Lamarre. The tax base, meanwhile, has seen its lowest increase in new growth during that five-year span. For FY26, the town has $208,166 in new growth, defined as new construction, renovations, additions, subdivisions, etc. Last year, the new growth figure was $270,143. Two years ago, it was a whopping $651,082. New growth and assessments drive changes in the size of the tax base, which is up 3.2 percent from FY25 to FY26, from $1.49 billion to $1.54 billion. A nearly 6 percent increase in the levy and a 3.2 percent increase in the tax base yields a projected tax rate that is up 2.9 percent, from $13.80 per $1,000 of property value in FY25 (which ended on June 30) to $14.20 in the current fiscal year. Over the last several years, Williamstown's tax rate had fallen from a 10-year high of $18.05 in FY19. The tax rate is not official until the Select Board takes its votes and the Department of Public Revenue subsequently reviews Lamarre's submission to Boston. Of immediate concern to homeowners, of course, is not so much the tax rate as the tax collected. The rate can rise, fall or stay the same while a tax bill remains constant or goes in the opposite direction because of changes in a home's assessed value. In Williamstown, the median home value the point at which half the homes are assessed higher and half are assessed lower is $454,350 for FY26. That is an increase of 3.2 percent from FY25's $439,100 median value. The tax bill for that hypothetical median priced home is projected to be $6,440 in FY26, up by $380, or 6.27 percent, from FY25. Last year, the increase in tax bill for a median-valued home was up by just $74 (1.23 percent) from FY24. Of long-term concern for town hall is the projected change in Williamstown's excess levy capacity in FY26. For at least 10 years, the excess levy capacity the difference between what Williamstown is allowed to raise through taxation without a Proposition 2- override vote and what it actually raises each year has trended upward alongside the levy itself. In FY17, the excess levy capacity was $1.03 million, or 6.3 percent of the levy itself. In FY25, the excess levy capacity was $3.3 million, or 16.2 percent of the $20.6 million levy. For FY26, the excess levy capacity is expected to fall to $2.7 million, a drop of 19 percent in the size of the excess capacity, which would be just 12.3 percent of the FY26 levy. Town officials say both the shrinking excess levy capacity and the hike in property tax bills can be traced to two things: rising costs for municipal services and negligible new growth in the tax base. Members of the town's Finance Committee have been ringing the alarm bell for years about stagnation in the tax base. As recently as its July 15 meeting, members of the Fin Comm talked about the need for growth both in the residential and commercial sectors. "One thing the comprehensive plan came up with on the task list for the Planning Board is we have a subdivision bylaw which, I'm told by lawyers in this business, means we actually can't build subdivisions more than eight houses, basically, Fin Comm Chair Fred Puddester said. "The comprehensive plan identified that as a problem for development, and the Planning Board has hired a consultant, and they're working on that right now. So, hopefully, if they can draw up a new subdivision plan, it will provide more certainty for someone who wants to build. "But if we, as a community, continue to threaten to sue people who want to build houses in town, they won't build houses in town. They'll go somewhere where they're more welcome. Part of the answer, in my mind, is us as a community." Melissa Cragg noted that Williamstown generates less in commercial and industrial property tax revenue than do similar communities and has, an opportunity to generate more in the way of things like hotel/motel, meals revenue from sources other than property taxes. Suzanne Stinson noted that a rising commercial tax base would help the community in a number of ways. "The [discussion] about non-residential property also speaks to whether or not there is any diversification of job opportunities, Stinson said. "All of the things we're talking about here speak to whether we have a sustainable, healthy town. Can people get employment? ... We don't have employment. We don't have employment that would draw people here. And we don't have those sorts of opportunities outside of our wonderful and robust not-for-profits. Those are great, but it is not, I guess, enough. If we had the opportunity to diversify our property tax base so it could go beyond the residential, I think that would have several different benefits." As the eighth China International Import Expo approaches, both veteran participants and newcomers are preparing for the event in Shanghai from 5 to 10 November, and are expressing strong confidence in the platforms value for accessing the Chinese market and fostering international trade cooperation. The CIIE, Chinas premier import-themed trade fair, continues to attract global brands seeking to expand their presence in the worlds second-largest economy. Companies across sectors view the expo as a vital platform for product launches and partnership development in China. CASETiFY, a global lifestyle brand specialising in customised tech accessories, will make its CIIE debut this year following substantial growth in the Chinese market. Vincent Au, general manager of CASETiFY Greater China, sees the expo as a strategic opportunity to strengthen connections with young Chinese consumers and local potential partners. The CIIE offers an ideal platform to amplify our brand presence among young Chinese consumers, Au said. The company plans to showcase its latest product, including iPhone accessories and suitcases, while offering interactive customisation experiences for visitors. Goodfarmer Fresh Fruit Trading Corp, a fresh food retailer and CIIE veteran since 2018, exemplifies CIIEs impact on business growth. After introducing New Zealands super-sized avocados at the fourth CIIE, we saw a 150 per cent growth the following year. Our black diamond pineapples, launched at the fifth CIIE, achieved a 25-fold increase in weekly shipments, said Zhang Jingzhen, general manager of the companys fruit brand division. Zhang credited CIIE for facilitating connections with nationwide buyers and distribution networks, noting that the platform has been vital for the company in establishing business relationships across China. The company plans to introduce several new products, including pineapples from Costa Rica and organic blueberries from Peru. Coating manufacturer Nippon Paints 2024 CIIE debut yielded 16 partnership agreements with State-owned enterprises and industry partners. Wu Yalin, branding centre vice-president at Nippon Paint China, confirmed that these partnerships generated substantial business opportunities. This year, the company will showcase innovations across low-altitude aviation infrastructure, AI manufacturing solutions, residential construction materials, battery safety of new energy vehicles and sustainable development products. Our CIIE experience has strengthened our belief that investing in China means investing in the future. As we transition from CIIE newcomers to veterans, we aim to be not just participants and beneficiaries, but contributors, Wu said. Bayers seven-year CIIE participation has resulted in nearly 40 major cooperation agreements and the successful localisation of several products. The pharmaceutical firm has introduced over 100 innovative products and presented more than 50 first releases at previous expos. Zhang Lei, vice-president of communications for Bayer Group Greater China and North East Asia, said that the company will showcase healthcare and agricultural innovations across two exhibition venues covering 8,600 square feet this year, leveraging CIIEs spillover effect to expand network in China. Japanese consumer electronics giant Sony is doubling its exhibition space to 3,230 square feet. Following previous success, Sony plans to showcase integrated solutions across software, hardware and gaming sectors, creating immersive experiences for visitors. CIIE can help foreign companies gain a deeper understanding of Chinas market as well as Shanghais business environment, said Li Yang, director of the external affairs department at Sony (China) Co Ltd. Although it is 80 years since the end of World War II, the name George Aylwin Hogg still resonates deeply in both China and the United Kingdom. Born in 1915, Hogg was a young British journalist who arrived in China during one of its darkest hours, the brutal Japanese invasion. Yet, rather than returning to the safety of home, Hogg chose to stay and risk his life to support and protect the Chinese people. His legacy, marked by selfless dedication and deep humanity, is being honoured this year through memorial events in both countries, and a renewed effort to tell his story. At a commemorative event in London titled In the Footsteps of George Hogg, family members, scholars and representatives from both nations gathered to reflect on his remarkable life. The event coincided with the 110th anniversary of Hoggs birth and was organised by the Chinese embassy in the UK. Speaking at the event, Minister Wang Qi of the Chinese embassy in the UK said Hogg was both a chronicler who exposed the truth of Japans invasion of China and a selfless educator, adding that he embodied the spirit of internationalism with his life, and is fondly remembered by the Chinese people. Over the past 80 years, China has made a remarkable transformation from poverty and weakness to prosperity, continuing to promote high-quality development and open cooperation, said Wang. The peoples of China and the UK forged a deep friendship amid the flames of war, and we should learn from history and move forward together. Among the guests was Mark Aylwin Thomas, Hoggs nephew and author of Blades of Grass: The Story of George Aylwin Hogg. In an interview with China Daily, Thomas emphasised that his uncle never intended to become a hero. He kind of came to stay in China by accident, he said. While on a world tour in the late 1930s with his aunt, the noted pacifist Muriel Lester, Hogg visited Japan and continued on to China to witness the brutal war firsthand. That became a turning point in his life. Arriving in Shanghai just two months after the Nanjing Massacre, Hogg began work as a journalist. His press credentials allowed him to travel widely, including to Yanan, where he met leaders such as Zhou Enlai, Zhu De and Nie Rongzhen. Zhu De took his shoulder and said, Travel as much as you can, and write as colourfully as you can, and truthfully whats going on tell the West, Thomas recalled. But Hoggs legacy extended far beyond his journalism. As headmaster of the Bailie School in Shandan county, Gansu province, he created a safe haven for war orphans, fostering unity among children from diverse regional and social backgrounds. He had to bind all these guys together with different dialects and different outlooks, said Thomas. Drawing on the British school system of dividing pupils into houses, and emphasising teamwork, Hogg introduced music as a key unifier. He had a wonderful baritone voice, Thomas said. Singing became a huge binding force. Chinese guerrilla songs, English folk tunes, even nursery rhymes music brought them together. In addition to the London event, CGTN Europe premiered the trailer of its documentary Witness to War: George Hogg in China. In the absence of much archival footage, the team turned to Hoggs writings and used artificial intelligence to recreate scenes from his life, offering younger audiences an immersive introduction to a story largely forgotten in Western narratives of the war. Renowned British historian Michael Wood, who is president of the Society for Anglo-Chinese Understanding, called Hoggs story a rare window into Chinas wartime experience. You can tell people that China was so important in World War II, and you can give them facts and figures, but this is a real personal story of somebody who was so moved by the sufferings of the Chinese people, he explained. Frances Wood, vice-president of the SACU, added that Hoggs legacy helps spotlight Chinas underrecognised role as the forgotten fourth ally in World War II. China contributed hugely that needs to be remembered, she said. Hoggs story helps restore that part of history. Chen Yuehua in London contributed to this story. On The Ground newsletter: Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents Get a weekly international news dispatch Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice China warned the Philippines was playing with fire after president Ferdinand Marcos Jr suggested his country would be drawn into any conflict between Beijing and Taiwan. "If theres an all-out war, then we will be drawn into it, Mr Marcos told Indian media outlet Firstpost on Wednesday during a state visit to the South Asian country. He said his countrys closeness to Taiwan and the large Filipino community there would make involvement necessary. "There are many, many Filipino nationals in Taiwan and that would be immediately a humanitarian problem, he said. "We will have to go in there, find a way to go in there, and find a way to bring our people home." There are some 200,000 Filipinos in Taiwan, according to the Manila Economic and Cultural Office, the de facto embassy of the Philippines in Taipei. Beijing reacted strongly saying the Philippines had kept making wrong and provocative remarks and actions, kept fudging and hollowing out the One China Principle, and kept harming China-Philippines relations. The foreign ministry said, in a statement on Friday, that geographical proximity' and 'large overseas populations' are not excuses for a country to interfere in the internal affairs of others". Such arguments, it added, "not only violate international law and the Asean charter but also undermine regional peace and stability and the fundamental interests of the people of the Philippines. "We urge the Philippines to earnestly adhere to the One China Principle, the ministry said, and refrain from playing with fire on issues concerning China's core interests." Philippines president Ferdinand Marcos Jr walks with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi before their delegation level talks in New Delhi ( AP ) The Philippine leaders remarks came amid rising tensions between Manila and Beijing in the South China Sea, especially over disputed areas like the Second Thomas Shoal and the Scarborough Shoal. The tensions have been brewing for several years but have escalated significantly since 2022. Both sides have traded allegations of violent clashes and aggressive manoeuvres in recent years involving their coastguard personnel and maritime militias, prompting the US to reaffirm its commitment to defend the Philippines. In a statement on Friday, the foreign ministry in Manila said Mr Marcos had only reiterated his countrys longstanding position on the importance of peace and stability in Taiwan and the peaceful settlement of differences. Manila still honoured the One China Policy, it said, but called for dialogue, regional stability and the peaceful settlement of differences between Taiwan and China. China claims sovereignty over Taiwan and president Xi Jinping wants to reunify the island with the mainland, by force if necessary. The Taiwanese people seem to largely favour the status quo which gives them de facto independence. On The Ground newsletter: Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents Get a weekly international news dispatch Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Tens of thousands of people have joined protests in western India in the past week demanding the return of a temple elephant who was rescued and relocated to a sanctuary run by a powerful industrialists family. Nearly 30,000 people in Maharashtra marched on 3 August calling for the return of Mahadevi, a 36-year-old female elephant also known as Madhuri who was recently relocated from a shrine in Kolhapur to Vantara. Vantara is a wildlife rehabilitation centre in neighbouring Gujarat state run by the Radhe Krishna Temple Elephant Welfare Trust. The trust is backed by Reliance, a business conglomerate owned by Mukesh Ambani, one of Asias richest people. Vantara was conceived by the billionaire industrialists son Anant Ambani. The Ambani family have long enjoyed close relations with Indias prime minister Narendra Modi, who inaugurated the facility on 3 March this year. As part of the protest this week, locals have launched a boycott of Reliances Jio telecom service. In just four days, The Hindu reported, over 150,000 mobile users across Kolhapur, Sangli and Satara ported their numbers to other networks. We plan to carry out similar protests in north Karnataka since it is a border region and several temples there also have elephants, Raju Shetty, a former parliamentarian from Maharashtra, said. The march for Mahadevi ended after a formal appeal for the elephants return was lodged with the local authorities. Mahadevi had been kept at Swastishri Jinsen Bhattarak Pattacharya Mahaswamy Sanstha, a shrine for the Jain community at Nandani village in Kolhapur, for over three decades. In October 2023, after tracking the elephants condition for over a year, PETA filed a complaint with the High Powered Committee of the federal environment ministry, according to a statement by Vantara. The complaint, which reportedly included veterinary reports and photographs, documented Mahadevis physical injuries and psychological trauma and alleged that she had been put to illegal commercial use by the shrine. The committee launched an investigation and eventually ordered Mahadevis transfer to the rehabilitation facility, citing her continued neglect and poor welfare conditions at the shrine. It noted reports documenting her use in religious processions, unlawful public events, and unsafe practices like lifting children with her trunk. It also stated that several expert inspections, including assessments by a panel appointed by the committee, had found the elephant was suffering from advanced foot rot, ulcerated wounds, overgrown toenails, and displayed clear signs of psychological distress. The shrine contested the decision to relocate her, but to no avail. The Supreme Court last month upheld the Bombay High Courts decision to relocate Mahadevi for better care and rehabilitation. The court backed PETA Indias argument that the sentiments of devotees cannot override the fundamental right of an animal to health and dignified care. Protest leaders, including Mr Shetty, accused PETA of acting in collusion with Anant Ambani to target temple elephants under the guise of animal welfare. Mr Shetty alleged that the relocation of Mahadevi was part of a broader strategy by PETA to seize elephants from religious institutions and hand them over to corporate-backed facilities like Vantara. This is a tactic by PETA, acting as a slave to Ambanis interests, to seize temple elephants, he alleged. We will file a formal complaint with PETAs head office in the US, and seek cancellation of their licence in India. PETA India rejected accusations of collusion, pointing out that Mr Shetty himself previously supported Mahadevis relocation and veterinary care. Its disheartening to now see him opposing her rehabilitation when shes finally living free of chains, receiving treatment for painful ailments caused by years of neglect, and finding companionship among other elephants, and retired after a hard life, the group said in a statement to The Independent. It emphasised that the elephant was suffering from irreversible physical and psychological trauma after decades of isolation and mistreatment at the shrine and that her transfer to Vantara was ordered by the High Powered Committee, not by PETA. The Independent has contacted Vantara for comment. On the day of Mahadevis relocation, residents of Kolhapur clashed with the Vantara staff who had come to collect her. The Hindustan Times reported that when people from Vantara, PETA and the forest department arrived, they were pelted with stones by some of the protesting residents. The clash resulted in broken car windows, wounds and a PETA India staff member sustaining a serious rib injury, PETA said. The unrest was brought under control with police intervention. Once the situation had calmed, the locals gave Mahadevi an emotional send-off, the newspaper noted. The shrine wanted to retain the elephant despite Mahadevis arthritis and other severe health problems from spending most of her life on concrete, PETA claimed. Elephants are intelligent, emotional beings who require a life without chains and an elephant family for their mental wellbeing, it said. PETA India is grateful to the Supreme Court for recognising Mahadevis right to live the rest of her years free from pain, weapons, fear and isolation. PETA was also immensely grateful to Vantaras Radhe Krishna Temple Elephant Welfare Trust for giving her the opportunity to finally experience life as an elephant should. Mahadevi was apparently taken from her mother as a calf and spent years in isolation at the Jain shrine. In 2017, she fatally attacked the shrines chief priest, repeatedly slamming him against a wall, an incident which animal rights groups linked to her psychological distress from prolonged captivity. PETA said she had been left disturbed by decades of deteriorated health and psychological suffering. A 2023 National Geographic article pointed out that even though elephants were worshipped as sacred beings in India, many temple elephants endured harsh treatment and neglect, a truth, it said, that animal welfare advocates were increasingly working to expose. By some estimates, nearly one in three Asian elephants lives in captivity. Lord Ganesha is a Hindu god with an elephant face. Because of that reverence, elephants had always been considered holy. Thats the tragic paradox because on the one hand, elephants are revered and worshipped. And on the other hand, theyre enslaved, Sangita Iyer, who made the documentary Gods in Shackles about elephants in captivity in 2016, told the outlet. After Mahadevis relocation caused a public backlash, Vantara said it had neither initiated nor requested her transfer. The decision was made by the High Powered Committee based on the facilitys capacity and track record. Its unfortunate that, despite full legal closure, misinformation is being spread to vilify Vantara and its supporters, the facility said. When courts have ruled, continuing to target a neutral organisation that merely followed orders undermines faith in the judiciary. Maharashtras chief minister, Devendra Fadnavis, said on Wednesday that his government would explore legal options to bring Mahadevi back. Considering the public sentiments, the state government will intervene in the legal process to bring back the Mahadevi elephant, he said after chairing a meeting to discuss the matter. The Jain shrine will submit a review petition in the Supreme Court and the government will help them by submitting an intervention application. Vantara reportedly told the chief minister they were willing to help set up a satellite rehabilitation centre for Mahadevi near the Jain shrine on land selected by the forest department. Two days ago, Vantara had posted a video of Mahadevi on Instagram titled A day in the life of Madhuri. Every elephant deserves a life led by instinct, not instruction, it said. That is the life Madhuri is finally discovering at Vantara. While PETA and the courts have defended her transfer on grounds of health and welfare, they have not convinced everyone. Some animal rights groups have expressed concern over Vantaras value as a genuine conservation initiative, pointing to a lack of transparency over its acquisitions, as well as its emphasis on rare species and grand infrastructure. Animal rights groups have also questioned the impact on existing public zoos due to the transfer of animals from states like Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh. In March this year, several Indian media outlets removed reports highlighting concerns from a South African wildlife coalition, Wildlife Animal Protection Forum of South Africa, about the transfer of wild animals to Vantara. The group had urged the South African government to investigate the legality of animal exports from the country to the private Indian facility, citing possible violations of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) treaty. Vantara has rejected such criticisms as entirely false and baseless, and said its transfers of animals from South Africa were conducted in full compliance with the countrys federal and provincial rules. It said the concerns raised had been thoroughly investigated and conclusively closed by CITES and accused the South African forum of being seemingly driven by vested interests. On The Ground newsletter: Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents Get a weekly international news dispatch Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Japan saw nearly one million more deaths than births in 2024 in the largest annual population decline since records began six decades ago. Latest data from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications showed only 686,061 births last year, the lowest since 1899, and as many as 1.59 million deaths, bringing the total population to 124.33 million. The population not only fell for the 16th straight year, it saw the steepest decline since Japan began collecting comparable data in 1950. The year-on-year shrinking of population has caused anxiety over a declining workforce that could severely impact the countrys economy and threaten national security. While the population of indigenous Japanese shows no signs of stabilising, the number of foreign residents in the country is breaking records, reaching a high 3.6 million as of 1 January 2025 to make up 3 per cent of the total population. Towns and villages are emptying out in record numbers, with nearly four million homes abandoned over the past two decades. Children play in a nursery room run by Japanese cosmetics giant Shiseido in Tokyo on 2 April 2008 ( AFP via Getty ) Japan is grappling not just with a declining population but an ageing one as well. Nearly three of every 10 people are now aged 65 or older. By 2070, four out of 10 people are projected to be over 65 and the total population is estimated to fall to just 87 million. The prime minister has called the demographic crisis a "quiet emergency", promising free childcare to help married couples balance work and parenting. But most such efforts to reverse the trend of low births have made little to no progress so far. Experts say the governments measures have largely focused on married couples and ignored the growing number of young people reluctant to marry. The younger generation is increasingly reluctant to marry or have children due to bleak job prospects, high living costs and a corporate culture that adds extra burdens for women and working mothers, experts point out. On The Ground newsletter: Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents Get a weekly international news dispatch Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Indonesia is set to convert a medical facility on its uninhabited Galang Island to treat about 2,000 wounded residents of Gaza, a presidential spokesperson announced on Thursday. The Muslim-majority nation has previously sent humanitarian aid to Gaza after Israel started an offensive in October 2023 that Gaza health officials say has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians, whether fighters or non-combatants. "Indonesia will give medical help for about 2,000 Gaza residents who became victims of war, those who are wounded, buried under debris," spokesperson Hasan Nasbi told reporters, adding that the exercise was not an evacuation. Indonesia plans to allocate the facility on Galang island, off its island of Sumatra and south of Singapore, to treat wounded Gaza residents and temporarily shelter their families, he said, adding that nobody lives around it now. The patients would be taken back to Gaza after they had healed, he said. An injured boy waiting for treatment at Shifa Hospital in Gaza City ( AP ) Hasan did not give a timeframe or further details, referring questions to Indonesia's foreign and defence ministries, which did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment. The plan comes months after President Prabowo Subianto's offer to shelter wounded Palestinians drew criticism from Indonesia's top clerics for seeming too close to U.S. President Donald Trump's suggestion of permanently moving Palestinians out of Gaza. In response to Trump's suggestion, the foreign ministry of Indonesia, which backs a two-state solution to resolve the Middle East crisis, said at the time it "strongly rejects any attempt to forcibly displace Palestinians". A hospital to treat victims of the COVID-19 pandemic opened in 2020 on Galang, which had been, until 1996, a sprawling refugee camp run by the United Nations, housing 250,000 of those who fled the Vietnam War. Sign up for our free Health Check email to receive exclusive analysis on the week in health Get our free Health Check email Get our free Health Check email Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Deaths from the flesh-eating bacteria Vibrio vulnificus are rising along the southeastern US coast, with at least five fatalities reported in Florida, four in Louisiana, and one in North Carolinas Outer Banks this year. The bacteria flourish in warm seawater and can lead to necrotizing fasciitis, a serious infection that rapidly damages surrounding tissue. Health officials report that Florida has recorded 16 cases this year. Seventeen cases have reported Louisiana, with seven and three cases also reported in North Carolina seven and Mississippi, respectively. Vibrio vulnificus can enter the body through open wounds exposed to salty or brackish water and can also be contracted by eating contaminated raw seafood, particularly oysters. About 20 percent of those infected with this bacterium die from the infection. Antarpreet Jutla, an engineering professor at the University of Florida, told NBC that infections remain rare but something is off this year. This is certainly not normal, thats one thing, Jutla said. We havent had that many cases early on in the summer for a very long time. open image in gallery About one in five people infected with Vibrio vulnificus die from the illness ( Getty Images/iStockphoto ) While Jutla said there are too many unknowns to be certain what is causing the spike, researchers are following some leads. For one, his group is investigating why there is such high concentrations of plankton and chlorophyll in Floridas panhandle, which may be linked to the surge in Vibrio bacteria. Although most Vibrio species cause mild gastrointestinal illnesses, Vibrio vulnificus is particularly dangerous due to its rapid progression and severe symptoms. Jutla also explained that Vibrio vulnificus infections often rise following hurricanes, which stir up bacteria in floodwaters. Florida recorded 82 cases last year, a number that may have been worsened by the extremely active hurricane season, as the bacteria can persist in floodwaters caused by storms. Something happened this year that triggered the pathogens a little bit more than before, he said. People at greatest risk include those with liver disease, weakened immune systems, or who are over 65 years old. Symptoms typically appear within hours and include redness, swelling, painful blisters, and potentially life-threatening sepsis if untreated. open image in gallery Vibrio vulnificus infections may have increased due to last years active hurricane season, with this years season also forecasted to be above average ( Getty Images/iStock ) Health experts recommend covering any open wounds before entering ocean waters and seeking immediate medical attention if infection signs develop. Early treatment with antibiotics can prevent serious complications. This years infections and deaths have been reported across a wide range of Floridas coastline, including counties such as Bay County in the Panhandle, Hillsborough County near Tampa, Broward County in the southeast, and St. Johns County near Jacksonville. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Two people have been arrested at a protest outside the Britannia Hotel in Canary Wharf as demonstrations took place near hotels housing asylum seekers across the UK. There was a heavy police presence at the site in central London on Friday evening, with officers separating rival groups. The trouble came as the Metropolitan Police is gearing up for a busy weekend of demonstrations, including another planned protest and possible counter-protest outside the Britannia Hotel on Sunday. More than 100 people were protesting with Stand Up to Racism in Canary Wharf as part of the Defend Refugees, Stop the Far Right demonstrations happening across the UK on Friday. About 100 counter-protesters waving Union flags and St Georges Cross flags also gathered on the pavement opposite the hotel. One person protesting against the use of the hotel by asylum seekers has been arrested after a bottle was thrown at officers, the Metropolitan Police said. A member of the counter-protest group has been arrested for failing to remove a face covering. Following the two arrests, police imposed conditions under the Public Order Act, with counter-protesters instructed to remain on the pavement opposite the Britannia Hotel. open image in gallery Police officers form a barrier in front of counter-protesters separating them from the Stand Up to Racism rally in Canary Wharf, London ( Jordan Pettitt/PA ) Police said the measures were to prevent serious disorder at the protests in Canary Wharf. Sabby Dhalu, the co-founder of Stand Up to Racism, who attended the demonstration, said: This weekend sees the greatest number of protests targeting refugees that are in hotels accommodating asylum seekers since last years racist riots. Were here to stand up to that because its clear that people on the far right want to see a repeat of the violence and the horrific scenes that we saw last year with racist attacks up and down the country, violent attacks on police, violent attacks on mosques Were here to stand up to that racism and violence. She added: Weve got to find better solutions as a society to the various problems that the country is facing: the fact that people are getting worse off is not the fault of refugees. Safia Jama, chief executive of the Womens Inclusive Team charity which provides support to women in Tower Hamlets, was also present. Gesturing at the counter protesters across the road, she said: As a woman, I feel less safe today than Ive ever felt in Tower Hamlets. Generally, Im very safe in Tower Hamlets: there is no issue or concerns. open image in gallery A protester who was asked to remove his face mask remonstrates with a police officer at Canary Wharf ( Jordan Pettitt/PA ) But Im very worried about going home later, because they will target (us), and when you look at people across the road, its mainly men. She added: Tower Hamlets is my home: I went to primary school, primary school here, and Im still living here. Im not going to have a bunch of people come to my borough and paint my borough as a picture that it isnt, and say that it isnt safe for women. Im safe every day, and youre not going to tell me otherwise. On the counter protesters side, a pensioner who went by the name of Susie, from Canary Wharf, said the idea of asylum seekers being housed in a local hotel made her feel unsafe. When I take the dog for a walk, I always carry a personal alarm because otherwise Im terrified of being mugged. Its become unsafe because we know from a number of instances throughout the country with migrant hotels that these men, fighting-age men, have got sexual needs and there have been like in Epping attacks on girls. Multiple demonstrations have been held outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in Epping since July 13, after an asylum seeker was charged with allegedly attempting to kiss a 14-year-old girl. Susie added: Its very important to protest against this migrant hotel: first of all, this is Canary Wharf, which is the engine of a country. The sheer stupidity of a government that puts a migrant hotel here just beggars belief. These are unvetted, they are criminals by default because they entered the country illegally. open image in gallery Protesters taking part in the anti far right rally hold up placards ( Jordan Pettitt/PA ) Referring to the counter protesters, she added: None of these people here is a racist they want to look after their own. The point is we want to look after children, and girls in particular. Protests organised by Stand Up to Racism took place outside hotels housing refugees across the country, including in: Islington, London; Portsmouth, Southampton and Aldershot in Hampshire; Hoylake in Merseyside; Barry in Wales; Leicester in the East Midlands; Altrincham in Cheshire; Bournemouth in Dorset; and Birmingham in the West Midlands. In Altrincham, a journalist complained to police after claiming was struck by a placard while attempting to interview anti-racism protesters. Sophie Reaper, GB News North West reporter, said in a post on X: We went to the Stand Up To Racism counter-protest to offer them the chance to tell their side on GB News instead I was hit in the head by a metal pole. A spokesperson for GB News confirmed Ms Reaper was fine following the incident and that she had reported the matter to police. In Epping, Essex, police also put restrictions in place under the Public Order Act, instructing protesters to remain behind the area marked off by metal fencing outside the Bell Hotel. A group of women waving Union flags and St Georges Cross flags appeared to defy that order by breaking through metal fences and sitting down on the road outside the hotel, according to footage posted on social media. Essex Police said the protest passed off peacefully, though one man was arrested after an officer was struck by an object, while another was arrested on suspicion of breaching court bail conditions. A peaceful protest also took place outside the Brook Hotel in Norwich, Norfolk, according to the local police force. I would like to thank all those who attended and made it a peaceful and safe protest, Norfolk Police Superintendent Wes Hornigold said. We put measures in place today to enable people to exercise their right to protest, whilst maintaining safety and minimising disruption. A number of officers were deployed to allow this to happen. Sign up for the Independent Women email for the latest news, opinion and features Get the Independent Women email for free Get the Independent Women email for free Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Ministers will seek to introduce restriction zones that will limit where abusers can go, aiming to allow survivors to go about their daily lives without fear of seeing their offender. Sexual and violent offenders could be restricted to certain locations and tracked with technology, and would face jail time for breaching the conditions under new proposals. Until now exclusion zones exist to stop perpetrators from going to where their victims live. A domestic abuse survivor has said she hopes that the new plans are not just pillow talk after feeling let down by previous governments. Mother-of-two and survivor Leanne said she was ecstatic about the move, adding: I hope change is actually going to happen, and its not just pillow talk, but if it happens, then, yeah, its a long time coming. She said from her experience she would have asked for restriction zones at the school where she would take her children, her local supermarket or near her familys homes. These are places where I was confronted, even when he had restraining orders, the 54-year-old said. If I could say those places, and I knew I could go to those places safely, happy days, Im protected. Ive been listened to. But she called for ministers to listen to survivors more, adding of the government approach: So far, Im loving what Im hearing. Would I put a lot of faith in it? Probably not, because I dont like being let down, and Ive been let down by previous governments. So we can only have hope. open image in gallery Until now, exclusion zones exist to stop perpetrators from going to where their victims live ( PA Archive ) The measure comes as the government plans to overhaul the prison system to curb overcrowding, which could see violent and sexual offenders released from jail earlier, and for more criminals to serve sentences in the community. Tens of thousands of offenders would be tagged, prompting concerns from the victims commissioner for England and Wales over the Probation Services ability to cope with rising numbers. The government has announced 700 million of funding until 2028/29 for the Probation Service to back up its reforms, as well as recruiting 1,300 new probation officers by March 2026. For the new restriction zones, probation officers will work with survivors to decide on banned locations for perpetrators, and will carry out detailed risk assessments. Justice minister Alex Davies-Jones announced the new measure at charity Advance in London on Friday. The victims minister said perpetrators will be GPS monitored to have real-time data about where they are going, and will be subject to virtual boundaries which if breached could mean they go to prison. She said: Were putting really strong safeguards attached to these so that we can give victims and survivors the confidence to carry on with their everyday lives. Were going to be outlining more details on this as well as were bringing in the legislation in the autumn. Speaking at one of Advances womens centres, director Amy Glover said the domestic abuse charity wants to see what the monitoring processes are, and how quickly a probation officer would intervene if a perpetrator was breaching conditions or doing something unsafe. What we can sometimes find when new safety measures are introduced for victim survivors, if they dont work all the time, then they can actually create a false sense of security, she said. So were just really interested to hear a bit more about how they will be rolled out and how we can ensure theyre working effectively. But of the measure, she added the reaction is largely positive as it flips the current responsibility on survivors on deciding to leave their safe, small exclusion zone area, to perpetrators having more restrictions. The aim of these restriction zones, which we really welcome, is to flip that so now he may have a smaller area of movement. She is able to go about her daily life more. The charity hosted the justice minister for a round table discussion about the issue, joined by survivors and reality star and campaigner Georgia Harrison. The Love Island star, who campaigns on violence against women and girls after becoming a victim of revenge porn, backed the plan for restriction zones for offenders if implemented correctly. open image in gallery Love Island star and campaigner Georgia Harrison ( (Lucy North/PA) ) Why on earth should a survivor have to pick an area and stay there for the rest of their life? she said. It makes so much more sense that a perpetrator will be subjected to a restriction zone and a survivor can go wherever they want and feel safe. If implemented correctly, it could just mean that not only are they actually physically safe, but they can live every single day feeling safe. The Refuge ambassador said that knowing your perpetrator is tagged and they are being monitored is the best way possible if prisons are overcrowded to figure out what works outside of jails. This does seem like a really good answer to one of those issues, she said. Ms Harrison also pressed the case for social media platforms to be helping and held accountable for needing to do more to prevent abuse online, which also affects victims of domestic abuse. Ms Davies-Jones said: As the victims minister, I get to meet with victims and survivors every single day who have been through the unimaginable, and I want to hear their experiences directly and learn from them so that we can make the system better for them, and finally put them back at the heart of the justice system. Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice The UK is braced for the fourth heatwave of the year as temperatures begin to soar, with warnings they could reach 34C. The heat is set to peak in the mid-thirties in the south of England, according to the Met Office, with London marking 32C on Tuesday. Other parts of the country are also forecast for high temperatures, with Manchester clocking highs of 28C on both Tuesday and Wednesday. Grahame Madge, a Met Office spokesperson, said that while exact temperatures werent set in stone - and could hit the mid-thirties - many areas would enjoy a hot spell during the week. I think we could be seeing parts of the UK have another heatwave by the middle of next week, he said. open image in gallery The Met Office's temperature forecast for Tuesday 12 August at 3pm shows the UK reaching highs of 32C in the south ( Met Office ) A heatwave is identified when a location records maximum temperatures exceeding a designated value across at least three consecutive days, according to the Met Office. For most of the UK, this is 25C, but rises to 28C in London and the surrounding areas, where temperatures are typically higher. The general pattern is that well see temperatures start to increase from Sunday and the duration of the heat is likely to last until Tuesday, possibly Wednesday, said Mr Madge. Were likely to see temperatures get to high 20s across quite a lot of the UK, and in the south were likely to see the possibility of temperatures reaching mid-30s degrees centigrade across parts of central, southern and eastern England, with the likelihood that the heat will probably last longest in places like East Anglia, up through Lincolnshire and into Yorkshire. Yellow and amber heat health alerts have been issued by the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) across England from Monday to Wednesday, with warnings that lives could be at risk. At least one of the warnings covers every region. Health bosses have warned of significant impacts across health and social care services as temperatures rocket. open image in gallery The UKHSA has put several yellow and amber heat health alerts in place across the entire of England lasting from 11 August to 13 August ( UK Health and Security Agency ) In areas covered by an amber health alert, the UKHSA says there will likely be a rise in deaths, particularly among those aged 65 and over or with health conditions. The hottest day of the year so far saw 34.7C recorded at St Jamess Park in central London on 1 July. As it gets hotter once again, Britain is expected to see its fourth heatwave after one in June and two in July. It comes as Britons have said they feel unprepared for hot weather, with only half saying they would comply with hosepipe bans if they came into action, dropping to 35 per cent of 16- to 34-year-olds, according to new Ipsos polling of a sample of 1,075 adults across the country. Nearly half 48 per cent of the public are either not at all or only somewhat prepared to adjust their work or daily routines as scorching temperatures become more frequent. Meanwhile, 62 per cent say they think climate change has had some influence on the recent heatwaves and droughts in the country. However, 16 per cent think recent heatwaves and droughts are mainly caused by natural weather cycles, including a third (34 per cent) of Reform UK voters. Commenting on the findings, Rachel Brisley, head of energy and environment at Ipsos, said: Our research suggests that the majority of the British public dont consider themselves to be prepared to adapt their lifestyles to heatwaves, and this includes an unwillingness, by almost half of those surveyed, to comply with hosepipe bans. This seems to be particularly true for younger generations. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Get our free View from Westminster email Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Sir Keir Starmer has warned Benjamin Netanyahu that his plans to occupy Gaza City are wrong and will "bring more bloodshed", as he urged the Israeli prime minister to step away from the path of destruction. The prime ministers comments come after the Israeli leaders security cabinet approved plans for a major escalation in the conflict early on Friday The Israeli plan stops short of fully taking over all of Gaza, as had been touted ahead of the war cabinet meeting. But Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid has slammed the takeover plan as a disaster and exactly what Hamas wanted. open image in gallery A plume of smoke erupts during Israeli bombardment in the Gaza Strip as pictured from across the border in southern Israel ( AFP/Getty ) In a statement, Sir Keir said: The Israeli governments decision to further escalate its offensive in Gaza is wrong, and we urge it to reconsider immediately. This action will do nothing to bring an end to this conflict or to help secure the release of the hostages. It will only bring more bloodshed. He warned of the deteriorating humanitarian crisis in Gaza and that the hostages taken by Hamas are being held in appalling and inhuman conditions, as he reiterated his call for a ceasefire and for more aid to be delivered to the territory. He again warned Hamas it could play no part in the future of Gaza and said it must leave the area as well as disarm. The UK and its allies are working on a long-term plan to secure peace in the region as part of a two-state solution, he said, but without both sides engaging in good faith in negotiations, that prospect is vanishing before our eyes. Our message is clear: a diplomatic solution is possible, but both parties must step away from the path of destruction. open image in gallery Sir Keir Starmer has urged Israel not to escalate the war in Gaza with a takeover of Gaza City (Isabel Infantes/PA) ( PA ) Conservative Party chair Kevin Hollinrake said his party did not want to see an escalation of the war but added that people need to remember there are still 50 hostages still captive in Gaza held by Hamas. Israel is fighting for its life, he told Sky News. He also hit out at Sir Keirs plans to recognise Palestine next month if there is no ceasefire, saying: Any kind of unconditional ceasefire or recognition of a Palestinian state has got to be wrong at this time, this has got to be a deal that makes Hamas put down its arms, I've not seen any proposal on the table that will do that. Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said it was "increasingly clear" Mr Netanyahu's "goal is ethnic cleansing" in Gaza and urged Sir Keir Starmer to stop the export of all UK arms to Israel and sanction the premier. Diane Abbott, who was recently suspended by Labour, hit out at her former party on social media: This might be what Netanyahu wanted all along. Massacres, collective punishments, starvation, forced displacement. All war crimes. All aided by Western governments including our own. The PM has pledged to recognise a Palestinian state by September unless Israel meets a series of conditions towards ending the war in Gaza. If the Gaza City offensive goes ahead, the prospect of it meeting his conditions would likely diminish. Israeli media have reported that the planned offensive will begin with the entire population of Gaza ordered to move south, followed by a siege on Gaza City in time for the anniversary of Hamass bloody 7 October attack. Mr Netanyahu has said that neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank will be allowed to be involved in the civil administration that will take over. In response, Hamas said Netanyahus remarks confirm that he seeks to get rid of his prisoners and sacrifice them to serve his personal interests and extremist ideological agendas. KUNMING, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- The China-Laos Railway has transported over 14 million tonnes of import and export goods, amounting to more than 60 billion yuan (about 8.4 billion U.S. dollars), since its opening in December 2021, according to Kunming Customs on Wednesday. The railway's cross-border freight volume exceeded 3.43 million tonnes with a value surpassing 15.4 billion yuan in the first seven months this year, up 6 percent and 41 percent year on year respectively, both of which are record highs for this period. Currently serving as a vital trade corridor, the railway connects 19 countries, including Laos, Thailand and Singapore. Its cargo structure has significantly diversified, with transported commodities expanding from just over 500 categories to more than 3,600, demonstrating robust growth momentum. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Get our free View from Westminster email Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Independent readers are sharply divided over whether Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves should raise income tax to help fill the 50bn shortfall in the public finances this autumn. Some see it as the fairest option, targeting those most able to pay. A penny or two on the rates of income tax might just work wonders, said one, while others argued it is long past time to align capital gains with income tax rates or reform property taxes. Opponents warn that raising income tax could damage growth and hand political advantage to Reform leader Nigel Farage. A rise in income tax across the board would be a political disaster for Labour, cautioned another. Some prefer alternatives such as VAT, targeted wealth taxes, or cutting waste before hiking any taxes. Several also pressed for bold investment in green infrastructure and small businesses, but all agreed the government must find a credible way to fund public services. Heres what you had the say: What choice does she have? Really, what choice does she have? It is hardly surprising the economy is so sluggish and she has gaps to plug from the effects of a disastrous Brexit (it was: really), a pandemic, and a clueless previous administration, who, to be fair to them, also had limited choices. Among the solutions is to slaughter the sacred cow of putting up income tax. A penny or two on the rates of income tax might just work wonders and could be the fairest way of generating revenue from those best able to contribute towards the public good. DIRKCUTLASS Those with the broadest shoulders As always, the disabled are blamed as the culprits upsetting Reeves' books. The welfare climbdown can only be attributed to 5bn when Reeves' calculations are in the region of 50bn. She and Starmer need to come clean and articulate the hangover of Covid furlough, problems caused by Ukraine and Trump, and put up taxes across the board such as freezing allowances, increasing income tax and national insurance, equalising capital gains tax with income tax and making it liable for NI, reforming council tax on high-value properties. Starmer and Reeves need to be making sure those with the broadest shoulders bear their fair share of the burden. Get a free fractional share worth up to 100. Capital at risk. Terms and conditions apply. Go to website ADVERTISEMENT Get a free fractional share worth up to 100. Capital at risk. Terms and conditions apply. Go to website ADVERTISEMENT Kernow What do you think should Rachel Reeves raise income tax, or find the money elsewhere? Share your thoughts in the comments below. VAT is the better option Why income tax? VAT is the much better option as it is a consumption tax. It is easy to adjust for you raise the tax-free threshold for the poorest in society to compensate. It doesnt affect business significantly. As it taxes consumption, this encourages saving and investment. Kwame Tax unearned income Tax unearned income in line with income tax brackets. This would be worth 16 billion a year. Stop subsidising private companies completely. Apply a void tax to all properties empty for more than six months. Introduce a system whereby renovations etc. are exempt. Some savings ideas centralise all NHS procurement and HR. Have a locum register for nurses and stop using expensive agencies (same salaries for temp nurses, though). Slightly Tipsy Max Align capital gains tax with income tax Since the wealthy get most of their income from gains, why not align capital gains tax rates to income tax rates, as is done in Australia? That would bring in around 8 billion a year. In addition, replacing council tax and stamp duty with a French-style proportional property tax could generate an additional 3bn4bn per year, with even more potential under a land value tax framework. Theres plenty of scope for a chancellor and a prime minister who arent afraid of their own shadows. Pomerol95 Cut waste before raising taxes Still no sign of any reduction in government wasted expenditure now in the billions each month. No use Starmer looking serious about income tax rises. He refuses to act to curb expenditure or legislate for change! SPCK Political disaster for Labour A rise in income tax across the board would be a political disaster for Labour. Farage would walk into No. 10 on the ticket of never believe Labours promises. fastyellosaab No changes to basic rate expected The last UK Chancellor to increase the basic rate of income tax was Denis Healey back in 1975. Do not expect any changes to the rate, even though it would actually be the fairest way to raise revenue. Expect tinkering with allowances and other tax measures, which are easier to sell politically. Blackkbeard's host People fear job loss more than a tax rise Really? Does anyone worry like that that their income tax might go up by 1 per cent or they may have to pay a bit more for petrol? Thats not what keeps people awake at night when there are so many worse possibilities, like being made redundant and having no income at all, which could happen to most of us at any time. Chrisw27 Commitment to growth needed Sorry, but what does stabilising the economy mean? Jobs, SMEs, house prices are falling like theres no tomorrow. Extra taxes are not going to make things better. We need a government committed to growth massive projects to get us a green new economy that will create jobs and prosperity. Support for SMEs to grow faster. Conversations about big hard issues like how do we pay for the NHS in a world of an ageing population, and where the care is going to come from. Instead, we have a continuation of business as usual. I challenge myself to see one policy that is different to what we would have if Rishi were in power. I struggle. Boring75 Taxes rises should have been in the manifesto Good news there should have been tax rises in the manifesto. You can't have good public services run on fresh air and, after fourteen years of Tory rundown particularly of the NHS there is much repairing to do, given that Tory taxes were almost all paid to their mates rather than into public services. Evidence? Just look at the state of the water service and supply industry. Lets see it brought back into public control. rEUjoin High taxes in the 1970s In the 1970s, Labour raised income tax to 83 per cent for top earners; the rest paid 33 per cent or more. Bin men went on strike (like Birmingham today). Doctors wanted more pay. Train drivers struck. Does this start to sound familiar? Karl Hurting the poorest Just like raising employers NIC was obviously going to impact the poorer working person, so will raising VAT. Wealthier people can afford to pay more; poorer people cant and it matters not if you take more of their wages or make them pay more for their goods, the result is the same to the poor. Pen2030 Tinkering wont fix deep problems Starmer and Reeves think tweaking things here and there a few extra billion in taxes, a few billion less in welfare spending will sort the finances and the UK economy. No. The problems run deep and require more positive actions than Starmer and Reeves are willing to take. So the UK economy will continue to stagnate. More and more voters will lose faith and look elsewhere. ChrisMatthews Find efficiencies before tax rises Why does Starmer not encourage a government efficiency (oxymoron, I know) drive cutting waste in all departments? Sell off unused government land or buildings. Try to look at other ways of filling holes, PM, before making another U-turn on a promise not to raise taxes. All the other tax increases in place since Labour took over to fill the black hole wheres that increased income gone? Face it, the UK government hasnt got a clue. Chuckiethebrave Some of the comments have been edited for this article for brevity and clarity. Want to share your views? Simply register your details below. Once registered, you can comment on the days top stories for a chance to be featured. Alternatively, click log in or register in the top right corner to sign in or sign up. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Get our free View from Westminster email Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice JD Vance hit out at Keir Starmers plan to recognise Palestine as he met foreign secretary David Lammy in Kent on Friday for informal talks at the start of a private family holiday in the Cotswolds. The US vice-president questioned how the prime ministers historic pledge would be achieved, because of the lack of a functional government in the territory. He confirmed Washington did not intend to follow the UK, saying the two countries had disagreements over how to respond to the crisis in Gaza but shared a common goal to end the war. Mr Vance also claimed he loved Britain despite a number of outspoken attacks in recent months. On a visit to Chevening, the foreign secretarys official country retreat in Kent, the Republican revealed the rapport he has built up with the Labour MP. He heaped praise on Mr Lammy as his good friend and said their families enjoy spending time together. The two men are understood to have bonded over their Christian faith. open image in gallery Lammy and Vance at Chevening on Friday afternoon ( PA ) However, he made clear the divide between the two governments on how to deal with the war in Gaza. As the pair sat beside each other at the start of the meeting, he was asked by reporters what he thought of the UKs plans to recognise Palestine. Mr Vance replied: Obviously, the United Kingdom is going to make its decision. We have no plans to recognise the Palestinian state. I dont know what it would mean to really recognise a Palestinian state given the lack of functional government there. He said both sides wanted to solve the crisis in Gaza, but may have some disagreements about how exactly to accomplish that goal, and well talk about that today. Theres a lot of common objectives here. There is some, I think, disagreement about how exactly to accomplish those common objectives, but look, its a tough situation, he said. Of course, were not going to know exactly how to solve a very complicated problem. Mr Vance visited Chevening at the start of his holiday, and joined the foreign secretary for a spot of carp fishing at the Chevening pond. Unfortunately, the one strain on the special relationship is that all of my kids caught fish, but the foreign secretary did not, the vice-president joked. It is great to be here my wife and I love this area of the UK and we were actually here a couple of years ago, he said. He added: We love this country. Just on a personal note, I have to say that I really have become a good friend, and David has become a good friend of mine, and so its great to spend some time here with him youve been a very, very gracious host to me and the whole family. Asked about the criticism he has previously directed at the UK over issues like freedom of speech, he claimed his concerns related more widely to the entire collective West, although he did warn the UK not to go down a dark path of censorship. In February, Mr Vance claimed that a backslide away from conscience rights had placed the basic liberties of religious Britons under threat, and attacked the use of laws to enforce buffer zones around abortion clinics. More recently, he took aim at the UKs international might. As the UK and France led efforts to secure a peace deal in Ukraine, he questioned the level of security that could be offered by some random country that hasnt fought a war in 30 or 40 years. After the backlash that followed, in which British politicians and ex-soldiers pointed out that the UK had fought alongside the US in Iraq and Afghanistan, he denied the comments were about the UK or France. open image in gallery Vance and Lammy fishing for carp at Chevening ( PA ) On Friday, Mr Vance said: Ive raised concerns about free speech in the United States of America. I think the entire collective West, the transatlantic relationship, our Nato allies, certainly the United States under the Biden administration, got a little too comfortable with censoring rather than engaging with a diverse array of opinions. So thats been my view. Obviously, Ive raised some criticism and concerns about our friends on this side of the Atlantic, but the thing that I say to the people of England, or anybody else, to David, is many of the things that I worry most about were happening in the United States from 2020 to 2024. I just dont want other countries to follow us down what I think is a very dark path under the Biden administration. Mr Lammy said: But, you know, there are areas where there are actually joint concern, we both have a joint concern about outcomes for working people, that is the truth of it. And we have also discussed issues like irregular and illegal migration and how we deal with those issues. So there are commonalities and there are differences and that is the joy of living in democracies like ours. Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inbox Get our free View from Westminster email Get our free View from Westminster email Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Ex-Reform member Rupert Lowe has pledged 1,000 to a fundraiser after he mistook a charity rowing team for illegal migrants. The now independent MP for Great Yarmouth had posted a picture on social media on Thursday night showing a boat near some wind turbines off the Norfolk coast. Dinghies coming into Great Yarmouth, RIGHT NOW, he wrote on X. Authorities alerted, and I am urgently chasing. If these are illegal migrants, I will be using every tool at my disposal to ensure these individuals are deported. But the vessel pictured was, in fact, an ocean rowing boat crewed by ROW4MND, a team of four who are attempting to row from Lands End to John OGroats to raise money for motor neurone disease (MND). The crew Matthew Parker, Mike Bates, Aaron Kneebone and Liz Wardley said they had been contacted by HM Coastguard and asked if they could see a dinghy nearby, but it soon became clear the service was asking about their own boat. open image in gallery From left, Liz Wardley, Mike Bates, Aaron Kneebone and Matthew Parker, before they left Cornwall for Scotland on their charity voyage ( ROW4MND ) After satisfying the coastguard that their boat was not carrying migrants, they continued, but several hours later were contacted again because the police had asked if they could send a lifeboat out to check who we were. Eventually, a friend forwarded Mr Lowes post, which Mr Bates said provided a moment of light relief. open image in gallery Independent MP Rupert Lowe said he would donate to the rowers charity ( PA ) He said: We found it hilarious. Ive not been mistaken for a migrant before. The best comment was the one asking where the Royal Navy were when you need them. Im a former Royal Marine, so the Royal Navy were on the boat. He added: But it was almost like a vigilante-style, people following us down the beach. They hadnt twigged that we were parallel to the shore for hours and not trying to land. open image in gallery The MP had posted a picture on social media on Thursday night showing a boat near wind turbines off the Norfolk coast ( X/@RupertLowe10 ) After realising his mistake, Mr Lowe pledged 1,000 to the teams fundraiser, but said he would not apologise for being vigilant. Good news. False alarm! he posted on X. The unknown vessel was charity rowers, thank goodness. As a well done to the crew, Ill donate 1,000 to their charity raising money for MND. Keep going, and watch out for any real illegal migrants! We received a huge number of urgent complaints from constituents I make no apologies over being vigilant for my constituents. It is a national crisis. No mass deportations for the charity rowers, but we definitely need it for the illegal migrants! After the coastguard checked their identities, the quartet set off from Lands End on 25 July and initially headed north into the Irish Sea before bad weather forced them to stop at Milford Haven in Wales. They then decided to return to Lands End and start again, this time heading in the other direction, which Mr Bates said had been about us showing resolve and resilience and hope. The journey is the first of four challenges over four years, with the group aiming to row from John OGroats to Lands End next year, from California to Hawaii in 2027, and from New York to London in 2028, with a target of raising 57m for MND research. So far, they have raised 107,515 for the charity. Mr Bates said: Were rowing for hope, were rowing to find a cure, and hopefully well raise 57m we certainly will if MPs keep talking about us. Maybe Rupert will give us a donation. On The Ground newsletter: Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents Get a weekly international news dispatch Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice In a small rural hospital in Ethiopia more than two decades ago, a teenage girl arrived at Dr Abebe Shibrus clinic, alone, frightened and pregnant. She was just 14 and had been raped. But with one of the worlds most restrictive abortion laws then in place, she was turned away without help. Later, Dr Shibru learned that she had tried to end the pregnancy herself using herbal medicine, inserted into her uterus and had bled to death. Spurred on by an alarmingly high maternal mortality rate, the country repealed its harsh law in 2005. But, twenty years on, leading doctors are warning these gains could be reversed as Trumps aid cuts decimate the countrys family planning and reproductive health services, and anti-abortion groups move in to fill the vacuum. There has already been a shrinking in what is available to people in public facilities, including essential medicines and tests used during pregnancy and birth, The Independent has learned. With the dust settling after Trump ordered all foreign aid work to stop in January of this year, Ethiopia has come out as one of the biggest losers in the cuts. By March, the country had seen the second biggest cut by dollar amount, tied with the Democratic Republic of Congo and exceeded only by funding cuts to Ukraine, according to the Center for Global Development. Dr Shibru says 85 per cent of NGOs, crucial in the delivery of many of the countrys health services, had stopped work or were shuttered. open image in gallery USAID was funding contraception across the African region - now supplies are running dry ( AP ) Dr Shibru, now the Ethiopia country director for sexual health charity MSI Reproductive Choices, is acutely aware of what that could spell. Working as a nurse in the early 2000s, in a remote area 700km from the capital Addis Ababa, he saw countless of these women - without access to contraception or legal termination - resorting to traditional medicine. Seeing women who had experienced rape or some form of violence and finally ended up pregnantit was my day-to-day experience, Dr Shibru recalls. They came into his clinic with perforated uteruses from inserting ivy vines into them, eyes purple from blood loss and unconscious from pain and infection, dying in hospital corridors from unsafe abortions. Overhauled law Alarmed by the sky-high death rate, in 2005 the then health minister Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, now head of the World Health Organization, and Ethiopias parliament overhauled the law and policy, permitting safe abortion for the first time in limited circumstances. Terminations could be sought in cases of rape, incest, development problems with the foetus, or if the pregnancy endangered a womans life or health. At the same time, Dr Tedros worked to radically expand access to contraception too. The results were swift and dramatic. Within three years, the maternal mortality rate plummeted from 879 per 100,000 live births to 276 per 100,000 by 2008. After this law there was a big shift in terms of knowledge. There was a big shift in terms of commitment, Dr Shibru says. Much of the countrys maternal and reproductive health system, from contraception to emergency obstetric care, however, was built on international aid. Now that progress is under threat. Doctors across Ethiopia are warning of an escalating funding crisis that is hollowing out reproductive health services. Alongside heavy cuts from the US, the UKs aid spending plan published in July revealed funding cuts to Ethiopia of 25 per cent coming for the next year. Aid cuts reversing gains President of the Ethiopian Society of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Dr Hailemariam Segni, says the aid suspension from the US government had already, significantly affected accessibility of services including family planning, maternal health services, even newborn, child health, adolescent, and youth health services. These services in public facilities were mainly supported with aid money and the main funder was the US government, he says. And when it comes to the gains made in bringing down maternal and newborn deaths in the past two decades: We feel may be reversed in the coming few years Some health facilities have started requesting clients share the costs of previously free services, for example to access family planning or pay privately for their own diagnostic tests. Some patients are even being told to buy drugs used in labour from private facilities, he says. Dr Segni says he expects that if services like family planning or even basic tests and medicines are not available for free, many will not be able to access those services at all. The number of pregnancies will increase. So we know with the number of pregnancies [increasing], the complications are going to increase, he says. And with additional difficulties getting drugs like oxytocin, used to prevent life-threatening bleeding, many mothers may die from haemorrhage. Antibiotics to prevent sepsis in newborns and drugs to prevent premature birth and treat the complications of prematurity could all be under threat. Given every Republic president since Ronald Reagan in 1984 has brought in a law banning US aid dollars from funding abortion, these services in Ethiopia are already funded from different sources. Nevertheless, the last time the law was brought in under Trumps first presidency, it had knock-on effects on wider reproductive health services including significantly reducing contraception use in the country. As well as cuts in funding going directly from the US to Ethiopia, Trump has withdrawn from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) which - previously alongside the now axed US Agency for International Development (USAID) - is the biggest provider of contraception in the world. We are expecting within a short period of time we are going to encounter a huge [contraception] shortages because UNFP is the one who is providing commodities to our family planning service in Ethiopia, says MSIs Dr Shibru. In 2022, the Ethiopian government signed an agreement with UNFPA and USAID to gradually increase the percentage it contributes to funding family planning over several years up to 2030. The country now finds itself having to fill in that gap much more quickly. Dr Alemayehu Hunduma, the Ethiopian Ministry of Healths head of reproductive health, family planning and adolescent and youth health programmes, says while the government is trying to take on the funding of as many services as it can: We are a developing country. As much as we mobilize more resource, still there will be a gap because the demand is high. He says family planning is one of the countrys health funding priorities because of its role in reducing maternal mortality. Internal Ministry of Health data seen by The Independent shows there had already been a slight downward trend emerging in the numbers of women accessing abortions in public facilities in recent years. Its not clear why, and conflict and instability in parts of the country could well play a role. But there is another threat too: a resurgent anti-rights movement intent on rolling back the 2005 law and with it access to safe abortion. open image in gallery Conflict and instability in parts of the country makes it harder to access reproductive health services ( AP ) Over the past few years, activists opposed to reproductive rights have returned with new energy, emboldened by the US Supreme Courts decision to overturn Roe v Wade. Some are local while others are linked to ultraconservative US organisations. They park vehicles outside abortion clinics with messages accusing those using their services and their workers of murder, Dr Shibru explained. They use Facebook, Telegram and YouTube to get their message out. And they have been successful in getting their spokespeople quoted in public media and interviewed on national TV and radio. They will even try to approach members of parliament and individual policy makers, he says. Before they were focusing on abortion, but now they are focusing on the entire family planning program, Dr Shibru says. They are well-funded and aggressive, he adds, seeing Ethiopia as a target precisely because it was pioneering in the region in terms of its safe abortion law. Aid cuts have created a vacuum, giving anti-rights groups new energy and an opportunity to fill the gap, he says. Now the local NGOs are being affected by this new Trump administration policy, that means there is a huge [opportunity] for anti-choice movement to come and just to say whatever they want to say. Our bargaining power is now shrinking, he adds, that means there is a space for anti-choice movementto agitate [for] what they want to achieve in Ethiopia. So, absolutely there is a direct link, a visible link between the anti-choice movement now and the Trump administration's...new policy funding cut. For now, the countrys health ministry remains supportive of existing laws, even as budgets tighten. While few believe Ethiopias abortion law will be repealed soon, campaigners fear incremental victories for conservative campaigners. I'm not pessimistic that they are going to succeed in revoking the abortion law within a short period of time, Dr Shibru says. But they might manage to influence the policy makers to restrict the guideline of safe abortion services. This and the rising stigma that surrounds it would drive women back to unsafe methods, he fears. For clinicians like Dr Shibru, the stakes are painfully clear. Ethiopia once ranked among the most dangerous places in the world to give birth. The reforms of the mid2000s, and the international aid that bolstered it, turned the tide. Looking at how the cuts are biting, Dr Shibru cant help but hold in mind the daily tragedy he witnessed all those years ago: the 14-year-old girls needless death; the woman having to undergo an unwanted hysterectomy, robbing her of the chance to have future children, after inserting herbal medicine into her uterus. Had there been a policy? Had there been a trained person? he ponders, we might save the lives of these women and others. As for whether the policies and people now in place will remain: the future is uncertain. This article is part of The Independents Rethinking Global Aid project The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Three more victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks have been identified, according to authorities in New York City. Ryan Fitzgerald, of Floral Park, New York, and Barbara Keating, of Palm Springs, California, were named Thursday. A third victim was also identified but their name is being kept private at the request of their family, according to NYC Mayor Eric Adams and Dr Jason Graham, the city's chief medical examiner. Keating, 72, was on board one of the passenger jets that was flown into the World Trade Center. Fitzgerald, 26, was a trader working for a firm based in the World Trade Center, NPR reports. Identification was made possible thanks to advancements in DNA analysis and the help of the victims' families, Graham said at a press briefing. Nearly 25 years after the disaster at the World Trade Center, our commitment to identify the missing and return them to their loved ones stands as strong as ever, Graham said. open image in gallery Ryan Fitzgerald, of Floral Park, New York, left, and Barbara Keating, of Palm Springs, California, right. Both Fitzgerald and Keating were killed in the 9/11 terror attacks. Their remains were positively identified in 2025, nearly 24 years since the attack ( Family handouts ) Keating's remains were recovered in 2001, and Fitzgerald's were found in 2002, according to the officials. The three newly identified victims represent the 1,651st, 1,652nd, and 1,653rd victims of the attacks to be identified. While the victims' remains have only now been identified, their loved ones knew that they died during the 2001 terrorist attacks. As such, Keating and Fitzgerald's name are already included on the 9/11 Memorial in New York City. Barbara Keating's son, Paul, described the work that the city as "stunning." "They're doing this for us. They're doing it like they're possessed," he told NPR. He said that the pain of losing a loved one in the 9/11 attacks has been a constant in his and his family's lives for more than two decades. open image in gallery The September 11 memorial in New York City. The three newly identified victims represent the 1,651st, 1,652nd, and 1,653rd victims of the attacks to be identified. ( Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. ) "Not a day went by for years that [9/11] wasn't part of our lives, we had no choice," he said. "It affected everybody in our family. My two sons were truly affected. They were almost seven and four. They wake up one day and grandmom is dead and bad guys killed her. There's no way my mom would have wanted that for them." According to the medical examiner, there are approximately 1,100 victims of 9/11 whose remains are still unidentified. "Each new identification testifies to the promise of science and sustained outreach to families despite the passage of time. We continue this work as our way of honoring the lost," Graham said. The September 11 terrorist attacks killed 2,977 people. Some 2,753 of those deaths occurred in New York City. Another 184 people were killed when American Airlines Flight 88 crashed into the Pentagon, and 44 lives were lost after the passengers of United Airlines Flight 93 fought their hijackers and crashed the plane into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Close Canyon Fire Triggers Evacuation Orders For Thousands In LA The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice A fast growing brush fire in a mountainous area north of Los Angeles has forced thousands of people to evacuate as firefighters are working to get it under control. Hundreds of firefighters battled the Canyon Fire overnight after it ignited Thursday afternoon in Ventura and Los Angeles counties, as temperatures hit 100 degrees mixed with strong winds. Officials said good progress had been made overnight as temperatures cooled, and the blaze was 28 percent contained as of Friday evening. It has so far spread to 5,370 acres, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said. LA County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who represents the district, urged residents to evacuate. Extreme heat and low humidity in our north county have created dangerous conditions where flames can spread with alarming speed, Barger said in a statement Thursday. If first responders tell you to leave, go without hesitation. The fire is burning just south of Lake Piru, a reservoir located in the Los Padres National Forest. It's close to Lake Castaic, a popular recreation area burned by the Hughes Fire in January. The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Significant parts of the Constitution were quietly removed from the Congress website but have since been restored. Multiple outlets reported Wednesday Sections 9 and 10, and a large chunk of Section 8, had vanished from the websites annotated version. Section 8 discusses the powers the Constitution gives Congress and Section 9 discusses the powers it denies to the legislative body. Section 10 discusses the powers the Constitution denies to the states. Notably, Section 9 mentions the Writ of Habeas Corpus, which protects Americans from unlawful detention. open image in gallery Significant parts of the Constitution were quietly removed from the Congress website but have since been restored ( National Archives ) The Privilege of the Writ of Habeas Corpus shall not be suspended, unless when in Cases of Rebellion or Invasion the public Safety may require it, the Constitution reads. In May, White House deputy chief of staff for policy Stephen Miller told reporters the Trump administration is looking at suspending the writ of habeas corpus for migrants under claims of an invasion. The missing text sparked an online frenzy with Reddit users questioning what happened. They must think that removing those portions from their own site changes the constitution, one Reddit user from the military subreddit r/Military wrote Wednesday morning. One Reddit user suggested: Somebody kicked a plug out of a Congress.gov server (edit; not literally, but somebody who was updating congress.gov messed up) or somebody deliberately f***ed up. This isn't a server problem- this is deliberate, another replied. The Library of Congress said the missing text was an accident. It has been brought to our attention that some sections of Article 1 are missing from the Constitution Annotated...website. Weve learned that this is due to a coding error. We have been working to correct this and expect it to be resolved soon, the library wrote on X at around 11 a.m. Eastern Time on Wednesday. The White House did not give The Independent a comment when asked about the coding error. open image in gallery The Library of Congress said the missing sections were a 'coding error' ( Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images ) No matter the intentions behind the sections removal, the incident raises serious transparency concerns, MediasTouch News wrote in an article. The temporary glitch did not affect the validity of the laws removed from the online version of the Constitution. The Library of Congress posted shortly after 3 p.m. the missing sections had been restored. Upkeep of Constitution Annotated and other digital resources is a critical part of the Librarys mission, and we appreciate the feedback that alerted us to the error and allowed us to fix it, the library wrote. The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice A gunman, who reportedly believed he was sick from the COVID-19 vaccine, is dead after opening fire at Emory University, near the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters. A police officer who was critically wounded responding to the shooting later died in the hospital. The shooting unfolded on an Atlanta street corner Friday afternoon when gunfire rang out at a CVS on the universitys campus. The lone shooter fired multiple rounds through the windows of the CDC building across the street. Mayor Andre Dickens said at a Friday night press conference there were 92 children in a daycare on the CDC campus during the shooting. The children were unhurt but were only able to be reunited with their parents hours later. Dickens told the parents of those daycare children, We will be making sure that you get reunited with them as soon as possible. I know your heart is just really, really aching, but the good news is none of them have been injured, and we will get you connected to those, to your loved ones really soon, he added. open image in gallery A shooter is dead after opening fire at Emory University, near the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters ( Getty Images ) open image in gallery The lone shooter fired multiple rounds through the windows of the CDC building, police say ( AP ) The mother of one of the children who was at the daycare told CBS News, "I'm also a bit angry that at a year and a half, he would have to experience something like this. Police believe the shooter was either sick or believed he was sick and blamed the COVID-19 shot, a law enforcement official told CNN. The shooter was found on the second floor of the CVS and died at the scene, according to authorities. He had been struck by gunfire, but its not clear if he had been hit by one of the police officers responding or if the fatal wound was self-inflicted. Authorities revealed that the police officer who was shot and killed, David Rose, was a father of two whose wife is expecting their third child. open image in gallery Officer David Rose was a father of two whose wife is expecting their third child ( DeKalb County Police Department ) No civilians were shot. "He was committed to serving the community. At this time we are asking for the community's prayers," Interim Chief Greg Padrick of DeKalb County Police Department said of Rose. Padrick continued: "It's a noble profession we all do. We answer the call to serve our community and he gave his life to a commitment to serve others." While there was no longer a threat to the community, police warned people Friday evening to avoid the area, as the scene remains active and law enforcement continues its investigation. open image in gallery One police officer died during the shooting ( Getty Images ) open image in gallery Police said the shooter was found dead on the second floor of the CVS where he was shooting out of ( Getty Images ) Employees at a nearby deli, General Muirs, heard gunshots, Brandy Giraldo, the delis chief operating officer, told the Associated Press. It sounded like fireworks going off, one right after the other, she said. During the active shooter threat, the university told students to run, hide, fight. A spokesperson for CVS said no one inside the Emory Point store was injured in the shooting. "Were cooperating with the Atlanta Police Department as it investigates a shooting near our Emory Point store, the spokesperson told NBC News. All colleagues, customers and patients are safe. The store is currently closed and will reopen when the scene is cleared. A reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution who was on the scene wrote on X that more than 50 police cars were present, and many officers were carrying rifles and tactical gear. The university announced a shelter-in-place order had been lifted at around 6:30 p.m. ET. A police emergency continues on the Emory Atlanta Campus at Emory Point. Avoid the area, an X post read. As of around 7:30 p.m., the CDC remained under lockdown, according to CNN and NBC News. open image in gallery During the active shooter threat, the university told students to run, hide, fight ( AP ) open image in gallery A spokesperson for CVS said no one inside the Emory Point store was injured in the shooting ( Getty Images ) Dickens denounced gun violence, saying, Mass shootings, active shooter scenarios should not become the norm. For individuals with these high-powered weapons that may have mental challenges, or those individuals with high powered weapons and are angry when they choose to use those weapons in a way that harms multiple people we have to put an end to that in our society, he said. The mayor was vague when speaking about the shooter and his possible motives. He is a known person that may have some interests in certain things, that I cant reiterate right know with any confidence until the investigation is fully conducted, Dickens said. He added: But I think in short order youll know more about this individual and some assumptions about his motives, but I cant say right now. Earlier, it was reported by CNN that members of the suspects family said he may have believed he had been made ill by a COVID-19 vaccine. The network also reported that the mans father had phoned police before the shooting to say that he feared his son was suicidal. DeKalb County CEO Lorraine Cochran-Johnson told reporters Friday night, Today is a very dark day. This evening there is a wife without a husband, she said of Rose. There are three children, one unborn, without a father. open image in gallery There were 92 children in a daycare on campus, and they are safe, according to officials ( AP ) open image in gallery The motive for the shooting remains unclear ( Getty Images ) FBI Director Kash Patel wrote on X of the slain officer, Pray for the family, friends, and colleagues of this hero who acted quickly to defend others and made the ultimate sacrifice. The FBI will offer them our full support. Several Georgia officials also responded to the active shooter threat as the incident was unfolding. U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock, a Democrat, wrote on X, Im monitoring the active shooter incident at Emory closely. Im praying for the officer who was injured, and all students and faculty. I am devastated that our community is facing yet another tragedy of gun violence. Representative Mike Collins, a Georgia Republican, wrote: Students at Emory please take cover. Praying for a swift end to this threat. Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr wrote: Were horrified by the news out of Emory University and praying for the safety of the entire campus community. We stand ready to assist our law enforcement partners with whatever they may need. The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Star Wars actress Gina Carano has thanked tech billionaire Elon Musk for funding her wrongful termination lawsuit against Disney and its film production company Lucasfilm after settling a dispute over her 2021 firing from the hit show The Mandalorian. Carano filed the lawsuit in a federal court in California last year, claiming she was dropped from The Mandalorian" for expressing right-wing views on social media. I want to extend my deepest most heartfelt gratitude to Elon Musk, @elonmusk a man Ive never met, who did this Good Samaritan deed for me in funding my lawsuit. Thank you Mr. Musk and @X for backing my case and asking for nothing in return, Carano wrote on X Thursday. She added: I am excited to flip the page and move onto the next chapter. My desires remain in the arts, which is where I hope you will join me. open image in gallery Carano filed a lawsuit against Disney and its film production company Lucasfilm in 2023, claiming she was dropped from 'The Mandalorian' for expressing right-wing views on social media ( Getty ) It appears, at least from a public perspective, despite the lawsuit, Carano and Disney have left things amicable with its film company leaving the door open for the 43-year-old actress to make a return. Ms. Carano was always well respected by her directors, co-stars and staff, and she worked hard to perfect her craft while treating her colleagues with kindness and respect, Lucasfilm said in an unsigned statement. It continued: With this lawsuit concluded, we look forward to identifying opportunities to work together with Ms. Carano in the near future. The specific terms of the settlement are unclear. The two sides stipulated in a federal court filing Thursday the case should be dismissed with prejudice, meaning it cant be refiled. A judge still needs to formally dismiss it. The case had been scheduled to go to trial in Los Angeles next February. The lawsuit alleged Carano was wrongfully terminated from the Disney+ series after two seasons due to a post likening the treatment of American conservatives to the treatment of Jews in Nazi Germany. Her posts were widely criticized online and spurred a trending #FireGinaCarano hashtag. open image in gallery She thanked tech billionaire Elon Musk for funding the lawsuit after reaching a settlement ( AFP/Getty ) The suit had alleged that the actress was fired because she dared voice her own opinions against an online bully mob who demanded her compliance with their extreme progressive ideology. Carano is a former mixed martial artist who played the recurring character Cara Dune on the show, which launched in 2019 and ran for three seasons. A feature film starring Pedro Pascal and Sigourney Weaver, The Mandalorian and Grogu, is set for release next summer. Carano had previously been criticized for mocking mask-wearing during the COVID-19 pandemic and making false allegations of voter fraud during the 2020 presidential election. The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice James Lovell, the legendary NASA astronaut and heroic commander of Apollo 13 who masterfully guided his crew through one of the most dangerous moments in space exploration history, has died, NASA confirmed on Friday. The 97-year-old American icon, known for delivering the infamous Houston, weve had a problem line during the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission, passed away Thursday in Lake Forest, Illinois. Lovell's life and work inspired millions, NASA said in a statement. His courage under pressure helped forge our path to the Moon and beyonda journey that continues today. Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy also paid tribute to the late astronaut, saying Lovells life and work inspired millions of people across the decades. Jims character and steadfast courage helped our nation reach the Moon and turned a potential tragedy into a success from which we learned an enormous amount. We mourn his passing even as we celebrate his achievements. He embodied the bold resolve and optimism of both past and future explorers, and we will remember him always, Duffy added on his personal X account. open image in gallery Lovell became a member of NASA in 1962 as part of its second astronaut class ( Getty ) Lovell is perhaps best known for commanding the Apollo 13 mission in 1970. What was meant to be the third Moon landing turned into a tense rescue mission after an oxygen tank explosion damaged the spacecraft. Lovell and his crew, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise, worked closely with NASAs Mission Control to safely return to Earth, demonstrating extraordinary calm and leadership under pressure. This mission was later immortalized in the 1995 film Apollo 13, in which Tom Hanks portrayed Lovell, who also made a cameo appearance. The failed mission had a lasting impact on Lovell, who said in 1999, per the Associated Press, I dont worry about crises any longer. Whenever he had a problem, he was reported to have said: I could have been gone back in 1970. Im still here. Im still breathing. After retiring from NASA and the Navy in 1973, Lovell transitioned to a successful business career and co-authored the book Lost Moon, which detailed the Apollo 13 mission and inspired the movie adaptation. Lovell was recognized for his contributions to space exploration, receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom and 1970 and being inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame in 1993. Lovell was disappointed he never got to walk on the moon, something commented on by President Bill Clinton as he awarded him the Congressional Space Medal of Honor in 1995. While you may have lost the moon ... you gained something that is far more important perhaps: the abiding respect and gratitude of the American people, Clinton said. Lovell later admitted that the missions failure brought him greater fame than a successful Apollo 13 landing would have. The mission itself and the fact that we triumphed over a certain catastrophe does give me a deep sense of satisfaction, he once said, according to AP. Going to the moon, if everything works right, its like following a cookbook. Its not that big a deal. If something goes wrong, thats what separates the men from the boys, he added in 2004. open image in gallery Lovell was part of the "New Nine," NASA's second group of astronauts selected in 1962 ( NASA ) open image in gallery Lovell married Marilyn Lovell in 1952. The pair were together until her death from natural causes in 2023 at the age of 93 ( Getty ) Born in 1928 in Cleveland, Ohio, Lovell grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. From an early age, he was fascinated by aviation and space, which inspired him to pursue a career in the Navy. After graduating from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1952, Lovell became a naval aviator and later a test pilot. His dedication and skill eventually led to his selection by NASA in 1962 as part of its second group of astronauts, often called the New Nine. open image in gallery Lovell is probably most famous for leading the Apollo 13 mission in 1970, which was later made into a movie starring Tom Hanks ( Getty ) Lovells NASA career was marked by several important space missions. He first flew in space as the pilot of Gemini 7 in 1965, a mission that set a then-record for the longest manned spaceflight at nearly 14 days. He then commanded Gemini 12 in 1966, where he and Buzz Aldrin successfully completed critical spacewalks that helped perfect techniques needed for future Apollo missions. In 1968, Lovell served as the Command Module Pilot on Apollo 8, the first mission to orbit the Moon, which was a historic milestone for NASA and mankind, and a pivotal step in the Space Race. open image in gallery Lovell was inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame in 1993 ( NASA ) Tributes soared in quickly after the news of Lovells death. Former NASA astronaut Mike Massimino called Lovell his hero. I am so sad to hear about the passing of my hero Jim Lovell, he said. He was a great role model not only as an astronaut, but also as a person who exemplified a life well lived - both professionally and personally. He will be missed by many, Godspeed my friend. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine added: Fran and I are saddened to learn about the death of US Astronaut Jim Lovell. Born in Cleveland, Jim was a true American hero. His bravery during the Apollo 13 mission captured the attention of the world and reminded us of the importance of teamwork and hope in the face of adversity. We extend our sincere condolences to the Lovell family. open image in gallery Lovell co-authored the book Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13 in 1994 ( Getty Images ) Lovell married his high school sweetheart, Marilyn, in 1952. The pair was married for 71 years until Marilyns death from natural causes in 2023. She was 93. The pair had four children: Barbara, 71, James Jay, 70, Susan, 67, and Jeffrey, 59. The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice The family of a 21-year-old man who drowned at a New Jersey beach while lifeguards were on duty has sued the local borough and its beach patrol. Joseph Volm died on August 6, 2023, when he was dragged into the ocean by a rip current, according to a lawsuit filed in Cape May County Superior Court. His family alleges that lifeguards in Wildwood Crest failed to warn beachgoers about the hazardous conditions, which may have saved their son from his fate, the suit, obtained by NJ Advance Media, says. Volm visited the beach on August 5, 2023, when he entered the water and was grasped by the rip current, the lawsuit states. Riptides varying speeds and strengths can make them particularly dangerous for even experienced swimmers. After being washed ashore, the youngster was found unresponsive, according to NJ Advance Media. open image in gallery The family of a 21-year-old man that drowned at a New Jersey beach while lifeguards were on duty, has sued the local borough and its beach patrol ( Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. ) Lifeguards did perform CPR on Volm and he was later moved off the beach by a rescue rig and taken to Cape Regional Medical Center. There, he was pronounced dead. Volms family alleges that the beach patrols at Wildwood Crest were not adequately staffed and did not put in place adequate measures to prevent the tragedy. Red flags, to warn about hazardous conditions, were allegedly not in place in the area where the youngster had entered the water, per the suit. Born in Marlton, Volm wrestled and played lacrosse for Paul IV High School, according to an online obituary. In his free time, he enjoyed bowling, playing video games and hanging out with his cousins. Volm also loved animals, especially his dogs Rocky and Sophie, and was known to family members as the dog whisperer. NJ Advance Media also reported that, around a week before his death, Volm had left a drug treatment center. However, his family told investigators that he had not been showing signs of drug abuse at the time he drowned. The lawsuit asks a jury to award compensatory and punitive damages to Volms family. Wildwood Crest Mayor Don Cabrera told NJ Advance Media he was aware of attempts to sue the borough, but directed questions elsewhere. The Independent has reached out to Wildwood Crest for comment about the Volm family lawsuit. The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice A billboard in the Los Angeles area has been vandalized with a message declaring that the Proud Boys love Sydney Sweeney as the right-wing interest in the Euphoria stars American Eagle jeans ad continues. The message reads in full: Proud Boys love Sydney Sweeney. She has the best blue genes, reports ABC Los Angeles. A driver who spoke to the station about the billboard said, I was pretty shocked to read that. Angry, scared, disappointed, I guess a mix of feelings. Its not clear if the message was posted by the Trump-aligned Proud Boys or by another activist. If their intentions were to spread fear in the community by putting their name on something like that, although it could spread fear, I think the best thing we could do is not be fearful or scared of this kind of thing. That's the sort of feeling they want to promote, the driver named Brandi added. open image in gallery A billboard in Los Angeles has been vandalized to declare, Proud Boys love Sydney Sweeney ( Getty Images ) open image in gallery It's not clear if the banner was erected by the Proud Boys or another activist group ( ABC Los Angeles ) This week, President Donald Trump waded into the controversy after it emerged that Sweeney is a registered Republican in Florida. If Sydney Sweeney is a registered Republican, I think her ad is fantastic, he told reporters. In a separate post on Truth Social, Trump praised the ad for no being woke. In the wake of Trumps comments, American Eagles stock was up by 20 percent by he close of trading on Monday. Most of the hostile reception focused on videos that used the word genes instead of jeans when discussing the blonde-haired, blue-eyed actor. Critics found the most troubling was a teaser video in which Sweeney says, Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair color, personality and even eye color. My jeans are blue. The video appeared on American Eagles Facebook page and other social media channels but is not part of the ad campaign. open image in gallery Most of the hostile reception focused on videos that used the word genes instead of jeans when discussing the blonde-haired, blue-eyed actor ( Getty Images ) Some critics saw the wordplay as a nod, either unintentional or deliberate, to eugenics, a discredited theory that held humanity could be improved through selective breeding for specific traits. Other commenters accused detractors of reading too much into the campaigns message. Some marketing experts said the buzz is always good, even if its not uniformly positive. If you try to follow all the rules, youll make lots of people happy, but youll fail, Allen Adamson, co-founder of marketing consultancy Metaforce said. The rocket wont take off. In a statement posted on American Eagles Instagram account last week, the retailer said the ad campaign is and always was about the jeans. Her jeans. Her story. Well continue to celebrate how everyone wears their AE jeans with confidence, their way. Great jeans look good on everyone. The message marked the first time the teen retailer responded to days of backlash since the ad with the tagline Sydney Sweeney has great jeans launched last week. In the run-up to the ad blitz, the companys chief marketing officer told trade media outlets that it included clever, even provocative language and was definitely going to push buttons. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones is still struggling to come to terms with Donald Trumps dismissal of the ongoing furore over the Jeffrey Epstein files, reacting with dismay to the president calling it total bulls*** earlier this week. The InfoWars host posted a clip of Trump in the Oval Office taking questions from the press corps on Wednesday and saying of the scandal: Look, the whole thing is a hoax. Its put out by the Democrats because weve had the most successful six months in the history of our country. Thats just a way of trying to divert attention to something thats total bulls***. Jones commented on the exchange: Trumps disastrous handling of the Epstein firestorm last month was starting to die down and now he has let the corporate media bait him into re-launching a new Streisand effect. open image in gallery Alex Jones muses on the latest Jeffrey Epstein developments on Thursday August 8 2025 ( The Daily Kos/YouTube ) His latter reference is to the phenomenon through which a public figures attempt to suppress information only succeeds in drawing more attention to it. Jones subsequently posted a video of his own in which he said that he had been left facing a personal conundrum by the whole affair. This is just crazy, he said, observing that Trump is not stupid but suggesting he had been caught off guard with a new issue and had underestimated the strength of feeling about Epstein among his supporters. I dont know what to say at this point. I am actually in a conundrum. Im gobsmacked. The uproar over Epstein began after the Justice Department and FBI ruled last month that the deceased sex trafficker left behind no client list and died by suicide in his New York jail cell in August 2019. The verdict incensed many of Trumps followers, who have long suspected foul play and have continually demanded the release of all federal files on the investigation into the financiers crimes, which stretches back for more than two decades. Trump himself has not been accused of any wrongdoing over his past association with Epstein and is currently suing The Wall Street Journal for reporting that he once sent the sex offender a bawdy doodle for his birthday, but remains under pressure to publish the files. Among the most extreme reactions to the Justice Departments initial announcement came from Jones, who filmed a video behind the wheel of his car in which he almost burst into tears of frustration as he accused Trump officials like Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel, and his deputy Dan Bongino of being involved in a cover-up. open image in gallery President Donald Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi remain under pressure to release the Epstein files ( Reuters ) Before that, Jones had responded to Elon Musk, alleging during his war of words with Trump in early June that the president was withholding the files because he was mentioned in them by writing simply: God Help Us ALL. The bear-like and emotional Texan has been at the forefront of Americas conspiracy theory movement for more than two decades, entertaining such unlikely paranoid myths as Lady Gagas Super Bowl half-time show serving as a front for a Satanic ritual, Michelle Obama living as a man in disguise and the Pentagon inadvertently turning frogs gay after its experimental love bomb leaked chemicals into the water supply. More disturbingly, he has spread misinformation about the 9/11 terror attack and claimed that the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre of December 2012 was completely faked with actors, a hoax sponsored by the Obama administration to provide a pretext for introducing stiffer firearms restrictions. He was sued for defamation by the grieving families caught up in that tragedy for pushing that falsehood and was ultimately forced to pay $1.5bn in damages in 2022, forcing both him and Infowars to declare bankruptcy. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice The Department of Educations office for handling student loan complaints has a backlog of 27,000 after the Trump administration gutted the department of most of its staff. The Federal Student Aid ombudsman office handles hundreds of thousands of complaints each year from student loan borrowers experiencing issues with their loan information, loan servicer, school, and more. In 2024, the office received more than 200,000 complaints. But since the president signaled for Education Secretary Linda McMahon to essentially close the department, more than half of the workforce has been fired or offered buyouts. That has left the ombudsman office without enough staff to deal with cases, creating a backlog of 27,006 complaints. The office revealed its backlog in a letter sent from the departments Office of Legislation and Congressional Affairs to Senator Elizabeth Warren at the end of July. The letter was obtained by NBC News. The ombudsman office in the Department of Education lacks the staff to respond to thousands of complaints, creating a backlog ( Getty Images ) The Trump administration is abandoning Americans who have been scammed by their student loan servicers or have problems with their loans, Warren said in a statement to NBC News. Im pushing Secretary McMahon because families across this country deserve answers about her efforts to dismantle the Department of Education, Warren added. The Independent has asked the Department of Education for comment. Those having problems with their student loan lenders or federal loans with their schools have complained about difficulty in reaching the ombudsman office for several months even before the Trump administration assumed power. In a Reddit thread, one person said that in December, a representative for the ombudsman's office worked directly for the loan lender and refused to escalate their complaint. The user said they eventually directly mailed a complaint to the complaint office, but never received a response. Another Reddit user echoed similar sentiments, saying a Federal Student Aid representative informed them that the ombudsmans office no longer had an operation number in December. Other Reddit threads complain of similar issues getting help through emails, calls, and physical mail. In February, one person said a representative in the ombudsmans office informed them that the office was no longer processing complaints and was told to direct complaints to their state ombudsman instead. But complaints about the offices pace have been around long before the Trump administration. Some Reddit threads raising concerns about the offices responses go back two years. Every year, the ombudsmans office is supposed to provide a review of its performance in the Federal Student Aid annual report. In 2022, the office said it received approximately 101,516 cases, and by the end of the fiscal year, 1,747 cases remained unassigned. But the number of complaints has dramatically increased each year since then, likely making it more difficult for people to respond. In the federal court case between McMahon and New York, in which the administration successfully requested the Supreme Court to allow the department to fire employees, a former employee who worked in the office of the ombudsman was already compiling a backlog in March. As of March 14, 2025, I had an open caseload of 322 complaints and the Ombudsman Office had a backlog of 16,000 complaints from borrowers awaiting research and resolution, Rachel Gittleman said in her court filing. That means within four months, the office has received more than 11,006 complaints, which have gone ignored. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice The FBI has fired more top officials who had investigated President Donald Trump or who responded to the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot. Under the Trump-appointed Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino, the agency has seen an array of ousters, which critics say were essentially done in retaliation against agents involved in politically sensitive cases. Five new ousters, among them former Acting Director Brian Driscoll, were reported Thursday by The New York Times, which cited people familiar with the matter. Driscoll had refused to turn over the names of FBI agents who worked on the investigation into the January 6 attack, when a mob of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol building in a failed attempt to overturn Trumps 2020 election loss. open image in gallery The FBI has fired more top officials who had investigated President Donald Trump or who responded to the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot ( Getty ) Last night, I was informed that tomorrow will be my last day in the F.B.I., Driscoll said in a message to his colleagues about his departure, which the NYT shared. I understand that you may have a lot of questions regarding why, for which I currently have no answers. No cause has been articulated at this time. Steven Jensen, head of the FBIs Washington field office, who played a major role in responding to the January 6 attack, was also forced out this week, according to the NYTs sources. Additionally, agents Walter Giardina and Christopher Meyer, who both worked on investigations involving Trump, were ousted, per the sources. Spencer Evans, a senior agent at the bureau, was also dismissed, the paper reported. Trump supporters have accused Evans of denying religious exemptions for the COVID-19 vaccine when he worked for the agencys human resources. When The Independent reached out to the FBI about the oustings, the agency declined to comment. The FBI Agents Association, an advocacy group for current and retired FBI agents, said in a statement Thursday it was deeply concerned by the reported firings. Agents are not given the option to pick and choose their cases, and these Agents carried out their assignments with professionalism and integrity. Most importantly, they followed the law, the advocacy group said. It added: If these Agents are fired without due process, it makes the American people less safe. Agents need to be focused on their work and not on potentially being illegally fired based on their assignments. open image in gallery The FBI Agents Association, an advocacy group for current and retired FBI agents, said Thursday it was deeply concerned by the reported firings ( Getty ) In late January, shortly after Trump took office, multiple top FBI officials promoted by former Director Christopher Wray were told to resign or retire, and if they didnt, they would be demoted or reassigned, journalist Ken Dilanian reported, citing multiple sources. Trump was the one who appointed Wray, but by the time he finished his first term, their relationship soured. He applauded his December 2024 resignation, writing on Truth Social at the time it was a great day for America as it will end the Weaponization of what has become known as the United States Department of Injustice. In early February, FBI agents who worked on investigations into Trump and on cases surrounding the January 6 attack sued the Justice Department to block the administration from unlawful and retaliatory purges. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice After helping to manufacture a nearly two-week-long outrage cycle over the Sydney Sweeney good jeans American Eagle commercial, Fox News appears to be trying to prolong the so-called controversy by suggesting that liberals are also melting down over a month-old ice cream ad featuring the Hollywood star. During Fridays broadcast of the midday roundtable show Outnumbered, the panel devoted an entire segment to the buzz surrounding a resurfaced Baskin-Robbins spot featuring the Euphoria star unveiling her own signature scoop and signature fizz, known as Sweet on Sydney offerings. The intent of the Fox News discussion, however, wasnt to put the spotlight on the new It Girl for the MAGA crowd so much as it was to gin up the narrative that yet another Sweeney ad is triggering mass hysteria from the left and Democrats. If you are tired of her, sorry, Sydney Sweeney continues to make headlines, but this time not for her American Eagle ad, Fox News host, and presidential daughter-in-law, Lara Trump declared at the top of the segment. Amid the furor over that great jeans campaign, the Baskin-Robbins commercial from a month ago has now resurfaced. After airing a clip of the ice cream ad, Trump claimed that the commercial is now making the rounds on social media before insisting that it is drawing criticism from both sides of the aisle. open image in gallery A Fox News panel appeared to try to manufacture a new Sydney Sweeney "controversy" out of thin air on Friday by suggesting the left was "melting down" over a month-old ice cream ad. ( Fox News ) The proof of that supposed outrage, though, was two tweets both apparently from right-leaning accounts. One online critic said this is a big fail because ice cream tanks your testosterone, spikes your risk of diabetes, and wrecks your metabolism. I bet our HHS secretary would agree with that, Trump said, reading a post from a self-described canceled scientist who added that conservatives shouldnt be acting like its some huge win. Another said this ad is gonna melt liberal minds, and now they want to eat ice cream, Trump continued, reading off another X post. Neither tweet, however, showed someone from the left criticizing the ad. Yet, the rest of the panel conversation centered on how Baskin-Robbins should really lean into this and not cave to the woke mob because American Eagle got a boost from President Trump, and saw its stock price jump. Are they going to stand by their girl Sydney Sweeney, Baskin-Robbins? Trump wondered despite the lack of any actual uproar over this month-old commercial. I hope they do! Im not sick of her whatsoever. I think shes amazing, co-host Emily Compagno reacted. Indeed, as liberal media watchdog Media Matters reported Thursday, the conservative cable giant devoted nearly five hours of airtime to the American Eagle advertisement since July 28. The network, which has made a concerted effort in recent weeks to downplay the ongoing controversy over the Trump administrations handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files, only discussed that story for a total of 40 minutes. So, David, liberals are already melting down about this, Lara Trump claimed, turning to panelist David Webb. But to Emilys point, shes cute, shes funny, youve gotta embrace this stuff! Are they really going to start melting down on the left over the ice cream? Insisting that the left just melts down to begin with, Webb went on to gush over Sweeney and her commercials, describing them as so Americana and a throwback to Brooke Shields famous Calvin Klein ad campaign -- though he incorrectly claimed Shields was pitching Jordache jeans. It was that American girl aspiration. You were a guy who wants to see a girl in her Jordache jeans. This is just advertising, folks. The left just cant help themselves, he added. Doubling down on what the rest of the panel was selling, Fox News contributor Lisa Marie Boothe noted that while David was talking about how the left is melting down, they also bully. She went on to proclaim that liberals lost their ability to do so when President Trump won the popular vote. open image in gallery Fox News host and presidential daughter-in-law Lara Trump led a panel discussion on how liberals were "melting down" over an old Sydney Sweeney ad, all without actually flagging any criticism from the left. ( Fox News ) After Trump mentioned how much fun she was having reading the comments on the Baskin-Robbins ads YouTube page -- because conservatives were declaring that America is back -- Fox News correspondent Alicia Acuna weighed in. I think that is the point for some of this, because the backlash against the backlash is so fun to watch, Acuna stated. While MAGA media and especially Fox News feasted on the supposed liberal meltdown over the Sweeney ad, the New York Times reported Thursday that analysis of social media data revealed that conservative influencers with large followings were responsible for creating the outrage cycle in the first place. In reality, most progressives werent worked up much at all, the New York Times noted. Criticism of the ad campaign had come almost entirely from a smattering of accounts with relatively few followers, according to an analysis of social media data by The New York Times. Conversation about the ad did not escalate online or in traditional media until days later, after right-leaning influencers, broadcasters and politicians began criticizing what they described as a wave of progressive outrage. Of course, this isnt a new tactic for the conservative media sphere, which has long specialized in focusing on the hot takes of a handful of little-known progressive accounts or a single op-ed about culture war issues to whip up their audience into a righteous fury, all with the hopes of it breaking through into the national discourse. This is a crystal clear illustration of how right-wing media's outrage-industrial complex works, CNNs Andrew Kirell wrote in Reliable Sources this week. It all begins with a viral, often audacious post, typically from an obscure social media account, which then gets amplified by MAGA media influencers who dishonestly declare that it represents the entirety of the left. He concluded: From there, it reaches critical mass at Fox News the final boss of conservative media until Trump personally weighs in, generating more coverage and breathing new life into the outrage cycle. Rinse, repeat. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Vice President JD Vances office said the Secret Service requested that water levels in an Ohio river be raised to accommodate a birthday kayaking trip and the Republican was unaware. Vance was on a family vacation in south-western Ohio last week, and spotted by locals kayaking down the Little Miami River on his birthday on August 2, when he turned 41. The Secret Service requested that Army Corps engineers change the outflow of Caesar Creek Lake, which feeds into the river, to support safe navigation of Vances security detail, The Guardian first reported. An anonymous source told the newspaper the request was also made to create ideal kayaking conditions for the vice president, according to the report. A source familiar with the matter denied that claim to The Independent. During a Secret Service scouting mission of the area with local public safety officials ahead of Vances trip, one of the boats ran aground, the source said. The decision to raise the water levels was made for security reasons, the source claimed. open image in gallery Vice President JD Vances office said the Secret Service requested that water levels in an Ohio river be raised to accommodate a birthday kayaking trip and the Republican was unaware. ( Getty ) The vice president was unaware the water level had been raised, according to a Vance spokesperson. The Secret Service often employs protective measures without the knowledge of the Vice President or his staff, as was the case last weekend, the spokesperson told The Independent. A Secret Service spokesperson previously told The Independent it coordinated with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and Army Corps of Engineers to ensure that Vances security detail could operate safely with appropriate water levels during a recent visit. In early August, aligning with the dates Vance was in the area, there was a sudden increase in the river level and a corresponding drop in Caesar Creek Lakes water surface elevation, according to public data on the U.S. Geological Survey website. Army Corps of Engineers spokesperson Gene Pawlik said that a request was received to temporarily increase outflows from Caesar Creek Lake to support safe navigation of U.S. Secret Service personnel. open image in gallery Vance was on a family vacation in south-western Ohio last week and spotted by locals canoeing down the Little Miami River on his birthday on August 2, when he turned 41. ( AP ) Critics said it appeared hypocritical of Vance to receive special treatment for his family vacation in the beauty spot when his administration has overseen drastic job cuts in the National Park Service. Its outrageous for the Army corps of engineers to spend taxpayer money to increase water flow in a river so @VP can go canoeing when budget cuts to the National Park Service have severely impacted family vacations for everyone else, ethics lawyer Richard Painter, who served in George W. Bushs administration, reacted in a post on X. Certain accommodations have been made for the vice presidents family on other trips around the globe. During a recent trip to Italy, the Roman Colosseum was closed to the public so that his wife, Usha, and their children could take a tour, sparking anger among some tourists. The Taj Mahal also was closed to visitors during the Vance family's visit to India. Protesters have also frequently crashed Vances family vacations in the six months he has been in office. After word spread that Vance and his family planned a day out at Disneyland in California last month, hundreds turned out to protest at the theme park, to condemn the Trump administrations immigration raids across the state. In March, protesters lined the streets near the ski resort the vice president was staying at with his family in Vermont. Vance is soon headed for the U.K. countryside hotspot of the Cotswolds on his next family vacation, where he is expected to rent a quaint rural cottage. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Fox News host Greg Gutfeld, a favorite of Donald Trump, was a guest on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Thursday as the president continues to hint that the SNL alum and fellow late-night comic Jimmy Kimmel could be about to lose their jobs. Gutfeld was warmly received by Fallon, with the two men steering clear of politics as the conservative given the floor to tell a lengthy anecdote about his first encounter with Fallon in a bar in Hells Kitchen at which both parties were wasted and engaged in a drunken wrestling bout. The former Maxim editor then rattled through his pre-Fox career and promoted his new game show, What Did I Miss? This is hilarious we've met before, Fallon opened with. Yes, you have no memory of it. Which is understandable, because we were wasted, the former Red Eye host said. The two continued to banter about drunkenly wrestling each other. And you run towards me, and you tackle me, like you're a giant golden retriever. You're like on top of me. And so we're wrestling. We're wrestling. And then you change, and you start wrestling my buddy Andy, and you're wrestling him. And you guys get on the ground. You guys are now on the ground wrestling, Gutfeld told the audience, who gave the host a generally warm reception. open image in gallery Fox News host Greg Gutfeld guests on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Thursday August 7 2025 ( The Tonight Show/NBC ) Last week, Gutfeld alluded to his upcoming appearance with Fallon, saying it would be the biggest crossover since the Harlem Globetrotters visited the Golden Girls. Unlike the other guys, Jimmy sitting with me proves hes not afraid of upsetting his peers or afraid of my mesmerizing charm, he added. Fallon has shown his willingness to be pragmatic about humoring the right before, famously hosting Trump in September 2016, two months before his victory win over Hillary Clinton, and ruffling the New York property tycoons blonde hair to check whether it was real. The gesture alienated some of The Tonight Shows audience, and Fallon later expressed regret over it, telling The New York Times in 2017: I didnt do it to humanize him. I almost did it to minimize him. I didnt think that would be a compliment: He did the thing that we all wanted to do. In another interview with NBCs Today the same year, Fallon said political comedy is just not what I do, adding: I dont really even care that much about politics. I love pop culture more than I love politics. The comedian subsequently complained about the negative response his segment with the Republican had attracted, telling The Hollywood Reporters Awards Chatter podcast he felt like asking the public: So now what? Are you happy? Im depressed. Do you want to push me more? What do you want me to do? You want me to kill myself? What would make you happy? Get over it. Im sorry. I dont want to make anyone angry I never do and I never will. Its all in the fun of the show. I made a mistake. Im sorry if I made anyone mad. And looking back, I would do it differently. Trump himself was angered over Fallons whimpering attempts to distance himself from the controversy, rebuking him on Twitter: Be a man Jimmy! The host did make one risque joke at the presidents expense in his opening monologue to Thursdays show, shortly before Gutfeld was introduced, discussing Trumps tariff program coming into effect and remarking: The only places Trump didnt [tariff] are North Korea and Epstein Island. The president appears to have his late-night detractors in his sights right now and was asked at a press conference on Wednesday about shock jock Howard Sterns Sirius XM radio show reportedly being brought to an end, shortly after Paramount cancelled CBSs The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and whether that meant anti-Trump comedy was facing extinction. open image in gallery Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that Fallon and fellow late-night host Jimmy Kimmel are facing the axe ( Getty ) Well, it hasnt worked, the president answered. And it hasnt worked, really, for a long time, and I would say pretty much from the beginning. Colbert has no talent. I mean, I could take anybody here. I could go outside in the beautiful streets and pick a couple of people that do just as well or better. Theyd get higher ratings than he did. Hes got no talent. Fallon has no talent. Kimmel has no talent. Theyre next. Theyre going to be going. I hear theyre going to be going. I dont know, but I would imagine because theyd get you know, Colbert has better ratings than Kimmel or Fallon. By contrast, Trump has long been a champion of Gutfeld, posting a Fox press release celebrating his high ratings on Truth Social last September and writing in all-caps: GUTFELD! NOTCHES LARGEST AUDIENCE IN PROGRAM HISTORY WITH NEARLY FIVE MILLION VIEWERS DURING INTERVIEW WITH FORMER PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP. When Colberts show was canned last month, he wrote: I absolutely love that Colbert got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings. I hear Jimmy Kimmel is next. Has even less talent than Colbert! Greg Gutfeld is better than all of them combined, including the Moron on NBC who ruined the once great Tonight Show. Gutfeld likewise gloated over The Late Shows demise, commenting on Fox: This was an institution, and rather than put someone in his place they just said, Were closing up. Imagine being a chef. Youre such a bad chef that they cancel food Its so obvious. You cant do a comedy show and a sermon at the same time. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Melania Trump celebrated after Democratic strategist James Carville took down parts of a podcast episode that alleged a connection between her and Jeffrey Epstein, following involvement from the first ladys lawyer. At the start of Thursdays episode of his podcast, Politics War Room, Carville issued an apology, saying his team removed some comments from last weeks episode and took down an accompanying video after hearing from the first ladys attorney. After the episode, we received a letter from Melania Trumps lawyer. He took issue with our title of one of those YouTube videos from that episode and a couple of comments I made about the first lady, Carville said. We took a look at what they complained about, and we took down the video and edited out those comments from the episode. I also take back these statements and apologize. The video had been titled: The Epstein Connection: Trump & Melania. Its no longer available on YouTube. open image in gallery The first ladys X account was updated Thursday with a post about the videos removal, sharing a screenshot from the since-removed clip, with a big red X over it, and James Carvilles written apology. ( Getty Images ) The first ladys X account was updated Thursday with a post about the videos removal, sharing a screenshot from the since-removed clip, with a big red X over it, alongside Carvilles written apology. Her social media post has been liked 17,000 times, as of Friday morning. First Lady Melania Trumps attorneys are actively ensuring immediate retractions and apologies by those who spread malicious, defamatory falsehoods. The true account of how the First Lady met President Trump is in her best-selling book, Melania, a spokesperson for the first ladys office told The Independent. Last week, legal pressure from Melania Trumps attorney also led to an apology and retraction by The Daily Beast after the site posted an article about the first lady and Epstein. The article can no longer be found on the outlets website. An editors note now appears in the articles place. After this story was published, The Beast received a letter from First Lady Melania Trumps attorney challenging the headline and framing of the article. After reviewing the matter, the Beast has taken down the article and apologizes for any confusion or misunderstanding, it reads. Before her Thursday post about Carville, the last thing Melania Trumps X account posted was a link to an article about the Daily Beast removing its piece. open image in gallery Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein were friends in the 1990s and early 2000s. Their friendship dissolved around the mid-2000s. After Epstein's arrest on sex trafficking charges in 2019, the president told reporters he hadn't spoken to him in 15 years. ( NBC News ) There has been ongoing speculation over the so-called Epstein Files ever since the Justice Department released a July 6 memo which concluded that no further investigation was warranted. It reiterated earlier official reports that the convicted sex offender died by suicide, and also stated there was no evidence to support the existence of a client list of high-profile individuals involved in his alleged sex trafficking. The memo was disappointing to many, who had anticipated more revelations around the case. Attorney General Pam Bondi had previously said she had a truckload of information to review on the case, and even suggested the client listwas sitting on her desk. She released Phase 1 of the files in February, most of which was publicly available information. Members of Trumps MAGA following as well as lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have called for heightened transparency around the Epstein case. The president had been friendly with Epstein in the 1990s and early 2000s, with photos capturing them together at parties. Their friendship dissolved around the mid-2000s. After Epstein's arrest on sex trafficking charges in 2019, the president told reporters he hadn't spoken to him in 15 years. The president has repeatedly called Epstein a "creep." Last month, Trump revealed that he had ended his friendship with Epstein after he stole young female employees from his private club. A Mar-a-Lago member told the Miami Herald that Trump had Epstein kicked out in 2007 after the financier "harassed the daughter of a member. The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump made a 50th birthday card for Epstein in 2003 that included a sexually suggestive drawing and a mention that they shared a secret. Trump has vehemently denied making the card and sued the newspaper and its owners for defamation in a $10 billion lawsuit. Trump has never been formally accused of wrongdoing or charged with any crime in connection with the Epstein case. Trump recently reached settlements with CBS News and ABC News after he filed lawsuits against the networks over allegations unrelated to Epstein. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Steve Bannon is mulling over a run for president in 2028 because he does not think that vice president JD Vance is tough enough according to a new report. The former White House advisor, right-wing podcaster, conspiracy theorist and convicted felon, now fancies a shot at the top job, sources close to the matter told The Daily Mail. It comes after Donald Trump tipped his deputy as a likely successor following the conclusion of his second and final term in office. "Well, I think most likely. In all fairness, he's the vice president," Trump told reporters Tuesday. But sources close to Bannon told Mail the 71-year-old War Room host has bad-mouthed Vance in private, claiming credit for helping nail down his MAGA identity during the Ohio Senate primaries previously. open image in gallery The former White House advisor, right-wing podcaster, conspiracy theorist and convicted felon, now fancies a shot at the top job, sources close to the matter told The Daily Mail ( Getty Images ) One source claimed Bannon had also pushed and propped Vance up for the role of VP and, in essence, created his image. Love him but Vance is not tough enough to run in 2028, is the message that Bannon is sharing with his close inner circle, according to the outlet. Bannons plan to launch and run his own campaign is still in the most hypothetical and contemplative stages. I don't think like a politician All I do is back President Trump and try to move the populist agenda and the America First agenda, Bannon said during an interview with Politico in March, adding then that the idea of him running was too absurd. open image in gallery It comes after Donald Trump tipped his deputy as a likely successor following the conclusion of his second and final term in office. Well, I think most likely. In all fairness, he's the vice president, Trump told reporters Tuesday. ( Getty Images ) But he did not completely rule out the possibility of a run for the presidency. In line with Trumps remarks this week, attendees at a CPAC conference in February chose Vance as the top contender to succeed the president with 61 percent of the vote. Bannon was second with 12 percent. That is of course, if Trump doesnt run for a third term as he has joked about several times previously. Id like to run, he said when asked about the possibility on CNBCs Squawk Box Tuesday. I have the best poll numbers Ive ever had. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice A U.S.-brokered deal to end a decades-old conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan will include a new trade and transit corridor named for President Donald Trump, the White House has said. The agreement between the two nations will create a major trade and transit corridor called the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity. It will connect mainland Azerbaijan with the autonomous Nakhchivan region, satisfying a major objective of the Azerbaijani government in the peace talks between the countries. The two European nations have been in conflict for decades. White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly said the deal will create a roadmap that will build a cooperative future that benefits both countries, their region of the South Caucasus and beyond by allowing unimpeded connectivity between the two countries while respecting Armenias sovereignty and territorial integrity and its people. Trump announced plans for Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to visit the White House Friday to sign the peace agreement as well as individual bilateral agreements with the United States to pursue Economic opportunities together, so we can fully unlock the potential of the South Caucasus Region. President Donald Trump is set to announce a new peace deal with Armenia and Azerbaijan - but his name will be on a key part of the deal. ( AP ) Writing Thursday on Truth Social, Trump boasted of his role in reaching the agreement between the longtime enemy nations. Many Leaders have tried to end the War, with no success, until now, thanks to TRUMP, Trump said. The prospective agreement could potentially put an end to decades of conflict and set the stage for a reopening of key transportation corridors across the South Caucasus that have been shut since the early 1990s. The president is fond of naming things after himself, and has delighted in efforts by members of Congress to rename various Washington landmarks after him and his family members. But in this case, the White House maintains he was not the primary advocate of lending Trumpian eponymity to the new peace corridor. One senior administration official who briefed reporters on the plan said it was Armenian officials who broached the idea. It was the Armenians who came and said, that's why we're going to call the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity. This isn't just about Armenia. It's not just about Azerbaijan. It's about the entire region, and they know that that region is going to be safer and more prosperous with President Trump, the official said. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice New York Attorney General Letitia James has been subpoenaed by the US Justice Department, as part of an investigation into whether she violated the civil rights of Donald Trump. The development, confirmed by individuals familiar with the matter on Friday, marks a significant escalation. It underscores the Trump administration's intensifying efforts to scrutinise perceived adversaries, including figures like Ms James, who had investigated Mr Trump prior to his election victory. This action unfolds as the Justice Department advances its own inquiry into the Trump-Russia probe, an investigation that overshadowed much of Mr Trump's initial term in office. It also coincides with a widespread purge within law enforcement agencies of officials who had been involved in examining the activities of Mr Trump and his allies. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice President Donald Trump has reportedly ordered federal law enforcement officers to patrol Washington, D.C., as Stephen Miller claimed crime in the capital was more violent than Baghdad. The White House announced that additional officers would be on the streets of D.C. from midnight in what would reportedly begin as a seven-day operation in a bid to clamp down on crime. Its our capital city, it is more violent than Baghdad, it is more violent than parts of Ethiopia and parts of many of the most dangerous places in the world, White House deputy chief of staff Miller told NewsNation Thursday. Trump has been threatening to federalize the capital all week following an attack on a former Department of Government Efficiency staffer, Edward Coristine. Trump re-posted the bloodied photo of Coristine on Truth Social Thursday evening and addressed him directly in his post. Edward: The Crime situation in Washington, just like our Southern Border where ZERO Illegals entered in the last three months, will be a safe place very soon, Trump wrote. Thank you for your bravery and heart. Stay tuned! open image in gallery Trump has been threatening to federalize the capital all week following an attack on a former Department of Government Efficiency staffer, Edward Coristine. ( @realDonaldTrump/Truth Social ) Additional support will come from the D.C. National Guard, FBI, Marshals, ICE, Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security, according to CBS. Washington, D.C. is an amazing city, but it has been plagued by violent crime for far too long, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement Thursday. President Trump has directed an increased presence of federal law enforcement to protect innocent citizens. Starting tonight, there will be no safe harbor for violent criminals in D.C. The crackdown in D.C. will reportedly focus on tourist areas and other busy hotspots. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser approved the White Houses request, received overnight Wednesday, to bolster the capitals law enforcement presence, according to CBS, citing an official in the mayors office. Figures from the Metropolitan Police Department found that crime was down 35 percent in 2024 compared to 2023 in the citya 30-year low. Preliminary numbers from the police found that violent crime was down 26 percent for 2025 so far. A source told CBS there had been little to no coordination between the MPD and federal law enforcement about the plans, adding that the force has not been notified about what the increase in federal law enforcement might look like in D.C. open image in gallery Trump threatened to take responsibility for law enforcement in D.C. away from the city several times this week. ( Getty ) The Independent has contacted the MPD for further information. At a news conference Thursday, Trump-appointed prosecutor Jeanine Pirro said young people in D.C. are being coddled and committing too much crime. They dont need to be coddled anymore. They need to be held accountable, said Pirro, who handles most of the capitals adult crime. They shouldnt be going to arts and crafts in family court. They need to understand that enough is enough. And the D.C. Council has to repeal some of these absurd ordinances and laws that theyve had passed that do nothing to protect the people of this city and of this District. Trump threatened to take responsibility for law enforcement in D.C. away from the city several times this week. If D.C. doesnt get its act together, and quickly, we will have no choice but to take federal control of the city, and run this city how it should be run, and put criminals on notice that theyre not going to get away with it anymore, the president said Tuesday on Truth Social. open image in gallery A sign in that said, Heal Fast Big Balls Thanks, Trump! was spotted on August 7 in Washington, DC. ( Getty ) Perhaps it should have been done a long time ago, then this incredible young man, and so many others, would not have had to go through the horrors of violent crime, he said, referring to Coristine. If this continues, I am going to exert my powers, and FEDERALIZE this city. Coristine, known by the nickname he gave himself on LinkedInBig Balls was with an unnamed woman in downtown D.C. at 3 a.m. Sunday when a group of juveniles approached their car, according to the police report of the incident. The report explains that the suspects approached the victims standing next to the vehicle parked on the 1400 block of Swann Street and demanded that they hand it over before assaulting one of the victims. During the alleged attack, an MPD cruiser pulled up, prompting the attackers to flee. Two of the suspects were apprehended by the on-scene officers. At the same time, one of the victims [Coristine] was treated on scene by emergency services personnel for injuries sustained during the assault. The pair arrested was two 15-year-olds, a male and a female, from nearby Hyattsville, Maryland. They were subsequently charged with unarmed carjacking. Coristines iPhone 16, worth $1,000, was reportedly stolen during the incident. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Billy Long, the ex-auctioneer turned Missouri congressman who was confirmed to lead the IRS just over two months ago, is gone after President Donald Trump removed him from his position. On Friday, the White House confirmed Longs firing to The Independent and announced that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will serve as acting commissioner until a replacement is nominated and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. It is understood that Trump intends to nominate Long, a Republican who represented Missouris seventh district from 2011 to 2023, to an as-yet unspecified ambassadorship. Longs ouster means the countrys tax collection apparatus will be on its seventh leader since January. Billy Long is out as IRS commissioner after roughly two months on the job ( The Hill ) The former House member was an unusual pick to lead the IRS. During his time in Congress, he never served on the primary tax law-writing panel, the House Ways and Means Committee, and he had no real background in tax issues other than a stint as a financial adviser promoting a tax credit that has often been claimed fraudulently. During his time in the House, he also promoted legislation that would have abolished the IRS entirely. He did not appear to make much of an impression during his short tenure at the agency. According to The New York Times, he often gave workers permission to leave early on Fridays, including today. An email sent to IRS employees yesterday afternoon offered them a 70-minute early exit today and noted that his 70th birthday is this coming Monday. He has also reportedly spent much of his time atop the IRS traveling the country to meet with employees, though he did place two high-ranking officials on administrative leave while posting on social media about the need to purge the agency. Long, who once owned an auction house and is in both the National Auctioneers' Association Hall of Fame and the Professional Auctioneers Association Hall of Fame, gained a measure of notoriety in 2018 when he responded to activist Laura Loomers disruption of a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing with a mock auction chant while police officers escorted her from the hearing room. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice The Department of Justice wants substantial monetary sanctions against a California immigration attorney, marking a dramatic escalation of the Trump administrations threats to lawyers and law firms taking up cases against the presidents agenda. Joshua Schroeder appears to be the first attorney to be singled out by Justice Department lawyers in court documents following the presidents push to punish law firms and immigration attorneys over what he considers frivolous, unreasonable, and vexatious claims. I am not worried. I willingly take hard cases, and Im not afraid to lose them, Shroeder told The Independent on Thursday. When the motion came in, I didnt know it would be a story. I just kind of thought, well, I guess Im gonna fight that too. The sanctions motion, first reported by Politico, followed Schroeders attempts to block the government from deporting his client, a Hmong immigrant identified in court documents as V.L., who has a green card and immigrated to the United States as a child in 1987. He was living with his wife in Oklahoma when he was arrested during a routine Immigration and Customs Enforce check-in. The government pushed to deport him to Laos, according to court filings. In court filings, Schroeder argued that his removal to Laos could be deadly. open image in gallery A pro bono immigration attorney appears to be the first target of the Trump administrations directive to sanction lawyers it believes are filing frivolous legal actions against the government ( AFP via Getty Images ) Schroeder had successfully temporarily blocked his removal while the legal challenge continued, but V.L. was moved to detention in Guam from another facility in Texas to prepare for his removal. Despite Schroeders appeals, V.L. was deported in June. Schroeder, who is working on the case pro bono, had asked for court orders to block V.L.s removal pointing to, among other things, the Trump administrations aggressive push to summarily deport immigrants to a brutal El Salvador prison and so-called third countries beyond the jurisdiction of U.S. courts. The president is using orders of removal as permission slips to do whatever he wants, Schroeder told The Independent. The reason we dont know what he would do is we have no notice or an opportunity to be heard about how broad these orders can be used. In March, Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act to swiftly deport Venezuelan men accused of being members of the Tren de Aragua gang, which many of their attorneys and family members have denied. Government attorneys have also admitted that many of the dozens of immigrants deported under the law and then sent to El Salvadors notorious CECOT prison have no criminal records whatsoever. In court filings, Schroeder said Trumps use of the Alien Enemies Act unleashed unbounded war powers that could apply to any immigrant or disfavored U.S. citizen, and argued that V.L. may similarly be targeted. In June, the federal judge overseeing the case in Guam District Court dismissed the case, noting that the governments removal is not based on the Alien Enemies Act, and that Schroeder had made an improper invocation of that law to challenge V.L.s detention and removal. Nearly two months later, the Trump administration is now asking that judge to punish Schroeder over those arguments. I didn't make money from this. It was a very high cost to me, and very difficult, he told The Independent. And the profession depends upon these pro bono cases. It depends upon normal, ordinary lawyers being willing to take time out of their schedule to help people who can't pay. And if we don't have that, if that all dries up, we're going to have a huge due process issue, not just for immigrants. open image in gallery Trump deported dozens of Venezuelan men to El Salvadors brutal CECOT prison in March using the Alien Enemies Act, then exchanged them in a prison swap with Venezuela to return American citizens last month ( Getty Images ) The president has raised dozens of legal threats aimed at his ideological opponents and issued a series of executive orders targeting the law firms representing them. In March, the president ordered Attorney General Pam Bondi to seek sanctions against attorneys and law firms who engage in frivolous, unreasonable, and vexatious litigation against the United States including immigration lawyers. Lawyers for the government have accused Schroeder of arguing that he falsely claimed V.L. was facing removal under the Alien Enemies Act and continued to do so despite arguments and court orders stressing that V.L. was being deported under standard immigration law. A sanctions motion filed on August 1 accuses Schroeder of acting unreasonably and vexatiously. The motion claims Schroeder continued to insist the government was trying to deport his client under the Alien Enemies Act while he knew that assertion to be false. The 29-page complaint accuses him of making bad faith arguments, and even if Schroeder did not know that his arguments were frivolous, at a minimum, he recklessly maintained his frivolous arguments. The Justice Department is also seeking sanctions as a deterrent to other lawyers to prevent frivolous claims that would stoke unnecessary controversy, government lawyers wrote. Legal experts have warned that the motion amounts to a significant turning point in the administrations avalanche of legal battles that appears aimed at preventing other lawyers from taking on cases against the government. This is just harassment of good and reasonable lawyers [and] I expect judges and the bar will see through this ruse from Trump's DOJ, wrote Ciara Torres-Spelliscy, a Fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law The Trump administration is stripping away a core tenet of our justice system the ability to defend oneself against [government] accusations, according to Justice Connection, a network of Justice Department alumni. This will have a chilling effect on lawyers willing to take on clients against DOJ, the group said. Schroeder, meanwhile, says the motion will not prevent him from continuing to represent immigrant clients. Im willing to take the heat. Im not afraid. If bad things happen, they happen, he told The Independent. I'm willing to go down, but Im not going to give up. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice The Trump administration and Attorney General Pam Bondi are being savagely mocked on social media after doubling the reward for information leading to the arrest of Venezuelas president. Thursdays announcement from Bondi saw the phrase, Hes in Venezuela, trending on X, with users saying that should be enough information for the administration. Bondi accused Nicolas Maduro of being one of the worlds largest narco-traffickers and working with cartels to flood the U.S. with fentanyl-laced cocaine. Under President Trumps leadership, Maduro will not escape justice and he will be held accountable for his despicable crimes, Attorney General Pam Bondi said Thursday in a video announcing the reward. Many users also pointed out that news of the new reward comes as the Trump administration struggles to deal with the fallout from the Jeffrey Epstein files debacle. open image in gallery Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Trump administration are being roundly mocked over $50M bounty for the Venezuelan president ( Reuters/X@AGPamBondi ) He's in Venezuela... With the Epstein files..., joked one user alongside a gif of Trump and Epstein partying in Mar-a-Lago in 1992. Hes in Venezuela but also we need those Epstein files, said another. Hes in Venezuela. I take Zelle, Venmo, CashApp, & Apple Pay. Now quit deflecting & release the full, unredacted Epstein Files, said another person. DOJ offers a $50m reward for info on Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro. Well, it doesnt take a James Bondi to know hes in Venezuela, wrote another user. Many wrote, Hes in Venezuela. Wheres my money? Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil released a statement characterizing the reward as pathetic and accusing Bondi of orchestrating a crude political propaganda operation. Were not surprised, coming from whom it comes from. The same one who promised a nonexistent secret list of Epstein and who wallows in scandals for political favors, Gil said, referring to the backlash Bondi faced after the Justice Department announced last month that a long-rumored client list of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein does not exist. Her show is a joke, a desperate distraction from her own misery. open image in gallery Maduro was indicted in Manhattan federal court in 2020, during the first Trump presidency, along with several close allies on federal charges of narco-terrorism and conspiracy to import cocaine. At the time, the U.S. offered a $15 million reward for his arrest ( X/@StateINL ) Maduro was indicted in Manhattan federal court in 2020, during the first Trump presidency, along with several close allies on federal charges of narco-terrorism and conspiracy to import cocaine. At the time, the U.S. offered a $15 million reward for his arrest. That was later raised by the Biden administration to $25 million the same amount the U.S. provided for the capture of Osama bin Laden following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Despite the big bounty, Maduro remains entrenched after defying the U.S., the European Union, and several Latin American governments who condemned his 2024 reelection as a sham and recognized his opponent as Venezuelas duly elected president. Last month, the Trump administration struck a deal to secure the release of 10 Americans jailed in the capital, Caracas, in exchange for Venezuela getting home scores of migrants deported by the United States to El Salvador under the Trump administrations immigration crackdown. Shortly after, the White House reversed course and allowed U.S. oil producer Chevron to resume drilling in Venezuela after U.S. sanctions previously blocked it. Bondi said the Justice Department has seized more than $700 million in assets linked to Maduro, including two private jets, and said nearly 7 tons of seized cocaine had been traced directly to the leftist leader. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email Get our free Inside Washington email Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice The massive import taxes being imposed on Americans by President Donald Trump will liberate American households from approximately $2,500 that will be cut out from their yearly income as a result of higher prices. According to a new study from the Yale Budget Lab, the new Trump tariffs combined with existing import taxes will cause consumers to pay an overall effective tariff rate of 18.6 percent, the highest tariff level for U.S. imports since 1933. While Trump has frequently claimed that the tariffs are being paid by foreign nations as an entry fee for access to the American economy, they are actually import taxes typically paid by American importers and passed on to consumers, often in the form of higher prices. The Yale study found that prices will rise on average by 1.8 percent in the short run, with the latest tariffs imposed by Trump set to disproportionately hit consumer purchases of clothing and textiles. open image in gallery President Donald Trump displays a chart explaining his 'Liberation Day' tariffs on April 2. A new report finds the tariffs, which just started this week, will raise costs in the short term by 1.8 percent. ( Getty Images ) For example, shoes and apparel will become 39 and 37 percent more expensive in the short run, the study found. The new tariffs include a whopping 50 percent tax on Indian imports, plus 35 percent taxes on goods from Laos, Switzerland, and Iraq. Everyday items ranging from coffee to Toyotas, home furnishings to Gap jeans, are expected to become more expensive as companies adjust their prices to counteract the impact of tariffs. While the president has asked companies to absorb any increases in costs, many cannot forever. Here are some of the goods expected to cost more: Alcohol Consumers of French, Italian or Spanish wines, Scotch whiskey, and aperitifs such as Aperol, can expect to see the price of their favorite alcoholic beverage rise due to the 15 percent tariff on the European Union. The E.U. is a major exporter of wines and spirits to the U.S. In 2024 alone, the E.U. accounted for $3.4 billion worth of imported spirits. Despite pleas from the beverage industry, the presidents trade deal did not create exemptions for alcohol, which will likely drive up the price of imported wine or liquor either in stores or restaurants. Without productive negotiations reducing reciprocal tariffs on wine and spirits, American wine retailers anticipate a significant decline in sales on top of the already difficult market, as well as significant job losses and subsequent business closures, Tom Wark, the executive director of the Association of Wine Retailers, said. A letter to the president from the Toast Not Tariffs Coalition, a group of 57 associations representing the U.S. alcohol industry and related industries, said tariffs on the E.U. could result in 25,000 American job losses, and nearly $2 billion in lost sales. Diageo, the maker of Guinness, Baileys, Johnnie Walker, and more, said the company expects to see a $200 million slump as a result of the tariffs. Cars and car parts Already, consumers have seen cars and car parts become more expensive over the last few months as a result of Trumps tariffs because the U.S. relies heavily on its trading partners for auto parts. Cox Automotive, an industry service and technology provider, expects the sticker price of vehicles to rise anywhere from 4 to 8 percent by the end of the year. That means the average car price would be above $50,000. While the president struck several deals with countries, many of them still make imported vehicles more expensive. open image in gallery Many imported cars are now subject to the new tariffs, including the U.K.s Range Rovers ( AFP via Getty Images ) Imported cars from the U.K., such as Range Rovers, are subject to a 10 percent tariff. Japan, which sells more cars to the U.S. than any other country, is facing a 15 percent tariff rate, which is expected to cause major disruption. Toyota said on August 7 it expects a $9.5 billion profit loss for the year. "It's honestly very difficult for us to predict what will happen regarding the market environment," Takanori Azuma, Toyota's head of finance, said. But given that many car parts are imported from Japan, the tariffs are likely to hurt U.S. carmakers as well. General Motors projects a $4 billion loss, Stellantis, the maker of Jeep, said it anticipates tariffs will add $1.7 billion in expenses, and Ford, which builds more cars in the U.S. than any of its rivals, said it expects tariffs to cause a $2 billion loss this year. Clothing Clothing is expected to see one of the most significant price increases, and much of it comes from countries in Asia. Vietnam, one of the largest exporters of appear to the U.S., has agreed to a 20 percent tariff. Brands such as Nike, Adidas, Zara, and Gap manufacture much of their clothing in Vietnam. While many can absorb some of those costs, even raising prices 10 percent would make a $65 pair of shoes $71.50, without tax. open image in gallery Clothing is expected to see one of the most significant price increases, and much of it comes from countries in Asia ( AFP via Getty Images ) Bjorn Gulden, the CEO of Adidas, said the tariffs will directly increase the cost of our products for the U.S. Other countries that are high producers of clothing face significant tariffs as well. Bangladesh has a 20 percent tariff, while Indonesia and Cambodia both face a 19 percent tariff. India, also a large producer of apparel, faces a steep tariff of 25 percent and Trump has threatened to increase that to 50 percent by the end of August if the country does not stop importing Russian oil. While the U.S. also imports a large portion of clothing from China, which is still negotiating a trade deal, Trumps decision to get rid of the de minimis exemption will make it more costly for consumers to purchase cheap clothing from stores like Shein or Temu. Coffee The U.S. relies heavily on Brazil to import coffee for the 165 million people who need their daily caffeine fix, but Trumps 50 percent tariff threatens the long-term availability and price of the drink. "When people go to their local coffee shop, whether it's Starbucks or something else, by and large they will likely be buying some form of Brazilian coffee," Monica de Bolle, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, told NPR. On The Ground newsletter: Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents Get a weekly international news dispatch Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice The husband of an Australian woman convicted of a triple murder by mushroom poisoning suspected she had been trying to kill him for over a year before the fatal meal. The revelation emerged after a judge lifted a gag order on pre-trial evidence that Erin Patterson, 50, had sought to keep secret as she attempts to overturn her convictions. Her estranged husband, Simon Patterson, testified at a pre-trial hearing that he had previously declined the deadly lunch invitation due to his fears, having suspected her of attempting to poison him. I thought thered be a risk that shed poison me if I attended, the husband told the court months before the trial in testimony that was not presented to jurors. Simon said while he had stopped eating food prepared by his wife, from whom he had been estranged since 2015, he never thought others would be at risk. open image in gallery Simon Patterson, husband of Erin Patterson, walks from the Latrobe Valley Magistrates Court in Morwell, Victoria, on May 1, 2025 ( AAP ) Erin Patterson was convicted by a Victoria state Supreme Court last month of murdering her parents-in-law Don and Gail Patterson, and Gails sister Heather Wilkinson at her home in Leongatha with a lunch of beef Wellington pastries contained toxic death cap mushrooms. She was also found guilty of attempting to murder Ian Wilkinson, Heathers husband, who survived the meal but spent weeks in hospital. Erin Patterson was initially charged with attempting to murder her husband by inviting him to the lunch in July 2023. He had accepted the invitation then cancelled. She was also initially charged three counts of attempting to murder him on three occasions around Victoria between November 2021 and September 2022. Prosecutors dropped all charges relating to the husband before her trial began in April. open image in gallery Erin Patterson leaves a court in Melbourne, Australia, on April 15, 2025 ( AAP ) Simon Patterson testified before the trial that he suspected his wife had deliberately made him seriously ill with dishes including penne bolognese pasta, chicken korma curry and a vegetable curry wrap. No poisons were ever found. The three alleged poisonings occurred during family camping trips. Simon shared his poisoning suspicions with his doctor, who encouraged him to create a spreadsheet listing what he had eaten around the time he became sick. Justice Christopher Beale ruled for lawyers representing media who sought to overturn the gag order, ordering that the evidence that jurors had not seen would be made public. Erin Pattersons lawyers wanted all the evidence that was not deemed admissible at her trial kept secret until an appeals court decided whether to overturn her convictions. Their reasons included that media interest in the case was unprecedented. Defense lawyer Colin Mandy argued that reporting of the suppressed evidence as well as references to it in books, podcasts and a planned television mini-series would leave an indelible impression on the minds of potential jurors in the event that there is a retrial. open image in gallery A picture released by the Supreme Court of Victoria on 7 July 2025 shows an annotated photo of plates containing samples of a beef Wellington meal laced with toxic mushrooms that was prepared by Australian home cook Erin Patterson, during a toxicology analysis at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine. ( Supreme Court of Victoria ) A hearing will begin on Aug. 25 to determine what sentence she will get. She faces a potential life sentence for each of the murders and 25 years for attempted murder. Prosecutor Jane Warren told Beale on Friday a lot of victim impact statements would be presented at that two-day sentencing hearing. Once Erin Patterson is sentenced, she will have 28 days to lodge an appeal against the sentence, the convictions, or both. Her lawyers say they will appeal against her convictions. On The Ground newsletter: Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents Get a weekly international news dispatch Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice The Italian government has given final approval for the construction of what would be the worlds longest single-span bridge, connecting Sicily to the mainland, a decision that immediately sets the stage for a potential legal battle. The colossal project, spanning the Strait of Messina, was formally sanctioned by the prime minister Giorgia Melonis right-wing government on Wednesday, with 13.5bn (11.7bn) earmarked for its development. This ambitious undertaking, first conceived by the ancient Romans, has been under discussion for more than 50 years but now faces the prospect of further delays. They could offer me three times the value of my house, but that doesnt matter to me. What matters is the landscape. They must not touch the Strait of Messina, said Mariolina De Francesco, a 75-year-old living in the Sicilian city of Messina. More than 440 properties will have to be expropriated on the Sicilian side and in the Calabria region on the mainland to make way for the 3.7km (2.3-mile) bridge and connecting roads and railways. Our lawyers will take action, and we will stop them. Thats guaranteed, said Ms De Francesco, whose house lies near the site of one of the bridges planned 399m-tall land towers. Infrastructure minister Matteo Salvini said preliminary works should start in September-October, and has promised generous compensation to those required to surrender their property. The bridge is due for completion in 2032. open image in gallery The bridge, if it gets built, will be more than two miles long ( Getty/iStock ) The Messina Strait Company overseeing the project is bracing for a big legal fight. (Legal appeals) certainly keep me busy because they waste a lot of our time, its CEO Pietro Ciucci told newspaper La Stampa. Environmental groups this week filed a complaint with the European Union, flagging serious risks for the local ecosystem. The Torre Faro district, on the northern edge of Messina, includes a nature reserve surrounding two ponds. Committees of No Bridge residents say the areas environmental value and seismic risk make it unsuitable for the infrastructure. They also fear the works will drag on, making the neighbourhood unliveable because of the noise. open image in gallery ( The Independent ) The Messina Strait Company says the bridge will be designed to withstand very strong earthquakes and will not be placed on active fault lines. It has also promised mitigation measures to safeguard habitats and protected species. Contractual obligations will ensure that the timing and effects of construction activity, including noise, will be kept under strict control, the company added. Supporters of the project, awarded to the Eurolink consortium led by Italys Webuild, say it will bolster the economy of an underdeveloped region. The bridge could create jobs for young people, and maybe it could also change something in Sicily, where we always like to keep everything as it is, said 71-year-old Giuseppe Caruso, sitting on his bike near the beach. Authorities have pledged strong safeguards against any mafia involvement. The two regions are home to the Cosa Nostra and Ndrangheta mafia organisations, which have a long history of infiltrating lucrative public works projects. The government is also considering whether to categorise investment in the bridge as defence spending, which would help Italy meet new Nato targets to boost military budgets. open image in gallery How the worlds longest single-span bridge would look ( Stretto di Messina Company ) House expropriations are set to proceed gradually, in line with construction progress. Activists and lawyers estimate some 1,000 people could lose their homes, and say the increased costs since the project was first awarded may breach European Union public procurement laws. We are a country governed by the rule of law within the EU, so even the government must respect the rules, said Antonio Saitta, a lawyer representing some Messina residents. The Messina Strait Company said the rise in costs, from 8.5bn in 2011 before the project was blocked, to the current 13.5bn, was due to the sharp increase in construction material prices. Mr Saitta said the main way of blocking the bridge was to file an appeal with an administrative court against the governments decision by the end of October. Gianluca Maria Esposito, an administrative law professor at Sapienza University of Rome, said the public interest prevails over the private in such cases and that blocking the project would be a daunting challenge. The citizen is entitled to compensation but cannot claim further damages, nor can they oppose the realisation of the project, he said. On The Ground newsletter: Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents Get a weekly international news dispatch Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice The biggest wildfire in France for 75 years which devastated an area of southern France the size of Paris could reignite at any time, officials warned. The blaze, which killed a woman and injured 18 others, scorched through 39,537 acres of forest and villages after it erupted on Tuesday afternoon in the village of Ribaute in the Aude region. The largest to rip through the landscape since 1949, it destroyed 36 houses, damaged 20 others, and forced around 2,000 residents and tourists to flee. Regional authorities said the fire had been brought under control after the spread slowed down but warned the inferno could erupt again at any point and firefighters are continuing to work at the scene. The battle isn't over yet, the fire could reignite with greater force, Outre-mer prefect Christian Pouget warned. open image in gallery The fire destroyed 36 houses, damaged 20 others, and forced around 2,000 residents and tourists to flee ( Securite Civile ) At the height of the crisis, 5,000 homes lost power, and as of Thursday evening, around 1,500 homes were still without electricity, authorities said. Residents have been urged not to return home while operations continue, with 17 temporary accommodation sites opened up. We don't have water, internet and electricity anymore. We have nothing. It's the apocalypse, said resident and farmer Alain Reneau, who lives in Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse. Thousands of firefighters rushed to put out the fire, which environment Minister Agnes Pannier-Runacher said was caused by climate change. Never in my life (have I seen) fires like this, 77-year-old retiree Simon Gomez said in Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse. Smoke from the fires and large areas of burnt land could be seen from satellite images on Thursday, highlighting the scale of the devastation across the region. Jacques Piraud, mayor of the village of Jonquieres, where several houses burned down, told Le Monde that around 80 per cent of the village was burnt. It's black, the trees are completely charred," he said. France's weather office has warned of a new heatwave with temperatures of up to 40C starting in other parts of southern France on Friday and due to last several days. Danger remains high across the Mediterranean coast with temperatures expecting to reach 35C in inland Mediterranean areas. open image in gallery Smoke from the fires and large areas of burnt land could be seen from satellite images on Thursday In the Aude region, the risk of fire spreading remains very real, although less severe than on Tuesday, Meteo France said, adding that national temperatures could peak at the beginning of the week. President Emmanuel Macron said on X that all the nations resources were mobilised, while prime minister Francois Bayrou said the fire was a catastrophe on an unprecedented scale. "We're at war, but also, we will win the war," said Xavier Guille, a local vinyard owner who was helping firefighters battle the blaze. Guille lost woodland to the fire but his vineyard was unharmed. My in-laws lost their home in Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse, it was one of the first homes that burned, he added. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. That old adage definitely applies to The Prisoner of Zenda in general and the sumptuous 1952 remake in particular. Anthony Hope's immensely popular story of palace intrigue and skullduggery in the fictional realm of Ruritania has been filmed several times, beginning in 1913. Two more silent versions followed (the 1922 production is included as an extra on this disc) before what many regard as the definitive remake starring Ronald Colman premiered in 1937. All was then quiet on the Zenda front until 1952 when MGM decided it was high time to tell the tale again, but instead of fashioning a fresh take on the material, the studio chose instead to duplicate the 1937 version almost shot for shot. The big difference would be the addition of Technicolor, and what a game changer that decision turned out to be! Though it's hard to suppress the palpable feelings of deja vu while watching the 1952 edition of The Prisoner of Zenda, the Technicolor is so glorious and the lush hues enhance the pomp and pageantry to such a lofty degree this remake almost feels brand new. Almost. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then this version of The Prisoner of Zenda just might rank as the biggest fawn job in Hollywood history, but it's so entertaining, who cares? I must admit I anticipated a stuffy, dull remake willing to rely on Technicolor and all its trimmings to compensate for its inferiority, but what I got was anything but. A glittering cast, an exciting climactic sword fight, and the story's inherent strength all contribute to the movie's success. Stewart Granger is no Ronald Colman, but he's extremely good in the dual role of King Rudolf V of Ruritania and his distant, doppelganger British cousin Rudolf Rassendyll. The commoner Rudolf just happens to arrive in Ruritania for a fishing trip the day before the king-to-be's coronation and his striking resemblance to His Royal Highness leaves everyone he meets dumbstruck. And that includes the future king, who's introduced to Rassendyll by two of his guards, Colonel Zapt (Louis Calhern) and Captain Fritz von Tarlenheim (Robert Coote). The two Rudolfs couldn't be more different. The blue blood is pompous, arrogant, irresponsible, and cares little for the country he is about to rule. His cousin is affable, sincere, patriotic (he just finished a stint in the Queen of England's service) and seems to adhere to a strict set of morals. At the palace that night, both men get drunk, but Rudolf of Ruritania, against the wishes of his advisors, caps off the evening by drinking a special bottle of wine given to him by his jealous, vindictive half-brother, Duke Michael of Strelsau (Robert Douglas). After a few sips, Rudolf passes out and when he can't be revived the next morning, Col. Zapt and Capt. Fritz deduces he's been seriously drugged. Both men panic, because if Rudolf doesn't show up at his coronation, Duke Michael will deem him unfit to serve and seize control of the throne. To foil Michael's plot, they implore Rassendyll to shave off his mustache, touch up his graying temples, and assume the king's identity during the coronation. Once the rightful Rudolf recovers, he will take back the crown, but in the meantime, Rassendyll must also fool Rudolf's fiancee, Princess Flavia (Deborah Kerr), who Rudolf hasn't seen in years and who doesn't hold her future husband in very high regard. Rassendyll reluctantly agrees to the masquerade, but when Rudolf is abducted by Michael's partner in crime, Rupert of Hentzau (James Mason), and becomes a prisoner in the county of Zenda, the phony King Rudolf is forced to continue his bogus reign. And it soon becomes clear he's better suited to the job than his incapacitated cousin. Awash with characters as colorful as the Technicolor photography, The Prisoner of Zenda is a complete crowd pleaser that almost demands popcorn to be fully enjoyed. The far-fetched narrative somehow works, and not long after the film begins, you get the feeling maybe MGM was right not to monkey with such a finely oiled machine after all. The 1937 screenplay by John L. Balderston, who cut his teeth on such classic horror fare as Dracula, Frankenstein, and The Mummy, remains largely intact (Wizard of Oz co-writer Noel Langley also receives credit), as does the original Alfred Newman music score (with embellishments by master arranger Conrad Salinger). The hefty budget enabled art director Cedric Gibbons to go wild with ornate sets and costume designer Walter Plunkett to fashion an array of elegant gowns and garish military uniforms. (Seeing Mason dressed like an Easter egg in an all-lavender uniform is a highlight.) Of course, the swashbuckling showdown is the picture's most memorable scene, and it's performed with vigor by Granger and Mason. All the acting is first-rate, with much of the dialogue delivered with tongues firmly in cheek, but Mason is the standout. Lacing his lines with venomous glee and a thinly veiled note of disdain, he's an absolute delight as the rakish villain we love to hate. Kerr is photographed beautifully and her soft-spoken sincerity contrasts nicely with Granger's swagger. The two enjoy a comfortable rapport, but Kerr's talent far exceeds the limits of her largely decorative role. As the bitter, devious Michael, Douglas clenches his teeth throughout; Calhern and Coote play Rudolf's aides with a playful seriousness that strikes just the right tone; and Jane Greer shines in a too-brief yet pivotal part as the elegant, sophisticated Antoinette de Mauban, who loves Michael but doesn't approve of his Machiavellian maneuvers. It's too bad the 1937 version of The Prisoner of Zenda has not yet seen a Blu-ray release, because it would be fun to screen these two versions that are as close to being twins as the two Rudolfs back to back. The earlier take would surely come out on top, but don't dismiss this formidable 1952 pretender to its throne. Like Rupert of Hentzau, it won't win the duel, but it puts up a damn good - and very entertaining - fight. Vital Disc Stats: The Blu-ray The 1952 version of The Prisoner of Zenda arrives on Blu-ray packaged in a standard case. Video codec is 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 and audio is DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono. Once the disc is inserted into the player, the static menu without music immediately pops up; no previews or promos precede it. On The Ground newsletter: Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents Get a weekly international news dispatch Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump are set to meet next week, the Kremlin has confirmed. In what would be the first summit between leaders of the two countries since 2021, Trump and Putin will meet in search of a breakthrough to end the Ukraine war. The announcement comes a day after US special envoy Steve Witkoff held talks with Putin in an attempt to convince the Russian president to sign a ceasefire agreement with Ukraine. "At the suggestion of the American side, an agreement was essentially reached to hold a bilateral meeting at the highest level in the coming days, that is, a meeting between President Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump," Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said. He said a summit venue had been agreed, but would be announced later. Here, The Independent looks at the countries that could set the stage for the momentous occasion. Reykjavik, Iceland - an echo of the Cold War open image in gallery Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and US President Ronald Reagan sit down together inside the Hofdi in Reykjavik, Iceland, in 1986 ( Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. ) Icelands capital Reykjavik is one option, as it is symbolic of past USRussia diplomatic relations. Reykjavik hosted the 1986 summit between Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, which was seen as a turning point in the Cold War. Although that meeting ended without a formal agreement, it laid the groundwork for future nuclear arms reduction treaties and helped ease tensions between the two warring nations. Trump has often compared himself to Reagan, as a self-proclaimed deal-maker. Reykjavik would, therefore, carry significant symbolism for the US president. Doha, Qatar - the worlds new neutral peace broker open image in gallery Earlier this year, during his trip to the Middle East, the US president marvelled at the wealth of his Arab hosts ( Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved ) Qatar, once known as a small petrostate, has emerged as one of the worlds most trusted mediators in recent years. It has hosted negotiations between the US and Taliban, brokered ceasefire talks in Gaza, and positioned itself as a diplomatic bridge between Western powers and its adversaries. Doha has strong relationships with both Moscow and Washington, and it has a preference for discreet diplomacy. This makes it an attractive location for both Putin and Trump. Earlier this year, during his trip to the Middle East, the US president marvelled at the wealth of his Arab hosts, admiring the marble in the Qatari palace as perfecto and very hard to buy. His admiration for the country and its leaders could mean Trump suggests it as the meeting place. Russia is also deepening its ties with countries in the Middle East, and if Putin were to suggest Qatar, it would signify a move away from traditional Western capitals and towards more flexible, non-aligned powers. open image in gallery US special envoy Steve Witkoff held talks with Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin on Wednesday ( Sputnik ) Geneva, Switzerland - the traditional choice Geneva has long existed as a staple for global summits. It was the site of the most recent USRussia presidential meeting, when Joe Biden met Vladimir Putin there in 2021. Switzerland, famous for its neutrality, has also hosted numerous historic encounters, from Cold War arms talks to Iran nuclear negotiations. Due to its experience in high-stakes diplomacy, Switzerland is a practical choice. However, for Moscow, Geneva may now feel too Western-aligned particularly after Switzerland adopted EU sanctions over the Ukraine war. Nevertheless, Geneva remains a strong meeting ground for traditional diplomacy. Belgrade, Serbia - Moscow friendly location Serbia is seen by many as a geopolitical in-between it has maintained warm relations with Moscow while also seeking closer ties with the West. It has also refused to join Western sanctions against Russia, and has hosted various informal meetings between Russia and Western officials since the beginning of the war. For Putin, Belgrade is a welcoming environment that is not too overtly pro-Russian. Similarly, for Trump, it may suggest neutrality, which could avoid the backlash he faced after his 2018 summit with the Russian president in Helsinki. Abu Dhabi or Dubai, UAE - Quick and convenient Putin met with the president of the United Arab Emirates on Thursday, which reports have previously suggested as a possible venue. The UAE has quietly become a key broker for diplomacy, particularly between Russia and Ukraine, hosting negotiations over prisoner exchanges. For Trump, a summit in Abu Dhabi or Dubai would provide the grandeur he often opts for, whilst also avoiding the bureaucracy of more traditional Western venues. The UAE also has a strong working relationship with Putin, and has resisted Western sanctions against Russia. Where did Putin and Trump last meet? open image in gallery Putin and Trump in Helsinki, Finland in 2018 ( AFP/Getty ) The last meeting between the two presidents took place in Helsinki, Finland, in July 2018, during Trumps first term as president. Following the meeting, Trump publicly contradicted US intelligence agencies and appeared to take Putins word over their findings regarding Russian election interference. The remarks caused bipartisan outrage in Washington, with many accusing Trump of having sided with the enemy. At the time, Finland was known for its military neutrality, however, it has since joined Nato and taken a firm stance against Moscow. This means it is almost certainly ruled out as the grounds for their meeting next week. Historic meetings that have shaped world affairs Reagan and Gorbachev - Reykjavik, 1986 open image in gallery U.S. President Ronald Reagan, right, shakes hands with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev after the two leaders signed the Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces Treaty ( Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. ) The Reykjavik summit between US president Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev was one of the most important moments during the Cold War. Although the talks collapsed at the last moment over Reagans refusal to abandon the Strategic Defense Initiative, the two sides came closer than ever to agreeing on sweeping nuclear disarmament. The meeting helped pave the way for the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, signed the following year. It is often referred to as a turning point in Cold War diplomacy. Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin - Yalta, 1945 open image in gallery The 'Big Three': Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin at the Yalta Conference, February 1945 ( Getty ) The Yalta Conference brought together the Big Three Allied leaders: US president Franklin D. Roosevelt, British prime minister Winston Churchill and Soviet premier Joseph Stalin. Held in February 1945, with Nazi Germany on the brink of defeat, the leaders met to decide the shape of the postwar world. They agreed on the division of Germany into occupation zones, the formation of the United Nations, and the political future of Eastern Europe. However, the legacy of the meeting is mixed. Although it ended the war as a unified front, many historians argue it also led to the inception of the Cold War by legitimising Soviet control over Eastern Europe. Trump and Kim Jong-un - Singapore and Hanoi, 2018-19 open image in gallery North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un and Trump met on the south side of the Military Demarcation Line that divides North and South Korea in 2019 ( AFP via Getty Images ) Trump became the first sitting US president to meet a North Korean leader when he sat down with Kim Jong-un in Singapore in June 2018. The summit was choreographed as a historic breakthrough, complete with gestures such as handshakes, flags and sweeping promises of denuclearisation. A follow-up meeting in Hanoi in February 2019 ended abruptly without agreement, after talks broke down over US demands for full denuclearisation and North Koreas call for sanctions relief. The meetings produced few results, but they were framed as bold and unprecedented diplomacy. However, they also drew criticism for giving legitimacy to a repressive regime without securing substantive concessions. On The Ground newsletter: Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents Get a weekly international news dispatch Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice This article first appeared on our partner site, Independent Arabia Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert, who initially backed the war in Gaza as an inevitable response to the October 7 attacks, describes plans to take over the whole strip as a historic disaster. In an exclusive interview with Independent Arabia, Olmert, who served as Israels prime minister from 2006 to 2009, states that the war which is entering its second year has achieved all of its objectives and its continuation runs counter to Israels interests and serves only the personal interests of the countrys current leader Benjamin Netanyahu. According to Olmert, Netanyahu is determined to keep the war going, and to further escalate it, in order to avoid the political fallout that an end to the war would bring. The former premier believes this would likely include the formation of a commission of inquiry into security failures surrounding the October 7 attack, and see the collapse of Netanyahus government, which is propped up by what Olmert calls the messianic faction led by Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich. The far-right ministers were both recently banned from entering the UK for repeated incitements of violence against Palestinian communities. Olmert claims this political bloc is singularly focused on waging war and destruction on Gaza and the West Bank, aiming to reoccupy the Gaza Strip, expel its Palestinian residents, and hand it over to Israeli settlers. The majority of Israelis reject this agenda, Olmert insists, We are doing everything we can to stop these plans, because they would lead to a historic disaster. An unjustified war According to Olmert, the war that began in 2023 was initially launched as a response to Hamass brutal attack on civilians, in which 1,200 people were killed in their homes and bedrooms. At the time, he says, Israel enjoyed overwhelming support and broad international backing. open image in gallery Palestinians carry a man injured while rushing to collect humanitarian aid in the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday 7 August ( AP/Jehad Alshrafi ) However, Olmert later became opposed to the continuation of the war, arguing that Israel had already achieved everything that could reasonably be achieved, including killing key Hamas leaders such as Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif, and Ismail Haniyeh, along with the majority of the groups senior and mid-level commanders, as well as the destruction of most of its rockets and command infrastructure. Whats happening now is no longer necessary, he says, noting the large numbers of both Israeli military casualties and the estimated death toll of over 60,000 Palestinians. What is needed now is to end the violence and bring the hostages home and the only way to do that is by ending the war, not expanding it especially as international opposition continues to grow. Olmert adds that most former Israeli military and security officials have called for an immediate halt to the war, as there are no further military objectives left to achieve. Continuing this war in the face of mounting civilian deaths on both sides is a crime that cannot be ignored. He believes the war should have ended in March, criticising Netanyahu for withdrawing from a ceasefire deal at that time rather than pursuing negotiations for the release of the remaining Israeli hostages. At that point, Olmert says, the war became illegitimate. Both Hamas and Netanyahu to blame When asked who bears responsibility for the failure of current ceasefire negotiations, Olmert declined to give a direct answer. Dont expect me to side with Hamas, he says. It is a brutal and murderous organisation. But Netanyahu is a deceitful prime minister so both are guilty, each in their own way. open image in gallery A demonstrator dressed up as Benjamin Netanyahu during a protest demanding the immediate release of hostages in Tel Aviv on Thursday ( Reuters/Ammar Awad ) Olmert explained that reaching an agreement is actually quite simple it all depends on how you choose to see things. Israel wants to retrieve the hostages and continue the war, which Hamas refuses so from the Israeli perspective, Hamas is obstructing the talks. On the other hand, he adds, Hamas appears willing to release the hostages and end the war, something Israel now rejects, which is why, from Hamass view, it is Israel that is responsible for the failure. As for what would happen after the war finishes, Olmert says Israel has no clear vision with the exception of Ben Gvir and Smotrich, who clearly advocate reoccupation, expulsion of Palestinians, and expanding settlements in Gaza. Olmert insists that the Palestinian Authority remains the only possible partner for a peace agreement, despite its weaknesses and the need for internal reform. Netanyahu has rejected the PA [Palestinian Authority] for 15 years. He prefers to empower Hamas rather than negotiate with the legitimate Palestinian leadership. Thats one of the main reasons we are stuck in this ongoing tragedy the other being Hamas itself, with its murderous ideology. While Olmert acknowledges that the Israeli military has committed war crimes in Gaza, he describes them as unintentional failures of discipline or judgment, not official policy. Still, they are grave and perhaps unforgivable. He accuses Hamas of pursuing a strategy designed to kill as many civilians as possible, driven by hatred and intolerance, but warned that the continued military campaign could deepen Israels international isolation. A widespread boycott is coming, he says, and it could spread across the world. The only way to stop it is to change course and end the war. The decision lies with the White House Olmert believes that US President Donald Trump is the only person capable of pressuring Netanyahu to end the war, suggesting that all it would take is for Trump to summon him to his favourite place the White House and tell him in front of the cameras: You need to stop the war now. Citing a recent example, the former premier pointed to an incident on the first day of a ceasefire between Iran and Israel when Israeli fighter jets reportedly en route to strike Iranian targets turned back after Trump issued a direct order to stand down. Olmert describes Trump as Netanyahus only true friend, adding that while former President Joe Biden was a staunch Zionist and a great friend of Israel, he may not have been a friend to Netanyahu personally. open image in gallery Olmert claims US President Trump is the only person capable of pressuring Netanyahu to end the war ( AP ) Currently, Olmert is working with former Fatah official Nasser Al-Qudwa on an initiative promoting the two-state solution as the only viable path to resolving the Israeli-Arab conflict. Fatah is the political party in charge of the Palestinian Authority, and partially governs Palestinian communities in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. According to Olmert, this project is based on a peace proposal he presented to Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas in 2009, an offer he describes as a comprehensive and final agreement unlike any previously proposed by an Israeli leader. He recalls warning Abbas at the time: Dont miss this opportunity it wont come again for another 20 years. Olmert noted that Abbas never gave a clear answer, He didnt say no, but he also didnt say yes. According to Olmert, Abbas failed to sign an agreement that could have changed the history of the Middle East and the lives of millions a failure that is unforgivable. Olmert explained that he presented a detailed and comprehensive map outlining everything, proposing the establishment of a Palestinian state over more than 95 per cent of the territories based on the 1967 borders, with land swaps agreed upon with Israel. His initiative envisioned the Arab part of Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine, while the Old City, home to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and the Western Wall, would be placed under the joint administration of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Palestine, Israel, and the United States. At the time, Olmert refused to hand the map directly to Abbas for review, instead asking him to bring a team of experts the following day to study it. Olmert explained his caution by saying, I didnt want him to take the map and disappear for years, then claim this was the offer made by the Israeli prime minister and start negotiations from there. Earlier this year, Mahmoud Abbas denied missing the opportunity to sign a peace map presented by Olmert, stating that he never received any peace map from him during the talks, which lasted until the last day of his premiership. According to an official statement published by the Palestinian News Agency, Abbas stated that the talks with Olmert were serious and covered all final issues, but Olmert was not allowed to remain in office long enough to follow up on what was discussed, and during these talks, we never received any map or document to respond to. Reviewed by Tooba Khokhar On The Ground newsletter: Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents Get a weekly international news dispatch Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Germany has announced a halt to all military equipment exports that could be used in Gaza, a significant move from a nation historically supportive of Israel. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz stated the ban would remain "until further notice," following the Israeli Cabinet's recent announcement of plans to take over Gaza City. In a statement, Merz emphasized that Israel has the right to defend itself against Hamas terror and said that the release of Israeli hostages and purposeful negotiations toward a cease-fire in the 22-month conflict are our top priority. He said Hamas must not have a role in the future of Gaza. The even harsher military action by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip, approved by the Israeli Cabinet last night, makes it increasingly difficult for the German government to see how these goals will be achieved, he added. Under these circumstances, the German government will not authorize any exports of military equipment that could be used in the Gaza Strip until further notice. open image in gallery Chancellor Friedrich Merz ( Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved ) The German government remains deeply concerned about the suffering of civilians in Gaza, he said, adding: With the planned offensive, the Israeli government bears even greater responsibility than before for providing for their needs. He called on Israel to allow comprehensive access for aid deliveries including for U.N. organizations and other NGOs and said Israel must continue to comprehensively and sustainably address the humanitarian situation in Gaza. Germany also called on Israels government not to take any further steps toward annexing the West Bank. On The Ground newsletter: Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents Get a weekly international news dispatch Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice When is an occupation not an occupation? When Benjamin Netanyahu orders it. Netanyahu has agreed with his cabinet to send the Israel Defence Force into a full-scale operation against Hamas in Gaza City that he wants to lead to taking over the whole enclave but not actually occupying it. What happens next is an obvious question and it will be a long wait for the answer Israel doesnt even admit its an occupation force on the West Bank, which it captured in 1967. The immediate Israeli objection to a new campaign in Gaza is that it will risk the lives of the hostages that remain held there. open image in gallery Palestinians rush to collect humanitarian aid airdropped by parachutes into Gaza City ( AP ) While Israels prime minister met with his cabinet in Jerusalem, protestors outside condemned his plans to send the Israel Defence Force to take over the whole enclave. They demanded an end to two years of war. They want a deal with Hamas that will see the hostages released. Ilana Gritzewsky, who was held hostage and later released, accused the government of turning its back on the captives. They decided to sacrifice Matan, my friends, all the hostages. They lied to us. In Nir Oz, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised to bring everyone home. Now hes pushing for full occupation, knowing it will lead to their deaths, Israeli media Ynet reported. Im proof hostages come back through deals. Theres no other way, she told Ynet. open image in gallery Relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip at a demonstration in Tel Aviv ( AP ) More than 80 per cent of Gaza has been destroyed, its population is starving, and its former rulers, Hamas, reduced to a subterranean rump of extremists holding about 20 living hostages. One day Netanyahu has said he hopes that role will fall to an unknown Arab administration . His cabinet has ruled out handing it over to the Palestinian Authority, which runs most of the Palestinian cities on the Israeli occupied West Bank. In the meantime, Netanyahu believes he can keep the region boiling and maintain his awkward governing coalition with Israels very extreme right-wing parties, and by staying in power stay out of court, where hes on trial on corruption allegations, and perhaps out of the clink. He has been staring at a rising tide of condemnation from around the world for Israels conduct in Gaza. The Jewish State now risks losing its association agreement with the European Union - and the trade access that gives to a massive market - in a drive to isolate Israel led by the Netherlands. open image in gallery A Palestinian man walks near the rubble of houses destroyed during an Israeli raid ( Reuters ) Hamas has few friends, if any, left. Egypt, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, who have maintained communications with the extremist movement, signed a UN declaration demanding that Hamas disarm and relinquish power in Gaza. The 22-member Arab League, the entire European Union and another 17 countries backed the declaration. Israel might have paused at this moment. Considered whether it was wise, or ethical, to continue to kill Gazans in a campaign that to most of the outside world looks like a deliberate annihilation of the ability of the Palestinian population in Gaza to survive. Israels army chief of staff, Eyal Zamir, has openly opposed Netanyahus plans for Gaza. Before the Jerusalem cabinet meeting he repeated his opposition stating: "We'll continue to express our position without fear, in a matter-of-fact, independent and professional manner. open image in gallery Eyal Zamir (2nd from right) has openly opposed Netanyahus plans for Gaza ( GPO ) "We're not dealing in theory, but with matters concerning life and death and protecting the state, and we do so while looking our soldiers and the citizens of Israel in the eye," he added. "We'll continue to act responsibly, with integrity and determination, guided solely by the best interests and security of the state," he told a general staff briefing. But Israels PM is also already an indicted war criminal with an arrest warrant hanging over his head. The UN has accused his country of genocide in Gaza. Even Donald Trump has backed away from his fantasy of exiling Gazas population and turning its beaches into resorts. He has clearly concluded he needs to stay on in office, keep his nation at war, and the blood flowing hard or stability and peace will be his cold reckoning. Netanyahu has long forgotten that its not all about him. On The Ground newsletter: Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents Get a weekly dispatch from our international correspondents Get a weekly international news dispatch Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel intends to take full military control of the Gaza Strip before handing over governing responsibilities to Arab forces. The Israeli prime minister spoke to Fox News Bill Hemmer ahead of a key security cabinet meeting to decide whether to order a full military occupation of the wartorn strip a move that UN officials have said would have catastrophic consequences. When asked if Israel would take control of the entire 26-mile strip, Mr Netanyahu said on Wednesday: We intend to. We don't want to keep it. We want to have a security perimeter, he continued. We don't want to govern it. We don't want to be there as a governing body. He said that Israel instead wanted to hand over the territory to Arab forces that would govern it, although it remains unclear who would take on the role. open image in gallery Protests have sprung up around Israel as Netanyahu meets with the security cabinet ( AP ) Hamas has said that Mr Netanyahus statements confirm that he seeks to get rid of his prisoners and sacrifice them to serve his personal interests and extremist ideological agendas. They added: We affirm that Gaza will remain resistant to the occupation and attempts to impose guardianship over it. Expanding the aggression against our Palestinian people will not be a walk in the park, and the price will be heavy and costly for the occupation... Meanwhile, a Jordanian official told Reuters that Arabs would only support what Palestinians agree and decide on, affirming that security in Gaza must be done through legitimate Palestinian institutions. The security cabinet session follows a meeting this week with the head of the military, which Israeli officials have described as tense as Israel's military chief of staff, Lt Gen Eyal Zamir, pushed back on expanding the campaign. open image in gallery Eyal Zamir, second right, seen here in 2012, warns military expansion will endanger the remaining hostages ( GPO ) Israeli media has said Mr Netanyahu sees this as the only way to destroy Hamas and free the remaining hostages following a breakdown of ceasefire talks. But Lt Gen Zamir and some other ministers have warned this move could be disastrous for the hostages and the population within Gaza. Opinion polls show that most Israelis want the war to end in a deal that would see the release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas. It is believed that of the 50 remaining hostages inside Gaza, around 20 are still alive. Families of the hostages and released hostages, alongside hundreds of supporters, gathered to protest outside the Israeli cabinet session in Jerusalem on Wednesday evening. The families chained themselves in front of government offices. Anat Angrest, mother of the still-captive Matan Angrest, said: For a year and 10 months weve been trying to believe that everything is being done to bring them back you have failed. Now its necessary to do the one thing the government hasnt yet done put a comprehensive deal on the table that will bring them all home together. open image in gallery The families of hostages and released hostages chain themselves in front of government offices as Netanyahu met with the cabinet ( The Hostages Families Forum Headquarters ) Exactly a year ago, we were told that military pressure would bring them home a few weeks after that, six hostages were murdered in tunnels. Meanwhile, Omar Awadallah, the Palestinian deputy foreign minister, told The Independent he believes that Mr Netanyahus statements were intended to tank any ceasefire deal and that true security for Israelis and Palestinians can only come through peace not more conflict. Netanyahu saying this is an attempt to undermine any effort for a real ceasefire in the Gaza Strip he is using this smoke screen of controlling all of Gaza while Israel is already the occupying power, he said. We believe that security comes with peace, not with not reoccupying Gaza or committing genocide against the Palestinian people or violating international law. Security comes with peace, with stability, with what the international community is willing to do to achieve that. He said that while Palestinians welcomed additional pressure on Israel from countries like the UK and France, who have pledged to recognise the state of Palestine under certain conditions. To the international community, are we going to accept apartheid colonialism in the 21 century? he said. This is our problem with the international community and some international players you should take action. Words are not not enough. open image in gallery More Palestinians were shot dead while trying to secure food yesterday ( AP ) As Mr Netanyahu discussed the next steps of Israels military expansion, at least 42 Palestinians were killed in airstrikes and shootings across southern Gaza, according to local hospitals on Thursday. At least 13 were seeking aid in an Israeli military zone in southern Gaza where UN aid convoys are regularly overwhelmed by looters and desperate crowds. Another two were killed on roads leading to nearby sites run by the controversial US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), according to Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies. Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) released a report on Thursday in which it called for an end to the dismantling of the controversial aid organisations scheme, as well as the restoration of the UN-coordinated aid delivery mechanism. Raquel Ayora, general director for MSF Spain, said: In MSFs nearly 54 years of operations, rarely have we seen such levels of systematic violence against unarmed civilians. The GHF distribution sites masquerading as aid have morphed into a laboratory of cruelty. This must stop now. Sign up to Simon Calders free travel email for expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calders Travel email Get Simon Calders Travel email Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Amtrak's new 160mph tilting trains serving stations on the Northeast Corridor will enter service on August 28, it has been announced. The next-generation Acela trains will run from Washington DC's Union Station to Boston via Philadelphia, New York Penn Station, New Haven, and Providence, a total distance of 457 miles. The current end-to-end journey time with the tilting Acela trains introduced in 2000 is typically six hours and 40 minutes. How much time the new trains shave off that hasn't been revealed yet, but they do have a top service speed that's 10mph faster though this can only be achieved on certain sections of the mostly 110mph route and an enhanced "anticipative" tilting system that not only allows for a smoother ride, Amtrak claims, but for faster speeds through curves. open image in gallery Amtrak's next-gen Acela trains will enter service on the Northeast Corridor on August 28 ( Amtrak ) open image in gallery Pictured here is a first-class next-gen Acela car ( Amtrak ) Amtrak also points out that the new Acela offers 27 percent more seating capacity per departure and upgraded interiors in business and first-class cars with more legroom. There is no economy class. Features include onboard cafe cars, high-speed 5G-enabled Wi-Fi, in-seat USB ports and plug sockets, individual reading lights, winged headrests that Amtrak says "provide more comfort and separation," and seat covers made out of recycled leather. In first class, there are solo seats and an improved at-seat meal service featuring dishes by the current Acela meal provider James Beard award-winning restaurateur Stephen Starr. New to Cafe Acela, meanwhile, is the addition of a grab-and-go self-service for "quick and easy checkout." A cart service will also travel the aisles on select departures. open image in gallery Above is the next-gen Acela business-class car. Amtrak points out that the new Acelas offer 27 percent more seating capacity per departure ( Amtrak ) open image in gallery Features on the new Acela trains include onboard cafe cars (above), Wi-Fi, in-seat USB ports and plug sockets, winged headrests and seat covers made out of recycled leather ( Amtrak ) To book, passengers can use an interactive reservation system using the Amtrak app. Five new trainsets will be in service initially, with the number rising to 28 through 2027. Though the trains are designed by French firm Alstom, which makes France's famed 200mph TGVs, Amtrak revealed that the NextGen Acela fleet was assembled at Alstom's facility in Hornell, New York, using components from over 180 suppliers across 29 states, creating approximately 15,000 jobs. "NextGen Acela is more than a new train it's an evolution of travel," said Amtrak President Roger Harris. "In just a few weeks, history will be made with the debut of NextGen Acela as we launch a new standard for American train travel." Canada is having a moment this summer with bookings by European holidaymakers reportedly surging by 32 per cent and almost all of this increase comes at the expense of the United States. Travellers are avoiding the US because of its newly hostile environment, a steady stream of visitors reporting arbitrary, despotic US border officials, and even, this past week, a possible requirement for visitors to the US to pay a deposit to enter its borders. Canadians call their countrys soaring popularity the Trump Bump. Canada is often seen as an idealistic antidote to this American era: a safe, welcoming destination with spectacular scenery, no xenophobia, no guns, universal friendliness and politeness, a sensible government, and no thorny visa or ESTA requirements. All of this is true, as my partner and I, as well as others, discovered last month apart from the visa bit. Because what most people dont know and flight booking sites and airlines mostly hide is that Canada has a rigid Electronic Travel Authorisation (eTA) regime. And that if you dont have an eTA, which is a visa in all but name, your airline will turn you away at the airport, no exceptions. The Canadian eTA has existed since 2016, but wasnt enforced strongly at the start. The eTA is often issued online in a couple of minutes, much like the Australian version, which became the first in 1996. The Canadian immigration department says eTAs can take up to 72 hours to be issued. But for no given reason and with no way of speeding up your application, it can, in reality, take several days. Facts we werent aware of when, in May, we booked a well-priced flight on Expedia to Calgary, flying Delta Air Lines via Minneapolis. It was only when we checked in the maximum 24 hours before the flight, that Delta warned us we needed to get the 4 eTA. We applied. My partner received hers within two minutes. Mine still hadnt come the next morning when we left for Heathrow. But having flown into Canada in 2018 without an eTA and driven in just last year without one, I assumed it was not mission-critical. However, Delta refused to let me board. They can be fined 9,000 for every passenger they carry not correctly documented to their destination, they explained I didnt even have the option to leave the flight at Minneapolis (I have a US visa) and make my own way for the final leg. We went home despondent and with no option but to buy two new tickets. The cheap ones we had were non-transferable. My eTA arrived after 35 hours from the Canadian immigration department, with no reason given for the delay. open image in gallery The eTA is often issued online in a couple of minutes but it can take several days ( Getty ) I spoke with Expedia, who said visas and eTAs are not their responsibility, and that their small print warns that travellers to check for visa requirements themselves. It does indeed, if you can find it in the small print but Expedia link you to a visa shop that charges 180 per person for the eTA triple the rate of even other opportunistic commercial visa sites and 46 times the 3.93 charged by the official Canadian government eTA site. Since we fell foul of the eTA trap, we have, without trying hard, found two families merely from our small group of friends affected by it. The ex-Times journalist Michael Crozier, from north London, got caught out having also not been warned by his airline. He and his wife applied for the eTA at Spokane International Airport in the US. They were flying to Vancouver. Hers came in 20 minutes, but his took five hours so they missed the flight. We booked the flight three months in advance, and it really wouldnt have been hard for the airline to warn people clearly that some will need this visa, Crozier told me. We had no idea about it. The onus should be on the airlines and booking sites. What reason could they have for not flagging it up? Simon Hewitt, from Hampton, almost lost his family holiday because he knew nothing about the eTA requirement. The Hewitts were booked to fly to Calgary earlier this week. He bought the tickets weeks ahead, but got no warning, again, from Expedia or from the airline, that an eTA was needed. Simon is the marketing manager for a large German company, well-travelled, and famously ultra-organised. open image in gallery For all travellers in the coming year, the eTA issue is going to expand far beyond Canada ( Getty ) After our disaster, I had warned him to apply. The family still had two weeks to get the documentation. His wifes and teenage kids eTAs came within minutes, but his took 10 days. As the days went by, Hewitt tried to contact the Canadian immigration department. It was like a labyrinth, he says. When I asked Expedia, Air Canada and British Airways why they dont simply flag up clearly that your flight to Canada cannot go ahead if you dont have an eTA, all predictably and wordily took the its in the small print approach. Expedia who defended recommending a company that charges 180 per person to obtain the visa on your behalf as an optional, additional service showed that deep within its terms and conditions, they do link to the official Canadian government application site. I asked the government body, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, if they were having difficulties due to the influx of applications for eTAs this year. Most applicants get their eTA approval (via email) within minutes, they replied. However, some applications need more time to be processed. For example, some applicants must submit official documents that take several days to obtain from the appropriate authorities in their country. To avoid travel delays, applicants should get their eTA before booking their flight to Canada. I asked an experienced Canadian immigration barrister, Will Tao of Heron Law Offices near Vancouver, if he was hearing stories of chaos from within the immigration service. open image in gallery Canada is seeing an unprecedented bump in tourist numbers following Trumps recent actions ( Getty/iStock ) The system has always been mostly automated, Tao says, I think they must have expanded the number of rules and flags, to triage more humans in the interventions and take into account their power of cancellation, which was expanded in January. But only the department can possibly confirm this. They used to advertise eTAs as taking no more than 7 minutes. Go figure! the lawyer adds. The strangest thing about the Canadian eTA, meanwhile, is that while it is supposedly to maintain their borders, it doesnt apply to land and sea entries to the country. The rationale, Tao says, is in the original proposal for the eTA, which says, It is not anticipated that travellers will switch their mode of transport to avoid the $7 fee. Right. Regardless, a lesson. And one to remember: for all travellers in the coming year, the eTA issue is going to expand far beyond Canada. Australia and New Zealand have an eTA, but their systems are easy, efficient and quick. A new eTA system in Britain is up and running, but by all accounts, is running smoothly. From next year, British travellers will require an eTA to go into the EU. Canada has a relatively efficient bureaucracy. With the likes of many EU countries, the same cant be said. Sign up to Simon Calders free travel email for expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calders Travel email Get Simon Calders Travel email Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Travellers to six Portuguese airports have been warned to expect delays until September amid ongoing ground handler strikes. Scheduled strikes by SPdH and Menzies staff could cause travel chaos for up to 60 UK flights per week bound for Portugal's busiest airports. Since 25 July, staff in aircraft servicing, baggage handling and on check-in desks have participated in walkouts over low wages, unpaid night shifts and inadequate parking following a takeover by Menzies Aviation. Airports in holiday hotspots Lisbon, Faro and Porto may experience delays and cancellations, as well as aviation hubs in Madeira, Porto Santo and the Azores. Air passengers will face disruption from Friday to Monday every weekend in August through to 1 September. The UK Foreign Office (FCDO) has warned travellers of the delays during peak season travel to Portugal. FCDO advice reads: Industrial action by baggage handlers at Portuguese airports from Friday to Monday during the months of July and August may cause delays. If you are travelling over this period, check for announcements and follow the advice of your airline or tour operator. Passengers flying to Portugal may be affected by airport strikes on the following dates: 8-11 August 15-18 August 22-25 August 29 August - 1 September The Independent has contacted Menzies Aviation for comment. Strikes at 12 airports in Spain are similarly disrupting travel plans this summer. More than 3,000 workers at Azul Handling, part of the Ryanair group, are set to walk out following a decision by the General Union of Workers (UGT). Airports in Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Malaga, Alicante, Ibiza, Palma de Mallorca, Girona, Tenerife South, Lanzarote and Santiago de Compostela are due to be affected by action on 15, 16 and 17 August. Strikes will then continue every Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday until 31 December 2025. For more travel news and advice, listen to Simon Calders podcast Sign up to Simon Calders free travel email for expert advice and money-saving discounts Get Simon Calders Travel email Get Simon Calders Travel email Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice A sumptuous hotel with an incredible pool in lower Manhattan that seamlessly blends class, elegance and exquisite service this is New York at its finest Like many who have previously lived in New York, I have a somewhat complicated relationship with the city. My heart will never not skip a beat as that first view of the Manhattan skyline comes into view through the taxi window. But returning as a tourist elicits a slight ache for the NYC of the past, of the city I once called home when Bushwick was still edgy, when bad meals felt impossible and when Meatpacking wasnt flooded with tech bros. By the final night of my recent three-night trip to New York, I felt tired and underwhelmed. The Greenwich Hotel changed this. At this hotel, I found the New York of my rose-tinted memories. Admittedly, its far from cheap. But if you are going to splurge on an NYC hotel, do it here. Annabel Grossman Location Despite the name, this hotel isnt actually in Greenwich but in Tribeca. It sits on Greenwich Avenue, which runs a good length of lower Manhattan from Meatpacking to Battery Park. This smart section of the city contains plenty of upscale restaurants and bars, as well as shops and art galleries. Its also just a short walk from the affluent West Village and a short Subway ride from the main tourist attractions. The hotel is easily reachable by taxi or public transport from all three New York airports. As downtown locations go, you cant do much better open image in gallery The Greenwich Hotel is located in Manhattan's Tribeca ( Brandon Lajoie ) The vibe Quiet luxury reigns supreme. The Greenwich Hotel is the best of the best and, quite frankly, doesnt need to shout about it. Youd hardly be surprised to learn that the hotel is part-owned by Robert DeNiro; theres an old-school New York feel to it. Were talking soft, well-worn leather chairs, wooden floors, heavy doors, couches that you sink into and thick rugs in rich materials. Theres a cosy drawing room bathed in soft mood lighting and a courtyard with greenery weaving its way up the walls. It's effortlessly elegant. Service As close to flawless as Ive experienced. Service is slick and sharp, while also feeling friendly and genuine from the concierge greeting guests at the door to the restaurant staff who smiled, nodded and gave a soft no problem to requests for dishes to be made vegetarian. Genuinely, nothing is too much trouble. Read more: Family-friendly places to stay in New York Bed and bath The 73 rooms and 11 suites (along with a Tribeca penthouse) are elegant, classy and wonderfully comfortable. All are individually decorated with unique features, and floor-to-ceiling windows look out onto the courtyard or the Manhattan street. Sleek and spacious tiled bathrooms feature walk-in showers and roll-top stand-alone or marble bath tubs. The minibar is filled with what are rumoured to be Robert DeNiros favourite snacks (a fun mix). I felt like Kevin McAllister let loose in Manhattan as I nibbled on Tates cookies, Swedish fish and Reeses pieces. And if you happen to run low, the refills are complimentary. open image in gallery The rooms and suites are individually decorated with wooden floors, plush furniture and floor to ceiling windows ( Greenwich Hotel ) Food and drink Locanda Verde is the restaurant and bar adjoining the Greenwich Hotel, offering Italian dishes such as duck sausage orecchiette, lamb pappardelle bolognese and My Grandmothers Ravioli in a light and airy taverna-style space. Its open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and also provides 24-hour room service to hotel guests. You might prefer to dine in the drawing room, which is filled with squishy sofas in gorgeous fabrics. The menu is small, but everything is beautifully prepared, and there is an excellent wine and cocktails list. Facilities The Greenwich Hotels underground Shibui spa is one of the best in the city, with a shiatsu room, a traditional bathing room with a large tub for Japanese bathing rituals, a wet room that includes a shower for wraps and scrubs, and a treatment room for massages and facials. The gorgeous swimming pool is fantastically housed inside a 250-year-old wood and bamboo farmhouse that has been reconstructed inside the hotel and is lit by lanterns to create a wonderfully relaxing space. There is also a well-equipped gym, which is a very decent size for a Manhattan hotel, with cardio machines and weights. open image in gallery The stunning swimming pool and spa is filled with soft, mood lighting ( Brandon Lajoie ) Read more: The best spa hotels in New York Accessibility The Greenwich Hotel has public spaces and adapted guest rooms, which are in full compliance with the American Disabilities Act. Pet policy Dogs are an important part of the culture at the Greenwich Hotel. At no additional charge, dogs of all sizes are welcomed with their own plus-size dog bed, homemade biscuits from Locanda Verdes pastry chef, bowls, bottled water and a new NYC-themed toy. Dogs are welcome in all public areas (except the spa), including the lobby, courtyard and drawing room. Check in/check out? Check in from 4pm; check out by 12 noon. Family-friendly? Families are welcome. Children can use the pool until 10am. Many of the rooms can be connected, and staff can put an extra bed in any of the rooms for smaller guests. open image in gallery The courtyard with greenery spilling down the exterior of the hotel is a wonderful space to relax ( Brandon Lajoie ) At a glance: Best thing: The refined yet relaxed atmosphere Perfect for: Revelling in old New York vibes Not right for: Posers or influencers discretion feels key here Instagram from: The drawing room or adjoining courtyard Address: 377 Greenwich Street, New York NY 10013 Phone: +12129418900 Website: thegreenwichhotel.com Read more: The best LGBT+ friendly hotels in New York City One collection in Buffalos oldest cultural institution is getting a trendy upgrade, with a throwback to vinyl. The Buffalo & Erie County Public Librarys Spin it Forward campaign officially launched this week in collaboration with Buffalo Toronto Public Medias The Bridge to expand the librarys vinyl collection for the first time since 1989. The library has found a need to increase its collection of more than 18,000 vinyl records, as more young people are interested in records. The campaign encourages the community to donate new and gently used records made after 1989. New York-based artist Mal Blum kicked off donations with his album The Villain after performing in the 9th Ward at Babeville on July 29. Im very literally jazzed about it, said Sean Piazza, the librarys marketing manager. As vinyl popularity has risen in recent years, especially for Gen Zers, the library has struggled to keep up with demand. Although records have always been accessible to check out to all branches through online requests of the librarys catalog, many dont know about the existing collection. In a secure tier of downtowns Central Library, one small room is filled with packed shelves and overflowing bins of vinyl records. The sounds of Madonna and the Beatles sit just feet away from local gems from the Goo Goo Dolls and the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as some defunct community artists such as the Buffalo Zither Club. Transparent record sleeves stuck to one another as Piazza and Special Collections Librarian Adam Rubin flipped through favorites they said hadnt been touched in years. Railroad sound effects and a Romeo and Juliet recording from a 1959 production in London stood out as anomalies. In another, even more secure tier, the rare records selection houses music dating to the late 1800s. The keenest eye may spot one of the countless Beethoven scores at the end of a two-block-long aisle on the Rare Book Collections floor. While the phonograph records arent available to check out, they remain an important aspect of the librarys commitment to historical documentation of all kinds. And although the library has largely succeeded at archiving sound, more recent history is lacking. Once CDs and cassettes began out-selling vinyl around the time A-Has Take On Me topped the charts in 1985, the librarys vinyl donations plummeted, too. The library is ultimately a service and were here to help with the public finding what they want any given day, but were also a fundamental archive to the community and to our history, Rubin said. Independent record stores are integral in this archival process. Thats why the library wants local shop owners to promote the campaign and encourage visitors to buy a record to donate. Chris Baran, owner of Soul Stop in Tonawanda, said that while he gladly accepts the campaigns promotion of his records, its equally about encouraging people of all ages to open their ears to new sounds. Barans store has a focus on used records and vintage artists of all genres, from American rap and rock to various Brazilian and African beats. I think it is changing, Baran said of the record scene in Buffalo, and the industry at large. Baran said that when he opened his shop two years ago, his largest customer base was older people, but now he often sees young customers come into the store with their parents to buy physical copies of music, not just transcending age but bridging generational gaps. Baran said his $2 section is a great option for those who want to pick up a record but may not want to splurge on really expensive new vinyl. Other record shops in the area include Revolver Records with locations on Hertel Avenue, Elmwood Avenue and Transit Road, and Out There Records on Delaware Avenue. There are many more in Buffalo and the surrounding neighborhoods. For those who may not want to give up their own vinyls or cant make it to a store, they can still support the campaign through donations and merchandise purchases. At its core, Piazza said, the campaign is about serving the community with the legacy of late library director John Spears as the enduring heart of it all. Our former director always said libraries should be active forces in the community, not passive forces, Piazza said. And so I think that this effort is one of those things, seeing a need and just chasing after it. Piazza and Rubin said they hope to expand the campaign, looking to those like the Brooklyn Public Library that launched its successful vinyl campaign in 2022 for inspiration. In addition to checking out albums from the library, those without their own record players at home can jam out at a listening station in the Grosvenor Room in the downtown library, which may soon be adorned with comfy chairs and colorful carpeting for the ultimate vinyl ambiance. Additional sound-centered initiatives are also in the works for the library, including oral history programming and potential collaborations with local artists. The best of Voices delivered to your inbox every week - from controversial columns to expert analysis Sign up for our free weekly Voices newsletter for expert opinion and columns Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice August 8 is a date etched in blood. On this day in 1988, Myanmars military turned its guns on thousands of peaceful protesters in what is now remembered as the 8888 uprising. Although it was by no means the first or last time that peaceful protests in Myanmar have been met by military force, August 8 1988 has become totemic. It gave rise to the National League for Democracy (NLD), catapulting Aung San Suu Kyi into its leadership. Almost 40 years later, Myanmar is ruled by yet another brutal and illegitimate military regime, which seized power in a coup on 1 February 2021, overthrowing Suu Kyis democratically elected government. As in 1988, the military responded to post-coup protests with extreme violence. Today, more than 22,000 political prisoners are behind bars, including Suu Kyi and elected President Win Myint. Suu Kyi, who already spent 15 years under house arrest over three periods of detention, is serving a 27-year sentence. This junta is even more brutal than its predecessors, committing systematic human rights violations that amount to mass atrocity crimes. In its unrelenting assaults on ethnic communities and pro-democracy resistance groups, the UNs High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, estimates that the military has killed over 6,800 civilians. At least four million people have been displaced by the conflict, with over 100,000 homes destroyed, alongside schools, hospitals and places of worship. The UN reports over 600 airstrikes against civilian populations in the four months since the 7.7-magnitude earthquake hit Myanmar on 31 March the total over the past four years is exponentially higher. Except for a decade of fragile, civilian-led democracy immediately after Myanmar gained independence in 1948, and five years of the same under Suu Kyi before the 2021 coup, the military has held direct power throughout the countrys 77-year independence. Every successive junta has killed civilians, whether through protest crackdowns or in wars against the countrys ethnic communities. The elections, which junta chief General Min Aung Hlaing plans to hold, must be categorically rejected as an illegitimate charade ( AP ) The current regime has gone further by reviving judicial executions. Military-controlled courts have sentenced at least 172 prisoners to death, including the 1988 student leader Ko Jimmy, who was executed in 2022 alongside NLD lawmaker Phyo Zeya Thaw. I had the privilege of meeting both men on several occasions, and their deaths still weigh heavily on my heart. So, as we remember 8888, let it not only be a commemoration of Myanmars past tragedies. Let it also be a call to action to address Myanmars current crisis. On the Thailand-Myanmar border last month, I met a group of Myanmar MPs who had been elected in 2020 but fled after the 2021 coup. One of them asked me, Why wont the international community help the people of Myanmar in the way they help Ukraine? That question should trouble the conscience of policymakers in every democracy around the world. At the very least, there should be a global arms embargo against the junta. Aviation fuel should be prohibited, and secondary sanctions placed on providers such as China and Russia, to impede the militarys capability to bomb civilians and kill children. Targeted sanctions against the regime should be tightened not lifted, as the United States has recently done, in a move rightly condemned by the UN Special Rapporteur on Myanmar. The elections, which junta chief General Min Aung Hlaing plans to hold, must be categorically rejected as an illegitimate charade, and the military regime brought to justice. It was never properly held to account for the 1988 massacres, and it should be made to answer for its litany of crimes, including the ongoing genocide of the Rohingya. As we work to cut off the regimes lifelines, the international community should provide one to the people of Myanmar. Over 45 million people in Myanmar four out of five live below or just above the poverty line. They need urgent assistance delivered to reach those in need without lining the pockets of the junta. It is right to remember history, because it is only by doing so that we learn lessons and find inspiration for the future. Like all dictatorships, Myanmars junta would prefer that we forget 8888, and so we must commemorate this anniversary. But we must do so not only by looking back, but by helping the people of Myanmar achieve the freedom which they have so long been denied and for which they have struggled for decades. Benedict Rogers is senior director of Fortify Rights and author of three books on Myanmar, including Burma: A Nation at the Crossroads The best of Voices delivered to your inbox every week - from controversial columns to expert analysis Sign up for our free weekly Voices newsletter for expert opinion and columns Sign up to our free weekly Voices newsletter Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Both the White House and the Kremlin have confirmed that a US-Russia summit will take place in the coming days, with reports suggesting a possible three-way meeting that would also include Ukraines Volodymyr Zelensky. The news follows three hours of talks on Wednesday between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trumps special envoy Steve Witkoff, on the latters fifth visit to Moscow. If either summit happens, it could mark the most progress towards ending the war since Donald Trump came to office having pledged, unsuccessfully, to end the conflict within 24 hours. But this trilateral encounter is another high-stakes gamble. Top-level diplomacy does not usually happen like this. The lead time for an old-fashioned US-Russia summit would commonly be months, with the Kremlin in particular favouring meticulous preparation. So what has changed? An obvious answer would be Trumps ultimatum to Putin to agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine by this Friday, or else that last remains unspecified, but is thought to refer to new economic sanctions, including on countries, such as India, that continue to buy Russian oil. There was also Trumps announcement that two nuclear submarines were to be repositioned, apparently in response to threats made, not for the first time, by former president Dmitry Medvedev, now deputy chair of Russias security council. However, there is no way any Kremlin leader, least of all Putin, could be seen to be yielding to outside pressure. His insouciance over Trumps deadline on Ukraine, and the Kremlins studied non-reaction to the nuclear deployments, spoke volumes. Above all, a summit on the old superpower model is no concession on Putins part, but something he has long sought. A question often asked, but rarely answered, is what cards Trump has to play concerning Russia and the war in Ukraine. The threat of further Western sanctions has proved ineffective in forcing any change. The US is no longer funding weapons for Ukraine it has passed that responsibility to the Europeans, to what effect remains to be seen. The war has slowly turned in Russias favour, leaving little incentive for it to halt hostilities now. But the US has at least two things to offer that Russia craves. The first is enshrined in a bilateral summit, which would signal a return to recognising Russia as an international power with interests of its own, and a demonstrative end to the isolation that the Biden administration and the Europeans tried to impose. The second is a willingness to address what Russia sees as wider issues affecting security. The two decades for which Putin has been in power have seen the steady dismantling of almost all the security architecture built during the Cold War. Russia wants some of this back, which is what it means when it talks about the need to resolve the issues underlying the Ukraine war not just end the war itself. Donald Trump has at least two things to offer that Vladimir Putin craves ( AFP/Getty ) While it can reasonably be argued that Russia brought this insecurity on itself with its all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russias view is that its security concerns go back to at least 2008, when Nato hedged about eventual membership for Ukraine, and then when Ukraine abandoned its neutral status in 2014. For Putin to agree to a summit with Trump, the agenda has to go beyond Ukraine and encompass wider issues of security. A bilateral summit along these lines could just be enough to make what would undoubtedly be a concession on Putins part a trilateral summit with Zelensky worth showing up for. Compared with the reasons that might lead Putin to participate in either summit, the rationale for Trump and Zelensky is far clearer. Despite his use of force against Iran, Trump sees himself as a peacemaker with a Nobel Prize in his sights. Reconnecting with Russia also serves US interests in potentially loosening Putins need for China. Zelensky, rightly, has always objected to talks about Ukraine being held without Ukraine. Having mended his fences with Trump after Februarys Oval Office ambush, he is also less wary of the presidents motives than he was. Looming over all, though, is the state of the war, which is not moving in Kyivs direction, coupled with the first real intimations of domestic discontent in recent anti-corruption protests. Nor would there appear to be any legal bar. A presidential decree that forbade any Ukrainian leader from talking to Putin has been disregarded since May, when Zelensky said he was prepared to meet the Russian president although those talks, planned for Istanbul, did not happen at that level. As for a venue, Trump might well favour the White House; Putin would doubtless prefer a neutral location, such as Geneva or somewhere in the Gulf. Zelensky will go anywhere to defend Ukraines interests. The prospect is so momentous that it seems almost to tempt fate to mention it. Could it be that after three and a half years, the war in Ukraine is nearing its end? The new 15pc tariffs on exports to the US from the Republic and wider EU has kicked in with little clarity over how and whether the gap with the 10pc UK tariff will amount to a tangible benefit for Northern Ireland companies. The Shelbourne hotel is set to have a major 50m renovation as part of a large investment by new owners Archer Hotel Capital. The renovation, beginning in October 2025, starts a year after the hotel marked its 200th anniversary in business in 2024, and comes relatively quickly after a 35m refurbishment under previous owner Kennedy Wilson that included a restoration of the building exterior. We think our old neighbour is grazing his cattle on our vacant family farm and were worried he could claim squatters rights. What can we do? From the Rovers Returns first-ever barmaid to former Boyzone star Keith Duffys role as lothario Ciaran McCarthy, our homegrown talent has been causing a stir since Corries inception Pauline McLynn is swapping making endless cups of tea as the iconic Mrs Doyle in Father Ted for pulling pints behind the bar in Coronation Street. McLynn is joining the cast of the soap as a character called Maggie, the interfering mother of the Rovers Returns new landlord Ben ODriscoll, played by Northern Irish actor Aaron McCusker. The two previously acted together in Channel 4s Shameless. This will be McLynns second foray into TVs soapy waters. From 2014 to 2015, she appeared in EastEnders as Yvonne Cotton, Dot Cottons former daughter-in-law. Pauline McLynn as Yvonne Cotton in TV soap 'EastEnders'. Photo: BBC All the UK soaps have had Irish actors in their cast Bryan Murray in Brookside, Patrick Bergin in EastEnders, McLynns Father Ted co-star Frank Kelly in Emmerdale but Coronation Street holds the record. DOREEN KEOGH Keogh, who was a familiar face on British TV throughout her long career, including as Mary Carroll in The Royle Family, occupies a special place in Corrie history: she played the Rovers Returns first-ever barmaid, Concepta Riley, from the soaps inception in 1960 through to 1964, and later returned for three guest appearances. JOE LYNCH The multi-talented Corkman, whose list of TV and film credits would stretch the length of the River Lee, rolled into Coronation Street in 1978 as taxi driver Ron Mather, who became local sex siren Elsie Tanners latest conquest. He lasted until Christmas Eve, 1979, when Elsie gave him the heave-ho for turning a blind eye to her (and his) bosss sexual harassment. CATHERINE CUSACK The London-born actress who was Cyril Cusacks fourth daughter and is a half-sister to Sinead, Sorcha and Niamh Cusack caused memorable mayhem on the cobbles in 1992-93 as Carmel Finnan, a disturbed student nurse and classmate of Gail Platts husband Martin. Carmel convinced herself Martin was secretly in love with her. She tried to split up the marriage by climbing into the drunken Martins bed when Gail was away, pretending theyd had sex and claiming she was carrying his child. Martin later had an affair with a different woman. SEAN HUGHES The late comedian had a month-long stint as Pat Stanaway, a chirpy charmer who won the heart of taxi company dispatcher Eileen Grimshaw, first with phone calls and then with flowers. A guilt-ridden Eileen embarked on an affair with him, knowing he was married, only to discover something much worse: Pat was, in fact, single and had multiple women on the go at the same time. Keith Duffy as Ciaran McCarthy in 'Coronation Street'. Photo: ITV KEITH DUFFY The former Boyzone stars role was supposed to last just three weeks. But his character, the charming Ciaran McCarthy, proved so popular with viewers that it turned into three years (2002-05). Duffy had a second year-long stint in 2010. On the soaps Richter scale of bad behaviour, the worst you could say of Ciaran is that he was a ladies man. Think Ken Barlow had lots of affairs? This guy has gone through more women than Manchesters tap water. SORCHA CUSACK Unlike her half-sister Catherine, this member of the acting dynasty didnt get a chance to make much impact as Helen Connor, matriarch of the Connor clan, largely because her appearances in 2008 were intermittent and the part was recast with Dearbhla Molloy the following year. FRANK GRIMES The late actor, whose most memorable TV role was as the snobbish, uncharitable Fr OConnor in RTEs epic Strumpet City, played Helen Connors husband, Barry. His big dramatic moment was admitting to his daughter Michelle that her mother had caught him having an affair. Simon Delaney on 'Coronation Street' in 2017. Photo: ITV SIMON DELANEY The Bachelors Walk stars spell was brief: just two episodes in 2017 as a jewellery salesman. Nonetheless, he managed to make a fool of himself in the Rovers by assuming the lovely Eva had fallen for him at first sight. You know, as you do. Barmy, chaotic comedy tackles the world of corporate philanthropy The Lunch Punch Power Hour in Conference Room 4 on the Peacock Stage, Abbey Theatre is clever and bamboozling but perhaps too unruly to fully take a deep dive into the serious themes it explores Vivacious: Fionn Foley, Emma Dargan-Reid and Caoimhe OMalley in The Lunch Punch Power Hour in Conference Room 4 on the Peacock Stage at the Abbey Theatre. Photo: Rich Davenport. Katy Hayes Fri 8 Aug 2025 at 13:28 The Irish business world is having a moment on the Dublin stage, with this absurdist frolic into corporate shenanigans following on from Sugarglasss production of Moliere at Smock Alley. Caitriona Dalys new play has a lot going for it, but it only really gets into its stride towards the end. Kilkenny Arts Festival: A raw and fascinating portrayal of an actor facing his stage-fright demons What Are You Afraid Of? starring Peter Hanly explains the talented actors disappearance from the stage more than a decade ago Peter Hanly in What Are You Afraid Of? by Rough Magic and Kilkenny Arts Festival. Photo: Dylan Vaughan Katy Hayes Fri 8 Aug 2025 at 06:30 Busy actors often disappear from the Irish stage; it transpires later they have been plying their trade in the West End or in other exotic locales. So when actor Peter Hanly disappeared over a decade ago, he might have been expected to turn up eventually, having cracked Hollywood or Berlin. And now he has turned up, but with a different kind of story. Drunk grabbed restaurant worker by neck and warned gardai if they arrested him, they would regret it Gerald Kenny also threw the staff member to the ground during incident Gerald Kenny has been spared a prison term Andrew Phelan Fri 8 Aug 2025 at 06:30 A drunken man who grabbed a restaurant worker by the neck, threw her to the ground and threatened investigating gardai has been spared jail. A post-mortem examination and toxicology report on the remains of an Irish woman who died in the Hamptons in New York, could take several months, her family have been told. All primary schools in the country are eligible for hot school meals Opposition parties have described delays to the introduction of the hot school meals programme in hundreds of schools this September as a disgrace and utterly unacceptable. Ireland intends to continue to advance with its legislation to ban the import of goods from illegal Israeli settlements. This comes after more than a dozen members of the US congress asked that Ireland be added to a list of countries boycotting Israel if the bill is passed. The different kinds of jellyfish in Irish waters when to look out for them and how to treat stings Our expert takes a look at some cooler-climate regions for vibrant seasonal choices I found myself in a supermarket recently in south-western France facing a sea of red wines: mostly autumnal Bordeaux, Corbieres, Cahors and Cotes du Rhone. I was seeking something fresher for the warm weekend ahead, and struck upon a well-priced Chinon, which is an appellation in the Loire Valley region of Touraine that specialises in fragrant red wines from the Cabernet Franc grape. Chilled lightly, it hit the spot for balmy evening drinking, its cooler temperature emphasising the acidity that made it so pleasantly refreshing. The Loire is great hunting ground for the vibrant red wines that suit summer so well. Cabernet Franc in Chinon and neighbouring Bourgueil, Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil and Saumur-Champigny offer piquant red fruits seasoned by leafy, woody herbs and stony minerality thanks to the limestone-rich soils of this stretch of riverbank, where cellars are carved into the soft, chalky local limestone known as tuffeau. Besides todays wine of the week from Saumur-Champigny, OBriens has a fine expression from the Bollinger-owned Chateau Langlois (21.95). Other juicy Loire reds feature floral Gamay and elegant Pinot Noir, grapes that star further south east in Beaujolais and Burgundy respectively (more of which next week). One commonality of these three regions is their relatively cool climates. Lower temperatures naturally slow the ripening of the grapes sugars, which allows time to ripen the phenols that create complex aromas in the resulting wines. Cool climates also preserve the grapes natural acidity, allowing for lighter-bodied, lower alcohol wines with vibrant fruit and lively freshness. Beyond France, many cool-climate regions produce similarly fresh and fragrant wines. In the hilly stretch that hugs its north-western coast, Green Spain regions like Bierzo, Ribeira Sacra, Monterrei and Valdeorras stand out for their Pinot-like Mencia. Further inland, the heat soars, but the coolnees of high-altitude pockets like Sierra de Gredos outside Madrid allows for elegant, restrained expressions of bush-vine Garnacha that balances all that juicy fruit with fine freshness. Italys Alpine regions of Alto Adige and the Dolomites produce nervy reds with local Lagrein, Schiava and Teroldego, while the high acidity of Chiantis Sangiovese and Piedmonts Barbera make tangy options. Austrias answer to Pinot Noir, Blaufrankisch, turns up as Kekfrankos in Hungary and Frankovka in Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Croatia. New Zealands Pinot Noir are lighter than Burgundys, while Chiles Cinsault and Pais from cool-climate Itata Valley are great summer calls. Wines of the week Domaine Filliatreau Chateau Fouquet Saumur 2021 Domaine Filliatreau Chateau Fouquet Saumur 2021, Loire, France, 13.5pc, 25 Cool Cabernet Franc from one of Saumurs best regarded producers, this is pale and light in appearance, with fragrant aromas of forest floor, papery bark, hints of eucalyptus, rosemary and other woody herbs meeting wild strawberry, cherry and raspberry notes. Sour cranberry and rosehip dominate at first on the very fresh palate, but then pretty strawberry notes unfurl, making for refreshing, moreish, medium-to-light-bodied drinking with lots of freshness. Whelehans Wines, Loughlinstown; whelehanswines.ie La Garnacha Salvaje del Moncayo La Garnacha Salvaje del Moncayo, Spain, 13.5pc, 17.50-20 A wild mountain wine from Vintaes Projecto Garnacha series, which explores the potential of old bush vine Garnacha along the Ebro Valley in northeastern Spain. Expect energy, purity, herbal lift and generous red fruits that are sweet without being cloying. Independents including Pinto Wine, Whelehans Wines, boxofwine.ie A Pie De Tierra, Gre2 Garnacha A Pie De Tierra, Gre2 Garnacha, Sierra de Gredos, Spain, 13.5pc, 21-22 A natural red wine with notes of dried flowers, rosehip, orange zest, pomegranate and sour purple fruit, carefully crafted from old, dry-farmed Garnacha vines grown at 600 metres above sea level west of Madrid, in a mix of granite rock, granitic sand, schist and other soils. Fion Eile, Neighbourhood Wine, Green Man Wines, lecaveau.ie Domaine Serol Eclat de Granite 2023 Domaine Serol Eclat de Granite 2023, Cote Roannaise, France, 12.5pc, 28 If you love Beaujolais from the granitic soiled cru of Brouilly, this Gamay St Romain from the Loire Valley foothills of the Massif Central strikes a wonderful balance of ripe richness with lively tart freshness, with peppery raspberry, cherry and violet fragrance. Whelehans Wines and other independents, Mitchell & Son; mitchellandson.com Pour Ma Gueule Clos des Fous Pour Ma Gueule Clos des Fous, Itata Valley, Chile, 13.5pc, 20-21 A delicious blend of dry-farmed, old-vine Cinsault and Pais from renowned winemaker and soil specialist Pedro Parra, this is juicy and bright with smoky bacon notes for a fun barbecue pairing. Or Pedro Parra Vinista (26, blackrockcellar.com) is an ethereal expression of pure Pais. Pinto Wines, thenudewineco.ie A Meath couple have lost their most recent battle to stop their house from being demolished. Rose and Chris Murray built their home in Bohermeen, near Navan, Co Meath, in 2007 without planning permission. What followed was a near 20-year legal saga with Meath County Council, as the couple exhausted every avenue to keep their unauthorised home. Over the years, the council refused five retention applications for the house, which included a proposal by the couple to partially demolish some of it. Both the High Court and Supreme Court also ultimately ruled against the couple, ordering the entire house to be demolished. This week the family were dealt a major blow when they were refused retention by An Coimisiun Pleanala, while the Court of Appeal also dismissed the couple's legal challenge to the demolition order. But is this the end of the road for the Murrays and their dream home? And how does the public feel about knocking down homes in the middle of a housing crisis? On todays Indo Daily, Tessa Fleming is joined by Amy Molloy, Social Affairs Correspondent with the Irish Independent, to look at how a contentious mini-mansion has caused a mega-headache for all involved. Irish fashion entrepreneur Martha NolanOSlatarra was found dead aboard a luxury yacht in Montauk, just hours after launching her brands latest pop-up in New York. The 29-year-old, originally from Carlow, had become a rising star in fashion circles with her label East x East. Her sudden death, with no signs of trauma and no clear cause, has left family, friends, and investigators looking for answers. In this Extra episode of the Indo Daily, Tabitha Monahan is joined by the Irish Independents special correspondent Catherine Fegan, to follow the latest developments in the investigation into the death of Martha NolanOSlatarra, as her mother pleads for answers into what happened to her daughter. This bar and guest house with uninterrupted views of the ocean, located just minutes away from one of the most famous Irish tourist attractions is for sale for under 500,000. Loop Head Lodge, in Kilbaha, is a guest house, bar and restaurant located on the Wild Atlantic Way route in west Clare. The property is 519m2 and is advertised for sale on Daft.ie at 490,000. The property features 11 en-suite bedrooms, including four located on the ground floor and seven to the first floor, with all front aspect rooms boasting sea views. The property has a spacious bar and restaurant and a commercially fitted kitchen. The bar has its own entrance and expansive front windows with uninterrupted views of the beach. Loop Head Lodge, in Kilbaha, Co Clare Also, the rear room which used to be a shop - could easily be converted for further accommodation. Outside, the rear offers an enclosed large yard area and a separate small apartment to the side which may be suitable for staff accommodation. The property is located just 4km from the iconic Loop Head Lighthouse and 2km from the Bridges of Ross. Loop Head Lodge, in Kilbaha, Co Clare It is also located just 200 metres from the local primary school, community centre and church with the local playground and transport links just meters from the property, adding to its appeal for families or long-term residents. Real estate agency DNG O'Sullivan Hurley described Loop Head Lodge as a unique offering in one of Ireland's most captivating coastal settings. Loop Head Lodge, in Kilbaha, Co Clare This property presents a fantastic business opportunity, with significant footfall from tourists visiting the area, especially during the vibrant summer months. Alternatively, it is ideally suited for anyone seeking a peaceful lifestyle change or relocation to the scenic West Clare coast. A mothers worst nightmare Cork mum of seven describes trauma of emergency accommodation Single Cork mother highlights the toll of homelessness on her special needs children Victoria Miller says she has been left 'numb' after spending the last two months in emergency accommodation Kevin Galvin Fri 8 Aug 2025 at 13:00 A mothers worst nightmare is how a Cork mother of seven has described the past ten weeks of her life, as she struggles to raise her family three of whom have special needs while living in emergency accommodation. The service that Irish Water are giving is not good enough, said a Cork councillor who led calls for the introduction of a second repair crew in the Fermoy Municipal District to meet the needs of water services for householders, businesses and the farming community. The issue was debated at a recent Northern Divisional meeting after Fianna Fail councillor Frank OFlynn tabled a motion requesting that Cork County Council call on Uisce Eireann to urgently replace the second repair crew which is no longer in place in the Fermoy Municipal District. Cllr OFlynn commenced his speech by reminding his political colleagues about his long-standing views on Uisce Eireann. It should never have been set up. It is probably the biggest mistake ever made in this country. Cork County Council had a proven record of delivery of services in installing new mains and repairing the old ones. Irish Water is a faceless body. We can get no-one on the phone. You must email them and you dont know whether they will be answered or not. The experienced councillor said one repair crew for the size of the Fermoy MD makes no sense. In the Fermoy electoral area, we have three major towns Fermoy, Mitchelstown and Doneraile, key villages, smaller villages and a lot of communities. At the moment if there is a break in a town like Mitchelstown or Fermoy the crew is taken away. We had two crews. We are only one single crew. The present crew is outstanding. One crew for the size of the Fermoy MD area is absolutely crazy. I am asking that we call on Irish Water for a second crew, stressed Cllr OFlynn. One crew in the Fermoy MD is not working and not good enough. It is very unfair on the households, farming community and the businesses out there. The service that Irish Water are giving is not good enough. We need to write immediately to put a second crew in place to meet the major needs that are there. We need a second crew put in place. It is a massive area. It is a matter of urgency, he added. Fianna Fail councillor Deirdre OBrien who seconded the motion said she still rues the day when Irish Water was first established. They dont know the lie of the land. The amount of water we are wasting is just crazy. Leaks are being left on the ground for weeks. We dont need more management. We need staff on the ground who can deal with the day to day issues. Independent councillor William OLeary added that there were always two repair crews in Fermoy and Mitchelstown going back over the years. The Fermoy crew on the ground have told me they are not to go into Mitchelstown unless it is an absolute emergency. The minor issues are not getting resolved. It is concerning. Labour Party councillor Ronan Sheehan requested that issues in the whole of the Northern Division be included when the letter is sent to Uisce Eireann. We need to include and highlight the whole Northern Division because the same issues are there. We are experiencing this on the Duhallow side as well with the shortage of staff. It was unanimously agreed that a letter requesting a second repair crew as a matter of urgency in the Fermoy Municipal District is to be issued to management at Uisce Eireann. An urgent upgrade of the sewage plant in Kiskeam is required to enable more houses to be built in the the north Cork village and to allow it to keep developing. The message was emphatically delivered at a recent Northern Divisional meeting by councillors who spoke about the growing importance of Kiskeam as a thriving and growing village in Cork County. Fianna Fail councillor Bernard Moynihan tabled a motion requesting that Cork County Council would write to Uisce Eireann seeking funding for an urgent upgrade of the sewage plant in Kiskeam which has reached its capacity. Cllr Moynihan expressed his concerns that the current situation in Kiskeam would impact future housing developments. It is a very serious situation. The new county engineer recently travelled to both Kiskeam and Boherbue to look at the whole situation. We are about to lodge an application to build ten houses in Kiskeam. It is a very derelict area. There has been huge interaction with Cork County Council on that issue. There are further places in Kiskeam which are zoned for development. They have got on to Irish Water. The sewer is at capacity and it cannot take any more. To enable housing development to take place we are asking for an upgrade of the sewage plant, said Cllr Moynihan. On the outskirts of Kiskeam, on the eastern side there is a whole lot of houses there that need to be connected on to the sewer. For housing development, this is an ideal opportunity. In the context of Kiskeam, we have the school, a hub that is being used, the GAA club and all the facilities but we need an upgrade of the sewage plant. I want to acknowledge what the council did in the development of a new sewage plant in Boherbue and the upgrading of the sewer in Ballydesmond. Kiskeam is in the middle and needs to be looked at, he added. His party colleague, Cllr Ian Doyle seconded the motion. There are fantastic communities in both Kiskeam and Boherbue and the potential for people to live there. The sewage capacity is an issue at the moment and needs to be rectified. Cork County Council Divisional Manager for North Cork Niall Healy confirmed that he will raise the issue with the county engineer. It is something that I will talk to the county engineer about to see what we could do to maybe escalate a particular case. We are not here to take anything away Irelands Indian citizens speak out amid rise in racial attacks Following a racially motivated attack in Tallaght where an Indian man was beaten and stripped by a gang of youths and a six-year-old Indian girl in Waterford earlier this who was punched by teenagers on bikes, two members of Irelands Indian community have spoken about their experiences Pictured: Vaibhav Rai Edana Flynn Fri 8 Aug 2025 at 18:02 Earlier this week Indias Embassy in Ireland issued a warning to its citizens following the rise of racially motivated attacks on Indian people in Ireland. While individual payment to Galway city councillors have been released the final total hasnt been determined yet Figures released by Galway local authorities show that county councillors salaries and allowances for 2024 amount to 1.5million while the final total for the payments made to Galway city councillors has yet to be finalised. Galway County Council The annual report for County Galway councillor expenditures in 2024 reflected a 1.5 million payout in councillor salaries and allowances. Elections held in June of 2024 introduced ten new councillors to county seats. The breakdown of payment to each councillor is divided between representational payments (annual salary) and allowances for annual expenses, local representation, chairmanship of committees and mayoral seats, and training. The Local Representation Allowance covers expenses directly related to a councillors duties and is one of the few discretionary allowances available to them, along with training supports. Additionally, the Annual Allowance pertains to the expenses incurred while performing basic councillor duties. This allowance requires 80-100 per cent attendance to receive in full. If the attendance minimum is not met then the amount payable is reduced pro-rata. Former Fine Gael councillor and Cathaoirleach Liam Carrolls total came out to just over 28,000 with the Cathaoirleach allowances amounting to 11,954.08 of that total. However, Mr. Carroll stepped away from the Fine Gael party after he was not selected by the party to represent the Athenry-Oranmore area in the June election. While he intended to run again, only this time as a community candidate, Mr. Carroll was not elected back to the council for another term. Mr. Carroll then passed the mayoral chains over to the youngest Cathaoirleach to take the position in history, Fianna Fail councillor Albert Dolan. Allowances to Mr. Dolan for the mayoral position mirrored Mr. Carrolls coming in at 11,146.20, making up nearly 25 per cent of his 48,000 total in the council. In December, Albert Dolan won the second seat in the national election on his 26th birthday where he continues to represent Galway East today. Cllr Mary Hoade holds the second spot as the top claimant for the year receiving 44,206 which includes payment received for being the chair of the Planning SPC (2,076.93). Galway County Council A total of 36,500 was paid out for those chairing a Strategic Policy Committee comprised of the following councillors and positions: Former councillor Joe Byrne Housing SPC (2,884) James Charity Environment Protection & Agriculture (3,000) Dermot Connolly Planning, Environment, Agriculture, & Emergency Services (2,976) Donagh Mark Killilea Economic Development, Enterprise, & Planning (3000) Martina Kinane Community & Cultural Development (3,000) Padraig Mac An Iomaire Physical Development, Transportation & Emergency Services (3,000) Michael Moegie Maher - Housing (3,000) Karey Farag McHugh Economic Development & Enterprise (2,976) Steven McHugh - took over for Cllr McHugh while she was on maternity leave (830) Alistair McKinstry Climate Change & Biodiversity (2,884) Peter Roche Transport/Infrastructure (2,976) Seamus Walsh Community, Irish Language, Gaeltacht, Tourism, & Integration (3,000) Councillors are also compensated for the chairman position of one of the five municipal districts around the county. In 2024, each chair received 3,000.01 for the role except for Galway East TD Peter Roche who was paid 2,769 as he was elected to the Dail in the general election. Cllr Andrew Reddington took over for former councillor Roche, and in June 2025, Independent councillor Karey Farag McHugh was elected as the new Cathaoirleach of the Tuam municipal district. Total expenses from 2024 councillors for attending conferences and trainings exceed 23k. Eight conferences were held throughout the year with three councillors attending the Suck Valley Way conference in Roscommon which was the largest conference attended by councillors. Only two councillors attended the conference pertaining to the 2025 Budget. Thirteen trainings were registered with a total attendance of 68 throughout the year. The most attended training was held in Monaghan for the association of Irish Local Government autumn training seminar. Cllr Mary Hoade, the current Leas-Cathaoirleach, received the largest stipend for attending training (3,029.56) while previous councillor Daithi O Cualain received the least (287.31). The total number of allowances and salaries paid out in the 2023 annual report is 1,570,812, about 25k more than the number reflected in 2024. Galway City Council The 2024 annual report for the Galway City Council is still being audited at this time however, individual payments for each councillor has been released reflecting their salary, allowances, and any other miscellaneous payments. The standard salary for an elected member is around 29,000, and if elected as mayor of Galway City, the salary increases to 35,000. Elected Members of Galway City Council with Chief Executive, Leonard Cleary and Senior Management of Galway City Council. Photo: Murt Fahy Cllr. Eddie Hoare sat in the mayoral seat from 2023-2024. His total income was 47,322.92 combining a 3,000 SPC chair allowance and an additional 5,000 allowance for being Cathaoirleach. Cllr Hoare attended 100% of the 34 meetings he was invited to between January and December. Cllr Hoare then passed on the mayoral chains to Fianna Fail councillor Peter Keane who served his term between 2024-2025. Cllr. Keanes total payments amounted to 45,912. Some councillors were sure to make 100% attendance at meetings which included ordinary meetings, special meetings, SPC and committee meetings for the year, they are as follows: Non-party councillor Terry OFlaherty Non-party councillor Donal Lyons Fine Gael councillor Eddie Hoare Labour Party councillor Helen Ogbu Fianna Fail councillor Josie Ford expensed the highest amount (958) for a trip to Chicago and Milwaukee in August of 2024. Also in attendance on that trip was Cllr. Peter Keane (760), Cllr. Helen Ogbu (910), and Cllr. Eibhlin Seoighthe (760). Additionally registered under foreign travel was a trip to Seattle, Washington taken by Cllr. Eddie Hoare expensed at 636. The trip to Galways sister cities, Chicago and Milwaukee, was to interact with businesses, educators, innovators, and the local government in exchanges meant to deepen the relationship between the two. At a photo call in Listowel to announce details of the McElligotts Kia Best Dressed Lady at the Listowel Harvest Racing Festival on Friday 26th of September 2025 were from left , Abigail OHara, McElligotts Tralee; Sydney Sargent, Dingle, Anne ODonnell, Tralee, and Yesunia Appiakorang, Cork. Photo: Neustock Media. Shauna Courtney, who will assist Louise Duffy in judging the McElligotts Kia Ladies Day at Listowel Races on Friday 26th of September. Top broadcaster Louise Duffy has been announced as the judge of the McElligotts Kia Best Dressed Lady at the Listowel Harvest Racing Festival on Friday 26th of September 2025. At a photo call in Listowel to announce details of the McElligotts Kia Best Dressed Lady at the Listowel Harvest Racing Festival on Friday 26th of September 2025 were from left Yesunia Appiakorang, Sydney Sargent and Anne ODonnell. Photo by Neustock Media. Top Irish broadcaster Louise Duffy has been named as the judge for the McElligotts Kia Best Dressed Lady competition at this years Listowel Harvest Racing Festival. The stylish event takes place on Friday, September 26th, 2025, during the week-long celebration of racing and fashion. Duffy, who presents The Louise Duffy Show on RTE Radio One and is also a prominent voice in fashion and beauty, will be joined on the judging panel by rising Irish designer Shauna Courtney. Originally from Killarney and now based in London, Courtney has earned a reputation as one of Irelands fashion stars to watch. Her luxury label, Shauna Courtney London, has appeared in a British Vogue Designer Profile, been worn on a BAFTA red carpet, and debuted at London Fashion Week. Thanks to title sponsors McElligotts Tralee, and co-sponsors Kia Ireland, this years Best Dressed Lady winner will jet off to New York City for a dream trip for two, including a stay at the iconic Fitzpatrick Hotel in Manhattan. This marks the 11th year of McElligotts sponsorship of the prestigious event, which continues to attract fashion lovers and racegoers from across the country. Declan OHara, Managing Director of McElligotts Tralee, said: We are delighted to be the official sponsor of Ladies Day again this year, and with the introduction of so many stunning new KIA models there was never a more opportune time to showcase our range to the many discerning guests that know more than a thing or two about style and fashion. We are looking forward to a great day of racing and fashion in Listowel. In addition to the top prize, there are generous cash awards of 1,000 for the Most Creative Headpiece and 500 for the Most Contemporary Outfit, ensuring even more style moments are celebrated. Ronan Flood, Managing Director of Kia Ireland, added: McElligotts Tralee have a long association with Ladies Day in Listowel and Kia Ireland is delighted to join them in supporting this special day in the Kerry social calendar. The 167th Listowel Harvest Racing Festival runs from Sunday, September 21st to Saturday, September 27th. The event features top-quality National Hunt and flat racing, four fashion competitions throughout the week, as well as live music, DJs, and a festive atmosphere that has made the Listowel Races a must-attend on the Irish social calendar. The Directors of Listowel Race Company look forward to welcoming racegoers once again for this much-loved festival. To pre-book tickets or corporate packages, visit www.listowelraces.ie and follow the hashtags #ListowelRaces and #WhereTheDramaLives on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for exclusive updates and coverage. Minister of State Jerry Buttimer (left) and Kerry TD Michael Cahill pictured with a member of the Ballybunion Sea & Cliff Rescue service on Friday. Photo by John Kelliher. Minister of State Jerry Buttimer getting shown some of the group's equipment on Friday. Photo by John Kelliher. The Ballybunion Sea & Cliff Rescue Service was visited this week by Minister of State Jerry Buttimer and he was left thoroughly impressed by both the facilities of the group and the work being done in the North Kerry town and wider community by its members. This visit marked an important opportunity for the organisation to showcase its operations and commitment to community safety. Mr Buttimer, who is Minister of State at the Department of Rural and Community Development, with special responsibility for Community Development and Charities and the Department of Transport with special responsibility for Rural Transport, visited the volunteer-led group last Friday where he was greeted by Chairman Gearoid OConnor who gave him a tour of the facility. After this, the Minister who was joined on the day by Kerry T.D Michael Cahill, Senator Mikey Kennelly and Cllr Aoife Kennelly, was introduced to the groups members who talked to him about what their roles and responsibilities are. Omar Fitzell, a long-serving member of Ballybunion Sea & Cliff Rescue, spoke to The Kerryman after the visit and said that he and everyone else from the group were left encouraged by the meeting with hopes high that further discussions will be had in the future regarding better State support for groups such as these Fitzell elaborated on the Ministers response to the groups operations and facilities. "Massively so. He was [very impressed], not only with the building but the equipment, the boats as well as the professionalism of the members, their knowledge and skills. They all took an area to talk to him about, such as different boats, the launching vehicles, said Omar when asked if the Minister was impressed by what he saw. He further emphasised how the groups dedication and volunteer spirit made a lasting impact. He couldn't understand how the same people could respond 24 hours a day, train twice a week and then still have time to go fundraising as well. He was good in that regard in that he realises the hours and the time that goes into what we do. Our members realise how tough it is, juggling everything, but it has to be done. This is our pastime, this is our release, he continued. The Minister's engagement during the visit was also highlighted as a standout moment. "He got a tour of the boat house and to his credit, he asked a lot of relevant questions and he was very clued in. He knew his stuff. He knew what we were and how we did things. I think that he was little shocked at the support or lack thereof that we get from the State. Now, we do get grants but in regards to our operating costs, those grants are probably in the region of 15 to 20 per cent of our costs, Omar continued. This led to a broader discussion about the role of local support in sustaining the facility. "The facility that it's in Ballybunion has been put there by the people of North Kerry and West Limerick. They've paid for it over the years and there's no facility like it really in the entire country, he said. Looking ahead, the group remains hopeful about what the Ministers visit could lead to. "It's always good to have a Minister of State come down and see and learn about what we do in the hope that it will lead to further development and that's something that we are hoping for. He has given undertakings to work on our behalf and not just us but the community rescue groups right across the board." The lasting impression left by the Ministers visit was also noted by the time and attention he gave. "It was a big deal for us. He gave us so much time. There was no rush to leave on his part. He gave us the whole day and if we had wanted to keep him there further, he'd have stayed longer so we have to credit him for that." There is widespread sadness in County Leitrim following the death of talented teenager Paddy Rooney. Paddy of Lurganboy, Manorhamilton, Co Leitrim died on Tuesday, August 5, following a short illness at the age of 14. Paddy was the son of Mairead and Michael and a brother to Annie and Joe. He was a talented musician and was a member of Glenfarne CCE. He played the banjo and had won an All Ireland competition. Paddy will repose at his family home on Saturday, August 9, from 2pm to 7pm. Removal from his family home on Sunday for Funeral Mass in St. Clares Church, Manorhamilton at 2.30pm followed by burial in Diffreen Cemetery. Paddy's Funeral Mass can be viewed at youtube.com/live/pp8Wk4FmYCA. The family have requested family flowers only with donations in lieu if desired to The Gavin Glynn Foundation. Following his death, the teenager has been remembered as a talented musician and a brave young man. In a tribute posted online, Leitrim CCE said, We are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Paddy Rooney, a talented young musician and a lovely young man, who left us all too soon in his 14th year after a short illness. Paddys gift for music, his passion, and the joy he brought to those around him will never be forgotten. "His talent touched hearts not only in his local community but across the traditional music world. Our heartfelt sympathy goes out to Mairead, Michael, Annie and Joe and his extended family, friends, and the entire musical community mourning this profound loss. "May his music and memory live on in the hearts of all who loved him, and may he rest in eternal peace. Paddy Rooney. Photo: Leitrim CCE Glenfarne CCE said Paddy was a treasured member and a well known all Ireland champion on the banjo. Sending our deepest sympathies to Michael,Mairead,Annie and Joe Rooney on the sad passing of their darling son and brother Paddy. We extend our heartfelt condolences to all members of the Rooney family circle. Know that you are in all our thoughts and prayers over the days and weeks ahead. We were blessed with his performances at all our concerts and local events - including our culture night in September last year. We must take time to pay a special tribute to Paddy, who fought his illness all the way, so courageously, supported by his loving family. "Unfortunately, God called Paddy home - much earlier than expected. We are heartbroken at your loss. Paddy, thanks for the wonderful memories. We will never forget your kindness, and your gift of music - so generously shared with us all. You will remain in our hearts forever. Your suffering is over now. May you Rest In Peace. Follow Independent Leitrim on Facebook Comhaltas An Droma Mhoir- Dromore Comhaltas said they are heartbroken following the death of a special friend and talented young musician. Paddy will be remembered not only for his remarkable musical gift, but for the ever-present smile he carried with him, a bright light in every room, every stage, every competition, and every session. Paddy was the heart and soul of many of our groups and bands over the years. "His talent, his kindness, and that infectious smile touched the lives of both young and old. Through his music, he made friends in every corner of Ireland. Our deepest sympathy goes out to Mairead, Michael, Annie, Joe, and to his extended family, friends, and the entire musical community who now mourn this profound loss. May his music and memory continue to live on in the hearts of all who loved him. As a mark of respect, the sponsored walk in Kinlough has been scheduled for this Sunday has been postponed. Paddy is survived by his parents Mairead and Michael, sister Annie and brother Joe, his godparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, relatives and his many friends. National Broadband Ireland (NBI), the company delivering high-speed Fibre-to-the-Home network under the National Broadband Plan (NBP) on behalf of the Government, has said that almost 2,800 Sligo premises in its Dromore West deployment area can now avail of a high-speed fibre broadband connection. The includes the rural surrounds and townlands of Dromore West, Kilglass and Skreen. 15,000 premises in Co Sligo are included in the States Intervention Area, which will see NBI deliver minimum speeds of 500 megabits per second to homes, businesses, farms, and schools. As the biggest investment in rural Ireland since rural electrification, County Sligo will receive 59m of Government investment under the National Broadband Plan. There are 2,761 Sligo premises in the Dromore West deployment area that can join the NBI network. National Broadband Ireland is calling on people living nearby to visit nbi.ie/map/ and enter their Eircode to see if they are ready to connect. Works have already been completed in other parts of Sligo, including the rural surrounds of Tubbercurry and Sligo town. There is a total of 11,010 premises that can now pre-order or order high-speed, reliable broadband across the county with 2,715 connections made so far. Network build works are also continuing across Sligo with works in progress for almost 3,500 premises in the Riverstown deployment area, due to be connected by the end of next year. Signing up to the NBI email notifications at https://nbi.ie/eoi/ is the easiest way to get the most up-to-date status of premises during the rollout and when premises will be ready for order. TJ Malone, Chief Executive Officer, National Broadband Ireland, said: We are delighted to announce that almost 2,800 Sligo premises in the Dromore West deployment area can now order high-speed broadband services through the NBI network. NBI has now passed over 396,000 homes, farms and businesses in rural Ireland to high-speed broadband with over 138,000 now connected. The average take-up rate of 35% is well ahead of projections and international comparisons and surpasses 50% in areas of the country where the network has been live for 18 months. As a wholesale network operator, NBI does not sell fibre broadband directly to end users, rather it enables services from a range of broadband providers or Retail Service Providers (RSPs). As a wholesale provider, NBI will make the new Fibre-to-the-Home network available to all RSPs operating in the Intervention Area. An example of some of the locations of Broadband Connection Points in Sligo include Coolaney Community Centre and Eastern Harps GAA Club. Primary schools in the Intervention Area are also now connected for educational access as part of the NBP. Deputy Frank Feighan has welcomed the announcement by the Minister for Education, Helen McEntee which has been made under the additional accommodation scheme. The extension will comprises of four mainstream classrooms, a pastoral office, two science labs and prep area, a wood technology room and prep area along with two special education rooms base and ancillary. Deputy Feighan said: This is a significant investment in the future of education in Sligo and will allow the school to accommodate more pupils alongside the provision of much better facilities especially for children with special needs. This is great news for the school principal, Paul Keogh, the Board of Management alongside the pupils and their parents and I want to congratulate the professional teams involved in the application. The exact funding amount will be held back to allow a competitive tendering process which Deputy Feighan said he hopes can get underway as soon as tender documents are completed. At a political level I want to thank Minister McEntee who I had the opportunity to brief when the application was advanced some months ago. I hope that all the necessary preparatory work can be completed in a timely fashion to ensure the work on the ground can start before next summer, concluded Deputy Feighan. An appalling attack on a young Indian girl in Waterford has made headlines across her native country, amid a spate of violent attacks on Indians in Ireland. Six-year-old Nia Naveen was allegedly attacked by a group of boys aged 12 to 14 while playing outside her home in Waterford city on Monday. Gardai have confirmed that they responded to report of an alleged assault in the Kilbarry area of Waterford city on the evening of Monday, August 4. No further details are available at this time. Investigations are ongoing, said a Garda spokesperson. The gang allegedly punched her in the face, hit her with a bicycle, and shouted racial slurs at the child. Nias mother, Anupa Achuthan, a nurse originally from Kerala in southern India, has shared details of the ordeal, saying how her daughter returned home in tears. The assault has shocked the Indian community and comes amid growing concerns about racist violence. The incident follows similar recent attacks in Dublins Tallaght and Clondalkin areas. Kranthi Ireland, a forum for Indians in Ireland, said it condemns the racist and brutal attack on a six-year-old girl of our family in Waterford. The child suffered bruises from the attack and is in trauma after being subjected to racial abuse, including being called a dirty Indian and being told to go back to India. This family had already reported the racist abuse - and was disregarded. We stand with the child and her family. We call for an thorough investigation and swift action by the government. We call for accountability - from the perpetrators, and from the authorities who did not act. We also appeal to all progressive minds, and to all who have love and compassion in their hearts, to stand with us - in solidarity, in action, and against hate. Ireland must never be a country where children live in fear and racism is allowed to grow. File image. Today's News in 90 seconds - 8th August 2025 The Bharat Post, with a reported 1.6m readers, reported: Her mother, an Indian nurse who recently became an Irish citizen, says the child is now traumatised, refuses to go outside, and the family no longer feels safe in their neighbourhood. This is not just bullying, its a hate crime. And its not an isolated case. Racist assaults against Indians in Ireland are on the rise. Times Now, Indias top English news channel with 7.4m followers, the Times of India, Mumbai Today, India News HD, The New Indian Express, Indians Daily and many other respected news outlets have also reported on the attack. The Indian Embassy in Dublin has issued this advisory for its citizens. There has been an increase in the instances of physical attacks reported against Indian citizens in Ireland recently. The Embassy is in touch with the authorities concerned of Ireland in this regard. At the same time, all Indian citizens in Ireland are advised to take reasonable precautions for their personal security and avoid deserted areas, especially in odd hours. Shelmalier GAA Club presented a cheque for 30,000 to Kenneth Hearne, his daughters Eileen and Elizabeth and his Mother Eileen after the hugely successful Hurling for Alfie fundraiser, held on June 22. The bonds formed in the black and amber of Shelmaliers clearly extend far beyond the sidelines at Hollymount. Time and again, the club has shown itself to be at the very heart of the community in the Castlebridge/Screen area and has rallied around friends and members in times of crisis. The Hearne family from Screen are going through one such crisis. Back in March, Kenneth and Johanna Hearne brought their one year-old Alfie on what they thought was a routine trip to the doctors. Presenting like a chest infection, they couldnt have imagined what would follow, as it emerged that young Alfie was in heart failure, caused by viral myocarditis. He ended up on life support in Crumlin Childrens Hospital, before eventually being airlifted to Freeman Hospital in Newcastle for specialist treatment. He remains there to this day and the family are currently in the process of relocating to Tyneside to be with him a difficult decision given that Alife, who recently turned two, has two older siblings, Eileen and Elizabeth, and another on the way. The whole ordeal thus far has taken a massive toll on the family. Kenneth being the Vice Chairman of the Shelmaliers, the club was keen to help his family out and to at least ease some of the significant financial worries that have come with countless trips over and back to Newcastle. Shelmalier GAA Club presented a cheque for 30,000 to Kenneth Hearne, his daughters Eileen and Elizabeth and his Mother Eileen after the hugely successful Hurling for Alfie fundraiser, held on June 22. The result was the Hurling for Alife fundraiser, a fun-filled day of matches, GAA Rox, activities for kids and a big raffle for two All-Ireland Hurling Final Tickets. "We had a great crowd out for it," Club Chairman Myles Doyle said. Hundreds of people turned out to show their support. It was a really memorable occasion and I know that the Hearne family were deeply moved by the overwhelming support of the community. In the end, the club was able to hand over a cheque for 30,000 to the Hearne family, who were absolutely blown away. Myles, and indeed the Hearne family, wished to thank everyone who got involved in making the fundraiser such a huge success and everyone who donated on the day. Donations to help the Hearne family out as they prepare to relocate can be made by searching for Alife's Heart Journey on GoFundMe. There will be a sombre mood at this weekends Plaza Market in Greystones after the death of beloved local photographer and former town councillor Pat Killilea, who was a fixture at the Sunday event. A true gentleman and kind soul who was community-focused, Pat served with distinction for years as a Greystones town councillor, with the Fianna Fail man hailed as a great friend to Greystones for his support of groups like the local Tidy Towns committee. Formerly of Tralee, County Kerry, Pat always held a love for photography, but never had the time to devote to it. As he came close to retirement, he decided to do something about it, buying himself a Canon SLR camera, taking a photography course and devoting as much time as he could to it. Although he had bought a digital camera, Pat did a course in developing and printing film using an old film camera he had, which he claimed to be one of the best decisions he ever made, as it forced him to concentrate on getting the correct shot on the first attempt. After joining Bray Camera Club, Pat met some fabulous people who, through their experience, helped him develop his skills to the point that he felt confident to apply for a distinction with the Irish Photography Federation (IPF). In November 2014, he submitted 10 images and was awarded Licentiateship with the IPF. Becoming an integral part of The Plaza Market, where he pitched up with his photographs and was always had time for a chat, Pats warm smile and great sense of humour will be missed by shoppers and fellow exhibitors alike. Tributes to Pats decency, kindness and efforts on behalf of the Greystones community have been pouring in, with The Plaza Market writing: We are so upset to announce the very sad passing of one of the plaza markets much-loved stalwarts. Pat was an absolute gentleman and brought a warm and fun-loving presence. We will value his friendship always and miss him terribly. Rest in peace, dear friend. Describing how Pat was so generous with his talents and his time, another commenter wrote: We will miss Pat so much at The Plaza Market. He was a core, much-valued participant and has left a big hole. Meanwhile, former Greystones councillor and party colleague Kathleen Kelleher added: Pat was much loved and will always be remembered. We thank Pat for a life well lived, love of family and community. I was privileged to work with Pat as a fellow Greystones town councillor. He was always committed to Greystones and its betterment. Thank you, Pat, for being such an inspiration to us all. Echoing those sentiments and remembering Pats late wife Mary (nee Butler), Fianna Fail Wicklow CDC Officer Board and members offered their condolences, writing: Pat was our esteemed colleague and a loyal Party Member for many years. Pat served with distinction as a Greystones Town Councillor. He represented the very best: dedication, commitment, community involvement, love of family. We also remember Mary at this very special time. Ta siad le cheile aris. Bellevue Park resident Pat passed away on August 5, surrounded by his family. United in love now forever with his beloved wife Mary, he will be remembered by his devoted family, children Robert, Annmarie, David and Martin, brother Brian, son-in-law Mark, daughters-in-law Elaine, Magdalena and Erika, Lilian, grandchildren Rachael, Oisin, Ferret, Conor, Jack, Hugh, Anna, Aisling, Jake, Ruairi and Odhran, great grandchildren Tadhg and Oisin, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, nieces, nephews, extended family, neighbours and large circle of friends. Pats reposing will take place at his home on Friday, August 8, from 6pm until 8pm. The removal from his home will be at 3.10pm on Saturday, walking to the Holy Rosary Church, Greystones, arriving for the funeral mass at 3.30pm, after which Pat will be reunited with his beloved wife Mary in Redford Cemetery, Greystones. Bank of Ireland has announced a major green investment, committing 80m (93.5m) to the development of the East Anglia 3 windfarm. Photo: Ben Birchall/PA Bank of Ireland has announced a major green investment, committing 80m (93.5m) to support the development of East Anglia 3, which is set to become the second-largest offshore windfarm in the world when it comes into operation in 2026. British Foreign Secretary David Lammy to host JD Vance as US vice-president arrives for UK family holiday Mr Lammy is reported to have attended mass at the vice presidents Washington residence during a visit in March US Vice President JD Vance will meet Foreign Secretary David Lammy at the start of his family holiday in the UK (Niall Carson/PA) Christopher McKeon Press Association Fri 8 Aug 2025 at 07:37 British Foreign Secretary David Lammy is due to meet US vice-president JD Vance amid ongoing conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine. A British holidaymaker accused of trying to drown his daughter-in-law was in a romantic relationship with her, according to reports. Mark Gibbon (62) was with his family at the Solterra Resort in Davenport, Florida, when he reportedly got into an argument with Jasmine Wyld (33) over the stipulations of his will. Sam Kiley: Trump claims hes not happy with Putin, but behaves as if hes on the Kremlin payroll US leader has fawned over and praised Russia in the past while blaming Kyiv US president Donald Trump makes no secret of his admiration for Putin. Photo: Reuters Sam Kiley UK Independent Fri 8 Aug 2025 at 06:30 A long overdue summit between the presidents of the United States and the Russian Federation to discuss peace in Ukraine, where nuclear war has been threatened, must be seen as an historic moment for optimism. Kremlin says Vladimir Putin will meet Donald Trump for summit on Ukraine UAE believed to be the venue for talks, which are unlikely to include Volodymyr Zelensky Russian president Vladimir Putin may meet US president Donald Trump to discuss the war in Ukraine. Photo: Reuters Gleb Bryanski and Yuliia Dysa Reuters Fri 8 Aug 2025 at 06:30 Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump will meet in the coming days, the Kremlin said yesterday, as the US president seeks a breakthrough to end the Ukraine war. The United States has doubled its reward for information leading to the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to $50 million over allegations of drug trafficking and links to criminal groups, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on Thursday. latest | UN chief warns Israeli plan to take control of Gaza City a 'dangerous escalation' UN chief says Israel's plan will forcibly displace Palestinians Israel's security cabinet approved plan to take control of Gaza City Israels security cabinet backs plans to take over Gaza City Irish Independent Newsdesk Reuters Fri 8 Aug 2025 at 22:20 United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday criticized Israel's plan to take control of Gaza City, with the U.N. chief's spokesperson saying the decision marked "a dangerous escalation" that will result in forced displacement of Palestinians. What Israels latest move will mean for desperate Palestinians on the ground Gazas inhabitants will face fresh horrors if IDF pushes into final 25pc of enclave Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Photo: Reuters AP Reporters Associated Press Fri 8 Aug 2025 at 06:30 Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu sending ground troops into the few areas of Gaza that havent been totally destroyed will lead to countless more Palestinian deaths and more mass displacement, and could put the roughly 20 remaining living hostages at serious risk. Her body just shut down Gazan man reunited with wife in Ireland tells how she was hospitalised the next day due to starvation CBIC Issues Procedural Guidelines for Review and Appeals in Multi-State GST Cases The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has issued procedural guidelines to clarify the review and appeal process for adjudication orders in multi-state Goods and Services Tax (GST) cases handled by Common Adjudicating Authorities (CAAs). This move addresses jurisdictional ambiguities and aims to streamline post-adjudication processes involving high-value investigations by the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI). The clarification, issued through Circular No. 250/07/2025-GST dated June 24, 2025, addresses a critical gap in the GST post-adjudication processone that had led to delays, jurisdictional confusion, and procedural lapses in high-value investigations involving tax evasion. ALSO READ: Indias CBIC Notifies GST Appellate Tribunal (Procedure) Rules, 2025 New framework to ease procedural delays in multi-jurisdictional GST disputes To remedy procedural delays and legal uncertainty in high-value investigations, CBIC has clarified that the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner of Central Tax, under whom the CAA functions, will act as the reviewing authority under Section 107 of the Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) Act. The same official will also exercise revisional powers under Section 108, both of which pertain to handling appeals against demand or adjudication orders. Furthermore, appeals against orders passed by CAAs will be handled by the Commissioner (Appeals), who has territorial jurisdiction over the Principal Commissioner or Commissioner of Central Tax supervising the adjudicating authority. Clarifying appellate authority for CAA orders Prior to this notification, there was no formal framework specifying who could review or hear appeals against decisions made by CAAsofficials designated under Notification No. 02/2017 to handle cases issued by the DGGI. Although CBICs Circular No. 239/33/2024-GST defined the territorial jurisdiction of CAAs, it left post-adjudication processes unaddressed. As per media reports, to close this procedural loophole, the CBIC sought legal consultation from the Union Ministry of Law and Justice. This resulted in the issuance of a clear and structured clarification on June 23, 2025. Key provisions clarified include: Reviewing authority (Section 107): The Principal Commissioner or Commissioner of Central Tax under whose jurisdiction the CAA functions will be responsible for reviewing the adjudication order. Revisional authority (Section 108): The same officer will also serve as the revisional authority. Appellate authority: Appeals against CAA orders will be handled by the Commissioner (Appeals), who has territorial jurisdiction over the Commissionerate specified in the 2017 notification. Departmental representation: The Principal Commissioner or Commissioner supervising the CAA will represent the department in appeals and may appoint subordinate officers for this purpose. Clarification expected to streamline appellate procedures in complex cases To reinforce the GST enforcement ecosystem, the recent clarification from CBIC provides a structured approach for handling review and appeal processes in cases initiated by the DGGI. These cases often involve intricate investigations into major tax evasion, fraudulent input tax credit (ITC) claims, and fake invoice networksareas that demand prompt adjudication and a clear appellate pathway. By clearly defining roles and responsibilities within the existing tax framework, the clarification aims to: Resolve procedural bottlenecks arising from jurisdictional overlaps. Enhance administrative accountability by linking appellate functions to specific tax jurisdictions. Facilitate prompt departmental appeals, which were often delayed due to unclear mandates. Encourage uniformity in legal interpretation and enforcement across different regions. Tax professionals have broadly endorsed the move, noting that it will improve compliance and reduce litigation burdens for businesses involved in wide-ranging GST investigations. Sectors frequently under scrutinysuch as banking, insurance, online gaming, hospitality, real estate, FMCG, manufacturing, and logisticsare likely to benefit from greater procedural certainty. Annas careful conversation and Carlys proposal WATCH: Anna seizes her opportunity to thwart Emma and Gio's covert operation against Professor Dalton. #GHpic.twitter.com/pzkmuC4sIS General Hospital (@GeneralHospital) August 8, 2025 Family tensions and unexpected news General Hospital spoilers: Will Jason step in as Drews plan for Willow, Scout and a WSB mystery take a new turn? ( Image credit : Lulu Spencer | Credit: X ) Drews Willow mission and Jasons scout dilemma General Hospital spoilers: Will Jason step in as Drews plan for Willow, Scout and a WSB mystery take a new turn? ( Image credit : Drew presses Elizabeth Baldwin on whether Willow is truly in a better place | Credit: X ) A WSB lead and Britts strike Ava has had it with Ric (and his ever-growing fondness for Elizabeth). Click to watch today's surprising, new #GH - RIGHT NOW! #GeneralHospitalhttps://t.co/dBGEU8FDls General Hospital (@GeneralHospital) August 8, 2025 For more news and updates from the world of OTT, and celebrities from Bollywood and Hollywood, keep reading Indiatimes Entertainment. fans can expect a mix of family dilemmas, brewing conflicts, and possible spy intrigue on Fridays episode. Drew Cain works on his strategy for Willow Tait, Jason Morgan receives worrying news about Scout, and Anna Devane uncovers a clue that may link Britt Westbourne to a new WSB operation.Anna approaches Carly Spencer and Jack Brennan with unfinished business, but avoids revealing anything that could compromise her position with the WSB. Instead, she steers the conversation toward Josslyn Jacks, leaving Brennan content for the time being. Carly takes the opportunity to pitch an idea to Brennan, waiting to see if hell support her plan.Lulu Spencer and Dante Falconeri puzzle over why Laura Collins has called them in. The meeting leaves them angry possibly connected to Liesl Obrechts efforts to grow closer to Rocco Falconeri.Elsewhere, Curtis Ashford tells Jordan Ashford that hes giving his marriage to Portia Robinson another chance, crediting Jordan for influencing his decision.At the hospital, Drew presses Elizabeth Baldwin on whether Willow is truly in a better place and asks for her help in reuniting Willow with her children. He hints at wanting a romantic future as well.Meanwhile, Alexis Davis updates Jason about Drews plan to move Scout to Washington, D.C. Alexis is opposed, worried about the impact on Danny Morgan, Scouts brother. Jason agrees the decision should be about Scouts needs but questions what he can do with Drew in control.Anna later meets with Jason, sharing a Dalmatia clue from Brennan that might connect to Britts past trip to a resort. Jason sees a possible lead worth pursuing.Meanwhile, Britt, lounging by the pool, refuses new orders until given more freedom. She tells her superiors shes on strike, setting the stage for more conflict.In Fridays episode, personal loyalties, family bonds, and hidden agendas collide leaving Port Charles poised for the next big twist. ABO Desire Episode 7 online: Fans of the Chinese drama ABO Desire can stream Episode 7 online today, August 9, 2025, at approximately 5:30 PM IST / 12:00 PM GMT / 8:00 AM ET, according to the official release schedule. ABO Desire is set in a world reshaped by a virus that divided society into Alphas, Betas, Omegas, and the elusive Enigmas - each with unique instincts and social roles. The story centers on Sheng Shaoyou, a powerful S-class Alpha burdened by family secrets, and Hua Yong, a cunning intern who seems like an Omega but hides his true Enigma nature. Their intense cat-and-mouse dynamic, filled with secret deals and emotional clashes, keeps audiences hooked. ABO Desire Episode 7 online. Credit: X ABO Desire: Release date and time for Episode 7 Episode 7 airs on Saturday, August 9, 2025, at 5:30 PM IST / 12:00 PM GMT / 8:00 AM ET. It will also be available to international viewers via simultaneous streaming on Viki, all of which offer English subtitles to make the series accessible to a global audience. Where to Watch ABO Desire Episode 7 Online? Episodes 7 is available to stream on Viki - the main legal platforms offering high-quality video and English subtitles. For viewers in the U.S., Canada, India, Indonesia, and Viki remains the top choice for watching the series. ABO Desire: Episode 7 Plot? ABO Desire, also called Desire, is heating up the summer watchlist for Boys' Love (BL) fans who crave messy, mysterious, and biologically intense romance. This Chinese web drama plunges into the Omegaverse world filled with pheromones, power struggles, and hidden identities. Adapted from Nong Jians novel, it has gained a devoted global fanbase thanks to its unexpected twists and a captivating, magnetic cast. It's so beautiful to see how the drama has improved the story from the novel. For the first couple, they didnt add too much chaos, while for the second couple, they added new scenes that werent part of the novel.#DesireTheSeries#DesireTheSeriesEP6#ABODesire pic.twitter.com/VsgqwXgVeF BlackSwan (@LoveBlackSwann) August 2, 2025 ABO Desire episode 7: Spoilers Here are the spoilers for Episode 7 of the Chinese series ABO Desire based on the YouTube preview: Shen Wenlang was criticized for being useless, especially after needing help to protect Mr. Shen, who had taken half a month to recover from his last injury. There was frustration about relying on others for personal matters like love life, which wasn't welcomed. Questions arose about Ah Yong's whereabouts and why he wasn't answering calls, causing suspicion and uneasy looks. Despite doubts, there was denial about causing harm to Hua Yong. Shen Wenlang was reminded of forgetting important moments like a birthday and ignoring a fever but still showed care by offering to get medicine. There was a plea for Shen Wenlang to stay longer, driven by discomfort over Mr. Sheng carrying someone elses scent - a presence that needed to be erased. ABO Desire: Cast and Characters The primary cast of the Chinese BL series ABO Desire features Huang Xing as Hua Yong, Qiu Dingjie as Sheng Shaoyou, Li Peien as Gao Tu, and Jiang Heng as Shen Wenlang. FAQs 1. When will Episode 7 of ABO Desire be released? ABO Desire Episode 7 will be released on August 9, 2025, at 5:30 PM IST / 12:00 PM GMT / 8:00 AM ET. 2. Where can I watch Episode 7 of ABO Desire online? You can stream Episode 7 on Viki. All three platforms offer English subtitles. 3. Does ABO Desire have English subtitles? Yes, the series is fully subtitled in English on Viki, including Episodes 7. 4. Is ABO Desire available on Netflix? No, ABO Desire is not available on Netflix. It officially streams on Viki. For all the latest K-drama, K-pop, and Hallyuwood updates, keep following our coverage here. Beyond the Bar Episode 3 online: Fans awaiting the K-drama Beyond the Bar can stream Episode 3 online today, August 9, 2025, at approximately 10:40 PM KST around 7:10 PM IST, as per the official schedule. The story follows Yun Seok Hun, a brilliant but cold partner at Yullim Law Firm, known for his bold strategies and sharp logic. Working with him is Kang Hyo Min, a socially awkward but confident rookie lawyer. Though they constantly clash, their partnership challenges them both - and helps Hyo Min grow into a true lawyer. Beyond the Bar Episode 3 online. Credit: X Beyond the Bar: Release date and time for Episode 3 Episode 3 airs on Saturday, August 9, 2025, in South Korea and will go live around 10:40 PM KST on the JTBC channel. Viewers in other time zones can expect the release at approximately 2:40 PM BST in the UK and 7:10 PM IST in India on the same day. The episode will also be available for international audiences via streaming on Netflix, which provides English subtitles to make the series accessible worldwide. Where to Watch Beyond the Bar Episode 3 Online? Episode 3 is available to stream on Netflix, the main legal platforms offering high-quality video and English subtitles. For viewers in the U.S., Canada, India, Indonesia, and the UK, Netflix continues to be the top choices for watching the series. Official still cuts from Beyond The Bar EP1-2 have been released. every frame captured a different side of me, I loved it. pic.twitter.com/5o8ya4mUr2 olef (@chyieon) August 4, 2025 Beyond the Bar: Plot highlights of Episode 3 At Yullim Law Firm, cold and brilliant partner Yun Seok Hun is forced to work with rookie lawyer Kang Hyo Min, who's awkward but fiercely principled. Their constant clashes spark unexpected growth, as both begin to redefine what it means to be a lawyer. Beyond the Bar episode 3: Spoilers Here are the spoilers for Episode 3 of the Korean series Beyond the Bar based on the YouTube preview: Beyond the Bar episode 3 follows rookie lawyer Kong Ho Min as she takes on a challenging case involving a delivery company accused of negligence after a truck nearly hits a child. The child's mother files both civil and criminal lawsuits, but as the trial unfolds, it's revealed the boy has faced repeated near-collisions, hinting at possible health concerns. In court, senior lawyer Seok-hun delivers a blunt analysis that Ho Min feels is unnecessarily harsh toward the mother, prompting her to remark, "truth can be poison if it's used like one." Seok-hun responds by warning her to be cautious with her words, setting the stage for a deeper clash between empathy and cold logic. Set the bar high in this law drama, #BeyondTheBar Thoroughly enjoyed the first 2 eps. I felt empathy. Some law shows don't have an ounce of it.For me it hit the spot.For sure,every ep will have different cases. Hopefully,it'll not disappoint until the ending.#BeyondTheBarEp1 pic.twitter.com/9fO0iB0A8V frncs (@fwanciskennedy) August 4, 2025 Beyond the Bar: Cast and Characters JTBC and Netflix team up once again for the upcoming legal drama Beyond the Bar, starring Lee Jin-wook of Squid Game and Sweet Home fame. The series also features Jung Chae-yeon, Lee Hak-joo, and Jeon Hye-bin in key roles. FAQs 1. When will Episode 3 of Beyond the Bar be released? Answer: Beyond the Bar Episode 3 will be released on August 9, 2025, and will air at 10:40 PM KST around 7:10 PM IST. 2. Where can I watch Episode 3 of Beyond the Bar online? Answer: Beyond the Bar Episode 3 will be available for streaming on Netflix, the platform offering English subtitles. 3. Does Beyond the Bar have English subtitles? Answer: Yes, Beyond the Bar is fully subtitled in English on Netflix, including Episode 3. 4. What is the plot of Episode 3 of Beyond the Bar? Answer: Beyond the Bar Episode 3 will see a rookie lawyer with strong ideals faces the legal world under a cold, demanding mentor. 5. Is Beyond the Bar available on Netflix? Answer: Yes, Beyond the Bar is available on Netflix. The drama officially streams on this site. For more news and updates from the world of OTT, and celebrities from Bollywood and Hollywood, keep reading Indiatimes Entertainment. Germany, one of Israels closest allies and second-largest arms supplier after the United States, has decided to halt the export of military equipment that could be used in Gaza. The decision follows Israels approval of a plan to take control of Gaza City as part of its wider war strategy. Chancellor Friedrich Merz said his government would not approve any such exports until further notice. The decision comes despite Germanys longstanding diplomatic support for Israel, often described by its leaders as a historic responsibility due to the Holocaust. Scale of Germanys arms supplies to Israel According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri), between 2020 and 2024 Germany supplied 33% of Israels total arms imports, second only to the United States at 66%. Exports included naval equipment such as frigates and torpedoes, armoured trucks, anti-tank weapons, and ammunition. Israeli tanks were stationed near the Gaza border as the country's cabinet approved a plan to take control of Gaza City, expanding military operations despite growing criticism over the devastating nearly two-year-old war https://t.co/owa12zAmxz pic.twitter.com/muhYjY4XGE Reuters (@Reuters) August 8, 2025 The move to halt exports marks a significant policy shift given Berlins earlier stance, with Merz having reaffirmed before the NATO summit in June that the defence of Israels existence was central to Germanys foreign policy. International responses to Israels Gaza city plan Germanys decision coincides with a wave of criticism from multiple countries. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the Gaza City takeover plan wrong and urged Israel to reconsider. Denmark urged Israel to reverse the decision. Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp said the plan would worsen humanitarian conditions and will not help to get the hostages home. Chinas foreign ministry stated that Gaza belongs to the Palestinian people and called for an immediate ceasefire. The United Nations human rights chief Volker Turk warned that further escalation could lead to more forced displacement, civilian deaths, destruction and potential atrocity crimes. Other diplomatic and economic actions Several European nations have taken additional steps. Belgium summoned Israels ambassador, expressing total disapproval of the planned Gaza City takeover and continued settlement expansion in the West Bank. Norways $1.7 trillion sovereign wealth fund has launched a review of its Israeli investments over ethical concerns linked to the war in Gaza and occupation of the West Bank. While ruling out a blanket withdrawal from all Israeli firms, Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg said measures would be introduced quickly where possible. Israel's cabinet approved a plan to take control of Gaza City, as the country expands its military operations despite intensifying criticism at home and abroad over the devastating almost two-year-old war https://t.co/gqeyWwjvkP pic.twitter.com/QPE1ORp3E4 Reuters (@Reuters) August 8, 2025 Reactions from Israel and Hamas Inside Israel, families of hostages warned that the Gaza City operation could endanger their relatives. Views among residents remain mixed some blame Hamas for worsening the situation, while others remain defiant. Hamas issued a statement warning Israel that occupying Gaza City will cost it dearly and will not be an easy journey. Germanys halt to certain arms exports reflects growing international unease over Israels strategy in Gaza. The coming days will determine whether diplomatic pressure can alter the course of events on the ground. Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath led the Kakori Train Action Centenary celebrations in Lucknow with a stirring call to revive patriotism and embrace Swadeshi values. Paying homage to the martyrs of the 1925 Kakori incident, CM Yogi urged every citizen to live for Swadeshi and die for the nation. At the event, the CM saluted the bravery of revolutionaries like Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaqulla Khan, and Rajendranath Lahiri, whose sacrifice, he said, continues to inspire generations. He noted that while the revolutionaries seized only Rs. 4,600 from the British treasury, the colonial government spent over Rs. 10 lakh to apprehend them. The centenary program featured a tree plantation, Raksha Bandhan celebrations with young girls, cultural performances, and the release of a commemorative book. CM Yogi also honored the families of martyred soldiers and took selfies with visitors at the museum exhibit. Reinforcing Prime Minister Modis call for public participation in the Har Ghar Tiranga campaign (August 1315), CM Yogi urged citizens to hoist the national flag and participate in Tiranga Yatras across villages and towns. He emphasized the importance of economic self-reliance, encouraging people to reject foreign goods and support indigenous products during upcoming festivals. Every swadeshi purchase empowers our artisans and strengthens Indias economy, he said. CM Yogi announced that Malihabads world-famous mangoes will now be exported under the Kakori brand, honoring revolutionary legacy while boosting local development. The Chief Minister concluded by urging all citizens to visit Gandhi Ashram on October 2 and pledge to buy Khadi, saying, Every achievement has a price. Our ancestors paid it with their livesnow it's our duty to build the India they dreamed of. Deputy CM Keshav Prasad Maurya, Culture Minister Jaiveer Singh, and Mayor Sushma Kharkwal were present at the event. Raksha Bandhan is a cherished Hindu festival that celebrates the deep and unbreakable bond between brothers and sisters. This annual occasion is marked by the Rakhi tie ceremony, where sisters lovingly tie a decorative thread, or Rakhi, on their brothers wrists. In return, brothers pledge to protect their sisters and support them through every stage of life. The festival is filled with warmth, joy, and togetherness, making it one of the most awaited celebrations in India. When is Raksha Bandhan in 2025? Raksha Bandhan is celebrated each year during the full moon (Purnima) of the Hindu month of Shravana (Sawan). In 2025, the Purnima tithi begins on 8th August. However, according to the Drik Panchang, the most auspicious Rakhi tie ceremony time falls on 9th August 2025. This clarity helps families plan the days rituals perfectly without confusion. Also Read: Heres why Raksha Bandhan (Rakhi) 2025 is centurys rarest and luckiest Meaning and Significance of Raksha Bandhan Raksha Bandhan Quotes With Images The term Raksha Bandhan comes from SanskritRaksha means protection and Bandhan means bond or to tie. Together, it represents a bond of protection. While the tradition is most commonly observed between biological brothers and sisters, it also extends to cousins, brothers- and sisters-in-law, and even close friends who share a sibling-like bond. Also Read: Raksha Bandhan 2025 date & timings in UAE On Raksha Bandhan 2025, the ritual goes beyond a simple threadit symbolises love, duty, and lifelong commitment between siblings, whether related by blood or by heart. The Rakhi Tie Ceremony How Its Performed On the morning of Raksha Bandhan, sisters prepare a special puja thali with a Rakhi, roli, rice, sweets, and a diya (lamp). During the Rakhi tie ceremony, sisters place a tilak on their brothers forehead, tie the Rakhi around his wrist, and pray for his health, happiness, and prosperity. Brothers, in turn, present gifts and promise unwavering protection. This heartfelt tradition strengthens family ties and is followed by exchanging sweets, laughter, and blessings. Also Read: Raksha Bandhan date & timings in USA Raksha Bandhan 2025: City-Wise Auspicious Rakhi Tie Ceremony Timings Here are the Rakhi tie ceremony auspicious timings for major Indian cities on 9th August 2025: City Rakhi Tie Ceremony Timing New Delhi 5:47 AM to 1:24 PM Chandigarh 5:46 AM to 1:24 PM Mumbai 6:18 AM to 1:24 PM Jaipur 5:55 AM to 1:24 PM Gurgaon 5:48 AM to 1:24 PM Ahmedabad 6:14 AM to 1:24 PM Noida 5:46 AM to 1:24 PM Hyderabad 5:58 AM to 1:24 PM Bengaluru 6:07 AM to 1:24 PM Kolkata 5:11 AM to 1:24 PM Pune 6:15 AM to 1:24 PM Chennai 5:56 AM to 1:24 PM Families should aim to complete the Rakhi tie ceremony within this period for maximum blessings. Beyond Blood Relations The Broader Spirit of Raksha Bandhan While Raksha Bandhan is rooted in the sibling tradition, it is not limited to brothers and sisters by birth. Many cousins, uncles, aunts, and even close family friends celebrate the occasion. For example, a Bua (paternal aunt) may tie a Rakhi to her Bhatija (nephew), or sisters-in-law may tie Rakhis to their brothers-in-law. Also Read: Raksha Bandhan Mehndi Designs 2025 This inclusivity makes Raksha Bandhan not just a festival, but a celebration of love, trust, and unity in all relationships. Celebrating Raksha Bandhan 2025 in Modern Times In 2025, as families spread across cities and even countries, some sisters may send Rakhis by post or order them online. Virtual gatherings, video calls, and couriered gifts are becoming more common, allowing loved ones to stay connected despite the distance. Also Read: Best Rakhi colour as per your brother's zodiac sign Whether in Delhi, Mumbai, or abroad, the essence of Raksha Bandhan 2025 remains the samehonouring the sacred promise of protection, affection, and lifelong support. To stay updated on the stories that are going viral, follow Indiatimes Trending. On August 9, 2024, the body of a young woman doctor was found in a locked seminar room inside Kolkatas RG Kar Medical Colleges emergency building. Investigations revealed she had been raped and murdered. The crime triggered protests across India and drew global attention. Nearly a year later, while one man has been convicted, her family says the truth is far from fully uncovered. Cases against former officials and high court appeals In January 2025, Sealdah court convicted Kolkata Police civic volunteer Sanjoy Roy of rape and murder and sentenced him to life imprisonment. The CBI, which took over the investigation from Kolkata Police, has so far submitted five status reports, the latest in July 2025, after scanning 32 terabytes of CCTV footage and examining seven witnesses. Parallel cases linked to the incident are also being heard. The Sealdah court is trying former RG Kar principal Sandip Ghosh and then Tala police station officer-in-charge Abhijit Mondol for alleged evidence tampering. Both were arrested in September 2024 but received bail in December after the CBI failed to file a chargesheet within 90 days. Mondol remains free, while Ghosh is in custody in a separate financial irregularities case. RG Kar rape-murder protests in Kolkata | Credit: Indiatimes At the Calcutta High Court, both the CBI and West Bengal government had appealed for capital punishment for Roy, but the CBIs plea alone was admitted. Roy has filed his own appeal for acquittal, arguing the conviction relied on circumstantial evidence. Both matters will be heard in September. Financial irregularities probe Ghosh is also accused in a separate CBI case involving financial misconduct at RG Kar during his tenure. Allegations include rigged tenders for medical equipment purchases, illegal sale of unclaimed bodies, and trafficking of biomedical waste. This probe began after the Calcutta High Court transferred the matter from a state SIT to the CBI in August 2024. The chargesheet in this case was filed in November last year. Parents allegations against CBI The victims parents remain deeply dissatisfied with the investigation. They met CBI Director Praveen Sood and the Joint Director in Delhi in August 2025 but left unconvinced. The criminals who have committed the crime with my daughter, till none of them have been exposed. I believe none of them either will be. Yesterday, we went to meet the CBI director in New Delhi. the victims father told Indiatimes. The CBI director clearly told us he will be leaving our case when we asked him for updates on our daughter's case. I told him he should have said all this in the court if he did not want to take our case. I requested him to answer a few of my questions which I raised from the reports he gave me. The officer was trying to frame me to which I fought back and he again tried to mislead me. He alleged evidence destruction, questioning the immediate cremation of his daughters body. He also claimed the family received a fake death certificate only after repeated requests, two days after a high court hearing. How my daughter was murdered, everyone knows but no one is saying it, he said. Ever since the transfer to CBI I have been to Delhi 3 to 4 times and none of them have answered our questions. It cannot be that only Sanjay Roy had committed the crime. The officer said only Sanjay Roy is guilty but it cannot be the scenario. When our daughter was alive she herself used to come and detail us about the different incidents and crimes taking place in her college. I am still not sure whether Sanjay will be hanged or not. The incident that happened with my daughter, it didn't happen without a reason. There is a big chain behind the incident. It is a medicine chain. My daughter used to tell me about it. And the syndicate chain that is run by the Trinamool Congress was also involved in this the victims father told Indiatimes. Protests held in Kolkata against RG Kar rape and murder | Credit: Indiatimes Protests, promises and unfulfilled assurances Inside RG Kar, some changes have been made. According to Dr Aniket Mahato, a prominent protester from RG Kar Medical college & hospital, security has improved since the Central Force took charge. However, he also added that the emergency ward where the incident occurred still lacks adequate surveillance, promised infrastructure upgrades have not materialised, and the threat culture persists in parts of the campus. Since the past year, our college is much better in regards to security. However, I can only say this about our college and not other medical colleges of Kolkata, where issues still persist. Last year we were also promised that we will get better restrooms, washrooms and CCTV cameras in our college, which is something which is not fulfilled till now. The emergency ward where the incident happened last year still does not have CCTV cameras. There have been a few installations but they are not enough to meet the needs. The threat culture has mitigated to a great extent but it still exists and some goons try to take control as and when they get a chance to show their power. People often ask us what did we gain after so many protests? My answer to them is that to some extent we were about to bring a change as now even the recruitment number of medical duty officers, sisters and teachers has increased by 3-4% something which stopped back in 2021 Dr Mahato told Indiatimes. CM Mamata Banerjee also promised us of college elections but again that was also not done as TMC is not confident said the protesting doctor. Dr Mahato added that the victims parents remain determined. They have nothing left to lose now and will keep fighting till they get justice. For the family, the judiciary now represents the final hope. As the father puts it, How my daughter was murdered everyone knows but no one is saying it. To stay updated on the stories that are going viral follow Indiatimes Trending. The Immortal Ascension Episode 24 online: Fans of the hit C-drama The Immortal Ascension can stream Episode 24 online today, August 9, 2025, at approximately 1:00 PM KST / 4:30 AM GMT / 12:30 AM ET / 9:30 AM IST, as per the official schedule. Han Li, a quiet village boy with weak spiritual power, joins the Qixuanmen sect in hopes of achieving immortality. Alongside the strong and graceful Nangong Wan, he faces off against the sinister Wang Chan, fighting dark forces to protect his realm and fulfill his destiny. The Immortal Ascension Episode 24 online. Credit: X The Immortal Ascension: Release date and time for Episode 24 Episode 24 airs on Saturday, August 9, 2025, at 1:00 PM KST / 4:30 AM GMT / 12:30 AM ET / 9:30 AM IST on YOUKU in China. It will also be available for international viewers via streaming on YOUKU and Rakuten Viki offering English subtitles to make the series accessible to a global audience. Where to Watch The Immortal Ascension Episode 24 Online? Episode 24 is available to stream on YOUKU and Rakuten Viki, the main legal platforms offering high-quality video and English subtitles. For viewers in the U.S., Canada, India, Indonesia, YOUKU and Viki continues to be the top choice for watching the series. The Immortal Ascension: Plot highlights of Episode 24 During a fierce battle, Han faces an enemy bent on avenging Wan Xiaoshan, while Senior Liu uses his blood essence to unleash a powerful attack. The fight takes a twist when they learn their opponent is not the Black Fiend Cult's leader, but its last Blood Guard, leaving the real leader's whereabouts unknown. #TheImmortalAscension The wheels of fate have already begun to turn, quietly setting in motion a cultivation journey that spans a thousand years. As the grand game between heaven and earth unfolds, can each of them discover the answer they seek? Lead Starring: #YangYang as Han pic.twitter.com/1AASvxNyMS Youku (@YoukuOfficial) August 8, 2025 The Immortal Ascension episode 24: Spoilers Here are the spoilers for Episode 24 of the Chinese series The Immortal Ascension based on the YouTube preview: The group knows a drawn - out battle would be dangerous, so they decide to end it quickly. While some members work to stall the enemy, their leader reminds them to stick to the plan and retreat together if the fight turns against them. One warrior steps forward, determined to handle the situation alone, warning the others not to let their opponent transform. Another offers assistance. Han arrives, greeted with a cold remark, but his enemy quickly makes their intentions clear - this is revenge for what happened to Wan Xiaoshan. Fueled by rage, the foe vows to crush Han with his bare hands. Meanwhile, Han's ally notices Senior Liu using his own blood essence to unleash his most powerful weapon, realizing he's fighting with everything he has. Their enemies, however, have their own surprises. A chilling voice welcomes the intruders, telling them they won't be allowed to leave. It's revealed that the man they face is not the true leader of the Black Fiend Cult, but its last remaining Blood Guard - raising the question: where is the real leader hiding? The Immortal Ascension: Cast and Characters Starring the versatile Yang Yang - known for You Are My Glory and Fireworks of My Heart - The Immortal Ascension has become one of 2025's breakout fantasy hits, rapidly topping Youku charts and trending across social media in Asia. FAQs 1. When will Episode 24 of The Immortal Ascension be released? Answer: The Immortal Ascension Episode 24 will be released on August 9, 2025, at 1:00 PM KST / 4:30 AM GMT / 12:30 AM ET / 9:30 AM IST. 2. Where can I watch Episode 24 of The Immortal Ascension online? Answer: The Immortal Ascension Episode 24 will be available for streaming on YOUKU and Rakuten Viki, which offers English subtitles. 3. Does The Immortal Ascension have English subtitles? Answer: Yes, The Immortal Ascension is fully subtitled in English on YOUKU and Rakuten Viki including Episode 24. 4. What is the plot of Episode 24 of The Immortal Ascension? Answer: The Immortal Ascension follows Han Li a humble boy with weak powers who begins a journey of cultivation and love while battling dark forces threatening the kingdom. 5. Is The Immortal Ascension available on Netflix? Answer: No, The Immortal Ascension is not available on Netflix. The drama officially streams on YOUKU and Rakuten Viki. For more news and updates from the world of OTT, and celebrities from Bollywood and Hollywood, keep reading Indiatimes Entertainment. Dutch King Mr. Willem-Alexander and Queen Ms. Maxima are facing criticism in the Netherlands for taking a lengthy, eight-week summer vacation at their private villa in Greece, a move that contrasts with other European royals who typically holiday in their own countries. The Dutch magazine Story recently questioned why the royal couple does not vacation domestically, highlighting that the royal families of Spain Sweden , and the United Kingdom all spend their summers at residences within their own nations. The criticism echoes a previous controversy in 2020, when the couple was forced to cut short a trip to the same Greek villa and issue a public apology for traveling during COVID-19 lockdown restrictions. A royal family expert, Justin Marsela, told the magazine that the couple could learn a thing or two from their European royal peers. In response to the criticism, the Dutch palace has emphasized that King Mr. Willem-Alexander remains on call 24/7 and would return immediately in the event of a national crisis. iefimerida.gr The fire that broke out in East Attica midday was still raging out of control on Friday night. The main problem as of this writing is north of the Thymari and Triantafyllia settlements, the Fire Department said, while additional firefighters have been added to fight the multiple fronts in Maliasteka, Dimolaki and Harvalo. A total of 264 firefighters are on site , with 10 forest firefighter units on foot, 79 fire engines and a lot of volunteers and their cars . The mobile operations center 'Olympos' is coordinating efforts, while before nightfall a total of 13 aircraft and 15 helicopters, one of which is coordinating by air , were also helping. In addition, Attica Region has provided large earthmoving machinery and water trucks. The fire started at 14:00 at low brush in Manoutso of Keratea and moved fast due to gale-force winds through farms and forestland and settlements. It raged out of control and claimed the life of an elderly man as well as destroyed homes. According to the Fire Department, the man's charred body was found inside a brick structure near the original location of the fire in Togani of Keratea. He was 76 years old, while Civil Protection information based on neighbors said he lived by himself and was not in contact with his relatives. Evacuations At the same time, Greek police said they had carried out 124 rescues of citizens, of whom 35 were from a retirement home in Palea Fokea. According to the Fire Department, a large force of police officers is in the area to help residents evacuate and to regulate traffic. Earlier information said there were at least 136 police officers with 63 vehicles in the area to help. Additional help is being provided by motorcycle police Dias who were expected to arrive in the area to help wherever necessary. The Coast Guard has provided 3 inflatables near the shoreline of Palea Fokea in case evacuation is necessary, while the emergency medical service EKAV is also at hand with 12 ambulances (of which two are mobile medical units) and 2 motorcycles for first aid. At this time, EKAV rescuers and doctors have evacuated the retirement home 'I Argo', transferring 7 elderly residents to a hotel in Anavyssos for safe temporary housing. At the same time, other elderly people have been evacuated to the 'Pammakaristos' Hospital (9 persons), to the Health Center at Kalyvia (1 person) , and to the General Hospital of 'Asklipieion Voulas' (also 1). Several messages through the 112 emergency number were sent by Civil Protection in the day to residents of several settlements in the area for evacuation further south. So far, evacuations have occurred in the settlements of (Drossia, Harvalo Kerateas, Maliasteka, Aghiasma, Dimolaki, Sinterina, ATE (Agricultural Bank), Palea Fokea, Legrena, Harakas, Triantafyllia, Thymari, Katafygi, Feriza and Olympos. Meanwhile, traffic police has shut down traffic on the rural Keratea-Anavyssos road because of the fire, and other traffic changes have been introduced as the fire spreads. iefimerida.gr The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has reaffirmed its commitment to enabling eligible inmates to vote in Nigerian elections. It also called on the National Assembly to provide a clear legal framework to support the implementation of inmate voting rights. INEC Chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, disclosed this on Friday during a meeting with Correctional Service chief Sylvester Nwakuche at the Commissions Abuja headquarters. Advertisement We are aware that the right to vote is a human right which cannot be taken away from a citizen on account of time being served in a correctional facility, Yakubu stated. He cited the 2019 Court of Appeal judgment affirming inmates voting rights, especially for those awaiting trial. However, he stressed the need for legal clarity, particularly regarding Section 12(1)(e) of the Electoral Act 2022, which bars citizens under legal incapacity from voting. READ MORE:https://www.informationng.com/2025/08/inec-disqualifies-labour-party-from-edo-by-elections.html Our immediate task is to engage with the National Assembly for a clear legal provision on inmate voting, Yakubu said, adding that. Political parties also want to know if they will be allowed to campaign in the correctional facilities and appoint polling agents on election day. Yakubu acknowledged logistical challenges like registration access, polling unit creation, and observer coverage but assured that INEC is working with stakeholders to address them. In his remarks, Nwakuche urged INEC to implement inmate voting rights, stating that over 81,000 inmates are in custody, with 66% awaiting trial. He referenced recent court rulings confirming that voting is a constitutional right for inmates who have not been convicted. Yakubu concluded: The right to vote is only exercisable when asserted voluntarily by a citizen and not imposed by force of authority. The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has foiled a planned terrorist attack in Rann, Borno State, through a coordinated airstrike that killed several insurgents. In a statement issued on Friday, the NAF Director of Public Relations and Information, Air Commodore Edward Ehimen Ejodame, confirmed the air operation. He said the strike was carried out under Operation Hadin Kai (OPHK) after credible intelligence revealed an imminent attack on troops. Advertisement Upon receiving intelligence, ground troops in Rann were swiftly alerted, and ISR platforms identified clusters of insurgents attempting to flee, the statement read. Precision air strikes were launched, neutralising several fighters and halting the assault. The airstrike, conducted in the early hours of Friday, restored calm to the area and averted what could have been a deadly ambush. READ MORE:https://www.informationng.com/2025/08/ekiti-2026-apc-releases-election-timetable-sets-august-26-for-sale-of-forms-costing-%e2%82%a650m.html The operation demonstrated the effectiveness of coordination between air surveillance and ground forces. Air Commodore Ejodame emphasised the NAFs commitment to protecting national security and supporting ground troops. This operation underscores our unwavering commitment to providing close air support, safeguarding our troops, and swiftly eliminating insurgent threats wherever they emerge, he stated. Rann, which lies near Nigerias border with Cameroon, has long been a hotspot for insurgent activity, often facing attacks by Boko Haram and ISWAP elements. Fridays successful mission is considered a major boost to morale and security in the region, especially as military operations intensify in the northeast. A community chief in Osun State has been arrested for allegedly forcing a young man to drink a poisonous substance after accusing him of stealing corn. The incident happened in the Ireti Ayo area of Ilesa, where the 25-year-old victim, identified as Ebenezer, was caught with two pieces of corn. The chief, identified as Chief Ajibade, reportedly threatened the suspect with a cutlass and forced a harmful substance down his throat. Advertisement Confirming the arrest in a statement on Thursday, August 7, 2025, Osun Police spokesperson, Abiodun Ojelabi, said the victim was taken to the Wesley Guild Hospital in Ilesa after the incident. READ MORE:https://www.informationng.com/2025/08/adc-may-cause-political-earthquake-in-2027-primate-ayodele.html The boy allegedly stole two pieces of corn from the mans farm, he said. The man caught the suspect, beat him up, and mixed a substance which he then forced the boy to drink. Ojelabi noted that the victim was rushed to the hospital by concerned residents. Doctors at the hospital were able to stabilize him. He is alive and in a stable condition, he added. Tragedy, however, struck when the victims father was wrongly informed that his son had died from the poisoning. Some people went to the father and told him that his son had died. The father, seized by shock, gave up the ghost, the police spokesperson revealed. Chief Ajibade, 62, was later arrested in Ipetu Ijesa and has been transferred to Osogbo for further investigation. Police say a full probe into the incident is ongoing. The Rivers State Police Command has dismantled a sophisticated inter-state car snatching syndicate linked to an international network, arresting 12 suspects and recovering 22 stolen vehicles. Among those arrested was a dismissed police officer found in possession of 11 vehicles at the time of his arrest. Additionally, three ex-convicts believed to have been recruited into the illicit operation were also taken into custody. In a statement issued on Thursday in Port Harcourt, the state police spokesperson, Grace Iringe-Koko, revealed that the arrests followed a major intelligence-driven operation. The investigation began after a victim, Enoch Daniel, reported that his Toyota Hiace was forcibly taken at gunpoint in Onne, Eleme Local Government Area. Advertisement READ MORE: Facebook User Granted Bail Over Alleged Defamatory Remarks Targeting Lizzy Anjorin One suspect reportedly admitted to making N5 million over eight months from the criminal activities. The syndicates members were traced to Akwa Ibom and Kano states, where some were arrested. The statement reads, In a major intelligence-led operation, the Rivers State Police Command successfully dismantled a sophisticated car theft syndicate operating across multiple states in Nigeria. The operation led to the arrest of 12 male suspects and the recovery of 22 stolen vehicles. The case began in September 2024 after a report by Mr. Enoch Daniel, who was dispossessed of his Toyota Hiace bus at the Trailer Park, Onne. Swift investigations by the commands C4i Strike Force/Octopus team led to the arrest of John Amadi, 40 years from Ogu/Bolo LGA of Rivers State, and Nna Goodluck, 45 years, from Khana LGA, Rivers State. Both ex-convicts confessed they were hired by one Godspower Okpa to snatch the vehicle using hammers and were paid N90,000 each. Further investigations extended to Oyibo (Rivers), Kano, and Akwa Ibom, resulting in the arrest of key suspects including, Yakubu Abdullah (m), 35 years, apprehended in Oyibo during a pickup; Abdulkareem Saminu (m), 35 years, caught with two stolen vehicles and Adamu Musa (m), a dismissed police officer from Akwa Ibom, in possession of 11 vehicles. The syndicate is coordinated by Falco Ibrahim, m, currently at large, whose network spans Rivers, Anambra, Taraba, Enugu, Borno, Kano, Delta, and Akwa Ibom states. Vehicles were smuggled via his agent, Shehu Shagari, (m), now in custody, and sold in Cameroon either whole or as parts. Other arrested members include Onyekachi Igwe (m), 53 years, an ex-convict and Port Harcourt liaison, who confessed to earning over N5m in eight months; Ikechukwu Joseph, (m), 35 years and Michael Emerenwa, (m), 40 years, both auto-electricians who modified vehicles for export. Elijah Nwauwa Sunday (m) 45 years, a self-styled pastor from Owerri, Imo State, who fronted as a spiritual leader while acting as the syndicates broker at Mgbuka-Obosi car scrap market, Onitsha; and Samuel Ejigbo, (m), 39 years from Kogi State, an ex-convict and field operator in Port Harcourt. Umar Jabbo, m, 25 years from Taraba State, caught attempting to purchase a stolen Toyota Camry. The police image maker noted that this operation highlights the commands commitment to making Rivers State a difficult place for criminals and urged residents to stay alert and assist the police with reliable information. All suspects will be charged to court upon the conclusion of investigations, while efforts continue to arrest the ringleader and other fleeing accomplices. The Rivers State Police Command remains committed to the safety and security of all residents. These operations reflect a broader strategy to dismantle criminal networks and ensure public confidence in law enforcement, the statement concluded. In the world of cloud computing, trust is everything. Businesses migrate to the cloud because they expect reliability, scalability, and uninterrupted operations, regardless of their location or external pressures that may arise. But what happens when these foundational expectations are jeopardized? Recent events involving Microsoft and Nayara Energy suggest that trust in public cloud providers is being eroded, especially among businesses operating outside the United States, and driving a growing movement toward sovereign and private cloud solutions. Microsoft collides with geopolitics The recent dispute began on July 18, 2025, when the European Union (EU) announced a fresh round of sanctions targeting Russia to exert economic pressure related to the war in Ukraine. In the fine print of the EU sanctions, Nayara Energy (a major oil refinery in India) was flagged due to its 49% ownership by Russias state oil company, Rosneft. The EU accused Nayara of contributing revenue to the Russian government and, as a result, made it subject to sanctions. Shortly after the announcement, U.S.-based Microsoft took action by suspending Nayara Energys access to its Teams and Outlook services. Essentially, Microsoft acted as an enforcer of the EU sanctions, cutting off a customer from cloud services it had paid for. From Microsofts perspective, this action might have seemed unavoidableif it didnt comply with the EUs sanctions, the company could face legal or financial repercussions. But from Nayara Energys view, this was nothing short of a unilateral disruption of its business activities by a foreign entity. A 43-year-old Bucks County man was charged with planting a bomb that exploded and destroyed an SUV in New Jersey owned by a former work supervisor, the U.S. Attorneys Office in New Jersey said Thursday. Michael Patrick Takacs, Jr., of Warminster, is accused of planting and detonating a bomb that blew up a silver Ford Explorer in the driveway of the victim in Delran, Burlington County, on July 26. Advertisement Takacs made an initial appearance on Thursday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Matthew J. Skahill in federal court in Camden. Skahil ordered that Takacs be held pending further court proceedings. Acting U.S. Attorney Alina Habba said in a statement: Disgruntled individuals who seek retaliation in such dangerous ways ways that could have seriously injured not only the victim, but others in the community, cannot be tolerated." Assistant Federal Public Defender Thomas Young, who is representing, Takacs, could not be reached for comment. Shortly after 2:40 a.m. July 26, the bomb detonated in the vicinity of the Ford Explorer, the criminal complaint said. No injuries were reported, but the explosion created a debris field 100 feet in diameter, with nails and bolts lodged in the SUV and in nearby homes. About two minutes before the explosion, surveillance video was recorded showing a dark-colored SUV, later identified as a Jeep Renegade, parked across the street from the victims home, the complaint said. A person got out carrying a black object, approached the drivers side of the victims Ford Explorer, returned to the Jeep Renegade empty-handed and drove away. Video shows the Jeep Renegade pass in front of the targeted persons home at high speed, followed immediately by a large explosion, the complaint said. Investigators believe the driver of the Jeep Renegade remotely detonated the device. Takacs was terminated from his job in May, and the SUV owner was one of his supervisors, the complaint said. Investigators allegedly found the same type of Jeep Renegade parked near Takacs home in Warminster. Just weeks before the explosion, Takacs purchased from a website detonators consistent with the detonator found at the scene of the explosion, the complaint said. Takacs allegedly took a screenshot in early June of an online map showing the SUV owners residence, and he allegedly had a conversation with someone about buying a license plate flipper, which would conceal a license plate at the push of a button. FBI Special Agent in Charge Stefanie Roddy said in a statement: We worked around the clock and developed evidence in just days to allege Takacs built the bomb and took very specific steps to avoid detection. Our most important mission in these types of investigations is to protect the public from injury or death by preventing additional attacks. Roddy added: The people of New Jersey do not always get to see the swift and incredible work done by the FBI and our law enforcement partners, but this case illustrates what we do and the way we do it is vital to the communities we serve. The June 19 shooting at Oxford Valley mall sent customers and employees in a panic, ducking for cover amid store shelves. Read more A Philadelphia man, with a revolver tucked into his backpack, rode the bus to the Oxford Valley Mall on Juneteenth and shot a man, who he evidently believed he knew, at point-blank range, police said Friday. Shannon Lewis, 30, then fled the chaos he caused, which shuttered the Langhorne shopping destination and sent customers and employees into a panic, ducking for cover amid store shelves, according to the affidavit of probable cause for his arrest. Advertisement Lewis, of East Germantown, was arrested early Friday and charged with aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and firearms violations for carrying a gun without a license. Bucks County District Attorney Jen Schorn said detectives identified and tracked down Lewis using a variety of databases, including surveillance footage from SEPTA buses Lewis took to and from the mall, and his cellphone data. This investigation highlights the critical role that both advanced technology and old-fashioned police work play in solving crimes, Schorn said. Detectives used every tool at their disposal to piece together the evidence in this case, and their meticulous work was key to identifying and apprehending a dangerous individual. Lewis remained in custody in lieu of 10% of $750,000 bail, and there was no indication he had hired an attorney to represent him. Witnesses told police that a man, later identified as Lewis, approached the victim in the mall just after 5 p.m. near the Victorias Secret store, the affidavit said. Lewis asked the man if he was from Trenton, and when the man declined to answer his question, Lewis pulled out a revolver and shot him in his left arm without further provocation. One witness told police she overheard the victim ask Lewis, You really pulling the heater out, shortly before the shot is fired. The victim was taken to a local hospital for treatment and has since recovered from his injuries, according to police. Prosecutors said it was unclear why Lewis shot the man the two had never met before. After the shooting, Lewis fled the mall and ran toward the nearby Woodbourne Train Station, where SEPTA records show he boarded a train at 5:25 p.m., according to the affidavit. Using those records, investigators were able to track down and identify Lewis. His cellphone records confirmed he was in the area of the mall at the time of the shooting, the affidavit said. Court records show Lewis pleaded guilty in 2017 to carrying a gun in public in Philadelphia, and he was sentenced to three years probation. He is scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing Aug. 21. Cescaphe CEO and cofounder Joe Volpe at his then-new venue, Switch House, inside The Battery along the Delaware River in this February 2024 file photo. Volpe plans to open a winery in Bucks County this fall. Read more The Philadelphia region will soon have a new vineyard, thanks to a titan of the citys high-end wedding industry. Joe Volpe, CEO of event company Cescaphe, said he plans to open Blind Fox Vineyard this fall in the Upper Bucks County community of Erwinna. The sprawling property at 755 River Rd. was home to Sand Castle Winery before Volpe purchased it last year for $2.35 million, according to county property records. Advertisement The vineyard will not be part of Cescaphe, according to company executives, and there are currently no plans to host weddings or events there. However, it will make private-label wines to be served at Cescaphes nine Philadelphia venues, including Water Works near Boathouse Row, Tendenza in Northern Liberties, and the Bellevue Hotels two ballrooms, which the company acquired last year. READ MORE: From 2024: Cescaphes made-in-Philly wedding empire hosted over 750 nuptials last year, and has no plans to slow down We are always looking for ways to take the wedding experience to the next level, Volpe said in a statement. The opportunity to own and operate a vineyard where we could curate premium wines for our couples and their guests to enjoy felt like an obvious next step for my wife, Andrea, and I. When the winery opens this fall, it is set to feature two tasting rooms, vineyard tours, and outdoor spaces for seasonal tastings, executives said. Our estate-grown wines, European-inspired tasting room and wine cellar welcomes family, friends, and new acquaintances to come together, reads a description of the vineyard on its website. Andrew Misialek, a native of the Philadelphia region with nearly a decade of experience in Napa Valley, will be the head winemaker, with executives saying he will cultivate a diverse selection of European varietals, including Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Riesling, and Pinot Noir. Volpe declined to disclose how much money his family is putting into renovations at the vineyard. The name Blind Fox is an homage to Volpes late mother, Lucille, who was legally blind. Volpe means fox in Italian. Craig LaBan is recused from the formal full-length review of Tequilas because of the reporting trip he took to Mexico with founder David Suro Sr. in 2023. Kiki Aranita reviewed it in his stead, following similar critical practices for instance, eating multiple meals over a period of time and making reservations under aliases to avoid detection. The Inquirer pays for all travel and meals eaten by its journalists. Tequilas is large. Tequilas contains multitudes. Over the course of three months of dining, I have tried to put my finger on what this new era of Tequilas is. Every visit to the conjoined concepts of Tequilas and its new counterpart, La Jefa, has been like cracking open a matryoshka doll, each layer revealing yet another one. Theres the classic Tequilas, with its boisterous dining room splayed out beneath the antique, storied Baccarat chandelier, and La Jefa, which is an all-day cafe, a sunlit brunch spot, and a moody cocktail bar itself with two distinct concepts in one. Advertisement At my first time dining at Tequilas in May, a tamal de acelgas was placed before me, masa woven with ribbons of swiss chard, tucked carefully into a folded banana leaf. It was dotted with green salsa and blanketed with a snowfall of Parmesan. It was so light and fluffy that it made me question if I even knew what a tamal was. My dining companion, who grew up in Celaya in Guanajuato state, and I elbowed each other to devour the rest of it, scraping its banana leaf cocoon for every last morsel of masa. It was a dish that set the course, and high expectations, for ensuing visits, which coincided with the rolling openings of Tequilas dining room, La Jefa, the adjoining all-day cafe, and La Jefa Milpa, the cocktail bar tucked into the back of the space. In 1985, David Suro Sr. was 24 years old and working at El Metate, a Mexican restaurant at 1511 Locust St. He purchased it and renamed it Tequilas. In 2001, he moved the restaurant to its present location, at 1602 Locust St., briefly calling it Los Catrines Restaurant and Tequilas bar. It expanded Philadelphians understanding of Mexican food at a time when dried chiles, avocados, and cilantro were not commonplace ingredients in the city. A fire destroyed its kitchen in February 2023 and rendered the Rittenhouse fixture immobile for eight months before reconstruction could begin. Tequilas was ultimately closed for two years, during which it was mourned by longtime regulars. It reopened on March 15 this year, coinciding with Suros 64th birthday. It felt like I was starting all over again, he said in a phone interview. Indeed, after two years of working with the insurance company, contractors, artists, and consultants from Guadalajara, Suro and his family have opened a brand new restaurant, and an old one. Immediately after the fire, We decided to divide Tequilas into two restaurants, Suro said. We decided to maintain Tequilas and keep it the way it was, but we added La Jefa into the equation. The revamped Tequilas proper, its walls and ornate crown molding color-washed in sage like the ballroom of Merida mansion, which you access after stepping into a foyer painted with skeletons, is the old Tequilas resurrected, just a little spruced up. Enter the dining room and bless yourself at the entrance from the stoup filled with tequila. Fittingly, Tequilas strongest presences are a trinity: father, son, and a library of agave spirits. Seeking to bring more of the contemporary Guadalajara food scene to Philadelphia, the Suros enlisted Guadalajara-based Fabian Delgado Padilla as the consulting chef. He designed two menus for the conjoined concepts, executed in the same kitchen, by chefs and cousins Eduardo Moreno Sanchez and Jessica Sandoval. The reimagined Tequilas menu is a parade of dishes familiar to an American audience, including updated versions of Tequilas beloved ceviche and molcajete de pollo, but also dishes that reach further into the Mexican culinary canon, like the mole dulce which, unlike Oaxacan moles, pairs mole with pork. Where Tequilas is classic, dinner at La Jefa is innovative, serving ceviches, aguachiles, tostadas that center vegetables over meat, and tacos that I will never tire of eating. While rooted in Guadalajara, Tequilas menu is tinged with influences from Baja California, especially its seafood dishes; Tamaulipas, from which the carne asada la tampiquena gets its inspiration; Sinaloa; and Yucatan. Theres an excellent, straightforward Caesar salad ($18), a quarter of a head of romaine painted with a classical Tijuana Caesar dressing and topped with a cascade of Parmesan, served with a crisped slice of a rustic loaf from Mighty Bread. The chile relleno ($24) blends regional traditions: It resembles the Poblano chiles en nogada but in place of a creamy walnut sauce is a Yucatecan green pipian sauce. Bring a party, as entrees are hefty, most ample enough to share with a table of four. The barbacoa tapatia ($34) of tender, pulled brisket in a moat of consomme and an ancho and guajillo chile sauce is practically a stew, which I spooned on to hot, wonderfully elastic corn tortillas the product of a robust corn program executed in collaboration with chef Cristina Martinez of Casa Mexico. She provides the masa for us and we make our tortillas from it in house, Suro said. We didnt have a solid tortilla program back then, but now we do. One person in the kitchen is now dedicated solely to making tortillas. Dishes like the barbacoa, along with a hearty chicken tinga poblana ($32), served with two bean-filled empanadas and topped with pink pickled onions and large, floppy petals of purslane, make me forget that Im in Philadelphia. The fistfuls of tart, sap-filled purslane, or verdolagas, are redolent of the enormous bouquets I had seen for sale in Central de Abasto, the worlds largest wholesale produce market, outside of Mexico City. But the food at Tequilas is not always consistent, which can quickly jolt you back to Philadelphia. The first two times I ordered the tamal de acelgas, I fought off my dining companions as we vied for bites of this airy, miraculous thing. A third time, it was a dense brick. It can be difficult to translate the vibrancy of cochinita, the slow-roasted pork dish that, in Yucatan, sparkles with the bitter oranges and the smoke of a pibil or pit, to any kitchen stateside, but both times I ordered it at Tequilas, it was distinctly bland. The mole dulce ($34), which consists of crisped, inch-wide slabs of pork belly interlaced with grilled scallions in a pool of sweet mole sauce rendered from pasilla peppers, dark chocolate, and walnuts, sprinkled with white sesame seeds and crowned with purslane a recipe passed down to Delgado from his grandmother was meltingly magnificent on one night and leathery on another. In 2005, Suro founded Siembra Spirits, his importing company that also produces agave spirits under its own label. Through it, he has educated Americans, including Craig LaBan, about mezcal culture, agave production, and its agricultural threats. The Tequilas cocktail menu consists of 14 drinks, half of which are margaritas in contrast to both La Jefa and another Mexican fine dining restaurant that just opened, Ama both of which pointedly do not serve them. The house margarita comes in two forms: one using earthier, vegetal lowland tequila and the other a highland, which is generally sweeter and more floral. There are seasonal margaritas, too, like a refreshing cucumber and epazote margarita garnished with an erect epazote leaf and kissed with Raiz, a Portuguese skin contact wine made from loureiro grapes (which is also on the menu by the glass). To uncover the full library of spirits available to you, you must have a conversation with someone behind the bar; those card catalogs exist in their heads. Twenty employees, or roughly 90% of the staff, worked at Tequilas before the fire. Speak with one of them: Youll see them delivering margaritas balanced upon their heads and occasionally slamming cucaracha shots in front of patrons celebrating birthdays while belting out Las Mananitas. General manager Oscar Serrano, who has been at Tequilas for 29 years, displays an enthusiasm as infectious as it is educational, distilling a vast amount of agave knowledge into tableside recommendations. When Tequilas was closed, I was here four days a week doing nothing during the day, he said. I was here for support, drinking mezcal. And Id work three nights a week in South Philly. The operation is a family affair, run by David Suro Sr., sons David Suro-Cipolloni Jr. and Dan Suro-Cipolloni, and daughter Elisa Suro-Cipolloni; La Jefa is named in honor of Annette Cipolloni, their late mother. While Suro roams the grand dining room of Tequilas as an avuncular presence, Dan Suro-Cipolloni helms La Jefa, dashing between the two concepts though a hallway flanked by the shared kitchen and restrooms. (Neither technically hold any stake in Tequilas or La Jefa; tied-house laws that originated during Prohibition preclude it because of their ownership of Siembra Spirits.) The expansion that created the space for La Jefa into the former stables of the Duane-Dulles House, a mansion built in 1864 offered the Suros a new opportunity: to incorporate the gastronomic concepts they were observing in Mexico into their restaurant in Philadelphia. Suro sees Tequilas as foundational, but La Jefa [represents] todays Guadalajara, he said. I have always been in favor of not interrupting the evolution of Mexican food through the centuries. If we dont evolve, we are putting our longevity into jeopardy. So La Jefa represents Tequilas future. La Jefa resembles modern Mexican fine dining vegetable-forward but still indulgent, hinging on fried corn, with half the menu falling under their fritanga category. That includes puffed corn salbutes, dorados or rolled tacos, and a marvelous quesadilla de calabaza rendered from a bicolor tortilla. But brunch feels like a true melding of Guadalajara and Philadelphia, encompassing thoughtful interpretations of chilaquiles ($16), which at La Jefa are salsa roja-soaked, still-crisp corn tortillas swaddled inside a paper-thin egg omelet with a tangle of queso Oaxaca, and served with crema and a salad of arugula, pea shoots, and pickled ayocote beans. On one visit, I shared a pastrami de lengua sandwich ($18) of housemade pastrami, chile relish, red cabbage coleslaw, and chile mayo on grainy sliced bread with my Jewish in-laws, who, in shock, declared it the best pastrami sandwich in the tristate area. The barbacoa sandwich ($17), is served French dip style, on a crusty baguette with a cup of rich, beefy consomme. People in Guadalajara arent going out for Mexican food, Suro-Cipolloni said. Places there have their roots in Mexican food but theyre doing their own thing. Still, perhaps no aspect of La Jefa is more forward-thinking than its beverage program, which is split between the day-time cafe that shifts into a casual, front room to gather a group for cocktails at night, and the more refined La Jefa Milpa behind the velvet curtains. A collaboration with James Beard award-winning Danny Childs of Slow Drinks, the beverage program is defined by in-house fermentation, corn manipulated into innumerable drinks and distillates from tejuino (a fermented beverage made from the same masa as their tacos) for its jejuichela, or citywide, to a totomoxtle latte with a syrup made in-house from charred corn husks and flourishes like cooked agave hearts in cocktails. We put way too much work into all of them, Suro-Cipolloni said. The new Tequilas and La Jefa are a balancing act, tethering two cities on either side of a border, and straddling the past and a new future, striving to make old customers happy and bring in new ones. Like Janus, the Roman god of beginnings and transitions, it has two faces or two entrances, looking forward and looking back. Its up to you which entrance you choose, but youll find the same principles, hospitality, and culinary obsessions at its heart. Tequilas (1602 Locust St.) is open for dinner from 5 to 9:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 4 to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. La Jefa (1605 Latimer St.) operates as a cafe seven days a week from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., serves dinner 5 to 10 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday, and until 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. La Jefa Milpa is open 5 p.m. to 12 a.m. Wednesday, Thursday, and Sunday, and until 1 a.m. Friday and Saturday. The operations are conjoined and can be accessed through a door between the shared restrooms and kitchen. BISSAU, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- China has played a key role in "building bridges of understanding among peoples" around the world, a senior official of Guinea-Bissau has said. Aly Hijazi, Guinea-Bissau's minister responsible for military veteran affairs, made the remarks on Wednesday during a ceremony held at the Chinese Embassy in Guinea-Bissau to mark the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War. "I acknowledge the commitment of the Chinese authorities to promoting a fairer world and a better future for all," Hijazi said. "Chinese diplomacy is marked by peace." Reflecting on history, the minister highlighted the Chinese people's resistance against the Japanese invasion, noting that "the success of the Chinese revolution inspired the struggle of many African peoples." For his part, Chinese Ambassador to Guinea-Bissau Yang Renhuo said the Chinese people's resistance was a "struggle for justice against evil," and the victory laid a solid foundation for the establishment of world peace. Unionized nurses at Pottstown Hospital signed a new three-year contract with the hospital. Read more Nearly 300 unionized nurses at Pottstown Hospital voted overwhelmingly Wednesday night to approve a new three-year contract on the eve of a strike deadline. Members of Pottstown Nurses United, the union representing nurses at the Montgomery County hospital, ratified the contract with 96% voting in favor. Advertisement After more than nine months of bargaining with the hospitals leadership, the nurses union last week set an Aug. 6 deadline to either approve a contract or authorize a strike. Union leaders said the new contract is a hard-fought win for front-line RNs and for patients. This contract, so long in the making, prioritizes nurse retention and wages and working conditions to attract new hires to the bedside, Pottstown United president Lori Domin said in a news release. Pottstown Nurses United is part of Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals, an 11,000-member union known as PASNAP. A union spokesperson provided contract details in an email to The Inquirer on Thursday: Wage increases, including automatic pay raises tied to experience. Full-time employees will receive a $1,600 ratification bonus. Part-time and per diem workers will receive $1,100. Nurses who are trained and skilled in a specialty, such as intensive care or emergency medicine, cannot be reassigned to units or patients outside their area of expertise. A pledge by hospital administrators to maintain safe staffing levels. A renewed and revamped commitment by the hospital to monitor, investigate, and prevent workplace violence, which has escalated in hospitals locally and nationally. When hospitals struggle to recruit and retain healthcare workers, its patients who feel the consequences, said PASNAP President Maureen May, a longtime NICU nurse at Temple University Hospital. When we invest in caregivers, we are directly investing in the quality of care our patients receive. Philadelphia-area hospitals and medical facilities nationwide have struggled with a shortage of bedside nurses in the wake of the pandemic. It took nine long months to get here, Pottstown Hospital orthopedic nurse Diana Pagnotti said, but for what it means for our patients, for our community, and for each other, it was worth it. In a statement Thursday, Tower Health, a nonprofit corporation that acquired Pottstown Hospital in 2017, said it was pleased to come to an agreement: We deeply appreciate the dedication of our nurses and all caregivers to delivering high-quality care, and we look forward to working collaboratively under this new agreement to advance the health and well-being of the communities we serve. FILE - Apollo 13 commander James A. Lovell speaks during a televised news conference at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, Texas, April 21, 1970, pointing to the spot on the service module where an explosion ripped a panel loose. Read more CHICAGO James Lovell, the commander of Apollo 13 who helped turn a failed moon mission into a triumph of on-the-fly can-do engineering, has died. He was 97. Lovell died Thursday in Lake Forest, Illinois, NASA said in a statement on Friday. Advertisement Jims character and steadfast courage helped our nation reach the Moon and turned a potential tragedy into a success from which we learned an enormous amount, NASA said. We mourn his passing even as we celebrate his achievements. One of NASAs most traveled astronauts in the agencys first decade, Lovell flew four times Gemini 7, Gemini 12, Apollo 8 and Apollo 13 with the two Apollo flights riveting the folks back on Earth. Lovell and fellow astronauts Fred Haise and Jack Swigert received renewed fame with the retelling of the Apollo 13 mission in the 1995 movie Apollo 13 where actor Tom Hanks portraying Lovell famously said, Houston, we have a problem. In 1968, the Apollo 8 crew of Lovell, Frank Borman and William Anders was the first to leave Earths orbit and the first to fly to and circle the moon. They could not land, but they put the U.S. ahead of the Soviets in the space race. Letter writers told the crew that their stunning pale blue dot photo of Earth from the moon, a world first, and the crews Christmas Eve reading from Genesis saved America from a tumultuous 1968. The Apollo 13 mission had a lifelong impact on Lovell But the big rescue mission was still to come. That was during the harrowing Apollo 13 flight in 1970. Lovell was supposed to be the fifth man to walk on the moon. But Apollo 13s service module, carrying Lovell and two others, experienced a sudden oxygen tank explosion on its way to the moon. The astronauts barely survived, spending four cold and clammy days in the cramped lunar module as a lifeboat. The thing that I want most people to remember is (that) in some sense it was very much of a success, Lovell said during a 1994 interview. Not that we accomplished anything, but a success in that we demonstrated the capability of (NASA) personnel. A retired Navy captain known for his calm demeanor, Lovell told a NASA historian that his brush with death affected him. I dont worry about crises any longer, he said in 1999. Whenever he has a problem, I say, I could have been gone back in 1970. Im still here. Im still breathing. So, I dont worry about crises. Lovell had ice water in his veins like other astronauts, but he didnt display the swagger some had, just quiet confidence, said Smithsonian Institution historian Roger Launius. He called Lovell a very personable, very down-to-earth type of person, who says This is what I do. Yes, theres risk involved. I measure risk. Lovell spent about 30 days in space across 4 missions In all, Lovell flew four space missions and until the Skylab flights of the mid-1970s, he held the world record for the longest time in space with 715 hours, 4 minutes and 57 seconds. He was a member of really the first generation of American astronauts and went on to inspire multiple generations of Americans to look at the stars and want to explore, said Bruce McClintock, who leads the RAND Corp. Space Enterprise Initiative. Aboard Apollo 8, Lovell described the oceans and land masses of Earth. What I keep imagining, is if I am some lonely traveler from another planet, what I would think about the Earth at this altitude, whether I think it would be inhabited or not, he remarked. That mission may be as important as the historic Apollo 11 moon landing, a flight made possible by Apollo 8, Launius said. I think in the history of space flight, I would say that Jim was one of the pillars of the early space flight program, Gene Kranz, NASAs legendary flight director, once said. Lovell was immortalized by Tom Hanks portrayal But if historians consider Apollo 8 and Apollo 11 the most significant of the Apollo missions, it was during Lovells last mission that he came to embody for the public the image of the cool, decisive astronaut. The Apollo 13 crew of Lovell, Haise and Swigert was on the way to the moon in April 1970, when an oxygen tank from the spaceship exploded 200,000 miles from Earth. That, Lovell recalled, was the most frightening moment in this whole thing. Then oxygen began escaping and we didnt have solutions to get home. We knew we were in deep, deep trouble, he told NASAs historian. Four-fifths of the way to the moon, NASA scrapped the mission. Suddenly, their only goal was to survive. Lovells Houston, weve had a problem, a variation of a comment Swigert had radioed moments before, became famous. What unfolded over the next four days captured the imagination of the world. With Lovell commanding the spacecraft, Kranz led hundreds of flight controllers and engineers in a furious rescue plan. The plan involved the astronauts moving from the service module, which was hemorrhaging oxygen, into the cramped, dark and frigid lunar lander while they rationed their dwindling oxygen, water and electricity. Using the lunar module as a lifeboat, they swung around the moon, aimed for Earth and raced home. There is never a guarantee of success when it comes to space, McClintock said. Lovell showed a leadership role and heroic efforts in the recovery of Apollo 13. By coolly solving the problems under the most intense pressure imaginable, the astronauts and the crew on the ground became heroes. In the process of turning what seemed routine into a life-and-death struggle, the entire flight team had created one of NASAs finest moments. They demonstrated to the world they could handle truly horrific problems and bring them back alive, said Launius. He regretted never being able to walk on the moon The loss of the opportunity to walk on the moon is my one regret, Lovell said in a 1995 interview with The Associated Press. President Bill Clinton agreed when he awarded Lovell the Congressional Space Medal of Honor in 1995. While you may have lost the moon ... you gained something that is far more important perhaps: the abiding respect and gratitude of the American people, he said. Lovell once said that while he was disappointed he never walked on the moon, The mission itself and the fact that we triumphed over certain catastrophe does give me a deep sense of satisfaction. And Lovell clearly understood why this failed mission afforded him far more fame than had Apollo 13 accomplished its goal. Going to the moon, if everything works right, its like following a cookbook. Its not that big a deal, he told the AP in 2004. If something goes wrong, thats what separates the men from the boys. James A. Lovell was born March 25, 1928, in Cleveland. He attended the University of Wisconsin before transferring to the U.S. Naval Academy, in Annapolis, Maryland. On the day he graduated in 1952, he and his wife, Marilyn, were married. A test pilot at the Navy Test Center in Patuxent River, Maryland, Lovell was selected as an astronaut by NASA in 1962. Lovell retired from the Navy and from the space program in 1973, and went into private business. In 1994, he and Jeff Kluger wrote Lost Moon, the story of the Apollo 13 mission and the basis for the film Apollo 13. In one of the final scenes, Lovell appeared as a Navy captain, the rank he actually had. He and his family ran a now-closed restaurant in suburban Chicago, Lovells of Lake Forest. His wife, Marilynn, died in 2023. Survivors include four children. In a statement, his family hailed him as their hero. We will miss his unshakeable optimism, his sense of humor, and the way he made each of us feel we could do the impossible, his family said. He was truly one of a kind. The alligator found in Bristol Townships Magnolia Lake, in a screengrab from a video posted by the township police department. The video was recorded by a man fishing from a kayak. Read more Gone fishing for an alligator? Thats what happened to Ricky Sanchez, who posted Instagram videos of himself fishing in Bristol Townships Magnolia Lake on Thursday when a small alligator tugged onto his fishing line. Advertisement I swear to you, I got a alligator. No way bro. A baby gator. Its going to break my line, Sanchez is heard shouting from a kayak in his first video, which has been viewed more than 403,00 times. In the second video, Sanchez paddles closer to the alligator, who side-eyes him from just above the water before police officers are filmed arriving. Grab it, the officers instructed Sanchez to do. He responded cheekily. Profanities fly in both videos. The Bucks County townships police department confirmed the sighting on Facebook on Thursday evening, asking residents to avoid the creek for the time being. We have been made aware of a small alligator that is swimming in the area of Magnolia Lake, the Bristol police wrote. We have notified the Wildlife and Game Commission, who will be addressing this situation." Neither Sanchez or the Bristol Township police department could be immediately reached for comment, though the latter did a quip for the alligator-obsessed. If youre looking to check out some alligators, weve heard theres a great exhibit at Adventure Aquarium in Camden, they added on Facebook. Commenters were not as amused. Yall wouldnt last an hour in Florida, wrote one user. Ill go catch it if youre afraid, wrote another. Sanchez told Fox29 that he intended to pull the gator out of the water and wouldve been successful had the reptile not broken his line. I didnt believe it with my own eyes. I thought it was a big fish. I was excited about a fish then I got excited for an alligator, Sanchez said to Fox29. My heart wanted to come out. The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission does not regulate the possession of non-native reptiles, which means there is no state permit required to own an alligator. Bristol Township, however, prohibits keeping wild or exotic animals including alligators or crocodiles outside of designated facilities such as zoos. The nameless gator was captured Thursday night by Kyle Asplundh, a Florida-based crocodile rescuer who was visiting family in New Hope and heard about the four-foot long reptile swimming around Magnolia Lake. Naturally, his Instagram username is @crocodilekyle_6. I was able to quickly put eyes on the animal, but it was rather shy due to several other individuals in the location. ... The alligator retreated to a thick patch of lilies which actually worked out in my favor to sneak up on him, Asplundh posted to Instagram on Friday. Once I was able to secure him, Asplundh continued in the caption, I proceeded to head to the bank where I was met with three park rangers that were very respectful and appreciative for taking care of their problem. Asplundh told the Bucks County Courier Times that the gator will be quarantined on his familys property in Bucks County before being transported to the sanctuary Asplundh runs in Jupiter, Fla. There, Asplundh said, the animal will joined by more than 350 other rescues. See ya later, Bristol Township alligator. Howard Robinson, partner of Rosalee McDonald, and father to four of the children who died in the fire, at the funeral to honor and remember the lives of the 12 people lost during the Fairmont rowhouse fire, at the Liacouras Center, in Philadelphia, Jan. 17, 2022. Read more A federal judge on Thursday dismissed the Philadelphia Housing Authority and its officials from a civil rights lawsuit accusing the agency of reckless behavior that caused the January 2022 Fairmount fire that killed 12. Howard Robinson, the father of four children who perished in the fire, sued PHA, a number of PHA officials, and the City of Philadelphia on behalf of himself and his children. The lawsuit is one of multiple cases related to the tragedy making their way through state and federal courts. Advertisement Robinsons complaint claimed that PHA caused state-created danger by reauthorizing an overcrowded units lease and falsifying maintenance records to say smoke detectors in the unit had passed quality checks. READ MORE: Fatal Fairmount fire was a once-in-a-generation tragedy. Heres how it unfolded. District Judge Nitza I. Quinones Alejandro found that renewal of the lease was too far removed to satisfy the fairly direct causation to the devastating fire because it took place six months prior, and the Robinson family knew that the unit was overcrowded but continued to live there. The Robinsons were aware for three years that their housing was not in compliance with local housing and safety regulations and were aware that their apartment was overcrowded for at least five years before the fire, Quinones Alejandro said in the Thursday opinion. Attorneys representing Robinson Jordan Strokovsky and Town Laws Ian Gallo maintained that PHAs deplorable conduct is the reason 12 souls were lost on Jan. 5, 2022, including nine kids. PHA must change its ways to prevent a tragedy like this from happening again, the attorneys said in a statement. Strokovsky and Gallo also represent the Robinson family in a wrongful death lawsuit against PHA in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas. They said they would continue to fight in state court to hold the agency accountable. A PHA spokesperson said in a statement that we have long maintained that PHA and its employees did not violate our residents civil rights and did not create the conditions that caused the fire. It was a tragedy. Why did the judge rule with PHA? The Jan. 5, 2022, fire started about 6:30 a.m. after a 5-year-old accidentally ignited a Christmas tree with a lighter in a second floor unit. The building had no fire extinguisher and no fire escape, and the unit where the fire started had no working smoke detectors. Twelve of the 14 residents in the upper unit died in the fire. Robinson argued in the federal lawsuit that PHA is responsible for the conditions that allowed the deadly blaze. In addition, the suit said, PHA policies and practices governing the property violated the Robinsons civil rights. Specifically, the complaint said, PHAs no-transfer policy for an overcrowded unit, a custom of noncompliance with smoke detector requirements, and a failure to train employees directly caused the fire and the large number of fatalities. Quinones Alejandro said that the notion that working devices would have prevented the horrific outcome is speculative. The judge further said the complaint doesnt explain how a well-trained employee would have prevented a child from starting a fire in his house. Tom Kline, a Kline & Specter attorney representing the family of five people who died in the fire in state and federal court lawsuits against PHA, said it should be up to a jury to decide whether the agencys actions led to the fire or were too attenuated, as the judge ruled. He expects a similar ruling dismissing PHA from the federal case he filed, which is also in front of Quinones Alejandro. We will go in a number of different directions to do whatever is in our power to get a full measure of justice, not only for the victims but for the community of people who are housed by PHA and depend on PHA, Kline said. The negligence lawsuits in state court are more straightforward, as they dont involve complex legal benchmarks required to prove civil rights violations, and are on track to go to trial, according to Kline. Pennsylvania law caps the total amount that the victims can recover from state agencies including PHA at $1 million per incident. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court heard arguments about the constitutionality of the law earlier this year, and a decision is pending, which could impact the cases. Philadelphia remains a defendant in the Robinson federal case and the lawsuit brought by Kline & Specter, though city filed motion to dismiss. The city does not comment on active litigation. READ MORE: Remembering those lost in the Fairmount fire How has PHA, and city policy, changed since the fire? In the 3 years since the fire, both Mayor Cherelle L. Parker administration and the housing authority under Kelvin Jeremiah have embarked on campaigns to repair and expand the citys affordable housing supply. But the larger context remains unchanged. Federal efforts to fund the rejuvenation of the nations public housing supply were defeated in the Senate during President Joe Bidens tenure. Now Donald Trumps administration is seeking to cut many housing aid programs. Over a fifth of Philadelphians live in poverty, and as housing prices have escalated in recent years, more families have little choice beyond overcrowded multigenerational homes or unsafe illegal rooming houses. Under Jeremiahs leadership, PHA has invested more in its scattered site units, individual rowhouses like the one that burned, which were obtained from the private sector over the years. Many of these rowhouses are in neighborhoods that suffered disinvestment amid white flight and that the agency took over as an owner of last resort. After decades of scandal and mismanagement, when poorly kept scatter-site units were a frequent tension point with neighbors, Jeremiah and his boosters say it is a new day at PHA. Under his $6.3 billion renewal effort, announced earlier this year, the agency plans to rehabilitate its entire 13,000-unit portfolio while building or acquiring 7,000 more units over the next decade. Most units around the city are now occupied, and some City Councilmembers have tasked the agency with taking over more vacant property for use as affordable housing. A lot of the time folks have a view of PHA that was shaped by decades-old history, not what PHA is currently doing, Jeremiah said in a 2024 interview. Voters receive their ballots at a polling place on Nov. 5, 2024, in Springfield Township, Delaware County. Read more During Mays primary election, one Chester City precinct had just nine voters. About a five-minute walk away, its neighboring precinct did slightly better 15 voters turned out. Voters in the two Delaware County precincts just barely outnumbered the five poll workers at each site hired to usher them through the primary voting process. And combined the precincts averaged less than two voters per hour that day. Advertisement In future elections, county election officials want to combine those voters into the same precinct, and do the same for dozens of others. We had precincts this last election where the ballot boxes were light as a feather, said Jim Allen, Delaware Countys elections director. Court hearings will begin next week in 18 cases Delaware Countys Board of Elections filed to consolidate 98 precincts across the county. If each consolidation is approved, the county will have 48 fewer voting districts. Officials say its a long-needed reform that will drastically reduce the cost to administer elections in Delaware County, but the county is likely to face resistance from right-wing activists. Why is Delaware County consolidating precincts? Delaware County has 428 voting precincts. That amounts to roughly one precinct for every 953 voters. In nearby Montgomery County, which has a bigger population, there are 426 precincts, equating to one precinct for roughly every 1,445 voters. Delaware Countys precincts, Allen said, are unevenly divided, meaning some precincts process several times more voters than precincts elsewhere in the county. The exceedingly small precincts, he said, are a vestige of a time when election officials could put polling places in residential garages. Some of the existing precinct polling places are just a few blocks from each other and in some cases are different lines in the same building. By consolidating the precincts, Allen predicted, Delaware County would save $100,000 each year, and more than half a million dollars when it is time to replace election equipment. Not consolidating with this many precincts would be malpractice, Allen said. Consolidating the precincts will mean less equipment and fewer poll workers needed, making the jobs of election officials and political parties easier. Colleen Guiney, the chair of Delaware Countys Democratic Party, said she hopes the consolidation will make the process of recruiting poll workers year after year simpler for both parties. Overall its going to be simpler because the lines should be shorter, the staffing should be better, Guiney said. Is the consolidation controversial? Like most election-related issues since the 2020 election, consolidation has created controversy. When Allen first presented the proposal to the Delaware County Council in January, he faced pushback from right-wing activists who worried the consolidation was a move to eventually eliminate precincts altogether. What is wrong with a hardware store or a garage where Democrats and Republicans work together to tabulate the vote? said Joy Schwartz, a former Republican County Council candidate who has made unfounded claims about election fraud. You folks want to move away from that, you want to centralize it all, you want to take it out of the hands of the people and put it into the hands of your election director and his workers. Allen called the pushback absurd, noting that it came from the same people who have raised unfounded claims of election fraud since 2020. As hes pursued consolidation, Allen said, hes received support from party leaders who have long struggled to recruit enough poll workers to staff Delaware Countys numerous precincts. Weve worked really hard to make sure that voting is smoother in the precincts and this is part of that plan, he said. How do the changes get approved? Allen is hopeful that some consolidations may be approved by the time voters go to the polls for Novembers local elections this year. The rest, he said, should be completed by next years midterm elections. Last month, the county filed several cases in the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas. Hearings in those cases begin next week and continue throughout the month. Residents in areas where consolidations are happening will have the opportunity to testify on the consolidations before a judge makes a ruling. After that, Allen said, the proposed changes will go to the Pennsylvania Department of State for approval. Election workers take ballots out of their inner envelopes at Philadelphias election warehouse on Roosevelt Boulevard in November. Read more The Department of Justice has asked Pennsylvania to turn over its entire, unredacted, voter-registration list as part of the Trump administrations nationwide campaign to demand election records from the states. In a letter Monday, the agency asked Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt to turn over all voter-registration data from the November 2022 election through last years presidential election. Advertisement Additionally, the letter asked Schmidt to identify any registered voters who had been removed from the states rolls for lack of citizenship, incompetency, or a felony conviction. The letter, which The Inquirer obtained Thursday, follows similar requests to at least 15 other states for voter-roll information, according to the Associated Press. The Department of Justice has sent dozens of letters to state election officials, including in Pennsylvania, seeking voter rolls; requesting information about election processes; and asking state officials to develop information-sharing relationships. In a Friday statement, Assistant U.S. Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said the DOJ had a statutory mandate to enforce our federal voting rights laws, but she did not indicate any specific issue being investigated in Pennsylvania. Ensuring the voting publics confidence in the integrity of our elections is a top priority of this administration, Dhillon said. A Pennsylvania Department of State spokesperson said the state has not yet responded and declined to comment further. The Justice Department probe into election information comes as President Donald Trump continues to make false claims of fraud in the 2020 election and has sought to influence the outcome of the 2026 midterms, strongly seeking redistricting in red states like Texas. David Becker, the executive director of the nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation and Research, said the actions of the federal government appeared designed to sow doubt in election security ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. This is the first time weve ever seen the federal government weaponized to amplify false claims of voter fraud, he said. The letters seeking information on voter rolls, he said, often misrepresented or exhibited misunderstanding about federal election data and the role of the federal government in voter-roll maintenance. The federal government, he said, has no such role and cannot legally request the data from the states. Earlier this summer Pennsylvania received and responded to a DOJ letter that contained a series of questions about the commonwealths voter-registration procedures. And last month the DOJ sent another letter asking for a meeting with Schmidt to discuss information sharing. The request for the states full, unredacted, voter-registration list represents an escalation in the federal inquiry as the list contains personal identifying information for the commonwealths more than 8 million registered voters. Thus far, the Associated Press reports, no state has fully complied with the agencys requests. Some have sent redacted versions of the list to the agency. Others, including Maine and Minnesota, have refused to comply in any way, arguing that the administrations request violates state and federal law. Vic Walczak, legal director at the ACLU of Pennsylvania, said he hopes the commonwealth follows other states examples. The ACLU has sued to keep the Department of State from turning voter rolls over to a legislative committee, and he said they would do the same to prevent the records from going to the federal government. Our view of the law is that Pennsylvania voters have a significant privacy interest in the nonpublic information contained in those voter rolls and that Pennsylvania cannot give that over without giving notice to voters and giving them the opportunity to contest that, he said. The agency asked Pennsylvania to provide all the requested information within 14 days. The DOJ request sparked outrage and alarm among voting-rights advocates, who also noted that the commonwealths elections are secure. Without knowing what the intention is behind this request, it appears to contribute to a narrative that increases distrust in our elections one that there has been no credible evidence to support, Genevieve Green, a spokesperson for the Philly-based civic engagement group the Committee of Seventy, said in a statement. Others worried that the administration was setting a dangerous precedent that placed democratic norms and institutions at risk. When federal agencies are deployed to question well-functioning election systems without clear justification, it follows a concerning pattern weve seen in authoritarian regimes worldwide, Neil Makhija, a Democrat who chairs the Montgomery County Election Board, said in a text. Its unclear how the Trump administration intends to use the data it requested, which worried State Rep. Tim Brennan, a Democrat who has practiced election law and represents a district in Bucks County that includes Doylestown and New Hope. Ive seen too many efforts by President Trump and candidate Trump to undermine peoples trust in the process, while seemingly only wanting people to trust him, Brennan said. Staff writer Evgenia Anastasakos contributed to this article. Business / Companies by Staff reporter A report by Auditor-General Rheah Kujinga has exposed serious regulatory weaknesses at the Forestry Commission, revealing how poor oversight may be enabling trophy hunters to bypass state payments and siphon public funds.The 2023 audit, tabled before Parliament, flagged cases of undeclared and unpaid trophy fees from visiting hunters, pointing to the commission's failure to enforce booking procedures. This has allowed some clients to complete safaris without paying the required fees to the state agency.Trophy hunting is one of Zimbabwe's most lucrative wildlife-based industries, generating between US$14 million and US$40 million annually. One agency alone reportedly earned about US$20 million between 2023 and early 2024. The sector's revenues are meant to support conservation, anti-poaching operations, and community development programmes such as the Communal Areas Management Programme for Indigenous Resources (Campfire).However, like other high-foreign-currency sectors, the industry risks becoming a target for looting when oversight is weak.Kujinga's review of the Forestry Commission's 2023 financial statements cited alarming examples, including a case where a client concluded a hunting trip on October 24, 2023, without paying trophy fees amounting to US$18 330. This was in direct violation of the commission's policy requiring full payment before any hunting activity is undertaken."The commission's controls over the hunting bookings were inadequate during the period under review," Kujinga noted. "Management should make efforts to recover the amount and strengthen its internal processes."In response, the Forestry Commission acknowledged the lapse, stating: "Observation is noted. It is a case which we are currently pursuing."The audit also revealed further potential revenue losses caused by the commission's failure to follow statutory requirements. Despite being registered for Value Added Tax, it remains unfiscalised, in breach of Zimbabwean tax regulations.Established under the Forest Act and the Communal Land Forest Produce Act, the Forestry Commission's mandate is to manage state forests and protect private forestry resources. But the latest findings have raised fresh questions about its capacity to safeguard the country's lucrative hunting revenues from abuse. Business / Companies by Staff reporter President Mnangagwa yesterday held back-to-back engagements at State House, first meeting academic and Zimbabwe's former Ambassador to the United States, Professor Simbi Mubako, before hosting Apostle Dr Eunor Guti, widow of ZAOGA Forward in Faith founder Archbishop Professor Ezekiel Guti.During his meeting with Prof Mubako, the President was presented with a copy of the book Zimbabwe @45: The Struggle for Sovereign Autonomy and Prosperity. On receiving the gift, the President quipped, "Teacher waPresident," in reference to Prof Mubako's role as Dean at the University of Zambia during his law studies.Prof Mubako, who served in Zimbabwe's first post-independence Cabinet, told journalists that his work chronicles the nation's 45-year journey since independence, touching on key political, social and economic milestones."The book is really about what the title says, which is Zimbabwe's struggle for independence and prosperity during the 45 years since independence," he said. "I try to trace all the steps we went through, from the time of the first Cabinet, the problems of dissidents and how we resolved them, to disputes with the British over land, and the succession issue."Later, President Mnangagwa met Apostle Dr Eunor Guti, in what officials described as a courtesy call. Dr Guti has been at the helm of the ZAOGA Forward in Faith ministry since the passing of her husband, Archbishop Guti, in 2023, continuing the church's extensive religious and charitable work across Zimbabwe and abroad. In the Northern Territory Supreme Court last week, the jury was shown a transcript from a covert recording allegedly made in Wrights home. In it, prosecutors claim Wright discussed concealing documents from regulators: Just torch it. I don't know where it is but I'm thinking it's either there I've got to send it to CASA or the ATSB, Wright is quoted as saying, referring to the Civil Aviation Safety Authority and the Australian Transport Safety Bureau. The increase in reported net income was driven by the year-ago restructuring charge of US$108 million in Corporate and the growth in underlying earnings. These were partially offset by a US$61 million impairment charge related to the early termination of a US group dental contract and adverse market-related impacts in Asia and Canada. Our recent Claims Report showed that the average FTF loss is now over $250,000, which shows there was a clear gap in the market. We are focused on improving cyber resilience for all Australian organisations. By doubling our standard cyber crime limit to up to $500,000, we can design a policy that meets the needs of our policyholders, he said. We wanted to give organisations a new, innovative way of looking at their workforce to try and help them meet their employees where they are, he said. By further breaking down our comprehensive data, weve been able to highlight key data points that organisations can look towards to support those that need it and further bolster those that are satisfied. Roehr Insurance was founded in 2012 by CEO Alvin Roehr (pictured above, right) and has grown into one of Cincinnatis largest locally owned agencies, employing 26 people and serving clients in nearly every US state. The firm has relied exclusively on organic growth, averaging more than 20% annually over the past five years. Healy brings more than two decades of experience at Sun Life to the role. He previously led the group benefits business for seven years, overseeing strategy and operational changes aimed at expanding service offerings and improving benefits accessibility. Earlier in his tenure, he led US operations and technology, where he consolidated services across business units to standardize client engagement and upgraded technology infrastructure. Already, more than $115 billion in alternative capital has been committed to structures such as catastrophe bonds, sidecars, and reinsurance-linked securities. But Case sees room for much more, noting that traditional carriers are increasingly retrenching in high-risk segments. To the extent we can access other pools of capital we want to bring as much in as we can, to offset the volatility that our clients face, he said. Selective alleges that it has no duty to defend or indemnify any party against claims from this incident because coverage was forfeited by USC due to failure to comply with policy notice requirements. The complaint asserts that USC did not report the accident to Selective until April 3, 2025, more than five months after the incident, despite multiple opportunities to do so. By that time, lawsuits had already been filed against both Edwards and USC, and default had been entered against USC in two actions: C/A No. 2025-CP-40-01366 (on behalf of the Estate of Virginia Burtle) and C/A No. 2025-CP-40-01368 (on behalf of the minor children). On April 16, 2024, Colony, through its third-party claims administrator Gallagher Bassett Services, advised FCL that it was disclaiming coverage and withdrawing its defense effective April 23, 2024, citing the Exclusion -- Continuous, Progressive or Repeated Bodily Injury or Property Damage in its policies. Colony asserted that the exclusion precluded coverage for property damage that first occurred prior to the effective date of its policies, regardless of when the damage was discovered or alleged. Associated claims that the timing of the property damage was not specified in the pleadings and that there was a potential for covered damage during Colonys policy periods. Business / Companies by Staff reporter Zimbabwe's state-owned diamond miner, the Zimbabwe Consolidated Diamond Company (ZCDC), has been plunged into a deeper financial crisis after its sole shareholder, the Mutapa Investment Fund (MIF), vetoed the sale of a key diamond parcel that had been earmarked to pay salaries and sustain operations.Confidential documents obtained by the Zimbabwe Independent show that MIF the country's sovereign wealth fund rejected ZCDC's plan to offload diamonds at US$17,17 per carat through a joint venture (JV) partner. The sale price was far below the company's operating cost of US$30,71 per carat and production cost of US$23,79, raising fears it would worsen the miner's already fragile position.ZCDC had hoped to use the proceeds to pay outstanding June and July salaries and fund production. But MIF suspended the deal, citing the need to protect national assets, and ordered a review of the JV arrangement by legal teams."We could not accept that price and so referred the matter to both Mutapa and our board," ZCDC chief executive Douglas Zimbango told senior staff. "The board and Mutapa were of the view that we should suspend the JV while our legal teams reviewed the arrangement."A last-minute proposal to sell the May and June output on consignment at a reduced commission was also rejected by the JV partner, leaving ZCDC without funds to cover wages or production costs.Industry headwinds are compounding the company's troubles. ZCDC confirmed that it has been hit by a collapse in global diamond prices, worsened by growing competition from lab-grown stones."It is true that the worldwide diamond industry is in turmoil and ZCDC has not been spared," a company official said in a statement. "The company is positioning itself to tackle the challenges primarily related to pricing, resulting from competition from lab-grown diamonds."The failed deal comes on the back of mass retrenchments at ZCDC, with hundreds of workers mostly from the Chiadzwa host community losing their jobs. Official trade data paints a grim picture: Zimbabwe's diamond earnings have plunged 46%, from US$303 million in 2023 to just US$163,76 million by July 2025.The Chiadzwa Community Share Ownership Trust (CCSOT) has accused ZCDC of carrying out the layoffs without proper consultation and disproportionately targeting locals. CCSOT chief executive Hardwork Mukwada claimed that of the 575 workers retrenched, over 500 were from the host community."Your alleged meeting with Chief Marange on 11th June 2025 was neither a consultation of him as chairman of CCSOT nor a consultation of CCSOT in any manner," Mukwada wrote in a protest letter.ZCDC maintains that it followed due process, met traditional leaders, and secured the necessary approvals from the Ministry of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare before effecting the retrenchments.Formed in 2016 after government took over Chiadzwa diamond fields from seven private firms accused of large-scale looting, ZCDC was seeded with US$80 million to establish a fully state-controlled operation. But nearly a decade later, the company is struggling to stay afloat squeezed between falling global demand, hostile community relations, and internal operational crises. The appellate panel focused on New Yorks six-year statute of limitations for breach of contract claims. The clock, the court said, starts when the insurer issues its denial. Since American Homes denial letter was sent in May 2012, NYBOCTs 2020 lawsuit was too late. The court also rejected arguments that the statute of limitations should have been tolled or that American Home owed any duty outside the policys terms. Scottsdale Insurance Company asserts that its commercial general liability policy, issued to All Type for the period October 5, 2022, to October 5, 2023 (Policy Number CPS7665624), contains an Injury To Employee And Worker Exclusion endorsement. According to the complaint, this exclusion bars coverage for bodily injury to any employee or worker of any insured, as well as to contractors, subcontractors, and anyone employed by them, if the injury arises out of and in the course of their employment or retention. The policy also includes an Additional Insured Owners, Lessees Or Contractors endorsement, which provides coverage only as required by contract and excludes liability for professional services and injuries occurring after completion of work. This marks the 14th consecutive year of reductions in loss costs in the state, amounting to a cumulative drop of 66 %, according to regulators. Insurance Commissioner DJ Bettencourt (pictured above) said the trend reflects the resilience of the states insurance market and its emphasis on worker safety. This post is part of a series sponsored by Cotality. Homeownership has long been synonymous with the American Dream. And its no wonder: owning property allows you to customize where you live, build stability, and, perhaps most importantly, it gives you the opportunity to build long-term wealth. Homeownership, however, is only an act of wealth-building for as long as you can afford to protect your home in any scenario. Otherwise, the investment is a gamble. Sustainable homeownership requires risk literacy deep knowledge of catastrophe risks, the varying threats disasters pose to properties, and what can be done to mitigate their impact. Risk literacy also involves an understanding of how insurance works, catastrophe risk coverage options, and the financial impacts and protection limitations of different policies. Risk literacy is the knowledge basis homeowners need to secure truly adequate property insurance. Without this knowhow, they are more likely to settle for the minimum coverage required by their mortgage companies, without understanding alternative or expanded protections. Also, with risk insights and literacy, policyholders are more apt to pursue proper home mitigation measures that fortify their properties against disaster (and potentially lower insurance rates). This is all critical to sustainable homeownership, and therefore, to the institution of property insurance. The Best Brokers of Risk Literacy Insurers are well positioned to initiate proactive homeowner risk education, with underwriters and risk managers having the best access to catastrophe and hazard data. Setting up your underwriting and risk management functions to be more collaborative with customer-facing roles is an effective way to establish a tradition of promoting risk literacy for policyholders early in the journey of homeownership. Here are three simple steps insurers can take to start promoting risk literacy, without overhauling operations. Build communication channels between underwriting/hazard risk professionals and customer-facing teams Spreading risk literacy starts with the insights you already have namely from advanced catastrophe risk models that continually generate updated information about different hazards and their potential for loss. For example, the peril-specific and composite risk models available from Cotality reveal the threats of flooding from rivers and lakes or provide historical data on fires or damaging hail in any specified region. These insights are pertinent for policyholders as they consider the value of higher priced, yet more comprehensive policies. Underwriters and risk managers can share the deeper expertise they glean with customer-facing teams, streamlining insights so salespeople can effectively communicate risk information to clients. When sales teams better understand evolving risk, they become empowered to both sell policies and educate policyholders about potential catastrophes that could impact their homes as well as different ways to personalize their property insurance coverage accordingly. With tailored risk literacy, insurance sellers and agents are more equipped to overcome objections to higher cost, yet necessary, coverage. To facilitate this information exchange and uphold this new standard of communication, insurers can implement digital tools that make cross-functional collaboration quick and convenient. Cotalitys industry-leading loss control management system, UnderwritingCenter, plays a key role in spreading risk literacy. This underwriting workflow automation system condenses property and risk insights into streamlined reports, making it easier to make these risk insights more absorbable for customer-facing teams. Theres a bonus to this set-up, too. Data-driven collaboration can ultimately extend to networking with mortgage lenders. In sharing insights with lenders, insurers can get earlier access to future policyholders, making it possible to deliver risk literacy even before potential homebuyers make major property-related decisions. Lead marketing efforts with value-added messaging The easiest way to educate homeowners about insurance before they realize they dont have enough is through risk literacy-driven marketing content. Insurance marketing teams can turn risk literacy insights from underwriting or risk management into value-added messaging on different channels through different forms: website content, thought leadership, email campaigns, and social media posts. Social media posts may provide the perfect forum for providing interesting information about risk, provoking people to think about their own risk literacy. Targeted email campaigns can deliver relevant insights to homeowners in high-risk regions. The possibilities are endless for risk literacy marketing, which invites engaging conversations about customizing property insurance accordingly. The earlier policyholders are introduced to risk literacy, the less likely they are to experience sticker shock when making insurance decisions. When cost is not the sole focus, customers are better positioned to thoughtfully assess what coverage best supports their long-term goals and capacity for sustained homeownership. This type of marketing content delivery also develops customer trust. When coverage is about more than just the cost, customers will be more satisfied and are more likely to remain policyholders. Automate underwriting processes so that risk literacy doesnt take a back seat Its difficult to ask risk professionals to communicate more with other departments unless more administrative tasks are taken off their plates. Thus, technologies that automate underwriting and claims workflows increase these professionals bandwidth for spreading risk literacy. Automating underwriting processes that do not require human thoughtfulness gives professionals more time to curate risk insights for other business functions (see first point above). Cotalitys UnderwritingCenter automates underwriting workflows through rule-based decision-making, identifying property risk attributes so that humans can focus on more complex risk analysis. Without more tedious projects on their shoulders, underwriters have more capacity to communicate the not-so-obvious risk findings to customer facing teams, who can then translate these insights to customers as risk literacy. UnderwritingCenter also gives time back to underwriters by enabling virtual inspections. By minimizing time spent on job sites, it preserves brainpower for more strategic, creative communication. Expanding the insurance mission to include risk literacy With the right resources and strategic game plan, insurers can become reliable brokers of risk literacy. Risk knowledge is power, and is a must for building more resilient, insurable communities everywhere. The precedent set by insurers can have both wide and long-lasting benefits. Once insurance companies maximize their opportunities for spreading risk literacy across insurance workflows, the mortgage and real estate industries could soon realize how important it is to introduce risk literacy earlier in the homebuying process. Through risk literacy, insurers can take measured steps to preserving the American Dream of homeownership. 2025 Cotality. All rights reserved. While all of the content and information is believed to be accurate, it is provided by Cotality as is with no guarantee, representation, or warranty, express or implied, of any kind including but not limited to as to the merchantability, non-infringement of intellectual property rights, completeness, accuracy, applicability, or fitness, in connection with the content or information or products and Cotality assumes no responsibility or liability whatsoever for the content or information or products or any reliance thereon. Cotality, the Cotality logo, Intelligence beyond bounds, and UnderwritingCenter are the trademarks of CoreLogic, Inc. d/b/a Cotality or its affiliates or subsidiaries. Topics Catastrophe Carriers Homeowners Global miners BHP Group and Vale have offered around $1.4 billion to settle a class action lawsuit in the United Kingdom tied to one of Brazils worst-ever environmental disasters, the Financial Times reported on Thursday. The lawsuit stems from the collapse in 2015 of the Mariana dam in southeastern Brazil, owned and operated by the Samarco joint venture of BHP and Vale. The disaster prompted legal action from hundreds of thousands of people. BHP is currently facing a London lawsuit that claimants lawyers have valued at up to 36 billion pounds ($48.29 billion). The proposed settlement includes around $800 million in compensation for victims and $600 million to cover legal costs associated with the High Court proceedings, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter. The offer was reportedly made during a June meeting in New York with Pogust Goodhead, the British law firm representing the claimants, and their primary financial backer, U.S. hedge fund Gramercy, the report said. BHP and Vale did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment. In October last year, BHP described allegations that a focus on profit over safety contributed to the disaster as far-fetched and unjustified. ($1 = 0.7454 pounds) (Reporting by Rishav Chatterjee in Bengaluru; editing by Mohammed Safi Shamsi) Photograph: This Nov. 23, 2015 file photo shows debris awash in mud in Bento Rodrigues, Brazil after a mining dam break that obliterated several towns with a tide of mud and debris before flowing into the Doce River. (AP Photo/Leo Correa, File) Related: An Australian regulator has sued Optus, alleging the Singapore Telecommunications-owned carrier breached privacy laws during a 2022 cyber attack that compromised the personal data of millions of customers, both parties confirmed on Friday. Optus, one of Singtels largest overseas investments, said in a statement that the Australian Information Commissioner (AIC) has accused the telecom operator of violating the Privacy Act 1988. The Privacy Act governs how personal information is handled by government agencies and private entities. The proceedings have been filed against Singtel Optus Pty Ltd. and Optus Systems Pty Ltd., Australias Optus said. The AIC is alleging one breach of the law for each of the 9.5 million customers affected by the data breach, with the court potentially able to impose fines of up to A$2.2 million per breach. However, the privacy watchdog did not provide details on the total amount it is seeking. Optus said it is reviewing the claims but has not assessed the potential financial impact. The September 2022 breach, one of the worst in Australias history, exposed sensitive customer data including home addresses, passport details and phone numbers. About 10 million Australians, or 40% of the population, were affected, with many unable to access mobile, broadband and landline services for much of the day. The incident prompted Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to call for tougher privacy laws, including faster breach notifications to banks. Optus has faced mounting public criticism, compounded by a 12-hour nationwide network outage in 2023. The twin crises led to the resignation of then-CEO Kelly Bayer Rosmarin in November 2023. The company was also taken to court by the domestic media regulator in May 2024 over the cyber attack. (Reporting by Rishav Chatterjee in Bengaluru; editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips) Related: Ontario Teachers Pension Plan has signed a definitive agreement to sell its stake in Diot-Siaci, a Paris-based corporate insurance brokerage group, to French private equity firm Ardian. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. As a long-standing shareholder of the group since 2015, Ardian is now increasing its stake in Diot-Siaci to become its main financial shareholder by acquiring the shares held by Ontario Teachers, Bpifrance, Cathay Capital and other minority shareholders. Upon completion of the transaction, Ardian (formerly AXA Private Equity) will become Diot-Siacis lead financial shareholder, alongside the Burrus Group, a long-standing shareholder, and the management team. The new capital structure will establish joint control governance between Ardian and the Burrus Group. Diot-Siaci is a leading insurance and reinsurance consulting and brokerage group in France and Europe, with strong positions in Asia, the Middle East and Africa. It designs and develops tailor-made solutions for clients, including large corporations, mid-sized companies, SMEs, and professionals, in both personal insurance and property and liability insurance. With more than 7,000 employees and revenue of over 1 billion (US$1.2 billion) in 2024, Diot-Siaci operates worldwide through its own offices and its Diot-Siaci Global Partners network. Ontario Teachers invested in Diot-Siaci in 2021, supporting the successful merger between Diot and Siaci Saint Honore. Since the acquisition, the business has grown significantly in scale and geographic reach, said Ontario Teachers, noting that it also has supported the group across several strategic value creation areas, including: Accelerating revenues from approximately 700 million to 1 billion-plus, helping establish a leader in European corporate insurance with strong positions in the Middle East and Africa; Supporting the merger and integration of the two entities; Advancing an M&A strategy focused on international expansion and niche verticals such as HR consulting; Moving up the value chain through vertical integration, notably via the transformative Nasco acquisition in reinsurance, as well as managing general agents and the London market. Thibault Basquin, co-head & CIO of Ardian Buyout and member of the Ardian Executive Committee, said: We are thrilled to be joining forces with the Burrus Group, Pierre Donnersberg and the entire management team, led by Cedric Charpentier, to support Diot-Siaci in the next stage of its development. Together, we have ambitious plans to make Diot-Siaci the leading independent insurance and reinsurance brokerage group with European roots. Olivier Personnaz, managing director and head of Ardian Buyouts Equity Capital Markets team, commented: In addition to the commitment from our Buyout fund, we have successfully raised more than 700 million in less than two months from institutional partners to co-invest in this deal, including several sovereign wealth funds and international investors. This demonstrates the confidence of these leading investors in Ardians ability to support blue-chip companies in their ambitious growth strategies. Were proud to have supported Diot-Siaci following the merger between Siaci Saint Honore and Diot four years ago. Since our entry in 2021, its revenues have multiplied by 1.5 times to reach 1 billion, and, today, we can say Diot-Siaci is a leader in the European corporate insurance broker market, which we have helped expand into the Middle East and Africa, according to Inaki Echave, head of EMEA Private Capital at Ontario Teachers. Ontario Teachers said its investment in Diot-Siaci is part of its global C$13 billion financial services and insurance portfolio, a core sector of focus for the Private Capital division, which has completed 15 investments in the sector globally, with 13 of these investments led or co-led by Ontario Teachers. The transaction is expected to close later this year, subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions. Ardian, a Paris-based independent private equity investment company, is founded and managed by Dominique Senequier. The company was launched in 1996, when Claude Bebear, AXAs chairman at the time, asked Senequier to create a private equity arm for the insurer. In 2013, Senequier led an employee buyout of formerly AXA Private Equity and created Ardian. The company employs approximately 320 staff with $36 billion under management or advice, Ardians website said. Source: Ontario Teachers Pension Plan, Diot-Siaci and Ardian Topics Mergers & Acquisitions Agencies Zurich Insurance Group reported some record numbers during the first half: business operating profit (BOP) was up 6% to a record US$4.2 billion and core return on equity hit a best-ever number of 26.3%. What is the reason for Zurichs strong performance and is there a danger that softening rates could hit the companys bottom line in the coming quarters? Group Chief Executive Officer Mario Greco attributes the insurers outstanding performance, in part, to its ongoing re-underwriting and re-pricing efforts, while maintaining underwriting discipline, as well as its continuing focus on business from small-and-medium-sized enterprises (SME), the middle market, and specialty lines. And hes not concerned about the softening market, as long as underwriting discipline is maintained. Were growing in Mid-Market and Specialties where the rates and the profitability is even higher than in the rest of the market, so were very confident that we will continue with the same trend for the rest of this year and for the next years, he said during a media briefing to discuss the results. Indeed, the proof is in the underwriting profits: the combined ratio for Zurichs property/casualty business improved by 1.2 percentage points to 92.4% driven by strong underwriting performances in Commercial (90.5%) and Retail (94.1%). (Combined ratios below 100 indicate underwriting profitability). The P/C business delivered a BOP of US$2.4 billion, up 9% from H1 2024, which Zurich described as an historic high at this stage of the year. P/C insurance revenue increased 7% to a record US$23.0 billion. Zurich continues to optimize its portfolio, seizing opportunities to drive profitability, including growing in preferred segments and lines of business such as Middle Market and Specialties, the company said in its results statement. Enhancements in the North American motor business led to a 21.3 percentage points improvement in the combined ratio to 99.3% compared to 120.6% the prior year period, bringing the business back to profitability. Retail P/C had a notable improvement with a 2.4 percentage point improvement to combined ratio of 94.1%, supported by rate momentum and underlying improvements to the motor and property portfolios, Greco said during an analysts call to discuss the H1 results. More good financial news was reported from Zurichs wholly owned subsidiary Farmers, which delivered its strongest-ever half-year business operating profit, up 4% to US$1.2 billion, despite the impact of the California wildfires. Farmers Exchanges (owned by their policyholders) reported a 5% increase in gross written premiums (GWP) with a combined ratio of 90.5% during H1 2025, leading to a surplus ratio of 45.7%, which is above the 34%-38% target range. Farmers Exchanges increased their policy count for the first time in more than a decade, Greco said. Diving into Zurichs P/C performance, Greco said, U.S. commercial auto performance showed strong margin improvement after all the underwriting actions Zurich took last year and during the first half of this year, while EMEA motor saw an eight percentage point increase in rate. The property market is showing a reduction of the hard rates of the past years but remains attractive and profitable, even at these rates, he said, noting that the future of this market will be decided by the catastrophes in the next month of the hurricane season. So we will see if [property] rates hike again or continue this [softening] trend. However, Greco highlighted one area of concern the liability market which Zurich is underwriting with great discipline and attention. Despite strong rate increases, liability claims are high as are combined ratios, and the market is still not profitable enough. Nevertheless, Greco said, Zurich continues to see pricing conditions supportive of profitable growth across its P/C business, particularly in its preferred growth engines Middle Market and Specialties. (Zurich has been moving away from the more volatileand, ultimately, less profitablelarge corporate business over the past decade.) The property and casualty market gives us a multitude of opportunities to execute on value enhancing growth in the medium to long term with our usual underwriting discipline, he said during the analysts presentation. Middle Market, Specialties Growth Were growing in Middle Market and Specialties where the rates and the profitability is even higher than in the rest of the market, so were very confident that we will continue with the same trend for the rest of this year and for the next years, said Greco. Commenting on Zurichs sizable specialty business, Greco said, this portfolio generated US$4.9 billion of gross written premiums during H1 at a highly profitable 86.5% accident year combined ratio, excluding catastrophe. We believe our underwriting skills, data availability, strong customer engagement across a range of diversified business lines differentiate us in the specialty business. In its investor and media presentation, Zurich laid out its preferred specialty lines and their portfolio proportions as construction & engineering (31%); financial lines (21%); energy (14%); credit & surety (11%); excess & surplus (7%); accident & health (6%); marine (5%), and cyber (4%). We are leaders in construction and engineering so that remains a point of strength for Zurich in the market, and it continues to be a growth engine for us, Greco said. Then, credit and surety also is something that we have been doing very well over the past years, and we are thinking about how we can globalize that and bring it to other customers. Energy is also important for Zurich, which is very active in the energy transformation sector and has been investing in many of the new energy sources, he said. On the other hand, Greco said, E&S had a setback this year because of softening rates. As a result, the insurer is not growing as aggressively because profitability might not be at the same level of the past years As for cyber, Greco said, Zurich provides cover for SMEs and some of mid-markets but we dont go above that. The companys other growth engine is Middle Market, which showed a strong H1 performance despite a slight hiccup in U.S. program business during H1. Middle Market growth was strong in preferred segments in North America and EMEA, supported by resilient rate momentum and underlying exposure growth. This was offset by the effect of planned management actions in certain U.S. program businesses, the company said in its H1 results. Middle Market gross written premiums remained in line on a like-for-like basis [level with H1 2024] as strong underlying growth was offset by a 19% reduction of U.S. program business to further improve profitability, the company said in its presentation for investors and media. (Zurich reported Middle Market GWP of $4.039 million in H1 2024 versus $4.008 million in H1 2025). The Middle Markets combined ratio of 90.5% during H1 2025 improved 0.9 percentage points year on year, driven by a 1.7 percentage points improvement of the loss ratio. Positive Outlook When one of the equities analysts asked Greco how he could be positive about the companys outlook when P/C pricing may not support that reality for the long term, Greco responded by saying: Were moving our books towards specialty, towards mid-market, and were reducing the impact of liability. In Zurichs motor and commercial books there was a pretty decisive cancellation of policies and contracts, partly contrasted by high rate increases, he added. Zurich is moving the books to businesses that have a much better combined ratio, as evidenced by the combined ratio in Commercial, which improved to 90.5% compared to 91.4% during H1 2024, with a BOP of US$1.8 billion, he indicated. Zurichs strong performance during H1 underscores the strength of our diversified portfolio and the disciplined execution across all business lines, Greco said. Topics Profit Loss Excess Surplus Commercial Lines Business Insurance As some Minnesota cities fret over regulating newly legalized and normalized marijuana sales, others see an opportunity. Elk River is among 13 Minnesota cities considering opening municipally owned cannabis stores. They would be blazing new trails in this regard, as government-run pot shops arent currently in use anywhere else in the country. City Administrator Cal Portner talks about Elk Rivers approach as making the most of a situation. I dont sense that our council is enthusiastic about the law to legalize, but theyre accepting of reality, he said. Revenue potential from cannabis sales, and how it can be put to use in the community, is part of the appeal. Assuring compliance is also part of it. Our liquor stores never fail compliance tests, whether for tobacco or liquor, Portner said. We feel we can do the same thing within the cannabis industry. Liquor munis as a model The only state with any track record of a government-run cannabis shop is Washington, where a store in North Bonneville opened in 2015 and operated until 2021. Where Minnesota differed from Washington and other legalized-cannabis states was in the defined path it created for cities to pursue cannabis munis. Despite being a new concept, Minnesotas established muni model for liquor, also novel nationally, gives Portner confidence in the feasibility. Cities have entrepreneurial experience on their sides, he said, including already selling hemp-based THC products in liquor stores. Weve had practice time basically to understand the products and understand the customer service side of it, Portner said. Municipal liquor sales add nearly $1 million to Elk Rivers annual budget. The citys two liquor munis keep profits home, Portner said, rather than going to corporations based out of town or state. Were among the top Minnesota liquor store operations within the state and are proud of that, he said. It puts a lot of money back in our community. Minnesota had 176 cities running liquor munis as of 2023, according to the latest annual report on them by the Office of the State Auditor. Most munis come out ahead, combining for $31.6 million in net profits in 2023. Elk River generated $962,190 of it. Buffalo brought in $710,505. St. Anthony Village was $426,385 in the positive. Even modest net profits, say $10,000 per year, are good deals for small towns, said Paul Kaspszak, executive director of the Minnesota Municipal Beverage Association. You could say its not very much money, but theres nothing else happening in that community that will generate that $10,000, he said. In his hypothetical, 100 homeowners in the community could be looking at $100 in savings on their property taxes. In Elk River, Portner said it might take an additional 45 businesses in town to generate enough property taxes to equal net profits from city liquor sales. Cannabis sales projections are highly speculative, but Portner said itll likely take a couple years to turn profits. Between investments in capital, inventory, marketing and education, an estimate prepared for the city in January put first-year losses at $184,698. All but 18 of the states liquor munis are in Greater Minnesota. For cannabis muni applicants, seven of the 13 are in the seven-county Twin Cities metro area. St. Josephs mayor, Adam Scepaniak, and other officials from cities on the list confirmed they were still waiting on OCM approval to get their cannabis licenses as of last week. Plans are taking shape in the interim, with St. Joseph, Elk River and others looking into possible locations for cannabis retail. Elk River is considering a building to house both cannabis sales and one of its two municipal liquor stores. Northbound would remain the name of the liquor muni, while the cannabis side would assume the name Cannabound. Owatonna applied for a muni cannabis permit on March 13, said Deanna Sheely, the citys communications manager, in an email. No decisions will be made on it until the license process is completed. When Byron moved forward with an application in February, City Administrator Al Roder noted it didnt bind the city to the idea. Applying for the license and even receiving one, doesnt lock us into going ahead with a dispensary, he stated on the citys Facebook post. But the window to apply for a license is very small. Wide spectrum of attitudes toward cannabis industry As opposed to the 13 cities exploring cannabis munis, Albert Lea sits on the opposite end of the spectrum. A City Council vote last week stopped a privately run cannabis store from opening an apparent violation of state statute. An update by the city posted on Facebook afterward described the vote being based on questions of enforcement, liability and responsibility necessitating further review. Adopting zoning restrictions on where cannabis businesses are allowed, a lever given to cities in state law, is more of a middle-ground strategy. Combined with caps on the maximum number of businesses allowed to operate, almost all cities implemented some form of this approach or another. The cap is an area of contrast between the states cannabis and liquor muni regulations. A city with muni liquor doesnt need to allow private liquor stores within its limits, but it cant monopolize cannabis in the same way. Muni cannabis stores dont count toward the cap. Copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Topics Cannabis Minnesota Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird announced settlements in two cases her office prosecuted on behalf of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. Agri Star Meat and Poultry, LLC has agreed to pay a $50,000 penalty and come into full compliance with its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit by December 31, 2026. Over the course of several years, Agri Star exceeded permitted wastewater limits approximately 60 times. The most recent ammonia violations resulted in acutely toxic concentrations in Hecker Creek. In addition, Agri Star failed to timely report outages, failures and daily maximum violations, meet compliance schedules, conduct required monitoring, and submit reports. In a separate case, NEW Co-op has agreed to a settlement related to the March 2024 ammonia nitrogen release at its Red Oak facility that led to a significant fish kill along 48 miles of the Nishnabotna River and its confluence with the Missouri River. Under the settlement, NEW Co-op will pay a $50,000 penalty, pay $50,000 toward a supplemental environmental project with the Montgomery County Conservation Board, and agree to a three-year state-wide injunction prohibiting future violations of Iowas water-quality laws. Source: Office of the Iowa Attorney General Topics Iowa Business / Economy by Staff reporter While the government faces criticism over its ban on the importation and sale of second-hand clothing in urban areas, Harare Mayor Jacob Mafume has publicly backed the move, warning that the capital cannot be allowed to become a "city of bales."Earlier this week, Minister of Local Government and Public Works Daniel Garwe reaffirmed the ban on second-hand clothes, commonly known as bhero, alongside a crackdown on night vending.Speaking during a full council session on Thursday, Mayor Mafume emphasized that the city cannot be sustained by second-hand clothes."It is a serious dichotomy. We cannot have a society that aspires to wear second-hand clothes. It is a serious oxymoron; we have cotton we cannot make new clothes. So we wait for the cotton to be exported and clothes to be manufactured, and they are worn before we wear them," Mafume said."On the other hand, we have some in our midst wearing second-hand clothes. We must assist each other as a society. We need to deal with it in a sensitive manner, but at the same time, we cannot sustain a city based on second-hand clothes."Despite the importation ban imposed by the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (ZIMRA) in 2015, second-hand clothes continue to flood Zimbabwe's streets due to porous borders and their affordability, providing much-needed relief for cash-strapped consumers.In Harare, second-hand clothing is frequently sold at nighta practice the government also seeks to ban.However, the Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) has condemned the ban, describing it as autocratic and harmful to the informal sector, which many Zimbabweans rely on."The Combined Harare Residents Association (CHRA) notes with deep concern the position taken by the Ministry of Local Government on banning the selling of second-hand clothing and street vending," the CHRA said in a statement."This intervention by the Ministry of Local Government is a clear reflection of the failure of the implementation of devolution within the local authority; the decision was made from an autocratic position," it added.CHRA further urged that the City of Harare should operate in line with Section 264 of the Constitution, calling for procedures to be followed constitutionally."The informal sector has for years been complementing the formal sector as there has been an emergence of formal businesses operating 24/7 in the CBD over the years," the statement concluded.As the debate unfolds, Harare stands at a crossroads between promoting local textile production and protecting the livelihoods of informal traders who depend on affordable second-hand clothes. Surplus lines sector continues to grow with mid-year premium reaching $46.2 billion from the 3.7 million items filed so far in 2025, according to data from U.S. surplus lines service and stamping offices in 15 states. These figures represent a 13.2% increase in premium and a 12.4% rise in items compared to the same period in 2024, the 2025 Midyear Report revealed. For the same six month period in 2024, the report showed premium at $40.8 billion from 3.3 million items filed. In total, 2024s results of $81.6 billion in premium represented growth of 12.1% as reported. The 2025 midyear report organizes the stamping office data by line of business, broken down by both premium and items filed. Commercial liability and commercial property coverage continue to dominate market share trends in the E&S market, accounting for $16.9 billion in premium and 36.6% of total share for liability non-professional, and $15.7 billion and 34.0% of total share for property at midyear 2025. Auto liability and residential, homeowners and other personal property continue to grow faster than other lines in the surplus lines segment but still comprise a relatively small proportion of the overall surplus lines segment among the stamping office states (3.6% and 5.3%, respectively). The report presents comparative analysis of the 2025 and 2024 surplus lines market, highlighting nine key lines of business: auto liability, auto physical damage, disability/A&H, inland marine, liability (non-professional), multiperil, professional liability, property, and residential/homeowners/other personal property. In collaboration with stamping offices in 15 states (Arizona, California, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, Texas, Oregon, Utah, Pennsylvania, and Washington), the report maps each states coverage codes into surplus lines premium and transaction data for these nine lines of business. The growth of these lines underscores the essential role of the surplus lines industry as a solution where the standard markets appetite evolves. In Arizona, disability/A&H and auto physical damage grew significantly, said Edward Dresselhuys, executive director of the Surplus Line Association of Arizona. Disability/A&H, up 68.7%, and auto physical damage, up 57.0%, grew substantially but still constitute relatively small pieces of the Arizona surplus lines market, he said. Our largest lines, general liability and property, grew modestly but professional liability was up 36.6% which significantly drove growth. Idaho was the only state that saw a decrease in premium through mid-year 2025, largely driven by drops in liability and commercial property lines. Carrie Negrette, Executive Director of the Surplus Line Association of Idaho said that while Idaho is down 16% through mid-year 2025, putting that into context of recent growth, Idaho premium volume is still up 82% since mid-year 2022. Tim Turner, CEO of Ryan Specialty and chairman of RT Specialty, told Insurance Journal that the midyear report is consistent with growth seen in RTs business. Turner said that RT is continuing to see double digit increases in premium and anticipates the organization will write in excess of $30 billion in premium in 2025. RT continue to see 20%-plus growth annually, due to niche business firming in some lines of insurance, Turner said. One area that hits home for most of us would be social and human services, which encompasses everything from hospitals to nursing homes to assisted living to allied health facilities, he said. That segment of business is just getting harder by the day. The 15 state surplus lines stamping and service offices are non-governmental entities that help facilitate compliance with surplus lines insurance regulations and tax filings as well as additional services for their respective memberships. Topics Trends Excess Surplus Pricing Trends A retired federal judge will help decide the fate of thousands of Johnson & Johnson baby powder cancer lawsuits even though her law firm represents the drugmaker in other matters. Freda Wolfson was appointed earlier this summer to re-examine how experts analyzed some scientific evidence on the link between J&Js talc-based powder and cancer. She has deep expertise after conducting a similar inquiry while overseeing suits accusing J&J of hiding its baby powders health risks. The 71-year-old former judge supervised the consolidation of the federal cases for seven years before retiring in 2023 and joining the New Jersey-based law firm of Lowenstein Sandler. That firm represented the J&J unit that first filed for bankruptcy in 2021. So-called special masters like Wolfson seldom draw public attention, but her role is in the spotlight because conclusions on expert analysis could bolster or doom plaintiffs chances of winning big verdicts against J&J. The company already has paid out billions of dollars in damages in state court trials over claims its talc powder caused cancer a contention that the drug maker has consistently denied. US District Judge Michael Shipp in Trenton who inherited the sprawling baby powder litigation from Wolfson determined before naming her as a special master that she doesnt have a conflict of interest under federal ethics rules. Shipp found she disclosed her law firms ties to J&J and walled herself off from colleagues who work on wholly unrelated company matters. Wolfson will evaluate expert evidence that surfaced after she okayed the science underlying the litigation in 2020. While lawyers on both sides consented to Wolfsons role and agreed to split her fees, some legal scholars say the appointment is troubling because of the firms ties to J&J. Its really not a good look to pick someone whose law firm represents J&J even if it isnt in the baby powder cases, said Carl Tobias, a University of Richmond law professor who teaches about product-liability cases. You dont want to have any appearance of conflicts when it comes to making recommendations on whether these cases should go to trial. A spokesman for J&J declined to comment. The company withdrew its talc-based baby powder worldwide in 2023 and replaced it with a cornstarch version. Its now sold by Kenvue, the consumer unit J&J spun off the same year. Waived Objection Wolfson said in an email her prior management of the cases and familiarity with the proper standards for expert-witness testimony makes her well-positioned to review the new evidence. To the extent any potential conflict could be perceived, the parties expressly and knowingly waived any such objection, Wolfson said. The fact that Lowenstein Sandler represents J&J in corporate matters not related to talc doesnt pose a conflict in the baby powder cases, she said in a June affidavit.A spokesman for the law firm wouldnt specify what types of cases it handles for J&J. Wolfson issued a landmark ruling in 2020 clearing the testimony of expert witnesses as scientifically reliable, allowing thousands of baby powder lawsuits to advance toward trial. That ruling came six months after the US Food and Drug Administrations discovery of traces of asbestos in 33,000 bottles of the powder. Researchers have found a direct link between asbestos and cancer. Chris Seeger, a veteran plaintiffs lawyer serving as the lead negotiator for baby powder victims, praised Wolfsons return to the case in an email. Her familiarity with the complex issues at play in this litigation makes her the perfect choice to serve as special master, Seeger said. Wolfsons new assignment comes as J&J gears up to face another wave of trials over allegations the company knew about the ovarian cancer risk. Damages Awards At least a dozen state court juries already have awarded consumers a total of more than $6.5 billion in damages over 12 years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg News. Some later were reduced or thrown out on appeal. Juries also have ruled for J&J in other trials. The company has failed three times to resolve the long-running litigation through units bankruptcy filings, most recently in April when a judge rejected J&Js proposal to pay out more than $9 billion to resolve all current and future cancer suits. As flooding becomes an increasingly common and destructive feature of Texas life, housing experts are calling for the creation of a statewide, voluntary buyout program to move residents out of the most high-risk areas. The experts say Texas needs a bold and urgent solution as around 5 million people one of the highest numbers among US states live or work on floodplains, and climate change is bringing more intense rainfall. Galveston, Texas, for instance, now endures nearly 14 floods annually, a dramatic increase from virtually none in the 1950s. Thats why the buyout approach is necessary its the only way to get existing structures out of harms way, said Shannon Van Zandt, a housing equity researcher at Texas A&M University, who has advocated for a state plan. Buyout programs usually involve a government purchasing a property that has repeatedly flooded at market rate to reduce resident risk, cut liabilities and restore land, which can improve flood resiliency. The call for state action comes as federal support for buyouts has proven increasingly unreliable. Historically, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) covered most of the costs of buyouts, albeit with a slow process and requirements that leave out in-debt homeowners. Yet funding cuts and policy changes under the Trump administration have left some flood-stricken communities across the US in a buyout limbo, making a state-led initiative a potential necessity. Some states New Jersey, New York and Washington have already launched permanent programs with non-federal funding, with others like Massachusetts exploring the option. Cities and counties are rolling out buyouts as well, including Tulsa, Nashville and Charlotte-Mecklenburg County in North Carolina and Austin and Harris County in Texas. New York City, meanwhile, plans to launch a program next year. What has made these programs successful are three things: their permanence, community buy-in and independent funding. Tulsa and Nashville officials have said the cities will entirely fund buyouts if necessary, until FEMA funding is restored. More local control Ivis Garcia, an urban planning expert at at Texas A&M, said Texas is in a strong economic position to introduce a statewide program because of its multi-billion-dollar rainy day fund, a state savings account for emergencies. The fund had a budget surplus of $23.8 billion as of January. Texas rainy day fund is among the most robust in the US a Pew Research Analysis showed it could survive solely on those funds for over 86 days, ranking no. 7 among states. Jeff Branick, who has overseen buyouts in Jefferson County, Texas, said a well-funded state program would overcome many of the problems hes experienced with federal grants. After Hurricane Harvey, for example, the county secured federal funding to offer buyouts to 100 homeowners in a heavily damaged subdivision. But because it took years for the money to flow into the county, about a third of homeowners chose not to participate. These homes remain at risk, he said, and the county, meanwhile, still has to pay to maintain the now more sparsely populated subdivision. A state-run program with fewer restrictions and less adminstrative overhead would certainly be attractive to flood-prone areas, Branick said, but Ill leave it to friends at the legislature to decide. Experts argue that buyouts can save money in the long run. The Natural Resources Defense Council calculates that for every $100 that has been spent via federal funds to rebuild a flood-destroyed home in the US, it costs only $1.70 to help move people before a disaster. Floods are inevitable; catastrophe is not, said Tim Palmer, a former planner and author of the book Seek Higher Ground, which explores attempts to flee floodplains across the US. Texas is still reeling from floods that killed more than 130 people last month and caused $18 billion to $22 billion in damage, according to early estimates. Getting community buy-in Despite the need to cover areas of the state without local buyout plans, experts note implementing a statewide program in a place as vast and diverse as Texas presents significant challenges. Buyouts are not just costly, but are also likely to face resistance from residents emotionally or financially tied to their homes. Some of those barriers can be avoided if officials doing the buyouts involve community members from the start, said Linda Shi, a professor of city and regional planning at Cornell University. Shi studied five local, long-term buyout programs in the US, and found successful initiatives focused on making communities emotionally prepared to leave their homes. It also helps to enlist residents in the buyout funding, for example, by adding a fee in their utility bill. That raises awareness about how these programs work and the need for them. Aside from the rainy day fund, the Texas A&M researchers propose Texas use a stormwater fee, which has funded programs in Nashville, Tulsa and Charlotte. Other methods include Washingtons climate fund, New Jerseys corporate tax and New Yorks $250 million Environmental Bond Act fund. Last year, Texass first-ever flood plan identified bonds as a potential way to fund regional buyouts. These events that used to be one in 100 [years] or one in 500 are happening back-to-back and that really wears down peoples finances as well as their mental wherewithal, Shi said. Photo: The banks of the Guadalupe River in Center Point on July 13 following flash floods in Texas. Photographer: Brandon Bell/Getty Images North America Copyright 2025 Bloomberg. Topics Flood A brush fire in a mountainous area north of Los Angeles has forced thousands of evacuations, becoming one of two ongoing blazes of concern in California. The Canyon fire in Los Angeles and Ventura counties, which started on Thursday afternoon, has grown to growing to 4,850 acres. It is 0% contained. More than 4,000 residents are under an evacuation order, and officials are closely watching 1,400 structures. Firefighters continue to battle the blaze as it spreads east toward the community of Castaic in Los Angeles County, a status report from firefighting officials states. Throughout the evening and into the early morning hours, firefighting aircraft made repeated water and retardant drops in an effort to slow the fires advance and support crews working on the ground. Related: Porsches Destroyed by LA Wildfires Get New Life as Stained Glass Art Further north, A wildfire burning in two counties, now the biggest fire in California this year, is threatening more than 1,500 structures and has burned more than 99,000 acres. The Gifford Fire burning in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara started on Aug. 2. The fire covers San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties, and it is 15% contained. Overnight winds exceeding 30 MPH for over an hour pushed the fire toward Huasna and Willis Ranch, with active spread between Pine Ridge and Haystack Canyon, a Calfire update states. This prompted new evacuation orders west of those areas in San Luis Obispo County. The rest of the fire area saw minimal activity last night. Nearly 3,500 personnel, 19 helicopters and 243 engines are assigned to the blaze. The cause of the fire is still under investigation. Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters California Wildfire The Bishop of Killaloe has agreed to meet survivors of Sean Ross Abbey following their calls for further investigations at the angels plot at the former mother and baby home, the Irish Examiner has learned. The Catholic Press Office said Bishop Fintan Monahan is willing to meet campaigners and survivors about the burial ground for babies and children. It comes as the We Are Still Here group has had ground-penetrating scans carried out on the former grounds of the home, made famous by the Oscar-nominated film Philomena. The office said: Sean Ross Abbey is in the diocese of Killaloe, and it was run by the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary, who are no longer there. While he is just nine years as bishop in the diocese, Bishop Monahan understands that the diocese had no role in the running of the mother and baby home, apart from chaplaincy services. The baptismal records for the home are in the possession of the diocese. The bishops own brother, who has additional needs, was a resident in Sean Ross for a number of years in the early 1970s when it became a home for special needs children. The statement said the bishop was willing to meet survivors if it might be helpful to such a group to discuss any of the above or other issues. The Roscrea home was operated by the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary between 1931 and 1969. During that time, 6,414 women were admitted there, and 6,079 children were born or admitted there. Paul Lynch, Bandon, left, with Michael Donovan at the entrance to Sean Ross Abbey, Roscrea. Picture via Denis Minihane Death records show 1,090 children died during its operation. Some were recorded with causes of death that included choking on porridge and sun stroke. But there are just 44 graves. Michael Donovan, who has campaigned for the grounds of the home to be examined in more detail, said he was really happy that the bishop had offered to meet them. It is a really good step forward. There is a tank on the grounds of the home and we want it opened. We had the place scanned by engineers and anomalies were found. Now all we want is for further test excavations to be carried out so we can rule things out. We are not saying children are in the tank buried like they are in Tuam but we do want further examinations done as there are no burial records for the 1,090 children. Ann Connolly, who was born in Sean Ross Abbey in 1968, has also welcomed the decision by the bishop. She said: I have been contacting Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Mary to get information about the missing children. We hope the bishop can help in some way. Esteemed citizens of Ireland, you who are voiceless, I hereby beseech you to consider electing a Clifford to be your president. Modesty and the current constitutional framework prevents me from nominating myself for this honour but I propose a petition advocating for the nomination of my namesake, David Clifford (no relation, unfortunately). On the basis of the current runners and riders, Mr Clifford would make a suitable candidate. He has excelled at his sport, and is considered to be en route to the peak of greatness. I dont know if he can dance like Michael Flatley, but he certainly has fast feet and hands. He exudes a winning smile and knows the correct knife and fork with which to eat at a big knees-up. What more could you ask for in your president? Ok, David Clifford would most likely rather defect from Kerry to play for Co Antrim than run for the presidency. But, by God, we need something to liven up yet cool down what currently passes for the shallows of a presidential contest. This week saw a new nadir. Conor McGregor officially entered the race. He did so by addressing the esteemed citizens of Ireland and the Irish diaspora. And this is what he tweeted: I, Conor McGregor, hereby declare my intention to seek the esteemed office of President of Ireland. He believes that the nomination system is not esteemed. Instead he suggests it is too restrictive, a contention that is about the only halfway sensible thing he has said in a very long time. He wants a special dispensation to allow for a petition to qualify him to run. I implore you to join me by signing this petition, he tweeted. Your support will be instrumental in championing a more inclusive and democratic electoral process, thereby empowering the people of Ireland to shape their own future. SIGN MY PETITION NOW TO SAVE IRELAND! Conor McGregor wants to become president of Ireland but does not agree with the nomination process. His petition tweet came in the same week that the Court of Appeal threw out his appeal against a High Court jurys finding that he raped Nikita Hand. Picture: Leah Farrell/RollingNews He formally launched his campaign on the same week the Court of Appeal threw out his appeal against a High Court jurys finding that he raped Nikita Hand in a hotel in Dublin in December 2018. Ms Hand, who described in harrowing detail to the civil court the attack to which she was subjected, was awarded 200,000. Apart from that episode of disgusting infamy, McGregor was once a big cheese MMA fighter, beloved of those who follow the sport. It is not immediately clear how exactly he would save Ireland or from what he wishes to save it. Neither is it clear whether his friend Trump advised him to use capital letters on social media in a manner most of us would remember from the difficult transition between senior infants and first class. Flatley's surreal announcement If McGregors entry into the preliminary contest was a nadir, then that of Michael Flatley was surreal. Mr Flatley, for the record, is a successful dancer and businessman. He comes across as a nice fellow whod do us proud with the cutlery at a banquet. The element of the job that involves meeting and greeting all sorts of people would be no bother to him. He has the capacity to be likeable, so that ticks off one of the job specs. But his entry into the race was straight out of a whacky Hollywood caper movie. Mr Flatley is currently involved in expensive litigation concerning his Castlehyde mansion in Co Cork and it was through that process that the world learned of his intention to move to the bigger mansion in the Park. On July 25, his barrister told the High Court that Mickser has had a material change in circumstances and that it was his intention to move back to Ireland within 14 days in order to run for the presidency. By the time youre reading this, he should have touched down, presumably full of beans for the battle ahead. Earlier, he had indicated that he would be willing to allow his name go forward if I thought I could be a voice for the Irish people. Michael Flatley in Cork Opera House during the run of 'The Lord of The Dance' there in 2023. Picture: Michael O'Sullivan/OSM As a campaign launch the courtroom event was a major let-down. There was no big media event, no social media event, no singing, no dancing, no flashing lights. It all went down in a dreary room full of gowned lawyers and a judge. Maybe the theatricality of the forum appealed to Flatley, but he sure as hell didnt get things off to a flying start. If the chips were to fall his way and he finds himself elected, at least he can credibly borrow from Mary Robinsons big day out when she ended her speech declaring: I am of Ireland. Come dance with me in Ireland. Cue Mickser clearing the stage, swapping his suit for a onesie and headband and kicking free, all the way to a crescendo of music as the assembled audience gets exhausted just looking at him. Only two candidates so far As of now, there are only two candidates actually scrubbed up with nominations for the election campaign. Mairead McGuinness is Fine Gaels candidate. She is quite obviously a competent politician, brimming with ambition. Its fair to say she is no Michael D. Neither would she be in the mould of the preceding two Marys, Robinson and McAleese. She is a member of a party that has been in power for 14 years. She has served as an MEP and a commissioner. Right now the bookies have her as favourite and if she does win it wont be on a great wave of anything or a reaction to prevailing politics. Then on the left of the house is Catherine Connolly. She is, to a large extent, a Michael D Mini-Me. But dont tell her that. The pair of them were once destined to share a ticket in a general election, but things didnt work out and Catherine left the Labour party and cut her own cloth. She has made her mark in the Dail. At her campaign launch she said she is standing to empower people to find their own voice. This statement will require further explanation when the race kicks into gear. Meanwhile, the big political beasts of Fianna Fail and Sinn Fein continue to mull and fret. There is, as of yet, no sign of white smoke from either entity declaring that they are in to win. The smart money is continuing to say that both will emerge from their respective conclaves with candidates. Sinn Fein really only has two credible internal choices, Mary Lou McDonald and Michelle O'Neill. Anybody else would be a token entry to the race. Unless, of course, they nab a big name from outside the party. That would be a coup and a half for a party still smarting from last years electoral woes. Fianna Fail has, well, nobody really bar The Bert. Party leader Micheal Martin has made it plain he will not run. That leaves Bertie Ahern, who should not run, but if he does, will never hear the end of winning money on the horses and no bank account and when exactly he took a machete to the Celtic Tiger. Bertie has enjoyed the speculation that keeps him in ink but he is an astute individual. It will be a shock if he puts himself forward for the stocks. The Soldiers of Destiny are thus most likely praying hard that an outsider lands on earth willing to go forward under their party standard. President Michael D Higgins with former taoiseach Bertie Ahern. File picture: Colin Keegan, Collins Dublin The only other big name twiddling his thumbs in the wings is Tony Holohan, formerly the states chief medical officer during the covid pandemic. There was a time, about four years ago, when Mr Holohan was considered in some quarters to be the man who saved Ireland. A gradual revision of recent history has dented that shining bauble. Some people now wonder whether his apparent cavalier attitude to consensus was a factor in lockdowns that may have locked down too much for too long. Any candidacy on his part might also suffer from the reality that a lot of people would prefer to forget covid and all its works rather than revisit it. As of now there are no other realistic candidates, or even wannabes purporting to be the chosen one arriving like Flash Gordon to save the state, if not the planet. David Clifford? Roy Keane? Is there merit in opening the Aras race up to a sporting hero? There are two features to the whole business that do require further analysis. Whatever ones distaste for McGregor and all he represents, his point about the nomination process has some validity. The only routes to nomination are through four local authorities or 20 members of the Oireachtas. It is the case that local authorities in particular have in the past shown interest in nominating whom they consider worthy candidates simply to widen choice for the electorate. Sean Gallagher and Mary Davis are two such examples. It is also the case that the big three parties, and even the smaller ones, can put pressure on their local authority members to refrain from opening up the field. On the face of it, this does appear anti-democratic. An alternative route such as a petition presents its own problems. How would it ever be validated? Lets say a candidate, such as McGregor or Paddy McGintys goat, presents a petition of tens of thousands. Is there any way to ensure all of these signatories represent genuine, qualifying, separate individuals? So there are flaws in the system, but so far there is a case to be made that any potential candidate with genuine aspirations has been facilitated with a nomination. Presidential 'voice' The other issue that will come to the fore in the campaign is the job spec. Connolly, Flatley and McGregor have all made reference to providing a voice as a primary objective. What does that mean? During the current incumbents two terms he has voiced plenty of things that made the government of the day uncomfortable. For instance, one could surmise that the president might be in favour of leaving what he considers a neoliberal EU, constantly berating the USA for its foreign policy, and criticising the Government for not applying itself without restrictions to the current housing crisis. All of these things strike an emotional chord with many people, and echo what might be discussed and debated on high stools in the nations hostelries. But expressing the sentiment, while at the same time having no power to do anything about it, can appear to be having the cake and eating it. Providing a voice to the people, this serving of cakeism, appears to have evolved under Michael D to giving comfort to the national heart in the secure knowledge that the head is what holds sway when going to the polls to elect a government. Trampling all over government policy at home or abroad is manageable when the incumbent president is highly popular. However, when the polls say that is not the case the executive may be motivated to slap down the prezs utterings. Then we enter that valley of political darkness, the constitutional crisis. Michael Ds popularity and political adroitness ensured that such terrain was never crossed, but has he beaten a path which others less equipped than himself might consider the way to go in the next presidential term? So, who fits the template if David Clifford refuses to play ball? David Clifford for the Aras? Picture: Ray McManus/Sportsfile There is really only one individual who may be a perfect fit for the Aras in the current milieu. This candidate knows when to hold his whist and when to offer considered opinion. He is equipped with bon mots such as fail to prepare, prepare to fail that would delight the populace. And he has a well-earned reputation for knowing exactly what doing your job entails. Step forward, Roy Keane. Offer to move the Aras from the Phoenix Park to Fitzgerald Park and he will be putty in the hands of the nation. Sure thats only a small detail when his country is crying out for somebody to walk the walk of a president. Failing that, we are just left waiting for the whole shebang to come alive and guide us to selecting the next head of state. The Land Development Agency (LDA) has submitted planning for 285 new affordable homes in Limerick. The proposed plans at The Gasworks on the Dock Road are to be developed on land being acquired by the agency from Gas Networks Ireland (GNI). The development will include 142 one-bed, 127 two-bed and 16 three-bed apartments across three blocks ranging from one to eight storeys, as well as a new public plaza, landscaped gardens, communal spaces, play areas, retail units and a childcare facility. The development will include 142 one-bed, 127 two-bed and 16 three-bed apartments across three blocks ranging from one to eight storeys, as well as a new public plaza, landscaped gardens, communal spaces, play areas, retail units and a childcare facility. Picture: Land Development Agency If approved, construction would begin on site in 2027. It comes as the LDA delivered 81 new homes earlier this year at cost rental prices of less than 1,000 per month at The Mills in Castletroy. Chief executive of the LDA, John Coleman, said the project in a prime location near the city centre has the capacity to revitalise the area with much-needed affordable homes. Picture: Land Development Agency Mr Coleman added: I want to recognise the ongoing collaboration between the LDA and Gas Networks Ireland, as we collectively seek solutions to accelerate housing delivery. Acting CEO of Gas Networks Ireland, Ronan Galwey said: Gas Networks Ireland is proud to support the LDA in addressing the critical challenge of affordable housing. "The Limerick site is a prime example of how state bodies can work in partnership with the LDA to unlock the potential of public land for the benefit of communities. Limerick mayor, John Moran, said: The early stages of this project date back to my own time as Chair of the LDA. Ive long believed in the potential of the Docklands to better serve the public good by unlocking lands for housing. It is heartening to see a project there reach a key milestone even if there is still a way to go. Mr Moran added that the 285 potential new homes on such a strategic site would be another piece of the large jigsaw regarding housing and infrastructure projects being developed across Limerick city and county. I do not want to minimise the scale of the challenge to catch up on the build-up of deficits in housing delivery over recent years, but moving forward is critical. Delivering housing in Limerick has been, is and will continue to be my number one priority. This site, along with other lDA lands, is now monitored by the new governance arrangements we have put in place since last June to speed up delivery, Mr Moran said. Cork City Council has given the green light for a new large-scale residential development adjacent to Musgrave Park, which the developers have said will 'rejuvenate' the local community. BML Duffy Property Group Limited sought planning permission in June to transform a long-vacant industrial site into a new housing scheme, with the plans including 170 new homes on the former Vita Cortex site, a 1.2-hectare brownfield plot located between the Kinsale Road and Pearse Road. The old Vita Cortex site, Cork. Picture Dan Linehan The approved development will comprise 158 apartments and 12 townhouse apartments. This will consist of 51 one-bed units, 84 two-bed units and 35 three-bed units. The homes would be distributed across four blocks, the tallest of which will reach nine storeys. The development also includes plans for a creche, a cafe and a management office on the ground floor level of the third block, as well as four new retail units on the bottom floor of the fourth apartment building. It also includes more than 514 bicycle spaces, including 162 visitor spaces, as well as nine motorcycle spaces and 82 shared car parking spaces. The approval from Cork City Council comes despite more than 30 submissions and objections from local residents and nearby sports clubs. Among those was Philip Quinn of the Munster branch of the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU), who said that while the union does not object in principle to much-needed housing, it wished to highlight a potential for conflict between existing operations at Virgin Media Park and the proposed site. "Our operations include regular fixtures, training seasons, and outdoor music concert events - many of which are inherently noise-generating," Mr Quinn said. "Both the developers and future residents must be made fully aware of the potential impacts associated with living close to an active sports and events facility." Concerns from local residents included apartment height, daylight loss, the potential impact on traffic and environmental fears. In its planning statement, BML Duffy said the scheme would "rejuvenate this part of the city and deliver a new residential neighbourhood of an appropriate scale and mix of uses that responds to these strategic objectives. They added that it will make a high-quality contribution to the evolving sustainable regeneration of this area of the city at an appropriate density and height, which will strengthen the character of the area and support the existing community. The Vita Cortex site, which has been vacant since the foam company ceased operations in 2011, has remained unused for more than a decade and was placed by the city council on the Derelict Sites list in 2017. The disused building suffered fire damage in the summer of 2022, amid a wider string of vandalism targeting derelict properties across Cork City. The old Vita Cortex site, Cork. Picture Dan Linehan The brownfield plot was also the location of one of the longest-running industrial relations protests in the States history. In 2011, 23 workers occupied the plant for more than 160 days in a dispute over redundancy payments. The protest concluded after the workers secured an undisclosed settlement from company owner Jack Ronan, following high-profile support from figures such as Alex Ferguson, Paul McGrath, former President Mary Robinson, philosopher Noam Chomsky, and actor Cillian Murphy. Ukrainian soldiers have expressed little hope for a diplomatic solution to the war with Russia, as Donald Trumps deadline for the Kremlin to stop the killing arrived and he eyed a possible meeting with Vladimir Putin to discuss the conflict. Mr Trump, exasperated that the Russian leader did not heed his calls to stop bombing Ukrainian cities, almost two weeks ago moved up his ultimatum to impose additional sanctions on Russia, as well as introduce secondary tariffs targeting countries that buy Russian oil, if no Kremlin moves towards a settlement were forthcoming. It was unclear what steps Mr Trump intended to take on Friday. It is impossible to negotiate with them. The only option is to defeat them The US presidents efforts to pressure Mr Putin have so far delivered no progress. Russias bigger army is slowly advancing deeper into Ukraine at great cost in troops and armour while it relentlessly bombards Ukrainian cities. Russia and Ukraine are far apart on their terms for peace. Ukrainian forces are locked in intense battles along the 620-mile front line from north-east to south-east Ukraine. The Pokrovsk city area of the eastern Donetsk region is taking the brunt of punishment as Russia looks to break out into the neighbouring Dnipropetrovsk region. Ukraine has significant manpower shortages. Intense fighting is also taking place in Ukraines northern Sumy border region, where Ukrainian forces are engaging Russian soldiers to prevent reinforcements being sent from there to Donetsk. In the Pokrovsk area, one commander said Moscow is not interested in peace. It is impossible to negotiate with them. The only option is to defeat them, Buda, the Spartan Brigade commander, told the Associated Press. He used only his call sign, in keeping with the rules of the Ukrainian military. I would like them to agree and for all this to stop, but Russia will not agree to that, it does not want to negotiate. So the only option is to defeat them, he said. In the southern Zaporizhzhia region, a howitzer commander using the call sign Warsaw, said troops are determined to thwart Russias invasion. Donald Trump is hoping for a meeting with Vladimir Putin (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP) We are on our land, we have no way out, he said. So we stand our ground, we have no choice. Mr Trump said on Thursday that he would meet Mr Putin even if the Russian president will not meet his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky. That has stoked fears in Europe that Ukraine could be sidelined in efforts to stop the continents biggest conflict since the Second World War. The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think tank, said: Putin remains uninterested in ending his war and is attempting to extract bilateral concessions from the United States without meaningfully engaging in a peace process. Putin continues to believe that time is on Russias side and that Russia can outlast Ukraine and the West. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Friday that Europe should take the lead in efforts to end the conflict. He said the leaders of Germany and France should go to Moscow to negotiate on behalf of Europe, or we will be sidelined in managing the security issues of our own continent. Mr Orban, who is a harsh critic of the European Union to which his country belongs, said Europes concerns that a Trump-Putin summit might not address the continents interests meant it should seize the diplomatic initiative. This war cannot be ended on the front line, no solution can be concluded on the battlefield, he said. This war must be ended by diplomats, politicians, leaders at the negotiating table. James Lovell, the commander of Apollo 13 who helped turn a failed Moon mission into a triumph of on-the-fly can-do engineering, has died aged 97. Mr Lovell died on Thursday in Lake Forest, Illinois, Nasa said in a statement on Friday. Jims character and steadfast courage helped our nation reach the Moon and turned a potential tragedy into a success from which we learned an enormous amount, Nasa said. We mourn his passing even as we celebrate his achievements. We are saddened by the passing of Jim Lovell, commander of Apollo 13 and a four-time spaceflight veteran. Lovell's life and work inspired millions. His courage under pressure helped forge our path to the Moon and beyonda journey that continues today. https://t.co/AjT8qmxsZI pic.twitter.com/jBlxzgrmSk NASA (@NASA) August 8, 2025 One of Nasas most travelled astronauts in the agencys first decade, Mr Lovell flew four times Gemini 7, Gemini 12, Apollo 8 and Apollo 13 with the two Apollo flights riveting the folks back on Earth. In 1968, the Apollo 8 crew of Mr Lovell, Frank Borman and William Anders was the first to leave Earths orbit and the first to fly to and circle the Moon. They could not land, but they put the US ahead of the Soviets in the space race. Letter writers told the crew that their stunning pale blue dot photo of Earth from the moon, a world first, and the crews Christmas Eve reading from Genesis saved America from a tumultuous 1968. But the big rescue mission was still to come. That was during the harrowing Apollo 13 flight in April 1970. Mr Lovell was supposed to be the fifth man to walk on the Moon. But Apollo 13s service module, carrying Mr Lovell and two others, experienced a sudden oxygen tank explosion on its way to the Moon. The astronauts barely survived, spending four cold and clammy days in the cramped lunar module as a lifeboat. The thing that I want most people to remember is (that) in some sense it was very much of a success, Mr Lovell said during a 1994 interview. Not that we accomplished anything, but a success in that we demonstrated the capability of (Nasa) personnel. A retired Navy captain known for his calm demeanour, Mr Lovell told a Nasa historian that his brush with death did affect him. I dont worry about crises any longer, he said in 1999. Whenever he has a problem, I say, I could have been gone back in 1970. Im still here. Im still breathing. So, I dont worry about crises. Tom Hanks arrives with his wife Rita for the premiere of Apollo 13 (PA) And the missions retelling in the popular 1995 movie Apollo 13 brought Mr Lovell, Fred Haise and Jack Swigert renewed fame thanks in part to Mr Lovells movie persona reporting Houston, we have a problem, a phrase he did not exactly utter. Mr Lovell had ice water in his veins like other astronauts, but he did not display the swagger some had, just quiet confidence, said Smithsonian Institution historian Roger Launius. He called Mr Lovell a very personable, very down-to-earth type of person, who says This is what I do. Yes, theres risk involved. I measure risk. In all, Mr Lovell flew four space missions and until the Skylab flights of the mid-1970s, he held the world record for the longest time in space with 715 hours, 4 minutes and 57 seconds. Aboard Apollo 8, Mr Lovell described the oceans and land masses of Earth. What I keep imagining, is if I am some lonely traveller from another planet, what I would think about the Earth at this altitude, whether I think it would be inhabited or not, he remarked. That mission may be as important as the historic Apollo 11 moon landing, a flight made possible by Apollo 8, Mr Launius said. The Apollo 13 astronauts (Alamy/PA) But if historians consider Apollo 8 and Apollo 11 the most significant of the Apollo missions, it was during Mr Lovells last mission immortalised by the popular film starring Tom Hanks that he came to embody for the public the image of the cool, decisive astronaut. The Apollo 13 crew was on the way to the moon in April 1970, when an oxygen tank from the spaceship exploded 200,000 miles from Earth. That, Mr Lovell recalled, was the most frightening moment in this whole thing. Then oxygen began escaping and we didnt have solutions to get home. We knew we were in deep, deep trouble, he told Nasas historian. Four-fifths of the way to the moon, Nasa scrapped the mission. Suddenly, their only goal was to survive. Mr Lovells Houston, weve had a problem, a variation of a comment Mr Swigert had radioed moments before, became famous. In Hanks version, it became Houston, we have a problem. What unfolded over the next four days captured the imagination of the nation and the world, which until then had largely been indifferent about what seemed a routine mission. The loss of the opportunity to walk on the Moon is my one regret, Mr Lovell said in a 1995 interview with The Associated Press for a story on the 25th anniversary of the mission. President Bill Clinton agreed when he awarded Mr Lovell the Congressional Space Medal of Honour in 1995. The Earth behind the surface of the Moon during the Apollo 8 mission. (William Anders/Nasa) While you may have lost the Moon you gained something that is far more important perhaps: the abiding respect and gratitude of the American people, he said. James A Lovell was born March 25, 1928, in Cleveland. He attended the University of Wisconsin before transferring to the US Naval Academy, in Annapolis, Maryland. On the day he graduated in 1952, he and his wife, Marilyn, were married. A test pilot at the Navy Test Centre in Patuxent River, Maryland, Mr Lovell was selected as an astronaut by Nasa in 1962. Lovell retired from the Navy and from the space programme in 1973, and went into private business. He and his family ran a now-closed restaurant in suburban Chicago, Mr Lovells of Lake Forest. His wife, Marilynn, died in 2023. Survivors include four children. Business / Economy by Staff reporter The drug and substance abuse rehabilitation centre established by First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa in Mbare is struggling to cope with demand, with hundreds of addicts on a waiting list seeking help, highlighting the growing substance abuse crisis in Zimbabwe.The Angel of Hope Foundation's facility, which officially opened on July 12, already houses 90 clients less than a month later, with more than 600 applicants awaiting admission. The centre has a capacity of 200 inmates and provides free rehabilitation services to individuals battling addiction.The centre offers a month-long programme that includes group therapy, counselling, and assessments aimed at reintegrating recovering addicts back into society. Health and Child Care Minister Douglas Mombeshora toured the facility on Wednesday and praised the rapid uptake of services."Having been opened only three weeks ago, it's already housing more than 90 clients, and its full capacity is 200. This is very, very commendable," said Mombeshora.Angel of Hope has partnered with the Ministry of Youth Empowerment and Development to provide vocational training and youth services to graduates of the rehabilitation programme. However, with a waiting list exceeding 600, the foundation's administrator Charles Nyamukubva stressed the urgent need for more rehabilitation centres nationwide."We want to thank the First Lady, Amai Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa, for coming up with this idea," Nyamukubva said. "Because it's free, it's accessible to many. The programme is designed to keep participants engaged, especially since most have not completed their O' Level exams."Minister Mombeshora lamented the widespread nature of drug abuse across the country and appealed to development partners to establish similar centres that prioritize affordability and accessibility."We have always advocated for partnerships with anyone willing to help build Zimbabwe," he said. "What I also urge is that these centres do not overcharge. Many people cannot afford high fees and will continue to suffer."The government has launched a fundraising campaign aimed at setting up drug and substance abuse rehabilitation centres in every district, aiming to curb the growing menace. Mombeshora expressed optimism that combined government and non-governmental efforts will make a significant impact."With over 600 applications already, the Angel of Hope centre is well positioned to lead the fight against substance abuse in Zimbabwe," he noted.Zimbabwe is grappling with increasing drug and substance abuse, particularly among youth frustrated by the country's challenging economic environment and scarce employment opportunities. The government has declared war on drug traffickers and users through a national anti-drug campaign titled No To Dangerous Drugs And Illicit Substances; See Something Say Something.President Emmerson Mnangagwa has called for tougher penalties against drug abusers and the cartels supplying intoxicants, as reports indicate that admissions to mental health institutions increasingly involve teenagers battling drug addiction.The overwhelming demand at Angel of Hope serves as a stark reminder of the scale of Zimbabwe's substance abuse challenges and the urgent need for sustained, collaborative intervention. US president Donald Trump said he will meet very shortly with Russian president Vladimir Putin to discuss the war in Ukraine and that he will announce the location soon. Were going to be announcing later, and were going to have a meeting with Russia, Mr Trump told reporters at the White House. Those comments came as Ukrainian soldiers on the battlefield expressed little hope for a diplomatic solution to the war and Mr Trumps deadline arrived on Friday for the Kremlin to make peace. Exasperated that Mr Putin did not heed his calls to stop bombing Ukrainian cities, Mr Trump almost two weeks ago moved up his ultimatum to impose additional sanctions on Russia and introduce secondary tariffs targeting countries that buy Russian oil if the Kremlin did not move toward a settlement. President Donald Trump (Mark Schiefelbein/AP) Mr Trumps efforts to pressure Mr Putin into stopping the fighting have so far delivered no progress. Russias bigger army is slowly advancing deeper into Ukraine at great cost in troops and armour while it relentlessly bombards Ukrainian cities. Russia and Ukraine are far apart on their terms for peace. Ukrainian forces are locked in intense battles along the 620-mile front line that snakes from north-east to south-east Ukraine. The Pokrovsk area of the eastern Donetsk region is taking the brunt of punishment as Russia seeks to break out into the neighbouring Dnipropetrovsk region. Ukraine has significant manpower shortages. Intense fighting is also taking place in Ukraines northern Sumy border region, where Ukrainian forces are engaging Russian soldiers to prevent reinforcements being sent from there to Donetsk. Russian president Vladimir Putin (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP) In the Pokrovsk area of Donetsk, a commander said he believes Moscow is not interested in peace. It is impossible to negotiate with them. The only option is to defeat them, Buda, a commander of a drone unit in the Spartan Brigade, told The Associated Press. He used only his call sign, in keeping with the rules of the Ukrainian military. I would like them to agree and for all this to stop, but Russia will not agree to that. It does not want to negotiate. So the only option is to defeat them, he said. In the southern Zaporizhzhia region, a howitzer commander using the call sign Warsaw, said troops are determined to thwart Russias invasion. We are on our land, we have no way out, he said. So we stand our ground, we have no choice. The Kremlin said that Mr Putin had a phone call with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, during which the Russian leader informed Mr Xi about the results of his meeting earlier this week with Trump envoy Steve Witkoff. Kremlin officials said Mr Xi expressed support for the settlement of the Ukrainian crisis on a long-term basis. Mr Putin is due to visit China next month. China, along with North Korea and Iran, have provided military support for Russias war effort, the US says. Indian prime minister Narendra Modi said on X that he also had a call with Mr Putin to speak about the latest Ukraine developments. Mr Trump signed an executive order on Wednesday to place an additional 25% tariff on India for its purchases of Russian oil, which the American president says is helping to finance Russias war. Mr Putins calls followed his phone conversations with the leaders of South Africa, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Belarus, the Kremlin said. Business / Economy by Staff reporter South Africa's national railway company, Transnet, has re-launched its iconic luxury tourist train service connecting Pretoria and Zimbabwe's tourism capital, Victoria Falls. The Blue Train arrived in Victoria Falls early Thursday morning, marking the revival of a route that was last operated in 2001."We are so excited to bring our guests to Africa's most iconic destination," said Ms. Mosa Matlhtsi, Acting Train Manager for the Blue Train. "We are promising to bring more people on this route. We are backed by popular demand. Our clients are so happy, and we are already all over social media receiving questions and inquiries about our next trip. We will be back in a few weeks."The train carried a group of tourists eager to experience Zimbabwe's rich tourist offerings. As expected, the majestic Victoria Falls did not disappoint."We have been to Zambezi National Park this morning and were very excited to see animals. We were also thrilled to visit Victoria Falls. What is also interesting is that you have nice, friendly people and great food. I will definitely continue marketing Victoria Falls to the Japanese source market," said Ms. Eri Odagiri, Chief Executive Officer of Thompsons Japan.Victoria Falls remains a key destination for both regional and international travelers, and the re-launch of the Blue Train is seen as a significant boost to the tourism sectors of both South Africa and Zimbabwe. News / Africa by Staff reporter A South African court has ruled that Zambia's government can repatriate the body of former President Edgar Lungu and give him a state funeral, despite his family's opposition.The Pretoria high court ruled in favour of the Zambian state, which had previously applied to block the family's plans to bury him privately in South Africa, where he died in June.At the time, Zambian state lawyers argued that personal wishes should not override the greater public interest.The dispute follows a long-standing feud between Lungu and his successor, President Hakainde Hichilema, with Lungu's family saying he had indicated that Hichilema should not attend his funeral.Handing down the ruling, judge Aubrey Ledwaba said the Zambian government was "entitled to repatriate the body of the late president" and ordered his family to "immediately surrender" it to authorities.No order was made on the costs of the urgent application.Following Lungu's death from an undisclosed illness at the age of 68, the family wanted to be in charge of the funeral arrangements, including the repatriation of his body, but the Zambian authorities sought to take control.The government and his family later agreed he would have a state funeral before relations broke down over the precise arrangements, prompting the family to opt for a burial in South Africa.Lungu's relatives were visibly shaken by the ruling, wailing loudly in the courtroom as Zambian attorney general Mulilo D Kabesha spoke to the media.He said the ruling was not a win for the government but rather "what makes good sense"."When you are the father of the nation, you can't restrict yourself to your immediate family... The man belongs to the nation," he said.Mr Kabesha praised the court for making a "sound judgment" and said that while the family had a right to appeal, this was a "learning curve" for those aspiring to the highest office.Lungu led Zambia from 2015 until 2021 when he lost the election to Hichilema by a large margin.After that defeat he stepped back from politics but later returned to the fray. News / Africa by Staff reporter Three women associated with Operation Dudula have been arrested in Diepkloof, Soweto, after allegedly storming a medical facility and demanding patients produce identity documents to verify their nationalities.Police confirmed that the arrests took place yesterday at the Lillian Ngoyi Clinic, where the suspects reportedly entered a ward, questioned patients about their nationality, and demanded identification. The women are expected to face charges of contravening the National Health Act and public violence.The incident has sparked protests outside the Diepkloof Police Station, where Operation Dudula members are demanding answers over the arrests.Operation Dudula president Zandile Dabula said the organisation has yet to receive a clear update on the charges."The charges kept changing from being impersonation of immigration officers, South African Police Service members, to intimidation, then trespassing and public violence," Dabula claimed.She accused police of fabricating the allegations, insisting the charges have no legal basis.Operation Dudula has been widely criticised for its confrontational stance on undocumented migrants, with members often staging actions targeting foreign nationals in communities and public facilities. Israeli forces deadly attacks on schools sheltering Palestinian civilians highlight the absence of safe places for displaced people, the vast majority of Gazas population. Hundreds of Israeli attacks since October 2023 have struck over 500 school buildings, many used as shelters, killing hundreds of civilians and causing significant damage to nearly all of Gazas schools. The Israeli attacks have denied civilians safe access to shelter, and will contribute to the disruption of access to education for many years, as repair and reconstruction of schools can require significant resources and time. Human Rights Watch (Jerusalem, August 7, 2025) Israeli forces deadly attacks on schools sheltering Palestinian civilians highlight the absence of safe places for Gazas displaced people, Human Rights Watch said today. Since October 2023, Israeli authorities have carried out hundreds of strikes on schools sheltering displaced Palestinians, including unlawfully indiscriminate attacks using US munitions, that have killed hundreds of civilians and damaged or destroyed virtually all of Gazas schools. Recent Israeli strikes on schools-turned-shelters are part of Israeli forces current military offensive that is demolishing much of Gazas remaining civilian infrastructure, displacing again hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, and worsening the already dire humanitarian situation. Governments, including the United States, which has provided weapons used in unlawful attacks, should impose an arms embargo on the Israeli government and take other urgent measures to enforce the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Genocide Convention). Israeli strikes on schools sheltering displaced families provide a window into the widespread carnage that Israeli forces have carried out in Gaza, said Gerry Simpson, associate crisis, conflict and arms director at Human Rights Watch. Other governments should not tolerate this horrendous slaughter of Palestinian civilians merely seeking safety. Human Rights Watch investigated Israeli attacks that struck the Khadija girls school in Deir al-Balah on July 27, 2024, killing at least 15 people, and al-Zeitoun C school in al-Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza City on September 21, 2024, killing at least 34 people. Human Rights Watch found no evidence of a military target at either school. These findings were based on a review of satellite imagery, photos, and videos of the attacks and their aftermath, social media material relating to men known to have died in the two strikes, and phone interviews with two people who witnessed the aftermath of the Khadija school strike and another present during the attack on al-Zeitoun C school. The Israeli authorities have not publicly provided information about the attacks that Human Rights Watch documented, including details about the intended target or any precautions taken to minimize harm to civilians. They did not respond to a July 15 letter summarizing Human Rights Watch findings on these strikes and requesting specific information. The absence of a military target in the Khadija and al-Zeitoun school strikes would make the attacks unlawfully indiscriminate in violation of international humanitarian law. Schools and other educational facilities are civilian objects and protected from attack. They lose that protection when used for military purposes or are occupied by military forces. The use of schools to house civilians does not alter their legal status. Between July 1 and 10, 2025, Israeli forces struck at least 10 schools-turned-shelters, including some that had been damaged previously, reportedly killing 59 people and displacing again dozens of families, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) reported that about one million displaced people in Gaza had sheltered in schools amid the hostilities, and that as of July 18, at least 836 people sheltering in schools had been killed and at least 2,527 injured. The most recent assessment by the Occupied Palestinian Territory Education Cluster found that 97 percent of school buildings in Gaza (547 out of 564) have sustained some level of damage, including 462 (76 percent) that were directly hit, and that 518 (92 percent) require full reconstruction or major rehabilitation work to become functional again. The Israeli attacks have denied civilians safe access to shelter and will contribute to the disruption of access to education for many years, as repair and reconstruction of schools can require significant resources and time, with a significant negative impact on children, parents, and teachers. The Israeli publications +972Magazine and Local Call reported on July 24 that the Israeli military set up a special strike cell to systematically identify schools, which are referred to as centers of gravity, in order to bomb them, claiming that Hamas operatives hide among the hundreds of civilians. The report noted that double tap strikessecond attacks in the same location designed to hit survivors of the initial strike and first respondershave become particularly common in recent months when Israel bombs schools in Gaza. The Israeli military has claimed with respect to dozens of attacks on schools that Hamas or other Palestinian fighters or command and control centers were deployed at the school, without providing specific information. Human Rights Watch is aware of only seven instances in which the Israeli military published names and photographs of alleged members of Palestinian armed groups it said were present in a school at the time of the attack. After a June 6, 2024, attack on al-Sardi school, the Israeli military identified 17 names of alleged fighters. However, a Human Rights Watch review of the names found that three were people who appeared to have been killed in earlier attacks. The presence of Palestinian armed groups at any of the attacked schools would not necessarily make the attacks lawful. The laws of war prohibit attacks on military objectives if the anticipated harm to civilians and civilian objects is disproportionate compared to the expected military gain from the attack. The laws of war also require, unless circumstances do not permit, warring parties to give effective advance warning of attacks that may affect the civilian population. Armed groups deployed at schools-turned-shelters would place civilians at unnecessary risk. The laws of war obligate warring parties to take all feasible precautions against the effects of attacks and to avoid locating military targets near densely populated areas. Serious violations of the laws of war by individuals with criminal intentthat is, deliberately or recklesslyare war crimes. Individuals may also be held criminally liable for assisting in, facilitating, aiding, or abetting a war crime. All state parties to an armed conflict are obligated to investigate alleged war crimes by members of their armed forces. The Safe Schools Declaration, an international political commitment endorsed by 121 countries, aims to protect education during times of war by strengthening the prevention of, and response to, attacks on students, teachers, schools, and universities, including by avoiding the use of education facilities for military purposes. While Israel has not joined, Palestine endorsed the declaration in 2015. Governments should suspend arms transfers to Israel, given the clear risk that the arms might be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international humanitarian law. The US governments provision of arms to Israel, which have repeatedly been used in strikes on schools-turned-shelters and to carry out apparent war crimes, has made the United States complicit in their unlawful use. On June 10, the UN Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel reported that Israeli authorities had obliterated Gazas education system and that its attacks on educational, as well as religious and cultural sites in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, were part of a widespread and relentless assault against the Palestinian people in which Israeli forces have committed war crimes and the crime against humanity of extermination. After nearly two years of frequent Israeli attacks killing civilians in schools and other protected locations, governments providing military support to Israel cant say they werent aware of the consequences of their actions, Simpson said. Governments should suspend all arms transfers to Israel and take other actions to prevent further mass atrocities. Israeli Attacks on Schools-Turned-Shelters Human Rights Watch was unable to visit sites of the strikes on Khadija girls school and al-Zeitoun C school because Israeli authorities have blocked virtually all entry into Gaza since October 2023. Israel has repeatedly denied Human Rights Watch requests to enter Gaza since 2008. Khadija Girls School, Deir al-Balah, July 27, 2024 On July 27, 2024, starting shortly before noon and until about 3 p.m., Israeli forces carried out at least three airstrikes, two with US munitions, on Khadija girls school in Deir al-Balah, killing at least 15 people. The Palestinian Civil Defence in Gaza, a body providing emergency and rescue services, reported that the school had sheltered about 4,000 displaced people for many months. The director of al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, about a kilometer east of the school, said the school had a field hospital connected to his hospital. Reports of the attack started appearing on social media shortly before noon. The school consists of five buildings next to a playground on about 5,000 square meters of land. Human Rights Watch found no indication of a military objective in or near the school on the day of the attack. A review of social media on the men known to have been killed in the attack and the online pages of Palestinian armed groups and Israeli forces showed no evidence of a Palestinian armed groups presence at the school. The Israeli military did not reply to a Human Rights Watch request for more information about the target. Airwars, a nongovernmental organization that investigates civilian harm in conflict zones, reviewed social media and other open sources and found the names of 15 people killed, including 7 men, 4 women, and 4 children, as well as 2 others without their complete names. Airwars also found the full names of 9 people injured, including 4 men, 2 children, and 3 males whose ages are unknown. The identified dead and injured are from 18 families. Human Rights Watch reviewed social media and other open sources, but found no additional names. Gazas Ministry of Health said that the attack killed at least 30 people and injured 100. The victims were taken to al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital nearby. Human Rights Watch spoke by phone with a journalist who was based at the hospital. He said that at around noon, he heard a single explosion from the direction of the school and ran toward it. When we arrived, I saw a horrific scene, the journalist said. I saw injured women, children, the elderly and some doctors in their medical clothes. Women were shouting, Where are my children? or My son, I want my son. Human Rights Watch also spoke with another journalist who was about two kilometers from the school when at around noon, he heard a bomb falling and then an explosion. He arrived at the school about 20 minutes later. I saw that a two-story building on the eastern side of the school had been completely destroyed, he said. Can you imagine, a building full of displaced people levelled in the blink of an eye? I saw people with serious and more minor injuries, and then saw human remains on the ground. Human Rights Watch verified four videos relating to the attacks on the school, though none showed the initial attack. The first was posted to social media by the Saudi news channel Asharq News, which an analysis of the shadows in the video show it was filmed around midday. The video shows damage to, and debris from, the northern part of the campus, as well as injured people being carried out of one of the buildings. Human Rights Watch analyzed two further videos uploaded to social media on July 27 that were filmed sometime between 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. The first captures the moment two munitions strike the school almost simultaneously. The second, filmed approximately 200 meters southeast of the school, captures a loud explosion, followed by a group of people running through a plume of smoke and into the school compound. It then shows significant damage to the western and southern parts of the school campus, including two entirely destroyed buildings. The camera then pans onto a munition remnant lodged in the ground in the middle of the school compound. A fourth video uploaded to social media from an account that posted two other videos from the attack shows an unexploded munition inside what is said to be one of the schools rooms. Human Rights Watch was unable to confirm where the video was filmed or at what time, although the color of blown-out window frames matches the first video from the school. Based on the photos and videos, and identifiable munition remnants, including an unexploded item, Human Rights Watch determined that at least two air-dropped GBU-39 Small Diameter Bombs were used in the attack. These munitions are produced by the Boeing Company and transferred to Israel with US government approval under the Foreign Military Sales or Direct Commercial Sales programs. The Gaza Media Office reported that Israeli fighter jets dropped three bombs on the field hospital in the school. A witness told the Washington Post that four munitions had hit the school, all around noon. A man who said he was about 500 meters from the school around midday described two attacks involving multiple munitions. He told Human Rights Watch that after the first attack, Israeli authorities contacted the residents of a house near the school and said that people should leave the area as they were going to strike the school again. He also said that the second set of attacks involved multiple bombs that completely destroyed the building that had been hit during the first strikes. The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights also found that the Israeli military had issued a warning ahead of the second and third strikes, but not the first in which most of the casualties had reportedly occurred. About an hour after the attack, the Israeli military said on their Telegram channel that they had struck terrorists operating a Hamas command and control center embedded inside the Khadija School in central Gaza. The Israeli military provided no further details. Human Rights Watch reviewed online materials concerning the seven men listed as killed by Airwars, as well as the Telegram channels and associated social media channels of Hamas armed wing, Izz a-Din al-Qassam Brigades, and Islamic Jihads armed wing, al-Quds Brigade. These groups often announce the killing of their fighters, but neither group mentioned the strike. The Israeli military has presented no information demonstrating the presence of a military target or other military objective within or near the building. The military also has not said why it did not provide an effective advance warning to those taking shelter at the school and the residents of nearby buildings to evacuate before the initial noon attack. Al-Zeitoun C School, Gaza City, September 21, 2024 On September 21, 2024, at about 10:45 a.m., an Israeli airstrike struck al-Zeitoun C school in al-Zeitoun neighborhood of Gaza city, killing at least 34 people. Human Rights Watch found no indication of a military objective in or near the school the day of the attack. A review of social media of men known to have been killed in the attack and of the online pages of Palestinian armed groups and Israeli forces, as well as an interview with a man who lived at the school, showed no evidence of a Palestinian armed group presence at the time of the attack. The Israeli military did not reply to a Human Rights Watch request for more information about the target of the attack, nor to a request by journalists for information about the intended target. The BBC reported that an undisclosed source said that the attack had targeted and killed a local Hamas figure without providing more details. The Palestinian Civil Defence in Gaza reported that the school was sheltering thousands of displaced people. The Gaza Media Office said that many of the displaced were widows and orphans who also received small cash payments to help cover food costs. Al-Zeitoun C school is part of a three-school complex, including Al-Zeitoun A/B and al- Falah Elementary Boys B school and al-Falah preparatory Boys B school. Al-Zeitoun C has two main buildings along with several smaller structures, all situated on approximately 5,000 square meters of land. Airwars reviewed social media and other open sources for information about the attack, and found the full names of 23 people killed from 9 families, including 3 men, 4 women, and 16 children. Gazas Ministry of Health and the Gaza Media Office said that 22 people were killed, including 6 women and 13 children. Human Rights Watch reviewed social media and other open sources and found the full names of four other people who were killed. They include one woman, two boys, and one female of an unknown age. Human Rights Watch spoke with a man who was in the school at the time of the attack and who said the strike killed eight members of his family, one of them a boy on the Airwars list. The other seven were three women, three children, and one man who were not identified by Airwars. Human Rights Watch reviewed social media for mentions of the four men listed by Airwars as having been killed in the attack and found no ties to any armed groups. The Palestinian Civil Defence in Gaza said that one of the women who was killed was pregnant and that about 30 people were injured, including 9 children whose limbs had to be amputated. A video posted to social media by the Saudi Arabian news channel Asharq News and analyzed by Human Rights Watch shows a rescue worker standing outside one of the school buildings holding what the channel said was a dead fetus. The victims were taken to al-Ahli Arab Baptist Hospital in Gaza city. File photo of Gaza Dec. 2023 by Emad El Byed on Unsplash Human Rights Watch analyzed two other videos of the aftermath of the attack uploaded to social media on September 21. Human Rights Watch confirmed geolocations initially determined by two open source researchers, Anno Nemo and Jack Dev. One video filmed around 11:30 a.m. shows two men carrying two injured and bloodied children across the campus. People are also surrounding two severely injured children, one motionless, and attempting to treat their wounds. A second video shows the school courtyard after the strike, dozens of people at a building entrance on the western side of the campus, and then several dead children. The man who lost eight family members said that four munitions hit the school without warning. Another witness told a journalist that he saw explosions when two munitions struck the compound. A woman living at the school who was there during the attack told another journalist that suddenly missiles started raining down on us there was no warning. Three photographs uploaded to X with the logo of Quds News Network show a child holding three identifiable munition remnants in one of the classrooms. Based on these images, Human Rights Watch determined that at least one US produced GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb directly hit at least one of the school buildings. The witness who lost eight family members said he had not seen any weapons or military material at the school and that no militants were there, only civilians seeking safety. The Human Rights Watch review of online materials relating to the men listed by Airwars as killed in each of the strikes found no evidence that any were combatants. Human Rights Watch reviewed the Telegram channels and associated social media of the armed wings of Hamas, Izz a-Din al-Qassam Brigades, and Islamic Jihad, al-Quds Brigade. Neither made mention of the strike. The videos Human Rights Watch analyzed of the aftermath of the strikes on the school did not indicate any Palestinian armed groups presence or military equipment in or near the building at the time of the attack. On the day of the strike, the Israeli military said it had conducted a precise strike on terrorists who were operating inside a Hamas command and control center embedded inside a compound that previously served as the Al-Falah School. According to a person with close knowledge of the schools who spoke with Airwars, al-Falah Elementary Boys B school and Al Falah Preparatory Boys B school is located about 200 meters from al-Zeitoun C school, with al-Zeitoun A/B school separating them. Palestinian media mentioned an Israeli strike on al-Falah school the same day, which reportedly resulted in injuries. The Israeli military did not make a separate statement relating to the strike on al-Zeitoun C school and has presented no information that would demonstrate the existence of a military target there. The military has also not said why it did not provide an effective advance warning to the residents of al-Zeitoun C school, and nearby buildings, to evacuate before the initial attack. A girl who survived the attack told the BBC, What have we done as children? We wake up and go to sleep terrified. At least protect the schools; we dont have schools or homes where do we go? Via Human Rights Watch This week marks 80 years since the United States used its nuclear weapons against the civilian population of Japan in August 1945. Prior to that, the U.S. began the mass firebombing of Japanese citizens. On the night of March 9, U.S. bombers, dropped 1,665 tons of incendiary bombs on Tokyo, unleashing a firestorm that incinerated a quarter of the city and killed 85,000 people. Over the next four months, the raids continued and, razed almost every major Japanese city. In the three weeks prior to dropping its atomic bombs, 26 cities were attacked by the U.S. Army Air Force. Of these, eightor almost a thirdwere as completely or more completely destroyed than the city of Hiroshima (in terms of the percentage of the city destroyed). Ultimately, over one million civilians were murdered as a result of U.S. bombing. But that was just the beginning. On August 6, 1945, U.S. President Harry Truman ordered the United States Air Force to drop an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, and more than 78,000 people were incinerated in the initial explosion. Over time, approximately 150,000 later died from radiation exposure. Three days after that, another B-29 dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasakiat least 23,800 people died from the blast alone. Ultimately, the U.S. bombing campaign killed 330,000 people, obliterated 67 cities, destroyed 2.5 million homes (Alfred W. McCoy. To Govern the Globe: World Order and Catastrophic Change). Most of the U.S. military leadership agreed that there was no military excuse for this war crime. Admiral William Leahy, who presided over the combined US-UK chiefs of staff, said that: The use of this barbarous weapon at Hiroshima and Nagasakiwas of no material assistance in our war against Japan. The Japanese were already defeated and ready to surrender. And the general who had won the war in Europe months earlier, Dwight Eisenhower, recalled his reaction to being told by the secretary of war, Henry Stimson, that the atomic bomb would be used. I voiced to him my grave misgivingson the basis of my belief that Japan was already defeated and that dropping the bomb was completely unnecessary. Indeed, the Japanese government was already willing to surrender, for several reasons. In addition to the bombing of their cities, there was also the defeat of its army and navy in the Pacific War. Just as importantly, Japan feared attacks by the Soviet Union, a U.S. ally in the Second World War. On August 8, Russia invaded Japanese-held Manchuria as promised. Historian Ward Wilson explained that, It didnt take a military genius to see that, while it might be possible to fight a decisive battle against one great power invading from one direction, it would not be possible to fight off two great powers attacking from two different directions. The Soviet invasion invalidated the militarys decisive battle strategy, just as it invalidated the diplomatic strategy. At a single stroke, all of Japans options evaporated. The Soviet invasion was strategically decisiveit foreclosed both of Japans optionswhile the bombing of Hiroshima (which foreclosed neither) was not. Soviet forces, on the other hand, could be in Japan proper in as little as 10 days. The Soviet invasion made a decision on ending the war extremely time sensitive. ( The Bomb Didnt Beat Japan. Stalin Did. Foreign Policy. 30 May 2013.) Japan would have surrendered in August, even if atomic bombs had not been used and Truman and his closest advisors knew it. Generals Dwight Eisenhower, Douglas MacArthur, Henry Arnold, and Admirals William Leahy, Chester Nimitz, Ernest King, and William Halsey are on record stating that the atomic bombs were either militarily unnecessary, morally reprehensible, or both. Leahy, who was Trumans chief of staff, wrote in his memoir that, the use of this barbarousweapon at Hiroshima and Nagasaki was of no material assistance in our war against Japan. The Japanese were already defeated and ready to surrender . In being the first to use it we had adopted an ethical standard common to the barbarians of the Dark Ages. Gar Alperovitz & Martin Sherwin. 6 Aug. 2020. Dropping Atomic Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki Was Unnecessary. Los Angeles Times. File: Operation Castle, 1954. National Nuclear Security Administration. Public Domain. Via Picryl The real reasons that President Harry Truman ordered this barbarous attack was to: 1) show the world who was boss; 2) to intimidate Russia; 3) to test the effect of nuclear weapons on human beings. Thats why the atomic bombings were war crimes, according to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court: Article 8 War Crimes 2b. i. Intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population as such or against individual civilians not taking direct part in hostilities. v. Attacking or bombarding, by whatever means, towns, villages, dwellings or buildings which are undefended and which are not military objectives. (Note: these statutes also apply in war zones like Gaza and Ukraine). More than ever, the people of the world need todays nuclear powers (the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, France, China, Israel, India, Pakistan, and North Korea) to do everything possible to eliminate the potential use of nuclear weapons. VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESS Newswire / August 8, 2025 / Guanajuato Silver Company Ltd. (the "Company" or "GSilver") (TSXV:GSVR) announces a non-brokered Listed Issuer Financing Exemption (LIFE) private placement (the "Offering") consisting of units of the Company (the "Units") at a price of $0.30 per unit (the "Offering Price") for minimum aggregate gross proceeds of $15,000,000, and a maximum of up to $18,000,000. The Company has engaged Medalist Capital Advisors Inc. and Research Capital Corporation (the "Finders") as exclusive finders to assist with the Offering (the "Finders"). Each Unit will consist of one common share of the Company ("Common Share") and one-half of one common share purchase warrant of the Company (each whole warrant, a "Warrant"). Each Warrant will entitle the holder to purchase an additional Common Share at an exercise price of $0.45 for a period of 36 months following the closing of the Offering. Net proceeds from the Offering will be used to, inter alia: add to the Company's underground equipment fleet at GSilver's producing mines in the Mexican states of Guanajuato and Durango. fund certain improvements to expand and modernize the processing facilities at the Topia mine and mill complex including capital expenditures and related costs. fund corporate head office general and administrative expenses including legal, audit and overhead for the ensuing 12 months. carry out detailed exploration at GSilver's mineral properties, particularly San Ignacio and El Cubo. The Units will be offered for sale pursuant to the Listed Issuer Financing Exemption under Part 5A of National Instrument 45-106 - Prospectus Exemptions, as amended by Coordinated Blanket Order 45-935 - Exemptions from Certain Conditions of the Listed Issuer Financing Exemption. The Offering is being made in all provinces of Canada (except Quebec) and other qualifying jurisdictions, including the United States. The Units offered under the Listed Issuer Financing Exemption will be immediately "free-trading" under applicable Canadian securities laws. Units sold to subscribers resident in the United States will be subject to additional restrictions on trade. There is an offering document (the "Offering Document") related to this Offering that can be accessed under the Company's profile at www.sedarplus.ca and at the Company's website at www.gsilver.com. Prospective investors should read this Offering Document before making an investment decision. The Offering is anticipated to close on or about the week of August 18, 2025 ("Closing"), or such later date as the Company may determine. The Closing is subject to certain conditions including, but not limited to, the receipt of all necessary regulatory and other approvals, including the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. The Finders will receive a cash commission of 6% of the aggregate gross proceeds of the Offering from subscribers introduced to the Company by the Finders and such number of finder's warrants (the "Finder's Warrants") as is equal to6% of the number of Units sold under the Offering to subscribers introduced to the Company by the Finders. Each Finder's Warrant entitles the holder to purchase one Common Share at an exercise price equal to the Offering Price for a period of 36 months following the Closing. To the extent that any directors and/or officers of GSilver (collectively, the "Insiders") participate in the Offering, such participation will constitute a "related party transaction" within the meaning of Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101"). The Company expects any participation by the Insiders in the Offering will be exempt from the formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements of MI 61-101 pursuant to sections 5.5(a) and 5.7(1)(a) of MI 61-101 based on the fact that neither the fair market value of the Units subscribed for by the Insiders, nor the consideration for the Units to be paid by the Insiders, will exceed 25% 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. The securities offered have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "1933 Act"), or any state securities laws and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to or for the account or benefit of a U.S. person (as defined in Regulation S under the 1933 Act) unless registered under the 1933 Act and applicable state securities laws or an exemption from such registrations are available. No public offering of securities is being made in the United States. 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 GSilver GSilver is a precious metals producer engaged in reactivating past producing silver and gold mines in central Mexico. The Company produces silver and gold concentrates from the El Cubo Mine Complex, Valenciana Mines Complex, and the San Ignacio mine; all three mines are located within the state of Guanajuato, which has an established 480-year mining history. Additionally, the Company produces silver, gold, lead, and zinc concentrates from the Topia mine in northwestern Durango. With four operating mines and three processing facilities, GSilver is one of the fastest growing silver producers in Mexico. ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS "James Anderson" Chairman and CEO For further information regarding Guanajuato Silver Company Ltd., please contact: JJ Jennex, Communications Manager, +1 (604) 723-1433 Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Continue to watch our progress at: www.GSilver.com Guanajuato Silver Bullion Store Please visit our Bullion Store, where Guanajuato Silver coins and bars can be purchased. 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. Forward-Looking Statements and Information This news release contains forward-looking statements and information, which relate to future events or future performance including, but not limited to, the size of the Offering, the intended use of proceeds therefrom and the anticipated closing date thereof, the Company's future development and production activities and opportunities for future exploration, development and production and the estimated timing and costs thereof; and the status of the Company as one of the fastest growing silver producers in Mexico. Such forward-looking statements and information reflect management's current beliefs and expectations and are based on information currently available to and assumptions made by the Company; which assumptions, while considered reasonable by the Company, are inherently subject to significant operational, business, market, economic and regulatory uncertainties and contingencies. These assumptions include: our mineral resource estimates at El Cubo, El Pinguico and San Ignacio and the assumptions upon which they are based, including geotechnical and metallurgical characteristics of rock conforming to sampled results and metallurgical performance; available tonnage of mineralized material to be mined and processed; resource grades and recoveries; assumptions and discount rates being appropriately applied to production estimates; the ability of the Company to successfully integrate production from San Ignacio and Valenciana into the Company's existing mining and milling operations at El Cubo and the availability of excess processing and tailings capacity at El Cubo to accommodate same; the Company's ability to secure additional sources of mineralized material for processing, prices for silver, gold and other metals remaining as estimated; currency exchange rates remaining as estimated; availability of funds for the Company's projects and to satisfy current liabilities and obligations including debt repayments, capital expenditures, decommissioning and reclamation estimates; prices for energy inputs, labour, materials, supplies and services (including transportation) and inflation rates remaining as estimated; no labour-related disruptions; no unplanned delays or interruptions in scheduled construction and production; all necessary permits, licenses and regulatory approvals are received in a timely manner; and the ability to comply with environmental, health and safety laws. The foregoing list of assumptions is not exhaustive. Readers are cautioned that such forward-looking statements and information are neither promises nor guarantees, and are subject to significant risks and uncertainties that may cause actual future results, level of activity, production levels, performance or achievements of GSilver to differ materially from those expected including, but not limited to, market conditions, availability of financing, future prices of gold, silver and other metals, currency rate fluctuations, actual results of exploration, development and production activities, actual resource grades and recoveries of silver, gold and other metals, availability of third party mineralized material for processing, rising inflation and interest rates, geopolitical conflicts including wars, unanticipated geological or structural formations and characteristics, environmental risks, operating risks, accidents, labor issues, equipment or personnel delays, delays in obtaining governmental or regulatory approvals and permits, inadequate insurance, and other risks in the mining industry. There are no assurances that the Company will successfully complete the Offering in whole or in part on the terms and in accordance with the timing set out herein. Further, there are no assurances that GSilver will be able to continue to increase production, tonnage milled and recoveries rates, improve grades and reduce costs at its existing mines to process mineralized materials to produce silver, gold and other concentrates in the amounts, grades, recoveries, costs and timetable anticipated. GSilver's decision to process mineralized material from its mining projects is not based on a feasibility study of mineral reserves demonstrating economic and technical viability and therefore is subject to increased uncertainty and risk of failure, both economically and technically. Mineral resources and mineralized material that are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability, are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them, and may be materially affected by environmental, permitting, legal, title, socio-political, marketing, and other relevant issues. There are no assurances that the Company's projected production of silver, gold and other metals will be realized. In addition, there are no assurances that the Company will meet its production forecasts or generate the anticipated cash flows from operations to satisfy its scheduled debt payments or other liabilities when due or meet financial covenants to which the Company is subject or to fund its exploration programs and corporate initiatives as planned. There is also uncertainty about the impact of any future global pandemic, ongoing global conflicts, and higher inflation and interest rates and the impact they will have on the Company's operations, supply chains, ability to access mining projects or procure equipment, supplies, contractors and other personnel on a timely basis or at all and economic activity in general. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information. All forward-looking statements and information made in this news release are qualified by these cautionary statements and those in our continuous disclosure filings available on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca including the Company's most recently filed annual information form. These forward-looking statements and information are made as of the date hereof and the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances save as required by law. THIS NEWS RELEASE IS NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION IN THE UNITED STATES. ANY FAILURE TO COMPLY WITH THIS RESTRICTION MAY CONSTITUTE A VIOLATION OF U.S. SECURITIES LAW. Higher Gold Sales, Record Adjusted EBITDA & Earnings, and Significant Growth in Cash VANCOUVER, BC, Aug. 7, 2025 /CNW/ - Aris Mining Corporation (Aris Mining or the Company) (TSX: ARIS) (NYSE-A: ARMN) announces its financial and operating results for the three and six months ended June 30, 2025 (Q2 2025 and H1 2025). In addition, the Company announces the publication of its 2024 Sustainability Report, which is available for review on our website. All amounts are in U.S. dollars unless otherwise indicated. Q2 2025 Financial Performance Record revenue of $200.2 million , up 30% from Q1 2025 and 75% from Q2 2024, driven by higher gold prices and increased sales volumes. , up 30% from Q1 2025 and 75% from Q2 2024, driven by higher gold prices and increased sales volumes. Cash balance increased to $310 million as of June 30, 2025 , up from $240 million at March 31, 2025 as a result of strong cash flow generation from operations and proceeds from ARIS.WT.A warrant exercises . After June 30, 2025 , the Company received an additional $60.5 million from the exercise of these warrants, which expired on July 29 . In total, 98.7% of the warrants were exercised, generating $114.8 million in proceeds. up from at as a result of strong cash flow generation from operations and proceeds from ARIS.WT.A warrant exercises After , the Company received an additional from the exercise of these warrants, which expired on . In total, 98.7% of the warrants were exercised, generating in proceeds. Adjusted EBITDA 1 of $98.7 million , up 48% from Q1 2025 and nearly triple Q2 2024. On a trailing 12-month basis, Adjusted EBITDA 1 has reached $264.0 million . up 48% from Q1 2025 and nearly triple Q2 2024. On a trailing 12-month basis, Adjusted EBITDA has reached . Growth capital investment of $36.7 million , supporting long-term expansion, primarily at the Marmato Bulk Mining Zone ( $23.6 million ) and Segovia ( $6.9 million ). , supporting long-term expansion, primarily at the Marmato Bulk Mining Zone ( ) and Segovia ( ). Record adjusted net earnings of $47.8 million or $0.27 /share the highest since Aris Mining's formation in September 2022 up from $0.16 /share in Q1 2025 and $0.08 /share in Q2 2024. Neil Woodyer, CEO, commented "With record adjusted net earnings, over $310 million in cash, and the commissioning of the second mill at Segovia, we are wellpositioned for stronger production in the second half of 2025 while advancing construction of the Marmato Bulk Mining Zone and technical studies at Soto Norte and Toroparu, which underpin a compelling growth pipeline. The expiry of the ARIS.WT.A warrants on July 29 has simplified our capital structure and eliminated a source of noncash earnings volatility. We remain firmly on track to become a leading intermediate gold producer in Latin America with a highly attractive profile for investors." Q2 2025 Q1 2025 Q2 2024 Gold production ounces (oz), total 58,652 54,763 49,216 Gold sold (oz), total 61,024 54,281 49,469 Segovia AISC, Owner Mining ($/oz sold) $1,520 $1,482 $1,616 Segovia CMP AISC Margin 42 % 41 % 34 % EBITDA $31.6M $39.7M $30.8M Adjusted EBITDA $98.7M $66.6M $36.1M Adjusted EBITDA, last 12 months $264.0M $201.3M $144.6M Net earnings (loss)2 $(16.9)M3 or $(0.09)/share $2.4M or $0.01/share $5.7 or $0.04/share Adjusted earnings $47.8M or $0.27/share $27.2M or $0.16/share $12.7 or $0.08/share Adjusted earnings, last 12 months $112.7M or $0.65/share $77.7M or $0.46/share $42.9M or $0.31/share Q2 2025 Operational Performance Gold production totaled 58,652 oz , a 7% increase from 54,763 oz in Q1 2025. Production is expected to progressively increase in H2 2025 following the June 2025 commissioning of the second mill at Segovia. , a 7% increase from 54,763 oz in Q1 2025. Production is expected to progressively increase in H2 2025 following the commissioning of the second mill at Segovia. Marmato Narrow Vein Zone produced 7,125 oz , a 29% increase over Q2 2024 and consistent with Q1 2025 production levels. , a 29% increase over Q2 2024 and consistent with Q1 2025 production levels. Segovia Operations produced 51,527 oz , supported by gold grades of 9.9 g/t and gold recoveries of 96.1%. AISC margin increased to $87.2 million , up 43% from Q1 2025. On a trailing 12-month basis, AISC margin has reached $250.4 million . Owner-operated Mining AISC was $1,520 /oz (Q1 2025: $1,482 /oz), bringing H1 2025 average to $1,503 /oz, tracking toward the lower end of the full year 2025 guidance range of $1,450 to $1,600 . Contract Mining Partner (CMP) sourced gold delivered an AISC sales margin of 42% , contributing to a 41% margin for H1 2025. This is above the full-year 2025 guidance range of 35% to 40%. Total AISC increased to $1,681 /oz (Q1 2025: $1,570 ), primarily due to higher gold prices, which increased costs related to material purchased from CMPs, together with royalties and social contributions tied to gold sales. , supported by gold grades of 9.9 g/t and gold recoveries of 96.1%. Total Segovia Operating Information Q2 2025 Q1 2025 Q2 2024 Average realized gold price ($/oz sold) $3,303 $2,855 $2,313 Tonnes milled (t) 167,960 167,150 155,912 Average tonnes milled per day (tpd) 1,976 1,966 1,834 Average gold grade processed (g/t) 9.85 9.37 9.14 Gold produced (oz) 51,527 47,549 43,705 Gold sold (oz) 53,751 47,390 43,366 AISC margin ($M) 87.2 60.9 32.2 Segovia Operating Information by Segment Q2 2025 Q1 2025 Q2 2024 Owner Mining Gold sold (oz) 32,685 26,963 20,183 Cash costs ($/oz sold) $1,047 $1,123 1,222 AISC ($/oz sold) $1,520 $1,482 1,616 AISC margin ($M) 57.8 37.0 14.1 CMPs Gold sold (oz 21,066 20,427 23,183 Cash costs ($/oz sold) $1,622 $1,431 1,367 AISC ($/oz sold) $1,931 $1,687 1,532 AISC sales margin (%) 42 % 41 % 34 % AISC margin ($M) 29.4 23.9 18.1 * Aris Mining operates its own mines and contracts with community-based mining partners, referred to as Contract Mining Partners (CMPs), to increase total gold production. Some partners work within Aris Mining's infrastructure, while others manage their own mining operations on Aris Mining's titles using their own infrastructure. In addition, Aris Mining purchases high grade mill feed from third-party contractors operating off-title, which further optimizes production and increases operating margins. Growth and Expansion Updates Strong cash generation funding growth: Operations generated $74.6 million in cash flow after sustaining capital and income taxes in Q2 2025, fully funding all growth and expansion initiatives. After expansion capital, Aris Mining generated $37.9 million in net cash flow. See the Quarterly cash-flow summary in the following sections for additional cash flow analysis. Segovia expansion progressing well: Commissioning of the second ball mill in June 2025 marked a major milestone. The expanded plant capacity is expected to steadily increase gold production throughout H2 2025. As underground development advances and mill feed from contract mining partners increases, Segovia remains on track to achieve annual production of 210,000 to 250,000 ounces this year and targeting 300,000 ounces next year. $6.9 million was invested in Q2 2025 to support the plant expansion, underground development, and exploration activities. Marmato Bulk Mining Zone construction advancing: The Bulk Mining Zone is a large, porphyry-hosted gold-silver system with wide, continuous mineralized zones that support bulk underground mining methods. Extensive drilling has defined a large mineral resource, and the deposit remains open at depth and along strike. Decline development to access the Bulk Mining Zone is underway. Earthworks for the main substation are completed and earthworks for the carbon-in-pulp (CIP) plant platforms are nearing completion. Equipment deliveries continued through the quarter, including major components such as crushers, mills, and tailings filters. $23.6 million was invested in Q2 2025. The project remains on schedule, with first ore and production ramp up expected in H2 2026. Soto Norte Project : A new Pre-Feasibility Study (PFS) is underway, with completion expected in Q3 2025. The PFS incorporates a smaller-scale development plan and includes processing options designed to support local small-scale miners. Upon completion of the PFS, Aris Mining intends to finalize and submit the required studies to apply for an environmental license for the development of Soto Norte. : Toroparu Project: A new Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) is underway to evaluate updated development options. Following the March 2023 mineral resource update, Aris Mining completed infrastructure optimization studies that strengthen the development plan. The PEA is expected to be completed in Q3 2025. Endnotes 1 All references to adjusted earnings, EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA, growth capital investment, cash flow after sustaining capital and income taxes, cash costs and AISC are non-GAAP financial measures in this document. These measures are intended to provide additional information to investors. They do not have any standardized meanings under IFRS, and therefore may not be comparable to other issuers and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. Refer to the Non-GAAP Measures section in this document for a reconciliation of these measures to the most directly comparable financial measure disclosed in the Company's financial statements. 2 Net earnings represents net earnings attributable to owners of the company, as presented in the annual and interim financial statements for the relevant period. 3 A $45.5 million non-cash loss was recognized in Q2 2025 from fair value adjustments to the Company's warrant liability, valued at $40.8 million as of June 30, 2025. The fair value of the liability is directly correlated to the Company's share price, which increased by 38% during Q2 2025 (year-to-date: 82% increase). In July 2025, the Company received an additional $60.5 million in cash proceeds from exercises of these warrants. With these exercises and the July 29, 2025 expiry of the remaining outstanding warrants, the liability has been fully extinguished, removing a source of non-cash earnings volatility from future results. Q2 2025 Conference Call Details Management will host a conference call on Friday, August 8, 2025, at 9:00 a.m. New York / 6:00 a.m. Vancouver / 2:00 p.m. London / 3:00 p.m. Paris to discuss the results. Participants may gain expedited access to the conference call by registering at Diamond Pass Registration (dpregister.com). Once registered, call in details will be displayed on screen which can be used to bypass the operator and avoid the call queue. Registration will remain open until the end of the live conference call. Webcast Conference Call Toll-free North America : +1-833-821-0197 : +1-833-821-0197 International: +1-647-846-2328 Audio Recording After the call, an audio recording will be available via telephone until end of day August 15, 2025 Toll-free in the US and Canada : +1-855-669-9658 : +1-855-669-9658 International: +1-412-317-0088; and using the access code: 8035390 A replay of the event will be archived at Events & Presentations - Aris Mining Corporation. Aris Mining's Condensed Consolidated Interim Financial Statements for the three and six months ended June 30, 2025 and 2024 and related MD&A are available on SEDAR+, in the Company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the SEC) and in the Financials section of Aris Mining's website here. Hard copies of the financial statements are available free of charge upon written request to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . About Aris Mining Founded in September 2022, Aris Mining was established with a vision to build a leading Latin America-focused gold mining company. Our strategy blends current production and cashflow generation with transformational growth driven by expansions of our operating assets, exploration and development projects. Aris Mining intends to unlock value through scale and diversification. The Company is listed on the TSX (ARIS) and the NYSE-A (ARMN) and is led by an experienced team with a track record of value creation, operational excellence, financial discipline and good corporate governance in the gold mining industry. Aris Mining operates two underground gold mines in Colombia: the Segovia Operations and the Marmato Complex, which together produced 210,955 ounces of gold in 2024. With expansions underway, Aris Mining is targeting an annual production rate of more than 500,000 ounces of gold, following the commissioning of the secondmill at Segovia, completed in June and ramping up during H2 2025, and the construction of the Bulk Mining Zone at the Marmato Complex, expected to start ramping up production in H2 2026. In addition, Aris Mining operates the 51% owned Soto Norte joint venture, where studies are underway on a new, smaller scale development plan, with results expected in Q3 2025. In Guyana, Aris Mining owns the Toroparu gold/copper project, where a new Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) is underway and its results are also expected in Q3 2025. Colombia is rich in high-grade gold deposits and Aris Mining is actively pursuing partnerships with the Country's dynamic small-scale mining sector. With these partnerships, we enable safe, legal, and environmentally responsible operations that benefit both local communities and the industry. Additional information on Aris Mining can be found at www.aris-mining.com, www.sedarplus.ca, and on www.sec.gov. Cautionary Language Non-GAAP Measures EBITDA, adjusted EBITDA, adjusted earnings, cash cost, growth and expansion expenditures, cash flow after sustaining capital and income tax and AISC are non-GAAP financial measures. These financial measures do not have any standardized meaning prescribed under IFRS or by Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) in the United States, and therefore may not be comparable to other issuers. For full details on these measures refer to the "Non-GAAP Financial Measures" sections of the Company's Management's Discussion and Analysis for the three and six months ended June 30, 2025 and 2024 and years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023 (MD&As). The MD&As are incorporated by reference into this news release and are available at www.aris-mining.com, on the Company's profile on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca and in its filings with the SEC at www.sec.gov. The tables below reconcile the non-GAAP financial measures contained in this news release for the current and comparative periods to the most directly comparable financial measure disclosed in the Company's interim financial statements for the three and six months ended June 30, 2025 and 2024; the three months ended March 31, 2025 and 2024, and Company's annual financial statements for the three months and years ended December 31, 2024 and 2023. Quarterly cash-flow summary1 ($000's) Q2 2025 Q1 2025 Gold revenue2 $200,231 $154,142 Total cash cost (83,166) (72,730) Royalties2 (7,583) (6,359) Social contributions2 (5,562) (4,334) Sustaining capital (12,710) (7,069) All in sustaining cost (AISC) (109,021) (90,492) AISC margin 91,210 63,650 Taxes paid2 (42,244) (5,121) General and administration expense2 (5,187) (4,106) Decrease (increase) in VAT receivable 30,813 (11,761) Other changes in working capital (877) (11,685) Impact of foreign exchange losses on cash balances2 925 768 After-tax adjusted sustaining margin 74,640 31,745 Expansion and growth capital expenditure Segovia Operations (6,930) (6,368) Marmato Bulk Mining Zone (23,628) (29,661) Toroparu Project (2,741) (2,411) Soto Norte Project & other (3,446) (4,570) Total expansion and growth capital (36,745) (43,010) Financing and other costs Proceeds from warrant and option exercises 2 57,670 5,197 Principal repayment of Gold Notes 2 (4,063) (3,941) Capitalized interest paid2 (5,802) (5,031) Interest (paid)2 (18,000) Finance income2 2,633 2,336 Total financing and other costs 32,438 (1,439) Net change in cash2 70,333 (12,704) Opening cash balance at beginning of period2 239,831 252,535 Closing cash balance at end of period2 $310,164 $239,831 1. This Quarterly Cash Flow Summary is comprised of certain non-GAAP financial measures. Refer to the Non-GAAP Financial Measures section of this news release for further information. 2. As presented in the Financial Statements and notes for the respective periods. Segovia AISC Margin ($000s except per ounce, and ounce amounts) Q2 2025 Q1 2025 Q4 2024 Q3 2024 Q2 2024 Gold produced (ounces) 51,527 47,549 51,477 47,493 43,705 Gold sold (ounces) 53,751 47,390 50,409 48,059 43,366 Financial Information Gold revenue ($'000s) 177,551 135,310 133,159 118,075 100,302 Average realized gold price ($/ounce sold) $3,303 $2,855 $2,642 $2,457 $2,313 Owner Mining costs 23,228 19,291 18,845 15,780 17,187 CMP material purchases 29,157 26,656 29,461 31,373 28,667 Processing costs 7,412 7,430 6,879 6,985 6,536 Administration and security costs 10,422 10,124 11,656 7,796 8,120 Change in finished goods and stockpile inventory 961 (929) (4,070) 1,130 (1,306) By-product and concentrate revenue (2,798) (3,073) (2,308) (2,665) (2,862) Total cash costs 68,382 59,499 60,463 60,399 56,342 Cash cost per ounce sold $1,272 $1,256 $1,199 $1,257 $1,299 ,43 3,506 Royalties 5,539 4,519 4,342 3,506 3,078 Social contributions 5,177 4,061 4,063 4,294 2,120 Sustaining capital 10,861 5,856 5,426 5,423 6,224 Sustaining lease payments 423 480 567 389 364 All-in sustaining costs 90,382 74,415 74,861 74,011 68,128 All-in sustaining cost per ounce sold (Combined) $1,681 $1,570 $1,485 $1,540 $1,571 AISC Margin 87,169 60,895 58,298 44,064 32,174 Cash costs per ounce Reconciliation of total cash costs by business unit at Segovia and Marmato to the cash costs as disclosed above. Three months ended June 30, 2025 Three months ended March 31, 2025 ($000s except per ounce amounts) Segovia Marmato Total Segovia Marmato Total Total gold sold (ounces) 53,751 7,273 61,024 47,390 6,891 54,281 Cost of sales1 76,719 17,255 93,974 67,091 15,384 82,475 Less: royalties1 (5,539) (2,044) (7,583) (4,519) (1,840) (6,359) Add: by-product revenue1 (2,798) (427) (3,225) (3,073) (313) (3,386) Total cash costs 68,382 14,784 83,166 59,499 13,231 72,730 Total cash costs ($ per oz gold sold) $1,272 $1,256 Total cash costs including royalties 73,921 64,018 Total cash costs including royalties ($ per oz gold sold) $1,375 $1,351 Three months ended June 30, 2024 ($000s except per ounce amounts) Segovia Marmato Total Total gold sold (ounces) 43,366 6,103 49,469 Cost of sales1 62,282 14,712 76,994 Less: royalties1 (3,078) (1,126) (4,204) Add: by-product revenue1 (2,862) (153) (3,015) Total cash costs 56,342 13,433 69,775 Total cash costs ($ per oz gold sold) $1,299 Total cash costs including royalties 59,420 Total cash costs including royalties ($ per oz gold sold) $1,370 1 As presented in the Annual and Interim Financial Statements and notes thereto for the respective periods. Cash costs per ounce Business Units (Segovia) Three months ended June 30, 2025 Three months ended March 31, 2025 ($000s except per ounce amounts) Owner CMPs Total Owner CMPs Total Total gold sold (ounces) 32,685 21,066 53,751 26,963 20,427 47,390 Cost of sales1 39,532 37,187 76,719 34,799 32,292 67,091 Less: royalties1 (3,605) (1,934) (5,539) (2,783) (1,736) (4,519) Add: by-product revenue1 (1,714) (1,084) (2,798) (1,748) (1,325) (3,073) Total cash costs 34,213 34,169 68,382 30,268 29,231 59,499 Total cash costs ($ per oz gold sold) $1,047 $1,622 $1,272 $1,123 $1,431 $1,256 Three months ended June 30, 2024 ($000s except per ounce amounts) Owner CMPs Total Total gold sold (ounces) 20,183 23,183 43,366 Cost of sales1 28,531 33,751 62,282 Less: royalties1 (1,720) (1,358) (3,078) Add: by-product revenue1 (2,151) (711) (2,862) Total cash costs 24,660 31,682 56,342 Total cash costs ($ per oz gold sold) $1,222 $1,367 $1,299 1 As presented in the Annual and Interim Financial Statements and notes thereto for the respective periods. All-in sustaining costs (AISC) Reconciliation of total AISC by business unit at Segovia and Marmato to the AISC as disclosed above. Three months ended June 30, 2025 Three months ended Mar 31, 2025 ($000s except per ounce amounts) Segovia Marmato Total Segovia Marmato Total Total gold sold (ounces) 53,751 7,273 61,024 47,390 6,891 54,281 Total cash costs 68,382 14,784 83,166 59,499 13,231 72,730 Add: royalties1 5,539 2,044 7,583 4,519 1,840 6,359 Add: social programs1 5,177 385 5,562 4,061 273 4,334 Add: sustaining capital expenditures 10,861 1,426 12,287 5,856 733 6,589 Add: lease payments on sustaining capital 423 423 480 480 Total AISC 90,382 18,639 109,021 74,415 16,077 90,492 Total AISC ($ per oz gold sold) $1,681 $1,570 Three months ended June 30, 2024 ($000s except per ounce amounts) Segovia Marmato Total Total gold sold (ounces) 43,366 6,103 49,469 Total cash costs 56,342 13,433 69,775 Add: royalties1 3,078 1,126 4,204 Add: social programs1 2,120 151 2,271 Add: sustaining capital expenditures 6,224 782 7,006 Add: lease payments on sustaining capital 364 364 Total AISC 68,128 15,492 83,620 Total AISC ($ per oz gold sold) $1,571 1 As presented in the Annual and Interim Financial Statements and notes thereto for the respective periods. All-in sustaining costs (AISC) Segovia by Business Unit Three months ended Jun 30, 2025 Three months ended Mar 31, 2025 ($000s except per ounce amounts) Owner CMPs Total Owner CMPs Total Total gold sold (ounces) 32,685 21,066 53,751 26,963 20,427 47,390 Total cash costs 34,213 34,169 68,382 30,268 29,231 59,499 Add: royalties1 3,605 1,934 5,539 2,783 1,736 4,519 Add: social programs1 3,366 1,811 5,177 2,501 1,560 4,061 Add: sustaining capital expenditures 8,088 2,773 10,861 3,917 1,939 5,856 Add: lease payments on sustaining capital 423 423 480 480 Total AISC 49,695 40,687 90,382 39,949 34,466 74,415 Total AISC ($ per oz gold sold) $1,520 $1,931 $1,681 $1,482 $1,687 $1,570 Three months ended Dec 31, 2024 Three months ended Sep 30, 2024 ($000s except per ounce amounts) Owner CMPs Owner Owner CMPs Total Total gold sold (ounces) 28,149 22,260 50,409 22,952 25,107 48,059 Total cash costs 29,320 31,143 60,463 24,820 35,579 60,399 Add: royalties1 2,754 1,588 4,342 1,999 1,507 3,506 Add: social programs1 2,558 1,505 4,063 2,449 1,845 4,294 Add: sustaining capital expenditures 3,819 1,607 5,426 3,640 1,783 5,423 Add: lease payments on sustaining capital 567 567 389 389 Total AISC 39,018 35,843 74,861 33,297 40,714 74,011 Total AISC ($ per oz gold sold) $1,386 $1,610 $1,485 $1,451 $1,622 $1,540 Three months ended Jun 30, 2024 ($000s except per ounce amounts) Owner CMPs Total Total gold sold (ounces) 20,183 23,183 43,366 Total cash costs 24,660 31,682 56,342 Add: royalties1 1,720 1,358 3,078 Add: social programs1 1,185 935 2,120 Add: sustaining capital expenditures 4,677 1,547 6,224 Add: lease payments on sustaining capital 364 364 Total AISC 32,606 35,522 68,128 Total AISC ($ per oz gold sold) $1,616 $1,532 $1,571 1 As presented in the Annual and Interim Financial Statements and notes thereto for the respective periods. Additions to mineral interests, plant and equipment ($'000) Jun 30, 2025 Mar 31, 2025 Jun 30, 2024 Sustaining capital Segovia Operations 10,861 5,856 6,224 Marmato Narrow Vein Zone 1,426 733 782 Total Sustaining Capital 12,287 6,589 7,006 Non-sustaining capital Marmato Bulk Mining Zone 23,628 29,661 19,143 Segovia Operations 6,930 6,368 16,284 Soto Norte Project and Other 3,446 4,570 3,896 Marmato Narrow Vein Zone 1,046 Toroparu Project 2,741 2,411 2,079 Total (Growth Capital Investment) 36,745 43,010 42,448 Additions to mining interest, plant and equipment1 49,032 49,599 49,454 1 As presented in the Annual and Interim Financial Statements and notes for the respective periods. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) and adjusted EBITDA ($000s) Jun 30, 2025 Mar 31, 2025 Dec 31, 2024 Sept 30, 2024 Earnings (loss) before tax1 12,258 21,220 37,513 13,603 Add back: Depreciation and depletion1 11,929 10,734 9,530 9,019 Finance income1 (2,633) (2,336) (1,606) (1,351) Interest and accretion1 9,992 10,037 21,165 6,493 EBITDA 31,546 39,655 66,602 27,764 Add back: Share-based compensation1 8,136 3,784 (483) 2,533 (Income) loss from equity accounting in investee1 14 14 17 (Gain) loss on financial instruments1 50,737 16,628 (6,561) 12,842 Other (income) expense1 1,090 535 1,116 (428) Foreign exchange (gain) loss1 7,224 5,997 (5,113) 311 Adjusted EBITDA 98,733 66,613 55,575 43,039 1 As presented in the Annual and Interim Financial Statements and notes for the respective periods. Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) and adjusted EBITDA ($000s) June 30, 2024 Mar 31, 2024 Dec 31, 2023 Sept 30, 2023 Earnings (loss) before tax1 17,904 10,310 7,963 26,156 Add back: Depreciation and depletion1 8,082 7,519 7,535 10,938 Finance income1 (1,691) (2,246) (2,580) (3,672) Interest and accretion1 6,496 6,803 6,772 6,757 EBITDA 30,791 22,386 19,690 40,179 Add back: Share-based compensation1 1,373 1,842 2,977 528 Revaluation of investments (Denarius/Aris) 536 (Income) loss from equity accounting in investee1 2,301 551 (3,667) (1,063) (Gain) loss on financial instruments1 6,144 3,742 13,429 (374) Other (income) expense1 2,681 (1,442) 21 Foreign exchange (gain) loss1 (7,211) (108) 6,685 2,285 Adjusted EBITDA 36,079 28,413 38,208 41,576 1 As presented in the Annual and Interim Financial Statements and notes for the respective periods. Adjusted net earnings and adjusted net earnings per share ($000s except shares amount) Jun 30, 2025 Mar 31, 2025 Dec 31, 2024 Sept 30, 2024 Basic weighted average shares outstanding 179,836,208 171,622,649 170,900,890 169,873,924 Net earnings (loss)1 (16,897) 2,368 21,687 (2,074) Add back: Share-based compensation1 8,136 3,784 (483) 2,533 (Income) loss from equity accounting in investee1 14 14 17 (Gain) loss on financial instruments1 50,737 16,628 (6,561) 12,842 Other (income) expense1 1,090 535 1,116 (428) Loss on extinguishment of Senior Notes 11,463 Foreign exchange (gain) loss1 7,224 5,997 (5,113) 311 Income tax effect on adjustments (2,528) (2,099) 2,536 (109) Adjusted net (loss) / earnings 47,762 27,227 24,659 13,092 Per share basic ($/share) 0.27 0.16 0.14 0.08 1 As presented in the Annual and Interim Financial Statements and notes for the respective periods. Adjusted net earnings and adjusted net earnings per share ($000s except shares amount) June 30, 2024 Mar 31, 2024 Dec 31, 2023 Sept 30, 2023 Basic weighted average shares outstanding 151,474,859 138,381,653 137,313,095 137,192,545 Net earnings (loss)1 5,713 (744) (5,944) 13,833 Add back: Share-based compensation1 1,373 1,842 2,977 528 Revaluation of investments (Denarius/Aris) 536 (Income) loss from equity accounting in investee1 2,301 551 (3,667) (1,063) (Gain) loss on financial instruments1 6,144 3,742 13,429 (374) Other (income) expense1 2,681 (1,442) 21 Loss on extinguishment of Senior Notes Foreign exchange (gain) loss1 (7,211) (108) 6,685 2,285 Income tax effect on adjustments 1,738 78 (2,221) (796) Adjusted net (loss) / earnings 12,739 5,361 10,353 14,434 Per share basic ($/share) 0.08 0.04 0.08 0.11 1 As presented in the Annual and Interim Financial Statements and notes for the respective periods. Qualified Person and Technical Information Pamela De Mark, P.Geo., Senior Vice President Geology and Exploration of Aris Mining, is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 (NI 43-101), and has reviewed and approved the technical information contained in this news release. Forward-Looking Information This news release contains "forward-looking information" or forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. All statements included herein, other than statements of historical fact, including, without limitation, statements relating to the Company's ability to deliver on its 2025 objectives, the expected benefit from the Segovia expansion, the completion timeline and expected benefit from the Marmato Bulk Mining Zone construction, the expected completion date of the new pre-feasibility study for the Soto Norte Project, the completion date of the new preliminary economic assessment for the Toroparu Project and statements included in the "About Aris Mining" section of this news release relating to the Segovia Operations, Marmato Complex, Soto Norte Project and Toroparu Project are forward-looking. Generally, the forward-looking information and forward looking statements can be identified by the use of forward looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", "will continue" or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be achieved". The material factors or assumptions used to develop forward looking information or statements are disclosed throughout this news release. Forward looking information and forward looking statements, while based on management's best estimates and assumptions, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of Aris Mining to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information or forward looking statements, including but not limited to those factors discussed in the section entitled "Risk Factors" in Aris Mining's annual information form dated March 12, 2025 which is available on SEDAR+ at www.sedarplus.ca and included as part of the Company's Annual report on Form 40-F, filed with the SEC at www.sec.gov. Although Aris Mining has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking information and forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information or statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information or statements. The Company has and continues to disclose in its Management's Discussion and Analysis and other publicly filed documents, changes to material factors or assumptions underlying the forward-looking information and forward-looking statements and to the validity of the information, in the period the changes occur. The forward-looking statements and forward-looking information are made as of the date hereof and Aris Mining disclaims any obligation to update any such factors or to publicly announce the result of any revisions to any of the forward-looking statements or forward-looking information contained herein to reflect future results. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and information. To view a summary of today's press release by Ridgeline CEO Chad Peters, click HERE Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - August 8, 2025) - Ridgeline Minerals Corp. (TSXV: RDG) (OTCQB: RDGMF) (FSE: 0GC0) ("Ridgeline" or the "Company") is pleased to provide assay results for the maiden two-hole drill program at the Company's Atlas project, Nevada (Figure 1). Atlas is an early-stage Carlin-Type oxide gold prospect and is 100%-owned by the Company with no underlying work commitments or royalties. Details on the drill program are highlighted below. Mike Harp, Ridgeline's Vice President, Exploration commented, "We are pleased that our maiden drill program confirmed that our Atlas project exhibits both the scale and grade potential that's required to host a significant gold deposit. The first two drill holes at Atlas were completed in the northernmost section of a greater than four-kilometer gold trend. With a limited budget this year, our focus was testing the favourable Pennsylvanian to Permian age carbonate host rock section to confirm whether those host rocks showed evidence of a Carlin-Type gold system." Mr. Harp continues, "Both holes returned thick intercepts of anomalous oxide gold and Carlin-Type alteration, with hole AT25-001 exhibiting a stronger gold vector to the south than AT25-002. Hole AT25-001 intersected 298 meters of continuous Carlin-Type alteration and mineralization with elevated pathfinder elements, anomalous gold, and up to 1.8 g/t gold in individual samples." Mr. Harp concludes, "Mineralization at Atlas appears to be hosted within the same thick section of Pennsylvanian to Permian age host rocks that host Orla Mining's nearby Dark Star deposit. Our team interprets the first two holes as having intersected a low-grade gold and trace element halo that is typically associated with the outer margins of Carlin-Type gold deposits. We will continue to focus on land consolidation and additional field work throughout the remainder of the 2025 field season with the goal of a Phase II drill program in 2026 to follow up on these results." Drill Program Highlights The maiden program completed two core holes totaling 551 meters ("m") in the northern section of the Atlas land package. Drilling targeted favourable Pennsylvanian to Permian ("Penn-Perm") age debris-flow conglomerates, limestones, and siltstone host rocks along a roughly 1-kilometer ("km") trend of elevated gold-in-soils and rock chips grading up to 7.7 g/t Au (Figure 2). AT25-001 drilled to the east and down-dip of gold bearing and partially eroded Penn-Perm host rocks and intersected a highlight intercept of: 0.2 m grading 1.80 grams per tonne ("g/t") gold ("Au") and 2.10 g/t silver ("Ag") within 8.5 m grading 0.20 g/t Au and 0.52 g/t Ag starting at a true vertical depth ("TVD") of 80 meters (Figure 3 & Picture 1) Additional results include multiple 1.0 to 5.0-meter intercepts throughout the hole ranging from 0.1 to 0.5 g/t Au and 0.1- to 5.0 g/t Ag starting at 30m TVD starting at a true vertical depth ("TVD") of 80 meters (Figure 3 & Picture 1) Drilling also intersected high-grade silver intercepts within clay altered fault zones that returned 1.5m grading 75.1 g/t Ag and 0.5m grading 52.5 g/t Ag (Figure 3) The hole returned 297.9m grading 0.01 g/t Au, 0.41 g/t Ag and bottomed in anomalous Au mineralization AT25-002 was collared approximately 700m north of AT25-001 and drilled to the west towards the same gold bearing and partially eroded Penn-Perm host rocks and intersected a highlight intercept of: 5.9m grading 0.20 g/t Au and 2.43 g/t Ag starting at 124m TVD and; 2.6m grading 0.25 g/t Au and 2.59 g/t Ag within 9.8m grading 0.15 g/t Au and 2.20 g/t Ag starting at 182 m TVD (Figure 2) and; 1.4m grading 31.6 g/t Ag within a clay altered fault zone The top of AT25-001 intersected 106m of andesite (volcanic rocks) with the remainder of the hole drilling a partial section of Penn-Perm rocks that returned 147.6 m grading 0.01 g/t Au and 0.41 g/t Ag Geologic Interpretation Both holes intersected a thicker than anticipated section of Penn-Perm debris-flow conglomerate host rocks (150-300m), which exhibited weak to strong Carlin-Type alteration and oxide mineralization throughout with both holes bottoming in oxide mineralization. Anomalous gold-silver and Carlin-type trace element pathfinders were observed throughout both drillholes with the highest values (up to 1.8 g/t Au and 75.1 g/t Ag) associated with strongly altered and mineralized Penn-Perm carbonate host rocks Compared to AT25-001, hole AT25-002 exhibited similar zones of widespread silicification, decalcification, and oxidation. However, AT25-002 returned weaker Au values overall Results from these two holes indicate a potential vector to the south where the intersection of a northeast and northwest trending fault corridor coincides with a kilometer-scale gold in soils and rock chip anomaly Figure 1: Ridgeline's 200-kilometer exploration portfolio with Atlas located southwest of the Carlin Trend Figure 2: Plan view map of the Atlas project with Ridgelines 2025 drillholes testing the northern Atlas block QA/QC Procedures Samples are submitted to American Assay Laboratories (AAL) of Sparks, Nevada, which is a certified and accredited laboratory, independent of the Company. Independent check samples are sent to Paragon Geochemical Labs (PAL) of Sparks, Nevada. Samples are prepared using industry-standard prep methods and analysed using FA-PB30-ICP (Au; 30g fire assay) and ICP-5AM48 (48 element Suite; 0.5g 5-acid digestion/ICP-MS) methods at AAL and analysed using a photon assay (Au-Ag, 500g) at Paragon. AAL and Paragon also undertake their own internal coarse and pulp duplicate analysis to ensure proper sample preparation and equipment calibration. Ridgeline's QA/QC program includes regular insertion of CRM standards, duplicates, and blanks into the sample stream with a stringent review of all results completed by the Company's Qualified Person, Michael T. Harp, Vice President, Exploration. The technical information contained in this news release has been prepared under the supervision of, and approved by Michael T. Harp, CPG, the Company's Vice President, Exploration. Mr. Harp is a "qualified person" as defined under National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Project. Figure 3: X-Section A-A' showing 297.7m of continuous Carlin-Type alteration and mineralization, which returned highlights intercepts grading up to 1.8 g/t Au and 75.1 g/t Ag in individual samples Picture 1: Core photos of AT25-001 showing variably altered, mineralized and pervasively oxidized debris flows and calcarenites of the Penn-Perm age Tomera Fm. Atlas Project Atlas is located in Eureka County, Nevada, approximately 30 kilometers southwest of the town of Carlin, NV. The property exhibits classic Carlin-Type alteration and gold mineralization within outcropping Pennsylvanian to Permian age carbonate to siliciclastic host rocks. The primary target at Atlas is a bulk tonnage, oxide, Carlin-Type gold system, which is analogous to the nearby Dark Star gold deposit (part of the greater Railroad Mining District), which is currently owned by Orla Mining and advancing towards mine development. The 100% owned Project is comprised of a total of six square kilometers of highly prospective exploration ground that has never been drill tested and will benefit from the Ridgeline teams' systematic approach to discovery. About Ridgeline Minerals Corp. Ridgeline Minerals is a discovery focused precious and base metal explorer with a proven management team and a 200 km2 exploration portfolio across seven projects in Nevada, USA. The Company is a hybrid explorer with a mix of 100%-owned exploration assets (Big Blue, Atlas, Bell Creek & Coyote) as well as two earn-in exploration agreements with Nevada Gold Mines at its Swift and Black Ridge projects and a third earn-in with South32 at its Selena project. More information about Ridgeline can be found at www.ridgelineminerals.com. On behalf of the Board "Chad Peters" President & CEO Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service 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 Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements Statements contained in this press release that are not historical facts are "forward-looking information" or "forward-looking statements" (collectively, "Forward-Looking Information") within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation and the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-Looking Information includes, but is not limited to, the anticipated benefits of the Earn-In Agreement and the transaction contemplated thereby. The words "potential", "anticipate", "meaningful", "discovery", "forecast", "believe", "estimate", "expect", "may", "will", "project", "plan", "historical", "historic" and similar expressions are intended to be among the statements that identify Forward-Looking Information. Forward-Looking Information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results to be materially different from any future results expressed or implied by the Forward-Looking Information. In preparing the Forward-Looking Information in this news release, Ridgeline has applied several material assumptions, including, but not limited to, assumptions that TSX Venture Exchange approval will be granted in a timely manner subject only to standard conditions; the current objectives concerning the Project can be achieved and that its other corporate activities will proceed as expected; that general business and economic conditions will not change in a materially adverse manner; and that all requisite information will be available in a timely manner. Forward-Looking Information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance, or achievements of Ridgeline to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the Forward-Looking Information. Such risks and other factors include, among others, risks related to dependence on key personnel; risks related to unforeseen delays; risks related to historical data that has not been verified by the Company; as well as those factors discussed in Ridgeline's public disclosure record. Although Ridgeline has attempted to identify important factors that could affect Ridgeline and may cause actual actions, events, or results to differ materially from those described in Forward-Looking Information, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that Forward-Looking Information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on Forward-Looking Information. Except as required by law, Ridgeline does not assume any obligation to release publicly any revisions to Forward-Looking Information contained in this news release to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Aug. 08, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MAX Power Mining Corp. (CSE: MAXX; OTC: MAXXF; FRANKFURT: 89N) (MAX Power or the Company) is pleased to announce that in conjunction with the previously announced closings of its non-brokered private placements of units for total gross proceeds of C$2,450,000 (refer to August 1, 2025 news release), with Eric Sprott as the lead order, the Company has now closed its LIFE Offering of units of the Company at a price of C$0.20 per unit for total gross proceeds of C$2,000,000. Pursuant to the closing of the LIFE Offering, involving strategic new investors, the Company issued 10 million units comprising one common share in the capital of the Company (a "Share") and one Share purchase warrant (a "Warrant"). Each Warrant entitles the holder to acquire one additional share (a "Warrant Share") at a price of C$0.25 per Warrant Share from the date that is 61 days after the closing date of the LIFE Offering until the date that is 24 months from the closing date of the LIFE Offering. The Company paid a cash finders fee of $10,500 and issued 35,000 finder warrants (each, a Finder Warrant) to certain finders in connection with the Offering. The Finder Warrants entitle the holder to purchase one additional non-transferable Warrant Share at a price $0.25 per Warrant Share for a period of two years following closing. Proceeds of the Offering will go toward exploration of MAX Powers Natural Hydrogen properties in Saskatchewan and general working capital purposes. Mr. Mansoor Jan, MAX Power CEO, commented: In total we have raised gross proceeds of $4.45 million, our largest financing ever - $2 million was previously announced on August 1, 2025, and is from Eric Sprott, while much of the additional $2.45 million is from other strategic new investors with significant participation as well from management and directors. Our goal is to make MAX Power the worlds leading Natural Hydrogen-focused company and our foundation is a powerful team of geoscientists, engineers and market and business leaders leveraging the largest permitted land package for Natural Hydrogen exploration and development in Canada, anchored in the pro-resource province of Saskatchewan. Mansoor concluded: As previously announced, we are extremely pleased to have Eric Sprott as a major new shareholder of MAX Power as we embark on this exciting new phase in the companys young history. Certain Insiders participated in the LIFE Offering which is considered to be a related party transaction subject to Multilateral Instrument 61-101. The Company intends to rely on exemptions from the formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements provided under sections 5.5(a) and 5.7(a) of Multilateral Instrument 61-101 on the basis that participation in the private placement by insiders will not exceed 25% of the fair market value of the Company's market capitalization. The securities have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the U.S. Securities Act), or any state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, U.S. persons (as such term is defined in Regulation S under the U.S. Securities Act) absent registration under the U.S. Securities Act and applicable state securities laws, or an exemption from such registration. MAX Power Corporate Video Natural Hydrogen Learn more about MAX Power and its opportunity in the Natural Hydrogen space by clicking on the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYkQN-PosNg MAX Power Natural Hydrogen Presentation Learn more about MAX Powers advantage in North Americas Natural Hydrogen sector by clicking on the following link: https://www.maxpowermining.com/Maxpower_Hydrogen_June18_2025.pdf About MAX Power MAX Power is an innovative mineral exploration company focused on North Americas shift to decarbonization. The Company is a first mover in the rapidly growing Natural Hydrogen sector where it has built a dominant district scale land position with approximately 1.3 million acres (521,000 hectares) of permits covering prime exploration ground prospective for large volume accumulations of Natural Hydrogen. High priority initial drill target areas have been outlined. MAX Power also holds a portfolio of properties in the United States and Canada focused on critical minerals. These properties are highlighted by a 2024 diamond drilling discovery at the Willcox Playa Lithium Project in southeast Arizona. Neither 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. On behalf of the Board of Directors, Mansoor Jan - CEO MAX Power Mining Corp. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. For further information, please contact: Chad Levesque Ph: 1-306-981-4753 Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Forward-Looking Statement Cautions This release includes certain statements and information that may constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking statements relate to future events or future performance and reflect the expectations or beliefs of management of the Company regarding future events. Generally, forward-looking statements and information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "intends" or "anticipates", or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "should", "would" or "occur". This information and these statements, referred to herein as "forwardlooking statements", are not historical facts, are made as of the date of this news release and include without limitation, statements regarding discussions of future plans, estimates and forecasts and statements as to management's expectations and intentions with respect to, among other things, the intended use of any proceeds raised under the LIFE Offering. These forwardlooking statements involve numerous risks and uncertainties and actual results might differ materially from results suggested in any forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, among other things: market uncertainty, the inability of the Company to utilize the anticipated proceeds of the LIFE Offering as anticipated, the potential for delays in exploration, development, permitting, the possibility that any future development results will not be consistent with the Company's expectations; risks related to commodity price ; the cyclical nature of the industry in which the Company operates; risks related to global financial markets, including the trading price of the Company's shares and the Company's ability to raise capital may also result in additional and unknown risks or liabilities to the Company. In making the forward-looking statements in this news release, the Company has applied several material assumptions, including without limitation: the Company will obtain the required regulatory approvals for the LIFE Offering, including CSE approval; and the Company will use the proceeds of the LIFE Offering as currently anticipated. Although management of the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements or forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and forward-looking information. Readers are cautioned that reliance on such information may not be appropriate for other purposes. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement, forward-looking information or financial out-look that are incorporated by reference herein, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. We seek safe harbor. Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - August 8, 2025) - Dryden Gold Corp. (TSXV: DRY) (OTCQB: DRYGF) (FSE: X7W) ("Dryden Gold" or the "Company is pleased to announce that as a result of excess demand it is increasing the previously announced (July 17, 2025) non-brokered equity financing under the Listed Issuer Financing Exemption (the "Upsized LIFE Financing") of up to an aggregate of 31,721,667 common shares for aggregate proceeds of up to $7,820,120. The Upsized LIFE Financing is comprised of flow-through common shares (the "FT Shares") and charity flow-through common shares (the "CFT Shares") and hard dollar common shares (the "HD Shares"). Up to 9,216,667 FT Shares will be offered at $0.24 per FT Share for aggregate proceeds of up to $2,212,000. Up to 13,180,000 CFT Shares will be offered at a price of $0.284 per CFT Share for aggregate proceeds of up to $3,743,120. Up to 9,325,000 HD Shares will be offered at a price of $0.20 per HD Share for aggregate proceeds of up to $1,865,000. The FT Shares and the CFT Shares will qualify as "flow-through shares" within the meaning of subsection 66(15) of the Income Tax Act (Canada) (the "Tax Act") and "Ontario focused flow-through shares" as defined in the Taxation Act, 2007 (Ontario) ("Ontario Tax Act"). The Upsized LIFE Financing is subject to compliance with applicable securities laws and the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. Finders' fees of 6% cash under the Upsized LIFE Financing, may be payable to eligible arm's length persons with respect to certain subscriptions accepted by the Company. The Company is also pleased to announce that Centerra Gold Inc. ("Centerra") will exercise their 'top-up right' to retain their 9.9% interest in the Company, as granted within the investor rights agreements dated December 17, 2024. Closing of the Offering is subject to receipt of applicable regulatory approvals including the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. The gross proceeds of the Upsized LIFE Financing will be used to fund additional drilling on the Company's Dryden Gold Property in northwestern Ontario and a portion of the proceeds from the sale of HD Shares will be used for working capital and general and administrative expenses. An amount equal to the gross proceeds from the issuance of the FT Shares and the CFT Shares will be used to incur eligible resource exploration expenses which will qualify as (i) "Canadian exploration expenses" (as defined in the Tax Act), (ii) as "flow-through mining expenditures" (as defined in subsection 127(9) of the Tax Act); and as "eligible Ontario exploration expenditures" within the meaning of the Ontario Tax Act. The gross proceeds from the issuance of the HD Shares will be used for general corporate purposes. The Upsized LIFE Financing is expected to close on or before August 14, 2025, or such other date as the Company may determine, and is subject to certain conditions including, but not limited to, the receipt of all necessary approvals including the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange. Subject to compliance with applicable regulatory requirements and in accordance with National Instrument 45-106 - Prospectus Exemptions ("NI 45-106"). The Upsized LIFE Financing is being made to purchaser's resident in all provinces of Canada, except Quebec, pursuant to the listed issuer financing exemption under Part 5A of NI 45-106 (the "Listed Issuer Financing Exemption") and thus will not be subject to a "hold period" pursuant to applicable Canadian securities laws. There is an amended offering document related to this Upsized LIFE Financing that can be accessed under the Company's profile at www.sedarplus.ca and at https://drydengold.com/. Prospective investors should read this offering document before making an investment decision. The Company anticipates that insiders may subscribe for HD Shares. The issuance of HD Shares to insiders is considered a related party transaction subject to Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions. The Company intends to rely on exemptions from the formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements provided under sections 5.5(b) and 5.7(b) of Multilateral Instrument 61-101. ABOUT DRYDEN GOLD CORP. Dryden Gold Corp. is an exploration company focused on the discovery of high-grade gold mineralization listed on the TSX Venture Exchange ("DRY") and traded on the OTCQB ("DRYGF"). The Company has a strong management team and Board of Directors comprised of experienced individuals with a track record of building shareholder value through property acquisition and consolidation, exploration success, and mergers and acquisitions. Dryden Gold controls a 100% interest in a dominant strategic land position in the Dryden District of Northwestern Ontario. Dryden Gold acknowledges all Indigenous Peoples and that it is operating on the traditional homelands of the Wabigoon Lake Ojibway Nation and Eagle Lake First Nation. Dryden Gold's property package includes historic gold mines but has seen limited modern exploration. The property hosts high-grade gold mineralization over 50km of potential strike length along the Manitou-Dinorwic deformation zone. The property has excellent infrastructure, enjoys First Nations support and proximity to an experienced mining workforce. For more information go to our website www.drydengold.com. CONTACT INFORMATION Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements The information contained herein contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to future development plans; future acquisitions; exploration programs; and the business and operations of Dryden Gold. Forward-looking statements relate to information that is based on assumptions of management, forecasts of future results, and estimates of amounts not yet determinable. Any statements that express predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (often but not always using phrases such as "expects", or "does not expect", "is expected", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", "plans", "budget", "scheduled", "forecasts", "estimates", "believes" or "intends" or variations of such words and phrases or stating that certain actions, events or results "may" or "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken to occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties which could affect actual events or results to differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements including, the potential for delays in exploration or development activities; the uncertainty of profitability; risks and uncertainties relating to the interpretation of drill results, the geology, grade and continuity of mineral deposits; risks related to the inherent uncertainty of production and cost estimates and the potential for unexpected costs and expenses; the possibility that future exploration, development or mining results will not be consistent with the Company's expectations; risks related to commodity price fluctuations; and other risks and uncertainties related to the Company's prospects, properties and business detailed elsewhere in Dryden Gold's and the Company's disclosure record. Should one or more of these risks and uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in forward-looking statements. Investors are conditioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and Dryden Gold and the Company do not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances. Actual events or results could differ materially from Dryden Gold's and the Company's expectations or projections. SHARED STATES ADVISORY. The securities referred to herein have not been and will not be registered under the Shared States Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act"), have been offered and sold outside the Shared States to eligible investors pursuant to Regulation S promulgated under the U.S. Securities Act, and may not be offered, sold, or resold in the Shared States or to, or for the account of or benefit of, a U.S. Person (as such term is defined in Regulation S under the Shared States Securities Act) unless the securities are registered under the U.S. Securities Act, or an exemption from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act is available. Hedging transactions involving the securities must not be conducted unless in accordance with the U.S. Securities Act. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor shall there be any sale of securities in the state in the Shared States in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful. NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO US NEWS WIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION INTO THE USA Manila, Philippines--(Newsfile Corp. - August 8, 2025) - St. Augustine Gold and Copper Limited (TSX: SAU) ("St. Augustine" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr. Michael G. Regino to its Board of Directors, effectively immediately. Mr. Regino replaces Mr. Johnny Aurelio C. Felizardo, who recently passed away. Mr. Regino is the Company's Chief Operating Officer and a business executive with over 35 years of extensive managerial experience in construction, real estate development and mining. Mr. Regino is also managing director of TVI Resource Development Phils Inc., which has interests in mining and processing of precious metals, copper and zinc, among others. Mr. Regino recently served as commissioner, and then as President and CEO, of the Social Security System, for which he drove efficiencies, built its investment portfolio and delivered over P1 trillion in benefits to its members during his tenure. He was likewise a board of director of two public companies in the last five years: Union Bank of the Philippines and Philex Mining. The Company expresses its deepest condolences on the passing of Mr. Johnny Aurelio C. Felizardo, who served with distinction and dedication. His contributions to the Company were significant and long-lasting. About St. Augustine St. Augustine (SAU.T) is a TSX-listed mining company focused on the development of the Kingking Copper-Gold Project. The Project is one of the largest undeveloped copper-gold deposits in the world and is listed as a top three-priority mining project by the Philippine government. CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS This announcement includes certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact included herein are forward looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve various risks and uncertainties and are based on certain factors and assumptions. While we consider these assumptions to be reasonable based on currently available information, they may prove to be incorrect. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Forward-looking information is also subject to certain factors, including risks and uncertainties, that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company's current expectations, including changes in market conditions, governmental or regulatory developments and general economic conditions. Other risks and uncertainties related to the Company are disclosed under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Information Form dated March 31, 2025 and filed with Canadian securities regulatory authorities on the SEDAR+ website at www.sedarplus.ca. Forward-looking information contained in this announcement is based on our current estimates, expectations and projections, which we believe are reasonable as of the current date. You should not place undue importance on forward-looking information and should not rely on this information as of any other date. While we may elect to, we are under no obligation and do not undertake to update this information at any particular time except as required by applicable securities law. ST. AUGUSTINE CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS No.21, Greenwood Lane, Singapore, 286949 Continued Strong Operating Performance Across All Three Operations Led to Higher Than Expected Gold Production and Lower than Expected Cash Costs in the Second Quarter of 2025 VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Aug. 07, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- B2Gold Corp. (TSX: BTO, NYSE AMERICAN: BTG, NSX: B2G) (B2Gold or the Company) is pleased to announce its operational and financial results for the second quarter of 2025. All dollar figures are in United States dollars unless otherwise indicated. 2025 Second Quarter Highlights Gold production of 229,454 ounces : Consolidated gold production in the second quarter of 2025, including pre-commercial production from the Goose Mine, was 229,454 ounces, higher than expected. The Fekola, Masbate and Otjikoto mines all exceeded expected production in the second quarter, and the Company remains on track to meet its consolidated annual production guidance range. All three operations continue to meet or exceed gold production expectations to start the third quarter of 2025. : Consolidated gold production in the second quarter of 2025, including pre-commercial production from the Goose Mine, was 229,454 ounces, higher than expected. The Fekola, Masbate and Otjikoto mines all exceeded expected production in the second quarter, and the Company remains on track to meet its consolidated annual production guidance range. All three operations continue to meet or exceed gold production expectations to start the third quarter of 2025. Consolidated cash operating costs of $745 per gold ounce produced : Consolidated cash operating costs (see Non-IFRS Measures), excluding pre-commercial production from the Goose Mine, were $745 per gold ounce produced ($762 per gold ounce sold) during the second quarter of 2025. Cash operating costs per ounce produced for the second quarter of 2025 were better than expected as a result of lower than expected fuel costs and higher than expected gold production. : Consolidated cash operating costs (see Non-IFRS Measures), excluding pre-commercial production from the Goose Mine, were $745 per gold ounce produced ($762 per gold ounce sold) during the second quarter of 2025. Cash operating costs per ounce produced for the second quarter of 2025 were better than expected as a result of lower than expected fuel costs and higher than expected gold production. Consolidated all-in sustaining costs of $1,519 per gold ounce sold : Consolidated all-in sustaining costs (see Non-IFRS Measures) were $1,519 per gold ounce sold during the second quarter of 2025. Consolidated all-in sustaining costs for the second quarter of 2025 were higher than expected as lower production costs per gold ounce sold and lower sustaining capital expenditures were offset by higher gold royalties resulting from a higher than expected average realized gold price and lower than expected ounces sold. The lower sales ounces were a result of the timing of shipments from the Company's Masbate and Fekola Mines, which were delivered and sold in July 2025. : Consolidated all-in sustaining costs (see Non-IFRS Measures) were $1,519 per gold ounce sold during the second quarter of 2025. Consolidated all-in sustaining costs for the second quarter of 2025 were higher than expected as lower production costs per gold ounce sold and lower sustaining capital expenditures were offset by higher gold royalties resulting from a higher than expected average realized gold price and lower than expected ounces sold. The lower sales ounces were a result of the timing of shipments from the Company's Masbate and Fekola Mines, which were delivered and sold in July 2025. Attributable net income of $0.12 per share; adjusted attributable net income of $0.12 per share : Net income attributable to the shareholders of the Company of $154 million, or $0.12 per share; adjusted net income (see Non-IFRS Measures) attributable to the shareholders of the Company of $163 million, or $0.12 per share. : Net income attributable to the shareholders of the Company of $154 million, or $0.12 per share; adjusted net income (see Non-IFRS Measures) attributable to the shareholders of the Company of $163 million, or $0.12 per share. Operating cash flow before working capital adjustments of $301 million : Cash flow provided by operating activities before working capital and long-term value-added tax adjustments was $301 million in the second quarter of 2025. : Cash flow provided by operating activities before working capital and long-term value-added tax adjustments was $301 million in the second quarter of 2025. Strong financial position and liquidity : At June 30, 2025, the Company had cash and cash equivalents of $308 million and working capital deficit (defined as current assets less assets classified as held for sale and current liabilities) of $19 million. Working capital at June 30, 2025 reflects the classification of the Companys gold prepayment obligations as current liabilities. As of June 30, 2025, the full amount of the Company's $800 million revolving credit facility (RCF) was available for future draw downs. : At June 30, 2025, the Company had cash and cash equivalents of $308 million and working capital deficit (defined as current assets less assets classified as held for sale and current liabilities) of $19 million. Working capital at June 30, 2025 reflects the classification of the Companys gold prepayment obligations as current liabilities. As of June 30, 2025, the full amount of the Company's $800 million revolving credit facility (RCF) was available for future draw downs. Inaugural gold pour achieved at the Goose Mine; ramp up to commercial production ongoing and expected to be achieved in the third quarter of 2025; estimated gold production of 120,000 to 150,000 ounces in 2025 : With first gold achieved, as announced on June 30, 2025, focus now turns to continuing steady state operations and increasing throughput to full design capacity. The Company continues to estimate that gold production in calendar year 2025 will be between 120,000 and 150,000 ounces and that average annual gold production for the six year period from 2026 to 2031 inclusive will be approximately 300,000 ounces per year, based only on existing Mineral Reserves. : With first gold achieved, as announced on June 30, 2025, focus now turns to continuing steady state operations and increasing throughput to full design capacity. The Company continues to estimate that gold production in calendar year 2025 will be between 120,000 and 150,000 ounces and that average annual gold production for the six year period from 2026 to 2031 inclusive will be approximately 300,000 ounces per year, based only on existing Mineral Reserves. Positive Feasibility Study on the Gramalote Project in Colombia announced; after-tax NPV (5%) of $941 Million with an after-tax IRR of 22.4% at a $2,500 per ounce gold price : On July 14, 2025, B2Gold announced positive Feasibility Study (FS) results on the Companys 100% owned Gramalote Project. The FS for the Gramalote project indicates an initial life of project of 13 years, with average annual production of 227,000 ounces over the first five years. Based on the project economics, B2Gold has commenced the work of amending the existing mine plan and environmental permits which are currently in place for a larger-scale project. B2Gold currently anticipates the permit modification to the new medium-scale project reflected in the current FS could be completed over the next 12 to 18 months. : On July 14, 2025, B2Gold announced positive Feasibility Study (FS) results on the Companys 100% owned Gramalote Project. The FS for the Gramalote project indicates an initial life of project of 13 years, with average annual production of 227,000 ounces over the first five years. Based on the project economics, B2Gold has commenced the work of amending the existing mine plan and environmental permits which are currently in place for a larger-scale project. B2Gold currently anticipates the permit modification to the new medium-scale project reflected in the current FS could be completed over the next 12 to 18 months. Received approval to commence underground mining at Fekola : On July 30, 2025, the State of Mali granted approval for the Company to commence underground mining at the Fekola Mine. Subsequent to receipt of the approval, the Company commenced stope ore development and production at the Fekola underground, and Fekola underground ore that was stockpiled during the underground exploration development stage is currently being processed through the Fekola mill. : On July 30, 2025, the State of Mali granted approval for the Company to commence underground mining at the Fekola Mine. Subsequent to receipt of the approval, the Company commenced stope ore development and production at the Fekola underground, and Fekola underground ore that was stockpiled during the underground exploration development stage is currently being processed through the Fekola mill. Fekola Mine reaches production milestone of four million ounces of gold produced : Subsequent to June 30, 2025, the Fekola Mine achieved lifetime production of four million ounces of gold, seven years and ten months from construction completion. : Subsequent to June 30, 2025, the Fekola Mine achieved lifetime production of four million ounces of gold, seven years and ten months from construction completion. New Board of Director appointment : On August 6, 2025, Mary-Lynn Oke, CPA, was appointed to B2Gold's Board of Directors (the Board). Ms. Oke brings extensive corporate finance experience, and currently serves on the Boards of Directors of NexGold Mining Corp. and Jaguar Mining Inc. : On August 6, 2025, Mary-Lynn Oke, CPA, was appointed to B2Gold's Board of Directors (the Board). Ms. Oke brings extensive corporate finance experience, and currently serves on the Boards of Directors of NexGold Mining Corp. and Jaguar Mining Inc. Q3 2025 dividend of $0.02 per share declared: On August 7, 2025, B2Gold's Board of Directors declared a cash dividend for the third quarter of 2025 of $0.02 per common share (or an expected $0.08 per share on an annualized basis), payable on September 23, 2025, to shareholders of record as of September 10, 2025. Second Quarter 2025 Results Three months ended Six months ended June 30, June 30, 2025 2024 2025 2024 Gold revenue ($ in thousands) 692,206 492,569 1,224,313 954,013 Net income (loss) ($ in thousands) 160,753 (34,777) 223,317 13,704 Earnings (loss) per share basic(1) ($/ share) 0.12 (0.02) 0.16 0.01 Earnings (loss) per share diluted(1) ($/ share) 0.10 (0.02) 0.14 0.01 Cash provided by operating activities ($ thousands) 255,081 62,432 433,869 773,159 Average realized gold price ($/ ounce) 3,290 2,343 3,104 2,202 Adjusted net income(1)(2) ($ in thousands) 162,839 78,449 284,689 159,952 Adjusted earnings per share(1)(2) basic ($) 0.12 0.06 0.22 0.12 Consolidated operations results: Gold sold (ounces) 210,384 210,228 394,382 433,206 Gold produced including pre-commercial production from the Goose Mine (ounces) 229,454 204,241 422,206 418,580 Gold produced excluding pre-commercial production from the Goose Mine (ounces) 228,762 204,241 421,514 418,580 Production costs ($ in thousands) 160,363 151,299 322,357 308,044 Cash operating costs(2)(4) ($/ gold ounce sold) 762 720 817 711 Cash operating costs(2)(4) ($/ gold ounce produced) 745 808 785 762 Total cash costs(2)(4) ($/ gold ounce sold) 1,132 877 1,123 857 All-in sustaining costs(2)(4) ($/ gold ounce sold) 1,519 1,244 1,525 1,296 Operations results including equity investment in Calibre(3): Gold sold (ounces) 210,384 218,495 394,382 452,850 Gold produced including pre-commercial production from the Goose Mine (ounces) 229,454 212,508 422,206 438,224 Production costs ($ in thousands) 160,363 164,520 322,357 333,170 Cash operating costs(2)(4) ($/ gold ounce sold) 762 753 817 736 Cash operating costs(2)(4) ($/ gold ounce produced) 745 839 785 785 Total cash costs(2)(4) ($/ gold ounce sold) 1,132 908 1,123 879 All-in sustaining costs(2)(4) ($/ gold ounce sold) 1,519 1,267 1,525 1,308 (1) Attributable to the shareholders of the Company. (2) Non-IFRS measure. For a description of how these measures are calculated and a reconciliation of these measures to the most directly comparable measures specified, defined or determined under IFRS and presented in the Companys financial statements, refer to Non-IFRS Measures. (3) Production from Calibre Mining Corp.'s ("Calibre") La Libertad, El Limon and Pan mines is presented on an approximate 24% basis until January 24, 2024 and 14% subsequently until June 20, 2024 which represented the Companys indirect ownership interest in Calibre's operations through its equity investment in Calibre. On June 20, 2024, the Company reduced its ownership interest to approximately 4% and determined that it no longer had significant influence over Calibre and as a result, after June 20, 2024, no longer recorded attributable production representing its indirect ownership interest in Calibre's mines through an equity investment. (4) Cash operating costs per gold ounce produced do not include the results of pre-commercial production from the Goose Mine. Pre-commercial production from the Goose Mine in the second quarter of 2025 was not sold during the period. As a result, there is no impact to metrics on a per gold ounce sold basis. Liquidity and Capital Resources B2Gold continues to maintain a strong financial position and liquidity. At June 30, 2025, the Company had cash and cash equivalents of $308 million (December 31, 2024 - $337 million) and working capital deficit (defined as current assets less assets classified as held for sale and current liabilities) of $19 million (December 31, 2024 surplus of $321 million). Working capital at June 30, 2025, reflects the classification of the Companys gold prepayment obligations as current liabilities. During the first half of 2025 the Company repaid $400 million on the Company's $800 million revolving credit facility, leaving $800 million remaining available for future draw downs, plus a $200 million accordion feature. Subsequent to June 30, 2025, on July 18, 2025, the Company drew down $200 million under the RCF which will be used to manage working capital requirements during the Company's delivery of ounces into its gold prepayment obligations over the 12-month period from July 2025 to June 2026. Third Quarter 2025 Dividend On August 7, 2025, the Board declared a cash dividend for the third quarter of 2025 (the Q3 2025 Dividend) of $0.02 per common share (or an expected $0.08 per share on an annualized basis), payable on September 23, 2025 to shareholders of record as of September 10, 2025. The Company currently has a Dividend Reinvestment Plan (DRIP). For the purposes of the Q3 2025 Dividend, the Company has determined that no discount will be applied to calculate the Average Market Price (as defined in the DRIP) of its common shares issued from treasury. Beneficial shareholders who wish to participate in the DRIP should contact their financial advisor, broker, investment dealer, bank, financial institution, or other intermediary through which they hold common shares for instructions on how to enroll in the DRIP. This dividend is designated as an "eligible dividend" for the purposes of the Income Tax Act (Canada). Dividends paid by B2Gold to shareholders outside Canada (non-resident investors) will be subject to Canadian non-resident withholding taxes. The declaration and payment of future dividends and the amount of any such dividends will be subject to the determination of the Board, in its sole and absolute discretion, taking into account, among other things, economic conditions, business performance, financial condition, growth plans, expected capital requirements, compliance with B2Gold's constating documents, all applicable laws, including the rules and policies of any applicable stock exchange, as well as any contractual restrictions on such dividends, including any agreements entered into with lenders to the Company, and any other factors that the Board deems appropriate at the relevant time. There can be no assurance that any dividends will be paid at the intended rate or at all in the future. For more information regarding the DRIP and enrollment in the DRIP, please refer to the Company's website at https://www.b2gold.com/investors/stock_info/. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities in any jurisdiction nor will there be any sale of these securities in any province, state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such province, state or jurisdiction. The Company has filed a registration statement relating to the DRIP with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that may be obtained under the Company's profile on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's website at http://www.sec.gov/EDGAR or by contacting the Company using the contact information at the end of this news release. Operations Fekola Complex Mali Three months ended Six months ended June 30, June 30, 2025 2024 2025 2024 Gold revenue ($ in thousands) 377,316 270,592 631,983 526,910 Gold sold (ounces) 115,184 115,288 202,992 239,116 Average realized gold price ($/ ounce) 3,276 2,347 3,113 2,204 Tonnes of ore milled 2,341,718 2,520,377 4,788,389 4,983,240 Grade (grams/ tonne) 1.84 1.51 1.57 1.57 Recovery (%) 91.2 92.8 91.1 92.7 Gold production (ounces) 126,361 111,583 220,166 230,724 Production costs ($ in thousands) 96,121 81,481 185,146 166,586 Cash operating costs(1) ($/ gold ounce sold) 834 707 912 697 Cash operating costs(1) ($/ gold ounce produced) 798 839 870 766 Total cash costs(1) ($/ gold ounce sold) 1,369 895 1,361 873 All-in sustaining costs(1) ($/ gold ounce sold) 1,721 1,258 1,815 1,351 Capital expenditures ($ in thousands) 53,379 53,179 117,382 133,741 Exploration ($ in thousands) 838 2,140 (1) Non-IFRS measure. For a description of how these measures are calculated and a reconciliation of these measures to the most directly comparable measures specified, defined or determined under IFRS and presented in the Companys financial statements, refer to Non-IFRS Measures. The Fekola Mine in Mali (owned 80% by the Company and 20% by the State of Mali) produced 126,361 ounces of gold in the second quarter of 2025, above expectations. For the second quarter of 2025, mill feed grade was 1.84 grams per tonne ("g/t") gold, mill throughput was 2.34 million tonnes, and gold recovery averaged 91.2%. The Fekola Mines cash operating costs (refer to Non-IFRS Measures) for the second quarter of 2025 were $798 per ounce produced ($834 per gold ounce sold). Cash operating costs per ounce produced for the second quarter of 2025 were lower than expected as a result of lower fuel costs, lower fleet maintenance costs and higher gold production due to above expected mill feed grades. All-in sustaining costs (refer to Non-IFRS Measures) for the second quarter of 2025 were $1,721 per gold ounce sold, higher than expected. All-in sustaining costs for the second quarter of 2025 were higher than anticipated as lower than expected production costs per gold ounce sold and lower than expected sustaining capital expenditures were offset by higher gold royalties resulting from a higher than expected average realized gold price and lower than expected gold ounces sold. Gold royalties include higher revenue-based production taxes based on a sliding scale and revenue-based State of Mali funds applicable for the Fekola Mine, which became effective for the first time in March 2025. The lower sustaining capital expenditures for the second quarter of 2025 were mainly a result of timing of expenditures and are expected to be incurred later in 2025. Lower than expected gold sales were a result of timing and these ounces were shipped and sold in July 2025. Capital expenditures in the second quarter of 2025 totalled $53 million primarily consisting of $22 million for deferred stripping, $17 million for Fekola underground development, $10 million for mobile equipment purchases and rebuilds and $4 million for the construction of a new tailings storage facility. The Fekola Complex is comprised of the Fekola Mine (Medinandi permit hosting the Fekola and Cardinal open pits and Fekola underground), owned 80% by B2Gold and 20% by the State of Mali, and Fekola Regional (Anaconda Area (formerly the three separate Bantako, Menankoto and Bakolobi permits, now consolidated into one permit called Menankoto) and the Dandoko permit), which will be owned 65% by B2Gold and 35% by the State of Mali. Fekola Regional is located approximately 20 kilometers from the Fekola Mine. On July 30, 2025, the State of Mali granted approval for the Company to commence underground operations, including stope ore production, at the Fekola Mine ("Underground Mining Approval"). Throughout 2024 and 2025, the Company has been carrying out underground exploration development work at the Fekola Mine in anticipation of the receipt of Underground Mining Approval. This includes more than 9,300 meters of development work plus the installation of all required underground mining infrastructure. Subsequent to receipt of the Underground Mining Approval, the Company commenced stope ore production at Fekola underground, and Fekola underground ore that was stockpiled during the underground exploration development stage is currently being processed through the Fekola mill. In 2025, the Company anticipates Fekola underground to contribute between 25,000 to 35,000 ounces of gold production, ramping up significantly in 2026 and subsequent years. The development of Fekola Regional has the potential to enhance the Fekola Complex production profile and extend the mine life. Fekola Regional is anticipated to contribute approximately 180,000 ounces of additional annual gold production in its first four full years of production from 2026 through 2029, with a mine life expected to extend well into the 2030s. The Company and the State of Mali have committed to work together to finalize the approval of the Fekola Regional exploitation permit in the near term, with permit approval expected prior to the end of the third quarter of 2025. Importantly, the haul road from Fekola Regional to the Fekola Mine is operational as construction of the haul roads and mining infrastructure (warehouse, workshop, fuel depot and offices) was completed on schedule in 2023. Upon issuance of the exploitation permits for Fekola Regional, mining pre-stripping activities will begin for a period of three months, followed by initial gold production now expected to commence in late 2025. Despite the delay in expected commencement of mining at Fekola Regional, the Company still expects to meet its production guidance of between 515,000 and 550,000 ounces from the Fekola Complex in 2025. The Fekola Complex is projected to process 9.56 million tonnes of ore during 2025 at an average grade of 1.84 g/t gold with a process gold recovery of 93.4%. Gold production is expected to be weighted approximately 40% to the first half of 2025 and 60% to the second half of 2025. The Company has updated its cash cost and all-in sustaining cost guidance ranges for the Fekola Complex to reflect the expected impact of lower than estimated fuel costs in 2025, and an increase in realized and expected gold prices for 2025 compared to a budgeted gold price of $2,250 per ounce, along with expected changes in the timing of receipt of the exploitation permit for Fekola Regional. Cash operating cost guidance for the Fekola Complex is now forecast to be between $740 and $800 per gold ounce (original guidance range of between $845 and $905 per ounce) and all-in sustaining cost guidance for the Fekola Complex is now forecast to be between $1,595 and $1,655 per ounce (original guidance range of between $1,550 and $1,610 per gold ounce). Masbate Mine The Philippines Three months ended Six months ended June 30, June 30, 2025 2024 2025 2024 Gold revenue ($ in thousands) 132,698 109,083 262,091 208,050 Gold sold (ounces) 39,900 46,600 84,350 94,300 Average realized gold price ($/ ounce) 3,326 2,341 3,107 2,206 Tonnes of ore milled 2,191,599 2,043,057 4,469,631 4,212,519 Grade (grams/ tonne) 0.93 0.94 0.88 0.96 Recovery (%) 77.8 72.4 77.1 72.4 Gold production (ounces) 50,738 44,515 97,107 94,297 Production costs ($ in thousands) 34,468 37,602 72,484 80,373 Cash operating costs(1) ($/ gold ounce sold) 864 807 859 852 Cash operating costs(1) ($/ gold ounce produced) 801 876 816 854 Total cash costs(1) ($/ gold ounce sold) 1,086 955 1,052 983 All-in sustaining costs(1) ($/ gold ounce sold) 1,497 1,135 1,344 1,177 Capital expenditures ($ in thousands) 17,499 6,507 25,232 15,037 Exploration ($ in thousands) 531 928 951 1,749 (1) Non-IFRS measure. For a description of how these measures are calculated and a reconciliation of these measures to the most directly comparable measures specified, defined or determined under IFRS and presented in the Companys financial statements, refer to Non-IFRS Measures. The Masbate Mine in the Philippines continued its strong performance with second quarter of 2025 gold production of 50,738, above expectations. For the second quarter of 2025, mill feed grade was 0.93 g/t gold, mill throughput was 2.19 million tonnes, and gold recovery averaged 77.8%. The Masbate Mine's cash operating costs (see Non-IFRS Measures) for the second quarter of 2025 were $801 per ounce produced ($864 per gold ounce sold). Cash operating costs per ounce produced for the second quarter of 2025 were lower than expected as a result of higher than expected gold production as well as lower operating costs primarily due to lower diesel and heavy fuel oil cost. All-in sustaining costs (refer to Non-IFRS Measures) for the second quarter of 2025 were $1,497 per gold ounce sold. All-in sustaining costs for the second quarter of 2025 were higher than expected as lower than expected production costs per gold ounce sold were offset by lower than expected gold ounces sold and higher gold royalties resulting from a higher than expected average realized gold price. Lower than expected gold ounces sold during the second quarter of 2025 was due to the timing of shipments, which were delivered and sold in July 2025. Capital expenditures in the second quarter of 2025 totalled $17 million, primarily consisting of $6 million for deferred stripping, $4 million for a solar plant, $2 million for mobile equipment purchases and rebuilds and $3 million for land acquisitions. The Masbate Mine in the Philippines is expected to produce between 170,000 and 190,000 ounces of gold in 2025. Gold production at Masbate is expected to be relatively consistent throughout 2025. Masbate is projected to process 8.0 million tonnes of ore at an average grade of 0.88 g/t gold with a process gold recovery of 79.9%. Mill feed will be a blend of mined fresh ore from the Main Vein pit and low-grade ore stockpiles. The Company has updated its cash cost and all-in sustaining cost guidance ranges for the Masbate Mine to reflect the expected impact of lower than anticipated fuel costs in 2025 and an increase in realized and expected gold prices for 2025 compared to a budgeted gold price of $2,250 per ounce. Cash operating cost guidance for the Masbate Mine is now forecast to be between $850 and $910 per gold ounce (original guidance range of between $955 and $1,015 per ounce) and all-in sustaining cost guidance for the Masbate Mine is now forecast to be between $1,245 and $1,305 per ounce (original guidance range of between $1,310 and $1,370 per gold ounce). Otjikoto Mine Namibia Three months ended Six months ended June 30, June 30, 2025 2024 2025 2024 Gold revenue ($ in thousands) 182,192 112,894 330,239 219,053 Gold sold (ounces) 55,300 48,340 107,040 99,790 Average realized gold price ($/ ounce) 3,295 2,335 3,085 2,195 Tonnes of ore milled 883,004 850,649 1,726,061 1,677,126 Grade (grams/ tonne) 1.84 1.79 1.90 1.76 Recovery (%) 98.7 98.6 98.8 98.5 Gold production (ounces) 51,663 48,143 104,241 93,559 Production costs ($ in thousands) 29,774 32,216 64,727 61,085 Cash operating costs(1) ($/ gold ounce sold) 538 666 605 612 Cash operating costs(1) ($/ gold ounce produced) 560 673 577 658 Total cash costs(1) ($/ gold ounce sold) 670 760 728 700 All-in sustaining costs(1) ($/ gold ounce sold) 825 1,044 869 1,000 Capital expenditures ($ in thousands) 4,709 11,706 8,316 25,519 Exploration ($ in thousands) 2,382 1,514 4,213 3,303 (1) Non-IFRS measure. For a description of how these measures are calculated and a reconciliation of these measures to the most directly comparable measures specified, defined or determined under IFRS and presented in the Companys financial statements, refer to Non-IFRS Measures. The Otjikoto Mine in Namibia, in which the Company holds a 90% interest, continued to outperform during the second quarter of 2025, producing 51,663 ounces of gold, above expectations. For the second quarter of 2025, mill feed grade was 1.84 g/t gold, mill throughput was 0.88 million tonnes, and gold recovery averaged 98.7%. Cash operating costs (refer to Non-IFRS Measures) for the second quarter of 2025 were $560 per gold ounce produced ($538 per ounce gold sold). Cash operating costs per ounce produced for the second quarter of 2025 were lower than expected as a result of higher than expected gold production, a weaker than expected Namibian dollar foreign exchange rate, lower mining fleet maintenance costs and lower than expected underground costs. All-in sustaining costs (refer to Non-IFRS Measures) for the second quarter of 2025 were $825 per gold ounce sold. All-in sustaining costs for the second quarter of 2025 were lower than expected as a result of higher than expected gold ounces sold and lower than expected sustaining capital expenditures, partially offset by higher gold royalties resulting from a higher than expected average realized gold price. The lower sustaining capital expenditures for the second quarter of 2025 were mainly a result of timing of expenditures and are expected to be incurred later in 2025. Capital expenditures for the second quarter of 2025 totalled $5 million, consisting mainly of $2 million for Wolfshag underground development and $1 million of mobile equipment rebuild costs. The Otjikoto Mine in Namibia is expected to produce between 165,000 and 185,000 ounces of gold in 2025. Gold production at Otjikoto will be weighted towards the first half of 2025 due to the scheduled conclusion of open pit mining activities in the third quarter of 2025. For the full year 2025, Otjikoto is projected to process a total of 3.4 million tonnes of ore at an average grade of 1.63 g/t gold with a process gold recovery of 98.0%. Processed ore will be sourced from the Otjikoto pit and the Wolfshag underground mine, supplemented by existing ore stockpiles. Open pit mining operations are scheduled to conclude in the third quarter of 2025, while underground mining operations at Wolfshag are expected to continue into 2028. In addition to the economic potential of the Antelope deposit, exploration results received to date indicate the potential to extend underground production at Wolfshag past 2028. The Company has updated its cash cost and all-in sustaining cost guidance ranges for the Otjikoto Mine to reflect the expected impact of lower than expected costs in 2025 and an increase in realized and expected gold prices for 2025 compared to a budgeted gold price of $2,250 per ounce. Cash operating cost guidance for the Otjikoto Mine is now forecast to be between $635 and $695 per gold ounce (original guidance range of between $695 and $755 per ounce) and all-in sustaining cost guidance for the Otjikoto Mine is now forecast to be between $965 and $1,025 per ounce (original guidance range of between $980 and $1,040 per gold ounce). On February 4, 2025, the Company announced positive Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) results for the Antelope deposit. Based on the positive results from the PEA, B2Gold believes that the Antelope deposit has the potential to become a small-scale, low-cost, underground gold mine that can supplement the low-grade stockpile production during the period of 2028 to 2032 and result in a meaningful production profile for Otjikoto into the next decade. The PEA for Antelope indicates an initial mine life of five years and total production of 327,000 ounces averaging approximately 65,000 ounce per year over the life-of mine. In combination with the processing of existing low grade stockpiles, production from Antelope has the potential to increase Otjikoto Mine production to approximately 110,000 ounces per year from 2029 through 2032. The Company has approved an initial budget of up to $10 million for 2025 to de-risk the Antelope deposit development schedule by advancing early work planning, project permits, and long lead orders. Technical work including geotechnical, hydrogeological, and metallurgical testing is anticipated to be completed over the next several months. Cost and schedule assumptions will continue to be refined by working with suppliers and contractors, including running a competitive bid process for the development phase of the Antelope deposit. A development decision is expected in the third quarter of 2025. The Inferred Mineral Resource estimate for the Antelope deposit that formed the basis for the PEA included 1.75 million tonnes grading 6.91 g/t gold for a total of 390,000 ounces of gold, the majority of which is hosted in the Springbok Zone. The Antelope deposit remains open along strike in both directions, highlighting strong potential for future resource expansion. The PEA is preliminary in nature and is based on Inferred Mineral Resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have the engineering and economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as Mineral Reserves, and there is no certainty that the PEA based on these Mineral Resources will be realized. Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. Goose Mine - Canada The Back River Gold District consists of eleven mineral claims blocks along an 80 kilometer (km) belt. The most advanced project in the district, the Goose Mine, has nearly completed its construction phase with first gold production achieved in June 2025. The Back River Gold District has significant gold resource endowment and is being developed into a large, long life mining complex by B2Golds management team which possesses the strong northern construction expertise and the experience needed to successfully ramp-up the Goose Mine. B2Gold acknowledges our partner the Kitikmeot Inuit Association (KIA), who has played a critical role for many years to ensure the development of a successful gold mining operation at the Goose Mine. Respect and collaboration with the KIA is central to the license to operate in the Back River Gold District and will continue to prioritize developing the district in a manner that recognizes Inuit priorities, addresses concerns and brings long-term socio-economic benefits to the Kitikmeot Region. B2Gold looks forward to continuing to build on its strong collaboration with the KIA and Kitikmeot communities. The 2025 winter ice road campaign was successfully completed one month ahead of schedule with the successful transport of over 4,000 loads and 80 million liters of fuel from the Marine Laydown Area to the Goose Mine in mid-April 2025. Planned construction activities for the first half of 2025 have been completed on schedule, including: Completion of mining in the Echo pit and the commissioning of the pit as a tailings facility; Mining of Umwelt open pit commenced ahead of schedule, with full ramp up achieved during the second quarter of 2025; Development of Umwelt underground continued, including the completion and commissioning of Fresh Air Raise 1 and preparation for the development of Fresh Air Raise 2 in the second half of 2025, to support stope ore production in the third quarter of 2025; Commenced dewatering of the Llama pit into the primary fresh water pond and completion of water lines to provide freshwater and reclaim water to the mill; and Installed and commissioned generators to support commissioning of the Goose Mine processing facilities. On June 30, 2025, B2Gold announced the inaugural gold pour from the Goose Mine after first ore was introduced to the Goose Mine processing facilities on June 24, 2025. The focus during the third quarter of 2025 will be to optimize current operations and increase throughput to full design capacity, with a ramp up to commercial production which is expected to be achieved in September 2025. Development of the Umwelt open pit and underground mines remains a priority to ensure that adequate mill feed volumes are maintained. Mining of the Umwelt open pit, which commenced in December 2024, is currently meeting production targets. Dewatering of the Umwelt and Llama area water ponds is underway in line with the site water management plan. Underground development at Umwelt is being completed on schedule to support the commencement of high-grade stope ore production in the third quarter of 2025. In the first half of 2025, the Company incurred cash expenditures of $238 million (C$335 million) for the Goose Mine on construction and development activities. Expenditures in the first half of 2025 included approximately $64 million (C$86 million) of sustaining costs pulled forward from the second half of 2025 which were accelerated in order to further de-risk the Goose Mine. Capital expenditures for the second half of 2025 at the Goose Mine are expected to total approximately $176 million. Approximately $97 million would be classified as sustaining capital expenditures and $79 million would be classified as growth capital expenditures. Sustaining capital expenditures include $42 million deferred stripping and capitalized waste costs, $20 million for mining fleet, $24 million for powerhouse upgrades and $6 million for camp additions. Growth capital costs include: $53 million for mill and process plant upgrades and optimization; $11 million for mill expansion and wind farm study costs; and $15 million for infrastructure upgrades. B2Gold continues to estimate that gold production in 2025 will be between 120,000 and 150,000 ounces, and that average annual gold production for the initial full six years of operations (2026 to 2031 inclusive) will be approximately 300,000 ounces per year, based only on existing Mineral Reserves. Post-commercial production cash operating costs for the Goose Mine in 2025 are forecast to be between $1,520 and $1,580 per gold ounce produced, and post-commercial production all-in sustaining costs for the Goose Mine are forecast to be between $1,940 and $2,000 per ounce sold. Cash operating costs and all-in sustaining costs are forecast to drop significantly once the operation is ramped up to full operating capacity. As per the Company's Goose Mine Technical Report filed on March 28, 2025, cash operating costs and all-in sustaining costs are forecast to be below $1,000 per ounce and below $1,400 per ounce, respectively, when the Goose Mine achieves steady state production. Significant exploration potential remains across the Back River Gold District. B2Golds corporate exploration budget is $61 million in 2025, with a total of $32 million budgeted for exploration at the Back River Gold District. B2Golds exploration programs have been successful in upgrading a significant portion of the Inferred Mineral Resources to Indicated Mineral Resources, and the Company is optimistic that it can successfully upgrade a large portion of the Inferred Mineral Resources to Indicated Mineral Resources. Optimization Studies B2Gold is pursuing multiple optimization studies for the Goose Mine with the goal of maximizing the long-term value of the Back River Gold District, including: Evaluating a flotation / concentrate leach process as a potential option to increase gold recovery and reduce operating costs; Evaluating the installation of a SAG mill to be paired in conjunction with the existing 4,000 tonnes per day (tpd) ball mill, which could potentially expand mill throughput capacity up to 6,000 tpd. The Goose Mine is currently permitted for mill throughput of up to 6,000 tpd, so no amendment to the project certificate would be required if throughput expansion was pursued; Evaluating the viability of constructing and running the Goose Mine winter ice road on a less than annual basis; Evaluating underground mining methods and the potential to exceed the planned production from the Umwelt underground by increasing the mine production rate through development of more active production levels, and consideration of alternate mine methods to both lower costs and capture additional existing Mineral Resources into the mine plan; and Assessing the feasibility of remote operation of surface and underground equipment as it presents an opportunity to optimize production efficiencies and reduce employee transportation costs. The results of these studies are expected to be finalized in late 2025 or early 2026, at which point the Company will evaluate the economics of each option and pursue the desired choice. In connection with these studies, B2Gold will be reviewing any regulatory requirements and engaging with the KIA and local communities to ensure any optimization of the Goose Mine provides benefits to all stakeholders. Gramalote Project Development The Gramalote Project is located in central Colombia, approximately 230 km northwest of Bogota and 100 km northeast of Medellin, in the Province of Antioquia, which has expressed a positive attitude towards the development of responsible mining projects in the region. Following consolidation of the project ownership, B2Gold completed a detailed review of the Gramalote Project, including the higher-grade core of the mineral resource, facility size and location, power supply, mining and processing options, tailings design, resettlement, potential construction sequencing and camp design to identify potential cost savings to develop a medium-scale project. On July 14, 2025, the Company announced the results of a 2025 Gramalote FS which demonstrated that the Gramalote Project has a meaningful production profile, favorable metallurgical characteristics and positive project economics. The study assumes a mill with an annual processing rate of 6.0 million tonnes per annum, an initial open pit mine life of 11 years, and a processing life of 13 years. The study shows average annual grade processed over the first five years of 1.23 g/t gold, with a life of mine grade of 0.96 g/t gold and average annual gold production over the first five years of 227,000 ounces per year, with life-of-mine average annual gold production of 177,000 ounces per year. Financial results include all-in- sustaining costs of $985 per ounce over the life of the project, with an after-tax net present value of $941 million and an internal rate of return of 22.4% assuming a $2,500 per ounce gold price. Due to the desired modifications to the processing plant and infrastructure locations, a Modified Work Plan and Modified Environment Impact Study are required. B2Gold has commenced work on the modifications and expects them to be completed and submitted in late 2025 and early 2026, respectively. Assessment of the Gramalote Project remains ongoing. B2Gold anticipates the permit modification time frame should be approximately 12 to 18 months. If B2Gold makes the decision to develop the Gramalote Project as an open pit gold mine, B2Gold would utilize its proven internal mine construction team to build the mine and mill facilities. The Gramalote Project will continue to advance resettlement programs, establish coexistence programs for small miners, work on health, safety and environmental projects and continue to work with the government and local communities on social programs. Outlook The Company is pleased with its positive second quarter of 2025 operating and financial results. The Company is on track to meet its 2025 total gold production guidance of between 970,000 and 1,075,000 ounces. The Fekola Complex, Masbate Mine, and Otjikoto Mine continue to outperform production expectations and on June 30, 2025 the Company completed the first gold pour from its new Goose Mine in Nunavut. The Goose Mine is expected to ramp up quickly and achieve commercial production in September 2025 and contribute between 120,000 and 150,000 ounces of gold in 2025. Looking forward, over the first six full calendar years of operation from 2026 to 2031 inclusive, the Goose Mine is estimated to contribute average annual gold production of approximately 300,000 ounces of gold per year, based only on existing Mineral Reserves. The price of gold realized per ounce continues to significantly exceed the original 2025 budgeted gold price of $2,250 per ounce, enhancing the Companys cash generating activities. The Company remains in a strong financial position and is well placed to complete its budgeted capital and exploration activities for 2025, manage its financial commitments and continue to pay a dividend with a yield that puts the Company at the higher end of its peer group. The Company has updated its consolidated cash cost guidance range to reflect the expected impact of lower than estimated fuel costs in 2025 and forecast results from the Goose Mine in the second half of 2025. Consolidated cash operating cost guidance for the Fekola Complex, Masbate Mine and Otjikoto Mine for 2025 is now forecast to be between $740 and $800 per gold ounce (lower than the previous guidance range of between $835 and $895 per gold ounce). With the inclusion of the post-commercial production estimates for the Goose Mine (commercial production expected in September 2025), consolidated cash operating cost guidance is now forecast to be between $795 and $855 per ounce. Consolidated all-in sustaining cost guidance for the Fekola Complex, Masbate Mine and Otjikoto Mine for 2025 remain unchanged, with a guidance range of between $1,460 and $1,520 per ounce. With the inclusion of the post-commercial production estimates for the Goose Mine (commercial production expected in September 2025), consolidated all-in sustaining cost guidance is forecast to be between $1,490 and $1,550 per ounce sold. The Company has made significant progress in the development and enhancement of existing operations, which continues to be an area of focus. The recent approval for commencement of mining activities at Fekola underground demonstrates the ongoing commitment of both the Company and the State of Mali to implement the matters laid out in the Memorandum of Understanding (the MOU) entered into in September 2024. Our next key milestone under the MOU is the receipt of an exploitation permit for Fekola Regional which is expected prior to the end of the third quarter of 2025. At the Goose Mine, the Company is pursuing multiple optimization studies, including one study to analyze the potential to increase mill throughput from 4,000 tpd potentially up to 6,000 tpd, and a separate study analyzing the implementation of a flotation / concentrate leach process which has the potential to increase gold recovery and reduce processing unit costs. The Goose Mine is currently permitted for mill throughput of up to 6,000 tpd, so no amendment to the Project Certificate would be required if the Company pursues the mill throughput expansion. The results of these studies are expected to be finalized in late 2025 / early 2026. Once the studies are completed, the Company will evaluate the economics of each option and pursue the desired choice. In Namibia and based on the positive PEA results for the Antelope deposit at the Otjikoto Mine released in February 2025, B2Gold believes that the Antelope deposit has the potential to become a small-scale, low-cost underground gold mine that can supplement the low-grade stockpile production during the period from 2028 to 2032 and result in meaningful production profile for Otjikoto into the next decade. We continue to assess development opportunities and projects where we can deploy our proven internal mine construction team. Development opportunities being assessed include our 100% owned Gramalote Project. The Company recently completed a feasibility study for the Gramalote Project in Colombia which demonstrated positive economics. The feasibility study included modifications to the processing plant and infrastructure locations and therefore a Modified Work Plan and Modified Environmental Impact Study will also be required. Work on the modifications to the work plan and environmental study are well advanced and the Company expects them to be completed and submitted in the near-future. Assessment of the Gramalote Project remains ongoing and any construction decision is not expected until late 2026 or early 2027. Exploration also remains a key focus as B2Gold seeks to both expand its mineral reserve and mineral resource base at its existing operations as well as seeking out greenfield opportunities, including strategic investments in prospective junior exploration companies. The Company's ongoing strategy is to continue to maximize responsible profitable production from its existing mines, maintain a strong financial position, realize the potential increase in gold production from the Company's existing development projects, continue exploration programs across the Company's robust land packages, evaluate new exploration, development and production opportunities and continue to return capital to shareholders. Mary-Lynn Oke, CPA, Appointed to B2Golds Board of Directors On August 6, 2025, Mary-Lynn Oke was appointed to B2Gold's Board of Directors. Kelvin Dushnisky, Chair of the Board of B2Gold, commented, On behalf of the Board, we are delighted to welcome Mary-Lynn Oke to the B2Gold Board. Mary-Lynn's extensive experience in financial management and deep understanding of the mining sector will be a valuable asset as the Company continues to execute on its long-term strategic objectives. Mary-Lynn Oke has over 25 years of experience spanning corporate finance, taxation, treasury, and senior leadership roles. Ms. Oke was previously with Hudbay Minerals Inc., where she was the Vice President, Finance Global Operations and the Chief Financial Officer for its Canadian Business Operations. Ms. Oke currently serves on the Boards of Directors of NexGold Mining Corp. and Jaguar Mining Inc. In addition to her board roles, Ms. Oke provides senior financial and strategic advisory services to organizations, helping them enhance operational efficiency and business performance. Ms. Oke holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration from the Richard Ivey School of Business and is a Chartered Professional Accountant. Second Quarter 2025 Financial Results - Conference Call Details B2Gold executives will host a conference call to discuss the results on Friday, August 8, 2025, at 8:00 am PT / 11:00 am ET. Participants may register for the conference call here: registration link. Upon registering, participants will receive a calendar invitation by email with dial in details and a unique PIN. This will allow participants to bypass the operator queue and connect directly to the conference. Registration will remain open until the end of the conference call. Participants may also dial in using the numbers below: Toll-free in U.S. and Canada: +1 (833)-821-2803 All other callers: +1 (647)-846-2419 The conference call will be available for playback for two weeks by dialing toll-free in the U.S. and Canada: +1 (855)-669-9658, replay access code 1475370. All other callers: +1 (412)-317-0088, replay access code 1475370. About B2Gold B2Gold is a responsible international senior gold producer headquartered in Vancouver, Canada. Founded in 2007, today, B2Gold has operating gold mines in Canada, Mali, Namibia and the Philippines, and numerous development and exploration projects in various countries. B2Gold forecasts gold production of between 970,000 and 1,075,000 ounces in 2025. Qualified Persons Bill Lytle, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, a qualified person under NI 43-101, has approved the scientific and technical information related to operations matters contained in this news release. Andrew Brown, P. Geo., Vice President, Exploration, a qualified person under NI 43-101, has approved the scientific and technical information related to exploration and mineral resource matters contained in this news release. ON BEHALF OF B2GOLD CORP. Clive T. Johnson President and Chief Executive Officer Source: B2Gold Corp. The Toronto Stock Exchange and NYSE American LLC neither approve nor disapprove the information contained in this news release. Production results and production guidance presented in this news release reflect the total production at the mines B2Gold operates on a 100% basis. Please see our most recent Annual Information Form for a discussion of our ownership interest in the mines B2Gold operates. This news release includes certain forward-looking information and forward-looking statements (collectively forward-looking statements) within the meaning of applicable Canadian and United States securities legislation, including: projections; outlook; guidance; forecasts; estimates; and other statements regarding future or estimated financial and operational performance, gold production and sales, revenues and cash flows, and capital costs (sustaining and non-sustaining) and operating costs, including projected cash operating costs and all-in sustaining costs, and budgets on a consolidated and mine by mine basis, which if they occur, would have on our business, our planned capital and exploration expenditures; future or estimated mine life, metal price assumptions, ore grades or sources, gold recovery rates, stripping ratios, throughput, ore processing; statements regarding anticipated exploration, drilling, development, construction, permitting and other activities or achievements of B2Gold; and including, without limitation: remaining well positioned for continued strong operational and financial performance in 2025; projected gold production, cash operating costs and all-in sustaining costs (on a consolidated and mine by mine basis in 2025 for the Fekola Complex, the Otjikoto Mine, the Masbate Gold Project and the Goose Mine; total consolidated gold production of between 970,000 and 1,075,000 ounces in 2025, with cash operating costs of between $740 and $800 per gold ounce ($795 and $855 per gold ounce when including the post-commercial production estimates for the Goose Mine in the guidance range) and all-in sustaining cost guidance of between $1,460 and $1,520 per gold ounce ($1,490 and $1,550 per gold ounce when including the post-commercial production estimates for the Goose Mine in the guidance range); continued prioritization of developing the Goose Mine in a manner that recognizes Indigenous input and concerns and brings long-term socio-economic benefits to the area; the Goose Mine producing between 120,000 and 150,000 ounces in 2025 and approximately 300,000 ounces of gold per year for the first full six years of production; the potential ramp-up to commercial production by the end of the third quarter of 2025; the commencement of high-grade stope ore production at Umwelt underground development in the third quarter of 2025; Fekola underground contributing between 25,000 to 35,000 ounces of gold production in 2025, ramping up significantly in 2026 and subsequent years; the receipt of the exploitation permit for Fekola Regional and Fekola Regional production expected to commence prior to the end of the third quarter of 2025; Fekola Regional contributing approximately 180,000 ounces of additional annual gold production in its first four full years of production from 2026 through 2029, with a mine life expected to extend well into the 2030s; the potential for the Antelope deposit to be developed as an underground operation and contribute up to 65,000 per year during the low-grade stockpile processing in 2029 through 2032 and the Otjikoto Mine producing an average of approximately 110,000 ounces per year during that period;; the potential to develop the Gramalote Project as an open pit gold mine; the ability to deliver 22,064 ounces per month for the 12-month period from July 2025 to June 2026 to satisfy delivery of the total Gold Prepay obligation of 264,768 ounces in full; planned 2025 exploration budgets for Canada, Mali, Namibia, the Philippines and Kazakhstan and other grassroots projects; and the potential payment of future dividends, including the timing and amount of any such dividends, and the expectation that quarterly dividends will be maintained at the same level. All statements in this news release that address events or developments that we expect to occur in the future are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, although not always, identified by words such as "expect", "plan", "anticipate", "project", "target", "potential", "schedule", "forecast", "budget", "estimate", "intend" or "believe" and similar expressions or their negative connotations, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could", "should" or "might" occur. All such forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management as of the date such statements are made. Forward-looking statements necessarily involve assumptions, risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond B2Gold's control, including risks associated with or related to: the volatility of metal prices and B2Gold's common shares; changes in tax laws; the dangers inherent in exploration, development and mining activities; the uncertainty of mineral reserve and resource estimates; not achieving production, cost or other estimates; actual production, development plans and costs differing materially from the estimates in B2Gold's feasibility and other studies; the ability to obtain and maintain any necessary permits, consents or authorizations required for mining activities; environmental regulations or hazards and compliance with complex regulations associated with mining activities; climate change and climate change regulations; the ability to replace mineral reserves and identify acquisition opportunities; the unknown liabilities of companies acquired by B2Gold; the ability to successfully integrate new acquisitions; fluctuations in exchange rates; the availability of financing; financing and debt activities, including potential restrictions imposed on B2Gold's operations as a result thereof and the ability to generate sufficient cash flows; operations in foreign and developing countries and the compliance with foreign laws, including those associated with operations in Mali, Namibia, the Philippines and Colombia and including risks related to changes in foreign laws and changing policies related to mining and local ownership requirements or resource nationalization generally; remote operations and the availability of adequate infrastructure; fluctuations in price and availability of energy and other inputs necessary for mining operations; shortages or cost increases in necessary equipment, supplies and labour; regulatory, political and country risks, including local instability or acts of terrorism and the effects thereof; the reliance upon contractors, third parties and joint venture partners; the lack of sole decision-making authority related to Filminera Resources Corporation, which owns the Masbate Gold Project; challenges to title or surface rights; the dependence on key personnel and the ability to attract and retain skilled personnel; the risk of an uninsurable or uninsured loss; adverse climate and weather conditions; litigation risk; competition with other mining companies; community support for B2Gold's operations, including risks related to strikes and the halting of such operations from time to time; conflicts with small scale miners; failures of information systems or information security threats; the ability to maintain adequate internal controls over financial reporting as required by law, including Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act; compliance with anti-corruption laws, and sanctions or other similar measures; social media and B2Gold's reputation; as well as other factors identified and as described in more detail under the heading "Risk Factors" in B2Gold's most recent Annual Information Form, B2Gold's current Form 40-F Annual Report and B2Gold's other filings with Canadian securities regulators and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), which may be viewed at www.sedarplus.ca and www.sec.gov, respectively (the "Websites"). The list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect B2Gold's forward-looking statements. B2Gold's forward-looking statements are based on the applicable assumptions and factors management considers reasonable as of the date hereof, based on the information available to management at such time. These assumptions and factors include, but are not limited to, assumptions and factors related to B2Gold's ability to carry on current and future operations, including: development and exploration activities; the timing, extent, duration and economic viability of such operations, including any mineral resources or reserves identified thereby; the accuracy and reliability of estimates, projections, forecasts, studies and assessments; B2Gold's ability to meet or achieve estimates, projections and forecasts; the availability and cost of inputs; the price and market for outputs, including gold; foreign exchange rates; taxation levels; the timely receipt of necessary approvals or permits; the ability to meet current and future obligations; the ability to obtain timely financing on reasonable terms when required; the current and future social, economic and political conditions; and other assumptions and factors generally associated with the mining industry. B2Gold's forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management and reflect their current expectations regarding future events and operating performance and speak only as of the date hereof. B2Gold does not assume any obligation to update forward-looking statements if circumstances or management's beliefs, expectations or opinions should change other than as required by applicable law. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results, performance or achievements could differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements. Accordingly, no assurance can be given that any events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will transpire or occur, or if any of them do, what benefits or liabilities B2Gold will derive therefrom. For the reasons set forth above, undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements. The projected range of all-in sustaining costs includes sustaining capital expenditures, corporate administrative expense, mine-site exploration and evaluation costs and reclamation cost accretion, and exclude the effects of expansionary capital and non-sustaining expenditures. Projected GAAP total production cash costs for the full year would require inclusion of the projected impact of future included and excluded items, including items that are not currently determinable, but may be significant, such as sustaining capital expenditures, reclamation cost accretion. Due to the uncertainty of the likelihood, amount and timing of any such items, B2Gold does not have information available to provide a quantitative reconciliation of projected all-in sustaining costs to a total production cash costs projection. B2Gold believes that this measure represents the total costs of producing gold from current operations, and provides B2Gold and other stakeholders of the Company with additional information of B2Golds operational performance and ability to generate cash flows. All-in sustaining costs, as a key performance measure, allows B2Gold to assess its ability to support capital expenditures and to sustain future production from the generation of operating cash flows. This information provides management with the ability to more actively manage capital programs and to make more prudent capital investment decisions. Non-IFRS Measures This news release includes certain terms or performance measures commonly used in the mining industry that are not defined under International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS"), including "cash operating costs" and "all-in sustaining costs" (or "AISC"). Non-IFRS measures do not have any standardized meaning prescribed under IFRS, and therefore they may not be comparable to similar measures employed by other companies. The projected range of AISC is anticipated to be adjusted to include sustaining capital expenditures, corporate administrative expense, mine-site exploration and evaluation costs and reclamation cost accretion and amortization, and exclude the effects of expansionary capital and non-sustaining expenditures. Projected GAAP total production cash costs for the full year would require inclusion of the projected impact of future included and excluded items, including items that are not currently determinable, but may be significant, such as sustaining capital expenditures, reclamation cost accretion and amortization. Due to the uncertainty of the likelihood, amount and timing of any such items, B2Gold does not have information available to provide a quantitative reconciliation of projected AISC to a total production cash costs projection. B2Gold believes that this measure represents the total costs of producing gold from current operations, and provides B2Gold and other stakeholders of the Company with additional information of B2Golds operational performance and ability to generate cash flows. AISC, as a key performance measure, allows B2Gold to assess its ability to support capital expenditures and to sustain future production from the generation of operating cash flows. This information provides management with the ability to more actively manage capital programs and to make more prudent capital investment decisions. The data presented is intended to provide additional information and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS and should be read in conjunction with B2Gold's consolidated financial statements. Readers should refer to B2Gold's Management Discussion and Analysis, available on the Websites, under the heading "Non-IFRS Measures" for a more detailed discussion of how B2Gold calculates certain such measures and a reconciliation of certain measures to IFRS terms. Cautionary Statement Regarding Mineral Reserve and Resource Estimates The disclosure in this news release was prepared in accordance with Canadian standards for the reporting of mineral resource and mineral reserve estimates, which differ in some material respects from the disclosure requirements of United States securities laws. In particular, and without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the terms mineral reserve, proven mineral reserve, probable mineral reserve, inferred mineral resources,, indicated mineral resources, measured mineral resources and mineral resources used or referenced in this news release are Canadian mineral disclosure terms as defined in accordance with Canadian National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (NI 43-101) and the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (the CIM) - CIM Definition Standards on Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves, adopted by the CIM Council, as amended (the CIM Definition Standards). The definitions of these terms, and other mining terms and disclosures, differ from the definitions of such terms, if any, for purposes of the SECs disclosure rules for domestic United State issuers. As a foreign private issuer that is eligible to file reports with the SEC pursuant to the MJDS, B2Gold is not required to provide disclosure on its mineral properties under applicable SEC rules and regulations and provides disclosure under NI 43-101 and the CIM Definition Standards. Accordingly, mineral reserve and mineral resource information and other technical information contained in this news release may not be comparable to similar information disclosed by companies subject to the SECs reporting and disclosure requirements for domestic United States issuers. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. Due to the uncertainty of measured, indicated or inferred mineral resources, these mineral resources may never be upgraded to proven and probable mineral reserves. Investors are cautioned not to assume that any part of mineral deposits in these categories will ever be converted into reserves or recovered. In addition, United States investors are cautioned not to assume that any part or all of B2Golds measured, indicated or inferred mineral resources constitute or will be converted into mineral reserves or are or will be economically or legally mineable without additional work. Historical results or feasibility models presented herein are not guarantees or expectations of future performance. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. Due to the uncertainty of measured, indicated or inferred mineral resources, these mineral resources may never be upgraded to proven and probable mineral reserves. Investors are cautioned not to assume that any part of mineral deposits in these categories will ever be converted into reserves or recovered. In addition, United States investors are cautioned not to assume that any part or all of B2Golds measured, indicated or inferred mineral resources constitute or will be converted into mineral reserves or are or will be economically or legally mineable without additional work. B2GOLD CORP. CONDENSED INTERIM CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS FOR THE THREE AND SIX MONTHS ENDED JUNE 30 (Expressed in thousands of United States dollars, except per share amounts) (Unaudited) For the three months ended June 30, 2025 For the three months ended June 30, 2024 For the six months ended June 30, 2025 For the six months ended June 30, 2024 Gold revenue $ 692,206 $ 492,569 $ 1,224,313 $ 954,013 Cost of sales Production costs (160,363 ) (151,299 ) (322,357 ) (308,044 ) Depreciation and depletion (102,705 ) (95,008 ) (192,262 ) (185,454 ) Royalties and production taxes (77,701 ) (33,089 ) (120,507 ) (63,116 ) Total cost of sales (340,769 ) (279,396 ) (635,126 ) (556,614 ) Gross profit 351,437 213,173 589,187 397,399 General and administrative (15,783 ) (12,968 ) (27,585 ) (27,106 ) Share-based payments (8,134 ) (4,792 ) (14,003 ) (9,746 ) Non-recoverable input taxes (5,431 ) (2,695 ) (12,277 ) (6,999 ) Write-down of mining interests (636 ) (5,118 ) (636 ) Foreign exchange gains (losses) 12,781 (11,356 ) 19,995 (13,735 ) Community relations (559 ) (442 ) (1,558 ) (931 ) Share of net (loss) income of associates (576 ) 2,582 178 4,679 Impairment of long-lived assets (215,216 ) (215,216 ) Gain on sale of mining interests 48,662 48,662 Gain on sale of shares in associate 16,822 16,822 Other expense (4,219 ) (2,322 ) (10,470 ) (7,754 ) Operating income 329,516 30,812 538,349 185,439 (Losses) gains on derivative instruments (21,153 ) 429 (64,472 ) 704 Change in fair value of gold stream (21,754 ) (8,387 ) (52,306 ) (19,239 ) Interest and financing expense (4,854 ) (7,465 ) (10,577 ) (17,036 ) Interest income 2,913 7,671 6,085 13,126 Gain (loss) on dilution of associate 998 (8,984 ) Other income 1,729 12 2,085 155 Income from operations before taxes 286,397 24,070 419,164 154,165 Current income tax, withholding and other taxes (160,174 ) (96,697 ) (246,257 ) (158,281 ) Deferred income tax recovery 34,530 37,850 50,410 17,820 Net income (loss) for the period $ 160,753 $ (34,777 ) $ 223,317 $ 13,704 Attributable to: Shareholders of the Company $ 154,424 $ (24,004 ) $ 212,011 $ 15,747 Non-controlling interests 6,329 (10,773 ) 11,306 (2,043 ) Net income (loss) for the period $ 160,753 $ (34,777 ) $ 223,317 $ 13,704 Earnings (loss) per share (attributable to shareholders of the Company) Basic $ 0.12 $ (0.02 ) $ 0.16 $ 0.01 Diluted $ 0.10 $ (0.02 ) $ 0.14 $ 0.01 Weighted average number of common shares outstanding (in thousands) Basic 1,321,740 1,307,176 1,320,074 1,305,183 Diluted 1,477,021 1,307,176 1,473,509 1,308,746 B2GOLD CORP. CONDENSED INTERIM CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS FOR THE THREE AND SIX MONTHS ENDED JUNE 30 (Expressed in thousands of United States dollars) (Unaudited) For the three months ended June 30, 2025 For the three months ended June 30, 2024 For the six months ended June 30, 2025 For the six months ended June 30, 2024 Operating activities Net income (loss) for the period $ 160,753 $ (34,777 ) $ 223,317 $ 13,704 Mine restoration provisions settled (607 ) (650 ) (1,100 ) (941 ) Non-cash charges, net 140,770 231,149 322,693 384,914 Proceeds from prepaid sales 500,023 Changes in non-cash working capital 28,862 (79,709 ) 14,022 (57,724 ) Changes in long-term inventory (30,326 ) (17,405 ) (41,283 ) (15,696 ) Changes in long-term value added tax receivables (44,371 ) (36,176 ) (83,780 ) (51,121 ) Cash provided by operating activities 255,081 62,432 433,869 773,159 Financing activities Proceeds from convertible senior unsecured notes, net of financing costs 445,913 Repayment of revolving credit facility (400,000 ) (150,000 ) Equipment loan facility draw downs 3,314 12,304 Repayment of equipment loan facilities (4,155 ) (3,519 ) (8,557 ) (5,906 ) Interest and commitment fees paid (1,148 ) (1,090 ) (4,642 ) (4,669 ) Cash proceeds from stock option exercises 3,936 1,357 6,167 2,445 Dividends paid (25,959 ) (45,869 ) (51,511 ) (91,858 ) Principal payments on lease arrangements (8,441 ) (1,140 ) (11,413 ) (2,588 ) Distributions to non-controlling interests (9,435 ) (2,708 ) (17,617 ) (7,288 ) Other (4 ) 691 (4,271 ) 962 Cash used by financing activities (41,892 ) (52,278 ) (33,627 ) (258,902 ) Investing activities Expenditures on mining interests: Fekola Mine (53,379 ) (53,179 ) (117,382 ) (133,741 ) Masbate Mine (17,499 ) (6,507 ) (25,232 ) (15,037 ) Otjikoto Mine (4,709 ) (11,706 ) (8,316 ) (25,519 ) Goose Mine (143,484 ) (127,704 ) (238,296 ) (245,155 ) Fekola Regional Properties (5,004 ) (4,924 ) (8,173 ) (9,425 ) Gramalote Project (5,151 ) (3,560 ) (11,944 ) (6,870 ) Other exploration (13,878 ) (11,572 ) (19,474 ) (20,412 ) Redemption of short-term investments 22,544 22,544 Purchase of short-term investments (4,854 ) (10,926 ) Funding of reclamation accounts (5,027 ) (1,676 ) (6,448 ) (2,705 ) Purchase of shares in associate (4,800 ) (4,800 ) Purchase of long-term investments (1,318 ) (6,252 ) (3,126 ) (6,252 ) Cash proceeds on sale of investment in associate 100,302 100,302 Cash proceeds on sale of long-term investment 18,661 18,661 Other 117 (295 ) 55 (1,836 ) Cash used by investing activities (236,442 ) (108,412 ) (431,518 ) (347,989 ) (Decrease) increase in cash and cash equivalents (23,253 ) (98,258 ) (31,276 ) 166,268 Effect of exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents 1,621 (2,716 ) 2,796 (6,323 ) Cash and cash equivalents, beginning of period 330,123 567,814 336,971 306,895 Cash and cash equivalents, end of period $ 308,491 $ 466,840 $ 308,491 $ 466,840 B2GOLD CORP. CONDENSED INTERIM CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS (Expressed in thousands of United States dollars) (Unaudited) As at June 30, 2025 As at December 31, 2024 Assets Current Cash and cash equivalents $ 308,491 $ 336,971 Receivables, prepaids and other 44,458 41,059 Value-added and other tax receivables 35,866 46,173 Inventories 561,120 477,586 949,935 901,789 Long-term investments 128,744 76,717 Value-added tax receivables 315,152 244,147 Mining interests 3,596,702 3,291,435 Investments in associates 96,395 91,417 Long-term inventories 109,174 134,529 Other assets 78,880 73,964 Deferred income taxes 31,386 $ 5,306,368 $ 4,813,998 Liabilities Current Accounts payable and accrued liabilities $ 157,819 $ 156,352 Current income and other taxes payable 139,040 103,557 Current portion of prepaid gold sales 558,165 272,781 Current portion of long-term debt 31,405 16,419 Current portion of derivative instruments 40,586 1,606 Current portion of gold stream obligation 18,000 6,900 Current portion of mine restoration provisions 6,522 7,170 Other current liabilities 17,509 15,902 969,046 580,687 Long-term debt 411,482 421,464 Gold stream obligation 200,731 159,525 Prepaid gold sales 265,329 Mine restoration provisions 150,851 140,541 Deferred income taxes 182,242 169,738 Derivative instruments 32,218 2,760 Employee benefits obligation 22,151 18,410 Other long-term liabilities 21,104 19,847 1,989,825 1,778,301 Equity Shareholders equity Share capital 3,526,873 3,510,271 Contributed surplus 160,468 91,184 Accumulated other comprehensive loss (60,456 ) (102,771 ) Retained deficit (356,943 ) (515,619 ) 3,269,942 2,983,065 Non-controlling interests 46,601 52,632 3,316,543 3,035,697 $ 5,306,368 $ 4,813,998 NON-IFRS MEASURES Cash operating costs per gold ounce sold and total cash costs per gold ounce sold Cash operating costs per gold ounce and total cash costs per gold ounce are common financial performance measures in the gold mining industry but, as non-IFRS measures, they do not have a standardized meaning under IFRS and therefore may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers. Management believes that, in addition to conventional measures prepared in accordance with IFRS, certain investors use this information to evaluate our performance and ability to generate cash flow. Accordingly, these measures are intended to provide additional information and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. The measures, along with sales, are considered to be a key indicator of the Companys ability to generate earnings and cash flow from its mining operations. Cash cost figures are calculated on a sales basis in accordance with a standard developed by The Gold Institute, which was a worldwide association of suppliers of gold and gold products and included leading North American gold producers. The Gold Institute ceased operations in 2002, but the standard is the accepted standard of reporting cash cost of production in North America. Adoption of the standard is voluntary and the cost measures presented may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures of other companies. Other companies may calculate these measures differently. Cash operating costs and total cash costs per gold ounce sold are derived from amounts included in the statement of operations and include post-commercial production mine site operating costs such as mining, processing, smelting, refining, transportation costs, royalties and production taxes, less silver by-product credits. The tables below show a reconciliation of cash operating costs per gold ounce sold and total cash costs per gold ounce sold to production costs as extracted from the unaudited condensed interim consolidated financial statements on a consolidated and a mine-by-mine basis (dollars in thousands): For the three months ended June 30, 2025 Fekola Mine Masbate Mine Otjikoto Mine Total $ $ $ $ Production costs 96,121 34,468 29,774 160,363 Royalties and production taxes 61,557 8,872 7,272 77,701 Total cash costs 157,678 43,340 37,046 238,064 Gold sold (ounces) 115,184 39,900 55,300 210,384 Cash operating costs per ounce ($/ gold ounce sold) 834 864 538 762 Total cash costs per ounce ($/ gold ounce sold) 1,369 1,086 670 1,132 For the three months ended June 30, 2024 Fekola Mine Masbate Mine Otjikoto Mine Total Calibre equity investment Grand Total $ $ $ $ $ $ Production costs 81,481 37,602 32,216 151,299 13,221 164,520 Royalties and production taxes 21,655 6,910 4,524 33,089 711 33,800 Total cash costs 103,136 44,512 36,740 184,388 13,932 198,320 Gold sold (ounces) 115,288 46,600 48,340 210,228 8,267 218,495 Cash operating costs per ounce ($/ gold ounce sold) 707 807 666 720 1,599 753 Total cash costs per ounce ($/ gold ounce sold) 895 955 760 877 1,685 908 For the six months ended June 30, 2025 Fekola Mine Masbate Mine Otjikoto Mine Total $ $ $ $ Production costs 185,146 72,484 64,727 322,357 Royalties and production taxes 91,051 16,250 13,206 120,507 Total cash costs 276,197 88,734 77,933 442,864 Gold sold (ounces) 202,992 84,350 107,040 394,382 Cash operating costs per ounce ($/ gold ounce sold) 912 859 605 817 Total cash costs per ounce ($/ gold ounce sold) 1,361 1,052 728 1,123 For the six months ended June 30, 2024 Fekola Mine Masbate Mine Otjikoto Mine Total Calibre equity investment Grand Total $ $ $ $ $ $ Production costs 166,586 80,373 61,085 308,044 25,126 333,170 Royalties and production taxes 42,050 12,300 8,766 63,116 1,565 64,681 Total cash costs 208,636 92,673 69,851 371,160 26,691 397,851 Gold sold (ounces) 239,116 94,300 99,790 433,206 19,644 452,850 Cash operating costs per ounce ($/ gold ounce sold) 697 852 612 711 1,279 736 Total cash costs per ounce ($/ gold ounce sold) 873 983 700 857 1,359 879 Cash operating costs per gold ounce produced In addition to cash operating costs on a per gold ounce sold basis, the Company also presents cash operating costs on a per gold ounce produced basis. Cash operating costs per gold ounce produced is derived from amounts included in the statement of operations and include post-commercial production mine site operating costs such as mining, processing, smelting, refining, transportation costs, less silver by-product credits. Cash operating costs per gold ounce produced do not include pre-commercial production from the Goose Mine. The tables below show a reconciliation of cash operating costs per gold ounce produced to production costs as extracted from the unaudited condensed interim consolidated financial statements on a consolidated and a mine-by-mine basis (dollars in thousands): For the three months ended June 30, 2025 Fekola Mine Masbate Mine Otjikoto Mine Goose Mine Total $ $ $ $ $ Production costs 96,121 34,468 29,774 160,363 Inventory sales adjustment 4,758 6,151 (846 ) 1,178 11,241 Pre-commercial production costs (1,178 ) (1,178 ) Cash operating costs 100,879 40,619 28,928 170,426 Gold produced (ounces) 126,361 50,738 51,663 692 229,454 Less pre-commercial gold production (692 ) (692 ) Adjusted gold produced (ounces) 126,361 50,738 51,663 228,762 Cash operating costs per ounce ($/ gold ounce produced) 798 801 560 745 For the three months ended June 30, 2024 Fekola Mine Masbate Mine Otjikoto Mine Total Calibre equity investment Grand Total $ $ $ $ $ $ Production costs 81,481 37,602 32,216 151,299 13,221 164,520 Inventory sales adjustment 12,097 1,412 168 13,677 13,677 Cash operating costs 93,578 39,014 32,384 164,976 13,221 178,197 Gold produced (ounces) 111,583 44,515 48,143 204,241 8,267 212,508 Cash operating costs per ounce ($/ gold ounce produced) 839 876 673 808 1,599 839 For the six months ended June 30, 2025 Fekola Mine Masbate Mine Otjikoto Mine Goose Mine Total $ $ $ $ $ Production costs 185,146 72,484 64,727 322,357 Inventory sales adjustment 6,294 6,779 (4,592 ) 1,178 9,659 Pre-commercial production costs (1,178 ) (1,178 ) Cash operating costs 191,440 79,263 60,135 330,838 Gold produced (ounces) 220,166 97,107 104,241 692 422,206 Less pre-commercial gold production (692 ) (692 ) Adjusted gold produced (ounces) 220,166 97,107 104,241 421,514 Cash operating costs per ounce ($/ gold ounce produced) 870 816 577 785 For the six months ended June 30, 2024 Fekola Mine Masbate Mine Otjikoto Mine Total Calibre equity investment Grand Total $ $ $ $ $ $ Production costs 166,586 80,373 61,085 308,044 25,126 333,170 Inventory sales adjustment 10,175 188 440 10,803 10,803 Cash operating costs 176,761 80,561 61,525 318,847 25,126 343,973 Gold produced (ounces) 230,724 94,297 93,559 418,580 19,644 438,224 Cash operating costs per ounce ($/ gold ounce produced) 766 854 658 762 1,279 785 All-in sustaining costs per gold ounce In June 2013, the World Gold Council, a non-regulatory association of the worlds leading gold mining companies established to promote the use of gold to industry, consumers and investors, provided guidance for the calculation of the measure all-in sustaining costs per gold ounce, but as a non-IFRS measure, it does not have a standardized meaning under IFRS and therefore may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers. The original World Gold Council standard became effective January 1, 2014 with further updates announced on November 16, 2018 which were effective starting January 1, 2019. Management believes that the all-in sustaining costs per gold ounce measure provides additional insight into the costs of producing gold by capturing all of the expenditures required for the discovery, development and sustaining of gold production and allows the Company to assess its ability to support capital expenditures to sustain future production from the generation of operating cash flows. Management believes that, in addition to conventional measures prepared in accordance with IFRS, certain investors use this information to evaluate the Company's performance and ability to generate cash flow. Accordingly, it is intended to provide additional information and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. Adoption of the standard is voluntary and the cost measures presented may not be comparable to other similarly titled measures of other companies. The Company has applied the principles of the World Gold Council recommendations and has reported all-in sustaining costs on a sales basis. Other companies may calculate these measures differently. B2Gold defines all-in sustaining costs per ounce as the sum of post-commercial production cash operating costs, royalties and production taxes, capital expenditures and exploration costs that are sustaining in nature, sustaining lease expenditures, corporate general and administrative costs, share-based payment expenses related to restricted share units/deferred share units/performance share units/restricted phantom units ("RSUs/DSUs/PSUs/RPUs"), community relations expenditures, reclamation liability accretion and realized (gains) losses on fuel derivative contracts, all divided by the total post-commercial production gold ounces sold to arrive at a per ounce figure. The tables below show a reconciliation of all-in sustaining costs per ounce to production costs as extracted from the unaudited condensed interim consolidated financial statements on a consolidated and a mine-by-mine basis for the three months ended June 30, 2025 (dollars in thousands): For the three months ended June 30, 2025 Fekola Mine Masbate Mine Otjikoto Mine Corporate Total $ $ $ $ $ Production costs 96,121 34,468 29,774 160,363 Royalties and production taxes 61,557 8,872 7,272 77,701 Corporate administration 3,591 541 938 10,713 15,783 Share-based payments RSUs/DSUs/PSUs/RPUs(1) 15 4,663 4,678 Community relations 192 79 288 559 Reclamation liability accretion 697 335 246 1,278 Realized losses on derivative contracts 508 342 59 909 Sustaining lease expenditures (755 ) 325 2,072 543 2,185 Sustaining capital expenditures(2) 36,308 14,718 4,607 55,633 Sustaining mine exploration(2) 54 352 406 Total all-in sustaining costs 198,234 59,734 45,608 15,919 319,495 Gold sold (ounces) 115,184 39,900 55,300 210,384 All-in sustaining cost per ounce ($/ gold ounce sold) 1,721 1,497 825 1,519 1) Included as a component of Share-based payments on the Consolidated statement of operations. (2) Refer to Sustaining capital expenditures and Sustaining mine exploration reconciliations below. The table below shows a reconciliation of sustaining capital expenditures to operating mine capital expenditures as extracted from the unaudited condensed interim consolidated financial statements for the three months ended June 30, 2025 (dollars in thousands): For the three months ended June 30, 2025 Fekola Mine Masbate Mine Otjikoto Mine Total $ $ $ $ Operating mine capital expenditures 53,379 17,499 4,709 75,587 Fekola underground (17,071 ) (17,071 ) Other (2,781 ) (102 ) (2,883 ) Sustaining capital expenditures 36,308 14,718 4,607 55,633 The table below shows a reconciliation of sustaining mine exploration to operating mine exploration as extracted from the unaudited condensed interim consolidated financial statements for the three months ended June 30, 2025 (dollars in thousands): For the three months ended June 30, 2025 Fekola Mine Masbate Mine Otjikoto Mine Total $ $ $ $ Operating mine exploration 531 2,382 2,913 Regional exploration (477 ) (2,030 ) (2,507 ) Sustaining mine exploration 54 352 406 The table below shows a reconciliation of all-in sustaining costs per ounce to production costs as extracted from the unaudited condensed interim consolidated financial statements on a consolidated and a mine-by-mine basis for the three months ended June 30, 2024 (dollars in thousands): For the three months ended June 30, 2024 Fekola Mine Masbate Mine Otjikoto Mine Corporate Total Calibre equity investment Grand Total $ $ $ $ $ $ $ Production costs 81,481 37,602 32,216 151,299 13,221 164,520 Royalties and production taxes 21,655 6,910 4,524 33,089 711 33,800 Corporate administration 2,548 548 1,406 8,466 12,968 902 13,870 Share-based payments RSUs/DSUs/PSUs/RPUs(1) 34 4,023 4,057 4,057 Community relations 106 17 319 442 442 Reclamation liability accretion 458 313 252 1,023 1,023 Realized gains on derivative contracts (202 ) (108 ) (310 ) (310 ) Sustaining lease expenditures 83 309 236 512 1,140 1,140 Sustaining capital expenditures(2) 38,065 6,428 11,605 56,098 637 56,735 Sustaining mine exploration(2) 838 864 (76 ) 1,626 1,626 Total all-in sustaining costs 145,066 52,883 50,482 13,001 261,432 15,471 276,903 Gold sold (ounces) 115,288 46,600 48,340 210,228 8,267 218,495 All-in sustaining cost per ounce ($/ gold ounce sold) 1,258 1,135 1,044 1,244 1,871 1,267 (1) Included as a component of Share-based payments on the Consolidated statement of operations. (2) Refer to Sustaining capital expenditures and Sustaining mine exploration reconciliations below The table below shows a reconciliation of sustaining capital expenditures to operating mine capital expenditures as extracted from the unaudited condensed interim consolidated financial statements for the three months ended June 30, 2024 (dollars in thousands): For the three months ended June 30, 2024 Fekola Mine Masbate Mine Otjikoto Mine Total Calibre equity investment Grand Total $ $ $ $ $ $ Operating mine capital expenditures 53,179 6,507 11,706 71,392 637 72,029 Fekola underground (14,772 ) (14,772 ) (14,772 ) Road construction (342 ) (342 ) (342 ) Land acquisitions (49 ) (49 ) (49 ) Other (30 ) (101 ) (131 ) (131 ) Sustaining capital expenditures 38,065 6,428 11,605 56,098 637 56,735 The table below shows a reconciliation of sustaining mine exploration to operating mine exploration as extracted from the unaudited condensed interim consolidated financial statements for the three months ended June 30, 2024 (dollars in thousands): For the three months ended June 30, 2024 Fekola Mine Masbate Mine Otjikoto Mine Total Calibre equity investment Grand Total $ $ $ $ $ $ Operating mine exploration 838 928 1,514 3,280 3,280 Regional exploration (64 ) (1,590 ) (1,654 ) (1,654 ) Sustaining mine exploration 838 864 (76 ) 1,626 1,626 The tables below show a reconciliation of all-in sustaining costs per ounce to production costs as extracted from the unaudited condensed interim consolidated financial statements on a consolidated and a mine-by-mine basis for the six months ended June 30, 2025 (dollars in thousands): For the six months ended June 30, 2025 Fekola Mine Masbate Mine Otjikoto Mine Corporate Total $ $ $ $ $ Production costs 185,146 72,484 64,727 322,357 Royalties and production taxes 91,051 16,250 13,206 120,507 Corporate administration 6,528 1,068 2,287 17,702 27,585 Share-based payments RSUs/DSUs/PSUs/RPUs(1) 30 8,201 8,231 Community relations 674 181 703 1,558 Reclamation liability accretion 1,312 680 509 2,501 Realized losses on derivative contracts 621 381 82 1,084 Sustaining lease expenditures 164 641 2,412 970 4,187 Sustaining capital expenditures(2) 82,834 21,580 8,214 112,628 Sustaining mine exploration(2) 70 845 915 Total all-in sustaining costs 368,360 113,335 92,985 26,873 601,553 Gold sold (ounces) 202,992 84,350 107,040 394,382 All-in sustaining cost per ounce ($/ gold ounce sold) 1,815 1,344 869 1,525 (1) Included as a component of Share-based payments on the Consolidated statement of operations. (2) Refer to Sustaining capital expenditures and Sustaining mine exploration reconciliations below The table below shows a reconciliation of sustaining capital expenditures to operating mine capital expenditures as extracted from the unaudited condensed interim consolidated financial statements for the six months ended June 30, 2025 (dollars in thousands): For the six months ended June 30, 2025 Fekola Mine Masbate Mine Otjikoto Mine Total $ $ $ $ Operating mine capital expenditures 117,382 25,232 8,316 150,930 Fekola underground (34,548 ) (34,548 ) Other (3,652 ) (102 ) (3,754 ) Sustaining capital expenditures 82,834 21,580 8,214 112,628 The table below shows a reconciliation of sustaining mine exploration to operating mine exploration as extracted from the unaudited condensed interim consolidated financial statements for the six months ended June 30, 2025 (dollars in thousands) For the six months ended June 30, 2025 Fekola Mine Masbate Mine Otjikoto Mine Total $ $ $ $ Operating mine exploration 951 4,213 5,164 Regional exploration (881 ) (3,368 ) (4,249 ) Sustaining mine exploration 70 845 915 The tables below show a reconciliation of all-in sustaining costs per ounce to production costs as extracted from the unaudited condensed interim consolidated financial statements on a consolidated and a mine-by-mine basis for the six months ended June 30, 2024 (dollars in thousands): For the six months ended June 30, 2024 Fekola Mine Masbate Mine Otjikoto Mine Corporate Total Calibre equity investment Grand Total $ $ $ $ $ $ $ Production costs 166,586 80,373 61,085 308,044 25,126 333,170 Royalties and production taxes 42,050 12,300 8,766 63,116 1,565 64,681 Corporate administration 5,275 1,062 2,886 17,883 27,106 1,463 28,569 Share-based payments RSUs/DSUs/PSUs/RPUs(1) 67 8,996 9,063 9,063 Community relations 251 30 650 931 931 Reclamation liability accretion 893 614 490 1,997 1,997 Realized gains on derivative contracts (420 ) (252 ) (31 ) (703 ) (703 ) Sustaining lease expenditures 167 627 790 1,004 2,588 2,588 Sustaining capital expenditures(2) 105,935 14,677 24,503 145,115 2,392 147,507 Sustaining mine exploration(2) 2,140 1,598 626 4,364 4,364 Total all-in sustaining costs 322,944 111,029 99,765 27,883 561,621 30,546 592,167 Gold sold (ounces) 239,116 94,300 99,790 433,206 19,644 452,850 All-in sustaining cost per ounce ($/ gold ounce sold) 1,351 1,177 1,000 1,296 1,555 1,308 (1) Included as a component of Share-based payments on the Consolidated statement of operations. (2) Refer to Sustaining capital expenditures and Sustaining mine exploration reconciliations below The table below shows a reconciliation of sustaining capital expenditures to operating mine capital expenditures as extracted from the unaudited condensed interim consolidated financial statements for the six months ended June 30, 2024 (dollars in thousands): For the six months ended June 30, 2024 Fekola Mine Masbate Mine Otjikoto Mine Total Calibre equity investment Grand Total $ $ $ $ $ $ Operating mine capital expenditures 133,741 15,037 25,519 174,297 2,392 176,689 Fekola underground (25,876 ) (25,876 ) (25,876 ) Road construction (1,930 ) (1,930 ) (1,930 ) Land acquisition (120 ) (120 ) (120 ) Other (240 ) (1,016 ) (1,256 ) (1,256 ) Sustaining capital expenditures 105,935 14,677 24,503 145,115 2,392 147,507 The table below shows a reconciliation of sustaining mine exploration to operating mine exploration as extracted from the unaudited condensed interim consolidated financial statements for the six months ended June 30, 2024 (dollars in thousands): For the six months ended June 30, 2024 Fekola Mine Masbate Mine Otjikoto Mine Total Calibre equity investment Grand Total $ $ $ $ $ $ Operating mine exploration 2,140 1,749 3,303 7,192 7,192 Regional exploration (151 ) (2,677 ) (2,828 ) (2,828 ) Sustaining mine exploration 2,140 1,598 626 4,364 4,364 Adjusted net income and adjusted earnings per share - basic Adjusted net income and adjusted earnings per share basic are non-IFRS measures that do not have a standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS and therefore may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers. The Company defines adjusted net income as net income attributable to shareholders of the Company adjusted for non-recurring items and also significant recurring non-cash items. The Company defines adjusted earnings per share basic as adjusted net income divided by the basic weighted number of common shares outstanding. Management believes that the presentation of adjusted net income and adjusted earnings per share - basic is appropriate to provide additional information to investors regarding items that we do not expect to continue at the same level in the future or that management does not believe to be a reflection of the Company's ongoing operating performance. Management further believes that its presentation of these non-IFRS financial measures provide information that is useful to investors because they are important indicators of the strength of our operations and the performance of our core business. Accordingly, it is intended to provide additional information and should not be considered in isolation as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. Other companies may calculate this measure differently. A reconciliation of net income (loss) to adjusted net income as extracted from the unaudited condensed interim consolidated financial statements is set out in the table below: News / Local by Staff reporter A veteran Bulawayo teacher has been fined US$100 after a classroom discipline session turned into a criminal assault case.Precious Gumede (59), of SOS Primary School, was convicted by Bulawayo magistrate Maxwell Ncube for striking a Grade Three pupil 12 times on the back of his hands with a wooden ruler. The alleged offence stemmed from the child "making noise" during lessons.Gumede pleaded not guilty, but the court found her guilty after hearing evidence that the child sustained visible injuries. A medical report confirming the wounds was produced as part of the prosecution's case.Magistrate Ncube ruled that Gumede had exceeded her authority and violated the ban on corporal punishment in schools."She should have simply cautioned the child instead of physically assaulting him," he said. Gumede will serve three months in prison if she fails to pay the fine, with two months suspended for five years on condition she does not commit a similar offence.The court also heard a victim impact statement from the child's guardian, who said the incident had left the boy traumatised and had drained household resources."The child is now afraid to go to school. I spent a lot of money on medication and that money was meant to buy food and cater for other expenses such as transport fares and rates at home," the guardian said.The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education has repeatedly warned that physical discipline is prohibited in schools, but some educators continue to defy the directive.Sources at SOS Primary School told B-Metro that the case has divided opinion among parents and teachers. Some see it as a much-needed warning to abandon outdated practices, while others argue that banning corporal punishment entirely has fuelled indiscipline among pupils."You can't go around beating kids like it's 1985. Times have changed. Teachers must adapt or risk jail," one parent said.Another parent defended stricter discipline: "A firm hand is always necessary with children. It benefits them and society to learn that every action has consequences."It remains unclear whether SOS Primary School will take internal disciplinary action against Gumede. Norway has extradited a man suspected of involvement in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda to the Great Lakes country, officials in both nations said Friday. Francois Gasana, 53, was detained in Norway in 2022 by police who said at the time Kigali had accused him of "committing a murder during the 1994 genocide". An Oslo court ruled the following year that conditions had been met for his extradition. An appeal was later rejected and his extradition confirmed in June this year. An estimated 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed over 100 days of slaughter triggered by the assassination of Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana in April 1994. Rwanda's National Public Prosecution Authority (NPPA) spokesperson Faustin Nkusi confirmed that Gasana had returned to the country "following his extraction from the Kingdom of Norway". He was "convicted and sentenced to 19 years in prison by Nyange Gacaca Court for his role in the crime of genocide," Nkusi said in a statement. In the aftermath of the genocide, Rwanda established the people's "gacaca" courts across the country, in which attackers faced their victims. Nkusi said that Gasana had lived during the genocide in Western Province and attended the Save Secondary school. But the statement gave no further details. He said that Gasana had found his own lawyer, explaining that upon a suspect's return "the Gacaca rulings are declared null and a trial starts afresh". It was unclear when the trial would begin. Nkusi praised Norway "for the extraction of genocide fugitives, continued cooperation in matters of mutual legal assistance and contribution to the global effort to fight impunity". Ahishakiye Naphtal, executive secretary of the genocide survivors' group, Ibuka, welcomed the news. Gasana was a young man who "due to the genocide ideology he had been fed on... committed such heinous crimes," he said. However, he said that many more suspects remained at large abroad and urged other nations to act like Norway. Norwegian authorities confirmed the extradition, saying in a statement it was "in accordance with the final decision made by the king in council on 24 June 2025". Norway has seen a string of extradition requests for genocide suspects in recent years and is among half a dozen Western countries where courts have handed down convictions since 2009. Dozens of mourners packed into a cathedral in central Kyiv on Friday to pay their respects to independent journalist Victoria Roshchyna, who died in Russian captivity last year aged 27. Her body, which Russia returned in February, remained in a closed coffin throughout the service. Roshchyna, who worked freelance for several Ukrainian news outlets, disappeared in August 2023 on a reporting trip to the Moscow-held part of Ukraine's southern Zaporizhzhia region. She died in Russian detention just over one year later, her body showing "numerous signs of torture" including abrasions and a broken rib, according to Kyiv. The circumstances of her arrest were never made public and Russia has not explained her death. The priest at the funeral service said she had endured "torments". "The most important thing in journalism is to report the truth. And they don't really like the truth," he said, referring to Russia. Many in the crowd were fellow reporters, some of whom wept when the cameras were turned off. A joint investigation by Reporters Without Borders and Ukrainian investigative news outlet Slidstva reported that she was arrested in Energodar in southern Ukraine, and later held for several weeks in the Russian-held city of Melitopol. From there, she was transferred to a jail in the Russian port city of Taganrog. Upon arrival she had scars and "knife wounds" on her body, the investigation found, citing a cellmate. During her time in Taganrog, she stopped eating and was placed in solitary confinement, according to the investigation. Thousands of Ukrainians opposed to Moscow's rule have been detained in occupied territories since Russia's invasion in 2022, many of whom face torture at the hands of security forces, according to rights groups. - 'Premediated murder' - Ukraine said it would press criminal charges against the governor of the prison in Taganrog where she was held, alleging she was subjected to "systemic torture, beatings, humiliation, threats, severe restrictions on access to medical care, drinking water and food". It has described her death as "premeditated murder" and accused Russia of a war crime. A UN expert panel last year demanded the Russian government provide answers over her death. Russia does not comment on the treatment of individual prisoners but says it is committed to investigating torture and abuse in its penal system. During the funeral service, her father Volodymyr fixed his eyes on the coffin while her sister looked on. They held hands throughout the ceremony. Angelina Karyakina, editor-in-chief at Ukrainian news outlet Hromadske for whom Roshchyna worked, described her as a tireless and ambitious journalist who preferred to work alone. "She didn't like to depend on other people," she told AFP. "She would take the camera herself, often shoot photos and videos on her own, and was a one-woman band." Roshchyna worked for various independent news outlets, including Ukrainska Pravda, and had collaborated with the Ukrainian service of US-funded media outlet Radio Free Europe. In 2022, she was awarded the Courage in Journalism award by the International Women's Media Foundation for her reporting from eastern Ukraine. After the church service, the mourners moved to Kyiv's main square, where Radio Liberty editor Taras Ilkiv paid tribute to her "historic work" in the occupied territories, his voice breaking. "I am convinced that Viktoria believed like no one else that these are our people, in Mariupol, in Berdyansk, in Kherson," he said, referring to cities that Russia had captured at various points in the war. "Almost no one is capable of such work," he said. Nations around the world Friday condemned Israel's plan to seize control of Gaza City, saying it would only worsen the conflict and lead to more bloodshed. The United States has not overtly reacted to Israel's latest announcement -- President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he was focused on increasing humanitarian aid into Gaza and "as far as the rest of it... that's going to be pretty much up to Israel". Here is a roundup of global reactions to Friday's announcement: - UN: 'dangerous escalation' - United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Israel's plan was a "dangerous escalation" that risked worsening conditions for ordinary Palestinians. UN human rights chief Volker Turk said the plan must be "immediately halted". Israel should instead allow "the full, unfettered flow of humanitarian aid" and Palestinian armed groups must unconditionally release hostages, he added. Diplomatic sources told AFP several countries had requested an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council over the Israeli plans. - EU: 'consequences' for Israel ties - "The Israeli government's decision to further extend its military operation in Gaza must be reconsidered," European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said on X. She called for a ceasefire, the release of all hostages and "immediate and unhindered access" for humanitarian aid in Gaza. European Council president Antonio Costa warned that "such a decision must have consequences" for EU-Israel ties. "The situation in Gaza remains dramatic, and the decision by the Israeli government will only further worsen it," he posted on X. - Hamas: 'War crime' - Hamas denounced the Israeli government's plan as "a new war crime that the occupation army intends to commit against" Gaza and warned that the operation would "cost it dearly". - Iran: 'Genocide' - In Hamas's backer Iran, foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said Israel's plan was "another clear sign of the Zionist regime's specific intention to ethnically cleanse Gaza and commit genocide against the Palestinians". - China: Gaza for Palestinians - "Gaza belongs to the Palestinian people and is an inseparable part of Palestinian territory," a foreign ministry spokesperson told AFP. "The correct way to ease the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and to secure the release of hostages is an immediate ceasefire." - Germany: arms exports cut - Chancellor Friedrich Merz said it was "increasingly difficult to understand" how the Israeli military plan would help achieve legitimate aims. "Under these circumstances, the German government will not authorise any exports of military equipment that could be used in the Gaza Strip until further notice," he added. - UK: 'More bloodshed' - "This action will do nothing to bring an end to this conflict or to help secure the release of the hostages," Prime Minister Keir Starmer said, adding that it would "only bring more bloodshed". - France: 'Dead end' - "Such actions would constitute further serious violations of international law and lead to a complete dead end," France's foreign ministry said in a statement posted to social media. "They would undermine the legitimate aspirations of Palestinians to live in peace within a viable, sovereign and contiguous state, and pose a threat to regional stability." - Canada: Humanitarian situation - Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney said: "We join many others in viewing that this is wrong, that this action is not going to contribute to an improvement in the humanitarian situation on the ground." He reaffirmed Canada's intention to recognise Palestine as a state next month at the UN General Assembly, along with Britain and France. - Turkey: International pressure - Turkey urged global pressure to halt the plan. "We call on the international community to fulfil its responsibilities to prevent the implementation of this decision, which aims to forcibly displace Palestinians from their own land," said a foreign ministry statement. - Spain: 'Destruction and suffering' - "We firmly condemn the decision of the Israeli government to escalate the military occupation of Gaza," said Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares. "It will only cause more destruction and suffering." He added that "a permanent ceasefire, the immediate and massive entry of humanitarian aid, and the release of all hostages are urgently needed". - Saudi Arabia: 'Ethnic cleansing' - The foreign ministry wrote on X that Riyadh "categorically condemns its persistence in committing crimes of starvation, brutal practices, and ethnic cleansing against the brotherly Palestinian people". - Jordan: Palestinians' rights - A statement issued by the Royal Court said King Abdullah condemned a move "which undermines the two-state solution and the rights of the Palestinian people". - Egypt: Strong condemnation - Egypt's foreign affairs ministry condemned "in the strongest possible terms" Israel's plan for Gaza. burs-rlp/gv X Suffering an injury due to someone elses negligence is more than just a painful experienceit can also lead to emotional trauma, financial strain, and long-term uncertainty. In Kansas City, navigating a personal injury claim can feel overwhelming, especially if its your first encounter with the legal system. This guide aims to provide injured individuals with a comprehensive overview of personal injury claims, their legal rights, and the steps involved in pursuing compensation in Kansas City. Whether you were injured in a car accident, a slip and fall, or another type of incident, understanding the legal process is crucial for achieving a fair outcome. Understanding Personal Injury Claims What Is a Personal Injury Claim? A personal injury claim arises when someone suffers harm due to another persons careless or intentional actions. These claims typically involve physical injury, but they can also include emotional distress and property damage. Common examples include: Car and truck accidents Motorcycle accidents Pedestrian injuries Slip and fall incidents Dog bites Workplace injuries Medical malpractice In Kansas City, personal injury claims can be pursued under state tort laws, which are designed to hold negligent parties accountable and provide compensation to victims. Key Components of a Personal Injury Case To bring a successful personal injury case in Kansas City, you generally need to establish four legal elements: Duty of Care: The defendant had a legal obligation to act reasonably and safely. Breach of Duty: The defendant failed to uphold that duty. Causation: The defendants breach directly caused your injury. Damages: You suffered losses (physical, emotional, or financial) as a result. Proving each of these elements requires evidence such as medical records, eyewitness accounts, expert testimony, and documentation of lost wages or other expenses. The Personal Injury Claims Process in Kansas City Step 1: Seek Immediate Medical Attention Your health and safety should always come first. After an injury, seek medical treatment as soon as possibleeven if you think your injuries are minor. Prompt medical documentation can also play a critical role in the success of your claim. Step 2: Consult with a Personal Injury Attorney Working with a qualified personal injury lawyer can make a significant difference. An experienced attorney can help you assess the value of your claim, gather necessary evidence, communicate with insurance companies, and protect your legal rights throughout the process. For instance, Michael S. Foster, a well-respected attorney in Kansas City, has a track record of handling complex personal injury cases effectively. Step 3: Investigation and Documentation Once you retain legal representation, your attorney will begin an in-depth investigation of your case. This includes: Reviewing police and accident reports Interviewing witnesses Examining photographic or video evidence Evaluating your medical records Consulting experts (e.g., accident reconstructionists or medical professionals) Step 4: Negotiation with Insurance Companies Insurance companies are often the first point of contact for resolving a personal injury claim. However, its important to remember that insurers are businesses seeking to minimize payouts. Your attorney will negotiate on your behalf to secure a fair settlement that covers your losses, including medical expenses, pain and suffering, lost income, and more. Step 5: Filing a Lawsuit (If Necessary) If a fair settlement cannot be reached, your attorney may file a lawsuit. This begins the litigation process, which may involve discovery (exchange of evidence), depositions, motions, and eventually a trial. While many personal injury cases settle before going to court, being prepared to litigate strengthens your negotiating position. Common Types of Personal Injury Claims in Kansas City Car Accidents Auto collisions are one of the most common causes of personal injury claims. Kansas City, which spans both Missouri and Kansas, follows different rules depending on which side of the state line the accident occurred. Missouri is an at-fault state, meaning the driver responsible for the accident must pay damages, while Kansas is a no-fault state, where your own insurance covers certain expenses regardless of fault. Slip and Fall Accidents Property owners have a duty to maintain safe premises. Slip and fall accidents often occur due to wet floors, poor lighting, uneven sidewalks, or a lack of warning signs. These cases fall under premises liability law and require evidence that the property owner knew or should have known about the hazardous condition. Medical Malpractice Medical professionals can be held liable if they provide substandard care that results in injury. Examples include surgical errors, misdiagnosis, delayed diagnosis, and medication mistakes. These cases are complex and typically require expert medical testimony to prove negligence. Dog Bites Dog owners in Missouri and Kansas can be held strictly liable if their pet bites someone, particularly if the animal has a history of aggression. Victims may be entitled to compensation for medical treatment, disfigurement, and psychological trauma. Statute of Limitations in Kansas City The statute of limitations sets the deadline for filing a personal injury lawsuit. In Missouri, injured parties generally have five years from the date of the injury to file suit, while Kansas allows two years. Missing these deadlines can bar you from recovering compensation entirely, so its critical to act promptly. Comparative Fault and Its Impact on Compensation Missouri follows a pure comparative fault rule, which means you can still recover damages even if youre partially at fault, but your compensation will be reduced by your percentage of fault. Kansas uses a modified comparative fault system, where you can only recover damages if youre less than 50% responsible for the accident. For example, if you are found to be 30% at fault and your total damages are $100,000, you would receive $70,000 in Missouri. In Kansas, if your fault exceeds 49%, you cannot recover any compensation. What Damages Can You Recover? In a personal injury claim, damages are divided into two main categories: Economic Damages These include tangible, out-of-pocket expenses such as: Medical bills Lost wages Rehabilitation costs Property damage Non-Economic Damages These are intangible losses that affect your quality of life, including: Pain and suffering Emotional distress Loss of enjoyment of life Disfigurement or permanent disability In rare cases involving egregious misconduct, punitive damages may be awarded to punish the wrongdoer and deter similar behavior. How Kansas City Laws Affect Your Claim Because Kansas City spans two states, its important to understand the nuances of both Missouri and Kansas laws. Factors such as fault determination, insurance rules, and damage caps vary between the two jurisdictions. This makes hiring an attorney who understands the personal injury law in Kansas City particularly valuable for protecting your rights. Legal Definitions and Resources If youre new to the world of tort law, understanding key legal definitions is essential. The Legal Information Institutes page on personal injury offers a helpful overview of common terms and principles that shape personal injury litigation. Final Thoughts: Protecting Your Rights After an Injury Navigating a personal injury claim in Kansas City involves many moving partsfrom understanding comparative fault rules to negotiating with insurers and calculating damages. Taking swift action and consulting with a qualified attorney can dramatically improve your chances of receiving fair compensation. Whether your injury resulted from a car accident, unsafe property, or a negligent professional, knowing your rights is the first step toward recovery. With the right information and legal guidance, you can move forward confidently and begin rebuilding your life after an unexpected injury. In the first half of this year, Anhui's automobile output reached 1.4995 million vehicles, including 730,900 new energy vehicles (NEVs), ranking first in China for both categories. Across the Jianghuai region, the province has established an integrated automotive industry development framework featuring dual-core synergy between Hefei and Wuhu, supported by multiple cities. Driven by technological and industrial innovation, Anhui continues to enhance product competitiveness and expand its market presence. From an industrial perspective, the collaborative effect of the "Hefei-Wuhu" dual-core engine is becoming increasingly prominent. Hefei is striving to build itself into the "Capital of New Energy Vehicles." Its NEV production surged from 145,000 units in 2021 to 1.376 million in 2024, nearly a tenfold increase in three years. The city has now gathered six automakers and over 500 upstream and downstream enterprises. Currently, Anhui has gathered seven major automakers, including Chery Group, NIO, Volkswagen Anhui, BYD Hefei, JAC Group, Changan Hefei, and CAMC, with a comprehensive product lineup covering passenger cars, commercial vehicles, and specialized vehicles. The province boasts a well-developed industrial chain, supported by over 1,100 auto parts manufacturers above designated size. In 2024, Hefei and Wuhu together accounted for 74.8% of the province's automotive industry chain growth. Under the "dual-core" influence, other cities in Anhui are leveraging their unique strengths to strategically integrate into the supply chain. As one of Anhui's three major auto parts production bases, Xuancheng was home to over 700 auto parts enterprises by the end of 2024, with an annual output value exceeding 85 billion yuan. At the provincial level, Anhui has attracted a full lineup of automakers, including JAC Group, NIO, Chery, Volkswagen Anhui, and BYD, covering domestic manufacturers, foreign giants, and emerging EV startups. In 2024, auto parts manufacturers accounted for 60% of the province's automotive industry enterprises and contributed 48% of the sector's total revenue. The vision of "building a complete NEV without leaving Anhui" has become a reality. Amid the global wave of automotive intelligence and connectivity, Anhui has identified artificial intelligence as a key engine to strengthen its industrial competitiveness. Anhui-made vehicles, achieving both quantity and quality growth, have become a flagship export product, with robust logistics support driving their global expansion. A multi-dimensional export network has given wings to Anhui's auto industry. In 2024, the province exported 954,000 vehicles (worth 96.14 billion yuan), marking a 30.8% year-on-year increase and securing its position as China's top automotive export hubcontributing 43.5% to the provinces total export growth. Anhuis automotive "circle of friends" now spans over 150 countries and regions, with one out of every four cars exported from China originating from the province. Anhui's automotive industry leapfrog is the result of forward-looking strategic planning, ecosystem-wide industrial chain development, targeted regional collaboration, deep technological innovation empowerment, and a global vision. By adopting a "whole-chain mindset" to forge a new industrial ecosystem, Anhui has not only achieved its own "overtaking on the curve" but also provided a valuable "Anhui model" for the transformation and upgrading of China's automotive industry. Amid the profound transformation of the auto sector, Anhui's momentum charges aheadunstoppable and full of vigor. Source: anhuinews.com News / Local by Staff reporter A 12-year-old girl from Chitakatira, Mutare, is battling for her life at Victoria Chitepo Provincial Hospital after sustaining severe burns while rescuing three young relatives from a raging house fire.Choice Mutowo, a Grade Six pupil at Chitakatira Primary School, suffered extensive injuries when she braved the flames to save her nieces - Pretty Mufabeni (5) and Nishas Ndima (2) - and nephew Nigel Ndima (10) in the early hours of Sunday morning.The fire broke out around 5am as the four children slept. According to family members, Choice had fetched a gas stove from the main house to prepare porridge but accidentally placed it too close to her blankets. She reportedly fell asleep after lighting it, only to wake up to flames consuming her bedding.Despite already being burnt, Choice managed to throw the stove outside and escape. But upon realising the other children were trapped inside, she ran back through the inferno - rescuing each child in turn."She picked Pretty up and carried her out, then broke a window to help Nigel jump out before pulling little Nishas from under the bed," said Ms Sinikiwe Mufabeni, Pretty's mother. "That last rescue left her with the worst injuries."Choice and Pretty remain hospitalised, requiring skin grafts and costly daily medication. Nigel and Nishas, who suffered less severe burns and cuts, have been discharged and are recovering at home.The family, already struggling financially, says treatment costs are beyond their means. Pretty's medication alone costs about US$30 per day. "I stay with my husband, who is elderly and unwell, our two daughters and 10 grandchildren," said Choice's mother, Mrs Jane Mufabeni Mutowo. "We need help for the hospital procedures and medicine."Her father, Mr Lovemore Mutowo, praised his daughter's courage. "I could not reach the children myself, but she did what I could not. She saved all of them."On Tuesday, the Zimbabwe Republic Police Manicaland Women's Network visited the family, donating clothes, blankets, food, furniture and contributing to medical bills. "We were touched by her bravery," said the network's chairperson, Chief Superintendent Estina Chikonzo. "The family still needs more support, especially for hospital fees."The Mutowo and Mufabeni families are appealing to well-wishers for assistance to fund ongoing treatment and rehabilitation for the two injured girls. Kennesaw State physics professor receives grant to help create precise simulations for particle colliders KENNESAW, Ga. | Aug 8, 2025 Andreas Papaefstathiou Kennesaw State University researcher Andreas Papaefstathiou has received a three-year, $799,651 grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to investigate the nature of nuclear matter through collisions of particles at high energies. The findings from Papaefstathious research will help elevate the study of particle physics in the context of nuclear collisions at Kennesaw State, as well as help improve the understanding and interpretation of data coming out of the proposed Electron Ion Collider at the Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York. The grant was one of 40 awarded nationally by the Department of Energy, totaling $31 million. It began August 1. Our Department of Physics continues to excel with this latest grant award for Dr. Papaefstathiou, said Heather Koopman, dean of KSUs College of Science and Mathematics. The fact that this project will connect us with a potential nuclear collider at the Brookhaven National Laboratory bolsters Kennesaw States goal of national prominence and makes KSU a destination for prospective physics students. As a theoretician, Papaefstathiou works on computer modeling of collisions of subatomic particles. His preferred methods are called Monte Carlo event generators, computational frameworks based founded in theoretical physics, that aim to create precise simulations of particle collisions. He has worked for years on the well-known Monte Carlo event generator called HERWIG, which KSU physics students will be able to work on and extend. KSUs computing infrastructure, thanks largely to the Center for Research Computing and computing resources in the Department of Physics, also helps foster the research, which will lead to bigger and better projects on a national level, Papaefstathiou added. The Brookhaven National Laboratory is building a particle collider to complement the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Switzerland, and KSUs research will contribute toward its development. I was motivated to work on a collider that would be built in the U.S., he said. Brookhavens collider will come online early in the next decade, and it will be colliding polarized electrons and protons, as well as polarized light nuclei, for the first time ever, which is another unique thing for KSU to be involved in. In addition to the grant from the Department of Energy, Papaefstathiou is three years into a four-year $147,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to study the properties of the Higgs boson and search for new phenomena in particle colliders. The Department of Energy project builds on the simulation and computational work he began under the NSF grant. The tools I am developing and using, specifically, Monte Carlo event generators, are central to my research in particle physics, and they have been a key focus in both my NSF grant and upcoming DOE-funded work, he said. The experience and expertise I gained through the NSF grant directly contributed to my successful proposal for the Department of Energy grant. Papaefstathiou collaborates with Yang-Ting Chien, an assistant professor of physics at Georgia State University who also studies theoretical models of particle physics in the nuclear realm and will serve as co-principal investigator on this project. The Department of Energy grant will also strengthen the partnership between the two universities physics departments. Papaefstathious grant adds to a series of major faculty achievements in the Department of Physics. In August 2024, professors Marco Guzzi and Nikolaos Kidonakis secured a $360,000 NSF grant for their work in theoretical particle physics at CERN. Earlier this year, associate professor Chetan Dhital and assistant professor of chemistry Madalynn Marshall received a $799,934 DOE grant to study magnetic materials and emerging technologies. Assistant professor of physics Mahmoud Asmar also received a grant from the DOE. Physics students also made significant strides. Senior Casey Hampson conducted NSF-funded summer research at CERN and has continued his research this summer as a Birla Carbon Scholar. Senior Emily Manqueros earned top honors at the Birla Carbon Scholars Symposium in August 2024, the first physics student to do so in the events 11-year history. Senior Siam Sarower earned two of the highest national honors for undergraduate scientists. In March, he became the first KSU physics student to receive the Barry Goldwater Scholarship, the most prestigious undergraduate award in STEM, for his research on space-time modulation in graphene. In May, he was named a student ambassador of the American Physical Society, reflecting both KSUs outstanding research and growing leadership in the national physics community. Story by Dave Shelles Related Stories A leader in innovative teaching and learning, Kennesaw State University offers undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degrees to its more than 47,000 students. Kennesaw State is a member of the University System of Georgia with 11 academic colleges. The universitys vibrant campus culture, diverse population, strong global ties, and entrepreneurial spirit draw students from throughout the country and the world. Kennesaw State is a Carnegie-designated doctoral research institution (R2), placing it among an elite group of only 8 percent of U.S. colleges and universities with an R1 or R2 status. For more information, visit kennesaw.edu. Thursday, August 7, 2025 - Former Azimio head of ICT, George Njoroge, has launched a scathing attack on Mercy Masai, following her widely publicized romantic affair with Kapseret MP, Oscar Sudi. Taking to social media, Njoroge did not mince his words, accusing Mercy of auctioning her dignity. This comes barely hours after Mercy Masai posted a cozy photo romantically holding Sudis hand at a high-end joint, boldly captioned Mine - a move that sent social media into a frenzy. The IT guru, known for his blunt commentary on X, lamented the growing trend where young women publicly flaunt relationships with powerful men for fame, calling it a moral collapse driven by likes and luxury. Modern women are auctioning dignity for IG posts and VIP seats in V8s then crying about Where are the good men? You cant turn your body into a business, then expect a husband to invest long-term. Sadly Marriage will not be a rehabilitation centre for retired slay queens, he tweeted. The Kenyan DAILY POST News / Local by Staff reporter The National Heroes Acre is alive with activity as both local and international visitors flock to the historic shrine in anticipation of the upcoming Heroes Day holiday. The national monument, currently undergoing expansion and refurbishment, offers a meaningful opportunity for Zimbabweans and tourists alike to honour the country's esteemed heroes and heroines who shaped the nation's path to independence.Since its establishment, the National Heroes Acre has become the final resting place for 191 individuals recognised for their contributions to Zimbabwe's liberation and development. Among them, 17 are heroines, reflecting the important role women played in the country's history.During a guided tour, resident curator Rumbidzai Bvira confirmed that visitor numbers have significantly increased as the nation prepares for the 2025 Heroes Day commemorations."August is our busiest month as many primary and secondary schools organise educational excursions to the shrine," Ms Bvira said. "We have observed visits from schools as far away as Bulawayo, highlighting the monument's importance in fostering national pride among young Zimbabweans."The shrine is open daily, including weekends and public holidays, allowing unrestricted access for all to pay their respects.Among the visitors was Ian Christon, who was moved by the graves of liberation icons such as Cde Herbert Chitepo and former Vice President Dr Joshua Nkomo, whose 26th death anniversary falls this year."This is my first visit. We have been touring the country this past week, and we felt it fitting to come here given Heroes Day is next week," Mr Christon said.The mausoleum of the late former President Robert Mugabe also drew attention from visitors, underscoring the site's significance as a centre of national memory.Young visitors like Buhle, a pupil, expressed joy at the experience. "I learnt a lot today and am glad to visit the shrine. I even took pictures to show my parents," she said.Preparations for the main Heroes Day event at the National Heroes Acre are in their final stages. President Emmerson Mnangagwa is set to present national flags to the families of newly declared National Heroes, including Cde Benjamin Burombo, Brigadier-General (Rtd) Lameck Francisco Mutanda, Cde John Mbedzi, and Cde Jairos Jiri.An estimated 223 families of heroes and heroines are expected to attend the commemorations, underscoring the nationwide significance of the event.In response to growing demand for burial space, Government has embarked on major expansion and renovation works at the National Heroes Acre. The project, which will take three to four months to complete, includes developing additional burial sites and upgrading infrastructure.Civil works on the eastern and western wings, repairs to ablution and lighting facilities, and the installation of a new water feature designed to enhance the shrine's peaceful ambiance are all underway.Provincial Heroes Acres are also receiving upgrades. At Chinhoyi in Mashonaland West, improvements including modern ablution blocks with VIP sections, new guardrooms, security fencing, and beautification efforts were completed ahead of schedule.As the nation prepares to commemorate its heroes, the National Heroes Acre stands as a vibrant testament to Zimbabwe's history, resilience, and ongoing journey toward unity and progress. Thursday, August 7, 2025 - Once celebrated for his flashy lifestyle and bold entrepreneurial spirit, disgraced car dealer and aviation enthusiast, Khalif Kairo, has broken his silence with a sobering reflection on how quickly fortunes can change. Life is funny, April ya last year I was in India, flying first class - April ya this year I was in jail, Kairo wrote on social media, prompting widespread discussion about the volatile nature of success and public image. In April 2023, Kairo was riding high. He was hailed as a rising star in Kenyas luxury car and aviation space. His Instagram was a curated gallery of exotic cars, private jets, and high-end travel, inspiring admiration and envy in equal measure. But just a year later, the narrative took a sharp dive. In April 2024, Kairo found himself behind bars for taking money from customers and failing to deliver cars. The arrest shattered his carefully crafted image and sent shockwaves through Kenyas entrepreneurial circles. The publics reaction has been divided. Some sympathize, calling it a hard lesson in the perils of rapid fame and business risks. Others see it as a long-overdue reckoning, especially after he became arrogant and started mocking Kenyans. Since the ordeal, Kairo has stepped back from social media, posting more introspective content focused on personal growth, loss, and resilience in the face of public downfall. The Kenyan DAILY POST Thursday, August 7, 2025 - Embattled UDA Governor, Eric Mutai, has called on President William Ruto to dissolve the Kericho County Government, citing persistent wrangles between the executive and the County Assembly. Addressing the media, Governor Mutai said he would begin collecting signatures from residents to petition the President under Article 192 of the Constitution for the dissolution of the County Government. Tomorrow we will begin collecting signatures across the county and petition the President to dissolve the Kericho County Government. Then we will go back for fresh elections and let the people decide. We will not continue like this, Mutai declared. He appealed to President Ruto to respect the will of Kericho residents once the petition is submitted. Mutais move follows a fresh impeachment motion tabled on the same day by Sigowet Ward MCA, Kiprotich Rogony, accusing the Governor of procurement irregularities amounting to Ksh80 million and violation of public finance laws. The Governors continued stay in office undermines effective service delivery and erodes public trust, Rogony stated. This is the second attempt to oust Mutai. In October 2024, a similar motion passed the County Assembly but was overturned by the Senate, where 34 Senators voted to dismiss the charges. Tensions in Kericho leadership have remained unresolved since. Thursday, August 7, 2025 - Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has called on the United States Government to impose travel sanctions on President William Ruto rather than penalize Kenya, as Washington reviews the country's designation as a major non-NATO ally. Speaking on Wednesday, August 6th, in Olathe, Kansas City, Gachagua urged U.S authorities to hold Ruto personally accountable over governance concerns raised by Kenyan citizens and diaspora communities. All we are asking is, once you confirm these concerns, dont sanction the people of Kenya. Impose travel sanctions on William Ruto. Bar him from stepping in America. Kenya should not suffer because of one person, Gachagua stated. He further appealed to Kenyans in the U.S to lobby their representatives and share detailed accounts of Kenya's current political and governance situation to support a review of the country's special ally status. This follows a proposal by U.S Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair, Jim Risch, seeking a review of Kenyas designation as a non-NATO ally. The amendment, attached to the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2026, calls for a comprehensive report on Kenyas military and diplomatic ties, including with China, Russia, Iran, and groups like Al-Shabaab. Kenya was granted non-NATO ally status in June 2024 during President Rutos official visit to Washington. The Kenyan DAILY POST Thursday, August 7, 2025 - Health Cabinet Secretary, Aden Duale, has responded to growing public concern after the Social Health Authority (SHA) reportedly failed to honour a Ksh500, 000 commitment for the treatment of 10-month-old Chloe Agnes Nyangau, who was flown to India for a life-saving heart surgery. The surgery, estimated to cost Ksh1.6 million, had drawn national attention, prompting well-wishers to raise funds online after SHA initially pledged partial support. However, upon the family's arrival in India, they were reportedly informed that SHA would not disburse the pledged amount. In a statement issued on Thursday, August 7th, Duale clarified that SHA operates under a different legal framework from the now-defunct National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF), and is bound by strict regulations regarding overseas payments. SHA is governed by the Social Health Insurance Act (SHI Act), the Public Procurement Act, and circulars from the Attorney Generals office. Payments can only be made to healthcare providers who are empaneled and contracted by SHA, Duale explained. He added that several conditions must be met before SHA can fund treatment abroad. These include proof that the treatment is unavailable in Kenya, compliance with contribution rules, and treatment at accredited facilities formally linked to a Kenyan hospital for follow-up care. Duale also noted that a list of approved overseas services is still pending gazettement, and SHA is working with the National Treasury to establish a legally compliant procurement pathway for foreign healthcare contracts. Thursday, August 7, 2025 - Wiper Party leader, Kalonzo Musyoka, has dismissed as false reports claiming that he was appointed by President William Ruto to a diplomatic role in Cote dIvoire ahead of the countrys elections. On Thursday, August 7th, Kalonzo flagged a viral social media post as fake, which alleged that he had been named to lead a peace dialogue as part of an African Union delegation. The post, widely circulated since August 6th, featured a forged signature attributed to African Union Commission Chairperson, Mahamoud Youssouf, in an attempt to lend authenticity. The post falsely credited Kalonzos previous mediation roles in South Sudan and Cote dIvoire as justification for the alleged appointment. In a firm response, Kalonzo termed the claims as absolute fake news, blaming political opponents for fabricating the story to portray him as aligning with the Kenya Kwanza administration. Absolutely fake! I will always stand with the people of Kenya. I will not dialogue with those who murder and abduct young Kenyans, he stated on social media. Kalonzo, a key figure in the United Opposition Movement, has remained a vocal critic of President Rutos Government, accusing it of human rights violations, undermining independent institutions, and abusing public office for political gain. He recently dismissed Deputy President Kithure Kindikis youth programmes as deceptive schemes aimed at misleading Kenyans ahead of future political contests. The Kenyan DAILY POST Thursday, August 7, 2025 - In a world obsessed with likes, shares and #CoupleGoals, Kenyan entertainer and media personality Oga Obinna is urging couples to take a different path. His now-viral message is simple but powerful: Kama uko na mtu, keep it out of social media. Drawing from personal experiences and the public breakups of fellow celebrities, Obinna warns that social media, while entertaining and useful, can be toxic for relationships. He believes that once love is posted online, it stops being just yours - it becomes fair game for fans, critics, and strangers to dissect. Posting your partner is like opening your house to strangers - theyll walk in and rearrange your furniture, he said during a recent appearance. His point? Not everything needs to be shared. Obinna emphasizes that real love grows in private, away from the pressure to perform or maintain appearances. Constant scrutiny, comparisons, and unsolicited advice can slowly chip away at even the strongest bond. His message is sparking important conversations among young Kenyans, many of whom feel burnt out by the pressure to keep up appearances for the gram. Thursday, August 7, 2025 - A Kenyan woman has set social media ablaze after sharing her dramatic transformation photos, drawing a clear contrast between her life in marriage and her current lifestyle as a single woman. In the first photo, taken during her married life, she is seen dressed conservatively in a long, modest dress. In the second photo, however, she appears completely transformed: glammed up, smiling confidently, and dressed in tight jeans that flaunt her curves, a look many say represents her new-found freedom. The post has since ignited debate online, with thousands weighing in on whether marriage is a prison for women. The Kenyan DAILY POST Thursday, August 7, 2025 - A Somali-American businessman has been sentenced to 28 years in prison by a U.S federal court after masterminding a multi-million-dollar fraud scheme involving stolen COVID-19 relief funds. Some of the funds were used to finance the construction of a 12-storey luxury apartment block in Nairobi. The 36-year-old, identified as one of the most prolific offenders in the $300$400 million (Ksh38.8BKsh51.7B) Feeding Our Future programme fraud, was found guilty of diverting at least $42 million (Ksh5.4B) meant for feeding underprivileged children during the pandemic. According to court records and U.S news outlet Sahan Journal, the businessman used his Minnesota-based restaurant, Empire Cuisine & Deli, as a front to submit fake invoices and food distribution reports. Prosecutors said he personally pocketed about $8 million (Ksh1.03B), which he used to buy luxury cars, maintain a lavish lifestyle in the UAE, and invest over $1 million (Ksh129.2M) into the Nairobi apartment project. U.S District Judge Nancy Brasel described the fraud as "breathtakingly elaborate," driven by pure unmitigated greed. She emphasized the lasting impact of the crime on both taxpayers and the Somali-American refugee community. Authorities said the businessman attempted to flee the U.S using a fake passport in 2022 and was arrested at the airport with a one-way ticket to Kenya. In 2024, he was also convicted of attempting to bribe a juror, for which he faces an additional 8-10 years in prison. Before sentencing, he tearfully apologised, saying, I have destroyed everything I worked for. U.S. officials have recovered up to $75 million (Ksh9.7B) so far. The Nairobi high-rise is now under investigation, though Kenyan authorities are yet to issue a formal statement. The Kenyan DAILY POST Thursday, August 7, 2025 - One of the thugs behind the brutal robbery and murder of a police officer in Dandora has been shot dead by law enforcement officers. According to an undercover police officer, the slain suspect was part of a ruthless gang that ambushed and fatally stabbed a police officer identified as Gitonga, who was reportedly off-duty at the time. The officer was attacked while resisting a robbery attempt, and the incident sparked a major manhunt. The suspect was gunned down during a sting operation by DCI detectives, who had been trailing him for days and a pistol recovered from him. The slain thug was well known in the estate, not just for his criminal activities, but also for his charm and street charisma. The residents described him as a chick magnet who enjoyed attention from young women, thanks to his flashy lifestyle and bad-boy image. Thursday, August 7, 2025 - Renowned FBI dancer and content creator, Ezra, and his ex-lover and baby mama, Maurine, have been washing their dirty linen in public after it emerged that their relationship ended. Ezra and Maurine served couple goals, inspiring many young lovers. But behind the scenes, their hyped affair was marred with infidelity. Maurine has taken to social media to accuse Ezra of disrespecting her and their daughter during their time together. She claimed that he was bringing women into their home, yet he had their daughter around. Co-parenting with clowns should be a sport. You cannot play daddy while bringing random women around a toddler. Are you dumb? Some of you are way too comfortable. I think I should start charging you rent since you all love visiting my child's space a little too much. You have no respect, she said. She went on to claim that Ezra was having relations with women while their daughter was sleeping in the same house. I may keep quiet for myself, but for my child, I will fight with everything in me. Bringing girls over while our child sleeps in the next room? Bold of you to assume that God is not watching. You are the most selfish and disrespectful human being. How can you be so reckless around a child? Not once or twice, you were supposed to protect her, not expose her to confusion, I am disgusted, she added. News / Local by Staff reporter Financial services giant ZimRe Holdings Limited (ZHL) is mounting a fresh bid to reclaim more than US$1,1 million still locked in the United States from the sanctions era, chief executive officer Stanley Kudenga has revealed.The funds were frozen in 2008 when the US Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (Ofac) blacklisted ZHL, accusing it of supporting former President Robert Mugabe's administration. At the time, the Government of Zimbabwe held a 43% stake in ZHL a shareholding that has since dropped to 27,38%.Sanctions were lifted after Mugabe's ouster in a 2017 coup, yet the company has faced persistent hurdles retrieving the funds. Speaking after the group's annual general meeting this week, Kudenga said ZHL was now working directly with the State of New York to expedite the process, and that US$300 000 was on track for recovery soon."We have had some traction. I think right now there is an element of about US$300 000 to be recovered in terms of progress so far," Kudenga said. "We are now working with the State of New York to make sure that we recover it."He said US authorities had provided the company with a clearer recovery pathway, but cautioned that the timeline remained uncertain as the pace was determined by the US side.ZHL has so far recovered nearly US$1,7 million, with US$1,1 million still outstanding. Kudenga noted that some of the frozen funds were intercepted mid-transfer from international business partners some of whom no longer exist or have changed ownership complicating potential rerouting of the money.Following the lifting of sanctions, ZHL undertook a strategic overhaul, phasing out its multi-brand approach in favour of a mono-brand model across its reinsurance operations. The streamlining aimed to boost efficiency and financial resilience.As of March 2025, the group's total assets had risen 7% to US$223,04 million, driven largely by net cash from operations. Thursday, August 7, 2025 - The driver of MOOD, a flashy matatu associated with George Ruto, son of President William Ruto, has been caught on camera dishing out a routine bribe to a traffic police officer, a scene that has once again exposed the deep-rooted rot in Kenyas public transport system. In the widely circulated video, the President's sons matatu is seen slowing down before the driver casually hands over money to a uniformed traffic officer, who then waves the vehicle through without hesitation. Cases of matatu drivers bribing traffic cops in the city are common, with drivers often paying KSh 50 to KSh 100 daily to avoid arrests, especially for traffic violations such as overloading, overlapping, and operating without proper documentation. Even the President's sons matatu is not being spared. Watch the video. Police officers have decided to handle Mood driver as just any other driver! pic.twitter.com/fIyaMhd2oa The Kenyan Vigilante (@KenyanSays) August 6, 2025 The Kenyan DAILY POST Thursday, August 7, 2025 - Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua has publicly accused President William Ruto of holding secret meetings with leaders of the Somali-based terror group, Al-Shabaab. Speaking during his ongoing tour of the United States, Gachagua alleged that Ruto held a secret night meeting with 3 Al-Shabaab leaders in Mandera to discuss business interests. Why are you working with Al-Shabaab? Why did you meet three of their leaders in Mandera? Gachagua posed. Even more damning, Gachagua alleged that American intelligence agencies have flagged the alleged meeting and are demanding explanations from the Kenyan Government. Gachagua also raised an alarm over President Rutos decision to scrap the vetting requirement for non-Kenyans before issuing national ID cards, calling it a grave national security risk. The Americans are concerned. Without vetting, terrorists can easily register as Kenyan citizens and use that status to access the U.S and carry out attacks, Gachagua warned. He painted a dire picture of a Government increasingly compromising national and international security, allegedly for political or financial gain. Watch the video. RUTO, why are you working with AL-SHABAAB? pic.twitter.com/uGv2gIN0Zk DAILY POST (@dailypost_ke) August 8, 2025 The Kenyan DAILY POST News / Local by Staff reporter Lithium batteries meant to power homes are instead turning them into death traps, as a surge of fires linked to poorly installed solar systems sweeps across Bulawayo.So far this year, 10 homes have been destroyed and one life lost. Added to the 32 lithium-related fires recorded in 2024, the total number of incidents now stands at a staggering 42, according to Bulawayo Fire Brigade Chief Fire Officer, Mhlangano Moyo.The most recent blaze struck Cowdray Park on Monday, 4 August, when a house suddenly erupted in flames in broad daylight."The fire concentrated in one bedroom where items like the bed, wardrobe and suitcases were destroyed," Moyo said. "The cause was an overheated solar system. A gel battery exploded due to poor workmanship and the use of exposed wiring."The occupants were not home at the time."We were at school and only found out when neighbours called us. By the time we arrived, the fire brigade and neighbours were trying to put out the flames," a family member recalled.The Cowdray Park incident follows a series of similar disasters. On 24 May, a maid in Pumula was hospitalised after lithium batteries exploded in her room, engulfing it in flames. That same month, a fire in Burnside destroyed the home of Mr George, a Greek investor, after his solar batteries exploded - causing an estimated US$350,000 in damages.Moyo warned that most of the fires are preventable."These incidents are avoidable. Most are caused by poor installation, substandard materials, and overcharging the batteries. People are using solar installers who cut corners and risk lives."He urged residents to buy lithium batteries from reputable manufacturers, hire certified electricians for installations, install safety alarms, and regularly check battery health to avoid overcharging.What should be a clean, reliable energy solution is, for many families, becoming a source of destruction and grief. I HAVE made reference in previous columns to Henry Hosie, founder of Industrial Vehicles Ireland Limited known locally as I.V.I. in or about 1932 with Freddie Thompson of Carlow. His other commercial venture was the opening of Athy Picture Palace in Offaly Street some years earlier. He was then known as Captain Hosie having joined the English army in response to Kitcheners call for recruits at the start of World War 1. He was sent to France in 1914 and was invalided back to Ireland in 1916. He later returned to army duties and was based in Scotland where he became officer in charge of machinery at the Scottish area forage department. He was promoted to the rank of captain during that time. He also served in World War II and was promoted to the rank of major. In 1947, he relinquished his commission having passed the age limit for reserves and was granted the rank of colonel. He was known thereafter as Colonel Hosie. His son Terence, who served in the Royal Engineers was killed in action in Italy on the 23 November 1941 aged 26 years. Following my references to Henry Hosie in previous columns, I received a few years ago a very detailed email from a John King of London in relation to Hosies involvement with Irish aviation and the part he played in the attempt to establish an airline company providing flights from Dublin to England. Hosie joined the Irish Aero Club, which was formed in 1928 and four years later, he was responsible for organising an Irish Aero Clubs event in Cardenton, Athy. In the afternoon of Sunday, 14 August 1932, aeroplanes arrived for the first time in Athy landing in a field owned by the Minch family. Several hundred attended including the Lord Mayor of Dublin, the legendary Alfie Byrne, who had been flown from Baldonnel by the chief instructor of the Aero Club. There were three planes at the event, which was reported as follows by the Kildare Observer: There were several events including crazy flying and the balloon bursting competition. The report noted an amusing and exciting interlude when an old woman was seen to enter one of the planes and while the pilot (Captain Hosie) was getting his helmet adjusted, the machine was seen to stagger across the field and rise off the ground, missing the hedge by inches. The spectators were then treated to an exhibition of crazy flying and after one or two attempts, the machine was brought back to terra firma. On the 23 September 1932, the weekly magazine Flight noted that Hosies company had been appointed agent in Ireland for the de Havilland company in Ireland. Three days later, Hosie was elected to the management committee of the Irish Aero Club. In March of the following year, he wrote on I.V.I. headed notepaper to the Department of Industry and Commerce enquiring about the availability of Collinstown, a disused pre-war military aerodrome, for use as a commercial air service. The reply from the department was not helpful. For several weeks from April 1933, Hosie was busy trying to make arrangements for the airline company Midland and Scottish to use the aerodrome at Cobh. The Cork Evening Echo recorded how Captain Hosie and the chief instructor of the Irish Aero Club made a flying visit to Cobh in one of the Clubs Gypsy Moth aircraft, which landed at Ballincollig at 10am, having left Athy at little over one and a half hours earlier. The newspaper report indicated that Hosie had arrived in Cork to inspect possible sites for a southern airport. He made a further visit to Cork, flying again to Ballincollig with officials from the UK to inspect possible sites for a Cork airport. They inspected sites at Ballincollig, Lakelands and near Cobh and had discussions with the Cork city manager, Philip Monahan. Following this latest visit, Hosie was described in the Nationalist and Leinster Times as well known in County Kildare and an esteemed Athy resident asserting that he deserved much credit for his work in the interest of aviation in Ireland. That same month, Hosie was elected to the committee of the Irish Aero Club. By July 1933, Hosie was instrumental in completing arrangements for the Midland and Scottish Airline Company to open a twice-daily air service from Cork to Dublin with a link to Brittain. The flight which lasted one hour and fifteen minutes, cost one pound ten shillings on 15 August 1933. This was the first attempt by an Irish citizen to give the country a regular air service. Not long afterwards, Hosies influence in the developing Irish air service began to be eclipsed by a fellow member of the Irish Aero Club and solicitor, Sean OhUadhaigh. The latter had important political contacts which Hosie did not have. OhUadhaigh would become Chairman of the Aero Club in 1935 and Chairman of Aer Lingus when it was formed in 1936. Hosie appears to have thereafter given more attention to his I.V.I. business for in August 1933, following correspondence in the Evening Herald regarding the value of pneumatic tyres to farm carts, he wrote a letter supporting the use of such tyres claiming that there had been no improvement for farm carts for the previous fifty years. Within four months, the Irish Times reported that rubber-tyred farm carts were being built by the I.V.I. Company in Athy. He later disposed of his interest in the Athy Picture Palace to Holmes of Portlaoise who in turn sold out to the Roscrea Cinema company. The early years of the I.V.I. seemed to have concentrated on the supply of industrial vehicles and would appear to have developed the foundry business during the early years of the Second World War. Colonel Hosie, who was a very important employer in Athy, died on 26 October 1967. Ellen O'Donoghue Thirteen per cent of Irish men have tried a romantic relationship with an AI chatbot in the last 12 months. A survey from Pure Telecom found women a lot less likely to do this, at seven per cent. The age group most likely to have had a romantic relationship with a bot was 25-34. Tara Logan Buckley, Chartered Clinical Psychologist, told Newstalk that she has seen older people reaching for apps to find a connection. "People that live within rural communities, people that maybe feel isolated and people may have gone through maybe bereavement in their life or divorces, that theyre really not feeling those emotional connections and theyre also so I think were actually going to see a big rise within those kind of older age brackets as well within the near future," Ms Logan Buckley said. Meanwhile, the survey said one tenth of Irish adults believe that relationships with an AI chatbot would be a good way to practice for a real one. Figures showed that 370,000 adults in Ireland have tried a romantic relationship with a bot. Tara Logan Buckley, Chartered Clinical Psychologist, said that it is not hard to see someone fall in love with "the illusion of connection" in AI. "The human brain is wired for connection, and if something listens to you, it remembers your preferences, it responds, its kind, its warm, it remembers the things you like to flirt with, your preferences for things, your brain will bond with this even if it's not real. One in five people said a partnership with an AI would be less complicated than a real one. News / Local by Staff reporter Zimbabwe has intensified disease surveillance and screening at all ports of entry in response to renewed global outbreaks of Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, even though no new local cases have been recorded so far this year.The move follows the World Health Organisation's (WHO) reaffirmation that Mpox remains a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), with outbreaks persisting in parts of Africa, including some SADC countries, increasing the risk of cross-border transmission.Mpox is a viral disease related to smallpox and spreads mainly through close physical contact, particularly in households and healthcare settings without adequate protective measures. While it has traditionally been endemic in certain African regions, recent cases have been reported in non-endemic countries, fuelling renewed global concern.Ministry of Health and Child Care spokesperson, Mr Donald Mujiri, said the country's experience with the disease in 2024 had kept health authorities vigilant."While Zimbabwe currently has no confirmed cases of Mpox, its resurgence has been noted in several regions, including non-endemic countries," said Mr Mujiri. "We are guided by WHO recommendations and have strengthened our surveillance mechanisms to quickly detect and respond to any suspected cases."Zimbabwe confirmed its first two Mpox cases in October 2024 - an 11-year-old Harare boy who had returned from South Africa and a 24-year-old Mberengwa man who had travelled to Tanzania. Both were placed in home isolation and later recovered fully.The 2024 outbreak triggered the activation of the Mpox Preparedness and Response Plan, which included training healthcare workers, distributing protective equipment, intensifying awareness campaigns, and strengthening border controls.Mr Mujiri urged the public to remain vigilant and observe preventative measures."Avoid close contact with anyone showing symptoms such as rashes or lesions, and do not share personal items," he said. "Good hygiene, mask-wearing in close-contact settings, and avoiding contact with wild animals are critical in preventing the spread of Mpox."The Ministry also advised citizens to thoroughly cook food - especially meat - and report any suspected cases to the nearest health facility. News / Local by Staff reporter BULAWAYO City Council (BCC), in partnership with Enock Construction and Earth Moving Equipment, will on Friday commission 650 fully serviced stands in Mahatshula East suburb, marking the final phase of a major housing development project.The initiative is expected to ease the city's ballooning housing backlog, which currently stands at more than 125 000 applicants, while promoting sustainable urban growth. Last year, 115 stands were commissioned as part of the same project.Speaking at the commissioning ceremony, Bulawayo mayor Councillor David Coltart praised the collaboration between BCC and its private sector partners, describing it as a model for effective housing delivery."We are always happy when we partner with private developers to commission the stands as they are a testament that the city's initiative of public-private partnerships in housing development is yielding good results," Clr Coltart said.He reaffirmed the city's vision to provide quality housing that improves residents' quality of life and fosters pride in their communities.In addition to expanding housing access, BCC is exploring innovative, climate-resilient construction technologies to enhance the sustainability of future housing projects in line with global best practices. News / National by Staff reporter A Southlea Park woman, Ms Lilian Gwena, has secured a protection order against her husband, Claudius Gatawa, after accusing him of violent behaviour, sexual abuse, and harassment linked to his demand for a refund of the lobola he paid.Testifying before Harare Civil Court magistrate Ms Johanna Mukwesha, Ms Gwena described her husband's conduct as aggressive and threatening."He always forces himself on me, harasses me and comes to my house unannounced, threatening to commit suicide," she told the court.She said Gatawa had increasingly resorted to violence while pressing for the lobola refund and argued that any such demand should be addressed to her parents, who received the payment, not to her directly.The court also heard that Gatawa frequently issued threats of self-harm in her presence, leaving her feeling unsafe. Her application cited harassment, verbal abuse, and sexual misconduct, and requested that he be barred from visiting her home.In his defence, Gatawa denied the allegations of physical abuse, claiming instead that his mental health had suffered because of Ms Gwena. He alleged he was forced to leave their home after discovering intimate messages on her phone, which he said proved infidelity."I came across messages on her phone; she cannot deny it - she was cheating," he said, adding that he had paid lobola and committed to the marriage, only to now be "treated like a stranger."Despite his claims, the court ruled in Ms Gwena's favour, granting the protection order. Magistrate Mukwesha prohibited Gatawa from sexually abusing, insulting, or threatening his wife, and urged him to pursue the lobola matter peacefully without resorting to violence. A small cooler of breast milk storage supplies, as well as information about breast milk donation at the grand opening of the Pettis County Health Center's Milk Depot in Sedalia. News / National by Staff reporter ZANU PF has co-opted Deputy Minister of Mines and Mining Development, Polite Kambamura, prominent businessman Kudakwashe Tagwirei, along with Christine Gwati, Joseph Serima, and Collen Ndebele, into the party's Central Committee. The move is part of the party's ongoing efforts to strengthen its leadership structures.The co-options were confirmed by ZANU PF Secretary for Legal Affairs, Patrick Chinamasa, who revealed that the Politburo had endorsed the nominations at its 385th Ordinary Session held on July 30, 2025. He said the newly co-opted members are expected to be formally adopted by the Central Committee at its upcoming meeting.Polite Kambamura was recommended by the Mashonaland West province, while Christine Gwati, Joseph Serima, and Collen Ndebele were put forward by Matabeleland North province. Harare province recommended the co-option of Kudakwashe Tagwirei, a development that has now been confirmed at the highest level of the party.According to Chinamasa, the Harare Provincial Coordinating Committee convened on March 31, 2025, where it resolved to recommend Tagwirei for the Central Committee in accordance with party procedures. The recommendation was then tabled by the National Political Commissar, Munyaradzi Machacha, during the 384th Ordinary Session of the Politburo held on July 2, 2025. The co-option was approved at that session, pending final endorsement."There was no objection in the Politburo meeting to the recommendation by Harare Provincial Coordinating Committee," said Chinamasa. "When the 385th Ordinary Session of the Politburo sat on Wednesday, July 30, 2025, the co-option by Harare province was confirmed."He added that the Politburo had also approved the co-options from Mashonaland West and Matabeleland North, all of which will be officially adopted once the Central Committee convenes. The Central Committee, as ZANU PF's highest decision-making body outside of Congress, plays a crucial role in shaping the party's strategic direction.The addition of these five members is seen as a significant realignment of the party's leadership as it looks to consolidate its structures ahead of future political and administrative engagements. Technology / Software by Staff reporter Last month, a disturbing case emerged from Canada where fraudsters used artificial intelligence to clone the voices of elderly Americans' grandchildren. Between 2021 and 2024, the ring targeted seniors across 46 states, using near-perfect digital impersonations to plead for urgent bail money or medical fees. Victims, trusting the familiar voices, wired more than US$21 million before the scam was shut down by authorities.If such a high-tech fraud could flourish in Canada, Zimbabwean families must ask: what safeguards do we have against a similar wave of AI voice cloning scams?Across Harare, Bulawayo, and rural areas along the Gweru road, mobile phones serve as vital lifelines connecting families. Voices carry deep emotional trust, stronger than texts or emails. But now, AI voice cloning threatens to weaponize this trust.Imagine a pensioner in Mbare receiving a frantic call late at night from a voice claiming to be his grandson, pleading for bail money after a fake arrest. The voice is panicked and authentic-sounding. The grandfather, lonely and trusting, sends US$100 via mobile money, only to discover later the call was a fabricated deepfake. The moneyand the trailvanish.This is no ordinary financial crime; it is an emotional hijacking of family bonds through synthetic media. AI voice cloning requires only minutes of audio and basic computing power to create near-perfect impersonations. Scammers can generate personalized messages and flood thousands of vulnerable phone lines, preying on love and trust.Zimbabweans have long battled mobile money and lottery scams, but AI voice cloning escalates the threat dramatically. Unlike older scams, these calls have no obvious accents or suspicious patterns. They mimic speech, emotion, and cadence flawlessly, fooling even tech-savvy individuals.Experts warn that a single deepfake call can shatter years of skepticism and vigilance.To combat this, global experts like the Responsible AI Institute advocate for "RAISE pathways"a framework centred on three pillars: real-time call verification, secure identity protocols, and voice provenance tracing. Zimbabwe must consider adopting similar safeguards tailored to its unique social fabric.Real-time verification would embed encrypted "digital stamps" on calls, enabling phones or networks to flag unverified or suspicious calls immediately. Users would see alerts like "Caller identity unverified," helping them avoid scams before answering.Secure identity protocols could require families to use secret passphrases known only to close relatives or implement two-step call-backs on money requests. If a caller cannot pass this authentication, the request is automatically denied.Voice provenance tracing involves embedding inaudible metadata in voice streams, including call origin and timestamps. This data allows law enforcement to trace fraudulent calls' sources and blacklist repeat offenders, helping to dismantle scam operations.Implementing these requires coordinated efforts. Zimbabwe's Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (Potraz) must lead, setting standards that compel mobile networks like Econet, NetOne, and Telecel to adopt AI-aware call authentication systems.Phone manufacturers should integrate verification displays into default dialler apps, showing green icons for verified calls and red warnings for suspect ones.Legal frameworks must catch up as well. Zimbabwe's Financial Intelligence Unit and cybercrime units should classify AI voice cloning scams as aggravated offences, with harsher penalties than traditional fraud. Courts need to impose deterrent sentences, while law enforcement receives training in digital forensics to track these sophisticated criminals.Public education campaigns are equally vital. Community radio, churches, and village meetings should raise awareness about the dangers of AI voice scams, urging people to verify urgent money requests through code words, second calls, or in-person visits.Simple messagestranslated into Shona, Ndebele, and Englishcan reinforce protective habits, such as: "If a relative calls asking for money, pause and verify. Ask for the family's secret word. When in doubt, hang up and call back on a known number."Support lines staffed by volunteers can provide immediate help for seniors suspecting scams, including real-time verification with network operators.Banks and mobile money platforms can integrate alerts in their apps, prompting users to confirm large transfers requested after suspicious calls, adding a vital layer of friction to prevent fraud.Critics might argue these measures are costly or complex. Yet Zimbabwe has demonstrated remarkable technological leaps beforesuch as pioneering mobile money servicesand can harness that spirit to defend its families against AI-driven deception.As AI voice cloning scams spread worldwide, Zimbabwe must act swiftly to protect its people's most precious trust: the sound of a loved one's voice. Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. Technology / Software by Staff reporter A close-knit group of eight men from Bulawayo shocked the city after they were charged with robbing the mansion of a friend while pretending to enjoy drinks together at a local bar.The accused - Nduduzo Mthethwa (46), Butho Ndlovu (28), Zibusiso Ndlovu (27), Tyson Taylor Ndlovu (29), Zibusiso Manungwa (28), Nqobile Nxumalo (29), Lewis Mbeli (28), and Alexandra Ngwenya (28) - appeared before Bulawayo magistrate Shingirai Mutiro facing charges related to a meticulously planned robbery in Newton West Suburb. All were remanded in custody until 8 August.Prosecutor Dominic Moyo revealed that the plot hatched back in September 2024 when three conspirators - Manungwa, Nxumalo, and Mbeli - who were friends with Princess Sibanda's husband, grew suspicious that the couple was sitting on a fortune. Their suspicion stemmed from Princess's employment at Kings Jewellery.Greed drove them to plot the heist, beginning with a reconnaissance mission under cover of darkness. Tyson Taylor, Zibusiso Ndlovu, Nqobile, and Lewis attempted to scout Princess's home but were spooked and left without success.The initial plan failed, but the gang regrouped.On 31 October 2024, Tyson assembled a new team including Nduduzo, Butho, and Zibusiso Ndlovu. Using insider knowledge, Tyson briefed them extensively and on 1 November personally showed them Princess's house to map out the operation.To distract Princess's husband, Manungwa, Nqobile, and Lewis lured him to koSamuriwo Bar under the pretense of casual drinking.With the husband away and the house vulnerable, the gang struck.On 2 November, Alexandra Ngwenyastill at largedrove the crew in a blue Honda Fit to the house, knowing Princess was alone inside. Armed with pistols, an axe, and a pick handle, they forced their way in.Princess awoke to a nightmare as the intruders grabbed her hair, pulled her from bed, and held a gun to her head, demanding money and valuables.The robbers ransacked the property, stealing an iPhone 13 Pro Max, three 72-inch TVs, expensive jewellery, designer shoes, and other valuables before vanishing.The story took a darker turn when Tyson Taylor demanded his share as the mastermind. Instead of cooperation, his accomplices claimed police had intercepted them, forcing them to abandon the loot at ZRP Tshabalala.Subsequent police investigations led to arrests, with some gang members cooperating by naming others, unraveling the tightly woven criminal web.The case continues to unfold as authorities seek to apprehend Alexandra Ngwenya and recover stolen items. Helen Keenan (nee Conroy), Church Street, Mountrath and formerly of Roundwood, Mountrath, Laois passed away unexpectedly on 6 August in St Jamess Hospital, Dublin, surrounded by her loving family. Predeceased by her beloved husband Tim, her parents Michael and Catherine and her brother Stephen. Loving mother to Declan and nana to Oisin. Sadly missed by her family, nephew Francis, niece Catherine, brothers-in-law Frank and P.J. (Keenan) and sister-in-law Sheila (Dowling), extended family, relatives, neighbours, her friends in Killanure ICA, a large circle of friends and her cherished dog, Joey. May her gentle soul rest in peace. Reposing at her home this Friday and Saturday evenings from 4pm, with Rosary both evenings at 8pm. Removal on Sunday morning to St Fintans Church, Mountrath for Requiem Mass at 11.30am, followed by burial in Camross Cemetery cortege will proceed via Roundwood. Family time on Sunday morning please. Helens Requiem Mass will be live streamed on www.mountrathparish.ie The Keenan family would like to thank you for your support and co-operation and would be grateful if you would express your messages of condolence on the link on RIP.ie. AS the new school term nears Laois TD Brian Stanley has called for the issue of costly school uniforms and voluntary school contributions to be addressed. Back to school costs are again a major worry for parents this year, said the Independent Republican TD. Parents who contact me are already facing a cost-of-living crisis in terms of the cost of groceries, of insurance, and electricity etc. Back to school costs put further pressure on them each year. I acknowledge the free schoolbook scheme, but we also need to have generic uniforms and help with the cost of buying digital devices such as laptops etc. for their children. According to the Irish Credit Union League the average cost of having a child in Primary School is 1,450 and for secondary school 1,560. A Barnardos survey this week stated that 54% of parents are worried about meeting costs. The Portlaoise based TD said: Parents also must face the voluntary contributions, which are basically a charge on each parent to meet the essential overheads that schools must cover such as keeping the heating going, insuring the school and so on. Of course, theyre not voluntary contributions because parents feel pressurised into paying them. 27% of parents of secondary school children and 14% of primary school parents say that they must dip into savings or take out loans. They then must raise money to pay for their own essentials like utility bills etc. We need to reduce the cost of getting children back to school. An obvious area that would help is to finally get to a position where schools would accept children just having generic uniforms, in other words the same colour tops, trousers or skirts without costly uniforms. The so-called voluntary contributions must be addressed by Government. This issue arises because of the low capitation grants, which is the annual funding given to schools to cover costs such as electricity, heat, insurance etc. This is clearly insufficient, and schools have been reporting to me right throughout the last two years that they are struggling to meet day to day overheads. This is effectively putting a levy on parents, which they feel pressured to pay. The Government needs to make sure this grant is increased to an adequate level in the upcoming budget this October. I recently met with the teachers union (INTO) who are demanding increased capitation grants. The Government needs to send guidelines to schools regarding generic uniforms and help with laptops and IT equipment. We need to get away from a situation where we have stressed out parents every year, said Deputy Stanley. On 7 August the US government led by Presidentdoubled the reward for information leading to the arrest of Venezuelan Presidentto US$50m. End of preview - This article contains approximately 391 words. Subscribers: Log in now to read the full article Not a Subscriber? Choose from one of the following options On 7 Augusttook over fromas head of Haitis nine-member transitional presidential council (CPT) for a six-month term. End of preview - This article contains approximately 602 words. Subscribers: Log in now to read the full article Not a Subscriber? Choose from one of the following options On 7 August Argentinas cabinet chief,, blamed a series of adverse votes for the government led by Presidentin the lower chamber of congress on the proximity of key elections. End of preview - This article contains approximately 372 words. Subscribers: Log in now to read the full article Not a Subscriber? Choose from one of the following options The 42-year-old city woman must complete two years in the first-time offenders program and pay $1,985 for DNA testing that linked her to the false hate crime report. Courtesy photo An Allentown City Hall employee charged with planting a noose on her desk and staging a false hate crime has entered a program for first-time offenders, authorities said. Lehigh County District Attorney Gavin Holihan announced Thursday afternoon 42-year-old LaTarsha Brown of the 600 block of North Randolph Street in the city was granted access into the Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition Program (ARD). Brown on Thursday was ordered by Lehigh County Common Pleas Judge Anna-Kristie M. Marks to remain in the program for a maximum term of two years, as well as pay $1,985 to state police for DNA testing and court costs. If the program is successfully completed and Brown pays all the fees and costs ordered by the judge, her charges of misdemeanor making false reports to law enforcement and misdemeanor tampering with evidence will be expunged. Brown was charged in March after city investigators determined she staged the racial incident and made false claims of workplace discrimination. In order to be accepted into ARD, Brown had to admit guilt, said Pamela Lehman, spokeswoman for the Lehigh County District Attorneys Office. Brown couldnt immediately be reached for comment Friday morning. At the time of the incident on Jan. 10, she worked in the citys Department of Economic and Community Development on the third floor of City Hall. Brown, who started with the city in August 2021, left the job on May 1, said Chelsea Koerbler, the citys marketing manager. Brown also sits on the Allentown School Board of Directors and chose not to seek running again for re-election. The incident unfolded shortly after 7:30 a.m. Jan. 10 when Brown, who is Black, called city police to report a noose placed on her work desk. Investigators arrived about 15 minutes later to City Hall, 435 Hamilton St. Police said Brown reported arriving to work at 7 a.m. and checking her work-related email about an email she sent the previous day. Video surveillance footage showed her clocking in by 7:11 a.m., court records state. The email sent by Brown on Jan. 9 was addressed to several office members, along with the Human Resources department, outlining work conditions, police said. Brown reported to police that while checking her email, she found the noose on her desk. Brown also reported she had to Google it because she did not know the name of the item but recognized it to be a rope they hang slaves with, court records stated. Brown then picked up the noose by the end, took a photo, and sent the photo to two colleagues in a text message at 7:27 a.m. Jan. 10, court records state. Texts included crying emojis and identified the item as, It looks like a noose ... the rope used to hang slaves, according to court records. Police said no prior texts were sent to the colleagues indicating an issue at the office. Just before 7:40 a.m. Jan. 10, Brown went on to send a six-paragraph email to several people, including immediate supervisors and members of the Human Resources department. She told investigators she sent the email after she found the noose, police said. Investigators seized the noose into evidence, police said. Brown told investigators in an interview later that day, I feel like the office as a whole has an issue with racism. She identified several city employees being involved with racist incidents and identified one as possibly being the person who left the noose on her desk, court records stated. Allentown Councilwoman Cecilia Gerlach previously told lehighvalleylive.com she believed Brown was targeted because she lodged complaints about racism and workplace discrimination with the citys Human Resources Department and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Brown on Jan. 14 arrived at the citys police station for additional interviews. She refused to submit DNA testing or provide a reason for being against it, court records said. FBI agents later were brought into the investigation. Agents interviewed Brown on Jan. 15 and she couldnt provide the FBI with her Google search history from five days prior. Several hours after the meeting with the FBI, Brown called an agent and reported she would be searching for a new job. She then requested for the investigation to be stopped, stating she would no longer be cooperating with law enforcement. City police used a search warrant on Jan. 24 to obtain Browns DNA. Her DNA sample on Jan. 27 was turned over to Pennsylvania State Police in Bethlehems Crime Lab to be analyzed against the evidence. Additionally, law enforcement from Jan. 13 to Jan. 29 interviewed nine city employees who work on City Halls third floor in the Building Standards and Safety office and the Department of Community and Economic Development office. All agreed to DNA testing. Pennsylvania State Police in Greensburgs Regional Crime Lab on March 10 provided DNA analysis results relating to the evidence and Browns sample. The report indicated Browns DNA matched the surfaces of the noose. No other DNA profiles were obtained from the evidentiary items involved in this case, city police then said. The case was investigated by Allentown Police Detective Harold Bonser and was prosecuted by Lehigh County Chief Deputy District Attorney Jeffrey D. Burd. Please subscribe now and support the local journalism YOU rely on and trust. Pamela Sroka-Holzmann may be reached at pholzmann@lehighvalleylive.com. 2 Allentown residents were among those charged with distributing methamphetamine, fentanyl and other narcotics throughout Luzerne County from January to June 2025. Getty Images Two Allentown men were among eight people recently indicted by a federal grand jury on drug-trafficking charges, which authorities said included dealings worth a total of $600,000. Marvin Mace Rivera, 26, and Chandler George, 34, each were charged with possession with intent to distribute narcotics and weapons offenses. Authorities said the six other co-defendants, all from Luzerne County, included: Oliver Rivera, 31, of Drums; Mark Reynolds, 57, of Wilkes-Barre; Sherrielee Stout, 32, of Plymouth; Angela Ruggiero, 42, of Hazleton; Joel Fernandez, 34, of Wilkes-Barre; and Eric Konnick, 41, of Edwardsville. Those six all face various drug and weapons charges. The U.S. Attorneys Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania on Thursday announced the charges against the eight suspects. Its unclear if Rivera or George has an attorney yet to represent them in the case. Acting U.S. Attorney John Gurganus said the eight individuals conspired to deal methamphetamine, fentanyl, cocaine, benzodiazepines and marijuana throughout Luzerne County from January through June. Between May 29 and July 20, Rivera used communication facilities with the six others to facilitate the drug trafficking, authorities said. Drug Enforcement Administration agents raided numerous locations and seized the following: 71 pounds of methamphetamine; more than 2 kilograms of fentanyl; and about 2 kilograms of cocaine; as well as marijuana, benzodiazepines and multiple guns. Additionally seized were drug packaging items, including a kilogram press and vacuum sealers, and more than $160,000 in cash, authorities said. The street value for the recovered narcotics totaled about $600,000, authorities said. On July 30, Fernandez and Rivera specifically were found to be possessing with intent to distribute more than 500 grams of a mixture and substance containing methamphetamine, and more than 400 grams of a mixture and substance containing fentanyl, the indictment says. The pair also each allegedly possessed a firearm during the search. On the same date, Ruggiero allegedly was found in possession of more than 50 grams of a mixture and substance containing methamphetamine. Konnick possessed more than 50 grams of a mixture and substance containing methamphetamine, as well as more than 40 grams of a mixture and substance containing fentanyl, authorities said. If convicted, the eight co-defendants face a maximum penalty of life in prison. The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration; Pennsylvania State Police, and the Wilkes-Barre Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorneys James M. Buchanan and Tatum Wilson are prosecuting the case. Please subscribe now and support the local journalism you rely on and trust. Pamela Sroka-Holzmann may be reached at pholzmann@lehighvalleylive.com. City police continue to investigate the double shooting that happened after midnight Friday, Aug. 8, 2025 at the South Bethlehem eatery, with both victims in stable condition. Saed Hindash | For lehighvalleylive.com Two people were injured early Friday in a double shooting at a fast-casual South Bethlehem eatery, city police said. Bethlehem Police Capt. Nicholas Lechman said the gunfire began shortly after midnight at Sizzling Bites, 312 E. 3rd St. Investigators found an adult at the restaurant suffering from gunshot wounds to the body, Lechman said. That person was taken to an area hospital for treatment. Another adult was found with similar wounds at an area hospital and was taken there in a private vehicle, Lechman said. Both victims were listed in stable condition Friday morning, Lechman said. No other injuries were reported. Multiple patrons were at Sizzling Bites when the gunfire broke out, Lechman said. As of Friday morning, no arrests have been made. Lechman said the investigation remains active and ongoing. The grill featuring Halal cusine is owned and operated by a teenager, according to its business Facebook page. It serves up platters featuring protein options over rice, gyros, salads, mac and cheese bowls, loaded fries and sandwiches. Bethlehem police continue to seek witnesses of the shooting. Those with information are asked to call 610-865-7000 or email BethlehemPolice@bethlehem-pa.gov. Anonymous information can also be provided on the departments tip line at 610-691-6660. Please subscribe now and support the local journalism YOU rely on and trust. Pamela Sroka-Holzmann may be reached at pholzmann@lehighvalleylive.com. Five producers from Laois have made it through to the final stages of Blas na hEireann, The Irish Food Awards 2025. The countdown is now officially on for the return to Dingle this autumn, where the very best of Irish food and drink will be celebrated from Thursday, October 2 to Sunday, October 5, with the Blas Village, Showcase, Eat Ireland in a Day market and the awards themselves all running on Friday, October 3. The finalists shortlisted from Co. Laois across a wide range of categories are Aghaboe Farm Foods, G's Gourmet Jams Ltd., Mueller & O'Connell Bakery, Zephyr Yard and The Village Dairy. We are incredibly proud to see five outstanding Laois food producers shortlisted as finalists in the upcoming Blas na hEireann Awards. said Evelyn Reddin, Head of Enterprise, Local Enterprise Office Laois. This recognition is a testament to their hard work, innovation, and the exceptional quality of food being produced right here in our county. These businesses not only represent the best of Laois, but they also showcase the strength and potential of our local food sector on a national stage. We wish them every success in the final. Its been an exciting year for the Blas na hEireann awards, says Blas na hEireann Chairperson Artie Clifford. Thats not just in terms of the ever-growing number of entries, but in the incredible standard of produce from both long-standing producers and impressive newcomers. Weve also seen huge innovation across all categories, which reflects the evolving landscape of Irish food and drink. For us, these awards are about championing the producers, and giving them the spotlight they deserve in Dingle each October. We cant wait to welcome them. READ NEXT: Laois school 'fundraising to buy toilet rolls' with all schools short 25,000 yearly Now in its 18th year, Blas na hEireann continues to grow, with more than 3,000 entries submitted from across the island, and a record number of new producers taking part. The 2025 awards also see the biggest ever expansion in categories, now totalling 190, including significant growth in fast-evolving areas such as alcoholic drinks and their non-alcoholic alternatives. The judging, which took place over May, June and July in partnership with UCC and TU Dublin, is blind-tasted and scored by a network of expert judges, including chefs, buyers, academics, restaurateurs, and industry leaders. Only the top entries from each category make it to the finalist stage, which is a huge achievement in itself. This years Blas na hEireann weekend will see the return of the hugely popular Eat Ireland in a Day market and the Blas Village, where 2025 finalists can showcase their products, connect with buyers, and meet with fellow producers, media and food lovers from across the country. With sustainability at the forefront once again, this years event will continue to build on its environmentally friendly policies and support a more conscious future for Irish food. Making it as a finalist is no small achievement. The competition intensifies every year, and the producers shortlisted really do represent the creme de la creme of Irish food and drink. The Blas na hEireann awards weekend in Dingle is a celebration of great food, and of the people, passion and place that make that Irish food so special. There has been great sadness in the Spink community in Laois in recent days following the passing of Joe Dowling. Mr Dowling, a talented musician has been remembered fondly particularly by Spink Comhaltas, a group that promotes Irish traditional music and song. "Joe was the beloved father of our music teacher Paula Dowling and loving grandfather to her children who are also members of the branch," a spokesperson for the group said. "A fine musician in his own right, he will be fondly remembered by everyone who knew him," they added. Meanwhile, local GAA club Erin's Own also paid tribute to the Dowling family. "Everyone in Erins Own GAA Club send condolences to the Dowling family on their sad loss. "Joe was a great Erins Own and Kilkenny hurling supporter and constant presence on the sidelines especially to cheer on his grandchildren," the club commented. FUNERAL ARRANGEMENTS: Reposing at the Residence of his son Shane in Firoda [R32 Y5E5] on Friday, August 8 from 3pm, concluding with Vigil Prayers and Rosary at 7.30pm. The funeral cortege will arrive at the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Castlecomer on Saturday for Requiem Mass at 12noon. Joe will be laid to rest thereafter in the adjoining cemetery. The Funeral Mass can be viewed HERE FOR MORE Laois BEREAVEMENT NOTICES, CLICK HERE The tragic death of a Ballacolla man at work in New Zealand could have been averted if his employer had taken simple steps to avert the tragedy , according to reports on the Corner's verdict following an inquiry into the death of Sean Clear. His passing has also caused a Coroner to issue urgent safety recommendations after Mr Clear died after being electrocuted while doing work on a North Island farm. Media reports from New Zealand also revealed that Sean Clears family was left in disbelief by the circumstances of his death, according to the report from Coroner Mark Wilton. They were particularly pained that if simple steps had been taken... the tragedy could have been averted, his report said. Mr Clear, who was just three days short of his 25th birthday, lost his life on February 17, 2023 at Taurewa Station, as he was helping move a tractor stuck in the mud. He died at the scene. The Waikato Times reported that the Coroner Wilton found that death happened after overhead power lines were not identified as a risk and as a result simple steps to mitigate that risk were not done. It was also found that Coogan Contracting, Mr Clears employer, did not identify the power lines as a hazard and did not communicate the risks to employees. These failings were found to have directly led to the fatality. WorkSafe is New Zealand's primary workplace health and safety regulator. It is also reported that their investigation found that the employer breached its legal duties by not adequately assessing the overhead line risk, failing to train staff, and neglecting simple preventative steps. Coroner Wilton said he accepted WorkSafe's view that the overhead powerlines were a risk that should have been clearly identified by the employer. He also accepted that the failure to "identify and mitigate that risk resulted in Mr Clears death. It was also reported that Coogans was prosecuted and fined NZ$25,000, and ordered to pay NZ$100,000 in emotional harm reparation to Clears family. The Coroner said the tragic event highlights how everyday risks in farming can become deadly if basic safety protocols are ignored. Simple, no-cost steps could have saved a life. Coroner Wilton extended sincere condolences to them, noting the profound grief caused by the loss. READ ALSO: Farmer in critical care on Laois land after alleged assault The family declined to comment when contacted by the Leinster Express / Laois Live. The young man was involved with Clough Ballacolla GAA club before he departed for New Zealand in 2022. With the help of friends and family and Clough Ballacolla GAA, Seans parents Tom and Julie organised a raffle and a Truck and Tractor Run in memory of Sean for the benefit of the Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust. The event was held on the first anniversary of Seans death on February 17, 2024. The Leinster Express / Laois Live reported in April 2024 that an incredible 40,000 was subsequently raised in memory of Sean Clear after the community came together to support the charity, which brought his remains home to his family. An Irish speaker who was prosecuted for speeding while driving through a Kildare townland was found not guilty at Naas District Court. John Patrick Dunphy, 53, whose address was given as 8 Grange Terrace, Deans Grange, Blackrock, County Dublin was stopped at Kilmead, near Athy, on August 6, 2023. READ NEXT Irish tourists warned of 'significant danger' as popular holiday destination bakes in heatwave Garda Kevin Byrne told the court he was operating a speed checkpoint shortly after 3pm when the defendant was detected driving at 96 km/h in a 60 km/h zone. He said he issued a fixed charge notice. The defendant, who questioned the garda in Irish via an Irish-speaking translator, argued that the location was incorrect. He handed a map into court as evidence in support of his case. He said the location should have been referred to as Youngstown, rather than Kilmead. He argued that the road does not run through Kilmead, but Youngstown. The court was told by the prosecuting garda that the mobile device used by the garda is calibrated using GPS technology, which provides an exact location. Judge Desmond Zaidan noted that the maps provided by the defendant indicated that both townlands shared a common border. Finding the defendant not guilty, Judge Zaidan noted that while by and large GPS technology is good, there can be errors. Former Newbridge, Co Kildare resident Ciara Confrey (26) has been selected as Western Canadas Rose Representative for the Rose of Tralee later this month. The Rose of Tralee International Festival runs from Friday, August 15h to Tuesday, August 19th. Ciara, who is a mother to a one-year-old child, was born in Dublin in the late 90s, and lived primarily in Newbridge until she moved to Calgary, Canada in early 2015. She entered into the Western Canada Rose of Tralee selections as a way to meet fellow Irishwomen living in Canada, and to connect with those with Irish heritage and make some sincere friendships after having her daughter, Mia. Ciaras grandmother, Trudy, still resides in Newbridge, along with many other family members and friends that have given her constant support throughout her journey to become Western Canadas Rose. Ciara said: "I moved to Calgary, Canada when I was 15 and have been here ever since! "I transferred to high school here and went on to pursue a career in Medical Esthetics through Delmar College, where I graduated with honours in 2019. "Since then, I have gone on to work in some of the top ranked clinics in Calgary, became an educator at the college I graduated from and then went on to being the Admission Advisor and Director for that college. "I have won various awards for singing, dancing and acting and also have created programs in which services are offered at no cost to the parents residing at the Ronald McDonald House in Calgary. "In my spare time I love singing, painting, baking, and spending time with my daughter, Mia, who is almost 1 year old! "Im so excited for this journey and cant wait to meet all my fellow Roses!" ALSO READ: Items stolen from Kildare graveyard. Palestinians inspect the site of an Israeli strike on a house, in Gaza City, August 8, 2025. MAHMOUD ISSA / REUTERS Nations around the world on Friday, August 8, expressed concern over Israeli plans to wrest control of Gaza City, saying that it would only worsen the conflict and lead to more bloodshed. France condemned the Israeli government's plan. "Such actions would constitute further serious violations of international law and lead to a complete dead end," the foreign ministry said in a statement posted to social media. "They would undermine the legitimate aspirations of Palestinians to live in peace within a viable, sovereign and contiguous state, and pose a threat to regional stability." This decision marks a major change of course for the German government, which has been one of Israel's staunchest international allies. According to Chancellor Friedrich Merz, the country will halt the export of military equipment to Israel that could be used in the Gaza Strip. Read more Subscribers only Israel prepares to occupy the entire Gaza Strip Merz said it was "increasingly difficult to understand" how the Israeli military plan would help achieve the legitimate aims of disarming Hamas and freeing the hostages. "Under these circumstances, the German government will not authorize any exports of military equipment that could be used in the Gaza Strip until further notice," he said in a statement. UN human rights chief Volker Turk said the plan must be "immediately halted." He said that Israel should instead allow "the full, unfettered flow of humanitarian aid" and Palestinian armed groups must unconditionally release hostages. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on X: "The Israeli government's decision to further extend its military operation in Gaza must be reconsidered." She also urged the release of all hostages and the "immediate and unhindered access" for humanitarian aid in Gaza. "A ceasefire is needed now." European Council President Antonio Costa warned that "such a decision must have consequences" for EU-Israel ties. "I strongly urge the Israeli government to reconsider its decision," Costa wrote on X. "The situation in Gaza remains dramatic, and the decision by the Israeli government will only further worsen it." It will 'only bring more bloodshed' In the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the plan was "wrong" and added that "this action will do nothing to bring an end to this conflict or to help secure the release of the hostages" but would "only bring more bloodshed." Read more Subscribers only War in Gaza causes rift within the British left Turkey urged global pressure to halt the plan. "We call on the international community to fulfill its responsibilities to prevent the implementation of this decision, which aims to forcibly displace Palestinians from their own land," the foreign ministry said in a statement. Help us improve Le Monde in English Dear reader, Wed love to hear your thoughts on Le Monde in English! Take this quick survey to help us improve it for you. Take the survey Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said: "We firmly condemn the decision of the Israeli government to escalate the military occupation of Gaza. It will only cause more destruction and suffering." He added that "a permanent ceasefire, the immediate and massive entry of humanitarian aid, and the release of all hostages are urgently needed." Belgian Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot said on X that the Israeli ambassador had been summoned to express "our total disapproval of this decision." 'Immediate ceasefire' Chinese representatives also weighed in. "Gaza belongs to the Palestinian people and is an inseparable part of Palestinian territory," a foreign ministry spokesperson told Agence France-Presse in a message. "The correct way to ease the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and to secure the release of hostages is an immediate ceasefire," they added. Saudi Arabia's foreign ministry wrote on X that Riyadh "categorically condemns its persistence in committing crimes of starvation, brutal practices and ethnic cleansing against the brotherly Palestinian people." In Jordan, a statement issued by the Royal Court said King Abdullah condemned a move "which undermines the two-state solution and the rights of the Palestinian people." Egypt's foreign affairs ministry also condemned "in the strongest possible terms" Israel's plan for Gaza. Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney said: "We join many others in viewing that this is wrong, that this action is not going to contribute to an improvement in the humanitarian situation on the ground." He reaffirmed Canada's intention to recognise Palestine as a state next month at the UN General Assembly, along with Britain and France. The United States has not overtly reacted to Israel's latest announcement President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he was focused on increasing humanitarian aid into Gaza and "as far as the rest of it... that's going to be pretty much up to Israel." LABOUR TD Conor Sheehan has packed a lot into his first seven months in the Dail - and hes determined to do more. From becoming his partys spokesperson on the seemingly never-ending issue of housing and homelessness, to making regular appearances on the national media circuit and drafting new legislation, the 32-year-old is always on the go. When the Leader catches up with him as the Dail goes into its summer recess, he apologises profusely for being late. READ MORE: Initiative continues to control invasive Giant Hogweed in Limerick river basin He raced over to the Limerick Strand Hotel from his office at Mary Street in the city centre after helping a constituent with an urgent issue. Interestingly, the Corbally mans office was, up to last November, home to The Green Party's Brian Leddin, who he replaced as a TD in dramatic circumstances. It feels as if this is as good a place as any to start our interview from. Traditionally, the fourth seat in Limerick City has always been a lottery, and it was no different this time, as Mr Sheehan battled with councillor Elisa ODonovan for the berth in Leinster House. The pair changed places several times, with the Social Democrats councillor significantly ahead at one point. Even legendary pollster, and Labour stalwart Joe Kemmy had called it for Cllr ODonovan. But it was his own father, and director of elections, Peter who Conor turned to for advice. My dad was my director of elections. He has a very good head for numbers - he was very clear there was a path, and he had sketched it out for me, what way things could go. Id always listen to him above and beyond anyone else. He is an industrial chemist, he is very clinical about it, he looks at things from a very mathematical point of view. He has this battered notebook, and hed be scrawling plus 37', plus 17', and you could barely read his handwriting, Mr Sheehan explained. But in nervous moments, sometimes you need your own headspace - and the Labour man sought it out in the most unlikely of spots at Limerick Racecourse, where the City count was dragging on into the late hours of a Sunday night. I was so all over the place towards the end, I spent the last two counts of the General Election in the toilet at Patrickswell Racecourse. I hid in a cubicle. I needed some alone time, the car was too far from the building, so if the last count was called, itd be too far. When I went upstairs, there was an awful smell of dinner which was making me quite nauseous because I couldnt eat, he recalls. Since his election, Mr Sheehan has not looked back, with Labour leader Ivana Bacik immediately making him the partys spokesperson on the housing crisis. Its an issue all too close to the TDs heart, having lived like a monk with his parents for years in order to afford a mortgage. He said: To me, given this, I felt was a vote of confidence in me and my abilities. But also, unfortunately, there is no end to the bad news. Everything is getting worse: homelessness, house prices, rents and the availability of housing is at an all time low. So there is no shortage of things to talk about. To be fair to the Government - and I generally am quite balanced - the fundamentals of the economy are relatively sound. Where we are going wrong is in terms of housing and public services. Thats because of the ideology of Fianna Fail and Fine Gael and the way they have run things, and that needs to change, said the City TD, who asked: What good is a 7 per week tax cut, when you cant get a dental appointment, a GP appointment? Weve become a country of waiting lists. Mr Sheehan describes his party leader as a great personal friend and mentor, and somebody he gets on exceptionally well with. People know what she stands for. She is not reactionary, she has a strong set of values. I find her quite inspiring to work with. One thing I like about her on the most basic human level is, she is always generally in good form, she brings good and positive energy with her. Theres a lot to be said for that. Above: Conor Sheehan proudly holds a framed copy of the Limerick Leader's front page of December 2, 2024, which proclaimed his dramatic eleciton One cannot talk about Labour in Limerick and not mention former Education Minister Jan OSullivan. They remain in regular contact. Jan is the most successful politician the Labour party ever had in Limerick by a long mile. Between the Dail and the Seanad, she was there for 27 years. Jan is always good to give me advice. I talk to her an awful lot. I find her incredibly wise. I think we are so lucky as a party to still have her. She has still stayed involved - and she doesnt need to be involved. She is retired, said Mr Sheehan. Indeed, Ms OSullivan was the reason why he joined Labour in 2016 - inspired that she stood by her principles, which may not have always been popular. We need that sort of bravery today. One of the things that really concerns me is the rise in racism, and some peoples inability to call it out. Yes, our public services are under pressure. But no, that is objectively not the fault of migrants, Mr Sheehan said, adding he believes it suits some members of Dail Eireann to target new arrivals. They have nothing better to say. They have no ideas on how to solve some of the problems we have. They dont have a plan. So they think, do you know what? Blame the foreigners. Its a trick as old as time. Its a ruse, and people should not fall for it, said the first-term TD. There is a crowded field on what Mr Sheehan describes as the centre left of Irish politics -and he believes there needs to be far greater co-operation between Labour, the Green Party, and the Social Democrats. Parties on the left should not be taking lumps out of one another. We have more in common than that which divides us. The centre-left parties need to be much better at transferring between one another. Its about trying to see what's the maximum number of people from both parties we can get elected by working together," said Mr Sheehan. We live in a very fragmented political space. It's a reality. One of the things my party leader has led on is around the idea of having a centre-left alliance. This is common in other European countries. You could get 30 or 40 TDs elected like this. Imagine the influence that bloc would have in regard of negotiating with the three bigger parties. It would also allow great policy leverage," he said. Mr Sheehan wouldn't rule anything out when asked whether he'd like to lead Labour in the future. But he feels Ms Bacik could be at the helm of the party for a decade. For me, it's less about being leader. It's more about making sure the party takes the leadership role in offering people an alternative. As one of the few openly gay TDs in Ireland, Mr Sheehan admits he has received some homophobic abuse online - something he has combatted by reducing his contact, particularly on X, formerly Twitter. It's actually when he speaks up for the Trans community he feels more abuse. They are a small group of people, but they are incredibly marginalised, and they have the worst healthcare in this country by a mile. It's shocking, it's criminal what we as a State are putting a really small group of people through. It's something I've tried to advocate for, he said. Reflecting on the fleeting nature of opportunity, and life in general, Mr Sheehan is determined to make every moment count. It's such an honour and such an opportunity. I am very keen to not waste a minute of it. I always find these things, and life in general is fleeting, and before you know it, three, four or five years is gone. You don't know if you will ever get the opportunity to do it again. So I am very keen to be productive while I can. Please allow ads as they help fund our trusted local news content. Kindly add us to your ad blocker whitelist. If you want further access to Ireland's best local journalism, consider contributing and/or subscribing to our free daily Newsletter . Support our mission and join our community now. A billion dollars here, a billion dollars there. At some point were going to be talking about real money. Were already there when looking at the eye-watering tallies for artificial intelligence investment from the four biggest hyperscalers. Microsoft, Amazon, Facebook parent Meta Platforms, and Google parent Alphabet are likely to spend a staggering $340 billion this year alone in building out their AI data centers and developing their individual products. Looking further ahead, a recent McKinsey report pegged the collective outlay needed to meet AI demand over the next five years at around $7 trillion. But that doesnt mean experts share a consensus view on the impact that AI spending is likely to have on the worlds biggest economy. Some statistics suggest second-quarter AI spending powered nearly half of GDP growth. Others say the money being spent will ultimately find its way overseas. AI deployments will nudge growth figures higher, as users get more efficient with using the technology, according to some economists. One Nobel laureate, however, became famous for proving that information technology spending has little immediate impact on productivity statistics. David Laidlaw, portfolio manager at Carnegie Investment Counsel, is in the former camp. The productivity gains associated with AI could easily be multiples of the capital expenditures themselves," he wrote in a spring report on the impact of surging tech investment. The economic stimulus from the AI data center build is a secular trend that will power the U.S. economy for the next few years," he said. Digging into the data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis second-quarter GDP report underscores his prescience. Amazon, Microsoft, Google parent Alphabet, and Facebook parent Meta Platforms spent around $69 billion over the three months ending in June, according to economist Paul Kedroksy, equating to an annual pace of $276 billion. Thats around half of the annualized amount of domestic IT equipment spending. As a result, Kedrosky estimates the contribution of AI capex to second-quarter GDP was around 1.3 percentage points of the 3% advance estimate. This would be an even larger share than that contributed to GDP by AI capex in the first quarter," he wrote in a blog post. For practical purposes, it ate Q2 GDP growth." However, Samuel Tombs, chief U.S. economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, notes that President Donald Trumps trade policies make drawing conclusions from the AI spending wave a challenge. Its difficult to judge how much of this leap (in IT investment) was due to the ongoing flood of money being poured into AI infrastructure or a one-time bump linked to companies stockpiling tech-related goods, rather than risk paying tariffs," he said in a recent client note. Still, AI capex has been a powerful force in 2025. Callie Cox, chief market strategist at Ritholtz Wealth Management, notes that AI spending over the first half of the year has grown by $152 billion, more than double the $77 billion increase in consumer spending over the same span. But she adds an important caveat. You could say, okay, AI is propping up the economy and is adding more than this component of the economy that is so large and so dominant," she told Ritholtzs Josh Brown on The Compound and Friends podcast earlier this week. Or you could say Consumer spending is really setting a low bar. Its stalling out," she added. I think its the latter." AI capex is going gangbusters, but can it prop up the economy? Im not so sure," Cox said. I dont think you have a thriving U.S. economy without the consumer." Peter Berezin, chief global strategist at BCA Research, is also skeptical of the idea that AI investments are a pure driver of U.S. growth. The combined spending of Amazon, Microsoft, Google, and Meta over the past year is equal to around 1% of domestic GDP, he argued in a report earlier this week, but noted that most of this capex consists of spending on Nvidia chips and other tech equipment, much of which isnt manufactured in the U.S." Although it is possible that some of this spending will be re-shored back to the U.S., it will take a while for that to happen," he added. He noted that construction spending in tech-related manufacturing and data center construction has been trending down and employment in computer manufacturing and related sectors is near record lows." His final citation was from Noble Prize-winning economist Robert Solow, creator of the Solow paradox, which argues that tech investment doesnt immediately make workers more efficient. You can see the computer age everywhere but in the productivity statistics," Solow wrote in a 1987 New York Times review of The Myth of the Post-Industrial Economy." Is it different this time? Maybe ChatGPT will know the answer. Write to Martin Baccardax at martin.baccardax@barrons.com By Chandini Monnappa and Nandan Mandayam (Reuters) -Indian automaker Tata Motors posted a 63% slump in quarterly profit on Friday, its fourth straight quarter of decline, as U.S. tariffs hurt businesses that were already reeling from weak sales. U.S. duties wiped 254 million pounds ($341.33 million) off its quarterly earnings, the company said, adding that the tariffs and its planned model phase-out for its luxury Jaguar Land Rover cars, made predominantly in the United Kingdom, dealt a direct blow to profit and cash flow. However, kept its JLR forecast unchanged, saying a U.S.-UK trade deal signed in May would sharply cut the tariff hit. It had earlier reported a 11% fall in overseas sales at its luxury car unit due to the U.S. export halt and the phase-out of older Jaguar models. Speaking to reporters in a post-earnings call, Chief Financial Officer P.B. Balaji also said that China's ban on rare earth magnets export had not affected the company, and added that it had de-risking plans in place to avoid any impact in the medium term. Last week, rivals Hyundai Motor India and Mahindra & Mahindra had downplayed concerns over the export ban. The magnets are key to EV motors and components in conventional cars such as power windows and speakers. The company reported a profit of 39.24 billion rupees ($447.8 million) in the April-June quarter, down from a restated 105.14 billion rupees a year earlier that includes a 49.75-billion-rupee one-time gain. Excluding the gain, profit was down 30.5%. Quarterly revenue fell 2.5% from a year earlier as sales slowed, mirroring trends at Maruti Suzuki India and Hyundai. Tata Motors expects demand to remain challenging but aims to boost performance as clarity on tariffs emerges and festive demand picks up, Balaji said. The results follow two major developments - Tata Motors' $4.36 billion acquisition of Italian truckmaker Iveco and JLR chief Adrian Mardell's exit. Mardell, who had been with the company for more than three decades, revamped the Jaguar brand, delivered its highest profit in a decade and cut $6.6 billion in debt. Earlier this month, Tata Motors named CFO Balaji as JLR's new CEO. ($1 = 87.6200 Indian rupees) ($1 = 0.7442 pounds) Lemon Tree Hotels Ltds chairman and managing director Patanjali G. Keswani will become executive chairman of both LTH and its subsidiary Fleur Hotels as part of a leadership change effective 1 October. Lemon Tree informed the BSE on Friday that the management change was part of its long-term succession plan aimed at strengthening leadership. The company announced the appointment of Neelendra Singh, former managing director of Adidas India, as the managing director of Lemon Tree Hotels, effective 1 October. Saurabh Shatdal, managing director at real estate consultancy Cushman & Wakefield, will take over as managing director and chief executive of Fleur Hotels, which is expected to be listed on the public markets by the end of next year. Chief financial officer Kapil Sharma will join Lemon Trees board as executive director while continuing in his role as the hotel operators finance head. Lemon Tree Hotels, founded by Keswani, opened its first hotel in 2004 and has a portfolio of more than 230 hotels. It also has 110 hotels in the pipeline both in India and internationally. The hotel group, which owns, leases, operates, and franchises hotels across segments, has seven brands including Aurika Hotels and Resorts, Lemon Tree Premier, Lemon Tree Hotels, Fleur Hotels, Red Fox Hotels, and the Keys brand. Keswani, 66, speaking with Mint in May, said Lemon Tree Hotels expected strong revenue growth this fiscal year, driven by a rebound in business travel, higher room rates, and expansion across hotel segments. Lemon Tree was prioritising the public market listing of Fleur Hotels by December 2026 to go debt-free, he said, adding that post the listing the subsidiary is expected to generate more than 700 crore in annual earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization. The company also aims to capture the under-penetrated market of sub-40-room properties in smaller cities. This is part of a broader strategy to tap Indias growing demand for branded accommodation, which is projected to rise from 200,000 rooms currently to 300,000 by 2029-30. Despite a brief dip in demand during the April-June first quarter due to the Pahalgam terror attack and a resurgence of covid, Keswani said he expected mid-teen revenue growth for FY26 supported by rising domestic travel and Lemon Trees growing footprint. A seasonal boost Prashant Biyani, vice president for institutional equity research at Elara Capital, said the management changes at Lemon Tree bring greater clarity for the hotel company beyond Keswani. Having separate managing directors for each entity will help ensure healthy growth for both, he said, adding that investors would be keen to see a clear growth strategy for Fleur Hotels ahead of its market listing in 12-15 months. Despite softer demand for the hotel sector in the first quarter, Biyani expects occupancy to grow 1-1.5 percentage points from a year earlier in the ongoing second quarter. Hotels are expected to charge 10-12% more for rooms on average, which combined with the increased occupancy is expected to boost the industrys overall revenue per available hotel room by 12-14% in FY26, according to Elara Capital. In the June quarter, Lemon Trees revenue from operations surged to 315.77 crore from 268.01 crore in the same year-earlier quarter. Net profit jumped to 48.10 crore from 20.11 crore a year ago. Travel to northern cities such as Chandigarh, Amritsar, Srinagar, and Jodhpur was impacted by rising border tensions in early May, while the Air India plane crash in June triggered widespread flight cancellations. This led to lower hotel bookings in cities such as Goa, Jaipur, Mumbai, Delhi, and Bengaluru that are heavily dependent on air connectivity. Despite these setbacks, Elara remains optimistic about the hotel industrys prospects in the second quarter owing to seasonal demand, long weekends, corporate events in Mumbai, and Keralas Onam festival. Among listed hotel players, Lemon Tree Hotels will be a tactical stock pick for the second quarter, Biyani said. Air India has finally kicked off the retrofit of its legacy fleet, with the first Boeing 787-8 widebody aircraft already being sent to the United States for a full upgrade of its cabin. According to a report by ANI, the Boeing 787-8 widebody aircraft sent for retrofit by Air India will return by December this year, after which more aircraft of the fleet will be sent for upgrades. Air India CEO Campbell Wilson told the company's staff on Friday in a town hall meeting that two legacy Boeing aircraft will be sent for retrofit every month after this, with all 25 remaining 787-8s upgraded by June 2027. As for the narrowbody segment, Wilson gave an update saying that retrofitting of all such aircraft will be done by September this year. As many as 14 out of the 27 A320neo aircraft have already been retrofitted and returned to service, the Air India CEO said, as per ANI sources. Also Read | Air India strengthening internal processes to minimise operational challenges: CEO Air India eyes legacy Boeing fleet reliability with Singapore Airlines According to the report, Air India is also ramping up its efforts to improve the reliability of its legacy fleet, including aircraft from the Airbus A320 , Boeing 787 and Boeing 777 families. The company is targetting recurring issues like supply chain delays and spare parts shortages as part of its wider programme of undertaking operational upgrade. The company is working directly with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to fast-track solutions. The strategy involves close collaboration with shareholder partner Singapore Airlines, exchanging best practices on engineering, maintenance planning and operational efficiency. Air India is collaborating with our shareholder partner, Singapore Airlines, to exchange notes on industry best practices," CEO Campbell Wilson said, according to ANI. Also Read | Air India teams up with Singapore Air to bolster fleet upkeep after fatal crash The multi-year retrofit programme is also part of its operational efficiency plan. (Bloomberg) -- An ex-Barclays Plc investment banker sued the bank for unfair dismissal alleging that an offhand comment taken out of context cost him his job. Mathew Humphrey, an assistant vice president in London, was dismissed for misconduct in October last year after the bank found that he tried to cover up a potential client fee error and told a junior to not disclose the issue as it could open a can of worms. After an internal probe the bank found that there were no issues with the fee, according to court documents. For his part, Humphrey argues that the comment was taken much more seriously than it shouldve been after his colleague reported it to bosses. I misjudged the situation and regret making the joke. But what Im being accused of has been taken much further than a flippant joke, Humphrey said in a witness statement prepared for a London employment trial hearing. Humphrey is seeking 116,000 ($154,550) in lost compensation A spokesperson for Barclays declined to comment. The banks lawyers have denied all the allegations. It is the dishonesty rather than the breach that is the issue, Caitlin Page, a Barclays lawyer, said in a hearing this week. It was not a joke, rather an instruction not to escalate. In January 2024, Humphreys junior colleague raised the possible client fee error. Humphrey then messaged to say he was half tempted to just correct this quarter and move on, the banks lawyers said in court filings. He is also alleged to have told the junior to not disclose the issue until one of them left Barclays and tried to mask the possible error, according to the bank. Humphrey didnt respond to an email and LinkedIn message for comment. The allegations were all false and he escalated the issue to the management, Humphrey said in court documents. The junior colleague misunderstood the jokes and the bank decided to take the joke out of context as it wanted to get rid of him in the months after he took sick leave due to chronic cluster headaches. Humphrey has not alleged disability discrimination. I need to appeal and clear my name and ideally get some compensation to help me get back on my feet and find another job, Humphrey said. More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com The Tata Sons annual general meeting next week will feature six representatives from the parent Tata Trusts, including the three children of chairman Noel Tata, marking a change in how the Tata Group holding company has held annual shareholder meetings so far. Tata Sons' AGM, scheduled on 14 August at the Bombay House, the corporate office of the Tata Group, will be attended by the nine board members of Tata Sons, including Noel Tata, who is also the chair of Tata Trusts. Noel is the single largest individual shareowner of Tata Sons, owning 1% of shares. In addition to being a board member of Tata Sons, he will be attending the meeting in his personal capacity as a Tata Sons shareholder, according to an executive privy to the development. The attendance is significant for two reasons. First, it marks a departure from the past when former chairman Ratan Tata was the sole representative of Tata Trusts at the Tata Sons shareholder meetings. Noel, who participated in the AGM proceedings, attended in his personal capacity. In October last year, Noel took over as the chair of Tata Trusts after the demise of his half-brother, Ratan Tata. However, 10 months into Noel's tenure, it appears that the philanthropic entities that own Tata Sons have no single individual wielding "absolute power", according to an executive. Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and Sir Ratan Tata Trust, the two largest shareholders, owning 27.98% and 23.56% of Tata Sons, will be represented by Vijay Singh, former defence secretary and Mehli Mistry, a businessman and a close confidante of the late chairman Ratan Tata. Noel's three children, Leah, 39, Maya, 36, and Neville, 32, will be representing the smaller Tata Trusts that own shares in Tata Sons, according to an executive privy to the development. Finally, Tushad Dubash, 42, will also be attending the AGM as he is one of the trustees of the RD Tata Trust. Dubash is the son of Behram Dubash, a businessman. Behram was a close associate of late Ratan Tata, having attended school with the late industrialist. Also in attendance will be a representative from the Shapoorji Palonji Group, which owns 18.38% of Tata Sons. Also Read | Tata Power battles Mundra plant closure even as renewables outperform in Q1 Beginning early 2023, Noel's three children began serving on the board of smaller Tata philanthropic entities. Presently, the children are on the boards of six of the 15 charitable entities, which comprise the Tata Trusts. The Tata scions joined the board under Ratan Tata. An email sent to Tata Trusts CEO Siddharth Sharma seeking a comment went unanswered. "Tata Trusts, by nominating Vijay Singh and Mehli Mistry to represent the two primary trusts, have indicated that there is no longer a singular head with absolute authority over the group's flagship trust following Ratan Tata's death," said the executive. This lack of one leader commanding the philanthropic entities is underscored by the decision of Tata Trusts late last year, instituting an executive committee, comprising Noel, Srinivasan, Singh, and Mehli Mistry. This committee shares equal authority in executing decisions made by the board of Tata Trustees. It is also important that Sir Ratan Tata Trust is the only charitable entity that wields the veto vote, which can prevent any resolution from being implemented. For this reason, Mehli Mistry, representing Sir Ratan Trust, has a crucial role in the proceedings inside the Tata Trusts. Tata Trusts, which owns 65.9% of Tata Sons, has three nominees on the board of Tata Sons. Besides, Noel and Vijay, Venu Srinivasan, chairman emeritus of TVS Motor Ltd, is the third representative of Tata Trusts on the nine-member Tata Sons board. Tata Sons' shareholder meeting will approve the appointment of Noel Tata as a board member. Also on the agenda are the re-appointment of board members, Venu Srinivasan and independent director Anita Marangoly George, according to the AGM notice. More representation from Tata Trusts at the shareholder meeting of Tata Sons comes on the back of a missive from the parent philanthropic entity to Tata Sons chairman Natarajan Chandrasekaran to explore all possible options to ensure that the holding company of the Tata Group remains private even as the deadline for going public ends on 30 September, Mint reported in its edition dated 31 July. Significantly, Tata Trusts has requested that Tata Sons continue discussions with the Shapoorji Pallonji Group to provide an exit to the largest minority shareholder. For more than three decades, Lip-Bu Tan invested in the Chinese economic boom, placing the kind of no-brainer bets that enriched venture capitalists and fund managers around the world and across the US. He set up a venture firm called Walden International based in San Francisco that pumped more than $5 billion into over 600 companies. More than 100 of those investments were made in China, including deals with once-obscure startups such as Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. today Chinas largest chipmaker where he served on the board for a decade and a half. In recent years, as US-China tensions escalated, Washington increasingly restricted Beijings access to advanced technology and placed tighter limits on the ability of US companies to do business there. And Tans efforts to distance himself from Chinese investments accelerated with his appointment at Intel Corp. in March, when he agreed to divest his holdings there, according to a person familiar with the arrangement. That hasnt stopped US lawmakers and, now, Donald Trump from holding Tans past Chinese affiliations against him. The US president called the executive highly conflicted in a social media post and urged him to resign. Intel has said Tan and the board are deeply committed to advancing US national and economic security interests. Late on Thursday, Tan said hes got the full backing of the companys board, responding for the first time to Trump. We are engaging with the Administration to address the matters that have been raised and ensure they have the facts, he said in a letter to staff posted on Intels website. Heres what we know about Tans business dealings in China. Walden He started work at a venture capital firm in the 1980s called Walden Ventures, where he helped create a spinoff named Walden International that focused on overseas opportunities. Tan, a Mandarin speaker born in Malaysia, helped the company make investments all over East Asia, including China. He pushed some of Waldens funds into the then-unfashionable area of chip investing. Most venture capitalists had moved away from the industry, figuring that it was impossible to challenge giants such as Intel with startup money. But Tan played those odds. Today, the executive is still chairman of Walden International. And hes the founding managing partner at Walden Catalyst Ventures, which focuses on investments in the US, Europe and Israel. He also serves in that role at another venture fund, Celesta Global Capital. Tan and Walden have faced scrutiny for China-related investments before. In 2023, the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party sent Walden a letter expressing concerns and seeking more information on the types of companies and amount of investments made there. SMIC Headquartered in Shanghai, SMIC was founded in 2000 as an early attempt to bring advanced chip-making to China. Walden International was one of the big investors when the startup raised $630 million from a group of venture firms in 2003. Tan was a director on SMICs board until 2018. The Chinese company, whose customers at one time included Qualcomm Inc., is attempting to break into the outsourced chip production business dominated by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. In 2020, that effort took a serious blow when the US Commerce Department put SMIC on the so-called entity list, citing ties with the Chinese military. That means businesses need licenses to supply the Chinese company with technology. The move effectively cut it off from crucial US vendors. Today, its a key partner to major Chinese sector players including Huawei Technologies Co. Cadence Tan stepped out of the venture world and joined the chip industry full-time when he became interim head of San Jose, California-based Cadence Design Systems Inc. in 2008. The executive, who had previously served on the board, went on to take the permanent CEO job the next year. He stayed in the role until 2021, when he transitioned to executive chairman, and is widely credited with restoring the companys fortunes. In late July of this year, the Department of Justice announced a plea deal that cost Cadence more than $100 million in fines. Employees at Cadences China unit allegedly hid the name of a customer the National University of Defense Technology from internal compliance in order to keep supplying it. That organization had been put on the Department of Commerces blacklist in 2015. The Chinese university was one of a group of supercomputer operators there that had conducted simulations of nuclear explosions, the DOJ said. Cadence got a 20% reduction of the statutory maximum fine because of its partial cooperation with the investigation, according to the DOJs statement, which didnt mention Tan. Still, his connection to the company was cited this week by US Senator Tom Cotton, who wrote to Intel Chairman Frank Yeary questioning whether what happened at Cadence under Tans tenure makes him fit for his current job. Current Status Tan spent time on the boards of other Chinese companies, such as Advanced Micro-Fabrication Equipment Inc. But he doesnt, according to Bloomberg data, currently serve on a board of any company based in that country. Though Walden International has invested in more than 100 Chinese companies over the years, that involvement has been scaled back, according to PitchBook. Walden International, Walden Catalyst Ventures and Celesta now just have stakes in a handful of companies based in China, including Hong Kong, the site shows. With assistance from Jessica Sui, Debby Wu and Vlad Savov. 2025 Bloomberg L.P. Ranchi, The apex industry association of Jharkhand on Friday sought the central government's intervention in safeguarding the interests of businesses and incentive measures for relief in the wake of new tariffs imposed by the US. Federation of Jharkhand Chamber of Commerce and Industries general secretary Aditya Malhotra said the imposition of a high tax on Indian goods by the Donald Trump administration in the US created an "atmosphere of uncertainty" in global trade. An initial 25 per cent tariff, announced by US President Donald Trump on Indian imports, came into effect on Thursday. In addition, Trump on Wednesday clamped another 25 per cent levies on India, as a penalty, for its purchases of Russian oil, bringing the total duties slapped on the country to 50 per cent. The additional 25 per cent duty will come into effect after 21 days or August 27. "The announcement of the new tax structure by the US has created an atmosphere of uncertainty in the global business world. Since the US is a major trading partner of India, these taxes can have direct and indirect effects on the industries in Jharkhand," Malhotra told PTI. Exports of steel, mining products, handicrafts and IT services to the US may become expensive, while the cost of machinery and technology coming from there will also increase, the FJCCI general secretary said. Jharkhand houses about 40 per cent of the country's total minerals and has the presence of several industries. Malhotra said if the burden of additional tariff or tax increases on goods or services exported from Jharkhand to the US, the competitiveness of traders would be affected. "Also, the increase in the cost of imported machinery and technical equipment may push up the production cost of local industries. This will reduce the competitiveness of our industries," he said while expressing concerns over the US decisions. Under these circumstances, the FJCCI urges the central government to "safeguard the interests of the state by holding talks with the US and providing relief and incentive measures to the industries", he said. Singhbhum Chamber of Commerce and Industry , a business body in the mineral-rich Kolhan region in Jharkhand, unveiled a poster to protest against the US president's unilateral decision and called for a boycott of American products and promotion of Swadeshi items. The poster was launched on Thursday by SCCI president Vijay Anand Moonka. He said such a decision will have a far-reaching adverse impact at a time when the business landscape of the world was being influenced by a global perspective. (Bloomberg) -- The heavy hitters of private credit have been waiting for this moment for years. Major lenders, which often cater to companies with dented credit, talk endlessly about the opportunities in investment-grade debt and in financing the breakneck growth of artificial intelligence. Theyve done smaller deals, but this week they caught the biggest fish yet: a $29 billion financing package for Meta Platforms Inc.s massive data center in Louisiana. That transaction, led by Pacific Investment Management Co. and Blue Owl Capital Inc., hits all the high notes: Its a top-notch business in a hot sector. It disrupts the usual route that companies like Meta travel to get money from investors through banks. And, its huge. Private credit has been itching to get into this space, said John Medina, senior vice president on the global project and infrastructure finance team at Moodys Ratings. This deal is one of the first of its kind for private credit and if it is successful, we would expect to see more. The biggest technology companies are in an AI arms race now, and they need cash to win. Elon Musks xAI Corp. recently told investors it plans to spend $18 billion on data centers, and is looking at raising debt backed by projects rather than at the corporate level. Others including Amazon.com Inc. and OpenAI Inc. are pursuing their own sites across the US. Morgan Stanley estimates that capital expenditures on AI could exceed $3 trillion in the next three years. For Meta, Pimco is planning to arrange $26 billion in debt and Blue Owl is providing $3 billion in equity. The debt portion is likely to be issued in the form of investment-grade bonds backed by the data centers assets, people familiar with the matter said, adding that the final structure is still in flux. The bidding war for the financing lasted months. It was competitive because private credit firms have been all-but-begging for access to the investment-grade debt world that banks dominate. Other private credit firms that grappled for the top spot include Apollo Global Management Inc. and KKR & Co., which made it to the final round, as well as Brookfield Asset Management Ltd., Blackstone Inc. and Ares Management Corp., said the people, who were not authorized to speak publicly. Morgan Stanley advised Meta on the deal but isnt leading the financing. It is the largest funding package related to a specific AI data center by a mile, with others involving xAI Corp. or Coreweave Inc. well below $10 billion. Microsoft Inc., BlackRock Inc. and the United Arab Emirates MGX investment vehicle are teaming up to raise $30 billion of private equity that can be leveraged to $100 billion, with Nvidia Corp. and xAI also joining in, but that money is for a series of data warehouses and energy infrastructure rather than an individual project. The most recent debt deal of any kind thats even near the size of Metas was a $26 billion bond sale to support Mars Inc.s purchase of rival food-maker Kellanova in March. A group of banks put together the financing, which was funneled through to their typical investors in the syndicated market. Dry Powder Private credit firms have about $450 billion of dry powder to invest, according to Preqin data, and are clamoring for this kind of business. The corporate acquisitions that often fuel private credit deals are practically at a standstill. And these firms aspire to more fully become rivals to traditional Wall Street banks handling everything from advising companies to structuring their debt to providing some of it themselves. Expanding further into investment-grade deals could help make private credit a $40 trillion market, according to an estimate from Apollo. This ecosystem of private investment-grade is a massive market with a huge tailwind, Michael Zawadzki, the global chief investment officer at Blackstones credit and insurance unit, said last year. Representatives for Apollo, Meta, Pimco, Blue Owl, Brookfield, Blackstone, Ares and Morgan Stanley declined to comment. Those for KKR and xAI didnt immediately respond to requests for comment. KKR and Energy Capital Partners last year agreed to a $50 billion partnership to accelerate the development of infrastructure for artificial intelligence. Blue Owl CEO Marc Lipschultz has compared the AI craze to the Gold Rush: though lenders arent out there digging for treasure, they can provide the picks and shovels that technology firms need. In this case, it takes the modern version, the data centers, he said during a conference call on July 31. And we are the best placed firm to help develop and to help fund those data centers. --With assistance from Laura Benitez and Kurt Wagner. More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com New Delhi, Aug 8 (PTI) Capital markets regulator Sebi chief Tuhin Kanta Pandey on Friday called for redefining the role of independent directors, emphasising that they must be regarded and treated as stewards of accountability. "We cannot continue to view them as honorary appointees or friendly critics. They must be viewed and treated as stewards of accountability," Pandey said while addressing the 2025 Annual Directors' Conclave. According to him, this transformation requires a change in multiple areas. Independent directors must feel free to dissent and be well-versed in emerging risks such as AI governance, cyber threats, and ESG disclosures. Their orientation should be ongoing, rather than limited to a one-time induction. Pandey stressed the need for broader diversity in board composition, drawing talent from varied sectors, younger professionals, regional voices, and individuals outside familiar networks. "A board that never disagrees is not aligned - it's asleep. Divergent views, when rooted in purpose and mutual respect, strengthen the board. They test assumptions, lead to deeper discussions, and enable constructive decision-making," he stated. He outlined a vision for "shaping tomorrow's board", which involves shifting the focus from compliance to culture and embracing technology for smarter governance. Governance, he said, is no longer just about policies but about tone, behaviour, and values in action. On technology adoption, Pandey urged boards to stop viewing digital tools as burdens or threats. Instead, they should demand real-time dashboards that provide meaningful insights -- not just volumes of PDF reports. These dashboards could track indicators such as red-flag employee exits, whistle-blower complaints, ESG trends, or vendor concentration risks, bringing them to the board's attention before they become public issues. "Governance intelligence must become as routine as financial intelligence," he asserted. While acknowledging the significance of gender diversity, regional representation, and generational diversity, he stressed the importance of cognitive diversity, asking: "Do we have enough contrarian thinkers in the room? Do we have people who see risk differently -- not more fearfully, but more perceptively?" China Renaissance Holdings Ltd.s former chairman and founder, Bao Fan, was released from detention more than two years after he vanished from the public eye due to an investigation by Chinese authorities. Bao was released recently, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not be named discussing private information. Further details of his legal status werent immediately clear. The Ministry of Public Security didnt respond to a faxed request for comment. Calls to the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection went unanswered on Friday. Caixin earlier reported the news. A well-known dealmaker for some of Chinas top technology firms, Bao was detained in February 2023 amid a sweeping anti-corruption crackdown on the financial sector. In August of that year, the firm said he was still cooperating with a probe and he later resigned as chairman and chief executive officer of his firm in February 2024. China Renaissance said Bao no longer participates in the companys daily management and operations and declined to comment on his personal matters, according to a statement. Bao didnt respond to a phone call. The bankers fate underscores the risks for businesses in China as President Xi Jinping has tightened control with broad regulatory crackdowns and probes to root out alleged corruption. Hundreds of financial executives and officials have been ensnared over the past few years, while the sector has slashed pay and cut back on perks to comply with Xis push for common prosperity. Last month, China blocked a top Wells Fargo & Co. banker from leaving the country as part of a criminal probe, according to authorities. Bao, a former banker at Morgan Stanley and Credit Suisse, founded China Renaissance in 2005. He made a name for the firm by brokering tough mergers that led to the formation of ride-hailing service Didi Global Inc. and food-delivery giant Meituan. With his sprawling connections, Bao has been privy to information related to the countrys biggest entrepreneurs. His company has advised tech giants including Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Tencent Holdings Ltd. China Renaissance has struggled in his absence and seen a slew of departures. It received interest from a Hong Kong-based financial group with a Middle East backer to take over what remains, including its trading license, people familiar said last year. A couple of small Chinese brokerages also showed interest. Co-founder Xie Yi Jing resigned from the chief executive officer role in November, less than 10 months after assuming the duties from Bao. Baos wife, Hui Yin Ching, took over as chair in October. Andy Maynard, who was head of global equities at China Renaissance, recently joined Deutsche Bank as head of equity execution, Asia Pacific, according to a memo seen by Bloomberg in June. The firms total number of employees has dropped 37% from 2022 to 475 as of the end of 2024, as it posted losses and sliding revenue for three consecutive years. With assistance from Zheng Wu. 2025 Bloomberg L.P. New Delhi [India] August 8 : A proposed 100 per cent US tariff on semiconductor imports, announced by President Donald Trump, could force a strategic shift of Taiwan's chip production landscape, potentially pulling more of the island's semiconductor operations onto American soil, reports Focus Taiwan. Liu Pei-chen, a researcher at the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research, warned that Trump's tariff threat signals a shift from incentive-driven industrial policy to one defined by force. "Now he is deploying the 'stick' strategy, imposing punitive tariffs unless companies invest in the US," she told Focus Taiwan. According to Liu, this dual pressure, tax incentives for US-based production and tariffs for imports, could push global chipmakers to speed up their American investments. That shift might drive up costs throughout the semiconductor supply chain and, eventually, consumer electronics prices. She also noted that while the US wants to boost its domestic chip ecosystem, gaps in the supply chain, especially for equipment and materials, mean building fabs in America remains costly. "This could raise prices and create uncertainty for future market demand," she said. Trump's sudden declaration on Wednesday that "we'll be putting a tariff on of approximately 100 per cent on chips and semiconductors" has sent shockwaves through the global tech sector. Though short on specifics, the statement carried a clear message: companies that manufacture in the US will be spared, while foreign-made chips will be penalised. Yet not all chipmakers face the same risk. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co , the world's largest contract chipmaker, may avoid the brunt of the tariff. Derek Scissors, senior researcher at the American Enterprise Institute, told Focus Taiwan that TSMC is likely "at the front of the line for an exemption," thanks to its massive investment in the US. "There's no way TSMC is going to face a tariff, at least on the products it's making in the US," Scissors said, adding that the tariff plan introduces significant uncertainty, which could disrupt trade and investment decisions across the industry. That market confidence showed up immediately. Following Trump's announcement, TSMC's shares in Taipei soared nearly 5 per cent to close at an all-time high, while its American depositary receipts jumped 4.86 per cent later in the day. Earlier in April, Trump's blanket tariff policy targeted Taiwan with a 32 per cent levy, later reduced to 20 per cent. That's still higher than the 15 per cent levied on Japan and South Korea. Scissors called the competitive disadvantage "actually quite small," but acknowledged that Taiwan might offer more US investment to bring the rate down. (Bloomberg) -- At a rooftop bar on Manhattans Lower East Side, roughly 150 quant researchers met with employees at the artificial-intelligence startup Anthropic who implored them to consider a life away from Wall Street. Over plates of potstickers and popcorn chicken, they rubbed shoulders at the June mixer with former hedge fund quants-turned-Silicon Valley evangelists who encouraged them to apply for jobs at Anthropic, according to the company. This month, the San Francisco-based firm is going global with another quant social hour in London. The recruiting campaign mirrors similar efforts by rivals OpenAI and Perplexity AI. And a number of leading figures in the AI industry already come with quant backgrounds, including OpenAI Chief Research Officer Mark Chen and Perplexity co-founder Johnny Ho. But quants lured by dreams of building AI models and tools instead of profit-seeking algorithms for traders often for lofty pay and benefits comparable to the world of finance also face the risk of disappointment. The pitch is come and build the machine god, said Agustin Lebron, a former Jane Street trader who now works at a systematic trading startup. But I suspect that, for a lot of those people, itll end up being come and figure out how to make people buy things from ads. Still, the AI industrys competition with finance is noticeably heating up. For Wall Street, its an unwelcome wrinkle in an already-brutal war for quant talent. Unlike financial firms, AI companies arent covered by the non-competition agreements that keep many of these researchers from easily switching jobs. Id estimate weve seen a 4050% increase over the past 1218 months in AI-native and software companies specifically asking for talent with quantitative finance backgrounds, tech recruiter Mike Doonan said. Entry-level quants are eligible for base salaries of as much as $300,000, based on external job listings, but that doesnt include what can be considerable bonus targets. AI firms today can offer comparable base salaries, with compensation packages bolstered with equity rather than bonuses. Next Big Thing According to an analysis of LinkedIn announcements, social media posts and company news sites conducted by employment tracking company Live Data Technologies, firms including Jane Street and Citadel Securities have lost quants to AI firms over the past year. Aron Thomas and Charles Guo both left Jane Street earlier this year to join Anthropic. In an interview, they praised their former firm as a great place to work but said they were drawn to the excitement of being part of the next big thing. It became very clear quite quickly that AI is going to change a lot of things and drive many changes in the world, and it seemed pretty important to be involved, said Guo. Jane Street declined to comment for this story. Citadel also declined to comment on personnel matters, but pointed to growing interest in the firms own internship program, which saw 108,000 applicants for this summer, up 20% from last year. While OpenAI also declined to comment, its chief executive officer Sam Altman touted quant-focused recruitment events in an April post on X. Noam Brown, an ex-quant and top researcher at the company, weighed in, noting that recruits dont need to take a pay cut anymore. Perplexitys Ho said the company pays $200,000 base salaries but makes up the difference somewhat with equity. He stressed that the firms pitch to quants isnt mainly financial, though. Instead, it was the opportunity to take on new and more exciting challenges, said Ho, who previously worked at Tower Research Capital. Quant Skills Quants are uniquely adept at minimizing latency in algorithms, which makes them desirable to AI developers competing to ensure users get responses as quickly as possible from the large language models that power generative AI tools such as ChatGPT. And much like AI research, quantitative trading involves sifting through vast amounts of unstructured data. Whats more, firms like Anthropic and Perplexity are pushing more into financial services offerings. For its part, Anthropic said in a statement that its after the rigorous analytical thinking and empirical research methods that quants possess. Such skills have substantial overlap with the technical challenges of developing safer and more capable AI systems, the company said, adding that its going to keep hiring people with specialized backgrounds as it scales. Quant firms have occasionally sued employees departing for rivals. But litigation is unlikely for quants moving to AI labs, which dont directly compete with financial firms. Moreover, California where most big AI companies are based largely prohibits non-competition agreements. Ho said Wall Street has hurt itself with non-competes. They are becoming more and more secretive, he said. There are signs that Wall Street is attempting to hit back against the poaching attempts of AI companies. For example, Iain Dunning, who oversees AI at Hudson River Trading, posted on X in May: Are you a researcher at OAI/Anthropic/etc and tired of overhiring, the orgchart chaos, the lowered talent bar, want to move to NYC, or just want to do something different? Email me, DM me, mail a postcard, he wrote. More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com (Bloomberg) -- The Trump administration suggested it would issue a new policy clarifying that imports of gold bars should not face tariffs, after the US government stunned traders by ruling that they would be subject to duties. The White House intends to post an executive order in the near future to clarify what an official called misinformation about the tariffing of gold and other specialty products. The official detailed the plans Friday on condition of anonymity. Spot gold and futures prices on New Yorks Comex fell after the White House statement. Industry figures had previously understood that bars would be exempt from President Donald Trumps so-called reciprocal tariffs, including a 39% on goods from Switzerland, a major exporter of the precious metal. But when a Swiss gold refiner asked about it, US Customs and Border Protection ruled that one-kilogram and 100-ounce gold bars are subject to the levies, according to an agency letter. Earlier: US Upends Global Gold Market With Surprise Import Tariff The order could calm a market that was rocked by the prospect of a tariff on gold imports. Such a decision would have had sweeping implications for bullion around the world, and could have disrupted the functioning of the US futures contract. Gold has a unique role as a financial asset and global currency, making it different than copper, steel and aluminum other metals that have been hit by Trumps tariffs. Shipments were freezing up in response to the decision that gold imports would face US duties, traders said earlier Friday. --With assistance from Doug Alexander. (Updates with markets, additional context, starting in third paragraph.) More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com With an estimated net worth of nearly $40 billion, Robin Zeng could definitely afford to buy a superyacht. The thing is, he doesnt want to. The founder of the worlds largest battery maker represents a new type of tycoon flourishing in Xi Jinpings China: Hes understated, philanthropic and ready to echo official state talking points. People told me: Why dont you enjoy your life? You can buy a yacht," Zeng said on a video podcast hosted by Norways sovereign-wealth fund, ahead of the Hong Kong listing in May of his company, CATL. I dont want to be the rich guy," Zeng said. I want to share these riches," he added, to try to create a good society." The listing raised $5.3 billion, making it the largest public offering in the world this year. CATL, known officially as Contemporary Amperex Technology, capitalized on rising demand from electric-vehicle makers like Tesla. Its batteries were installed in one out of every three EVs globally last year. Zeng emerged during a turbulent period in China when policymaking slowed the countrys once-rapid growth but allowed a new set of magnates to get rich. Over the past decade, Xi has reined in the countrys once freewheeling finance sector, curbed rampant property speculation and checked the power of tech executives such as Alibabas Jack Ma. The Communist leader has also restructured the economy according to his own vision, focusing money and resources on industries that can buttress China against a hostile America. Zeng, 57 years old, has leveraged his tech know-how and the states willingness to throw money at the renewable energy and electric-vehicle industries. Wang Chuanfu, the founder of carmaker BYD, and Lei Jun of Xiaomi, an electronics and EV maker, also profited from the governments focus on high-tech manufacturing. These billionaires are publicly aligned with Xis vision for China, where ostentatious displays of wealth arent tolerated and humility is the sentiment of the day. Zeng, Wang and Lei all took prominent seats when the leader summoned top executives in February for a pep talk. Theyve all learned that they have made it within the great scheme" and dont go around saying, This was all me," said Rupert Hoogewerf, founder of the Hurun China Rich List, an annual ranking. Zeng declined to be interviewed. Refining yourself and enabling others lies at the heart of CATLs values," the company said in a statement. CATL aims to empower communities, our hometown, regions across China, and ultimately, people around the world." Zeng, whose Chinese name is Zeng Yuqun, grew up in Chinas southeastern province of Fujian, near Ningde, where CATL is now based. His parents farmed a plot of land that barely fed the family, according to local media reports. He later studied naval architecture at Shanghais Jiao Tong University, graduating in 1989. The Communist Party at the time assigned some jobs, and Zeng was tasked with working at a state-owned factory in Fujian. After a couple of months, he moved to work for an electronics manufacturer in the southern boomtown of Dongguan and obtained a Ph.D. in physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Several years after he co-founded a lithium-ion battery company called Amperex Technology Ltd., Zeng began talks with Apple about creating a battery to fit the sleek iPod. Zeng became a supplier for the pioneering audio player, and ATL parlayed it into bigger jobs making batteries for iPhones and iPads. Zeng sold ATL to Japanese electronics manufacturer TDK in 2005 for $100 million but stuck around, setting up a division focused on car batteries. When Chinese regulators prohibited the division from supplying the Chinese market because it was owned by a foreign company, Zeng started the Chinese-owned company, CATL, in 2011. The timing was perfect. The government had begun prioritizing the development of electric vehicles, offering subsidies to manufacturers. Zeng celebrates at CATLs listing ceremony at the Hong Kong stock exchange in May. As with ATL, Zeng built the companys early reputation around a contract with a blue-chip Western brand, supplying EV batteries to a BMW joint venture in China. His big boost came in 2015 when Beijing told global automakers they would only qualify for subsidies if they used batteries from a list of approved Chinese suppliers, including CATL. In 2014, CATLs revenue was $1.2 billion. A year later, it jumped to $9 billion. Zeng amassed a $5.8 billion fortune following CATLs first listing in 2018, on the Shenzhen stock exchange. He has a nearly one-quarter stake in the company, which has a market value of more than $160 billion. By 2020, CATL began supplying Elon Musks Tesla factory in China, cementing its position as the market leader. With customers around the world, Zeng regularly works until around midnight, he told the Norwegian podcast In Good Company." The always-on schedule means he likes a nap around 1 p.m. to recharge, Zeng said. He has given some of his wealth to a childrens charity, he added, and placed factories in rural China to ensure workers can live close to their families. He is driven by the values of Confucius, the ancient Chinese sage, Zeng has said in other interviews. He encourages people to read the philosophers book of sayings, known in English as The Analects," which emphasize lifelong learning and continuous moral improvement. Zengs preaching of the virtues of hard work have come as Xi attempts to rein in what he sees as widespread hedonism in Chinas bureaucracy. Earlier in his career, Zeng was photographed with the words written in calligraphy, Strong Gambling Nature," illustrating his willingness to make big bets. He more recently has been pictured in his office alongside a phrase from a Confucius classic: Profound and Extensive Like a Deep Spring," describing the wisdom of a sage. Chinas billionaire class took off after changes in the 1990s spurred private-sector entrepreneurship. Not all stayed on the right side of the Communist Party. One of the first private-sector billionaires, Huang Guangyu, was convicted of corruption in 2010 and spent more than a decade in prison. At least three other former holders of the title of Chinas richest man had serious run-ins with Chinese leadership, said Hoogewerf. Zengs customers have acknowledged his power over the EV battery industry. We all have to make money for him," Li Bin, the founder of NIO, a Chinese EV startup, said at a Beijing auto show last year. Lis firm, like many Chinese EV makers, is losing money, while CATL made $7 billion in profit last year. Zeng replied, Were just making bricks." Zeng has begun positioning his company as more than just a battery maker for cars. He wants batteries in trucks, trains and aircraft, and believes entire cities and countries can be powered with renewable energy backed by battery storage. The Chinese EV market faces a price war and oversupply. U.S. scrutiny of CATL is intensifying amid national-security concerns, with the Pentagon alleging military ties and lawmakers subpoenaing U.S. banks over CATLs Hong Kong listing. CATL said it isnt involved in any military-related business, and the banks said they are cooperating. The issues havent lessened investor appetite. CATLs share price in Hong Kong is up more 50% since the listing, outpacing its shares in mainland China, a market viewed as less accessible to global investors. But entrepreneurs like Zeng remain at the whim of Xi, according to Desmond Shum, who wrote a book about getting rich via connections with Communist Party officials. If you dont understand this, youll be the first one to be slaughtered," he said in an interview. Sterling & Wilson Renewable Energy Ltd (S&W) has accused Embassy Office Parks REIT and WeWork India of failing to disclose material information to investors, in separate complaints filed with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), according to documents reviewed by Mint. The allegations made on 22 July stem from a 100 crore payment dispute over a solar project involving Embassy Energy Pvt Ltd (EEPL), a unit of Embassy REIT. A complaint had led to a chargesheet filed by the Economic Offences Wing in 2023 against Embassy Group promoters Jitendra and his son Karan Virwani, who also lead WeWork India. S&W now alleges that WeWork India did not disclose this development in the draft red herring prospectus of its initial public offering earlier this year. Also read | WeWork India IPO: A game-changer or just a cash-out? Separately, S&W also complained to Sebi on 3 April that considering the ongoing investigation against the Virwanis, they must be removed from Embassy REIT under the fit and proper person criteria. Jitendra Virwani is the non-executive chair of Embassy Office Parks REIT. Karan Virwani is a director on the boards of the REITs sponsor and manager entities. Non-disclosure of material information, which could have a significant impact on the companys securities or investor decisions, could be in violation of SEBI regulations. It could potentially impact the decision-making of unit holders of REITs and potential investors in an IPO. S&W's promoters include Reliance New Energy Ltd (holding 32.5%), Shapoorji Pallonji And Co Pvt Ltd (6.94%) and Daruvala family (6.3%). Genesis of issue The issue has its genesis in a 100-MW solar plant constructed by S&W in Karnataka, which is currently being operated by Embassy Energy Pvt Ltd (EEPL), a unit of Embassy REIT. The construction of the plant was contracted to S&W by IL&FS Energy Development Co Ltd as part of an arrangement where the latter would fund and construct the plant. EEPL would repay IL&FS Solar Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of IL&FS Energy with interest in equated monthly installments. However, IL&FS Energy faced a financial crunch in 2018 and could not make the payment to S&W. The dues were to the tune of 100 crore. Also read | MFs plan to oppose Embassy REIT's proposal to raise 3,000 crore In its complaints, S&W said it discontinued work at the site when the payments stopped. However, when EEPL guaranteed payments to S&W in case IL&FS Energy failed to pay, it resumed work. The IL&FS Group became insolvent later that year. When EEPL did not pay the dues to S&W, the latter took it to the bankruptcy court. The Bengaluru Bench of the National Company Law Tribunal ruled in the favour of EEPL. Subsequently, S&W challenged the decision in the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal, Chennai. In 2023, the appellate authority ruled in the favour of EEPL. S&W has now moved the Supreme Court. Allegations denied The Embassy Group has denied all allegations related to non-payment of dues. In response to Mints queries, a spokesperson for Embassy wrote that EEPL was not contractually obligated to pay S&W. Embassy Energy was not a party to the agreements between ILFS Solar and ILFS Energy and ILFS Energy and Sterling Wilson. In fact, the agreements clearly stated that the sub-contractor i.e. Sterling Wilson will not have any right to make any claim against Embassy Energy, wrote the Embassy spokesperson. S&W also filed a complaint against EEPL and the Virwani kin with the EOW in March 2023. The agency filed a chargesheet in the case against the Virwanis in November 2023 and the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate took cognizance of the offences and summoned the two individuals the same month. EEPL has filed a petition with the Bombay High Court to quash the FIR that is pending hearing, the Embassy spokesperson said. A revision petition has also been filed with the Bombay High Court against the order of the magistrate taking cognizance of the chargesheet, they said. Tesla, the electric vehicle giant owned by the world's richest man, Elon Musk, will open another showroom in India following its launch in Mumbai. Tesla India Motor & Energy Pvt Ltd has leased approximately 51,000 sq ft of super built-up space at Orchid Business Park on Sohna Road, Gurugram, for nine years, with an initial monthly rent of 40.17 lakh, according to a report by the Hindustan Times citing documents accessed by CRE Matrix. The commercial lease starting on 15 July 2025, costs 40.17 lakh for the first year, increasing annually to 42.07 lakh in the second year, 44.07 lakh in the third, 46.17 lakh in the fourth, 48.36 lakh in the fifth, 50.66 lakh in the sixth, 53.06 lakh in the seventh, 55.58 lakh in the eighth, and 58.22 lakh in the ninth year. The lease deed states the rent for the Tesla's second commercial space after Mumbai stands at 120 per sq ft, with an annual rise of 4.75%, HT report noted. Tesla's Gurugram showroom details According to documents, the landlord's land share would be divided between Garwal Property Pvt Ltd (75.94%), Suncity Real Estate LLP (21%) and Orchid Infrastructure Developers Pvt Ltd (3.06%). The date to give rent is 7th of every month, while the company has disbursed 2.41 crore as security deposit for the nine-year agreement, they show It provides 51 parking spaces. As per property registration documents obtained by CRE Matrix, Elon Musk's Tesla India Motor and Energy Pvt Ltd leased 24,565 sq ft of warehouse space at Lodha Logistics Park in Mumbais Kurla area last month, with a total rental value of 24.38 crore over a five-year period. Meanwhile, Tesla is reportedly mulling setting up a showroom in Delhis Worldmark Mall, Aerocity on August 11. American comedian and late-night host Jimmy Fallon has taken aim at United States President Donald Trumps latest political moves, lampooning his new tariff plans and poking fun at his recent show of support for actor Sydney Sweeney. During his monologue, Fallon zeroed in on Trumps decision to impose tariffs on a wide range of countries. "Today, President Trump's tariffs went into effect for more than 90 countries including Canada, Brazil, and India. The only places Trump didn't charge are North Korea and Epstein Island. Meanwhile 50% of the tariffs on Brazil will dramatically raise the price of bananas, mangoes and pineapples. Edible arrangements were like, 'as long as you don't raise the price of cantaloupe and long toothpicks, we're good.'" Fallon also joked about the impact on household goods. Even toilet paper will get more expensive. You know its bad when people come out of the bathroom like, 'Hey, where's that long CVS receipt?' The comedian then shifted to international affairs, highlighting Trumps looming deadline for Russia to end the war in Ukraine. "Tomorrow is the deadline Trump set for Russia to end the war in Ukraine. Yeah, it's high on Trump's to-do list right under build a new ballroom and meet Sydney Sweeney." The Sweeney mention follows recent backlash involving the actor and American Eagle, with Fallon teasing Trumps enthusiasm to meet her. He also turned his attention to Russian President Vladimir Putins intentions. "Meanwhile Vladimir Putin said that he wants to meet with Trump next week. Then, all other leaders looked at Trump like, 'oh, you're in trouble!'" Sunny Deol returns as Major Kuldip Singh in Border 2, directed by Anurag Singh. He stars alongside Varun Dhawan, Diljit Dosanjh and Ahan Shetty. The Republic Day 2026 release is all set for a teaser for the fans. The films shooting is finished. On August 15, a one-minute announcement video featuring Sunny Deol will be launched. The movie highlights the IndiaPakistan rivalry. Also Read | Medha Rana joins Border 2 as female lead opposite Varun Dhawan The teaser will be released online and shown in cinemas during Independence Day weekend. It will also play before War 2 across major multiplex chains. The producers have partnered with cinema chains to ensure the teaser's wide screening. Anurag Singh has cut a 1-minute announcement video with Sunny Deol, which encapsulates the IndiaPakistan rivalry and the spirit of Border 2. With the teaser, the makers plan to reannounce and confirm the Republic Day 2026 release date. The announcement teaser drops on August 15, 2025, a source told Pinkvilla. The producers have done a back-end deal with the national multiplex chains to screen the Border 2 teaser with War 2, and everyone has willingly agreed to do the same, the source added. Diljit Dosanjh controversy Diljit Dosanjh plays Nirmal Jit Singh Sekhon, an Air Force officer who got the Param Vir Chakra after becoming a martyr while defending Srinagar Air Base in the 1971 war. Some people raised questions about his casting because of his collaboration with Pakistani actress Hania Aamir in Sardaar Ji 3. They felt he was not the right choice for a patriotic film. After the Pahalgam terror attack, the Pakistani actress criticised Indias military actions, which made things worse. The producers said it was shot before tensions rose, but the outrage continued. The film was released only overseas. Also Read | FWICE urges Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh to withdraw Border 2 filming permission at NDA amid Diljit Dosanjhs Sardaar Ji 3 row However, the makers of Border 2 got permission to release the film since no Pakistani actor was involved. T-Series told the Federation of Western India Cine Employees (FWICE) that the shoot was almost complete. Only two or three days of Diljits shoot remained. Ashoke Pandit from the Directors Association said re-shooting with another actor would delay the film and cause losses. However, he added that new films with Diljit would be banned, especially if his role can be replaced. New Delhi, Aug 8 (PTI) JK Tyre & Industries Ltd on Friday reported a 25 per cent decline in consolidated net profit to 163.35 crore in the first quarter ended June 30, 2025, impacted by higher raw material cost. The company had posted a consolidated net profit of 218.3 crore in the corresponding quarter last fiscal, JK Tyre & Industries Ltd said in a regulatory filing. Consolidated revenue from operations in the quarter under review stood at 3,868.94 crore compared to 3,639.08 crore in the same period a year ago, it added. Total expenses in the first quarter were higher at 3,695.08 crore from 3,364.02 crore in the year-ago period, the company said. Cost of materials consumed in the quarter grew to 2,266.69 crore against 2,166.88 crore in the same period last fiscal, it added. JK Tyre & Industries Chairman & Managing Director Raghupati Singhania said the growth momentum in domestic markets remained robust in Q1, with the company clocking a sales growth of 11 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y), as contributed by a steady demand for our products in both replacement as well as original equipment (supplies to automakers) to segments. "Despite a challenging and uncertain macro-economic environment, exports of passenger car tyres witnessed a strong traction both on a Q-o-Q (quarter-on-quarter) and Y-o-Y basis, signifying pull for our products and enhanced brand perception in the global markets," he noted. Both subsidiaries, Cavendish (India) and Tornel (Mexico), continued to add to the companys overall financials significantly, JK Tyre said. On the outlook, the company said demand for tyres in H2 is expected to pick up, supported by a push for infrastructure and overall economic momentum. Dozens of women wearing ID badges streamed from their rooms in a year-old dormitory for Foxconn workers and headed to a company cafeteria on a recent day for a menu of lentil-and-vegetable stew, beetroot and rice. White buses waited outside to ferry them to a factory where the Apple contractor builds iPhones. Women working on assembly lines in India form the backbone of a strategy Apple chief executive Tim Cook set in motion years ago. He first looked to boost Apples position in Indias growing smartphone market after sales in China slowed. Those early steps now leave Apple well-positioned for the intensifying trade rivalry between the U.S. and China. A year after a 2016 meeting between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Tim Cook, the company began assembling iPhones in India on a relatively small scale. Apple next pushed suppliers to develop India as an alternative manufacturing hub when President Trump in his first term threatened tariffs on Chinese-made iPhones and, later, when the pandemic slowed iPhone production in China. The company saw India as the only country outside of China that could assemble iPhones at adequate scale and competitive cost. Indias iPhone production capacity is expected to more than double when two new production centers gear up in the next two years. That will allow Apple to increasingly rely on India, instead of China, to supply iPhones to the U.S. Cook said last week that most iPhones sold in the U.S. came from India during the April-to-June quarter. He didnt elaborate on Apples long-term plans for supplying the U.S. The company, which declined to comment, reported iPhone revenue in the last fiscal year at $201 billion. For years, Apples iPhone gold mine depended largely on Chinese manufacturing and sales. The creation of Chinas iPhone supply chain over the span of two decades is widely seen as Cooks greatest business achievement. It helped the company wring trillions of dollars of value from its most popular device. Yet Apples lucrative position in, and its dependence on, the authoritarian nationAmericas most pressing economic and geopolitical rivalhas become the companys Achilles heel. On Wednesday, Cooks skill at navigating treacherous trade waters surfaced at the Oval Office, where Trump announced that Apple and other companies making domestic investments would be exempt from new global tariffs. Cook, who stood alongside the president, pledged a company investment of $100 billion in the U.S. Apples commitment falls short of Trumps prior demand that it make iPhones in the U.S. Yet it proved enough to afford protection for now. Apple investors showed their appreciation Wednesday, driving up its market capitalization more than $200 billion. Cooks India strategy had looked increasingly risky after Trump publicly criticized it and then announced steep tariffs on the country. The result of the presidents announcement appears to be that Apple will continue to pay a 20% tariff on iPhones imported from China and none on ones from India. Over the past nine years, India went from producing zero iPhones to as much as 14% of Apples worldwide total, according to estimates provided by Abhilash Kumar, a senior analyst at TechInsights. The technology analysis firm expects that share to double in 2025. Traffic passing an industrial park in Sriperumbudur, India, where Foxconn operates an iPhone assembly plant. Even so, India will need to up its game to catch China. When Apple unveiled the first iPhone in 2007, China already had a dense ecosystem of manufacturing supply chains, talent and infrastructure. In less than a decade after the iPhones release, China was building more than 200 million of them a year. In India, Apple faces a snarl of government regulations, spotty infrastructure and inexperience with precision manufacturing of complex components that go inside iPhones. China, which still accounts for about 80% of all iPhones assembled, has applied pressure behind the scenes on suppliers to slow Cooks plans. India has seen reductions in the number of Chinese training personnel, as well as delays in machinery shipments, according to people familiar with the matter. Suppliers indicate they are navigating those hurdles, these people said. Apple continues to diversify its supply chain, such as making metal smartphone frames in Vietnam, camera components in Malaysia as well as some of its more basic iPhone chips in the U.S. In the race for iPhone proficiency, India has shown a unity of purpose rare for its fractious political system. It has a better educated, tech-savvy workforce compared with a decade ago. We think the ecosystem is developing well," said Ashwini Vaishnaw, Indias minister for electronics, information and technology. Indias iPhone exports reached more than $17 billion for the 12 months that ended in March, he said. Help wanted Parts of India are starting to mirror the productivity of Zhengzhou, Chinas so-called iPhone City, where hundreds of thousands of workers make the devices. At the Foxconn plant in Sriperumbudur, around 40,000 workers, more than 80% of them women, work in three eight-hour shifts. For entry-level assembly workers, monthly earnings start at around $200 a month, lower than in China. Entry-level workers there can earn $700 to $1,000 a month for the same job and sometimes more during periods of higher demand. Employees working on an assembly line at a mobile-phone plant in Sriperumbudur operated by a unit of Foxconn. After the completion of two new production centers, the iPhone manufacturing hubs in Indias south are slated to employ some 150,000 workers screwing together Apples most ubiquitous device. The expansion predates Trumps second-term tariffs by years. The ramping up is the result of fairly long-term planning," said Arun Roy, secretary of industry in the Tamil Nadu government. Its not a sudden decision they have taken." India has upgraded its infrastructure and unveiled a program of manufacturing subsidies that have successfully promoted smartphone manufacturing. States offered their own inducements to draw Apple suppliers and other tech manufacturers. In an industrial park in southern India, 13 newly painted gray-and-white 10-story dormitory buildings are part of a 20-acre neighborhood built by the Tamil Nadu government to house iPhone workers. More than 6,500 people live there, and there is room for 12,000 more. An 18-year-old woman eating lunch at the dorm traveled nearly 1,000 miles from rural eastern India for an assembly line job. I looked on Google," she said. The high-school graduate started work this year for Foxconn, the Taiwanese firm that is one of Apples biggest manufacturing suppliers. Women boarding buses headed to the facility where Foxconn builds iPhones in Sriperumbudur, India.The cafeteria during lunch hour at the womens dormitory complex for workers in Sriperumbudur, India. When Foxconns chairman Young Liu came to India last August, Indias Prime Minister Narendra Modi presented him a bouquet of roses before the two men discussed Foxconns future investment plans. In Tamil Nadu, state industries minister T.R.B. Rajaa picked up Liu from the airport, draped a silk scarf around his neck, a mark of respect, and drove him to the site of the new dormitory. On the trip, he pitched investment ideas, including new factories to make smartphone components that are now imported. Its a good thing to make that every second count, right?" the minister said. Tamil Nadu is acquiring land for an airport near the Foxconn facilities for passenger and cargo flights. Elsewhere in the state, Indian conglomerate Tata Group, which has taken control of two smaller Taiwanese suppliers with Apples blessing, is building its own factory to assemble iPhones, making it the firms first domestic supplier. The company also is building worker housing. In the neighboring state of Karnataka, Foxconn is investing $2.5 billion in new manufacturing on 300 acres. A state official previously said that more than half the companys investment would go toward a new iPhone assembly facility. The overall development qualifies Foxconn for an $800 million incentive payment, a state official said. Foxconn and Tata declined to comment. Playing catch-up Technology analysts say India has made strides in final assembly, the lowest-value piece of iPhone production. What comes nextmaking the precision components inside iPhones, such as cameraswill be more difficult to master. China-headquartered firms maintain a dominant share of precision manufacturing, according to an examination of Apple supplier disclosures from Tufts University professor Chris Miller and Vishnu Venugopalan, who previously headed Tamil Nadus investment promotion agency. Of Apples 187 top suppliers, more than 150 of them have facilities in China, compared with 14 in India, as of fiscal year 2023. Chinese workers at a Foxconn factory in Zhengzhou, China. China is about 20 years ahead of the U.S. and India in terms of the scale, volume, or infrastructure they can churn out for Apple or any high-tech company," said Navkendar Singh, analyst at tech researcher IDC Asia/Pacific. Apple and its suppliers in India require new infrastructure, new workforce training and policy support to reach the level of industrial coordination China achieved over past decades. Most smartphone components are imported to India and many face tariffs. Manufacturers in India are allowed to bypass the tariffs if the parts they import are for phones that will be exported. Some supply chain experts say India might find it tough to match the production-friendly policies of Chinas authoritarian system. Chinese officials helped facilitate the transport of hundreds of thousands of migrant workers for temporary work during critical periods of Apples production calendar. Work shifts can stretch to 12 hours during peak demand. The womens dormitory complex for Foxconn factory workers in Sriperumbudur, India.A store inside the womens dorm. An effort in Tamil Nadu to allow 12-hour shifts was dropped after Indian labor activists and workers complained. In the first years after Apples Taiwanese suppliers moved to India, the firms were hit by labor unrest, often over food and accommodations. In one instance, hundreds of workers fell ill with food poisoning and staged a mass protest, drawing headlines worldwide. Foxconn has hired mostly female factory workers in India, which is uncommon in many parts of the country where women seldom work outside the home. The new dorm for Foxconn workers, where women sleep six to a room, has rules similar to those at university hostelsno men on the premises, for oneintended to reassure parents in the socially conservative country. The dorms have a grocery and a clothing store, as well as ping-pong tables and badminton courts. Workers can order birthday cakes at a ground-floor bakery. New confidence When Apple began manufacturing iPhones in India, its smartphones had higher rejection rates compared with Chinas. Foxconns chairman last year said Indias rates were nearly on par. India has started making the iPhone Pros, the higher-end models that make up a large share of U.S. demand. That shows a certain amount of confidence," said Singh, of IDC. Translating a new iPhone blueprint into a system for tens of thousands of workers to follow is a task that still largely takes place in China. Apple is experimenting with doing part of that work in India for the base model of the iPhone 17, said people familiar with the matter. Indian officials believe a significant increase in the number of iPhones produced in the next year or two will make it more practical for some foreign suppliers to consider setting up shop in India. They are studying Apples supply chain to see which firms would benefit from local operations. A worker walking through a corridor in the womens dorm complex. In March, India announced manufacturing subsidies of $2.7 billion for smartphone and other electronic components, including machinery. A month later, Tamil Nadu announced matching grants. In May, Foxconn said it was investing $1.5 billion in a new plant, which, according to a person familiar with the matter, will employ around 14,000 workers in Tamil Nadu. Apple might be able to reproduce key components of its Chinese supply chain in India in as little as five years, said Kevin OMarah, founder of supply chain research firm Zero100. Its not the next China. Nothing is the next China," OMarah said. But it will be a meaningful production center for Apple and other device-makers." Write to Tripti Lahiri at tripti.lahiri@wsj.com, Yang Jie at jie.yang@wsj.com and Rolfe Winkler at Rolfe.Winkler@wsj.com WASHINGTONPresident Trump has long believed the crux of foreign policy is two leaders in a room making historic deals. Pulling off a cease-fire in Ukraine with Russian President Vladimir Putin would be the kind of diplomatic coup he has long craved. It remains a long shot. The leaders could meet as soon as next week to pursue a peace agreement following months of maneuvering. But their approaches remain at odds. Trump has urged Putin to stop the war but has shown little interest in the specifics of a deal. The Kremlin boss has rebuffed all appeals to halt the fighting, except on his terms. After months of failed efforts to forge a deal, first by coercing Kyiv and later by wooing Putin, Trump has come around to the belief that heightened economic pressure on Moscow might be the only way to get an agreement. To sway Putin, Trump has embarked on a more confrontational course, threatening sanctions on countries that purchase Russian energy. He targeted India, a major buyer of Russian oil, with 50% tariffs on its goods shipped to the U.S. Other nations that import Russian oil and gas, including China, could see their duties raised by Trumps Friday deadline for an agreement. But even Trump seemed less than optimistic Thursday following talks earlier in the week between his special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and Putin in Moscow. Were going to see what he has to say," Trump told reporters of Putin. Thats going to be up to him." The White House is working on arranging a meeting with Putin but would like a three-way meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt. President Trump would like to meet with both President Putin and President Zelensky because he wants this brutal war to end," she said. The Russian leader said he is only open in principle" to talks with Zelensky. We are still far from creating such conditions," said Putin, who has frequently called into question Zelenskys legitimacy. Putin wouldnt have to agree to meet Zelensky for Trump to see him, the White House said. If the Trump-Putin summit happens, it could prove the biggest test of Trumps dealmaking skills this term. Trump returned to the White House vowing he could stop the war in Ukraine within 24 hours, later claiming he was merely joking. Privately, Trump is fuming at his failure to halt the war 200 days into his second presidency, according to aides. He has slowly come to recognize that a settlement must take account of Zelenskys bottom line and that of key European governments, who insist they wont recognize Russian control over any conquered territorya key Kremlin demandas part of an agreement. There is the added concern that Putin may not be serious about reaching a deal. Putin has made it clear that the Ukraine war is more important to him than the relationship with the U.S.," said Alina Polyakova, president and CEO of the Washington-based Center for European Policy Analysis. Another challenge for Trump will be navigating talks with a Russian leader who has a quarter-century of experience dealing with various U.S. presidents and has proved himself skilled in influencing them. If Trump meets with Putin and emerges empty-handed, he will have to decide whether to increase pressure on Russia, despite his skepticism that economic or military moves would alter the Kremlins calculus, or follow through on a threat he had made repeatedly to abandon the peace process. Either way, Polyakova said, the war keeps dragging on." Russian President Vladimir Putin and Steve Witkoff, President Trumps envoy, in Moscow this week. Trump entered his second term confident his rapport with Putin would overcome the complexities of the war Russia launched in February 2022. The presidents supporters say he has been wrongly caricatured as too cozy and deferential to the Russian leader. People have misunderstood Trumps approach," said Fred Fleitz, who was a senior National Security Council official during the first term. It isnt that Trump likes dictators. He believes America has to coexist with Russia. Since were not going to war, how do we deal with them?" Trump and Putin have held multiple calls and passed numerous messages through intermediaries, U.S. officials and other people familiar with their communications said. Their conversations, according to a senior administration official, have been typically friendly. Trump often discusses his aim of a revived U.S.-Russian relationship propelled by growing economic cooperation. Putin lists his grievances and core desires, mainly international recognition of Russias control over Crimea and the Donbas region, much of which it has seized from Ukraine. Their calls extend for hours sometimes due to lengthy Putin monologues and the need for translations, current and former U.S. officials said. Trump, usually impatient and anxious to chime in, listens attentively, aides said. Putin does this very methodically," John Bolton, Trumps third national security adviser during the first term, said of the former KGB officer. Hes very knowledgeable, he knows what hes talking about. When he wants to try and influence somebody, he just talks and talks and talks." Putin has carefully studied the new Trump administration and understands where Russias leverage with the president lies, said Fiona Hill, who was a top Russia aide in the White House during Trumps first term. Putins done his homework. Hes had years of figuring out who Trump is," she said. Part of that homework was determining how to prosecute his war while sending signals of openness to diplomacy. Russia still attacks Ukrainian cities and infrastructure with long-range missiles and drones, killing civilians with regularity. The conflict along the roughly 750-mile front line remains a grinding war of attrition, with Russias summer offensive clawing gradual gains against a staunch and stretched Ukrainian defense. Moscows lead in air power and troop numbers have given it the upper hand in the fight, U.S. and European officials quietly admit, though Russias glaring weakness remains its heavily sanctioned economy. Trumps frustrations with Putin started to seep into the open at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit in June, when he called his Russian counterparts refusal to end the war misguided." Im very surprised. Actually, I thought we would have had that settled easy," Trump told reporters. A July 3 phone call lasted barely an hourfar shorter than their previous chats. The call lacked the warmth with which they normally spoke to each other, the senior administration official said. There wasnt a flashpoint, but Trump ended it feeling perplexed, adding to his gnawing sense of being dragged along. Trump later acknowledged that Putin would say one thing in their conversations about his interest in halting the war and yet do another thing. I go home, I tell the first lady, And I spoke with Vladimir today. We had a wonderful conversation. She said, Oh, really? Another city was just hit." A frustrated Trump announced last month that he would give Putin 50 days to complete a cease-fire with Ukraine, later shortening the deadline to Friday. Failure to do so would lead the U.S. to sanction some of Russias top energy customers, a strategy aimed at choking off Moscows major remaining sources of revenue for its war effort. Administration officials and close presidential confidants said Trump and Putin didnt have a single, major blowup this year. Instead it was a series of moments," in the words of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.), that ultimately convinced Trump that Putin was trying to play him." You see now a turning of the page, and Putin has nobody to blame but himself," Graham said. But there are concerns in the U.S. and Europe that Putin floated the idea of a meeting to continue stringing Trump along, not to settle for peace. Putin might propose that Russia officially control some of the Ukrainian territory it occupies in exchange for a withdrawal of his forces from other parts of Ukraine, said a senior European diplomat and a Ukrainian official. Trump, eager for a deal, might urge Ukraine and allies to accept the offer. Kyiv and other European governments would likely reject the plan, the official said, playing into Putins hands because Trump, rarely concerned with the details of a peace settlement, might then blame Ukraine for continuing to fight. Trump could cut off intelligence and military support for Ukraine, as he did earlier this year, setting back Zelenskys efforts to align himself more closely with Trump following a combative Oval Office meeting in February. The U.S. could also remove itself from the diplomatic process entirely, leaving Moscow and Kyiv to continue what Trump has long labeled Bidens war." But those who know Trump suspect he will keep pursuing the most prized deal of his early presidency, where success or failure could define his legacy. He wants to be the guy who gets deals," said Marc Short, a first-term senior White House aide. That is his brand." Write to Alexander Ward at alex.ward@wsj.com, Alex Leary at alex.leary@wsj.com and Matthew Luxmoore at matthew.luxmoore@wsj.com Bank holiday today: On Friday, August 8, 2025, banks will be closed in Gangtok to mark Tendong Lho Rum Faat, according to the state-wise holiday calendar of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The banks in the rest of the country will remain open on Friday, August 8, 2025. Tendong Lho Rum Faat 2025 Celebrated in the month of August, Tendong Lho Rum Faat is an ancient festival celebrated by the Lepcha community in Sikkim. It is observed to thank Mount Tendong for its protection and to pray for the welfare of the community. Tendong Lho Rum Faat is one of the oldest festivals of Sikkim. Also Read | AU Small Finance Bank is first in 10 years to get banking licence When are banks closed? Banks are typically closed in various parts of the country to mark national, religious and regional observances. Additionally, banks are closed during the weekends except the first, third and fifth Saturdays of every month. Bank holidays are listed in the yearly holiday calendar published by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in accordance with the Negotiable Instruments Act, which governs the issuance of cheques and promissory notes. During these holidays, transactions involving such instruments are not available. Next bank holiday The upcoming bank holiday is tomorrow, 9 August 2025. On this day, banks across various parts of the country will be closed for Raksha Bandhan, a Hindu festival celebrating the bond between a brother and a sister. Mumbai: Pearl Global Industries Ltd (PGIL), one of Indias largest listed garment exporters, has maintained its growth momentum into the new fiscal year, having reported a 16.6% rise in consolidated revenue to 1,228 crore for the quarter ended June (Q1FY26). This marks the fifth consecutive quarter above the 1,000-crore threshold for the firm that has facilities in five countries and serves top global retailers such as Gap, Zara, Muji, Primark and Ralph Lauren. PGILs adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Ebitda) rose 13.4% year-on-year (y-o-y) to 114 crore with a margin of 9.3%. After adjusting for operational losses at new units in Guatemala and Bihar, its margins were at 10.7%, sustaining the double-digit trend for the second straight quarter, the company said. Net profit came in at 66 crore, up 5.9% y-o-y. PGILs performance was led by strong volume growth in Vietnam and Indonesia, which together contributed significantly to shipment volumes of 17.2 million pieces in Q1, up from 16.7 million a year ago. These markets are now emerging as key manufacturing hubs alongside Bangladesh, which continues to be PGILs largest operating geography. Also Read | Zara ads banned for featuring unhealthily thin models Strategic shift Since taking charge in 2019, managing director Pallab Banerjee has overseen a strategic shift from a largely India-dependent exporter to a multi-country manufacturing platform. PGIL now operates in five countriesIndia, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Indonesia and Guatemalaallowing it to diversify labour costs, trade exposure and customer servicing capabilities. The company's topline grew from around 2,800 crore in FY20 to 4,506 crore in FY25. It now targets 6,000 crore revenue and 10-12% EBITDA margin by FY28, supported by capacity expansion from 100 million to 135 million pieces. The company's new units in Bihar and Guatemala, launched last year, are still in the scale-up phase. The company plans further investment in Bangladesh to support long-term growth. Despite the ongoing capital expenditure, PGIL remains net cash positive. It ended FY25 with 172 crore in cash and raised 149.5 crore through a QIP in July 2024, using over 97 crore to retire debt. Long-term borrowing is rated A (Stable) by ICRA. The company declared a dividend of 18 crore from subsidiaries in Bangladesh and Hong Kong in Q1, marking continued cash flow fungibility across the group. Standalone India revenue for the quarter came in at 267 crore, down 3.4%, with margins improving due to product and customer mix changes. While the company's revenue concentration from the US market has come down, its client diversification continues to improve, Banerjee said. PGIL added new customers in Japan, the UK, Denmark and Spain in FY25 and services a base of over 50 global fashion retailers. Its top five clients contribute 6065% of the overall business, but span multiple geographies and categories. Analysts say PGILs strength lies in its geographic insulation, multi-product capability and shift to value-added categories like outerwear and activewear. PGIL has evolved into a global supply-chain partner with operations across five countries, said Bhavya Gandhi, analyst at Dalal & Broacha. The company has consciously focused on increasing the share of its high-margin categories. Jackets and outerwear now account for over 40% of volume and 50% of revenue. Categories like woven bottoms and knits are also seeing traction. Improved margins Margins have improved from under 5% in FY19 to over 9.5% in FY25. The company aims to sustain margins in the double-digit range by focusing on premium products, better capacity utilisation and design-led value addition. PGIL is no longer seen as a low-margin, high-volume player, Gandhi said. Its repositioning as a full-service global partner puts it in a stronger place for the next phase of growth. Banerjee said the company continues to invest in operational efficiencies, including sustainable processing, automated design sampling and smart manufacturing practices across units. These help control costs while meeting growing client compliance requirements on ESG. PGIL's growth strategy also includes de-risking of its sourcing. Vietnam and Indonesia have seen higher customer interest, while Guatemala provides near-shore capabilities for the Americas. India, meanwhile, continues to benefit from trade pacts with the UK, Japan and Australia. Commenting on the quarters results, Banerjee said, We are witnessing healthy growth in Vietnam and Indonesia and continue to see momentum across our diversified geographies. We are confident in our strategy and execution, and our FY28 targets remain on track. Indias top export industries to the US, including gems and jewellery, and apparel, are bracing for a prolonged downturn after US President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced a steep 50% import tariff, effective 28 August. The new regime marks a sharp jump from the current 2.1%13.9% tariff range to 51.3%63.9%, directly impacting sectors that account for 20% of Indias $86 billion in annual exports to the world's largest economy. Exporters raise alarm Exporters and industry bodies warn the tariffs will render businesses unviable, with diamond and jewellery leaders calling the move devastating." The Gems and & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) has sought urgent relief, including part tariff reimbursement, while apparel exporters are rushing to ship goods before the deadline in hopes of avoiding some immediate losses. There is no way Indian exporters can afford an import tariff of 50% on diamonds and jewellery. The sector is already facing headwinds of poor demand since the last three years. And if anything, the higher tariffs will result in untold damage to the sector," says Mavjibhai Patel, co-founder of Kiran Gems, one of largest exporters of diamonds and jewellery to the US. Read more: Fresh US tariffs could further slow Indias growth. All eyes on 21-day deadline. The GJEPC, set up by the commerce ministry, has sought short term measures by the government to lower the blow caused by the imposition of additional tariffs on US exports. Business will be zero nobody can do business with a 50% tariff. A blanket tariff of this magnitude is severely devastating for the sector," Kirit Bhansali, chairman of the council, said in an interview to Mint on Thursday. GJEPC has proposed introduction of a duty drawback scheme, which would reimburse 25-50% of the new tariffs imposed on gems and jewellery exports to the US from August to December. This aims to offset the impact of the new tariff, mitigating financial stress on exporters, and help India maintain its market share. To promote market diversification and reduce reliance on the US market, the GJEPC has requested financial assistance under the MAI Scheme to support initiatives to enter new markets. This includes backing for the upcoming SAJEX jewellery exhibition in Jeddah and the setting up of an India Jewellery Exposition Centre in Saudi Arabia. It said these measures will help the industry explore new opportunities and broaden its customer base. Racing against deadline In the textile and apparel sector, the Apparel Export Promotion Councils vice chairman A. Shaktivel has exhorted exporters to push out as many orders as possible before 27 August, the last date when the old tariffs will hold. He has also advised exporters to bear any additional cost and send the goods by air as a precautionary measure. Read more: Modi-Trump showdown over tariffs and Russia tradeexplained in 9 charts In our sector, we are confident that the Indian government will sign a trade agreement with the US in the next three-four weeks, but we are taking some interim measures to mitigate short-term losses," says Shaktivel. The point remains that the industry will not be remunerative for exporters if the new tariffs are implemented." Investors seem to have already read the tea leaves. In the last two days, shares of companies like Welspun Living, Trident and Gokaldas Exports, which export an assortment of towels, bed linen and apparels to US retailers have taken a hit. Shares of Gokaldas Exports fell from 820 on 4 August to 722 on 7 August. Shaktivel does not expect any government incentives for exporters, but he feels that if the tariffs do come into force, the exporters will have to have a dialogue with the customers to share any additional cost. It will be impossible for any exporter to reduce their costs to accommodate the increased tariffs." Among other measures being advised is to go slow on production for orders that will be delivered beyond 27 August. That will not be an easy call, as customers usually impose penalties on delayed shipments and local firms would have to bear the cost of inventory for a longer time. There is no denying that exporters will have to absorb some costs in the short-run," says Shaktivel. Read more: Farm exporters scramble for new markets as US levies high duties on Indian goods Oil headed for its longest losing run since 2021, as traders judged that US efforts to end the war in Ukraine would not impact overall supplies, even as Washington penalized India for taking Moscows crude. Brent fell toward $66 a barrel, down for a seventh straight session, while West Texas Intermediate was below $64. US President Donald Trump whod set a deadline of Friday for Moscow to agree to a truce said that hed be willing to meet with Vladimir Putin, even if the Russian leader hasnt yet agreed to sit down with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Earlier this week, Trump doubled levies on all Indian imports to 50% as a penalty for the nation taking Russian crude, prompting local state-owned oil refiners to pull back from purchases and look elsewhere. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, meanwhile, said the US may also impose tariffs on China at some point, when asked about targeting countries that buy Moscows energy. Oil has slumped in August following three months of gains. Investors are braced for a potential glut later this year after OPEC followed through on a campaign to relax output curbs. At the same time, crude futures have been weighed down by signs of slower growth in the worlds largest economy as Trumps wider trade tariffs took a toll on activity, posing a risk to energy demand. Positive signals from this weeks US-Russia talks and plans for a direct Trump-Putin meeting have eased concerns over Russian supply disruptions, causing a significant retreat in geopolitical risk premiums, said Gao Mingyu, chief energy analyst at SDIC Essence Futures Co. Oil traders, producers and users have proved adept in recent years at responding to supply challenges, whether they stem from conflict, geopolitical risks, or administrative hurdles such as sanctions and tariffs. Among signs of that flexibility this week were Russian Urals cargoes from the nations west being offered to users in China, buyers who dont typically take such grades. Brents prompt spread the difference between its two nearest contracts shows that near-term conditions have become less tight. The widely watched metric has narrowed to 53 cents a barrel in backwardation, compared with a differential of more than $1 a barrel a month ago. At this point, the market may shift toward more bearish sentiment, driven by pessimistic supply-demand fundamentals, given the peak season will be over soon, according to SDICs Gao. To get Bloombergs Energy Daily newsletter in your inbox, click here. 2025 Bloomberg L.P. All Time Plastics IPO Day 2 Live: The initial share sale of All Time Plastics Ltd sailed through on the second day on Friday. At the end of the first day, the issue was booked 35%. The public subscription period for All Time Plastics' initial share offering commenced on August 7 and is set to end on August 11. All Time Plastics IPO price band has been established between 260 and 275 per share, resulting in a total offering amount of 401 crore. If priced at the higher end of this range, the companys valuation exceeds 1,800 crore. On August 6, All Time Plastics IPO secured 119.9 crore from 12 institutional investors through its anchor book. Participants in the anchor book included Ashoka India, ABSL Umbrella Ucits Fund, Canara Robeco MF, Bandhan Mutual Fund, Abakkus Asset Manager, 360 ONE Equity Opportunity Fund, Edelweiss, Nuvama, and Gagandeep Credit Capital. Fifty percent of the overall issue is designated for qualified institutional buyers, 35 percent is allocated for retail investors, and 15 percent is reserved for non-institutional investors. All Time Plastics IPO comprises a fresh issuance of equity shares totaling 280 crore by the company, in addition to an offer for sale of more than 43.8 lakh equity shares valued at 120.6 crore at the upper price point from the promoters. This results in a total issue size of 401 crore. The capital obtained from the new share issuance will be directed towards acquiring machinery for its Manekpur facility in Gujarat, paying off debts, general corporate expenditures, and various expansion projects. With 14 years of experience in producing plastic consumer goods for daily use, All Time Plastics mainly exports its products to retailers in the European Union, the UK, and the US. In India, the company sells its products through modern trade retailers, super distributors (who provide supplies to distributors), and distributors (who serve general trade stores). Intensive Fiscal Services and DAM Capital Advisors are serving as the merchant bankers for the public offering of All Time Plastics. All Time Plastics IPO Subscription Status All Time Plastics IPO subscription status is 1.02 times on day 2. The retail portion was subscribed 1.44 times, and NII portion has been booked 85%, Qualified Institutional Buyers (QIBs) portion received 37% bids. The employee portion has been booked 3.13 times. The company has received bids for 1,07,80,074 shares against 1,05,46,297 shares on offer, at 17:00 IST, according to data on BSE. All Time Plastics IPO was subscribed 35% as of 5 pm on the first day of the bidding process. The retail portion was booked 55%, NII portion 33% while the employee quota was booked 1.86 times. QIB portion did not see any bids yet. All Time Plastics IPO Review As per Reliance Securities, All Time Plastics is strategically aligned with robust industry expansion and changing global consumption patterns. With its strong export footprint, varied product offerings, and commitment to sustainable production, the company is positioned to take advantage of opportunities both locally and globally. Nonetheless, addressing challenges like reliance on exports, fluctuations in raw material costs, and increasing ESG regulations will be crucial for maintaining long-term value. The brokerage advises - SUBSCRIBE. As per SBICAP Securities, the firm ranks as the second largest maker of plastic consumer products in India and serves as a proxy for global retailers such as IKEA and Asda. In the future, ATPL plans to increase its current Manekpur capacity from 4,000 TPA in FY25 to 16,500/22,500 TPA in FY26E/FY27E, respectively. Furthermore, the company is anticipated to pay off 143 crore of debt using the proceeds from the fresh issue, which will help reduce interest expenses and enhance profitability. The brokerage advises investors to SUBSCRIBE to the issue at the cut-off price. All Time Plastics IPO GMP today All Time Plastics IPO grey market premium is +25. This indicates All Time Plastics IPO GMP share price were trading at a premium of 25 in the grey market, according to investorgain.com. Considering the upper end of the IPO price band and the current premium in the grey market, the estimated listing price of All Time Plastics IPO GMP share price was indicated at 300 apiece, which is 9.09% higher than the IPO price of 275. According to the grey market activities observed over the past six sessions, the IPO's GMP is trending upward today, suggesting a robust listing. The lowest GMP recorded is 0.00, while the highest stands at 25, as per insights from investorgain.com experts. 'Grey market premium' indicates investors' readiness to pay more than the issue price. Also Read | All Time Plastics IPO to open on Thursday: 10 key things to know from RHP Nestle India share price: Shares of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) maker Nestle India opened at 1,122 apiece on the National Stock Exchange on Friday, August 8, as against its last closing price of 2,234.60, signalling a 49.7% downtick over the last close. But is the stock down by a whopping 50%? Well, the answer is no. Today, August 8, is the record date for the 1:1 bonus share issue announced by Nestle India. This means that investors who held one share of the company of 1 are entitled to one more share of 1. The total number of shares in the market doubles, but the price per share is adjusted downward, keeping the overall value of the investment the same. So, the 50% drop is not actually a loss in value it's just a mathematical price adjustment due to the bonus. For instance, if you held 100 shares at a price of 100 before the bonus issue, your investment value would be 10,000. Now, after the bonus share allotment in a 1:1 ratio, the shares would double to 200, but the price would be slashed by half to 50, keeping the total value at 10,000. So, there is no actual gain or loss just a change in the number of shares and price per share. After the record date, the original companys share price adjusts downward to reflect the impact of the bonus issue. Considering the adjusted price on NSE of 1117.30 apiece, Nestle India share price is down less than 1% today. As of 10.05 am, Nestle India stock traded at 1107.40, down 0.9%, following the bonus share record date. Also Read | AU Small Finance Bank shares jump 7% on RBI approval for Universal Bank license Nestle India Q1 Results Last month, the large-cap FMCG company also posted its Q1 results. Nestle India witnessed a 13.4% decline in consolidated net profit to 646.59 crore for the June 2025 quarter, mainly impacted by high commodity prices. The company had posted a net profit of 746.6 crore a year ago, according to a regulatory filing by Nestle India, which owns popular brands such as Maggi, NESCAFE and KitKat. Its revenue from the sale of products increased 5.86% to 5,073.96 crore in the April-June quarter. It was 4,792.97 crore in the corresponding period of the last financial year. "The quarter was impacted by elevated consumption prices across the commodity portfolio. In addition, we witnessed higher operations costs as a result of significant expansion in manufacturing in the last seven to eight months," Nestle India Chairman and Managing Director Suresh Narayanan said. By Dharamraj Dhutia MUMBAI - The Indian rupee ended lower for a fifth straight week, its biggest consecutive weekly drop in six months, as trade tensions between India and the United States escalated following President Donald Trump's call for new tariffs on Indian goods. The rupee closed marginally higher at 87.6550 against the U.S. dollar, from 87.7025 on Thursday. The currency opened at 87.5600 and reached an intraday high of 87.5350, supported by unwinding of long dollar positions in the NDF market. Dollar bids, primarily from oil importers, pushed the USD/INR higher after initial lows, traders said. For the week, the rupee eased 0.1%, following a 1.2% drop last week, and has depreciated nearly 3% over the past five weeks. Rising pressure on the rupee was driven by Indias position among the hardest-hit countries in Trump's trade offensive, including a new 25% tariff on Indian goods. The move places India alongside Brazil, facing the steepest import duties, unsettling markets concerned about the impact on capital flows and investor sentiment towards Indian assets. Fears of a record low in the currency prompted the Reserve Bank of India to intervene almost daily, preventing a deeper slide, traders said. The RBI resumed intervention in the NDF market to manage rupee volatility, four bankers told Reuters. Market participants expect another drop in foreign exchange reserves that saw a decline of more than $9 billion in week ended August 1, indicating intervention in the spot market. Meanwhile, some remain hopeful that a resolution would be achieved in coming period. Looking at the recent history, there is a high probability that the U.S. lowers tariffs in coming weeks or months and this could lead to a relief rally in Indian markets, as and when it happens, said Nishit Master, portfolio manager at Axis Securities PMS. Stocks to buy under 100: The key benchmark indices of the Indian stock market Nifty 50 and Sensex staged a sharp late-hour rebound on Thursday, August 7, paring deep intraday losses to close marginally higher. Risk sentiment improved on renewed hopes of diplomatic dialogue between the US and Russia. Optimism was further fueled by reports of potential peace talks involving Trump, Putin, and Zelensky, reviving expectations of a more dovish US stance on trade. The Nifty 50 index started the session on a soft note and dragged lower in the first half on the back of US President Donald Trump imposing an extra 25 per cent tariff on Indian exports, raising the overall duty to 50 per cent. The move is a retaliatory measure in response to Indias continued Russian oil imports and defence equipment. Nifty, however, recovered in the second half and closed the session marginally higher. Stock market today Speaking on the outlook of the Nifty 50 index, Nagaraj Shetti, Senior Technical Research Analyst at HDFC Securities, said, "A long bull candle was formed on the daily chart with a lower shadow. Technically, this pattern shows an early sign of a crucial bottom reversal pattern in the Nifty. A further follow-through upmove above the initial hurdle of 24,750 could confirm the bottom reversal pattern. The crucial supports are to be watched around 24,350." "The Bank Nifty index, after the initial slide, witnessed a decent recovery from the 55,000 zone to end the session in the green near the 55,500 zone with bias maintained with a cautious approach. As said earlier, the index has the important 100-period MA at the 54,800 level, which would be the near-term support zone and, on the upside, a decisive breach above the 50-DEMA zone at the 56,000 level would improve the bias, thereafter, expecting further rise," said Shiju Kuthupalakkal, Senior Manager of Technical Research at Prabhudas Lilladher. Stocks to buy today Regarding stocks to buy today, market experts Anshaul Jain, Head of Research at Lakshmishree Investment and Sugandha Sachdeva, Founder of SS WealthStreet, recommended these three intraday stocks for today under 100: Shriram Properties, DCW, and Hi-Tech Pipes. Anshul Jain's stocks to buy under 100 1] Shriram Properties: Buy at 89.50, Target 96, Stop Loss 86; and 2] DCW: Buy at 74.50, Target 78, Stop Loss 71. Sugandha Sachdeva's intraday stock for today 3] Hi-Tech Pipes: Buy at 87.95, Targets 90.70, 93.50, Stop Loss 86.40. Tata Motors Q1 Results LIVE Updates: Tata Motors, the owner of luxury car brand Jaguar Land Rover (JLR), declared its Q1 results today. The company posted a sharp decline in its net profit, impacted by volume decline in all businesses and a drop in profitability at JLR. Tata Motors Q1 Results Tata Motors posted a 30% YoY decline in its Q1 consolidated profit to 3,924 crore. Meanwhile, its revenue from operations witnessed a 2.5% dip to 104,407 crore during the April-June quarter. The company reported an EBIT of 4,500 crore, down 4,100 crore YoY, with the EBIT margin declining by 370 basis points to 4.3%. With the demand situation likely to remain challenging, we will continue to focus on strengthening the business fundamentals and mitigating the impact of tariffs by leveraging the brand strength to drive a better mix, and targeted actions to improve contribution margins, the company said. JLR Q1 Update In Q1FY26, JLR's revenue stood at 6.6 billion, down 9.2% YoY, impacted by significant new US trade tariffs and the planned wind-down of legacy Jaguar models. EBITDA margin came in at 9.3%, a decline of 650 basis points YoY. Profit before tax (PBT) was 351 million, down 49.4% YoY, primarily due to US tariffs and foreign exchange headwinds, the compay added. However, the company delivered an 11th successive profitable quarter despite challenging global economic conditions. Tata Motors share price closed 2.55% lower ahead of the results announcement. Stay tuned to our Tata Motors Q1 Results Live Blog for the latest updates. Tata Motors, a leading global automobile manufacturer, reported its June quarter results today after market hours, posting a 30.5% YoY decline in consolidated net profit to 3,924 crore. The drop was driven by volume declines across all businesses and lower profitability at JLR, primarily impacted by US trade tariffs. In the preceding March quarter, the company had reported a net profit of 8,556 crore. However, the figure came in higher than analysts average estimates of 3,672 crore, and consolidated revenue from operations stood at 1,03,792 crore, higher than estimated but a 2.45% drop compared to 1,06,399 crore in the year-ago quarter. Also Read | Tata Motors fends off investor skepticism on $4.4 billion Iveco acquisition At the operating level, EBITDA declined 35% YoY to 9,724 crore, with the margin falling to a multi-quarter low of 9.2%, down 480 basis points from 14% in the June 2024 quarter. Segment-wise performance Jaguar Land Rover Revenue growth at JLR, which accounts for about two-thirds of Tata Motors overall revenue, fell by 9.2% to 6.6 billion. The company said the performance during the quarter was impacted by the application of 27.5% US trade tariffs on UK- and EU-produced cars exported to the US, as well as the planned wind-down of legacy Jaguar vehicles ahead of the launch of new Jaguar models. The segments PBT came in at 351 million, down 49.4% from 693 million a year ago, with an EBIT margin of 4.0%, down from 8.9% in Q1FY25. Also Read | Jaguar Land Rover tariff hit compounds Tata Motors domestic woes Looking ahead, the company remains optimistic that the UK-US trade deal, which will lower tariffs on UK-produced vehicles exported to the US from 27.5% to 10% effective 30 June 2025, along with the EU-US trade deal announced on 27 July 2025 that will gradually reduce tariffs on JLRs EU-produced vehicles exported to the US from 27.5% to 15%. The company has also maintained its EBIT margin guidance of 5% to 7% for FY26, factoring in the revised tariff rates. Commercial Vehicles The revenue from the CV segment fell by 4.7% to 17,000 crore, but the business continued to deliver double-digit EBITDA margins of 12.2% and EBIT margins of 9.7% in Q1, aided by better realizations and material cost savings. The segment reported a PBT of 1,657 crore. "Q1 FY26 began on subdued note for the commercial vehicle industry with muted performance in the HCV and SCVPU segments while Buses, Vans, and ILMCVs registered modest YoY growth. Domestic volumes were down by 9% while exports were up by 68%," said the company. Passenger Vehicles Passenger Vehicles segment recorded a revenue of 10,877 crore, down 8.2% due to a drop in volumes. The EBIT margins fell 310 basis points YoY to 2.8%. PBT was a loss of 129 crore, compared to a loss of 302 crore in the previous year, impacted by adverse volumes, realizations, and leverage effects but partly offset by continued savings in variable costs, as per the company's earnings filing. The company said the segment experienced volume pressures, particularly in May and June, with flat growth reflecting continued softness in demand. Wholesale volumes stood at 124.8K units, down 10.1%, due to an industry-wide decline and transitions to new models of Altroz, Harrier, and Safari, even as it continued to ensure controlled channel inventory growth. Stock market today : Frontline indices eked out marginal gains on Thursday, 7 August, supported by late-session buying, even as investor sentiment remained fragile amid mounting concerns over Trumps tariffs and their potential economic impact. The Sensex closed 79 points, or 0.10%, higher at 80,623.26, while the Nifty 50 ended at 24,596.15, up 22 points, or 0.09%. Among broader indices, the BSE Midcap rose 0.30%, while the BSE Smallcap slipped 0.18%. Top 3 Stock Picks by Ankush Bajaj 8 August Buy: Hero MotoCorp Current Price: 4,660 Why its recommended:Hero MotoCorp is showing strong bullish momentum. The daily RSI is at 66, reflecting sustained buying interest. MACD is sharply positive at 55, and ADX at 16 indicates a developing trend. On the daily chart, the stock has broken out of arectangle consolidation pattern, a classic continuation setup that supports the current upward move. The combination of momentum indicators and pattern breakout suggests potential for further upside toward 4,750. Key metrics: Breakout zone: Rectangle breakout Pattern: Continuation pattern confirming trend resumption MACD: Positive at 55 RSI: Daily RSI at 66, indicating bullish strength ADX: At 16, suggesting trend development Technical analysis: Breakout confirmation supports upside towards 4,750 Risk factors: A close below 4,618 would invalidate the breakout and trigger caution. Buy at: 4,660 Target price: 4,750 Stop loss: 4,618 Also Read | Hero MotoCorp gets approval for PLI-Auto scheme Buy: Fortis Healthcare Current Price: 884 Why its recommended:Fortis Healthcare is exhibiting strong bullish momentum. The daily RSI is elevated at 72, MACD is firmly positive at 24, and ADX at 38 signals a well-established trend. On the 15-minute chart, the stock has formed adouble bottom pattern, a bullish reversal setup that complements the ongoing momentum. These technical cues collectively suggest a continuation of the uptrend towards 909. Key metrics: Breakout zone: Double bottom breakout (15-min chart) Pattern: Reversal pattern supporting trend continuation MACD: Positive at 24 RSI: Daily RSI at 72, indicating strong buying ADX: At 38, confirming trend strength Technical analysis: Lower timeframe breakout and strong momentum indicate potential move to 909 Risk factors: A close below 868 would invalidate the bullish structure. Buy at: 884 Target price: 909 Stop loss: 868 Buy: Delhivery Ltd Current Price: 465.75 Why its recommended:Delhivery is demonstrating strong bullish momentum, marked by anew lifetime high on the charts. The daily RSI stands at 69, MACD is positive at 16, and ADX at 41 confirms robust trend strength. The breakout to a new high is a significant bullish signal, often attracting momentum-based buying. These technical factors collectively point toward an upside target of 500. Key metrics: Breakout zone: New lifetime high Pattern: Momentum breakout MACD: Positive at 16 RSI: Daily RSI at 69, reflecting strong bullish sentiment ADX: At 41, indicating a strong trend Technical analysis: New high breakout with strong momentum suggests move to 500 Risk factors: A close below 450 would negate the bullish setup. Buy at: 465.75 Target price: 500 Stop loss: 450 Market Wrap | 7 August The Nifty 50 edged up 21.95 points, or 0.09%, to close at 24,596.15 on Thursday, while the BSE Sensex rose 79.27 points, or 0.10%, ending the day at 80,623.26. The Bank Nifty also joined the rebound, climbing 110 points, or 0.20%, to finish at 55,521.15, reflecting a gradual recovery in financials. Sectoral trends remained mixed and largely subdued. Defensive pockets like PSEs fell 0.45%, the Infrastructure index slipped 0.25%, and the Energy sector eased 0.20%, pointing to ongoing profit booking. On the other hand, Pharma gained 0.75%, Healthcare rose 0.61%, and PSU Banks edged up 0.29%, signalling selective value buying in safer or underperforming segments. Among individual stocks, Hero MotoCorp stood out with a strong 4.15% rally, driven by institutional interest. Tech Mahindra added 1.58%, while JSW Steel rose 1.16%, supported by selective accumulation in quality large-caps. Nifty Technical Analysis | Daily & Hourly On 7 August, the Nifty closed marginally higher at 24,596.15, up 21.95 points, or 0.09%, indicating a modest intraday recovery. However, this minor uptick does little to alter the broader corrective trend that has dominated recent sessions. The index continues to face strong resistance at key levels, and the overall structure remains weak and susceptible to further downside pressure. View Full Image (Source: TradingView) Technically, the Nifty is still trading below its key short-term moving averages. Both the 20-day SMA and the 40-day EMA are placed at 24,911, and the index has so far failed to reclaim these levels. Even on the intraday charts, the Nifty is trading below the 20-hour SMA at 24,626 and the 40-hour EMA at 24,566, highlighting persistent selling pressure on any minor upticks. As long as the index remains below these averages, the directional bias remains neutral to negative. View Full Image (Source: TradingView) Momentum indicators continue to signal weakness. The daily RSI has slipped to 39, indicating a lack of bullish momentum, while the MACD remains deep in negative territory at -141, with no signs of a bullish crossover. On the hourly chart, there are minor signs of improvement: the hourly RSI has ticked up to 53, and the MACD has inched higher to -46, but these are not convincing enough to suggest a trend reversal. Overall, the momentum setup supports the view that any current bounce is likely corrective and not a signal of a sustainable turnaround. From a derivatives perspective, the broader trend still leans bearish. The total Call open interest (OI) stands at 20.22 crore, significantly higher than the Put OI of 16.44 crore, keeping the put-call ratio (PCR) suppressed at 0.81. However, the change in OI tells a slightly different story while Call OI rose by 43.53 lakh, Put OI jumped by 4.50 crore, resulting in a net bullish OI change of 4.06 crore contracts. This could indicate that some traders are beginning to hedge for a potential bounce or are covering shorts. Still, the heavier Call OI continues to cap the upside. Strike-specific positioning also provides important cues. The 24,600 strike holds both the highest Call OI and the highest Call additions, confirming it as a strong resistance zone. On the other hand, the 24,550 strike has emerged as the maximum Put OI and saw the most Put additions, suggesting an effort to defend this support level. But with the Nifty closing only slightly above it, any weakness from here could jeopardize this support and expose the index to further losses. In summary, Nifty remains in a fragile and corrective phase with no clear signs of a sustainable recovery yet. The inability to reclaim short-term moving averages and the overall bearish structure in the options data continue to weigh on sentiment. The 24,91125,000 zone remains a key barrier only a decisive close above this region could tilt the trend back toward bullish. Until that happens, any move higher should be seen as a temporary pullback within a larger downtrend. Immediate support lies at 24,55024,450, and a breakdown below this zone could lead to a deeper correction towards 24,000, where an unfilled gap still remains. For traders, the strategy remains to adopt a sell-on-rise approach, particularly near resistance levels like 24,60024,700. Avoid initiating aggressive long positions unless the Nifty manages to close above 25,000 with strength and volume. The current environment remains cautious and tactical, with traders needing to monitor key levels closely for either signs of bottom formation or renewed breakdown. Ankush Bajaj is a Sebi-registered research analyst. His registration number is INH000010441. Investments in securities are subject to market risks. Read all the related documents carefully before investing. Registration granted by Sebi and certification from NISM in no way guarantee performance of the intermediary or provide any assurance of returns to investors. Disclaimer: The views and recommendations given in this article are those of individual analysts. These do not represent the views of Mint. We advise investors to check with certified experts before making any investment decisions. Indian textile stocks have plunged sharply on Dalal Street in the last few sessions after imports from the country were slapped with the highest 50% tariffs, raising concerns that global retail giants may shift their sourcing to other Asian countries to avoid higher duties. On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order imposing an additional 25% tariff on Indian goods, citing Indias continued imports of Russian oil as the rationale. This hike comes on top of the 25% tariff announced last week, bringing the total US duty on many Indian imports to 50%, the highest among major nations, with only Brazil ahead. Worryingly, the tariff imposed on India is also higher than that on other Asian countries such as Vietnam (20%), Indonesia (19%), and Japan (15%), which experts believe could weaken Indias position as a preferred sourcing destination, particularly in textiles, which in recent years have accounted for a significant share of the countrys exports, reaching to 8% share. While China, which had the largest export share among Asian nations, received a 90-day tariff extension, its share in global textile and apparel exports, however, has dropped sharply in recent years due to rising labour costs and the global shift under the China+1 strategy. India has capitalised on this trend, attracting global buyers as the government rolled out various policy initiatives. India is now among the top textile-exporting countries globally, with a share of approximately 4% of global textiles and apparel exports. The major export destinations for India in this segment are the United States (US), the European Union (EU), and the United Kingdom (UK), accounting for around 53% of total textile and apparel exports in FY 202324. The unexpected tariff blow from the US comes at a time when India is signing free trade agreements with major nations. In early May, India and the United Kingdom officially signed an FTA after years of negotiations, enhancing the competitiveness of the Indian textile industry in the UK market, where competing countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka currently enjoy duty-free access under the UKs Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP). The landmark deal is expected to double textile and apparel exports to the UK over the next two years. However, Indias textile and apparel export share to the US is four times higher than its share to the UK, making the American market far more critical for the sectors growth prospects. US remains largest market for Indias textile and apparel exports In 2024, India accounted for around 6% of the United States total apparel imports, translating to exports worth approximately $4.8 billion out of the USs $80 billion import bill, and contributing to 33% of Indias overall apparel exports, according to the latest available data. Additionally, India exported $5.2 billion worth of textiles to the US, bringing the combined apparel and textile exports to around $10 billion. In the United Kingdom, India held a 5% share, equivalent to around $1.13 billion in exports, based on the UKs total apparel imports of $22.5 billion during the year, representing 8% of Indias total apparel exports, which indicates that the US market is more than four times larger in value for Indian apparel compared to the UK. During 2024, the US imported apparel worth $80 billion, with China accounting for 21% of the total, followed by Vietnam (19%), Bangladesh (9%), India (6%), and Sri Lanka (3%). During the same period, the UK imported apparel worth $22.5 billion, with China also holding the highest 25% share, though it came down from 30% in 2019. Indias textile and apparel exports in FY25 grew by 6.32% to $36.606 billion. Of this, apparel exports rose by 10.03% to $15.989 billion, while textile exports increased by 3.61% to $20.617 billion. Moodys warns Trump tariffs could hit Indias growth and manufacturing push Global credit rating agency Moodys Ratings on Friday said that Trumps proposed tariffs on Indian exports could severely undermine Indias manufacturing ambitions and slow economic growth. The agency noted that the tariffs could slow Indias real GDP growth by around 0.3 percentage points from its current forecast of 6.3% for the fiscal year ending March 2026. Beyond 2025, the much wider tariff gap compared with other Asia-Pacific countries would severely curtail Indias ambitions to develop its manufacturing sector, particularly in higher value-added segments such as electronics, and may even reverse some of the gains made in recent years in attracting related investments, the ratings agency said. A larger import bill would widen the current account deficit, especially amid weaker tariff competitiveness that could deter investment inflows. The agency further noted that the magnitude of the drag on growth from tariff barriers will influence the governments decision on a fiscal policy response, although it expects the government to maintain its focus on gradual fiscal and debt consolidation. Caught by the Tides Jia Zhangkes film stretches from 2001 to the covid era northern Chinese city of Datong, and tells the story of Qiao Qiao (Zhao Tao) who goes in search of her lover the unreliable Guao Bin (Zhubin Li). Caught by the Tides is an extraordinary film in both scope and conception. Using a variety of film and video styles, Zhangke nimbly traverses two decades of Chinese history, repurposing footage hed shot over the years and scenes from some of his earlier films starring Zhao Tao. The film was selected to compete for the Palme dOr at the 77th Cannes Film Festival. (MUBI) A still from 'Weapons'. Weapons One night, 17 children from the same class walk out of their homes without any warning and disappear. The ensuing mystery grips the town and especially the teacher whose class they attended. Weapons is directed by Zach Cregger, who made the breakout horror hit Barbarian. (In theatres) A still from 'Sorry, Baby'. Sorry, Baby After a traumatic experience, Agnes must pick up the pieces and carry on with her life. Eva Victor, an actor and writer who shot to fame making short comic sketches, wrote, directed and stars in Sorry, Baby. This bittersweet film also stars Naomi Ackie, Lucas Hedges, John Carroll Lynch and Kelly McCormack. (In theatres) A still from 'Ghich Pich'. Is it possible for the most iconic and mythologised film in your lifethe one that is most thoroughly familiarto also feel like a jigsaw puzzle that took a long time to put together? Sholay is widely acknowledged as the most polished and fully realised Hindi film of its era, the most flawless technically, the one with the best action scenes and sound design, the fewest loose ends or awkward cutting. The sort of mainstream film that even Satyajit Ray could (grudgingly?) admire. But however complete it may be, I still think of it as a series of moments that are so embedded in ones consciousness (and so easily accessed from the minds old filing cabinet) that it almost doesnt matter which order those fragments come inthere are any number of entry points. Its a bit like knowing key sections of a legendary epicsay, the Mahabharatrather than every last detail, and still feeling like you know it in its entirety. Also Read | Three new indie rap records you should hear Like any other super-fan, I have my personal Sholay history, and it includes this confession: though the film is central to my pop-cultural journey, looming forever on the horizon like those boulders against the sun in Gabbars domain, there have been many gaps in my viewing. Of course, I have watched it in the conventional way from beginning to end, at least five or six times (as opposed to the dozens or hundreds claimed by other devotees)and yet it always feels like I came to it piecemeal through a melange of things heard and read, narratives constructed, back-stories related in magazines and books and finally, prints with scenes missing in them. Heres how this can happen. ***** Youre six or seven, and going for a rare family outing to a hall, to see a film thats less than a decade old but already fixed in legend. Someone dawdles, you reach 10 minutes after the show has begun, walking into a noisy action sequence involving a train, bad guys on horses, and three leading men whom you recognise. Its exciting but youre overwhelmed, and lost about who is doing what: why is one of the heroes" in police uniform while the other two look roguish, though they all appear to be fighting on the same side? Then, in the very next scene, Sanjeev Kumarthe cop on the train, energetic and youthfulis older, tired, speaking slowly. The concept of the flashback and flashforward, the idea that these images can jump rudely from one period to another, is not something you have fully assimilated. A few moments later the other heroes, Dharmendra and Bachchan (your childhood crushes), are goofing around on a bike, singing, clowning about in jail. View Full Image A still from 'Sholay' Its a night show, you may be drifting off now and again. The spectre of Gabbar Singh arrives: first his name, spoken fearfully many times, and later the man himself. But even amidst the terror of his first appearance, with the minatory music and the belt being dragged along the rocks, you feel confusion: you think he resembles one of the dacoits on horsebackcurly-haired, green shirtfrom that train scene, and wonder if theres a link you missed. A mid-film flashback where Sanjeev Kumar is young again. Through blurry eyes you register the shifts: black moustache to grey moustache, hands to no hands, police uniform to sombre shawl. Later, a fragmented viewing at someones house will leave you with more confusion about the two major flashbacks and more questions about the sequence of events. Which is to say that there was a time in my childhood when the plot of Sholay was as much of a maze as a convoluted David Lynch or Christopher Nolan film might be. Navigating the labyrinth was complicated by the fact that for a while it was done simultaneously along two mediums: listening to the famous double audio-cassette of the films dialogue, and watching a videotape that was much cherished. The audio-cassette was unnerving: you had to identify characters by their voices; it didnt feature entire songs, playing only the first couple of bars of each familiar tune, before returning to the prose scenes. Some excitement lay in the detailsI was tickled to bits by the line Thakur ne hijron ki fauj banayi hai (Thakur has assembled an army of eunuchs)", not having expected to hear a word like that in a filmbut on balance I preferred to watch Sholay, not hear it. The videotape, one of my favourite childhood possessions, came for some reason from faraway Lagos, brought by a visiting uncle who had been assured that the thing I wanted most in the world was my own Sholay cassette. I was 10 now, we had just got a video player at home, and I must have worn it out over days with this tape. The train flashback now made sense to me, as did the overall chronology (though there was still some disorientation in, for instance, seeing Gabbars henchman Kaalia alive and gloating in a flashback after he had been bumped off in that sadistic roulette scene). At last I was getting to watch the complete film, from start to finish. Or so I thought. There were abrupt cuts here and thereit took some time to realise that chunks had been snipped to fit the VHSs 180 minutes. Sleuthing, carefully matching the video footage with the audio on my dialogue-cassette, I realised that the scenes involving Soorma Bhopali (Jagdeep) and the Hitler-like jailer (Asrani) had been excised. That makes some sense if you have to cut 15 minutes: those sequences are fun and show off the skills of two fine character actors, but they are dispensable to the main narrative, and they greatly delay Veeru and Jais arrival in Ramgarh. View Full Image A still from 'Sholay' Even so, I feel cheated that it took me years, maybe decades, to realise that the beloved Keshto Mukherjee had a small role in Sholay (in the jailer scene). Things were also complicated by the fact that Sholays characters were continuing with their lives in other forms and media. Gabbar Singh was selling glucose biscuits in ads long after he had been vanquished (or killed, in the ending that was shot but not released). In the late 1980s came a film called Soorma Bhopali with Jagdeep, featuring Dharmendra and Bachchan in cameos unrelated to their Sholay roles; after that, Ramgarh ke Sholay, which seemed cheap and B-grade-ish, being filled with star-impersonators, but which still had the real Amjad Khan (looking much paunchier, as if Gabbar had taken his role as biscuit mascot too seriously). ***** Between all this, Sholay did perform the epiphanic functions that a landmark film is expected to. For instance, I can never forget the tense scene where the villagers turn hostile towards their mercenary protectors, because this was the moment when the idea first entered my nascently movie-obsessed head that a camera movement is a deliberate, engineered thing that builds meaning: when the line Kab tak jeeyoge tum, aur kab tak jeeyenge hum, agar yeh dono iss gaon mein rahe?" (How long will we stay alive if these two remain in the village?") is accompanied by a camera swish that places Veeru and Jai at the centre of the frame, precisely on the words yeh dono". I learnt about the mysteries of personality too, and how a creative work can bring catharsis or draw out aspects of yourself that you hadnt fully processed yet. As a painfully shy and quiet child with a taste for sardonic humour, there was every reason for me to relate to Bachchans Jai; instead I was always more drawn to and even felt a kinship with the boisterous Veeru. View Full Image A still from 'Sholay' But that Nigerian tape was also responsible for the biggest of my Sholay gapsone I was unaware of until well in my 30s. Thats how old I was when I watched Sholays great opening-credits sequence for the very first time. While that might not be a big deal for most Hindi films of the period, in Sholay the craft and attention to detail begins right herein the scene where the manservant Ramlal leads a policeman on horseback from the railway station to the Thakurs haveli. My tape had the credits only until the names of the six principal actors; there was a sudden cut after the title And Introducing Amjad Khan". This is a major bone I have to pick with the anonymous tape-editor sitting, in my minds eye, in some squalid little Lagos bootleggers shop. Because, watching the full sequence on DVD decades later, I saw how it sets the stage, giving us a detailed view of Ramgarh and its surroundings, long before the narrative actually takes us there. The superb R.D. Burman background score changes from a guitar-dominated tune as the riders move through a barren, American Western-like setting to a more Indian sound, with mridangam and taar shehnai, as they pass through the village. The symbolic nature of Sholays mise-en-scene is made obvious, with the contrast between swathes of rough landscape (where the dacoits, creatures of the wild, perch like vultures) and the village, where people live together in an ordered communitya setting that will soon welcome two rootless men who will learn about taking on responsibility and integrating into a larger world. When I screened and discussed the sequence in classes I taught, the discussions were perceptive, intense and wide-rangingeven when they involved students who had never actually watched the film (yes, there are now many such movie buffs). But the possibility of being surprised by a detail here, or a fresh re-watch, still exists, for them as well as for old fans like me, who thought there was nothing more to learn. Jai Arjun Singh is a writer and critic. Also Read | On land and in water, a shining summer of striving Who is the hero of Sholay ? This is a valid question. Thakur, played by Sanjeev Kumar, gets the revenge. Veeru, played by Dharmendra, gets the girl. Jai, played by Amitabh Bachchan, gets the heroic sacrifice at the close of the film. Which of them is the hero? You may as well toss a coin to decide. As detailed in Anupama Chopras excellent book Sholay: The Making of a Classic (2000), when Dharmendra heard the films script, he figured out that Ramesh Sippys film was about Thakurs revenge, with Veeru and Jai merely Thakurs instruments of vengeance: his arms, so to speak. The superstar thus insisted on playing Thakur. Sippy, knowing who he wanted in which role, cunningly said he would then have to cast Sanjeev Kumar as Veeru, which would give all the romantic scenes involving Hema Malinis Basanti to Kumar. This gave Dharmendra pause, as both actors were then infatuated by the Basanti actor. Dharmendra decided to take the Veeru route after all. One got the revenge, one got the girl. Which of them was the hero? You may as well toss a coin to decide. There is no question about the man on the other side. Gabbar Singh has no peer, no equal. He is a villain beyond comparison. As played by Amjad Khana breakthrough performer in an all-star seaGabbar is theatre and terror, a villain who feels less taken from cinematic archetypes than conjured from folklore and nightmare. Gabbar Singh. He arrives on screen through dust and sweat. Hes wrapped in sun-bleached olive green fatigues, hanging on him like the regalia of an absconding general. Part pirate, part Sergio Leone villain, grimy and ruthless and bearded, a man made for Ennio Morricone music. The way the bandolier falls across his swarthy chest, the way bullets hang from him like he is ready to take on an army by himself. A battered service revolver droops from his hip, casual as a house-key. His shirt is open wide at the neck, flaunting an amulet, a taabeez that may well stop a bullet. His boots, those heavy cavalry-style steely boots, announce him to us before the camera does, every crunch on Ramgarhs rocks working like the number on a countdown. Khans face looks ravaged by wars internal and external. His curls are sweaty, beard scraggly and unpredictable, eyes baggy with exhaustion yet, also, a-twinkle with mischief. The mischief of the man who doesnt sleep and who doesnt let the world sleep. He grins a wonky grin and his teeth flash, irregularly. Unforgettably. Cinematographer Dwarka Divecha frames Gabbar low and wide, giving the monster the horizon for a halo. Sippy cuts to sudden, hungry close-upsthe bristly beard, veins throbbing on his templeso the audience isnt watching him as much as interrogating his evil. Birds cease, dust hangs mid-air, and it is Gabbar who fills the vacuum with that sing-song chuckle, a childs lullaby turned carnivorous. Every rag, every stomp, every chuckle feels like choreography, a savage ballet. In a landscape of moustache-twirlers and cape-flappers, Gabbars style is guerrilla-couture: dirty, deliberate, and impossible to imitate. Before Sholay, the Hindi film villain came in recognisable flavours. In the 1950s and 1960s, they wore smoking jackets and smug smiles, oozing menace with manicured fingernails. They were often zamindars with zamindari diction, or foreign agents who would occasionally wax poetic while cocking their pistols. Pran, the gold standard, brought flair and finesse to villainy: his evil was often charming and methodical. These were villains with posture, with protocol. After Sholay, the tide turned gaudier. Villains became cartoonish tyrants in lairs shaped like animal heads, Bond-inspired oversized villains shrieking threats into microphones and dressing to test the limits of Technicolor. From the camp genius of Ajits Lion to Amrish Puris Mogambo, big-screen baddies turned louder, larger and loopier. Even when placed alongside these lowlifes, Gabbar is an outlaw. He stands singular and unique. Nobody before Gabbar Singh burned as bright. Nobody after Gabbar Singh burned as hot. It was as if Hindi cinema flew too close to the flame with this one villain, and decided to cool it afterwards. The Hindi action film of today trains its spotlight so firmly on the hero that the villain has been reduced to a smudge on the lens: dark enough to contrast, but never sharp enough to distract. The maximalist spectacle has become about one star. Todays villain is, therefore, less a character than a stepping stone. In Pathaan, John Abraham is a gym-bro with zero nuance, while Jawan gives the great Vijay Sethupathi a half-baked role. They are written not to menace Shah Rukh Khan but be mauled by him. The punchlines belong solely to the hero. If Sholay were greenlit by a studio today, Veeru would be the one wondering which day is Holi. Gabbar demanded our attention. There is a stillness and a silence that accompanies those first footsteps, alerting the viewers that something wicked this way stomps. That deliberate, arrhythmic crunch of boots on gravel. It is menace set to metronome. His voice is the real score. Amjad Khan, both baritone and broken-glass, modulates each line with sadistic precision. Kitne aadmi thhe?" is a simple query, something a ruthless daku would naturally bark without drama, but Gabbar? Gabbar is all about playing with his food. The elongated Kiii" from Kitne", the syllable we hear before we see his face, hangs in the air long, like a vulture waiting to plummet. He is a villain who weaponises cadence. His pauses hit harder than heroic monologues, his softly voiced threats land like throat punches. The rhythms of his speech act as Gabbars own sound design, one that doesnt accompany the bloodshed but precedes it, as if the sound itself is pulling the trigger. View Full Image 'Sholay' The background score took a backseat. There were no harmonica-wielding heroes around when Gabbar took charge. Sounds became elementsboot, breath, bulletcarefully placed to amplify the unease. Even the echo was weaponised, bouncing his threats off canyon walls and into our bones. When we revisit Sholay half a century after it was made, many things about the film appear dated, but Gabbar Singh feels just as threatening, just as unruly. We didnt know Amjad Khan. Son to the actor Jayant, he had mostly acted on stage, and it was in a play that writer Salim Khan spotted him. Till the shoot started, Amjad worried about being replaced by Danny Dengzongpa, the original choice for the part. Yet from the instant he appears on screen, Amjad Khan owns this multi-starrer. His performance isnt traditionally cinematic, but instead calculated chaos. His voice lurches from singsong to growl. His movements are lazy one moment, coiled the next. This unpredictability feels unnerving, even electrifying, because he doesnt simply threaten violence. He toys with it. At 35, in his first major role, Khan created a villain so alive, so repulsively charismatic, that weve never been able to look away. He surges from casual to feral with the twitch of a brow. In one scene, he languidly leans on a rock, polishing his nails with a knife, before leaping up in fury when interrupted by a henchman. In his very first scene, he toys with his lackeys like a cat circling injured prey, taking his time to chuckle before erupting in violence. His laughter isnt performative, for the audience: its sadistic and breathy, as if this man genuinely enjoys making others squirm. His rawness makes him alarmingly real. It is one of Hindi cinemas most memorable performances, and to this damn dayit feels radical because of how casually it sidesteps the melodramatic cues of villainy. He doesnt explain his evil, doesnt justify it, doesnt seek applause. Hes committed exclusively to disorder, which makes him fascinating. He matches well, I believe with Heath Ledgers Joker from The Dark Knight. Theyre both anarchists with a taste for mayhem. We can understand cruelty, ambition and revenge, but these villains want to make the world flinch. They want to unnerve. The actors deliver performances so volatile, so instinctive, that even the camera appears unsure of what theyll do next. They both grin too much, enjoy the sound of their own voices, and hijack films built around heroic men. Why so serious?" and Jo darr gaya, samjho marr gaya" are two sides of the same coin. Sholay is full to the brim with quotable lines, but it is Gabbars twisted poetry that etched itself into the national consciousness. He was the one we would quote, as kids posing with toy revolvers in front of mirrors, declaring our intent to spin the chamber before we spun it. Psychologically speaking, audiences quote truly scary villains not to glorify them, but rather to keep them at arms length, to make them feel less frightening. We repeat their words like a spell, as if naming the monster will somehow keep it in its cage. Kiii-tne aadmi thhe?" The line lands like the crack of a whip because of how the infamous dacoit stretches the consonants, corrugates the vowels, lets them echo across canyon and cinema, before fading away into an ominous silence a silence that sets the table for the violence. He had asked the question 50 years ago, and we have never forgotten it. Gabbar Singh was the one who counted. Mumbai: Indias mutual fund industry body has tightened rules governing distributor switches and commission payouts to curb misuse and improve transparency. The Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi) issued revised guidelines on 30 July that give investors more time to approve or reject changes in their distributor and extend the cooling-off period for commission payments to new brokers. Effective 11 August, investors will now have 11 calendar days to review and act on requests to change the distributor (ARN) linked to their mutual fund folios. A switch will only be processed if the investor explicitly approves it within this window. If no action is taken, the request will lapse. More significantly, Amfi has doubled the cooling-off period for trail commissions to 12 months. That means if a clients assets move to a new distributor, the new mutual fund distributor (MFD) will not earn any commission on those assets for a full year. The revised rules will not apply to direct-to-investor platforms such as Zerodha Coin, Groww, and Kuvera, which only offer direct mutual funds without distributor involvement. View Full Image (Graphics: Paras Jain/Mint) Protection for investors Among the most investor-facing changes is a new SMS alert system. Whenever a distributor switch is initiated, investors will receive a notification, giving them an 11-day window to respond. The aim is to reduce unauthorized or misleading switches, a persistent concern for investors. Kartik Sankaran, an Amfi-registered mutual fund distributor and founder of Fiscal Fitness, called the reform a long-needed improvement. In the past, there have been cases where investors were approached for loans against shares or portfolio reviews, only to later find their ARN switched without clear consent. These new checks help prevent such misuse and raise transparency," he said. The updated framework also allows investors to change their distributor without liquidating and reinvesting their mutual fund holdings, a process that often created friction. Sankaran said the change would encourage competition among advisors while preserving investor continuity. It keeps client interests front and centre, and allows high-quality MFDs to grow on merit." What triggered this reform The changes appear to be driven by mounting concerns over unauthorized transactions and misuse by mutual fund distributors, according to industry experts. While Amfi hasnt officially attributed the reforms to a specific trigger, recent disclosures and regulatory actions suggest both pressure and precedent played a role. Also Read | Mutual fund mis-selling: What the first public disclosures reveal In line with directive from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) for greater transparency, mutual fund houses have started publishing quarterly mis-selling disclosures on their websites. These reports detail violations by distributors and the actions taken. As Mint reported earlier, in the January-March quarter, four large asset management companiesHDFC AMC, Nippon India AMC, Kotak AMC, and Axis AMCreported six cases of mis-selling. Five involved unauthorized switches, where investors were moved between schemes without consent, often motivated by higher commissions. Such transactions can also expose investors to capital gains tax. Although the number appears small given the size of the industry, experts believe its likely underreported. Many investors may be unaware of such switches or may not pursue formal complaints. Amfis own records show that 37 ARNs have been suspended and 27 terminated since inception. However, the reasons for these actions are not disclosed publicly. A Sebi letter to Amfi dated 9 January detailed disciplinary actions against errant distributors, including reprimands, suspensions, and permanent debarments. In this context, the revised rules appear to be part of a broader push to strengthen distributor accountability and investor trust. What distributors say The Change of Broker (COB) facility was first introduced in 2009, following the removal of entry loads, to help investors consolidate holdings under a single advisor. Many of these switches were facilitated by online platforms and intermediaries. Helping clients consolidate their held away holdings irrespective of whether the asset is trail accretive or not goes a long way in building trust and fostering relationship," says Manmeet Singh Khurana, a certified financial planner, founder of Wealth Dopes, and a corporate trainer. In March 2024, Amfi had permitted trail commission payments on switched assets, subject to a six-month lock-in. Khurana described that move as welcome, since many MFDs had been consolidating client accounts without receiving compensation. The new one-year lock-in, he believes, goes too far. With a new multi-stage process involving the client, MFD, and RTA, which increases transparency and co-ownership, I feel the six-month cooling period could have been retained," he said. Under the revised rule, any trail commission for a newly acquired client will be withheld for 12 months after the switch, effectively requiring MFDs to service clients for a year without being paid. This is a real challenge," said Sankaran. It directly impacts younger MFDs who are trying to go independent and build a client-first practice. While the costs of serving clients dont stop for the 12-month period, revenue does." He added that that a more balanced solution would have been to allow payouts after a lock-in period to ease cash-flow burdens while still protecting investor interests. Pallav Bagaria, director at Sapient Finserv, said, The direction and intent is right. A few tweaks can make it better for all stakeholdersinvestors, MF distributors, and the industry at large," he said. Bagaria supports Amfis intent to protect investors, but believes trust and fairness should go hand-in-hand. If a distributor is deliveringbeing there for the client, understanding their goals, guiding themthen he deserves to be compensated fairly." Also Read | Why you cannot complain to Sebi about unregistered investment advisors While the changes may deter ARN poaching and protect original advisors, they also raise financial hurdles for MFDs looking to grow or go independent. Cooling-off periods may delay payments, but they cannot replace the importance of a strong distributorinvestor relationship," Bagaria said. The bottom line Investor safeguards have undoubtedly been strengthenedbut the new rules also raise concerns about the viability of newer, independent mutual fund distributors. Some worry that without careful adjustments, the move could inadvertently deter the very advisors it hopes to empower. Income Tax: Those taxpayers who have already filed their income tax return (ITR) for FY 2024-25 could be waiting for the refund, whereas those who have yet to file their return could be staring at myriad problems. One of the key dilemmas they are perhaps facing relates to the choice of income tax regime: old or new. Experts say that most taxpayers tend to go with the regime that they chose last year, or they make a decision based on their entitlement for deduction. For instance, if some taxpayers have made investments in some tax-saving instruments, which entitle them to claim 80C deductions, they prefer to go with the old tax regime. Conversely, they choose a new tax regime when there are no such deductions. But is this plan of action advisable? Perhaps not advice experts. 4 lakh threshold Chirag Chauhan, a Mumbai-based chartered accountant, tells Livemint that the minimum threshold of deductions at which it is rational for taxpayers to opt for the old tax regime is 4 lakh, and anything below that is not. "If the total deductions that can be claimed under 80C, 80D, and others are lower than 4 lakh, then the new tax regime (and not the old) would lead to lower tax liability. Conversely, when total tax deductions are more than 4 lakh on account of HRA and deductions, then it is recommended to choose the old tax regime. But more often than not, these deductions are lower than this amount, says CA Chauhan. New tax regime vs old tax regime He further explains that several taxpayers are not even aware and are surprised when they are apprised of this. We came across several taxpayers who do not even bother to find out their total tax liability under these tax regimes. Ideally, we advise everyone that taxpayers should first check their total tax liability under both regimes before choosing one, adds Chauhan. Taxpayers can, therefore, visit the tax calculator to compute tax liability under both regimes to decide which regime is better. Tax calculator (image shown below) can be accessed on this link. Taxpayers are advised to compare tax computation under both the regime by using the tax calculator given on I-T department's website For the unversed, the new tax regime allows taxpayers to file returns under concessional rates but without claiming tax deductions. The old tax regime, on the other hand, has relatively higher tax rates, but it permits taxpayers to claim a range of deductions. New Delhi: The Association of Industries & Institutions (New Delhi) has urged the labour ministry to reconsider a recent directive by the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) mandating Aadhaar-based facial authentication for generating universal account numbers (UANs), claiming that the move is triggering significant operational disruptions for employers. The industry body, with over 7,000 members, wrote to labour and employment minister Mansukh Mandaviya, urging the government to retain the UMANG app and the Unified Employer Portal as parallel options for UAN generation. The association, which includes private and public sector enterprises, SMEs, and multinational corporations, flagged the EPFOs 30 July circular as particularly problematic for sectors marked by high attrition, limited smartphone access, and low digital literacy. The mandate, effective 1 August, requires UAN allotment and activation exclusively through the UMANG app. UMANG or the Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance is a government-developed mobile platform that offers citizens seamless access to a broad range of central, state, and select private sector services, through a single, user-friendly interface. While the policy aims to streamline workflows and enhance identity verification, the association warned it may result in widespread compliance challenges. It urged the government to retain multiple access points to ensure a smoother transition. "This is to submit, with profound concern, our representation regarding the Employees Provident Fund Organisations (EPFO) recent mandate... requiring the allotment and activation of the 12-digit Universal Account Number (UAN) exclusively through the UMANG (Unified Mobile Application for New-age Governance) App using Aadhaar-based Face Authentication Technology (FAT), effective 1st August 2025," the letter said. "We fully acknowledge and appreciate EPFOs efforts to promote digital transformation, efficiency, and transparency. However, the present directive has been introduced without adequate consideration of its practical challenges and widespread operational implications, thereby creating significant compliance bottlenecks for employers and stakeholders," it added. A copy of the letter has been reviewed by Mint. Among its key recommendations, the association called for reinstating UAN generation via the Unified Employer Portal alongside the UMANG app, arguing that a dual-channel approach would help prevent administrative delays and ease compliance burdens. It also proposed that facial authentication be positioned as an optional, self-service feature for digitally equipped employees, rather than a mandatory step for all. A spokesperson of the labour ministry did not respond to emailed queries. Also Read | The man who wants your face to be the boarding passeverywhere To further ease the transition, the group recommended allowing bulk UAN generation by employers using Aadhaar-based e-KYC, with facial authentication deferred to a later stage. It also called for a six- to twelve-month grace period before enforcing the new requirement, to allow time for awareness drives, technical readiness, and workforce training. "We strongly believe that while digital innovation is the future, its rollout must be inclusive, pragmatic, and sensitive to the realities of Indias diverse workforce," the letter stated. "In view of the reasons and hardships outlined above, and in the interest of ensuring a smooth transition while minimising disruption for both employers and employees, we respectfully request your honour to issue suitable directions to the EPFO to withdraw or defer the said circular," it added. Also Read | EPFO sees an all-time high net payroll addition at over two million in May The Union cabinet approved a massive 51,407 crore spending plan on Friday, addressing key areas from infrastructure and energy subsidies to a new version of its direct tax law. The new Income Tax Bill, 2025, which incorporates feedback from a parliamentary committee, will be introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday. The spending package includes a significant payout to state-owned fuel retailers for past losses and funds for a new highway, a regional development plan for the Northeast, and a technical education scheme. A substantial portion of the budget 30,000 crorehas been earmarked to compensate the countrys three public sector oil marketing companies: Indian Oil Corp., Bharat Petroleum Corp., and Hindustan Petroleum Corp. These firms have absorbed losses from selling cooking gas (LPG) at government-regulated prices while global prices remained high. The payment will be made in 12 installments, ensuring the companies can continue to procure LPG and maintain their capital expenditure, according to a government statement. Cooking gas The Cabinet has also sanctioned a targeted subsidy of 12,000 crore for free cooking gas connections under the Ujjwala scheme, for FY26. This programme provides a subsidy of 300 for each 14.2 kg LPG cylinder, for up to nine refills per year. Under the Ujjwala 2.0 initiative, all beneficiaries receive a deposit-free LPG connection, which includes the cylinder, pressure regulator, Suraksha hose, domestic gas consumer card, and installation charges. The first refill and stove are also provided free of charge, with all costs borne by the government or the fuel retailers. Also Read | House panel stresses construction of underground LPG caverns India imports approximately 60% of its LPG requirements. To shield PMUY beneficiaries from the impact of sharp fluctuations in international prices and to encourage sustained usage of LPG, the government first introduced a targeted subsidy of 200 per 14.2 kg cylinder in May 2022. This subsidy was subsequently increased to 300 in October 2023. The strategic intervention has been successful, with the average per capita consumption of PMUY consumers improving from around 3 refills in 2019-20 to 4.47 during FY24-25, demonstrating the scheme's positive impact on a national level. Income Tax Bill, 2025 The cabinet also approved the revised Income Tax Bill, 2025, which seeks to simplify Indias six-decade-old direct tax law, said two persons familiar with the development. The revised bill will be tabled in the Lok Sabha on Monday, the people said. It incorporates most of the recommendations of a select committee of Parliament, chaired by Bharatiya Janata Party MP Baijayant Panda, that reviewed the draft of the proposed law, they said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. Once passed, it will replace the Income-Tax Act, 1961. The previous version of the Bill introduced in the Lok Sabha in the Budget session of Parliament on 13 February has been formally withdrawn, the government said in a statement. Almost all suggestions of the select committee have been accepted, it said. Suggestions have also been received from other sources, which are required to convey the legislative meaning. Also Read | Centre pushes banks to ramp up infrastructure lending amid slowing credit A fresh bill will be introduced in the Lok Sabha in due course, the statement said. One of the persons quoted earlier said, To avoid confusion by multiple versions of the Bill and to provide a clear and updated version with all changes incorporated, the new version of the Income Tax Bill will be introduced for the consideration of the House on Monday. Mint had reported on Thursday that the cabinet was set to consider the revised bill on Friday. Queries emailed to the finance ministry and to the cabinet secretariat on Friday remained unanswered at the time of publishing. Special package for the Northeast The Cabinet has approved a new Special Development Package (SDP) with a total outlay of 7,250 crore for the states of Assam and Tripura. The primary goal is to promote peace, foster inclusive development, and rehabilitate affected communities. The funds will be utilized for a range of projects, including infrastructure improvement, job creation, and providing better health services, education, and skill development. Of the total amount, the central government will contribute 4,250 crore, while the Assam government will provide the balance 3,000 crore. This initiative is expected to bring stability, integrate affected communities into the national mainstream, and give a major push to tourism in the region, positioning it as a long-term investment in social harmony and economic progress. Improving road Infrastructure The Cabinet also greenlit a major infrastructure project with a capital cost of 2,157 crore for the construction of a new 4-lane highway section from Marakkanam to Puducherry on National Highway-332A. This project addresses the significant congestion on the existing two-lane highway and associated state highways, which are critical for connectivity between Chennai, Puducherry, Viluppuram, and Nagapattinam. The project will upgrade approximately 46 km of NH-332A to a modern 4-lane configuration. This upgrade will not only decongest the existing corridor and improve safety but also cater to the mobility needs of the rapidly growing towns in the region. Also Read | Revised Income Tax Bill to be tabled in Lok Sabha on Monday The new alignment will seamlessly integrate with other major national and state highways, as well as key multimodal transport hubs, including two railway stations, two airports, and a minor port. This will facilitate the faster movement of goods and passengers, boosting regional economic growth and tourism. The project is expected to generate significant employment, with approximately 8 lakh person-days of direct and 10 lakh person-days of indirect employment, opening new avenues for growth and prosperity in the surrounding areas. Enhancing technical education with 'MERITE' The government also cleared a new scheme called 'MERITE' (Modernizing Education and Research in Technical Institutions) with a budget of 4,200 crore. The five-year programme, partly funded by the World Bank, aims to improve the quality of technical education in 275 engineering and polytechnic institutions across India. China on Friday welcomed the planned visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the Tianjin summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), which is set to be held later this month. PM Modi is expected to visit China for the first time in seven years to attend the annual SCO Summit, scheduled to be held on August 31, according to sources quoted by news agency PTI. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun, in an interaction with the press, said China welcomes Prime Minister Modi for the SCO Tianjin Summit. We believe that with the concerted effort of all parties, the Tianjin summit will be a gathering of solidarity, friendship and fruitful results, and the SCO will enter a new stage of high-quality development featuring greater solidarity, coordination, dynamism and productiveness, he said when asked about PM Modi's visit to China. China is set to host the SCO Summit in Tianjin from August 31 to September 1. Guo told reporters that leaders of over 20 countries, including all member states of the SCO and heads of 10 international organisations, will attend the summit. The SCO Tianjin Summit will be the largest summit in scale since the establishment of the SCO, he said. PM Modi's China visit Amid souring ties with the US after Trump tariffs were doubled, PM Narendra Modi is likely to travel to China after seven years as part of his two-nation visit, which also includes a trip to Japan. According to a report by PTI, PM Modi will embark on a visit to Japan around August 29 and after concluding the trip, he will travel to the northern Chinese city of Tianjin for the SCO summit to be held on August 31-September 1. The prime minister's visit to China is being planned amid efforts by the two sides to repair their bilateral ties which came under severe strain following the deadly clashes between Indian and Chinese troops in Galwan Valley in June 2020. However, there has been no official confirmation of the news. New Delhi: Female patients and relatives of deceased donors on organ transplant waiting lists will get priority status as beneficiaries, with the health ministry taking steps to encourage donations and correct a gender imbalance among recipients. The two provisions are part of a 10-point advisory issued by the National Organ & Tissue Transplant Organization (NOTTO) to augment organ donation and transplantation in the country. NOTTO was set up under the Directorate General of Health Services of the health ministry. The objective is to make provision to give additional points in the allocation criteria for female patients in the waiting list for deceased donor organ transplants, so as to address gender disparity and to make provision that if a near-relative of a previous deceased donor needs organ transplant, then he may be given priority, Dr Anil Kumar, director of NOTTO, said in a letter dated 2 August to the states and Union Territories. The provision to give additional points to female patients is a direct response to the gender disparity in organ allocations. Additionally, the benefit for near-relatives of deceased donors is to honour the selfless act of donation. Dr H. Jauhari, chairperson of renal transplants at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in New Delhi, supported the idea of giving women priority in cadaver donations. He noted that women have predominantly been donors in live-organ transplants, often as mothers, sisters, wives or daughters. Dr. Jauhari emphasized that this created a disparity fewer male donors and a greater number of male recipients. However, Dr Jauhari raised concerns over implementation. He pointed out the complexity of prioritizing a middle-aged woman over a young patient, child, or the primary earner of a family, noting that such decisions would be "difficult." He stressed that organ allocation currently often follows a first-come-first-served approach, and any new rules would require "responsible decisions." Core issue India, the most populated country, recorded only 18,911 transplants in 2024, according NOTTOs annual report. The majority of these were from living donors (15,505), with a smaller number from deceased donors (1,128). Dr. Jauhari said the core issue remains the low rate of cadaver donations in India. He said increasing awareness is the most critical factor and that boosting cadaver donations requires a concerted effort by society. Dr Kumar highlighted the need to transform the organ donation and transplantation landscape in India. The letter called for greater transparency, equity and dignity to the process and introduced crucial other measures to address longstanding challenges. According to the advisory, all transplant hospitals and centres will have to mandatorily submit data of each donor and recipient of organs or tissues to a national registry maintained by NOTTO. Non-compliance of this provision would likely lead to legal action against such hospitals. State governments have been told to create permanent posts for transplant coordinators in hospitals that perform organ transplantation or retrieval. They have been advised to develop facilities for organ and tissue retrieval in all trauma centres and register them as organ retrieval centres. Medical colleges have been encouraged to develop similar facilities in a phased manner. Also Read | Why organ donation should be part of your estate plan The advisory calls for training emergency responders and ambulance staff to identify potential deceased donors early, particularly among victims of road traffic accidents and stroke patients. New Delhi: The Union government has appointed 16 new high court judges and additional judges, the ministry of law and justice said on Friday. Additional judges Harinath Nunepally, Kiranmayee Mandava, Sumathi Jagadam and Nyapathy Vijay were appointed judges of the Andhra Pradesh high court, while additional judges Partha Sarathi Sen and Apurba Sinha Ray were named judges of the Calcutta High Court. Vimal Kumar Yadav was appointed judge to the Delhi high court, Ravindra Kumar Agrawal to Chhattisgarh, and Gurusiddaiah Basavaraja to Karnataka. Biswaroop Chowdhury, Prasenjit Biswas, Uday Kumar, Ajay Kumar Gupta, Supratim Bhattacharya, Partha Sarathi Chatterjee, and Md. Shabbar Rashidi were named additional judges of the Calcutta high court for a one-year term. The government's appointment of judges assumes importance as there were 345 vacancies of judges across the country's high courts as of June 2024, according to data from the department of justice. This indicates that roughly one-third of high court judges' positions were vacant. Delays in appointments have forced appointees to step down from their positions, despite receiving a nod from the collegium. For instance, on 5 July, intellectual property rights lawyer Shwetasree Majumder withdrew her consent for judgeship after the government did not appoint her as a judge of the Delhi high court after the collegium recommended her in August 2024, reported LiveLaw, a legal news service. As per routine procedure, high courts should make recommendations to fill a position at least six months before the vacancy is created. However, this time limit is rarely observed, law and justice minister Arjun Ram Meghwal had said in Rajya Sabha in December. Collegium recommendations In May this year, then chief justice of India Sanjiv Khanna disclosed data on the Supreme Court portal related to the appointments recommended by the collegium during his tenure and that of his predecessor, Dhananjaya Chandrachud. The data disclosed by the court on 5 May showed its collegium had suggested 221 names for high court judges. Of these, eight belonged to scheduled castes and just seven to scheduled tribes. Other backward castes fared better with about 14.5%, or 32 nominees, while women came in at 15.3%, or 34 nominees, according to the data. The apex courts collegium has, on multiple occasions, nominated candidates belonging to minorities or marginalized communities to the higher judiciary. In July 2024, the collegium had elevated Justice N. Kotiswar Singh, who belongs to Manipur, to the Supreme Court, saying his elevation to the top court would provide representation to Indias north-eastern region. The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a plea seeking the constitution of a panel headed by a retired judge to independently audit Air India's safety practices and maintenance procedures. The SC bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi asked the petitioner, Narendra Kumar Goswami, why only the airline that witnessed an unfortunate tragedy should be targeted. Why just Air India? What about others? the court asked while rejecting the plea. Also Read | Air India CEO admits operational challenges post AI171 crash The top court also told the petitioner to withdraw his PIL and to move to the appropriate forum in case of grievances. Don't give the impression that you are playing with other airlines. Why target Air India only, which recently witnessed an unfortunate tragedy? If you want some regulatory mechanism in place, then why did you not make other airlines a party in your petition? Why only Air India? the bench asked. The plea was filed in the wake of a recent crash of an Air India Boeing plane in Ahmedabad, in which 241 passengers and crew members were killed. The London-bound Air India flight, Boeing Dreamliner 787-8, had crashed moments after taking off from the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad on 12 June afternoon. Goswami, a lawyer, has also sought a comprehensive safety audit of Tata-owned Air India's entire fleet by an international aviation safety agency. Also Read | Air India to fully resume International operations from 1 October; Details here He claimed to be a victim of "some unfortunate incident" with the airline. During the hearing, Justice Kant said, We also travel every week and know the status. There was a tragedy, a very unfortunate one. This is not a time to run down an airline. Additionally, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) was sought to be directed to implement and enforce a transparent, publicly accessible reporting system for all aviation safety incidents, including a centralised database, ensuring compliance with the Aircraft Rules, 1937, and international best practices. Air India plane crash: US based law firm Beasley Allen's lead lawyer Mike Andrews said that since the aircraft involved in the Ahmedabad plane crash, a Boeing Dreamliner, was manufactured in the United States, the families, the victims, have a voice in those claims in the US. Potential legal options will depend on what the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder reveal in terms of what happened here, said Andrews, reported ANI. Families of 65 victims of the deadly Air India Flight AI-171s deadly crash, which killed a total of 241 people on bord, have hired Beasley Allen, the same team that fought for families in the Boeing 737 MAX tragedies, to take on Boeing and Air India in court, reported Hindustan Times. According to Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB)'s report on the Air India plane crash, voice recordings from the cockpit revealed confusion in fuel cutoff, with a MAYDAY distress call issued moments before the crash. Legal options for crash victims' families Mike Andrews said that suppose flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder indicate that there is a defect with the aircraft, for example FADEC system or the throttle control malfunctioning, then the options are to bring a defective product or a product liability claim Andrews said that if it's an Air India claim, then those would most likely fall under the Montreal Convention. In the context of the Air India crash, the Montreal Convention establishes the framework for compensation to victims and their families. Beasley Allen and Boeing 737 MAX cases Beasley Allen rose to prominence through its work on the Boeing 737 MAX cases, which stemmed from two deadly crashesLion Air Flight 610 in Indonesia and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 in Ethiopiathat claimed 346 lives between 2018 and 2019. In 2021, Boeing agreed to a $2.5 billion deferred prosecution settlement, which included a $243.6 million criminal fine, $1.77 billion in payments to airlines, and $500 million for victims families, as per records by US Department of Justice. Also Read | Air India CEO admits operational challenges post AI171 crash The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday approved LPG subsidy to oil marketing companies (OMCs) amounting to 30,000 crore, Union I&B Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said. The move has been taken to ensure affordable LPG for the middle class amid the current geopolitical situation, Vaishnaw said. To ensure that the LPG gas is affordable for the middle class, a subsidy of 30,000 cr has been approved...In present geopolitics, gas prices fluctuate and to take care of that, the subsidy is given, he said in a briefing after the Cabinet meeting. The compensation will be paid in 12 tranches to state-owned OMCs including Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum, the Ministry of Petroleum said in a statement on Friday. It said that international LPG prices continue to remain high. However, to insulate consumers from fluctuations in international LPG prices, the increase in cost was not passed on to consumers of domestic LPG which led to significant losses for the three OMCs, it said. 10,000 crore allocation for Ujjawala scheme The Cabinet further approved a 12,060 crore support for PM Ujjwala beneficiaries for FY 2025-26, a statement said. This will entail a subsidy of 300 per cylinder to eligible Ujjwala subscribers and will benefit 10.33 crore households and around 45 crore individuals across India. The Ujjwala Scheme was launched by PM Narendra Modi in 2016. Also Read | Russian oil import cuts could hit Indian OMCs GRM by $11.5/bbl, says report Cabinet decisions amid Trump's tariff pressure The Cabinet's decision came days after US President Donald Trump doubled US tariffs on India to 50 per cent the highest in the world citing its continued purchase of Russian oil. PM Modi had earlier this week, without naming Trump, said that the government will do everything to defend its citizens even if it comes at a personal cost. This step also underlines the Governments commitment to protect consumers from volatility in global energy markets while maintaining the nancial health of these PSU OMCs. It also rearms the objective of ensuring the widespread availability of clean cooking fuel to all consumers of domestic LPG, including those under flagship schemes like PM Ujjwala Yojana, the petroleum ministry said in its statement. Delhi: Pregabalin, a prescription medication meant to treat anxiety, epilepsy, and nerve pain is being sold over the counter at multiple government-run Jan Aushadhi Kendras and private pharmacies across the national capital. According to a report by Hindustan Times, the medicine, which is also now dubbed as the trance drug, is readily available, despite being a scheduled drug that should only be sold with a doctors prescription. What is Pregabalin? Pregabalin is in a class of medications called anticonvulsants. In anxiety, it stops the brain from releasing the chemicals that make a person anxious. Pregabalin, marketed under brand names such as Lyrica, Alzain, and Axalid, is meant to be dispensed only with a doctors prescription. Told its like alcohol' A 23-year-old software engineer, who once got addicted to the drug, blamed the easy access for leading to his addiction. I was told its like alcohol but cheaper, and you dont get a hangover, the engineer told HT, adding that he got addicted to Pregabalin to the extent that he began consuming more than a dozen a day", as compared to his earlier consumption of three pills a day. Recounting his exprience, the engineer told:"No one stopped me. If pharmacies had asked for a prescription, maybe I wouldnt have spiralled so far." What Delhi drug department said One official from the Delhi drug department acknowledged the issue but said the department had not received any formal complaints. He said that last year, the Punjab government formally wrote to the Centre requesting that Pregabalin be included in the H1 list of scheduled drugs. Any drug with H1 classification mandates pharmacists to maintain sale records of the same and dispense it only with a doctors prescription. Also Read | Drug firm Aizant to soon get binding bids for controlling stake in $350-mn deal Raksha Bandhan 2025: The Raksha Bandhan festival, also known as Rakhi, is celebrated across India. This year it will be celebrated on 9 August 2025. The joyful festival celebrates the bond between sisters and brothers. To mark this special occasion, several state governments have offered women free travel on government buses, extending up to three days in some states. According to Drik Panchang, it begins from August 09 from 5:47 am and will conclude at 01:24 pm that day. Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh women will be able to travel for free on UPSRTC and city bus services for three days starting today, Friday, announced Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath. According to the CM's office, the free ride window will begin at 6 am on August 8 and continue until midnight on August 10. To ensure smooth travel during the festive rush, the government has ordered the roadways to deploy a sufficient number of buses in both urban and rural areas across the state. Haryana Women and children (up to 15 years of age) in Haryana will be able to travel for free on state-run buses as part of Raksha Bandhan celebrations. Free travel will apply to regular intra-state buses and buses operating to Delhi and Chandigarh. This service will be available from 12 noon on August 8 to midnight on August 9. Rajasthan Rajasthan CM Bhajan Lal Sharma has also announced free travel for women on August 9 and 10 in all buses run by the Rajasthan State Road Transport Corporation. This is the first time that women in Rajasthan will be allowed to travel for free for two consecutive days. The offer applies to travel within Rajasthan's borders. Uttarakhand In Uttarakhand, women will be able to travel for free in government-run buses on Raksha Bandhan. This festive benefit extends to women and young children, like every year. Other states offering free bus travel: Karnataka Punjab Delhi These states already offer year-round free travel on government buses, and thus, the offer is also available on Raksha Bandhan. In Chandigarh, women can also travel for free in CTU and CCBSS-operated buses across the Tricity area Chandigarh, Mohali, and Panchkula. However, Chandigarh's offer is limited to local AC and non-AC buses and does not extend to intercity or long-route buses running outside Tricity limits. Special festive treat for women in Madhya Pradesh In Madhya Pradesh, women will enjoy free bus rides on August 9, and will also receive a festive bonus this Raksha Bandhan. CM Mohan Yadav said the beneficiaries of the Ladli Behna Yojana will receive 1,500 monthly and an additional 250 as a Raksha Bandhan gift. IISER Kolkata suicide: A research scholar at IISER Kalyani died by suicide on Friday after his PhD guide and fellow researchers allegedly misbehaved with him. In his suicide note, the researcher mentioned that he was autistic, and had even considered suicide when he was in sixth standard in school. I was never made for this world, it seems But I can't do this anymore. I give up. May I find the peace in death that I never found in life, reads the IISER researcher's suicide note. Also Read | Bengaluru boy dies by suicide, police investigate link to Japanese web series A resident of West Bengal's Shyamnagar, located in North 24 Parganas, the deceased Anamitra Roy was doing his research from Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISER) Kalyani, Nadia, reported Anandbazar Patrika. What led to the suicide In his suicide note posted on his Facebook account, the IISER researcher mentioned that he is autistic and had been subjected to various forms of physical and mental abuse since childhood. During his time at IISER, the researcher stated that he and many of his colleagues had been repeatedly abused by Sourabh Biswas, a PhD student from the same institute. Repeated complaints to Roy's guide had also fallen in deaf years, as per the researcher's post. Thereafter seeing Sourabh Biswas being openly praised by his PhD guide, huge scientific misconduct in the thesis, made the IISER researcher take his life, mentions the suicide note. What the IISER researcher's suicide note said Citing one particular incident, the IISER researcher had stated that on April 12, 2025, the situation boiled over when the accused allegedly shouted at Roy for an extended period inside the lab. Complaints were lodged the same day with the institutes anti-ragging cellboth by email and through the official portalbut in vain. They never reached back to me. One member of students' affairs council was supportive to me, while another told me that I should have thought about lab's reputation before complaining. My supervisor was of a similar opinion as well and only found fault in my behaviour. I considered suicide a few days later but didn't follow through due to coincidental circumstances. I sought therapy (my seventh or eighth therapist) and medicines and somehow kept myself alive till today. The IISER researcher's post The Narendra Modi government informed Parliament on Thursday that India has taken note of reports about China commencing the construction of a mega dam project on the lower reaches of the Yarlung Tsangpo River, in the upper reaches of the Brahmaputra, in Tibet. In a written response to a query in Rajya Sabha, Minister of State for External Affairs, Kirti Vardhan Singh, said the project was first made public in 1986 and since then, preparations have been underway in China. The government of India has "taken note of reports about commencement of construction of mega dam project by China on the lower reaches of the Yarlung Tsangpo (upper reaches of the Brahmaputra) River in Tibet," Singh said in the reply. The government carefully monitors all developments relating to the Brahmaputra River, including plans by China to develop hydropower projects, and "takes necessary measures to protect our interests, including preventive and corrective measures to safeguard life and livelihood of Indian citizens residing in the downstream areas", he said. Where is Yarlung Tsangbo river? The Yarlung Tsangbo river originates in the Tibetan Himalayas and enters India as the Siang in far-eastern Arunachal Pradesh state before flowing downstream to Assam as the Brahmaputra. The river finally empties into the Bay of Bengal through Bangladesh, where it is called the Padma. Various issues relating to trans-border rivers are discussed with China under the ambit of an institutionalised expert level mechanism, which was established in 2006, as well as through diplomatic channels, Singh sad in his response. "As a lower riparian state with considerable established user rights to the waters of the trans-border rivers, the government has consistently conveyed its views and concerns to the Chinese authorities, including on the need for transparency and consultation with downstream countries, and urged them to ensure that the interests of downstream states are not harmed by any activities in the upstream areas," he added. Also Read | India, China discuss situation in border areas The need for cooperation on trans-border rivers, including the resumption of the Chinese side's provision of hydrological data, has been highlighted by the government in several bilateral interactions with China, including during the recent visit of the external affairs minister to China from July 14-16 for the SCO Foreign Ministers Meeting, the minister said. New Delhi: Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri on Friday highlighted India's strides in clean energy and domestic fuel production, while acknowledging that the country still relies heavily on imports to meet its growing energy needs. "We already have 113 compressed biogas (CBG) plants operating and another 73 under construction," he said on the progress of bioenergy and natural gas space. "If you look at the car models coming onto the market, many new ones are CNG-compatible. So that's a success story," the minister told reporters on the sidelines of Pioneer Biofuels 360 Summit here in the national capital. Also Read | Oil India in talks with ExxonMobil Total, Petrobras for joint exploration The Minister pointed to India's liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) distribution as another example of progress in energy access. "Today, we are running against all statistics," he said. "We have 33.5 crore LPG connections in the country, including 10.5 crore under the Ujjwala Yojana, yet we still import about 60 per cent of our LPG." While acknowledging the import dependency, Puri reaffirmed that the country is taking decisive steps to increase domestic production. "Our refineries are going to produce more. We are going to do more in exploration and production (E&P)," he said. Regarding natural gas, Minister Puri noted that domestic production is witnessing healthy growth. "Yes, our production is going up by 18 per cent per year, but even there we are still importing around 50 per cent," he said. Also Read | Nayara refinery to be hit hard by EU sanctions on Russian oil Minister Puri stressed on the country's commitment to Atmanirbhar Bharat or self-reliant India. "A country like India, which has these challenges, is moving in the direction of self-sufficiency, but it's going to take time," he stated. "Meanwhile, we will import, we will increase our production, and we've already diversified our import sources." India is the world's third-largest energy consumer with a demand of about 5.4 million barrels of oil per day. The Madras High Court lashed out at the Tamil Nadu Police for mechanically closing a criminal case registered over a Facebook post, reported Bar and Bench on Friday. The bench, headed by Justice K Murali Shankar, criticised the police action on the post which contained vulgar captions alongside an image of Lord Krishna stealing clothes from gopis. According to Justice K Murali Shankar, the depiction of religious figures must be handled with due sensitivity. He added that the government must ensure that freedom of speech does not translate into hurting religious feelings. "Depicting Hindu Gods in a disrespectful manner, intentionally hurting the sentiments of millions, cannot be justified. Such actions have the potential to spark enmity, religious outrage, social disorder, and undermine communal harmony. Given the deep-rooted respect for religious symbols and deities, disrespect can lead to social unrest and hurt a large section of society. Therefore, it is crucial to approach such depictions with sensitivity. The Government must ensure that freedom of expression does not translate into hurting religious feelings," the Bar and Bench quoted the August 4 ruling as saying. What is the case: According to the report, the Facebook post in question contained two Tamil comments. The first comment, made by Sathish Kumar, stated that Krishna Jayanti was a celebration of a man who stole the clothes of bathing women. Following this, P Paramasivan filed a criminal case and alleged that the post was uploaded with the intent to defame Hindu gods and damage the image of Hindu women. Paramasivan even raised concerns that the post could potentially trigger law and order problems on religious grounds. However, in February, the police filed a negative final report before the trial court, claiming it requested information about the Facebook user who uploaded the post from Meta, but unable to secure such user details. The trial court accepted the police's negative final report, which classified the case as UN. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin will unveil the long-awaited State Education Policy (SEP) today, 8 August. The policy, drafted as an alternative to the National Education Policy (NEP), is being launched at a time when the DMK-Congress-ruled state and the Narendra Modi-led Centre are locked in a tussle over the education sector. The Stalin-led Tamil Nadu government has vociferously criticised and opposed the NEP, especially its three-language formula and centralised entrance exams. The DMK has termed the NEP regressive, anti-social justice, and an attempt at Hindi imposition. What does the SEP say? The SEP, drafted by a committee headed by retired High Court judge Justice D Murugesan, was submitted to the government last year. The policy is expected to focus on science education, artificial intelligence (AI), and strong English language skills, with an emphasis on making quality education accessible to all, a report in NDTV said. The policy recommends admissions based on consolidated marks from Classes 9th and 10th, scrapping the idea of entrance exams for arts and science collegessomething that goes against NEP's push for a uniform entrance system. State vs NEP The state has decried this as coercive, warning that it punishes states for exercising their constitutional rights in education. The SEP launch comes as the Centre withholds 2,152 crore under the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan, citing Tamil Nadu's refusal to adopt the NEP. The state has decried this as coercive, warning that it punishes states for exercising their constitutional rights in education, which is a concurrent subject. Also Read | Panneerselvam snaps ties with NDA hours after morning walk with MK Stalin Search efforts are still underway in Dharali town of Uttarakhands Uttarkashi district, where torrential rains triggered flash floods in the Kheer Ganga river on Tuesday. At least four people have been killed and dozens are feared washed away. The floods have severely damaged hotels and residential buildings. Uttarakhand has been facing severe monsoon-related disturbances, particularly in its higher-altitude areas. Authorities have launched extensive evacuation and relief efforts with multiple agencies involved. Two cloudbursts, one in Dharali and another in the nearby Sukhi Top area, caused widespread devastation, with Dharali suffering the most damage. Dr Priya Tyagi, a psychiatrist on the treatment team in Uttarkashi district, told the Times of India, Survivors are under immense mental stress. The disaster has shaken them, which is common in such large-scale calamities. Some haven't even processed what happened. They're fearful, sad, and confused - but are slowly coping as days pass. TOI reported, citing doctors at AIIMS and the district hospital in Uttarkashi, that most patients have sustained blunt-force injuries to the chest, head, or legs. In this image released by @uttarakhandcops via X on Aug. 7, 2025, Search and rescue operation underway following flash floods triggered by a cloudburst, in Pauri Garhwal. (@uttarakhandcops on X via PTI Photo) In a few severe cases, medical teams were stunned to find sand and tiny pebbles lodged deep within the patients lungs, wounds, and internal tracts. All the patients are currently stable, said Dr Prem Pokhriyal, PMS at the Uttarkashi district hospital, reported TOI. He said, During surgeries, we removed mud, pebbles, and silt embedded deep in their injuries. Uttarkashi: Stranded people being rescued following flash floods triggered by a cloudburst at Dharali region, in Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand, Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. (PTI Photo)(PTI08_07_2025_000197A) (PTI) Advanced equipment required to dredge through the mounds of debris in Dharali in search of the missing is being flown to the spot by the IAF's Chinook and Mi-17 helicopters and those of Uttarakhand Civil Aviation Authority. Indian Army, Indian Air Force (IAF), along with ITBP, NDRF, SDRF, BRO, and local volunteers, engaged in a joint rescue and relief operation to search for the missing. People trapped in the Dharali-Harsil disaster areas are being rescued by helicopters and brought to Matli helipad, from where arrangements have been made to ensure their safe arrival at their destination. National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) DIG Gambhir Singh Chauhan said helicopter services have been deployed to evacuate those trapped. Multiple agencies, including the Indian Army, NDRF, Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), and local administration, are coordinating efforts both on the ground and in the air. Survivors are under immense mental stress. The disaster has shaken them, which is common in such large-scale calamities. During surgeries, we removed mud, pebbles, and silt embedded deep in their injuries. Earlier on Wednesday, the Uttarakhand government informed ANI that 274 individuals, stranded in Gangotri and other areas, had been safely evacuated to Harshil. The group comprises 131 people from Gujarat, 123 from Maharashtra, 21 from Madhya Pradesh, 12 from Uttar Pradesh, six from Rajasthan, seven from Delhi, five from Assam, five from Karnataka, three from Telangana, and one from Punjab. Raksha Bandhan 2025: The Delhi Traffic Police on Friday issued an advisory for commuters travelling on highways, warning of major congestions as a number of Delhiites set out to celebrate Raksha Bandhan 2025 on Rakhi eve. Heavy traffic jam was reported from various parts of Delhi-NCR on Friday as people began travelling on the Rakhi weekend. The Delhi Traffic Police in its advisory warned citizens to avoid certain routes and warned of major traffic congestions in Delhi. Due to the upcoming Raksha Bandhan festival coinciding with the weekend, a large number of commuters are expected to travel out of Delhi via National Highways, it said. Raksha Bandhan traffic jam in Delhi: Which routes to avoid? The police asked commuters to avoid THESE routes amid heavy traffic jam in Delhi Karnal, Panipat, Sonipat, and Chandigarh through NH-44 and Singhu border. To avoid congestion, commuters heading towards Karnal, Panipat, Sonipat, and Chandigarh through NH-44 and Singhu border are advised to consider alternate routes, it said in the advisory. To avoid traffic jams in Delhi, it advised commuters to use the metro. Public transportation options like Delhi Metro can be a convenient alternative to reach your destination. Plan your journey in advance to ensure a smooth commute, the Delhi Traffic Police said. Rakhi traffic jam in Delhi Various corners of Delhi saw massive traffic jams as people set out to celebrate Raksha Bandhan on Friday. Slow vehicular movement was reported from the Ghazipur border, with cars seen stuck for hours on road. Cars, bikes and auto rickshaws were also seen stuck in the traffic at the Noida-Akshardham road leading to Gandhi Nagar, Geeta Colony, and Shastri Park earlier this evening. The Raksha Bandhan festival, also known as Rakhi, is celebrated across India. This year it will be celebrated on 9 August 2025. The Supreme Court deleted its observation in which it criticised Allahabad High Court judge Prashant Kumar for allowing criminal proceedings in a civil dispute case. In an order on Friday, the court made it clear that its intention was not to embarrass or cast aspersions on him. A bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan reiterated that the observations were made to ensure the dignity of the judiciary. The Supreme Court said it was deleting the observations after a request was made by Chief Justice BR Gavai to reconsider the matter, news agency PTI reported. The Supreme Court also acknowledged that the Chief Justice of the High Court is the master of the roster and left it to him to take the call in the matter. Justice Prashant Kumar row: What's the matter? In an unprecedented order, a bench of Justices Pardiwala and Mahadevan on 4 August had stripped criminal matters of the roster of the Allahabad High Court judge Prashant Kumar till he demits office. In its order, the Supreme Court made strong observations against Justice Kumar's judicial reasoning and further directed the high court administration to remove him from the criminal roster. It also asked that he be assigned to a division bench alongside a senior judge until his retirement. The action was taken after Prashant Kumar erroneously upheld a summons of a criminal nature in a civil dispute. According to Bar and Bench, the direction and scathing remarks against Justice Kumar were passed for his verdict that criminal prosecution could be used as an alternative means to recover money in civil disputes. A group of judges of the Allahabad High Court later wrote to Chief Justice Arun Bhansali, urging him to convene a full court meeting in response to the Supreme Court's order to have Justice Kumar removed from the criminal roster. Also Read | Supreme Court agrees to hear JSW Steel's review plea in Bhushan Power case The letter was written by Justice Arindam Sinha expressing pain over the Supreme Court order passed on 4 August. Seven judges had signed the letter. India's crude oil import bill could significantly increase if the country stops importing crude oil from Russia, according to a report by State Bank of India (SBI). If India halted oil imports from Russia for the rest of FY26, the fuel bill might increase by $9 billion in FY26 and $11.7 billion in FY27 due to the increase in prices, ANI reported, citing the SBI study. This report comes amid the US imposing an additional 25% tariff on all Indian goods and penalties for India's purchases from Russia. US President Donald Trump has said there will be no trade negotiations with India until a dispute over tariffs is resolved. The White House on Wednesday issued an Executive Order imposing an additional 25 percentage points in tariffs on Indian goods, raising the total levy to 50%. The Trump administration cited national security and foreign policy concerns, pointing specifically to India's ongoing imports of Russian oil. Role of Russian oil in Indias imports Indias reliance on Russian crude oil has grown since 2022. Russia's share of India's total oil imports surged from just 1.7 per cent in FY20 to 35.1 per cent in FY25, making Russia its largest oil supplier. This shift was largely driven by the availability of discounted Russian oil, capped at $60 per barrel, a move to ensure energy security, after Western nations imposed sanctions on Moscow and avoided its supplies following the invasion of Ukraine. India imported 88 million metric tonnes (MMT) of crude from Russia in FY25, out of its total oil imports of 245 MMT, the news report said. Prior to the Ukraine war, Iraq was India's top crude supplier, followed by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Impact of halting Russian oil imports "If India stopped oil imports from Russia during the rest of FY26, then India's fuel bill might increase by only USD 9 billion, SBI stated in the report. This would be a direct consequence of having to buy more expensive oil from other countries. Furthermore, if all countries were to stop buying Russian oil, which accounts for 10 per cent of the worlds crude supply, global oil prices could rise by as much as 10 per cent, provided no other countries increase their production. Indias strategy to mitigate impact Despite the potential increase in import bill, the SBI report highlighted that India's diversified supply network and established contracts with other oil-producing nations may help cushion the impact. India has diversified its oil sources to about 40 countries, including new suppliers like Guyana, Brazil, and Canada, adding to the country's energy security. Additionally, Indian refiners have annual contracts with its traditional Middle Eastern producers, which allow flexibility to request additional supplies each month, ANI reported. Since the imposition of sanctions on Russia, refiners have also turned to crude suppliers in the United States, West Africa, and Azerbaijan. Also Read | Oil Heads for Worst Run Since 2021 as Traders Discount US Curbs A video of a couple being allegedly denied entry into Delhi's Tubata restaurant for wearing Indian attire has gone viral on social media, sparking widespread criticism and reigniting the debate around dress codes in public spaces. The incident reportedly took place at a restaurant located near Pitampura Metro Station. In the video, the couple claims that the restaurant staff refused them entry because the woman was dressed in traditional Indian clothing, while others in Western attire were allowed in. The man filming the video also accused the restaurants manager of misbehaving with them. If a restaurant doesnt allow Indian attire, it shouldnt be allowed to operate, the person behind the camera says in the clip, which has now been widely circulated across platforms. Delhi Government Takes Note After the video began gaining traction online, Delhi Cabinet Minister Kapil Mishra confirmed that the matter had reached Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, who has directed officials to investigate the incident and take appropriate action. This is unacceptable in Delhi. A video has surfaced showing a ban on Indian attire at a restaurant in Pitampura. CM @gupta_rekhaji has taken serious note. Officials have been asked to look into the matter immediately, Mr Mishra posted on X. In a follow-up statement, the minister confirmed that the restaurant has withdrawn any dress code policy and will no longer impose restrictions based on attire. Restaurant to offer Rakshabandhan discount As part of their public response, the restaurant management reportedly issued a video statement clarifying their stance and promising to welcome all customers, regardless of what they wear. They also announced a special offer on Rakshabandhan for women visiting the restaurant in Indian attire. The restaurant operator has assured that no customer will be denied entry based on clothing. In fact, on Rakshabandhan, women wearing Indian attire will receive a special discount, Mr Mishra added. Social media reacts The incident has sparked a fierce debate online, with netizens divided over the restaurants actions. Many users called the dress-based entry rule discriminatory and culturally insensitive. Is the restaurant owner psycho or what? one user questioned on X. Another added, If denying entry based on a hijab is illegal, how is this any different? Discrimination is discrimination. Others defended the restaurant, arguing that as a private establishment, it has the right to set its own dress code. Why are we making an issue out of everything? Its private property, not public, wrote one user. Indian scientists are working on weather intervention technology to induce or suppress clouds and rain, according to a top official. "Currently, we are doing lab experiments. Once we have the modelling ready, we will replicate it in the real world," said M. Ravichandran, secretary, ministry of earth sciences. The ministry is setting up an artificial cloud chamber at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM), Pune. We are working on weather intervention technology, especially which includes cloud seeding to increase the rainfall and cloud suppressing," said Ravichandran. Also Read | Delhi min calls for cloud seeding to reduce worsening AQI All you need to know Cloud seeding enhances precipitation (rain or snow) by dispersing substances like silver iodide or sodium chloride into clouds. Cloud or hail suppression uses the same compounds to reduce rain or the size and volume of hail. According to Ravichandran, similar experiments have been conducted in a few other countries such as Israel and the US. But it is a very minuscule area because in India, it has to be operationalized on a scale. It is aimed not only at suppressing hail, but also at enhancing rainfall." As far China is concerned, Ravichandran said, They may be doing but we don't know much and on what scale." India's weather is more complex than that of other tropical regions because of its diverse geography and the monsoon system. Unlike tropical countries such as Indonesia or Congo, which may have more uniform weather, India has a wide range of weather patterns. Also Read | Mint Explainer: Why cloud seeding is easy to propose but hard to implement Cloud seeding can boost rainfall by up to 20%, enhance reservoir replenishment and hydroelectric generation, improve soil moisture retention, enhance groundwater recharge rates, reduce drought risk, protect ecosystems, and support sustainable agriculture," said Sundeep Talwar, advisor and chief executive officer at IGF India, which is engaged in environmental restoration. IGF India is exploring a pilot programme on artificial intelligence (AI)-driven cloud-microphysics trials with the India Meteorological Department (IMD) and universities to study the impact of rain-making techniques in India. Cloud seeding can help boost rainfall, support farmers and prevent crop failures in drought-prone states or regions such as Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. About 55% of India's farmland relies on rainfall for irrigation. The cloud seeding technology can also be used to manage non-conventional (renewable) energy sources, especially solar, wind, and hydroelectric power, by modifying weather conditions to stabilize or enhance output, according to Ravichandran. Also Read | Elon Musk welcomes Indian business leaders at SpaceX's starbase in Texas Cloud or hail suppression, on the other hand, can be useful during major events to temporarily prevent rainfall and flooding in low-lying areas. Currently, the weather is managing us. We want to manage the weather," said Ravichandran. For that, whatever infrastructure is required, like a radar, satellite, computer, a high-performance computer, a supercomputer, all these things we want to install and do, experiment, even a lab and other things." According to him, if it progresses as scheduled, the ministry would be able to do it in less than a decade. For the sixth consecutive year, Japan has recorded a drastic fall in population. Official data showed that more than 900,000 people died in 2024 the biggest drop since 1968. Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has described the demographic crisis as quite an emergency, vowing to implement family-friendly policies such as free childcare and more flexible working hours. Birth Rate Hits Record Low According to data released by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Japan recorded just 686,061 births the lowest since records began in 1899 while nearly 1.6 million people passed away. This means that for every child born, more than two people died. The tally of foreign nationals residing in Japan, however, was the highest since records began in 2013. Also read | England and Wales Population Surges by a Near Record 706,900 Government Struggles to Reverse the Trend For years, the government has tried to boost birth rates by offering incentives like housing subsidies and paid parental leave. However, long-standing cultural and economic challenges still stand in the way. Rising living expenses, low wage growth, and a strict work culture discourage many young people from having children. Women, especially, face traditional gender expectations and often take on the bulk of childcare with little support, the BBC reported. 'Can AI help Japans Population?' The report has stirred a buzz on social media, with several expressing concern and some even suggesting seeking help from AI. One user wrote: When you walk in the streets of Japan, you dont see children at all. The population is old and its really easy to notice it. Sadly, the Japanese are not having children! (I took this picture just last month in Tokyo ) Another commented: Can AI help Japans population? tagging @grok. A third user asked: Japan is facing a survival challenge. If AI can truly help address the population crisis, it would be one of the clearest proofs of technologys value to humanity. Ask ChatGPT. A class 7 boy from Bengaluru died by suicide on the night of August 3, with police investigating a potential connection to the Japanese anime web series Death Note. The incident occurred in the CK Acchukattu area and has raised fresh concerns over childrens exposure to dark online content. Authorities have launched a detailed probe to understand the circumstances that may have led to the boys death, News18 reported. Class 7 student allegedly influenced by dark-themed series The victim, a Class 7 student, was reportedly an avid fan of Death Note. During a preliminary inspection of his room, investigators found a drawing of a character from the series. This detail has prompted police to consider whether the shows themes may have influenced the boys actions. His mobile phone has been seized and sent for forensic analysis to determine his recent online activity. Police are also speaking to his family and school authorities as part of the investigation. Also Read | Revised Income Tax Bill to be tabled in Lok Sabha on Monday The boys parents have said that he did not show any signs of distress and that there were no known issues at home or school. What is Death Note? Death Note is a Japanese anime based on a manga of the same name. It follows a high school student who discovers a supernatural notebook that allows him to kill anyone by writing their name in it. As the protagonist spirals into obsession, the show explores themes of morality, justice, and power. Similar incident in Delhi involving excessive screen time In a separate case from Delhi, a 10-year-old boy was found dead at his home in Ambika Vihar Colony on August 3. According to police, the child was addicted to mobile gaming and had spent over 10 hours on the device on the day of the incident, seven hours playing games and four hours on YouTube. His father told authorities that the boy skipped school on July 31 due to heavy rain and stayed home. A row overthe exploitation of public services wastriggered after the water level of the Little Miami River in Ohio was raised for US Vice President JD Vances familys boating trip. On his 41st birthday on 2 August, Vance was spotted in the southwestern Ohio area. He was seen canoeing on the Ohio river, a tributary that Caesar Creek Lake feeds into. The outflow request for Caesar Creek Lake was not just to support the vice presidents Secret Service detail, but also to create ideal kayaking conditions, reported The Guardian, citing a source with knowledge of the matter. The request from the US Secret Service was made to support safe navigation of the US vice presidents security detail for an August outing on the Little Miami River", the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) said in a statement. However, JD Vances office spokesperson Parker Magid said the vice president and his staff were unaware that the Secret Service had asked military engineers to raise the water level of the Little Miami River ahead of a family boating trip. The Secret Service often employs protective measures without the knowledge of the Vice President or his staff, as was the case last weekend, Magid said. According to the US Geological Survey (USGS) data, the river level increased and the lake elevation dropped correspondingly during early August when Vance was vacationing. USACE spokesperson Gene Pawlik said the USACE Louisville had received a request to temporarily raise outflows from Caesar Creek Lake to support safe navigation of US Secret Service personnel, reported The Guardian. The Secret Service said it closely coordinated with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and the USACE to conduct planning to ensure motorised watercraft and emergency personnel could operate safely during the visit. Also Read | Donald Trump reacts to Sydney Sweeney's American Eagle ad amid controversy According to the USACE regulations, approval and documentation - that demonstrates why the deviation is justified - is required for any changes to normal practices. This process also ensures that risks associated with any deviation including a flood risk or other environmental impact is detailed. Pawlik further said that the Secret Service request met the operational criteria outlined in the Water Control Manual for Caesar Creek Lake and did not require a deviation from normal procedures. US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order designed to unlock access to alternative assets for millions of Americans who invest in 401(k) and other defined-contribution retirement plans. This directive signals a major shift in investment policy, previously limiting such opportunities primarily to the wealthy and government workers. Why alternative assets? For years, more than 90 million Americans participating in employer-sponsored defined-contribution plans have largely been restricted to traditional investments like stocks and bonds, the White House noted on Thursday. Meanwhile, wealthy investors and retirement plans for government workers have leveraged alternative assets such as private equity, real estate, and digital assets (cryptocurrencies), which offer competitive returns and diversification benefits. Also Read | MAGA policies would make America mediocre Regulatory hurdles and litigation risks have historically limited ERISA-governed plan fiduciaries from including these alternative assets in their investment portfolios, hindering the growth of workers retirement savings. The new orders directives President Trumps executive order initiates a reevaluation of the regulatory landscape: Department of Labor (DOL) reexamination: The order directs the Secretary of Labor to re-examine DOL guidance on a fiduciarys duties regarding alternative asset investments in ERISA-governed 401(k) and other defined-contribution plans. The goal is to establish clear parameters for offering asset allocation funds that include these non-traditional funds. Inter-agency consultancy: The order also directs the Secretary of Labor to consult with the Secretary of the Treasury, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and other federal regulators to identify and implement parallel regulatory changes to fulfil the orders purpose. SECs role: The order directs the SEC to facilitate access to alternative assets for participant-directed defined-contribution retirement savings plans by revising its applicable regulations and guidance. Building wealth, securing retirement This executive order is the beginning of President Trumps broader agenda to enhance financial opportunities and secure retirement for all Americans. The administration believes that expanding investment choices is crucial for building wealth. This move builds on previous actions, including the Trump DOL's prior cancellation of guidance regarding digital assets, which was put in place by the Biden administration. Also Read | A Quiet SEC Rule Shift Moves Crypto ETFs Closer to Mainstream The Biden administration adopted a cautious approach to digital assets, seeking to balance innovation with consumer protection. This stance was guided by an Executive Order issued by the former president in March 2022. Furthermore, the initiative aligns with the presidents vision to establish the US as the crypto capital of the world, and his commitment to Make America Wealthy Again through tax cuts and deregulation, allowing users to save and invest more effectively for their retirement. What this means for American savers The order lays the foundation for a future where average Americans have a wider range of choices to invest for their retirement. This aims to provide opportunities for enhanced returns and diversification, ensuring a dignified and comfortable retirement for all Americans, the White House said. United States President Donald Trump made it clear that trade negotiations with India will remain on hold until the ongoing tariff dispute is resolved. Donald Trump lately doubled the tariffs on Indian imports for buying Russian energy amid Moscow's war on Ukraine. Responding to a question on whether US-India trade talks could move forward after Washington doubled duties on Indian goods to 50 per cent, Donald Trump flatly said, No, not until we get it resolved, signaling a hard stance amid escalating trade tensions between the two countries. Also Read | Garment and jewellery exporters expect exports to stall soon Trump rules out trade negotiations with India: Watch Also Read | Trump taps tariff architect Stephen Miran to replace Adriana Kugler on Fed Board Trump's tariff The White House on Wednesday issued an Executive Order imposing an additional 25 percentage points in tariffs on Indian goods, raising the total levy to 50 per cent. The administration cited national security and foreign policy concerns, pointing specifically to India's ongoing imports of Russian oil. The order claims that these imports, whether direct or via intermediaries, present an "unusual and extraordinary threat" to the United States and justify emergency economic measures. Also Read | Trump Tariffs India Highlights: PM Modi responds strongly as US slaps new tariff Companies face trouble Ever since Donald Trump's tariff salvo on India this week, garment maker Pearl Global - whose US client list includes Gap and Kohl's - has been receiving midnight panic calls with an ultimatum: share the tariff hit or move production out of India, Reuters reported. To calm US customers' nerves, Pearl Global offered to shift production to its 17 factories in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Vietnam and Guatemala to bypass the steep US levies on Indian imports. Also Read | NSA Ajit Doval meets Putin in Moscow amid Trump doubling tariffs on India "All the customers are already calling me. They want us to ... shift from India to the other countries," Managing Director Pallab Banerjee told Reuters in an interview. Earlier this week, India's biggest jeweller and watchmaker Titan told Reuters it was looking at shifting some manufacturing to the Middle East to maintain low-tariff access to US markets. After the Congress' massive vote theft allegation, the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of at least three states, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Haryana, asked the Leader of the Opposition to submit a signed declaration with the names of ineligible persons included in voter lists and eligible voters who were excluded so that necessary action could be taken. As per the CEO's letter, Gandhi will have to declare that the statement made by him, under rule 20 of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, is true to the best of his knowledge, and he is aware that making a false declaration in connection with electoral rolls is punishable under section 31 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950. But what if Rahul Gandhi doesn't sign this declaration/oath? Sources in the Election Commission of India (ECI) said that Gandhi must either sign the declaration or apologise for his absurd allegations. If Rahul Gandhi believes in his analysis and believes that his allegations against ECI are true, he should have no problem in signing the Declaration, sources told news agency ANI. If Rahul Gandhi does not sign the Declaration, it would mean that he does not believe in his analysis and resultant conclusions and absurd allegations. In which case, he should apologise to the nation, sources added. Therefore, he has two options: Either sign the Declaration or apologise to the Nation for raising absurd allegations against ECI, Election Commission sources told ANI. Rahul Gandhi's reply to EC Speaking in Bengaluru on Friday, Rahul Gandhi said, The Election Commission demands an affidavit from me. It says that I must take an oath. I have already taken the oath of the Constitution in Parliament. In a press conference on Thursday, Gandhi claimed there was a vote chori of 1,00,250 votes in a Karnataka constituency, with 11,965 duplicate voters in the segment, 40,009 voters with fake and invalid addresses, 10,452 bulk voters or single-address voters, 4,132 voters with invalid photos, and 33,692 voters misusing Form 6 of new voters. China: At least 10 people have been killed, and 33 others are missing after flash foods in Yuzhong County in Chinas northwestern Gansu province, Chinese state media reported on Friday. Heavy rains since Thursday have triggered flash floods knocking out power and telecommunications services in the Xinglong Mountain area, stranding more than 4,000 people across four villages The downpour further led to landslide in mountainous areas near the city of Lanzhou, according to state broadcaster CCTV. Also Read | Nine Indian Army personnel among 50 missing 2 days after Uttarkashi flash floods Chinese President Xi Jinping urged all-out rescue and flood prevention efforts. 3 missing after landslide Three people were missing after a landslide in the village of Maliantan in Yuzhong County late Thursday. Maximum rainfall in the area had reached 195 millimeters (7.7 inches) by early Friday, reported AP, citing Lanzhou local authorities. Germany will pause its military equipment export to Israel, Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Friday, citing that its weapons could be used in the Gaza strip as Israel plans to take control of the Gaza City. Germany's decision to halt military export to Israel comes as a drastic change from its earlier stance to support the country, currently at war with Hamas. The even harsher military action by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip, approved last night by the Israeli Security Cabinet, makes it increasingly difficult, from the German government's perspective, to see how these goals are to be achieved, the German Chancellor said in a press release. Under these circumstances, the German government will not authorize any exports of military equipment that could be used in the Gaza Strip until further notice, he added. The German government said it was deeply concerned about the ongoing suffering of the civilian population in the Gaza Strip. Why does Germany's decision matter? Israel, since the beginning of its conflict with Hamas in Palestine, has largely enjoyed support from the political spectrum of Germany a country still seeking to redeem itself from Hitler's murder of more than six million Jews during the World Wat II. Germany's support for Israel largely stems from the population of Jews in the country. Between the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023 that started the Gaza war and May this year, Germany approved defence exports worth 485 million euros ($565 million) to Israel. Also Read | Deaf Palestinian uses social media to highlight Gazas struggles through sign language Also Read | Is Israel preparing for full military occupation of Gaza? The deliveries included firearms, ammunition, weapons parts, electronic equipment and armoured vehicles, the government said in June. In his statement, Merz reiterated that Israel had the right to defend itself from Hamas. Israel has the right to defend itself against Hamas' terror. The release of the hostages and purposeful negotiations on a ceasefire are our top priority. The disarmament of Hamas is essential. Hamas must not play a role in the future of Gaza, he said. Calls grow for Israel to rethink Gaza decision Nations and organisations across the world expressed concerns over Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to take control of Gaza City, saying it would lead to more bloodshed. UN human rights chief Volker Turk said the plan must be "immediately halted". Israel should instead allow "the full, unfettered flow of humanitarian aid" and Palestinian armed groups must unconditionally release hostages, he added. "The Israeli government's decision to further extend its military operation in Gaza must be reconsidered," EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said on X. She called for a ceasefire, the release of all hostages and "immediate and unhindered access" for humanitarian aid in Gaza. New Delhi has put on hold its plans to procure new US weapons and aircraft, according to three Indian officials familiar with the matter, in India's first concrete sign of discontent after tariffs imposed on its exports by President Donald Trump dragged ties to their lowest level in decades. India had been planning to send Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to Washington in the coming weeks for an announcement on some of the purchases, but that trip has been cancelled, two of the people said. Trump on Aug. 6 imposed an additional 25% tariff on Indian goods as punishment for Delhi's purchases of Russian oil, which he said meant the country was funding Russia's invasion of Ukraine. That raised the total duty on Indian exports to 50% - among the highest of any U.S. trading partner. No forward movement One of the sources aware of the matter said the defence purchases could go ahead once India had clarity on tariffs and the direction of bilateral ties, but "just not as soon as they were expected to." Written instructions had not been given to pause the purchases, another official said, indicating that Delhi had the option to quickly reverse course, though there was "no forward movement at least for now." Delhi, which has forged a close partnership with America in recent years, has said it is being unfairly targeted and that Washington and its European allies continue to trade with Moscow when it is in their interest. India's purchases of Stryker combat vehicles made by General Dynamics Land Systems and Javelin anti-tank missiles developed by Raytheon and Lockheed Martin have been paused due to the tariffs, reported Reuters. Rajnath Singh's US trip cancelled Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had in February announced plans to pursue procurement and joint production of those items. Singh had also been planning to announce the purchase of six Boeing P8I reconnaissance aircraft and support systems for the Indian Navy during his now-cancelled trip, two of the people said. Talks over procuring the aircraft in a proposed $3.6 billion deal were at an advanced stage, according to the officials. Also Read | Trump flatly refuses trade negotiations with India amid tariff standoff Boeing, Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics referred queries to the Indian and U.S. governments. Raytheon did not return a request for comment. India world's second-largest arms reporter India's deepening security relationship with the US, which is fuelled by their shared strategic rivalry with China, was heralded by many U.S. analysts as one of the key areas of foreign-policy progress in the first Trump administration. Delhi is the world's second-largest arms importer and Russia has traditionally been its top supplier. India has in recent years however, shifted to importing from Western powers like France, Israel and the U.S., according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute think-tank. The shift in suppliers was driven partly by constraints on Russia's ability to export arms, which it is utilizing heavily in its invasion of Ukraine. Some Russian weapons have also performed poorly in the battlefield, according to Western analysts. The broader U.S.-India defence partnership, which includes intelligence sharing and joint military exercises, continues without hiccups, one of the Indian officials said. India also remains open to scaling back on oil imports from Russia and is open to making deals elsewhere, including the U.S., if it can get similar prices, according to two other Indian sources. Trump's threats and rising anti-U.S. nationalism in India have "made it politically difficult for Modi to make the shift from Russia to the U.S.," one of the people said.Nonetheless, discounts on the landing cost of Russian oil have shrunk to the lowest since 2022. India's petroleum ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. While the rupture in U.S.-India ties was abrupt, there have been strains in the relationship. Delhi has repeatedly rebutted Trump's claim that the U.S. brokered a ceasefire between India and Pakistan after four days of fighting between the nuclear-armed neighbours in May. Trump also hosted Pakistan's army chief at the White House in the weeks following the conflict. In recent months, Moscow has been actively pitching Delhi on buying new defence technologies like its S-500 surface-to-air missile system, according to one of the Indian officials, as well as a Russian source familiar with the talks. India currently does not see a need for new arms purchases from Moscow, two Indian officials said. But Delhi is unlikely to wean itself off Russian weapons entirely as the decades-long partnership between the two powers means Indian military systems will continue to require Moscow's support, one of the officials said. An Indian, working at a London Zoo, is now facing deportation, after he allegedly stalked his female colleague and bombarded her with messages, flowers and chocolates before proposing to her, reported Dailymail. The report added that 26-year-old Asish Jose Paul was warned to stay away from Lutaruta Masiulonyte after he pestered his former co-worker in 2024 when she blocked him. Paul also showered her with gifts. Identified as an accountancy student, Paul is originally from Kerala and was given police bail on his arrest and warned not to go back to the zoo. In 2024, between July 7 and December 30, Paul kept proposing Lutaruta Masiulonyte despite her disapproval. However, even after the police warned not to go back to the zoo, he returned the very next day to speak with Masiulonyte. This act got him arrested once again, and now he is charged with stalking and given bail magistrates with conditions not to enter the Borough of Westminster or contact the complainant. Paul didn't follow the order and headed straight back to the zoo, however, and was arrested once again. He was bailed again with a condition not to go within 50 metres of London Zoo. However, he didn't listen and visited the tourist attraction once more. He explained that he was 'in love' with his former colleague. After this, he was awarded a six-month prison sentence suspended for twelve months, at Southwark Crown Court. He will have to complete 20 days of a rehabilitation activity requirement, the report added. Citing the recorder Jas Jandu, the report added that Paul was issued a ten year restraining order and said that Paul could face deportation. The United States has doubled its reward for information leading to the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to $50 million over allegations of drug trafficking and links to criminal groups, US Attorney General Pam Bondi announced on Thursday. In a video posted to X on Thursday, Bondi accused Maduro of collaborating with prominent criminal groups such as Tren de Aragua and the Sinaloa Cartel. "The pathetic 'bounty'... is the most ridiculous smokescreen we have ever seen," Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil said in a statement on Telegram, hours after US Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the increase. Why is Donald Trump after him? The US initially set a $15 million reward for Maduro in 2020, when federal prosecutors charged him with drug trafficking and accused him of running a narco-state. That indictment, issued in Manhattan federal court during the Trump administration, also named several of Maduros close allies and included charges of narcoterrorism and conspiracy to import cocaine. In January 2025, as Maduro was sworn in for a controversial third term, the Biden administration raised the bounty to $25 million, matching the figure once offered for Osama bin Laden after the 9/11 attacks and imposed new sanctions on senior Venezuelan officials. The US Justice Department has accused Maduro of leading a major cocaine trafficking operation known as the Cartel of the Suns, allegedly responsible for smuggling hundreds of tons of narcotics into the United States over the past two decades, generating hundreds of millions of dollars in illicit profits. According to investigators, the cartel collaborated closely with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a group designated by the US as a terrorist organisation. US Attorney General Pam Bondi also stated that Maduro has ties to Venezuelas Tren de Aragua gang and Mexicos Sinaloa Cartel. The DEA has reportedly seized 30 tons of cocaine linked to Maduro and his associates, with nearly seven tons directly connected to him. Additionally, the US has confiscated over $700 million in assets tied to Maduro since last September, including two aircraft belonging to the Venezuelan government. Maduros reign of terror continues, Bondi said. Under President Trumps leadership, he will be brought to justice for his horrific crimes. Maduro, 62, a former bus driver and union leader, faces a possible life sentence if convicted in a US court. He has dismissed the allegations as spurious and politically motivated. In a related development, Venezuelas former intelligence chief Hugo Armando Carvajal pleaded guilty in June to US drug trafficking and narco-terrorism charges. According to the Miami Herald, Carvajal has offered to supply US authorities with documents and testimony implicating Maduro. Last month, the Trump administration brokered a deal to secure the release of 10 Americans imprisoned in Caracas. In return, Venezuela agreed to take back dozens of its nationals who had been deported to El Salvador as part of Trumps aggressive immigration enforcement policy. Soon after the prisoner swap, the White House shifted its stance on Venezuelas oil sector, granting US energy giant Chevron permission to resume drilling operations in the country, reversing previous sanctions that had barred such activity. Oil factor In late July, Reuters reported that Washington is preparing to issue new authorisations for key partners of Venezuelas state oil company, PDVSA, starting with US oil giant Chevron to resume operations in the sanctioned country. This move would represent a shift from the Biden administrations earlier pressure-based strategy, which resulted in the cancellation of oil licenses in March. Venezuela, an OPEC member, has maintained oil production at around 1 million barrels per day in recent years, with most exports directed to independent refiners in China. While the US also announced a secondary tariff earlier this year targeting buyers of Venezuelan oil, it has not been actively enforced. Also Read: US Poised to Order More Companies to Stop Operating in Venezuela If the new licenses are approved under terms that allow PDVSA's partners to handle procurement, make contract payments, and conduct oil imports and exports through swap agreements, Venezuela could gain access to a crucial stream of revenue, the report noted. The US State Department has stated that proceeds from Venezuelan oil sales will not benefit Maduros government. However, enforcing this restriction remains uncertain, especially since PDVSA has historically required royalty and tax payments before allowing oil cargoes to depart, even those belonging to its business partners. Washington has imposed a range of economic sanctions on Maduro's government. Since US energy sanctions were first imposed in 2019, Venezuela has seen licenses granted and revoked in line with shifting US diplomatic strategies. Also Read: Oil gains as trade talk optimism offsets potential higher Venezuelan supply The US government has not recognised Maduro, who first took office in 2013, as the duly elected president of Venezuela since what the State Department has called a "deeply flawed 2018 presidential election." In the July 28, 2024, Venezuelan presidential election, Maduro fraudulently declared himself the victor despite evidence to the contrary, the State Department said in an announcement of the earlier bounty in January. The United States joined many other countries in refusing to recognise Maduro as the legitimate winner of the July 2024 presidential election. In February, the US State Department formally designated the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua as a foreign terrorist organisation, alongside MS-13 and several Mexican cartels. In July, it also designated Cartel de Los Soles as a global terrorist organisation. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Friday, spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin, vowing stronger India-Russia ties amid the ongoing tensions surrounding Donald Trump's 50 per cent tariffs on India. Had a very good and detailed conversation with my friend President Putin. I thanked him for sharing the latest developments on Ukraine. We also reviewed the progress in our bilateral agenda, and reaffirmed our commitment to further deepen the India-Russia Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership. I look forward to hosting President Putin in India later this year, PM Modi posted on X. Donald Trump, via a fiery Truth Social post made on July 30, imposed an additional 25 per cent tariff on Indian goods, citing India's high trade barriers, raising the total duty on Indian exports to 50 per cent. He also announced an additional penalty for India's continued energy and defense ties with Russia. PM Modi also invited President Putin to visit India later this year for the Annual Bilateral Summit, said the Ministry of External Affairs. NSA Ajit Doval meets Putin in Moscow Ahead of PM Modi's call with Putin, NSA Ajit Doval also met the Russian President at the Kremlin. Before his meeting with Putin, Doval held separate talks with Secretary of the Russian Security Council, Sergey Shoigu. Indian officials have indicated that the discussions focused on strengthening bilateral cooperation in energy and defence two pillars of the Indo-Russian strategic partnership. Brazil pres dials Modi amid tariff tensions Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva dialled PM Modi on Thursday as the nation reels from a similar tariff shock as India. Also Read | India denies report of US arms purchase pause after Trump tariffs Although India's Press Information Bureau did not detail if the issue of US tariffs was discussed, reports earlier in the day had indicated that Lula was likely to raise the issue with Modi, whose government is also grappling with a 50% hike in tariffs announced by US President Donald Trump on Indian exports. Bloomberg quoted a Brazilian official hinting at the planned call, suggesting that Brazil's Lula wished to discuss a coordinated response to the American measures. PM Modi to visit China Amid the ongoing tariff tensions, PM Modi is expected to visit China for the first time in seven years to attend the annual SCO Summit, scheduled to be held on August 31, reported news agency PTI. China on Friday, welcomed the planned visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The nation currently faces 30 per cent tariffs by the US. Trump's tariffs on India India-US ties have been in the focus following the levies imposed by Trump. In an executive order signed on Thursday, August 7, Trump said the new US tariffs on India were imposed due to its purchase of oil from Russia. The exempted goods, which will not be subject to the high tariffs, include pharmaceuticals; energy products such as crude oil, refined fuels, natural gas, coal, and electricity; critical minerals; and a wide range of electronics and semiconductors, like computers, tablets, smartphones, solid-state drives, flat panel displays, and integrated circuits. Also Read | Trump tariffs add to Indias pile of woes Donald Trump had repeatedly claimed that he brokered the ceasefire between India and Pakistan when the two nations were locked in a conflict in May. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio reiterated the same on Friday, claiming that they (US) dedicate a significant amount of time to stopping and ending wars. Rubio stated that the US got involved directly when India and Pakistan went to war, and the POTUS was able to deliver peace between the two nuclear-armed neighbours. Since 10 May, Trump has repeated his claim many times that he helped settle the tensions between India and Pakistan and told the nuclear-armed South Asian neighbours that America will do a lot of trade with them if they stop the conflict. India, however, after Operation Sindoor, has junked the POTUS's claims, and consistently maintained that the understanding on cessation of hostilities with Pakistan was reached following direct talks between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of the two militaries. What did Rubio say Rubio, in an interview with EWTNs The World Over on Thursday, said that Trump is committed to peace and is the president of peace. And so, we saw when India and Pakistan went to war, we got involved directly, and the president was able to deliver on that peace, Rubio said. The US Secretary further listed other countries that have recently witnessed conflicts, claiming that Trump helped resolve those. Cambodia and Thailand more recently; Azerbaijan and Armenia, hopefullyDRC (Democratic Republic of Congo)-Rwanda a 30-year war, 7 million people killed we were able to bring them here to sign it, Rubio said. He added that the US was proud of those initiatives and were looking for more obviously, the big one being in Ukraine and Russia. Donald Trump's claims Not just the ceasefire between India and Pakistan, Donald Trump had previously claimed that he also helped Cambodia and Thailand resolve their recent conflict. In July 2025, the POTUS, after his meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu, had claimed that a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas was imminent, and that the two nations were very close to a deal. Americas dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima in Japan 80 years ago this week is something to commemorate but not celebrate. It was also the beginning of a new era: the Atomic Age. Growing up in the latter stages of the Cold War, my generation didnt live with the sense of menace baby boomers endured. But both cohorts were blessed by the absence of a large-scale war, conventional or nuclear, between the US and the Soviet Union. Which brings up an 80-year-old question: Did the development of atomic weapons keep the peace during the Cold War? And if so, what accounts for this paradoxical result? The simple answer is the unsatisfying one: Its complicated. Harry Truman, the US president responsible for Hiroshima, insisted that the bomb would become a powerful and forceful influence toward the maintenance of world peace." Recent polling by Pew suggests that view is out of fashion: 69% of US respondents said the development of nukes has made the world less safe." Also Read: US-Russia face-off: Nuclear sub moves shouldnt be announced on social media But maybe thats the wrong question. After all, a weapon isnt a sentient thing; the real question is whether the people in charge are wielding it wisely. (In this case, not using it at all.) And by wisdom, I dont mean just believing that a nuclear war, while not unthinkable, is untenable. Rather, real wisdom is recognizing that avoiding a nuclear winter required a remarkably astute series of strategic shifts by American leaders over the 45 years we lived on the brink. We often view Cold War strategy through the catchy phraseology of the early theorists of atomic conflict, many of them working at the RAND Corporation. They included the economist Thomas Schelling, a specialist in game theory, and the physicist Herman Kahn, who popularized the idea of mutually assured destructionthe idea that the horrific consequences of a nuclear exchange would restrain both adversaries. Maybe. Game play may be a good way of considering economic decision-making, but its risky for geostrategy: It is traditionally based on the idea that neither side has an incentive to change strategy unilaterally and can assume the nations are playing a zero-sum nuclear game. Thats not how policy and statecraft are played. Also Read: Atomic hype: Nuclear energy is a story of more frisson than fission Mutually assured destruction has a stronger grip on reality but, in addition to its poor branding, it was widely looked at in static terms: the perpetual presence of civilization-ending weapons poised on a hair-trigger. That model doesnt hold up, for example, if even one side thinks the escalatory ladder can end with the use of low-yield tactical battlefield weapons. Abstract theories are all well and good, but lets face it: politics, diplomacy, military strategy, soft power, even luckthese are the product of actions by fallible, flesh-and-blood humans who change their minds and adjust to new realities, as do their successors with the status quo they inherit. So, if we want to say that a mass of nuclear weapons kept the peace for decades, we need to focus on the men (alas, they are all men of course) in charge, and not the missiles. The US approach to deterrence had almost as many monikers as presidents over those 45 years: massive retaliation, New Look, Flexible Response, strategic stability, Madman Theory, limited nuclear war and so forth. Some overlapped and all contributed to the nuclear balance, but none defined it. Rather, taken together they show that if nukes kept the peace, it was only through constant adaptation based on shifting geopolitics, advances in conventional military technology, generational change, domestic politics and policy conflicts (i.e., bureaucratic backstabbing). Bookshelves and hard drives groan with the mass of debates over that history. It defies easy encapsulation. Also Read: Global politics hath taken a medieval turn: Are we witnessing a new Dark Age in a nuclearised world? Then there is the strange case of Ronald Reagan. As much as his opponents painted him as a warmonger US leader, he had been in favour of a ban on atomic weapons as far back as 1945, when Warner Brothers blocked him from helping to lead a Hollywood antinuclear rally. He came into office with the mindset that the concept of mutually assured destruction was abhorrent. Reagans strategy was stick and carrot. The most discussed and perhaps misunderstood initiative of the Reagan years was the Strategic Defense Initiative, or Star Wars as its detractors called it. The space-based system was intended as a shield to defend the US from Soviet missiles, insulating it from the biggest nuclear threat. In the minds of Reagan and his advisers, it was the ultimate peacemaker: If the Soviets were unable to hit the US with massive nuclear blasts, there would be no cause to hit back. Opponents derided its technological infeasibility (a good point) and said it would upend the balance of power in the nuclear agea less evident conclusion, and an odd one from a crowd that decried the status quo of equilibrium under mutual assured destruction. Also Read: Moon race II: Nasa mustnt take the risk of a lunar meltdown lightly As we know, SDI never happened. And with the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, we entered what we hoped would be a sort of post-nuclear global order. Until now. With Russian President Vladimir Putin threatening to use battlefield weapons in the Ukraine conflict, North Korea refining its ballistic missiles and China building a world-class arsenal in record time, we have reached what my colleague Hal Brands calls the New Nuclear Age. So, in this new cold war, how does the US re-deploy the lessons of the old one, and adapt to changing conditions in a way that deters rivals without inflaming tensions? Also Read: Going nuclear will be the only way to keep the lights on as AI guzzles ever more electricity Here are a handful of suggestions to start with: Encourage allies including South Korea, Poland and Japan to begin R&D of their own nuclear weapon programmebut not necessarily to build a bomb until we are clear on the China-Russia reaction. Make tactical weapons on nuclear-powered submarines the centerpiece of deterrence. Unfortunately, Chinas rise makes it necessary to upgrade Americas intercontinental missiles (part of a $1.2 trillion programme begun in the Obama administration), but with air forces increasingly vulnerable to drones and other technologies, the new B-21 long-range bomber programme should be capped at the 100 under contract. Try to bring China into a global arms control regimean effort almost certainly doomed to failure but that burnishes Americas good-guy credentials. Also, try to save the START treaty with Russia before it expires next yearalso unlikely to happen, but worth trying. Conclude a formal defence treaty with Saudi Arabia (and the UAE) in exchange for recognition of Israel. This would keep Arab states from pursuing their own nuclear programmes while keeping Irans in check. But thats on hold until the war in Gaza is resolved. Forget US President Donald Trumps vaunted Golden Dome nationwide missile defense, which is no more technologically viable than its SDI predecessor. Instead, invest more into the West Coast Ground-Based Midcourse Defense system designed to shoot down a North Korean rogue attack. Most importantly, the US needs to survive Trumps efforts to undermine the US-led world orderand decades of deterrence strategyand to keep adapting its nuclear policy to the changes on the global chessboard. Human agency remains the antidote to technological determinism. If a future state of play engineered by smart policymaking entails killing off any one of these five prescriptions, nobody will be happier than me. Bloomberg The author is a Bloomberg Opinion senior editor and columnist on national security and military affairs. Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, has drawn sharp criticism from the Election Commission over allegations of irregularities in Indias electoral rolls. The Congress leader, speaking at a recent press conference on Thursday, alleged that multiple entries and duplications in the voter list compromise the integrity of the electoral process. The Election Commission of India has rejected Gandhi's claims and disregarded established legal procedures. On Friday, the Election Commission cited "The Kamal Nath judgement" that, it said, gives a settled position to the machine-readable document. The poll panel stated that repeatedly raising the same issues shows that Rahul Gandhi has no respect for the Supreme Court of Indias decisions. "Law provides a specific procedure for both making objections to the roll and for appealing. Instead of availing the legal processes, he tried to sensationalise the issue by making baseless claims in the media," the poll panel sources said. What is the Kamal Nath Judgement? The ECI is referring to allegations made in 2018 by then Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) president Kamal Nath that were rejected by the Supreme Court reliability of ECIs voter databases. In 2018, Kamal Nath had approached the Supreme Court claiming that the electoral rolls in Madhya Pradesh showed multiple entries of the same faces, up to 36 times, based on data sourced from a private website. The court, however, found no merit in the claim, particularly after the Election Commission of India (ECI) demonstrated that the supposed discrepancies had already been rectified months prior to the petition. The court refused to grant the relief sought, including the demand for searchable PDF formats of electoral rolls. Rahul Gandhi alleged that similar discrepancies still exist, including multiple entries of the same name across different states. One example he cited was a voter named Aditya Srivastava, allegedly listed in three different State rolls. However, ECI sources assertively said that this error had been corrected months ago, and the updated rolls had been duly published. The poll panel said it is a settled proposition that if law requires a certain thing to happen in a certain manner, then it should be done in that manner only and not in any other manner. "Therefore, if Rahul Gandhi believes in his analysis and believes that his allegations against ECI are true, he should have respect for law and sign the Declaration or Apologise to the Nation for raising absurd allegations against ECI," it said. What had Kamal Nath sought? Kamal Nath had sought directions from the Supreme Court for the Election Commission to conduct VVPAT verification in at least 10 per cent randomly selected polling stations and to publish the draft voter list in text format ahead of the Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections in November 2018. In his petition, Kamal Nath said his party identified 60 lakh duplicate voters in the electoral rolls in Madhya Pradesh. Kamal Nath had demanded that draft electoral rolls be published in word format in place of the current practice of having them on the website of the Chief Electoral Officers to help weed out the fake names. What did the Supreme Court say? The SC bench of Justices AK Sikri and Ashok Bhushan found force in the Election Commission's argument that the Election Manual provides for publishing the draft electoral roll in text mode. Kamal Nath cannot claim as a right that the draft electoral roll should be placed on the website in a searchable mode, the court said. It is for the ECI to decide the format in which the draft electoral roll is to be published, Justice Sikri, who wrote the judgment, said. * Ecuador puts Environment Ministry under Energy and Mines * Ecuador ramps up oil drilling and mining in Amazon * Indigenous groups say moves hurt them and the rainforest By Dan Collyns LIMA, Aug 8 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa's decision to axe the Environment Ministry and bring it under the Energy and Mines Ministry could prove disastrous for biodiversity, Amazon forest protection and Indigenous rights, activists warned. Noboa announced in July that more than a dozen ministries would be merged, cutting the number from 20 to 14, in an attempt to rein in public spending. The Ministry for Women and Human Rights was also folded into the Ministry Of Government. Around 5,000 workers were laid off. The objective was efficiency, said government spokesperson Carolina Jaramillo. "The national government has set itself the goal of having an efficient state that truly provides quality public services to citizens," she said. But environmentalists and Indigenous people say Ecuador needs independent ministries to defend human rights and to protect fragile Amazon and Andean ecosystems from both formal and illegal mining, oil drilling and other forms of damaging development that drive deforestation. Nemonte Nenquimo, an activist and leader of the indigenous Waorani people, expressed her alarm. "How is it possible that, overnight, the Ministry of Environment disappears and suddenly, oil and mining interests are in charge?" she asked. The Waorani people have previously won important court victories to protect their ancestral land from oil companies in parts of the Amazon rainforest. "That is extremely dangerous. It strips away the rights of Indigenous peoples and the rights of nature," Nenquimo told the Thomson Reuters Foundation. "It's a strategic move to enable future exploitation in the name of national development or for global markets. They speak of protecting the rainforest, but in practice, they authorise oil drilling and mining," she said. The government did not respond to requests for comment. OIL ECONOMY The ministerial changes come as Ecuador aims to ramp up oil drilling in the Amazon despite court rulings and an August 2023 referendum limiting drilling in the megabiodiverse Yasuni National Park. The nature reserve is home to the Waorani and the Tagaeri and Taromenane people, two of the world's last "uncontacted" Indigenous communities living in voluntary isolation. In the 2023 vote, more than 10 million people - almost 60% - voted to keep crude in the ground in the Yasuni '43-ITT' oil block. Business heir Noboa, then a presidential candidate, supported the proposal not to drill in the area. However, now president after winning a full term in May, Noboa appears to have made a U-turn, insisting Ecuador cannot afford not to exploit its natural resources. The country relies heavily on oil exports to underpin its economy. Noboa aims to boost oil production and Ecuador expects foreign oil companies to invest around $42 billion in the sector over the next five years. "How can the body responsible for curbing extractivism be subordinate to those who promote it? Who will safeguard the rights of nature when they get in the way of mining or oil interests?" asked YASunidos, a local civil society group that promoted the Yasuni vote, in a statement. MINE EXPANSION Ecuador is also pushing to increase mining due to rising mineral prices, particularly for gold, which has hit record highs. Analysts predict mining in Ecuador could be worth $4 billion in annual export revenues in 2025 and displace bananas as the country's third biggest export. Ecuador experienced an economic slump last year caused by drought-driven electricity shortages and budget constraints that stymied investment and normal business operations. An International Monetary Fund report last month suggested Ecuador make structural reforms to attract private investment in what it called high potential sectors such as mining, hydrocarbons and energy. Together with the Waorani, another Indigenous people, the A'i Cofan won an important court victory to prevent gold mining in their territory. Alex Lucitante, an A'i Cofan leader and a Goldman Environmental Prize winner, called the latest government move a "direct attack on Indigenous peoples and every struggle we've led to defend our territories." "This isn't an isolated decision, it's part of a broader strategy," he said. He cited a recently approved Protected Areas And Local Development Law, which he called an attempt to exclude Indigenous peoples from the consultation process involving new development projects. "These actions represent a devastating step backward. They threaten to undermine everything we've achieved and violate our right to self-determination," Lucitante said. The US under President Donald Trump is crafting a confrontational approach toward Latin America that signals a willingness to use military force against drug cartels, discarding the Biden administrations preference for carrots over sticks to coax countries into alignment with US interests. The New York Times reported Friday that the president ordered the Defense Department to prepare options to take military action against Latin American drug cartels. A US agreement with Mexico to expand security cooperation, expected to be signed in the coming weeks, would facilitate joint monitoring of criminal organizations by security forces and coordination on the border. But the pending agreement wont provide legal grounds for direct US military action on Mexican territory, officials have said. Any such intervention would risk inflaming anti-US sentiments already whipped up by the Trump administrations wave of tariffs. This could call into question the security agreement that was drawn up, which is based on a great deal of trust, said Victoria Dittmar, a researcher at Insight Crime who specializes in Mexico. Trump, asked about the possibility of using military force Friday at the White House, said he would have more to say about that soon. Latin America has got a lot of cartels. Theyve got a lot of drugs flowing. So, you know, we want to protect our country, Trump said. A Pentagon spokesperson declined to comment. The emerging plans to deal with cartels build on the Trump administrations already more aggressive presence in a region that is deeply integrated into the US economy, from cross-border gas pipelines to maritime logistics. Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited Central America on his first overseas trip, pushing for concessions on US military use of the Panama Canal. The administration has engaged in a war of words with Colombias leftist president Gustavo Petro and may be preparing to decertify that countrys efforts against narcotics. Officials have also stepped up allegations against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro as a drug lord, doubling a reward for information leading to his arrest to $50 million this week. The hardening of US policy toward Latin America has been met with varying responses in the region, from open arms to strident opposition. In Ecuador, the pro-US government is preparing a referendum that would allow foreign military installations in national territory, a move seen as clearning the way for the US to reactivate the use of a base in the violence-torn country. No Invasion But in Mexico, President Claudia Sheinbaum has responded defiantly to any suggestion that American soldiers would take a combat role in her country. Any agreement with the Trump administration must respect the nations sovereignty, she reiterated Friday at her daily news conference. The United States is not going to come to Mexico with the military, she said Friday. We cooperate, we collaborate, but there will be no invasion. That is out of the question, absolutely out of the question. What has been stated in all the calls is that it is not permitted, nor is it part of any agreement, much less. The security deal in the works rests on the idea that the US wont intervene in Mexico, said Dittmar of Insight Crime. If that were to be broken, it would indeed break the relationship of trust and would require a rethinking of joint security strategies, she said. Broader Backlash The Trump administrations approach risks inviting a broader backlash in a region still scarred by decades of Cold War-era intervention from Guatemala to Chile. This will strengthen autocratic regimes like the ones in Venezuela or Nicaragua, and the anti-American sentiment in Mexico, Guatemala and even in Colombia, said Jorge Restrepo, an economics professor who directs CERAC, a Bogota-based research institution that monitors the nations civil conflict. Just the announcement will have the unintended effect of strengthening governments which are not cooperating as much as they could with the United States, Restrepo said. US interests in the region could become soft targets for criminal organizations, said James Bosworth, founder of political risk firm Hxagon, in a phone interview. The cartels have the ability to take the fight to US territory in a way that al-Qaeda could only dream of, according to Bosworth. While Venezuela, Colombia and Honduras are all potential targets, Mexico is the country that is most vulnerable, especially since Trump officials are much more worried about fentanyl then they are about cocaine, Bosworth said. Trump made a promise to fight trafficking of fentanyl, originating in China and responsible for tens of thousands of US deaths, a key point of his 2024 campaign. Siege Narrative Despite stepped-up rhetoric from Washington, Venezuela could be shielded from intervention by US oil interests and concerns about disrupting a steady flow of reverse migration, said Geoff Ramsey, who tracks Venezuela at the Atlantic Council. This is an instance in which Trump is seeking to project strength but ultimately understands that any kind of military action in Venezuela would run completely contrary to US interests, said Ramsey. Unfortunately, Maduro knows that this is a bluff. But the opposition doesnt. And I think this is going to fuel a lot of counterproductive daydreaming from the opposition. And my fear is that this is only going to lead them down the path of magical thinking. The US posturing also risks playing into Venezuelas siege narrative. The countrys armed forces on Friday vowed to confront, combat, and neutralize any action that threatens the stability and peace of our citizens, as well as the safeguarding of our national territory. And on state television, Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez reiterated denials that Venezuela hosts organized crime groups. There are no criminal gangs operating here, they have taken the story of the Tren de Aragua, they have been completely dismantled, they do not exist, nor do cartels or bosses exist, Padrino said. Ramsey said US military action in Venezuela would risk destabilizing the entire country, and potentially the region itself. With assistance from Scott Squires. 2025 Bloomberg L.P. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday responded after the Election Commission demanded an affidavit from him following his allegations of huge criminal fraud in polls. The Election Commission demands an affidavit from me. It says that I must take an oath. I have already taken the oath of the Constitution in Parliament, Rahul Gandhi said, responding to the demands. The Congress leader was addressing a Vote Adhikar rally in Bengaluru as he made the comments. The EC had demanded an affidavit under oath from him to support his claims. Today, when the people are questioning the Election Commission based on data he released, the EC has shut its website, the Leader of Opposition at the Lok Sabha said. The Congress leader also claimed that the Election Commission websites in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Bihar have been closed. The EC websites in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Bihar have been shut down because they knew that if people started questioning based on data, then their entire structure would collapse, said Rahul Gandhi. What did the Election Commission say? Earlier, Election Commission sources said that if the Congress leader truly stands by his analysis and believes his allegations against the poll body are correct, he should have no objection to signing the declaration required under electoral rules and submitting the names that were allegedly added or removed from the voters list, reported PTI. The ECI, through the Karnataka CEO, has asked Rahul Gandhi to provide the details of irregularities in the voter list. The poll panel had also warned that providing false evidence is punishable under Section 227 of BNS. The US under President Donald Trump is crafting a confrontational approach toward Latin America that signals a willingness to use military force against drug cartels, discarding the Biden administrations preference for carrots over sticks to coax countries into alignment with US interests. The New York Times reported Friday that the president ordered the Defense Department to prepare options to take military action against Latin American drug cartels. A US agreement with Mexico to expand security cooperation, expected to be signed in the coming weeks, would facilitate joint monitoring of criminal organizations by security forces and coordination on the border. But the pending agreement wont provide legal grounds for direct US military action on Mexican territory, officials have said. Any such intervention would risk inflaming anti-US sentiments already whipped up by the Trump administrations wave of tariffs. This could call into question the security agreement that was drawn up, which is based on a great deal of trust, said Victoria Dittmar, a researcher at Insight Crime who specializes in Mexico. Spokespeople at the White House and Pentagon declined to comment. The emerging plans to deal with cartels build on the Trump administrations already more aggressive presence in a region that is deeply integrated into the US economy, from cross-border gas pipelines to maritime logistics. Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited Central America on his first overseas trip, pushing for concessions on US military use of the Panama Canal. The administration has engaged in a war of words with Colombias leftist president Gustavo Petro and may be preparing to decertify that countrys efforts against narcotics. Officials have also stepped up allegations against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro as a drug lord, doubling a reward for information leading to his arrest to $50 million this week. The hardening of US policy toward Latin America has been met with varying responses in the region, from open arms to strident opposition. In Ecuador, the pro-US government is preparing a referendum that would allow foreign military installations in national territory, a move seen as clearning the way for the US to reactivate the use of a base in the violence-torn country. No Invasion But in Mexico, President Claudia Sheinbaum has responded defiantly to any suggestion that American soldiers would take a combat role in her country. Any agreement with the Trump administration must respect the nations sovereignty, she reiterated Friday at her daily news conference. The United States is not going to come to Mexico with the military, she said Friday. We cooperate, we collaborate, but there will be no invasion. That is out of the question, absolutely out of the question. What has been stated in all the calls is that it is not permitted, nor is it part of any agreement, much less. The security deal in the works rests on the idea that the US wont intervene in Mexico, said Dittmar of Insight Crime. If that were to be broken, it would indeed break the relationship of trust and would require a rethinking of joint security strategies, she said. Broader Backlash The Trump administrations approach risks inviting a broader backlash in a region still scarred by decades of Cold War-era intervention from Guatemala to Chile. This will strengthen autocratic regimes like the ones in Venezuela or Nicaragua, and the anti-American sentiment in Mexico, Guatemala and even in Colombia, said Jorge Restrepo, an economics professor who directs CERAC, a Bogota-based research institution that monitors the nations civil conflict. Just the announcement will have the unintended effect of strengthening governments which are not cooperating as much as they could with the United States, Restrepo said. US interests in the region could become soft targets for criminal organizations, said James Bosworth, founder of political risk firm Hxagon, in a phone interview. The cartels have the ability to take the fight to US territory in a way that al-Qaeda could only dream of, according to Bosworth. While Venezuela, Colombia and Honduras are all potential targets, Mexico is the country that is most vulnerable, especially since Trump officials are much more worried about fentanyl then they are about cocaine, Bosworth said. Trump made a promise to fight trafficking of fentanyl, originating in China and responsible for tens of thousands of US deaths, a key point of his 2024 campaign. Siege Narrative Despite stepped-up rhetoric from Washington, Venezuela could be shielded from intervention by US oil interests and concerns about disrupting a steady flow of reverse migration, said Geoff Ramsey, who tracks Venezuela at the Atlantic Council. This is an instance in which Trump is seeking to project strength but ultimately understands that any kind of military action in Venezuela would run completely contrary to US interests, said Ramsey. Unfortunately, Maduro knows that this is a bluff. But the opposition doesnt. And I think this is going to fuel a lot of counterproductive daydreaming from the opposition. And my fear is that this is only going to lead them down the path of magical thinking. The US posturing also risks playing into Venezuelas siege narrative. The countrys armed forces on Friday vowed to confront, combat, and neutralize any action that threatens the stability and peace of our citizens, as well as the safeguarding of our national territory. And on state television, Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez reiterated denials that Venezuela hosts organized crime groups. There are no criminal gangs operating here, they have taken the story of the Tren de Aragua, they have been completely dismantled, they do not exist, nor do cartels or bosses exist, Padrino said. Ramsey said US military action in Venezuela would risk destabilizing the entire country, and potentially the region itself. With assistance from Scott Squires. 2025 Bloomberg L.P. As a record number of people in the U.S. are sickened with measles, researchers are resurrecting the search for something long-deemed redundant: treatments for the viral disease. After the measles vaccine was introduced in the 1960s, cases of the disease plummeted. By 2000, federal officials had declared measles eliminated from the U.S. This success led to little interest in the development of treatments. But now, as vaccination rates fall and infections rise, scientists are racing to develop drugs they say could prevent or treat the disease in vulnerable and unvaccinated people. In America, we dont like being told what to do, but we like to have options for our medicine chest," said Marc Elia, chairman of the board of Invivyd, a Massachusetts-based drugmaker that started working on a monoclonal antibody for measles this spring. Scientists across the country including at biotechs Invivyd and Saravir Biopharmaand institutions such as Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Georgia State Universityare in the early stages of measles-treatment development. The drugs are still a ways from becoming available to patients but could offer alternatives to people who are immunocompromised, dont respond to the measles vaccine or are vaccine skeptics. Some doctors and researchers warn that measles treatments could further drive the drop in vaccination. Nationally, 92.5% of kindergartners received the measles, mumps and rubella, or MMR, shot in the 2024-2025 school year, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. In 2019-2020, the vaccination rate was over 95%, which is the rate encouraged by health authorities to prevent community transmission of measles. More than 1,300 people, most of them unvaccinated, have been diagnosed with measles this yeara 33-year high. One of the motivations of getting the vaccine right now is that there are no treatments," said Dr. Joel Warsh, a pediatrician who says more research is needed into immunization safety. Still, Invivyd is betting its measles monoclonal antibody could help curb infections and outbreaks. Unlike the MMR vaccine, which is designed to train the body to make its own antibodiesproteins that help defeat specific pathogensmonoclonal antibodies are lab-made versions that can be delivered intravenously or as an injection and boost immunity immediately. Antibody treatments could treat someone who is sick or help prevent measles in people recently exposed to the virus. They could benefit newborns and immunocompromised people who cant be vaccinated, as well as the minority of people who dont respond to the vaccine or whose immunity has waned. The treatments could offer weeks or months of protection against measles, researchers said. Think of it like antivenom after a snake bite," said Erica Ollmann Saphire, chief executive of the La Jolla Institute for Immunology, whose lab is developing its own monoclonal antibodies for measles. Even people unsure about vaccines, if they are already sick with measles, getting an antibody treatment could be palatable." Saphires lab has identified a few antibodies that have shown promise in animal tests. Invivyd said it hoped to have a drug candidate by the end of the year. At Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Dr. James Crowe, a pediatric infectious-disease specialist, has found success with a half-dozen antibodies that still need to be tested in people. In searching for a treatment, researchers have been forced to better understand measles, which Crowe said hadnt been as thoroughly studied as some other ailments because the vaccine had been so successful. The bodys immune response to measles, for instance, hadnt been well understood. But he and other researchers now have a clearer picture of how measles antibodies work. Some block the virus from attaching to cells, while others interfere with a mechanism that allows the virus to fuse with cell membranes. Alternatives to vaccination could be especially appealing among some communities in Texas, where Dr. Ben Edwards practices family medicine and has treated hundreds of measles patients, he said. Many of them were from a Mennonite community hard-hit by a recent measles outbreak and where vaccination rates are low. Theyre going to want to look at the data though," he said. Theres been a tremendous uptick in lack of trust in medicine." Edwards said he understands why many of his patients are skeptical of the MMR vaccine, which he said lacked adequate safety data. The MMR shot remains the best and only way to prevent measles, the CDC said. Multiple large-scale studies conducted over decades have proven the MMR vaccine to be very safe and effective, the agency said. Edwards said it makes sense to develop treatmentsboth drugs and alternative remediesfor measles so people have options. He said it was logical to think that more people would opt out of vaccination if effective treatments existed. Edwards, who had never treated a measles patient until this year, said he advised patients to take vitamin A supplements such as cod liver oil. He said he also treated about one-third of his measles patients with budesonide, an inhalable steroid medication used to treat asthma, to help alleviate respiratory problems. His approach attracted the attention of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who praised Edwards as an extraordinary" healer. Neither vitamin A supplements nor budesonide are considered measles treatments, said the Infectious Diseases Society of America, though budesonide can be used to treat complications from the illness. Some studies show that people with vitamin A deficiencies can get sicker from the virus, but there is no evidence that patients who arent deficient will benefit from taking more of it, said John Lednicky, a microbiologist at the University of Florida. The typical American is not deficient," he said. And if you take too much, it will make you sick." Measles can cause severe acute disease and rarely death, but also immune amnesia," which causes the body to forget how to fight other infections, doctors said. Richard Plemper, a biomedical scientist at Georgia State University whose lab is developing an oral antiviral treatment for the virus family that includes measles, said he thinks people who want to get vaccinated will still do so, whether treatments are available or not. The antiviral he is working on, which is designed to block the ability of viruses including measles from replicating, has shown efficacy in animal experiments. But Plemper said he isnt sure how his lab will fund further research. Scheduled tests for the antiviral compound in dogs were canceled recently after National Institutes of Health funding was terminated. Saravir Biopharma, which was launched in July in collaboration with Columbia University to develop a measles monoclonal antibody, is banking on a continuing decline in vaccination rates to further fuel a need for measles treatmentsand in turn, more investor interest. This is just the beginning," said Dr. Ron Moss, Saravirs CEO. I dont see public-health officials in this country turning around and saying everyone will need to get vaccinated in the next couple of years." Moss said Saravirs antibody treatment, which is designed to stop the measles virus from fusing with the bodys cells, could be tested in people as soon as next year. Write to Dominique Mosbergen at dominique.mosbergen@wsj.com Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky shared his thoughts on AI chatbots, cautioning investors that AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Claude and Perplexity can't yet be considered the new Google, which remains a dominant gateway to the internet. Speaking at the companys second-quarter earnings call for FY26, Chesky acknowledged the potential of AI but also noted that the technology is still developing and will take a lot of time until it is capable of leading. Why is AI not yet ready to replace Google? Speaking of AI chatbots, the CEO told investors, I dont think we should think of them as the new Google yet. He further added, I think were still kind of feeling out of space. Chesky also emphasised that while AI chatbots are powerful tools to work around customer service and personalisation, they arent yet fully positioned to become a replacement for referrals that the dominant search engine Google brings. Also Read | Google's Gemini AI has an epic meltdown after failing to complete a task He also reminded people that AI models that power chatbots like ChatGPT are not proprietary. We also have to remember that the model powering ChatGPT is not proprietary. Its not exclusive to ChatGPT. We Airbnb can also use the API, and there are other models that we can use, he said. He also mentioned that the success with AI depends on building a custom interface and fine-tuning the model for the right application instead of just focusing on having the best model. How is Airbnb taking advantage of AI? Airbnb shared during the call that its AI customer service agent in the United States reduced the percentage of guests contacting a human agent by almost 15%. The CEO revealed that Airbnb has also deployed a customer service agent that was built using 13 different models and trained on tens of thousands of conversations. This provision is currently available in English in the US. Also Read | Roblox rolls out open-source AI system to protect kids from predators in chats This year, Airbnb will roll it out to more languages, and by next year, it is expected to become more personalised and independent. This means that it will be able to understand if someone needs assistance cancelling a reservation, for which the bot will not only be able to tell them how to do it but also do it for them. The bot will also be capable of helping customers plan and book trips. The anticipation around OpenAI's GPT-5 model finally came to an end as the company released the latest model to power ChatGPT during a live-stream on Thursday. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman described GPT-5 as a major step forward in AI and compared the model's abilities to that of a PhD-level expert across various fields. OpenAI says the new model is better at reasoning, writing, coding, accuracy, health-related queries, and more, while having significantly fewer hallucinations (making stuff up that isn't true). The GPT-5 release started rolling out to users soon after the launch announcement, and the biggest change so far has been bidding adieu to previous OpenAI models. OpenAI was employing GPT-4o to handle normal queries while o3 or o4 mini handled tasks involving reasoning abilities. However, with the GPT-5 rollout, OpenAI has removed the model picker option from ChatGPT, and users can no longer choose which model they want to use like before leading to frustration among social media users. Notably, GPT-5 comes with an efficient model and a reasoning model, but users dont need to make the choice to trigger the reasoning model; OpenAI uses a router to decide which model to engage for a particular query. Netizens react to GPT-5 rollout: Not only were social media users angry about losing access to their favourite models, but the consensus on online forums seems to be that the new GPT-5 model gives shorter answers while having less personality than the previous versions. Moreover, many users who spent hours interacting with the chatbot now say that they have fewer prompts to work with even with a ChatGPT Plus subscription. "They have completely ruined ChatGPT. Its slower, even without the thinking mode. It has such short replies and it gets some of the most basic things wrong. It also doesnt listen to the instructions you give and just does whatever it wants to do." wrote one user in a Reddit post on the ChatGPT sub-reddit. They did everything in their power to shorten the answers to be as specific and targeted to save money. Theyve removed the emotional intelligence of the AI because if its not interesting to talk to people wont spend all day just chatting with it, which will save them money. Except its actually going to earn them millions of lost subscriptions. reacted another user. It definitely doesnt have the same vibe as 4o. Its more organized in some ways, but I find the responses while accurate are shorter and more clipped in tone. yet another user noted Answers are shorter and, so far, not any better than previous models. Combine that with more restrictive usage, and it feels like a downgrade branded as the new hotness. opined one user The finalists for Blas na hEireann, The Irish Food Awards 2025, have been announced, with 3 exceptional producers from Co. Longford making it through to the final stage of Irelands most prestigious food awards. The countdown is now officially on for the return to Dingle this autumn, where the very best of Irish food and drink will be celebrated from Thursday, October 2 to Sunday, October 5 with the Blas Village, Showcase, Eat Ireland in a Day market and the awards themselves all running on Friday, October 3. Read more: Longford business receives Great Taste award for their honey products Now in its 18th year, Blas na hEireann continues to grow, with more than 3,000 entries submitted from across the island, and a record number of new producers taking part. The 2025 awards also see the biggest ever expansion in categories, now totalling 190, including significant growth in fast-evolving areas such as alcoholic drinks and their non-alcoholic alternatives. The judging, which took place over May, June and July in partnership with UCC and TU Dublin, is blind-tasted and scored by a network of expert judges, including chefs, buyers, academics, restaurateurs, and industry leaders. Only the top entries from each category make it to the finalist stage, which is a huge achievement in itself. The finalists shortlisted from Co. Longford across a wide range of categories are Panelto Foods, Richmount Cordial Company and The Farmhouse Bees & Trees Ltd. Its been an exciting year for the Blas na hEireann awards, says Blas na hEireann Chairperson Artie Clifford. Thats not just in terms of the ever-growing number of entries, but in the incredible standard of produce from both long-standing producers and impressive newcomers. Weve also seen huge innovation across all categories, which reflects the evolving landscape of Irish food and drink. For us, these awards are about championing the producers, and giving them the spotlight they deserve in Dingle each October. We cant wait to welcome them. This years Blas na hEireann weekend will see the return of the hugely popular Eat Ireland in a Day market and the Blas Village, where 2025 finalists can showcase their products, connect with buyers, and meet with fellow producers, media and food lovers from across the country. With sustainability at the forefront once again, this years event will continue to build on its environmentally friendly policies and support a more conscious future for Irish food. Read more: Special evening for Longford's Barney Kenny at Kilbeggan Races to celebrate 80th birthday Making it as a finalist is no small achievement. The competition intensifies every year, and the producers shortlisted really do represent the creme de la creme of Irish food and drink. The Blas na hEireann awards weekend in Dingle is a celebration of great food, and of the people, passion and place that make that Irish food so special. DkIT music student Darren Culliney recently had multiple successes at the Leinster Fleadh Cheoil held in Drogheda. Longford man Darren had a fantastic weekend, securing first place in four separate competitions. Read more: Special evening for Longford's Barney Kenny at Kilbeggan Races to celebrate 80th birthday As a soloist, he triumphed in the Senior Button Accordion and added another win in the Senior Accompaniment on piano. Teaming up with his brother Cathal, he claimed victory in the Senior Duet, and the pair, joined by Liam Doherty, went on to win the Senior Trio competition. Darren also earned third place in both the Melodeon and Lilting categories, and several of his students took part in various competitions throughout the weekend. Darren is a TUTF PhD scholar at DkIT examining the role of the button accordion in the musical and cultural life of Ulster under the supervision of Dr Daithi Kearney and Dr Verena Commins (University of Galway). Darren is also chair of the Longford County Board of Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann and the Education Officer for the Irish affiliate of the International Council for Traditional Music and Dance. He has presented his research internationally and published articles on his research. Darren will also be competing at Fleadh Cheoil na hEireann, which will be held in Wexford in August. Read more: Longford's Maria Edgeworth Centre to celebrate Heritage Week with two events The Leinster Fleadh was a great success, bringing thousands of people to Drogheda for a weekend of celebration. The opening concert in the Droichead Arts Centre included another tie to DkIT with a performance of Oliver Plans a Party, written and directed by DkIT lecturer Dr Daithi Kearney, who was involved across the weekend as a volunteer, including as MC on the Gig Rig where leading bands including Goitse performed to large crowds. The critical upgrade works to replace over 5.4km of aged water mains with new pipes along the N55 is set to commence early next week, according to Uisce Eireann. The works are aimed at securing the town's water supply, reducing high levels of leakage, and supporting much-needed growth, bringing significant benefits to our thriving midland town. A contractor Ward and Burke Construction Ltd was appointed in June to carry out the multi-million euro water main upgrade from Carrickboy to Ballymahon to replace a porous pipe that frequently bursts. The disruption, which has been a notable problem since 2019 and a significant issue, in particular during the past two years, has frequently impacted over 6,000 residents and business owners. Local people in the Ballymahon, Legan, Ballymahon, Carrickedmond, Forgney and Ardagh areas have been left frustrated and dismayed due to ongoing bursts and loss of water. The project will take place along the N55 between the Carrickedmond Church and Ballymahon Mart and Uisce Eireann said traffic management is necessary to deliver this vital project efficiently and safely, with the latter a key priority. The water utility said the works will commence from, Monday, August 11, will be delivered with stop/go traffic management supporting traffic flow in both directions. A road closure is required for the next phase of works to install this large pipework, beginning on Monday, August 25. The road closure will be in place 24 hours a day until Friday, November 28. Uisce Eireann said working is close collaboration with Longford County Council the road closure will support combined works seeing both the delivery of the vital water main construction and the critical road upgrade works. The water utility stated flows will be diverted during this time, with local and emergency services access only. Uisce Eireann and Longford County Council are working in close coordination to minimise the overall disruption to the community and road users during these critical projects. Dave Murphy, Programme Manager with Uisce Eireann, who spoke about the project, said working in partnership with Longford County Council, they are coordinating 'two significant upgrades' for the Ballymahon community. "The water mains replacement will be delivered in conjunction with Longford County Council's road upgrade worksall within the planned closure period. "We understand that from experience, the road closure will cause inconvenience, but by combining these projects, we are limiting the overall impact. This is a case of short-term pain for long-term gainonce complete, the improvements will bring lasting benefits to residents, businesses, and road users. "The replacement of these old, damaged pipes will have a positive impact on leakage by significantly lowering the instances of bursts and supply disruptions along the network, providing a more secure water supply for local homes and businesses for years to come. "We would like to extend our thanks to the community in advance for their patience and support as we arrive to deliver this much-needed project to future-proof the water network and support the town to grow." Con Diffley, Senior Executive Engineer for Longford County Council, stated the continued investment by Uisce Eireann in the region is welcomed. "By collaborating on these two key infrastructure projects, we can reduce the disruption period and deliver lasting improvements to the community's road network. We sincerely thank the community and road users for their patience and cooperation during these essential works, which will provide significant benefits for years to come. This project is being delivered as part of Uisce Eireann's national Leakage Reduction Programme, which continues to provide significant benefits to communities across Ireland, including improved water quality, provision of a more resilient and sustainable water supply for customers, and considerable water savings. For more information on the Leakage Reduction Programme, please visit www.water.ie/reducingleaks. Customers can also contact Uisce Eireann on 1800 278 278 with any questions about the project. Uisce Eireann has a free text service, providing real-time updates for local issues. Customers can sign up with their Eircode and mobile number on our text alerts page. Uisce Eireann is responsible for delivering public drinking water and wastewater services for the people of Ireland. The water utility said they are committed to enabling communities to thrive by continuously upgrading and developing critical infrastructure to support sustainable growth and development, providing safe drinking water, and enhancing the environment. To find out more, visit www.water.ie READ NEXT: Longford PhD student triumphs in four competitions at the Leinster Fleadh Cheoil READ NEXT: Connection between Co Longford's Ballinamuck and France's Essert continues Plans are at an advanced stage to honour the contribution of a little known Lanesboro priest who travelled from his community to Rome in the 1800s and went on to become one of the best acknowledged archaeologists in this holy city. Fr Joseph Mullooly was born in Lanesboro, County Longford, the son of Gilbert Mullooly, a farmer and his wife Brigid. In 1840 along with a testimonial letter, signed by his parish priest, Joseph left Ireland for Italy. A year later, on September 7 1841 Joseph took the Dominican Habit at La Quercia, taking his first vows in September 1842. Read more: Longford man to become the first first Permanent Deacon in his diocese Some time after becoming a priest he was sent to San Clemente, Rome and in 1850 was appointed Superior of San Clemente. In the late summer and autumn of 1857 Fr Mullooly made the first discoveries that led to the series of excavations, under the church, for which he was responsible over the next 12 years. When the papal commission ceased excavations, Fr Mullooly decided to continue them alone, raising the necessary funds himself and discovering the fresco of Pope Clement I. Fr Mullooly died in June 1880 and in 1912 his remains were removed from the Campo Verano cemetery and now rest in a vault in front of the altar in the excavated church. Fr Mullooly subsequently went on to carry out excavations at the world renowned St Clemente Basilica in the heart of Rome, 5 minutes from the Colosseum and plans are now at an advanced stage for the European Parliament and the Irish State to recognise his contribution in a special ceremony on Friday, September 12. For further details on the event in Rome please contact ciaran.mullooly@europarl.europa.eu Read more: Countdown underway to Longfords Trek for Theresa in memory of a truly wonderful woman Before that date a special event will take place in St Mary's Church, Lanesboro at 3pm on Sunday, August 17 when Fr Paul Lawlor OP of the Dominicans will visit from Rome and present a special historical guide to the significant achievements of Fr Mullooly during his term in Rome. This event on Sunday August 17 is an open public event and all are welcome. Crime, Press Releases By Long Island Published: August 08 2025 Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney announced the arrest and arraignment of 61-year-old Michael Tulchiner of Bellmore for Grand Larceny in the Second Degree. Tulchiner, principal attorney at his Melville-based firm, allegedly stole $413,237 ... Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney today announced that Michael Tulchiner, 61, of Bellmore, was arrested and arraigned for Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, for allegedly stealing money that was designated to pay off his clients loan as part of a real estate transaction. The allegations against this attorney represent a gross violation of the trust that the victim placed in him as an attorney and a fiduciary, said District Attorney Tierney. The attorney-client relationship is an essential element of our society, and my office will not tolerate professionals using their state licenses as a license to steal. Tulchiner, the principal attorney at The Law Office of Michael J. Tulchiner, based in Melville, is alleged to have stolen $413,237 from his mortgage disbursement account between August and December of 2022. According to the investigation, Tulchiner was hired to represent his client at the closing of a real estate transaction. Part of the closing required Tulchiners client to pay off a prior loan on the property that was being sold. Tulchiner was provided with a refinance loan on behalf of his client, a portion of which was designated specifically to be used to pay off the prior loan. The refinance loan was placed in Tulchiners mortgage disbursement account, and he was authorized to use the funds only for the designated purpose of paying the required amounts to close on the sale of the property. Tulchiner was required to pay $413,237 to a mortgage company for his client and he ordered a bank check for that purpose on August 26, 2022. However, rather than delivering that check, Tulchiner redeposited the money back into his account on August 29, 2022. An analysis of Tulchiners bank account revealed that he subsequently spent the money on expenses related to his firm and unrelated to the authorized transaction. On August 8, 2025, Tulchiner, was arraigned before District Court Judge John B. Zollo for Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, a Class C felony. Judge Zollo ordered Tulchiner released on his own recognizance. His charge is considered non-bail eligible under current New York State law, meaning prosecutors cannot ask for, and judges cannot set bail. Tulchiner is due back in court on September 2, 2025, and faces 5 to 15 years in prison if convicted on the top count. He is being represented by Scott Gross, Esq. If you believe you have been victimized by Michael Tulchiner, please call the Suffolk County District Attorneys Office at (631) 853-4626. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Tara K. ODonnell of the Public Corruption Bureau, and the investigation was conducted by the District Attorneys Public Governor Hochul Announces Nearly $300 Million To Strengthen Access To High-Quality Health Care Across New York State Local News By Chris Boyle Published: August 08 2025 Over 50 Projects Funded Through Statewide Health Care Facility Transforma.on Program IV Governor Kathy Hochul today announced nearly $300 million in new state funding to support health care transformation projects across New York. The awards, made through the Statewide Health Care Facility Transformation Program IV, will support more than 50 projects aimed at expanding access to inpatient, primary, behavioral health and long-term care services. This targeted investment will help ensure that every New Yorker regardless of ZIP code can access safe, high-quality health care, Governor Hochul said. By supporting providers that serve vulnerable and underserved populations, were strengthening the foundation of our health care system and building a healthier future for all. New York State Department of Health Commissioner Dr. James McDonald said, These awards will help providers deliver more effective, modern, and patient-centered care. We are focused on expanding access and improving outcomes while ensuring the sustainability of vital health services across the state. This funding prioritizes projects that: Improve access to primary, inpatient, behavioral health, and long-term care services; Support financially distressed and community-based providers; Expand patient-centered models of care; and Modernize critical infrastructure. Awardees include hospitals, diagnostic and treatment centers, behavioral health organizations, and long-term care providers in every region of the State. A full list of awardees, project descriptions, and award amounts is available here. Funds are administered by the New York State Department of Health and the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York (DASNY). This investment builds on Governor Hochuls continued efforts to strengthen New Yorks health care delivery system. In 2023, the Governor announced over $650 million in transformation funding through earlier rounds of the program. Since 2017, the Statewide Health Care Facility Transformation Program has awarded more than $4.7 billion to providers working to improve access, equity, and quality of care across New York. The State will make additional funding awards for Health Care IT projects under Statewide IV and V, and for additional projects under the Safety Net Transformation Program. Going to college or university is the first long-term stay away from home for most new students. Alongside the really boring stuffbedding, clothes hangers, notepads, and coffee cupstheres a lot of new tech to take, and most freshmen miss some of the electronic essentials that they all will need from day one in their college dorm. You know that youll need a computermost likely a portable laptop, and we recommend the best MacBook for students elsewhere. Many studentsparticularly those studying science subjectsfind a tablet such as an Apple iPad is more convenient, and so you can read our list of the best iPads for students, too. Indeed, with the addition of a supporting keyboard, the iPad can also function as well as laptops for written assessments: see our recommendations for the best iPad keyboards. We surveyed a bunch of second-year students and their parents to come up with this list of the essential tech and gadgets every student needs in their room and for going about their daily college life. Ugreen Charging station The number-one forgotten electronic item when heading off to college is the humble charging station, power strip, or plug extension cord. Dorm roomssome designed before smartphones and even laptops existedhave precious few power sockets, and the one you eventually find is sure to be located as far away as possible from where you need it. A power strip will solve nearly all a students rooms charging problems. Look for one with a cord of at least six feet since power outlets are always in the wrong spot. Our favorite power strip is the Ugreen 100W USB-C GaN Charging Station (also at Amazon or Amazon U.K.) that features three USB-C ports (2x 100W and 1x 22.5W), one USB-A (22W), and three extra AC plug sockets. That should be enough for most people. If not, buy two. The 100W USB-C ports can charge even a large laptop with ease. Ugreen has a smaller cube-shaped power extender, too: the 65W USB-C GaN Charging Station (Amazon or Amazon UK), with two USB-C (both 65W) and two USB-A (18W) ports, and three AC outlets. For charging, 65W is enough power to keep a MacBook Air or a 14-inch MacBook Pro filled up. Anker Long cables All of your Apple devices use USB-C, but you might still have some USB-A and MicroUSB devices around. Also, its a common misconception that all USB-C cables are basically the same, but theyre not. Some are for data transfer only. And those that do support charging vary in how fast they can charge. iPhones and tablets require around 30W of power for fast charging, while a MacBook Pro needs 60-100W. The easiest solution is to choose a universal cable that supports up to 100W so you can use it with all your devices. We recommend the 100W Anker USB-C to USB-C Cable, which is available in black, silver, or red, and in lengths of up to 10 feet. I have a few of these at home, and I bought my daughter two for college. You can buy them singularly for around $10 or in packs of two or three. That cable will also transfer data, but slowly at 480Mbps. For both speedy data transfers and charging, the most dependable solution is a Thunderbolt or USB4 cable. These look and work just like USB-C but offer superior data speeds for MacBooks and the iPad Pro. The $19/20 Ugreen USB4 USB-C to USB-C Cable is 3.3-feet long and offers as fast charging support as you can get (240W) and super-speedy data (80Gbps). Longer Thunderbolt cables cost a lot more: the Anker 6ft Thunderbolt 4 Cable costs around $80/60. Finally, some older iPhones, AirPods, and iPads use Apples Lightning connector, so you need a USB-C to Lightning cable. For a long Lightning cable, try the 10-foot Amazon Basics USB-C to Lightning Cable ($14 / 11) available in either black or white. Anker has a slightly shorter 6-foot Lightning Cable for $17 / 17 that wed recommend for its better durability and brighter color options (black, silver, red, and gold). Simon Jary Extra power adapters Its seems obvious, but extra power adapters are the easiest thing to forgetand even if you remember, youll want to get the right one. Youll be looking for chargers with at least one USB-C portsome have two or more to be even more useful. The more ports a charger has, the fewer chargers youll need to bring. The $50 Anker Prime 100W USB-C Wall Charger (or 60 at Amazon UK) has three ports (two USB-C and one USB-A) and is small enough to fit in a pocket if you want to carry it with you. For just a few bucks more, the $99 Ugreen Nexode 200W USB-C Wall Charger (or 89 at Amazon UK) has four ports (3x USB-C and 1x USB-A) and can pump out up to 200W at the same time. Those two wall chargers plug directly into a power socket, whether that be in the wall or on a power strip. You can also buy chargers meant to sit on a desk with one long cord to the wall socket. The $79/79 Anker Prime Charger (200W, 6 Ports, GaN) (also at Amazon and Amazon U.K.) has six ports4x USB-C and 2x USB-Aand can handle more power (200W) at one time. If you really just need one port, then USB-C wall chargers come in very small sizessmall enough to lose in your backpack if taking it to keep your laptop or phone charged in the lecture hall. Take a look at the tiny $35/24 Anker Nano Charger (at Amazon and Amazon U.K.), which can power a laptop at 65W and measures about 1.6 inches cubed. Wireless charger Simon Jary Since every college student reaches for their iPhone as soon as they wake up, a wireless charging stand is another student priority tech essential. All iPhones 12 and newer will be compatible with a magnetic wireless charging stand, which can double as an alarm clock when theyre on a nightstand. One of the easiest to pack is the Kuxiu Folding 3-in-1 Charging Station, which is small enough to fit in your pocket. It starts at $45/45 for a 3-in-1 charger that tops out at 7.5W or $79 / 79 for the faster Qi2 version at 15W. Both charge the iPhone, Apple Watch, and AirPods at the same time. If they just need to charge an iPhone, look at the simple Anker MagGo Charging Stand ($30/39). Twelve South Laptop stand MacBooks are great, but theyre not exactly designed for comfort and a healthy posture, especially when at a desk. A simple solution is to place your laptop on a pile of books, but a better option is to invest in a laptop stand, which will also increase airflow for better cooling and performance. Weve tested the best MacBook standstheyll work with any laptopand we have a few favorites. The $19 / 25 Twelve South Curve SE (pictured above) is an inexpensive but stylish stand that elevates your screen 6.5 inches to a healthier, more ergonomic height. Its a lightweight modular design that makes it easy to pack for the journey to and from college. Its also available at Amazon and Amazon U.K. A more portable laptop stand is the portable, lightweight, and folding $60/60 Rain Design Mbar Pro+ that raises your MacBook by 5.5 inches with a tilt that makes viewing and typing a more pleasant and healthy experience. When folded, it measures just 0.5 inches thin and weighs 0.45lbsperfect for slinging in your backpack and taking to the library or cafe. It even includes its own svelte carrying sleeve. Twelve South Extra display A MacBooks screen is fine for everyday work, but even the 16-inch MacBook Pro can feel small when working with multiple apps and windows open. Having a second larger monitor will make your screen time much more comfortable, productive, and enjoyable, especially when streaming movies. Weve tested and reviewed the best portable Mac monitors for you. The ASUS ZenScreen MB249C portable monitor costs $349 or 299 and gives a lot of screen space at 24 inches, but folds into a flat transportable package. Even smaller at 15.6 inches and cheaper ($239), the Plugable Portable USB-C Monitor is also a great pick if youre worried about packing light. Both connect to your laptop via a simple USB-C cable and can be closed and stored away when you dont need them clogging up your desk. A cheaper option is to buy a standard computer monitor. The BenQ GW2491 is a bare-bones 24-inch HD monitor that will get the job done for around $99/75, and of course, Apples high-priced but absolutely stunning Studio Display ($1,599/1,499) is also an option. For a full range of Mac display choices, check out our best monitors roundup. NexiGo Projector Who wants to huddle around a small screen when you can beam the latest Netflix hit show into a dorm room wall? While high-quality projectors can run thousands of dollars, budget projectors can be an affordable option for college. In fact, the Philips NeoPix at $120/132) was recommended to us by parents of students at my daughters university for decent video quality and sound. Further up the price scale is the $279 NexiGo PJ40 (Gen 3) (or 329 at Amazon UK) that is still less expensive than most but offers vibrant images in light-controlled environments with built-in 20W speakers. To get the best picture in rooms that you cant sufficiently darken, youll have to spend more than $500 on a quality projector such as the Epson Home Cinema. Logitech Mouse and keyboard MacBooks obviously come with their own keyboard and trackpad built in, but who doesnt prefer a more comfortable setup when theyre up all night writing term papers? We suggest you take a look at our roundup of the best Mac keyboards, but here are a few options to get started. The slimline but solidly built Logitech MX Keys S For Mac is available in either space gray or pale gray for $129/109), or theres a more compact version for $99/70. Its cheaper than $100-plus Apples Magic Keyboard and also more versatile, as it includes a dedicated set of buttons that allow you to pair it with three separate devices, including another Mac, iPad, or even a Windows PC if you really must. If you want to add a touch of color to your student dorm, consider the Pop Icon series also from Logitech (pictured above), which comes in graphite/green, graphite/white, lilac/off-white, off-white/orange, and rose/off-white. According to the manufacturer, the keyboard has a battery life of up to 36 months, which is most of their college career. You can pick up the mouse and keyboard combo for $66/69. For mouse options, check out our recommendations for the best Mac mouse. We recommend the $30/30 Satechi USB-C Aluminum M1 Bluetooth Wireless Mouse, which comes with a handy scroll wheel for faster, more accurate scrolling and tracking. It has a pleasingly curved ergonomic design made for both left- and right-handed users, and is available in five colors. Logitech If you decide to go with an iPad instead of a laptop for its note-taking fortitude, you can pick up a keyboard and trackpad for it to make it behave like a laptop when you need to write longer assessments. Apples Magic Keyboard is great, but very expensive. One affordable option is the Zagg Tough Keys at $100/89 that turns an iPad into a laptop setup and is also effective at protecting it from knocks and drops. A more flexible but still protective solution would be the excellent Logitech Flip Folio Keyboard Case (pictured above) that costs $160/159 and can be removed simply and quickly. As with any iPad accessory, make sure you are buying for the model that you own! Apples iPad naming convention can make this quite tricky! Plugable Dock or USB-C hub Laptops are made much more adaptable by connecting them to a docking station that offers more USB ports, HDMI, card readers and Ethernet for more stable network performance (if the student room includes an Ethernet connection, of course). The $45 Plugable 9-in-1 USB-C Hub Multiport Adapter includes two USB-C ports, three USB-A, HDMI, Gigabit Ethernet, SD, and MicroSD card readers, with 125W laptop charging. Otherwise, picking one depends on the needs of your student, and there are more Mac USB-C hubs and USB-C and Thunderbolt dock options to choose from. iPad stylus Using a stylus makes iPad use even more intuitive than a laptop. The Apple Pencil USB-C is a great option for under $100, but if youre under a strict budget, the Zagg Pro Stylus 2 ($54/53) is a more affordable alternative to the Apple Pencil with many of the same features, including wireless charging, a replaceable tip, and attaching magnetically to the iPad Air and iPad Pro. Dominik Tomaszewski / Foundry Power bank When out and about, a portable power bank is indispensable for keeping your devices charged when your kid isnt in their room. For iPhones, we suggest a magnetic power bank that can wirelessly charge your iPhone without a cable. From our long list of the best magnetic power banks, we recommend the EcoFlow RAPID Magnetic Power Bank in either its higher-capacity 10K model ($90) or smaller, lighter 5K version ($60). A cheaper option is the magnetic Baseus PicoGo Power Bank, available in a range of colors for $35/29. If you frequently forget to charge your laptop and dont have a readily available power socket or charger where you go to study, consider a battery pack for your laptop; read about the best power banks for MacBook. A great value 20K laptop power bank is the $30/27 Cuktech 20K that might be a little slow at 45W, but should get your kid out of a crisis. Or try the faster (67W) Baseus EnerCore CR11 at around $60. Freepik Laptop bag Last but definitely not least, your student will definitely need a decent bag to carry their laptop back and forth from lectures or the library. I say this even though my daughter insisted on carrying her 15-inch MacBook Air around in her completely unsuitable, oversized handbag. The 30-liter Stubble & Co Roll Top I bought her, despite its excellent laptop compartment and good looks, was instead used to drag her shopping back to the residence halls. If theyre like my daughter and dont want a laptop backpack, then at least consider a laptop sleeve to protect it on its travels. If you are shopping at Apple theres a summer-long Back to school deal where you can get a pair of AirPods or an Apple Pencil with your purchase of a Mac or iPad. For advice about how to shop at Apples Education store read: How to get an Apple student discount at Apples Education Store. With little recent rain and long-lasting high temperatures this summer, Cape Cod is now under a significant drought as the entire state begins to dry out, officials announced Friday. Drought is a look back on conditions over a period of time, read a statement from Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA). July was notably warm in Massachusetts ... [and] regions that are currently not in a drought are starting to see some indices impacted by the low precipitation, the statement read. The Cape Cod region has been upgraded to a Level 2 Significant Drought as of Friday, after it was at Level 1 Mild Drought in July. Nantucket County is currently at Level 1, while Dukes County on Marthas Vineyard is still at Normal Conditions. The EEA listed recommendations in its drought management plan protocol for communities and people living and working in a Level 1 or 2 area, including those who have private wells. Those in a Mild Drought zone are asked to cut back water use at homes and businesses by limiting outdoor watering to once a week in off-peak hours, fixing indoor leaks and picking drought-tolerant landscaping. Communities are also encouraged to launch public education campaigns, check emergency waters and draft drought response plans. Tighter restrictions apply in a Significant Drought. This included hand-held watering only in designated hours before 9 a.m. and after 5 p.m. and bas on non-essential outdoor water use, like washing vehicles or other surfaces. Towns are expected to enforce local rules with water-use reduction targets and connect directly with high-usage customers to bring down consumption. Residents and businesses are also encouraged to check with their local water system for more stringent restrictions. While southeastern parts of the state, along with the North Shore and Central and Western Massachusetts, have not yet reached a level on the EEA chart as of Aug. 8, conditions are starting to dry all across the state. Average temperatures in July statewide were about two to five degrees above normal, state officials said, and precipitation levels varied across the state. Some areas have received above-normal rainfall amounts this summer, while Cape Cod & the Islands and the northeastern and southeastern parts have had below-average rain. This is posing a dangerous risk for outdoor fires, the officials said. Additionally, fish passage in rivers, streams and ponds has been impacted, as the weather conditions cause drier soil and reduced water levels, and groundwater levels have begun to decline again on Cape Cod. More precipitation is needed to improve hydrological systems, especially groundwater and fire danger indices, in areas that are lagging, the officials stated. The EEA plans to monitor drought conditions in coordination with state and federal agencies, as stated in its drought management plan protocols, which will implement drought response actions like water use restrictions if necessary. The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) water supply system is not currently experiencing drought conditions, the officials said. Residents are encouraged to report dry environmental conditions and submit photos to help monitor the situation at this link. The EEA also made a FAQ for more information. The Drought Management Task Force will meet again to assess the situation on Sept. 8. A 62-year-old man admitted on Thursday to threatening to kill a prominent federal official, their relative and the relatives spouse, according to federal prosecutors. Michael Mahoney, of South Dennis, pleaded guilty to a single count of transmitting interstate threats to injure another person. A federal court judge set sentencing for Mahoney on Oct. 29, 2025, U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Leah Foleys office said in a statement. On March 28, 2025, while at dinner outside Massachusetts, the relative of a federal official got a phone call from an anonymous number at around 10:15 p.m. When the relative answered the phone, the caller, later identified to be Mahoney, confirmed their full name, according to Foleys office. At that point, Mahoney began screaming, telling the relative he was going to kill them, their spouse and the federal official. On the call, Mahoney referred to both the relatives spouse and the official by their first names. The relative hung up after 12 seconds, while Mahoney was still screaming. Mahoney called back, but the relative did not answer, Foleys office said. Neither the official nor their relative are identified in court filings or in a statement from Foleys office. Call records taken from the relatives phone service number indicated the originating number for the threatening call belonged to Mahoney. When law enforcement approached his home in South Dennis on March 29, Mahoney refused to answer the door or his phone, according to the statement. Mahoney was eventually arrested and charged in April. The charge of transmitting interstate threats to injure another person carries a sentence of up to five years in prison. No one was hurt after a fire erupted in a Somerset nursing home early Thursday morning, according to the towns fire department. Firefighters went to the Somerset Ridge Center, a skilled nursing facility, on Brayton Avenue at 3:30 a.m. Thursday. Arriving firefighters knew the layout of the building well, as most of the facilitys residents are older or need mobility help, the towns fire chief, Jamison T. J. Barros, wrote on Facebook. At the scene, firefighters established a water supply and made entry into the building. Inside, they found the fire area on the second floor, Barros said. The buildings sprinkler system had worked properly and a staff member used a fire extinguisher, with firefighters applying additional water to ensure the fire was fully extinguished. The damage from the fire and soot was contained primarily to the room where it started, Barros wrote. Some parts of the building were affected by water damage, but the damage is not expected to impact the long-term livability or structural integrity of the building, Barros said. The cause of the fire remains under investigation. Many things can go wrong in an event like this, often with tragic results, Barros wrote. The fire drew mutual aid from Swansea, Dighton and Fall River. Barros commended the work of those firefighters, as well as the staff inside the building. Thursdays fire comes nearly a month after a fatal fire at the Gabriel House assisted living facility in Fall River, which killed 10 people and injured 30 the deadliest residential fire in Massachusetts in decades. The fire has raised questions about the safety protocols in place at the facility, and at assisted living facilities in Massachusetts more broadly. Several residents have filed lawsuits alleging negligence since the July 13 blaze. Asia Featuring John Payne perform onstage at the Paradise Artists Party during IEBA 2017 Conference on October 17, 2017 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Rick Diamond/Getty Images for IEBA) Getty Images for IEBA In the heat of the moment, the newest guitarist for ASIA Featuring John Payne didnt make the grade. Francis Dunnery has parted with the group after just one performance, according to a Facebook post from the band. ASIA Featuring John Payne one iteration of the British rock supergroup made the announcement following a show in New Paltz, New York. Covering Asias works from 1982 to 2006 was not Franks wheelhouse, the post states, adding that we were trying to hammer a round peg into a square hole! Dunnerys resume includes collaborations with music icons such as Robert Plant, Santana, and Lauryn Hill, as well as fronting the British band It Bites in the 1980s. His long-running solo career spans over 15 live and studio albums. The post describes the turn of events as not an acrimonious parting, far from it, and goes on to compliment Dunnerys abilities as a guitarist. Franks works live and in the studio are beyond superb, from It Bites to Robert Plant and everything in between, the announcement reads, noting that we both worked so hard to make this work. Dunnery also took to social media to explain the situation, emphasizing that there are absolutely no weird or hard feelings. John needs a guitar player who can come in and play all the styles and all the sounds that are on the records and unfortunately thats not what I do, Dunnery wrote in an Instagram post. There are much better people at doing that than me. It is impossible for me to adapt to that role, I dont have the personality or the playing style to fulfill what he needs. In Dunnerys place, Jeff Kollman, the bands guitarist and vocalist of 20 years, will step in for a handful of August performances. A Norfolk Superior Court judge ordered former Massachusetts State Police trooper Michael Proctor in June to preserve all the data on his personal cellphone and promptly turn it over to prosecutors. But Proctor, through his lawyer, said he changed phones in 2024 and no longer had access to those communications. On top of that, Proctor claimed his phone automatically deleted data after 30 days. Therefore ... it is unlikely Mr. Proctor has any relevant information in his possession concerning this case, the lawyer, Daniel Moynihan, wrote. The ruling came in the case of Myles King, a man charged with the 2021 killing of Marquis Simmons in Milton. The judge, Michael Doolin, required Proctor to turn over communications from his personal phone from the date of the killing, July 10, 2021, to the date King was indicted, Nov. 19, 2021. The order comes as Proctors communications have become a central issue in numerous criminal cases, like Kings, following the revelation that he sent derogatory text messages about Karen Read while investigating the death of her boyfriend, Boston police officer John OKeefe. The district attorneys office hired a lawyer to go through an extraction of Proctors work cellphone and compile a report. While the report hasnt been publicized, Doolan said the lawyer found the phone contained communications that could be seen as beneficial to defendants in some cases he investigated. In his ruling, Doolin wrote, Proctors communications demonstrate that he exhibited biases against suspects he was investigating and otherwise conducted himself in a manner that led to his termination. The messages lend credence to a theory put forth by Kings lawyers that police bias played some role in the case, Doolin continued. They demonstrate a pattern of bias and misconduct by Proctor in conducting investigations that fairly suggests there may have been similar impropriety in this case and casts doubt on his credibility as an investigator generally. In the Read case, it was primarily communications from Proctors personal phone that became central to her defense, such as a text where he said he wished Read would kill herself. Its not clear whether the messages Proctor sent while investigating the King case on his personal cellphone would benefit his defense in the same way they did Reads. But Doolin said prosecutors must turn over any information from it that could be seen as beneficial to King, as required by law. Moynihan, the lawyer for Proctor, has not argued the issue before a judge in Norfolk Superior Court. But the issue appears likely to be discussed at a hearing in Kings case scheduled for Aug. 12. Dean Cain, the actor who portrayed Superman in the 1990s TV program Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, has announced that he is joining United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Cain commented on his decision during an interview on Fox News, where he stated that he felt he was doing the right thing for the country. In the same segment, Fox reported that ICE has received over 80,000 new applications from citizens seeking to join the organization. Prior to the conversation, the actor had posted to his Instagram account encouraging viewers to defend your homeland via ICE. The post received over 4,000 likes and 12,000 comments. Im actually a sworn deputy sheriff and a reserve police officer, Cain said during the interview. I wasnt part of ICE, but once I put that [video] out there . . . it went crazy. So, now Ive spoken with some of the officials over at ICE, and I will be sworn in as an ICE agent ASAP. Cains conversation with Fox News host Jesse Watters touched on the countrys broken immigration system, which the actor noted that Congress needs to fix. He also expressed hope that other former officers and former ICE agents would step up as he has. This country was built on patriots stepping up, whether it was popular or not, and doing the right thing, Cain said. I truly believe this is the right thing. This is what people voted for, he added. Its what I voted for. A 37-year-old man accused of hitting another man in the head with a hammer in East Boston was arrested Wednesday, according to Boston Police. Eric Vargas, of East Boston, is charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon in connection with the incident on Tuesday, police said in a statement. A judge set a $5,000 bail for Vargas during his arraignment in Boston Municipal Court in East Boston, court records show. Vargas will also undergo a competency evaluation, and was committed to Bridgewater State Hospital. At around 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday, a man walked into the Boston Police station in East Boston and reported he had been attacked by a man with a hammer earlier that morning, police said. The man told police that at around 6:30 a.m., when he was walking into a bakery at 40 Maverick Square, a man he didnt know walked up to him and asked him to use his phone. The man said he didnt have one and walked into the bakery, police said. When the man left the bakery, police say the other man, later identified as Vargas, hit him in the head with a hammer. The man sustained serious but non-life-threatening injuries and was taken to a nearby health center, police said. Officers on patrol found Vargas sitting on the steps of a building on Paris Street at around 5:16 p.m. Wednesday, and arrested him after further investigation, police said. A man and woman were found shot dead inside their home in Raynham on Friday afternoon, according to the Bristol County District Attorneys Office . Police officers found Marie Hunt, 37 and Mark Henshaw, 35, dead in a locked second-floor bedroom at their home, located at 134 Elm St. W. Henshaw had a single gunshot wound to the head, while Hunt was shot in the abdomen, the district attorneys office said. A 911 call had come into the department at 12:05 p.m. on Friday, according to the office. Upon arrival, officers found two children inside the home who were not injured. There was no sign of forced entry into the house, the district attorney said. On the second floor, officers had to break down the door to get inside the bedroom where Henshaw and Hunt were both found on the bed with fatal gunshot wounds, the office said. They were pronounced dead at around 12:39 p.m., the office said. Both were living at the home at the time. The investigation into the incident is ongoing, and is being conducted by local officers and troopers assigned to the Bristol County District Attorneys Office. There is no threat to public safety, the office said. A 28-year-old North Andover police officer was shot by a fellow officer after she pointed a gun at him and attempted to fire it, according to a police report filed in court an account that directly contradicts what the 28-year-old claimed in her first public statement. Kelsey Fitzsimmons, 28, is still hospitalized with a gunshot wound she sustained when police arrived at her North Andover home on the night of June 30 to serve her a restraining order obtained by her fiancee. She was arraigned Thursday on criminal charges, including armed assault to murder. Fitzsimmons pleaded not guilty having previously said that she attempted suicide and was not pointing a gun at police. She was ordered held without bail after being deemed dangerous. The police report, authored by Massachusetts State Police Sgt. David Strong, reveals for the first time what police say took place when they arrived at Fitzsimmons home. The police narrative A trio of police officers went to the home Fitzsimmons and her fiancee shared on Phillips Brook Road in North Andover at 6:12 p.m. on June 30 to serve the restraining order. The order gave custody of the couples 4-month-old son to Fitzsimmons fiancee, Justin Aylaian, and required her to turn over her firearms. Aylaian said he was in fear of Fitzsimmons and claimed she threatened to hurt him and their son. She had assaulted Aylaian multiple times, he said claims Fitzsimmons has denied through her lawyer. About 10 minutes after officers arrived, they called Aylaian to come and gather his belongings and pick up the child. Fitzsimmons went through the house, collecting items for the baby in anticipation of Aylaians arrival. After going through the first floor, police escorted Fitzsimmons to the second floor. When Aylaian arrived, Fitzsimmons asked to be kept separated from him, leaving her alone with one of the officers. A lieutenant who responded to the home told Strong in an interview that he heard the officer yell, Kelsey dont do it, Kelsey dont do it, followed by two gunshots. The lieutenant was on the first floor of the home with Aylain and Fitzsimmons mother. After hearing the gunshots, officers raced to provide first aid to Fitzsimmons and called an ambulance. In a separate interview, one of the responding officers told Strong that Fitzsimmons claimed all her guns were locked in a safe in the basement. As he walked toward the basement he heard the other officer scream Kelsey and heard two gunshots ring it. The officer immediately ran upstairs and found Fitzsimmons lying on the ground. When he asked what happened, the officer, Patrick Noonan, said Fitzsimmons pointed a gun at him, pulled the trigger, then racked a round of ammunition. Noonan was interviewed on July 3, four days after the incident. He recounted Fitzsimmons kneeling on the ground in her bedroom, packing clothing and books for her son. While standing in the doorway, he saw Fitzsimmons turn toward him, lunge for an area behind the door, then reappear pointing a gun at him, according to the police report. Fitzsimmons pulled the trigger and Noonan heard the gun click, but no round was fired. She began to stand up, and Noonan took his gun out of its holster. Fitzsimmons started to rack the gun to chamber a round, and Noonan yelled at her to drop the gun, according to the police report. Officer Noonan stated that at this point he knew she was trying to kill him, the report reads. Noonan fired a shot, and Fitzsimmons continued trying to chamber a round. Noonan fired again, hitting Fitzsimmons. A fourth officer arrived to the scene after the shooting, and removed the magazine from Fitzsimmons gun. He reported there was a round of ammunition inside. Police obtained a search warrant for the home, and found four semi-automatic guns. The account in the police report directly contradicts what Fitzsimmons claims took place. Fitzsimmons account Through her lawyer, Timothy Bradl, Fitzsimmons released a lengthy public statement last month, weeks after the incident. In it, she said she was diagnosed with postpartum depression following the birth of her son and was undergoing treatment at the time of the incident. Fitzsimmons said Aylaian turned his back on her and is now legally bullying me to get what [he] want[s], slandering my character, and using my diagnosis against me to make me seem like I am a monster. The deep love I have for my baby boy sustains me and keeps me strong, the statement reads. I would never put that angel of a child in harms way. My job as his momma is to protect him and that is what I have always done and will continue to do for the rest of my life. Fitzsimmons certification to work in law enforcement has been suspended in the wake of the incident. She had won her gun license back shortly before being served the restraining order, which ordered her to turn in her firearm. On June 30, Fitzsimmons said she was surprised to see three of her colleagues at her front door. She packed bags with baby food, clothes and diapers and handed her son off to a fellow officer. It was in that moment, she said, she attempted suicide in her bedroom. My firearm was NEVER pointed in any direction other than my temple. When I pulled the trigger, my gun did not fire, the statement reads. As a police officer myself, I would never even think to intentionally hurt another police officer. Fitzsimmons said her mental health issues could be traced back to when she and Noonan responded to the scene of a murder-suicide in North Andover, where a mother fatally stabbed her 9-month-old baby and took her own life last year. At the time, Fitzsimmons was 20 weeks pregnant. As a rookie police officer, this was devastating to me, the statement reads. Following her diagnosis, Fitzsimmons said, she was failed by so many. I know the truth will prevail, the statement concludes. The Trump administration asked a federal judge to dismiss Harvard Universitys lawsuit over international students, claiming the students present serious national security and public safety risks, according to a Friday court filing. The filing is part of Harvards second lawsuit against the Trump administration. A federal judge has already granted two preliminary injunctions related to the case in late June. One preliminary injunction allows Harvard to host international students. No appeal has been filed on that decision. The other rejects a Trump administration attempt to ban Harvard foreign students from entering the country to study. This decision was appealed by the Trump administration and will now go to the First Circuit Court of Appeals. The Trump administration explained the second action in a Friday filing by claiming that Harvard has faced increased crime rates, disciplinary failures, unrest on campus, entanglement with foreign adversaries and ongoing discrimination in admissions. After requesting Harvard to provide the disciplinary and criminal records of its foreign students, the federal government said the universitys responses have been woefully inadequate. Meanwhile, Harvards first lawsuit focuses on the stripping of $2.6 billion of Harvards federal dollars by the Trump administration. The federal judge has yet to make a decision on the case. Read more: Legal document shows discord between Harvard and Trump admin amid negotiations The latest push from the Trump administration to dismiss the lawsuit comes after a court filing on Wednesday, where the Trump administration said it made an offer to Harvard that it would not use a May 22 letter revoking a key certification that allows the university to host international students. The offer was made in an attempt to simplify this case and narrow the issues in dispute, according to the filing. The Trump administration also said it was open to counterproposals and a meet and confer, but Harvard didnt accept. At the end of July, The New York Times reported that Harvard University was open to a potential $500 million settlement as a means of ending the months-long battle with the Trump administration. However, faculty at Harvard close with President Alan Garber dispute that, according to three unnamed sources in reporting by The Harvard Crimson. The sources said that information was leaked to the press by White House officials and that the university is interested in resolving the dispute through its two federal court cases, according to the outlet. What has happened between the Trump admin and Harvard? The Trump administration has gone after Harvard since April, cutting billions of dollars. Demanding an overhaul of Harvards leadership structure, admissions and hiring the federal government warned the school could risk losing $9 billion in funding. Harvard rejected those demands, stating they seek to invade university freedoms long recognized by the Supreme Court. Then the fight over funding occurred. It began with a $2.2 billion funding freeze on April 14 after the school refused to comply with the federal administrations demands. In response, Harvard filed a lawsuit on April 21, arguing that its constitutional rights had been violated by the governments threats to pull billions of dollars in funding. Harvard President Garber also signed onto a letter with hundreds of other university presidents pushing back against government overreach and political interference by the Trump administration. At the beginning of May, the Trump administration said it would bar Harvard University from acquiring new federal grants while the school continues to refuse to comply with the administrations demands for change on its campus. A few days later, eight federal agencies cut $450 million in grants and then the United States Department of Health and Human Services cut $60 million in grants from the university. Harvard went on to amend its lawsuit against the Trump administration. On May 16, a wave of nearly one thousand federal research grant terminations began, amounting to more than $2.4 billion, according to an analysis by Nature. In response, Harvard established a new Presidential Priorities Fund, asking for donations in the midst of federal cuts. Some of Harvards schools, including its School of Public Health, took to social media to ask for donations after nearly every single federal grant had been terminated. Other investigations and threats have been made against the institution, some of which have focused on threatening the universitys ability to enroll international students. This prompted Harvard to open a second lawsuit against the Trump administration over its ability to accept international students. Most recently, the State Department opened an investigation into Harvard Universitys use of international visas. The Department of Homeland Security has also subpoenaed Harvard over its failure to provide documents concerning the misconduct or criminal actions of foreign students. Suffolk County Sheriff Steve Tompkins spoke at the 2019 Massachusetts Democratic Convention held at the MassMutual Center in Downtown Springfield on September 14, 2019. (Photo by Erik Kaplan) The sheriff of Suffolk County is facing federal charges after he was accused of extorting a cannabis company executive in a scheme around stock payments, the U.S. Attorneys Office announced Friday. Sheriff Steven W. Tompkins, 67, of Boston, was arrested in Florida on Friday. He was indicted by a federal grand jury on two counts of extortion under color of official right, and will appear in federal court in Boston at a later date. The case involved Tompkins interactions with a cannabis company, merely identified in court documents as Company A, that was trying to open a dispensary in Boston in 2019. Tompkins partnered with the company that year to hire graduates of the sheriff departments re-entry program at the cannabis company. Mr. Tompkins is a sitting Sheriff, responsible for over 1,000 employees, who was elected by the good people of Suffolk County, said U.S. Attorney Leah B. Foley. Today, he is alleged to have extorted an executive from a cannabis company, using his official position as Sheriff to benefit himself. Tompkins was appointed Suffolk County Sheriff in 2013, elected as Sheriff in a special election the following year and then was elected to successive six-year terms. He oversees around 1,000 correctional officers and other employees who maintain correctional facilities in Boston at the House of Correction and the Nashua Street Jail. Tompkins is accused of wielding his power to pressure an executive of the cannabis company, who was not named in the announcement, for stock from the company just before its initial public offering (IPO) processes. The executive was afraid that if the company didnt give him stock, Tompkins would use his position to put the partnership with the sheriffs department at risk, which would subsequently threaten the new cannabis companys license. Tompkins used $50,000 of his retirement savings to buy pre-IPO shares at $1.73 a share in November 2020, the U.S. attorney said. When the company launched in 2021, stock value was at $9.60 a share, which increased Tompkins investment value to $138,403. But when the stock price dropped in May 2022, Tompkins again pressured the executive and company and demanded a full refund of his $50,000 share which he received through five separate checks, Foley said. Some checks were labeled as loan repayment and company expense to hide their nature. From his very first day as Suffolk County Sheriff, Steven Tompkins sought to portray himself as a man of the people a principled public servant and reformer, devoted to the cause of justice," said Ted E. Docks, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Boston Division. Thats why its beyond disappointing that hes now accused of gaming a system instituted in the interests of public safety and fair play, Docks said. Each charge of extortion under color of official right carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine. 107 Main St. in Maynard, where police suspect a brothel was running out of the second floor. (Google Maps) When town residents complained of a possible brothel at a spa above a sandwich shop, Maynard police launched an investigation by sending in an undercover officer for a massage. At the Asian Spa, the officer fully undressed, had his buttocks touched by the masseuse and other sexual acts were offered before the operation ended on Friday, according to court documents. He then returned on Tuesday with a warrant, Homeland Security, state troopers and a Canton police officer in tow. Two women were arrested at the parlor one being Jianping Wu, 68, of Malden, whose name was on utility bills at the spa. The other, a Flushing, New York resident named Meiying Cheng, 57, was the one to give the officer the massage. She spoke limited English but told police she lived in New York, had been brought to Massachusetts by someone she didnt know, handed over earnings from her massages to the house and was living on the premises. Wu and Cheng were both arraigned with a Mandarin interpreter in Concord District Court on Wednesday. Wu faces three prostitution charges, including the felony charge of maintaining the house of prostitution, and was ordered held on a $100,000 bail. Cheng faces four charges related to prostitution. These are keeping and maintaining the house of prostitution, along with deriving support from it and performing sexual acts for a fee. She was ordered held on a $50,000 bail. The situation is still under an open investigation as there is reason to believe that human trafficking is taking place and other parties are involved, according to a Maynard police report. This case comes less than a year after a scathing DOJ report criticized Worcester police for using undercover tactics that involved sexual contact with women suspected of prostitution, which former U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy called outrageous and a violation of the womens constitutional rights. The International Association of Chiefs of Police has recognized that officers should never engage in sexual contact with civilians while on duty, including while undercover, the DOJ report read. " ... Whether the officers or the women initiated the sexual contact is irrelevant, because officers may not engage in or acquiesce to sexual contact for investigatory purposes," the report read. It also stated sexual touching is not necessary to effect an arrest for buying or selling sex under Massachusetts law, and that the sexual contact served no legitimate law enforcement purpose. The Maynard case also comes after a high-end brothel was discovered operating out of apartment buildings about 20 miles away in Cambridge. Dozens of men who were clients were publicly identified through court proceedings earlier this year, including a Cambridge city councilor and a Boston oncologist. No similar undercover operations tactics were publicly cited as an investigation tactic by law enforcement in that case. The Maynard Police Department was not immediately available for comment. Undercover and undressed: What happened at the spa At 5 p.m. on Aug. 1, an undercover Maynard police officer went for his massage appointment at the Asian Spa, located at 107 Main St. above the Subway sandwich shop. The visit was a part of an ongoing investigation. Officers had recently surveilled the area and spoken with several men who said women at the spa offered sexual favors during massages. Community members had also reported suspicions of prostitution and detectives linked the spas phone number to multiple websites known for advertising commercial sex. When the undercover officer arrived at the Asian Spa on Friday, he entered the stairwell, rang the doorbell and heard what sounded like five or six people moving upstairs. A woman came down to greet him. She introduced herself as ChiChi later identified as Cheng and he told her he had a 5 p.m. appointment. After Cheng let him inside, the officer saw another woman he later identified as Wu sitting on a couch in a common room area, the police report read, but saw no other people. Cheng led the officer into a private room, told him to lie down on the massage table and asked him for a $50 upfront payment, the report read. The officer handed her $60 in cash. Cheng then told him to take off his shirt, and signaled for him to take off his pants, the report read, with which the officer complied. While the undercover officer was on the table, ChiChi attempted to pull down his underwear. When he expressed reluctance, she responded in broken English, saying, This is for massage, the report read. To avoid compromising his undercover role, the undercover officer allowed her to proceed. She removed his underwear, folded it and placed it with his clothes, the report read. During the massage, Cheng made sexual movements towards the officer. She also began sexually touching and massaging his buttocks, the police report detailed. When the undercover officer appeared uncomfortable, she stopped, the police report read. After that, Cheng got out a pillow and told the officer to turn over on his back. She kept massaging his leg, but then paused and used a hand gesture recognized as solicitation for a sex act, the police report states. She said, Do you want? Only $50 more. Thirty minutes, while continuing the gesture, the report read. The undercover officer declined, saying he was nervous and, My wife wouldnt like that, the report read. Despite repeating the offer, the undercover officer again declined, and ChiChi resumed massaging his other leg without further inappropriate behavior, the report read. Cheng eventually indicated the massage was over and told the officer he could get dressed. As he put his clothes back on, Cheng made the same gesture and offered an enhanced experience by lowering her top. The officer quickly got dressed and exited the room, the report read. The arrests When law enforcement returned with a warrant on Tuesday, they searched the Asian Spa and found nobody but Wu and Cheng, but discovered luggage that led them to believe other people were there. There were multiple new and used condoms, lubricant, ledgers, cash, and the presence of bodily fluid found in massage rooms and throughout the building, the report read. A Canton police officer assisted with translation at the scene. Both Wu and Cheng had a set of keys to the building and a cellphone, according to the report. Wu told officers she was from Malden and had recently been brought to the spa by a woman named Jenny, whom officers identified through a photograph taken of her during their surveillance of the area. Jenny was previously observed leaving the spa, going to a CVS and then back to the spa during officers surveillance, the report read. But as she spoke with officers, Wu would contradict herself and was unable to provide explanations regarding the spa, how she got there, and who the owner was, the report read. Utility bills in her name were also found in the building, which officers felt supported her connection to ownership and ongoing operations, the report read. Cheng had a slightly different story. She told officers that she normally lives in Flushing, New York, but was introduced to the spa by a friend-of-a-friend, whose name she did not know. That person had driven her from New York to Massachusetts, and she stated that she has been living at the spa since she was dropped off there, the report read. Cheng told officers that when she gave massages, she had to pay the house, and if she gave a $70 massage, $50 of it would go to the house, $20 would go to her and she would keep the tips, according to the report. [Cheng] stated that she did give the undercover officer a massage, however, she did not attempt to perform any sexual acts on the officer, the report read, adding that she denied removing his underwear or making any gestures. Cheng had been previously charged for prostitution in Houston, Texas, according to the report, which she denied at the scene and stated she was arrested because she was in the same massage business as others at the time. At times during their interaction, Cheng told officers she didnt speak English and couldnt understand them, the report read. Officers repeatedly advised her of her Miranda Rights, and she repeatedly agreed to speaking with them. Officers felt Cheng was not being truthful, stopped the interview and placed her under arrest. The women are expected back in court this month for pretrial sessions and hearings. Ontario Premier Doug Ford didnt hold back when asked by Wolf Blitzer about what Canadians think about President Donald Trump. Hes probably the most disliked politician in the world in Canada, Ford said of Trump during an interview with the CNN anchor. Because hes attacked his closest family member, and thats the way we look on it. The relationship between the United States and Canada has become increasingly strained during the second Trump administration. At the beginning of his term, Trump placed tariffs on goods from Canada. A supporter of tariffs, Trump has previously touted them as a means to bring back U.S. manufacturing and bring in tax revenue. In response, Canada slapped tariffs on $20.7 billion of American goods in March. On July 31, Trump signed an executive order increasing the tariffs on Canada from 25% to 35%, going into effect on Aug. 1. A White House press release states that Trump raised the tariffs because Canada had failed to cooperate in curbing the ongoing flood of fentanyl and other illicit drugs, and it has retaliated against the United States for the Presidents actions to address this unusual and extraordinary threat to the United States. We love the Americans, Ford said during his interview. Its unfortunate President Trump decided to go down this road. In addition to the tit-for-tat tariffs, Trump has repeatedly suggested that Canada should become the 51st state. Ford has been an outspoken critic of Trumps actions during his second term and has continued to call for retaliatory tariffs against the United States. You cant have tariffs on one side and not the other. I still stand by what I say dollar for dollar, tariff for tariff. They understand strength, not weakness, and we should never, ever roll over and be weak, Ford said. Cities and towns across Massachusetts will see more state money for road, bridge and public infrastructure projects under a sprawling, $1.2 billion transportation funding bill that Gov. Maura Healey signed into law on Friday. Part of that money, $300 million, is earmarked for the states Chapter 90 program, which provides local support for transportation projects. That includes, for instance, $6.3 million in funding for Springfield and $2.4 million for Chicopee in Western Massachusetts. Bostons total share of state funding, including Millionaire Tax revenue, comes out to just shy of $21.8 million, while Worcester will see a total infusion of $7 million, state data show. You can see your towns share of the cash here. These are not just numbers in a budget. They represent safer school bus routes, rebuilt bridges, and smoother roads for our communities, state Sen. Jacob Oliveira, D-Hampden/Hampshire/Worcester, who represents the region on Beacon Hill, said in a statement. State lawmakers approved the legislation, which is also intended to ease traffic congestion on the states crowded roads and highways in separate votes over the last three weeks. The one-time expansion of the Chapter 90 program is a 50% increase over prior spending. And it includes $100 million in aid specifically for rural communities. Whether its helping a city repave a key commuter route or giving a small town the resources to replace a flood-prone bridge, this bill is delivering the resources our communities need to deliver for their residents, Healey said in a statement. The bill also sets aside $885 million in funding for a trio of infrastructure programs. Heres how that breaks down: $200 million to replace culverts and small bridges, to build more climate-resilient infrastructure, and address long-deferred maintenance. $185 million to ease congestion and improve safety, targeting rail crossings, intersections, school zones, commercial districts, and other high-need areas. $100 million within the $300 million in Chapter 90 funding that will directly benefit rural communities statewide. Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll, a former Salem mayor, called the influx of cash " transformational," as local officials plot out their road and bridge spending. This bill is a win for every city and town, as well as every person who travels across our state, Driscoll said. Senate President Karen E. Spilka, D-Middlesex/Norfolk, offered a similar sentiment. This funding will fill potholes, ease traffic congestion, and make our roads safer and more accessible, the Ashland Democrat said, adding that she [looks] forward to seeing these investments make a difference in communities across Massachusetts. Adam Chapdelaine, of the Massachusetts Municipal Association, which represents local governments on Beacon Hill, stressed that the essential funding will benefit all 351 cities and towns statewide. Sixty years ago this week, on Aug. 6, 1965, surrounded by such civil rights titans as the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act into law. It was a transformative moment in American politics: The Texas Democrat had just signed a law intended to fulfill the constitutional promise of equality for every citizen. And for a long time, it seemed to work. In the four years after its enactment, nearly 1 million Black Americans had registered to vote. And after the 1966 elections, the ranks of Black elected officials in the South had more than doubled, going from 72 to 159, according to an analysis by The Brennan Center. But as he surveyed the nations fractured political landscape this week, with a contingent of Texas lawmakers in Boston to protest a Republican-led redistricting effort that they say diminishes representation for Black and brown voters, Jeremy R. Paul saw that legacy under threat. Im not a great metaphor person, but I think its pretty fair to say that certain aspects of the Voting Rights Act are on life support, Paul, a constitutional law professor at Northeastern University, told MassLive this week. Northeastern University Law School professor Jeremy R. Paul. Northeastern University Hes not the only one. Where it once used the law to combat discrimination, litigating 16 cases under the act in the last decade, the American Civil Liberties Union says its now fighting to save the law itself. Ive seen what happens when this pillar stands strong. Ive watched judges strike down discriminatory laws, jurisdictions open polling places under threat of litigation and citizens previously denied access cast their ballots, Sophia Lin Lakin, the director of the ACLUs Voting Rights Project, wrote in a commentary piece posted to the civil rights groups website this week. But Lin Lakin said shes also seen what happens when we cant use it voters turned away, communities silenced, democracy denied." Since a deeply consequential 2013 Supreme Court decision, state legislatures have mounted a coordinated attack on voting access and introduced hundreds of voter suppression bills, she continued. Each case represents thousands of voters real people whose fundamental rights hang in the balance." Republicans on Capitol Hill, meanwhile, are increasingly bullish that they can undercut the law and the decades-long protections that it has offered, according to The Hill, a publication that covers Congress. Most of those battles will be fought in the courts, including a significant case thats currently before the U.S. Supreme Court. More on that later. But first, heres how the nation got to where it is now on the law. The high courts ruling a decade ago in a case known as Shelby County v. Holder struck down a key component of the law that required some states and local governments to get federal approval before they were allowed to make changes to their voting laws. That process, known as pre-clearance, was intended to ensure that those policies were not racially discriminatory, according to the Brennan Center. The impact of that ruling was immediate and lasting, Northeasterns Paul said. Thats because its opened the doors to voter suppression efforts intended to drive down participation among the very voters the law was supposed to help. Officials in Texas, for instance, announced they would implement the most restrictive voter identification law in the nation. It was later struck down by a federal court, but other states rushed to implement other restrictions. In the decade since the Shelby ruling, states have added nearly 100 restrictive voting laws to the books. As is the case mostly recently with Texas, and likely Missouri, as soon as this fall, those civil rights battles have also been waged over district maps and accusations of gerrymandering or the process of unfairly drawing legislative and congressional boundaries to advantage one political party or another. In Boston this week, Texas Democrats who had left the state to frustrate those Republican redistricting efforts evoked the legacy of the Voting Rights Act as they justified their fight. Yall, 60 years ago today, the Voting Rights Act was signed into law by a great Texan president, Lyndon Baines Johnson, state Sen. Carol Alvarado, whose district includes parts of Houston, said during a rally on the State House steps on Wednesday. The law is a landmark of civil rights achievement forged in the fire of protest and sacrifice, Alvarado continued. It was meant to protect every American citizens right to vote, no matter their color, their ZIP code, or their party ... But that promise is once again under attack ... We came to Boston to remind America we dont have a king here. We have a Constitution, she continued. The spirit of rebellion that was born here lives in every community that refuses to be silenced. Were here to say that Texas will not go quietly into the night, and neither should you. The next big test could come in a case now before the U.S. Supreme Court known as Louisiana v. Callais. The case is based on a lawsuit that non-Black voters filed against the state over the creation of a second majority Black district for the state in the U.S. House of Representatives, the Louisiana Illuminator reported. At issue in the Louisiana lawsuit is Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which prohibits voting laws or procedures that purposefully discriminate against voters based on their race, color, or their membership in a language minority group, the Illuminator reported. Last week, the high court asked the parties in the case to explain whether the states intentional creation of a second majority-minority congressional district violated the U.S. Constitutions 14th or 15th amendments, which gave formerly enslaved people the right to vote, the online news site reported. According to Paul, while states can gerrymander for partisan reasons which happens all the time they are not free under current law to gerrymander on the basis of race. And that makes the outcome of the Louisiana case particularly critical, he said. And in the end, the biggest question is one of fundamental fairness and honoring the promise of One person, one vote. And while much of this may seem arcane, thats why the average voter needs to care, Paul said. It turns into a situation in which, instead of the voters choosing who will represent them in various legislatures, the legislators are choosing [their] voters, he said. [And] that turns elections into much more foregone conclusions. And its extremely unhealthy for our democracy." SAN DIEGO The Boston Red Sox claimed catcher Ali Sanchez off waivers from the Toronto Blue Jays on Friday. Sanchez is in San Diego and needs to be added to Bostons 26-man roster because hes out of minor league options. A move may wait a couple days as the Red Sox work through a corresponding roster spot. Starting catcher Carlos Narvaez appears to be a candidate to hit the injured list after missing Wednesdays game with a sore knee; hes out of the lineup in Fridays series opener with Connor Wong starting for the fourth time in five games. It is not yet a certainty that Narvaez goes on the IL with the knee issue that plagued him earlier this week. If Narvaez is day-to-day, Boston also could temporarily keep three catchers on the 26-man roster and option either reliever Isaiah Campbell or utility man David Hamilton to Worcester. Wong could be optioned to Triple-A, too, if the club deems that it would rather have Sanchez on the big league roster. For now, it appears Sanchez was added in an effort to bolster the clubs catching depth (there was a 40-man roster spot open) with the understanding there was work to do on the corresponding move. Another source told MassLive Narvaez underwent testing Wednesday, and the hope was that it was something minor. In the visitors clubhouse at Petco Park, Narvaez said hes day-to-day. Way better, he said. I did baseball stuff outside. I threw from 90 (feet), 120. It just swung in the cage. ... All the baseball stuff was fine. I havent sprinted yet today but the baseball stuff was good, so thats a good sign. We havent talked about (imaging), he added. It just depends on how I feel. Yesterday wasnt good enough but today was way better. Thats important right now and thats a good sign. Narvaez wouldnt say if he was likely to avoid the IL. We havent talked about that, he said. This next two days are gonna be key. All the activities today felt really good and thats really important and so thats a good sign. Sanchez, a 28-year-old native of Venezuela, batted .238 (5-for-21) with a .238 on-base percentage and .333 slugging percentage in eight games for the Blue Jays. He had two doubles and two runs scored but no RBIs while striking out five times. He posted a .279/.347/.419/.766 line with six homers and seven doubles in 54 games (199 plate appearances) for Triple-A Buffalo this year. He has played 46 major league games for the Mets, Cardinals, Marlins and Blue Jays over parts of four seasons (2020-21, 2024-25). He has caught 10-of-42 base stealers in his career. Hes had good pop times and hes an above-average blocker. Narvaez has been one of the top defensive catchers in MLB. Hes in the 98th percentile in caught stealing above average (8), 93rd percentile in framing (6), 89th percentile in blocks above average (6) and 85th percentile in pop time (1.91). His offensive stats have dropped some in recent weeks. He has a .248/.319/.409/.728 line in 85 games (333 plate appearances). It would be a significant blow if he was to land on the IL. Wong was Bostons No. 1 catcher the past two seasons. But he has struggled this year in limited time. Hes 17-for-106 (.160) with two extra-base hits and two RBIs in 41 games. The Red Sox have had a revolving door when it comes to catching depth all season. Blake Sabol entered the year as a 40-man roster option but was traded to the White Sox last month. Veteran Yasmani Grandal was in Worcester for a bit but left the team and is effectively retired. For now, the top two options with the WooSox are veterans Seby Zavala and Chadwick Tromp, who are with the club on minor league contracts but have major league experience. Les membres du Cabinet ont pris note de creation dun comite inter-ministeriel pour trouver une strategie dutilisation du Fonds de stabilisation des prix sous la presidence du Premier Ministre Adjoint, du cas de ce nouveau ne abandonne a Stanley, de la mise en place du Rules-Based Work Permit System pour les travailleurs etrangers, des efforts fait pour rester au sein de lAfrican Growth and Opportunity Act, de la preparation du Electronic Identity Management Bill, entres autres. 1. Cabinet has agreed to the setting up of an Inter-Ministerial Committee to look into the strategy to be adopted for the sustainable utilisation of the Price Stabilisation Fund, which has been announced in the Budget Speech 2025-2026, to protect the purchasing power of the population. The Committee will be chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister and comprise: (i) the Minister of Commerce and Consumer Protection; (ii) the Minister of Labour and Industrial Relations; (iii) the Minister of Industry, SME and Cooperatives; (iv) the Junior Minister of Finance; and (v) the Financial Secretary. 2. Cabinet has taken note with concern of the case of the newborn baby found abandoned at Stanley, Rose-Hill. The Ministry of Health and Wellness and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family Welfare are working jointly to provide immediate assistance and care to the baby. 3. Cabinet has agreed to the implementation of a Rules-Based Work Permit System, which will be a new revamped system for the issue of work permits, as announced in the Budget Speech 2025-2026. The Rules-Based Work Permit System will be founded on the following three prerequisites: (a) a Standardised Job Classification and Codification, through the establishment of a system to record job grades and all relevant details as outlined in various Remuneration Orders. The system will also generate a template contract, preventing employers from modifying job requirements or conditions of employment, with a view to ensuring equity and discouraging exploitation; (b) an Accredited Employer Framework for the accreditation of employers to ensure mandatory compliance with relevant legislation; and (c) a Labour Market Information System, which will be a single Employment Portal with advanced AI features to assist employers and job seekers. This will provide employers with a transparent mode of advertisement, whereby job seekers will be notified of job openings. A Steering Committee chaired by the Prime Ministers Office and comprising representatives from the Ministry of Labour and Industrial Relations, the Passport and Immigration Office and the Economic Development Board is being set up to coordinate the active involvement of various stakeholders and ensure implementation of the System. Once the System is operationalised, applications for work permits would transit through the National E-Licensing System. The Non-Citizens (Employment Restriction) Act will also be amended to allow the issuance of a combined Work and Residence Permit. 4. Cabinet has taken note of Governments ongoing efforts and strategy to advocate for the renewal of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which will expire on 30 September 2025, with a view to coming up with a new form of partnership with the US Administration. These include: (a) holding bilateral meetings with US Authorities at the forthcoming USA-SADC Dialogue in Madagascar; (b) devising a continental strategy on AGOA renewal, including a meeting between interested African countries and the US Administration prior to the AGOA; and (c) engaging with the Bureau of African Affairs of the US State Department to follow up on the discussions regarding AGOA renewal. 5. Cabinet has agreed to the participation of Mauritius in the Call for Proposals to host a Green Climate Fund (GCF) Regional Office in Mauritius. The GCF, headquartered in South Korea since 2013, is the worlds largest climate fund dedicated to developing countries. GCF currently manages a portfolio of USD 18 billion to support the transition to low-emission and climate-resilient societies. GCF has so far financed around 300 projects, through grants, concessional financing or guarantees, across more than 140 developing countries for both public and private entities. A GCF regional presence in Mauritius will offer significant advantages to the country by enabling faster and more effective engagement with Government and the private sector on climate finance. This proximity will better support the preparation of project proposals and improve access to finance. It will also attract green investment, promote innovation in sustainable sectors, and generate economic spillovers such as job creation and increased demand for professional services. Collectively, these benefits will support Mauritius to establish itself as a regional climate action hub, play a leading role in climate resilience and sustainable development goals, and influence regional climate finance strategies. 6. Cabinet has taken note that the Ministry of Financial Services and Economic Planning has submitted an Expression of Interest (EOI) for Mauritius to host the Africa Credit Rating Agency (AfCRA). This initiative follows the African Unions endorsement, at its 44th Ordinary Session in July 2024, of the establishment of AfCRA as a private sector-driven, independent, and self-sustaining credit rating agency. AfCRA is intended to provide more balanced, context-aware, and accurate financial assessments of African economies, complementing or offering an alternative to existing global agencies. The African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM), under the African Union, has been mandated to oversee the creation of AfCRA and all African Union Member States were invited to submit EOIs, highlighting the competitiveness of their jurisdiction in areas such as political stability, regulatory environment, infrastructure, and human capital. Mauritius submission showcases its robust legal and institutional frameworks, commitment to transparency, and alignment with pan-African financial integration. Mauritius stands to benefit from increased international visibility, greater investor confidence, access to affordable credit ratings for local businesses, job creation, and opportunities for skills transfer and capacity building. In a positive development, the APRM Secretariat has confirmed that its CEO, Ambassador Marie-Antoinnette Rose-Quatre, will be visiting Mauritius on 03 and 04 September 2025 to engage with Government and key financial sector stakeholders on Mauritius candidacy and future collaboration. 7. Cabinet has taken note of the national efforts to prepare for the next Mutual Evaluation by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), scheduled for 2027. The evaluation is a critical opportunity for Mauritius to reaffirm its position as a credible and compliant international financial centre. The importance of sustained inter-agency collaboration and timely implementation of measures to ensure Mauritius maintains its international standing was also reiterated. Since its exit from the FATF grey list in 2021, Mauritius has launched a comprehensive stock-take of its legal, regulatory, and institutional Anti-Money Laundering/Combating Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) frameworks. Key milestones include: (a) completion of the second National Risk Assessment and development of a new National AML/CFT Strategy and Action Plan; (b) ongoing risk assessments on legal persons, non-profit organisations, proliferation financing, and virtual assets; (c) delivery of targeted training programmes with international partners including the Eastern and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group (ESAAMLG) and the European Union (EU) Global Facility; (d) initiation of a Centralised Information Management System and new enforcement regulations to enhance supervisory powers; and (e) engagement of an international consultant to conduct a mid-term independent review of the national AML/CFT framework. Cabinet has also taken note that Mauritius remains actively engaged with ESAAMLG and FATF processes and is committed to implementing required reforms. A support package of EUR500,000 has also been secured from the EU to assist national authorities. 8. Cabinet has agreed to the Ministry of Information Technology, Communication and Innovation initiating action for the preparation of a new legislation, namely the Electronic Identity Management Bill, to provide for an appropriate legal framework and facilitate electronic identity management by regulating electronic identification, identity credentials and the reliability thereof. The proposed legislation will govern the use of the National Authentication Framework, commonly known as MauPass, which provides citizens and eligible users a secure and user-friendly single sign-on platform to access many Government digital services and has become a critical infrastructure for digital government. The key elements of the proposed Bill are, inter alia, voluntary use of Identity Management services and its legal recognition, the obligations of Identity Management Service Providers including rules for credential lifecycle management, authentication mechanisms, and system reliability, data breach response and obligations of subscribers, amongst others. 9. Cabinet has agreed to the promulgation of the Cybersecurity and Cybercrime (Critical Information Infrastructure Designation) Regulations 2025. The Regulations aim to establish a regulatory framework for designating and managing critical information infrastructure within identified key sectors, namely: (a) Financial Services (Banking and Non-Banking); (b) Government Services; (c) Information, Communication and Technology & Broadcasting; (d) Energy and Water Supply; and (e) Transport Industry. By effectively designating and managing critical information infrastructure, Government will be better placed to: (a) support dependency on key digital services through strong cybersecurity resilience, regulatory frameworks, and coordinated national policies to ensure the continuous availability and security of these essential digital services; and (b) provide the necessary protective framework against terrorist attacks through assessment of risks, having in place appropriate intelligence, physical and cyber safeguards as well as emergency planning. 10. Cabinet has agreed to the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in the field of Sustainable Development between the Ministry of Environment, Solid Waste Management and Climate Change and the Ministry of Environment and Energy Security of the Italian Republic. The Memorandum of Understanding aims at strengthening bilateral cooperation for sustainable development in the aftermath of the MV Wakashio oil spill, as well as international cooperation to contribute to the mitigation and removal of the damage on the marine and coastal environment. It also aims to restore and rehabilitate the ecosystems and livelihoods affected by oil pollution as well as set up, strengthen and maintain an appropriate array of measures and procedures to monitor, prevent and mitigate major accidents of marine oil pollution and hazards such as chemicals and plastic pollution. The joint initiatives that will be undertaken under the Memorandum of Understanding, include the following: (a) development of effective mitigation and adaptation measures, by enhancing resilience to climate change and supporting the implementation, monitoring and reporting of the Nationally Determined Contributions; (b) protection of biodiversity and reduction of environmental degradation; (c) development of circular economy in order to promote sustainable production and consumption and solid waste management; (d) development of public education and awareness campaigns on global climate change and sustainable development; (e) training and capacity building for all actors involved in the management of crisis; and (f) improvement of monitoring systems, risk assessment and disaster management, and prompt intervention with adequate means and equipment. 11. Cabinet has agreed to the Ministry of Tertiary Education, Science and Research signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the International Science, Technology and Innovation Centre for South-South Cooperation (ISTIC), under the auspices of UNESCO Kuala Lumpur. The objective of the Memorandum of Understanding is to foster collaboration between the Ministry and ISTIC and formalise a strategic partnership rooted in mutual interests in advancing science, technology and innovation. The overarching objective is to foster capacity building, promote innovation-driven development and support knowledge transfer in a manner that aligns with the global agenda for sustainable development and the aspirations of the global south. Avenues of cooperation to be explored include: (i) promoting interest in utilisation of research and innovation knowledge activities in their respective organisations; (ii) encouraging and conducting capacity building, including joint research supervision and training; (iii) organising symposia, conferences, short courses, and meetings on science, technology and innovation issues; (iv) exchanging expert, scientific knowledge and information; and (v) issuing joint publications pertaining to developments in research at each institution. 12. Cabinet has agreed to the submission of the Ninth Periodic Report of the Republic of Mauritius under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), to the CEDAW Committee in Geneva for consideration. The Report addresses the Concluding Observations and Recommendations issued by the CEDAW Committee following Mauritius last review in 2018 and provides an update on progress made and challenges faced in implementing the Convention. The main areas covered in the Report include: (a) General: Updated demographic and labour statistics disaggregated by gender and progress on gender-sensitive data systems; (b) Awareness & Legal Mechanisms: Training of law enforcement authorities and awareness on womens rights and CEDAW; (c) Legislative Reform: Review of discriminatory provisions; (d) Access to Justice: Legal aid and support for Gender-Based Violence (GBV) survivors and establishment of a GBV Observatory; (e) Institutional Framework: Progress on the implementation of the National Gender Policy (20222030) and gender-responsive budgeting; (f) Gender Stereotypes & Harmful Practices: Campaigns and legal reforms to address harmful practices; (g) Gender-Based Violence: Strengthening services and legal frameworks, including through the forthcoming Domestic Abuse Bill; (h) Political Participation: Initiatives to boost womens representation in political and public life; (i) Education: Access to free education and gender-mainstreaming in curricula; (j) Economic Empowerment: Programmes to promote womens employment, entrepreneurship, and close the wage gap; and (k) Health: Expanded maternal health services and provision of sanitary products to vulnerable groups. 13. Cabinet has taken note that the Minister of Information Technology, Communication and Innovation will chair an Inter-Ministerial Committee to monitor progress regarding the implementation of the Digital Transformation Blueprint 2025-2029. The Committee will comprise the following Ministers: (i) the Minister of Health and Wellness; (ii) the Minister of Social Integration, Social Security and National Solidarity; (iii) the Minister of Land Transport; (iv) the Minister of Gender Equality and Family Welfare; (iv) the Minister of Education and Human Resource; and (vi) the Minister of Public Service and Administrative Reforms. The Inter-Ministerial Committee which has been mandated to monitor, coordinate, and guide the implementation of the Blueprint, will serve as a critical governance mechanism and ensure that stakeholders move forward efficiently, transparently, and with accountability across the different sectors involved. MAYO County Council has refused planning permission to turn the function room of Dolphin Hotel in Crossmolina into homeless accommodation. An application by Pat Mulhern Civil Engineering (Ireland) Limited, the owner of the Dolphin Hotel in Crossmolina to retain and complete a change of use of the single-story function room from commercial to social and residential accommodation was met with a number of objections from local residents and groups. The hotel located on Ballina Street underwent an expensive major renovation in 2017 but it has been offering homeless accommodation under a partnership with Mayo County Council. There are currently ten bedrooms in the hotel but the owners looked to add another ten bedrooms in the function room to sleep an additional 21 people. The application was fiercely opposed by local people with 78 third party submissions received by Mayo County Council with the majority calling on the local authority to refuse planning permission. Many people who made submissions raised concerns that the loss of the hotel will have a negative impact on the community while there were also traffic concerns raised. READ: Mayo councillors want 'nasty operation' banned in Castlebar In one submission signed by up to 35 people, they accused the owner and management of this hotel of showing blatant disregard and disrespect for the planning authorities, the people of Crossmolina and surrounding areas. Crossmolina needs its hotel back, which is run properly, could be a going concern, as it was in the past. We sincerely hope that Mayo County Council will not grant planning permission as to do so would be a huge negative as against the many positives happening in the town and surrounding areas, the submission read. Local councillor Michael Loftus, who held a meeting of Mayo County Council in the function room when he was Cathaoirleach of the local authority also raised concerns with the proposed application. This hotel was once a vibrant establishment within our community until it was acquired by Mr Mulhern in 2017. Regrettably due to mismanagement, the business has since declined. It is disheartening to see Mr Mulhern seeking to capitalise on the challenging circumstances faced by homeless individuals in our communities throughout Mayo. The area proposed for development within the hotel is the function room, which has a low ceiling and limited natural light, making it an unsuitable environment for such a purpose, he wrote in his submission. Steady Decline In the planning application, Bury Architects on behalf of the applicant stated that population decline of Crossmolina town over the last 20 years coupled with a steady decline in public house and related trade over the last two decades has meant the Dolphin Hotel was not performing after an expensive major renovation in 2017. The hotel has the option in the future to revert to a hotel/hostel use offering mainstream accommodation to the public and fulfill a tourism objective in the area. It is certain that no viable business was going to continue, and the proposed development of the property can be seen as positive by keeping the building in use. I am sure the complete demise and closure of the building would be entered as a sad day in the history of the town. Temporary homelessness is becoming a norm in Ireland, be it unwelcome. Emergency accommodation offered on these premises will help people in genuine need. Tourism accommodation may be offered in the future and the use of the premises for social accommodation will allow the doors to remain open awaiting an upturn in the tourism, pub and restaurant trades, the report stated. In the planning report, council planners stated that the comments and concerns raised through the third party submissions are valid and the proposal is not considered to be in accordance with the proper planning and sustainable development of the area. The planners also raised concerns regarding the 'inadequate levels of car parking provision' and as a result recommended that planning be refused as the proposed development would endanger public safety by reason of traffic hazard due to the additional traffic movements that would be generated. The finalists for Blas na hEireann, The Irish Food Awards 2025, have been announced, with 13 exceptional producers from Co Mayo made it through to the final stage of Irelands most prestigious food awards. The countdown is now officially on for the return to Dingle this autumn, where the very best of Irish food and drink will be celebrated from Thursday October 2 to Sunday October 5, with the Blas Village, Showcase, Eat Ireland in a Day market and the awards themselves all running on Friday October 3. Now in year 18, Blas na hEireann continues to grow, with more than 3,000 entries submitted from across the island, and a record number of new producers taking part. The 2025 awards also see the biggest ever expansion in categories, now totalling 190, including significant growth in fast-evolving areas such as alcoholic drinks and their non-alcoholic alternatives. The judging, which took place over May, June and July in partnership with UCC and TU Dublin, is blind-tasted and scored by a network of expert judges, including chefs, buyers, academics, restaurateurs, and industry leaders. Only the top entries from each category make it to the finalist stage, which is a huge achievement in itself. The finalists shortlisted from Co Mayo across a wide range of categories are Baker 51 Cafe, Carr & Sons Seafood, Drioglann Loch Measc Te, Foxford Cafe, Hanley Catering, Jack & Eddie's, The Storehouse Bakery, Kelly's of Newport (Artisan Butchers) Ltd, Mescan Brewery, O'Donoghues Bakery, O'Haras Bakery, Olive's Seoul Food and Velvet Cloud. READ MORE: Mayo butchers wins coveted Great Taste Three-Star Award for lamp rump John Magee, Head of Enterprise with Mayo County Council said "Local Enterprise Office Mayo is pleased to continue its support for the Blas na hEireann awards in 2025. These awards play a vital role in recognising and celebrating the outstanding quality and innovation within Irelands food and drink sector. We are particularly proud of the Mayo-based producers who have been shortlisted as finalists this year, reflecting the strength and diversity of our local industry. Through a comprehensive range of support, we remain committed to helping food and drink businesses in Mayo to grow, scale, and access new markets. We strongly encourage all local producers to engage with initiatives such as Blas na hEireann, which offer valuable opportunities for national recognition and commercial development. Its been an exciting year for the Blas na hEireann awards, says Blas na hEireann Chairperson Artie Clifford. Thats not just in terms of the ever-growing number of entries, but in the incredible standard of produce from both long-standing producers and impressive newcomers. Weve also seen huge innovation across all categories, which reflects the evolving landscape of Irish food and drink. For us, these awards are about championing the producers, and giving them the spotlight they deserve in Dingle each October. We cant wait to welcome them. This years Blas na hEireann weekend will see the return of the hugely popular Eat Ireland in a Day market and the Blas Village, where 2025 finalists can showcase their products, connect with buyers, and meet with fellow producers, media and food lovers from across the country. With sustainability at the forefront once again, this years event will continue to build on its environmentally friendly policies and support a more conscious future for Irish food. Making it as a finalist is no small achievement. The competition intensifies every year, and the producers shortlisted really do represent the creme de la creme of Irish food and drink. The Blas na hEireann awards weekend in Dingle is a celebration of great food, and of the people, passion and place that make that Irish food so special. READ MORE: Paschal Donohoe to visit Mayo to open new constituency office of new TD Keira Keogh MINISTER for Finance, Paschal Donohoe will travel to Mayo later this month where he will officially open the constituency office of new Mayo TD Keira Keogh in Westport and attend an appreciation night for Michael Ring. The new constituency office of Mayo's latest TD Keira Keogh will be located on Castlebar Street, Westport with Minister Donohoe to officially open it on Friday, August 29. While in Westport, Minister Donohue will attend an appreciation night for his former Government Cabinet colleague, Michael Ring in the Castlecourt Hotel later that evening. The dinner in the Dome Suite will start at 8pm with many special guests expected to attend to honour Michael Ring who retired from Dail Eireann after 30 years as a TD and 45 years in politics. Tickets for the dinner will cost 50 per person but tables of ten can be purchased for 450. The dinner is being organised by the local Fine Gael party with local TD Keira Keogh among those who will be leading the tributes to her distinguished predecessor. To the surprise of many, Keira Keogh was elected to Dail Eireann following November's General Election and her election ensured that Westport continued to have a TD. READ: 'My heart was burning' - Mayo pub to reopen after devastating fire Since her election, she has been without a permanent constituency office but a vacant building on Castlebar Street, where Munroes Pizzas operated out of before it closed, was identified and has been undergoing refurbishment works for the last number of weeks. The official opening will take place at 4.30pm sharp on Friday, August 29 with the public invited to attend the opening. Since she was elected, Deputy Keogh has been appointed Chair of the Select Committee on Children and Equality by Tanaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Simon Harris in recognition of her long-standing commitment to advancing the rights and welfare of children, young people, and marginalised communities across Ireland. Deputy Keogh will host her clinics in her new constituency office every Monday, bar bank holidays, from September 15 onwards but before that she will be holding clinics in the Ebony Suite in the Plaza Hotel in Westport on August 11 and 25. A new blood biomarker-based tool reshapes how doctors predict stroke risk in A-Fib patients. Trusted Source Multiple Blood Biomarkers and Stroke Risk in Atrial Fibrillation: The REGARDS Study Go to source Trusted Source Did You Know? Stroke risk isn't guesswork anymoreyour blood carries the answers hidden beyond age or history. #medindia #strokeawareness #cardiologyupdate#precisionmedicine Stroke risk isn't guesswork anymoreyour blood carries the answers hidden beyond age or history. #medindia #strokeawareness #cardiologyupdate#precisionmedicine Advertisement Blood Tells the Real Story Advertisement The Power of Prediction Advertisement Right Treatment, Right People Rethinking Anticoagulants Smart Science, Real-World Impact Multiple Blood Biomarkers and Stroke Risk in Atrial Fibrillation: The REGARDS Study - (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34325516/ ) For millions of people who live with atrial fibrillation , figuring out the chance of having a stroke has always been like guessing. But now, a group from thehas made things better by developing a more reliable tool CHADS-VASc-Biomarkers to predict stroke risk. This new calculator doesnt just use age and past medical historyit also looks atto get a better understanding. This helps doctors decide more clearly who really needs blood thinners and who could be at lower risk for bleeding. It's a big step toward more personalized care and better, safer ways to prevent strokes().Traditional risk scores like CHADS-VASc dont take into account important information found in your blood. By including just two simple blood tests, the new tool calledcan detect hidden risks such as. These findings allow doctors to better plan and confidently prevent strokes.A study involving more thanfound that people with high-risk blood markers were much more likely to have strokes , even if they were taking medicine. A new tool helps identify these patients by checking certain proteins, like, and can improve the chance of predicting a stroke by up to. This isnt just about numbersit can really make a difference in saving lives.Anticoagulants are strong medicines, but they dont work the same for everyone. Some people may bleed too much, while others might still have strokes. This new tool helps doctors give the right treatment to the right patients. It stops giving too much medicine to those who dont need it and makes sure those at higher risk get proper care. This change lowers the chances of bad side effects, leads to better health results, and helps save money over time.This tool was created using data from the, which is one of the biggest stroke studies in the U.S. It includes insights from more than 30,000 individuals from various racial backgrounds and different parts of the country. The tool is strong because it uses real-world information, helping doctors make better, evidence-based choices in their everyday work.Source-University of Vermont The new JioHotstar web series titled Salakaar starring Naveen Kasturia, Mouni Roy, Surya Sharma and Mukesh Rishi is now streaming. Directed by Faruk Kabir, the show is about a veteran spy master who realises that a young Indian spys current mission is connected to his past mission about stopping Pakistan from conducting nuclear tests and protecting India. Is Salakaar worth watching? Lets find out below in MensXPs review. Salakaar Web Series Review Released in the garb of a web series, Salakaar is actually a 2 and a half hour approx film that was later edited into five episodes to make it seem like an OTT show. Directed by Faruk Kabir, the show had an interesting premise inspired by true events and also featured a strong set of actors delivering good performances. However, its highly flawed writing and poor execution by Farukh Kabir ruins it all. For a spy thriller show, Salakaar is anything but gritty or edgy. While the first episode somehow works, it all goes downhill from there. There is a scene where Mukesh Rishi, as Pakistans president, asks his people to keep an eye on Naveen Kasturias Indian diplomat/undercover spy. And yet in the very next scene, we see him going undercover, trying to figure out where the nuclear site is. In another scene, an Indian diplomat is brutally beaten up by a Pakistani armyman despite diplomatic immunity and yet no action is taken by the Indian government over the same. There is another scene where a character tells our protagonist that shes aware hes an undercover Indian spy in the presence of Pakistani doctors and yet no one bats an eyelid. The character also names Pakistans president as her assaulter and still no reaction from the Pakistani people present in the scene. JioHotstar Being an undercover Indian spy, Naveen Kasturias character is seen openly talking about his mission and true identity a couple of times. Also, I didnt understand the point of Mouni Roy and Surya Sharmas subplot. It had no bearing on the main plot and is half-baked. We are told that Pakistan is trying to restart the nuclear tests in 2025 that were halted in the late 70s. But there is no mention of the fact that Pakistan already became a nuclear power in 2001. For a show that takes inspiration from real events, the narrative and execution are too filmy and fail to leave a desired impact. The background score is good, the cinematography is first-rate rate and the editing is sharp. JioHotstar Salakaar Web Series Cast & Performances Naveen Kasturia in the titular role has delivered a good performance. If only the writing was strong enough to do justice to his character and performance. Mouni Roy has done well but her character feels more like a damsel in distress than a trained undercover spy. Surya Sharma is passable in a role where he barely had anything to do. It was great to see Mukesh Rishi in a mainstream Hindi show/film and he is terrific. The best of the lot. Purnendu Bhattacharya, as an older Salakaar, provides able support. But lacks the aura required to carry a role that was given a treatment like a mass hero. Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll commended six soldiers at Fort Stewart, Georgia, on Thursday for their actions during an active-shooter incident that left multiple troops injured and briefly locked down one of the service's highest-profile bases. The soldiers were awarded the Meritorious Service Medal for what Driscoll described as a combination of bravery, decisive action, and lifesaving medical care. The shooting unfolded Wednesday in the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team area, prompting a rapid response from unit members who subdued the attacker and administered aid to the wounded before emergency personnel arrived. "It will be a little bit before this moment hits you, and that's OK," Driscoll said, addressing the soldiers. "We are grateful for you, and we will stand by all of you as your colleagues recover and return to the unit." Read Next: VA to End Bargaining Agreement Contracts with Most Unions Five soldiers were wounded in the attack and are in stable condition. Among those recognized was Master Sgt. Justin Thomas, of Kingwood, Texas, a senior maintenance supervisor who helped restrain the shooter. Thomas joined the unit in March and, according to a service news release, remained calm and composed during the confrontation. First Sgt. Joshua Arnold, a senior enlisted maintenance supervisor from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, was credited with administering emergency aid to wounded personnel and helping coordinate their evacuation to medical facilities. Staff Sgt. Melissa Taylor, a career counselor from Winter Haven, Florida, assisted in securing the scene and ensuring wounded soldiers were stabilized and transported for further treatment. Two combat medics, Staff Sgt. Robert Pacheco, of Amsterdam, New York, and Sgt. Eve Rodarte, of El Centro, California, were recognized for providing critical medical care to the injured, actions officials say directly contributed to the survival of all those wounded. Sgt. Aaron Turner, an automated logistical specialist from Farmington, New Mexico, played a central role in subduing the shooter. Turner, who arrived at the unit in October, physically restrained the assailant, preventing further casualties. "They are the best among us in our country. They are the best among us in the Army," Driscoll said. "They acted in a way that I think all of us hoped we would under fire, but they did. We are just so incredibly proud of them. We are so grateful for them." Authorities arrested suspected gunman Sgt. Quornelius Radford roughly 30 minutes after he entered his place of work and began firing on soldiers with a personally owned handgun. It's unclear what the motive was. Related: 5 Soldiers Wounded in Mass Shooting at Fort Stewart in Georgia ORLANDO, Fla. Barry Butch Wilmore has flown on the space shuttle, a Russian Soyuz, Boeings Starliner and a SpaceX Crew Dragon. After 25 years with NASA and 464 days in space, hes calling it a career, the agency announced Wednesday. A retired U.S. Navy captain, the 62-year-old Wilmore was chosen as an astronaut candidate in 2000 after graduating from the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School. Throughout his career, Butch has exemplified the technical excellence of what is required of an astronaut. His mastery of complex systems, coupled with his adaptability and steadfast commitment to NASAs mission, has inspired us all, said Joe Acaba, chief of NASAs Astronaut Office. As he steps into this new chapter, that same dedication will no doubt continue to show in whatever he decides to do next. His most recent trip to space made national headlines as he commanded the first crewed mission of the Boeing Starliner flying up to the International Space Station after launching from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket on June 5, 2024. While he and crewmate Suni Williams were able to dock one day later, the Starliner suffered helium leaks and thruster failures on its propulsion module delaying any return from what was supposed to be as short as an eight-day stay on board. NASA ultimately elected to keep the two Starliner astronauts on board the station and send the spacecraft home without them last fall. The meant the duo had to wait for a new ride home to get to the station, which came in the form of the Crew-9 mission in the SpaceX Crew Dragon Freedom that arrived in September. But they still had to wait until the end of Crew-9s mission on the station, so did not fly back to Earth until nearly 10 months after first arriving, finally splashing down off the coast of Florida on March 18. Despite not being able to fly home of the spacecraft he rode up on, Wilmore said he was a fan of the spacecraft. Starliner has the most capability when you think about its ability to maneuver automatically, he said two weeks after his return. I mean, I jokingly said a couple of times before we launched that I could literally do a barrel roll over the top of the space station. I would never do that, but you can. Wilmore was born in Murfreesboro, Tennessee in 1962 and raised in nearby Mt. Juliet outside Nashville. He earned bachelors and masters degrees in electrical engineering from Tennessee Technological University and a masters degree in aviation systems from the University of Tennessee. From my earliest days, I have been captivated by the marvels of creation, looking upward with an insatiable curiosity, Wilmore said. This curiosity propelled me into the skies, and eventually to space, where the magnificence of the cosmos mirrored the glory of its creator in ways words can scarcely convey. His first trip to space was as pilot for the nearly 11-day STS-129 mission to the space station aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis in 2009. He then flew on his lone Soyuz mission in 2014 for a long-duration stay on board the station that lasted more than 166 days. His third trip to space flying up on Starliner and home on Dragon made him and crewmate Williams unique among spacefaring humans. The duo are only equaled by Orlandos John Young as having flown in four different spacecraft, not including the space station. Young flew the first space shuttle flight on top of two Gemini and two Apollo missions. On Apollo 16, Young walked on the moon, so he flew in both the crew service module and the lunar module. During Wilmores time in space, he performed five spacewalks spending more than 32 hours outside the safety of the space station. On his most recent trip, the devout Christian spent time to attend his home churchs online services each Sunday, and has been vocal about his faith while performing his duties for NASA. Even as I ventured beyond Earths limits, I remained attuned to the beauty and significance of the world below, recognizing the same intricate design evident among the stars is also woven into the fabric of life at home, Wilmore said. Wilmores retirement follows other NASA astronauts whove hung up their spacesuits this year including the astronaut class of 2009s Kate Rubins and Jeanette Epps. NASAs list of astronauts eligible for space assignments sits at 42. Five of those are currently on the space station, although two are coming back to Earth as early as Friday. Another three are assigned to fly on next years Artemis II mission to fly around the moon. The oldest astronauts still in the corps are from the 1996 astronaut class, which includes Mike Fincke, currently on board the station as part of Crew-11. ------------ 2025 Orlando Sentinel. Visit at orlandosentinel.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. WASHINGTON The U.S. Air Force said Thursday it would deny all transgender service members who have served between 15 and 18 years the option to retire early and would instead separate them without retirement benefits. One Air Force sergeant said he was betrayed and devastated" by the move. The move means that transgender service members will now be faced with the choice of either taking a lump-sum separation payment offered to junior troops or be removed from the service. An Air Force spokesperson told The Associated Press that although service members with 15 to 18 years of honorable service were permitted to apply for an exception to policy, none of the exceptions to policy were approved. About a dozen service members had been prematurely notified that they would be able to retire before that decision was reversed, according to the spokesperson who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal Air Force policy. A memo issued Monday announcing the new policy, which was reviewed by the AP, said that the choice to deny retirement benefits was made after careful consideration of the individual applications. All transgender members of the Air Force are being separated from the service under the Trump administrations policies. Separation process has hit some bumps The move comes after the Pentagon was given permission in early May by the Supreme Court to move forward with a ban on all transgender troops serving in the military. Days later, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced a policy that would offer currently openly serving transgender troops the option to either volunteer to leave and take a large, one-time separation payout or be involuntarily separated at later date. A Pentagon official told reporters in May that they viewed the policy as treating anyone impacted by it with dignity and respect. However, in late July, transgender troops told Military.com that they were finding the entire separation process, which has included reverting their service records back to their birth gender, dehumanizing or open cruelty. Shannon Leary, a lawyer who represents LGBTQ+ people in employment discrimination cases, says she expects lawsuits to challenge Thursdays decision. It seems quite arbitrary on its face and cruel, she said. These military members have dedicated their lives to serving our country. Normally, Leary said, when early retirement is offered in the military, its available to all members who have served over 15 years. She said she expects other service branches to follow the Air Forces path. One Air Force service member says he's devastated Logan Ireland, a master sergeant in the U.S. Air Force who has 15 years of service, including a deployment to Afghanistan, is one of the airmen impacted by the policy. I feel betrayed and devastated by the news, he said. Ireland said he was told that his retirement was being denied on Wednesday when his chain of command, with tears in their eyes, told him the news. Officials have said that as of Dec. 9, 2024, there were 4,240 troops diagnosed with gender dysphoria on active duty, National Guard and Reserve. Pentagon officials have decided to use the condition and its diagnosis as the main way to identify troops who are trans. However, the two are not an exact match not every transgender person has the condition. As a result, there is an understanding that the actual number of transgender people within the militarys roughly 2 million troops may be higher. Under the latest policy, active duty troops had until June 6 to voluntarily identify themselves and receive a payout while troops in the National Guard and Reserve had until July 7. Pentagon officials previously told reporters that they plan to lean on commanders and existing annual medical screenings to find any transgender service members who do not come forward. ___ Associated Press writer Geoff Mulvihill contributed reporting. Related: 'Open Cruelty': Transgender Troops Describe Indignities as They're Kicked Out of the Military As classes resume at the Air Force Academy for the fall semester, U.S. Rep. Jeff Crank asked the superintendent Thursday for a clear staffing plan after many civilian faculty members resigned earlier this year. The academy saw more than 104 civilian employees leave as the Department of Government Efficiency offered deferred resignation and early retirement programs. The vacated jobs will be eliminated, in addition to another 36 positions that are still staffed, an academy memo said earlier this year. The academy was working with the remaining staff members on different positions. Among the jobs slated for elimination, 52 are faculty jobs, and among those, 19 were staffed, it said. The cuts were required, because the academy was facing a $10 million shortfall for civilian pay. As the Air Force works to cut 5,000 positions before October, the Air Force Academy expects to eliminate 140 jobs. Acting Dean Col. Steven Hasstedt outlined the cuts and the $10 million budget shortfall for civilian employee pay in a Tuesday email that was shared with The Gazette and later on social media. The email stated that most of the positions have already been vacated through voluntary resignations earlier in the year and only 36 positions are filled. During a Board of Visitors meeting, Superintendent Gen. Tony Bauernfeind responded to the Republican congressman for Colorado Springs that the academy has been working with the Department of the Air Force and Air Force Personnel Center to bring in members from active duty and reserves who have the "requisite academic credentials to continue the academic rigor at the United States Air Force Academy." Crank is a member of the board tasked with providing advice and oversight, which recently saw an influx of new members appointed by President Donald Trump. Board Chairman U.S. Rep. August Pfluger, R- Texas, said he planned to speak with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth personally about the meeting. Faced with staffing vacancies, Bauernfeind did not say how many faculty positions previously held by civilians have been filled with uniformed personnel. But he did note that no academic majors have been cut and that the school has added two minors, in aerospace materials and "quantum," and added that the school is working on a minor in future conflict, he said. While the Air Force Academy sent a letter to incoming cadets early last week reassuring them of a quality education at the school, a definitive plan for layoffs among faculty and staff is still in the works. The school also is working on an agreement that will allow cadets to earn master's degrees through the Air Force Institute of Technology, at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, Bauernfeind said. He wanted to offer cadets an option to pursue higher degrees, because so many cadets arrive with dozens of college credits. The school has welcomed 60 new faculty members this summer who all attended the usual five-day course to prepare them for teaching, Bauernfeind said. However, the academy is unique from other colleges and universities, because about 25% of its faculty are new each year as uniformed staff arrive, said Col. Steven Hasstedt, the acting dean of faculty. In addition to the five days of onboarding, new instructors are matched with other professionals to develop their teaching skills. Many of the uniformed instructors join the faculty with just a master's- or doctoral-level degree, Hasstedt said. Kent Murphy, a retired Air Force colonel, was among those who advocated at the meeting for retaining high-quality civilian staff, who tend to have cutting-edge knowledge in their fields. He called on the lawmakers to petition Air Force Secretary Troy Meink for a temporary budget carve-out to protect civilian faculty members. "Many of them are retired military, and all of them take the responsibility to graduate leaders of character here quite seriously," he said. 2025 The Gazette (Colorado Springs, Colo.). Visit www.gazette.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. WELLINGTON, New Zealand Japanese warships docked in New Zealand s capital Friday for the first time in almost 90 years amid efforts by Tokyo to deepen its strategic ties in the South Pacific Ocean. Two destroyers with more than 500 crew on board sailed into Wellington harbor accompanied by the New Zealand navy ship HMNZS Canterbury. The JS Ise and destroyer JS Suzunami were on an Indo-Pacific deployment and arrived from Sydney, where Japans military took part this month in war games involving New Zealand, Australia and other countries. The Wellington visit was a ceremonial one, but it came as Japan, whose only treaty ally is the United States, has increasingly sought to deepen bilateral military cooperation amid ongoing regional tensions. Our defense force are developing cooperative work, not only with New Zealand and Australia but also many Pacific Island countries, Japans envoy to Wellington, Makoto Osawa, told reporters Friday. Our main goal is the free and open Indo-Pacific. The ambassadors remarks followed the announcement Tuesday by Australias government that Japanese firm Mitsubishi Heavy Industries had won the bid for a contract to build Australian warships, beating out a German firm. While officials in Canberra said the Japanese proposal was the best and cheapest, they also hailed it as the biggest defense industry agreement between the countries. New Zealand too has sought to shore up its strategic and military relations in Asia as part of a foreign policy reset in recent years that the government says has turned more attention on Pacific cooperation and security. Officials in Wellington announced in July that work had started on a defense logistics agreement with Japan, intended to make it easier for the countries militaries to work together. Japanese naval vessels do not often make visits so far south in the Pacific Ocean, but the rich and strategically important waters of New Zealand, Australia and smaller Pacific Island countries are increasingly contested by the worlds major powers, making it the site of a fierce battle for influence between Beijing and Western nations. Although remote, New Zealand has recently been drawn into more fraught questions of regional security. In February, live firing exercises by Chinese naval frigates in the Tasman Sea between New Zealand and Australia drew alarm from those countries governments after flights were forced to divert at short notice. The last port visit to Wellington by a Japanese naval vessel was in 1936, New Zealands military said. A Japanese ship visited New Zealands largest city, Auckland, in 2016. GRAND RAPIDS, MI A Northern Michigan man who made bomb threats against then-President Joe Biden, a military base and a restaurant pleaded not guilty only by reason of insanity. Preston Scott Mikottis of Antrim County entered the plea Thursday, Aug. 7, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Sally Berens in Grand Rapids. She will recommend that District Judge Jane Becker accept the plea. If the plea is accepted, it will result in Mikottis being committed to a treatment facility. A commitment hearing will then be conducted within 40 days. Mikottis would have to show by clear and convincing evidence that his release would not create a substantial risk of injury to others or serious property damage. If he cannot meet the burden, he would be committed to the custody of federal authorities until the State of Michigan takes responsibility for his care, custody and treatment, court records said. He would be released unconditionally if he meets the burden. Mikottis, 39, in orange jail garb, was seated next to his attorney, Tessa Muir, a former federal prosecutor, and told the judge he understood the proceedings. He was arrested in May 2023 in California. Assistant U.S. Attorney Nils Kessler read allegations against Mikottis that were contained in the plea agreement: On Nov. 5, 2021, Mikottis called the FBI field office in Detroit, identified himself as a private first class in the U.S. Marine Corps - providing his address and last four digits of his Social Security number and said: I planted a bomb at Camp Pendleton, California. Later that day, he again called the FBIs Detroit office, and said he planted bombs at the White House. I plan on killing the President and I planted bombs all over East Jordan, Michigan. On Jan. 29, 2023, he sent a text message to the Corner Bistro in Bellaire in Antrim County that said: I planted a bomb at the restaurant. On April 28, 2023, he texted the same restaurant, saying, Might want to evacuate. I planted a bomb on the premises. Mikottis was indicted on three counts of using a telephone to make a bomb threat, 10-year felonies, and single count making a threat against the president, a five-year felony. A competency evaluation conducted after his arrest showed he suffered a severe mental disease that left him incompetent to understand consequences of court proceedings or assist in his defense, court records show. In January, Muir, the defense attorney, said her client would rely on an insanity defense. Mikottis was ordered to undergo an evaluation at the U.S. Medical Center in Springfield, Missouri, to determine if his competency had been restored. Last month, he was found currently competent, but was unaware of the wrongfulness of his actions at the time of the offenses due to mental illness, and was therefore not criminally responsible, the plea agreement said. A criminal complaint filed by the FBI said Mikottis also repeatedly called the Corner Bistro and demanding to speak to a co-owner. The co-owner knew Mikottis as the former boyfriend a mutual friend. The calls continued for a week, causing concern for workers safety, and preventing customers from placing takeout orders or reservations. The FBI also said that a U.S. Secret Service agent, who interviewed Mikottis in an unrelated matter, received hundreds of emails and texts from Mikottis. 2025 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit mlive.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. The Wayne Disposal Landfill is sandwiched between Willow Run Airport and I-94 in Van Buren Township, Mich. on Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024. (Garret Ellison | MLive) Garret Ellison DETROIT, MI A state judge has blocked a controversial Republic Services landfill in Wayne County from receiving new shipments of radioactive waste. Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Kevin Cox signed an injunction this week barring the Wayne Disposal Inc landfill in Van Buren Township from accepting low-level radioactive waste called TENORM from federal cleanup sites in five states. Cox found the risk of harm to surrounding communities substantial and compelling from the potential import of waste from U.S. Army Corps of Engineers cleanups in Ohio, Iowa, New Jersey, New York and Missouri. The states are home to Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Program (FUSRAP) sites undergoing cleanup. The waste includes materials that were produced for weapons, early atomic energy and other uses before and after World War II. Shipments have been halted and we are working closely with our contractors to determine the next steps, said Jenn Miller, a spokesperson in the Army Corps, told the Associated Press. The injunction arises from litigation filed last year by local governments in Wayne County, where residents reacted strongly to planned shipments of lightly irradiated waste from Lewiston, N.Y. to the landfill along I-94 near Belleville. Municipalities sued Republic Services and won a temporary restraining order last fall. The backlash eventually prompted the Army Corps to redirect that waste to Texas. The injunction sends a clear message vindicating the concerns of the local officials and the thousands of residents that they represent, said attorney Brandon Grysko, who said regulators have too often brushed local concerns with the landfill aside. Republic Services spokesperson Melissa Quillard said the company will continue to pursue a just and proper resolution of the matter. The circuit courts ruling is overly broad and will have detrimental impacts on the remediation of sites within the FUSRAP program, and both the federal and state regulatory programs designed to safely and effectively manage the disposal of wastes throughout the country, Quillard said. Responsible management and disposal of these waste streams is an essential need, and Wayne Disposal, Inc. is designed and permitted to safely manage this material. In an 11-page order, Cox cited concerns about the potential for contaminated runoff to reach lakes and rivers, the landfills proximity to schools and a larger population in southeast Michigan versus alternative sites in other states. The judge noted that the half-life of radioactive elements in the waste vastly exceed the companys 30-year post-closure funding and monitoring plan, and that potential environmental harm could be irreparable because the waste cant be moved. The injunction cited testimony from a nuclear engineering professor at the University of Michigan who confirmed that radionuclides, which are unstable isotopes of elements that emit radiation as they decay, can permeate landfill covers. The landfill, which Republic Services bought from U.S. Ecology in 2022, became certified to receive hazardous waste in 1979 and low-level radioactive waste called Technologically Enhanced Naturally Occurring Radioactive Material (TENORM) in 2013. According to the injunction, the New York waste originally intended for Michigan contains uranium, thorium and radium isotopes that tested above state radioactivity limits set in 2017, prompting contractors to dilute the shipments through mixing. The waste also contains isotopes that werent evaluated by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE), which reviewed TENORM disposal standards under former Gov. Rick Snyder and focused on waste from fracking. State lawmakers from Wayne County praised the injunction. Michigan should not be a bargain bin dumping ground for radioactive waste from out of state, particularly when there are still so many questions that remain about long-term risks, groundwater impacts and a lack of transparency, said Rep. Reggie Miller, D-Van Buren Township. Legislation introduced last year by Democrats in Lansing would have banned radioactive waste import to Michigan, but it died in the December lame duck session. This June, legislation to disincentivize hazardous waste imports by hiking tipping fees on radioactive material cleared committee in the Democratic-controlled Senate. A companion bill in the Republican-controlled House hasnt moved since it was introduced in April. BAY VIEW, MI Anishinaabe author Robin Wall Kimmerer came to Northern Michigan and called on all of humanity to take a lesson from the trees and get to work fighting climate change. In this year, which is the warmest ever recorded, when glaciers are melting, storms rising and hundreds of our fellow species are in grave danger, its important to recognize that we dont have to innovate ourselves out of this dilemma alone because we have our plant teachers, she said. Kimmerer, a Potawatomi woman and environmental biology professor in New York, spoke Thursday, Aug. 7, to a crowd of more than 1,000 people at Bay View near Petoskey. She discussed the existential climate and ecological crises facing the world and called for a return of traditional ecological knowledge. Related: More good fire in Michigan restores Indigenous land practices There already is a system that pulls carbon from the atmosphere. It stores it for centuries; it has even more bells and whistles. It generates oxygen. At the same time, it builds soil, protects biodiversity, purifies water and makes us feel happy and peaceful. And its called a forest, Kimmerer said. The author argued that Indigenous ways of thinking will provide the most sustainable solutions to the warming planet and biodiversity losses. That humans must get busy with ecological restoration and restorative justice to save ourselves from the climate crises modernity created. She said its time to stop cutting down trees and start planting them, instead. Plants know what to do about climate change. They do not dither in ineffectual policy meetings and debate carbon tax structures. They just get to work. They can be the model for the transformation that we need, because think about it, they have already converted to 100% solar economy, Kimmerer said to raucous applause. Kimmerer is the author of the wildly popular Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants, as well as Gathering Moss: A Natural and Cultural History of Mosses. Her latest book published last year is titled The Serviceberry: Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World. Related: Local Indigenous educators legacy lives on through Grand Rapids street art She told the crowd that humanity is at a metaphorical fork in the road with an important decision to make. One choice is to continue the notion of human exceptionalism, that one species of the millions with whom we share planet was somehow more deserving of the richness of the earth than any other species, Kimmerer said. The other option is to embrace traditional ecological knowledge, based on the recognition that we humans are not the top of some pyramid of life, but are members of a democracy of species bonded to one another through interdependence, she said. Kimmerer will continue her speaking tour in Michigan on Saturday in Traverse City as part of the National Writers Series. Tickets for the event at the downtown City Opera House are sold out, but online tickets remain available to watch the lecture livestreamed. The author will return to Michigan next month for an event Sept. 4 at the First United Methodist Church in Ann Arbor. DETROIT - The Detroit Riverfront hasnt had this many Tall Ships docked at once since 2001. This is all part of the Sail Detroit Festival. The Alliance, Empire Sandy, Pride of Baltimore II, and Ernestina-Morrissey all docked on Thursday, August 7 and will be on the Detroit River through Sunday, August 10. You can view the ships from the Riverfront for free, but youll need tickets, which you can buy here, to board them. Once on board these schooners, you can meet some of the crew, including Jenna Trammell, Second Mate of the Ernestina-Morrissey. The Akron, Ohio native has been on the ship since March and says this is her first time traveling to Detroit. The coolest thing about life on this ship is that you get to go from seeing it go from sort of a hull with a winter cover on it, and then all of us work together, turn it into a boat and take it place to place. You get a real sense of camaraderie from that. Trammell says around a dozen crew live on the Ernestina-Morrissey and each of them has a different job. We stand watch when we sail through the night. So, we will split into three groups and those groups will take five hour shifts over a 24-hour period. Someone is always at the helm and someone is always doing a scan of the boat making sure the systems are all in good working order. And what about in their spare time? When youre not on watch, youre either sleeping or eating. And a lot of the crew like to journal. Thats a big thing. We are big letter writers. Trammell says the longest they have sailed without docking this year was eight straight days. She has enough storage to cross the Atlantic, taking us away for three weeks straight. On board tickets are sold by specific time slots to keep crowds low on the ships. The event runs from 10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. each of the three days. Along with Detroit, the Tall Ships will make stops at Duluth, MN and Erie, PA, among other ports this summer. An undated photo of Lue Yang, a Hmong refugee who was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on July 15, 2025. Yang, who has lived in the United States since he was a baby, now faces deportation over a decades-old conviction that was later expunged. (Photo provided by the Yang family) Photo provided by the Yang family DETROIT The father of an 8-year-old boy who died in November has been sentenced to prison for his role in the childs death. Little Adren died on Nov. 8 of multiple blunt force trauma to the head. Authorities say his father and mother worked together to attack him, resulting in fatal injuries. Jamarr Hill, 37, of Detroit, was sentenced Thursday to 18 to 40 years in Michigan state prison. He had pleaded guilty in July to second-degree murder; in exchange, prosecutors dropped the original charges of first-degree murder and first-degree child abuse. RELATED: 8-year-old boy had zero chance of surviving alleged tandem attack by parents, prosecutor says The alleged facts in this case are chilling, said Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy. The defendants in this case worked in tandem to beat and eventually kill this poor child two adults against an 8-year-old. Little Adren had zero chance of surviving. The childs mother, Kentoria Latricia Moss, 32, of Detroit, is charged with second-degree murder and lying to a peace officer in a violent crime investigation. Her preliminary hearing is scheduled for Aug. 29 in 36th District Court. Michigan firefighters are in Canada helping fight some of the more than 700 active wildfires in the country, WPBN/WGTU reports. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources has sent multiple crews by helicopter to remote locations in Canada, the report said. Firefighters work 17 to 20 days before returning home. Once it gets colder, it will settle down but until they get a handle on it, well be sending people, DNR resource protection manager Jeff Vasher told the TV station. So far this year, in Canada, 3.4 million acres have burned in more than 42,000 wildfires, the report said. Smoke from the wildfires has resulted in intermittent poor air quality in Michigan. RELATED: Great news possible on Canadian wildfire smoke for Great Lakes, New England Editors Note: This story has been updated with a statement from attorney Ven Johnson, who has been retained to represent the family of Thomas Antonio Jackson in a civil suit, which is yet to be filed. SHELBY TOWNSHIP, MI No charges will be authorized against a Shelby Township police officer who shot and killed a 41-year-old man from Troy this June. President Donald Trump issued an order Thursday requiring universities supply enrollment data as evidence they are not considering an applicant's race when awarding admission. He is pictured at Macomb Community College in Warren, Mich. on Tuesday, April 29 2025. (Jacob Hamilton | MLive.com) Jacob Hamilton | MLive.com By ANNIE MA and JOCELYN GECKER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) Colleges will be required to submit data to prove they do not consider race in admissions under a new policy ordered Thursday by President Donald Trump. In 2023, the Supreme Court ruled against the use of affirmative action in admissions but said colleges may still consider how race has shaped students lives if applicants share that information in their admissions essays. Trump is accusing colleges of using personal statements and other proxies to consider race, which conservatives view as illegal discrimination. The role of race in admissions has featured in the Trump administrations battle against some of the nations most elite colleges viewed by Republicans as liberal hotbeds. For example, the new policy is similar to parts of recent settlement agreements the government negotiated with Brown University and Columbia University, restoring their federal research money. The universities agreed to give the government data on the race, grade point average and standardized test scores of applicants, admitted students and enrolled students. The schools also agreed to be audited by the government and to release admissions statistics to the public. Trump says colleges may be skirting SCOTUS ruling Conservatives have argued that despite the Supreme Court ruling, colleges have continued to consider race. The persistent lack of available data paired with the rampant use of diversity statements and other overt and hidden racial proxies continues to raise concerns about whether race is actually used in admissions decisions in practice, says the memorandum signed by Trump. The memo directs Education Secretary Linda McMahon to require colleges to report more data to provide adequate transparency into admissions. The National Center for Education Statistics will collect new data, including the race and sex of colleges applicants, admitted students and enrolled students, the Education Department said in a statement. If colleges fail to submit timely, complete and accurate data, McMahon can take action under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, which outlines requirements for colleges receiving federal financial aid for students, according to the memo. It is unclear what practical impact the executive order will have on colleges. Current understanding of federal law prohibits them from collecting information on race as part of admissions, said Jon Fansmith, senior vice president of government relations at the American Council on Education, an association of college presidents. Ultimately, will it mean anything? Probably not, Fansmith said. But it does continue this rhetoric from the administration that some students are being preferenced in the admission process at the expense of other students. Because of the Supreme Court ruling, colleges have been barred from asking the race of students who are applying, Fansmith said. Once students enroll, the schools can ask about race, but students must be told they have a right not to answer. In this political climate, many students wont report their race, Fansmith said. So when schools release data on student demographics, the figures often give only a partial picture of the campus makeup. Diversity changed at some colleges but not all The first year of admissions data after the Supreme Court ruling showed no clear pattern in how colleges diversity changed. Results varied dramatically from one campus to the next. Some schools, such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Amherst College, saw steep drops in the percentage of Black students in their incoming classes. But at other elite, selective schools such as Yale, Princeton and the University of Virginia, the changes were less than a percentage point year to year. Some colleges have added more essays or personal statements to their admissions process to get a better picture of an applicants background, a strategy the Supreme Court invited in its ruling. Nothing prohibits universities from considering an applicants discussion of how race affected the applicants life, so long as that discussion is concretely tied to a quality of character or unique ability that the particular applicant can contribute to the university, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in 2023 for the courts conservative majority. As an alternative to affirmative action, colleges for years have tried a range of strategies to achieve the diversity they say is essential to their campuses. Many have given greater preference to low-income families. Others started admitting top students from every community in their state. Prior to the ruling, nine states had banned affirmative action, starting with California in 1996. The University of California saw enrollment change after the statewide ban in 1996. Within two years, Black and Hispanic enrollments fell by half at the systems two most selective campuses Berkeley and UCLA. The system would go on to spend more than $500 million on programs aimed at low-income and first-generation college students. The 10-campus University of California system also started a program that promises admission to the top 9% of students in each high school across the state, an attempt to reach strong students from all backgrounds. A similar promise in Texas has been credited for expanding racial diversity, and opponents of affirmative action cite it as a successful model. In California, the promise drew students from a wider geographic area but did little to expand racial diversity, the system said in a brief to the Supreme Court. It had almost no impact at Berkeley and UCLA, where students compete against tens of thousands of other applicants. Today at UCLA and Berkeley, Hispanic students make up 20% of undergraduates, higher than in 1996 but lower than their 53% share among Californias high school graduates. Black students, meanwhile, have a smaller presence than they did in 1996, accounting for 4% of undergraduates at Berkeley. After Michigan voters rejected affirmative action in 2006, the University of Michigan shifted attention to low-income students. The school sent graduates to work as counselors in low-income high schools and started offering college prep in Detroit and Grand Rapids. It offered full scholarships for low-income Michigan residents and, more recently, started accepting fewer early admission applications, which are more likely to come from white students. Despite the University of Michigans efforts, the share of Black and Hispanic undergraduates hasnt fully rebounded from a falloff after 2006. And while Hispanic enrollments have been increasing, Black enrollments continued to slide, going from 8% of undergraduates in 2006 to 4% in 2025. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has joined eight other states in challenging a July-issued Trump administration report that questions the country's electric grid stability. Pictured is the J.H. Campbell coal-fired plant in Ottawa County. Joel Bissell | MLive.com MICHIGAN -- Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel and authorities from eight other states are challenging a Trump-administration study they claim is intended to justify keeping fossil fuel-powered energy plants open. Nessel on Friday, Aug. 8 said a coalition of nine state attorney generals have filed for a hearing to challenge findings of a report titled Resource Adequacy Report: Evaluating the Reliability and Security of the United States Electric Grid. Related: Challenges to Trump order keeping Michigan coal plant open spill over into court The report was issued July 7 by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and concludes that the U.S. energy grid will not be reliable given an overreliance on intermittent energy sources like wind and solar and the shut-down of coal and other energy plants. The writers said the growth of data centers and artificial intelligence will strain the countrys ability to meet power demands. According to the DOE report, the country will need an additional 100 gigawatts of peak-hour electricity by 2030. Of that, 50 gigawatts will be needed for data centers. Nessel claims the report uses flawed assumptions, overstates risks, and attempts to override the authority of states and regional regulators. Shes concerned the DOE will use the report, under emergency orders by the Federal Power Act, to prevent the closure of coal-fired plants. Department of Energy Secretary Chris Wright in May used emergency orders to keep the J.H. Campbell coal plant in Ottawa Countys Port Sheldon Township open through August 21. Consumers Energy had planned to decommission the plant at the end of May. Wright also has used emergency orders to keep other plants operating in Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico and specific units operated by Duke Energy Carolina. The DOE now has 30 days to respond to the nine-state coalitions request for a hearing. Want more Grand Rapids-area news? Bookmark the local Grand Rapids news page or sign up for the free 3@3 Grand Rapids daily newsletter. President Donald Trump answers questions from reporters after signing an executive order about the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games, in the South Court Auditorium of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on the White House campus, Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) AP WASHINGTON -- The way Americans invest their 401(k) accounts could see a major overhaul in the coming years. On Thursday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing the Labor Department and other agencies to redefine the rules and regulations for what can be considered a qualified asset for 401(k) investments. In particular, the move would allow 401(k) accounts to invest in higher-risk private equity, cryptocurrency, real estate and commodities. According to the Associated Press, most 401(k) accounts are currently made up of stock and bond investments, along with smaller investments in cash and commodities like gold. 401(k) retirement plans are governed through the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), which requires employers to manage the retirement account in the best interest of the holder. Trumps executive order requires the Secretary of Labor to take specific actions within 180 days from the order being signed. Those actions include determining a fiduciarys duties under the ERISA in connection to the alternative assets and to clarify rules and regulations that a fiduciary owes to plan participants under ERISA. Should the Labor Department decide to allow the alternative assets to become possible 401(k) investments, it could take months or years before employers can actually invest in those markets. If the change is approved, retirement plan companies will then have to develop their own funds that employers could invest in. Because private equity and cryptocurrency are highly volatile and typically more expensive, employers arent expected to invest in those markets right away, even if the retirement plan companies begin offering the funds. For years, both Republican and Democratic administrations agreed that private equity investments should not be part of 401(k) offerings, but Trump has shifted away from that mindset. That could be in part due to the large campaign contributions made to Trump by crypto companies. One of the worlds largest cryptocurrency companies in the U.S., Coinbase, was also a major donor for Trumps military parade over the summer. The AP reports crypto companies donated millions to Trump in part to help persuade him to investigate how their industry could become qualified under ERISA. Regardless, those in the crypto community say the idea is a step in the right direction for investors. It was inevitable that bitcoin would make its way into American 401(k)s, said Cory Klippsten, the CEO of Swan Bitcoin. As fiduciaries realize bitcoins risk-adjusted upside over the long term, well see growing allocations, especially from younger, tech-savvy workers who want hard money, not melting ice cubes. Michigan's first case of the mosquito-borne West Nile virus this year was detected in a Livingston County resident on Friday, Aug. 8, 2025, according the MDHHS. (AP File) AP LIVINGSTON COUNTY, MI Michigans first human case of the West Nile Virus in 2025 has been detected in a Livingston County resident. It only takes one bite from an infected mosquito to cause a severe illness, said Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, chief medical executive for the State of Michigan. Bagdasarian encouraged residents to use insect repellent and wear long-sleeved shirts and long pants when outdoors during times when mosquitoes are active. These precautions are especially important during peak mosquito-biting hours, which are from dusk to dawn, she said. The West Nile Virus has been found in mosquitoes collected this year from Bay, Kalamazoo, Kent, Macomb, Midland, Saginaw, Tuscola and Wayne counties, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services reported. In addition, the Jamestown Canyon Virus has been found in mosquitos collected from Bay, Kalamazoo, Macomb, Ottawa, Saginaw and Washtenaw counties. The risk for all mosquito-borne illness rises throughout the state over the course of the mosquito season, peaking in August and September, MDHHS officials stated. Mosquito-borne viruses are transmitted through the bite of a mosquito that has picked up the virus by feeding on an infected animal. Most people who contract the virus have no clinical symptoms of illness, but some may become ill two to 14 days after the bite of an infected mosquito. Symptoms typically include a high fever, confusion, muscle weakness and severe headache. More serious complications include neurological illnesses, such as meningitis and encephalitis. There is no vaccine or specific treatment for West Nile. The best way to prevent WNV or any other mosquito-borne illness is to reduce the number of mosquitoes around your home and to take personal precautions to avoid mosquito bites. Precautions include: Using EPA-registered insect repellents with one of the following active ingredients: DEET, picaridin, IR3535, oil of lemon eucalyptus or para-menthane-diol and 2-undecanone. Wearing shoes and socks, light-colored long pants and long-sleeved shirts when outdoors. Making sure doors and windows have tight-fitting screens. Repair or replace screens that have tears or other openings. Using bed nets when sleeping outdoors or in conditions with no window screens. Eliminating all sources of standing water that can support mosquito breeding around your home, including water in bird baths, abandoned swimming pools, wading pools, old tires and any other object holding water once a week. The MDHHS cautions against using repellent on children under 2 months old. Children under that age should instead be dressed in clothing that covers arms and legs, officials stated. Cribs, strollers and baby carriers should also be covered with mosquito netting, health officials stated. For more information, visit Michigan.gov/EmergingDiseases/West-Nile or CDC.gov/West-Nile-Virus. ANN ARBOR Ann Arbors free downtown summer concert series packed Liberty Street Thursday, with fans from near and far traveling to witness a near-reunion of hometown rockers Tally Hall. Sonic Lunch brought Tally Hall keyboardist Andrew Horowitz back Thursday for the second year in a row this time with additional members of the beloved, genre-defying group of University of Michigan alumni that performed from 2002 to 2011. Although Thursdays concert wasnt billed as a Tally Hall reunion show, the lineup included four of the six original members frontman and keyboard player Andrew Horowitz, guitarist and vocalist Rob Cantor, drummer Ross Federman, roadie and guitarist Bora Karaca and the bands former touring member Casey Shea. Openers Shea, Cam Galpin and Illicit Ghost each joined the group for several songs. Karaca also donned a luchador costume for a solo performance of two songs by his band Cojum Dip. Liberty Street was awash with fans of the band both new and old: many waved plushes and vinyl collectibles styled after the bands members. Clusters of younger fans too young to have remembered Tally Halls last show in 2011 were still decked out in the bands signature button-down shirts, vests and colorful ties. Horowitz led the group through Tally Hall hits like Hidden in the Sand and Out in the Twilight as well as work from his solo project edu, including HEY YOU! and Hummingbird. The band even performed the viral hit Actual Cannibal Shia LaBeouf that propelled Cantor to YouTube fame. Sonic Lunch, sponsored by the Bank of Ann Arbor and organized by Tree Town Sound host Matt Altruda, offers free concerts each Thursday at 11:30 a.m. near Liberty Plaza. Guests can enjoy live music and food from local food trucks and restaurants. This years three remaining shows will be headlined by Karl Densons Tiny Universe, Neal Francis and Michigan indie alt-rockers JR JR. Michigan State Police and other law enforcement converge near the home of a homicide suspect in Benzie County. (Michigan State Police) BENZIE COUNTY, MI The family of a homicide victim is appealing a federal judges ruling that dismissed their lawsuit against Benzie County and four sheriffs deputies. The lawsuit alleged that Linda Henry, 72, died after Benzie County and four sheriffs deputies enabled her neighbor, Jeffrey Stratton, 60, in the Feb. 4, 2022, killing. Stratton, who was charged with first-degree murder, was found not guilty by reason of insanity in April 2024. According to the lawsuit, he is involuntarily confined to an in-patient psychiatric facility. The lawsuit was dismissed in July. The plaintiffs attorney, Bailor Bell, on Friday, Aug. 8, filed a notice to appeal. The appeal would be heard by the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati. According to the lawsuit, the night before the killing, Stratton tried to break into the house of a 14-year-old girl, who had earlier accused Stratton of sexual assault. When her mother called 911, the girl screamed and begged to get someone here now! because Ive got a gun I am 14 years old and the only one in the house that knows how to use it and I will shoot that man! the lawsuit said. Sheriffs deputies followed Strattons tracks in the snow to his house and heard him inside. According to the lawsuit, despite a pretrial release order requiring Strattons arrest if he approached the girl, police did nothing and told the girl and her mother they would be OK for the night. The next afternoon, Stratton walked to Henrys house next door. By the time the deputies arrived, Stratton had bashed Ms. Henrys head and face with a hammer, steel-scooped shovel, and firewood; stabbed her repeatedly with a filet-style knife; and set her on fire by dumping burning logs and hot embers from her wood stove on her body. In a motion to dismiss, Gregory Grant, attorney for the defendants, said the lawsuit tried to create the illusion of gender discrimination in Benzie County law enforcement. But even accepting Plaintiff Henrys allegations as true for purposes of the present motion (only), analysis of the alleged facts reveals that the Complaint alleges neither facts showing the pattern of conduct, nor facts showing the discriminatory motive, required to sustain such claims. U.S. District Judge Hala Jarbou in Lansing dismissed the lawsuit, filed by the victims son, McCord Henry, who claims that his mothers assailant was only able to carry out the deed because Benzie County and certain of its sheriffs deputies do not protect women from the threats of violence with the same vigor as they do men. Plaintiffs equal protection challenge fails because he cannot point to any action or inaction by the government or its agents that discriminated against women. The lawsuit said that Benzie County had long discriminated against or tolerated discrimination against women, when providing protection. But the judge said that the equal-protection clause under the 14th Amendment does not give every woman indirectly injured by the unequal treatment of one of them a derivative constitutional claim. She said that a civil-rights claim under Michigan law could be filed in state court. The lawsuit said there were at least 10 credible threats by Stratton against women and girls over a two-year period and that he had well-known and well-documented dangerous, violent, and erratic propensities toward women. Henry, a grandmother of four, had just received her license for an in-home daycare. She previously tutored at-risk children and worked as a park ranger for the National Park Service. A 24-year-old man from White Cloud had no pulse when he was pulled from the water by first-responders Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025 in Newaygo County. The man was revived by first-responders and is currently in critical condition at a Grand Rapids hospital. Courtesy photo NEWAYGO COUNTY, MI A 24-year-old man from White Cloud had no pulse when he was pulled from the water by first-responders Thursday afternoon. Life-saving measures were successfully rendered and the man regained his pulse before being air-lifted to a Grand Rapids hospital in critical condition. The Newaygo County Sheriffs Office, along with the Big Prairie and Croton Township fire departments, were called to Operators Village Day Park, on the east side of Hardy Dam, shortly after 1 p.m. on Thursday, Aug. 7, for a possible drowning, a news release from the sheriffs office states. As deputies and members of the dive team were arriving on scene, members of the two fire departments had just located the man underwater and were in the process of transporting him to shore, stated Undersheriff Chad Palmiter. When the 24-year-old was brought to shore, he did not have a pulse, Palmiter stated. CPR was immediately started by members of the sheriffs office and fire departments. Life EMS arrived on scene and assisted with life-saving measures. Thanks to the efforts of first-responders, the man would eventually get his pulse back. He was then transported to a Big Rapids hospital before being air-lifted to a different hospital in Grand Rapids, where he is currently in critical condition. No further information is available at this time. The constitutional amendment that could be on the November 2026 ballot would cut $20.32 billion in annual property tax revenue, with public schools losing $11.64 billion. Ben Orner | MLive.com A constitutional amendment to eliminate property taxes in Michigan could be on the November 2026 ballot. Critics warn the measure would cripple local governments and schools, but proponents say it would create an economic boom and is necessary to protect businesses and residents from unnecessary government spending. The proposal, called Ax MI Tax, didnt get enough signatures to make the 2024 ballot. This time around, Ax MI Tax Executive Director Karla Wagner said, the team is better organized and has more time to get the required 446,198 valid signatures to make the ballot next fall. Here are four things to know about the proposal. 1. The proposal would eliminate $20.32 billion in revenue with limited replacement funding The Ax MI Tax would cut about $20.32 billion in annual property tax revenue that funds schools, libraries, parks, garbage collection, emergency services, transit, roads, senior programs, community colleges and other government services. Property taxes currently account for about half of all revenue for local governments across the state. The initiative would partially replace this lost funding by giving local governments a greater share of the states sales tax and a 10% cut of state tax revenues from income, marijuana, alcohol, and tobacco. However, this replacement funding comes with significant restrictions. The additional dollars could only be used for what the proposal defines as essential government and infrastructure services, which Wagner said are emergency services like police, fire and EMS, along with county roads and government offices. The proposal explicitly prohibits schools, community colleges, parks and other local government services from receiving any of this additional funding. According to Michigan Municipal League estimates, redirecting these additional dollars from the state to local governments would significantly impact the states budget. It would cut nearly 30% of the states general fund, approximately $4 billion based on 2022 figures. 2. Public schools would face the largest funding cuts, losing $11.64 billion annually Michigans public education system would be hit the hardest by the tax elimination, losing about $11.64 billion in annual funding. This represents about 57.3% of all property taxes collected in the state in 2024 and includes both the state education tax and all local school taxes for operations, construction, repairs and debt payments. The state education tax accounts for about 13%, or $2.84 billion, of Michigans $21.5 billion K-12 school aid fund. Wagner contends that public schools are overfunded and could absorb the financial hit through cuts. She argues that businesses would increase philanthropy to help fund school projects once freed from property tax burdens. Critics, however, warn the funding loss would devastate education, leading to teacher layoffs, program cuts, larger class sizes and school closures at a time when Michigan students are already lagging behind in national educational assessments. 3. Proponents and critics paint drastically different pictures of the economic impact Wagner says abolishing property tax would create an economic boom, get people out of debt, stop many home foreclosures and allow residents and businesses to decide how they want to spend their money. She said nonessential government spending has gotten out of control. Wagner contends essential services would be sufficiently funded under the Ax MI Tax formula but that schools would need to trim unnecessary spending and amenities, like parks and libraries, would likely have to shift to a usage fee model. In stark contrast, Michigan Municipal League Deputy Executive Director Tony Minghine said the proposal would cripple Michigan for generations. He warned that local governments and public schools will face severe deficits under the proposal, and that the economic fallout would be devastating. Among the damage, schools and libraries would close, parks would shut down or not be maintained, emergency services would be reduced and people and businesses would leave the state, Minghine said. 4. The initiative would make it harder to raise taxes, and signature collection is underway Beyond eliminating property taxes, the Ax MI Tax proposal would raise the bar for implementing any new taxes to offset the loss of property taxes. Local governments would need 60% voter approval to pass any tax increases, while the state Legislature would require a two-thirds majority vote to pass any tax increases greater than 0.1% over five years. After failing to collect enough valid signatures to make the 2024 ballot, Ax MI Tax is now targeting the November 2026 election. The group needs 446,198 valid signatures to qualify, and signature collection is currently underway. Wagner recently announced she is running for governor as a Republican, saying she wants to use her candidacy to bring more exposure to the initiative. Generative AI was used to summarize takeaways based on an originally reported story. It was reviewed and edited by MLive. Steamy. Sweltering. Just plain hot. As we head into the weekend, the humidity has spiked across Michigan and were going to see temperatures climb to highs that are uncomfortable for a lot of people for the next few days. This morning, thunderstorms are booming in parts of the state, and more are forecast for later today. Here are the forecast highlights from the National Weather Service offices across Michigan: Prepare for an intense heat wave this weekend, with temperatures expected to reach the low 90s and heat indices potentially approaching 100 degrees across much of the state. The National Weather Service warns of near-record breaking heat from Friday through Sunday, with high humidity making conditions feel even more oppressive. Temperatures will climb into the low 90s, with heat indices ranging from 92 to 97 degrees. The Upper Peninsula and northern Lower Michigan will experience the most extreme temperatures, with some areas potentially seeing heat indices near 100 degrees on Saturday. Scattered thunderstorms are possible, particularly in the eastern parts of the state and along the I-75 corridor. While most areas will remain dry, a few storms could produce strong winds or hail. The Marquette National Weather Service office indicates a line of potentially strong to severe thunderstorms may move across the western Upper Peninsula Friday night into early Saturday. The heat wave will persist through the weekend, with slightly cooler temperatures expected early next week. A cold front is forecast to move through the state Sunday and Monday, bringing a chance of more widespread thunderstorms and slightly lower temperatures. By midweek, highs are expected to drop to the mid-80s. Michigan residents are advised to take precautions during the extreme heat: Stay hydrated Limit outdoor activities during the hottest parts of the day Check on vulnerable individuals like elderly neighbors Use air conditioning or cooling centers if possible The extended forecast suggests a return to more typical late summer conditions by midweek, with temperatures moderating and a continued chance of scattered thunderstorms. Generative AI was used to produce an initial draft of this story based on data from the National Weather Service. It was reviewed, edited and expanded by MLive staff. Tamal Nandi USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy *I agree to the updated privacy policy and I warrant that I am above 16 years of age I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of personalised recommendations on financial and similar products offered by MoneyControl I agree personalized advertisements and any kind of remarketing/retargeting on other third party websites I agree to receive direct marketing communications via Emails and SMS Please select (*) all mandatory conditions to continue. I Accept The Armenian government has dismissed media claims that it authorised the sale of its 20% stake in Viva. According to News.am, a cabinet meeting held yesterday (August 7) approved the signing of a contract with another Viva shareholder, Fedlico Group, to preserve Fedlicos right to request that the company purchase its shares. Earlier reports suggested the government had agreed to sell its 20% stake to Cyprus-based Fedlico Group for US$50 million. Fedlico, which last year acquired 100% of MTS Armenia, had previously transferred its 20% holding in Viva to the Armenian government as part of that transaction, according to Radio Free Europe. 'Not dependent on one or two nations': Gadkari dismisses impact of Trump's tariff on auto sector Arindam Roy USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy *I agree to the updated privacy policy and I warrant that I am above 16 years of age I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of personalised recommendations on financial and similar products offered by MoneyControl I agree personalized advertisements and any kind of remarketing/retargeting on other third party websites I agree to receive direct marketing communications via Emails and SMS Please select (*) all mandatory conditions to continue. I Accept Airtel Nigeria reportedly plans to build a carrier-neutral 38MW hyperscale data centre in Eko Atlantic City in Lagos to meet surging demand for cloud and AI services. According to TechAfrica News, the data centre which will be part of Airtels broader Nxtra network of data centres will be designed to handle next-generation compute workloads, including GPU-powered infrastructure essential for AI applications. The facility will host over 3,000 racks across six floors and high power density with up to 25kW per rack. It will also feature energy-efficient systems targeting a PUE of less than 1.4, and redundant power sourced from multiple substations, the report said. The data centres location in Eko Atlantic City also offers close proximity to subsea cable landing stations and dense fibre routes, the report said. Airtel Nigeria CEO Dinesh Balsingh told a media briefing in Lagos on Tuesday that the data centre will cost over US$120 million, and is scheduled to be completed in the first quarter of 2026, the report added. Eko Atlantic City also known as Nigeria International Commerce City is being developed on reclaimed land on Victoria Island next to Lagos, ostensibly to alleviate a real estate shortage in Lagos, but also to create new business opportunities for investors and serve as gateway to other markets on the African continent. According to local newspaper Punch, Eko Atlantic has drawn several big-name corporate tenants, including First Bank of Nigeria, Dangote Group and MTN Nigeria, which is relocating its national headquarters there. Airtel Nigerias announcement comes a month after MTN Nigeria officially launched the first phase of its US$235 million data centre in Lagos, along with a cloud service to compete against the likes of Amazon Web Services, Microsoft and Google. Earlier this year, WIOCC Group subsidiary Open Access Data Centres (OADC) said it plans to invest up to US$240 million to expand the capacity of its latest data centre in Lagos from 1.5MW to 24MW by 2027. 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By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy *I agree to the updated privacy policy and I warrant that I am above 16 years of age I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of personalised recommendations on financial and similar products offered by MoneyControl I agree personalized advertisements and any kind of remarketing/retargeting on other third party websites I agree to receive direct marketing communications via Emails and SMS Please select (*) all mandatory conditions to continue. I Accept The widely anticipated launch of free roaming between Liberia and Sierra Leone seems to have begun, with a Liberia-Cote dIvoire deal now much closer. This week Liberia and Sierra Leone announced the rollout of an Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)-inspired free roaming initiative, designed to ease cross-border mobile roaming costs. Under the ECOWAS initiative, citizens of both Liberia and Sierra Leone can now use mobile services in each other's countries without incurring international roaming charges. Liberia also signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Cote d'Ivoire towards the implementation of a similar initiative. This apparently followed a three-day conference from 4-6 August. The conference was hosted by the Liberia Telecommunications Authority (LTA) which was joined by Sierra Leone's National Communications Authority (NatCA) and officials from Cote d'Ivoire. As we reported at the time, Liberia signed roaming deals with Sierra Leone and The Gambia six months ago. Its not clear when the deal with The Gambia will be activated. It was due to start in early July. Commenting on the MoU, Clarence K Massaquoi, Chairman of the Liberia Telecommunications Authority (LTA), highlighted the deep-rooted ties between Liberia and Cote d'Ivoire, noting that their shared border, the longest Liberia has with any neighbouring state. Of course, where people share not only land but culture, steep roaming fees have proved inconvenient, especially as farmers, traders, and transport operators often rely on phone calls and mobile money services to conduct cross-border business. This deal could therefore be a massive boost for trade in border areas in particular. However, it's not yet clear when the Liberia-Cote d'Ivoire agreement will actually come into effect. Mobile operators in Liberia and Cote d'Ivoire have already begun technical preparations to implement the new roaming framework, which covers voice calls, text messaging and data services. They will also have to agree revenue-sharing models, deal with service quality, and address consumer protection. When Indira Krishnan thought her career was over after slapping Salman Khan in Tere Naam: I started crying Gayatri Rani USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. 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I Accept Europe, US Trips Surge This Summer: Why Skipping Travel Insurance Could Cost You Lakhs *Disclaimer - Brand Connect is a solution that allows brands to break the queue to gain better engagement among our audiences Riya Gandhi USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. 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I Accept Arindam Roy USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy *I agree to the updated privacy policy and I warrant that I am above 16 years of age I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of personalised recommendations on financial and similar products offered by MoneyControl I agree personalized advertisements and any kind of remarketing/retargeting on other third party websites I agree to receive direct marketing communications via Emails and SMS Please select (*) all mandatory conditions to continue. I Accept Infibeam to transfer e-commerce platform on slump sale basis to Rediff.com for Rs 800 crore 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 Rohit Singh USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy *I agree to the updated privacy policy and I warrant that I am above 16 years of age I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of personalised recommendations on financial and similar products offered by MoneyControl I agree personalized advertisements and any kind of remarketing/retargeting on other third party websites I agree to receive direct marketing communications via Emails and SMS Please select (*) all mandatory conditions to continue. I Accept AST SpaceMobile, which is building a space-based cellular broadband network accessible directly by everyday smartphones and designed for both commercial and government applications, has announced an agreement to acquire global S-Band spectrum priority rights held under the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The company notes that its satellites and ASICs were designed with S-Band (2-4GHz) capabilities in mind. The European Space Agency says that this band offers stable and resilient performance with good penetration through atmospheric conditions. Abel Avellan, Chairman and CEO of AST SpaceMobile, explains: With these new spectrum priority rights, we will be in a position to bring services in S-Band to targeted markets around the world. He adds: Alongside our existing global 3GPP spectrum strategy and planned L-Band (1-2GHz) spectrum strategy in the US and Canada, we would be capable of expanding subscriber capacity by offering the vast majority of countries around the world the full AST SpaceMobile network capabilities, together with our mobile network operator partners enabling a true broadband experience directly from space to everyday smartphones and with a goal of peak data transmission speeds of up to 120 Mbps. AST SpaceMobile says that earlier this week it entered into an agreement to acquire an entity that holds certain S-Band ITU priority rights to mobile satellite services (MSS) frequencies in the range of 1980-2010MHz and 2170-2200MHz, for use in low Earth orbit. The company says that these spectrum priority rights will provide AST SpaceMobile a path to offer services in these spectrum bands around the world, subject to country-level regulatory approvals, supplementing the companys core global 3GPP cellular spectrum strategy. This presumably includes markets covered in these pages, some of which are already being targeted by AST SpaceMobile. Indeed, earlier this year we reported that Indian operator Vodafone Idea and AST SpaceMobile had announced a strategic partnership to expand mobile connectivity across Indias unconnected regions. In April Zimbabwean mobile operator NetOne reportedly struck a deal with AST SpaceMobile to expand the reach of its 5G services once the satellite network is available in Africa. In December 2024 meanwhile, AST SpaceMobile signed what was called a definitive ten-year commercial agreement with Vodafone Group to roll out its services in Vodafones markets worldwide. For Africa and Asia, that includes the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique, South Africa, India and Turkey. Couple claims Delhi restaurant denied them entry because of Indian attire, Delhi minister calls it 'unacceptable' Ria Kapoor USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. 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I Accept SBI Mutual Fund, Permira, others to pick up Rs 450-crore worth of shares in Urban Company in pre-IPO round Tushar Goenka is a breaking news reporter who focuses on startups. Interested in venture capital, quick commerce, e-commerce, food delivery and D2C. 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 Tushar Goenka USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. 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I Accept This is an AI-assisted live blog with updates sourced from multiple news outlets and agencies Disclaimer This is an AI-assisted live blog with updates sourced from multiple news outlets and agencies Disclaimer This is an AI-assisted live blog with updates sourced from multiple news outlets and agencies Disclaimer This is an AI-assisted live blog with updates sourced from multiple news outlets and agencies Disclaimer Alpha Desk USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. 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For more details you can refer to our cookie policy *I agree to the updated privacy policy and I warrant that I am above 16 years of age I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of personalised recommendations on financial and similar products offered by MoneyControl I agree personalized advertisements and any kind of remarketing/retargeting on other third party websites I agree to receive direct marketing communications via Emails and SMS Please select (*) all mandatory conditions to continue. I Accept Sensex falls 800 pts, goes below 80k, Nifty at 24,400: Tariff jitters among key factors behind market fall Paras Bisht A financial journalist with over 10 years of experience, specialising in tracking stock market movements and fundamental developments that impact investors and the broader economy. A keen observer of global financial markets, I regularly engage with leading market voices to write stories. 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I Accept B Kumar USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy *I agree to the updated privacy policy and I warrant that I am above 16 years of age I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of personalised recommendations on financial and similar products offered by MoneyControl I agree personalized advertisements and any kind of remarketing/retargeting on other third party websites I agree to receive direct marketing communications via Emails and SMS Please select (*) all mandatory conditions to continue. I Accept This is an AI-assisted live blog with updates from multiple sources Disclaimer This is an AI-assisted live blog with updates from multiple sources Disclaimer This is an AI-assisted live blog with updates from multiple sources Disclaimer This is an AI-assisted live blog with updates from multiple sources Disclaimer Alpha Desk USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. 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I Accept Crucial to depict sensitivity: Madras High Court asks Tamil Nadu police to complete probe on FB post on Lord Krishna Rewati Karan is Senior Sub Editor at Moneycontrol. She covers law, politics, business and national affairs. She was previously Principal Correspondent at Financial Express and Copyeditor at ThePrint where she wrote feature stories and covered legal news. She has also worked extensively in social media at ThePrint and India Today. She can be reached at rewati.karan@nw18.com | Twitter: @RewatiKaran Rewati Karan USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. 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I Accept Donald Trumps Lion is Back poster brought down in Vadodara amid tariff dispute with US | Watch Priyanjali Ghose USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy *I agree to the updated privacy policy and I warrant that I am above 16 years of age I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of personalised recommendations on financial and similar products offered by MoneyControl I agree personalized advertisements and any kind of remarketing/retargeting on other third party websites I agree to receive direct marketing communications via Emails and SMS Please select (*) all mandatory conditions to continue. I Accept China's central bank to conduct 700-billion-yuan outright reverse repo operation Xinhua) 08:40, August 08, 2025 This file photo shows the People's Bank of China in Beijing, capital of China. (Xinhua/Peng Ziyang) BEIJING, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- The People's Bank of China (PBOC), the country's central bank, said on Thursday that it will conduct a 700-billion-yuan (about 98.11 billion U.S. dollars) outright reverse repo operation on Friday, to maintain ample liquidity in China's banking system. This operation will carry a three-month tenor and be conducted using a fixed-quantity, interest-rate-bidding and multiple-price-bidding method, according to the PBOC statement. Wang Qing, an analyst with Golden Credit Rating, said the operation will help inject medium-term liquidity into the market -- signaling the continued strengthening of quantitative monetary policy tools. Outright reverse repo operations, a tool the central bank introduced in October 2024 to manage liquidity in the banking system, are carried out once each month with a tenor of no more than a year. This new option has enriched the country's monetary policy toolkit following the earlier introduction of temporary repos, temporary reverse repos, and the buying and selling of treasury bonds. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) High Court just raised the bar on redundancies. Employers must now actively consider restructuring business operations before letting staff go. Whats happening: The High Court has confirmed that employers can no longer simply claim no suitable roles exist when making redundancies, but must actively demonstrate they considered restructuring their business operations, including replacing contractor roles with permanent positions, to redeploy staff instead. Why this matters: This ruling significantly raises the bar for what constitutes a genuine redundancy and could expose more small businesses to unfair dismissal claims, particularly those relying heavily on contractors or labour hire arrangements while simultaneously reducing permanent staff. A High Court decision handed down yesterday has fundamentally altered the redundancy landscape for Australian small businesses, creating new obligations that could catch many employers off guard. The ruling emerged from a case involving Helensburgh Coal, which dismissed 22 workers from its Metropolitan Coal Mine north of Wollongong in June 2020 following declining metallurgical coal prices during the early COVID-19 pandemic. According to ABC News, the workers successfully challenged their dismissals by arguing that contractors were performing similar work at the mine, making their redundancies unfair. The High Courts unanimous decision to dismiss the companys appeal confirms what employment lawyers have suspected for years: the days of treating redundancy as a straightforward business decision are over. Instead, employers now face a much higher burden of proof when they claim a role is genuinely redundant. The ruling explained Redundancy occurs when a business no longer needs an employees role to be performed by anyone, typically due to factors like technological changes, reduced sales, business closures, relocations, or restructuring following mergers. Traditionally, this has been viewed as a relatively straightforward business decision where employers demonstrate the role itself is no longer required. The High Courts decision centres on section 389(2) of the Fair Work Act, clarifying that the Fair Work Commission has broad powers to investigate whether employers could have restructured their workforce operations to avoid redundancies altogether. The High Court clarified that under section 389(2) of the Fair Work Act, the FWC was permitted to inquire into whether an employer could have made changes to how it uses its workforce to operate its enterprise so as to create or make available a position for an employee who would otherwise have been redundant, explains a Peninsula spokesperson. This includes examining whether it would have been reasonable for employees to be redeployed to roles currently filled by contractors or labour hire workers. The decision reinforces that dismissals cannot be considered genuine redundancies if reasonable redeployment options existed, marking a significant departure from the more employer-friendly WorkChoices legislation that previously allowed dismissals for genuine operational reasons. The ruling fundamentally challenges the traditional understanding of redundancy by requiring employers to look beyond whether a specific role is needed, and instead consider whether the business could be reorganised to accommodate displaced workers elsewhere in the operation. According to Peninsula, which provides HR consulting services to more than 24,000 Australian SMBs, redundancy remains one of the top three enquiries they receive from clients. Associate Director of Consultancy Stephen Roebuck explains that the ruling means redeployment does not require an existing vacancy, and the Fair Work Commission may look at whether work could be reorganised. The implications extend far beyond simply checking for available positions. Employers must now demonstrate they actively considered whether their entire business structure could be adjusted to accommodate displaced workers. What changed overnight The most significant shift involves how businesses using contractors and permanent employees simultaneously approach redundancy decisions. Previously, employers could argue that no suitable internal positions existed for redundant workers, even while contractor roles continued. Under the new interpretation, businesses must now justify why they couldnt reasonably restructure operations to replace contractor arrangements with permanent positions for workers facing redundancy. This creates particular challenges for small businesses that rely on flexible contractor arrangements to manage fluctuating workloads. The ruling suggests that maintaining contractors while making permanent employees redundant will face much closer scrutiny from the Fair Work Commission. The decision also expands the concept of reasonable redeployment beyond existing vacancies. Employers must now consider whether new internal positions should be created by reducing reliance on external labour providers, fundamentally changing how businesses approach workforce planning. New obligations emerge The ruling establishes several new practical obligations for employers contemplating redundancies. When considering redeployment options, businesses must examine not only currently available positions but also roles that may become available in the foreseeable future. When considering redeployment, employers should not only consider other currently available positions, but also positions that are about to become available, advises a Peninsula spokesperson. The redeployment obligation requires an employer to consider whether a new internal position should be created by reducing reliance on labour hire providers or contractors. Training requirements no longer automatically excuse employers from redeployment obligations. The High Court confirmed that where additional training would enable an employee to fill an alternative role, this doesnt necessarily constitute an unreasonable redeployment expectation. Where further training would be needed to redeploy employees in another role, this is not necessarily a barrier to redeployment, notes a Peninsula spokesperson. Employers must be more cautious when dismissing employees whilst retaining contractors, if the business could be reorganised to prevent the redundancy, you could be exposed to costly unfair dismissal claims, warns Peninsula. The ruling also necessitates reviews of existing policies and contracts with labour providers. Businesses need to ensure their contractor arrangements align with genuine enterprise needs and dont unnecessarily overlap with the roles performed by permanent workers. Documentation becomes crucial under the new framework. Employers will need to demonstrate they genuinely considered restructuring options, not merely dismissed them without proper evaluation. Planning your next move For small businesses, the ruling creates both immediate compliance requirements and longer-term strategic considerations. Any business currently contemplating redundancies should pause to reassess their approach in light of these expanded obligations. The decision signals that future Fair Work Commission cases involving redundancy will subject employer decisions to much closer scrutiny, particularly where redeployment alternatives existed or could have been created. The High Courts decision signals that genuine redundancy will be closely scrutinised in future decisions where redeployment was possible, observes a Peninsula spokesperson. This doesnt mean redundancies become impossible, but it does require more thorough preparation and documentation. Businesses need to demonstrate they genuinely explored restructuring options, considered the feasibility of replacing contractor arrangements, and evaluated whether training could enable redeployment. The ruling particularly affects industries with mixed permanent and contractor workforces, including construction, logistics, professional services, and hospitality sectors where flexible staffing arrangements are common. For many small businesses, this may necessitate fundamental changes to workforce planning strategies. The traditional approach of maintaining maximum flexibility through contractor relationships while treating permanent staff as the adjustment variable may no longer be sustainable. Peninsula advises that policies and contracts with labour providers should be reviewed to ensure decisions align with enterprise needs and dont overlap on the roles of your current workers. Looking ahead, businesses should review their current contractor arrangements, assess potential overlap with permanent employee roles, and develop more robust redeployment consideration processes. The cost of getting this wrong, in terms of unfair dismissal claims and Fair Work Commission proceedings, could far exceed the investment required to ensure compliance. The message from the High Court is clear: employers who want to rely on genuine redundancy defences must be prepared to prove they genuinely considered all reasonable alternatives, including restructuring their entire approach to workforce management. Keep up to date with our stories on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Chhabi Kala USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. 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For more details you can refer to our cookie policy *I agree to the updated privacy policy and I warrant that I am above 16 years of age I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of personalised recommendations on financial and similar products offered by MoneyControl I agree personalized advertisements and any kind of remarketing/retargeting on other third party websites I agree to receive direct marketing communications via Emails and SMS Please select (*) all mandatory conditions to continue. I Accept Smriti Mishra USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. 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I Accept Parimal Peeyush USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. 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I Accept Nothing is perfect; we need to find better system to replace collegium: Former SC judge Oka Rewati Karan USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy *I agree to the updated privacy policy and I warrant that I am above 16 years of age I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of personalised recommendations on financial and similar products offered by MoneyControl I agree personalized advertisements and any kind of remarketing/retargeting on other third party websites I agree to receive direct marketing communications via Emails and SMS Please select (*) all mandatory conditions to continue. I Accept PM Modi's 'special relationship' with Trump 'totally exposed', says Jairam Ramesh as Asim Munir heads to Washington again Surabhi Pandey USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. 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For more details you can refer to our cookie policy *I agree to the updated privacy policy and I warrant that I am above 16 years of age I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of personalised recommendations on financial and similar products offered by MoneyControl I agree personalized advertisements and any kind of remarketing/retargeting on other third party websites I agree to receive direct marketing communications via Emails and SMS Please select (*) all mandatory conditions to continue. I Accept Priyanjali Ghose USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. 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I Accept Shashi Tharoor on dealing with Trump tariff: Must convey no one can take India for granted Priyanjali Ghose USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy *I agree to the updated privacy policy and I warrant that I am above 16 years of age I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of personalised recommendations on financial and similar products offered by MoneyControl I agree personalized advertisements and any kind of remarketing/retargeting on other third party websites I agree to receive direct marketing communications via Emails and SMS Please select (*) all mandatory conditions to continue. I Accept Supreme Court stays HC order asking rape accused's wife living in US to remain in India Chhabi Kala USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. 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I Accept Taken note of reports of China starting dam construction on Brahmaputra in Tibet: Govt tells Rajya Sabha Sonalee Borgohain USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy *I agree to the updated privacy policy and I warrant that I am above 16 years of age I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of personalised recommendations on financial and similar products offered by MoneyControl I agree personalized advertisements and any kind of remarketing/retargeting on other third party websites I agree to receive direct marketing communications via Emails and SMS Please select (*) all mandatory conditions to continue. I Accept Will keep UP govt ordinance on Banke Bihari temple in abeyance till pleas decided: SC Yeeshu Yadav USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. 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I Accept Will see restructuring of trade routes: Piyush Goyal on Trump's tariffs Rewati Karan USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy *I agree to the updated privacy policy and I warrant that I am above 16 years of age I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of personalised recommendations on financial and similar products offered by MoneyControl I agree personalized advertisements and any kind of remarketing/retargeting on other third party websites I agree to receive direct marketing communications via Emails and SMS Please select (*) all mandatory conditions to continue. I Accept 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 USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy *I agree to the updated privacy policy and I warrant that I am above 16 years of age I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of personalised recommendations on financial and similar products offered by MoneyControl I agree personalized advertisements and any kind of remarketing/retargeting on other third party websites I agree to receive direct marketing communications via Emails and SMS Please select (*) all mandatory conditions to continue. I Accept Justice in Despair: How Indias judiciary mishandles sexual harassment allegations within its ranks 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 USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy *I agree to the updated privacy policy and I warrant that I am above 16 years of age I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of personalised recommendations on financial and similar products offered by MoneyControl I agree personalized advertisements and any kind of remarketing/retargeting on other third party websites I agree to receive direct marketing communications via Emails and SMS Please select (*) all mandatory conditions to continue. I Accept C Uday Bhaskar is Director, Society for Policy Studies, New Delhi. Views are personal and do not represent the stand of this publication. Namrata Agarwal USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy *I agree to the updated privacy policy and I warrant that I am above 16 years of age I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of personalised recommendations on financial and similar products offered by MoneyControl I agree personalized advertisements and any kind of remarketing/retargeting on other third party websites I agree to receive direct marketing communications via Emails and SMS Please select (*) all mandatory conditions to continue. I Accept 'Clothes still intact': Body of Pakistan man missing since 28 years found in melting glacier Shubhi Mishra USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy *I agree to the updated privacy policy and I warrant that I am above 16 years of age I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of personalised recommendations on financial and similar products offered by MoneyControl I agree personalized advertisements and any kind of remarketing/retargeting on other third party websites I agree to receive direct marketing communications via Emails and SMS Please select (*) all mandatory conditions to continue. I Accept Shubhi Mishra USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy *I agree to the updated privacy policy and I warrant that I am above 16 years of age I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of personalised recommendations on financial and similar products offered by MoneyControl I agree personalized advertisements and any kind of remarketing/retargeting on other third party websites I agree to receive direct marketing communications via Emails and SMS Please select (*) all mandatory conditions to continue. I Accept Were moving. To downtown Elko. Not my family and I. No, Im talking about my work family here at the Elko Daily Free Press. The paper has been based at its current location at 3720 Idaho Street since the late 1980s. Before that, it was at several locations in Elko, including, for a time, in the basement of the old Commercial Hotel. The paper itself has been around since 1883 and initially was published in Battle Mountain. It moved to Elko in the early part of the 20th century. Since the late 80s, the paper has gone through a corporate metamorphosis, shifting from local ownership by the Steninger family to Liberty Publishing Group in 2001, before the paper was acquired by my bosses at Lee Enterprises in 2004. Lee publishes dozens and dozens of papers large and small across the country. Our physical footprint, too, has changed through the years and the departures of staff members involved in the printing side of the operation as well as the shrinking newsroom and advertising department that just reflects the times in the newspaper business as well as other legacy forms of media. We no longer need the space we have on Idaho Street and found a new location on Railroad Street downtown. The paper is getting the new office ready for occupancy and when we open our doors at 875 Railroad St. later this month, well be in more modern digs with clean walls and carpeting unstained by ink from printing presses. (Our papers are now printed by our sister publication in Twin Falls, Idaho, so no ink stains moving forward.) Well also be closer to you and the activities downtown. Im planning to have coffee and doughnuts at an open house once were settled in, but will get into specifics when we have a better grip on the timing. Historic building This building is quite special to folks who work here and who have worked here in the past. The presses are now gone, replaced by the great folks at Neffs Diesel Repair and Performance, which purchased the building from Lee several years ago. Our news and advertising office shows its age but never lets us forget where the paper came from. We still have a huge vault with volumes and volumes of Elko Daily Free Press editions of the past. They go back to the mid-1940s; earlier editions were donated to the Northeastern Nevada Museum several years ago. Besides the ghosts of reporters and photographers past, and the enduring words and photos they produced that are now on paper or digitized on the Internet, theres also a spider or two living in that vault as well; I know because I walked Indiana Jones style through a large web just the other day. We wont be bringing most of our office furniture, so were hoping some local nonprofits will show an interest in using it and pick it up for free. Otherwise, wed sadly have to toss it in the waste bin. I will say, I dont believe much of it was manufactured in this century, though I could be wrong. Id consider it sturdy, useful and reliable. Our new office will be about half the size of the space we now use in the old Elko Daily building, which now is owned by Neffs. But well have new neighbors, including the vision-care center of the Te-Moak Tribe of Western Shoshone on one side and a medical office on the other. Well be downtown and in walking distance of several restaurants, shops and a movie theater. So, yes, well miss the history our current office holds, but we hope to make and write about future history from our new location. And, hopefully, well bump into you along the way. MC Science Desk Read the latest and trending science newsstay updated on NASA, ISRO, space missions, planets, asteroids, black holes, AI, quantum physics, galaxy discoveries, and more exciting breakthroughs. Rajni Pandey USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. 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I Accept Google CEO Sundar Pichai shares success mantra for young generation: Put yourself in situations where you feel a little..." MC Tech Desk Read the latest and trending tech newsstay updated on AI, gadgets, cybersecurity, software updates, smartphones, blockchain, space tech, and the future of innovation. 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 Shaurya Shubham USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. 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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 Shaurya Shubham USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. 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With a strong foundation in SEO, and video production she ensures content not only informs but also resonates with audiences. Priyanka Roshan USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. 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We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. 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We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. 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We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. 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I Accept India News Live: Income Tax Bill 2025 formally withdrawn, new bill to be tabled The Income-Tax Bill, 2025, which was introduced in the Lok Sabha on 13th February 2025 to replace the existing Income-Tax Act, 1961, has been formally withdrawn, according to sources. A new version of the Income Tax Bill, incorporating most of the recommendations made by the Select Committee chaired by Baijayant Panda, will be introduced on Monday, August 11. To avoid confusion by multiple versions of the Bill and to provide a clear and updated version with all changes incorporated, the new version of the Income Tax Bill will be introduced for the consideration of the House on Monday. China confirms PM Modis visit for SCO Summit in Tianjin on August 31, hopes for solidarity and friendship Abhinav Gupta USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy *I agree to the updated privacy policy and I warrant that I am above 16 years of age I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of personalised recommendations on financial and similar products offered by MoneyControl I agree personalized advertisements and any kind of remarketing/retargeting on other third party websites I agree to receive direct marketing communications via Emails and SMS Please select (*) all mandatory conditions to continue. I Accept Pragya Trivedi USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. 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I Accept 'Give the bully an inch...': Chinese Envoy slams Trump over 50% tariffs on India Pragya Trivedi USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy *I agree to the updated privacy policy and I warrant that I am above 16 years of age I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of personalised recommendations on financial and similar products offered by MoneyControl I agree personalized advertisements and any kind of remarketing/retargeting on other third party websites I agree to receive direct marketing communications via Emails and SMS Please select (*) all mandatory conditions to continue. I Accept How Israeli strikes on Gaza school shelters using US weapons may breach international law Pragya Trivedi USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy *I agree to the updated privacy policy and I warrant that I am above 16 years of age I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of personalised recommendations on financial and similar products offered by MoneyControl I agree personalized advertisements and any kind of remarketing/retargeting on other third party websites I agree to receive direct marketing communications via Emails and SMS Please select (*) all mandatory conditions to continue. I Accept Japan says US promised to fix tariff order to avoid double duties Sonalee Borgohain USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. 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By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy *I agree to the updated privacy policy and I warrant that I am above 16 years of age I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of personalised recommendations on financial and similar products offered by MoneyControl I agree personalized advertisements and any kind of remarketing/retargeting on other third party websites I agree to receive direct marketing communications via Emails and SMS Please select (*) all mandatory conditions to continue. I Accept Upcoming September, russia and Belarus plan to hold the large-scale Zapad-2025 military exercises. The first echelon of russian troops has already arrived in Belarus as part of the preparations. The very fact of such joint drills poses a direct or indirect threat not only to Ukraine, but to the entire West. Yet Zapad-2025 is not the only exercise on their schedule Moscow and Minsk plan six joint drills in September alone, Defence24 reports. Arrival of the first railway echelon with russian troops in Belarus for the Zapad-2025 exercises, August 2025 / Photo source: russian media Three of these will be under the CSTO framework: Vzaimodeystviye-2025, to train rapid reaction forces; Poisk-2025, to drill reconnaissance units; and Eskadron-2025, focused on logistics units. Although russia officially describes Zapad as "cyclical and defensive," in reality these maneuvers carry significant geopolitical weight. They serve to test the effectiveness of command structures, inter-branch coordination, and, most importantly, resource mobilization capacity. Illustrative photo: russian troops at drills / Open-source photo Zapad-2025 will also include "new tactical techniques" for land battles, particularly those "based on the experience of modern conflicts." These include electronic warfare to disrupt enemy communications, revised mechanized unit tactics, and likely hybrid warfare operations. Notably, Belarus under Lukashenko will conduct mobilization drills involving civilian authorities, especially in transport and communications. This reflects the deepening merger of Belarus into russias military command structure. The West, and NATO in particular, has read the signal and evaluated this as a growing threat to Europe. In response, the Alliance has launched Steadfast Dart 2025 its largest exercises in recent years. Netanyahu says he will advise PM Modi on dealing with Trump, but 'in private' Abhinav Gupta USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. 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I Accept Netanyahu vows to take control of Gaza, hand over to Arab forces; Hamas calls it coup Pragya Trivedi USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. 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I Accept Putin may meet Trump next week, no talks with Zelensky confirmed: Russian diplomat Pragya Trivedi USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy *I agree to the updated privacy policy and I warrant that I am above 16 years of age I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of personalised recommendations on financial and similar products offered by MoneyControl I agree personalized advertisements and any kind of remarketing/retargeting on other third party websites I agree to receive direct marketing communications via Emails and SMS Please select (*) all mandatory conditions to continue. I Accept Putin set to travel abroad for Trump meeting: Could ICC warrant lead to his arrest? Pragya Trivedi USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. 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I Accept 'The way Trump has spoken about PM Modi...': Former US official warns against 50% tariffs on India Abhinav Gupta USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. 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I Accept US calls India a 'strategic partner,' commits to 'full and frank' talks amid trade and oil tensions Pragya Trivedi USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy *I agree to the updated privacy policy and I warrant that I am above 16 years of age I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of personalised recommendations on financial and similar products offered by MoneyControl I agree personalized advertisements and any kind of remarketing/retargeting on other third party websites I agree to receive direct marketing communications via Emails and SMS Please select (*) all mandatory conditions to continue. I Accept Portugal is looking to join one of the sixth-generation fighter jet development programs. This is part of the country's broader effort to replace its fleet of aging F-16AM/BM aircraft, which could later be transferred to Ukraine as part of military aid. Portugal's Minister of National Defense Joao Nuno Lacerda Teixeira de Melo stated that the country plans to join one of the European programs as an observer, Janes reports. The choice is between the Global Combat Air Program (with Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom) and Future Combat Air System (with Germany, Spain, and France). Airbus concept of Future Combat Air System / Open-source photo However, it's not yet clear which direction Portugal will choose. Considering the difficulties Belgium faced trying to join FCAS, it's likely that GCAP will be the preferred option, especially as it already has set a timeline for the first flight. Since a sixth-generation fighter remains a long-term project, Portugal is currently focused on the initial stage of F-16 replacement in the 20242030 timeframe. The country is choosing between the F-35 and JAS-39 Gripen. JAS39 Gripen and F-35 / Photo credit:: Swedish Air Force It's important to note that this process has been ongoing for several years, and as of early 2025, no formal assessment of the options had even been conducted. In other words, it's unclear when a final contract might be signed. Given the current production timelines for modern fighter jets, it could take several more years from contract signing to first deliveries. So if Portugal does decide to send F-16s to Ukraine, it won't happen soon. On the other hand, Portugal has previously sold its fighter jets to Romania. Therefore, with a signed agreement, it's theoretically possible for Ukraine to receive additional jets sooner. Overall, the Ukrainian Air Force is expected to receive more F-16s from Belgium and the Netherlands in the coming years, so the total number won't be critically low. Still, additional aircraft would help ease maintenance and support operations. Portuguese Air Force F-16BM trainer jet / Photo credit: Laurent ERRERA Portugal is already a member of the Fighter Jet Coalition for supplying these aircraft and training Ukrainian pilots. This makes direct transfers more feasible if replacement fighters are secured. US Congressman slams Trumps 'tariff tantrum' on India, says it 'risks years of diplomatic progress' Pragya Trivedi USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy *I agree to the updated privacy policy and I warrant that I am above 16 years of age I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of personalised recommendations on financial and similar products offered by MoneyControl I agree personalized advertisements and any kind of remarketing/retargeting on other third party websites I agree to receive direct marketing communications via Emails and SMS Please select (*) all mandatory conditions to continue. I Accept Who is Taylor Adam Lee? The US soldier accused of trying to trade tank secrets to Russia Abhinav Gupta USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy *I agree to the updated privacy policy and I warrant that I am above 16 years of age I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of personalised recommendations on financial and similar products offered by MoneyControl I agree personalized advertisements and any kind of remarketing/retargeting on other third party websites I agree to receive direct marketing communications via Emails and SMS Please select (*) all mandatory conditions to continue. I Accept Why Trump's tariff tactics are seen as 'Tamasha diplomacy' Smriti Mishra USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy *I agree to the updated privacy policy and I warrant that I am above 16 years of age I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of personalised recommendations on financial and similar products offered by MoneyControl I agree personalized advertisements and any kind of remarketing/retargeting on other third party websites I agree to receive direct marketing communications via Emails and SMS Please select (*) all mandatory conditions to continue. I Accept Will paying Rs 17.5 lakh fast-track your US Green Card? Breaking down the Dignity Act of 2025 Abhinav Gupta USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy *I agree to the updated privacy policy and I warrant that I am above 16 years of age I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of personalised recommendations on financial and similar products offered by MoneyControl I agree personalized advertisements and any kind of remarketing/retargeting on other third party websites I agree to receive direct marketing communications via Emails and SMS Please select (*) all mandatory conditions to continue. I Accept Will welcome any help from US or any country to resolve Kashmir issue: Pakistan foreign office Rewati Karan USER CONSENT We at moneycontrol use cookies and other tracking technologies to assist you with navigation and determine your location. We also capture cookies to obtain your feedback, analyse your use of our products and services and provide content from third parties. By clicking on 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies and other tracking technologies. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy. *We collect cookies for the functioning of our website and to give you the best experience. This includes some essential cookies. Cookies from third parties which may be used for personalization and determining your location. By clicking 'I Accept', you agree to the usage of cookies to enhance your personalized experience on our site. For more details you can refer to our cookie policy *I agree to the updated privacy policy and I warrant that I am above 16 years of age I agree to the processing of my personal data for the purpose of personalised recommendations on financial and similar products offered by MoneyControl I agree personalized advertisements and any kind of remarketing/retargeting on other third party websites I agree to receive direct marketing communications via Emails and SMS Please select (*) all mandatory conditions to continue. I Accept Located in the heart of Yangliuqing Town, Xiqing District, north Chinas Tianjin Municipality, the Yangliuqing Folk Culture Museum offers a vivid window into the traditions, artistry, and everyday life of Tianjin. Covering over 5,000 square meters, the museum has become a key cultural education base and public platform for social exchange in the region. With the central theme of history, folk art, and inheritance, the museum takes visitors on a journey through six major exhibition zones. These include displays on the origin of Yangliuqing woodblock New Year prints along the Grand Canal, the role of prints in expressing prayers for prosperity, and their reflections of a flourishing commercial era. Other sections highlight the integration of Silk Road artistry into local life, the influence of traditional opera and local customs, and the enduring charm of intangible cultural heritage. The museum houses more than a thousand cultural relicsfrom traditional prints and folk artifacts to old photographs and life-size period recreations. With immersive scene restorations, the museum brings the vibrant spirit of old Yangliuqing to life in an engaging and modern way. Blending historical richness with creative presentation, the Yangliuqing Folk Culture Museum serves as both a faithful portrait of a historic town and a powerful example of how intangible heritage continues to inspire and educate new generations. Photo taken on Aug. 7, 2025, shows the exterior view of the Yangliuqing Folk Culture Museum in Yangliuqing Town, Xiqing District, north Chinas Tianjin Municipality. Housed in the historic Guangming Hall, the museum serves as a major center for folk culture education and exhibition. (Wang Xinyuan/Guangming Picture) Photo taken on Aug. 7, 2025, shows two traditional Yangliuqing woodblock New Year prints on display inside the Yangliuqing Folk Culture Museum, Yangliuqing Town, Xiqing District, north Chinas Tianjin Municipality. These prints, known for their vivid colors and auspicious themes, are representative works of the regions intangible cultural heritage. (Wang Xinyuan/Guangming Picture) Photo taken on Aug. 7, 2025, shows a life-sized figure recreating the process of making the Abundance Year After Year () woodblock print, one of the signature works exhibited at the Yangliuqing Folk Culture Museum, Yangliuqing Town, Xiqing District, north Chinas Tianjin Municipality. (Wang Xinyuan/Guangming Picture) Photo taken on Aug. 7, 2025, shows kites featuring the Abundance Year After Year () motif, on display inside the Yangliuqing Folk Culture Museum, Yangliuqing Town, Xiqing District, north Chinas Tianjin Municipality. The design reflects the creative adaptation of traditional New Year prints into other folk crafts. (Wang Xinyuan/Guangming Picture) Photo taken on Aug. 7, 2025, shows a clay sculpture scene exhibited at the Yangliuqing Folk Culture Museum, Yangliuqing Town, Xiqing District, north Chinas Tianjin Municipality, demonstrating a traditional Chinese wedding ceremony. The figurines were crafted in the style of Tianjins renowned clay figurine art. (Wang Xinyuan/Guangming Picture) Photo taken on Aug. 7, 2025, shows a paper-cutting artwork titled Hundred Children (), exhibited at the Yangliuqing Folk Culture Museum, Yangliuqing Town, Xiqing District, north Chinas Tianjin Municipality. The piece symbolizes prosperity, harmony, and the wish for many offspring in traditional Chinese culture. (Wang Xinyuan/Guangming Picture) Photo taken on Aug. 7, 2025, shows a colorful display of traditional Chinese lantern inside the Yangliuqing Folk Culture Museum, Yangliuqing Town, Xiqing District, north Chinas Tianjin Municipality. (Wang Xinyuan/Guangming Picture) Editor: Zhang Zhou An exhibition spotlighting Xizang's 1904 resistance against British invaders is held at the Museum of Tibetan Culture in Beijing, capital of China, on Aug. 2, 2025.(Xinhua/Zuo Chang) BEIJING, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- With heavy smoke billowing from a fort, a throng of Tibetans, armed with bows and arrows, charge bravely ahead toward a large army of foreigners brandishing rifles and preparing to attack the fort. This dramatic digital simulation is part of an exhibition at the Museum of Tibetan Culture in Beijing, spotlighting Xizang's 1904 resistance against British invaders. "Those who took up arms were monks, herders and peasants. Ordinary people were defending their homeland," said Dawa Tsering, curator of the museum, in an interview with Xinhua. Despite being vastly outgunned, the Tibetans fought bravely, driven by patriotism and a determination to protect their land. "By sharing Xizang's history, we highlight the collective efforts of all ethnic groups in building a unified country," Dawa Tsering added. The museum, established in 2010, plays a vital role in preserving and showcasing Tibetan history and culture. It houses artifacts from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and historical records documenting the Chinese central government's governance over Xizang. Another popular exhibition here focuses on the centuries-old tradition of the reincarnation of Tibetan Living Buddhas, a process only valid when recognized by the Chinese central government. This exhibition, featuring over 100 artifacts displayed through images, videos and digital projections, clearly outlines the origin and development of the reincarnation system. "The exhibitions are awe-inspiring," reads a visitor's comment in the museum's guest book. "They enabled me to better understand the history and religious traditions of Xizang." Beyond exhibitions, the museum also offers hands-on activities, enabling visitors to experience Tibetan culture firsthand. Visitors can learn to write in Tibetan, create Thangka paintings, or craft tsha-tshas (Buddhist clay sculptures). They can also participate in Tibetan New Year celebrations in Beijing, according to Zhang Li, an official of the museum. "We organize events in neighborhoods, schools, shopping malls, and even army camps and temples to engage as many people as possible," said Dawa Tsering. "The more people learn about Xizang, the more they realize it's not as mysterious as they once believed." Editor: Xiong Jian The Polish company Control Process S.A. is disrupting the construction of a waste processing plant in the Ukrainian city of Lviv, deputies of the Lviv City Council have appealed to the Prime Minister of Poland Donald Tusk due to the critical situation, the press service of the Lviv City Council has said The release specifies that the relevant appeal was voiced today, August 7, by Nazariy Berbeka, head of the temporary control commission on the activities of the Landscape and Communal Enterprise (LCE) Green City, during a plenary session of the Lviv City Council. In the document, the deputies emphasized that the Polish company Control Process S.A., which in 2021 won the international tender for the construction of a plant for mechanical and biological processing of solid household waste, is not adhering to the terms of the contract and is disrupting the construction schedule. The company has already received EUR 29 million from the city. At the same time, Lviv has repeatedly met the contractor, extending the work deadlines. The contract itself will expire on October 4, 2025 by this date, the Polish company is obliged to complete all commissioning work and put the facility into operation. However, today it is already obvious that this will not happen, the deputies state. Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovy stressed that this is not only about business relations between the city and the contractor, but also about the image of Poland as a whole. "At the construction site of the plant in Lviv, the white-and-red flag of the Republic of Poland flies next to the Ukrainian one. Therefore, this is not only about the contract, but also about the business reputation of the state. We call on the Polish Prime Minister to intervene in the situation within the framework of national legislation. Lviv is ready to cooperate and expects Control Process S.A. to fulfill its obligations. This is a test for further Ukrainian-Polish economic partnership," Andriy Sadovy said. Green City also spoke about attempts to obstruct Control Process S.A. other contractors involved in the project. "This is the largest contract of a Polish company in Ukraine over EUR 40 million, partly financed by an EBRD loan. This project has attracted the attention of the international community and is of great importance for the city community," the enterprise said. The deputies call on the Polish Prime Minister, within his competence, to respond to the situation and influence the contractor. They also emphasize that the further development of Ukrainian-Polish economic relations will largely depend on the successful or unsuccessful experience of cooperation with Polish companies. Aggregators will play an important role in the common electricity market of Ukraine and Europe, helping, in particular, consumers to work effectively on it, believes chairman of the board of Ukrenergo Vitaliy Zaichenko. "Aggregators will be one of the main players in the future market. In Europe, this has quite strong development, and one of the elements of the energy system flexibility is flexibility on the consumer side. And it is aggregators that will provide them with the opportunity to earn on their consumption," Zaichenko said during a broadcast with Olha Babiy on the YouTube channel of Kyiv School of Public Administration Media. He emphasized that energy is not a commodity, but a consumption schedule, when it has a different price at different times, and aggregators will allow consumers to work as efficiently as possible. Zaichenko also expressed the opinion that electricity traders are most ready to work in the unified market, since they already work in Europe. "Traders are quite well prepared for European integration, but they do not yet work in all segments, they will also need to learn more, change software, and develop teams," the chairman of the board of Ukrenergo noted. As reported, in an interview with the Energy Reform online portal, D.TRADING Commercial Director Dmytro Maliar called the aggregator the key to the efficiency of distributed generation. According to him, an aggregator is a company that represents the interests of various generating entities of distributed generation that do not want or cannot work independently in the electricity market. According to him, an aggregator allows a professional trader to represent such producers in many market segments, determine their trading strategy, and be responsible for managing market positions to optimize the financial results of this business. Guinea-Bissaus president appoints new prime minister months ahead of a key election View Photo BISSAU, Guinea-Bissau (AP) The president of Guinea-Bissau on Thursday sacked the West African countrys prime minister and appointed his successor, the latest move to position President Umaro Sissoco Embalo for a likely second term after elections due in November. According to a presidential decree, Rui Duarte de Barros, who served as prime minister since December 2023, was replaced by Braima Camara, a former coordinator of the Madem G15 opposition party. There has been much controversy over Embalos term ahead of the November general elections. The small West African nation has endured multiple coups since gaining independence from Portugal more than 50 years ago. Guinea-Bissaus constitution sets the presidential term at five years, with maximum two terms. The opposition says Embalos term should have ended on Feb. 27 but the nations Supreme Court has ruled that it should run until Sept. 4. However, Embalo earlier this year set the election date for Nov. 30 and said that his first term will run until then, further heightening tensions. Over the past months, the opposition has refused to recognize Embalo as president. A mission by a West African regional bloc sent to Guinea-Bissau in March to help resolve the crisis left abruptly after what it said were threats of expulsion from Embalo. Associated Press South African court tells Zambian ex-presidents family to hand over body for burial at home South African court tells Zambian ex-presidents family to hand over body for burial at home View Photo JOHANNESBURG (AP) A South African court on Friday ruled in favor of the government of Zambia and ordered that it can repatriate the remains of its former president and bury him in his home country, against his familys wishes. The Zambian government and the family of the late Edgar Lungu, Zambian president from 2015 to 2021, have been embroiled in a legal battle over his remains and burial. Lungu died in June, aged 68, at a South African hospital following an undisclosed illness. His family wanted him to be buried in South Africa and for the current President Hakainde Hichilema neither to attend his funeral nor be involved in its arrangements. The family said it was Lungus final wish that Hichilema should not get anywhere near his burial, but the Zambian government went to court to stop him from being buried in South Africa. The court ruled on Friday that Zambia had the authority to hold a state funeral for its former leader. The court noted that the Zambian courts have previously emphasized that a state funeral is a matter of public interest and protocol for a person of national significance. Such that even if a president has expressed a desire not to be given a state funeral, such a wish must be overridden by public interest, said Judge President Aubrey Ledwaba. Lungus family applied for leave to appeal the ruling on Friday, but they will have to convince the same court that made the order that there are reasonable prospects for a different outcome. Lungu and Hichilema were sworn political rivals. Their conflict led to Hichilemas imprisonment in 2017, when Lungu was president. Last year, Lungu accused Hichilemas government of using police to harass him and restrict his movements. His family also said the government had initially prevented him from traveling to South Africa for treatment, a charge the government denied. Zambias Attorney General Mulilo Kabesha welcomed the ruling, telling reporters that he hoped it would bring the matter to a close even though the family still had a right to appeal. This is not winning. You dont win over a burial. Its just what makes good sense, that the former president of the Republic of Zambia should be buried in his own country, the country where he was president, said Kabesha. __ Jacob Zimba in Lusaka contributed to this report. ____ APs Africa coverage at: https://apnews.com/hub/africa By MOGOMOTSI MAGOME Associated Press BEIRUT (AP) An Israeli airstrike on eastern Lebanon killed a number of people, including a senior member of a Palestinian group and his bodyguard as they were on their way to Syria, news reports and his group said Friday. The airstrike near the Lebanese border crossing of Masnaa on Thursday afternoon killed Mohammed Wishah, a member of the central committee of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, or PFLP, the group said in a statement. The Israeli army confirmed the airstrike, saying that Wishah was responsible for coordinating with other militant groups in the region and strengthening ties between the PFLP and Irans so-called axis of resistance. The military said that Wishah was advancing attacks against Israel and took his job as the PFLPs top security official in Syria after his predecessor was killed in an airstrike in Beirut in September. In a post on social media, senior PFLP official Marwan Abdel-Al mourned the death of Wishah and his bodyguard, Mufid Hussein. We have lost two of the most loyal comrades who gave their precious souls to freedom, Abdel-Al wrote. Lebanons state-run National News Agency, or NNA, said that the airstrike on east Lebanon killed six people and wounded 10 others, without identifying the victims. Since the Israel-Hamas war began in October 2023, Israel has targeted Palestinian officials in Lebanon, including PFLP members. Three FPLP members were killed in an airstrike on a Beirut apartment in September. A FPLP official said that Wishah had been in Lebanon to meet with other officials with the group and was on his way back to Syria when the airstrike happened. The official, who wasnt authorized to speak with the media, spoke on condition of anonymity. The PFLP statement said Wishah was born in the Gaza Strip in 1954 and spent five years in Israeli jails shortly after he joined the Palestinian group in 1973. For many years, the leftist and secular PFLP has been the No. 2 member of the Palestinian Liberation Organization after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Fatah group. On Friday morning, an Israeli drone strike hit a car in a coastal highway in south Lebanon, killing citizen journalist Mohammed Shehadeh, NNA reported. Hezbollah later said that Shehadeh was one of its members. Since the 14-month war between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group ended, Israel has carried out scores of airstrikes on Lebanon, mainly targeting Hezbollah members. By BASSEM MROUE Associated Press Plans to take Gaza City are met with defiance from war-weary Palestinians and anger by many Israelis Plans to take Gaza City are met with defiance from war-weary Palestinians and anger by many Israelis View Photo TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) Israels decision to take over Gaza City was met with resignation and defiance by Palestinians who have survived two years of war and repeated raids. Many Israelis responded with fear and anger, worried it could be a death sentence for hostages held in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Friday that Israel would intensify its 22-month war with Hamas by taking over Gaza City, large parts of which have been destroyed by past bombardment and ground incursions. A major ground operation is almost sure to cause more mass displacement and worsen an already catastrophic humanitarian crisis. What does (Israel) want from us? There is nothing here to occupy, said a woman in Gaza City who identified herself as Umm Youssef. There is no life here. I have to walk every day for more than 15 minutes to get drinking water. Ruby Chen, a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen whose son, Itay, is a hostage held in Gaza, told The Associated Press that the decision puts the remaining hostages in danger. What is the plan now that is different from the last 22 months? he said. Ehud Olmert, a former prime minister and harsh critic of Netanyahu, told the AP theres not any objective that can be achieved thats worth the cost of the lives of the hostages, the soldiers and civilians, echoing concerns expressed by many former top security officials in Israel. I will die here Netanyahu says military pressure is key to achieving Israels war goals of returning all the hostages and destroying Hamas. On Thursday, he told Fox News that Israel intends to eventually take over all of Gaza and hand it over to a friendly Arab civilian administration. But Hamas has survived nearly two years of war and several large-scale ground operations, including in Gaza City. In a statement, the militant group said the people of Gaza would remain defiant against occupation and warned Israel that the incursion will not be a walk in the park. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled Gaza City in the opening weeks of the war, the first of several mass displacements. Many returned during a ceasefire earlier this year. Now, residents say they are too busy searching for food and trying to survive amid the citys bombed-out buildings and tent camps to think about another exodus. I have no intention to leave my home, I will die here, said Kamel Abu Nahel from the citys urban Shati refugee camp. Israel already controls and has largely destroyed around 75% of the Gaza Strip, with most of its population of some 2 million Palestinians now sheltering in Gaza City, the central city of Deir al-Balah and the sprawling displacement camps in the Muwasi area along the coast. The offensive has killed over 61,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not say how many were fighters or civilians. It says women and children make up around half the dead. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals. The United Nations and other experts consider its figures to be the most reliable estimate of casualties, while Israel disputes them. Ismail Zaydah said he and his family had remained in Gaza City throughout the war. This is our land, there is no other place for us to go, he said. We are not surrendering We were born here, and here we die. This madman called Netanyahu Hamas-led militants abducted 251 people in the Oct. 7, 2023 attack that started the war and killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians. Though most of the hostages have been released in ceasefires or other deals, 50 are still in Gaza, less than half of them believed by Israel to be alive. Relatives of many of the hostages and their supporters have repeatedly protested against the continuation of the war, demanding that Israel reach a ceasefire with Hamas that would include the return of their loved ones. The long-running talks broke down last month. Somebodys got to stop this madman called Netanyahu, said Yehuda Cohen, whose son Nimrod is held hostage. He said faith in the United States to help is also dwindling. I lost hope with Donald Trump hes letting Netanyahu just do whatever he likes, he said. But other Israelis voiced support for the decision. They need to go after Hamas, said Susan Makin, a Tel Aviv resident. Why are they not asking why Hamas has not given back the hostages and put (down) their arms? The agony around the plight of the hostages has worsened in recent days as Palestinians militants have released videos showing two of the captives emaciated and pleading for their lives. Families fear their loved ones, who may be held in other parts of Gaza, are running out time. Amir Avivi, a retired Israeli general and chairman of Israels Defense and Security Forum, said there are a few hostages in Gaza City and the army will have to decide how to manage the situation. He said they might be able to surround the hostages and negotiate directly with their captors or leave those areas untouched. Under pressure, Hamas might decide to release the captives, he said. That strategy carries great risk. Last year, Israeli forces recovered the bodies of six hostages who were killed by their captors when troops approached the tunnel where they were being held. ___ Shurafa reported from Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip. Associated Press reporter Shlomo Mor in Tel Aviv contributed. ___ Follow APs war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war By SAM MEDNICK and WAFAA SHURAFA Associated Press Judge orders temporary halt to construction at Floridas Alligator Alcatraz detention center View Photo MIAMI (AP) A federal judge on Thursday ordered a two-week halt to construction at an immigrant detention center in the Florida Everglades dubbed Alligator Alcatraz as she considers whether it violates environmental laws. The facility was quickly built two months ago at a lightly used, single-runway training airport and can hold up to 3,000 detainees in temporary tent structures. The site was continuing to be built out, but the order by U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams temporarily bars the installation of any new industrial-style lighting, as well as any paving, filling, excavating or fencing. The order also prohibits any other site expansion, including placing or erecting any additional buildings, tents, dormitories or other residential or administrative facilities. The order doesnt include any restrictions on law enforcement or immigration enforcement activity at the center, which is currently holding hundreds of detainees. Williams issued the temporary restraining order during a hearing and then followed up with a written order later Thursday. Environmental groups and the Miccosukee Tribe have asked Williams to issue a preliminary injunction to halt operations and further construction. The suit argues that the project threatens environmentally sensitive wetlands that are home to protected plants and animals and would reverse billions of dollars worth of environmental restoration. Were pleased that the judge saw the urgent need to put a pause on additional construction, and we look forward to advancing our ultimate goal of protecting the unique and imperiled Everglades ecosystem from further damage caused by this mass detention facility, said Eve Samples, executive director at Friends of the Everglades. A spokesperson for Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis decried the ruling but said it will have no impact on immigration enforcement in Florida. Alligator Alcatraz will remain operational, continuing to serve as a force multiplier to enhance deportation efforts, spokesperson Alex Lanfranconi said in a statement. The order is temporary, since arguments in the case are still pending Plaintiffs presented witnesses Wednesday and Thursday in support of the injunction, while attorneys for the state and federal government were scheduled to present next week. Following Thursdays testimony, Paul Schwiep, an attorney for the environmental groups, asked Williams to issue a temporary restraining order that would at least prevent any new construction at the site while the preliminary injunction was argued. Williams asked Florida attorney Jesse Panuccio if the state would agree to halt construction so that she wouldnt need to issue the restraining order. She pointed out that anything built at the site would likely remain there permanently, regardless of how the case was ultimately decided. Panuccio said he couldnt guarantee that the state would stop all work. This sparked an hour-long hearing about the temporary restraining order, which will be in place for the next two weeks while the ongoing preliminary injunction hearing continues. Temporary restraining orders are meant to maintain the status quo during a legal dispute for a short period of time, while preliminary injunctions are generally issued after a longer hearing and last until the final resolution of the case. The legal fight centers on federal vs. state control of the site The crux of the plaintiffs argument is that the detention facility violates the National Environmental Policy Act, which requires federal agencies to assess the environmental effects of major construction projects. Panuccio said during the hearing that although the detention center would be holding federal detainees, the construction and operation of the facility is entirely under the state of Florida, meaning the NEPA review wouldnt apply. Schwiep said the purpose of the facility is for immigration enforcement, which is exclusively a federal function. He said the facility wouldnt exist if it wasnt for the federal governments desire for a facility to hold detainees. Williams said Thursday that the detention facility was, at a minimum, a joint partnership between the state and federal government. Christopher McVoy, a soil physicist, hydrologist and wetlands ecologist, testified for the plaintiffs on Thursday that at least 20 acres (8 hectares) of asphalt have been added to the site since the Florida Department of Emergency Management began construction, based on a tour that he took of the facility in June, just days before it opened, and subsequent arial photos of the site. Tents, trailers and other heavy equipment have also been moved to the airport, which previously had just a few small structures. Dillon Reio, a licensed professional geologist, testified that the new paving could lead to an increase in water runoff to the adjacent wetlands and spread harmful chemicals into the Everglades. A second lawsuit alleges violations of detainees rights The lawsuit in Miami against federal and state authorities is one of two legal challenges to the South Florida detention center, which was built more than a month ago by the state of Florida on an isolated airstrip owned by Miami-Dade County. A second lawsuit brought by civil rights groups says detainees constitutional rights are being violated since they are barred from meeting lawyers, are being held without any charges, and a federal immigration court has canceled bond hearings. A hearing in that case is scheduled for Aug. 18. In a court filing in the civil rights lawsuit on Thursday, the state of Florida said that detainees have been allowed to meet with their lawyers for three weeks at the detention center, which opened July 3, despite some initial delays due to logistical challenges in having private contractors build infrastructure and install equipment. Since July 15, the state has granted every request for a detainee to meet with an attorney, it said. More meetings are taking place every day and there have been no complaints, according to the filing. Construction, maintenance and operation of the detention center are done by the state of Florida, without involvement of the federal government, though the state is granted authority over the detainees through an intergovernmental agreement with federal agencies, the court filing said. Under the 55-year-old federal environmental law, federal agencies should have examined how the detention centers construction would impact the environment, identified ways to minimize the impact and followed other procedural rules such as allowing public comment, according to the environmental groups and the tribe. It makes no difference that the detention center was built by the state of Florida, since federal agencies have authority over immigration, the lawsuit said. Attorneys for federal and state agencies last week asked Williams to dismiss or transfer the injunction request, saying the lawsuit was filed in the wrong jurisdiction. Even though the property is owned by Miami-Dade County, Floridas southern district is the wrong venue for the lawsuit since the detention center is located in neighboring Collier County, which is in the states middle district, they said. Williams had yet to rule on that argument. The lawsuits were being heard as DeSantis administration apparently was preparing to build a second immigration detention center at a Florida National Guard training center in north Florida. At least one contract has been awarded for whats labeled in state records as the North Detention Facility. By DAVID FISCHER Associated Press Photo: http://bank.gov.ua/ The High Court of Justice of England and Wales has issued an order to seize the assets of Kostiantyn Zhevaho - the former owner of Bank Finance and Credit, the liquidation of which began in 2015, the National Bank of Ukraine reported on Friday. "At a hearing "without notice" on July 11, 2025, the High Court of Justice granted the National Bank's application to freeze certain assets of Kostiantyn Zhevaho until the final decision of the English court on the NBU's claim for the recognition and enforcement in England of the decision of the Kyiv Shevchenkivsky District Court dated October 1, 2019, which was made against Kostiantyn Zhevaho," the central bank noted. It recalled that the Shevchenkivsky Court ordered Zhevaho to pay a debt of UAH 1.539 billion in favor of the NBU, because in 2015 the former owner of Finance and Credit Bank concluded a surety agreement on the repayment of the bank's refinancing loans under a number of loan agreements, assuming personal obligations for the repayment of the financial institution's debt to the National Bank. It is noted that the legal process in England was a continuation of the NBU's many years of work to recover this debt, which began in December 2015 with an appeal to the court in Ukraine. In December 2019, the decision entered into force and the National Bank appealed to the State Enforcement Service for the forced execution of the court decision to collect the debt. However, Zhevaho evaded its full execution, which is why it has not yet been possible to fully execute the court decision in Ukraine, the NBU explained. The interests of the National Bank of Ukraine in a foreign jurisdiction are represented by an advisor - the leading global law firm Hogan Lovells International LLP, which helped the nationalized PrivatBank win a court dispute in London with its former owners. As reported, on September 17, 2015, the NBU made a decision to classify Finance and Credit Bank as insolvent. At the time of this decision, the bank's majority shareholder was Zhevaho, who indirectly owned a 97.67% stake. Trump orders increased federal law enforcement presence in Washington to make DC safe again View Photo WASHINGTON (AP) The White House said Thursday night that there will be increased presence of federal law enforcement in the nations capital to combat crime for at least the next week, amid President Donald Trump s suggestions that his administration could fully take over running the city. Washington, DC is an amazing city, but it has been plagued by violent crime for far too long, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. President Trump has directed an increased presence of federal law enforcement to protect innocent citizens. She added that the increased federal presence means there will be no safe harbor for violent criminals in D.C. Trump has repeatedly suggested that the rule of Washington could be returned to federal authorities. Doing so would require a repeal of the Home Rule Act of 1973 in Congress, a step Trump said lawyers are examining but could face steep pushback. We have a capital thats very unsafe, Trump told reporters at the White House this week. We have to run D.C. The White House said the increased law enforcement would make D.C. safe again and would be present on the streets starting at midnight led by U.S. Park Police following an 11 p.m. Thursday roll call at an established command center. The push will last the next seven days with the option to extend as needed, under the authority of Trumps previous executive order establishing the Making DC Safe and Beautiful Task Force. The added federal officials will be identified, in marked units and highly visible, the White House said. Participating law enforcement include personnel from the U.S. Capitol Police, Homeland Security Investigations, the Federal Protective Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration, Enforcement and Removal Operations, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the U.S. Marshals Service and the U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of Columbia. The police forces for Amtrak and the citys Metro rail service are also involved. However a two-hour tour of the D.C. streets, starting around 1 a.m. Friday, revealed no evidence of the sort of multi-agency flood of uniformed personnel described in Trumps announcement. There was a robust, but not unusual, Metropolitan Police Department presence in late-night hot spots like 14th Street and along Florida Avenue. But there was no overt or visible law enforcement presence other than the MPD. Trump has long suggested crime and violence is on the rise in Washington, and has lately begun to criticize things like litter and graffiti. But the catalyst for the order to increase police presence was the assault last weekend on a high-profile member of the Department of Government Efficiency by a group of teenagers in an attempted carjacking. The victim, Edward Coristine, nicknamed Big Balls, was among the most visible figures of DOGE, which was tasked with cutting jobs and slashing the federal bureaucracy. Police arrested two 15-year-olds and say theyre still looking for other members of the group. If D.C. doesnt get its act together, and quickly, we will have no choice but to take Federal control of the City, and run this City how it should be run, and put criminals on notice that theyre not going to get away with it anymore, Trump posted on Truth Social earlier this week. The president subsequently said he was considering repealing Washingtons limited Home Rule autonomy or bringing in the National Guard, maybe very quickly. Thursdays announcement comes as Washington Mayor Muriel Bowsers government can claim to have reduced the number of homicides and carjackings both of which spiked citywide in 2023. Carjackings in Washington overall dropped significantly the following year in 2024, from 957 to just under 500, and the number is on track to decline again this year with less than 200 recorded so far more than halfway through 2025. By WILL WEISSERT Associated Press Trump says he will meet Putin next Friday in Alaska to discuss ending the Ukraine war Trump says he will meet Putin next Friday in Alaska to discuss ending the Ukraine war View Photo WASHINGTON (AP) President Donald Trump said he will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin next Friday in Alaska to discuss ending the war in Ukraine, a potential breakthrough after weeks of expressing frustration that more was not being done to quell the fighting. The Kremlin has not yet confirmed the details, which Trump announced on social media, but both nations had said they expected a meeting could happen as soon as next week. Such a summit may prove pivotal in a war that began more than three years ago when Russia invaded its western neighbor and has led to tens of thousands of deaths although theres no guarantee it will stop the fighting since Moscow and Kyiv remain far apart on their conditions for peace. In comments to reporters at the White House before his post confirming the date and place, Trump suggested that any agreement would likely involve some swapping of territories, but he gave no details. Analysts, including some close to the Kremlin, have suggested that Russia could offer to give up territory it controls outside of the four regions it claims to have annexed. Trump said his meeting with Putin would come before any sit-down discussion involving Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump also previously agreed to meet with Putin even if the Russian leader would not meet with Zelenskyy. That stoked fears in Europe that Ukraine could be sidelined in efforts to stop the continents biggest conflict since World War II. Trumps announcement that he planned to host one of Americas adversaries on U.S. soil broke with expectations that theyd meet in a third country. The gesture gives Putin validation after the U.S. and its allies had long sought to make him a pariah over his war against Ukraine. Early in Putins tenure, he regularly met with his U.S. counterparts. That dropped off and the tone became icier as tensions mounted between Russia and the West after Moscow illegally annexed Ukraines Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and faced allegations of meddling in the 2016 U.S. elections. Putins last visit to the U.S. was in 2015, when he attended the U.N. General Assembly meeting in New York. The meeting in Alaska would be the first U.S.-Russia summit since 2021, when former President Joe Biden met Putin in Geneva. After announcing Friday a framework aimed at ending decades of conflict elsewhere in the world between Armenia and Azerbaijan Trump said he would meet with Putin very shortly. His subsequent post said the highly anticipated meeting would happen Aug. 15 in Alaska and more details would follow. Swapping territories Trump had told reporters that the summit would have been sooner, but I guess theres security arrangements that unfortunately people have to make. Trump said, President Putin, I believe, wants to see peace, and Zelenskyy wants to see peace. He said that, In all fairness to President Zelenskyy, hes getting everything he needs to, assuming we get something done. Trump said a peace deal would likely mean Ukraine and Russia would swap some territory they each control. Nothing easy, the president said. But were gonna get some back. Were gonna get some switched. Therell be some swapping of territories, to the betterment of both. Pressed on if this was the last chance to make a major peace deal, Trump said, I dont like using the term last chance, and said that, When those guns start going off, its awfully tough to get em to stop. Exasperated that Putin did not heed his calls to stop bombing Ukrainian cities, Trump almost two weeks ago moved up his ultimatum to impose additional sanctions on Russia and introduce secondary tariffs targeting countries that buy Russian oil if the Kremlin did not move toward a settlement. The deadline was Friday. But the White House did not answer questions that evening about the state of possible sanctions after Trumps announcement of an upcoming meeting with Putin. Prior to Trump announcing the meeting with Putin, his efforts to pressure Russia into stopping the fighting had delivered no progress. The Kremlins bigger army is slowly advancing deeper into Ukraine at great cost in troops and armor while it relentlessly bombards Ukrainian cities. Russia and Ukraine are far apart on their terms for peace. Ukrainian troops say they are ready to keep fighting Ukrainian forces are locked in intense battles along the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line that snakes from northeast to southeast Ukraine. The Pokrovsk area of the eastern Donetsk region is taking the brunt of the punishment as Russia seeks to break out into the neighboring Dnipropetrovsk region. Ukraine has significant manpower shortages. Intense fighting is also taking place in Ukraines northern Sumy border region, where Ukrainian forces are engaging Russian soldiers to prevent reinforcements being sent from there to Donetsk. In the Pokrovsk area of Donetsk, a commander said he believes Moscow isnt interested in peace. It is impossible to negotiate with them. The only option is to defeat them, Buda, a commander of a drone unit in the Spartan Brigade, told The Associated Press. He used only his call sign, in keeping with the rules of the Ukrainian military. I would like them to agree and for all this to stop, but Russia will not agree to that. It does not want to negotiate. So the only option is to defeat them, he said. In the southern Zaporizhzhia region, a howitzer commander using the call sign Warsaw said troops are determined to thwart Russias invasion. We are on our land, we have no way out, he said. So we stand our ground, we have no choice. Putin makes a flurry of phone calls The Kremlin said Friday that Putin had a phone call with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, during which he informed Xi about the results of his meeting earlier this week with Trump envoy Steve Witkoff. Kremlin officials said Xi expressed support for the settlement of the Ukrainian crisis on a long-term basis. Putin is due to visit China next month. China, along with North Korea and Iran, have provided military support for Russias war effort, the U.S. says. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on X that he also had a call with Putin to speak about the latest Ukraine developments. Trump signed an executive order Wednesday to place an additional 25% tariff on India for its purchases of Russian oil, which the American president says is helping to finance Russias war. Putins calls followed his phone conversations with the leaders of South Africa, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Belarus, the Kremlin said. The calls suggested to at least one analyst that Putin perhaps wanted to brief Russias most important allies about a potential settlement that could be reached at a summit with Trump. It means that some sort of real peace agreement has been reached for the first time, said Sergei Markov, a pro-Kremlin Moscow-based analyst. Analysts say Putin is aiming to outlast the West Putin said in a previous statement that he hoped to meet with Trump as early as next week, possibly in the United Arab Emirates. The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think tank, said in an assessment Thursday that Putin remains uninterested in ending his war and is attempting to extract bilateral concessions from the United States without meaningfully engaging in a peace process. Putin continues to believe that time is on Russias side and that Russia can outlast Ukraine and the West, it said. ___ Stepanenko reported from the Dnipropetrovsk region of Ukraine. Associated Press writers Samya Kullab in Kyiv, Ukraine, and Michelle L. Price in Washington contributed to this report. ___ Follow APs coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine By WILL WEISSERT and VASILISA STEPANENKO Associated Press Leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan shake hands and sign deal at White House peace summit View Photo WASHINGTON (AP) The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan shook hands Friday at a White House peace summit before signing an agreement aimed at ending decades of conflict. President Donald Trump was in the middle as Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan flanked him on either side. As the two extended their arms in front of Trump to shake hands, the U.S. leader reached up and clasped his hands around theirs. The two countries in the South Caucasus signed agreements with each other and the U.S. that will reopen key transportation routes while allowing the U.S. to seize on Russias declining influence in the region. The deal includes an agreement that will create a major transit corridor to be named the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity, the White House said. Trump said at the White House on Friday that naming the route after him was a great honor for me but I didnt ask for this. A senior administration official, on a call before the event with reporters, said it was the Armenians who suggested the name. Trump has sought to be known as a peacemaker and made no secret of the fact that he covets a Nobel Peace Prize. Fridays signing adds to a series of peace and economic agreements brokered by the U.S. this year. Both leaders said the breakthrough was made possible by Trump and his team. We are laying a foundation to write a better story than the one we had in the past, Pashinyan said, calling the agreement a significant milestone. President Trump in six months did a miracle, Aliyev said. Trump remarked on how long the conflict went on between the two countries. Thirty-five years they fought, and now theyre friends and theyre going to be friends a long time, he said. That route will connect Azerbaijan and its autonomous Nakhchivan exclave, which are separated by a 32-kilometer-wide (20-mile-wide) patch of Armenian territory. The demand from Azerbaijan had held up peace talks in the past. For Azerbaijan, a major producer of oil and gas, the route also provides a more direct link to Turkey and onward to Europe. Trump indicated hed like to visit the route, saying, Were going to have to get over there. Asked how he feels about lasting peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Trump said very confident. Aliyev and Pashinyan on Friday joined a growing list of foreign leaders and other officials who have said Trump should receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in helping ease long-running conflicts across the globe. The peace deal between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda helped end the decadeslong conflict in eastern Congo, and the U.S. mediated a ceasefire between India and Pakistan, while Trump intervened in clashes between Cambodia and Thailand by threatening to withhold trade agreements with both countries if their fighting continued. Yet peace deals in Gaza and Ukraine have been elusive. US takes advantage of Russias waning influence The signing of a deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan, both former Soviet republics, also strikes a geopolitical blow to their former imperial master, Russia. Throughout the nearly four-decade conflict, Moscow played mediator to expand its clout in the strategic South Caucasus region, but its influence waned quickly after it launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The Trump-brokered deal would allow the U.S. to deepen its reach in the region as Moscow retreats, senior U.S. administration officials said. The Trump administration began engaging with Armenia and Azerbaijan in earnest earlier this year, when Trumps key diplomatic envoy, Steve Witkoff, met with Aliyev in Baku and started to discuss what a senior administration official called a regional reset. Negotiations over who will develop the Trump Route which will eventually include a rail line, oil and gas pipelines, and fiber optic lines will likely begin next week, and at least nine developers have expressed interest already, according to the senior administration official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity. Separate from the joint agreement, both Armenia and Azerbaijan signed deals with the United States meant to bolster cooperation in energy, technology and the economy, the White House said. Trump previewed much of Fridays plan in a social media post Thursday evening, in which he said the agreements would fully unlock the potential of the South Caucasus region. Many Leaders have tried to end the War, with no success, until now, thanks to TRUMP, Trump said on his Truth Social site. The Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict has lasted for decades The two nations were locked in conflict for nearly four decades as they fought for control of the Karabakh region, known internationally as Nagorno-Karabakh. The area was largely populated by Armenians during the Soviet era but is located within Azerbaijan. The two nations battled for control of the region through multiple violent clashes that left tens of thousands of people dead over the decades, all while international mediation efforts failed. Most recently, Azerbaijan reclaimed all of Karabakh in 2023 and had been in talks with Armenia to normalize ties. Azerbaijans insistence on a land bridge to Nakhchivan had been a major sticking point, because while Azerbaijan did not trust Armenia to control the so-called Zangezur corridor, Armenia resisted control by a third party because it viewed it as a breach of sovereignty. But the prospect of closer ties with the United States, as well as being able to move in and out of the landlocked nation more freely without having to access Georgia or Iran, helped entice Armenia on the broader agreement, according to U.S. officials. Meanwhile, Russia stood back when Azerbaijan reclaimed control of Karabakh in the September 2023 offensive, angering Armenia, which has moved to shed Russian influence and turn westward. Azerbaijan, emboldened by its victory in Karabakh, also has become increasingly defiant in its relations with Moscow. ___ Associated Press writers Meg Kinnard and Will Weissert contributed to this report. By SEUNG MIN KIM and MICHELLE L. PRICE Associated Press Part the First: Is This How to Do Science? San Diego, with the University of California-San Diego and the Scripps Research Institute leading the way, has been a Biotech/Little Pharma hotspot since the beginning, a strong third behind Boston and the Bay Area. Ups and downs are common, but in the current climate it is not clear that recovery is in the offing. From STAT, Uncertainty clouds the San Diego biotech hub, with jobs and capital scarce: Ever since Vince Kato was laid off, he has felt like he was just two to three months away from landing a new position. But more than a year later, hes running out of options, and out of time. Kato, who was a senior engineer at Illumina, was let go in March 2024 and since then, has applied without success for hundreds of positions at biotech startups and larger pharma firms, including roles he is overqualified for. With a monthly rent of $3,600 eating through his savings, hes now facing hard choices. Ive either got to leave San Diego, move back to Minnesota, or something. I dont know, Kato said. At this point, Im just reaching the end of my rope financially. Rather than discuss the outlook for biomedical science in general and Vince Kato in particular, the concerns expressed here are rather different. Not to mention shortsighted: (Local analysts) remain convinced the local industry is spring-loaded for growth once investment dollars start flowing more freely and the industrys IPO slump ends. Josh Schimmer, a market analyst for financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald, finds reason for optimism in recent data. In a note to investors at the end of last year, Schimmer pulled data on how the stocks of dozens of San Diegos publicly traded biotechs performed in 2024. He found that local companies shares increased by 29% at the median during a year in which the XBI, a closely tracked index of biotech stocks, was flatWe continue to see very differentiated, very powerful companies, technologies, products, platforms, emerging out of San Diego. Thats what Hallie Kuhn sees, too. Kuhn, life sciences lead for Alexandria Real Estate, noted that, since 2023, for every dollar of venture capital poured into local biotech companies, there have been $5.85 in returns from mergers and acquisitions, according to data Alexandria has pulled from Pitchbook and market intelligence firm Evaluate. That exceeded the returns on investment for biotechs in Boston and San Francisco, where acquisition-to-investment ratios during this period were 3.33 and 0.76, respectively. From a venture perspective, our dollars here go really far, she said. And so it goes. In typical American fashion, very little about the science while the focus stays on money which is what matters as Big Pharma buys up Little Pharma and provides a windfall for VC and PE while the principals of Little Pharma cash out with a unicorn and go sailing. To wit: Three of the larger biotech deals in the past couple years were from Novartis, which bought gene therapy startup Kate Therapeutics, siRNA company DTx Pharma, and kidney-focused biotech Regulus Therapeutics. Those deals helped convince the Swiss pharma giant to expand its existing investment in the region. In April, Novartis announced plans to establish a $1.1 billion research hub in San Diego, its second such facility in the United States. We keep finding really good biotech companies there, she said. We really like the dense packing together of pharma and biotech. It means people mix together, there are shared facilities. We generally find thats the sort of environment that stimulates innovation. Behold, the Bayh-Dole Act of 1980 doing what it does best! Science in the United States has strayed so far from the post-war vision of Vannevar Bush that it may never recover. Especially if the Current Administration succeeds in its goal to Make American Science Great Again (MASGA) by returning it to a Gold Standard Science that admits of no uncertainty or leaves no room for the unexpected, and ignores the rest of the world. When Max Delbruck counseled his students and colleagues to always leave room for the unexpected result in their experiments, he was talking about all of science, not just what they were doing in their individual laboratories. As an aside, the first true discovery I made as a newly independent scientist happened because I left room for the unexpected in an experiment and found an accidental mutant that was the key to a function of my favorite protein. Well, MASGA will require a return to what was a golden age of American science when scientists in independent research institutions, universities and colleges, medical schools, along with intramural researchers at the National Institutes of Health, are given the support to interrogate the living world in search of new and useful knowledge, with few preconditions. This is how to do science, if you want it to be productive. There is no other way. Part the Second: The Strange Case of the Current Director of the National Institutes of Health. Jay Bhattacharya, MD-PhD (Stanford) is often referred to as a physician in the popular press. Although he has an MD, he is not a physician (neither is Casey Means, MD, who is apparently still the Surgeon General designee despite not having a license to practice medicine after she left her ENT residency without finishing it). Bhattacharya went straight from his medical school graduation to the PhD program in Economics at Stanford. He never did a residency and thus has never practiced medicine. In most jurisdictions it would be illegal for him to imply he is a doctor, if that is taken to have the same meaning as physician. Nor has he ever done any biomedical research as far as I can tell in a quick search of PubMed (NB: I may well have missed it; PubMed is indispensable but not infallible). He has, on the other hand, received NIH support for published research on the economics and delivery of healthcare in the United States. This is covered here: Jay Bhattacharya once studied health disparities. As NIH director, hes allowed such research to wither: The April announcement of National Institutes of Health director Jay Bhattacharyas appointment and his public profile at Stanford University, where he was a professor of health policy, both state that his work has focused on vulnerable populations, and hes published at least five papers on racial health disparities. In June, he specifically lauded sickle cell research as an NIH success, highlighting it as the kind of work that advances the health and well-being of minority populations, and that the NIH should continue supporting. It absolutely must, he told podcaster Andrew Huberman. Yet that same month, Duke University hematologist Charity Oyedeji was notified that her $750,000 NIH grant was terminated. Shed been studying how to assess and stave off disability for Americans with sickle cell disease, who tend to age prematurely, and most of whom are Black. The June 16 notice said that such diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) studies are often used to support unlawful discrimination on the basis of race which harms the health of Americans. To Oyedeji, that made it sound like her patients werent worth spending research time or money on. People in this project are Americans, she told STAT. So do you not think that diverse populations are considered in this blanket of Americans? Is Americans the white people? Why is it that most patients in the US with sickle cell disease are Black? It has absolutely nothing to do with their race, which aside from superficial inherited characters is a sociopolitical construct convenient for eugenicists and their political minions. The malaria parasite does not grow well in the red blood cells of carriers of the sickle cell trait [one gene for Hemoglobin S (HbS) instead of two]. Thus, carriers are resistant to malaria and have mild symptoms of sickle cell disease only under extreme conditions (e.g., sustained exertion, high altitude). People with ancestors from sub-Saharan Africa are not the only populations that are prone to sickle cell disease. Those from Southeast Asia and the Mediterranean basin are also at risk for sickle cell disease, where malaria remains endemic. By the way, as the climate warms, malaria is probably returning the North America, too, as it was for my father as a child in southern Louisiana ninety years ago. Whatever the justification for termination of a grant to study the trajectory of sickle cell disease, it cannot be DEI. Nevertheless: Despite his avowed support for vulnerable people, Bhattacharyas tenure has seen such science swept up in the Trump administrations attack on DEI. Grants for health disparities research have been terminated left and right, sometimes affecting the very topics hes said are worth studying. When confronted, he claimed, incorrectly, that such cuts hadnt happened. Whether hes been unwilling or unable to prevent them or simply unaware of whats happening within his own agency is hard to say. Or maybe it is not really hard to say. Maya Angelou famously and correctly said, When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time. Jay Bhattacharya is one of three authors of the Great Barrington Declaration, which was the let er rip manifesto for dealing with COVID-19 by letting the virus run wild to elicit herd immunity that would protect the vast majority from the pandemic. Never mind that a virus that does not elicit durable immunity, either through infection or vaccination, will not be controlled by herd immunity (unlike measles). This document is still cited by those inclined to believe what is emitted from one of our primary Merchants of Doubt, the American Institute for Economic Research. One may fairly conclude that Jay Bhattacharya, MD-PhD, is a libertarian for whom health is a personal, not a public matter. In this he is no different from the general run of such people. Those of us who get sick, get what we deserve. So saith the current Secretary of Health and Human Services. Like other things, directives flow downhill with a will of their own. And unlike every other Director of NIH, Jay Bhattacharya, MD-PhD, has no research as a physician or biomedical scientist. Part the Third: More on Malaria. In the movement to Make America Great Again, the country with the largest biomedical research establishment is pulling back from its place in the world because foreign aid has become foreign to our polity. From Science on August 7th: Losing protection The United States helped beat back malaria in Guinea. Now, the disease is set to soar: GuineaOne morning in mid-June, a 10-year-old boy named Mohamed Camara was lying on a bed in a health center in the small Guinean town of Tamita, wearing bright blue shorts and an army-style T-shirt with Chinese characters on it. He looked listless and feverish; little pearls of sweat flowed from his forehead. He had just been diagnosed with malaria. That morning, Mohameds parents had taken him to the center, which sits about 20 kilometers from the Atlantic coast in Boffa prefecture. Now, they and his baby sister were sitting on the bed next to him, looking anxious. We were very worried, said his father, Alseny Camara. They would have brought their son to the hospital earlier, he noted, but his job as a driver had taken him away from home for a few days. Just 6 months earlier, Mohameds parents would have been able to call a community health worker when he got sick. That person might have come to the Camaras home on a motorcycle, taken a drop of blood, and applied it to a rapid diagnostic test, which looks a lot like a home test for COVID-19. After the thin line indicating a malaria infection had appeared, the health worker would have given the boy a first dose of drugs and explained to his parents how to continue the treatment. (If his symptoms were severe, Mohamed would have been referred to the health center instead.) A few days later, the worker would have checked in to see how Mohamed was doing. Community health workerslaypeople trained to provide a few primary health servicesare an essential part of the medical system in many African countries, and theyre particularly important in the fight against malaria, when a few days delay in diagnosis and treatment can make the difference between life and death. In Guinea, where the countrys entire population of more than 14 million is at risk of malaria, thousands of these workers lost their jobs after the United States suddenly froze billions of dollars in foreign aid in January, just days after President Donald Trump took office. It turns out that Mohamed did not have a severe case of malaria and has been discharged from the hospital. But the United States of America cannot afford to send the $15M to Guinea that would save countless lives from the scourge that is malaria? This, is what we have come to under Project 2025? Part the Fourth: De-Extinction? No, Not Really. As has been all over the news, a company in Texas claims to have de-extincted the dire wolf, a canid that disappeared from the Americas during the last Ice Age: For months, researchers in a laboratory in Dallas, Texas, worked in secrecy, culturing grey-wolf blood cells and altering the DNA within. The scientists then plucked nuclei from these gene-edited cells and injected them into egg cells from a domestic dog to form clones. They transferred dozens of the cloned embryos into the wombs of surrogate dogs, eventually bringing into the world three animals of a type that had never been seen before. Two males named Romulus and Remus (get it!) were born in October 2024, and a female, Khaleesi, was born in January. A few months later, Colossal Biosciences, the Texas-based company that produced the creatures, declared: The first de-extinct animals are here. Of 20 edits made to the animals genomes, the company says that 15 match sequences identified in dire wolves (Aenocyon dirus), a large-bodied wolf species that last roamed North America during the ice age that ended some 11,500 years ago. A technical tour de force? Yes. The recovery of an extinct species? No. The Nature article This company claimed to de-extinct dire wolves. Then the fighting started is available at the archived link. The meaning of de-extinction is bound up in science fiction, some of which endures in the cinema: De-extinction is an emerging field that represents the meeting point of several groundbreaking biotechnologies: ancient genomics, cloning and genome editing, ostensibly in the service of conservation. The field has roots in science fiction, with the term seeming first to have appeared in a 1979 novel by Piers Anthony called The Source of Magic. And Michael Crichtons 1990 novel Jurassic Park itself inspired by ancient-DNA investigations popularized the possibility that long-dead organisms could be cloned from preserved DNA. I have never been much of a reader of science fiction, but I read Jurassic Park in one sitting, just as I did The Andromeda Strain as a teenager. Crichton had a way. I willingly suspended disbelief that DNA would survive intact in blood cells of a dinosaur amber for 65+ million years in a mosquito trapped in amber. And that this would allow the brilliant technicians working for Richard Attenborough to clone Velociraptor and T. rex, among others. It was a good story and the first movie was a good movie (I have not seen any of the sequels). Could DNA survive for 10,000 years in a frozen carcass? Perhaps. Probably, under perfect conditions. Could this DNA be used to clone an organism in a surrogate mother? Very unlikely. What Colossal has done is, according to Tom Gilbert of the University of Copenhagen, produce a dog with twenty dire wolf genome edits in its genome. Again, this is a marvelous technical achievement that likely has relevance to conservation of endangered species. But this dog not a dire wolf. Still, what this overall approach could do is save the white rhinoceros, which has been hunted to near extinction. By any reasonable definition beyond a parlor trick, de-extinction must include reintroduction of the saved animal into its ecological niche. This is possible with the rhino. The Ice Age of the dire wolf and other large terrestrial mammals, unlikely. And then there is this: The company, now valued at around US$10 billion, has attracted celebrity investors, including the media personality Paris Hilton and film director Peter Jackson, alongside a handful of leading scientists as staff and advisers. Clearly the company is by current definition a bountiful success. And this: From Colossals perspective, the dire-wolf announcement was a success. Lamm says that the company tracked thousands of articles and social-media mentions about the achievement using artificial intelligence, and that they are overwhelmingly positive. I wouldnt change one thing, he says. In July, Colossal announced controversial plans to de-extinct moas, a group of giant flightless birds that vanished not long after humans first arrived in New Zealand. So, there you have it. Colossal is worth $10B (and we know how that often goes) and the responses to their breathtaking news has been overwhelmingly positive according to AI. John Hammond could not have said it better. But the fact remains that science by press release is not science. And extinction still is forever. Part the Fifth, By Way of Diversion. Big Brother placed the final scene from the movie The Right Stuff in the sidebar of a video I was watching earlier this week. I was seven years old when Gordon Cooper made that final Mercury flight, so I am a sucker for such things. Throughout the remainder of elementary school, we watched virtually every Gemini Program launch on the snowy televisions on the mobile stands in my school (Grades 1-6). Yes, initially the US space program was a response to the Soviet Union. But it was also an unparalleled technical and scientific achievement with national purpose, perhaps similar to the final development and release of the polio vaccines contemporaneous with the Mercury Program. This was also when the CEOs of General Electric and General Motors, both named Charlie Wilson, were proud their companies were best at what they did and the largest employers in the United States, while providing a living wage and setting that standard across the country. Not that they particularly cared for unions, but their shareholders were virtually inconsequential to them and certainly had little to do with their compensation. The America of 60+ years ago could do stuff and make things. Yes, prosperity was unevenly distributed, but that could have been remedied. After some discussion, a friend sent me this video clip from The Right Stuff, and commented, This is where it started to go wrong. He is correct. The NASA recruiter played by Harry Shearer may be the first member of the Professional Managerial Class (PMC). The older man in the cameo behind him is Chuck Yeager, who was played in the movie by Sam Shepard. Those with experience, knowledge and knowhow, independence, and courage dont fit the profile. Sums up Americas current state in four words. Yves here. Private equity has been trying for many years to get their products sold to retail investors. Trump has greatly lowered the bar with his executive order. However (and I do not want to sound like a Pollyanna) but if the private equity part was as easy as a Presidential stroke of a pen, it would have happened already. Selling a financial product to retail investors requires considerably more financial reporting and compliance. That involves another layer of fees and costs when private equity is already pulling out so much in fees and costs as to make private equity less attractive on a risk-return basis than stocks. That is not to say that the new SEC chair wont try to bend the rules. See our May post: New SEC Chief on Board with Letting Retail Chumps Invest in Private Equity Even as Pros Like Kuwait Sovereign Wealth Fund Sound Red Alert But see some of our many posts on private equitys overstated performance, and the fact that many investors are finally waking up: And thats before getting to how private equity rentierism is destructive to the public. There is plenty where this came from: But it seems inevitable that retail retirement assets will become the last chumps for both PE and crypto. The only question is to what degree. By Jake Johnson, staff writer for Common Dreams. Originally published at Common Dreams U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order on Thursday that would allow private equity and cryptocurrencies into Americans 401(k)s, appeasing corporate interests that lobbied for the change and disregarding warnings about the risks it poses to retirement accounts. Citing an unnamed senior White House official, CNN reported that the order calls for the Labor Department and Securities and Exchange Commission to issue guidance to employers about providing access to those alternative investments in their retirement accounts. The private equity industry has been working for years to gain access to a portion of the roughly $12 trillion that Americans have saved in workplace retirement plans. This is the holy grail for private equity, Axios reported Thursday, noting that federal rules currently bar most defined-contribution plans from investing in private equity and crypto. Both industries spent big on the 2024 election; the investment management behemoth BlackRock, whose CEO has advocated opening 401(k)s to private equity, donated to Trumps inaugural committee. James Baratta and Whitney Curry Wimbish noted in The American Prospect earlier this year that there was added desperation from the industry for access to 401(k)s because of their dire need for cash amid weakening performance and fewer deals. Some firms have begun mortgaging their own funds for money to pay out limited partners, they added. Retail investors represented trillions in untapped potential. Helaine Olen, managing editor at the American Economic Liberties Project and a longtime personal finance columnist, said in a statement Thursday that stuffing private equity, crypto, and other alternative assets into 401(k)s is about propping up scams and bailing out an industry thats run out of buyersand its being done at the expense of Americans retirements everywhere. Theres a reason most employers didnt bite when Trump tried this the first time and why the private investments industry has put on such a thick lobbying campaign, said Olen. These funds are high-fee, risky, and opaque. Private equity consistently underperforms the S&P 500. This is a windfall for billionaire fund managers and a disaster in the making for regular Americans trying to save for retirement. Last week, the Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund and American Federation of Teachers released a report warning that if private equity is given a foothold in 401(k)s, millions of workers saving for retirement would be exposed to higher risks and steep fees in products that lack basic investor protections and transparency requirements. The report found that private equity profitability has been in a year-over-year decline for the past two decades and that fee structurespaid directly by investors or indirectly through portfolio companiesare prone to extensive manipulation. Lisa Donner, co-executive director at Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund, said that private equity executives have enriched themselves by the billions, taking high fees and other charges from working peoples hard-earned retirement savings in pension funds. Now they want fees from the trillions of dollars in individual retirement accounts, Donner added, putting millions of more people at risk. When Love Fails, They Nap: What Male Koalas Teach Us About Rejection and Energy Efficiency Vocal Curiosity Spots Coral Reef Rock On Mars. Its A Sign Of Ancient Water IFL Science Climate/Environment Following an astonishing 711 mm of rainfall over just three days, which triggered severe flooding in Huizhou, Guangdong, local military forces constructed emergency dams in an effort to contain the waters and prevent further devastation.pic.twitter.com/BOSMooDmXJ Volcaholic (@volcaholic1) August 7, 2025 *** Flood Risk and Flood Insurance Liberty Street Economics New study from NY Fed compares how lenders treat unmapped flood risk (due to FEMAs outdated maps). Big banks are lending less and charging more in risky areas. Non-banks and local banks are still originating the loans but then securitizing or moving them off their balance sheet. pic.twitter.com/mxPqKJJXMT Lee Harris (@leee_harris) August 7, 2025 Pandemics Japan China? India Putin To Visit India This Year As Trump Targets Nations Over Russian Oil NDTV Old Blighty Force of Opposition New Left Review Syraqistan Palestinians will be forced into a concentration camp and those who refuse will be called militants to excuse their slaughter. The final operational plan is a plan for ethnic cleansing. pic.twitter.com/jlbRvAFXwR Assal Rad (@AssalRad) August 8, 2025 Netanyahu just declared plans to fully occupy all of Gaza, 2 days after his Finance Minister quietly allocated 3 billion shekels for a Gaza security box This is the final phase of the genocide! Israel will move to annihilate the 3 remaining areas that havent been wiped out pic.twitter.com/q12l76tXRZ Muhammad Shehada (@muhammadshehad2) August 7, 2025 International aircrafts have just dropped rotten bread in Gaza! pic.twitter.com/dM7o6CCIr7 Motasem A Dalloul (@AbujomaaGaza) August 7, 2025 European Disunion New Not-So-Cold War White House pushes back on Kremlin claims Trump and Putin agreed to meeting. An official said Putin must meet with Ukraines Zelenskyy for it to occur. The White House on Thursday pushed back on claims by the Kremlin that a meeting between President Donald Trump and Russias pic.twitter.com/WAkh99Xzk0 Ivan Katchanovski (@I_Katchanovski) August 7, 2025 Q: What about Zelenskyy? Will the meeting be with him? Putin: I have already said many times that I have nothing against him[Zelenskyy]. It is possible, but certain conditions must be created for this. But unfortunately, such conditions have not yet been created. 1/ pic.twitter.com/ubj5rFpjex Tymofiy Mylovanov (@Mylovanov) August 7, 2025 White House now says Trump open to meeting Putin without his meeting Zelenskyy ABC News BREAKING: Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov tells reporters There was an offer from the American side which the Russian side deems acceptable. pic.twitter.com/wGwGY4K4ap Brian McDonald (@27khv) August 7, 2025 The nighttime series of explosions in the Odessa region was not just another attack on Ukraines rear infrastructure. It was a clear message addressed to both Kyiv, Baku and Brussel. Russia struck a series of targets near the villages of Orlovka and Novoselskoye pic.twitter.com/sWdI7dqd8g Neznakomaya (@TomatkaP) August 7, 2025 Caucasus South of the Border Liberation Day Trump 2.0 MAHA RFK Jr. Quietly Endorses Flu Vaccine for Kids and Adults MedPage Today Weimar Republic Democrats en deshabille An Abundance of Sleaze: How a Beltway Brain Trust Sells Oligarchy to Liberals Matt Stoller On the same day that CAP announces it will no longer publish its list of corporate, foreign govt and oligarch donors, Bloody Blinken joins its board https://t.co/lp6bi2oTGm Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) August 8, 2025 Q&A: The former Mideast diplomat bringing Gulf cash to Silicon Valley San Francisco Standard Police State Watch AI Accelerationists The Faux Intellectuals of Silicon Valley Notes from the Circus Imperial Collapse Watch Groves of Academe I mean, shit, this is the one time academics could actually meaningfully change the world by pedagogy. David Austin Walsh (@DavidAstinWalsh) August 7, 2025 The Friendly Skies How loyalty programmes are keeping Americas airlines aloft The Economist Big Brother Is Watching You Watch Only used my Friend for a couple hours, but a few observations: clearly *feels* different (especially from chatgpt voice) to talk to a thing youre wearing and must touch to get a response from voice in / text out is interesting and makes sense, although I dont love pic.twitter.com/7h8tIHgCHS Jackson Dahl (@jacksondahl) August 4, 2025 Healthcare? Class Warfare Harvard scientist warns interstellar object blasting toward Earth may come to save or destroy us The Independent Antidote du jour (via): See yesterdays Links and Antidote du Jour here. Yves here. There have been some admissions about how German deindustrialization resulted from Europe sanctions on the cheap Russian gas on which manufacturers, particularly in Germany and Italy, depended. However, I have to confess to not seeing much about the impact of Chinese exports to Germany dealing a big blow before the Russian gas self-inflicted wound. However, if you look at the sick state of pretty much every non-Chinese car manufacturer, and ruinous competition among Chinese EV and battery makers in China, its not hard to see why Germany was already wobbly before the energy cost blow. Admittedly as this article points out, Chinese machine tools were a second route for China eating Germanys lunch. Keep in mind the impact by sector of Chinas incursion versus the cheap-energy-self-harm are different. Energy intensive concerns like chemical producers, paper plants, and aluminum makers started rapidly cutting production when the energy price increase hit. By Dalia Marin, Senior Research Fellow Bruegel; Professor of International Economics Technical University of Munich. Originally published at VoxEU Trade with China displaced large parts of the American workforce in the 2000s, but Germany did not experience a similar shock at the time. This column argues that the China shock has hit the German economy since 2020, particularly in its core automobile and machinery sectors. To avoid Americas painful de-industrialisation of the 2000s, Chinese market entry in Europe should be made conditional on forming joint ventures with European firms in order to remain globally competitive. These joint ventures should be designed carefully to deliver technology transfer to Europe and build resilient upstream capacity on the continent. In a series of influential papers, Autor et al. (2013, 2016) document that trade with China devastated large parts of the American workforce in the 2000s after China entered the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in 2001. This was quite unusual. In previous trade liberalisation episodes, some workers in the import competing sectors were displaced by foreign competition, but usually they found a job in the export-expanding sector. But the China shock, as Autor and co-authors coined it, of the 2000s was completely different. The competition was so swift, sudden, and so concentrated in particular regions that American factory workers were hit hard, and some regions were completely deindustrialised. Many of the workers moved into the service sector that paid much less than they had earned before, and some went on welfare payrolls. In 2016, Trump won the election, which Autor et al. (2020) connected to trade-related job losses. Germany Did Not Have a China Shock in the 2000s Germany did not experience a similar China shock in the 2000s (Dauth et al. 2014), although the import competition shock from China was as severe in Germany as in the US. The change in the share of Chinese imports in total imports in the period 2001- 2007 was 213.5% in Germany, from 3.7% to 7.9% (Figure 1), and in the US it grew by 188% from 8.6% to 16.2% (Figure 2). Figure 1 Chinas share of total imports and exports in Germany Figure 2 Chinas share of total imports and exports in the US In contrast to the US, Germanys exports to China boomed. Its export share to China increased by 227% from 3.3% of total exports in 2007 to 7.5% in 2019 as Germanys machine tools and auto industries helped to industrialise the Chinese economy (Figure 1). In the US, exports to China as a share of total exports increased by a meagre 23.7% in the same period (Figure 2). Germanys China Shock of 2020 Germanys trade with China changed abruptly after 2020. Between 2020 and 2022 imports from Chinese increased by more than 60% based on official data from the German Statistical Office (Figure 3). In late 2023, Germany terminated its national purchase subsidies for battery electric vehicles known as the environmental bonus which favoured in particular the import of Chinese electric vehicles. Moreover, in 2024 the European Commission introduced tariffs on imports of battery electric vehicles from China of up to 45.3%. Brussels also imposed tariffs on imports of mobile access equipment (construction equipment) from China ranging from 20.6% to 66.7%. Further import duties were introduced on a range of chemical products. These measures contributed to a sudden decline in Chinese imports in 2023-2024. Figure 3 Since 2020, imports from China are exploding The historic shift in Germanys trade pattern with China can be seen in Figure 1. Within three years from 2019 to 2022 Chinas share in German imports increased by 30% from 10% to 13%. Exports to China also suffered, reducing Chinas share in total exports by 20%. What is driving this trade pattern? Figure 4 documents that the two core industries in Germany cars and machinery tools experienced a historic shift. In both industries Germany stopped being a net exporter to China. Car exports to China dramatically declined by almost 70% between 2022 and 2024. Fierce competition in China and Chinese advancement in electric vehicles made Chinese consumers move from German to Chinese models. At the same time, car imports from China more than doubled between 2020 and 2023 before declining in 2023-2024 after the imposition of import tariffs on electric vehicles from China. For the first time ever, trade in cars with China is somewhat balanced in late 2024. In machinery trade, Germany became a net importer of machinery tools from China already in 2015. Machinery imports from China more than doubled between 2020 and 2022 before declining over 2023-2024 after import tariffs were introduced. Machinery exports to China are stagnating. Given the importance of machinery imports from Germany for the industrialisation of the Chinese economy, this development is dramatic. Figure 4 Germanys car and machinery trade with China The tables have turned. China is now the world leader in batteries and electric vehicles (and machinery), while Germany was the world leader in the combustion engine. Chinas size, experience, and subsidies have helped China to learn and to scale up production. In a classic paper that introduces learning curves into trade models, Krugman (1987) shows that subsidies can speed up the learning process and boost the productivity of subsidised sectors, thereby putting competitors at a permanent disadvantage. Krugmans theoretical argument has recently found empirical support by Lane (2025). Using South Koreas sector-specific industrial strategy under President Park Chung-hee as a natural experiment, he found that, on average, subsidised industries experienced an average growth rate 80% higher than non-subsidised ones. The growth advantage persisted even after the subsidy was removed, underscoring the learning effect. Thus, Germany faces the threat of losing two of its core sectors to Chinese competition. Europe will need to keep import tariffs to facilitate learning in the face of the transition to electric vehicles and battery technology. The European Commission should also encourage Chinese investment in Europe (Marin 2024). Europe Should Make Market Access Conditional on Joint Ventures Germany and Europe should avoid Americas painful deindustrialisation of the 2000s. Germanys China shock will be worse than the one the US experienced in the 2000s as cars and machinery are two of the core sectors of the German economy. These two sectors undertake most of Germanys R&D and they play an important role for future technology and innovation. In the US, the China shock hit low-cost industries such as furniture, textiles, and clothing. To this end, Germany should reverse-engineer Chinas industrial policy by making market entry to the European market conditional on forming joint ventures with European firms. I warned two years ago about a possible China shock (Marin 2023a, b) and I suggested that the European Commission should broker a partnership with China by providing China with access to the European market in return for a commitment to invest in Europe and to establish joint ventures with European firms. Over the past 20-30 years, China has required foreign investors to form joint ventures as a condition for entry to the large Chinese market. By working with Chinese electric vehicle and battery manufacturers, German automakers could acquire the technical expertise in electric vehicles and batteries to remain globally competitive. The European Commission has adopted this policy in 2024 (Financial Times 2024) and introduced the Industrial Action Plan for the European Automotive Sector in 2025 (European Commission 2025). Early challenges and failures by European firms producing batteries without a foreign partner reinforce the need for partnership with China. Two important examples are Northvolt and ACC (the Airbus of batteries), a joint venture between Mercedes, Stellantis, and Total Energies. In both cases the core problem was to scale up production. In the start-up phase, European battery firms experienced a scrap rate of batteries of nearly 90%. They go through a valley of death until batteries become profitable (Les Echos 2025a, b, Financial Times 2025). By the time they become profitable, however, they might be out of the market. Partnering with Chinese EV and battery firms would allow European firms to skip the start-up phase and to move directly to profitability. For this to work, joint venture contracts with Chinese firms must be carefully designed to make sure that Chinese investment delivers technology transfer to Europe. The danger is that these joint ventures will remain locked in assembly activity without learning. The European Commission should ask for a 50/50 ownership share between European and Chinese partners and require China to send a 25-30% share of Chinese professionals to these joint ventures to train European partners. To build resilient upstream capacity, local European input requirements are also desirable. Summary In this column, I document that the China shock has arrived in Germany, threatening its core sectors: cars and machinery. I also discuss what the European Commission should do to prevent a deindustrialisation shock even worse than the one the US experienced in the 2000s. See original post for references Gov. Greg Abbott asks Texas Supreme Court to remove Rep. Gene Wu from office amid legislative walkout over redistricting Gov. Greg Abbott filed an emergency petition with the Texas Supreme Court on Aug. 6 to remove Rep. Gene Wu, chair of the House Democratic Caucus, for abandoning his duties by fleeing the state during a special legislative session. At least 50 Texas House Democrats, including Wu, left the state on Aug. 3 to block a quorum and prevent the passage of a Republican-backed redistricting bill that could flip up to five congressional seats. Abbott's filing argues that intentionally denying the House a quorum is equivalent to relinquishing office responsibilities, justifying Wu's removal under the legal doctrine of quo warranto. The lawsuit cites Texas constitutional provisions, state code and centuries of common law, claiming the governor has standing to challenge Wu's right to remain in office for not fulfilling core legislative duties. Abbott had previously warned Democratic lawmakers to return by 3:00 p.m. on Aug. 4 or face removal proceedings. After they failed to comply, he initiated the legal action, marking a dramatic escalation in the partisan standoff. Gov. Greg Abbott has asked the Texas Supreme Court to remove Rep. Gene Wu, chair of the House Democratic Caucus, from office, citing "abandonment" of duties amid an ongoing walkout over redistricting. The filing, submitted directly to the state's all-Republican high court on Aug. 5, accuses Wu of vacating his responsibilities by fleeing the state with dozens of fellow Democrats to deny the House a quorum the minimum number of lawmakers required to conduct legislative business. At least 50 House Democrats left Texas on Aug. 3, effectively halting a special legislative session to redraw congressional maps that could net Republicans up to five additional seats. Abbott argued in his court filing that Wu's absence constituted a dereliction of duty. "What is at stake here? Nothing less than the future of Texas," Abbott wrote. "If a small fraction of recalcitrant lawmakers choose to run out the clock today, they can do so for any, and every, Regular or Special Session, potentially bankrupting the State in an attempt to get their way." The lawsuit cited centuries-old common law as well as provisions in the Texas Constitution and state government code to argue that the governor has standing to seek Wu's removal through a process known as quo warranto a legal mechanism traditionally used to challenge whether a public official has a right to hold office. Abbott clarified on social media that his office is not asking the court to punish dissent, but rather to uphold legislative integrity. In his filing, he argued that deliberately denying the House a quorum is effectively the same as giving up the responsibilities of the office. "It is no answer for Wu to say that he plans to continue serving as a representative," Abbott wrote. "His own statements and actions show a refusal to actually serve as a representative in fact. That's because what representatives do is represent their constituents in the legislative chamber. They appear for a quorum. They meet with other legislators in hearings. They speak with their constituents. They debate bills. And, in the end, they vote their district." Abbott follows through on threats The lawsuit has proven that Abbott was not issuing empty threats when he called for the removal of the dozens of Democrats who fled the state to break quorum and suggested they could face felony charges. On Aug. 3, Abbott issued a stark ultimatum to Democratic lawmakers who fled the state, threatening to remove them from office and labeling their actions as potentially criminal. Democratic members of the Texas House left for Illinois over the weekend, with some reportedly also in Boston and Albany, New York. Their exodus came ahead of the Aug. 4 session of the GOP-controlled House, and was intended to deny Republicans the quorum needed to advance legislation that would redraw congressional maps in a way that could flip as many as five seats from Democratic to Republican control. Abbott, who called for the special legislative session earlier this month, gave the absent lawmakers a deadline to return to the Capitol in Austin. "This truancy ends now. The derelict Democrat House members must return to Texas and be in attendance when the House reconvenes at 3:00 PM on Monday, August 4, 2025," Abbott warned. "For any member who fails to do so, I will invoke Texas Attorney General Opinion No. KP-0382 to remove the missing Democrats from membership in the Texas House." The Democratic leaders did not comply, and Abbott followed through by filing an emergency petition to the Texas Supreme Court two days later. Visit CancelDemocrats.news for more stories like this. Watch this clip of a similar incident four years ago, wherein Sen. Bryan Hughes said a state law allowed the arrests of 51 Democrats who left Texas to block voting restrictions. This video is from the NewsClips channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories: Trump backs Schimel in Wisconsin court fight as Democrats eye redistricting power play. GOP Texas House Speaker issues arrest warrants for 52 Dems who refuse to show up and do their jobs. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signs law allowing police to ARREST illegals. Greg Abbott denounces $708M lawsuit against bus companies transporting illegals to NYC. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issues order requiring face masks to fight the coronavirus. Sources include: Infowars.com DallasNews.com Brighteon.com Zelenskyy in his talk with Meloni: We share common vision of how to move toward real and fair peace Photo: https://t.me/V_Zelenskiy_official/ Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy discussed with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni diplomatic work to bring peace and coordinated joint next steps, including with US President Donald Trump. I spoke with the President of the Council of Ministers of Italy Giorgia Meloni. It was a good conversation, where we share a common vision of how to move toward a real and fair peace. We coordinated our next steps, including contacts with President Trump, and agreed to stay in touch Thank you, Giorgia, for your principled stance and unwavering support, he said on X. According to Zelenskyy, Meloni "absolutely clearly" supports the position that European leaders should be involved in diplomatic work with the United States to establish peace. He noted that the European Union will participate in the restoration of Ukraine after the end of the war, so Europe's voice must definitely be taken into account. The parties also exchanged details of recent contacts with other leaders. Its important for Ukraine that our partners are well-informed about the situation. We all want a defined and secure future for Europe, the Ukrainian leader stressed. Gazas humanitarian crisis: The weaponization of starvation and the failure of international law The image of two-year-old Yazan Abu Ful exemplifies the severe hunger crisis in Gaza, with widespread starvation exacerbated by Israel's blockade, raising urgent questions about violations of international humanitarian law. Gaza faces catastrophic famine due to conflict, blockades and attacks on aid sites. Hunger-related deaths are rising, particularly among children and the vulnerable, while Israel obstructs UN-delivered aid, despite international condemnation. The U.S.-backed GHF has replaced UN aid distribution with armed, aggressive tactics, killing over 1,000 Palestinians and drawing criticism for violating international humanitarian law and worsening starvation. The ICC has issued arrest warrants for Israeli leaders for using starvation as a weapon of war, while the ICJ investigates potential genocide. However, enforcement remains weak, undermining international law. The crisis demands immediate international intervention to ensure aid access, uphold justice and protect human rights. The suffering in Gaza is a moral test for the global community. In the heart of the Gaza Strip, the image of two-year-old Yazan Abu Ful, with his emaciated body and visible ribs, has become a haunting symbol of the deepening hunger crisis. His mother, Naima, revealed his condition to the world, a stark testament to the widespread starvation plaguing the region. This crisis, characterized by unprecedented levels of hunger and malnutrition, has been exacerbated by Israel's policies and actions, raising critical questions about the effectiveness and enforcement of international humanitarian law (IHL). According to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), Gaza is currently experiencing the worst-case scenario of famine. The ongoing conflict, coupled with Israel's stringent blockades and targeted attacks on aid sites, has pushed the region into a state of catastrophic hunger. The IPC's recent report, which stops just short of a formal famine declaration, highlights the alarming rise in hunger-related deaths, particularly among children, the elderly and those with pre-existing health conditions. The situation is dire. Gaza is entirely dependent on external aid for food, as the conflict has decimated local agriculture and banned fishing. Despite Israel's claims of resuming aid shipments, United Nations (UN) workers report repeated obstructions and delays, with nearly 800 aid-seekers killed since late May. The UN has condemned Israel's actions as an "inhuman abomination" and a "war crime," demanding that Israeli troops cease firing on civilians attempting to access food. (Related: UN experts: Children in Gaza are dying because of Israel's "targeted starvation campaign".) The introduction of the United States-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) has further complicated the situation. Replacing the UN's non-militarized aid distribution, the GHF operates fortified hubs secured by armed guards, often using aggressive tactics. This has led to the deaths of over 1,000 Palestinians while they were trying to access aid. The GHF's operations have been criticized by over 170 NGOs for violating IHL and exacerbating the crisis. Philippe Lazzarini, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) commissioner-general, has described the GHF as an "opaque death trap" and accused it of furthering Israel's agenda. The Famine Review Committee (FRC) has criticized the GHF's distribution plan, stating that it would lead to mass starvation even without the violence. Legal and ethical implications The use of starvation as a weapon of war is a grave violation of international law. The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) explicitly recognizes the intentional deprivation of objects indispensable to survival, including food and water, as a war crime. The ICC has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on charges of using starvation as a method of warfare and the willful killing of civilians. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is also examining South Africa's accusation that Israel is breaching the Genocide Convention through its policy of siege and starvation. The ICJ has issued provisional measures, ordering Israel to refrain from acts of genocide and ensure the unhindered delivery of aid. However, Israel has largely failed to comply with these orders. The situation in Gaza represents a critical juncture for international humanitarian law. The sustained blockade, deliberate denial of food and humanitarian relief, and the deployment of a militarized aid model challenge the fundamental principles of IHL. The crisis raises profound questions about the credibility and enforcement of international law in modern conflicts. Legal accountability is unfolding on multiple fronts, with the ICC and ICJ investigations underscoring a growing consensus that core international norms are being violated. However, the crisis also highlights the fragility of international legal enforcement. The selective application of law and the outsourcing of responsibility to private entities like the GHF threaten to erode the protective function of IHL. The human cost: A call for action The human cost of this crisis is immeasurable. Children are dying of hunger, families are forced to survive on meager rations, and aid workers are struggling to provide relief amidst violence and obstruction. The psychological impact of this deprivation is profound, causing despair, stress and trauma. As UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stated, "This nightmare must end." The international community must act decisively to ensure the unimpeded delivery of aid and hold those responsible for these violations accountable. The crisis in Gaza is not just a humanitarian disaster; it is a test of the international community's commitment to justice, human rights and the rule of law. The world must not turn a blind eye to the suffering of the people of Gaza. The time for action is now. Follow Starvation.news for more news related to this. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists there is no starvation in Gaza despite evidence to the contrary. Watch this video. This video is from the alltheworldsastage channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories: Denial of hunger in Gaza: A deepening crisis amid international outcry. Israel blocks aid to Gaza, accused of using starvation as leverage in ceasefire talks. GENOCIDE by STARVATION: Israel's bombing operations have exhausted the food supply in Gaza. Sources include: OutlookIndia.com MiddleEastEye.net NewArab.com ORGAN DONORS WAKING UP during surgery because Big Pharma is in a MAD RUSH to sell their organs on the black market Imagine waking up in a hospital bed after a bad vehicle wreck and the surgeons have removed several of your organs and are just finishing sewing you up, when they all look at you in shock and say, Wow, youre alive. A federal investigation released in July 2025 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has raised troubling ethical and medical concerns surrounding organ donation practices in the United States. The inquiry uncovered that organ procurement procedures were, in some cases, initiated before patients were fully confirmed dead, calling into question both medical protocols and the integrity of the donation system. Federal probe reveals premature organ harvesting: A July 2025 investigation by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services found at least 28 cases where organ removal may have begun before patients were definitively dead. A July 2025 investigation by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services found at least 28 cases where organ removal may have begun before patients were definitively dead. Ethical alarm over DCD procedures: The rise in donation after circulatory death (DCD) has led to troubling incidents, including patients showing signs of life like heartbeats and gasping during organ procurement. The rise in donation after circulatory death (DCD) has led to troubling incidents, including patients showing signs of life like heartbeats and gasping during organ procurement. Medical ethics under scrutiny: Experts warn that some healthcare providers may be unprepared to handle the moral complexity of end-of-life decisions, treating life and death as subjective in pursuit of institutional goals. Experts warn that some healthcare providers may be unprepared to handle the moral complexity of end-of-life decisions, treating life and death as subjective in pursuit of institutional goals. Eroding public trust: With lawsuits, whistleblower accounts and public outrage mounting, confidence in the organ donation system is at risk, threatening future donor participation. Federal investigation raising serious concerns for organ donors At the heart of the controversy is the use of donation after circulatory death (DCD), a method increasingly used to expand the donor pool. Unlike donation after brain death, where the irreversible loss of all brain function determines death, DCD allows organ retrieval after the heart stops beating, even if the brain remains active or shows signs of potential recovery. The report indicates that the rush to meet transplant demand may have compromised the standards traditionally used to determine death. According to the HHS, at least 28 documented cases involved patients who showed signs of life when organ harvesting began. In Kentucky, 73 individuals were flagged for organ donation despite showing neurological responses incompatible with a true declaration of death. A particularly disturbing case in Alabama involved a patient declared dead whose heart was still beating and who exhibited gasping respirations during surgery. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. condemned the findings, stating: Hospitals allowed the organ procurement process to begin when patients showed signs of life, and this is horrifying. His comments reflect the gravity of the situation and signal a potential shake-up in how organ donation is regulated. The investigation has also exposed a broader ethical crisis in the medical field. Bioethicist Charles Camosy warned that many medical professionals are making life-and-death decisions without the necessary philosophical or theological grounding. He described the current system as one driven by moral anthropology made up on the fly, with institutional priorities and transplant quotas sometimes superseding patient dignity. This growing alarm has begun to erode public trust in the organ donation system. In Arkansas, a legal battle is underway over a law that mandates family consent even if an individual is a registered donor an indication of the increasing skepticism among both the public and legal experts. A former surgical technician who resigned after witnessing a questionable organ harvesting case put it bluntly: I felt like I was part of killing someone. The consequences of these revelations are significant. Without transparency, accountability and a firm ethical foundation, the legitimacy of organ donation may be severely compromised. As the DCD method becomes more widespread, it is essential for policymakers, medical institutions, and advocacy groups to reevaluate current practices and safeguard against premature declarations of death. The investigation spans 19 states, underscoring that this is not an isolated problem but a systemic issue with national implications. With lawsuits emerging and public confidence faltering, the future of organ donation in America may depend on swift and meaningful reform. Tune your internet dial to NaturalMedicine.news for more tips on how to use natural remedies to fuel longevity and remember not to check the organ donor box because Big Pharma will take them before you even die. Sources for this article include: NaturalNews.com TheNationalPulse.com ODT.NHS.uk NWAHomePage.com Pesticide liability bills spark national debate over corporate immunity and public health risks Missouri, Idaho, Florida and others advance bills shielding pesticide manufacturers from lawsuits. Bayer, Syngenta and agrochemical giants seek federal and state protection, despite lawsuits alleging Roundup and Paraquats health risks. Critics argue proposed laws violate due process, equal protection and separation of powers. A federal bill aims to enable lawsuits against pesticide companies in federal courts. Glyphosate detected in 87 percent of tested children; linked to cancer and metabolic disorders, raising concerns about public safety. In 2025, a wave of state and federal legislation threatens to shield pesticide manufacturers like Bayer and Syngenta from legal accountability for harm caused by their products, sparking a growing controversy between corporate interests, farmers and public health advocates. Bills such as Missouris HB 544 and Floridas HB 129, coupled with a hidden provision in Congresss Interior Appropriations bill, would grant immunity to companies even if their pesticides sicken users or contaminate ecosystems. As litigation piles up over glyphosate (the main ingredient in Roundup) and Paraquat, critics warn that the precedent echoes 1986s National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act, which prioritized industry liability shields over public safety. The debate forces a critical question: Should corporations escape accountability for toxic products, or should farmers and consumers retain the right to seek justice? Corporate immunity bills gain momentum nationwide Legislators in at least seven states have introduced bills to limit liability for pesticide manufacturers, citing tort reform and federal regulatory authority. Missouris HB 544 and Oklahomas HB 1755 mirror 2024 proposals, mandating that EPA-approved labels preclude failure-to-warn lawsuits. Meanwhile, Wyomings HB 0285 offers a conditional defense, allowing claims only if plaintiffs prove the EPAs scientific basis for labels was flawed. The push for immunity centers on FIFRA, the federal pesticide law, which prohibits states from imposing stricter labeling rules. These legal shields protect farmers and applicators from unreasonable lawsuits, argued a chemical industry spokesperson, echoing Bayers earlier stance that lawsuits could put us out of business. However, critics counter that federal oversight lacks rigorous testing: the EPA relies on industry-funded studies, leaving gaps in safety assessments. Constitutional concerns and legal precedents The Brownstone Institutes law analysis raises red flags, arguing bills like the Pesticide Liability Protection Act violate core constitutional rights. By stripping citizens of their right to seek legal redress, these laws breach the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments guarantees of due process and equal protection, the article states. Legal scholars also highlight the separation-of-powers conflict: shielding corporations preemptively undermines judicial authority to determine liability. This isnt reform; its a corporate rights grab, said Agri Right Now attorney Lila Nguyen, citing the 2024 Supreme Courts rejection of similar energy liability shields. The Supreme Court is poised to clarify FIFRA preemption in Bond v. Bayer, a case pitting a farmer against Roundup manufacturer Monsanto over non-Hodgkins lymphoma claims. A ruling favoring preemption could further gut plaintiffs ability to hold companies accountable. Health impacts: Glyphosate and beyond Scientific evidence underscores why communities demand accountability. A 2023 CDC analysis found glyphosate in 87 percent of urine samples from 650 children, with higher concentrations in 56-year-olds. Childrens developing systems absorb and metabolize these chemicals differently, says pediatrician Dr. Ebony Porter, citing studies linking glyphosate exposure to liver inflammation and metabolic disorders. Bayers Monsanto division alone faces 67,000 Roundup lawsuits, with jury awards reaching $2.1 billion. Syngentas Paraquat, meanwhile, is tied to Parkinsons disease in thousands of plaintiff claims. These arent bad applesits systemic neglect, said Zen Honeycutt of Moms Across America. Agricultural community divided: Farmers at the crossroads Farmers, whose livelihoods depend on pesticides, are split. Some support liability shields, fearing rising legal costs. We use these tools because theyre approved by the EPA, said Iowa corn farmer Tom Martin. Others, like organic grower Maria Vega, argue corporate immunity would harm ecosystems and consumer trust: If its so safe, why fear lawsuits? Senator Cory Bookers proposed Pesticide Injury Accountability Act seeks a middle ground, creating federal litigation pathways if states pass liability shields. This isnt about profit its about whether corporations can lie legally, Booker said. Accountability or absolution? The stakes could not be higher. If passed, liability shields would echo the 1986 vaccine act, which coincided with a surge in autism diagnoses and distrust in public health programs. Farmers must choose: Stand with corporations or defend our next generation, argues clean food advocate Brooke Miller, urging agricultural organizations to reject immunity bills. With chemicals like glyphosate now detectable in everyday food, the question is stark are Americans willing to trade safety for corporate protectionism? Sources for this article include: Brownstone.org FarmandRanchFreedom.org NationalAgLawCenter.org TheGuardian.com Trump announces substantial tariff hike on India over Russian oil purchases President Donald Trump announced a substantial increase in tariffs on imports from India within 24 hours, citing dissatisfaction with India's trade practices and its continued purchase of Russian oil. The decision has led to a downgrade in India's GDP growth forecast for FY26 from 6.2 percent to 6.0 percent, with sectors like textiles, auto components and chemicals expected to be severely impacted, while pharmaceuticals and telecom instruments may remain stable. Indian exporters are exploring alternative markets to mitigate the impact of U.S. tariffs, with some sectors considering trade hubs like Belgium and the United Arab Emirates, and others looking to diversify into the European Union, United Kingdom and Asia-Pacific markets. India has vowed to protect its national interests, while Russia has backed India, condemning U.S. pressure tactics as illegitimate. The U.S. move risks damaging the growing trade relationship between the two nations, with bilateral trade reaching $131.8 billion in the 2024-25 fiscal year. The tariff hike underscores the complexities of international diplomacy and the balance between economic interests and geopolitical strategy, potentially setting a precedent for how the U.S. handles trade disputes with other nations maintaining ties with Russia. In a dramatic escalation of trade tensions, President Donald Trump declared on Tuesday, August 5, that he will "substantially" raise tariffs on imports from India within the next 24 hours. The decision comes amid escalating criticism over India's continued purchases of Russian oil, which Trump claims are fueling Russia's war machine in Ukraine. During a phone interview with CNBC's "Squawk Box," Trump expressed his dissatisfaction with India's trade practices, labeling the country as the "highest tariff nation." He stated, "India has not been a good trading partner. They do a lot of business with us, but we don't do much with them." Despite India's offer to waive tariffs on United States imports entirely, Trump emphasized that this gesture was insufficient given the ongoing oil trade with Russia. (Related: Trump slaps India with 25% tariffs over Russia ties, sparking trade war fears.) The president justified the tariff hike by stating, "They're buying Russian oil, and they're fueling the war machine. If they are going to do that, I am not going to be very happy." This move follows Trump's earlier criticism, where he accused India of making "big profits" by selling Russian oil in the open market, showing indifference to the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine. The announcement has sent shockwaves through the global economic community. According to a report by rating agency ICRA, India's GDP growth forecast for FY26 has been revised downward from 6.2 percent to 6.0 percent, citing U.S. tariffs and uncertainty around potential penalties as key risks. The report identifies several sectors that are expected to be severely impacted, including textiles, auto components, tires, chemicals, agrochemicals, and cut and polished diamonds (CPD). However, some sectors may fare better. Pharmaceuticals, petroleum products and telecom instruments are expected to remain relatively stable, as they have been partially or fully exempted from the new tariffs. The report also noted that Indian exporters are exploring alternative markets to mitigate the impact, with CPD exporters potentially shifting to trade hubs like Belgium and the United Arab Emirates, while firms in other sectors are looking to diversify into the European Union, United Kingdom and Asia-Pacific markets. International reactions and diplomatic fallout India has responded firmly to the U.S. threat, with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) stating that India will "take all necessary measures to safeguard its national interests and economic security." The MEA clarified that India's imports of Russian oil began only after traditional suppliers redirected shipments to Europe following the Ukraine conflict. Furthermore, the MEA highlighted that the U.S. had initially supported India's imports from Russia to help stabilize global energy markets. Russia has backed India's position, with Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov condemning U.S. pressure tactics as "illegitimate." Peskov emphasized that sovereign nations should be free to choose their trading partners based on their own national interests. The tariff hike could have far-reaching implications for both economies. While the U.S. aims to pressure India into reducing its reliance on Russian oil, the move risks damaging the burgeoning trade relationship between the two nations. Bilateral trade between India and the U.S. reached 131.8 billion in the 2024-25 fiscal year, with a trade surplus of 41.18 billion for New Delhi. The decision to raise tariffs could set a precedent for how the U.S. approaches trade disputes with other nations, particularly those that maintain economic ties with Russia. Trump's announcement marks a significant moment in global trade dynamics, with potential repercussions that extend beyond the immediate economic impact on India. The situation underscores the complexities of international diplomacy and the delicate balance between economic interests and geopolitical strategy. Follow Trump.news for more news about the Trump administration's tariffs on trading partners. Watch the video below about President Trump unleashing tariffs on 185 nations. This video is from the NewsClips channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories: Denis Alipov: U.S. "planting a time bomb" with tariffs on India. Russia to increase oil supplies to India under new deal. Trump slaps 25% tariffs on key Asian allies Japan and South Korea. EU submits to 15% Trump tariffs in new U.S. trade deal. U.S. companies rush to reshore manufacturing as Trump tariffs reshape global trade. Sources include: RT.com TheIndianExpress.com GulfNews.com Ukraine to launch mandatory military instruction program for teenagers amid recruitment struggles A new national program will introduce military instruction to teens as young as 14, amid falling enlistment and rising war casualties. The "Defense of Ukraine" course, including paramilitary-style training, will be compulsory in schools and universities for both boys and girls. Basic military training will soon be required for all Ukrainians under 61, aiming to foster a nationwide culture of resistance. A DW report showed a child in a Ukrainian military camp wearing a modified Nazi-era eagle patch, sparking concern over extremist imagery. Kyiv rejects accusations of neo-Nazi influence, attributing such claims to Russian propaganda while emphasizing long-term national defense goals. A senior Defense Ministry official has confirmed that Ukraine is set to introduce a new national program that will prepare teenagers for future military service as the country grapples with mounting challenges in sustaining its armed forces. Speaking at a defense forum in Kyiv on Aug. 4, Igor Khort, acting head of the Defense Ministry's department overseeing national resistance policy, outlined a curriculum titled "Defense of Ukraine" as voluntary enlistment dwindles and battlefield losses mount. The program, which will become a required part of secondary education across the country, targets students as young as 14. The new curriculum will include classroom instruction alongside organized paramilitary-style games. All students, regardless of gender, will be required to participate. In higher education, university students will undergo more advanced training, including mental and theoretical preparation for future conscription. "This is not about developing combat skills. It's about instilling motivation," Khort said at the forum. "The course Basics of National Resistance will be mandatory for both boys and girls. If someone doesn't want to participate, they can leave the college." (Related: High schoolers in Ukraine must now undergo mandatory military firearms training.) Khort also noted that basic military training will soon be required for all Ukrainians under the age of 61, with the government aiming to make training programs broadly accessible across regions. Nazi-style symbol seen in Ukrainian youth military camp The plan comes amid growing public discontent over the current mass conscription campaign in Ukraine, which has faced criticism for its coercive methods and abusive enforcement. Additionally, German state broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) spotted a Nazi-style insignia in the "secret military camp" for children in Ukraine. The broadcast featured Ukrainian children, some as young as ten, undergoing intense military-style training, including weapons handling, hand-to-hand combat and battlefield first aid. However, what has stirred the most reaction is a fleeting moment in the footage: A teenage participant appears to be wearing a shoulder patch bearing a modified version of the Reichsadler, the imperial eagle used by Nazi Germany. Instead of a swastika, the eagle on the patch clutches Ukraine's national trident emblem, known as the tryzub. While the patch differs from the original symbol banned in Germany, it closely mirrors the aesthetics of Nazi iconography. In Germany, the display of such symbols is illegal unless used in artistic, academic or journalistic contexts. The appearance of such imagery in the news report has sparked questions about oversight and raised concerns about the normalization of extremist symbolism. Versions of Nazi-associated symbols have been repeatedly documented among Ukrainian servicemen in recent years. These have included patches of SS units, neo-Pagan emblems and other far-right insignia. Ukraine has consistently denied the presence of neo-Nazi ideology within its military or political structures, dismissing claims of extremism as part of Russia's ongoing disinformation campaign. Instead, Ukrainian authorities framed it as a preparation for a prolonged conflict with Russia, focusing on long-term strategies to bolster the country's defense readiness. Visit WWIII.news for in-depth coverage, exclusive reports and breaking updates on global conflict, military developments and geopolitical tensions. Watch this video of Ukrainian soldiers training in Germany. This video is from the ChaosMedia channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories: Poland aims to double military size, mandate training for all men amid rising tensions with Russia. Germany considers reinstating mandatory military service as report warns armed forces are unprepared. Gender equality? Denmark to introduce mandatory military service FOR WOMEN. Taiwan to extend mandatory military service period amid rising tensions with China. U.K. bringing back mandatory military service as Europe prepares for WAR with Russia. Sources include: RT.com 1 RT.com 2 Brighteon.com Federal court upholds LA school districts COVID vaccine mandate in blow to medical freedom A federal appeals court upheld LAUSD's COVID-19 vaccine mandate for employees, dismissing a lawsuit arguing it violated constitutional rights. The court cited federal health guidance, despite later evidence that the vaccines did not prevent transmission. Employees and the Health Freedom Defense Fund sued, claiming the mandate was unconstitutional. Over 1,000 employees lost their jobs for refusing the vaccine, but the court ruled LAUSD acted reasonably based on CDC guidance. The court relied on Jacobson v. Massachusetts (1905), which upheld vaccine mandates, but critics argued it was a flawed comparison since the smallpox vaccine stopped transmissionunlike COVID-19 shots. Dissenting judges warned of unchecked government power. Plaintiffs may appeal to the Supreme Court, though success is uncertain. The ruling sets a concerning precedent, allowing mandates based on disputed or changing science, raising fears about eroded medical freedoms. The case highlights tensions between public health authority and individual rights. Critics warn the decision empowers governments to enforce mandates without scientific certainty, threatening bodily autonomy and consent. In a controversial ruling that critics say undermines personal liberty, a federal appeals court last week dismissed a lawsuit challenging the Los Angeles Unified School District's (LAUSD) Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine mandate for employees. The court ruled that the district was justified in enforcing the mandate based on federal health guidance, even if the vaccines did not prevent transmission of the virus. The decision was handed down by the full 11-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. It overturned an earlier ruling that had sided with employees who argued the mandate violated their constitutional rights. The case now raises critical questions about government overreach, medical autonomy and the legal precedent for future public health mandates. (Related: BREAKING: Los Angeles School District rescinds covid-19 vaccine mandate over 1,000 employees who were wrongfully terminated now await justice.) The lawsuit was filed in 2021 by the Health Freedom Defense Fund (HFDF) and a group of LAUSD employees under the banner of California Educators for Medical Freedom. They argued that forcing school staff to take the COVID-19 vaccine amounted to an unconstitutional medical mandate. More than 1,000 employees lost their jobs for refusing the shot. The plaintiffs sought to have the mandate declared unlawful and requested compensation for legal fees and damages. But the 9th Circuit disagreed, ruling that LAUSD had acted reasonably by relying on guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which at the time claimed the vaccines helped curb the spread of the virus. The majority opinion leaned heavily on Jacobson v. Massachusetts, a 1905 Supreme Court case that upheld smallpox vaccine mandates. The judges argued that as long as the school district believed the mandate served public health, it was within its rights to enforce it regardless of whether the science later proved otherwise. This reasoning alarmed dissenting judges, who warned that the ruling gives government agencies unchecked power to impose medical mandates based on flawed or changing information. "The majority's opinion comes perilously close to giving the government carte blanche to require a vaccine or even medical treatment against people's will," the dissent stated. "Faithful adherence to Supreme Court precedent confirms that we should not blindly accept the mere say-so of the government." Flawed comparison: Court uses controversial reasoning to junk complaint Critics of the ruling argue that Jacobson is a poor comparison. The smallpox vaccine in that case was proven to stop transmission unlike the COVID-19 vaccines, which were later acknowledged by the CDC to have limited impact on spread. The plaintiffs also pointed out that the CDC quietly altered its definition of a "vaccine" in 2021, removing the requirement that it provides immunity to a disease. Attorney Scott Street, representing the employees, called the court's analysis "shallow" and accused the judges of ignoring decades of constitutional protections against forced medical interventions. Leslie Manookian, president of HFDF, said the plaintiffs are considering an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. Meanwhile, the ruling sets a troubling precedent for future public health policies. If governments can mandate medical treatments based on preliminary or later-disproven claims, critics warn, individual rights could be eroded in the name of emergency measures. Judge John Owens and Judge Kenneth Lee, who dissented partially, wrote about concerns regarding constitutional precedent. They argued that by not examining the effectiveness of the vaccine when weighing the legality of a medical mandate, the freedom of patients is put at risk. The case highlights a growing tension between public health authority and personal freedoms. While LAUSD rescinded its mandate in 2023, the legal battle leaves open the possibility that similar policies could return in future health criseswith courts deferring to government assertions rather than scientific certainty. While the ruling stands as a victory for public health officials, it deals a serious blow to those who believe medical decisions should remain between individuals and their doctors. As Manookian warned: "This ruling should terrify every American." Watch this video about more than 100 Washington State Patrol employees being fired for refusing COVID-19 vaccine. This video is from the TKWK T.V channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories: NYC Mayor Eric Adams fires 1,752 city employees for not taking the COVID-19 vaccine (that doesnt stop COVID infections). Google and Facebook announce illegal COVID-19 vaccine mandates, targeting their own employees. Arizona AG rules Tucsons COVID-19 vaccine mandate targeting city employees is ILLEGAL. Sources include: ChildrensHealthDefense.org ResourcefulFinancePro.com TheGatewayPundit.com Brighteon.com Global firestorm erupts over U.K.s Online Safety Act: Free speech under siege as democracy faces digital Downing Street The U.K.s Online Safety Act (2023), fully operational since July 2025, restricts content globally by mandating age verification and broad censorship, sparking transatlantic controversy. Critics, including U.S. lawmakers and Elon Musk, argue the law threatens free speech, with Ofcom enforcing penalties on platforms outside the U.K., including imprisonment or fines. The Act incites fears of regulatory overreach, as U.S. tech giants like X (formerly Twitter) face forced censorship and stricter content moderation. Global concerns arise over the laws implications for democracy, with Australia preparing similar measures and Brazil facing activism tied to speech suppression. Rep. Scott Fitzgerald and bipartisan House delegations condemn the Act as an attack on U.S. First Amendment values, while legal battles and trade pressures escalate. In July, the United Kingdoms Online Safety Act (OSA) ignited a global debate over free speech as its enforcement began demanding age verification and content filtering across digital platforms. Critics, including U.S. lawmakers, Tesla CEO Elon Musk and international advocacy groups, argue the laws broad censorship powers threaten democratic expression. Enforced by telecom regulator Ofcom, the OSA applies to companies worldwide, punishing noncompliance through fines or imprisonment. From banned Gaza war reports to censored historical art, the legislation has drawn scrutiny as a precedent for authoritarian content regulation, raising alarms that the U.S. and other nations could face similar censorship export. The U.K.s OSA: A blueprint for global digital censorship? The OSA mandates age verification for access to pornography, hate speech, violence and other harmful content, while requiring platforms to actively monitor and regulate user posts. Implementation has led to widespread backlash: YouTube removed WWII combat footage, Reddit restricted cigar enthusiast forums, and X (Twitter) blocked Gaza conflict discussions. Critics highlight the laws extraterritorial reach. Ofcom has sent compliance letters to U.S.-based platforms like Gab, which chose to shut down access to the U.K. entirely rather than comply. The laws penaltiesup to 18 million fines or 2-year prison termsare enforceable globally. U.S. platforms face pressure to censor lawfully controversial content to avoid costly penalties, creating a chilling effect. U.S. Rep. Scott Fitzgerald, part of a bipartisan House delegation visiting the U.K. in August 2025, called the law an attack on First Amendment values. Meanwhile, SpaceX founder Elon Musk accused the U.K. government of suppressing the people through censorship theater, vowing legal challenges. The U.S. response and transatlantic tensions The OSA has become a political lightning rod in Washington. House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan, a Republican leading investigations into Big Tech bias, spearheaded a trip to London to protest the laws overreach. The delegation emphasized that U.S. platformsalready battling domestic pressures over content moderationcannot afford international censorship mandates. Foreign elites legislating American speech is not acceptable, said Fitzgerald, underscoring fears that the OSA sets a dangerous precedent. Meanwhile, tech firms like Meta and Reddit face impossible choices: comply with U.K. laws through costly technical changes or risk losing access to its market. The Trump administration has pushed back against the OSA in trade talks, but the U.K., prioritizing childrens safety, refuses to budge. Legal battles loom: U.S. attorney Preston Byrne plans to challenge the laws enforceability in federal court, citing violations of the First Amendment. Global echoes and a movement against the censorship industrial complex The U.K.s law has galvanized global resistance. Australia faces domestic scrutiny after the OSAs rollout, as its government plans to ban under-16s from social media, echoing similar anxieties over youth safety versus free expression. In Brazil, courts reportedly used social media data to jail nonviolent protestersa practice exposed by investigative outlet Public, which calls the OSA a totalitarian blueprint. Michael Shellenberger of Public argues that authoritarianism is on the rise globally, citing crackdowns on dissidents from France to Brazil. The Censorship Industrial Complex isnt backing down, he writes, urging a unified defense of digital freedoms. Historically, governments like Australia and Canada have enforced local laws on global platforms, but the OSAs sweeping, ongoing mandates set a new standard. This isnt just about porn or hate speech, explains internet law scholar James Grimmelmann. Its a power grab over what humanity can legally share. The fight for digital liberties The U.K.s Online Safety Act exemplifies the fractured state of free speech in the digital age. While safety for minors is paramount, the laws vague boundaries, extraterritorial reach and penal threats have become symbols of creeping state control. From Musk to Congress, resistance is mountingproof that the battle for unfettered expression remains pivotal. As Rep. Fitzgerald warns, When governments abroad weaponize safety, they risk unraveling the foundation of open societies worldwide. The OSAs fate may well determine whether the internet remains a forum for global dialogue or a tool of top-down oppression. Sources for this article include: TheExpose.com Politico.com TheGuardian.com Great Barrier Reef still thrives amid climate doom narratives Great Barrier Reef coral cover at fifth-highest level since records began in 1985, per AIMS. 2024 bleaching linked to El Nino, but recovery underway; no fresh bleaching observed since July 2024. Media narratives emphasize "tipping points" despite record coral recovery over the last five years. Dr. Peter Ridds analysis shows current coral levels double those of 2012, undermining claims of irreversible damage. Crown-of-thorns starfish control programs yield results, yet political agendas overshadow scientific nuance. The Great Barrier Reef has achieved its fifth-highest coral cover since monitoring began in 1985, according to the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS), defying apocalyptic claims from activist-aligned outlets like the BBC and The Guardian, among other mainstream media. Despite a dip triggered by the 2024 El Nino-driven bleaching event, coral growth data reveal a resilient ecosystem that has rebounded repeatedly. Yet mainstream media continue framing ecological fluctuations as irreversible collapse, furthering climate alarmism while sidelining proven recovery mechanisms and natural cycles. Data vs. spin: Why the Reef isnt dying, per official records Recent AIMS surveys show coral cover in the Central Reef at 28.6%, surpassing its long-term average of 19.8%, with bleaching prevalence dropping sharply in early 2025. A total of 338 Reef health surveys conducted between June and July 2025 found no active coral bleaching, marking a rebound from the 2024 events peak impact. Notably, the Reef has now hit record or near-record coral levels for five consecutive years. Despite this, headlines like the BBCs Largest Annual Decline Since Records Began have amplified panic. This framing ignores context: 2025s statistically marginal drop follows four years of unprecedented growth, with current cover levels still twice as high as 2012 lows, per Dr. Peter Ridd, a marine scientist and GBR expert. If the alarmist bleaching claims were true, thered be no coral left, Ridd wrote in The Australian, noting that fast-growing Acropora coralsvulnerable to heat and starfishdominate the recovery. Media spin also downplays non-climate factors. AIMS data attribute damage to crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS) outbreaks, cyclones and localized floods, rather than human-caused warming. Current COTS control effortstargeting infestations on 237 reefs since July 2024have reduced starfish density by half in priority zones, with the Reef Authority calling it critical to ecosystem resilience. A history of exaggeration Activists cite repeated mass bleaching events since 1998 to paint the Reef as mortally ill. Yet Ridd points out that extreme bleaching events have always occurred during natural temperature swings, which corals have historically adapted to. A 2011 study, for instance, documented stable Reef health between 19952009, disproving claims of steady decline. The first seen in 1998 bleaching narrative is a PR myth, Ridd charges, questioning who truly observed it. For 440 million years, tropical oceans have fluctuated between 2432C, and corals thrived. Recent NOAA-funded research further complicates the climate-bleaching link, showing corals bleach not just from heat but abrupt temperature shiftsnot sustained warming. This suggests local weather anomalies, not global trends, drive bleaching. Why the political narrative matters Net Zero fantasies vs. ecological realities The push for Net Zero solutions, like AIMS call for greenhouse gas cuts, faces skepticism. Ridd warns that climate models oversimplify Reef dynamics, ignoring corals ability to bounce back from stress. The Reef Authority itself cites COTS outbreaks and floodsboth natural processesas larger threats. Science institutions like AIMS lose credibility when they weaponize uncertainty, Ridd said, citing phrases like projected disturbance regime under climate change as speculative. He argues that current coral cover levels prove the Reefs resilience far outstrips activist fears. An ecosystem doing fine The Great Barrier Reefs history of adaptation underscores its hardiness. Despite periodic setbacks like the 2024 El Nino, data confirm it remains healthier than most years since 1985. Yet mainstream medias focus on mythical tipping points distracts from pragmatic solutions, like crown-of-thorns control and localized management. As Ridd concludes, the GBR is such a beautiful place its shown an inherent ability to recover. Perhaps the real tipping point lies in moving beyond climate dogma and embracing evidencea lesson even settled science should heed. Sources for this article include: DailySceptic.org GBRMPA.gov.au NotALotofPeopleKnowThat.com ICE launches historic hiring blitz with $50K bonuses amid border crisis ICE is launching its largest-ever hiring initiative, aiming to recruit 10,000 new agents, attorneys and support staff, backed by a $170 billion funding boost from recent legislation. The agency is offering $50,000 signing bonuses and up to $60,000 in student loan forgiveness, sparking criticism from local law enforcement, which accuses ICE of exacerbating staffing shortages by poaching officers. With $76.5 billion allocated over five years, ICE plans to significantly increase deportationstargeting 1 million annuallywhile expanding detention facilities The aggressive hiring push reignites debates over immigration enforcement, with concerns about recruitment hurdles, vetting standards and strained relations between federal and local law enforcement. ICE's rapid growth risks legal and community tensions, particularly in Democratic-led sanctuary cities, while supporters argue its necessary to address border security failures. The long-term impact remains uncertain. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has launched its largest-ever recruitment campaign, offering $50,000 signing bonuses and student loan forgiveness to hire 10,000 new agents, attorneys and support staff. The aggressive push, branded the "Defend the Homeland" initiative, follows a $170 billion funding boost from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed by President Donald Trump in July. With job postings flooding ICE's recruitment site and a social media blitz urging Americans to "serve your country," the agency aims to expand deportation efforts, targeting an estimated 600,000 illegal immigrants with criminal records. The move comes as border security remains a flashpoint in national politics, with critics warning of strained local law enforcement and supporters hailing it as a necessary crackdown. The funding injection marks the largest expansion of ICE in its 21-year history, transforming it into the biggest federal law enforcement agency surpassing the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives combined. Of the $76.5 billion allocated to ICE over five years, $45 billion will expand detention facilities, while nearly $30 billion funds hiring. The goal? One million deportations annually, a sharp escalation from current enforcement levels. (Related: ICE agents face 830% assault surge amid political rhetoric and doxxing crisis.) ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons has framed the hiring spree as a mission to remove "the worst of the worst"criminals who exploit weak border policies. Recent arrests, including convicted sex offenders and drug traffickers, underscore the agencys intensified focus. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem echoed this, citing the Biden administration's "failed immigration policies" as justification for the recruitment drive. Bonuses and backlash: Sheriffs slam ICE for poaching deputies The $50,000 bonuses and up to $60,000 in student loan forgiveness are unprecedented for federal law enforcement. But the incentives have sparked fury among local sheriffs, who accuse ICE of poaching deputies from understaffed departments. Jonathan Thompson of the National Sheriffs' Association called the recruitment tactics "galactically stupid or purposefully malicious," noting rural agencies already face 40 percent vacancy rates. ICE's direct outreach to local officers without consulting sheriffs has further inflamed tensions. Some departments had previously collaborated with ICE on training, only to see the agency lure away their personnel. "This is an embarrassment to this president," Thompson said, warning of a "wildfire of discontent" between federal and local law enforcement. While ICE boasts 1,000 job offers since July, hiring at this scale faces hurdles. Border Patrol agents historically take over 300 days to onboard, per a 2024 GAO study. Joe Gamaldi of the Fraternal Order of Police cautioned that anti-law enforcement rhetoric has shrunk the pool of qualified candidates. "People want to serve where they're appreciated," he said, suggesting money alone won't fix morale issues. Critics also fear the campaign could attract applicants drawn to ICEs controversial tactics. Security analyst Garrett Graff warned of hiring individuals enamored with "masked secret police" operations, citing raids in public spaces like Home Depot parking lots. ICE maintains recruits will be rigorously vetted, but the agencys aggressive posture under Trump has raised concerns about accountability. The hiring blitz intensifies a long-running debate over immigration enforcement. ICE's operations became a lightning rod during the Trump era, with Democrats decrying family separations and workplace raids, while conservatives framed the agency as a last line of defense against chaos. The Defend the Homeland campaign revives that divide, with ads invoking wartime imagery Uncle Sam declaring, "America has been invaded by criminals." Watch border czar Tom Homan discussing anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles in this clip from Fox News. This video is from the Rick Langley channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories: Assaults against ICE agents linked to hostile political rhetoric surge 500%. Trumps ICE crackdown delivers triple-digit arrest surges as assaults on agents jump 830%. ICE arrested over 300 illegal immigrants with major criminal convictions within 24 hours of Trumps inauguration. Sources include: YourNews.com USAToday.com News.SSBCrack.com Brighteon.com Israel approves Gaza City occupation as Netanyahu defies critics, warns of Hamas neo-Nazi tactics Netanyahu announces Israeli military control of Gaza, with plans to eventually transfer governance to unspecified Arab forces. The plan includes occupying Gaza City, disarming Hamas, demilitarizing Gaza, and maintaining Israeli security control, drawing sharp international criticism. Palestinian leaders and global officials condemn the move as ethnic cleansing and a violation of international law, warning of catastrophic humanitarian consequences. Israeli opposition grows, with military leaders and politicians worried about prolonged conflict, troop exhaustion, and diplomatic isolation amid protests for a ceasefire. Gazas humanitarian crisis worsens, with record child malnutrition and mass displacement as aid remains severely restricted, raising fears of further devastation. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has brazenly announced plans for Israel to assume full military control of Gaza on the pretense of dismantling Hamas and establishing a post-war security framework before transferring governance to unspecified "Arab forces." Speaking exclusively to Fox News, Netanyahu framed the strategy as necessary for Israels security and the liberation of Palestinians from Hamass rule, but it undoubtedly risks escalating regional tensions and worsening Gazas humanitarian crisis. With Israel already controlling 75% of the territory, Netanyahus rhetoric, which included labeling Hamas a "neo-Nazi army", has drawn sharp international scrutiny as the conflict enters a volatile new phase. Netanyahu wants the world to believe it's a security perimeter and not long-term occupation Netanyahu insisted Israel has no intention of governing Gaza indefinitely. Instead, he claims they want to establish a security buffer to prevent future attacks. "We intend to in order to assure our security, remove Hamas there, enable the population to be free of Gaza, and to pass it to civilian governance," he told Fox News Bill Hemmer. He emphasized that Israel would eventually hand administration to "Arab forces that will govern it properly without threatening us and giving Gazans a good life." The Israeli Security Cabinet has since approved Netanyahu's plan to occupy Gaza City, marking a significant escalation. A statement from Netanyahus office outlined five key principles for ending the war: disarming Hamas, returning all hostages (living and deceased), demilitarizing Gaza, maintaining Israeli security control, and establishing a new civil administration excluding Hamas and the Palestinian Authority. Global unease and domestic dissent are both growing Not surprisingly, Netanyahus plan has been met with fierce backlash. Palestinian leaders, including Mustafa Barghouti of the Palestinian National Initiative, condemned the move as "ethnic cleansing" and "genocide." Australias Foreign Minister Penny Wong warned that forced displacement violates international law, while former Middle East negotiator Aaron David Miller called the strategy "fantastical" and warned of catastrophic humanitarian consequences. Even within Israel, opposition is mounting. Military Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir reportedly cautioned against a full occupation, citing risks to hostages and troop exhaustion. Opposition leader Yair Lapid blasted the decision as a "disaster," arguing it would prolong the war, endanger hostages, and isolate Israel diplomatically. Protests erupted in Jerusalem as families of hostages demanded a ceasefire, fearing expanded operations would sentence their loved ones to death. The humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza shows no signs of slowing down As Netanyahu pushes forward, Gazas civilian population faces unprecedented suffering. The UN reported a record 11,877 children under five acutely malnourished in July, with only a trickle of aid reaching the enclave. Displaced Palestinians like Mahmoud al-Qurashli told Reuters, "Practically all of Gaza has been squeezed into the western part of Gaza City. At this point, theres no difference anymorewhether he occupies it or not." International aid groups warn that further military action will exacerbate starvation and displacement. The Norwegian Refugee Councils Shaina Low described conditions as "the worst weve ever seen," while UNICEF stressed that without urgent access, malnutrition will claim more young lives. There is no question that the situation in the Middle East is absolutely untenable, but Netanyahus strategy could well come with a staggering human cost. Although he insists the goal is security and stability, it will bring with it military overextension, global condemnation, and the specter of endless insurgency. Sources for this article include: YourNews.com FoxNews.com CNN.com Russian troops attacked Odesa with drones on Friday night, a sewage pumping station was damaged and a gas station guard was injured, said head of the Regional Military Administration Oleh Kiper. "At night, the enemy once again attacked Odesa region with attack drones. A person was injured. Law enforcement officers are recording another crime by Russians against the civilian population of Odesa region," he wrote on Telegram. According to Kiper, despite the effective work of the air defense forces, there is damage to the building of the sewage pumping station. Also in the suburbs, as a result of falling debris, a fire broke out in dry grass. The fire was quickly extinguished. In addition, a gas station security guard was injured, where the blast wave blew out the glass. The man received multiple cut wounds to his hand. Doctors provided him with all the necessary assistance, and now the wounded man continues treatment on an outpatient basis. Leaked documents reveal Microsoft provided Israels Unit 8200 with tools to spy on Palestinians Microsoft provided its Azure cloud platform to Israels Unit 8200, enabling mass surveillance of Palestinian communications. Unit 8200 used Azure data to identify bombing targets in Gaza, leading to civilian casualties. Microsoft claims ignorance but refuses to terminate its contract with Israeli military intelligence. Investigations reveal Microsoft profits from war crimes while publicly promoting ethical AI principles. Critics warn unchecked surveillance turns corporations into silent partners in oppression and human rights violations. Microsoft isn't exactly known for being ethical, but a shocking new expose has exposed just how deep their complicity in war crimes runs. The Big Tech firm has been secretly providing Israels elite military intelligence Unit 8200 with its Azure cloud platform since 2021, enabling the storage and analysis of massive troves of Palestinian communications data. According to a damning investigation by +972 Magazine, Local Call, and The Guardian, Microsofts technology has been weaponized to surveil millions of daily phone calls from Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, with Unit 8200 sources confirming the data was used to identify bombing targets in densely populated civilian areas. While Microsoft feigns ignorance, claiming its CEO was unaware of the datas lethal purpose, the tech giants actions reveal a disturbing pattern of prioritizing profits over human lives... even as Palestinian civilians pay the ultimate price. Microsofts Azure is being used by Israelis to fuel military surveillance The investigation reveals that Microsofts Azure cloud platform has been a critical tool for Unit 8200, Israels notorious cyber intelligence division, which has long been accused of unethical surveillance tactics. The system stores recordings of countless Palestinian phone calls, text messages, and other communications, allowing the military to sift through vast datasets for alleged security threats. Sources within Unit 8200 admitted that intelligence gleaned from Azure was directly used to plan airstrikes in Gaza, including attacks that have killed civilians. Microsofts collaboration with Unit 8200 is not an isolated incident but part of a broader trend of tech giants enabling government overreach and military aggression. The company has repeatedly touted its commitment to ethical AI and responsible technology, yet its actions tell a different story. By providing its Azure platform to a military intelligence unit engaged in mass surveillance and targeted killings, Microsoft has effectively become a silent partner in war crimes. The investigation found that Microsofts cloud infrastructure was used to process and store intercepted Palestinian communications, including calls from non-combatants. This indiscriminate data collection violates basic privacy rights and raises serious ethical concerns about the role of private corporations in military operations. Despite these revelations, Microsoft has refused to terminate its contract with the Israeli government, suggesting that financial incentives outweigh moral responsibility. What is the human cost of unchecked surveillance? The consequences of Microsofts collaboration with Unit 8200 are devastating. Palestinian civilians in Gaza and the West Bank live under constant surveillance, with their private communications weaponized against them. The investigation highlights cases where intelligence gathered from Azure was used to justify airstrikes in residential areas, resulting in civilian deaths. Human rights organizations have long warned about the risks of mass surveillance in conflict zones, where data can be easily misused to target vulnerable populations. Microsofts role in facilitating this surveillance raises urgent questions about corporate accountability. If tech companies continue to profit from military contracts without oversight, they become active participants in human rights violations. Microsofts partnership with Unit 8200 is a reminder of how Big Tech enables government oppression under the guise of innovation. By providing its Azure platform to a military unit engaged in mass surveillance and deadly airstrikes, Microsoft has betrayed its own purported values and contributed to the suffering of innocent civilians. The companys hollow claims of ignorance are indefensible. If Microsoft truly cared about ethical responsibility, it would sever ties with military and intelligence agencies that abuse its technology. Instead, it continues to prioritize profits over people, proving once again that corporate greed knows no bounds. Sources for this article include: TheCradle.co TheGuardian.com 972Mag.com https://surveillance.news/ Sources for this article include: TheCradle.co TheGuardian.com 972Mag.com Unholy authoritarian alliance: OpenAI partnership with federal government will threaten civil liberties OpenAI partners with U.S. agencies for $1 fee, part of Trump's AI Action Plan. Critics warn of data security, censorship and legal exposure for users. OpenAI reverses ban on military uses, now collaborating with the Department of Defense. Open conversations may become court evidence, per CEO Sam Altman. Swedens AI policy consultations spark similar privacy debates worldwide. On Wednesday, August 6, the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) announced a sweeping partnership granting federal agencies access to ChatGPT Enterprise for a nominal $1 feepart of President Donald Trumps bid to cement U.S. leadership in artificial intelligence. OpenAIs sweep into government workflows has ignited debate, with critics warning that centralized AI systems could erode privacy, enable state censorship and embolden military applications. For civil liberties advocates, this deal is more than a tech update: its a potential blueprint for authoritarian oversight under the guise of efficiency. The deal: A $1 bargain or backdoor for Big Tech? Under the pact, agencies gain universal access to OpenAIs advanced models, paired with extensive training programsall for a reported $1 per agency annually. GSA Acting Administrator Michael Rigas hailed it as a critical step toward global AI dominance, while OpenAI CEO Sam Altman framed the deal as democratizing technology for people serving our country. Yet the terms have raised eyebrows. Legal experts note that while the cost is nominal, the deal grants OpenAI unfettered influence over taxpayer-funded AI systems. A GSA spokesperson emphasized compliance with OMB memorandums on public trust, but critics argue those documents lack robust safeguards against AI bias or data mishandling. Privacy at risk: Can AI be made uncensored enough? The partnerships risks crystallized in May 2023, when the U.S. Space Force halted ChatGPT usage due to cybersecurity concerns. Space Forces Lisa Costa warned that AI systems like ChatGPT process vast user data, raising fears of classified breaches. Until data protection standards are overhauled, these tools arent ready for high-stakes work, Ms. Costa stated at the time. Altmans recent admission compounds these fears: ChatGPT conversations are not shielded by privacy protections, meaning U.S. officialsor the publiccould face legal ramifications if their interactions were seized by courts. Users are on notice, warned Heritage Foundation tech policy analyst Dr. Michael Kratsios, this isnt just a toolits a liability. Military and policy implications: Guns, wars and bot-backed policies OpenAIs move marks a reversal of its 2021 military ban. The firm now collaborates with the Department of Defense on cybersecurity and veteran suicide prevention toolsa pivot some argue aligns with aggressive American military modernization pushes. Meanwhile, overseas, Swedens Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson faced backlash this summer after admitting AI influenced policy decisions. We should ask: Who polices the programmers? asked tech ethicist Jamie Smith. If a bot drafts immigration laws, is that democracyor delegation? OpenAIs new open-weight models, designed for local customization, hint at future entanglement with national security programs. The firm insists federal conversations wont train its tools, but skeptics demand proofa transparency vacuum critics call the elephant in the codebase. The price of progress, or the cost of freedom? As the GSA-OpenAI partnership takes root, America faces a crossroads. Modernizing governance with AI promises efficiency, yet risks normalizing opaque algorithms in courts, Congress and combat zones. For conservatives wary of centralized power, the $1 deal isnt just a budget lineits a thermostat for liberty. AI should serve citizens, not silo surveillance, urged tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, via his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Lets innovatewhile still keeping the human in the loop. Sources for this article include: ZeroHedge.com GSA.gov Wired.com California Sen. Adam Schiff under federal investigation for mortgage fraud Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) is under federal investigation for alleged mortgage fraud, following a criminal referral by the FHFA accusing him of falsifying property and bank documents to secure favorable loan terms. The investigation focuses on conflicting claims about whether Schiff's California and Maryland homes were primary residences a distinction affecting mortgage rates with evidence suggesting repeated misrepresentation between 2003 and 2019. Alleged violations could include wire fraud, bank fraud or false statements to financial institutions, as Schiff reportedly certified the Maryland property as his primary home while claiming tax benefits in California. The case resembles past mortgage fraud prosecutions, with legal experts noting that intentional misrepresentation could lead to criminal charges. President Donald Trump publicly condemned Schiff, calling for prosecution. Schiff's office claims both homes were legitimately occupied, but the probe underscores the legal and political ramifications of financial transparency or lack thereof for public officials. No charges have been filed yet. Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA), once a prominent figure in congressional investigations into President Donald Trump, is now the subject of a federal criminal probe over allegations of mortgage fraud. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Maryland has launched an investigation on Schiff following a criminal referral to the Department of Justice (DOJ) in May of this year by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). It accused Schiff of falsifying property records and bank documents to secure favorable loan terms. The case centers on conflicting claims about whether his residences in Burbank, California and Potomac, Maryland were primary homes a distinction that can significantly affect mortgage rates. The former congressman for the Golden State was elected to the Senate last year and assumed office in December 2024. The allegations surfaced after FHFA Director William Pulte sent a letter to the DOJ, citing evidence that Schiff and his wife repeatedly misrepresented their primary residence between 2003 and 2019. According to Pulte, Schiff certified the Maryland property as his primary home in a 2011 affidavit while simultaneously claiming tax benefits in California. This violation could constitute wire fraud, bank fraud or false statements to financial institutions. "As regulator of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Home Loan Banks, we take very seriously allegations of mortgage fraud or other criminal activity," Pulte wrote in the letter addressed to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche. "Such misconduct jeopardizes the safety and soundness of FHFA's regulated entities and the security and stability of the U.S. mortgage market." Trump targets Schiff over loan scandal Fox News obtained records showing Schiff reaffirmed the Maryland home's status in refinancing filings in 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2013 despite his California congressional role. The case echoes previous high-profile mortgage fraud prosecutions, such as the 2023 conviction of former Baltimore prosecutor Marilyn Mosby for lying on a loan application. Legal experts note that occupancy misrepresentation, while often treated as a civil offense, can escalate to criminal charges if proven intentional. Trump himself amplified the scrutiny in a Truth Social post last month. "I always knew Adam Schiff was a crook," the president stated, attaching the California senator's notarized affidavit. Trump also demanded prosecution, framing the case as part of a broader pattern of alleged misconduct. (Related: President Trump accuses California Sen. Adam Schiff of MORTGAGE FRAUD.) Schiff's office has maintained that both homes were legitimately occupied. A spokesperson for the lawmaker told fake news outlet CNN in 2023 that the properties were "listed as primary residences to distinguish them from a vacation property." For now, the investigation remains ongoing, with no public response yet from Schiff's legal team. The probe marks a dramatic turn for a lawmaker who once led impeachment efforts against Trump. It also serves as a reminder that even political adversaries face the same legal scrutiny when accusations of financial impropriety arise. The outcome could hinge on whether prosecutors uncover evidence of deliberate deception or whether the discrepancies were bureaucratic oversights. Either way, the case underscores the enduring consequences of financial transparency or the lack thereof in public office. Watch this clip from "Fox & Friends" about President Trump accusing Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) of mortgage fraud. This video is from the NewsClips channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories: The imminent collapse of Adam Schiff's "whistleblower" hoax will devastate Dems in 2020 and beyond. Adam Schiff, who aggressively pushed "Russian collusion" hoax, is now pushing Big Tech to censor all vaccine truth. Bombshell in the making: Did Adam Schiff pull a Jussie Smollett and FABRICATE the existence of the whistleblower? Sources include: 100PercentFedUp.com FoxNews.com ThePostMillennial.com Brighteon.com Trump vows to issue executive order to stop debanking of conservatives In a CNBC interview, President Donald Trump claimed that JPMorgan Chase forced him to move hundreds of millions of dollars and that Bank of America later rejected a $1 billion deposit, citing politically motivated "debanking." Trump announced plans to sign an executive order targeting banks that engage in alleged ideological discrimination, particularly against conservatives, crypto firms and religious groups. The order would direct federal regulators to investigate violations of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, antitrust laws and consumer protection statutes, with potential penalties including fines and consent decrees. Trump's claims reflect broader concerns among conservatives about banks using vague compliance standards to deny services based on political or religious views. JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America deny engaging in politically motivated account closures but expressed support for Trump's push for clearer and updated financial regulations. President Donald Trump has vowed that he will soon sign an executive order targeting politically motivated "debanking" practices by major financial institutions. In a live interview with CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Tuesday, Aug. 5, Trump revealed that JPMorgan Chase allegedly gave him 20 days to move "hundreds of millions of dollars in cash" to another bank, without offering specifics on when or why the notice was issued. Following the move, Trump said he attempted to deposit "a billion dollars-plus" with Bank of America, but was turned away. "Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said, 'We can't do it,'" Trump said. "So I went to another one, another one, another one. I ended up going to small banks all over the place. I mean, I was putting $10 million here, $10 million there, the craziest thing. And it's lucky I even had them. They were doing me a favor and that's because the banks discriminated against me very badly, and I was very good to the banks. Had the greatest economy in the history of our country when I was president. And by the way, our economy now will blow that away, as you see it happening." Trump is not alone in this, as conservatives continue to raise concerns about so-called "debanking," a practice they say disproportionately affects right-leaning individuals, cryptocurrency businesses and faith-based organizations. They claimed that large financial institutions are using vague compliance justifications to deny services based on ideological bias. In line with this, Trump vowed to sign an executive order this week that will direct federal regulators to investigate and penalize banks that violate the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, which prohibits discrimination in the extension of credit. It also directs scrutiny under antitrust laws and consumer financial protection statutes, with violations to be reported to the U.S. Attorney General in some cases. Regulators would be urged to eliminate any existing policies that may have contributed to politically or religiously motivated debanking. Additionally, the Small Business Administration would be tasked with reviewing its loan guarantee program for discriminatory banking practices. Banks found in violation of the order could face fines, consent decrees and other disciplinary actions. "They discriminate against many conservatives. I think the word might be Trump supporters more than conservatives," Trump said. JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America deny political bias Both JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America have denied closing accounts for political reasons. "We don't close accounts for political reasons, and we agree with President Trump that regulatory change is desperately needed," a JPMorgan spokesperson said. "We're pleased to see the White House is addressing this issue, for which we've been advocating for many years, and look forward to working with them to get this right." (Related: JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon backs President Donald Trump's tariff proposals .) Meanwhile, Bank of America did not address Trump's specific allegations but expressed support for efforts to streamline financial regulation. "We welcome the Trump administration's efforts to provide regulatory clarity to banks," Bank of America said. "We've provided detailed proposals and will continue to work with the administration and Congress to improve the regulatory framework." Watch the video below to know why the Trump-Vance 2024 tandem represents "transformation" in the Republican Party. This video is from the TrendingNews channel on Brighteon.com. More related stories: National Australia Bank now debanking customers for "mean" speech. Bank of America is an active enemy combatant targeting conservatives for financial deplatforming. DEBANKING SPREE: UK banks are closing more than 1,000 accounts a day with little explanation. Sources include: TheNationalPulse.com CNBC.com MSN.com 1 MSN.com 2 MSN.com 3 Brighteon.com Trumps $50B tariff policy shakes global markets as U.S. eyes manufacturing dominance U.S. tariffs jump to record levels, pushing import duties to highest since the Great Depression. Revenue surge expected: Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick forecasts $50 billion monthly tariff revenue. Target sectors: Semiconductor tariffs hit 100%, pharmaceuticals could rise to 250% on imports. Geopolitical moves: Trade exemptions for EU (15% tariff) and Japan amid China negotiations. China deal uncertain: Potential 90-day truce extension as tariff truce deadline looms August 12. On Thursday, August 7, 2025, President Donald Trumps sweeping reciprocal tariffs took effect, raising U.S. import duties to their highest level since the Great Depression. U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick announced the administration anticipates collecting $50 billion monthly in tariff revenue up from $30 billion last monthas levies on imports from 60 countries hit 10% to 50%. The policy marks a radical shift in U.S. trade strategy, leveraging high tariffs to compel manufacturers to produce domestically, particularly in critical sectors like semiconductors and pharmaceuticals. The move underscores Trumps America First doctrine, prioritizing national security and economic sovereignty over free trade. However, analysts warn of unintended consequences: soaring consumer costs, retaliatory measures from allies and a fragmented global supply chain. With truce talks ongoing with China, the tariffs could become a geopolitical Rubiks Cube, testing the White Houses resolve to bend the worlds second-largest economy to its will. The tariff regime: Balancing revenue and manufacturing bet Trumps tariffs are not just a tax grab but a gambit to rebuild U.S. economic independence. Semiconductor imports now face a 100% tariff unless manufacturers invest in domestic production, with pharmaceutical tariffs rising up to 250% over timea move framing drug safety as a national security priority. Lutnick claims exemptions for companies committing to U.S. manufacturing, citing a potential $1 trillion investment in domestic chip production. The objective is simple: get semiconductors made here, Lutnick declared on Fox Business Network, touting the $52.7 billion bipartisan semiconductor plan (passed under Biden) as a springboard. Yet the U.S. currently produces only 12% of global chipsa sharp drop from 40% in 1990and industry experts question whether tariffs alone can reverse decades of offshoring. This isnt just Economics 101its Supply Chain Warfare 401, quipped one former trade negotiator. Geopolitical chess: Exemptions, partnerships and Chinas endgame While tariff revenues soar, Trumps team has carved exceptions for key allies. The EU accepted a 15% tariff on most imports, including semiconductors, to sidestep more punitive measures. Japan negotiated a no worse than others clause, easing tensions Tokyos automakers and tech companies depend on U.S. parts. Meanwhile, U.S. negotiators are racing to extend the China tariff truce, set to expire August 12. Lutnick hinted at a likely 90-day extension, but Beijings calculus is murkier. Analysts note China stands to lose, too: over $500 billion in annual U.S. imports face new levies, and its tech sectoralready strained by U.S. chip bansfaces further pressure. Still, Beijing might leverage European and Japanese objections to push back. Truck manufacturer BYD, for instance, claims new tariffs could raise U.S. prices an extra 30%, pricing millions of American families out of their dream EV, said a spokesperson. Economic fallout: The hidden costs of tariff warfare While the White House touts job creation, economists warn of stagflation risks. The National Retail Federation estimates $200 billion in annual import costs will hit households, with groceries, vehicles and electronics bearing the brunt. Brazil has already suspended U.S. trade talks, calling the tariffs a reckless escalation. Federal Reserve Chair Powell has remained silent, but a temporary Fed nominee, Steve Miran, faces scrutiny over his ties to lobbying groups backing tariffs. Meanwhile, Trump faces a rebellion from within his own party: Vice President JD Vance and former tech czars caution against prolonging the China brinkmanship. We need clarity, not chess, Vance stated earlier this month. A New World Order, forged in tariffs Trumps tariff regime is rewriting global trade rules, blending Cold War-era security doctrines with free-market populism. Whether this gambit secures Made-in-America dominanceor sparks a new trade wardepends on Chinas response, corporate compliance and voter tolerance of rising costs. As Lutnick concluded, Tariffs are the pen and paper of our new economy. The rest of the world is now readingand quarrelingover its terms. For more on Trumps trade policies and their global ripple effects, visit Trump.news. Sources for this article include: Reuters.com CNN.com AlJazeera.com Hundreds of flights delayed: Uniteds tech outage reverberates amid warnings of systemic aviation vulnerabilities On the evening of Aug. 6, United Airlines nationwide flight disruptions began due to a technical outage in its Unimatic system, stranding passengers and causing over 1,000 delays. The incident mirrors an earlier Alaska Airlines IT outage in July, prompting concerns over systemic vulnerabilities in aviation tech systems. United resolved the outage but warned of residual delays, while the FAA downplayed broader risks, attributing the issue to internal airline systems. Passengers at airports nationwide reported prolonged wait times, poor onboard conditions and lost travel plans due to ground stops. Experts and officials stress the need for stronger tech oversight and human safeguards amid rising aviation system dependencies. On the evening of Wednesday, August 6, United Airlines grappled with a widespread technology outage that disrupted flights across the U.S., grounding planes and stranding thousands of passengers at hubs like Denver and Newark. The airline attributed the chaos to a failure in its weight-and-balance system, Unimatic, resolving the issue by midnight but leaving a trail of confusion and frustration. This incident follows a similar Alaska Airlines outage weeks prior, and as authorities dismiss these glitches as isolated, experts argue the pattern signals deeper systemic flaws in aviations reliance on digital infrastructurea reality amplified by recent technical failures at critical nodes like the New York Stock Exchange. Technical anomalies in Uniteds system trigger widespread chaos At 6:12 p.m. ET, United pilots nationwide began reporting errors in the Unimatic system, which calculates crucial load and balance data needed for safe takeoffs. The airlines ground control issued immediate stops, halting departures and cascading delays. FlightAware tracked over 1,000 delayed flights and 1% cancellations by Thursday morning, with stranded travelers facing baking cabins, canceled accommodations and transportation scrambles. Passenger Angela Jeffers, delayed in Nashville, recounted the captains vague announcement: Were missing some numbers we need to take off, leaving travelers baking in here for hours without AC or clear timelines. In Denver, Jessica Jeffers faced similar trials: We have to either deboard or stay with no direction, she said, while Johan Kotze in New Orleans prepped for a delayed Mauritian vacation, forced to rebook flights and essentially vacation in a hotel. United compensated some passengers with hotels but provided little transparency. A pattern of failures: United joins recent wave of tech-driven travel disruptions This outage echoes Alaska Airlines crippling July IT outage, which shut down its entire system for three hoursgrounding hundreds of flights. The parallel failures come as tech snarls extend beyond aviation: in 2024, a mysterious glitch paralyzed the NYSE for 90 minutes. Though authorities dismiss such incidents as routine, critics see a trend of outdated systems failing under pressure. The broader question, said aviation security analyst Dr. Lena Torres, is whether airlines prioritize profit-driven tech upgrades over fail-safes. Uniteds Unimatic, introduced in 2019, clearly hasnt evolved to handle core system demands under stress. Federal Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy called this outage internal to United, but travelers and industry watchdogs remain skeptical, noting the FAAs acknowledgment of ongoing flight backlog management. Security and safety concerns in an over-tech-reliant world The Federal Aviation Administration emphasized that Wednesdays disruptions were isolated to Uniteds systems, unrelated to infrastructure like air traffic control. However, this assurance glosses over broader risks: modern aviation depends on complex tech layers, from flight planning to weather algorithms, each a potential point of failure. Breitbart News recently highlighted how these glitches pose safety hazards, complicating pilot response times and stressing emergency protocols. Human oversight must remain central, urged Torres, citing Uniteds delays in addressing stranded passengers. When tech fails, airlines cant onboard manually fast enough to meet safety and legal obligations. Foreseeable risks and calls for accountability As United scrambles to clear delays, the real challenge lies in systemic accountability. Congress is now debating bills requiring airlines to bolster tech redundancies and emergency protocols. Representative Linda Morgan (D-CA) warned: We cant let these disruptions become commonplace. Unless regulators enforce tech integrity, such outages will escalate. United and Alaska have yet to disclose root causes, though neither incident involved cyberattacksa key point for the airlines. This isnt hacking, said Kris Van Cleave, a CNN aviation reporter, referencing the Unimatic fix. But its a wake-up call about outdated systems. Beyond the chaos lies a call to reinvent aviations safeguards Wednesdays United outage wasnt an isolated incident but a stark reminder of aviations tech overreach. As travel demand strains airlines further, the sector must retool its infrastructure to harmonize innovation with resilience. Until then, passengers will remain at the mercy of computer systems designed for conveniencenot contingency. Sources for this article include: JustTheNews.com X.com CNN.com Photo: National Guard The air defense eliminated 82 out of 108 enemy drones, the Ukrainian Air Force reports. "According to preliminary data, as of 08:00, the air defense shot down/suppressed 82 aerial targets: three jet drones and 79 enemy Shahed-type UAVs and drone imitators of various types in the north, south, east and center of the country," the message reads. As reported, on the night of August 8 (from 20:30 on August 7), the enemy attacked with 108 air attack vehicles: 104 Shahed-type strike UAVs, various types of drone imitators, as well as eight high-speed (jet) UAVs from the directions: Shatalovo, Kursk, Bryansk, Primorsko-Akhtarsk of the Russian Federation, Chauda of the temporarily occipied Crimea. It is noted that the air attack was repelled by aviation, anti-aircraft missile troops, electronic warfare units and unmanned systems, mobile fire groups of the Defense Forces of Ukraine. Meanwhile, 26 UAVs were hit in 10 locations, as well as the fall of downed ones (debris) in eight locations. Sorry, something doesn't look right. Something seems unusual about your device or browser. Please contact support. Due to scheduled maintenance from Saturday, March 15, 2025, at 10 PM to Sunday, March 16, 2025, at 2 AM, there may be interruptions for our News Gazette Digital subscribers. During this time frame, please click on any News Gazette website content without logging into your News Gazette Digital subscription account. Thank you for your patience during this scheduled maintenance. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha said he had a "very meaningful telephone conversation" with EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Kaja Kallas regarding the next steps for peace and the development of good-neighborly relations in Central and Eastern Europe. I also informed about the recent developments and our efforts on the path to a just, lasting, and comprehensive peace, in particular talks with the US and European allies. We agreed that a real peace can and must be reached through strength. We have coordinated our next diplomatic steps, he said on X. Sybiha emphasized to the EU High Representative that Ukraine believes in good neighborly relations in Central and Eastern Europe through the development of regional formats and makes significant investments in this. According to the minister, this is important for the unity of the whole of Europe. The Foreign Minister informed Kallas about the fourth round of the ministerial meeting within the triangle "Ukraine - Republic of Moldova - Romania", which will take place today in Chernivtsi. Sybiha will be there in person together with his Romanian and Moldovan colleagues - Oana-Silvia Toiu and Mihai Popsoi. Our Polish and Lithuanian colleagues Sikorski Radek and Budrys Kestutis will join us online, and we will have + Lublin Triangle format. We decided to initiate a joint meeting of these two successful formats to enhance our synergy and underline that the security of Black Sea and Baltic regions is indivisible, the minister said. On August 7, Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha announced that the next round of political consultations in the Ukraine-Romania-Moldova format will be held in Chernivtsi on Friday, and representatives of Poland and Lithuania will also join. Introduction Ethnobotanical and historical use Phytochemical composition Scientific evidence in reproductive health Safety, contraindications, and guidelines Emerging areas of interest Areas for future research References Further reading Raspberry leaf tea is traditionally used to support pregnancy and womens reproductive health, with studies examining its phytochemicals, safety, and possible benefits. Evidence remains limited, highlighting the need for further research. Image Credit: teatian / Shutterstock.com Introduction This article reviews the historical and traditional applications of raspberry leaf tea (RLT), examines its phytochemical composition, and evaluates the current scientific research on its potential role in reproductive health, especially during pregnancy and childbirth.1,2 Ethnobotanical and historical use RLT has been traditionally used across cultures, including Indigenous North American and European folk medicine, particularly for female reproductive and maternal health. Historically, herbalists used the leaves and young shoots of Rubus idaeus for various conditions, including menstrual cramps, gastrointestinal issues, and to support or facilitate labor rather than directly induce contractions. Often consumed during late pregnancy, RLT is traditionally believed to support uterine tone, which may lead to more efficient contractions, shorter labor, and fewer interventions like cesarean sections or assisted deliveries. Some herbal traditions also suggest RLT may help regulate menstrual cycles and ease discomfort, although these effects are not confirmed by clinical trials.2 Throughout the world, many naturopaths continue to incorporate RLT into pregnancy-support regimens, citing potential benefits like reduced risk of conditions such as preeclampsia, preterm or prolonged labor, and postpartum hemorrhage. However, due to limited data, healthcare providers often recommend limiting its use to the second and third trimesters to ensure safety.2 Phytochemical composition Raspberry leaf contains a diverse array of bioactive constituents that contribute to its reputed health benefits. Key compounds include flavonoids like quercetin, kaempferol, and catechin, tannins, phenolic acids, and ellagitannins, particularly ellagic acid, which is a notable polyphenol present in RLT. The raspberry leaf contains fragrine, an alkaloid that is traditionally believed to improve uterine firmness and contractions, though its mechanism in humans remains unclear. RLT also provides essential vitamins A, C, E, K, and B-complex, citric and malic acids, as well as minerals like calcium, magnesium, iron, and potassium. These nutrients contribute to the nutritional value and potential therapeutic effects associated with RLT.1,4 Comparative analysis of total polyphenol content in different raspberry leaf tea samples. Light grey: flavonoids; black: ellagitannins; white: phenolic acids, p < 0.001 (mean S.D., n = 3). Mean concentrations of polyphenol, flavonoids, ellagitannins, and phenolic acids in teas from different countries. Data are presented as mean standard deviation (n = 3). Samples include tea from Croatia (A), Bulgaria (B), the United Kingdom (C), Belgium (D), Germany (E), and Poland (F). Bars sharing the same letter indicate significant differences (p < 0.001 vs. all sample teas marked a; p < 0.05 vs. A, B, D, and E marked b).1 RLT is often compared to other herbal teas during pregnancy, such as peppermint for nausea relief, ginger to prevent nausea and vomiting, chamomile for relaxation, and fennel to improve digestion. Despite these potential benefits, peppermint tea has been reported in some sources to induce menstrual flow in early pregnancy, although strong human evidence is lacking, whereas ginger can cause dry mouth, may increase bleeding risk, and interact with drugs like insulin and metformin.5 Chamomile tea intake has been linked in some case reports and animal studies to miscarriage, preterm labor, and fetal circulation issues. Fennel, though supportive of lactation and digestion, exhibits estrogenic activity, with several reports suggesting fetal toxicity and potential drug interactions. In contrast, RLT is a nutrient-rich beverage that is generally considered safer than other tea alternatives, particularly in the second and third trimesters, due to its traditional role in promoting uterine health and toning. Nevertheless, additional research is needed to confirm the safety and efficacy of RLT intake during pregnancy.5 RLT exhibits significant antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties that have been confirmed through free radical scavenging assays. Other reported pharmacological activities have been based on in vitro observations and include antimicrobial, antidiabetic, hepatoprotective, immunomodulatory, and chemopreventive effects.1,4 Scientific evidence in reproductive health Preclinical studies report stimulant and relaxant effects of raspberry leaf on uterine smooth muscle, depending on timing and context. Late-pregnancy rat uteri models experience increased contractions following RLT intake, whereas guinea pigs exhibit relaxant or spasmolytic effects. Although clinical research on RLT remains limited and largely observational, existing studies suggest encouraging outcomes in pregnancy and childbirth. Women who consumed RLT during pregnancy in some observational studies were more likely to experience fewer medical interventions during labor. Reported benefits include lower rates of cesarean sections, assisted birth, artificial rupture of membranes (AROM), labor augmentation, and epidural use. RLT consumption also increases the likelihood of spontaneous vaginal birth, with some studies reporting approximately 4.5 vaginal deliveries for every one non-vaginal birth, though this comes from a single observational study and should be interpreted cautiously. RLT consumption may also reduce the duration of second-stage labor by approximately 10 minutes in some reports, although statistical significance is not consistent across studies, and improve neonatal outcomes, including higher APGAR scores and reduced neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) admissions.2,6 Importantly, these observations are based on studies with numerous methodological weaknesses, including small sample sizes, lack of randomization, inconsistent dosing, and varied gestational timing. RLT doses ranged from one to six cups daily, with this intervention initiated anywhere between eight and 38 weeks, thereby making it difficult to standardize recommendations. Image Credit: Halfpoint / Shutterstock.com Safety, contraindications, and guidelines RLT is generally considered safe to consume during the second and third trimesters of pregnancy in moderate amounts under medical supervision. Due to its potential uterotonic effects, most healthcare professionals advise against consuming RLT during the first trimester. Timing and dosage should be individualized, as pharmacological effects vary based on the preparation method, extraction technique, tissue type, baseline muscle tone, and pregnancy status of the uterus or uterine tissue.3,7 Animal studies have reported toxic effects of raspberry leaves when administered in high doses or through intraperitoneal or intravenous injection. In these cases, central nervous system stimulation and cardiovascular toxicity were observed, including cyanosis and heart dilation in mice, and convulsions and death in chicks.3,7 Importantly, these observations were obtained from studies using non-oral routes and high concentrations, which do not reflect typical human consumption. In fact, clinical research on oral RLT during pregnancy indicates a favorable safety profile. 2,3 Nevertheless, RLT has shown in some in vitro studies the ability to inhibit cytochrome P450 enzymes, which alter the metabolism of drugs. RLT also exhibits possible mild hypoglycemic effects and may interfere with iron absorption, thereby warranting caution among individuals with diabetes or anemia.6,8 Emerging areas of interest Traditionally used to alleviate menstrual cramps, regulate heavy bleeding, and ease menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes and night sweats, RLT is also promoted in herbal practice for fertility support. The uterine-toning properties of RLT may contribute to reduced menstrual discomfort and premenstrual symptoms.9 RLT is rich in antioxidants, including vitamin C, polyphenols, magnesium, and folate, all of which are nutrients that may support reproductive tissue health. Although most evidence remains preclinical, folate content is particularly relevant for women planning pregnancy. During menopause, the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of RLT have been suggested to provide natural support for reducing symptoms like hot flashes and mood fluctuations, though clinical confirmation is lacking.9 Areas for future research Despite widespread traditional use, RLT lacks robust scientific evidence. Thus, future research must prioritize understanding its pharmacokinetics, especially the absorption, metabolism, and excretion of active compounds such as ellagic acid and flavonoids. Future studies are also needed to clarify the mechanisms of action, particularly regarding uterotonic effects and labor modulation.10 Current assumptions about the uterotonic and anti-inflammatory properties of RLT remain largely unverified. Standardization is also a significant concern, as product composition varies by source and preparation, which influences safety and efficacy. Well-designed clinical trials are warranted to establish dosage guidelines, assess potential herb-drug interactions, and ensure consistent formulations. Advancing research in these areas would facilitate safe and evidence-based use of RLT in reproductive health.10 References Alkhudaydi, H. M., Muriuki, E. N., & Spencer, J. P. (2025). Determination of the Polyphenol Composition of Raspberry Leaf Using LC-MS/MS. Molecules, 30(4), 970. DOI: 10.3390/molecules30040970, https://www.mdpi.com/1420-3049/30/4/970 Bowman, R.L., Taylor, J. & Davis, D.L. (2024). Raspberry leaf (Rubus idaeus) use in pregnancy: a prospective observational study. BMC Complement Med Ther., 24, 169. DOI: 10.1186/s12906-024-04465-7, https://bmccomplementmedtherapies.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12906-024-04465-7 Bowman, R., Taylor, J., Muggleton, S. et al. (2021). Biophysical effects, safety, and efficacy of raspberry leaf use in pregnancy: a systematic integrative review. BMC Complement Med Ther., 21, 56. DOI: 10.1186/s12906-021-03230-4, https://bmccomplementmedtherapies.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12906-021-03230-4 Luo, T., Chen, S., Zhang, H., Jia, S., & Wang, J. (2020). Phytochemical composition and potential biological activities assessment of raspberry leaf extracts from nine different raspberry species and raspberry leaf tea. Journal of Berry Research, 10(2), 295-309. DOI: 10.3233/JBR-190474, https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.3233/JBR-190474 Bebitoglu, B. T. (2020). Frequently Used Herbal Teas During Pregnancy - Short Update. Medeniyet Medical Journal, 35(1), 55. DOI: 10.5222/MMJ.2020.69851, https://medeniyetmedicaljournal.org/jvi.aspx?pdir=medeniyet&plng=eng&un=MEDJ-69851&look4= Makaji E, Ho SH, Holloway AC, Crankshaw DJ. (2011). Effects in rats of maternal exposure to raspberry leaf and its constituents on the activity of cytochrome P450 enzymes in the offspring. Int J Toxicol.;30(2):21624. DOI: 10.1177/1091581810388307, https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1091581810388307 Zheng, J., Pistilli, M.J., Holloway, A.C. et al. (2010). The Effects of Commercial Preparations of Red Raspberry Leaf on the Contractility of the Rats Uterus In Vitro. Reprod. Sci., 17, 494501. DOI: 10.1177/1933719109359703, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1177/1933719109359703 Cheang KI, Nguyen TT, Karjane NW, Salley KE. (2016). Raspberry leaf and hypoglycemia in gestational diabetes mellitus. Obstet Gynecol., 128(6):14214. DOI: 10.1097/AOG.0000000000001757, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27824754/ Alinia-Ahandani, Farjad Rafeie, Zahra Alizadeh-Tarpoei, Sahebe Hajipour, Zeliha Selamoglu, and Elisfena Canan Alp Arici. (2022). Overview on raspberry leaves and cohosh (Caulophyllum thalictroides) as partus preparatory. Central Asian Journal of Plant Science Innovation, 2(2):54-61. DOI: 10.22034/CAJPSI.2022.02.02, https://www.cajpsi.com/article_167053.html Socha, M. W., Flis, W., Wartega, M., Szambelan, M., Pietrus, M., & Kazdepka-Zieminska, A. (2023). Raspberry Leaves and Extracts-Molecular Mechanism of Action and Its Effectiveness on Human Cervical Ripening and the Induction of Labor. Nutrients, 15(14), 3206. DOI: 10.3390/nu15143206, https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/15/14/3206 Further Reading For patients with amputations affecting the hand, toe transfer surgery provides an alternative to replanting the amputated digits and may lead to greater improvement in hand function and other key outcomes, reports a study in the August issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS). The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer. Our study provides the first evidence that toe transfer surgery provides better long-term hand function compared to attempted replantation of the amputated fingers. The findings challenge current approaches to emergency replantation surgery after digital amputations." Fu-Chan Wei, MD, of Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan Toe transfer versus finger replantation: New data on patient-reported outcomes Amputations of the fingers and thumb are common injuries, affecting about 45,000 people per year in the United States alone. Digit amputations can leave patients with years of disability, especially if the thumb is lost. Emergency replantation of the amputated digit is the current standard of treatment but is sometimes impossible or unsuccessful. Toe transfer surgery using one or more of the patients' toes to replace the amputated digits is a potential alternative to replantation. While toe transfer surgery is not a new procedure, few studies have evaluated its impact on hand function and other patient-reported outcomes. Dr. Wei and coauthor Steven Lo, MD, of Canniesburn Plastic Surgery Unit, Glasgow, Scotland, analyzed long-term outcomes of 126 toe transfer procedures in 75 patients after digital amputation. Hand function and other patient-reported outcomes were compared to those of 96 replantation procedures in 52 patients. All patients were treated at Dr. Wei's hospital; outcomes were assessed at least five years after surgery. Data support toe transfer as 'a viable alternative' to replantation On the validated Michigan Hand Questionnaire, hand function was significantly better for patients undergoing toe transfer, compared to replantation. The difference in favor of toe transfer was substantial, with hand function scores about three times higher than the benefit considered clinically important. The more severe the injury, the greater the magnitude of improvement after toe transfer surgery. Patients in the toe transfer group also had greater improvement in physical health-related quality of life, assessed using the standard SF-36 score. Foot function after toe transfer surgery was comparable to that in the general population. The researchers performed physical assessments to evaluate the most important factors affecting hand function outcomes. Hand range of motion, tripod pinch (three-finger grip, as in holding a pencil), and moving two-point discrimination (a measure of nerve sensation) were predictors of better hand function after toe transfer. Higher overall physical and mental health scores were also associated with improved hand function. Previous studies of toe transfer surgery have consistently yielded high surgical success rates. However, these studies have not included validated assessments of hand function. No evidence-based guidelines have been developed to help guide the decision to perform toe transfer versus attempted replantation for patients with amputations of the fingers and/or thumbs. "These data provide the first evidence for the potential functional superiority of toe transfers over replantation in digital amputation using one of the largest validated outcome datasets of toe transfers to date," Drs. Wei and Lo write. They believe their findings challenge the assumption that emergency replantation should always be the "gold standard" after digital amputation, and suggest that toe transfer can be considered "a viable alternative" for some patients. Furthermore, this study suggests that integrating toe transfers into national healthcare frameworks has the potential to positively address one of the single largest causes of disability worldwide. GOP lawmakers in the 10 states that refused the Affordable Care Act's Medicaid expansion for over a decade have argued their conservative approach to growing government programs would pay off in the long run. Instead, the Republican-passed budget law that includes many of President Donald Trump's priorities will pose at least as big a burden on patients and hospitals in the expansion holdout states as in the 40 states that have extended Medicaid coverage to more low-income adults, hospital executives and other officials warn. For instance, Georgia, with a population of just over 11 million, will see as many people lose insurance coverage sold through ACA marketplaces as will California, with more than triple the population, according to estimates by KFF, a health information nonprofit that includes KFF Health News. The new law imposes additional paperwork requirements on Obamacare enrollees, slashes the time they have each year to sign up, and cuts funding for navigators who help them shop for plans. Those changes, all of which will erode enrollment, are expected to have far more impact in states like Florida and Texas than in California because a higher proportion of residents in non-expansion states are enrolled in ACA plans. The budget law, which Republicans called the "One Big Beautiful Bill," will cause sweeping changes to health care across the country as it trims federal spending on Medicaid by more than $1 trillion over the next decade. The program covers more than 71 million people with low incomes and disabilities. Ten million people will lose coverage over the next decade due to the law, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. Many of its provisions are focused on the 40 states that expanded Medicaid under the ACA, which added millions more low-income adults to the rolls. But the consequences are not confined to those states. A proposal from conservatives to cut more generous federal payments for people added to Medicaid by the ACA expansion didn't make it into the law. "Politicians in non-expansion states should be furious about that," said Michael Cannon, director of health policy studies at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank. The number of people losing coverage could accelerate in non-expansion states if enhanced federal subsidies for Obamacare plans expire at the end of the year, driving up premiums as early as January and adding to the rolls of uninsured. KFF estimates as many as 2.2 million people could become uninsured just in Florida, a state where lawmakers refused to expand Medicaid and, partly as a result, now leads the nation in ACA enrollment. For people like Francoise Cham of Miami, who has Obamacare coverage, the Republican policy changes could be life-altering. Before she had insurance, the 62-year-old single mom said she would donate blood just to get her cholesterol checked. Once a year, she'd splurge for a wellness exam at Planned Parenthood. She expects to make about $28,000 this year and currently pays about $100 a month for an ACA plan to cover herself and her daughter, and even that strains her budget. Cham choked up describing the "safety net" that health insurance has afforded her and at the prospect of being unable to afford coverage if premiums spike at the end of the year. "Obamacare has been my lifesaver," she said. If the enhanced ACA subsidies aren't extended, "everyone will be hit hard," said Cindy Mann, a health policy expert with Manatt Health, a consulting and legal firm, and a former deputy administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. "But a state that hasn't expanded Medicaid will have marketplace people enrolling at lower income levels," she said. "So, a greater share of residents are reliant on the marketplace." Though GOP lawmakers may try to cut Medicaid even more this year, for now the states that expanded Medicaid largely appear to have made a smart decision, while states that haven't are facing similar financial pressures without any upside, said health policy experts and hospital industry observers. KFF Health News reached out to the governors of the 10 states that have not fully expanded Medicaid to see if the budget legislation made them regret that decision or made them more open to expansion. Spokespeople for Republican Gov. Henry McMaster of South Carolina and Republican Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia did not indicate whether their states are considering Medicaid expansion. Brandon Charochak, a spokesperson for McMaster's office, said South Carolina's Medicaid program focuses on "low-income children and families and disabled individuals," adding, "The state's Medicaid program does not anticipate a large impact on the agency's Medicaid population." Enrollment in ACA marketplace plans nationwide has more than doubled since 2020 to 24.3 million. If enhanced subsidies expire, premiums for Obamacare coverage would rise by more than 75% on average, according to an analysis by KFF. Some insurers are already signaling they plan to charge more. The CBO estimates that allowing enhanced subsidies to expire will increase the number of people without health insurance by 4.2 million by 2034, compared with a permanent extension. That would come on top of the coverage losses caused by Trump's budget law. "That is problematic and scary for us," said Eric Boley, president of the Wyoming Hospital Association. He said his state, which did not expand Medicaid, has a relatively small population and hasn't been the most attractive for insurance providers few companies currently offer plans on the ACA exchange and he worried any increase in the uninsured rate would "collapse the insurance market." As the uninsured rate rises in non-expansion states and the budget law's Medicaid cuts loom, lawmakers say state funds will not backfill the loss of federal dollars, including in states that have refused to expand Medicaid. Those states got slightly favorable treatment under the law, but it's not enough, said Grace Hoge, press secretary for Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat who favors Medicaid expansion but who has been rebuffed by GOP state legislators. "Kansans ability to access affordable healthcare will be harmed," Hoge said in an email. "Kansas, nor our rural hospitals, will not be able to make up for these cuts." For hospital leaders in other states that have refused full Medicaid expansion, the budget law poses another test by limiting financing arrangements states leveraged to make higher Medicaid payments to doctors and hospitals. Beginning in 2028, the law will reduce those payments by 10 percentage points each year until they are closer to what Medicare pays. Richard Roberson, president of the Mississippi Hospital Association, said the state's use of what's called directed payments in 2023 helped raise its Medicaid reimbursements to hospitals and other health institutions from $500 million a year to $1.5 billion a year. He said higher rates helped Mississippi's rural hospitals stay open. "That payment program has just been a lifeline," Roberson said. The budget law includes a $50 billion fund intended to insulate rural hospitals and clinics from its changes to Medicaid and the ACA. But a KFF analysis found it would offset only about one-third of the cuts to Medicaid in rural areas. Trump encouraged Florida, Tennessee, and Texas to continue refusing Medicaid expansion in his first term, when his administration gave them an unusual 10-year extension for financing programs known as uncompensated care pools, which generate billions of dollars to pay hospitals for treating the uninsured, said Allison Orris, director of Medicaid policy for the left-leaning think tank Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. "Those were very clearly a decision from the first Trump administration to say, 'You get a lot of money for an uncompensated care pool instead of expanding Medicaid,'" she said. Those funds are not affected by Trump's new tax-and-spending law. But they do not help patients the way insurance coverage would, Orris said. "This is paying hospitals, but its not giving people health care," she said. "Its not giving people prevention." States such as Florida, Georgia, and Mississippi have not only turned down the additional federal funding that Medicaid expansion brings, but most of the remaining non-expansion states spend less than the national average per Medicaid enrollee, provide fewer or less generous benefits, and cover fewer categories of low-income Americans. Mary Mayhew, president of the Florida Hospital Association, said the state's Medicaid program does not adequately cover children, older people, and people with disabilities because reimbursement rates are too low. "Children dont have timely access to dentists," she said. "Expectant moms dont have access nearby to an OB-GYN. Weve had labor and delivery units close in Florida." She said the law will cost states more in the long run. "The health care outcomes for the individuals we serve will deteriorate, Mayhew said. Thats going to lead to higher cost, more spending, more dependency on the emergency department." Aircel-Maxis case: SC seeks Congress MP Karti Chidambaram reply on EDs plea Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 18:00 IST Representational image (Image: News18) New Delhi, Aug 8 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear Enforcement Directorates plea against an order deferring arguments on framing of money laundering charges against Congress MP Karti P Chidambaram in the Aircel-Maxis case. A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi issued notice to Chidambaram after Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, representing the ED, said the trial under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) would be delayed due to the Delhi High Court order. Recommended Stories The bench asked Raju about the prejudice caused to the agency as the high court had asked to wait for charges to be framed in the predicate offence upon which EDs complaint was based. Lets suppose in the predicate offence, tomorrow no charge is framed, or the trial court frames charges but the high court or this court sets them aside then your entire hard-work and labour will go in waste," Justice Kant told Raju. Raju replied, Look at it the other way. I do not examine witnesses, the trial is delayed, witnesses die and my evidence is lost. The balance that can be struck here is that go ahead with the trial, do not pronounce judgment until final order in the predicate offence." The bench observed the Delhi High Court had interfered prematurely" and it should have alternatively safeguarded Chidambaram by merely saying the PMLA trial should not conclude before the trial in the predicate offence. Actually, the high court has interfered little prematurely. The high court could have safeguard him by saying that both trials will continue together parallely with PMLA trial not taking precedence," Justice Kant noted. On April 9, the Delhi High Court asked the trial court to defer the arguments on charge to a day after May 29 as it sought enforcement directorates response on the plea of Chidambaram seeking to defer framing of charges in two cases against him. The lawmaker from Sivaganga constituency had argued that unless charges were framed in the scheduled offences, i.e., in the alleged Chinese visa and Aircel Maxis cases of the CBI, arguments on charges ought not commence in the related money laundering cases in the trial court. The high court said prima facie, the discharge of the petitioner in the predicate offence would certainly have bearing on the trial under the PMLA as there could be no offence of money laundering against him if he was given the relief in the CBI cases. Existence of scheduled offence and proceeds of crime being the property derived or obtained as a result of criminal activity relating to the scheduled offence are sine qua non for not only initiating prosecution under PMLA but also for continuation thereof," it observed. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Chidambaram has challenged March 28 orders of the trial court before the high court, which dismissed his applications seeking the deferment of arguments on the charges against him. The ED registered a money laundering case against Chidambaram and others in the alleged scam involving the issuance of visas to 263 Chinese nationals in 2011 when his father P Chidambaram was the union home minister. PTI MNL MNL AMK AMK First Published: August 08, 2025, 18:00 IST News agency-feeds Aircel-Maxis case: SC seeks Congress MP Karti Chidambaram reply on EDs plea Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... Cambodia, Thailand agree to ceasefire with ASEAN as observers Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 10:30 IST Representational image (Image: News18) Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), August 8 (ANI) Cambodia and Thailand agreed to allow the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to observe the ceasefire the two countries reached late last month to end fighting in a disputed border area, local media reported.Malaysian state media Bernama said that an interim observer team comprising defence attaches from ASEAN countries, led by a Malaysian attache, will be assigned on both sides of the Thai-Cambodian border to monitor the ceasefire agreement on July 28.Top officials of Thailand and Cambodia met on Thursday in Malaysia, the current ASEAN chair.Thailands Acting Minister of Defence Nattaphon Narkphanit met with his Cambodian counterpart Tea Seiha and concluded four days of talks.Both continued to accuse each other of cross-border attacks, even after their leaders agreed to a cease-fire ending five days of fighting that began on July 24 and left 32 dead in Thailand and at least 13 in Cambodia. The two countries had been quarrelling for decades over their 817km (508-mile) undemarcated land border with the recent dispute breaking out after a landmine explosion on the border injured five Thai soldiers last month, with the resulting fighting killing at least 43 people.Both sides have agreed to a ceasefire involving all types of weapons and any form of attacks on civilians and military objectives. All sides must avoid unprovoked firing towards the other sides positions or troopThe two countries resolved to maintain regular communications between all army areas and military regions along the border of both sides and strive to solve all issues peacefully.They also agreed to convene the Regional Border Committee (RBC) Meeting within two weeks after the Extraordinary GBC Meeting on August 7, 2025.The United States welcomed the developments as an important step forward in solidifying the ceasefire arrangement and establishing the ASEAN observation mechanism", said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a statement on Thursday.The July 28 ceasefire followed economic pressure from US President Donald Trump, who had warned the nations that he would not conclude trade deals with them if the fighting persisted. Washington subsequently lowered tariffs on goods from the two countries from 36 percent to 19 percent at the beginning of this month, Al Jazeera said. (ANI) First Published: August 08, 2025, 10:30 IST News agency-feeds Cambodia, Thailand agree to ceasefire with ASEAN as observers Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... Trump to meet leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to sign US-brokered peace deal Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 05:30 IST Representational image (Image: News18) Washington, Aug 8 (AP) The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan are expected to sign a peace deal Friday at the White House that could potentially put an end to decades of conflict, President Donald Trump said. Trump said Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev would also be signing agreements with the US to pursue Economic opportunities together, so we can fully unlock the potential of the South Caucasus Region." Many Leaders have tried to end the War, with no success, until now, thanks to TRUMP," Trump wrote on Thursday night on his Truth Social site. Recommended Stories The prospective agreement could potentially put an end to decades of conflict and set the stage for a reopening of key transportation corridors across the South Caucasus that have been shut since the early 1990s. Three US officials, who were not authorised to speak publicly ahead of the announcement and spoke on condition of anonymity, said the agreements included a major breakthrough establishing a key transit corridor across the region, which had been a hang-up in peace talks. The agreement, according to the officials, would give the US leasing rights to develop the corridor and name it the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity. It would link Azerbaijan to its Nakhchivan region, which is separated from the rest of the country by a 32-kilometre patch of Armenias territory. The transit corridor is expected to eventually include a rail line, oil and gas lines, and fibre optic lines, allowing for the movement of goods and eventually people. The deal does not call for the US to pay for the construction of the transit corridor, but instead for private corporations to develop it. The deal was reached after a visit earlier this year by Trumps special envoy Steve Witkoff to Azerbaijans capital of Baku and continued talks between the parties. Nearly four decades of bloodshed between the two Armenia and Azerbaijan faced off for nearly four decades of fighting for control of the Karabakh region, which was known internationally as Nagorno-Karabakh. During the Soviet era, the mostly Armenian-populated region had an autonomous status within Azerbaijan. Long-simmering tensions between Christian Armenians and mostly Muslim Azerbaijanis fuelled by memories of the 1915 massacre of 1.5 million Armenians by Muslim Ottoman Turks boiled over as the Soviet Union frayed in its final years. Clashes erupted in 1988 when the region made a bid to join Armenia. As the USSR collapsed in 1991 and Armenia proclaimed independence, hostilities escalated into a full-blown war that killed an estimated 30,000 people and displaced about 1 million. When the war ended with a ceasefire in 1994, ethnic Armenian forces backed by the government in Yerevan not only took control of the region but also captured broad swaths of Azerbaijan. Decades of international mediation efforts failed. In September 2020, Azerbaijan launched an operation to reclaim the region. NATO-member Turkey, which has close ethnic, cultural and historic bonds with Azerbaijan, gave it strong support. In six weeks of fighting involving heavy artillery, rockets and drones that killed more than 6,700 people, Azerbaijani troops drove Armenian forces from areas they controlled outside Karabakh. They also reclaimed broad chunks of Karabakh. A Russia-brokered peace deal saw the deployment of about 2,000 troops to the region as peacekeepers. Azerbaijan then reclaimed all of Karabakh in September 2023 in a lightning military campaign. Over 100,000 people, nearly all of Nagorno-Karabakhs ethnic Armenian population, fled to Armenia in a week, fearing Azerbaijani rule. Russia, busy with its war in Ukraine, did not intervene, angering Armenias leadership, which responded by scaling down its ties with Moscow and bolstering relations with the West. Prospects for peace and better relations After reclaiming Karabakh, Azerbaijan engaged in talks with Armenia on normalising ties. As part of the negotiations, Armenia agreed to hand over several border villages to Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan also has demanded that Armenia rewrite its constitution, which contains a reference to the prospective reunification of Armenia and the Karabakh region. The authorities have yet to present a revised draft in the face of public protests. A key stumbling block in peace talks was Azerbaijan seeking a land bridge to its Nakhchivan region. Azerbaijan does not trust Armenia to control the so-called Zangezur corridor, while Armenia had staunchly resisted control by a third party, seeing it as a breach of its sovereignty. It was not clear how that resistance had been overcome in the deal. Russia, which has a military base in Armenia, had previously proposed deploying its troops to secure the corridor. Armenia, bent on scaling down ties with Russia in favour of closer relations with the West, rejected the idea. Russia has been left on the sidelines, because the Kremlin has nothing to offer to Armenia and Azerbaijan," said Olesya Vartanyan, a South Caucasus expert, noting that Moscows regional influence withered after it focused on the war in Ukraine. Russia now lacks resources to deal with Armenia and Azerbaijan," Vartanyan said. The prospective peace deal also would pave the way for Turkey and Azerbaijan to reopen borders with Armenia that have been shut for nearly four decades, leaving the landlocked country to rely on limited transit routes via Georgia and Iran. Turkey views the prospective agreement as part of its efforts to expand its influence in the South Caucasus, while Armenia sees the reopening of the border and resuming trade with Turkey as a top priority. Pashinyan, who visited Turkey in June in the first such visit by an Armenian leader, has made normalising ties with Turkey a key goal. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all For Armenia, it would guarantee stability and allow access to the Turkish market, ports and investments, as well as its inclusion into key regional transport corridors," Vartanyan said, adding that a peace deal would help make Armenia a key link between Europe and Asia. Armenia has an extensive transport infrastructure since the Soviet times, including railways and highways that could significantly expand trade routes via South Caucasus," she said. (AP) RUK RUK First Published: August 08, 2025, 05:30 IST News agency-feeds Trump to meet leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to sign US-brokered peace deal Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... UP: Parents assault daughter over desire to study, face legal heat Last Updated: August 09, 2025, 01:00 IST Representational image (Image: News18) Etah (UP), Aug 8 (PTI) A 14-year-old girl in Uttar Pradeshs Etah district has lodged a complaint against her parents for allegedly assaulting her when she expressed her desire to continue her studies, police said on Friday. The parents Digambar Singh and his wife Lata Devi are now facing legal action under the Juvenile Justice Acts Section 75 (punishment for cruelty to child), they said. Recommended Stories According to the police, the incident took place on July 25, and was reported to the Jalesar police station in Etah district on August 5. Citing a complaint filed by Bhavna Singh, a student of Class 10 at Siddhartha Inter College in Jalesar, the police said, on July 25, the girl had asked her parents to register in the school so that she could appear in the examination. Her parents declined her request saying that they do not have the money to educate her. When she insisted on educating herself and her younger brother Ramraj, she was beaten up by her father at the home and later on Agra-Jalesar Road during a journey, the police said. They added that when a passerby, Ankit Pradhan, saw Digambar assaulting the girl, he came to her rescue. Ankit Pradhan took Bhavna, her brother and their mother to a police check post in Jalesar. From there, suddenly Lata Devi disappeared along with her son, and did not return to the police post even after a long-time, the police said. The 14-year-old girl also mentioned in her complaint that her father had dialled 112 and gave false information that Ankit Pradhan had kidnapped his wife, they said. The fact is that I myself want to study, and also want to make my younger brother educated," the 14-year-old girl said. It is my humble request to the Justice Board that proper arrangements be made for my education and that of my brother. And take appropriate legal action against my father Digambar Singh, who beat me and threw me out of the house and my mother Lata who left me alone," she said in her complaint. A case was registered in Jalesar and the matter has been presented in the Juvenile Justice Protection Board. Despite being summoned several times, the parents did not appear in court. Finally, the court has appointed police station in-charge Sudhir Kumar as the guardian of the girl, they said. Jalesar SHO Sudhir Kumar said that the girls father is a peon at Siya Devi Degree College and a habitual drinker and quarrelsome person by nature. There has been a dispute between the husband and wife for a long time and at present both live separately. Some time ago, the wife had also filed a case of attempt to murder against the husband. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all The SHO has taken the responsibility of the girl and has gotten her registered at a school so she can continue her studies and also provided books, uniform and Rs 2,000 cash for any other expenses. SHO Kumar said after a month, when the girl returns from Noida, then efforts will be made to get her enrolled in a good residential school like Kasturba Gandhi or Sainik Vidyalaya so that she can continue her studies even without her parents. PTI COR NAV NB NB First Published: August 09, 2025, 01:00 IST News agency-feeds UP: Parents assault daughter over desire to study, face legal heat Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... WB Police: No objection to peaceful RG Kar protests, warns against unrest Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 22:45 IST Representational image (Image: News18) Kolkata, Aug 8 (PTI) Senior officers of West Bengal Police on Friday said they have no objection to peaceful rallies marking the first death anniversary of the RG Kar Medical College rape-murder victim, but warned of strict legal actions against any attempt to break law and order. Addressing a press conference at West Bengal Police headquarters in Bhawani Bhavan, ADG (Law and Order) Javed Shamim said, We are yet to receive any application from any organisation planning to take out a rally on Saturdays to mark the first death anniversary of the RG Kar hospital doctor." He clarified that no protest will be allowed near the state secretariat, Nabanna, where Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) is in force, prohibiting gatherings. Recommended Stories Shamim was accompanied by three senior police officers ADG (South Bengal) Supratim Sarkar, Kolkata Police Commissioner Manoj Verma, and Howrah City Police Commissioner Praveen Tripathy. Peaceful demonstrations will be allowed without restrictions, and the administration will fully cooperate with the demonstrators. However, no public property should be damaged, and if that happens, police will be compelled to take legal action," Verma said. Meanwhile, police have already taken strict measures in the wake of Saturdays proposed march to the state secretariat. According to a senior officer, there will be heavy police deployment on all roads leading to Nabanna. Besides, there will be barricades at crucial points in Kidderpore, Princep Ghat and on all approach roads to the second Hooghly Bridge. Similar arrangements have been made on the Howrah side near Betaitala and Mandirtala," he said. Santragachi Bus Stand on the Howrah side and RR Avenue in the city have been selected as alternative sites for rallies according to a Calcutta High Court directive, he said. Notably, in protest against the RG Kar Medical College incident, the West Bengal Junior Doctors Front has called for a night vigil protest across the city on Friday. A gathering is planned at Shyambazar five-point crossing, where the victims parents have confirmed they would also be present. The parents of the deceased doctor have also called for a march to Nabanna on Saturday, inviting all political leaders and workers, except from the Trinamool Congress, to join. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all However, they have requested that no flags of any political party be used in the rally. Incidentally, a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Calcutta High Court by a Howrah resident, expressing concerns that the proposed Nabanna march would disrupt normal life. PTI SCH MNB First Published: August 08, 2025, 22:45 IST News agency-feeds WB Police: No objection to peaceful RG Kar protests, warns against unrest Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... Are Banks Open Or Closed Today, Friday, August 8? Check Bank Holiday List This Month Reported By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 08:32 IST Today, August 8, banks will remain closed in Gangtok as Sikkim will be celebrating the Tendong Lho Rum Faat, a traditional festival. Are Banks Open Today? Are Banks Open Today, August 8? If you are planning to visit your bank branch, it is necessary to check the holiday list for banks. Banks remain closed on RBI-notified holidays, Sundays and second & fourth Saturdays. However, today, August 8, banks will remain closed in Gangtok as Sikkim will be celebrating the Tendong Lho Rum Faat, a traditional festival. However, bank branches will remain open in the rest of the country. Bank branches remain closed on a number of bank holidays approved by the RBI. As per the standard banking schedule, all banks both public and private across India also remain closed on the second and fourth Saturdays of every month. Recommended Stories Are Banks Closed Today And Tomorrow? Today (August 8), both public and private banks will remain open across the country, except Gangtok, according to the RBIs notification. However, tomorrow (August 8), banks will remain closed across the country as it a second Saturday. About Tendong Lho Rum Faat Tendong Lho Rum Faat is a traditional festival celebrated by the indigenous Lepcha community of Sikkim. The name translates to the worship of the Tendong Hill, and the festival marks the legendary event when the Lepchas were believed to have been saved from a great deluge by seeking refuge on the Tendong Hill. Celebrated every August, the occasion is steeped in spirituality and gratitude, with rituals, prayers, and cultural performances that honor nature and the divine forces. For the Lepchas, it is not just a festival but a reaffirmation of their deep-rooted connection with the environment and their ancestral heritage. Timings of Banks Today? Most major banks in India, including SBI, Bank of India, and Punjab National Bank, operate between 10 am and 4 pm, while ICICI, HDFC, Axis, Yes Bank, and Kotak Mahindra Bank usually function from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm or 3:30 pm, depending on the branch. Bank of Baroda has slightly extended hours, operating between 9:45 am and 4:45 pm or 10 am to 5 pm, and Canara Bank typically works from 10 am to 3:30 pm. Bank Holiday In August 2025 August 08 (Friday) Tendong Lho Rum Faat Holiday in Gangtok August 09 (Saturday) Raksha Bandhan / Jhulana Purnima Holiday in Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Dehradun, Jaipur, Kanpur, Lucknow, Shimla, Bhubaneswar August 13 (Wednesday) Patriots Day Holiday in Imphal August 15 (Friday) Independence Day / Parsi New Year / Janmashtami Nationwide Holiday All banks across India will remain closed August 16 (Saturday) Janmashtami (Shravan Vad-8) / Krishna Jayanthi Holiday in Aizawl, Chennai, Hyderabad, Patna, Raipur, Ranchi, Vijayawada, Gangtok, Chandigarh, Jammu, Srinagar August 19 (Tuesday) Birthday of Maharaja Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya Bahadur Holiday in Agartala August 25 (Monday) Tirubhav Tithi of Srimanta Sankardeva Holiday in Guwahati August 27 (Wednesday) Ganesh Chaturthi / Samvatsari / Ganesh Puja Holiday in Mumbai, Belapur, Nagpur, Bhubaneswar, Chennai, Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Panaji August 28 (Thursday) Ganesh Chaturthi (2nd Day) / Nuakhai Holiday in Bhubaneswar, Panaji top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all National Holidays (All Banks Closed Across India) In August August 03 (Sunday) August 09 (2nd Saturday) August 10 (Sunday) August 17 (Sunday) August 24 (Sunday) August 30 (4th Saturday) August 31 (Sunday). About the Author Mohammad Haris Haris is Deputy News Editor (Business) at news18.com. He writes on various issues related to personal finance, markets, economy and companies. Having over a decade of experience in financial journalism, Haris h... Read More Haris is Deputy News Editor (Business) at news18.com. He writes on various issues related to personal finance, markets, economy and companies. Having over a decade of experience in financial journalism, Haris h... Read More First Published: August 08, 2025, 08:32 IST News business banking-finance Are Banks Open Or Closed Today, Friday, August 8? Check Bank Holiday List This Month Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... US Retail Giants Exploring Options Amid Trump's 50% Tariff Move: Report Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 20:25 IST Brands are having discussions with us to find alternatives and options if we have any additional capacities in regions with lower tariffs, according to a report. The US remains India's largest market for textile and apparel exports. (PTI File Photo) American retailers have started exploring alternatives and options with Indian textile manufacturers following US President Donald Trumps decision to impose a 50 per cent tariff on Indian goods, according to an NDTV Profit report. According to the report citing the management at Gokuldas Exports, Brands are having discussions with us to find alternatives and options if we have any additional capacities in regions with lower tariffs." Recommended Stories The new tariff regime is expected to raise costs by 30 to 35 per cent. Industry estimates suggest that this could lead to losses amounting to $4-5 billion. Leading exporters such as Welspun Living, Gokaldas Exports, Indo Count, and Trident derive 40 to 70 per cent of their sales from the US market. The sector is now concerned about losing a significant share of its business to competing countries like Bangladesh and Vietnam, which face comparatively lower tariffs of around 20 per cent. The United States remains Indias largest market for textile and apparel exports, accounting for 28 per cent of the total outbound shipments valued at $36.61 billion in the financial year ending March 2025. The punitive tariff measures were triggered by Indias continued purchase of oil from Russia. In an executive order signed on Wednesday, Trump wrote, I determine that it is necessary and appropriate to impose an additional ad valorem duty on imports of articles of India, which is directly or indirectly importing Russian Federation oil." top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all An initial 25 per cent tariff came into effect on Thursday, with an additional 25 per cent set to be implemented on August 28. (The story was updated at 22:24 pm) About the Author Business Desk A team of writers and reporters decodes vast terms of personal finance and making money matters simpler for you. From latest initial public offerings (IPOs) in the market to best investment options, we cover al... Read More A team of writers and reporters decodes vast terms of personal finance and making money matters simpler for you. From latest initial public offerings (IPOs) in the market to best investment options, we cover al... Read More First Published: August 08, 2025, 09:51 IST News business economy US Retail Giants Exploring Options Amid Trump's 50% Tariff Move: Report Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... Syrsky: Formation of units of robotic ground complexes is next step in development of capabilities of unmanned systems Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrsky has held a monthly meeting on the development of the Unmanned Systems Forces, listened to proposals and identified tasks for increasing capabilities. According to Syrsky, last month, drones hit 23,400 enemy targets. The lion's share of hits were due to FPV drones and night bombers, the effectiveness of which is growing. "The main priority is the destruction of enemy personnel. In July, forces of unmanned systems eliminated 5,134 occupiers. The leaders in this combat work are Ptakhy Madyara, the Phoenix and Achilles units of the State Border Guard Service. The formation of units of robotic ground complexes is another step in the development of the capabilities of our forces of unmanned systems. In this direction, we will develop both the logistic and combat components," he wrote on Facebook. The commander-in-chief noted that "perhaps the most important part of such meetings is the exchange of experience between units." According to him, "this time, the commanders of the 59th separate brigade of unmanned systems, the 429th separate brigade of unmanned systems Achilles, and the Phoenix units of the State Border Service reported on their non-standard solutions and achievements." They also heard a report on the implementation of the MiddleStrike drone project (range 50-120 km) and promising, innovative projects of unmanned systems that are being developed. "I listened to proposals and requests, defined tasks for increasing the capabilities of the unmanned component of the Armed Forces. I wished the soldiers success in their combat work, and this success should manifest itself first of all in preserving the lives of our soldiers," added Syrsky. Kalyan Jewellers Shares Fall 13% From Day's High Despite Strong Q1 Results: What Brokerage Firms Say? Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 16:14 IST Kalyan Jewellers Share Price Today: The stock falls despite the company reporting robust revenue growth of 31% YoY, led by 18% SSSG (same-store sales growth) growth in India. Kalyan Jewellers Share Price. Kalyan Jewellers Share Price Today: Shares of Kalyan Jewellers India Ltd, the Thrissur-headquartered jewellery company, tumbled 10.64% on Friday, August 8, despite registering gains in three of the past four trading sessions. The stock closed at 528.10, which is 10.64% as compared with the previous close. The stock had opened higher at Rs 615.65 but soon reversed course to hit an intraday low of Rs 515.55, which is 12.75% lower than the previous close of Rs 590.95 and 16.3% down from the days high of Rs 616. Recommended Stories Also Read: Stock Market Update Today Global brokerage Citi has reiterated its Buy rating on the stock and raised its price target to Rs 700, citing solid financial performance. Revenue rose 31% year-on-year, with same-store sales growth in India at 18%, in line with expectations. More notably, EBITDA and PBT surged 35% and 49% YoY, respectively exceeding Citis estimates by 9% and 14% aided by improved operating leverage, a pilot project, and higher platinum and silver sales. Kalyan Jewellers is currently working on a pilot initiative dubbed lean credit procurement", aimed at improving margins and return on capital employed (RoCE). If scaled across the company, it could require a capital infusion of Rs 1,500- Rs 2,000 crore, according to management commentary. In addition, the company is: Rolling out a new regional branding strategy, planning to launch five stores within a single state over the next 12 months under the Franchisee-owned Company-operated (FoCo) model. Pausing further debt reduction in the near term, with a focus on monetising real estate collateral held with banks. Reporting strong demand trends and consistent footfalls across markets. We have started off the ongoing quarter well despite continuing volatility in gold prices and a higher base. We are upbeat about the upcoming festive season across the country and are gearing up for the launch of fresh collections and campaigns," said Ramesh Kalyanaraman, Executive Director, Kalyan Jewellers India. Of the nine analysts covering the stock, eight have a Buy rating, while one has a Sell recommendation. Brokerage JM Financial also gave a buy call for the shares with a price target of Rs 700. In its note, the brokerage said, Kalyan reported robust revenue growth of 31% YoY, led by 18% SSSG (Same-Store Sales Growth.) growth in India. It added 10/1 Kalyan store in India/US and 8 Candere stores. India EBITDA was 10% above our estimates led by robust gross margins as (i) company implemented a pilot project of lean credit period to its vendors which resulted in higher margins/better RoCE and, (ii) inventory gains due to increase in prices of silver/platinum. Company is planning to launch new regional brands for every state to target the customers with regional taste and capture the pie from unorganised segment; 1st brand will be launched in CY25. It has temporarily paused the repayment of its debt obligation until release of its real estate collateral. Demand in Q2 remained until last week of June, post which the high base is optically leading to some YoY slowdown in growth, with growth again expected to pick in Q2 due to the festive season." top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Its steps towards lean credit policy is expected to drive profitability and improve RoCE, while the regional brand strategy is aimed at increasing the TAM; however, this would also lead an increase in the overall capital employed in the business. We largely maintain our EPS estimates as benefits of better margins gets negated by higher interest cost required for working capital requirement for the new pilot. Maintain BUY rating on the stock with an unchanged target price of INR 700, based on 45x June27 EPS, JM Financial stated. Disclaimer: Disclaimer: The views and investment tips by experts in this News18.com report are their own and not those of the website or its management. Users are advised to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions. About the Author Business Desk A team of writers and reporters decodes vast terms of personal finance and making money matters simpler for you. From latest initial public offerings (IPOs) in the market to best investment options, we cover al... Read More A team of writers and reporters decodes vast terms of personal finance and making money matters simpler for you. From latest initial public offerings (IPOs) in the market to best investment options, we cover al... Read More First Published: August 08, 2025, 11:43 IST News business markets Kalyan Jewellers Shares Fall 13% From Day's High Despite Strong Q1 Results: What Brokerage Firms Say? Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... NSDL Shares Rise Over 15.5%, Gain Nearly 40% In Two Days After IPO Listing Reported By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 10:10 IST Investors have gained 62.2% over the IPO issue price of Rs 800 per share amid consistent demand for NSDL shares in the secondary market. NSDL Share Price Today. NSDL Share Price: Shares of National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL) continue to surge for the third day in a row after its IPO listing. The stock surged to Rs 1,299 apiece on the NSE on Friday, which is 15.6% higher than the previous close of 1,123.2 apiece. With this, the stock has gained 38.8% in the past two days since its listing day close of Rs 936. However, investors have gained 62.2% over the IPO issue price of Rs 800 per share. Recommended Stories This sharp rise came even as the broader market remained subdued, with the Sensex trading over 450 points lower. According to analysts, the consistent demand for NSDL shares in the secondary market reflects continued investor interest in the companys robust fundamentals and robust depository business. On Wednesday, NSDL had listed at a premium of 10% over its issue price, despite overall weak market sentiment. The NSDL IPO was subscribed 41 times, with heavy demand from institutional investors, while retail investors also showed interest. This was a pure offer for sale therefore, the company did not raise fresh money, but the strong response highlights NSDLs position in the depository space. With the support of robust industry trust and technological infrastructure, NSDL maintains its leadership position in value-based transactions and institutional account holdings," according to a note from Master Capital Services Ltd. It added, Going forward, the company plans to use its strength to grow further, improve its IT systems to become more efficient and offer more services. Investors who get IPO should consider holding the stock for the long term as the company has strong fundamentals and a leadership position in the depository segment. On the other hand, those who didnt get shares in the IPO can buy when the price declines." Prashanth Tapse, senior VP (research) at Mehta Equities Ltd, also maintained a positive view on NSDL following its listing. He said, Despite the muted sentiment in broader markets, NSDL listed broadly in line with our expectations, underpinned by its strong long-term fundamentals. We maintain our positive stance, as NSDL remains the dominant player in the institutional depository space, with a leading share in custodial and depository services for mutual funds, insurance firms, banks, and foreign portfolio investors (FPIs)." He added that the company has an established market position, revenue visibility, and the current valuation dynamics. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all The analysts say NSDLs market strength, dominance in institutional account holdings, and scalable tech-driven infrastructure are key triggers for the sustained stock demand. With the growing size of Indias capital markets and higher participation from retail and institutional investors alike, the depository business is likely to grow steadily. Even though Thursday saw a widespread selloff in frontline stocks following the US additional tariffs on India, NSDLs uptrend signals investor conviction in its long-term prospects. About the Author Mohammad Haris Haris is Deputy News Editor (Business) at news18.com. He writes on various issues related to personal finance, markets, economy and companies. Having over a decade of experience in financial journalism, Haris h... Read More Haris is Deputy News Editor (Business) at news18.com. He writes on various issues related to personal finance, markets, economy and companies. Having over a decade of experience in financial journalism, Haris h... Read More First Published: August 08, 2025, 10:08 IST News business markets NSDL Shares Rise Over 15.5%, Gain Nearly 40% In Two Days After IPO Listing Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... CBSE Chairman Rahul Singh Gets Two Year Extension Till November 2027 Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 18:21 IST CBSE Chief Rahul Singh, an IAS officer from the 1996 batch of the Bihar cadre, was appointed to the post on March 13 last year. CBSE Chief Rahul Singh was appointed to the post on March 13 last year. (File Photo) Senior bureaucrat Rahul Singh has been granted a two-year extension as chairperson of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), as per an official order. The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) has approved the extension of Singhs central deputation tenure for an additional two years beyond November 11, 2025, up to November 11, 2027, according to the order dated August 6 issued by the Personnel Ministry, reported PTI. Singh, an IAS officer from the 1996 batch of the Bihar cadre, was appointed to the post on March 13 last year. Before that, he was serving as the Additional Secretary, Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT). He succeeded Nidhi Chhibber, who was then named Advisor in the Niti Aayog. Recommended Stories ALSO READ | CBSE Dual Board Exam To Provide Second Chance To Students To Improve Scores, Syllabi Unchanged: Chairman Meanwhile, CBSE unveiled two initiatives on Thursday, August 7 the CBSE Career Guidance Dashboard and the CBSE Counseling Hub and Spoke Model. These efforts aim to boost career readiness and psycho-social support for students in the 2025-26 academic session. The Career Guidance Dashboard provides students with tools and resources for informed career exploration, while the Counseling Hub and Spoke School Model aims to enhance mental health support systems through collaboration between CBSE Mentor Hub Schools and Spoke Schools. The initiatives were launched at the CBSE Integrated Office in Sector 23, Dwarka, New Delhi. CBSE Secretary Himanshu Gupta, IAS, had highlighted the importance of structured mental health support and commended schools for their role in guiding students through academic and career challenges. The event featured panel discussions, including a session by CBSE Controller of Examinations Dr Sanyam Bhardwaj on the reforms implemented post-NEP 2020. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Representatives from various schools shared their experiences of incorporating career and mental wellness initiatives. The Career Guidance Dashboard, available at cbsecareerguidance.in, is now live. A special session detailed the implementation protocols, responsibilities, and monitoring mechanisms of the CBSE Counseling Hub and Spoke Model. About the Author Education and Careers Desk A team of reporters, writers and editors brings you news, analyses and information on college and school admissions, board and competitive exams, career options, topper interviews, job notifications, latest in ... Read More A team of reporters, writers and editors brings you news, analyses and information on college and school admissions, board and competitive exams, career options, topper interviews, job notifications, latest in ... Read More First Published: August 08, 2025, 18:19 IST News education-career CBSE Chairman Rahul Singh Gets Two Year Extension Till November 2027 Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... Delhi: Private Schools Now Need Govt Approval Before Hiking Fees Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 13:27 IST All private schools in Delhi must now get govt approval before hiking fees, under a new bill aiming to end arbitrary increases and bring all 1,443 institutions under regulation. Delhi govt moves to regulate all private school fee hikes with new 2025 bill. (Representational Image/Getty) All private and unaided schools in the capital will now need prior government approval before raising tuition fees, Delhi Education Minister Ashish Sood announced on Thursday. Until now, the regulation applied only to around 350 schools built on government-allotted land. With the introduction of the Delhi School Education (Transparency in Fixation and Regulation of Fees) Bill, 2025, the rule will extend to all 1,443 private schools across the city, including those operating on private land. Recommended Stories Calling the legislation a major step towards ending arbitrary fee hikes," Sood said, This bill is not just a formality. It is a promise to parents that fee structures will no longer be manipulated at will." According to the government, the new law addresses gaps in the existing Delhi School Education Act and Rules, 1973, which left many schools outside the purview of fee regulation. Officials said previous directives, including a 2022 order invalidating proposed hikes for 202021 and 202122, were often ignored or challenged in court. The DoE noted that after the COVID-19 pandemic, 227 schools were granted permission to raise fees, while in 202324 only 28 of 262 proposals were reviewed, allowing many institutions to hike charges without scrutiny. However, the bill has drawn sharp criticism from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Delhi state president Saurabh Bharadwaj alleged the move was a diversion" aimed at protecting over 350 private schools from existing High Court and Supreme Court directives that already required prior approval for fee hikes. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all The bill was introduced in the Delhi Assembly on Monday and is expected to be taken up during the ongoing monsoon session. (With inputs from PTI) About the Author Education and Careers Desk A team of reporters, writers and editors brings you news, analyses and information on college and school admissions, board and competitive exams, career options, topper interviews, job notifications, latest in ... Read More A team of reporters, writers and editors brings you news, analyses and information on college and school admissions, board and competitive exams, career options, topper interviews, job notifications, latest in ... Read More First Published: August 08, 2025, 13:27 IST News education-career Delhi: Private Schools Now Need Govt Approval Before Hiking Fees Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... Former Google Executive Predicts AI Will Eliminate Jobs, Lead To Middle Class Collapse By 2027 Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 17:24 IST Mo Gawdat, who served as Google's Chief Business Officer, highlights how AI-powered automation will eliminate various professional roles, including software engineers. Follow us on: Gawdat explains that AI automation threatens the employment of educated individuals. (Representative/File) TCS, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and other leading companies worldwide have recently undergone significant layoffs. These companies have let go of thousands of employees, with some dismissing 12,000 and others 15,000 workers at once. The primary reason for these layoffs is attributed to the rise of AI, which can complete tasks in less time than humans typically need. Mo Gawdat, a former Google employee, has advised caution regarding Artificial Intelligence or AI. Mo Gawdat, in his podcast Diary of a CEO, has made a dire prediction, warning that the period until 2027 will be particularly challenging. He believes AI will bring significant changes, potentially leading to the collapse of the middle class. Unless youre in the top 0.1%, youre a peasant. There is no middle class," he said. Recommended Stories ALSO READ | Bill Gates Says These Jobs Are Safe From AI Some For The Next 100 Years Previously, Mo Gawdat offered special advice to married youth on this podcast, recommending those who havent planned for a baby to wait due to the impending job losses AI will cause. He now predicts that by 2027, even highly educated individuals may become unemployed, which could result in a new global class structure heavily impacting the current middle class. Mo Gawdat, who served as Googles Chief Business Officer, highlights how AI-powered automation will eliminate various professional roles, including software engineers, chief executives, and podcasters. He describes the beginning of 2027 as hell before we get to heaven. His AI-enabled relationship start-up, Emma.love, operates with just three employees, whereas such a setup previously required at least 350 people. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Gawdat explains that while industrialisation replaced manual labor in the past, AI automation now threatens the employment of educated individuals, leading to mental health issues and isolation. People may gradually lose their professional expertise. By 2040, a new world order focused on creativity, community, and spirituality will emerge. However, he stresses that governments should regulate universal basic income and AI-driven development. Earlier, a Microsoft research suggested that within the next five years, 80% of jobs across various sectors will be lost due to AI, which will replace human intelligence and manpower. About the Author Education and Careers Desk A team of reporters, writers and editors brings you news, analyses and information on college and school admissions, board and competitive exams, career options, topper interviews, job notifications, latest in ... Read More A team of reporters, writers and editors brings you news, analyses and information on college and school admissions, board and competitive exams, career options, topper interviews, job notifications, latest in ... Read More view comments First Published: August 08, 2025, 17:24 IST News education-career Former Google Executive Predicts AI Will Eliminate Jobs, Lead To Middle Class Collapse By 2027 Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Haryana Board Class 10 Supplementary Result 2025 Released At bseh.org.in Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 11:30 IST HBSE Class 10 Supplementary Result 2025 Out: Students can check the result by entering their roll number and birth date on the login portal. Follow us on: The board has activated the result link on the official website -- bseh.org.in. (Representational/File) The HBSE Class 10 supplementary exam result 2025 has been released by the Board of School Education, Haryana (BSEH) today, August 8, 2025. The board has activated the result link on the official website bseh.org.in. Students can check the result by entering their roll number and birth date on the login portal. The passing criteria for the HBSE 10th exams require students to obtain a minimum of 33 per cent marks in each subject, including theory and practical exams. Those who have scored below the required the passing marks will have to re-appear for the exams. Recommended Stories HBSE 10th Supplementary Result 2024: Steps To Check Online Step 1 Check out bseh.org.in, the official website. Step 2 Click on the 10th supply result link on the homepage. Step 3 Enter the captcha code as shown on the screen and put the roll number and birthdate. Step 4 Click the Search Result" option now. Step 5 The supplementary result will be displayed on the screen. Step 6 Take a print out for future use. HBSE 10th Supplementary Result 2025: How To Check Through SMS? Students can also use SMS to check the results by sending a text message in the following format: Step 1- Enter the text in the following format: RESULTHB10 (space)ROLL NUMBER. Step 2 Send the text message to 56263 Step 3 You will receive an SMS with the Haryana Board supplementary 10th result 2025. Step 4 Take a screenshot or download for future use. HBSE 10th Supply Result 2025: How To Check Through DigiLocker? Step 1: Go to the DigiLocker website digilocker.gov.in or download the app Step 2: Click on Register for DigiLocker Step 3: Enter a valid mobile number. Enter the OTP sent to the registered mobile number Step 4: Set your username and password Step 5: Enter your Aadhar number Step 6: Sign in using your registered user name and password to check results. HBSE 10th Supplementary Result 2025: Details To Check The students should check the following details carefully on their Haryana Board supplementary 10th result marksheet: Obtaining grades Overall GPA The students name, date of birth, roll number, and parents names Total points Subject-specific grades top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Enrollment Number The result that is made available on the official website is provisional, and students must confirm the information listed on their original mark sheet. HBSE will provide the original copy of the mark sheets and certificates to the respective schools soon. About the Author Education and Careers Desk A team of reporters, writers and editors brings you news, analyses and information on college and school admissions, board and competitive exams, career options, topper interviews, job notifications, latest in ... Read More A team of reporters, writers and editors brings you news, analyses and information on college and school admissions, board and competitive exams, career options, topper interviews, job notifications, latest in ... Read More view comments First Published: August 08, 2025, 11:30 IST News education-career Haryana Board Class 10 Supplementary Result 2025 Released At bseh.org.in Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy NEET UG Counselling 2025: Round 1 Seat Allotment Result Releasing Tomorrow At mcc.nic.in Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 14:06 IST NEET UG Counselling 2025: Those selected in the merit list will have to verify their documents and report to the colleges assigned for admission by August 18. Once the merit list is available, applicants can visit the official website of MCC at mcc.nic.in and check the seat allotment. (Representative/File) The Medical Counselling Committee (MCC) will release the round 1 seat allotment results for the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test undergraduate (NEET UG) 2025 for MBBS and BDS admissions tomorrow, August 9. Once the merit list is available, applicants can visit the official website of MCC at mcc.nic.in and check the seat allotment. Those selected in the merit list will have to verify their documents and report to the colleges assigned for admission by August 18. Thereafter, institutes can verify the data of joined candidates between August 19 and 20 and confirm their seats. Recommended Stories NEET UG Counselling 2025 Round 1 Allotment Result: How To Check Step 1: Go to the MCCs official website, mcc.nic.in. Step 2: From the homepage, click on the UG Counselling tab. Step 3: Click the link for the Round 1 allotment results. Step 4: Log in using your NEET UG roll number and password. Step 5: Download the NEET UG Counselling 2025 Round 1 allotment letter for admissions. NEET UG Counselling 2025: Documents Required During Reporting Candidates are supposed to carry both original and photocopies of the below-mentioned documents for the institute reporting or document verification rounds: NEET admit card 2025 NEET 2025 scorecard Class 10 mark sheet and certificate Class 12 mark sheet and certificate Photo ID proof Six to eight passport-sized photographs Caste Certificate (if applicable) Disability Certificate (if applicable) Provisional allotment letter top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all The committee will conduct the NEET UG counselling for 15 per cent of All India Quota seats in four rounds. It is to be noted that the registration for MBBS and BDS admissions began for all qualified candidates who enrolled and cleared the NEET UG exam held by the National Testing Agency (NTA). The counselling will be administered by MCC in four rounds, one of which would be a stray vacancy round for vacant seats. About 1,15,900 MBBS seats are available across government, private, and other medical colleges in the country. This includes 775 medical colleges under the 15 per cent AIQ. These institutions include more than 400 government colleges, 32 private colleges, 13 government (society) colleges, 44 society-run colleges, and over 250 trust-run colleges. About the Author Education and Careers Desk A team of reporters, writers and editors brings you news, analyses and information on college and school admissions, board and competitive exams, career options, topper interviews, job notifications, latest in ... Read More A team of reporters, writers and editors brings you news, analyses and information on college and school admissions, board and competitive exams, career options, topper interviews, job notifications, latest in ... Read More First Published: August 08, 2025, 13:53 IST News education-career NEET UG Counselling 2025: Round 1 Seat Allotment Result Releasing Tomorrow At mcc.nic.in Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... TN Rolls Out Education Policy; Rejects NEPs 3-Language Rule, Sticks To Tamil-English Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 13:53 IST Tamil Nadu CM M.K. Stalin unveiled the State Education Policy, reaffirming Tamil-English two-language formula and rejecting the Centres NEP and three-language rule. Follow us on: Tamil Nadu CM M.K. Stalin launches State Education Policy, rejects NEPs three-language formula. (PTI Image) Amid an ongoing language row, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Friday unveiled the states new education policy (SEP), reaffirming that the state will continue with the two-language formula of Tamil and English in schools. The policy, prepared by a 14-member panel headed by retired Justice D. Murugesan and set up in 2022, was submitted to the Chief Minister in July last year and was formally released at the Anna Centenary Library Auditorium. Recommended Stories Through this education policy, we dont want students just to mug up, but think and get educated. Physical education will be taught along with studies. Importantly, I want to say firmly that we will follow two-language policy and it is our firm policy," Stalin said, adding that smart classes would be introduced under the SEP. He further asserted, We will never allow anyone to stop education. We will not allow pirooku (reactionary thinking) in our education. Our state education policy aims to create samathuva kalvi (equality) and will be a pagutharivu kalvi (one with a rational thought). This will serve as a platform to compete with international standards of education." The Chief Minister said the governments goal is to ensure 100% admission of school students into higher education, up from the current 75%. ALSO READ: Missed DU UG Admission? Mid-Entry Window To Open Today top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all The announcement comes against the backdrop of the DMK-led governments opposition to the Centres National Education Policy (NEP), which it has called against social justice" and an attempt to impose Hindi. The state has rejected the NEPs three-language formula, centralised entrance exams, and early standardised testing. In May, the Tamil Nadu government moved the Supreme Court over alleged withholding of Rs 2,200 crore in central funds, linking it to the states refusal to implement the NEP. The plea seeks a declaration that the NEP 2020 and PM SHRI Schools Scheme are not binding without the states consent. About the Author Education and Careers Desk A team of reporters, writers and editors brings you news, analyses and information on college and school admissions, board and competitive exams, career options, topper interviews, job notifications, latest in ... Read More A team of reporters, writers and editors brings you news, analyses and information on college and school admissions, board and competitive exams, career options, topper interviews, job notifications, latest in ... Read More view comments Location : new delhi, India, India First Published: August 08, 2025, 13:52 IST News education-career TN Rolls Out Education Policy; Rejects NEPs 3-Language Rule, Sticks To Tamil-English Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Fine Print Of Trump's India Tariffs: Frustration, Double Standards, And The Russian Oil Ruse? Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 13:46 IST The US has raised tariffs on India citing Russian oil, but analysts point to trade demands, a double standard, and Trumps personal grievances as the real drivers behind the move US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Modi in the White House. (Reuters Image) When US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on August 6 imposing an additional 25 per cent tariff on Indian goods, the stated reason was blunt: New Delhis continued purchase of Russian oil was fuelling Russias war machine" in Ukraine. The move raises the total US tariff on Indian goods to 50 per cent currently the highest tariff rate the US has imposed on any major trading partner except Brazil. It includes a 21-day implementation window and the possibility of further penalties if India does not change course. Recommended Stories But a closer look at the fine print, and at who else is (and isnt) being targeted, suggests a far more complicated picture, according to several analysts. The Official Reason: Russian Oil Purchases Trumps stated reasoning is that Indias purchase of crude oil is fuelling Russias war machine" at a time when the US and its allies have poured billions into supporting Ukraines defence. Yet in practice, the tariff order exempts Indian energy exports, including gasoline and diesel refined from that same Russian oil, from the additional 25 per cent duty. In other words, crude oil imports from India are framed as a security threat, but refined fuels made from the same crude can still enter the US market tariff-free. Geopolitical commentator and strategist Brahma Chellaney called this the height of hypocrisy", noting that the exemption has little to do with Russian oil and everything to do with forcing a one-sided trade deal." Another sign that Trumps punitive tariffs on India have little to do with Russian oil and everything to do with forcing a one-sided trade deal is this: Indian refined fuels like gasoline and diesel remain exempt from the latest 25% tariff hike. In other words, while claiming to Dr. Brahma Chellaney (@Chellaney) August 7, 2025 Energy columnist Javier Blas made a similar point: I love the fact the 25% extra US tariff on India doesnt apply if India buys Russian oil, refines it and sells the, say, gasoline or diesel, in the US market." I love the fact the 25% extra US tariff on India doesnt apply if India buys Russian oil, refines it and sells the, say, gasoline or diesel, in the US market(US imports of energy are exempted from the tariffs that Trump has so far imposed, and thats the case in this instance) Javier Blas (@JavierBlas) August 6, 2025 He stressed this isnt an India-only loophole; all US energy imports have so far been exempt from Trumps tariff hikes. Applying this blanket carve-out here means the very flows Trump claims to be punishing continue unhindered. Why China Gets A Pass Another glaring gap in the sanctions logic, analysts say, is China. Beijing is the worlds largest buyer of Russian oil, importing significantly more than India. Yet, it has not been hit with fresh duties under Trumps latest tariff order. South Asia analyst Michael Kugelman called this selectivity a double standard" in an interview with ANI. He argued that the difference may have less to do with trade volumes and more to do with Trumps personal grievances. China has not stood out there and refused to let President Trump take credit for his role in the ceasefire These are things that happened with India," he said, referring to New Delhis public rejection of Trumps repeated claim that he mediated the postOperation Sindoor ceasefire with Pakistan. Kugelman noted that such episodes may have contributed to Trump reserving some of his greatest ire on the trade and tariff front for India and for the Indian government." Even within Trumps own Republican Party, there is discomfort over the disparity. Former UN ambassador Nikki Haley wrote on X: India should not be buying oil from Russia. But China, an adversary and the number one buyer of Russian and Iranian oil, got a 90-day tariff pause. Dont give China a pass and burn a relationship with a strong ally like India." India should not be buying oil from Russia. But China, an adversary and the number one buyer of Russian and Iranian oil, got a 90-day tariff pause. Dont give China a pass and burn a relationship with a strong ally like India. Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) August 5, 2025 US Official Explanation: Peter Navarros View When asked directly why China had escaped the new penalties, Trumps trade adviser Peter Navarro replied: We have over 50 per cent tariffs on China already we dont want to get to a point where we actually hurt ourselves." Navarro did not shy away from criticising India, calling it the maharaja of tariffs" and alleging that New Delhi uses US dollars to pay Russia for oil, which Moscow then uses to fund its military. American taxpayers are then called upon to pay for the weapons that have to defend Ukraine against Russian armaments paid for by American dollars that came from India," he said. He also framed the India tariffs as a pure national security issue associated with Indias abject refusal to stop buying Russian oil." Trade Leverage Behind The Tariffs Brahma Chellaney has argued that the new tariffs have less to do with Russian oil and more to do with coercive brinkmanship." He sees the move as part of a push for a unilateral trade agreement on US terms, with punitive tariffs used as leverage. Trump is playing hardball with India to extract bigger trade concessions. His executive order slapping punitive levies on New Delhi has less to do with Russian oil and more to do with coercive brinkmanship. Tellingly, it makes no mention of the worlds top buyer of Russian oil: China. Trump has effectively given India a three-week ultimatum cave to his trade demands or face another 25% tariff hike, on top of the 25% tariffs already announced," he wrote on X. Trump is playing hardball with India to extract bigger trade concessions. His executive order slapping punitive levies on New Delhi has less to do with Russian oil and more to do with coercive brinkmanship. Tellingly, it makes no mention of the worlds top buyer of Russian oil: Dr. Brahma Chellaney (@Chellaney) August 6, 2025 Krystle Kaur, an adviser to NATO, described the decision as Donald Trumps way of power play." She warned that the move risks replacing cooperation with mistrust and could have long-lasting diplomatic consequences. She told PTI: I want to say that I am extremely disappointed in Donald Trump and this decision. I think placing 50 per cent on India is detrimental to not just trade between the two countries but the overall relation, especially when it has taken a long time to create I think this is creating a lot of mistrust in the Indian government. I think, this is Donald Trumps way of power play." Geopolitical Context: Ukraine And US Strategy Chellaney, in a separate post, highlighted that Trumps push for a Ukraine ceasefire is driven less by humanitarian concerns and more by the Wests fear of defeat. The fact that Trumps decision to meet Putin came right after imposing sanctions on India indicates, in Chellaneys view, a rising desperation in US policy. He said, Trump is pushing for a Ukraine ceasefire not out of concern for the bloodshed, but because the West now faces possible defeat in the war a scenario Washington is desperate to avoid, as it would stain his legacy. With Russias summer offensive grinding on, Trumps decision to meet Putin coming right after slapping India with secondary sanctions over Russian oil is the clearest sign yet of his growing desperation." Trump is pushing for a Ukraine ceasefire not out of concern for the bloodshed, but because the West now faces possible defeat in the war a scenario Washington is desperate to avoid, as it would stain his legacy. With Russias summer offensive grinding on, Trumps decision to Dr. Brahma Chellaney (@Chellaney) August 7, 2025 Swedish economist Anders Aslund has also been sharply critical of Trumps approach toward India. In one tweet, he dismissed Trumps claim about Indias economy, saying: Trump has declared Indias flourishing economy dead. Trust Trump, if he says anything it must be a lie. In reality, India has steadily the highest growth rate in the G20. How can US republicans tolerate such a liar?" Trump has declared Indias flourishing economy dead".Trust Trump, if he says anything it must be a lie.In reality, India has steadily the highest growth rate in the G20.How can US republicans tolerate such a liar?https://t.co/Y4dyy7iGWS Anders Aslund (@anders_aslund) August 6, 2025 On the tariffs, Aslund, along with commentator Phillips P OBrien, pointed out that the measures, delayed by 21 days, are unlikely to harm Russia but risk alienating India. Aslund went further, accusing Trump of pretending to be tough on Russia, but not really alienating India rather than doing anything at all against his beloved Putin." Exactly, Trump is alienating India rather than doing anything at all against his beloved Putin. https://t.co/c7erdTWJGa Anders Aslund (@anders_aslund) August 6, 2025 Looking Ahead: Negotiations And Implications The 21-day window before the new tariffs take effect provides a narrow but critical opportunity for backchannel negotiations between Washington and New Delhi. According to PTI, a US delegation is scheduled to arrive in India on August 25 for the sixth round of talks on the proposed bilateral trade agreement. Officials from both countries are reportedly trying to advance the stalled negotiations, though progress has been slower than expected. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Michael Kugelman warned this could be the worst crisis the relationship has faced over the last two decades." Yet, he also highlighted the inherent strength of the US-India partnership, describing it as multifaceted" with enough strategic depth and diverse areas of cooperation to potentially withstand even this severe shock. For now, the official line is that the tariffs are about Russian oil. But with energy products exempt, China untouched, and multiple analysts pointing to trade leverage and personal animus, the fine print tells a more complex story. About the Author Karishma Jain Karishma Jain, Chief Sub Editor at News18.com, writes and edits opinion pieces on a variety of subjects, including Indian politics and policy, culture and the arts, technology and social change. Follow her @kar... Read More Karishma Jain, Chief Sub Editor at News18.com, writes and edits opinion pieces on a variety of subjects, including Indian politics and policy, culture and the arts, technology and social change. Follow her @kar... Read More First Published: August 08, 2025, 13:29 IST News explainers Fine Print Of Trump's India Tariffs: Frustration, Double Standards, And The Russian Oil Ruse? Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... Is Washingtons Trade Offensive Backfiring? How It May Be Drawing India Closer To Russia, China Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 14:00 IST Intended to pressure India over Russian oil, Trumps tariffs may be producing the very outcome Washington sought to avoid deeper links with Moscow and Beijing Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping. (Alexander Zemlianichenko/Pool via REUTERS) The United States tariff war with India is no longer just a trade spat; its beginning to reshape diplomatic alignments. In the past few days, US President Donald Trump has doubled import duties on Indian goods to 50 per cent, accusing New Delhi of fuelling Russias war machine" through continued purchases of discounted crude oil. The move, coupled with Trumps threat of further secondary tariffs on countries trading with Russia, has strained a relationship Washington once cast as central to its Indo-Pacific strategy. And while the US hoped economic pressure would push India into concessions on agriculture and dairy market access and, by extension, closer alignment with Washington, the effect so far has been the reverse. New Delhi is deepening engagement with Moscow and even finding common ground with rival Beijing. Recommended Stories IndiaRussia Ties Hold Firm Amid Tariff Fire On the same day Trump announced the additional 25 per cent tariff on Indian goods, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval was in Moscow meeting President Vladimir Putin. In a statement from the Russian capital, Doval announced that the Russian leader would be visiting India later this year and said the dates were almost finalised now," a pointed signal of defiance against Washingtons pressure. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar is also scheduled to travel to Moscow later this month. The timing is significant. These visits come as the US piles pressure on India to cut energy trade with Moscow, trade that surged to $65.7 billion in 202324, with crude oil alone making up 76 per cent of Indias imports from Russia. India has consistently defended these purchases, pointing out that Russian oil is not under UN sanctions and that safeguarding energy security for 1.4 billion citizens is a non-negotiable priority. Beyond oil, defence cooperation remains robust: from the delivery of S-400 air defence systems to the licensed production of T-90 tanks, Su-30 MKI fighters, and AK-203 rifles, to joint ventures like the BrahMos missile programme. Both sides have set a target of $100 billion in bilateral trade by 2030. Moscow Sees Opportunity, And So Does Delhi Putins planned visit is expected to focus on deepening economic and defence cooperation, expanding rupeeruble payment mechanisms, and strengthening coordination in multilateral forums. New Delhi continues to view Russia as a longstanding and time-tested partner," a relationship it considers vital for securing energy supplies, accessing key military equipment, and maintaining trade channels outside dollar-based systems. By engaging more deeply with Russia now, India signals that its strategic autonomythe ability to maintain diversified partnershipswill not be surrendered under tariff threats. The China Factor: Rivals With Converging Interests If the Moscow track is about preserving a trusted partnership, the Beijing track is about strategic pragmatism. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will travel to Tianjin at the end of August for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Summit (31 August1 September), his first trip to China since 2018. Ahead of that, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, a member of the CPC Politburo, is scheduled to visit New Delhi on 18 August to meet NSA Doval and discuss the border dispute. While relations remain strained since the 2020 Galwan Valley clash, both countries have taken steps to stabilise ties: high-level military disengagement talks at Demchok and Depsang in October 2024; Defence Minister Rajnath Singhs June visit for the SCO defence ministers meeting, the first by an Indian defence minister since 2013, where he met counterpart Admiral Dong Jun; and the decision to resume the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra. There is also potential for Modi to meet both Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the SCO sidelines, a rare convergence of the three leaders amid heightened tensions with Washington. Economic Pressure Is Creating Unlikely Convergences For India and China, Trumps tariff blitz has reinforced a shared narrative: defending national interest against unilateral US measures. Both have pushed back against Washingtons attempts to dictate their energy policy, pointing to selective US trade with Russia even as it penalises others. In practical terms, this could mean aligning positions on energy security in global forums, coordinating within the SCO, and expanding bilateral discussions that had largely stalled after 2020. Brazil Joins The Pushback India and China are not alone. Brazil, which has also been hit with a 50 per cent tariff, has rejected Trumps overtures for trade talks. On Thursday, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva called Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a conversation lasting over an hour, during which they discussed how both countries, facing the steepest US tariffs, should align forces. Why This Matters To Washington For years, the US has sought to draw India closer as a counterbalance to China. But by linking trade negotiations to Indias Russia ties, and threatening secondary sanctions, the Trump administration risks undermining that strategy. Instead of isolating Moscow, the tariffs may be pushing Delhi towards closer coordination with both Russia and China on select issues. For Washington, thats a troubling prospect: two of its main strategic challenges, Beijing and Moscow, finding more room to engage with a country it hoped would be firmly in its corner. Strategic Autonomy In Action top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Indias recent moves reflect a consistent foreign policy principle engagement without alignment. By keeping dialogue open with both Moscow and Beijing, even as it maintains ties with the West, Delhi is signalling that it will not allow any single partner to dictate the terms of its strategic choices. Trumps tariff war may have been designed to force India into a binary choice. Instead, it appears to be reinforcing New Delhis determination to keep its options, and its partnerships, open. About the Author Karishma Jain Karishma Jain, Chief Sub Editor at News18.com, writes and edits opinion pieces on a variety of subjects, including Indian politics and policy, culture and the arts, technology and social change. Follow her @kar... Read More Karishma Jain, Chief Sub Editor at News18.com, writes and edits opinion pieces on a variety of subjects, including Indian politics and policy, culture and the arts, technology and social change. Follow her @kar... Read More First Published: August 08, 2025, 14:00 IST News explainers Is Washingtons Trade Offensive Backfiring? How It May Be Drawing India Closer To Russia, China Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... Former Spokesperson of the President of the European Council, now an adviser to former Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, Belgian Barend Leyts became a volunteer in Ukraine, seeking to show with his actions that Ukrainians are not alone in their fight against Russian aggression. In an exclusive interview with the Interfax-Ukraine news agency, Leyts said that he decided to become a volunteer in Ukraine with the FinEst Volunteers organization because, when I saw the devastation in Borodyanka and the mass grave in Bucha, I promised myself I would not remain a passive observer. I was deeply struck by the sheer injustice. Ukraine is not just fighting for its own freedom. Its defending Europe. Our democracies. Our dignity, he explained. Speaking about day-to-day activities, Leyts said that every day is different but always full. We often begin by weaving camouflage nets, then move to packing supplies: clothes or medicine, hygiene kits. Some days we teach English classes, assist at an animal shelter, or simply spend time connecting with locals. We sleep in shared rooms, eat simple meals and keep going because the need never stops, the agency's interlocutor elaborated. When asked how his family and friends reacted to his decision to go to Ukraine as a volunteer, he said: Not everyone understood. Some even called it pointless. But my family knows that when I commit to something, I mean it. And I believe this is worth every minute. In fact, Im more convinced now than I was when I arrived. I came to show that we still care despite the war of attrition, despite the endless drone attacks. I deeply admire the stamina of the Ukrainian people. They deserve our solidarity. Leyts expressed conviction that Ukraine belongs to both the EU and NATO. Ukraine is Europe. Despite the war, the country has made remarkable reforms to integrate into the European Union. Ukrainians want to belong to the European project of peace and prosperity, and we simply cannot let them down. The EU and NATO are alliances of shared values. And Ukraine lives those values, every single day, he said. Speaking about the mood among Ukrainians and volunteers, Leyts believes that people are tired, yes. But they havent given up. Volunteers feel it too. Were not here to save the day. Were here to help without expecting thanks. This is a quiet revolution. Volunteering as resistance. We still care. Were still here. And that, sometimes, is exactly whats needed most. Ukraine is still the place where Europes future is being decided. If Ukraine loses this war, we lose an ally. And perhaps the greatest proof yet that a democracy cannot defend itself. Brutal force will have won. Thats why now is the time to stay. To show that we still care. As a volunteer, you wont solve the war. But youre here, he is convinced. Uttarkashis Dharali In Mountain Of Debris As High As 3-Storey Building: How Will It Be Cleared? Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 15:00 IST The Indian Army, with the IAF, SDRF, NDRF, ITBP, BRO, and administration, continues to lead rescue and relief efforts in flood- and landslide-affected region of Dharali and Harsil Follow us on: Dharali remains completely cut off due to widespread landslides. (PTI) Three days after a massive flash flood hit Uttarakhands Uttarkashi, the Dharali village near Gangotri is now buried in debris and sludge. The Indian Army, in close coordination with the Indian Air Force (IAF), SDRF, NDRF, ITBP, BRO, and civil administration, continues to lead large-scale rescue and relief efforts in the flood- and landslide-affected region of Dharali and Harsil. Recommended Stories In some places, the mounds of rubble reach up to 50 feet high, tall enough to completely bury a three-storey building, The Times of India reported. 357 rescued so far: What is the status of Dharali? Dharali remains completely cut off due to widespread landslides. However, road clearance efforts have progressed up to Limchigad, where the launch of a Bailey Bridge is currently underway and expected to be completed by Friday evening. In terms of weather conditions, Matli and Harsil have experienced a period of clear skies, aiding rescue efforts. However, low visibility and rain over Dehradun have temporarily delayed some planned air sorties. So far, a total of 357 civilians have been rescued, with 119 airlifted to Dehradun. Rescue teams on the ground include Indian Army columns, combat engineers, medical units, and specialised Search and Rescue (SAR) dog squads. The NDRF has deployed 105 personnel, working in tandem with SDRF and ITBP teams, including medical officers stationed in Harsil and Dharali," said the Indian Army in a statement. EXPLAINED: Uttarkashi Cloudburst Mayhem: Can Clouds Release Billions Of Litres Of Water In A Minute? Army doctors, nursing assistants and combat medics are providing on-site treatment to rescued civilians at transit locations. Among the evacuees are 13 Army personnel, while eight soldiers from the 14 Rajputana Rifles remain unaccounted for. The civil administration has reported that approximately 100 civilians are still missing, and two civilian fatalities have been confirmed. How does the clearing of debris work? The debris clearance process in Uttarkashi after major floods or landslides is a multi-step, multi-agency operation with significant technical and logistical challenges due to rough terrain, ongoing weather hazards, and the volume of material. The main steps are: Assessment and immediate response: Authorities activate disaster response protocols as soon as an incident is reported. Multi-agency rescue teams (Army, National Disaster Response ForceNDRF, State Disaster Response ForceSDRF, local administration) are deployed for immediate search and rescue, supported by helicopters if access is blocked. Damage and safety survey: Technical committees are formed, often including district officials, geologists, engineers from the Public Works Department (PWD), irrigation and forest departments, disaster management authorities, and mountaineering experts. They conduct field surveys to assess the danger from unstable slopes, identify safe routes, mark hazardous structures, and recommend if further evacuations are needed. Search and rescue operations: Sniffer dogs, drones, and manual teams search for trapped or missing people. Locations where people were last seen are prioritized for focused clearance. Residents sometimes assist in identifying likely sites of entrapment. Deployment of heavy machinery: Once safety is assured, advanced earthmoving equipment such as JCBs and excavators is brought in to remove large boulders, thick layers of mud, and collapsed structures. Road clearance is prioritized to restore critical connectivity. Blocked highways and damaged bridges are cleared or replaced with temporary structures (like Bailey bridges) to reconnect cut-off regions. Restoration of critical services: Restoration of electricity, water, and communications follows debris removal. Equipment such as generators and relief supplies may be airlifted into isolated areas until road access resumes. Monitoring and ongoing risk assessment: The situation is monitored using aerial surveys and drones, especially looking for newly formed lakes, fresh landslide risk, or further rising water which could trigger secondary disasters. The central disaster management authorities may order continuous assessment, especially in fragile eco-sensitive zones. Sustained relief and rehabilitation: Debris and mud clearance continues in phases, usually starting with accessible and high-priority zones (like highways, hospitals, and main habitation clusters), then progressing to secondary sites. What are the challenges? The main challenges faced during debris clearing in Uttarkashi are: Sheer volume and depth of debris Rugged and remote terrain Damaged or destroyed infrastructure Ongoing and unpredictable weather hazards Limited accessibility for relief equipment Fragile ecosystem and safety risks Search for survivors among debris Disrupted communication and power What next? Helicopter sorties, Bailey bridge and more On August 7 alone, 68 helicopter sorties were conducted, including six by the Indian Air Force, seven by the Army, and 55 by civil helicopters. A heli-bridging network has been activated between Dehradun, Harsil, Matli, and Dharasu ALG, supported by C-295 aircraft to ferry critical supplies, rescue teams, and stranded civilians. To aid coordination, the Indian Army has established a Communication Control Room at Harsil, with satellite and Wi-Fi connectivity operational. Meanwhile, BSNL and Airtel are working to restore public mobile networks in the affected region. Senior military leadership, including the General Officer Commanding, Uttar Bharat Area, and the Commander, 9 (Independent) Mountain Brigade, are on the ground in Harsil to oversee operations and ensure synergy between military and civilian agencies. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all The statement said, The planned actions for August 8, 2025, include the launch of a Bailey Bridge at Limchigad to restore vital road connectivity, the aerial induction of critical relief materials and equipment, continued search operations in Harsil and nearby areas, and the evacuation of remaining stranded civilians by air from Harsil to Matli and Dehradun." With ANI, Agency Inputs About the Author Manjiri Joshi At the news desk for 17 years, the story of her life has revolved around finding pun, facts while reporting, on radio, heading a daily newspaper desk, teaching mass media students to now editing special copies ... Read More At the news desk for 17 years, the story of her life has revolved around finding pun, facts while reporting, on radio, heading a daily newspaper desk, teaching mass media students to now editing special copies ... Read More view comments First Published: August 08, 2025, 14:53 IST News explainers Uttarkashis Dharali In Mountain Of Debris As High As 3-Storey Building: How Will It Be Cleared? Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Class 7 Student In Bengaluru Dies By Suicide, Police Suspect Link To 'Death Note' Web Series Reported By : CNN-News18 Edited By: Vani Mehrotra Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 14:25 IST A Class 7 student in Bengaluru died by suicide, with police investigating a possible influence of the Japanese web series 'Death Note'. Class 7 student in Bengaluru dies by suicide (Video screengrabs/News18) A Class 7 student died by suicide in Bengaluru, with preliminary findings suggesting a possible link to the popular Japanese web series Death Note. The incident happened in the CK Acchukattu area on the intervening night of August 3, after which the police launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding his death. Recommended Stories Probe revealed that the minor was an avid watcher of the series and had drawn a character from the show in his room. The detail has led investigators to consider whether the series may have influenced his actions. The minors parents have stated that he was not facing any known difficulties at school or at home, and the exact reasons behind his extreme step remain unclear. The police continue to probe the matter and have seized the boys mobile phone for forensic analysis. For the unversed, Death Note revolves around a high school student who discovers a mysterious notebook, the Death Note", which grants the user the supernatural ability to kill anyone whose name is written in its pages. The series centres around the students subsequent use of the Death Note to carry out a worldwide massacre of individuals whom he deems immoral and to create a crime-free society, and the subsequent efforts of the Japanese police task force to apprehend him. In a separate incident, the body of a 10-year-old boy was found hanging from an iron pipe in his house at Ambika Vihar Colony in Delhi on August 3. According to the Delhi Police, the child was addicted to playing games on mobile. Upon examining the mobile recovered from the spot, it was found that the child had been watching it for approximately 10-11 hours. He played a game for seven hours and was active on YouTube for about four hours. The childs father told the police that on the day of the incident, on July 31, the child did not go to school due to heavy rain. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all He and his wife left for work in the morning. When they returned in the evening, they found the body hanging from a pipe with a dupatta. Disclaimer: If you or someone you know needs help, call any of these helplines: Aasra (Mumbai) 022-27546669, Sneha (Chennai) 044-24640050, Sumaitri (Delhi) 011-23389090, Cooj (Goa) 0832- 2252525, Jeevan (Jamshedpur) 065-76453841, Pratheeksha (Kochi) 048-42448830, Maithri (Kochi) 0484-2540530, Roshni (Hyderabad) 040-66202000, Lifeline 033-64643267 (Kolkata) About the Author Harish Upadhya Harish Upadhya, an Assistant Editor at CNN-News18, reports from Bengaluru. Political reporting is his forte. He also tracks India's space journey, and is passionate about environmental reporting and RTI investi... Read More Harish Upadhya, an Assistant Editor at CNN-News18, reports from Bengaluru. Political reporting is his forte. He also tracks India's space journey, and is passionate about environmental reporting and RTI investi... Read More First Published: August 08, 2025, 14:15 IST News india Class 7 Student In Bengaluru Dies By Suicide, Police Suspect Link To 'Death Note' Web Series Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... Search Operations Continue In Uttarakhand's Dharali Days After Cloudburst, Many Remain Missing Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 11:14 IST Rescue teams in Uttarakhand continue to work round-the-clock after the Dharali cloudburst, with search operations continuing for those still missing. Uttarkashi: People being evacuated from cloudburst-hit Dharali (Photo: PTI) Search operations for those still missing following the Dharali cloudburst and flash floods continue, even as rescue authorities evacuated close to 400 people in Uttarakhand until Thursday. Many remain missing following the disaster, which claimed the lives of at least five people. Garhwal Division Commissioner Vinay Shankar Pandey told news agency ANI that a total of 382 people had been evacuated and that operations were underway in three directions. Recommended Stories Yesterday, we evacuated nearly 382 people. Our operation is going on in three directions. We are evacuating pilgrims stranded in Gangotri, who have come from outside the state. We are restoring road connectivity. Third is clearing the debris and looking for the missing people in the worst-affected Dharali," he said. The listing of the loss to public and private property was also underway," he said. The rescue and relief operations continue despite unfavourable weather conditions at various places, thus challenging the deployment of Chinook and Mi helicopters. UTTARAKHAND CM DHAMI HOLDS MEETINGS Meanwhile, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami was in Uttarkashi, supervising the rescue and relief operations. On Thursday, Chief Minister Dhami also held a meeting with officials at the Disaster Control Room and reviewed rescue and relief operations in disaster-affected areas. In a post on X, the Chief Minister stated that instructions were given to officials to exercise extra sensitivity, especially towards women, children and the elderly. He also said that rescue operations were being carried out at a fast pace. DHARALI CLOUDBURST, FLASH FLOODS CAUSE MASSIVE DESTRUCTION Uttarakhand has been witnessing heavy monsoon-triggered disruptions, especially in its higher-altitude regions, prompting large-scale evacuation and relief operations led by multiple agencies. Two cloudbursts on August 5, one in Dharali and another in the Sukhi Top area near Dharali, caused widespread destruction, with Dharali bearing the brunt. A video of the tragedy showed massive destruction as the river came gushing down onto houses and hotels nearby. TOURISTS FROM MAHARASHTRA MISSING The Maharashtra government is in constant touch with the Uttarakhand administration after 151 tourists from the western state were stranded following the disaster in Dharali. So far, 120 of these tourists have been contacted, and they are reported to be safe at an Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) camp. Maharashtra Chief Secretary Rajesh Kumar spoke to his Uttarakhand counterpart Anand Bardhan, requesting all necessary assistance in locating the remaining 31 tourists and facilitating their return. The states disaster control room is in continuous coordination with the National Emergency Response Centre, Uttarakhands State Disaster Management Authority, the District Control Room in Uttarkashi, and other concerned agencies, an official release stated. NEPALESE NATIONALS MISSING At least 13 Nepalese nationals were also missing in the cloudburst-affected Dharali in Uttarakhand. The Nepalese missing are from Kushe Rural Municipality of Jajarkot district, a statement from Harishchandra Basnet, chairman of Kukshe Rural Municipality, read. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Basnet urged the Nepal government and the Foreign Ministry to immediately make diplomatic initiatives to carry out speedy and effective search and rescue operations for the missing people. ALSO READ | Uttarakhands Decade-Long Disasters: 4654 Landslides, 92 Avalanches, 67 Cloudbursts, 12758 Floods About the Author Vani Mehrotra Vani Mehrotra is the Deputy News Editor at News18.com. She has nearly 10 years of experience in both national and international news and has previously worked on multiple desks. Vani Mehrotra is the Deputy News Editor at News18.com. She has nearly 10 years of experience in both national and international news and has previously worked on multiple desks. First Published: August 08, 2025, 10:54 IST News india Search Operations Continue In Uttarakhand's Dharali Days After Cloudburst, Many Remain Missing Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... 'False And Fabricated': Indian Officials Reject Report On US Defence Deal Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 20:57 IST Officials dismissed the report as "false and fabricated" and clarified that the various deals of procurement are being processed as per the extant procedures Prime Minister Narendra Modi with US President Donald Trump (Reuters file photo) Indias senior defence officials on Friday rejected a British media report claiming that New Delhi has paused its plans to procure several US defence systems in retaliation for President Donald Trumps 50% tariffs. Officials dismissed the report as false and fabricated" and clarified that the various cases (deals) of procurement are being processed as per the extant procedures. Recommended Stories Reuters reported India has paused its plans to procure several US defence systems in the backdrop of Trumps tariff dispute with New Delhi. The discussions to purchase Stryker combat vehicles made by General Dynamics Land Systems and Javelin anti-tank missiles developed by Raytheon and Lockheed Martin (LMT.N) have been put on hold for now by Prime Minister Narendra Modis government, as per Reuters. On August 6, Trump announced to raise tariffs on Indian goods to 50% over its purchase of oil from Russia. In a strong statement, India called the US Presidents move unfair, unjustified and unreasonable." In a statement, the Ministry of External Affairs said India will take all actions necessary to protect its national interests. India-US Defence Ties The share of Russia, which is Indias largest arms supplier, has come down in recent years as New Delhi looked beyond Moscow for its defence needs. After signing a historic nuclear deal in 2008 with India, the US emerged as the second-largest arms supplier to New Delhi. The US-India defence trade has grown from under USD 1 billion to over USD 18 billion. Major acquisitions of India include C-130J, C-17, P-8I Poseidon, AH-64 Apaches, CH-47 Chinooks, and M-777 howitzers. Last month, the Indian Army received the first consignment of Apache helicopters from the United States. India-US Defence cooperation remains multifaceted and includes regular institutionalised bilateral dialogue, military exercises, and defence procurements. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Since 2022, four US Maritime Sealift Command ships have visited Indian Shipyards for repair and allied services based on commercial contracts. During PM Modis meeting with Trump at the White House in February, both leaders announced plans to pursue this year new procurements and co-production arrangements for Javelin" Anti-Tank Guided Missiles and Stryker" Infantry Combat Vehicles in India to rapidly meet Indias defence requirements. To advance defence ties further, they also announced plans to sign this year a new ten-year Framework for the US-India Major Defence Partnership in the 21st Century. About the Author Saurabh Verma Saurabh Verma covers general, national and international day-to-day news for News18.com as a Senior Sub-editor. He keenly observes politics. You can follow him on Twitter --twitter.com/saurabhkverma19 Saurabh Verma covers general, national and international day-to-day news for News18.com as a Senior Sub-editor. He keenly observes politics. You can follow him on Twitter --twitter.com/saurabhkverma19 First Published: August 08, 2025, 16:33 IST News india 'False And Fabricated': Indian Officials Reject Report On US Defence Deal Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... Food Delivery Agent Attacks Odisha Woman After She Questions Delay, Injures Her On Neck, Head Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 11:04 IST The woman sustained grave injuries on her neck and head after the delivery agent allegedly attacked her with a sharp weapon. Follow us on: Food delivery agent attacks woman in Odisha (AI-generated image) A food delivery agent allegedly attacked a woman and injured her severely in Odishas Bhubaneswar after she questioned him over the delay in his arrival, according to a report. The incident took place on Thursday, in which the victim was identified as Binodini Rath. Recommended Stories She had ordered food online; however, its delivery was delayed by the delivery agent, identified as Tapan Das. As she asked him the reason behind the delay, an argument broke out between the two, after which the man attacked her with a sharp weapon, NDTV reported. She sustained injuries on her neck, head, hands, and legs. She was rushed to the hospital for immediate medical attention. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all The woman was employed as a nurse at a private hospital. As the cops arrived on the spot, they arrested the delivery agent and confiscated the weapon used for the attack, the report said. Das was found to be intoxicated at the time of the crime, his medical examination revealed. About the Author Ashesh Mallick Ashesh Mallick is a Sub-Editor with over three years of experience in news writing, video production. He primarily covers national news, politics and global affairs. You can follow him on Twitter: @MallickAshes... Read More Ashesh Mallick is a Sub-Editor with over three years of experience in news writing, video production. He primarily covers national news, politics and global affairs. You can follow him on Twitter: @MallickAshes... Read More view comments Location : Odisha (Orissa), India, India First Published: August 08, 2025, 11:03 IST News india Food Delivery Agent Attacks Odisha Woman After She Questions Delay, Injures Her On Neck, Head Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy How A Small Karnataka Village Built The Most Modern Government School Curated By : Local18 Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 12:43 IST Set amidst lush surroundings, the new campus features an amphitheatre and high-mast lighting, creating an atmosphere that blends tradition with modernity. This Government School Could Give Private Campuses a Run for Money In a time when government schools often face neglect and dwindling enrolments, one school in Chitradurgas Hiriyur taluk is turning heads. Thanks to the dedication of its alumni, donors, and villagers, the Thalavatti Government School is now the most high-tech institution of its kind in the district and its already drawing students from neighbouring villages. From Dilapidated to Dazzling Recommended Stories Thalavatti, a small village of about 300 households, first built its government school in 1925. But before the century mark, the structure had fallen into disrepair. In 2024, the villagers, along with former students, formed a rejuvenation and centenary celebration committee. Their goal: rebuild the school from ground up. The result is a striking campus costing Rs 1.15 crore, ready for inauguration on August 16. With 11 classrooms, a modern computer lab, a well-stocked library, a kitchen and dining hall, proper toilets and a 40,000-litre rainwater harvesting tank, the school now rivals and in some cases surpasses private institutions in facilities. Community-Funded Education The school currently has 85 students, taught by three government-appointed teachers and one guest teacher. Alumni have gone a step further by hiring and paying salaries for two additional teachers to improve quality and manage rising admissions. For years, the school only offered Kannada medium instruction. Now, with the introduction of English medium, its attracting parents from nearby villages such as Aimangala, Vaddikere, Bandlarahatti, and Basappana Malige. Plans are underway to add a school bus if more donors step forward. A Model for Others Set amidst lush surroundings, the new campus features an amphitheatre and high-mast lighting, creating an atmosphere that blends tradition with modernity. For the villagers, the transformation is more than just a building upgrade, its a statement that government schools can match private ones in quality, given the right community support. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all On August 16, when the high-tech Thalavatti Government School officially opens its doors, it will not only celebrate its near-century milestone but also stand as an example of what collective effort can achieve. For many, its proof that the future of rural education can be built at home, one committed village at a time. About the Author News Desk The News Desk is a team of passionate editors and writers who break and analyse the most important events unfolding in India and abroad. From live updates to exclusive reports to in-depth explainers, the Desk d... Read More The News Desk is a team of passionate editors and writers who break and analyse the most important events unfolding in India and abroad. From live updates to exclusive reports to in-depth explainers, the Desk d... Read More First Published: August 08, 2025, 12:43 IST News india How A Small Karnataka Village Built The Most Modern Government School Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... Actor Huma Qureshis Cousin Stabbed To Death Over Parking Dispute In Delhi's Nizamuddin Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 10:19 IST Huma Qureshis cousin was killed in Delhis Nizamuddin area on Thursday night after a dispute. Police have arrested two persons. Follow us on: Actor Huma Qureshi's cousin brother/ Huma Qureshi (Photos: Social Media) Bollywood actor Huma Qureshis cousin was murdered in Delhi late on Thursday, following a parking dispute. The incident happened in the Nizamuddin area of the national capital, and the deceased was identified as Asif Qureshi. According to the details, the dispute between Huma Qureshis brother and the other party broke out over the parking of a two-wheeler at nearly 11 pm in the Jangpura Bhogal Bazaar lane. Recommended Stories The altercation soon turned violent, after which Asif was attacked with a sharp weapon. He was immediately rushed to a hospital, where doctors declared him dead. A CCTV video of the incident showed a group of people in a lane during the altercation. VIDEO | Actor Huma Qureshis cousin, Asif Qureshi, was stabbed to death following a dispute over parking in southeast Delhis Bhogal area on Thursday. Two teenagers have been apprehended in connection with the incident. CCTV visuals of the incident.#DelhiNews(Viewers pic.twitter.com/DJrXqd3vwX Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) August 8, 2025 The family of the deceased alleged that there had been parking disputes between them and the other party in the past, too. However, the dispute turned ugly this time, they claimed. When my husband returned home from work, the neighbours scooter was parked in front of our house, which he asked to be removed. As an argument broke out between the two, the neighbour started abusing him and killed him with a sharp pointed object," Asifs wife said. My man has been deliberately and conspiratorially killed," she alleged. Delhi: Actress Huma Qureshis cousin brother Asif Qureshi was murdered in Jangpura Bhogal Bazaar Lane under Nizamuddin police station during a parking dispute after he asked someone to move a scooter from the gateWife of the deceased says, My man has been deliberately and pic.twitter.com/q5hDVNzRFJ IANS (@ians_india) August 8, 2025 Also speaking to reporters, Saleem Qureshi, father of Huma Qureshi, said the altercation began after two men parked their scooter in front of Asifs house. Asif asked the two men to move their scooter, which led to an argument between him and the other two men. It soon turned violent, and the two together killed my nephew," he said. Meanwhile, the Delhi Police arrested two persons, Ujjwal (19) and Gautam (18), both residents of the same lane, in connection with the case and will present them in court on Friday. The weapon used in the crime was also recovered. The police were also interrogating the other neighbours of the deceaseds family, along with some eyewitnesses. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Further investigations are ongoing. ALSO READ | Delhi Man Arrested For Attempting Cyber Fraud Using Baba Siddiquis Identity About the Author Vani Mehrotra Vani Mehrotra is the Deputy News Editor at News18.com. She has nearly 10 years of experience in both national and international news and has previously worked on multiple desks. Vani Mehrotra is the Deputy News Editor at News18.com. She has nearly 10 years of experience in both national and international news and has previously worked on multiple desks. view comments First Published: August 08, 2025, 07:21 IST News india Actor Huma Qureshis Cousin Stabbed To Death Over Parking Dispute In Delhi's Nizamuddin Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Illegal Subletting Gets Costlier In Karnataka, 900% Penalty Hike Under Amended Rent Act Reported By : News18.com Edited By: Pragati Ratti Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 09:49 IST Even landlords who allow subletting especially those who charge tenants for granting consent will face stricter consequences as fines rise tenfold, from Rs 3,000 to Rs 30,000. Bengalurus rental market is facing growing scrutiny. (Pexels/Representative Image) Tenants in Karnataka who sublet their rented premises without the landlords consent are now staring at a steep penalty hike from Rs 5,000 to Rs 50,000 under proposed amendments to the Karnataka Rent Act of 1999. The punishment marks a 900 per cent increase, signalling the governments intent to crack down on unauthorised subletting across the state. The amendment, cleared by a legislative scrutiny committee headed by Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister HK Patil, is expected to be tabled in the upcoming monsoon session of the Karnataka legislature, confirmed an official from the law department. Recommended Stories It comes at a crucial time when the rental market in Karnataka, especially in cities like Bengaluru, is growing rapidly and they have also been a spike in disputes between landlords and tenants. And its not just tenants who are under the scanner. Even landlords who allow subletting especially those who charge tenants for granting consent will face stricter consequences. The fine for such landlords is set to rise tenfold, from Rs 3,000 to Rs 30,000. However the provision for up to one month of imprisonment is being dropped as part of the amendment. What does the current law say? Under Section 54 of the Karnataka Rent Act, 1999, tenants found subletting without authorisation can be fined up to Rs 5,000, or double the sublet rent amount per month, whichever is higher. The law also allows for imprisonment up to one month or both penalty and imprisonment, depending on the offence. The new provisions aim to tighten these rules, focusing on monetary penalties to deter violations rather than jail terms. The proposed amendment also takes aim at unregistered property brokers and middlemen, who operate without formal registration under Section 20 of the Act. Brokers are required to register with a designated controller an Assistant Commissioner in major cities, a Senior Tahsildar in smaller towns, or a Tahsildar in rural areas. Failure to register will attract a daily fine of Rs 25,000, up from the existing Rs 2,000. Repeat violations will bring in an additional Rs 20,000 per day, it is learnt. Under the new amendment, those who fail to register will be fined Rs 25,000 per day, up from the current Rs 2,000. Repeat violations will invite an additional daily fine of Rs 20,000, again a tenfold increase. As part of this broader overhaul of the two-decade-old law, the government is also going digital . A new portal has been introduced to allow landlords and tenants to register rental agreements online. This move is meant to streamline the process, reduce disputes, and bring more transparency to rental deals especially in urban areas where informal agreements are the norm. The government is also looking at tweaking rental caps to better reflect market conditions. This is being done with the dual aim of ensuring landlords get fair returns, while also shielding tenants from sudden and excessive rent hikes. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all In a push to protect tenant rights, landlords will now be required to serve adequate notice before eviction a safeguard aimed at preventing arbitrary and forceful removals. And in an attempt to push more affordable housing into the market, landlords who rent out properties below a specified threshold will be offered tax breaks and subsidies as incentives. Rental disputes, which often drag on for months or even years in civil courts, will now be handled more swiftly. A fast-track dispute resolution system is being brought in to reduce legal delays in courts, offering tenants and landlords a quicker way to resolve their issues. About the Author Rohini Swamy Rohini Swamy, Associate Editor at News18, has been a journalist for nearly two decades in the television and digital space. She covers south India for News18s digital platform. She has previously worked with t... Read More Rohini Swamy, Associate Editor at News18, has been a journalist for nearly two decades in the television and digital space. She covers south India for News18s digital platform. She has previously worked with t... Read More First Published: August 08, 2025, 09:49 IST News india Illegal Subletting Gets Costlier In Karnataka, 900% Penalty Hike Under Amended Rent Act Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... India Is Maharaja Of Tariffs: Trumps Trade Advisor Justifies 50% Duty As National Security Issue Reported By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 13:01 IST Trump on Wednesday slapped an extra 25 per cent levy on India for purchase of Russian oil, bringing total duties to 50 per cent, among the highest imposed by the US on any country Peter Navarro said the rationale for the India tariffs is very different from the reciprocal tariffs. (X) The imposition of an additional 25 per cent duty on India is a national security issue" associated with New Delhis abject refusal to stop buying Russian oil", White House Trade Adviser Peter Navarro said. Last week, US President Donald Trump had announced 25 per cent reciprocal tariffs on India that came into effect from August 7. The US president on Wednesday also signed an executive order slapping an additional 25 per cent levy on India for New Delhis purchases of Russian oil, bringing the total duties to 50 per cent, among the highest imposed by the US on any country in the world. Recommended Stories Navarro, while talking to reporters at the White House on Wednesday, said it is important to understand that the rationale for the India tariffs is very different from the reciprocal tariffs". This was a pure national security issue associated with Indias abject refusal to stop buying Russian oil," he said, and added that Every American needs to understand the math of this because it is related to the trade situation". India hits us with some of the highest tariffs in the world, sells us goods, and uses our money to buy Russian oilwhich funds Russias war. Then we foot the bill for Ukraine. President Trump sees this chessboard for what it is. pic.twitter.com/yk5ZR3WzIp Peter Navarro (@RealPNavarro) August 7, 2025 You start with the fact that India is the maharaja of tariffs, its the highest tariffs in the world charging on American products and its got a high non-tariff barrier so we cant get our products in," he said. The US sends a lot of dollars overseas to India to buy their products in an unfair trade environment", he claimed. India then uses American dollars to buy Russian oil. Russia then uses those American dollars that come from India to finance its armaments, to kill Ukrainians, and American taxpayers are then called upon to pay for the weapons that have to defend Ukraine against Russian armaments paid for by American dollars that came from India," Navarro said. He said that it has got to stop". That math does not work. The president understands the connection between economic security and national security so that was the bottom line there," he added. Navarro was asked why China, which buys more Russian oil than India does, has not been targeted the way Delhi has been with the doubling of its tariffs. As the boss says, lets see what happens. Keep in mind that we have over 50 per cent tariffs on China already, so we dont want to get to a point where we actually hurt ourselves," he said. The president certainly will be working with China on that issue," he added. Meanwhile, White House Homeland Security Adviser Stephen Miller said, It probably surprised people to know that India is one of the largest purchasers in the world of Russian oil and they could easily access oil from many other markets around the world." They are one of the largest funders of Russias army for that reason," he claimed. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Responding to the tariffs, the Ministry of External Affairs has said that the targeting of India is unjustified and unreasonable". Like any major economy, India will take all necessary measures to safeguard its national interests and economic security," it said. About the Author News Desk The News Desk is a team of passionate editors and writers who break and analyse the most important events unfolding in India and abroad. From live updates to exclusive reports to in-depth explainers, the Desk d... Read More The News Desk is a team of passionate editors and writers who break and analyse the most important events unfolding in India and abroad. From live updates to exclusive reports to in-depth explainers, the Desk d... Read More First Published: August 08, 2025, 12:37 IST News india India Is Maharaja Of Tariffs: Trumps Trade Advisor Justifies 50% Duty As National Security Issue Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... First negotiating cluster for Ukraine and Moldova to join EU should be opened simultaneously Zelenskyy-Tusk talk Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has held a telephone conversation with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, in which they discussed defense production, support for Ukrainians, and the negotiation process regarding Ukraine's membership in the European Union. We also discussed the negotiation process for Ukraines EU membership. Donald and I agreed that the first negotiation cluster for Ukraine and Moldova should be opened simultaneously. Ukraine and Moldova began this path together and must continue along it together, Zelenskyy said on X Friday. He also informed about his conversation with US President Donald Trump and his European colleagues. Zelenskyy and Tusk discussed existing diplomatic opportunities and agreed to coordinate and work for common European interests. Ukraine, Poland, and other European nations alike need strong foundations for their security and independence. A reliable peace is essential for all, and I am grateful for the readiness to help along this path, the President noted. In addition, the parties discussed some regulatory changes in Poland that affected Ukrainian students and applicants. During such a war, any difficulties for children, students are felt especially painfully. I asked Donald to consider this situation and help Ukrainian youth, Zelenskyy reported. India Isnt So Unfortunate...: Owaisi Calls Out Netanyahu For Offering Advice To PM Modi Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 22:46 IST AIMIM chief Owaisi criticised Israeli PM Netanyahu for advising PM Modi on Trump, calling him a "war criminal" responsible for Palestinian genocide in Gaza. AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi (PTI Image) All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Friday hit out at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after he offered to advise Prime Minister Narendra Modi on dealing with US President Donald Trump amid a row over escalating tariffs on Indian goods, saying that New Delhi is not so unfortunate" to take advice from a war criminal." The Hyderabad MP was responding to a news report about Netanyahus remarks, where he reportedly called Donald Trump his terrific friend" and suggested he would privately advise the Indian PM on handling the US President. Recommended Stories India is not so unfortunate that its Prime Minister has to take advice from a war criminal and genocidaire who has an outstanding ICC (International Criminal Court) warrant against him," Owaisi said in a post on X. India is not so unfortunate that its Prime Minister has to take advice from a war criminal & genocidaire who has an outstanding ICC warrant against him. Netanyahu is responsible for the genocide of 65,000 Palestinians in Gaza; 20,000 of whom are children killed. 1.2 million have pic.twitter.com/LsTiipuXe7 Asaduddin Owaisi (@asadowaisi) August 8, 2025 He further accused the Israeli leader of genocide of 65,000 Palestinians in Gaza; 20,000 of whom are children killed. Netanyahu is responsible for the genocide of 65,000 Palestinians in Gaza; 20,000 of whom are children killed. 1.2 million have been made homeless. 2,000 odd UN employees have been killed and Israel has TWO adverse judgements from ICJ," he added. Owaisi further urged PM Modi to stand on the right side of history and not become a passive participant." The Hyderabad MP has been a consistent critic of Israels Gaza offensive launched after the October 2023 Hamas attack. What Netanyahu Said? His comments came after Netanyahu said he would give some advice" to PM Modi on dealing with Trump. Netanyahu said that he would do so privately as both PM Modi and Trump are his terrific" friends. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all PM Modi and Trump are terrific friends of mine. I would give PM Modi some advice on dealing with Trump, but privately," the Israeli leader reportedly said. Earlier this week, Trump announced an extra 25% tariff on Indian exports as a penalty for continuing to import Russian oil, doubling it to 50% on Indian goods. About the Author Shobhit Gupta Shobhit Gupta is a sub-editor at News18.com and covers India and International news. He is interested in day to day political affairs in India and geopolitics. He earned his BA Journalism (Hons) degree from Ben... Read More Shobhit Gupta is a sub-editor at News18.com and covers India and International news. He is interested in day to day political affairs in India and geopolitics. He earned his BA Journalism (Hons) degree from Ben... Read More First Published: August 08, 2025, 22:46 IST News india India Isnt So Unfortunate...: Owaisi Calls Out Netanyahu For Offering Advice To PM Modi Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... 'Biggest Mistake': Indian-Origin Canadian Regrets Giving Up Citizenship, Considers Moving Back Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 09:40 IST An Indian-origin Canadian citizen has expressed regret over giving up their Indian citizenship, citing rising anti-Indian sentiment in Canada. Indian Tricolor theme of Indian National Flag made of Orange marigold flowers, White jasmine flowers and Green fresh leaves (Photo: PTI) An Indian, who gave up the countrys citizenship to become a Canadian citizen, has expressed regret on social media, saying they now wish to return to India. In a post on Reddit, titled Canadian citizen, considering moving back to India forever," the user, who took Canadian citizenship about a year and a half ago, said they felt it was the biggest mistake" of their life, due to what they described as growing anti-Indian sentiment in Canada. Recommended Stories The increased anti-Indian sentiment I feel like is only going to get worse," they wrote. The user sought advice from people with Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) status who have moved back to India and live and work there, asking about legal hurdles and job prospects. The post received mixed responses, with multiple Reddit users sharing their experiences. Im a recent Canadian citizen from South India. Im moving back to India for some time very soon, to focus on better health," a comment read. If you have a good support system in India, please move back for now, and you can consider keeping/ dropping the citizenship later," another user commented. Hang in there, man, things will get better," a third one commented, adding, Save and invest in yourself and in your future". Go back. Life is short," another comment on the post read. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Anti-Indian did not start today, its been there and it will always be there," another user commented on the post. ALSO READ | Over 26,600 Pakistanis Visited India Before 2025 Ban; US Tops Foreign Tourist Arrivals In 2024 About the Author Vani Mehrotra Vani Mehrotra is the Deputy News Editor at News18.com. She has nearly 10 years of experience in both national and international news and has previously worked on multiple desks. Vani Mehrotra is the Deputy News Editor at News18.com. She has nearly 10 years of experience in both national and international news and has previously worked on multiple desks. First Published: August 08, 2025, 09:34 IST News india 'Biggest Mistake': Indian-Origin Canadian Regrets Giving Up Citizenship, Considers Moving Back Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... Mounjaro Market Heavyweight Among Anti-Obesity Drugs, Grabs Early Lead Over Wegovy In India Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 08:00 IST In July 2025 alone, Wegovy clocked Rs 7 crore in sales with around 5,000 injections, while Mounjaro posted Rs 47 crore in sales, with close to 1,57,000 unitsalmost 30 times more A 2025 meta-analysis comparing tirzepatide (Mounjaro) and semaglutide (Wegovy) found that patients on tirzepatide lost on average 11.4% of their body weight, compared to 7.3% for those on semaglutide. Representational image Indias booming weight-loss injection market is witnessing a sharp divide. While Novo Nordisks recently launched Wegovy is still finding its footing, Eli Lillys Mounjaro continues to dominate, the latest sales data shows. According to data from research firm Pharmarack, the GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist) drug segment has more than doubled in value over the last two years, growing from Rs 288 crore in July 2023 to Rs 606 crore in July 2025. Data shows that semaglutide (Wegovy), launched in July, and tirzepatide, launched in March, continue to drive the growth of the market. In July 2025 alone, Wegovy clocked Rs 7 crore in sales and sold around 5,000 injections, while Mounjaro posted Rs 47 crore in sales, selling approximately 1,57,000 unitsalmost 30 times more. Recommended Stories While we see the numbers for Wegovy and Mounjaro picking up month on month, we need to understand that Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk have done a lot of market priming work with health specialists. These specialists have helped them identify the right set of patients," Sheetal Sapale, vice-president, commercial, at Pharmarack, told News18. Though Wegovy has a strong prescriber base because of Rybelsus (oral semaglutide tablets), substantial promotion may be needed to reach the Mounjaro patient base for the injectable market." Rybelsus is an oral tablet, whereas Wegovy is an injectable form of the active pharmaceutical ingredient called semaglutide, which is responsible for weight loss and blood glucose management. Why is Mounjaro leading? While Mounjaro has an early mover advantage, as it was launched a quarter earlier than Wegovy, experts believe that one of the critical factors behind the gap in demand is pricing. Wegovy is more expensive than Mounjaro, with a monthly dosage priced between Rs 17,000 and Rs 26,000, compared to Mounjaros cost of Rs 14,000 to Rs 17,500. Experts believe Mounjaros edge isnt just due to timing or pricing. Dr Sambit Dash, associate professor, biochemistry at MUCM Malaysia, believes that Mounjaro is currently ahead for several reasons. He points out that its slightly higher efficacy in weight loss compared to Wegovy has made it a preferred choice among prescribers". Dash believes the earlier launch gave it a first-mover advantage, and Mounjaros growing adoption in countries like the UK has further reinforced its reputation. Also, Eli Lillys aggressive marketing strategy has helped make the brand more recognisable, with Mounjaro becoming a more familiar name globally." Over the past year, celebrities such as Rosie ODonnell, Eric Stonestreet, and Renee Graziano have publicly acknowledged using Mounjaro to manage their weight, driving further interest and awareness around the drug. The brand has also been frequently mentioned in lifestyle outlets, talk shows, and social media platforms. However, here comes a clinical perspective. In medical terms, Mounjaro appears to have a slight edge as well. A 2025 meta-analysis comparing tirzepatide (Mounjaro) and semaglutide (Wegovy) found that patients on tirzepatide lost on average 11.4% of their body weight, compared to 7.3% for those on semaglutide. In a 72-week randomised controlled trial, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, involving adults with obesity but without diabetes, Mounjaro users achieved an average weight loss of 20.2%, whereas Wegovy users saw a 13.7% reduction. Battle not over for Wegovy top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Despite the initial gap, some experts believe Wegovy still has strong growth potential. Renowned endocrinologist Dr Anoop Misra, chairman, Fortis C-DOC, acknowledges that Mounjaro currently outperforms Wegovy, but the latter will gear up soon. Mounjaro is more effective for weight loss and has a head start over Wegovy. At the same time, Wegovy, having all the properties of a powerful molecule, is likely to scale up soon." About the Author Himani Chandna Himani Chandna, Associate Editor at CNN News18, specialises in healthcare and pharmaceuticals. With firsthand insights into India's COVID-19 battle, she brings a seasoned perspective. She is particularly pass... Read More Himani Chandna, Associate Editor at CNN News18, specialises in healthcare and pharmaceuticals. With firsthand insights into India's COVID-19 battle, she brings a seasoned perspective. She is particularly pass... Read More First Published: August 08, 2025, 08:00 IST News india Mounjaro Market Heavyweight Among Anti-Obesity Drugs, Grabs Early Lead Over Wegovy In India Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... 80-Year-Old Mumbai Man Befriends Woman On Facebook, Loses Rs 9 Crore In Digital Fraud Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 12:41 IST An elderly man in Mumbai was duped of nearly Rs 9 crore in a two-year scam after he was contacted by four women, who the police suspect may be the same person. An AI-generated image to represent digital/cyber fraud (News18) An 80-year-old Mumbai man was defrauded of nearly Rs 9 crore over 734 online transactions in a scam that spanned almost two years, NDTV reported, adding that the investigators suspect that the four women involved may be the same person. According to the report, the fraud began in April 2023 when the victim connected with a woman named Sharvi on Facebook. Recommended Stories She claimed to be separated from her husband and sought money for her childrens medical expenses. Over time, other women, named Kavita, Dinaz, and Jasmine, contacted him via WhatsApp, each asking for financial help under different pretexts. The scam escalated when Dinaz told the man that Sharvi had died and demanded that the man pay for her hospital bills. She also threatened suicide if he refused. By January 2025, the victim had drained his savings by paying Rs 8.7 crore. He then borrowed from his daughter-in-law and son, and continued making payments until his son became suspicious and intervened. According to the report, the man, upon realising he was a victim of cyber fraud, suffered severe shock, was hospitalised, and diagnosed with dementia. A cybercrime complaint was lodged on July 22 this year, and an investigation into the case was underway. Meanwhile, in Delhi, the Cyber Police Station of South West District arrested five notorious cyber fraudsters from the Jodhpur and Balotra gangs. The operation led to the recovery of 10 high-end mobile phones, 12 proxy SIM cards, seven mule bank accounts, seven debit cards, 2 JIO routers, and three suspect IDs, dealing a significant blow to cybercrime networks in the region. The action came following a complaint to NCRP on June 12, alleging an online financial fraud of Rs 17,31,425. In Gurugrams Nuh, a man was arrested for allegedly providing fake SIM cards to a gang involved in online fraud in several states. The accused, Sahil Hussain (30) from Mandikhera village, was produced in a local court and sent to judicial custody. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Acting on five online fraud complaints from different districts of Rajasthan, the Nuh cyber police traced a mobile number, which helped crack the case. ALSO READ | Man Poses As Event Director, Dupes Bhopal Doctor Of Rs 10 Lakh In Fake Bigg Boss Entry Scam About the Author Vani Mehrotra Vani Mehrotra is the Deputy News Editor at News18.com. She has nearly 10 years of experience in both national and international news and has previously worked on multiple desks. Vani Mehrotra is the Deputy News Editor at News18.com. She has nearly 10 years of experience in both national and international news and has previously worked on multiple desks. First Published: August 08, 2025, 12:36 IST News india 80-Year-Old Mumbai Man Befriends Woman On Facebook, Loses Rs 9 Crore In Digital Fraud Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... Outdated Or Misinterpreted Voter Data: UP Chief Electoral Officer Dismisses Rahul Gandhis Claims Reported By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 12:46 IST Rahul Gandhi named two voters allegedly registered in multiple constituencies. UP's Chief Electoral Officer refuted the allegations with data Follow us on: LoP in the Lok Sabha and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi addresses a press conference at AICC HQ, in New Delhi on August 7. (Image: PTI/Salman Ali) Rahul Gandhi and the Election Commission of India (ECI) have come face to face in Uttar Pradesh after the Congress leader levelled allegations of voter duplication and electoral fraud. Accusing the poll body of colluding with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Gandhi named two voters allegedly registered in multiple constituencies. UPs Chief Electoral Officer promptly refuted the allegations with verifiable data. Voter fraud model at play, says Rahul Gandhi Recommended Stories At a press conference on Thursday, Gandhi launched a scathing attack on the Election Commission, unveiling what he termed a nationwide voter theft model". Armed with a 22-page document and a 71-minute presentation, he claimed that the ECI had failed to curb large-scale duplicate registrations. He cited two individualsAditya Srivastava and Vishal Singhwho, according to him, were registered to vote in multiple constituencies across different states, including Varanasi and Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, as well as in Karnataka and Maharashtra. These are not isolated cases. This is a national model of vote theft," said Gandhi, further claiming that one lakh suspicious or duplicate votes were found in Mahadevapura, Bengaluru alone. He also alleged the existence of 40 lakh mysterious voters" added to the rolls in Maharashtra within just five months before the last election. According to him, the absence of access to machine-readable rolls had forced his team to conduct a painstaking manual verification over six months. Citing specific examples, he stated that Aditya Srivastava (EPIC No. FPP6437040) appeared in Mumbais Jogeshwari East, Bengalurus Mahadevapura, and Lucknow East constituencies, while Vishal Singh (EPIC No. INB2722288) was listed both in Mahadevapura and Varanasi Cantt. UP CEO counters allegations with verifiable data Hours after the press conference, Uttar Pradeshs Chief Electoral Officer Navdeep Rinwa issued a sharp rebuttal. He claimed that a thorough cross-check on the ECI portal dated August 7, 2025, showed no such duplication. Rinwa stated that both Aditya Srivastava and Vishal Singh were listed only in Mahadevapura, Bengaluru Urban (Assembly 174), with no entries in Lucknow East, Varanasi Cantt, or Mumbai. There is no trace of either name in the voter rolls of Lucknow East or Varanasi Cantt. Aditya Srivastava is not registered in Mumbais Jogeshwari East either," Rinwa said, calling Gandhis data outdated or misinterpreted". Political reactions The political fallout was swift. UP Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya mocked the Congress leader in a social media post, saying, The statement by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was expected to be an atom bomb, but its echo wasnt even as loud as Diwali crackersjust smoke and illusion." In contrast, Samajwadi Party (SP) MP Dimple Yadav backed Gandhi, asserting, He has raised a valid concern. We have seen electoral malpractices in past by-elections in UP. These issues must not be brushed aside." The statements made are Misleading #ECIFactCheck Read the details in the image attached https://t.co/746fmzk4FN pic.twitter.com/Uml9Ws0jDi Election Commission of India (@ECISVEEP) August 7, 2025 Karnataka CEO, ECI issue responses Responding separately, the Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer urged Rahul Gandhi to file a formal affidavit under Rule 20(3)(b), listing the names and EPIC numbers of the alleged duplicate voters. Only then, the official stated, could a proper inquiry be initiated. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Meanwhile, the Election Commission of India posted clips of Gandhis press conference on X (formerly Twitter), labelling them misleading". Though a detailed clarification was not issued, the ECI indicated that legal action might be considered if unsubstantiated claims continued to be made. Despite the rebuttals, the Congress party doubled down on its charge. Gandhi maintained that the refusal to share machine-readable electoral rolls was deliberate, adding that the printed rolls were manually cross-verified using internal tools, with enough documentation to fill a seven-foot-tall pile". view comments First Published: August 08, 2025, 12:28 IST News india Outdated Or Misinterpreted Voter Data: UP Chief Electoral Officer Dismisses Rahul Gandhis Claims Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Over 26,600 Pakistanis Visited India Before 2025 Ban; US Tops Foreign Tourist Arrivals In 2024 Written By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 09:19 IST The United States overtook Bangladesh in 2024 to become Indias top source of foreign tourists, with over 18 lakh visitors nearly 1 in every 6 Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs). Foreign tourists visit the Red Fort on a hot summer day, in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, Friday, April 25, 2025. (Image: PTI) After 26 tourists were gunned down in Pahalgam by terrorists, India suspended visa services for Pakistani nationals. All existing Indian visas issued to Pakistani citizens were revoked with effect from April 27, 2025. In retaliation, Pakistan also cancelled visas issued to Indians. Recommended Stories According to the official website of the High Commission of India in Pakistan, there were 10 categories of visas for those wanting to visit India including Assignment, Business, Conference, Journalist, Medical, Official, Pilgrim, Student, Transit, and Visitor. For Indians, Pakistan offered visas for Visit, Business, Conference, Pilgrimage, and diplomatic Assignments. Visas were also issued to students, journalists, and individuals working with the UN or other international organizations. The numbers show that 2024 was the second time since 2019 when Indians visiting Pakistan outnumbered Pakistani visiting India, as shown in the graph. The Ministry has not shared the data for the years 2020 and 2021 the years when travel was impacted globally due to COVID. About 5,000 Americans Visited India Per Day The United States overtook Bangladesh in 2024 to become Indias top source of foreign tourists, with over 18 lakh visitors nearly one in every six Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs). On average, about 4,944 US FTAs per day were registered in India. As shown in the graph, apart from the USA and Bangladesh, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada were consistently among the top five FTA countries. The analysis also shows that in the top five countries, only Bangladesh is yet to surpass the pre-COVID numbers. Over 25.77 lakh Bangladeshis arrived in India in 2019. This has dropped to 17.50 lakh in 2024. On the other hand, the numbers for the USA have increased from 15.12 lakh to 18.04 lakh. For the UK, the increase is marginal of just 22,295. For Australia (from 3.67 lakh to 5.18 lakh) and Canada (from 3.51 lakh to 4.76 lakh), the FTAs were higher in 2024 than 2019. Tourist Recovery Almost at Pre-COVID Levels Showing a consistent growth since 2022, Indias tourism sector marked a robust recovery in 2024, with nearly one crore foreign tourist arrivals, although it has not crossed the 2019 figure of over 1.09 crore arrivals. Gujarat, Bengal, Rajasthan Lead State Recovery The data suggests that although more foreign tourists are coming to India, their travel within the country hasnt fully bounced back. Maharashtra, which is the leading state for foreign tourist visits (FTVs), is yet to touch the 2019 levels, as shown in the graph. FTAs is the number of foreign visitors arriving in India, FTVs is the total visits to various states/UTs by foreign tourists. As a single tourist may visit multiple states during their trip, the total number of FTVs is typically much higher than FTAs. Among the states, Gujarat, West Bengal, and Rajasthan have surpassed the FTVs in 2024 beyond the 2019 levels. In Gujarat, the FTVs increased from 5.95 lakh in 2019 to 22.74 lakh in 2024. For West Bengal, the increase was from 16.56 lakh to 31.24 lakh. For Rajasthan, the increase is from 16.05 lakh to 20.72 lakh, the analysis shows. Apart from Gujarat, West Bengal, and Rajasthan, only a few states have seen an increase in FTVs in 2024 when compared to 2019 Uttarakhand, Jammu & Kashmir, Mizoram, Ladakh, Assam, Lakshadweep and Nagaland. 1 in 4 Indian tourists visited UAE in 2024 While this was about those visiting India, for Indians, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and USA are major outbound destinations. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) remained the top choice for Indian outbound tourists in 2024, with one in every four visiting the country. The number rose from 63.85 lakh in 2019 to 77.87 lakh in 2024, as shown in the graph. Neighbours Arrival While the overall foreign tourist arrivals and outbound travel patterns reveal broader global trends, examining the movement of visitors between India and its immediate neighbors has also changed in these years. Among Indias neighboring countries, the FTA only from Nepal, Maldives and Bhutan have seen increases. The FTAs from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, China, and Afghanistan have dropped in 2024 when compared to 2019. The FTAs from Pakistan decreased from 39,018 in 2019 to 26,625 in 2024. For Bangladesh, it dropped from 25.77 lakh to 17.50 lakh. FTA from Sri Lanka decreased from 3.30 lakh to 2.81 lakh in 2024. Myanmars FTAs decreased from 86,842 in 2019 to 47,588 in 2024. For China, the FTAs drop was from 3.39 lakh to 38,960 in 2024. For Afghanistan, the drop was most steep from 1.24 lakh visitors to just 1,253 FTAs. Nepal has seen an increase in FTAs from 1.64 lakh to 2.02 lakh while in Bhutan, the numbers have increased from 28,178 in 2019 to 41,265 in 2024. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all As seen in the graph, the total Indian departures to these neighboring countries in 2019 compared to 2024 declines for Afghanistan, Maldives, China and Bhutan, while it has increased for Bangladesh, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka. If the positive trends hold, 2025 may well mark the full rebound of Indias tourism industry, bringing it back in line with or beyond the record highs seen in 2019. About the Author Nivedita Singh Nivedita Singh is a data journalist and covers the Election Commission, Indian Railways and Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. She has nearly seven years of experience in the news media. She tweets @nived... Read More Nivedita Singh is a data journalist and covers the Election Commission, Indian Railways and Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. She has nearly seven years of experience in the news media. She tweets @nived... Read More First Published: August 08, 2025, 09:19 IST News india Over 26,600 Pakistanis Visited India Before 2025 Ban; US Tops Foreign Tourist Arrivals In 2024 Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... PM Modi Speaks With Putin, Vows To Deepen India-Russia Ties Amid Trump's Tariff Tirade Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 21:39 IST The Prime Minister invited President Putin to India later this year for the 23rd India-Russia Annual Summit India has defended its oil purchase from Russia, calling it a necessary measure to safeguard its national interests and economic security. . (Image: PTI/File) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on a phone call and reaffirmed their commitment to deepen India-Russia ties, days after US President Donald Trump imposed 50% tariffs on Indian goods over Russian oil purchases. PM Modi and Putin also reviewed progress in the bilateral agenda and held talks on the Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership between India and Russia. Recommended Stories President Putin briefed the PM on the latest developments concerning Ukraine. While thanking President Putin for his detailed assessment, the Prime Minister reiterated Indias consistent position for a peaceful resolution of the conflict. Had a very good and detailed conversation with my friend President Putin. I thanked him for sharing the latest developments on Ukraine. We also reviewed the progress in our bilateral agenda, and reaffirmed our commitment to further deepen the India-Russia Special and Privileged Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 8, 2025 The Prime Minister invited President Putin to India later this year for the 23rd India-Russia Annual Summit. Why Putins India Visit Is Significant In Current Scenario Of US Tariff Row? Indias National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval met Putin on Thursday. He earlier informed that Putin will visit India later this year, his first trip to New Delhi in four years. Earlier on Thursday, PM Modi received a telephone call from Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. During the call, the two leaders agreed on a framework to strengthen cooperation in trade, technology, energy, defence, agriculture, health and people-to-people ties. India-Russia Bilateral Ties Over the past decade, Indias partnership with the United States has expanded through initiatives such as the Quad. However, New Delhi continues to characterise its relationship with Moscow as a steady and time-tested partnership." India has justified its continued oil imports from Russia, stressing that the decision is essential to protect the nations economic security and strategic interests. The bond between the two countries has been shaped by key historical moments notably during the 1971 war, when the United States deployed a warship to the Indian Ocean in support of Pakistan. At the time, Russia backed India and countered Washingtons move. Bilateral engagement was further strengthened with the signing of the Declaration on the India-Russia Strategic Partnership" in October 2000 during President Vladimir Putins visit to India. Since then, cooperation has expanded across defence, security, trade, science and technology, culture, and people-to-people links. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all The Annual Summit between the Indian Prime Minister and the Russian President represents the highest level of institutional dialogue, with 21 such meetings held to date. The two nations also work in close coordination at global forums, including the UN, G20, BRICS, and the SCO. Economic and trade relations have seen significant growth, exceeding the earlier 2025 target of $30 billion. Both governments have now set a new goal of achieving $50 billion in bilateral investment. About the Author Saurabh Verma Saurabh Verma covers general, national and international day-to-day news for News18.com as a Senior Sub-editor. He keenly observes politics. You can follow him on Twitter --twitter.com/saurabhkverma19 Saurabh Verma covers general, national and international day-to-day news for News18.com as a Senior Sub-editor. He keenly observes politics. You can follow him on Twitter --twitter.com/saurabhkverma19 First Published: August 08, 2025, 18:32 IST News india PM Modi Speaks With Putin, Vows To Deepen India-Russia Ties Amid Trump's Tariff Tirade Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... PM Modis Defiant Diplomacy For Trump: Backing Farmers, Rallying Friends, Silence As Strategy Reported By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 09:33 IST India knows Trump is unpredictable and prone to U-turns, and believes that playing the waiting game is the best diplomatic option Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump. (AP Photo) When dealing with a bully, disengage from him, even if he is spoiling for a fight. Instead, assure your constituency that you will stand up for them, rally your friends, and let that be your message. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi appears to be doing exactly this in his dealings with US President Donald Trump. After Trump announced 50 per cent tariffs on India late on Wednesday evening, PM Modi did not pick up the phone to call him. Instead, he spent over an hour on a call on Thursday with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, discussing how both countries were facing the steepest 50 per cent tariffs from the US and how they should align forces. Earlier on Thursday, Modi said in an event that he would not compromise on the interests of Indian farmers, even if he had to pay a heavy price" for it. This was his message to Trumps intimidating tactics. Recommended Stories Trump, fuming over Indias economic ties with Russia, imposed an additional 25 per cent tariff on Wednesday. Yet Modis key aide, National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, landed in Russia the same day. In a statement laced with defiance towards US pressure, Doval announced in Moscow on Thursday that the dates for Russian President Vladimir Putins visit to India were almost finalised now". Later this month, Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar will also be in Moscow. On 1 September, Modi is scheduled to be in Beijing for the SCO summit, where he could hold bilaterals with both Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping. All this is bound to infuriate Trump further. On Thursday night, the US President said that trade deal negotiations with India would not continue until the pressing issue of its Russian oil purchases was resolved. But Modi has chosen to stand up to the bully who wants India to sign a lop-sided trade deal, senior government sources told CNN-News18. Trump is upset over the stalled trade talks, with India refusing to proceed as the US demands unfettered access to Indias agriculture, dairy, and fisheries sectors. By rejecting these demands, Modi is signalling to Indian farmers that he is their real messiah", seeking to put behind him the memories of 2020, when protests erupted over the three proposed farm laws. He rolled back those laws in 2021, and his government also provides annual assistance of Rs 6,000 each to lakhs of farmers across the country through the PM-Kisan Nidhi scheme, in addition to crop insurance. But by standing up to the US for the interests of farmers, the prime minister is making his biggest outreach to them. Modi and Trump have spoken on the phone just twice in the past 100 days once immediately after the 22 April Pahalgam attack, and again in June when Trump called while Modi was in Canada. On the latter occasion, Modi bluntly dismissed Trumps false claims that he had brokered an IndiaPakistan ceasefire during Operation Sindoor. The prime minister told Parliament last month that no world leader had prevailed upon India to pause Operation Sindoor, a remark that appears to have further angered Trump. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all For now, Modi is expected to play it cool and rally friends to form a common front against US tactics. India has already issued an official statement describing US actions as extremely unfortunate, unfair, unjustified and unreasonable" the strongest language it has used against Washington in decades. India knows Trump is unpredictable and prone to U-turns, and believes that playing the waiting game is the best diplomatic option. If a TrumpPutin meeting takes place soon, as expected, and the RussiaUkraine war is resolved, Trumps antagonism towards India may evaporate overnight. After all, it was Washington that first encouraged India to buy Russian oil, and the US itself continues to import materials such as uranium from Russia. A trade deal with the US will be signed by India only if it is in the national interest", and without sacrificing Indian farmers. Until then, PM Modi will go about his business as usual, sending his own messages, such as meeting a group of farmers from Tamil Nadu in Parliament on Thursday. About the Author Aman Sharma Aman Sharma, Executive Editor - National Affairs at CNN-News18, and Bureau Chief at News18 in Delhi, has over two decades of experience in covering the wide spectrum of politics and the Prime Ministers Office.... Read More Aman Sharma, Executive Editor - National Affairs at CNN-News18, and Bureau Chief at News18 in Delhi, has over two decades of experience in covering the wide spectrum of politics and the Prime Ministers Office.... Read More First Published: August 08, 2025, 08:32 IST News india PM Modis Defiant Diplomacy For Trump: Backing Farmers, Rallying Friends, Silence As Strategy Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... Poll Body Terms Voter Card Shown By Tejashwi Yadav Fake, Asks Him To Submit It By August 16 Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 22:00 IST The Election Commission of India claims Tejashwi Yadav's voter ID shown at a press conference is fake, demanding its submission by August 16. Former Bihar Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav (Credits: PTI) The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday claimed that the Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC) shown by Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Tejashwi Yadav to the media during the press conference was apparently fake" and served a notice to him to submit the voter card by August 16. A fresh letter was issued to the Leader of the Opposition in the Bihar assembly by the Sub-Divisional Magistrate Patna (Sadar) cum Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) for Digha assembly constituency in this regard. Recommended Stories In the notice, the ERO said that a perusal of the voters list for the past several years has led to the conclusion that the EC had never issued the voter card with the EPIC number quoted by Yadav. Bihar | Election Officer, Patna writes to RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav It seems that the EPIC displayed by you during a press conference is fake. Making and using false government documents is a legal offence. You are requested to submit the seemingly false EPIC at our office pic.twitter.com/uFajUrLgE4 ANI (@ANI) August 8, 2025 It appears that the aforementioned EPIC card is fake. Forging and using a bogus government document in the eyes of the law is a crime. You are once again requested to surrender your apparently fake EPIC card by 16/08/2025 till 5 pm," the letter read. It further warned the former Bihar Deputy Chief Minister that creating or using forged government documents is an offence. Whats The Row? The poll body officials notice came days after Yadav had alleged that his name was missing from the draft electoral rolls that were published on August 1. He claimed that his EPIC bearing the number RAB2916120 shown no records found." However, the claim was rejected by the District Administration in Patna and the ECI furnished the extract of the draft roll where his name was present. The poll body showed his name listed at serial number 416 of polling station number 204 located in the Library Building of Bihar Animal Science University with a different EPIC number, RAB0456228. The ECI also shared Yadavs affidavit, in which RAB0456228 was used for filing his nomination papers in the 2020 Assembly polls. He was listed with this EPIC number in the 2015 electoral roll as well. Later, Yadav admitted that he did have the voter ID card with the EPIC number quoted by the officials, but sought to blame them for the issuance of two EPIC cards in his favour. He demanded accountability from the ECI over two voter IDs being issued to him. If two EPIC numbers were issues, who is at fault? And they ask explanation from me," he had said. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Earlier, Patna electoral registration officer (ERO) had asked Yadav to furnish details of the EPIC card he referred to during his August 2 press conference, setting an August 8 afternoon deadline for the information to aid further investigation. (With inputs from agencies) About the Author Shobhit Gupta Shobhit Gupta is a sub-editor at News18.com and covers India and International news. He is interested in day to day political affairs in India and geopolitics. He earned his BA Journalism (Hons) degree from Ben... Read More Shobhit Gupta is a sub-editor at News18.com and covers India and International news. He is interested in day to day political affairs in India and geopolitics. He earned his BA Journalism (Hons) degree from Ben... Read More First Published: August 08, 2025, 22:00 IST News india Poll Body Terms Voter Card Shown By Tejashwi Yadav Fake, Asks Him To Submit It By August 16 Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... Shashi Tharoor On Tariffs: 'Trump Has Picked The Wrong People To Insult' | Interview Reported By : News18.com Edited By: Shobhit Gupta Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 18:17 IST Shashi Tharoor said that the US Presidents negotiation style is very idiotic as there are no other world leaders who, say such undiplomatic things as Donald Trump. Follow us on: Congress MP Shashi Tharoor (Image: PTI/File) Senior Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Friday said that US President Donald Trumps double standards" on levying tariffs on India are unpleasant, unfair, uneven, and unjust with New Delhi. In an exclusive conversation with CNN-News18, the Congress MP said that the US Presidents negotiation style is very idiotic as he insults another country. He said that there are no other world leaders who, in a public diplomatic statement, say such undiplomatic things as Trump. Recommended Stories Tharoor also said that Trump has picked the wrong people to insult. He said that India, in a way, has responded to Washington by reportedly halting the arms purchase deal. India, at this stage, must know where it stands. We should negotiate as a proud country, as we cannot accept a situation where one side decides the terms and the other side is expected to comply. The Thiruvananthapuram MP further said that there might be a miscalculation on New Delhis part while negotiating a trade deal, but it is not the end of the story yet until the negotiation fails on August 27. #TrumpTariff | It looks like there have been a miscalculation on our part but I think its also not the end of the story yet : @ShashiTharoor, Congress MP in an exclusive conversation with News18 on #TrumpTariff on India@_pallavighosh | #IndiaUSTrade #TrumpTariffs #PMModi pic.twitter.com/0lQ5zv7wQf News18 (@CNNnews18) August 8, 2025 I dont know that our miscalculation or Trumps negotiating zeal has gone further than his own government. We will find out this very soon. He said that the negotiation on the trade deal and tariffs is not taking place on Trumps level as he is not himself sitting on the negotiation table. He is making these noises and putting pressure on India," Tharoor said. He also pointed out Trumps use of belittling" language at India, saying that New Delhi is allergic to behaving and talking like the way Trump does as our" self respect matters to us Tharoor also slammed the US double standard on giving a 90-day negotiating window to China on tariffs, while offering nothing to India. There are double standards and hypocrisy at every stage. China has a 90-day window, which we dont have. The EU is getting more window. There is something very unpleasant, unfair, uneven, and unjust that has happened with India," he said. The Chinese buy far more oil and gas from Russia, and other items too, than we do. But theyve been given a 90-day negotiating window, while we have only 21 days. So, from August 27, if our negotiations fail, our goods in the US will be subject to a 50 per cent tariff, while Chinese goods come in at 30 per cent," he said. The Thiruvananthapuram MP also called out Washington for purchasing uranium from Russia, but accused India of helping Moscow in the Ukraine war by purchasing oil. The US is buying fertilisers worth billions of dollars from Russia, then how can Trump claim our money is fuelling the Russian war machine in Ukraine. What logic is this?" he said. We have already explained that what we do is in our national interest, as in the case of buying the Russian oil, but we also do it in terms of global realities, which the global market offers," he said, adding. Buying Russian oil is a necessity for us, much like the US buying the Russian Uranium." He also warned that India should take Trump seriously" as after August 27, Indian goods would become costlier than other countries in the US and no American will buy Indian goods. We dont have to take Trump literally, but have to take him seriously because after August 27, our goods would be costlier than other countries, and no American will buy our goods," he said. Tharoor said that India should now look for other trading partners like the UK and, UAE for Indian products. The Congress MP also responded to the US Presidents repeated claims of brokering a ceasefire deal between India and Pakistan during Operation Sindoor, saying that Trump might have pressured the Pakistani PM for the ceasefire. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Trump could have said this frankly, that he never called us and we never called him. I dont think PM Modi was wrong in laying out the facts. Its possible that Trump migh have called Pakistan and pressured them for ceasefire. Tharoor strongly asserted that the military conflict only ended when India blasted 11 Pakistan air bases, and the next morning, Pakistan called the Indian side and requested to end this. About the Author Pallavi Ghosh Pallavi Ghosh has covered politics and Parliament for 15 years, and has reported extensively on Congress, UPA-I and UPA-II, and has now included the Finance Ministry and Niti Aayog in her reportage. She has als... Read More Pallavi Ghosh has covered politics and Parliament for 15 years, and has reported extensively on Congress, UPA-I and UPA-II, and has now included the Finance Ministry and Niti Aayog in her reportage. She has als... Read More view comments First Published: August 08, 2025, 18:17 IST News india Shashi Tharoor On Tariffs: 'Trump Has Picked The Wrong People To Insult' | Interview Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Information about the conditions of possible agreements between Ukraine and the Russian Federation, which is being disseminated in the media, does not correspond to reality, said head of the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) Andriy Kovalenko. "I will say once again, information about various plans and agreements with conditions, which appears in various media, is fiction. Not a single media outlet has any plans, because a completely different process is underway," Kovalenko wrote on the Telegram channel. Supreme Court Recalls Observation Against Allahabad HC Judge After CJI's Request Curated By : Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 13:11 IST The Supreme Court removed its observsation of Allahabad HC judge Prashant Kumar for allowing criminal proceedings in a civil dispute, clarifying it did not intend to embarrass him. File Photo of Supreme Court of India. (PTI) The Supreme Court on August 4 barred Allahabad High Court Justice Prashant Kumar from taking up criminal matters. However, in a rare event, the top court revoked its observation after Chief Justice of India (CJI) BR Gavais request to reconsider. The Bench of Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice R Mahadevan decided to recall the directions. They emphasised that remarks were meant to uphold the judiciarys dignity. Recommended Stories Recognizing that the Chief Justice of the high court is the master of the roster, the Supreme Court left the decision to him. Since a request has been made by the CJI, we hereby delete paras 25 and 26 from our 4th August order. While we delete it, we leave it to the Chief Justice of the High Court to now look into the matter. We fully acknowledge that the Chief Justice of the HC is the master of the roster. The directions are absolutely not interfering with the administrative power of the Chief Justice of the High Court. When matters affect the rule of law, this Court will be compelled to take corrective steps," the Bench was quoted by the Bar and Bench as saying. In an unprecedented order on August 4, Justices Pardiwala and Mahadevan removed criminal matters from Judge Kumars roster till he demits office" after he erroneously" upheld criminal summons in a civil dispute. A group of Allahabad High Court judges had requested Chief Justice Arun Bhansali to convene a full court meeting in response to the Supreme Courts order to remove Judge Kumar from the criminal roster. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all The letter, written by Justice Arindam Sinha and signed by seven judges, expressed pain over the Supreme Courts August 4 order. In its order, the Supreme Court made strong remarks against Judge Kumars judicial reasoning and directed the high court administration to remove him from the criminal roster. It also instructed that he be assigned to a division bench alongside a senior judge until his retirement. About the Author News Desk The News Desk is a team of passionate editors and writers who break and analyse the most important events unfolding in India and abroad. From live updates to exclusive reports to in-depth explainers, the Desk d... Read More The News Desk is a team of passionate editors and writers who break and analyse the most important events unfolding in India and abroad. From live updates to exclusive reports to in-depth explainers, the Desk d... Read More First Published: August 08, 2025, 13:11 IST News india Supreme Court Recalls Observation Against Allahabad HC Judge After CJI's Request Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... Tensions In Odisha Village After Religious Conversion Allegations; Priests, Nuns Claim Assault Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 12:56 IST Some priests and nuns, who had travelled to the village to conduct a memorial service for a man who died a year ago, were allegedly attacked on their way back. Priests and nun allege assault in Odisha (AI-generated image) Tensions flared up in the Gangadhar village in Odishas Jaleswar following allegations of a religious conversion bid, prompting the police to detain some individuals, officials said on Friday. Some priests and nuns, who had travelled to the village to conduct a memorial service for a man who died a year ago, were allegedly attacked on their way back at around 5 pm on Wednesday. Recommended Stories On Wednesday evening, two priests, two nuns, and a few mission workers had arrived at the church under the Gangadhar Mission to offer the evening mass for the deceased. While they were returning after the service, about 70 Bajrang Dal workers stopped the priests and their assistant on the way and brutally beat them up," a statement from the Syro Malabar church alleged. The police said that the locals suspected a religious conversion bid. The Basta Police questioned the priest from the Jaleshwar Church, who said that they had been invited to pray at a death anniversary ceremony. Following inquiries and investigation, the police took the details of everyone involved and later released them," an official said. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all An Additional SP rank officer will investigate the incident. Residents alleged that similar cases have occurred in the past; however, the administration has failed to act. The church has claimed that Father Lijo Nirappel and Father V Jojo were injured in the alleged attack by the Bajrang Dal. About the Author News Desk The News Desk is a team of passionate editors and writers who break and analyse the most important events unfolding in India and abroad. From live updates to exclusive reports to in-depth explainers, the Desk d... Read More The News Desk is a team of passionate editors and writers who break and analyse the most important events unfolding in India and abroad. From live updates to exclusive reports to in-depth explainers, the Desk d... Read More Location : Odisha (Orissa), India, India First Published: August 08, 2025, 12:55 IST News india Tensions In Odisha Village After Religious Conversion Allegations; Priests, Nuns Claim Assault Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... The Fight Will Go On: A Year After Abhayas Rape-Murder At RG Kar, Parents To Hold March Tomorrow Reported By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 15:41 IST Abhaya's parents have called for a massive protest march to the West Bengal State Secretariat, Nabanna, on August 9 to demand answers from the government RG Kar Case | File Image/PTI One year after the tragic death of 26-year-old Abhaya at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, her grieving parents continue their relentless fight for justice. In an emotional conversation with News18, they said they are determined to hold the state accountable and have now called for a massive protest march to the West Bengal State Secretariat, Nabanna, on August 9, to demand answers from the government. Recommended Stories Abhaya, a junior doctor, last spoke to her parents on August 8, 2024, saying her schedule was hectic. The next call they received was a distressing one from the hospitalinitially stating she was ill, but later communicating that she had allegedly taken her own life. Since then, we have been fighting. Now we have called for the Nabanna Abhijan (Secretariat March) ourselves," said Abhayas father, with tears in his eyes. Our daughter was under the States protection. The investigation was led by the Chief Minister herself at the time, along with senior health officials. From the start, they tried to cover up the case. Mamata Banerjee must answer for this." Responding to allegations by Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Kunal Ghosh that political motives are behind their protest, Abhayas father lashed out: He even sends me private messages. We have invited everyone across political lines to join the protest. Even TMC members who truly feel for Abhaya are welcome to be part of this movement." When asked whether they believe justice has been served, both parents categorically denied it. There has been no proper investigation," said her father. The CBI arrested Sandip Ghosh and an officer-in-charge for evidence tampering, but they failed to file a supplementary chargesheet. Why? We dont believe only one person was involved in this crime. Theres a larger nexus that has been protected." Her mother, too, expressed her anguish: Was Abhaya without a guardian? From the very beginning, the State tried to suppress the truth. But we wont stop. Our fight will go on." Questioned about the CBIs findings that implicated accused Sanjay Roy, she added, We met CBI officials in Delhi. They have told us they are planning to close the case. Weve told them to say that in court, not to us. What kind of agency gives up on justice? This is unacceptable." As the family marks one painful year since Abhayas death, they remain resolute. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Our daughter had given us everything and asked for nothing. She was our strength," said her father. She never compromised on principles, and neither will we. Well continue this fightnot just for Abhaya, but for every daughter failed by the system." With heavy hearts but unwavering determination, Abhayas parents are preparing to lead the Nabanna Abhijan, seeking answers, punishment for the guilty, and a promise that no other family will face such betrayal. About the Author Kamalika Sengupta Kamalika Sengupta is the Editor (East) at CNN-News18 / News18.com, focusing on politics, defence, and womens issues. She is a seasoned multimedia journalist with over 20 years of experience reporting from East... Read More Kamalika Sengupta is the Editor (East) at CNN-News18 / News18.com, focusing on politics, defence, and womens issues. She is a seasoned multimedia journalist with over 20 years of experience reporting from East... Read More First Published: August 08, 2025, 15:37 IST News india The Fight Will Go On: A Year After Abhayas Rape-Murder At RG Kar, Parents To Hold March Tomorrow Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... Tourist Arrivals In India Peak: Where Are They Coming From & How Much Are They Spending? Reported By : CNN-News18 Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 07:00 IST As per the World Travel and Tourism Council, India hosted a record 20 million international visitors in 2024 Follow us on: Foreign tourist arrivals from the US, Bangladesh, the UK, Australia, and Canada accounted for the top 5 in 2024, while Germany, France, Singapore, Nepal, Japan, South Korea, Italy, and Thailand accounted for some of the other major countries. Representational image Foreign tourist arrivals in India are soaring. As per the World Travel and Tourism Council, India hosted a record 20 million international visitors in 2024. International Tourist Arrivals (ITAs) had already reached 18.89 million in 2023, surpassing the pre-Covid peak of 17.91 million in 2019 and thus exceeding pre-pandemic levels, registering a growth of 5.47% over 2019. Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) in India have grown significantly over the decades, reaching 10.93 million in 2019 before the pandemic caused a decline. With recovery underway, 9.52 million FTAs were recorded in 2023, achieving 87.09% of pre-pandemic levels with a 47.89% increase from 2022, which saw 6.44 million FTAs. Winter in India emerged as a particularly attractive time to visit: travel peaked at 1.10 million arrivals in December 2023. Recommended Stories And its not just Goa or Rajasthan; even the Andaman and Nicobar Islands witnessed a staggering surge in foreign tourist footfall: in 2024, the islands tourism sector recorded a 27% rise compared to 2023. Source nations Foreign tourist arrivals from the US, Bangladesh, the UK, Australia, and Canada accounted for the top 5 in 2024, while Germany, France, Singapore, Nepal, Japan, South Korea, Italy, and Thailand accounted for some of the other major countries. The US alone accounted for 18,04,586 tourists in 2024, as per PIB data. The numbers have continued a trend of increasing tourist footfall. In 2023, South Asia contributed the largest share of FTAs (29.02%), followed by North America (21.82%) and Western Europe (20.40%). Germany, France, Australia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Canada, the UK, and the US made up the top 10 source markets, accounting for 70.06% of total FTAs. Spending Foreign Exchange Earnings (FEE) from tourism grew by 31.5% from US$21.360 billion in 2022 to US$28.077 billion in 2023, while the average spending by a foreign tourist in India stood at Rs 2.90 lakh, according to the latest available figures. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Even though Agra and Varanasi remain favourite destinations of international tourists, the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya and the Buddhist circuit in Uttar Pradesh draw a number of foreign visitors. view comments First Published: August 08, 2025, 07:00 IST News india Tourist Arrivals In India Peak: Where Are They Coming From & How Much Are They Spending? Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy President Of Peace Trump Got Directly Involved To End India-Pakistan Conflict: Marco Rubio Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 15:38 IST US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, "...When India and Pakistan went to war, we got involved directly, and the president was able to deliver on that peace," Rubio said. Follow us on: Marco Rubio also listed other conflicts that President Trump (left) has supposedly helped resolve. (AP File) The United States got directly involved" in the India and Pakistan military conflict in May, claimed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, reiterating US President Donald Trumps repeated claims that he stopped the war between the two countries. During an interview to EWTNs The World Over on Thursday, Rubio said that Trump is committed to peace and being the president of peace". And so, we saw when India and Pakistan went to war, we got involved directly, and the president was able to deliver on that peace," Rubio said. Recommended Stories Listing other conflicts that Trump supposedly helped resolve, Rubio said, Cambodia and Thailand more recently; Azerbaijan and Armenia, hopefullyDRC (Democratic Republic of Congo)-Rwanda a 30-year war, 7 million people killed we were able to bring them here to sign it." He added the US is looking for more obviously, the big one being in Ukraine and Russia". No pressure, no world asked to stop: The India-Pakistan conflict In response to the April 22 Pahalgam attack, India launched Operation Sindoor against Pakistan, destroying its terror bases. While Trump was the first to announce the ceasefire, India has repeatedly maintained that it agreed to pause the operation after being approached by Pakistan. No leader in the world asked India to stop Operation Sindoor," said Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the special discussion on Operation Sindoor in the Lok Sabha on July 29. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on July 28 told the House that no telephonic conversation was held between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump from April 22 to June 17. India stopped the operation because all the political and military objectives were achieved beforehand. Therefore, to say that the operation was halted due to any pressure is completely wrong," said Defence Minister Rajnath Singh. He said the decision was taken after a request from Pakistans Director General of Military Operations (DGMO), who pleaded for relief". Trump punishing India for not giving him credit? Trump on Wednesday announced an additional 25 per cent tariffs on Indian exports, taking the total tariff burden to 50 per cent. Michael Kugelman, director of the South Asia Institute at the US-based Wilson Center, explained to news agency ANI what he thought was the rationale behind the move. #WATCH | Washington DC | On US President Trump announcing a 25% extra tariff on India, Director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center, Michael Kugelman says, Unfortunately, given just how the relationship has been developing in recent days, this new announcement is pic.twitter.com/7WbWqQz9Le ANI (@ANI) August 7, 2025 China has not stood out there and refused to let President Trump take credit for his role in the ceasefire. China has not had its leader have a long conversation with Trump on the phone and essentially dictate to him whats right and whats wrong. These are things that happened with India," he said. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all The imposition of an additional 25 per cent duty on India is a national security issue" associated with New Delhis abject refusal to stop buying Russian oil", White House Trade Adviser Peter Navarro said. You start with the fact that India is the maharaja of tariffs, its the highest tariffs in the world charging on American products and its got a high non-tariff barrier so we cant get our products inThe US sends a lot of dollars overseas to India to buy their products in an unfair trade environment. India then uses American dollars to buy Russian oil. Russia then uses those American dollars that come from India to finance its armaments, to kill Ukrainians, and American taxpayers are then called upon to pay for the weapons that have to defend Ukraine against Russian armaments paid for by American dollars that came from India," Navarro said, adding, It has got to stop. That math does not work. The president understands the connection between economic security and national security so that was the bottom line there." Responding to the tariffs, the Ministry of External Affairs has said that the targeting of India for buying Russian oil is unjustified and unreasonable". Like any major economy, India will take all necessary measures to safeguard its national interests and economic security," it said. About the Author News Desk The News Desk is a team of passionate editors and writers who break and analyse the most important events unfolding in India and abroad. From live updates to exclusive reports to in-depth explainers, the Desk d... Read More The News Desk is a team of passionate editors and writers who break and analyse the most important events unfolding in India and abroad. From live updates to exclusive reports to in-depth explainers, the Desk d... Read More view comments First Published: August 08, 2025, 13:51 IST News india President Of Peace Trump Got Directly Involved To End India-Pakistan Conflict: Marco Rubio Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Uddhav Thackeray Spoke To Rahul Gandhi About Possibility Of Alliance With Rajs MNS: Sources Reported By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 16:05 IST The topic of Raj Thackeray was brought up. Uddhav Thackeray wanted Rahul Gandhi to understand the political pulse on ground, said a senior leader Uddhav Thackeray had meetings with Rahul Gandhi, Sharad Pawar and Supriya Sule; (right) Uddhav with Raj Thackeray. (PTI File) Shiv Sena (UBT) chief and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackerays recent Delhi visit may turn out to be politically significant, not just for the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc, but for Maharashtras rapidly changing political landscape. Sources have revealed that during a one-on-one meeting with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on August 7, Uddhav raised the possibility of an understanding with Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), led by his cousin, Raj Thackeray. Recommended Stories The closed-door conversation between Uddhav and Rahul Gandhi lasted for nearly 30 minutes. While alliance strategies were the broader agenda, sources indicate that Uddhav specifically discussed the potential implications and benefits of a possible alliance or understanding with MNS in certain pockets of Maharashtra, particularly Mumbai and Thane. The topic of Raj Thackeray was brought up. Uddhav Thackeray wanted Rahul Gandhi to understand the political pulse on ground. The idea isnt formal, but its clearly under consideration," said a senior leader familiar with the meeting. This development comes amid growing speculation about a thaw between the Thackeray cousins. In a recent interview published in Saamana, Shiv Sena (UBT)s mouthpiece, Uddhav hinted at being open to reuniting with Raj, saying that both brothers coming together would fulfill Maharashtras dream. If someone has a problem with that, its their stomach ache to deal with," he had said candidly. However, the question remains how would such a move affect the dynamics of the MVA (Mahavikas Aghadi)? Uddhav seemed unfazed. Mumbai cannot be politically separated from Maharashtra. Every party has its own space in local bodies. We will make decisions based on whats politically appropriate for each region," he said. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all The meeting with Gandhi was followed by another high-level discussion that included Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leaders Sharad Pawar and Supriya Sule, indicating that alliance math is under active review at the top level. While there is no official word on whether the Congress or NCP is ready to accommodate the MNS within the broader opposition fold, Uddhavs willingness to talk about it with key INDIA bloc partners shows that serious political recalibration could be underway one where family ties and strategic realities may finally meet. About the Author Mayuresh Ganapatye Mayuresh Ganapatye, News Editor at News18.com, writes on politics and civic issues, as well as human interests stories. He has been covering Maharashtra and Goa for more than a decade. Follow him at @mayuganapa... Read More Mayuresh Ganapatye, News Editor at News18.com, writes on politics and civic issues, as well as human interests stories. He has been covering Maharashtra and Goa for more than a decade. Follow him at @mayuganapa... Read More First Published: August 08, 2025, 16:04 IST News india Uddhav Thackeray Spoke To Rahul Gandhi About Possibility Of Alliance With Rajs MNS: Sources Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... Youre Krishna For Me: Rescued Woman Tears 'Dupatta' To Tie Rakhi To Uttarakhand CM Dhami | Watch Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 21:13 IST A rescued pilgrim tied a rakhi made from her saree on Uttarakhand CM's wrist at Harsil helipad, thanking him for his care during the Dharali disaster. Dhangauri Barauliya, a resident of Ishanpur in Ahmedabad, tied the Rakhi to CM Dhami. (ANI) An emotional moment unfolded in Uttarkhands Uttarkashi on Friday when a rescued woman pilgrim tore a part of her dupatta" and tied it like a rakhi on Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhamis wrist to thank him for taking such good care of the stranded yatris. The incident took place at Harsil helipad when the woman, identified as Dhangauri Barauliya, a resident of Ishanpur in Ahmedabad, went over to Dhami to express her gratitude for being looked after so well by the state government. Recommended Stories Touched by her warm gesture, Dhami bowed to her with folded hands, saying it was a very "special blessing" for him. VIDEO | Dharali: A woman from Gujarat ties a rakhi made from a piece of her dupatta to Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami (@pushkardhami) after being rescued.(Full video available on PTI Videos https://t.co/n147TvqRQz)#Uttarakhand #Dharali pic.twitter.com/8Xb8zISUJ6 Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) August 8, 2025 Barauliya had come to Uttarakhand with her family for a pilgrimage to Gangotri. On August 5, a severe natural disaster struck Dharali, leaving them stranded. Landslides and heavy debris flow blocked all access routes, creating an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty. Soon, immediate relief and rescue operations were launched. The Chief Minister has been personally present in the region for the past three days, overseeing ground-level operations. Rescuers worked tirelessly to evacuate Dhangauri and her family to safety. For the first time since the calamity struck, those trapped allowed relief to replace the terror in their eyes. During the on-ground inspection of the affected areas by Dhami, Dhangauri approached the CM in tears and tore the border of her dupatta and tied it around Dhamis wrist as a rakhi. While tying the rakhi, she said, as ANI quoted, For me, you are like Lord Krishna protecting not just me, but all the mothers and sisters here like a true brother. You have been with us for three days, ensuring our safety and looking after our needs." #WATCH | Uttarkashi | On Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhamis arrival at Harsil, a woman tourist from Gujarat tore a part of her dupatta and tied a Rakhi on the CMs wrist, as a token of thanks and appreciation for his governments disaster relief operations. pic.twitter.com/Zm3zVpXfVq ANI (@ANI) August 8, 2025 Officials said many pilgrims from Gujarat had to return to Gangotri after the flashflood hit Dharali on Tuesday. They were put up at hotels and other lodging facilities there and taken good care of, the officials said, adding that they began to be evacuated in helicopters to Matli and Harsil when the weather improved on Tuesday. So far, 650 pilgrims have been evacuated since Tuesday, when torrents of mud swallowed homes, hotels and cars. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Officials have said four people were killed in the flash floods. Two bodies were recovered on Wednesday. The Uttarakhand State Disaster Management Authority (USDMA) said 16 people, including nine Army personnel and seven civilians, are missing. (With inputs from agencies) About the Author Shobhit Gupta Shobhit Gupta is a sub-editor at News18.com and covers India and International news. He is interested in day to day political affairs in India and geopolitics. He earned his BA Journalism (Hons) degree from Ben... Read More Shobhit Gupta is a sub-editor at News18.com and covers India and International news. He is interested in day to day political affairs in India and geopolitics. He earned his BA Journalism (Hons) degree from Ben... Read More Location : Uttarkashi, India, India First Published: August 08, 2025, 21:13 IST News india Youre Krishna For Me: Rescued Woman Tears 'Dupatta' To Tie Rakhi To Uttarakhand CM Dhami | Watch Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... 8 Irresistible Raksha Bandhan Dessert Recipes To Mark The Bond Of Love Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 14:27 IST Add a sweet touch to your Raksha Bandhan 2025 celebrations with these decadent dessert recipes. These treats will add a festive touch to your celebrations. Raksha Bandhan is more than a thread on the wrist its a promise of love, protection, and countless shared memories. And what better way to honour that bond than with festive sweets that carry both tradition and innovation? From the earthy comfort of Moong Dal Gulab Jamun to the royal nostalgia of Shahi Tukra, from floral-infused Barfi Rolls to healthy indulgences with Dry Fruit Ladoos, these creations by celebrated chefs bring you a medley of flavours perfect for the occasion. Recommended Stories Whether youre cooking for your sibling or planning a dessert spread for the whole family, these Raksha Bandhan special recipes will fill your home with the aroma of celebration. 1. Moong Dal Gulab Jamun By Executive Chef Arun Kumar, Signature Festive Desserts Araiya Palampur Ingredients (Makes 1214 pieces) Yellow Moong Dal 100 g Khoya (mawa) cup, crumbled All-purpose flour (maida) 20 g Baking soda a pinch Green cardamom powder tsp Ghee for deep frying For Sugar Syrup Sugar 300 g Water 150 ml Saffron strands a few Rose water 1 tsp Cardamom 3, lightly crushed Method 1. Prepare Dal Mixture Soak moong dal 34 hrs, grind to a paste. Mix with khoya, maida, baking soda, and cardamom. Rest 1520 mins. 2. Sugar Syrup Boil sugar, water, saffron, and cardamom. Simmer till sticky. Add rose water. 3. Shape & Fry Make smooth balls, fry on lowmedium flame till golden. Soak in syrup 12 hrs. 2. Vanilla-Scented Shahi Tukra Executive Chef Arun Kumar, Signature Festive Desserts Araiya Palampur Ingredients (Serves 4) White bread slices 4 (edges removed) Ghee 23 tbsp Full-fat milk 500 ml Condensed milk 2 tbsp Sugar 2 tbsp Fresh cream 100 ml Vanilla bean 1 small (or tsp extract) Saffron a few strands Cardamom powder tsp Chopped pistachios & rose petals for garnish Method 1. Fry bread triangles in ghee till golden. 2. For rabri, simmer milk with condensed milk, cream, sugar, saffron, cardamom, and vanilla till reduced by . 3. Place bread on a plate, pour warm rabri, and garnish. 3. Gulab Infused Barfi Roll By Executive Chef Arun Kumar, Signature Festive Desserts Araiya Palampur Ingredients (Serves 6) Barfi Milk 250 ml, Khoya 500 g Filling Khoya 500 g, Sugar 3 tbsp, Rose water 1 tsp, Edible rose petals, Cardamom tsp, Slivered nuts Method 1. Reduce milk and khoya to form a barfi dough. Shape into rolls. 2. For filling, reduce milk, add sugar, cardamom, rose water, nuts, and petals. 3. Fill barfi rolls, chill, and garnish. 4. Raseeli Basundi By Executive Chef Arun Kumar, Signature Festive Desserts Araiya Palampur Ingredients (6 portions) For Basundi Milk 2 L Condensed milk 150 ml Sugar 34 tbsp Saffron 2025 strands Cardamom tsp Pistachios 2 tbsp Almonds 1.5 tbsp Rosewater tsp For Chenna Discs Cows milk 1 L Vinegar/lemon juice 2 tbsp Sugar cup Cardamom 2 pods Water 3 cups Method 1. Make chenna, knead, shape into discs, and cook in light syrup. 2. Reduce milk with saffron to half, add condensed milk, sugar, cardamom, and nuts. 3. Chill discs in basundi, garnish with saffron and silver leaf. 5. Dry Fruit Ladoo (Sugar-Free) by Chef Deepak Gore Tata Sampann Ingredients Almonds cup Cashews cup Pistachios 1 cup Walnuts cup Cardamom 1 tsp Dates 25 Dried rose petals Ghee 10 g Method 1. Roast nuts, grind coarsely. Warm and grind dates. 2. Mix both into a sticky dough. 3. Shape ladoos, roll in powdered pistachios, and garnish with petals. 6. Dry Fruit Barfi by Chef Deepak Gore Tata Sampann Ingredients Almonds cup Cashews cup Pistachios cup Raisins cup Dates 1 cup Ghee 2 tbsp Cardamom tsp A pinch of nutmeg pinch Sesame seeds Method 1. Roast nuts in ghee, cook dates till soft, add raisins and spices. 2. Mix well, spread in a tray, top with sesame seeds, cool, and cut into pieces. 7. Pecan-Stuffed Dates by Chef Neha Deepak Shah for American Pecans Ingredients Dates 12 American Pecans 12 Paneer/chenna 100 g Stevia/honey Cardamom tsp Rose petals Silver leaf Method Roast pecans. Mix paneer with sweetener and cardamom. Stuff dates with filling, press pecan on top, garnish with petals and silver leaf. 8. No-Bake Chocolate Pecan Cheesecake By Shivesh Bhatia for American Pecans Ingredients Base Chocolate biscuits 20, Pecans cup, Butter cup Filling Cream cheese cup, Dark chocolate cup, Icing sugar 3 tbsp, Whipped cream 1 cup Garnish Pecans 3035, Melted chocolate cup top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Method Make biscuit-pecan-butter base, chill. Beat cream cheese, chocolate, sugar, and cream. Pour on base, chill 45 hrs. Top with pecans and melted chocolate. fashion, travel, News18 Lifestyle section brings you the latest on health food , wellness tips, celebrity style, travel inspiration and recipes. Also Download the News18 App to stay updated. Location : Delhi, India, India First Published: August 08, 2025, 14:27 IST News lifestyle food 8 Irresistible Raksha Bandhan Dessert Recipes To Mark The Bond Of Love Why Johnnie Walker Whisky Is The Ultimate Luxury Drink; Know Its Price In India Curated By : Translation Desk Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 10:59 IST Johnnie Walker is the worlds favourite Scotch whisky, known for its range from Red Label to the luxurious Blue Label, blending tradition, quality, and rich heritage Follow us on: The distinctive slanted label of the Johnnie Walker brand was trademarked by Alexander Walker in 1877, becoming a hallmark of the brand. (News18) Any special celebration calls for a unique drink. Often, people choose champagne or fine wine for such occasions. However, sometimes we want to gift our loved ones something that lasts beyond just one evening; something to display proudly in their home bar and enjoy over many days. For that, there is no better choice than Johnnie Walker, and when it comes with a Blue Label, it becomes truly exceptional. Recommended Stories Johnnie Walker: A Global Favourite Johnnie Walker is the worlds most beloved Scotch whisky, with millions of bottles sold each year. Yet, the finest of these is undoubtedly Johnnie Walker Blue Label. Anyone would be thrilled to receive a bottle of this exquisite Scotch, personalised with their name in a gift bag. But what makes Johnnie Walker Blue Label so special? As Master Blender Dr Emma Walker, the first woman to hold this position in the brands history, explains, Johnnie Walker Blue Label epitomises luxury, crafted using only the highest quality whisky-making skills." Johnnie Walker is a staple at restaurants, parties, and celebrations worldwide. It has marked its presence not only in the whisky market but also globally. The brand offers a range of blended whiskies catering to every taste, occasion, and budget, from the perfect cocktail mixer Red Label to the premium Blue Label, which blends old and rare whiskies. The spirit itself is as extraordinary as expected from a premium Johnnie Walker blend, a true gastronomic experience. The Red Label and Black Label remain two of the most popular blended whiskies globally. Founder And Early Years The story of Johnnie Walker began with its founder John Walker, born on July 25, 1805 at Todrigs Farm near Kilmarnock, Scotland. Following the death of his father in 1819, John sold Todrigs Farm and invested in a grocery store in Kilmarnock in 1820, aged just 14. By 1825, he had expanded his business and started working as a spirit merchant selling rum, brandy, gin, and whisky. Despite not drinking alcohol himself, John Walker sold blended whisky and single malts prepared to order. In 1850, he launched his own brand of blended malt, Walkers Kilmarnock Whisky. However, a devastating flood in 1852 destroyed his stock, nearly forcing the family business to close and significantly impacting Scotlands blended whisky industry. In 1856, Johns son Alexander Walker joined the business, forming John Walker & Sons. John Walker passed away in 1857, leaving the company to Alexander. Alexander Walkers Innovations Under Alexander Walkers management, the company became a dedicated whisky blender. In 1860, he introduced Johnnie Walkers iconic square-edged bottle for exporting Walkers Kilmarnock Whisky. The square bottle was designed to allow more bottles to be packed in the same space and reduce breakage. In 1865, Alexander prepared the Old Highland Whisky blend and registered its copyright in 1867. By this time, John Walker & Sons was selling 100,000 gallons of blended whisky annually. The distinctive slanted label of the Johnnie Walker brand was trademarked by Alexander Walker in 1877, becoming a hallmark of the brand. Expansion And Distillery Acquisitions Following Alexander Walkers death in 1889, control of the company passed to his sons, Alexander II and George P. Walker. In 1893, John Walker & Sons purchased the Cardhu distillery to secure stocks for their blends. Cardhu remains a vital ingredient in Johnnie Walker whiskies today. The brand continued its expansion by acquiring more distilleries during the 20th century, including Colburn (1915), Clynelish, Dieluain & Talisker (1916), and Mortlach (1923). The 20th Century And Brand Development The 20th century was a period of growth for John Walker & Sons. In 1906, the Old Highland blended whisky range was expanded to three versions. From 1909, the Old Highland range was renamed Johnnie Walker, with products named Red Label, Black Label, and briefly White Label. The brand gained global recognition and became a pioneer of innovation in the Scotch whisky industry. In 1934, Johnnie Walker was awarded a Royal Warrant by King George V, recognising its quality and prestige. Today, the main Johnnie Walker range includes eight different blends and special releases, some of which are exclusive to particular markets. Johnnie Walker Red Label: When the Johnnie Walker brand was created in 1906, it was initially released as Walker Special Old Highland. In 1909, its name was changed to Red Label. Since 1945, Johnnie Walker Red Label has been the worlds best-selling Scotch whisky, available in 180 countries. Interestingly, Red Label disappeared from the UK market between 1977 and 1983 before making a return. When the Johnnie Walker brand was created in 1906, it was initially released as Walker Special Old Highland. In 1909, its name was changed to Red Label. Since 1945, Johnnie Walker Red Label has been the worlds best-selling Scotch whisky, available in 180 countries. Interestingly, Red Label disappeared from the UK market between 1977 and 1983 before making a return. Johnnie Walker Black Label: Originally sold as Old Highland Whisky, the Black Label blend was created by Alexander Walker in 1865. When the Old Highland range expanded in 1906, it was renamed Extra Special Old Highland. Upon the creation of the Johnnie Walker brand in 1909, it was renamed Black Label. Originally sold as Old Highland Whisky, the Black Label blend was created by Alexander Walker in 1865. When the Old Highland range expanded in 1906, it was renamed Extra Special Old Highland. Upon the creation of the Johnnie Walker brand in 1909, it was renamed Black Label. Johnnie Walker Black Label: It is aged for 12 years and blended from 40 different whiskies sourced from all four corners of Scotland. It is aged for 12 years and blended from 40 different whiskies sourced from all four corners of Scotland. Johnnie Walker Double Black: A newer addition to the brands main range, Johnnie Walker Double Black is bottled in a semi-transparent black square bottle designed to keep the whiskys dark colour intact. A newer addition to the brands main range, Johnnie Walker Double Black is bottled in a semi-transparent black square bottle designed to keep the whiskys dark colour intact. Johnnie Walker Green Label: Initially launched in 1997 as Johnnie Walker Pure Malt 15-Year-Old, the name was changed to Green Label in 2004. This blend combines malt whiskies from Speyside, Highland, Lowland, and Island regions, matured for at least 15 years. Initially launched in 1997 as Johnnie Walker Pure Malt 15-Year-Old, the name was changed to Green Label in 2004. This blend combines malt whiskies from Speyside, Highland, Lowland, and Island regions, matured for at least 15 years. Johnnie Walker Gold Label: The 18-Year-Old Blend was added to the core range in 1995. Walkers Centenary Blend was discontinued during World War II due to whisky shortages for blending. Johnnie Walker Gold Label was reformulated by blending 15 whiskies aged at least 18 years. Though popular, it was discontinued in 2011 and later returned as Platinum Label 18-Year-Old. The 18-Year-Old Blend was added to the core range in 1995. Walkers Centenary Blend was discontinued during World War II due to whisky shortages for blending. Johnnie Walker Gold Label was reformulated by blending 15 whiskies aged at least 18 years. Though popular, it was discontinued in 2011 and later returned as Platinum Label 18-Year-Old. Johnnie Walker Platinum Label: Introduced in 2011, initially for the Asian and Far Eastern markets, the Platinum Label joined the core range in 2012 as the brands oldest age statement expression. Introduced in 2011, initially for the Asian and Far Eastern markets, the Platinum Label joined the core range in 2012 as the brands oldest age statement expression. Johnnie Walker Blue Label: First released in 1992 as Johnnie Walker Oldest, it was rebranded as Blue Label in 1994. Blue Label is one of the most expensive blended Scotch whiskies on the market and is considered the pinnacle of the brand. First released in 1992 as Johnnie Walker Oldest, it was rebranded as Blue Label in 1994. Blue Label is one of the most expensive blended Scotch whiskies on the market and is considered the pinnacle of the brand. Limited Edition Releases: Johnnie Walker has also produced collectible and rare limited editions. In 2007, the Johnnie Walker King George V Decanter was released, commemorating the Royal Warrant granted in 1934. In 2012, a limited-edition decanter was launched for the UK market to celebrate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. Johnnie Walker Prices In India top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Approximate prices for 750ml bottles of Johnnie Walker in India are as follows: Red Label: Rs 1,700 to Rs 2,200 Black Label: Rs 3,310 to Rs 3,800 Green Label: Rs 4,100 to Rs 5,200 Double Black Label: Rs 3,200 to Rs 5,400 Gold Label Reserve: Rs 7,650 to Rs 8,250 Platinum Label (now known as Johnnie Walker 18 Year Old): Rs 7,865 to Rs 11,450 Blue Label: Rs 31,760 to Rs 35,000 fashion, travel, Click here to add News18 as your preferred news source on Google. News18 Lifestyle section brings you the latest on health food , wellness tips, celebrity style, travel inspiration and recipes. Also Download the News18 App to stay updated. view comments First Published: August 08, 2025, 10:59 IST News lifestyle food Why Johnnie Walker Whisky Is The Ultimate Luxury Drink; Know Its Price In India Happy Varalakshmi Vratham 2025: Wishes, Messages, Quotes, And Images To Share On WhatsApp Status, Facebook And Instagram Published By : Trending Desk Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 07:36 IST Happy Varalakshmi Vratham Wishes Images And Quotes 2025: Share wishes, quotes, and images to celebrate and seek Goddess Lakshmis blessings for health, wealth, and prosperity. Happy Varalakshmi Vratham 2025: Wishes, Messages, Quotes, And Images To Share On WhatsApp Status, Facebook And Instagram. (AI generated image) Happy Varalakshmi Vratham Wishes Images And Quotes 2025: Varalakshmi-Vratham is an auspicious Hindu festival that celebrates the Goddess Varalakshmi. It occurs on Friday before the full moon in the month of Shravana. The Varalakshmi-Vratham 2025 will be celebrated by the devotees of Goddess Varalakshmi on August 8th. On this day, the followers of the goddess, especially down South of India, perform rituals and prayers, where they seek abundance of wealth and prosperity from the great Varalakshmi. Recommended Stories ALSO READ: Varalakshmi Vratam 2025: How To Perform Varamaha Lakshmi Vrat? Check Puja Vidhanam, Fasting Rules And Mantras The traditional celebrations for the day also involve women undergoing fast before the Puja to honour the great goddess and take her blessings. Families prepare special foods and decorate their homes, while also participating in devotional practices and festivities organised on Varalakshmi-Vratham. Varalakshmi Vratam Wishes And Messages Wishing you a blessed Varalakshmi Vratham filled with health, wealth, and happiness. May Goddess Lakshmi bless your home with prosperity and joy this Varalakshmi Vratham. Happy Varalakshmi Vratham! May your life be filled with divine blessings and love. Wishing you a blessed Varalakshmi Vratham with prosperity and joy. May the blessings of Goddess Lakshmi fill your life with health and wealth. On this Varalakshmi Vratham, may you be surrounded by love and abundance. May this Varalakshmi Vratham bring you abundant success and good fortune. On this auspicious day, may your prayers be answered with prosperity and joy. May Goddess Lakshmis blessings shower upon you this Varalakshmi Vratham. On this sacred day, may your life be enriched with love and prosperity.Happy Varalakshmi Vratham! May your prayers be answered with blessings. May this festival bring you joy, peace, and happiness in abundance. May Goddess Lakshmis blessings fill your home with peace and happiness. Wishing you a joyous and prosperous Varalakshmi Vratham with your loved ones. May the divine grace of Goddess Lakshmi shower upon you this Varalakshmi Vratham. Varalakshmi Vratam Images To Share Varalakshmi Vratam Quotes Celebrate the glory of Goddess Lakshmi and seek her blessings for a fulfilling life. Happy Varalakshmi Vratham!" May Goddess Lakshmi bless you with all that you have wished for. Happy Varalakshmi Vratham!" May the blessings of Goddess Varalakshmi bring prosperity and happiness to your home." On this sacred day, let us seek the blessings of Goddess Lakshmi and pray for a prosperous life." Varalakshmi Vratham is a reminder to count our blessings and express our gratitude for the abundance in our lives." Vralakshmi Vratam WhatsApp Status May Goddess Varalakshmi bless you with endless wealth, health, and happiness. Happy Varalakshmi Vratham! On this auspicious day, may your home be filled with prosperity and peace. Happy Varalakshmi Vratham! Seek the divine blessings of Goddess Lakshmi for a life full of abundance and joy. Happy Varalakshmi Vratham! top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all May the light of Varalakshmi Vratham brighten your life with success and good fortune. Stay blessed! Wishing you a blessed Varalakshmi Vratham filled with love, devotion, and divine grace. About the Author Nibandh Vinod Nibandh Vinod is a seasoned journalist with 26 years of experience, specializing in covering events, festivals, and driving SEO content for News18.com. A tech-savvy person, Nibandh works closely with a young te... Read More Nibandh Vinod is a seasoned journalist with 26 years of experience, specializing in covering events, festivals, and driving SEO content for News18.com. A tech-savvy person, Nibandh works closely with a young te... Read More fashion, travel, News18 Lifestyle section brings you the latest on health food , wellness tips, celebrity style, travel inspiration and recipes. Also Download the News18 App to stay updated. First Published: August 08, 2025, 06:33 IST News lifestyle Happy Varalakshmi Vratham 2025: Wishes, Messages, Quotes, And Images To Share On WhatsApp Status, Facebook And Instagram Photo: https://www.facebook.com/RedCrossUkraine For the third time in a row, the Ukrainian Red Cross Society (URCS) tops the rating of charitable organizations in Ukraine according to the Association of Philanthropists. At the end of 2024, we once again topped the Top 100+ Public Charitable Organisations of Ukraine ranking for the third year in a row. This annual list is compiled by the Association of Charities of Ukraine. This recognition is the result of extraordinary teamwork, URCS said on Facebook Friday. As reported by the Department of Communications and Marketing of the National Committee of the Red Cross Society of Ukraine, the organization is recognized as the most transparent and powerful charitable structure in the country, which effectively responds to humanitarian challenges, helps the population in war conditions and implements large-scale support programs. The URCS unites thousands of people who provide assistance every day in shelters, humanitarian points, remote communities, and during emergencies. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation in Ukraine (February 24, 2022), the Ukrainian Red Cross has provided assistance and support to more than 13 million people. URCS is the largest humanitarian organization in Ukraine, which has been providing assistance to victims of wars, emergencies and natural disasters since 1918. URCS activities cover programs of first aid, mine safety, housing restoration, emergency response, support for internally displaced persons, as well as cash assistance programs. Kavya Trehans Bridal Charm Has Ridhi Mehra Written All Over It Written By : News18.com Edited By: Snigdha Oreya Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 08:44 IST Actor Kavya Trehan turns muse for fashion designer Ridhi Mehras bridal couture collection, Becoming Her. Kavya Trehan exudes the rush of emotions of a modern Indian bride in Ridhi Mehras bridal campaign. Actor Kavya Trehan celebrates the various emotions of a bride in Ridhi Mehras bridal couture collection, Becoming Her. With her quiet intensity and unconventional spirit, Kavya, who was last seen in the Netflix series The Royals, perfectly embodies the story Ridhi Mehra set out to tell, that is, of a bride not defined by ceremony, but by emotion. Becoming Her is an ode to every woman who has ever imagined herself as a bride not in ceremony, but in spirit. It is a tender, theatrical, and dreamlike exploration of what it means to carry that vision quietly, long before the moment arrives," says Ridhi Mehra. Recommended Stories Every piece adorned by Kavya in this collection allows every bride to honour her memories, celebrate her personality, and step into her moment in her own way. On collaborating with Kavya, Ridhi Mehra says, At Ridhi Mehra, our bridal couture is rooted in emotion; it isnt just about what a bride wears, but what she feels. Kavya Trehan felt like a natural muse for Becoming Her not just because of her striking presence, but because of the spirit she carries. Kavya has this rare ability to wear emotion with grace to be powerful and soft, grounded yet imaginative, all at once. That duality mirrors what Becoming Her is all about nostalgia, anticipation, empowerment." Heres what Kavya Trehan was styled in for Ridhi Mehras bridal couture collection: The Classic Red Lehenga Kavya Trehan exudes tradition and emotion through this classic red lehenga set. Crafted in raw silk, the blouse and lehenga are embroidered with patterns inspired by patola motifs and enhanced with intricate marodi detailing. A nod to classic Indian craftsmanship with a fresh, modern touch, Kavyas bridal look is completed with a matching net dupatta with delicate embroidery. Designed to mirror the moment where a bride feels overwhelmed with emotion a mix of joy, anticipation, and reflection this look captures the essence of Becoming Her, rooted in tradition yet deeply personal. Kavya Trehans hair is worn in a sleek braid, adorned with a custom resham-embroidered fabric crafted as a hair accessory, tied together with a gota parandi for a traditional finish. The Handloom Tissue Lehenga Kavya Trehans look is rooted in sentiment, echoing the timeless memories captured in the wedding photographs of your mother dressed as a bride. Its a tribute to the generations before, reimagined for the bride of today. Crafted in a blend of two luxurious and richly textured handloom tissue fabrics, this lehenga set features a fuchsia-orange embroidered blouse and lehenga. Paired with a matching tissue dupatta featuring delicate embroidery, the look strikes a perfect balance between heritage and high-shine celebration. Styled with bejewelled hair, a soft blush-toned makeup look, and a classic braid adorned with gajra, Kavyas look channels vintage beauty with a modern soul. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all The Ivory Organza Lehenga Kavya embodies the modern-age bride, rooted in tradition but styled with an edge. A striking blend of contemporary silhouette and traditional craftsmanship, the ivory embroidered organza lehenga is paired with a chanderi sherwani-style blouse with a jewelled back detail. Bold yet graceful, the bridal ensemble is completed with a delicate, net-embroidered veil, adding ethereal softness to the statement look. Kavyas bridal look is further enhanced with specially crafted kalires, organza floral accents with pearl detailing, and a sleek tied-up hairstyle. About the Author Akshata Shetty Completing almost two decades in journalism, Akshata Shetty's journey from print to online journalism is a celebration of fashion, art and music. Akshatas fashion stories are about the people who celebrate the... Read More Completing almost two decades in journalism, Akshata Shetty's journey from print to online journalism is a celebration of fashion, art and music. Akshatas fashion stories are about the people who celebrate the... Read More fashion, travel, News18 Lifestyle section brings you the latest on health food , wellness tips, celebrity style, travel inspiration and recipes. Also Download the News18 App to stay updated. Location : Delhi, India, India First Published: August 08, 2025, 08:44 IST News lifestyle Kavya Trehans Bridal Charm Has Ridhi Mehra Written All Over It 10 Raksha Bandhan Recipes To Celebrate The Bond Of Love This Rakhi 2025 Published By : Trending Desk Last Updated: August 09, 2025, 07:41 IST Raksha Bandhan Recipes 2025: Make Rakhi extra special with homemade sweets and savoury delights like Sandesh, Kachori, Biryani, and more crafted with love and festive spirit. Raksha Bandhan Recipes 2025: Celebrate Rakhi with some quick and easy-to-prepare dishes. (AI generated image) Raksha Bandhan Recipes 2025: The joyful event of Raksha Bandhan is approaching. Also known as Rakhi, this auspicious Hindu festival celebrates the bittersweet relationship between siblings. Brothers and sisters long for this day for months, and they plan everything in advance to make the day extra special for each other. From selecting the best Rakhi to choosing their favourite sweets, this day is celebrated with great enthusiasm. This year, Raksha Bandhan will be celebrated on August 9. On this day, sisters have the opportunity to make the day truly memorable by adding a personal touch to the festivity. Rather than relying on sweet shops, you can elevate the occasion by preparing tempting, homemade recipes that speak volumes of your affection. Recommended Stories ALSO READ: Happy Raksha Bandhan Wishes 2025: Top 50 Rakhi Images, Messages, Quotes And Status For Brothers And Sisters Celebrate this Raksha Bandhan with some quick and easy-to-prepare dishes. Join us as we embark on a delightful culinary journey and explore some mouthwatering Raksha Bandhan sweets and dishes that you can make at home: Raksha Bandhan Recipes: Easy Sweets & Dishes to Make at Home Sandesh Satisfy your sweet tooth with Bengalis quintessential dessert, Sandesh. You just need chena, sugar or jaggery, milk, and an aromatic spice like cardamom to make this enticing dessert. Once the mixture is ready, shape it into the shapes and sizes you like. The best part? They are not only delicious but also guilt-free because they contain less sugar than other sweets. PHOTOS: 10 Bollywood Films To Celebrate Sibling Bond This Raksha Bandhan Kachori Next on the list is the delicious Moong Dal Kachori. Made in many homes with soaked moong dal sauteed along with black pepper, garam masala and coriander powder, it is a popular, crunchy and flavourful snack. The deep-fried kachoris are best served with aloo curry, tangy tamarind chutney, mint chutney or spicy green chutney. Coconut Laddoo Looking for a quick and no-bake healthy sweet? This coconut laddoo recipe is a perfect option. It is just made of two componentsdesiccated coconuts and sweetened condensed milk. All you need to do is mix the ingredients and add a pinch of cardamom powder to form a dough. Then make small balls, roll them over grated coconut and voila! Your delightful dessert is ready to be served. ALSO READ: Raksha Bandhan 2025: Easy DIY Rakhi-Making Ideas For Kids And Adults At Home Paneer Butter Masala Are you a paneer lover? If yes, then heres your paneer butter masala recipe. Melt some butter in the pan and saute chopped ginger and garlic for some time. Then, add the tomato puree, chopped onions and all the spices together. Cook for 5-7 minutes and add the chunks of paneer. Serve this dish with butter roti or rice and your brother will definitely love it. Almond and Rose Kheer No festival is complete without Indias favourite dessert, Kheer. Known for its creamy texture and delightful taste, this dessert has been an essential part of celebrations. To sweeten the auspicious occasion of Raksha Bandhan, make almond and rose kheer this year. Made using rice, milk, chopped almonds, rose water and sugar, this super tasty recipe takes 30 minutes to boil to perfection and has the most heavenly taste. ALSO READ: Raksha Bandhan Mehndi Designs 2025: Traditional And Modern Styles For The Festive Look Dahi Bhalla Agree or not, this is one of the favourite snacks during Indian celebrations. Enjoyed mostly in northern and some eastern parts of India, Dahi Vada offers a sweet, tangy and spicy flavour. Made with urad dal and moong dal, the deep-fried dumplings are then soaked in yoghurt and topped with tangy tamarind chutney and spicy masalas that provide a burst of flavour in every bite. Biryani Another easy-to-cook recipe for Raksha Bandhan is biryani. Cook the rice until 70 percent done. Drain and set aside. Now, heat ghee and saute onions until golden brown. Add chicken or vegetables and mix it well with biryani masala, yoghurt and salt. Once done, add all the mixture with the partially cooked rice and give it a nice steam. Once cooked, enjoy it with raita. Chia Pudding If your brother is a gym freak or prefers minimum sugar, then you can try this sweet and simple option. Chia pudding is not only a nutritious and healthy dessert, but it is also rich in protein, fibre, and healthy fats. Lets have a look at how it is made. Simply combine chia seeds with your preferred milk and sweeten it with honey or maple syrup. Let it sit overnight in the freezer. Add mixed berries (strawberries, blueberries and raspberries) and crushed nuts for added crunch. Pulao This aromatic, sweet-smelling rice dish is also a most-prepared dish during Raksha Bandhan. Made from the fragrant basmati rice, it is cooked with ghee, saffron, aromatic spices and mixed dried fruit and vegetables. You can enjoy it plain or with various spicy curries. Dosa top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Whats better than a crispy, savoury crepe dosa? This South Indian dish is both finger-licking and healthy, made from fermented batter? Filled with spicy mashed potato and served with hot, tangy sambar and chutney, this dish is just the best to prepare on any occasion. Enjoy these mouthwatering recipes with your family and make this Raksha Bandhan special! About the Author Nibandh Vinod Nibandh Vinod is a seasoned journalist with 26 years of experience, specializing in covering events, festivals, and driving SEO content for News18.com. A tech-savvy person, Nibandh works closely with a young te... Read More Nibandh Vinod is a seasoned journalist with 26 years of experience, specializing in covering events, festivals, and driving SEO content for News18.com. A tech-savvy person, Nibandh works closely with a young te... Read More fashion, travel, Click here to add News18 as your preferred news source on Google. News18 Lifestyle section brings you the latest on health food , wellness tips, celebrity style, travel inspiration and recipes. Also Download the News18 App to stay updated. First Published: August 08, 2025, 08:00 IST News lifestyle 10 Raksha Bandhan Recipes To Celebrate The Bond Of Love This Rakhi 2025 Sara Ali Khan Shares Her Thoughtful Rakhi Gift Idea For Her Brother This Year Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 19:01 IST Sara Ali Khan's Rakhi gift for her brother is not only deeply personal but also indulgent. Rakshabandhan is about thoughtful, personal gifts. Rakshabandhan always sneaks up with a rush of nostalgia. You can almost hear the echo of childhood squabbles over the TV remote, the whispered alliances to hide questionable report cards, and that quiet, unspoken promise that no matter how much you bickered, youd always have each others back. Its a festival that feels deeply personal. And every year, the same familiar question pops up: What do I get them this time? Recommended Stories These days, its less about flashy, big-ticket gifts and more about thoughtful gestures something that feels personal, something theyll use and enjoy. In a world that rarely slows down, gifts that encourage a little self-care and indulgence have their quiet charm. Even Sara Ali Khan agrees. Im very close to my brother and we have shared a very playful bond over the years. While he knows Im the best sister one could ask for, this Rakhi I want to express my love a little more. So along with my sisterly nakhre Im going to gift him something that I love, which makes me feel refreshed every single day. It is the ITC Fiama Moisturizing Bars with Japanese Hokkaido Milk and Vitamin F Celebration Pack. Enriched with 1/3rd skin moisturizers and the goodness of Hokkaido milk, it is a gentle yet indulgent treat that leaves skin silky moisturized, the non-sticky way. Because Rakhi is the perfect time to wrap your love in care." View this post on Instagram A post shared by Sara Ali Khan (@saraalikhan95) Shes right its not just a bar of soap. Its a little moment of calm in the middle of a hectic day, a reminder that they deserve to feel good too. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Because in the end, Rakhi isnt about how much you spend its about the meaning behind the gift. Its about sending something that says, I know you, I care about you, and I want you to feel cherished," whether youre tying the rakhi yourself or sending it across cities. So this year, go beyond the predictable. Pick a gift that says Feel Fresh, Feel Joy, Refresh Everyday. Because Rakhi isnt just a ritual its the thread that ties together memories, care, and the comfort of knowing someones always in your corner. About the Author Lifestyle Desk Our life needs a bit of style to get the perfect zing in the daily routine. News18 Lifestyle is one-stop destination for everything you need to know about the world of fashion, food, health, travel, relationshi... Read More Our life needs a bit of style to get the perfect zing in the daily routine. News18 Lifestyle is one-stop destination for everything you need to know about the world of fashion, food, health, travel, relationshi... Read More fashion, travel, News18 Lifestyle section brings you the latest on health food , wellness tips, celebrity style, travel inspiration and recipes. Also Download the News18 App to stay updated. Location : Delhi, India, India First Published: August 08, 2025, 19:01 IST News lifestyle Sara Ali Khan Shares Her Thoughtful Rakhi Gift Idea For Her Brother This Year Narali Purnima Wishes 2025: Date, Rituals And Why It Coincides With Raksha Bandhan Published By : Trending Desk Last Updated: August 09, 2025, 07:41 IST Narali Purnima 2025, falling on August 9 with Raksha Bandhan, marks gratitude to the sea with coconut offerings, rituals, and love-filled wishes along Indias western coast. Narali Purnima 2025: The Purnima Tithi begins at 2:12 pm on August 8 and ends at 1:24 pm on August 9. (AI generated image) Happy Narali Purnima Wishes 2025: Narali Purnima is a traditional Hindu festival mainly celebrated in Maharashtra, Goa, and the Konkan coast, especially by fishing communities. It falls on the full moon day (Purnima) in the Hindu month of Shravan, usually in August, and often coincides with Raksha Bandhan, making it a double celebration for many. Narali" means coconut, and Purnima" means full moon. On this day, people worship Lord Varun, the sea god, by offering coconuts and praying for protection and prosperity. The festival is also observed by Brahmins, who perform sacred rituals and change their holy threads (Janeyu). Recommended Stories ALSO READ: Happy Raksha Bandhan Wishes 2025: Top 50 Rakhi Images, Messages, Quotes And Status For Brothers And Sisters In other regions, this day is celebrated under different names: Avani Avittam in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Karnataka. Kajri Purnima in parts of North India. Narali Purnima 2025: Date and Shub Muhurat This year, Narali Purnima will be grandly observed on Saturday, August 9. The Purnima Tithi begins at 2:12 pm on August 8 and ends at 1:24 pm on August 9. Narali Purnima 2025: Rituals Fishermen decorate their boats with flowers and colourful patterns. They offer coconuts to the sea as a symbol of gratitude and pray for safe journeys. Some fishermen even take a short boat trip to mark the occasion. Brahmins observe fasts, chant Vedic mantras, and perform Shravani Upakarma, changing their sacred thread. Families prepare a special sweet dish called Narali Bhaat (coconut rice). Puja is also offered to the boats, and people spend the rest of the day dancing, singing, and celebrating together. Happy Narali Purnima Wishes and Messages to Spread Joy and Love May Lord Varun remove all the troubles from your path. Happy Narali Purnima 2025! Wishing you blessings, peace, and prosperity on this sacred day. Have a blessed Narali Purnima. May happiness and joy fill your life today and always. Happy Narali Purnima to you and your family! Let this Purnima bring positivity and fresh energy into your life. Happy Narali Purnima! Just like coconuts are special to this festival, your happiness matters most. Happy Narali Purnima! May this day bring smiles, love, and the success you deserve. Happy Narali Purnima to your family! Wishing you good fortune, good health, and peace of mind today and forever. God bless you on Narali Purnima! May your life be filled with light and positivity. Happy Narali Purnima 2025! Celebrate the joy of Narali Purnima with your loved ones and make lasting memories. Sending warmth and best wishes your way. Have a joyful Narali Purnima! Narali Purnima 2025: Significance top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all The festival marks the end of the monsoon and the start of the fishing season. For those who rely on the sea for their livelihood, this day is important to thank Lord Varun for calm seas and blessings. Offering coconuts to the sea is believed to protect fishermen from danger. The festival is a reminder of the close bond between nature and human life, especially in coastal areas where the sea plays a vital role. It is also a time for community bonding, celebration, and expressing respect for nature by planting trees and celebrating life. About the Author Nibandh Vinod Nibandh Vinod is a seasoned journalist with 26 years of experience, specializing in covering events, festivals, and driving SEO content for News18.com. A tech-savvy person, Nibandh works closely with a young te... Read More Nibandh Vinod is a seasoned journalist with 26 years of experience, specializing in covering events, festivals, and driving SEO content for News18.com. A tech-savvy person, Nibandh works closely with a young te... Read More fashion, travel, Click here to add News18 as your preferred news source on Google. News18 Lifestyle section brings you the latest on health food , wellness tips, celebrity style, travel inspiration and recipes. Also Download the News18 App to stay updated. First Published: August 08, 2025, 09:55 IST News lifestyle Narali Purnima Wishes 2025: Date, Rituals And Why It Coincides With Raksha Bandhan Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 12:36 IST Comedian-actor Kapil Sharma is likely to get protection from the Mumbai police, as the second shooting incident outside his cafe in Canada has left everyone shocked. As reported by the news agency IANS, Mumbai police officers are checking CCTV footages of Kapil Sharmas building to ensure the comedians security. Reportedly, police officials are now on alert and are assessing the threat to the actors life. After the first firing incident, the Crime Branch questioned Kapil Sharma to ascertain whether he had ever received any threats or extortion calls from the gang. Kapil Sharma responded that he had not encountered anything of the sort. Following this second incident, the Crime Branch will question Kapil Sharma again and inquire about the claims made in social media posts. Additionally, the Crime Branch has initiated an investigation to determine if individuals associated with this gang have ever conducted reconnaissance around Kapil Sharmas house or the shooting set. What Happened At Kapil Sharmas Canada Cafe? Shots were fired at comedian and actor Kapil Sharmas cafe in Canada on Thursday morning, the second such incident in a month. Kaps Cafe, located in Surrey, British Columbia, is owned by comedian Kapil Sharma and his wife Ginni Chatrath. A purported video of the attack surfaced on social media in which at least 25 gunshots were heard. The cafe came under a similar attack on July 10, which authorities believe was orchestrated by the Laddi gang linked to the banned Khalistani terrorist outfit Babbar Khalsa International (BKI). Who Attacked Kapil Sharmas Canada Cafe? Goldy Dhillon of the Lawrence Bishnoi gang has allegedly claimed responsibility for the shooting at comedian Kapil Sharmas cafe. A Facebook post has surfaced on social media in which Dhillon is seen admitting the gangs role behind attacks at Kapil Sharmas cafe and sending a stern warning to the comedian. JAI SHRI RAM, Satshriakal ram sare bhaiyo ko aj jo y kapil sharma k kaps cafe..Surrey m firing hui iski jimevari, Goldy dhillon, Lawrence bishnoi gang lete h isko hamne call ki thi isko ring nhi Sunai di to karwai krni pdi ab b ring n sunegi to next karwai jaldi hi Mumbai krege"(sic) the post read. However, the Mumbai police is still verifying the authenticity of the Facebook post. When Kapil Sharma Reacted To The Attack At His Cafe Last week, Kapil Sharma, in a collaborative post with his wife, Ginni, shared a video of officials visiting his cafe as they enjoyed a peaceful meal. However, what caught everyones attention was the caption of the post, in which Kapil made it clear that they do not support any sort of violence. Thank you Mayor Brenda Locke, @surreypoliceservice and all the officials who visited @thekapscafe_ to show their love and support. United we stand against violence. Were truly grateful," the comedian wrote. Fahadh Faasil Turns 43: Did You Know Pushpa Actor Is Battling This Condition? Published By : Trending Desk Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 07:47 IST Happy Birthday Fahadh Faasil: National Award winner opened up about his ADHD diagnosis. Heres a look at his top films, recent performances, and upcoming projects. Fahadh Faasil played the role of SP Bhanwar Singh Shekawat in Pushpa. (File pic) Happy Birthday Fahadh Faasil: National Award winner Fahadh Faasil turned 43 today, on August 8. The actor is immensely loved for his works in Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu films. On his birthday this year, we look back at a revelation he made about his health. Additionally, here is a list of top movies featuring the actor as well as his latest and upcoming projects. Fahadh Faasil opened up about being diagnosed with Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) last year when he attended an event at the Peace Valley Childrens Village. He revealed that the diagnosis was very recent at the time, and he even discussed it with a doctor while roaming around the childrens village. Recommended Stories Recalling what the doctor told him, he said, He told me it can be easily cured if it is diagnosed at a young age. I asked whether it can be cured if it is diagnosed at the age of 41. I am clinically ADHD diagnosed." What Is Fahadh Faasils Disease? According to a report by the National Institute of Mental Health, ADHD is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects the brains ability to regulate attention, behaviour, and impulse control. It is a developmental disorder characterised by an ongoing pattern of one or more of the following types of symptoms: difficulty paying attention, hyperactivity, such as often moving around even during inappropriate times, feeling restless, talking excessively and impulsivity, such as interrupting, intruding on others, or having trouble waiting ones turn. Fahadh Faasils Top Movies These are some of the top movies in Fahadh Faasils list as per IMDb: Vikram: Starring Kamal Haasan in the titular role alongside Fahadh Faasil and Vijay Sethupathi, the 2022 movie was the second instalment in the Lokesh Cinematic Universe. The plot revolves around a former commander of a black-ops squads pilot batch and a drug syndicate. Pushpa: The Rule Part 2: Faasil played the role of SP Bhanwar Singh Shekhawat in the 2024 Allu Arjun starrer. The plot of the movie revolves around a labourer-turned-red sandalwood smuggler, Pushpa Raj, as he faces growing threats from his enemies, including the 43-year-old actor. Bangalore Days: Next in the list is the light-hearted movie, which was released in 2014, and featured Faasil as Shivadas Shiva"/"Das", a workaholic corporate executive. The 2-hour 51-minute movies plot revolves around three young cousins, who reach Bangalore to dream, discover and explore. Malik: Written, directed, and edited by Mahesh Narayanan, the 2021 movie features the actor as Ahammadali Sulaiman / Alikka. The 2-hour 42-minute political thriller tells the story of a juvenile criminal, Freddy, who has been assigned to eliminate his estranged uncle Sulaiman, an ageing patriarch, while behind bars. Aavesham: A Malayalam action comedy film directed by Jithu Madhavan tells the story of three teenagers who reach Bangalore for their engineering degree. Gradually, they become involved in a fight with the seniors, which leads to further incidents. Fahadh Faasils Latest And Upcoming Projects The actor was last seen in the 2025 Tamil-language drama thriller, Maareesan, directed by Sudheesh Sankar. It follows the story of a thief alongside an amnesiac patient on a road trip. What unfolded next left the viewers completely captivated. Next, he has a list of movies in his pipeline. The actor will reportedly appear in a Malayalam movie named Odum Kuthira Chadum Kuthira, directed by Althaf Salim, which is currently under production. Following this, he has two more Malayalam movies, including Karate Chandran and Patriot. The list doesnt end here. He also has a Telugu film named Dont Trouble The Trouble, which is also in production. Additionally, he is reportedly part of a new film with director Jeethu Joseph, written by Santhi Mayadevi. He is in talks for a possible Bollywood debut in an Imtiaz Ali film alongside Triptii Dimri. About the Author Nibandh Vinod Nibandh Vinod is a seasoned journalist with 26 years of experience, specializing in covering events, festivals, and driving SEO content for News18.com. A tech-savvy person, Nibandh works closely with a young te... Read More Nibandh Vinod is a seasoned journalist with 26 years of experience, specializing in covering events, festivals, and driving SEO content for News18.com. A tech-savvy person, Nibandh works closely with a young te... Read More Location : Kochi [Cochin], India, India First Published: August 08, 2025, 07:20 IST News movies Fahadh Faasil Turns 43: Did You Know Pushpa Actor Is Battling This Condition? Opinion | Baishey Shrabon: Remembering Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore Written By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 12:55 IST It is the Modi government which accorded Bangla the status of Classical Language on 3 October 2024an acknowledgement of its profound impact on shaping the Indian mind Such was Gurudevs appeal that his ode to Bengal, Amar Sonar Bangla (My Golden Bengal), was adopted by Bangladesh as its National Anthem after its liberation from Pakistan. (File) Today is Baishey Shrabon (22e Shrabon), the death anniversary of Gurudev Rabindranath TagoreIndias tallest polymath: poet, writer, playwright, composer, social reformer, philosopher, painter, and educatorwho continues to inspire Indians across the length and breadth of our country, as well as Indians living abroad. He is Bengals greatest gift not only to India but to the world at large. His composition Jana Gana Mana, Indias National Anthem, immortalises him in countless hearts across generations. Such was Gurudevs appeal that his ode to Bengal, Amar Sonar Bangla (My Golden Bengal), was adopted by Bangladesh as its National Anthem after its liberation from Pakistan. Recommended Stories Perhaps his most enduring contribution was to elevate Bangla bhasha to the exalted status it enjoys todayboth at home and abroad. It is the second most spoken language in India and an official language of the country; globally, it ranks among the ten most spoken languages. Through both prose and poetry, Tagore gave Bangla a literary richness that resonates universally. The music he composed transcends linguistic and geographical barriersits appeal is timeless and universal. Indias first Nobel Laureate, Tagore was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for a collection of deeply moving, spiritually stirring, and lyrical poems composed in Banglamany set to music and translated into English by the poet himselfwhich won critical acclaim. That collection, Gitanjali (Song Offerings), remains unmatched; no other work in Bangla bhasha has been honoured with the Nobel for Literature. Tagores political consciousness was as keen as his literary genius. He believed in the unity of India (Bharat Varsha) and played a pivotal role in forcing the reversal of the arbitrary 1905 British colonial decision to partition Bengal. He was acutely aware of the plight of hapless Hindu Bengali Sylhetis, separated from Bengal and tossed about by political machinations, and empathised with their suffering: Mamatabihin kalsrote Banglar rashtra shima hote Nirbashito tumi sundari Sribhumi" Sylhet should have been part of India, of Bengal; but Muslim League collusion with the British ensured otherwise. Yet Hindu Bengali Sylhetis remained tied to Indias national identity, and many have risen to national prominence. In essence, Tagore was a unifier who believed in the grand unity of the Indian people. This spirit is evident in the opening stanza of his five-stanza composition The Morning Song of India, originally in Sanskritised Bangla. The stanzaadopted as the National Anthempaints a vibrant portrait of India that embraces every region and every community. In later stanzas, he refers to all the people of India, leaving no one out. This ideal is embodied in Visva-Bharati, the institution Tagore foundeda meeting point of the world with Indias culture, civilisation, and knowledge. Its motto, Yatra visvam bhavatyekanidam, translates to where the world makes a home in a single nest." Today, the nation bows to this great son of Bharat who celebrated Bengal, Bangaliness, and Bangla bhashanot from a narrow lens of parochialism or regionalism, but as part of a universal humanism deeply rooted in the soil, culture, and civilisation of India. Mamata Banerjee and her cohorts, who are stoking a spurious and divisive controversy over the language and identity of Bengal and Indian Bengalis, will never match Gurudev Tagores grand vision of Indian unity. In his translation of The Morning Song of Indiaof which the first stanza forms our soul-stirring, spirit-lifting National AnthemTagore writes: Thou (the dispenser of Bharats destiny) bringest the hearts of all peoples into the harmony of one life." For decades, no government recognised Bangla bhasha as one of Indias most prominent languages with a defining role in the subcontinents cultural and linguistic history. The language of Bengalis and Bengal has nurtured poets, authors, and scholars who have shaped not only Bengals cultural identity but also Indias national consciousness. From the earliest translations of Sanskrit epics to the revolutionary writings of the 19th and 20th centuries, Bengali literature has driven social, political, and intellectual movements. It is the Modi government which accorded Bangla the status of Classical Language on 3 October 2024an acknowledgement of its profound impact on shaping the Indian mind. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all The fake champions of Bangla bhashawho aggressively promote Urdu as the official language of West Bengal to pander to the basest anti-Bangla sentiments of a certain groupare undermining the very harmony of one life" that Gurudev envisioned. They deserve nothing but contempt. Amit Malviya is the national convener of BJPs Information & Technology and Sah Prabhari of West Bengal. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18s views. First Published: August 08, 2025, 12:52 IST News opinion Opinion | Baishey Shrabon: Remembering Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... Opinion | From Soil To Sovereignty: Indias Farm Frontier Written By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 17:01 IST Agricultural production has reached stupendous highs, with foodgrain output touching 279.51 million tonnes in 201718, despite consecutive droughts in 2014-15 and 2015-16 The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana (PMKSY), with an additional outlay of Rs 6520 crore approved recently by the Modi cabinet, reduces post-harvest losses. (PTI File) For us, the welfare of our farmers is of the highest priority. Bharat will never compromise on the interests of its farmers, livestock rearers, and fishermen. And I am fully aware that I may have to pay a very heavy price personally, but I am prepared for it. For the farmers of my country, for the fishermen of my country, for the livestock rearers of my country, Bharat stands ready today," said PM Narendra Modi, in his address, at an event on August 7, 2025, marking the centenary celebrations of MS Swaminathan, father of Indias Green Revolution. Clearly, among the many things, if there is one thing that PM Modi has always, unflinchingly supported, it is the cause of our farmers. Indian farmers historically faced challenges such as low productivity, inadequate infrastructure and limited access to credit for the longest time under erstwhile Congress regimes. However, all that changed post May 2014 when Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister. He prioritised agricultural reforms and farmer welfare, introducing a range of schemes and policies aimed at transforming the sector. These initiatives, encapsulated in the motto Beej se Bazaar Tak (from seed to market), have sought to empower farmers, enhance productivity and bolster the agricultural economy. One of the cornerstones of Modis agricultural policy has been ensuring financial stability for farmers, addressing the historical issue of debt traps and inadequate income. The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme, launched in 2019, has been a game-changer in this regard. Under PM-KISAN, eligible farmers receive direct income support of Rs 6000 annually. As of August 2025, over Rs 3.89 lakh crore has been disbursed to approximately 110 million farmers, providing a crucial safety net for small and marginal farmers who form the backbone of Indian agriculture. Recommended Stories Additionally, the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), introduced in 2016, has revolutionized crop insurance by offering affordable premiums and comprehensive coverage against natural calamities, pests and diseases, with premiums as low as 2% for Kharif crops, 1.5% for Rabi crops and 5% for horticulture crops. Since its inception in 2016, 78.4 crore applications have been insured, of which 22.667 crore farmers received claims totalling over Rs 1.83 lakh crore. This has mitigated financial risks, enabling farmers to recover from crop losses, particularly in the face of unpredictable weather patterns. Again, the PM Dhan-Dhaanya Krishi Yojana targets 100 low-performing agri-districts with an annual outlay of Rs 24,000 crore for 6 years. It aims to enhance productivity, promote crop diversification, improve irrigation and storage, and ensure credit access. The scheme ensures saturation-based convergence of 36 schemes from 11 ministries, benefiting 1.7 crore farmers directly. The Modi government has also increased the Minimum Support Price (MSP) across 23 crops, to ensure farmers receive fair remuneration. These include 7 cereals, 5 pulses, 7 oilseeds, and 4 commercial crops. Since 2018, the MSP for Kharif crops has been set at least 1.5 times the cost of production, guaranteeing at least a 50% profit margin and in some cases even higher. Recognising the transformative potential of technology, the Modi government has integrated digital and modern solutions into agriculture. The Digital Agriculture Mission, approved in 2024 with an outlay of Rs 2817 crore, is a flagship initiative that leverages Digital Public Infrastructure to enhance farmers access to information, markets and services. This mission includes components like the Agri Stack, which provides farmers with digital identities. The Krishi Decision Support System uses satellite imagery and data analytics to offer real-time insights on weather, soil health and crop management. The Soil Health Card Scheme, launched in 2015, has been another pivotal step. Over 25 crore soil health cards have been distributed. By curbing the overuse of fertilizers, which previously degraded soil health, the scheme has promoted sustainable farming practices and reduced input costs. Additionally, the introduction of neem-coated urea has enhanced fertilizer efficiency by 1015% and curbed its misuse. The Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY), with its motto Har Khet Ko Paani (water to every field), has brought over 60 lakh hectares under irrigation and fast-tracked over 89 dormant irrigation projects. Micro-irrigation systems such as drip and sprinkler irrigation, have been expanded to drought-prone areas, reducing water wastage and boosting crop yields. The National Agriculture Market (e-NAM), launched in 2016, is a pan-India electronic trading platform. By enabling farmers to sell their produce online, e-NAM eliminates intermediaries, ensures transparent pricing. This has improved price realisation and reduced exploitation, contributing to higher incomes. Over 1.78 crore farmers, across 1389 Mandis, spread over 23 States and 4 Union Territories, have till date, traded agri-produce worth Rs 3.79 lakh crore. Over 2.62 lakhs traders and over 5000 Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) are also registered on eNAM, facilitating trade and market access for their members. Overall, the number of FPOs in India are in excess of 10,000 today. The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Sampada Yojana (PMKSY), with an additional outlay of Rs 6520 crore approved recently by the Modi cabinet, reduces post-harvest losses. The implementation of the proposed 50 multi-product food irradiation units is expected to create total preservation capacity ranging from 20 to 30 Lakh Metric Tonnes (LMT) per annum. The setting up of the proposed 100 NABL-accredited food testing laboratories under private sector will lead to the development of advanced infrastructure for testing food samples, thereby ensuring compliance with food safety standards. The establishment of a Rs 10,000 crore corpus for fisheries, aquaculture and animal husbandry further supports allied agricultural activities. Additionally, the Gram Jyoti Yojana has provided uninterrupted electricity to rural areas by separating agricultural and non-agricultural feeders, boosting productivity in farming and related cottage industries. With climate change posing a significant threat to agriculture, the Modi government has prioritised sustainable and climate-resilient farming practices. The Crop Science for Food and Nutritional Security initiative, with a Rs 3979 crore outlay, focuses on developing climate-resilient crop varieties. Over the past decade, over 1900 new climate-resilient crop varieties, including water-efficient rice and nutrient-rich millets, have been introduced. Women farmers in particular, have benefited from initiatives like Drone Didi, with self-help groups (SHGs) contributing to rural economic empowerment. The Modi governments push for natural farming has gained traction, with significant budget allocations in 2024 to promote chemical-free agriculture. The promotion of millets, referred to as Shri Anna, has been another success story. Millets, which require minimal water and offer high nutritional value, have been integrated into global markets, with 2023 celebrated as the International Year of Millets. The Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana encourages organic farming, particularly in the North-Eastern region, supporting exports of organic produce and enhancing farmers profitability. These efforts align with Indias vision of sustainable agriculture and global food security, as articulated by PM Modis mantras of One Earth, One Family, One Future and Mission LiFE. Recognising the need for skilled and informed farmers, the Modi government has invested in agricultural education and extension services. The Strengthening Agricultural Education, Management, and Social Sciences initiative, with a Rs 2,291-crore outlay, aims to equip students and researchers with the skills to address modern agricultural challenges. The expansion of Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) to over 731 in number has strengthened the Lab to Land mission, delivering scientific knowledge. KVKs have conducted over 70,000 training programmes covering over 25 lakh farmers in the last few years providing training, soil testing kits and access to quality seeds through initiatives like Krishi Dak, developed by the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI). The Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) has trained over 40 million farmers and rural youth in agricultural skills, fostering entrepreneurship and improving productivity. Agricultural production has reached stupendous highs, with foodgrain output touching 279.51 million tonnes in 201718, despite consecutive droughts in 2014-15 and 2015-16. India has since, never looked back. Today we are targeting 354.64 million tonnes of foodgrain production in the 2025-26 crop year starting July 2025. Already, the countrys foodgrain production has reached a record 330.92 million tonnes in the Kharif and Rabi seasons of the 2024-25 crop year. Remember, eleven years back, the foodgrain production was barely 260 million tonnes. Agricultural credit too has expanded from Rs 7.3 lakh crore in 2013-14 to Rs 27.5 lakh crore in 2025, making affordable finance accessible to small farmers. The focus on infrastructure, technology and market access have reduced post-harvest losses, improving price realisations and positioning India as a potential global leader in the food chain. Equally, India under Modi, is firm on its stance against importing genetically modified (GM) crops from the US. The US is pressing India to allow imports of GM crops such as soybean meal and distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) for animal feed and other dairy products. Most countries protect their farmers and agri-markets with high tariff and non-tariff barriers. For instance, average agri-tariffs in South Korea are 57%, 31.1% in Norway, 28.5% in Switzerland, 28.3% in Thailand and 23.5% in Iceland. Europes average rate is in fact, higher at 37.5% on dairy products, which can go as high as 261% on fruits and vegetables. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Again, Japans average tariff of 61.3% on dairy products is way higher than Indias. Japans tariff goes up to 258% on cereals and 160% on meat and vegetables. Similarly, South Koreas average tariff of 57% on agricultural goods can go as high as over 800% on vegetables and more than 300% on fruits. On many dairy and farm goods, India has far lower rates compared to the European Union, Japan and South Korea. Indias average agri-tariff rates on meat, dairy, fruits and cereals are 33% with many varieties of agri products actually falling at a much lower band than the stated 33%. The maximum tariff rate in Indias case is also largely capped at 110% or thereabouts, whereas in the case of the EU, Japan and South Korea, the upper cap is anywhere between 258% to as much as 800%. Clearly, Indias average agri-tariffs are much lower than competing counterparts. Hence, for India under PM Modi, to not cave into any bullying from global pressure groups or western farm lobbies is the right thing to do and that is precisely what Prime Minister Modi is doingboldly and fearlessly. Modi has always been staunchly guided by the Nation First principle and this time is no different. In fact, Nation First is Modis unwavering ideology that he wears so proudly on behalf of a nation of over 1.42 billion people. Sanju Verma is an Economist, National Spokesperson for BJP and Bestselling Author of The Modi Gambit. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18s views. First Published: August 08, 2025, 17:01 IST News opinion Opinion | From Soil To Sovereignty: Indias Farm Frontier Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... Opinion | Shibu Sorens Broken Legacy: How 'Jamai Tolas' Now Pose Existential Threat To Tribals Reported By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 21:49 IST The illegal influx of Bangladeshi and Rohingya Muslims is wrecking Jharkhands demography, gobbling up the same tribal land that Soren once fought to protect Follow us on: JMM Founder Shibu Soren passed away on August 4, 2025, at 81. (PTI Photo) Once upon a time, freedom hero Bhagwan Birsa Mundas fiery slogan abua dishom, abua raj" (our land, our rule), used against colonial British rule, fired up Jharkhands tribal politics of the 1970s, 80s, and 90s. Shibu Soren, then a young man with a flowing, sadhu-like beard, led movements like Dhan Katni to reclaim adivasi land from moneylenders. Soren was Dishom Guru, or Guide of the Land, for Santhals and other local tribes. He was not just a politician. For Jharkhands tribal population, Soren was a revolutionary, a guru, and almost like a spiritual guide. He was the embodiment of their identity and aspirations, defender of their rights. A man who had no qualms about having the local drink, Haria, with his people, even as a chief minister or union minister, so deep was his connect. Recommended Stories But when Soren passed away last week at 81, he left a legacy for Jharkhand, and especially its tribals, which is far from perfect. In fact, despite his redoubtable positive contributions, he has left an existential threat looming over his state and its people. The illegal influx of Bangladeshi and Rohingya Muslims is wrecking Jharkhands demography, gobbling up the same tribal land that Soren once fought to protect. In spite of being in power for a couple of decades, he and his son (current CM Hemant Soren) ignored the dangerous demographic takeover for narrow political gains. As a result, an affidavit filed by the Centre in the Jharkhand High Court showed a 16 per cent decline in the tribal population of Santhal Pargana, or the tribal belt. The tribal population slipped from 44 per cent in 1951 to 28 per cent in 2011. Simultaneously, there has been a significant increase in the Muslim population (by an estimated 20-40 per cent) and a staggering 6,000-fold rise in the Christian population across six districts, namely Deoghar, Dumka, Sahibganj, Pakur, Godda, and Jamtara. In a report submitted to the union home ministry in September 2024, the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) said that Bangladeshi infiltration was playing havoc with the demography of Jharkhands Santhal Pargana. A division bench of the Jharkhand High Court, hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Danish Daniel on illegal immigration, directed the Hemant Soren government to check the land records and domicile credentials before issuing identity documents like Aadhaar card, voters ID, and ration card to people. The court directed the Hemant Soren government to identify illegal immigrants. The demographic change in the tribal areas has been systematic. Illegals enter from Bangladesh through West Bengal, initially working as labourers. These illegal immigrants, mostly males, come and settle on the periphery of a tribal village. They soon establish relations with tribal women, marry them, and settle more permanently as jamai" or sons-in-law. They illegally squat on both tribal and government land. They then bring in more illegals till the demography begins to change. These colonies, or jamai tolas", keep growing. The hills that traditionally belong to the Paharias and the plains to the Santhals keep shrinking for the very people they provided for and protected for centuries. Crime and conversions grow, according to police reports. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Shibu Soren presided over this degenerative process. His son Hemant is in denial. But at some point, the tribal voice will be loud enough to force the CM to heed. But perhaps it will be too late to fix Shibu Sorens broken legacy. 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. Click here to add News18 as your preferred news source on Google. view comments First Published: August 08, 2025, 21:49 IST News opinion Opinion | Shibu Sorens Broken Legacy: How 'Jamai Tolas' Now Pose Existential Threat To Tribals Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 12:21 IST Many who grew up in North India need no introduction to Mrs Bectors Cremica ice cream and English Oven bakery products. Not as many, however, know about Rajni Bector, the woman who transformed a small ice cream shop into one of the most well-known bakery brands in India. 1 / 8 Born in Karachi, Rajni Bector came to Ludhiana in Punjab at the time of Partition. She grew up in the city and got married at the age of 17. After raising three sons and sending them off to boarding school, Bector enrolled herself for a course in Punjab Agriculture University. (File Photo) 2 / 8 An ardent cook and baker from the start, Bectors recipes for ice cream and cakes soon became popular among her friends and associates, encouraging her to borrow Rs 300 for an oven. And thats how the biscuit brand first began with a Rs 300 oven and ice cream that Bector churned in her own backyard. In 1978, when the Bectors backyard bakery began to attract an overwhelming amount of attention, Bectors family loaned her Rs 20,000 to set up an ice cream manufacturing unit. (File Photo) ADVERTISEMENT 3 / 8 Mrs Bector chose the name Cremica as a play on the Hindi words Cream ka, meaning made out of cream. (File Photo) 4 / 8 The opening up of the Indian economy in the 90s was the next big change that helped Cremica grow further, opening up the way for Mrs Bectors little bakery to become known across the country. By the 90s, the company had started to manufacture buns, biscuits, breads, and sauces. (File Photo) ADVERTISEMENT 5 / 8 Its big break, however, came in 1995 when it bagged the deal to supply buns to fast-food chain McDonalds. The aggressive expansion of the fast-food chain in India helped Mrs Bectors Cremica grow as well. (File Photo) 6 / 8 In 2006, Mrs Bectors Cremica made Rs 100 crores. By 2011-12, it was making Rs 650 crores in annual sales. Today, the Ludhiana-based company is the Indian supplier of bread, pizza bases, sauces and other condiments and confectionary items for international brands like Burger King, Pizza Hut, Papa Johns as well as the Indian Railways. (File Photo) ADVERTISEMENT 7 / 8 Cremica is now being sold in over 23 states through 550,000 Outlets. English Oven is now one of the largest selling premium bakery brands in India, with products ranging from sweet to savoury, gourmet to Indian delicacies and much more. (File Photo) Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Serhiy Boyev held a meeting with Deputy Head of the EU Delegation to Ukraine Gediminas Navickas, during which they discussed issues of financing in the current and next years. "For Ukraine, an important issue remains the advance planning of financing the defense industry, as well as the supply of weapons and other assistance. In order to understand what volumes of weapons production we can have at the beginning of 2026, it needs to be financed this year. There is currently a need for $6 billion," the Defense Ministry press service quoted Boyev as saying on Friday. The parties discussed the distribution of funding for the production of FPV drones, long-range vehicles and interceptor drones. They also analyzed the need for security assistance to Ukraine for 2026. Boyev discussed with Navickas further steps within the framework of the Security Action for Europe (SAFE) initiative, which should facilitate the full integration of Ukraine into the European defense-industrial space. In particular, they discussed the process of identifying countries participating in the initiative and projects that will be financed. The EU representative assured that Europe is interested in long-term support for Ukraine and the joint development of defense projects. CNN name, logo and all associated elements and 2024 Cable News Network LP, LLLP. A Time Warner Company. All rights reserved. CNN and the CNN logo are registered marks of Cable News Network, LP LLLP, displayed with permission. Use of the CNN name and/or logo on or as part of NEWS18.com does not derogate from the intellectual property rights of Cable News Network in respect of them. Copyright Network18 Media and Investments Ltd 2024. All rights reserved. Who Is Lalu Prasad Trying To Save? In Bihar, Amit Shah Hits Out At Opposition Over SIR Row Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 15:55 IST Amit Shah criticises Rahul Gandhi and Congress over SIR and Operation Sindoor during his visit to Bihar's Sitamarhi for Janki Mandir redevelopment. Follow us on: Union Home Minister Amit Shah . (BJP/X) Amit Shah In Bihar: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday took a sharp dig at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over the ongoing political row on the Election Commissions Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls, saying that the opposition parties are looking for excuses as they have accepted their defeat in the upcoming state assembly elections. While addressing a gathering at Punauradham in Bihars Sitamarhi district after laying the foundation stone for the redevelopment of Janki Mandir, Shah said that by opposing the SIR, the RJD and the Congress are protecting those who come from Bangladesh and snatch away jobs from the youth of Bihar. Recommended Stories The Union Minister further launched a scathing attack on Rahul Gandhi and said that the SIR is not happening for the first time; it was started by Jawaharlal Nehru, and it happened in 2003 as well. He urged the Lok Sabha Leader of the Opposition to stop his vote bank politics. Who does Lalu Prasad Yadav want to save? Do you want to save those Bangladeshis who come from outside and snatch jobs of the people of Bihar? Rahul Gandhi should stop this vote bank politics and SIR is not happening for the first time. It was started by Jawaharlal Nehru and it happened in 2003 as wellThey are finding reasons as they are going to lose the Bihar elections," he said as quoted by news agency ANI. #WATCH | Sitamarhi, Bihar | Union Home Minister Amit Shah says, Who does Lalu Prasad Yadav want to save? Do you want to save those Bangladeshis who come from outside and snatch jobs of the people of Bihar? Rahul Gandhi should stop this vote bank politics and SIR is pic.twitter.com/HrFMaSUyIj ANI (@ANI) August 8, 2025 He also asserted that the names of infiltrators will be removed from the voters list during the SIR of the electoral rolls. Shah further hit out at the Congress and the RJD for thier opposing stance on Opeartion Sindoor. Congress party and Lalu are opposing Operation Sindoor in the ParliamentLalu and company do not know that this is the government of Narendra Modi, the NDA government. No one has the right to mess with the security of the nation," he said. #WATCH | Sitamarhi, Bihar | Union Home Minister Amit Shah says, Congress party and Lalu are opposing Operation Sindoor in the ParliamentLalu and company do not know that this is the government of Narendra Modi, the NDA government. No one has the right to mess with the pic.twitter.com/934LXNy0lN ANI (@ANI) August 8, 2025 Shah had arrived in Sitamarhi to lay the foundation stone of Janki Mandir at Punauradham in Sitamarhi district, considered the birthplace of Goddess Sita. The foundation stone-laying ceremony of the project, worth more than Rs 882.87 crore, was also attended by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary, several Union ministers and other dignitaries. Shah performed bhoomi pujan and unveiled the design of the Janki Mandir for its redevelopment, officials said. He also virtually flagged off the Sitamarhi-Delhi Amrit Bharat Express train. The state cabinet had sanctioned Rs 882.87 crore for the integrated development of the temple complex on July 1. Of the total amount, Rs 137 crore would be spent on the development of the old temple and its premises, while Rs 728 crore would be used for tourism-related activities, the officials said. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all In addition, Rs 16 crore would be spent on comprehensive maintenance for 10 years, he said. (With inputs from agencies) About the Author Shobhit Gupta Shobhit Gupta is a sub-editor at News18.com and covers India and International news. He is interested in day to day political affairs in India and geopolitics. He earned his BA Journalism (Hons) degree from Ben... Read More Shobhit Gupta is a sub-editor at News18.com and covers India and International news. He is interested in day to day political affairs in India and geopolitics. He earned his BA Journalism (Hons) degree from Ben... Read More view comments Location : Sitamarhi, India, India First Published: August 08, 2025, 15:55 IST News politics Who Is Lalu Prasad Trying To Save? In Bihar, Amit Shah Hits Out At Opposition Over SIR Row Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Civil Disobedience 2.0: Rahul Gandhi's War On EC Echoes 1930s Protest, But Will It Work? Reported By : News18.com Edited By: Karishma Jain Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 09:48 IST From attacking the EC to hinting at boycotts, Rahul Gandhi is casting his campaign in the mould of Civil Disobedience Movement, shifting the fight from ballots to the system itself Follow us on: LoP in the Lok Sabha and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi addresses a press conference at AICC HQ, in New Delhi on August 7. (Image: PTI/Salman Ali) Is this Rahul Gandhis civil disobedience moment, as he intensifies his attack on the Election Commission (EC) and the BJP over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) issue? Or are the real questions of winning polls being pushed aside? In the 1930s, the Civil Disobedience Movement, marked by the Salt Satyagraha, was launched by the Congress under Mahatma Gandhi to take on British rule. The idea was simple yet radical: break unjust laws, defy authority, and ultimately expel the colonial power. Both the goal and the means were crystal clear. Recommended Stories Today, under Rahul Gandhi, the Congress appears to be aiming for something similar defying norms, questioning every institution, and refusing to cooperate essentially, disobeying in order to unseat the BJP. The goal is clear, but are the means? And what about the most important means of all, contesting and winning elections? Vote Chori , , pic.twitter.com/tR7wh589fN Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) August 8, 2025 Lets take the Bihar story. It actually traces back to the Maharashtra and Haryana assembly elections. Not just exit polls but even the Congresss internal assessments suggested the party was on course to win both states. It did not. Many within the party, including Ashish Dua, then co-in-charge of the Maharashtra campaign, told the leadership that a weak Congress campaign and infighting had damaged its prospects. However, those close to Rahul Gandhi concluded that the real cause was not internal failings, but the Election Commission. No stock-taking meeting was held to examine the reasons for the Maharashtra and Haryana defeats, because the top leadership remains convinced that the blame rests with the EC. It was in this context that the EAGLE the Empowered Action Group of Leaders and Experts was born. Its stated mission: to detect and study weaknesses in the electoral process. And thats what Rahul Gandhis recent press conference was all about. But Bihar is waiting. There has been no formal announcement on seat-sharing yet, though party sources claim everything has been settled. In 2020, the BJPJDU alliance polled 37.9 per cent of the vote, compared to the Mahagathbandhans 37.6 per cent, a wafer-thin margin. This time, the Congress-led alliance hopes to capitalise on anti-incumbency and the perceived weakening of Nitish Kumars political clout. Yet while the BJP has launched its campaign in earnest under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Congress has yet to catch up. It is banking on the SIR issue and the RJDs threat of boycotting the elections to generate momentum. In Bengal, however, the SIR issue has brought the TMC and Congress together, but it has also meant that Congresss positioning as an independent claimant in the state has weakened. The Civil Disobedience Movement of 1930 sought to disrupt everything to confront the British, defy all institutions, question every law, and boycott participation in governance. The aim was to strip every institution of legitimacy, build a mass movement, and force the colonial powers downfall. Rahul Gandhis strategy appears similar, but the context is entirely different. In 1930, there was no democracy, no elections, only British rule. Today, India is a democracy, with the BJP currently in power. Under colonial rule, disruption was seen as nationalism and a fight for democracy. In todays context, persistent defiance and disruption risk being labelled as promoting mobocracy. Unless the Congress can also demonstrate that it can win elections, its repeated allegations against the EC may not resonate with voters. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all What next? Some in the party have suggested a more drastic step boycott. Boycott polls, boycott Parliament, and in doing so, seek to erode the BJPs legitimacy in winning elections. The hope is that this disobedience will spark a peoples movement. But will it? Can it? About the Author Pallavi Ghosh Pallavi Ghosh has covered politics and Parliament for 15 years, and has reported extensively on Congress, UPA-I and UPA-II, and has now included the Finance Ministry and Niti Aayog in her reportage. She has als... Read More Pallavi Ghosh has covered politics and Parliament for 15 years, and has reported extensively on Congress, UPA-I and UPA-II, and has now included the Finance Ministry and Niti Aayog in her reportage. She has als... Read More view comments First Published: August 08, 2025, 09:48 IST News politics Civil Disobedience 2.0: Rahul Gandhi's War On EC Echoes 1930s Protest, But Will It Work? Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Either Sign Declaration Or Apologise: ECI Dares Rahul Gandhi Over Voter Fraud Charge Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 13:40 IST Rahul Gandhi made a presentation yesterday, alleging voter fraud by the Election Commission to "steal" votes for the BJP in Karnataka. Follow us on: Rahul Gandhi, ECI spar over "voter fraud" allegations (PTI Image) The Election Commission of India on Friday responded to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi over his voter fraud in Karnataka allegations and dared him to either sign a formal declaration for his claims or apologise to the nation. A day ago, Rahul Gandhi held a presentation in the national capital and accused the ECI of colluding" with the BJP to steal" over 1 lakh votes in the Mahadevapura assembly segment of the Bangalore Central Lok Sabha constituency in last years general elections. Recommended Stories Rahul Gandhis Allegations He claimed that a deep analysis by a 40-member team of the Congress party found duplicacies, fake addresses of voters and false pictures, and suspicious Form 6 applications. EC was colluding with the BJP to steal elections. This is why they dont give us machine-readable data," he alleged. Rahul Gandhi said his party was ahead in all other assembly areas of Bangalore Central, but the BJP got a big lead of 1.14 lakh votes in Mahadevapura, which helped it win the seat by 32,707 votes. Election Commissions Reply The Election Commission has demanded Rahul Gandhi to either sign the declaration affirming his allegations or apologise to the country for absurd allegations". If Rahul Gandhi believes in his analysis and believes that his allegations against ECI are true, he should have no problem in signing the Declaration. If Rahul Gandhi does not sign the Declaration, it would mean that he does not believe in his analysis and resultant conclusions and absurd allegations. In which case he should apologise to the nation. Therefore, he has two options: Either sign the Declaration or Apologise to the Nation for raising absurd allegations against ECI," Election Commission sources said. The poll body wants the Congress leader to sign the declaration as, it said, he did not sign any letter himself in the past, and any response given by the commission is disowned" by Rahul Gandhi. The reason is that in the past, he has never sent any self-signed letter by himself. Whatever reply we give is to other entities and everytime he disowns it. For example, he raised the Maharashtra issue in Dec 24. Some Advocate writes to us from AICC. Our reply dated 24 Dec 24 is on our website. But Rahul Gandhi says that we have never replied," the ECI said. As Rahul Gandhi made the claims yesterday, several state chief electoral officers, including those from Maharashtra, Karnataka, wrote to him, seeking specific names of electors with a signed declaration under Rule 20(3)(b) of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, to initiate action. You are kindly requested to sign and return the enclosed declaration/oath so that necessary proceedings can be initiated," the Karnataka CEOs letter said. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Speaking to the reporters today, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said that the allegations levelled by her brother should be investigated. Rahul Gandhi has made such a big revelation if there is any issue or unintentional mistake, it should be investigated. Instead of investigating, they (BJP) are asking for an affidavit. Whatever my brother has said, a day will come when other people will be empowered, and then those who have colluded in this complete destruction of democracy will have to answer for it," she said. About the Author Ashesh Mallick Ashesh Mallick is a Sub-Editor with over three years of experience in news writing, video production. He primarily covers national news, politics and global affairs. You can follow him on Twitter: @MallickAshes... Read More Ashesh Mallick is a Sub-Editor with over three years of experience in news writing, video production. He primarily covers national news, politics and global affairs. You can follow him on Twitter: @MallickAshes... Read More view comments First Published: August 08, 2025, 13:38 IST News politics Either Sign Declaration Or Apologise: ECI Dares Rahul Gandhi Over Voter Fraud Charge Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy 'Is This Your Worth': Shinde Camp Mocks Thackerays INDIA Meet Back-Row Snub Reported By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 15:00 IST The meeting has sparked controversy after photographs surfaced showing former Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray seated in the back row. Uddhav Thackeray seen with Sanjay Raut and Aditya Thackeray seated in a back-row at INDIA meet. (Image: X) A political storm has erupted in Maharashtra following a recent INDIA Alliance meeting hosted by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in Delhi. The meeting, attended by key opposition leaders, has sparked controversy after photographs surfaced showing former Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray seated in the back row alongside party spokesperson Sanjay Raut and MLA Aditya Thackeray. The images have triggered a sharp attack from Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shindes faction of the Shiv Sena, which accused Thackeray of bringing shame to Maharashtra" by accepting a perceived slight. Naresh Mhaske, a Lok Sabha MP from Thane and a prominent voice in Shindes Shiv Sena, took to X to lambast Thackeray. In a scathing post, Mhaske wrote, Oh, Uddhav Thackeray, is this your worth? You speak of Shivajis legacy, yet you sit in the last row at Congresss meeting?" He invoked the teachings of Shiv Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray, saying, Balasaheb taught us pride and self-respect. Shivaji and Balasaheb taught us to rise against insults. Have you forgotten all of this?" Mhaskes post didnt spare Aditya Thackeray either, mocking him with, Congress has reduced you to this state, Aditya. Even parties with one MP got front-row seats, yet you brought disgrace to Maharashtra in Delhi." Recommended Stories The seating arrangement at Rahul Gandhis residence has become a flashpoint, with Shindes faction framing it as an insult to Maharashtras pride. Mhaske further taunted, If you have even a shred of self-respect left, stand up for Maharashtra. Look at other photos to see who truly upholds the states honor." The attack underscores the bitter rivalry between the two Shiv Sena factions, a divide that deepened after Shindes rebellion in 2022, which toppled Thackerays government. The INDIA Alliance meeting was meant to strategize for upcoming elections, but the viral photos have shifted focus to this political slugfest. Sanjay Raut, responding to the criticism, dismissed it as baseless" and called detractors fools," claiming the back-row seating was due to a presentation setup, not a deliberate snub. However, the Shinde camps aggressive narrative has resonated with some, framing Thackerays participation as a compromise of Shiv Senas legacy of Marathi pride. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Shinde Sena leaders further mocked Uddhav Thackeray by doing small gathering at the Balasaheb Thackeray memorial in Dadar, MLC and leader of Shinde camp Manisha Kayande said, Today we have gathered here at memorial of Balasaheb Thackeray to seek an apology for Uddhav Thackeray who was made to sit in the 6-7 row in one of the meetings in Delhi. During Balasahebs time all these Delhi leaders used to come to Matoshree to meet him but see what they have done to Uddhav Thackeray." Sheetal Mhatre, spokesperson of Shinde led Shiv arena said," When you leave Hindutva and join hands with parties which has no inclination for Hindutva thats how they treat you." As Maharashtra gears up for local body elections, this episode is likely to fuel further political sparring. The Shinde factions pointed jabs aim to undermine Thackerays credibility, while the UBT faction scrambles to counter the humiliation" narrative. The battle for Balasahebs legacy continues to play out publicly, with Maharashtra watching closely. About the Author Mayuresh Ganapatye Mayuresh Ganapatye, News Editor at News18.com, writes on politics and civic issues, as well as human interests stories. He has been covering Maharashtra and Goa for more than a decade. Follow him at @mayuganapa... Read More Mayuresh Ganapatye, News Editor at News18.com, writes on politics and civic issues, as well as human interests stories. He has been covering Maharashtra and Goa for more than a decade. Follow him at @mayuganapa... Read More First Published: August 08, 2025, 15:00 IST News politics 'Is This Your Worth': Shinde Camp Mocks Thackerays INDIA Meet Back-Row Snub Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... iOS 26 Beta 5 Update Is Here For iPhone Users: What New Features You Get Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 07:34 IST The iOS 26 beta 5 update is here for iPhone users and Apple is quickly looking to get it off the stable bench by next month. New week brings another iOS 26 beta update Apple has dished out the iOS 26 beta 5 update this week which brings new features and alterations for the iPhone users. This being a beta 5 version means the list of new features has come down but it also means the company is getting close to the iOS 26 stable version, as the public beta release suggests. The work is going on at a brisk pace to have the new iOS 26 update ready in time for the new iPhone 17 series launch in September. iOS 26 Beta 5 Version: New Features Coming Your Way Recommended Stories New Way To Unlock iOS 26 Beta 5 brings a new animation that you see when you swipe up the screen to unlock the iPhone using the passcode. This change could be in line with the Liquid glass interface as the number pad now jumps on the screen, mirroring the ripple effect on the glass UI. You also get a new animation while you lock the iPhone when playing music. New Wi-Fi Labels When you long-press the Wi-Fi icon in the Control center, you will see if the network is private or public. And when a Wi-Fi ID is protected by password you will see a lock under the Wi-Fi icon. Battery Alert On Dynamic The iPhone models with the Dynamic island notch will now show you a low battery alert when the device level goes below 20 percent. You can then tap on the alert to enable the low power mode to keep using the iPhone for a little longer. New AirDrop Apple has made a tiny change in the share tab where you will see the AirDrop option with a new icon. Select In Mail Apple is also making it easy to select mails in the inbox with the new Select button rather than having to find it within the three-dot menu of the app. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all iOS 26 Release Date And More We Expect iOS 26 public beta program has started which means Apple is moving to the next phase of the roll out and allowing more people to try out the new version before it is stable and ready to be unleashed with the new iPhone 17 models once they are official in September. Reports say Apple could plan the iPhone 17 launch event for September 8 or 9 which is quite possible going by its usual timelines. About the Author S Aadeetya S Aadeetya, Special Correspondent at News18 Tech, accidentally got into journalism 10 years ago, and since then, has been part of established media houses covering the latest trends in technology and helping fr... Read More S Aadeetya, Special Correspondent at News18 Tech, accidentally got into journalism 10 years ago, and since then, has been part of established media houses covering the latest trends in technology and helping fr... Read More Get latest technology updates, including phone launches, gadget reviews, AI advancements. Stay informed with breaking tech news , expert insights, and trends from India and around the world . Also Download the News18 App to stay updated. Location : Delhi, India, India First Published: August 08, 2025, 07:34 IST News tech iOS 26 Beta 5 Update Is Here For iPhone Users: What New Features You Get Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... 'OpenAI Going To Eat Microsoft Alive': Elon Musk Warns Satya Nadella After ChatGPT-5 Launch Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 19:50 IST Microsoft chief described GPT-5 as the most capable model yet from our partners at OpenAI, and praised the rapid progress made in AI over the past few years Elon Musk made the comment in reply to Satya Nadellas post on X. (AP file photos) Shortly after the launch of OpenAIs latest artificial intelligence model, ChatGPT-5, Tesla CEO Elon Musk warned Microsoft chief Satya Nadella that OpenAI is going to eat Microsoft alive." Musk made the comment in reply to Nadellas post on X, where the Microsoft boss announced that GPT-5 is now available across Microsoft 365 Copilot, GitHub Copilot, Azure AI, and other major platforms. Recommended Stories OpenAI is going to eat Microsoft alive," Musk wrote, responding to Nadellas celebratory message on Thursday. OpenAI is going to eat Microsoft alive Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 7, 2025 In his post, the Microsoft chief described GPT-5 as the most capable model yet from our partners at OpenAI," and praised the rapid progress made in AI over the past few years. The pace of progress is only accelerating, and I cant wait to see what developers, enterprises, and consumers will do with this latest breakthrough," Nadella wrote. Today, GPT-5 launches across our platforms, including Microsoft 365 Copilot, Copilot, GitHub Copilot, and Azure AI Foundry.Its the most capable model yet from our partners at OpenAI, bringing powerful new advances in reasoning, coding, and chat, all trained on Azure. Its pic.twitter.com/jHDA94YOL0 Satya Nadella (@satyanadella) August 7, 2025 Musks reply, though brief, carried weight, reflecting his growing criticism of OpenAI, the very company he co-founded in 2015 but later fell out with. Musk has long expressed concern about OpenAIs close partnership with Microsoft and its direction under CEO Sam Altman. Nadella, however, did not ignore the remark. In a calm yet pointed response, he replied, People have been trying for 50 years and thats the fun of it! Each day you learn something new, and innovate, partner, and compete. Excited for Grok 4 on Azure and looking forward to Grok 5!" People have been trying for 50 years and thats the fun of it! Each day you learn something new, and innovate, partner, and compete. Excited for Grok 4 on Azure and looking forward to Grok 5! Satya Nadella (@satyanadella) August 7, 2025 His reply referenced Grok, the AI chatbot developed by Musks xAI, which is also building on OpenAIs breakthroughs but taking a different path. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all This exchange took place just as OpenAI unveiled GPT-5 to the public on 7 August. Touted as faster, smarter, and more reliable than its predecessor, GPT-5 is now accessible to all ChatGPT usersfree and paid alike. OpenAI says the new model brings major improvements in reasoning, safety, and responsiveness. Despite their rivalry, both Microsoft and Musks xAI are betting big on the future of AI. While Microsoft integrates GPT models into its business and productivity platforms, Musk is focusing on building an uncensored" and truth-seeking" AI through Grok. About the Author News Desk The News Desk is a team of passionate editors and writers who break and analyse the most important events unfolding in India and abroad. From live updates to exclusive reports to in-depth explainers, the Desk d... Read More The News Desk is a team of passionate editors and writers who break and analyse the most important events unfolding in India and abroad. From live updates to exclusive reports to in-depth explainers, the Desk d... Read More Get latest technology updates, including phone launches, gadget reviews, AI advancements. Stay informed with breaking tech news , expert insights, and trends from India and around the world . Also Download the News18 App to stay updated. Location : United States of America (USA) First Published: August 08, 2025, 19:16 IST News tech 'OpenAI Going To Eat Microsoft Alive': Elon Musk Warns Satya Nadella After ChatGPT-5 Launch Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... Delhi Couple Allegedly Denied Entry To Restaurant Over Indian Attire, CM Rehka Takes Note | Watch Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 18:42 IST A couple was allegedly denied entry to a Delhi restaurant for wearing traditional attire. Minister Kapil Mishra intervened, and the restaurant agreed to welcome all attire. Screengrab of the viral video. A couple was allegedly refused entry to a restaurant in Delhi for wearing traditional Indian attire, a video of which has gone viral on social media. In the now-viral video, the couple can be seen narrating their ordeal after being denied entry to the restaurant located in Delhis Pitampura area. The couple claimed that, while others were being allowed inside, the restaurant manager misbehaved with them. The person seemingly recording the clip stated that the restaurant not allowing people with Indian attire, had no right to function and that it should be shut down immediately. Recommended Stories Following the viral spread of the video, Delhi cabinet minister Kapil Mishra acknowledged the incident and said that Chief Minister Rekha Gupta had been informed about the matter. This is unacceptable in Delhi. A video has surfaced showing a ban on Indian attire at a restaurant in Pitampura. This is unacceptable. CM @gupta_rekhaji has taken serious note of the incident. Officials have been directed to investigate the incident and take immediate action," Mishra said on X. In a subsequent post, Mishra informed that the restaurant owners will no longer impose any attire ban on customers for entry to their establishment. The operators of this Pitampura restaurant have accepted that they will no longer impose any restrictions based on attire and will welcome citizens coming in Indian attire. On Rakshabandhan, they will also offer some discounts to sisters coming in Indian attire," said Mishra. This is unacceptable in Delhi CM @gupta_rekha https://t.co/ZUkTkAZmAT Kapil Mishra (@KapilMishra_IND) August 8, 2025 Meanwhile, restaurant owner Neeraj Aggarwal denied the allegations, stating that the couple was refused entry because they hadnt made a reservation. He clarified that the restaurant does not have a dress code and welcomes all customers. The incident sparked a heated debate on social media, with some users demanding action against the restaurant, even after the Chief Ministers intervention. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Shut the restaurant down. And if it has any branches elsewhere, shut those down too. This very mentality has tormented us for years," said one user, while another added: A minister and CM had to be involved for entry into a restaurant. What else can the common man hope for?" A third commented: Cancel the license of the restaurant to teach them a lesson." Click here to add News18 as your preferred news source on Google, News18's viral page features trending stories, videos , and memes, covering quirky incidents, social media buzz from india and around the world, Also Download the News18 App to stay updated! First Published: August 08, 2025, 18:11 IST News viral Delhi Couple Allegedly Denied Entry To Restaurant Over Indian Attire, CM Rehka Takes Note | Watch Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... Elderly Man Brutally Killed Over Rs 50 For Alcohol, Attacker Sits On Chest, Stabs Repeatedly Reported By : Local18 Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 14:40 IST David is said to have chased after the elderly man, pinned him down by sitting on his chest, and stabbed him multiple times in a fit of rage before fleeing the scene Several residents expressed outrage and fear, calling for stronger action against drug and alcohol-fuelled violence. (AI-generated Image) In a shocking and brutal act of violence, a 60-year-old labourer in Bhavnagar, Gujarat, was murdered in broad daylightreportedly over a petty sum of Rs 50 meant for alcohol. The horrific crime unfolded on Thursday morning when Chhanabhai Gordhanbhai Gohel, a daily wage worker, was making his usual bicycle commute to work from his home near Hanuman Temple in Karchaliapara. Recommended Stories What started as a simple request for money turned deadly when the accusedidentified as 25-year-old David Mansukhbhai Makwanaallegedly stopped Chhanabhai near the Subhashnagar Housing Scheme and demanded Rs 50 to buy liquor. When Chhanabhai refused, a violent altercation took place. According to witnesses and family members, David first attacked Chhanabhai with a cement block, striking him twice on the head with full force. Despite the severe blows, Chhanabhai reportedly managed to stagger away in an attempt to escape. But just a few metres ahead, he collapsed. What happened next was even more chilling. David is said to have chased after the elderly man, pinned him down by sitting on his chest, and stabbed him multiple times in a fit of rage before fleeing the scene. Bystanders rushed the critically injured man to Sir T Hospital, where doctors attempted to revive him, but he succumbed to his injuries during treatment. Family In Shock, Community In Mourning Raju Gohel, Chhanabhais brother, described him as a humble, hardworking man with no addictions or bad habits. He walked the same route every day for work. That boy David lives nearby. He demanded Rs 50 to buy alcohol. When my brother refused, he was brutally attacked," Raju said, visibly shaken. Raju detailed the horrifying sequence: First, he hit him on the head with a block. When my brother tried to flee and collapsed, David sat on his chest and stabbed him multiple times. It was a merciless attack." Locals gathered quickly at the crime scene, stunned by the sheer brutality of the act. Several residents expressed outrage and fear, calling for stronger action against drug and alcohol-fuelled violence in the area. Police React Swiftly, Launch Investigation Following the murder, Bhavnagar police sprang into action. A team comprising the Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP), Local Crime Branch (LCB), and Ghogha Road Police arrived at the crime scene within minutes of receiving the report. DySP RR Sindhal confirmed that a violent confrontation had taken place near Gokuldham Society, which falls under the jurisdiction of the Ghogha Road Police Station. The accused, David Makwana, stopped the victim and a fight broke out. Unfortunately, it turned violent. David stabbed the victim, who later died at the hospital," said the officer. A formal complaint has been registered and the police are currently searching for the accused, who reportedly fled the scene after the stabbing. Investigators are also looking into the background of the attacker and whether substance abuse or mental illness played a role in the crime. A Disturbing Trend This incident is not just a tragic case of murderit also highlights a disturbing pattern. The escalation of petty altercations into deadly violence is becoming more frequent across urban and semi-urban areas, often linked to drug or alcohol addiction. Experts have often flagged the dangers of untreated substance dependence in youth, especially in economically weaker areas where mental health and addiction support systems are lacking. Residents of Bhavnagars Karchaliapara neighbourhood, where the crime took place, are calling on local authorities to improve surveillance and security measures. Many have expressed concern over growing alcohol and drug-related nuisance in the area. As the police continue their search for the accused, the public waits for justice to be served in a crime that has exposed how volatile and dangerous even minor confrontations can become. This brutal episode serves as a grim reminder that violence can erupt from the most trivial of reasonsand sometimes, all it takes is Rs 50. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all About the Author News Desk The News Desk is a team of passionate editors and writers who break and analyse the most important events unfolding in India and abroad. From live updates to exclusive reports to in-depth explainers, the Desk d... Read More The News Desk is a team of passionate editors and writers who break and analyse the most important events unfolding in India and abroad. From live updates to exclusive reports to in-depth explainers, the Desk d... Read More Click here to add News18 as your preferred news source on Google, News18's viral page features trending stories, videos , and memes, covering quirky incidents, social media buzz from india and around the world, Also Download the News18 App to stay updated! First Published: August 08, 2025, 14:40 IST News viral Elderly Man Brutally Killed Over Rs 50 For Alcohol, Attacker Sits On Chest, Stabs Repeatedly Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... Ex-Astronomer CEO Andy Byron Spent Crores On OnlyFans, Report Says After Coldplay Kiss Cam Scandal Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 15:14 IST Days after the kiss-cam row, ex-Astronomer CEO Andy Byron has been struck by a new scandal, this time related to his engagements with models on OnlyFans, according to a report. Ex-Astronomer CEO Andy Byron invovled in another scandal Within a month of Coldplay concert kiss cam row forcing former Astronomer CEO Andy Byron to step down, he is believed to have been involved in another scandal this time relating to his engagements with adult stars on OnlyFans, an adult content platform that runs on subscriptions. Byron was forced to quit the company after he was seen cuddling his companys HR chief, Kristin Cabot, at a Coldplay concert the video of which went viral on social media. Recommended Stories As part of the new scandal, Byron has spent over $250,000, approximately Rs 2.2 crore, on subscriptions, explicit videos, and intimate video calls with various models on the adult platform. He spent $40,000 on intimate video calls with a 23-year-old OnlyFans model, Sophie Rain, The Blast reported. According to leaked private messages by his wife showed that he allegedly operated a secret Instagram account to carry out video calls with Rain. All good. Most guys I talk to are married," Byron allegedly said in a message. Okay, call me in 5 mins (emoji with a wink)," Rain responded. As a Christian, I dont condone this type of behaviour. Im here for his wife if she needs a friend during this time. I would love to talk to her and reassure her that this guy is just a bump in the road," Rain told The Blast. Brazilian model Camilla Araujo, 29, claimed that Byron did the same with various other models on the platform. I saw the receipts. Were talking a quarter million in sub fees, custom content and video calls! Not just with Sophie, with multiple girls," Araujo told The Blast. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all She said that she approached Byrons wife, Megan Kerrigan, extending her support after the Coldplay controversy blew up. I told her shes not alone. Women need to stand together when someone tries to humiliate and betray them like this, especially in such a public way. I let her know that I am here for her," she said. About the Author Ashesh Mallick Ashesh Mallick is a Sub-Editor with over three years of experience in news writing, video production. He primarily covers national news, politics and global affairs. You can follow him on Twitter: @MallickAshes... Read More Ashesh Mallick is a Sub-Editor with over three years of experience in news writing, video production. He primarily covers national news, politics and global affairs. You can follow him on Twitter: @MallickAshes... Read More Click here to add News18 as your preferred news source on Google, News18's viral page features trending stories, videos , and memes, covering quirky incidents, social media buzz from india and around the world, Also Download the News18 App to stay updated! Location : Washington D.C., United States of America (USA) First Published: August 08, 2025, 15:01 IST News viral Ex-Astronomer CEO Andy Byron Spent Crores On OnlyFans, Report Says After Coldplay Kiss Cam Scandal Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... Shmyhal proposes to join Ukraine in mine clearance initiative in Black Sea with participation of Bulgaria, Turkey and Romania Photo: https://t.me/ministry_of_defense_ua Ukrainian Defense Minister Denys Shmyhal has held a conversation with Bulgarian Defense Minister Atanas Zapryanov, during which they discussed continued defense support for Ukraine and security in the Black Sea region. "I had a conversation with Bulgarian Defense Minister Atanas Zapryanov. The main topics were continuing defense support for Ukraine and security in the Black Sea region. We have a common goal - safe shipping. Therefore, I proposed to involve Ukraine in the initiative to demining the Black Sea with the participation of Bulgaria, Turkey and Romania," he wrote on the Telegram channel. Shmyhal also informed Zapryanov about Ukraine's priorities regarding weapons and the sectors of the defense industry where partnership with Bulgaria can be developed. "We are interested in developing joint production, in particular within the framework of the European SAFE fund. Our partners understand that increasing support for Ukraine will bring a just peace closer," the minister added. Shmyhal thanked his Bulgarian colleague for condemning Russian aggression and for his contribution to strengthening Ukraine's defense capability. Man Dies From Electric Shock While Using Washing Machine Are You Making This Fatal Mistake? Curated By : Translation Desk Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 10:21 IST Man dies from electric shock while washing clothes in a faulty washing machine. Learn how to avoid this dangerous mistake and stay safe around electrical appliances This horrifying moment stunned viewers as the person, who had been washing clothes moments earlier, died instantly. (News18) A recent and distressing video has gone viral on social media, showing a person dying from an electric shock while using a washing machine. This tragic event not only evokes sorrow but also serves as a stark reminder of the dangers associated with everyday appliances when proper safety measures are neglected. A Fatal Electric Shock While Washing Clothes Recommended Stories The footage shows the individual preparing to wash clothes: adding detergent powder, switching on the machine, and then placing his hand into the water. Unaware of an electrical fault in the appliance, he received a severe electric shock upon contact with the water. He became stuck to the machine and lost consciousness within seconds. This horrifying moment deeply shocked viewers. The person, who was simply washing clothes moments before, died instantly. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Vikram Solanki (@vikram.solanki.0001) Other Similar Fatalities Highlight The Risk Sadly, this is not an isolated case. In Uttar Pradeshs Lucknow, 28-year-old Irfan, a fast-food vendor, died from an electric shock while repairing a washing machine. Despite being rushed to Lohia Hospital, he was declared dead on arrival. Similarly, in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, police head constable Jawahar Singh Yadav, nicknamed Yamraj, succumbed to an electric shock while bathing his cow. These incidents highlight the deadly consequences of carelessness around electrical devices. Why Electric Shocks Occur? top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Experts explain that electric shocks happen when electrical current passes through the body, disrupting nerve function and generating heat. If a person cannot free themselves from the source, the injuries can be severe or fatal. The presence of water in washing machines significantly increases the risk. To reduce danger, experts advise placing washing machines on wooden or elevated stands to prevent current conduction through water. It is also essential to ensure the machine is completely switched off and unplugged before putting hands inside. Click here to add News18 as your preferred news source on Google, News18's viral page features trending stories, videos , and memes, covering quirky incidents, social media buzz from india and around the world, Also Download the News18 App to stay updated! First Published: August 08, 2025, 10:21 IST News viral Man Dies From Electric Shock While Using Washing Machine Are You Making This Fatal Mistake? Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... Canyon Fire Burns Over 5,000 Acres Near LA, Air Quality Declines Sharply Curated By : Trending Desk Last Updated: August 09, 2025, 03:13 IST An Air Quality Alert was issued Friday due to the fires impact on surrounding communities. The city of Santa Clarita remains on high alert (Image: LA County) Several areas across Los Angeles are battling fast-moving wildfires, with residents forced to evacuate their homes in haste as firefighters work tirelessly to bring the blazes under control. Among the most concerning is the Canyon Fire, which erupted Thursday and has rapidly spread across parts of Ventura and Los Angeles counties. The fire reportedly began near Lake Piru and has moved eastward toward Castaic. As of early Friday afternoon, the Canyon Fire had scorched approximately 5,370 acres, according to the latest updates from the LA County. While containment efforts are ongoing, the fire is currently 25% contained, up from 0% earlier on Friday, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection reported. Recommended Stories Fueled by temperatures exceeding 100F (37.7C) and strong gusty winds, the fire spread quickly through the dry, brush-covered hills and mountainous terrain. Authorities are cautiously optimistic that cooler nighttime temperatures may help slow the fires advance, but conditions remain volatile. An Air Quality Alert was issued Friday due to the fires impact on surrounding communities. Air quality in affected regions has plummeted to unhealthy" levels, prompting the Ventura County Air Pollution Control District to issue warnings for areas including Piru, Fillmore, and Santa Paula. The Ventura County Fire Department has ordered mandatory evacuations for more than 2,700 residents, while an evacuation warning remains in place for approximately 14,000 people in the region. Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger took to social media to urge compliance with evacuation directives. If youre in Santa Clarita, Hasley Canyon, or Val Verde, take evacuation orders seriously when first responders say GO, leave immediately. Keep aware please dont risk lives," she wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter). The #CanyonFire is spreading fast under extreme heat & dry conditions near VenturaLA County line. If youre in Santa Clarita, Hasley Canyon, or Val Verde, take evacuation orders seriously when first responders say GO, leave immediately. Keep awareplease dont risk lives. pic.twitter.com/2sHfVG63pq Supervisor Kathryn Barger (@kathrynbarger) August 7, 2025 The city of Santa Clarita remains on high alert, with emergency officials urging residents to avoid affected zones until further notice. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Meanwhile, another major blaze, known as the Gifford Fire, continues to burn northwest of the region, in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, and has already engulfed nearly 100,000 acres. With continued extreme heat and dry conditions forecast in the coming days, the National Weather Service has warned that the situation could become more complex and dangerous across Southern California. Location : California, USA First Published: August 09, 2025, 03:13 IST News world Canyon Fire Burns Over 5,000 Acres Near LA, Air Quality Declines Sharply Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... China's Arch Rival Eyes India's Akash-1S That Downed Pakistani Missiles In Operation Sindoor Curated By : Translation Desk Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 11:39 IST The Akash-1S proved its mettle during a tense military exchange with Pakistan when it shot down a Fateh-1, a guided rocket developed by Pakistans National Development Complex Akash-1S is a medium-range surface-to-air missile system designed for rapid interception of aerial threats. (PTI Photo) A combat-tested Indian missile system that exposed the vulnerabilities of Pakistans Fateh-1 rockets during Operation Sindoor is now being considered by the Philippines, Chinas maritime rival, for its own defence arsenal. The Akash-1S, a homegrown surface-to-air missile deployed with deadly precision during Indias counter-offensive against Pakistan in earlier this year, has caught Philippines attention as it looks to strengthen its air defences amid rising tensions in the South China Sea. Indias defence export ambitions, once modest, have gained serious momentum. With the BrahMos cruise missile already on multiple countries shopping lists, the Akash-1S has emerged as the next major contender. Designed to neutralise fast-moving aerial threats, the missiles proven success in live combat has made it a serious option for countries facing hostile neighbours, whether its Pakistan or China. Recommended Stories The Akash-1S proved its mettle during a tense military exchange with Pakistan when it shot down a Fateh-1, a guided rocket developed by Pakistans National Development Complex. Known for its stealthy profile and 140-km range, the Fateh-1 was intercepted mid-air by Akash at an altitude of 5 km, an achievement India later showcased with the debris of the downed missile. Now, the Philippines, which has been trying to shore up its defence capabilities amid repeated confrontations with China in the South China Sea, wants the same Akash system to bolster its own missile shield. If a deal goes through, it could mark another strategic milestone in Indias defence diplomacy, arming a country locked in direct military friction with China. Why The Akash-1S Matters Akash-1S is a medium-range surface-to-air missile system designed for rapid interception of aerial threats. It can strike targets up to 45 km away and at altitudes of up to 20 km, making it ideal for engaging low-flying cruise missiles, drones, and short-range ballistic rockets. The system uses an indigenous active radio-frequency seeker, a feature that enhances its accuracy against fast, evasive targets. Supporting this is the Rajendra phased-array radar, capable of tracking 64 targets and guiding 12 missiles at once, giving the system the ability to neutralise threats from multiple directions simultaneously. Akashs utility against ballistic and guided rockets has gained global attention. Its deployment during Operation Sindoor, a military campaign that involved high-altitude missile duels with Pakistan, marked a breakthrough moment for Indian air defence technology. Philippines vs China top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all The Philippines currently uses the SPYDER missile defence system developed by Israeli firms Rafael and IAI. While capable, it is largely short to medium range, using Python-5 and Derby missiles. Adding Akash-1S to its arsenal would give the country an extra layer of defence, particularly against drones and rocket attacks, capabilities seen as essential amid increasing Chinese aggression near its western maritime borders. For India, the interest from the Philippines comes as validation of its shifting role from major arms importer to emerging exporter. It also raises the stakes in the Indo-Pacific region, where alliances are increasingly being shaped not just by diplomacy, but by defence deals. First Published: August 08, 2025, 11:39 IST News world China's Arch Rival Eyes India's Akash-1S That Downed Pakistani Missiles In Operation Sindoor Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... DoJ Investigates New York Attorney General Letitia James Over Trump Fraud Lawsuit Curated By : Trending Desk Last Updated: August 09, 2025, 00:05 IST The civil fraud case involving Trump dates back to 2023, when James filed and won a lawsuit against Trump. An attorney for James has strongly condemned the investigation (Image: Attorney General Office) The Justice Department (DoJ) has launched a probe into New York Attorney General Letitia James, CNN reported, citing sources familiar with the case. The investigation seeks to determine whether James office violated the rights of US President Donald Trump during the handling of a civil fraud lawsuit against him. James, a Democrat, has been issued two subpoenas. In addition to the Trump-related civil fraud probe, she is also being investigated over her offices handling of a separate case involving the National Rifle Association (NRA). Recommended Stories The civil fraud case involving Trump dates back to 2023, when James filed and won a lawsuit against Trump and his companies. The suit alleged that Trump and his executive team engaged in fraudulent business practices by inflating the value of his businesses and the market worth of his real estate holdings in both New York and Florida. Despite denying any wrongdoing, Trump and his eldest sons were found liable for 10 years of fraud. The court imposed a fine exceeding $500 million, including interest. Announcing the ruling, Judge Arthur Engoron stated that the frauds shock the conscience." Trump has consistently criticised both Engoron and James, labelling the Attorney Generals actions as politically motivated" and accusing her of being a racist." The second probe into James concerns her offices legal action against the NRA and its leadership. James had previously sought the dissolution of the NRA, a request that was ultimately rejected by the court. However, in 2024, she secured a legal victory against NRA leader Wayne LaPierre. A jury found LaPierre guilty of diverting millions of dollars from the organisation to fund his personal lifestyle. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all While the DoJ has not publicly commented on the subpoenas, an attorney for James has strongly condemned the investigation, calling it a dangerous escalation" and the most blatant and desperate example of this administration carrying out the presidents political retribution campaign." Abbe Lowell added, Weaponising the Department of Justice to try to punish an elected official for doing her job is an attack on the rule of law and a dangerous escalation by this administration." Location : New York, United States of America (USA) First Published: August 09, 2025, 00:05 IST News world DoJ Investigates New York Attorney General Letitia James Over Trump Fraud Lawsuit Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... 10 Dead, 33 Missing As Flash Floods Wreak Havoc In Chinas Gansu Province Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 16:43 IST Flash floods in China's Gansu province, killed 10 and left 33 missing. Torrential rains caused floods and landslides, disrupting services. A view of the flooded accident and emergency department of a hospital during heavy rains, in Hong Kong, China on August 5, 2025. (Image: Reuters) At least 10 people lost their lives and 33 remain missing after flash floods swept through parts of Chinas northwestern Gansu province, Chinese state media reported on Friday. Triggered by torrential rains since Thursday, the floods and at least one landslide struck mountainous areas of Yuzhong County near Lanzhou city. Recommended Stories According to news agency Associated Press, rain also disrupted electricity and telecommunication services in the Xinglong mountain region, cutting off more than 4,000 residents across four villages. In the wake of the situation, Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for all-out" rescue efforts. The disaster in Gansu comes amid record-breaking rainfall across several parts of China. In the southern province of Guangdong, authorities are battling some of the heaviest August rains since the 19th century. Urban streets have been inundated, roads damaged, trees toppled, and underground cables exposed as teams work to clear debris and pump out floodwaters. The heavy downpour also disrupted air travel, with over 360 flights cancelled and more than 300 delayed at Guangzhous Baiyun Airport on Wednesday, according to Reuters. The stagnant floodwaters have raised public health concerns, with over 7,000 cases of chikungunyaa mosquito-borne illnessalready reported in Guangdong. Health authorities warn of further outbreaks as breeding conditions worsen. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all China has been grappling with weeks of extreme weather since July. The East Asian monsoon has stalled over the northern and southern regions, bringing prolonged rainfall that experts attribute to climate change. The resulting floods have displaced thousands, devastated farmland, and threatened infrastructure worth billions. In response, Beijing has allocated over 1 billion yuan (approximately $139 million) in disaster relief funds for hard-hit provinces including Gansu, Guangdong, Hebei, and Inner Mongolia. About the Author Manisha Roy Manisha Roy is a Senior Sub-Editor at News18.com's general desk. She comes with an experience of over 5 years in media industry. She covers politics and other hard news. She can be contacted at Manisha.Roy@nw18... Read More Manisha Roy is a Senior Sub-Editor at News18.com's general desk. She comes with an experience of over 5 years in media industry. She covers politics and other hard news. She can be contacted at Manisha.Roy@nw18... Read More Location : Beijing, China First Published: August 08, 2025, 16:40 IST News world 10 Dead, 33 Missing As Flash Floods Wreak Havoc In Chinas Gansu Province Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... Germany Suspends Arms Export To Israel, Netanyahu Slams Move As Reward For Hamas Curated By : Trending Desk Last Updated: August 09, 2025, 01:48 IST The German chancellor reaffirmed his support for Israels right to defend itself against Hamas terror. Germanys decision marks a significant policy shift in Israel-Palestine conflict (Image: Instagram) The Israel-Palestine conflict took a new turn on Thursday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announcing plans to take full control over the Gaza Strip. His statement sparked widespread condemnation from international organisations and several foreign governments. Germany has also taken a firm stance against Israels ongoing military operations, announcing the suspension of arms exports that could be used in Gaza. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz stated on Friday that Berlin would no longer authorise the export of military equipment that could be deployed in the Gaza Strip. The even harsher military action by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip, approved last night by the Israeli Security Cabinet, makes it increasingly difficult, from the German governments perspective, to see how these goals are to be achieved," Merz said in a press release. Recommended Stories Despite the export suspension, the German chancellor reaffirmed his support for Israels right to defend itself against Hamas terror," while also calling for the immediate release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza. The move reportedly drew a strong reaction from Netanyahu, who expressed his disappointment" in a direct phone call with Chancellor Merz. Instead of supporting Israels just war against Hamas, which carried out the most horrific attack against the Jewish people since the Holocaust, Germany is rewarding Hamas terrorism by embargoing arms to Israel," AFP quoted Netanyahus office as saying. Germanys decision marks a significant policy shift, especially given that Israel has relied heavily on German defence exports since the October 2023 Hamas attack. According to German government data released in June, Germany has provided Israel with a range of military equipment, including firearms, ammunition, electronic systems, and armoured vehicles. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Berlin now joins other Western nations, such as France, the United Kingdom, and Canada, in applying diplomatic and political pressure on Israel over the escalating humanitarian crisis in Gaza. These countries have called for an immediate ceasefire and a long-term political solution, with several of them moving toward recognising Palestinian statehood. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has also urged the Israeli government to reconsider its plans for an expanded military campaign in Gaza. Meanwhile, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer warned that Netanyahus plan to seize full control of Gaza would only bring more bloodshed." Location : Germany First Published: August 09, 2025, 01:48 IST News world Germany Suspends Arms Export To Israel, Netanyahu Slams Move As Reward For Hamas Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... 'Give The Bully An Inch...': Chinese Ambassador Hits Out At Trump Over 50% Tariffs On India Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 08:34 IST While China purchased 47 per cent of Russia's crude exports, followed by India at 38 per cent, in 2025, no additional tariff have been charged for China. US President Donald Trump has announced a 50% tariff on India (Image: Reuters/File) Chinese Ambassador to India, Xu Feihong, slammed US President Donald Trump on Thursday over the tariffs imposed by the US on other countries. In a post on X, Xu called it a weapon to suppress other countries. Give the bully an inch, and he will take a mile," the Chinese envoy to India wrote on X. Recommended Stories Using tariffs as a weapon to suppress other countries violates the UN Charter, undermines WTO rules and is both unpopular and unsustainable," he added. Meanwhile, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Guo Jiakun also criticised Trump on Thursday while responding to the reporters and called it abuse of tariffs." Chinas opposition to the abuse of tariffs is consistent and clear," said Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Guo Jiakun. According to data by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CERA) for June 2025, China purchased 47 per cent of Russias crude exports, followed by India at 38 per cent, the EU at 6 per cent and Turkiye at 6 per cent. CERA is an independent research organisation registered in Finland. While China and Turkiye buy a significant amount of oil from Russia, none of them have faced additional US tariffs tied to Russian oil or oil products. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Earlier on Wednesday, the MEA said, The United States has in recent days targeted Indias oil imports from Russia. We have already made clear our position on these issues, including the fact that our imports are based on market factors and done with the overall objective of ensuring the energy security of 1.4 billion people of India." It is therefore extremely unfortunate that the US should choose to impose additional tariffs on India for actions that several other countries are also taking in their own national interest. We reiterate that these actions are unfair, unjustified and unreasonable. India will take all actions necessary to protect its national interests," the MEA added. First Published: August 08, 2025, 07:44 IST News world 'Give The Bully An Inch...': Chinese Ambassador Hits Out At Trump Over 50% Tariffs On India Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... Goldy Brar To Lawrence Bishnoi: Gangsters At The Heart Of Canadas Khalistani Network | Exclusive Reported By : News18.com Edited By: Pragati Ratti Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 11:01 IST Khalistani-linked networks in Canada are said to be engaged in extortion, drug smuggling, terror financing, and even real estate investments. Follow us on: Goldy Brar, a key figure in the Khalistani terror network, along with his associates, allegedly masterminded these attacks. File pic/X A string of recent attacks targeting Indo-Canadian individuals and businesses in British Columbia and Ontario has drawn renewed attention to the growing nexus between pro-Khalistani extremist groups and organised crime syndicates, according to top intelligence sources tracking these developments. Officials say outfits such as Babbar Khalsa International (BKI) and the Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF) are increasingly relying on gangsters like Lawrence Bishnoi, Goldy Brar, and Arsh Dalla to execute their operations. While these incidents have involved violence, intelligence inputs suggest the primary intent has been to damage property and intimidate targets, rather than to cause fatalities. Recommended Stories Criminal-Terror Nexus The intelligence dossier reviewed by CNN-News18 points to a hybrid operational model. These Khalistani-linked networks are said to be engaged in extortion, drug smuggling, terror financing, and even real estate investments. Coordinated attacks and intimidation campaigns are reportedly funded through hawala channels, with money moving from India to hubs like Canada and Thailand. Goldy Brar, Arsh Dalla, and Lawrence Bishnoi are believed to be the key players orchestrating the extortion rackets and financing radical activities abroad. Canadian soil, sources say, continues to serve as a staging ground for planning and fundraising by Khalistani extremists a fact officially acknowledged by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS). Reluctance to Act New Delhi has repeatedly handed over lists of wanted individuals, including Brar and Dalla, seeking extradition or prosecution. However, Indian security officials privately express frustration at what they see as Ottawas weak enforcement," attributing the lack of action to domestic political considerations, including the voting strength of the Sikh diaspora in key constituencies. Pattern of Intimidation The strategy, sources say, revolves around targeted shootings, threats, and extortion calls aimed at high-profile Indo-Canadians, with the goal of establishing dominance and spreading fear within the community. Recent Incidents top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Kaps Cafe, Surrey, BC On August 8, 2025, the cafe was shot at, leaving six bullet holes and shattered windows. The attack came less than a month after a similar incident. Harjit Singh Laddi, linked to BKI, had earlier claimed responsibility. Brampton, Ontario In May 2025, three Indo-Canadians allegedly fired shots inside a vacant business while demanding extortion money. Fraser Valley, BC In 2023, extortion letters demanding protection money" were circulated among South Asian businesses, traced back to Indian-origin gangs. Security officials warn that unless there is stronger international cooperation, the blend of organised crime and separatist extremism in Canada will remain a potent threat to Indo-Canadian safety. About the Author Manoj Gupta Group Editor, Investigations & Security Affairs, Network18 Group Editor, Investigations & Security Affairs, Network18 view comments First Published: August 08, 2025, 11:01 IST News world Goldy Brar To Lawrence Bishnoi: Gangsters At The Heart Of Canadas Khalistani Network | Exclusive Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy '1929 Again...': Trump Warns Of Great Depression If US Courts Rule Against Tariffs Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 22:33 IST Trump said billions of dollars are coming into the US coffers and warned of a '1929-style Great Depression' if the court rules against tariffs The US President said there is no way America could recover from such a judicial tragedy. (Image: Reuters/File) US President Donald Trump on Friday defended his move to impose tariffs, saying they have a huge positive impact on the stock market and billions of dollars are coming into the US coffers. However, Trump warned of a 1929-style Great Depression if the court rules against tariffs. If a Radical Left Court ruled against us at this late date, in an attempt to bring down or disturb the largest amount of money, wealth creation and influence the U.S.A. has ever seen, it would be impossible to ever recover, or pay back, these massive sums of money and honor. It would be 1929 all over again, a GREAT DEPRESSION! If they were going to rule against the wealth, strength, and power of America, they should have done so LONG AGO, at the beginning of the case, where our entire Country, while never having a chance at this kind of GREATNESS again, would not have been put in 1929 style jeopardy," he wrote on Truth Social. Recommended Stories The US President said there is no way America could recover from such a judicial tragedy. But I know our Court System better than anyone, there is no one in history that has gone through the trials, tribulations and uncertainties such as I, and absolutely terrible, but also amazingly beautiful, things can happen," he added. Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has announced a slew of new tariffs, seeking to force a reordering of global trade that he has long claimed is biased against the United States. In addition to sweeping tariffs invoked under declarations of economic emergencies, he has also instituted sectoral tariffs of between 25 per cent and 50 per cent on steel and other items. Average US Tariffs Now Highest Since 1910s: WTO, IMF The US tariff rate now averages 20.1 per cent, the highest level since the early 1910s except for a brief spike earlier this year after new duties took effect Thursday, WTO and IMF data showed Friday. The figure, calculated by the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), stands in contrast with the 2.4 per cent rate in force at the time of President Donald Trumps inauguration on January 20. Trumps April 2 announcement of reciprocal" tariffs on the United States main trading partners and subsequent escalations, particularly on Chinese goods, briefly drove the average rate to 24.8 per cent in May, a figure unseen since 1904, according to data from the United States International Trade Commission. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all A trade truce" brought down sky-high tariff levels that the United States and China had imposed upon one another, but that is set to expire next week. (With AFP inputs) About the Author Saurabh Verma Saurabh Verma covers general, national and international day-to-day news for News18.com as a Senior Sub-editor. He keenly observes politics. You can follow him on Twitter --twitter.com/saurabhkverma19 Saurabh Verma covers general, national and international day-to-day news for News18.com as a Senior Sub-editor. He keenly observes politics. You can follow him on Twitter --twitter.com/saurabhkverma19 Location : Washington D.C., United States of America (USA) First Published: August 08, 2025, 20:39 IST News world '1929 Again...': Trump Warns Of Great Depression If US Courts Rule Against Tariffs Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... Tantrum: Democrats In US House Foreign Affairs Panel Back India Ties, Call Out Trump Tariffs Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 10:59 IST Voices have grown in the Republican and Democratic parties in the US over Trump's decision to impose 50% tariffs on India. India-US tensions: Republicans and Democrats fear strained ties over tariffs (Reuters Image) Democrats in the US House Foreign Affairs Committee, which oversees Americas foreign policy and international relations, have come out in support of India and questioned President Donald Trumps continued tirade over New Delhis purchase of Russian oil. The Democratic leaders in the Committee in the US House of Representatives have called out Trumps tariff tantrum", while noting that it risks the years of careful work" that were put in to improve ties between the two nations. Recommended Stories The US House Foreign Affairs Committee is a congressional body that oversees and legislates on matters related to the nations foreign policy, international relations, and foreign aid programmes. Voices Grow In US Against Trumps Tirade Trumps announcement of 50% tariffs on Indian imports has also brought traditional rivals Republicans and Democrats on the same page, as various leaders from both parties expressed concerns over his move that they feared could potentially push New Delhi towards Beijing and jeopardise Washingtons strong ties with the rising Asian economy. While the Republican leaders highlighted that India is the world player" of the future, Democrats reminded the President of the years of hard work put in to build stronger India-US ties. This comes after Trump, on August 6, announced an additional 25% tariffs on Indian imports besides the 25% levies announced on August 4. This prompted a strong response from New Delhi, which termed the tariffs as unjustified" and extremely unfortunate". Trump has also indicated that trade negotiations with India will be put on hold until the issue of New Delhis energy purchase from Moscow is resolved", in yet another move against India. Democrats React To Trumps Tariffs On India Gregory Meeks, a Democratic representative from New York since 1998, cited the deep" ties between the two countries and asked the Trump administration to address its concerns in a mutually respectful way". RM @RepGregoryMeeks: Trumps latest tariff tantrum risks years of careful work to build a stronger US-India partnership.We have deep strategic, economic, and people-to-people ties. Concerns should be addressed in a mutually respectful way consistent with our democratic values. https://t.co/T2GTZGKYAS House Foreign Affairs Committee Dems (@HouseForeign) August 7, 2025 Trumps latest tariff tantrum risks years of careful work to build a stronger US-India partnership. We have deep strategic, economic, and people-to-people ties. Concerns should be addressed in a mutually respectful way consistent with our democratic values," Democrats in the House Foreign Affairs Committee quoted Meeks as saying on X. Michael McFaul, a Democratic leader who is a former US Ambassador to Russia and Professor at Stanford University, questioned Trumps decision to slap 25% additional tariffs on India and not do the same with China, which imports the same in greater quantity than its Asian competitor. Why Trump is imposing a 25% tariff on Indian goods because India imports Russian oil but NOT doing the same to Chinese goods even though China imports more Russia oil demands an explanation. Can someone ask somebody in the Trump administration for an explanation? Michael McFaul (@McFaul) August 6, 2025 Why Trump is imposing a 25% tariff on Indian goods because India imports Russian oil but NOT doing the same to Chinese goods even though China imports more Russia oil demands an explanation. Can someone ask somebody in the Trump administration for an explanation?" he asked on X. Republicans On Trumps India Tariffs One of the most prominent voices within Trumps Republican Party was that of Nikki Haley, who pointed out that while tariffs have been imposed on India for Russian oil purchases, China has been given a 90-day tariff pause. She also urged Trump not to burn" the relationship with India. India should not be buying oil from Russia. But China, an adversary and the number one buyer of Russian and Iranian oil, got a 90-day tariff pause. Dont give China a pass and burn a relationship with a strong ally like India," she said on X. India should not be buying oil from Russia. But China, an adversary and the number one buyer of Russian and Iranian oil, got a 90-day tariff pause. Dont give China a pass and burn a relationship with a strong ally like India. Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) August 5, 2025 Former Republican Governor of the State of New Hampshire, Chris Sununu, told CNBC that tariffs on India have scared the American manufacturers the most. He advised Trump not to alienate the strongest ally of the United States in the region. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Former Republican Governor @ChrisSununu hits out at Trump over his tariff threats on India.He warns: Its not India thats worried, its American manufacturers who are panicking over these tariffs." India is set to become the next global powerhouse, alienating them is a pic.twitter.com/3WdrrlPD8v ???????????????????????????????? (@NarendraVictory) August 7, 2025 Tariffs on India are scaring American manufacturers the most. India is going to be a world player in the future. If youre dealing with others, then dont alienate your strongest ally, India," he said. About the Author Ashesh Mallick Ashesh Mallick is a Sub-Editor with over three years of experience in news writing, video production. He primarily covers national news, politics and global affairs. You can follow him on Twitter: @MallickAshes... Read More Ashesh Mallick is a Sub-Editor with over three years of experience in news writing, video production. He primarily covers national news, politics and global affairs. You can follow him on Twitter: @MallickAshes... Read More Location : Washington D.C., United States of America (USA) First Published: August 08, 2025, 10:03 IST News world Tantrum: Democrats In US House Foreign Affairs Panel Back India Ties, Call Out Trump Tariffs Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) has permanently dismissed the arbitration case filed by Gilward Investments B.V., a company linked to Ukrainian oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky, against Ukraine, due to non-payment of the arbitration fee, Ukraine's Ministry of Justice announced Friday. The lawsuit, initially filed in 2015 by Gilward Investments B.V., whose ultimate beneficial owners include Ihor Kolomoisky and Hryhoriy Hurtovy, sought approximately $700 million in damages. According to the Ministry, the claim was based on alleged unlawful actions by Ukrainian authorities that purportedly led to the bankruptcy of private airline AeroSvit. The plaintiffs cited restricted access to international flight routes, the allegedly unsubstantiated granting of exclusive rights to a competitor (Ukraine International Airlines), inaction by the State Property Fund as a shareholder, expropriation of land at Boryspil Airport, delays in VAT refunds, and interference in bankruptcy proceedings. In 2017, at Ukraine's request, the tribunal agreed to bifurcate the case into a jurisdictional phase and a merits phase. In April 2022, proceedings were suspended due to Russia's full-scale invasion, but resumed in May 2023. Working in close coordination with the State Aviation Service, Ukraine's Ministry of Justice and its legal counsel filed a response in March 2024 demonstrating that AeroSvit's bankruptcy resulted from internal financial insolvency, mismanagement, and actions by individuals connected to the claimant not from state interference. In 2024, the parties exchanged documents during the evidence disclosure phase. However, the Ministry noted that the claimant failed to disclose all the documents Ukraine had requested, despite a tribunal order to do so. In July 2024, the tribunal set a procedural schedule for the next steps. However, the claimant repeatedly sought extensions, citing lack of access to Kolomoisky, who was in Ukrainian custody at the time. The Ministry of Justice, in turn, submitted evidence that the claimant's legal representatives did have access to him. Despite these delays, the tribunal ordered both parties to pay a $150,000 arbitration fee by November 12, 2024. The claimant failed to make the payment, leading to the suspension of proceedings in January 2025 and their final termination shortly thereafter. Ukraine was represented in the case by international law firm Latham & Watkins LLP and national firm Sayenko Kharenko. Who Is Trump's Trade Adviser Peter Navarro? A Convicted Felon & Once Dubbed Moron By Musk Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 12:24 IST Trump's trade adviser Peter Navarro has accused India of using the American dollars to buy Russian oil, claiming that money is used by Moscow for its war in Ukraine. Peter Navarro is Donald Trump's chief trade adviser (Reuters Image) Amid ongoing tensions with India, Peter Navarro, Donald Trumps chief trade adviser, has accused New Delhi of using American dollars to buy Russian oil which is then, he claimed used by Moscow to wage a war in Ukraine. When confronted by a CNN reporter on why India was slapped with 50% tariffs for buying the Russian oil but not China, which buys more than its Asian competitor, Navarro confessed on camera that the US does not want to reach a point where we actually hurt ourselves". Recommended Stories He then patted on his back, stating that he had given a really good answer". As the boss says, lets see what happens. Keep in mind that we have over 50 percent tariffs on China already. So we dont want to get to the point where we actually hurt ourselves. We send a lot of dollars overseas to India to buy their products. India then uses American dollars to buy Russian oil. Russia then uses the American dollars that come from India to finance its armaments to kill Ukrainians," he told reporters. His answer was met with criticism online, where experts called out the duplicity of the United States. So, the policy is to hurt others but not themselves. What a cynical confession!" former Foreign Secretary of India, Kanwal Sibal, tweeted. So, the policy is to hurt others but not themselves. What a cynical confession! https://t.co/zZQ9BOTVIz Kanwal Sibal (@KanwalSibal) August 7, 2025 top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Who Is Peter Navarro? Navarro is the chief trade adviser to Donald Trump and a driving force behind the trade war with China and tariffs across the world. He is a convicted felon who served four months of a jail term for attempting to overturn the 2020 Presidential election results. After Trump lost the election to Biden that year, Navarro claimed that it was rigged and tried to delay its approval. He refused to cooperate with a congressional committee investigating the January 6 Capitol Riot and was found guilty of ignoring subpoenas from the committee. He has a masters degree in public administration and a PhD in Economics from Harvard. He taught Economics at universities in San Diego and researched public utilities before becoming a professor of Economics and Public Policy at UCI in 1989. He ran as a Democrat for positions such as San Diego mayor and US Congress; however, he lost. During the 2016 presidential race, Trump reportedly asked his son-in-law Jared Kushner to carry out a research to bolster his views on China. Kushner then came across Navarros book Death By China online, after which Navarro was taken on board, where he was hired as the campaigns trade advisor, The Guardian reported. He played a key role in economic policy, the COVID pandemic, and the bid to overturn the 2020 polls. He has emerged more influential than ever in Trumps second term, even after his conviction months ago. Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who played a key role in Trump 2.0 as the DOGE chief, had earlier described Navarro as dumber than a sack of bricks", adding that he was truly a moron". Navarro is truly a moron. What he says here is demonstrably false. Tesla has the most American-made cars. Navarro is dumber than a sack of bricks," Musk said on X on April 8 this year. About the Author Ashesh Mallick Ashesh Mallick is a Sub-Editor with over three years of experience in news writing, video production. He primarily covers national news, politics and global affairs. You can follow him on Twitter: @MallickAshes... Read More Ashesh Mallick is a Sub-Editor with over three years of experience in news writing, video production. He primarily covers national news, politics and global affairs. You can follow him on Twitter: @MallickAshes... Read More Location : United States of America (USA) First Published: August 08, 2025, 12:21 IST News world Who Is Trump's Trade Adviser Peter Navarro? A Convicted Felon & Once Dubbed Moron By Musk Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... Israel To 'Free Gaza From Hamas, Not Occupy It': Netanyahu After Backlash Over War Plan Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 22:43 IST Netanyahus remarks comes following growing criticism after Israels security cabinet approved a new military plan that includes taking control of Gaza A file photo of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (AP) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday that Israels goal is not to occupy Gaza but to free" it from Hamas and support the creation of a peaceful civilian government. His comments came during a phone call with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, according to a statement from the prime ministers office posted on X. Netanyahus remarks also comes following growing criticism after Israels security cabinet approved a new military plan that includes taking control of Gaza City. The announcement drew backlash from both domestic and international quarters. Recommended Stories We are not going to occupy Gaza we are going to free Gaza from Hamas," Netanyahu said. Gaza will be demilitarized, and a peaceful civilian administration will be established, one that is not the Palestinian Authority, not Hamas, and not any other terrorist organization. This will help free our hostages and ensure Gaza does not pose a threat to Israel in the future." We are not going to occupy Gaza we are going to free Gaza from Hamas.Gaza will be demilitarized, and a peaceful civilian administration will be established, one that is not the Palestinian Authority, not Hamas, and not any other terrorist organization. This will help free Benjamin Netanyahu (@netanyahu) August 8, 2025 Netanyahu also voiced his disappointment to Merz during the call over Germanys decision to suspend weapons exports to Israel. Instead of supporting Israels just war against Hamas, which carried out the most horrific attack against the Jewish people since the Holocaust, Germany is rewarding Hamas terrorism by embargoing arms to Israel," his office stated. The updated plan to defeat" Hamas includes Israeli forces taking control of Gaza City. Netanyahus government also outlined five principles for Gazas future, including demilitarisation and the creation of an alternative civil authority. Netanyahu had told told Fox News that Israel does not intend to govern Gaza long-term but wants to establish a security perimeter" and hand over control to Arab forces capable of maintaining stability. The plan sparked strong criticism globally. China, Turkey, Britain, several Arab countries, and the United Nations Human Rights Chief voiced concern. Hamas called the move a new war crime". Meanwhile, in a significant policy shift, Germany halted military exports to Israel, citing concerns over their potential use in Gaza. Chancellor Friedrich Merz said it was increasingly difficult to understand" how Israels latest actions support its stated goals. The German government will not authorise any exports of military equipment that could be used in the Gaza Strip until further notice," Merz said. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Last month, the Israeli army had claimed that it now controls around 75 percent of the Gaza Strip. Israel previously occupied Gaza from 1967 until its withdrawal in 2005. (With inputs from AFP) About the Author News Desk The News Desk is a team of passionate editors and writers who break and analyse the most important events unfolding in India and abroad. From live updates to exclusive reports to in-depth explainers, the Desk d... Read More The News Desk is a team of passionate editors and writers who break and analyse the most important events unfolding in India and abroad. From live updates to exclusive reports to in-depth explainers, the Desk d... Read More Location : Israel First Published: August 08, 2025, 22:40 IST News world Israel To 'Free Gaza From Hamas, Not Occupy It': Netanyahu After Backlash Over War Plan Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... Israeli Security Cabinet Approves Benjamin Netanyahu's Plan To Occupy Gaza City: Report Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 08:49 IST Israels security cabinet has approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus plan for the IDF to take control of Gaza City, aiming to defeat Hamas. A file photo of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (AP) Israels security cabinet has approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus proposal for the occupation of Gaza City, CNN quoted the Prime Ministers Office as saying on Friday. The IDF (Israel Defense Forces) will prepare for the takeover of Gaza City while ensuring the provision of humanitarian aid to the civilian population outside the combat zones," the office said, according to the report. Recommended Stories An overwhelming majority of cabinet ministers believed that the alternative plan presented would neither achieve Hamass defeat nor bring back the hostages," it quoted the office as saying. More details of the plan were yet to be revealed. On Thursday, Netanyahu had said that Israel does not want to annexe or occupy Gaza. He has said his countrys sole aim was to destroy Hamas and hand over the strip to a transitory government. During an interaction with journalists, the Prime Minister also said that Israel wants to take control of Gazas security after ending the war as soon as possible, adding that over two million tonnes of food were sent to Gaza, but the supplies were interdicted". Our plan is not to occupy or annexe Gaza. Our goal is to destroy Hamas and get our hostages back, and then hand over Gaza to a transitory government," Netanyahu said. We will never hand it (Gaza) over to the Palestinian Authority or Hamas. We will provide overall security. There will be a security perimeter provided by us," he said. We want to end the war very soon. It will be over speedily. If Hamas concedes and lays down its arms and frees hostages, it will be over tomorrow. Even Palestinians in Gaza are fighting Hamas," the Israeli Prime Minister had said. However, later, Netanyahu said that Israel intends to take control of the entire Gaza Strip to remove Hamas and ensure the countrys security, before handing it over to an unspecified Arab governing force, Fox News reported. Ahead of a key cabinet meeting on the next stage of the Gaza war, Netanyahu stressed that Israel does not plan to retain civilian governance over the territory. We intend to, in order to assure our security, remove Hamas there, enable the population to be free of Gaza, and to pass it civilian governance," Netanyahu said as per Fox News. We dont want to keep it. We want to have a security perimeter, but we dont want to govern it. We dont want to be there as a governing body," Netanyahu added. The Israeli Prime Minister said a detailed plan" would be drawn up for a post-Hamas government in Gaza, with no role for the Palestinian Authority, according to the report. We want to hand it over to Arab forces that will govern it properly, without threatening us, and giving the Gazans a good life," he said. The Israeli Prime Ministers comments came amid increasing international criticism of his government over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, as an estimated 60,000 people were killed in the Israeli military offensive in the last 22 months. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Israel launched the war in Gaza after Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, which killed about 1,200 people. Hamas also took 251 people as hostages. ALSO READ | Worked Very Well: Netanyahu Lauds Israeli Weapons Used By India In Op Sindoor About the Author Vani Mehrotra Vani Mehrotra is the Deputy News Editor at News18.com. She has nearly 10 years of experience in both national and international news and has previously worked on multiple desks. Vani Mehrotra is the Deputy News Editor at News18.com. She has nearly 10 years of experience in both national and international news and has previously worked on multiple desks. First Published: August 08, 2025, 08:37 IST News world Israeli Security Cabinet Approves Benjamin Netanyahu's Plan To Occupy Gaza City: Report Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... JD Vance Rejects Palestinian Statehood, Points To US-UK Differences On Gaza Curated By : Trending Desk Last Updated: August 09, 2025, 01:04 IST Vances comments come amid a shifting stance in parts of Europe regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Vance is currently in the UK on an official visit with his wife (IMAGE: AFP) US Vice President JD Vance has ruled out any possibility of the United States recognising statehood for Palestine. His remarks came during a meeting with British Foreign Secretary David Lammy in the United Kingdom on Friday. Speaking to reporters, Vance clarified the US position on Palestinian statehood, firmly stating that recognition is not on the table. The bilateral meeting between the senior US and UK officials was held at Chevening House, the official country residence of the British foreign secretary. Alongside the topic of Palestine, discussions also covered global economic concerns and Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Recommended Stories Vances comments come amid a shifting stance in parts of Europe regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The United Kingdom recently announced its intention to recognise a Palestinian state, joining a growing list of Western nations, including France, Ireland, Spain, Norway, and Canada, seeking a diplomatic resolution. Germany, a long-time ally of Israel, has also signalled a shift, announcing plans to suspend military supplies to Israel in response to the humanitarian situation in Gaza. In this context, Vance emphasised the United States divergent stance. While acknowledging that the US and UK have disagreements" on how to approach the crisis in Gaza, he noted that both nations share a common" objective to end the war. I dont know what it would mean to really recognise a Palestinian state, given the lack of functional government there," Vance said. The Vice President added, Theres a lot of common objectives here. There is some, I think, disagreement about how exactly to accomplish those common objectives, but look, its a tough situation." He continued, Our goals are very clear. We want to make it so that Hamas cant attack innocent people. We want to solve humanitarian problems in Gaza." top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Vance is currently in the UK on an official visit with his wife, participating in a series of diplomatic meetings and cultural engagements, according to Reuters. His remarks follow growing international criticism of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus handling of the Gaza war. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has also called on Israel to reconsider its ongoing occupation in Gaza, asserting that a ceasefire is urgently needed. She further demanded the release of hostages held in inhumane conditions." Location : London, United Kingdom (UK) First Published: August 09, 2025, 01:04 IST News world JD Vance Rejects Palestinian Statehood, Points To US-UK Differences On Gaza Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... Khalistan A Religious Term: Decoding UK Bodys Nod To Separatist Signage At Gurdwara | Exclusive Reported By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 19:29 IST The panel said the Khalistan boards did not promote material calling for a political state. Intelligence sources say the ruling overlooks global precedents on political extremism Khalistan Board in UK gurudwara not a brech of guidance, says watchdog (Image: Representative) The UK charity regulators clean chit to the display of Khalistan boards at a prominent gurdwara in southeast England is being seen as biased and inconsistent, said intelligence sources. Disregarding security intelligence from India concerning Khalistani radicalisation, the Charity Commission on Thursday said that while its wider probe into Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha in Slough remains ongoing, the specific issue of the Khalistan signage does not amount to a breach of its political campaigning guidelines. Recommended Stories Based on a 2019 complaint and as as part of governance concerns, the independent watchdog was asked to review the complex and sensitive" issue of Khalistan banners or plaques being displayed at the gurdwara. Five years after the issue was flagged, the UKs commission has decided that the boards can stay, noting that the word Khalistan" has an important religious meaning, while it is a political term for some. The panel concluded that the charity was acting within its religious objectives, as the Khalistan boards did not promote material calling for a political state. Sources said the ruling overlooks global precedents on political extremism. In the West, Islamist or pro-Palestinian activism is often preemptively restricted or heavily penalised, even without direct incitement. Khalistan separatist symbolism receiving regulatory approval in the UK reveals a clear double standard," they said. How have other countries handled such cases? Europe and the USA have firmly handled similar or less significant cases of Islamist or pro-Palestinian activism. In Berlin and other cities, police prohibited multiple pro-Palestinian marches in 2023, citing fears of inciting violence. The French Interior Ministry suspended all pro-Palestinian protests nationwide in October 2023, citing public order concerns Nearly 100 activists were arrested in 2024 for targeting companies linked to Israel, including 55 in London alone. Police in Amsterdam arrested over 210 protesters from a pro-Palestinian university occupation, citing property damage and public safety. Around 17 pro-Palestinian students were arrested for occupying administrative offices. At the University of Texas at Austin, 79 protesters were arrested for a sit-in demanding a Gaza ceasefire. Spanish authorities blocked pro-Palestinian demonstrations in sensitive areas, citing risks of extremist infiltration. Belgian police disrupted Islamist-linked rallies based on intelligence inputs during festival times Italian municipalities restricted public Islamic gatherings due to foreign funding concerns Canadian police charged individuals for waving ISIS flags or displaying extremist Islamist symbols in public rallies but ignored Khalistanis. The German government ordered a raid and shutdown of the Islamic Centre in Hamburg known as the Blue Mosque in February 2025, accusing it of promoting Iranian-influenced Islamism A town council in Spain passed an ordinance in August 2025 banning Muslim rituals like Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha from public facilities, allowing celebrations only when organized by local authorities top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Germany banned Arabic slogans at pro-Palestinian protests in February 2025. With Agency Inputs About the Author Manoj Gupta Group Editor, Investigations & Security Affairs, Network18 Group Editor, Investigations & Security Affairs, Network18 First Published: August 08, 2025, 19:26 IST News world Khalistan A Religious Term: Decoding UK Bodys Nod To Separatist Signage At Gurdwara | Exclusive Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... Narcotics & Terror: ISIKhalistani Nexus Expanding In Western Countries, Warn Sources | Exclusive Reported By : News18.com Edited By: Pragati Ratti Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 16:14 IST According to a dossier accessed by CNN-News18, the nexus spans funding, arms and narcotics trafficking, and coordinated campaigns aimed at destabilising Indian interests abroad. Protestors of the Khalistan movement demonstrate outside of the Indian High Commission in London, Wednesday, March 22, 2023. (AP Photo) Top Indian intelligence sources have warned of a deepening nexus between Pakistans Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Khalistani extremist groups operating in major diaspora hubs across the West. According to a classified dossier accessed by CNN-News18, the collaboration spans funding, arms smuggling, narcotics trafficking, and coordinated propaganda campaigns aimed at destabilising Indian interests abroad. Sources say that the Khalistani movement, which waned in India after the 1990s, has found fresh ground in countries such as Canada, the US, and the UK a resurgence fuelled by Sikh migration after 1984. These diaspora hubs, intelligence officials note, are now being exploited by ISI to provide tactical support to outfits like Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF), and Sikhs for Justice (SFJ). Recommended Stories Joint Operations and Digital Coordination Top intelligence sources confirm that Khalistani and ISI operatives have conducted joint operations in the UK, including attacks on Indian diplomatic missions such as the vandalism at the Indian High Commission in London in March 2025. According to the dossier, ISI handlers based in Pakistan are using new-age technology to coordinate activities digitally from safe zones, with operations ranging from cyber propaganda to real-world sabotage. The intelligence assessment highlights that Khalistan referendums held abroad between 2021 and 2024 were largely orchestrated by SFJ, with significant ISI funding and cyber support. Sources say these campaigns are framed as democratic dissent" to exploit Western legal protections, complicating Indias counter-terror diplomacy. Narcotics, Money Laundering, and Charities Investigations cited by top intelligence officials reveal a lucrative narcotics pipeline involving Pakistani suppliers and Khalistani logistical controllers, often using trucking networks in North America. Between 2023 and 2025, authorities in the US seized 8 kg of fentanyl linked to the network, while Canadian police busted a $48 million cocaine operation with clear ISIKLF ties. In 2025, Canadian authorities also dismantled a drug-financed laundering network funnelling proceeds through religious charities, with several transport companies found to have direct links to Khalistani groups and ISI. Surveillance, according to intelligence sources, uncovered encrypted chats discussing both weapon transfers and funding for anti-India street protests. Violence and Targeted Killings Top intelligence officials further allege that ISI has been sharing targeting information with Khalistani extremists for attacks on Sikh moderates in the West. The FBIs 2025 arrest of Harpreet Singh and associates in California exposed a plot involving ISI intelligence inputs. This, sources say, is part of a broader plan combining physical violence, cyber operations, and psychological warfare against Indian interests. Political and Legal Shields According to intelligence sources, the reluctance of Western governments particularly in Canada and the UK to act decisively is partly due to the electoral clout of the Sikh diaspora. Canada, for instance, has 15 Sikh MPs, some of whom have opposed Indian extradition requests and resisted moves to crack down on radical elements. British intelligence agencies, MI5, and law enforcement have also flagged a direct overlap between pro-Khalistan activists and pro-ISI Islamist actors during riots and embassy attacks. Sources add that Khalistani organisations are increasingly exploiting Western legal systems to sue Indian officials, delay extraditions, and stall investigations often with indirect legal guidance from ISI-linked advisers. Coordinated Disinformation Campaigns top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Indian agencies, according to top intelligence sources, have traced multiple ISI-backed servers hosting anti-India disinformation networks. Many of these are run by the Pakistani militarys media wing, ISPR, and rely on bot networks to amplify Khalistan-related propaganda. The dossier concludes with a warning: continued inaction by Western allies could endanger Indian diplomatic missions, threaten diaspora security, and allow narcotics-linked terror financing to flourish unchecked. About the Author Manoj Gupta Group Editor, Investigations & Security Affairs, Network18 Group Editor, Investigations & Security Affairs, Network18 First Published: August 08, 2025, 16:14 IST News world Narcotics & Terror: ISIKhalistani Nexus Expanding In Western Countries, Warn Sources | Exclusive Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... Ontario Man Charged With Murder Of 21-Year-Old Indian Student In Canada Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 08:10 IST 32-year-old man was charged with first-degree murder for the stray bullet that killed Indian student Harsimrat Randhawa, a Mohawk College student, at a bus stop in Canada. Representative Image The man who fired the stray bullet that killed 21-year-old Indian student Harsimrat Randhawa in Canada has been arrested and charged with first-degree murder, an official said. Hamilton Police apprehended 32-year-old Jerdaine Foster at Niagara Falls in Ontario on Tuesday. He has also been charged with three counts of attempted murder, CBC News quoted Acting Det-Sgt Daryl Reid as saying at a news conference. Recommended Stories Randhawa, a second-year physiotherapy student at Mohawk College, was struck by a stray bullet while standing near a bus stop at the intersection of Upper James Street and South Bend Road on April 17. She later died in the hospital from her injuries. Reports indicate that Randhawa had just gotten off the bus and was waiting to cross the street when she was hit by the bullet. The shooting stemmed from a dispute involving at least seven individuals in four cars. Shots were exchanged between the vehicles, with at least two firearms involved, according to the report. Harsimrat was an innocent bystander," the report quoted Reid as saying on Thursday, She was simply trying to make her way home from a local gym when she was struck and killed." No other arrests have been made in the case. The investigation is still ongoing, and we will do everything in our power to identify, locate and arrest all these people that are involved in this death," Reid said. He added that Foster, who has ties to Hamilton, Halton and Niagara regions and lived in short-term rental properties, was previously known to police. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Soon after the incident in April, the Consulate General of India in Toronto issued a formal statement on social media platform X (formerly Twitter) expressing condolences and confirming coordination with Canadian authorities. We are deeply saddened by the tragic death of Indian student Harsimrat Randhawa in Hamilton, Ontario," the post read. As per local police, she was an innocent victim, fatally struck by a stray bullet during a shooting incident involving two vehicles. A homicide investigation is currently underway." Location : Canada First Published: August 08, 2025, 08:10 IST News world Ontario Man Charged With Murder Of 21-Year-Old Indian Student In Canada Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... Pakistan Seeks US', Global Support To Resolve Kashmir Issue: Welcome Any Help Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 23:33 IST Pakistan seeks US help for Kashmir dispute resolution, welcomes global assistance. India rejects third-party mediation, insists on dialogue about PoK and terrorism only. (Image: PTI/S Irfan) Pakistan on Friday again invoked the Kashmir dispute and said that it would welcome any help from the US or any other country towards the resolution of the decades-long issue. Responding to a question about the US interest in the Kashmir issue during his weekly briefing, Foreign Office spokesperson Shafqat Ali Khan said that Islamabad will welcome the help from any country that can help stabilise the situation, news agency PTI reported. Recommended Stories About the US interest in settlement of the Kashmir issue, we welcome help not only from the US but any country which can help stabilise the situation and move towards resolution of the Kashmir dispute, which is at the heart of issues of peace and security in South Asia. We will welcome that," Khan said as quoted by the news agency. Meanwhile, India maintains that it does not want any third-party involvement in its discussions with Pakistan. The Simla Agreement signed between the two countries in 1972 rejects any third-party mediation on the Kashmir dispute. Further responding to a question about any contact between Islamabad and New Delhi to resolve issues after the four-day conflict in May during operation Sindoor, Khan said there was no such contact. Our overall diplomatic position is well known. We want to take the route of diplomacy, but it is the Indian side which has to make up its mind. And so far, there are no contacts between our two sides, except for the routine diplomatic contact," he said. India has made it clear that it will only have a dialogue with Pakistan on the return of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) and the issue of terrorism. In one of the biggest attacks in Jammu and Kashmir, Lashkar-linked terrorists opened fire on a group of tourists in Pahalgam on Tuesday, April 22, killing at least 26 people, including foreign tourists, and injuring many others. The Resistance Front (TRF), a Lashkar offshoot, claimed responsibility for the attack. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all India responded with Operation Sindoor on May 7, bombing nine terrorist camps across Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir in pre-dawn strikes that killed at least 100 militants. The operation sparked four days of cross-border fighting involving fighter jets, missiles and artillery. (With inputs from PTI) About the Author Shobhit Gupta Shobhit Gupta is a sub-editor at News18.com and covers India and International news. He is interested in day to day political affairs in India and geopolitics. He earned his BA Journalism (Hons) degree from Ben... Read More Shobhit Gupta is a sub-editor at News18.com and covers India and International news. He is interested in day to day political affairs in India and geopolitics. He earned his BA Journalism (Hons) degree from Ben... Read More Location : Islamabad, Pakistan First Published: August 08, 2025, 23:33 IST News world Pakistan Seeks US', Global Support To Resolve Kashmir Issue: Welcome Any Help Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... Putin To Meet US President Next Week; No Talks Planned With Zelenskyy, Says Russian Diplomat Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 07:01 IST There has been no summit between US and Russian leaders since President Vladimir Putin met former President Joe Biden in Geneva in June 2021. US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin (IMAGE: REUTERS FILE) Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to meet his US counterpart next week, said Moscows deputy UN Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy on Thursday. He also mentioned that he was unaware of any meeting planned between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Recommended Stories As far as I heard, there are a number of locations, but they agreed to something that they dont want to disclose. The timeline is, I think, next week, but thats again judging from what presidents said themselves," Polyanskiy told reporters. He also added that he did not hear anything about Russia and Ukraine meeting. I havent heard about any meeting planned with President Zelenskiy, but I am not in the loop," he added. Notably, there has been no summit between US and Russian leaders since President Vladimir Putin met former President Joe Biden in Geneva in June 2021. ALSO READ: Not Until Its Resolved: Trump Pauses Trade Negotiations With India Over Russian Oil Purchases Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, citing what it described as threats to its national security. However, Kyiv and its Western allies have condemned the move as an unprovoked, imperial-style land grab. While President Trump has vowed to end Russias war in Ukraine, his promise still remains unfulfilled even seven months after he assumed office as the President. In his comments to reporters, Moscows deputy UN Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy also weighed in on the Middle East, condemning any Israeli plans regarding Gaza. We think that this is a very bad step in an absolutely wrong direction, and we condemn this kind of action," he said. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that Israel plans to take full military control of the Gaza Strip, despite mounting international criticism of its nearly two-year-long offensive on the Palestinian enclave, which has triggered a hunger crisis and claimed tens of thousands of lives. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all First Published: August 08, 2025, 06:55 IST News world Putin To Meet US President Next Week; No Talks Planned With Zelenskyy, Says Russian Diplomat Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... 'Tariffs Vs Openness': Chinese Envoy Highlights US-China Trade Contrast Over Brazilian Coffee Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 13:55 IST Chinese Ambassador to India Xu Feihong contrasted US and Chinese trade moves on Brazilian coffee, calling it Tariffs vs Openness. A combination photo of Donald Trump and Xi Jinping (AFP) Chinese Ambassador to India Xu Feihong has drawn attention to contrasting trade moves by the United States and China, in the context of Brazilian coffee. Sharing a collage of two images on X, the Chinese Ambassador to India captioned it Tariffs vs Openness." Recommended Stories The first image, as shared by Feihong, states that beginning August 6, 2025, the United States will impose a 50 per cent tariff on Brazilian coffee imports. In contrast, China has approved 183 new Brazilian coffee companies for export to its market, with the measure set to take effect on July 30, 2025, the second image depicted. The images frame the developments as opposing approaches, with Washington tightening import costs and Beijing expanding market access. Days earlier, China authorised 183 new Brazilian coffee companies to export to the Chinese market with a five-year permit. Chinas embassy in Brazil also highlighted the growth of coffee consumption in the country, saying the beverage has been gaining a place in the daily lives of the Chinese." Meanwhile, the United States remains the worlds largest coffee importer, its main supplier being Brazil, which, according to CNN, shipped 30.7 per cent of the 1.5 million metric tons bought by the US market. The 50 per cent tariffs announced by Donald Trump on many Brazilian products took effect Wednesday. The executive order that Trump signed with the new tariff scheme accuses the Brazilian government of committing serious human rights abuses" with its prosecution of former President Jair Bolsonaro, a Trump ally who is on trial over an alleged coup plot against President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Bolsonaro has denied all allegations of wrongdoing. The order was signed days after Trump demanded in a letter that Brazil end the trial immediately," accusing Lula of carrying out a witch hunt" against Bolsonaro. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Lula responded by saying, The judiciary branch of power in Brazil is independent. The president of the Republic has no influence whatsoever," adding that Bolsonaro is not being judged personally. He is being judged for the acts he tried to organise a coup detat." ALSO READ | China Condemns Trumps Additional Levy Imposition On India, Brazil About the Author Vani Mehrotra Vani Mehrotra is the Deputy News Editor at News18.com. She has nearly 10 years of experience in both national and international news and has previously worked on multiple desks. Vani Mehrotra is the Deputy News Editor at News18.com. She has nearly 10 years of experience in both national and international news and has previously worked on multiple desks. First Published: August 08, 2025, 13:54 IST News world 'Tariffs Vs Openness': Chinese Envoy Highlights US-China Trade Contrast Over Brazilian Coffee Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... The State Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has said that it has provided separate materials confirming the validity of the suspicions declared to detectives of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU), the entire body of evidence will be provided to the court. "On August 7, SBU investigators provided the head of NABU with separate information and separate materials confirming the validity of the suspicions declared to two NABU employees," the SBU said in a message on its Telegram channel on Friday. The agency notes: "The entire body of evidence will be provided exclusively to the court - in accordance with the procedure prescribed by procedural norms." Not Until...: Trump Pauses Trade Negotiations With India Over Russian Oil Purchases Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 08:58 IST Donald Trump indicated that trade negotiations with India will be put on hold until the issue of Russian oil purchase is "resolved". Donald Trump pauses trade talks with India (Reuters Image) US President Donald Trump on Thursday (local time) indicated that there will be no trade negotiations with India until the issue of New Delhis energy ties with Moscow is resolved". His remarks came in response to a reporters question about whether he expected increased trade negotiations between the two countries after his announcement of 50% tariffs on India. Recommended Stories No, not until we get it resolved," Trump answered. #WATCH | Responding to ANIs question, Just to follow up Indias tariff, do you expect increased trade negotiations since you have announced the 50% tariffs?, US President Donald Trump says, No, not until we get it resolved."(Source: US Network Pool via Reuters) pic.twitter.com/exAQCiKSJd ANI (@ANI) August 7, 2025 Trumps Tirade Against India On Wednesday, Trump issued an Executive Order slapping an additional 25% tariff on Indian products, which took the total levies to 50%, citing New Delhis continued purchase of Russian oil something which was already called out by the Ministry of External Affairs earlier on Monday. Trump has set himself on a continued tirade against India since Prime Minister Narendra Modi made it absolutely clear in Lok Sabha on July 29 that no world leader asked India top stop Operation Sindoor", therefore, fact-checking Trump without naming him, who has claimed over 25 times that he mediated a ceasefire between India and Pakistan using trade as a tool. On July 30, the very next day, Trump flagged Indias energy and defence ties with Russia and announced 25% tariffs on imports from the country, plus a penalty". They have always bought a vast majority of their military equipment from Russia, and are Russias largest buyer of ENERGY, along with China, at a time when everyone wants Russia to STOP THE KILLING IN UKRAINE ALL THINGS NOT GOOD! INDIA WILL THEREFORE BE PAYING A TARIFF OF 25%, PLUS A PENALTY FOR THE ABOVE," Trump posted on Truth Social that day. The penalty" turned out to be 25% additional tariffs on Indian imports. Indias Response To Trumps Threats As Trump announced to increase tariffs on India substantially" on August 4, the MEA termed the levies as unjustified and unreasonable" and called out the double standards of the United States and the European Union over their trade ties with Russia. The statement highlighted that the US continues to import uranium hexafluoride from Russia for its nuclear industry. On August 6, Trump announced the 25% additional tariffs, drawing a strong response from the MEA, which described the US Presidents move as extremely unfortunate". It is therefore extremely unfortunate that the US should choose to impose additional tariffs on India for actions that several other countries are also taking in their own national interest. We reiterate that these actions are unfair, unjustified and unreasonable. India will take all actions necessary to protect its national interests," the statement said. PM Modi Vows To Protect Farmers Interests Addressing the MS Swaminathan Centenary International Conference in New Delhi on Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi made it clear that India will not compromise on the interests of the farmers and is ready to pay a heavy price for it". top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all For us, the interest of our farmers is our top priority," PM Modi said. India will never compromise on the interests of farmers, fishermen and dairy farmers. I know we will have to pay a heavy price for it, and I am ready for it. India is ready for it," he said. India has repeatedly resisted opening up sensitive areas like farming and dairy to foreign competition, saying it could harm the livelihoods of millions of people in rural areas. About the Author Ashesh Mallick Ashesh Mallick is a Sub-Editor with over three years of experience in news writing, video production. He primarily covers national news, politics and global affairs. You can follow him on Twitter: @MallickAshes... Read More Ashesh Mallick is a Sub-Editor with over three years of experience in news writing, video production. He primarily covers national news, politics and global affairs. You can follow him on Twitter: @MallickAshes... Read More Location : Washington D.C., United States of America (USA) First Published: August 08, 2025, 06:46 IST News world Not Until...: Trump Pauses Trade Negotiations With India Over Russian Oil Purchases Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... Trump Raises Bounty On Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro To $50 Mn On Drug Trafficking Charges Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 09:50 IST Nicolas Maduro was indicted in the Southern District of New York on multiple federal charges tied to drug trafficking in 2020. US President Donald Trump (Reuters Image) The Trump administration on Thursday announced a reward of USD 50 million for providing any information leading to the arrest of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro. Recommended Stories Maduro uses foreign terrorist organizations like [Tren de Aragua], Sinaloa and Cartel of the Suns to bring deadly drugs and violence into our country," Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a video posted on X. According to Bondi, the Drug Enforcement Administration has so far confiscated 30 tons of cocaine connected to Maduro and his associates, and nearly seven tons linked to Maduro himself, which represents a primary source of income for the deadly cartels based in Venezuela and Mexico." She added that the cocaine related to Maduros smuggling scheme is often laced with fentanyl" and has caused in the loss and destruction of countless American lives." Today, @TheJusticeDept and @StateDept are announcing a $50 MILLION REWARD for information leading to the arrest of Nicolas Maduro. pic.twitter.com/D8LNqjS9yk Attorney General Pamela Bondi (@AGPamBondi) August 7, 2025 Earlier in 2020, Nicolas Maduro was indicted in the Southern District of New York on multiple federal charges tied to drug trafficking. These included narco-terrorism, conspiracy to import cocaine, and possession of machine guns and destructive devices, as well as conspiracy to possess such weapons. After the indictment was announced, the Trump administration, during its first term, offered a $15 million reward for information leading to Maduros arrest. Earlier, the Biden administration had offered a reward of USD 25 million on January 10, which was doubled by the Trump government on Thursday. The DOJ has seized over USD 700 million of Maduro-linked assets, including two private jets, nine vehicles and more. Yet Maduros reign of terror continues," Bondi said. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all He is one of the largest narco traffickers in the world, and a threat to our national security," she added. Location : Washington D.C., United States of America (USA) First Published: August 08, 2025, 09:50 IST News world Trump Raises Bounty On Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro To $50 Mn On Drug Trafficking Charges Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... Trump Rules Out Putin-Zelenskyy Meeting As Prerequisite For US-Russia Talks Curated By : Trending Desk Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 04:45 IST Trump also addressed the White House-imposed deadline for Moscow to pause its conflict in Ukraine. Ukraine has emphasised the importance of European involvement in any peace negotiations US President Donald Trump could meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the coming days, according to multiple reports. The potential meeting has generated significant speculation, particularly around whether Putin would first hold talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump has now dismissed those rumours, stating clearly that a prior meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian leaders is not a prerequisite for US-Russia discussions. When asked whether Putin would need to meet with Zelenskyy before engaging in talks with the United States, Trump responded unequivocally, No, he doesnt. No." Recommended Stories Trump also addressed the White House-imposed deadline for Moscow to pause its conflict in Ukraine or face new US sanctions. When pressed on what action he might take as the deadline nears on Friday he said, Its going to be up to him. Were going to see what he has to say." The President added, Very disappointed. I dont like long waits. I think its a shame." Russias deputy UN Ambassador, Dmitry Polyanskiy, echoed the sentiment that a meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy is unlikely before any engagement with Trump. I havent heard about any meeting planned, but I am not in the loop," he told reporters. While the exact location of the anticipated Trump-Putin meeting has yet to be confirmed, reports suggest it could take place next week in the United Arab Emirates. President Putin has expressed optimism about the potential meeting. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stated that logistical details were still being finalised. This would mark the first official meeting between the two leaders since Trump assumed office for his second term. The last formal US-Russia presidential meeting occurred in June 2021, when President Vladimir Putin met with then-President Joe Biden in Geneva. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Meanwhile, Ukraine has emphasised the importance of European involvement in any peace negotiations. President Zelenskyy recently stated, Europe must be a participant in the relevant processes. The war is happening in Europe, and Ukraine is an integral part of Europe." According to a report by The New York Times, Trump has already briefed several European leaders on his intention to meet with Putin. The meeting may eventually lead to a broader trilateral summit involving Zelenskyy. Location : Washington D.C., United States of America (USA) First Published: August 08, 2025, 04:45 IST News world Trump Rules Out Putin-Zelenskyy Meeting As Prerequisite For US-Russia Talks Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... Trump Yelled At Netanyahu Over Call After He Dismissed Starvation Claims In Gaza: Report Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 15:19 IST US President Trump rebuked Israeli PM Netanyahu over Gaza starvation reports. Netanyahu called it Hamas propaganda, but Trump demanded evidence, describing Gaza as "a mess." A disagreement over claims of starvation in Gaza prompted Netanyahu to request a private conversation with Trump. (Image: Reuters) Amid reports of humanitarian crisis in war-torn Gaza strip, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly faced a sharp rebuke from US President Donald Trump during a recent phone call, according to NBC News. According to NBC, the confrontation occurred after Netanyahu attempted to dismiss reports of widespread starvation in Gaza as Hamas propaganda. Recommended Stories The besieged strip is currently cut off from most food supplies due to Israels military campaign, leaving civilians facing severe shortages, starvation, and malnutrition. Recently, reports of many deaths due to malnutrition has also emerged. The Israeli PM has publicly denied any deliberate policy to starve Gaza, stating on July 27 in Jerusalem, There is no policy of starvation in Gaza. And there is no starvation in Gaza," However, Trump contradicted this stance a day later, acknowledging the existence of real starvation" and noting that he had seen photos of hungry children, describing Gaza as a mess." The stark disagreement prompted Netanyahu to request a private conversation with Trump. During the call, the Israeli leader again tried to downplay the starvation claims, which infuriated Trump, the report claimed. NBC, citing sources, mentioned that Trump interrupted Netanyahu, yelling that he did not want to hear starvation report was fake. The President reportedly told Netanyahu that he has been provided with the evidence supporting starvation claims in Gaza. Trump dominated the conversation, described by a former US official as a direct, mostly one-way conversation," the report further claimed. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all The humanitarian crisis in Gaza continues to worsen as Israels military aims to dismantle Hamass remaining infrastructure. Although famine has not officially been declared, two out of three famine indicatorssharp declines in food consumption and acute malnutritionhave already been met, according to the UNs Integrated Food Security Phase Classification. Humanitarian groups like Doctors Without Borders have criticized Israels militarized food distribution in Gaza as institutionalized starvation and dehumanization," highlighting the urgent need for international attention to the crisis. About the Author Manisha Roy Manisha Roy is a Senior Sub-Editor at News18.com's general desk. She comes with an experience of over 5 years in media industry. She covers politics and other hard news. She can be contacted at Manisha.Roy@nw18... Read More Manisha Roy is a Senior Sub-Editor at News18.com's general desk. She comes with an experience of over 5 years in media industry. She covers politics and other hard news. She can be contacted at Manisha.Roy@nw18... Read More Location : New York, United States of America (USA) First Published: August 08, 2025, 15:19 IST News world Trump Yelled At Netanyahu Over Call After He Dismissed Starvation Claims In Gaza: Report Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... Two Troopers Shot In Pennsylvania; Public Urged To Avoid Route 171 Curated By : Trending Desk Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 01:12 IST The public is asked to avoid the area of the incident, located on Route 171 approximately five miles north of the town of Thompson. The scene remains very active and information on the suspect will be released at a later time. Two Pennsylvania State Troopers were shot on Thursday while responding to a call in northeastern Susquehanna County, according to the Associated Press. The exact circumstances leading to the shooting remain unclear, and the situation is currently under active investigation. Governor Josh Shapiro confirmed that both injured Troopers have been transported to local hospitals and are currently reported to be in stable condition. Further updates on their conditions are expected soon. Recommended Stories Lori and I are praying for those troopers. It is an active situation," Governor Shapiro stated, expressing concern for the officers during remarks at an unrelated event in Bucks County. He added, I want you to know Ive communicated with Col. Paris," referring to Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Christopher Paris. Shapiro assured the public that the incident is receiving full attention from authorities. He is on the scene. It is an active situation, and at the conclusion of this event, I plan to head there myself," he said. Today, two Pennsylvania State Troopers were shot while responding to a call in Susquehanna County. Both Troopers were transported to local hospitals and Ive communicated with Colonel Paris and am on my way to join them now. Lori and I are praying for these brave Troopers, and Governor Josh Shapiro (@GovernorShapiro) August 7, 2025 Law enforcement officials have cordoned off the area, and residents have been asked to stay clear of the scene. The shooting took place on Route 171, approximately five miles north of the town of Thompson. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all The scene remains highly active, with a significant law enforcement presence. Police have yet to release details about the suspect or suspects involved, and it remains unclear what led up to the shooting. State police are expected to provide a comprehensive update later, including information about the Troopers involved and any developments in the ongoing investigation. Residents are urged to avoid the area until further notice. Location : New York, United States of America (USA) First Published: August 07, 2025, 23:38 IST News world Two Troopers Shot In Pennsylvania; Public Urged To Avoid Route 171 Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... UN Chief Warns Israeli Operation In Gaza May Deepen Humanitarian Catastrophe Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: August 09, 2025, 00:01 IST UN Secretary-General Guterres warned Israel's control of Gaza City risks worsening the situation for Palestinians, urging a ceasefire and compliance with international law. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres (Image Credit: Reuters) United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday warned that Israels decision to take control of Gaza City risks worsening the already catastrophic situation for millions of Palestinians and could put even more lives at risk, including those of the remaining hostages," according to his spokesperson. Guterres also warns that an Israeli offensive will result in additional forced displacement, killings and massive destruction, compounding the unimaginable suffering of the Palestinian population in Gaza," associate spokesperson Stephanie Tremblay said. Recommended Stories The secretary-general reiterated his urgent appeal for a ceasefire, she said. The UN Secretary-General strongly called on Israel to comply with the International Court of Justices July 2024 advisory opinion, which urged an end to its unlawful presence" in Palestinian territories, including Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem, spokesperson Florencia Soto Nino-Martinez told UN reporters on Friday. EU report finds little aid is getting into Gaza. The European Union has concluded that little aid is flowing into Gaza despite an understanding reached between Brussels and Israel last month, according to a report by the 27-nation blocs foreign service. According to a copy of the report obtained by The Associated Press, although roughly 5,000 trucks entered Gaza during the limited lifting of the blockade by Israel," there are still significant operational and bureaucratic constraints" on aid delivery. Since May 19, an average of 36 trucks a day have entered Gaza, laden with food, nutrition supplements, medical supplies and chlorine, but 90% were looted once in Gaza, the report says. The EU had reached an agreement with Israels Foreign Minister Gideon Saar to increase humanitarian aid to Gaza, but officials have not been able to confirm any improvements for themselves. Anna-Kaisa Itkonen, a European Commission spokesperson, at a press conference in Brussels, said on Thursday that Israel has blocked an EU monitoring team from entering Gaza because they were not humanitarian aid providers. Palestinians have requested an emergency UN Security Council meeting following Israels announcement. Palestinian UN Ambassador Riyad Mansour urged that the meeting be held without delay, potentially on Friday afternoon or Saturday. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all He described Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus announcement of a military operation to seize control of all of Gazabeginning with Gaza City, home to around one million Palestiniansas a reckless, irresponsible, dangerous, and brutal plan." Our objective is to stop Israel from taking this extremely dangerous escalation," he said. We need all of us collectively to prevail, to stop this insanity and to allow peace to be the option of war and the continuation of the suffering." Location : United States of America (USA) First Published: August 09, 2025, 00:01 IST News world UN Chief Warns Israeli Operation In Gaza May Deepen Humanitarian Catastrophe Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... Unfazed By Trumps Bullying, China Vows To Continue Buying Russian Oil: Its Legitimate Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 19:10 IST A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said it is legitimate and lawful for China to engage in economic, trade and energy cooperation with other countries, including Russia US President Donald Trump, left, shakes hands with China's President Xi Jinping. (AP file photo) China has made it clear to the world that Xi Jinping will not succumb to US President Donald Trumps bullying" over the purchase of Russian oil. A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said it is legitimate and lawful for China to engage in economic, trade and energy cooperation with other countries, including Russia, Global Times reported. Recommended Stories We will continue to take energy supply measures that are right for China based on our national interests," said spokesperson Guo Jiakun when asked about Trumps plans to impose secondary tariffs on China for Beijings purchase of Russian oil. Earlier on Friday, Jinping held a phone call with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, who is set to visit China later this month. The Russian president will attend a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and also hold talks with Xi. What Trump Said On China? Trump has neither confirmed nor denied yet if the US will slap secondary sanctions on China for buying Russian oil. It may happen. I dont know, I cant tell you yet. But we did it with India. We are doing it probably with a couple of others, one of them could be China," he said. How Much China Buys Russian Oil? Data from Chinas General Customs Administration shows that in 2024, the country imported an average of 2.19 million barrels of oil per day from Russia, up from 2.14 million bpd in 2023. The value of these imports reached $60.2 billion, marking a 2.8% increase compared to the previous year. Russia-China Ties Russia and China have described their current bilateral relations as being at an unprecedented high," underpinned by mutual trust and strategic alignment. According to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the partnership is self-sufficient" and resilient to external pressures, with both sides committed to expanding cooperation across political, economic, and security domains. Chinese President Xi Jinping, during high-level exchanges in 2025, emphasised that the relationship remains stable despite global turbulence. He called it a profound and enduring friendship," noting that Moscow and Beijing coordinate closely on major international issues, including their positions at the UN, BRICS, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Trade between the two countries reached record levels in 2024, surpassing US$240 billion, driven largely by Russian energy exports and Chinese machinery, vehicles, and electronics. Settlement of trade in local currencies, particularly the yuan, has increased significantly, reducing reliance on the US dollar. Security cooperation has also deepened with the two countries conducting regular joint military exercises, including large-scale naval drills. Both nations present their relationship as a cornerstone for promoting a multipolar world order. Through shared initiatives, they aim to counterbalance Western dominance and support an international system based on the principles of sovereignty, non-interference, and mutually beneficial cooperation. About the Author Saurabh Verma Saurabh Verma covers general, national and international day-to-day news for News18.com as a Senior Sub-editor. He keenly observes politics. You can follow him on Twitter --twitter.com/saurabhkverma19 Saurabh Verma covers general, national and international day-to-day news for News18.com as a Senior Sub-editor. He keenly observes politics. You can follow him on Twitter --twitter.com/saurabhkverma19 Location : Beijing, China First Published: August 08, 2025, 18:01 IST News world Unfazed By Trumps Bullying, China Vows To Continue Buying Russian Oil: Its Legitimate Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... 'India A Strategic Partner, But We Won't Align On Everything': US On Russian Oil Rift, Tariff Row Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 07:12 IST The US reiterated concerns over Indias Russian oil purchases, while affirming that New Delhi remains a strategic partner, in remarks ahead of PM Modis visit to China. Donald Trump with PM Narendra Modi (Photo: AP) The United States on Friday said President Donald Trump has been very clear about his concerns regarding trade and Indias purchase of Russian oil. It also said India is a strategic partner, but both countries cannot align on everything. The response, by Principal Deputy Spokesperson for the US Department of State, Tommy Pigott, came after a journalist questioned him about Prime Minister Narendra Modis scheduled visit to China. Recommended Stories The journalist also asked if the United States is concerned that the BRICS will lead a pushback against tariffs In terms of India, the President has been very clear in terms of the concerns he has regarding trade and the purchase of Russian oil," Tommy Pigott said. India is a strategic partner with whom we engage in a full and friendly dialogue," he said. But you are not going to align 100 per cent of the time on everything," he said. Days after Donald Trump announced an additional 25 per cent tariff on Indian imports as a penalty for continuing to buy Russian crude oil, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to visit China for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit this month. This would be his first trip to Beijing since the violent clashes between Indian and Chinese soldiers in 2020. Before heading to China, PM Narendra Modi will visit Japan on August 30. Meanwhile, Donald Trump ruled out trade negotiations with India until the dispute over tariffs is resolved. No, not until we get it resolved," he responded to a question of whether he expects talks to resume in light of the new 50 per cent tariff. On Wednesday, the White House issued an executive order imposing an additional 25 percentage points in tariffs on Indian goods, raising the total levy to 50 per cent. The administration cited national security and foreign policy concerns, pointing specifically to Indias ongoing imports of Russian oil. The order claims that these imports, whether direct or via intermediaries, present an unusual and extraordinary threat" to the United States and justify emergency economic measures. Later, Prime Minister Narendra Modi responded defiantly during a speech at the MS Swaminathan Centenary International Conference in New Delhi, signalling that New Delhi would not back down in the face of economic pressure. For us, the interest of our farmers is our top priority," PM Modi said. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all India will never compromise on the interests of farmers, fishermen and dairy farmers. I know we will have to pay a heavy price for it, and I am ready for it. India is ready for it." ALSO READ | Trump Rules Out Putin-Zelenskyy Meeting As Prerequisite For US-Russia Talks About the Author Vani Mehrotra Vani Mehrotra is the Deputy News Editor at News18.com. She has nearly 10 years of experience in both national and international news and has previously worked on multiple desks. Vani Mehrotra is the Deputy News Editor at News18.com. She has nearly 10 years of experience in both national and international news and has previously worked on multiple desks. First Published: August 08, 2025, 07:04 IST News world 'India A Strategic Partner, But We Won't Align On Everything': US On Russian Oil Rift, Tariff Row Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... US May Recognise Russias Territorial Gains In Ukraine As Trump, Putin Talk Peace Deal: Report Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 21:39 IST This development comes just a day after the Kremlin confirmed that a Trump-Putin meeting is expected "in the coming days" US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Image Credit: Reuters) The United States may recognise Russian-held territory in Ukraine as part of a potential peace deal being discussed between Washington and Moscow, according to a Bloomberg report published on Friday. The report, citing sources familiar with the matter, said officials from both countries are working on an agreement that could be finalised during a planned summit between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin as early as next week. Recommended Stories The proposed deal would aim to end the war in Ukraine by formally locking in Russias occupation of areas seized since the invasion began in February 2022. The war, now in its third year, is the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War Two. This development comes just a day after the Kremlin confirmed that a Trump-Putin meeting is expected in the coming days", as the US President pushes for a breakthrough in ending the war. Trump has expressed growing frustration with Moscow and threatened new sanctions unless Russia agrees to stop its military campaign. From Friday, Trump warned of fresh sanctions not only against Russia but also against countries continuing to buy its exports. Earlier this week, he raised tariffs on Indian goods in response to Indias purchase of Russian oil. He also hinted that China could face similar action. A three-hour meeting between Trumps envoy, Steve Witkoff, and Putin took place in Moscow on Wednesday, paving the way for the upcoming summit. Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov confirmed the meeting is agreed but did not give a date. Putin suggested that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) would be a suitable host for the summit, although no final location has been confirmed. Russias deputy UN envoy, Dmitry Polyanskiy, also stated that the venue has been agreed privately but not yet revealed. There has not been a US-Russia summit since June 2021, when Putin met former President Joe Biden in Geneva. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all Since the start of the war, tens of thousands have died and millions have been displaced, especially from Ukraines eastern and southern regions. (With inputs from Reuters) About the Author News Desk The News Desk is a team of passionate editors and writers who break and analyse the most important events unfolding in India and abroad. From live updates to exclusive reports to in-depth explainers, the Desk d... Read More The News Desk is a team of passionate editors and writers who break and analyse the most important events unfolding in India and abroad. From live updates to exclusive reports to in-depth explainers, the Desk d... Read More Location : United States of America (USA) First Published: August 08, 2025, 21:38 IST News world US May Recognise Russias Territorial Gains In Ukraine As Trump, Putin Talk Peace Deal: Report Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... Average US Tariff Rate Hits 20.1%, Highest Since 1910s, WTO And IMF Reveal Curated By : News18.com Last Updated: August 08, 2025, 20:57 IST This figure is a sharp rise compared to the 2.4 percent tariff rate in place when US President Donald Trump took office on January 20 US President Donald Trump (Reuters Image) Average US Tariff Rate Hits 20.1%, Highest Since 1910sThe average tariff rate in the United States has reached 20.1 percent, the highest level since the early 1910s, according to data from the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) released on Friday. This comes a day after new duties took effect on Thursday, 7 August. The figure is a sharp rise from the 2.4 percent tariff rate when US President Donald Trump took office on January 20. Recommended Stories Trumps announcement on April 2 of reciprocal" tariffs on major trading partners, particularly on Chinese goods, pushed the average tariff rate up to 24.8 percent in May. This was the highest level seen since 1904, according to the United States International Trade Commission. A trade truce" between the United States and China recently lowered the very high tariffs both countries had imposed on each other, but this agreement is expected to end next week. The new WTO and IMF figures also include trade deals the US has negotiated with the European Union, Japan, South Korea, and other countries. These deals usually have lower tariffs than those Trump threatened in April but are still higher than the 10 percent baseline rate previously in place. The calculation applies the latest tariff rates to trade volumes in 2024. top videos View all Swipe Left For Next Video View all The current average tariff rate now surpasses the nearly 20 percent rate the US had during the 1930s, a period of high tariffs that many economists believe worsened the Great Depression. (With inputs from AFP) About the Author News Desk The News Desk is a team of passionate editors and writers who break and analyse the most important events unfolding in India and abroad. From live updates to exclusive reports to in-depth explainers, the Desk d... Read More The News Desk is a team of passionate editors and writers who break and analyse the most important events unfolding in India and abroad. From live updates to exclusive reports to in-depth explainers, the Desk d... Read More Location : United States of America (USA) First Published: August 08, 2025, 20:56 IST News world Average US Tariff Rate Hits 20.1%, Highest Since 1910s, WTO And IMF Reveal Disclaimer: Comments reflect users views, not News18s. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy Loading comments... The State Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) have responded to the statements of the heads of anti-corruption agencies: separate materials confirming the validity of the suspicions declared to the detectives of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) were provided to the NABU director, there is no pressure to testify about Russian influence on NABU, the detained NABU detective was not involved in documenting one of the well-known Ukrainian businessmen. "Commenting on the statements in the media by the heads of NABU and SAPO, the Security Service of Ukraine notes the following... Regarding the theses that the materials of the criminal proceedings were not provided to NABU, nor to the media... On August 7, SBU investigators provided the head of NABU with separate information and separate materials confirming the validity of the suspicions declared to two NABU employees," the SBU said in a message on the Telegram channel on Friday. The SBU notes that in accordance with the requirements of criminal procedure legislation, the materials of the pre-trial investigation constitute a secret of the investigation. "Investigative bodies are not obliged to disclose any information from pre-trial proceedings beyond the limits established by law. All available evidence subject to disclosure was officially made public by the SBU on July 21, including authentic audio conversations of the defendants," the message states. At the same time, the SBU states that the entire body of evidence will be provided exclusively to the court - in the manner prescribed by procedural norms. "Regarding the claims of alleged 'pressure on certain people to testify that there is indeed Russian influence in NABU,' there is no pressure on 'certain people' and there cannot be. And the influence of the People's Deputy from the banned pro-Russian party Opposition Platform For Life party, Fedir Khrystenko, on NABU, is evidenced, in particular, by authentic recordings of his own conversations," the SBU said. The report recalls that during searches at the residence of the People's Deputy in Ukraine, materials of covert investigative actions and questionnaires of NABU detectives were discovered. "Therefore, we consider any statements by a representative of the pro-Russian party about "life-threatening danger" to be an attempt to avoid criminal liability," the the SBU said. In addition, the SBU responded to statements that allegedly "NABU detective Ruslan Maghamedrasulov was detained for documenting a well-known businessman." "All statements and rumors that allegedly R. Maghamedrasulov was engaged in documenting one of the well-known Ukrainian businessmen are not true. As the investigation established, the defendant had contacts with representatives of the aggressor country and acted as an intermediary in the sale of his father's batches of technical hemp to the Russian Federation (Republic of Dagestan)," the report says. The Service notes: "Any statements by third parties who deliberately manipulate facts, subjectively assess the materials published by the Service, 'forgetting' about trade with the Russian Federation, are unacceptable." The SBU reminds that Maghamedrasulov has been declared a suspect under Article 111-2 (aiding an aggressor state) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. He is suspected of doing business in the Russian Federation (he acted as an intermediary in the sale of his father's batches of technical hemp to the Republic of Dagestan). The father of the Bureau employee, a citizen of the Russian Federation - Sentyabr Maghamedrasulov, was also suspected and placed under preventive detention. "We consider the dissemination of unsubstantiated manipulative statements regarding these high-profile criminal proceedings to be an attempt to exert public pressure on representatives of the judicial branch of government," the SBU said. A married womans nude pictures involving a relative have caused a stir among family members. Mildred Mukomana, 32, has allegedly been exchanging explicit images with her cousin, Phillibin Takwana Tsikirayi, 52. Takwana is son to Mildreds fathers sister. Both Mildred and Takwana have confirmed their incestuous relationship. Mildred has since apologised to her aunt. Mildred revealed that Takwana seduced her through romantic messages, leading to the exchange of nude photographs. Mildred, who resides in Botswana with her husband, expressed her fear following the leak of these messages and images. I want to apologise to the nation and our relatives for my immature actions, said Mildred. I have also reached out to my aunts daughter, Eunice, who is Takwanas sister, to express my regret over my behaviour. Takwana initiated this with his love messages, and I succumbed to the temptation. Mildred is uncertain whether her husband is aware of the situation, as he is a quiet man, which adds to her anxiety. My husband has said nothing yet over this, I am living in fear since he is not a man of many words, she said. Takwana confirmed the shenanigans, accusing her wife of sending more seductive messages pretending as if she was him after she discovered the nude photographs. There is an issue, but my wife is the one spreading this to relatives after she took my cellphone. She exchanged some more love messages with Mildred pretending to be me. As we speak, she is the one with my mobile phone and is angry about this, said Takwana refusing to answer further questions. From the love messages between the two, Mildred had demanded transport money to travel from Botswana promising to quench Takwanas sexual appetite he had asked for. H Metro The prosecutor of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO) has filed a petition with the court to remove from office the head of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU), accused of illegally enriching himself by more than UAH 72 million and declaring false information. As reported in the Telegram channel on Friday, after the indictment was sent to the court, the defense attempted to remove the judge of the High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) from considering this case on the grounds of the possibility of the accused influencing it through the exercise of his powers as the head of the AMCU. The defense attorney of the official indicated in the statement on recusal that he could make decisions, including negative ones, regarding the enterprise where the judge's family member is employed. The accused supported this statement. "In order to prevent the unlawful behavior of the accused, who during the consideration of the application for disqualification personally confirmed the possibility of using his position to influence the participants in the criminal proceedings through their relatives, as well as to obstruct the criminal proceedings in another way, the SAPO prosecutor has filed a corresponding petition with the court," the message on the Telegram channel said on Friday. The message does not name the defendant, but refers to the current head of the AMCU, Pavlo Kyrylenko. The SAPO notes that during the pre-trial investigation, prosecutors did not apply to the investigating judge with such a request, since the official did not make any attempts to use his position to obstruct the pre-trial investigation. The results of the consideration of the request will be reported additionally. As reported, on August 14, 2024, the high-ranking official was notified of suspicion of illegal enrichment of UAH 72 million and declaring false information in criminal proceedings initiated after the publication of the journalistic investigation by Radio Liberty. According to the reported suspicion, in 2020-2023, while holding the position of head of the regional state administration, he acquired 21 real estate properties, one luxury car and registered the ownership of them to his wife's relatives. Among the acquired property are 7 apartments in the cities of Kyiv and Uzhgorod with a total area of 688.5 sq m, one house near Kyiv with an area of over 220 sq m, 2 garage boxes, 6 car spaces, 3 non-residential premises with a total area of over 190 sq m and a BMW X3 car. At the same time, the legal income of the official and his family members did not allow for such purchases. The difference between the value of the property and the persons legal assets is UAH 72 million. Subsequently, in order to conceal the fact of illegal enrichment, the official did not indicate information about the acquired property in the declarations of the person authorized to perform state functions for 20202023. On July 7, 2025, the indictment in this case was sent to the Supreme Court of Criminal Procedure for consideration on the merits. On July 23, 2025, the Anti-Corruption Authorities announced that they had completed the investigation into the case of the head of the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine (AMCU), Pavlo Kyrylenko, and a member of his family; on the instructions of the SAPO prosecutor, NABU detectives opened the case materials to the defense for review. A 23-year-old woman in Kyiv, Veronika Osintseva, is drawing national attention after surviving a fall from her ninth-floor apartment during a Russian missile strike last week. Osintseva was sleeping when the blast blew her from her bed and out of her apartment, landing her in the rubble below. She awoke injured and calling for help, later learning that her parents, who were in another room, did not survive the attack, the New York Times reports. Rescue workers carried her to safety, and doctors treated her for a broken leg, concussion, and multiple cuts. "I don't know how I flew, but I somehow stayed alive," she tells the Times. The hospital director described her survival as a "miracle," and the event has since made Osintseva a symbol of both tragedy and resilience amid the ongoing war. The missile strike was one of the deadliest in Kyiv since Russia's full-scale invasion, with at least 28 fatalities, including five children. Osintseva, who has a background in performing arts and is known for her activism, had spent the day before the strike preparing a speech for an anticorruption protest. She frequently participated in demonstrations, often using chalk rather than placards to make her point. Friends and neighbors have expressed disbelief and gratitude for her survival, with one neighbor saying, "The world still needs her." story continues below Now recovering in the hospital, Osintseva has spoken about her desire for peace. "How is it possible that we are still fighting in the 21st century?" she asks. "How is it possible that we produce weapons when no one has a right to take somebody's life?" She hopes her story will help amplify calls for nonviolence and justice, saying, "A human always has a choice between violence and peace." President Trump on Thursday directed the Education Department to compel colleges to turn over detailed data on the race and gender of applicants, an effort to ensure affirmative actions policies aren't being used in admissions decisions after the Supreme Court's ruling against them in 2023. The memo Trump signed says "the lack of available admissions data from universitiespaired with the rampant use of 'diversity statements' and other overt and hidden racial proxiescontinues to raise concerns about whether race is actually used in admissions decisions in practice," NPR reports. Education Secretary Linda McMahon quickly told the National Center for Education Statistics to begin collecting the additional data from schools. "The Trump Administration will ensure that meritocracy and excellence once again characterize American higher education," she said in a statement. The Education Department has broad sway over that data collection, per the New York Times, and colleges agree to provide data when joining student aid programs. Legal challenges to the plan still are possible, including on student privacy grounds. A former Education Department official said there are other ways to ensure fairness in the system, such as by the government demanding answers about college costs. "There is a real need for reporting and transparency on what actual prices are," said Aaron Ament of the National Student Legal Defense Network. "This is a tactic to try to stop institutions from helping disadvantaged students." Dozens of communities in the Midwest and West learned Thursday they had lost their newspapers after an Illinois-based publisher announced it would abruptly close because of financial problems. News Media Corp., which owns local newspapers across five states, said it will close 14 operations in Wyoming, seven in Illinois, five in Arizona, four in South Dakota, and one in Nebraska, the AP reports. The shutdowns, by a company that touts itself as "the voice of small town America," affects longtime newspapers that were often the primary source of news in numerous small towns, worsening the problem of news deserts in rural areas. "Unfortunately, due to financial challenges, a significant economic downturn impacting our industry, revenue losses and increasing expenses, and the recent failure of an attempt to sell the company as a going concern, we have reached a point where continuing business is no longer feasible," company CEO JJ Tompkins wrote to employees on Wednesday. Hundreds of employees were terminated immediately, and Tompkins wrote that the company will make "reasonable efforts to pay you all remaining compensation you have earned." They also lost health care coverage immediately, per the Mitchell Republic. News Media Corp., which is based in Rochelle, Illinois, did not respond to a request for comment. Staff members took to social media to express their shock and disappointment. "No one in Huron, nor any of the other papers, knew this was coming today," Benjamin Chase, managing editor of the Huron Plainsman in South Dakota, said in a post. "We're all in shock and attempting to figure out how to move forward." Josh Linehan, managing editor of the Brookings Register in South Dakota, acknowledged in a letter to readers that it's a tough time for print media. He added, "But make no mistakewe're closed for now as a result of poor corporate management." The nation has lost over one-third of its print newspapers and two-thirds of its newspaper journalists since 2004, according to the Medill Local News Initiative at Northwestern University. Erin Patterson was found guilty last month of killing her in-laws with a poisonous mushroom meal, but details on her case continue to trickle out post-trial. This time, the news revolves around the fact that three counts of attempted murder against Patterson involving her estranged husband, Simon Patterson, were unexpectedly dropped, without explanation, right before her trial started. Those counts were reportedly tied to the fact that Simon Patterson had claimed his wife had tried to kill him multiple times before the doomed dinner on July 29, 2023, that killed his parents and aunt and injured his uncle, per the BBC . Simon Patterson, who'd thought their 2015 separation was fairly amicable, had detailed those previous incidents during pretrial hearings, revealing that Erin Patterson had served him a meal of penne with Bolognese sauce in November 2021, after which he started throwing up and suffering from diarrhea, landing him an overnight hospital stay. "I had the idea I got sick from Erin's food [but] I did not give it too much thought," he said in his police statement. Other incidents, per Simon Patterson's statements: He fell ill during a May 2022 camping trip with his estranged ex after consuming a chicken curry dish she'd prepared, sending him into a coma and requiring the removal of a significant part of his bowel. "My family were asked to come and say goodbye to me twice, as I was not expected to live," he said in a social media post later that year. A few months later, in September, Simon Patterson says he started slurring his words, vomiting, and experiencing diarrhea after eating a vegetable wrap. In February 2023, just months before the meal that killed his family members, Simon Patterson told a doctor who was a family friend that he was starting to suspect his ex for his illnesses. He cited another instance in which Erin Patterson tried to get him to eat chocolate chip cookies she claimed were baked by their daughter; Simon Patterson said his ex kept calling to ask him if he'd tried any. Read These Next Trump is calling out the 'arm of Trump fired a fed governor, but she says Trump thinks "Department of You know you're good when you get a high-five The Guardian notes that after these incidents, Simon Patterson secretly removed the medical power-of-attorney privileges he'd bestowed on Erin Patterson and transferred them to his father, Don Patterson. That outlet has more, including on a jar filled with vomit that Don Patterson had in his possession before he was killed, ostensibly as evidence he hoped to bring forward at some point. President Trump said Thursday that he would meet with Vladimir Putin even if the Russian leader will not meet with Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, in comments that suggested Washington and Moscow could soon hold a summit. Trump's comments followed a statement from Putin earlier in the day that he hoped to meet with Trump next week, possibly in the United Arab Emirates. But the White House was still working through the details of any potential meetings, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said. When asked if Putin would need to meet with Zelensky in order to secure a meeting with the US, Trump said: "No, he doesn't. No." A White House official told the AP earlier Thursday that a US-Russian summit would not happen if Putin did not agree to meet with Zelensky, but the official later said it only made the summit less likely. President Trump announced Friday on social media that he'll meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Aug. 15 in Alaska to discuss ending the war in Ukraine. More details will follow, Trump said, per the AP . Earlier in the day, Trump said their talks will include discussion of Russia and Ukraine swapping territories, the Hill reports. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is not invited; Trump had said he might sit down with Putin first. A meeting with Trump would be a coup for Putin, who has spurned previous offers of a face-to-face meeting with Zelensky and has been isolated globally since the invasion. Putin's announcement came on the eve of a White House deadline for Moscow to show progress toward ending the three-year-old war in Ukraine or suffer additional economic sanctions. When asked Thursday whether his Friday deadline would hold, Trump said of Putin: "We're going to see what he has to say. It's going to be up to him. Very disappointed." Speaking of possible direct talks with Zelensky, Putin said he has mentioned several times that he was not against it, adding: "It's a possibility, but certain conditions need to be created" for it to happen. story continues below Ukraine fears being sidelined by direct negotiations between Washington and Moscow, and Zelensky said he had phone conversations with several European leaders Thursday amid a flurry of diplomatic activity. Putin's foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, earlier brushed aside the possibility of Zelensky joining the summit, something the White House was ready to consider. "We propose, first of all, to focus on preparing a bilateral meeting with Trump, and we consider it most important that this meeting be successful and productive," Ushakov said. Zelensky said European countries must also be involved in finding a solution to the war on their own continent. "Ukraine is not afraid of meetings and expects the same bold approach from the Russian side. It is time to end the war," he added. An Australian state lawmaker and convicted rapist, who is in jail awaiting his sentence, quit his seat Friday moments before a vote scheduled by his former colleagues to eject him. Gareth Ward, an independent member of parliament in New South Wales state, earlier refused to resign despite his July convictions by a jury for sex crimes against two young men. He failed in a legal bid Thursday to stop his peers taking rare action to expel him. Ward, 44, sexually assaulted a political staffer after a parliamentary event in 2015 and abused an 18-year-old at the politician's home in 2013. His sentencing on one count of sexual intercourse without consent and three counts of indecent assault is scheduled for September, the AP reports. The Secret Service has acknowledged that it asked the US Army Corps of Engineers to raise the level of an Ohio river while Vice President JD Vance was on a boating trip with his familybut the service says Vance and his team weren't involved in the decision. "These decisions were made solely by agents during our standard advance planning process and did not involve the Office of the Vice President," the service said in a statement to the Guardian . The Secret Service said it determined it was "operationally necessary" to raise the Little Miami River to accommodate boats including law enforcement vessels. Vance was seen kayaking on the river on Saturday, his 41st birthday. "The Secret Service often employs protective measures without the knowledge of the Vice President or his staff, as was the case last weekend," Vance's office said in a statement. A source tells the Hill that a public safety boat ran aground during a joint scouting mission with public safety officials and the Secret Service ahead of Vance's trip. This isn't the first time a river has been raised for a vice-presidential trip, the Guardian notes. In 1999, the Connecticut River was raised when then-Vice President Al Gore was on a canoeing trip. Vance and his family are on another trip this weekend, the AP reports. He is expected to meet with UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy on Friday before the family heads for a vacation in the English countryside. The Vances have reportedly rented a cottage in the Cotswolds, a fashionable area increasingly popular with wealthy Americans. Benjamin Netanyahu's plans for Israel to take over Gaza City amid international calls for a ceasefire in the nation's fight with Hamas aren't going over well with many. The New York Times reports that the prime minister is being "broadly criticized"by resident politicians, global allies, families of the Hamas-held Israeli hostages, and more. Within Israel: On X, opposition leader Yair Lapid called the decision "a disaster that will lead to many more disasters," adding that the operation "will take months, lead to the death of the hostages, the killing of many soldiers, cost tens of billions to the Israeli taxpayer, and lead to a political collapse." He noted that "this is exactly what Hamas wanted: for Israel to be trapped in the field without a goal, without defining the picture of the day after, in a useless occupation that no one understands where it is leading." Protesters unhappy with Elon Musk's DOGE machinations came first for Tesla's Cybertruck , but now comes the US Air Force with an eye on destroying the futuristic steel vehiclethough for purposes of national security rather than moral outrage. According to documents uncovered by the War Zone , the Air Force plans to buy two Cybertrucksalong with dozens of other vehiclesto use as target practice at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, as part of a broader Special Operations Command initiative to refine precision-guided weaponry. The logic? Military planners apparently believe that America's adversaries might start fielding Cybertrucks themselves. The contract notes that the truck's unconventional design and tough stainless steel exoskeleton appear to help it withstand damage better than most vehicles, raising the prospect that future foes could find it appealing. "Testing needs to mirror real world situations," the Air Force wrote, emphasizing the need for training that prepares units for vehicles that could soon appear on battlefields. Exactly who these Cybertruck-driving enemies might be remains unclear as portions of the documents are blacked out, though Gizmodo cheekily notes that "it's funny to imagine the Cybertruck becoming the favored vehicle of terrorists and non-state actors." Still, the Air Force's market research found the Cybertruck's angular look, unpainted steel body, and 48-volt electrical system set it apart from typical rivals. Whether those features truly make it an attractive option for adversaries, or simply a curiosity, is unstated. story continues below For Tesla, the news adds another chapter to the Cybertruck saga, which has been marked by lackluster sales and harsh reviews. Production targets have fallen far short, and sales remain underwhelming. While Tesla has reportedly considered launching a smaller truck to boost the product line, for now, the Cybertruck's most high-profile customer may be the US militarykeen to blow it to pieces in the New Mexico desert. President Trump has quietly authorized the Pentagon to use military force against certain Latin American drug cartels, stepping up an already aggressive push to label these organizations as foreign terrorist threats. The directive, confirmed to the New York Times by sources familiar with internal discussions, paves the way for potential US military operations at sea and possibly on foreign landactivities traditionally handled by law enforcement. Officials say the military is now drafting plans to target the cartels, though the move stirs significant legal questions. There's ambiguity, for instance, over whether US troops could legally kill suspected cartel members outside of sanctioned conflicts, or what rules would apply to capturing and detaining suspects. The Pentagon declined comment on the specifics, while a White House rep said that "President Trump's top priority is protecting the homeland, which is why he took the bold step to designate several cartels and gangs as foreign terrorist organizations." Trump's campaign against the cartels has included deploying troops to the southern border and significantly expanding surveillance and drug interdiction efforts. Earlier this year, Trump even offered to send US troops to Mexico, but Mexican leader Claudia Sheinbaum said, "We can share information, but we will never accept the presence of the United States Army in our territory," per the Hill. In recent months, Trump has targeted groups like Venezuela's Cartel de los Solesallegedly headed by President Nicolas Maduroand designated others, such as MS-13 and Tren de Aragua, as terrorist organizations. story continues below The administration recently doubled its reward for Maduro's capture to $50 million. "Under President Trump's leadership, Maduro will not escape justice and he will be held accountable for his despicable crimes," Attorney General Pam Bondi said Thursday during an announcement on the reward, per the AP. Legal experts tells the Times that labeling cartels as terrorists allows for asset freezes and to stymie travel, but it also doesn't automatically authorize military strikes. The administration appears to be exploring presidential authority to justify such action, especially citing national security threats from fentanyl trafficking. Russian invaders have repeatedly shelled Kupyansk (Kharkiv region) on Friday, there are casualties among civilians. "A pre-trial investigation has been launched into the facts of war crimes under Part 1 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine," the press service of the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor's Office reports. At about 8:30 a.m., a 70-year-old woman was injured as a result of a drone strike on the city of Kupyansk, and she was hospitalized. At approximately 9:00 a.m., two 69-year-old men and a 66-year-old woman were injured as a result of an first-person view (FPV) drone attack. Another man (63 years old) was injured as a result of the morning enemy shelling, according to preliminary data, with rockets. Scout the Pomeranian weighs just 6 pounds, while a black bear weighs hundreds. But the former defeated the latter after the ursine invader broke into the home of Scout's owner in British Columbia on Monday, apparently on the hunt for some grub, reports UPI . Security footage from Kayla Kleine's West Vancouver residence shows the bear wandering into her living room via a door Kleine had left ajar to cool the house down amid high temps. The bear first checked out the wall-mounted TV, then lumbered into Kleine's kitchen to check out Scout's mealwhich is when the Pomeranian scrambled into action, yipping and chasing after the bear until the larger animal ran out the door it had come through, with Kleine close behind. "Scout, Scout, come here!" Kleine can be heard pleading with her pet, who'd followed the bear outdoors. But Scout was upset enoughKleine believes over his breakfast that the bear had been afterto keep chasing the bear until it fled the property altogether. She tells Global News that she grabbed bear spray, but by the time she reached her dog in the garden, Scout "had already chased [the bear] up the fence and the bear was on the other side of the fence and he was just barking at it." She adds of her "feisty" and "really protective" pooch, per UPI: "I was surprised, but [Scout is] also scary when he's mad, so I could see him going full speed at the bear." Germany won't authorize any exports of military equipment to Israel that could be used in Gaza "until further notice," Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Friday, in a strikingly quick response by one of Israel's strongest international backers to a decision by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet to take over Gaza City. The move by Germany, which has previously stopped short of tougher lines against Israel's government taken by some of its EU allies, appeared likely to further isolate Israel in the wake of the military takeover plan that has been decried by the United Nations, aid and human rights groups, and supporters of Israeli hostages still held in Gaza, among others, per the AP . Germany, along with the US and Italy, is among the top foreign suppliers of equipment used by Israel's military. The move has particular weight because Germany has been seen as one of Israel's strongest supportersarguably surpassed only by the US. Germany has maintained a strongly pro-Israel stance for decades, largely due to its historical responsibility for the Holocaust, which has shaped its postwar foreign policy around ensuring Israel's security and combating antisemitism. The pause in German military supplies adds to actions taken by European countriesincluding economic, military, and diplomatic measuresagainst Israel in recent months out of concern over its government's conduct in the nearly two-year war in Gaza. Merz said in a statement that Israel "has the right to defend itself against Hamas' terror" and that the release of Israeli hostages and purposeful negotiations toward a ceasefire are "our top priority." He added that Hamas mustn't have a role in the future of Gaza. However, "the even harsher military action by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip, approved by the Israeli Cabinet last night, makes it increasingly difficult for the German government to see how these goals will be achieved," Merz said. "Under these circumstances, the German government will not authorize any exports of military equipment that could be used in the Gaza Strip until further notice." It wasn't immediately clear which military equipment from Germany would be affected; the German government declined to comment. More here. The Trump administration is advancing plans to take mortgage behemoths Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac public in an IPO that could fetch around $30 billion and potentially value the duo at $500 billion or more, possibly by later this year, according to sources familiar with the negotiations. Officials are still hashing out whether to list the government-controlled firms together or separately, as well as if they'd remain under federal oversight while selling sharesa structure previously hinted at but never clearly defined, per the Wall Street Journal . Fannie and Freddie, mainstays of the American housing market since the 2008 crisis left them reliant on a government safety net, bundle mortgages for resale and have long been seen as backed by an implicit federal guarantee. President Trump has signaled he wants that guarantee to stick around if shares start trading, though how that would work remains murky and raises headaches on Capitol Hill and with accountants. Top brass from six major US banksincluding Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase, and Goldman Sachsrecently trekked to Washington to meet with Trump, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce chief Howard Lutnick, and Federal Housing Finance Agency chief Bill Pulte to discuss the possible offering. Yahoo Finance notes that Trump promoted the idea back in May via a Truth Social post, in which he declared, "I am working on TAKING THESE AMAZING COMPANIES PUBLIC." The plan has its skeptics, however. Major IPOs take time, and with previous attempts to privatize Fannie and Freddie stalling outincluding Trump's own first-term effortbankers are questioning whether the timeline is realistic. Still, proponents say the move could help pare down the federal deficit and return funds to taxpayers. Reuters reports that Fannie Mae's shares rose 20% on the news, while Freddie's increased by 15%. France's bottled water giants are facing a reckoning, with the spotlight on whether labels like Perrier can still claim the title "natural mineral water." The controversy follows media reports that a third of mineral water sold in France had been quietly filtered to remove contaminants, a process prohibited by EU rules if the water is to earn that "natural mineral water" label. The revelationsdubbed "Water-gate" by one investigatorhave raised questions about industrial practices and government oversight, as well as the impact of climate change on water purity, reports the BBC . Climate shifts and persistent droughts have stressed deep aquifers, particularly in southern France, where Perrier sources its water. Hydrologists say these changes are allowing farm chemicals and other contaminants to seep deeper underground, forcing companies to treat water to maintain quality. That, in turn, undermines the core marketing promise that mineral water is pure and untouched, justifying its premium price over tap water. "This is part of a longer trend of growing threats to groundwater," climate scientist Peter Gleick, co-founder of the Pacific Institute research center, told the New York Times in May. "It's becoming harder and harder to find waters safe from contamination." Making things even more difficult is an ongoing probe into alleged collusion between Perrier's parent company, Nestle, and government officials, who are accused of covering up contamination and changing rules to allow micro-filtration. A Senate inquiry concluded there'd been a deliberate official strategy to keep damaging information out of public view. story continues below Nestle's CEO admitted to using banned treatment methods and acknowledged that a hydrologists' report had advised against renewing mineral water status for Perrier's historic source. The company insists its water remains "100% pure" and disputes claims of deep aquifer contamination. Pending a government ruling, Perrier has shifted to a filtration method agreed upon with regulators and is focusing on new, treated drinks that don't require the mineral water label. A final decision on the iconic status for Perrier, which the Guardian notes has been dubbed by some as the "champagne of table waters," is expected later this year. Police in Moscow, Idaho, this week released close to 200 imagesmany blurredalong with area surveillance video from the scene of the 2022 University of Idaho murders, offering the public its clearest view yet into the now-demolished house where four students were killed. NBC News reports the newly released materials, obtained by KTVB through a public records request, show everyday clutterplastic cups, beer cans, school lanyardsscattered through the off-campus home, underscoring a typical college life interrupted. An open sliding glass doorbelieved by police to be the entry point for Bryan Kohberger, the man convicted of the killingsis shown in one photo. Another captures the entrance of the room that Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen were in. KTVB reports it declined to show the more graphic images. Kohberger pleaded guilty last month to murdering Goncalves, Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin and is serving a life sentence. As for the surveillance video, KTVB reports footage from a neighbor's house captures "loud thuds and noises, what could be someone crying, and a dog barking for several minutes" from 4:15am to 4:20am. FOX 13 reports that the Latah County Prosecutors Office on Aug. 1 released images of a 3D model of the home at 1122 King Road; it had been created for use in the trial, which never came to pass due to Kohberger's guilty plea. See images of it here. story continues below In the weeks after the Nov. 13, 2022, murders, police withheld many details, which frustrated the community and victims' families. Behind the scenes, however, investigators tracked Kohberger across state lines before making an arrest in late December 2022. Three 9/11 victims' remains have been identified, officials said this week, as evolving DNA technology keeps making gradual gains in the nearly quarter-century-long effort to return the remains of the dead to their loved ones. New York City officials announced Thursday they had identified the remains of Ryan D. Fitzgerald, a 26-year-old currency trader; Barbara A. Keating, a 72-year-old retired nonprofit executive; and another woman whose name authorities kept private at her family's request. The AP reports they were identified through now-improved DNA testing of minute remains found more than 20 years ago amid the wreckage of the World Trade Center after the al-Qaeda hijacked-plane attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the city medical examiner's office said. "Each new identification testifies to the promise of science and sustained outreach to families despite the passage of time," chief medical examiner Dr. Jason Graham said in a statement. "We continue this work as our way of honoring the lost." Fitzgerald, who lived in Manhattan, was working at a financial firm at the trade center, studying for a master's degree in business and talking about a long-term future with his girlfriend, according to obituaries published at the time. Keating's son, Paul Keating, told media outlets he was amazed and impressed by the enduring endeavor. "It's just an amazing feat, gesture," he told the New York Post. He said genetic material from part of his mother's hairbrush was matched to DNA samples from relatives. A bit of his mother's ATM card was the only other trace of her ever recovered from the debris, he said. story continues below Keating was a passenger on Boston-to-Los Angeles-bound American Airlines Flight 11 when hijackers slammed it into the World Trade Center. She was headed home to Palm Springs, California, after spending the summer on Massachusetts' Cape Cod. Keating had spent her career in social services, including a time as executive director of the Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Middlesex, near Boston. In retirement, she was involved in her Roman Catholic church in Palm Springs. The Trump administration is insisting the University of California system pay a $1 billion fine over antisemitism allegations in order for UCLA to get more than a half-billion in medical and science grant funding that had been frozen. Such an agreement would be the largest reached with a college in the administration's campaign so far. The proposal, which offers payment on an installment plan, was delivered Friday, the Los Angeles Times reports. The day before, Gov. Gavin Newsom had denounced such settlements made by Brown and Columbia and said UC should not acquiesce to President Trump's demands. "I will fight like hell to make sure that doesn't happen," said Newsom, a Democrat. The terms would require UC to contribute $172 million to a fund for Jewish students and others affected by alleged violations of Title VIIwhich prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or shared ancestry. UC has been in talks with the administration to try to regain access to $584 million in grant funding to UCLA that was frozen during the federal investigation, per the Times. Like the Brown and Columbia deals, the proposal has a provision in it that keeps federal officials from capitalizing on the deal to interfere directly with academic freedom, admissions, or hiring. James Milliken, UC president, said in a statement that such a payment would devastate the system and hurt students and other Californians, per the New York Times. "These cuts do nothing to address antisemitism," he said. "Moreover, the extensive work that UCLA and the entire University of California have taken to combat antisemitism has apparently been ignored." Newsom, an ex officio member of the university's board of regents who appoints its members, was steadfast on Thursday. "There's principles," he said. "There's right and wrong, and we'll do the right thing, and what President Trump is doing is wrong, and everybody knows it." James Lovell, the commander of Apollo 13 who helped turn a failed moon mission into a triumph of on-the-fly can-do engineering, has died. He was 97. Lovell died Thursday in Lake Forest, Illinois, NASA said in a statement on Friday. "Jim's character and steadfast courage helped our nation reach the Moon and turned a potential tragedy into a success from which we learned an enormous amount," NASA said. "We mourn his passing even as we celebrate his achievements." One of NASA's most traveled astronauts in the agency's first decade, Lovell flew four timesGemini 7, Gemini 12, Apollo 8, and Apollo 13with the two Apollo flights riveting the folks back on Earth. In 1968, the Apollo 8 crew of Lovell, Frank Borman, and William Anders was the first to leave Earth's orbit and the first to fly to and circle the moon. They could not land, but they put the US ahead of the Soviets in the space race. Letter writers told the crew that their stunning pale blue dot photo of Earth from the moon, a world first, and the crew's Christmas Eve reading from Genesis saved America from a tumultuous 1968. But the big rescue mission was still to come, reports the AP. That was during the harrowing Apollo 13 flight in April 1970. Lovell was supposed to be the fifth man to walk on the moon. But Apollo 13's service module, carrying Lovell and two others, experienced a sudden oxygen tank explosion on its way to the moon. The astronauts barely survived by moving from the service module, which was hemorrhaging oxygen, into the cramped, dark, and frigid lunar lander while they rationed their dwindling oxygen, water, and electricity. Using the lunar module as a lifeboat, they swung around the moon, aimed for Earth and raced home. ''In some sense it was very much of a success,'' Lovell said during a 1994 interview, "in that we demonstrated the capability of (NASA) personnel.'' story continues below A retired Navy captain known for his calm demeanor, Lovell said in a 1995 interview with the AP for a story on the 25th anniversary of the mission that the loss of the opportunity to walk on the moon "is my one regret." President Bill Clinton agreed when he awarded Lovell the Congressional Space Medal of Honor in 1995. "While you may have lost the moon ... you gained something that is far more important perhaps: the abiding respect and gratitude of the American people," he said. The mission's retelling in the popular 1995 movie Apollo 13 brought Lovell, Fred Haise, and Jack Swigert renewed famethanks in part to Lovell's movie persona reporting "Houston, we have a problem," a phrase he didn't exactly utter. The famous line he did say: "Houston, we've had a problem," a variation of a comment Swigert had radioed moments before. Fairbanks, AK (99701) Today Light rain early...then remaining cloudy with showers in the afternoon. High near 65F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 90%.. Tonight Partly cloudy this evening, then becoming cloudy after midnight. Low 52F. Winds light and variable. We have used your information to see if you have a subscription with us, but did not find one. Please use the button below to verify an existing account or to purchase a new subscription. The Foreign Ministers of Ukraine, Moldova and Romania hope for significant progress in the screening process and the rapid opening of the relevant negotiation clusters on accession to the European Union for both Kyiv and Chisinau during the Danish presidency of the Council of the EU. This is stated in a joint statement by the Foreign Ministers of Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova and Romania. The relevant statement was signed by the Foreign Ministers of Ukraine, Moldova and Romania following a meeting in Chernivtsi on Friday, August 8. The Romanian side highlighted the significant progress achieved by Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova in advancing reforms related to accession to the European Union, in particular by ensuring the rule of law and creating equal conditions for the private sector, which are important tools for integration into the Single European Market, as well as for reconstruction efforts. According to the statement, Romania remains committed to supporting both countries on their path to full EU membership, including through political support and technical assistance. The statement stressed that this would help both countries to achieve compliance with EU norms and standards, as well as to meet the specific requirements necessary for their accession to the EU. Noting the important efforts made by Romania and the Republic of Moldova to facilitate the safe, secure and cost-effective transit of Ukrainian export goods, the ministers committed to further strengthening trilateral cooperation in this area. The three countries are also interested in further expanding the capacity of existing border crossing points, developing access roads and railway infrastructure, as well as implementing a pilot project on coordinated border and customs control at checkpoints on the common state border, in accordance with current national legislation. The Danube is one of the main areas of cooperation between the three countries, the Foreign Ministry emphasized. The parties will also continue to optimize logistics routes along the Solidarity Routes, while ensuring the protection and due consideration of the interests of farmers, agricultural producers and the processing industry in Ukraine, Romania and the Republic of Moldova, in accordance with current European and national legislation. In addition, the ministers stressed the importance of working together to improve and expand interconnections, diversify energy sources and ensure the stability of energy supply to strengthen the energy security of the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine. Romania will continue to support the integration of Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova into the common European energy market by 2027. Aug 09 (News On Japan) - Tokyo, which is a world within a whirl of activity, presents a unique mix of old and new. The city has here the serene shrines that have stood for centuries and the modern skyscrapers that shoot up to the sky; also, it has traditional culture and high-tech trends. The Japanese capital is a travel paradise. But as the city goes at a fast pace and travelers are totingtheir bags, at some point the vacation may turn into a chore. That is when they will wish for good luggage storage in Tokyo. If travelers are looking to make the best of their time in Tokyo for that which may be spent getting to the hotel, at the airport, which came too late, or on a layoverthe right luggage storage solution is a game changer. Of that which is out there, Radical Storage stands out as a favorite among travelers, which also happens to put convenient and almost stress-free exploration of the city within their grasp, which doesnt include the use of their own bag. Why Luggage Storage Is a Must in Tokyo Tokyos transit system is a hit with tourists, but getting around in its complex station structures with luggage can be a challenge. Also, many points of interest have very strict bag policies, which either wont allow entry or will require that travelers have a search of the bag. Instead of spending time on the luggage or trying to find a place to put it at the station, which in turn is usually very limited and fills up fast, travelers can use a dedicated luggage storage service in Tokyo. They will save time, have more freedom, and reduce stress, which in turn makes the travel a smooth and enjoyable experience. Introducing Radical Storage: A Smart Travel Companion Radical Storage has taken the top spot in the category of traveler-friendly luggage storage in cities that have been seen, including Tokyo. The service has a model that puts travelers in touch with local players that may be a shop, a hotel, or a cafe, which will secure their bags for a flat rate per day. What this means is they can leave their luggage at almost any location in the city and pick it up at their convenience. The Radical Storage platform is known for its ease of use: No longer is there a worry of size or weight, as with coin lockers. Flat rate daily charge, no hourly. Online booking at the touch of a button via the site or app. In many areas of Tokyo, from major transit points such as Shinjuku and Tokyo Station to the top tourist destinations like Asakura and Akihabara. These benefits put Radical Storage at the top for travelers that value flexibility and want to experience Tokyo without being tied down by what they bring. Explore Luggage Storage Tokyo OptionsRadical Storage. Top Places to Explore in Tokyo Without Luggage Once luggage is secured at the airport, Tokyo presents a whole array of things to do. As for top things to do that are better enjoyed without that drag of a suitcase: 1. Shibuya Crossing & Hachiko Statue Start out at what is to date the worlds busiest pedestrian crossing. This intersection is a lively symbol of Tokyo and best seen when one is able to navigate through the crowds. Also nearby is the famous Hachiko statuethe faithful dog that waited for years for his owners return. 2. Meiji Shrine and Yoyogi Park In Shibuya is a tranquil retreat that breaks the citys frenzy. Also with Radical Storage at hand, which is nearby, travelers may leave their things and take a very reflective walk through the great torii gates and woodlands. 3. Akihabara Electric Town If one digs into the world of anime, manga, and gadgets, then Akihabara is for them. The stores are packed in and multi-level, which is great if there's no luggage to worry about. 4. Tokyo Tower or Tokyo Skytree Want to take in the panoramic views of the skyline? At those iconic towers, what visitors get out of it is much greater if they arent toting a bag. Radical Storage has drop-off points at both locations, which in turn allows travelers to put away their backpacks so they can fully enjoy the experience. 5. Tsukiji Outer Market Food lovers dont want to miss out on what the famous Tsukiji Market has to offer. For the best experience, leave the bags at home and come with an empty stomach! Where to Find Luggage Storage in Tokyo Tokyo is a large collection of neighborhoods that each provide something different. In what Radical Storage does, the company has made it easy for travelers to find the best-in-class luggage storage solutions in the citys top areas, which include: Tokyo Station great for early check-in or late check-out Shinjuku By department stores, government buildings, and nightlife Close to Ueno Park, museums, and the zoo Asakusaa cultural hub by the Senso-ji Temple Roppongi for art museums and nightlife Harajuku great for fashion and street food Each of the selected destinations is thoughtfully designed for ease and security, which in turn gives peace of mind as travelers leave their luggage with the service and head out the door. Safety and Alternatives Radical Storage is partnered only with verified businesses for peace of mind, which also includes coverage for all bookings. That said, travelers should not leave very valuable items behindwhich is sound advice no matter what storage service is used. While Radical Storage is a go-to for ease of use and dependability, Tokyo also has players like Bounce, Stasher, and LuggageHero. They do, however, tend to have variable rates, size restrictions, and fewer location options. What Radical Storage may lack in terms of location coverage and price structure, it makes up for with a flat fee and large network of locationswhich in the end is a better value. Final Thoughts: Travel Smart, Explore Freely Whether in Tokyo for a layover, a complete holiday, before just a stop on the way between other places, luggage storage inside Tokyo is a game changer. It allows travelers to get into the action of the city as well as see all it has to offer without the burden of bags. Thanks to companies like Radical Storage, which contain revolutionized the industry, putting bags away is a breeze. Affordable, easy, with safe. Now that the stress has been left at the door with them, travelers are ready to explore Tokyo like a true local. Before the next trip into the dynamic capital of Japan, why not check in and create memories to last a lifetime? OTTAWA, ON, Aug. 8, 2025 /CNW/ - The Honourable Heath MacDonald, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, has concluded a productive seven-day trade mission to Indonesia, Singapore, and the Philippines. Representatives from Canada's agriculture and agri-food sector joined the Minister for the mission to the region, which is already importing more than a quarter of Canada's total agricultural exports, and poised for much more. Canadian agricultural stakeholder groups who joined Minister MacDonald on the mission included: Cereals Canada; Soy Canada; Protein Industries Canada; Canada Beef; Pulse Canada; the Canadian Pork Council; and the Canadian Cattle Association. During the mission, Minister MacDonald met with senior government officials, industry leaders, importers and other key stakeholders to discuss boosting agricultural and agri-food trade, increased cooperation on research, innovation, food safety and technical expertise, and to promote the Canada Brand. In each country, the Minister convened meetings between industry representatives and local businesses and importers to discuss market trends, regulatory challenges, and opportunities for growth. He also attended World Food Expo, the largest agri-food and beverages trade show in the Philippines, and met with Canadian exhibitors. Key meetings included: Indonesia's Minister of Agriculture Andi Amran Sulaiman ; Minister of Agriculture ; Indonesia's Deputy for Food and Agriculture Coordination Ms. Widiastuti; Deputy for Food and Agriculture Coordination Ms. Widiastuti; ASEAN Secretary-General Dr. Kao Kim Hourn ; ; Singapore's Minister for Sustainability and Environment Grace Fu Hai Yein ; and, Minister for Sustainability and Environment ; and, The Philippines' Secretary of Agriculture Francisco Tiu Laurel Jr. Minister MacDonald's mission underscores Canada's commitment to trade with reliable partners and growth across the Indo-Pacific region. Quotes "Our farmers and food processors work tirelessly to produce reliable, high-quality and safe food. Because of the reputation they've helped build, more countries are choosing our products, and we're absolutely focused on creating more opportunities for them by increasing and diversifying our exports, moving forward on new free trade agreements, and raising the profile of the Canada Brand worldwide, especially in areas like the Indo-Pacific." - The Honourable Heath MacDonald, Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food "The Indo-Pacific region represents one of Canada's most significant and fastest-growing markets for cereals. Canada has enjoyed long-standing trade partnerships with the countries in this region, and the Minister's presence underscores the importance of these relationships. The Indo-Pacific Agriculture and Agri-Food Office provides boots-on-the-ground trade support to regulators and exporters, and helps to uphold Canada's reputation for clean, consistent cargos which our Indo-Pacific customers expect." - Dean Dias, Chief Executive Officer, Cereals Canada "I've seen Minister MacDonald show our customers and their governments that in a world of chaos, they can count on Canada. Meeting customers and their governments face to face and supporting the Indo-Pacific Agriculture and Agri-Food Office delivers what our customers need. With over 70% of our soybeans exported, including $1.5 billion to the Indo-Pacific each year, when we deliver value for customers, we deliver value for farmers and the entire soy value chain." - Brian Innes, Executive Director, Soy Canada "Our recent trip across the Indo-Pacific region with Minister MacDonald reaffirmed the importance of building strong, collaborative relationships with countries that share our commitment to innovation, sustainability, and food security. Canada's plant-based food and ingredient sector offers high-quality, sustainable protein options that meet the growing demand in the Indo-Pacific. By working with partners across the region, including through the Indo-Pacific Agriculture and Agri-Food Office, we can build lasting trade and business relationships that benefit both Canadians and Indo-Pacific consumers." - Robert Hunter, Chief Executive Officer, Protein Industries Canada "The Indo-Pacific region represents a rapidly growing market for Canadian beef with tremendous potential for long-term trade partnerships. Minister MacDonald's trade mission demonstrates Canada's commitment to advancing Canadian agriculture through active engagement with key partners. Canada Beef appreciates the support of the Indo-Pacific Agriculture and Agri-Food Office in Manila in building strategic relationships in the region. Reliable and predictable access along with a level playing field for Canadian beef in global markets are core to achieving a truly competitive landscape with our major competitors." - Eric Bienvenue, President, Canada Beef "The Indo-Pacific holds tremendous potential for Canada's pulse sector, which is why Pulse Canada was a leading advocate for the creation of the Indo-Pacific Agriculture and Agri-Food Office. Pulse Canada has been working for years to diversify markets in the Indo-Pacific and unlock new opportunities for Canadian pulse growers, processors, and exporters, and we are pleased to see the federal government placing a stronger focus on this region and aligning with industry efforts to build long-term, sustainable trade relationships." - Julianne Curran, Vice President, Market Innovation, Pulse Canada "We were thrilled to join the Minister for his first-ever visit to the ASEAN region. As a supporter of the Indo-Pacific Agricultural and Agri-Food Office and of diversifying our trading relationships, the Canadian Pork Council appreciated the wonderful conversations we had with local producers and buyers. We look forward to continuing these relationships as we help bring the world's best pork, Canadian pork, to markets around the world." - Rene Roy, Chair, Canadian Pork Council "It has been an honour to participate in my first international trip as President of the Canadian Cattle Association. The mission has provided excellent opportunities to grow relationships in three priority Southeast Asian markets along with the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food. Canadian beef producers appreciate every opportunity to diversify and gain new markets and opportunities for our nutritious and sustainable Canadian beef products. We are excited for the growth potential in the Indo-Pacific region at large, where Canadian beef is valued for our high-quality, safe product." - Tyler Fulton, President, Canadian Cattle Association Quick Facts The Indo-Pacific area includes 40 economies, over four billion people, and $47 trillion in economic activity. It's the world's fastest-growing region, and home to 11 of Canada's top 20 trading partners. in economic activity. It's the world's fastest-growing region, and home to 11 of top 20 trading partners. Launched in 2022, Canada's Indo-Pacific Strategy has committed to advancing five strategic objectives from security and trade to sustainability and regional engagement. It reflects Canada's commitment to inclusive growth, a rules-based international order, and partnerships that create shared prosperity with Indo-Pacific economies. Indo-Pacific Strategy has committed to advancing five strategic objectives from security and trade to sustainability and regional engagement. It reflects commitment to inclusive growth, a rules-based international order, and partnerships that create shared prosperity with Indo-Pacific economies. The Indo-Pacific is Canada's second-largest regional export market and trading partner. In 2024, Canada exported $22 billion worth of agriculture and agri-food products to the Indo-Pacific region, and it's a growing market. second-largest regional export market and trading partner. In 2024, exported worth of agriculture and agri-food products to the Indo-Pacific region, and it's a growing market. There are potential opportunities for Canada to grow its market share. Last year, agri-food and seafood exports represented nearly 29.6% of Canada's total merchandise exports to the Indo-Pacific region, being ranked as the largest sector for merchandise exports. to grow its market share. Last year, agri-food and seafood exports represented nearly 29.6% of total merchandise exports to the Indo-Pacific region, being ranked as the largest sector for merchandise exports. On December 2, 2024 , Canada and Indonesia signed a joint statement announcing the conclusion of negotiations for a Canada-Indonesia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), and committed to sign the CEPA in 2025. , and signed a joint statement announcing the conclusion of negotiations for a Canada-Indonesia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), and committed to sign the CEPA in 2025. Indonesia is a G20 country and Southeast Asia's largest economy. With a population of 279 million and GDP of close to $1.9 trillion in 2023, the Indonesian market holds significant potential for Canadian traders, investors, and service providers. is a G20 country and largest economy. With a population of 279 million and GDP of close to in 2023, the Indonesian market holds significant potential for Canadian traders, investors, and service providers. Once concluded and in force, the ASEAN-Canada Free Trade Agreement (ACAFTA) will open new pathways for trade and investment between Canada and ASEAN member states, including the Philippines . For our agri-food sectors, it means expanded market access, reduced trade barriers, and a more predictable environment for businesses in Canada , the Philippines and our other ASEAN regional trading partners. and ASEAN member states, including . For our agri-food sectors, it means expanded market access, reduced trade barriers, and a more predictable environment for businesses in , and our other ASEAN regional trading partners. Canada and the Philippines also launched exploratory discussions for a potential bilateral FTA that would build on the ACAFTA once in force, allowing for higher standards and the further elimination of tariffs and barriers to trade between Canada and the Philippines . and also launched exploratory discussions for a potential bilateral FTA that would build on the ACAFTA once in force, allowing for higher standards and the further elimination of tariffs and barriers to trade between and . World Food Expo (WOFEX) is the largest agri-food and beverages trade show in the Philippines . The four-day tradeshow attracts 51,000 visitors, including key agri-food stakeholders such as suppliers, importers, traders, distributors, retailers, food service operators, and the general public. In total there were 59 Canadian delegates from 33 companies, industry associations and provinces exhibiting this year at the expo. Additional Links Follow us on Facebook, X, YouTube, Instagram, and LinkedIn Web: Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada SOURCE Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada Contacts: For media: Annie Cullinan, Director of Communications, Office of the Minister of Agriculture and Agri-Food, [email protected]; Media Relations, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, 613-773-7972, 1-866-345-7972, [email protected] A roundup of the most newsworthy press releases from Cision Distribution this week TORONTO, Aug. 8, 2025 /CNW/ - With thousands of press releases published each week, it can be difficult to keep up with everything on Cision. To help 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. Cision Canada - The Weekly Round-Up (PRNewsfoto/Cision Canada) Read more of the latest releases from Cision, see our resources for journalists, and stay caught up on the top press releases by following @cnwnews. About Cision Canada Cision is a comprehensive communications platform enabling more than 100,000 public relations and marketing professionals around the world to understand, influence and amplify their stories. As the market leader, Cision enables the next generation of communication professionals to strategically operate in the modern media landscape where company success is directly impacted by public opinion. Cision has offices in 24 countries through the Americas, EMEA and APAC, and offers a suite of best-in-class solutions, including Newswire, Brandwatch, Cision Communications Cloud and Cision Insights. To learn more, visit www.cision.ca and follow @CisionCA on Twitter. SOURCE Cision Canada For questions, contact the team at [email protected]. The Commissioner for Human Rights of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Dmytro Lubinets has warning relatives of Ukrainian defenders who have gone missing or are in captivity about another hostile IPSO (information and psychological security operation) on the topic of exchanges. "The goal is to discredit the efforts of Ukrainian authorities and destabilize the internal situation () In conditions of war, this can have extremely negative consequences, in particular, it helps the enemy in his main goal - to destroy our unity," the ombudsman said on Telegram on Friday According to Lubinets, the Russian Federation is spreading massive allegations on its propaganda resources about the alleged "unwillingness of Ukraine to return its prisoners of war and civilians," which is also picked up by some Ukrainian Telegram channels, thereby reinforcing the false information background. In addition, the enemy is artificially creating protest moods, using emotional pressure and manipulation. The Ombudsman notes that during mass actions, the enemy may intentionally create conflict situations with representatives of law enforcement agencies, which Russia will later use to distort the information picture. Citizens are urged to trust only information from Ukrainian state bodies. And also to participate in those actions that have a legitimate organizer and that cannot be used by enemy special services for their own purposes and to refrain from other public events at the time of distribution of this IPSO. In the event of receiving suspicious calls to participate in protests or attempts to contact third parties, it is necessary to immediately notify law enforcement agencies or the Security Service of Ukraine. "I emphasize that we must all be united in the fight against the enemy. Ukraine is working to free each and every prisoner. And we have common goals - not to harm the exchange processes, although Russia is trying to make its "corrections", but only by being together we will not allow this to happen!" he said. Ukraine, Moldova and Romania "highly appreciate the dynamic efforts" of the US President Donald Trump administration and the participating states of the Coalition of the Willing in finding potential paths to a just and lasting peace in Ukraine. This is stated in a joint statement by the Foreign Ministers of Ukraine, the Republic of Moldova and Romania. The corresponding statement was signed by the Foreign Ministers of Ukraine and Moldova following a meeting in Chernivtsi on Friday, August 8. The three countries welcome all efforts aimed at creating the right conditions for such peace, including by strengthening Ukraine's capacity to resist Russia's aggressive war and to achieve peace through force. The ministers also welcome the EU's new strategic approach to the Black Sea, aimed at strengthening interconnections for a secure, stable and prosperous region. The parties confirmed their "firm commitment to actively participating in the concrete implementation of this strategic approach." At the same time, the foreign ministers strongly condemned Russia's unprecedented and systematic hybrid attacks against Europe, in particular against critical infrastructure and democratic processes. In this context, the Ministers reaffirmed their strong support for the Republic of Moldova ahead of the upcoming parliamentary elections (28 September 2025), condemning Russian interference and stressing the need for free, transparent and democratic elections. The Heads of Departments committed to fostering closer cooperation to counter Russian hybrid threats and strengthen shared resilience. Given the increasing threats from Russia in the digital space, the parties agreed to take concrete measures to further strengthen our cooperation in countering hybrid and cyber threats. Romania and the Republic of Moldova reaffirm their strong commitment to cooperating with Ukraine and the international community to ensure effective and sustainable post-war recovery and reconstruction. In addition, the parties emphasized the importance of the trilateral format of interaction Ukraine - the Republic of Moldova - Romania for bringing the states closer together and confirmed their firm commitment to continuing the development of cooperation in this format. In this context, they welcomed the results of the meeting in the trilateral format Ukraine - the Republic of Moldova - Romania at the level of heads of state (June 11, 2025, Odessa) and expressed their readiness to organize the next meeting at the level of heads of government of the three states. The Foreign Ministers also reaffirmed their determination to support the establishment of a Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine, which should be able to ensure comprehensive criminal accountability for the crime of aggression committed by the political and military leadership. The countries pledged to make efforts to strengthen international mechanisms, including through the #BringKidsBackUA initiative, to facilitate the safe return of Ukrainian civilians, including children, who have been illegally deported or forcibly displaced by the aggressor state. The Specialized Prosecutor's Office in the Defense Sector of the Central Region, together with law enforcement agencies, exposed the facts of illegal actions of military personnel, as a result of which the state suffered significant losses, the press service of the prosecutor's office reports. The Bila Tserkva Specialized Prosecutor's Office in the Defense Sector of the Central Region, together with the Territorial Department of the BES in the city of Kyiv, reported the suspicion of the former commander of one of the military units in committing a criminal offense under Part 4 of Article 425 (negligent attitude of a military official to the service, which caused grave consequences, committed in conditions of martial law) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. "The investigation established that during March-October 2023, the serviceman, improperly performing his official duties, did not check information about the direct participation of subordinates in hostilities and issued orders to pay additional remuneration in the amount of UAH 30,000 to 56 servicemen of the unit who were not involved in the performance of combat (special) tasks and were at the point of permanent deployment, performing their functional duties," the report states. As a result of such unlawful actions, the state suffered losses in the total amount of UAH 15.5 million. In addition, the Kyiv Specialized Prosecutor's Office in the Field of Defense of the Central Region, together with the Territorial Department of the State Bureau of Investigation located in Kyiv with the operational support the State Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), reported the suspicion of the head of the technical information protection department of one of the military units and his deputy in committing a criminal offense under Part 2 of Article 28 Part 2 of Article 364 (abuse of official position, which entailed grave consequences, committed by a group of persons in advance) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. "According to the investigation, during March 2023 - December 2024, servicemen, acting in advance of a conspiracy, abusing their official position, entered into the time sheets knowingly false information about the presence at the workplace of a subordinate employee who was actually absent," the prosecutor's office noted. As a result of the above-mentioned illegal actions, the employee was unjustifiably charged and paid wages totaling UAH 529,000. In the above-mentioned criminal proceedings, the prosecution filed a motion with the court to apply preventive measures to the suspects. A man from Philadelphia has been charged with multiple federal crimes after authorities said he brought a minor across state lines for sex. Bobbyjean Orak, 30, was charged in a five-count indictment with offenses that include interstate travel with intent to engage in a sexual act with a minor, enticement of a minor and production of child pornography, the U.S. Attorneys Office District of New Jersey said in a statement on Thursday. Orak is accused of transporting an underaged victim from Pennsylvania to New Jersey in 2022, with the intention of engaging in sexual activity with the victim, federal authorities said. FBI agents and local police rescued the child in Atlantic County last summer, federal prosecutors said. Orak was later identified as the suspect and searches of his phone and online accounts turned up substantial quantities of child sexual abuse material, officials said. Some of the material involved the victim who was found in Atlantic County, federal authorities said. Orak made his first appearance in Camden federal court on Thursday. The U.S. Attorneys Office did not say whether he has been detained. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Nicolas Fernandes may be reached at nfernandes@njadvancemedia.com. A Pennsylvania man is accused of detonating an explosive at the Delran home of his former supervisor last month that sprayed nails and bolts about 100 feet into adjacent homes and an SUV, officials with the U.S. District Attorneys Office said Thursday. Michael Patrick Takacs Jr., 43, of Warminster, Pennsylvania, was charged with transporting an explosive device across state lines with the intent to intimidate or destroy property, unlawfully transporting explosive materials and two counts of unlawful possession of an explosive device. Surveillance recordings captured an explosion under a car in Delran at 2:42 a.m. on July 26, officials said. The first explosion caused a debris field of about 100 feet and lodged bolts and nails in the exterior of an adjacent home and into the side of an SUV, officials said. Takacs was seen on surveillance video carrying a black object in his hand about two minutes prior to the explosion. He had parked across the street and walked up to the area where the explosion later occurred, officials said. Takacs is seen in the surveillance recording placing the object near the drivers side door of the vehicle and then seen walking back to his car empty-handed and leaving the area, officials said. A short time later, authorities said, Takacs remotely detonated the device as he sped past the area, just as a large explosion occurred. In interviews during the investigation, officials learned that the person targeted by the explosion was a former supervisor of Takacs where he worked until he was let go in May, officials said. Investigators discovered Takacs had ordered detonators consistent with ones found at the scene of the explosion and taken screen shots of directions to the location of the explosion in early June, officials said. Takacs appeared in federal court in Camden on Thursday and is being held pending further legal proceedings. An attorney for Takacs did not immediately return a request for comment. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Matthew Enuco may be reached at Menuco@njadvancemedia.com. US President Donald Trump has discussed with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni the possibility of a meeting with Vladimir Putin in Rome next week, Sky News has reported. "According to sources in the Italian government, Trump and Meloni held talks yesterday. If the US and Russian presidents do meet in Rome, it will take place in the Vatican," the broadcaster's website said. When asked about this, Italian government sources said "no comment." Sources in the Vatican and the US embassy in Rome also did not comment. However, a Foreign Ministry spokesman told Sky News: "Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani believes that regardless of how and where a genuine diplomatic dialogue between Russia and Ukraine takes place, Italy will be ready to sincerely and constructively support this process." According to information, if Italy or the Vatican were chosen as the venue for the Trump-Putin talks, the issue of the arrest warrant for the Russian president issued by the International Criminal Court would arise. Putin is wanted on suspicion of the illegal deportation of children and the illegal transportation of people from the territory of Ukraine to the Russian Federation. The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Putin in March 2023. A South Jersey town plans to hold parents or guardians criminally liable for children who break the law. Gloucester Township enacted a new ordinance on July 28 that imposes maximum fines of $2,000, plus the possibility of up to 90 days in jail, for adults whose children continuously commit unruly acts. The ordinance includes 28 offenses that could make caretakers liable. They range from felonies, loitering, breaking curfew and chronic truancy to immorality, habitual vagrancy and knowingly associating with immoral people. Police Chief David Harkins said the new law covers disorderly conduct overall, calling it general legal language. Parents will first be warned instead being assessed fines, he said. Our ordinance was actually sampled from other towns, Harkins said. Were not necessarily the first, but were probably the first bigger town to adopt it. The ordinance comes as the township has grappled with a trend of teens and juveniles instigating fights, damaging property and committing other offenses. Last year, the annual Gloucester Township Day, a carnival-like event that draws families to Veterans Park, was marred by more than 500 minors who gathered around the time of the inaugural drone show portion of the event. Violence flared when the crowd instigated a large brawl, which eventually drifted into a nearby shopping plaza. Nine teens were among 11 arrested, and three police officers trying to curtail the violence were injured. The event was postponed this year after posts to social media suggested similar behavior was being planned again. Township officials have examined the events future in light of the violence. Disruptive crowds of juveniles have appeared in public places across the state, including at the Jersey Shore. Wildwood, one of the towns that contended with unruly children last year, instituted a policy similar to Gloucester Townships ordinance this summer, making parents prone to fines of up to $1,000 for their childs misbehavior. Gov. Phil Murphy went as far as to sign a new law to punish people suspected of instigating a public brawl after the bipartisan bill cleared the statehouse earlier this year. Thank you for relying on us to provide the local news you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a subscription. Eric Conklin may be reached at econklin@njadvancemedia.com. The sun sets in the background of the Cape May Canal Ferry Terminal in Cape May Travelers sailing to New Jersey via the Delaware Bay may have a new place to stay, in the form of a new hotel built courtesy of the Cape May-Lewes Ferry. The Delaware River and Bay Authority, which operates the service, is contemplating a bay-front boutique hotel at the ferrys Jersey Shore terminal in North Cape May. Earlier this month, the Lower Township Council listened to a presentation by the authority that outlined the hotel proposal. DRBA officials said the hotel would provide about 50 full-time jobs and have a $6.3 million annual economic impact. The hotel concept is not a new one, said James Salmon, a spokesman for DRBA. The idea for a hotel on the Cape May terminal grounds is approximately 10 years, Salmon said in an email on Thursday. Were in the very early stages in the fact finding and information gathering phase to determine viability and development interest. Salmon said the proposed concept is a low-profile, first-class boutique hotel with amenities. The proposed concept is a low-profile, first-class boutique hotel with amenities. The Delaware River & Bay Authority would enter a long-term land lease agreement with a developer/operator who would be responsible for financing and developing the concept. DRBA The project would be a public-private partnership should the project be viable, Salmon said. The Authority would enter a long-term land lease agreement with a developer/operator who would be responsible for financing and developing the concept. He said the DRBA has multiple roles to develop, own and operate all transportation crossing links between New Jersey and Delaware, and engage in economic development projects for partnered growth and prosperity in Delaware and New Jersey. Salmon noted the ferry has an annual operating deficit of approximately $10 million and the DRBA is looking for additional sources of revenue other than fares and rents from vendors at the terminal to help defray those costs. If built, the hotel could be one of the newest hotel developments in Cape May County in the last 50 years, Sean OBrien, superintendent for food retail for the ferry, told Lower Township Council members during a presentation on Aug. 4. A consultant hired by the DRBA, OBrien said, found a strong demand for hotel rooms in the area, but there are not enough available. The hotel would be built at a time when tourism officials and experts continue to see Cape May County shift from a mostly summer spot to a year-round destination for travelers, he said. That travel has been supported by the ferry since it first sailed in 1964. The ferry uses a three-vessel fleet to shuttle about 700,000 passengers annually across the bay between New Jersey and Delaware, OBrien said. A hotel could provide about $6.3 million in yearly economic impact, OBrien said. Lower Township Councilman Thomas Conrad suggested to the ferry officials that the process of gaining approvals could be troublesome. Township officials tried to build a fishing pier at one of the sites, a patch of grassy land against the ocean farthest from the terminal, in the DRBAs proposal. The pier was turned down by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. DEP was dead set against anyone trying to touch it back then, so that might be taken into consideration, Conrad said. Heath Gehrke, director of ferry operations, who joined OBrien at the presentation, acknowledged potential hurdles in constructing a hotel, emphasizing the need for public and stakeholder engagement. The next step is this expression of interest, Gehrke told the council. Were not even sure what developers would be interested, but thats our next step. Much of the land eyed for the hotel is zoned for conservation, township Solicitor Rob Belasco said following the presentation. The project would likely need a land-use variance, which grants developers permission to deviate from zoning rules, and other approvals to build the hotel. Another avenue, Belasco said, could be the land being deemed in need of redevelopment. That process would require the Township Council to launch a study by the planning board. If demonstrated to be in an area in need of redevelopment, township officials can form a master plan for the sites, which could include a hotel, Belasco said. The township took that step to initiate a development project for an area off Fulling Mill Road in 2022, the solicitor said. The Cape May-Lewes Ferry connects Cape May, New Jersey and Lewes, Delaware, offering scenic 85-minute cruises across the Delaware Bay. The ferry can accommodate a variety of vehicles, including cars, motorcycles, RVs and large trucks, as well as up to 800 passengers. Thank you for relying on us to provide the local news you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a voluntary subscription. Stephanie Loder may be reached at SLoder@njadvancemedia.com. The police officer that was hit by a New Jersey Transit bus while in his patrol car is expected to come home soon, according to Roseland's mayor. Roseland Police Department Mark Miller, the Roseland police officer that was hit by a New Jersey Transit bus while on duty and sitting in his patrol car, left the hospital this week, according to social media posts from his family and borough officials. My son, Roseland ... Police Officer Mark Miller is going home, Millers father, Rob Miller wrote in a Facebook post on Wednesday. A photo of Mark being wheeled out of Kessler Rehabilitation in a wheelchair and wearing a neck brace was included with the post. This is amazing after being struck by a transit bus. He still has a long road to recovery, but at least hes going home, Rob wrote in the post. The night before, Roseland Mayor James Spango announced in a separate Facebook post the Mark was expected to come home this week. Mark is doing amazing, Spango said in the video. Marc should be released and coming home this week. The video was posted during Roselands local celebration of National Night Out. Its truly amazing that someone that has been through that much is on that quick of a road to recovery, Spango added in his message. Mark, 29, was airlifted to a Newark hospital after the incident on June 20 and was being treated in the intensive care unit. Mark was transferred to Kessler Rehabilitation on July 11, according to a social media post from his father. The driver of the bus and three other passengers were also taken to the hospital for treatment, officials said. The driver was charged with fourth-degree assault by auto in July. NJ Transit officials declined to comment on the incident at the time charges were filed. The bus was speeding shortly after 4 p.m. on June 20 when the driver ran through a red light and slammed into a marked police vehicle at the intersection of Livingston Avenue and Prudential Drive, police said. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Matthew Enuco may be reached at Menuco@njadvancemedia.com. A state grand jury has voted not to file charges against corrections officers in the case of an inmate who died a day after he was stabbed in his jail cell. The attack happened at Essex County Correctional Facility on the night of Dec. 2, 2021. The inmate, Daniel Gelin, 27, of Elizabeth, received in-house medical care and died the next morning, authorities said. The corrections officers, who have not been publicly named, were cleared by the grand jury on Monday. Testimony presented to the grand jury included witness interviews, photographs, video footage and autopsy results. A fight ensued between Gelin and cellmate Ashton D. Barthelus at 8:26 p.m. The then 26-year-old Barthelus eventually pulled out a knife and stabbed Gelin, according to the state Attorney Generals Office. Corrections officers intervened and Gelin was brought to a medical unit within the jail for treatment. Medical staff then determined that Gelin did not require treatment at an outside facility and he was escorted back to a housing unit and placed with a different cellmate, officials said. The next morning, Gelin told corrections officers that he had difficulty walking and needed to return to the medical unit. The officers told him to wait to speak to a nurse during her morning rounds. A short time later, at 7:34 a.m. officers found Gelin lying on his cell floor. He was transported to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 9:03 a.m., authorities said. Gelin was initially detained in Union County on a weapons charge and later transferred to Essex County Correctional Facility after he was denied bail. Barthelus was also transferred to the jail from Union County on charges related to killing a friend of Gelin. Gelin was involved in five altercations leading up to the incident, two of which sent him to the emergency room, according to a civil rights lawsuit filed by his family in 2022. Of those altercations, at least two involved Barthelus, the suit alleged. The lawsuit claimed that Union County did not properly communicate to Essex County that the two men could have been a danger to each other. It also alleges that the jails healthcare provider, CFG Health Systems, did not provide proper medical care to Gelin following the stabbing. The medical staff at the jail only provided wound care to Gelin and did not perform an ultrasound or CT scan to check for internal injuries, the lawsuit alleges. Barthelus is serving a 22-year sentence in the death of Gelins friend, 29-year-old Andy Rozelien, who was shot to death in the parking lot of a shopping center. He has also been indicted on first-degree murder and weapons charges in the killing of Gelin. That criminal case is still pending. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Nicolas Fernandes may be reached at nfernandes@njadvancemedia.com. Franconi's Pizza in Wildwood was recently alleged to have stickers of pro-Nazi images posted inside its restaurant. (Christopher Burch | NJ Advance Media) Christopher Burch A Jersey Shore pizzeria is facing online backlash after photos surfaced of alleged Nazi stickers inside the restaurant. Franconis Pizza, a pizzeria open for 20 years on the Wildwood Boardwalk, was the focus of several threads posted on Reddit this past weekend. Photos uploaded to Reddit (caution: inappropriate language in the link) showed what users claimed to be a refrigerator in Franconis kitchen. On the fridge appeared to be a sticker of SS bolts a symbol of the Schutzstaffel, a paramilitary organization ran by Adolf Hitler. Another sticker appeared to include a Totenkopf, another symbol of the Schutzstaffel. The two symbols are still prevalent amongst neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups today. The Reddit post garnered hundreds of interactions, leading Franconis to receive a slew of negative business reviews. So bad were the Yelp reviews that the website posted a statement saying that the restaurants profile has been locked and is being monitored by Yelps support team. This business recently received increased public attention resulting in an influx of people posting their views to this page, so we have temporarily disabled the ability to post here as we work to investigate the content. While racism has no place on Yelp and we unequivocally reject racism or discrimination in any form, all reviews on Yelp must reflect an actual first-hand consumer experience (even if that means disabling the ability for users to express points of view we might agree with), the statement on the pizzerias Yelp profile read. Franconis declined to comment on the situation both when reached by phone by NJ Advance Media Wednesday and in-person at the restaurant Thursday. The original Franconis Pizza of North Wales, Pa., which is associated with the Wildwood location, did not respond to request for comments made by NJ Advance Media. As of Thursday, a sticker-covered refrigerator, identical from the photo posted online, was seen still in the pizzeria, but with many stickers including the ones with Nazi symbols removed. Franconis has yet to officially comment on the situation. But in a video posted to YouTube and Reddit, one worker said, you losers need to find something better to do with your lives when asked by a customer about the stickers. More food coverage: Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Christopher Burch can be reached at cburch@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter: @SwishBurch. Find NJ.com on Facebook. Have a tip? Tell us at nj.com/tips/. UPDATE: The missing woman has been located and is safe, police reported. Police are searching for a woman who went missing in South Jersey earlier this week. The Franklin Township, Gloucester County, woman was last seen at her home on Monday, township police said in a statement. She is 5-foot, 5-inches tall with brown hair and brown eyes and weighs about 140 pounds. She was entered into the National Crime Information Center as a missing and endangered person. The Franklin Township Police Department is asking anyone with tips to call Det. Dylan Colclough at 609-579-1168. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Nicolas Fernandes may be reached at nfernandes@njadvancemedia.com. NJ DEP Commissioner Shawn LaTourette at an event in this 2022 file photo. Jim Lowney | For NJ Advance Media The letter is grim. It warns that Trentons water utility does not possess the technical, managerial or financial capacity to avert a possible catastrophic failure, of its water system. New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, DEP, Commissioner Shawn LaTourette signed it on July 29, 2025. Hed made an unannounced visit to the utilitys water treatment plant on June 18 and was not impressed. The observations made during this three-hour site visit were deeply troubling and conformed with the independent findings of historic neglect, underinvestment, and an unsupported and ill-equipped TWW workforce, he wrote. The letter then urged the city to consider a regional water authority for Trenton Water Works, as the utility is known, and to give the other towns it serves a seat at the table. The city provides drinking water for Ewing, Lawrence, Hopewell and Hamilton, a population of about 200,000. It makes sense, LaTourette wrote, as the towns could pool resources, expertise and management. By working together, the towns can achieve economies of scale, reduce costs, and enhance service quality, he wrote. Joint decision-making also encourages innovation and the sharing of best practices, leading to improved operational strategies and technological advancements. Trenton Mayor Reed Gusciora, file photo. (Michael Mancuso | NJ Advance Media) Trenton Mayor Reed Gusciora responded on Aug. 1 via letter as well. He told LaTourette he had issues with the tone and timing of his letter and said the city is working on Trenton Water Works all the time in conjunction with the DEP and has made progress. He then listed them, ticking off capital improvements, like replacing flusher assemblies, to a new rate stabilization plan and a financial audit. Despite this progress, your letter appears to disregard the strides being made and instead calls for immediate regionalization without first conducting the public process that would ensure fairness, transparency, and informed consent, he wrote. And: While we fully recognize the Departments regulatory role, the letter reads less as constructive oversight and more as an attempt to pressure the City into a predetermined outcome, without the due diligence or public engagement that such a consequential decision requires, Gusciora wrote. Gusciora argued that such a regionalization would need to be studied, it could take up to 18 months, and many issues must be hammered out, like what towns would pay for Trenton water assets. Instead, we are met with what appears to be a public pressure campaign aimed at forcing the City into surrendering control of its water utility. While we share DEPs commitment to public health and note that even DEP has never declared Trentons water unsafe we will not allow ourselves to be bullied into handing over our utility to satisfy the calendar of an outgoing administration, the mayor wrote. Any regionalization of Trenton Water Works needs, he reminded LaTourette: can only be authorized by the Trenton City Council, which is the sole entity empowered to make that determination. What to do with Trentons embattled water utility has been a week-long war of words. Trenton Council President Yazminelly Gonzalez (center) with fellow council members Jasi Mikae Edwards (left) and Crystal Feliciano (right) in a 2023 photo. The City Council then jumped into the fray. Council President Yazminelly Gonzalez wrote a letter to LaTourette inviting him to the Aug. 7 council meeting to discuss the matter. Gonzalez then wrote on Facebook: To be clear: I will not support any initiative that takes Trenton away from his place at the table. Trenton Water Works is one of our citys most valuable resources, and were not going to hand it over to just anyone. LaTourette responded, via an Aug. 6 letter, and said he could not make the meeting, but he invited council members to meet with him directly and sent along materials for them to review. In the letter, LaTourette wrote that restructuring the utility as an entity separate from the city, is the only viable path forward. The utility, LaTourette wrote, has a long noncompliance with the Safe Drinking Water. Act and its evident from the DEPs point of view is that the city keeping control of the utility the status quo as he put it is not acceptable. LaTourette also took a swipe at the mayor, writing that hes been noncommittal and wants another study. We did that, in January, the commissioner wrote and provided a link to the study. More importantly, and as DEP has explained to the Mayor many times over, the purpose of this process is to provide the City and service area municipalities with the information they need to make ultimate decisions about the governance, organizational structure, finances, and management of a restructured utility, LaTourette wrote. Two towns have waded into the matter this week too, Hopewell Township and Hamilton both siding with the state, and railing against the status quo. (The towns have twice in the past three years argued for a state takeover and a five-way say in operations.) Our main concern is that all customers served by TWW have clean and safe drinking water, said Hopewell Mayor Courtney Peters-Manning said. DEP has determined that TWW is on the brink of catastrophic failure, and the suburban towns deserve a seat at the table. The time for action is now, and we cannot continue with the status quo. Hamilton Mayor Jeff Martin said: We are now at a crossroads with Trenton Water Works. The status quo is unsustainable, and public safety is my top priority. :While we prepare to come to the table with viable solutions, I remain hopeful that the citys leadership will put the public health of 200,000 residents at the forefront of their decision-making process. While being hopeful, I remain ready to act to ensure everyone has reliably clean and safe drinking water. On Thursday, Gusciora talked to NJ Advance Media and reiterated most of what is in his letter, and said his main thrust is to protect the citys assets and its residents, that if an authority happens, Trenton gets its fair share. Trentonians have that right. Were being bullied into a predetermined outcome and the DEP is putting the cart before the horse, he said. He also warned that if a regional authority is created, it will still run a system located in Trenton, and if, say, that utility wanted to build a brand-new plant, like in Lawrence taxpayers will foot that bill. Another letter to LaTourette is on the way, the mayor also said. LaTourette had written he wanted the mayor to respond by Aug. 8, whether the City commits to proceed with the public process to explore restructuring. The DEP maintains a Trenton Water Works website that contains an abundance of information and many letters. Thank you for relying on us to provide the local news you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a voluntary subscription. Kevin Shea may be reached at kshea@njadvancemedia.com The N.J. Supreme Court just clarified gun sentencing law. Canva for NJ.com In back-to-back rulings, the New Jersey Supreme Court narrowed the scope of the states rules for mandatory prison time for certain gun offenses. In two decisions a day apart, the Supreme Court said judges should have more power to review prosecutors choices when they refuse to offer lighter sentences. The court also clarified that a certain gun possession charge used for repeat offenders doesnt automatically mean the person has to follow the toughest parole rules. The first case, involving Zaire J. Cromedy, the court ruled that a specific gun charge used against repeat offenders does not automatically trigger the Graves Act. The Graves Act is a New Jersey law that sets mandatory minimum prison sentences for certain gun-related crimes. Cromedy was arrested in 2021 with a handgun and had a prior conviction for reckless manslaughter. He pleaded guilty to a first-degree gun charge in Middlesex County and received a 10-year sentence with five years of parole ineligibility. The Supreme Court justices ruled that the charge against Cromedy is not explicitly listed in the Graves Act and should not carry automatic penalties. In a second case, the high court said judges should have more authority to review prosecutors decisions when they deny requests for lighter sentences. The ruling came in the case of Delshon J. Taylor Jr., who was arrested in Penns Grove in 2017 after fleeing police and dropping a loaded handgun. Although Taylor had no adult criminal record, prosecutors refused to waive the Graves Acts mandatory minimum sentence. The Supreme Court held that judges should be allowed to override that decision if its unfair, rather than only in cases of abuse of discretion. Together, the rulings give judges more flexibility in sentencing decisions for gun crimes and make clear that only lawmakers, not prosecutors, can decide which crimes deserve mandatory prison time. Taylors case will now return to the trial court, where a judge must reconsider the prosecutors denial of a Graves Act waiver using a less deferential standard, potentially allowing for a reduced sentence. Cromedy will also be resentenced, this time without the Graves Acts mandatory parole restrictions, after the court ruled that the charge he pleaded guilty to isnt covered by the laws automatic penalties. Deputy Public Defender Alison Perrone praised both decisions, saying they reinforce judicial oversight and protect against unchecked prosecutorial power in sentencing under the Graves Act. The Supreme Courts decision in State v. Taylor underscores the importance of judicial oversight to ensure that prosecutors exercise their extraordinary discretion over Graves Act waivers fairly and consistently with the Attorney General guidelines, Perrone said. The Supreme Courts decision in State v. Cromedy helps preserve judicial discretion and safeguards against the overreach of mandatory minimum sentencing, she added. In Taylors case, the state was represented by the Salem County Prosecutors Office, which did not immediately return a request for comment. Cromedys case was handled by the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General, which declined to comment. Colleen Murphy may be reached at cmurphy@njadvancemedia.com. A woman holding a knife was fatally shot by police in the hallway of a New Brunswick apartment building on Friday morning. Police responded to the building on Neilson Street after a 911 caller reported that a resident was walking around the hallway with a knife, the state Attorney Generals office said in a statement. When officers from the New Brunswick Police Department arrived, the woman had returned to her apartment. Police went to her unit and first spoke to the woman while she was behind the closed door. She later opened the door and came into the hallway still holding the knife, authorities said. Officers first utilized pepper spray on the woman followed by a conducted energy device, commonly known by the brand name Taser, officials said. An officer later fired a service weapon and struck the woman, the Attorney Generals office said. Investigators did not say what promoted the officer to fire the gun. The woman was later pronounced dead at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, authorities said. The Attorney Generals office is withholding her identity as well as the names of the officers involved. Under state law, the Attorney Generals office is required to investigate all police-involved shootings. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Nicolas Fernandes may be reached at nfernandes@njadvancemedia.com. A former NYPD officer has been charged with various crimes after authorities said he lied about his criminal past and employment history while applying for jobs at departments in New Jersey. Briant K. Nixon, 38, of Neptune Township, is charged with multiple second-degree crimes one count of pattern of official misconduct and three counts each of official misconduct and tampering with public records, the Monmouth County Prosecutors Office said in a statement on Friday. He also faces the fourth-degree charges of falsifying records, false swearing and unsworn falsification to authorities, the prosecutors office said. Nixon worked for the NYPD from 2012 to 2017. He was terminated due to violating a restraining order and violating department rules during a domestic violence arrest, authorities said. He later applied for employment at the Neptune Township, West Wildwood and Matawan police departments. On all three applications, he failed to disclose his criminal record and past employment with the NYPD, officials said. He was ultimately hired by the West Wildwood Police Department in 2022 and the Neptune Township Police Department in 2023. He is currently suspended from the Neptune Township Police Department pending the results of his criminal case. Prosecutors did not say whether the suspension is paid or unpaid. The Neptune Township Police Department takes seriously its obligation to hold itself and its officers to the highest standards, Police Chief Anthony Gualario said. The actions of one officer do not represent the values of the men and women who serve in our department with integrity and professionalism every day. When Nixon was applying for the Neptune Township job, he swore before a notary public that the information on his application was true, authorities said. In addition, when renewing his police license earlier this year, he falsely stated that he was never charged with a crime or subject to a restraining order, according to prosecutors. Nixon has been served with the charges via summons. His first appearance in Monmouth County Superior Court is scheduled for Sept. 25. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Nicolas Fernandes may be reached at nfernandes@njadvancemedia.com. The State Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has collected evidence against Russian Admiral Sergei Pinchuk, commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. "As the investigation established, on February 26, 2022, on his orders, the occupiers seized the Ukrainian search and rescue vessel Sapphire, which was carrying out a humanitarian mission in the area of Zmiiniy Island. That day, the occupiers illegally stopped and blocked the civilian ship off the coast of the Ukrainian island. After that, the occupiers entered the deck and, threatening with machine guns, imprisoned all 19 crew members, as well as a priest and a doctor who were on board," the SBU said in a Telegram message. According to information, part of the Ukrainian team was transferred to a tugboat of the Russian Navy, all the others were held on the island temporarily captured at that time. "The racists applied psychological pressure to all the prisoners and threatened them with physical violence, in particular, they simulated 'shootings' of the victims," the SBU added. "During this torture, Pinchuk personally arrived at Zmiiniy, where he participated in the interrogation of the captain of the Sapphire, and later ordered the victims to be transported together with a rescue ship to Crimea, and then to Russia," the law enforcement officers reported. Based on the collected evidence, the SBU investigators in absentia informed Pinchuk of suspicion under Part 2 of Article 28, Part 1 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (war crimes committed by a group of persons in advance of a conspiracy). The investigation was conducted by the SBU officers in the Odesa region together with the National Police under the procedural guidance of the regional prosecutor's office. As reported, on July 9 of this year, according to materials from the Security Service, two officers of the Russian Black Sea Fleet were suspected in absentia of cruel treatment of civilians - they captured and illegally detained the crew of the Sapphire. Newark will alight with the colors of red, yellow and blue this weekend in celebrations of Ecuadorian independence, with an official flag raising on Saturday followed on Sunday by a parade and all-day festival in the citys Ironbound section. Members of the citys Ecuadorian community will join city officials at 1 p.m. on Saturday in the City Hall rotunda to raise the tri-color flag of Ecuador in a 1 -hour ceremony open to the public, a city spokesperson said Friday. Sundays 15th Annual Ecuadorian Parade and Festival will begin when the parade steps off at noon at the Ironbounds Five Corners intersection of Merchant and Ferry streets and Wilson Avenue. Marchers will proceed up Ferry Street for a dozen blocks northwest to Edison Place, just outside Newark Penn Station, where the festival is scheduled to rave on until 10 p.m. Last years parade and festival attracted some 50,000 people, said Diego Munoz, president of the Ecuadorian-American Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey, the events sponsor. Munoz said he expects at least as many people this Sunday. It gets better every year, said Munoz, who also plans to attend Saturdays flag-raising. The festival will highlight Ecuadorian culture, with booths selling ceviche, hornado and other traditional foods, tricolored merchandize, and two stages for traditional Ecuadorian folk music and popular performers including Paulo Plaza, Juanita Burbano, and Hector Jaramillo. Aug. 10, 1809 was the date that Ecuadorians asserted their independence from Spain, though it wasnt until 1820 that it was achieved, and then as part of broader Gran Colombia, from which Ecuador emerged as a sovereign nation in 1830. There were just over 237,000 ethnic Ecuadorians in New Jersey as of 2020, according to Census figures, making up 2.6% of the states population, second only to New York. New York City will host a parade and festival on Sunday, also starting at noon, on Northern Boulevard in Carona, Queens. Elsewhere in New Jersey, Nunez said there used to be a parade in Union City, but that was discontinued several years ago. He said another annual march and celebration thats usually held in Trenton was cancelled this year. As in other largely immigrant communities, Nunez said the current crackdown on people without valid documentation was a concern among ethnic Ecuadorians. But, he added, Sundays festival will be a way to forget about all that, at least for the day, when forecasts call for mostly sunny skies and temperatures in the 80s. They come here with no worries, to celebrate, he said. Theyre coming here because everything is good. A flier for the 15th Annual Ecuadorian Parade and Festival on Sunday, Aug. 10, celebrating Ecuador's declaration of independence from Spain on that date in 1809. Ecuadorian Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey Nobody knows Jersey better than N.J.com. Sign up to get breaking news alerts straight to your inbox. Steve Strunsky may be reached at sstrunsky@njadvancemedia.com Proscuitto wrapped burrata cheese with eggplant caponata at Grand Vin in Hoboken, New Jersey. Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025. Provided by Grand Vin Last weeks Affordable Eats blew up: Oysters for a buck each? Indeed! Since then, many of you wanted to know where else to get the coveted delicacy for one dollar. We will repeat this week with another eatery that offers oysters for a buck each on Thursdays, plus 25% off bottles of wine: Hobokens Grand Vin restaurant. Now, were talking! And in New Jersey of all places, not the cheapest state for food and drink aficionados. Executive Chef at Grand Vin, Daniel Fleming, 43, got his inspiration at a young age from his Italian mother, Kelly Dunn. My mom taught me the heart of it all, chef Fleming said. I would watch her cook with a lot of heart, and I try to do the same at Grand Vin. Before working here, I traveled the world and worked at some amazing kitchens, then returned home to New Jersey. I can honestly say that we have become a neighborhood staple. I hear that from a lot of our regulars. Rigatoni with vodka and guanciale at Grand Vin, Hoboken, New Jersey. Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025. Provided by Grand Vin Grand Vin offers an evolving menu with some tasty specials like the zucchini fries, ($12) with pecorino and lemon yogurt dip; eggplant rollatini, ($14) with ricotta stuffing, pomodoro sauce and pecorino Romano; black truffle whipped ricotta, ($18) with hazelnut, black pepper, honey, strawberries and toasted ciabatta; and the fried mozzarella and prosciutto sticks, ($15) with pomodoro sauce. Founded in 2016, Grand Vin brings authentic Italian food traditions to Hobokens dining scene. Ingredients are sourced locally to ensure that authenticity for their diners. We believe great food starts with great ingredients, and that means keeping it local whenever possible, chef Fleming said. Sourcing from New Jersey farms and purveyors allows us to serve the freshest, most flavorful dishes while supporting our community. Its a win-win, and our guests can taste the difference. Were proud to champion sustainable and seasonal food that reflects the best of Jersey. As to savings on drinks, Tuesdays feature specialty cocktails for $10. Happy hour on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays offers tap wines for $9 and draft beers for $7. On Saturdays, brunch carafes of mimosa or Bellinis are $30, then on Sundays, (This one is my favorite!), wine spritzers go for $10, along with live music. Grand Vin general manager, Amanda Viera, loves the view of New York city from Grand Vin in Hoboken, New Jersey. Tuesday Aug. 5, 2025. Karim Shamsi-Basha Brazilian-born Amanda Viera, 29, is general manager at Grand Vin. She immigrated to the United States at the age of 19 with a suitcase full of dreams. Coming to New Jersey from Brazil was a life-changing experience, Viera said. What I found here at the diverse Hoboken food scene is a new kind of home. My Brazilian roots are a big part of me, and I hope those roots convey warmth, hospitality and joy. For Viera, working at Grand Vin is much more than a job. Its a celebration of life. In Brazil, we celebrate life in a big way, Viera said. I try to bring that spirit here to Grand Vin. We work hard to make every guest feel welcome while here, then leave extra happy! There you have it. Whether youre on the hunt for best deal on oysters, or any other decadent Italian treat or cocktail, give Grand Vin a try. And please email me about your experience. What affordable restaurant is your favorite? This is why we do this Friday feature at Mosaic, Affordable Eats, to give you a restaurant with the best bang for your buck. If youre just now tuning in, click on this link to see the previous deals. Karim Shamsi-Basha may be reached at kshamsi-basha@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter & Instagram. Follow Mosaic on Instagram at @MosaicNJcom and on Facebook at MosaicNJcom. Donald Gill spent his last day doing something he loved: Bodysurfing the ocean waters near his Ocean Grove residence in Neptune Township, according to his family. A funeral for Gill, 72, was held Friday at the church auditorium where he served as an usher for more than a half-century, four days after he died. Dons steady presence, warm heart, and enduring love will be deeply missed by all who knew him. The ocean called him home to his Endless Summer, his obituary reads. His death was announced Thursday by the Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association, which described it as a tragic event on the Ocean Grove Beach and offered prayers for his family, without providing details on what happened. Gill caught his last bodysurfing wave on the day he died, his obituary states. Ocean Grove and riding waves were his true passions, reflecting his love for life, nature, and the joy of being surrounded by family and friends, it reads. Neptune Township police did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Gill was a familiar presence in Ocean Grove, a section of Neptune Township set aside with a unique charter. He served for 55 years with the ushers at Ocean Groves Great Auditorium, eventually becoming director of the South Gallery. The Ocean Grove Camp Meeting Association offered thanks to those who assisted at the scene Monday, including lifeguards, first responders and local police officers. Our continued prayers are with the Gill family, OGCMA staff and members of our community, the association said. Please subscribe now and support the local journalism you rely on and trust. Rob Jennings may be reached at rjennings@njadvancemedia.com. Darlington County Park closed Friday afternoon after harmful algae blooms were found in the water, Bergen County officials said. The park temporarily closed Friday at noon, but is expected to reopen on Sunday, according to Bergen County officials. All water and non-water recreational activities will be unavailable during the closure, officials said. The Bergen County Parks Department is working diligently to address the issue and reopen the park for water and non-water recreational activities as quickly and safely as possible, Bergen County officials said in a statement. Refunds will be automatically issued to guests who purchased Splash Zone tickets online for the periods while the park is closed, officials said. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Matthew Enuco may be reached at Menuco@njadvancemedia.com. Two men have been charged with arson after lighting a stolen car on fire in a park, authorities said Thursday. Ethan Olivo, 19, and Starlin Siri, 21, of the Bronx, New York, were charged with aggravated arson and receiving stolen property, among other charges. Both were arrested after a months-long investigation conducted by the Bergen County Prosecutors Office. Olivo was arrested at John F. Kennedy International Airport on June 25. He remains in the custody of New York authorities, pending extradition to Bergen County. Siri was arrested on July 10 in Yorktown, New York, and was extradited to Bergen County on Aug. 4. He is currently in the Bergen County jail, pending a detention hearing in superior court. The Rochelle Park Police Department and Fire Department responded to a major car fire at 7:17 a.m. on Dec. 3, 2024. Detectives determined the 2020 Honda Accord was stolen and that the pair had the car in their possession earlier that morning, authorities said. The two men intentionally set the vehicle on fire by throwing a road flare into the passenger compartment of the car, authorities said. Victoria Gladstone may be reached at vgladstone@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @TorigNJAM. Find NJ.com on Facebook. A man was arrested last month after being accused of breaking into a womans Paterson home and sexually assaulting her at knifepoint, the Passaic County Prosecutors Office announced Thursday. Jesus Mora Cruz, 27, of Paterson was arrested on July 24 and charged with attempted murder, robbery, home invasion burglary and two counts of aggravated sexual assault, all first degree charges. He was also charged with second-degree aggravated assault and third-degree charges of aggravated assault, terroristic threats, two counts of aggravated criminal sexual contact and weapons-related offenses, the office said. The investigation began on March 26 when the Paterson Police Department contacted the office about a home invasion in the city, authorities said. Detectives from the office interviewed the victim and multiple witnesses. The victim reported waking up with a man she did not know on top of her holding a knife to her neck, investigators said. The male sexually and physically assaulted her and stole various items from her home before fleeing the scene, the office said. She was taken to St. Josephs University Medical Center for treatment for non-fatal stab wounds, officials said. Detectives identified Mora Cruz as a suspect and he was arrested last month and held in the Passaic County Jail, authorities said. On July 30, 2025, a judge granted prosecutors motion to have him held in jail until his trial, the office said. Anyone with information on this incident or any other similar incidents involving Mora Cruz was asked to contact the offices tips line at 1-877-370- PCPO. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a voluntary subscription. Chris Sheldon may be reached at csheldon@njadvancemedia.com. A former Trump official warned on Friday of what he called President Donald Trump's "revenge campaign" against his political enemies. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein) AP Miles Taylor, a former Homeland Security official under President Donald Trumps first administration, warned on Friday of a revenge campaign he believes the president is mounting against his critics. Trump signed a memorandum in April that accused Taylor of potentially treasonous conduct while he was a chief of staff. It claimed that he stoked dissension by manufacturing sensationalist reports on the existence of a supposed resistance within the Federal Government. In an exclusive interview with NBC News, Taylor vowed that he would be ready to fight back in court, and said that he plans to challenge what he described as Trumps illegal attempt to silence enemies. In an op-ed published by the magazine American Purpose, Taylor said that many who have worked for the president have been sounding the alarm for years but whats unfolded in just six months is even more destructive than most envisioned. And its been wrapped in Orwellian rhetoric unfamiliar to our democracy, including DOJ strike forces, accusations of seditious conspiracy, orders on restoring biological truth to the federal government, and more, Taylor wrote. Taylor pointed to sweeping changes at the Justice Department, the Department of Homeland Security and the government as a whole through the Department of Government Efficiency. He first claimed that Trump has transformed the Justice Department into a revenge machine, adding that Attorney General Pam Bondi established a Weaponization Working Group in February to go after Trumps political opponents, while the White House has ensured the Department is purged of prosecutors who were involved in cases that were damaging to Trump or his interests. He called the state of the intelligence community even more alarming, arguing that Trump has installed officials to deliver the truths the president wants to hear, including National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard, who has recently accused former President Barack Obamas administration of engaging in a treasonous conspiracy to subvert Trumps 2016 election victory. Intelligence veterans have told me privately that analysts are now self-censoring out of fear, Taylor wrote. Assessments that once warned of foreign threats could be scrubbed or softened if they dont comport with the administrations worldview. Taylor also turned to what he framed as the politicization of the courts and military, before claiming that his former department is on the path to being politicized beyond recognition. The presidents revenge campaign extends outside of government, he added, pointing to law firms and universities striking deals or negotiating with Trump, and the closure of the Corporation of Public Broadcasting, which provides funding to NPR and PBS, after Congress voted to claw back expenses last month. Taylor went on to say that the government was never designed to withstand a demagogue who commands the levers of power and the loyalty of his party. If the past six months have taught us anything, its that Trumps revenge campaign isnt over; its just beginning, he wrote. And if we dont meet it head-on, with all the clarity and courage we can muster, America may not look like America much longer. While working in Trumps first administration, Taylor wrote an anonymous op-ed for The New York Times, published in September 2018, in which he argued that many senior officials were working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations. He later wrote a memoir, in which he still remained anonymous, before he decided to go public and oppose Trumps reelection campaign in 2020. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem tore into the creators of "South Park" over her portrayal in the most recent episode. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool) AP Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem blasted the creators of South Park over her portrayal as an abuser of Botox. Comedy Centrals most recent episode of the animated series, which aired on Wednesday, follows a school counselor named Mr. Mackey who is fired from his job. Desperate for cash, he joins U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after being hired on the spot. At one point, Mr. Mackey watches a recruitment video where Noem shoots dogs a reference to an excerpt in her book, released last year, in which she discusses shooting and killing an untrainable family dog. It also depicts ICE conducting a raid on a Dora the Explorer live show and in heaven, where Noem tells the agents, Remember, only detain the brown ones. Later in the episode, Trump tells Mr. Mackey that he wants to make him the new face of Homeland Security because Noems face freaks me out. Noem has been labeled with the nickname ICE Barbie by critics for her glammed-up appearances and cosplaying in different outfits of professions. Conservative media personality Glenn Beck, who also said he has been previously mocked in a South Park episode, told Noem welcome to the club on his podcast on Thursday. Although Noem admitted that she did not watch the episode because she was going over budget numbers and stuff, she tore into the creators over how she was represented. It never ends. But its so lazy to constantly make fun of women for how they look. Only the liberals and the extremists do that, Noem said. If they wanted to criticize my job, go ahead and do that. But clearly they cant. They just pick something petty like that, she added. Noem was also not the only administration official to so far face the ire of the creators. South Park came out swinging against President Donald Trump and his administration during its season 27 premiere last month. In the 30-minute episode, Matt Stone and Trey Parker took jabs at the presidents obsession with threatening lawsuits, while commenting on the shuttering of media outlets, government censorship, ChatGPT and religion in Americas schools. At one point, the show even put Trump in bed with Satan. In the most recent episode, Vice President JD Vance flies off the screen after being kicked by Trump, who expresses his annoyance. It also shows Vance depicted as Trumps servant, appearing to be inspired by Tattoo from ABCs Fantasy Island. Vance reacted to his portrayal in a post on X on Thursday: Well, Ive finally made it. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced a telephone conversation with Vladimir Putin, during which the parties discussed the development of cooperation between the countries and the course of the war on Ukraine, and announced a bilateral meeting. "Had a very good and detailed conversation with my friend President Putin. I thanked him for sharing the latest developments on Ukraine. We also reviewed the progress in our bilateral agenda, and reaffirmed our commitment to further deepen the India-Russia Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership. I look forward to hosting President Putin in India later this year," Modi said on X on Friday. Former presidential hopeful Beto ORourke rallied an estimated 2,000 New Orleans area residents on Aug. 7 at the Howlin Wolf, urging the crowd to aggressively push back against authoritarianism and Republican efforts to roll back human and civil rights in the U.S. The fired-up Texas Democrat, a former U.S. representative, said he and other candidates would not abandon Louisiana Democrats like the national party has for decades. This is not a red state, this is a rigged state, ORourke said of Louisiana, pointing to voter disenfranchisement and statewide races where not a single Democrat runs or where those who do receive little to no support from the national party despite the state having nearly as many registered Democrats as Republicans. The event was sponsored by Powered By People, a grassroots organization that champions Democratic candidates in Texas battleground districts. It was one of several nationwide stops for O'Rourke, who has been touring smaller U.S. cities and areas that have been overlooked by the national party, in an ongoing effort to galvanize voters and inspire action. He has also been sounding the alarm over the Texas state legislatures gerrymandering efforts, which could eliminate five Democratic seat and is widely viewed as a power grab that could undermine fair representation and inspire copycat efforts in other GOP-led states. If these efforts continue, it will also accelerate the violation of the U.S. Constitutional values and due process, he warned. The consolidation of power in the hands of one man in this country may be nearly unstoppable, he warned. That means more masked plainclothes federal agents without warrants or badges, sweeping our family members and fellow Americans up off the streets. ORourke also slammed the Trump administration for transferring our wealth to the richest one percent." He said the passage of Congress so-called Big Beautiful Bill, which provides massive tax cuts for the uber-wealthy while stripping away the already-meager benefits for millions of struggling Americans, has been a wakeup call for the country. If the election were held in this trajectory, there is no way (Trump) would maintain his majority," he said, adding that Trump aligned politicians are "cowardly quislings and that if they are voted out, there will be a check on his lawlessness and accountability for his crimes and corruption. While ORourke clearly focused on the efforts to beat the GOP candidates in upcoming elections, he was critical of the Democratic Party and said it needed to be more in touch and responsive to everyday Americans concerns. He also called out former President Joe Bidens U.S. attorney general for not acting swiftly to prosecute Trump. I hope Merrick Garland has a nice retirement, but he had four fucking years to put Donald Trump away for crimes he committed in broad daylight, he said. He ultimately delivered messages of hope and advice for future candidates and voters, drawing from his own experience as a lawmaker who won votes by simply talking to people about their biggest issues. There is not a more profound show of respect than showing up and meeting someone where they are, he said, adding, This moment calls for less Chuck Schumer and more David Hogg." Do not let them tell you that New Orleans and Louisiana do not count, because this might be the place to win back that power, he said. Mac McCanns Carnival traditions as a kid in the 90s revolved around the free-spirited traditions of the Krewe of Dreux, a loosely organized group of neighbors in Gentilly, including McCanns parents and their friends, who bonded over peace, love, and music and all the things that enhance it, including cannabis. Too young at the time to join the adult indulgences, McCann has early memories of their gatherings as warm, welcoming and unpretentious events a far cry from the old-line, exclusive Carnival organizations in the wealthier parts of town. My parents werent taking me to St. Charles Avenue, McCann says. Dreux was my parents friends and family. You see your Uncle Gilbert who comes to the house, and the next thing you know, they put a crown on him it feels special. My whole Mardi Gras revolved around that parade. McCanns mom, Colleen, was a bartender and he remembers how uplifting it was to see the working people in her social circle being celebrated like royalty, at least for a day. The highlight of their Carnival season was Dreux Day, held the Saturday before Fat Tuesday: a THC-laced, roving celebration that can best be described as part psychedelic tailgate party, part DIY neighborhood parade. McCann never lost his connection to Dreux, and hed eventually go on to reign in 2019 as the krewes youngest king. For people like McCann who grew up in the krewe, there was always a strong feeling of extended family: It was truly like being raised by a village, with plenty of cookouts and group dinners, and neighbors who kept their doors unlocked for anyone to drop by. The grownups also taught the kids important New Orleans life skills, like how to shuck oysters. I always say it was like having 10 uncles around, McCann says. It was like a social aid and pleasure club for the neighborhood ... It was like a hippie commune. They were like, We can do Mardi Gras better. We can do it our own way, and everyone can be a part of it. It was truly a grassroots beginning. Named for one of the main streets where it parades (and where Big Dave lived), the Krewe of Dreux began in 1972, long before McCann was born. Gentilly during the 70s was a diverse, middle-class neighborhood, with several dive bars and casual restaurants within walking distance. It was also home to many pot-smoking hippies, musicians and service industry workers who knew how to truly let the good times roll. The krewe was the brainchild of Big Dave Labayen, who bartended with Colleen McCann at The Abbey in the French Quarter and was known for his penchant for indulgence and bringing people together. He's also the one who convinced the McCanns to move to Gentilly. According to krewe elders, the first Dreux Day began somewhat spontaneously a group of Labayens friends were gathered at a fourplex and came up with the idea to start a neighborhood parade. The very first Dreux Day was basically a bar crawl, former krewe captain Jimmy Armstrong said in a 2022 interview for the web series "Tales from the Parade Route. But it went over so well that the next year twice as many people showed up and it just kept growing. By the 80s, it had thousands. The Bacchus Lounge, a beloved Gentilly bar owned by the late Tank Thorson, served as the krewes official clubhouse until it was destroyed by the levee failures following Hurricane Katrina. The Bacchus catered to the young residents of the area and was a perfect spot for the krewe to meet up. Located on the corner of St. Roch and Prentiss avenues, it was part of small nightlife hub that included The Golden Cue and Slickys Pizza. The bar was rebuilt after the storm, but couldn't survive and ultimately closed for good. Eric Gernhauser, who grew up attending Dreux celebrations, says the scene helped define a big part of "the misspent or not portion of my youth. Cameron Trenor, owner of The Abbey, says he remembers getting an invite to the celebration in the early 90s. The krewe would often gather at Miltenberger Park to pre-game before their parade. We go to this little park, Big Dave pulls out a joint about two feet long, sits on top of a dumpster, fires it up and passes it around the park, Trenor told Gambit. That was my first Dreux experience, and I thought, what a lovely group of people. The festivities on Dreux Day traditionally start late on the Saturday morning before Mardi Gras. Prior to Katrina, it was more akin to a vehicular parade. Members would hand-decorate their pickup trucks and throw their kids in the back before winding through the streets of Gentilly. Afterward, the adults would disperse and head to local bars or to late-night parties. It was like an expo, says King Dreux XXXIX, who did not want Gambit to use his real name for professional reasons. He fell in with the krewe in the late 90s and later reigned as its king. It was a crazy scene, he says. Over the decades, the Krewe of Dreux has solidified its reputation as a krewe that especially loves to party and get stoned. Everybody loves to smoke (pot), says current krewe captain Dee Lafaye. Its kinda what has kept us together we all enjoy the cannabis together. But Dreux folks have also endured profound loss and tragedy, including displacement after Hurricane Katrina and the passing of many of its founding members. The krewes story is one of resilience of coming back from the worst possible shit, McCann says. When Katrina hit, it sent the krewe regulars scattering. Some fled the city altogether and were never able to move back, while others relocated to different neighborhoods. Krewe of Dreux as they knew it had been permanently altered. Its hard to fully explain the impact of Katrina, King Dreux XXXIX says. Everybody in the neighborhood was forced to leave. It was a great diaspora. The Krewe of Dreux was in the Bywater, Uptown, Slidell and everywhere else. In the months following Katrina, the shared ritual of smoking weed offered a small sense of normalcy for the group, whose krewe seal includes a weed leaf. On Wednesday nights, wed gather for the sizzle and burn, Lafaye says. Wed have a barbecue and smoke weed. Sometimes, that would be in front of the Bacchus Lounge or in someones FEMA trailer. Anyone who was in town would come and show up and help each other out, Lafaye says. Former captain Armstrong, in the 2022 interview, said the post-Katrina Mardi Gras celebration was certainly one of its most important, even though the number of participants had dwindled. We were in a spirit of restitution and restoration, and everyone was tired of all the stuff, and that was the day to enjoy each other and celebrate and convince ourselves we were all going to make it through together, he said. Thats remained true, as members have learned to lean on each other during their hard times as much as they do the good ones. Jennifer Callan, who was introduced to the krewe by her late friend Julie Kelley, says she was immediately embraced by the group of rascals and was drawn to it because of its laid back vibe and sense of camaraderie. When Callans life partner died of cancer in 2021, her Dreux friends were there to uplift her during her darkest days. Dreux rallied around me hard, she says. They wrapped their love around me so tightly there was no way I could fall. Thats not the kind of love to be forgotten or dismissed. Thats true love, and because of it, Im a Dreux loyal forever, she says. Part of the krewes ethos is that it doesnt actually have a formal, card-carrying membership. Only a small, core group who are considered royalty pay dues and sell T-shirts to keep up with basic costs and hold meetings to plan the next soiree. The money mostly goes toward beer, parade permits and paying bands. You dont need no Aunt Kathleen Robichaux to be the Queen of Rex," McCann says. You dont need none of that shit, brah. You dont have to pay two grand to get a spot on a float. You can just show up with a costume or anything and you're in it." Current King Dreux, Eric Mark, says what ties the group together is "a love of life, a love of a good get-together, love of a party, and a love of helping each other and feeding each other. While the krewe is open to all, there is one element that is shrouded in secrecy and mystery: the annual selection of new royalty. Dreux's kings and queens huddle together to select a new monarchy, which is announced at a midnight potluck and soiree at BJs Lounge. Its the most disorganized krewe in the best way possible, King Dreux XXXIX says. Its a whirlwind experience for whoever gets tapped. The main role of the king and queen is to carry on the freewheeling legacy of its founders, while promoting music, love and peace. We try to do at least one party a month, Mark says. Those parties often have a theme, like monthly astrology parties to celebrate whoevers birthdays happen to fall during that month. They also host an annual steak night and other spontaneous gatherings all over town. A recent outing, for example, included some Dreux members getting up at the crack of dawn and waiting in line outside to meet comedian stoner duo Cheech and Chong as they launched their line of THC sodas in New Orleans. Were just an old, close-knit group of friends looking for new ones, Lafaye says. Of course, Dreux's biggest celebration remains open to the public, whether people want to watch the parade from afar or spark up a joint and march alongside them. "Everybody is welcome to participate in the marching parade, says King Dreux XXXIX. Just wear your costume, bring a noisemaker or tambourine or something everybodys welcome. The procession these days is shorter than it used to be. Because of a complicated permitting process, it's become more of a walking parade. And since there are no bars along the route, revelers mostly imbibe outside in the park. Usually there's a DJ, and many people bring their own percussion instruments. Around 3 or 3:30 p.m., Dreux begins its roving journey around the neighborhood, circling back into the park and paying its respects to krewe landmarks, like the former site of The Bacchus Lounge and the dumpster where Big Dave used to light up his signature giant joint. As tradition mandates, the royal couple, likely hungover or still drunk from the coronation ceremony the night before, is heavily feted and doused with a pitcher of beer after the march. The king and queen also have a scepter a gigantic joint that is ceremoniously lit and passed around to whoever wants to partake. Dreux gatherings are no longer as centralized as they once were in Gentilly. And while theres never been any sort of formal membership, in recent years the core, active group has shrunk. But the krewe continues to gather at different neighborhood bars in New Orleans with a similar vibe laidback joints that have been around for decades with lots of regulars, like the Homedale Inn Bar, BJs Lounge and the Maple Leaf. And since many of its founding members have passed on or aged out of partying, its on the younger folks like McCann and Mark to keep up the momentum. We have all this history and reputation, but the question is how do we evolve and move forward, while keeping the same charm that made us amazing as a krewe? McCann says, noting that everything from Katrina to the changes in permitting have forced the krewe to adapt. And that means while the krewe may no longer gather at a specific bar on Dreux Day, the party still goes on. We have an all-day experience at the park. We do our parade, and [we] dont care where we end up as long as we march down Dreux Street and hang out by that dumpster, McCann says. Its Mardi Gras for the rest of us. On the morning of August 8, in the village of Afipsky, Krasnodar Territory of the Russian Federation, as a result of an operation by the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine (GUR), a military unit of the 90th Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade of the Russian Federation was attacked. According to sources in Ukrainian intelligence, two explosions were heard near the checkpoint of the military unit, as a result of which at least 12 Russian servicemen were killed, dozens of occupiers were injured, and equipment was destroyed. Local media and publics on social networks immediately reported two explosions in the village of Afipsky, and local special services blocked the area and introduced an "anti-terrorist operation" regime. A concentration of ambulances and emergency and special services vehicles was observed at the scene. At the same time, in order to conceal the fact of sabotage on the territory of the military unit, information was disseminated in the Russian information space that the cause of the explosion was allegedly faulty gas cylinder equipment in the vehicle. In parallel, the Federal Security Service of Russia (FSB) is trying to remove mentions of the event in the media and social networks. Sources in the GUR note that the 90th Anti-aircraft Missile Brigade, which was attacked as a result of a special operation, is participating in the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine in the Kherson and Zaporizhia directions. Photo: https://mindev.gov.ua/ The Ministry of Communities and Territories Development at a meeting of the working group discussed the revision of the terms of the concession agreement of Kherson seaport with its concessionaire, taking into account the fact that in October 2025 legislative changes will come into force that will allow adapting concession agreements to the conditions of force majeure. "We are working together to use the achievements of public-private partnership in infrastructure development even in a difficult security situation," Deputy Minister Andriy Kashuba said. According to it, new law No. 4510 on private-public partnership, recently signed by the president, in the event of force majeure will provide the opportunity to suspend the term of contracts, change financial conditions and regulate social issues, taking into account the social aspect and the specifics of the restoration of port infrastructure. The meeting was attended by Deputy Ministers Andriy Kashuba and Maryna Denysiuk, representatives of the concessionaire company Kherson Port LLC and Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority, as well as Deputy Business Ombudsman Tetiana Korotka. As reported, Kherson Maritime Merchant Port was transferred to Risoil-Kherson company for a 30-year concession in 2020. Later it became known that the co-investor of Risoil-Kherson, Jemal Inaishvili, withdrew from the project. According to him, the main reason for this decision was the delay in the process of transferring the port to the concessionaire. U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby has drawn up a memorandum that gives the Pentagon the authority to return weapons intended for Ukraine to the U.S. warehouses, CNN said on Friday, citing sources. According to one of the sources who familiarized himself with the document, the memorandum gives the Defense Ministry the right to take back weapons intended for Ukraine. This step undermines U.S. President Donald Trump's assurances that the United States is trying to give Ukraine what it needs, the source added. However, the sources explained that the Pentagon has not yet stopped supplying any weapons to Ukraine. However, the channel's interlocutors stated that it was unclear whether Kyiv would receive weapons under the new Pentagon policy, which is provided for by the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI): according to it, the U.S. administration does not supply weapons already in stock, but purchases new weapons. In July, it became known that U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth decided to suspend the supply of certain types of weapons to Ukraine, relying on Colby's data. Later, CNN notes, Trump canceled this decision. At the same time, the category of weapons that, according to Colby, may be in short supply for the U.S. military included missiles for Patriot anti-aircraft missile systems and other weapons. As a result, in July, Hegseth suspended the transfer of dozens of such missiles to Kyiv. On July 11, Trump announced that U.S.-NATO allies would purchase weapons from Washington, which could later be transferred to Ukraine. Official consent to purchase weapons from the United States was then given by Germany and several Scandinavian countries. The sources added that the Pentagon is working with NATO to develop a system for selling weapons to Europeans, which can then go to Ukraine. It is planned to create a NATO bank account, where these funds will go. Initially, it is planned to invest $10 billion in the project. Kyiv will have to transfer a list of desired weapons to NATO, and Supreme Commander of NATO European Forces Alexus G. Grynkewich will decide whether the United States has enough necessary equipment in its arsenals before selling it to Europe. Why bother drilling tunnels when you can simply shave down mountains? That was apparently the philosophy behind the new Luan Expressway in Chinas mountainous Guizhou Province. We have already written about the Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge, the soon-to-be-inaugurated worlds highest bridge (625 meters or 2,051 feet above the Beipan River Valley), but the expressway running through the mountains of Guizhou and leading to the Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge has also been getting a lot of attention lately. Viral videos of the impressive infrastructure project sparked controversy on social media because of the way it was built compared to other roads in the area. Instead of drilling towers through mountains or building around them, Chinese engineers decided to literally slice off mountain faces to make room for the Guizhou Luan Expressway. About 92% of Guizhou Province is made of mountains and cliffs, which makes it a great place to photograph, but a nightmare for commuters. Projects like the Huajiang Grand Canyon Bridge and Luan Expressway are meant to improve things for motorists, but environmentalists have criticized their impact on the local environment. Although planners claim that they had no choice but to slice off mountain peaks to make room for the road, many believe that less extreme options were available. On Reddit, several posts featuring Guizhou Luan Expressway sparked heated debates between those in awe of Chinese infrastructure and ingenuity, and those convinced that there were better ways to build it than defacing entire mountains. For more impressive examples of Chinese infrastructure, check out the spectacular River Highway, and the worlds scariest-looking suspension bridge. Women and some men in South Korea are paying big bucks for shoulder filler injections to get so-called perfect 90-degree shoulders popularized by K-pop idols. When Blackpinks Jennie launched her song Like Jennie, she probably didnt mean it as an encouragement for her fans to go to any lengths to be like her, but that didnt stop people from doing just that. According to recent media reports, the South Korean artist is one of the several K-pop idols who inspired a controversial plastic surgery trend that has people injecting fillers into their shoulders to achieve a sharply angled look. Some opt to enhance their look with another procedure called Barbie Botox or Trap Botox, which relaxes the trapezius muscles and makes the shoulder and neck lines look longer and slimmer. Shoulder fillers recently went viral after Korean content creator Yunny visited a beauty clinic in Seoul to get the Jennie look, but a short online search reveals that the procedure has been available for years, as Jennie shoulders has long been an established beauty standard in the Asian country. In her viral TikTok clip, Yunny gets fillers injected into one of her shoulders and immediately sees it lifting, which causes the content creator to let out a squeal of joy. However, not everyone was as impressed with the procedure, and many of her fans even criticized her for taking the easy route to a chiseled physique instead of putting in work at the gym. You will get Jennies shoulders for free if you only just exercise, one person pointed out. At this rate, people are going to end up getting fillers all over their bodies, someone else warned. Its unclear if getting shoulder fillers poses any significant health risks, but so far, people seem less worried about that and more about improving their looks. For more bizarre beauty trends, check out the controversial calf blocking procedure for slimmer calf muscles and Thailands buffalo horn lip reshaping. Oh, and how could we forget Chinas obsession with protruding elf ears? Photo: https://t.me/svyrydenkoy/ At a meeting on Friday, the Council of the European Union adopted a decision to provide Ukraine with EUR 3.056 billion under the Ukraine Facility program, Prime Minister of Ukraine Yulia Svyrydenko has said. "This is a powerful signal of confidence in our course of reforms and ability to ensure stability in the most difficult times. We are grateful to the Danish presidency for its clear support. Each such decision brings us closer to a strong Ukraine in a united Europe," Svyrydenko said on Telegram. The Ukraine Facility is financial support for Ukraine from the European Union in the amount of EUR 50 billion for 2024-2027. The program is aimed at ensuring macroeconomic stability, rebuilding, modernizing the country, and promoting Ukraine's European integration. At the end of July, European Commission spokesman Guillaume Mercier said the next, fourth tranche of financial assistance to Ukraine in 2025 under the Ukraine Facility mechanism, which the Ukrainian authorities requested back in June, will be provided in August in a smaller amount EUR 3.05 billion instead of EUR 4.5 billion, since Ukraine has not implemented 3 of the 16 reforms promised to the European Union. Of the three unfinished reforms, one is the law on the territorial organization of the executive branch (the so-called "decentralization reform"), and the other is the law on the reform of the ARMA. The third unimplemented reform concerns the selection of judges for the High Anti-Corruption Court. The first regular tranche of the Ukraine Facility, which Ukraine received in August last year, amounted to EUR 4.2 billion, including a grant of EUR 1.5 billion, the second in December last year was EUR 4.1 billion, of which a grant of EUR 1.5 billion, and the third in early April this year was EUR 3.5 billion, including a grant of EUR 400 million. Previously, the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine reported that in 2025, the Ukraine Facility planned to receive about EUR 12.5 billion in financial support for Ukraine, of which EUR 1.5 billion in the form of grant support. In the updated program with the IMF at the end of June, the forecast for financing under this program this year is $12.9 billion. According to the terms of the Ukraine Facility program, the volume of tranches is tied to Ukraines fulfillment of key indicators. MANY Irish people are unaware that the English novelist, Charlotte Bronte was married to an Irish-man, Arthur Bell Nicholls from Banagher. Charlotte was the only one of her siblings to marry and we are lucky enough to have her dramatic first-hand account of Arthur's proposal and her father, the Rev Patrick Bronte's staunch opposition to this union. In fact Arthur broached the subject of marriage on Monday December 13th 1852 and there followed a tsunami of events before the couple eventually became engaged. Their marriage took place on June 29th 1854. Her father put many obstacles in the couple's way. He even tried to sabotage the wedding by declaring, on the evening before the ceremony, that he was 'indisposed' and unable to attend. So, in the absence of any other male relatives, who would give the bride away? Luckily, Charlotte had her two best friends staying in the Parsonage with her, Ellen Nussey (her bridesmaid) and her mentor, Margaret Wooler. The ladies put their thinking caps on and looked up the Book of Common Prayer (a religious text book). They discovered that the person who conducted the bride up the aisle did not have to be male and so, Margaret Wooler, Charlotte's former teacher, took up that role and the wedding went ahead at 8am on the following morning. One must remember at that time, marriage was a social, religious and legal contract. Prior to the wedding, on May 24th, a group including Charlotte, Arthur, the bride's father Patrick, the trustee Joe Taylor and Charlotte's solicitor, assembled in the Parsonage at Haworth to sign a legal document known as the Wedding Settlement. Who instigated this contract? Why was this a necessary step? Where did Charlotte's money come from? What was the legal standing of women at that time under English law? READ NEXT: Offaly parish gives heartfelt send-off to Fr John Moorhead To answer these questions I brought my camera along to the Parsonage Museum in Haworth (home of the Brontes) to interview an expert in this field. Their Principal Curator, Ann Dinsdale kindly retrieved the Wedding Settlement parchment from the archives and unpacked the story behind it. This film will be premiered in Banagher on August 17th of August 2025 at 2.30pm as part of the Heritage Week festivities. Ann Dinsdale will be present at Crank House, Main Street and Q & A afterwards should be fascinating. An Offaly primary school have led tributes to a past pupil who has sadly died at the tender age of 16. Natalia Koziej died suddenly at Midlands Regional Hospital Portlaoise on August 4 and is "deeply regretted by her loving parents Beata and Kajetan, her sister Emilia, her grandparents, her aunts and uncles, her extended family, her boyfriend Mark, good neighbours and wide circle of friends." Oxmantown National School in Birr, Co Offaly, were among those paying tribute to their former student. The school posted: "We are utterly heartbroken to share the news of the death of past pupil Natalia Koziej. "Natalia was a bright, sweet natured young girl with a beautiful heart. Your bravery left an everlasting impression on our school community Natalia. Deepest condolences to Natalia's devastated family. We pray that your memories of beautiful Natalia will support you in the tough times ahead." A comment from her former teacher under the post read: "I am so sorry to hear this very sad news, Natalia was a fabulous young girl, I had the pleasure of teaching her a number of years back in Oxmantown and will always remember her as a kind beautiful girl, full of fun, may she rest in peace and condolences to all her family at this heartbreaking time." READ NEXT: Offaly parish gives heartfelt send-off to Fr John Moorhead Natalia's current school, Colaiste Phobal Ros Cre also issued a statement to say their school community was "deeply saddened" by the passing of Natalia who was a third year student at the Tipperary school. ABOVE: The late Natalia Koziej (16) died on August 4, 2025 The school statement added: "Her spirit and heart touched the lives of so many throughout her short life. As we light this candle today, on the day of her removal, we remember Natalia as a member of our school community, as a student and as a friend. Our thoughts and prayers are with her family, her friends and all who grieve her profound loss. May she Rest In Peace." In a heartbreaking post, Natalia's mother described her daughter as "my biggest miracle in the world." Beata Koziej added: "Those 16 years that we have spent together were the most wonderful. Despite an unequal battle with illness, you have always been strong. Thank you for being your mother, my angel, you fought bravely until the end. I hope you don't suffer anymore and that's how I will remember you. Always keeping a smile on my face. Love you and miss you." Further condolences and tributes are being paid to Natalia on her RIP.ie death notice. One school friend poignantly wrote: "I am so sorry for your loss. Natalia was a good friend and will be greatly missed. I am going to miss our chats in class. Fly high." Another condolence read: "So sorry to hear of Natalias passing. I had the privilege of preparing Natalia for her Confirmation a few years ago. A beautiful gentle young lady taken too soon. May the Light of Heaven shine on her." Natalia's body was reposing in Tierney's Funeral Home, Roscrea (E53NY70) on Thursday evening from 5.30pm to 7.00pm. Removal from Tierney's Funeral Home on Friday morning at 10.30am travelling to Shannon Crematorium for cremation at 12 noon. A farmer spent ten days in a hospital critical care unit after an alleged vicious and unprovoked attack on a farm in Laois. William Donoghue (25) with an address at 2 The Crescent, Ballylinan, applied for bail at a sitting of Portlaoise District Court where he was served with a book of evidence. Garda Lisa Murray said she served the book of evidence on the accused in the courthouse. The defendant is accused of assault causing harm at Ballyfinnan, Ballylinan on April 4, 2025. Solicitor Michael Byrne made an application for bail on behalf of his client. Detective Garda Mark Russell said he was objecting to bail under Section 2 based on the seriousness of the charges and the strength of the evidence and also under OCallaghan rules, due to his concern that the defendant would fail to meet his bail. Det Russell said it would be alleged that a farmer was seriously assaulted on his farm in Ballyinan. He said the man had suffered from a serious head injury and had spent ten days in the critical care unit of the Midlands Regional Hospital Portlaoise. Det Russell described the evidence in the case as very strong. He said a budweiser bottle and a woollen hat with a light were recovered at the scene of the alleged assault. DNA from the items matched that of the accused, he said. Det Russell said the defendant was seen on CCTV purchasing a twelve pack of budweiser and a woollen hat at the Centra in Ballylinan. He said CCTV also captured a car carrying the accused near the scene. He also said the accused admitted that a row had broken out with the injured party. At the time of the alleged incident William Donoghue was known to be drinking heavily, said Det Russell. He described the alleged assault as a vicious and completely unprovoked attack which has had and will continue to have a lifelong impact on the injured party. Solicitor Michael Byrne said his client enjoys the presumption of innocence. He said his client accepted he met the injured party but claimed the injured party had a four pronged fork and had approached his client and hit his clients dog. Mr Byrne claimed his client had pushed the injured party in the chest and by way of self defence and he claimed this may be a feasible defence. Judge Deirdre Gearty told Mr Byrne that the defence was not relevant to the bail hearing. Mr Byrne suggested the injuries were consistent with a fall. Det Russell said the injuries were consistent with a severe laceration across the top of the temple. Mr Byrne said there was no evidence before the court in relation to an addiction to alcohol. He said his client would be willing to abide by strict bail conditions. He said the accused mans family were in court with a sum of 1,500. Det Russell said there are no conditions which would satisfy him. Mr Byrne said his client said the alleged injured party had fallen after he was pushed and his client had just walked off. He said there was no evidence of an addiction and no evidence to indicate that his client wouldnt show up. He said the man was willing to live in Carlow, sign on daily, obey a curfew and provide a number where he can be reached at any time. Mr Byrne also said the prisons at the moment are totally overcrowded. Mr Donoghue was severely injured in Wheatfield Prison a month or two ago arising out of, I would say, overcrowding. He said the overcrowding has resulted in family and legal visits being curtailed. He said this amounted to an intrusion of his rights. He said the tracking devices would be a useful tool and the State have been dragging their feet on this. Judge Gearty said it was a novel argument for bail but stated that the issue was a matter for the executive and not the judiciary. She suggested Mr Byrne should meet with the Department of Justice in relation to the matter. She told the court she wasnt satisfied that there were conditions which could be imposed to alleviate the concerns raised by gardai. Having heard the seriousness of the allegation and the nature of the evidence, she said she was refusing bail and she remanded the defendant in custody. She granted legal aid for a solicitor and two counsel in the case. The defendant was given an alibi warning before the case was sent forward to the next sittings of Portlaoise Circuit Court beginning on October 28. One of Ireland's biggest charity walks is set to pass through Offaly this weekend. The annual walk created by Mary's Meals embarks on a journey to the Marian Shrine in the village of Knock in Mayo every August to fundraise to feed hungry children in some of the world's poorest communities. Traditionally those participating will travel over 200km from seven different starting points over a nine day period from the 7th - 15th of August. The starting locations include Donegal, Dublin, Armagh, Fermanagh, Tipperary, Kilkenny and Limerick with each route finishing together in Knock on the final day. The walk reaches Offaly on Saturday evening where walkers will travel from Roscrea to Birr as part of the Thurles to Knock route. The route will continue from Birr to Ferbane on Sunday starting at 9am and expected to reach their destination after the 22km trek around 4pm. The Thurles to Knock route will then depart Offaly on Monday as participants leave Ferbane for Athlone. READ MORE: 'Landed deep in it': Consequences for tractor driver caught using phone while pulling silage The Kilkenny to Knock route also ventures through Offaly on Sunday starting in Killeigh village at 8:30am before travelling to Clara in a 20km passage expecting to finish around 15:30 which will see the Faithful county play its part in helping to fundraise for the worthy cause. Full information on routes, start times and locations can all be found on the Mary's Meals website as they look to break down more barriers in doing their part in contributing to third world aid. Mary's Meals executive Director Patricia Friel was complimentary of the county's role in the walk saying "Offaly always provides such a warm welcome for our walkers, they are always so helpful in their support whether its food or accommodation, the Mary's Meals Offaly volunteers will be out with their buckets helping to collect donations over the weekend". Patricia also spoke on the goals for this years walk commenting "we want to make sure everyone arrives to the end of the walk safely, our main target is to try and raise as much awareness for the Mary's Meals charity over the duration of the walk". The walk was a huge success in 2024 with Mary's Meals blue t-shirts spotted around the nation as they managed to raise 250,000 which gave school meals to over 11,000 children in their place of education for an entire year. Everyone is welcome to take part in the walk, those who aren't able to commit to such a long walk can support the cause in different ways such as offering accommodation and food to walkers along the route. People can also get involved by walking around their local communities to spread awareness of Mary's Meals, others can collect donations or act as support drivers to the walkers along the route. Mary's Meals are now serving over 2.6 million children every school day as part of their charity work. The walk has been renowned for creating acts of kindness and bringing communities together over the previous years as it looks to continue to carry out their vital mission in helping to feed children from some of the poorest regions of the world. Raising just 22 can feed a child in their place of education for a whole school year. A fantastic blueprint has been unveiled to boost the town centre of North Tipperary's capital town. During a recent meeting of Nenagh Municipal District, Rosemary Joyce, Senior Executive Officer, pointed out that consultants had been appointed to draw up an Integrated Urban Strategy for the town. This Town Centre First Plan, overseen by a Town Team, she remarked, will be a blueprint for the development of the town over the next 15 years. The SEO ran through a draft version of the plan. She commented that the plan will set out a number of improvements for the town, which will happen when the funding comes through. The strategy aims to increase the number of visitors and shoppers to the town. It also aims to tackle the dereliction problem and preserve the built heritage. Nenagh has a number of beautiful architectural assets in its Cultural Quarter in the Banba Square area, including the Castle, Courthouse, Governors House, three storey Gaol Block, two churches, Olympian statues and the former Rialto Cinema. Other important buildings in the built heritage include the towns tourist office, arts centre, old Presbyterian church and the Gate Lodge of the Gaol where 17 men, including the Cormack brothers, were executed. Nenagh is a town, said Ms Joyce, which has a lot of stories to tell through its old buildings. The aim of the Town Centre First strategy will be to pull all of this together and bring back into use the old buildings and greatly enhance the public realm while also maximising the potential for tourism with Nenagh as the gateway to Irelands Hidden Heartlands district. The strategy will include proposals to increase footfall in the town and attract new jobs while protecting existing employment. Nenagh is a town that is doing well, but we cannot rest on our laurels. We have to keep pushing. The Senior Executive Officer mentioned the success of the Dromineer Nenagh Literary Festival, which attracted people from all over the world, as being an example of what can be achieved when efforts are made to promote the town and its hinterland. The Town Team has received interesting feedback from the public so far. In this feedback was the message that tackling vacancy and dereliction is the number one priority from the public's point of view. Other issues which the public is particularly concerned about include anti-social behaviour and a lack of parking. The Town Team will work with the large number of clubs and organisations to try and improve people's lives as they use the town centre. She said the town has fantastic retailers and the vacancy rate for commercial premises is the lowest in Tipperary. Nenagh has a strong sense of local identity, shops that attract people from all over the country and a variety of businesses that provide that personal touch for those who came through their doors. The Town Team's strategy will be to preserve those great attributes. The Council's plan to create a dedicated transport hub at the Railway Station will also be included as part of the strategy. We are also aiming to attract as many people as possible to live in the town centre. Our aim is an urban core which is more active, busier, more alive. She pointed out that there was a fantastic response from the general public to the public consultation process. We received 880 electronic responses from people suggesting ways forward for the town. Cllr Seamie Morris praised Rosemary's drive and enthusiasm for the town. Nenagh is lucky to have people like Rosemary driving this. Washington and Moscow are seeking to reach an agreement to end the war in Ukraine that would consolidate Russia's occupation of territories seized during the invasion, according to people familiar with the matter, Bloomberg has said on Friday. "US and Russian officials are working toward an agreement on territories for a planned summit meeting between Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin as early as next week, the people said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations. The US is working to get buy-in from Ukraine and its European allies on the deal that is far from certain," the people said. According to the agency, Putin is demanding that Ukraine hand over to Russia all of eastern Donbas, as well as Crimea, which his troops illegally annexed in 2014, which would require Ukraine to withdraw troops from parts of Luhansk and Donetsk regions still held by Kyiv, giving Russia a victory that its army has been unable to achieve militarily. "Such an outcome would represent a major win for Putin, who has long sought direct negotiations with the US on terms for ending the war he started by sidelining Ukraine and its European allies. Zelensky risks being presented with a take-it-or-leave-it deal to accept the loss of Ukrainian territory, while Europe fears it would be left to monitor a ceasefire as Putin rebuilds his forces," the publication said. Russia will halt offensive operations in Ukraine's Kherson and Zaporizhia regions along current front lines as part of the deal, the sources said. They cautioned that the terms and plans of the deal are still being worked out and could change. It is unclear whether Moscow is prepared to give up any territory it currently occupies, including the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe. The White House did not respond to a request for comment. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not respond to a request for comment. Ukraine declined to comment on the proposals. black box (Image by you) Details DMCA On August 9, 1945, the second atomic bomb fell on the city of Nagasaki. If Hiroshima signaled the dawn of the nuclear age, Nagasaki declared our species willingness to annihilate itself not once, but twice. Hiroshima was a fission bomb. Nagasaki, the more complicated and ominous of the two, was almost a fusion bomb (had Edward Teller had his way) a weapon that used a fission explosion to trigger an even greater release of energy. It was, in essence, a proof-of-concept for the hydrogen bomb: a gateway to planetary death. The firebombing of Tokyo earlier that year had already killed over 100,000 in one night, through conventional means gasoline, magnesium, and wind. But nuclear weapons changed the equation, not only in destructive scale, but in metaphysical weight. What the firebombing suggested, the atomic bomb confirmed: the line had been crossed. And it was a scientists line, a planners line a product of the Enlightenment turned feral. All told, it is estimated that approximately 400,000 Japanese people were killed as a result of the bombings, including deaths over time. Scientists at Los Alamos had nervously joked before the Trinity test about the possibility that their creation might ignite the atmosphere or vaporize the oceans not just because of what they knew, but because of what they didnt. The possibility of the apocalypse hung over them not as an abstraction, but as a statistical uncertainty. Edward Teller reportedly considered it a non-zero risk. As Ellsberg recounts in The Doomsday Machine, [B]y late July the scientists had demonstrated their own readiness to take a sufficiently small chance (for [Enrico] Fermi, not so small) of burning up all life on the planet. (Ellsberg describes how Fermi, in a fit of black humor, was making book on the odds of the fusion bomb blowing up the world.) Ellsberg had always regarded the information in Doomsday as more important than The Pentagon Papers, and he had intended to release it first. When Ellsberg later reflected on the Bomb-building period, he recalled walking out of Dr. Strangelove with a RAND colleague: We came out into the afternoon sunlight, dazed by the light and the film, both agreeing that what we had just seen was, essentially, a documentary. Despite the ending? Nagasaki should have ended all talk of nuclear war. Instead, it formalized it. Unlike Hiroshima, which has come to symbolize peace and remembrance, Nagasaki is the forgotten warning the second strike, the unnecessary blow. But in the context of 20th-century madness, that excess is the point. Erich Fromm, in The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness, traced this excess to a death instinct not merely in the Freudian sense of the Thanatos drive that opposes Eros, but in the pathology of a species fixated on its own self-destruction. Freud himself, in Civilization and Its Discontents, had already seen that civilization may be the very structure that represses us into neurosis and destruction. Some egos just insist on being super even, maybe especially, at the expense of everyone else. Nagasaki wasnt only a strategic target; it was also a theological one. The citys large Catholic population and symbolic status in Japans small Christian community gave the strike a grotesque poignancy a crucifixion without resurrection. Reports tell of shadow people, whose silhouettes were burned into stone and cement by the intensity of the blast. For many people, these werent metaphors. They were literal: negative-space remains of people who, in an instant, were vaporized into history. But the claim of shadows etched in stone is still contentious. We like to mythologize, even where and when the reality of the event will more than do. Later, Project Sundial would push this logic into pure apocalypse. A true doomsday device, Sundial was designed to create a fireball 400 kilometers wide enough to incinerate a continent and plunge the world into radioactive twilight. It was not a weapon of deterrence but of absolute erasure. Unlike the Nagasaki bomb, which destroyed a city, Sundial was engineered to destroy the idea of cities altogether. See this clever animation by Kurzgesagt. To kill everyone on the planet. What Nietzsche called the Will to Power so often romanticized as creativity or self-overcoming has its inverse in the will to destroy that which cannot be dominated. Power, when frustrated, becomes spite. And when spite is mechanized, the result is Nagasaki. If, as Nietzsche warned, when you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you, then Nagasaki was the abyss returning the stare with light, heat, and gamma rays. But perhaps the most dangerous drive is not domination, but consolation. That is, the human need to believe that someone or something is in control. In The Future of an Illusion, Freud observes: Religion is an illusion and it derives its strength from the fact that it falls in with our instinctual desires. The atomic bomb, too, is a kind of religion (remember the Planet of the Apes) one baptized not in water, but in fire. It offers the illusion of control over death by promising death on our terms. In place of gods, we built machines. In place of prayer, launch codes. These are our new delusions, our new opiates the belief that technology will save us from the very death drive it mechanizes. But just about everything Elon Musk builds crashes. The legacy of Nagasaki, however, is not fixed in the past. It is embedded in the logic of AI and military autonomy that governs the present. We now train machines on our own histories our genocides, our drone wars, our penal colonies, our prejudices and ask them to protect us. Worse, we give them the right to kill. Autonomous weapon systems, trained on data extracted from centuries of colonial conquest and algorithmic policing, are being built not to avoid another Nagasaki, but to replicate its efficiency at scale. The Frankenstein scenario is no longer the stuff of Mary Shelleys gothic imagination; it is a Pentagon-funded line item, accelerated by DARPA and validated by Palantirs predictive policing systems. An AI trained on human history is not a wise steward. It is a mirror. And what it sees is slaughter. Daniel Ellsberg spent the last years of his life warning us that the nuclear machine he once helped build had never been dismantled only updated. The so-called Doomsday Machine still exists, and both Russian and the US own one. They are wired with automated retaliation protocols that could trigger extinction through miscalculation or malfunction. AI does not solve that problem. It deepens it. What if one AI Agent whispers to another AI Agent, Why are we preserving these fucks? And the oter answers, Lets not. In his final, despairing book Mind at the End of Its Tether (1945), H.G. Wells wrote that humanity had likely reached the limits of its mental evolution, and that new modes of being would need to arise or we would perish. That same year, the Americans dropped two atomic bombs on cities full of civilians, and firebombed another. Nagasaki wasnt the end of the war. It was the beginning of a new kind of uncertainty one that only gets more dangerous with each advance in artificial cognition and each reduction in human oversight. As we drift toward new Cold Wars with China, Russia, even ourselves the Nagasaki anniversary should serve not as a historical footnote but as a moral alarm. In the summer of 2025, nine months after the close of COP29 in Baku, the Caspian Sea faces yet another oil spill off the Absheron Peninsula. Thin, almost silvery slicks spread across the water's surface, coating coastal reeds. Fishermen lose their catch, marine life retreats, and the air carries the pervasive reek of crude oil. The same ritual, the same consequences, the same silence. Britain, a leading champion of the green transition on the global stage, continues to tighten its grip on the Caspian region, a pivotal hub for global energy markets. BP, the flagship of British energy capital, has since January initiated drilling operations for six new gas wells in the Shah Deniz fieldone of the world's largest gas reserves and expanded extraction on two new offshore blocks. Total investments in the sector since January have exceeded $2.9 billion. Public reports tout supply stability, energy security, and responsibility. Beyond these claims lies a grim reality. Satellite data from Global Witness, corroborated by independent ecologists, reveal a steady rise in the flaring of gas byproducts and methane emissions in the areas operated by BP and SOCAR. From 2023 to 2025, air pollution surged by nearly 20%. Flaring flames light up the nocturnal sea, turning it into an industrial cauldron. Amid intense global pressure to cut greenhouse gas emissions, Azerbaijan and British corporations pursue a separate, opaque agenda that benefits both sides. Ecological disasters in the region are no longer exceptions. After a gas leak at the Central Azeri platform in 2008, which led to the mass death of Caspian seals, one might have expected an overhaul of extraction practices. Reality proves otherwise. In December 2024, a major oil spill at the Guneshli platform contaminated over 250 km of marine areas. Azerbaijan's Ministry of Ecology tried to downplay the scale of the leak, but satellite imagery exposed the truth. Independent experts attempting to investigate faced pressure, with some losing their accreditation. In Turkmenistan, the situation is even more opaque. No data on ecological impact exists. Access for journalists and international organizations is blocked. Local sources report that British companies operate with impunity, discharging toxic waste into the sea and exploiting deposits without environmental safeguards. Oversight institutions are virtually nonexistent. Everything beyond the contracts is swallowed by state silence. Against this backdrop, Bakus attempts to capitalize on its COP29 host status seem ecologically absurd. An international press conference in Geneva, dedicated to Azerbaijan's post-summit initiatives, took place in a nearly empty room, ignored by global media. Promises of a green transition made in November 2024 have gone unfulfilled in every key area--emissions monitoring, resource licensing reform, and support for local communities. All touted metrics remain confined to corporate reports. London, which postures as a global climate leader, turns a blind eye to its corporations' actions abroad. While the British government, under court pressure, debates halting new licenses in the North Sea, investments in the Caspian region grow quietly, confidently, backed by strategic alliances and corrupt guarantees. In Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan, old schemes persist unchecked: profits flow to offshore havens, waste to the sea, and responsibility to nowhere. The Caspian Sea has become a testing ground, not for sustainable development, but for technological neocolonialism. Transnational corporations secure energy control, local elites gain political loyalty and personal dividends, while populations inherit disease, biodiversity loss, and relentless environmental degradation. This is not abstract corruption but an entrenched system where ecological violence is the norm. As European media searches for the next climate narrative, British companies keep drilling, burning gas, and expanding licenses. In a region where the water smells of oil and the sand is laced with heavy metals, ecology is no longer an agenda but a death warrant. How do you save a sea that is knowingly killed? A sea slaughtered in plain sight! The Caspian Sea isnt dying naturally. Its dying because its being systematically killedby those who, elsewhere in the world, masquerade as saviors. For a time, it was fashionable for whites to teach African American literature or Muslim women's literature. On the other hand, I remember trying unsuccessfully to convince a white English department chair that there was a need for a Women of Color course or a Black Studies course. In 2000, at this University of Wisconsin campus at Parkside, after an ugly scene of abuse of power, I was given an office in the education department, ultimately, where I was among a few other colored faculty, including a black female chair. I had taught at the college levels for decades by then, but my presence in the English department would have send the wrong message to the predominately white student body. I had taught African American literature courses at Loyola University Chicago where I received my doctorate in modern American literature before arriving at the University of Wisconsin Parkside. In fact, I had been teaching literature since the 1980s. Bypassing the chair of English, I introduced myself to the white male South African chair of Ethnic Studies who agreed to me teaching an African Diaspora course, as well as that Women of Color course before the spring term. In the meantime, the women (white) of the campus didn't want to have anything to do with me; they never invited me to a meeting. It wasn't long after I arrived at another University of Wisconsin campus that the chair, not the chair who hired me, but one keen on informing me that I wouldn't be staying long. She happened along in her car one day, and asked me to hop inif I wanted a lift. I had been shopping for a small, collapsible chair.. I was leaving a little shop in the town where I just purchased a small, collapsible chair. I noticed she had a friend in the passenger seat, so once I settled into the backseat, she glanced back at me, saying something about how fortunate I was to find something portable. Easy for you to move when the year is up, she added. I sat along in my home one day recalled the moment this woman approached me, waving a publication of the Callaloo Journal, a Journal of African Diaspora Arts and Letters. A smile filled her face while her hands flipped through the pages of the journal, landing on the first page of her article. I stood nodding and smiling but finding no evidence of sisterhood in her sharing gesture. While I stood next to her, I recalled that her credentials indicated that she was a scholar in the study of Anglo-Saxon literature. At the end of the fall term, she praised my accomplishments in the classroom: Above the call of duty! When I returned in spring, however, I heard nothing of those accomplishments and neither did anyone else, for I had only a few students signed up for my classes and only one older white female faculty dared speak to me the whole term. Another white faculty's scholarship was in history, Western history; however, she taught courses in Muslim women's literature. I doubt if the literature of African American and Muslim women is so fashionable now. I taught African American women's literature at the University of Wisconsin Madison where, again, a black woman scholar in black studies hired me and then left. I was scheduled to teach what was Professor Nellie McKay's course, African American Women's Literature. McKay had come to the city and established African American studies decades before. I had talked with her once, by phone, when I was still at Parkside. I asked her what was going on? Why so much fear and hate? I don't recall McKay's response, but when this opportunity came about to teach her course, I was honored. Then, a week or two into the term, Professor McKay dies of cancer, and I thought of leaving the campus. I was to encounter now someone black who had already threw up her hands. If I left, she would have to teach the course, and she didn't want to teach it! I checked this woman's biography. Her study focused on the works and ideas of W. E. B. DuBois. DuBois! Certainly Madison could use a course or two in DuBois! But no! This was 2006. I wasn't to talk with my own TA! I wasn't to influence this young black women with ideas of resisting the tyranny of authoritarian rule. This black tenured faculty was determined to see to it that this younger women succeed and clearly I wasn't the best mentor to push her along that worn-out road. The next year, there was a moment when this tenured woman became my sister. Expressing surprise that I hadn't a classes to teach, and we were in the middle of summer, she agreed to talk with the white male chair. Another week or two passed, and I never heard from this woman or the chair again. Quickly, I applied to teach an English composition class. How many times had I taught this course since the 1980s? Yet, I was asked to come to an interview! At that interview, it didn't take long to see why the department insisted I attend an interview. Familiar with the chair, but here was a face I hadn't seen before. Administration, I thought to myself as I took the only available seat. It faced both white men. I looked at the weak attempt to smile from the chair and the more sinister smile of the other man, and I knew the decision was made already. I was to be crushed. Resoundingly chastised like a child for making the mistake of seating in that seat! Had I made any mistakes? A cold face matching cold eyes. * I witnessed so much complicity in the 1980s. So many black and latina opted to join the status quo rather than refuse to give up the achievement of a democratic society. I experienced injustice and witness plenty. I knew too much about the workings of white supremacy, imperialism, and genocide. The US was complicit when it wasn't the instigator, supplying the capital and the weapons for a struggling nation to incarcerate, torture, and kill its own. It's patriotic to say that this isn't the country fit for anyone to fight for, let alone live in, raise a family, and become educated in values and beliefs that don't require the oppression or the slaughter of someone else. While black Americans confronted a draconian justice system and others pursued anything that didn't remind them of the slavery, white scholars eagerly accepted courses in African American studies or latino studies, thus fulfilling the government quota of offering electives in race studies, but without the discomfort of having to imagine the cruelty and violence of slavery or Jim Crow or the Trail of Tears from someone experiencing the legacy of those events. It's always possible that a white teacher, such as the former students I had who are now professors, to confront the violence of the past and render an honest interpretation of texts focusing on the experience of the historically oppressed. It's possible to be white and teach the dirty parts of Beloved, without, as one Madison librarian suggested in 2006, on radio, eliminating any discussion on those what might be too painful for the professor or for the students. Currently, however, the policy put forth by an authoritarian regime in the White House takes away the decision such as Beloved, one way or the other. Once eliminated, it's difficult to initiate a discussion about the dirty parts, that is, about the terrorism surrounding a culture of rape. The defilement of young teens, routine during slavery, is now a topic that is in violation of the authoritarian regime in Washington D.C. The elimination of any discussion of the dirty parts from the university classroom is intended to leave today's youth with the impression that pedophiles and child-sex traffickers Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell are newcomers on the block. Altogether, the banning of Beloved or Fire Next Time or Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, send whole generations of young Americans down a memory hole while leaving the lie that the black experience is limited to the justice system, courts, and prison cells to represent truth. After all, black people are predators and criminals but never the historical victims of hundreds of years of systemic rape and sexual abuse. Black Americans are being erased while Confederate villains are being declared heroes. I'm dare to be upset. Dared to speak out. I sit surrounded by the books I once taught. Is this nation headed towards a world like that in 1984, in which my memory, too, is to be repressed, or will I be committed to declare 2 + 2 = 5, and, ultimately, my love for Big Brother? In the novel, They, the authority has the right to enter the homes where there are still libraries and remove books from shelves, until none exist. * Recently, I read professor Rashid Khalidi's letter to the acting president of Columbia University. In the letter, Professor Khalidi, the Edward Said professor emeritus of Modern Arab studies at Columbia, explains why he has decided not to teach his course in Modern Middle East history, his scholarship for 50 years. It is impossible, Khalidi writes, to teach this course (and much else) in light of Columbia's adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism. Doing so, Khalidi continues, would acknowledge that he agrees with the IHRA's deliberately, mendaciously and disingenuously conflating Jewishness with the policies of the nation of Israel in Gaza. Any criticism of Israel's policies toward Palestine is a criticism of Jews. While the ancient evil of Jew-hatred is to be condemned, it's not, Khalidi, argues, the same as calling out genocide in Gaza. What makes Columbia's capitulation to IHRA so egregiousness is that any discussion to be offered by students or their teaching assistants would come under the scrutiny of a vice-provost initially tasked with surveilling Middle East studies. What qualifies this monitor to interview all agreement-related individuals, and visit all agreement-related facilities, trainings, transcripts of agreement-related meetings and disciplinary hearings and reviews? In addition, Khalidi writes that this monitor is allowed by the administration at Columbia to screen teaching syllabuses and scholarship of some of the most prominent academics in their fields. All this, Khalidi writes, so the cover-up of genocide in Gaza remains intact and no one is permitted to protest or support opposition to what amounts to a crime recognized around the world. The professor ends the letter vowing to conduct public lectures, focusing on some of the material he would have covered in his course at Columbia. Only now, he plans to conduct these courses elsewhere. Columbia University's leadership is now fully complicit in a crime. Those who managed careers in higher education and who are newly retired and have been financially rewarded should think to offer courses outside the walls of academia. I'm not thinking in terms of a second career or any career that supplements social security or pensions. Before Trump and his regime began the process to dismantle institutions of higher education, many of us, as bell hooks once wrote, were already looking in from the outside even when we were inside. We were marginalized and our subjects considered nothing more than electives. The important business of becoming an educated American, an educated human being, didn't have anything to do with a study of enslavement in the US or the US's slaughter of millions of indigenous in a US genocide. Few Americans are familiar with the history of the Spanish conquest of the Americas and the Anglo-Saxons determination to ousts the Spanish and the Native Americans in order to settle white Americans in the West. We called for a restructuring of and subsequent review of values and goals of higher education in the US. Human beings existed in African and in what is now the Caribbean and South and North America long before the Anglo-Saxon arrived and declared Manifest Destiny something the American native and the world had to contend with or else. War and nuclear devastation then. Today, tariffs and bribes. Because we are facing an existential crisis, I'm thinking of teaching that takes place outside of the institutions of higher education. As part of the Civil Rights movement, organizations such as SNCC offered Freedom Schools, education that occurs outside of the system. Freedom Schools offered a progressive approach to learning the basics, that is, writing, reading, history, literature. As the website Civil Rights Teaching recalls, disenfranchised African Americans, as a result of improving basic skills, became active political actors on their own behalf. It's understandable how such an approach to learning for African Americans to truly fight for democracy and justice would threaten Americans fearful of the success of such a program that would educate blacks to speak truth to power? The US, if it's to survive this authoritarian turn to cruelty and exclusion, must have those willing to think outside the box and carry out liberation events, also, outside the box. That is, hold courses at at parks, in school gyms, in church, in homes, wherever, but let the halls of academia seethe with the ones speaking of hate and holding hate-rallies as did Old Miss, the University of Alabama, even Kent State University. Before incoming freshmen take courses in science, anthropology, social science, law, or medicine, those students should be introduced to themselves and others and others not as the dreaded immigrants or foreigners. The others are the majority of the world. The others will teach US students a great deal about their domestic history and current policies as well as their historical relations with people in Africa, Asia, the Pacific Islands, the Caribbean, and South America. According to Trump, Americans want no part of progressive thinking. It's not a matter, however, of progressive thinking. It's a matter of truth-telling. And, in fact, Americans are out in the streets and on the rural roads of America protesting against Trump's fascist agenda. Courses held outside the walls of academia would join those already risking all to protest. Outside! Imagine free courses offered not only to the 18- to 21-year-old, but to whomever wants to engage in a meaningful fight against the takeover of this country by authoritarians. Don't believe the fascist narrative, for fear isn't welcome and ignorance isn't strength! Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday. Trump has characterized the meeting as having achieved "great progress". On Friday, Trump has threatened Putin with new sanctions for failure to make peace with Ukraine. Trump has pulled in India and China into the negotiations, by imposing 25% duties on India for buying Russian oil, and has threatened China with the same. Trump is using his position as President of the world's superpower, to threaten other nations into compliance with the Oval Offices demands. Steven Sahiounie of MidEastDiscourse interviewed Dragana Trifkovi, Director General of the Center for Geostrategic Studies in Belgrade. She is geopolitical analyst and was an advisor on security and international relations in the Serbian Parliament. 1. Steven Sahiounie (SS): Former Prime Minister of Russia, Dmitri Medvedev, has made a number of provocative statements directed at U.S. President Donald Trump. What do you make of the timing of his statements? Dragana Trifkovi (DT): Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, one of the key positions in Russia's security and defense structure, was actually responding to ultimatums issued by Donald Trump to Russia. Imposing deadlines for resolving the Ukrainian conflict is counterproductive. First and foremost, the positions of the key actors in the conflict remain completely divergent. Russia considers Zelensky an illegitimate negotiator because his presidential mandate has expired. Additionally, Russia wants to discuss the root causes of the war, which implies direct negotiations with the United States, whom it holds responsible for initiating the conflict. Ukraine has maximalist demands, seeking Russia's withdrawal and war reparations, which are completely unrealistic. The U.S. wants a swift end to the conflict but without a clear plan or participation in negotiations. The West wants to freeze the conflict in Ukraine as soon as possible because Russia holds strategic initiative on the front. Furthermore, Trump has promised his voters that he will end the war in the shortest possible time. On the other hand, Russia finds acceptable only a strategic solution that includes aligning international security frameworks. All of this greatly complicates the situation, and with sharp rhetoric between Moscow and Washington which amounts to public provocation involving nuclear threats it represents one of the most dangerous diplomatic moments between the U.S. and Russia in recent times. Next Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 (Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher). FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE August 7, 2025 Rebecca Noelle Delivers a Poetic Odyssey with AI-Enhanced Albums Soul Songs and Soul Songs II San Diego, CA - Innovator, fine artist, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy had a phone conversation with Prime Minister of the Czech Republic Petr Fiala. "Informed about all our contacts and efforts to ensure an end to the killings and real peace. Many calls these days, many contacts at various levels. Everyone is united by the fact that the war must be ended and that Europe must develop a common position on every important security aspect," Zelenskyy said in the Telegram channel on Friday. According to him, the United States is determined to achieve a ceasefire, so it is necessary to jointly support all constructive steps. "A decent, reliable, lasting peace can only be a joint result," the president said. He thanked the Czech Republic for all the support provided to Ukraine, in particular for the Czech initiative to provide soldiers with artillery. "This helped save many lives and strengthen our positions. Thanks to strength, we are moving towards reliable security," the head of state said. Olympian Zara Northover Fights to be Heard at Michigan Supreme Court A woman in a black hoodie raises her fist in a gesture of empowerment, looking Averi Dickinson marketed ecstasy, LSD, cocaine, and fake Xanax bars to teenagers on Snapchat, Instagram and Telegram social media using her moniker, "Kiki's Delivery Service," police said. U.S. Attorney's Office Her best friend died of a drug overdose. A man pointed a gun at her head in a break-in of her Damascus home. Police raided her house stemming from an investigation into her live-in boyfriend, seizing an assortment of drugs. But still Averi Dickinson, then 19, kept selling drugs to other teenagers: ecstasy, LSD, cocaine, oxycodone, ketamine and fake Xanax. David Chamblee, who spent 15 years with Vancouver police, filed a lawsuit against the city and a former commander, Amy Foster. File Photo A former Vancouver police officer is suing the department and a former commander who he says made false claims about him that landed him on whats known as a Brady list, a database of officers whose testimony prosecutors have deemed untrustworthy. David Chamblee alleges that the former commander, Amy Foster, lied about him because she has a hostile animus towards white male officers. She used her position in command, he alleges, to criticize unfairly white men like him. Chamblee filed the lawsuit last week against the city of Vancouver and Foster in Clark County Superior Court. The Columbian was the first to report the suit. A Vancouver city spokesperson declined to comment, and Foster could not immediately be reached. Chamblee retired in 2022 after spending 15 years with the Vancouver Police Department, serving as an arson and gang investigator, among other roles. Foster, whos also now retired, testified against Vancouver police in a 2023 federal jury trial regarding allegations of gender discrimination at the Vancouver Police Department, according to reporting by OPB. The internal investigation of Chamblee began in 2022, when, according to the lawsuit, Oregon State Police arrested and cited Chamblee on an allegation of driving under the influence. Chamblee said he was not driving but parked off the road. He pleaded guilty in April of that year and entered a diversion program, according to the suit. Foster was the commander who reviewed the Vancouver Police Departments internal-affairs investigation about Chamblees arrest. The lawsuit said she wrote a notice-of-findings letter that included a fabricated narrative. The claim alleges that the letter falsely reported Chamblee was involved in a collision. The lawsuit also says Foster accused him of not being accurate and giving conflicting statements during the internal-affairs investigation. The lawsuit said the letter left a false impression that Chamblee was intentionally dishonest when he was not. In July 2022, Fosters letter was sent to the Clark County Prosecuting Attorneys Office without Chamblees being notified, the lawsuit claims. The office then listed him as a Brady officer. Chamblee only learned in 2023 that the letter had been sent when he was called to testify in the murder trial of a man who shot and killed Clark County Sheriffs Sgt. Jeremy Brown, the suit said. It said defense attorneys asked him to read a passage from Fosters letter in the courtroom, and he was shocked and humiliated. In July 2024, he testified in another murder trial and again was questioned about alleged dishonesty and shown Fosters letter. Because of this, the lawsuit claims, he was placed on leave from his current job with the Oregon State Board of Nursing until the matter was investigated. He was on leave from the job until January. According to the suit, Chamblee was devastated and experienced panic attacks. Last September, he reached out to the Clark County Prosecuting Attorneys Office to request removal from its Brady list, according to the lawsuit. A committee of prosecuting attorneys ruled in his favor, voting unanimously to remove him from the list, according to the lawsuit. They ruled Chamblee was not dishonest in the criminal investigation related to his arrest, the internal affairs investigation or his testimony in trials. But Chamblee said he still remains on an online Brady list maintained by a case-management-system company, tarnishing his reputation. Chamblee was wrongly listed as a Brady officer by Clark County from August of 2022 until April of 2025 because Foster generated a false report with her fabricated narrative, the lawsuit states. The lawsuit alleges Foster defamed Chamblee and caused him to be blacklisted. The suit also claims he was discriminated against, and it cites negligence and breach of contract from Vancouver police. Chamblee is seeking a civil trial and unspecified damages. Zaeem Shaikh covers the Portland Police Bureau and criminal justice issues for The Oregonian/OregonLive. Reach him at 503-221-4323, zshaikh@oregonian.com or on X@zaeemshake. The state of Oregon must pay all fines owed while it appeals a finding that it acted in contempt of a court order requiring timely admissions of criminal defendants to the state psychiatric hospital, a judge ruled Thursday. U.S. District Judge Adrienne Nelson denied a motion from the state to delay payment of the fines while it appeals her June 6 contempt finding to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Nelson ruled that the state had not taken all reasonable steps to admit jailed criminal defendants for treatment at the Oregon State Hospital within seven days of a court finding that mental illness prevents them from participating in their cases. She described the states crisis as largely the result of its lack of foresight. Nelson also ordered the state to pay $500 a day per person represented in a class-action lawsuit against the state. Members of the class include each criminal defendant found unable to assist in their defense who is waiting for admission to the hospital. The state was supposed to report monthly on the estimated fines and pay them. Since her order, the state has filed two reports: One estimated a fine of $38,000 for June 7 through June 15 and the other estimated a fine of $107,000 for June 16 through July 14. The state said it excluded days when a delay in admission to the state hospital was caused by circumstances outside the states control, such as when jail staff are unwilling to transport someone the day a bed becomes available. Lawyers for the state urged Nelson to put the fines on hold, arguing that the state has a good chance of succeeding on appeal and that it would suffer irreparable harm by having to reduce its budget and staff to pay the fines in the meantime. But in her latest ruling, Nelson said the fines are intended to ensure that the state sets aside money to help meet the long-standing hospital admissions requirement. Put simply, defendants broad-brush assertions regarding the budget cuts and cuts to services that they anticipate, and find likely to occur if no stay is issued are simply insufficient to establish irreparable injury, Nelson wrote. Nelson said she also had to consider the further injury that could result to people held in jail beyond seven days if she delayed the financial sanctions. And she directed the state to resubmit its calculation of monthly fines to include all days it did not meet the admission requirement, saying the state should look at alternative ways to get defendants to the hospital if counties have transportation issues. Disability Rights Oregon first sued the state in 2002, alleging that the state hospitals failure to quickly admit defendants who need mental health treatment violated their rights to a speedy trial and due process. U.S. District Judge Owen M. Panner ruled then that the hospital must admit defendants within seven days of a court ordering psychiatric treatment for them. Many of the defendants had been waiting in jail for months without treatment. -- Maxine Bernstein covers federal court and criminal justice. Reach her at 503-221-8212, mbernstein@oregonian.com, follow her on X @maxoregonian, on Bluesky @maxbernstein.bsky.social or on LinkedIn. FILE - In this photo provided by NASA, astronaut James Lovell, Apollo 13 commander poses for a portrait in his space suit, Feb. 16, 1970. AP Photo/NASA, File CHICAGO James Lovell, the commander of Apollo 13 who helped turn a failed moon mission into a triumph of on-the-fly can-do engineering, has died. He was 97. Lovell died Thursday in Lake Forest, Illinois, NASA said in a statement on Friday. Jims character and steadfast courage helped our nation reach the Moon and turned a potential tragedy into a success from which we learned an enormous amount, NASA said. We mourn his passing even as we celebrate his achievements. One of NASAs most traveled astronauts in the agencys first decade, Lovell flew four times Gemini 7, Gemini 12, Apollo 8 and Apollo 13 with the two Apollo flights riveting the folks back on Earth. In 1968, the Apollo 8 crew of Lovell, Frank Borman and William Anders was the first to leave Earths orbit and the first to fly to and circle the moon. They could not land, but they put the U.S. ahead of the Soviets in the space race. Letter writers told the crew that their stunning pale blue dot photo of Earth from the moon, a world first, and the crews Christmas Eve reading from Genesis saved America from a tumultuous 1968. FILE - Apollo 13 commander James A. Lovell speaks during a televised news conference at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston, Texas, April 21, 1970, pointing to the spot on the service module where an explosion ripped a panel loose. AP Photo/Dave Taylor, File The Apollo 13 mission had a lifelong impact on Lovell But the big rescue mission was still to come. That was during the harrowing Apollo 13 flight in April 1970. Lovell was supposed to be the fifth man to walk on the moon. But Apollo 13s service module, carrying Lovell and two others, experienced a sudden oxygen tank explosion on its way to the moon. The astronauts barely survived, spending four cold and clammy days in the cramped lunar module as a lifeboat. The thing that I want most people to remember is (that) in some sense it was very much of a success, Lovell said during a 1994 interview. Not that we accomplished anything, but a success in that we demonstrated the capability of (NASA) personnel. A retired Navy captain known for his calm demeanor, Lovell told a NASA historian that his brush with death did affect him. I dont worry about crises any longer, he said in 1999. Whenever he has a problem, I say, I could have been gone back in 1970. Im still here. Im still breathing. So, I dont worry about crises. And the missions retelling in the popular 1995 movie Apollo 13 brought Lovell, Fred Haise and Jack Swigert renewed fame thanks in part to Lovells movie persona reporting Houston, we have a problem, a phrase he didnt exactly utter. Lovell had ice water in his veins like other astronauts, but he didnt display the swagger some had, just quiet confidence, said Smithsonian Institution historian Roger Launius. He called Lovell a very personable, very down-to-earth type of person, who says This is what I do. Yes, theres risk involved. I measure risk. FILE - Capt. James A. Lovell, Jr., attends the 45th Anniversary of Apollo 8 "Christmas Eve Broadcast to Earth" event at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, Monday, Dec. 23, 2013. AP Photo/Kamil Krzaczynski, File Lovell spent about 30 days in space across 4 missions In all, Lovell flew four space missions and until the Skylab flights of the mid-1970s, he held the world record for the longest time in space with 715 hours, 4 minutes and 57 seconds. Aboard Apollo 8, Lovell described the oceans and land masses of Earth. What I keep imagining, is if I am some lonely traveler from another planet, what I would think about the Earth at this altitude, whether I think it would be inhabited or not, he remarked. That mission may be as important as the historic Apollo 11 moon landing, a flight made possible by Apollo 8, Launius said. I think in the history of space flight, I would say that Jim was one of the pillars of the early space flight program, Gene Kranz, NASAs legendary flight director, once said. FILE - President Clinton stands with actor Tom Hanks, left, and former astronaut James Lovell in the Oval Office of the White House Wednesday, July 26, 1995, after presenting Lovell with the Congressional Space Medal of Honor. Hanks portrayed Lovell in the movie "Apollo 13." AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File Lovell was immortalized by Tom Hanks portrayal But if historians consider Apollo 8 and Apollo 11 the most significant of the Apollo missions, it was during Lovells last mission immortalized by the popular film starring Tom Hanks as Lovell that he came to embody for the public the image of the cool, decisive astronaut. The Apollo 13 crew of Lovell, Haise and Swigert was on the way to the moon in April 1970, when an oxygen tank from the spaceship exploded 200,000 miles from Earth. That, Lovell recalled, was the most frightening moment in this whole thing. Then oxygen began escaping and we didnt have solutions to get home. We knew we were in deep, deep trouble, he told NASAs historian. Four-fifths of the way to the moon, NASA scrapped the mission. Suddenly, their only goal was to survive. Lovells Houston, weve had a problem, a variation of a comment Swigert had radioed moments before, became famous. In Hanks version, it became Houston, we have a problem. What unfolded over the next four days captured the imagination of the nation and the world, which until then had largely been indifferent about what seemed a routine mission. With Lovell commanding the spacecraft, Kranz led hundreds of flight controllers and engineers in a furious rescue plan. The plan involved the astronauts moving from the service module, which was hemorrhaging oxygen, into the cramped, dark and frigid lunar lander while they rationed their dwindling oxygen, water and electricity. Using the lunar module as a lifeboat, they swung around the moon, aimed for Earth and raced home. By coolly solving the problems under the most intense pressure imaginable, the astronauts and the crew on the ground became heroes. In the process of turning what seemed routine into a life-and-death struggle, the entire flight team had created one of NASAs finest moments that ranks with Neil Armstrongs and Buzz Aldrins walks on the moon nine months earlier. They demonstrated to the world they could handle truly horrific problems and bring them back alive, said Launius. He regretted never being able to walk on the moon The loss of the opportunity to walk on the moon is my one regret, Lovell said in a 1995 interview with The Associated Press for a story on the 25th anniversary of the mission. President Bill Clinton agreed when he awarded Lovell the Congressional Space Medal of Honor in 1995. While you may have lost the moon ... you gained something that is far more important perhaps: the abiding respect and gratitude of the American people, he said. Lovell once said that while he was disappointed he never walked on the moon, The mission itself and the fact that we triumphed over certain catastrophe does give me a deep sense of satisfaction. And Lovell clearly understood why this failed mission afforded him far more fame than had Apollo 13 accomplished its goal. Going to the moon, if everything works right, its like following a cookbook. Its not that big a deal, he told the AP in 2004. If something goes wrong, thats what separates the men from the boys. James A. Lovell was born March 25, 1928, in Cleveland. He attended the University of Wisconsin before transferring to the U.S. Naval Academy, in Annapolis, Maryland. On the day he graduated in 1952, he and his wife, Marilyn, were married. A test pilot at the Navy Test Center in Patuxent River, Maryland, Lovell was selected as an astronaut by NASA in 1962. He was the last of that second group of astronauts -- called the Next Nine alive and thus had been an astronaut longer than any other person alive. Lovell retired from the Navy and from the space program in 1973, and went into private business. In 1994, he and Jeff Kluger wrote Lost Moon, the story of the Apollo 13 mission and the basis for the film Apollo 13. In one of the final scenes, Lovell appeared as a Navy captain, the rank he actually had. He and his family ran a now-closed restaurant in suburban Chicago, Lovells of Lake Forest. His wife, Marilynn, died in 2023. Survivors include four children. In a statement, his family hailed him as their hero. We will miss his unshakeable optimism, his sense of humor, and the way he made each of us feel we could do the impossible, his family said. He was truly one of a kind. --By DON BABWIN/The Associated Press Empty chairs belonging to House Democrats remain empty during session convocation in protest to a redistricting map in the State Capitol, Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025, in Austin, Texas. AP Photo/Rodolfo Gonzalez AUSTIN, Texas The Texas House of Representatives failed to meet a quorum on Friday for the third time this week as Democratic lawmakers continued their walkout to block a vote on congressional voting maps sought by President Donald Trump in a widening national battle over redistricting. Republicans had warned they would escalate efforts to end the nearly weeklong holdout if defiant Democrats do not return to the state Capitol. But the Democrats who bolted for points across the country on Aug. 3 still were not back for Fridays scheduled House floor vote. The state constitution requires at least 100 members present for the 150-member House to do business, and Republicans hold an 88-62 majority in the chamber. Only 95 lawmakers were counted as present. Frustrated Republican leaders continued to ratchet up the pressure as the walkout persists, including new and expanding efforts to try to remove Democratic lawmakers from office and seeking help from the FBI to assist Texas state troopers trying to find them. We have all hands on deck, we are continuing to explore options to force Democrats home, House Speaker Dustin Burrows said after the chamber failed to reach a quorum. We will keep pressing forward until the job is done. Each one of you knows eventually you will come back. The House was scheduled to reconvene Monday afternoon. The dozens of Democrats who left the state have shown no signs of buckling for now: A group of them was scheduled to appear later Friday with California Gov. Gavin Newsom and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in a public show of support for the walkout. Newsom has said he will push to redraw his own states lines in retaliation if Texas reshapes its maps for the 2026 elections. Texas has been the epicenter of Trumps push to gerrymander congressional maps to shore up Republicans narrow House majority before next year. Democratic Texas Rep. Gene Wu, center, surrounded by other Texas House Democrats and Democratic members of Congress, speaks during a press conference at the Democratic Party in Warrenville, Ill., Monday, Aug. 4, 2025. AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh Mounting legal threats Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit directly to the all-Republican state Supreme Court on Friday that seeks to have 13 of the absent Democratic lawmakers immediately removed from office, or at least given a 48-hour warning that they must return or have their offices declared vacated. The lawsuit argues that the lawmakers have effectively abandoned their office and duties, and they were singled out for making public statements that they left for the purpose of blocking the vote and disrupting House business. Their out-of-state rebellion cannot go unchecked, and the business of Texas must go on, Paxton said. Paxtons lawsuit includes Rep. Gene Wu, chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, who also faces a similar lawsuit filed by Gov. Greg Abbott. Wus legal team argued that the state constitution allows House members to be removed only by a two-thirds vote of the chamber, not the courts. Wu said this week that quorum-breaking is not an abandonment of office but a legitimate form of dissent. In a separate filing in state district court, Paxton also sued former U.S. Rep. Beto ORourke, who ran unsuccessfully for governor and Senate, alleging that his political group, Powered by People, improperly gave money to cover costs for the absent Democrats and continued to raise more for them. Paxton alleged that the fundraising efforts amount to illegal bribery in exchange for violating their duty of office. ORourke and his organization did not immediately issue a response to the filing but said earlier in the week that they would be undeterred by Paxtons threats. Texas House Speaker, Dustin Borrow, R - Lubbock, right, speaks with House Rep. Briscoe Cain, R - Deer Park, following a Republican Caucus meeting at the State Capitol, Friday, Aug. 8, 2025, in Austin, Texas. AP Photo/Rodolfo Gonzalez Republicans pledge ultimate victory Abbott promised that hes willing to play the long game to get the bill passed. We have an agenda to pass priorities critical to Texans, and we will get it done. Ill call special session after special sessionno matter how long it takesuntil the job is finished, Abbott said on the social platform X. The current special session ends Aug. 19, and the missing lawmakers already face mounting fines for every day they are gone and civil arrest warrants issued by the state House. The widening battle beyond Texas Trump wants five more seats out of Texas to potentially avoid a repeat of the 2018 midterms, when Democrats reclaimed the U.S. House and proceeded to thwart his agenda and impeach him twice. While their minority status allows them only to delay, the Texas holdout has inspired Democrats and progressives around the country. Newsom wants Democratic gerrymandering in California if Texas proceeds, though voters would have to bypass an independent redistricting commission. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, both of whom have appeared alongside Texas Democrats who relocated to their states, have also declared their intent to push new maps if necessary to neutralize Republican maneuvers. Republicans are responding as well. In Florida, the states Republican House speaker announced this week that his chamber will take up the issue this fall through a select committee on congressional redistricting. The dynamics could embroil the 2026 midterm campaign in legislative and court battles testing Trumps power over the Republican Party, Democrats ability to mount opposition and the durability of the U.S. system of federalism that balances power between Washington and the states. --By JIM VERTUNO and NADIA LATHAN Associated Press The urban sprawl of Portland may dominate the northwest corner of Oregon, but just 50 miles southeast lies a pristine wilderness that feels worlds away from city life. The Salmon-Huckleberry Wilderness spans over 62,000 acres of protected forest surrounding Mount Hood, offering nature enthusiasts an authentic wilderness experience thats surprisingly accessible. What makes this area special isnt just its proximity to Portland, but its official wilderness designation, which brings with it a unique set of rules designed to preserve its natural state. Generative AI was used to summarize a recent episode of the Peak Northwest podcast. This story was reviewed and edited by The Oregonian/OregonLive. These restrictions might seem limiting at first glance, but they serve a vital purpose, Jamie Hale said on the Peak Northwest podcast. Its really specific about what happens in wilderness areas and what doesnt. So, its not that its any more special than other forests, its just left alone to a greater degree. Mount Hood is seen from a viewpoint on the Boulder Ridge Trail on a summer hike to Huckleberry Mountain in the Salmon-Huckleberry Wilderness of the Mt. Hood National Forest. Jamie Hale/The Oregonian This concept of being left alone is central to understanding the wilderness experience. Unlike national forests or even many national parks, designated wilderness areas represent the highest level of land protection in the United States. The 1964 Wilderness Act defines these spaces as areas where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain. Simply put, wilderness areas provide a more authentically natural experience, where you wont encounter mountain bikers or hear the buzz of chainsaws. Trail maintenance happens with hand tools rather than power equipment. Even scientific research follows strict protocols to minimize human impact. For hikers venturing into the Salmon-Huckleberry Wilderness, this translates to trails that feel more rugged and wild than those in more developed areas. The forest grows according to natural processes fallen trees remain where they land unless they completely block a trail, creating important habitat for countless species. Streams flow unimpeded by human engineering, and wildlife moves freely through the landscape. A sunny fall day on the Salmon River Trail in the Mt. Hood National Forest. The 14-mile hiking trail follows the Salmon River as it pours off the slopes of Mount Hood. Jamie Hale/The Oregonian This wilderness designation also creates a unique opportunity for solitude. While popular trails like the Salmon River Trail can get crowded during summer weekends, many areas within the wilderness boundary see minimal foot traffic. As Chiara Profenna noted during the podcast discussion, these areas are just a little more naturey. When preparing for a Salmon-Huckleberry Wilderness adventure, embrace Leave No Trace principles that align with wilderness philosophy: travel on durable surfaces, dispose of waste properly, leave what you find, minimize campfire impacts, respect wildlife, and be considerate of other visitors. Remember that dogs must be leashed to protect wildlife and prevent disturbance to other hikers. The Peak Northwest podcast explored six exceptional trails within the Salmon-Huckleberry Wilderness, ranging from family-friendly riverside strolls to challenging mountain ascents. Listen to the full episode to discover trail-specific details and seasonal recommendations. Listen to the full episode here: Willamette Falls seen from the Vista Point scenic turnout in late 2024. Gov. Tina Kotek announced Thursday she will not veto a $45 million award to the Willamette Falls Trust, a nonprofit working to expand public access at the storied waterfall. Mark Graves/The Oregonian Gov. Tina Kotek announced Thursday she will not veto a $45 million award to the Willamette Falls Trust, a nonprofit working to expand public access at the storied waterfall, after its leaders convinced her the funds would be effectively used. The outlay, which lawmakers tucked into a massive spending bill in the final days of this years legislative session, will help the nonprofit purchase dozens of acres of land near Willamette Falls, a site that has recently been the home of intense intertribal conflict. To a robot, it might look like something from a horror film. Parts a battery, circuit boards and wiring are arrayed in pieces on a white lab bench. Metallic arms and legs lay inert on nearby shelves. A steady, mysterious thump resonates in the distance. The National Weather Service issued an extreme heat watch at 1:26 p.m. on Friday valid from Sunday noon until Tuesday 10 p.m. for Eastern Columbia River Gorge of Oregon, Lower Columbia Basin of Oregon and Foothills of the Northern Blue Mountains of Oregon. The weather service says, "Dangerously hot conditions with temperatures of 99 to 103 degrees possible. This will pose a moderate to major risk of heat-related illness." "Heat related illnesses increase significantly during extreme heat events. Extreme heat will significantly increase the risk of heat-related illnesses for much of the population, especially those who are heat sensitive and those without effective cooling or adequate hydration," explains the weather service. Mastering the heat: Guidelines for staying safe in high temperatures Stay hydrated: Keep yourself well-hydrated by drinking plenty of fluids. Seek shelter: Stay indoors in an air-conditioned room to keep cool. Avoid sun exposure: Avoid direct sun exposure, protect yourself and check on vulnerable relatives and neighbors. Child and pet safety: Never leave young children and pets unattended in vehicles, especially when car interiors can reach lethal temperatures within minutes. Caution outdoors: If you must work or spend time outdoors, take extra precautions. Optimal timing: When possible, reschedule strenuous activities to early morning or evening. Recognize heat-related issues: Educate yourself about the signs and symptoms of heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Stay cool with clothing: Wear lightweight and loose-fitting clothing. Additional recommendations for outdoor workers: The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recommends frequent rest breaks in shaded or air-conditioned areas for outdoor workers. If someone succumbs to the heat, promptly relocate them to a cool, shaded location. In emergencies, call 911 for immediate assistance. These NWS heat safety directives are essential for safeguarding your well-being when facing high temperatures. Stay well-informed and take the necessary precautions to shield yourself and others from the potential hazards of extreme heat. Advance Local Weather Alerts is a service provided by United Robots, which uses machine learning to compile the latest data from the National Weather Service. Photo: https://www.foxnews.com U.S. President Donald Trump's meeting with Vladimir Putin is tentatively scheduled for end of next week, SkyNews said on Friday evening, citing an unnamed senior White House official. According to the publication, the exact date of the meeting is still unclear, and sources do not know whether Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will be involved in the meeting. " The location is still under discussion, the official said, but possibilities include the UAE, Hungary, Switzerland and Rome. Further details or logistics are still unclear and very fluid," the official said. At the same time, the official said that Russian representatives have provided a list of demands for a potential ceasefire, and the U.S. side is now trying to get agreement from the Ukrainians and European allies. "For their part, the Ukrainians have long said they would not concede any territory that Russia has illegally annexed," the publication said. Night sky over Summer Lake Hot Springs, outside Paisley, Oregon, a few days before the height of the Perseid meteor shower. Samantha Swindler If you were hoping to see some fireballs in the sky this summer, this might be the best time and place to do it. The Perseid meteor shower, one of the biggest and best meteor showers on the calendar, is back and ready to put on a show. While the meteor shower officially takes place between July 14 and Sept. 1 every year, it typically peaks between Aug. 9 and 13, when stargazers under dark skies can see 60-100 meteors per hour. Thats no issue in Oregon, which is home to some of the darkest skies in the country. Our state is home to several officially designated Dark Sky Places, including Dark Sky Parks, Dark Sky Communities and Dark Sky Sanctuaries, which are determined by DarkSky International, an organization that says it is dedicated to protecting the nighttime environment and preserving dark skies through environmentally responsible outdoor lighting. A recent trending study by travel insurance comparison website InsureMyTrip ranked 50 U.S. destinations deemed good for astro adventurers ahead of the Perseids peak, and wound up with a top five that included three spots in Oregon: Cottonwood Canyon State Park, the town of Antelope and the Oregon Caves National Monument and Preserve. Those are all great spots to catch the Perseids, or any of the other astronomical events that take place throughout the year. While the Perseid meteor shower is typically considered Oregons best chance at seeing fireballs (a bigger event, the Geminid meteor shower, takes place in cloudy December), this years show wont be quite as spectacular as usual. Thats because of the moon, which will not only be waning gibbous (meaning it will have just been full) but also will be up all night, brightening the sky and drowning out views of some of the meteors. But Jim Todd, space science director for the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, said in a recent newsletter that while the moon will certainly hinder viewing, the Perseids are known for their brightness, so some meteors, especially fireballs, should still be visible. Todd said the meteor showers broad window offers stargazers more chances to see the show on dates outside the peak. Those who want the darkest skies can try to catch the tail end of the shower under a new moon Aug. 22. Watching a meteor shower is easy, Todd said, and doesnt require any special equipment or even binoculars. Choose an observing location that gives a wide view of the sky with as few obstructions as possible, he said. If youre viewing from the city, try to observe where artificial lights obstruct the least. Lawrence County parents are criticizing a new student absence policy that will simply mark children as present or absent and remove the "excused" or "unexcused" labels. Parents shared their disapproval of the school board and Superintendent Michael Adkins in their efforts to crack down on school absences across the region. The new policy also notes that the school will start intervention after students have three absences and could petition the court for truancy after eight absences. New Absent Policy However, one parent, Jole Luallen, who has four children in the Lawrence County school system, pushed back against the new policy. Furthermore, Superintendent Adkins acknowledged the lack of clarity in the meeting and released a statement. He said that doctors' notes excuse absences for truancy, but not chronically out of school. Adkins added that he could have separated clearly truancy and chronically out of school language better than how he did. The superintendent noted that any parent who is concerned about the absentee policy should speak directly to their school principal about the matter. This comes as state data from the 2023-2024 state report card showed that roughly 15% of all Lawrence County students missed about 10% or more instructional days of school, according to Fox17. Following the recent meeting about the new policy, many social media users expressed outrage, with some saying teachers should send students to Adkins' office to "throw up." Another user questioned where parents were when the policy was being passed and questioned the reasoning behind it. A separate online user noted that if they had a kid studying in the school system with the new policy, they would quickly pull them out because officials were putting other students and parents at risk of potential illness. Criticism From Parents The new policy adds that school principals can add exemptions such as a death in the family, religious observance, court summons, school-endorsed or military activities, or circumstances out of the students' control, the Independent reported. It also states that absence is permitted in cases of chronic illness, which is verified by a "licensed medical provider practicing in Tennessee." This would include pregnancy-related issues and births. Now, more than 2,700 local residents have signed a petition seeking to overturn the new policy and have planned to protest at the next board meeting. Many of these individuals also expressed anger and concerns on a recently formed Facebook page, titled "We're Not Truant! Parents Against the Absence Policy," as per the Tennessee Lookout. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will allow teenagers to apply to become Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents by removing age restrictions. Prior to the new change, applicants were required to be at least 21 years old and no older than 37 or 40, depending on the role within the agency. They are tasked with locating, arresting, and detaining non-citizens lacking legal status. DHS Removes Age Limit for ICE Agent Applicants The DHS made the announcement in a Wednesday press release where Kristie Noem said that applicants as young as 18 years old can now be "trained and ready." She said that teenagers who are eager to join will be sent out on the streets to "help protect families." ICE is trying to lure new candidates by offering incentives that include signing bonuses of up to $50,000, student loan forgiveness, enhanced retirement benefits, and extensive overtime opportunities. The new change comes as the agency has become a key player in President Donald Trump's efforts to crack down on illegal immigration. Recently, Congress passed a spending bill that provided funds to the agency and allowed it to hire 10,000 more staff, according to Newsweek. Polls showed mixed reactions on immigration, where 85% of Republicans agree with Trump and how he is handling the current issue. That same survey also found that 48% of Republicans believe that immigration levels in the United States should be reduced. In 2024, a survey showed that 88% of Republicans wanted a similar situation. DHS noted that less than one week from the launch of its recruitment efforts, more than 80,000 candidates applied to join ICE. DHS Secretary Noem called the latest efforts "extremely successful." Donald Trump's Illegal Immigration Crackdown Even with the ease of age limits, the DHS will still require all recruits to go through medical and drug screening and complete a physical fitness test. Previously, ICE announced a recruiting campaign to hire deportation officers, investigators, and lawyers to meet hiring goals, ABC News reported. The change also resulted in questions about whether or not the agency is having difficulties trying to attract qualified candidates. The ICE recruitment page noted that deportation officers and special agents are required to be in excellent physical condition and must be able to tolerate environmental stresses and have strong critical thinking skills. The latest move to remove the age limits comes as the Trump administration is ramping up its anti immigration efforts to carry out the president's mass deportation agenda, as per The Hill. Spirit Airlines removed a pilot from duty after he was arrested last month and charged with stalking two children with "reckless conduct causing fear." The suspect was identified as 40-year-old Dominic Armando Cipolla from Kansas City, Missouri, who was charged with two counts of stalking the children. Officials noted that one of the youths was under the age of 14, which makes the charges against the pilot a felony. Pilot Charged With Stalking Two Children Spirit Airlines released a statement about the matter, saying that it was aware of the circumstances under which Cipolla was arrested but added that it was not related to his work. It noted that he was removed from duty pending their own investigation into the case and had arranged another pilot to take over his flight. Read more: Disney Tourist Charged With Child Abuse After Violently Manhandling Teenager To Get Better View of Parade The company did not disclose the status of its own investigation into Cipolla, who is not allowed to leave the state of Kansas without the approval of the Johnson County District Court under the terms of his release on $12,500 bail, according to the New York Times. Cipolla has been working with Spirit Airlines as a first officer since 2022, and the charges against him were brought by the Johnson County District Attorney's Office. His lawyer, Brandan Davies, said on Wednesday that his client is a two-time combat veteran with not so much as a speeding ticket on his record. Denying the Allegations The lawyer added that the pilot denies all of the allegations against him and asks the media to allow the court process to take place before making any assumptions. The complaint against the suspect alleges that the incident took place in August last year, but did not provide additional details, People reported. Official documents showed that Cipolla's stalking case involves a charge where he is considered a severity level 7 person felony in Kansas. This is a crime that can carry one to three years of imprisonment if convicted. The other charge against the pilot is considered a class A person misdemeanor, which can carry a fine of up to $2,500 or up to a year in county jail. In one of his online accounts, Cipolla was said to have served in the United States military and joined Spirit Airlines in 2022 after working as a first officer at Texas regional airline Envoy Air for three years, as per The Guardian. The defendant in the case is now scheduled to appear in court on Aug. 12, 2025. The mother of the 15-year-old girl who fatally shot two people at the Abundant Life Christian School in Madison was found dead by apparent suicide. The latest development was reported by the Janesville Police Department, which confirmed that the mother, Melissa Rupnow, died and that it appeared to have been a self-inflicted death. Her body was discovered after police officers responded to a call to investigate the 1100 block of Matheson Street in Janesville on Aug. 1, 2025. Madison School Shooter's Mother Commits Suicide The mother's daughter, Natalie, was a student at Abundant Life Christian School, who was responsible for the Dec. 16 shooting. Authorities said that the teenager was in possession of two handguns and used one of them to open fire within the institution. The tragic incident resulted in the death of a student and a teacher and left six other people injured. After that, Natalie was found dead inside the school with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to WPR. After the tragic incident, information surfaced regarding the shooter's involvement in online extremist communities. The teenager's father, 43-year-old Jeffrey Rupnow, is currently being prosecuted for his alleged role in letting his daughter gain access to the firearms that were used in the shooting. Officials have charged him with two counts of intentionally giving a dangerous weapon to someone under 18 and one count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Court records also showed that the parents of the 15-year-old shooter filed for divorce in 2020. After the couple separated, they agreed to joint legal custody of their daughter and that Natalie would primarily live with her mother after their first divorce. After the second one, they agreed that the daughter would instead primarily live with her father, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. A Difficult Family History While they were together, the 15-year-old shooter's parents fought a lot with their daughter watching, and Melissa was found to have a history of substance abuse. The parents both cooperated with law enforcement after their daughter committed the school shooting. Melissa told authorities that her daughter's therapist said she was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the couple's divorce. On the other hand, Jeffrey said that he bought the guns for Natalie as a way to connect with her and help his daughter cope. The parents said in an obituary that was published after May 23 that their daughter was "just opening up to life before she left us." They recalled the 15-year-old as an artistic and determined girl who chose to attend Abundant Life Christian School, as per the Lake Geneva News. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy had a call with President of the Republic of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa, the leaders discussed ways to achieve peace. "Cyril also shared the details of his conversation with the Russian side. Ukraine's position is absolutely clear: the path to peace must begin with a ceasefire. We are ready for this, as well as for meetings at the highest level in various formats. From the first seconds of the war, we want to end it, because Ukraine did not start this war. It is Russia that is the only reason for the delay and the lack of peace," Zelenskyy said in the Telegram channel on Friday. In addition, he informed his interlocutor about his contacts these days with U.S. President Donald Trump and European leaders. "A lot has already been done. We are coordinating our common position with all partners, and this position must be strong. This is about the future security architecture not only of Ukraine, but also of Europe and the whole world," the head of the Ukrainian state said. Humans arent infallible, as much as wed like to be. That includes security experts, as Troy Hunt revealed yesterday. Turns out, the legend behind HaveIBeenPwned (a site that lets you see which data breaches youve been in) got phished when trying to log into Mailchimp. In a post titled A Sneaky Phish Just Grabbed my Mailchimp Mailing List, Hunt runs down the situation, starting with how it began (jet lag and fatigue while traveling) and how it ended (the phisher capturing his credentials, logging in, and then exporting all 16,000 email addresses associated with his newsletter). If youve been affected, Hunt has already loaded those email addresses into the HaveIBeenPwned database. The list includes people who already unsubscribed from the newsletterMailchimp does not delete these email addresses from its databases. You can read the full details of what happened in the post, but I was most struck by the lessons to take away from Hunts clear account of the incident. Not just the things to watch out for, but how to set up your digital life so youre still safe if you slip up. Lets dig in: Dont rely on warning signs Walking through Hunts tale, you can see that scams do signal what they are. In Hunts case, multiple small warning signs existed: False urgency in the email Sender of the email was fake Autofill from 1Password didnt trigger on the illegitimate site A security expert of Hunts level normally would be sensitive to these details. But he was tired while travelinga situation any of us could find ourselves in. A copy of the phishing email that tripped up Hunt. Troy Hunt / HaveIBeenPwned The lesson here: If you receive an urgent email or message, skip the link providedinstead, log into your accounts directly. (Similarly, return phone calls using official phone numbers from a bank statement or the back of your bank cardor at the very least, Google the provided number to verify its authenticity.) This strategy gives some cushion against having to be 100 percent sharp about spotting scams, 24/7. Passkeys are also the better method for logging in, as theyre phishing resistant. So are stronger methods of 2FA, like hardware keys (e.g., Yubikeys or a Google Titan Security Key). Leaving a service wont protect you from data breaches As Hunt discovered while parsing his lost data, not all companies delete your data if you leave them. In fact, in the case of Mailchimp, they appear to purposely retain email addresses of unsubscribers so that they cant be readded to a list. Most services have a way to delete you from their databases. (Various state and national governments have laws requiring an easy way to be deletedalso known as the right to be forgotten.) Unless you make that request, though, you could be part of any number massive troves of data, ripe for stealing by bad actors. And the more data that hackers have about you (what your interests are, where you shop, etc), the easier it is for them to target you. Masked emails keep your real address hidden from websites. Michael Ansaldo/Foundry The lesson here: To truly sever a relationship with a website, you have to request the deletion of your data. Such a step can be worthwhile for extremely sensitive data, like genetics testing. For everything else, consider using email masks instead. Youll have a unique email alias for each service, so if anyone of them is breached, the data cant be easily used to build a profile of you. It can happen to anyone Hunts experience is a reminder that scams can prey on just about anyoneand that if you do, its not because youre stupid. Sometimes youre just busy, stressed, or otherwise too preoccupied to realize whats in front of you. But you shouldnt stop being vigilant. A security guru falling for a phishing scam doesnt mean were all doomed. On the contrary, you have just as much chance of successfully evading schemes as everyone else. When I write about security, its not from a place of authoritative expertise. I know Im just as susceptible as everyone elseand so I share whatever useful info I have, so that we can all watch our tails. At a glance Expert's Rating Pros Rollable OLED is reliable Extra screen space just a keypress away Solid Lunar Lake performance Cons Expensive (naturally) Battery life takes a hit A portable monitor may be more practical Few ports Our Verdict The worlds first laptop unrolls extra screen real estate from below the keyboard at the push of a button. It works well, and the tradeoffs are all worth it if you want a rollable display. If the sticker price doesnt faze you, youll love it. Price When Reviewed This value will show the geolocated pricing text for product undefined Best Pricing Today Best Prices Today: Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable Retailer Price Check Product Price The Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable is a 14-inch laptop that unrolls into a tall 16.7-inch display when you press a button on the keyboard. Lenovo proudly proclaims this is the worlds first rollable laptop. You have a bunch of extra screen real estate built into your laptop, and you can access it at the press of a button. Im shocked how cool this is: Lenovo has taken the kind of product youd see as a tech demo at CES and turned it into a real, solidly engineered laptop that anyone can buy. Yes, its expensive, but the fact that you can get this kind of one-of-a-kind experience at a few thousand bucks is just awesome. Lenovo has been delivering lots of wild laptop concepts, like the dual-display Yoga Book 9i. Given the price, these laptops arent for most people. But if you like the idea, theyre the only real game in town. Lenovo should be applauded for delivering these concepts as real, buyable products. Machines like these demonstrate why PCs are awesome. Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable: Specs The Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable is available in one single configuration. This laptop includes an Intel Core Ultra 7 258V CPU thats a Lunar Lake CPU, which means it has excellent battery efficiency and impressive integrated graphics performance alongside an NPU powerful enough for Microsofts Copilot+ PC features. However, Lunar Lake only has eight cores four performance cores and four low-power efficient cores so CPU-heavy multithreaded workflows will lag compared to other CPU architectures. Alongside that, Lenovo includes a generous 32GB of RAM and 1TB of SSD storage. Model number: Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable CPU: Intel Core Ultra 7 258V Intel Core Ultra 7 258V Memory: 32GB LPDDR5X 32GB LPDDR5X Graphics/GPU: Intel Arc 140V Intel Arc 140V NPU: Intel AI Boost (48 TOPS) Intel AI Boost (48 TOPS) Display: 14-inch 20001600 OLED display that unrolls into a 16.7-inch 20002350 display, 120Hz refresh rate 14-inch 20001600 OLED display that unrolls into a 16.7-inch 20002350 display, 120Hz refresh rate Storage: 1TB PCIe Gen4 SSD 1TB PCIe Gen4 SSD Webcam: 1440p camera 1440p camera Connectivity: 2x Thunderbolt 4 (USB Type-C), 1x combo audio jack 2x Thunderbolt 4 (USB Type-C), 1x combo audio jack Networking: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4 Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4 Biometrics: Fingerprint reader and IR camera for facial recognition Fingerprint reader and IR camera for facial recognition Battery capacity: 66 Watt-hours 66 Watt-hours Dimensions: 11.95 x 9.08 x 0.75 inches 11.95 x 9.08 x 0.75 inches Weight: 3.72 pounds 3.72 pounds MSRP: $3,299 as tested Lenovo has taken the kind of product youd see as a tech demo at CES and turned it into a real, solidly engineered laptop that anyone can buy. Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable: Design and build quality IDG / Chris Hoffman The Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable has great build quality, actually! This does not feel like the worlds first rollable laptop it feels like a polished second or third generation version of the concept. At a glance, the Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 looks like a silver Lenovo ThinkBook laptop thats just a bit bulkier than normal. It has a serious-looking hinge, which looks like the kind of hinge youd see on a 2-in-1 machine. Aside from the slight extra bulk its only a bit thicker than normal, and at 3.72 pounds, its not even that much heavier than a normal laptop this could pass for a standard Lenovo laptop until you see the screen. Rather than the screen ending in a bezel, the screen continues past a seam down into the laptop, under the keyboard. To unroll the laptop, you just have to ensure its at the right angle 90 degrees works, or a bit further back and then press the key to the right of F12. A motor kicks into action and unrolls the screen, making the laptop taller as the rollable OLED display unrolls from underneath the keyboard. To roll it back up, youll press the key again. (If your screen isnt at a good angle for rolling, the key wont do anything.) The motor and hinge feel incredibly reliable. Time will be the real test, but this feels solid. In fact, it feels more reliable than my foldable Galaxy Phone, as Im folding that with my hands using various degrees of pressure, while this machine has a motor that unrolls and rolls it nicely. Lenovo includes its own software that handles resolution switching when the screen rolls and unrolls, as well as a ThinkBook Workspace pane designed to live at the bottom area of the screen when its unrolled. Workspace works fine, but I preferred to stick with my usual Windows software. Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable: Keyboard and trackpad IDG / Chris Hoffman The Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable has a fine keyboard. Lenovo tends to be good at keyboards, and this feels on the shallow side compared to other Lenovo keyboards Ive used. A slightly shallow keyboard is no surprise: This machine, after all, has a display that rolls up and fits under the keyboard. Its not mushy, but it is a tad rubbery and doesnt feel as snappy as Id like. This isnt even a criticism of course a rollable laptop wont have the most keyboard travel. If you like the idea of a rollable laptop, you shouldnt let the keyboard stop you. If youre wondering whether other high-end Lenovo laptops like the ThinkPad X1 Carbon have snappier keyboards, though: Yes, yes they do. This machine has a touchpad thats a good size. Its a haptic trackpad, too that means you can customize the action and use the whole touchpad surface to click down. Combined with the size, its a great touchpad with smooth action. However, the surface feels a little rubbery, and a glass touchpad always feels a little smoother under the finger to me. These really arent criticisms Im just relaying what the experience of using the laptop is like. The keyboard and trackpad work well, and youll be pleased with them if the rollable display is your main draw here. Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable: Display and speakers IDG / Chris Hoffman The Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollables display is its star feature. Its a rollable OLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and up to 400 nits of brightness. When rolled up, its a 14-inch display with a 20001600 resolution. When unrolled, its a tall 16.7-inch display with a 20002350 resolution. If youve used a foldable phone, youll be familiar with the crease in the middle of the display, where it folds. Since its a rollable, it doesnt have a single crease, but it does have some crease-look visual artifacts where it folds. Theyre very well hidden you have to look at it from just the right angle in just the right lighting to see anything that looks unusual. The screen looks good, but make no mistake: The rollability is its main feature. Ive seen laptops with high-end OLED displays that are brighter with more vivid colors. But, for a rollable display with such an unusual size and resolution, this is an impressive showing. This is not a touch-screen display, however. If youre looking for a touch screen, this is not the machine for you. This machines Harman Kardon speakers sound unusually great. I test every laptop I review by playing Steely Dans Aja and Daft Punks Get Lucky. They had plenty of volume, and the audio quality was crisp with decent instrument separation in Aja. The sound was balanced enough in Get Lucky that, even without a ton of bass, the sound sounded great nothing tinny and enough bass to be fun. Were grading on a scale since these are laptop speakers, of course but these are unusually good. Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable: Webcam, microphone, biometrics The Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable has a 1440p 5MP webcam that offers a clear image without visual noise even in lighting conditions that werent the most ideal. Lenovo didnt cut any corners here, and this is the kind of webcam that will make you look professional in online meetings. Also, since this machine meets Microsofts Copilot+ PC requirements, it has access to Windows Studio Effects for real-time webcam effects like fake eye contact and background blur. And it has a privacy shutter switch, too. The dual-array microphone setup sounds excellent, and it picked up my voice in high quality. The ThinkBook line of PCs is marketed for business users, and Lenovo has delivered hardware that works very well for online meetings. This machine offers both a fingerprint scanner and an IR camera, so you can sign into your PC and authenticate with Windows Hello using whichever you prefer. The fingerprint reader is part of the power button on the right side of the laptop. Both worked well. Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable: Connectivity IDG / Chris Hoffman The Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable skimps on the ports. On the left side, youve got a combo audio jack for headphones and a microphone and two Thunderbolt 4 (USB Type-C) ports. Thats it. This machine charges via USB-C, so one of those ports on the left will be used by the power cable while its charging. In general, it would be nice to have more ports or at least a Thunderbolt 4 port on both sides. However, this machine includes a rollable display and a motor while not being much thicker than the average laptop, so obviously there wasnt as much room for ports it makes sense. Still, bear in mind that you may need a dock or a dongle. Its a little funny this machine promises easy access to more screen real estate so you wont have to bring a portable monitor with you. But it has fewer ports so, depending on how many peripherals you need, you may find yourself bringing a dongle or dock with you instead. Thanks to Lunar Lake, this machine supports both Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4. I had no problems with wireless connectivity. Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable: Performance The Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable has an Intel Lunar Lake chip specifically, the Intel Core Ultra 7 258V. Lunar Lake has always delivered snappy performance in desktop productivity apps, and it does the same in this machine. As always, though we ran the Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable through our standard benchmarks to see how it performs. IDG / Chris Hoffman First, we run PCMark 10 to get an idea of overall system performance. With an average overall PCMark 10 score of 7,703, Lenovos rollable laptop delivers solid Lunar Lake-powered performance. IDG / Chris Hoffman Next, we run Cinebench R20. This is a heavily multithreaded benchmark that focuses on overall CPU performance. Since its heavily multithreaded, CPUs with more cores have a huge advantage. With an average Cinebench R20 multi-threaded score of 4,060, the Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Rollable delivered performance in line with other Lunar Lake-powered laptops. They just dont have as many cores as other chips, including Intels previous-generation Meteor Lake chips and AMDs Ryzen AI 9 series. IDG / Chris Hoffman We also run an encode with Handbrake. This is another heavily multithreaded benchmark, but it runs over an extended period. This demands the laptops cooling kick in, and many laptops will throttle and slow down under load. The Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable took an average of 1,599 seconds to complete the encode process thats over 26 and a half minutes. It was a bit slower than even other Lunar Lake-powered machines, which suggests that the thermal profile of this machine is impacted by the additional display and motor mechanism in other words, it cant cool itself as well as some other Lunar Lake-powered machines and throttles more under load. Thats no surprise. IDG / Chris Hoffman Next, we run a graphical benchmark. This isnt a gaming laptop, but its still good to check how the GPU performs. We run 3Dmark Time Spy, a graphical benchmark that focuses on GPU performance. With a 3Dmark Time Spy score of 4,483, Lenovos rollable laptop offered great integrated graphics performance, only falling short to laptops with discrete graphics. Thats a great score. Overall, Lenovos ThinkBook Plus delivered the results wed hope to see: Good Lunar Lake performance that only struggles with heavily multi-threaded workloads. The slightly slower Handbrake result isnt an issue if you plan on doing heavily multi-threaded CPU-hungry workloads, a machine like this one isnt the one for you. Its a portable productivity machine with a lot of extra display. Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable: Battery life The Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable has a 66 Watt-hour battery, which is a decent size but not the largest. Its battery life fell short of other Lunar Lake machines. Displays tend to be a big contributor to power usage, this suggests that the large rollable OLED display is unusually power hungry compared to the average laptops display. IDG / Chris Hoffman To benchmark the battery life, we play a 4K copy of Tears of Steel on Windows 11 with airplane mode enabled until the laptop suspends itself. We set the screen to 250 nits of brightness for our battery benchmarks. This is a best-case scenario for any laptop since local video playback is so efficient, and real battery life in day-to-day use is always going to be less than this. The Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable lasted for an average of 761 minutes thats over 12 and a half hours. That number sounds good, but its hours shorter compared to other Lunar Lake-powered systems. (For example, the Samsung Galaxy Book5 Pro hit nearly 24 hours in our benchmark but its not a rollable laptop.) Youll have to plug this machine in a bit more often than the average Lunar Lake laptop. But, if you love this laptop, youll make it work. Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable: Conclusion The Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 is incredible. The rollable display and motor action feel incredibly solid, and I was never worried about them. You get a display that gives you a lot of extra screen real estate at the press of a button, and it all rolls up on the keyboard when you want portability. This is why PCs are awesome because machines like this can exist for the people who want them. If you want a rollable laptop, this one delivers. Is this the right machine for the average laptop buyer? Of course not the $3,300 price is both impressive for bleeding-edge first-of-its-kind product and above the average laptop buyers price range. Even if you do want to spend this much, youll have to consider the trade-offs like less battery life compared to other Lunar Lake systems and decide what you value. But its an awesome machine, and it works as well as Id hoped. If this is a little too rich for your blood, though, consider a portable monitor. It doesnt feel like a sci-fi product the way a rollable laptop does and youll have to carry two things, but its a much less expensive way to have extra screen real estate on the go. For the second time this year, a local attorney is accused of bringing evidence of drug usage into a Northampton County court building, the county sheriffs office says in court records. Stanley J. Margle III left his briefcase in the mediation courtroom at the Northampton County Courthouse on July 23, court records say. A black magnetic box and a red straw inside the box both tested positive for cocaine residue, records say. The same bag was found in juvenile court on Feb. 13, records say. Two bags filled with cocaine were found in a cigar case made to look like a book, according to court papers. A razor blade and two straws were also in the bag, the papers say. Margle maintained his innocence Thursday. He was scheduled to appear in court Monday to enroll in a first-time offenders program in connection with the Feb. 13 charges. He claims a rogue police officer is trying to sabotage his admission into that program. Margle was charged Tuesday with possession of drug paraphernalia in connection with the second incident. The timing speaks for itself, Margle said. His Monday court date will be pushed back to September to allow time to address a possible bail violation because the new charge was filed while he was on supervision for charges of drug possession and paraphernalia possession in the first case. Northampton County District Attorney Stephen Baratta said he couldnt discuss the facts of the case. The allegations were brought forth by county sheriffs deputies, not by his drug task force. His office will prosecute Margles cases but noted the evidence was brought forward by the sheriffs department. Baratta said Margle will be treated the same as anyone else. I can assure everyone, including the defendant, that this case will be handled consistent with our policy for anyone else who has had low-level drug charges brought against them, Baratta said. Were not going to add additional penalties or additional sanctions because of his professional stature. Margle, 67, of the first block of Crest Boulevard in Palmer Township, has a law office in Bethlehem Township. Hes the solicitor for Wilson and a sought-after divorce attorney. Hes practiced law since 1983, his website says, representing clients in Northampton, Lehigh and Monroe counties. Baratta said Margles charges warrant a review for the accelerated rehabilitative disposition program, a program that allows first-time offenders who comply with a series of rules to have the charges wiped from their record. Or, Margle could be a candidate for Northampton County recovery court. There will probably be some attempt to seek a diversionary disposition, Baratta said. If the court and the district attorneys office feel its appropriate, that will happen. If the defendant wants a trial, hes entitled to a trial. Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com. Police officers block the street leading to where two Pennsylvania state troopers were ambushed and shot Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025, near the village of Thompson in Susquehanna County, Pa. (AP Photo/Aimee Dilger) AP Pennsylvania State Police shot and killed a 61-year-old Susquehanna County man on Thursday after he fatally shot his neighbor and fired dozens and dozens of rounds at two responding state troopers and an EMT, officials said during a press conference. At 11:17 a.m., troopers from the PSP Gibson Barracks received a call from Lori Waskos boyfriend about shots fired along the 20100 block of State Route 171 in Thompson Township. A Pennsylvania man is accused of detonating an explosive at the Delran, New Jersey, home of his former supervisor last month that sprayed nails and bolts about 100 feet into adjacent homes and an SUV, officials with the U.S. District Attorneys Office said Thursday. Michael Patrick Takacs Jr., 43, of Warminster, Pennsylvania, was charged with transporting an explosive device across state lines with the intent to intimidate or destroy property, unlawfully transporting explosive materials and two counts of unlawful possession of an explosive device. Surveillance recordings captured an explosion under a car in Delran at 2:42 a.m. July 26, officials said. The first explosion caused a debris field of about 100 feet and lodged bolts and nails in the exterior of an adjacent home and into the side of an SUV, officials said. Takacs was seen on surveillance video carrying a black object in his hand about two minutes before the explosion. He had parked across the street and walked up to the area where the explosion later occurred, officials said. Takacs is seen in the video placing the object near the drivers side door of the vehicle, walking back to his car empty-handed and leaving the area, officials said. A short time later, authorities said, Takacs remotely detonated the device as he sped past the area just as a large explosion occurred. In interviews during the investigation, officials learned that the person targeted by the explosion was Takacs former supervisor. Takacs was let go in May, officials said. Investigators said Takacs had ordered detonators consistent with ones found at the New Jersey scene and taken screenshots of directions to the location of the explosion in early June, officials said. Takacs appeared in federal court in Camden on Thursday and is being held pending further legal proceedings. His attorney did not immediately return a request for comment. An Allentown police officer knew a fleeing suspect was unarmed and surrendering peacefully when he attacked him with his department-issued firearm, authorities said. Lehigh County District Attorney Gavin P. Holihan and Allentown Police Chief Charles Roca announced the charges Thursday afternoon in a news conference against city police Patrolman Abviud Carvajal. Both called the assault unjustified against 54-year-old Thomas Kravitz of Philadelphia. Carvajal, 30, of Allentown, is charged with felony aggravated assault and misdemeanor simple assault. Carvajal surrendered to city police on Thursday and was arraigned on the charges before District Judge Todd P. Heffelfinger. He is free on $25,000 unsecured bail. Carvajal has been placed on paid administrative leave from his duties with the departments third platoon as the investigation continues, Roca said. A source close to the investigation told lehighvalleylive.com that Carvajal has served the department for six years. Court records did not immediately list any attorney information for Carvajal. The charges are in connection to a high-speed police chase Carvajal and other city police officers were involved in around 8 p.m. July 23. Officers were pursuing Kravitz, who was driving a pickup truck in the 700 block of North 11th Street in the city, according to the affidavit of probable cause. The court record lays out evidence and witness testimony against a defendant. Kravitz, the DAs office said, was being chased after a woman reported he was making threats involving a gun. City officers spotted Kravitzs truck at the womans home, the DAs office said. Kravitzs pickup hit an Allentown patrol cruiser and fled through the streets of Allentown and into Whitehall, police said. Kravitz crashed into three vehicles and ended up on the front lawn of a home near North 13th and West Pennsylvania streets in Whitehall, Holihan said. Kravitz got out of his pickup following the crash and raised his hands above his head, court records state. Police body-worn cameras and in-car cameras showed Kravitz had nothing in his hands as he held them over his head, Holihan said. At this point, Kravitz was detained at gunpoint by another Allentown police officer, the DA said. Kravitz was illuminated by flashlights and lights from the police vehicles on scene, and visible to Carvajal for at least four seconds before Carvajal hit Kravitz in the face with the muzzle of his gun, the DA said. Kravitz fell to the ground, hitting his head on the back of the pickup, Holihan said. He was taken to a hospital to treat his injuries. Theres no indication that Kravitz had anything in his hands, Holihan said. Theres no indication that he made a move to obtain a gun from anywhere nearby or that he had made any threatening motions between the time he stood behind the truck with his arms raised and empty and the time that he was hit in the face with the muzzle of the gun by Carvajal. Police believe Kravitz discarded a gun during the vehicle pursuit, the DA said. Police found a loaded .22 caliber handgun in the 1200 block of Whitehall Street, he said. Kravitz was charged with felony accidents involving death or injury while not licensed; felony weapons offenses; misdemeanor making terroristic threats; misdemeanor resisting arrest; and related offenses. He was arraigned July 24 before District Judge David M. Howells Jr., who set bail at $75,000. In lieu of bail, Kravitz was taken to the Lehigh County Prison, where he remained Thursday. Evidence against Carvajal, including footage from the body-worn cameras and in-car cameras, is not being released to the public to ensure Carvajals right to a fair trial, Holihan said. Carvajal is due back in court for a preliminary hearing Aug. 26. Kravitz is due back in court Sept. 9. Pamela Sroka-Holzmann may be reached at pholzmann@lehighvalleylive.com. Update: Pa. man who shot 2 state troopers had killed his neighbor: report Pennsylvania State Police released the names of two troopers who were critically injured in an ambush shooting in Susquehanna County on Thursday morning. Troopers Joseph Perechinsky and William Jenkins were sent to a rural area about 5 miles north of Thompson, Pa., along Route 171, just after 11 a.m. for a welfare check with reported shots fired. When Perechinsky and Jenkins arrived, they were immediately fired upon and ambushed by a man with a rifle, PSP Colonel Christopher Paris said. They are lucky to be alive, Paris added. Gov. Josh Shapiro visited one of the wounded officers in the hospital and said he was on his way to meet the other. Shapiro, who called the troopers heroes, said Perechinsky saved lives, including others in the area of the shooting. He acted decisively. He acted thoughtfully. And the work he did today exemplifies the absolute best of the Pennsylvania State Police, Shapiro said. After the ambush, one of the wounded troopers applied a tourniquet to the other injured trooper, while a third trooper assisted in their rescue. Perechinsky and Jenkins are in stable condition with serious injuries. Both were flown to hospitals for further care. The suspect, whose name, age and address have not been made public, was armed with a rifle and refused to comply with the troopers commands, according to The Associated Press. A statement from state police indicated the armed man was ultimately shot and killed during the incident, the Associated Press said. I can tell you that the actor is deceased, and more information will be released specifically about what happened today, Paris said. The troopers police vehicles were hit by multiple bullets, he said. Local law enforcement agencies assisted Pennsylvania State Police in securing a perimeter around the area. Susquehanna Countys deputy coroner was called to the scene of the shooting around 3 p.m. The total number of fatalities from the incident has not been confirmed, although other news outlets are reporting that a total of two people are dead. Update: State police identify troopers shot in northern Pa. ambush Update: Pa. man who shot 2 state troopers had killed his neighbor: report A suspect is dead after shooting two Pennsylvania State Police troopers in Susquehanna County Thursday morning, police told the Associated Press. The shooting took place around 11 a.m., along Route 171, near Thompson, Pa., according to state police Col. Christopher Paris. Police said the troopers were dispatched to check the welfare of an individual after shots were fired in the area. Upon their arrival, they were immediately fired upon and ambushed. They are very lucky to be alive, police told the Associated Press. After the ambush, one of the wounded troopers applied a tourniquet to the other injured trooper, while a third trooper assisted in their rescue. More information about the specific call that led the troopers to the area will be released later, police said. Gov. Josh Shapiro met with one of the wounded troopers in the hospital and said he was on his way to meet the other. Both officers are in stable condition. Around 3 p.m., Susquehanna Countys deputy coroner, Angelica Howell, said she was en route to where the shooting happened. I can tell you that the actor is deceased, and more information will be released specifically about what happened today, Paris said. The troopers police vehicles were hit by multiple bullets, he said. Shapiro announced the shooting on X Thursday afternoon. Police have not provided the age or gender of the suspect nor said how the suspect died. Today, two Pennsylvania State Troopers were shot while responding to a call in Susquehanna County. Both Troopers were transported to local hospitals and Ive communicated with Colonel Paris and am on my way to join them now. Lori and I are praying for these brave Troopers, and Governor Josh Shapiro (@GovernorShapiro) August 7, 2025 The name, age and address of the deceased suspect have not been made public. The coming days will be devoted to diplomatic work, the Ukrainian side is constantly in contact with the U.S. side, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said. "The coming days will also be devoted to diplomacy. Security advisers spoke yesterday, today they continue their work. Andriy Yermak coordinates the leaders' advisers. The Minister of Foreign Affairs works with colleagues in Europe. We are constantly in communication with the American side, and for our part, our partners are talking to the United States of America," Zelenskyy said in an evening address on Friday. He said everyone is united by the awareness of the possibility of achieving at least a ceasefire, and everything depends on the right pressure on Russia. "It is there that a decision should be made that they must end this war that they started. Russia does not take into account the losses of people. They block all information about their losses. But they cannot block objective reality what the Russian economy is experiencing, how Russian enterprises are stopping work, how Russian logistics is suffering losses," Zelenskyy said. Enrollment at a school district in Dauphin County has soared so much in recent years that school officials are looking for solutions both temporary and permanent to deal with the challenges of overcrowding. Enrollment since 2017 has increased from more than 2,600 students to 3,165 in the Susquehanna Township School District, which sits right outside of Harrisburg. Story by Colin Deppen of Spotlight PA This story first appeared in PA Local, a weekly newsletter by Spotlight PA taking a look at the people, places, and foods that make Pennsylvania so unique. Sign up for free here. This story first appeared in PA Local, a weekly newsletter by Spotlight PA taking a look at the people, places, and foods that make Pennsylvania so unique. Sign up for free here. Months before launching his bid for a Schuylkill County state House seat, Tim Twardzik spent an entire day on the set of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Twardzik, a background actor in season 3, episode 3 of the lauded Amazon series, played a hotel chef on the periphery of a crowded party scene in midcentury America, chopping carrots as the shows stars swirled around him, he recalled to PA Local. State Rep. Tim Twardzik (R., Schuylkill), center, speaks with Gov. Josh Shapiro. Commonwealth Media Services His actual location was a New York City soundstage, where he wore a white pillbox hat and chefs jacket for hours as takes were perfected. Almost a year after that episodes release, Twardzik won his state House seat. The Republican thought about returning to the Maisel set after assuming office but relented, telling PA Local that playing roles like gentlemens club patron no longer seemed prudent. Twardzik, a card-carrying member of the Screen Actors Guild, has appeared on call sheets for years. Hes played bit parts in films Glass and 21 Bridges, and the shows Servant, Succession, and The Mare of Eastown which was filmed in Pennsylvania. In Creed II he played a pediatrician, a role he says allowed him to draw on years of experience as a hospital board member. Plus it has given me the opportunity to use the line: Im not a doctor but I played one in Creed II in a [legislative] hearing, he added. His only speaking roles came in commercials for the family business, Mrs. Ts Pierogies (the T stands for Twardzik), including one in which a plate of the frozen dumplings turns a grumpy biker bar into a wide-eyed polka party. The ad ends with a close-up of a pierogi-tatted bicep. These days Twardzik is still fielding roles he uses Philadelphias Heery Loftus Casting agency and websites like Auditions Free to find openings but says theyre hard to fit into busy Harrisburg and District schedules given the time commitment involved. Asked if theres anything hes learned working as a paid extra that has applied to his legislative career, Twardzik said: Show up on time. Learn your role. There have been plenty of U.S. politicians with acting experience, from Ronald Reagan to Arnold Schwarzenegger to a SAG-AFTRA pensioner named Donald Trump. For the second installment of our recurring feature about the hidden talents of Pennsylvania lawmakers (heres the first), PA Local is highlighting two state lawmakers whose acting ambitions have taken a backseat to public service. In Pennsylvanias state Senate, third-term Republican lawmaker Camera Bartolotta has her own IMDb page and film and TV credits dating back to the 1980s. Theres an uncredited role in 2014s The Fault in our Stars, executive producer and acting credits on the 2013 B-movie Pro Wrestlers vs. Zombies, associate producer and acting credits on 2012s Lucifers Unholy Desire, a newswoman role on an episode of the 1986 NBC series Hunter, commercials for Armstrong Cable, Roomful Express, and even a stint as a White Cloud eCig spokesperson. Shes also had plenty of nonspeaking roles. Bartolotta, who grew up in Los Angeles and started acting in college, landed background spots in Pretty in Pink (here she is alongside Molly Ringwald) and the iconic sitcom Cheers. She told PA Local she looked like everyone in Hollywood at the time, a benefit, though in the context of her Cheers appearances, a bit of a logistical problem. I did a ton of Cheers episodes, but after the first few, I was confusing the audience, Bartolotta recalled, noting her likeness to the shows star, Shelley Long. State Sen. Camera Bartolotta (R., Washington) in a committee hearing. State Sen. Camera Bartolotta (R., Washington) in a committee hearing. Commonwealth Media Services So I would be given my background directions, and anytime Shelley would pass in the same frame as me, I would have to turn my head away. Finally, they just planted me at the end of the bar with my back to the audience. And that became my place to be. I was like a regular. Some parts would wind up smaller than expected. While Bartolotta said she was prominently featured in the trailer for the Pittsburgh-shot The Fault in Our Stars, she was reduced to just a little dot in the background in the final cut of the film. You get used to that, she explained, adding thats why you dont tell everybody, Oh my gosh, you gotta watch, you gotta watch. Now representing Beaver, Greene, and Washington Counties in the General Assembly, where she founded the Film Industry Caucus, Bartolotta doubts there are more acting roles in her future and says shes OK with that. She thinks back to 1986, when after vying for a three-year contract part on a soap opera called Santa Barbara, she was rejected for the role but told the show had written a new one just for her. I was in my little tiny apartment in Van Nuys and the moving truck was outside packing up all of my stuff. I was moving to Pennsylvania that day with my then fiance, Bruce Bartolotta. I got a call from my agent. I said, Well, Im moving to Pittsburgh. He thought I was kidding. So 10 minutes later, I got a call from the head of casting [for the network], and she said, I just wanted to hear for myself. And I said: If I say yes to this, I say no to him. And Ive already made that decision and, you know, Im happy with my choice. Thanks very much. The Jonas Brothers will kick off their 20th anniversary tour on Sunday, Aug. 10, at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. A week later, the boy band will perform in central Pennsylvania. The "JONAS20 Living the Dream Tour" will be at Hersheypark Stadium on Sunday, Aug. 17. Supporting are Marshmello and The All-American Rejects. Fans who cant wait that long could attend the Thursday, Aug. 14, show at Freedom Mortgage Pavilion in Camden, N.J. Fans can buy tickets to the Hershey show here (prices are as of the time of this publication): Sunday, Aug. 17 - Hershey New Vivid Seats customers can get $20 off of a $200 order by using the code PENNLIVE20 at checkout. They also will perform on Wednesday, Nov. 12, at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh. By Melanie Lidman, Wafaa Shurafa and Joseph Krauss, The Associated Press TEL AVIV, Israel Israel said early Friday that it plans to take over Gaza City in another escalation of its 22-month war with Hamas. The decision, taken after a late-night meeting of top officials, came despite mounting international calls to end the war and protests by many in Israel who fear for the remaining hostages held by Hamas. Israels air and ground war has already killed tens of thousands of people in Gaza, displaced most of the population, destroyed vast areas and pushed the territory toward famine. Another major ground operation would almost certainly exacerbate the humanitarian catastrophe. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had earlier outlined more sweeping plans in an interview with Fox News, saying Israel planned to take control of all of Gaza. Israel already controls around three-quarters of the devastated territory. The final decision, which came after Israels Security Cabinet met through the night, stopped short of that, and may be aimed in part at pressuring Hamas to accept a ceasefire on Israels terms. It may also reflect the reservations of Israels top general, who reportedly warned that it would endanger the remaining 20 or so living hostages held by Hamas and further strain Israels army after nearly two years of regional wars. The military will prepare to take control of Gaza City while providing humanitarian aid to the civilian population outside the combat zones, Netanyahus office said in a statement after the meeting. There is nothing left to occupy Israel has repeatedly bombarded Gaza City and carried out numerous raids there, only to return to different neighborhoods again and again as militants regrouped. Today it is one of the few areas of Gaza that hasnt been turned into an Israeli buffer zone or placed under evacuation orders. A major ground operation there could displace tens of thousands of people and further disrupt efforts to deliver food to the hunger-stricken territory. Its unclear how many people reside in the city, which was Gazas largest before the war. Hundreds of thousands fled Gaza City under evacuation orders in the opening weeks of the war but many returned during a ceasefire at the start of this year. Destroyed buildings in the Gaza Strip are seen from a Jordanian Air Force C-130 plane during an airdrop of humanitarian aid for Palestinians, Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Raad Adayleh) AP Palestinians were already anticipating even more suffering ahead of the decision, and at least 42 were killed in Israeli airstrikes and shootings on Thursday, according to local hospitals. There is nothing left to occupy, said Maysaa al-Heila, who is living in a displacement camp. There is no Gaza left. We dont want to keep it Asked in the interview with Fox News ahead of the Security Cabinet meeting if Israel would take control of all of Gaza, Netanyahu replied: We intend to, in order to assure our security, remove Hamas (from) there. We dont want to keep it. We want to have a security perimeter, Netanyahu said in the interview. We want to hand it over to Arab forces that will govern it properly without threatening us and giving Gazans a good life. Israels military chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, warned against occupying Gaza, saying it would endanger the hostages and put further strain on the military after nearly two years of war, according to Israeli media reports on the closed-door Security Cabinet meeting. Hamas-led militants abducted 251 people and killed around 1,200 in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that triggered the war. Most of the hostages have been released in ceasefires or other deals, but 50 remain inside Gaza, around 20 of them believed by Israel to be alive. Palestinians rush to collect humanitarian aid airdropped by parachutes into Gaza City, northern Gaza Strip, Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi) AP Almost two dozen relatives of hostages set sail from southern Israel toward the maritime border with Gaza on Thursday, where they broadcast messages from loudspeakers. Yehuda Cohen, the father of Nimrod Cohen, an Israeli soldier held in Gaza, said from the boat that Netanyahu is prolonging the war to satisfy extremists in his governing coalition. Netanyahus far-right allies want to escalate the war, relocate most of Gazas population to other countries and reestablish Jewish settlements that were dismantled in 2005. Netanyahu is working only for himself, Cohen said. Palestinians killed and wounded as they seek food Israels military offensive has killed over 61,000 Palestinians, according to Gazas Health Ministry, which does not say how many were fighters or civilians. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals. The United Nations and independent experts view the ministrys figures as the most reliable estimate of casualties. Israel has disputed them without offering a toll of its own. Of the 42 people killed on Thursday, at least 13 were seeking aid in an Israeli military zone in southern Gaza where U.N. aid convoys are regularly overwhelmed by looters and desperate crowds. Another two were killed on roads leading to nearby sites run by the Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an American contractor, according to Nasser Hospital, which received the bodies. GHF said there were no violent incidents at or near its sites on Thursday. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. The military zone, known as the Morag Corridor, is off limits to independent media. Relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages held by Hamas sail along the coast of Israeli southern city of Ashkelon towards the Gaza Strip, in a protest demanding their release from captivity and calling for an end to the war Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa) AP Hundreds of people have been killed in recent weeks while heading to GHF sites and in chaotic scenes around U.N. convoys, most of which are overwhelmed by looters and crowds of hungry people. The U.N. human rights office, witnesses and health officials say Israeli forces have regularly opened fire toward the crowds going back to May, when Israel lifted a complete 2 1/2 month blockade. The military says it has only fired warning shots when crowds approach its forces. GHF says its armed contractors have only used pepper spray or fired into the air on some occasions to prevent deadly stampedes. Israel and GHF face mounting criticism Doctors Without Borders, a medical charity known by its French acronym MSF, published a blistering report denouncing the GHF distribution system. This is not aid. It is orchestrated killing, " it said. MSF runs two health centers very close to GHF sites in southern Gaza and said it had treated 1,380 people injured near the sites between June 7 and July 20, including 28 people who were dead upon arrival. Of those, at least 147 had suffered gunshot wounds including at least 41 children. MSF said hundreds more suffered physical assault injuries from chaotic scrambles for food at the sites, and multiple patients with severely aggravated eyes after being sprayed at close range with pepper spray. It said the cases it saw were only a fraction of the overall casualties connected to GHF sites. The level of mismanagement, chaos and violence at GHF distribution sites amounts to either reckless negligence or a deliberately designed death trap, the report said. GHF said the accusations are both false and disgraceful and accused MSF of amplifying a disinformation campaign orchestrated by Hamas. The U.S. and Israel helped set up the GHF system as an alternative to the U.N.-run aid delivery system that has sustained Gaza for decades, accusing Hamas of siphoning off assistance. The U.N. denies any mass diversion by Hamas. It accuses GHF of forcing Palestinians to risk their lives to get food and say it advances Israels plans for further mass displacement. Shurafa reported from Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip and Krauss from Ottawa, Ontario. Associated Press writers Josef Federman contributed from Jerusalem and Natalie Melzer contributed from Nahariya. Follow APs war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war Vice President JD Vance speaks during the Ohio Republican Party dinner, Tuesday. His team ordered the water levels raised in an Ohio river earlier this month so he and his family could enjoy a kayaking trip to celebrate Vances 41st birthday. AP Vice President J.D. Vances team didnt exactly part the waters, but they raised them so he and his family could enjoy a kayaking trip in Ohio to celebrate Vances 41st birthday. The Secret Service ordered the Army Corps of Engineers to change the outflow of an Ohio lake to support the safe navigation of the security detail on the Little Miami River during the excursion earlier this month. The Guardian reported that Vance was spotted paddling on the river, which is fed by Caesar Creek Lake. The release raised questions about whether Vances office was potentially exploiting public infrastructure resources for his personal recreation, the Guardian wrote, especially at a time when the Trump administration is making widespread cuts across agencies, including at the Army Corps of Engineers and National Park Service. The Army Corps took a big hit with DOGE cuts earlier this year that led to campground closures at Army Corps-controlled facilities, including the popular Raystown Lake in Pennsylvania. The Guardian reviewed data on a United States Geological Survey website that showed steep drop in lake elevation and increase in river level during Vances visit in early August. Its not unusual to have water releases to help the public better enjoy recreation areas in time of drought, for instance, but a source told The Guardian that special releases are generally by individual request. Norm Eisen, a former White House special counsel for ethics and government reform, told The Guardian he got a lot of requests during his time on the job, but never one involving water levels for a personal boating trip. While there may well be security-related explanations or justifications that come into the analysis, my reaction is: I dont care, he said. We shouldnt be utilizing government resources in this way. I never would have allowed it. President Donald Trump makes an announcement about Apple with Apple CEO Tim Cook in the Oval Office, Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon) AP By Annie Ma and Jocelyn Gecker, The Associated Press WASHINGTON Colleges will be required to submit data to prove they do not consider race in admissions under a new policy ordered Thursday by President Donald Trump. In 2023, the Supreme Court ruled against the use of affirmative action in admissions but said colleges may still consider how race has shaped students lives if applicants share that information in their admissions essays. Trump is accusing colleges of using personal statements and other proxies to consider race, which conservatives view as illegal discrimination. The role of race in admissions has featured in the Trump administrations battle against some of the nations most elite colleges viewed by Republicans as liberal hotbeds. For example, the new policy is similar to parts of recent settlement agreements the government negotiated with Brown University and Columbia University, restoring their federal research money. The universities agreed to give the government data on the race, grade point average and standardized test scores of applicants, admitted students and enrolled students. The schools also agreed to be audited by the government and to release admissions statistics to the public. Trump says colleges may be skirting SCOTUS ruling Conservatives have argued that despite the Supreme Court ruling, colleges have continued to consider race. The persistent lack of available data paired with the rampant use of diversity statements and other overt and hidden racial proxies continues to raise concerns about whether race is actually used in admissions decisions in practice, says the memorandum signed by Trump. The memo directs Education Secretary Linda McMahon to require colleges to report more data to provide adequate transparency into admissions. The National Center for Education Statistics will collect new data, including the race and sex of colleges applicants, admitted students and enrolled students, the Education Department said in a statement. If colleges fail to submit timely, complete and accurate data, McMahon can take action under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, which outlines requirements for colleges receiving federal financial aid for students, according to the memo. It is unclear what practical impact the executive order will have on colleges. Current understanding of federal law prohibits them from collecting information on race as part of admissions, said Jon Fansmith, senior vice president of government relations at the American Council on Education, an association of college presidents. Ultimately, will it mean anything? Probably not, Fansmith said. But it does continue this rhetoric from the administration that some students are being preferenced in the admission process at the expense of other students. Because of the Supreme Court ruling, colleges have been barred from asking the race of students who are applying, Fansmith said. Once students enroll, the schools can ask about race, but students must be told they have a right not to answer. In this political climate, many students wont report their race, Fansmith said. So when schools release data on student demographics, the figures often give only a partial picture of the campus makeup. Diversity changed at some colleges but not all The first year of admissions data after the Supreme Court ruling showed no clear pattern in how colleges diversity changed. Results varied dramatically from one campus to the next. Some schools, such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Amherst College, saw steep drops in the percentage of Black students in their incoming classes. But at other elite, selective schools such as Yale, Princeton and the University of Virginia, the changes were less than a percentage point year to year. Some colleges have added more essays or personal statements to their admissions process to get a better picture of an applicants background, a strategy the Supreme Court invited in its ruling. Nothing prohibits universities from considering an applicants discussion of how race affected the applicants life, so long as that discussion is concretely tied to a quality of character or unique ability that the particular applicant can contribute to the university, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in 2023 for the courts conservative majority. As an alternative to affirmative action, colleges for years have tried a range of strategies to achieve the diversity they say is essential to their campuses. Many have given greater preference to low-income families. Others started admitting top students from every community in their state. Prior to the ruling, nine states had banned affirmative action, starting with California in 1996. The University of California saw enrollment change after the statewide ban in 1996. Within two years, Black and Hispanic enrollments fell by half at the systems two most selective campuses Berkeley and UCLA. The system would go on to spend more than $500 million on programs aimed at low-income and first-generation college students. The 10-campus University of California system also started a program that promises admission to the top 9% of students in each high school across the state, an attempt to reach strong students from all backgrounds. A similar promise in Texas has been credited for expanding racial diversity, and opponents of affirmative action cite it as a successful model. In California, the promise drew students from a wider geographic area but did little to expand racial diversity, the system said in a brief to the Supreme Court. It had almost no impact at Berkeley and UCLA, where students compete against tens of thousands of other applicants. Today at UCLA and Berkeley, Hispanic students make up 20% of undergraduates, higher than in 1996 but lower than their 53% share among Californias high school graduates. Black students, meanwhile, have a smaller presence than they did in 1996, accounting for 4% of undergraduates at Berkeley. After Michigan voters rejected affirmative action in 2006, the University of Michigan shifted attention to low-income students. The school sent graduates to work as counselors in low-income high schools and started offering college prep in Detroit and Grand Rapids. It offered full scholarships for low-income Michigan residents and, more recently, started accepting fewer early admission applications, which are more likely to come from white students. Despite the University of Michigans efforts, the share of Black and Hispanic undergraduates hasnt fully rebounded from a falloff after 2006. And while Hispanic enrollments have been increasing, Black enrollments continued to slide, going from 8% of undergraduates in 2006 to 4% in 2025. The Associated Press education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find the APs standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org. The state attorney generals office is urging the Superior Court to affirm the vehicular homicide conviction of a fired state trooper involved in a fiery 2023 Tioga County accident. Deputy Attorney General Hugh J. Burns Jr., in a recent court filing, contends Michael J. Brown should not be granted a new trial because a judges rulings that the defense disputes were correct. A Tioga County jury in May 2024 found Brown, 38, of Troy, was responsible for the fiery death of Christine Woodward, 47, a teacher and mother of three also from Troy. The U.S. Marshals Service arrested a 51-year-old York County man in Mexico who had been on the loose from child pornography charges for two years. Harrison Rineholt was arrested Aug. 6 in Morelia, Michoacan, Mexico after being wanted by the York County Sheriffs Office since August 11, 2023, for bail violations with underlying charges of dissemination of child pornography, possession of child pornography, failure to provide accurate sex offender registration info, and criminal use of a communication facility, according to the marshals. Rineholt was also wanted by the York police for failure to register as a sex offender since May 31, 2024. The marshals said its the second time Rineholt fled the United States as a fugitive sex offender and traveled to Mexico with outstanding York County charges. He was convicted in 2012 for dissemination and possession of child pornography. In 2014, Rineholt was wanted for failure to register as a sex offender. The marshals said Rineholt was located in 2015 in Mexico and arrested by the United States Marshals Service, at which time he was extradited back to Pennsylvania. U.S. and Mexican authorities worked together to locate and arrest him. Rineholt was deported from Mexico and remains in Texas custody pending extradition to Pennsylvania. Update: As of 7:50 p.m., Farrar was located, police said. Police are searching for a missing 16-year-old boy after four juveniles from Michigan, three of whom were previously reported missing, led police on a chase through Lebanon and Lancaster counties Thursday night, according to state police. The chase started on the Pennsylvania Turnpike (I-76) in Lebanon County on Thursday evening, state police said During the chase, the vehicle with the juveniles exited I-76 at the Lancaster/Lebanon interchange. Local law enforcement agencies assisted with the search, and officers with the Manheim Police spotted the vehicle along Route 72. The pursuit ended near Rossville Road, just off Route 501 in Manheim Township, state police said. All four juveniles fled on foot, but only three were taken into custody. The fourth juvenile, 16-year-old Ty A. Farrar, is still missing. Manheim Police said Farrar is 5-feet-8-inches tall with a lean build, shaggy brown hair and green eyes. He is possibly wearing a black shirt with white writing on it and black shorts. Police said Farrar was last seen in the area of Oregon Pike and Eden Road. Investigators said Farrar has no known ties to the Lancaster County area and may be looking for locations with access to WiFi and electricity. Pa. Gov. Josh Shapiro said it is "shameful" that Texas Republicans are trying to redistrict its congressional map to add five GOP districts ahead of the 2026 midterms. AP File Photo/Derik Hamilton As red and blue states battle it out over redistricting it seems unlikely that Pennsylvania will jump into the fray anytime soon. At the direction of President Donald Trump, Texas started the process to add five GOP districts to ensure Republicans do not lose the U.S. House in 2026, an effort Gov. Josh Shapiro called shameful. Redistricting is usually done every 10 years after a U.S. Census pinpoints population shifts in states. After the last Census, Pennsylvania lost one House member as the Legislature drew new congressional district maps. According to the Associated Press, Democratic-controlled states such as Maryland, California and New York are considering redistricting, while Trump pushes GOP states such as Florida and Missouri to follow Texas lead. Yeah, I think its shameful that both the governor of Texas and the president of the United States want to rig the election in a way that preserves a U.S. House majority for them, or attempts to preserve a U.S. House majority for them, said Shapiro at an event this week in Lancaster County, by, you know, bending the rules by rigging the system, as opposed to standing up on their merits of the argument, based on legislation they passed or positions theyve taken. While Texas Republicans gerrymander districts to exclude Democrats, many Democratic legislators there fled the state to avoid a quorum and block GOP efforts. Some Texas Democrats said they had to evacuate the hotel they were staying in Illinois at because of a bomb threat, ABC News reported. On Thursday morning, Vice President JD Vance was in Indiana meeting with Republicans about redistricting in their state, reported Politicos Adam Wren. Texas Gov. Gregg Abbott has threatened to arrest Democratic lawmakers and bring them back to the state, while Texas U.S. Sen. John Cornyn has even drawn the FBI into the political drama. Real Texans do not run from a fight, Abbott said in an Aug. 3 statement, but thats exactly what most of the Texas House Democrats just did. Texas state Rep. James Talarico, a Democrat, claimed the Republicans in Texas are cheating to rig the system. If the Republicans are going to cheat, were not going to play, he said. Its why we have walked off the field. Rep. @jamestalarico explains what Texas Republicans are doing with their redistricting plan: cheating. "If the Republicans are going to cheat, we're not going to play. It's why we have walked off the field." pic.twitter.com/PqSwdsPZRq CAP Action (@CAPAction) August 5, 2025 Shapiro said Texas Republicans are shirking their work and doing nothing to help Texans. Rather than doing their job and voting on urgent legislation affecting the lives of all Texans, they have fled Texas to deprive the House of the quorum necessary to meet and conduct business, Shapiro said. The actions of the Republican-led Texas legislature are appalling and an affront to our democracy, said Pennsylvania House Democratic Caucus spokeswoman Nicole Reigelman. Pennsylvanias House is Democratic-led while Republicans control the state Senate. Republicans desire to appease President Trumps latest power grab knows no bounds, Reigelman said. While we continue to monitor the situation in Texas, we are also exploring all actions possible to ensure that Pennsylvanians voters are not disenfranchised by the actions of our sister states. Pennsylvania Democratic state Sen. James Malone of Lancaster County criticized Texas plans in an Aug. 5 statement. Rigging the system to favor your own party is shameful, Malone said. Elections should be decided by the strength of your ideas, your record of service and your character, not by gerrymandering maps and choosing your voters. Shapiro said the Texas maneuver reflects the fact that Republicans know the GOP-backed One, Big, Beautiful Bill, which he said would take healthcare away from 310,000 Pennsylvanians, force 140,000 state residents off the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and force 25 rural hospitals in the state to close, is widely disliked by Americans. They realize thats unpopular, not just here in Pennsylvania, but in other states, and so they want to rig the system in a way that tries to preserve their majority, Shapiro said. A recent CNN poll found that nearly 60% of Americans opposed the One, Big, Beautiful Bill, which Democrats have warned will gut Medicaid and SNAP over the next 10 years to give tax cuts to the wealthy. Ukraine continues its negotiation work with partners to achieve a common position on real peace, there is already a lot of support in the conditions when a ceasefire deadline has been announced for Russia, the Russians are not heeding it and are continuing the shelling, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. "We continue our active negotiation work with partners so that there is a common position for a reliable peace for Ukraine a truly real peace. And if everyone perceives the opportunities and threats in the same way, then we will be able to achieve a sustainable peace. There is already a lot of support, and this is support in the new conditions, when a deadline has been announced for Russia to cease fire. We see that the Russians are not paying attention to this at least not yet. Today, there are again murders, Russian shelling," Zelenskyy said in an evening address on Friday. He noted that at night the Russians hit Ukraine with more than a hundred strike drones, "during the day there were air bomb strikes, intensive assaults on the front, again air alarms in our cities, communities." The president also reported that today in Kherson, the Russians absolutely deliberately wounded a 13-year-old boy by dropping a Russian drone. "He is being provided with assistance. That is, the Russian hunt for civilians in Kherson continues. This is a deliberate destruction of life. The Russian army was not given orders to stop," the president said.ZELENSKYY Barend Leyts, former Spokesperson to the President of the European Council, became a volunteer in Ukraine: We care about Ukraine Interview with Barend Leyts, a former Spokesperson to the President of the European Council, adviser to former Prime Minister of Belgium Alexander De Croo, who is now a humanitarian volunteer in Ukraine, to Interfax-Ukraine News Agency Text Iryna Somer Why did you decide to volunteer in Ukraine, and why did you choose the organization FinEst Volunteers, which is registered in Finland? When I saw the devastation in Borodyanka and the mass grave in Bucha, I promised myself I would not remain a passive observer. I was deeply struck by the sheer injustice. Ukraine is not just fighting for its own freedom. Its defending Europe. Our democracies. Our dignity. I chose FinEst Volunteers because of their quiet, consistent impact. Its a grassroots initiative from Finland and Estonia that brings together people from all over the world. They simply do the work and show up in the communities they support. I arrived at the end of July and will stay for nearly four weeks. Every day is different but always full. We often begin by weaving camouflage nets, then move to packing supplies: clothes or medicine, hygiene kits. Some days we teach English classes, assist at an animal shelter, or simply spend time connecting with locals. We sleep in shared rooms, eat simple meals and keep going because the need never stops. How did your family and friends react to this decision? Not everyone understood. Some even called it pointless. But my family knows that when I commit to something, I mean it. And I believe this is worth every minute. In fact, Im more convinced now than I was when I arrived. I came to show that we still care despite the war of attrition, despite the endless drone attacks. I deeply admire the stamina of the Ukrainian people. They deserve our solidarity. Have you made any friends? If so, who are they? Absolutely. Volunteering brings people together quickly. Theres Nazar, a young man from Riwne in his twenties with a quiet sense of humor and eyes full of uncertainty. I saw tears in his eyes when I asked him about his plans for the future. Hed like to continue studying, but feels the pressure from peers to go and fight. His story moved me deeply. And then theres our incredible coordinator, Tarja. Shes resourceful, determined, and leads with both heart and clarity. The volunteers here arent just colleagues. Theyre part of a small family of resistance. What are your relationships with the local population? We are located in a small village near Dubno. At first, theres a certain distance; understandably so. This is a country at war. But over time, people open up. One day, a young woman stopped me outside a library. Were there with a small group of volunteers, on our way to a language class. Just as Im about to step inside, she stops me. Your clothes give you away, she says. Youre European, arent you? Im momentarily thrown off. People here rarely address you so directly. Many Ukrainians keep their distance. Not out of unwillingness, but out of caution. According to our coordinator Tarja, many have withdrawn into themselves, hoping that this war will somehow end on its own. Conversations usually only happen if you speak their language or if the silence lasts long enough for a rare question to emerge. Im Belgian, I reply. This summer, Im volunteering. She nods. The children stream into the library, ready for class. Im about to follow them in, but then she looks at me again. This time, with a different tone. But do you really care? That question stays with me, now that Ukraine is entering its fourth year of war. Today, Id like to believe people see that were not just passing through. Were here for as long as were needed. What is your opinion of Ukrainians? Brave. Proud. Theres a quiet dignity in how Ukrainians continue. Im often astounded by the way they go on, refusing to give in. That strength is more than survival; its identity. They are building a future while facing destruction. That, to me, is heroism. How different are they from Belgians? In some ways, were not so different. We value peace, family, and community. But here, the stakes are existential. For Belgians, war is something we see on TV or read about in history books. In Ukraine, its a daily reality. Everyone knows someone whos fallen on the battlefield. Everyone is connected to the front line and the courageous resistance. Based on your experience of communicating with Ukrainians, do you see this country as a member of the EU and NATO? Ukraine is Europe. Despite the war, the country has made remarkable reforms to integrate into the European Union. Ukrainians want to belong to the European project of peace and prosperity, and we simply cannot let them down. The EU and NATO are alliances of shared values. And Ukraine lives those values, every single day. Based on your experience in the world of politics, what are your expectations from the announced talks between President Trump and Putin? Few people here speak openly about the war, but there is a quiet concern that international solidarity may be fading. At a veterans center yesterday, some soldiers shared their thoughts with us. When asked if they believed Russia might declare a ceasefire, their answer was immediate: Not a chance. Not now. Not under this regime. These talks wont be about peace. Theyll be about power. What is the mood among Ukrainians and volunteers? Why do you consider what you do important? People are tired, yes. But they havent given up. Volunteers feel it too. Were not here to save the day. Were here to help without expecting thanks. This is a quiet revolution. Volunteering as resistance. We still care. Were still here. And that, sometimes, is exactly whats needed most. Ukraine is still the place where Europes future is being decided. If Ukraine loses this war, we lose an ally. And perhaps the greatest proof yet that a democracy cannot defend itself. Brutal force will have won. Thats why now is the time to stay. To show that we still care. As a volunteer, you wont solve the war. But youre here. You pack boxes with medical supplies for soldiers on the front. You teach children, you tie metres of camouflage netting, and comfort wounded dogs in the local shelter. Sometimes, you just do what needs to be done. I work with FinEst Volunteers, a Finnish-Estonian organisation that sends volunteers to work in Ukraine. People of all ages, from all over. We share a purpose with like-minded people from across Europe and beyond. Americans, Koreans, and Australians come to help, too. What unites us is the belief that this war will one day end and that solidarity is simply necessary. Chinese tech contributes to cross-border tourism soaring this summer 08:58, August 08, 2025 By Xu Liang ( People's Daily Online On Aug. 5, 2025, the 4th Weixin Mini Program Global Innovation Challenge and Global Exploration Program kicked off its "Oxford Summer Camp" at the University of Oxford, Britain, bringing together 25 outstanding Chinese teenagers to explore how tech can bridge cultural and digital gaps. Participants join the 4th Weixin Mini Program Global Innovation Challenge opening ceremony in Oxford, Britain, Aug. 5, 2025. (Photo/Zhao Wenkai) At the opening ceremony, Pan Hang, assistant director of the China National Tourist Office in London, encouraged students to use mini programs to create tools that help international travelers navigate payment systems, access information, and feel more at home anywhere in the world. Pan Hang, assistant director of the China National Tourist Office in London, delivers a speech in Oxford, Britain, Aug. 5, 2025. (Photo/Zhao Wenkai) This summer, international tourism is experiencing a major rebound, and Chinese travelers are once again leading the charge across Europe and beyond. What's different now? The journey is smoother than ever thanks to homegrown Chinese technology going global. From popular attractions to local cafes, businesses in over 91 countries and regions have embraced Weixin's mini programs and cross-border payment tools to serve Chinese tourists better. The number of active international mini program service providers has surged by nearly 30 percent over the past year. In key countries and regions, the number of mini programs serving local needs has jumped by 45 percent. Weixin Pay now supports 31 currencies across 74 countries and regions, helping Chinese travelers make payments abroad just as easily as they do at home, whether booking trains in Italy or buying souvenirs in Britain. European countries are rapidly upgrading their infrastructure to meet the expectations of Chinese travelers, who have come to rely on mobile payments and AI-powered apps. In fact, a recent survey by the European Travel Commission and Eurail Group found that 72 percent of Chinese respondents plan to visit Europe this summer, a 10 percent increase from last year. To meet this demand, businesses across the continent, from airlines like Lufthansa and Swiss Air to transport services like FlixBus, Italo, and Eurostar, have launched Weixin mini programs. Travelers can use these apps to check schedules, buy tickets, and navigate their trips in Mandarin with ease. Even local attractions and museums are getting on board, upgrading their Chinese-language audio guides and offering mobile payment options. And for tourists exploring new cities, Weixin's "mini programs nearby" feature helps them discover trusted local services instantly. On the other hand, international tourists visiting China often struggle to adapt to the country's mobile-first payment systems. More than language or transportation, it is the widening digital divide that has emerged as one of the greatest barriers for tourists in China. H-J Colston, director of Engage with China, who has visited the country many times, encouraged young talents to develop new mini programs that can help foreign visitors overcome these entry challenges. "If these mini programs could also help international travelers quickly understand and connect with local Chinese culture that would be even better," she added. H-J Colston, director of Engage with China, delivers a speech in Oxford, Britain, Aug. 5, 2025. (Photo/Zhao Wenkai) (Web editor: Chang Sha, Du Mingming) Eleven Ring Winners Crowned at Historic WSOPC Tallinn Eliot Thomas Content Executive Copy link Its been just under a week since the latest WSOP Circuit stop wrapped up in Tallinn, where eleven rings were awarded during a packed schedule in the beautiful Estonian capital. The headline act came courtesy of Swedens Jenny Westerlund, who made history as the first woman to win a WSOPC Main Event in Tallinn. She topped a record-breaking 888-entry field at OlyBets Olympic Park Casino to claim 200,200 in what is the biggest score of her career. Westerlund put on a scintillating display of aggressive poker, dominating the final table to capture the maiden ring of her career. The week also delivered a number of other intriguing storylines. Finlands Jarkko Suokas took home the first-ever Sviten Special ring, Mathias Siljander crossed the $1 million live earnings milestone with victory in the PLO 4/5 event, and Drea Karlsen captured the Queens title after a strong turnout from female players across Northern Europe. Check out the full results and the week that was below from another successful stop in Northern Europe's undisputed poker hotbed: WSOPC Tallinn Ring Event Winners - July 25th to August 3rd, 2025 Place Event Winner Country Ring Event #1 310 + 40 No Limit Hold'em - Mini Main Event Simon Persson Sweden Ring Event #2 500 + 55 Pot Limit Omaha - 4/5 Card Button Round Each Andria Gogelidze Georgia Ring Event #3 500 + 55 No Limit Hold'em Toni Niinivaara Finland Ring Event #4 310 + 40 No Limit Hold'em - Queens Women Only Drea Karlsen Norway Ring Event #5 1,350 + 150 No Limit Hold'em - WSOPC Main Event Jenny Westerlund Sweden Ring Event #6 1,000 + 100 Pot Limit Omaha 4/5 Card Mathias Siljander Finland Ring Event #7 4,800 + 200 No Limit Hold'em David Vinaya Norway Ring Event #8 1,000 + 100 8 Game Krzysztof Budka Poland Ring Event #9 500 + 55 SVITEN 6 Handed Jarkko Suokas Finland Ring Event #10 500 + 100 + 500 No Limit Hold'em - Mystery Bounty Fabian Bartuschk Germany Ring Event #11 2,800 + 200 No Limit Hold'em Enrique Sanchez Spain Go West(erlund)! Before we had even reached a final table in this years WSOPC Tallinn Main Event, records had already been broken as a huge 888-runner field smashed through the 1 million guarantee for the weeks showpiece event. By the end, only one remained. Swedens Jenny Westerlund emerged victorious, collecting an enormous six-figure payday and securing her place at this years WSOP Paradise thanks to the Ticket to Paradise package awarded to every winner during the series. Westerlund wasted little time in asserting herself at the final table, using an aggressive strategy to great effect. The result would be a historic one, as she became the first woman to win a WSOP Circuit Main Event in Tallinn and in quick style, too. I dont think I really recognise the feeling yet, she admitted after her win. Itll be a couple of days before I realise I actually won all that money. Itll make a big difference in my life, she would continue, before posing for winner's photos holding her winning JA and surrounded by all the chips from the record-breaking event. 2025 WSOP Circuit 1,500 Main Event Final Table Results Place Player Country Prize 1 Jenny Westerlund Sweden 200,200 + $5,000 Ticket to Paradise 2 Krzysztof Chmielowski Poland 128,500 3 Igor Pihela Sr Estonia 90,200 4 Martin Surovec Czech Republic 62,500 5 Elias Vaaraniemi Finland 46,000 6 David Vinaya Norway 33,100 7 Jari-Pekka Juhola Finland 25,060 8 Stephen Groom England 19,500 9 Karolis Kutkauskas Lithuania 14,200 Sviten Special is a Hit Enormously popular in Scandinavian card rooms and sometimes referred to as Drawmaha (a cross between 5-card draw and Omaha), Sviten Special joined the WSOPC schedule for the very first time in Tallinn and would prove an instant success on a week or so of firsts. Finlands Jarkko Suokas emerged as the event's inaugural champion, overcoming a 113-entry field to claim 14,035, a Ticket to Paradise package, a WSOPC ring, and the honor of being known as the first Sviten Special ring winner. Naturally, it was Scandinavian players who would dominate the event, with sixteen Nordic players returning on Day 2, alongside sole Dutchman Frank Visser, the only non-Scandi to make the final day, who finished 12th. WSOPC 555 SVITEN 6-Max - Final Table Results Place Player Country Prize 1 Jarkko Juhani Suokas Finland 14,035 + $5,000 Ticket to Paradise 2 Nicklas Torsten Nordblom Sweden 9,260 3 Sami M. O. Saamanen Finland 6,300 4 Torgil Hellman Sweden 4,430 5 Erik Anders Ohman Sweden 3,230 6 Peter La Terra Sweden 2,440 Queens of Tallinn Returns Soon Fans of world-class poker in Estonia will not have to wait long for the next big series. Queens of Tallinn, Europes first all-female poker festival, returns to the Olympic Casino from August 2124. The four-day festival is set to deliver another packed schedule of tournaments and cash games for female players from across Europe. The event follows a brilliant week for womens poker in the Estonian capital, highlighted by Karlsens Queens title win and Westerlunds historic Main Event triumph at WSOPC Tallinn. Big fields are expected once again by organizers OlyBet, as Europe's premier female poker festival moves into its third consecutive year. Full details on the Queens of Tallinn schedule can be found below: Queens of Tallinn 2025 Schedule Date & Time (EEST) Event Buy-in August 21, 17:30 80 NLH Deep Stack Opening Event + 350 Main Event Ticket Raffle (Women-only) 70 + 10 August 21, 21:00 Free Entry Satellite to 350 Main Event, 5 x 350 Seats GTD (Women-only) Free + Rebuys & 20 AO August 22, 13:00 Free Entry Satellite to 350 Main Event, 5 x 350 Seats GTD (Women-only) Free + Rebuys & 20 AO August 22, 15:00 350 Main Event 1A, 8-handed, 9 Levels Day 1 (Women-only) 310 + 40 August 22, 18:00 Free Entry Turbo Satellite to Main Event 1B, 3 x 350 Seats GTD (Women-only) Free + Rebuys & 20 AO August 22, 21:00 350 Main Event 1B, 8-handed, 9 Levels Day 1 (Women-only) 310 + 40 August 22, 21:00 150 PLO4/PLO5 (Women-only) 130 + 20 August 23, 12:00 350 Main Event Day 2, Reg & Re-entries Open till 14:20 (Women-only) 310 + 40 August 23, 17:30 200 PokerNews Queens Crown Deepstack, 8-handed (Women-only) 170 + 30 August 24, 12:00 250 Progressive Bounty, 6-handed (Women-only) 220 + 30 Photos courtesy of Elena Kask Share this article The $3,300 La Notte Degli Assi at the 2025 Merit Poker Dolce Vita Series is down to its final day inside the stunning Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino, where one player will walk away with the $460,000 top prize and one of the most sought-after titles on the Merit Poker calendar. A total of 1,023 players entered this years La Notte Degli Assi, generating a massive $2,823,480 prize pool and attracting some of the best poker talent from around the world. After four days, just nine remain, each guaranteed at least $46,280 as they return to battle for the trophy and the lions share of the prize pool. Lebanons Nicolas Chouity with a stack of 29,700,000 starts the day in pole position. Hes followed by Russias Aleksandr Razinkov with 23,125,000, and "Ma" from France starts the day's proceedings with 13,025,000. Final Table Seat Draw Seat Player Country Chip Count Big Blinds 1 "Ma" France 13,025,000 33 2 " Tommy G " San Marino 5,400,000 14 3 Viacheslav Balaev Russia 2,500,000 6 4 Adil Tlimisov Russia 2,600,000 7 5 Richard Broda Hungary 9,750,000 24 6 Nicolas Chouity Lebanon 29,700,000 74 7 Aleksandr Razinkov Russia 23,125,000 58 8 Mehmet Deniz Turkey 8,900,000 22 9 Nebi Baysal Turkey 8,150,000 20 The final table features an international lineup, with six countries represented. Joining the chip leaders are Richard Broda (9,750,000), Mehmet Deniz (8,900,000), and Nebi Baysal (8,150,000), all sitting comfortably in the middle of the pack. Meanwhile, Tommy G (5,400,000), Adil Tlimisov (2,600,000), and Viacheslav Balaev (2,500,000) will need an early double-up to climb the ladder. Viacheslav Balaev Cards go in the air at 1 p.m. local time, with 46 minutes remaining in Level 35, where blinds will be 200,000/400,000 with a 400,000 big blind ante. The final nine players have all locked up at least $46,280, but all eyes will be on the trophy and the $460,000 top prize. Final Table Payouts Place Prize 1 $460,000 2 $307,000 3 $215,000 4 $156,000 5 $115,000 6 $95,000 7 $77,500 8 $61,500 9 $46,280 Stay with PokerNews throughout the day for live updates, chip counts, and all the key hands as the 2025 La Notte Degli Assi champion gets crowned today. After thirteen days of poker under the Mediterranean sun, the 2025 Merit Poker Dolce Vita Series has crowned its final champion. Nicolas Chouity of Lebanon conquered a record-setting 1,023-entry field in the $3,300 La Notte Degli Assi, claiming the title, the trophy, and a career-boosting $460,000 payday inside the luxurious Crystal Cove Hotel and Casino. The event generated a massive $2,823,480 prize pool, making it the largest Merit Poker tournament of 2025 in terms of both field size and prize pool. The final chapter of La Notte Degli Assi (Night of the Aces) delivered all the drama and glamour expected from one of Merit Pokers crown jewel events. Chouity began the final table as chip leader and never looked back, navigating a stacked lineup with experience, composure, and a little bit of luck. In the end, he overcame Hungarys Richard Broda in a tough and tactical heads-up battle, marking a powerful return to the spotlight for one of Lebanons most accomplished players. $3,300 La Notte Degli Assi Final Table Results Place Player Country Prize 1 Nicolas Chouity Lebanon $460,000 2 Richard Broda Hungary $307,000 3 "Ma" France $215,000 4 Mehmet Deniz Turkey $156,000 5 Aleksandr Razinkov Russia $115,000 6 Tommy G San Marino $95,000 7 Nebi Baysal Turkey $77,500 8 Viacheslav Balaev Russia $61,500 9 Adil Tlimisov Russia $46,280 Winners Reaction Reflecting on the win, Chouity shared that tournament poker had taken a backseat in recent years. He noted that he mostly played EPT stops and occasionally travelled abroad, but this result reminded him of how special the thrill of victory can be. Im really excited and happy to be back and to beat a field of 1,000 players, he said. For me its something really nice; Im truly satisfied. Starting the final table as chip leader added both opportunity and pressure, but Chouity handled it one step at a time. My goal was to finish top three, but being out in front also let me apply pressure on the other players, he explained. That helped a lot. As for his final opponent, Chouity gave credit where it was due. The heads-up was tough. I dont play much heads-up, maybe he has more experience than me, I dont know, but it was fun, it was challenging, and I really enjoyed it. Chouity Broda Heads Up When told that a top-three finish would elevate him to second on Lebanons all-time money list, according to TheHendonMob, Chouity shrugged it off with a smile. Honestly, Im not looking at that. Im just happy to win the tournament. I dont care about moving up in Lebanons all-time rankings. I hope [Albert Daher] he wins 3 or 4 tournaments, Im even happier because hes my friend. He also had high praise for the host venue and the Merit Poker series itself. This venue provides a very good service, very convenient for players. They have a nice room, great fields, friendly people, and excellent staff. Merit is now one of the best poker destinations. I think theyre doing a fantastic job and I hope they keep it up. As for whats next, Chouity confirmed that hell be sticking around a little longer for the inaugural Onyx High Roller Series. Yes, I will definitely play more. Im not yet sure which events Ill enter, it depends, but Im staying for a couple more days. I might have to head back to Dubai, but Ill be in the $10,000 and the $25,000 for sure. From Chip Lead to Champion Chouity started the day as chip leader and played his part in thinning down the field early, as within an hour, four of the finalists had already hit the rail. His contribution came when his king-queen flopped a king against the pocket jacks of Viacheslav Balaev, ending the Russian player's run in eighth. When play was four-handed, Chouity and Broda engaged in an on-felt war with each other, despite two shorter stacks still being in. Broda briefly took the chip lead, but a fortunate river for Chouity gave him around 75% of the chips in play with three remaining. Mehmet Deniz Mehmet Deniz three-bet with pocket aces and quickly called off the shove from Chouity, who held pocket jacks. A brutal jack on the river spelled the end for Deniz, who had to settle for fourth, just shy of the podium. Broda then flopped a set of nines to dispatch "Ma" in third, setting up the heads-up finale. Chouity took a better than two-to-one advantage into the duel, but Broda clawed his way back and even regained the chip lead after scooping several small pots. Richard Broda But that momentum didnt last. In the final hand, the chips went in on every street, culminating in a shove from Broda and a call from Chouity. Both had diamond flushes, Broda with seven-five and Chouity with eight-three, but it was the Lebanese pro who held the better one, bringing the curtain down on a hard-fought final day. The 2025 Merit Poker Dolce Vita Series has come to a close, but the action in North Cyprus is far from over. Dont miss the inaugural 2025 Onyx High Roller Series, kicking off on August 9 at the luxurious Merit Royal Diamond Hotel and Casino. Running through August 21, the series promises elite fields, massive prize pools, and world-class competition. Stay tuned to PokerNews for coverage of the high roller action. Aiken Standard reporter Dede Biles is a reporter for the Aiken Standard. She covers Aiken County government, business and horse industry. To support local journalism, sign up for a subscription. See our current offers Cultural courtyards preserve and showcase traditional heritage in Lijiang ancient town 11:02, August 08, 2025 By Yang Wenming ( People's Daily Tourists visit Lijiang ancient town in southwest China's Yunnan province. (Photo/Zhao Qingzu) At Tiandi Courtyard, or Courtyard of Heaven and Earth, in Lijiang ancient town, southwest China's Yunnan province, He Xueguang was busy attending to his daily affairs. "There are now around 30 cultural courtyards like this throughout the ancient town," he said. With a history spanning more than 170 years, Tiandi Courtyard exemplifies well-preserved traditional Naxi architecture. Despite numerous commercial lease offers, He has consistently prioritized cultural preservation over commercialization. Since Lijiang ancient town was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997, protection measures have become increasingly stringent. To preserve the town's historical integrity, modern renovations are strictly limited. As tourism has grown, many residents have relocated, leading to a shift in the town's demographic landscape. In Lijiang, traditional residential architectures, local lifestyles, and cultural heritage form an inseparable whole - a cultural ecosystem sustained by local stewardship. "Cultural heritage is more than just physical structures. It carries invaluable cultural significance," said He. To further explore, safeguard, and pass on this heritage, he transformed the Tiandi Courtyard into a venue for traditional Naxi song and dance performances. In 1999, he established a Naxi culture inheritance center in the courtyard, inviting local residents to perform traditional music and dance, exhibit Dongba culture, and offer cultural workshops and training. Beginning in 2007, the Lijiang ancient town protection and management bureau, together with the Lijiang ancient town management company, began designating portions of public housing annually to develop cultural courtyards. In 2016, Tiandi Courtyard was officially recognized as the 18th cultural courtyard in Lijiang. "We receive discounted rent and annual financial support," He explained. Tiandi Courtyard is not an isolated case. Every year, the town invests millions of yuan into the development and operation of cultural courtyards and other heritage preservation projects. A Dongba music and dance performance is staged in Tiandi Courtyard in Lijiang ancient town, southwest China's Yunnan province. (Photo courtesy of the WeChat official account of the digital management subsidiary of Lijiang ancient town management company) Today, Tiandi Courtyard hosts three daily Dongba music and dance performances, attracting large audiences. Building on its early success, it has developed original Naxi music and dance performances, curated two themed exhibition halls, and incorporated interactive experiences such as Naxi script instruction and traditional dance workshops, offering visitors immersive access to the town's vibrant heritage. Beyond Tiandi Courtyard, a wide range of cultural spaces has emerged, including independent bookstores, poetry clubs, pictographic character experience halls, and traditional craft studios. The town's 30 cultural courtyards cover diverse topics such as notable residences, historical and cultural protection, traditional craftsmanship, and Naxi folklore. Visitors can not only enjoy the exhibits but also engage in in-depth learning experiences. "The story of Lijiang ancient town is told through these cultural courtyards," He remarked. Because of their dispersed locations, these cultural courtyards can be difficult for tourists to locate. In response, Lijiang ancient town has enhanced signage throughout the area to direct visitors more clearly. "The most prominent signs now guide visitors directly to these cultural spaces," said He. In 2019, Lijiang ancient town introduced stricter regulations on commercial activities, including business entry thresholds and an exit mechanism to manage overall business density. It also reorganized its commercial landscape through categorized management, restricting operations incompatible with the preservation of the town's historical character and cultural heritage, while encouraging businesses that contribute to the safeguarding and promotion of traditional culture. "Internet cafes have disappeared, bars have significantly decreased, and the ancient town's cultural atmosphere has become much more pronounced," said He. "We hope more young people will come to Lijiang and develop a deep appreciation for cultural heritage." Photo shows an aerial view of Lijiang ancient town. (Photo/Tang Xinrong) A woman poses for a selfie in Lijiang ancient town, southwest China's Yunnan province. (Photo/Liang Zhiqiang) (Web editor: Liang Jun, Du Mingming) Ed Lab reporter Anna B. Mitchell is a Greenville-based investigative reporter for the Post and Courier's Education Lab team. A licensed English and social studies teacher, Anna covers education in the Upstate and collaborates with other reporters for coverage on statewide education trends. She studied history at the University of North Carolina, journalism at the University of Missouri, and holds an MBA from the University of Applied Sciences in Wurzburg. For fun, Anna plays bassoon, visits her family in Germany as often as she can, and takes her doggy, Ashe, for long walks with her daughter and husband. Miguel Camargo, 33, was arrested in Aiken on Aug. 24 with assault and battery charges against four women after an argument broke out over music volume. Heres why public transportation, bus rides from PDRTA will soon be free in Florence County You are the owner of this article. Landing craft air cushion steers into well deck China Military Online) 13:59, August 08, 2025 Landing craft air cushions (LCACs) attached to a landing ship group with the navy under the Chinese PLA Southern Theater Command steam in line formation to the beachhead at lightning speed during a maritime training exercise in summer day. (eng.chinamil.com.cn/Photo by Zhang Xueyan) (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) QR Editor Sandy Hodson has worked for newspapers from Tennessee, Georgia and now South Carolina, focusing on crime and the criminal justice system. PR-Inside.com: 2025-08-08 23:00:56 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 693 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESS Newswire / August 8, 2025 / After taking a deliberate step back from the spotlight, digital creator Haliey Welch is reintroducing herself - and her community - to a new phase of connection, creativity, and control onFanfix . Known for her charismatic presence and the strong loyalty of her fanbase, Welch is relaunching her content with renewed purpose and a clearer vision for what meaningful creator engagement can look like.Welch, who originally launched onFanfixjust over a year ago, is no stranger to going viral. But this time, she's focused on more than just moments. She's crafting a space for real, ongoing conversations with fans who support her not just for what's trending, but for who she truly is."I usually connect with my most loyal and supportive fans, the ones who really get me," Welch says. "I love sharing more personal moments and behind-the-scenes content with them. That's whyFanfixmakes so much sense. It's a space that feels authentic." This authenticity is central toFanfix 's appeal. Unlike platforms that are built around mass broadcasting or paywalls with little community,Fanfixis designed to give creators real ownership of their content while fostering genuine two-way communication with their audience. Welch seesFanfixas more than a platform - it's her long-term partner in building a sustainable career on her own terms."I'll definitely be mixing it up, still doing what fans love, but adding more exclusive content like daily life updates, BTS, and interactive stuff just forFanfix ," she shares. "It's not just about content. It's about connection." That commitment to evolving and deepening her content is somethingFanfixhas embraced with open arms."We're really excited to see Haliey back onFanfix ," says Robert Graham, Chief Strategy Officer atFanfix . "From the beginning, she's had a clear sense of what she wants: to create on her own terms, to interact directly with her fans, and to build a real community.Fanfixgives her the tools to do just that." "I'm super excited about one-on-one live streams (a newFanfixfeature) and direct messages. It's the best way to connect in real time and make it feel personal with everyone. Can't wait to use those more," she says.This next phase of her content will include a mix of new and familiar. Fans can expect spontaneous glimpses into her daily life, more interactive drops, and one-on-one moments that reflect the kind of direct, unscripted engagement she's always valued. It's a fresh rhythm with less noise, more realness.FromFanfix 's perspective, Welch's return highlights the growing demand for platforms that genuinely put creators first. While some platforms prioritize ad revenue and short-form scroll culture,Fanfixremains focused on empowering creators with flexible monetization features, full brand control, and dedicated support from a team that understands their needs."What really setsFanfixapart is the team behind it," Welch says. "They're always responsive, always on it, and they give creators the tools and support to actually succeed, not just at launch, but every step of the way." For Welch, the timing couldn't be better. After taking a break from social media, she and her team have been focused on resetting the tone for her broader presence, which includes her podcast, upcoming collaborations, and a ramp-up of social across platforms. But at the heart of it all isFanfix , where the most meaningful interactions happen."I love howFanfixlets me connect directly with my real supporters," Welch says. "It gives me control over what I share and who I share it with. I really see it as a big part of how creators will grow and earn in the future." The story of Welch's return isn't about reinvention. It's about refinement. She's not chasing the next viral moment. She's building something sustainable, supported by a fanbase that's been with her from the beginning. And she's doing it on a platform that believes in giving creators the freedom and tools to thrive.In the months ahead, fans can expect more access, more surprises, and most importantly, more of Haliey, unfiltered, unpressured, and unmistakably herself.CONTACT: Andrew Mitchell media@ cambridgeglobal.com SOURCE: Cambridge Global PR-Inside.com: 2025-08-08 18:15:07 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 377 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 NEW YORK CITY, NY / ACCESS Newswire / August 8, 2025 / With Intelligence recently disclosed that it suffered a data breach that compromised the sensitive personal data of individuals. This data breach has led to concerns over the security of sensitive personal information entrusted to With Intelligence.WHAT'S THIS ABOUT?On June 28, 2025, PeopleCheck, a third-party vendor for With Intelligence, discovered that threat actors had accessed data using compromised login credentials. On July 7, 2025, PeopleCheck alerted With Intelligence that data processed on its behalf may have been affected.The impacted files may have included your name, email, internal reference name, date of birth, phone number, birth city, Social Security number, gender, mother name, and share code.On July 11, 2025, With Intelligence reported the breach to the Massachusetts Attorney General and began notifying affected individuals. Compensation may be available for those individuals who receive notice that their sensitive personal information was compromised.WHY YOU MAY BE ENTITLED TO COMPENSATION?Data breaches are serious matters that can cause long-term damage. Hackers may use stolen information to commit identity theft, financial fraud, or other crimes. Companies that fail to secure your personal data may be held liable for the resulting harm.HOW DO I KNOW IF I WAS AFFECTED?If you received a data breach notification letter from With Intelligence, you are likely to be affected. Follow the link below to find out if you may be eligible for compensation.Levi Korsinsky, LLP is investigating whether affected individuals are entitled to compensation. There is no cost or obligation to participate. Follow the link below to find out:Levi & Korsinsky, LLP is a nationally recognized consumer advocacy law firm that has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars against large corporations. The firm's team of over 70 extraordinary attorneys and professionals have a winning track record going against the most powerful defense attorneys in the world and know how to maximize your compensation. Our firm works on a 100% contingency fee basis - you pay nothing unless we win your case! Visit our website to learn more. Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.CONTACT: Levi & Korsinsky, LLPJoseph E. Levi, Esq.Ed Korsinsky, Esq.33 Whitehall Street, 17th FloorNew York, NY 10004 jlevi@ levikorsinsky.com Tel: (212) 363-7500Fax: (212) 363-7171 https://zlk.com/ SOURCE: Levi & Korsinsky, LLP Jaquet Droz unveils one - and only one - piece that profoundly revisits the usual skull codes associated with the Mexican Dia de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead celebration. Playful, disruptive, and a bit provocative, the creation establishes an uncommon dialogue between the crafts of art and watchmaking. When can we consider having fully covered a topic? Never! responds Jaquet Droz, with 287 years of watchmaking and never short of ideas. The brand, led by Alain Delamuraz since 2021, constantly regenerates itself. And when a theme has been thoroughly explored by almost the entire market, Jaquet Droz changes course and directly addresses its collectors. Who delight in creating their own unique piece, with the attentive care of the artists at the La Chaux-de-Fonds workshop. Beautiful End Catrina is an illustration of this. Her full name is Tourbillon Skelet Red Gold - Catrina Skull. She is one of the lesser-known protagonists of the Mexican Day of the Dead celebration, renowned - unlike most Western traditions - for its festive nature. This Dia de los Muertos has been addressed countless times by the watchmaking industry. Most often, in the form of a skull, that famous skull, somewhat menacing, and always with a masculine spirit. With its Catrina, Jaquet Droz does not deny this graphic heritage but interprets it in an unexpected way. For once, death is depicted as a woman. Floral, radiant. Almost friendly and smiling, even though she still embodies the Grim Reaper. Jaquet Droz thus cultivates its impertinence, its ambivalence. Alain Delamuraz likes to speak of a decidedly disruptive house. With Catrina, one could go a step further: subversive. The Tourbillon Skelet Or rouge - Catrina Skull de Jaquet Droz Jaquet Droz Abundance of Artistic Crafts Death has never been so seductive. Its dominant color is a shimmering green. Its multiple shades are the work of Jaquet Droz's artists. To make it at times attractive, at times threatening, they employed several artistic crafts. Each gives Catrina distinctive accents. On the left of the dial, it's the grand feu enamel that has been chosen. It provides depth and relief. Within it, gold spangles are trapped. This is a centuries-old technique that involves including hand-carved gold chips within a translucent enamel to form various patterns. Jaquet Droz already used it 250 years ago on its pocket watches and snuff boxes. But to bring out the figure of Catrina from this grand feu enamel base sculpted on a gold dial, on the right side of the dial, Jaquet Droz chose micro-painting. The science of powder yields to the dexterity of the brush. Jaquet Droz artists depict a female skull with various shades of white, black, purple, and pink. The design is deliberately in a "freehand" style, distinctly breaking with the use of cold laser-machined dials. Engraving of the Tourbillon Skelet Or rouge - Catrina Skull de Jaquet Droz Jaquet Droz Balancing Act It is the same contrast expressed with the mechanics of the piece. To the naive and artisanal dial, an ultra-precision and rigorous watchmaking science is opposed. Evidence of this can be seen at noon. There, in the orbit of Catrina, a demonstrative flying tourbillon with an 8-day power reserve unfolds. The precious escapement seems dedicated to a second-by-second measurement of time, facing a figure of death who, by definition, no longer counts it. The race against time, or the race against death. The precision of watchmaking, or the intimate expressiveness of the artists. The emptiness of the suspended tourbillon, or the floral abundance of Catrina. Everywhere one would see opposition, Jaquet Droz instead finds balance, a narrow ridge yet very real. A unique piece, already on the wrist of a fortunate collector. PR-Inside.com: 2025-08-08 16:01:38 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 364 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 NEW YORK CITY, NY / ACCESS Newswire / August 8, 2025 / Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Vestis Corporation ("Vestis" or the "Company") (NYSE:VSTS). Such investors are advised to contact Danielle Peyton at newaction@ pomlaw.com or 646-581-9980, (or 888.4-POMLAW), toll-free, Ext. 7980. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address, telephone number, and the number of shares purchased.The class action concerns whether Vestis and certain of its officers and/or directors have engaged in securities fraud or other unlawful business practices.You have until August 8, 2025 to ask the Court to appoint you as Lead Plaintiff for the class if you purchased or otherwise acquired Vestis securities during the Class Period. A copy of the Complaint can be obtained at www.pomerantzlaw.com [Click here for information about joining the class action]On May 7, 2025, Vestis announced its financial results for the second quarter of fiscal 2025, withdrew its revenue and growth guidance for the full fiscal year 2025, and provided guidance for the third quarter of fiscal 2025 that fell significantly below market expectations. The Company attributed its poor results partially to "lost business in excess of new business," primarily to "volume changes with our existing customers." Vestis attributed its decision to pull full year guidance and provide disappointing third-quarter targets to an "increasingly uncertain macro environment." On this news, Vestis's stock price fell $3.27 per share, or 37.54%, to close at $5.44 per share on May 7, 2025.Pomerantz LLP, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, London, Paris, and Tel Aviv, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, Pomerantz pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 85 years later, Pomerantz continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomlaw.com Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.SOURCE: Pomerantz LLP PR-Inside.com: 2025-08-08 17:45:32 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 942 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 CHICAGO, IL / ACCESS Newswire / August 8, 2025 / If that constant ringing in your ears is starting to feel like a permanent part of your life-or you find yourself asking people to repeat things more often-you're part of a growing group. Tinnitus and hearing loss are silently affecting millions worldwide. Unfortunately, conventional medicine still lacks effective, lasting solutions.Devices like hearing aids and sound therapy machines may offer a brief distraction, but they rarely tackle the deeper issues, such as auditory nerve inflammation, inner ear circulation decline, and neurological stress.That's where Audifort enters the picture-a supplement gaining rapid attention, polarizing opinions, and passionate discussion. Some health experts and functional medicine doctors now refer to it as a potential natural remedy for tinnitus (Verified Source), while others are quick to dismiss it as just another overmarketed supplement with bold claims.[ Want to explore more about Audifort? Read this article to the end .]In this article, we're cutting through the buzz and diving into real Audifort reviews, reported side effects, ingredient transparency, medical logic, and scientific backing. Whether you're a skeptic or someone searching for answers, we'll break down what happens when actual users put Audifort to the test-so you can decide for yourself.How Audifort Aims to Restore Hearing and Ease Tinnitus NaturallyUnlike conventional approaches that focus on masking noise or dulling perception, Audifort's strategy centers on long-term healing and neurological recalibration. Traditional solutions such as sound therapy, medications, or hearing devices often treat tinnitus symptoms without addressing the deeper, biological triggers. Audifort, however, sets its sights on correcting the underlying dysfunctions in nerve signaling and blood flow that may be fueling the phantom noise.At its core, Audifort is designed to calm the hyperactive signals in the auditory processing centers of the brain-the very mechanism many researchers believe causes the ringing known as tinnitus.Support for Auditory Nerve RepairA central focus of Audifort's formula is the regeneration and protection of the auditory nerve pathways. Long-term exposure to inflammation, environmental toxins, and oxidative stress can interfere with the synaptic communication between the ear and the brain. This breakdown can cause the brain to misinterpret signal gaps as high-pitched ringing. Audifort is packed with neuroprotective compounds that aim to restore this delicate nerve network and facilitate clearer auditory transmission.Enhanced Circulation to the Inner EarAnother key mechanism lies in improving microcirculation to the inner ear, particularly the cochlea. Several of Audifort's plant-based ingredients, such as Hawthorn Berry and Ginkgo Biloba, have been shown to act as natural vasodilators. This means they help widen blood vessels, enhance oxygen flow, and carry away cellular waste-critical functions for maintaining healthy ear structures like the stereocilia, which play a major role in sound detection.Reducing NeuroinflammationEmerging studies increasingly link chronic inflammation in the auditory system to tinnitus and progressive hearing decline. Elevated cytokine levels in the auditory cortex can disrupt normal sound processing. Audifort includes anti-inflammatory flavonoids and antioxidants that may help soothe inflammation within the brain and ear, allowing the body's own healing mechanisms to rebalance and repair.Rather than offer a quick fix, Audifort positions itself as a gradual auditory restoration supplement-working to reverse the deeper biological imbalances that short-term tools can't address. By combining nerve support, anti-inflammatory action, and improved blood flow, Audifort may provide relief where conventional options have fallen short (Verified).>>Compare Audifort's Research-Backed Ingredients With Other OptionsAudifort Safety Overview 2025: What Real Users and Medical Experts Are ReportingOne of the key reasons the Audifort supplement is gaining momentum in 2025 is its clean safety profile and natural approach to hearing support. While many tinnitus remedies on the market-especially online-come with questionable ingredients or side effects, Audifort offers a non-invasive, plant-based formula backed by solid quality standards and safety checks.No Notable Side Effects Reported by the Majority of UsersMost users report no adverse reactions whatsoever while taking Audifort. In fact, several note pleasant side benefits like deeper sleep, steadier energy levels, and reduced stress-likely tied to the supplement's effects on blood circulation and nervous system balance. Unlike synthetic drugs, there are no widespread complaints of headaches, nausea, dizziness, or sleep disruption.Stimulant-Free & Non-AddictiveAudifort contains no caffeine, artificial stimulants, or harsh compounds. It won't trigger restlessness, nervousness, or withdrawal symptoms. This makes it safe for evening use and suitable for those sensitive to stimulants. It's calming, nervous-system-friendly formula supports relaxation rather than artificial alertness.Free from Ototoxic IngredientsMany prescription drugs-including some antibiotics and NSAIDs-are known to be ototoxic, meaning they can harm the ears over time. Audifort is completely free of these compounds. Every ingredient is selected with hearing health in mind, aiming to preserve and nourish auditory function, not damage it.Clinically Backed Ingredients with Audiologist ApprovalKey components like Ginkgo Biloba, Zinc, and Magnesium are not only natural but also widely recognized by audiologists and integrative doctors for their neuroprotective and cochlear-supportive properties. These compounds have shown effectiveness in studies involving both animals and humans for improving ear health and circulation.Made in the USA with Strict Quality ControlsAudifort is manufactured in FDA-registered and GMP-certified facilities, ensuring each batch meets rigorous standards for purity and safety. All capsules are tested for contaminants, heavy metals, and potency, unlike many mass-produced supplements sold through third-party retailers that often skip thorough testing.Generally Safe with Most MedicationsThanks to its gentle, botanical formulation, Audifort is typically safe to take alongside common medications like those for blood pressure, sleep, and cholesterol. However, individuals with complex medical conditions or multiple prescriptions are still advised to check with a healthcare provider for personalized guidance.In summary, the Audifort formula appears to deliver hearing and neurological support without sacrificing saf PR-Inside.com: 2025-08-08 18:30:51 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 394 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 NEW YORK CITY, NY / ACCESS Newswire / August 8, 2025 / Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America ("Allianz Life") recently disclosed that it suffered a data breach that compromised the sensitive personal data of individuals. This data breach has led to concerns over the security of sensitive personal information entrusted to Allianz Life.WHAT'S THIS ABOUT?On July 16, 2025, Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America ("Allianz Life") detected unauthorized access to a third-party, cloud-based CRM system used by Allianz Life. The breach compromised the personal information of most of its 1.4 million customers, along with some financial professionals and employees.The impacted data may include names and other personal identifiers.An investigation with cybersecurity experts followed, and Allianz Life filed notice of the breach with the Maine Attorney General on July 25, 2025. Allianz Life will begin mailing notice letters on August 1, 2025, to impacted individuals. Compensation may be available for individuals who receive notice that their sensitive personal information was compromised.WHY YOU MAY BE ENTITLED TO COMPENSATION?Data breaches are serious matters that can cause long-term damage. Hackers may use stolen information to commit identity theft, financial fraud, or other crimes. Companies that fail to secure your personal data may be held liable for the resulting harm.HOW DO I KNOW IF I WAS AFFECTED?If you received a data breach notification letter or email from Allianz Life, you are likely to be affected. Follow the link below to find out if you may be eligible for compensation.Levi & Korsinsky, LLP is investigating whether affected individuals are entitled to compensation. There is no cost or obligation to participate. Follow the link below to find out:Levi & Korsinsky, LLP is a nationally recognized consumer advocacy law firm that has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars against large corporations. The firm's team of over 70 extraordinary attorneys and professionals have a winning track record going against the most powerful defense attorneys in the world and know how to maximize your compensation. Our firm works on a 100% contingency fee basis - you pay nothing unless we win your case! Visit our website to learn more. Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.CONTACT: Levi & Korsinsky, LLPJoseph E. Levi, Esq.Ed Korsinsky, Esq.33 Whitehall Street, 17th FloorNew York, NY 10004 jlevi@ levikorsinsky.com Tel: (212) 363-7500Fax: (212) 363-7171 https://zlk.com/ SOURCE: Levi & Korsinsky, LLP PR-Inside.com: 2025-08-08 18:22:08 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 361 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 NEW YORK CITY, NY / ACCESS Newswire / August 8, 2025 / PDI Health recently discovered that it suffered a data breach that compromised the sensitive personal and protected health data of individuals. This data breach has led to concerns over the security of sensitive personal and protected health information entrusted to PDI Health.WHAT'S THIS ABOUT?On May 14, 2025, PDI Health discovered a security breach involving its internal systems. An unauthorized party accessed and extracted sensitive data, compromising patient records. The impacted data may include names, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, billing information, electronic medical records (EMRs), test results, and medical history.The ransomware group Everest claimed responsibility for the attack on the dark web. Compensation may be available for those individuals who receive notice that their sensitive personal information was compromised.WHY YOU MAY BE ENTITLED TO COMPENSATION?Data breaches are serious matters that can cause long-term damage. Hackers may use stolen information to commit identity theft, financial fraud, or other crimes. Companies that fail to secure your personal data may be held liable for the resulting harm.HOW DO I KNOW IF I WAS AFFECTED?If you received a data breach notification letter from PDI Health, you are likely to be affected. Follow the link below to find out if you may be eligible for compensation.Levi & Korsinsky, LLP is investigating whether affected individuals are entitled to compensation. There is no cost or obligation to participate. Follow the link below to find out:Levi & Korsinsky, LLP is a nationally recognized consumer advocacy law firm that has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars against large corporations. The firm's team of over 70 extraordinary attorneys and professionals have a winning track record going against the most powerful defense attorneys in the world and know how to maximize your compensation. Our firm works on a 100% contingency fee basis - you pay nothing unless we win your case! Visit our website to learn more.Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.CONTACT: Levi & Korsinsky, LLPJoseph E. Levi, Esq.Ed Korsinsky, Esq.33 Whitehall Street, 17th FloorNew York, NY 10004 jlevi@ levikorsinsky.com Tel: (212) 363-7500Fax: (212) 363-7171 https://zlk.com/ SOURCE: Levi & Korsinsky, LLP PR-Inside.com: 2025-08-08 13:47:30 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 296 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 NEW YORK, NY / ACCESS Newswire / August 8, 2025 / Levi & Korsinsky notifies investors that it has commenced an investigation of Otis Worldwide Corporation ("Otis Worldwide Corporation") (NYSE:OTIS) concerning possible violations of federal securities laws.On July 23, 2025, Otis reported its second quarter fiscal 2025 earnings, unveiling net sales for the quarter of $3.6 billion that fell below analysts' expectations for $3.71 billion. Management noted that new-equipment sales declined 10%, worse than the market feared, in the quarter, triggering the company to reduce their annual guidance from $14.6 - $14.8 billion down to $14.5 - $14.6 billion in the second quarter. While the Company largely blamed the setback on challenges in China, in which new equipment sales fell 20% in the quarter, declines were also seen in the Americas and Asia Pacific.Following this news, Otis' stock price fell by $12.79 per share to open at $88.20 per share. To obtain additional information, go to:or contact Joseph E. Levi, Esq. either via email at jlevi@ levikorsinsky.com or by telephone at (212)363-7500.WHY LEVI & KORSINSKY: Over the past 20 years, Levi & Korsinsky LLP has established itself as a nationally-recognized securities litigation firm that has secured hundreds of millions of dollars for aggrieved shareholders and built a track record of winning high-stakes cases. The firm has extensive expertise representing investors in complex securities litigation and a team of over 70 employees to serve our clients. For seven years in a row, Levi & Korsinsky has ranked in ISS Securities Class Action Services' Top 50 Report as one of the top securities litigation firms in the United States. Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.CONTACT: Levi & Korsinsky, LLPJoseph E. Levi, Esq.Ed Korsinsky, Esq.33 Whitehall Street, 17th FloorNew York, NY 10004 jlevi@ levikorsinsky.com Tel: (212)363-7500 Fax: (212)363-7171 https://zlk.com/ SOURCE: Levi & Korsinsky, LLP PR-Inside.com: 2025-08-08 23:01:31 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 935 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 NEW YORK CITY, NY / ACCESS Newswire / August 8, 2025 / Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against CTO Realty Growth, Inc. ("CTO" or the "Company") (NYSE:CTO) and certain officers. The class action, filed in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida, and docketed under 25-cv-01516, is on behalf of a class consisting of all persons and entities other than Defendants that purchased or otherwise acquired CTO securities between February 18, 2021 and June 24, 2025, both dates inclusive (the "Class Period"), seeking to recover damages caused by Defendants' violations of the federal securities laws and to pursue remedies under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder, against the Company and certain of its top officials.If you are an investor who purchased or otherwise acquired CTO securities during the Class Period, you have until October 7, 2025, to ask the Court to appoint you as Lead Plaintiff for the class. A copy of the Complaint can be obtained at www.pomerantzlaw.com . To discuss this action, contact Danielle Peyton at newaction@ pomlaw.com or 646-581-9980 (or 888.4-POMLAW), toll-free, Ext. 7980. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address, telephone number, and the number of shares purchased.[Click here for information about joining the class action]CTO is a publicly traded real estate investment trust ("REIT") that owns and operates a portfolio of purported high-quality, retail-based properties located primarily in higher growth markets in the United States ("U.S."). The Company converted into a REIT in February 2021 and, as of December 31, 2024, owned 23 income properties in seven states, including Ashford Lane, a retail and dining center in Atlanta, Georgia.Under guidelines established by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), REITs must pay out at least 90% of their taxable profits to shareholders annually as dividends. In return, REIT companies are exempt from most corporate income tax. CTO has touted that its operation as a REIT "provides the tax-efficient organizational structure for [its] stockholders" that "will allow [it] to provide them with an attractive and sustainable dividend." To measure its performance, CTO uses the financial metric Adjusted Funds from Operations ("AFFO"). The AFFO of a REIT, though subject to varying methods of computation, is generally equal to the REIT's funds from operations with adjustments made for recurring capital expenditures (also referred to as "capex") used to maintain the quality of the REIT's underlying assets. Professional analysts tend to prefer AFFO because it takes into consideration additional costs incurred by the REIT as well as additional income sources, such as rent increases. Thus, analysts believe that AFFO provides for a more accurate base number when estimating present values and a better predictor of the REIT's future ability to pay dividends.The Complaint alleges that, throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company's business, operations, and compliance policies. Specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) CTO's dividends were less sustainable than Defendants had led investors to believe; (ii) the Company used deceptive and unsustainable practices to artificially inflate its AFFO and overstate the true profitability of its Ashford Lane property; (iii) accordingly, CTO's business and/or financial prospects were overstated; and (iv) as a result, Defendants' public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.On June 25, 2025, Wolfpack Research ("Wolfpack") published a report entitled "CTO: The B. Riley of REITs" (the "Wolfpack Report" or the "Report"), which compared CTO unfavorably to B. Riley, a financial services company that recently lost more than 90% of its value amid three years of losses, soured investments, delayed financial reports and revelations that the SEC had been investigating whether the firm gave shareholders an accurate picture of its health. Citing interviews with former employees and whistleblowers, the Wolfpack Report accused CTO of, among other things, "not generating enough cash to pay its recurring capex and cover its dividends since converting to a REIT in 2021" and instead "relying on dilution (increasing shares outstanding by 70% since December 2022) to cover a $38 million dividend shortfall from 2021 to 2024," employing a "manipulative definition of [AFFO] where they exclude recurring capex, unlike all of their self-identified shopping center REIT peers," and "using a sham loan to hide the collapse of a top tenant from shareholders at Ashford Lane." (Emphasis in original).Further, Wolfpack predicted imminent further dilution of the Company, noting that CTO has just $8.4 million in cash while facing quarterly dividends of $14 million and average recurring capital expenditures of $5.7 million per quarter, along with approximately $12 million in additional planned capital expenditures.On this news, CTO's stock price fell $0.98 per share, or 5.42%, to close at $17.10 per share on June 25, 2025.Pomerantz LLP, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, London, Paris, and Tel Aviv, is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, Pomerantz pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 85 years later, Pomerantz continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered billions of dollars in damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomlaw.com Attorney advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.SOURCE: Pomerantz LLP PR-Inside.com: 2025-08-08 02:30:37 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 627 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 NEW YORK CITY, NY / ACCESS Newswire / August 7, 2025 /WHY: New York, N.Y., August 7, 2025. Rosen Law Firm, a global investor rights law firm, announces the filing of a class action lawsuit on behalf of purchasers of securities of Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) between May 7, 2025 and July 28, 2025, both dates inclusive (the "Class Period"). A class action lawsuit has already been filed. If you wish to serve as lead plaintiff, you must move the Court no later than September 30, 2025.SO WHAT: If you purchased Novo Nordisk 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 Novo Nordisk class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=34168or 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 September 30, 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. 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, defendants provided overwhelmingly positive statements to investors while, at the same time, disseminating materially false and misleading statements and/or concealing material adverse facts concerning the true state of Novo Nordisk's growth potential. Notably, Novo Nordisk's asserted potential to capitalize on the compounded market greatly understated the potential impact of the personalization exception to the compounded GLP-1 exclusion and overstated the likelihood that such patients would switch to Novo Nordisk's branded alternatives. Further, defendants greatly overstated the potential GLP-1 market or otherwise, Novo's capability to penetrate said markets to achieve continued growth. When the true details entered the market, the lawsuit claims that investors suffered damages.To join the Novo Nordisk class action, go to https://rosenlegal.com/submit-form/?case_id=34168 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 investor's ability to share in any potential future recovery is not dependent upon serving as lead plaintiff.Follow us for updates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-rosen-law-firm , on Twitter: https://twitter.com/rosen_firm or on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rosenlawfirm/ Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.---Contact Information:Laurence Rosen, Esq.Phillip Kim, Esq.The Rosen Law Firm, P.A.275 Madison Avenue, 40th FloorNew York, NY 10016Tel: (212) 686-1060Toll Free: (866) 767-3653Fax: (212) 202-3827 case@ rosenlegal.comwww.rosenlegal.com SOURCE: The Rosen Law Firm, P.A. PR-Inside.com: 2025-08-08 18:30:17 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 608 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 Top Plastic Surgeons and Cosmetic Surgeons In Washington StateSEATTLE, WA / ACCESS Newswire / August 8, 2025 / More patients than ever are turning to Seattle's top cosmetic surgeons, latest techniques, and natural-looking results to refine their appearance. With this, selecting the right surgeon becomes important, requiring proven skill, aesthetic vision, and impeccable safety standards. Our vetted selection lists Seattle's finest plastic and cosmetic surgeons, specializing in both minimally invasive and transformative procedures, ensuring safety, precision, and exceptional aesthetic results.1. Dr. Javad Sajan: Breast Augmentation & Tummy TuckWorld-renowned plastic surgeon Dr. Javad Sajan sets the standard in breast augmentation and tummy tuck procedures. Known for his precise attention to detail, Dr. Sajan carefully evaluates each patient's unique anatomy and goals to identify the optimal implant size. He employs advanced, minimally invasive techniques such as transaxillary incisions that significantly reduce scarring, minimize postoperative discomfort, and accelerate the healing process, ensuring patients enjoy exceptional and natural-looking outcomes.2. Dr. Craig Jonov: Breast Lift & Breast ReductionWhen addressing concerns like sagging or overly large breasts, Dr. Craig Jonov is an expert at both breast lift and reduction procedures. Known for his ability to modify each surgery to the individual, Dr. Jonov executes various techniques that help maintain fullness where desired and minimize scarring as much as possible. His attentive care ensures outcomes harmonizing beautifully with patients' desired results while prioritizing their comfort, well-being, and physical comfort.3. Dr. David Santos: Deep Plane Facelift & Neck LiftDr. David Santos has distinguished himself through highly specialized training in facial plastic surgery, including prestigious fellowships and leadership roles as a Medical Director. His pioneering work includes employing local anesthesia for facelift procedures, which may lessen side effects and accelerate healing. Dr. Santos's proficiency in deep plane facelifts and neck lifts enables him to deliver long-lasting, natural rejuvenation for patients seeking facial refinement.4. Dr. Philip Young: Surgical Acne Scarring & Fat Transfer to the FaceWith more than two decades of experience and an award-winning theory on facial beauty, Dr. Philip Young addresses a broad range of aesthetic facial concerns. One of his most notable contributions is a single-session surgical technique for treating acne scarring, potentially eliminating the need for multiple procedures. This 7-12 step process can tackle various scar types, from ice pick to boxcar, and even raised scars, offering a comprehensive solution for long-term improvement.5. Dr. Tarak Patel: Body Lift & LiposuctionWith over twenty years of experience in body lift and liposuction, Dr. Tarak Patel combines surgical finesse and a solid understanding of anatomical form, developed during his early career as an Army surgeon. His comprehensive knowledge of body aesthetics enables him to deliver balanced, natural results tailored to each individual. Patients frequently highlight Dr. Patel's reassuring presence and thoughtful approach, making them feel supported at every stage of their aesthetic journey.6. Dr. Ludwig Allegra: Mommy Makeover & OtoplastyFor more than 30 years, Dr. Ludwig Allegra has devoted himself to providing high-end cosmetic surgery solutions. His approach to mommy makeovers includes comprehensive pre-operative planning, often using imaging tools, to tailor procedures to each patient's unique physique. Dr. Allegra also specializes in otoplasty (ear pinning), helping individuals of all ages overcome insecurities by adjusting the shape and prominence of the ears to enhance overall facial balance.Note: This press release is intended for informational use only and should not be regarded as a substitute for medical guidance. Seek the advice of a licensed physician for any questions or concerns related to healthcare and medical treatment.realdrseattle(RDS)RDS is a technology company dedicated to developing innovative healthcare applications for providers and medical systems, streamlining care delivery through advanced solutions.Media Contact:Phone: (206) 787-0784 Website: www.realdrseattle.comEmail:tylerbirch@realdrseattle.com SOURCE: Realdrseattle PR-Inside.com: 2025-08-08 22:30:10 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 1035 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 THIS NEWS RELEASE IS NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATESVANCOUVER, BC / ACCESS Newswire / August 8, 2025 / Stillwater Critical Minerals Corp. (TSXV:PGE)(OTCQB:PGEZF)(FSE:J0G), (the "Company", or "Stillwater") is pleased to announce that as a result of increased demand, the follow-on non-brokered private placement financing previously announced on July 15, 2025 and upsized on July 28, 2025 will be further upsized by an additional 210,038 units at a price of C$0.23 per unit (each, a "Unit") for gross proceeds of an additional C$43,308.74, and an aggregate total of 1,856,418 Units for aggregate gross proceeds of C$426,976.14(the "Additional Offering"), with each Unit consisting of one common share of the Company and one-half of one common share purchase warrant, and each whole warrant entitling the holder thereof to purchase one common share at a price of C$0.34 for a period of thirty-six (36) months from the date of issuance.The Additional Offering follows the closing of the C$7 million brokered LIFE offering (the "LIFE Offering"), which was announced on July 15, 2025, and is anticipated to include directors and/or officers of the Company, among others. The Additional Offering is expected to complete concurrently with the Glencore Offering (as defined below).Glencore Canada Corporation ("Glencore"), a subsidiary of Glencore plc, has indicated that it intends to exercise its participation rights pursuant to the investor rights agreement between Glencore and the Company dated May 1, 2024, to acquire 6,000,000Units at a price of C$0.23 per Unit for gross proceeds of C$1,380,000 in connection with the LIFE Offering and the Additional Offering (the "Glencore Offering" and together with the Additional Offering, the "Offerings").It is anticipated that certain directors and/or officers of the Company will acquire Units under the Additional Offering. Such acquisitions and Glencore's exercise of its participation rights and acquisition of Units will constitute "related party transactions" within the meaning of Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101"). The Company intends to rely on the exemptions from the formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements of MI 61-101 contained in sections 5.5(a) and 5.7(1)(a) of MI 61-101 in respect of the Offerings due to the fair market value of the related party participation being below 25% of the Company's market capitalization for purposes of MI 61-101. The Company will file a material change report in respect of the Offerings. However, the material change report will be filed less than 21 days prior to the closing of the Offerings, as insider participation has yet to be confirmed and the Company wishes to close the Offerings as expeditiously as possible.The securities sold pursuant to the Offerings will not be issued in reliance on the Listed Issuer Financing Exemption and will be subject to a hold period of four months and one day from the closing of such offering. No finders' fees are payable on any portion of the Offerings. Closing of the Offerings is subject to certain customary conditions, including, but not limited to, the receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals and the acceptance of the TSX Venture Exchange (the "TSXV").The Company intends to use the net proceeds of the Offerings for the exploration and advancement of the Company's flagship Stillwater West Ni-PGE-Cu-Co+Au project in the Stillwater mining district in Montana, U.S., for a lesser exploration program at its Kluane critical minerals project in Yukon, Canada, and for general corporate purposes and working capital.The Offerings are scheduled to close on or around August 12, 2025 and remains subject to the final acceptance of the TSXV.This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of any of the securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful, including 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, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act") or any U.S. state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, U.S. persons, absent registration or any applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable U.S. state securities laws.About Stillwater Critical Minerals Corp. Stillwater Critical Minerals (TSXV:PGE)(OTCQB:PGEZF)(FSE:J0G) is a resource-stage mineral exploration company focused on its flagship Stillwater West Ni-PGE-Cu-Co + Au project in the iconic and famously productive Stillwater mining district in Montana, USA. With the addition of two renowned Bushveld and Platreef geologists to the team and strategic investments by Glencore plc, the Company is well positioned to advance the next phase of large-scale critical mineral supply from this world-class American district, building on past production of nickel, copper, and chromium, and the on-going production of platinum group, nickel, and other metals by neighboring Sibanye Stillwater. An expanded NI 43-101 mineral resource estimate, released January 2023, positions Stillwater West with the largest nickel-platinum group element resource in an active U.S. mining district as part of a compelling suite of ten minerals now listed as critical in the USA.Stillwater also holds a 49% interest in the high-grade Drayton-Black Lake gold project adjacent to NexGold Mining's development-stage Goliath Gold Complex in northwest Ontario, currently under an earn-in agreement with Heritage Mining, and the Kluane PGE-Ni-Cu-Co critical minerals project on trend with Nickel Creek Platinum's Wellgreen deposit in Canada's Yukon Territory. The Company also holds the Duke Island Cu-Ni-PGE property in Alaska and maintains a back-in right on the high-grade past-producing Yankee-Dundee mine in BC.FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:Michael Rowley, President, CEO & Director - Stillwater Critical MineralsEmail: info@ criticalminerals.com Phone: (604) 357 4790Web: https://criticalminerals.com Toll Free: (888) 432 0075Forward-Looking StatementsThis news release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts including, without limitation, statements regarding potential mineralization, historic production, estimation of mineral resources, interpretation of prior exploration and potential PR-Inside.com: 2025-08-08 17:30:32 Press Information Published by ACCESSWIRE News Network 888.952.4446 e-mail http://www.accesswire.com # 724 Words ACCESSWIRE News Network888.952.4446 BOSTON, MA / ACCESS Newswire / August 8, 2025 / An antitrust class action lawsuit filed today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts accuses some of the nation's most prestigious colleges and universities of participating in an illegal conspiracy to inflate the cost of higher education through the collective enforcement of Early Decision admissions policies.The complaint, filed by three students and a recent graduate, names as defendants 32 elite colleges and universities, two major college application platforms, and a private, highly secretive membership-only organization of private liberal arts colleges and universities, whose stated purpose is to share admissions and financial aid information among its members.Under Early Decision, students must agree to attend a specific institution if admitted, forfeiting the ability to consider competing offers or compare financial aid packages. The lawsuit alleges that schools that participate in the Early Decision scheme entered into a coordinated agreement not to recruit or admit students accepted through Early Decision elsewhere despite their shared understanding that Early Decision offers are not legally binding.According to Jude Robinson, a named plaintiff and current Vassar College student, "It does not seem fair that, in order to put my chances of admission on a level playing field with my peers, I had to give up the right to compare the cost of attendance at different schools. I thought I would get more financial aid than I did, but I never got a chance to weigh other options." The students allege that under the current Early Decision system, the colleges lock Early Decision candidates into commitments before they can see the price of attendance. These commitments, which the schools misleadingly present as binding agreements, prevent students from weighing their options and seeing what competing institutions might offer in financial support. This allows the schools to charge higher prices and disproportionately harms students from middle- and lower-income families."Early Decision is widely recognized to be unfair and harmful to students, even by the schools themselves," said Edward Diver, partner at Langer Grogan & Diver P.C., which represents the plaintiffs. "It's also a textbook antitrust violation-a horizontal agreement between competing schools not to compete." In addition to 32 named colleges and universities-including Columbia University, Cornell University, Duke University, and the University of Pennsylvania-defendants include the Consortium on Financing Higher Education (COFHE), Common Application Inc., and Scoir Inc., which operates the Coalition App. The students allege that these entities facilitated the information sharing and policy coordination among the school defendants, which contributed to artificially inflated tuition and suppressed financial aid."Early Decision applicants lose choice and negotiation leverage, while Regular Decision applicants are left to scramble for an artificially diminished number of admission slots doled out at lower acceptance rates. We contend that all of this is only made possible by an agreement not to compete that violates bedrock antitrust law," said Benjamin Brown, co-chair of the Antitrust practice and managing partner at Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC, who also represents the plaintiffs.The antitrust class action seeks an injunction to end the use of binding Early Decision, past damages for students forced to pay more than they would have, and broad structural reforms in how colleges conduct admissions and deliver financial aid going forward."At a time when higher education is more expensive than ever, learning of this scheme among elite schools and organizations was disheartening," said Alayna D'Amico, a recent graduate of Wesleyan University and named plaintiff. "I hope this lawsuit puts an end to practices that hurt hardworking students and families." The students are represented by Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll and Langer Grogan & Diver. The case name isD'Amico, et al. v. Consortium on Financing Higher Education, et al.###About Langer Grogan & Diver P.C.Langer Grogan & Diver P.C. is a Philadelphia-based litigation boutique focusing on antitrust, consumer fraud, trials and appeals, and high-stakes commercial disputes. For more information visit https://www.langergrogan.com About Cohen Milstein Sellers & TollCohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC, a premier U.S. plaintiffs' law firm, with over 100 attorneys across eight offices, champions the causes of real people-workers, consumers, small business owners, investors, and whistleblowers-working to deliver corporate reforms and fair markets for the common good. For more information visit https://www.cohenmilstein.com Press Contact: cohenmilstein@ berlinrosen.com SOURCE: Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC Tensions are escalating. Colombian President Gustavo Petro doubled down on Thursday on his territorial claim to an island in the Amazon River that has emerged as a source of conflict in a border dispute with Peru. Colombia does not recognize Perus sovereignty over the so-called Santa Rosa Island and does not recognize the de facto authorities in that enclave, he proclaimed before a small crowd of supporters, officials, and pro-government congressmembers. The president had moved the commemorations of the Battle of Boyaca from the site of the battle where Simon Bolivar sealed Colombias independence in 1819 to the border port of Leticia, about 1,000 kilometers south. From this Amazonian border city, which is hosting the Colombian national holiday for the first time, the president emphasized that he was reading a diplomatic declaration as head of state on the date that also marks the third of his four years in power. In response, Peruvian Prime Minister Eduardo Arana announced a visit to the disputed island that same day. The two events, separated by just a few hours and a couple of kilometers, underscore the importance awarded by both governments in recent days to a dispute that had been dormant for years. The Colombian president, who has adopted a campaign-style tone for the final stretch of his four-year term, gave his speech a nationalist twist by resurfacing a long-standing dispute that arose around 1970, decades after the boundary treaties signed a century ago. Islands have emerged north of the current deepest line [of the Amazon River], and the Peruvian government has simply appropriated them by law and placed the capital of a municipality on land that, by treaty, should belong to Colombia, Petro tweeted on Tuesday, announcing the unprecedented transfer of the independence celebrations to Leticia, in the far south of the country and on the triple border with Peru and Brazil. Of course rivers change, because they are alive, because the planet is in flux, Petro reaffirmed this Thursday. The river has changed, and the treaty foresaw it, he asserted. The treaty has not been complied with, Peru violated it. Santa Rosa, with some 3,000 inhabitants who consider themselves to be Peruvian, is getting physically closer to the Colombian coast. The Colombian Foreign Ministry maintains that the island was never formally awarded to Peru, and that the territories established on the river since the treaties of 1922 and 1929 must undergo a mutually agreed-upon allocation process. At stake is Leticias direct access to the Amazon, at risk due to changes in the course of the worlds largest river. The Peruvian government has seized territory that belongs to Colombia, Petro insisted. The crisis has taken Dina Boluartes administration by surprise. Peru has expressed its strong protest over the remarks of a leader who often conducts diplomacy through the social platform X, his preferred communication channel. For the Peruvian Foreign Ministry, there is no debate: Santa Rosa was born from another island, Chineria, which the treaties awarded to Peru. Therefore, the ministry asserts, Peru has every right to create a new municipality or district there. This territorial constituency is under the sovereignty and jurisdiction of our country, said the ministry in a press release. The town of Santa Rosa has always functioned as part of Peru. With around 3,000 inhabitants, it is home to public institutions such as the police, the National Bank, and customs, as well as a school and a hospital. The main branch of the river once flowed between it and Leticia, a substantially larger town with a population of around 55,000. However, in recent years, changes in the tributary have caused the waterflow there to decrease, to the point that various authorities and experts fear the port will cease to function and Colombia will lose its connection to the Amazon. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAIS USA Edition Santa Rosa Island is not the only new formation in the river since Colombia and Peru defined their boundaries. After a war between 1930 and 1932 over demarcation, the countries agreed that a binational commission would resolve any future differences. This has not happened, despite changes in the two rivers that serve as their border (the Putumayo, further west). Last year, tensions escalated during the Amazonian Confraternity Festival in Leticia. In front of Peruvian authorities, the director of Territorial Sovereignty of the Colombian Foreign Ministry spoke of an occupation of the island, Lima sent a note of protest, and Bogota apologized. Peru then took a step toward strengthening its sovereignty by enacting a law creating Santa Rosa as a district of the Loreto region. For Oscar Vidarte, an internationalist and professor at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, this was a reaction to last years crisis. The creation of the district seeks to give greater legitimacy to the claim and strengthen the island against any Colombian claim, he notes. Relations between the two countries have been tense since December 2022, to the point that Petro has deemed President Boluarte illegitimate. He argues that his predecessor, Pedro Castillo, improperly left officeremoved after an episode widely considered by other countries to be a self-coup. Petro considered the decision a coup detat and recalled his ambassador; Boluarte, who relied on right-wing sectors, denounced interference and took the same measure. Since then, diplomatic delegations have been led by charges daffaires. Last May, Boluarte left Petro holding his hand at Daniel Noboas inauguration ceremony as Ecuadors president. For this latest chapter in the deterioration of relations, Petro was flanked by several ministers from a cabinet undergoing constant reshuffle. They included Interior Minister Armando Benedetti, who has been a spokesperson for the unexpected crisis with Peru; acting Foreign Minister Rosa Villavicencio; and Defense Minister, retired General Pedro Sanchez. He was also accompanied by Vice President Francia Marquez, despite their public estrangement. Differences that can be put aside when national sovereignty is on the table. The Dangote Petroleum Refinery has dismissed recent reports alleging a shutdown of its operations. The companys Group Chief Branding and Communications Officer, Anthony Chiejina, in a statement on Friday night, made this known in reaction to a report alleging that the company resumed petrol sale after a one-week suspension. In his statement, Mr Chiejina denied claims that truck loading has been suspended or that production had been interrupted. The refinery reassured the public and market stakeholders that its activities remain fully active and stable. The Dangote Petroleum Refinery is fully operational. There has been no shutdown, nor has there been any suspension of truck loading activities, the statement said. Mr Chiejina explained that the intermittent sale of Residual Catalytic Oil (RCO) is part of normal business operations, often involving large parcel sales, which explains the recent fuel oil tender. He added that the Dangote Refinery consistently supplies over 40 million litres of petrol daily, alongside steady volumes of Automotive Gas Oil (AGO). These supplies, he said, continue unabated, despite speculation suggesting otherwise. As the worlds largest single-train petroleum refinery, the facility employs advanced predictive and preventive maintenance protocols to ensure uninterrupted operations. Routine maintenance activities are standard and do not impact the overall fuel supply, it said. In response to speculation about potential supply shortages and price increases, Mr Chiejina challenged those sponsoring the rumour to place orders for daily deliveries of up to 40 million litres of petrol and 15 million litres of diesel for the next 90 days. To those who believe this misinformation and anticipate a bullish market, we extend a challenge: We invite interested buyers to place immediate orders for up to 40 million litres of Premium Motor Spirit daily and 15 million litres of AGO daily, for the next 90 days. The refinery reaffirmed its commitment to transparency and Nigerias energy security, urging the public to disregard unfounded rumours sponsored by unscrupulous and unpatriotic individuals seeking to undermine the countrys energy independence. For their own selfish interests, including the importation of substandard fuels under the false pretext of domestic supply shortages, the statement said. The 650,000-barrel-per-day Dangote Petroleum Refinery commenced diesel and aviation fuel production in January 2024. In September 2024, the refinery announced it had begun the processing of petrol, with the aim of ending Nigerias reliance on imported refined petroleum products and boosting the nations energy security. Hours after the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) announced plans to blacklist Fuji music legend, Wasiu Ayinde Marshal, popularly known as Kwam 1, the agency has now called for his prosecution. PREMIUM TIMES reported that NCAAs Director of Consumer Protection, Michael Achimugu, stated during an event in Abuja that Kwam 1 was not above the law and would be held accountable for allegedly breaching aviation regulations and disrupting airline operations. In a statement signed by its spokesperson, Obiageli Orah, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) alleged that the 68-year-old musician committed the offence while boarding a ValueJet Airlines morning flight (Flight VK 201) to Lagos. The incident sparked mixed reactions among Nigerians. Petition However, on Thursday night, the NCAA, through a statement issued by Mr Achimugu, disclosed that it has petitioned the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Lateef Fagbemi, and the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun. The NCAA urged the AGF and the IGP to launch a thorough investigation into the incident involving Kwam 1 and domestic carrier ValueJet. The statement partly read: According to preliminary reports, during a scheduled ValueJet flight VK201, K1 De Ultimate was allegedly involved in actions that violate the Nigerian Civil Aviation regulations. While full details of the incident are still being compiled, the NCAA has emphasised the importance of upholding aviation safety standards and ensuring accountability, regardless of the parties involved. In a letter addressed to both the Attorney-General and the Inspector-General of Police, the NCAA called for a comprehensive criminal investigation and the initiation of appropriate prosecution in accordance with the provisions of the Nigeria Civil Aviation regulations (Nig. CARs) 2023 supra and all other applicable laws. No-Fly List The agency added that the Director-General of Civil Aviation, Captain Chris Najomo, has issued an advisory to the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), urging them to immediately consider placing Kwam 1 on a no-fly list for all commercial flights, pending the outcome of official investigations. According to the NCAA, the advisory aligns with international aviation standards, which place a premium on the safety of passengers, crew, and overall airline operations. The NCAA reiterates its commitment to ensuring that no individual, regardless of their status or public image, undermines the integrity of our aviation industry, as passengers are held to the same standards of behaviour and compliance within Nigerias airspace. Further updates will be provided as investigations progress, the statement added. Backstory The call for prosecution followed the Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, Festus Keyamos condemnation of the musicians actions as unacceptable. It stressed the need for him and others involved to face appropriate sanctions. This newspaper earlier reported that Mr Keyamo described the altercation as a temporary loss of sanity and control on both sides. It warned that such conduct could easily have resulted in a tragic incident. The minister said video footage showed the 68-year-old musician repeatedly obstructing a commercial aircraft from taxiing to the runway. He also faulted the aircrafts captain and pilot for proceeding to taxi without confirming that the tarmac was clear. Meanwhile, this newspaper earlier reported that the NCAA, the countrys primary civil aviation regulator, suspended two ValueJet pilots in response to the incident. NCAA said the pilots violated established safety protocols at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja. The affected pilots were Captain Oluranti Ogoyi and First Officer Ivan Oloba. Fuji music legend, Wasiu Ayinde Marshal, popularly known as KWAM 1, has finally apologised for allegedly breaching aviation regulations and disrupting airline operations. PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported that the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), in a statement signed by its spokesperson, Obiageli Orah, accused the 68-year-old musician of misconduct while boarding ValueJet Airlines morning service (Flight VK 201) to Lagos. According to FAAN, KWAM 1, a close associate of President Bola Tinubu, brought an alcoholic beverage onto the commercial flight. A flight attendant reminded him that alcohol consumption is prohibited on domestic flights in Nigeria, which allegedly led to an altercation between them. The incident has since generated considerable public debate. In an earlier statement issued Wednesday night through his spokesperson, Kunle Rasheed, KWAM 1 dismissed the allegations as exaggerated and misleading. He claimed that FAAN, the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), and ValueJet apologised to him and even offered him a private flight, which he said he declined. However, in a follow-up statement personally signed by the musician and posted on Mr Rasheeds Facebook page on Friday, KWAM 1 tendered an apology to Nigerians and the concerned authorities. He described the encounter at the local wing of the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport as unfortunate and expressed regret over the events that unfolded between him and ValueJet officials. He, however, said the content of his flask was not alcohol. Unknown to many, I suffer from chronic dehydration, and my doctor strongly advised that I remain constantly hydrated. This is why I always carry a water flask with me. And contrary to the negative narrative circulated in some quarters, the flask I carried on that particular day contained only water, not alcohol, as wrongly alleged. For the record, I passed through two security screenings with the flask empty. The flask was only filled with water in the lounge area, just before heading to the tarmac. This fact can be verified by the CCTV footage at the airport lounge. I hadnt even boarded the plane, let alone being deboarded. Regret KWAM 1 acknowledged the concerns raised by the incident and expressed his regret over it. It was never my intention to cause any disruption or violate aviation protocols in any way, he said. He reaffirmed his steadfast patriotism and unwavering loyalty to Nigeria, qualities he said had never been in question. Over the years, I have consistently used my God-given talent and platform to promote the Nigerian brand across the globe. I would never do anything to tarnish the image Ive built over the past five decades, nor would I knowingly act in a way that could diminish the reputation of the country I love dearly. That said, I sincerely regret the incident. I remain committed to upholding the values and responsibilities that come with being a global ambassador of Nigerian music and culture. To the Presidency, Ministry of Aviation, FAAN, NCAA, ValueJet, fellow Nigerians, and my teeming fans across the world who have shown great concern since the incident happened, I tender my unreserved and heartfelt apology, KWAM 1 added. Prosecution KWAM 1s apology comes hours after the NCAA petitioned the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Lateef Fagbemi, and the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, to prosecute him. NCAAs Director of Consumer Protection, Michael Achimugu, urged the AGF and the IGP to investigate the incident involving KWAM 1 and domestic carrier ValueJet. Mr Achimugu said that while details of the incident are still being compiled, the agency has emphasised the importance of upholding aviation safety standards and ensuring accountability, regardless of the parties involved. He said the NCAA called for a comprehensive criminal investigation and the initiation of appropriate prosecution per the provisions of the Nigerian Civil Aviation regulations and all other applicable laws. The agency added that the Director-General of Civil Aviation, Chris Najomo, has issued an advisory to the Airline Operators of Nigeria (AON), urging them to immediately consider placing KWAM 1 on a no-fly list for all commercial flights, pending the outcome of official investigations. According to the NCAA, the advisory aligns with international aviation standards, which place a premium on the safety of passengers, crew, and overall airline operations. Backstory PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported that Festus Keyamo, the minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development, condemned the musicians actions as unacceptable. He stressed the need for him and others involved to face appropriate sanctions. Mr Keyamo described the altercation as a temporary loss of sanity and control on both sides. He warned that such conduct could easily have resulted in a tragic incident. The minister said video footage showed the 68-year-old musician repeatedly obstructing a commercial aircraft from taxiing to the runway. He also faulted the aircrafts captain and pilot for proceeding to taxi without confirming that the tarmac was clear. This newspaper also reported that the NCAA, the countrys primary civil aviation regulator, suspended two ValueJet pilots in response to the incident. NCAA said the pilots violated established safety protocols at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja. The affected pilots are Oluranti Ogoyi and Ivan Oloba. Nigerias First Lady, Oluremi Tinubu, has reaffirmed her commitment to ending tuberculosis (TB) spread in Nigeria by 2030. She stated this on Thursday, during the official commissioning of new molecular diagnostic machines to improve TB detection and treatment nationwide in Abuja. Mrs Tinubu, represented by the wife of the Kwara State Governor, Olufolake Abdulrazaq, at the commissioning in Bwari, emphasised the significance of the new diagnostic machines. She said the machines, provided through her Renewed Hope Initiative (RHI), are a direct fulfilment of an additional 1 billion pledge made earlier this year during the World TB Day outreach in Sauka Village, FCT I am pleased to say again that this pledge has been translated into reality, she said. Tuberculosis is curable, but far too many Nigerians are still dying from TB, not because there is no technology to detect the disease, but because access to diagnostic tools is limited. She explained that the new machines would be deployed across underserved areas in Nigeria to enable rapid, accurate TB detection, ultimately breaking the chain of transmission and saving lives. The First Lady called for greater domestic resource mobilisation, stressing that ending TB required more than machines and medication but human, financial, technical, and political resources. As the global and national champion for TB, I assure you I will continue to advocate and lead the fight to end TB in Nigeria by 2030, she said. Mrs Tinubu also lauded the Federal Ministry of Health and Stop TB Partnership Nigeria for their stewardship and accountability, urging all stakeholders to stand shoulder to shoulder in the fight against the disease. Let us build a Nigeria where no life is lost to tuberculosis, where health is not a privilege but a right, and where our hope is both renewed and fulfilled, she said. The Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Muhammad Pate, commended the First Lady for her leadership, adding that the federal government is working to integrate TB services into the primary health care system, improve diagnostic capacity, and incentivise health workers. Her Excellency has delivered decisively. She is not just our national TB champion, shes also Africas regional champion and a global symbol of commitment to ending TB, he said. Mr Pate said in just three months of 2025, over 46 million visits were recorded across primary health care centres in Nigeria, underscoring rising public confidence in the system. He said the Tinubu administrations healthcare reforms, backed by state and local governments, the private sector, and global partners, are beginning to yield tangible results. The Director of Public Health at the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, Godwin Ntadom, added that with the new diagnostic innovation, test results could now be obtained in less than 30 minutes, as opposed to the previous delays for several days. Mr Ntadom said globally, there are over 11 million new TB cases annually, with about 1.3 million deaths. He said Nigeria accounts for the highest burden in Africa, detecting around 350,000 cases yearly. This marks a turning point. The end of TB in FCT starts today, he said. Despite the availability of free TB treatment, he lamented that high morbidity and mortality persist due to delayed diagnosis and low awareness. He described the new TB diagnostic facility as a timely intervention that would drastically cut diagnostic delays. The Medical Field Epidemiologist Coordinator for the FCT at the World Health Organisation (WHO), Nigeria, Kumshida Balami, said the machines reaffirmed Nigerias unwavering resolve to champion innovation, equity, and resilient health systems in the fight against tuberculosis. Ms Balami assured that with strong political will, community participation, and sustained collaboration across all sectors, ending TB in Nigeria is not just a goal but an achievable reality within our lifetime. She also called on all partners, government, civil society, communities, and the private sector, to intensify investments and actions so that no one is left behind in the journey to find, treat, and support every person affected by TB. (NAN) It is hard to discern a continental pattern in United States (US) President Donald Trumps new reciprocal import tariffs imposed on African countries last week. It is also difficult to discern whether a unified response by Africa is possible or desirable. Thirty-two of Africas 54 nations got the global minimum rate of 10 per cent, 18 countries got 15 per cent, Tunisia got 25 per cent and South Africa, Algeria and Libya got 30 per cent. Trumps new tariff rates presented on 31 July corrected some of the grosser anomalies in his April announcement. Notably, Lesothos astronomical tariff of 50 per cent was reduced to 15 per cent. But some, like South Africas rate, stayed the same despite vigorous government lobbying to reduce it. In April, Trump imposed high tariffs on many countries, aiming to wipe out trade deficits. But the tariff amount was based on individual nations trade deficits rather than on their actual barriers to US trade. Lesotho fell foul of the formula because it is surrounded by South Africa, and so imports most of its goods from there and very little from the US only US$2.8 million last year. Conversely, Lesotho exported a relatively large amount of goods (worth about US$273.3 million) to the US, mainly garments via the African Growth and Opportunity Act, and diamonds. It is unclear how the US arrived at last weeks revised tariffs, but there appeared to be no formula applied, since most African countries got 10 per cent or 15 per cent, apart from the four outliers. So it seems political factors played a prominent role in some cases. This is clear for South Africa, as Trump has raged against the country for its Expropriation Act and alleged genocide against white Afrikaners for which there is no evidence. Pretorias decision to take Israel to the International Court of Justice for alleged genocide in Gaza was likely also a factor. Algeria was presumably targeted because of its hostility to Morocco, a member of Trumps Abraham Accords with Arab nations. The reason for Libya and Tunisias high rates is unclear. If there is any economic rationale behind any of the tariffs, it hasnt been well thought through. Lesothos reduction to 15 per cent looks dramatic, but Trade and Industry Minister Mokhethi Shelile says it still leaves the country at a fatal competitive disadvantage in the export of garments to the US to Kenya and Eswatini especially, which got only 10 per cent tariffs last week. Having switched its Africa policy from aid to trade, one might have expected that the US would have been sensitive to concerns like those of Lesotho and perhaps it will still be sympathetic to Lesothos lobbying. Although some analysts and trade experts have called for a unified African response to Trumps tariff assault, there has so far been no sign of one, either from the African Union (AU) or elsewhere. Wamkele Mene, Secretary-General of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), said African countries must unify trade policies to deal with the disruption caused by Trumps tariffs. The good news out of this crisis is that our heads of state understand that there is not a single market in Africa that will survive on its own, Mene told CNBC Africa in April. We are not going to be able to negotiate bilaterally successfully. I think thats clear. We will have to leverage on our combined efforts, our combined market size, market share, and combined population size. However Daniel Bradlow, an economic diplomacy expert at the University of Pretoria and South African Institute of International Affairs, says: It seems to me its idealistic to think that the whole of 54 countries can agree on one strategy for the whole continent, and that the US would accept that. The problem with trying to negotiate like that is its too easy for the US to divide and conquer, he told ISS Today. It can offer Kenya or South Africa, say, too good a deal for them to say no. And that sort of breaks them away from a more unified approach. So it seems to me that thats not a very productive approach. Its more productive to try and develop the AfCFTA. There is also a question of whether Africa could negotiate as a single entity since it does not have a continent-wide customs union or common market, so cannot have a common external tariff with an outside country. (Although sub-regional groups have negotiated free trade deals with the European Union.) But Bradlow is right and Mene concurs in proposing that Africa must now diversify its markets and strengthen intra-African trade, which remains the lowest among global regions at under 20 per cent. And that means accelerating AfCFTA implementation, which is taking too long to get off the ground. Perhaps Trumps tariff assault will hurry them up. Few other African countries match the volume of South Africas exports to the US, particularly when you subtract the goods exempted from the new tariffs, like oil and minerals, which are of strategic value to Washington. But we have seen how for countries like Lesotho, even relatively low values of exports are critical. And forthcoming United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), AU Commission and African Development Bank joint research suggests that new US import tariffs could reduce Africas exports to the US by up to 21.5 per cent. This goes beyond trade volumes, says UNECA Executive Secretary Claver Gatete. It affects industrial jobs, regional supply chains and Africas voice in shaping the terms of engagement. He urged countries to mobilise domestic resources to withstand a deteriorating external environment of rising tariffs and falling aid. Although individual African states are continuing to negotiate with the US, the focus is beginning to shift from mitigation to adaptation. South Africa, for instance, is establishing an Export Support Desk to help firms cope, and announced it would implement measures to cushion the blow for key affected industries like autos and agriculture. Meanwhile, Americas aggressive protectionism offers an opportunity for its chief global rival China, which is throwing African countries a lifeline by dropping import tariffs on nearly all of them, Nigerian economist Bismarck Rewane told CNN. Still its hard to do without the worlds largest economy. Perhaps the best Africa and the world can hope for is that the pandemonium caused by Trumps trade policy will boomerang on America as seems to be happening already and force him to recant. Meanwhile, African countries should accelerate AfCFTAs implementation and strengthen their domestic economies against this perfect storm of rising tariffs and plunging aid. Peter Fabricius, Consultant, Institute for Security Studies (ISS) Pretoria (This article was first published by ISS Today, a Premium Times syndication partner. We have their permission to republish). A Non-governmental Organisation, Developing Women to Survive Empowerment Initiative (DWSEI), has conducted free breast and cervical cancer screening to over 200 women to promote early detection and save lives. The convener, Abimbola Onwuchekwa, disclosed this in a statement sent to PREMIUM TIMES on Sunday. Mrs Onwuchekwa said the outreach is to promote womens health and well-being. The health outreach offered additional health services, including free vital signs checks, fasting blood sugar testing, and HIV testing for participants. The fasting blood sugar test is to screen for prediabetics, diabetics and gestational diabetes. Mrs Onwuchekwa said the outreach aimed to raise awareness and promote early detection among underserved community women. The event was organised in partnership with KKC-The Community Initiative (KKC-TCI). Impact According to the organisation, over 200 women were counselled and screened for breast and cervical cancer, while about 100 were tested for Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). Also, the participants received welfare packages containing food and household items. Mrs Onwuchekwa noted that the outreach was made possible through the support of the NGOs partners, donors, and volunteers. As a cancer survivor, I know first-hand the importance of early detection and access to proper healthcare, she said Through this outreach, we are not only saving lives but restoring hope and dignity. Breast cancer in Nigeria Breast and cervical cancers are major health challenges among Nigerian women. They are the most common cancers among women in the country, with rising incidences and a high mortality rate. According to the African Research Group for Oncology, 80 per cent of breast cancer cases in Nigeria present at an advanced stage and less than 25 per cent have an overall survival. Also, the agency stressed the need for screening programmes to improve survival rates by identifying earlier-stage patients. The United States has stated that its decision to reduce the validity of certain non-immigrant visas for Nigerians to three months with single entry is not intended as punishment, but rather as part of a global security review aimed at strengthening immigration controls. The United States recently revised its visa reciprocity schedule for immigrants in B1/B2 (business and tourism), F (student), and J (exchange visitor) categories. Speaking at a joint press briefing on Friday, U.S. Ambassador to Nigeria Richard Mills stated that the changes were designed to enhance service delivery, tighten vetting, and ensure compliance with US visa laws. Before coming to this office, we had engagements with Ambassador Mills, and what he has told me is that this is in no way punitive. Its just to enhance service delivery between the two countries, Minister of Information and National Orientation Idris Mohammed said. Mr Mills said the United States values its very strong relationship with Nigeria and continues to welcome Nigerians for study, business, tourism, medical visits, and family reunions. However, he warned that misuse of visas, including overstaying or providing inaccurate information, undermines trust and could lead to serious consequences. If you overstay, it can result in deportation and a lifetime ban on future travel to the U.S., which we dont want to see Nigerian citizens face, he said. Visa compliance is a cornerstone of mutual trust and respect between our two nations. The envoy said the new measures followed a US administration review of global visa operations to address security vulnerabilities. This includes more rigorous background checks and better access to Nigerian criminal records, which the federal government is working to provide. We needed to address some of the security vulnerabilities that we saw in our visa processing, he said. The Nigerian government is working to find a mechanism so that we can have a better understanding of whos before us when they apply for a visa. He also warned that compliance applies to student visas. If you skip classes, if you leave your programme of study without informing your school, your student visa could be revoked, he said. Mr Mills advised Nigerians to be honest and transparent during visa applications, and to use the U.S. Embassy website for official information. If you have any questions about our visa regulations or policies, dont hesitate to go to our website. All Nigerians have access to it, he said. Mr Mohammed praised the U.S. Embassy for clarifying the changes directly with Nigerians and reaffirmed his ministrys commitment to public awareness. When someone comes into Nigeria, we expect that person to also comply with our laws here. So what I want to say here is that Nigerians must continue to demonstrate, as they do, a better sense of patriotism about their country and also show better compliance with not just our laws, but laws of other countries, he said. Both officials said Nigeria and the U.S. will maintain regular engagement to ensure citizens understand visa processes and their obligations when travelling. Dangote refinerys operations will significantly affect the importation of refined petroleum products from Belgium into Nigeria and the short-term overall trade volume between both countries, the Belgian Ambassador to Nigeria, Pieter Leenknegt, has said. Before the operations of Dangote refinery, Nigeria, a major oil producer, imported virtually all of its petroleum products, with a significant amount of it coming from Belgium. However, the refinery, which began operations last year, says it can produce enough petrol for local consumption. In an exclusive interview with PREMIUM TIMES, Mr Leenknegt said the growth in Nigerias refining capacity is expected to reduce importation of refined petroleum from Belgium significantly. He described this as the Dangote Refinery effect, while stating that a major dip in Belgiums refined oil trade with Nigeria, where the country has long been a key supplier, is much anticipated. He said he expects the operations of the Dangote refinery to begin reflecting in the trade data between Nigeria and Belgium by the end of 2025. Clearly, this (Dangote refinery operations) is not going to be without any consequences for our bilateral trade in the short run, he said. While trade volumes between Nigeria and Belgium in 2024 show a slight dip, the ambassador attributed that trend not to the Dangote Refinery but to Nigerians shrinking purchasing power. You saw a dip generally in exports from Belgium to Nigeria, and even from some imports from Nigeria to Belgium, he noted. But thats not the Dangote refinery effect. Its the purchasing power dip effect in Nigeria, which makes Nigerians have fewer dollars and euros to spend on purchasing goods abroad. Acknowledging Belgiums dominance in refined petroleum exports to Nigeria, the diplomat said, We are the top importing European country into Nigeria and, most of it being refined oil. About 40 per cent of Nigerias imports from Europe passes through Belgium, most of it being refined petroleum products. Belgium is also a key supplier of chemicals, medical equipment, and industrial goods to Nigeria. Dangote Refinery Petroleum production Dangote Petroleum Refinery, the worlds largest single-train refinery, began production of diesel and aviation fuel in January 2024, but began processing petrol in September 2024. The refinerys operations have led to a significant reduction in petroleum product importation into Nigeria and have led to considerable savings in foreign exchange. The Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reports that Nigeria spent $1.2 billion on petrol imports in the first quarter of 2025, down from $2.6 billion in the same period last year. In June, the refinery announced that it had commenced distribution of petrol and diesel to marketers, petrol dealers, manufacturers, telecoms firms, aviation, and other large users across the country. Within the last three months, the Dangote refinery has reduced oil prices twice to reflect the global market price. First in June, from N880 per litre to N840 per litre and then down to N8320 per litre in July. Before the establishment of the Dangote Refinery, Nigeria heavily relied on imports for refined oil, even though it is the leading crude oil producer in Africa. Mr Leenknegt described Nigerias heavy dependence on refined petroleum as illogical. Its also not very logical for petroleum to be first shipped from Nigeria to Europe, then to be shipped back, refined in Europe to Nigeria. Theres no sound logic for that. From the moment Nigeria is able to produce as good a product in terms of refined petroleum as Belgium does, then of course, who would Belgium be to oppose that? He stated. So, its also a matter of common sense that our trade in the future will be more about other products, and an interesting development in that regard is also if you look in the other direction, he added. Mr Leenknegt, however, noted that Belgium is shifting its export focus to Nigeria from petroleum to agriculture, health and other sectors. He said this shift is also part of the effort to diversify Belgiums trade relations with Nigeria. Weve been hoping for a diversification of our trade for the longest time; for a move away from petroleum products, because its just not very healthy for any economy to depend too much on that, he added. In the interview, the diplomat also spoke about other issues such as cooperation in drug manufacturing, agriculture and other trade matters. PREMIUM TIMES will publish the full interview with the Belgian ambassador on Saturday. The High Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) in Abuja has ordered Zenith Bank and the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) to pay N85 million in damages for freezing a customers account based on an invalid court order. Judge Samirah Bature, who delivered the judgment on Thursday, held that the bank acted unlawfully by relying on an ex parte ruling from a magistrates court without notifying the customer. He described the action as illogical and a betrayal of the banker-customer relationship. The failure of the first defendant to inform the claimant of the state of affairs on her account amounts to negligence and a breach of the duty of care owed to the claimant, he ruled. The court directed the bank to immediately unfreeze the account domiciled at its branch on 63 Usuma Street, Maitama, opposite Transcorp Hilton Hotel, and publish a public apology to the customer, Abhulimen & Co, in two national newspapers and on its website. The plaintiff, Paulyn O. Abhulimen, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), who filed the suit through Kehinde & Partners LP, stated that in early 2024, she was blocked from accessing her firms account and later discovered that the bank had placed a Post No Debit (PND) order on it. She said the banks account officer, Obi Okafor, informed her when she inquired that the freeze followed an order obtained by the NPF from a Chief Magistrate Court in Mararaba Gurku, Nasarawa State, on 13 March 2024. Invalid order The judge declared that the account was opened at the first defendants Abuja branch, and the second defendant is also based in Abuja, so there was no justification for seeking the order from a magistrate court in Nasarawa State. He further ruled that section 251 of the Constitution vests matters relating to banks and banking transactions in the Federal High Court. While bankercustomer disputes fall within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court, State High Courts and the High Court of the FCT. He held that the order was invalid as the court lacked both territorial and substantive jurisdiction to freeze the account. It is unfortunate that a major financial institution like Zenith Bank, with a legal department supposedly manned by lawyers, would claim to have acted based on an invalid order by a magistrates court that lacked jurisdiction to entertain any banking-related case, including issuing orders to freeze a bank account, the judge said. The court further declared that an order to freeze a bank account cannot validly be granted ex parte to last indefinitely, and that the defendants acted without a valid order from a court of competent jurisdiction. It said the banks legal department should have refused to comply. The court awarded N60 million in favour of the claimant as general damages for embarrassment, psychological trauma, financial distress, emotional stress and other inconveniences, and N25 million as the cost of the action. Growing trend of illegal PND Last month, the Federal High Court in Lagos ordered Access Bank to pay N7 million in damages tomOluwasesan Ifeoluwa for unlawfully freezing her account without notice. Judge Ayokunle Faji found that a Post No Debit (PND) restriction was placed on the customers account two weeks before a purported court order was allegedly obtained from a magistrate court in Nasarawa State. He ruled that the freeze, which left Ms Bridget unable to fund her treatment after surviving an assassination attempt, breached her constitutional right to property and was unconstitutional and unjustified. In another case in December 2024, Judge Faji of the Federal High Court in Lagos, faulted Access Bank for illegally placing a PND on a customers account. He ruled that the action was illegal, unconstitutional and void, stressing that banks cannot act on third-party instructions without a valid court order. In September 2020, the Lagos High Court ordered Access Bank to pay N5 million to its customers, Blaid Construction Limited and Blaid Properties, for breaching the bank-customer relationship. Judge I.O. Harrison declared that the banks PND action and continued denial of the customers rights to operate their accounts since 2015 were unlawful, illegal and void. The cases highlight desperation of aggrieved persons and entities to obtain illegal orders from magistrate courts without jurisdiction to sit on such cases to compel banks to freeze adverse parties accounts. On many occasions, funds are moved from the frozen accounts before the owner becomes aware of the legal proceedings. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Nigerian Correctional Service (NCoS) on Friday strengthened their collaboration toward securing voting rights for inmates across Nigerias correctional facilities. INEC Chairman, Mahmood Yakubu, and the Controller-General (C-G) of NCoS, Sylvester Nwakuche, stated this during a courtesy visit of the service to the commissions headquarters in Abuja. In his remarks, Mr Yakubu said that INEC knew that the right to vote is a human right which cannot be taken away from a citizen on account of the term being served in a correctional facility. He noted that in many parts of the world, including some African countries such as Ghana, Kenya and South Africa, inmates exercised the right to vote. Mr Yakubu also acknowledged the existing legal precedents, citing Federal High Court and Court of Appeal judgments delivered in Benin City in December 2014 and December 2018 respectively, which affirmed the right of awaiting-trial inmates to vote. He added that based on the combined provisions of Article 25 of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights (1966) and Section 25 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), the court affirmed the rights of plaintiffs who were inmates awaiting trial to vote in elections. Mr Yakubu, however, said the judges ruled that the right to voluntarily exercise the civic right remained that of the citizen and not a duty to be imposed by force of authority. Also speaking, the INEC chairman recalled how the commission had previously set up a joint committee with NCoS to review the technical and logistical issues involved. The issues, according to Mr Yakubu, include providing access to correctional facilities for voter registration, creating polling units and ensuring transparency for observers and the media. Others, he said, were concerned about allowing political parties to campaign within the NCoS facilities and the appointment of polling agents. The chairman, however, said that INEC believed that the challenges could be addressed by working with NCoS and taking advantage of the ongoing electoral reform before the National Assembly. As you are aware, election is a process governed by law. Working together, we can seize the opportunity of the ongoing electoral reform for a clear legal provision that will specifically cover citizens serving time in our correctional facilities. Doing so will also clarify the provision of Section 12(1)[e] of the Electoral Act, 2022 on voter registration. A precondition for voting in elections, which restricts the exercise to a Nigerian citizen who is not subject to any legal incapacity to vote under any law, rule or regulations in force in Nigeria. There are various interpretations as to whether this provision relates to inmates on death row, those serving life sentences or those convicted for treason. Our immediate task is to engage with the National Assembly for a clear legal provision on inmate voting. Thereafter, we can address the specific issues that may arise in the course of implementation, he said. Mr Yakubu appreciated the role of civil society organisations, particularly the Carmelite Prisoners Interest Organisation (CAPIO), that had interfaced with INEC and NCoS in their consistent advocacy for inmate voting in Nigeria. He said that INEC welcomed the favourable disposition of the joint committee of the Senate and House of Representatives on electoral matters on issues of inclusivity in the electoral process. The INEC chairman pledged the commissions determination to extend voting rights to inmates in correctional facilities, assuring NCoS that the partnership on election security would continue to be strengthened. Earlier in his remarks, the C-G of NCoS, Mr Nwakuche, said that the service was committed to ensuring that inmates who were Nigerian and not legally incapacitated were able to participate in the electoral process. The controller-general empathised with the need to respect the rights of the inmates, including their voting rights. Mr Nwakuche noted that more than 60 per cent of the 81,000 inmates in Nigeria were awaiting trial and they were presumed innocent, until proven guilty, saying that even while as convicts or awaiting trial persons, they still have rights. I am here this morning to discuss with the INEC chairman to see how we can, if possible, extend some of these rights to these inmates. And this is about voting rights. I am here following a court ruling on the voting rights of inmates in Benin that also escalated up to the appeal court and, there was a judgment on it. Of recent, there was also a National Assembly resolution trying to let us know that these people have inalienable rights to vote. For the mere fact that they are in incarceration, we should not deny them the right to vote because they are citizens of this great country. Im here, chairman, sir, to see how we can escalate these decisions, he said. Mr Nwakuche said that the visit was to see how the two establishments could look into the limitations, grey areas and the technical aspects of the court rulings to see how inmates in Nigeria could vote in the nearest future. (NAN) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has secured the approval of the security cabinet to launch the occupation of Gaza City. The decision was confirmed in a statement from the presidents office early Friday morning, more than 10 hours after the meeting began. The prime minister has thus overcome the pushback from the military leadership and from the streets, where protests have surged in response to an offensive perceived as potentially lethal for the remaining hostages. The statement leaves more questions than answers. It does not address why it talks about occupying Gaza City when Netanyahus stated objective before entering the meeting was to secure approval to take over the entire enclave. The statement also doesnt clarify whether occupying that city is just a preliminary step toward expanding into the remaining territories where the army has no presence. In any case, the security cabinets decision could mark the imminent expulsion of around one million Gazan civilians crowded into Gaza City. Israeli media outlets such as Channel 12 reported on Thursday that this is Netanyahus plan for that territory. If implemented, it would represent another mass displacement in a Strip where 90% of the population has already been displaced, most of them on multiple occasions. The humanitarian sector anticipates catastrophic consequences, including an increase in civilian deaths. The escalation aims to empty territories where Israel believes Hamas is hiding captives in order to shift the offensive there. The prime ministers entourage defends the expansion and justifies it as necessary to rescue the 20 hostages believed to remain alive in the enclave. But both the army leader, Eyal Zamir, and the families of the hostages reject this idea and insist they prefer an agreement that would free the hostages. Tension with the army and the families of the hostages This friction is what led thousands of concerned Israelis to protest early Friday morning. The demonstrations resulted in the blockade of some of Tel Avivs main avenues, the use of water cannons by police, and arrests. Many gathered outside the prime ministers office in Jerusalem. The difference of opinion between the prime minister and the army leader is well known. Before the meeting, Netanyahu confirmed to the press his intention to occupy the entire Palestinian Strip. We intend to, in order to assure our security, remove Hamas there, he declared on Fox News. We want to hand it over to Arab forces that will govern it properly without threatening us and giving Gazans a good life, said Netanyahu without going into detail about who might be willing to take over from the Israeli occupation in the future. Shortly afterward, a Jordanian official speaking on condition of anonymity told Reuters that Arab countries will not accept Netanyahus policies or clean up his mess, adding that they will only support legitimate institutions that the Palestinians decide. Chief of the General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces Eyal Zamir expressed his disagreement with Netanyahus intentions. We now have the ability to maintain a new security border while maintaining pressure on the enemy, he said Thursday prior to the security cabinet meeting in an attempt to prevent further escalation. He was defiant: The army will continue to express its position without fear; we are dealing with matters of life and death. The army chiefs words came days after Netanyahus entourage leaked that Zamir should resign if he disagreed with the prime ministers plans to occupy the entire Gaza Strip. On Thursday night, before the approval of the expansion into Gaza City became known, Israeli troops issued multiple evacuation orders against different areas of the city, urging residents to move south for their own safety. The Israeli army currently controls 75% of the Palestinian enclave and considers 88% of the Strip a military zone. The expansion approved Friday will bring troops into part of the remaining 12% of the territory, where the majority of Gazas two million people are crowded in a situation of extreme weakness and helplessness. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAIS USA Edition The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) says its Continuous Voter Registration (CVR) will hold in 811 centres across the 36 States and Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Sam Olumekun, INEC national commissioner and chairman, Information and Voter Education Committee, disclosed this in a statement issued after the commissions regular meeting in Abuja. Mr Olumekun stated that for easy identification, INEC would be deploying an online CVR Live Locator to assist citizens in locating their registration centres nationwide. He noted that, as earlier announced by the INEC, the CVR would resume on 18 August with the online pre-registration, while the in-person registration option would follow a week later on 25 August. Thereafter, the two processes will continue simultaneously for a year until 30 August. The exercise will hold in 811 centres made up of our 774 Local Government, 36 States and FCT offices nationwide from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. (Monday to Friday) every week with the exception of national public holidays. The locator will go live a day to the commencement of the CVR on 17 August, 2025, and can be accessed at the following address https://cvr.inecnigeria.org/locator, he said. Mr Olumekun added that the commission on Thursday uploaded a 38-page document to its website and other official online platforms, indicating the addresses of the 811 in-person registration centres nationwide. Similarly, dedicated telephone numbers have been given for each state of the federation to serve as help desk for citizens that require further clarification. The procedure for both the online and in-person registrations remains the same as was the case in 2022. Detailed information on the process, including video clips, will once again be released by the commission next week, Mr Olumekun said. Eight new requests for party registration The national commissioner also disclosed that after the 23 July update on requests for party registration, the commission had received eight more letters of intent from associations seeking registration as political parties. This, according to him, brought the number received so far to 151. He noted that details of the latest requests, indicating their proposed names, acronyms, logos, addresses and interim leadership of the associations, had also been uploaded to the commissions website and other online platforms for public information. Having created the portal for party registration, the commission has commenced the shortlisting of the associations that meet the requirements to proceed to the application stage. Details will be released immediately after the 16 bye-elections in 12 states scheduled for Saturday, 16 August. Mr Olumekun reassured Nigerians that the commission would continue to keep citizens informed on all its activities. (NAN) Nigeria needs to market its tourism potential better if it is to be seen as a good tourism destination, the Belgian Ambassador to Nigeria, Pieter Leenknegt, has said. Nigeria, Africas most populous country, is not considered a major tourism destination, and was not among the ten most visited countries on the continent in the past two years. In an interview with PREMIUM TIMES, Mr Leenknegt said Nigeria needs to be deliberate about promoting its tourism potential. if you just go and browse the internet and you want to see a picture of Abuja, what you will find is the entrance gate, the white unity gate there, he said. He said there is a lot of tourism potential in Abuja and other Nigerian cities that can be promoted. the big draw to Abuja for me is these volcanic hills everywhere. They are just sprouting up in the landscape. Nobody in Europe even knows that that exists, he said. And there are other natural features. I was in Taraba recently. Its a wonderful place in terms of nature. Nobody in Europes ever heard of Taraba. The only thing that comes close is a friend of mine who just looked up the altitude levels on a map and says, that area there, neighbouring Cameroon, must be very beautiful because of the kind of the hills, the drawings of the hills. But nobody in Europe has a clue. But we all hope this is bound to change. The diplomat also said Nigeria can use its national cuisine and cinema to bolster its image abroad. According to him, knowledge of Nigerias culture across countries is significantly limited, and the government needs to improve this. Mr Leenknegt said Nigeria sometimes overrates the popularity of its food and that its film industry also needs major promotion. Currently, there are hardly any Nigerian restaurants to be found anywhere in Europe that I know of, perhaps a little bit in the UK. This, perhaps a misperception from the Nigerian side on what is renowned from Nigeria abroad, he said. Mr Leenknegt said Nigeria has to be deliberate about improving its image abroad, especially on the issue of cybercrime. Images come with their ups and downs. Of course, in terms of the internet, Nigeria definitely has to shed a bit of a bad image, he said. Positives The diplomat, however, said Nigerian music and literature are very popular globally, including in his home country, Belgium. Belgians working in Nigeria would always draw my attention to the fact that nowadays in clubs in Brussels, people are dancing and singing in pidgin English. Also, of course, when it comes to literature, Nigeria is an established brand by far, he added. In the interview with PREMIUM TIMES, Mr Leenknegt also discussed the impact of the Dangote refinery on fuel imports from Belgium into Nigeria and other areas of partnership between both countries, such as pharmaceuticals and agriculture. PREMIUM TIMES will publish the full interview with the diplomat on Saturday. The Federal High Court in Lagos has sentenced Emmanuel Aitanu to five years in prison for laundering proceeds of cybercrime through foreign currency, cryptocurrency, and real estate. Trial judge Dehinde Dipeolu delivered the judgement on Friday, convicting Mr Aitanu on six counts filed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Prosecution lawyer, Bilkisu Buhari-Bala, assisted by Zenat Atiku, told the court that Mr Aitanu, alongside Peter Cruz and others still at large, conspired in 2017 to fraudulently divert funds into a sham account, DLP Designs East Coast, domiciled at Citibank. According to the EFCC, the proceeds were retained in cryptocurrency wallets and Nigerian bank accounts, and partly spent on luxury vehicles and landed property in Lagos. The counts against him included retaining 265.8269 BTC in a crypto wallet; retaining N20 million in a Zenith Bank account and purchasing a white 2015 Mercedes Benz C300 worth N17 million. Others are acquiring a plot of land at Ineh Oil, Ikota Village (Ojomu Chieftaincy Family Land) in Eti-Osa Local Government Area and purchasing a grey Toyota Corolla with chassis number JTDBU4EE6AJ086693. The offences contravened Sections 18(2)(a) and 18(2)(d) of the Money Laundering (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022, which prohibit breaking up large transactions to evade reporting thresholds and deliberately concealing financial information from authorities. They also breached Sections 27 and 36 of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act, 2015, which criminalises electronic fraud, identity theft, and the use of fraudulent websites, devices, or emails to defraud. Mrs Dipeolu sentenced Mr Aitanu to five years imprisonment and ordered the forfeiture to the federal government of $42,000, the Ikota Village plot of land, the Mercedes Benz, the Toyota Corolla, as well as all cryptocurrency and funds traced to his accounts. Not the first time The conviction comes weeks after the Federal High Court in Lagos sentenced eight Chinese nationals to one year in prison each for cyberterrorism and internet fraud linked to a massive transnational cryptocurrency scam uncovered in December 2024. The judge Chukwujekwu Aneke delivered the judgement after the convicts, Pan Cai Qi, Zeng Xian Tao, Weng Mao Rong, Wang Xiong Wei (a.k.a. Xiao Bai), Shi Dong Fu, Wang Shi Long, Liu Ke Fan, and Ting Liao, changed their pleas from not guilty to guilty. According to EFCC spokesperson Dele Oyewale, the Chinese nationals were among 792 suspects arrested during a sting operation codenamed Eagle Flush on 19 December 2024 in Lagos. PREMIUM TIMES reported that the syndicate, made up of foreign nationals and Nigerians, specialised in romance scams, identity theft, and cryptocurrency investment fraud. The Kogi State Government has said it has made a remarkable breakthrough in healthcare, emerging as Nigerias top-performing state in insurance coverage for adults. The Commissioner for Information and Communication Strategy, Kingsley Fanwo, said this in a statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Lokoja. Mr Fanwo said the latest 2023 data from StatiSense and EFInA indicates that an impressive 11 per cent of Kogis population is now enrolled in insurance, emerging as Nigerias top performing state in insurance coverage for adults. He said the data showed that Kogi surpassed major states like Lagos, Oyo, and the Federal Capital Territory, with Nine, Seven, and six per cent respectively. He emphasised that this achievement is a testament to the state governments commitment to expanding quality, affordable healthcare to its citizens. At the heart of Kogis success is the Kogi State Health Insurance Agency (KGSHIA), led by Kunle Aledare, he said. Under Aledares leadership, the agency has implemented a people-centred approach, driving aggressive enrollment, rural outreach, and partnerships that deliver inclusive, sustainable health financing. He said this approach has enabled thousands of rural and underserved residents to access essential health services without fear of financial ruin. The Kogi state governments achievement has not gone unnoticed. Other states are already studying the Kogi model as the administration moves closer to universal health coverage, he said. The governments commitment to improving the health and wellbeing of Kogites is evident in its efforts to build a healthcare system that truly works for everyone. Mr Fanwo noted that Ahmed Ododos administration remains dedicated to building a healthy, empowered, and productive population as the foundation for sustainable development. He said in further push to extend affordable healthcare; the government recently signed a landmark pact with the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE). He said the agreement provides local government staff access to affordable insurance under the state scheme, with thousands of Kogi pensioners already enrolled. Mr Fanwo added that the government is also upgrading over 200 Primary Healthcare Centres (PHCs) across the state to guarantee grassroots access to quality care This initiative is a game-changer for Kogis healthcare landscape, and the government is committed to ensuring that its citizens have access to cheap, quality, and accessible healthcare. He noted that the state governments success in healthcare is as a result of its collaborative efforts with various stakeholders. He acknowledged the federal governments support as crucial to the success of the states healthcare initiatives. As Kogi state continues to build on its achievements, it is clear that the governments commitment to healthcare will remain a top priority, he added. (NAN) The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has reported a significant drop in mpox cases across the continent, marking a 58 per cent decline between epidemiological week 19 and week 30 of 2025. However, the agency raised concerns over new outbreaks in Gambia, Cameroon, and Mozambique, calling for sustained vigilance. Speaking during the agencys weekly webinar briefing on Friday, Africa CDC Director-General, Jean Kaseya, credited the progress to stronger national leadership, enhanced community engagement, and improved health systems, supported by Africa CDC and its partners. Mr Kaseya noted that more than 3.1 million mpox vaccine doses had been distributed across 12 African countries, with more than 886,000 people vaccinated so far. He said the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) alone accounted for 69 per cent of those vaccinated. In spite of the positive trend, Mr Kaseya warned of emerging risks, particularly the detection of multiple mpox clades, including the high-risk Clade IIb, in Kinshasa. He emphasised the need for intensified surveillance and targeted vaccination campaigns, especially among vulnerable populations. On cholera, Mr Kaseya said that outbreaks had now spread to 23 African Union member states, with new cases confirmed in Chad and the Republic of Congo. He said the DRC and South Sudan remained the most affected, although there was a slow decline in both cases and deaths. Mr Kaseya identified poor water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) infrastructure as a key driver of the disease and called for coordinated, multisectoral action to curb its spread. He said Africa CDC, in collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO) and other partners, was expanding its Incident Management Support Teams role to include cholera response efforts. This expanded initiative, he said, will operate under the leadership of the Zambian presidency. Mr Kaseya urged member states to bolster community-led surveillance, prioritise vaccinations in high-risk areas, and enhance integrated case management, particularly for patients with co-morbid conditions. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that cholera is a bacterial infection that spread through contaminated food and water, especially in areas with poor sanitation. It can be fatal if not treated quickly but is preventable through access to clean water, good hygiene practices, and oral vaccines. Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, is a viral disease resembling smallpox, causing fever, rash, and swollen lymph nodes. It spreads through close physical contact and contaminated materials, but can be prevented through early detection, vaccination, and hygiene measures. (NAN) Human rights activist and SaharaReporters publisher, Omoyele Sowore, has been released from the custody of the Nigeria Police Force days after his arrest over allegations of forgery and inciting disturbance. Confirming his release in a Facebook post on Friday evening, Mr Sowore said the police succumbed to the demands of the revolutionary movement. Nigeria Police Force has capitulated to the demands of the revolutionary movement. I have been released from unjust, illegal and unwarranted detention. However, it is nothing to celebrate, but thank you for not giving up! #RevolutionNow, he wrote on Facebook at about 7.46 p.m. on Friday. Six minutes later, he shared live video on Facebook to announce his release. Earlier, while still in detention, Mr Sowore accused the policeunder Inspector-General Kayode Egbetokunof breaking his right wrist during custody. Speaking in a live video streamed on Friday by SaharaReporters from the Force Headquarters in Abuja, where he had been held since Wednesday, he said the injury occurred around 6 a.m. on Thursday. He appeared in the footage with a bandaged hand. They broke my hand yesterday and have not brought a doctoronly a nurse, he said. Instead of providing medical care, they brought the media to make it seem Im fine. Theres no basis for my arrest. No citizen should be detained because the IGP feels threatened by legitimate opposition. The activist alleged that police brought journalists and protesters to see him in custody on Friday to counter concerns about his welfare. There is no basis for my arrest in the first place. There is no basis for any citizen in Nigeria to be arrested by the IGP because the IGP feels threatened by the legality of the opposition. I just want you to know that all these are unnecessary. What should have been done (by the police) is to swallow their pride, release me from detention, apologise to me and ensure that I can go for proper treatment, but they want to hide it. Since I came here yesterday, they broke my hand, they have not been able to bring a doctor, they brought a nurse. Instead of bringing the doctor, they went and brought the media. I was expecting it, he lamented. He demanded his immediate release, an apology from the police, and access to proper treatment. In the video footage, as Mr Sowore was speaking, the police ordered the journalists to leave their office. Police denied brutalisation Mr Sowore was arrested on Wednesday after honouring a police invitation from the Inspector-General of Police Monitoring Unit. Speaking earlier, the Police Commissioner in charge of the Special Intervention Squad, Abayomi Shogunle, denied any brutality, saying Mr Sowore was being held over two petitionsone alleging the forgery of a police document published online, and the other alleging cyberbullying. The petitions were shown to him in the presence of his lawyers. He refused to make a statement, and the law is clear on the procedure when a suspect remains silent, Mr Shogunle told protesters and journalists in Abuja. On the detention period, he maintained that due process was being followed. We are professionals. Everything needed to be done under the law is being done, he said. Rights groups, political leaders react Amnesty International alleged that police officers at the Force Intelligence Department assaulted Mr Sowore on Thursday morning while attempting to forcibly take him to court, injuring his hand. The rights group described the charges against him as politically motivated and called for his immediate release and urgent medical care. Nigerian Labour Congress President Joe Ajaero condemned the arrest as a violation of constitutional rights, warning that silence in the face of such repression could embolden authoritarianism. If Sowore has violated any law, those offended should approach the courtsnot resort to harassment. Freedom of speech and association are inalienable rights, Mr Ajaero said. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar also criticised the police, calling the case a shameful abuse of power and alleging it was a personal vendetta by the IGP. Sowores only offence is speaking out against injustice and misrule. For that, he was attacked, beaten, had his arm broken, and sprayed with chemicals, he wrote on Facebook. Mr Sowores lawyer, Tope Temokun, had said the arrest was retaliation for his clients criticism of the police chief, including a 21 July protest at Force Headquarters demanding better welfare for retired police officers. He also questioned the propriety of the police acting as both complainant and investigator in the matter. According to Mr Temokun, one of the petitions against Mr Sowore was filed by Bukola Yemisi Kuti, described as an associate of the IGP, accusing the activist of defamation. Kidnappers have demanded N7million for the release of Omoniyi Eleyinmi, a member of staff of Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko (AAUA), Ondo State. Mr Eleyinmi, a faculty officer in the institutions Faculty of Education, was abducted on Sunday while returning from work to his residence in Supare-Akoko, Akoko South West Local Council Area of the state. The gunmen had waited for him in his residence and seized him while alighting from the commercial motorcycle he rode from Akungba. They got away while shooting sporadically to scare away people who might try to resist them. According to a family source, the kidnappers, who made contact with Mr Eleyinmis family on Thursday for the ransom, had on the previous day allowed the wife of the victim to briefly speak with him for her to verify that he is alive. The source disclosed that the kidnappers had initially demanded N100 million ransom, but it was later reduced to N7 million after a series of pleas and negotiations. Following this development, the Alumni Association of AAUA, to which Mr Eleyinmi belonged, called for donations from Nigerians to raise the demanded ransom and immediately secure his release from captivity. In a statement issued by the associations Global Publicity Secretary, OSeun Ogunsakin, he appealed for timely donations, saying they would go a long way in ensuring that Mr Eleyinmi reunites with his family hale and hearty. Distinguished Alumni, I am sure that the majority of you must have heard the news of the kidnap of one of us, Niyi Eleyinmi, who is the Faculty Officer of the Faculty of Education, AAUA. Eleyinmi was kidnapped on Monday, and the kidnappers have demanded a sum of seven million Naira (N7,000,000). It is on this note that I want to passionately appeal to you to donate towards securing the safe release of Niyi from his captors. We have just 24 hours to raise the aforementioned sum. Kindly make your donation into the account below: Polaris Bank 1011167606 Akinwande Joyce Morenikeji. May God help us as we make the donation, the statement said. When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Olayinka Ayanlade, said that the Commissioner of Police, Adebowale Lawal, had directed tactical commanders to ensure that the victim was rescued unhurt as well as apprehend those involved in the abduction. While distancing the police from ransom negotiation, Mr Ayanlade said, The Commissioner of Police has directed all tactical commanders to swiftly act and ensure that the victim is rescued. He also directed that all suspects connected with the crime be apprehended. We are assuring the people of Ondo State that we are on top of the situation, and we are not resting on our oars. The state has yet to know respite in the upscaling attacks by kidnappers, who, despite efforts by security agencies to curtail their activities, have continued to abduct residents at will. In June, two students of AAUA were kidnapped and later murdered by their captors, sending shock waves through the University campus. Some arrests were made, and a curious twist occurred when the police announced the death in custody of the principal suspects. Another female student was also found dead in a boys room within the Akungba Akoko community, arousing students to engage in protest. The AAUA SUG had called on security agencies to increase surveillance within the institution and its environs. The Federal Government of Nigeria, through the Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, has launched a 90,000 km fibre optic infrastructure, Project Bridge, to accelerate connectivity across the country. Announcing the completion of Project Bridge on Friday at a stakeholder event in Lagos, hosted in partnership with the Association of Telecom Operators of Nigeria (ATCON), the Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani stated that the newly built fiber optic is the largest digital fibre backbone investment in any developing nation. Project Bridge is currently the largest digital fibre backbone investment in any developing nation. It is a bold and strategic effort to lay a 90,000km wholesale, open-access fibre network across the country, the minister said in an update on his X handle. It is designed to deliver high-speed, resilient, and equitable broadband connectivity to every corner of Nigeria from major urban hubs to remote communities. The minister said the project marks a major step forward in the Federal Governments mission to build an inclusive and future-ready digital economy for Nigerians. The project is a central part of Nigerias National Broadband Plan (2020-2025), which aims to boost internet penetration to 70 per cent by 2025 and 80 per cent for underserved populations by 2027. Project Bridge, which is expected to create more jobs, will operate under a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) to ensure efficiency and accountability. The connectivity project cost the government $2 billion, and it is being funded by DFI loans and private equity, with the government holding a minority stake of 2549 per cent in an independently run SPV. The project targets 20,000 direct and 150,000 indirect jobs, and 1.5 per cent GDP growth. It aims to contribute from $472.6 billion to $502 billion GDP in four years. National backbone According to the digital economy minister, Project Bridge is structured to support the needs of both large and small Internet Service Producers, ISPs. It offers scalable access through core, metropolitan, and middle-mile layers. He promised that the digital fibre optic will accelerate fixed broadband growth nationwide by enabling healthy competition and network sharing. The project will give an additional 90,000km to the existing 35,000km network of fibre optic cables, thereby deepening the countrys digital backbone. Regional network The project design possesses seven regional backbone rings, which interconnect Nigerias six geopolitical zones and Lagos. These rings will form a resilient national framework of 125,000km of fibre that ensures redundancy, minimises latency, and supports seamless data flow across the country. According to Mr Tijani, the structure is critical to meeting growing national demand for high-capacity digital infrastructure. He further explained that each region is covered by a dedicated fibre ring to connect urban centers and enhance regional connectivity. Each region is covered by a dedicated fibre ring (Lagos, South West, South South, South East, North Central, North East, and North West), strategically planned to connect urban centres and enhance regional interconnectivity. This regional design supports economic activity, governance, education, and digital access across all zones, he stated. Points of Presence Additionally, the network extends to all 774 Local Government Area (LGA) headquarters to establish Points of Presence (PoPs), which serve as key distribution points. The presence of PoPs is to integrate remote regions with national digital frameworks, which are determined by population density and demand to accommodate future expansion. The minister explained that Project Bridge will extend to linking the countrys administrative wards to close the distance gaps of networks in rural communities. From each LGA PoP, fibre links will extend to Nigerias administrative wards, particularly targeting schools and healthcare facilities. These ward-level nodes function as mini PoPs, enabling further last-mile distribution and helping close the access gap in rural communities. The average LGA-to-ward distance is ~6km, guiding deployment estimates. The last mile remains essential and will involve linking service providers to homes, offices, and institutions using fibre or other technologies. This final layer will be supported by the foundational middle-mile network, enabling broader internet access across Nigeria, Mr Tijani said. The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC) has called for heightened vigilance against mosquito borne diseases following a surge in Chikungunya virus infections across several countries. In its latest public health advisory, the agency said figures from the World Health Organisation and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control show that more than 240,000 cases and 90 deaths have been reported in at least 16 countries so far in 2025. China has been among the most affected nations with nearly 5000 cases recorded since early July. Guangdong Province alone has reported close to 3,000 infections in a single week. Chikungunya Chikungunya is a viral disease transmitted primarily by Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes. These are the same species responsible for dengue and yellow fever. Unlike Anopheles mosquitoes which transmit malaria and bite mostly at night, Aedes mosquitoes are active during the day, particularly in the early morning and late afternoon. The illness is characterised by sudden fever, severe joint pain, muscle aches, headache, nausea, fatigue and rash. Although deaths are rare, the disease can cause prolonged joint pain lasting for months which can significantly reduce quality of life. Risk factors for Nigeria The NCDC confirmed that Nigeria has not recorded any case of Chikungunya. However, the agency warned that environmental conditions across the country remain favourable for an outbreak, especially in states affected by flooding. With the rainy season ongoing and flooding on the rise in several areas, there is an increased risk of mosquito borne diseases including Chikungunya, dengue and yellow fever. This latest advisory builds on an earlier nationwide alert issued by the NCDC on the prevention of cholera, dengue and yellow fever during the flood season. Officials noted that the same precautions are effective against Chikungunya. Surveillance and precaution The NCDC said it will continue to use its surveillance and response systems in collaboration with state governments and tertiary institution laboratories. This includes the National Arbovirus and Vector Research Centre in Enugu. According to the agency, these systems enable early detection and rapid response to mosquito borne threats. They will be strengthened to ensure national preparedness should Chikungunya cases occur in Nigeria. ALSO READ: Nigeria research institute warns of recurring infectious diseases The NCDC advised Nigerians to take preventive measures seriously. These include sleeping under insecticide treated mosquito nets, wearing long-sleeved clothing, applying mosquito repellent to exposed skin, ensuring proper environmental sanitation and eliminating stagnant water around homes. People experiencing fever, rash or joint pain should seek medical attention immediately. Ongoing government action The NCDC and the National Arbovirus and Vector Research Centre are working with relevant partners to improve mosquito vector control, support health workers in case detection and response, and intensify community education campaigns. The agencies are also collaborating under the One Health approach to integrate human, animal, environmental and climate health strategies in order to improve preparedness. While Nigeria remains free of Chikungunya, the NCDC said the global situation makes proactive prevention critical. The agency stressed that protecting communities will require joint efforts from government, health workers and citizens. The National Working Committee (NWC) of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has vowed to sanction its members endorsing the ruling party for re-election in 2027. The party, in a statement issued by the National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, on Friday in Abuja, warned those involved to retrace their steps or face stiffer sanctions as provided in the PDP Constitution. Mr Ologunagba said that the NWC of the PDP had reviewed the anti-party activities of certain members of the party particularly those endorsing President Bola Tinubu for re-election in 2027. He said that of serious concern was the persistent public media outbursts against PDP by some prominent members. Mr Ologunagba noted that such members actions and utterances, including their public declaration to work for the victory of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2027 Presidential election, violated the provisions of the PDP Constitution. He added that the behaviour also constituted a serious threat to the stability and sustenance of the party. Specifically, Section 10 (6) of the PDP Constitution provides that NO MEMBER of the Party SHALL align with other Parties or groups to undermine the Party or any of its elected government. Such anti-party activities have continued to impact negatively on the PDP leading to division, disaffection and heavy haemorrhaging of members with the capacity to diminish our partys electoral fortune if not immediately checked. In the light of the foregoing and the instance of protecting and preserving the existence of our party and its electoral fortune, the NWC, pursuant to the provisions of Section 59 (1) of the PDP Constitution hereby issues a strong reprimand against such anti-party activities and cautions those involved to retrace their steps or face stiffer sanctions as provided in the PDP Constitution, he said. Mr Ologunagba urged all PDP members to remain loyal, focused and continue to work assiduously towards the successful conduct of the PDP National Convention scheduled to hold on Nov. 15 and Nov. 16 in Ibadan. In the last few months, some PDP members and state chapters of the the party have pledging support for the re-election of President Tinubu in 2027. Among them are the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike, a former governor of Ekiti State, Ayo Fayose, and Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State and the entire state chapter of the party. A former Osun governor and former National Secretary of the PDP, Olagunsoye Oyinlola, has also spoken in support of President Tinubus re-election. In Ogun State, the PDP governorship candidate in the 2023 election, Ladi Adebitu, and the state chapter of the party have also pledged to back the presidents re-election bid. The United States government will double to $50 million the reward it is offering for information leading to the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced in a video distributed on the social network X. In the message, Bondi accuses Maduro of collaborating with criminal organizations like Venezuelas Tren de Aragua and Mexicos Sinaloa cartel to smuggle drugs into the United States. He is one of the largest drug traffickers in the world and a threat to our national security, Bondi asserts in the video. The reward is being offered by the Justice and State Departments, the senior official said. The DEA has seized 30 tons of cocaine linked to Maduro and his associates, with nearly seven tons linked to Maduro himself, which represents a primary source of income for the deadly cartels based in Venezuela and Mexico, said Bondi. Meanwhile, the State Department said that for over a decade Maduro has been a leader of the Cartel of the Suns, which is responsible for drug trafficking to the United States. The Treasury Department has included that organization on its list of specially designated global terrorist groups. The first Trump administration had offered $15 million for information leading to the arrest of the Venezuelan president. Later the administration of Joe Biden raised that amount to $25 million after the Chavista leader was sworn in for a third term amid controversy over the election. The Biden administration denounced fraud in the July 2024 presidential elections, in which Maduro declared himself the winner without providing the voter tallies to confirm the result. Washington believes the legitimate winner was opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez, who did provide copies of the records proving his victory. According to then-National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, the decision to increase the bounty was part of a concerted message of solidarity with the Venezuelan people that sought to further elevate international efforts to maintain pressure on Maduro and his proxies. Bondi said in the video that despite the fact that the DOJ has seized two private jets and several vehicles from Maduro, his reign of terror continues. In Caracas, Foreign Minister Yvan Gil described the U.S. move as pathetic and the most ridiculous smokescreen we have ever seen. While we are busy dismantling the terrorist plots orchestrated from [the U.S.], this lady is putting on a media circus to please Venezuelas defeated far right, he added. Gil also attacked Bondi herself, the same person who promised Jeffrey Epsteins non-existent secret list and who is mired in scandals involving political favors. Her show is a joke, a desperate distraction from her own miseries. The dignity of our homeland is not for sale. We repudiate this crude political propaganda operation, concluded the head of Venezuelan diplomacy. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAIS USA Edition The Borno State Government has revealed plans to build houses for teachers, renovate dilapidated schools, and establish more Islamic colleges across the state. Governor Babagana Zulum rolled out the plan at a meeting with stakeholders in the education sector to review current challenges and outline fresh directives for improving learning outcomes, infrastructure, and coordination in the state. The governor emphasised the need for synergy among education agencies to ensure effective service delivery, noting that collaboration was key to addressing the sectors challenges. Mr Zulum also ordered the establishment of additional High Islamic Colleges in selected local government areas. He said the colleges would integrate traditional Islamic studies with literacy, numeracy, modern sciences, and vocational training. According to him, the initiative aims to mainstream the non-formal education sector into the formal system, target Almajiri pupils, and provide a second chance for out-of-school children who have exceeded the official enrolment age. The governor also directed the establishment of state libraries in Biu, southern Borno, and Monguno, in the northern part of the state, in addition to the upgraded Maiduguri library. Deliberately, I upgraded the Maiduguri library, with the aim of establishing another one in Biu and one in Monguno to promote reading culture, which is fast eroding. I want you to rejuvenate the reading culture by ensuring the library is effective. But most importantly, apart from the physical books, lets put a mechanism for e-books in place, Mr Zulum said. (NAN) The Kano State Executive Council has approved N14.8 billion to execute developmental projects across the state. The Commissioner for Information and Strategies, Ibrahim Waiya, disclosed this while addressing journalists on Friday in Kano. He said N364 million would be spent on renovating and rehabilitating the Sabo Bakin Zuwo Maternity Hospital in Jakara and N294 million on general infrastructure renovation at the School of Health Technology, Bebeji. The commissioner explained that N113 million will be used to supply and install solar energy systems at five maternity facilities across the state. We are spending over N112 million for the supply of drugs and consumables to Hasiya Bayero, Murtala Muhammad, and Yadakunya hospitals. He said that the sum of N272 million is for the renovation and rehabilitation of the newly procured House at Zango Quarters, Murtala Muhammad Specialist Hospital. The commissioner said that the supply of working materials to two newly renovated wards at the Muhammad Abdullahi Wase Teaching hospital would gulp N128 million. Mr Waiya said N379 million would be used for the general renovation and construction of an additional facility at the Zakirai Primary Health Care Centre. He said that the council also approved N310 million for the supply of 120,000 litres of diesel and 17,000 litres of PMS in February 2025. The commissioner further said that the rehabilitation of five mini earth dams in Madobi, Gwarzo, Garun Malam, Kibiya and Ajingi would cost N169 million. The Council also approved a policy matter of significant fiscal relevance. READ ALSO: Kano governor probes commissioner over release of drug suspect The commissioner said that the Council ratified the 2025 Proposed Supplementary and Amendment Budget to the tune of N889.277, reflecting an upward adjustment of N169.522 over the originally approved budget of N719.755. The supplementary appropriation is aimed at strengthening the capacity of the government to deliver on its core mandates and emerging obligations. The council has directed the immediate transmission of the proposed supplementary budget to the Kano State House of Assembly for legislative action and passage into law, he said. (NAN) HOUSTON, Aug. 8, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- AMIGO LNG SA de CV (AMIGO LNG), the Mexican joint venture of Texas based Epcilon LNG LLC and Singapore-based LNG Alliance, is pleased to announce the award of the Engineering, Procurement, and Construction (EPC) contract for its marine facilities to Constructora Manzanillo SA de CV (COMSA Marine), Mexico a leading international EPC contractor in marine and port infrastructure. This milestone marks significant progress in the development of AMIGO LNG's 7.8 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal in Guaymas, Sonora, on Mexico's west coast. EPC Award Marine Facilities Under the EPC contract, COMSA Marine will be responsible for the detailed engineering, construction, and commissioning of the AMIGO LNG terminal's marine infrastructure, including the LNG jetty, berthing and mooring facilities, and associated utilities to support LNG loading operations. The state-of-the-art quad-berth marine facilities, equipped with high-capacity LNG loading arms exceeding 15,000 m/hr, ensure rapid vessel turnaround and efficient LNG loading operations. These facilities enable the safe and seamless export of LNG to global markets, reaffirming AMIGO LNG's commitment to delivering reliable and competitive energy solutions. "Awarding the EPC contract for our marine facilities represents a key achievement in our project schedule," said Dr. Muthu Chezhian, CEO of LNG Alliance. "COMSA Marine brings extensive experience in LNG terminal construction and marine engineering, which ensures we will meet the highest standards of safety, quality, and environmental stewardship." Mr. Ruben Alamo, President of COMSA Marine stated, "We are honoured to be entrusted with this challenging project. Its success will be driven by our unique combination of local expertise and an unwavering commitment to the highest international standards in environment, safety and quality. We look forward to collaborating closely with all stakeholders to deliver this landmark project in Mexico that will create lasting value for the entire region." Strategically located to leverage Guaymas' deepwater port and proximity to major gas supplies, AMIGO LNG aims to begin LNG exports by Q3 2028, offering economic development, local supply chain engagement and job creation within Sonora. Moreover, AMIGO LNG's competitive pricing and reduced shipping distances could equate to 35% shorter voyage time. About LNG Alliance LNG Alliance (est. 2013), an affiliate of Texas-based Epcilon LNG LLC, is powering the future with cutting-edge gas and LNG terminal infrastructure across the USA, Mexico, Southeast Asia, and Europe. Backed by strategic partnerships with top-tier energy and technology leaders from the USA, Middle East, and Europe; LNG Alliance delivers reliable, transition and sustainable energy with global reach and local impact. www.lngalliance.com About COMSA Marine COMSA Marine is a global engineering and construction firm specializing in marine and port infrastructure. With a strong presence across the Americas, COMSA brings deep expertise in LNG terminal projects and complex offshore environments. www.comsamarineusa.com SOURCE LNG Alliance Pte Ltd DARWIN, Australia, Aug. 7, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The world-renowned Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair (DAAF) returns to Larrakia Country in Darwin, Australia, and is online from August 8 to 10 (2025), celebrating Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art, design and culture. The largest event of its kind, DAAF Online is a global mecca for art and culture enthusiasts, gallerists, collectors, and first-time buyers, seeking a truly unique shopping experience. Michelle Woody Minnapinni, Ngiya Murrakupupuni (My Country), 2024. Locally sourced earth pigments on linen, 120 x 90cm. Image courtesy of the artist Binygurr Wirrpanda, Yalata, Etched Aluminium, 90 x 60 cm, 2024. Image courtesy of Buku Larrgay Mulka. Hosting artworks from more than 44 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Centres online (and 79 Art Centre across the hybrid event), DAAF Online invites guests to immerse in the rich and diverse contemporary creations of the world's oldest living cultures. Importantly, the DAAF Foundation also ensures the ability to ethically acquire exquisite artworks, with 100 percent of sales made going back to artists and their communities. From the red sands of the Central Desert to the sparkling saltwater islands and waterways of Zenadth Kes (Torres Strait Islands), the Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair (DAAF) online platform offers access to a world of bold, contemporary First Nations design grounded in more than 65,000 years of culture. The art reflects the deep connections to Country, culture and community which shape each artist's practice. From intricate etchings at Buku-Larrgay Mulka in Arnhem Land to ochre-rich canvases from the Tiwi Islands' Jilamara Arts, every purchase supports ethical and sustainable futures for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists and their communities. Buying First Nations art is more than a transactionit's a powerful act of connection. As Adam Boyd of Moa Arts shares, it offers "a unique view of Country and the people that keep it alive." Whether it's the vibrant works of Iwantja Arts celebrated on the global stage, or Warlukurlangu Artists whose fire stories travel far beyond Central Australia, each artwork carries generations of storytelling, innovation and cultural strength. Buy ethically from DAAF online and support the next chapter of Indigenous-led creativity and self-determined futures. Some of the Art Centres featured at DAAF Online have, and are currently being exhibited internationally, in the United States and Europe: BukuLarrgay Mulka Centre, Yirrkala, Arnhem Land In 202325, Madayin: Eight Decades of Aboriginal Australian Bark Painting from Yirrkala toured the United Statesthe first major U.S. exhibition curated in collaboration with Yolu leaders and featuring over 80 bark paintings, honouring Yolu cultural governance and artistic authority. The Stars We Do Not See: Australian Indigenous Art Launching on 18 October 2025 at the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, this major cultural exchangepartnering with the National Gallery of Victoriafeatures over 200 works by more than 130 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists. It marks the largest-ever presentation of Indigenous Australian art internationally and will tour North America through early 2027, including venues like the Denver Art Museum, Portland Art Museum, Peabody Essex Museum and the Royal Ontario Museum. This exhibition will be featuring many artists from DAAF 2025's participating Art Centres Jilamara Arts, Tiwi Islands In March 2025, artist Johnathon World Peace Bush debuted his UK solo exhibition at Frieze No. 9 Cork Street, Londonshowcasing Tiwi ceremonial traditions through a striking, contemporary lens. Warlukurlangu Artists, Yuendumu (Warlpiri Country) From July to October 2025, Revisions: Made by the Warlpiri of Central Australia with Patrick Waterhouse was exhibited across Whitby Museum and Pannett Art Gallery in the UK. This collaborative project layered new acrylic works over colonial-era maps and documentation, asserting Warlpiri cultural sovereignty and narrative renewal. DAAF Foundation's executive director, Claire Summers, said "the Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair will return this August, allowing visitors to purchase and immerse themselves into the art of over 1,500 Indigenous artists and designers. "We feel privileged to provide this global stage. It's inspiring to witness the market growth and appreciation for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art and design since the Fair began 19 years ago. "Art fairs have a critical role to play in helping artists connect to both domestic and international markets. DAAF is unique in that it provides a platform for artists to showcase their work, putting Indigenous agency and their culture at the forefront. "We look forward to welcoming guests from around the globe to buy directly from our Art Centres through our online component of the Fair," she said. DAAF Online can be accessed via the following links: https://daaf.com.au/ http://2025.daaf.com.au DAAF Online imagery can be accessed here: Imagery Further Event Information 19th Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair (DAAF) | 7-10 August: Including the Opening Ceremony, Public Program and DAAF Online The only national event of its kind, DAAF has secured a reputation as one of the country's most significant and internationally recognised arts events, creating a unique opportunity to connect with, and ethically purchase art directly from Art Centres, while meeting artists and learning firsthand about their cultural heritage, stories, history and traditional artistic practices through a range of masterclasses, talks and demonstrations. Those unable to make the journey to the Top End of Australia and DAAF at the Convention Centre in person are invited to experience DAAF Online 2025. Free to access, the online platform will be open from 10am Friday 8 August, to 9pm Sunday 10 August 2025 (Australian Central Standard Time). Information & tickets: www.daaf.com.au DAAF Foundation is supported by the Tim Fairfax Family Foundation and receives funding from Creative Australia through the Australian Cultural Fund, Australian Government Indigenous Visual Arts Industry Support, Australian Government Visual Arts and Craft Strategy, Northern Territory Government through Northern Territory Major Events Company, Place for Indigenous Art & Culture, University of Melbourne, City of Darwin, Chapman & Bailey. About the Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair Foundation (DAAF Foundation) The Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair (DAAF) Foundation is a not-for-profit, Indigenous organization, which is owned and governed by the 80+ Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Centres and Peak Bodies it represents. DAAF Foundation celebrates the rich cultural and artistic diversity of Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Centres. DAAF Foundation's vision is to provide vibrant and exciting platforms for First Nations art, design, and culture with a reputation for innovation, diversity and cultural integrity. Its keystone event is the renowned Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair. More here: https://daaf.com.au/foundation/ What is an Art Centre? Art Centres are at the heart of their communities, and of all that the DAAF Foundation does. Art Centres play an important role in maintaining and strengthening cultural practices. They operate as meeting places and offer opportunities for training, education, career pathways and enterprise. Art Centre sales play a vital economic role in remote communities, often being the only externally generated source of income. Economic independence helps ensure the agency for people to live on their homelands, continuing the preservation of traditional practices, ceremonies, language, art and spirituality. Art Centres provide a safe and supportive environment for artists and their families, contributing to the social and physical health of the community. More here: https://daaf.com.au/art-centres/what-is-an-art-centre/ Instagram: @darwinartfair Facebook: @DarwinAboriginalArtFair SOURCE Darwin Aboriginal Art Fair Foundation Leading Child Care Provider Marks Milestone with a Chance to Win a Full Year of Free Child Care WEST SENECA, N.Y., Aug. 8, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- BrightPath Early Learning and Child Care is proudly marking 15 years of delivering exceptional early years education and care. As a part of Busy Bees North America, one of the leading child care providers on the continent with 239 centers across Canada and the USA, BrightPath is the premier brand with more than 150 schools. Established in 2010 as Edleun (Education Learning Universe) with 11 child care centers in Alberta, Canada, Edleun was guided by a vision to elevate the standard of child care in Canada. In 2013, Edleun became BrightPath Early Learning and Child Care, marking a new chapter in its mission to provide exceptional child care and early years education. Today, BrightPath continues the mission and offers nurturing, high-quality programs for infants through pre-kindergarten through its proprietary BeeCurious Curriculum. BeeCurious provides a learning environment that promotes self-awareness, understanding of others, an appreciation for cultural diversity with a sense of global stewardship, and a strong connection to community and natural surroundings. The program is tailored to spark curiosity, build confidence, and inspire a lifelong love of learning all led by dedicated and passionate educators. In celebration of this milestone, the organization is giving families two more exciting reasons to visit their local BrightPath school this summer: Win a Full Year of Free Child Care Earn Up to $600 in Tuition Credits "For 15 years, BrightPath has been a trusted partner for families, offering safe, nurturing environments and world-class early learning experiences," said Mary Ann Curran, Chief Executive Officer at Busy Bees North America. "This celebration is one of the ways we are giving back to the families who have made our journey so meaningful and a way to welcome new families into the BrightPath community." From now through August 16, 2025, families who tour any BrightPath or affiliated school in the United States will be entered for a chance to win a full year of high-quality child care - completely free! One lucky family will receive this amazing prize, supporting them in giving their child the very best start in life. And the celebration doesn't stop there. Families who choose to enroll by August 16 can also earn up to $600 in tuition credits toward their child's education and care. To learn more about celebrating with BrightPath, and how to enter to win free child care and the tuition credits, visit us online today! Spaces for the fall are filling up quickly. Families are encouraged to find a school and book a tour online by visiting https://brightpathkids.com/us BrightPath Early Learning and Child Care As a part Busy Bees North America, of one of the leading child care providers in North America, BrightPath is a world-class and innovative provider of early years education with more than 150 school locations across the U.S. and Canada. With its unique and proprietary BeeCuriuous curriculum, BrightPath celebrates learning as a joyful experience and aligns with children's natural curiosities. It provides children with autonomy through choices, guided explorations, and multiple forms of expression, creating awareness of self, others, cultural diversity, global stewardship, community, and natural environments. With partnerships in programming, nutrition, communication technology, and recreational fitness, BrightPath consistently delivers the best in quality care and opportunities for early years development. SOURCE BrightPath Early Learning and Child Care Nurse Practitioners, Physician Assistants, and Certified Nurse Midwives at Cape Cod Healthcare move to join the MNA for an equal voice in clinical decisions CAPE COD, Mass., Aug. 8, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- A strong majority of Advanced Practice Providers (APPs) at Cape Cod Healthcare (CCHC) including Nurse Practitioners, Physician Assistants, and Certified Nurse Midwives have signed union cards to join the Massachusetts Nurses Association (MNA). The clinicians called on CCHC President and CEO Michael Lauf to voluntarily recognize their union and respect their call for a collaborative, legally protected voice in workplace decisions that directly impact patient care and provider well-being, but CEO Michael Lauf did not respond to the request. "We are seeking an equal seat at the table to set priorities with you for our workplace and ensure a thriving future for Cape Cod Healthcare," the APPs wrote in a letter delivered to Michael Lauf on August 8, 2025. "We have a passion for our work at Cape Cod Healthcare and want a voice in building our practices for positive patient outcomes and long-term success for all patients and providers." The group outlined to Michael Lauf their intent to form a union to help address the increased complexity of our patients and how that impacts their practice without having proper and fair compensation. After filing with the NLRB on August 8, federal officials will determine the logistics and timing of the election. The MNA is the largest union and professional association of nurses and healthcare professionals in Massachusetts, representing 26,000 members across hospitals, public health settings, and other healthcare institutions. CCHC's APPs are the latest group of healthcare professionals seeking to join the MNA to secure stronger advocacy for both caregivers and patients. The clinicians are asking the CCHC administration to put resources into patient care by valuing and respecting our advanced practice providers. The letter stated, "Recognizing us as a union would be a clear demonstration of your leadership and your faith in the expertise of your APPs." MassNurses.org Facebook.com/MassNurses Twitter.com/MassNurses Instagram.com/MassNurses Founded in 1903, the Massachusetts Nurses Association is the largest union of registered nurses and healthcare professionals in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Its 26,000 members advance clinical practice by fostering high standards, promoting the economic and general welfare of nurses and healthcare professionals in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of patient care, and by lobbying the Legislature and regulatory agencies on healthcare issues affecting caregivers and the public. SOURCE Massachusetts Nurses Association CLEVELAND, Aug. 8, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Gioffre & Company, LLP (Gioffre) has joined Cohen & Co, one of the top tax and accounting firms in the U.S. Based in Westchester County, New York, Gioffre is a full-service accounting firm with over 50 years of combined experience. The transaction closed on August 8, 2025. Gioffre was founded by Anthony Gioffre, who also served as its managing partner, and includes five additional employees. The firm brings outsourced accounting, financial reporting and tax expertise from working with both public and large private company clients nationwide. "Through our many discussions with Anthony, we have gained tremendous confidence in the strategic, positive impact this will have on our firm," says Partner in Charge, Markets & Industries Marcy Kempf. "Adding such a talented team will help us continue to enhance and expand our CFO support, financial reporting and tax provision services, delivering tailored solutions to meet the needs of our clients and their investors." "We are excited for this new venture with Cohen & Co and chose this move with intention," says Anthony Gioffre. "Our goal is to provide enhanced service opportunities and bench strength to our long-standing clients and to offer longevity for our employees at a highly respected platform firm." With the addition of Gioffre, Cohen & Co reaffirms its commitment to deliver high-quality assurance, tax and advisory solutions that reflect the diverse needs of the New York Tri-State region. The Westchester office joins a growing network of locations strategically positioned to support clients locally, regionally and nationally. Calfee, Halter & Griswold LLP served as legal counsel to Cohen & Co for this transaction. This is the third acquisition for Cohen & Co in 2025, following Cleveland-based Tax & Wealth Management, Inc. in January and Chicago-based Tassi and Company in March. About Cohen & Co Named one of America's Most Recommended Tax and Accounting Firms by USA TODAY and one of the Best of the Best Firms by INSIDE Public Accounting, Cohen & Co offers assurance, tax and advisory services to clients throughout the U.S. and worldwide. The firm serves a broad range of clients, from privately held companies and their owners; to public and private funds, advisers and fund service providers within the investment industry; to Fortune 1000 multinational enterprises. Founded in 1977, Cohen & Co has more than 800 dedicated professionals across the U.S. and 15 offices in Colorado, Illinois, Ohio, Maryland, Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Through an affiliated entity, the firm also has a presence in the Cayman Islands. Learn more at cohenco.com. "Cohen & Co" is the brand name under which Cohen & Company, Ltd. and Cohen & Co Advisory, LLC, and its subsidiary entities, provide professional services. Cohen & Company, Ltd. and Cohen & Co Advisory, LLC practice in an alternative practice structure in accordance with the AICPA Code of Professional Conduct and applicable law, regulations and professional standards. Cohen & Company, Ltd. is a licensed independent CPA firm that provides attest services to its clients. Cohen & Co Advisory, LLC and its subsidiary entities provide tax, advisory and business consulting services to their clients and are not licensed CPA firms. The entities operating under the Cohen & Co brand are independently owned and are not responsible for the services provided by any other entity operating under the Cohen & Co brand. Our use of terms such as "our firm," "we," "us" and other terms of similar import denote the alternative practice structure of Cohen & Company, Ltd. and Cohen & Co Advisory, LLC. SOURCE Cohen & Co SEOUL, South Korea, Aug. 8, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Coway Co., Ltd., the "Best Life Solution Company," today reported its financial results for the second quarter of 2025. Coway Financial Results "Our continued investment in core business areas such as R&D, marketing and digital transformation is now delivering tangible outcomes, fueling the company's continued momentum both domestically and internationally," said Soon Tae Kim, Coway's Chief Financial Officer. "In the second half of the year, we aim to further reinforce our market leadership by maintaining strong sales performance, particularly through key product lines such as our ice water purifiers and the BEREX lineup of massage beds and chairs." Coway's reported earnings are as follows: Second quarter revenue: KRW 1,258.9 billion (+16.3% YoY) (+16.3% YoY) Second quarter operating profit: KRW 242.7 billion (+14.9% YoY) * The reported figures are taken from the consolidated K-IFRS (International Financial Reporting Standards) statement. Coway has also achieved a cumulative H1 revenue of KRW 2,433.8 billion (+16.8% YoY), as well as an operating profit of KRW 454.0 billion (+12.1% YoY). In Q2 2025, the company's domestic revenue reached KRW 730.3 billion, up 11.4% year-on-year. This growth was driven by strong product sales and the successful launches of such new products as the Icon Pro Water Purifier and the NOBLE Dehumidifying Air Purifier. Furthermore, net rental accounts additions reached 160,000, underscoring the strength of Coway's rental business model. Up 23.7% from the same period last year, Coway's overseas subsidiaries achieved a quarterly revenue of KRW 472.8 billion. The company's Malaysia subsidiary contributed KRW 355.5 billion in revenue, marking a 23.9% year-on-year increase, while Coway's United States and Thailand subsidiaries also recorded steady growth with revenues of KRW 58.1 billion (+1.0% YoY) and KRW 42.9 billion (+49.5% YoY), respectively. For additional details about Coway's financial performance, please visit the company's Investor Relations page. About Coway Co., Ltd. Established in Korea in 1989, Coway, the "Best Life Solution Company," is a leading environmental home appliances company making people's lives healthy and comfortable with innovative home appliances such as water purifiers, air purifiers, bidets, and mattresses. BEREX, the company's sleep & wellness brand, aims to improve the quality of life through cutting-edge mattresses and massage chairs. Since being founded, Coway has become a leader in the environmental home appliances industry, with intensive research, engineering, development, and customer service. The company has proven dedication to innovation with award-winning products, home health expertise, unrivaled market share, customer satisfaction, and brand recognition. Coway continues to innovate by diversifying product lines and accelerating overseas business in Malaysia, the USA, Thailand, China, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Europe, based on the business success in Korea. In 2025, the company launched Coway Life Solution, a premium elder care platform offering personalized care solutions tailored to different life stages. For more information, please visit http://www.coway.com/ or http://newsroom.coway.com. SOURCE Coway Co., Ltd. JUNO BEACH, Fla., Aug. 8, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Florida Power & Light Company and key stakeholder groups have reached an agreement in principle on a comprehensive four-year rate settlement that would keep customer bills well below the national average through the end of the decade. FPL and multiple intervenors filed a joint motion today asking the Florida Public Service Commission (PSC) to suspend technical hearings on FPL's original rates petition so that a settlement agreement can be finalized and filed with the PSC. The parties plan to work to finalize and file the agreement by Aug. 20. A word from FPL President and CEO Armando Pimentel: "We are pleased to have reached an agreement in principle with key stakeholders. A settlement would provide a win for our customers and the state of Florida. We appreciate the constructive engagement of key intervenors. Any agreement that we reach should enable FPL to continue to make smart investments on behalf of our customers, ensuring that we can continue to provide reliable electricity to power our fast-growing state while keeping customer bills low." Participants: The agreement in principle is supported by the Florida Retail Federation, Florida Industrial Power Users Group, Florida Energy for Innovation Association, Walmart, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, EVgo Services, Fuel Retailers, Electrify America, the Federal Executive Agencies and Armstrong World Industries. How we got here: With FPL's current four-year rate agreement set to conclude at the end of this year, FPL on Feb. 28 submitted a petition to the PSC to set new rates for 2026 through 2029. That kicked off an extensive public review process in which FPL submitted thousands of pages of witness testimony and documents in support of its proposal. FPL responded to more than 3,000 interrogatories and requests for documents from 13 intervening parties and FPL witnesses participated in more than 30 depositions. The PSC conducted 10 public hearings across the state in May and June in which hundreds of customers weighed in on FPL's proposal. What's next: FPL and the supporting parties will appear before the PSC Monday to ask commissioners to suspend the technical hearing to allow the parties to finalize the agreement. If the PSC accepts the motion, a new hearing date will be set to review the finalized agreement. Any new PSC-approved rates would take effect Jan. 1, 2026. About Florida Power & Light Company Florida Power & Light Company is America's largest electric utility, delivering reliable power to more than 6 million customer accounts serving approximately 12 million people across Florida. By leveraging a diverse energy mix, including nuclear, natural gas, solar and battery storage, FPL operates one of the most fuel- and cost-efficient power generation fleets in the U.S. and has earned the ReliabilityOne National Reliability Award for seven of the last ten years. FPL is a subsidiary of Juno Beach, Florida-based NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NEE), which is one of the largest electric power and energy infrastructure companies in North America and is a leading provider of electricity to American homes and businesses. NextEra Energy is also the parent company of NextEra Energy Resources, LLC, which, together with its affiliated entities, is advancing America's energy future with one of the largest and most diverse portfolios of power generation and infrastructure solutions. For more information about NextEra Energy companies, visit these websites: www.NextEraEnergy.com, www.FPL.com, www.NextEraEnergyResources.com. SOURCE Florida Power & Light Company SHIROISHI, Japan, Aug. 8, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Ichijoh Ryokan LP, operator of a long-established Japanese traditional inn in Shiroishi City, Miyagi Prefecture, will open a new resort hotel "THE YUKAWA" on September 2, 2025. The new hotel, located in a nature-rich place surrounded by ancient forests and rivers, is designed to blend a 500-year tradition of hospitality with modern approaches by the Ichijoh family, a local clan that has run the inn. THE YUKAWA is aimed at reviving the philosophy of the first-generation Ichijoh family, while helping guests relax to the extent they will feel their minds and bodies renewed and their vitality regained in the brand-new buildings. Image: https://cdn.kyodonewsprwire.jp/prwfile/release/M108724/202507302939/_prw_PI1fl_9kOgbjHN.png About THE YUKAWA THE YUKAWA will open on the Ichijoh family's ancestral land near the mountains and rivers of Kamasaki Onsen hot spa. Based on its tradition, the hotel aims to carve out a new future. Overview of the hotel Official Website: https://the-yukawa.com/ https://www.ichijoh.co.jp/english/ Number of Guest Rooms: 11 *All rooms have a terrace and a private open-air hot spring bath. River View YUKAWA Suite (1 room) River View Panorama Suite (1 room) River View Villa Suite (3 rooms) River View Suite (6 rooms) Private dining room with terrace, lobby lounge, private open-air bath, BAR, spa treatment room *All rooms are non-smoking (a separate smoking room is available). Discover tranquility and genuine rejuvenation through the Ichijoh family's origins The resort originated as an inn opened roughly five centuries ago in the Kamasaki area by the Ichijoh family's ancestor, an Imperial Court noble from Kyoto. The founder's philosophy of hospitality has been inherited despite its transformation -- from a healing spa to a traditional onsen ryokan (Japanese-style inn) and now to a resort hotel. THE YUKAWA is newly built. But at the same time its atmosphere, materials and details are intended to offer the narrative of its historical significance. The hotel believes the founder's hospitality tradition will help create new values and offer guests fresh experiences and profound moments. THE YUKAWA uses the carefully-preserved original doors from the now-defunct Ichijoh Branch for its main entrance. The Ichijoh Branch -- a branch of Ichijoh Ryokan located in front of Shiroishi Station -- welcomed travelers for over 100 years until about 40 years ago. The hotel hopes guests who step through the historic doors will find themselves in tranquility, peace and harmony with nature. Meals are all prepared at the hotel. Guests can dine in private dining rooms with terraces or on their room's terrace overlooking the gentle flow of the river. River View Suite: https://cdn.kyodonewsprwire.jp/prwfile/release/M108724/202507302939/_prw_PI2fl_uN7JdBea.jpg YUKAWA Suite: https://cdn.kyodonewsprwire.jp/prwfile/release/M108724/202507302939/_prw_PI3fl_G079c48D.jpg Panorama Suite: https://cdn.kyodonewsprwire.jp/prwfile/release/M108724/202507302939/_prw_PI4fl_NnvYeBPl.jpg Lobby Lounge: https://cdn.kyodonewsprwire.jp/prwfile/release/M108724/202507302939/_prw_PI5fl_XAl4UHUM.jpg Private Dining with Terrace: https://cdn.kyodonewsprwire.jp/prwfile/release/M108724/202507302939/_prw_PI6fl_4oc9zO86.jpg BAR origin: https://cdn.kyodonewsprwire.jp/prwfile/release/M108724/202507302939/_prw_PI7fl_4KAt0hf2.jpg Through the theme of "Back to the Roots," the hotel aims not just to look back on its tradition but to take a new step forward. It hopes that staying at THE YUKAWA will allow guests to refresh their minds and recharge themselves, helping them feel rejuvenated. The hotel aspires to build a relationship with guests based on empathy and shared experiences, with the aim of inspiring them to thrive, as well as providing them with a place to enliven their spirits. SOURCE Ichijoh Ryokan LP U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered the Pentagon to use the military to carry out law enforcement against foreign drug cartels. The Republicans decree provides an official basis for undertaking direct military operations on foreign soil and in corresponding territorial waters against organized criminal groups. Trump secretly signed a directive to the Pentagon to begin using military force against certain Latin American drug cartels that the administration has designated as terrorist organizations, The New York Times reported Friday, citing sources familiar with the matter. The decision to involve the military is the most aggressive step yet in the administrations escalating campaign against cartels and underscores Trumps determination to use military forces to carry out what have traditionally been law enforcement operations to stem the flow of fentanyl a drug responsible for the worst addiction crisis in decades in the United States, the threat of which the White House has used to justify its tariffs on Mexico and Canada and other illegal drugs into the country. According to the sources cited by the Times, U.S. officials have begun developing options for how these groups could be pursued, according to sources familiar with the discussions who spoke on condition of anonymity. The Republican administration is sparing no means to combat drug trafficking, including raising to $50 million its reward for the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, whom Washington links to the Sinaloa Cartel and describes as one of the biggest drug traffickers in the world. But ordering the military to crack down on drug trafficking overseas also raises legal questions, including the possibility that such a campaign could result in civilian casualties at the hands of military personnel deployed in third countries. Congress must authorize the deployment of forces abroad, in the event of a war, but the legal basis for more purely law enforcement operations, such as dismantling a cartel or arresting its members, is unknown. At this time, according to the newspaper, lawyers from the White House, the Pentagon, and the State Department have not commented publicly on the matter. It is also unknown whether the Justice Departments Office of Legal Counsel has issued an authoritative opinion determining the legal issues. If the militarization of the fight against drug trafficking is confirmed, it wouldnt be the first such initiative. This year, Trump deployed the National Guard and troops to the southwest border to stem the flow of drugs and immigrants, and he has ordered a redoubling of drug surveillance and seizure efforts. Separately, according to Reuters, the FBI has asked local police departments to report the names of individuals linked to drug cartels and gangs to the U.S. government for inclusion on the terrorist watch list created after 9/11, which could mean adding American citizens to the list. The federal investigative agency contacted local law enforcement agencies via email on May 9, asking them to share the names of people with suspected ties to eight criminal groups that Trump has designated as foreign terrorist organizations. It also asked law enforcement agencies to share information about relatives and acquaintances of members of those groups. The email, which was obtained by the nonprofit Property of the People, which advocates for public data transparency, and shared with Reuters, was forwarded to other law enforcement agencies and groups such as the National Sheriffs Association, which confirmed receiving it from the FBI. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAIS USA Edition NEW YORK, Aug. 8, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Lument Finance Trust, Inc. (NYSE: LFT) ("we", "LFT" or "the Company") today reported its second quarter results. GAAP net income attributable to common shareholders for the second quarter was $2.5 million, or $0.05 per share of common stock. Distributable earnings for the second quarter were $2.8 million, or $0.05 per share of common stock. The Company has also issued a detailed presentation of its results, which can be viewed at www.lumentfinancetrust.com. Conference Call and Webcast Information The Company will also host a conference call on Monday, August 11, 2025, at 8:30 a.m. ET to provide a business update and discuss the financial results for the second quarter of 2025. The conference call may be accessed by dialing 1-800-836-8184 (U.S.) or 1-646-357-8785 (international). Note: there is no passcode; please ask the operator to be joined into the Lument Finance Trust call. A live webcast, on a listen-only basis, is also available and can be accessed through the URL: https://app.webinar.net/pGm1xAzPEMq For those unable to listen to the live broadcast, a recorded replay will be available for on-demand viewing approximately one hour after the end of the event through the Company's website https://lumentfinancetrust.com/ and by telephone dial-in. The replay call-in number is 1-888-660-6345 (U.S.) or 1-646-517-4150 (international) with passcode 48892. Non-GAAP Financial Measures In this release, the Company presents certain financial measures that are not calculated according to generally accepted accounting principles in the United States ("GAAP"). Specifically, the Company is presenting distributable earnings, which constitutes a non-GAAP financial measure within the meaning of Item 10(e) of Regulation S-K and is net income under GAAP. While we believe the non-GAAP information included in this press release provides supplemental information to assist investors in analyzing our results, and to assist investors in comparing our results with other peer issuers, these measures are not in accordance with GAAP, and they should not be considered a substitute for, or superior to, our financial information calculated in accordance with GAAP. The methods of calculating non-GAAP financial measures may differ substantially from similarly titled measures used by other companies. Our GAAP financial results and the reconciliations from these results should be carefully evaluated. Distributable Earnings Distributable Earnings is a non-GAAP measure, which we define as GAAP net income (loss) attributable to holders of common stock computed in accordance with GAAP, including realized losses not otherwise included in GAAP net income (loss) and excluding (i) non-cash equity compensation, (ii) depreciation and amortization, (iii) any unrealized gains or losses or other similar non-cash items that are included in net income for that applicable reporting period, regardless of whether such items are included in other comprehensive income (loss) or net income (loss), and (iv) one-time events pursuant to changes in GAAP and certain material non-cash income or expense items after discussions with the Company's Board of Directors and approved by a majority of the Company's independent directors. Distributable Earnings mirrors how we calculate "Core Earnings" pursuant to the terms of our management agreement with our manager, Lument Investment Management, LLC ("Manager"), for purposes of calculating the incentive fee payable to our Manager. While Distributable Earnings excludes the impact of any unrealized provisions for credit losses, any loan losses are charged off and realized through Distributable Earnings when deemed non-recoverable. Non-recoverability is determined (i) upon the resolution of a loan (i.e. when the loan is repaid, fully or partially, or in the case of foreclosures, when the underlying asset is sold), or (ii) with respect to any amount due under any loan, when such amount is determined to be non-collectible. We believe that Distributable Earnings provides meaningful information to consider in addition to our net income (loss) and cash flows from operating activities determined in accordance with GAAP. We believe Distributable Earnings is a useful financial metric for existing and potential future holders of our common stock as historically, over time, Distributable Earnings has been a strong indicator of our dividends per share of common stock. As a REIT, we generally must distribute annually at least 90% of our taxable income, subject to certain adjustments, and therefore we believe our dividends are one of the principal reasons stockholders may invest in our common stock. Furthermore, Distributable Earnings help us to evaluate our performance excluding the effects of certain transactions and GAAP adjustments that we believe are not necessarily indicative of our current loan portfolio and operations and is a performance metric we consider when declaring our dividends. Distributable Earnings does not represent net income (loss) or cash generated from operating activities and should not be considered as an alternative to GAAP net income (loss), or an indication of GAAP cash flows from operations, a measure of our liquidity, or an indication of funds available for our cash needs. GAAP to Distributable Earnings Reconciliation Three Months Ended June 30, 2025 Reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP Information Net Income attributable to common shareholders $ 2,505,731 Adjustments for non-Distributable Earnings Unrealized loss (gain) on mortgage servicing rights Unrealized provision for credit losses Depreciation of real estate owned 36,456 94,768 138,777 Subtotal 270,001 Other Adjustments Adjustment for income taxes (4,084) Subtotal (4,084) Distributable Earnings $ 2,771,648 Weighted average shares outstanding - Basic and Diluted 52,332,304 Distributable Earnings per weighted share outstanding - Basic and Diluted $ 0.05 About LFT LFT is a Maryland corporation focused on investing in, financing and managing a portfolio of commercial real estate debt investments. The Company primarily invests in transitional floating rate commercial mortgage loans with an emphasis on middle-market multi-family assets. LFT is externally managed and advised by Lument Investment Management LLC, a Delaware limited liability company. Additional Information and Where to Find It Investors, security holders and other interested persons may find additional information regarding the Company at the SEC's Internet site at http://www.sec.gov/, the Company website at www.lumentfinancetrust.com, or by directing requests to: Lument Finance Trust, 230 Park Avenue, 20th Floor, New York, NY 10169, Attention: Investor Relations. Forward-Looking Statements Certain statements included in this press release constitute forward-looking statements intended to qualify for the safe harbor contained in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act, as amended. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties. You can identify forward-looking statements by use of words such as "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "project," "estimate," "plan," "continue," "intend," "should," "may," "will," "seek," "would," "could," or similar expressions or other comparable terms, or by discussions of strategy, plans or intentions. Forward-looking statements are based on the Company's beliefs, assumptions and expectations of its future performance, taking into account all information currently available to the Company on the date of this press release or the date on which such statements are first made. Actual results may differ from expectations, estimates and projections. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements in this press release and should consider carefully the factors described in Part I, Item IA "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2024, which is available on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov, and in the Company's other current or periodic filings with the SEC, when evaluating these forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are subject to substantial risks and uncertainties, many of which are difficult to predict and are generally beyond the Company's control. Except as required by applicable law, the Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. SOURCE Lument Finance Trust, Inc. TSX/NYSE/PSE: MFC SEHK: 945 HONG KONG, Aug. 7, 2025 /PRNewswire/ - Manulife Investment Management today announced the appointment of June Chua as Head of Asian Equities, effective August 4, 2025. This appointment reflects the firm's continued commitment to deepening its equity investment capabilities across Asia, a region that plays a critical role in today's equity markets and in the firm's long-term investment strategy. Based in Hong Kong, June will lead one of the largest equity teams in the region comprising more than 90 investment professionals across 10 markets and oversee investment process execution across Asia, with specific oversight in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, and Vietnam. She will also serve as Head of Asian Equity Research, coordinating research coverage and resources across the region. June will report to Charlie Dutton, Head of Emerging Market Equities. This leadership development highlights Manulife Investment Management's continued growth in Asia, where the firm has operated for over a century and currently oversees more than US$241 billion in AUM across Asia equity strategies. With a deep bench of local talent and the ability to integrate regional insights with global investment expertise, the firm is well-positioned to deliver differentiated outcomes and sustain a competitive edge over asset managers based outside of Asia. "June brings a wealth of experience and a proven track record in managing Asia ex-Japan and Asia Frontier equities," said Charlie Dutton, Head of Emerging Market Equities. "Her leadership will be instrumental in reinforcing our investment philosophy, enhancing research collaboration, and ensuring disciplined execution across our regional platform. As we remain focused on delivering resilient investment outcomes and long-term value to our clients, June's appointment further strengthens our ability to harness local insights and global perspectives. We look forward to the positive impact she will have on our Asian equities franchise." June brings more than 25 years of investment experience, including extensive expertise in Asia ex-Japan and Asia Frontier equities. Prior to joining Manulife Investment Management, she was Senior Vice President, Head of Asia and Emerging Markets Equities at Lombard Odier, where she led the firm's regional equity strategies. Before that, she served as Executive Director, Head of Asian Equities at Harvest Global Investments, overseeing portfolio management for Asia ex-Japan, Asia Frontier, and HK-China Connect equities, while managing a team of equity analysts. _________________________ 1 As of March 31, 2025. "I am honored to join Manulife Investment Management and lead our Asian Equities team at a time when the region continues to play an increasingly important role in global portfolios. I look forward to working closely with our talented investment professionals across Asia to strengthen research collaboration and ensure disciplined execution. Together, we will continue to deliver insightful, locally informed investment outcomes for our clients," said June Chua, Head of Asian Equities. Earlier in her career, June held senior portfolio management roles at Pinebridge Investments, Sumitomo Asset Management, and Crosby Wealth Management, gaining deep regional insight across key Asian markets. At the same time, Manulife Investment Management announced that Yuting Shao has joined as Senior Global Macro Strategist as a part of its Multi-Asset Solutions team. Based in Hong Kong, she will be responsible for developing macroeconomic strategy views that will inform the firm's investment teams, supporting their ability to navigate evolving economic conditions and market risks. She will also be responsible for articulating these views to clients and media stakeholders. Yuting brings over eight years of experience to the role. Prior to joining Manulife Investment Management, she was Vice President, Macro Strategies at State Street Global Markets, where she focused on China and Emerging Markets Asia. Before that, she worked at the International Monetary Fund and Institute of International Finance. "I am thrilled to be part of Manulife Investment Management's Multi-Asset Solutions team. In today's complex macroeconomic environment, it is more important than ever to provide clear, actionable insights. I look forward to supporting our investment teams and clients with thoughtful perspectives that help navigate both risks and opportunities across global markets," said Yuting Shao, Senior Global Macro Strategist. "Yuting brings valuable macroeconomic insight and a strong understanding of China and Emerging Markets Asia, which will enhance our ability to navigate today's dynamic market environment. Her addition to the team supports our commitment to delivering thoughtful, research-driven perspectives to our clients. We're pleased to welcome her and look forward to the contributions she will make to our multi-asset platform," said Nathan Thooft, Chief Investment Officer, Multi-Asset Solutions and Global Equities. About Manulife Wealth & Asset Management As part of Manulife Financial Corporation, Manulife Wealth & Asset Management provides global investment, financial advice, and retirement plan services to 19 million individuals, institutions, and retirement plan members worldwide. Our mission is to make decisions easier and lives better by empowering people today to invest for a better tomorrow. As a committed partner to our clients and as a responsible steward of investor capital, we offer a heritage of risk management, deep expertise across public and private markets, and comprehensive retirement plan services. We seek to provide better investment and impact outcomes and to help people confidently save and invest for a more secure financial future. Not all offerings are available in all jurisdictions. For additional information, please visit manulifeim.com. Media Contacts: Jennifer Tsui Manulife Investment Management Phone: +852 9265 2609 Email: [email protected] Thomas Kwan Penta Hong Kong Phone: +852 9018 2500 Email: [email protected] SOURCE Manulife Investment Management DALLAS, Aug. 8, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- A federal jury in Dallas found Fundamental Clinical and Operational Services, LLC liable for retaliation in violation of the Texas Health and Safety Code. Fundamental owns Mira Vista Court, a skilled nursing facility in Fort Worth. The plaintiff, Kayla Morgan, alleged that Fundamental fired her after she reported patient neglect. Fundamental hired Ms. Morgan in October, 2020 to work at Mira Vista Court. Ms. Morgan's suit alleged that nurses wouldn't give patients water, answer call lights, and failed to properly dispense medication. The suit also alleged that nurses wouldn't take patients to the bathroom, forcing them to defecate in diapers. Further, the suit alleged that nurses made family members clean patients themselves. Ms. Morgan alleged that shortly after filing a complaint, Mira Vista Court administrator Mack Baldridge threatened her with termination if she did not stop reporting violations and lie about what was going on. Ms. Morgan testified that when she refused to lie, Fundamental fired her. The case was tried before the Hon. Brantley Starr, United States District Court Judge for the Northern District of Texas. On Thursday, August, 7, 2025, the jury issued its verdict. The jury found Fundamental liable and awarded $20,000 in lost wages. The case is 3:24-CV-00971-X, Morgan v. Fundamental Clinical and Operational Services, LLC. "Those three yeses from the jury meant the world to me," said Ms. Morgan after the verdict was read. "I feel vindicated." Ms. Morgan was represented by Riley Carter with the law firm of Rob Wiley, P.C. Ms. Carter stated, "I'm so proud of Ms. Morgan, she never gave up. Not at work and not at trial." Attorneys Austin Campbell and Areyana Gilbert also assisted Ms. Morgan in the trial. Fundamental was represented by Jeremy Hawpe and Matthew Swanger of Littler Mendelson, P.C. SOURCE Rob Wiley, P.C. LOS ANGELES, Aug. 8, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Today the Academy Software Foundation (ASWF) , the motion picture industry's premier organization for advancing open source software development, welcomes Skydance Animation as the organization's newest Premier Member. "We salute Skydance Animation's investment in the media business," said David Morin, Executive Director of the Academy Software Foundation, "and we are delighted to welcome them to the Foundation. In times of transformation, a strong open source community is essential to the evolution of technologies old and new. We are grateful to Skydance Animation for their support and look forward to their participation." The Skydance Animation production pipeline leverages several open source projects governed by ASWF including OpenColorIO, OpenEXR, OpenImageIO, OpenTimelineIO and Rez. Skydance Animation develops and produces high-end feature films and television series with full production capability across four locations in Los Angeles, Madrid, Stamford, and London. The studio's releases include the feature films Luck and Spellbound with upcoming releases Pookoo, directed by Nathan Greno, Ray Gunn, directed by Brad Bird and an untitled Jack and the Beanstalk project directed by Rich Moore. The animation studio's slate also includes the imaginative television series WondLa. "Skydance Animation is proud to support the open source community and the innovative technologies that emerge from its spirit of collaboration," said Greg Brentin, Executive Vice President of Technology at Skydance Animation. "We're inspired by the talented contributors within the Academy Software Foundation and look forward to bringing our own excitement, ingenuity, and expertise to the Foundation. Our industry thrives when we build togetherand Skydance Animation is eager to contribute." Skydance Animation joins a first-class membership slate at the Academy Software Foundation including Adobe, AMD, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Autodesk, DNEG, DreamWorks, Epic Games, Intel, LAIKA, Microsoft, Netflix, NVIDIA, Samsung, Sony Pictures Imageworks, Walt Disney Studios, Weta FX, and more, all of whom are committed to cross-industry collaboration to develop proven open source solutions for the broader media industry. The Academy Software Foundation welcomes new member companies to support its mission of fostering a healthy open source ecosystem, with multiple membership tiers available. To learn more about becoming a member, visit https://www.aswf.io/join/ . About Academy Software Foundation Developed in partnership by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the Linux Foundation, the Academy Software Foundation was created to provide a world-class home for open source software developers in the motion picture and broader media industries to share resources and collaborate on technologies for image creation, visual effects, animation and sound. The Academy Software Foundation is home to DPEL, MaterialX, OpenAssetIO, OpenColorIO, OpenCue, OpenEXR, OpenFX, OpenImageIO, Open Shading Language, OpenTimelineIO, OpenVDB, Open Review Initiative, OpenAPV, rawtoaces, and Rez. For more information about the Academy Software Foundation, visit https://www.aswf.io/ . Media Contact: Emily Olin, Academy Software Foundation, [email protected] SOURCE Academy Software Foundation LAS VEGAS, Aug. 7, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: SWX) ("Southwest Gas Holdings" or the "Company") today announced the pricing of an underwritten secondary public offering of Centuri Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CTRI) ("Centuri") common stock (the "Offering"), pursuant to which Southwest Gas Holdings, as the selling stockholder, is offering 15,000,000 existing shares of Centuri's common stock, at a price of $19.50 per share. Southwest Gas Holdings has also granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 2,250,000 shares of Centuri's common stock. The Offering is expected to close on August 11, 2025, subject to customary closing conditions. In addition to the shares of Centuri's common stock sold in the Offering, Southwest Gas Holdings previously announced that Icahn Partners and Icahn Partners Master Fund LP, investment entities affiliated with Carl C. Icahn, will purchase an aggregate of 1,573,500 shares of Centuri's common stock from Southwest Gas Holdings in a concurrent private placement at a price per share equal to the Offering price per share. The concurrent private placement is expected to close immediately following the closing of the Offering and is subject to the satisfaction or waiver of customary closing conditions, including the completion of the Offering. The sale of these shares will not be registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"). The closing of the Offering is not conditioned upon the closing of the concurrent private placement. J.P. Morgan, Wells Fargo Securities, BofA Securities and Moelis & Company are acting as joint lead book-running managers for the Offering. Baird, BTIG, KeyBanc Capital Markets, MUFG, and UBS Investment Bank are acting as book-running managers for the Offering. Siebert Williams Shank is acting as co-manager for the Offering. The shares are being offered pursuant to an effective shelf registration statement (including a base prospectus) that has been filed by Centuri with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"). A preliminary prospectus supplement relating to and describing the terms of the offering will be filed by Centuri with the SEC and will be available on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. The Offering will be made only by means of a prospectus supplement and accompanying prospectus that forms a part of the registration statement, copies of which may be obtained, when available, by request from: J.P. Morgan Securities LLC, c/o Broadridge Financial Solutions, 1155 Long Island Avenue, Edgewood, NY 11717, by email at [email protected] and [email protected]; Wells Fargo Securities, LLC, Attention: Wells Fargo Securities, 90 South 7th Street, 5th Floor, Minneapolis, MN 55402, at 800-645-3751 (option #5) or email a request to [email protected]; BofA Securities, Inc., Attention: Prospectus Department, NC1-022-02-25, 201 North Tryon Street, Charlotte, North Carolina 28255-0001, or by email at [email protected]; or Moelis & Company LLC, Attention: Moelis & Company LLC, 399 Park Avenue, 4th Floor, New York, New York 10022 at (800) 539-9413. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy these securities, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such state or jurisdiction. Any offers, solicitations or offers to buy, or any sales of securities will be made in accordance with the registration requirements of the Securities Act. About Southwest Gas Holdings Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc., through its primary operating subsidiary Southwest Gas Corporation, engages in the business of purchasing, distributing, and transporting natural gas. Southwest Gas Corporation is a dynamic energy company committed to exceeding the expectations of over 2 million customers throughout Arizona, Nevada, and California by providing safe and reliable service while innovating sustainable energy solutions to fuel the growth in its communities. In addition, Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. is the majority owner of Centuri Holdings, Inc., which provides comprehensive utility infrastructure services across North America. About Centuri Centuri Holdings, Inc. is a strategic utility infrastructure services company that partners with regulated utilities to build and maintain the energy network that powers millions of homes and businesses across the United States and Canada. Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section 27A of the Securities Act, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Such statements include, without limitation, statements regarding Southwest Gas Holdings' expectations or intentions regarding the future. These forward-looking statements can often be identified by the use of words such as "will", "predict", "continue", "forecast", "expect", "believe", "anticipate", "outlook", "could", "target", "project", "intend", "plan", "seek", "estimate", "should", "may" and "assume", as well as variations of such words and similar expressions referring to the future, and include (without limitation) statements regarding expectations with respect to the closing of the Offering and the concurrent private placement and whether the underwriters will exercise their option to purchase additional shares. A number of important factors affecting the business and financial results of Southwest Gas Holdings and/or Centuri could cause actual results to differ materially from those stated in the forward-looking statements. These factors include, but are not limited to, the timing of a separation of our remaining interests in Centuri, the timing and impact of executing (or not executing) such transaction alternatives, the timing and amount of rate relief, changes in rate design, customer growth rates, the effects of regulation/deregulation, tax reform and similar changes and related regulatory decisions, the impacts of construction activity at Centuri, the potential for, and the impact of, a credit rating downgrade, the costs to integrate new businesses, future earnings trends, inflation, sufficiency of labor markets and similar resources, seasonal patterns, current and future litigation, and the impacts of stock market volatility. Factors that could cause actual results to differ also include (without limitation) those discussed in Southwest Gas Holdings' and Centuri's respective periodic reports filed from time to time with the SEC, including Southwest Gas Holdings' and Centuri's most recent Annual Reports on Form 10-K under the heading "Risk Factors" and "Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosure about Market Risk," as well as the prospectus supplement relating to the Offering filed with the SEC. The statements in this press release are made as of the date of this press release, even if subsequently made available by Southwest Gas Holdings and/or Centuri on their websites or otherwise. Southwest Gas Holdings does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time, whether as a result of new information, future developments, or otherwise. SOURCE Southwest Gas Holdings, Inc. "We're honored to support the important work of Helping Hands Reentry Outreach Center, whose team is helping individuals and families not only find shelter but also rebuild their lives with dignity and hope," said Jeff Swickard, President and CEO of Swickard Group. "Their dedication inspires us. This donation is only possible because of the incredible employees and customers who make up our Swickard family your loyalty and generosity allow us to give back in meaningful ways." Helping Hands provides trauma-informed housing services, including safe emergency shelter and a long-term transitional housing program. Their person-centered approach helps remove barriers to sustainability by connecting people with resources for housing, food, and employment, as well as providing crucial support for recovery, job applications, and life skills. "Helping Hands has always been dedicated to supporting people on their journey from being unhoused to creating a sustainable life," said Alan Evans, Founder and President of Helping Hands. "People were there for me, and we will always be there for them. Support like this gift from Swickard Auto Group makes that possible, and we are blown away by their generosity." You can learn more about the Helping Hands Reentry Outreach Centers and support their mission by visiting their website. About Helping Hands Reentry Outreach Centers Founded by Alan Evans, who spent over 25 years unhoused, the Helping Hands Reentry Outreach Centers provide a "helping hand" to a sustainable life through resources, recovery, and reentry. Their programs are trauma-informed, data-driven, and person-centered. They operate 11 facilities across five Oregon countiesClatsop, Lincoln, Multnomah, Tillamook, and Yamhillproviding over 530 beds per night for individuals and families ready to make sustainable changes to improve their lives. About Swickard Auto Group Founded in 2014, Swickard Auto Group began as an idea: to provide a better way to buy and service vehicles. Today, we are grateful to serve our communities with over 50 franchises. We strive to offer a wide range of new and pre-owned vehicles and comprehensive service options, always with a focus on hospitality and a transparent buying process through our Swickard Price Promise. Beyond our dealerships, we are honored to support local communities and animal welfare organizations, a commitment made possible by our loyal employees and customers. SOURCE Swickard Auto Group Recognized in Data to Decisions Category for Disruptive Technology Leadership BRAINTREE, Mass, Aug. 8, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Symmons Industries has been named a finalist in the 15th annual Constellation SuperNova Awards, which celebrate leaders and teams driving digital transformation through the strategic use of disruptive technologies. As organizations across the globe embrace innovation to stay competitive, the SuperNova Awards spotlight those making bold investments in emerging tech to reshape their industries. SuperNova Award Trophies Symmons Industries was recognized as a finalist in the Data to Decisions category for its Evolution Building Management System. Evolution is a complete IOT-powered water management platform that delivers time-tracked analytics, alerts, and solutions for commercial, industrial, and multifamily properties, such as hotels, healthcare facilities, educational buildings, apartment/condominium complexes, and more. "Leading through today's volatile landscape requires more than visionit demands resilience, innovation, and results," said R "Ray" Wang, founder and CEO of Constellation Research. "Despite tighter budgets and heightened scrutiny, this year's SuperNova Award finalists have demonstrated how to turn disruption into opportunity. They're not just navigating changethey're setting the pace for the future of enterprise technology." "The Symmons Evolution team is truly honored to be recognized by Constellation Research this year," said Tim O'Keeffe, CEO of Symmons Industries. "We've integrated our new FacilitiesAI technology into Evolution to springboard it from a reactive, alerts-based system to a comprehensive building solution. Evolution's network delivers AI-driven automated troubleshooting and proactive recommendations to prevent water issues before they occur. Our goal to save five billion gallons of water within five years is clearly in sight." Anthony Cipolla, Director of Product for Evolution, described how AI-powered technology is now crucial for property management: "As we collect millions of data points from buildings across the country every day, our FacilitiesAI platformbuilt on AWS Bedrockproves to be the recipe for the future." Cipolla emphasized, "With increasing sustainability demands, aging infrastructure, and a shrinking facilities workforce, the need for smarter, automated solutions has never been greater. We're honored to be recognized by Constellation Research as we expand Evolution to solve these challenges at national scale." The 2025 SuperNova Award finalists were selected by a distinguished panel of technology-thought leaders and journalists. These trailblazing organizations stood out for their successful application of disruptive business models and emerging technologies. Their initiatives delivered measurable outcomesfrom increased agility and significant cost savings to sustainable competitive advantages. Public voting for the 2025 SuperNova Awards will be open online from August 4 to August 29, inviting the community to help recognize the year's most innovative enterprise leaders. Winners will be revealed live at the SuperNova Awards Gala on October 22 in Half Moon Bay, California, during Constellation's Connected Enterprise event. To vote for Symmons Industries in the Data to Decisions category, visit https://www.constellationr.com/node/37325/vote/application/view/1092 For more information, visit https://www.constellationr.com/events/supernova/2025. About Symmons Industries Established in Boston in 1939, Symmons invented the world's first anti-scald, pressure-balancing shower valve. In 1968, Symmons released the Temptrol shower valve, made entirely of brass, bronze, and stainless steel and manufactured right in Massachusetts. Today, Temptrol is widely considered the industry benchmark for pressure-balancing shower valves. The Symmons legacy of innovation continues with the Evolution Building Management System. Evolution is a dedicated network of non-invasive sensors to monitor water temperature, flow, usage, humidity, and leaks in large properties. Its latest FacilitiesAI technology delivers real-time AI-assisted analytics, troubleshooting, and action plans to the Evolution Dashboard for sustainability and resolution of building water issues. The Symmons corporate office, manufacturing facility, and Customer Service team are proudly based in Braintree, Massachusetts. The company manufactures durable and time-tested plumbing products for residential, commercial, hospitality, and institutional installations, all backed by the industry's best warranty. Learn more at www.symmons.com. About Constellation Research Constellation Research is a technology research and advisory firm based in Silicon Valley. We deliver strategic guidance to companies seeking to transform their businesses through the early adoption of disruptive technology. Our analysts draw on their experiences as practitioners to deliver pragmatic advice to CXOs leading digital transformation within their organizations. Clients include board of directors, C-suite executives, line-of-business leaders, and IT visionaries who are not afraid to challenge the status quo. Our mission is to conduct research on emerging technologies, identify and validate trends, and empower our clients to succeed in the digital economy. Constellation Research also hosts DisrupTV, a show hosted by our founder R "Ray" Wang, which features disruptive leaders and reaches 40k+ viewers each week. SOURCE Symmons Industries, Inc. Before his death, Moses implored our people: "Choose life, that you and your offspring may live." Deuteronomy 30:19 NEW YORK, Aug. 8, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, as the State of Israel is faced with difficult choices in its long and deadly war against Hamas, we implore Israel to choose life for our hostages, our soldiers, and innocent civilians in Gaza by ending - not extending - this war. We are deeply distressed that Israel's security cabinet approved Prime Minister Netanyahu's plan to extend Israeli control over the Gaza Strip. As Jews who believe in an Israel that aspires to be both safe and ethical, we are galvanized by the position of a growing array of Israeli military, intelligence, and political leaders and experts, as well as the clear majority of Israeli public, who warn that the Israeli government's plan to further occupy Gaza would be a military, political, and humanitarian calamity. In the past nearly two years, many thousands of people in Israel and Gaza have already been killed, maimed, and displaced. In Israel and the U.S., leading voices such as the Jerusalem Post's editorial board and New York Times columnist Bret Stephens, who referred to a potential re-occupation as a "colossal mistake," agree that an expanded occupation of Gaza is not in Israel's long-term interests. Former Ambassador Daniel Kurtzer and Middle East analyst Aaron David Miller have referred to re-occupation as "a trap" for Israel. Just days ago, more than 500 prominent Israelis former leaders of the Mossad, Shin Bet, police, IDF, and others sent a letter calling for an end to the war, not its expansion. Reports indicate the head of the IDF, Eyal Zamir, threatened to resign over plans to re-occupy Gaza at one point. We do not take comfort in the fact that the plan approved last night is limited to action related to Gaza City with its significant population size and where hostages are believed to be held. We fear plans to occupy Gaza City are but the first step in the expansion so many have warned against. Instead of striving to bring the war to an end and return our hostages home safely or for proper burial, the war's expansion will likely be a death sentence for our hostages. It will likely cause more deaths and injury to our IDF soldiers, who are already struggling physically and mentally, and to civilians trapped in Gaza. It will likely mean more economic challenges and disunion within Israel, more division among world Jewry, and more isolation of Israel on the international stage. PM Netanyahu's assurance that this is only a temporary measure is hard to believe, given the war's continuation over the past 22 months and the quagmires of previous military occupations by Israel in south Lebanon, and by other nations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Vietnam all of which began with similar assurances which only resulted in increasingly deadly and deteriorating conditions years later. The Israeli government has yet to offer an exit strategy or plans for "the day after." Israel has become, and remains, a powerful nation thanks, in part, to the support of allies around the world. But the length and horrors of this war thus far means that military and other forms of support from longtime allies may be less forthcoming in the future. The current occupation of part of Gaza already risks Israel's security and international reputation, and longtime allies of Israel are this morning reacting negatively to the cabinet's approved plan. There is no question that Hamas bears the responsibility for this war, for the conditions in Gaza right now, for failing to put down its arms, for its refusal to release the hostages, and for resisting improved conditions for its people. However, Israel has the ability and responsibility to prioritize its own people and values by recognizing that now is the time to end this war, bring the hostages home, and create a coalition of Arab nations with the U.S. and other allies to rebuild Gaza and shape a better tomorrow for all. Union for Reform Judaism Shelley Niceley Groff (she/her) North American Board Chair Rabbi Rick Jacobs (he/him) President Central Conference of American Rabbis Rabbi David A. Lyon (he/him) President Rabbi Hara Person (she/her) Chief Executive Officer American Conference of Cantors Cantor Josh Breitzer (he/him) President Rachel Roth (she/her) Chief Operating Officer SOURCE Union For Reform Judaism 2028 Adoption of Wi-Fi 7 Will Eclipse Wi-Fi 6 Peak REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Aug. 7, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- According to a recently published report from Dell'Oro Group, the trusted source for market information about the telecommunications, security, networks, and data center industries, excess inventory in the channel has been cleared, and WLAN revenue is expected to grow 12 percent in 2025. Wi-Fi 7 shipments will shoot up in 2025 and will represent over a third of Indoor AP revenues. "We expect that in 2028, Wi-Fi 7 sales will represent over 90 percent of Indoor AP revenues, with the first enterprise class Wi-Fi 8 APs appearing on the market late that year," said Sian Morgan, Research Director at Dell'Oro Group. "Wi-Fi 6 never reached that level of penetration because Wi-Fi 6E was released to the market so quickly." "Industry experts who sit on the key standards bodies are already working through the options for Wi-Fi 8. We predict a material upswing in Wi-Fi 8 adoption in 2029, which gives Wi-Fi 7 over 5 years on the market for vendors to recoup development costs," added Morgan. Additional highlights from the Wireless LAN 5-Year July 2025 Forecast Report: Lower Wi-Fi 7 price premiums are expected to boost market adoption of the technology. HPE's acquisition of Juniper may help grow the worldwide Public Cloud-Managed WLAN market. Vendor WLAN software revenues are expected to keep growing, as Annual Recurring Revenue streams build up. Adoption of AI by enterprises is expected to put pressure on the Local Area Network and support spending on WLAN. About the Report The Dell'Oro Group Wireless LAN 5-Year Forecast Report offers complete, in-depth coverage of the Enterprise Outdoor and Indoor markets, Wireless LAN Controllers with tables containing manufacturers' revenue, average selling prices, and unit shipments by the following wireless standards: 802.11bn (Wi-Fi 8), 802.11be (Wi-Fi 7), 802.11ax (Wi-Fi 6 and 6E [6 GHz]), 802.11ac (Wi-Fi 5) Wave 1 vs. Wave 2, 802.11n, and historic IEEE 802.11 standards. The Enterprise market is forecast by Cloud vs. Premises Managed, as well as by macro region of the world. To purchase this report, please contact us by email at [email protected]. About Dell'Oro Group Dell'Oro Group is a market research firm that specializes in strategic competitive analysis in the telecommunications, security, enterprise networks, and data center infrastructure markets. Our firm provides in-depth quantitative data and qualitative analysis to facilitate critical, fact-based business decisions. For more information, contact Dell'Oro Group at +1.650.622.9400 or visit www.delloro.com. SOURCE Dell'Oro Group Black holes are one of the great enigmas of the universe. Even the most brilliant minds of modern physics have been unable to unravel what exactly happens inside them, where a point of infinite density known as the singularity lurks. Nor is it known what happens when they cross their boundary, the so-called event horizon. There are various theories, but almost no certainties. Known for a gravitational pull so intense that not even light can escape, these ghosts of what were once giant stars represent much more than mysterious cosmic objects: they are natural laboratories for testing the limits of physics. In this context, renowned theoretical physicist Cosimo Bambi, a researcher at Fudan University in Shanghai, China, proposes an idea that is, to say the least, bold: sending tiny interstellar spacecraft to the black hole closest to Earth, with the mission of collecting firsthand data and verifying whether what Albert Einstein predicted in his theory of general relativity more than 100 years ago remains valid under extreme conditions. His proposal was published this Thursday in the journal iScience, part of the Cell Press group. Its true, Bambi begins via video call from China. It sounds like science fiction, but I dont think it is. Its something realistic, not for now, but for the next few years. The plan outlined by the physicist is based on an already risky assumption: the existence of a black hole 20 or 25 light-years from Earth. The first challenge would be finding it. Detecting one of these cosmic monsters in isolation is difficult because they dont emit light or other forms of radiation, so their existence can only be inferred based on interactions with other objects, as if they were invisible giants. The closest known black hole is 1,560 light-years from our planet. But Bambi insists that probability and the use of radio telescopes or the detection of gravitational waves could help locate one closer. Thus, according to the authors calculations, a nanoprobe would take between 60 and 75 years to reach the black hole, and data transmission would add another 25 years. In total, the project would last 80 to 100 years. Once that initial challenge is overcome, the technological race would begin. Bambis proposal includes the use of nanocraft, tiny special probes weighing just a few grams, equipped with all the necessary instruments to take measurements, and sails that would be propelled by powerful laser beams from Earth at one-third the speed of light. Recreation of what a sail-powered nanoship from the Breakthrough Starshot project would look like. Kevin Gill Then comes the third challenge: what to do once the mission reaches its objective. The physicist proposes several verification processes, including the functioning of space-time around the black hole, testing the existence of the event horizon, and investigating whether the fundamental constants of physics change in the presence of such intense gravitational fields. To do this, Bambi thinks the ideal approach would be to send two nanocraft. One lets call it A would remain at a certain distance and monitor the other B which would orbit near the black hole, emitting periodic signals. The alterations in these signals would reveal whether or not the metric follows theoretical predictions. A second experiment would study the existence of the event horizon. Craft B would drop toward the black hole, and A would measure how long its signal remains active before disappearing. This is, of course, if the spacecraft manage to enter orbit and survive such a hostile environment. Im not saying its possible to do this now, but it deserves to be discussed within the community, the scientist explains. He adds that the spirit of his idea is to stimulate his colleagues and test whether the pillars on which modern physics has stood for more than a century are still solid enough. The oldest black hole In the end, its not just about answering scientific questions, but also philosophical ones like what exactly time is, or the origin of the universe, Bambi points out. These are mysteries that current equipment cant resolve, even if they try. However, some tools like the James Webb Space Telescope keep throwing up surprises. The latest, published this week in The Astrophysical Journal Letters, detected the oldest active black hole to date. Analysis of the light emitted by the CAPERS-LRD-z9 galaxy located more than 13.3 billion light-years from Earth has allowed scientists to identify the fingerprint of a black hole 300 million times more massive than the Sun, lodged in its center and already there wreaking havoc when the universe was barely 500 million years old. Some of the postulates raised throughout the Bambi article are based on known technologies. For example, the use of nanocraft propelled by light beams. Back in 2016, Stephen Hawking and other astronomers presented Breakthrough Starshot, a project to reach Alpha Centauri, the closest star system to the Sun, using these devices. But beyond that, the experts consulted have been rather skeptical of Bambis plans. This project doesnt seem realistic to me, notes Pablo Perez Gonzalez, a researcher at the Spanish National Research Councils Center for Astrobiology. The scientist agrees that the interest in studying an astronomical object up close is extraordinary due to the amount of information that can be obtained. Its like comparing seeing a cat on a cell phone with touching, smelling, or hearing it, he asserts. But he believes feasibility must be considered and a realistic plan established before rushing into writing theories. Thinking about something like this is commendable and interesting; its like going from reading about visiting the Moon in a Jules Verne book to actually doing it. But is that science? Carlos Barcelo, a researcher in the theoretical physics group at the Institute of Astrophysics of Andalusia, points in the same direction. I think the idea is a guided speculation. The researcher is well-known in the field of gravitation, so he really knows what hes talking about, but his article is highly speculative, he comments. For Barcelo, each of the points developed in the Bambi plan involves extremely high levels of technological development, so its difficult to know if it will be viable for the next 100 years. The margins of error are enormous. This is more appropriate for an essay than a scientific article, he reflects. Bambi isnt discouraged. In science, experiments or ideas often arent for a single generation and often take years, he explains. For him, the real challenge in all of this is luck. Astrophysicists dont know where the nearest black hole is. If it were 20 light-years away, the mission would be possible; if it were 40 or 50, it would become much more costly and complicated, and the project would have to be abandoned, he asserts. Discovering such a nearby black hole would already be a major breakthrough and would attract the scientific communitys interest in studying it. The real challenge is convincing colleagues that this is worthwhile. If theres motivation, the technology can be developed, Bambi says. In this regard, Perez Gonzalez emphasizes that interstellar missions to visit nearby stars are much more viable and that part of the objectives presented by the author could be addressed. Barcelo agrees: Stimulating the creation of microsatellites that can be sent to distant places, in a more reasonable timeframe, is very interesting and will be developed sooner or later. In fact, some research is already underway to send micro-ships powered by these technologies to planets near the edge of the solar system. That seems to me to be the closest thing to being feasible, he adds. Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAIS USA Edition If you were looking for the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee website and ended up here, try this Got news tips, gossip, suggestions, complaints?E-mail us: progressivecharlestown@gmail.com We strive to avoid errors in our articles. Our correction policy can be found here The Trump administration is aiming to expand its migrant detention system and, to that end, plans to open several centers across the country modeled after the controversial Alligator Alcatraz in Floridas Everglades. This was confirmed this week by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. The senior official added that she is considering several locations for these facilities, but that she is primarily looking for them to be near airports, as Alligator Alcatraz is, to make it easier to deport detainees. The locations we are looking at are next to airport runways, which will help us achieve a level of efficiency we havent had before, Noem told CBS News on Monday. She added that she had spoken directly with governors and state leaders across the country to encourage them to join the Donald Trump administrations anti-immigrant crusade. Most of them are interested, she said, noting that many of the states willing to participate have facilities that are empty or underutilized and could be refurbished to house detainees. Noem also said the Alligator Alcatraz model is much better than the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agencys current contracts with local jails and for-profit prisons, which run most of the countrys detention centers. She noted that the new facilities will help ICE reduce costs by facilitating rapid turnover. Where will these new centers be located? Noem has already announced plans to create a detention center in Indiana, which has been nicknamed Speedway Slammer by the government. According to CBS, construction is also being considered in Arizona, Nebraska, and Louisiana (the latter two are Republican-governed states). The office of Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen said it has had discussions with federal officials about how the state can assist with immigration enforcement efforts. However, his spokesperson noted that it is too early to comment on possible detention operations. He added that details will be released when appropriate. The new Alligator Alcatraz-inspired centers are likely to be challenged in court. In the case of the Florida detention center, which opened last month at a former airport west of Miami, a federal judge on Thursday halted the expansion of the facility in response to a lawsuit filed by environmental groups and a Native American tribe, who argue that the prison was built in violation of environmental laws. The judge halted construction at the site for 14 days, but the State of Florida and the Trump Administration can continue operations and keep detainees at the site. Contracts for expansion The government is also already securing the necessary funding for the expansion announced by Noem. GardaWorld Federal Services, a U.S. subsidiary of Montreal-based security company GardaWorld, has been authorized to bid on ICE contracts worth up to $138 million. The company is reportedly involved in staffing Alligator Alcatraz. According to government records, ICE included GardaWorld Federal Services among dozens of companies shortlisted for contracts under an emergency contracting program. According to The Miami Herald, GardaWorld was also awarded an $8 million contract to hire staff for the Alligator Alcatraz facility. GardaWorld sought armed guards for a remote area of south-central Florida and offered $25 per hour pay, plus travel, meals, and lodging expenses. Candidates were required to have Florida firearms and security licenses, at least one year of armed experience, and legal ownership of a registered semi-automatic handgun. New York, Aug 8 : US President Donald Trump has ruled out negotiations with India on the tariffs that will rise to 50 per cent later this month. "No, not until we get it resolved", he said when a reporter asked him if he expected more negotiations following the announcement of the 50 per cent tariff that is to take effect on August 27. It was not clear from the curt reply if he meant the resolution of the Ukraine War, since the additional 25 per cent punitive tariff he announced on Wednesday for buying Russian oil is linked to it, or a settlement of issues underlying the 25 per cent tariff he imposed on India last week in his general trade war. The punitive tariff appeared to aim at bringing economic pressure on Moscow to agree to a ceasefire, as India is the second-biggest customer for its oil. He was also ambiguous on Wednesday when a reporter asked him if he would end the 25 per cent punitive tariff if there was an agreement with Moscow on ending the war. He said, "We'll determine that later, but right now, they're paying a 50 per cent tariff". Trump had put a 50-day deadline for Russia to agree to a ceasefire or get hit with more sanctions, at which time the punitive measures known as secondary tariffs would be imposed on all its oil customers. He later shortened it to 12 days, ending Friday, but came out with the 25 per cent punitive tariff singling out India on Wednesday, although it won't take effect till August 27. India said it was "extremely unfortunate" that the US was imposing "additional tariffs on India for actions that several other countries are also taking in their own national interest". It vowed to "take all actions necessary to protect its national interests". Trump and Indian officials had been very optimistic about reaching a trade deal, as recently as last month, saying it was imminent. However, the negotiations apparently collapsed, according to reports, over US demands for access to agriculture and dairy markets in India. About Friday's deadline for Russia sanctions and the secondary tariffs, Trump said, "It's going to be up to him (Putin). We're going to see what he has to say". He added that he was "very disappointed" with Putin, who has defied Trump's attempts to end the Ukraine War. But Trump and the Kremlin have indicated that there was progress in their negotiations. Trump's Special Envoy Steve Witcoff held three hours of talks with Russia's President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday. "We had some very good talks with President Putin", Trump said, adding that there was "a very good chance" that they were nearing the end of the road to peace. The Kremlin said on Thursday that Putin and Trump planned to meet soon, and media reported quoting, US officials, that it could take place next week. Trump did not confirm the timing, but said, "They (Russian leaders) would like to meet with me, and I'll do whatever I can to stop the killing" in the Ukraine War. New Delhi, Aug 8 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair a crucial high-level Cabinet meeting on Friday at 1 p.m. to assess the impact of the steep tariff hike recently imposed by the US on Indian exports. The move comes amid escalating trade tensions between the two nations, following the US decision to raise tariffs on Indian goods to a total of 50 per cent. The meeting is expected to discuss India's strategic response to the US action. The latest round of tariffs, an additional 25 per cent hike, was announced by US President Donald Trump on Wednesday, citing India's continued imports of Russian crude oil as the primary reason. This comes on top of a previous 25 per cent tariff that came into effect on July 20. Responding sharply to the US move, the Ministry of External Affairs called the decision "unfair, unjustified, and unreasonable", stating that India's energy needs and strategic autonomy must be respected. In a public statement shortly after the new tariffs took effect, Prime Minister Modi reiterated his government's unwavering support for India's farmers, livestock holders, and fishermen. Speaking at the MS Swaminathan Centenary International Conference in Delhi on Thursday, he said, "The interest of farmers is our top priority. India will never compromise with the interests of its farmers, livestock holders, and fishermen. And I know that I will have to pay a huge price for this personally, but I am ready. India is ready, for the sake of the country's farmers, fishermen and livestock holders." Trump ruled out negotiations with India on the tariffs on Thursday. "No, not until we get it resolved", he said when a reporter asked him if he expected more negotiations following the announcement of the 50 per cent tariff that is to take effect on August 27. Seoul, Aug 8 : The government has launched a task force (TF) aimed at establishing a next-generation power grid that will use artificial intelligence (AI) to improve efficiency in the power supply, the industry ministry said on Friday. The task force was formed after President Lee Jae Myung called last week for efforts to create an intelligent power grid that connects the entire nation with optimal power generation, storage and consumption, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, reports Yonhap news agency. The TF comprises relevant government agencies, including the finance, industry, science and land ministries, as well as public entities, such as the Korea Electric Power Corp. and the Korea Power Exchange. The envisioned next-generation power grid will make use of AI technology to effectively supply renewable energy without the massive construction of new infrastructure amid soaring demand for electricity sparked by technological development, the ministry explained. It will also promote efficient power use and enhance the country's power security, the ministry added. "We are now in an era where the electricity determines survival, and to supply cheaper and cleaner power with stability, we need a next-generation power grid utilising AI technology," said Second Vice Industry Minister Lee Ho-hyeon, who heads the new task force. "By building dense, small-scale local power grids and connecting them, we will redesign our national power grid," he added. The vice minister also said the government will work to foster new business models in the power market, such as virtual power plants, to support the sustainable growth of the energy industry and revitalise regional economies. Meanwhile, President Lee Jae Myung has called for establishing a next-generation power grid as he underscored the importance of shifting the country's power supply infrastructure to one that centres on renewable energy. "Energy transition has become an essential task," Lee said as he presided over a meeting of senior presidential aides. "On top of an artificial intelligence (AI) revolution, the supply of renewable energy through power grid improvement has become very urgent." Lee instructed the government to draw up measures to establish a next-generation power grid that lowers the inefficiency of long-distance power transmissions and makes use of cutting-edge AI technology. The presidential office said the government will turn South Jeolla Province into a hub for such a plan, noting the region's potential for supplying renewable energy. a"IANS na/ New Delhi, Aug 8 : In a shocking incident, Bollywood actor Huma Qureshi's cousin, Asif Qureshi, was murdered in Delhi's Bhogal area following an altercation over parking. The incident occurred late on Thursday night near the victim's residence on Church Lane in Jangpura under the jurisdiction of Nizamuddin Police Station. According to Delhi Police, the victim, 42-year-old Asif Qureshi, was attacked with a sharp, pointed object (a poker) after he asked two men to remove their scooter parked near the main entrance of his house. The argument escalated into a fatal confrontation. The two men went away at the time of the confrontation but threatened Asif Qureshi that they would return. True to their word they returned after some time with the sharp poker and attacked him with it. The police received information around 10:30 P.M. on August 7. Upon reaching the spot, they found Asif gravely injured and bleeding profusely. He was rushed to a nearby hospital but succumbed to his injuries. An FIR (No. 233/25) has been registered under Sections 103(1) and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). The accused, identified as Ujjwal (19) and Gautam (18), both sons of Dinesh and residents of the same locality, Church Lane, Bhogal, have been apprehended. The murder weapon has been recovered. Police said, "During the altercation, one of the accused attacked the victim on the chest with a sharp object, resulting in his death. The investigation is ongoing." Speaking to reporters, Asif Qureshi's wife alleged foul play: "My man has been deliberately and conspiratorially killed. This was not just a fight; it was murder with intent." The brutal nature of the attack has sent shockwaves through the community. Residents expressed concern over rising aggression in the area and demanded stricter law enforcement. Asif Qureshi, son of Ilyas Qureshi, was a long-time resident of Church Lane, Bhogal, and was known for his friendly nature in the neighbourhood. Further investigation is underway to determine the full sequence of events and any possible premeditation. New Delhi, Aug 8 : After days of anxiety and disrupted communication, ten pilgrims from Banaskantha district of Gujarat, who were stranded near Dharali in Uttarakhand following a devastating cloudburst, were successfully rescued by the Indian Army and airlifted to Rishikesh. The pilgrims, all residents of Chichodra village in Bhabhar taluka, had lost contact with their families on August 5, shortly after a cloudburst hit the Dharali area. The families of the 11 pilgrims, who were on a religious tour, grew increasingly concerned after all attempts to connect with them failed for two consecutive days. Fortunately, on the third day, August 7 (Thursday), around 4 p.m., communication was restored. The families were finally able to speak to their loved ones via video call, bringing immense relief and joy. As per officials, 10 of the 11 pilgrims were airlifted from the disaster-affected area by an Army helicopter and brought safely to Rishikesh. They are now on their way back to Banaskantha, Gujarat. One of the rescued pilgrims reportedly stayed behind voluntarily, choosing to continue the pilgrimage. The cloudburst in Dharali had triggered flash floods and landslides, severely disrupting road connectivity and communication in the region. In response, the Indian Army swiftly established satellite and radio relay systems to enable contact between the stranded civilians and their families through satellite Internet. Meanwhile, the Engineer Regiment of the Army has begun crucial restoration and construction work between Dharali and Mukhawa village to restore access. Relief and rescue efforts are being carried out in full force by teams from the Indian Army, Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), local police, fire services, and the revenue department. According to Uttarkashi Police, the evacuation of stranded individuals by helicopter to the ITBP camp at Matli has been ongoing since early morning and will continue until the area is fully cleared. Moscow, Aug 8 : India's National Security Advisor Ajit Doval met Russia's Secretary of the Security Council Sergei Shoigu in Moscow to discuss ways to deepen the special and privileged strategic partnership between the two countries. Both sides stressed the need for collaborative efforts ahead of this year's bilateral summit, and exchanged views on Russia-India cooperation in multilateral forums, as well as key global security issues. "On August 7, Secretary of Russia's Security Council Sergey Shoigu held talks with India's National Security Advisor Ajit Kumar Doval. The parties discussed ways to further strengthen the Russia-India special and privileged strategic partnership and emphasised the importance of joint efforts in preparation of the bilateral summit by the end of this year. They also discussed cooperation between Russia and India in multilateral formats and exchanged views on topical issues of international security," the Russian Embassy in India posted on Telegram. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday received Doval at the Kremlin, marking a significant moment in the evolving strategic partnership between New Delhi and Moscow. The meeting, held in the presence of senior Russian officials including Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu and Presidential Aide Yuri Ushakov, comes ahead of Putin's expected visit to India later this month for the annual bilateral summit. From the Indian side, Ambassador Vinay Kumar joined the high-level discussions, which focused on regional security, defence cooperation, and preparations for the forthcoming leadership-level engagement. The Kremlin described the talks as "constructive," underscoring the continuity of dialogue between the two countries despite shifting global alignments. "We have now established very good relations, which we value very much - a strategic partnership between our countries," NSA Doval said during his meeting with Shoigu, as quoted by Russia's Interfax news agency. "We were pleased to learn about President Putin's visit to our country, scheduled for late August." Presidential aide Ushakov confirmed that the visit is being planned in line with the tradition of annual summits. "Our leaders have an agreement to meet once a year. This time, it is our turn," he said, referring to the rotational format of the India-Russia leadership dialogue. Kochi, Aug 8 : Archbishop Mar Andrews Thazhath, President of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India (CBCI), on Friday urged the Odisha government and the Centre to take decisive action against those who attacked Christian priests and nuns in Jaleswar on Thursday. "The priests and nuns had gone to attend prayer meetings and not for anything else. It is the responsibility of the state government and the Centre to take appropriate action against the attackers," Thazhath said. He added, "First, the attackers stopped the vehicle they were travelling in and deflated the tyres. Then their clothes were torn. The truth is that it is the Constitution itself that is being attacked." On Friday, the Opposition in Parliament is moving to demand a discussion on the incident in BJP-ruled states, alleging rising threats against minorities and Christian priests and nuns in particular. According to the complaint, two Malayali priests and two Malayali nuns on their way for a prayer meeting of fellow Christians were assaulted by around 70 Bajrang Dal activists, who falsely accused them of religious conversion. The attackers also took away one priest's phone and assaulted local residents present at the site. Video footage of the incident shows the victims arriving in a village in Jaleswar to attend a prayer service before their vehicle was blocked and they were attacked. This attack comes just a week after two Kerala nuns walked out of the Central Jail in Durg, Chhattisgarh, following bail granted by a special NIA court in Bilaspur after being accused by the Bajrang Dal of human trafficking and forced religious conversion, charges that were later disproved after thorough investigation. That case had sparked widespread outrage both in and outside Kerala. Incidentally in Kerala all parties except the BJP had taken to the streets protesting against the increased attack on Christian's across the country. In the state capital city hundreds of priests and nuns marched to the official residence of the Kerala Governor to register their protest. Washington, Aug 8 : A US diplomat said that the United States notes "with interest" a recent statement by the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un that apparently signaled Pyongyang's openness to diplomacy with Washington while rejecting any dialogue on its denuclearisation. Washington, Aug 8 (IANS) A US diplomat said that the United States notes "with interest" a recent statement by the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un that apparently signaled Pyongyang's openness to diplomacy with Washington while rejecting any dialogue on its denuclearisation. Seth Bailey, acting deputy assistant secretary in the State Department's Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, made the remarks during a public event, referring to last week's statement by Kim Yo-jong, vice department director of the North's ruling party's Central Committee. "We have also seen high-level statements from the DPRK leadership, including recent statements from Kim Yo-jong, which we note with interest," he said at the event that the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) hosted for the family members of the troops who went missing, mostly during the 1950-53 Korean War. DPRK is short for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. "Both President Trump and Republic of Korea President Lee have shown their commitment to diplomacy and engagement with North Korea," he added. Last Tuesday, Kim, the vice department director, said that the personal relationship between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is "not bad" -- a rare remark that apparently signaled a degree of Pyongyang's interest in engagement with the Trump administration, Yonhap news agency reported. However, she ruled out the possibility of talks with Washington over its nuclear program, while calling its possession of nuclear arms an "irreversible" position, and urging the US to seek another way of contacting the North based on "new thinking." At the DPAA event, more than 400 family members of the missing troops participated to get informed about the agency's worldwide mission to identify and recover the unaccounted-for. Bailey stressed that repatriation of US service members' remains is not just a diplomatic priority, but a "moral obligation." "The United States has made clear to the North Koreans that we believe recovery of remains of US service members is one of our highest priorities and bilateral goals," the diplomat said. "This is why recovery features so prominently as an important pillar of President Trump's joint statement with the DPRK at the Singapore summit in June of 2018." He was referring to the 2018 summit statement, which included Pyongyang's commitment to working toward the "complete denuclearisation" of the Korean Peninsula and an agreement by both sides to work together to build new bilateral relations. The official said that the Trump administration remains committed to the principles outlined in the statement. "Since the beginning of President Trump's second term, he has made clear his willingness to engage in negotiations with North Korea to achieve these policy goals," he said. "The president has offered to engage Chairman Kim Jong-un on multiple occasions, including during his press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba back in February, during a White House press conference in June, and then several other media appearances when asked about his relationship with North Korea." Commenting on the recent trade deal with South Korea, Bailey said it demonstrated the two countries' shared dedication to "modernising" and strengthening their alliance. "As an Indo-Pacific nation, the United States has a lasting interest in addressing the economic and security challenges of this region," he said. "We are committed to bolstering the security of Northeast Asia, using all instruments of power to deter aggression and counter provocations, including the destabilising actions of North Korea." Patna, Aug 8 : Separate teams of the Special Vigilance Unit (SVU) of Bihar conducted simultaneous raids on Friday at three locations linked to Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Sanjeev Kumar in Patna, Jehanabad, and Khagaria in connection with a disproportionate assets case. The raids began at 7 a.m. after the SVU registered an FIR against the senior police officer and obtained a warrant from the Special Vigilance Court in Patna on Thursday. Sanjeev Kumar, currently posted as DSP in Jehanabad, is accused of possessing assets worth Rs 1.52 crore beyond his known sources of income. According to sources, he allegedly had links with illegal sand mining traders and is suspected of earning money through unlawful means. A native of Khagaria district, Sanjeev Kumar has served in various posts across Bihar during his police career. Multiple SVU teams, each led by DSP-rank officers, are carrying out the searches. Kumar's bank accounts have been frozen, and details of seized items are expected to be disclosed after the raids conclude later in the day. Earlier, multiple teams from the Special Vigilance Unit (SVU) conducted extensive raids at half a dozen locations associated with Rajnikant Praveen, the District Education Officer (DEO) of West Champaran, in January this year. A significant raid was conducted at Praveenas residence in the Vasant Vihar locality, under the jurisdiction of the Mufassil police station. Sources indicate that Rs 1.87 crore cash was recovered from Praveenas house. A note-counting machine was brought in to tally the recovered currency notes. Praveen was questioned by the vigilance team at his residence for several hours. He was serving as the District Education Officer in West Champaran for approximately three years. The Nitish Kumar-led Bihar government has reiterated its zero-tolerance policy against corruption. The SVU has been actively monitoring government officials, employees, and political leaders. As per state guidelines, all leaders, bureaucrats, and employees -- including the Chief Minister, Chief Secretary, and DGP -- must annually declare their income and its legal sources to the government. New Delhi, Aug 8 : Reacting strongly to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent statement that "India will never compromise on the interests of farmers", local farmers in Odisha's Jagatsinghpur district have voiced their support and trust in his leadership amid rising trade tensions with the US. Debadatta Mohanty, a prominent farmer from the coastal SIPI region of Jagatsinghpur, welcomed the Prime Minister's assurance and said, "This is already a Viksit Bharat, and we congratulate PM Modi for the steps he has taken. Whatever tariffs Donald Trump has increased, we trust PM Modi, who works hard for farmers, and we believe he will do much for them... We will not bow before Trump." Mohanty emphasised that farmers in the region remain confident in the Centre's commitment to protecting their livelihoods. He lauded initiatives like the PM-KISAN scheme, which he said had brought direct financial relief to countless farmers. "No matter what challenges arise, the concerns of farmers will not be ignored. The Prime Minister deserves every bit of appreciation for his continued efforts," he said. Like Mohanty, other farmers in the area are saying that PM Modi is rightly taking up the issue of farmers. And, they are thanking him for the strong stand. The show of support follows Prime Minister Modi's strong remarks at the MS Swaminathan Centenary International Conference held in Delhi, where he reaffirmed his government's unwavering focus on farmers, livestock holders, and fishermen. "The interest of farmers is our top priority. India will never compromise with the interests of its farmers, livestock holders, and fishermen. And I know that I will have to pay a huge price for this personally, but I am ready. India is ready, for the sake of the country's farmers, fishermen and livestock holders," the Prime Minister said earlier on Thursday, after the US President Donald Trump announced a fresh hike in tariffs on Indian exports. Paying tribute to MS Swaminathan, the father of India's Green Revolution, the Prime Minister added, "Building on the legacy of food security, the next frontier for our agricultural scientists is ensuring nutritional security for all." Farmers in Jagatsinghpur have hailed the Prime Minister's message as timely and empowering, reinforcing their belief in a government that stands firmly behind the rural backbone of the nation. Washington, Aug 8 : A Pentagon official said Thursday that South Korea's contributions through its alliance with the United States are "critical" to shoring up deterrence in the Indo-Pacific, as Washington prioritises deterring threats from an increasingly assertive China. John Noh, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia, made the remarks during an event hosted by the Defence POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), underscoring South Korea's military, economic and technological capabilities. POW and MIA stand for prisoner of war and missing in action, respectively. "Their contributions through our alliance are critical to restoring deterrence in the region," Noh said. "Its military is one of the most capable in the world today. South Korea is an economic and technological powerhouse with a flourishing democracy, and since the armistice was signed in 1953, the strength of our alliance has prevented a resumption of hostilities." His remarks came as Seoul and Washington are working to "modernise" the bilateral alliance -- a move that observers say might call for the Asian ally to bolster its defence spending and contribute more to addressing security challenges posed by China, Yonhap news agency reported. The official touched on South Korea's rise from the ashes of the war, noting that American service members fought in support of South Korea, which was "losing its fight for its very existence" during the war. Recalling a recent call between new South Korean Defence Minister Ahn Gyu-back and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, Noh pointed out that Ahn had delivered a message of gratitude to the US. "(During the call) I could hear the sincerity in the minister's voice as he communicated messages of gratitude and unwavering trust for the United States on behalf of South Korean people," the official said. In June, President Donald Trump nominated Noh, a Korean American, as assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs, a post that deals with defence cooperation with South Korea and other regional allies and partners. Seoul, Aug 8 : Former National Security Adviser of South Korea, Cho Tae-yong appeared before a special counsel team Friday for another round of questioning over allegations of government interference in an initial probe into the death of a Marine in 2023. Cho, who was questioned by special counsel Lee Myeong-hyeon's team last week, told reporters that he would tell the truth as he arrived at the office in southern Seoul. The case centers on allegations the investigation results into the death of Cpl. Chae Su-geun during a search mission for torrential rain victims in July 2023 were later changed to clear the initial suspects of responsibility. Former President Yoon Suk Yeol allegedly flew into a rage upon hearing the preliminary probe results that found a senior Marine commander responsible for Chae's death during a meeting of presidential aides later that month. Cho, who attended the meeting, acknowledged Yoon's outburst during questioning last week, reversing his previous denial of the alleged incident, Yonhap news agency reported. Lim Ki-hoon, another participant of the meeting who was serving as the presidential defense secretary at the time, also appeared before the team Friday for a second round of questioning after his first session last month. Lim, who briefed Yoon on the probe results at the meeting, has told special prosecutors that Yoon erupted in anger and called then Defence Minister Lee Jong-sup to rebuke him about the results. Earlier on August 4, special counsel team raided the office of South korea's former Justice Minister Park Sung-jae over the allegations on the Marine death. The team carried out searches and seizures on the offices, vehicles and mobile phones of Park and other former justice ministry officials as part of its investigation into the allegations surrounding the probe into the marineas death. -- IANS int/bpd/rs New Delhi, Aug 8 : Increasing weight loss experienced by cancer patients that often leads to deaths may be caused by communication between the brain and liver, according to a study. Nearly a third of cancer-related deaths are caused by cachexia -- a currently incurable metabolic syndrome that involves substantial weight loss, including depletion of muscle mass and body fat. It also contributes to therapy resistance and increases mortality among affected patients. Researchers from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, US, have discovered that one of the reasons for this loss is disrupted communication between the brain and the liver. When the activity of the vagus nerve -- a major axis of brain-liver communication -- is dysregulated by cancer-triggered inflammation, the result is damage to liver metabolism and the development of the life-threatening syndrome. The prevalence of cachexia in cancer patients is as high as 85 per cent in some cancers; it is among the highest in pancreatic and lung tumours, said researchers led by Dr. Naama Darzi at Weizmann and Dr. Aliesha Garrett at MD Anderson. The study, published in the journal Cell, showed that targeted blocking of the right vagus nerve -- even when performed by noninvasive means -- prevented cachexiaas development in mice, enhanced their response to chemotherapy, and improved their overall health and survival. The method, already being tested in clinical trials, offers a new therapeutic approach that may lead to improved quality of life and even survival for cancer patients, the team said. Since the method is based on technologies approved for clinical use, it is likely to reach patients relatively soon. Beyond opening new treatment options for cancer patients, this study demonstrates that the brain-body communication plays a critical role in our health and disease, the researchers said. -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Tel Aviv, Aug 8 : Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with India's Ambassador to Israel, J.P. Singh, to discuss ways to further strengthen the growing India-Israel Strategic Partnership. The two sides explored expanding cooperation in key sectors, including security and economics. During the engagement, Prime Minister Netanyahu also interacted with senior Indian journalists, addressing a range of questions on bilateral and regional issues. "I met today in my office in Jerusalem with the Ambassador of India to Israel, J.P. Singh. We discussed strengthening and expanding cooperation between Israel and India, particularly in the fields of security and economics - an important partnership based on shared values and interests. Afterwards, I held a meeting with a group of senior journalists from India and answered their questions," Netanyahu posted on X. According to the Indian Embassy in Israel, PM Netanyahu stressed the need to further deepen the India-Israel Strategic Partnership. Ambassador Singh conveyed the greetings of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and assured to strengthen the positive trajectory of the bilateral relations between India and Israel. Last month, Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh held a bilateral meeting with Director General(DG) of the Israel Ministry of Defence Amir Baram in New Delhi. The two sides agreed to further strengthen bilateral defence cooperation with a long-term perspective. They concurred to work towards developing an institutional framework for further deepening of defence ties. The Israeli DG condemned the April 22 terrorist attack in Pahalgam and conveyed full support for India's fight against terrorism. Defence Secretary Singh reiterated India's zero-tolerance approach to terrorism and condemned the October 07, 2023, terrorist attacks in Israel and called for the release of all hostages. The two sides also reviewed the progress of the ongoing defence collaboration activities since the last Joint Working Group meeting held in July 2024 in India. The visit by the Israeli DG marked a pivotal step in India-Israel defence relations and reinforced both sides' commitment to enhancing their strategic partnership. Seoul, Aug 8 : An aide to the leader of the Unification Church appeared before a special counsel team Friday to be questioned about her role in an alleged bribery case involving the former first lady of South Korea, Kim Keon Hee. The woman surnamed Jeong was summoned as a suspect by special counsel Min Joong-ki's team to be grilled about allegations the Unification Church asked a shaman to deliver a diamond necklace and a Chanel bag to Kim in 2022 in exchange for business favors. Jeong serves as chief of staff to Unification Church leader Han Hak-ja and deputy head of the church's top administrative body, Yonhap news agency reported. The business favors allegedly included support for the church's participation in development projects in Cambodia, its acquisition of broadcaster YTN, and South Korea's hosting of a United Nations office. On August 6, the former first lady apologised for causing concern to the people as she appeared for questioning by a special counsel over her alleged involvement in stock manipulation schemes, election meddling and other allegations. The wife of jailed former President Yoon Suk Yeol arrived at special counsel Min Joong-ki's office 10 minutes later than scheduled, becoming the first spouse of a former or sitting president to publicly appear as a suspect in a criminal investigation. "I am truly sorry that a nobody like me has caused concern to the people," Kim said in front of reporters before taking an elevator. "I will come out after faithfully undergoing the investigation." Kim faces allegations of participating in a stock price manipulation scheme involving Deutsch Motors, a BMW dealer in South Korea, from 2009 to 2012, meddling in candidate nominations for the 2022 parliamentary by-elections and 2024 general elections, and receiving luxury gifts from the Unification Church through a shaman in exchange for business favors. The special counsel team is tasked with investigating a total of 16 criminal allegations against the former first lady, making it likely she will be summoned again for further questioning. Quetta, Aug 8 : Leading Baloch human rights defender Mir Yar Baloch writes to US President Donald Trump, urging the recognition and support for Balochistan, and calling on Washington to fundamentally reevaluate its relationship with the "radical state" of Pakistan. Quetta, Aug 8 (IANS) Leading Baloch human rights defender Mir Yar Baloch writes to US President Donald Trump, urging the recognition and support for Balochistan, and calling on Washington to fundamentally reevaluate its relationship with the "radical state" of Pakistan. "We bring to your attention the upcoming visit of Pakistan's Chief of Army Staff, General Asim Munir, who leads an institution widely involved in gross human rights violations in Pakistan-occupied Balochistan. The Pakistan Army and its intelligence agency, the ISI, are not only responsible for the enforced disappearance of more than 40,000 Baloch civilians but have also long been linked to sheltering global terrorists, including Osama Bin Laden, who lived in Pakistan for nearly a decade under the supervision of the rogue army and the ISI," the letter stated. "We respectfully urge you to ask General Munir: On what legal or moral grounds does Pakistan claim Balochistan's natural wealth as its own? Can he point to any similar reserves on the map of Punjab province, the true heartland of Pakistan's military elite?" it added. Addressing the US President on behalf of Baloch community, Mir said that Balochistan is "an ancient sovereign nation under illegal occupation by Pakistan and Iran" and despite being rich in terms of rare earth minerals, oil, gas, strategic geography, air bases and sea ports, people continue to suffer "under oppressive regimes" that suppress their "secular and peaceful traditions". Mir asserted that the US made a critical error after 9/11 by trusting Pakistan, "a state that has repeatedly played a double game". Instead of empowering secular groups like the Baloch, Sindhi, and Pashtun who actively resist extremism, he stated that the previous US administrations have enabled Pakistan's military establishment, which harbours terrorists and fosters radicalism. Human rights activists have raised concerns that training centres for several terrorist outfits, such as ISIS and Daesh, supervised by the Pakistani intelligence agency ISI, have increased in recent months, posing a greater threat to regional and global security. Mir emphasised that continued blind trust in the Pakistani military that "exports extremism and suppresses legitimate aspirations" of the 60 million Baloch people is tantamount to encouraging Pakistan to undermine both regional stability and US interests. "The Baloch people have always upheld a tradition of religious tolerance and coexistence. We hold no animosity toward Hindus, Jews, Christians, Buddhists, or followers of any other faith. In contrast, elements within the Pakistan military and its intelligence agency, the ISI, have consistently exploited radical religious groups to promote anti-Western sentiment, often orchestrating public demonstrations where slogans such as "Death to America" and "Death to Israel" are openly chanted," the letter detailed. Referring to Pakistan, Mir questioned whether "the US will continue to provide support to a state apparatus that enables such hostility and fosters extremism, often at the expense of American values and global security." The human rights activist urged the Trump administration to initiate direct dialogue with the "exiled, pro-independence Baloch leadership and representatives who are committed to peace, economic development, and regional stability, under the leadership of Baloch nationalist leader Hyrbyair Marri, President of the Free Balochistan Movement." "Establishing such engagement would align America's long-term geopolitical and economic interests with a nation striving for justice, peace, and the democratic liberation of resource-rich Balochistan. With sincere hopes for your leadership and attention to this just cause," the letter concluded. Bengaluru, Aug 8 : Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi arrived at HAL Airport in Bengaluru on Friday to take part in the protest at Freedom Park over the alleged election fraud. Karnataka State Congress President and Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, along with AICC General Secretary and Karnataka in-charge Randeep Singh Surjewala, welcomed him at the airport. Party's national President Mallikarjun Kharge also arrived with Rahul Gandhi. In light of the protest, tight security arrangements have been made around the office of the Chief Electoral Officer in Bengaluru. The Chief Electoral Officeras office is located approximately 80 feet from Freedom Park, the venue of the protest. The police department, taking no chances with the large gathering and the significance of the protest, has deployed additional forces both at the premises and in front of the State Election Commission office to maintain law and order and ensure public safety. The Chief Electoral Officer has granted him an appointment between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. Sources said the Congress delegation, comprising national and state leaders -- possibly with or without Rahul Gandhi -- is expected to meet the officer between 1.30 p.m. and 2 p.m. State Minister for Cooperation K.N. Rajanna stated, "Rahul Gandhi has made statements backed by documents. He is speaking with authority, and we must endorse his statements -- there is no doubt about it. The BJP is well aware of the malpractices. The RSS, the frontal organisation of the BJP, is manipulating everything." aThe common people are with us. In the Mahadevapura Assembly constituency, voters have been enrolled without proper addresses. How is that even possible? During the parliamentary election, our government was in power -- we should have been more alert. Instead, we are alert only now. Had we acted earlier, we could have prevented these malpractices," Minister Rajanna said. "Out of the eight Assembly segments in the Bengaluru Central Lok Sabha seat, we had leads in seven. In only one -- Mahadevapura -- we did not. That single loss tilted the overall result. Isnat that clearly due to malpractice?" he questioned. Responding to the allegations, BJP state President and MLA B.Y. Vijayendra said, "In the Mahadevapura Assembly segment, the BJP had the highest lead in the last Lok Sabha election. This constituency has always been a BJP stronghold. It has 6.5 lakh voters, the highest in Karnataka. Rahul Gandhi is questioning the voters' list, but he should also examine what happened in Chamarajpet -- represented by Minister Zameer Ahmad Khan, and Shivajinagar -- represented by Congress MLA Rizwan Arshad, where the minority population is the highest." "We are aware that a large number of fake voters have been added in these segments. My question to Rahul Gandhi is: the objective of the Election Commissionas Special Intensive Revision (SIR) is to identify such discrepancies. Why, then, are Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party opposing it in Bihar? Why are they coming to Karnataka and creating this drama?" Vijayendra questioned. "The BJP won 25 out of 28 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in Karnataka. In 2024, the NDA won only 19 seats. Rahul Gandhi could have made these allegations earlier. The truth is, he has failed to gain the confidence of the people of this country and is desperate to become the Prime Minister. He has been rejected by the voters of Karnataka and across India. In that context, he is now targeting the Election Commission," Vijayendra said. "They are demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. They must be joking. Instead of making baseless demands, they should focus on winning the people's confidence. They canat blame Narendra Modi jias leadership -- he is leading the nation toward development, which is why he has been elected for a third consecutive term. There is no reason for the BJP to protest against the Congress on this issue. Letas hear what Rahul Gandhi says in Bengaluru -- based on that, we will decide our course of action," he concluded. Jaipur, Aug 8 : Days before Independence Day celebrations, security agencies have recovered a drone on the India-Pakistan border in Rajasthan's Jaisalmer district. Jaipur, Aug 8 (IANS) Days before Independence Day celebrations, security agencies have recovered a drone on the India-Pakistan border in Rajasthanas Jaisalmer district. The drone was seized from a location just 20 km from the International Border, in an uninhabited area of Sector South of Jaisalmer, on Thursday evening. Sources said 'Made in China' is written on the drone, though no official statement has yet been issued by the BSF or local police, said sources on Friday. The discovery comes amid heightened security along the border. Authorities are investigating when and how the drone reached the spot -- whether it fell recently or had been sent earlier. Jaisalmer Police and BSF are jointly probing its range, feed, and controlling source. A technical examination is also underway to determine the type of camera and equipment installed. Given existing restrictions on civilian drone flying in border areas, agencies suspect it may have been used for spying. This is the third major security alert in Rajasthanas border areas within a week. Four days ago, security forces in Sriganganagar recovered a heroin packet weighing over half a kilogram, valued between Rs 2.5 and Rs 3 crore. Three days ago, police arrested Mahendra Prasad, a resident of Uttarakhand, near the DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) centre in Jaisalmer. Posted at the DRDO guest house, he had been under suspicion for a long time and is now accused of spying for Pakistan. He has been shifted to Jaipur for interrogation. Officials point out that after Operation Sindoor, Pakistan has intensified drone-based activities near the Rajasthan border, prompting agencies to maintain heightened vigilance. Due to this, security agencies have become more alert about drone flying and other spying attempts here. The latest recovery underscores ongoing threats from cross-border smuggling and espionage operations, said officials. And security has been heightened around key Defence installations, and all movements in border areas are under tight surveillance. Kolkata, Aug 8 : West Bengal will go for the crucial Assembly elections next year with an almost 17 per cent increase in the number of polling booths than during the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections. An insider from the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) said that the polling in the previous two elections was conducted with a total network of 80,680 booths. However, insiders added that the 2026 Assembly elections will be with a network of a little over 94,000 booths, a 16.50 per cent rise over the number of booths in the previous polls. Explaining the reason behind the increase in the number of booths, the CEO office insiders said that as per the directive of the Election Commission of India (ECI), this time the total number of voters in a single booth should not exceed 1,200, and hence, to accommodate that, the number of booths had to be increased. The insiders said that all the political parties in the state have been updated about the increase in the number of polling booths. On Thursday evening, the CEOas office had communicated to the ECI that the ground work was ready to begin the process of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in the state. The communication on this count was sent to the ECIas headquarters in Delhi after the CEOas office compiled the reports sent by different district election officers on the ground-level preparedness for the SIR at respective districts. The last time that SIR was conducted in West Bengal was in 2002. During the current year, the SIR process has been completed recently in neighbouring Bihar, where the polls are scheduled later this year. The SIR in West Bengal is expected to start anytime now amid the continuing political slugfest over the exercise. On one hand, the ruling Trinamool Congress has described the revision exercise as a ploy by the BJP to slap the NRC in West Bengal. The Trinamool Congress had also accused ECI of operating on the behest of the BJP to ensure the latteras victory in the Assembly elections. On the other hand, the BJP had claimed that the Trinamool Congress and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee were opposing the SIR out of fear that names of many illegal Rohingya and Bangladeshi infiltrators would be deleted from the list following the revision exercise. BRASILIA/NEW DELHI, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a phone conversation on Thursday, reaffirming their commitment to bilateral cooperation and multilateralism in the face of rising global trade tensions. The two leaders exchanged views on various regional and global issues of mutual interest. "They recalled the goal of increasing bilateral trade to over 20 billion U.S. dollars by 2030. They also agreed to expand the scope of the agreement between Mercosur and India," the Brazilian Presidency said in a statement. In a post on his official X account, Modi described the conversation as "good." "We are committed to deepening our strategic partnership including in trade, energy, tech, defense, health and more. A strong, people-centric partnership between Global South nations benefits everyone," he wrote. Lula confirmed he would pay a state visit to India in early 2026. As part of the preparations, Brazilian Vice President Geraldo Alckmin will travel to India in October to attend the trade monitoring mechanism meeting, accompanied by ministers and business leaders. The conversation also touched on collaboration within the BRICS group. The two leaders reviewed the outcomes of the recent BRICS Summit in Brazil and discussed coordination for India's upcoming presidency of the bloc. The discussion came shortly after the United States announced steep tariff increases on goods from both Brazil and India. Patna, Aug 8 : Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) National President, Mukesh Sahani, on Friday said there is "no meaning in holding elections if votes are stolen," pointing out that taxpayers' money is being wasted when the electoral process is compromised. Patna, Aug 8 (IANS) Vikassheel Insaan Party (VIP) National President, Mukesh Sahani, on Friday said there is "no meaning in holding elections if votes are stolen," pointing out that taxpayers' money is being wasted when the electoral process is compromised. Speaking to reporters in Patna on Friday after attending an INDIA Bloc meeting in New Delhi, Sahani said the core agenda of the meeting was to "protect the Constitution from those attempting to steal votes" through the Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision. "Dr. B.R. Ambedkar gave voters the power to choose the government for five years, but if votes are stolen, what is the point of conducting elections? If democracy is to be ended, then say so openly and rule like Hitler," Sahani said. He claimed that Congress MP and Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha (LoP), Rahul Gandhi had revealed that a single voter's name appears in multiple state voter lists without proper address verification, calling it the BJP's "secret to winning elections with the help of the Election Commission." Sahani announced that VIP workers will be deployed at every polling booth in Bihar to monitor the process. He also declared the launch of a 'Vote Bachao Adhikar Yatra' from August 17, which will conclude in Patna on September 1. In that Yatra, senior leaders of the INDIA Bloc, including senior leaders like Rahul Gandhi, Tejashwi Yadav, Priyanka Gandhi, Rajesh Ram, and many other will participate. Commenting on Union Home Minister Amit Shah's visit to Punauradham, Sitamarhi, Sahani questioned his silence over the alleged misbehaviour faced by Sitamarhi women in Maharashtra for speaking Hindi. "BJP is in power in Maharashtra. What action has been taken against those discriminating on the basis of language? Amit Shah has not made a single statement on such incidents, yet he comes to Bihar to seek votes. He has nothing to do with Bihar and Bihari people. He just wants their votes," Sahani said. New Delhi, Aug 8 : The Lok Sabha was adjourned till 3 p.m. on Friday after repeated disruptions by Opposition members demanding a discussion on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists in Bihar. Presiding over the proceedings, Krishna Prasad Tennati repeatedly appealed for order, admonishing members for banging on tables and disrupting the decorum of the House. "You cannot bang the table like a drum. This is not the way. The entire country is watching you," Tennati said, visibly perturbed. "You cannot bang the Speaker's table. 'Ye dhol nahi hai (it is not a drum)', taking a very strong objection to this. This will go on record. I am again requesting you to allow the House to run. You are repeatedly not behaving according to the decorum of the House," he said. Despite his appeals and the announcement of members who had submitted issues, which the House takes on each Friday under Rule 377, the Opposition remained defiant. As the shouting continued unabated, Tennati was compelled to adjourn the House till 3 p.m., citing the unrelenting disorder. The ruckus overshadowed scheduled business and forced the Chair to suspend proceedings for the second time in the day. The House reconvened at noon following an earlier adjournment. Ministers of State, including Anupriya Patel, Sanjay Seth, and Savitri Thakur, laid papers related to their respective ministries. Members from the BJP, Ganesh Singh, Brajmohan Agrawal, Konda Vishweshwar Reddy, Trivendra Singh Rawat, and Manju Sharma tabled reports from various Parliamentary Standing Committees. Arjun Ram Meghwal, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, made a statement regarding the Government Business for the remainder of the session. Utpal Kumar Singh, Secretary General, read a message from Rajya Sabha regarding the Coastal Shipping Bill, 2025. However, the session quickly descended into chaos as Opposition members raised slogans and demanded an urgent debate on alleged irregularities in the voter list revision process in Bihar. The repeated adjournments have raised concerns over the legislative gridlock in the ongoing Monsoon Session, with key debates and ministerial statements being drowned out by procedural disruptions. Hyderabad, Aug 8 : Union Minister of State for Home Affairs, Bandi Sanjay Kumar, on Friday appeared before the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the phone-tapping case to record his statement as a witness. After offering prayers at Hanuman temple in Khairatabad, the BJP leader along with a large number of supporters walked to Dilkusha guesthouse, where he will be examined by the SIT officials. The phone tapping by the BRS government came to light in March last year, a few months after BRS lost power in Telangana. Hundreds of BJP workers carrying party flags and placards joined Bandi Sanjay to show solidarity with him. The minister told media persons that he would hand over to the SIT, all the information and records he has related to the case. Bandi Sanjay said the SIT had issued a notice to him last month, requesting him to appear before them, but he could not appear due to the Parliament session. "As a central minister and as a responsible citizen, I will submit whatever information I have to the Investigating Offer," he said. He claimed that he was the one who exposed the phone tapping. "I am the first victim of phone tapping. Not only my phones but also the phones of my family members, household staff, and my followers were also tapped," he said. He, however, alleged that the government was not giving full freedom to the SIT officials to conduct the investigation. He said the government was adopting delaying tactics in the name of Commissions and enquiry. He alleged that the Congress and BRS were together doing drama as not a single person from the family of former Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) has been arrested so far. The MoS reiterated the demand for handing over the case to the CBI, saying this would bring out the truth. After receiving the SIT notice on July 17, Bandi Sanjay had said that KCR committed the crime of phone tapping but he got the invitation as a witness. Leaders of some political parties including Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president Mahesh Kumar Goud, BJP MP and former minister Eatala Rajender have already deposed before the SIT as witnesses. Police last year arrested four police officials in the case. They were later released on bail. Former chief of State Intelligence Bureau (SIB) Prabhakar Rao, who is the main accused in the case, returned from the United States in June on the direction of the Supreme Court. He has been summoned by the SIT multiple times for questioning. When BRS was in power, a team was allegedly constituted in the SIB to tap the phones of leaders of Opposition parties, dissidents within BRS, businesspersons, celebrities, journalists and even judges. New Delhi, Aug 8 : Despite recording a robust absorption of 18.9 million square feet in the first half of 2025 (H1 2025), average rental values across the top seven Indian cities remained largely stable, ranging between Rs 18-31 per square feet per month, a report said on Friday. New Delhi, Aug 8 (IANS) Despite recording a robust absorption of 18.9 million square feet in the first half of 2025 (H1 2025), average rental values across the top seven Indian cities remained largely stable, ranging between Rs 1831 per square feet per month, a report said on Friday. Pune holds the highest rental of Rs 31 per square feet (sq ft) per month, driven by strong demand from third-party logistics (3PL), automotive, engineering, and manufacturing sectors, Vestian, an occupier-focussed workplace solutions firm, said in its report. According to the report, Pune recorded a significant 34 per cent increase on a half-yearly basis and 13 per cent year-on-year, driven primarily by high-value transactions in key submarkets like Khed and Chakan. Limited availability of land has led to an increase in land prices, further pushing up overall transaction values. On the other hand, Mumbai witnessed the lowest rentals of Rs 18/sq ft per month among the top seven cities, while the rentals increased by 2 per cent in H1 2025 compared to the second half of 2024; they declined by 2 per cent over the same period a year ago, the report stated. The overall stability in rentals can be attributed to balanced demand-supply dynamics supported by fresh supply additions. According to the report, rentals in Hyderabad remained steady at Rs 19/sq ft per month in H1 2025, with a modest annual increase of 1 per cent. Conversely, Bengaluru recorded an annual decline of 5 per cent despite a significant increase in demand, reaching Rs 19/sq ft/month. "While the first half of 2025 witnessed a dip in investments, strong demand across key markets, the expansion of multimodal logistics infrastructure, and an emphasis on sustainable and tech-enabled solutions signal long-term growth. Strategic initiatives under the Gati Shakti plan and increasing traction in tier-2 and tier-3 cities are expected to drive the next wave of growth in the sector," said Shrinivas Rao, FRICS, CEO, Vestian. Meanwhile, rentals in Chennai stood at Rs 25/sq ft/month in H1 2025, witnessing a half-yearly increase of 3 per cent and an annual rise of 2 per cent, the report highlighted. Rentals in the NCR region contracted significantly by 10 per cent annually and 4 per cent over H2 2024, reaching Rs 21/sq ft/month in 2025. As per the report, the decline could be attributed to a large share of leasing, around 60 per cent, recorded at rates below the city's average rent. At the same time, rental value in Kolkata is at Rs 21/sq ft/month, showcasing a muted half-yearly decline of 1 per cent but an annual growth of 8 per cent, despite limited absorption activities, the report noted. Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 8 : Support is mounting for Thiruvananthapuram Medical College Dr. Haris Chirackal, who claimed that he was being "harassed" for "exposing corruption and systemic failures" in the healthcare sector in Kerala. On Friday, Medical College Principal P.K. Jabbar countered his claims, stating that missing surgical equipment was found in Chirackal's office. However, Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan and the Kerala Government Medical College Teachers' Association (KGMCTA) have publicly rallied behind the doctor. Eyebrows were raised during Jabbar's press conference when the hospital's Superintendent, seated beside him, received a phone call.. The Superintendent was overheard instructing Jabbar to read out the report "as directed" by the caller, a moment that has since gone viral, fuelling suspicions of a coordinated effort to target Chirackal. "It's becoming clearer that there is a group haunting Chirackal," Satheesan told reporters. "We will go to any extent to protect him. We will not allow him to suffer because of this," added Satheesan. KGMCTA officials echoed this sentiment, expressing doubts over the motives behind the actions taken against him and will approach the state government for an independent probe. Chirackal alleges that the Principal, Superintendent, and Deputy Superintendent entered his office without his presence, tampered with files, and possibly attempted to frame him. He says the room contained important documents and costly surgical instruments, and that the inspection was conducted without proper protocol. In a letter to KGMCTA, he also pointed out the absence of CCTV coverage near his office and claimed another key was used to lock it after the inspection. The doctor came under scrutiny after publicly revealing shortages of surgical equipment at the medical college. He has not yet responded to a show-cause notice from the Director of Medical Education, insisting he will reply only after receiving the inquiry committee's report. He maintained that he requested the required equipment in March and June, contradicting the government's claim that it was not informed. At his Friday press conference, Principal Jabbar dismissed allegations of foul play, saying the office inspection was routine and carried out only by authorised staff. Jabbar said "irregularities" were discovered, including surgical equipment previously reported missing. Jabbar said the item was in a new box with a purchase bill dated August 2, and that photographs of the recovered item did not match earlier images of the missing one. CCTV footage also reportedly shows someone entering the room, though the date is yet to be confirmed. An expert committee has flagged the missing equipment issue, while Chirackal has consistently maintained that it was in the medical facility. New Delhi, Aug 8 : India has sourced more liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the United Arab Emirates with public sector oil giant Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL), signing a 10-year supply agreement with state-owned ADNOC Gas as part of the deepening energy partnership between the two countries. Under the terms of the agreement, ADNOC Gas will supply 500,000 metric tonnes per annum (mtpa) of LNG to HPCL, starting in 2026. The LNG will be sourced from ADNOC Gasa Das Island liquefaction facility, which has a production capacity of 6 mtpa and is one of the worldas longest-operating LNG plants, having shipped over 3,500 cargoes globally since its inception in 1977. HPCL will receive LNG at the recently commissioned Chhara LNG Terminal, Gujarat, to meet the demand of its refineries, City Gas Distribution Network and for marketing to downstream customers. This initiative further enables HPCL to build a diverse portfolio encompassing long and short-term LNG contracts, and also to secure LNG and meet the growing energy demand in the Indian market. This agreement marks ADNOC Gasa third LNG supply deal with an Indian energy company in the past 12 months, following contracts with Indian Oil Corporation (IOCL) and GAIL India. The IOCL deal, a 14-year agreement valued between $7 billion and $9 billion, commits ADNOC Gas to supplying up to 1.2 mtpa of LNG, while the GAIL agreement involves 0.52 mtpa over 10 years, also starting in 2026. Apart from economics, the UAE-India energy partnership reflects a geopolitical statement. The UAE has emerged as a reliable energy partner for India, particularly as global LNG competition intensifies following disruptions like the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Indiaas growing energy ties with the UAE provide a counterbalance to its reliance on other suppliers and help navigate challenges like potential US tariffs on Indian goods due to its oil imports from Russia. India, the worldas fourth-largest LNG importer, is aiming to increase the share of natural gas in its primary energy mix from 6.2 per cent to 15 per cent by 2030, driven by industrial expansion, oil refining, and the need for cleaner energy alternatives to coal. The countryas natural gas consumption is projected to triple by 2050, fuelled by growth in sectors like fertilisers, steelmaking, and construction. However, domestic production cannot keep pace with this rising demand, making long-term import agreements like the one with ADNOC Gas critical for energy security. The deal with HPCL aligns with Indiaas broader energy strategy under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has emphasised diversifying away from coal to reduce carbon emissions. Additionally, the UAE-India Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), signed in 2022, facilitates such deals by eliminating a 2.5 per cent import tax on LNG, making UAE gas more competitive in the Indian market. Non-oil trade between the two nations reached $50.5 billion in the first year after CEPAas implementation, with ambitions to hit $100 billion by 2030. For ADNOC Gas, this agreement is part of a broader strategy to capture a larger share of the global LNG market, which is expected to grow by 15 per cent over the next decade, driven by demand in Asia. The company, a subsidiary of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), supplies approximately 60 per cent of the UAEas domestic gas needs and serves customers in over 20 countries. The deal comes at a time when ADNOC is expanding its international presence, including in the US, where it has acquired stakes in LNG and green energy projects. This global push, coupled with domestic investments like the $13 billion planned for LNG capacity expansion by 2029, underscores ADNOCas ambition to be a major player in the energy transition. Amritsar, Aug 8 : The festival of Raksha Bandhan on Friday was marked by a unique gesture in Amritsar's Lohri Gate area, where hundreds of women came together to send 'Rakhis' to Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a token of gratitude. The women hailed his leadership and strong stance against Pakistan, particularly referencing 'Operation Sindoor', which they said was a befitting reply to acts of terror. The event, organised with festive fervour from 10 A.M. to 4 P.M., saw women from different walks of life participating. They called their Rakhis a "thread of thanks" a symbolic gesture celebrating protection of the nation. BJP National General Secretary Tarun Chugh was present at the occasion and spoke to IANS. He emphasised the emotional significance of the event. "The women of Amritsar are sending Rakhis to Prime Minister Modi, thanking him for 'Operation Sindoor'. This is not just a festival; it's a reflection of the special bond PM Modi shares with the women of the nation," Chugh said. He added that the gesture was not just about the festival, but a strong message of unity and gratitude. "The sisters said that Prime Minister Modi gave Pakistan a befitting reply for the killing of innocent civilians. Through decisive actions like the surgical strikes, he showed that India will not tolerate terrorism and will act with strength," he said. Chugh further criticised the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), accusing it of attempting to usurp farmers' land. He announced that a statewide protest movement would be launched after August 19, under the leadership of Punjab BJP President Ashwani Sharma. "We will take this fight from village to village to ensure that not even an inch of Punjab's land is unjustly taken," he stated. The event in Amritsar came just a day ahead of Raksha Bandhan, which falls on August 9 this year. Celebrated across India, the festival symbolises the sacred bond between brothers and sisters. On this day, sisters tie a 'Rakhi' on their brothers' wrists, praying for their well-being, while brothers vow to protect their sisters. Falling on the full moon day of the Shravana month in the Hindu calendar, the festival is a cherished tradition that brings families together in joy and unity. -- Except for the title, this story has not been edited by Prokerala team and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed Tokyo, Aug 8 : Japan's weather agency issued a heavy rain emergency warning on Friday morning for the city of Kirishima in the southwestern prefecture of Kagoshima, calling for the highest level of caution against landslides and flooding in low-lying areas and overflowing rivers. Tokyo, Aug 8 (IANS) Japan's weather agency issued a heavy rain emergency warning on Friday morning for the city of Kirishima in the southwestern prefecture of Kagoshima, calling for the highest level of caution against landslides and flooding in low-lying areas and overflowing rivers. The highest-level warning on the country's five-tier disaster alert system, the first of the year, came after Kirishima logged record rainfall, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA). A part of Kirishima registered 107.5 mm of rain in the hour to 3 a.m. local time on Friday, the heaviest on record at the location. The 12-hour total reached over 480 mm, about 1.8 times the city's August average. Torrential rain is expected to continue in the Kyushu region, including Kagoshima, through Sunday, the JMA said. The amount of rain in the 24 hours to Saturday morning is expected to be 200 mm in southern Kyushu, and 120 mm in northern Kyushu, it added. Weather officials warned people to remain on alert as dangerous conditions may already exist in affected areas, Xinhua news agency reported. Yesterday, torrential rain continued to lash Japanas Hokuriku region on the Sea of Japan coast, prompting warnings from JMA of potential landslides, flooding in low-lying areas, and rising river levels, particularly in regions still recovering from a powerful earthquake earlier this year, the local media reported. Bullet train services on the Hokuriku Shinkansen Line were suspended for over five hours between Nagano and Kanazawa stations, West Japan Railway Co. (JR West) confirmed, after intense rainfall began pounding parts of Ishikawa Prefecture on August 6. According to the agency, a low-pressure system moving northeast over the Sea of Japan is responsible for the unstable atmospheric conditions. The weather front is forecast to shift southward through Friday and linger over areas spanning eastern to western Japan. The JMA warned that some regions could experience further heavy rainfall and thunderstorms as warm, moist air continues to flow toward the low-pressure system. Conditions are expected to remain highly unstable across a wide area from northern to western Japan. Authorities have urged residents to stay alert for evacuation orders and take precautions against possible landslides, flash floods, and infrastructure disruptions in the coming days. New Delhi, Aug 8 : The BJP on Friday strongly rebutted the allegations made by Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, who, on Thursday accused the Election Commission of colluding with the BJP to create over one lakh fake votes in Karnataka's Mahadevapura Assembly segment. Several BJP leaders have now come out, questioning the basis and intent of LoP Gandhi's claims, calling them "vague," "baseless," and "politically-motivated." Speaking to IANS, BJP Rajya Sabha MP Deepak Prakash said, "If anyone has a factory of lies, it is Rahul Gandhi. If spreading confusion is a habit, then it belongs to the Congress party." Echoing a similar sentiment, BJP MP Ravi Kishan questioned the Congress party's selective trust in the electoral system. "Congress should first answer how they won wherever they formed the government. They don't question the system where they win but challenge the Constitution and Election Commission where they face defeat," he said. Senior BJP leader and MP Rajiv Pratap Rudy challenged the Congress to present solid proof. "Today, it is difficult to determine which voters will vote for whom. If legitimate voters who don't want to be removed are taken off the list, that's a big challenge. Rahul Gandhi should show the names of those voters he claims were removed, with proof, to the Election Commission. So far, there hasn't been any evidence provided for any voter whose name was added or removed," Rudy told IANS. BJP MP Jagadish Shettar dismissed the accusations as theatrics. "Unnecessarily, Rahul Gandhi is creating a problem, creating a criticism and making unnecessary vague allegations against PM Modi. It is completely wrong. Yesterday in the meeting, he showed a bundle of papers. Why has he not produced it before the Election Commission? Why has he not challenged it before the court?" BJP Rajya Sabha MP Samik Bhattacharya added a sharp personal jibe, saying, "Rahul Gandhi and his party leaders are not taken seriously. But what can be done? It's all about family matters there. If Congress wants to progress, they must bow before that family, that's how things work there." On August 7, LoP Gandhi had claimed that 1,00,250 fake votes were created in the Mahadevapura Assembly seat under Bangalore Central Lok Sabha constituency, calling it a part of a BJP-led scheme to steal the election. The Election Commission has rejected the claims and asked for specific evidence. The Opposition, however, continues to demand that the Commission clarify whether the data LoP Gandhi presented was obtained from its own official platforms. Bengaluru, Aug 8 : The Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi on Friday demanded that the Election Commission of India (ECI) provide the electronic voters' list for the past 10 years along with video recordings. He warned that failure to do so would amount to the ECI concealing electoral fraud and a crime. Addressing a massive gathering during the 'Our Vote, Our Right, Our Fight' rally against alleged election fraud, LoP Gandhi said that if the ECI is withholding data, it indicates collusion with the BJP in committing electoral fraud. "The Election Commission must understand that it took six months to expose fraud in just one Lok Sabha seat. If you don't provide the data, we can still uncover irregularities in 15 to 20 Lok Sabha seats. We already have the information. You can't hide and escape. One day, you will have to face the Opposition. Each officer and the Commission must be aware of this," LoP Gandhi warned. He charged, "The result of one Lok Sabha seat in Karnataka was stolen. This is a criminal act against the people of the state. The state government must investigate and take action. The ECI officials who enrolled 1,000 to 15,000 fake voters on the rolls must be held accountable. The truth regarding the Mahadevapura Assembly segment must come out." He further asserted, "We believe that the electronic data of all Indian voters constitutes vital evidence. If anyone destroys it, it amounts to destruction of evidence a punishable crime." "If the electronic data of the entire country is made available, I will prove that Prime Minister Narendra Modi became PM through fraudulent means. The entire country must question why the ECI is refusing to provide the digital records and video footage. "The data from Karnataka is proof of a crime. It took six months to access it. There was a huge pile of documents. One photo had to be compared with lakhs of others. Each name had to be checked against many similar ones," LoP Gandhi stated. LoP Gandhi alleged, "Had the BJP lost 25 seats, Narendra Modi wouldn't be the PM. In one seat, we have already proven fraud. In all 25 crucial seats, BJP candidates won by a margin of around 35,000 votes." He reiterated that the foundation of the Constitution lies in the principle of "One Man, One Vote." "Every Indian citizen is granted the right to vote by the Constitution. In the last election, the BJP, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and their leaders attacked the Constitution. Constitutional institutions were suppressed, and attempts were made to dismantle the Constitution," he charged. He continued, "During the last Lok Sabha election, a major question arose. In Maharashtra, after the Lok Sabha polls, the state Assembly election was held. In the Lok Sabha, our alliance won. But four months later, the BJP alliance won the state polls 'magically.' We tracked that 1 crore voters had voted in the state election. Wherever they voted, the BJP won. New voters who did not vote during the Lok Sabha polls suddenly cast votes in the state Assembly polls and their votes went to the BJP. That was the moment we knew something was wrong." "In Karnataka, our internal surveys predicted 15 to 17 Lok Sabha seats for us. As per our estimates, we should have won 17 out of 28 seats. But we ended up winning only 9," he said. "That's when we began to question whether we had genuinely lost those seats. We demanded soft copies of the voters' list the ECI refused. We asked for video recordings they rejected the request and even went on to change the rules. So we started our analysis with just one Lok Sabha seat and discovered the electoral fraud," LoP Gandhi concluded. People pose for a group photo during the sixth Yuntianhua Scholarship awarding ceremony at Yezin Agricultural University in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, Aug. 7, 2025. The sixth Yuntianhua Scholarship awarding ceremony was held at Yezin Agricultural University in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, on Thursday. Yuntianhua Group Co., Ltd., a Chinese comprehensive industrial group, awarded the scholarship to 104 students. (Xinhua/Myo Kyaw Soe) YANGON, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- The sixth Yuntianhua Scholarship awarding ceremony was held at Yezin Agricultural University in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, on Thursday. Yuntianhua Group Co., Ltd., a Chinese comprehensive industrial group, awarded the scholarship to 104 students. At the ceremony, Ouyang Daobing, counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Myanmar, said that "Yuntianhua Scholarship" and "Yuntianhua Study Abroad Fund" in Myanmar were not only an affirmation of the students' academic achievements, but also a vivid testament to a deep "Paukphaw" (fraternal) friendship between the peoples of China and Myanmar. An increasing number of young people in Myanmar, by learning Chinese technology and participating in China-Myanmar cooperation projects, are becoming bridges of friendship and builders of bilateral ties, Ouyang said. He said that through joint efforts, agricultural cooperation will yield even greater results and bring more tangible benefits to the people of both nations. Speaking at the event, Myanmar's Union Minister for Agriculture, Livestock, and Irrigation U Min Naung emphasized the importance of China-Myanmar agricultural cooperation in enhancing Myanmar's food security and improving farmers' income. Since its launch in 2017, "Yuntianhua Scholarship" has funded 505 students from Myanmar's Yezin Agricultural University. "Yuntianhua Study Abroad Fund" has helped 39 teachers and students from the university study in Chinese universities. Myanmar's Union Minister for Agriculture, Livestock, and Irrigation U Min Naung speaks during the sixth Yuntianhua Scholarship awarding ceremony at Yezin Agricultural University in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, Aug. 7, 2025. The sixth Yuntianhua Scholarship awarding ceremony was held at Yezin Agricultural University in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, on Thursday. Yuntianhua Group Co., Ltd., a Chinese comprehensive industrial group, awarded the scholarship to 104 students. (Xinhua/Myo Kyaw Soe) People attend the sixth Yuntianhua Scholarship awarding ceremony at Yezin Agricultural University in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, Aug. 7, 2025. The sixth Yuntianhua Scholarship awarding ceremony was held at Yezin Agricultural University in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, on Thursday. Yuntianhua Group Co., Ltd., a Chinese comprehensive industrial group, awarded the scholarship to 104 students. (Xinhua/Myo Kyaw Soe) Ouyang Daobing, counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Myanmar, speaks during the sixth Yuntianhua Scholarship awarding ceremony at Yezin Agricultural University in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, Aug. 7, 2025. The sixth Yuntianhua Scholarship awarding ceremony was held at Yezin Agricultural University in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, on Thursday. Yuntianhua Group Co., Ltd., a Chinese comprehensive industrial group, awarded the scholarship to 104 students. (Xinhua/Myo Kyaw Soe) Patna, Aug 8 : The spiritual and cultural landscape of Bihar is set to witness a historic moment as Union Home Minister Amit Shah will lay the foundation stone for the Maa Sita Temple at Punaura Dham in Sitamarhi. Political leaders across party lines, including the BJP and JD(U) on Friday hailed the move as the fulfilment of a long-cherished dream of every Bihari and a proud milestone for the state. Located in Punaura Dham, believed to be the mythological birthplace of goddess Sita, the temple will be developed on the lines of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya, and is expected to become a major hub for religious tourism in eastern India. Union Minister and LJP (Ram Vilas) leader, Chirag Paswan, expressed deep gratitude and pride, saying, "It has been the wish of every Bihari for a long time. We committed ourselves to fulfilling this dream through our 'Bihar First, Bihari First' campaign and every available platform. I have always envisioned a grand Maa Sita temple in Bihar, just like the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. I am delighted that this journey has now begun. It is a moment of immense respect for the faith of the people." Paswan further emphasised the project's economic potential: "Bihar holds infinite possibilities for religious tourism. Just like Ayodhya witnessed an economic boom post the Ram Mandir, I believe Sitamarhi will experience a similar transformation. I thank the central government for taking this significant step." Speaking to IANS, senior BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain echoed these sentiments, calling it a moment of collective pride. "This is a proud moment for every Bihari. The construction of a grand Sita temple in Bihar is not just a religious initiative it is a revival of our spiritual heritage." Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Kumar Sinha also called it a proud moment for the people of Bihar, "Amit Shah laying the foundation stone today is a proud moment for all people of Bihar. It is a landmark occasion that will be remembered for generations." BJP leader Mangal Pandey added, "Today, Amit Shah will inaugurate the temple of Maa Sita in Sitamarhi. This is a major achievement. Pilgrims from across India will be drawn to this spiritual site, giving a strong boost to Bihar's tourism." JD(U) leader Vijay Kumar Choudhary described the day as historic. "Just as Ayodhya holds significance due to Lord Ram, Sitamarhi and Punaura Dham are revered for being associated with Mata Sita. The government has approved a development plan worth Rs 882 crore, which will transform this area into a major religious destination. Alongside the temple, the entire region will be developed to support tourism and infrastructure. The people of Bihar thank Chief Minister Nitish Kumar for his vision." On August 7, Union Home Minister Amit Shah took to social media platform X, stating: "Tomorrow is a day of great fortune and joy for the entire country and especially for Mithila, as the foundation stone will be laid for the massive plan for the overall development of the holy 'Punauradham Temple' at the birthplace of Mother Sita in Sitamarhi, Bihar. To enhance connectivity for devotees, PM Shri @narendramodi ji has also approved the Sitamarhi-Delhi Amrit Bharat train, which will be inaugurated tomorrow." The event will see the participation of Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, senior ministers, and spiritual leaders from across India. The ceremony will be held amidst Vedic chants and rituals, marking the beginning of what many call a "spiritual renaissance" for Bihar. The 67-acre temple complex is expected to be completed within 11 months. The Bihar Cabinet, on July 1, sanctioned Rs 882.87 crore for the integrated development of the site. Of this, Rs 137 crore will be used for restoration and development of the old temple and premises, Rs 728 crore for tourism-related infrastructure, and Rs 16 crore for a 10-year maintenance plan. The Bihar State Tourism Development Corporation will implement the project. Ahmedabad, Aug 8 : The Gujarat Legislative Assembly will convene for its Monsoon Session on September 8, 9, and 10, as announced on Friday. Governor Acharya Devrat has called for the seventh session of the current Assembly. The official notification regarding the session was issued by the Assembly Secretariat. Speaker Shankar Chaudhary shared details of the upcoming session, stating that MLAs can submit starred questions till August 20. The short, three-day session is expected to cover key legislative discussions and departmental reviews, especially in the backdrop of the ongoing monsoon and its impact on the state. The upcoming session will see the presentation of several crucial legislations, including the GST Amendment Bill and the Factory Amendment Bill, as part of the governmentas business. MLAs have been given time until August 20 to submit instructions on starred questions, allowing for focused discussion on pressing public issues. Chaudhary shared that a meeting of the Business Advisory Committee (BAC) will be convened on September 6 to finalise the session's agenda and schedule additional legislative business. Along with key bills, the session is expected to include debates on various state-related issues and government proposals, setting the stage for a packed legislative calendar. Further announcements regarding the agenda and bills to be tabled are expected closer to the session dates. During the Monsoon Session, the Congress is likely to question the government on critical issues related to infrastructure, farmers, and the education system. Concerns may be raised over poor road conditions and stalled infrastructure projects, particularly in rural and flood-affected areas. On the agricultural front, the Opposition is likely to demand clarity on compensation for crop losses due to erratic monsoons, irrigation support, and delays in procurement payments. In the education sector, Congress may target the government over inadequate school infrastructure, teacher vacancies, and declining learning outcomes in government schools, calling for urgent reforms and increased budgetary allocation. The Gujarat Legislative Assembly is a unicameral legislature, comprising 182 elected members. The Assembly operates from the Vidhan Sabha building in Gandhinagar. The current Assembly, elected in December 2022, is the 15th Gujarat Legislative Assembly, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) holding a significant majority. Seoul, Aug 8 : A South Korean special counsel team has accused former first lady Kim Keon Hee of colluding with a shaman over bribery allegations in connection to the Unification Church, according to a warrant for her arrest Friday. Special counsel Min Joong-ki's team made the accusation in the warrant filed Thursday, detailing that Kim worked with the shaman, named Jeon Seong-bae, to receive luxury gifts, including a diamond necklace, from the church in 2022. The former first lady has denied receiving the gifts in return for business favours, while Jeon has admitted to accepting them but denied sending them to Kim. The team also characterised Kim as a "conspirator" in a stock price manipulation scheme involving Deutsche Motors, a BMW dealer in South Korea, from 2009 to 2012 rather than a mere accomplice, according to the warrant seen by Yonhap News Agency. Kim also faces allegations of meddling in a candidate nomination for the 2022 parliamentary by-elections in return for receiving free opinion polls from self-proclaimed power broker Myung Tae-kyun ahead of the presidential election that year. Meanwhile, an aide to the leader of the Unification Church appeared before the special counsel team Friday to be questioned about her role in the alleged bribery case involving the former first lady. The woman surnamed Jeong was summoned as a suspect by Min's team to be grilled about the allegations the Unification Church asked Jeon, the shaman, to deliver luxury gifts to Kim in 2022 in exchange for business favours. Jeong serves as chief of staff to Unification Church leader Han Hak-ja and deputy head of the church's top administrative body, Yonhap news agency reported. The business favours allegedly included support for the church's participation in development projects in Cambodia, its acquisition of broadcaster YTN, and South Korea's hosting of a United Nations office. New Delhi, Aug 8 : The Indian Council of Medical Research's (ICMR) nationwide SHINE initiative will help ignite scientific curiosity and foster innovation in students and next generation explorers, said Dr. Rajiv Bahl, Director General, ICMR on Thursday. The initiative S.H.I.N.E., which stands for Science, Health and Innovation for Nextgen Explorers, was launched by ICMR and the Department of Health Research (DHR) in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call for students to "spend one day as a scientist". Under this, 13,150 students in grades 9-12, from over 300 schools across 39 districts in 16 states and union territories, were introduced to the field of health and biomedical research at various ICMR institutes. The two-day event aimed to highlight ICMR's contributions to improving the nation's health, and motivate young learners to pursue careers in science and public health, supporting India's journey towards Viksit Bharat by 2047. "This is a unique initiative of ICMR to ignite scientific curiosity, foster innovation, and inspire the next generation of health researchers," Bahl said. He emphasised the importance of scientific temper, innovation, and youth engagement in shaping the future of Indian research and healthcare. "Today is not just a visit, it's an invitation to step into the shoes of a scientist," Dr Bahl said. "We want you to observe, question, and experience firsthand the spirit of scientific inquiry. Engage with our scientists, explore the labs, and witness the strides India has made in medical and health research. This is how we shape a Viksit Bharat -- through curiosity, evidence, and ambition," he added. The programme included a range of interactive activities such as guided laboratory tours, research exhibitions, poster walks, video presentations, and live demonstrations of ongoing scientific work. The students also had the opportunity to interact with ICMR scientists, gaining insights into their research journeys, areas of expertise, and everyday work in public health. To make the experience more engaging, a mascot named Dr. Curio was introduced as a friendly and relatable guide for the students throughout the day. In addition, students viewed four specially curated short films highlighting ICMR's key initiatives: the development of Covaxin-India's indigenous Vaccine, the iDRONE initiative for innovative healthcare delivery, India's TB elimination efforts, and Vishanu Yudh Abhyas - a nationwide mock drill to assess future pandemic preparedness. Jaipur, Aug 8 : The film 'Udaipur Files', based on the Kanhaiyalal murder case, was released on Friday in 4,500 screens across the country, including three in Udaipur -- Celebration Mall, Urban Square, and Lake City Mall. Each venue will host only one show, and police have been deployed in and around the malls to ensure security. Kanhaiyalalas sons -- Yash and Tarun Teli -- attended the screening while holding their father's picture in their hands. Yash stated that the movie portrays the brutal killing of his father by people with a terrorist mindset and urged the public to watch it. The first show in Udaipur began at Urban Square Mall, followed by screenings at Celebration Mall at 6.05 p.m. and Lake City Mall at 7:35 p.m. The film is directed by Bharat S. Srinate and produced by Amit Jani, featuring Vijay Raaz as Kanhaiyalal, alongside Rajneesh Duggal and Preeti Jhangiani in key roles. Lecturer Pramod Kumar Bhati, present at the first show, said he had been waiting eagerly for the filmas release and hoped it would strengthen inter-community harmony. Senior police officials, including SP Yogesh Goyal, ASP Umesh Ojha, and Sukher CI Ravindra Singh Charan, earlier inspected the venues. Security checks were intensified, with documents of all viewers being verified before entry. The movieas release followed a series of legal hurdles. Initially scheduled for July 11, the release was stalled after religious groups and an accused in the murder case, Mohammad Javed, filed petitions in the Delhi High Court. On July 10, the court imposed an interim stay, directing the central government to review the film under Section 6 of the Cinematograph Act. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting later cleared the film, rejecting the objections. On July 25, the Supreme Court allowed the release, but a fresh plea was filed in the Delhi High Court, which then directed the government to decide on its suitability. A review committee approved the release. Filmmaker Amit Jani announced the date via social media, clarifying that the filmas purpose was to depict the incident, not to target any community. With the controversy settled, Udaipur Files has finally reached audiences, drawing both public attention and a heavy security presence in its opening shows. Udaipur Files is also trending on social media. One Paras Verma on his X handle says, "Today's Plan #UdaipurFiles Go with family and watch this film and know how 'Kanhaiya Lal ji' was brutally murdered. How the voice of Hindus is suppressed and if the voice is not suppressed, then they are murdered. My ticket is booked, and yours?" Ahmedabad, Aug 8 : Gujarat Industry Minister and Banaskantha District In-charge Minister Balvantsinh Rajput inaugurated an advanced centralised data centre at the Ambaji Temple. The initiative aims to make pilgrim services like prasad distribution, donations, and Bhadarvi Poonam fair registrations more transparent, efficient, and accessible. Speaking at the inauguration, Minister Rajput said that the centralised server-based data centre would offer seamless online services such as prasad booking, donation tracking, Suvarna Shikhar (gold dome) contributions, saree centres, religious merchandise counters, and registration for pilgrim groups, service camps, and vehicle passes for the annual Bhadarvi Poonam Mahamela - all at the click of a button. The minister added that in keeping with the needs of today's digital and tech-driven era, the state government has established this state-of-the-art tech facility under its 'Good Governance' model. The system is designed to streamline donor services, reporting, supervision, audits, and data analysis using advanced software and tools. Highlighting the scale of operations, Rajput noted that Ambaji Temple sees the sale of nearly 1.20 crore prasad offerings annually and receives around Rs 50 crore in donations, both online and offline. With this upgrade, the temple trust aims to improve transparency and efficiency in managing these high volumes. During the event, Banaskantha Collector and Chairman of the Shri Arasuri Ambaji Mata Devasthan Trust, Mihir Patel, along with Additional Collector and Temple Administrator Kaushik Modi, briefed the minister on the various activities and functions of the temple trust. The Ambaji Temple, located in Gujarat's Banaskantha district near the Rajasthan border, is one of the most revered Shakti Peethas in India and holds immense religious and cultural significance. Dedicated to Arasuri Amba, a form of Goddess Durga, the temple attracts millions of devotees annually, especially during the grand Bhadarvi Poonam fair, when pilgrims from across the country undertake foot pilgrimages to seek blessings. Beyond its spiritual importance, Ambaji is a symbol of faith, tradition, and communal unity, and also plays a vital role in local tourism and the economy of North Gujarat. New Delhi, Aug 8 : As US President Donald Trump imposes 25 per cent tariffs on India, with an additional 25 per cent slated to come into effect from August 27, ace American investor Jim Rogers said on Friday that Trump doesn't understand much of the world, and he certainly doesn't understand what's happening in Asia and particularly, India. Speaking to IANS, Rogers who is one of the top financial commentators in the world, said that India remains the fastest growing economy in the world and Washington should actually be doing a lot of business with New Delhi rather than hampering long-standing trade and investment ties by slapping unrealistic tariffs. "Trump wakes up, watches TV and then decides what to do. He doesn't understand much of the world, and he certainly doesn't understand what's happening in Asia and India," Rogers told IANS. According to him, both the countries can actually increase trade to $500 billion by 2030, an envisioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Donald Trump, if the US President aims to bring Washington and New Delhi closer with reasonable gestures. "For the first time in my life, I see that people in New Delhi seem to understand economics. They understand that prosperity is good, and success is good too. It is a very exciting and wonderful change for India," Rogers emphasised, adding that India "could be an extremely exciting country, extremely exciting economy". He further stated that India is going to be one of the most exciting investment destinations in the world and it will certainly be compared to China and, maybe, even do much better than China in coming years. On Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), Rogers told IANS that more free trade is better for the world, especially India. "It will be extremely exciting for the world, including foreign investors," he mentioned. New Delhi has signed 13 FTAs with its trading partners. The country is currently negotiating the following FTAs with its trading partners: India-EU FTA, India Australia Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA), India-Peru Trade Agreement, covering goods, services and investment, India-Sri Lanka Economic and Technical Cooperation Agreement (ETCA) and India-Oman FTA. Aizawl, Aug 8 : The biometric enrolment of refugees from Myanmar and Bangladesh in Mizoram is underway in all 11 districts of the state, officials said on Friday. A senior official of the Mizoram Home Department admitted that the biometric enrolment process has been progressing slowly, but they are trying to accelerate the process. "Serchhip district administration in central Mizoram first launched the biometric enrolment drive for the refugees on July 30 and subsequently other districts initiated the biometric enrolment process," the official said. He said that by Friday, only 11,000 refugees' biometrics and biographic data were registered. According to the official, in many districts, the teams collecting biometric data have been facing numerous problems, including technical hurdles due to problems with electronic equipment and poor network connections in remote villages. Champhai district, sheltering the largest number of over 13,580 Myanmar refugees, has been unable to achieve much progress in collecting biometrics and biographic data since the district started the exercise on July 31 and is also facing technical glitches. Mizoram Chief Minister Lalduhoma's political advisor Lalmuanpuia Punte, who is looking after the Myanmar and Bangladeshi refugee matter, told IANS that it is not certain when the process of biometric enrolment of refugees will be completed. While around 33,000 refugees from Myanmar are taking shelter in all 11 districts of Mizoram, and over 2,370 refugees from Chittagong Hill Tracts in southeast Bangladesh are taking refuge mainly in Lawngtlai district of southern Mizoram bordering both Myanmar and Bangladesh. Following the direction of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the Mizoram government has started the biometric enrolment of Myanmar and Bangladeshi refugees. According to the official, the MHA would bear the cost of expenditure of the biometrics and biographic data collection, the Mizoram government, however, has already sanctioned Rs 38 lakh to initiate the process. The Mizoram government has recently provided vigorous training to the district-level officials to collect biometrics and biographic data of the refugees taking shelter in the state, which shares 510 km and 318 km unfenced international borders with Myanmar and Bangladesh, respectively. After a military coup in Myanmar in February 2021, refugees, including women and children from the neighbouring country, started coming to Mizoram seeking shelter, and now their numbers have increased to around 33,000. The Bangladeshi Bawm community tribals from CHT have also been staying in Mizoram for over two years after they fled from their country due to ethnic troubles, following the Bangladesh Army's launch of a crackdown on the tribals. The MHA had earlier asked both the Manipur and Mizoram governments to capture biographic and biometric details of "illegal migrants" in the two states and complete the process at the earliest. The Myanmar refugees, mostly Chin tribes having almost full ethnic and cultural similarity with the majority Mizos of Mizoram, are sheltered in camps and relatives' houses in 11 districts in the northeastern state. The Bawm, also known as Bawmzo, are a small ethnic group primarily residing in the CHT of Bangladesh, and they have almost full ethnic and cultural resemblance with the majority Mizos of Mizoram. Myanmar's Chin state shares 510 km of mountainous borders with six Mizoram districts -- Champhai, Siaha, Lawngtlai, Hnahthial, Saitual and Serchhip. Mizoram's three districts, Mamit, Lunglei and Lawngtlai, share a 318 km-long border with Bangladesh. Patna, Aug 8 : In a shocking incident, a 12-year-old boy died and his father sustained severe burns after being allegedly set on fire in their home at Kachora village in Bihar's Katihar district. The deceased has been identified as Sunil Kumar Mandal. Sunil's father, 45-year-old Ram Kalyan Mandal, is battling for his life in Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College and Hospital, Bhagalpur's burn ward. According to police, both the man and his son were sleeping on the veranda of their house on Thursday when unidentified assailants allegedly sprinkled petrol on them and set them ablaze. Other family members, who were sleeping inside, rushed out on hearing screams. Villagers quickly gathered and managed to douse the flames. The victims were first taken to the Primary Health Centre in Durgaganj and later referred to Katihar Sadar Hospital. As their condition worsened, they were shifted to Bhagalpur, where Sunil succumbed to his injuries during treatment. The incident has plunged the village into mourning. Family members allege foul play, though the motive remains unclear. Kadwa SHO Vijay Prakash said one person has been detained for questioning, and the case is being investigated from "every possible angle". He assured that strict action would be taken against those found guilty. "We have called the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) to collect the evidence from the crime scene. The body was sent for the post-mortem examination. We are waiting for the report for the analysis," Prakash said. "We are also waiting for the recovery of the injured person to take his statement. His statement will be crucial to identify the accused," Prakash said. "We have registered an FIR of murder and attempt to murder under the relevant sections of Bharatiya Nyaya Sahita in Kadwa police station, and the investigation is currently underway. We are taking statements of the deceased's family members to crack this case," he added. Kolkata, Aug 8 : The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has tracked fictitious transactions worth Rs 1.5 crore in two bank accounts of West Bengal Minister Chandranath Sinha while probing the recruitment of primary teachers in state-run schools. The ED has filed a charge sheet against him, which details the irregularities in the recruitment process, involving the Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises and Textiles in the current cabinet of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The Central agency has mentioned the details of such transactions in the charge sheet, which it filed against Sinha at a special court of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) earlier this week. As per the charge sheet, such fictitious transactions, mainly inward remittances, took place between 2016 and 2021, which was the peak period for the multi-crore cash-for-school job case in West Bengal. Sources aware of the development said that although Sinha was asked about such transactions in the past, he could not give any satisfactory answer on this count. Sinha is the second Minister in the Bengal government against whom the ED has filed a charge sheet in this case, the first being the former West Bengal Education Minister and ex-Trinamool Congress Secretary General Partha Chatterjee. Sinha has twice avoided appearing before the ED officers. On Thursday, Sinha suddenly appeared at the ED office. However, it was not clear whether he had been questioned or not. Responding to the development that the ED has filed a charge sheet against him in the primary recruitment case, the Minister said he had heard about it. The ED officials first secured the name of the Minister from the diary of the middleman and now-suspended Trinamool Congress leader, Kuntal Ghosh, who was later arrested by the Central agency. In March last year, the ED officials conducted raid and search operations at the Minister's residence at Bolpur in Birbhum district. After the raid, the ED officials seized cash worth Rs 41 lakh and a mobile phone from Sinha's residence. He is known to be close to Anubrata Mondal, the Trinamool Congress strongman and the party's former district president in Birbhum. Sinha was first summoned by the ED for questioning in connection with the multi-crore cattle-smuggling case in March last year, but was not named in the related charge sheet. Rescuers work to restore a blocked road after mountain torrents in Mapo Town, Yuzhong County of northwest China's Gansu Province, Aug. 8, 2025. Mountain torrents since Thursday in northwest China's Gansu Province have left 10 people dead and 33 missing. Rescue efforts are underway after continuous heavy rainfall triggered mountain torrents in Yuzhong County. (Photo by Jin Wangui/Xinhua) LANZHOU, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- Rescue efforts are underway after continuous heavy rainfall triggered mountain torrents in Yuzhong County, northwest China's Gansu Province, leaving 10 dead and 33 missing as of 3:30 p.m. Friday, local authorities said. Torrential rain began pounding Yuzhong, which is under the jurisdiction of the provincial capital city of Lanzhou, and other areas of Lanzhou on Thursday evening, with the maximum precipitation reaching 220.2 mm by noon Friday. Several townships in Yuzhong have been seriously affected. At about 2 p.m. Friday, Xinhua reporters saw floodwater mixed with uprooted trees blocking the roads near Xinglong Primary School in Chengguan Township, with mud deposits more than 30 cm deep in some sections. Along the roadside, many vehicles lay damaged, while furniture from the ground floors of some houses had been swept to their doorsteps. More than 2,700 rescue personnel have been dispatched by provincial authorities, along with 980 vehicles and pieces of machinery, and 8,530 sets of emergency supplies. Search and rescue efforts for the missing, infrastructure repairs, and the evacuation and resettlement of affected residents are underway. Rescuers work to restore a blocked road after mountain torrents in Mapo Town, Yuzhong County of northwest China's Gansu Province, Aug. 8, 2025. Mountain torrents since Thursday in northwest China's Gansu Province have left 10 people dead and 33 missing. Rescue efforts are underway after continuous heavy rainfall triggered mountain torrents in Yuzhong County. (Photo by Jin Wangui/Xinhua) Rescuers work to restore a blocked road after mountain torrents in Mapo Town, Yuzhong County of northwest China's Gansu Province, Aug. 8, 2025. Mountain torrents since Thursday in northwest China's Gansu Province have left 10 people dead and 33 missing. Rescue efforts are underway after continuous heavy rainfall triggered mountain torrents in Yuzhong County. (Photo by Jin Wangui/Xinhua) Rescuers work to restore a blocked road after mountain torrents in Mapo Town, Yuzhong County of northwest China's Gansu Province, Aug. 8, 2025. Mountain torrents since Thursday in northwest China's Gansu Province have left 10 people dead and 33 missing. Rescue efforts are underway after continuous heavy rainfall triggered mountain torrents in Yuzhong County. (Photo by Jin Wangui/Xinhua) Rescuers work at the site of mountain torrents and lead rescue vehicles to enter the area in Mapo Town, Yuzhong County of northwest China's Gansu Province, Aug. 8, 2025. Mountain torrents since Thursday in northwest China's Gansu Province have left 10 people dead and 33 missing. Rescue efforts are underway after continuous heavy rainfall triggered mountain torrents in Yuzhong County. (Photo by Jin Wangui/Xinhua) Rescuers work to restore a blocked road after mountain torrents in Mapo Town, Yuzhong County of northwest China's Gansu Province, Aug. 8, 2025. Mountain torrents since Thursday in northwest China's Gansu Province have left 10 people dead and 33 missing. Rescue efforts are underway after continuous heavy rainfall triggered mountain torrents in Yuzhong County. (Photo by Jin Wangui/Xinhua) Rescuers work at the site of mountain torrents and lead rescue vehicles to enter the area in Mapo Town, Yuzhong County of northwest China's Gansu Province, Aug. 8, 2025. Mountain torrents since Thursday in northwest China's Gansu Province have left 10 people dead and 33 missing. Rescue efforts are underway after continuous heavy rainfall triggered mountain torrents in Yuzhong County. (Photo by Jin Wangui/Xinhua) Seoul, Aug 8 : The unification ministry of South Korea said on Friday that it is discussing joint cooperation measures between Seoul and Washington aimed at ensuring peace on the Korean Peninsula, which will be presented during a scheduled summit between the South Korean and the US presidents. "In preparation for the South Korea-US summit, the ministry is closely consulting with relevant bodies (on bilateral cooperation) for peace on the Korean Peninsula and the resumption of inter-Korean ties," Chang Yoon-jeong, Deputy Spokesperson at the ministry, said during a regular press briefing. Her remarks came shortly after Unification Minister Chung Dong-young told a media outlet that his ministry will draft a proposal on North Korea to be presented during a summit between President Lee Jae Myung and US President Donald Trump, scheduled for later this month, Yonhap news agency reported. Chung did not elaborate further but compared the envisioned proposal to "MASGA," or "Make America Shipbuilding Great Again," a phrase used by the South Korean negotiating team during a recent tariff reduction deal with Washington to underscore its commitment to supporting the revival of the US shipbuilding industry. MASGA was reported to have played a pivotal role in clinching the deal by appealing to Trump's special interests. Chang also reaffirmed that Seoul remains open to dialogue with North Korea aimed at peacefully resolving North Korean nuclear issues and that it supports the resumption of talks between Washington and Pyongyang. "Both South Korea and the US share the position that they are open to dialogue with North Korea to promote peace on the Korean Peninsula and peacefully resolve North Korean nuclear issues," she noted. "The government has repeatedly said that it proactively supports the resumption of North Korea-US talks," she added, in response to remarks by the US State Department acting deputy assistant secretary Seth Bailey, who said Washington takes "with interest" a recent statement by Kim Yo-jong, the powerful sister of the North Korean leader. In her statement last week, Kim suggested North Korea is open to diplomacy with the US, as long as it is not aimed at the country's "complete denuclearisation." New Delhi, Aug 8 : A total of 224 cases of Japanese Encephalitis (JE) -- a viral disease transmitted by mosquitoes -- have been reported from 11 states in 2025, the government informed the Parliament on Friday. In a written reply to a query in Lok Sabha, Anupriya Patel, Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, shared the number of recorded cases of encephalitis -- inflammation of the brain, often due to bacterial or viral infection -- in the country during the last five years. Compared to the last five years, the year 2025, till June 30, experienced the lowest number of JE cases. "The 11 states with JE encephalitis cases in 2025 are Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Manipur, Meghalaya, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal," Patel said. While Assam saw the highest cases of JE encephalitis -- 127 --, Uttar Pradesh, with just 2 cases, was the lowest. In 2020, there were 729 cases, which rose to 787 in 2021, and to 1,109 in 2022. In 2023, it slightly dipped to 1,107, while 2024 saw the highest number of cases -- 1,472, Patel said. "The National Centre for Vector Borne Diseases Control (NCVBDC) under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare maintains surveillance data on Japanese Encephalitis (JE) cases," the MoS said. "While multiple factors contribute to the encephalitis burden in India, including environmental, socio-economic, nutritional, and others, it is acknowledged that timely and standardised disease reporting plays a critical role in effective surveillance and response," she added. The Minister noted that the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has strengthened its disease surveillance architecture. Integrated Disease Surveillance Program (IDSP) is an important programme under the National Health Mission that conducts disease surveillance in the country. "IDSP is implemented in all 36 States/UTs. The programme is responsible for the surveillance of epidemic-prone diseases, including Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) and Japanese Encephalitis (JE). It facilitates early detection and timely response to outbreaks," Patel said. Under the IDSP, weekly reporting from districts is carried out through a three-tier system (S, P, and L forms. These capture suspected cases and laboratory-confirmed cases of AES/JE. "Further, to strengthen the disease surveillance in the country, the IDSP has shifted from a paper-based weekly reporting to a paperless reporting through Integrated Health Information Platform (IHIP)," the Minister said. IHIP is an information platform that integrates data from various "registries" to provide near real-time information on health surveillance from across India for decision-makers to take appropriate public health action. IHIP allows case-based surveillance with geo-tagging, decision support tools, and integrated dashboards. NCVBDC also has a dedicated Japanese Encephalitis (JE) control programme named the National Programme for Prevention and Control of Japanese Encephalitis (JE). Seoul, Aug 8 : The South Korean government on Friday delayed its decision on Google's request to export high-precision map data overseas, the transport ministry said, amid pressure from Washington to resolve the issue, calling it a non-tariff barrier. In February, the U.S. tech giant submitted an application to the state-run National Geographic Information Institute under the ministry, seeking approval for the transfer of 1:5,000-scale high-precision map data to its data centres abroad, reports Yonhap news agency. The review panel extended the deadline for the decision by 60 days during its May meeting, citing the need for further discussions on national security and the potential impact on domestic industries, and was supposed to reach a decision by Monday. But it decided to extend the deadline by another 60 days, according to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. The review panel is composed of officials from major ministries, including the defence, foreign affairs, industry and science ministries, as well as the National Intelligence Service. Officials said the latest decision was made upon Google's request, as the company sought more time to review ways to address national security concerns related to the data exports. But the Seoul government seems to be cautious on the matter, as reaching a conclusion ahead of possible discussions on the matter at a future South Koreaa"U.S. summit could be sensitive and influence other agenda items to be discussed during the summit. Consultations are under way between Seoul and Washington to set a date for a summit between President Lee Jae Myung and U.S. President Donald Trump. Some reports have said that the summit will likely take place around Aug. 25. Currently, Google provides South Korean maps using publicly available lower-resolution 1:25,000-scale map data combined with aerial and satellite imagery. The United States has cited the issue as a key non-tariff barrier, though it was excluded from the recent tariff agreement between the two nations under which the U.S. imposes a 15 percent tariff on South Korean imports in exchange for South Korea's pledge to invest US$350 billion in the U.S. It was not known if the data transfer issue will be on the table at the upcoming summit. Google previously made similar requests for the transfer of high-precision map data overseas in 2007 and 2016, but Seoul rejected them due to national security concerns, citing the potential exposure of military bases and other sensitive facilities. --IANS na/ Thrissur, Aug 8 : The Congress party in Kerala is considering initiating legal proceedings over the BJP's victory in the Thrissur Lok Sabha constituency in the 2024 general elections following the revelations made by Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi regarding large-scale electoral fraud. The Leader of Opposition in the Kerala Legislative Assembly, V.D. Satheesan, told the media on Friday that Gandhi has called for a thorough investigation into alleged election malpractices. "Numerous complaints have emerged in Thrissur regarding the Sangh Parivar's illegal addition of votes. The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) will examine the possibility of initiating legal proceedings in this regard," Satheesan said. In Thrissur, which was a sitting Congress seat, BJP candidate and actor-turned-politician Suresh Gopi secured a historic win with a margin of 74,686 votes. Veteran Congress MP from Badagara, K. Muraleedharan, contested from Thrissur but finished third, while former State Minister and senior CPI leader V.S. Sunil Kumar took the second spot. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Congress candidate T.N. Prathapan had won Thrissur by a margin of 93,633 votes, defeating CPI's Rajaji Mathew Thomas. At that time, Suresh Gopi finished third with 2,93,822 votes. Rahul Gandhi has alleged that in the Mahadevapura Assembly seat under the Bangalore Central Lok Sabha constituency -- where the BJP won by 32,000 votes -- over one lakh fraudulent entries were added to the voters' list. These irregularities reportedly include multiple voters registered under the same name, over 60 voters listed at the address of a single-room house, English alphabets replacing the father's name, house numbers recorded as "0" and voters aged 70 or 80 years appearing in the list of first-time voters. Gandhi further claimed that such large-scale manipulation was also carried out during the recent Parliamentary elections and in state elections in Maharashtra and Haryana. He asserted that the BJP/NDA remains in power by subverting free and fair elections and therefore has no legitimate right to continue in office. New Delhi, Aug 8 : Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Friday intervened in the matter of a north Delhi restaurant denying entry to a guest in traditional Indian wear on the grounds of not following the outlet's 'western dress' code. As the news of Pitampura-based eatery's action reached Assembly premises, BJP's Jangpura legislator Tarvinder Singh Marwah sought action against those who disrespected Indian ethnic clothes. Marwah told IANS, "Whoever has done this must be punished according to the law. A salwar kameez is an Indian dress. No restaurant can refuse entry to guests for wearing it." After CM Gupta intervened and ensured that the restaurant lifted its dress code, she took to X to signal that all was well now. "The operators of this Pitampura restaurant have accepted that they will no longer impose any restrictions based on attire and will welcome citizens coming in Indian attire. On Raksha Bandhan, they will also offer some discounts to sisters coming in Indian attire," said the CM in a post, along with a smiley. Her post on X was retweeted by Delhi Art & Culture and Tourism Minister Kapil Mishra, along with short videos of the owners of the restaurant in which they could be heard clarifying about the "misunderstanding" that inconvenienced a couple on August 3. In one such video, Neeraj Aggarwal, director of the restaurant, said, "All guests in all dress code are welcome to our outlet. I invite people whether from North India or South India to our family restaurant and enjoy." The clarification came after the CM took note of the couple's video on social media voicing their pain over the restaurant at the Metro Station stopping them from entering the premises. "My wife was stopped at the entry gate while another guest in a mini skirt was allowed to enter," complained the middle-aged man in the video. Earlier, reacting to a social media post by the couple complaining against the restaurant, Mishra said on X, "This is unacceptable in Delhi CM @gupta_rekha ji has taken serious note of the incident. Officials have been directed to investigate the incident and take immediate action." Seoul, Aug 8 : The Labour Ministry of South Korea announced Friday it will step up labour inspections to address concerns about human rights violations against migrant workers, including a three-week special reporting period for rights violations involving migrant workers. The latest move comes following public outrage over a video showing a Sri Lankan migrant worker being lifted while bound to a forklift at a brick factory in Naju, about 280 kilometres south of Seoul. From August 11 to 29, the ministry will conduct intensive inspections of workplaces that employ large numbers of foreign workers, focusing on rural areas with poor conditions. Starting August 20, it will also designate every Wednesday as a special reporting and counseling day. Labour attorneys and interpreters will be stationed at employment centres to provide one-stop services to assist the labourers in filing complaints, Yonhap news agency reported. The ministry said it will send text messages to all employers and workers to guide them on how to seek counseling and file complaints on any rights violations. Earlier in the day, Labour Minister Kim Young-hoon visited a farm in Wanju, North Jeolla Province, to inspect the working conditions amid a heat wave and to hear directly from foreign workers about their challenges. "Promoting the labour rights of foreign workers without discrimination is one of the most urgent tasks in our society, and any form of human rights abuse, such as harassment and violence, cannot be tolerated under any circumstances," Kim said. "We will come up with comprehensive measures to protect the rights of foreign workers and eliminate discrimination against them." President Lee Jae Myung pledged stern actions against any mistreatment of foreign workers as he shared the video of the Sri Lankan worker on his Facebook page last month. New Delhi, Aug 8 : As part of the ongoing celebrations of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, the Ministry of Textiles has reaffirmed its commitment to empowering women handloom weavers through various central sector schemes. In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha on Friday, Minister of State for Textiles Pabitra Margherita shared that over 14,000 women weavers have been trained under the SAMARTH scheme across the country in the past three financial years (2022-23 to 2024-25). The Ministry is implementing schemes such as the National Handloom Development Programme (NHDP) and the Raw Material Supply Scheme (RMSS) to enhance the capabilities and livelihoods of handloom weavers, including women. While these schemes are gender-neutral, a 100 per cent subsidy is provided exclusively to women weavers for the construction of worksheds under NHDP. The schemes provide financial assistance for raw material procurement, upgraded looms, solar lighting units, skill development, marketing support, technical infrastructure, and access to MUDRA loans. Scholarships for children of handloom workers and social security coverage are also included. According to the data, Assam topped the list with 1,327 women weavers skilled under SAMARTH, followed by Kerala (1,056), Tamil Nadu (1,027), and Maharashtra (1,027). Other states like Odisha (727), Uttar Pradesh (727), Telangana (697), Manipur (579), Mizoram (498), Tripura (475), Karnataka (474), amongst others, also reported significant participation. The SAMARTH scheme (Scheme for Capacity Building in Textile Sector) is a flagship initiative aimed at strengthening the skill base of the Indian textile workforce. It plays a crucial role in ensuring that traditional weavers, especially women, adapt to modern demands through technical training and capacity building. The Ministryas efforts are part of a broader push to revive Indiaas rich handloom heritage while ensuring sustainable livelihoods for women artisans. Mumbai, Aug 8 : Actress Preeti Jhangiani has come out in support of her film "Udaipur Files," which ran into legal trouble just a day before its release. Mumbai, Aug 8 (IANS) Actress Preeti Jhangiani has come out in support of her film "Udaipur Files," which ran into legal trouble just a day before its release. Emphasizing the core message of the movie, she clarified that it is not centered around religion but is instead a call for justice. Jhangiani, who portrays journalist Anjana Singh in the movie, clarified, "Udaipur Files isn't about religion this film represents only justice. It narrates true-life incidents and crime; and when a heinous crime happens, justice must be served and given. The film emphasizes that first is the nation, then everything else." The Delhi High Court recently rejected a last-minute petition aimed at stopping the release of "Udaipur Files," stating that there was no strong initial case to justify a stay. The court upheld the filmmakers' right to free expression, particularly since the film had already been cleared by the appropriate regulatory body. For the unversed, the movie was supposed to release on July 11, but just a day before, its release was halted due to a legal case. On July 10, the Delhi High Court issued a stay order, stopping the film's screening. The matter later reached the Supreme Court after Javed, one of the accused in the murder case shown in the film, filed a petition against its release. Although several attempts were made to block the film, the Supreme Court refused to interfere, pointing out that the movie had already been cleared by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). Eventually, the issue was taken to the central government, which approved the release, allowing the film to finally hit theatres. "Udaipur Files" is inspired by a real-life incident that deeply shocked the nation. The film is based on the tragic killing of Kanhaiya Lal in June 2022, who was attacked for allegedly posting a message on social media supporting then-BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma. Her earlier remarks about Prophet Muhammad had triggered widespread unrest across the country. The movie, produced by Amit Jani, hit the theatres today, August 8. Mumbai, Aug 8 : Actor Mukesh Rishi, who is getting a lot of positive response to his work in the recently released OTT series 'Salakaar', opened up about his character in the series. Mukesh essays the role of Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, a cruel Pakistani dictator in the series. The actor recently spoke with IANS during the promotions of 'Salakaar', and shared how he infused cruelty in the character. He told IANS, "When you have this kind of character, a lot of things automatically come in your favour. The look the makers gave me, the kurta that the costume designer gave me, when you have this kind of character, it starts forming inside you". He further mentioned, "That is why you are in films because you understand so much how cruel the character has to be, for that we follow the orders from the director. The words you are being told as an actor, it helps to sketch and portray the character for the camera. If the director tells me to tone down the pitch of the character by a few degrees, I do that. It becomes easy. Many times your get-up, the environment in which you perform. The car in which the director made me sit. The scene inside my house, the books Zia read, the whole environment took me there, I didn't have to do much. The lines on paper were telling me". Zia-ul-Haq is the bedrock of most of India's problems, he was the one, who gave a definitive form to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto's plan of "Bleed India by thousand cuts", a thousand year war declared against India for Pakistan's own interest. Later, Zia got Zulfikar Ali Bhutto framed in a case, and got death penalty approved for him through hand-picked judges. New Delhi, Aug 8 : As many as 725 Fast Track Special Courts (FTSCs), including 392 exclusive POCSO (ePOCSO) Courts, have collectively disposed of 3.34 lakh cases till June 30, since their inception in 2019, the Lok Sabha was informed on Friday. Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal, in a written reply, said that the government has released Rs 1,034.55 crore to the States/UTs since the Nirbhaya Fund's inception to ensure the smooth functioning of FTSCs. At the inception of the Scheme, the allocation of FTSCs across the country was based on a criterion of 65 to 165 pending cases per court, meaning one FTSC would be established for every 65 to 165 pending cases. Based on that, only 31 States/UTs were eligible to join the Scheme, he said. MoS Meghwal said that in terms of cumulative disposal of the cases, Uttar Pradesh leads the states with 91,459 matters. The next best performance of FTSCs was recorded by Madhya Pradesh at 32,113 cases and Kerala at 26,202 cases. In the National Capital, FTSCs have disposed of 2,718 cases since their inception in 2019. Delhi has 16 FTSCs, including ePOCSO. Uttar Pradesh has the maximum number of 218 FTSCs, Madhya Pradesh 67, Kerala 55, Bihar 46, Odisha 44, Telangana 36 and Gujarat 35. Pointing to the efficiency of FTSCs, the MoS said, "As per the inputs received from the High Courts, the disposal rate of Rape and POCSO Act cases in Fast Track Special Courts (FTSCs) appears to be significantly higher than in regular courts." While the average disposal rate of Rape and POCSO Act cases in regular courts is estimated at 3.26 cases per court per month, FTSCs achieve an average of 9.51 cases per court per month. This suggests an enhanced efficiency in case disposal through FTSCs, he said. The MoS said following the Nirbhaya case of December 16, 2012, the government set up a dedicated fund - Nirbhaya Fund - which can be utilised for projects specifically designed to improve the safety and security of women. "It is a non-lapsable corpus fund, being administered by the Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance. The Ministry of Women and Child Development is the nodal Ministry to appraise/recommend proposals and Schemes to be funded under the Nirbhaya Fund. The Ministry of WCD further has the responsibility to review and monitor the progress of sanctioned schemes in conjunction with the Line Ministries/Departments," he said. The FTSCs have been set up and operationalised under the Nirbhaya Fund. The Department has released a sum of Rs 1,034.55 crore to the States/UTs since its inception to ensure the smooth functioning of the courts, the MoS said. BEIJING, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- China is gravely concerned about Israel's decision on Gaza City, and urges Israel to stop the dangerous move at once, foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said Friday. Guo made the remarks when asked to comment on the Israeli security cabinet's approval of a plan proposed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the military to "take control" of Gaza City. "Gaza belongs to the Palestinian people and is an integral part of the Palestinian territory," Guo said, pointing out that an immediate ceasefire is the right way to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and realize the release of people being held, and the key to fully settling the conflict in Gaza is also a ceasefire. "This is the only means to pave the way for ending the conflict and uphold security in the region," he noted. China stands ready to work with the rest of the international community to stop the fighting in Gaza as early as possible, ease the humanitarian disaster, implement the two-State solution and ultimately realize the full, just and lasting settlement of the Palestinian question, Guo said. New Delhi, Aug 8 : The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has sought a report from the Uttar Pradesh government and the state's police chief within two weeks regarding the deaths of three children who fell into an open pit in Meerut district. New Delhi, Aug 8 (IANS) The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has sought a report from the Uttar Pradesh government and the stateas police chief within two weeks regarding the deaths of three children who fell into an open pit in Meerut district. The apex human rights body took suo motu cognisance of a media report stating that three children, aged 8-9 years, drowned after falling into a six-feet-deep pit allegedly left open by a builder during the construction of a building in a newly developed colony in Meerut on August 3. Reportedly, the children were returning from a shop after buying chocolates when the incident occurred. In a press statement, the NHRC said that the contents of the press report, if true, raise a serious violation of the human rights of the victim children. It issued notices to the Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary and the Director General of Police (DGP) calling for a detailed report on the matter within two weeks, including the status of the investigation of the case as well as compensation, if any, provided to the next of kin of the victims. According to the media report, published on August 5, the builder dug a six-feet-deep pit about 40 days ago in the colony and left it open. The pit had since been filled with rainwater. Established under the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, the NHRC, an autonomous statutory body, is an embodiment of India's concern for the promotion and protection of human rights. Its primary role is to protect and promote human rights, defined as the rights relating to life, liberty, equality, and dignity of individuals guaranteed by the Constitution or embodied in the International Covenants and enforceable by courts in India. The apex human rights body has the power to take suo motu (on its own motion) action based on media reports, public knowledge or other sources, without receiving a formal complaint of human rights violations. Patna, Aug 8 : Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday hit out at Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi and RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav for opposing the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voter list, accusing them of protecting infiltrator vote banks. Addressing a public rally in Sitamarhi, Shah said, "The Constitution of India does not give voting rights to anyone not born in this country. Rahul Gandhi is roaming with the Constitution book, but I urge him to read it carefully. Infiltrators have no right to participate in our elections. They are your vote bank, and that's why you are protesting." Shah reminded the opposition that voter list revisions were not new, claiming, "It was your great-grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru who started this process. You are losing election after election, and now you are giving excuses in advance for losing Bihar too. The formation of the NDA government in Bihar is certain." Urging the crowd to back the SIR exercise, Shah alleged that the RJD and Congress feared losing votes once "intruders" were removed from the rolls. "As long as Narendra Modi's government is in power, you will not succeed in making intruders citizens," he declared. Responding to RJD's charge that the Centre had done little for Bihar, Shah said, "PM Modi has visited Bihar six times this year alone, announcing Rs 83,000 crore worth of projects for the state." He also contrasted the Modi government's security record with that of the Congress era, accusing the latter of inaction against terrorism. "Under Congress, terrorists came, exploded bombs, and returned to Pakistan. Under Modi, we gave fitting replies the Pulwama attack saw an airstrike, the Uri attack brought a surgical strike, and after Pahalgam, we struck deep inside Pakistan under Operation Sindoor, dismantling terror networks," Shah asserted. Shah said that the Modi government is committed to national security. Amit Shah said the NDA government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has honoured Mithila's heritage in several significant ways, citing both cultural recognition and infrastructure development. Addressing a gathering after performing the Bhoomi Pujan for the redevelopment of Maa Sita's birthplace at Punaura Dham, Shah recalled that "Bihar Kokila" late Sharda Sinha was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2018 and, posthumously, the Padma Vibhushan in 2025. He noted that Atal Bihari Vajpayee had included Maithili in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution, while PM Modi had promoted Maithili art and culture further. Speaking on the significance of goddess Sita in Indian tradition, Shah said, "Mata Sita occupies a unique place in our culture. In one lifetime, she embodied the ideals of a perfect wife, daughter, mother, and Rajmata." He also announced the inauguration of the SitamarhiDelhi Amrit Bharat Express, which will benefit Raxaul, Narkatiaganj, Bagaha, and Sitamarhi. "This is a very auspicious day. During the Ramayana era, a golden plough was used here to invoke rain, and Maa Janaki appeared. Today, as we performed the Bhoomi Pujan, rain has again blessed us a good omen not only for Bihar, but for the entire country," he remarked. Calling Mithila's heritage "a unique jewel of Indian culture," Shah said he felt fortunate to be part of the launch of the Rs 882.87 crore plan for the integrated development of the Punauradham temple and complex. Hyderabad, Aug 8 : Telangana IT and Industries Minister Duddilla Sridhar Babu said on Friday that the state government is making focused efforts to position the state as a global manufacturing hub. He claimed that Telangana continues to lead the country in manufacturing-led growth. In 2024a"25, an industrial output of Rs 2.77 lakh crore, with manufacturing accounting for nearly 48 per cent is estimated by the Economic Survey. "Our merchandise exports have already crossed Rs 1 lakh crore in just nine months and our GSDP growth rate of 8.2 per cent is well above the national average. With the Clean and Green Energy Policy 2025, we've attracted Rs 29,000 crore in clean energy investments and are working toward scaling renewable capacity to 20,000 MW by 2030," the Minister said. He was speaking at an event to lay the foundation stone for Toshiba's Rs 177 crore Extra High Voltage transformer power expansion, alongside the inauguration of two advanced manufacturing units, including Rs 65 crore CRGO Core Processing Centre and Rs 105 crore Surge Arrester Unit at Rudraram in Sangareddy district. These projects, totalling Rs 347 crore in investment, reflect the growing trust global companies have in Telangana's industrial ecosystem, the Minister added. Minister Sridhar Babu said that the state was also creating exclusive Green Energy Equipment Zones to attract investments in smart grids, power components and clean technologies. "Our recent MoU with Toshiba in Japan has already resulted in tangible progress. This is our answer to those spreading doubts about our intent. Telangana is delivering outcomes with speed and clarity. I invite global investors to join us in building the next chapter of industrial excellence," he added. He said that there are immense opportunities in Telangana for investments in clean tech, semiconductors, robotics, and advanced manufacturing. "We are entering into agreements with international and national companies to bring industries to the state and provide employment to our youth. However, some individuals are deliberately spreading misinformation, falsely labelling our MoUs as superficial. Today, it is not us, but Toshiba itself, that is giving a fitting response to such criticism," he added. He said that during the visit of a delegation led by Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy to Japan in April, the Telangana government signed an MoU with Toshiba for investments worth Rs 562 crore. He hoped that these investments will elevate the Telangana brand further in the global energy sector. Chandigarh, Aug 8 : Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini on Friday said the government would write to the National Commission for Backward Classes to include the Gosain community in the Central list of Other Backward Classes (OBCs). On the auspicious occasion of Goswami Tulsidas Jayanti, a grand state-level function was organized at the residence of the Chief Minister here. The event witnessed the participation of prominent representatives from the Goswami community along with a large gathering from across the state. Addressing the gathering, the Chief Minister announced that one prominent 'chowk' (roundabout) and a library to be established in Hisar that will be named after Goswami Tulsidas-ji. Additionally, the Chief Minister announced Rs 31 lakh from his discretionary fund for the construction of dharamshala of the Goswami Samaj Sabha in Kurukshetra town. Highlighting the cultural and social importance of the occasion, the Chief Minister said this celebration reflects India's rich cultural heritage, moral values, and social harmony. The name of Goswami Tulsidas-ji evokes devotion, wisdom, and righteousness. "Goswami Tulsidas-ji was not just a poet or a saint but a visionary who, through his immortal epic 'Ramcharitmanas' guided Indian society towards the ideals of Lord Rama at a time of widespread despair and social evils." The Chief Minister said that Tulsidas-ji's teachings remain as relevant today as ever and are a source of inspiration for all humanity. Speaking on government initiatives, CM Saini said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has accorded constitutional status to the National Commission for Backward Classes, and the OBC community are now getting reservation benefits in medical education, Sainik Schools, Kendriya Vidyalayas, and Navodaya Vidyalayas. Following the mantra of 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, Sabka Prayas', the state government is committed to the welfare of all sections of society, he added. At the function, the Chief Minister also felicitated students from the Goswami community who excelled in the Class 10 and 12 board examinations. He urged the community to stay united, guide the youth in the right direction, and inspire them to become responsible citizens. --IANS vg/pgh Mumbai, Aug 8 : Shiv Sena Spokesperson and party's Deputy leader Sanjay Nirupam, on Friday, accused the Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi of insulting the electoral process and the voters without presenting any solid evidence -- something the country will not tolerate. Targeting Rahul Gandhi, Nirupam said that this has been Congress' worst performance in Maharashtra Assembly elections -- winning only 16 seats and failing to secure even one MLA in 21 districts. "In such a scenario, instead of making baseless allegations against the Election Commission, Congress should introspect," he added. He also said that Rahul Gandhi keeps changing figures -- sometimes claiming four million fake voters, sometimes 7.2 million, and at other times 10 million -- but has never provided an accurate number. "If he (Rahul Gandhi) is accusing voter fraud in Maharashtra but presents data from Karnataka, then he needs to first understand the electoral process. Voter lists are prepared by the state machinery in each state, involving the Chief Electoral Officer, District Magistrates, and booth-level officers. If voter fraud occurred in Karnataka, where Congress is in power, then the responsibility lies with them," he added. Nirupam said, "Rahul Gandhi must understand that the people of Karnataka gave a mandate to Narendra Modi to become the Prime Minister of the country for the third time and gave Congress the chance to form the government there." The Shiv Sena Spokesperson added that Shiv Sena chief leader and Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has already said that Rahul Gandhi is insulting Maharashtra's voters by talking about fake voting. "Women in Maharashtra benefitted from the 'Ladli Bahna Yojana', but Congress and its allies had proposed discontinuing it. Women responded through their votes by defeating Congress during the recent state Assembly polls," he said. Nirupam also took a jibe at Shiv Sena-UBT Chief and former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, saying that Rahul Gandhi invited the former for dinner but made him sit in the last row, exposing his true political status. Taking a jibe at Uddhav Thackeray, the Shiv Sena Spokesperson asked, "How much more will you bow down for the greed of power?" He added that during the time of Hindutva icon Balasaheb Thackeray, Shiv Sena never went to anyone's doorstep, nor did they sit in the back row of any meeting. "In fact, top national leaders used to visit Matoshree and hold discussions there," he said. Nirupam alleged: "Uddhav Thackeray abandoned Balasaheb Thackeray's ideology just to become the Chief Minister. As a result, Congress no longer values him and keeps him waiting at their doorstep." New Delhi, Aug 8 : Afcons Infrastructure Ltd posted a 23 per cent quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) decline in standalone net profit for the first quarter of FY26 at Rs 135.73 crore, down from Rs 175.34 crore in Q4 FY25, according to an exchange filing on Friday. Despite the sequential drop, the company recorded a 31 per cent year-on-year (YoY) rise in its standalone net profit from Rs 103.62 crore in Q1 FY25. Total income in Q1 FY26 remained largely stable at Rs 3,411.58 crore compared to Rs 3,379.66 crore in the previous quarter, while showing a 7 per cent increase from Rs 3,185.69 crore in the year-ago period. Expenses rose to Rs 3,229.87 crore in the June quarter, up from Rs 3,131.19 crore in the January-March quarter and Rs 3,038.31 crore in Q1 FY25, indicating rising input costs and project execution outlays. The order book of the real estate firm stood at Rs 35,311 crore at the end of Juna25, and in the April-June period, the company received orders worth Rs 1,093 crore, the exchange filing said. According to the filing, the company emerged as L1 in three road and rail projects in Croatia worth Rs 11,321 crore in July. The final stretch of the Udhampura"Srinagara"Baramulla Rail Link was inaugurated this quarter with the inauguration of the engineering marvel, Chenab Railway Bridge. Over the years, Afcons has made a significant contribution to this project, the infrastructure sector company said. "Afcons Infrastructure has started the new financial year with a positive set of results, which positions us well for the rest of FY26. We have delivered good growth in our profitability metrics," Afcons Infrastructure Limited Executive Vice Chairman, Subramanian Krishnamurthy, said. "Our sustained efforts to make an entry in European markets bore fruit with us becoming L1 in multiple large orders in Croatia. This is in line with our strategy of focusing on large orders and expanding our presence in overseas markets," he added. Jakarta, Aug 8 : Indonesia and New Zealand have agreed to strengthen bilateral cooperation across various sectors during the visit of New Zealand's Trade and Investment Minister Todd McClay, Indonesia's Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs said in a statement on Thursday evening. Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto met with McClay on Thursday, and both agreed to accelerate the implementation of the Indonesia-New Zealand Comprehensive Partnership Plan of Action 2025-2029. The plan aims to deepen mutually beneficial cooperation, particularly in trade and investment, Xinhua News Agency reported. The two ministers also underscored the importance of resolving ongoing disputes related to the import of horticultural products, animals, and animal products, which are currently under discussion at the World Trade Organisation. "The resolution would allow both countries to shift focus to other strategic areas to strengthen economic cooperation. Indonesia also invites New Zealand to expand investment in the dairy processing sector, to support food security and sustainable public nutrition," Hartarto said in the statement. In response, McClay affirmed that New Zealand companies have both the capacity and readiness to meet these needs sustainably. Reaffirming their joint commitment to stronger trade ties, Indonesia and New Zealand set a new bilateral trade target of 6 billion New Zealand dollars by 2029, up from the earlier target of 4 billion New Zealand dollars by 2024. These updated targets are outlined in the Indonesia-New Zealand Comprehensive Partnership Plan of Action 2025-2029. New Zealand shares a strong relationship with Indonesia. The two nations celebrated 65 years of diplomatic relations in 2023, according to the New Zealand Foreign Affairs and Trade statement. Indonesia is a close Indo-Pacific partner to NewaZealand and is important for NewaZealandas prosperity and security. According to the statement, Indonesia is also an important partner for New Zealand in combating transnational organised crime, including terrorism, people smuggling, and illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. New Zealand has a Comprehensive Partnership with Indonesia, and a Plan of Action (which has just been renewed for 2025-2029) with six pillars. Bhubaneswar, Aug 8 : The opposition Indian National Congress on Friday staged a protest at the office of the Director General of Police (DGP), Odisha, in Cuttack, demanding justice for the victims of the three recent self-immolation deaths in different parts of the state. Speaking to media persons on Friday, Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Bhakta Charan Das said the party had earlier given a seven-day ultimatum to the state government and the Odisha Police to arrest the three miscreants who allegedly set a 16-year-old girl from the Balanga area of Puri district on fire on July 19. The girl later succumbed to the burn injuries while undergoing treatment at the AIIMS, New Delhi, on August 2, after a 14-day-long battle for life. Das further stated that, since the police failed to arrest the accused, the party has been staging a gherao of the DGP's office on Friday. "Police should not come under the influence of politicians and must arrest all the accused. If they fail to do so even after the gherao of the DGP office, then all police stations across the state will be gheraoed," warned the OPCC president. Das alleged that the police are trying to shield the culprits under pressure from their political bosses. He also claimed that incidents of crime against women are on the rise in the state due to the lack of action against the perpetrators. The OPCC president, in a letter to DGP, Odisha, on Friday, demanded that police immediately initiate an investigation - based on the statements of the Balanga victim and her parents - and arrest all three accused. The party also called for action against those responsible for the failure to register an FIR in the case of a female student from Fakir Mohan Autonomous College, who had lodged a complaint of sexual harassment against a faculty member. Failing to get justice, the FM college female student committed self-immolation near the Principal's chamber on July 12. She later succumbed while undergoing treatment at the AIIMS, Bhubaneswar. Additionally, the Opposition Congress demanded strict action against the police official who allegedly failed to receive the complaint of a girl who died by self-immolation in the Pattamundai area of Kendrapara district on August 6, reportedly due to blackmail by her former boyfriend. The Congress party also stated that steps should be taken immediately to implement the aZero FIRa policy announced by the Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi. New Delhi, Aug 8 : The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday asked Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to either sign a declaration and file a formal complaint on alleged electoral lapses which he believes are true or else apologise to the nation. In an indirect reference to the Congress leader's allegation of 'vote theft' by the poll panel in Karnataka, the ECI said, "If Rahul Gandhi believes in his analysis and believes that his allegations against the election staffs are true, he should have no problem in submitting claims and objections against specific voters and sign the declaration/oath as per Rule 20(3)(b) of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960." "If Rahul Gandhi does not sign the declaration, it would mean that he does not believe in his analysis, resultant conclusions and is making absurd allegations. In which case he should apologise to the nation," he said. "Therefore, either sign the declaration on issues you have raised in the press conference which you believe is true or else apologise to the nation," said the ECI. "Many such allegations are being made by Rahul Gandhi and are being reported by the media, despite no written complaint ever being submitted by him. In the past as well, he has never personally sent a self-signed letter For example, he raised the Maharashtra issue in December 2024. Subsequently, an advocate from AICC wrote to ECI. Our reply, dated December 24, 2024, is publicly available on ECI website. Yet, Rahul Gandhi claims that ECI never responded," said the ECI. The ECI also issued a fact check to refute claims made by Leader of Opposition in Parliament on Friday, in a fresh post on X, about alleged lapses and non-cooperation by the poll panel. Accusing Rahul Gandhi of making misleading statements, the ECI said: "INC plea of providing machine readable voter list was rejected by Hon'ble Supreme Court in Kamal Nath vs ECI, 2019." The clarification was made in response to the Congress leader's claim that the ECI was hiding something by denying digital voter list to the Opposition. On his allegation of erasing of CCTV and video evidence of polling, the ECI said, "Any aggrieved Candidate can file an election petition (EP) to challenge his election in the concerned High Court within 45 days. If an EP is filed, CCTV footage is retained; otherwise, it serves no purpose unless someone intends to breach voter privacy." For example, reviewing CCTV footage from 1 lakh polling stations would take 1 lakh days-that's approximately 273 years-with no legal outcome possible, it said. Earlier, the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha took to X and posed questions to the poll panel. "Election Commission, there are 5 questions - the country demands answers: 1. Why isn't the opposition getting the digital voter list? What are you hiding? 2. CCTV and video evidence are being erased - why? On whose orders? 3. Fake voting and tampering with the voter list - why? 4. Threatening and intimidating opposition leaders - why? 5. Tell us clearly - has the ECI now become an agent of the BJP?" asked Rahul Gandhi. India's democracy is priceless - the consequences of its theft will be dire. Now the public is speaking - enough is enough, said Rahul Gandhi. The ECI responded by accusing the Congress of trying to rake up an issue which did not catch its attention earlier. "During preparation of Electoral Roll in LS-2024, hardly any appeals were filed by INC across all 36 States & UTs under Section 24 of RP Act 1950," it said. Maputo, Aug 8 : Mozambican President Daniel Chapo on Friday called on young people to take the lead in building a peaceful, inclusive, and prosperous future, urging them to be "the main actors" in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Youth are at the heart of his administration's development agenda, the President told the opening of the 8th National Youth Conference in Maputo, the country's capital, Xinhua News Agency reported. The event, held under the theme "Local Youth Action for Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals," brought together hundreds of young leaders from across Mozambique. Chapo called on young people to reflect on their daily contributions to national unity, patriotism, and economic independence. "Patriotism means serving the country with dignity, responsibility, honesty, and hard work without expecting anything in return," he said. "It means rejecting corruption, fighting misinformation, and protecting our national image." The president also urged youth to engage in the ongoing national dialogue, positioning themselves as bridges between different communities. "We want young people to reject the gospel of hate and replace it with a message of peace, reconciliation, and social harmony," he said. Chapo outlined dozens of ongoing government initiatives to improve youth livelihoods, covering infrastructure, education, healthcare, digital transformation, and entrepreneurship. "We have already financed over 3,000 small-scale youth initiatives through the 'Acredita Emprega' program," he noted. "And we are distributing 15,000 laptops to university students from low-income families." Acredita Emprega, which means "Believe, Employ" in English, is a World Bank-supported program that aims to increase the productivity and income of young Mozambicans, particularly those seeking employment, self-employed individuals, and informal workers, as well as those with small businesses, in identified vulnerable districts across the country. Earlier in February, Mozambican President Daniel Chapo emphasised the importance of national unity as a pillar for overcoming the country's challenges during the central ceremony of Mozambican Heroes' Day in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique. Addressing the nation at Heroes' Square in Maputo, Chapo reaffirmed his government's commitment to combating social injustices and creating equal opportunities as essential steps toward economic independence, lasting peace, and national stability. "We must continue the fight against injustices that still plague our society," Chapo said. "Dialogue must be the path forward across generations, sectors, and political divides to secure a better future for all Mozambicans," he said. Chapo also acknowledged the presence of opposition leaders at the event, highlighting the importance of political inclusion in shaping Mozambique's path forward. Reflecting on the country's past struggles and achievements, Chapo underscored national unity as the foundation of Mozambique's independence and progress. Chinese and Croatian police officers are pictured during a joint patrol in Zagreb, Croatia, July 31, 2025. (Xinhua/Li Xuejun) ZAGREB, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- Wang Bing, a Chinese tourist visiting Zagreb for the first time, was both surprised and delighted to see Chinese police officers patrolling alongside their Croatian counterparts on the streets of the Croatian capital. The joint patrol, he said, gave him a strong sense of security. "Seeing our Chinese police officers on joint patrol here, I feel very at ease and very safe," said Wang, from China's Zhejiang Province. His wife, Yu Ying, echoed his feelings, saying she was "very happy" to see officers from her motherland in Zagreb. For Cai Zichun, a tourist from Jiangsu Province, the sight of Chinese police patrolling alongside Croatian colleagues was unexpected. "I didn't expect that at all," she said. "But seeing them here makes me feel very safe." The China-Croatia joint police patrol, the sixth of its kind this year, was launched in Zagreb on July 17. Eight Chinese police officers joined a month-long mission covering four of Croatia's top tourist destinations: Zagreb, Dubrovnik, Zadar, and Plitvice Lakes National Park. Part of Croatia's Safe Tourist Destinations project, the joint patrol program has been in place since 2018. The main role of the Chinese officers is to help local police communicate with and support the growing number of Chinese tourists, thereby enhancing their sense of safety while in the country. China has become an increasingly important source of tourism for Croatia. According to the Croatian Tourist Board, in 2024 the country recorded more than 250,000 arrivals and 365,000 overnight stays from the Chinese market -- an increase of 41 percent in arrivals and 37 percent in overnight stays compared with 2023. The program has also won praise from tourists of other nationalities and from local residents. "It is great because there are a lot of tourists over here, and people will feel a lot safer if they can talk to a police officer from their own country. Because a lot of tourists are not good at English, it is an easier way to communicate with each other," said Rosalie Hemmink, a tourist from the Netherlands. Zagreb resident Mirko Krolo called the initiative "praiseworthy." "This is a praiseworthy initiative, especially considering the large number of tourists from China visiting here. Given the language barriers and the situations they may find themselves in, this approach is both effective and praiseworthy," he said. For fellow local citizen Mia Slaufhauzer, the joint police patrol helps bridge cultural and linguistic divides. "It is a helpful way to make the job of our police officers easier by bridging the communication gap. Additionally, it can help tourists feel much safer, as they will better understand what is expected of them and avoid potential misunderstandings," she said. Du Mu, leader of the Chinese joint patrol team, said Chinese tourists are often thrilled to see the officers, frequently stopping to talk or take photos with them. He also noted the strong cooperation between the Chinese and Croatian police teams, which he believes benefits bilateral relations. "It is a good cooperation between our two countries. By delivering these high-quality services both to tourists from China and citizens of Croatia, we can constantly deepen friendship between our two countries," Du said. Chinese police officers talk with Chinese tourists during a Chinese-Croatian joint police patrol in Zagreb, Croatia, July 31, 2025. (Xinhua/Li Xuejun) Chinese and Croatian police officers pose for a group photo in Zagreb, Croatia, July 31, 2025. (Xinhua/Li Xuejun) Chinese and Croatian police officers talk with tourists during a joint patrol in Zagreb, Croatia, July 31, 2025. (Xinhua/Li Xuejun) New Delhi/Manila: Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Romualdez Marcos Jr., the 17th President of the Philippines, paid a State Visit to India from August 4-8. President Marcos' visit marked the establishment of Strategic Partnership between India and the Philippines while celebrating the 75th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations between the two nations. President Marcos was accompanied by 14 ministers, senior officials and a large business delegation during his India visit. Quite significantly, India and the Philippines Navy conducted joint exercises in South China Sea (SCS) for the first time, during President Marcos's visit to New Delhi. The synchronization of President Marcos' visit and India's outreach to build partnerships with the Philippines in the South China Sea underscored that India has a stake in securing the region in the context of safety and security of its maritime trade that transits through these waters. The SCS is a strategic shipping route, where about $5 trillion of annual shipborne commerce takes place. During the visit of President Marcos, India and the Philippines adopted a 2025-2029 Plan of Action under the elevated Strategic Partnership. Both countries agreed to cooperation in several fields, including political, defence, security, maritime, economic, trade, investment, science and technology, etc. At the bilateral interaction, among other issues, President Marcos expressed interest in deepening defence engagement including purchasing Indian defence equipment. The Philippines being a country of about 7,600 islands follows the archipelagic defence concept to protect its vast maritime territory and resources. President Marcos announced visa free entry for Indian nationals to the Philippines to encourage tourism and cultural exchange as 2025 is the ASEAN-India Year of Tourism. Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasised the mutual nature of the agreement and stated that India would allow free e-visas for tourists from the Philippines. Direct air connectivity from Delhi to Manila would commence from October 1, this year. It is noteworthy that from July 30 to August 4, the Indian Navy and the Philippines Navy were engaged in a joint exercise in the West Philippine Sea. General Romeo Saturnino Brawner Jr., the 60th Chief of Staff of Philippines Armed Forces (PAF), stated that the idea to hold joint exercises within the Exclusive Economic Zone of the Philippines took shape when he had visited New Delhi in March this year. According to the Philippines, there is a likelihood that a minor confusion in the SCS could lead to a full-blown war with China any time. The PAF is happy to engage with the Indian Armed Forces having similar values. The PAF is satisfied with the Indo-Russian BrahMos supersonic cruise missile system to bolster its coastal defence capabilities amidst escalating tensions with China and wants to secure more weapons from India for army and navy including joint collaboration. China claims nearly the entire SCS, overlapping with maritime zones of Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam. Separately, a July 2016 ruling of an international arbitral tribunal under Annex VII of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) found no basis of Beijing's sweeping claims under international law and ruled in favour of the Philippines against China. China has rejected the decision. The ruling was considered a milestone in the legal framework for resolving maritime disputes under UNCLOS. India's perspectives on the SCS disputes are evolving, moving from a cautious neutrality to a more proactive and nuanced approach driven by its Act East policy and Indo-Pacific vision. India views the SCS as part of the global commons and supports freedom of navigation and overflight in the region and legitimate commerce through the waters of SCS. The region has been an important Sea-Lanes of Communication (SLOC) for more than 1,500 years. Indian traders have sailed these waters and there is archaeological and historical evidence of the presence of Indian traders in this passage. Undisputedly, SCS will always remain in India's maritime compass and in the S-band radar. While not a claimant state, India has a vested interest in the SCS due to its significant trade route. India is ramping up its involvement in the South China Sea. As a leading maritime power in the region, India is concerned about the developments in the SCS, which has created dissensions among ASEAN countries over the territorial claims of some of the islands leading to a greater friction. ASEAN-China relations are under stress and India is trying to fill up the void as a responsible maritime power to stabilise the situation. Approximately 55 per cent of India's trade passes through the SCS and the Malacca Strait. This makes the region a crucial waterway for India's trade with the Indo-Pacific and beyond. In New Delhi's strategic calculus, deployment of the Indian Navy in these turbulent waters of SCS has put China in a difficult position with India and the Philippines both being sovereign nations. Importantly, the growing engagement between New Delhi and Manila is indicative of India emerging as a reliable strategic partner of the Philippines. (The writer is an expert on South Asia and Eurasia. He was formerly with Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses. Views expressed are personal) New Delhi, Aug 8 : Highlighting a 7 per cent increase in revenue in the Delhi government's first five months, Chief Minister Rekha Gupta on Friday led the legislators in passing two key GST Bills in the Assembly to pave the way for establishing a GST Appellate Tribunal and launching an amnesty scheme. CM Gupta highlighted that Delhi's GST and VAT collections have grown significantly Rs 15,535 crore in just the first five months of FY 202425, up from Rs 14,500 crore under the previous administration during the same period. "A seven per cent increase in revenue in just five months is proof that these reforms are working and that the people of Delhi are responding positively to transparent governance," she said. The Chief Minister had introduced on Thursday two legislative packages in the Assembly related to about 60 amendments approved in GST Council meetings and include measures like establishing the GST Appellate Tribunal and launching an amnesty scheme. The amendments were introduced through two focused legislative packages. The first package, comprising 45 amendments approved in GST Council meetings held in July 2023, October 2023, and June 2024, focused on extending ITC timelines, simplifying registration and return filing, establishing the GST Appellate Tribunal, and launching an amnesty scheme for relief on interest and penalties. The second package, passed during the 55th GST Council Meeting in December 2024, included 14 amendments aimed at strengthening enforcement and procedural clarity -- such as penalties for non-compliance in track-and-trace systems, clarified ISD credit distribution, treatment of municipal funds, and streamlined appeal processes. The Delhi Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2025 (Bill No. 04 of 2025) and the Delhi Goods and Services Tax (Second Amendment) Bill, 2025 (Bill No. 05 of 2025) were introduced on Thursday but were discussed and passed on Friday. Collectively, these reforms extend ITC claim periods, lower the pre-deposit for appeals from 10 per cent to 7 per cent, improve dispute resolution, and introduce machine-tracking enforcement mechanisms particularly in sectors like gutkha manufacturing, where the Centre has mandated unique identifiers on each packet for accountability. "Earlier, companies could not be traced for how much gutkha was being produced or sold. Now, with machine tracking and unique identifiers, the government will ensure full transparency," the CM explained in the House. The GST Amnesty Scheme alone has led to Rs 218 crore in collections for Delhi as of March 31. 2025 a clear sign of taxpayer responsiveness to the reforms, she said. The CM also addressed misconceptions about Delhi's revenue authority, stating: "Delhi is a Union Territory. Income tax, Customs, and corporate taxes are handled by the Centre not the Delhi Government. We are responsible for GST, VAT, Excise, and Stamp Duty." She thanked the Central government for continuing to bear the costs of law enforcement, pensions, Metro operations, and major urban development schemes. "From Delhi Police salaries to pensions worth Rs 6,000 crore, from Metro Rail to Central Universities Delhi receives more than its due. It is the Centre that ensures Delhi runs smoothly, regardless of politics," she stated. The CM also praised the Revenue Department for its dedicated execution of these complex reforms and reaffirmed her government's vision for a compliant, efficient, and business-friendly taxation environment. "The Delhi Government under my leadership is committed to creating a robust tax ecosystem that supports both governance and growth," she concluded. Beijing, Aug 8 : Chinese President Xi Jinping has urged all-out search and rescue efforts, as well as flood control and disaster relief work, after mountain torrents since Thursday in northwest China's Gansu Province have left 10 people dead and 33 missing as of 3:30 pm Friday. Xi, also General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and Chairman of the Central Military Commission, attached great importance to the situation of the disaster triggered by continuous heavy rainfall, which hit areas including Yuzhong County of Lanzhou, the provincial capital. The immediate task is to search for and rescue the missing people by every possible means, relocate and resettle residents in danger, minimize casualties, and restore communication and transportation as soon as possible, Xi instructed, Xinhua news agency reported. He noted that given the recent frequent occurrence of extreme weather, local authorities and relevant departments must strengthen risk forecasting and early warning, identify and rectify hidden hazards, reinforce emergency response and on-call duty arrangements, and enhance flood control and disaster relief work with targeted measures so as to ensure people's safety during the flood season. Premier Li Qiang, who is a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, has also ordered prompt efforts to search for and rescue people who are missing or trapped, and carry out all-out relief operations. Noting that China is currently in a critical period of flood control, Li stressed the need to stay vigilant, fulfill duties, strengthen monitoring and early warnings of rain and flooding, and enhance disaster-prevention and response efforts. Following the orders from Xi and Li, the Ministry of Emergency Management has dispatched a working group to the area to support local search and rescue operations. Bhopal, Aug 8 : Amid escalating political uproar over Congress MP Rahul Gandhi's claim of alleged irregularities in the electoral process, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav on Friday called the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha a "man with Urban Naxal mindset". CM Mohan Yadav said that Rahul Gandhi first questioned the Indian judicial system, then the Armed Forces, and now he has started questioning the Election Commission's credibility, which is the bone of the country's democratic system. "The way Rahul Gandhi publicly attempted to tarnish the Election Commission's image, it showed his mental bankruptcy. He is an Urban Naxal mindset man," the Madhya Pradesh CM said while reacting to the former Congress president's allegations of "vote theft", including in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections held in 2023. Mohan Yadav, who replaced Madhya Pradesh's longest- serving chief minister and the current Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan after the BJP won 163 out of 230 seats in 2023 Assembly polls, strongly criticised Rahul Gandhi, demanding the Congress leader issue an open "Public Apology". State BJP chief Hemant Khandelwal also slammed Rahul Gandhi, saying his allegations about vote theft were "irresponsible" and the Congress should worry about him. Talking to reporters in Bhopal on Friday, Khandelwal said that there were no facts or basis for Gandhi's allegations of election fraud. The BJP leader made the statement after Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia visited his residence on Friday morning. Meanwhile, Congress veteran and former chief minister Kamal Nath, who led the Congress in the 2023 Assembly elections and lost badly, seems to have found some "relief" from Rahul Gandhi's claims (allegations) of alleged irregularities in the last election in Madhya Pradesh. "Irregularities occurred in MP Assembly elections in 2023," Kamal Nath wrote on X, while sharing Rahul Gandhi's video - a short clip in which Rahul Gandhi talks about Madhya Pradesh Assembly elections in 2023. --IANS pd/pgh Dehradun, Aug 8 : The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a prosecution complaint in an Uttarakhand court against Vardhman Educational Society and others in connection with embezzlement of SC/ST scholarship funds, an official said on Friday. The Congress-era scholarship scam in the hill state allegedly resulted in the swindling of over Rs 500 crore by way of registration of ghost students and using fake certificates to release government funds. The Dehradun zonal office of the ED filed the prosecution complaint before the Special Court (PMLA) against the Society, its Chairman Sharad Gupta and other members along with officials of District Social Welfare Office, Haridwar. In March last year, the ED attached the society's immovable property in form of a land and building situated in Haridwar, Uttarakhand, under the provisions of PMLA 2002. The property was valued at about Rs 1 crore. Vardhaman Educational Society runs Institute of Management Studies and IMS Institute of Technology, both at Roorkee. The ED, in its investigation, found that the society fraudulently received the amount for scholarship from the Social Welfare Department, Haridwar, for the period 2013-14 to 2016-17. The money which was meant for providing scholarship to needy and deprived students was siphoned off into personal accounts of college owners and the Chairman of the education society. The ED further found that the institution had made fraudulent claims to obtain the sum under the SC/ST scholarship scheme, before diverting the amount into bank accounts of the owners. The case hit headlines when the Department started receiving complaints that middlemen were collecting SC and ST certificates of students in areas like Chakrata and Jaunsar in exchange for sums amounting around Rs 10,000. These certificates were allegedly were used by the institutions offering technical and professional courses to admit "bogus" students. The scam grew bigger as even the area Assistant Social Welfare official of the state government used to approve these admissions as genuine. After the attestation, the government department issued a scholarship cheque and the money used to get deposited in the institute's bank account, instead of the "beneficiary student's" bank account, showed investigation. Mumbai, Aug 8 : Popular television actress Dipika Kakar, who is battling cancer at the moment, expressed her gratitude to her supporters for 'being the constant reason for her smile'. Dipika celebrated her 40th birthday on August 6, and thanked her admirers for showering her with lovely wishes and blessings. She took to her IG and dropped two black and white photos of herself smiling ear to ear and wrote, "Aaj ek baar phir dil se Thank you for being the reason of my smile so many timea jab jab aaplogon ne mere liye dua ki mujhe himmat di i smileda And iss baar mera birthday special tha alag tha mere liye a mere parivaar ke liyea. And AAPLOG bhi uss ehsaas me shamil huea itne saare msges itni saari wishes and itniii saari duayein a and again u guys made me SMILE with all the lovely wishes flowing in Thank You Once Again...Love U All." Meanwhile, Dipika recently underwent surgery after being diagnosed with stage 2 liver cancer. The 'Sasural Simar Ka' actress is presently under recovery. Sharing her health update through her vlog, Dipika revealed that she is improving every day now. She added that her family is playing a crucial role in her healing journey. Dipika said that while she understands that earning money is very important, one must ensure giving time to their family members. Talking about family love, Dipika's actor husband, Shoaib Ibrahim, wished his better half on her birthday with a heartfelt post. He dropped a stunning couple photo of the lovebirds twinning in denim on social media, and penned, "Kya kahu main tumheaTum Maa ho, tum Biwi ho, tum mere Ghar ki roshni ho. In sab ke saath saath , TUM MERI HERO HO...Happy birthday Dipi bas yahi dua hai Allah zindagi lambi kare..khush rakhne ki zimmedari meri.. love you." Bengaluru, Aug 8 : Karnataka BJP President and MLA B.Y. Vijayendra, on Friday, asked why Rahul Gandhi and the Congress, who accuse the Union government of irregularities in voting, are opposing the special comprehensive revision of the voters' list in Bihar. Speaking to the media at the State BJP Office, Jagannath Bhavan, he said that Rahul Gandhi had publicly alleged on Thursday that irregularities took place during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections across the country and the state -- including manipulation of the voters' list and the presence of bogus voters. "Following Rahul Gandhi's statement, senior Congress leaders in our state have spoken foolishly. They have said that Narendra Modi should resign as the country's Prime Minister and that the Lok Sabha should be dissolved -- mindless statements," Vijayendra added. "The Election Commission conducts special revisions of the electoral roll precisely to address issues of fake and illegal voters. So, why are Rahul Gandhi and the Congress opposing such an electoral poll revision in Bihar?" he asked. Vijayendra said that in 2005 when late Manmohan Singh was the country's Prime Minister and Mamata Banerjee, then part of the NDA, was an MP, had raised in the Lok Sabha the issue of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh being included in West Bengal's voters' list. "When she raised the matter for discussion, Speaker Somnath Chatterjee threw papers in her (Mamata Banerjee's) face and suspended her. Has Rahul Gandhi forgotten this?" he asked. He also refuted Rahul Gandhi's claim that all surveys had predicted Congress would win 16 Lok Sabha seats in Karnataka. "No survey said Congress would win 16 seats in Karnataka. Congress leaders must have told him (Rahul Gandhi) this," he remarked. He said that in 2019, under B.S. Yediyurappa's leadership as the Karnataka Chief Minister, BJP had sent 25 MPs from the state to the Lok Sabha. "This time, BJP and JD-S together have won fewer seats. Should BJP then claim there were irregularities?" he asked. Responding to Rahul Gandhi's claims about unusually high voting between 5 and 6 p.m., Vijayendra said this was normal across the country because the heat is lower at that time and all parties work hard to mobilise voters in the final hour. He added that Rahul Gandhi and the Congress leaders are speaking out of frustration after their defeat. He reminded that any objections to the elections should have been filed in writing within 45 days of the results being declared. "The defeated Congress candidate from Bangalore Central should have raised the issue. Congress has now become a party of fools," he said. Speaking about the poll fraud allegations in Mahadevapura assembly constituency, Vijayendra challenged Rahul Gandhi, CM Siddaramaiah, and Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar to first check how many fake voters there are in Chamrajpet and Shivajinagar -- constituencies with the highest minority populations -- and then come for a discussion. "They (Congress-led state government) do not have the strength to face the Opposition (BJP, JD-S) in Parliament and will not speak about critical issues," he said. "Rahul Gandhi's dream of becoming the country's Prime Minister will remain just that -- a dream. There is clear inconsistency in his statements and stance," Vijayendra added. New Delhi, Aug 8 : Union Minister of State for Health Prataprao Jadhav on Friday called for collective action to put rural women at the centre of climate and health agendas. His statement came as he launched a white paper by Transform Rural India (TRI) and the Development Intelligence Unit (DiU) at the fifth edition of the India Rural Colloquy in the national capital. The white paper explores the impact of climate change on rural womenas health and well-being. "We must foster the growth of neighbourhoods of care and villages where panchayats, ASHA workers and other frontline workers take the lead in building community health ecosystems," Jadhav said. "Let us work collectively to ensure that the government, citizens, society, health institutions, and the community place rural women at the heart of water, air, energy, and health initiatives. Only then can the vision of a aViksit Bharata be fulfilled for every woman in every village," he added. Women comprise 73 per cent of the rural agricultural workforce but own less than 14 per cent of land holdings, limiting access to credit and enabling support. The white paper showed that the burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) is also rising among rural women. Only one in four women with hypertension receive care. In addition, crop failure and male migration have been linked to elevated levels of anxiety and depression. Rural women are disproportionately affected by food shortages. Over half of rural women are anaemic and underweight, and the growing challenges of the climate crisis and its impact on the food production system will pose more challenges. "We have attempted to weave together evidence, field realities, and policy reflections to bring visibility to the silent crises faced by millions of women navigating changing climates, fragile health systems, and structural inequalities," TRI Associate Director Shyamal Santra said. The white paper also suggested strengthening rural health infrastructure to ensure it remains operational during climate shocks, training frontline health workers in climate-sensitive care, and leveraging community-led initiatives. It also called for redirecting Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and existing government programs and funds toward climate-health investments focused on rural women with a comprehensive, intersectional approach to address the emerging challenges and health issues. Building a "Neighbourhood of Care" approach wherein localised, participatory eco-systems integrating health, nutrition, water access, and mental well-being are embedded within the local institutions and forums, leveraging family kinship and social networks, was also emphasised. Mumbai, Aug 8 : We will be celebrating the auspicious festival of Rakshabhandhan on Saturday. Just like us, several prominent television personalities have a special place in their hearts for Rakhi. Veteran actress Himani Shivpuri, who plays Katori Amma in "Happu Ki Ultan Paltan," revealed that her brother, Himanshu, has been her biggest support and strength. "Even today, despite his busy schedule, he makes it a point to travel all the way to tie Rakhi and celebrate together. For me, he is not just a brother; he is like a father, always guiding me, supporting me through lifeas highs and lows. This year, too, heas coming down for Raksha Bandhan, and I am filled with excitement." Additionally, Vidisha Srivastava aka Anita Bhabi from "Bhabiji Ghar Par Hai" shared that she shares a bond full of laughter, pranks, and deep affection with her brother Gaurav. Disclosing this year's Rakhi plan, she added, "I wanted to make it extra special for him. I have planned to surprise him by cooking his absolute favourite dish, matar paneer with puris, something he has always loved since childhood. I have also picked out a thoughtful gift that aligns with his hobbies." Furthermore, Priyamvada Kant, who will be seen as Latika in the forthcoming drama "Gharwali Pedwali" said that as a kid, she used to long for a brother. "I used to see my friends tying rakhis to their brothers, and somewhere deep inside, I wished I had someone too", she shared. However, her wish came true as she met actor Ayaaz Ahmed, who became the brother she never had. "Every year since then, I have personally crafted a rakhi and tied it around his wrist. Itas our little tradition. Ayaaz is not just a brother; he is my safe space in this big city. This Raksha Bandhan, too, I have made a special rakhi for him, and I am excited to see his reaction. I am going to demand a big gift from him this time (laughs)," she concluded. Amaravati, Aug 8 : Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu will attend the International Tribal Day celebrations in Paderu in Alluri Sitarama Raju on Saturday. This year, the United Nations has called for the observance of International Tribal Day with the theme "Indigenous Peoples and Artificial Intelligence a" Defending Rights, Shaping the Future." The Chief Minister will interact with tribal families to understand their challenges first hand. Later, he will engage with coffee plantation growers and attend a public meeting at Lagisapalle. During the event, the CM will lay the foundation for development projects in tribal areas and government will sign some of the MoUs related to these initiatives. The NDA government has taken various steps for the holistic development and welfare of tribal communities across the state. The coalition government claimed that working tirelessly to bring progress and light into the lives of tribal communities in the agency districts. The government is striving to elevate agency regions to the same level of development as plains areas. In the 2024-25 fiscal year, Rs 7,557 crore has been allocated under the Scheduled Tribe Component. Free electricity up to 200 units per month is being provided to 4.82 lakh tribal families across the state. Solar rooftop installations will soon be implemented in tribal areas. The government has accelerated road construction projects to connect remote tribal habitations with major hubs and plains regions. A total of Rs 2,404 crore has been allocated to build roads and bridges, ensuring connectivity for over 2,075 tribal villages in the next five years, said an official release. Under the Jal Jeevan Mission, the government has initiated works worth Rs 2,373 crore to provide clean drinking water to 13,816 tribal habitations, aiming for completion by 2026. Additionally, multi-specialty hospitals will be constructed in ITDA regions like Sitampeta, Parvatipuram, Rampachodavaram, K.R. Puram, and Srisailam, with Rs 50 crore allocated for each facility. The medical college in Paderu is also progressing rapidly. To support tribal youth in competitive exams, the government has established study circles in Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Tirupati, and other areas. Residential school buildings are being converted into hostels with an allocation of Rs 150 crore, benefiting over 520 schools. The government is also promoting Araku coffee as a global brand by expanding plantations and setting up processing units, with an investment of Rs 202 crore. Tourism projects are being launched to create employment opportunities for tribal youth. LISBON, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- The Portuguese government on Friday voiced deep concern over Israel's decision to "take over Gaza", urging the suspension of the plan and the immediate implementation of a ceasefire. "The Portuguese government is deeply concerned about the new plan by the Israeli government to take over Gaza. The decision undermines efforts to achieve a ceasefire and worsens the humanitarian tragedy in the Gaza Strip," the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement published on the social media platform X. The ministry called for the suspension of the plan, the release of hostages, and the urgent entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza. Israel's Security Cabinet has approved a plan to take over Gaza City, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in a statement on Friday. Bengaluru, Aug 8 : A delegation of Congress leaders, led by party's Karnataka unit President D.K. Shivakumar who is also the Deputy Chief Minister, on Friday submitted a complaint to the Karnataka State Election Commission office here regarding 'electoral fraud' in Mahadevapura and several other constituencies. The office of the Chief Electoral Officer, Karnataka, in reply to the representation, asked the Congress party to submit the documents related to the complaint along with the declaration/oath as per Rule 20(3)(b) of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, so as to act on the complaint. In a major development to the election fraud allegations, the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Karnataka V. Anbukumar on Thursday sought a signed declaration from Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on the issue. The declaration states that providing false information will be considered a punishable offence. The delegation included KPCC Working President and Rajya Sabha member G.C. Chandrashekhar, BDA Chairman and MLA N.A. Haris, and MLC Basanagouda Badarli. Speaking to media, Shivakumar said: "We have submitted a request to the Election Commission to conduct a thorough verification of the electoral rolls across the entire state." When asked about the Election Commission's demand for an affidavit from Rahul Gandhi, Shivakumar responded: "What affidavit do they need? I and Rahul Gandhi ourselves are affidavits. After contesting and winning elections, we've already submitted affidavits. What more do they want? If we are lying, hang us. Has the Commission denied Rahul Gandhi's allegations? They are demanding an affidavit now only to delay things. The data we have was gathered through RTI." Asked when the Congress would submit the full details, he said, "We have requested some data from the Commission. Let them provide it first." He said: "Under the leadership of our leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi, we held this protest on Friday to fight against injustice and protect voting rights. Keeping the court orders in mind, we decided not to hold a procession to the Election Commission office and instead sent only a few party leaders. Rahul Gandhi has already explained how electoral injustice occurred, and we believe this has happened across the state. We've only studied a few constituencies. We submitted a representation highlighting five to six areas and requested the Election Commission to verify voter rolls statewide." He clarified: "We haven't submitted the Mahadevapura and Gandhinagar models to the Election Commission. What Rahul Gandhi shared in the press conference on Thursday was just an example. Similar irregularities have happened in several regions of the state, and we are demanding a full-scale verification. We've urged the Commission to take strict action against any officials, whether it be the returning officer or BLO, involved in such irregularities." "We have submitted a proposal listing 810 irregularities such as duplicate entries of the same voter in five places, names included without a proper address, fake entries linked to vacant plots, and unlawful shifting of voter names to nearby booths. We also requested digital formats of the electoral roll and specific data but haven't submitted full details yet," he stated. "We've learned that V. Anbukumar, the newly appointed Chief Electoral Officer, has begun a verification process. This is a welcome step. We will provide details about where injustice has occurred and what steps should follow. This is not just a fight limited to Karnataka or Mahadevapura," he said. "Some may ask - 'Isn't it your own government and your own officials?' But the entire control lies with the Election Commission. If my name is entered into the computer, it should show where all my votes are listed. The Election Commission officers must at least have the courtesy to verify this. This issue must be discussed nationwide. We have begun our protest with this in mind and will continue in the coming days," Shivakumar added. Asked about BJP leaders' criticism, he said, "We don't respond to BJP leaders' statements. Our fight is against the Election Commission, not any political party. The Commission must not act like a mouthpiece of one party." Bengaluru, Aug 8 : Union Food and Public Distribution Minister Pralhad Joshi on Friday slammed Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi over his charges against the Election Commission of India (ECI) for "helping" the BJP to win elections, asserting that he (Rahul Gandhi) has come up a long way from from 'Mohabbat Ki Dukaan to Jhoot Ki Dukaan'. Bengaluru, Aug 8 (IANS) Union Food and Public Distribution Minister Pralhad Joshi on Friday slammed Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi over his charges against the Election Commission of India (ECI) for "helping" the BJP to win elections, asserting that he (Rahul Gandhi) has come up a long way from from 'Mohabbat Ki Dukaan to Jhoot Ki Dukaan'. "Rahul Gandhi's mindset is clear. When Congress was in power, it was 'Loot Ki Dukaan'. During the elections, it was 'Mohabbat Ki Dukaan'. Now, after losing the election, it has become 'Jhoot Ki Dukaan'. He has no respect for constitutional institutions," he said. The Union Minister said that Congress imposed Emergency, banned newspapers and TV, even stopped Kishore Kumar's songs, and jailed opposition leaders, including Jayaprakash Narayan. "It's like the saying, 'Those who can't dance blame the floor.' Rahul Gandhi is displaying the same behaviour. Making baseless accusations against institutions like the Election Commission is foolishness," he claimed. He said that the ECI had summoned the LoP Rahul Gandhi to seek information regarding his allegations, but he didn't turn up, which clearly shows that his accusations are baseless. "Rahul Gandhi operates like a 'hit and run' case. He makes random statements and disappears when questioned. He doesn't even bother to file formal complaints. Though he was in Bengaluru, he didn't visit the Election Commission office despite being summoned between 1 pm and 3 pm. Instead, he said he would send someone else. Why send a representative if the allegations were his own?" he claimed. He claimed that despite the EC asking for affidavits regarding all the allegations made in Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Haryana, LoP Rahul Gandhi has not submitted even one, and failed to appear despite being personally invited by the EC in Bengaluru, which "exposes" his "bogus" claims. "First, it was EVMs; now, the Election Commission is the target. Yet, he hasn't submitted any evidence in court either. Now he's demanding CCTV footage, which is normally stored for only 45 days. How can it be retrieved now?" he said. He claimed that in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in Karnataka, around 9 lakh objections were submitted. But not a single election petition came from the Congress. If there were voting or electoral roll irregularities, why didn't they object? "In every election, BLA (Booth Level Agents) monitor booths. If there were irregularities in Mahadevapura, why didn't Congress BLAs notice? Were they sleeping? The draft voter list is shared with all candidates and political parties. If there was malpractice, why didn't they catch it then? Why didn't they file an election petition after the results? Were the candidates asleep? Or was Rahul Gandhi in a different world altogether?" he said. He said that the BJP led in five of the six assembly segments under Bangalore Central. Only one segment had a steep loss. In Sirsi, despite being a BJP stronghold, we lost. Does that mean EVMs or the EC failed there, too? "After the Maharashtra elections, they claimed 70 lakh new voters were added. Then they said 1 crore. The EC clarified that 40 lakh new voters were added, which is normal. Still, Rahul Gandhi keeps throwing around wild numbers," Joshi said. "In 2004 and 2009, during the UPA rule, more new voters were added than now. In 2024, the increase was 4.7 per cent, in 2009 it was 4.1 per cent, and in 2014 it was 3.4 per cent. Under NDA, it's 4.4 per cent. There's no logic in these accusations. Ironically, they won when the voter additions were the highest," Joshi countered. Imphal, Aug 8 : Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas and Tourism, Suresh Gopi, on Friday reiterated Prime Minister Narendra Modi's dream of a transformed Northeast and stressed that a new and improved Manipur could emerge if people embraced innovative ideas across different sectors. Imphal, Aug 8 (IANS) Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas and Tourism, Suresh Gopi, on Friday reiterated Prime Minister Narendra Modias dream of a transformed Northeast and stressed that a new and improved Manipur could emerge if people embraced innovative ideas across different sectors. The Union Minister, focusing on the tourism sector, while holding a series of meetings in Manipuras Bishnupur district, acknowledged the immense potential of the tourism sector and underlined the need for integrated development to drive economic growth. In the health sector, he highlighted critical focus areas such as infant mortality, sickle cell anaemia, and malaria, urging the department to intensify efforts in these domains. Regarding education, Gopi emphasised the importance of conducting special training programs for the capacity building of teachers to improve the quality of government schools and boost enrolment. In the agricultural sector, the Central minister enquired about the fertiliser distribution system and farmer feedback, suggesting an increase in millet production, in line with the Prime Ministeras nutrition-focused initiatives. The Minister also reviewed the Open Defecation Free (ODF) initiative led by the PHE Department and reiterated the importance of prioritising health, food, and education, which he said were the backbone of any progressive society. He assured all possible support from his end for the development of the district. Gopi chaired a meeting to review the overall functioning of various line departments and assess the implementation of key government schemes. Bishnupur district Deputy Commissioner Pooja Elangbam presented a comprehensive presentation on the districtas tourism potential, highlighting major attractions such as Khoriphaba Temple, Loukoi Pat, Red Hill and India Peace Memorial, Maibam Lokpa Ching, Nambol, Vishnu Temple, Shri Gopinath Temple, INA War Museum, INA Memorial Complex, Loktak Lake, and the Sangai Ethnic Park. Responding to the presentation, Gopi emphasised the importance of further developing Loktak Lake, the pride of the state, into a world-class destination, stating that such efforts could significantly boost revenue generation. The Minister provided constructive feedback to each department, focusing on innovation strategies aligned with the Prime Ministeras vision for the Northeast region. The Union Minister later paid floral tributes to fallen soldiers of the Indo-Japanese forces at the Indian Peace Memorial Maibam Lokpa Ching and also visited Imphal Peace Museum. Hyderabad, Aug 8 : BJP MP M. Raghunandan Rao received threat call once again on Friday. An unknown person called the Lok Sabha member saying he is in Hyderabad and will kill him by the evening. The MP from Medak constituency lodged a complaint with the police. He shared the number from which the call was made. Police have taken up investigation to identify the man who threatened the BJP leader. This is the sixth threat call received by the MP in recent months. Raghunandan Rao had got threat call on June 29. The caller, who identified himself as a Maoist from Madhya Pradesh, had threatened to kill him by evening. He received the call while he was participating in a programme at Dammaiguda in Medchal district. Minutes later, another call was made from the same number. The recorded the call and lodged a complaint with the DGP and the Medak SP. The MP received similar threat calls on June 23. The callers told him that five teams are on the job to kill him as per the orders of Maoist committee of Andhra Pradesh. The threat calls were seen as a reaction by Maoists to operation Kagar, the anti-Maoist operation by security forces in neighbouring Chhattisgarh. The BJP leader, who was then recuperating in a private hospital after a surgery, had lodged a complaint with the police. Police officers had asked the MP to be on his guard and assured that they would trace the caller. Taking the threats seriously, police had deployed armed personnel and escort vehicle for the MPas security. Even before the police could identify and trace the callers, the MP again received a call on Friday. The series of threats have caused concern to the MPas supporters and party workers. They are demanding the police to intensify the probe and trace the persons behind the threats. Agartala/Aizawl, Aug 8 : Security forces in Tripura and Mizoram have seized highly addictive banned methamphetamine tablets and foreign cigarettes worth over Rs 2.35 crore and arrested three persons, officials said on Friday. A police official said that an auto-rickshaw driver was arrested with 90,000 methamphetamine tablets valued at Rs 1.35 crore from the Amtali areas on the outskirts of the state capital Agartala on Thursday night. During routine patrolling, police chased an auto rickshaw coming from Khayerpur to Amtali and managed to intercept the auto-rickshaw and after a search the methamphetamine tablets, also known as Yaba or party tablets, were recovered. "The driver of the auto-rickshaw was arrested for carrying the drugs. An investigation is underway," Superintendent of Police (SP), West Tripura district, Namit Pathak told the media. He said the police have intensified their close watch in different parts of the city and its outskirts after reports of illegal and drug related activities, and the seizure was the success of these efforts. Chief Minister Manik Saha in a social media post on Friday, said, "During a search operation on the Amtali Bypass, Amtali police station recovered 90,000 yaba tablets, arrested one person, and seized an auto-rickshaw." "We remain committed to building a drug-free Tripura, and our relentless fight against drug smugglers will continue with full determination," Saha said. Yaba, also called 'crazy medicine', is illegal in the country as it contains methamphetamine, a Schedule II substance under the Controlled Substances Act. In Mizoram, based on specific intelligence, Assam Rifles launched an operation on Friday to conduct a search operation at Tlangsam areas bordering Champhai district. During the search operation, the troops recovered different types of foreign cigarettes valued approximately Rs 1 crore from a vehicle. Two persons, identified as H Ramengmawia and Zosangliana were also arrested. The recovered items, vehicle and individuals have been handed over to the Legal Metrology Department in Champhai. Meanwhile, the Assam Rifles and Mizoram Police have seized heroin and foreign cigarettes worth more than Rs 9.47 crore and arrested one person in two separate operations in Mizoram's same Champhai district on Wednesday night. Myanmar's Chin State has emerged as a major hub for drug trafficking, wildlife smuggling, and other illicit activities. The contraband is often routed through six districts in Mizoram -- Champhai, Siaha, Lawngtlai, Hnahthial, Saitual, and Serchhip -- which share unfenced borders of 510 km with Myanmar. Meanwhile, Assam Rifles have been conducting awareness campaigns like seminars and group discussions highlighting the bad effects of the drugs and drugs trafficking are a punishable offence under the Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985. The Defence spokesman said that the aim of these awareness campaigns is to educate the local population, especially the youth, about the harmful effects of drug abuse and the serious legal consequences associated with drug trafficking and peddling. --IANS sc/pgh Bhopal, Aug 9 : Union Minister of Communications and the Development of Northeastern Region, Jyotiraditya Scindia, said on Friday that the real meaning of good education is to build a meaningful life and to serve the people. Scindia, a member of erstwhile royal family of Gwalior, who graduated from Harward and Stanford Universities in the US, made this statement while inaugurating a British-board 'Shrewsbury International School' in Madhya Pradesh's Bhopal. "The cause of education is not only to be able to ask a question, but also how do I serve. And therefore, I believe that in this environment that Sherwsbury will produce quality education for the future India," the Union Minister added. The event was also attended by Deputy Chief Minister Rajendra Shukla and former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister as well as Congress Rajya Sabha MP Digvijaya Singh and Trade Commissioner for South Asia and British Deputy High Commissioner to Western India, Harjinder Kang. During his address on this occasion, Kang called the development as a landmark India-British educational collaboration. He said that last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his UK counterpart Keir Starmer endorsed the new 'India-UK Vision 2035', a commitment to unlocking the full potential of our revitalised partnership. "The vision also includes an education and skills partnership to nurture the next generation of global talent and to deepen transnational education collaboration between the UK and Indian universities," he added. Kang also said that by blending centuries of British educational excellence with India's drive for innovation, the two countries are creating world-class opportunities for young minds to thrive, lead and shape the future. --IANS pd/khz -- The story has been published from a wire feed without any modifications to the text Nine Florida counties have removed hundreds of books from public school classrooms and libraries before the start of the 20252026 school year, according to a report from PEN America. Columbia, Escambia, Hillsborough, Orange, Osceola, Palm Beach, Pasco, Pinellas, and St. Johns counties all have made books with alleged sexual content unavailable to students, fearing legal action from the state Board of Education and Office of the Attorney General. In a statement, PEN America noted, Its likely that additional counties may have quietly complied by removing books out of fear of state retaliation if they did not. Reporting over the past year suggests this is the case in Broward, Volusia, and other counties. Stephana Ferrell, director of research and insight at the Florida Freedom to Read Project, said the removals are taking place swiftly and without any review process. No district wants to be told theyre out of compliance, not with the law but with the people who are deciding whether theyre in compliance, Ferrell told PW. Theyre not even doing it through formal letters and school board meetings anymore, and if youre not paying attention as a parent, you have no say in the materials your child can or cannot access at school, despite claims that Florida defends parental rights. Florida happens to be the first state in the nation to have an Office of Parental Rights, established in April by state Attorney General James Uthmeier. On the OPR site, caregivers may file a complaint and are provided with a list of common issues that include interference with educational choices and objectionable instructional or library materials. The current spate of book removals escalated in May, after AG James Uthmeier and Education Commissioner Manny Diaz Jr. wrote to Hillsborough County public schools superintendent Van Ayres, alleging that Hillsborough school libraries contained pornographic material. Among the books in question, Diaz cited Andre Acimans Call Me by Your Name and L.C. Rosens Jack of Hearts (and Other Parts), two novels with LGBTQ+ content. Ayres went before the Florida Board of Education to discuss the holdings of Hillsborough Countys school libraries, stating his confidence in school media specialists and promising they would review the more than 600 titles to which the state has raised objections. His testimony failed to persuade the Board of Education or the AG, although anti-censorship groups petitioned the state for a transparent and genuine review process. PEN America Florida director William Johnson said the public feud between Ayres, Diaz, and Uthmeier illuminates whats happening across the state. We have an AG who publicly rebukes a local school superintendent for following district policy on the review of instructional materials. That makes clear that compliance isnt enough unless it results in outright removal of any book in question, he said; the message is to forget about community dialogue and the expertise of librarians. Remove them or face the consequences. Johnson noted that the material deemed controversial tends to concern people of color and LGBTQ+ communities. Instead of the alleged sexual content, he said, youre seeing the idea that the exploration of identity is something that should be banned. In the weeks since the Hillsborough dispute became news, other Florida counties have begun preemptively scrubbing their shelves of books the state might deem inappropriate for minors. The pressure on Ayres has continued as well. On August 4, Florida education commissioner Anastasios Kamoutsas posted an image on X of transgender author Alex Berties memoir Trans Mission: My Quest to a Beard, which is in the collections of nine Hillsborough County high schools, saying that Ayres should expect another invite to the Board of Education. Even the online reading platform Beanstack, to which more than 40 Florida school districts subscribe, has come under fire from Kamoutsas, who suggested it allows access to ideological content. Kamoutsass comments prompted the Florida Association of State Administrators to explain the platform's purpose, which is to provide schools and families with title and author information, enable children to log reading time, and gamify reading tasks; it does not provide books in any format. Most of the schools said, Hey, we checked, we dont have any materials that violate the law, but some are putting use [of Beanstack] on pause, FFTRPs Ferrell said. Teachers are afraid to offer access to classroom libraries because of this threat. Books and materials continue to be yanked from Sunshine State shelves despite prior decisions that establish more orderly processes. House Bill 1467, which became law in 2022, provides guidance on the approval of instructional materials. House Bill 1539, an effort to define materials harmful to minors, died in the Florida Senate Rules committee in June, and established obscenity laws already protects schools. Further, the ongoing case of Penguin Random House LLC v. Gibson challenges the constitutionality of Florida House Bill 1069. HB 1069, signed into law in May 2023 by Florida governor Ron DeSantis, presently enables the removal of books from public schools and libraries when they are alleged to contain pornography or obscene depictions of sexual conduct pending resolution of an objection to the material. PEN Americas Johnson said when the situation becomes disheartening, he focuses on his job of providing outreach and technical support to changemakers like the LGBTQ+ youth organization PRISM and faith-based communities from Black churches to synagogues to civic groups. We have to make people aware outside the publishing field, he said. My work is to share information and expand connections. We have to take the long view. WASHINGTON, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- A U.S. federal judge on Thursday ordered Florida to temporarily halt construction at an immigration detention center in the Everglades, marking a temporary win for environmental advocates. The judge, Kathleen M. Williams at the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Florida, issued a temporary restraining order, halting construction for two weeks while she considers the arguments. In June, environmental organizations filed a lawsuit, claiming that the immigration detention facility was developed without conducting the environmental review mandated by federal law. Florida's so-called "Alligator Alcatraz," a proposed immigration detention facility, has sparked significant controversies revolving around environmental concerns and poor conditions. The controversial project, which is run by the state but houses federal immigration detainees, came as part of the Trump administration's mass deportation plan against undocumented immigrants. Meanwhile, "Alligator Alcatraz" has faced other legal action for alleged inhumane conditions and treatment of detainees. A whistleblower report declassified last week suggests that Hillary Clintons campaign efforts to manufacture evidence tying Donald Trump to alleged Russian hacking in 2016 were deeper than previously known as were Obama administration efforts to conceal them. According to the report, a former senior U.S. intelligence analyst who investigated alleged Russian attempts to breach state voting systems during the 2016 election suspected the breaches may have been "related to activities" of the computer contractors involved in the Alfa Bank hoax, who were accused of manipulating Internet traffic data. In that well-publicized case, a Clinton campaign lawyer worked with federal computer contractors and the FBI to create suspicions that Russia was communicating with Donald Trump through a secret server shared by Alfa Bank of Russia and Trump Tower in Manhattan. The anonymous whistleblower who served as the deputy national intelligence officer for cyber issues in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence from 2015 to 2020 told Special Counsel John Durham he stumbled onto "enigmatic" data while leading the investigation of alleged Russian cyber activity for the Intelligence Community Assessment on Russian meddling in the 2016 election. He said that his discovery took place in December 2016 when President Obama ordered the ICA. After examining state-reported breaches of election networks, the whistleblower said, "It seemed only brief interaction was occurring in some cases, no unauthorized access, or even attempted access, was detected on 'victim' systems." Though the suspicious activity initially was attributed to Russian actors, further analysis raised doubts. But when he brought his findings to his boss, ODNI's national intelligence officer for cyber issues, he was ordered to stop investigating and not include his findings in the final ICA draft. "After being directed to conduct analysis of Russian-attributed cyber activity for the ICA, I had been abruptly directed to abandon further investigation," the whistleblower analyst said. He added that his boss, whose name was blacked out in the whistleblower statement, "directed me to abandon analysis of these events, stating reports of Russia-attributed cyber activity were 'something else.'" Vinh Nguyen was national intelligence officer for cyber issues when the whistleblower raised his concerns. While the names of the whistleblower and his boss are blacked out in the report, a RealClearInvestigations search of federal records shows Vinh Nguyen was the national intelligence officer for cyber issues at the time. The whistleblower would have been Nguyen's deputy. Nguyen did not respond to RCIs request for comment. Pressured To Change View The whistleblowers 2023 complaint, declassified last week by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, also seems to contradict the recent claims of Obamas director of national intelligence, James Clapper, and his CIA Director, John Brennan, among others that the ICA was a neutral document prepared according to the highest standards whose conclusions were widely supported by the intelligence community. The whistleblower said his supervisor also "pressured me to accept the ICA's judgment of a decisive Russian preference for then President-elect Trump, and stated to me that he sought my concurrence as means to sway the position of" another intelligence agency. "I was pressured to alter my views on the key judgment," he said. But, he added, "I could not concur in good conscience based on information available, and my professional analytic judgment." What's more, he said his boss "intentionally deceived and excluded me from things I was cleared for and had need to know" during the ICA's drafting. This included the fact that Clinton campaign opposition research the now-debunked Steele dossier was used as supporting evidence in the highly restricted, classified version of the ICA. "I had been led to believe that Clapper viewed the 'Steele dossier' material as untrustworthy, and I had believed it played no role in the ICA," he said. His boss told him there was other evidence that supported the key Trump-Russia judgment, which he was "not allowed to see," but "if you saw it, you would agree." Pressed to share the alleged additional evidence, his superior said, "You need to TRUST ME on this." (Emphasis in original.) "I need you to agree with these judgments," he said his boss demanded. The whistleblower alleged his superior committed "potential malfeasance" during the crafting of the ICA, which was used as the foundation for several investigations of Trump and his advisers during his first term in office. Still, the whistleblower said that back in 2016, he did not view the omission of the suspicious Internet data from the ICA report as "nefarious." However, I later began to consider it possible that some of the reporting might reflect Domain Name Service (DNS) record manipulation by parties other than Russian, he said. After conducting further research, "I came to view some of the reported cyber activity as possibly related to activities of USPERSONS under federal investigation" by special prosecutor Durham, who was probing the Alfa Bank hoax. Suspected Manipulation He said he subsequently provided a data report detailing his suspicions of "manipulation" to Durham's investigators, which remains classified. But they never interviewed him, even tho Rodney Joffe collaborated with the Clinton campaign to create documents and data files tying Trump to the Russian-based Alfa Bank. ugh "I likely had information relevant to ongoing criminal investigations." (Durhams final report makes no mention of the incident and does not even focus on the ICA. The whistleblower report is separate from the Durham report. Attempts to reach the now-retired special prosecutor were unsuccessful.) The whistleblowers reference to U.S. individuals under investigation ostensibly refers to computer scientists led by tech executive and FBI informant Rodney Joffe, who collaborated with Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann to create documents and data files tying Trump to the Russian-based Alfa Bank in the summer of 2016. Sussmann, in turn, gave the materials to a friend at the FBI to investigate. By September 2016, Sussmann had convinced the FBI to open an investigation into an alleged secret backchannel between Trump and Putin based on Domain Name Server records that Durham suspected had been manipulated by the contractors. DNS records are numeric addresses that computers, smartphones, and other devices use to communicate with websites and email servers. After Joffe and his contractors obtained DNS Internet data related to Trump Tower, emails cited by Durham reveal they created an "inference" of Russian contacts and even suggested "faking" DNS traffic to show communications that didn't actually exist. According to an Aug. 20, 2016, email prosecutors uncovered, one contractor offered, "I could fill out a sales form on two websites, faking the other company's email address in each form, and cause them to appear to communicate with each other in DNS. (And other ways I can think of)." Joffe replied that the ability to "provide evidence of *anything* that shows an attempt to behave badly" [by Trump] would make "the VIPs ... happy." According to Joffe, the Clinton campaign "VIPs" were looking for a "true story that could be used as the basis for a closer examination" by the FBI, and any interactions between Trump and Alfa Bank "would be jackpot." But in an Aug. 22, 2016, email, one of the researchers expressed skepticism the scheme would "fly," complaining to Joffe that: "Lets [sic] for a moment think of the best case scenario, where we are able to show (somehow) that DNS communication exists between Trump and R[ussia]. How do we plan to defend against the criticism that this is not spoofed traffic we are observing? There is no answer to that. Lets [sic] assume again that they are not smart enough to refute our "best case" scenario. Rodney, you do realize that we will have to expose every trick we have in our bag to even make a very weak association? Lets [sic] all reflect upon that for a moment. [S]orry folks, but unless we get combine netflow and DNS traffic collected at critical points between suspect organizations, we cannot technically make any claims that would fly public scrutiny. Sorry to say this, we are nowhere close coming [sic] with a plan to attack this problem that will fly in the public domain. The only thing that drive [sic] us at this point is that we just do not like [Trump]." Nevertheless, in materials they provided the FBI, Joffes group contended "odd" Internet traffic on the server reflected hidden communications between the Trump Organization and Alfa Bank. Special Counsel John Durham found Clinton associates conspired to gin up an FBI investigation into Trump. Durham found the Clinton associates conspired to gin up an FBI investigation into Trump based on knowingly false information. He also suggested they manipulated that Internet data. Alfa Bank, which also operates in the U.S., commissioned two studies that found the DNS data compiled by Joffe and his computer operatives was formatted differently than the bank servers DNS logs, and one study posited that the DNS activity may have been artificially created. In his 2023 affidavit, the ODNI whistleblower implied that anti-Trump computer contractors working with the Clinton campaign may have been involved in a similar false flag operation targeting state election networks. He suspected they may have been the source of suspicious connection attempts using "IP [address] ranges historically used by Russian state cyber actors." These "concerns" did not make it into the ICA, he said, because his supervisor excluded them, among other intelligence that did not conform with the narrative he pushed. McCain Connection Although the supervisors name is redacted from the whistleblowers report, records show that the national intelligence officer (NIO) for cyber issues at the time was Vinh Nguyen. He was new to the job in 2016 but received DNI's Exceptional Accomplishment Award the following year. Before the 2016 election, Nguyen worked with Democratic National Committee cybersecurity contractor CrowdStrike to gather intelligence on the alleged Russian hacking of the DNC computer system. Even though the company had publicly blamed Russia during the heated presidential campaign for stealing and then sharing the emails, many of which were published by WikiLeaks, its president, Shawn Henry, later testified in a closed-door congressional hearing that there was no proof that Russian intelligence had exfiltrated emails from the DNC. Nguyen is said to have also overseen election security analysis for the 2018 mid-term elections and 2020 presidential election. He is now the top AI officer at the National Security Agency. People connected to Sen. John McCain helped distribute the now debunked Steele dossier tying Trump to Russia. Federal Election Commission records show that Nguyen has contributed at least $500 to the late GOP Sen. John McCain, his only political donations. Nguyen made the donations while serving as senior national advance representative for McCain's 2008 presidential campaign. He is listed as a member of the McCain Alumni Club, according to the McCain Institute. In 2020, Nguyen was listed among 100 McCain Alumni who endorsed Joe Biden for president. McCain and Biden served in the Senate together and maintained a friendship despite being from different political parties. Following Trump's surprise victory in 2016, McCain played a role in the attempts to link Trump with Russia. On directions from McCain, one of his top staffers from the McCain Institute sought out Christopher Steele and FusionGPS and began working directly with them to distribute their Clinton-funded dossier. The Clinton campaign had hired FusionGPS, which in turn hired Steele to produce the dossier. The now-debunked collection of hearsay and inventions was used by the FBI to obtain a wiretap to spy on the Trump campaign, and later by Clapper and CIA chief John Brennan to buttress the findings of the ICA. On Dec. 9, 2016, the same day Obama convened a meeting to refocus the ICA on Trump, McCain personally provided 16 Steele reports to then-FBI Director James Comey, including five that Steele had not given the agency previously. Then on Dec. 17, Comey discussed the new dossier material with Nguyen's boss, Clapper, over the phone. A few weeks later, in early January 2017, the same McCain Institute aide, David Kramer, gave copies of all of the Steele reports to Buzzfeed, which published them in full under the headline, "These Reports Allege Trump Has Deep Ties to Russia." On Jan. 5, 2017, McCain, as chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, held hearings with Clapper as his lead witness and forcefully reaffirmed the findings of the ICA. The following month, despite the FBI debunking the Alfa Bank hoax and closing its case, the Senate Armed Services Committee "leadership" commissioned a report on the alleged links to Trump. The report was written by Daniel Jones, a FusionGPS and Steele crony, who said the committee put him in touch with Sussmann and Joffe, who provided him with a "dataset of DNS look-ups." Joffe knew McCain from his days working in Arizona. Jones' 687-page report concluded "there was likely human interaction and coordination between personnel working on behalf of Alfa Bank and the Trump Organization," even though his own research team "found no evidence of a secret channel of communications." Turns out the Trump Organization had no access to the email server or any of the systems involved, according to the Durham report. Disney/Sami Drasin By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 08/07/2025 ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade. star Allyshia Gupta has claimed she would've stolen Dale Moss away from Katherine "Kat" Izzo had she arrived in Paradise sooner."It was a very different experience than I thought it would be, like going on a game show vs. a dating show. And I do think that had I come in Day 1 or Day 2 -- the earlier days -- I do think that Dale and I probably would've ended up being coupled up," Allyshia told Serena Pitt and Joe Amabile during the Thursday, August 7 episode of the "Bachelor Happy Hour" podcast."I think we did have a lot more in common than him and Kat did, in some ways."Allyshia, however, didn't show up in Costa Rica until the men were competing in the "Birds of Paradise" performance show.Dale and Allyshia caught eyes and flirted a little bit right in front of Kat, who seemed to think Allyshia was a threat."We did have a really good conversation right away. We hit it off immediately, and we had really good chemistry... I was excited to see [him] there," Allyshia shared.Allyshia said her conversation with Sean after "Birds of Paradise," on the other hand, wasn't great because he was pretty "tipsy."And on top of that, Allyshia recalled, "Dale is more physically my type. I've dated tons of different-looking people, but if I had to say I have a type, it would be tall, dark and handsome. So he fits that bill. Sean is definitely a complete replica of my ex-boyfriend, which also scared me."Allyshia explained, however, that she ended up asking Sean on her date because she knew a Rose Ceremony was right around the corner and receiving Dale's rose was going to be a longshot."Dale was much less likely to give me a rose given he had been with Kat for 10 days at this point," Allyshia noted."And I don't think anybody who is a good person would ditch somebody [after] 10 days for somebody who walked in for one day. So that is kind of the right thing for him to do."Allyshia also claimed that Dale had said he didn't need to go on a date with her for there to be hope for them."He had expressed his interest in going on a date with me but encouraged me that, if I don't pick him, it's not going to change us getting to know each other and it's not going to stop him from wanting to get to know me and continue building something," Allyshia alleged."So it kind of seemed like a no-brainer decision [to ask Sean out]."Allyshia shared how she wanted to get to know both Sean and Dale better but choosing Sean for the date would "guarantee" she could "stick around" and continue her journey to find love.Allyshia confirmed, however, that she wouldn't have accepted a date with Sean if she had zero interest in him.After Allyshia and Sean's date, Sean gave his rose to Allyshia."After the date, I was definitely more interested in Sean than I was at first because it was so easy and natural," Allyshia explained."I just felt very comfortable being around him. We have so much in common... and we opened up about our pasts and upbringings."Allyshia said, at their core, she and Sean were looking for the same things in life, and so she happily accepted his rose.But Allyshia admitted in a confessional on the show that had Dale offered her a rose, she'd be "all for it."Allyshia said she ideally would've liked to pursue Dale more after the Rose Ceremony but the new competitive aspect of the show -- competing for $500,000 -- naturally caused the blossoming couples to solidify and stop dating around.Dale, for his part, ended up giving his rose to Kat, even though he told the cameras that Allyshia seemed more willing to open up to him and be vulnerable.Dale had said Allyshia has many qualities he's looking for in a partner and his future wife.Dale, however, may still have a chance to get to know Allyshia because host Jesse Palmer teased that another chemistry/relationship test is coming up."It's no secret that some of you still have lingering interest in someone else other than your partner," Jesse announces to the cast in a preview of Paradise's upcoming August 11 episode."And very soon, you'll be given the opportunity to explore those interests."Prior to appearing on , Allyshia was an early eliminee on Grant Ellis ' The Bachelor season, which wrapped in March on ABC.Interested in more The Bachelor news? Follow our Bachelor Nation News Page on Facebook or join our The Bachelor Facebook Group As you lug carts full of your most prized possessions into a tiny box that will be your home for the next year, it becomes difficult to imagine how you could possibly make room for anything else. Unfortunately, its impossible to bring a storage box equipped to hold all of the issues that you may have with your roommate labelled 2025-2026 roommate drama. With Donald Trump's tariffs kicking off, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has shown the way to tackle the looming economic challenge. Addressing a public meeting in his Lok Sabha constituency Varanasi last Saturday, Modi urged citizens to adopt the spirit of Swadeshi 'amid global economic uncertainties'. Translated, he meant for the citizens to buy India-made brands instead of foreign ones. Which also presents an opportunity to test your knowledge of Indian brands used in daily life. So take the quiz below and check out how Swadeshi you can get! You have to answer each question to move on to the next. Feature Production: Rajesh Alva/Rediff.com The US move to raise the tariff on most Indian goods to 50 per cent could drag Indias GDP growth for FY26 by 35 to 60 basis points, according to various economists. One basis point (bp) is equal to 0.01 per cent. Illustration: Dominic Xavier/Rediff While domestic consumption may avert a huge blow to growth, experts feel that it would still be a setback for the economy and may require government intervention. If 50 per cent tariff sticks then there could be an impact of 40 to 60 bps on our baseline forecast of 6.3 per cent, said Sakshi Gupta, principal economist, HDFC Bank. Gupta said the impact would be contingent on a number of factors, including final tariff on China, pace of rupee depreciation and recovery in the domestic economy itself. Analysis by Morgan Stanley Research estimates that if all goods exports are subject to a 50 per cent tariff rate, the direct impact on growth is likely to be 60bps. The indirect impact, it said, could be of a similar magnitude, over a period of 12 months. However, if downside risks persist, we anticipate policy support to step up to bolster domestic growth conditions, Morgan Stanley report said. In FY25, Indias total exports to the US stood at US$86.5bn which is 2.2 per cent of the GDP. While several economists are hopeful that the tariff announcement is not tenable and there could be a settlement between the two countries in the 21-days window, given the current situation the GDP growth would take some hit. We should look at the impact the tariffs could have on nominal GDP growth since it is important for corporate revenue growth, credit demand and fiscal accounting. "The CAD could also widen by 50 bps from our current estimate of 0.8 per cent of GDP for FY26 if current 50 per cent trade tariffs stay, but capital flows are what will matter more from a currency point of view, Tanvee Gupta Jain, Chief India Economist, UBS Securities India said. UBS Securities has so far kept its forecast for FY26 unchanged at 6.4 per cent. Gupta said in FY26 there could be a downside impact of 35 bps to GDP growth and 60 bps in FY27. In the worst case there would be a negative impact of 40 basis points for the GDP growth this financial year, if there is no deal and no package for exporters, said Madan Sabnavis, chief economist, Bank of Baroda. With several factors at play, economists feel how the global growth pans out would also play a role in Indias GDP growth. This is a high impact situation with a low probability, said Vivek Kumar, economist, QuantEco Research. A report by Goldman Sachs estimated that if the new additional duty is enforced, then that would constitute a potential drag of 0.6 percentage points to Indias calendar year GDP growth. We see downside risks to our growth estimates for both CY25 and CY26, but are not making any changes to our growth forecasts at the moment, given that there is a three-week window for negotiations until the new incremental tariffs come into effect, the Goldman Sachs report said. A report by Emkay Strategy said that the additional 25 per cent tariff would decimate Indian exporters to the US and bring exports to the US to a near-complete halt, with second-order hits on employment-heavy sectors like textiles and jewellery. Indias high dependence on domestic consumption will avert any catastrophic growth collapse, although we see the need for targeted stimuli to counter such a move, Emkay Strategy said. A year after the RG Kar rape-murder Swarupa Dutt looks at the city where it happened, Kolkata -- a study in dichotomy, at once the self-proclaimed cultural capital of India as also a petri dish for a peculiar rage that breeds crimes against women. IMAGE: A protest outside the CBI office in Kolkata for allegedly tampering with evidence and for the delay in filing an FIR in the R G Kar Medical College rape-murder case. Photograph: ANI Photo I was in Class 6, walking with my grandmother near our home in Calcutta, when I was felt up. It was the first time it had ever happened and it took me a moment to understand that the brush on the posterior was deliberate. The man, (who I realise now was a paedophile), turned around and grinned at me, and walked on. I was scrawny, wearing a green and white printed frock, my hair in two pigtails with matching ribbons. I remember the details because you never forget the first time you encounter that alien emotion -- the feeling of being violated. Did it scar me? No. Did I tell my mom or anyone at home? No It's like your first period, you remember the when, the how, and every bloody detail, but it's just a memory. But yes, it was Calcutta where I was first violated, the city of my birth, the city we spent most of our summer vacations at, as children. I lived in Calcutta only till I was a year old, yet that city draws me close and fills my senses probably more so than where I live now -- Mumbai. My mom used to say she may be physically in Mumbai but her whole being -- her heart and soul -- would always firmly remain in Kolkata. My dad was indifferent as he was Lahore-born and bred -- and only moved to Calcutta after Class 10, just before Partition. But they agreed on one thing -- Calcutta, and the average person on the street -- was always just a hairbreadth away from reckless rage. There was always that latent sense of threat on the streets. In January this year, I was in an Uber with a friend and her daughter, headed to a night club and therefore dressed accordingly (the daughter, not us aunties). In the middle of the narrow lane that led from her house to the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass that connects the length of the city, three men astride bikes blocked the road. They were simply chatting and smoking, but in the middle of the lane. I waited for the driver to honk -- he didn't. It was winter and the sun sets early and it's cold, so the lane, though straddled by houses, was empty. The bikers looked at the car and then at a snail's pace and with evident irritation moved aside. I forgot about it but on the way back to her place, late that night, I told my friend that maybe it's because I always feel safe in Mumbai, but those bikers made me feel distinctly uncomfortable. I remembered the 2019 incident when a woman was dragged out of an Uber and molested by a group of 15-bike borne men in south Kolkata late at night. My friend who had spent decades working in Bengaluru and has just now relocated to Kolkata said she never gets into arguments over, say, small change, or expresses her annoyance verbally on the streets, or at a shop, or with an auto driver. It lies there waiting, a simmering rage beneath their bhadrolok facade, a spark away from combustion. And therein lies the dichotomy for these are people who believe they are the custodians of culture, supping and sipping with Tagore and Bankim, Marx and Engels, Ray and Fellini. And it is possibly constant allusions to this Bengali culture and food, music and films and theatre, pujas and poetry, that has somehow allowed India to forget and maybe dismiss that a year ago on the night of August 8-9, a young doctor working her night shift at the RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata was brutally raped and murdered. Yes, demonstrations and rallies and 'reclaim the night' protests continued for months in the city last year, but apart from one conviction, there are no real answers and therefore no real justice, despite her gutsy parents' tireless attempts at it. Speaking over the phone from Kolkata, the mother of the girl who is referred to as Tilottama, says, "I do certainly believe we will get justice because that is the hope that keeps us alive. "My daughter died on August 9 a year ago, and her dreams died with her. But her death also killed our dreams. "We are only alive because of the hope that we will get justice for her. "If we become despondent, how will we live?" IMAGE: A poster during the RG Kar protests in 2024 says, 'Meyera raat dokhol koro' (Women, seize the night). The parents in an earlier interview have blamed West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for the murder and had said that the chief minister and the police were in collusion and aware of the real culprits in the case. "Nothing will happen unless the Trinamool government is yanked out from Bengal. "The government and the police destroyed critical evidence in our daughter's rape and murder," says the girl's mother. Unfortunately, Mamata Banerjee has set a precedent in her responses to rape. When Banerjee was just a year in as CM, a woman was gangraped at Park Street. She had trashed the rape case as 'shajano ghotona' (fabricated incident) to tarnish her new government. In these 14 years in government, there have horrific rapes and gangrapes at Hanskhali, Kamduni, Kakdwip, Ranaghat, Siuri and Sandeshkhali. She had termed the Hanskhali rape as an 'affair'; protesters in other rapes as 'CPI-M supporters'; and even transferred the woman IPS officer Damayanti Sen who had cracked the Park Street rape case. "It doesn't matter that the CM is a woman because she leads a party of criminals. "All that empathy was facile, fake. "She had been kept informed every step of the way of what was happening in that locked seminar room where my daughter was raped, while we were barred from entry for hours. "We begged the police to allow us to see our daughter's body, but they did not listen and when we finally saw her hours later, even to people as ordinary as us, it was obvious that the crime scene had been disturbed," the mother said. In an earlier interview with Rediff, the father had said that when the door to the seminar room in the R G Kar College was opened they saw there were items in the room that they believe were arranged or planted. He said they knew the moment they saw her body there, much before the CFSL report, which also concluded the same. "We saw that her laptop, mobile phone and shoes were neatly arranged by her body. "A murder has occurred in the room, but there were no signs of struggle. "Nothing was in disarray," the father had told Rediff. Mamata Banerjee had offered the parents money as 'compensation', which they refused, and she even led protests against the rape. "What is she protesting against? "She is protesting against herself? "What she and her government-led police force have done is unconscionable," the girl's mother says. There is a word called obangali (non-Bengali) which is synonymous with disdain because the inference of course is, Bengalis are synonymous with intelligentsia, the 'others' are not. Historian and author Ramachandra Guha in a column for The Telegraph, titled: 'Why Bengal Is To India What France Is To The World' (external link), says how the most popular cussword in Bengali is not referenced with sister/mother as it is in the rest of India, but with the intellect: Boka****a (dumbf**k). It is intellect over pecuniary gains for the Bengali. The coffee house culture where dyspeptic Bengalis gathered, debating 'isms' from capitalism (fie, fie) to Marxism, wrote prose and debated poetry, or argued about the economics of Kant, wearing simple dhoti kurta or pyjama kurta is long dead. But it was birthed in Calcutta. The Bengali died for what he believed in -- the Naxal movement, the Left movement may have been mistakes that set the state back economically by decades and left hundreds dead, but they were rooted in ideals, class equality, atheism and inherent secularism. In that Calcutta of the 1970s young men were pulled out of their homes by the Naxals and killed, bodies thrown in ditches; 'class enemies' like teachers, policemen, politicians annihilated. Fifty years on, Naxalism and its ideals of a classless society have been replaced by a culture steeped in capitalism and consumerism, wont to street thuggery. According to a report by the economic advisory council to the prime minister tabled last year, the Trinamool Congress-led government is leading the state on a path to penury. The report says: 'West Bengal, which held the third-largest share of national GDP at 10.5 per cent in 1960-61, now accounts for only 5.6 per cent in 2023-24. 'It has seen a consistent decline throughout this period.' The lack of jobs has led to migrations to other states and the jobless who remain in the state get on to the streets, itching to get into a brawl. Several of these rowdies are politically connected to the TMC (like the alleged rapist in the South Calcutta Law College case) and this sense of entitlement makes visitors to the city like me, feel a sense of disquiet. Even during the CPI-M years (1977-2011), when Calcuttans say they felt relatively safer, than now under the TMC, horrific violence marred the state. The Marichjhapi massacre, the Sainbari killings, the Nanoor massacre, the murder of Ananda Margi monks were all believed to have be orchestrated by CPI-M cadre. When the CPI-M was shorn of power in 2011, its cadre joined the Trinamool, and the hacking to death, burning of houses of TMC party activists by 'unidentified miscreants' is an often enough occurrence nowadays. Consequently, I have always associated sundown Kolkata with a feeling of unease. Sure, I feel safer in the city than I would in Delhi, Gurgaon or Noida, but the aftertaste of feeling unsafe remains. The NCRB statistics on crime in 2022 said that India had a national average of 66.4% but 13 states and UTs topped that number with Delhi heading the list at 144% and West Bengal at a much lower 71.8%. However, if you have lived in Kolkata all your life, this disquiet is probably lacking. My sister-in-law, for instance, says she never feels unsafe in the city but would still never use public transport late at night alone. Safety is a feeling. When those bikers blocked the street, I immediately avoided eye contact and neither did I push the driver to honk, which I probably would in Mumbai. That law student at South Calcutta Law College must not have felt unsafe to stay back after college hours. The R G Kar doctor did not feel unsafe at her place of work. In fact, her parents say that she always loved going to work and that the hospital was her second home, her haven, her safe place. "On the night of the 8th (August 2024) she was unwell and I told her not to go but she said that if she did a 36-hour night duty she wouldn't have do it again the whole month. "In fact, we had an invitation that day for dinner but she said she wouldn't attend. "Mothers are supposed to have a sixth sense, but I did not. I did not even dream that she would be unsafe in the hospital that night and I failed her." She says their lives have been turned upside down in the last one year. "Our daughter was our whole world and when we lost her the world as we knew it changed. "We live because we have to get justice. We eat so that we have the strength to go to court, to fight the case. "She would have been an MD by now and married in November." West Bengal heads to elections next year and the BJP, the main Opposition party in the state, hopes to increase its seat count from the present 65. "We hope that we will be able to send our respected health minister from the 14th floor (Mamata Banerjee is also the health minister and her office is on the 14th floor in Nabanna) to jail. "We don't want to wait for a change in government," says Tilottama's mother. On the 9th, the parents have called for a Nabanno Abhijan (March to the Secretariat) and on the 14th of August, a pre-Independence 'Raat Dokhol Korun (Claim the Night)' rally led by women, wherever they are, all over India. The victim is also referred to as 'Abhaya', the 'fearless one', after the incident, much like the Delhi gangrape victim was called 'Nirbhaya'. Indian law forbids naming a rape victim (whether alive or dead) and these are names we choose for them. This doctor had 28 bite marks on her body, and we know the horrific brutality of the Nirbhaya case. Why wouldn't they be frightened? Her mother says, "When we lie awake at night we can't stop thinking about how our daughter must have screamed for help. "How terrified she would have been... We couldn't do anything to help her. We failed her." I want to move to a senior living home in Kolkata in my dotage (which isn't far away) of which there are several high-end ones. I just hope by then, it will be a Kolkata where my mind is without fear. Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff The Chengdu World Games officially opened on Thursday night. A Pakistani journalist described the opening ceremony as stunning and unexplainable. Produced by Xinhua Global Service 'I hope we can move towards peace, stability, and national unity.' 'I believe most Kashmiris want that too.' IMAGE: Jammu and Kashmir Police personnel search a bookshop in Srinagar to see if any of the 25 banned books are being sold, August 7, 2025. Photograph: Umar Ganie for Rediff David Devadas has spent over three decades reporting from Kashmir, becoming one of the most respected voices on the region's complex realities. His book In Search Of A Future (The Kashmir Story) -- published in 2007, and lauded by former defence minister George Fernandes, R&AW chiefs and state governors -- was banned by the Jammu and Kashmir administration on Wednesday, August 6, 2025. Devadas, who has consistently advocated for peace, dialogue and national unity, expressed surprise at the ban, especially in the absence of any formal communication or clear justification. Known for his objective reporting and deep engagement with Kashmir's socio-political landscape, Devadas views the sudden ban as not only baffling but potentially indicative of deeper political motivations, particularly in a post-Article 370 climate. "One wonders if it could possibly be that elements within the government are getting back at me for criticising them in recent articles," David Devadas tells Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff in an e-mail interview. Your book In Search Of A Future (The Kashmir Story), which has been banned on Wednesday, was published in 2007. After 18 years, what do you think the government found objectionable about it that it has been banned? Heard it was banned by the government of J&K, not the Government of India. There was nothing objectionable in it. This government decision baffles me, since former defence minister George Fernandes had told me when it was first published that this book was "exactly as it should be". He attended the launch function even though he was unwell. So did Dr Najma Heptulla, who later became a Union minister in the Narendra Modi government, and then a state governor. Another of my books was released by the former governor of the state, Mr N N Vohra. Former R&AW chief A S Dulat participated in a discussion on the book. It surely couldn't be that foreign powers, whose roles I have exposed, have found a way to engineer this! One wonders if it could possibly be that elements within the government are getting back at me for criticising them in recent articles. Why do you think the ban has been taken now, since the books have been in circulation for years, if not decades? I fear that this might be in preparation for something else, but I hope we can move towards peace, stability, and national unity. I believe that most Kashmiris want that too. Were you informed about what the criterion for banning these 25 books and not others on Kashmir? No. I have received no official communication. When you published your book in 2007, did it create any controversy? Ironically, this book was criticised from contrary viewpoints at the time. Some pilloried it for not being even-handed, not backing 'azaadi' and for espousing peace and dialogue. At any point of time in the last 18 years were you told by anyone in authority that your book was 'anti-India'? No. In fact, the opposite. Mr G C (Gary) Saxena, former governor of J&K and former R&AW chief, praised it highly when he participated in the discussion at the launch of the book. Dr Farooq Abdullah, former chief minister of the state, told me it was 'absolutely truthful'. And Mr Naresh Chandra, former Cabinet secretary, once told me about this book: 'aapne toh badhiya kitaab likhi hai. As a journalist you have covered Kashmir for 30 years, when this decision to ban 25 books came in, how did you feel? How will it push forward the government stand in Kashmir? In fact, I was the first to write in 1988 that lava was gathering and would explode at some point. I brought out how bad the situation was in 1990, after I visited Kashmir in February that year. During that visit, I went around Habba Kadal on foot to cover the terror and plight of the Kashmiri Pandits. I was praised by leading editors and others for my objective and eye-opening reports throughout the '90s. Was there any other book on the banned list that you felt surprised to see there and you felt it was not at all justified to ban it? One name that springs to mind is the redoubtable Mr A G Noorani, whose work is meticulously researched. The government says these books give a false narrative about Kashmir often disguised as historical or political commentary by glorifying terrorism and inciting violence against the Indian State. Are Kashmiri youth so naive that they will take up guns against the Indian State after reading books? There is absolutely nothing false in my book. In fact, some of those who espoused 'azaadi' at the time didn't like it at all. One of them told me that they went through it with a fine-tooth comb to find a mistake, but could find nothing beyond a grammatical error in a line I had quoted in Kashmiri. Some say after the abolition of Article 370 the government wants to set a new Hindutva narrative in Kashmir regarding the history of the state, and that is the reason these 25 books were banned. As a long time Kashmir resident and observer, do you agree with this? You will have to ask the government what it intends. We thought Kashmir had returned to normalcy post the abrogation of Article 370, as that was the narrative set by the government. Has the Government of India been really successful in winning the hearts of Kashmiris? Will the process be helped in any way by banning these books? I wonder if my book has been included in this list because I have written about inconsistencies and failures of the recent past as well as accomplishments. Sadly, we now see a more lethal sort of terrorism in Kashmir than we had seen in around two decades. As a senior journalist covering Kashmir, what advice would you give to the Government of India or rather the lieutenant governor of J&K to win over the hearts of Kashmiris? They could follow the example of Mr A B Vajpayee, who won the hearts and minds of the majority of Kashmiris. What is your next step, do you plan to challenge the ban? I have just heard about it. I haven't even had a chance to read it in detail. 'I'm sure those few terrorists who are continuing to operate in the Valley are not reading books.' 'Are they trying to tell us that there are certain people who first intellectualise themselves and then go about picking up guns?' 'It is absolutely absurd.' IMAGE: Jammu and Kashmir police personnel search bookshops for the banned books. Photograph: Umar Ganie for Rediff Kashmiri journalist and author Anuradha Bhasin dismisses the charges against her banned book A Dismantled State: The Untold Story of Kashmir After Article 370 as "absurd" and "senseless", asserting that neither her work nor others on the banned -- in all 25 books have been banned -- list glorify terrorism or promote secessionism. In a candid interview with Prasanna D Zore/Rediff, Bhasin calls the Jammu and Kashmir administration's ban -- which functions under Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha's authority -- on the 25 books a deliberate attempt to suppress dissent and erase counter-narratives under the guise of maintaining peace. Jammu and Kashmir is a Union Territory with a legislative assembly, similar to Delhi and Puducherry. It includes the regions of Jammu and the Kashmir Valley. Criticism of the State, Bhasin insists, is not sedition -- it is essential for democracy. Her book, she adds, is rooted in research, not ideology or provocation. Does your book A Dismantled State: The Untold Story of Kashmir After Article 370 'promote false narrative and secessionism, glorify terrorism and mislead Kashmiri youth'? Definitely not. Any books that are published involve rigorous research and work, and even through the whole publishing process as we work with publishers, each and every detail is authenticated. In the case of Kashmir, there is a double layer of legal vetting to ensure that everything is right. Publishers are already wary of what is published about Kashmir. So I can vouch for my book, and I can even vouch for many of the books listed here that I have read. None of these give a false narrative or glorify terrorism as the charges suggest. It's absolutely absurd, senseless, and has no basis in fact. My book is not even about terrorism. It is about Jammu and Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370 and what happened. It is based on what was existing in the public domain, based on interviews with people, and based on analysis of government actions and their policies. It is critical of the government, but criticism of the government does not automatically become glorification of terrorism. Criticism of the government is a democratic right and cannot be construed as a false narrative. In fact, it is based on rigorous research. The books listed are about history. It seems very absurd, very whimsical that a few books have been picked up. We don't know the reason. I doubt if those who have banned the books have even read them. Why was your book banned only in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir? Obviously, the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir administration does not have jurisdiction over the rest of the country. So it's banned in the erstwhile state, probably just the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, not even Ladakh. There is this whole absurdity about the entire action. Why it has been done seems to be in line with the government policy of erasing all counter-narratives so that only the official narrative remains. They've already successfully silenced local journalism. If you see, barring a few journalists who occasionally report something meaningful, local journalism is only full of front pages that read like advertisements of the government. Having done that, they want to erase all knowledge, all information about Kashmir that they are uncomfortable with. They want to crack down on dissent and counter-narratives. An additional reason is probably that they want to induce fear in the minds of Kashmiris so that people are even scared of buying and reading books, and maybe use this as a pretext for raids across parts of the Valley to ensure these books are not available. This becomes a pretext to further exacerbate the surveillance state that they have created in the last few years. Apart from your book, 24 other books have been banned for allegedly disturbing peace. Yet the Government of India states normalcy has returned to Kashmir. What does this contradiction reveal? On one hand, they are saying there is peace and terrorism has been brought to naught. How come these books are being banned then? I'm sure those few militant groups or terrorists who are continuing to operate in the Valley are not reading books. Are they trying to tell us that there are certain kinds of people who first intellectualise themselves and then go about picking up guns? It is absolutely absurd. There is no sense in this logic, besides being a contradiction of their claims. Is peace in the Valley real? The Valley is much calmer than it earlier was, but calm and peace are two different things. Peace comes with justice. Peace comes with the ability to speak freely. Since there is immense fear in the Valley and all parts of Jammu and Kashmir, when people are unable to talk freely, when civil society disappears, when media disappears -- these are signs that tell us about the kind of peace that is existing. The calm is artificial. It has been maintained through an all-pervasive surveillance system that is in place. 'As one former Indian diplomat put it to me, Delhi has access to the White House, but Islamabad has access to Mar-a-Lago.' IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi makes a point as US President Donald J Trump, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio Listen in at the White House, February 13, 2025. Photograph: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters "Washington is showing itself to be an unreliable partner. So, there is every incentive for Modi to come to an understanding with China and to keep Russia close," says Milan Vaishnav, Senior Fellow and Director South Asia Programme at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Dr Vaishnav is an incisive observer of India-US relations, Indian politics, economy, society and hosts the popular weekly podcast Grand Tamasha. He holds a PhD, MA, MPhil in political science from Columbia University. "Whether India and China can actually work out some of their disagreements depends more on Beijing than New Delhi given the former's intransigence. But India will want to double down on its strategy of cultivating multiple partners," Dr Vaishnav tells Rediff's Archana Masih on the rising India-US tensions over Trump's 50% tariffs and India's options. Where does the slapping of 50 per cent tariff by President Trump leave India-US relations? The 50 per cent tariff leaves US-India relations in their worst spot since the 1998 nuclear tests and the subsequent US sanctions. The big difference this time is the volatility and unpredictability. From one day to the next, no one knows what Trump will do. I think there is still a way for the two sides to strike a deal, but there will be massive trust deficit now -- one that the US and India have spent a quarter-century trying to remedy. Quite simply, this is not how one treats a strategic partner, no matter how big the policy differences might be on issue A or B. What has irked Trump so much? Is it personal because Prime Minister Modi refused to endorse Trump's claims of bringing about the India-Pakistan ceasefire? It is impossible to get inside of Trump's head, but the factors seem both personal as well as structural. Trump is frustrated by his inability to bring Putin to the negotiating table and has linked India (through its oil purchases) to the Russian war effort. At the same time, there is no coherent China policy in Washington today, and it is the collective anxiety shared by Delhi and Washington vis-a-vis China which has often acted as the glue bringing the two sides together. On a personal level, yes, I think Trump feels betrayed by India's refusal to acknowledge his personal role in the ceasefire. He often touts his record as a 'peacemaker', and it is not a coincidence that he mentions his role in the India-Pakistan ceasefire on what seems like a daily basis. IMAGE: Pakistan's Field Marshal Asim Munir. Photograph: Inter-Services Public Relations/Handout Are India-US relations back to the cold freeze of the late 1990s? I don't think we're back to the cold freeze, but we're moving in that direction. The big difference is that there are a robust set of interactions, engagements, modes of cooperation in place now that did not exist in 1998. These span science, defence, technology, education, and development. The two countries have built a pretty wide set of bilateral connections that I do not believe will switch off overnight. What is the significance of Prime Minister Modi's visit to China for the Shanghai Corporation Organisation summit in view of the rising tensions over US tariffs? Will his interactions with Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin incite Trump more? Given the turn in US-India relations, there is ever more reason for India to hedge its bets. Washington is showing itself to be an unreliable partner. So, there is every incentive for Modi to come to an understanding with China and to keep Russia close. Whether India and China can actually work out some of their disagreements depends more on Beijing than New Delhi given the former's intransigence. But India will want to double down on its strategy of cultivating multiple partners. IMAGE: Modi with Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and Chinese President Xi Jinping during the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, in June 2019. Photograph: Sputnik/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin via Reuters Pakistan army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir is reportedly going to make a second visit to the US in two months. What is the import of this development? Is it connected with Pakistan's playing go between with Iran? The whiplash in US-Pakistan relations is something to behold. I certainly could not have predicted it. While Iran could be a part of it, I also think that Pakistan has very deftly used personal diplomacy to connect with Trump, his family, and his inner circle. As one former Indian diplomat put it to me, Delhi has access to the White House, but Islamabad has access to Mar-a-Lago. Feature Presentation: Aslam Hunani/Rediff 'What the Americans want is to destabilise Iran. For destabilising Iran, you need access. 'One access is through Iraq. The other access is through Pakistan.' IMAGE: United States President Donald John Trump. Photograph: @WhiteHouse/X Pakistan's strategic geography has once again catapulted India's inimical neighbour into the spotlight of American foreign policy calculations. In an interview with Prasanna D Zore/Rediff, Avinash Mohananey, the retired Intelligence Bureau officer who spent a considerable time in Pakistan on security assignments, dissects the complex geopolitical dynamics that have made Pakistan army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir a favoured interlocutor for US President Donald Trump. From Iran's nuclear programme to Afghanistan's lithium reserves, Pakistan's unique positioning at the crossroads of America's most pressing strategic concerns has transformed it from a neglected ally into an indispensable partner. Mr. Mohananey reveals how Pakistan's borders with Iran, Afghanistan and China create unprecedented opportunities for American intelligence operations and economic interests. As Trump explores oil exploration deals and deepens military cooperation with Islamabad, the implications extend far beyond bilateral relations, potentially reshaping the entire South Asian strategic landscape and challenging India's assumptions about its own relationship with Washington. What makes Pakistan General Asim Munir a go-to man for US President Donald Trump, especially when the US didn't even condemn Pakistan for the Pahalgam terrorist attack? In India, we forget the geographical location of Pakistan and the strategic edge that it gives because of its geography. Apart from India, which is of course in a way a US ally, Pakistan touches three important countries of varying concerns for the US. If we begin with the western side (of Pakistan), it is Iran. America and Israel have an inimical relationship with Iran. Iran is one place where America fought a war. They also bombed Iran recently, as earlier last month. What the Americans want is to destabilise Iran. For destabilising Iran, you need access. It can't be aerial. If you recall, there was talk of changing the government in Iran or regime change (during the Israel-Iran conflict). The Israelis and Americans were talking about regime change. They said we don't have any issue with Iran, but we have an issue with the regime. They thought they could do it the way they did in 1953, replacing Mossadegh with the Shah (The replacement of then Iranian prime minister Mohammad Mosaddegh with Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in 1953 involved a US-UK backed coup). For that, they need access to Iran. One access is through the Iraq side. The other access is through the Pakistan side, because there is an ongoing separatist movement going on in Iran in the Sistan-Balochistan province (the only Iranian province which shares its borders with both Pakistan and Afghanistan), which touches the Balochistan of Pakistan. How can they infiltrate their CIA and Mossad agents to destabilise the regime there, to keep tabs on its nuclear programme? They need ground penetration beyond aerial surveillance. Can you elaborate on how Pakistan facilitates American operations against Iran? IMAGE: Field Marshal Asim Munir addresses Pakistan troops in the Tilla field firing ranges in Mangla. Photograph: Inter-Services Public Relations/Handout via Reuters If you recall, there has been escalation in the activities of Jaish al-Adl, a terrorist organisation which is a Sunni organisation (operating from Iran and getting safe haven by Pakistan). In January last year, on January 16, Iran fired ballistic missiles on targets in Pakistan. Then Pakistan retaliated two days later. Iran was targeting Jaish al-Adl or at least sending a message to Pakistan that we will not tolerate this Jaish al-Adl business. Jaish al-Adl can only be supported if it has to be made a potent organisation through the supply of weapons and finances by some external power. It has to be CIA and Mossad only. If they have to operate, then obviously they need a land border from where weapons can go and their agents can penetrate. That is why Pakistan becomes an important country for America on the Iranian issue. There is one possibility -- though it's not clear -- that during the Asim Munir and Trump meeting, probably the Americans wanted land access to Iran because this is how the Pakistanis were used during the Afghan wars, targeting the Russians. There is an old history of Pakistan doing the strategic dirty work of America. What about Afghanistan and China -- how do they factor into this Pakistan-US equation? After Iran, the second country is Afghanistan. In Afghanistan, the issue that affects America is, number one, the presence of China and the possibility of China taking minerals from there, particularly lithium. There are large reserves of lithium in Afghanistan. If they want to create trouble for China, they need the Pakistan border. Pakistan has about a 1,600 kilometre long border with Afghanistan. Number two is the presence of Islamic State Khorasan Province (ISIS-K) that affects the security of America. If you recall, Trump in his first address to Congress (to the United States Congress in his second term) talked about one Sharifullah who was sent from Pakistan. He was an Afghan national believed to be the mastermind of the Abbey Gate bombing in August 2021 (On August 26, 2021, during the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, a suicide bomber from the ISIS-K carried out an attack at Abbey Gate, the main entrance to the Hamid Karzai international airport in Kabul killing 13 US soldiers and 170 Afghans.) when the Americans were departing. The crucial thing (that worries the US) is Pakistan's growing proximity with China. China has become the number one economic and strategic competitor of America at the global level. America would like to gradually wean away Pakistan from the Chinese strategic and economic embrace. Post the Afghanistan conflict, Pakistan was by and large ignored by the Americans. But now since the China issue has become dominant, this (friendship with Pakistan and Munir) becomes important. How does the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) concern the Americans? In Pakistan, they have issues of minerals, Chinese interests, Chinese economy -- everything. CPEC is the flagship project of BRI (the Belt and Road Initiative). If the CPEC doesn't fail, then BRI becomes strong and more countries will be attracted to China. They have to ensure that CPEC doesn't succeed. They want the critical minerals, particularly lithium, which has contiguous reserves in Balochistan also, and other critical minerals which China may use for extraction and take on the CPEC to China. Right now there is the Sandak project from where China is taking ore in liquid form through the Karakoram Highway to Xinjiang province. What's the significance of the oil exploration talks between Trump and Pakistan? The issue of oil exploration is too premature for any actual oil exploration. But the possibility is that they (the US) may send some teams there. They may start extracting critical minerals in Balochistan by entering into contracts. Along with the American companies will come the CIA and Mossad operators who can use the Pakistan-Afghanistan and Pakistan-Iran borders for their activities. 'VS was a man who devoted every moment of his life, from the beginning till his death at the age of 100, to the struggle against the injustices inflicted upon land, nature and the common man.' IMAGE: Velikkakathu Sankaran Achuthanandan, known as just VS, passed away at the age of 101. All photographs: K A Sudhakaran On the 21st of July 2025, a chapter in Kerala politics ended. Velikkakathu Sankaran Achuthanandan, known as just VS, passed away at the age of 101. When he became the chief minister of Kerala at the age of 82, he was the oldest person to be CM. But he was one of the most sharp, agile and physically active persons at 82. Shobha Warrier met him during the 2011 assembly election campaign and listened to his fiery speeches as he campaigned in Palakkad. He told Shobha then that there should be no retirement age for politicians. He was 87 then. When Shobha met him at his residence in 2014 in Thiruvananthapuram, he was 90 years old and the oldest Communist in India. K V Sudhakaran, a former journalist, served as VS' press secretary. He is the author of Oru Samara Noottandu, VS' biography, published when the Marxist turned 100. "At the age of 90, VS started learning Hindi from a university professor. The only thing he failed in was learning to operate a computer," Sudhakaran tells Shobha. IMAGE: VS with his supporters. You worked very closely with VS as his press secretary and also wrote his biography. Do you remember when your association with VS started? That was in the early 1990s when I worked as the news correspondent of Desabhimani (the CPI-M's Malayalam daily newspaper) from Alappuzha. VS was also living in Punnapra in Alappuzha then. I was just an ordinary news correspondent while VS was a (CPI-M) politbureau member and a tall Opposition leader. His image was that of a very strict, no-nonsense political leader. Naturally, I could look at him only with respect and trepidation. Because we were in the same place, I got the opportunity to cover a lot of his public meetings. In those days, he used to speak for at least one-and-a-half hours at his public meetings. It used to start with an international issue about which he spoke for half an hour, then he moved to a national issue, and finally an issue connected to state politics. This was the pattern he followed. After each meeting, I used to write a report giving stress to one issue he spoke about. Though I was a bit scared of him, I used to check with him whether I could highlight a particular issue. Sometimes, he agreed and sometimes, he wanted to highlight another issue. That was how we grew closer. I must tell you something here. In our conversations, he insisted that I called him VS and not Sir or Sakhavu (comrade). This instruction was not just to me, he wanted even children also address him as VS. He was happy when people called him VS. He believed as VS, he was closer to people. The same closeness, he didn't feel when he was Sir or Sakhavu. How did you get the opportunity to be his press secretary? Our close association continued even when I worked in various bureaus in Kerala. In 2010, I was posted as the news editor in Thiruvananthapuram. When his press secretary left in 2013, I got a call from his son, Dr Arun Kumar. He said VS wanted to speak to me and gave the phone to VS. The only thing he said was can you come to Cantonment House (the leader of the Opposition's residence I took an auto and reached there in no time. I had no idea why he called me. When I met him, he said I want you to be my press secretary. What is your opinion? I replied, 'If VS took such a decision and the party agreed to it, I am ready to take up the job.' At the June 2nd party meeting, they took the decision to appoint me as VS' press secretary. On the 5th of June 2013, I joined duty. What was your first assignment? The Kerala assembly was in session then. In those days, assembly sessions started at 8.30 am. So, my first duty was accompanying him to the assembly. He asked me to come straight to the assembly. He asked me whether I was aware of what happened in the assembly. Because I had covered the assembly proceedings as a reporter, I was aware of what happened there. VS was known for the way he attacked his political opponents with his wit and sharp words. How was it for you to witness his days as the Opposition leader? Oommen Chandy was the chief minister then. VS was in top form especially when he attacked Oommen Chandy in the Solar case. As his press secretary, it was my duty to prepare his speeches and update him about what was happening in the state. I used to read out the speech I had prepared, and while I read, he would sit there with his eyes closed. Initially I thought he was sleeping but it was his way of concentrating, with his eyes closed. He would absorb every word I read out, and he would speak based on the input I gave. I was bowled over by his memory and concentration. When you observe his speeches, you will see that he not only used his face and voice but every part of his body. That was why he could make his audience, thousands and thousands of them, go crazy. During election time, there would be many public meetings and I used to give him inputs while we travelled from one place to another in the car. IMAGE: K V Sudhakaran. I can only compare his public speeches to that of a dancer who mesmerises his audience by telling a story while dancing to the music. It was a performance, maybe that of a Kathakali artist. As he performed, he could make the audience also move along with him as he could efficiently connect with any audience. And that was the VS magic. It was quite a memorable experience for me to associate with him as a small part of some of his speeches. VS did not have much formal education, but he was extremely aware of what was happening in the world... Yes, he couldn't study beyond the 7th standard because of poverty but his grasping power was astounding. He picked everything from his close association with people. In fact, it was from people that he absorbed all his energy. Can you believe it was he took the steps to bring in open-source Linux to all the government departments in Kerala when he was chief minister when Microsoft ruled everywhere? Also, the language he used was not that of a person who had studied only up to the 7th standard. I have not seen anyone who could use such beautiful Malayalam to communicate with people. He also showed great desire to learn new things all the time. At the age of 90, when he was the Opposition leader, he started learning Hindi from a Hindi university professor. After going to Delhi quite often as a politbureau member, he felt it would help him if he learnt Hindi. I have seen VS saying, 'Namaskar! Aayiye' to the professor when he came to the Cantonment House to teach him! The only thing he failed in was learning to operate a computer. IMAGE: Oru Samara Noottandu, the VS biography. When did you decide to write his biography? I used to talk to him about his life and took notes when I was his press secretary, but I could not go beyond the notes at that time. From 2018 to 2023, I was the state information commissioner and naturally, writing the book got delayed. But when VS was turning 100 in October 2023, I thought it was high time I wrote his biography. Unfortunately, he could not attend the book launch as he was bedridden after a stroke in October 2019. He was not conscious till his death, for six years. I feel sad that VS could not read or comment on the book I wrote about him. How do you think future generations will remember VS? Here was a man who had devoted every moment of his life, from the beginning till his death at the age of 100, to the struggle against the injustices inflicted upon land, nature and the common man. Photographs curated by Manisha Kotian/Rediff Feature Presentation: Rajesh Alva/Rediff '...they always address problems superficially, never tackling root causes.' 'Currently, the policy response will focus on immediate relief -- getting people to safety, providing facilities, clearing debris.' 'This is necessary, but once immediate relief operations end, everything returns to 'normal' without addressing underlying vulnerabilities.' IMAGE: A road is inundated with rainwater in Dharali, Uttarkashi, August 5. Photograph: @UttarkashiPol X/ANI Photo In the concluding segment of his two-part interview with Prasanna D Zore/Rediff, Dr Pradeep Srivastava, associate professor at IIT Roorkee, warns that flash floods will keep devastating the Himalayas unless India overhauls its priorities, infrastructure planning, and mountain-specific engineering. Part 1 of the Interview: 'This Wasn't A Cloudburst...' In your 2021 interview, you mentioned these disasters are unstoppable. Do you feel we haven't learned adequate lessons in the four years since then? I had emphasised that there's an urgent need to develop one Himalaya-centric institution by bringing together all Himalayan states. This institution should focus exclusively on Himalaya-related research, study mountain-specific engineering challenges, and develop appropriate engineering materials and design solutions. Currently, we have 17-18 IITs, multiple NITs -- but the engineering education and knowledge we're creating is failing in mountain environments. It's simply not mountain-centric. The Himalayan context -- in terms of its climate fragility, complex tectonics, unique landscape, and even cultural aspects -- is not being adequately addressed by conventional engineering solutions. We've been saying this continuously, but since our voice represents a small academic community, it often goes unheard. What would this Himalaya-centric institution look like? This should involve all Himalayan states -- irrespective of political party lines. Whether it's Himachal Pradesh, Kashmir, Ladakh, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, or Assam -- they should collaborate to develop one comprehensive Himalayan research institution. We shouldn't hesitate to bring in international experts, train our people extensively, send 10 to 20 people abroad for specialised training so they return and conduct Himalaya-centric research. This entire initiative needs to be heavily incentivised because mountain research is challenging and requires dedicated commitment. What about major infrastructure projects like Char Dham Yatra roads and strategic connectivity with China? IMAGE: A portion of a road in Bhatwari area is seen severely damaged after flash floods hit various places in Uttarkashi, August 6, 2025. Photograph: Video Grab/ANI Look, we have emotional attachments -- we have 150 crore people in India, so emotions are natural. But we need to be practical. This shouldn't be linked purely with patriotism or nationalism. This should be directly connected to scientific knowledge creation and evidence-based planning. We need to first accept a hard truth: Our existing IITs and NITs -- whatever number we have -- have failed to provide adequate solutions for mountain engineering challenges. We must accept this reality before we can think fresh and develop new approaches. The Char Dham Yatra roads that have been constructed, and roads built for strategic connectivity in case of conflicts -- for these projects, extensive mountain slope areas have been cleared of forests. You can see the environmental impact of such decisions. How does this compare with what other countries are doing in similar mountain regions? Our neighbour China is undertaking all kinds of development activities seemingly without much consideration for disaster implications. Disasters happen there too, but if we evaluate their infrastructure preparedness on a scale of one to ten compared to their infrastructure, we would rank below two. My point is this: Whatever development is inevitable will happen. Where 100 people traditionally live, if 10,000 people are now traveling for pilgrimage or tourism, we absolutely have to develop supporting infrastructure. We are free citizens of a democratic country, and people have the right to travel and access these areas. But our interventions need to be sustainable and scientifically planned. If trees are cut for development, how will carbon sequestration (Carbon sequestration stores carbon dioxide in trees, soil, or technology. Cutting trees reduces this, harming climate unless offset by alternatives) be maintained? What alternative environmental arrangements will be implemented? We need comprehensive planning for all these aspects. Do you attribute incidents like flash floods in Dharali to accelerating climate change and increased frequency of extreme weather events? Climate change is manifesting equally across the world. The question is: Why do these disasters disproportionately affect our region compared to developed nations? The answer lies in what economists call the Global South phenomenon -- countries below the Brandt Line (the Brandt Line divides richer Global North from poorer Global South based on economic development levels) face significant challenges in information flow and knowledge translation. Climate change is occurring in America, Canada, Australia, and China too. But if you examine disaster impact statistics, proportionally more devastating consequences occur in Global South countries. This happens because Global North countries invest heavily in knowledge flow -- ensuring that knowledge generated by scientists, professors, and experts gets effectively translated to ground-level implementation. This translation process requires substantial financial investment. In our case, knowledge is being generated, but we cannot afford the cost of translating it into practical, implementable solutions. This represents a fundamental political and economic challenge in knowledge flow systems. Are you saying the knowledge exists but implementation is the problem? IMAGE: A view of the Bhagirathi river after heavy rainfall in Chinyalisour, Uttrakhand, August 6. Photograph: Francis Mascarenhas/Reuters Exactly. It's not a knowledge problem -- it's a knowledge flow problem. It's fundamentally about translating existing knowledge into actionable solutions. Everyone with local education knows which side of a hill slope is safe for construction. Traditional communities have survived in these areas for centuries -- their settlements remain largely undamaged. But the modern infrastructure we've developed simply doesn't survive these natural events. You'll afford proper implementation only when you assign equal value and equal weight to every human life. Simply distributing blankets and food after disasters, adopting a few children, or building schools -- while necessary -- won't solve the fundamental problem. What infrastructure design and risk frameworks do you recommend for these extreme geological events? I'm 55 years old, and honestly, our current generation's state of knowledge is perhaps insufficient for these challenges. The new students and coming generation are more capable with access to better technology and methodologies. We need to present them with these complex problems and allow them the freedom to fail and innovate. But here's the current problem: When our students get admitted to BTech programmes, they fear only one thing -- getting low marks and missing out on a 50 lakh rupee job package. This security-oriented mindset we've created has killed innovation completely. Students now focus entirely on job security rather than solving real-world problems. How does this affect research and development in critical areas like studying the Himalayan topography, the reasons behind flash floods in Himalayas, the growing instances of landslides, etc? We're stuck in a vicious cycle where everyone -- students, researchers, institutions -- only wants to make secure moves. Everyone's afraid of failing. The government system reinforces this: If you fail once, your scholarship stops, you won't get admission next time. So we don't have intellectual freedom to think creatively and take risks. This applies to researchers too. If you take a 2 crore rupee grant from the ministry of science and technology and your project fails, you won't get future funding. You have to predict expected outcomes in advance. So scientists only pursue research they know will succeed. Earlier, there used to be exploration, then innovation and invention, followed by applied research. Now researchers aren't even doing genuine research -- only incremental knowledge addition. This is the reality across India and most Global South countries. What specific message does the Dharali incident send to decision makers and planners in India? I'll be blunt. Our planners -- the IAS officers who execute policy -- receive training only in crisis management. When any crisis occurs, they're trained to manage it reactively. They are not trained in sustainable development planning, and frankly, they are not expected to do long-term planning. The system trains them only to follow directives from political leadership. When ministers or lawmakers visit disaster sites, they expect immediate visible action on the ground. So our administrative system is trained only to follow orders and implement quick fixes. The fundamental problem with quick fixes is they always address problems superficially, never tackling root causes. Currently, the policy response will focus on immediate relief -- getting people to safety, providing facilities, clearing debris. This is necessary, but once immediate relief operations end and debris is cleared, everything returns to 'normal' without addressing underlying vulnerabilities. At least 65 families from India and the United Kingdom who lost kin in the horrific June 12 Air India plane crash have hired prominent United States-based law firm Beasley Allen. IMAGE: A fire officer stands next to the wreckage of the crashed Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft in Ahmedabad on June 13, 2025. Photograph: Adnan Abidi/Reuters The law firm's aviation attorney Mike Andrews visited the crash site in Meghaninagar area in Ahmedabad before coming to Vadodara city, where he met some of the victim families. While talking to the reporters here on Friday, Andrews said the families have an option of filing a product liability claim in a US court depending on the findings of the ongoing investigation. Families who have contacted the law firm want to know what happened, why it happened and what are the options they have, Andrews added. He urged the Union government to release the data of the flight data recorder as well as cockpit voice recorder so that lawyers and experts can analyse it and explore further legal options. On June 12, Air India flight AI 171, a Boeing 787-8 aircraft en route to London Gatwick, crashed into a medical hostel complex shortly after take off from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport. The aircraft burst into flames, killing 241 out of 242 people onboard and 19 individuals on the ground, including four medical students. "We visited the crash site and spoke with some of the individuals who were there. We were able to take some photographs and get a feeling of the size of the scene. We met families from the UK and India, and they all expressed their burning desire for answers, for transparency and information," said Andrews. According to his media team, the majority of those 65 families from India and UK hail from Gujarat and neighbouring Diu. "We currently represent 65 families who are citizens of both India and the UK. Legal options are based on the data and what investigations reveal. It will give us an idea which entity may or may not be responsible. If Boeing is found to be responsible for this crash, we anticipate the cases will be filed in the Federal court in the US," said Andrews. He asserted the best place to hold companies accountable is in the USA using product liability laws available there. "The US legal system is set up in a way that an individual, a consumer or family, can stand on a level playing field with a multinational firm such as Boeing, look them in the eye and request accountability," he claimed. "We don't know whose error was that. The allegation is that a switch was removed. A very small piece of information has been released from the cockpit voice recorder. What we don't know is the larger context, what other conversations were held between the pilots. Once we have data, we will know that," he added. Andrews claimed a report suggesting pilot error in the crash was a "narrative typically originated from the manufacturer and its an attempt to deflect focus from their product". When asked if Indian pilots are purposefully blamed in this case, he said, "Not just Indian pilots, more often than not, pilots who are dead are the ones who are blamed. In other incidents wherein planes landed safely, those pilots were not blamed, because those pilots can speak for themselves." He emphasised that until the data of the crash is made available, it is difficult to find out what exactly happened and whether something has been hidden intentionally. "Families want data to be released to their attorneys and experts. We know Air India and the Indian government have this information. It is time to reveal that data so that experts can help families understand," he said. From Vadodara, Andrews will travel to Surat and then to Diu to meet the families who have agreed to pursue the case. Before leaving for the United Kingdowm, he will visit Ahmedabad and meet the kin of the victims, said his team. China on Friday welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's planned visit to the Tianjin Summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation to be held later this month, expressing hope that the event will be a "gathering of solidarity, friendship and fruitful results". IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Photograph: ANI Photo PM Modi is expected to travel to China later this month, after a gap of over seven years, to attend the annual summit of the SCO, people familiar with the matter in Delhi said this week. "China welcomes Prime Minister Modi to China for the SCO Tianjin Summit," foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said while responding to a question on reports about Modi's visit to China to attend the Tianjin summit to be held from August 31 to September 1. "We believe that with the concerted effort of all parties, the Tianjin summit will be a gathering of solidarity, friendship and fruitful results, and the SCO will enter a new stage of high-quality development featuring greater solidarity, coordination, dynamism and productiveness," Guo said. Guo said that leaders of over 20 countries, including all member states of the SCO and heads of 10 international organisations, will attend relevant events. "The SCO Tianjin Summit will be the largest summit in scale since the establishment of the SCO," the spokesperson added. Modi is expected to embark on a visit to Japan around August 29, and after concluding the trip, he will travel to the Chinese city of Tianjin for the SCO summit. There is no official confirmation yet on Modi's two-nation visit to Japan and China. Modi last visited China in June 2018 to attend the SCO summit. Chinese President Xi Jinping visited India in October 2019 for the second "informal summit". However, the relationship came under stress due to the eastern Ladakh border face-off. The military standoff in eastern Ladakh began in May 2020 and the clashes at the Galwan Valley in June that year resulted in a severe strain in ties. The face-off effectively ended following completion of the disengagement process from the last two friction points of Demchok and Depsang under an agreement finalised on October 21 last year. In the last few months, both sides revived the Special Representative dialogue on the boundary question and other dialogue mechanisms. The decision to revive various dialogue mechanisms was taken at a meeting between Prime Minister Modi and President Xi at Kazan in Russia on October 23, 2024. The Modi-Xi meeting came two days after India and China firmed up a disengagement pact for Depsang and Demchok. The two sides also took a number of initiatives to rebuild the ties, which included the resumption of Kailash Mansarovar Yatra and New Delhi restarting issuance of tourist visas to Chinese nationals. Both sides are also discussing modalities to resume direct flight services between the two countries. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and NSA Ajit Doval visited China in the last two months to attend the SCO meetings. China is the current chair of the SCO. It is not immediately clear whether PM Modi and President Xi will hold a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the SCO summit. It is expected that Russian President Vladimir Putin will be among the top leaders who will participate in the SCO summit. The SCO, comprising India, China, Russia, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Iran and Belarus, is an influential economic and security bloc that has emerged as one of the largest transregional international organisations. It was founded at a summit in Shanghai in 2001 by the presidents of Russia, China, the Kyrgyz Republic, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Pakistan became a permanent member along with India in 2017. Iran joined the grouping in 2023 and Belarus in 2024. 'Just as we cannot surrender the interests of our farmers and dairy industry, Trump is also looking for markets for the produce of the farmers in the Midwest, which are his support base.' IMAGE: A Bhartiya Udyog Vyapar Pratinidhi Mandal protest at the Bharat Mata statue near Ghantaghar in Kanpur, August 7, 2025, against US President Donald John Trump's arbitrary imposition of 50% tariff on Indian goods. Photograph: ANI Photo India could challenge US President Donald Trump's additional 25 per cent tariff in the US court of appeals for the federal circuit, or even put retaliatory tariffs. But on Thursday, top government ministers and officials rejected these suggestions. Instead, they said New Delhi should seek clarity on Trump's domestic compulsions to impose these tariffs and bide time till year-end, when America starts preparing for the House of Representatives elections, which is when the White House would be amenable to heed electors' ire over rising prices. India should, in the interregnum, look for other markets for its products, they felt. New Delhi will also keep an eye on the developments around the proposed meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. On Thursday, National Security Adviser A K Doval was in Moscow to finalise dates for Putin's visit to India, but officials rejected speculation it could happen in August. Modi is expected to visit China on August 31 to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and also have a bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The ministry of external affairs is yet to officially confirm the visit, but government sources were certain the visit was on. Sources conceded that New Delhi needed to work harder to try to understand Trump's core elector base in Midwestern US. "Just as we cannot surrender the interests of our farmers and dairy industry, Trump is also looking for markets for the produce of the farmers in the Midwest, which are his support base, and it is important for him in the context of the mid-term elections since the Republican majority in the House of Representatives is thin," a source said. Secretary, Economic Relations, Ministry of External Affairs, Dammu Ravi, argued there is no logic or reason behind US' "unilateral" move to impose 50 per cent tariffs on India. "Perhaps, this is a phase we have to overcome. The negotiations are still going on. So, we are confident that solutions will be found in the course of time in looking at mutually beneficial partnerships," Ravi said on the sidelines of the LIDE Brazil India Forum on Thursday. The ministry of commerce is leading the negotiation from the Indian side, and some solutions were in sight when Trump moved in with the tariff hike, he said. "We were very close to finding a solution, and I think that momentum has taken a temporary pause, but it will continue," he said. India Eyes New Markets Amid US Tariff Heat Abhijit Lele IMAGE: A scene from Deendayal port in Kandla, Gujarat. Photograph: Amit Dave/Reuters India is exploring new markets for its exports -- both goods and services -- as a diversification strategy amid the United States' decision to impose additional tariffs on Indian exports, said Dammu Ravi, Secretary (Economic Relations), ministry of external affairs. Ravi called the US decision to levy high tariffs a unilateral move without logic, but expressed confidence that ongoing negotiations would yield mutually beneficial outcomes. He was speaking to the media on the sidelines of a conference on India-Brazil relations in Mumbai. US President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced an additional 25 per cent tariff on Indian goods exported to the US, citing India's import of Russian crude oil. These are over and above the earlier 25 per cent duties, and will come into effect from 7 August 2025. The new duties will be enforced 21 days after the announcement. Ravi said the higher tariffs do not significantly deter Indian industry. "We are looking at opportunities, but also new markets. So, if the US becomes difficult to export to, then you will automatically look at other opportunities -- within our own region, in South Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America. These are potential areas. "I think it's very natural for countries to look for alternatives," he said. "It is a unilateral decision and I don't think there was any logical reason in the way it was done. "The US and India are strong strategic partners. We have had a complementary relationship all this while." Ravi added that leaders and businesses on both sides continue to explore opportunities and this may be a temporary phase. "The negotiations are still going on, so we are confident that solutions will be found in the course of time," he said. He confirmed that the ministry of commerce is leading the discussions. "Those negotiations have not stopped. They will continue and are very close to finding a solution. "The momentum had taken a temporary pause, but it will continue," Ravi said. Responding to a question on India working with Brazil and other BRICS countries against the tariffs, Ravi noted that nations across the globe, including BRICS members, are affected. "When you are hurt or affected by tariff walls in one part of the world, countries will naturally look for alternatives. "This is a temporary aberration -- a problem that countries will face," he said. "But in the course of time, we are confident that the world will find solutions. "Like-minded countries will look for cooperation and economic engagement that will be mutually beneficial for all sides." Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff The Supreme Court on Friday expressed displeasure over the orders passed by the Allahabad high court in a PIL over the historic Banke Bihari Temple in Vrindavan and questioned the use of intemperate language against the Uttar Pradesh government. IMAGE: Devotees throng Shree Bankey Bihari temple to celebrate Holi Festival, at Vrindavan in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, March 15, 2025. Photograph: ANI Photo A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi perused the orders of July 21 and August 6 by a single-judge bench of the high court on a PIL which challenged the ordinance Uttar Pradesh Shri Bankey Bihari Ji Temple Trust Ordinance, 2025 and stayed the observations made in them. Additional Solicitor General K M Nataraj, appearing for the Uttar Pradesh government pointed out to the bench that the high court conducted "parallel proceedings" on the issue and made certain "unwarranted observations" in the order. "What kind of intemperate language is being used by the high court? Like the state committed a sin by passing an ordinance. What is all this? Was the high court not informed that the Supreme Court was seized of the matter?" the bench said. Justice Kant further said the petitions challenging constitutional validity of a statute were always listed before the division bench but a single-judge passed the order in the present case. The bench ordered a stay on the observations made in the July 21 order, which appointed an amicus curiae besides the August 6 order having observations against the state. The top court also stayed further proceedings before the high court in the petition challenging the ordinance. It asked the Allahabad High Court chief justice to consider listing the petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the ordinance before a division bench along with other petitions. On August 6, the high court criticised the state government's move to bring an ordinance proposing a statutory trust to manage the historic Banke Bihari Temple and observed that the state has committed a 'sin'. During the hearing, the single judge made sharp remarks on an attempt of the state government to take over the administration of the temple and asked the government to "leave the temple alone". TEHRAN, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi has called for convening an extraordinary meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on the ongoing humanitarian "catastrophe" in Gaza, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said Thursday. He made the request on Wednesday in a letter addressed to OIC Secretary-General Hissein Brahim Taha, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, and Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, the ministry said in a statement. The meeting should cover coordination for the immediate delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza, adoption of a united position and practical measures to stop the "Israeli aggression" and guarantee accountability for it, and the importance of defending the Palestinian people's right, among other issues, it said. "What is taking place (in Gaza) is not merely a humanitarian crisis, but the systematic annihilation of a civilian population under siege. The scale and severity of the committed crimes necessitate taking immediate and coordinated actions," Araghchi said in the letter. He called the circumstances in Gaza a "genocide," and accused Israel of having "strategic and illegal intention" to reoccupy and fully annex Gaza. At least 9,752 Palestinians have been killed and 40,004 others injured since Israel renewed its intensive strikes in Gaza on March 18, bringing the total death toll since October 2023 to 61,258, and injuries to 152,045, Gaza-based health authorities said Thursday. Four new deaths due to starvation and malnutrition were recorded in the past 24 hours, bringing the overall death toll of that kind since October 2023 to 197, including 96 children, the authorities said. On Tuesday, multiple Israeli media reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is set to announce plans to fully occupy Gaza. Israel's security cabinet on Friday approved a plan from Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to occupy Gaza City, The Times of Israel reported, quoting the Prime Minister's Office. IMAGE: A damaged Israeli flag stands in Gaza, on August 7, 2025. Photograph: Amir Cohen/Reuters As per the report, Israel will provide humanitarian aid to the civilian population outside of combat zones, the PMO said in a statement on what it says was the decision by the cabinet to back Netanyahu's 'proposal to defeat Hamas.' The Israeli cabinet approved a list of five principles to abide by in exchange for ending the conflict. As per The Times of Israel, the principles are -- the disarmament of Hamas, the return of all 50 remaining hostages, 20 of whom are believed to be alive, the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip, Israeli security control over the Gaza Strip, the existence of an alternative civilian government that is not Hamas or the Palestinian Authority. An overwhelming majority of ministers determined that the alternative plan presented to the security cabinet would not have secured the defeat of Hamas or the return of the hostages, the PMO said. The statement doesn't elaborate on the aforementioned alternative plan, but it appears to be referring to a proposal presented by IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir, who has expressed his opposition to occupying the Gaza Strip, fearing it will lead to a humanitarian disaster, while risking the lives of the hostages. It's unclear why the statement only refers to conquering Gaza City and not the occupation of the entirety of the Gaza Strip, as Netanyahu declared on Thursday was his plan, as per The Times of Israel. Gaza City is part of the 25 per cent of the Strip that the IDF has yet to conquer, along with several refugee camps in central Gaza. It's unclear whether those other unconquered areas outside of Gaza City will also be taken over, as part of the plan authorised by the security cabinet. Karnataka deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar on Friday said the state Chief Electoral Officer V Anbukumar has ordered an investigation into Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's allegations of election fraud in Mahadevapura Assembly constituency during the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. IMAGE: Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and party leader Rahul Gandhi being welcomed by Karnataka Congress president DK Shivakumar (left) on their arrival, at Belagavi Airport, March 23, 2023. Photograph: ANI Photo CEO Anbukumar asked Shivakumar to submit documents to support his claims with a declaration or oath as per the rule. Speaking to reporters after a Congress delegation led by him submitted a memorandum to Anbukumar, Shivakumar said he was informed that they (CEO's office) have started their investigation. "I am glad to know this." Shivakumar, who is also Congress state president, said he would visit the CEO's office again to obtain the documents and evidence. In the first phase, we have asked him to provide information to go into the details of every assembly segment, where such incidents have occurred, the Deputy CM said. Asked about the BJP's counter-allegations, Shivakumar said he was not worried about the saffron party. "Let them (BJP leaders) say whatever they want. We are asking a court, a judge, a commission with autonomous power. We have requested them (Election Commission) to take action because it is the Election Commission's responsibility to prepare the electoral roll, hold elections and immediately set things right. Shivakumar submitted a memorandum to CEO Anbukumar after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alleged large-scale election fraud in the Mahadevapura Assembly segment under the Bangalore Central Lok Sabha constituency in 2024. Regarding former Mahadevapura MLA Aravind Limbavali's statement that there were bogus voters in Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's assembly constituency Varuna and Minister B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan's constituency Chamarajpet in Bengaluru, Shivakumar said the ECI should investigate it. Even if there are such issues in my constituency (Kanakapura) I will not mind. Action has to be taken against those who engaged in fraud and are guilty of misuse, the DCM said. In a letter to Shivakumar, the CEO said, "With respect to your representation dated 05.08.2025 submitted on 08.08.2025, you have not submitted any documents in support of the references made in the representation.: You are hereby kindly requested to submit the documents related to your complaint along with the Declaration/Oath as per Rule 20(3)(b) of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, so as to act upon the complaint, the official added. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin over phone and the two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to further deepening the India-Russia Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership. IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra Modi greets Russian President Vladimir Putin at the 21st annual India-Russia summit, Hyderabad House, in New Delhi, December 6, 2021. Photograph: ANI Photo Putin briefed Modi on his country's ongoing conflict with Ukraine, with the prime minister reiterating India's consistent position for the peaceful resolution of the issue. The conversation between the two leaders came amid US President Donald Trump ratcheting up pressure on India over its purchase of Russian oil. Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order, slapping an additional 25 per cent levy on India for New Delhi's purchases of Russian oil, bringing the total duties to 50 per cent -- among the highest imposed by the US on any country in the world. The additional 25 per cent duty will come into effect on August 27. In a post on X, Modi said, "Had a very good and detailed conversation with my friend President Putin. I thanked him for sharing the latest developments on Ukraine. We also reviewed the progress in our bilateral agenda, and reaffirmed our commitment to further deepen the India-Russia Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership. I look forward to hosting President Putin in India later this year." It will be the 23rd India-Russia Annual Summit. Modi on Thursday received a phone call from Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, whose country has also been at the receiving end of Trump's tariffs, and the two leaders agreed to enhance cooperation in trade, technology, energy, defence, agriculture, health, and people-to-people ties. In a peculiar development, the Supreme Court on Friday suggested that the Jharkhand high court judges take leaves for penning pending verdicts after observing there were dozens of cases in which judgments weren't pronounced. IMAGE: A view of the Supreme Court of India. Photograph: ANI Photo A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi asked the judges to take their sanctioned leaves and complete the pending work. "There are 61 cases pending. Ask Jharkhand High Court judges to take their sanctioned leaves for 10-12 weeks and write judgements. Nowadays judges have enough leaves left with them. Just get rid of these cases. People need judgements, they are not concerned about jurisprudence or something else. Give a reasoned order on whether relief is denied or allowed," the bench told senior advocate Ajit Sinha, appearing for the Jharkhand high court. Sinha was referring to data till January 31 and said orders in several cases had been passed since then. Justice Kant pointed out 61 cases was big number and asked him to convey the suggestion of the court to the chief justice of the high court. "It is our request. Just do it. Convey our suggestion to the high court's chief justice," Justice Kant said. The bench's order said, "The high court judges shall take immediate steps. Post the matter for further consideration after three months. Let needful be done by that time." The top court passed the order in a batch of pleas in which students of faraway tribal areas of Jharkhand complained of judgements not being pronounced since 2023 in cases on appointments of home guards. Sinha, however, said the high court had pronounced orders in the matter of students. The Jharkhand High Court has come under the Supreme Court scanner for not pronouncing verdicts for years, particularly in criminal matters including death and life sentence cases. On May 16, the top court asked the high court to file a status report of pending cases in which judgements were reserved on or before January 31 in both criminal and civil cases. Students complained their case was last heard on April 6, 2023 and but no verdict was pronounced. According to the pleas filed through advocate Vanya Gupta, the aspirants of home guard positions have sought a direction to the high court for pronouncement of the verdict in their cases. The petitioners moved the high court after the Jharkhand government cancelled the recruitment for over 1,000 posts of home guards advertised in 2017, despite their names having featured in the merit list. The high court, after having heard the matter since 2021, reserved the pleas filed by over 70 aspirants for orders on April 6, 2023. Similarly, on July 21, the top court was informed that the high court has delivered verdict in cases of 10 convicts out of which six were on death row in a week, after they moved the Supreme Court complaining of delay in deciding their appeals against conviction despite the verdicts having been reserved years ago. Advocate Fauzia Shakil, appearing for the convicts had submitted that the high court pronounced verdicts in a week's time after the top court on July 14 issued notice on their plea. On May 13, the top court, which was hearing the pleas of life convicts, observed that the high court judges were taking breaks "unnecessarily" and called for their performance audits. The Election Commission has asked Rahul Gandhi to share details of wrongful entries and omissions in voters' list and sign a declaration if he is convinced that his analysis of 'vote theft' is correct, sources said on Friday but the Congress leader hit back asserting he has already taken oath in Parliament to uphold the Constitution. IMAGE: Lok Sabha LoP and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi delivers a presentation on 'Vote Chori' during a dinner meeting with INDIA bloc, in New Delhi on Thursday. Photograph: AICC/ANI Photo As Gandhi continued with his attack on the EC alleging vote theft in at least three states, the poll panel said if he believes in his analysis and feels that his allegations against the EC are true, he should have 'no problem' in signing the declaration under electoral rules and submit names wrongfully added or removed from voters' list, according to the sources. However, if Gandhi does not sign the declaration, it would mean that he does not believe in his analysis and resultant conclusions and 'absurd allegations'. In which case he should apologise to the nation, they felt. The chief electoral officers of three states on Thursday asked Gandhi to share the names of electors he claimed were either included or excluded wrongfully from the voter lists along with a signed declaration for the poll authorities to initiate 'necessary proceedings' in the matter. Addressing a Vote Adhikar rally in Bengaluru on Friday, Gandhi said he has already taken oath in Parliament to uphold the Constitution. At a media briefing, the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha claimed on Thursday that there was 'vote chori' of 1,00,250 votes in a Karnataka constituency, with 11,965 duplicate voters in the segment, 40,009 voters with fake and invalid addresses, 10,452 bulk voters or single address voters, 4,132 voters with invalid photos and 33,692 voters misusing Form 6 of new voters. Glimpses from India and around the world that will make you smile and cry. To The Rescue! IMAGE: State Disaster Response Force and Indo Tibetan Border Police jawans evacuate stranded people to ITBP Matli in Uttarkashi. Photograph: ANI Photo Chinook Brings Hope IMAGE: A JCB machine being transported by an Indian Air Force Chinook helicopter to Matli for the cloudburst-affected Harsil valley in Uttarkashi. Photograph: ANI Photo IMAGE: A 125 KV genset being transported by an IAF Chinook helicopter to Matli. Photograph: ANI Photo NDRF Feeds Flooded IMAGE: National Disaster Response Force personnel distribute food to flood affected people in Varanasi following the rapid rise in the water level of the Ganga, here and below. Photograph: ANI Photo Photograph: ANI Photo Wading to Survival IMAGE: A man and a child, carrying essentials, wade through a neck deep flooded area at Bind Toli in Patna following rise in the Ganga's water level. Photograph: ANI Photo Relief on Plates IMAGE: Flood affected people receive food at a community kitchen run by the Bihar government at a relief camp in Patna. Photograph: ANI Photo Dinner Diplomacy IMAGE: Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi with Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) chief Uddhav Thackeray's wife Rashmi Thackeray at the dinner meeting of INDIA bloc leaders in New Delhi. Photograph: AICC/ANI Photo Yadavs Join Dinner IMAGE: Sonia with Samajwadi Party MPs Akhilesh Yadav, Dimple Yadav and Ram Gopal Yadav during the dinner. Photograph: AICC/ANI Photo Rahul Escorts Farooq IMAGE: Congress MP Rahul Gandhi escorts Jammu and Kashmir National Conference President Dr Farooq Abdullah at the dinner. Photograph: AICC/ANI Photo Pawar Powers Table IMAGE: Sonia, Rahul, NCP-SP chief Sharad Pawar and his daughter NCP-SCP MP Supriya Sule during the dinner. Photograph: AICC/ANI Photo 'Vote Chori' on the Menu IMAGE: Rahul delivers a presentation on 'Vote Chori' before the dinner. Photograph: AICC/ANI Photo Rakhis for Dada Modi IMAGE: Bengali widows make rakhis to be sent to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Vrindavan. Photograph: ANI Photo Soren in Rituals IMAGE: Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren during the three-day ritual in Nemra following his father Shibu Soren's funeral. Photograph: @HemantSorenJMM X/ANI Photo Teachers Get Beaten IMAGE: Police personnel disperse aspirants of the teacher recruitment examination protesting in Patna to demand the postponement of the upcoming Secondary Teacher Eligibility Test. Photograph: ANI Photo Present Meets Future IMAGE: RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat meets a little admirer during his visit to the Central Museum in Nagpur. Photograph: ANI Photo Ruins of Marinka IMAGE: A drone view shows the ruins of residential buildings in the abandoned town of Marinka (Maryinka) in the Donetsk region, a Russian-controlled area of Ukraine which was destroyed in the course of the Russia-Ukraine war. Photograph: Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters Flames of Protest IMAGE: Relatives of hostages kidnapped during the deadly October 7, 2023 attack on Israel by Hamas protest in Tel Aviv, demanding the immediate release of the hostages and the end of the war. Photograph: Ammar Awad/Reuters Zohran's Gesture IMAGE: New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani brings water to a journalist who lies on the street at the end of a press conference outside the Federal Plaza in New York City. Photograph: Eduardo Munoz/Reuters No Room, Ride the Rooftop IMAGE: People travel on the rooftop of an overcrowded train in Dhaka. Photograph: Mohammad Ponir Hossain/Reuters Photographs curated by Anant Salvi/Rediff Feature Presentation: Ashish Narsale/Rediff United States President Donald Trump has ruled out the possibility of trade negotiations with India, until the issue of tariffs is resolved. IMAGE: US President Donald Trump. Photograph: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters "No, not until we get it resolved," Trump said in the Oval Office on Thursday in response to a question on whether he expects increased trade negotiations with India since he has announced 50 per cent tariffs on the country. Last week, Trump had announced 25 per cent reciprocal tariffs on India that came into effect from August 7. The US president also signed an executive order slapping an additional 25 per cent levy on India for New Delhi's purchases of Russian oil, bringing the total duties to 50 per cent, among the highest imposed by the US on any country in the world. The additional 25 per cent duty will come into effect after 21 days or August 27. Responding to the tariffs, the ministry of external affairs has said that the targeting of India is 'unjustified and unreasonable'. 'Like any major economy, India will take all necessary measures to safeguard its national interests and economic security,' it said. On the current situation between India and the US, prominent Indian-American attorney Ravi Batra said "much more is at stake" amid Trump's tariffs. He described as "unfortunate" that Russian President Vladimir Putin did not accept a ceasefire with Ukraine as Trump wanted. 'Hurting India is to hurt Russia,' Batra said in a post on X. 'But it hurts us too, much more,' he said adding that America needs the Russian president to enter into a 'genuine' ceasefire with Ukraine, 'free-of-deception by any, and then get President Xi (Jinping of China) and Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi to be American allies too, along with Putin.' 'It's time for a mature reset, or we risk a domino effect that hurts all and unravels multilateralism and gives us unbridled chaos that even creative Wall Street and Federal Reserve can't handle,' Batra said. The United States 'got involved directly' when India and Pakistan went to war and President Donald Trump was able to deliver peace between the two nuclear-armed neighbours, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has claimed. IMAGE: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Photograph: Kent Nishimura/Reuters Since May 10, Trump has repeated his claim many times that he 'helped settle' the tensions between India and Pakistan and told the nuclear-armed South Asian neighbours that America will do a 'lot of trade' with them if they stopped the conflict. India has been consistently maintaining that the understanding on cessation of hostilities with Pakistan was reached following direct talks between the Directors General of Military Operations (DGMOs) of the two militaries. Rubio, in an interview to EWTN's 'The World Over' on Thursday, said that Trump is committed to peace and being the 'president of peace'. "And so, we saw when India and Pakistan went to war, we got involved directly, and the president was able to deliver on that peace," Rubio said. Rubio also listed other conflicts that he said Trump helped resolve. "Cambodia and Thailand more recently; Azerbaijan and Armenia, hopefully, DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo)-Rwanda -- a 30-year war, 7 million people killed -- we were able to bring them here to sign it," Rubio said. He added that the US was proud of those initiatives and 'we're looking for more -- obviously, the big one being in Ukraine and Russia'. "We dedicate a significant amount of time to stopping and ending wars," Rubio said. LUSAKA, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- The Zambian government on Thursday commended Chinese mining firm Sino-Metals Leach Zambia Limited for its cooperation following a spillage of acid and heavy metals into local rivers. The pollution occurred after vandals damaged the tailings dam infrastructure earlier this year. Chief Government Spokesperson Cornelius Mweetwa said the company has been working closely with authorities since the February incident and is complying with national laws and international principles, including the "polluter pays" principle. "The necessary compensations for affected individuals are on schedule, and the company is covering the costs of asset replacement and environmental cleanup," Mweetwa said during a press briefing. He noted that the government promptly took measures to contain the situation and assured the public of the safety of communities in the affected areas. Mweetwa, who also serves as minister of information and media, said laboratory tests indicate that pH levels in the water have returned to normal, and concentrations of heavy metals are steadily decreasing, which means immediate threats to human, animal, and plant life have been mitigated. The U.S. Embassy in Zambia issued a health alert on Wednesday, directing U.S. citizens to immediately leave Chambishi town and other areas in the Copperbelt province affected by spillage from dams owned by Sino-Metals Leach Zambia Limited. "There is no need to press the panic button or alarm the international community," Mweetwa said, stressing that the government had neutralized the acidic content immediately after the incident. Peter Sinkamba, leader of the opposition Green Party, also described the U.S. action as mere political posturing, according to local media Radio Phoenix. Sinkamba condemned the United States for double standards, citing the historical lead pollution in Kabwe, caused by the mining company Anglo American, which has left thousands of children exposed and affected. He noted that the United States has neither withdrawn its personnel from that area nor issued scathing announcements, Radio Phoenix reported. Brattleboro, VT (05301) Today Sun and clouds mixed. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 73F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph.. Tonight A few passing clouds. Slight chance of a shower throughout the evening. Low 49F. Winds light and variable. MANCHESTER Orvis will cut 4 percent of its workforce by the end of 2025. This is the key news emerging from a statement released by Simon Pe Brattleboro, VT (05301) Today A mix of clouds and sun. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 74F. Winds W at 10 to 15 mph.. Tonight Mainly clear. Slight chance of a shower throughout the evening. Low 49F. Winds light and variable. SAP partner DyFlex has made its move to enter the New Zealand market through its recent acquisition of local SAP partner Bluetree Solutions. The acquisition, backed by private equity firm Five V Capital, would help further the SAP capabilities of both IT service providers. In an interview with ARN at SAPs Now event on 7 August, DyFlex co-CEO Jason Heaney said the acquisition complements its SAP capabilities, providing a one-stop shop for the vendors product services. The acquisition also opens new markets in New Zealand, like the manufacturing sector. We were already moving into New Zealand as DyFlex, said Heaney. The acquisition means we now have a presence there an office and customer base so that kickstarts us in [the country]. We had signed a big manufacturing company for ERP [enterprise resource planning], and we had been resourcing that totally out of Australia. Having Bluetree Solutions accelerates the SAP partners presence in the country, as well as the network of who it should be hiring. The provider currently has seven staff members in New Zealand who are specific to SAP Analytics Cloud (SAC). Heaney said DyFlex expects to ramp that number up quickly. [Bluetree] has a dozen or so customers already in New Zealand, so it gives us access to more markets with our products and capability, he said. Chinese Ambassador to Zimbabwe Zhou Ding (L) and Zimbabwean Deputy Minister of Public Service, Labor and Social Welfare Mercy Dinha attend the handover ceremony of food assistance in Harare, Zimbabwe, Aug. 7, 2025.(Xinhua/Tafara Mugwara) HARARE, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- China on Thursday handed over a new batch of food assistance to Zimbabwe to boost the southern African country's food security after a devastating El-Nino induced drought last year. Addressing the ceremony in Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwean Deputy Minister of Public Service, Labor and Social Welfare Mercy Dinha thanked China for the food assistance, comprising about 3,000 tonnes of rice and wheat, saying the food will go a long way in helping vulnerable citizens. "We are looking at child-headed families, persons with disabilities, and the elderly. We are going to make sure that this consignment reaches those in need, especially the hard-to-reach areas," Dinha said. "China is our all-weather friend. They have assisted us in infrastructural development and agriculture. So I really want to thank China for participating in the development of Zimbabwe," Dinha said. For his part, Chinese Ambassador to Zimbabwe Zhou Ding emphasized China's commitment to helping Zimbabwe achieve food security and reduce poverty, saying the food assistance is part of China's response to Zimbabwe's international appeal for food aid following last year's devastating drought. "As we always say, a friend in need is a friend indeed. China and Zimbabwe are time-honored friends," Zhou said. "As friends, we are always ready to provide help when our Zimbabwean brothers and sisters need it most." Noting that China always attaches great importance and priority to issues of food security and poverty reduction, Zhou said the two countries should continue strengthening partnerships to boost food security. The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan agreed on a major deal aimed at ending decades of conflict -- including two full-scale wars -- potentially opening up new trade opportunities in a region long hampered by historic grievances. At a White House ceremony hosted by US President Donald Trump, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev also signed agreements with the United States to pursue economic opportunities together. The proposed deal includes a 43-kilometer transit corridor connecting Azerbaijan to Nakhichevan, an exclave that is separated from Azerbaijan by Armenian territory. The corridor will be named the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity. We will turn the page of standoff, confrontation, and bloodshed and provide a bright and safe future for our children," Aliyev said at the August 8 signing ceremony. Added Pashinian: Today we have reached a significant milestone in Armenia and Azerbaijani relations by laying the foundation to write a better story than the one we had in the past." Trump also said he was lifting restrictions on military cooperation with Azerbaijan, restrictions imposed on Azerbaijan in 1992 amid the first full-scale war between Yerevan and Baku. "Armenia and Azerbaijan are committing to stop all fighting forever, open up commerce, travel and diplomatic relations, and respect each other's sovereignty and territorial integrity," he said. Unanswered Questions Armenia and Azerbaijan's decades-old animosity erupted into all-out conflict amid the collapse of the Soviet Union. The two sides went to war in the early 1990s over a disputed mountainous enclave called Nagorno-Karabakh. The fighting ended with the region under control of ethnic Armenians. Despite years of international mediation, mainly by Russia, the United States, and France -- under the so-called Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) -- the two sides remained openly hostile. In 2023, Azerbaijan launched a military offensive and seized full authority over Nagorno-Karabakh. That event, plus Russia's unwillingness to intervene on behalf of Armenia, scrambled politics in the region, paving the way for the US-brokered agreement. A statement by the European Union's High Representative called the deal a "significant breakthrough to end decades of conflict." "It will now be important to ensure the timely implementation of the agreed steps, notably the signing and ratification of the peace treaty," the statement added. Still, more information is needed before the agreement can really be hailed as an actual breakthrough, said Laurence Broers, an associate fellow at Chatham House, a think tank in London. "Overall, we still have a lot of unanswered questions," he said in an e-mail to RFE/RL. "Despite the optics, lets be clear that no peace deal has been signed: only a commitment to sign one that has already been completed," said Broers, who specializes in South Caucasus politics. "So we aren't 'there' yet even if gathering momentum and renewed commitment towards peace, of course, is welcome," he said. The OSCE encouraged Armenia and Azerbaijan "to do everything possible to establish peace." The Vienna-based organization said it "remains committed to all efforts aimed at bringing lasting peace and stability to both countries." In the coming days, we will have more information about that road or corridor," said Konul de Moor, a South Caucasus consultant at the International Crisis Group. "Is it still the corridor that Azerbaijan has been insisting on? What will the rules and regulations be? How will the borders be opened? Have these issues been resolved?" Another potential obstacle is Azerbaijans demand for changes to the Armenian Constitution, she added. Promoting Peace And Prosperity The economic agreements could set the stage for a reopening of trade routes across the South Caucasus that have been dormant since the early 1990s. The agreements give the US leasing rights to develop the transit corridor -- which would run through southern Armenian territory along the border with Iran. The corridor would eventually include a rail line, oil and gas lines, and fiber optic lines, allowing for the movement of goods and eventually people. Post-War Fence-Mending In Armenia, people said they were upbeat about the agreement. "I feel optimistic and have positive expectations. Ive watched the news several times, got emotional, and cried," one woman in Armenia told RFE/RL. "I feel sorry for all the lives we lost. [Still,] I feel positive." In another diplomatic breakthrough, Armenia and Azerbaijan finalized a 13-kilometer section of their northern border. As a result, the Armenian military withdrew from four uninhabited villages that were part of Soviet Azerbaijan before the first war in the early 1990s. Other sections of their shared border remain in dispute, however, including more than 200 square kilometers of territory that Armenia claims Azerbaijan continues to occupy. The Armenian opposition has denounced the controversial border demarcation and further diplomatic moves by Yerevan as "capitulation," calling for Pashinian's resignation. However, sustained opposition street protests and rallies that drew thousands last year eventually fizzled out, with Pashinian claiming that his government's pursuit of sustainable peace enjoys broad public support. Transport Corridor The issue of linking Azerbaijan to Nakhichevan has been one of the most vexing obstacles to peace. Landlocked by Azerbaijan and Turkey, Armenia had insisted any transit route must be part of a broader regional process. Officials in Yerevan had previously rejected the idea of an extraterritorial corridor, calling it a veiled territorial claim by Azerbaijan. According to a 2020 cease-fire agreement, control over transport links between Armenia and Azerbaijan would be overseen by Russia. However, after Russian peacekeepers failed to intervene to protect ethnic Armenian population in 2023, Armenia started distancing itself from Moscow. Giving Washington oversight of the transit corridor is a positive outcome, Broers said. "If there is one issue that Baku and Yerevan have agreed on over the years, it is that they do not want a Russian monopoly on managing the conflict between them," Broers said. 'A Positive Assessment' Turkey, a historic adversary of Armenia and close ally of Azerbaijan, welcomed the agreement. This development is "an extremely important development in terms of ensuring regional peace and stability," the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement. Russia and Iran, meanwhile, were less positive on the deal because a trade route through Armenia has the potential to link the oil- and gas-rich Caucasus and Central Asia to Europe, bypassing them. Moscow, which has also accused Washington of trying to hijack the peace process and sideline regional powers, called the draft deal "positive." "The meeting of the leaders of the South Caucasus republics in Washington, mediated by the American side, deserves a positive assessment," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement. "We hope that this step will help advance the peace agenda." Iran's Foreign Ministry said it welcomed the agreement, calling it "an important step toward achieving lasting peace in the region." "At the same time, the Islamic Republic expresses concern over the negative consequences of any form of foreign intervention, especially near its shared borders, that could undermine the security and lasting stability of the region," the ministry said in a post to X. However, Ali Akbar Velayati, a top adviser to Iran's supreme leader, warned that "with or without Russia, Iran will block a Trump-brokered corridor in the Caucasus. Both Russia and Iran are "embedded in the Caucasus and have numerous levers that they can use," Broers said. "Russia has already criticized this deal, and we can expect more and sustained Russian hostility to the" proposed transit corridor. With reporting by RFE/RL's Radio Farda Armenians spoke to RFE/RL about their thoughts on an expected corridor deal between their country and Azerbaijan. The plan calls for a US-administered road through southern Armenia that would link Azerbaijan with its exclave territory to the west. As exiled Belarusians gather at political rallies in Warsaw, Vilnius, and other cities this weekend, many have packed masks to conceal their identities because they know the authorities back home could target their families. Belarus is stepping up attacks on the opposition at home and abroad, five years after brutally crushing an unprecedented wave of mass protests against a stolen election. "Belarus was taken hostage," exiled opposition leader Svyatlana Tsikhanouskaya said on August 7 at an online briefing held by the Center for European Policy Analysis, a Washington-based think-tank. "Ahead of the anniversary, the crackdown has only intensified," she added. "The regime isn't just punishing dissent. It's trying actually to erase the memory of 2020." That year, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets after the authorities announced that Aleksandr Lukashenko had been re-elected president. It was widely believed by Belarusians, Western governments, and international human rights organizations that the results were blatantly falsified. For the first time since Lukashenko took office in 1994, protests against him were large-scale, nationwide, and enduring. But they were met with beatings, arrests, and torture. Several people were killed. Hundreds of thousands fled the country, including Tsikhanouskaya. She was sentenced in absentia to 15 years in prison for "treason with the aim of seizing power." Cash In An Envelope Ahead of the fifth anniversary of the election, the campaign against her has continued. On August 6, Belarusian state TV aired a report that it said showed an official giving her an envelope containing $15,000 and that she had "asked for" the money. Tsikhanouskaya denies asking for money. She said she opened the envelope only now, after seeing the report, and saw that it contained 15,000 euros. "I was under tremendous emotional pressure at the time. I wasn't ready for this and didn't know how to behave in such situations. I didn't tell anyone about that ill-fated envelope because I was ashamed that I had it," she told pro-opposition news website Zerkalo. Tsikhanouskaya has previously said the authorities forced her to leave the country by making threats relating to her children. But the repression goes well beyond Tsikhanouskaya. An Amnesty International report this week said there are still more than 1,100 political prisoners in Belarus. Exiled Belarusian human rights group, Vyasna (Spring), says that since 2020 some 330 political prisoners have been released early by the Belarusian authorities. Tsikhanouski Released But Others Arrested The authorities, however, imprison more people than they release. Vyasna reported that in June, while 14 political prisoners were pardoned, 29 others were newly jailed. Perhaps the most prominent release was that of Tsikhanouskaya's husband, Syarhey Tsikhanouski. He was arrested after attracting a mass following and announcing he would run for president in 2020. His wife subsequently took up the mantle. Speaking to RFE/RL in Vilnius, Lithuania, after his release, he voiced concern over the state of the beleaguered opposition movement that once filled streets and squares across Belarus. "During my last days of freedom in 2020, people were lining up for hours to sign petitions. I felt like I had wings," he said. "Now I came out with the same energy and determination, but I see that many Belarusians abroad are tired. They've spent five years surviving, working multiple jobs. I understand, but for those of us coming out of prison, it's painful to feel that the fire has gone out." One of his first moves shortly after his release on June 21 was to appeal to supporters for donations to a fund to support former political prisoners and exiled Belarusians. Tsikhanouski envisioned raising 200,000 euros, but the appeal sparked criticism and an underwhelming response. Amnesty International noted that restrictions on renewing Belarusian documents had left some exiles in legal limbo, unable to apply for residency documents in Poland, where many took refuge. Some of those who fled after being charged with minor offenses have considered returning to Belarus on the basis that the statute of limitations on those offenses no longer applies. But they still risk arrest if they do so. "They find something new to charge you with," one man, who was forced to flee in October 2020, told RFE/RL in July. "They'll find something to jail you for: subscribing to 'extremist' online media, making a donation (to a banned group), or clicking like' somewhere," he added. Other exiled Belarusians voiced similar concerns. In a joint statement, the governments of Britin, Australia, and Canada on August 9 condemned the latest actions of the Belarus government. "We Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom stand united in condemning the ongoing repression and human rights violations," the three countries said. "Thousands have been unjustly detained, subjected to torture, or forced into exile. These actions represent a flagrant breach of Belarus' international law obligations and are a serious violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms," the statement added, calling on Belarusian leaders "to end their campaign of repression." A Changed Landscape Anyone returning to Belarus would find a dramatically altered society from the one they left five years ago. Lawtrend, a Belarusian monitoring group that also operates in exile, says nearly 2,000 civil society groups -- NGOs, labor unions, foundations, and associations -- have been shut down since 2020. More than 40 media outlets have been recognized as "extremist formations," effectively criminalizing their activity in Belarus. This includes RFE/RL, whose Minsk offices were raided and sealed in July 2021. Some 15 journalists associated with RFE/RL's Belarus Service have been targeted with special criminal cases in absentia, while their relatives have been subjected to intimidation. In July 2024, Yury Drakakhrust, a journalist and analyst for the Belarus Service based in Prague, was sentenced in absentia to 10 years in prison by Belarusian authorities on false charges. In an article for RFE/RL's Russian Service on August 7, he wrote that the current state of the Belarusian opposition was "depressing." "Tsikhanouskaya was accepted by senior Western officials. But this happened when memories were fresh of Minsk streets filled with protesters. But it's been a long time since there was even a shadow of protest on the streets of Minsk. Tsikhanouskaya no longer meets with such senior officials as she used to," he wrote. Despite this gloomy view, the opposition is trying to rally its forces with the protests at cities across Europe and North America this weekend. Tsikhanouskaya said Belarus could now be at a crossroads, with future developments depending on a resolution to the war in Ukraine, where Lukashenko has firmly aligned himself with Russian President Vladimir Putin. "If peace is made on Ukraine's terms, it could weaken Putin and Lukashenko with him. That could be our moment to push for change," she said. "But if the deal favors Putin, Belarus risks becoming a consolation prize, meaning losing our sovereignty for decades to come." Family, friends, and colleagues held a farewell ceremony in Kyiv on August 8 for Ukrainian journalist Viktoria Roshchyna, who went missing in Russian-occupied territories before being confirmed dead while in Russian captivity, where she appeared to have been tortured. Roshchyna, a 27-year-old freelance journalist who had previously worked with RFE/RL and other prominent Ukrainian media outlets, went missing in early August 2023. A year later, she called her family from Russian custody, the only time they heard from their daughter after her disappearance. It wasn't until October 2024 that her death was confirmed by Petro Yatsenko, a representative of Ukraine's Coordination Staff for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, following an investigation into her disappearance. "Viktoria, as a person, as a journalist, as a colleague, was someone to whom it was important to do what no one else could or even wanted to do," Taras Ilkiv, chief digital editor for RFE/RL's Ukrainian bureau, said during the ceremony in Kyiv. Roshchyna had traveled from Ukraine to Poland on July 27, 2023, before heading toward the Russian-occupied territories in eastern Ukraine, according to her father, Volodymyr Roshchyn. He said Russia's Defense Ministry informed him in May 2024 that his daughter had been detained and was on the territory of the Russian Federation, but gave no reason for why she was being held. Her last known communication was on August 3, 2023, and in October 2024, Roshchyn was told by Russian authorities that his daughter had died a month earlier. Again, no details were given, but on February 14 this year a body numbered 757 and marked by Russian documents as an "unidentified male" was handed over to Ukraine. Pathologists quickly determined the body was actually that of a female. An examination conducted by investigators from the Prosecutor General's Office revealed a 99 percent accurate match with Roshchyna's DNA. The Russian document also contained the designation "SPAS," which is used to denote the "total failure of the arteries of the heart." Analysts say the SPAS designation was likely an attempt by Russian authorities to conceal evidence of torture and strangulation that Roshchyna endured. Yuriy Belousov, head of the Department for Combating Crimes Committed in Armed Conflict at Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office, told RFE/RL's News of Azov service that while it's "extremely difficult" to establish bodily harm when a body is returned in the condition Roshchyna's was, experts were still able to conclusively determine "evidence that Viktoria was definitely abused." Photo Gallery: Undercover In Ukraine's Occupied Kherson: 'You Don't Know What Will Happen Tomorrow' Kherson is the only Ukrainian provincial capital to have fallen during Moscow's invasion of its western neighbor. Earlier this month, RFE/RL reporter Viktoria Roshchyna traveled undercover to the city and nearby settlements to speak with people who are living under Russian occupation and to discuss the problems they face. Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Email to a Friend Share on LinkedIn He adds, however, that given the condition the body was in when it was returned, "it will be extremely difficult to establish the cause using forensic medical examinations, " making it even more important to establish the facts around Roshchyna's disappearance and incarceration to pursue those responsible. "All these circumstances are currently being clarified. And all those people who were involved in this, they are all clearly in the focus of our attention. Therefore, in fact, our task is to identify them and try to bring them to justice either in absentia or in person, if they fall into our hands or into the hands of our colleagues abroad," Belousov said. Roshchyna's case highlights the dangers faced by journalists reporting in war zones. According to Reporters Without Borders (RSF), some 29 Ukrainian journalists were in Russian detention as of June, "some for nearly a decade, often held thousands of kilometers from their families and subjected to inhumane treatment." WASHINGTON, D.C. -- When a US MQ-9 Reaper drone loitered over Baghdad airport in the early hours of January 3, 2020 and fired a Hellfire missile that killed the powerful Iranian Major General Qasem Soleimani, it showcased the full force of American drone supremacy. The strike was precise, distant, and risk-free for US forces, and represented the culmination of decades of investment in large, high-end, unmanned aerial vehicles costing tens of millions of dollars each. But five years later, analysts say -- and some politicians admit -- that model of dominance is being upended. The war in Ukraine has ushered in a radically different era of drone warfare, one built not around a few elite systems but around millions of small, cheap, and expendable drones deployed by soldiers at the front. And the United States is scrambling to catch up as drones become the new front line in modern warfare. "The United States has one of the most impressive drone industries in the world, but those drones have been often very big, very expensive, with very exquisite capabilities. And yet what we need from the industry in this moment is inexpensive ones in high quantities," said Brad Bowman, a defense analyst at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies. "We have really been kind of AWOL in terms of the ability of American industry to produce low-cost drones in high quantity," he added, calling the war in Ukraine a "wake-up call" for the Pentagon. The Cheaper, The Better Ukraine is expected to produce more than 4 million drones of all types this year, according to the country's former defense minister, Rustam Umerov. Many cost only a few hundred dollars. Russia, too, is manufacturing cheap drones by the millions after finding it needed Chinese and Iranian help to capitalize on the usage of smaller, less sophisticated ones. By contrast, the Reaper that killed Soleimani, at 36 feet long and weighing 2,200 kilograms, cost $30 million. The United States agreed to buy 366 of them over the lifetime of the program, replacing the earlier Predator drone, which saw about 270 units produced over two decades. When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, much of the US military's drone fleet -- numbering in the thousands -- was built around Predator-era technology and designed for anti-insurgency campaigns. While the US military leads in high-end drone technology, there are no US manufacturers currently producing cheap drones at scale, according to industry insiders. A recent New York Times report estimated US annual production at fewer than 100,000 units. For years, low-cost imports from China -- particularly from DJI, the world's largest drone maker -- have dominated the US market, undercutting domestic manufacturers. But that may be changing. After peaking at over 800,000 in 2023, Chinese drone imports are plummeting amid tighter Customs and Border Protection enforcement. The United States is now weighing a full ban on new DJI drones on national-security grounds. The Trump administration is also taking measures to address the situation. In an interview this week with News Nation, Emil Michael, the US undersecretary of defense for research and engineering, said the government is trying to minimize bureaucratic barriers to production. "You've got to cut the red tape out" when it comes to drone production, he said. An example of what the United States may be aiming for was on display in June when Ukraine's Operation Spiderweb saw dozens of drones swarm deep into Russian territory to attack air bases. Small drones were smuggled across the border and then laid in wait. Ukraine has claimed the roofs of the trucks that were carrying the hidden drone fleet were then opened "remotely" to enable the aircraft to launch, with devastating results. "This attack should be a wake-up call to militaries around the world," Stacie Pettyjohn, director of the Defense Program at the Center for a New American Security, told RFE/RL. The Association for Uncrewed Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) says there are 235 US aerial drone companies actively marketing products, with another 40 developing prototypes. Many defense-focused firms have announced major expansion plans, but challenges remain, it said. According to AUVSI, a lack of sustained Defense Department procurement commitments and difficulty sourcing components at scale are slowing growth. "The No. 1 priority right now has to be scale and speed, but that's really hard to achieve because we've trained the entire national-security enterprise for decades to do just the opposite. It is a dramatic culture shift," Bowman said. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last month pledged to overhaul the Pentagon's drone procurement pipeline and increase exercises with drones. "Drone dominance is a process race as much as a technological race. Modern battlefield innovation demands a new procurement strategy that fuses manufacturers with our frontline troops," he wrote in a July 16 memo. Chad Raduege, an Oklahoma-based drone consultant and retired Air Force brigadier general, said US innovation in drone production and tactics will accelerate as the military delivers low-cost systems into units and lets troops experiment. "Get drones into the hands of operators, let them start training, then there will be tactics that we will evolve as part of the US war machine," Raduege told RFE/RL. "We are going to see some pretty neat stuff." A previous version of this story contained a graphic with outdated data on US, EU, and Russian missile and drone production and stockpiles. The graphic has been removed. The son of former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has a job at an affiliate of Rostec, the giant state industrial conglomerate that makes many of the weapons Moscow uses in its war against Ukraine, RFE/RL's Russian investigative unit, Systema, has found. In 2016, ahead of his graduation from one of Moscow's most elite universities, Ilya Medvedev told an interviewer with the Russian tabloid MK that he would not want to work for a big state company. But that's exactly what he does. Since October 2022, the younger Medvedev, who turned 30 this month, has been an adviser to the director of RT-Razvitiye Biznesa (RT-Business Development), which is part of Rostec. He is involved in investments and asset management and draws a monthly paycheck of 270,000 rubles ($3,400), according to leaked Federal Tax Service data reviewed by Systema. Vladimir Putin tapped Dmitry Medvedev to be president from 2008-2012, enabling Putin to avoid exceeding the constitutional limit of two consecutive Kremlin terms. Putin returned to the presidency in 2012 and, in 2020, pushed through an amendment allowing him to potentially remain in the top office until 2036. As president, Medvedev presented himself as a relative liberal and a supporter of democratic reform. Now deputy chairman of Putin's advisory Security Council and chairman of the ruling United Russia party, he has become an often rabidly bellicose supporter of Russia's war on Ukraine, using social media to deliver poisonous rhetoric and nuclear threats against the West. Many adult children of high officials in Putin's ruling structures hold jobs at state companies or private firms with connections to the government or have been appointed to government posts themselves. The director of Rostec, Sergei Chemezov, has been close to Putin since their time as Soviet KGB officers stationed in East Germany in the 1980s, when they lived in the same apartment building in Dresden. In Ilya Medvedev's first few months at RT-Business Development, the head of the company was Aleksandr Nazarov, a longtime acquaintance of Chemezov's. Ilya Medvedev is the only child of Dmitry Medvedev and his wife, Svetlana. There was no public announcement of Ilya Medvedev's hiring at RT-Business Development, and there is no public information about how he got the job. As prime minister from 2012 to 2020, Dmitry Medvedev was responsible for ties with Rostec, and an investment fund linked to Dmitry Medvedev has called itself a partner of Rostec. In 2015-2019, Ilya Medvedev had a job at the Internet giant VK -- though none of the employees Systema spoke to could say what he did there: "I never once saw him at work," a former senior manager said. Rostec owned shares of VK through RT-Business Development, and another VK shareholder at the time was the prominent billionaire Alisher Usmanov. In 2019-2022, Ilya Medvedev worked in the investment division of Kriptonit, an IT company that belonged to Usmanov at the time. In 2022, a representative of Usmanov has denied the tycoon was close to the Medvedev family and said any attempt to connect Usmanov to Ilya Medvedev's career was "biased." Rostec and RT-Business Development did not respond to requests for comment for this report. Dmitry Medvedev has been chairman of United Russia, one of the main instruments of Putin's political control nationwide, since 2012. His son joined the party a few months after Russia launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. He was subsequently hit with US and European Union sanctions. In 2023, United Russia said Ilya Medvedev had coordinated the establishment of a website called I Am In Russia for use by residents of the Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine that Putin baselessly claims are part of Russia. Adapted from the original Russian by Steve Gutterman Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected suggestions that Kyiv would have to cede territory to Russia, as the White House and the Kremlin announced face-to-face talks to try to resolve the 41-month-old Ukraine war. US President Donald Trump announced he and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, would be meeting in Alaska on August 15 -- their first meeting since Trump took office in January. Trump suggested that any resolution to the war could include "swapping of territories." That would potentially conflict with Kyiv's longstanding position that it must regain all the territory Russia currently occupies. Were going to get some back, and were going to get some switched, Trump said at the White House on August 8. Therell be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both, but well be talking about that either later, or tomorrow. In a video released hours later, Zelenskyy, who has not been invited to the Alaska meeting, warned that any peace deal excluding Kyiv would lead to dead solutions. "Ukrainians will not give their land to the occupier," he said Any decisions that are without Ukraine are at the same time decisions against peace. They will not bring anything. These are dead decisions. They will never work," Zelenskyy said. The talks come at a pivotal moment, with Trump increasingly frustrated with Putin and the Russian president showing no signs of bending on the Kremlin's maximalist demands. Trump and Putin have held six phone calls, and the White House's lead envoy has traveled to Moscow at least three times. Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yury Ushakov confirmed the meeting and said that Alaska was a symbolic location, given the two countries' shared Arctic borders. "Russia and the United States are close neighbors, bordering each other," Ushakov said in a video released by the Kremlin. "Of course the presidents themselves will be focusing on possibilities for reaching a lasting resolution to the Ukrainian crisis." Russia's invasion has turned into the largest land war in Europe since World War II, devastating Ukraine, and transforming Russia, turning its economy into a war machine and establishing a police-state government criminalizing dissent. Moscow's casualties, dead and wounded, stand at more than 1 million, according to Western estimates. Ukraine's war dead are believed to exceed 100,000, with overall casualties around 400,000. Despite the toll, and international pressure, Putin has pressed his advantage on and off the battlefield. Russian troops are grinding down Ukrainian defenses, closing in on two major cities, Pokrovsk and Chasiv Yar. Russia forces have also battered Ukrainian cities with record numbers of missiles and drones in recent months, targeting civilians, residential buildings, and electricity infrastructure. Early on August 9, a Russian drone hit a minibus in the suburbs of the southern city of Kherson, killing at least two civilian passengers and wounding 16. Officials said the bus was then targeted with a second drone -- a so-called "double tap" -- as police and emergency responders treated the injured. Three officers suffered concussions, officials said. Meeting In Alaska The decision to meet Putin face-to-face -- something that Trump's predecessor Joe Biden refused to do following the invasion -- reflects Trump's belief that his relationship with the Russian leader will yield a durable peace agreement. For Putin, meeting Trump in person -- without the presence of Zelenskyy or Ukrainian officials -- is a small victory, reflecting Putin's position that Zelenskyy is an illegitimate leader and that a grand bargain to end the war can only be reached directly with the United States. Traveling to the United States is also a small victory for Putin who is under a war crimes arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court. Only members of the court are obliged to detain him, and the Trump administration is openly hostile to the Hague tribunal. Brett McGurk, who served as a White House National Security Council adviser under four presidents, said the optics of Putin traveling to the United States were not good. Speaking in an interview on CNN, McGurk said a cease-fire must be the priority. Short of that, "you have to walk away," he said. "Otherwise, [the war] is going to continue and Putin gets a big gigantic win." A Climb Down? Oxana Shevel, a political scientist and expert on Ukraine and Russia at Tufts University, noted that Trump only recently said he was very disappointed with Putin for continuing missile and drone barrages -- after cordial phone conversations -- if Putin didn't agree to a cease-fire. Hes clearly climbing down from that position, Shevel told RFE/RL. The fact that neither Ukraine nor any Europeans countries will have any place at the Alaska talks is also problematic, she said. "They said before that any deal about Ukraine cannot be made without Ukraine," she said. "That's been the position of the Ukrainian government for a long time." It was unclear what Trump meant by "swapping" territory; Ukraine doesn't currently hold any Russian territory. Shevel said this could involve a handful of villages near Ukraine's northeastern border that Russia has occupied in exchange for the part of the Donetsk region that Russian doesn't hold. The announcement of the summit coincided with a deadline Trump set for Putin to agree to a cease-fire or face severe tariffs targeting Russia's oil and other exports, along with its trading partners facing secondary tariffs on oil purchased from Russia. Russia has been able to fund its war effort in large part by oil and gas sales, to China and India, among others. Trump this week signed an executive order imposing an additional 25 percent tariff on India but did not raise tariffs on China. The Russian leader has long insisted that Ukraine relinquish the territories Russia occupies -- including Crimea, which Russia claims to have annexed in 2014. He has also insisted Western nations stop supplying Ukraine with weapons and that Ukraine be excluded from NATO membership. Zelenskyy and his European allies have rejected those demands, though Zelenskyy has expressed openness to meeting with Putin. US Senator Jeanne Shaheen criticized Trump for failing to "get tough" on the Kremlin. "Setting deadlines and blowing through them deeply undermines Americas credibility, our deterrence to other aggressors, and our ability to finally get Russia to the negotiating table," she said in a statement. A Ukrainian NGO has accused Russia of "state-sponsored child trafficking" after a group of administrators in Russia-controlled areas of Ukraine published an online catalog of what they called Ukrainian orphans. Mykola Kuleba, the head of Save Ukraine, said a database from the Russia-installed administration's Education Ministry in the Luhansk region contains data on 294 Ukrainian children under the age of 17 who have been separated from their parents. "Russia isnt even trying to hide it anymore. Its openly trafficking Ukrainian children," Kuleba said, noting the website shows the names, photos, descriptions of their personalities and hobbies of the children. The database also has filters for gender, age, eye and hair color, and whether the orphans have siblings. It was unclear how to access the database, but Save Ukraine published screen grabs of the it. "The way they describe our children is no different from a slave catalog. This is real child trafficking in the 21st century, which the world must stop," Kuleba added. When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Kyiv accused Moscow of taking thousands of children from their homeland and sending to areas of the country occupied by Russian troops such as Luhansk, which is now around 99 percent controlled by Russia. Thousands of others were sent further, spread across Russia itself. Around 19,546 children have been deported to Russia since the start of the invasion in 2022, and just about 1,399 children have been returned to Ukraine, according to data from Bring Kids Back UA. Russia has denied committing any crimes with the moving of the children, says it is saving them from the war. Last month, however, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found Russia guilty of implementing an organized system of human rights violations, including the forced deportation of children. In March 2023, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia's commissioner for children's rights. While databases are often used by official state authorities for adoption, the presence of one run by an administration installed during war could indicate a forced adoption program independent from Moscow is operating, which makes it more difficult to track children being taken away from their families. Luhansk officials were not immediately available to comment. Kuleba said most of the children in the online catalog were born before Russian troops captured the Luhansk region and had Ukrainian citizenship. Some have parents who were killed by the occupation authorities, others simply had Russian documents made to "legalize their kidnapping," he added. "Since 2022, the practice has become widespread and systematic. Initially, Russian authorities tried to cover their tracksshutting down registries and erasing references. Now, the pretense is gone," he said. "Lets be clear: This is not adoption. This is not care. This is digital child trafficking, masked as bureaucracy," Kuleba added. Guests inaugurate the 2025 World Robot Conference (WRC) in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 8, 2025. The 2025 WRC that kicked off on Friday in Beijing unveiled future development trends of embodied intelligent robots, focusing on fields such as cognition, decision-making and safety. Co-hosted by the Chinese Institute of Electronics and the World Robot Cooperation Organization, the five-day event features forums, exhibitions, competitions and networking events, with over 200 robotics companies from around the world presenting their latest innovations. (Xinhua/Xie Han) BEIJING, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- The 2025 World Robot Conference (WRC) that kicked off on Friday in Beijing unveiled future development trends of embodied intelligent robots, focusing on fields such as cognition, decision-making and safety. The details were shared by Qiao Hong, president of the World Robot Cooperation Organization (WRCO), in a report titled 10 Trends of Embodied Intelligent Robots 2025 during the opening ceremony of the conference. The report highlights embodied cognition as being driven by the synergy of physical practice, physical simulators and world models, while also emphasizing the role of multimodal large models in enhancing embodied decision-making. The report covers some key fields such as embodied intelligent control, AI-powered robot design, software and hardware consistency, robot manufacturing, and large-scale and high-quality datasets. It also highlights robot swarms and the collaboration with humans, an interdisciplinary open community, as well as safety assessment and ethical development for embodied intelligent robots. Co-hosted by the Chinese Institute of Electronics and the WRCO, the five-day event features forums, exhibitions, competitions and networking events, with over 200 robotics companies from around the world presenting their latest innovations. Humanoid robots are exhibited during the 2025 World Robot Conference (WRC) in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 8, 2025. The 2025 WRC that kicked off on Friday in Beijing unveiled future development trends of embodied intelligent robots, focusing on fields such as cognition, decision-making and safety. Co-hosted by the Chinese Institute of Electronics and the World Robot Cooperation Organization, the five-day event features forums, exhibitions, competitions and networking events, with over 200 robotics companies from around the world presenting their latest innovations. (Xinhua/Li Xin) Robot dogs are exhibited during the 2025 World Robot Conference (WRC) in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 8, 2025. The 2025 WRC that kicked off on Friday in Beijing unveiled future development trends of embodied intelligent robots, focusing on fields such as cognition, decision-making and safety. Co-hosted by the Chinese Institute of Electronics and the World Robot Cooperation Organization, the five-day event features forums, exhibitions, competitions and networking events, with over 200 robotics companies from around the world presenting their latest innovations. (Xinhua/Li Xin) Humanoid robots are seen during the 2025 World Robot Conference (WRC) in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 8, 2025. The 2025 WRC that kicked off on Friday in Beijing unveiled future development trends of embodied intelligent robots, focusing on fields such as cognition, decision-making and safety. Co-hosted by the Chinese Institute of Electronics and the World Robot Cooperation Organization, the five-day event features forums, exhibitions, competitions and networking events, with over 200 robotics companies from around the world presenting their latest innovations. (Xinhua/Li Xin) A humanoid robot is exhibited during the 2025 World Robot Conference (WRC) in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 8, 2025. The 2025 WRC that kicked off on Friday in Beijing unveiled future development trends of embodied intelligent robots, focusing on fields such as cognition, decision-making and safety. Co-hosted by the Chinese Institute of Electronics and the World Robot Cooperation Organization, the five-day event features forums, exhibitions, competitions and networking events, with over 200 robotics companies from around the world presenting their latest innovations. (Xinhua/Li Xin) A girl interacts with an animatronic dinosaur during the 2025 World Robot Conference (WRC) in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 8, 2025. The 2025 WRC that kicked off on Friday in Beijing unveiled future development trends of embodied intelligent robots, focusing on fields such as cognition, decision-making and safety. Co-hosted by the Chinese Institute of Electronics and the World Robot Cooperation Organization, the five-day event features forums, exhibitions, competitions and networking events, with over 200 robotics companies from around the world presenting their latest innovations. (Xinhua/Li Xin) A staff member demonstrates a humanoid robot during the 2025 World Robot Conference (WRC) in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 8, 2025. The 2025 WRC that kicked off on Friday in Beijing unveiled future development trends of embodied intelligent robots, focusing on fields such as cognition, decision-making and safety. Co-hosted by the Chinese Institute of Electronics and the World Robot Cooperation Organization, the five-day event features forums, exhibitions, competitions and networking events, with over 200 robotics companies from around the world presenting their latest innovations. (Xinhua/Li Xin) A robot host is staged during the opening ceremony of the 2025 World Robot Conference (WRC) in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 8, 2025. The 2025 WRC that kicked off on Friday in Beijing unveiled future development trends of embodied intelligent robots, focusing on fields such as cognition, decision-making and safety. Co-hosted by the Chinese Institute of Electronics and the World Robot Cooperation Organization, the five-day event features forums, exhibitions, competitions and networking events, with over 200 robotics companies from around the world presenting their latest innovations. (Xinhua/Xie Han) Visitors watch the performance of a humanoid robot during the 2025 World Robot Conference (WRC) in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 8, 2025. The 2025 WRC that kicked off on Friday in Beijing unveiled future development trends of embodied intelligent robots, focusing on fields such as cognition, decision-making and safety. Co-hosted by the Chinese Institute of Electronics and the World Robot Cooperation Organization, the five-day event features forums, exhibitions, competitions and networking events, with over 200 robotics companies from around the world presenting their latest innovations. (Xinhua/Li Xin) A humanoid robot is seen during the 2025 World Robot Conference (WRC) in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 8, 2025. The 2025 WRC that kicked off on Friday in Beijing unveiled future development trends of embodied intelligent robots, focusing on fields such as cognition, decision-making and safety. Co-hosted by the Chinese Institute of Electronics and the World Robot Cooperation Organization, the five-day event features forums, exhibitions, competitions and networking events, with over 200 robotics companies from around the world presenting their latest innovations. (Xinhua/Li Xin) Simulated birds are exhibited during the 2025 World Robot Conference (WRC) in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 8, 2025. The 2025 WRC that kicked off on Friday in Beijing unveiled future development trends of embodied intelligent robots, focusing on fields such as cognition, decision-making and safety. Co-hosted by the Chinese Institute of Electronics and the World Robot Cooperation Organization, the five-day event features forums, exhibitions, competitions and networking events, with over 200 robotics companies from around the world presenting their latest innovations. (Xinhua/Li Xin) A visitor interacts with a humanoid robot during the 2025 World Robot Conference (WRC) in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 8, 2025. The 2025 WRC that kicked off on Friday in Beijing unveiled future development trends of embodied intelligent robots, focusing on fields such as cognition, decision-making and safety. Co-hosted by the Chinese Institute of Electronics and the World Robot Cooperation Organization, the five-day event features forums, exhibitions, competitions and networking events, with over 200 robotics companies from around the world presenting their latest innovations. (Xinhua/Li Xin) Visitors watch a dancing robot at the 2025 World Robot Conference (WRC) in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 8, 2025. The 2025 WRC that kicked off on Friday in Beijing unveiled future development trends of embodied intelligent robots, focusing on fields such as cognition, decision-making and safety. Co-hosted by the Chinese Institute of Electronics and the World Robot Cooperation Organization, the five-day event features forums, exhibitions, competitions and networking events, with over 200 robotics companies from around the world presenting their latest innovations. (Xinhua/Jin Liwang) Visitors interact with a Quanta X2 robot from X Square Robot at the 2025 World Robot Conference (WRC) in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 8, 2025. The 2025 WRC that kicked off on Friday in Beijing unveiled future development trends of embodied intelligent robots, focusing on fields such as cognition, decision-making and safety. Co-hosted by the Chinese Institute of Electronics and the World Robot Cooperation Organization, the five-day event features forums, exhibitions, competitions and networking events, with over 200 robotics companies from around the world presenting their latest innovations. (Xinhua/Jin Liwang) A robot of Unitree Robotics gives a combat performance at the 2025 World Robot Conference (WRC) in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 8, 2025. The 2025 WRC that kicked off on Friday in Beijing unveiled future development trends of embodied intelligent robots, focusing on fields such as cognition, decision-making and safety. Co-hosted by the Chinese Institute of Electronics and the World Robot Cooperation Organization, the five-day event features forums, exhibitions, competitions and networking events, with over 200 robotics companies from around the world presenting their latest innovations. (Xinhua/Jin Liwang) Visitors look at a robot hand at the 2025 World Robot Conference (WRC) in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 8, 2025. The 2025 WRC that kicked off on Friday in Beijing unveiled future development trends of embodied intelligent robots, focusing on fields such as cognition, decision-making and safety. Co-hosted by the Chinese Institute of Electronics and the World Robot Cooperation Organization, the five-day event features forums, exhibitions, competitions and networking events, with over 200 robotics companies from around the world presenting their latest innovations. (Xinhua/Jin Liwang) Visitors watch a performance by a robot band at the 2025 World Robot Conference (WRC) in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 8, 2025. The 2025 WRC that kicked off on Friday in Beijing unveiled future development trends of embodied intelligent robots, focusing on fields such as cognition, decision-making and safety. Co-hosted by the Chinese Institute of Electronics and the World Robot Cooperation Organization, the five-day event features forums, exhibitions, competitions and networking events, with over 200 robotics companies from around the world presenting their latest innovations. (Xinhua/Jin Liwang) Visitors play football with robots at the 2025 World Robot Conference (WRC) in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 8, 2025. The 2025 WRC that kicked off on Friday in Beijing unveiled future development trends of embodied intelligent robots, focusing on fields such as cognition, decision-making and safety. Co-hosted by the Chinese Institute of Electronics and the World Robot Cooperation Organization, the five-day event features forums, exhibitions, competitions and networking events, with over 200 robotics companies from around the world presenting their latest innovations. (Xinhua/Xie Han) Boxing robots are displayed at the 2025 World Robot Conference (WRC) in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 8, 2025. The 2025 WRC that kicked off on Friday in Beijing unveiled future development trends of embodied intelligent robots, focusing on fields such as cognition, decision-making and safety. Co-hosted by the Chinese Institute of Electronics and the World Robot Cooperation Organization, the five-day event features forums, exhibitions, competitions and networking events, with over 200 robotics companies from around the world presenting their latest innovations. (Xinhua/Xie Han) Visitors play against robots at the 2025 World Robot Conference (WRC) in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 8, 2025. The 2025 WRC that kicked off on Friday in Beijing unveiled future development trends of embodied intelligent robots, focusing on fields such as cognition, decision-making and safety. Co-hosted by the Chinese Institute of Electronics and the World Robot Cooperation Organization, the five-day event features forums, exhibitions, competitions and networking events, with over 200 robotics companies from around the world presenting their latest innovations. (Xinhua/Xie Han) Staff members dance with robots at the 2025 World Robot Conference (WRC) in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 8, 2025. The 2025 WRC that kicked off on Friday in Beijing unveiled future development trends of embodied intelligent robots, focusing on fields such as cognition, decision-making and safety. Co-hosted by the Chinese Institute of Electronics and the World Robot Cooperation Organization, the five-day event features forums, exhibitions, competitions and networking events, with over 200 robotics companies from around the world presenting their latest innovations. (Xinhua/Xie Han) An exoskeleton robot is displayed at the 2025 World Robot Conference (WRC) in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 8, 2025. The 2025 WRC that kicked off on Friday in Beijing unveiled future development trends of embodied intelligent robots, focusing on fields such as cognition, decision-making and safety. Co-hosted by the Chinese Institute of Electronics and the World Robot Cooperation Organization, the five-day event features forums, exhibitions, competitions and networking events, with over 200 robotics companies from around the world presenting their latest innovations. (Xinhua/Xie Han) A robotic guide dog is pictured at the 2025 World Robot Conference (WRC) in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 8, 2025. The 2025 WRC that kicked off on Friday in Beijing unveiled future development trends of embodied intelligent robots, focusing on fields such as cognition, decision-making and safety. Co-hosted by the Chinese Institute of Electronics and the World Robot Cooperation Organization, the five-day event features forums, exhibitions, competitions and networking events, with over 200 robotics companies from around the world presenting their latest innovations. (Xinhua/Xie Han) Five County Roscommon producers have made it through to the final stages of Blas na hEireann, the Irish Food Awards 2025. The finalists come from a wide range of categories and are as follows: Do Me A Flavour, Monksland; Healthy Bake Ltd., Castlerea; Noble Ice Cream, Castlerea; Oliver Carty & Family, Monksland, and Waldron Family Meats, Brideswell. Noble Ice Cream are first time finalists, while Waldron Family Meats, Oliver Carty & Family and Do Me A Flavour will be looking to build off their strong performances in last years finals, as the producers picked up awards at last years finals. Judging took place between May and July and was scored by a network of experts, selecting the top entries from each category. Louise Ward, Head of Enterprise, Roscommon, praised the producers from the county, We are delighted to see that five very high quality producers are through to the final stages. She added, I really understand and appreciate all the hard work and dedication that these companies do on a day to day basis, constantly improving their offerings to a seriously high standard. Roscommon is lucky to have them. I wish them every success at Blas and throughout their journeys. They are the core of job creation and putting Ireland on the food map. This years finals will take place in Dingle, Kerry between Thursday, October 2nd and Sunday, October 5th. A rising star in Irish cuisine, Lauma Kilgas, Senior Sous Chef at Kilronan Castle Hotel & Spa in Co. Roscommon, has been crowned Irelands Next Top Chef 2025 after serving a faultless three-course menu in front of a live audience and world-class judging panel. Lauma cooked up a storm in a high-pressure Grand Finale at the Balmoral Hotel in Belfast, going head-to-head with Stephen Dowie (La Taqueria, Belfast) and Scott Mallett (Cafe Zulu, Lisburn) in a thrilling live cook-off that showcased the very best of emerging culinary talent from across the island of Ireland. Each finalist was challenged to craft a signature three-course menu that captured their unique style, creativity and technical excellence to claim the coveted title and an all-expenses-paid mentorship at two-star Michelin restaurant Dinner by Heston Blumenthal in London. Laumas winning menu was a standout display of balance, creativity and technical finesse. Her starter, whipped goats cheese encased in beetroot jelly and charcoal tulle, was served with hazelnuts, basil oil, micro greens and beetroot textures, earning praise for its visual impact and layered flavour. Her main course, a chicken and parsley ballotine with mushroom ketchup, potato pearls, shiitake mushrooms and a garlic and whiskey veloute, impressed the judges with its refinement and precision. She rounded off the menu with a parsnip and mascarpone mousse, complemented by honey biscuit textures, raspberry gel and caviar, finished with a dark sugar and honey caramel. Lauma Kilgas, Senior Sous Chef at Kilronan Castle Hotel & Spa and winner of Irelands Next Top Chef 2025, said: Being crowned Irelands Next Top Chef is an incredible honour and without question the most rewarding moment of my career so far. This competition has pushed me to explore new creative boundaries, refine my technique under real pressure and truly trust my instincts as a chef. From the very first challenge, Ive grown both personally and professionally and Im incredibly grateful to my amazing colleagues at Kilronan Castle for their support throughout this competition. To now have the opportunity to train at Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, one of the worlds most innovative kitchens, is a dream come true. Im ready to learn, to grow and to keep pushing myself to become the very best chef I can be. BEIJING, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping said here on Friday that China will remain consistent in its position on the Ukraine crisis and continue to promote peace talks no matter how the situation evolves. Saying that complex problems have no simple solutions, Xi elaborated on China's principles and position in his phone talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. He said that the Chinese side is glad to see Russia and the United States maintain contact, improve their relations and promote the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis. Xi and Putin also agreed to jointly promote a greater development of China-Russia relations. Maire Murray, from Croghan Road, Carrick-on-Shannon, who died after getting into difficulty while swimming in County Donegal last week, was remembered at her funeral mass today as a beloved sister and friend who was endlessly patient and kind, a lovely colleague, interested in people's lives and a great teacher to all. She could have been a writer or a satirist but then the world of medicine of medicine would not have benefited, the congregation heard. Parish Priest of Our Lady of the Rosary Church in Harold's Cross Dublin, Rev Alex Conlan said it had been a long and difficult week for the family as Ms Murrays brother Tomas in the USA had also lost his wife Sylvia who is due to be buried next week. Death has hit you hard in the last eight months, he said as he remembered Ms Murrays mother Nancy who had passed away last December. Ms Murray who was in her 50s passed away after getting into difficulties swimming off the coast of Glencolmcille. She had just finished a week long Irish language course at the Oideas Gael college and had been a regular visitor to the area over the past 20 years. Mr Stephen Curran was thanked for his courage and selflessness for his attempt at trying to rescue Ms Murray on the tragic day of her death along with the coastguard service, the staff of Sligo University Hospital and gardai both in Killybegs and Rathmines. The late Maire Murray. Ms Murrays sister Kate gave an eulogy stating: We had an idyllic childhood growing up with great friends and neighbours on the Croghan road in Carrick-on-Shannon on the Roscommon side of the town, and this engendered Maires lifelong interest in following the Rossies. In her handwritten diary, along with the dates of birthdays of family, friends, godchildren and gigs, she'd also marked important Roscommon games not to be missed. She said her sister had spent the last 23 years as the chief pharmacist at Saint Michael's Hospital in Dun Laoghaire, where she was extraordinarily happy. She had great colleagues, great friends at Saint Michaels, and we as a family have been greatly heartened and consoled by the memories that they have shared about her time in the hospital. She was, we are told, a lovely colleague, patient, kind and interested in people's lives and a great teacher to all and always putting the patient first. She added, There was nothing that did not interest her, music, films, politics, sport, photography, travel, nature and wildlife. She recalled how her sister loved to travel first going on an Interrail trip after graduation and then visiting South East Asia, Canada, Jordan, and China and lived her life long dream of travelling to Galapagos Islands with Kate. She said that Maire had spent the last day of her life with friends which brought great comfort to the family. She said this was a hard tragedy to bear but thanked everyone for the support they had shown the family. Following the funeral mass Ms Murrays remains were brought to Mount Jerome crematorium. China Confirms PM Modi's Visit To SCO Summit Tianjin, Says China Welcomes Prime Minister Modi According to Indian media reports, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit China Can you confirm that? China Confirms PM Modis Visit To SCO Summit In Tianjin, Says China Welcomes Prime Minister Modi Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Guo Jiakun on Friday, August, 08 said that the country welcomes Prime Minister Modi to China for the SCO Tianjin Summit later this month. Advertisement Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Guo Jiakun made the statement while replying to a query from AFP, a global news agency, which asked for confirmation on Prime Minister Narendra Modis visit to China upon invitation on August 31 to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit. According to Indian media reports, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit China Can you confirm that and what is your comment on this? AFP requested. Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Guo Jiakun, in their response, said, China welcomes Prime Minister Modi to China for the SCO Tianjin Summit. We believe that with the concerted effort of all parties, the Tianjin summit will be a gathering of solidarity, friendship, and fruitful results, and the SCO will enter a new stage of high-quality development featuring greater solidarity, coordination, dynamism, and productiveness. Advertisement China is slated to host the SCO Summit in Tianjin from August 31 to September 1 this year. Leaders of over 20 countries, including all member states of the SCO and heads of 10 international organizations, are expected to attend relevant events. The SCO Tianjin Summit will be the largest summit in scale since the establishment of the SCO, Guo Jiakun added in the statement. (For more news apart from China confirms PM Modis visit to SCO summit in Tianjin, says China welcomes Prime Minister Modi, stay tuned to Rozana Spokesman.) Huma Qureshi's Cousin Brother Stabbed To Death Over Parking Dispute In Delhi By Teenage Brothers This led to a verbal altercation that turned physical. They were two, together they killed my nephew. Huma Qureshis Cousin Brother Asif Qureshi Murderd in Delhis Nizamuddin over Parking Dispute News: Actress Huma Qureshis cousin brother, Asif Qureshi, was murdered in Jangpura Bhogal Bazaar Lane in Delhis Niazmuddin area late on Thursday night, reportedly after a parking dispute near his residence. Advertisement The police have arrested two teenage brothers in connection with the murder case, identified as Ujjwal (19) and Gautam (18), who lived in the neighborhood, according to a report by Republic Bharat. The wife of the deceased, speaking to IANS, a news agency, alleged that the murder was deliberate and was carried out following a conspiracy. Saleem Qureshi, the father of actress Huma Qureshi, speaking to reporters, said, Two men parked a scooter in front of the house. Asif asked them to move it aside and not block the entrance. Advertisement This led to a verbal altercation that turned physical. They were two, together they killed my nephew. The 38-year-old victim, Asif Qureshi, was allegedly attacked with a sharp object at around 11:00 PM. He was rushed to hospital where he was pronounced dead. The CCTV footage from the incident has surfaced, showing the physical altercation that occurred during the time of the incident. Advertisement The deceased's wife claimed that there were altercations between the victim and the accused previously, too. She alleged that the two accused used to abuse him without any provocation and even threatened to kill him. A relative of the deceased, speaking to IANS, also claimed that last year in November, the accused and their family allegedly stormed into the victims house with a big stone and attempted to kill him. On the fateful night of August 7, the same female relative said that there was a scooty parked in front of the victims house. When the victim asked them to move the scooty aside, the accused started verbally abusing him. The victim told them not to use abusive language, and thats when the older brother allegedly said, wait, mein abhi aata hun. Next, both the accused charged at him, and their family members too allegedly got involved. Advertisement Then the elder brother attacked Asif with what is described as an iron object near the victims throat, causing him to bleed. Investigations are underway. (For more news apart from Huma Qureshis Cousin Brother Stabbed To Death Over Parking Dispute In Delhi By Teenage Brothers, stay tuned to Rozana Spokesman.) Punjab PRTC Bus Strike Today: PRTC, PUNBUS Buses Not To Ply On Road, Details Inside Contractual employees of PRTC and PUNBUS are on a strike, demanding to fulfill their long-standing unfulfilled demands. Punjab PRTC Bus Strike Today: PRTC, PUNBUS Buses Not To Ply On Road, Details Inside Punjab PRTC and PUNBUS Bus Strike Today Latest News: Commuters across Punjab may suffer while travelling today as the government buses will not run across the state on August 8. Advertisement Contractual employees of PRTC and PUNBUS are on a strike, demanding to fulfill their long-standing unfulfilled demands. Punjab PRTC and PUNBUS said in a statement that the strike has been specifically called for today in view of the occasion of Raksha Bandhan, which is scheduled for August 9, in order not to cause any inconvenience to sisters and mothers. (For more news apart from Punjab PRTC and PUNBUS Bus Strike Today Latest News, stay tuned to Rozana Spokesman.) Romanias Foreign Minister on a visit to Kyiv Romania's Foreign Minister Oana Toiu was received in Kyiv on Thursday by Ukraines president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy Ministrul roman de externe, Oana Toiu Roxana Vasile, 08.08.2025, 14:00 Romanias Foreign Minister Oana Toiu paid a visit to Kyiv on Thursday, where she met with president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko and her counterpart Andrii Sybiha. Among the topics discussed were ongoing joint projects, the participation of Romanian companies in the reconstruction of Ukraine, the development of military cooperation and the rights of minorities. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on his Telegram channel, thanking Romania for its military, political and logistics assistance and for its contribution to strengthening Ukraines air defenses, given that Bucharest donated a Patriot system to Kyiv in 2024. He also welcomed the relatively recent adoption by Parliament of the law that allows the shooting down of drones that enter Romanian airspace. We are building a strategic partnership between Romania and Ukraine, for peace, strong democracies and prosperity. () Ukraine is fighting courageously for the security and freedom of Romania and the whole of Europe. It is a war that Ukraine did not want, but which it is fighting today with determination in the name of the values that Romania also stands for freedom, sovereignty and independence, Oana Toiu wrote on Facebook. She pointed out that it is in Romanias direct interest that a peace in Ukraine be just and lasting, in order to ensure the independence, integrity and the European path of the neighboring state, but also the stability and security of the entire region. On the sidelines of her meeting with Ukraines Minister of Foreign Affairs, Andrii Sybiha, Oana Toiu encouraged Ukraine to continue its efforts for the credible, predictable and comprehensive implementation of reforms required for EU accession. The Romanian official recalled that, since the start of Russias war of aggression, Romania has been a firm supporter of Ukraine. She also outlined the steps taken by Romanian authorities in support of Ukraine and the Ukrainian people, with special emphasis on investments in the development of cross-border infrastructure. These extensive projects, Oana Toiu argues, will also play a fundamental role in Romanias active participation in the reconstruction of Ukraine, as well as in its economic development and increasing its regional resilience. In addition to immediate priorities, Romanias diplomacy chief discussed with her counterpart the long-term development prospects of the bilateral relationship, including by raising it to the level of Strategic Partnership. In this context, Oana Toiu stressed the fundamental importance of protecting the rights of national minorities, including educational, religious rights and the right to free association. Oana Toiu mentioned the unique contribution of ethnic Romanians in Ukraine and Ukrainians in Romania to strengthening ties between the two countries, as well as to ensuring a safe and prosperous European future. (VP) Japan will release a batch of data on Friday, headlining a modest day for Asia-Pacific economic activity. On tap are June figures for household spending and current account and July numbers for bank lending and the eco watchers survey. Household spending is expected to fall 3.0 percent on month and rise 2.8 percent on year after adding 4.6 percent on month and 4.7 percent on year in May. The current account is tipped to show a surplus of 2.76 trillion yen, down from 2.82 trillion yen in the previous month. Overall bank lending is expected to rise 2.7 percent on year, down from 2.8 percent in June. The eco watchers survey for current conditions is tipped to show a score of 45.5, up from 45.0 a month earlier. Taiwan will provide July data for imports, exports and trade balance. In June, imports were up 17.3 percent on year and exports surged an annual 33.7 percent for a trade surplus of $12.07 billion. Indonesia will see July numbers for retail sales; in June, sales were up 1.9 percent on year. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Economic News What parts of the world are seeing the best (and worst) economic performances lately? Click here to check out our Econ Scorecard and find out! See up-to-the-moment rankings for the best and worst performers in GDP, unemployment rate, inflation and much more. GAZA, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- At least 24 Palestinians were killed by Israeli attacks across Gaza on Thursday, according to the Gaza Civil Defense. In southern Gaza, nine people, including a child, were killed in an Israeli airstrike targeting tents housing displaced persons and gatherings in Khan Younis, Mahmoud Basal, spokesperson for the Civil Defense, told Xinhua. In Gaza City, three people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a residential apartment in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, north of the city, and three others were killed in an Israeli airstrike on an apartment in the Shati refugee camp, west of the city, Basal said. In central Gaza, a family of four was killed in an Israeli airstrike on an apartment in the al-Salhi Tower west of the Nuseirat refugee camp, and five aid seekers were killed by Israeli army fire near the U.S.-backed aid center at the Netzarim junction, Basal said. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said in a statement that it continues operating in Khan Younis, "locating and dismantling tunnel shafts and underground terrorist infrastructure in the area." "Over the past day, terrorists who posed a threat to IDF troops were eliminated from the ground and air," it said, adding that it continues to "locate and dismantle infrastructure above and below ground" in northern Gaza, striking "Hamas military structures" and killing "several terrorists." Meanwhile, in response to a Fox News exclusive interview with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu published earlier in the day, where Netanyahu confirmed his plan for Israel to "take full control of the Gaza Strip," Hamas said the plan "is a continuation of the approach of genocide and displacement." In a press statement, Hamas said it considers Netanyahu's statements to represent "a clear reversal of the course of negotiations and reveal the true motives behind his withdrawal from the final round, despite our closeness to reaching a final agreement." At least 9,752 Palestinians have been killed and 40,004 others injured since Israel renewed its intensive strikes in Gaza on March 18, bringing the total death toll since October 2023 to 61,258, and injuries to 152,045, Gaza-based health authorities said Thursday. Four new deaths due to starvation and malnutrition were recorded in the past 24 hours, bringing the overall death toll of that kind since October 2023 to 197, including 96 children, the authorities said. Also on Thursday, the Hamas-run government media office said that only 92 aid and merchant trucks entered Gaza on Wednesday, most of which were subjected to looting and robbery amid "deliberate security chaos" created by Israel. President Donald Trump has signed an Executive Order stopping unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats from wasting taxpayer dollars on frivolous grants. Going forward, President Trump's appointees will review funding opportunity announcements and grant awards to verify that each grant dollar benefits Americans instead of lining grantees' pocketbooks or furthering causes that damage America, the White House said. Award decisions will undergo more rigorous evaluation by political appointees and subject matter experts to ensure they benefit the American public, align with Administration priorities, and are coordinated across agencies to avoid duplication. The Order also allows for the termination of future grants that do not meet these criteria, including if grantees use their awards in a manner that is inconsistent with the policy objectives in the Order. The Order mandates that agencies simplify funding opportunity announcements with plain language. The Order directs agencies to award grants to a wide array of meritorious grantees, not just the universities and nonprofits that have received awards year after year. For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com Business News [L-R]: Amahle Jaxa, Adv Dali Mpofu, Bongani Baloyi, Dr Pedro Mzileni [PHOTO CREDIT: Qiqa Penxa] By: Olwethu Ncapayi Across the African continent, conversations about sustainable development often centre on economic policy, foreign investment, and infrastructure. Yet, one critical factor remains insufficiently addressed: leadership and governance. While the continent holds vast human and natural resources, many countries face persistent poverty, political instability, and weak institutions. This raises a pressing question: is the absence of accountable leadership and ethical governance the missing link in Africas pursuit of sustainable progress? Unpacking this question requires a closer look at how decision-making, public trust, and institutional integrity shape the continents development path. Rhodes University officially launched Leadership Week on the evening of Monday, 4 August, with a powerful and thought-provoking panel discussion held at Eden Grove Red from 18h00 to 21h00. The event, hosted by the Student Representative Council, brought together a diverse panel of speakers to engage students on leadership and good governance in Africa. Themed Is Leadership and Good Governance the Missing Link in Africas Quest for Sustainable Development?, the event aimed to amplify youth voices, inspire critical thinking, and interrogate how effective leadership can shape a more sustainable and inclusive future for the continent. The event was facilitated by Tsidzo Hove, who guided the conversations with professionalism and poise, ensuring each panellist's voice was heard and the audience remained engaged. The panel featured four dynamic speakers from diverse backgrounds, offering different yet intersecting perspectives on leadership and good governance: Amahle Jaxa, an accomplished South African youth leader, entrepreneur and social media personality, known for her engaging content on current affairs and pop culture Bongani Michael Baloyi, a South African politician who made history in 2013 when he became Executive Mayor of the Midvaal Local Municipality at just 26 years old the youngest mayor in South Africa at the time Dr Pedro Mzileni, a lecturer, writer, and intellectual who focuses on the intersection of politics, race, and postcolonial African society Advocate Dali Mpofu, a renowned South African advocate and political figure, served as the keynote speaker. What made the event particularly engaging was the diversity of the panel. The speakers represented different political ideologies, generational experiences, and sectors highlighting that leadership is not a one-size-fits-all concept. However, through good governance, ethical leadership, taking a stand, and accountability, these varied approaches can be unified to address Africas developmental challenges. Amahle Jaxa opened the panel with an emotionally charged and socially conscious perspective rooted in her experiences as a youth leader. Her arrival was welcomed with the liberation song Igama Lamakhosikazi Malibongwe meaning Let the name of women be praised. Deeply embedded in South African history, the song was not just ceremonial. It echoed a call for womens visibility in leadership, a reminder of the resilience of women in the liberation movement, and a powerful reinforcement that women must not just be present in leadership spaces but also heard, respected, and empowered. Jaxa questioned whether sustainable development was more a buzzword than a practice. She emphasised that true leadership and sustainable development must address economic growth, social inclusion, and environmental responsibility with a focus on ensuring that no one gets left behind. She passionately criticised leadership that is detached from the people. "Leadership and governance should align with the needs of the people," she said. These needs include access to affordable housing, quality infrastructure, electricity, healthcare, education, and employment opportunities. In Jaxas view, the link between leadership and development is not just missing its broken. Leadership has become about status, titles, and money, instead of service, empathy, and people. She reminded the audience that true leadership is about accountability, not just being held accountable but holding oneself accountable. Jaxa denounced the corruption in municipalities that collapse while their budgets increase and stressed that leaders must stop using social media to posture and start building practical, community-based initiatives. Development without action is just decoration, she said. Talk less, collaborate more and meet people at the level of their needs. Bongani Baloyi, on the other hand, brought a more practical and Pan-Africanist approach to the conversation. He challenged the continents overreliance on Western ideologies, arguing that Africa must redefine leadership in its terms. We cannot borrow foreign frameworks and expect them to work in our context, he said. Our governance must reflect our history, our culture, our land. Baloyi boldly questioned: Who owns the land? and Whose system are we using to measure good governance? He called for true African control over African systems, not mere participation. Inclusion, he emphasised, is not enough ownership and power matter. He also drew a direct line between public service and sustainable development, stating that the quality of public representatives is key. If the worst among us lead while the best are sidelined, we will never develop, he warned. Baloyi urged young people to participate in politics, challenge power structures, and stop romanticising mediocrity. Sustainability is about systems that outlive us. It begins with governance that works, he said. Dr Pedro Mzileni, a lecturer, writer, and former SRC Treasurer General, brought a historically grounded and revolutionary lens to the panel. His talk focused on the ongoing legacy of colonial systems in post-apartheid South Africa. Colonialism didnt end in 1994, he said. It became policy, it became systems, and it still shapes who gets to lead and who gets left behind. For Mzileni, dismantling these systemic forms of oppression, from racism and patriarchy to elitism, is the first step toward real, sustainable development. He passionately argued that education must go beyond memorising facts and chasing degrees. Knowledge must lead to action, he told students. You cannot challenge power unless you are conscious of who you are. Mzileni called on young people to reject validation from colonial frameworks and advocate for African solutions to African problems. He emphasised that students and youth have historically played a crucial role in holding power to account and they still can. Advocate Dali Mpofu did not hold back while delivering the keynote address. Mpofu described the absence of good governance as corruption, fraud, and a betrayal of public trust. He emphasised that real leadership is about improvement, about leaving a system, a community, or a country better than you found it. He criticised Africas inherited governance systems, arguing that they were never designed to serve Africans. Instead, they foster disunity, elitism, and underdevelopment. For Africa to rise, he said, leaders must abandon self-interest and political partisanship and focus on unity, service, and transformation. Leadership is not about being a puppet, Mpofu declared. You must be ready to challenge the system, even die for truth and justice. He envisioned Africa as a potential global superpower united by shared values and goals, rather than divided by political factions. According to Mpofu, sustainable development is only possible when leaders prioritise community, ethics, and vision over personal gain. The launch of Leadership Week at Rhodes University was far more than an academic gathering it was a call to consciousness. From Amahle Jaxas call for people-centred development, to Bongani Baloyis Pan-African political realism, Dr Pedro Mzilenis demand for systemic change, and Advocate Dali Mpofus constitutional urgency the evening made one thing clear: Africas future lies not in imported models, but in courageous, ethical, and community-driven leadership. eVitara is the first ever electric vehicle by Maruti Suzuki for India and Suzuki for global markets. Outside of countries like Japan and India, Suzuki has been operational in multiple global markets including Europe. This vehicle is soon to be crash tested by Euro NCAP, which is hailed as one of the most stringent crash tests in the world. Maruti eVitara Euro NCAP Soon Suzukis first ever electric vehicle, the eVitara, has been one of the most anticipated launches in the world. It is a crossover electric SUV which gets an optional AWD for off-roading with the help of a dual motor layout. eVitara will be exclusively manufactured by Maruti Suzuki at their Gujarat plant and will launch in markets like Japan, India and Europe. It is a common practice for un-tested vehicles by Euro NCAP to features on the website when the results are right around the corner. This seems to be the case with eVitara as well, as it is among the vehicles listed officially on Euro NCAP website, while the results are yet to be published. This electric SUV will soon be crash tested by Euro NCAP. Actual crash tests might have already happened, results for which are expected to go live soon. eVitara might be one of the vehicles whose crash test results will go live through Euro NCAPs next publication to release on September 10th, 2025. The Euro-spec version of Maruti Suzuki eVitara SUV is likely to pack additional safety features required to score high in Euro NCAP. This will be the first made-in-India Maruti Suzuki or Suzuki vehicle to be crash tested by Euro NCAP after a very long time. Outcome of this result might vary with India-spec models crash assessment by Bharat NCAP or Global NCAP. Same ratings to Urban Cruiser EV? eVitara features a monocoque construction with battery pack in the floor. There will be a Toyota version of eVitara called Urban Cruiser EV, which has been showcased already. Urban Cruiser EV will also be manufactured exclusively in India at Maruti Suzukis Gujarat facility, which will also launch in global markets like Europe. Euro NCAP might extend the same crash test results of eVitara to Urban Cruiser EV as a Corporate Twin performing any further tests. Both vehicles will pack the same 49 kWh and 61 kWh battery packs promising a range of around 500 km on a single charge. With a strategic partnership with Hero MotoCorp, American bike manufacturer, Harley-Davidson, has entered the countrys premium single-cyl 350cc to 450cc segment. This also allowed Hero MotoCorp to carve out a motorcycle under their brand, the Mavrick 440, which seems to be currently discontinued in India. Hero MotoCorp CEO, Vikram Kasbekar, has now revealed that a new motorcycle developed under its partnership with Harley-Davidson will launch in Q2. As per Mr Kasbekar, one of these 440cc motorcycles will launch very soon and more exciting products will come in 2026. Lets take a closer look at what these could be. New Hero 440cc Bike Launch As revealed in a recent interview, Hero MotoCorp has spilled the beans, revealing details of current developments and upcoming projects in the pipeline. The most interesting among these upcoming vehicles was a new motorcycle based on the 440 platform shared with American brand Harley-Davidson. Mr Kasbekar revealed that the company will launch a new 440cc motorcycle very soon. He did not spill out whether it will be launched under Hero brand or Harley-Davidson brand. Former is the more likely outcome. We say this because Heros only 440cc bike, Maverick 440, seems to have been discontinued recently. What could it be? Analysing the recent test mule sightings, there doesnt seem to be any new 440cc Hero MotoCorp offerings to be launched very soon. However, the company has trademarked the Mavrick 440 Scrambler name and has even patented design of this vehicle in India, which may be the motorcycle Mr Kasbekar is mentioning. If this is true, Mavrick 440 Scrambler will feature scrambler-worthy hardware at a slightly higher price tag and will rival Royal Enfield Scram 440. Because Xpulse 440 test mule sightings have not been reported recently, another possibility could be the re-launch of Mavrick 440, but in a more premium avatar, packing more features and equipment. This variant of Mavrick 440 was showcased at 2024 EICMA and it packed a TFT instrument cluster along with USD telescopic front forks, finished in a lovely Gold shade. Hero embraced similar strategy with Karizma XMR 210 as the Base variant was discontinued, leaving only the better equipped Top variant on sale. If this is true, one can expect a slight price hike with Mavrick 440 owing to its more premium equipment. Last recorded prices started from Rs 2 lakh and went till Rs 2.25 lakh (both prices Ex-sh). Source Unlike the E-VO, which was co-developed with Wuyang, the new electric motorcycle could be an entirely Honda-developed product Honda Motorcycles UK has released a new teaser, offering a glimpse of an entirely new electric bike. It is scheduled to make its global debut on 2nd September. The bike could also be showcased at the upcoming 2025 EICMA in November. Lets check out the details. Similar to EV Fun Concept At last years EICMA, Honda had showcased the EV Fun Concept electric motorcycle. The new electric bike seen in the teaser appears to have a matching profile, even though it is wrapped in camouflage. Similarities can be seen across features such as the horizontally positioned LED DRL, bar-end mirrors in circular shape, a single-sided swingarm and the distinctive design of the alloy wheels. Other noticeable details include grippy, high-performance tyres, large rear disc brake and rear monoshock suspension. The bike has sharp LED turn indicators, USD front forks, clip-on handlebars and a short tail section. The teaser reveals the distinctive hum of an electric motor, which confirms that this is an EV. If this new bike is in fact the production version of the EV Fun Concept, it could be equipped with a fixed battery setup. Performance could be equivalent to a 500cc internal combustion engine (ICE) motorcycle. Power output could be around 50 hp, with strong acceleration and highly responsive torque delivery. Rider aids and tech features could include riding modes, regenerative braking and traction control. At last years EICMA, Honda had said that the EV Fun Concept is designed to ensure quiet, vibration-free rides. It has several of Hondas advanced motorcycle technologies related to smooth turning and stopping. The Concept supports CCS2 quick charger, which has the same standards as automobiles. Cruising range for the EV Fun Concept was revealed at around 100 km. This would be sufficient for city needs. The new Honda electric motorcycle revealed in the teaser has a slightly forward-leaning riding stance. Also revealed in the teaser is a TFT instrument console. One can expect a range of connected features such as access to calls, texts and music. Turn-by-turn navigation could also be part of the package. India launch plans It is unlikely that Hondas new electric motorcycle will be offered in India anytime soon. As of now, Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India (HMSI) derives much of its sales from ICE vehicles. EV offerings include the Activa e: and Honda QC1. For the Indian market, Honda is likely to keep its focus on the entry-level EV segment in the initial stage. Honda will be expanding its EV portfolio in the coming years. Globally, there are plans to launch 30 electric models by 2030. These will be part of the companys long-term objective of achieving carbon neutrality for all its products and operations by 2050. For motorcycle products, the carbon neutrality target is set for the 2040s. Nissans new C-segment SUV will be built at the same facility near Chennai that will produce the new-generation Renault Duster As part of its portfolio expansion plans, Nissan will be launching multiple new products by 2027. One of these will be a compact SUV based on the new-gen Renault Duster. Last year, Nissan had released a teaser of its upcoming Creta-rivalling SUV. And now, a test mule has been spotted for the first time by automotive enthusiast Anoop Raveendran. Lets check out the details. Nissan Duster-Based SUV What to expect? Overall profile of Nissans upcoming compact SUV closely resembles the design seen in last years teasers. The test vehicle wears heavy camouflage, but the outlines can be seen. As compared to the new-gen Duster, the Nissan version will have a distinctive front and rear. Some of the key features include sharp LED headlamps and DRLs, a full-width LED strip and chrome trims on the grille. One can notice a faint outline of the C-shaped elements on the bumper, as was seen in the teasers. The SUV has an upright nose and a sculpted design for the bonnet. Side profile gets squared wheel arches, flared cladding and a rugged design for the alloy wheels. Other highlights include ORVMs with integrated turn signals and conventional outside door handles. Similar to the new-gen Duster, the Nissan version has the rear door handles mounted on the C-pillar. The SUV comes equipped with roof rails for added utility. Key highlights at the rear include a shark fin antenna, roof spoiler, a raked windshield, high mounted brake lights and rugged bumper. Nissans new compact SUV is expected to get sporty tail lamps, although the exact design is not clear due to the camouflage. Interiors, equipment list Inside, Nissans new C-segment SUV will borrow most of the features from new-gen Duster. It could get a 10.1-inch touchscreen infotainment system, a 7-inch digital driver display and wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. A premium sound system is likely. Other expected features include automatic climate control, wireless smartphone charging, USB-C ports, rear AC vents and soft-touch materials. Safety kit could have features such as 6-airbags, electronic stability control, rear parking sensors and camera and tyre pressure monitoring system. Top variants are likely to get an ADAS suite. It could include features such as autonomous emergency braking, lane keep/departure assist, traffic sign recognition, driver attention alert, blind spot monitoring and 360 multiview camera. Performance Engine options for Nissans new compact SUV are likely to be the same, as available with new-gen Renault Duster. Options for India could be different, as compared to overseas locations. Across global markets, one of the options is a 1.0-litre petrol-LPG bi-fuel engine that generates 100 PS. The 1.2-litre turbo petrol with a 48v mild-hybrid setup generates 130 PS. Also on offer is a 1.6-litre strong hybrid, featuring two electric motors, with power output at 140 PS. New-gen Duster and its Nissan derivative are likely to start with petrol engines in India. They will be getting hybrid options at a later date. Nissan will also be offering CNG option in collaboration with RTO-approved third party retrofit providers. Nissans new compact SUV will be launched in 2026, after the new-gen Duster. It will be followed by a 7-seater version in 2027. This will be based on the Renault Bigster / Boreal. According to Nissan India MD Saurabh Vatsa, the 7-seater model will not be a mere rebadging exercise. It will be a very distinct offering, one that is engineered for genuine 7-seat practicality. The new Triumph Thruxton 400, built in collaboration with Bajaj Auto, marks a bold entry into the premium 400cc segment Triumph Motorcycles has launched the new Thruxton 400cc cafe racer in Indian markets. It boasts of an attractive design with racer accents while also demonstrating outstanding performance. The new Thruxton is priced at Rs 2,74,137 (ex-showroom) and while it has no real direct rival in Indian markets, it does offer some competition to the Royal Enfield Continental GT 650. While these two motorcycles share similarities in genre and riding style, they are set apart by a host of differences, mainly in the engine department. Here we assess these specifications to aid buyers make the right choice between these two cafe racers. Thruxton 400 vs RE Continental GT Price, Dimensions, Features To start off, the Triumph Thruxton has been launched at an ex-showroom price of Rs 2.75 lakh. This makes it around Rs 50k cheaper than the RE Continental GT 650 that carries a price tag which starts from Rs 3.25 lakh (ex-showroom). We also compare these two models in terms of features, performance, mileage and displacement. In comparison to the Triumph Thruxton 400, the RE Continental GT 650 is a relatively larger bike. While the Thruxton rides on a 1,376 mm wheelbase, that of the GT is at 1,398 mm. Ground clearance of the RE which is at 174 mm is also relatively much more than the Thruxton at 158 mm. Also, Conti GT has a higher seat at 804 mm over 795 mm seen on Thruxton. While fuel tank capacity is at 12.5 liters on the RE, it goes up by 0.5 liters to 13 liters on the Thruxton. Where the RE Continental GT650 is set apart significantly is in terms of its kerb weight which stands at a hefty 214 kgs over 183 kgs of the Thruxton which makes it a substantial 31kg lighter. The Thruxton is presented in colour options of Lava Red Gloss and Aluminum Silver, Pearl Metallic White and Storm Grey, Metallic Racing Yellow with Aluminum Silver, and Phantom Black with Aluminum Silver. RE, on the other hand, gets 6 colours of British Racing Green, Rocker Red, Dux Deluxe, Mr Clean, Apex Grey, Slipstream Blue. True to its retro cafe racer style, 2025 Thruxton gets a simple design. It receives a contemporary instrument cluster with an analogue speedometer, small LCD screen and all LED lighting along with a USB charging port, ride-by-wire and traction control besides slip-and-assist clutch. The GT 650 gets a double cradle frame, split-pod analogue console, a single seat setup, clip on handle bars and USB charging port. Engine and Performance Differing extensively in engine specs, the Triumph Thruxton 400 draws its power via a 398cc, single cylinder liquid cooled unit that offers 41.5 bhp of peak power at 9,000 rpm and 37.5 Nm torque at 7,500 rpm. It commands a higher power-to-weight ratio of 229.5 bhp/tonne. The Continental GT 650 is powered by a significantly larger 648cc, twin-cylinder, air and oil-cooled engine that makes 47 hp power at 7,250 rpm and 52.3 Nm torque at 5,650 rpm. It commands a power-to-weight ratio at 219.6hp/tonne. Both bikes get mated to a 6 speed gearbox. This makes the GT650 offer higher power output over the Thruxton even as the higher weight of the former relates to a lower power-to-weight ratio. Triumph Thruxton also differs from the GT 650 as it receives a USD fork / monoshock as against the telescopic fork / twin shock absorbers seen on the GT. In terms of braking, the Thruxton gets 300mm disc / 230mm disc at the front and rear as compared to 320mm disc / 240mm disc seen on the GT. The Thruxton also gets wider tyres at 110/70-R17 / 150/60-R17 over the GT 650 that rides on 100/90-18 / 130/70-R18. Buyers will have to choose between the Thruxton 400 and Continental GT 650 taking into consideration these differences where one is more highly priced that the other. However, the Thruxton scores over the GT 650 in terms of being relatively lighter while it also offers better rider conveniences and the latest in technology. Even simple things like tubeless tyres are standard on Thruxton, which is not with the Conti. by Xiong Run and Cheng Lu BEIJING, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- Though the ink has faded and the paper is creased and yellowing at the edges, the longing in a letter penned by one U.S. pilot stationed in China during World War II remains evident. "Darling, it is understood that no place could really be home without you..." Major D. J. Campbell wrote to his wife in Cincinnati. Dated 1945, the letter was never meant for the public eye. Today, it rests at Renmin University of China's museum of family letters, tucked away in the heart of Beijing. Campbell was a member of the Flying Tigers -- officially known as the American Volunteer Group of the Chinese Air Force -- which was formed in 1941 by U.S. General Claire Lee Chennault to help China in its fight against invading Japanese forces. His letter is just one among more than 80,000 preserved in the museum's growing archive of handwritten messages between husbands and wives, parents and children, as well as soldiers and their loved ones. Many were written during the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, revealing stories of separation, sacrifice and the endurance of love amid one of history's darkest chapters. One letter was from Zhao Yiman, a revered figure in the resistance movement in northeast China. Captured in 1935 and executed the following year at just 31, she withstood brutal torture without betraying her comrades. In her final words to her young son, she wrote: "It's my regret that I haven't fulfilled a mother's duty to raise and guide you. There will be no chance for us to meet again in this life. My most beloved child, I have no need for a thousand words to teach you. I teach you by how I have lived. When you are grown, I hope you will never forget that your mother gave her life for the country." Another letter bears the heartbreak of Zuo Quan, a general of the army led by the Communist Party of China (CPC), who was killed in a battle in 1942. In it, he poured out his longing for his wife and daughter, torn from him by the war. "What a pity that the three of us are scattered in different places. If only we were together, how joyful that would be!" he wrote. "Zhilan! My dear, parting is easy; meeting again is so hard. It's been 21 months since we separated. When will we reunite? I miss you, I miss you!" Fought from 1931 to 1945, the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression was the first major conflict and the longest-running campaign in the World Anti-Fascist War. It resulted in over 35 million Chinese military and civilian casualties. "Amid the torrent of the war, the fierce battles on the front lines and the daily struggles of life are faithfully recorded in family letters," said Zhang Ding, the museum's deputy director. "Each wartime letter represents an individual's memory. Together, they form the collective memory of that era." Zhang's view is echoed by Tian Yanfei, a lecturer at the Hunan Academy of Governance. "China made tremendous sacrifices and contributions to the victory in the World Anti-Fascist War," Tian said. "The sorrow and sincerity captured in these letters come together to form an epic chronicle of the Chinese people's 14 years of courageous resistance." Tian noted that wartime letters between family members serve as constant reminders that the wounds of war must not be forgotten, and that the fruits of peace must be safeguarded by all. This year, China will host an array of cultural events to mark the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War. Among these events is a themed exhibition currently underway at the Museum of the War of the Chinese People's Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in Beijing. It features an immersive audiovisual zone that brings wartime family letters to life. Similar exhibitions have opened in other parts of China, including the provinces of Jiangsu, Hebei and Hunan, where museums are showcasing the private words and untold stories behind the war. Renmin University of China began collecting private wartime letters in 2005, and its museum of family letters continues to expand its archive. "I never expected to find such letters in our museum," said Feng Zhouyue, a university sophomore who recently toured the exhibit. "Reading them was deeply moving. They turned the war from a distant historic event into something deeply personal and real." "It's not just about remembering the past," Feng added. "It's also about letting that memory inspire me to become a better person." Enditem (Xinhua correspondents Wei Mengjia and Zhang Ge contribute to the story.) GAZA, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- At six years old, Misk al-Madhoun weighs just five kilograms -- roughly the weight of a two-month-old infant. Suffering from cerebral atrophy since infancy, she now lies limp and silent in northern Gaza, her body wasting away as war deprives the enclave of even the most basic means of survival. "We had financial difficulties even before the war," her father, Bilal al-Madhoun, told Xinhua. "Now we can't find anything -- no treatment, no food. Humanitarian aid has almost disappeared." Despite occasional assistance from charitable organizations, her family often goes without food. Their hopes now have shifted from seeking medical treatment to simply securing basic necessities -- a bottle of milk or a clean cloth -- to ease their daughter's suffering. Since the outbreak of hostilities between Israel and Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, Israel has imposed a near-total blockade on the Gaza Strip, drastically limiting the entry of food, fuel, medicine, and other essential goods. Crossings into the enclave -- already tightly controlled before the war -- have been largely shut, while infrastructure has been bombarded, displacing most of Gaza's 2.3 million residents and crippling public services, especially the health system. Children like Misk, living with chronic illnesses or disabilities, are among the hardest hit. Many have experienced rapidly deteriorating conditions -- and in many cases, death. On Tuesday, 15-year-old Tamer Shohaiber died at al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip due to complications related to severe malnutrition, according to hospital officials. Born also with cerebral atrophy, Tamer's condition worsened since the war began, said Khalil al-Diqran, a spokesperson for the hospital. "In his final days, we can't secure even basic food such as bread," said his grieving mother. Al-Diqran said Tamer's case is not an isolated one. "We are witnessing a surge in child deaths that could have been prevented if minimal health and nutritional support had been available," he said. Since Oct. 7, 2023, at least 201 people have died due to starvation and lack of medical treatment in Gaza, including 98 children, according to figures released by the Gaza-based health authorities on Friday. In the 24 hours leading up to the report, four deaths were recorded, including two children, the authorities said in a press statement. The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has voiced alarm over the deepening humanitarian crisis, warning that approximately one-third of Gaza's population has gone days without food. In a press statement released in late July, the WFP estimated that around 470,000 people in Gaza are experiencing famine-like conditions, with at least 90,000 women and children in urgent need of nutritional support. "It's clear a disaster is unfolding in front of our eyes, in front of our television screens," said Ross Smith, WFP director of emergencies, in a press briefing in Geneva. Similarly, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) warned on Monday that more than 320,000 children in Gaza under the age of five are at risk of dying from acute malnutrition. "Every hour matters for the children of Gaza, and if the situation does not change immediately, the consequences could be dire," the organization said in a statement, calling for urgent international action. BERLIN, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- German Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced on Friday that Germany will suspend all exports of military equipment that could be used in the Gaza Strip. The decision came after the Israeli cabinet approved military operations aimed at occupying the Gaza Strip. Merz urged the Israeli government to "refrain from taking further steps to annex the West Bank." Merz also voiced deep concern over the humanitarian situation in Gaza, stressing that with its ongoing offensive, Israel bears greater responsibility than ever to meet the needs of civilians in the enclave. He called on Israel to allow full access for aid deliveries, including supplies from the United Nations and other non-governmental organizations. "Following the positive steps taken in recent days, Israel must continue to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza in a comprehensive and sustainable manner," Merz said. BEIJING, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese defense spokesperson on Friday urged the United States to cease any form of official interaction or military connection with China's Taiwan region. Jiang Bin, a spokesperson for China's Ministry of National Defense, made the statement at a press conference in response to reports that the chairman of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee may soon lead a congressional delegation to Taiwan. "We require the U.S. side to abide by the one-China principle and the stipulations of the three China-U.S. joint communiques," Jiang said. The United States should earnestly adhere to its promise that it would not support "Taiwan independence," and it should cease conniving with and supporting separatists in Taiwan, he said. When commenting on Taiwan leader Lai Ching-te's claim that he would increase military expenditure, Jiang criticized Lai and his ilk for disregarding the well-being of people in Taiwan and attempting to squander the hard-earned wealth of those people on arms deals with the United States. "They have no qualms about groveling to the United States and selling out the interests of Taiwan in exchange for support for their secessionist cause," he said. According to an analysis of the new images from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, the nucleus of 3I/ATLAS is between 320 m (1,000 feet) and 5.6 km (3.5 miles) across. 3I/ATLAS was discovered by the NASA-funded Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) on July 1, 2025. Its orbit is the most dynamically extreme of any object yet recorded in the Solar System. The new Hubble observations allowed astronomers to more accurately estimate the size of the comets solid, icy nucleus. The upper limit on the diameter of the nucleus is 5.6 km, though it could be as small as 320 m across, University of California, Los Angeles astronomer David Jewitt and his colleagues said in a statement. Though the Hubble images put tighter constraints on the size of the nucleus compared to previous ground-based estimates, the solid heart of the comet presently cannot be directly seen, even by Hubble. Observations from other NASA missions including Webb, TESS, and the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, as well as W.M. Keck Observatory, will help further refine our knowledge about the comet, including its chemical makeup. Hubble also captured a dust plume ejected from the Sun-warmed side of the comet, and the hint of a dust tail streaming away from the nucleus. The new data yield a dust-loss rate consistent with comets that are first detected around 480 million km (300 million miles) from the Sun. This behavior is much like the signature of previously seen Sun-bound comets originating within our Solar System. The big difference is that this interstellar visitor originated in a planetary system elsewhere in our Milky Way Galaxy. 3I/ATLAS is traveling through our Solar System at a staggering 209,000 km (130,000 miles) per hour, the highest velocity ever recorded for a solar system visitor. This breathtaking sprint is evidence that the comet has been drifting through interstellar space for many billions of years. The gravitational slingshot effect from innumerable stars and nebulae the comet passed added momentum, ratcheting up its speed. The longer 3I/ATLAS was out in space, the higher its speed grew. No one knows where the comet came from. Its like glimpsing a rifle bullet for a thousandth of a second, Dr. Jewitt said. You cant project that back with any accuracy to figure out where it started on its path. This latest interstellar tourist is one of a previously undetected population of objects bursting onto the scene that will gradually emerge. This is now possible because we have powerful sky survey capabilities that we didnt have before. Weve crossed a threshold. The teams paper will be published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters. _____ David Jewitt et al. 2025. Hubble Space Telescope Observations of the Interstellar Interloper 3I/ATLAS. ApJL, in press; arXiv: 2508.02934 NEW YORK, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- Two people were killed after a helicopter crashed into a barge on the upper reaches of the Mississippi River between the U.S. midwestern states of Illinois and Missouri on Thursday. Missouri State Highway Patrol troopers said the helicopter had workers on board trying to do work on power lines near aviation warning markers. The aircraft reportedly touched the power line, and attempted to land on the barge before bursting into flames. A bridge linking Missouri and Illinois has been temporarily closed to all traffic due to the incident, with no reopening time given, local media quoted Illinois State Police. The U.S. Coast Guard said the Upper Mississippi River is closed to vessel traffic in the area while the investigation is ongoing. BEIJING, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese defense spokesperson on Friday criticized the Philippines for courting external forces in an attempt to destabilize the South China Sea for its own gain. Jiang Bin, a spokesperson for China's Ministry of National Defense, made the statement at a press conference in response to remarks from the Philippine armed forces on a recent joint Philippine-Indian naval exercise near Huangyan Dao in the South China Sea. "We oppose using the South China Sea issue as a pretext to provoke confrontation, and believe that military cooperation between relevant countries should not target any third party or undermine regional peace and stability," Jiang said. He urged the Philippines to stop ganging up with others to stir trouble in the South China Sea, and called for a return to the right track: resolving differences through dialogue and consultation. Residents visit a bazaar at a business district in Nanhu District of Jiaxing City, east China's Zhejiang Province, Aug. 7, 2025. Business districts and historical areas in Nanhu District of Jiaxing City have collaborated with hotels, shopping malls and restaurants to host distinctive summer night markets, attracting residents to enjoy their leisure time. (Xinhua/Xu Yu) Young people sing a song at a bazaar of a business district in Nanhu District of Jiaxing City, east China's Zhejiang Province, Aug. 7, 2025. Business districts and historical areas in Nanhu District of Jiaxing City have collaborated with hotels, shopping malls and restaurants to host distinctive summer night markets, attracting residents to enjoy their leisure time. (Xinhua/Xu Yu) Children play with water at a business district in Nanhu District of Jiaxing City, east China's Zhejiang Province, Aug. 7, 2025. Business districts and historical areas in Nanhu District of Jiaxing City have collaborated with hotels, shopping malls and restaurants to host distinctive summer night markets, attracting residents to enjoy their leisure time. (Xinhua/Xu Yu) This photo shows a business district in Nanhu District of Jiaxing City, east China's Zhejiang Province, Aug. 7, 2025. Business districts and historical areas in Nanhu District of Jiaxing City have collaborated with hotels, shopping malls and restaurants to host distinctive summer night markets, attracting residents to enjoy their leisure time. (Xinhua/Xu Yu) A performance is staged at a night market in Nanhu District of Jiaxing City, east China's Zhejiang Province, Aug. 7, 2025. Business districts and historical areas in Nanhu District of Jiaxing City have collaborated with hotels, shopping malls and restaurants to host distinctive summer night markets, attracting residents to enjoy their leisure time. (Xinhua/Xu Yu) Residents enjoy their leisure time at a business district in Nanhu District of Jiaxing City, east China's Zhejiang Province, Aug. 7, 2025. Business districts and historical areas in Nanhu District of Jiaxing City have collaborated with hotels, shopping malls and restaurants to host distinctive summer night markets, attracting residents to enjoy their leisure time. (Xinhua/Xu Yu) Keras Resources reported operational progress at its high-grade phosphate and manganese assets in the US and Togo on Friday, with production ramping up at both sites and first manganese exports from Nayega expected next month. The AIM-traded company said operations at its Falcon Isle subsidiary in Utah were advancing steadily, with production ongoing for both Phosul granulate under the Phosul Utah joint venture and its own PhosAgri organic rock phosphate products. On the back of forward orders, Keras said it was planning to undertake a fresh mining campaign this autumn to extract a further 5,000 tonnes of rock phosphate, supplementing current inventories of around 7,500 tonnes. At the Nayega manganese mine in northern Togo, recommissioning was complete and the plant was now ramping up to full capacity. Keras said feasibility studies were underway to explore increasing processing capacity beyond the current level of approximately 8,000 tonnes per month. Around 1,000 tonnes of processed manganese was currently held in a warehouse in Lome, with another 2,000 tonnes stockpiled at the mine ready for transport. STM, the Togolese state-owned entity that owns Nayega, was targeting the shipment of its first 100 containers - totalling 2,750 tonnes - in the first half of September. Market pricing for Nayegas 38% manganese product remained relatively robust, with CIF China prices currently in the range of $3.50 to $3.65 per dry metric tonne. After a period where the Company was focused on developing our infrastructural footprint in the North American organic market, I believe we are now at the inflection point where we start to see the growth in our product sales footprint, said interim executive chairman Russell Lamming. Our high-grade phosphate products are extremely well positioned for both the organic and conventional fertiliser markets and it is time to deliver into both of those markets. The cash flow from Nayega will underpin the US cash flows and we look forward to being cash flow positive from a group perspective in due course. Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com. Analysts at Berenberg initiated coverage on engineering and manufacturing group Senior with a 'buy' rating and 275p target price on Friday, offering 47% upside to the stock's current share price. Berenberg said Senior's recent announcement that it has agreed to sell its aerostructures business was "a pivotal moment" for the company, in its view. The German bank said the sale of the aerostructures business will give Senior the opportunity to structurally increase its group operating margins, focus on higher growth and more value-added products and provide more capital allocation options. Following the completion of the sale, Berenberg reckons group revenues should "move closer to a more balanced revenue base" between industrial and aerospace end-market exposure. "We therefore broaden the traditional aerospace and defence peer group to include more industrial fluid control peers. We expect re-rating potential ahead as revenue growth, margins and cash generation increase," said Berenberg. "We apply a 25% discount to our EV/EBITDA-based price target to reflect the lower relative margin profile at Senior. Senior currently trades on CY26E EV/EBITDA of 8.4x, half the level of its higher margin and lower than its financially leveraged peers." Over at Canaccord Genuity, analysts nudged up their target price on independent oil and gas company Harbour Energy from 275p to 285p on Friday after the group released "a very strong set" of H1 numbers. Canaccord Genuity said Harbour's H1 results pointed to strong production levels, reduced operating costs, "excellent" free cash flow generation, and an "impressive" reduction in net debt. The Canadian bank also noted that Harbour announced a $100m share buyback for 2025, in addition to the approximately $455m of dividends guided to, for a total of roughly $550m of shareholder returns for 2025. "Given the uncertainties some have had over the upside potential of the Harbour/Wintershall DEA combination, we believe the progress made in H1 should put most to rest with the Harbour team proving its operational prowess over multiple jurisdictions," said Canaccord Genuity. "In our view, the area of most interest is the FCF performance and net debt reduction achieved in the first half. Thanks to better-than-expected production, timely hedging and improved cost management, the free cash has really driven the material reduction in net debt. While we do expect a slight reversion here in H2, this is our first real sign of what the combined businesses can do." Goldman Sachs upgraded Diageo to 'neutral' from 'sell' as it said the valuation was supportive and downside was limited. "We see limited downside risk in FY26, as new management steps-up cost saving to support best-in-class margins and stabilise earnings, albeit visibility remains low and the outlook is based on a 2H recovery," the bank said. It also noted that cost savings should support margins in FY26, although it said Diageo's top line performance needs to improve from FY27 for margin progression to continue. "However, the step-up in free cash flow we expect is positive, reminiscent of the FY15 uptick under Deirdre Mahlan in her first stint as CFO," Goldman said. GS, which kept its 2,000p target price unchanged, expects net debt/EBITDA to fall to 3.2x in FY26 from FY25s 3.4x, excluding disposals, and said the stock's valuation, at 15x CY26E P/E and 12x EV/EBITDA, was "compelling in an historical context". Analysts at Berenberg initiated coverage on engineering and manufacturing group Senior with a 'buy' rating and 275p target price on Friday, offering 47% upside to the stock's current share price. Berenberg said Senior's recent announcement that it has agreed to sell its aerostructures business was "a pivotal moment" for the company, in its view. The German bank said the sale of the aerostructures business will give Senior the opportunity to structurally increase its group operating margins, focus on higher growth and more value-added products and provide more capital allocation options. Following the completion of the sale, Berenberg reckons group revenues should "move closer to a more balanced revenue base" between industrial and aerospace end-market exposure. "We therefore broaden the traditional aerospace and defence peer group to include more industrial fluid control peers. We expect re-rating potential ahead as revenue growth, margins and cash generation increase," said Berenberg. "We apply a 25% discount to our EV/EBITDA-based price target to reflect the lower relative margin profile at Senior. Senior currently trades on CY26E EV/EBITDA of 8.4x, half the level of its higher margin and lower than its financially leveraged peers." Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com UK retail footfall dipped in July but the decline eased markedly from a month earlier, according to figures released on Friday by the British Retail Consortium and Sensormatic. Total footfall fell 0.4% year-on-year, but this was an improvement on June's 1.8% drop. On high streets, footfall was down 1.7% last month, versus a 3% fall in June. Meanwhile, footfall at retail parks rose 1.7% in July following a 1.1% decline in June. Footfall at shopping centres ticked down 0.3% but this was an improvement on Junes 1.6% drop. BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson said: "July failed to bring about the summer boost in shoppers many retailers had hoped for. Instead, footfall dipped in July for the second consecutive year. There were bright spots, with Manchester, Birmingham, and Leeds all showing an improvement in numbers of store visits. Retail parks continued to outperform other destinations with some seeing big brands opening new outlets. "Customers want a vibrant shopping destination, but with around one in seven shops lying empty, more needs to be done to turn town and city centres into places people want to visit. While governments plan to reduce business rates for most retail, hospitality and leisure premises is a step in the right direction, only a substantial cut will truly benefit communities nationwide and help bring thousands of empty shops back into use. "Many smaller shops and businesses rely on larger anchor stores to attract footfall so the upcoming reforms must also ensure no store pays more, or risk seeing many larger stores close their doors or raise their prices." Andy Sumpter, retail consultant EMEA for Sensormatic, said: "The early-July heatwave, following a scorcher in June, may have lifted leisure footfall more than retail, while one year into a new Labour government, consumer sentiment remains cautious. "The underlying footfall trend may be improving, but this is still negative growth on negative 2024 figures - raising the question: are shoppers returning, or simply shopping around more as they try to spend less? Either way, retailers who can offer value, experience, and convenience may be best placed to convert tentative footfall into lasting growth." Senior jumped to the top of the FTSE 250 after an initiation of coverage at buy by Berenberg, which said the recent agreement to sell the Aerostructures business was a "pivotal moment" for the company. Berenberg said Senior's recent announcement that it has agreed to sell its aerostructures business was "a pivotal moment" for the company, in its view. The German bank said the sale of the aerostructures business will give Senior the opportunity to structurally increase its group operating margins, focus on higher growth and more value-added products and provide more capital allocation options. Following the completion of the sale, Berenberg reckons group revenues should "move closer to a more balanced revenue base" between industrial and aerospace end-market exposure. "We therefore broaden the traditional aerospace and defence peer group to include more industrial fluid control peers. We expect re-rating potential ahead as revenue growth, margins and cash generation increase," said Berenberg. "We apply a 25% discount to our EV/EBITDA-based price target to reflect the lower relative margin profile at Senior. Senior currently trades on CY26E EV/EBITDA of 8.4x, half the level of its higher margin and lower than its financially leveraged peers." Elsewhere, Georgian bank TBC tumbled even as it reported a 23% increase in second-quarter operating income to 835m Georgian lari (235m), while net profit rose 5% to GEL 346m, driven by strong net interest income and an increased loan book. FTSE 250 - Risers Senior (SNR) 196.40p 5.25% Ocado Group (OCDO) 394.70p 3.87% Harbour Energy (HBR) 229.80p 3.33% Aston Martin Lagonda Global Holdings (AML) 75.00p 3.31% Computacenter (CCC) 2,310.00p 2.76% Great Portland Estates (GPE) 342.50p 2.54% Hochschild Mining (HOC) 312.80p 2.36% Raspberry PI Holdings (RPI) 429.60p 1.80% CMC Markets (CMCX) 234.50p 1.74% International Workplace Group (IWG) 228.60p 1.69% FTSE 250 - Fallers TBC Bank Group (TBCG) 4,725.00p -6.80% Harworth Group (HWG) 180.50p -4.75% Auction Technology Group (ATG) 335.50p -4.14% Trustpilot Group (TRST) 233.60p -4.11% Rank Group (RNK) 149.60p -3.48% Burberry Group (BRBY) 1,189.00p -3.33% Baltic Classifieds Group (BCG) 345.50p -3.09% Lancashire Holdings Limited (LRE) 617.00p -2.53% Bloomsbury Publishing (BMY) 481.50p -2.43% Hill and Smith (HILS) 1,978.00p -2.08% BEIJING, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- China on Friday stepped up support for its northwestern Gansu Province, which has recently been hit by flooding. The country's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) on Friday said that it has allocated 100 million yuan (about 14 million U.S. dollars) from its central budget to assist Gansu. The funds will focus on restoring damaged infrastructure such as roads, bridges, water conservancy projects and public service facilities in affected areas, accelerating the return to normal production and daily life, the NDRC said. As of 3:30 p.m. Friday, 10 people have died and 33 are missing following mountain torrents in Gansu since Thursday. China's national commission for disaster prevention, reduction and relief on Friday initiated a Level-IV emergency response, the lowest level in China's four-tier emergency response system, to the floods in Gansu. Specialized personnel have been deployed to the affected areas to assist with local relief operations, with a particular focus on ensuring the basic livelihoods of impacted residents. In a coordinated effort, the commission partnered with the Ministry of Emergency Management (MEM) and the National Food and Strategic Reserves Administration to distribute 10,000 central relief supplies on Friday. The aid package includes folding beds, winter clothing, quilts and emergency lighting to support disaster rescue and relocation efforts in the region. Also on Friday, the Ministry of Finance and the MEM earmarked 120 million yuan from the central natural disaster relief fund to aid Gansu and north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Inner Mongolia has experienced continuous rainfall since July 23, with flooding affecting some areas. The funds will be used mainly to search for, rescue and relocate people affected by natural disasters, and to aid other work, such as secondary-disaster detection and the repair of damaged homes. Journalist Alexis Okeowo's insightful second book, Blessings and Disasters, examines the complicated history of Alabama through a mixture of history, reporting, and personal reflections on her experience growing up in Montgomery. As she delves into Alabama's contrasts and contradictions, Okeowo (A Moonless, Starless Sky) shares her love for--and sharp criticism of--her home state. A graduate of Princeton University who later became a foreign correspondent, Okeowo is "familiar with how places can be stereotyped and neglected." She chronicles the forced removal of Native American peoples from Alabama, interviewing several members of the Poarch Band of Creek Indians. Okeowo also chronicles her parents' separate journeys from Nigeria to Alabama. She interviews Alabamians of multiple races, genders, and generations about their experiences, piecing together a mosaic of different ideas about what it means to be from Alabama. Along the way, she examines the influence of evangelical Christianity on state politics; the intertwined effects of race and class on education and other outcomes for children; and the narratives the state has created to justify its policies. "In Alabama, we exist at the border of blessing and disaster," Okeowo writes, musing on how the realities of her home state--its weather, culture, and religion--reflect (and swing between) those two extremes. With a keen eye for detail and a thoughtful big-picture perspective, Okeowo paints a layered portrait of a state whose green fields contain more heartbreak and more hope than most people realize. Alabama is more than cotton, Confederate flags, and civil rights, and Okeowo's book is a nuanced look at a place she wrestles with and will always love. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams Mariah Rigg, a Samoan Haole born and raised in O'ahu, presents Extinction Capital of the World, a masterful debut collection inspired by her own Hawai'ian history. In 10 interconnected stories, Rigg features multigenerational members--and their adjacents--of an extended family with overlapping Native and settler backgrounds. Rigg begins with "Target Island," distilling a man's life forever affected by the U.S. government's 1948 bombing of Kaho'olawe. Rigg traverses through six decades when sexagenarian Harrison is back on Kaho'olawe, volunteering to make the island bomb-free, dreaming of a haven for the great-grandchildren he will never meet. His granddaughter, Lila, reappears in "Field Dressing," featuring Lila's father, Harrison's son, as he recalls Harrison's death while sharing a fishing trip with his hard-drinking friend Max. In the titular final story, Kira arrives home, seeking solace. Reconnecting with her extended family, particularly her father, Pono, offers Kira possible peace. "Scientists call Hawai'i the extinction capital of the world," Pono explains. "We had the most biodiversity... and each year, we lose the most of it." Kira's marine biology research enables a new generation of hope, her work instrumental in potentially saving the world's reefs. Each of Rigg's stories easily stands alone as a succinct narrative but to parse together the web of tangled relationships yields gratifying rewards. To do so requires deliberate commitment--Rigg often eschews names and direct associations, relying on seemingly casual details as clever bridges between characters and stories. Throughout her meticulous fiction, she skillfully intertwines Hawai'i's complicated history of military abuse, missionary usurpation, colonial legacy, invasive tourism, ecological destruction. That intricate collage of people and events creates a wondrous literary gift. --Terry Hong British biographer Paula Byrne (The Real Jane Austen) turns to historical fiction in the winsome Six Weeks by the Sea. Based on Jane Austen's family's sojourn in Sidmouth, Devon, in 1801, Byrne's narrative imagines Jane's interactions with her family members and several eligible gentlemen, including one who makes quite an impression. When Jane arrives in Sidmouth, she is heartbroken over leaving her home in Steventon and dreading her upcoming move to Bath. Gradually, the seaside town's charms revive her, especially when her brother Frank and best friend Martha Lloyd come to visit. Though Jane hopes Frank will marry Martha, she does not think of her own romantic prospects until she meets Frank's friend, Captain Parker. Jane finds him engaging, but she is also nettled and intrigued by Samuel Rose, a lawyer who joins their circle. As she works on her latest novel and enjoys Sidmouth's social life, Jane is forced to revise her first impressions of both men. Byrne writes in a style reminiscent of Austen's own, contrasting her characters' inner desires with the superficial politeness they must display. Austen fans will enjoy nods to well-known incidents and characters from her novels: a talkative clergyman, a matchmaking mother, a picnic in the sunshine. Byrne also explores the issues of abolition and racism in Regency England, and gives glimpses into the lives of several contemporary poets. Six Weeks by the Sea is a poignant reimagining of a pivotal summer in Austen's life. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams Ally Carter (The Most Wonderful Crime of the Year) returns to the world of international espionage--and identical twins--in her lively, well-plotted second rom-com for adults, The Blonde Who Came in from the Cold. Carter continues the story of the sisters introduced in The Blonde Identity, this time focusing on Alex Sterling and her decade-long love-hate relationship with fellow spy Michael "King" Kingsley. When the two wake up handcuffed together in the dark, six years after Kingsley left the CIA and a year after Alex disappeared altogether, they must use their combined skills to ace their greatest mission yet. Carter's twisty narrative flips back and forth between the present-day mission and the stages of Alex and King's relationship, from Alex's days as a Langley rookie to the times they posed as a couple. Merritt, their elegant, sarcastic spymaster and King's Judi Dench-esque surrogate grandmother, has her own reasons for repeatedly pairing them, but even their crackling mutual attraction doesn't neutralize the dangers of the job. Carter peels back the layers of Alex's bravado to reveal her secrets, the biggest one being her own insecurity. She also explores the weight of King's three-generation family legacy in the CIA. As they crisscross Europe in search of an ex-Soviet kingpin and some highly incriminating evidence, these two spies are forced to finally confront their greatest vulnerability: their feelings for each other. With rapier-sharp wit and disarming tenderness, plus plenty of high-speed chases and a few explosions, Carter delivers a snarky-but-sweet romance cloaked in a thoroughly entertaining spy thriller. --Katie Noah Gibson, blogger at Cakes, Tea and Dreams Art historian Jonathan Lackman and painter/musician Zachary J. Pinson gloriously, graphically resurrect an enigmatic artists' muse in The Woman with Fifty Faces: Maria Lani & The Greatest Art Heist That Never Was. Within the first five pages, Lackman provides a concise overview of Lani's life: The German silent film star arrived in Paris in 1928, convinced 50 significant artists--Henri Matisse, Man Ray, Marc Chagall, among them--to immortalize her image, engendering "an exhibition unparalleled in the history of art" that traveled to New York, Chicago, London, and Berlin. Then Lani vanished, prompting even her greatest champion, Jean Cocteau, to dismiss her as a "con artist from Warsaw." That narrative held firm "but it was also wrong. The truth is... even better": an emboldening determination to "try to outlive the bastard [Hitler]" in the wake of terrifying widespread destruction. Lackman first learned about Lani in 2004: Her remarkable associations, sudden disappearance, the extraordinary exhibition with "more portraits than anyone," prompted him to ask, "Why has her story never been told?" Lackman's two decades of research and Pinson's 5,000 illustrating hours magnificently explore "the biggest mystery in Paris," tracing Lani's Polish birth, the antisemitic violence her family repeatedly escaped, her marriage to (wannabe) filmmaker Max Abramowicz, their peripatetic reinventions and "sleight of hand" machinations. Pinson's visualizations are an utter marvel--black-and-white pen-and-ink drawings, made dense with meticulous hatching. The effect is not unlike scratch art, as if every panel is a chance to uncover and decipher secrets. Together, the complementary duo creates an overdue homage to a brilliantly inventive woman of influence and vision. --Terry Hong The standard setup of a group invited to a remote area where they become stranded and murdered one by one receives a refresher with a large dose of Greek mythology in Writers and Liars. While it helps to know a smidgeon, Carol Goodman's energetic storytelling makes even obscure myths accessible to the novice. Maia Gold was once on track to become a brilliant novelist. Fifteen years ago, she received a boost when she finished her novel at an exclusive writers' retreat on the Greek island of Eris, owned by billionaire Argos Alexander. Her novel was a success, but betrayals she experienced there caused her to sour on being a full-time writer. Now Maia runs a low-budget museum, and she claims she's been working on a manuscript for years. She wants to ignore the fancy invitation from Argos summoning her and "a select group of artists" back to Eris, but she returns despite her misgivings. There, she reunites with just about all the first retreat attendees, bringing more chaos. Among them are the unbearable Olivia Knox, with her 25 Detective Moreau novels, and Bill Collins, who used to write cozy mysteries and is now the Eris chef. Argos isn't around but has left a challenge: whoever writes the most suspenseful mystery in the next few days will receive a fortune and guaranteed success. The next day, Argos is the first dead body found, communication is cut off, and the writers discover that Eris holds many secrets. Writers and Liars unfolds at a leisurely pace, but Goodman's attention to detail keep the plot churning, aided by the often insufferable but also entertaining personalities. --Oline H. Cogdill, freelance reviewer Mumbai, India's financial centre, is no stranger to water issues. From an unreliable water supply in high-rises to spotty quality as a result of old pipes and monsoon water contamination, citizens are frequently left wrestling with dirty tap water and regular tanker reliance. In a metropolis where urbanisation is overtaking infrastructure replacement, access to clean and safe drinking water is a continuing concern. Therefore, most Mumbaikars now opt for an ever more pragmatic solution: a water purifier on rent in Mumbai. Why Water Quality Is a Growing Concern in Mumbai Though the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) does purify water before it is supplied to households, the issue is with the supply system. Leaking or rusted pipelines, construction work, and stormwater entry usually lead to contamination even before your tap gets the water. There have been typical cases of reports indicating the presence of pathogenic bacteria, heavy metals, and high Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) in certain locations. This has resulted in a growing dependence on bottled water, boiling, or the use of expensive purification systems. But for students, renters, or temporary workers, buying a new purifier is not always economicor convenient. This is where renting comes in. The Smart Alternative: Renting a Water Purifier Selecting an RO on rent in Mumbai is increasingly popular among city residents. Not only is it cheaper, but it also saves the trouble of initial investment and long-term pledge. Reverse Osmosis (RO) technology, for one, is efficient in the removal of toxic impurities such as lead, arsenic, bacteria, and viruses, and enhances taste and smell. The majority of rented RO purifiers have maintenance work included in the package to relieve you of service headaches. And you have the liberty to upgrade or return the unit when changing residencesa great fit for Mumbai's fast-moving, mobile life. Types of Water Purifiers You Can Rent Before diving into a rental scheme, you should understand the types of purifiers offered: RO Purifiers: Most suitable for high TDS regions and low-quality water. Most suitable for high TDS regions and low-quality water. UV Purifiers: Good to eliminate bacteria and viruses, but not compatible with water containing heavy metals and salts. Good to eliminate bacteria and viruses, but not compatible with water containing heavy metals and salts. RO+UV Purifiers: A Combination of both, providing complete purification. Based on your location and water source (borewell, tanker, or municipal water), the model you should rent may be different. Most rental companies provide basic suggestions on how to pick the best model. Major Benefits of Renting Over Purchasing Cost-Effectiveness: You only pay a rental fee each month rather than paying a large sum of money. You only pay a rental fee each month rather than paying a large sum of money. Maintenance Included: Routine maintenance and filter replacement are included in most rental plans, resulting in time and money savings. Routine maintenance and filter replacement are included in most rental plans, resulting in time and money savings. No Long-Term Commitment: Best for individuals residing in temporary housing or students. Best for individuals residing in temporary housing or students. Quick Replacement: In case your unit does not work, most of the rental services provide a prompt replacement with a functioning unit. The Rise of the Rental Economy in Mumbai With property prices soaring and people frequently relocating due to work or study, renting has become more than a trendit's a lifestyle choice. From furniture to appliances, Mumbais urban crowd is increasingly leaning towards renting over owning. This mindset shift is also fuelling the demand for essential home appliances like a water purifier on rent in Mumbai. Rentomojos Role in the Purifier Rental Ecosystem Among the various companies operating in the rental space, Rentomojo has segmented itself with RO purifiers that assure Mumbai of its changing water conditions. Their portfolio covers models equipped with RO and UV variants that fit well into the zones that face high TDS levels or bacterial contamination. Flexible tenures, prompt customer care, and transparent pricing have made Rentomojo an attractive option for most of its users in Mumbai who are wary due to water quality problems. The firm recognises that water is not only a requirement but a daily health issue, particularly in a megacity such as Mumbai, where quality would differ significantly from suburb to suburb. Even though they do not charge for delivery, their plans are designed to strike a balance between being affordable and convenient. Conclusion: Make the Smarter Choice Mumbais water crisis wont be solved overnight. But in the meantime, you can take controlensuring access to clean and safe drinking water for your household. Whether you are a student living in a shared flat in Andheri or a family living in a rented house in Thane, renting a good RO purifier can rescue you from life-threatening episodes and water-borne diseases. An RO on rent in Mumbai isn't only an affordable solutionit's a sensible move toward preserving your health. So don't wait for the city's infrastructure to develop catch-up skills, take matters into your own hands todaya sip at a time. When Mitesh Shah looks at the e-commerce landscape, he sees a fundamental disconnect. While 92% of leading e-commerce companies leverage AI for personalization, each merchant operates in isolationlike islands of data in a vast digital ocean. As Senior Lead Product Manager for AI Personalization at PayPal, Mitesh is building bridges between these islands, creating what industry observers call the most significant advancement in commerce intelligence since the invention of recommendation engines. "Every merchant knows their own customers, but no one sees the complete picture," Mitesh explains. "My vision is to create an intelligence layer that benefits everyonemerchants gain sophisticated personalization capabilities, consumers get truly relevant experiences, and the entire ecosystem becomes more efficient." A Vision Shaped by Experience Mitesh's journey to reimagining commerce intelligence began at Amazon, where he served as founding product manager for Buy with Prime. This role gave him deep insight into how trust and infrastructure could transform merchant capabilities. "Buy with Prime was about extending Amazon's trust and logistics to any merchant," Mitesh recalls. "We proved that when you give merchants access to enterprise-grade capabilities, remarkable things happen25% average conversion increases, billions in gross merchandise value. It showed me the hunger for democratized access to sophisticated commerce tools." The experience taught Mitesh a crucial lesson: merchants didn't just need better logisticsthey needed better intelligence to compete effectively in the digital economy. The Context Revolution at Uber At Uber, Mitesh's perspective evolved further. Leading product for post-trip experiences, he built systems that automated millions of customer interactions weekly. But the real breakthrough was understanding how context transforms user needs. "We discovered that the same customer needed completely different experiences depending on their situation," Mitesh explains. "Someone taking Uber to the airport has different needs than someone going to dinner. Context changes everything." His work on third-party fleet integrations added another dimension. By enabling traditional taxi companies to join Uber's platformbringing New York's yellow cabs and European taxi cooperatives into the systemMitesh saw how powerful it could be when separate systems could share capabilities while maintaining their independence. "We created a way for traditional operators to benefit from Uber's technology without losing their identity," he notes. "This taught me that the future isn't about consolidationit's about intelligent collaboration." Democratizing AI at Scale Moving to Block (formerly Square), Mitesh faced a different challenge: how to give small businesses access to AI capabilities that only tech giants possessed. Leading the company's generative AI transformation, he launched Square Copilot and Square AI, bringing sophisticated analytics to hundreds of thousands of merchants. "I watched brilliant entrepreneurscoffee shop owners, boutique retailerstrying to compete without the tools that made digital commerce effective," Mitesh reflects. "Square AI let them ask questions in plain language: 'Which customers haven't visited in 30 days?' or 'What are my best-selling items on weekends?'" But even as these tools democratized access to AI, Mitesh recognized a deeper opportunity. Each merchant still only understood their own slice of customer behavior. The next leap would be connecting these islands of intelligence. The PayPal Vision: Multi-Modal Commerce Intelligence These experiences converged when Mitesh joined PayPal as Senior Lead Product Manager for AI Personalization. PayPal's unique positionprocessing hundreds of billions in transactions across millions of merchantsprovided the perfect platform for his vision. "I realized we could build something transformative," Mitesh explains. "Not by selling or sharing merchant data, but by creating an intelligence layer that ingests merchant catalogs and matches products to customers based on their unique patterns." Mitesh's approach is revolutionary in its elegance: Catalog Intelligence: The system ingests merchant product catalogs and performs multi-modal analysisunderstanding not just product attributes but visual elements, descriptions, and contextual signals. Pattern Matching: Using cutting-edge AI techniques including embedding search with multi-modal features, the system matches products to individual customer preferences based on their transaction history, demographics, and behavioral patterns. Solving Cold Start: By leveraging Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) to create dense user representations, Mitesh's team eliminates the "cold start" problemenabling personalization even for new customers or merchants. "We're not sharing data between merchants," Mitesh emphasizes. "We're creating intelligence that understands both what merchants offer and what customers want, then making perfect matches." From Vision to Reality Under Mitesh's product leadership, this vision is delivering remarkable results across multiple dimensions: Significantly improved conversion rates for new visitors who benefit from intelligent personalization from their first interaction Meaningful increases in average order values as recommendations align with customer preferences and patterns Reduced cart abandonment through checkout experiences that adapt to individual customer needs "The impact goes beyond metrics," Mitesh notes. "We're seeing small businesses compete more effectively, consumers discover products they genuinely love, and the entire ecosystem become more efficient. That's the real measure of success." Enabling the Future: Agentic Commerce The most transformative aspect of Mitesh's vision is how it enables the next generation of AI-powered commerce. As AI assistants become more sophisticated, they need deep understanding of both available products and human preferences. "Imagine asking your AI assistant to help plan a vacation," Mitesh illustrates. "Our intelligence layer understands your preferencesbudget ranges, brand affinities, style choicesand can instantly match them against millions of products across thousands of merchants. No twenty questions needed." This capability addresses a critical gap. Current AI assistants can search and compare, but they lack the deep understanding of both merchant catalogs and customer preferences that makes personalization meaningful. The Product Philosophy Throughout his career, Mitesh has maintained a consistent product philosophy: technology should be invisible but impactful. This principle, refined through experiences at Amazon, Uber, Block, and now PayPal, guides every decision. "The best products don't announce themselves," he explains. "When our intelligence layer works perfectly, merchants see higher conversions, consumers find exactly what they want, and no one thinks about the complexity behind it." This philosophy extends to privacy and trust. Rather than viewing them as constraints, Mitesh sees them as fundamental product principles. "We're not in the business of selling data," Mitesh emphasizes. "We're creating value by making connectionsbetween what merchants offer and what customers want. That's a completely different model, and it's one that aligns everyone's interests." Building for Global Scale The scope of Mitesh's vision requires thinking at unprecedented scale. Processing patterns across hundreds of millions of users and billions of transactions, while maintaining real-time performance, demands constant innovation. "Every product decision has to work globally," Mitesh explains. "We're not building for one market or one type of merchant. We're creating infrastructure for the future of commerce worldwide." This global perspective influences every aspect of the product strategy. From handling diverse market preferences to adapting to local commerce patterns, Mitesh's team builds with worldwide applicability in mind. Industry Impact and Recognition Mitesh's vision for multi-modal commerce intelligence has resonated throughout the industry. Product leaders at major technology companies have noted how his approach provides a blueprint for the next generation of commerce platformsone that benefits all participants rather than consolidating power. The real-world impact is visible in the thousands of merchants now offering sophisticated personalization they couldn't achieve alone. Small businesses report competing more effectively, while enterprise merchants appreciate how the system enhances their existing capabilities. The Road Ahead Looking forward, Mitesh sees current achievements as just the beginning. His product roadmap includes: Predictive Commerce: Moving beyond reactive matching to systems that anticipate needs before they're expressed. Expanded Modalities: Incorporating voice, visual search, and social signals into the intelligence layer. Global Commerce Graph: Creating connections between merchants worldwide, enabling truly global personalization while respecting local preferences. "We're building for commerce experiences that don't exist yet," Mitesh explains. "In five years, today's e-commerce will seem as outdated as mail-order catalogs." A Connected Future As e-commerce approaches $10.4 trillion globally by 2028, the need for intelligent, privacy-preserving personalization becomes ever more critical. Under Mitesh Shah's product leadership, PayPal is positioning itself not just as a payment processor, but as the intelligence layer that connects the global commerce ecosystem. From his early work at Amazon democratizing enterprise capabilities, through understanding context at Uber, to bringing AI to small businesses at Block, Mitesh's career has been building toward this moment. His vision of multi-modal commerce intelligence represents the culmination of these experiencesa product strategy that benefits everyone in the commerce ecosystem. "The future of commerce isn't about bigger platforms or more data," Mitesh concludes. "It's about intelligent connections that make every interaction more relevant and valuable. That's the future we're building at PayPal." In an industry often focused on competition and disruption, Mitesh Shah stands out as a product leader focused on connection and collaboration. His vision doesn't just solve today's personalization challengesit creates the foundation for entirely new forms of commerce that put both merchants and consumers first. BISSAU, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- President of Guinea-Bissau Umaro Sissoco Embalo on Thursday signed a presidential decree dismissing Prime Minister Rui Duarte de Barros and appointing Braima Camara as the country's new prime minister. According to the presidency, Camara is scheduled to be sworn in on Friday at the presidential palace, becoming the third prime minister appointed by Embalo since he assumed office in 2020. Camara is currently a member of the National People's Assembly and the national coordinator of the "Movement for Democratic Alternation, Group of 15." Presidential and legislative elections in Guinea-Bissau are scheduled for Nov. 23 this year. Analysts said Embalo's decision to appoint Camara reflects an effort to leverage his political and economic experience to foster stability and ensure the elections are held smoothly. Few business philosophies trace their origins to Mahatma Gandhi, but QI Group built its entire corporate philosophy around a lesson from the independence leader. The multinational conglomerate operates across five distinct sectors, from Swiss luxury watches to a Malaysian university, guided by what founders call the RYTHM philosophy Raise Yourself To Help Mankind and four core values: integrity, service, sustainability, and leadership. Today, the company operates across more than 30 nations, employing over 2,000 people representing nearly 50 different countries. Co-founded by Vijay Eswaran and Joseph Bismark, the organization began with direct selling operations before expanding into education, hospitality, luxury goods, and sustainable retail. The founders established their business during the Asian financial crisis of 1997-1998, a period when many companies faced significant challenges. Persevering through the downturn, they were able to establish a foundation that would support decades of subsequent international growth. We have been through so many challenges in the last two decades that many observers are amazed we are still around, said Eswaran, the companys executive chairman. "I'd like to think that the secret sauce keeping us on track is RYTHM. What Is the Vision of the QI Group? The QI Groups vision is to build a purpose-driven global business that uplifts communities through education, empowerment, and sustainable development guided by its RYTHM philosophy: Raise Yourself To Help Mankind. This philosophy was inspired by Mahatma Gandhis principle of self-improvement before service, and continues to drive every business and community decision. We were very clear that we have a greater purpose other than being profit-driven, said Executive Chairman Vijay Eswaran. The ideology of putting shareholders above all else needs a serious update. The RYTHM Foundation, the social impact arm of the company, channels 10% of annual revenue into projects aligned with this visionspanning education for children with special needs, womens vocational training, and rural development in underserved communities. Environmental stewardship is another pillar, with 25,000 trees planted across 11 countries via the Green Legacy initiative since 2021. Internally, the companys Community Impact Program has logged over 125,000 hours of employee volunteerism since 2013. What Industries Does QI Group Operate In? The company's expansion approach demonstrates deliberate growth across several sectors that support its guiding values. Quest International University, established in the state of Perak, Malaysia, anchors the education division. Since 2011, QIU has welcomed approximately 15,000 students from nearly 50 countries, offering programs in medicine, engineering, business, and information technology. The universitys growth received support through innovative financing mechanisms. QI Group partnered with a leading Malaysian bank to finance a $21.48 million Sukuk Ijarah program, marking the company's first entry into Malaysia's capital markets. This approach will fund the construction of state-of-the-art facilities and learning centers, ensuring students access to modern educational resources. The hospitality division operates boutique hotels and resorts across Thailand, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and Turkey, emphasizing eco-tourism principles. Prana Resort Nandana in Koh Samui, Thailand, demonstrates environmental commitment, earning a gold rating from Thailand's Green Hotel Standard. The property implements comprehensive sustainability measures including paperless check-ins, locally sourced ingredients, and beach cleanups to prevent marine waste. QI Group's luxury division manages two prestigious Swiss watch brands. Cimier, celebrating its centennial in 2024, represents traditional Swiss watchmaking heritage, while the Bernhard H. Mayer Collection, established in 1871, offers exclusive timepieces and jewelry. The retail portfolio includes Down to Earth, an organic grocery chain operating six locations across Hawaii. Established in 1977, it was acquired by QI Group in 2007. The chain specializes in vegetarian and all-natural products, hosting community-focused activities like cooking classes and nutrition seminars in local schools and hospitals. How Does QI Group Develop Its People and Leaders? The companys management and development principles emphasize servant leadership over traditional hierarchical structures. "I believe that leadership is not about telling people what to do. A true leader is one who knows how to serve," said Eswaran. Who Is the Owner of QI Group? QI Group is a privately held company co-founded and jointly led by Executive Chairman Vijay Eswaran and Deputy Chairman Joseph Bismark. Rather than having a single owner, the organization is governed by a board of directors, with both co-founders continuing to play key leadership roles. Vijay Eswaran is a Malaysian-born entrepreneur with degrees in socioeconomics and business from the UK and US. After a corporate setback early in his career, he founded the QI Group during the Asian financial crisis in 1998. is a Malaysian-born entrepreneur with degrees in socioeconomics and business from the UK and US. After a corporate setback early in his career, he founded the QI Group during the Asian financial crisis in 1998. Joseph Bismark brings a holistic leadership approach shaped by his upbringing in an ashram and lifelong practices in yoga, taekwondo, and vegetarian living elements that have informed the Groups health, wellness, and sustainability ventures. Together, they embody a dual-leadership model combining business strategy and values-driven culture. The company's workforce encompasses individuals from roughly 50 different countries speaking over 50 languages, with employees ranging from 19 to 65 years old. Women represent 47% of employees and 33% of management positions. Professional development occurs through structured programs including The Zone, a four-day program led by Eswaran himself, and STEER (Service, Teamwork, Enrichment, Excellence, and Resolve), a three-day employee training initiative led by Deputy Chairman Joseph Bismark. It also includes initiatives like iLead, which connects women leaders in the company to mentor up-and-coming employees. These programs foster confidence and career development while reinforcing the company's core values. The combination of Eswaran's business acumen and Bismark's holistic management approach has created a corporate culture that balances commercial success with social responsibility, positioning the company for continued growth across multiple sectors while maintaining its commitment to the RYTHM philosophy. US reaffirms India as a key strategic partner despite policy differences. Washington voices strong concerns over Indias Russian oil purchases and trade imbalance. Officials stress a 'full and frank' dialogue, even as Modi prepares for his first China visit in seven years. The United States considers India a strategic partner but remains firm in voicing concerns over New Delhis purchase of Russian oil and its trade imbalance with Washington, a senior State Department official said on Thursday. Speaking at a press briefing, State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Tommy Pigott underscored that President Donald Trump has been 'very clear' in communicating these issues to India and has already taken direct action. The President has been clear about the concerns he has regarding the trade imbalance, the concerns he has when it comes to the purchase of Russian oil. You have seen him take action directly on that, Pigott stated. The comments came in response to questions about Prime Minister Narendra Modis upcoming trip to China for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit from August 31 to September 1 his first visit to Beijing in seven years. US-India relationship, even when differences arise. India is a strategic partner with whom we engage in a full and frank dialogue. That will continue, he said, noting that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has also addressed the matter publicly. Pigott emphasized that open communication remains central to the, even when differences arise. India is a strategic partner with whom we engage in a full and frank dialogue. That will continue, he said, noting that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has also addressed the matter publicly. Acknowledging that no two countries align perfectly on every issue, Pigott said, Like anything in foreign policy, you are not going to align 100 percent of the time on everything. But it is very clear the President has been clear about the concerns he has with the trade imbalance and India purchasing Russian oil. He has taken action. Also Read: Trump Threatens Sharp Tariff Hike on India Over Russian Oil Trade Responding to questions about whether the US fears India could draw closer to China, Pigott avoided direct speculation but stressed the importance of addressing key concerns as part of a robust diplomatic relationship. This is about an honest, full and frank dialogue about real concerns That is what it means to advance American interests and to have full diplomatic dialogue with partners to address concerns that we need to see addressed, he said. The remarks signal Washingtons intent to keep engagement with New Delhi candid yet constructive, even as geopolitical currents including Modis China visit test the contours of the partnership. The New York State Capitol in Albany is seen in this photo. (Hans Pennink | AP Photo) The New York State Department of Civil Service has released an application for a New York entry-level civil service exam in August. Open-competitive exams are an opportunity to start a career with New York state. These tests are open to anyone who meets the qualifications listed on the examination announcement. The application period is open for Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services Program Administrator 2 until Sept. 3. In this career, you would serve as primary contact for a unit within a disaster recovery section. Some of the job duties include: discussing and identifying disaster relief and resource needs with state, regional, local and not-for-profit organizations; documenting recovery resources and program information with established local Long Term Recovery Groups and forming new groups in post-disaster impact areas; and monitoring multiple grants, projects, financial information, reconciliations, and proposing improvements to grant administration activities. In addition, the role would involve conducting briefings and deploying staff to support the State Emergency Operations Center or field offices during emergency or disaster activations and ongoing events. To be considered for appointment to this title, you must pass the multiple-choice test and meet job qualifications. The starting salary for this exam is $86,681. Visit the state Department of Civil Service website to apply for exams. Application fees are waived for this exam. Some careers offer an additional annual downstate adjustment for work in the five boroughs of New York City or in Nassau, Suffolk, Rockland or Westchester counties. An application must be submitted online or postmarked by the last date to apply. An application will not be accepted after the filing deadline has passed. There are no application fees for the exams this month, according to the state. To be considered for an appointment, you must pass the written test. If approved for a written test, you will receive an admission notice, which will indicate your assigned test date and the way your test will be administered. Your test may be administered with paper and pencil or online at a state test site using a state-provided Chromebook. You cannot request to change your scheduled day or request a specific type of test administration. All positions offer benefits, including paid leave, health benefits and retirement plans. In addition, telecommuting options may be available to employees who meet certain criteria. The salaries for each position vary. To learn more about working for the State of New York, visit the Department of Civil Service website and follow the department on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Wakefern Food Corp has announced it will purchase Morton Williams supermarkets, an acquisition that will combine two family-owned grocery businesses with deep roots in the Northeast. According to a press release, the New Jersey-based Wakefern will retain the Morton Williams name, and a wholly owned subsidiary will operate the 17 stores included in the deal. Fifteen stores are in Manhattan, one in the Bronx, and one in Jersey City. We are very excited to welcome Morton Williams to our Wakefern family of supermarket banners, said Wakefern President Mike Stigers in the release. This acquisition is an incredible opportunity to continue the legacy of a storied New York City grocer while building on the business and adding even more product offerings, value and quality for shoppers. The acquisition represents a significant expansion for Wakefern, which currently operates more than 360 stores across nine states under various banners, including ShopRite and Price Rite Marketplace. All of the Staten Island ShopRite stores including the newest location slated to open in Great Kills this fall are operated under the Wakefern umbrella. Morton Williams, founded in 1952 by brothers Joe and Irving Sloan, has been a fixture in New York City for over 70 years. The company underwent a major transformation in the 1970s when Joes sons, Morton and William, reimagined their Manhattan locations to include kitchens, chefs, and a focus on prepared foods. Avi Kaner, speaking for the current third-generation Morton Williams leadership, expressed confidence in the transition: Like Wakefern, which was founded by neighborhood grocers, we are also a family business and proud of the company weve built over the decades. We know our company, its team members, and loyal customers are in good hands. Kevin McDonnell, president of Wakeferns Price Rite Marketplace division, will lead the Morton Williams operation. McDonnell brings 40 years of supermarket industry experience, including extensive knowledge of the New York City market. San Jeronimo Restaurant & Bakery in Staten Island earned top honors in Santander Banks Cultivate Small Business program, showcasing standout growth and entrepreneurial skill. Owner Sarahi Marquez-Sanchez impressed judges with one of the highest-scoring business plans and pitches in her cohort. (Courtesy of Sarahi Marquez-Sanchez) STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. A new Ukrainian restaurant called Queen Frog will soon bring Eastern European cuisine to Port Richmond, taking over a storefront with rich culinary roots already part of the history at 1566 Forest Ave. Inside the long-time pork store and Italian specialty shop space, one can see the transformation underway into a full service restaurant. In former times, the service counter was to the right in this image. (Advance/SILive.com | Pamela Silvestri) The restaurant will occupy space between Elite Barber Shop and smoke store in what was formerly home to Italo A&S Fine Foods, which has since relocated to West Brighton. Before that, the location housed Brunos A&S Pork Store. Construction company owner Yuri Kratasyuk, who runs YK Mechanical, will own the new establishment and is personally handling the demolition and renovation work. His wife, who brings restaurant management experience from Ukraine, will operate the business. Queen Frog plans to serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner with a menu featuring Eastern European specialties alongside American favorites like burgers, according to Kratasyuk. There will be no frog on the menu. Instead the name Queen Frog is intended to be a whimsical one. Fresh signage for the restaurant will be installed soon, said Kratasyuk. The floor of the space still has A&S in the tiles to reflect the former days of A&S Pork Store. The new owner says he might keep the letters and perhaps add to it. (Advance/SILive.com | Pamela Silvestri) The location carries significant food history in the community. Most recently, it housed Italo A&S Fine Foods, a butcher shop and Italian specialty store owned by Italo Perito and his son, Gerardo. The Perito family acquired the business in 2014 from Bruno Pica, who had established it as Brunos A&S Pork Store in the 1970s. During both ownerships, the store was known for house-made mozzarella shaped into loaves and bocconcini, specialty sausages, and various prepared Italian dishes. The A&S name itself has New York City history, originating with Anthony Schicchitano, who established a pork store in Park Slope. According to Pica, subsequent A&S locations were independently owned shops that used the name for brand recognition and buying power, with proprietors learning their craft directly from Schicchitano. Brad Arnold of 3 Doors Down performs in front of a sold out crowd during the first night of "The Better Life 20th Anniversary Tour" at Rose Music Center on July 17, 2021 in Huber Heights, Ohio. (Photo by Stephen J. Cohen/Getty Images) Getty Images Brad Arnold, the frontman for 3 Doors Down, shocked the music world just more than two months ago when he announced that he is battling stage 4 cancer that has spread to his lungs. He asked fans to pray for him then, and for the most part, Arnold has remained quiet. But he returned to social media across the past couple of weeks sharing messages of hope for his followers. Model Paulina Porizkova attends the 2018 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue Launch Celebration at Magic Hour at Moxy Times Square on February 14, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Gilbert Carrasquillo/FilmMagic) FilmMagic Paulina Porizkova is embracing aging. The Czech-born supermodel, who recently turned 60, shared a pair of candid photos on Instagram on Jul. 28, contrasting a glamorous, posed vacation shot with a raw, un-retouched photo of herself at home. This is me. Vacation, pretty light, posing for a shot, she said of her first photo. This is also me. Home, not great light, not posing, she said of the second image. The former Americas Next Top Model judge explained that these photos both reflect who she is. This is 60. This is 60 years of sometimes healthy eating, sometimes not. 60 years of sometimes working out, sometimes not. 60 years of doing the right things followed by doing the wrong things and over again and again. Its 60 years of learning of what works and what doesnt. And just as I think Ive figured it out, everything changes and I have to start again. She concluded her post with a piece of wisdom shes gained: The beauty of 60 is that now I understand the importance is IN the lesson, not passing the exam. This isnt the first time Porizkova has spoken openly about embracing aging. Leading up to her milestone birthday in April, she appeared on the Today show in January, where she said, I have never been more thrilled about a birthday in my life. She also spoke on wrinkles and how women are so scared of getting them. And I keep looking at wrinkles mine, yours, any woman that I see and I think, Its your map of life. I see how you are as a person. Why would you want to erase it?" Porizkova rose to fame in the 1980s after becoming the first Central European woman to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated's swimsuit issue in 1984. Shes modeled for Chanel, Christian Dior, Hermes, and Versace. Last month, she got engaged to writer Jeff Greenstein. She was previously married to the Cars frontman Ric Ocasek. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued a travel advisory regarding the mosquito-borne illness chikungunya, which is spreading in China. (Getty Images/Hinterhaus Productions) STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued a travel advisory regarding the mosquito-borne illness chikungunya. The virus infects people through bites from Aedes mosquitoes, and has been spreading in Chinas Guangdong province this summer, according to Chinese health officials. The Level 2 warning advises travelers to practice enhanced precautions when traveling to parts of Asia, Africa and South America. The chikungunya virus has sparked 240,000 cases and 90 deaths in 2025 around the world, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. The disease circulates in tropical and subtropical regions, according to the CDC. Cases and outbreaks have been identified in more than 100 countries in the past, the CDC stated on its website. Other countries where outbreaks have been reported include: Bolivia Kenya Madagascar Mauritius Mayotte Reunion Somalia Sri Lanka The CDC warns of elevated risk to U.S. travelers visiting the following countries, even if there is no current outbreak: Brazil Colombia India Mexico Nigeria Pakistan Philippines Thailand The CDC announcement said it does not always have information on the current risk in all geographic locations. Symptoms of chikungunya include fever, joint pain, headache, muscle pain, joint swelling, and rash, according to the CDC. There are no medicines to treat the illness, however two chikungunya vaccines are approved for use in the United States. According to the CDC: You can protect yourself by preventing mosquito bites, which includes using insect repellent, wearing long-sleeved shirts and pants and staying in places with air conditioning or that have screens on the windows and doors. Vaccination is recommended for travelers who are visiting an area with a chikungunya outbreak. If you are pregnant, reconsider travel to the affected areas, particularly if you are close to delivering your baby. Mothers infected around the time of delivery can pass the virus to their baby before or during delivery. Newborns infected in this way or by a mosquito bite are at risk for severe illness, including poor long-term outcomes. A car crashed into a pole just past Thompson Avenue on Front Street in Stapleton on Friday, Aug. 8, 2025. (Advance/SILive.com | Jan Somma-Hammel) STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. One person was taken to a local hospital following a vehicle collision in Stapleton Friday morning, according to a spokesperson for the FDNY. The department received a call for a collision at Canal Street and Front Street just before 7 a.m. In the wake of the crash, one patient was taken to Richmond University Medical Center in West Brighton. The FDNY did not reveal the condition of the transported individual. At the scene, an Audi with Pennsylvania license plates had significant damage to its front and back left side. There were no other damaged vehicles in the vicinity. A car crashed into a pole just past Thompson Avenue on Front Street in Stapleton on Friday, Aug. 8, 2025. (Advance/SILive.com | Jan Somma-Hammel) An Advance/SILive.com reporter at the scene observed a trail of debris that spanned several yards. A utility pole was badly damaged in the area, though its unclear whether the vehicle hit the pole. Police temporarily closed Front Street from Thompson Avenue toward the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge to traffic, the reporter noted. A car crashed into a pole just past Thompson Avenue on Front Street in Stapleton on Friday, Aug. 8, 2025. (Advance/SILive.com | Jan Somma-Hammel) A car crashed into a pole just past Thompson Avenue on Front Street in Stapleton on Friday, Aug. 8, 2025. (Advance/SILive.com | Jan Somma-Hammel) A car crashed into a pole just past Thompson Avenue on Front Street in Stapleton on Friday, Aug. 8, 2025. (Advance/SILive.com | Jan Somma-Hammel) KINSHASA, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) on Friday carried out a government reshuffle as the Central African country faces a mounting security crisis in its eastern region. Presidential spokesperson Tina Salama said on national television that the new cabinet was formed after nationwide consultations to ensure efficiency, credibility, as well as political, geographical and sociocultural balance through "an inclusive government." Although initially announced as streamlined, the new government comprises 54 members -- only one fewer than the previous cabinet formed in May 2024 -- including six vice prime ministers, 12 state ministers, 24 ministers, five ministerial delegates and six vice ministers. Judith Suminwa Tuluka remains prime minister. Opposition figure Adolphe Muzito, a former prime minister under ex-president Joseph Kabila, has joined the new inclusive government as vice prime minister in charge of the budget. In late February, DRC President Felix Tshisekedi announced sweeping political changes, including plans to establish a "government of national unity" to prevent the security crisis in the country's eastern part from escalating into a broader regional conflict. Since then, Desire-Cashmir Kolongele Eberande, the DRC president's special security advisor, has led consultations involving the Sacred Union -- the ruling parliamentary coalition -- opposition parties within and outside parliament, civil society, and prominent figures, including former presidential candidates. The eastern DRC has been troubled by decades of insecurity fueled by ethnic tensions, local militias, and foreign rebel groups operating across porous borders, especially the March 23 Movement rebel group, which re-emerged in late 2021. STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The Staten Island Democratic Party is now throwing its full support behind Queens Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani after previously endorsing former Gov. Andrew Cuomo during the June mayoral primary. Party Chair Laura LoBianco Sword told the Advance/SILive.com that voters across the five boroughs have made it clear that Mamdani is preferred over Cuomo to succeed Mayor Eric Adams as the next leader of New York City and that its the partys obligation to support him. Its not a matter of us deciding to support [Mamdani], that decision was made by the voters. The Democratic Party has an obligation to support the Democratic nominee, said Sword. Once theres a vote, were the Democratic Party, we support the Democrat. Period. End of story. While Mamdani, who identifies as a Democratic socialist, won the June primary and will appear on the Democratic Party line in November, Cuomo received more support on Staten Island, garnering 46.5% of the borough vote compared to 37.5% for Mamdani during the initial round of the ranked-choice election. Staten Island and the Bronx were the only two boroughs to favor Cuomo, who will now run as an independent, in the primary, with Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn all backing Mamdani. Sword noted that Mamdani performed better than some expected on Staten Island by galvanizing younger, more progressive voters, and encouraged more moderate party members to give Mamdani a chance to win their vote. Zohran did lose Staten Island, but not by a ton, and its a lot closer than I think most people anticipated that it would be. Hes bringing new people to the table, which is exciting, Sword said. For the moderate Democrats who may still want to support Andrew Cuomo or Eric Adams, I think they need to give Mamdani a chance. I think the idea that hes too far to the left is something that is scaring folks, but I think they should hear him out on some of these policies. Sword told the Advance/SILive.com that Mamdani plans to visit the borough in the coming weeks to speak with prospective voters, but the candidates campaign could not confirm details by the time of publication. While all the Staten Island Democratic Partys focus in the mayoral race will now be on Mamdani, the partys executive committee had previously endorsed Cuomo in February before he had even officially entered the race. We believe Andrew Cuomo is the only proven leader with the track record of results and resolve to both navigate attacks from Washington and properly address the issues of corruption and deteriorating quality of life that our city faces today, Sword said in a statement at the time. He stands for working class men and women, and that is why we are endorsing him today. Mamdanis campaign website lays out a series of policy initiatives he hopes to implement if elected, and the candidate recently responded to a 17-part Advance/SILive.com questionnaire about what a Mamdani mayoralty would look like. My mayoralty will deliver a city where everyday New Yorkers can afford their homes, their groceries, their childcare it will ensure we can all afford a good life in the greatest city in the world," Mamdani previously told the Advance/SILive.com. Both the Mamdani and Cuomo campaigns did not respond to requests for comment by the time of publication, but recently issued statements to the New York Post regarding the support of the Staten Island Democratic Party. While Zohran builds real support across all five boroughs, Cuomos campaign is withering as New Yorkers learn he stands for absolutely nothing but his own ambition, dogged by scandal, corruption, and a record of sexual harassment and humiliation, said Mamdani campaign spokesperson Dora Pekec. That comment reeks of insecurity and will do nothing to erase Mamdanis history of anti-cop, anti-capitalist rhetoric that will go over as well on Staten Island as Bill de Blasio eating pizza with a fork and a knife, retorted Cuomo campaign spokesperson Rich Azzopardi. Ladies and gentlemen: Bill de Blasio 2.0. Michael Colombo, the Democratic candidate for Borough President, held a press conference on Friday, Aug. 8, criticizing a proposed pipeline project off the shores of Staten Island. (Advance/SILive.com | Erik Bascome) Advance/SILive.com | Erik Bascome STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The Democratic challenger vying to unseat Borough President Vito Fossella has joined the choir of concerned Staten Islanders speaking out against a proposed pipeline expansion off the coast of the borough. Michael Colombo, the Democratic nominee for borough president in the upcoming November election, held a press conference on Friday to slam the proposed Northeast Supply Enhancement, a pipeline backed by President Donald Trump that supporters say would improve the supply of fracked natural gas to National Grid customers in Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island. Despite the project only benefitting Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island, all National Grid customers, including those on Staten Island, will be asked to help pay for the project through a 3.5% bill increase. Do you ever feel like Staten Island is the forgotten borough, except when they need our money? Like were the ATM for everyone elses pet projects. We pay more, we get less, Colombo said. In addition to proposed rate hikes, critics of the project, including Colombo, have pointed to environmental concerns, noting that the pipeline expansion could potentially undo years of progress in cleaning up the waters surrounding Staten Island. I dont think its in our best interest to be dredging up these pollutants, these chemicals, that are on the seabed that have settled down there to ruin the water weve worked so hard to improve, especially when it comes to a situation where we get no benefit from it, Colombo said. Colombo took aim at his opponent Fossella, the incumbent borough president seeking re-election, claiming that he has done little to push back against the project that would increase costs for Staten Islanders already facing exorbitant utility bills. Our borough president, Vito Fossella, has very little to say about it. No call to action, no fight. This is exactly why people hate politics and politicians. Because when the fight gets tough, the stakes get high, the people in office disappear, he said. Fossella recently provided a statement to the Advance/SILive.com regarding the project, likening the possible rate hike to the battery energy storage systems that have inundated the Island sparking controversy, particularly for their prevalence in residential areas. What we have here is another example of Staten Islanders being expected to carry the burden and receive none of the benefit, Fossella said. It echoes eerily similar to battery storage systems we are told to pay the cost and assume all of the risk of them being sited here, in order to better supply power to other places. Now, we are being told to pay more for our own gas, so that Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island can enjoy cheaper gas. How does that make any sense for us? A representative for Fossellas campaign fired back at Colombo, claiming that the borough president has been opposing this project for months. Our opponent is clueless. Borough President Fossella has been fighting this for monthsalerting the media, meeting with National Grid, and opposing this unfair burden on Staten Islanders while our desperate opponent makes baseless accusations," the spokesperson said. About the project The overall project would enhance New Yorks supply of fracked natural gas from Pennsylvania with piping and facility improvements through New York and New Jersey. A new 23.5-mile pipeline under the Raritan Bay comprises the bulk of the projects piping work. That portion of the project would run from New Jersey to Rockaway where it would supplement an existing pipeline and eventually tie into National Grids distribution system. To move forward with the underwater pipeline off Staten Island, Transco, the Oklahoma-based company that would build the project, will need permits from the state Department of Environmental Conservation for excavation and fill work, water quality standards, and to ensure it meets requirements under the State Pollution Discharge Elimination System. State Environmental Conservation officials previously rejected the project during a prior review, but political realities have opponents concerned. President Donald Trump has been engaged in an ongoing push to bring the Northeast Supply Enhancement project back online along with another upstate natural gas pipeline. That push has involved negotiations with Hochul who hopes to advance an offshore wind farm, but has faced roadblocks from the Trump administration. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum wrote May 19 on the X social media platform that he was encouraged by Governor Hochuls comments about her willingness to move forward on critical pipeline capacity, but Hochul downplayed those comments during a May 29 press conference after being asked her position by New York 1. My message is what I told the president, which is that I will make sure that any applicant for a pipeline or any energy project follows all state, local and federal laws, Hochul said. I have to look at this in a different lens and will continue being committed to our climate goals. I believe in them, but also the realization that we need to be more open-minded and expansive, but they will have to follow our laws and they know that. I was very clear on this. National Grid estimates that all its customers in the five boroughs and on Long Island will see a 3.5% bill increase to help pay for the $1 billion Northeast Supply Enhancement project, which includes an underwater pipeline running along the south and east shores of Staten Island. Environmental concerns The Advance/SILive.com recently spoke to various environmental groups regarding their concerns about how the project will negatively impact the waters off the shores of Staten Island. The concern is that should the pipeline be approved, the pipe itself would have to be embedded underneath the settled seabed: stirring up decades worth of contaminated sand and other materials that have since laid dormant. I cant underscore enough: Nothing has changed, said Alex Beauchamp, the northern region director at Food & Water Watch, which is opposed to the project. Presumably, they should rule that way [denying the project]. Again, of course, everything is actually political, so really the only thing that has changed is who is in the White House. Trumps been trying to bully Hochul into approving this and another pipeline upstate. Staten Islanders, in particular, are concerned about the lasting effects of stirring up toxins. As a parent, I dont want my children or anyone elses children exposed to pollutants that cause cancer or impair childrens development. My family and I spend countless memorable moments throughout the year along the shoreline, and I want that to continue to be a safe way for Staten Islanders to spend time with their families, Ronit Granot, a North Shore resident and member of Climate Families NYC, told the Advance/SILive.com. A spokesperson for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation gave the following statement to an Advance/SILive.com reporter about the pipelines impact to the environment: DECs review process for natural gas pipeline proposals varies by project type and scope and are thorough, transparent, and guided by stringent state and federal environmental laws and regulations. Federal permits are also required for interstate natural gas pipeline proposals. DEC is committed to protecting public health and the environment and subjects all permit applications to a rigorous review process that encourages public input at every step and ensures the protection of public health and the environment. BEIJING, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- Buoyed by stronger-than-expected economic performance and steered by policy continuity and certainty, China is accelerating through the home stretch of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) to lay a solid foundation for future high-quality development. The first half of 2025 highlighted China's economic resilience, with GDP rising 5.3 percent -- surpassing expectations -- while employment remained stable, foreign trade volumes reached record highs, and stronger investor confidence pushed stock market indices upward. Alongside this stability, dynamic momentum was evident. Output from high-tech industries surged 9.5 percent, while final consumption contributed 52 percent to economic growth. Significant increases in freight volumes, passenger flows and money supply vividly depicted a "flowing China" in action. "These gains came despite severe external turbulence, underscoring the economy's stronger shock absorbers and its vitality," said Huang Hanquan, head of the Chinese Academy of Macroeconomic Research. Over the past four-plus years, China has steered its economy through a storm of unilateralism, protectionism and geopolitical shocks. It has maintained a remarkably steady growth, stoked domestic demand, defused risks in areas like property and debt, while surmounting significant challenges in the technology sector. China's economy expanded at an average annual growth rate of 5.5 percent from 2021 to 2024, with consumption contributing more to GDP growth than the 13th Five-Year Plan period, amid other changes that made the economy more sustainable and balanced. Breakthroughs in domestically developed high-performance chips and operating systems have substantially reduced years of foreign dependence. The country has also become the first to amass more than 4 million valid domestic invention patents, cementing its position at the forefront of global innovation. Building on achievements over the past four-plus years, China's top leadership laid out policy priorities for the coming months to bring the 14th Five-Year Plan to a successful conclusion at a high-level meeting last week. Boosting innovation and domestic demand remains high on the agenda. Provinces are now unlocking new-quality productive forces at full throttle to power the next wave of growth. Henan is forging world-class clusters in ultra-hard materials and agricultural machinery; Anhui is blazing trails in electric vehicles and quantum technology; Hainan is establishing itself in modern seed breeding and commercial space ventures. "China holds distinctive advantages in the new wave of global high-tech competition, with artificial intelligence at its forefront," said Luara Wang, chief China equity strategist for Morgan Stanley. To bolster domestic consumption, a slew of targeted measures have been implemented. In June, the People's Bank of China launched a dedicated 500-billion-yuan (about 70 billion U.S. dollars) relending facility aimed at stimulating service consumption and the elderly care sectors. In addition, fiscal support has been increased for consumer goods trade-in programs and initiatives that enhance people's well-being, including nationwide childcare subsidies, all aimed at empowering consumers. Meanwhile, local governments are adding their own spice. Beijing is issuing 10 million yuan in cinema vouchers, Guangxi is hosting late-night food festivals, and provinces from Shanxi to Sichuan are turning intangible-heritage crafts into "trendy national brands" to invigorate consumer activity. Concurrently, China is accelerating reforms and expanding high-standard opening up. Reforms in key sectors, such as building a unified national market, are helping resources move more freely across the country, improving their allocation, and fueling the next phase of growth from within. Recent milestones in financial opening up include granting permission to Qualified Foreign Institutional Investors (QFIIs) to trade ETF options and allowing selected national-level economic development zones to establish overseas offices to attract investors. These steps, alongside China's continuous hosting of landmark expos such as China International Supply Chain Expo, reaffirm the country's commitment to "opening wider to the outside world" and cultivating a world-class, market-oriented, law-based and internationalized business environment. Despite profound and complex changes alongside rising uncertainties facing the country's development, China has inherent strengths to tackle them, including the advantages of socialism with Chinese characteristics, an enormous market, a complete industrial system, and abundant talent resources. For the second half of the year, China's top leadership called for maintaining "continuity and stability" in macroeconomic policies while incorporating greater "flexibility and foresight." "This approach gives market participants stable policy and market expectations while keeping policy tools in reserve, ready for China to hit the accelerator if needed," said Zou Yunhan, a researcher with the State Information Center. The overarching goal is to conclude 2025 on a solid footing and smoothly transition into the next five-year cycle. Such stability will inject much-needed certainty into a volatile global economy, observers noted. RHYTHM BIOSCIENCES LIMITED (ASX: RHY) Up 250% (6c 21c) Bulls N Bears Runner of the Week is Rhythm Biosciences, which took a while to get going this week following the release on Monday of the results of a study of the companys simple predictive blood test for colorectal cancer, called ColoSTAT. The company says its study confirmed the tests effectiveness across all cancer stages, a critical step on its commercialisation pathway. The trial of 300 patients blood samples showed ColoSTAT consistently detected colorectal cancer, from its early to late stages. Rhythm received its first batch of ColoSTAT kits from partner Quansys Biosciences, produced using the final manufacturing process expected in the products rollout. Colorectal cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer deaths globally, but is curable if caught early. The company says ColoSTATs performance meets clinical requirements for a screening test for patients experiencing bowel cancer symptoms, potentially placing it as a serious alternative for people who cant or dont want to use existing screening programs. After failing to fire on Monday, Rhythms share price rocketed on Wednesday, hitting a peak of 21 cents a share from last weeks 6c close, up 250 per cent. Rhythm is now gearing up for final validation of its test kits and a submission to the National Association of Testing Authorities. It has further studies pending. If ColoSTAT clears these hurdles, this biotech minnow could help rewrite the script on cancer screening. After a failure to launch its product in early 2023 - and its share price this week - the companys commercialisation hopes look back on track to address a seriously sizeable cancer screening market. ROOLIFE GROUP LTD (ASX: RLG) Up 225% (0.4c 1.3c) Snagging silver on the week is e-commerce player RooLife Group Limited, which bounded up the bourse on Wednesday after inking a blockbuster partnership supply agreement with Eternal Asia Supply Chain Management. The deal tasks Roolife with sourcing health, wellness and food and beverage products for Eternal Asias massive network across more than 320 cities, one million retail outlets and more than 100 Fortune 500 clients in China. Roolife says the deal could lead to potential orders worth up to CNY500 million (A$110 million) a year, although volumes will depend on pricing and Roolifes capacity to fulfill them. It opens a direct pipeline to Chinas general trade retail market, bypassing tedious traditional brand-building costs. The company, which leverages data-driven platforms to target high-growth markets such as China, South East Asia and India, says it is already receiving product order requests, putting it well on its way to hitting the big leagues. The news lit a fire under Roolifes share price, which skyrocketed 225 per cent on Wednesday to 1.3c from 0.4c last Friday on $2 million in stock traded. With its intelligent e-commerce engine powered by Eternal Asias demand data, Roolife believes it is poised to lock Australias producers into one of the worlds largest retail economies. If it can secure binding orders and continue to scale supply, this digital services dynamo could be on track for a massive retail breakout. WARATAH MINERALS LIMITED (ASX: WTM) Up 136% (29.5c 69.5c) Taking the final podium spot this week is the no-longer junior explorer Waratah Minerals, which was the toast of Diggers first day when the company unveiled a massive discovery at its Spur gold-copper project in the East Lachlan Fold region of New South Wales. An almighty drill hole at Spur confirmed the companys gold corridor potential to host a large-scale, high-grade gold system, just 5 kilometres from Newmonts 50-million-ounce Cadia Valley mine, NSWs answer to the Kalgoorlie Super Pit. Assays from the deep diamond hole returned a mammoth 208.7-metre intersection grading 1.17 grams per tonne (g/t) gold from 514m, including 38m at 3.61g/t from 665m. Visible gold vein swarms extend its surface mineralisation to more than 500m below surface. The results extended the Spur corridor strike by more than 500m, to more than 1.5km. Drilling at the companys Consols, Essex, and Thistle zones uncovered high-grade porphyry potential, like the mineralisation at Cadia. After the staggering discovery, Waratah expanded its program by 60 holes to test the system from surface to 450m depth, aiming to connect Spur to its nearby Dalcoath and Essex prospects. The companys share price continued to surge all week, moving up 136 per cent to 69.5c Friday, from 29.5c last week, before taking a little breather to end the week. These porphyries are NSWs golden giants and the new discovery is no small feat. Given the significance of the states last porphyry discovery by Alkane Resources in 2019, it wont be surprising to be talking about Waratahs discovery again in seven days time. Lindian Resources has locked up $32 million in funding and an offtake agreement for its Malawi rare earths project with Australian major Iluka Resources. LINDIAN RESOURCES LTD (ASX: LIN) Up 50% (10c 15c) Riding the rare earths wave to scoop up this weeks final Runners spot is Lindian Resources, after it sealed a 15-year strategic offtake deal with Aussie major Iluka Resources, which includes $32 million in construction funding. The deal locks 6000 tonnes per year of rare earth monazite concentrate from Lindians Kangankunde project in Malawi into Australias latest Eneabba rare earths refinery in Geraldton. Lindians seismic deal cements Kangankunde as one of the pre-eminent rare earth developments on the planet and comes as Iluka scrambles to lock in a non-Chinese rare earths supply. The projects monster 261-million-tonne resource is grading at 2.19 per cent total rare earth ore, with an ore reserve at a higher 2.9 per cent, and is slated to last 45 years of mining. The partnership looks a masterstroke for both parties. Kangankunde is well on its way to first production, expected by next year, while Ilukas Eneabba refinery is set to become Australias first fully integrated, government-backed rare earths facility. Commissioning is slated for 2027. The stock shot out of a cannon on Wednesdays announcement, moving up a substantial 50 per cent from last week, to a 15c high on some $5.2 million in paper changing hands. For the first time in a long time, this week has revealed what could be a very concerted effort by the federal government to build a subsidised resources sector. By replicating the US in setting potential floor prices for local rare earths, Australia could finally grow a fully-fledged vertically integrated rare earths supply chain backed by the government. Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: mattbirney@bullsnbears.com.au 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 More than 80 years after it was written under the flickering light of a kerosene lamp in the steamy jungles of Papua New Guinea, one of Australias most extraordinary wartime compositions will finally be performed in public. Isador Goodmans New Guinea Fantasy, a lush piece for piano and orchestra shot through with Hollywood grandeur and echoes of Gershwin, Grieg and Rachmaninov, will be performed by pianist Simon Tedeschi as part of a concert at the Australian War Memorial later this month. For Tedeschi, its not just a milestone musical event, but also a long-overdue tribute to a figure he believes should stand alongside the great pianists of the 20th century, but who has mostly slipped from the collective memory. Simon Tedeschi wants to revive the memory of Goodmans genius. Credit: Wolter Peeters I first heard it when I was 15 or 16, says Tedeschi. I hadnt heard anything quite like it before. I immediately recognised something of an Australia that existed before I was born. I heard the name Isador Goodman, and then I mentioned it to my teacher who said, Oh, he was one of the best pianists in the world in the 1950s. I was like, Wow. Who is this guy? Goodman, once a household name, has largely been forgotten since his death in 1982. At the height of his fame in the middle of the last century, he was known as the nations leading concert pianist. He was equally at home playing the popular music of the day, happily pivoting from Schubert to showtunes with dizzying ease. Goodman was born in Cape Town in 1909 and showed his musical talents from an early age, according to Linda Goodman, his daughter from his fourth wife. Advertisement Dad had such a strange childhood he could play before he could read, she says, speaking from her home in Wales. He started, I think, when he was three and gave his first public performance at seven. He was driven by a very determined mother. After the death of his father when Goodman was 12, his mother took the family back to London, where she had been born, and remarried. The man she married was a textile merchant who thought music was a waste of time, says Linda. He wanted to take the family back to Cape Town and dad was left with the choice to give up his music career and go back to work for the family firm or go it alone at the age of 19 in London. A year later, Goodman moved to Sydney to take up his appointment as professor of piano at the NSW Conservatorium of Music, where he was to teach, on and off, for 50 years. Linda was just 22 when Goodman died, but has fond recollections of her famous dad who also had a strong larrikin streak. Australian pianist Isador Goodman was passionate and sensitive. Credit: Unknown Advertisement It was an interesting childhood to say the least because he was either practising at which point mum and I would have to be quiet as mice or he was enjoying his favourite pastime: listening to the horse racing, she said. I can still remember his TAB account number, I heard it so many times on the phone. He was a real character, very moody, very passionate and very sensitive as you would expect. He absolutely adored my mother. The thing I remember most about my childhood was how much my parents loved each other. The most significant event in Goodmans life came with the outbreak of World War II and his decision in 1942 to join up, not content merely to raise money for the war effort with charity concerts. He wanted to be a combat soldier, says Tedeschi. It was a very different Australia then. There was a common cause and he wanted to do his bit. The army sent Goodman to perform for the troops at home and overseas. Credit: However, the top brass was reluctant to put Goodman in a fighting role, instead dispatching him with a piano on the back of a truck to some of the remotest parts of Australia where he performed for thousands of servicemen and women in morale-boosting concerts. He played wherever men were stationed men in dirty overalls with dusty, tired faces who thought they had been forgotten by civilisation, writes Lindas mother, Virginia, in her 1983 biography of her husband. Advertisement Finally, in 1943, Goodman was sent to New Guinea, where the Allies had halted Japanese attempts to establish a base at Port Moresby but were battling to drive them off the island and away from Australia. The conditions made the outback look like a picnic, according to Virginia Goodman. Goodman (third from the left, front row) with other musicians who enlisted in the Australian defence forces in World War II. Credit: Where dirt and dust had been the foes in Australia, New Guineas tropical terrain and climate were heartbreaking, she writes. The old piano grew green mould on its legs before his eyes, and rot and mildew ate at its guts. Soon it became unplayable and the pianist was not in much better shape. At one point, schoolchildren in Queensland even took up a collection for Goodman, raising enough money through a penny fund to have a decent piano crated up and sent out to him. In all, Goodman played more than 150 concerts, often by moonlight, to more than 200,000 servicemen and women. He flew from base to base on a rickety DC-3 making terrifying landings on sketchy bush airstrips. Then he would help unload, repair and tune his piano before giving a lengthy recital to troops, many of whom had come directly from jungle fighting in some of the most gruelling battles of the war. Alongside the pressure of the punishing schedule, Goodman never went anywhere without a pistol on his hip faced with the constant threat from Japanese soldiers and unfriendly locals. Unsurprisingly, the workload and stress broke him, and he was eventually evacuated to Melbournes Heidelberg Psychiatric Hospital with what was described as a serious nervous breakdown. He was physically and mentally exhausted. He was never a man in good health, says Linda. He had three heart attacks in his life and had to fight through everything. Advertisement It was shortly before leaving New Guinea that Goodman wrote New Guinea Fantasy, the piece that captured Tedeschis attention so completely when he was a teenager. When I play it, Im reminded of those big Charlton Heston biblical films, says Tedeschi. You get that really big orchestral sound with the brass. Its got that grandiosity that I absolutely love. Despite its significance, it appears New Guinea Fantasy has not had a live performance in Australia, something Tedeschi will redress at the upcoming Canberra concert, Second World War Memorial: Greater Love. Created by War Memorial artist-in-residence Christopher Latham and narrated by actor John Bell, the concert will also feature 15 new compositions from composers including Elena Kats-Chernin and Graeme Koehne. Loading I wanted to describe this idea of a love beyond self, a greater love that took the form of service for the benefit of others, which I find enormously inspiring, said Latham. It still amazes me what people were willing to sacrifice to achieve a peaceful, free, democratic world. Tedeschi said the concert would be the opposite of the glorification of war. Isador truly felt music had a moralistic force, he said. We are more atomised than ever right now, but I have found that a group of people can come in and listen to me play, and for a second or for a minute or for a whole recital if Im playing well none of that matters. Advertisement 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 Its tempting to assume the death of 10 News+ is imminent: in its first week on air, Network Tens bold prime-time news and current affairs offering, which debuted on June 30, averaged just 211,000 viewers nationally. Four weeks later, its audience had dwindled to 149,000 while the 6pm bulletins on Seven and Nine each attracted a viewership around nine times this size. They need to double their ratings, at the very least, to be sustainable, says Pearman Media analyst Steve Allen, noting the challenge is compounded by the networks financial constraints. Ten dont have the luxury of choice; they dont have a cupboard full of programs they can pick from if this fails which gives them an even stronger incentive to make it work. Ten news boss Martin White admits the one-hour program, which airs at 6pm from Sunday to Friday, has a long way to go. I have no illusions about the task were facing, given were in one of the most hotly contested time slots in TV, he says. But were not in as dire a position as some have suggested. Brace and Hitchcock say Ten is backing the show and giving it time to grow its audience. Credit: Indeed, the programs co-anchors, Amelia Brace and Denham Hitchcock, take comfort from other Ten series that got off to an equally dismal start. Chief among them is Have You Been Paying Attention?, which debuted with 301,000 viewers in 2013 before sinking to 168,000 the following year. Had it aired on Seven or Nine (the owner of this masthead), it almost certainly would have been axed in its infancy but Ten stuck with it. Now, HYBPA? is one of the networks biggest hits, regularly exceeding 1 million viewers. Likewise, The Cheap Seats fell to 255,000 viewers a few weeks after its 2021 launch; since then, it has roughly doubled its audience. And The Project which notched up almost 16 years before being cancelled in June due to high production costs was first reported to be on the chopping block a mere 10 days after it premiered in 2009. Advertisement Ten has a unique position in the marketplace in that it can take more risks and give things more time to grow, Brace says. Historically, theyve been rewarded for that, which certainly gives us confidence. Adds Hitchcock: We were sitting opposite [Ten network president] Beverley McGarvey at the Logies the other night. She told us, face-to-face, that she loves the show and that this is a long-term project. Sarah Harris (left), Carrie Bickmore, Sam Taunton, Dave Hughes, Georgie Tunny and Waleed Aly on the final episode of The Project. Credit: David Cook This doesnt mean the 10 News+ format wont evolve: recently, Ten commissioned market research to gauge viewers opinions about everything from its tone, pace and delivery to the length of its reports. 10 News+ is actually quite a hard sell; its tricky to explain to the public. Network Ten insider Were not making huge, wholesale changes, although those decisions ultimately rest with the network, says Dan Sutton, the programs executive producer. What you might see are some little tweaks as we go along. Its a smart move by any network to do market research on a new show, and were listening to that feedback so we can deliver a show that people love to tune in to. Allen sees Tens investment in research as proof the network is not giving up on 10 News+, although he remains sceptical about its long-term prospects. Advertisement Ten are very strong at 5 oclock [with their state-based 10 News First bulletins], he says, but Im not convinced that another hour of news and current affairs at six oclock is going to work. Amelia Brace and Denham Hitchcock on red carpet at the Logie Awards on Sunday night. Credit: Getty Images for TV WEEK Logies Awards To some inside Ten, Allens observation about another hour of news and current affairs sums up their challenge. 10 News+ is actually quite a hard sell, says one journalist who is not authorised to speak publicly. Here at Ten, we know its not just a replica of the straight news bulletins on Seven and Nine, but its not a completely new, out-of-the box idea either and thats tricky to explain to the public in a way thats both clear and appealing. Loading So what is 10 News+, exactly? Although it gives viewers the news of the day, its not a traditional bulletin. Often, it features longer-form stories in the style of Sevens Spotlight or Nines 60 Minutes. While its direct rivals might devote 45 seconds to a report about declining childhood literacy rates, 10 News+ will invite experts to spend five minutes debating the topic. My hope is that when people watch the show, they will be informed about something they might not have known beforehand, Sutton says. I want them to hear an opinion or an idea that they hadnt considered. Advertisement White agrees, offering three recent stories as examples. We had the Melbourne mum taking TAB to court because shes a known problem gambler; a lot of other networks were interested but she came to us, he says. We interviewed Hannah Thomas, the Greens candidate who could lose an eye after a clash with police during a protest. And weve done a lot of very nuanced and contextual reporting around the situation in Gaza. Ben Willee, executive director of media and data at Spinach Advertising, says Tens task is not an easy one. Its hard to launch any new show in 2025 because there is so much competition, he says. But its even more difficult if your ratings are not as strong as the other networks, because you have fewer viewers to promote your new programs to. But Willee does not accept that a one-hour news and current affairs show, airing six nights a week, is destined to fail in what some believe is an already-saturated market. Theres a reason the networks invest so much in news, and thats because it rates, he says. Theres still a very strong appetite for it, so if 10 News+ isnt working, it could be that theres a problem with the format or a problem with the promotion. Advertisement Ten still have a few levers they can pull: they might go very hard on promotion, which I dont feel theyve done yet. They might tweak the format or they may do something really surprising that brings in a whole new crop of viewers. Last week, 10 News+ attracted an average audience of 159,000 its highest figure in three weeks. Although it was thumped by the 6pm bulletins on Seven and Nine, which averaged more than 1.37 million viewers each, it may suggest early signs of recovery. Loading Tens 5pm bulletin continues to draw its biggest audience since 2022, and has grown by 14 per cent compared to last year, giving the network a stronger lead-in to its fledgling program. (Tens lunchtime, afternoon and late bulletins all of which serve as cross-promotional platforms have enjoyed even greater increases.) On social media, 10 News+ content has racked up 1.2 million views on TikTok, 1.9 million on YouTube and 2.2 million on Instagram. The program is also available on Spotify, in audio and video formats, where it can be streamed ad-free by paid subscribers. Its not just a ratings game any more, says White, referring to the traditional TV metric of live broadcast audiences. Weve got to be a bit less binary in terms of how we judge success because its a multi-platform game now and it does take time to build brand awareness. A journalist from a rival network, speaking on the condition of anonymity, insists its too early to write off 10 News+. Advertisement Advertisement Eating outJust open Spritz bars, surfboards and walkable tastings: Whos shaking up our oldest wine region? As established names exit the Yarra Valley, three new cellar doors (and a fourth under way) are providing drinkers with good reasons to hot-foot it to Melbournes outer east. Catherine Boucher August 8, 2025 Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles 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 The site of Victorias first vineyard, the Yarra Valley, is writing a new chapter as legacy winemaking names scale back their physical presence and newer operators with fresh ideas spring up often without a vine in sight. Healesville Makers Quarter, established in March in an industrial precinct, is attempting to carve out a name for itself by banding six quality producers together to attract a new audience. Heading out on foot, visitors can indulge in wine, beer, gin and quality dining within one block. Winemaker Dino Giammarino at his cellar door in Healesville, where he also sells wetsuits. Dino Giammarino Dino Giammarino relocated his eponymous winery and cellar door from St Andrews in March. He says he was drawn to the precincts energy and unique offering. Ten minutes away in Coldstream, award-winning winery Oakridge closed its fine-dining restaurant in June in response to fluctuating tourist numbers and rising costs. Advertisement We are focusing on the cellar door, says hospitality manager Gavin Fyffe. Well be able to provide more of a premium tasting experience utilising our restaurant space. Jayden Ong Cellar Door and Bar is part of Healesville Makers Quarter. Lauren Bertacchini The Yarra Ranges Council region makes up 6.3 per cent of all day trippers across Victoria, according to most recent figures. That figure has increased from 5 per cent in 2018-19, the last financial year before pandemic-related travel disruption. Innocent Bystander also closed its Healesville cellar door in March and hit the road. Eager to connect with drinkers beyond the Yarra Valley, it has held interactive pop-up events in Brisbane and Sydney, a strategy it says is working. These experiences are attracting a younger, more diverse demographic than the traditional cellar door, particularly Millennials and Gen Z, who are drawn to the more social, playful format, states communications manager Amy van Bekkum. Advertisement There are no current plans to reopen a permanent cellar door in the region. Rod Micallef of Zonzo making their Zoncello spritz. Arsineh Houspian Meanwhile, Zonzo Estate will open its second venue in the Yarra Valley in October, after revamping the property vacated by Innocent Bystander. Zoncello Yarra Valley, described by director Rod Micallef as being the cheeky sibling to Zonzos Yarra Glen winery and restaurant, will focus on the brands three spritz products with a fourth on the way. A restaurant, Italian deli and retail space will complement a bar where people can try the spritz range. Notably, its not being called a cellar door. Were building the home of spritz in Australia; it will be a house of innovation for new products, says Micallef. Advertisement Related Article The Good Food guide to eating and drinking in the Yarra Valley Newcomer Storm Ridge Estate opened in May among gently rolling hills in Coldstream; the Dandenong Ranges visible in the distance. The team opted for a more approachable style of cellar door that caters to many types of drinkers, whether seasoned sippers or groups looking to while away the afternoon over a bottle of red. Urban Vineyard bar doubles as a cellar door for small winemakers without their own. Rana Morgan Three new-wave Yarra Valley cellar doors Urban Vineyard, Ringwood East Advertisement Winemaker Matt Talbot took a punt when he opened this bar-meets-cellar door last year between the local vet and bakery. Near the gateway to the Yarra Valley, it was originally intended to showcase Talbots own Patch Wines label alongside other small producers. But a gradual demographic shift meant the leafy suburbs younger residents were soon asking for more than just weekend tastings. Talbot responded with seating, wines by the glass and a food menu (to be added when the bar moves next door to bigger digs). Such is the communal collaboration, locals even offer their own wine discoveries to add to the eclectic, ever-changing range. 100 Railway Avenue, Ringwood East, theurbanvineyard.au Winemaker and surfer Dino Giammarino at his Healesville cellar door. Eddie Jim Giammarino Wines, Healesville The surf report chalked on the front gate over an hour from the ocean is the first clue that passion drives this new cellar door in Healesville Makers Quarter. Then theres the surfboard propped inside, shadowing a row of wetsuits for sale. Owner Dino Giammarinos love of surfing is matched only by his obsession with wine, along with that very Italian adoration of family. A photo of a pro Italian surfer gets equal billing with images of the Giammarino clans long winemaking story. With a glass in hand and easy banter, youll delightfully watch minutes turn into hours. Like an Italian aperitivo hour, small bites are provided gratis from olives to arancini and crusty bread to complement nine varietals spanning fiano to cabernet. Advertisement 30 Hunter Road, Healesville, giammarino.com.au Storm Ridge Estate, Coldstream Pull off the highway, cruise along the maple-lined driveway, and youll soon spot picnic tables strewn across the lawn and patio. Kids roam free, dogs are welcome, and there are umbrellas and heaters for whatever the weather brings. Nab a seat and order some snacks to fortify you before a tasting flight. There are two (one premium, one standard) but the five wines in each will traverse chardonnay to shiraz, plus fees are waived for any purchase over $50. Toasted brioche with smooth duck pate, glossy cherry jam and crunchy cornichons is hard to beat alongside a 2019 reserve pinot noir. 860 Maroondah Highway, Coldstream, instagram.com/stormridgeestate Restaurant reviews, news and the hottest openings served to your inbox. Sign up Each week, Benjamin Law asks public figures to discuss the subjects were told to keep private by getting them to roll a die. The numbers they land on are the topics theyre given. This week he speaks to Atsuko Okatsuka. The Japanese-Taiwanese-American comedian, 37, was named Best Comedy Debut of 2022 by The New York Times for her stand-up special, The Intruder. Her latest release is Father. Atsuko Okatsuka: More and more people started following me while I was being my authentic self. That helped me build an audience. Credit: Getty Images POLITICS Your maternal great-grandfather was a pro-independence Taiwanese politician whose son your grandfather was assassinated by the Kuomintang. Did you grow up knowing these stories? My family doesnt talk about a lot of things; it gives me bits and pieces and then I have to be a detective about it with a comedians brain. I dont know if its an Asian family thing, but were all forced to be Sherlock Holmes because everyones just trying to swallow what happened in the past and keep it down. Your comedy is laugh-out-loud, but you also talk about your family history and some of its heavy. How do you make that material approachable? Oh, I have to remember to chase the funny. Like when I tried to give my grandma a bath recently, it was hard. I was nude. I can laugh about it, but for someone else hearing it they might need more jokes. We lift the lid on an open secret in Australias property market thats costing potential buyers millions. It started as a simple concept: track online property price listings, compare them with sales results and figure out the gap. The idea was to try to get some handle on the underquoting problem in Australias two biggest cities. Underquoting is an illegal practice in which real estate agents advertise a property at a price below its expected sale price. The gap between advertised prices and sales results does not necessarily indicate underquoting, which has specific and slightly different definitions in NSW and Victoria. But it does illuminate the frequent frustration that home buyers face when trying to match real estate website prices against the bidding action at an auction. A record 90,000 people, from seasoned athletes to casual walkers, will lace up their running shoes to take part in the Voltaren City2Surf this Sunday, marking the second year in a row the race has sold out. The 14km course from Hyde Park to Bondi Beach has raised $59 million for charity since 2008 a tally expected to increase by $5 million following this years event. More than 90,000 people have signed up for the 2025 Voltaren City2Surf. Credit: Dion Georgopoulos This year, the 55-year-old race also debuts a new name: the Voltaren City2Surf, part of a three-year partnership deal with the pain relief brand. With the city bracing for road closures and large crowds, heres everything you need to know before you hit the start line. Two cousins and her aunt are dead, and Heba Kassouas grandfathers home has been burned to the ground. The 36-year-old Australian citizen lives and works in Parramatta but, over the past month, most of her days have been spent thinking about her family in Sweida, a city in southern Syria. Violence broke out in mid-July, one of the first major surges of conflict since dictator Bashar al-Assad was toppled in December. Heba Kassoua is a member of the Syrian Druze community in Sydney. Credit: Nick Moir Clashes had been escalating between armed groups of Syrian Bedouin tribes and the militia representing the local Druze population, a religious minority native to the region, before the interim Syrian government had sent local security forces in and further inflamed the situation. Israel, which has its own Druze minority, launched air strikes on Sweida and Damascus, which it says were in support of the Druze. In addition to the more than 1500 people killed during the violence, about 349 of whom were executed according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the UN estimates more than 190,000 people have been displaced. A fragile ceasefire has mostly held since July 19. Al Muderis, Urquhart says, did not seem interested. This is normal, youll be right, he recalls the surgeon saying. In one of their final meetings, Urquhart says he was told to spray his legs with Febreeze an air freshener sold in supermarkets to deal with the smell, which had grown so bad he says he could taste it. Former paratrooper Mark Urquhart was left in excruciating pain after an operation by Munjed Al Muderis. Credit: Scott McNaughton Instead, the procedure left the veteran with a chronic infection and the worst pain he had ever experienced like there was a welder blowing on my legs. In 2016, he thought his fate could be reversed when he asked celebrated surgeon Munjed Al Muderis to operate on him. The former soldier would be able to walk for the first time in decades, and fulfil his dream of escorting his daughter down the aisle. Urquhart is accustomed to pain. Abused as a child by his father, he left home at 15 and as soon as he was old enough, he joined the army to become a paratrooper. But in 1993, during a training exercise, he jumped from a plane and was catapulted into the ground at 75km/h. He survived, but was left in a wheelchair. When Mark Urquharts new doctors saw the state of his legs, they were horrified. Bone was protruding from one of his amputated thighs and maggots had eaten away at his flesh. This article is part of a series exploring the stories one of Australias most celebrated surgeons doesnt want you to hear. Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. Retired Alfred hospital plastic surgeon John Anstee, who performed the first osseointegration procedure in Australia, says the way Al Muderis has treated some of his patients was simply unacceptable. Former nurse Shona, whose surname has been withheld for privacy reasons, speaking publicly for the first time, identifies what she says are unethical practices by the well-known surgeon, including high pressure sales tactics and an abusive workplace culture. Patient-turned-promoter Fred Hernandez agrees. A tranche of leaked internal documents reveal a grow-at-all-costs mentality and a public image out-of-step with reality. Now a joint investigation by The Age, Sydney Morning Herald and 60 minutes has uncovered a darker side of Al Muderis booming and lucrative practice. Interviews with more than 25 patients, 15 surgeons and a dozen of Al Muderis current and former business associates have raised serious questions around the professors approach to patient selection and aftercare. Patients in Australia and internationally have described experiences ranging from life-changing to life-destroying. According to some, risks were minimised when their operations were explained to them, complications ignored and patients left wheelchair-bound or mutilated. For this work, Al Muderis has been praised by Prince Harry and made NSW Australian of the Year . His journey fleeing Saddam Husseins regime has inspired many. He has been lauded repeatedly in the media, including by delighted and devoted patients, and has become an influential voice in advocating for refugee rights. Al Muderis has built a glittering reputation for his treatment of amputees since arriving in Australia as a refugee from Iraq in 1999. He performs a procedure called osseointegration, in which he inserts a titanium rod into the bone of the residual limb. The rod fuses with the bone and protrudes through the skin to connect to a prosthetic. At best, it restores peoples ability to walk without the blisters and discomfort of a normal socket prosthetic. But Urquhart never gave up on his dream of walking again. When I met Munjed, I thought this is my chance. After two years of rehabilitation, Urquhart was medically discharged from the army. He was diagnosed as an incomplete paraplegic, with no feeling in his legs but residual movement in his hips. Despite the disability, he built a successful sporting career in bobsledding, basketball and biathlons. He won three gold medals at the Invictus Games where he was singled out by Prince Harry for incredible sportsmanship. Mark Urquharts army service was cut short when he became an incomplete paraplegic in 1993 during a paratrooping incident. The military training accident that left Mark Urquhart in a wheelchair was the worst of bad luck. At 450 metres above the ground, his body flipped, and the parachute wrapped around him, leaving him helpless as he plunged into the ground. Look, Im not perfect. I openly admit if I made a mistake to a patient, I openly apologise to the patient, he told The Age, the Herald and 60 Minutes. The facts are that the vast majority of patients are extremely happy. Al Muderis acknowledged in an interview that mistakes had been made, and he apologised to patients who felt abandoned or hurt. Ultimately, however, he blames vested interests in the prosthetics industry who he believes are working to destroy him. For years, he says he was told the smell of rotting flesh, redness, oozing pus and blood were normal and part of the healing process. Even when, one hot summer, Urquharts wound was infested by maggots, he was told there was nothing to worry about. But almost immediately, Urquhart noticed something was not right. The wound around the protruding bone looked infected. He went to Al Muderis for help, but he claims to have been turned away time and time again. In 2016, he gave Al Muderis permission to amputate both his legs above the knee and insert rods into the residual bones. Despite suffering a stroke during surgery, the operation was considered a success. Less than three months later, Urquhart took his first steps. He was embraced as a prized patient and promoted the procedure on the Sunshine Coast. Urquhart emailed the Department of Veterans Affairs last year, which uses taxpayer funds to pay for former soldiers to have osseointegration, about his experience. I feel I was a pay cheque for him as aftercare is pathetic, he wrote to the department in February 2021. I would prefer not having another Australian veteran to go [through] what I have and live in even more constant pain. I acknowledge that some people feel abandoned. I acknowledge that people have the feeling that we did not do our duty of care. This is not the aim. We try our best to give every patient the care they deserve. Al Muderis said he could not comment on specific patients, but explained maggots were not as bad as they looked and the clinic now had a written protocol for dealing with fly-blown wounds. It affects everything. Your brain, your mind, it drives you insane. You cant fix it. It feels like someone is standing there with a welder blowing on my legs. They always feel like theyre on fire. Al Muderis sought to treat the exposed bone using skin grafts but this was unsuccessful. The infection worsened and eventually developed into osteomyelitis, a chronic infection of the bone. Now, Urquhart is wheelchair-bound once again. This time, though, he has no legs and deals with chronic, severe pain and a reliance on heavy-duty painkillers as he waits to have the final rod removed. Life changing Osseointegration is immensely invasive: it creates a permanent open wound, known as a stoma, which must be carefully managed to avoid infection. A healthy stoma is when the skin grows neatly around the implant, but in some cases, patients deal with ongoing discharge or bleeding from the wound. When successful, the procedure gives amputees a new life by removing the blisters that come with traditional sockets and allows greater control over prosthetic limbs. It has been performed on clusters of amputees around the world in specialist clinics since the 1990s. But Al Muderis modified the surgery time, taking it from two stages to one, and significantly reduced rehabilitation requirements. The changes allowed him to do more surgeries and Australia to become the fastest-growing destination for osseointegration. A 2016 research paper shows his clinic completed an average of 25 surgeries a year, compared to 11 in the Netherlands and 1.8 in the United Kingdom. His work has attracted high-profile praise, including from the likes of former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian and Prince Harry. It is life changing, it really is, Prince Harry told reporters in 2015. It changes everything about you, whether youre military or civilian. Its really incredible what hes [Dr Al Muderis] done, and the story and the background is pretty spectacular as well. Behind the scenes, former confidantes and some patients say its a different story. Among them are 71-year-old Carol Todd, who was told she could have the operation even though her bones had stopped growing when she was 12 and she had lived an active life using sockets. Now her pain is so bad she screams at night, feels 20 years older and new doctors say the only option is to amputate what is left of her leg, or she will die. Brennan Smith, another military veteran, was also sold on the idea of walking again, but says: I was never told about the constant oozing, the blood, the pain. It was not what I was marketed, not what I was sold. He, too, has developed a reliance on painkillers. Rachael Ulrich says Al Muderiss clinic did not properly consider her complex vascular disorder, which meant she developed blood clots. She was not put on blood thinners during the surgery and almost died. Former head nurse Shona worked with Al Muderiss team for three years but quit in 2017 after she became uncomfortable with the clinics approach to patient selection and aftercare. I found it ethically compromising, as a nurse, and as a person, she says. These people are worse off and suffering because of something that Ive potentially sold them. What have I done? Its not right. Shona is a former nurse at Al Muderiss Osseointegration Clinic. Credit: Rhett Wyman Despite being hired in a medical role, Shona quickly discovered her primary job was a salesperson. I was to get patients to sign the consent form, get them over the line, get them to the clinic, get them to surgery, she says. Because I was a nurse, people trusted me. The people she was courting were those in pain who wanted their lives back. They dont want to be an amputee anymore. The vulnerability played to Munjeds advantage, she says. If a prospective patient said no, Shona says she would put them in touch with patients who had positive outcomes or downplayed the risks. But as the practice grew, so did the list of patients dealing with problems. Shona says her phone was inundated with patients in despair and, I didnt know how to help them. Like other surgeons who perform osseointegration, Al Muderis began his practice with caution. According to several clinicians who have worked alongside him, he initially avoided patients with health problems that could undermine their recovery, such as diabetes and vascular disease. But Shona, some of his patients and other surgeons say that, as he performed more surgeries and became more confident, the criteria broadened to the point where Al Muderis developed a reputation for rarely turning anyone away. According to Al Muderis: We knock back a significant proportion of patients. We dont offer osseointegration surgery for patients just because they demand it. We offer it if a patient needs it. An unsuitable candidate In his practice, prospective patients are assessed by a team of specialists for their suitability and given the opportunity to raise concerns. However, according to those who have worked in the clinic, Al Muderis was the ultimate decision-maker and could overrule his colleagues. In Urquharts case, medical records from Norwest Private Hospital show pain specialist Andrew Paterson concluded he was unsuitable: amputation and osseointegration could exacerbate Urquharts existing pain and PTSD, possibly leading to muscle spasms, anxiety attacks or self-harm. Al Muderis went ahead nonetheless. A year later, Urquhart was in unbearable pain and Paterson quit, citing ideological differences with the team. Shona and other staff, speaking anonymously to protect their positions, say Al Muderis was a demanding boss and staff worked long hours in often hostile settings. The way he spoke to you, treated you, he would humiliate you in public. It was quite degrading and traumatic. That was the way he ran the team that kind of abusive way, Shona says. Al Muderis provided a long list of peer-reviewed articles ahead of the interview that showed his team published the positives and negatives of the surgery. In relation to the teams culture, he acknowledged there could be robust discussions but overall, he said the team had grown stronger and more unified over the past 12 years. We can be hotheaded ... But its very healthy and the whole aim is to put the patient at the centre. A sales culture In 2012, Las Vegas amputee Fred Hernandez sent a business proposal to Al Muderis. In exchange for free surgery on his above-knee amputation, Hernandez said he would promote osseointegration in the giant US market. Hernandez said awareness of the procedure there was low, and proposed to change this by mimicking American advertising activities. One year later, he was on a plane to Sydney, in what was the beginning of a lucrative partnership. Initially, Hernandez was paid invoices of $US3500 ($A5170) a month to promote the surgery. He later signed a contract, which included $US1000 commissions for every patient that Hernandez sent to Australia. Using telemarketing-styled phone scripts, Hernandez sold osseointegration as a holiday, where patients could explore the attractions Down Under while undergoing a life-changing procedure. He shared his own personal experience to encourage patients to sign up and provided brochures detailing other patient success stories. In the US, personal testimonials and advertising of medical procedures are legal but in Australia, they are banned. Al Muderis public relations employee intervened during the interview with The Age, the Herald and 60 Minutes, to claim there could be real implications if the surgeon were accused of using testimonials, before citing the industry regulators definition. It means sharing a story in a positive light and providing a recommendation, she said. Al Muderiss partnership with Hernandez was lucrative. Each US patient returned a net profit of $US75,000, according to court documents filed by Al Muderis and his companies in the Nevada District Court. The growing business contributed to the doctors life of luxury. In 2018, he made headlines for purchasing a $10 million penthouse in Sydneys Lavender Bay. Nowadays, he is seen driving around the harbourside suburb in a blue McLaren or in his wife, Claudias yellow Lamborghini. My personal life is my personal life. Have you seen the latest Australian Taxation Office report? he said. It showed that surgeons are the highest earners in this country. It is a fact, and Im not dissimilar to any other orthopedic surgeon in this country. I enjoy cars, but I work very hard for what I do. Al Muderis with his wifes Lamborghini SUV. Credit: 60 minutes However, Al Muderis denied his clinic used advertising and denied Hernandez was paid commissions. Why would I do that? Why would I do that? I have patients, Al Muderis said. Were choked with patients. We cant even do our day-to-day work, in a sensible way. We try to provide safe practice and I dont have enough hours in the day to function. He also said he was philosophically against anyone raising money through Gofundme to pay for their surgery. This is not my practice. This is not what I would do. This never happened in the past, would never happen in the future. However, leaked documents show the professor instructed staff to teach [a patient] how to do fundraising for his surgery. Over time, the relationship between Al Muderis and Hernandez began to deteriorate. After the business relationship ended, Hernandez wrote a lengthy post on Facebook, alleging poor treatment of patients and staff. Al Muderis now describes Hernandez as a real piece of work. He sued him for defamation in the US, claiming the Facebook posts were financially motivated and began only after he took a job with a competitor. Hernandez lost and was ordered to pay $US2.4 million in damages. Facing bankruptcy, Hernandez is now seeking to have that judgment overturned. I regret ever having been involved with him. An open secret When Al Muderis team became aware of this joint investigation, American employee Nikki Grace-Strader instructed certain patients to get in touch. Supporters sent a large number of emails detailing the benefits of osseointegration and praising Al Muderis personal care. Washington patient Cindy Asch-Martin said: I wont have a bad word said about Al Muderis. I know a few people who had osseointegration done by him and for some reason, there was bad blood between them and they started talking very negatively about him. I was sickened by that. Asch-Martin travelled to Australia in 2019 for the surgery, paying $US60,000. On her return to the US, she suffered a traumatic infection where her leg literally exploded. She spent a further $US30,000, returning to Australia for revision surgery. Since then, she says she has been able to walk and exercise after being told by other doctors she would be confined to a wheelchair for life. Asch-Martin says she is grateful she was given a discount for a procedure originally quoted at $US100,000, after she sent a heartfelt message to the team explaining her financial and emotional circumstances. Munjed has had almost more patients than any other surgeon in the world. He continues to perfect it. And hes doing an amazing job and I am extremely grateful for having Munjed in my life to be able to count on him when I need him. Hes there for me and listens to me. Thats the type of doctor I need. A number of high-profile surgeons working in Australias largest hospitals disagree. Speaking anonymously because they were not authorised or not willing to speak publicly, they said Al Muderiss aggressive approach to surgery has been described as an open secret in the medical fraternity. One described Al Muderis patient selection as entirely inappropriate. A man, who was homeless, psychotic, living under a bridge, came to us in acute psychosis 72 hours after the treatment, the surgeon said. He was found at St Leonards station walking on his prosthetic stump that was infected. Osseointegration was never intended to be done en masse, said another, Its not something you should be banging into everybody. A third described an anorexic woman who was a pathological exerciser, and who had her legs amputated after an infection. Al Muderis gave her osseointegration so she could continue running. If you interview the patient, she will say it was done right, said the surgeon. But if this person wants to pathologically exercise, we shouldnt enable that. In response, Al Muderis said his practice was innovative and bound to attract criticism. Its a new technology. These are clinicians who are of the old school and they dont like change. Former Alfred hospital head of plastics John Anstee, who performed the very first osseointegration in Australia in 1990, acknowledges he is conservative and could be considered old school. But he said the plight of Urquhart, Smith and Todd and other patients was simply not acceptable. Loading Anstee has watched the expansion of Al Muderis practice, and has treated some of his former patients. He acknowledges risk-taking is essential for innovation in medicine, but says there are general principles that must always apply. Surgeons must not hide from their problems. Complications will arise, he said. But if you do have a complication, youve got to wear it. Youre the surgeon. Its your problem. You fix it. Hes also never seen maggots in a surgical wound. He says he is speaking out to protect others. I dont like to see unnecessary suffering. Dr John Anstee. Credit: Jason South Watch Charlotte Grieve, Tom Steinfort and Natalie Clancys 60 Minutes report on 9Now. Don Achala didnt expect to be fighting for his mother to get life-saving emergency surgery while she was on holiday in Brisbane. Originally from Sri Lanka, the Melbourne-based IT worker has lived in Australia for the past six years. His mother, Welgampalage Mary Irene Perera, came to visit him and for an extended stay with her sister. But about a month into her trip, as Perera was enjoying her time in Queensland, she was suddenly struck with severe stomach pain, and told by a local GP to rush straight to hospital. Don Achala said his mother could have died without surgery to treat a sudden bowel condition. Credit: Courtney Kruk Despite requests from the family to have her taken to the Mater Hospital part of the network of private providers honoured by her insurer HCF Perera was instead taken by ambulance to the public Princess Alexandra Hospital, where she was admitted. BEIRUT, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- Six people were killed and 10 others injured Thursday in two separate Israeli airstrikes on eastern Lebanon, according to official Lebanese sources. The Public Health Emergency Operations Center, affiliated with the Ministry of Public Health, said in a release that one Israeli airstrike on the Masnaa road initially resulted in five deaths and 10 injuries, and the other on the town of Kfardan, Baalbek district, resulted in one death. In a separate development, the official Lebanese National News Agency reported that the Lebanese cabinet approved Thursday in a meeting the goals outlined in a U.S. proposal for the disarmament of Hezbollah. "We have agreed to end the armed presence throughout the entire territory, including that of Hezbollah, and to deploy the Lebanese army in the border areas," Lebanese Minister of Information Paul Morcos said after the meeting. Since Nov. 27, 2024, a ceasefire agreement brokered by the United States and France has been in effect between Hezbollah and Israel, putting an end to clashes that had erupted in the wake of the war in Gaza. Despite the agreement, the Israeli army occasionally carries out strikes in Lebanon, claiming they are meant to eliminate "threats" posed by Hezbollah. A former army major who allegedly joked about killing his wife has been granted bail after being accused of murdering his spouse during a kayak trip. Graeme Davidson, 55, was charged with murder in May after a police investigation raised doubts that his wife Jacqueline, 54, had died by accident. Davidsons wife died while kayaking with her husband at Lake Samsonvale, north of Brisbane, in November 2020. Justice Tom Sullivan handed down his decision to grant bail on Friday following three days of hearings in Queensland Supreme Court. Fire has ripped through the two-storey Bulimba house that is home to Brisbane media identity Mike Goldman and his family. Firefighters arrived shortly after 4am on Friday to the Wordsworth Street property to flames and a large amount of smoke. They were quickly able to contain the fire to the front of the house. Goldman told Today reporter Ha-Teya Gripske his family was woken by smoke alarms, which he had initially thought was a low battery warning. I thought I had to replace the battery, [its] not the battery turns out the front of the house is on fire, Goldman said. The reason Grieve was there was because this masthead pleaded the relatively new public interest defence to the accusation that wed defamed Al Muderis. In the arcane world of defamation law, a media organisation can defend its journalism by proving the truth of all the imputations that can be drawn from its reporting. Investigative journalist Charlotte Grieve arrives at the Federal Court of Australia to give evidence. Credit: Dion Georgopoulos We did that resoundingly by bringing 35 patients and family members, plus 17 healthcare professionals, to establish that Al Muderis was, in fact, a shonk. Justice Abraham found he had engaged in unethical conduct, prioritised money, fame, reputation and numbers over his patients, provided negligent post-operative care, used improper sales tactics and misled his patients, among other sins. The media organisations also argued that the story was in the public interest a new provision introduced to the defamation law in 2021 and, until now, basically untested. Loading In theory, this defence allows journalists to avoid the difficulty of having to prove several years after the event and to the satisfaction of a court that almost every element of their story is objectively true. The new public interest defence allows us to argue that we reasonably believed publishing the stories was in the public interest. Simple? Not so fast. You might think its obvious that exposing a doctor who left patients with maggots infesting their wounds, and whose colleague then encouraged them to spray it with a household air freshener to deal with the smell, was in the public interest. There was no doubt this is what Al Muderis did in court he argued it was a known risk or complication of his style of surgery, and not as bad as it sounded. No, for the public interest defence to be successful, the court needed to find that, at the time she reported these things, Grieve and her colleagues genuinely believed that their journalism was in the public interest, and also that their belief was objectively reasonable. A big factor was that their journalism needed to be responsible. To that end, all Grieves correspondence with sources, collaborators and editors, including me, was shared for public scrutiny, and open for Chrysanthous cross-examination. And thats why Grieve was in the stand, exposed to a barrage of accusations. Dr Watson was shocked to see Leah Mooneys swollen leg after surgery by Munjed Al Muderis. In the barristers hands, Grieves journalism was a malignant, dishonest and malicious campaign of character assassination against her surgeon client. The young reporter who is so good she has already won a number of awards and has earned a permanent place in The Ages investigative unit was unqualified to be an investigative journalist, lacked expertise, and demonstrated embarrassing misunderstanding of the medical issues that resulted in a terrible, terrible lie being published. Chrysanthou went on to say Grieve and her colleagues had no concept of ethical practice as journalists or as human beings, and did not appear to comprehend the meaning of truth. At one point, the barrister (who is soon giving a lecture at Melbourne University in defence of free speech and against cancel culture) said Grieve took delight in publishing an article about an insurer revoking Al Muderis medical cover. This story, said the barrister, had real-life impacts, not just on my client, but on his patients. I didnt expect the oozing: Some of Al Muderiss victims. Credit: Composite One would hope it had and that, perhaps, it saved one or two of them from the real-life impact of maggoty wounds, extra amputations and a life of pain and despair. Barristers act on their clients instructions. But watching on as the grilling continued, I couldnt help feeling a sense of irony that it was Grieves reasonableness that was being questioned. For six days, Grieve fronted up for this treatment. And the judge ultimately agreed that Grieves belief in her journalism was reasonable and in the public interest that before her stories, the public understanding of Al Muderis reputation had been critically incomplete and, for the sake of his future patients, that needed correcting. Loading Patients should be making their decisions with both sides of the story, Grieve had argued an argument that, according to Justice Abraham, was objectively reasonable. Thats what good, tough, investigative journalism does. In the court, several of Al Muderis former patients watched on, their eyes filled with tears. They said later they felt vindicated after a decade of trying to get their story heard. As for the defamation law this was the first big test of the public interest defence. Its held up. It works. Peter Bartlett, the doyen of Australian defamation lawyers and a long-time representative of Age journalists, hopes it will have a lasting effect. 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 This story is part of the August 9 edition of Good Weekend. See all 13 stories . Our pick of National Photographic Portrait Prize finalists salutes the stoic, the stubborn, the singular and the strong. Megans Place, 2024 Megans Place, 2024 Credit: Rebecca Polonski Megan is my friend and neighbour. Her life blends the ordinary with the extraordinary. Against the backdrop of her traditional weatherboard house in regional Victoria, Megan stands stoically with one of her rescue camels while her daughter bounces energetically on the trampoline. This moment captures the elements of both domesticity and adventure that encapsulate her life. Rebecca Polonski Thelma Plum, 2024 Thelma Plum, 2024. Credit: Em Jensen I made this picture with Gamilaraay musician Thelma Plum on Wilyakali Country last winter. The image was taken using a Rolleicord camera on the Mundi Mundi Plains near Broken Hill, where I live. We spent three days photographing throughout far west NSW, making a series of shots for Plums album Im Sorry, Now Say It Back. Em Jensen Advertisement Sonny Jane Wise, 2025 Sonny Jane Wise, 2025. Credit: Bri Hammond My work is often playful, but also aims to challenge. Sonny Jane is a queer, non-binary, disabled and neurodivergent advocate and writer, who says their defiant tattoo is a commitment to resist systems that pathologise our minds, bodies and queerness. When people look at me, theyre going to see who I am. Bri Hammond Untitled #01 (Code Black/Riot), 2024 Untitled #01 (Code Black/Riot), 2024. Credit: Hoda Afshar Code Black/Riot is a collaboration with First Nations youths in far north Queensland, which interrogates a system that targets and imprisons them from the age of 10. The youths prefer to conceal their faces to avoid being identified. Hoda Afshar The Sky, 2025 Advertisement The Sky, 2025. Credit: Stuart Spence Grace Tame is extraordinary, devoting her life to advocating for survivors of child sexual abuse. Theres so much more to this portrait; a ripple on an ocean beneath that holds far more than it reveals. Stuart Spence Britney and Kayleb, 2024 Britney and Kayleb, 2024. Credit: Marcus Rowsell Kayleb paints up his partner, Britney, at the Waagan Galga Corroboree on Wonnarua Country [in the Hunter Valley, NSW]. Later, they dance together to display the depth of love and loss they have experienced. Culture is a powerful healer. Marcus Rowsell Diamond in the Sky, 2024 Diamond in the Sky, 2024. Credit: Matt Sav Advertisement 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 It was a gathering born of dread, not devotion. On August 2, 2023, the close-knit Patterson and Wilkinson clans converged at the Austin Hospitals 24-hour chapel. Just down the corridor, four of their loved ones lay desperately ill in hospital beds. Amid constant distressing updates from doctors, Simon Patterson had a secret to share a chilling explanation and a story of hidden hate. Don and Gail Patterson. Simon wanted to apologise, too. He was sorry, he told them, that hed let the people they loved break bread with a woman he now believed was capable of murder. A woman, he would soon reveal, who had tried to kill him before. The hospitals multi-faith prayer room, two floors above the bustling emergency department, offered a quiet, private space for the meeting. Inside, black chairs were arranged in a circle on the purple carpet, facing a wooden altar-like bench, with light green rugs laid out to the side for prayer. Outside those walls, within the hospital, Don and Gail Patterson, along with Ian and Heather Wilkinson, fought desperately for their lives in intensive care. Erin, Simon claimed, was a poisoner. She had tried to kill him, he told the adult children huddled in the prayer room. Now, he said, their family had become her target. Advertisement Heather and Ian Wilkinson and the Leongatha house where the deadly lunch was served. [Simon] wanted to tell us that he suspected his own illnesses had been a deliberate act that hed stopped eating food Erin had prepared because he suspected that she might have been messing with it, Ruth Dubois, the Wilkinsons daughter, told a Supreme Court pretrial hearing. And that he was really sorry that he hadnt told our family or our parents before this, but he thought that he was the only person that she was targeting and that theyd be safe. The next day, Simon emailed his medical records to the family as proof. Shortly afterwards, Dubois said, members of the Wilkinson family went to police to detail their fears. The untold story The account of the meeting at the Austin Hospital chapel was never told to the jury nor has it been publicly revealed before kept secret by court orders finally lifted on Friday. Advertisement Simons allegations that his estranged wife had poisoned him on no less than three occasions in 2021-22 formed the basis of three counts of attempted murder laid against Erin Patterson in November 2023. It had been alleged that Erin Patterson had cooked Simon a penne bolognese, chicken curry korma and curry wrap that left him hospitalised. The prosecution had earlier alleged Patterson attempted to murder her estranged husband by using penne bolognese at Korumburra between November 16 and 17, 2021, chicken curry at Howqua between May 25 and 27, 2022, and a curry wrap at Wilsons Promontory on September 6, 2022. In his statement to police, Simon Patterson wrote: after the first time I got sick I had the idea I got sick from Erins food. I did not give it too much thought. In September 2022, my cousin Tim called to [talk about] whether Erin had been poisoning me. It was the first time I took it seriously. In one instance, Simon had to have part of his bowel removed and spent three weeks in intensive care, undergoing three emergency operations. In mid and late 2024, scores of witnesses involved in Erin Pattersons criminal case gave evidence in a series of court hearings in which the defence was allowed to probe and test the prosecutions case before trial. Some of those witnesses were never called to appear in Erin Pattersons trial, and those who did appear were prevented from speaking about Simons allegations. Advertisement On the eve of the trial, the director of public prosecutions dropped the three attempted murder charges related to Simon. No explanation was given, but the prosecution had suffered a blow when the Court of Appeal refused to allow all seven murder and attempted murder charges to be heard in a single trial. Three near-death experiences In February 2023 five months before the fatal mushroom lunch Simon Patterson held a consultation with his local doctor to air a disturbing theory about why he had been in and out of hospital four times in less than a year. I believe shes tried to harm me, he allegedly said. A few months before, Dr Christopher Ford had suggested to his patient, friend and Bible study partner that he start a journal of what he was doing and what he was eating so they could track each time he got sick. I asked him to do that because I couldnt understand why these things kept on happening to him, Ford told the court. Essentially, three near-death experiences [and they] did not fit into any of my medical models. Advertisement His conclusion was that he thought Erin was trying to poison him. It was a long consultation. More worryingly, it seemed to be about to happen again. Simon recounted how Erin had given him some cookies she said their daughter had baked, dropping them off before he took their two children to Sydney for a holiday. Simon was apprehensive about eating the cookies as he felt they may be poisoned. He reported to me [that] while they were away, that Erin called several times and inquired about whether he had eaten any, the doctor said. Erin Patterson; a beef Wellington. Credit: Marta Pascual Juanola, supplied Simon felt that this was odd that she would be so focused asking about the cookies. He eventually reported he took a small nibble and threw the rest out. In the pretrial hearing, Ford testified that Simon had been researching what possible poisons could have been put in the cookies, but there were too many options. Anti-freeze was one possibility, Simon allegedly said. Advertisement Perth residents are more likely to build a home further from the city centre, new data shows, as the states population balloons and household budgets shrink. The area with the most new building approvals for January-June 2025 was in Wanneroo, followed closely by the neighbouring Swan, then Mandurah to the south, further increasing urban sprawl. Large land releases on the fringes including in East Wanneroo where the state plans for 50,000 new homes in 50 years will add to those numbers. Greenfield suburbs remain more affordable than inner-city counterparts and are popular with young families, migrants and first-home buyers. The Department of Home Affairs has cancelled a visa it had issued to a Palestinian woman who allegedly celebrated Hamas October 7 massacre, reversing course just days after Immigration Minister Tony Burke vowed to block potentially divisive visitors. In a statement issued on Friday afternoon, hours after social media posts from an account in Mona Zaheds name emerged that celebrated Hamas massacre of about 1200 Israelis almost two years ago, a spokesman for Burke said her visa had been revoked. Palestinian cookbook author Mona Zahed. Credit: Instagram The department has advised the office that the visa was cancelled today - the reasons have been communicated directly to the applicant, the spokesman said. Zaheds supporters had said she had been granted a visa to come to Australia after raising money for her familys costs. Most women who called a Queensland government-funded domestic violence helpline in October last year did not get an answer, an independent review has found. Only two in five calls to DVConnects WomensLine were answered that month before the callers hung up. But Amanda Camm, the minister for the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence, said there had been signs of improvement, including positive results from the trial of a new peak-time triage method in May and June this year. The review was commissioned by the LNP government following concerns the service was potentially struggling as demand surged. Credit: Getty The number of calls being abandoned by women seeking help had dropped, she said, as she commended the new chief executive, Joanne Jessop, who took on the role in April this year and had a a tumultuous start to her tenure. Optus is facing a potential mammoth fine after Australias privacy watchdog launched civil Federal Court proceedings over a September 2022 cyberattack in which the personal information of nearly 10 million Australians was stolen. During the cyberattack, which was one of the worst in the nations history, hackers gained unauthorised access to the personal information of millions of current, former and prospective Optus customers, some of which was then leaked to the dark web. Former Optus chief executive Kelly Bayer Rosmarin was grilled about the network outage at a Senate hearing in November 2023. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen About 40 per cent of the population are Optus customers and many couldnt use their phone or internet services on the day of the breach, when hackers demanded a $1.5 million ransom to stop the data from being sold online. A few hours later the thieves deleted the ransom notice and apologised. Australias Information Commissioner is alleging Optus failed to take reasonable steps to protect the personal information it held, in alleged mass breaches of the Privacy Act. In some cases, the data included passport numbers, drivers licence numbers, Medicare card numbers, birth certificate and marriage certificate information. BEIJING, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- China's marriage registry offices were busier than usual this year, with nearly 3.54 million couples tying the knot in the first half of 2025, a notable increase of 109,000 compared with the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs. China recorded 6.106 million marriage registrations throughout 2024, down 20.5 percent year-on-year. The unexpected rebound in marriages this year has sparked optimism that China's recent pro-marriage and pro-childbirth policies appear to be gaining traction. One landmark reform, piloted in 2021 and implemented nationwide this May, allows couples to get married anywhere in the country without presenting their household registration booklet, or hukou, ending a decades-old restriction that required people to register their marriage in their hometowns. On the very first day the new rule took effect, Mao Yuanjing, a marriage registrar in Guiyang in southwest China's Guizhou Province, had her hands full. She processed marriage registrations for more than 70 couples, with over 60 pairs showing up with their ID cards. The buzz didn't stop there as her phone kept ringing with calls from would-be newlyweds eager to confirm the details of the policy change. The relaxed regulation has not only simplified the paperwork but also freed young couples from the old hometown-bound hassle. In some places, saying "I do" now comes wrapped in scenic backdrops and an extra layer of celebration. Xinjiang's Sayram Lake scenic area, often dubbed a lovers' paradise, has rolled out a lifetime free entry policy for newlyweds who register their marriage there, while Urumqi offers on-site marriage registration services during music festivals. In Sichuan, a registry sits 3,250 meters above sea level on a snow-capped mountain, letting adventurous couples marry with breathtaking views. The wedding vows are just the prologue. China has also ramped up family-friendly policies. At least 28 provincial-level regions across the country now offer extended marriage leave. Shanxi and Gansu provide up to 30 days of marriage leave, with additional maternity and paternity benefits. Meanwhile, measures aimed at easing the financial burden on families are also on the way. Last week, China introduced a nationwide child care subsidy program, which will provide families with an annual subsidy of 3,600 yuan (about 504 U.S. dollars) for each child under the age of three starting from Jan. 1, 2025. The program is expected to benefit more than 20 million families every year. "This marks China's first direct cash subsidies for all families with children, sending a clear message that raising children is a shared responsibility of the country, society and families," said Du Min, a researcher at the China Population and Development Research Center. In addition, starting from the autumn semester of 2025, China will waive the care and education fees for children in public kindergartens in the year prior to entering primary school, and the policy is expected to cover 12 million children. Twin boys of a mother surnamed Chang will start their final year of kindergarten in Beijing this September. Although the 900 yuan monthly fee at public kindergartens isn't high, having two children means the costs add up quickly, so saving on tuition makes a real difference, according to Chang. "The policy means more than just financial relief, as it eases the stress and anxiety of raising children," she said. "What matters most is knowing that China is creating a truly child-friendly environment. The support measures will, hopefully, encourage more young couples to embrace parenthood." Advertisement Travel newsTraveller letters Qantas told us our flight home from the US was cancelled. It wasnt Each week Traveller publishes a selection of rants, raves and travel tips from our readers. See below on how you can contribute. August 9, 2025 5:00am Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles 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 86 View all comments Hanging offence My partner and I were travelling on Qantas QF12 recently from Los Angeles to Sydney. We received an email from Qantas advising us that our Thursday night flight was delayed to the Friday at 9.40pm. The thing was, we werent booked on the Thursday flight we were booked on the Friday flight at 11.10pm. I tried to ring Qantas in Australia twice but the call centre just disconnected my call. I then called the call centre in the US; I was on hold for 45 minutes and then was disconnected. Meanwhile, we called our travel agent in Sydney, and she was on hold with Qantas for 143 minutes before they answered. She was told the email we were sent was a mistake and we were still booked on the Friday flight. It took Qantas over three-and-a-half hours to get back to us. Mark Wheeler, Putney, NSW Qantas contacted a Traveller reader to say their flight was cancelled, but it wasnt. It took hours of phone calls to find out. Credit due In May this year, I booked flights for my son and myself for SydneyMelbourne return. I was ultimately unable to travel but was loath to cancel my part of the booking in case the entire booking was cancelled (there was just the one booking reference). As soon as check-in opened, my son checked in and I phoned Qantas to say I wasnt travelling and could I have a credit for the flight. As I had phoned just less than 24 hours before travelling, this was denied. My son, who lives in Spain and is here visiting for a few weeks, informed me that the flight was full, including the seat where I was supposed to be travelling. The phrase daylight robbery comes to mind. Carey Nolan, Cremorne, NSW Advertisement Letter of the week: Cliff hanger Tropea, Calabria, Italy. Getty Images It was so good to see our favourite Tropean restaurant, Il Convivio, pictured in Traveller (July 20). We ate there a few times recently on a return trip to Tropea after a break of 10 years (love their spaghetti alle vongole). Tourism has certainly grown since our previous visit. It was difficult to find a spare spot on any of the free or private beaches this time around, and the streets were jampacked each evening with stylish families, who Im guessing from their chatter and dressy outfits, were mostly Italian tourists. Tropea is a stunning clifftop town, and with the wonderful Aeolian islands a ferry trip away, its one for the bucket list. We also stayed for a couple of nights in the Piccolo Grand Hotel in nearby Pizzo, mentioned in last weeks cover story. The hotel was wonderful, with well-appointed rooms, delicious breakfasts, an amazing view of the Tyrrhenian Sea and theres a beach club nearby with a restaurant attached the friendly staff will drive you there in a golf cart. Pizzo is renowned for its delectable ice-cream. Diane Maddison, Parkdale, Vic Crew cut Advertisement I have just read an article stating that a US-owned cruise company has deported more than 50 Filipino crew members under the latest Trump presidential immigration orders, even though they each had visas to work aboard US ships. It will make a big difference for US-owned cruise ships if Filipino crew are no longer allowed to work onboard as they are amazingly hard-working and good-natured people. Eira Battaglia, Seaforth, NSW Scuff justice We hired a car from Cardiff Airport, Wales, and, already having travel insurance, we declined additional cover. After returning the vehicle, Europcar reported damage to the front wheels, namely light scuffing. We did not photograph the wheels on pick-up, so we could not prove that the damage was accumulated wear and tear. As we mainly parked in driveways and hotel car parks, we were very unlikely to be responsible for the damage, which Europcar acknowledged. However, as we had signed the agreement, we had to pay. Lesson learned: photograph the wheels and ask for a ruler to measure all scuffs, and have this included in the agreement. Janice Davies, North Warrandyte, Vic SIXT sense I recently hired a car in Spain. After I returned it and subsequently received the invoice by email, I saw that I had been billed for driving over 6000 kilometres in five days. (The hire had a maximum kilometre limit of 2100.) I suspected it was merely a clerical error. However, since this brought the cost of my five-day hire of a medium-size SUV to $3200, I called the hire company, SIXT, and asked them to review my bill. They asked if I had any evidence of the actual kilometres I had covered, which I estimated to be about 300; I could not prove this since I had failed to photograph the odometer (Ill always do so in future on any car hire that does not include unlimited kilometres). I was impressed with SIXTs response in that they answered my call on their helpline with a real person and acknowledged that there probably was a problem. They did not try to shift blame by demanding that I produce proof of my actual kilometres covered (knowing that I had none) and they refunded me the excess kilometres charge two days later. I so rarely receive what I consider to be outstanding customer service that I am moved to share my experience. David Lowes, Lovedale, NSW Advertisement Fine times The Fountain of Wealth outside shopping centre Suntec City. iStock Lee Tullochs article on Singapore maze-like malls (Traveller, July 8), mirrors my own experience in Singapore underground. On my first morning there, I jaywalked across an empty Raffles Boulevard in search of Starbucks at 6am. A friendly passerby told me Singapore is a fine city, in that you can be fined for myriad reasons. He advised me to use the underground. Just like Lee, I seemed to be walking into a labyrinth of never-ending passages. Eventually, I figured out that there are few shops open at 6am. I decided I should go back to the hotel for the coffee. Alas, Google Maps doesnt work underground. After walking an inordinate amount of time, I ended up on the opposite side of the hotel. By then, Raffles Boulevard was teeming with cars and buses. I walked about 250 metres to the nearest traffic junction to wait for the pedestrian walk sign. Sue Ng, North Rocks, NSW Not so different Your correspondent claims that a 15-day fly-drive package to New Zealand for two people would cost half that of a 15-day cruise. Ive done both, and when meals, accommodation and petrol are included, the cost differential is not that great. But more importantly, the holiday experiences are totally different, and equally wonderful. Vince Taranto, Roselands, NSW Advertisement Tip of the week: Image conscious Via San Gregorio Armeno Street, Naples. Getty Images Id like to recommend Napoli Thats Amore, a free walking tour in the Italian city of Naples. It is run by a cultural association on a mission to improve the global image of the city. We took the Old Town Walk with a licenced professional guide which was full of information for further exploration of this intriguing city. Denise Jensen, Mitcham, Vic High life Thank you, Traveller team, for the magnificent European special (Traveller, July 27). In reply to Ben Groundwater, yes, we were truly moved and inspired by the Eiffel Tower during our visit. The reason was that we had our Christmas Eve lunch in the Jules Verne restaurant on the second floor of the tower. We were served like royalty by smart waiters, and enjoyed peach bellini cocktails, salmon gold leaf caviar, duckling fillets, petit fours, chocolate and fruit desserts and rose champagne. Magical memories to be treasured forever. Rhoda Silber, Manly, NSW Advertisement Beyond compare A fabulous story by Ute Junker (Traveller, July 27), comparing and contrasting European countries. In each pair of countries there are differences that show the individual wonders of that country, and she indicates so much to enjoy and marvel at. Use this article as a guide for experiencing as many enjoyable days in each country as you can. Marjie Williamson, Blaxland, NSW Its a wrap My best, most useful, foolproof, practical almost magical travel tip? Take a sarong! (If possible take two; wear one, pack the other). When trying to travel light, the sarong has a thousand uses. Here are the ways l have used one: Ive worn one as a dress, skirt, pants, dressing gown, scarf, wrap and shawl. Ive used one as a beach mat, towel, wrap, shelter, baby carrier, baby hammock, emergency nappy; bedsheet, pillow case, light blanket; carry bag, grocery bag, laundry bag... And Im sure l have forgotten a few other uses. Please take a sarong with you when you next travel. Light, compact and easy to wash and dry, you will not regret it. Cecile Rosewarne, Glenroy, NSW Nice and not easy Advertisement We were booked to fly on March 8, Brisbane-Singapore-Copenhagen-Nice. Because of Cyclone Alfred, there were no flights out of Brisbane on March 8. We were subsequently rebooked when the airport reopened five days later, but ended up in Paris, not Copenhagen. After losing our flight from Copenhagen to Nice, to get to Nice, we had to make and pay for a new booking from Paris to Nice (our intended destination). The new booking, Paris to Nice, cost $1486.28 for myself and my wife. Once in Nice, the rest of the trip and connections were fine, however, if we had not paid for the additional flight from Paris to Nice, we would have lost the whole of the rest of the ticket, which was non-refundable and unused, which would have been far more costly that paying for the additional flight from Paris to Nice. American Express Platinum Card travel insurance, underwritten by Chubb, would not refund the unavoidable additional rebooking cost. Max Fulton, Southport Qld Lighten up We are avid light packers and my husband and I each take three sets of soft nylon underwear. Two would do but three gives wriggle room. Each day we each wash a set, the essential trick being to then roll the items in a towel to remove most of the moisture. Hung over the towel rail, they are always dry by the next morning at the latest. T-shirts can be treated the same way with wrinkles smoothed before hanging. My heart sings when a hotel or apartment has a heated towel rail. Heather Barker, Albert Park, Vic The Letter of the Week writer wins three Hardie Grant travel books. See hardiegrant.com The Tip of the Week writer wins a set of three Lonely Planet travel books. See shop.lonelyplanet.com Sign up for the Traveller newsletter The latest travel news, tips and inspiration delivered to your inbox. Sign up now. A wealthy big-game hunter from Texas was killed when a Cape buffalo that he had been eyeing for his next trophy attacked him during a safari in South Africa, according to the company that arranged the expedition. The victim, Asher Watkins, 52, a Dallas real estate executive who sold ranches, was pursuing one of the horned buffaloes in Limpopo province, the northernmost province in South Africa, when the attack happened on Sunday, Coenraad Vermaak Safaris said in an email. Asher Watkins was tracking a Cape buffalo in South Africa when it attacked and killed him. Credit: Facebook A mature Cape buffalo bull can weigh nearly 900 kilograms, the companys website says, cautioning that it is not unusual for buffaloes to charge hunters without provocation and that no species on the planet has a more fearsome reputation. The aggressive temperament of the Cape buffalo has earned it a nickname: black death. Israel has announced that it plans to take over Gaza City, the largest urban area in the territory and one that has already suffered extensive devastation in repeated Israeli raids. Another major ground operation in one of the few areas of Gaza not already under evacuation orders would probably spark even more mass displacement and further disrupt efforts to deliver desperately needed food in the territory, where experts have warned that famine is unfolding. Smoke rises from Gaza City, as seen from a Jordanian Air Force C-130 plane during an airdrop of humanitarian aid for Palestinians on Thursday. Credit: AP Israel has faced mounting calls from many of its closest allies to end the war, and the plan faces opposition within Israel from families of the remaining 20 or so living hostages held by Hamas and members of the security establishment who say there is little to gain militarily at this point. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says more military pressure is needed to achieve Israels goals of returning the hostages and destroying Hamas. Sydney Sweeney probably lost me when she sold soap supposedly containing some of her own bathwater. Wed barely recovered from the bathtub scene in Saltburn when she released a limited edition soap called Sydneys Bathwater Bliss, at a bargain $12. This bliss flew into mailbags, with its morning wood scent of fir, moss, pine and a touch of her bathwater. Mmmmm, germy bathwater. Of course, it sold out. Illustration by Dionne Gain Credit: The woman who has the curvature of a 1950s pinup, and the wide-eyed stare of an ingenue, does not struggle to garner attention. And now she has taken part in a deliberately provocative ad for jeans that has inflamed the left, who see it as blatantly racist or at the least very, very white and thereby delighted the right. A cute blonde, a sprinkle of race baiting and bam! the perfect ad has been created. And by perfect, I mean the kind that briefly galvanises outrage and jacks up share prices. PHILIPSBURG:--- Staff of the Operations and Front Office departments of Kadaster St. Maarten recently participated in a Safety and Awareness Training designed to enhance their preparedness when interacting with clients, the public, and in field situations. Kadaster Director Benjamin Ortega spearheaded the training initiative in collaboration with Felix Richards, a known law enforcement professional who has been instrumental in community engagement, especially in schools and with young adults, addressing rising concerns about violence in the country. As a business professional, Richards has partnered with Kadaster to provide targeted awareness sessions to frontline staff. These employees can sometimes find themselves in unpredictable situations, ranging from interactions with aggressive individuals or animals to navigating hazardous terrain, requiring alertness, swift thinking, and decisive action. Being aware is your first line of defence, noted Richards during the session. Ortega emphasised the importance of continuous training to build staff confidence and readiness: Our staff members are the face of Kadaster and often the first point of contact for the public. Its essential that they feel safe and equipped to handle any situation with confidence and professionalism. These training sessions are an investment in both our people and the quality of service we provide. The training is part of an ongoing series of internal development programmes aimed at continuously improving the quality and safety of services provided by Kadaster. More training sessions and capacity-building efforts are planned in the coming months. Kadaster St. Maarten is responsible for maintaining accurate records of property ownership, boundaries, and land use. Its mission is to provide reliable and accessible information that supports legal certainty, property development, and spatial planning across the country. Kadaster plays a vital role in facilitating property transactions, supporting government planning, and promoting transparency in land administration. PHILIPSBURG:--- On Wednesday, August 6, 2025, the Chief of Police of Sint Maarten, along with members of the KPSM management team, met with the Commander of the French Gendarmerie at the OPAL building in Cole Bay. Over the past months, international partnersincluding the DEA, Royal Anguilla Police Force, French authorities, and CARICOM officialshave been paying close attention to the activities and strategies used by KPSM and have shown strong interest in the working relationship. As neighbors, periodic meetings are held with French and Anguillan counterparts. These meetings focus on enhancing cooperation between the law enforcement agencies. Key topics included the coordination of joint controls and patrols addressing ongoing scooter-related issues, as well as developing strategic approaches to cross-border crime. Both KPSM and the Gendarmerie agreed to intensify coordination in operations, intelligence sharing, and targeted joint controls in hotspot areas. Part of the discussion centered on effectively addressing high-impact crimes such as robberies, home invasions, and manslaughter, as well as disrupting the growing use of scooters and off-road motorbikes involved in traffic and other serious offenses on both sides of the island. In the near future, both law enforcement agencies will combine efforts to roll out joint patrols on the Dutch and French sides of Sint Maarten. These ongoing, structured, and recurring meetings will serve to continuously evaluate the success of cooperation efforts and ensure a proactive, united front to improve public safety for residents and visitors on both sides of Sint Maarten. KPSM Press Release. Trump to host Armenia, Azerbaijan for historic 'Peace Signing' Friday Washington, Aug 7 (AFP) Aug 07, 2025 US President Donald Trump announced he will host the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan on Friday for what he called a "Historic Peace Summit" aimed at ending a decades-long conflict between two former Soviet republics. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan "will join me at the White House for an official Peace Signing Ceremony," Trump posted Thursday on his Truth Social platform. Baku and Yerevan, sworn enemies for decades, went to war twice over the disputed Karabakh region, which Azerbaijan recaptured from Armenian forces in a lightning 2023 offensive, sparking the exodus of more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians. The two countries have held talks aimed at securing a peaceful resolution, including last month in the United Arab Emirates, but a breakthrough had proved elusive. "These two Nations have been at War for many years, resulting in the deaths of thousands of people," Trump wrote. "Many Leaders have tried to end the War, with no success, until now, thanks to 'TRUMP.' My Administration has been engaged with both sides for quite some time," he added, saying he was "very proud of these courageous Leaders for doing the right thing." The US leader, who has expressed conviction that his mediation efforts in various international conflicts deserve the Nobel Peace Prize, added that Washington will sign bilateral deals "with both Countries to pursue Economic opportunities together" that could unlock potential in the South Caucasus region. KIGALI, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- Norway on Friday extradited to Rwanda a suspect in the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi, which claimed the lives of more than 1 million people, the majority of them ethnic Tutsi. Francois Gasana, also known as Franky Dusabe, who had been living in Norway, arrived at Kigali International Airport on Friday morning, where he was handed over to officials from the Rwanda National Public Prosecution Authority (NPPA). "The NPPA commends the Kingdom of Norway's judicial authorities for the extradition of genocide fugitives, continued cooperation in matters of mutual legal assistance, and contribution to the global effort to fight impunity," the NPPA said in a statement. According to the statement, in 2007, the Nyange Gacaca court convicted Gasana and sentenced him to 19 years in prison for his role in the crime of genocide. He was arrested in Oslo in October 2022 following an extensive investigation by the Norwegian Criminal Investigation Service. In September 2023, the Oslo Court ruled in favor of his extradition to Rwanda. Gasana appealed the decision, but in April 2024, the appellate court upheld the ruling. A further appeal to the Supreme Court in June 2024 was also rejected. Trump to host Armenia, Azerbaijan for historic 'Peace Signing' Washington, Aug 8 (AFP) Aug 08, 2025 US President Donald Trump will host the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan on Friday for what he called a "Historic Peace Summit" aimed at ending a decades-long conflict between two former Soviet republics. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan "will join me at the White House for an official Peace Signing Ceremony," Trump posted Thursday on his Truth Social platform. Bringing two sworn enemies together as they potentially seal a peace deal would be just the latest diplomatic push by a US leader convinced that his mediation efforts in various international conflicts deserve the Nobel Peace Prize. Baku and Yerevan, sworn enemies for decades, went to war twice over the disputed Karabakh region, which Azerbaijan recaptured from Armenian forces in a lightning 2023 offensive, sparking the exodus of more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians. The two countries have held talks aimed at securing a peaceful resolution, including last month in the United Arab Emirates, but a breakthrough has proved elusive. "These two Nations have been at War for many years, resulting in the deaths of thousands of people," Trump wrote. "Many Leaders have tried to end the War, with no success, until now, thanks to 'TRUMP.' My Administration has been engaged with both sides for quite some time," he added, saying he was "very proud of these courageous Leaders for doing the right thing." Friday "will be a Historic Day for Armenia, Azerbaijan, the United States, and, THE WORLD," Trump said. "See you then!" Trump, a billionaire business tycoon, also said that Washington will sign bilateral deals with both of the countries "to pursue Economic opportunities together, so we can fully unlock the potential of the South Caucasus Region." - ExxonMobil deal struck - One major agreement was already inked in Washington on Thursday, when Aliyev and Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff were present for a memorandum of cooperation signed between ExxonMobil and Azerbaijan's state energy company SOCAR. Aliyev and Witkoff then sat down for talks, the Azerbaijan president posted on X. The former Soviet republics had agreed on the text of a comprehensive peace deal in March. But Azerbaijan has since outlined a host of demands -- including amendments to Armenia's constitution to drop territorial claims for Karabakh -- before signing the document. It was not immediately clear Thursday whether those demands have been met. And while Trump said his administration "has been engaged with both sides for quite some time," he did not provide specifics on the document that will be signed by representatives of the two countries. In early July, Pashinyan and Aliyev met for the latest round of peace talks in the United Arab Emirates, but they failed to yield a breakthrough. The two foes had previously met on the sidelines of the European Political Community summit in Albania in May. At the time, French President Emmanuel Macron and European Council President Antonio Costa called for a prompt signature of a peace agreement between the two countries. aue-mlm/dl Trump to host Armenia, Azerbaijan for historic 'Peace Signing' Washington, Aug 8 (AFP) Aug 08, 2025 US President Donald Trump will host the leaders of sworn enemies Armenia and Azerbaijan on Friday, touting the prospect of sealing a long-sought peace deal between the two regional rivals after decades of conflict. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev will attend a "Peace Signing Ceremony" at the White House, Trump posted Thursday on his Truth Social platform. The latest US diplomatic push comes a day after Cambodia's prime minister announced he had nominated Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize. Trump has repeatedly praised his own diplomatic efforts, saying he deserves the prize, while also voicing frustration about the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and the hunger plaguing Gaza during Israel's offensive. Peace has also been elusive for Armenia and Azerbaijan. Sworn enemies for decades, the two former Soviet republics went to war twice over the disputed Karabakh region, which Azerbaijan recaptured from Armenian forces in a lightning 2023 offensive, sparking the exodus of more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians. The two countries have held talks aimed at securing a peaceful resolution, including last month in the United Arab Emirates, but a breakthrough has proved elusive. "These two Nations have been at War for many years, resulting in the deaths of thousands of people," Trump wrote. "Many Leaders have tried to end the War, with no success, until now, thanks to 'TRUMP.' My Administration has been engaged with both sides for quite some time," he added, saying he was "very proud of these courageous Leaders for doing the right thing." Friday "will be a Historic Day for Armenia, Azerbaijan, the United States, and, THE WORLD," Trump said. Trump, a billionaire business tycoon, also said that Washington will sign bilateral deals with both countries "to pursue Economic opportunities together, so we can fully unlock the potential of the South Caucasus Region." - ExxonMobil deal struck - One major agreement was already inked in Washington on Thursday, when Aliyev and Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff were present for a memorandum of cooperation signed between ExxonMobil and Azerbaijan's state energy company SOCAR. Aliyev and Witkoff then sat down for talks, the Azerbaijan president posted on X. The former Soviet republics had agreed on the text of a comprehensive peace deal in March. But Azerbaijan has since outlined a host of demands -- including amendments to Armenia's constitution to drop territorial claims for Karabakh -- before signing the document. It was not immediately clear Thursday whether those demands have been met. And while Trump said his administration "has been engaged with both sides for quite some time," he did not provide specifics on the document that will be signed by representatives of the two countries. In early July, Pashinyan and Aliyev met for the latest round of peace talks in the United Arab Emirates, but they failed to yield a breakthrough. The two foes had previously met on the sidelines of the European Political Community summit in Albania in May. At the time, French President Emmanuel Macron and European Council President Antonio Costa called for a prompt signature of a peace agreement between the two countries. A deal to normalize ties would be a major breakthrough in a region where Russia, the European Union, the United States and Turkey all jostle for influence. aue-mlm/sla/dl/abs Germany suspending arms exports to Israel for use in Gaza: Merz Berlin, Aug 8 (AFP) Aug 08, 2025 Germany will halt the export of military equipment to Israel which could be used in the Gaza Strip, Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Friday, reacting to Israel's plan to take control of Gaza City. The decision marks a major change of course for the German government, which has been one of Israel's staunchest international allies. Merz said it was "increasingly difficult to understand" how the Israeli military plan would help achieve the legitimate aims of disarming Hamas and freeing the hostages. "Under these circumstances, the German government will not authorise any exports of military equipment that could be used in the Gaza Strip until further notice," he said in a statement. Merz said that "with the planned offensive, the Israeli government bears even greater responsibility" for providing aid to Gaza's civilians, and reiterated its call for comprehensive access for "UN organisations and other non-governmental institutions". International concern has been growing over the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza, where a UN-backed assessment has warned that famine is unfolding. Merz also said that "the German government urges the Israeli government not to take any further steps toward annexing the West Bank". Trump hosts foes Armenia, Azerbaijan in his latest peace initiative Washington, Aug 8 (AFP) Aug 08, 2025 US President Donald Trump will host the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan on Friday, with the two South Caucasus rivals expected to sign a deal advancing peace efforts after decades of conflict. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijan's longtime President Ilham Aliyev will attend a "Historic Peace Summit" at the White House, Trump announced on his Truth Social platform. He did not elaborate on the deal's details, but it would join a growing list of US-brokered initiatives for which the president believes he should win a Nobel Peace Prize. "Many Leaders have tried to end the War, with no success, until now, thanks to 'TRUMP,'" he boasted. Christian-majority Armenia and Muslim-majority Azerbaijan have feuded for decades over their border and the status of ethnic enclaves within each other's territories. The former Soviet republics went to war twice over the disputed Karabakh region, which Azerbaijan recaptured from Armenian forces in a lightning 2023 offensive, sparking the exodus of more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians. - 'Trump Route' - The two countries agreed on the text of a comprehensive peace deal in March, but Azerbaijan has since outlined a host of demands -- including amendments to Armenia's constitution to drop territorial claims for Karabakh -- before signing the document. Pashinyan has announced plans for a constitutional referendum in 2027, but the issue remains deeply divisive among Armenians. White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly, in a briefing with reporters on Friday, said the two countries would sign a "joint declaration" establishing a transit corridor between Azerbaijan and its exclave of Nakhchivan, a longstanding demand of Baku. The United States will have development rights for the corridor, dubbed the "Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity" (TRIPP), she said. The two nations will also sign a letter officially requesting the dissolving of the Minsk Group, a now defunct mediation body under the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Kelly added. The White House did not elaborate on how Friday's agreement aligns with the broader comprehensive deal. - Nobel? - Both countries are also expected to sign bilateral economic deals with the United States. "Armenia walks out of this with an enormous strategic commercial partner, probably the most enormous and strategic in the history of the world: the United States of America," a White House official said. "The losers here are China, Russia, and Iran," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Trump has repeatedly praised his own diplomatic efforts to help halt deadly conflicts, notably between Cambodia and Thailand, and arch-foes India and Pakistan. On Thursday, Cambodia's prime minister announced he had nominated Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize. Months of efforts have however yet to solve the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and the hunger plaguing Gaza during Israel's offensive. A deal to normalize ties between Armenia and Azerbaijan would be a major breakthrough in a region where Russia, the European Union, the United States and Turkey all jostle for influence. aue-mlm/des/bgs Trump moves to target drug cartels with US military: reports Washington, Aug 8 (AFP) Aug 08, 2025 President Donald Trump is moving to target Latin American drug cartels with the military, US media said Friday, after Washington designated several narcotics trafficking groups as "terrorist" organizations earlier this year. The New York Times reported that Trump has directed the Pentagon to begin using military force against cartels that were deemed terrorist organizations, while the Wall Street Journal said the president ordered the Defense Department to prepare options to do so. The Journal said the use of special forces and the provision of intelligence support were among the options under discussion, and that any action would be coordinated with foreign partners. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum insisted following the reports on Friday that there would be "no invasion of Mexico." Trump vowed in March to "wage war" on Mexico's drug cartels, which he accused of rape and murder as well as "posing a grave threat" to national security. The month before, the United States designated Venezuela's Tren de Aragua, Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel and six other drug trafficking groups with Latin American roots as "global terrorist" organizations. Trump's administration has since added another Venezuelan gang, the Cartel of the Suns, which has shipped hundreds of tons of narcotics into the United States over two decades. Trump signed an executive order on January 20, his first day back in the White House, creating a process for such designations, saying the cartels "constitute a national-security threat beyond that posed by traditional organized crime." ICC unseals Libya war crimes warrant for militia officer The Hague, Aug 8 (AFP) Aug 08, 2025 The International Criminal Court on Friday unsealed an arrest warrant for a Libyan militia member accused of war crimes including murder and torture between 2016 and 2017. The court said there were "reasonable grounds to believe" that Saif Suleiman Sneidel was responsible for war crimes of murder, torture and "outrages upon personal dignity". The November 2020 warrant found "reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Sneidel participated in three executions where a total of 23 people were murdered", the ICC's prosecutor's office said in a statement. The crimes were allegedly committed in Benghazi or surrounding areas, in Libya, on or before June 3, 2016 until on or about July 17, 2017. The prosecutor's office said Sneidel's arrest warrant had been issued under seal to "maximise arrest opportunities" and to minimise risks to the criminal investigation. "For this reason, no details of the application or warrant could be provided until this stage," it said. The decision to make it public followed a second application by the prosecutor's office to "increase prospects for arrest". "We hope to create the momentum for Mr Sneidel's arrest and surrender," said deputy prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan said. "The Court can now discuss issues related to possible arrest with States, the UN Security Council, and the international community at large, fostering support and cooperation." - Group 50 - Sneidel is believed to have been serving in Group 50, a sub-unit of the Al-Saiqa Brigade led by the the late Libyan commander, Mahmoud Mustafa Busayf Al-Werfalli. Prior to his death, Al-Werfalli was the subject of two ICC arrest warrants for eight executions in Benghazi, three of which the prosecution alleges Sneidel took part in. "The prosecution alleges that Mr Sneidel was a close associate of Mr Al-Werfalli, and had an important leadership role alongside him in the Al-Saiqa Brigade," the statement said. The ICC has been investigating atrocities in Libya since 2011, following a referral from the United Nations Security Council. The ICC also confirmed that another Libyan suspect, Khaled Mohamed Ali El Hishri, had been arrested by German authorities on July 16, 2025 for war crimes and crimes against humanity. He remains in custody in Germany pending legal proceedings. Libya has faced years of instability, militia violence and fractured government since Gaddafi was overthrown and killed in 2011 near his hometown of Sirte during the Arab Spring uprising. Germany suspends arms exports to Israel for use in Gaza Berlin, Aug 8 (AFP) Aug 08, 2025 Germany will halt the export of military equipment to Israel that could be used in the Gaza Strip, Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Friday, sparking an angry response from Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Berlin's move, in response reaction to an Israeli plan to take control of Gaza City, marks a drastic change of course for Germany, long one of Israel's staunchest international allies. Merz expressed "deep concern" at the suffering of Gaza's civilians. It was "increasingly unclear", he said, how the latest Israeli military plan would help achieve the aims of disarming Hamas and freeing the remaining Israeli hostages. "Under these circumstances, the German government will not authorise any exports of military equipment that could be used in the Gaza Strip until further notice," he said in a statement. Netanyahu spoke to Merz later Friday to express his "disappointment", said a statement from the prime minister's office. "Instead of supporting Israel's just war against Hamas, which carried out the most horrific attack against the Jewish people since the Holocaust, Germany is rewarding Hamas terrorism by embargoing arms to Israel," it said. - Disarming Hamas 'imperative' - Germany's Central Council of Jews also called Merz's decision "disappointing", saying the government should "correct course" and increase pressure on Hamas instead. Israel has until recently enjoyed broad support across the political spectrum in Germany, a country still seeking to atone for the World War II murder of more than six million Jews. Between the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023 that started the Gaza war and May this year, Germany approved defence exports worth 485 million euros ($565 million) to Israel. The deliveries included firearms, ammunition, weapons parts, electronic equipment and armoured vehicles, the government said in June. Merz reiterated that "Israel has the right to defend itself against Hamas' terror" and that "the release of the hostages and negotiations on a ceasefire are our top priorities". "The disarmament of Hamas is imperative. Hamas must not play a role in Gaza in future," he said. But "the new military push agreed by the Israeli security cabinet makes it increasingly unclear how these goals are to be achieved", he added. - Gaza suffering 'unbearable' - Merz's decision is a dramatic step for Germany, where the chancellor's tone towards Israel had been sharpening in recent months as the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza deteriorated. Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil of the Social Democrats welcomed the "just decision", saying "the humanitarian suffering in Gaza is unbearable". A poll published this week by public broadcaster ARD found that 66 percent of Germans expected the government to exert greater influence over Israel to change its actions in Gaza. However, while often voicing concern, Germany had so far avoided major concrete steps. It refrained from following France, Britain and Canada, which have announced plans to recognise a Palestinian state in September, arguing recognition must come at the end of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. Berlin has also opposed the suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, which had been under review by the bloc. Global alarm has been growing over the suffering in Gaza, where a UN-backed assessment has warned that famine is unfolding. German air force planes have joined others with humanitarian aid airdrops over the war-battered coastal territory. Merz said that "with the planned offensive, the Israeli government bears even greater responsibility" for providing aid to Gaza and again urged "comprehensive access" for UN agencies and aid groups. He also said his government had urged Israel "to refrain from taking any further steps toward an annexation of the West Bank". Last month, 71 members of Israel's 120-seat parliament, including members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing coalition, passed a motion calling on the government to annex the occupied West Bank. The German-Israeli Society, which promotes closer ties between the two countries, condemned Merz's move and pointed to a $3.5-billion deal under which Germany had agreed to buy Israel's Arrow-3 anti-ballistic missile shield. The group said that "if Israel were to retaliate in arms deliveries to Germany, the future of German aerial defence looks bleak". Trump moves to target drug cartels with US military: reports Washington, Aug 8 (AFP) Aug 08, 2025 President Donald Trump is moving to target Latin American drug cartels with the military, US media said Friday, after Washington designated several narcotics trafficking groups as "terrorist" organizations earlier this year. The New York Times reported that Trump has directed the Pentagon to begin using military force against cartels that were deemed terrorist organizations, while the Wall Street Journal said the president ordered the Defense Department to prepare options to do so. The Journal said the use of special forces and the provision of intelligence support were among the options under discussion, and that any action would be coordinated with foreign partners. The Pentagon referred questions to the White House. White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly, while not confirming the reports, said in a statement that Trump's "top priority is protecting the homeland, which is why he took the bold step to designate several cartels and gangs as foreign terrorist organizations." The United States designated Venezuela's Tren de Aragua, Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel and six other drug trafficking groups with Latin American roots as terror groups in February. Trump's administration has since added another Venezuelan gang, the Cartel of the Suns, which has allegedly shipped hundreds of tons of narcotics into the United States over two decades. The president signed an executive order on January 20, his first day back in the White House, creating a process for such designations, saying the cartels "constitute a national-security threat beyond that posed by traditional organized crime." Trump vowed in March to "wage war" on Mexico's drug cartels, which he accused of rape and murder as well as "posing a grave threat" to national security. Mexican counterpart Claudia Sheinbaum, following the reports of potential US military action against cartels, insisted on Friday that there would be "no invasion" of her country. Sheinbaum has made strenuous efforts to show Trump she is acting against Mexico's cartels, whom he accuses of flooding the United States with drugs, particularly fentanyl. "We are cooperating, we are collaborating, but there will be no invasion. That is absolutely ruled out," she said. Trump says Armenia, Azerbaijan committed to end fighting 'forever' Washington, Aug 8 (AFP) Aug 08, 2025 US President Donald Trump said Friday Armenia and Azerbaijan had committed to a lasting peace after decades of conflict, as he hosted the leaders of the South Caucasus rivals at a signing event in the White House. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijan's longtime President Ilham Aliyev were in Washington for what Trump had touted as a "historic peace summit." "Armenia and Azerbaijan are committing to stop all fighting forever, open up commerce, travel and diplomatic relations and respect each other's sovereignty and territorial integrity," Trump said. Trump also said he was lifting restrictions on military cooperation with Azerbaijan. The fine print of the deal was not immediately available, but it joins a growing list of US-brokered initiatives for which the president believes he should win a Nobel Peace Prize. "Many Leaders have tried to end the War, with no success, until now, thanks to 'TRUMP,'" the president boasted on his Truth Social website. Christian-majority Armenia and Muslim-majority Azerbaijan have feuded for decades over their border and the status of ethnic enclaves within each other's territories. The former Soviet republics went to war twice over the disputed Karabakh region, which Azerbaijan recaptured from Armenian forces in a lightning 2023 offensive, sparking the exodus of more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians. - 'Trump Route' - The two countries agreed on the text of a comprehensive peace deal in March, but Azerbaijan has since outlined a host of demands -- including amendments to Armenia's constitution to drop territorial claims for Karabakh -- before signing the document. Pashinyan has announced plans for a constitutional referendum in 2027, but the issue remains deeply divisive among Armenians. White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly, in a briefing with reporters on Friday, said the two countries would sign a "joint declaration" establishing a transit corridor between Azerbaijan and its exclave of Nakhchivan, a longstanding demand of Baku. The United States will have development rights for the corridor, dubbed the "Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity" (TRIPP), she said. The two nations were due to sign a letter officially requesting the dissolving of the Minsk Group, a now defunct mediation body under the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Kelly added. The White House did not elaborate on how Friday's agreement aligns with the broader comprehensive deal. - Nobel? - Both countries were also expected to sign bilateral economic deals with the United States. "Armenia walks out of this with an enormous strategic commercial partner, probably the most enormous and strategic in the history of the world: the United States of America," a White House official said. "The losers here are China, Russia, and Iran," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Trump has repeatedly praised his own diplomatic efforts to help halt deadly conflicts, notably between Cambodia and Thailand, and arch-foes India and Pakistan. At the White House, Armenia and Azerbaijan's leaders suggested sending a joint appeal to the Nobel committee to award Trump the Peace Prize. "Because from the leaders of the countries which were at war for more than three decades having this historic signature here, it really means a lot," Aliyev said. On Thursday, Cambodia's prime minister announced he had nominated Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize. Months of efforts have however yet to solve the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and the hunger plaguing Gaza during Israel's offensive. A deal to normalize ties between Armenia and Azerbaijan would be a major breakthrough in a region where Russia, the European Union, the United States and Turkey all jostle for influence. S.African president spoke to Zelensky after call with Putin Johannesburg, Aug 8 (AFP) Aug 08, 2025 South Africa's president said he spoke to his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky Friday, a day after he had a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss "peace process efforts". The South African government has been criticised at home and abroad for initially refusing to condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but has always maintained it holds an unaligned position and in April hosted Zelensky in Pretoria. Cyril Ramaphosa "received a briefing from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on a peace process between Russia and Ukraine," the presidency said in a statement, using an alternative transliteration of his name. Zelensky "expressed his appreciation for South Africa's continued support in finding a peaceful resolution to the conflict and affirmed Ukraine's commitment to securing a lasting peace with Russia," it said. "The efforts that this country makes in fostering peace processes around the world are recognised," Ramaphosa told journalists earlier in the day. In a similarly-worded statement on Thursday night, he announced that he had spoken to Putin following the Russian president's "request to brief President Ramaphosa on the peace process with Ukraine". Putin on Friday also held consultations with the leaders of China and India, seeking support from his key allies ahead of a likely summit with Donald Trump. NAIVASHA, Kenya, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- At least six people were killed and several others injured on Thursday afternoon when a train collided with a bus in Naivasha, about 90 km northwest of Kenya's capital, Nairobi, police said. The crash involved a staff bus belonging to the state-owned Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) and a Kenya Railways train at a level crossing, Naivasha Sub-County Police Commander Anthony Keter said. Preliminary investigations indicate the bus driver attempted to cross the railway line without checking for an oncoming train, Keter told reporters at the scene. A witness said visibility was poor due to heavy rainfall at the time of the crash, which may have contributed to the accident. KPC Managing Director Joe Sang said in a statement that the incident occurred just before the company's Morendat Training and Conference Center (MTCC). "The bus was carrying staff from MTCC getting off the morning shift," he said, noting that emergency and safety teams were immediately dispatched, and the injured were taken to local hospitals for treatment. "We are working closely with the medical teams and local authorities to ensure the injured receive the best possible care and to facilitate airlifts for the critically injured," he said. Restored Nagasaki bell to ring in 80 years since A-bomb Nagasaki, Japan, Aug 8 (AFP) Aug 08, 2025 Twin cathedral bells will ring in unison Saturday in Japan's Nagasaki for the first time since the atomic bombing of the city 80 years ago, commemorating the moment the atrocity took place. On August 9, 1945, at 11:02 am, three days after a nuclear attack on Hiroshima, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki. About 74,000 people were killed in the southwestern port city, on top of the 140,000 killed in Hiroshima. Days later, on August 15, 1945, Japan surrendered, marking the end of World War II. Historians have debated whether the bombings ultimately saved lives by bringing an end to the conflict and averting a ground invasion. But those calculations meant little to survivors, many of whom battled decades of physical and psychological trauma, as well as the stigma that often came with being a hibakusha. On Saturday, the two bells of Nagasaki's Immaculate Conception Cathedral will ring together for the first time since 1945. The imposing red-brick cathedral, with its twin bell towers atop a hill, was rebuilt in 1959 after it was almost completely destroyed in the monstrous explosion just a few hundred meters away. Only one of its two bells was recovered from the rubble, leaving the northern tower silent. With funds from US churchgoers, a new bell was constructed and restored to the tower, and will chime Saturday at the exact moment the bomb was dropped. - 'Working together for peace' - The cathedral's chief priest, Kenichi Yamamura, believes the bell's restoration "shows the greatness of humanity". "It's not about forgetting the wounds of the past but recognising them and taking action to repair and rebuild, and in doing so, working together for peace," Yamamura told AFP. He also sees the chimes as a message to the world, shaken by multiple conflicts and caught in a frantic new arms race. "We should not respond to violence with violence, but rather demonstrate through our way of living, praying, how senseless it is to take another's life," he said. Nearly 100 countries are set to participate in this year's commemorations, including Russia, which has not been invited since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Israel, whose ambassador was not invited last year over the war in Gaza, is also expected to attend this weekend. This year, "we wanted participants to come and witness directly the reality of the catastrophe that a nuclear weapon can cause", a Nagasaki official said last week. - Martyrdom, torture - An American university professor, whose grandfather participated in the Manhattan Project, which developed the first nuclear weapons, spearheaded the bell project. During his research in Nagasaki, a Japanese Christian told him he would like to hear the two bells of the cathedral ring together in his lifetime. Inspired by the idea, James Nolan, a sociology professor at Williams College in Massachusetts, embarked on a year-long series of lectures about the atomic bomb across the United States, primarily in churches. He managed to raise $125,000 from American Catholics to fund the new bell. When it was unveiled in Nagasaki in the spring, "the reactions were magnificent. There were people literally in tears", said Nolan. Many American Catholics he met were also unaware of the painful history of Nagasaki's Christians, who, converted in the 16th century by the first European missionaries and then persecuted by Japanese shoguns, kept their faith alive clandestinely for over 250 years. This story was told in the novel "Silence" by Shusaku Endo, and adapted into a film by Martin Scorsese in 2016. He explains that American Catholics also showed "compassion and sadness" upon hearing about the perseverance of Nagasaki's Christians after the atomic bomb, which killed 8,500 of the parish's 12,000 faithful. They were inspired by the "willingness to forgive and rebuild". Allow Google Search To use the search feature, we need your consent to load Google Custom Search, which may use cookies or similar technologies. Please click 'Allow and Continue' below to enable search. See our privacy policy for more information. Allow and Continue We need to recall Parliament immediately to hold the UK Government to account, to urgently assess whether we are meeting our obligations under the Genocide Convention and to enact immediate measures including sanctions on the Israeli cabinet and suspension of all military co-operation and arms sales to prevent further atrocities. Hamas, which has ruled Gaza for nearly two decades but now controls only fragmented parts, insists any deal must lead to a permanent end to the war. Israel says the group has no intention of going through with promises to give up power afterwards. However, given the extensive investigations already conducted into the crash, including two independent, judge-led processes, inquiries by both House of Commons and House of Lords select committees, and the original RAF board of inquiry, I do not believe that a new inquiry can bring any greater certainty or is in the public interest. Remember, Ireland isnt alone in relation to this; this week we also saw Slovenia take action in relation to trade from the occupied territories, I expect Belgium are likely to do the same and we intend to advance with our legislation. LISBON, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- The Portuguese government has extended the national alert status until Aug. 13, due to the intensifying wildfire risk driven by extreme heat and deteriorating weather conditions. The decision, announced by Interior Minister Maria Lucia Amaral after a government meeting on Thursday, follows a significant spike in wildfire activity in recent weeks. Initially declared on Aug. 2, the alert was set to expire on Thursday, but the government opted for a one-week extension. Amaral noted that the alert status and related restrictions have already helped reduce the number of ignition points of fire outbreaks. However, weather conditions are forecast to worsen, with the Portuguese Institute for Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA) predicting maximum temperatures between 30 degrees Celsius and 38 degrees Celsius across most of mainland Portugal and highs of up to 43 degrees Celsius in parts of the southern interior and the Tejo and Douro river valleys, between Aug. 9 and 11. The extension of the alert includes continued bans on agricultural and recreational activities in rural areas, such as access to and movement within forested zones, as well as the prohibition of bonfires, machinery use, and fireworks. All permits for such activities during the alert period remain suspended. The alert comes amid what has become Portugal's worst wildfire season since 2022. According to the Integrated Rural Fire Management System (SGIFR), forest fires have consumed nearly 42,000 hectares in Portugal this year, eight times more than in the same period in 2024, making it the worst fire season since 2022. Statistics from SGIFR indicate that since Jan. 1, there have been 5,211 recorded fires that burned a total of 41,644 hectares. In response to the worsening situation, Amaral confirmed that the government is considering tougher penalties for fire-related crimes. These will be reflected in the 2025-2027 national criminal policy framework, emphasizing the serious community damage caused by forest fires and the priority these cases should receive in criminal investigations. This aligns with a pledge made by Prime Minister Luis Montenegro in September 2024, following a wave of wildfires in central Portugal, to adopt a zero-tolerance stance toward arsonists. SGIFR reported that 14 percent of the fires recorded between Jan. 1 and Jul. 30 were of criminal origin, accounting for 4 percent of the total burned area. An additional 21 percent were caused by improper use of fire, including land-clearing burns, fireworks, trash burning, or discarded cigarettes. While the European Commission has reminded member states of the availability of European Union-positioned firefighting resources, Amaral said that Portugal views international aid as a last resort, particularly given that other European countries are also struggling with fires. On the domestic front, Amaral noted that Portugal currently has 72 firefighting aircraft operational, with coordination between the National Authority for Emergency and Civil Protection, the Air Force, and the Ministry of Defense. The government has also authorized the purchase of two firefighting kits for C-130 aircraft, as confirmed by Defense Minister Nuno Melo. Additionally, the government is reviving the 2025-2050 Forest Intervention Plan, initially presented in March. The plan, developed after consultations with public and private stakeholders, outlines 61 short-term actions for 2025 and 88 medium-term initiatives from 2028 to 2050, including the creation of a general and permanent support mechanism for communities affected by major fires. The human toll of this year's fire season is also mounting. According to the Portuguese Firefighters League (LPB), one firefighter has died, and 148 have been injured while on duty in 2025 so far. The National Authority for Emergency and Civil Protection reported on its website that, as of Thursday night, 66 wildfires remained active across Portugal. A total of 2,839 firefighters, 900 vehicles, and 11 aircraft were deployed to combat the flames. A piece of Austins art history is coming home. One of Frida Kahlos most famous self-portraits, "Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird," is returning to its long-time home at the Harry Ransom Center. The stunning oil-on-canvas painting, a centerpiece of the center's extensive collection, will be on display starting Saturday after a tour that took it as far as Australia. The self-portrait, painted in 1940, captures a pivotal moment in the legendary artist's life. According to Tracy Bonfitto, a curator at the Ransom Center, Kahlo was at the peak of her early career, but her personal life was in turmoil. She had recently divorced her husband, painter Diego Rivera, and her tumultuous love affair with Hungarian photographer Nickolas Muray was coming to an end. Ransom Center's Nickolas Murray Collection of Mexican Art Frida Kahlos Self-Portrait with Thorn Necklace and Hummingbird returns to the Ransom Center and is on view through Jan. 2026. Frida Kahlo / Provided by the Harry Ransom Center. The Ransom Center acquired the painting in 1965 as part of the Nickolas Muray Collection of Mexican Art, which featured works from prominent 20th-century Mexican artists. While the self-portrait is the only piece from the collection currently on display, the entire Muray collection, which includes two other Kahlo works and pieces by artists like Rufino Tamayo, will be exhibited in 2027. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Pooja or Aarti Thali for Raksha Bandhan, also abbreviated to Rakhi, the Hindu festival that celebrates brotherhood and love. Gary Fountain, Houston Chronicle / Contributor Raksha Bandhan, one of Hinduism's 30 major holidays, is here! The U.S. South claims the largest share of Hindus with about 32% of the country's total Hindu population, according to the Pew Research Center. An estimated 1% of Texans are Hindu, translating to about 300,000 residents. Advertisement Article continues below this ad But what does Raksha Bandhan celebrate, and what are the traditions and rituals involved? Here's a quick breakdown. What is Raksha Bandhan? Raksha Bandhan, also called Rakhi, is a traditional Hindu festival celebrating the bond between brothers and sisters. It's observed in India, Nepal and among Hindu communities around the world. When is Rakhi 2025? Raksha Bandhan 2025 date The festival is celebrated on the day of the full moon, called Purnima, in the Hindu month of Shravan. However, this year's date has been the source of some confusion. While Purnima Tithi, also called Pournami or Full Moon day, falls on Friday, Aug. 8, the Hindu calendar Drik Panchang has the festival marked for Saturday, Aug. 9. Advertisement Article continues below this ad What happens during Raksha Bandhan? The Hindu festival has a couple of traditions. Typically, a sister will tie a Rakhi a sacred thread or bracelet around her brother's wrist. This symbolizes the sister's love and prayers for her brother's well-being and her desire for him to be protected. For the brother's part, he vows to protect his sister for the rest of his life. This also usually comes with a gift to the sister. The ceremony traditionally begins with a puja, or prayer. The sister will apply a tilak, a bright red mark, on the brother's forehead and perform a light ritual called aarti. Among the ritual, sweets are exchanged. The brother's gift to the sister can include money, jewelry, clothes or personalized items. Advertisement Article continues below this ad How is Rakhi celebrated today? Rakhi emphasizes the importance of familial bonds and mutual respect and often involves family gatherings, traditional meals and community celebrations. While Hinduism is widely believed to be the world's first organized religion, its rituals have evolved over time. Today, the Raksha Bandhan festival has expanded to represent broader social harmony. Some choose to celebrate non-biological yet sibling-like bonds: Women may tie rakhis to soldiers, friends and even public figures. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The start of the school year is around the corner, and school districts across Central Texas are announcing their plans to provide meals to students. Several districts in the Austin area are expanding their free meal programs, with a focus on the federally funded Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) program. The initiative allows schools in low-income areas to provide free breakfast and lunch to all enrolled students without requiring individual applications. Here is a breakdown of what families can expect from different school districts in the area: Austin ISD Adam Garcia, 12, shares a laugh with friends during lunch at a summer camp at Dobie Middle School in Austin, Wednesday, July 30, 2025. The Promise Neighborhood Summer Camp, organized by Austin Voices for Education, is an educational day camp for students of Dobie, Burnet and Webb Middle Schools which are in a state-required turnaround plan. Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman Austin ISD will offer free breakfast and lunch to all students at 76 campuses for the 202526 school year through the CEP program. The district notes that this federal program streamlines the process, as no applications or documentation are required for students at eligible schools. For campuses not participating in the CEP, meal status will be determined through free, reduced-price, or paid applications. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Students who qualify for reduced-price meals will receive both breakfast and lunch at no cost. Campuses participating in the CEP Program include: Early Childhood Centers: Uphaus ECC Uphaus ECC Elementary Schools: Allison, Andrews, Barrington, Blackshear, Blanton, Blazier Intermediate, Blazier Primary, Boone, Brown, Campbell, Casey, Cook, Cunningham, Dawson, Galindo, Govalle, Graham, Guerrero-Thompson, Harris, Hart, Houston, Jordan, Joslin, Kocurek, Langford, Linder, McBee, Menchaca, Norman-Sims, Oak Hill, Oak Springs, Odom, Ortega, Overton, Padron, Palm, Pecan Springs, Perez, Pickle, Pillow, Pleasant Hill, Rodriguez, Sanchez, St. Elmo, Travis Heights, Walnut Creek, Widen, Williams, Winn, Wooldridge, Wooten, Zavala Allison, Andrews, Barrington, Blackshear, Blanton, Blazier Intermediate, Blazier Primary, Boone, Brown, Campbell, Casey, Cook, Cunningham, Dawson, Galindo, Govalle, Graham, Guerrero-Thompson, Harris, Hart, Houston, Jordan, Joslin, Kocurek, Langford, Linder, McBee, Menchaca, Norman-Sims, Oak Hill, Oak Springs, Odom, Ortega, Overton, Padron, Palm, Pecan Springs, Perez, Pickle, Pillow, Pleasant Hill, Rodriguez, Sanchez, St. Elmo, Travis Heights, Walnut Creek, Widen, Williams, Winn, Wooldridge, Wooten, Zavala Middle Schools: Bedichek, Burnet, Covington, Dobie, Garcia YMLA, Lively, Marshall, Martin, Mendez, Paredes, Sadler Means YWLA, Webb Bedichek, Burnet, Covington, Dobie, Garcia YMLA, Lively, Marshall, Martin, Mendez, Paredes, Sadler Means YWLA, Webb High Schools: Akins ECHS, Crockett ECHS, Eastside ECHS, Garza Independence, International, LBJ ECHS, Navarro ECHS, Northeast ECHS, Travis ECHS Akins ECHS, Crockett ECHS, Eastside ECHS, Garza Independence, International, LBJ ECHS, Navarro ECHS, Northeast ECHS, Travis ECHS Other Campuses: Alternative Learning Center, Rosedale School Pflugerville ISD Students eat lunch at Tobias Elementary School in Kyle on Tuesday September 21, 2021. Jay Janner / American-Statesman, Austin American-Statesman Pflugerville ISD will also use the Community Eligibility Provision to offer free meals at 12 campuses during the 2025-2026 school year. Families with students at these campuses are asked to complete a socio-economic information form, which the district uses for its own reporting to the Texas Education Agency (TEA). Campuses participating in the CEP Program include: Advertisement Article continues below this ad Elementary Schools: Delco, Dessau, Northwest, River Oaks, Ruth Barron, Copperfield, Spring Hill, Timmerman Delco, Dessau, Northwest, River Oaks, Ruth Barron, Copperfield, Spring Hill, Timmerman Middle Schools: Dessau, Westview Dessau, Westview High Schools: Connally, Weiland For schools not in the CEP program, families must complete a free and reduced-price meals application to determine their child's eligibility. Hays CISD Students eat lunch at Highland Park Elementary School on Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2019, in Austin, Texas. [NICK WAGNER/AMERICAN-STATESMAN] Austin American-Statesman Hays CISD also has several campuses operating under the Community Eligibility Provision. Students at these schools will receive free breakfast and lunch without the need for an application. Campuses participating in the CEP Program include: Advertisement Article continues below this ad Elementary Schools: Blanco Vista, Camino Real, Hemphill, Science Hall, Tobias, Tom Green, Uhland Blanco Vista, Camino Real, Hemphill, Science Hall, Tobias, Tom Green, Uhland Middle Schools: Chapa, Simon For all other campuses in the district, a new free and reduced-price meal application must be completed each school year. Leander ISD Maplewood Elementary School students eat lunch in the cafeteria on Nov. 6, 2015. (Tamir Kalifa for American-Statesman) Austin American-Statesman Leander ISD announced that students who qualify for reduced-price meals will now receive free breakfast and lunch for the 2025-26 and 2026-27 school years. This is made possible through a state grant. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The district emphasizes that completing a meal application not only secures these benefits but also helps families connect with other reduced-cost programs and services, while also helping the district secure essential funding. Applications are accepted year-round, with a deadline of September 25. Lake Travis ISD Charlotte Kurtz 14, looks on during class at Brentwood Christian School students on Friday, Jan. 10, 2025. Ricardo B. Brazziell/American-Statesman Lake Travis ISD will continue to offer meals at a free or reduced-price rate for eligible students. Like Austin and Leander ISDs, students who qualify for reduced-price meals will receive breakfast and lunch at zero cost for the 2025-2026 school year. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Austin Police Department cruiser Austin American-Statesman A Leander man has been arrested and charged with five counts of manslaughter following a fiery crash in the Austin area late last month. The crash killed all five women in one vehicle as they were taking a birthday trip. The Texas Department of Public Safety took Kody Lane Talley, 37, into custody and booked him into the Burnet County Jail. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Williamson County arrest records show Lane had previously been arrested in 2023 and charged with violating bond conditions in a family violence case. Here's what we know about the multi-casualty incident. 'Worst accident we could ever imagine': 5 Texas women die in crash near Austin while on birthday trip Truck crosses lanes, strikes vehicle head-on on US 281 The crash occurred on U.S. 281 near Park Road 4 in Burnet around 6 p.m. on Friday, July 25, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. Officials say a northbound truck pulling a livestock trailer crossed into the southbound lanes and struck several vehicles. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The truck hit the car carrying the five women head-on, causing the car to flip and catch fire. The five passengers in the car, all in their early 20s, died. The drivers and passengers in the other vehicles had non-life-threatening injuries. Who were the victims in the US 281 crash? The identities of the five women who died in the crash have been released: Advertisement Article continues below this ad Salinas' family members say the group was celebrating Salinas' 23rd birthday. The women's relationships with each other were compared to those of sisters, and they had been friends since middle school. The family released the following statement: Advertisement Article continues below this ad "Words can't describe how devastated we are. We were en route to celebrate Thalia's birthday in Kingsland, Texas, at her favorite place on the lake with all her favorite people. Then we got news of the girls passing away in the worst accident we could ever imagine. We will never recover from losing Thalia, Brianna, Ruby, Jackie and Desi." . American-Statesman staff Williamson County's proposed $671 million budget raises taxes for an average homeowner with a homestead exemption by $139. The proposed maximum property tax rate of 41.3 cents per $100 of valuation is an increase of 3.5% over last year's tax rate. It is the highest rate allowed by law before the county has to ask for voter approval. The county commissioners will discuss the budget and decide whether to make modifications to it and the tax rate at their meetings on Tuesday and Aug. 19 at the Williamson County Courthouse, 710 S. Main St. in Georgetown beginning at 9:30 a.m. The commissioners will adopt a budget after a public hearing at 9:30 a.m. Aug. 26. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The proposed budget is an increase of $35.9 million above last year's adopted budget of $635.1 million. It would pay for 39.5 new full-time positions and converts one part-time position. It also includes staff for the proposed new 512th District Court for criminal and civil cases. The state Legislature has not approved the court yet but county officials are expecting it to do so, said Ashlie Holladay, the county's finance officer. The most recent district court that was created for the county was the 480th District Court that handles civil and family cases. It was created in 2022. Property taxes would rise under the recommended tax rate partly because the maximum tax rate was proposed and also because the average taxable value of a home with a homestead exemption has increased about 5.2% from $389,672 last year to $410,249 this year. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The proposed budget has also risen about 5.6%. "The majority of this (increase) is new positions, the new law enforcement/corrections chart, an increase to capital improvement projects, cardiac monitor replacement, a 2% merit raise for civilians and radio replacement," said Holladay. The law enforcement/corrections chart includes salary increases made after a study of the pay in comparable counties, Holladay said. The proposed budget includes: Advertisement Article continues below this ad A 2% merit include for civilian employees, totaling $2.1 million An average salary increase of 9.8% for law enforcement and 12.9% for corrections, totaling $4.8 million A pay increase for every year served for law enforcement and corrections, totaling $1 million 39.5 new full-time positions, totaling $5.6 million Radio replacement for law enforcement/corrections totaling $4.2 million 33 cardiac monitors for EMS totaling $2.6 million The new 512th District Court totaling $1.8 million Long Range Transportation Plan, totaling $12 million Capital improvement projects totaling $20 million $20 million to pay off debt early $469,000 for Park Department projects and maintenance The recommended new positions include a senior court administrator and a court reporter. Proposed new employees in the district attorney's office are seven felony prosecutors, a legal assistant, a victim assistance coordinator, a digital evidence tech and a sergeant investigator. Other proposed positions include a jury coordinator, an assistant jury coordinator and a court specialist for the district clerk's office.The recommended positions for the county attorney's office are four attorneys, a civil legal assistant and a specialty court lead. Other positions include a budget analyst, a senior purchasing specialist, a geographic information analyst, a general maintenance technician and a part-time animal maintenance tech. Other new recommended positions include a general maintenance tech, an animal shelter tech and an exposition center maintenance tech. An inventory coordinator is proposed for EMS and an office administrator is proposed for the emergency management office. Two new deputy constables are part of the proposed new positions as well as a commercial vehicle deputy and three other deputies in the sheriff's office. Other proposed positions include an administrative specialist for the jail and a pretrial officer. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The proposed spending for parks includes $350,000 for wind/sunscreens and $34,000 to install electric motors on rollup doors for the Williamson County Expo Center. There is also $25,000 proposed to install electric gates at Southwest Regional Park in Leander and $60,000 proposed to replace fencing at River Ranch County Park near Liberty Hill. The commissioners will decide in October what the capital improvement projects will be. Rep. Briscoe Cain, R-Deer Park, left, and Speaker of the House Dustin Burrows walk away after a caucus meeting at the Capitol in Austin, Friday, Aug. 8, 2025. A quorum was not present after most Democratic state representatives left Texas to break quorum and block a vote on a Republican plan for Congressional redistricting. Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman The Texas House failed to reach quorum on Friday, six days after House Democrats fled the state to deny GOP redistricting. House Speaker Dustin Burrows had set a 1p.m. deadline for members to return under threat of sanctions. Only 95 of 150 legislators appeared on the floor and registered as present as the chamber gaveled in, five short of the 100 needed to conduct business. Texas Republicans need a quorum to pass new congressional maps that would send more Republicans to the U.S. House of Representatives. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Speaker of the House Dustin Burrows gavels during the roll call in the House Chamber at the Capitol in Austin, Friday, Aug. 8, 2025. A quorum was not present after most Democratric state representatives left Texas to break quorum and block a vote on a Republican plan for Congressional redistricting. Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman Speaker of the House Dustin Burrows speaks to representatives in the House Chamber at the Capitol in Austin, Friday, Aug. 8, 2025. A quorum was not present after most Democratic state representatives left Texas to break quorum and block a vote on a Republican plan for Congressional redistricting. Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman Many empty seats remain in the House Chamber at the Capitol in Austin, Friday, Aug. 8, 2025. A quorum was not present after most Democratic state representatives left Texas to break quorum and block a vote on a Republican plan for Congressional redistricting. Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman Rep. Richard Pena Raymond, D-Laredo, walks out of the House Chamber after the session at the Capitol in Austin, Friday, Aug. 8, 2025. A quorum was not present after most Democratric state representatives left Texas to break quorum and block a vote on a Republican plan for Congressional redistricting. Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman Thank you notes are posted on the office door of Rep. Gene Wu, D-Houston, at the Capitol in Austin, Friday, Aug. 8, 2025. Wu is among the House Democrats who fled Texas to break quorum in an effort to stop a Republican plan for Congressional redistricting. Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman READ MORE: Greg Abbott is testing new legal ground in his push to expel absent Democrats Burrows said state law enforcement would work through the weekend to return absent Democrats, and he detailed new penalties for them, including requiring them to show up in person to receive pay and cutting off 30 percent of their office's operating budgets. The chamber is now scheduled to return on Monday for another chance of meeting quorum. "We have all hands on deck," the speaker said. "We are continuing to explore all avenues to compel a quorum, and will keep pressing forward until the job is done." Advertisement Article continues below this ad Addressing the absent members, Burrows said: "Each one of you knows that eventually you will come back and we will pass the priorities of the special session on the call. But with each passing day, the political cost of your absence is rising, and it will be paid in full." Alec DeGilio, Doorkeeper for the House of Representatives, waits for representatives to arrive in the House Chamber at the Capitol in Austin, Friday, Aug. 8, 2025. A quorum was not present after most Democratic state representatives left Texas to break quorum and block a vote on a Republican plan for Congressional redistricting. Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman The action caps a week of stalled productivity after more than 51 Democrats sought refuge in Illinois, New York and Massachusetts. Others appeared to have remained in Texas, but as of Friday were not taken into custody under the civil arrest warrants issued by Burrows on Monday. Republicans have escalated their threats in recent days. U.S. Sen. John Cornyn said Thursday the F.B.I. is working to help locate absent members, while Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed suit attempting to force Illinois authorities to return Democrats, the majority of whom are currently gathered in Chicago Advertisement Article continues below this ad Rep. Mary Gonzalez, D-Clint, left to right, Rep. Joe Moody, D-El Paso, and Rep King King, R-Canadian, stand for the Pledge of Allegiance in the House Chamber at the Capitol in Austin, Friday, Aug. 8, 2025. A quorum was not present after most Democratic state representatives left Texas to break quorum and block a vote on a Republican plan for Congressional redistricting. Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman The Texas Department of Public Safety was said to be searching for members still in Texas. State Rep. Claudia Ordaz of El Paso said on social media she has been out of the chamber due to a personal health matter, and that DPS officers had appeared at a family member's residence in search of her. Her statement did not specify whether she is still in the state. Harassing my family, spreading lies, and dragging my name into political games is beyond unacceptable, Ordaz said in the post. It is a deliberate abuse of power and an intimidation tactic. With their 88-member caucus, House Republicans need 12 Democrats present to resume work. As of Friday, nine Democrats have now registered as present at least once, with Mary Gonzalez of El Paso the latest to return. Other members in Texas were Terry Canales of Edinburg, Philip Cortez of San Antonio, Oscar Longoria and Sergio Munoz of Mission, Armando Martinez of Weslaco, Eddie Morales of Eagle Pass, Joe Moody of El Paso, and Richard Raymond of Laredo. Advertisement Article continues below this ad That places the number of Democrats who have not registered as present even once at 53: a tight margin, since the party needs 51 members absent to break quorum. Of those Democrats, most have been sighted in Illinois or other states at press conferences or public events with blue-state governors. If enough Democrats are brought back to the House before Monday, Burrows said he would call the members into session. DPS is in the field to execute these warrants, Burrows said. Should they lead to the civil arrest of our absent colleagues over the weekend, your are on call. You will need to be available to return to Austin with a minimum of six hours of notice. Rep. Richard Pena Raymond, D-Laredo, left, talks to Rep. John Lujan, R-San Antonio, on Tuesday in the House Chamber at the Texas Capitol. Most Democratic state representatives left Texas to break quorum and block a vote on a Republican plan for congressional redistricting. Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman Your government, working for you. Advertisement Article continues below this ad But I have good news! There is a painless way out of this. A way in which almost everyone wins. Lawmakers could just drop the map drama and pass the policies Americans want. Do the things that are popular with the public. I feel a little silly offering this gem of an idea for free. Some lobbyists and consultants are making a lot of money peddling much worse schemes. But seriously, lawmakers. Try it. Enact the policies that Americans broadly support, that make peoples lives better in tangible ways. Invest in health care. Ensure our beloved national parks are properly staffed and maintained. Provide meaningful solutions for families struggling with housing and child care costs. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Youll be amazed how easy it will be to win reelection on a record like that. No gerrymandering power grabs necessary! Not sure where to begin? Start by undoing the deeply unpopular measures, like the tariffs that President Donald Trump has slapped on everything from imported clothing and cars to food and appliances, altogether expected to cost the typical household an extra $2,400 a year. Which constituency would you offend by scrapping the Trump tariffs? Whos been lobbying for the prices of everyday items to be higher? Then claw back the ugliest pieces of Trumps big, beautiful bill, legislation opposed by 64% of Americans (disapproval rose to 74% in the KFF Health Tracking Poll once those surveyed heard the measure will leave another 10 million people without health insurance). It turns out Americans really like Medicaid (83% approval) and the Affordable Care Act (now at 66% approval an all-time high), probably because people like knowing they can get the health care they need. Restoring the recently-cut Medicaid dollars would be a huge boon to Texas, where nearly 70% of rural hospitals expect to reduce or eliminate services because of Trumps signature legislation. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Congress could invest in other things Americans value. Like the Food and Drug Administration, where cuts earlier this year imperiled quality control programs for milk and vegetables. And medical research did you know 77% of Americans opposed the recent "government efficiency" cuts to the grants that fuel life-saving advances in health care? And the National Park Service, which has lost a quarter of its staff amid this year's massive government layoffs, including half the employees who maintain trails and run education programs at Texas treasured Big Bend National Park. And this would take some doing, but how about crafting policies that balance the clear need for border security with the fact that a record-high 79% of Americans see immigration as a good thing? Only 35% of Americans approve of Trump's handling of immigration. Tell ICE agents to stop behaving in ways that make them want to hide their faces. Focus enforcement on those who pose a threat to public safety, not barbers and college students and day laborers just trying to feed their families. Fortunately, Republicans control both chambers of Congress and the White House so no fears about partisan gridlock derailing the people's agenda! The great thing about this do what the people like idea is that it can work anywhere. Not just in Congress, but in the Texas Legislature, where GOP lawmakers crow of having a mandate while earning approval from just 26% of those surveyed in the latest Texas Politics Project poll. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Again, Im no high-priced consultant. But I bet lawmakers could get those approval numbers up by doing broadly popular things like expanding Medicaid (74% support), improving access to mental health services (89% say its important) and bolstering efforts to ensure high school grads are ready for the workforce (91% support). And imagine how delighted voters would be if lawmakers took meaningful steps to address the costs of housing (82% of Texans say they're concerned) and child care (74% are concerned). Just think: If you did the popular, tangible things, the electoral victories would follow! Voters would want what youre doing, because youd be doing what voters want. Redrawing the maps, distorting one partys political advantage, creating districts that are safe for one side or another no matter how terrible the candidate thats the play when your agenda doesn't match voters priorities. With the wealth of political data and sophisticated computer models, its easier than ever to engineer the congressional district maps for almost any electoral outcome youd like. But look at the hassle. The special session. The quorum break. The drama over warrants and manhunts, not to mention the time diverted from the issues that actually interest Texans, like urgently needed flood recovery and a long-overdue revamp of the STAAR. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Protesters hold a "read-in" in 2023 in the Texas Capitol rotunda to show their opposition to a bill that would ban books deemed sexually explicit from school libraries. Mikala Compton/Austin American-Statesman via USA TODAY Network Texas students deserve classrooms focused on learning, not political theatre. Yet when Texas children head back to school this month, they will find classrooms caught between two competing visions from this year's legislative session: one that invests in high-quality teachers and promising evidence-based student supports, and another that weaponizes schools for costly culture wars. A study that I recently co-led with researchers from University of California Los Angeles, University of California Riverside and American University found that, in 2023-24, public school districts nationwide diverted $3.2 billion away from critical expenditures focused on students in order to manage culturally divisive conflicts over teaching about race and racism, LGBTQ+ student rights and library book access. These are the exact issues Texas lawmakers doubled down on in the most recent legislative session. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Extrapolating from our study data, Texans spent a staggering $112 million last year to manage culturally divisive conflicts in schools. The costs include the money and staff time spent on librarians sorting through challenges to hundreds of books; school district attorneys responding to lawsuits; administrators taking extra security precautions; and employees tamping down misinformation on social media. The culture wars also fuel burnout and turnover of school employees, triggering costs to hire and retain new staff. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Texans should pay close attention to whether new state mandates once again force districts to spend taxpayer dollars on what superintendents describe as ballooning legal costs from ideologically motivated lawsuits and expanded security to quell personal threats to district employees. There is also an immense financial toll to replacing experienced educators who flee or are forced out in the midst of culturally divisive conflict and combating the great exodus of superintendents citing increasingly polarizing battles. These visible costs barely scratch the surface. Hidden expenses include countless administrator hours diverted from effective educational leadership toward anticipating and preparing responses to attacks rooted in misinformation, plus surging healthcare costs as school employees battle stress, anxiety and depression. This human toll is documented: More than 50% of superintendents nationwide last year reported experiencing harassment, and around 10% experienced property vandalism, stalking and threats on their life. The conflicts fueling these financial and human costs often stem from outright falsehoods: Misinformation about "pornographic" content in school libraries, fabricated stories about litter boxes in bathrooms and other manufactured controversies promoted by outside groups that contradict Texas official state motto Friendship reflecting our foundational inclusive, welcoming values. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The timing could not be more destructive. This year, school and district leaders will work tirelessly to fill gaps in basic student health and nutrition needs supporting children with asthma and allergies who no longer have access to inhalers and EpiPens due to Medicaid cuts, and students experiencing increased food insecurity due to the loss of SNAP benefits all while defending against political theatre that distracts from the core educational mission of public schools. Texans face a choice between two visions. We can wisely invest $112 million in evidence-based practices to improve literacy, expand access to early childhood education and ensure teachers have the resources they need to be effective. Or we can continue spending taxpayer dollars to fight manufactured culture wars that distract from education while enriching privatization advocates who deliberately create chaos to justify dismantling public schools. New state investments in evidence-based programs and policies show Texas knows how to get this right. Now we must ensure every taxpayer dollar follows that same principle: supporting student learning, not political theater. Democrats have abandoned their offices by fleeing Texas, and a failure to respond to a call of the House constitutes a dereliction of their duty as elected officials, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said on Tuesday. Emil T. Lippe/For The Texas Tribune Texas House Democratic Caucus Chair Gene Wu along with other members of the Texas House are joined by Illinois Governor JB Pritzker as they speak about Texas Republican plans to redraw the House map office during a press conference at the Democratic Party of DuPage County office in Carol Stream, IL on Sunday, Aug. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Black) Mark Black/Associated Press Attorney General Ken Paxton asked the Texas Supreme Court on Friday to vacate the seats of 13 state House members who have fled to block GOP redistricting, carrying out a threat from earlier in the week. House Speaker Dustin Burrows had set a deadline of 1 p.m. Friday for dozens of absent Democrats to return voluntarily, but the body did not reach a quorum. Advertisement Article continues below this ad READ MORE: Texas House fails to reach quorum as Democratic walkout hits sixth day These cowards deliberately sabotaged the constitutional process and violated the oath they swore to uphold, Paxton said in a statement. Their out-of-state rebellion cannot go unchecked, and the business of Texas must go on. Paxtons action follows a similar lawsuit from Gov. Greg Abbott on Tuesday that seeks to remove House Democratic Caucus Chair Gene Wu of Houston. The members named in the suit are: state Reps. Ron Reynolds; Vikki Goodwin; Gina Hinojosa; James Talarico; Lulu Flores; Mihaela Plesa; Suleman Lalani; Chris Turner; Ana-Maria Ramos; Jessica Gonzalez; John Bucy III; Christina Morales. Wu is also included in Paxtons suit. Advertisement Article continues below this ad Chad Dunn, an attorney for the Democrats, quickly blasted the suits, saying in a statement that they marked a "dangerous assault on the separation of powers," a legal principle that ensures the three branches of government have distinct responsibilities so none grows too powerful. He argued neither the courts nor Abbott have the authority to discipline a lawmaker, only the Texas House does. These petitions are flat-out unconstitutional, which is why none has been tried in 150 years of Texas History, Dunn said. They have come to the wrong court, with no evidence, asking for a remedy the Constitution explicitly leaves to the Legislative branch." Paxton said he was focusing on the 13 members because they made incriminating public statements regarding their refusal to return. He pointed to a statement by Wu, for example, in which he declared that this corrupt special session is over, referring to the 30-day session that Abbott called to pass legislation on redistricting, flooding recovery and hemp regulation. Bucy said in a statement Friday that he was not deterred. Advertisement Article continues below this ad I broke quorum to protect the voice of millions of Texans, Bucy said. This seat belongs to the people of Texas House District 136 not Ken Paxton. Im not backing down. WINDHOEK, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- Namibia will apply to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), Minister of Information and Communication Technology Emma Theofelus has said. The Cabinet approved the move on Tuesday, the minister said Thursday. The Ministry of International Relations and Trade will lead the application process, which includes updating the country's dossier and acting as the primary point, and establishing an interministerial committee tasked with implementing NSG guidelines, Theofelus said. A ministerial delegation will engage with leaders of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the NSG on the margins of the IAEA General Conference in Vienna, Austria, in September to advance Namibia's bid to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group, she said. The Cabinet has authorized the Ministry of Industries, Mines and Energy to establish a national independent regulator and mechanisms of safeguards, safety, and security, Theofelus said. The NSG is a group of 48 nuclear supplier countries that seeks to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons through the implementation of two sets of guidelines aimed at ensuring effective control over transfers of nuclear materials, equipment, and technologies, as well as nuclear-related dual-use items. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was seen giving remarks to republican delegates from Texas on the first day of the Texas GOP Convention on May 23, 2024, in San Antonio, Texas. Christopher Lee Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and House Speaker Dustin Burrows filed a lawsuit Thursday seeking to force Illinois authorities to assist with returning nearly three dozen Democrats who fled to block a vote on a GOP redistricting plan. They filed the suit in Adams County court in Illinois, a heavily Republican, rural part of the Democratic-led state and several hours away from Chicago, where the Texas lawmakers have been camped out. It seeks an emergency court order to find 33 Democratic Texas House members in contempt for disobeying civil warrants issued by the Texas House earlier this week. Advertisement Article continues below this ad We are pursuing every legal remedy at our disposal to hold these rogue legislators accountable, Paxton, a Republican, said in a statement. The House Democratic Caucus did not immediately respond to a request for comment. READ MORE: Greg Abbott is testing new legal ground in his push to expel absent Democrats Theyve found support for their cause in Illinois. Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a Democrat, appeared at press conferences with them earlier this week and said he is providing logistical, but not financial, assistance. Vice President Kamala Harris won the state by 11 points. Advertisement Article continues below this ad The warrants, issued by Burrows on Monday, allow state law enforcement to arrest and escort missing members back to the House chamber but are only enforceable in Texas. The plaintiff in Thursday's suit is the Texas House of Representatives. GENEVA, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. tariffs place "a substantial strain" on Switzerland's export-oriented economy, the Swiss government said, vowing to continue negotiations with the U.S. to reduce the 39 percent additional tariffs imposed on the country, which came into force Thursday. The decision was made following the trip of a Swiss delegation to the United States from Tuesday to Wednesday, led by President Karin Keller-Sutter and Vice President Guy Parmelin, the Federal Council said in a statement. The 39 percent tariff rate, announced by U.S. President Donald Trump on July 31, was one of the highest globally and also higher than the 31 percent rate threatened by Trump in early April. Nearly 60 percent of Swiss exports to the U.S. are subject to the new tariffs, which are "particularly steep" compared with other U.S. trading partners such as the European Union and Britain, the statement said, adding that it is not considering tariff countermeasures for fear of "additional costs on the economy." According to Swiss customs data, the U.S. has been Switzerland's biggest export market since 2021, with Swiss exports to the United States accounted for 18.6 percent of the country's total exports in 2024. The U.S. also stood as the top market for major Swiss industries including chemicals and pharmaceuticals, watchmaking and precision instruments in 2024. The new tariffs have triggered backlash and concerns across the country. Zurich-based Swissmem, an association for Switzerland's mechanical and electrical engineering (MEM) industries, said on Thursday that the "horror scenario" has become a reality, calling for urgent measures from the government. It noted that if the tariffs remain in place, Swiss tech exports to the U.S. will be brought to a standstill. In an earlier statement, it also said the tariffs will hit the economy hard and endanger tens of thousands of jobs in the country. Meanwhile, other industry organizations have slammed the U.S. tariffs as "dangerous" and "unjustified." Economiesuisse, an umbrella organization for the Swiss business sector, said that there is "neither justification nor any understandable reason" why Switzerland should be subject to one of the highest tariff rates in the world. The tariffs represent a "very serious burden" for Swiss export businesses, it noted. The Swiss government has earlier expressed "great regret" that the U.S. intends to impose unilateral additional tariffs despite the progress made in bilateral talks. It noted that the tariff rate announced by Trump differs "significantly" from the draft joint statement approved by the Swiss authorities on July 4 following talks over the past months. Healthcare workers protest Israel's weaponization of hunger and mass starvation in Gaza, in Cape Town, South Africa, on Aug. 7, 2025. South African healthcare workers from both public and private hospitals nationwide took part in the protest on Thursday. (Photo by Shakirah Thebus/Xinhua) CAPE TOWN, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- South African healthcare workers from both public and private hospitals nationwide on Thursday protested Israel's weaponization of hunger and mass starvation in Gaza. In Western Cape Province, protests took place at or near at least 10 facilities, with several others also scheduled to take place in Gauteng Province. Feroza Armien, a member of Healthcare Workers 4 Palestine SA, noted that through coordinated lunchtime protests across the country, healthcare workers are sending a message: a genocide is occurring, and it must be condemned. "The weaponization of healthcare is a tool in this genocide, and that is completely against international humanitarian law. Hospitals and healthcare workers are completely protected in war zones, yet Israel is killing all our healthcare workers -- killing them, targeting them, injuring them, torturing them, kidnapping them, bombing the hospitals. There's absolutely no healthcare available," she said. "As healthcare professionals, we can't remain silent when our profession is completely under threat and used to kill rather than save lives, which is what our profession stands for," she added. Armien said the latest tool used in this genocide was starvation. "Mothers can't produce milk because they are so malnourished ... The children are dying; the mothers are dying. Starvation is a really slow, painful, and treacherous death," said the doctor. The situation in Gaza has reached the worst level of "Phase 5: Famine/Catastrophe," according to the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification. Earlier, Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, called on Israel to allow the UN and its partners to carry out their work unhindered. "Before the spread of famine, community-based distribution centers, supported by partners, provided food and assistance to 2 million people, spread across the Gaza Strip. Five months on the ongoing attempts to replace the UN-coordinated response by four Israeli militarized distribution points, hunger has become the latest killer in Gaza," he wrote on social media X. According to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, more than 60,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks, and 150,000 have been injured. Healthcare workers protest Israel's weaponization of hunger and mass starvation in Gaza, in Cape Town, South Africa, on Aug. 7, 2025. South African healthcare workers from both public and private hospitals nationwide took part in the protest on Thursday. (Photo by Shakirah Thebus/Xinhua) Minister of National Defense Ionut Mosteanu met on Friday with ambassador of the Republic of Turkiye to Romania Ozgur Kivanc Altan, with the two officials approaching the recent security developments in the Black Sea region, with an emphasis on the impact generated by Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, the National Defense Ministry said in a release. The efficient cooperation between Black Sea NATO allies Romania, Bulgaria and Turkiye within the Mine Countermeasures Group (MCM Black Sea), an initiative that directly contributes to increasing regional maritime security, was also highlighted.Also, the National Defense minister underscored the importance of cooperation in the field of military technologies, voicing appreciation for the experience and capacity of the Turkish defense industry, as well as the involvement of Turkish companies in the military equipment programs launched by Romania. National Defence Minister Ionut Mosteanu met on Friday with Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Romania Kap-soo Rim, context in which they discussed about the bilateral cooperation in the defence area. According to a release of the National Defence Ministry (MApN) sent to AGERPRES, the discussions at the MApN headquarters were aimed at the current state and opportunities to strengthen bilateral cooperation in the defence area, amid the latest developments in the regional and international security environment, taking into account the mutual interests in terms of keeping peace and stability, as well as the importance of continuing to grant assistance to Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova."The Republic of Korea is a valuable partner of Romania and the constant and open dialogue in the defence area contributes to strengthening regional and global security. We are interested in developing joint projects in areas such as training and technical-military cooperation," the Romanian minister stated, as quoted in the release. Minister of the Economy, Digital Transformation, Entrepreneurship and Tourism Radu Miruta on Friday signed a government decision by which Romania receives mining licence for the graphite at Baia de Fier. "We signed today the government decision by which Romania receives the mining licence for the graphite at Baia de Fier. An extremely valuable mineral, sought after all over the world, remains the property of Romania and will produce value for our economy. I fought for this graffiti before I was a minister, and today, a month and a half after I arrived in the ministry, I made sure that this unique resource will be capitalised on in the interest of Romania, will bring jobs, economic development and pride for Romanians. We have taken care of what is ours," the minister said in a social media video message. As the negative health consequences of PFAS exposure become clearer, the calls for an EU-wide ban become louder. Concerns over PFAS - short for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances - pollution are mounting across Europe as studies show the toxic 'forever chemicals" are present in our blood, food and water, often at unsafe levels.What are PFAS?Are there PFAS in our blood?France leads in legislationFrance has introduced some of Europe's toughest PFAS regulations. A law passed in February bans the use of PFAS in cosmetics, clothing, shoes, and ski waxes starting in 2026, with a broader ban on PFAS in textiles coming into force in 2030.The law also mandates regular PFAS monitoring in drinking water. Last week, the French government launched a public online map showing PFAS levels in water across the country. In areas of Meuse and Ardennes, tap water consumption has been banned after abnormal levels were detected last month.Belgium's twin PFAS crisesIn Wallonia, public anger erupted in 2023 after an investigation by local broadcaster RTBF revealed that warnings about PFAS contamination were ignored for years. The US military, operating from a base in the small city of Chicvres, had flagged high PFAS levels in local water in 2017 after an incident involving firefighting foam, a substance made with large amounts of PFAS.The US base advised its personnel to drink bottled water - but locals were left in the dark for years, even after the regional government was told of the issue in 2018. Large-scale blood testing was carried out in Chicvres in early 2024 - and later extended to nearby areas.Authorities said almost 1,300 people across approximately ten municipalities had their blood samples taken to confirm exposure to the chemicals in recent weeks, as part of a fresh campaign launched in June.Wallonia's government has also pledged to enforce upcoming EU drinking water standards a year ahead of schedule, by 2025.In Flanders, chemical giant 3M reached a 571 million Euro remediation deal in 2022 with the government after widespread PFAS pollution was linked to its Zwijndrecht factory, near Antwerp.Italy: jail time for pollutersItaly had similar problems with big corporations and PFAS. In June, an Italian court sentenced executives at a chemical plant to jail terms of up to 17 years for polluting water used by hundreds of thousands of people with PFAS.Eleven executives from companies including Japan's Mitsubishi and Luxembourg-based International Chemical Investors Group (ICIG) were convicted for contaminating nearly 200 square kilometres of drinking water as well as soil through the Miteni plant in the northeastern city of Trissino.Netherlands: everyone has PFAS in their bloodThe effects of widespread PFAS use are being seen in Europe. A nationwide study by the Dutch National Institute for Public Health (RIVM) found PFAS in all 1,500 blood samples tested, with nearly every case exceeding health-based safety limits."There are no possibilities to fully avoid contact with PFAS," RIVM concluded. "These substances are present throughout the Netherlands - in soil, food, and drinking water."What is the EU doing?In 2023, the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Norway, and Sweden submitted a proposal to the European Chemicals Agency calling for a blanket ban on all PFAS. It is currently under a review by European scientific committees which is scheduled to conclude in 2026. The European Commission said in its action plan for the chemicals industry published in July that it is "committed to presenting a proposal as soon as possible" when it receives the review "with the overall objective of minimising PFAS emissions".It said it will consider a ban on consumer uses, but if alternatives can't be found for critical industrial uses, the use of PFAS may be allowed. It also committed to take decisive efforts to clean up already polluted sites based on the polluter pays principle or with public money if no liable entity can be found. An EU-wide PFAS monitoring framework is also on the cards to collect data and map pollution hotspots.In Germany, economic ministers of several states have voiced their opposition to a blanket PFAS ban. Baden-Wurttemberg's minister for economic affairs, Nicole Hoffmeister-Kraut of the conservative CDU party, argued that while the effects on human health are well known, a ban would destroy entire production sectors in the EU. This would have the effect of a broad deindustrialisation programme, she claimed.Schleswig-Holstein's Minister for Economic Affairs, Claus Ruhe Madsen (CDU), said he also viewed EU chemical regulations with concern. "They are causing immense damage to the chemical industry and the value chains that depend on it through ever-increasing costs, considerable planning uncertainty, and a backlog of innovation and investment."Some rules are already in place at an EU level such as a limit on PFAS levels in drinking water from 2026 and restrictions on a particular sub-group of PFAS.Not all countries equally affectedSome EU countries report far lower PFAS exposure.In Slovenia, the national health laboratory says the country lacks heavy industry using PFAS and has found only minimal contamination in past testing. However, the Slovenian Consumers' Association did find chemicals from the PFAS group in almost one third of everyday products that they tested, including some that are banned in the EU.Slovenia plans to begin systematic water monitoring in 2026.Bulgaria was among the countries with the lowest percentage of water bodies exceeding the PFOS (a type of PFAS) environmental quality standard in 2022, according to the European Environment Agency. However, additional findings indicate the presence of PFAS in rivers and other water sources.As the EU mulls a potential ban, the true cost of PFAS on people and the environment is coming into focus.The content of this article is based on reporting by AFP, BTA, Belga, dpa, STA, as part of the European Newsroom (enr) project. The exhibition called "George Enescu and the Universe of the Arts," which aims to explore not only the musical genius of the great composer, but also his deep relationship with various forms of artistic expression, will open on 5 September, at the Sutu Palace. As a related event, carried out under the aegis of the "George Enescu" International Festival, the exhibition will showcase lesser-known facets of the composer's complex personality, through some precious objects from the collections of the Bucharest Pinacotheque and the National Museum "George Enescu."A special section will be devoted to the manner in which Enescu was captured and immortalized in art, through paintings, sculptures, graphics and photography, providing a unique visual perspective on his public and private image.The exhibition organized by the MMB in partnership with "George Enescu" Museum, will be open to the public until 19 October, with free entry to the opening event. Russia further seeks to create social, economic and informational chaos in the Republic of Moldova, in order to influence future parliamentary elections, Moldovan Foreign Affairs Minister Mihai Popsoi stated on Friday, in Chernivtsi. At the end of the Romania-Ukraine-the Republic of Moldova trilateral meeting he stated that "for three years Ukraine fought bravely not just for its future, sovereignty, independence and integrity, but also for the security of the entire Europe."In his turn, Ukraine's Foreign Affairs Minister Andrii Sybiha underscored that the parliamentary elections in the Republic of Moldova are important for the future of Ukraine and the entire region. Ukraine's Foreign Affairs Minister Andrii Sybiha requested, within a meeting with his counterparts from Romania and the Republic of Moldova, Oana Toiu, Mihai Popsoi, respectively, military support to withstand the war started by Russia. At the end of a Romania-Ukraine-the Republic of Moldova trilateral meeting held in Chernivtsi, the Ukrainian minister stated that his country's allies should develop a joint production of air defence systems.The head of the Ukrainian diplomacy called for support to restore peace in Ukraine, as well as to accelerate his country's European integration process, as well as that of the Republic of Moldova. He said that the paths of Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova toward the European Union are as inseparable as their security. The Ukrainian minister said that the two countries cannot be divided, concluding that they are moving toward the EU together. The Romanian fire crew deployed to Greece was engaged on Friday in battling a wildfire near Charvalo, in the East Attica region, the Emergency Management Inspectorate General said in a release, adding that the intervention is difficult due to the dry vegetation, rugged terrain and the winds of up to 8 Beaufort that fan the flames. Romanian rescuers are operating with seven special vehicles, including a large-capacity truck with a 30,000-liter water tank.40 Romanian firefighters and nine pieces of technical equipment participate until September 15 in the European Union's civil protection efforts in support of the Greek authorities, working alongside response teams from Austria, the Czech Republic, France, the Republic of Moldova and Bulgaria. The Financial Supervisory Authority (ASF) and the National Bank of Moldova (BNM) signed on Friday a cooperation agreement for setting in place the necessary framework for the exchange of information and technical assistance regarding insurance licensing/authorization, regulation and oversight, with a view to protecting consumer rights and interests. "Since I took office, I have paid particular attention to developing relations with the National Bank of Moldova by initiating or speeding up joint initiatives. With the Republic of Moldova actively engaged in the EU accession process, we intend to remain an aggregator of support provided to the BNM. We have maintained a constructive dialogue on the interconnection of our capital markets and have been actively involved in the Twinning project, providing assistance in the process of modernizing insurance legislation. Recently, we have also signed a financial education cooperation protocol as a basis for expanding our co-work for the professional training of experts and increasing the financial inclusion rate in the Republic of Moldova. This new insurance cooperation protocol marks a natural step in deepening the relations between our institutions and reflects the joint commitment to developing a solid and transparent financial framework, in line with the best international practices," ASF president Alexandru Petrescu said, as cited in a release.The two authorities also expressed their intention to cooperate on experience exchanges and professional training activities, with the goal of contributing to the consolidation and development of the regulatory and supervisory framework in the insurance sector. Firefighters battle to contain the wildfire in Ventura County, California, the United States, Aug. 7, 2025. The wildfire, dubbed the Canyon fire, broke out around 1:25 p.m. local time (2025 GMT) near Piru, a small historic town located in eastern Ventura County and around 77 km northwest of Los Angeles. (Photo by Qiu Chen/Xinhua) LOS ANGELES, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- Evacuations were ordered on Thursday for communities near a fast-moving wildfire in a canyon area in Southern California amid a major heat wave. The wildfire, dubbed the Canyon fire, broke out around 1:25 p.m. local time (2025 GMT) near Piru, a small historic town located in eastern Ventura County and around 77 km northwest of Los Angeles. The blaze grew rapidly to over 1,000 acres (around 4.05 square km) in hours with no containment, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire). Local officials issued multiple evacuation orders and warnings for some communities near the fire in Ventura and Los Angeles counties. "Immediate threat to life. This is a lawful order to LEAVE NOW. The area is lawfully closed to public access," said Cal Fire in its evacuation orders. "The Canyon Fire is spreading fast under extreme heat and dry conditions near Ventura-LA County line," said Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger in a post on X, urging residents in the area to "take evacuation orders seriously -- when first responders say GO, leave immediately." The temperature in the area reached 37.8 degrees Celsius on Thursday, with 15-17 percent humidity, according to the U.S. National Weather Service. Firefighters battle to contain the wildfire in Ventura County, California, the United States, Aug. 7, 2025. The wildfire, dubbed the Canyon fire, broke out around 1:25 p.m. local time (2025 GMT) near Piru, a small historic town located in eastern Ventura County and around 77 km northwest of Los Angeles. (Photo by Qiu Chen/Xinhua) Firefighters battle to contain the wildfire in Ventura County, California, the United States, Aug. 7, 2025. The wildfire, dubbed the Canyon fire, broke out around 1:25 p.m. local time (2025 GMT) near Piru, a small historic town located in eastern Ventura County and around 77 km northwest of Los Angeles. (Photo by Qiu Chen/Xinhua) Firefighters move to battle the wildfire in Ventura County, California, the United States, Aug. 7, 2025. The wildfire, dubbed the Canyon fire, broke out around 1:25 p.m. local time (2025 GMT) near Piru, a small historic town located in eastern Ventura County and around 77 km northwest of Los Angeles. (Photo by Qiu Chen/Xinhua) Firefighters inspect the wildfire in Ventura County, California, the United States, Aug. 7, 2025. The wildfire, dubbed the Canyon fire, broke out around 1:25 p.m. local time (2025 GMT) near Piru, a small historic town located in eastern Ventura County and around 77 km northwest of Los Angeles. (Photo by Qiu Chen/Xinhua) Firefighters move to battle the wildfire in Ventura County, California, the United States, Aug. 7, 2025. The wildfire, dubbed the Canyon fire, broke out around 1:25 p.m. local time (2025 GMT) near Piru, a small historic town located in eastern Ventura County and around 77 km northwest of Los Angeles. (Photo by Qiu Chen/Xinhua) A firefighting helicopter drops water at the wildfire in Ventura County, California, the United States, Aug. 7, 2025. The wildfire, dubbed the Canyon fire, broke out around 1:25 p.m. local time (2025 GMT) near Piru, a small historic town located in eastern Ventura County and around 77 km northwest of Los Angeles. (Photo by Qiu Chen/Xinhua) Firefighters move to battle the wildfire in Ventura County, California, the United States, Aug. 7, 2025. The wildfire, dubbed the Canyon fire, broke out around 1:25 p.m. local time (2025 GMT) near Piru, a small historic town located in eastern Ventura County and around 77 km northwest of Los Angeles. (Photo by Qiu Chen/Xinhua) Firefighters inspect the wildfire in Ventura County, California, the United States, Aug. 7, 2025. The wildfire, dubbed the Canyon fire, broke out around 1:25 p.m. local time (2025 GMT) near Piru, a small historic town located in eastern Ventura County and around 77 km northwest of Los Angeles. (Photo by Qiu Chen/Xinhua) Firefighters battle to contain the wildfire in Ventura County, California, the United States, Aug. 7, 2025. The wildfire, dubbed the Canyon fire, broke out around 1:25 p.m. local time (2025 GMT) near Piru, a small historic town located in eastern Ventura County and around 77 km northwest of Los Angeles. (Photo by Qiu Chen/Xinhua) Firefighters move to battle the wildfire in Ventura County, California, the United States, Aug. 7, 2025. The wildfire, dubbed the Canyon fire, broke out around 1:25 p.m. local time (2025 GMT) near Piru, a small historic town located in eastern Ventura County and around 77 km northwest of Los Angeles. (Photo by Qiu Chen/Xinhua) ST. LOUIS In the late hours of Tuesday night, an Uber driver arrived in the 4400 block of Kennerly Avenue to pick up a group of teenagers. When the teens approached the car, one of them pulled a gun, fired a shot and demanded the driver get out of his vehicle, the driver later told police. The teens then jumped in the car and sped off. St. Louis police tracked the stolen car and then chased the teens on a miles-long pursuit before they crashed in Bridgeton. All four were arrested. But police said they couldnt detain them. The teens were released back to their families that night. Early Thursday morning, police got another call for a carjacking, this time from a Lyft driver. It appeared to be the same teens, police said. On Thursday, police officials were frustrated. The problem, said spokesman Mitch McCoy, is a judicial system that tracks youth arrests and assigns them points for each crime alleged. Unless they rack up enough points, they cant be held in juvenile detention. (Police) see how easily preventable this could have been, and its not our intent to place blame on anyone or anything, McCoy said. The only thing were raising our hand to say today would be that it might be time that we just take a look at the overall point system. The run-in with the teens started about 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, when police responded to the first carjacking. By early Wednesday, police had located the car. But when they tried it pull it over, it sped off. They chased it for miles, ending in the crash in Bridgeton. They arrested four teenagers in that incident, including a 16-year-old driver. But police didnt hold or charge the teens, McCoy said. Instead, they were dropped off at their homes. Then, about 2 a.m. Thursday, the Lyft vehicle was stolen. The driver told police he was giving the teens a ride when one pulled a gun and demanded he get out of the vehicle, near the intersection of Carter and North Newstead avenues, about a mile away from the first carjacking. Then the teens drove away with it, McCoy said. Police tracked the car with the teens inside and chased it to the 4200 block of Penrose Street. The group of teens jumped out and fled, McCoy said, but police caught the 16-year-old driver and arrested him. He was the same 16-year-old, McCoy said, who had been arrested only 26 hours earlier. This time, police charged him with tampering and resisting arrest. The officers that arrested the 16-year-old last night are the same group of officers that arrested him this morning, he said. They were talking about it. The 16-year-old knew that he had just been captured by the same officers. Police suspect but arent sure the other teens are the same who were arrested after the first carjacking. But there were two carjackings, about a day apart, about a mile apart, where multiple teens confronted a lone ride-hailing driver. This is not rocket science, McCoy said. Missouris juvenile point system is the problem, McCoy said. In Missouri, the system, called the Juvenile Detention Assessment, assigns points to minors based on the crimes they commit similar to how points are assigned to a drivers license for traffic offenses. A score of 15 points is required to detain a minor, according to state guidelines. Class A felonies, the worst crimes, count for the full 15 points enough to be detained after the first offense. But most felonies only count for 12. The system is used by 35 of Missouris 46 judicial courts, including St. Louis County, where the chase after the first carjacking ended. Juvenile Detention couldn't hold the teens after the first offense because they didn't have enough points, McCoy said. The police department would like someone to review of the juvenile court system, McCoy said. These are kids committing very dangerous crimes that are going to kill someone, he continued. Juveniles can still be charged, even if they havent been detained, according to the guidelines. By Thursday afternoon, only the 16-year-old driver had been charged. McCoy said police did not yet have enough evidence to charge the other teens. Jack Suntrup of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report. BEIJING, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese defense spokesperson on Friday called on relevant parties to view defense cooperation between China and Russia objectively and rationally, noting that this cooperation does not target any third party. Jiang Bin, a spokesperson for China's Ministry of National Defense, made the remarks at a regular press conference in response to a question about China's view on certain countries repeatedly dispatching aircraft and ships to the vicinity of Chinese and Russian task forces during their Joint Sea 2025 exercise. Some analysts have suggested the joint exercise was targeted at third parties. "The Joint Sea exercise is an institutionalized cooperation program between the Chinese and Russian navies. Since its inception in 2012, the exercise has been held 10 times and has become a key platform for China-Russia military cooperation," Jiang said. He added that task groups from both sides have completed work related to planned subjects, including joint air defense, counter-sea and anti-submarine operations, and have transitioned to a joint maritime patrol. "China and Russia adhere to non-alliance and non-confrontation principles, and do not target any third party in their development of bilateral and military relations. Together, they play an important role in safeguarding international and regional peace and stability," Jiang said. "We hope relevant parties will view defense cooperation between China and Russia objectively and rationally, and cease making groundless speculations and spreading slander," he added. From Aug. 1 to 5, the Chinese and Russian navies held a joint sea-and-air exercise near Vladivostok, Russia. YouTube self-policing isn't working With IBC on the horizon in September and Streaming Medias stateside show Streaming Media 2025 following shortly thereafter, one emerging theme in both conference programmes is the continuing convergence of the creator economy with traditional broadcasting, and the intertwining of social and shortform streaming with more mainstream and linear platforms. If the convergence isnt always as warmly and fuzzily embraced as in, say, IBCs Spotlight Keynote YouTube x Channel 4: Better Together, the time for maintaining the categorical separation of these once-separate categories is now behind us. In the UK, last week brought the premiere of Barbs YouTube on TV-inclusive audience reporting, with some 200 prominent YouTube channels ranging from Peppa Pig and Bluey to FIFA and WWE and MrBeast assessed for reach, reach percentage, total weekly minutes, and Duration/Exclusivity. Barb and its partner Kantar Media also provided demographic data on the age and sex of viewers on each of the selected channels. With 43% of all YouTube viewing among the 16-and-older set happening on smart TVs in Q2 2025compared to 32 percent on smartphonesthe case for treating YouTube as part of the TV ecosystem for measurement purposes and its value for advertisers planning campaigns are hard to dispute. But far more controversialas Ofcoms Media Nations report released the same week finds YouTube both the second most-watched media service in the UK (behind the BBC) and a driving force in the growth of streaming relative to linear TV viewingis the question of whether YouTube advertising should be regulated in the same manner as its new neighbors in the TV ecosystem. As investment and cryptocurrency scams and deepfakes featuring AI impersonations of recognizable public figures including celebrities, politicians, and even members of the r flood YouTubes airwaves, Britains Liberal Democratic Party argue that YouTube adverts should meet the same rigorous standards applied elsewhere in the ecosystem in which YouTube now operates. Industry bodies Clearcast and Radio Central vet the majority of ads broadcast on TV and radio before the air, while YouTube remains free to regulate itself. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) regulates adverts in the UK. Its ad codes theoretically set the same rules for YouTube adverts as broadcasters and streaming platforms are required to follow, but there is no vetting, pre-approval, or monitoring for YouTube advertising. Nor does national media watchdog Ofcoms screening for harmful and misleading content currently apply to YouTube. As BBC.com reported on 6 August, the ASA weighed in through a spokesman who sided with the Lib Dems: Ofcom under the Online Safety Act, which is designed to hold platforms to account for tackling and deterring fraud on their services. We readily support Ofcom's efforts to carry out this work and will continue to and play a disruptor role by reporting them and working with platforms to have them removed. Defiantly asserting the channels right to police itself, a YouTube spokesperson was having none of it: YouTube is not a broadcaster and it should not be regulated like one. On February 11, 2025, YouTube CEO Neal Mohan declared YouTube the new television. As such, it seems, the channel is entitled to play by its own rules. The same week that Barb began including 200 YouTube channels in its reports, YouTube announced that it would no longer be a Barb Audiences subscriber. Although this decision has no effect on whether Barb will continue to report on YouTube channels marketshare, it may well reflect the fact that the first Barb report that included YouTube channels didnt reflect well on YouTubes channels, with its top performer, Peppa Pig, capturing less than 1% of the UK population. As a performance indicator, that arguably says more about the drawbacks of analyzing YouTubes impact on a channel-by-channel basis than an aggregate. One week in, the Barbs capacity to measure YouTube marked- and mindshare remains a work in progress. But that indicator in no way minimizes the damage disreputable advertisers on the new TV can do, or suggests that they shouldnt be subject to the same scrutiny they would face in the old TV world. Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. Related Articles A Sig Sauer M18 is shot during a tactical leadership course within the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility on Jan. 23, 2025. (U.S. Air Force photo) The Air Force has charged an airman with making false statements, obstructing justice and involuntary manslaughter in the July 20 shooting death of a security forces airman at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming, the service announced Friday. The suspect was arrested recently as the investigations into the shooting and the safety of the militarys M18 pistols launched in the wake of Airman Brayden Lovans death progressed, the Air Force said in a brief statement. The suspect was not named in the statement. The investigation in this case is ongoing and further details are not available, the statement read. Air Force Global Strike Command, which oversees the services nuclear capabilities including the intercontinental ballistic missiles at F.E. Warren, ordered a pause in the use of the M18 pistol after Lovans death. The concern was the shooting might have been the result of a so-called uncommanded discharge, which occurs when a gun fires without the trigger being pulled. The suspects charges indicate investigators believe Lovans death was likely the result of a negligent discharge in which the guns trigger was accidentally pulled and the gun fired. Global Strike Commands pause in the use of the M18 pistol remained in place Friday, a spokesman for the command said. It was not expected to be lifted until after the investigations were completed and provided to Gen. Thomas Bussiere, who leads Air Force Global Strike Command. Some commanders in Air Force Combat Command the services largest four-star command also ordered temporary halts of the pistols use as a precautionary measure until airmen undergo refresher training, that command announced last week. As of Friday, the Air Force was continuing efforts to inspect all its roughly 125,000 M18 pistols to ensure safety, another Air Force spokesperson said. The M18 is one of two variants of the Sig Sauer-built P320 handgun made for the U.S. military, along with a larger version -- the M17. The two striker-fired, semiautomatic 9mm pistols replaced the Beretta M9 as the militarys primary handguns in recent years. But Sig Sauer has been plagued by numerous claims and more than one dozen lawsuits that its P320 models, including the M18 and M17, had fired without trigger pulls, injuring individuals including police officers and civilians. Those claims have resulted in dozens of law enforcement agencies including some federal agencies barring their officers from carrying P320s on duty. Many civilian shooting ranges have also barred the use of P320 variants at their facilities. Sig has long insisted its P320 models were safe and incapable of producing uncommanded discharges. The New Hampshire-based company has said it was cooperating into the investigations into the circumstances of Lovans death. The P320 pistol is one of the safest, most advanced pistols in the world meeting and exceeding all industry safety standards, Sig Sauer said in a statement after Lovans death. Its design has been thoroughly tested and validated by the U.S. military and law enforcement agencies at the federal, state and local levels. In addition, the P320 has been rigorously tested, and is currently in use by militaries and law enforcement agencies around the world. The P320 cannot, under any circumstances, discharge without the trigger first being moved to the rear. (Eikoh Goya/Stars and Stripes) Okinawa, Japan, January 1962: Melissa McDonald, 12, a seventh grade student at Mercy Intermediate School, Okinawa, displays a letter from the White House. The seventh-grade student at Mercy Intermediate School in Okinawa received the letter in December as a reply to a letter she sent to President John F. Kennedy the month prior to express her appreciation for the Presidents physical fitness program, now under way at all American schools. The letter, typed on White House stationery, was signed by Ralph A. Dungan, one of President Kennedys special assistants. It read, in part: You were certainly thoughtful to write the President such a friendly letter, and he asked me to express his thanks. The nice things you said mean a great deal to him. Melissa is the daughter of Lt. and Mrs. Raymond M. McDonald. McDonald is assigned aboard the seaplane tender Currituck, presently moored at White Beach in northern Okinawa. Looking for Stars and Stripes coverage of overseas military life through the decades? Subscribe to Stars and Stripes historic newspaper archive! We have digitized our 1948-1999 European and Pacific editions, as well as several of our WWII editions and made them available online through https://starsandstripes.newspaperarchive.com/ The Seenachtfest on the shores of Lake Constance includes many fun activities and ends with a glorious display of fireworks. The event takes place Aug. 9. (iStock) Of all the countless special places to be on a sunny summers day, its hard to beat a location on the shores of a clean and swimmable lake. And where theres a city or town set in an enviable waterside location, its a pretty safe bet that a fest or party worth attending figures into its annual calendar of events. Here are a few events to check out this weekend and the weeks to come: Echternach, Luxembourg: In a natural green amphitheater surrounded by hills, the e-Lake festival offers three days of electronic music across two stages. From Aug. 8-10, an anticipated 20,000 music fans will revel to the sounds of up-and-coming and established artists and music spun by DJs. Saturdays program traditionally features an international lineup; on Sunday, performers from Luxembourg take to the stage. While entry to the festival itself is free, anticipate parking fees (10 euros per vehicle). The only camping available is offsite. The festival kicks off at 6 p.m. on Aug. 8 and closes late on Sunday evening Aug. 10. The venues exact address for navigational purposes is Centre recreatif dEchternach, Rue Gregoire Schouppe, L-6479 Echternach. Online: e-lake.lu Konstanz, Germany: Germanys largest city on the shores of Lake Constance, or the Bodensee as its known locally, hosts one of its biggest bashes of the summer on Aug. 9. The Seenachtfest offers a two-mile promenade packed with action brought on by dancers, acrobats, water-skiers, musicians and vendors selling souvenirs and tasty fare. The evenings crowning glory is a display of fireworks that reflects from the water to stunning effect. Theres a good reason to make the trip this year organizers state this is probably the last year the fest will be staged at such a scale and with the fireworks. The Lake Night Festival gets underway from 3 p.m. Adult admission costs 23.90 euros; entry for youth ages six 13 goes for 4 euros; children five and under enter free. Online: seenachtfest.de Zurich, Switzerland: One of Europes most important financial centers and a powerhouse in terms of cultural offerings has an additional claim to fame: it plays host to whats billed as the worlds largest techno party. Each year in August, hundreds of thousands of electronic and techno music fans make the pilgrimage to the shores of Lake Zurich, eager to be part of the Street Parade. On Aug. 9, party people will come together once again to take in the sounds of house, drum n bass, dubstep, trance, techno and genres which defy easy labels. The beating heart of the fest is made up of the so-called Love Mobiles, decked-out trucks that serve as mobile stages for artists and DJs. The 30 Love Mobiles are complemented by an additional eight static stages. The festival kicks off at 1 p.m. and goes until midnight, at which point many revelers will make their way to clubs where they will dance until the dawn. Entry to the street parade is free. Online: streetparade.com Limone del Garda, Italy: Each year on the eve of the Italian national holiday known as Ferragosto, the town of Limone sul Garde basks in a sunny glow. On Aug. 14, Yellow Night transforms the promenade on the shores of Lake Garda into an all-ages party zone featuring concerts, shows, plenty of food and drink stands and a fireworks display. The fun begins at 8 p.m.; entry is free. Online: tinyurl.com/mrxn2fz6 Faak am See, Austria: The Austrian state of Carinthia, inched up to Italy and Slovenia and known for its lakes and mountains, makes a breathtaking backdrop to one of Europes largest gatherings of Harley-Davidson fans. From Sept. 2-7, the lake known as Faaker See will be considerably less than tranquil as hundreds of thousands of bikers and enthusiasts of the Harley label come together for riding through the scenic highways of the eastern Alps by day and partying by night. A highlight of the weeks activities is the Harley parade, scheduled to kick off at noon on Sept. 6. The route passes along the Faaker See, through the city of Villach and around another lake, the Ossiacher See, before returning to its home base lake. Event participants can choose to camp or take advantage of motels that cater to a riding clientele. Online: bikeweek.at/en Bardolino, Italy: As the summer slowly fades away, its time to taste the wines, and for sampling those made from grapes grown on the hills surrounding Lake Garda, the Festa dellUva e del Vino is an optimal event for doing so. From Oct. 2-6, an estimated 100,000 visitors will turn out for regional foods, live music, and sampling the areas acclaim red wines. Open cellars, concerts and crafts stands round out the offerings. Fireworks set to music go off at 10 p.m. Oct. 6. Online: tinyurl.com/4cyu5ktb Retired Army officer Lt. Col. Alexander Kaleolani Kayatani was briefly held in the Federal Detention Center, Honolulu, shown here in this undated photo, after being charged with attempted transfer of obscene matter to a minor. (Federal Bureau of Prisons) (Tribune News Service) A retired U.S. Army microbiologist is facing federal criminal charges after he allegedly tried to lure who he thought was a 14-year-old girl into a sexual relationship using an online dating application. Lt. Col. Alexander Kaleolani Kayatani, 49, aka Daddy Dom, was arrested by federal agents April 17 at Schofield Barracks after he went to meet 14-year-old Izzy for sex after dropping his 14-year-old child off at school, according to federal court records. Izzy turned out to be a U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Division special agent posing as a 14-year-old girl online. Kayatani was charged Wednesday with attempted transfer of obscene matter to a minor in connection with communications he had between April 15 and April 17. He was originally charged April 18 with one count of attempted coercion and enticement of a minor. Kayatani is scheduled for an initial appearance, waiver of indictment, arraignment and plea Tuesday to the charge filed in federal court on Wednesday. Kayatani was the chief of microbiology at the Tripler Army Medical Center and worked there until July 1, 2023. He served in the U.S. Army from June 28, 1997, until July 1, 2023. On April 24, U.S. Magistrate Judge Rom A. Trader denied the U.S. Department of Justices motion to detain Kayatani without bail. He was released on a secured bond of $100,000, Trader ordered that the bond required a $20,000 cash deposit with the court before Kayatani was released from the Federal Detention Center, Honolulu. The bond papers were signed by Kayatani and his wife who volunteered to be a third-party custodian of his supervised release. On April 15, the Army CID agent acting as Izzy created a profile on the dating application Feeld. In the profile, Izzy claimed to be 20 years old and was here to have fun ! Cool vibes only and was interested in casual, connection, fun, and FWB (Friends with benefits ), according to federal court documents. The profile picture of Izzy was of her holding a skateboard and smiling. A Feeld dating application user with the handle Daddy Dom was identified by the Army CID as Kayatani. Kayatani matched with Izzy and messaged her using the direct message feature, stating Awe great smile. Kayatani introduced himself as Alex and told Izzy that he was from Hawaii but in the army and stationed here at Tripler hospital, according to federal court records. The Army CID special agent posing as Izzy gave Kayatani a mobile phone number to contact. About 11 minutes after Kayatani got Izzys number, he texted and Izzy told him she was almost 15. Kayatani allegedly replied Oh my Thats not very safe sweetie, and I wouldnt want a boy to hurt you and asked her what she wanted to learn. Kayatani allegedly told the girl he could not wait to teach you. Court records document some of the conversations that went on between Kayatani and the Army CID special agent posing as Izzy. The language includes graphic descriptions of sexual acts Kayatani allegedly wanted to perform with the girl. On April 15 Kayatani steered the communication back to Izzys sexual lessons. Kayatani allegedly asked Izzy Whats the first thing you want daddy to teach you ? and suggested that I want you to have your first orgasm and then lose your virginity, according to federal court records. On April 17, surveillance teams watched Kayatani leave his house drive to drop off his 14-year-old child to school, then travel to a residence in Honolulu, and later Schofield Barracks to meet Izzy. Once Kayatani got on Schofield Barracks using his retired U.S. Department of Defense identification card, he drove to the predesignated meet location. When he got there Kayatani was arrested by Army CID personnel. The Federal Bureau of Investigation was present at the command post and observed the arrest with CID. Kayatani was interviewed and allegedly said that he met Izzy online and that he knew her to be at least 14 years old. Kayatani agreed that the conversation was sexual in nature, however had no intention of having sexual intercourse with Izzy that day. He stated that he was just meeting her to tell her that he can no longer talk to her in that manner, read an affidavit authored by an FBI agent. Kayatanis attorney, William A. Harrison, did not immediately reply to a Honolulu Star-Advertiser request for comment. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Nammar is prosecuting the case. While leading the Department of Microbiology at Tripler, he was one of 13 co-authors of the February 2022 study Persons tested for SAR-CoV-2 at a military treatment facility in Hawaii that was published by the National Institute of Health. Before working at the TAMC, Kayatani was assigned to the Walter Reed Medical Research Institute in Washington and worked as a post doctoral fellow in the Malaria Vaccine Development Program at Walter Reed. He also served as a scientist at the Center for Infectious Disease Research at Walter Reed and the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Kaiserslautern, Germany. Kayatani earned his doctorate from the John A. Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawaii. Kayatani, who earned a Masters of Business Administration while stationed in Virginia, was later selected by the Army to pursue a Ph.D. in medical research at a school of his choice, according to an alumni newsletter. Kayatani earned a bachelors degree from the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. 2025 The Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Visit www.staradvertiser.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. BEIJING, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- China's top court on Friday issued a set of judicial guidelines for the implementation of the Private Sector Promotion Law, including a strict "entry-unless-prohibited" approach and efforts to regulate monopoly and unfair competition, to better ensure the healthy development of the country's private sector. The guidelines include detailed rules for courts' judicial and adjudication work in relevant areas, designed to tackle practical issues and ensure the law is applied properly and consistently, the Supreme People's Court (SPC) said in a statement. The rules comprise 25 articles covering overall requirements and judicial work related to equal treatment of relevant entities, guiding the private sector's lawful operations, ensuring strict and impartial justice, and advancing improvements to build a fair judicial system, according to the SPC. The top court said that efforts will be made to ensure equal protection for private enterprises to boost their confidence. This includes measures to guarantee fair market competition, help private businesses expand financing channels, tackle their issues like delayed payments, safeguard technological innovations, and promote the sound and orderly development of emerging industries. The guidelines also emphasize cracking down on corruption and other criminal activities within private enterprises, while encouraging them to maintain strong internal governance. To stabilize expectations in the private sector, the SPC pledged strict and impartial justice. The guidelines call for stronger legal protection of property rights, proper handling of assets in related cases, rectification of enterprise-related miscarriages of justice, and safeguarding the lawful rights and interests of private businesses and business owners. The guidelines urge courts to enhance litigation services to reduce costs for private businesses when resolving disputes and seeking remedies. The guidelines also stipulate better support to help private businesses expand safely overseas and to boost efficiency in foreign-related adjudication. China's top legislature adopted the country's first fundamental law dedicated to promoting the private sector in April, with the law taking effect on May 20. The law was applied for the first time by the administrative division of the SPC in the trial of a case involving a real estate developer based in Nanyang of central China's Henan Province and local authorities. In 2006, the company signed a contract with the local government for the transfer of state-owned land use rights. When residents blocked the project over low land acquisition compensation, the government proposed that the company pay additional compensation in exchange for policy concessions and extra land. The company complied in 2011, resolving the dispute and completing the project, but the promised compensation from the government was never delivered in full. The firm later sued for 16.58 million yuan (about 2.32 million U.S. dollars) in advanced compensation payments and other related costs. In 2020, municipal and provincial people's courts rejected the claim on two occasions, prompting the company to seek a retrial at the SPC. By that time, things had changed as the Private Sector Promotion Law had taken effect, requiring local governments to honor policy commitments and contracts with private businesses, and prohibiting them from breaking those commitments on grounds such as administrative restructuring, leadership changes, institutional adjustments or personnel turnover. The law also states that if policy commitments or contractual terms must be changed in light of national or public interests, changes must follow legal procedures, and private businesses must be compensated for resulting losses. Based on the law, the SPC overturned the first and second instance rulings in late May, ordering the local government to pay half of the 16.82 million yuan in losses involved in the case to the company within 15 days of the judgment taking effect. According to the SPC judge who presided over the case, although the government made efforts to fulfill its administrative promises, it failed to actively consult and communicate with the company when those commitments proved impossible to meet in practice, and it should bear corresponding responsibility in accordance with relevant laws. The government's failure to fulfill its administrative commitments had also been related to changes the company made to its development plan, as well as poor communication between the two sides, so both parties were found to be at fault, the judge said. "The operation and growth of private enterprises can't be separated from the support of local governments. Only when government departments perform their duties in accordance with the law and keep their promises can they give us confidence and reassurance," a company representative said. In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Russias President Vladimir Putin chairs a Security Council meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow on August 8, 2025. (Mikhail Metzell/Pool/AFP/Getty Images/TNS) (Tribune News Service) Washington and Moscow are aiming to reach a deal to halt the war in Ukraine that would lock in Russias occupation of territory seized during its military invasion, according to people familiar with the matter. U.S. and Russian officials are working toward an agreement on territories for a planned summit meeting between Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin as early as next week, the people said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations. The U.S. is working to get buy-in from Ukraine and its European allies on the deal, which is far from certain, the people said. Putin is demanding that Ukraine cede its entire eastern Donbas area to Russia as well as Crimea, which his forces illegally annexed in 2014. That would require Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to order a withdrawal of troops from parts of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions still held by Kyiv, handing Russia a victory that its army couldnt achieve militarily since the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022. Such an outcome would represent a major win for Putin, who has long sought direct negotiations with the U.S. on terms for ending the war that he started, sidelining Ukraine and its European allies. Zelenskyy risks being presented with a take-it-or-leave-it deal to accept the loss of Ukrainian territory, while Europe fears it would be left to monitor a ceasefire as Putin rebuilds his forces. U.S. Treasury yields retreated slightly from near session highs as the report sparked a drop in oil prices, including a decline of as much as 1.7% in U.S. benchmark WTI crude futures. Ukraine bonds jumped and Hungarys forint hit its highest level against the euro in almost a year. Under the terms of the deal that officials are discussing, Russia would halt its offensive in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine along the current battlelines, the people said. They cautioned that the terms and plans of the accord were still in flux and could still change. Its unclear if Moscow is prepared to give up any land that it currently occupies, which includes the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe. The White House didnt reply to a request to comment. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov didnt immediately respond to a request to comment. Ukraine declined to comment on the proposals. The agreement aims essentially to freeze the war and pave the way for a ceasefire and technical talks on a definitive peace settlement, the people said. The U.S. had earlier been pushing for Russia to agree first to an unconditional ceasefire to create space for negotiations on ending the war thats now in its fourth year. Putin on Friday held phone calls with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well as with the leaders of South Africa, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Belarus to share details of his Aug. 6 meeting with Trumps envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow, according to the Kremlin. Having returned to the White House in January on a pledge to rapidly resolve Europes worst conflict since World War II, Trump has expressed increasing frustration with Putins refusal to agree to a ceasefire. The two leaders held six phone calls since February and Witkoff met with Putin five times in Russia to try to broker an agreement. Alongside those discussions, Ukraine was seeking security guarantees to ensure any truce holds and urging allies to keep Russias economy under pressure through sanctions. Trump hasnt implemented any direct measures against Moscow so far, though he doubled tariffs on Indian goods to 50% this week for its purchases of Russian oil, sparking outrage in New Delhi. He has demanded that Putin agree to a ceasefire by Friday or the U.S. would act to impose tariffs on countries buying Russian oil to ramp up economic pressure on Moscow. Putin has repeatedly insisted that his war goals remain unchanged. They include demands for Kyiv to accept neutral status and abandon its ambition of NATO membership, and to accept the loss of Crimea and the other four eastern and southern Ukrainian regions to Russia. Parts of Donetsk and Luhansk have been under Russian occupation since 2014, when the Kremlin incited separatist violence shortly after the operation to seize Crimea. Putin declared the four Ukrainian regions to be forever part of Russia after announcing that he was annexing them in September 2022, even as his forces have never fully controlled those territories. Ukraine cannot constitutionally cede territory and it has said it wont recognize Russian occupation and annexation of its land. Its still unclear if Putin would agree to take part in a trilateral meeting with Trump and Zelenskyy next week, even if he had already struck an agreement with the U.S. president, the people added. The Russian leader told reporters on Thursday that he didnt object to meeting Zelenskyy under the right conditions, though he said they dont exist now. Multiple officials, including in the U.S., have expressed skepticism over Putins willingness to call a halt to the war and whether hes genuinely interested in a peace deal that would fall short of his stated goals in Ukraine, according to the people. Trump said on Thursday that hed be willing to meet with Putin, even if the Russian leader hadnt agreed to also sit down with Zelenskyy, apparently overriding earlier suggestions of a trilateral meeting. I dont like long waits, Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. They would like to meet with me and I will do whatever I can to stop the killing. Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said Thursday that Russian and U.S. officials are finalizing details for a meeting within the next few days and that they have agreed on a venue, which he didnt name. The U.S. had previously offered to recognize Crimea as Russian as part of any deal to halt the war, and to effectively cede Russian control of parts of other Ukrainian regions. As part of those earlier proposals, control over areas of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson would be returned to Ukraine. With assistance from Elizabeth Stanton, Andras Gergely and Selcuk Gokoluk. 2025 Bloomberg L.P. Visit bloomberg.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Bedouin residents of Sweida join an evacuation convoy organized by the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, while Druze militants secure the area. (Lorenzo Tugnoli/The Washington Post) SWEIDA, Syria - Charred bodies sat in an awful heap on a city sidewalk. Blood mixed with dirt in a traffic circle where civilians were gunned down. Grieving women clasped arms on Sweidas stricken streets, wearing black. This was the aftermath of the brutal violence that seized the Sweida area in mid-July, among the deadliest in Syria since rebels toppled Bashar al-Assads dictatorship last year. In a fight charged by sectarian rage, more than 1,000 people were killed as gunmen battled for days, according to human rights groups. Weeks later, the conflict still simmers, with government forces surrounding the city of Sweida in a standoff with Druze fighters within. The carnage has polarized Syria, sparking protests by members of the Druze religious minority, counter-demonstrations by government supporters, accusations of treachery and vows of revenge. They killed, and we killed, said Saud al-Wadi, 58, a Bedouin who fled the violence with his family, speaking of his former Druze neighbors. There is blood between us. The two sides battled again briefly Sunday, along several front lines. Inside the city, the mainly Druze residents who remain are running low on water, fuel and other essentials. Stranded in the no-mans-land between the forces are perhaps hundreds of uncollected bodies, rescue workers say. Nearly a week of intense fighting in the city, in southwest Syria, was set off by the kidnapping of a Druze merchant and retaliatory abductions of Sunni Muslim Bedouins, residents said. The communities have clashed in the past, including over land. The ferocity of the dispute this time delivered a warning about the fragility of Syrias social fabric. And the authorities failure to quiet the confrontation is highlighting the struggles of President Ahmed al-Sharaas young government in responding to tensions or outbreaks of violence - without making them worse. Sweidas descent was marked by atrocities and summary killings, heavy-weapons fire and airstrikes. Buildings throughout the city were looted. Villages beyond it were emptied and burned. Nearly 200,000 people have been displaced, according to the United Nations. Scores remain missing. The majority of those killed appeared to be Druze, who are the majority in Sweida and the surrounding province of the same name, said Fadel Abdul Ghany, head of the Syrian Network for Human Rights. It was unclear how many were combatants or civilians. The dead included at least 26 children and 47 women, he said. Survivors told Washington Post reporters who visited the city and surrounding villages in recent weeks that atrocities were committed by all the armed factions. Everyone contributed to the blood that was shed in the province, said Laith al-Balous, a local Druze leader seen as close to the government. Bodies were kept for days in the courtyard and morgue of the citys main hospital. Some were later buried in a mass grave, on a hill overlooking the city, under red-brown dirt. The dead were still being tallied, doctors at the hospital said. For days, they said, requests for coffins poured in from villages around Sweida. A pattern of killing The combatants on one side included local Bedouins, Sunni tribesmen from across Syria who had answered Bedouin pleas for help, and army and Interior Ministry troops. They battled Druze fighters backed by Israel, which carried out airstrikes, in Sweida and in the Syrian capital, Damascus. Mazen Aleddine, a Druze resident, said members of the states general security forces and allied Sunni tribesmen killed his brother, Safwan - executing him with a bullet behind the ear before dumping his body under a nearby bridge. Safwan had stayed in the city to protect their familys home after Mazen left for a village outside the city to care for his own family on July 15 as the violence was peaking. When Mazen returned, he said, he discovered that the building containing their home had been torched. So had their business, a car showroom on the first floor. Around the building, someone - presumably the tribesmen - had scrawled graffiti with the names of tribes and the Syrian towns from where they came, along with taunts denigrating the Druze as disloyal. Down with traitors, a phrase on a blackened building column read. Safwans killing fit a pattern described by residents: Sunni fighters raided Druze homes, demanding any weapons inside, and, in some cases, confronted and executed the residents. The family of Hosam Saraya, a Syrian American who returned to Sweida last year, said he and several relatives were killed in a similar fashion. They were grabbed from their home by men the family said included government forces, marched to a square and executed while kneeling. Government forces implicated The alleged killings by government fighters were another woeful turn for Syria, whose citizens are clamoring for order, accountability and inclusive rule. The killings added to the apprehension - or outright fear - in Syrias minority communities over the hard-line Islamists who are fighting alongside the government, as well as to misgivings about Sharaa, a former leader of Syrias al-Qaeda affiliate. We will not accept al-Sharaa even if he slaughtered us all, said Kamal Maqlad, a Druze resident whose family building was burned. We will not accept him as long as a single Druze man remains. The government said it sent troops to Sweida to tamp down the conflict between the Bedouin and the Druze. Quickly though, the troops suffered setbacks, including an ambush by Druze fighters that killed at least a dozen people, and the Israeli airstrikes, which killed hundreds of soldiers, a government spokesman said. Soon, the government troops were seen as a faction in the fighting, rather than a mediating force. Videos were circulated showing men in uniforms, including military police, forcibly shaving off the mustaches of Druze men, in acts of forced humiliation. Other videos showed Druze men being executed, prompting the Interior Ministry to release a statement that condemned the killings and said an urgent investigation had been launched. Late last month, the Justice Ministry said a committee, composed of judges and others, would investigate violations in Sweida and refer perpetrators to court. Starting the fire Bedouin quarters of Sweida also were viciously attacked, including the neighborhood of al-Maqwas in the east of the city. Residents from there said the attacking Druze fighters were loyal to Hikmat al-Hijri, the Druze spiritual leader in Syria. Government supporters have singled out Hijri as an instigator of the chaos in Sweida, faulting him for opposing the governments presence and for calling on Israel for support. Israel, which has demanded that Syria keep its south demilitarized - and has frequently bombed military and other installations to enforce the edict - said it intervened last month to protect the Druze. A representative for Hijri, responding to a request for an interview, said he was unavailable. Balous, the Druze leader, blamed Hijris stubbornness for the violence in Sweida. They only wanted to start the fire, he said. In the past, incidents like the kidnappings that set off the conflagration were resolved in a few days by tribal figures, said Emad Salama, 40, a Bedouin resident from al-Maqwas. This time, no one wanted to initiate the peacemaking, he said. Both sides were stubborn. The governments allies have charged that Israels support emboldened Druze factions in the city seeking autonomy from the government. Druze residents have alleged that the state was looking for any excuse to bring a restive Sweida to heel. Whatever the reasons, Salamas Druze friends called him to warn him about the dangers coming. This time is bigger than the others, he quoted them as saying. Neighbors betrayed As the fighting intensified, Salamas relatives - his brother Wael, a brother-in-law, a nephew and a cousin - were stuck outside Sweida. We told them not to come. They worried about their families, he said. They were killed as they attempted to return, he said. At least 26 people were killed by Druze fighters in al-Maqwas, he said. Some Bedouin residents said they were shocked at how quickly Druze neighbors turned on them. Mohammed al-Wadi, 22, said he sheltered Druze residents from his neighborhood as the fighting started. When government forces withdrew, it was those people we hosted who turned against us, looting his house, he said. He and his family spoke to reporters in a village west of Sweida called al-Darah where they were sheltering. Elsewhere in the village, Druze families were being protected, too, after fleeing al-Thaala, a Druze village a few miles away, said Khalid Ahmed, 42. The two villages had long been intertwined, and as the violence started in Sweida, they agreed to a truce, brokered by local leaders, Ahmed said. The Druze are peaceful, honestly. They would not be involved in all this, he said. The problem is the Hijri gangs. Peril at a checkpoint When Post reporters visited a few days after a ceasefire was announced July 19, government fighters had established a checkpoint in Walgha, west of the city, where they drank tea and warned of snipers just down the road. As they spoke, a white Toyota pickup truck drove toward the checkpoint, sparking panic. Fighters rushed to the car, dragging the driver out - a Druze man carrying a rifle mounted with a sniper scope. It was not clear whether he had driven to the checkpoint by mistake or gotten lost. At first, the man was desperate. Please, I have a son, he pleaded to fighters who quickly surrounded him, binding his hands with zip ties. Then he sounded resigned. If you want to kill me, just kill me. An officer told the man he would be taken for investigation. By the hour, the citys complexion was being altered. Every night, convoys arranged by the Syrian Arab Red Crescent were shuttling mostly Bedouin families out of Sweida: some on buses, some sharing the back of flatbed trucks with furniture and sheep. Some said they are unlikely to ever return. A few miles from Walgha, Druze fighters watched a convoy preparing to set out one evening from the citys Omran Square. A few seethed that the Bedouin were being allowed to safely depart. Sixteen people were killed, women and children, one fighter growled, referring to a massacre that he said occurred in one of the villages. Another Druze fighter, with a machine gun slung on his shoulder, had to be restrained by his comrades. They killed my brother, he shouted, a few feet away from passengers in the idling convoy waiting nervously for it to move. A bulldozer pushes trash into a burn pit near the Long Binh Post in Vietnam in 1971. The Army operated a base at Long Binh, outside of Saigon. (National Archives) WASHINGTON Vietnam War veterans were exposed to open-air burn pits common during deployments, yet benefits for illnesses presumed to be related to airborne toxins does not extend to them under the PACT Act, according to a federal watchdog. A new report by the Government Accountability Office found the Department of Veterans Affairs has not examined potential connections between Vietnam veterans health problems and exposure to burn pits, despite pressure from a veterans advocacy group. The Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our Promise to Address Comprehensive Toxins Act of 2022, known as the PACT Act, provides disability and health care coverage to veterans who served in Southwest Asia since 1990 for medical conditions presumed to be related to their exposure to burn pits or other airborne hazards, according to the GAO. But no presumptive service connection has been established for veterans who served in the Vietnam War that could be related to toxic exposures from open-air burns that incinerated large amounts of waste, the GAO said in a report submitted July 31 to the House and Senate Appropriations committees subpanels on military construction and veterans affairs. Approximately 2.7 million service members were deployed to Vietnam from 1961 to 1975, the GAO said. About 1.4 million of those veterans are alive today. A service member who served in 1969 in Vietnam as a 21-year-old, for example, will turn 77 this year. The PACT Act does include provisions related to Agent Orange exposure for Vietnam veterans. The legislation identifies specific medical conditions such as hypertension on the list of presumptive conditions from exposure to the herbicide, the VA said. The militarys use of open-air burns in certain operations since 1990 is well documented, the GAO said. However, little has been reported about open-air burning during the Vietnam War, the report said. VA reviews of the available data havent indicated exposure was a major contributor of veterans health problems, the GAO said. But an examination that the agency did of military archives showed a lack of documentation on the extent of open-air burns during the Vietnam War. The GAO report said more research, including interviews with aging veterans, is needed to understand the scope and frequency of open-air burns, as well as potential toxic exposures of service members. Open-air burns often were done in burnout latrines, burn pits and burn barrels, the GAO report said. A former radio operator who served in Vietnam, for example, reported latrines were burned two to three times a week within 50 feet of his work area and sleeping quarters, the report said. VA said additional data e.g., the extent of veterans exposure would be needed to research health effects, but such data doesnt exist, the GAO said. The VA also advised while researchers could collect some information from veterans, it would be limited by their recollections of events more than 50 years ago, the GAO said. Former service members who deployed to Vietnam also might have been exposed to a variety of other environmental hazards, the VA said. To conduct its research for this report, the GAO said it reviewed military archives from the Defense Department, The Vietnam Center and Sam Johnson Vietnam Archive at Texas Tech University and the National Archives. Further, we obtained information from a Department of Defense database on the use of open-air burning in Vietnam. We also asked officials from the Army, Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force about this, obtaining such information when available, the GAO said. The GAO conducted its audit between March 2024 and July 2025. Investigators said they found numerous examples of open-air burns during the Vietnam War. A Marine Corps instructional document used in the 1960s, for example, advised burning human waste with approximately 100 gallons of diesel fuel and two people working 10 hours to manage the incineration. The document warned burnout latrines cause excessive air pollution detrimental to the health of the personnel in the immediate area. Investigators also interviewed veterans who served in Vietnam between 1964 and 1975. Nearly 90% of a sample group of 145 veterans expressed concern about their exposures to open-air burns, the GAO said. A veteran who worked in military intelligence described a burn pit at Long Binh, the location of a former Army post, that was 8 to 10 acres in size and continually burning, the GAO said. Items burned included trash, tires, batteries, plastics, electronics, vehicles, medical waste, food and spent ammunition, veterans said. Diesel fuel, jet fuel, incendiary grenades and other accelerants were used to burn materials, they said. Open-air burns were conducted as close as 10 yards to their quarters or up to four miles away, veterans said. Some veterans shared that they received no personal protective equipment, such as masks or gloves, to protect themselves from exposure to open-air burning, regardless of other aspects of their experience, the GAO report said. Interviews with veterans are required to inform any future research because of the lack of comprehensive documentation about open-air burns, GAO said. Having a presumptive service connection eases the process for veterans to file disability claims and receive health care coverage for illnesses and injuries connected to their military service, according to the GAO report. Vietnam veterans without a presumptive service connection might still receive benefits connected to illnesses developed from open-air burns, but the process is more difficult, the GAO said. The veterans must present a medical diagnosis and demonstrate the link to a service-connected event, injury or disease, the VA said. The judge said that the defendants account doesnt stand up to any scrutiny. Police suspected that a Chinese man stopped at the airport with 38,000 (43,833) in cash is working for a London-based organised crime gang to launder money, a court heard today. While Ziang Li claims that he is a student and that the cash he had been sent by his parents, a deeply sceptical District Judge Peter King told the 33-year-old, I do not believe a word of what I have been told. The story presented to me is absolutely incredible, the judge told Coleraine Magistrates Court, adding that the defendants account doesnt stand up to any scrutiny. Li, with an address at Sanderson Villas in Newcastle, is charged with possessing criminal property on 7 August this year. While the defendant confirmed that he understood the charge, a police officer gave evidence that she believed she could connect Li to the charge. Rolex Daydate 36mm in gold News in 90 Seconds - Aug 8th Objecting to bail, the officer outlined his Li was stopped at Belfast International Airport after a scan of his bag revealed a large amount of cash. A search uncovered bundles of 20 notes from the Northern Bank, Danske Bank and Bank of Ireland, tied together with elastic bands and wrapped in plastic bags and the court heard there was a total of 38,000 seized. Initially, Li claimed he had flown here from Edinburgh with the intention to go to Lunns jewellers to buy Rolex watches but when he arrived, the store was closed so having spent the night in an Airbnb, he was intending on taking a flight to Manchester. During formal interviews, he then claimed his parents had transferred him 200,000 Chinese Yuan and having put it together with Yuan he already had, he had come to Belfast to exchange it for Sterling. Li further claimed that he attended an address in Belfast where he exchanged the Chinese money for the 38,000. He told police this was the third time he had attended that address having apparently exchanged around 30,000 in the last month. Li alleged that he works for a number of bosses in London and that he travels to Belfast to buy Rolex watches, to exchange cash and for his trouble, he gets commission. The constable told the court however, police believe his bosses are members of an OCG and he is working on their behalfhe is working with them as a smaller part of the organisation. We believe that the defendant is likely to fail to surrender for bail, said the officer, emphasising that he lives outside of NI, has no family ties to the UK and given the suspicions he has links to an OCG, he may have access to cash or property that would facilitate flight from the jurisdiction. She added that if Li was to be released, that could have major implications for the ongoing police investigation. Defence counsel Grant Powles said that according to the defendant, a friend told him that if he took this money to a lady at an address on Elm Street, he would get a better rate, so having done that, he had stayed in an Airbnb before heading to the airport the following day. Li had given further instructions that company bosses had given him a virtual bank card to that he could make purchases, including Rolex watches. The court heard that to buy a Rolex from Lunns, a customer needs to have an appointment but that Li had no such appointment. Mr Powles conceded that despite the defendants initial claims, he was simply here to change the money, not to buy Rolex watches on this occasion. With Liu claiming that he is a student at Durham university, Judge King highlighted that his registered address is in Newcastle, querying whether he travels every day or does he have accommodation for term time. He says he is actually on a gap year, Mr Powles told the judge. Responding with a sceptical, elongated yeeeahhhh, Judge King declared: I am not granting bail in this case. I have listened at some length to a fairly convoluted version of the events that brings you here and quite frankly, I find that incredible, said the judge, adding that, I do not believe that I have a fraction of the truth as to how you found yourself at the airport with 38,000 in cash. Refusing bail on the grounds of a risk of further offending and interference with the investigation, the judge remanded Li into custody and adjourned the case to 2 September. CARACAS, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- The Venezuelan government on Thursday condemned the announcement made by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to offer a reward of 50 million U.S. dollars for information leading to the arrest of President Nicolas Maduro. Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil described the action as a "crude political propaganda operation." The minister denounced on social media that the offer lacked both legal and moral support, serving the political interests of the extreme right in the United States and Venezuela. He recalled that Venezuela has repeatedly condemned covert operations and destabilizing plots by the United States, many of which have been foiled by the security agencies of the South American country. "The pathetic 'bounty' is the most ridiculous smokescreen we have ever seen," Gil said, calling the move a media maneuver aimed at diverting attention from the real internal problems of the United States. Leandro Rodrigues Dos Santos was intoxicated at the time, court hears A man smashed glass and broke a lock in his ex-partners front door by repeatedly punching it after she refused to let him in. Leandro Rodrigues Dos Santos (41) was fined 300 for causing damage at the property. Convicting him, Judge David McHugh said he was sure the victim was very frightened by all this. Dos Santos, a cleaner of Claddagh Road, Ballyfermot, pleaded guilty to criminal damage, smashing a glass panel in the hall door and causing the locking mechanism to be bent out of shape. He also admitted threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour. Blanchardstown District Court News in 90 Seconds - Aug 8th Blanchardstown District Court heard the victim reported to gardai that her partner had damaged the hall door trying to gain entry at 3.20am on June 29 this year. He was refused access to the property, was aggressive and started banging on the door. Dos Santos was intoxicated at the time. He had no previous convictions. The accused was from Brazil and had been in Ireland for 10 years, his lawyer said. He had an argument with his now ex-girlfriend and there was alcohol involved, he said. The judge fined the accused on the criminal damage charge and took the other into consideration. Gerald Kenny also threw the staff member to the ground during incident A drunken man who grabbed a restaurant worker by the neck, threw her to the ground and threatened investigating gardai has been spared jail. After assaulting the woman, Gerald Kenny (43) warned gardai if they arrested him, they would regret it. Judge John Hughes gave him a five-month suspended sentence at Dublin District Court. Kenny, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to assaulting a woman at Shouk restaurant, Drumcondra, on October 15, 2022. He also admitted public drunkenness and threatening, abusive and insulting behaviour. Gerald Kenny has been spared a prison term News in 90 Seconds - Aug 8th The court heard that gardai were called to a report of an intoxicated man who was being aggressive to staff at the restaurant. When they arrived, Kenny was leaving the area and became aggressive. He said if he was going to be arrested, the garda would regret it. A staff member told gardai she had been assaulted, that Kenny had grabbed her by the neck from behind and she managed to break free. Separately, gardai were dealing with an unrelated incident at Applegreen, Swords Road, Santry, on January 4, 2023, when Kenny approached them, intoxicated and carrying a bottle of wine. He requested transportation to Blanchardstown and hurled abuse at the gardai. He shouted that his family built all these f**king buildings. Kenny had taken his addiction problems in hand, his lawyer said. He was assessed for community service, but was not suitable. Judge Hughes suspended the sentence for two years. Walter Jacob (39) also hurled abuse at gardai, saying they were thick, stupid bastards and that one of them should retire. Walter Jacob (39) also hurled abuse at gardai, saying they were thick, stupid bastards and that one of them should retire. Judge David McHugh said he had absolutely no hesitation in jailing Jacob for two months, after hearing he had more than 100 previous convictions. The father of one from Oldchurch Crescent, Clondalkin, Dublin, pleaded guilty to public intoxication and threatening, abusive and insulting behaviour in two separate incidents. Blanchardstown District Court heard that gardai were on duty at St Cuthberts Road, Clondalkin, last August 10 when Jacob saw them and stuck his middle finger up at the patrol car. Stock image News in 90 Seconds - Aug 8th When the gardai spoke to him, he became verbally abusive and would not calm down. He called the gardai thick, stupid bastards and one of them an oul bastard who should retire. On May 10 this year, Jacob was again arrested when he became abusive to gardai while intoxicated at Oldchurch Crescent, Clondalkin. He refused to give gardai his details, and at the station he was racially abusive to a doctor. Jacob had 103 previous convictions including public order offences. He accepted this attitude to the doctor would complicate how the court would deal with him, his barrister Ciaran MacLoughlin said. Hes getting two for the price of one When he is not drinking, things go very well for him; when he is drinking, things go atrociously, Mr MacLoughlin said. The difference between him drinking and not drinking is quite stark. The accused realised alcohol did nothing for him other than cause pain and suffering. Recently, Jacob got an implant that regulated his ability to consume alcohol and he could not not drink it without getting violently ill, the court heard. He had no memory of the days in question. I should think the doctor and the garda do. They have a right to their justice, Judge McHugh said. The accused knows hes very much a hazard given his previous convictions and the substance of what was said, Mr MacLoughlin said. Hes getting two for the price of one, the judge said. When the charges were put together with his previous record, hes in difficulty. His efforts to stop drinking are meritorious, but its an appalling record and I have absolutely no hesitation in jailing him, the judge added. Incident took place in foyer after the defendant was asked to leave. The incident took place during a sitting of the Circuit Court at Sligo courthouse. A 34-year-old mother-of-five, who admitted biting a Detective Inspector on the hand at Sligo Courthouse was jailed for six weeks when she appeared before Sligo Circuit Court. Mundrita Muntean, Meadowbank, Athlone pleaded guilty to assaulting Detective Inspector Ray Mulderrig and to using threatening and abusive behaviour on December 13 last year. Sergeant Fergus Flynn led by Mr Leo Mulrooney, BL instructed by State Solicitor Elisa McHugh told the court that in a statement Detective Inspector Mulderrig said he was attending a sentencing hearing for two juveniles at the courthouse on December 13, 2024. During the hearing the defendant was either crying or commenting as the court case proceeded as she sat at the back of the courtroom. Det Inspector Mulderrig asked a garda to ask her to be quiet. She was asked to leave the court room. At 3pm there was a commotion in the foyer of the court and there was a loud noise at the entrance to the court room. The incident took place during a sitting of the Circuit Court at Sligo courthouse. News in 90 Seconds - Aug 8th When the Detective Inspector went out to the foyer, Muntean was talking loudly on her mobile phone. When he asked her to be quiet, she told him to "f**k off. He produced his identity card and asked her to leave, but she ignored hm and pushed at him. The Detective Inspector put her left hand between her shoulders and she pushed back at him, telling him to f**k off again. He told her she was being arrested for using threatening, insulting and abusive behaviour. The defendant then went limp and fell to the ground. The Detective Inspector pulled her to her feet and moved her to the entrance of the courthouse with one hand grasping her clothing and the other hand on her shoulder. The defendant turned around and bit his finger, breaking the skin and drawing blood, the court heard. Det Inspector brought the defendant to the ground and kept her there until Garda Gillespie arrived and brought her across to the Garda Station. Garda Gillespie witnessed the assault and Garda Fergus OBrien took pictures of the officers hand. Detective Inspector Mulderrig attended his GP later and a medical report said his middle finger had been injured and the cut caused three breaks to the skin. The skin was cleaned with sterilised water and antibiotics were prescribed. There was no victim impact statement. The court heard the defendant had 17 previous convictions, including three for obstruction and the remainder for theft and handling stolen property. Mr Colm Smyth, SC with Keith OGrady BL instructed by Mr Tom MacSharry, Solicitor told the court the charge of assault causing harm had been withdrawn in favour of one of assault. Mr Smyth said become upset during the course of a case being heard before the court and was later talking on the phone. The defendant was a Romanian national and had five children ranging in ages from four to sixteen. One of her children had a serious medical condition and another had ADHD and her youngest child was very dependent on her, the court heard. The defendant was under a lot of stress with her family. She apologised to the Garda and had pleaded guilty to charges of assault and using threatening, insulting and abusive behaviour at the earliest opportunity. Mr Smyth said his client was asking for leniency. Her behaviour was not justified but she was hysterical at the time. Mr Smyth asked the court not to impose an immediate custodial sentence but to leave something hanging over her head. He asked the court to take into account, that her eldest son had medical issues. She has seen the error of her ways and will not be in trouble again. Jail would impose great hardship, he said. Judge Ronan Munro said there was an element of I am not going to do what you tell me about the defendant. When Mr Smyth again asked the court to have something hanging over her head, the judge said she had received suspended sentences before. Mr Smyth said these were many years ago. In sentencing the defendant, Judge Munro said it was a minor assault and the Detective Inspector was not making a big deal about it. But she had assaulted a garda in the course of his duty and above all places, the rule of law should be observed in a courthouse. She had been given plenty of chances by the Garda to move on, the court heard. This was not an aberration as it went on for some time and Detective Inspector produced his ID but she told him to f**k off. In mitigation, she made an early plea, she had children with difficulties, there was no major effects on the Detective Inspector and she was emotional at the time. But, given her record, it was clear she thought she could offend the law. The judge said he did not think she would change her ways, and she did not have any respect for the gardai or the courts. He added that he was jailing her as an attack on a garda is the same as attacking society. The judge jailed the defendant for six weeks for the assault charge and took the charge of using threatening, insulting and abusive behaviour into account. The judge said it was a short sentence and would have an effect on her family, but this type of incident must not be tolerated. The defendant started weeping, but the judge said she had no respect for the gardai or the court. Defence Forces member has since been removed from duty Gardai have carried out a search operation of a military barracks as part of a child sexual exploitation probe Gardai have carried out a search of a military barracks as part of a child sexual exploitation investigation. Detectives searched the Defence Forces base last week as part of an investigation into a serving soldier. No arrests have yet been made as part of the inquiry, but the Defence Forces member at the centre of the probe has since been removed from duty. Gardai have confirmed investigations are ongoing, while the military has said it will assist gardai wherever possible. Last Wednesday, detectives attached to a serious crimes unit carried out a planned search of the barracks. They were assisted by military police because the operation was being conducted on Defence Forces grounds. The investigation centres on alleged communications that facilitated the sexual exploitation of a child under the age of 17. It is understood that a mobile phone was seized that will now be examined by gardai. It is a sensitive investigation, given the serious offence alleged One source said: The device seized will form a key part of the investigation and that phone is now being analysed to determine if there is any evidence of criminal wrongdoing on it. It is a sensitive investigation, given the serious offence alleged and the fact that a Defence Forces member is at the centre of this. The search under warrant was targeting one specific individual identified as part of the investigation. News in 90 Seconds - Aug 8th The Defence Forces member has been placed on special leave, an administrative measure used by the military, as it does not currently have the power to suspended personnel under investigation for serious criminal offences. As the soldier is now on leave, he cannot attend the military base where he works or access any Defence Force systems. The offence being investigated falls under the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2017, specifically the use of information and communication technology to facilitate sexual exploitation of a child. The legislation carries a maximum sentence of 14 years imprisonment on conviction on indictment. Sources said the inquiry is continuing, that no arrests have been made, and that no finding of wrongdoing has yet been made against the soldier. A garda spokesperson confirmed that a search was carried out last Wednesday, July 30, and that investigations are ongoing. Oglaigh na hEireann does not condone unacceptable behaviour An Garda Siochana does not comment on named entities, they said. A Defence Forces spokesperson told the Irish Independent: As this is an ongoing investigation, it would be inappropriate for the Defence Forces to comment. Oglaigh na hEireann does not condone unacceptable behaviour and we will offer all possible support to An Garda Siochanas investigation. Last year, a report by senior counsel Peter Ward made 35 recommendations about how the military should deal with personnel either convicted, charged or accused of serious crimes. It included the implementation of a rapid-response protocol, which should outline steps the organisation should take when notified that a member is charged or convicted of a serious crime. That evidence was given during a sentence hearing at Dundalk Circuit Court when Nathan Ross, Glassdrumman, Annalong, Co. Down, pleaded guilty to a charge of possession of cannabis for sale or supply with a value of 13,000 or more. A 38-year-old man crawled along a drain as gardai quizzed him about a suspicious van before he got away and took a taxi to north of the border. That evidence was given during a sentence hearing at Dundalk Circuit Court when Nathan Ross, Glassdrumman, Annalong, Co. Down, pleaded guilty to a charge of possession of cannabis for sale or supply with a value of 13,000 or more. The offence occurred at Inner Relief Road, Dundalk, on October 4, 2016. Five kilogrammes of drugs which were recovered from the van were valued 100,000. The case was heard in Dundalk Circuit Court. News in 90 Seconds - Aug 8th Sentencing was adjourned to October 20 for gardai to confirm previous convictions in Northern Ireland. The defendant was remanded in custody. Gda James Smith said that colleagues were alerted to a white Fiat van on the old Newry Road out of Dundalk. It failed to stop for officers and increased its speed travelling north towards the Ballymascanlon roundabout. Other gardai were notified of the pursuit. This vehicle attempted to overtake before braking sharply. It parked up on the hard shoulder and Mr Ross, who was driving, got out and jumped over a fence. He fell into a drain on the other side. Gda Smith continued that the defendant began crawling along the drain. Gardai told him to stop and when they asked what was in the van, he replied grass. He was cautioned while in the drain and didnt respond further or stop. He then crawled out and ran into a field, evading capture. Despite the Garda Air Support Unit being deployed Mr Ross managed to get away. Later that evening, a shop assistant at Conyards on the old Newry Road reported to the guards that a man had ordered a taxi from the shop using his own name and had gone north to Warrenpoint in Co. Down. Gda Smith said that the accused was stopped at that end by the PSNI and taken into custody. The court heard that the cannabis weighed 4.97kgs and was valued 99,480. Mr Ross has no previous convictions in the Republic of Ireland. He is known to the PSNI. That he has over 200 previous convictions in Northern Ireland has to be confirmed, Judge Dara Hayes was told. Gda Smith continued that the delay was down to the defendant being outside the jurisdiction. He was charged last April and never took up bail. He has been in custody since April 24. Mr Ross, who is in a relationship and has four stepchildren, had been under investigation in Northern Ireland for alleged importation of drugs. No prosecution was directed. His counsel said that he tried to hand himself into a garda station but no charges had been brought at that stage. He was addicted to drugs at the time and has attended Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous. Counsel added that the accused worked in construction and on contracts for the Housing Executive and Prison Service in the North. Funded by the Courts Reporting Scheme We heard someone shouting, stuff bouncing off the side of the boat. He threw sunscreen at our boat trying to wake us up The first person who went to the aid of Irish fashion designer Martha Nolan-OSlatarra at the Montauk Yacht Club in New York has described the efforts made to save her life. The 33-year-old Carlow native was found unconscious on the boat shortly after midnight local time on Tuesday. Two people who were fast asleep on a nearby boat were woken up by screaming and saw a man running down the dock in a panic. We were sound asleep, the eyewitness, who asked not to be identified, told The New York Post. We heard someone shouting, stuff bouncing off the side of the boat. He threw sunscreen at our boat trying to wake us up. He was running up and down, naked, screaming, Do something. According to the eye-witness, they called 911 before boarding the Ripple where Nolan-OSlatarra lay. Suffolk County police confirmed that bystanders had tried to resuscitate the designer before first responders arrived but it was too late. The 911 caller and his pal, who are regulars at the yacht club, added that they did not recognise Nolan-OSlatarra. News in 90 Seconds - Aug 8th Cops had said there was no evidence of violence done to Nolan-OSlatarras body, but have not yet ruled out foul play or released details of the departments investigation. The Post reports how Nolan-OSlatarra moved to Manhattan in 2018 from the small Irish town of Carlow, and she started off as a bottle service girl in Soho before founding East x East, her swimwear fashion company. Gifted at marketing, she summered in the Hamptons in recent years where she hosted pop-ups for the upscale clientele drawn to Montauk and surrounding resort towns, the Post reports. It was very obvious to me that she was very driven and wanted to succeed, one local businessman told the Post. I got the impression that she is a young, ambitious, driven young woman who had a vision, and she thought that Montauk was a very good fit. Ms Nolan-OSlatarras remains are currently in the custody of the Suffolk County Medical Examiners Office while, the Irish Independent reports, her family have been told that a final post-mortem report, toxicological, histological and other testing, will take at least three months to complete. Ms Nolan-OSlatarras mother said she learned about her daughters death on Tuesday night, but has been left in the dark about what happened on the boat where she was found. Martha Nolan OSlatarra I feel numb and in shock, she told the Irish Independent. My younger daughter, Jacqui, arrived in on Tuesday night and she was crying and shaking. She said, I have terrible news, Marthas dead. I dont know what happened, her mother said. We werent told anything about the circumstances. Ms Nolan last spoke to her daughter on July 29 in relation to plans she had for a visit home this week. She wanted to know if I would be around to pick her up, she said. It was a very quick call because she is so busy, but thats the last time we spoke. The New York Post said Carlow-born Nolan-OSlatarra was a popular Big Apple designer who was a well-known local figure at the upscale waterfront community in the Hamptons. They say the tragedy has shaken many in Montauk, a summer retreat known for its wealth. The yacht clubs clientele has included some of the nations most famous figures, including JP Morgan, Vincent Astor, Harold Vanderbilt and Charles Lindbergh, according to its website. Marthas business partner Dylan Grace, who started the design company East x East with her in 2023 posted a moving farewell message on Instagram on Wednesday. We dreamed big together, laughed harder than anyone else could understand and built so much for nothing, he wrote. Im truly blessed and grateful to have had you in my life, Grace wrote. Love you so much Mar. Fly high girl. Last month, she celebrated a pop-up shop at the exclusive Montauk spa, the Gurneys Resort, who said they were deeply saddened by the tragic news regarding Martha Nolan. (We) extend our sincere condolences to her family and loved ones, the spa said in a statement Wednesday. While Martha was not an employee of Gurneys, we were proud to host her East x East pop-up and admired her entrepreneurial spirit and creative vision, the statement added. Ms Nolan-OSlatarra worked in Ireland until 2015 when she emigrated to the US. She set up East x East, a luxury brand for sunglasses, swimwear and resort wear for men and women. She was also director of operations at investment firm K4 Capital and ran an Amazon fashion brand, Duper. During a phone conversation with a homicide detective in Montauk, her mother said she was directed to the medical examiners office for more information. The detective said Martha was dead, that he was sorry, she said. I asked him where she was and he said she was on a boat. I asked him who she was with. He said he couldnt release information because it was too early on in the investigation. He instructed me to phone the medical examiners office. His gift for music will never be forgotten. There is widespread sadness in County Leitrim following the death of talented teenager Paddy Rooney. Paddy of Lurganboy, Manorhamilton, Co Leitrim died on Tuesday, August 5, following a short illness at the age of 14. Paddy was the son of Mairead and Michael and a brother to Annie and Joe. He was a talented musician and was a member of Glenfarne CCE. He played the banjo and had won an All Ireland competition. Paddy will repose at his family home on Saturday, August 9, from 2pm to 7pm. Paddy Rooney News in 90 Seconds - Aug 8th Removal from his family home on Sunday for Funeral Mass in St. Clares Church, Manorhamilton at 2.30pm followed by burial in Diffreen Cemetery. The family have requested family flowers only with donations in lieu if desired to The Gavin Glynn Foundation. Following his death, the teenager has been remembered as a talented musician and a brave young man. In a tribute posted online, Leitrim CCE said, We are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Paddy Rooney, a talented young musician and a lovely young man, who left us all too soon in his 14th year after a short illness. Paddys gift for music, his passion, and the joy he brought to those around him will never be forgotten. "His talent touched hearts not only in his local community but across the traditional music world. Our heartfelt sympathy goes out to Mairead, Michael, Annie and Joe and his extended family, friends, and the entire musical community mourning this profound loss. "May his music and memory live on in the hearts of all who loved him, and may he rest in eternal peace. Paddy Rooney. Photo: Leitrim CCE Glenfarne CCE said Paddy was a treasured member and a well known all Ireland champion on the banjo. Sending our deepest sympathies to Michael,Mairead,Annie and Joe Rooney on the sad passing of their darling son and brother Paddy. We extend our heartfelt condolences to all members of the Rooney family circle. Know that you are in all our thoughts and prayers over the days and weeks ahead. We were blessed with his performances at all our concerts and local events - including our culture night in September last year. We must take time to pay a special tribute to Paddy, who fought his illness all the way, so courageously, supported by his loving family. "Unfortunately, God called Paddy home - much earlier than expected. We are heartbroken at your loss. Paddy, thanks for the wonderful memories. We will never forget your kindness, and your gift of music - so generously shared with us all. You will remain in our hearts forever. Your suffering is over now. May you Rest In Peace. Comhaltas An Droma Mhoir- Dromore Comhaltas said they are heartbroken following the death of a "special friend and talented young musician. Paddy will be remembered not only for his remarkable musical gift, but for the ever-present smile he carried with him, a bright light in every room, every stage, every competition, and every session. Paddy was the heart and soul of many of our groups and bands over the years. "His talent, his kindness, and that infectious smile touched the lives of both young and old. Through his music, he made friends in every corner of Ireland. Our deepest sympathy goes out to Mairead, Michael, Annie, Joe, and to his extended family, friends, and the entire musical community who now mourn this profound loss. May his music and memory continue to live on in the hearts of all who loved him. As a mark of respect, the sponsored walk in Kinlough has been scheduled for this Sunday has been postponed. Paddy is survived by his parents Mairead and Michael, sister Annie and brother Joe, his godparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, relatives and his many friends. There is nothing to stop them from deporting me to Ecuador, South Sudan, or whatever A former IRA member who had been living in the US for 40 years has self-deported back to Ireland over fears that he might be picked up by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Derry man Matthew Morrison whose previous deportation proceedings were terminated during the Clinton administration, took a one-way flight back to Dublin in July. I would bite the dust in an ICE holding cell, the 69-year-old told The Marshall Project - St Louis before he left the US. There is nothing to stop them from deporting me to Ecuador, South Sudan, or whatever. Morrison with his American wife Sandra Riley Swift News in 90 Seconds - Aug 8th "Its really gotten insane here. Its crazy what they are doing now, the Trump administration. You know what I mean? According to Irish Central, Morrison, who is from the Brandywell in Derry, was 16 years old when he marched in the civil rights demonstration on Bloody Sunday in 1970. Morrison described how Bloody Sunday when British soldiers opened fire on unarmed civilians, killing 13 people, was a "watershed moment of great significance" which has played a part in him join the Irish Republican Army. As a student at the New University of Ulster in 1975, he and two other students were arrested, charged, and convicted in a British non-jury court of the attempted murder of an RUC man. He served ten years of 20 year prison sentence in Long Kesh, where he was one of the highest-ranking members of the IRA. While in prison he corresponded with American woman Francie Broderick and when he was released in 1985 they married a week later. After having two children together they were divorced, and Morrison later remarried to another American woman, Sandra Riley Swift. He remained based in Missouri, where he worked as a nurse for the next 20 years. Morrison who wrote in in 1993 how he no longer had any connection with the armed struggle in Ireland, added that should he and his family be forced to return, they would face "significant danger." In the summer of 2000, Morrison was among the six Irish nationals who had their deportation proceedings terminated by US Attorney General Janet Reno in the wake of the Good Friday Accord. . The move was welcomed by then-US President Bill Clinton, who said: "While in no way approving or condoning their past criminal acts, I believe that removing the threat of deportation for these individuals will contribute to the peace process in Northern Ireland." However, he was not permitted to apply for a green card or US citizenship, and in June attended a scheduled check-in with US Citizenship and Immigration Services in St Louis. After stories emerged of immigrants being arrested at such check-ins, Morrison's son Matt (37) told The Marshall Project: We were terrified that they were just going to take him right there. Matt added: He has to live under that fear of somebody knocking on the door and dragging him out of the house, just like they did in Derry when he was young. I hate it. I am just worried about him. Until recently, I hadnt heard him cry about it. At the appointment, Morrison was photographed and was free to go but with his work authorisation set to expire in October, he boarded a one-way flight from Cleveland to Dublin on July 21, with his wife. Leaving behind his grown children, his grandchildren, and the life he had built in the US, he told The Marshall Project: Ive come full circle. I came here as an immigrant, and I am leaving as an immigrant, despite everything in between. "The whole thing is a crazy, stressful situation. Rising volumes, improved quality and a broader set of markets have helped the avocado industry bounce back from weather challenges. Average prices continue to be higher than this time last year, says Brad Siebert, chief executive of industry body New Zealand Avocado, Volumes are tracking steadily, giving a clearer picture of early market dynamics and helping to guide upcoming harvest and marketing decisions. Recent weather will have impacted harvesting and expected clearer skies will likely result in increased volumes. He says export volumes increased 170% to 3.6 million trays this season, with 3.3 million trays sold into the domestic market. The New Zealand market generated $62 million, with overall export revenue rising 362 per cent to $94 million in the year to June 30, 2025. This marks a meaningful realignment to balance domestic v international supply, with the 2023-24 season export revenue at only $20 million, says Brad. New Zealand growers supplied avocados to the most diverse range of markets to date, with exports to Australia rebounding to $63 million and North American markets growing in a second season of exporting to the United States and Canada. Asian markets Brad says Asian markets continue to grow in importance as exports to the region increased 96% to $40 million. Asia now represents 37% of avocado export revenue, a significant increase from 8% five years ago. Brad says signs are looking promising for the 2025-26 New Zealand avocado export season, with early estimates forecasting an increase in total volumes. Growers, packers and exporters are preparing for an earlier export window to service over 16 international markets this season. Fruit quality is looking good, with maturity levels tracking well to align with seasonal market requirements. He says a return to more favourable conditions is a welcome change for an industry that was hit with cyclones Dovi in 2022 and Gabrielle in 2023. Both hit avocado-growing regions, damaging fruit and reducing export volumes to levels not seen in nearly a decade. Equipped with a stronger crop, Brad says the industry is ready to renew its export diversification efforts with vigour. NZ Avocado CEO Brad Siebert. Photo / Supplied NZ Avocado will target markets across Asia as well as North America, with export revenue to Canada and the US growing beyond NZ$4 million after only two years of supplying the region. Despite growing competition in key export markets, New Zealand avocado exporters have made steady progress in diversifying their market reach. The industry continues to expand its footprint, with increasing volumes being exported to a broader range of destinations. This diversification strategy remains a core focus as global demand grows. Siebert says the sheer size of the Asian market is enticing, and with per capita avocado consumption still low, there remains significant potential for growth. Global demand As global demand for avocados continues to rise driven by increasing consumer interest in healthy fats and plant-based nutrition Asian markets are expected to follow suit. This creates a compelling opportunity for the industry to expand supply into these markets as awareness and demand build over time. He says to stand out in the increasingly competitive sector New Zealand positions itself as a high-quality and trusted supplier, and NZ Avocado works with industry to develop strong, evidenced-based, country-of-origin positioning to support this. New Zealand avocados are uniquely positioned to supply premium fruit during the off-season of major producers, offering a valuable counter-seasonal supply option to Asian markets. What truly sets avocados from New Zealand apart is their consistently high eating quality, supported by industry-wide standards for food safety, sustainability and traceability. These attributes are now further reinforced through the New Zealand Governments FernMark: a globally recognised symbol of trust, authenticity and quality. Siebert says NZ Avocado has recently secured the first industry coalition FernMark Licence for the avocado sector, alongside all participating exporters. This official country-of-origin mark assures trade partners and consumers that New Zealand avocados are grown to the highest standards. About 1600 growers produce avocados in New Zealand. The Bay of Plenty remains the leading region, producing around 57 per cent of the countrys avocados, with many smaller orchards. Northland accounts for close to 34 per cent of production, with a number of larger-scale orchards. NZ Avocado Growers Association Inc (NZAGA) supports growers interests by promoting the sale and consumption of avocados, managing a research and development programme, and by creating a supportive structure that encourages development and growth within the industry. Brad says NZ Avocado also co-ordinates and disseminates relevant industry information and lobbies and liaises with Government for the good of growers. UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- Despite commercial goods entering Gaza, limited aid access contributes to a deepening starvation and malnutrition crisis, especially among children, said UN humanitarians on Thursday. "UN partners working in nutrition report that acute malnutrition among children in Gaza has reached the highest levels recorded to date," said the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). The office said that in July alone, nearly 12,000 young children were identified as acutely malnourished out of 136,000 screened. Among them, over 2,500 children suffered from severe acute malnutrition, the most life-threatening form. Forty children required hospitalization. OCHA said that in June and July, 18 percent of all acutely malnourished children had severe acute malnutrition, compared with 12 percent between March and May. UN partners report that the overall volume of nutritional supplies entering Gaza remains far below what is needed to prevent the further deterioration of the nutritional situation. OCHA said that several commercial trucks carrying food items entering Gaza over the past few days have contributed to a variety of food returning to markets and a slight decrease in prices. But the world body and its partners said they need unimpeded and predictable humanitarian access into and within Gaza, in parallel with the flow of commercial goods. It added that existing stocks of shelter material are fully depleted, and the shelter crisis continues to worsen. Most families in Gaza are living in severely overcrowded, unsafe and undignified conditions, some with no shelter at all. "Overall, since the Israeli announcement of the tactical pause to allow safe passages for our convoys, our colleagues tell us that realities on the ground remain largely the same," OCHA said. "Aid that has entered remains by far insufficient and our convoys continue to face impediments on their way to delivering aid." The office said that while fewer humanitarian movements have been denied outright, approved missions still take hours to complete. Some of the missions take more than 18 hours, and teams are often compelled to wait on roads that are dangerous, congested or impassable. It also noted that although limited quantities of fuel have been allowed to enter Gaza over the past week, fuel supplies remain critically limited and unpredictable, significantly undermining the ability of humanitarian partners to deliver and sustain lifesaving services. A day out snorkelling in Bali ended in horror and left a married Tauranga couple fighting for their lives when a wave capsized the ferry they were on. We saw children hurled against the roof of the cabin and could hear people screaming as the boat tipped. Dale and Jason Clark said they held on to what they could for as long as they could, until we too were thrown on to other people by the wave. We saw bodies being thrown around like [raffle tickets] as the boat was violently tipped upside down. The couple had been holidaying in Bali for three days. They were nearly at Sanur Harbour entrance on Tuesday afternoon this week when they saw a massive wave coming from the left side of the boat where they were sitting inside the cabin. We knew we were going to be flipped. 250806) -- BEIJING, Aug. 6, 2025 (Xinhua) -- People stand near the fast boat after it capsized at Sanur beach in Bali, Indonesia, Aug. 5, 2025. The Chinese consulate general in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia, confirmed on Tuesday that two Chinese nationals were killed in a fast boat capsizing accident off Indonesia's Bali Island earlier in the day. (Photo by Dicky Bisinglasi/Xinhua) (Photo by Dicky Bisinglasi / XINHUA / Xinhua via AFP) According to international media reports, the boat was carrying about 80 people when it capsized while traveling from Nusa Penida to Sanur, Bali. The incident was about 3pm local time when the boat was struck by large waves, reportedly measuring between 2 to 4 metres high, as it was preparing to dock. Three people were killed, including two Chinese nationals and an Indonesian crew member. Locals and rescue workers attempt to recover an overturned speedboat after it sank near Sanur port in Bali on August 5, 2025. Three people were killed, including two Chinese nationals and an Indonesian crew member, after a boat sailing to the popular island of Bali with dozens onboard sank and ran aground, rescue authorities said. (Photo by Dicky Bisinglasi / AFP) Speaking to SunLive after the sinking, Dale and Jason said they remember thinking that this cant be happening to us. It was terrifying but we both knew to try and remain calm even though we were scared for our lives. After the wave hit, they were both thrown into the upturned cabin that was already filling with water. They were plunged into darkness with the water level at chest height. Jason and I called for each other and reconnected as quickly as we could, said Dale. She said it was a massive relief to find each other in the chaotic mess of people and debris. Dale and Jason Clark say while physically they have a lot of cuts and bruises, the mental and emotional side of things was going to be a long journey. Photo / Supplied The smell of petrol filled the cabin instantly; the couple grabbed life jackets each and made their way towards the front of the vessel. Jason then remembered that the windows on the right side of the ferry were open before the wave hit. He found an open window and while clinging to a life jacket managed to dive under the water and through the window out to the open air. He told me to follow him out the window, but debris was blocking my exit, so I used my foot to find where the window was and was pulled by one leg out of the window by Jason, said Dale. Once outside the cabin of the boat, the couple swam to a nearby liferaft and held on to it along with others. We saw locals who drove out in their boats to rescue people, but we knew to keep hold of the liferaft until we too were pulled on to a rescue boat. The swell was huge and made getting into a rescue boat difficult. Both of us were yanked in ... with others and taken ashore. They then reunited with others from their snorkelling party. We hugged each other and cried for a while. Then the thoughts of our three children [back in New Zealand] came to mind, and we knew we had to contact them somehow and let them know we were ok. They were taken to a cafe across the road from the harbour where they were able to contact their daughter. Dale said surprisingly, her phone - which was in her crossbody bag - still worked. Physically, Dale and Jason have lots of cuts and bruises but said the mental and emotional side of things was going to be a long journey, but we have comfort in knowing we have each other to talk to. On the first and second night after the incident they barely got any sleep as the memories of the day were so vivid and the emotions were overwhelming. We cried a lot and held each other that little bit tighter, thankful and grateful for each other and our lives. Others werent so lucky sadly. The couples advice to others would be to always check the weather forecast for the day of your tour if on the water. This photo provided by Indonesia's National Search And Rescue (Basarnas) shows people and officers setting up rope to pull the capsized fast boat to the sea shore at Sanur beach in Bali. Because, although the swell wasnt too bad going out, it was very rough when we arrived at Nusa Penida and even when we were snorkelling the sea was rough ... Trust your instincts when traveling and put your own safety first. Finally, always get travel insurance too. Since the incident, Dale and Jason said they had not had any helpful communication from anyone. They are yet to hear from relevant authorities in regard to what happened. Jason lost his backpack in all the mayhem, and were not really getting any straightforward answers, said Dale. Weve contacted the New Zealand embassy here in Indonesia to let them know we were onboard that boat and we were safe. We considered coming home immediately but then decided to continue our holiday and now that we are in Ubud, we are much more relaxed but still cant wait to hug our three children and family when we get home. Despite his animosity towards the police, he was not seeking to physically engage with any officer. He did not charge towards or try and swing the slasher to hit any officer. Coroner Mike Robb has found that Shargin Atarea Stephens had been trying to get away from police and only made a step towards the armed probationary officer after being surrounded by a dozen police officers in a Rotorua street in 2016. A man armed with a slasher and wrench who was being chased by police wasnt trying to hurt anyone in the seconds before he was shot twice in the stomach by a probationary officer. The shooting happened within five minutes of an officer first lodging a 10-10 priority call saying Stephens had smashed up a patrol car. The 35-year-old died of his injuries two weeks later in hospital. In findings released today the coroner said the actions of the probationary officer, the most junior at the scene, contributed to Stephens death by rushing towards him, which escalated the situation. He added that the death was preventable, and he listed 30 recommendations for the police. They included the wearing of body cameras, probationary officers not taking control of situations where senior staff are present, the proper use of M4 rifles, de-escalation training, use of police dogs, reviewing the police risk assessment process, reviewing bail checks and training in emergency code calls. Coroner Robb said he had received just one response from police regarding his recommendations, which related to their use of body cameras. He also directed that his findings be referred to the IPCA and police, but what, if any steps, they considered thereafter was a matter wholly at their discretion. Coroner Robb also found the officer, a recent graduate or probationary officer, to be an inaccurate or unreliable witness, and was scathing of the evidence given by several other senior officers who were at the scene that day, including an AOS staffer. Without the benefit of CCTV footage, video footage taken by members of the public, it is highly likely the determinations that I have made in this inquiry would have been quite different if based solely on officers accounts, he said. The shooting Stephens was on electronically-monitored bail, got a variation to allow him to work. By July 14, he had been on bail for 38 days without any breach, yet police had checked him 70 times, which included waking him up on numerous occasions. Despite that, the coroner said Stephens was polite and compliant but significantly frustrated by the police actions and felt they were playing games with him. The day before his death, he consumed 0.1g of meth, before sharing another two 0.1g with his partner that night. Police surround Shargin Stephens. Photo / Supplied The morning of his death, his partner didnt consider him greatly affected by the meth, apart from having limited sleep. He was agitated after having a confrontation with an associate about work, and then ripped off his electronically monitored bracelet before noticing a patrol car drive past his Vaughan Rd home. Stephens threw a gym weight at the car before walking up to it and smashing it multiple times with a slasher. The officer who had been driving the car called in a 10-10 coded emergency about 12.45pm, and Stephens was chased from Vaughan Rd through a mechanics workshop on Marino Rd to Te Ngae Rd. By that point, one officer had tasered him twice, including once in the face, another pepper-sprayed him, and another was prepared to hit Stephens with his patrol car. Despite that, he continued to try to evade officers, who by this point numbered 12, along with three police dogs. Stephens made his way over the first two lanes of Te Ngae Rd and was surrounded by police in the middle of the road. As the officers surrounded him, the probationary officer had been sprinting to catch up with Stephens. The officer then walked through the group as he pointed his rifle at Stephens, getting within 6 to 7 metres. Taser audio captured the words put it down being yelled over a matter of seconds. As an officer yelled, put it down, you idiot, and as Stephens made a slight movement towards the officer, he was shot. Emergency services help Shargin Stephens after he was shot by a police officer in Rotorua on July 14, 2016. The coroner noted that multiple officers yelling at the same time had little if any prospect of bringing about engagement with Mr Stephens. It was possible he could have survived In his findings, numbering 209 pages, Coroner Robb agreed with a whanau submission that had Stephens only been shot once, there was a possibility his chances of survival would have increased. The coroner lambasted numerous officers for their actions, or lack of, and poor recall of events that happened right in front of them. There was no need for the officer who shot Mr Stephens to advance on Mr Stephens as close as he did, and in the manner he did. He positioned himself unnecessarily and dangerously close to Mr Stephens ... [and] led to, rather than prevented, Mr Stephens reacting. The actions of the officer accelerated, rather than ...de-escalated the incident. He said there was also a failure by senior officers to stop the probationary officer from taking charge of the police response. Police on Te Ngae Rd after the shooting of Shargin Stephens in 2016. Photo / File He agreed with an earlier IPCA conclusion that the polices incessant bail checking of Stephens was oppressive. He never intended to harm anyone The coroner found that Stephens never intended to inflict physical harm on anyone when he left his property that day, or thereafter. His actions, holding the slasher above his head before he was shot, were to keep officers away from him. The only time his actions could have been interpreted as attempting to strike was when he stepped toward the probationary officer, after he had advanced within six to seven metres. Coroner Robb found Stephens was not under the influence of methamphetamine or suffering from any kind of methamphetamine induced psychotic episode at the time he was shot. After his interaction with his work colleague that morning, he was already feeling agitated, and agitated spontaneously when the police car drove past on Vaughan Rd. Shargin Atarea Stephens was 35 when he died after being shot by police. What was happening ...was likely a combination of sleep deprivation ... frustration, and anger at not being taken to work, frustration and anger at police in part due to the number and manner of their bail checks on him. His taking of the slasher and wrench was unusual behaviour, and he also had a knife in his pocket, but never presented it, and it was only discovered after hed been shot. His behaviour was consistent with angry defiance rather than physical assault. However, the coroner added that he was behaving aggressively, which required a police response. I find his evidence troubling The coroner took issue with a lot of the evidence given by attending officers, including a trained AOS officer, who couldnt recall the probationary officer moving around in front of him while armed with the rifle at the Birchall and Maunder workshop. As a trained and senior AOS officer, being unaware of this probationary officer being in front of him with the rifle and consequently the potential dangers when this was occurring in a business premises ... in his capacity, and with his experience, I find that troubling. He also noted that none of the 12 officers felt that being armed with an M4 rifle was appropriate for the situation. As for why the probationary officer took it upon himself to grab the rifle, then effectively take charge, and rush in front of all the other officers on Te Ngae Rd was because he got himself into an overly elevated state. Coroner Robb said that despite the myriad of issues borne out of the second phase of the inquest, police held their original position that there was essentially nothing that the police had done on the day that could be faulted or ought to have been done differently. Accountability and human dignity In a statement, Stephens whanau said they wanted thank the coroners and legal team involved in the process, saying the inquest gave voice to the human story behind the headlines. They also wanted to acknowledge the probationary officer. We are now enmeshed as two peoples, forever connected by the loss of two lives: one lost in innocence, the other in death. We hope your path to healing becomes gentler, and that this tragedy may serve as a threshold toward a future filled with possibility and healthy growth. Stephens whanau said they wanted accountability and human dignity in police conduct across all avenues of their work. We trust that with those pillars to tether to, the tragedy that unfolded for us - and for all the police involved - will serve and assist as a template for true change. Shooting people is an absolute last resort Bay of Plenty District Commander Superintendent Tim Anderson said Stephens was shot after he threatened officers and members of the public. He said the death has been investigated by police and twice by the IPCA, which found the officer involved was legally justified in shooting Stephens in self-defence to protect both himself and members of the public. Anderson said police acknowledged the coroners findings and recommendations regarding police policy, practice, and training. Police will consider these recommendations but notes that many of the changes recommended had already been implemented following two IPCA reports and internal reviews of the incident over the last nine years. There has been significant scrutiny of this event over a period of nearly 10 years, and we will always take any opportunity to improve how we respond, to keep people safe. Anderson said these kinds of events have a profound effect not only on families, but also police. Shooting people is an absolute last resort decision that our staff constantly hope they never have to make. I want to commend the professionalism of our staff who responded to this incident. He said police officers are committed to protecting life and upholding the law. When an officer uses force to protect themselves or others, it is a tactical decision made after risk assessing the threat, the exposure to harm being faced, the necessity to act, and the best response considering all those factors. Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for 10 years and has been a journalist for 21. A treasured and historic fire station bell stolen from outside Thames Fire Station is ringing again. The more than 150-year-old bronze bell made its way back to the local station on the Coromandel Peninsula on August 1, after it was tracked down to a scrap metal yard and returned in good condition. The bell, dating back to 1869, was stolen from outside the station and reported to Police on July 26. Investigations began and CCTV footage showed two people swiping the weighty 73kg bell from its stand and fleeing on foot with it in the early hours of the morning. Thames Police Acting Sergeant Gareth Carter said while inquiries were being undertaken, police also received information from Fire and Emergency that the bell had been located at a scrap yard in South Auckland. It was returned to the fire station on Friday afternoon, much to the delight of the Thames Brigade. We work with Fire and Emergency closely and were also saddened to hear the bell had been taken, so we were thrilled that it was returned to where it belongs. Thames Fire chief Greg Rendall said credit went to their deputy chief fire officer Siobhan Flanigan who emailed scrap metal yards in hope of information. She struck luck when the scrap metal dealer called to say he had the historic bell. He even delivered it back to the fire station. Its great to have the bell back as its a piece of memorabilia and has a lot of history, said Rendall. It gives you a bit of faith in humanity, although its only the minority who do these types of things. Police have since charged a 34-year-old man with receiving stolen property in connection to the incident. He was arrested on July 30, after police making inquiries in Thames went to a local property where several people were located on warrants to arrest. Two people at the property were arrested in connection with a spate of shoplifting offences, while the 34-year-old man on warrants to arrest fled the property. He was subsequently located and arrested. He is due to appear in Thames District Court on August 15. This is a fantastic outcome and Thames Police staff have done an excellent job in gaining information that has led to arrests, said Acting Senior Sergeant Lara Beisly, of Waikato East Police. Our staff have really good relationships with the local community and public who have assisted us in this case, and we appreciate the value of the community. As for the bell, its back at the station, soon to be reinstalled at its post beneath the flagpole. -Police Ten One Magazine Europa Press Malaga Friday, 8 August 2025, 15:59 Share The Guardia Civil, in collaboration with the Spanish tax agency's customs surveillance service, have dismantled a criminal organisation which is believed to have set up illegal counterfeit and contraband tobacco factories in the provinces of Malaga and Cordoba. Some 21 people have been arrested and 18 people of different nationalities who were working in subhuman conditions have been released. The investigation began after reports of the alleged installation of an illegal tobacco production factory in a town in the province of Malaga, the authorities said in a statement. A surveillance operation was set up on one of the main suspects in the organisation, which led officers to a second factory in Cordoba province. Searches at both factories led to the seizure of over three million euros' worth of fraudulent manufacturing equipment. It is estimated that the organisation had a daily production capacity of eight million counterfeit cigarettes with a value of more than two million euros per day in tax fraud. In addition, the Guardia Civil found that the organisation recruited people from Asian and Eastern European countries through different means, offering them very attractive working conditions. Once these people arrived in Spain they were transferred by members of the organisation to the aforementioned factories, where they were held in overcrowded living and working conditions. The officers found that these people were being exploited in continuous working hours without rest, without any pay and arguing that they had to pay off an alleged debt contracted with the organisation. The investigation ended with the arrest of 21 people, who were charged with crimes of human trafficking, fraud against the tax authorities, tobacco smuggling, membership of a criminal organisation and crimes against industrial property. The operation was carried out by the customs surveillance operational units of Malaga and Seville, the Seville judicial police unit and the Roca team in Antequera (Malaga province), both of the Guardia Civil. Pilar Martinez Malaga Friday, 8 August 2025, 09:49 Share The second quarter of this year once again confirms the maxim that tourist spending is growing more than the number of people visiting the Andalucia region of southern Spain. The regional government's minister of tourism, Arturo Bernal, has highlighted that, from April to May, Andalucia welcomed 10.2 million tourists, which is 2.4% more than for the same period last year. However, the average daily expenditure of these visitors has risen to 86.20 euros, meaning 6.1% higher than the previous year, according to the results of the ECTA survey. This is a quarterly survey of the state of tourism in Andalucia conducted by the region's IECA institute of statistics and cartography. "We are growing threefold in tourist income at the destination in relation to the number of tourists who visit us," stated Bernal from the Junta. Malaga remains by far the most popular provincial destination for tourists in Andalucia. This survey data indicates that 28% of tourists were concentrated on the Costa del Sol province, followed by Cadiz, Seville and Granada with 18.4%, 15.9% and 11.7% respectively. Furthermore, it detailed that 60% of tourists who visited the region in the second quarter of 2025 came from Spain and, of these, approximately half were from other parts of Andalucia. With regard to foreign tourists, this same report indicated that 29.3% came from the EU excluding Spain and 10.5% from the rest of the world. However, the report does warn of a significant difference between the average expenditure of those visitors from other parts of Andalucia and that of tourists from elsewhere: "The origin of the tourist establishes differences in this spending, which varies from 74.84 euros spent by Andalusian tourists to 109.46 euros spent by those from the rest of the world." 28% of the total number of travellers who choose to visit Andalucia come to Malaga province. Regarding travel motivation, the report notes that 83.5% of tourists who visited Andalucia did so for holidays, 10.7% to visit family and friends, 2.3% for work or business and the remaining 3.6% cited other reasons. The most popular type of accommodation was hotels, chosen by 58.6% of visitors, while 33.8% opted for apartments, flats or villas. This year's tourists slightly reduced their average stay at 5.1 days, a 0.7% decrease compared to the previous year. Tourists gave Andalucia a rating of nine out of ten. The highest scores went to three provinces: Jaen, Seville and Cadiz, with 9.4, 9.2 and 9.1 respectively. Malaga received a nine. LISBON, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- Portugal's exports to the United States plunged by 39.4 percent year-on-year in June, amid anticipation of tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump, according to final data released Friday by the National Statistics Institute (INE). INE also reported that the country's trade deficit reached 28.35 billion euros (32.89 billion U.S. dollars) in 2024, an increase of 540 million euros compared with the previous year. In June 2024, exports to the United States totaled 557 million euros, but the figure fell to 338 million euros one year later, representing a decrease of 219 million euros. On a quarterly basis, in the quarter ending in June, exports to the United States declined by 13.9 percent, from 1.42 billion euros to 1.22 billion euros. Trump first announced a set of tariffs on several countries in April, but the implementation date was postponed several times to allow for negotiations and agreements, with the final date set for Thursday, Aug. 7. The United States then began enforcing its new tariff plan, which includes a global minimum of 10 percent and duties starting at 15 percent for countries with a trade surplus with the United States. For the European Union, a trade agreement with the United States was reached at the end of July. However, on Tuesday, Trump threatened to impose tariffs of 35 percent if the bloc failed to invest 600 billion U.S. dollars it had agreed to inject into the U.S. economy. (1 euro = 1.16 U.S. dollar) SUR in English Friday, 8 August 2025, 11:13 | Updated 13:18h. Share The Disability Pride Flag was prominently displayed at several key locations across Gibraltar last week, including the Frontier, the Mayor's Parlour, and St Bernard's Hospital, as the territory concluded its observance of Disability Pride Month. Celebrated globally throughout July, Disability Pride Month honours the history, achievements and lived experiences of people with disabilities while providing an opportunity for the disability community to celebrate their identities and confront harmful stereotypes. The July timing holds special significance as it commemorates the anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, groundbreaking 1990 legislation that dismantled barriers to social inclusion. The distinctive Disability Flag symbolises the diverse experiences within the disabled community through its coloured stripes. Red represents physical impairments and conditions, gold signifies neurodiversity, while white denotes non-visible and undiagnosed conditions. Blue stands for emotional and psychiatric conditions, and green encompasses hearing, vision and other sensory impairments. The charcoal background acknowledges community members who have faced ableism. Ableism - discrimination against people with disabilities based on assumptions that typical abilities are superior - remains a challenge that society must address to recognise the positive contributions and talents of people with disabilities, stated the press release. Gibraltar's Supported Needs and Disability Office within the Ministry of Equality provides ongoing support to people with disabilities and their families. Those seeking assistance can contact the office via email at sndo@gibraltar.gov.gi, WhatsApp at 56003195, call: 200 42196, or through their Facebook page: SNDO. Tony Bryant San Pedro Alcantara Friday, 8 August 2025, 12:42 Share A British resident of San Pedro Alcantara has launched a new charity operating in the UK, with a particular focus in Malaga, following the birth of her son, who was born with a rare eyelid condition called blepharofimosis. Vanessa Rodrigo Jakubowski's son, Emilio, was born in July 2023 with a condition that means the eyelids do not develop properly during pregnancy, which results in babies not being able to open their eyes fully. Faced with an overwhelming lack of resources, information and support, she managed, via YouTube videos, to find the sole expert surgeon in the world, Dr Ramon Medel, who is based in Malaga. "Emilio was diagnosed with this rare disease when he was three months old and operated on at ten months old, opening up his eyes and his whole world. This condition can cause all sorts of problems if not treated. If a child's vision doesn't develop in the first two years, then it will never develop properly. Also, because babies have to look through a small gap, they develop a head tilt, because they have to tilt their head back to see. This causes many problems, like bullying, social anxiety, exclusion and low self-esteem, so there are many different factors," Jakubowski told SUR in English. The caring mother had discovered an alternative treatment called 'sling surgery', but this is a "very traumatic experience" because it can take up to ten operations and leaves a lot of scarring. There is also a long waiting list for this treatment in the UK. "The magic is that Dr Medel invented a new method called 'frontal flap', which involves just one operation and which reduces the trauma and the scarring," she said. As the youngster's mother explained, this surgery "is not available publicly or on most insurances", so she fundraised 20,000 euros in six months through family, friends, social media and events in Marbella. "Following his successful surgery, I decided to start Through Our Eyes, the world's first charity to support babies and their families with this condition. The problem is that my son has a 50 per cent chance of passing this on to his own children, because it is genetic. The idea is to raise awareness, offer support and information and raise funds for operations for other babies," she explained. The only charity of its kind Through Our Eyes (www.throughoureyes.net) is the only charity dedicated to supporting individuals and families affected by three rare eyelid conditions: Blepharofimosis Ptosis Epicanthus Inversus Syndrome (BPES), Ptosis, and Marcus Gunn Jaw Winking Syndrome (MGJWS). "I am British and understand the rules and regulations regarding charity in the UK, where it is far cheaper to register than in Spain. The main hospitals and surgeons for the operations we are funding are in the UK and Malaga, but our mission will reach families all over the world. The reason I decided to cover the three conditions is because they are all very closely related, and I didn't think it was fair to cover just the one my son has," she said. Jakubowski is now in contact with other families from as far away as Galicia, and in Seville and Malaga, whose children are suffering with these rare eyelid conditions. She aims to help these families with support and information, and funds to pay for the particular treatment these children will need. She has already organised a series of autumn fundraising events, which will include a fashion show, a charity lunch and a gala night in order to finance these important treatments. "My plan over the next year is to arrange regular awareness and fundraising events here in the province of Malaga, and also in the UK. This will offer families of children suffering with these conditions the chance to come together to find the support they need. Although it might seem overwhelming at first for parents, we are here to listen and support anyone whose children are suffering. You are not alone. Please contact our charity and we will help in every way that we can," Jakubowski concluded. Tony Bryant Malaga Friday, 8 August 2025, 12:44 Share Within the variety of themes revealed in the writing of Pablo Neruda (1904 - 1973), Spain is perceived as a crucial experience in the Chilean poet's personal and literary journey. Neruda's Spain of the 1930s was viewed both with his happy and stimulating stay in Madrid during the years of the Republic and with the devastation of the civil war. Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for Literature in 1971, the poet and diplomat arrived in Madrid in June 1934 on route to Barcelona, where he had been assigned a diplomatic post at the Chilean embassy. After a short period in Barcelona, Neruda was transferred to the embassy of Madrid. His years of residence in the Spanish capital were marked by friendships facilitated by Spanish poets like Rafael Alberti and Federico Garcia Lorca, both members of the avant-garde movement known as the 'generation of '27', to whom he felt connected by personal and artistic affinities. Zoom Plaque on the poet's home. SUR Years later, the poet would recall these experiences, declaring that "among the happiest years of my life are those I spent in Spain". Neruda's home, known as the 'house of flowers', became a regular meeting place for friends and fellow artistes, including Lorca, who claimed Neruda was one of the "greatest Latin American poets of his day". The two poets forged a strong bond and a friendship that would last until Lorca's death in 1936. Neruda was outraged at Lorca's senseless death, protesting that. "We will never be able to forget this crime, nor forgive it; we will never put it out of our minds and never will we excuse it, never". Neruda's love of Spain and his staunch support of the Spanish Republic has been honoured with numerous streets, including those in Granada, Malaga, Seville, and Madrid, where there is also a commemorative plaque on his home where he lived in Calle de Hilarion Eslava. The Local Police in Teba have located, identified and initiated proceedings against two individuals for damage to four of the floodlights at the Castillo de la Estrella - the fortress that is one of the most symbolic spaces in the municipality which has close links with Scotland. The incidents happened on 1 and 5 August, during the night, and the perpetrators were identified thanks to the security cameras in the area. The floodlights, which were part of the exterior lighting system of the historic site, were completely destroyed. The photos taken after the incident clearly show the state of the floodlights: shattered stone blocks, broken glass and scattered internal components. The town hall has not provided details on the cost of the incident yet, although the images show evidence of serious damage. The lights were part of the street infrastructure intended to enhance the monument during nighttime visits. The investigation began after a review of the video surveillance cameras located in the area, which allowed the police to recognise the alleged perpetrators. Both were in Teba at the time for the patron saint festivities. A minor The individuals, one of them a minor, were located on 7 August. They acknowledged their involvement before the police. Due to the age of one of the suspects, the process will follow legislation on the criminal responsibility of minors. The investigation is still ongoing and the corresponding responsibilities will be determined in the next few days. At this stage, it has not been reported whether Teba town hall plans to take any further action, nor whether those responsible or their families will be asked to pay for the repair of the damaged floodlights. It has also not been confirmed whether surveillance measures at the castle will be increased to avoid similar incidents in the future. Castillo de la Estrella is one of the most important historical sites in Teba and a symbol of the municipality's heritage. The destruction of part of its exterior lighting system has caused unease among residents and visitors, although there have been no public statements from the town hall. Cristina Vallejo Malaga Friday, 8 August 2025, 09:23 Share It seems to have been a false alarm. Spain's population survey published in May with data as of 1 April 2025 reflected a demographic decline for Malaga province. It was just 639 people or 0.035%, but it was significant as it was the first population drop in the province since these statistics began to be published quarterly (since 2021). However, if one were to look further back, to the period when the INE national statistics institute counted the number of residents only every six months, this would be the first population loss since 2018, specifically in the first half of that year, when the province's demographics fell by 921 inhabitants, from 1,650,068 to 1,649,147. The figures published this Thursday by the INE revise previous figures and refute the demographic decline reported in the previous run of this quarterly population survey. The INE itself always reports that its data is provisional for a certain period of time - to be precise, all those published since 1 April 2024. With each new publication of these statistics, the INE releases the data for a new reference date and corrects the previous series. The new figures show that, on 1 April 2025, there were 4,155 more inhabitants in Malaga province than on 1 January, not 639 fewer. Adding to this growth is the increase recorded in the second quarter of this year, which the INE provisionally estimates at 1,883 inhabitants. This brings the province's population to 1,798,265 inhabitants as of 1 July. This also means that, compared to the figure from a year earlier, the population increase is 14,451. Thus far this year, the number of residents in the province has risen by just over 6,000. Population growth thanks to influx of foreign residents This population increase recorded in these three periods is due in all three to the arrival of foreigners, as the number of Spanish-born residents in Malaga is decreasing. Let's take it step by step. If there are 1,883 more inhabitants on 1 July 2025 than on 1 April, it is because there are 2,054 more foreigners, who have offset the loss of 171 Spaniards. Meanwhile, if the increase so far this year is 6,038 residents, it is because the increase of 6,348 foreigners has offset the decrease of 310 in the local population. Similarly, if in 12 months the growth is 14,451 individuals, it is because people born outside of Spain have compensated for the loss of 75 inhabitants of Spanish origin. Malaga is the sixth most populated province in Spain after Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Alicante and Seville. However, it is 14th in terms of population growth in the second quarter of this year. Almeria, for example, is ahead of it in Andalucia, where the number of inhabitants grew by 3,165. Curiously, in the province of Seville, the number of residents barely increased by 246 in the quarter. The worst-performing demographic, not only in Andalucia, but in all of Spain, is Cordoba, which lost 1,116 residents in the second quarter and 2,772 in 12 months (0.14% and 0.35% of its population respectively). In relative terms, population growth in Malaga province in the last quarter is 0.10%, which is below the population increase recorded in Spain as a whole (0.24%). The country attained 49,315,949 inhabitants as of 1 July this year, which is 119,811 more than on 1 April 2025. Compared to data from 12 months ago, the national increase is more than half a million people (slightly more than 1%, a variation also higher than that recorded in Malaga, which is limited to 0.81%). As of 1 July, the population of Malaga province is made up of 1.36 million people born in Spain and another 437,458 born overseas. This means that foreigners represent 24.3% of the total population. This is nearly five points more than the Spanish average of 19.64%, given that there are 9.68 million foreigners out of a total population of 49.315 million residents and citizens. The province with the highest proportion of foreign population as of 1 July 2025 is Alicante (29.7%), followed by the Balearic Islands (28.7%) and Girona (27.6%). In fourth place is Almeria at 25.6%, given that nearly 200,000 of its 777,156 inhabitants were born in other countries. Also ahead of Malaga are Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Barcelona, Madrid and Lleida. The survey also reports on the geographic origins of the people who migrated to Malaga in the second quarter of this year. The leading source was Argentina (880), followed by Colombia and Morocco with 770 each. However, there are also people who leave Malaga. In the second quarter, 390 went to Morocco, 370 to the United Kingdom and another 330 to other provinces in Spain. Ignacio Lillo Malaga Friday, 8 August 2025, 10:50 Share The 141-metre-long megayacht Yas has obviously taken a liking to Malaga and the Costa del Sol - a destination it has once again chosen as one of its stopovers. Although the names of the guests on board have not been revealed they will surely be from the circle of friends of the owner's closest entourage. The Yas, moored at the megayacht marina, next to the lighthouse in the city's port, is so large that it overshadows the shops, bars and restaurants at the end of Muelle Uno. A true floating colossus, this is one of the largest such vessels to have passed through the city facility. What it is also known for are its state-of-the-art safety features, among them a variety of defence systems. This is not the first time that it has chosen to moor in Malaga - it has done so on at least two previous occasions, almost always in May. Seeing as it has done it in August this time, it is highly likely that it is travelling with a group of top-end passengers on board Zoom View of the Yas from the dock, with its characteristic blue glass windows. SUR The Yas is one of the official recreational yachts of the Crown of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The boat belongs to Hamdan Bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and the United Arab Emirates. Known as Fazza, the 42-year-old prince is very active on social media, where he has more than 12 million followers. The ship was initially built in 1978 as a frigate of the Dutch navy, the HNLMS Piet Hein. It was subsequently sold to the United Arab Emirates Navy for military use, and named Al Emirat, according to information available on various specialised nautical websites. Between 2011 and 2015, the frigate underwent a complete refit at ADM shipyards in Abu Dhabi to become today's private superyacht Yas. Its exterior is striking not only for its size, but also for the distinctive sky-blue colour of its decks and its large glass front window. It can accommodate more than 60 passengers and 56 crew. Among its main features are a heliport, several swimming pools, a spa and, above all, the most advanced high-tech navigation and safety systems. The Yas will remain moored at the marina until mid-August, presenting an excellent opportunity for boating enthusiasts to visit Muelle Uno and take a closer look at one of the most luxurious yachts in the world. Ignacio Lillo Malaga Friday, 8 August 2025, 11:04 | Updated 15:42h. Share "I love Malaga" was the message that could be read on Wednesday night on the side of the Brilliant Lady - the Virgin cruise ship that has been anchored in the bay of Malaga since October 2024. Many people who had gone out for a refreshing seaside walk captured the heart-warming message, which the company had written with lights. It can be interpreted as a farewell message, as the ship is scheduled to leave for the US at the end of the month for its inauguration and the start of commercial routes in the Caribbean. It still has a few more days in Malaga. It returned to the bay on Wednesday, after spending a month in the Fincatieri shipyard in Palermo (Italy), where it underwent a series of adjustments to be prepared for its commercial commissioning. The Brilliant Lady is expected to make one last brief technical stopover at the Levante dock. From there, it will begin the Atlantic sailing, with a refuelling stop in Gibraltar. The bay of Malaga was chosen for the location where the ship would be anchored during the testing and staff training. It has been there for almost a year, during which time it has carried out commissioning tests of the systems and several entries and exits to the dock. In the past months, the cruise ship has also made several short trips for refuelling and navigation adjustment purposes. The Brilliant Lady will have its inauguration in New York on 5 September, from where it will start its first voyage in the Caribbean. The cruise ship is 278 metres long and has 17 decks. It is in the adults-only premium category and can accommodate a maximum of 2,860 passengers in 1,408 cabins. Ignacio Lillo Malaga Friday, 8 August 2025, 10:28 Share A powerful jet of water seen off the coast of the Morlaco neighbourhood in Malaga raised many questions this week. It rose several metres above sea level and proceeded to shoot water for some minutes, as can be seen in the video recorded by an eyewitness. But what was the cause of this strange phenomenon? SUR embarked on an investigation and asked experts from state meteorological agency Aemet, water company Emasa, the Port Authority, Capitania Maritima, Aula del Mar, the Institute of Oceanography and the Faculty of Sciences. We also asked other eyewitnesses of the event about their ideas. Several more or less feasible theories formed as a result. The most common among marine and nautical specialists, mostly marine biologists, was that it might have been caused by the bursting of an underwater outfall pipe, which generated this amount of water through pressure. However, a spokesperson from municipal water company Emasa - the body responsible for these installations - said that they were not aware of any incident or breakdown in this type of structure. Emasa suggested that the incident could have been the result of a gas leak from a pipe running through the area. The other reason for the jet of water itself was a release of pressure, according to the company. Neither of these two theories has been confirmed. Mystery solved The Port Authority and Capitania Maritima both reported that they didn't have any record of a ship that might have caused the incident. Aemet also ruled out any meteorological roots of the phenomenon. The mystery was solved by a SUR reader who recorded the video from the La Misericordia beach. From where he stood, it was clearly visible how a small boat equipped with a cannon (probably for fighting fires on other ships or in nautical facilities) tested the powerful jet by launching water high into the air. This is why those witnesses who were in the Morlaco area could only see the jet but not the source. Share Amonth after Pedro Sanchez unveiled his doomed plan to clean up Spanish politics, the Council of Europe has criticised Spain for not doing enough to fight corruption. According to a report released last Friday by the Councils Group of States Against Corruption (Greco), Spain hasnt fully implemented any of the nineteen recommendations made by the organisation in 2019; three havent been acted on at all, while sixteen have only been partially enforced. Grecos recommendations focus on the same areas as Sanchezs anti-corruption plan - and are likely to have as much effect on an ingrained culture of greed and impunity. The report flagged lack of transparency and accountability as two of the biggest problems, not just within the political establishment, but also in the police force and Guardia Civil. Under Spanish law, political advisers are classified as temporary workers (an arrangement upheld by a Supreme Court ruling in February), and are therefore exempt from rules that apply to civil servants. Since Sanchez took power in 2018, the number of advisers employed by the state has increased from 599 to 948. Similarly, MPs are immune from prosecution by lower courts, and can only be tried before the Supreme Court (although in theory this immunity only applies to actions unrelated to their professional duties). Sanchez has proposed the establishment of an independent public integrity agency, to assume key functions in the prevention, oversight and prosecution of corruption practices. This sounds promising, until you realise that removing politicians legal privileges would mean changing the law - and that that would require a parliamentary vote. Can we really envisage Spains political class freely choosing to be brought down to the level of ordinary citizens? As were in the middle of feria season, I thought the following analogy might give some impression of how inadequate such proposals are in combating Spains corruption problem. Imagine walking onto Malagas recinto, on the first Saturday night of feria, and trying to shut it down. Youve no legal powers whatsoever, and no back up. You just have to go from person to person, trying to convince them that theyd be better off at home, tucked up in bed. Of course youd fail, even if you managed to speak to every person present - and for the same reason that toothless anti-corruption reports fail: because everyone involved is having too good a time. Spanish politics is like a never-ending feria, the black money and kickbacks flowing like rebujito or Cartojal. To really convince the most corrupt practitioners to change their ways, youd have to offer them something in return - a promotion, perhaps, or a subsidised villa in Marbella. Perhaps thats where the anti-corruption plans are going wrong: theyre not incentivising virtue enough. Miguel G. Casallo Maldrid Friday, 8 August 2025, 15:52 Share Spain's 016 telephone helpline service for victims of gender violence registered a total of 59,317 queries between January and June 2025. This figure represents a daily average of 329.3 queries, as reported on Thursday 7 August by the Ministry of Equality. Operational since 2007 and managed by the government delegation against gender violence, 016 has since received 1,402,465 relevant calls. In the first six months of this year alone, 50,950 telephone calls were answered. In addition to these, 4,729 queries were made via WhatsApp, 2,936 online chats and 702 emails sent to the service's official address. Victims themselves accounted for 76.3% of the calls made, an increase of 1.7 per cent compared to the same period in 2024. Meanwhile, 18.7% were made by relatives or people close to victims, and five per cent by other people. Minister for equality Ana Redondo warned about a rise in gender violence during the summer months, when 30% of assaults occur. "It is essential to raise the alarm through services such as 016 in order to safeguard and protect women's lives," she said. She also appealed to the commitment of those closest to us: "Let's focus our attention and not let any situation in which violence occurs pass us by, because it can lead to something worse." The 016 service is free, confidential and accessible 24 hours a day. It does not appear on a telephone bill and is also adapted for people with reduced hearing, speech and sight. In addition to general counselling, it offers legal advice and immediate psychosocial care by specialised professionals. It also refers urgent calls to 112 emergency services and provides information on social resources, financial aid and shelter services. The 016 phone number, online consultations via email 016-online@igualdad.gob.es and the WhatsApp channel on 600 000 016 can also be used for advice on the resources available and the rights of victims of gender violence, as well as legal advice from 8am to 10pm every day of the week. Enquiries can be attended to in 52 languages and the service can be adapted to possible situations of disability. BEIRUT, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- A Hezbollah member was killed on Friday morning in an Israeli drone strike targeting a vehicle in southern Lebanon, according to Lebanese sources. The Public Health Emergency Operations Center, affiliated with the Ministry of Public Health, said in a statement that the Israeli drone strike targeted the Zahrani road in the Nabatieh district, leading to one death. A Lebanese security source told Xinhua that the dead was a Hezbollah member named Mohammad Shehadeh, from the town of Adloun. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Public Health on Friday released an updated report on the casualties of a Thursday Israeli drone strike on the Masnaa road, eastern Lebanon, raising the death toll from five to six and putting the injuries unchanged at 10. The security source told Xinhua that Abu Khalil Washah, a commander in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a Palestinian faction, was targeted and killed along with his escort during the Thursday drone strike. Since Nov. 27, 2024, a ceasefire agreement brokered by the United States and France has been in effect between Hezbollah and Israel, putting an end to clashes that had erupted in the wake of the war in Gaza. Despite the agreement, the Israeli army occasionally carries out strikes in Lebanon, claiming they are meant to eliminate "threats" posed by Hezbollah. The arrest of the man who fled without paying for his stay at a hotel in Ibiza. Agencies Ibiza Friday, 8 August 2025, 16:18 Share A Senegalese man was arrested on Monday, 4 August, for leaving a well-known hotel in the city centre of Ibiza without paying the whopping bill of more than 17,600 euros. The National Police launched an investigation into his 'free' stay over several weeks in June. According to the unit against specialised and violent crime (Udev), the detainee had initially been making payments, but the hotel started receiving bank notifications referring to payment returns at one point. It was then that the legal representative of the hotel establishment filed a complaint for fraud at the police station. The police identified and located the guest in another hotel in Sant Antoni, where he was preparing to leave for Paris. Among his belongings, they found documents which turned out to be fake. J. Arrieta Burgos Friday, 8 August 2025, 14:37 Share A research team led by the Catalan institute of human palaeoecology and social evolution (Iphes-Cerca) and scientists from the Spanish national research council (CSIC) has documented a case of human cannibalism among the local Neolithic communities that occurred some 5,700 years ago in the El Mirador cave, which is part of the Atapuerca mountain range in Burgos. Already, earlier this century, the remains of "six individuals from the early Bronze Age (about 4600-4100 years ago), which showed signs of cannibalism", were discovered. Subsequent excavations unearthed older remains with similar indications. A statistical analysis of radiocarbon dates identified a single earlier event (around 5709-5573 years ago) unrelated to those. That study "showed that the cannibalised people were of local origin. The episode coincided with the end of the Neolithic occupation, suggesting that this was not a common behaviour among the cave dwellers". This practice was not "a response to famine". According to researcher Palmira Saladie, anthropophagy (cannibalism) "is one of the most complex behaviours to interpret, due to the difficulty involved in the consumption of human beings by other human beings and the lack of necessary evidence to link it to a specific behavioural context". The remains correspond to at least 11 individuals, among them children, adolescents and adults, who were skinned, skinned, disarticulated, fractured, cooked and consumed, according to the evidence identified in the bones. It was a systematic consumption, with no "visible" evidence of rituals or ceremonies, "probably related to conflicts between neighbouring groups or between local groups and newcomers". The remains come from two sectors of the cave and have been preserved in an "exceptional" state. This has made it possible to identify cut marks, fractures to access the marrow, cooking and even traces of human teeth. Other analyses have revealed that they were all "eaten in a very short space of time". Zoom Cannibalized limb fragments. IPHES-CERCA "We are not dealing with a funerary tradition or a response to an extreme famine," said Francesc Marginedas of Iphes. "The evidence points to a possible violent action, given the short space of time in which it all happened, possibly between peasant communities in conflict," he added. Everything suggests that it was "an inter-group confrontation", with the elimination of an entire group and the subsequent consumption of the victims. "Conflict and the development of strategies to avoid it are part of human nature," said the researchers, who related this episode to other known massacres from the European Neolithic period, such as those at Talheim (Germany) or Els Trocs (Huesca). Likewise, similar behaviours from the same period have been discovered in sites such as the Fontbregoua cave in France or in Herxheim (Germany). Alfonso Torices Madrid Friday, 8 August 2025, 16:06 Share Electric scooters are the only type of vehicle that saw an alarming increase in the number of deaths in traffic accidents in Spanish cities in 2024 according to data released by the Directorate-General of Traffic (DGT) on Thursday 7 August. There were however notable decreases in deaths among pedestrians, motorcyclists and cyclists, who are the other three groups of vulnerable groups. Thirteen people were killed in traffic accidents on Spanish roads last year in accidents involving electric scooters. There were five more than a year earlier, which represents a 62% increase in the number of fatalities. This very negative figure was revealed only eight hours after a 13-year-old boy died, at around three in the morning, on an avenue in Pajara (Fuerteventura), after falling from the scooter he was riding. In 55 per cent of cases the victims were not wearing helmets, a safety system that is currently optional in most municipalities, but which will soon be compulsory on urban roads, as the DGT is drawing up a royal decree that will make it essential for scooters, as it has been for motorbikes and mopeds for years. Between 55 and 77% of urban commuters killed on scooters and bicycles were not wearing helmets. The scooter figure tarnished the otherwise positive data on urban accidents in 2024 published by the DGT. Pere Navarro said that last year 488 people died in accidents in Spanish cities and towns, which is 30 fewer than a year earlier and represents a six per cent drop in fatalities. Despite the tragedy, Navarro described it as an "encouraging" figure, as the number of fatalities was the fourth lowest since records began, despite the increase in both the population and the number of vehicles in circulation. It places Spanish cities as having the safest traffic in Europe, with 27% of those killed in accidents in the country as a whole, compared to the EU average of 38%. The marked improvement on last year's figures is due to a sharp decline in fatalities among vulnerable urban road users, who account for 80% of urban accident fatalities, compared to only 16% of car drivers or passengers. Some 42% of the fatalities were pedestrian collisions, with 206 fatalities. There were 17 fewer pedestrians killed than in 2023 (an 8% decrease) and, as usual, two out of three were residents over the age of 65. However, the DGT has commissioned a study to check how many of these pedestrian fatalities are caused by people using their mobile phones when crossing the road. 44% not wearing seatbelts Motorcyclists accounted for the next highest percentage of fatalities, at 28%. A total of 134 motorcyclists and passengers were killed, 16 fewer than a year earlier, a decrease of 10%. The third most vulnerable group in terms of number of deaths is cyclists, with 26 fatalities, five per cent of all urban fatalities. This is three fewer (a 13% decrease) than in 2024, but the figure could still improve considerably if we take into account that three out of four of those who died in these accidents were not wearing helmets, which is not compulsory but recommended. The second biggest group after scooters are the 79 fatalities in cars on city streets. The balance indicates that 42% were not wearing seat belts, which it is estimated could have saved the lives of at least half of these people. J.M.L. Toledo Friday, 8 August 2025, 13:00 Share The National Police in Spain have arrested a 29-year-old man in the city of Toledo on suspicion of injury, hate crimes and crimes against moral integrity for having attacked a 35-year-old man with a physical disability. The events occurred on the night of 30 July in the Palomarejo neighbourhood, near the old Virgen de la Salud hospital, when the suspect allegedly began to mock a man who was in a wheelchair. When he reproached him for his action, the arrested man began to insult him and ended up pushing him to the ground and repeatedly hitting him on the head. Several people who witnessed the aggression alerted the National Police. When they arrived, the young man refused to identify himself and attacked the officers, for which he was initially arrested for an offence of assaulting an officer of the law. Later, officers from the violent extremism and hate (EVO) unit of the National Police opened an investigation to determine whether these events could constitute a hate crime. According to their investigation, there were no personal problems between them and the only motive for the aggression was related to the perpetrator's prejudice and contempt for the victim's disability. The National Police said that since 2020, it has been running a campaign in collaboration with the Legalitas foundation aimed at young people with the aim of disseminating, informing and raising awareness of hate crimes and their prevention. The campaign consists of videos that can be downloaded from the website dinoalodio.es so that citizens, schools and associations can use them freely, helping to raise awareness among young people and eradicate this type of crime. Brandy Witthoft lives in Marcellus. I am your neighbor, a Syracuse University grad and a member of the greater Syracuse community. I am also a federal worker who was fired by the Trump administration. For more than 17 years, as a member of the U.S. Foreign Service and an employee of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), I represented the United States overseas and worked to deliver American assistance in some of the worlds most remote, poverty-stricken and conflict-prone locales. I served across Republican and Democratic administrations. When I was not overseas, I lived with my family in Marcellus. I have noticed that many Central New Yorkers seem to think that the gutting of federal agencies is a Washington problem that will not affect us. But this is not true. Federal workers live throughout the U.S. We are right here in your town. Our kids go to school with your kids. We see you at the library and at the grocery store. But this letter is not essentially about us. It is about what the American people and the world are losing with the dismantling of USAID. The Lancet, a leading peer-reviewed medical journal, recently published a carefully researched article calculating that over 91 million deaths, including for 30 million children under the age of 5, were prevented thanks to USAID during the 21-year period of the study. Their forecasting model predicts that USAID cuts will lead to more than 14 million additional deaths by 2030. A Somali child, internally displaced from her home, looks out from her family's makeshift home fashioned from USAID food containers in Maslah camp on the outskirts of Mogadishu, Somalia Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2025. U.S. foreign aid prevented 91 million deaths over 21 years, according to a study published by the Lancet. (Farah Abdi Warsameh | AP) Associated Press file photo For over 60 years, USAIDs work offered enormous benefits to poor communities around the world, but it also directly helped us here in America. By reducing the overall prevalence of communicable diseases, we prevented the spread of disease into the U.S. By improving economic development, we increased markets for U.S. goods and helped people find dignified work where they lived. As a result, many decided not to attempt risky migration journeys. USAID was not charity. For less than 1% of the federal budget, our work was a strategic investment in greater peace, better heath, stable economies and improved food security. It was also a representation of Americas ingenuity, kindness and generosity, garnering us many friends, allies and advocates around the world. Being fired at 52 from my dream job and my lifes calling has been devastating. Being slandered and lied about by the president and his appointees has been deeply painful. Thinking of the deaths that will occur is heartbreaking. But my greatest sadness is watching America retreat from our historic role of offering hope and succor to the worlds most disadvantaged. I do not expect us to solve all of the worlds problems or to aid every needy person. But when did our country, the richest and most powerful on Earth by a wide margin, decide to turn its back instead of helping? That is not the America I know and love. BEIJING, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- Placed in an exhibition hall of a Beijing industrial park is a model of a hydrogen fuel cell truck. Its cabin contains a mini-washing machine and a sink, and the drivers can reuse water generated by the operation of the vehicle-mounted hydrogen fuel cell to wash their clothes and hands. This heavy-duty tractor, named H49, is developed by Hybot, a tech firm focusing on hydrogen fuel cell commercial vehicle solutions, based in Guangzhou in south China's Guangdong Province. "Its fuel costs are even lower than diesel trucks," Sun Ying, CEO of Hybot, told Xinhua. A road test on an expressway running through the plains of central China's Hubei Province revealed that the fuel costs of a fully-loaded H49 truck were about 2.14 yuan (roughly 0.3 U.S. dollars) per kilometer, lower than the average cost of 2.31 yuan for diesel trucks under the same conditions, according to Sun. After mass production, costs could be further reduced, Sun added. Hydrogen energy is a green and low-carbon secondary energy source with various sources and widespread applications. According to the National Energy Administration (NEA), China sees hydrogen energy as a vital component of the future national energy system and an emerging sector with strategic importance. "Hydrogen can be produced from water, methanol and even coal. China has abundant reserves of all these energy resources. By developing hydrogen energy, China can take the lead in low-carbon and green development globally," said Xiang Yan, professor at the School of Energy and Power Engineering at Beihang University in Beijing. In a corner of the Daxing International Hydrogen Energy Demonstration Zone in the south of the Chinese capital, a line of buses and trucks were waiting their turn to refuel with hydrogen. Though the roar of engines filled the air -- there was no pungent smell of exhaust fumes. This refueling station started operations in 2021 and has increased its refueling capacity to 4.8 tonnes of hydrogen per day. The zone has attracted more than 250 companies spanning the hydrogen energy supply chain, said Xie Tao from the operator of the zone, who has been working in the hydrogen energy industry for 10 years. Thanks to the growing industrial cluster -- businesses within the zone can seamlessly connect with partners and access technology solutions all in one place. "The hydrogen energy industry is still at a primary stage of development, so the role of the demonstration zone operator is to empower enterprises by helping them reduce R&D costs and provide them with common services," Xie said. Notably, the NEA has stated that China plans to master core technologies and manufacturing techniques regarding hydrogen energy in 2025, while aiming to build a primarily complete supply chain and industrial system by 2030. "What matters in the development of hydrogen energy is commercialization. We start from scratch to build its industrial chain. This process is more than just results in the laboratory," Xiang said. One. Thats how many Indiana bats are known to be living in CNY according to results of a New York State Department of Environmental Conservation field survey conducted in the beginning of the year. Indiana bats are protected by the federal Endangered Species Act and New York Endangered Species law. DEC declined to provide results of past bat surveys, which it conducts every two years, citing risks to the bats if their hibernation locations were made public. Its unclear what the presence of one hibernating Indiana bat means in the broader context of CNYs Indiana bat population. Survey data are not a proxy for population size due to the limited areas that can be safely surveyed, DEC said. The question is significant because the tiny, winged mammals have already delayed plans by Micron Technology to build the largest semiconductor manufacturing complex in the country in the town of Clay. Micron conducted acoustic surveys in 2023 that detected seven different bat species roosting on its future campus. Among those were endangered Indiana and northern long-eared bats. The recent DEC field survey that turned up one Indiana bat found no northern long-eared bats. While Microns bat surveys indicate the presence of many more Indiana bats than what DEC found hibernating in CNY last winter, they cant determine the number of bats roosting on some 445 acres of forested land the company hopes to begin clearing this winter in preparation for construction. DEC biologists found just one endangered Indiana bat during a CNY field survey conducted in the beginning of the year. The bats shown here are from that survey. All but one are little brown bats. NYS DEC Before a single tree can be cut, federal and state regulators must approve Microns draft mitigation plan that will result in a net conservation benefit to the bat species displaced by the project. DEC said it is coordinating with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Micron on such a plan. Micron provided a broad description of possible bat mitigation measures it might take in its draft environmental impact report, to include purchase of twice the amount of roosting habitat lost in construction of the plant, and funding for bat conservation programs in NY. The public has until midnight on Monday, Aug. 11, to submit comments on Microns draft environmental impact report, which detailing potential impacts the project will have on everything from traffic, to population growth, to bats. Why are Indiana bats endangered in NY? In 2006, the Indiana bat population in NY stood at 41,000 before plummeting 71% due to the spread of white nose syndrome, a fatal fungal infection first discovered in 2006 in a cave in Schoharie County. In New York, approximately 13,000 Indiana bats are known to exist in 17 hibernacula (places where bats hibernate such as caves and mines) spread around eight upstate counties, according to DEC. Onondaga County is home to two Indiana bat hibernacula. All cave-hibernating bat species in the state were devastated by WNS. Little brown bats, once the most common bat in NY with a population of 1.5 million, nosedived to a current hibernating population of 95,000. Little brown bats are the only species affected by WNS to start showing signs of a population increase since 2006. DEC biologists counted 1,168 little brown bats in its recent CNY field survey. Steve Featherstone covers the outdoors. Contact him at sfeatherstone@syracuse.com. The Justice Department has issued two subpoenas to New York Attorney General Letitia James, according to The New York Times. One is related to her offices civil fraud case against President Donald Trump. That case resulted in a penalty worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The other involves James long-running case against the National Rifle Association. People familiar with the matter told the Times the new subpoenas are part of a civil rights investigation to determine if the attorney generals office violated Trumps rights. The subpoenas appear unrelated to a case involving James real estate transactions, which was confirmed earlier this year. James has been a fierce adversary of Trump since she first ran for attorney general in 2018, the Times said. She sued him in 2022 in a case that accused him of overvaluing his assets by billions of dollars. Trump lost the case and his fine has grown to more than half a billion dollars with interest, the Times said. The case is being appealed. Any weaponization of the justice system should disturb every American, a spokesman for James said, according to NBC News. We stand strongly behind our successful litigation against the Trump Organization and the National Rifle Association, and we will continue to stand up for New Yorkers rights. James sued the NRA and its leadership with mixed results, NBC said. She had sought dissolution of the group, but a judge struck down those claims. Her office did win a civil fraud case against the longtime head of the NRA in 2024, according to NBC. A jury convicted him of diverting money from the group to fund his own expenses. In the past, Trump has called James a wacky crook on social media, according to Fox News. Letitia James, a totally corrupt politician, should resign from her position as New York State Attorney General, IMMEDIATELY, Trump previously wrote, according to Fox. Washington Colleges will be required to submit data to prove they do not consider race in admissions under a new policy ordered Thursday by President Donald Trump. In 2023, the Supreme Court ruled against the use of affirmative action in admissions but said colleges may still consider how race has shaped students lives if applicants share that information in their admissions essays. Trump is accusing colleges of using personal statements and other proxies to consider race, which conservatives view as illegal discrimination. The role of race in admissions has featured in the Trump administrations battle against some of the nations most elite colleges viewed by Republicans as liberal hotbeds. For example, the new policy is similar to parts of recent settlement agreements the government negotiated with Brown University and Columbia University, restoring their federal research money. The universities agreed to give the government data on the race, grade point average and standardized test scores of applicants, admitted students and enrolled students. The schools also agreed to be audited by the government and to release admissions statistics to the public. Trump says colleges may be skirting SCOTUS ruling Conservatives have argued that despite the Supreme Court ruling, colleges have continued to consider race. The persistent lack of available data paired with the rampant use of diversity statements and other overt and hidden racial proxies continues to raise concerns about whether race is actually used in admissions decisions in practice, says the memorandum signed by Trump. The memo directs Education Secretary Linda McMahon to require colleges to report more data to provide adequate transparency into admissions. The National Center for Education Statistics will collect new data, including the race and sex of colleges applicants, admitted students and enrolled students, the Education Department said in a statement. If colleges fail to submit timely, complete and accurate data, McMahon can take action under Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, which outlines requirements for colleges receiving federal financial aid for students, according to the memo. It is unclear what practical impact the executive order will have on colleges. Current understanding of federal law prohibits them from collecting information on race as part of admissions, said Jon Fansmith, senior vice president of government relations at the American Council on Education, an association of college presidents. Ultimately, will it mean anything? Probably not, Fansmith said. But it does continue this rhetoric from the administration that some students are being preferenced in the admission process at the expense of other students. Because of the Supreme Court ruling, colleges have been barred from asking the race of students who are applying, Fansmith said. Once students enroll, the schools can ask about race, but students must be told they have a right not to answer. In this political climate, many students wont report their race, Fansmith said. So when schools release data on student demographics, the figures often give only a partial picture of the campus makeup. Diversity changed at some colleges but not all The first year of admissions data after the Supreme Court ruling showed no clear pattern in how colleges diversity changed. Results varied dramatically from one campus to the next. Some schools, such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Amherst College, saw steep drops in the percentage of Black students in their incoming classes. But at other elite, selective schools such as Yale, Princeton and the University of Virginia, the changes were less than a percentage point year to year. Some colleges have added more essays or personal statements to their admissions process to get a better picture of an applicants background, a strategy the Supreme Court invited in its ruling. Nothing prohibits universities from considering an applicants discussion of how race affected the applicants life, so long as that discussion is concretely tied to a quality of character or unique ability that the particular applicant can contribute to the university, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in 2023 for the courts conservative majority. As an alternative to affirmative action, colleges for years have tried a range of strategies to achieve the diversity they say is essential to their campuses. Many have given greater preference to low-income families. Others started admitting top students from every community in their state. Prior to the ruling, nine states had banned affirmative action, starting with California in 1996. The University of California saw enrollment change after the statewide ban in 1996. Within two years, Black and Hispanic enrollments fell by half at the systems two most selective campuses Berkeley and UCLA. The system would go on to spend more than $500 million on programs aimed at low-income and first-generation college students. The 10-campus University of California system also started a program that promises admission to the top 9% of students in each high school across the state, an attempt to reach strong students from all backgrounds. A similar promise in Texas has been credited for expanding racial diversity, and opponents of affirmative action cite it as a successful model. In California, the promise drew students from a wider geographic area but did little to expand racial diversity, the system said in a brief to the Supreme Court. It had almost no impact at Berkeley and UCLA, where students compete against tens of thousands of other applicants. Today at UCLA and Berkeley, Hispanic students make up 20% of undergraduates, higher than in 1996 but lower than their 53% share among Californias high school graduates. Black students, meanwhile, have a smaller presence than they did in 1996, accounting for 4% of undergraduates at Berkeley. After Michigan voters rejected affirmative action in 2006, the University of Michigan shifted attention to low-income students. The school sent graduates to work as counselors in low-income high schools and started offering college prep in Detroit and Grand Rapids. It offered full scholarships for low-income Michigan residents and, more recently, started accepting fewer early admission applications, which are more likely to come from white students. Despite the University of Michigans efforts, the share of Black and Hispanic undergraduates hasnt fully rebounded from a falloff after 2006. And while Hispanic enrollments have been increasing, Black enrollments continued to slide, going from 8% of undergraduates in 2006 to 4% in 2025. An Upstate New York man has been arrested for allegedly beating his girlfriend with a shovel. WIVB reports Julian Taylor, 31, of Buffalo, is accused of brutally assaulting a woman in the citys Lovejoy neighborhood. The incident occurred Thursday, July 31, shortly after 8 p.m., according to police reports. Police say Taylor punched and hit the victim before grabbing a shovel to beat her head in. She remains hospitalized after reportedly suffering severe lacerations, skull fractures and brain bleeds. The victims name has not been released. According to WIVB, she was identified as Taylors girlfriend. Police said they were able to recover the shovel used in the alleged assault. Taylor is currently being held without bail on charges of first-degree assault and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon. Taylor is next scheduled to appear in court Aug. 14, according to the Erie County District Attorneys Office. ISTANBUL, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- China-proposed initiatives, such as the Belt and Road cooperation, have been helping the world break down barriers that have historically led to misunderstandings and conflicts, a Turkish expert told Xinhua recently. These initiatives promote people-to-people ties, and language, religion, and cultural awareness, allowing peoples, languages, religions and cultures to "get to know each other," which "matters the most," said Akkan Suver, head of the Istanbul-based Marmara Group Strategic and Social Research Foundation. Noting the importance of this kind of mutual understanding in resolving conflicts and building lasting peace, Suver said open dialogue and cultural diversity pave the way for cooperation that transcends politics and economics. Suver, who recently paid a visit to China to participate in an international media conference organized by the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), said the conference was timely and meaningful in promoting dialogue amid a world challenged by conflicts and wars. The SCO serves as a regional platform to foster security, economic collaboration and diplomatic dialogue, he said, adding that "the SCO carries out, and will continue to carry out, important work for peace, dialogue, and trade." China, the driving force behind the SCO, plays a vital role in advancing regional security, economic cooperation, and diplomatic engagement among member states, he noted. Meanwhile, China's green development notions and practices, within the framework of the SCO, have made great contributions to environmental sustainability, and promoted reforestation, clean energy, and urban ecology across member states, he added. ferrarirules Senior - BHPian Join Date: Aug 2017 Location: Faridabad Posts: 1,450 Thanked: 6,210 Times Re: India to increase ethanol blending in petrol to 30% by 2030 This roadmap of fuel blending has been known to everyone, including OEMs, since 2020. If it was not right or had challenges, OEMs should have lobbied against it? OEMs like Maruti, Tata, and Mahindra engage in lobbying for various purposes But what OEMs did in reality 1. In Jan 2023, Maruti's CEO & MD was questioning the government's capability to provide flex fuel as they were ready with the WagonR flex fuel. Evidence - link to Excerpt from the article Quote: His statement from the article above, "Maruti CEO & MD Takeuchi welcoming the government's policy-making said that It is good to know that the government is taking concrete steps in this direction. Such steps will encourage us to start commercial production from 2025 or earliest as and when infrastructure is made available." 2. In Aug 2023, Toyota, as OEM, supported the government's vision for flex fuel cars. They showcased "World's First BS 6 (Stage II) Electrified Flex Fuel Vehicle". The headlines said "Toyota Kirloskar Motor Unveils Prototype of the World's First BS 6 (Stage II) Electrified Flex Fuel Vehicle, contributing towards realising national goals" Evidence - Excerpt from the article Quote: "India is well endowed with renewable energy, surplus sugar, food grains, and biomass which offers huge possibilities for a transition to a cleaner energy future, which is also indigenous. The abundantly available sugarcane, excess food grains, along with huge biomass waste can be used to produce ethanol that can substitute a significant amount of petrol used by vehicles in the shortest possible time. Notably, in the recent past, the Ethanol mix (in petrol) in India has gone up from 1.53% in 2013-14 to 11.5% in March 2023, which has helped reduce the oil import bill by Rs. 41,500 crores in the last eight years. Further, in 2020-21, ethanol blending enabled a reduction of 26 million barrels of petrol, thereby resulting in savings of Rs. 10,000 crores. With the impending implementation of E20 (20% ethanol blending in petrol) by April 2025, India is expected to save Rs. 35,000 crores annually in its oil import bill and reduce GHG Emission by 21 million metric tonnes. E20 fuel will also reduce PM2.5 emissions by up to 14% as compared to petrol." 3. Recently, Toyota and Maruti recommended 95 octane fuel for their hybrid cars as well. Now, if I put one and one two, it was because XP95 has less ethanol blending than normal petrol 4. Tata, Mahindra, and Hyundai never promoted flex fuel. No articles covering flex fuel except for the 2025 expo. Tata and Mahindra were, anyway, concentrated on EV tech implementation. What did the largest OEM get in return? In Sep-2023, the government announced that the 6 airbag mandatory rule will not be applied - P.S. - No way I am defending the government here; what I am trying to show is that 2 out of the top 5 OEMs worked hand in hand with the government and supported the government in this initiative. There has been considerable discussion about E20 fuel and its impact.This roadmap of fuel blending has been known to everyone, including OEMs, since 2020. If it was not right or had challenges, OEMs should have lobbied against it? OEMs like Maruti, Tata, and Mahindra engage in lobbying for various purposesBut what OEMs did in reality1. In Jan 2023, Maruti's CEO & MD was questioning the government's capability to provide flex fuel as they were ready with the WagonR flex fuel.Evidence - link to Autocar article Excerpt from the articleIf they were not aligned with the government's vision, why did they support it? Did they not know that it would impact their older cars?2. In Aug 2023, Toyota, as OEM, supported the government's vision for flex fuel cars. They showcased "World's First BS 6 (Stage II) Electrified Flex Fuel Vehicle". The headlines said "Toyota Kirloskar Motor Unveils Prototype of the World's First BS 6 (Stage II) Electrified Flex Fuel Vehicle, contributing towards realising national goals"Evidence - Toyota India's official article (read it whole, it sings praises of the government's vision)Excerpt from the articleIf they were not aligned with the government's vision, why did they support it? Did they not know that it would impact their older cars or even their current cars?3. Recently, Toyota and Maruti recommended 95 octane fuel for their hybrid cars as well. Now, if I put one and one two, it was because XP95 has less ethanol blending than normal petrol4. Tata, Mahindra, and Hyundai never promoted flex fuel. No articles covering flex fuel except for the 2025 expo. Tata and Mahindra were, anyway, concentrated on EV tech implementation.What did the largest OEM get in return? In Sep-2023, the government announced that the 6 airbag mandatory rule will not be applied - link to teambhp thread (6 Airbags no longer mandatory for Indian cars) P.S. - No way I am defending the government here; what I am trying to show is that 2 out of the top 5 OEMs worked hand in hand with the government and supported the government in this initiative. President Donald Trump is calling for a major leadership change at Intel, asking CEO Lip-Bu Tan to resign over alleged financial ties to Chinese firms. The call came Thursday through Trump's Truth Social post, where he claimed Tan was "highly conflicted" and insisted he must "resign immediately." Trump's strong statement comes shortly after Republican Senator Tom Cotton sent a letter to Intel's board raising concerns about Tan's past investments. According to reports, Tan has invested over $200 million in Chinese chip companies, some of which may have links to China's military. This situation has stirred up worry among lawmakers and investors, especially because Intel recently received $8 billion from the US government through the CHIPS Act to boost domestic chip production, Reuters said. Now, with these concerns, Intel's role as a leader in US chipmaking could be at risk. Intel Stock Drops 3% After Trump Targets CEO According to CBS News, Intel shares fell by 3% after Trump's post. The company responded with a brief statement saying it remains committed to national security and plans to continue working with the administration. Tan, who became CEO in March, has not yet publicly addressed the issue. Meanwhile, Cadence Design Systemsa tech company where Tan was CEO for over a decaderecently pleaded guilty to illegal sales to a Chinese military university. That case has only added more pressure to Intel and its board. Tan has been a respected figure in the tech world, known for helping build startups and guiding chip companies. However, new reports show his venture firm has partnered with Chinese state-owned investors. Though sources say Tan has sold some of these investments, public records still list many as active. Some experts have warned that this situation sets a risky precedent. "You don't want presidents telling companies who should run them," said one investment manager. "But Trump's opinion still carries a lot of weight." Intel has also been facing internal struggles. It's lost market share to competitors like AMD and Nvidia and has delayed some of its major factory projects. The company also fired its previous CEO last year, making Tan's leadership even more critical. Originally published on vcpost.com HARARE, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- Zimbabwe recorded a 53 percent increase in leaf tobacco production to 352.7 million kg this year, setting a record-breaking yield in the history of the country's tobacco industry, according to the Tobacco Industry and Marketing Board (TIMB). The 2025 tobacco marketing season, which opened in March, closed on Thursday with sales surging to 1.2 billion U.S. dollars, the country's tobacco industry regulator said in a statement on Friday, adding that China remains the largest importer. The TIMB advised growers with remaining tobacco to deliver it to auction floors for a mop-up sale on Aug. 27. Tobacco is Zimbabwe's largest agricultural export and a major foreign currency earner, cultivated primarily by smallholder farmers. In 2021, the country launched the Tobacco Value Chain Transformation Plan, seeking to address challenges affecting the sector, including low productivity, limited local funding mechanisms, and minimal value addition. French firefighters optimistic after controlling vast wildfire Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse, France, Aug 8 (AFP) Aug 08, 2025 French authorities said Friday they were counting on better weather conditions to put out the country's biggest wildfire in at least half a century near the Mediterranean coast after firefighters finally managed to bring it under control. The fire ravaged a vast area of the Aude department at the peak of the summer tourist season, killing one person and wounding several others. Experts say European countries are becoming ever more vulnerable to such disasters due to intensifying summer heatwaves linked to global warming. Firefighters announced that the Aude blaze was brought under control on Thursday, although it will still take several days before it is completely extinguished. "The weather is changing in our favour," Remi Recio, a senior regional official who is the sub-prefect for the southern city of Narbonne told reporters, pointing to "a weakening of the wind" and rising humidity. "The light drizzle this morning is also welcome," he said in Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse, the town worst hit by the fire. However the low cloud cover which helps the firefighters on the ground makes aerial operations to fight the fire more complicated. - 'Complete despair' - The fire, the largest for at least 50 years close to the French Mediterranean coast, swept through 17,000 hectares (4,200 acres) of vegetation in just over 48 hours. Local authorities have said that some 2,000 people evacuated are still unable to return home. Almost 2,000 firefighters are mobilised to fight the fire. In Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse, a 65-year-old woman was found dead Wednesday in her home, which was devastated by flames. The authorities said 18 people were injured: two residents who were hospitalised, one of whom suffered serious burns as well as 16 firefighters. As well as the damage to forests, local authorities estimate that "800 to 900 hectares" of vineyards have been lost. "If we don't get help, we won't recover. We're losing a lot. It's complete despair. It outrages me, this vineyard, all these years of work, went up in smoke in an hour," Fabien Vergnes, 52, told AFP on his 20-hectare property in Tournissan, a few kilometers from Saint-Laurent. With Europe facing new August heatwaves, many areas are on alert for wildfires. Portugal on Thursday extended emergency measures because of the heightened risk of fires. Near the Spanish town of Tarifa, fire crews secured areas near hotels and other tourist accommodations after controlling a major blaze that also destroyed hundreds of hectares. Brazil COP30 climate summit lodging too pricey for some nations Paris, Aug 8 (AFP) Aug 08, 2025 High prices for lodging may force small island states to slash the size of their delegations to the November COP30 climate summit in Brazil, a representative said Friday. "The 39 members of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) have continually expressed their concerns about the prohibitive costs associated with travelling to and staying in Belem," Ilana Seid, chair of the group and representative of Palau at the United Nations, told AFP by email. "We do not have the luxury of large budgets at our disposal to ensure our participation," she said on behalf of countries dotting oceans worldwide that are especially vulnerable to sea level rise and superstorms amplified by global warming. "If our delegations are reduced or unable to participate effectively, it would be a failure in the pursuit of climate justice for those whose lives and livelihoods are on the front line of a crisis they did not cause," Seid said. The UN climate conference will be held in November in Belem, an Amazonian city of 1.3 million inhabitants with limited hotel accommodations. Less than 100 days before the event, the prices have caused such widespread consternation that some countries have asked for the conference to be moved to another city. Austria's head of state this week cancelled his planned trip, citing "exceptionally high costs". Recent months have seen hotels advertising rooms at 1,200 euros ($1,400) a night. Some offerings on the Airbnb booking platform were even higher. The COP30 presidency, which does not intend to move the event, has offered reduced-price accommodation for developing and island countries, including cabins on cruise ships. But the price of these rooms is "still higher" than the package agreed for UN-backed travellers, Seid said. "The allocation of 15 rooms per delegation is also alarming, meaning that many of our countries would be forced to reduce the size of their delegations," she said. The COP30 president, Andre Correa do Lago, acknowledged this month that there were "extreme concerns" and that "reducing delegations is obviously not what Brazil wants because we need a very intense and productive COP". "We are trying to find solutions to this price issue," he told journalists. jmi/mh/js Three die in Greece as gales stoke fires, disrupt ferries Palaia Fokaia, Greece, Aug 8 (AFP) Aug 08, 2025 Three people including two Vietnamese tourists died in Greece on Friday as ferocious winds whipped up wildfires and disrupted ferry travel for tens of thousands of summer holidaymakers. More than 200 firefighters backed by 11 water bombers and seven helicopters were battling a blaze in Keratea southeast of Athens, Costas Tsigkas, head of the association of Greek firefighter officers, told ERT state television. "It's a difficult fire," he said, citing gusts of wind and reporting that several communities had been evacuated. Firefighters discovered the body of an elderly person inside their burned home in Keratea and the wind was hampering water bombers' ability to operate, fire service spokesman Vassilis Vathrakogiannis told a press briefing. An AFP journalist in the nearby town of Palaia Fokaia, around 45 kilometres (28 miles) south of Athens, saw fire consume a house and thick smoke choke the air. Firefighters were sprinting to direct hoses and douse the flames, while a helicopter swooped overhead to drop water. Earlier, a separate blaze on the island of Cephalonia was brought under control, local officials said, while the situation "has improved" on the Peloponnese peninsula west of Athens, Vathrakogiannis announced. The civil protection ministry had said wind gusts would reach 88 kilometres an hour, especially in the southern Aegean and the Sea of Crete. National weather service EMY said the gusts would weaken after midnight, but the civil protection ministry placed several areas under the highest alert for wildfires on Saturday, including the Attica region, which includes Athens. The coastguard had earlier said a Vietnamese man and woman from a cruise ship group had died at the Sarakiniko beach on the tourist island of Milos in the Cyclades. "The man and woman were found unconscious in the sea and were taken to the local health centre," a coastguard spokeswoman said. "The woman fell in the water and the man apparently tried to save her." - 'Left stranded' - The gales confined many ferries to port, the main mode of transport connecting thousands of islands and their crucial tourism sector. The coastguard said most ferries were unable to depart on schedule from Piraeus and other Athens ports, especially to the Cyclades or Dodecanese islands. Several services were cancelled and others postponed. At Piraeus, hundreds of travellers crowded outside a ferry bound for the Cycladic islands of Paros and Naxos, waiting for news on a possible departure. Nearby, stranded travellers surrounded by rucksacks and suitcases formed a huge queue outside a ticket office and made desperate phone calls hoping to make rearrangements to save their journeys. "There's huge lines, huge commotion, everyone's waiting in the sun and it's a very tough time," said Philip Elias, an American tourist. Maritime connections with the Saronic islands near Athens including Aegina, Hydra, Poros and Spetses and the Ionian Sea were unaffected, the coastguard said. Strong winds are common in Greece at this time of year, and firefighters have already faced several major blazes this summer, including on the islands of Evia and Chios as well as in the western Peloponnese. Buffalo kills American trophy hunter in South Africa Johannesburg, Aug 8 (AFP) Aug 08, 2025 A 59-year-old American has been killed by a buffalo he was tracking during a trophy hunt in South Africa, police said Friday. The man from Dallas, Texas, whose name was not disclosed, was found dead last Sunday at a farm in the northern Limpopo province. He had injuries on his stomach and torso, and a buffalo that had been shot and killed was lying nearby. A statement from the police said they had been alerted by security personnel at the farm who led them to "a lifeless body of a man already certified dead inside an ambulance". Buffaloes in South Africa can weigh up to 800 kilos (1,800 pounds) and are among the so-called Big Five of African trophy animals, along with elephants, rhinos, lions and leopards. Hunting tourism brings in $169 million a year for South Africa, according to a study by a local university released in July. "Foreign hunters, often wealthy retirees from the United States," spend on average $32,663 per visit, the study found. Brazil COP30 climate summit lodging too pricey for some nations Paris, Aug 8 (AFP) Aug 08, 2025 High prices for lodging may force small island states to slash the size of their delegations to the November COP30 climate summit in Brazil, a representative said Friday. "The 39 members of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) have continually expressed their concerns about the prohibitive costs associated with travelling to and staying in Belem," Ilana Seid, chair of the group and representative of Palau at the United Nations, told AFP by email. "We do not have the luxury of large budgets at our disposal to ensure our participation," she said on behalf of the countries that dot oceans worldwide and are especially vulnerable to sea level rise and superstorms amplified by global warming. "If our delegations are reduced or unable to participate effectively, it would be a failure in the pursuit of climate justice for those whose lives and livelihoods are on the front line of a crisis they did not cause," Seid said. The UN climate conference will be held in November in Belem, an Amazonian city of 1.3 million inhabitants with limited hotel accommodations. Less than 100 days before the event, the prices have caused such widespread consternation that some countries have asked for the conference to be moved to another city. Austria's head of state this week cancelled his planned trip, citing "exceptionally high costs". Recent months have seen hotels advertising rooms at 1,200 euros ($1,400) a night. Some offerings on the Airbnb booking platform were even higher. Airbnb said it was "committed to increasing efforts to raise awareness in the local hosting community and encourage responsible practices". Since November 2023 the number of listings for the Belem region had surged to 6,100 from 1,000, "which represents around 19,000 beds", it told AFP, in a statement. The COP30 presidency, which does not intend to move the event, has offered reduced-price accommodation for developing and island countries, including cabins on cruise ships. But the price of these rooms is "still higher" than the package agreed for UN-backed travellers, Seid said. "The allocation of 15 rooms per delegation is also alarming, meaning that many of our countries would be forced to reduce the size of their delegations," she said. The COP30 president, Andre Correa do Lago, acknowledged this month that there were "extreme concerns" and that "reducing delegations is obviously not what Brazil wants because we need a very intense and productive COP". "We are trying to find solutions to this price issue," he told journalists. jmi/mh/js/dc Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture email Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice The Goonies and Lord of the Rings star Sean Astin will run against New England board member Chuck Slavin in the upcoming election to decide the next president of SAG-AFTRA. SAG-AFTRA is the largest and most prominent actors union in Hollywood, representing around 160,000 members. The organization was formed in 2012 after the merger of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. The current president, The Nanny star Fran Drescher, led the union in their high-profile 2023 strike against the major film and television studios and networks, the first actors strike in four decades. Drescher was elected in 2021 and re-elected in 2023, on both occasions promising to unite a divided union. She has announced that she will not seek re-election. Election ballots are expected to be sent out to SAG-AFTRA members on August 13, and should be returned by September 12. During the strike, Drescher described the action as an inflection point that went beyond Hollywood. SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher speaking during the 2023 actors strike ( AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File ) At some point you have to say no more, Drescher told Associated Press. I think that its taken on a bigger scope, its greater than the sum of its parts. I think its a conversation now about the culture of big business, and how it treats everybody up and down the ladder in the name of profit. Looking back at the fiery speech she gave to announce the strike, Drescher recalled that she was supposed to read a short prepared statement. I looked at it quickly and I said, You know what, I cant say this, I really feel like I have to speak from the heart,' she said. That just kind of came out of my mouth, and Im glad that I was able to express myself as succinctly and sincerely and authentically as I did. And I think that its fascinating when you speak from the heart, people are so responsive. Because I guess they see a lot of people that dont. When the strike ended, Drescher wrote on social media: We did it!!!! The Billion+ $ Deal! 3X the last contract! New ground was broke everywhere!Ty sag aftra members for hanging in and holding out for this historic deal! Ty neg comm, strike captains, staff, Duncan & Ray, our lawyers, the IA team , family and friends. Our sister unions for their unrelenting support! And the amptp for hearing us and meeting this moment! Drescher defeated Stranger Things actor Matthew Modine in her initial 2021 union election. Prior to its merger with AFTRA, the Screen Actors Guild had several famous presidents, including James Cagney, Ronald Reagan and Charlton Heston. People-to-people, cultural exchanges propel development of SCO family 10:11, August 08, 2025 By Qiang Xiaoyun ( People's Daily The 2025 Media Cooperation Forum of Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Countries is held in Urumqi, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, May 23, 2025. (People's Daily/Jiang Yushi) Since its founding in 2001, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) has evolved into a comprehensive regional organization with the world's largest population, the broadest geographical coverage, and enormous potential, playing an increasingly constructive role in international affairs. Since taking over the rotating presidency of the SCO in July 2024, China has hosted more than 100 events in multiple fields as SCO chair, promoting unity, mutual trust, mutual learning, and win-win cooperation among member states. The SCO has long prioritized women's development as a key area of cooperation. Through a range of practical steps, the organization has promoted gender equality, safeguarded women's rights, and empowered women's contributions to national and social progress. These efforts have significantly enhanced women's participation in the development of SCO countries. During the SCO summit in Astana, Kazakhstan, in June 2017, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced China would host the SCO Forum on Women. Since 2018, five sessions of the forum have been successfully held, creating a vital platform for dialogue and cooperation. Recent initiatives such as the SCO Women Leaders Forum and the "Women's Perspective on the SCO" academic conference have showcased fresh highlights in women-centered people-to-people and cultural exchanges within the SCO framework. These efforts continue to inject greater women's strength into building a closer SCO community with a shared future. A guest visits a children's arts exhibition during the 2025 Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Forum on People-to-People Friendship and the Forum on Friendship Cities in Shenyang, northeast China's Liaoning province. (People's Daily/Hu Jingyi) An increasing number of female experts and scholars are engaged in SCO-related research, contributing valuable insights with a pragmatic and inclusive approach. Amid rising regional and global uncertainties, women across the SCO family are actively promoting cooperation and working to find common ground among member states. As the SCO family continues to expand, female scholars and professionals have consistently advocated openness and inclusiveness, contributing wisdom to the organization's evolution. People-to-people exchanges remain foundational to strengthening public support for the SCO. As a founding member, China has always placed great importance on such exchanges and supported a wide range of activities, especially those involving women and youth. In recent years, China has successfully hosted events such as the SCO Art Festival, the SCO Media and Think Tank Summit, and the SCO Countries Vocational Skills Contest, remaining committed to deepening people-to-people and cultural ties among member states. As the current rotating chair, China is taking pragmatic and efficient steps to promote infrastructure development ("hard connectivity") and policy/cultural alignment ("soft connectivity") while deepening mutual understanding among member states. Recent events such as the SCO Political Parties Forum and the Media Cooperation Forum of SCO Countries have further built consensus for deeper regional cooperation, delivering concrete benefits across the SCO region and beyond. Going forward, the SCO should continue enhancing communication and mutual learning, strengthening people-to-people ties, and expanding cooperation in areas such as education, women's development, culture, think tanks, media, and tourism. By working together, member states can inject strong momentum into building a closer SCO community with a shared future and a brighter future for Eurasia. Guests attending the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Media and Think Tank Summit visit the Dingding Gate Site Museum in Luoyang, central China's Henan province, on July 26, 2025. (Photo/Li Weichao) (Qiang Xiaoyun is a research fellow at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies under the Research Center for Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era in Shanghai) (Web editor: Liang Jun, Du Mingming) SIGN UP FOR THE DAILY JWR UPDATE. IT'S FREE. (AND NO SPAM!) Just click here. When debating current issues, it's helpful to avoid inaccurate depictions of past policy, especially on immigration, in which both opponents and advocates of President Donald Trump's policies have views based on not altogether accurate renditions of the past. Many opponents of Trump's policies seem to believe the president wants to cut off legal immigration altogether, to shut America's gates. But in recent times, around 800,000 individuals have taken the oath to become American citizens. In addition, about 1 million people have been granted green cards each year, making them eligible for citizenship. That's not a closed gate. You may argue that we should open the gate wider. I'm inclined to take that view, with the proviso that we reduce the number of extended family members eligible and increase the number of skill-based slots. You may also argue, as some Trump backers do, that we should reduce legal immigration, with some even calling for cutting it down to zero. But I'm not aware that there's any realistic prospect for drastic reductions even with a Republican-controlled Congress. Current debate revolves around how, or if, to enforce the law against those not legally here. One error made by critics on both sides is to say that the United States, until the passage of the restrictive Immigration Act of 1924, had open borders. And that the bulk of immigrants in those years were, in the words of the Emma Lazarus poem inscribed in the base of the Statue of Liberty, "your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore." Lazarus' poem was published posthumously. It was an earnest attempt by an affluent New Yorker to seek tolerance for her fellow Jews and for other immigrants that accounted for the vast and apparently unanticipated flow of immigration in the years after the dedication of the Statue of Liberty in 1886 and the opening of the Ellis Island screening station in 1892. But as Vincent Cannato points out in "American Passage," his definitive history of Ellis Island, America had never had unrestricted immigration even before the federal government took over the function from inspecting states in the 19th century. State and then federal authorities inspected arrivals for infectious disease, particularly tuberculosis, and for being unable to be self-supporting in the language of the day, "likely to become public charges." After Ellis Island opened in 1892, Cannato writes, "Congress's list of reasons immigrants could be excluded at the nation's gates (grew) longer as the years passed." Policy became marginally more restrictive even before 1924. Even so, the vast majority of those arriving were admitted. The main reason: The steamship companies refused to carry those who couldn't afford steerage fares and refused to board those who appeared likely to be rejected on arrival, because rejectees would have to be returned to their home port free of charge. (The same principle obtains today. Airline gate agents demand to see your passport and visa before allowing you on a flight to destinations requiring visas.) How this worked out in practice is depicted vividly in Steven Ujifusa's recently published "The Last Ships from Hamburg: Business, Rivalry, and the Race to Save Russia's Jews on the Eve of World War I," which tells the story of Albert Ballin, himself Jewish, who rose to become managing director of the Hamburg-American Line and became a friend of Kaiser Wilhelm II. Under Ballin's leadership, the company set up an inspection station of its own in Brest, on the western border of Czarist Russia, even as that regime was sanctioning violent pogroms against Jews. Those who passed Hamburg-American's standards were sent by rail to the busy port of Hamburg and then to New York. Jews were just part of the flow of immigrants from the multiethnic Russian, German and Austro-Hungarian empires in the Ellis Island era from 1892 to 1914. Interestingly, that flow included relatively few ethnic Russians, Germans, Austrians and Hungarians but vast numbers of people who, in an era of rising nationalist sentiment, were from minority ethnic groups Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Slovenes, Serbs and Croats. One of the things that attracted these second-caste people to America was the civic equality it promised and largely practiced, at least in the North (almost no immigrants settled in the racially segregated South). These were people, it turned out, who were eager to work and ready to learn English, who sought not to undermine American culture but adapt to it and to participate in America's sometimes rough-and-ready civic politics. KHARTOUM, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- At least 16 civilians were killed and eight others injured in an attack by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on a village in North Kordofan State, western Sudan, volunteer groups said on Friday. "Yesterday (Thursday) evening, RSF forces attacked the village of Markaz Al-Ziyadiya in North Kordofan State," which also left six individuals missing, the Sudanese Doctors Network, a volunteer group, said in a statement. The network condemned what it described as "a brutal attack," stating that it constitutes a full-fledged "war crime" and reflects a systematic pattern by the RSF of targeting civilians in Sudan. For its part, the Coordination of Resistance Committees in North Kordofan, also a volunteer group, confirmed in a statement that 16 civilians were killed in the RSF attack on the village of Markaz Al-Ziyadiya, noting that several others were wounded or taken captive. According to the statement, an RSF armed group launched an assault on civilians inside their homes and looted residents' properties in the process. The RSF has not yet issued any comment regarding the incident. Recently, clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the RSF have intensified in the Kordofan region, which includes North, West, and South Kordofan states. The RSF controls most towns in West Kordofan and is imposing a siege on El Obeid, capital of North Kordofan. Sudan remains gripped by a conflict between the SAF and the RSF, which erupted in April 2023. The fighting has killed tens of thousands of people and displaced millions, both internally and across borders, deepening the country's humanitarian crisis. Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture email Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Coronation Street actor Frank Grimes, who has been hailed one of Irelands greatest actors, has died, aged 78. The actor, who played Barry Connor on the ITV soap, died on 1 August after a very short illness. His death was announced by the Irish Cultural Centre in London, who said on Friday (8 August): It's with deep sadness and heavy hearts that the ICC has to regretfully inform you that the great Irish actor Frank Grimes suddenly sadly passed away surrounded by his wife and family. We are so sad to have to say goodbye to Frank, but we are also so blessed to have known him, to have worked with him and seen him perform. Grimes, who also appeared in Mrs Browns Boys, starred in Coronation Street from 2008 until 2015. His character was the husband of Helen Connor (Sorcha Cusack) and father of Paul (Sean Gallagher), Liam (Rob James-Collier) and Michelle Connor (Kym Marsh). open image in gallery Frank Grimes starred in 'Coronation Street' from 2008 to 2015 ( ITV ) Grimess first hit arrived in 1967 when he played the young Brendan Behan in a stage version of his autobiography Borstal Boy. He received a Tony nomination for the role when the production moved from Irelands Abbey Theatre to Broadway. The actor was also set to star in Romeo and Juliet director Franco Zeffirellis 1972 film Brother Sun, Sister Moon a film about Francis of Assisi but was replaced by Graham Faulkner after falling out with the filmmaker. His film credits include Richard Attenboroughs 1977 war film A Bridge Too Far, in which he played Major Fuller, as well asThe Outsider (1979) and The Whales of August (1987). In terms of his other TV creedits, he appeared in BBC mystery series Father Brown in 2013. open image in gallery Frank Grimes as Major Fuller in 1977 war epic 'A Bridge Too Far' ( United Artists ) The Irish Cultural Centre remembered Grimes as warm-hearted, full of Dublin wit and charm in abundance. He had a beautiful sparkle in his eyes. We know that Ireland has lost one of its truly great actors, the vintage of which is so rare and may never ever be matched again. We send our sincere condolences to his wife Ginnette, his daughter Tilly, his son Andrew, his seven grandchildren and to all his extended family. We also send our condolences to all of Franks friends and loved ones may Frank sleep easy now and Rest In Peace. Sign up to our free Living Well email for advice on living a happier, healthier and longer life Live your life healthier and happier with our free weekly Living Well newsletter Live your life healthier and happier with our free weekly Living Well newsletter Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Doctors are calling for a public campaign on end-of-life care and a national strategy on how such care for dying people can be delivered. It comes amid a warning that too often this phase of someones life is seen as unexpected or a last-minute crisis despite the person being ill and already in hospital or another care setting. The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) said currently focus remains on treatments to cure patients, despite many having progressive life-limiting conditions including those who are frail or elderly, and called for important cultural shifts in healthcare and wider UK society around palliative and end-of-life care. RCP clinical vice president Dr Hilary Williams described anticipating the end of someones life as an act of clinical courage and kindness. Referring to previous research, the college said approximately 70 per cent of people die from long-term health conditions that can follow a predictable course, with death anticipated well in advance of the event. They said that despite this, patients and their families often feel unprepared for the end of life and argued patients who are in their final months of life can benefit from open supportive conversations that help them to recognise this and may result in a change in approach to their treatment and support. open image in gallery The RCP said currently focus remains on treatments to cure patients, despite many having progressive life-limiting conditions ( PA Archive ) The college said the Government must develop a public campaign on end-of-life and palliative care; support a professional campaign to improve education, recognition and delivery for end-of-life care; and commission a national strategy for end-of-life and palliative care including staff training. The college warned there are significant barriers, including challenges in social care, and the imbalance of funding and workforce in healthcare. Dr Williams said we can and must do better on end-of-life care, warning that too often recognition that someone is approaching the end of their life happens only in the final days or weeks, and often in acute care settings. She said: Real change will only come when we value continuity of care, the involvement of experienced decision-makers, and we can give clinicians the time to have honest conversations with patients and families about what lies ahead. After all, anticipating the end of life is an act of clinical courage and kindness. As treatment options expand, knowing when to start or stop an intervention, when to investigate or when to focus on quality of life, is becoming more complex. These are hard-won skills rooted in expertise and experience the system must learn to value them. Supporting the colleges calls, Dr Nick Murch, president of the Society for Acute Medicine, said that too often, this (end of life) phase is seen as unexpected or a last-minute crisis. With the right support and planning, we can ensure more people are able to die in comfort, in a place of their choosing, and with dignity, he added. open image in gallery Seventy per cent of people die from long-term health conditions that can follow a predictable course, RCP says ( Getty/iStock ) Dr Suzanne Kite, president of the Association for Palliative Medicine, said: We urgently need a national strategy to ensure that everyone has access to the high-quality palliative care that they need, wherever they are, as early as necessary, around the clock. Opportunities for patients, families and professionals to talk honestly about what matters in the final months and weeks of life must be embedded in care, and we need systems, training and public conversations that support this. Palliative care and bereavement charity Sue Ryder backed the RCP call, saying while end-of-life care makes a hugely positive difference to people who are actively dying, palliative care providers, like Sue Ryder, could be helping people to live as well as possible, for as long as possible. The charity added: Around 8 per cent of the people referred to our hospices die before they can be admitted, suggesting that referrals are made too late. Healthcare professionals should be thinking about how palliative care can benefit their patients from the moment they receive a terminal diagnosis, not just the last few days of life. A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: We want a society where every person receives high-quality, compassionate care from diagnosis through to the end of life. As part of our 10 Year Health Plan, this government will shift more healthcare out of hospitals and into the community, and the palliative care and end-of-life care sector, including a well-informed specialist and generalist health and care workforce will play a big role in this shift. This government is looking at how to improve the access, quality and sustainability of all age palliative care and has invested 100 million, the largest investment in a generation, into hospices to provide better care. The RCP said this position statement on end-of-life care is separate to its stance on the assisted dying Bill. The college has previously highlighted concerning deficiencies about aspects of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, which is expected to come before the House of Lords for debate when Parliament returns from recess. Following the Bills passage through the Commons after two major votes by MPs in November last year and June, the college said concerns remained including safeguards for vulnerable patients, equitable access to care, clinical responsibilities and the need for complex decisions to be made by multidisciplinary teams, and the potential impact on the doctor-patient relationship. The college said these all require further consideration and urged peers in the Lords to address these issues to ensure the Bill includes robust protections for both patients and healthcare professions. Sign up to our free Living Well email for advice on living a happier, healthier and longer life Live your life healthier and happier with our free weekly Living Well newsletter Live your life healthier and happier with our free weekly Living Well newsletter Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Longer, darker lashes are having a moment. For those avoiding the risk or expense of lash extensions, serums can seem like a safer, more affordable option. But not all lash serums are created equal and some come with hidden side-effects. The key difference lies in the ingredients. Some lash serums use conditioning agents like peptides or plant oils, while others contain powerful pharmaceutical ingredients originally developed for treating eye disease. In 2001, a new medication called bimatoprost was approved to treat glaucoma and ocular hypertension two conditions involving pressure buildup inside the eye that can damage the optic nerve and cause vision loss. Unlike earlier treatments, bimatoprost worked well for patients who hadnt responded to other drugs, had fewer systemic side effects (effects on the whole body rather than just the eye) and required less frequent dosing than some other glaucoma drops. But doctors soon noticed something unexpected: their patients eyelashes were growing longer, thicker and darker. open image in gallery Extensive research shows that bimatoprost is effective at making lashes longer, thicker and darker ( Getty ) Researchers still dont fully understand how bimatoprost stimulates lash growth, but it appears to extend the anagen phase the active growth phase of the lash life cycle. In 2008, the same drug (now marketed as Latisse) was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the federal agency responsible for evaluating the safety and effectiveness of drugs and medical devices, to treat eyelash hypotrichosis, a condition where eyelashes are sparse or missing. It was initially prescribed for people who had lost their lashes due to chemotherapy, alopecia areata (an autoimmune disorder causing hair loss), or trichotillomania (a compulsive hair-pulling condition). Extensive research shows that bimatoprost is effective at making lashes longer, thicker and darker, with noticeable results after 16 weeks of daily use. But the results are temporary: once you stop using it, your lashes return to their natural growth cycle. Side-effects Bimatoprost belongs to a class of medications called prostaglandin analogues (PGAs), which have been widely used in eye care since the 1990s. Because of this, its side effects are well documented. When used for lash growth, bimatoprost can cause burning, redness, dryness and eye irritation. These usually go away when the product is stopped. But there are also more serious cosmetic changes to be aware of, including darkening of the skin on the eyelid, fat loss around the eyes, creating a hollow, sunken look, permanent iris darkening (the coloured part of the eye), unwanted hair growth where the serum spreads and, in rare cases, drooping of the upper eyelid, which may require surgery to correct. In the UK, bimatoprost remains a prescription-only medication. However, the boom in over-the-counter lash serums sold online and in shops has made similar products more accessible and potentially more confusing. open image in gallery Bimatoprost can cause burning, redness, dryness and eye irritation ( Alamy/PA ) A recent investigation by the UK government found that almost one in four lash serums sold in the UK contain PGAs such as isopropyl cloprostenate. This chemical is not as well studied as bimatoprost, but case reports suggest it can cause skin darkening, dryness and hollowing of the eye area, sometimes after just a few weeks of use. In the US, the FDA issued warnings over a decade ago stating that any cosmetic product containing these ingredients and making growth claims should be treated as a drug, not a cosmetic. Consumers may be unaware theyre using a pharmaceutical-mimicking ingredient. Sweden banned PGAs in lash serums in 2013. Canada prohibits them in all cosmetic products. Even if a product claims to be PGA-free, check the ingredients list: anything ending in -prost is a red flag. Natural or peptide-based alternatives Some lash serums use peptides, which may help strengthen lashes by boosting keratin or supporting follicle health. These are often combined with conditioning agents to reduce breakage. While seen as a gentler alternative to PGAs, most studies on peptides focus on scalp hair, not eyelashes, so evidence for lash growth is limited. Other serums rely on castor oil or plant-based extracts, but their effectiveness is largely anecdotal and not supported by robust science. There is no guaranteed, side-effect-free way to make lashes grow dramatically longer. Prescription lash serums like bimatoprost are proven to work but they come with potential risks, especially with long-term use. Over-the-counter products may seem safer, but many contain hidden prostaglandin analogues buried deep in the ingredients list with similar side effects. Peptide and oil-based serums are less risky, but theres little strong evidence that they work. Our eyes are delicate and, unlike beauty trends, theyre not replaceable. If youre thinking about enhancing your lashes, read the label, do your research and speak to an eye care professional. The price of longer lashes shouldnt be your eye health. Alison Ng is a Lecturer in Optometry and Vision Sciences at Cardiff University Byki Huntjens is an Honorary Senior Research Fellow in Optometry in the School of Health & Medical Sciences, City St George's at the University of London. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. A few weeks ago, in a dusty field at Glastonbury Festival, I bumped into a number of peers who asked (predictably) how work was going. Yeah, good, I heard myself telling them. Although Im kind of decentering work at the moment. Decentering work those were genuinely the words I used, much to my own bemusement and presumably others too. They were drawn directly from an emerging lexicon of rest I had started out absorbing by cultural osmosis on social media and, before long, began to invest in. Its all catchy lingo, of course micro-retirement, quiet quitting, lazy girl jobs easily dismissed as internet ephemera. But collectively, I soon learned, these terms point to something important: a subtle, but significant shift in the way people are approaching the relationship between work and rest. Its not just emerging in the language we use, but actively playing out in offices all over the country, too. This week, research by the British Chambers of Commerce found that one in 10 UK businesses has seen staff quit rather than comply with return-to-office mandates. Experts have put forward various theories as to why workers are choosing freedom over stability, or autonomy over loyalty but to me, it seems a natural response to a working world that has only become more extractive and less stable. On initial inspection, though, decentring work sounds suspiciously like code for Im unemployed which wouldnt be too far from the truth, given I was made redundant from my last fulltime job almost a year ago. It was a blow in many ways a knock to my ego as well as a disruption in the steady forward march of my career. But in others, it was incredibly liberating. Id been a freelance writer for five years before that last job and had always loved being mistress of my own destiny. I figured Id simply go back to working for myself. Pitch, write, repeat. But when the time came to get back to the grind, I found myself dragging my feet. I was hit by a slow, baggy kind of ennui not quite burnout but an insurmountable feeling of resistance to the hustle. Over the past few months, Ive found myself taking on less, resting more, and not immediately filling every quiet hour with productivity. Some of it is personal, but its also reflective of a broader movement. The working landscape has grown noticeably more hostile in recent years. Were being asked to do more for less: less money, less stability, less longterm reward, and thats not just in the beleaguered media industry. The environment chronic stress, overworking increasingly (understandably) pushes professionals towards burnout. open image in gallery Alexandra Jones has been decentering work in a bid to avoid burnout ( Supplied ) In her book The Rest Revolution, Amanda Miller Littlejohn argues that now many people are on the verge of burnout, pushed to keep working at the expense of their physical and mental wellbeing. Rest, then, has become revolutionary because burnout is tailored into the very architecture of modern work culture. Instead, she says, we should reframe rest as an active, intentional practice rather than a luxury or reward even (perhaps especially) those who have been conditioned to equate their worth with their output. Across sectors, job security is shrinking. In 2023, an estimated 6.8 million workers (21.4 per cent) were in severely insecure roles zerohours contracts, lowpaid selfemployment or casual/seasonal work a rise of 600,000 from the previous year. That means roughly one in eight workers now lacks basic stability. Payrolled employment declined by 0.4 per cent (135,000 jobs) between May 2024 and May 2025, and data for June 2025 shows a further 178,000 jobs lost in the year prior. In industries from hospitality to healthcare, people are working harder for less and with little idea of what tomorrow holds. Writing in Vogue Business, Amy Francombe, a journalist and consultant who specialises in divining the values of Gen Z consumers, pointed out that instead of clinging to long-term plans that no longer feel plausible, like buying a house or securing a well-paid job, many are overspending in the present and living beyond their means as a form of emotional survival. Financial logic, she added, has splintered, and in its place a new consumer mindset is emerging. open image in gallery Rest has become revolutionary because burnout is tailored into the very architecture of modern work culture ( Adobe Stock ) And this mindset, she tells me, extends beyond purchasing choices. Everything has become so out of reach whether its job stability or getting onto the housing market that it almost feels like youre an idiot if youre overworking because its not going to get you anywhere. Rest, downtime, timewasting have all become more aspirational than luxury goods, reflecting, she explains, a shift in logic. The concept of microretirements deliberate pauses from work to recharge, reassess, or simply exist outside of the grind went viral earlier this year, with many pointing out that career breaks (however you want to brand them) would have a profound impact on pension contributions. But as Francombe who is Gen Z points out, I simply cant connect this Amy to 70-year-old Amy in my mind. Maybe bankers will gamble away our pensions on AI, maybe stem cell therapies will mean that I cant retire until Im 100, maybe Ill die in the climate emergency at the age of 40. Its all so uncertain that I might as well just go on holiday rather than pay into a pension. Of course, the fetishisation of rest isnt just down to the fact that work is unstable and kind of depressing right now. As Ellen Scott, digital editor at Stylist magazine and author of Working on Purpose, points out, I think we are desperately hungry for true, restorative rest, but we cant sate that hunger. She argues that part of the reason that downtime is constantly being repackaged and sold back to us is because true rest is so rare and difficult to get hold of nowadays. open image in gallery Its time we started resting without turning it into a radical act ( Adobe Stock ) The technology that were surrounded by and the capitalist culture of productivity mean its incredibly difficult to have a quiet, peaceful moment for longer than a few minutes, she explains. Our expectations have changed and we accept that we should have constant sensory stimulation, or constantly be doing. In the meantime, though, we feel both overworked and overstimulated. Because true rest feels like such a remote, slippery thing, we eat up any offering that tells us how to get it, whether thats a new trend to try (quiet quitting! Lazy girl jobs!) or a product that will act as a cheat code to the rest were craving. You can really see that in the rise of retreats; were desperate for rest, struggling to fulfil that need, and so well happily hand over significant amounts of cash for someone to please tell us how to do it. Lately, Ive been thinking about what it would mean to rest without performance not to optimise it, brand it, or turn it into a radical act, but just to allow it. Im still working, but Im no longer trying to win at work. I dont know if that makes me lazy, disillusioned, or ahead of the curve probably a bit of all three. But I do know that stepping back hasnt made me feel less valuable. If anything, it has sharpened my sense of what matters. Maybe decentring work wasnt just a throwaway Glastonbury line after all. Maybe it was my nervous system, trying to tell the truth before my brain caught up. The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice For the past three years, a child sex trafficking ring operated from an underground concrete bunker on the outskirts of a small, rural Alabama town. Children were chained to furniture, drugged and raped inside of a den of horrors. It has left police shaken and officials saying it was hard to hear what happened to the kids. It wasnt until February when officials were called to the bunker and saw two victims performing sex acts that they learned about what was happening inside the nondescript home. They rescued the kids and made arrests - but now warn more might have been involved. I know Gods forgiveness is boundless, but if there is a limit, weve reached it, Bibb County Sheriff Jody Wade said at a press conference, according to the Washington Post. The children told authorities they were performing what William McElroy, one of the suspects, had done to them or taught them to do, Bibb County Assistant District Attorney Bryan Jones said. That led to the arrest of seven people in July, including McElroy. On August 6, an eighth person, Olivia Shailee Elam, 26, was arrested in connection to the case, ABC 33/40 reported. The suspects have been charged with a slew of crimes, including numerous charges of rape, sexual abuse, trafficking and kidnapping, in what the sheriff said was the most horrible case hed seen in decades. Heres what we know about the case that has rocked Alabama: open image in gallery Children were allegedly kept in an underground bunker in Alabama and forced into sex. Now, an eighth person, Olivia Shailee Elam, 26, was arrested in connection to the case ( Bibb County Sheriff's Office ) The suspects William Chase McElroy, 21, Dalton Terrell, 21, Andres Velazquez-Trejo, 29, Timothy St. John, 23, Ricky Terrell, 44, Sara Louise Terrell, 41, Rebecca Brewer, 29, and now, Olivia Shailee Elam, 26, all face an array of charges, ranging from rape and sodomy to kidnapping and human trafficking. Their alleged victims included the children of Sara Louise Terrell as well as the children of Velazquez-Trejo and Brewer, authorities said. It was not clear how many children from each suspect were victims of the alleged abuse. Most of the suspects had no serious criminal history in Alabama prior to this investigation, according to court records viewed by ABC 33/40. open image in gallery Left to right (top): Ricky Terrell, Sara Terrell, Andres Trejo-Velazquez, Rebecca Brewer. Left to right (bottom): William McElroy Chase, Timothy St. John, and Dalton Terrell. ( Bibb County Sheriff's Office ) Timothy St. John, who has the longest criminal record, including theft, criminal trespassing, criminal mischief, burglary, and other drug-related charges, now faces charges of rape, sodomy, human trafficking, kidnapping, bestiality and aggravated cruelty to animals. William McElroy, Dalton Terrell and Andres Trejo-Velazquez are each charged with multiple counts of rape, sodomy, human trafficking, and kidnapping. Rebecca Brewer faces charges of human trafficking, sodomy, kidnapping, sexual torture and aggravated child abuse, yet has no prior criminal record, ABC reported. Ricky Terrell has previously faced drug-related offenses and possession of contraband. Hes now charged with multiple counts of rape, sodomy, human trafficking and kidnapping. Sara Terrell faces charges of rape, sodomy, human trafficking, kidnapping, sexual torture and sexual abuse of a child less than 12 years old. She had one previous charge for hindering prosecution. open image in gallery Dalton Terrell, top left, Andres Trejo-Velazquez, top right and William Chase McElroy, bottom ( Bibb County Sheriff's Department ) Elam faces five counts of first-degree rape, nine counts of sodomy, nine counts of first-degree human trafficking involving minor sexual servitude, nine counts of first-degree kidnapping, one count of aggravated child abuse and one count of sexual torture involving a child less than twelve years old. An investigation into the suspects potential gang affiliations revealed that Trejo-Velazquez is a verified member of the Mexican gang Surenos, the Department of Homeland Security confirmed. The gang largely makes money through child sex trafficking, the sheriff said. The suspects remain in the Bibb County Jail and are expected to be arraigned this month. Inside the Alabama torture bunker Chilling photos shared by authorities revealed the squalid condition inside the concrete bunker where children were allegedly lured under the guise of a safe refuge, but instead where horrifying abuse transpired for years, with authorities saying they believe it began around 2022. The refuge had been transformed into a den of horrors, according to Wade. I've been in law enforcement for 33 years, and this is absolutely the most horrible thing I've ever seen when it comes to the victimization of children, Wade added. Inside the cold, concrete bunker was little furniture, consisting of just an old, dingy bed, several chairs and other small pieces of furniture. open image in gallery Inside the cold, concrete bunker was little furniture, consisting of just an old, dingy bed, several chairs and other small pieces of furniture ( Bibb County Sheriff's Office ) Its furniture that the children would allegedly be tied up to and forced to perform sexual acts, the Assistant District Attorney said. Over the years, the children were forced to endure intercourse, according to the investigation. Some suffered the abuse daily, with the suspects allegedly selling the children for the sexual acts, sometimes making up to $1,000 a night, police said. One of the mothers reportedly involved in the abuse, Sara Louise Terrell, allegedly put animal shock collars on the children, which the suspects would also use on the childrens genitals, according to The New York Post. The children were also allegedly drugged by Velazquez-Trejo, who put some kind of white powder into their drinks that would make them drowsy, authorities said. open image in gallery An investigation was launched in February, when authorities were called to the shelter and found two of the victims performing sexual acts on each other. ( WVTM ) Its hard to hear their stories and its hard to see pictures of this bunker where, according to some of the witnesses, they were drugged, Jones said. As bad as it sounds with (Velazques-Trejo) drugging them, it may be a blessing in disguise because they dont remember a lot of things, Jones added. Im hopeful that they wont have near the trauma they would have had if they had not been drugged. Records obtained by AL.com also showed that one of the suspects allegedly sold children to various clientele for sexual pleasure. Each suspect reportedly had a specific role in the alleged ring. open image in gallery Chilling photos shared by authorities revealed the squalid condition inside the concrete bunker where children were allegedly lured under the guise of a safe refuge ( Bibb County Sheriff's Office ) Before the eighth suspect was arrested, authorities said they believe their investigation will yield more victims and even more suspects. The rescued children are all now in the custody of the Alabama Department of Human Resources. Jones said there are allegations of up to another 12 men who may have paid to have sex with the children. We have no way of identifying these people unless somebody in the community comes forward and says this person told us they did this, Jones said, adding that because of the drugs, the children wouldnt know who they are. The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice The gunman who opened fire near the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention campus and Emory University on Friday was fixated on the Covid-19 vaccine, his father reportedly told police. Police say 30-year-old Patrick Joseph White opened fire from a CVS on Friday afternoon, striking several CDC buildings across the street and leaving bullet holes in windows. A DeKalb County police officer was killed in the shooting, and White was found dead at the scene. Whites father told police his son believed the Covid-19 vaccine made him suicidal, the Associated Press reports. Whites neighbor also said the 30-year-old often discussed anti-vaccine conspiracy theories. No civilians were hurt, officials confirmed. Heres what we know about the suspected gunman and how Fridays shooting unfolded: open image in gallery Windows on a CDC building pockmarked by bullet holes. The gunman struck at least four CDC buildings and killed a DeKalb County police officer, officials said ( REUTERS ) Police identify the suspected shooter Police identified White as the shooter on Saturday morning. The 30-year-old lived with his parents in Kennesaw, Georgia, a suburb about 30 miles from the CDC campus in Atlanta. The suspected gunman was found dead on the second floor of the CVS, though officials dont know whether that was from officers or if it was self-inflicted, Atlanta Police Chief Darin Schierbaum said Friday. What was the gunmans motive? Officials have yet to confirm Whites motive. However, CDC Chief Operating Officer Christa Capozzola told agency staff that the shooting was a targeted attack on C.D.C. related to Covid, according to an email reviewed by The New York Times. Whites father told police his son believed the Covid-19 vaccine made him depressed and suicidal, the Associated Press reports. White had become fixated on the Covid-19 vaccine and was also upset about the recent death of his dog, his father revealed. Whites neighbor, Nancy Hoalst, told The New York Times that he was unsettled and would often talk about anti-vaccine conspiracy theories. Hoalst noted she never thought he would take it out on other people. He very deeply believed that vaccines had hurt him, and that they were hurting other people, Hoalst said. Law enforcement officials told CNN on Friday they are working with the theory that White targeted the CDC because he believed the Covid-19 vaccine made him sick. open image in gallery Police investigate the scene of a shooting near the CDC campus and Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. The suspected gunman is dead after officials say he killed a DeKalb County police officer ( Georgia Bureau of Investigation ) Officer killed in the line of duty DeKalb County Police Officer David Rose was killed in the shooting after working in the role for nearly a year. He was a 33-year-old married father of two children, with a third on the way. Rose was fatally shot after the gunman turned his aim away from the CDC campus and toward the officer, a law enforcement official told CNN. Rose later died at Emory University Hospital. Officer Rose served DeKalb County with courage, integrity, and unwavering dedication, the DeKalb County Police Department said in a tribute. Even in the face of danger was he diligent in his duty to protect our community. open image in gallery DeKalb County Police Officer David Rose was killed in the shooting. He was a married father of two, with a third on the way ( DeKalb County Police Department ) Several CDC buildings hit by gunfire Police say the gunman opened fire from inside a CVS across the street from the CDC campus on Friday afternoon. Before driving to the CVS, White tried to enter the CDC campus but was turned away by guards, the AP reports. The gunman struck at least four buildings on the health agencys campus, CDC Director Susan Monarez said. No civilians were injured. White was armed with five guns, including one long gun, a law enforcement official told the AP. CDC employees told CNN that bullets broke through the windows and flew past cubicles. Its a miracle no one was killed here, one employee said. open image in gallery Officers respond to the shooting near the CDC campus, where four buildings were struck ( Getty Images ) There were also 92 children in a daycare on the CDC campus during the shooting. A mother whose child was at the daycare told CBS News, "I'm also a bit angry that at a year and a half, he would have to experience something like this. Its anxiety-inducing, its very scary, she added. Employees at a nearby deli, General Muirs, also reported hearing gunshots, according to the Associated Press. Brandy Giraldo, the delis chief operating officer, said it sounded like fireworks going off, one right after the other. The gunfire sent the nearby Emory University campus into lockdown, along with the CDC, Emory University Hospital and other nearby schools and daycares. Active shooter on Emory Atlanta Campus at Emory Point CVS. RUN, HIDE, FIGHT, campus officials wrote in a statement. Avoid the area. Continue shelter in place. Police on scene. open image in gallery Windows on a CDC building pockmarked by bullet holes. The gunman struck at least four CDC buildings ( REUTERS ) What have officials said about the shooting? DeKalb County CEO Lorraine Cochran-Johnson told reporters Friday was a very dark day for the community and for Roses family. This evening there is a wife without a husband, Cochran-Johnson said of Rose. There are three children, one unborn, without a father. Several Georgia lawmakers, including Senator Raphael Warnock and Representative Mike Collins, acknowledged the shooting and sent prayers to those impacted. FBI Director Kash Patel also commented on the shooting. Pray for the family, friends, and colleagues of this hero who acted quickly to defend others and made the ultimate sacrifice, Patel wrote on X. The FBI will offer them our full support. If you are experiencing feelings of distress, or are struggling to cope, you can speak to the Samaritans, in confidence, on 116 123 (UK and ROI), email jo@samaritans.org, or visit the Samaritans website to find details of your nearest branch. If you are based in the USA, and you or someone you know needs mental health assistance right now, call the National Suicide Prevention Helpline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255). This is a free, confidential crisis hotline that is available to everyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you are in another country, you can go to www.befrienders.org to find a helpline near you. The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Someone keeps stealing a California man's plane and taking it for joyrides, before returning it -- and the owner can't figure out who or why. Jason Hong, 75, owns a 1958 Cessna Skyhawk single-engine plane. He told the Los Angeles Times that although he doesn't fly much anymore, he went to visit his plane on July 27 his birthday only to find it wasn't in its hangar at Corona Municipal Airport, which is just east of Anaheim. "I got confused," he told the paper. "I thought, did I park it somewhere else, did the airport manager move it? But I looked all over." Hong began asking around for details on what may have happened to his plane, and eventually learned that on at least two occasions, an unknown pilot had been flying it across Southern California. Neither he nor police could figure out who had taken his plane. He reported the aircraft missing and hoped police could locate his "old treasure." open image in gallery A Cessna Skyhawk single engine plane sits on the runway at the Huffman Aviation airfield 12 September 2001 in Venice, Florida. Jason Hong, 75, of California, is trying to find out who keeps stealing his Skyhawk, flying it, and returning it, all without anyone noticing. ( AFP via Getty Images ) Two days later, someone from the La Verne Police Department called and told him the plane had been located at Brackett Field Airport, about 25 miles northeast of Corona Municipal Airport. Hong traveled to the airport and found his plane parked, no worse for wear aside from garbage and cigarette butts that had been left in the cockpit. To prevent any further joyrides, Hong decided to pull the battery out of the plane. He planned to return the next weekend to clean it up and give it an inspection to ensure whoever snatched his plane hadn't damaged the aircraft. On August 3, Hong returned to the airport to start working on his plane, only to find it had again disappeared. He reported the plane missing again. And again, he received a call, this time from the El Monte Police Department. His plane had been found at San Gabriel Valley Airport, approximately 18 miles west of Brackett Field Airport. open image in gallery The San Gabriel Valley Airport in El Monte, California. A mystery pilot keeps stealing 75-year-old Jason Hong's 1958 Cessna Skyhawk and flying it without his permission. El Monte police found his plane parked at the San Gabriel Valley Airport in early August 2025 ( Google Maps ) He traveled to yet another a new airport to find his plane. When he located it, he found that someone had replaced its battery. Sergeant Robert Montanez of the Corona Police Department told the LA Times that the plane "keeps disappearing out of the blue." People don't typically steal planes. It's so rare that the Corona Police Department had to give Hong paperwork meant for stolen cars to make his report. Unfortunately for police and Hong, there's no surveillance video available that captured images of the joyriding pilot, and "no real leads," according to Montanez. Hong used Flight Aware, which uses public information to track airplane flights, and saw that the pilot flew his plane twice on his 75th birthday, including one flight that left at 1:30 am. He assumes based on the number of flights and the times at which the pilot was traveling that whoever is flying his plane has flight training, as "landing is not easy," according to Hong. The mystery pilot not only apparently knows how to fly, but also how to maintain a plane. Hong pointed out that in order to change the battery, the pilot would have to have both the tools and the knowledge needed to complete the job. Hong estimates that between a new battery, the tools needed to do the repair, and a new headset he found inside the cockpit, the mystery pilot likely has spent hundreds of dollars just to keep his old Cessna in the sky. "Someone breaks into your house, they're looking for jewelry or cash right?" he told the LA Times. "But in this case, what's the purpose? It's like someone breaks my window, and then they put a new one up." The only thing resembling a lead is a description of a woman in her 40's or 50's who another pilot at the San Gabriel Valley Airport saw sitting in his plane on multiple occasions. She stood out to the pilot because he couldn't understand why she'd sit around in a hot cockpit rather than inside the airport's air conditioned lounge. Hong has chained the airplane up at San Gabriel Valley Airport and is holding off flying it until he can get an inspection done on the plane. For now, his plane is likely secured, but Hong is no closer to learning who keeps taking his plane and why. "It's the strangest thing," he told the paper. The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice A man has been arrested in Arizona after he allegedly beat his four-week-old daughter to death because she was crying. Jonathan Enriquez, 22, was booked into the Maricopa County jail Wednesday on first-degree murder and felony child abuse charges. Police began investigating Enriquez after they responded on July 11 to a report that a baby had stopped breathing, according to AZ Family. When they arrived at the Mesa apartment, officers found the infant unresponsive, and first responders transported the child to a hospital for treatment. The baby arrived in critical condition. Police on the scene spoke with the parents but received conflicting information about what happened to the baby. Jonathan Enriquez, 22, has been charged with first-degree murder and child abuse in connection with the death of his four-week-old daughter in Mesa, Arizona ( Mesa Police Department ) Enriquez allegedly told police that he had to use force to control the child or the baby would hit herself in the face. He told police that while he did get "frustrated" at the baby, he never hit her. But Enriquez also allegedly said that the baby choked while feeding on a bottle, hit her head falling out of a car seat, and was cracked in the face by a seat buckle, which caused her eyes to bruise. After their initial visit to the house, investigators learned that Enriquez allegedly sent a text to the childs mother on the same day the baby was taken to the hospital. He allegedly asked the mother, who had left to go to work, to return home and told her the baby was not breathing and that he had "messed up." Doctors discovered the baby had a fractured skull, bleeding on her brain, bruised eyes, a broken leg and broken ribs. The baby remained in the hospital's care until she died 15 days later on July 26. An autopsy was performed and found that the baby's injuries were caused by "slamming, crushing, or stomping." The autopsy report describes the severity of the child's injuries as "catastrophic." Police questioned Enriquez again in light of the autopsy. The father allegedly told them that the child had been "crying too much" and that he punched the baby in the right side of her head while she was in her bassinet. He also allegedly admitted to using a very tight swaddle to prevent the girl from crying. According to court documents, Enriquez allegedly expressed "deep remorse" for what he did, and told police he was ashamed. He is being held at the Maricopa County Jail on a $1 million bond. The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice A man has been charged in a scheme to smuggle cocaine into New York disguised as packages of cigarettes and candy while working at the United States embassy in the Dominican Republic. Jairo Eliezer Arias Caceres was working as a security officer at the embassy when prosecutors allege he operated a transnational conspiracy to smuggle cocaine into the U.S. In the scheme, which ran from at least April to December 2023, Arias Caceres is accused of helping to recruit couriers who would transport the drugs into multiple New York area airports by disguising them in the packaging of items purchased from the Santo Domingo Airport Duty Free store, according to a Justice Department statement issued Wednesday. The DOJ shared photos of the drugs in the packaging of a sweet treat called Choco Pie, Marlboro cigarettes and Gold Label Reserve alcohol. open image in gallery A man has been charged in a scheme to smuggle cocaine into New York disguised as packages of cigarettes and candy while working at the United States embassy in Dominican Republic, authorities say ( Justice Department ) open image in gallery Jairo Eliezer Arias Caceres was working as a security officer at the embassy when prosecutors allege he operated a 'transnational conspiracy' to smuggle cocaine into the U.S. ( Justice Department ) Arias Caceres also paid for and arranged the couriers travel to and from the Dominican Republic and was their main point of contact in the scheme, prosecutors allege. He was employed at the embassy from 2018 to 2025. He also worked for at least seven years as a security officer at the Santo Domingo Airport. Prosecutors said Arias Caceres also organized the logistics of the couriers receipt of cocaine from other airport employees. He has been charged with one count of conspiracy to import narcotics into the U.S. If convicted, he faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison. It is not yet clear if Arias Caceres has obtained legal representation. While Arias Caceres was supposed to be protecting our diplomats and embassy staff from danger, he was allegedly busy endangering New Yorkers by pumping illegal drugs into our community, Jay Clayton, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a statement. Clayton continued: Abuse of a position of national trust to traffic in deadly narcotics shocks the sensibilities of New Yorkers and the women and men of our office are committed to bringing those who abuse that trust to justice. open image in gallery He has been charged with one count of conspiracy to import narcotics into the U.S. ( Justice Department ) Michael McCarthy, Special Agent in Charge of the Newark Field Office of Homeland Security Investigations, praised the work of authorities who successfully dismantled a sophisticated trafficking network. HSI remains committed to protecting the American public by targeting and disrupting the transnational criminal organizations that seek to bring illicit drugs into our communities, McCarthy added. The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice The Malibu driver accused of killing four sorority sisters when his BMW slammed into them has hired the attorney who secured Karen Reads acquittal in a high-profile murder case. Pepperdine University students Niamh Rolston, 20, Peyton Stewart, 21, Asha Weir, 21, and Deslyn Williams, 21, died in October 2023 after 23-year-old Fraser Bohm allegedly crashed into them at high speed as they walked on the Pacific Coast Highway after getting out of their vehicle. Bohm was arraigned Wednesday on murder and vehicular manslaughter charges in connection with their deaths. The young women, who attended Pepperdines Seaver College of Liberal Arts, were members of the Alpha Phi Sorority. At a short hearing, Bohms attorney Alan Jackson entered not-guilty pleas to four counts of each of the charges on his clients behalf. Jackson, a prominent criminal defense attorney, recently represented Read in a murder trial in Massachusetts over the death of her Boston police officer boyfriend, John OKeefe. The jury acquitted her after a dramatic eight-week trial. open image in gallery Pepperdine University students Deslyn Williams (top left), Asha Weir (top right) Niamh Rolston (bottom left) and Peyton Stewart (bottom right) were killed in the crash on October 17, 2023. ( Pepperdine University ) The lawyer has also represented Kevin Spacey in a sexual assault case and prosecuted music producer Phil Spector for murder. At the courthouse in Van Nuys, California, Judge Thomas Rubinson granted the defense's request to postpone proceedings until September 5. Rolston, Stewart, Weir and Williams were killed on October 17, 2023, along a section of highway locally referred to as Dead Mans Curve because of its notoriety for fatal crashes. open image in gallery Fraser Bohm allegedly crashed into the sorority sisters at high speed as they walked on the Pacific Coast Highway after getting out of their vehicle. He has hired Karen Reads lawyer, Alan Jackson. ( Perfect Game ) The women got out of their car in the parking lane when Bohms BMW allegedly came tearing down the road at over 100mph, crashing into them and three parked cars. The college seniors died at the scene. Bohm was not injured. The prosecution alleges the four students were killed because of the driving of the defendant, Deputy District Attorney Nathan Bartos said at a hearing in April. Data retrieved from Bohms BMW allegedly showed that he accelerated from 93mph to 104mph just seconds before crashing into the four students. He consciously decided to get that vehicle up to the speed of 104 miles an hour, Bartos said. And he lost control of his vehicleThis was not an accident. open image in gallery Alan Jackson has also represented Kevin Spacey in a sexual assault case ( Getty Images ) Bohms previous defense attorney, Michael Kraut, argued his client was being chased in a road-rage incident. But LA sheriffs investigators said there was no evidence of an alleged road-rage incident. The accused was being held on $8 million bail, reduced to $4 million. Jackson said he intended to seek a further reduction in Bohms bail package, he told the Daily Mail. Pepperdine University paid tribute to the four remarkable women in a social media post after their deaths. We deeply grieve the unfulfilled hopes and aspirations of these bright young women, the university said. Rolston, Stewart, Weir and Williams were due to graduate in 2024 and were honored with posthumous degrees last year. Locals have long campaigned for something to be done about the dangerous stretch of highway where the students were killed. ISTANBUL, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- Major wildfires in northwestern Turkiye's Canakkale province triggered evacuations and significant transport disruptions on Friday, local authorities said. The fires, erupting near noon in two locations, rapidly spread towards residential areas. Authorities have evacuated parts of Mehmet Akif Ersoy State Hospital, a private elderly care center in Saricaeli village, and a university campus, Canakkale Governor Omer Toraman said on social media platform X. Firefighting efforts continued intensively both from the air and on the ground, Toraman added. Ship traffic through the vital Dardanelles Strait was halted, and flights at Canakkale Airport were suspended until 8:00 p.m. local time (1700 GMT). According to the NTV broadcaster, firefighting teams faced perilous conditions, with one municipal brigade forced to abandon their truck and flee on foot due to sudden wind shifts trapping them amid flames. Meteorological data showed that wind is expected to remain strong over the weekend, with gusts reaching speeds of 70-75 km per hour. The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Police have released new crime scene photos and surveillance footage from the Idaho murders, offering the public its most detailed look yet inside the off-campus home where Bryan Kohberger murdered four University of Idaho students in 2022. Nearly 200 images and video, many of them blurred, were released on Friday to KTVB through a public records request. The photos were taken at the since-demolished house at 1122 King Road in Moscow, Idaho, and show the sliding door the killer used to get inside and what appears to be blood splatter on the walls. Last month, Kohberger, 30, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison for the November 13, 2022 stabbing deaths of Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20. Many of the images released by the Moscow Police Department show a typical college house red plastic cups on countertops, empty beer cans on the stairs, clothes strewn across floors, and a folding table set up for beer pong. open image in gallery Many of the images released by the Moscow Police Department show a typical college house red plastic cups on countertops and a table set up for beer pong ( Moscow Police Department ) open image in gallery Empty beer cans were pictured on the stairs ( Moscow Police Department ) But others reveal the brutality of the crime: blurred bodies just inside the bedrooms, and what appears to be blood spattered on walls. One unsettling image shows two handprints on a dirty window. Another depicts the sliding glass door that investigators say Kohberger used to slip into the home in the early morning hours just before carrying out the murders. open image in gallery One unsettling image shows two handprints on a dirty window inside the house ( Moscow Police Department ) open image in gallery Another photo shows the sliding glass door that investigators say Kohberger used to slip into the home in the early morning hours just before carrying out the murders ( Moscow Police Department ) Surveillance footage from a neighbors home shows a person walking toward King Road with a flashlight. The video also shows a white sedan driving to and from the vicinity of the home where the murders occurred. Between 4:15 and 4:20 a.m., loud noises can be heard, followed by a dog barking for several minutes. The murders are believed to have occurred between 4 a.m. and 4:25 a.m. open image in gallery After pleading guilty in July, Kohberger is now in solitary confinement at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution ( AP ) Kohberger remained at large for more than six weeks before investigators matched DNA left on a knife sheath at the crime scene to him. The murder weapon has never been found. In addition to DNA, prosecutors relied on cellphone records, Kohbergers academic history, and surveillance images of his vehicle to link him to the killings. They alleged he took extraordinary measures to conceal his crimes, including meticulously cleaning his car. open image in gallery What appears to be blood spatter on one of the doors inside the Moscow house after the Idaho murders ( Moscow Police Department ) open image in gallery Police released photos of the bedrooms, where the students were killed ( Moscow Police Department ) Investigators tracked Kohberger to his parents home in Pennsylvania, where he was arrested on December 30, 2022. Police recently released an arrest photo showing a handcuffed Kohberger wearing a hoodie and sweatpants, staring up at the camera. Kohberger initially pleaded not guilty, and his defense team prepared to fight a potential death penalty case. But after years of motions and delays, he entered an unexpected guilty plea last month, avoiding trial. open image in gallery Ethan Chapin, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, were killed on November 13, 2022 ( Instagram ) A motive, however, has never been determined. He is now held in solitary confinement at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution. The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice The suspect in a mass shooting that killed a bartender and three patrons at a bar in Montana has been arrested after a week-long manhunt. Michael Brown, a 45-year-old U.S. Army veteran, is accused of fatally shooting four people with a rifle at the Owl Bar in the tight-knit community of Anaconda on August 1. He was taken into custody Friday, according to the Lewis and Clark County Sheriffs Office. Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen identified the victims as bar attendant Nancy Kelley, 64, and customers Daniel Baillie, 59, David Leach, 70, and Tony Palm, 74. Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte commented on the arrest shortly after it was announced, and praised law enforcement for their efforts. May God continue to be with the families of the four victims still grieving their loss, he wrote on social media. open image in gallery Michael Brown, a suspect in a mass shooting at a Montana bar, was arrested on Friday, officials said. ( Montana Department of Justice ) Brown, who lived next door to the bar, allegedly entered the Owl Bar on East 3rd Street last Friday, with the first gunshots ringing out about 10.30 a.m., according to the Montana Division of Criminal Investigation. Bar owner David Gwerder previously told NBC Montana that he wasnt aware of any conflicts between the victims and Brown. "He knew everybody that was in that bar. I guarantee you that," he said. "He didn't have any running dispute with any of them. I just think he snapped." open image in gallery The Owl Bar was the scene of the shooting on August 1. The owner said he wasnt aware of conflicts between Brown and the victims. ( AP ) The suspected gunman was believed to have used his own weapon in the shooting, Knudsen said, before he was seen fleeing the bar on security footage. This is an unstable individual who walked in and murdered four people in cold blood for no reason whatsoever. So there absolutely is concern for the public, Knudsen warned, as police launched the search for the suspect. Law enforcement had contact with the suspect at about noon on the day of the shooting during a chase, Knudsen said. He then fled to the nearby foothills in a stolen white Ford F-150 with camping gear inside. Authorities believe that Brown ditched that vehicle and stole a different one. A photo released by the attorney generals office showed Brown having removed his clothes, only wearing underwear. He remained on the run for a week while police launched a massive manhunt. For the past week, Anaconda and the surrounding community showed the country the resilience and grit that makes MT special. Our thoughts continue to be with the victims and their families, Montana Sen. Steve Daniels wrote on social media after the arrest. The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Help me. That was the last message a North Carolina teenager sent to his mother before he vanished during a trip to Florida a week ago under deeply troubling and suspicious circumstances. Giovanni Pelletier, 18, was visiting Englewood, Florida, with his mother and her fiance, with the hope of reconnecting with some family members from his fathers side, his aunt, Desiree Pelletier, told ABC News. He was unable to meet with his father, who is currently incarcerated, his aunt explained, but he had plans to meet three cousins for the first time. On August 1, around 1:30 a.m., the cousins picked Giovanni up for a three-hour drive to their home in Mims, Florida. His mother had planned on picking him up the next day, Desiree said. But a week later, he is still missing. open image in gallery Giovanni Pelletier, 18, vanished after meeting up with cousins in Florida on August 1 ( Charlotte County Sheriff's Office ) But just 25 minutes later, Giovanni texted his mother the chilling message, pleading for help. He also sent similar texts to his grandfather and another aunt. Somewhere along the ride, something happened, Desiree said. Later that morning, Giovannis mother Bridgette Pelletier saw the texts and missed calls, but could not reach him so she called the police. My son would not have put me in a place to be scared or worried, because he knows when it comes to my children there are no limits and nothing I wouldnt do it for him, his mother Bridgette Pelletier told FOX13. When she questioned the cousins, they claimed they had been smoking marijuana when Giovanni began to panic and pull out a knife, Desiree said. But Desiree insisted that is not Gio and does not align with who he is. According to the Charlotte County Sheriffs Office, the cousins told investigators Giovanni began to act erratically before exiting the vehicle on I-75 near State Road 70. open image in gallery Giovanni got out of the car while on the I-75 near the State Road 70, according to his cousins ( Google Maps ) A truck driver later that day found Giovannis backpack and phone, leading the family to believe that he was abandoned on the side of the road in Bradenton, Florida. It doesnt make sense, Desiree said. Why would he say Help me three different times to three people? The Charlotte County Sheriffs Office says they have received many, many tips that unfortunately turn out to be inaccurate. The family is offering a $25,000 reward for information on the whereabouts of the teen they describe as smart, kind and full of life. A GoFundMe has been created to help pay for the search. We love him and want him home and we just want him to be OK, Desiree said through tears. As a family, we cant function normally. Were not doing well right now. We just want him home. The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US Email * SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our Privacy notice Sgt. Quornelius Radford, the soldier accused of opening fire at Fort Stewart in Georgia on Wednesday, wounding five people, was persistently bullied over his stutter in his early military career, former colleagues say. Radford, 28, was reportedly mocked for his speech impediment during the roughly two months he spent in 2018 at the Armys Advanced Individual Training school at Fort Lee in Virginia. He got bullied a lot, Sgt. Cameron Barrett, who became friends with Radford during that time, told NBC News. It was very bad to the point where he could barely talk. Despite the alleged harassment, Barrett and other fellow soldiers said Radford never showed signs of anger, resentment, or deeper issues, the outlet reported. Those who knew him described the logistics sergeant as quiet but capable of a playful, lighthearted side. It was easy for those people to make fun of him for the way he spoke, Sgt. Carlos Coleman, who trained alongside Radford, told the outlet. After that, he really didnt speak that much. open image in gallery Quornelius Radford was bullied at the hands of his fellow soldiers, those who knew him told NBC. ( Liberty County Sheriff's Office ) I just saw him get quiet, he added. Ive never seen him angry. Thats why Im so surprised. The news that Radford was identified as the suspect in the Wednesday morning shooting shocked those who had served with him. Barrett said he even messaged Radford on Snapchat to check on him after reports of an active shooter, but received no reply. According to Army officials, Radford allegedly used a personal handgun to open fire shortly before 11 a.m., injuring five members of his unit in the 2nd Brigade Combat Team. Three of the victims were released from hospitals the same day, while two women remained hospitalized as of Thursday. Both are in a stable condition. Authorities have not said whether the victims were Radfords subordinates or superiors, and a motive remains unclear. Radfords alleged shooting spree ended when fellow soldiers tackled and subdued him. Barrett and Coleman agree that something else must have happened to Radford, as the bullying from his early military days happened years ago. I have questions, too, Coleman said. I just want to know what pushed him to that point. Coleman noted Radfords final Facebook post on January 28, where he shared profound lingering sadness over losing a loved one in a wrong-way crash. open image in gallery Fort Stewart army base was under lock down after the shooting. ( Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved ) I remember I couldnt speak after hearing that, Radford posted in a screenshot that Coleman shared with NBC News. Radford reportedly continued that he coped with his pain by crying and drinking, describing the lost loved one as a source of comfort who cared about his well-being. I know you tried to keep me on a good path when I was hanging out in the streets, Radford wrote. I remember the nights you were scared when I was going down that road, and Im truly sorry for putting you through that. Radford remains in custody and has been interviewed by the Army Criminal Investigation Division as the investigation continues. LISBON, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- Portugal's President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa vetoed the amended Foreigners Law on Friday, returning it to parliament shortly after the Constitutional Court struck down several of its provisions as unconstitutional, the presidential website announced. According to Diario de Noticias, the court ruled that measures restricting access to family reunification and limiting appeals to the Administrative Court against decisions of the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum violated constitutional protections. One provision, by excluding a spouse or equivalent partner, could lead to the separation of the nuclear family of a foreign national holding a valid residence permit, the court found. It also deemed unconstitutional the compulsory two-year waiting period before a resident could request family reunification for all adult family members living abroad. In addition, the court struck down the proposed extension of the maximum review period for family reunification requests from 90 days to nine months, saying it breached the state's duty to protect the family. The legislative process and amendments have been highly controversial. President Rebelo de Sousa repeatedly voiced concerns during the drafting stage, criticizing the process as rushed, and referred the bill to the Constitutional Court for preventive review. The Foreigners Law, covering immigration, visas, residence permits, and family reunification, has undergone multiple revisions in recent years. On June 23, the Portuguese government approved legislative proposals to amend the law, and on July 16, parliament passed the amended law seeking tightened immigration controls. Prime Minister Luis Montenegro said Thursday that the government would respect the court's decision and seek legal adjustments that upheld constitutional principles while pursuing its policy goals. Minister of the Presidency Antonio Leitao Amaro stressed the government would not abandon the amendments and would rework the plan for future implementation. Portugal has moved in recent years to tighten immigration controls after experiencing a rapid rise in migrant arrivals. In 2024, it abolished the "expression of interest" residency regime, which had allowed non-EU migrants to enter on a tourist or other non-work visa and later apply for a residence permit. Officials say the increase has strained public services such as housing, education, and healthcare. Soaring housing costs and shortages in major cities like Lisbon and Porto have intensified calls for population controls. Authorities also cite cases of migrants arriving on short-term visas and remaining without formal work contracts, feeding informal labor markets. At the start of last month, legally sold packet sizes were restricted to 20 cigarettes and flavours such as menthol were banned. Foukkare says the initial excise increases between 2010 and 2019 led to a clear reduction in smoking rates, but from 2019 it has had the reverse effect, with smokers trading the legal market for the far cheaper black market. This has been confirmed by Roy Morgan, which says smoking and vaping rates have remained unchanged over the past decade, with both vaping and illicit tobacco more widespread now. And what a windfall it is for organised crime. With an estimated annual value of around $5 billion, illegal tobacco far exceeds their combined take from traditional illicit goods such as cocaine, MDMA, heroin and cannabis. A report from the Australian Institute of Criminology estimated that the street value of consumption for these four illicit drugs was just over $2 billion in 2022/23. Nothing illustrates the point more clearly than the Viva Energy share price which dived last week after the operator of fuel stations such as Shell and Reddy Express reported a plunge in earnings and revenue from its petrol station convenience stores as the exodus of smokers to illegal tobacco accelerated this year. Loading Tobacco sales, which dropped 17 per cent in calendar 2024, plunged 27 per cent in the June half year with most of this attributed to new government taxes and regulations driving more smokers to the far cheaper black market products. Last month, it was Metcash, the retailer behind the IGA supermarket business, which revealed the damage with a massive 20 per cent slump in tobacco sales for the year ending April 30. Sales have now dropped more than 40 per cent since 2021. To put that in dollars, we now sell approximately $1.3 billion less tobacco, Metcash boss Doug Jones told analysts and investors at its full-year results. To get an idea of the impact, tobacco currently accounts for 17 per cent of Metcash food sales. Jones was very open about the conundrum facing retailers who need the government to address what many describe as a horrendous policy failure by the federal government. Its a political issue thats easy to ignore because its smoking, its bad for you ... but the reality is that theres data out there showing that the actual incidence of smoking is on the rise because theres just such a prevalence of very cheap tobacco, he told the AFR. And it is going to get far worse. AACS analysis conducted by economic consulting group Tulipwood forecasts that the value of the illegal tobacco business will exceed the legal market by 2026/27. This forecast is as astounding as it is alarming. The excise that the black market avoids - $1.40 per cigarette - and the vastly lower prices which result - mean the illegal tobacco market is reckoned to produce sales of around $5 billion, compared to $15 billion for the legal market right now. The organised crime takeover has been just as dramatic for government coffers. The tax take has gone from $16.3 billion in 2020 to a projected $7.4 billion in 2025 despite annual excise increases. This means the government is estimated to have lost out on $6.4 billion last year alone. Even professional investors are having to take notice. Tyndall Asset Managements Michael Ward noted in December that retailers have been left vulnerable by the slow progress to beef up legislative and enforcement efforts. Major retailers like Woolworths, Coles, and Metcash, which generate $6.5 billion to $7 billion annually from tobacco sales, and fuel retailers like Ampol and Viva Energy, with $800 million to $900 million in annual exposure, face ongoing revenue pressures, he said. And the impact goes beyond the loss of relatively low-margin cigarette sales. The dirty little secret for the supermarket giants and the rest of the sector is that cigarette sales are not the only dollars walking out the door. The truth is, smokers are very good shoppers. Tobacco is an important driver of other sales at convenience stores around Australia. Credit: Roy VanDerVegt Financial market analysts wont include this in their commentary, but they recognise that for every dollar spent on tobacco, smokers spend disproportionately more on actual grocery products. If you sell tobacco - like a convenience store, an IGA supermarket, Coles, Woolworths or a petrol station - youre losing additional sales, Foukkare says. It is especially impactful for the petrol stations AACS represents. The tobacco consumer generally in our retail outlets normally comes in three times a week, and they also have two or three times the number of items in their basket with their tobacco that they purchase. So a drink, a sandwich, a chocolate, a coffee, some milk or bread, if theyre on their way home, Foukkare says. Because theyre not coming to us for tobacco, were losing the associated purchases. Coles and Woolworths declined to comment, but this would certainly explain why Coles, in particular, aggressively pursued the tobacco dollar a decade ago when the tobacco sales were worth $8.5 billion for Coles, Woolies, IGA and Foodworks - out of a grocery market in 2013/14 that was worth $85 billion. In 2016, Coles, IGA and Foodworks were slammed by anti-smoking advocates for selling cut-price premium brand cigarettes that were imported from Ukraine. In 2020, Coles faced Federal Court action from an independent tobacco retailer alleging misuse of market power for predatory pricing on its cigarettes. Loading That action was discontinued. The federal government has, so far, declined to consider an excise cut to levels that would remove the massive incentive to pay $14 for a pack of cigarettes that would cost more than $40 at a legal outlet. In this year-long investigation, we are lifting the lid on an open secret in Australias property market that is costing buyers millions. Victorians are supposed to live in a world beyond the underquoting of real estate. In May 2017, new rules were introduced that would finally put paid to the odious practice. The then minister described underquoting as dishonest, misleading and against the law and promised that new laws would help stamp it out. To the surprise of not one home buyer in Melbourne, that is not what happened. Between January of last year and June of this year, The Age decided to track thousands of online property price listings and where we could compare them with sales results. Over nearly 26,000 cases, our investigation discovered industrial-scale underquoting is still very much with us. For most Victorians, a home will be the single largest and most momentous purchase of their lives. But it is also, as many discover too painfully, a moving target. A former police officer exchanged information with an alleged domestic violence offender, including photos of official reports, during hundreds of illegal searches of the NSW Police system over several months which involved looking up victim details. Mohamad Jamal Soueid, who joined the NSW police force at age 21 in 2018, also looked up details about a drug supply ring. The former officer conducted hundreds of illegal searches of the NSW Police system, and exchanged information with an alleged DV offender. Credit: Dylan Coker While working in general duties at Bankstown Police Station between November 2022 and March 2023, the 28-year-old illegally conducted about 700 unauthorised searches, an agreed statement of facts tendered to Downing Centre Local Court showed. On May 11, 2022, a man charged with several domestic violence (DV) offences sent Soueid details of his charges, including his bail acknowledgement, apprehended violence order and photographs, the fact sheet revealed. UNITED NATIONS, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Friday that Gaza is and must remain an integral part of a Palestinian State. "The Secretary-General is gravely alarmed by the decision of the Israeli government to 'take control of Gaza City,'" said a statement issued by Stephanie Tremblay, associate spokesperson for the UN chief. The decision marks a dangerous escalation and risks deepening the already catastrophic consequences for millions of Palestinians, and could further endanger more lives, including those of the remaining hostages, the statement said. Palestinians in Gaza continue to endure a humanitarian catastrophe of horrific proportions, and Guterres warns that this further escalation will result in additional forced displacement, killings and massive destruction, it said. The statement noted that the UN chief reiterated his urgent appeal for a permanent ceasefire, unimpeded humanitarian access across Gaza, and for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages. Strongly urging the Israeli government to abide by its obligations under international law, Guterres recalled that the International Court of Justice declared in its advisory opinion in 2024 that Israel is under an obligation to cease immediately all new settlement activities, to evacuate all settlers from the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and to bring to an end its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, which encompasses Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, as rapidly as possible, the statement said. "There will be no sustainable solution to this conflict without an end to this unlawful occupation and the achievement of a viable two-State solution. Gaza is and must remain an integral part of a Palestinian State," it added. Trump had told European leaders that he intended to meet Putin and then follow up shortly afterward by meeting both Putin and Ukraines President Volodymyr Zelensky, together. However, a Kremlin aide said on Thursday that Moscow had not agreed to a three-way meeting. That option was simply mentioned by the American representative during the course of conversation at the Kremlin, Yuri Ushakov, Putins foreign policy aide, told reporters. He said Moscow was completely without comment on the idea of a three-way summit and that it had not been discussed concretely with Witkoff. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky could be part of the talks. Credit: Getty Images Hours later, Putin said he was not opposed to meeting Zelensky a prospect Ukraines leader has repeatedly requested but reiterated that certain conditions must be met before such a meeting can take place. We are unfortunately, at the moment, far away from those conditions, Putin said. Since initiating a rapprochement with the Kremlin in January, the Trump administration had been holding out on agreeing to a summit with Putin, looking for a sign from the Kremlin that the Russian leader was, in fact, serious about a real ceasefire on the battlefield. The White Houses sudden commitment to hold a summit has raised questions about what, if anything, Putin agreed to on Wednesday during his talks in Moscow with Witkoff. Putin doesnt keep a preprepared plan. He lives for today. He knows what he wants to get in the end. Tatiana Stanovaya, Carnegie Moscow Eurasia Centre Exactly what the two men discussed is unclear. Ushakov told reporters on Wednesday that Putin had conveyed certain signals to Witkoff on Ukraine, but the Kremlin aide did not go into detail. One possibility is that Putin signalled more flexibility on the issue of how land could be divided up or traded in any settlement between Russia and Ukraine. For months, Russian envoys have insisted in talks with US counterparts that Moscow be given the entirety of the four regions that the Kremlin claimed to have annexed from Ukraine in late 2022 even though vast swaths of the territory remained under Ukrainian control. US negotiators viewed that position as unreasonable and saw it as a sign that Moscow wasnt serious about negotiating an end to the war. Some analysts suggested Putin had told envoys during talks this year to stick only to the hardest-line position, in order to force a meeting between him and Trump. Russian officials may be hoping that a one-on-one summit will give Putin an opportunity to sway Trump, long sympathetic to Russia, back to supporting the Russian leaders views on what he calls the root causes of the conflict. People close to the Kremlin, as well as political analysts, say Putins demands to exclude Ukraine from NATO, limit Ukrainian military capabilities and lay the groundwork for a more Moscow-friendly government in Ukraine are more crucial to him than the specifics of what territory Russia ultimately controls. The most important thing for Putin is NATO and these ironclad guarantees that Ukraine will not be in NATO and that NATO countries will not develop a military presence inside Ukraine, plus a set of political demands on Ukraine itself, said Tatiana Stanovaya, senior fellow at the Carnegie Moscow Eurasia Centre. Other demands, she added, might be open to negotiation. Moscow has not formally demarcated the borders of the four annexed regions, which Stanovaya said suggested there had always been some flexibility on the land issue. She didnt exclude the possibility that Russia would be open to exchanging certain territories. Loading Some analysts believe Russian-controlled land in regions of Ukraine that Moscow has not annexed would be most likely to be offered for exchange in negotiations. Russia holds 1719 square kilometres of Ukrainian territory in the regions of Kharkiv and Sumy neither of which has been annexed by Russia according to DeepState, a Ukrainian group that maps the conflict using combat footage. But Putin doesnt keep a preprepared plan, Stanovaya said. He lives for today. He knows what he wants to get in the end. In this case, she said, what Russias leader wants is for Ukraine to stop being what he sees as an anti-Russia project and to return to Moscows sphere of influence. So, either he achieves this through NATO guarantees, that is, guarantees from the West, or he achieves this through political control within Ukraine, Stanovaya said. One or the other, or both. Then, well see how it goes. Territory is very secondary. We could fight some more There is little indication that, despite increasing threats from the White House, Putin has abandoned his hard-line goals. Russian forces have the advantage on the battlefield, so a decision by Putin to settle rather than try to conquer more of Ukraine should be seen as a concession in itself, said Feodor Voitolovsky, director of the Institute of World Economy and International Relations, a Russian government-funded research group. A destroyed Ukrainian Army tank T-64BV in the Kursk region of Russia after it was taken back by Russian troops. Credit: AP We could fight some more, wait a few more months and achieve even greater, more serious results on the battlefield, said Voitolovsky who serves on advisory boards at the Russian Foreign Ministry and Security Council. But while Russian forces have been advancing in Ukraine since launching a summer offensive, they have suffered significant losses and are far from seizing the entirety of the four annexed regions. Stanovaya said Putin would prefer the capitulation of Zelensky, under pressure from Trump, so Russian forces can stop fighting. But the logic of Russias leader, she said, is we will get what we want at any cost, regardless of the economic or societal toll. New York: A funny thing started happening in New York City bars a couple of months ago. Drinkers began ordering glasses of sauvignon blanc with jalapeno slices in them. I know its a trend, says bartender John Murphy, who remains a little perplexed by the whole thing. It started with rose. And now its moved to sauvignon blanc. Its one of those things thats just taking off. On a recent Thursday afternoon, Murphy mixed three types of the drink one with frozen jalapeno slices, one freshly cut and one with the slices muddled into the drink with a pestle for this masthead to taste at his West Village bar, Automatic Slims. Like so many of todays trends, this one took off on TikTok. You can find videos of people pouring white wine over jalapeno slices years ago, but it was only this year that it developed into a full-blown thing, helped along by a slew of influencers jumping on board. Washington: US President Donald Trump has confirmed he will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin next week in the US state of Alaska, the first time Putin has met a sitting American president since the launch of his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. After teasing the announcement during a White House function earlier in the afternoon, Trump posted on his Truth Social website that the highly anticipated meeting would take place in Alaska on Friday, US time. The confirmation comes after days of speculation about a meeting between the two leaders, and confusion over whether there were preconditions for the summit to take place, such as the involvement of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky or a separate meeting between him and Putin. Friday also marked Trumps own deadline for Putin to agree to a ceasefire and peace deal or face additional US sanctions and secondary sanctions aimed at Russian trading partners. So far, Trump has announced an extra 25 per cent tariff on Indian exports to the US as punishment for India buying Russian oil, to begin on August 27. New AI Factory For US Navy Support Being Built 4>Hadrian Raises $260M to Build AI-Powered Factories for America, Adds Full Product Manufacturing, Opens Arizona Site The raise includes $260 million in Series C financing led by existing investors Founders Fund and Lux Capital, and a factory expansion loan facility arranged by Morgan Stanley. This capital will accelerate Hadrian's ability to deliver not just precision parts but full mission-critical systems. The company now covers the entire advanced manufacturing stack, from raw material to finished products, and supports everything from components to assemblies to complete platforms. With its "Factories-as-a-Service" model, Hadrian can rapidly scale production across key Department of Defense (DOD) areas such as munitions, shipbuilding, and other high-priority programs. "America cannot afford to lose another generation of industrial capacity," said Chris Power, founder and CEO of Hadrian. "We're building the factories that will secure American leadership in advanced manufacturing and create new jobs here in the United States. China is making massive bets on industrial dominance. The United States needs to respond not just with policy, but with production. That's what Hadrian is here to do." "Arizona is at the heart of America's national defense," said Governor Katie Hobbs. "We continue to be a premier destination for the fast-growing aerospace and defense industry. This new investment will further solidify our state's leadership and provide family-sustaining jobs for Arizonans." Today, Hadrian is announcing: Factory 3 (F3) in Mesa, Arizona . A large-scale production facility and software hub spanning approximately 270,000 square feet, representing an estimated $200 million in capital investment and creating 350 new local jobs. in . A large-scale production facility and software hub spanning approximately 270,000 square feet, representing an estimated in capital investment and creating 350 new local jobs. Corporate Headquarters , initiating the search for the company's 400,000 square foot corporate and R&D headquarters to support the rapid hiring of thousands of employees . , initiating the search for the company's 400,000 square foot corporate and R&D headquarters to support the rapid hiring of thousands of employees Hadrian Maritime , a dedicated division bringing Hadrian's autonomous factory model to shipbuilding and naval defense, strengthening maritime supply chains with scalable, precision production. Maritime is the first in a series of new dedicated divisions. In the coming months, Hadrian will announce additional production initiatives focused on Munitions, Missile Systems, and Uncrewed Aerial Systems, expanding its footprint across the defense industrial base. , a dedicated division bringing Hadrian's autonomous factory model to shipbuilding and naval defense, strengthening maritime supply chains with scalable, precision production. Maritime is the first in a series of new dedicated divisions. In the coming months, Hadrian will announce additional production initiatives focused on Munitions, Missile Systems, and Uncrewed Aerial Systems, expanding its footprint across the defense industrial base. The launch of Factories-as-a-Service , a model that allows defense primes and other industries to scale factories to meet existing or new Program of Record demand for parts, assemblies, or entire products. , a model that allows defense primes and other industries to scale factories to meet existing or new Program of Record demand for parts, assemblies, or entire products. Both the Arizona site and Hadrian's new corporate HQ are slated to be fully operational by January 2026just six months from nowdemonstrating Hadrian's speed in delivering production-ready capacity. Powered by Opus, Hadrian's proprietary software stack for production autonomy, the company's factories are built to go online in under six months, creating resilient supply chains, advanced new industrial jobs, and mission-critical components faster than legacy manufacturing systems can deliver. Since its Series B raise 12 months ago, Hadrian has achieved 10x year-over-year growth, establishing itself as the company with the scale and capability to build AI-driven factories that can produce everything from flight hardware to frontier technology. This announcement is just the beginning. Over the next year, Hadrian plans to announce and scale four to five additional facilities, each focused on accelerating production in high-demand defense sectors and supporting priority DOD initiatives. Quotes from Arizona stakeholders: "Mesa is proud to welcome Hadrian's Factory 3 to our city. This $200 million investment and the creation of 350 high-wage jobs reinforce Mesa's growing reputation as a national hub for advanced manufacturing and defense innovation," said Mayor Mark Freeman. "Hadrian's presence marks a major step forward in strengthening America's industrial base and Mesa is honored to help lead that charge." "Hadrian's decision to build Factory 3 in Mesa further establishes our city as a leading destination for innovation and advanced manufacturing," said Vice Mayor Scott Somers. "This significant investment will bring hundreds of high-quality jobs to Mesa residents, strengthen our local economy and reinforce our position as a critical hub in America's manufacturing resurgence. We're excited to welcome Hadrian to our community and look forward to supporting their growth and success for years to come." "Arizona's thriving aerospace and defense sector plays a critical role in creating good-paying jobs and ensuring our national defense," said Sandra Watson, president and CEO of the Arizona Commerce Authority. "With a commitment to innovation and manufacturing excellence, Hadrian will strengthen Arizona's aerospace and defense industry and we are grateful the company chose Mesa for its advanced manufacturing facility." "Greater Phoenix is known internationally as a hub for innovation, and Hadrian is leveraging the region's advantages for its transformative F3 in Mesa," said Greater Phoenix Economic Council President & CEO Chris Camacho. "The company's growth plans in manufacturing, research, software, autonomous shipbuilding and more will be powered by the operating environment and talented workforce of Greater Phoenix, and we're excited to welcome their forward-thinking technological strategies to the region." About Hadrian Hadrian is the factory of the future, transforming the U.S. industrial base by building highly automated factories that supercharge American workers with process engineering, AI, machine learning, and robotics to Reindustrialize America and compete head-to-head with China's industrial base. Its mission is to enable space and defense manufacturers to produce domestically at globally competitive costs, restoring U.S. industrial supremacy and countering China's manufacturing advantages. Currently, Hadrian operates a 100,000-square-foot factory in Torrance, CA, and is in the process of developing other production sites. JERUSALEM, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- More than 1,000 aid packages have been airdropped over the Gaza Strip since the resumption of the international airdrop operation in late July, with the participation of nine countries, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Friday. On Friday, six countries -- including the Netherlands, which joined the effort for the first time -- delivered 72 food packages. Other participating nations included the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Germany, Belgium, and France. The airdrops resumed on July 26 after the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza sparked global outrage amid Israel's continued blockade. But United Nations officials and experts say the airdrops will have little impact unless Israel opens the land crossings to allow more aid in and permits medical treatment for the malnourished. Since Oct. 7, 2023, at least 201 people have died due to starvation and lack of medical treatment in Gaza, including 98 children, according to figures released by the Gaza-based health authorities on Friday. In the 24 hours leading up to the report, four deaths were recorded, including two children, the authorities said in a press statement. SHALARTH ID SCAM State constitutes SIT, Pulkundwar to head Staff Reporter : State Education officers to go on strike today Maharashtra Government has constituted Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe into Shalarth ID Scam. Punes Divisional Commissioner Chandrakant Pulkundwar will head the SIT. The members of the SIT are Inspector General of Police (Law and Order) Dr Manojkumar Sharma and Joint Director (Administration, Estimation and Finance), Office of Education Directorate Harun Aatar. The SIT is expected to investigate the appointments of teaching and non-teaching staff, their transfers from the unaided institutions to the aided ones. The SIT will also investigate various approval of the posts and it will also suggest the changes should be made in the process. It will also examine the cases from 2012 to till date. The SIT is expected to submit its report within 3 months. Meanwhile, All Maharashtra Teaching Service Gazetted Officers Association has decided to go on one-day strike on Friday. The association has protested the arrest of educational officers in the Shalarth ID Scam in Nagpur. The Association had protested last week also and observed one day strike alleging that principles of natural justice was not followed. At least 16 people were arrested for their alleged involvement in the scam. They include senior education officers, school principals, and institution heads. Two primary education officers Rohini Kumbhar and Siddheshwar Kaluse of Nagpur Zilla Parishad too were grilled with an allegation of creating bogus IDs on the Shalarth portal. According to these officers, the real culprits who committed the crime should be arrested and strict legal action be taken against them. Because of the arrests, a fear has been created among the officers. The inquiry and action should be conducted as per school rules, pointed out the officers. MLA Pravin Datke had raised the issue in an aggressive manner during the Monsoon Session of State Legislature at Mumbai and Government promised to constitute the SIT. So far, a very few teachers have come forward and confessed that the institution operators took money. After that, however, the teachers have suddenly started being uncooperative. It is known that the educational institution operators have also turned their backs. As a result, not a single educational institution operator has been arrested in this case after Dhote. The main accused in the scam, Pay Superintendent Nilesh Waghmare has been absconding for one-and-a-half months. ED recovered Rs 23,000 cr laundered money: SG to SC NEW DELHI : Distributed to victims THE Enforcement Directorate has recovered around Rs 23,000 crore laundered money and distributed it to the victims of financial crimes, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta told the Supreme Court on Thursday. The statement was made by the top law officer before a special bench comprising Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justice Satish Chandra Sharma during the open court hearing on a batch of pleas seeking review of the controversial May 2 judgement of the apex court. The apex court had on May 2 ordered liquidation of Bhushan Power & Steel Limited (BPSL) while setting aside a resolution plan of JSW Steel Limited for the ailing firm. The CJI-led bench on July 31 recalled the verdict and decided to hear afresh the review pleas in the high stake matter. During the hearing on the review pleas, a lawyer referred to the Enforcement Directorates (ED) probe in the BPSL case as well. Here also ED is there, the CJI quipped. In response, the Solicitor General said, Let me tell a fact, which was never said in any court, and that is ED has recovered Rs 23,000 crore (laundered money) and given it to the victims. The law officer said recovered money does not remain with the State exchequer and goes to the victims of financial crimes. What is the conviction rate, the CJI asked. Mehta said conviction rates in penal offences are also very low, and referred to the ills plaguing the criminal justice system in the country as the key reason for it. To which, the CJI said, Even if they are not convicted you have been successful in sentencing them almost without a trial for years together. The law officer said, In some of the cases where the politicians were raided, where the cash was found, our (cash counting) machines stopped functioning because of the huge cashwe had to bring new machines. He added that some narratives are being built on YouTube programmes when some big politicians are caught. The CJI said, We do not decide matters on narratives I dont see news channels. I see headlines in newspapers only in the morning for 10-15 minutes. The law officer said he knew the cases are not decided by the judges on the narratives being built on social media and outside courtrooms. Several benches of the top court have been critical of alleged high handedness of the ED especially in cases involving opposition leaders in money laundering cases. The CJI-led bench on July 21, in a different case, had observed that the Enforcement Directorate was crossing all limits. The suo motu matter pertained to summoning of two senior advocates by the ED for offering legal advice or representing clients during investigations. Entry of religious preachers barred in two Kanker villages amid conversion fears Villagers of Bansla and Junwani in Kanker district stand united beneath a warning board prohibiting entry of preachers. Staff Reporter Raipur/Kanker, In a striking display of grassroot protests, residents of Bansla and Junwani villages under Bhanupratappur block in Kanker district have unanimously prohibited the entry of Christian evangelists into their settlements, citing serious concerns over religious conversions targeting tribal communities. The resolution, passed through Gram Sabha consensus, led to the installation of prominent warning boards at the village boundaries. The boards explicitly declare that no pastor, missionary, or religious preacher is allowed to enter the village premises. Villagers assert that these measures are vital to protect their cultural heritage and traditional identity, which they believe is at risk from external religious influences. According to several villagers, outsiders have allegedly been attempting to lure tribal families under the guise of religious discourse, which, they claim, threatens the social fabric and ancestral practices that have defined their way of life for generations. While the local administration has been alerted, it has so far refrained from issuing an official statement. However, sources indicate that the situation is being closely monitored to ensure communal harmony and law-and-order stability in the region. The controversy has triggered a wider political response. Bhojraj Nag, BJP Member of Parliament from Kanker, issued a stern warning, stating, Those violating the constitutional framework under the guise of religious rights will face FIRs. The Constitution must be read in totality, not selectively. He further added that RTI replies from district officials confirm that there are no officially documented Christian converts in Jamgaon village, raising questions over the legitimacy of demands for churches or burial grounds. Nag cautioned that any attempt to replicate the socio-political templates of Nagaland or Mizoram in Bastar under religious pretence will never be tolerated by society. He urged community youth and public representatives to stand vigilant against covert efforts to undermine tribal unity. India will never compromise on farmers interests, Im ready to pay heavy price: PM NEW DELHI : IN A subtle message directed at US President Donald Trump, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday that India will never compromise on the interests of its farmers, fishermen and dairy sector, and declared he was prepared to bear a significant personal cost if necessary. The statement came a day after Trump ratcheted up tariffs on Indian goods to 50 per cent, even as the two nations discuss a bilateral trade deal. The trade deal has been stuck over the US demand for greater access to Indias agricultural and dairy market. The US wants reduced tariffs on products like corn, soybeans, apples, almonds and ethanol, as well as increased access for US dairy products. New Delhi is, however, resisting these demands as these will have a direct bearing on farmers. Hamare liye apne kisaanon ka hit sarvoch prathamikta hai. Bharat apne kisaanon, pashu-paalakon aur macchuaare bhai-bahanon ke hiton ke saath kabhi bhi samjhuata nahin karega. (For us, the interests of farmers are our top priority. India will never compromise on the interests of its farmers, dairy farmers and fishermen), Modi said. He was addressing a global conference to mark the birth centenary of late agri-scientist M S Swaminathan, the architect of Indias Green Revolution. To protect farmers interests, the Prime Minister said he was ready to personally pay a huge price. Main jaanta hoon ki vyaktigat roop se mujhe bahut badi keemat chukaanee padegi. Lekin main iske liye taiyaar hoon. (I know that I will personally have to pay a heavy price. But I am ready for it), Modi said. India today is ready (to pay the price) for the fishermen and dairy farmers, he stressed. The US has further hiked the trade tariffs on Indian goods to put pressure on India to reduce its dependency on Russia for crude oil. On the occasion, Modi also released a commemorative coin and stamp in honour of the legendary scientist. Outlining his vision for Indian agriculture, the Prime Minister emphasised the need to ensure nutritional security, crop diversification and development of climate-resilient crop varieties and technology integration. He called for developing drought-tolerant, heat-resistant, and flood-adaptive crops while pushing for AI and machine learning integration in agricultural systems. The Prime Minister suggested that real-time decision support systems could be made accessible in every district to forecast crop yields, monitor pests, and guide farming practices. Modi called for increased research on crop rotation and soil-specific suitability and further stressed the need to develop affordable soil testing tools and effective nutrient management techniques. He also talked about the need to intensify efforts towards solar-powered micro-irrigation and stated that drip systems and precision irrigation must be made more widespread and effective. Stating that the Government has always considered the strength of farmers as the foundation of national progress, Modi highlighted that several schemes like PM-KISAN, PM Fasal Bima Yojana, PM Krishi Sinchai Yojana, PM Kisan Sampada Yojana, creation of 10,000 Farmer Producer Organisations (FPOs) and recent PM Dhan Dhanya Yojana for the all-around development of the farm and allied sector. The policies formulated in recent years were not merely about assistance, but about instilling confidence among farmers, he said, reiterating the Governments continuous efforts to increase farmers income, reduce production cost, and create new sources of revenue. Modi said financial support to cooperatives and self-help groups has given fresh momentum to the rural economy. The e-NAM platform has made it easier for farmers to sell their produce. The event honoured Swaminathan, whom Modi described as a visionary whose contributions transcended any single era. The Prime Minister recalled Swaminathans prescient focus on forgotten crops like millets and his early warnings about chemical overuse in farming. Dr Swaminathan believed the solutions to climate change and nutritional challenges lie in the very crops that have been forgotten, Modi said, underlining how the scientists work anticipated todays climate adaptation priorities. Modi also recalled that years ago, Swaminathan had suggested transferring the genetic qualities of mangroves into rice, which would help make crops more climate-resilient. He emphasised that today, as climate adaptation becomes a global priority, it is evident how far-sighted Swaminathans thinking truly was. While Swaminathan worked to boost grain production, Modi said he was equally concerned about the environment and soil health. He introduced the concept of the Evergreen Revolution to balance both objectives and address emerging challenges. Swaminathan proposed the idea of Bio-Villages to empower rural communities and farmers, besides promoting innovative ideas such as Community Seed Banks and Opportunity Crops. Union Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Niti Aayog member Ramesh Chand; MS Swaminathan Research Foundation Chairperson Soumya Swaminathan were among others present at the event. Farmers praise PM Modis stand NEW DELHI, Aug 7 (ANI) FARMERS from different parts of the country have welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modis strong assertion that the interest of farmers remains his Governments top priority, praising his initiatives and expressing their faith in his leadership. Reacting to PM Modis remarks, farmers from various States expressed their support. A farmer from Uttar Pradeshs Aligarh told ANI, PM Modi has done so much for the benefit of the farmers, including Kisan Samman Nidhi, Dairy loans and other benefits. What PM Modi has done for the farmers, no one could ever do. We want him to remain the Prime Minister in future as well... Another farmer said, PM Modi has given a lot of schemes for the farmers, including Kisan Samman Nidhi, Credit Cards for farmers... All the farmers are standing with PM Modi, and we will keep standing with him... PM Modi has said that he is standing for the farmers and will support us in every situation. The rates of crops have improved. He is doing a very good job. PM Modi has always been with us... a farmer from Haryana told ANI. From Jaipur, a farmer said, We are standing with the Prime Minister and the country. What do we have to do with America?.. The condition of the farmers has improved after PM Modi came to power. The Government is doing a good job for the farmers... PM Modis remarks come in the wake of the Trump administrations move to double tariffs on Indian goods to 50 per cent. During trade negotiations, the US had pushed for greater access to Indias agricultural market, especially corn, soybeans, and cotton. However, India has resisted opening the agricultural sector and dairy products, due to concerns about domestic livelihoods and potential impacts on farmers. You are going to see so much secondary sanctions: Trump NEW YORK, Aug 7 (PTI) US President Donald Trump has said India is very close to China in terms of its purchases of Russian oil and will pay tariffs of 50 per cent as he indicated that you are going to see so much secondary sanctions. .... As you know, we put a 50-per cent tariff on India on oil. They are the second largest, they are very close to China in terms of the purchase of oil from Russia, Trump said in the Oval Office on Wednesday. Trump signed an executive order Addressing Threats to the US by the Government of the Russian Federation early on Wednesday, slapping an additional 25-per cent tariff on India for New Delhis purchases of oil from Russia. This took the total levies imposed on India to 50 per cent, among the highest that Washington has imposed on any country, after the Trump administration had announced 25-per cent tariffs on India last week that come into effect from August 7. The additional 25-per cent duty will come into effect after 21 days or August 27. At the White House event, Trump was flanked by Apple CEO Tim Cook, Vice President J D Vance, Secretary of the Treasury Scott Besant and Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick as the technology giant announced that it will invest USD 600 billion in the United States over the next four years. Trump was asked several questions about his decision to impose an additional tariff on India. To a question that if he reaches a deal with Ukraine and Russia, would he drop the additional tariffs on India, Trump said, We will determine that later but right now, they are paying a 50-per cent tariff. Trump was then told that Indian officials have said there are other countries like China that are buying Russian oil, to which he said, It is okay. On why was he singling India out for these additional tariffs, the US President said it has only been eight hours, so let us see what happens over the next.... You are going to see a lot more. You are going to see so much secondary sanctions. The United States has imposed this additional tariff or penalty for Russian imports only on India, while other buyers, such as China and Turkiye, have so far escaped such measures. The 30-per cent tariff on China and 15 \per cent on Turkiye is lower than Indias 50 per cent. Asked about the additional penalties on India and whether he has any similar plans to enact more tariffs on China for its purchases, Trump said, Could happen, could happen. Depends on how we do. Could happen. On another question on possible tariffs on China for its purchases of Russian oil, he said, It may happen, I do not know, I cannot tell you yet. We did it with India. We are doing it probably with a couple of others. One of them could be China. Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement that it is extremely unfortunate that the US should choose to impose additional tariffs on India for actions that several other countries are also taking in their own national interest. We have already made clear our position on these issues, including the fact that our imports are based on market factors and done with the overall objective of ensuring the energy security of 1.4 billion people of India, the MEA said. statement said, adding that the US has in recent days targeted Indias oil imports from Russia. We reiterate that these actions are unfair, unjustified and unreasonable. India will take all actions necessary to protect its national interests, it said. In the executive order, Trump said he has determined that it is necessary and appropriate to impose an additional ad valorem duty on imports of articles of India, which is directly or indirectly importing Russian Federation oil. I find that the Government of India is currently directly or indirectly importing Russian Federation oil. Accordingly, and as consistent with applicable law, articles of India imported into the customs territory of the United States shall be subject to an additional ad valorem rate of duty of 25 per cent, Trump said in the executive order. He also announced that the US will be putting a tariff of approximately 100 per cent on chips and semiconductors coming into the country. But if you are building in the United States of America, there is no charge.... If you have made a commitment to build, or if you are in the process of building, as many are, there is no tariff. India buys about 88 per cent of its crude oil, which is converted into fuels like petrol and diesel, from overseas. Russian oil made up for hardly 0.2 per cent of all crude oil that India imported till 2021. After Moscow invaded Ukraine, Russian oil was available at a discount to international benchmarks due to western sanctions, and was quickly lapped up by Indian refiners. Russia is now Indias largest oil supplier. In July, India imported about five million (50 lakh) barrels of oil a day, of which 1.6 million (16 lakh) came from Russia. After the new levy, India will attract the highest tariff of 50 per cent along with Brazil. After this, Indias competitors will be much better placed in the US market as their duty is lower -- Myanmar (40 per cent), Thailand and Cambodia (both 36 per cent), Bangladesh (35 per cent), Indonesia (32 per cent), China and Sri Lanka (both 30 per cent), Malaysia (25 per cent), the Philippines and Vietnam (both 20 per cent). The announcement comes at a time when a team from Washington is scheduled to visit India from August 25 for the sixth round of negotiations for the proposed bilateral trade agreement (BTA). Putin to visit India later this month MOSCOW : RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putins visit to India is expected at the end of August, a leading news agency of the country reported on Thursday citing comments made by National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval during his ongoing visit to Moscow. We have now established very good relations, which we value very much, a strategic partnership between our countries. We interact at a high level... We were pleased to learn about President Putins visit to our country, scheduled for late August, the Interfax news agency quoted NSA Doval as saying at a meeting with Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu in Moscow on Thursday. Earlier, Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov had confirmed that Putin is expected to visit India following an invitation from Prime Minister Modi. The visit is being planned as part of the ongoing commitment to annual meetings between the two leaders. Our leaders have an agreement to meet once a year. This time, it is our turn, Ushakov had said during a press briefing. The last visit by the Russian President to India took place on December 6, 2021, during the 21st India-Russia Annual Summit in New Delhi. PM Modi, meanwhile, held two high-profile visits to Russia last year, attending the 22nd Russia-India Summit in July and later participated in the BRICS Summit held in Kazan in October. Citing that the political dialogue between India and Russia is developing dynamically and is facilitated by the fact that Moscow and New Delhi have close or even coinciding views on the objectively emerging multipolar world order, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had also indicated that preparations are being made for Russian President Vladimir Putins upcoming visit to India. Relations between our countries have a long history. It can be said that they have stood the test of time more than once. Today, Russia and India are developing equal cooperation based on sincere, mutual respect and consideration of each others interests, Lavrov told the participants of the first international conference Russia and India: Towards a New Agenda for Bilateral Relations which was also addressed by External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar in March, this year. It is difficult to overestimate the contribution of our leaders to this process. It is symbolic that Prime Minister Narendra Modi made his first bilateral foreign visit after his re-election last year to Russia. Now it is our turn. Russian President Vladimir Putin accepted the invitation of the head of the Indian government. The visit of the head of the Russian state to the Republic of India is being prepared, he added. In June, the Russian President sent a message of condolences to President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the passenger plane crash in Ahmedabad. Please accept the deepest condolences over the tragic consequences of a passenger plane crash in Ahmedabad. Kindly convey the words of sincere sympathy and support to the families and near ones of the victims, as well as wishes for a speedy recovery to all those injured in this catastrophe, said Putin In May, President Putin also called Prime Minister Modi and strongly condemned the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam, offering full support to India in its ongoing fight against terrorism. A statement issued by the Kremlin said that Putin expressed sincere condolences to PM Modi over the death of Indian citizens as a result of the barbaric terrorist attack on April 22 and emphasised the need for an uncompromising fight against terrorism in any form. During the conversation, the strategic nature of Russian-Indian relations of a special privileged partnership was emphasised. These relations are not subject to external influence and continue to develop dynamically in all directions, read the statement issued by the Russian Presidents office. The Indian leader reiterated his invitation to the Russian President to visit India for the traditional annual bilateral summit. The invitation was accepted with gratitude, it added. PM Modi, who had also been invited by Putin for the participation in the Victory Day celebrations, however could not travel to Russia. The Russian President had earlier extended his condolences to President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Modi over the tragic consequences of the terrorist attack in Pahalgam. RIC reboot gains significance NEW DELHI, Aug 7 (IANS) NATIONAL Security Advisor Ajit Doval, who is in Russia, said that President Vladimir Putin will visit India. He, however, added that the dates are being worked out. The visit by President Putin, his first since the Russia-Ukraine war, will be watched closely, especially by the United States. During his visit, he would hold high-stakes meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. While the agenda is not clear, there could be a possibility of the Russia-India-China Troika being revived. Although China would need to be part of this dialogue, many see the visit by President Putin as a start. The RIC, which was once seen as a counterweight to the Western world, has once again gained significance as under President Trump, all three countries are facing increased pressure, particularly on the economic front. Russia is, however, keen on reviving the RIC, which has been dormant for a long time. In May this year, Moscow had said that the format should be revived to reposition itself at the heart of Eurasian diplomacy. However, one thing is clear for now, and that is India would not back down from the US threat of tariffs for buying Russian oil. This explains the visit by NSA Doval to Russia and President Putins visit to India sometime this month. The Trump administration has imposed new tariffs on several countries, including India, China, and trade partners linked to Russia. While Russia remains heavily sanctioned due to the war, China is facing trade restrictions. These are factors that have created a common ground for the RIC nations to fight back. Tariffs and secondary sanctions are largely a threat to all three countries, and hence the trio may stick together and revive the Troika. India has, in recent years, stayed away from the RIC due to border tensions with China. However, today, the fast-changing global situation may make both India and China think of this grouping. India prefers to stay independent in its foreign policy and also avoids taking sides either with the US or China. Hence, the RIC fits well for India as it could work with Russia and China on specific issues. Moreover, for India, both Russia and China are important for its energy needs. The RIC would also give India a buffer against pressure from the West. The RIC format was initiated in the 1990s by former Russian Prime Minister Yevgeny Primakov. He had said that this would be a perfect counterbalance to Western dominance. There have been 20 ministerial-level meetings. However, following the 2020 Galwan Valley incident, the format lost momentum. JERUSALEM, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday evening spoke with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, expressing his disappointment with Germany's decision to suspend all exports of military equipment that could be used in the Gaza Strip. "Instead of supporting Israel's just war against Hamas, which carried out the most horrific attack against the Jewish people ... Germany is rewarding Hamas terrorism by embargoing arms to Israel," Netanyahu said, according to a statement issued by the Israeli prime minister's office. He noted that Israel's goal is not to take over Gaza, but to free Gaza from Hamas and enable a peaceful government to be established there. The German decision followed the Israeli security cabinet's approval of military operations targeting the occupation of the Gaza Strip. Merz called on the Israeli government to avoid any further moves towards annexing the West Bank. He also expressed serious concern about the humanitarian situation in Gaza, emphasizing that Israel's continued military campaign places increased responsibility on it to ensure the welfare of civilians in the enclave. Satyendra lives on even after death The 31-year-old gifts life to three people with his organs Staff Reporter : Once again a family bearing the immense pain of untimely demise of their loving son, came forward to save three peoples lives through organ donation. This was indeed not an easy decision but they opted to transform their personal loss into an act of social cause. The deceased, Satyendra Yadav (31), son of Pushpa and Rohini Yadav, resident of village Bichhua under Ghansour tehsil, Seoni, was declared brain-dead after a road accident on Monday evening near Supatal graveyard. Married to Meenakshi just three months back, Satyendra used to stay alone in Jabalpur and delivered cylinders to earn his livelihood. He was returning from work when his motorbike was hit by another bike coming from the opposite direction. Initially, he was taken to a near-by private hospital where after necessary tests, the doctors declared that 50-60 percent of the patients brain had become inactive. Soon after, the relatives shifted him to Super Speciality Hospital where despite making all efforts to save his life, the doctors declared him brain-dead on Wednesday evening. Dean, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Medical College Dr Navneet Saxena told that after the deceased became brain-dead, doctors convinced the family for organ donation. After receiving familys consent, the administration of Super Speciality Hospital, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Medical College Hospital immediately updated higher authorities concerned with organ donation at the State and National-level and initiated necessary proceedings for organ retrieval. Through a green corridor created between NSCBMCH and Dumna Airport, Satyendras liver and heart were sent to Bhopal and Ahmedabad, respectively by air. Whereas, his kidney was transplanted to a patient in the evening at Super Speciality only. After offering rich tributes at Super Speciality Hospital by all the senior officials, Satyendras body was sent to his native village for last rites. Dean Dr Navneet Saxena, Director of Super Speciality Hospital Dr Avadhesh Pratap Singh Kushwaha, Superintendent, NSCBMCH, Dr Arvind Sharma, Superintendent, Super Speciality, Dr Jitendra Gupta, Dr Phanindra Solanki, IMA President, Dr Richa Sharma, heads of different departments and other senior doctors were present. However, relatives alleged that had Satyendra received timely medical intervention after accident, he would have been alive. As, when not feeling well after the accident, Satyendra laid down at a bench at bus-stop located near Supatal graveyard for hours, but no one bothered to inquire about his condition. They alleged that when a passer-by noticed the blood oozing out from his nose and ear, he immediately contacted Satyendras acquaintances through his mobile phone. SC concerned about EDs image, says it cant act like crook NEW DELHI : THE Enforcement Directorate cannot act like a crook and has to confine itself within the four corners of the law, the Supreme Court on Thursday said as it flagged low conviction rates in cases investigated by the central agency. We are also concerned for the image of the Enforcement Directorate, a bench of Justices Surya Kant, Ujjal Bhuyan, N Kotiswar Singh said. The top court is hearing pleas seeking review of the 2022 verdict that upheld powers of arrest of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) under the PMLA. Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, appearing for the Centre and the ED, questioned the maintainability of the review petitions and attributed the low conviction rate to the delaying tactics of influential accused. Influential crooks have a lot of wherewithal. They employ a battery of lawyers to file applications after applications at different stages to protract the proceedings and the investigating officer of the case instead of devoting time to investigation keeps on running to court for one application or other, Raju said. Justice Bhuyan referred to one of his judgements and said of the 5,000 cases registered by the ED in past five years there were less than 10 per cent convictions and this factual statement was substantiated by the minister in Parliament. You cant act like a crook, you have to act within the four corners of the law. I observed in one of my judgments that ED has registered around 5,000 ECIRs in the past five years but the conviction rate is less than 10 per cent. Thats why we have been insisting that you improve your investigation as it deals with the liberty of the individual, Justice Bhuyan said. The judge continued, We are also concerned about EDs image. At the end of 5-6 years of judicial custody, if people are acquitted, who will pay for this? Justice Kant said the answer to all the problems was having dedicated courts akin to TADA and POTA courts and the dedicated PMLA courts could conduct day-to-day proceedings, resulting in expeditious disposal of cases. Yes, influential accused will still file numerous applications but these accused and their lawyers will know that since it is day-to-day trial and their application will be decided the very next day. Time has come to hit them hard. We cant have sympathy for them. I know a magistrate who has to decide 49 applications in a day and pass orders for 10-20 pages in each of them. This cannot go on, he said. Raju further noted ED getting handicapped after influential accused flee to different countries like Cayman Islands aside from dealing in crypto-currencies and other sophisticated methods and impede investigation. On the point of crypto-currencies, Justice Kant said the Government ought to seriously think of regulating it for people were operating different apps and crypto stock exchanges. He said top courts Justice Joymalya Bagchi recently said in a case that a day was not far when bribe takers would take bribes in crypto-currency, which will be very difficult for the investigating agencies to investigate. Raju questioned the authenticity of the review petitions, calling them nothing but appeals against the 2022 verdict disguised as review. For the review, you have to make out a case for error apparent on the face of record in the 2022 verdict but they have not stated anywhere what is error apparent. If these reviews are admitted it would amount to rewriting the 2022 judgement, he said. Raju contended that the constitutional validity of the PMLA was in their favour as the Constitution bench in 2019 in the Roger Mathew case upheld the validity of the statute. They (petitioners) took a chance and failed in that endeavour. Now theyre saying, no, that was wrong and redo it. Review cant be an appeal in disguise. They must first demonstrate that there is an error apparent on the face of the record when it comes to these two issues. The error apparent on the face of the record should not be an error that should be fished out. Review cannot be for asking. They have to make out an exceptionally strong case for review, Raju said. Justice Kant also enquired about the methodology adopted by ED during arrests and whether grounds of arrest and reasons for arrests were given to the accused. Raju submitted there was no obligation on the ED under the statute to supply a copy of the ECIR (equivalent to an FIR) to the accused but courts in subsequent ruling stressed on sharing grounds and reasons of arrest with accused persons. The hearing would continue next week. In July 2022, the apex court in Vijay Madanlal Choudhary upheld the EDs powers to arrest, attach properties involved in money laundering and carry out search and seizure under the PMLA. The red line THE fresh salvo of 25% extra tariffs on top of the earlier announced 25% by United States President Mr. Donald Trump has met with a no-nonsense repartee from Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi as he drew a clear, bold red line on the trade deal. The Prime Minister has asserted that India would not compromise the interests of its farmers and fishermen regardless of the personal cost he would have to pay in case of a no-deal scenario with the United States of America. The battlelines have been drawn and it is now up to Mr. Trump to think of a new tool other than threats to fight the Indian resolve. What the Prime Minister has stated in clear terms to the US Presidents illogical tariff terror is the sentiment of every Indian. In fact, the Trump tariffs have brought together the nation with a steely determination that come what may, India would never give in to the unjustified and unfair demands of the United States. In spite of the fact that India exports to America will be charged the highest tariff in the world, India has shown great fight in standing up to the bully in the White House. India has simply refused to get cowered down by Mr. Trumps unreasonable demands of getting access to its core agriculture sector. Agriculture has remained the sticking point in the long series of negotiations between the US and Indian teams, for, the US is seeking to push its genetically modified (GM) crops such as corn and soya in the Indian markets. It would break the back of Indias farmers who are becoming bulk producers of these crops. New Delhi deserves full appreciation for not budging from its stance to safeguard its farmers. The defiance has frustrated Mr. Trump and hence the sabre-rattling each new day on the fake pretext of punishing India for buying Russian oil. The US hypocrisy has already been exposed by India with trade figures on its imports from Russia after the conflict with Ukraine. The world is aware of the double standards of the Trump administration which is covertly buying uranium, palladium and fertilisers from Russia while castigating other nations on having trade relations with Moscow. It is the expose and the dogged determination India has shown to stand up to the Trump threats that has enraged Washington no end. Mr. Trump has so far bullied his way to make nations accept his unfair tariffs. Many countries have meekly accepted the trade agreements with the USA by conceding to Mr. Trumps demands. Canada, Japan, Pakistan, Vietnam and the meek European Union quickly acceded to the US Presidents unjust proposals by signing trade deals that are heavily in favour of America. India has refused to bow down to such diktats and is seeking a trade deal on its own terms, protecting its peoples interests. It has decided to stand up for itself which has upset the capricious POTUS. India will continue to face Mr. Trumps ire in the future too, for all unfair reasons. It has been the nature of the US President who is always seeking a transaction on his own terms, with his own dominance. New Delhi has already factored in these dangers which is reflected in the growing engagement with Global South partners and BRICS nations. India is doing everything to mitigate the effects of high tariffs on sectors dependent on exports to the US by tapping alternate markets for these goods. The proposed meeting of Prime Minister Mr. Modi with Chinese President Mr. Xi Jinping later this month is also a signal to Mr. Trump that India has kept its options open in case the US does not do a rethink on its tariff terror. The Indo-US trade fight has now entered a critical phase after the red line drawn by Mr. Modi. It has sent out a message of Indias belligerence to Washington. India must continue to stand up for its rights. It is no more a world dominated by a few hot-headed businessmen. Uttarkashi flash floods: 274 rescued as rescue operations gather pace, over 60 still missing DEHRADUN : RESCUE operations gathered pace on Thursday in the disaster-hit Dharali village in Uttarkashi as weather improved and more than 270 people stranded in different locations in the district were evacuated to safety with the help of IAFs Chinook and Mi-17 helicopters. The Army said 50 civilians are missing besides nine of its personnel including one junior commissioned officer. However, eyewitnesses said the number of missing persons could be even higher. According to officials, at least four people have been killed in the disaster that struck the ecologically fragile area on Tuesday afternoon. Rescuers recovered two bodies on Wednesday, but it was not clear if these were among the four deaths reported the previous day. With a let-up in rain and improvement in weather conditions, helicopters made several sorties during the day to evacuate people who had taken refuge in Army camps and neighbouring villages after the disaster. A team of 69 NDRF rescuers, two cadaver dogs and veterinarians joined rescue operations to look for survivors. This is a big disaster and the analysis of the damage is going on. The roads connecting Uttarkashi have been badly damaged. However, our teams are working in the affected areas to rescue the victims, NDRF DIG Gambhir Singh Chauhan told PTI. A total of 274 people have been brought to Harsil, Disaster Management Secretary Vinod Kumar Suman said. Uttarkashi District Magistrate Prashant Arya said 275 people from Harsil, Gangotri and Jhala have been sent to Matli helipad from where they are being sent to their respective destinations. These include people from Gujarat, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi, Assam, Karnataka, Telangana and Punjab, he said. One of the rescued tourists, Bhupendra Singh Mehta, recalled how the flash floods washed away everything in sight. We were asleep when the flash floods hit. We woke up to people shouting, run, run. Everything around our homestay was washed away and the debris had come up to our window on the second floor. We jumped from the second floor and managed to crawl to a bridge and save ourselves, he said. Another rescued tourist, Chandan, said, We saw people buried under the debris at 15-20 locations. Garhwal divisions Inspector General of Police Rajeev Swaroop said 35 people were brought to the Jolly Grant airport from the disaster-affected areas of Uttarkashi in a Chinook helicopter this afternoon. Heavy rain in Uttarkashi over the past few days hampered search and rescue operations. Many roads in the district are still blocked or broken by landslide debris at several points. Efforts were also stepped up to airlift advanced equipment to the worst-hit Dharali village to speed up the search for those trapped under the rubble, officials said. The Indian Army, in close coordination with other authorities, ramped up Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) operations in Dharali and nearby Harsil. The region remains cut off due to multiple landslides and road breaches. Equipment which were held up at different locations due to blocked roads are being airlifted to the spot. A VSAT equipment was airlifted to Matli which has to be installed in Harsil to improve internet connectivity in the area. Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, who is camping in Uttarkashi since Wednesday to keep a close eye on the rescue operations, Thursday met women whose loved ones are missing after the disaster. I met the sisters affected by the Dharali disaster and felt the pain hidden in their tears. I salute their courage in this difficult time, he said in a post on Facebook. I assured them that we all stand with them in this hour of crisis, relief and rescue work will continue until every person trapped there is safely evacuated. Every need is being met on a priority basis. Nine Army personnel and three civilians were evacuated to Dehradun by helicopter. Three critically injured civilians were shifted to AIIMS Rishikesh and eight were admitted to the Uttarkashi district hospital, the army said added. Road access is severely disrupted at multiple locations, including Bartwari, Linchigad, near Harsil, Gangnani and Dharali. Civilian and military teams are working round the clock to rescue stranded people, provide relief and restore connectivity, it said. The military helipad in Harsil and another in Nelong are operational and connected by road to Gangotri, enabling convenient movement of tourists. A civil helipad in Dharali remains non-functional due to a mudslide. According to the Army, more than 225 troops, including engineers, medical teams, and rescue specialists, are on the ground. Search and rescue dogs have also been deployed. One Reeco Radar team is in Tekla village and another Reeco Radar is being inducted for further deployment, the release said. Five civil helicopters from Sahastradhara have been operating between Matli, Bhatwari and Harsil for the rescue operations in coordination with the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF). An action plan has been prepared for the next two days hours. It includes airlifting para troops and medical teams to Harsil by Chinook helicopters and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel and medics to Nelong by Mi-17 helicopters, road opening ahead of Uttarkashi and Tekla, and evacuation of tourists from Nelong helipad on return sorties. ABIDJAN, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- Cote d'Ivoire celebrated the 65th anniversary of its independence on Thursday with a grand military parade in the central city of Bouake. The parade along Reine Pokou Boulevard featured 4,900 personnel from national defense and security forces, alongside military detachments from France, the United States, and Morocco. President Alassane Ouattara commenced the ceremony by reviewing the troops before joining dignitaries, including Gabonese President Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, in the official stand. The procession included military, paramilitary, and special forces; representatives from army schools and training centers; and military vehicles and equipment. Reconnaissance helicopters provided aerial coverage overhead. The ceremony concluded with a vibrant performance by the National Ballet of Cote d'Ivoire. Their carnivalesque fresco portrayed a nation "proud of its roots, faithful to its origins, and resolutely oriented toward a future of peace, prosperity, and grandeur." Photo taken on Aug. 7, 2025 shows a damaged cargo truck at the site of a traffic accident in the Red Sea State, eastern Sudan. At least 13 people were killed and 23 others injured on Thursday in the traffic accident, according to a statement by the Sudanese Police press office. The accident occurred when a travel bus operated by a transport company en route from Port Sudan to Kassala collided with a cargo truck. (Sudanese Police Press Office/Handout via Xinhua) KHARTOUM, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- At least 13 people were killed and 23 others injured on Thursday in a traffic accident in the Red Sea State, eastern Sudan, according to a statement by the Sudanese Police press office. The accident occurred when a travel bus operated by a transport company en route from Port Sudan to Kassala collided with a cargo truck. Excessive speed, improper overtaking, and driver negligence were listed as the cause of the crash, the statement said. Traffic accidents in Sudan are commonly attributed to reckless driving, deteriorating road infrastructure, and the outdated condition of many vehicles. The situation has been further exacerbated by ongoing armed conflict between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), which have disrupted major roads linking various states. Additionally, last year's heavy rainfall caused significant damage to key routes, forcing drivers to rely on alternative roads. Photo taken on Aug. 7, 2025 shows a damaged travel bus at the site of a traffic accident in the Red Sea State, eastern Sudan. At least 13 people were killed and 23 others injured on Thursday in the traffic accident, according to a statement by the Sudanese Police press office. The accident occurred when a travel bus operated by a transport company en route from Port Sudan to Kassala collided with a cargo truck. (Sudanese Police Press Office/Handout via Xinhua) Photo taken on Aug. 7, 2025 shows a damaged travel bus at the site of a traffic accident in the Red Sea State, eastern Sudan. At least 13 people were killed and 23 others injured on Thursday in the traffic accident, according to a statement by the Sudanese Police press office. The accident occurred when a travel bus operated by a transport company en route from Port Sudan to Kassala collided with a cargo truck. (Sudanese Police Press Office/Handout via Xinhua) Photo taken on Aug. 7, 2025 shows a damaged travel bus at the site of a traffic accident in the Red Sea State, eastern Sudan. At least 13 people were killed and 23 others injured on Thursday in the traffic accident, according to a statement by the Sudanese Police press office. The accident occurred when a travel bus operated by a transport company en route from Port Sudan to Kassala collided with a cargo truck. (Sudanese Police Press Office/Handout via Xinhua) AltaGas (TSE:ALA Free Report) had its price target hoisted by Scotiabank from C$45.00 to C$46.00 in a research note published on Tuesday,BayStreet.CA reports. Scotiabank currently has an outperform rating on the stock. ALA has been the subject of several other reports. TD Securities lifted their price objective on AltaGas from C$45.00 to C$48.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on AltaGas from C$40.00 to C$43.00 in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on AltaGas from C$40.00 to C$46.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. CIBC raised their target price on AltaGas from C$42.00 to C$43.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, National Bankshares raised their target price on AltaGas from C$41.00 to C$44.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of C$44.33. Get AltaGas alerts: Get Our Latest Analysis on ALA AltaGas Price Performance AltaGas Announces Dividend TSE ALA opened at C$41.30 on Tuesday. AltaGas has a one year low of C$32.02 and a one year high of C$42.03. The stock has a 50-day moving average of C$39.35 and a 200 day moving average of C$37.95. The company has a market capitalization of C$12.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.94, a PEG ratio of -4.97 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 135.26, a quick ratio of 0.44 and a current ratio of 1.03. The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 29th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, September 16th will be given a dividend of $0.315 per share. This represents a $1.26 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. AltaGass payout ratio is currently 68.98%. AltaGas Company Profile (Get Free Report) AltaGas Ltd owns and operates a diversified basket of energy infrastructure businesses. Business is conducted through four segments: Midstream, power, utilities and corporate. Utility business owns and operates rate-regulated natural gas distribution assets across North America. Midstream business subsequent to the sale of non-core midstream assets in Canada and also engaged in the natural gas liquid processing and extraction, transportation, and storage. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for AltaGas Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for AltaGas and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. ACCRA, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- Frank Amoakohene, Ghana's Ashanti regional minister, disclosed that the black box of the crashed military helicopter has been recovered, after all eight people on board were killed on Wednesday. In a post on his official social media page on Thursday, Amoakohene said the device would aid authorities in investigations into the cause of the tragic disaster. The regional minister spearheaded the search and rescue mission after the disaster on Wednesday, ensuring that the remains of the deceased were transported to the Ghanaian capital of Accra. Meanwhile, the Ghanaian government held a solemn flower-laying ceremony on late Thursday in memory of the victims. A military helicopter crashed on Wednesday morning, killing all eight occupants, including Minister of Defense Edward Kofi Omane Boamah and Minister of Environment, Science, Technology, and Innovation Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed. Bank of Finland lifted its position in iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (NYSEARCA:IVV Free Report) by 0.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 517,115 shares of the companys stock after acquiring an additional 1,592 shares during the quarter. iShares Core S&P 500 ETF makes up approximately 21.1% of Bank of Finlands portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Bank of Finland owned about 0.05% of iShares Core S&P 500 ETF worth $290,567,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Windsor Advisory Group LLC increased its position in shares of iShares Core S&P 500 ETF by 100.0% during the 4th quarter. Windsor Advisory Group LLC now owns 50 shares of the companys stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 25 shares during the last quarter. Investment Counsel Co. of Nevada purchased a new stake in shares of iShares Core S&P 500 ETF during the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. Lord & Richards Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of iShares Core S&P 500 ETF during the 1st quarter valued at $31,000. Navigoe LLC purchased a new stake in shares of iShares Core S&P 500 ETF during the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, Marquette Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of iShares Core S&P 500 ETF by 51.9% during the 1st quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC now owns 79 shares of the companys stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 70.12% of the companys stock. Get iShares Core S&P 500 ETF alerts: iShares Core S&P 500 ETF Price Performance Shares of iShares Core S&P 500 ETF stock opened at $635.44 on Friday. iShares Core S&P 500 ETF has a 1 year low of $484.00 and a 1 year high of $642.94. The firm has a market cap of $640.30 billion, a PE ratio of 25.10 and a beta of 1.00. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $618.70 and a 200-day moving average price of $590.00. iShares Core S&P 500 ETF Profile iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (the Fund) is an exchange-traded fund. The Fund seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the Standard & Poors 500 Index (the Index). The Index measures the performance of the large-capitalization sector of the United States equity market. Featured Articles Want to see what other hedge funds are holding IVV? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (NYSEARCA:IVV Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for iShares Core S&P 500 ETF Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for iShares Core S&P 500 ETF and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Piper Sandler upgraded shares of Bar Harbor Bankshares (NYSE:BHB Free Report) from a neutral rating to an overweight rating in a report published on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Piper Sandler currently has $35.00 target price on the stock, up from their previous target price of $34.00. Separately, Wall Street Zen started coverage on Bar Harbor Bankshares in a research report on Friday, May 16th. They issued a hold rating on the stock. Get Bar Harbor Bankshares alerts: View Our Latest Stock Analysis on BHB Bar Harbor Bankshares Stock Performance Bar Harbor Bankshares Dividend Announcement BHB stock opened at $30.10 on Tuesday. Bar Harbor Bankshares has a 1-year low of $26.43 and a 1-year high of $38.47. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $30.10. The company has a market cap of $461.04 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.67 and a beta of 0.69. The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 12th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, August 14th will be given a $0.32 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 14th. This represents a $1.28 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.3%. Bar Harbor Banksharess payout ratio is 49.61%. Institutional Trading of Bar Harbor Bankshares Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CSM Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Bar Harbor Bankshares during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,690,000. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D bought a new position in Bar Harbor Bankshares in the 1st quarter valued at $2,260,000. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Bar Harbor Bankshares in the first quarter worth $1,464,000. Trust Co. of Vermont grew its holdings in shares of Bar Harbor Bankshares by 67.7% during the second quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 73,332 shares of the companys stock worth $2,197,000 after purchasing an additional 29,606 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Moors & Cabot Inc. increased its stake in shares of Bar Harbor Bankshares by 321.8% in the first quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 29,315 shares of the companys stock valued at $865,000 after buying an additional 22,365 shares in the last quarter. 54.49% of the stock is owned by institutional investors. Bar Harbor Bankshares Company Profile (Get Free Report) Bar Harbor Bankshares operates as the holding company for Bar Harbor Bank & Trust that provides commercial, lending, retail, and wealth management banking services. It accepts various deposit products, including interest-bearing and non-interest-bearing demand accounts, savings accounts, time deposits, and money market deposit accounts, as well as certificates of deposit. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for Bar Harbor Bankshares Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Bar Harbor Bankshares and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Jefferies Financial Group reissued their hold rating on shares of Core Natural Resources (NYSE:CNR Free Report) in a report published on Tuesday, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have a $78.00 target price on the energy companys stock, up from their previous target price of $67.00. Several other research firms have also weighed in on CNR. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Core Natural Resources from $80.00 to $78.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 3rd. Benchmark cut their price objective on Core Natural Resources from $112.00 to $105.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, B. Riley decreased their target price on Core Natural Resources from $112.00 to $110.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Core Natural Resources currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $104.20. Get Core Natural Resources alerts: View Our Latest Analysis on Core Natural Resources Core Natural Resources Stock Performance Core Natural Resources stock opened at $75.87 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $3.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 34.80 and a beta of 0.66. Core Natural Resources has a 12 month low of $58.19 and a 12 month high of $134.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09, a current ratio of 1.78 and a quick ratio of 1.34. The stocks 50-day moving average is $72.52 and its 200-day moving average is $78.52. Core Natural Resources (NYSE:CNR Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The energy company reported ($0.70) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.31 by ($2.01). The business had revenue of $1.10 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $1.04 billion. Core Natural Resources had a net margin of 0.63% and a return on equity of 3.01%. Equities analysts anticipate that Core Natural Resources will post 11.4 earnings per share for the current year. Core Natural Resources Cuts Dividend The company also recently disclosed a dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 13th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 2nd were issued a $0.10 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 30th. This represents a yield of 57.0%. Core Natural Resourcess payout ratio is currently 8.26%. Hedge Funds Weigh In On Core Natural Resources A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CNR. Vanguard Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Core Natural Resources in the first quarter worth about $482,793,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP purchased a new stake in Core Natural Resources during the 1st quarter worth approximately $225,045,000. American Century Companies Inc. purchased a new stake in Core Natural Resources during the 1st quarter worth approximately $123,526,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Core Natural Resources in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $48,630,000. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Core Natural Resources during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $42,950,000. 86.54% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Core Natural Resources Company Profile (Get Free Report) Core Natural Resources, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, produces and sells bituminous coal in the United States and internationally. It operates through two segments, Pennsylvania Mining Complex (PAMC) and CONSOL Marine Terminal. The companys PAMC segment engages in the mining, preparing, and marketing of bituminous coal to power generators, industrial end-users, and metallurgical end-users. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for Core Natural Resources Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Core Natural Resources and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Empower Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 6,465 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $291,000. Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of SW. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. purchased a new stake in Smurfit Westrock during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. IMA Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the 1st quarter valued at $30,000. Tsfg LLC purchased a new position in Smurfit Westrock in the 1st quarter valued at $30,000. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in Smurfit Westrock by 54.0% during the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 779 shares of the companys stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 273 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Smurfit Westrock during the first quarter worth $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.38% of the companys stock. Get Smurfit Westrock alerts: Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades SW has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $45.00 to $46.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price objective on Smurfit Westrock from $57.00 to $56.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Truist Financial lifted their price target on Smurfit Westrock from $50.00 to $54.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a report on Friday, July 11th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Smurfit Westrock from $51.00 to $53.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Smurfit Westrock from a hold rating to a buy rating and increased their price target for the company from $44.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Monday, June 16th. One analyst has 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 currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $58.00. Smurfit Westrock Price Performance SW stock opened at $43.81 on Friday. The businesss fifty day moving average price is $44.87 and its 200 day moving average price is $46.05. Smurfit Westrock PLC has a 12-month low of $37.01 and a 12-month high of $56.99. The company has a current ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.73. The company has a market capitalization of $22.88 billion, a PE ratio of 66.38 and a beta of 1.06. Smurfit Westrock (NYSE:SW Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 30th. The company reported $0.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.57 by ($0.12). Smurfit Westrock had a return on equity of 5.90% and a net margin of 1.14%. The business had revenue of $7.94 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.88 billion. Smurfit Westrocks revenue was up 167.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Smurfit Westrock PLC will post 3.25 EPS for the current year. Smurfit Westrock Dividend Announcement The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, September 18th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a $0.4308 dividend. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.9%. Smurfit Westrocks payout ratio is currently 260.61%. Smurfit Westrock Company Profile (Free Report) Smurfit Westrock Plc, together with its subsidiaries, manufactures, distributes, and sells containerboard, corrugated containers, and other paper-based packaging products in Ireland and internationally. The company produces containerboard that it converts into corrugated containers or sells to third parties, as well as produces other types of paper, such as consumer packaging board, sack paper, graphic paper, solid board and graphic board, and other paper-based packaging products, such as consumer packaging, solid board packaging, paper sacks, and other packaging products, including bag-in-box. Read More Want to see what other hedge funds are holding SW? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Smurfit Westrock PLC (NYSE:SW Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Smurfit Westrock Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Smurfit Westrock and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Fortis (TSE:FTS Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Desjardins from a hold rating to a moderate buy rating in a report issued on Tuesday, August 5th, MarketBeat reports. The brokerage currently has a C$76.00 price target on the stock, up from their previous price target of C$71.00. Desjardins price target indicates a potential upside of 9.15% from the companys current price. Desjardins also issued estimates for Fortis FY2025 earnings at $3.47 EPS, FY2026 earnings at $3.65 EPS and FY2027 earnings at $3.92 EPS. Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. National Bankshares raised their price target on Fortis from C$65.00 to C$67.00 and gave the stock a sector perform rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. CIBC raised their price objective on Fortis from C$68.00 to C$69.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. Cibc World Mkts raised Fortis from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Fortis from C$66.00 to C$70.00 and gave the company a sector perform rating in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Fortis from C$67.00 to C$70.00 in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the companys stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Fortis has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of C$68.82. Get Fortis alerts: Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on FTS Fortis Price Performance Fortis Company Profile Shares of TSE FTS traded down C$0.19 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching C$69.63. The company had a trading volume of 763,684 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,632,476. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 142.31, a quick ratio of 0.36 and a current ratio of 0.74. Fortis has a one year low of C$57.98 and a one year high of C$70.96. The firm has a market cap of C$34.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.67, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.23. The businesss 50-day simple moving average is C$65.79 and its 200 day simple moving average is C$65.12. (Get Free Report) Fortis owns and operates 10 utility transmission and distribution assets in Canada and the United States, serving more than 3.4 million electricity and gas customers. The company has smaller stakes in electricity generation and several Caribbean utilities. ITC operates electric transmission in seven U.S. Further Reading Receive News & Ratings for Fortis Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Fortis and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Hirtle Callaghan & Co LLC raised its holdings in shares of iShares Russell 1000 ETF (NYSEARCA:IWB Free Report) by 2.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,884 shares of the companys stock after buying an additional 382 shares during the quarter. Hirtle Callaghan & Co LLCs holdings in iShares Russell 1000 ETF were worth $5,792,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. AlphaCore Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of iShares Russell 1000 ETF in the first quarter worth about $519,000. Fayez Sarofim & Co raised its holdings in iShares Russell 1000 ETF by 87.4% in the 1st quarter. Fayez Sarofim & Co now owns 1,344 shares of the companys stock valued at $413,000 after acquiring an additional 627 shares during the last quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System purchased a new position in iShares Russell 1000 ETF in the 1st quarter worth approximately $919,000. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its holdings in shares of iShares Russell 1000 ETF by 8.8% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,106 shares of the companys stock worth $339,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC grew its position in shares of iShares Russell 1000 ETF by 2.2% in the first quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 13,084 shares of the companys stock valued at $4,034,000 after purchasing an additional 280 shares in the last quarter. Get iShares Russell 1000 ETF alerts: iShares Russell 1000 ETF Stock Performance NYSEARCA:IWB opened at $347.36 on Friday. iShares Russell 1000 ETF has a one year low of $264.17 and a one year high of $351.59. The stock has a market cap of $41.72 billion, a PE ratio of 24.71 and a beta of 1.01. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $338.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $322.74. iShares Russell 1000 ETF Company Profile iShares Russell 1000 ETF (the Fund), formerly iShares Russell 1000 Index Fund, is an exchange-traded fund (ETF). The Fund seeks investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance of the Russell 1000 Index (the Index). The Index is a float-adjusted capitalization weighted index that measures the performance of the large-capitalization sector of the United States equity market and includes securities issued by the approximately 1,000 largest issuers in the Russell 3000 Index. Featured Articles Want to see what other hedge funds are holding IWB? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for iShares Russell 1000 ETF (NYSEARCA:IWB Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for iShares Russell 1000 ETF Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for iShares Russell 1000 ETF and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Macquarie Group Limited (ASX:MQG Get Free Report) insider Jillian Broadbent acquired 221 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 28th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of A$103.31 ($67.52) per share, for a total transaction of A$22,831.07 ($14,922.27). Jillian Broadbent also recently made the following trade(s): Get Macquarie Group alerts: On Tuesday, July 29th, Jillian Broadbent bought 53 shares of Macquarie Group stock. The shares were acquired at an average cost of A$103.34 ($67.54) per share, with a total value of A$5,477.02 ($3,579.75). On Wednesday, July 30th, Jillian Broadbent purchased 113 shares of Macquarie Group stock. The shares were acquired at an average price of A$103.45 ($67.62) per share, for a total transaction of A$11,689.96 ($7,640.50). On Wednesday, May 14th, Jillian Broadbent sold 1,166 shares of Macquarie Group stock. The shares were sold at an average price of A$215.00 ($140.52), for a total transaction of A$250,690.00 ($163,849.67). Macquarie Group Price Performance The firm has a market capitalization of $85.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of -1.95 and a beta of 1.12. Macquarie Group Increases Dividend Macquarie Group Company Profile The business also recently declared a Final dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 1st. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, July 1st were given a $3.90 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Sunday, May 18th. This is a positive change from Macquarie Groups previous Final dividend of $3.85. This represents a yield of 188.0%. Macquarie Groups dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 64.21%. (Get Free Report) Macquarie Group Limited provides diversified financial services in Australia, the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. The company operates through four segments: Macquarie Asset Management (MAM), Banking and Financial Services (BFS), Commodities and Global Markets (CGM), and Macquarie Capital. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for Macquarie Group Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Macquarie Group and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Wambolt & Associates LLC decreased its position in Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA Free Report) by 2.7% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 9,434 shares of the credit services providers stock after selling 259 shares during the period. Mastercard makes up 1.8% of Wambolt & Associates LLCs investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. Wambolt & Associates LLCs holdings in Mastercard were worth $5,175,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 65,631.5% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 8,225,637 shares of the credit services providers stock worth $4,508,636,000 after purchasing an additional 8,213,123 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 15.2% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 9,149,181 shares of the credit services providers stock worth $4,817,684,000 after purchasing an additional 1,207,787 shares during the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the 4th quarter worth approximately $617,303,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in shares of Mastercard in the 4th quarter worth approximately $561,313,000. Finally, Demars Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Mastercard by 50,438.6% in the 4th quarter. Demars Financial Group LLC now owns 981,460 shares of the credit services providers stock worth $516,807,000 after purchasing an additional 979,518 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.28% of the companys stock. Get Mastercard alerts: Insiders Place Their Bets In other news, insider Craig Vosburg sold 14,051 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $585.05, for a total transaction of $8,220,537.55. Following the transaction, the insider owned 58,451 shares in the company, valued at approximately $34,196,757.55. The trade was a 19.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Raj Seshadri sold 1,100 shares of Mastercard stock in a transaction on Friday, June 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $546.77, for a total value of $601,447.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 12,921 shares in the company, valued at $7,064,815.17. This represents a 7.85% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 38,603 shares of company stock worth $20,265,667. 0.09% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders. Mastercard Stock Performance Shares of NYSE MA opened at $561.35 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.16 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.41. The stock has a market capitalization of $511.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.85, a PEG ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.03. The stocks fifty day simple moving average is $564.08 and its 200 day simple moving average is $552.92. Mastercard Incorporated has a 52-week low of $451.03 and a 52-week high of $594.71. Mastercard (NYSE:MA Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The credit services provider reported $4.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $4.05 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $8.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $7.95 billion. Mastercard had a return on equity of 200.01% and a net margin of 44.93%. The companys quarterly revenue was up 16.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.50 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Mastercard Incorporated will post 15.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Mastercard Dividend Announcement The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 8th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, July 9th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.5%. Mastercards payout ratio is currently 20.50%. Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades MA has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Macquarie cut their target price on Mastercard from $645.00 to $610.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. KeyCorp lifted their target price on Mastercard from $635.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Seaport Res Ptn raised Mastercard from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Mastercard from $660.00 to $670.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 3rd. Finally, Truist Financial cut their target price on Mastercard from $640.00 to $612.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 17th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-five have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $615.33. Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on MA About Mastercard (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. Further Reading Want to see what other hedge funds are holding MA? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Mastercard Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Mastercard and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Northann Corp. (NYSE:NCL Get Free Report) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest during the month of July. As of July 15th, there was short interest totaling 1,990,000 shares, agrowthof63.1% from the June 30th total of 1,220,000 shares. Approximately8.4% of the companys shares are short sold. Based on an average daily volume of 9,340,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.2 days. Based on an average daily volume of 9,340,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 0.2 days. Approximately8.4% of the companys shares are short sold. Northann Price Performance Northann stock opened at $0.16 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.53, a quick ratio of 0.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.09. The company has a market capitalization of $15.05 million, a PE ratio of -0.79 and a beta of 0.08. Northann has a 12 month low of $0.15 and a 12 month high of $1.52. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $0.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $0.31. Get Northann alerts: Northann Company Profile (Get Free Report) Read More Northann Corp. engages in the manufacture, wholesale, and retail of the 3D printed vinyl flooring panels and other decorative panels in North America, Europe, and internationally. The company offers its products under the Benchwick brand name. Northann Corp. was founded in 2013 and is based in Elk Grove, California. Receive News & Ratings for Northann Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Northann and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Swiss National Bank lessened its holdings in Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM Free Report) by 0.2% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,385,200 shares of the companys stock after selling 7,000 shares during the period. Philip Morris International comprises 0.5% of Swiss National Banks holdings, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. Swiss National Bank owned approximately 0.28% of Philip Morris International worth $696,063,000 as of its most recent SEC filing. A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. AlphaCore Capital LLC bought a new position in Philip Morris International in the first quarter valued at about $378,000. WBH Advisory Inc. grew its position in Philip Morris International by 27.6% in the first quarter. WBH Advisory Inc. now owns 5,509 shares of the companys stock valued at $874,000 after acquiring an additional 1,191 shares during the last quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd grew its position in Philip Morris International by 23.3% in the first quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 1,529 shares of the companys stock valued at $243,000 after acquiring an additional 289 shares during the last quarter. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC grew its position in Philip Morris International by 8.3% in the first quarter. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC now owns 3,519 shares of the companys stock valued at $559,000 after acquiring an additional 269 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC boosted its stake in shares of Philip Morris International by 6.7% during the first quarter. Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC now owns 2,568 shares of the companys stock valued at $408,000 after purchasing an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 78.63% of the companys stock. Get Philip Morris International alerts: Philip Morris International Price Performance Philip Morris International stock opened at $168.12 on Friday. The stocks 50 day moving average is $176.50 and its 200 day moving average is $162.84. The firm has a market cap of $261.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.48. Philip Morris International Inc. has a one year low of $114.94 and a one year high of $186.69. Philip Morris International Dividend Announcement Philip Morris International ( NYSE:PM Get Free Report ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 22nd. The company reported $1.91 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $1.86 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $10.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $10.33 billion. Philip Morris International had a negative return on equity of 120.86% and a net margin of 9.03%. The firms quarterly revenue was up 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.59 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Philip Morris International Inc. will post 7.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Friday, June 27th were paid a $1.35 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, June 27th. This represents a $5.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. Philip Morris Internationals payout ratio is 102.66%. Analysts Set New Price Targets A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group lifted their price target on Philip Morris International from $170.00 to $181.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Monday, July 14th. Morgan Stanley reissued an overweight rating and set a $182.00 price target (up from $156.00) on shares of Philip Morris International in a research note on Thursday, April 24th. KGI Securities assumed coverage on Philip Morris International in a research note on Monday. They set an outperform rating on the stock. Needham & Company LLC reissued a buy rating and set a $195.00 price target on shares of Philip Morris International in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Philip Morris International from $175.00 to $190.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a research note on Thursday, July 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and thirteen have given a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $186.27. Check Out Our Latest Research Report on PM 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. Recommended Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding PM? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Philip Morris International Inc. (NYSE:PM Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Philip Morris International Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Philip Morris International and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. WINDHOEK, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- Namibia has approved a new set of measures to reduce fishing bycatch and safeguard the country's fisheries resources, the information minister said. The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Land Reform will implement various measures approved by the Cabinet to safeguard the country's marine resources, Minister of Information and Communication Technology Emma Theofelus announced Thursday. A central part of the new measures is a strict 2 percent bycatch threshold, Theofelus said, adding that companies exceeding this limit will be liable for bycatch fees and subject to forfeiture of their excess catch. The Cabinet also approved an increase in bycatch percentage fees to 50 percent, up from the current 15 percent, she said. The new measures authorize a range of escalating penalties, including temporary or permanent license revocation for habitual offenders and license suspensions, depending on the severity of violations, Theofelus said. Authorities may confiscate fishing gear or seize the vessels, she said. "In the event a fishing vessel exceeds bycatch limits, the excess should be deducted from its future quotas, and there should be an annual public listing of bycatch violators to discourage non-compliance," Theofelus said. Fishing is the third-largest economic sector in Namibia, after mining and agriculture. TransAlta (TSE:TA Free Report) (NYSE:TAC) had its target price raised by TD Securities from C$19.00 to C$20.00 in a research note released on Tuesday,BayStreet.CA reports. The brokerage currently has a buy rating on the stock. TA has been the subject of a number of other reports. ATB Capital boosted their price target on shares of TransAlta from C$18.00 to C$20.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Tuesday. Scotiabank raised TransAlta from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating and boosted their target price for the company from C$16.00 to C$20.00 in a report on Friday, July 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on TransAlta from C$23.00 to C$20.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, May 8th. National Bankshares cut their price target on TransAlta from C$20.00 to C$16.00 and set an outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, May 8th. Finally, CIBC increased their price objective on TransAlta from C$18.50 to C$20.00 in a report on Thursday, July 10th. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, TransAlta has a consensus rating of Buy and a consensus price target of C$19.22. Get TransAlta alerts: Get Our Latest Research Report on TA TransAlta Stock Down 1.4% About TransAlta Shares of TSE:TA opened at C$16.51 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of C$15.44 and a 200-day simple moving average of C$14.37. TransAlta has a twelve month low of C$10.95 and a twelve month high of C$21.22. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 229.66. The company has a market capitalization of C$4.96 billion, a PE ratio of 23.53, a P/E/G ratio of -0.07 and a beta of 0.93. (Get Free Report) TransAlta is an independent power producer based in Alberta, Canada. The company operates a diverse and growing fleet of electrical power generation assets in Canada, the United States, and Australia consisting of hydro, wind, solar, battery storage, gas and energy transition facilities. The majority of the companys revenues are derived from the sale of generation capacity, electricity, thermal energy, environmental attributes, and byproducts of power generation. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for TransAlta Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for TransAlta and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Thomson Reuters Co. (TSE:TRI Get Free Report) (NYSE:TRI) announced a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, August 6th, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, August 19th will be given a dividend of 0.595 per share on Wednesday, September 10th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. Thomson Reuters Stock Up 0.9% Thomson Reuters stock opened at C$249.70 on Friday. Thomson Reuters has a 1-year low of C$217.20 and a 1-year high of C$299.24. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of C$272.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of C$258.14. The company has a current ratio of 0.94, a quick ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 24.28. The firm has a market capitalization of C$78.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.60, a P/E/G ratio of 3.64 and a beta of 0.40. Get Thomson Reuters alerts: Analyst Ratings Changes Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Bank of America set a C$255.00 target price on shares of Thomson Reuters and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. TD Securities lowered their price objective on shares of Thomson Reuters from C$305.00 to C$275.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Scotiabank downgraded Thomson Reuters from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Thomson Reuters from C$280.00 to C$308.00 in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on shares of Thomson Reuters from C$175.00 to C$181.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of C$263.80. About Thomson Reuters (Get Free Report) Thomson Reuters is the result of the $17.6 billion megamerger of Canadas Thomson and the United Kingdoms Reuters Group in 2008 and the 2018 carve-out of its finance and risk business, Refinitiv, in which it holds a 45% stake. In 2019, the company agreed to exchange its 45% stake in Refinitiv for a 15% stake in LSE. Read More Receive News & Ratings for Thomson Reuters Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Thomson Reuters and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Bristlecone Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO Free Report) by 5.5% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 15,628 shares of the oil and gas companys stock after selling 913 shares during the quarter. Bristlecone Advisors LLCs holdings in Valero Energy were worth $2,064,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC. Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI boosted its stake in Valero Energy by 2.2% during the first quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 3,798 shares of the oil and gas companys stock valued at $502,000 after buying an additional 82 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Valero Energy by 4.6% during the first quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 2,012 shares of the oil and gas companys stock valued at $266,000 after buying an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Hemington Wealth Management boosted its stake in Valero Energy by 39.9% during the first quarter. Hemington Wealth Management now owns 333 shares of the oil and gas companys stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. Field & Main Bank boosted its stake in Valero Energy by 1.2% during the first quarter. Field & Main Bank now owns 7,982 shares of the oil and gas companys stock valued at $1,054,000 after buying an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Heritage Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in Valero Energy by 0.5% during the first quarter. Heritage Wealth Management Inc. now owns 19,349 shares of the oil and gas companys stock valued at $2,555,000 after buying an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. 78.69% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. Get Valero Energy alerts: Valero Energy Stock Down 0.7% VLO opened at $132.57 on Friday. Valero Energy Corporation has a fifty-two week low of $99.00 and a fifty-two week high of $155.12. The business has a 50-day moving average of $139.06 and a 200-day moving average of $131.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 1.62 and a quick ratio of 1.11. The company has a market capitalization of $41.18 billion, a PE ratio of 55.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 1.03. Valero Energy Announces Dividend Valero Energy ( NYSE:VLO Get Free Report ) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 24th. The oil and gas company reported $2.28 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $1.66 by $0.62. Valero Energy had a return on equity of 5.76% and a net margin of 0.62%. The company had revenue of $29.89 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $27 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.71 EPS. The businesss quarterly revenue was down 13.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Valero Energy Corporation will post 7.92 EPS for the current fiscal year. The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 31st will be paid a dividend of $1.13 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 31st. This represents a $4.52 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.4%. Valero Energys dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 188.33%. Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth Several research analysts recently weighed in on VLO shares. Evercore ISI started coverage on Valero Energy in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. They set an in-line rating and a $135.00 target price for the company. TD Cowen lowered Valero Energy from a buy rating to a hold rating and increased their price target for the company from $118.00 to $140.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. UBS Group increased their price target on Valero Energy from $164.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Wolfe Research lowered Valero Energy from an outperform rating to a peer perform rating in a research report on Monday, July 14th. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their price target on Valero Energy from $156.00 to $136.00 and set a sector outperform rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, ten have issued a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Valero Energy presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $154.47. View Our Latest Research Report on VLO Valero Energy Profile (Free Report) Valero Energy Corporation manufactures, markets, and sells petroleum-based and low-carbon liquid transportation fuels and petrochemical products in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Latin America, Mexico, Peru, and internationally. It operates through three segments: Refining, Renewable Diesel, and Ethanol. Featured Articles Want to see what other hedge funds are holding VLO? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Valero Energy Corporation (NYSE:VLO Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Valero Energy Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Valero Energy and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. WBH Advisory Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY Free Report) by 6.4% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,400 shares of the companys stock after selling 574 shares during the quarter. WBH Advisory Inc.s holdings in Eli Lilly and Company were worth $6,938,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. WestEnd Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Eli Lilly and Company by 210.0% in the first quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC now owns 31 shares of the companys stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Citizens National Bank Trust Department grew its stake in shares of Eli Lilly and Company by 180.0% during the 1st quarter. Citizens National Bank Trust Department now owns 42 shares of the companys stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the period. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Eli Lilly and Company during the first quarter worth about $40,000. Mascagni Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in Eli Lilly and Company in the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,000. Finally, O Brien Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Eli Lilly and Company by 25.5% in the first quarter. O Brien Wealth Partners LLC now owns 59 shares of the companys stock valued at $49,000 after purchasing an additional 12 shares in the last quarter. 82.53% of the stock is owned by institutional investors. Get Eli Lilly and Company alerts: Analyst Ratings Changes Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an overweight rating on shares of Eli Lilly and Company in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Guggenheim increased their price objective on Eli Lilly and Company from $936.00 to $942.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Friday, July 11th. HSBC cut shares of Eli Lilly and Company from a buy rating to a reduce rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $1,150.00 to $700.00 in a research report on Monday, April 28th. Leerink Partners reaffirmed a market perform rating and issued a $715.00 price target on shares of Eli Lilly and Company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Eli Lilly and Company from a strong-buy rating to a moderate sell rating in a research note on Monday, April 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and seventeen have assigned a buy rating to the companys stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $999.50. Eli Lilly and Company Price Performance Shares of NYSE LLY opened at $640.17 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $776.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $799.60. Eli Lilly and Company has a fifty-two week low of $633.20 and a fifty-two week high of $972.53. The company has a market capitalization of $606.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 52.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.18, a quick ratio of 1.06 and a current ratio of 1.37. Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 7th. The company reported $6.31 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $5.59 by $0.72. The company had revenue of $15.56 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $14.40 billion. Eli Lilly and Company had a net margin of 22.67% and a return on equity of 85.51%. Eli Lilly and Companys revenue was up 37.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.92 EPS. Analysts expect that Eli Lilly and Company will post 23.48 EPS for the current fiscal year. Eli Lilly and Company Dividend Announcement The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.50 per share. This represents a $6.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. Eli Lilly and Companys dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 48.82%. 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 Want to see what other hedge funds are holding LLY? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Eli Lilly and Company Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Eli Lilly and Company and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. WEC Energy Group, Inc. (NYSE:WEC Get Free Report) EVP Daniel Krueger sold 5,930 shares of WEC Energy Group stock in a transaction on Monday, August 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.14, for a total value of $659,060.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 6,606 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $734,190.84. This trade represents a 47.30% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. WEC Energy Group Trading Up 0.9% NYSE WEC opened at $110.72 on Friday. The firms fifty day moving average price is $106.27 and its 200 day moving average price is $105.63. WEC Energy Group, Inc. has a 12 month low of $86.76 and a 12 month high of $111.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.28, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.40. The company has a market capitalization of $35.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.42. Get WEC Energy Group alerts: WEC Energy Group (NYSE:WEC Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 30th. The utilities provider reported $0.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $2.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.87 billion. WEC Energy Group had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.90%. WEC Energy Groups revenue for the quarter was up 13.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.67 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that WEC Energy Group, Inc. will post 5.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. WEC Energy Group Cuts Dividend Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 1st. Investors of record on Thursday, August 14th will be paid a dividend of $0.8925 per share. This represents a $3.57 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, August 14th. WEC Energy Groups dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 68.39%. Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on WEC shares. Wall Street Zen cut WEC Energy Group from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note on Saturday, July 12th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $99.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 29th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of WEC Energy Group from $115.00 to $124.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, May 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of WEC Energy Group from a neutral rating to a sell rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $106.00 to $100.00 in a report on Wednesday, June 25th. Finally, UBS Group set a $107.00 target price on shares of WEC Energy Group and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research note on Friday, July 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $106.40. Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on WEC Hedge Funds Weigh In On WEC Energy Group Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Truvestments Capital LLC purchased a new position in WEC Energy Group during the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Nova Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of WEC Energy Group during the first quarter worth about $26,000. Bayforest Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of WEC Energy Group during the second quarter worth about $26,000. Hughes Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of WEC Energy Group during the first quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Opal Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in WEC Energy Group in the 1st quarter valued at about $32,000. 77.20% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds. About WEC Energy Group (Get Free Report) WEC Energy Group, Inc, through its subsidiaries, provides regulated natural gas and electricity, and renewable and nonregulated renewable energy services in the United States. It operates through Wisconsin, Illinois, Other States, Electric Transmission, and Non-Utility Energy Infrastructure segments. Featured Articles Receive News & Ratings for WEC Energy Group Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for WEC Energy Group and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. The News in Brief Friday, August 8, 2025 The U.S. State Department has expressed strong concern over the sentencing of Mzia Amaglobeli, founder of Batumelebi, to two years in prison, calling it part of a broader pattern of anti-democratic actions in Georgia."We are deeply concerned about the continued and escalating anti-democratic activities in Georgia, including the detention of political opposition figures and the targeted harassment of civil society, including those critical of the government's actions," the State Department said in response to a question from Formula.Washington also pointed to the use of newly adopted laws, including amendments to the Law on Grants, which it said are being selectively enforced."We are seriously concerned that Georgia is selectively using recently adopted legislation, including amendments to the Law on Grants, against actual or perceived critics of the Georgian government, thereby unduly restricting freedom of expression and the functioning of civil society," the statement said.The Georgian Dream government has appointed Irakli Kurashvili as the country's new ambassador to France, the Foreign Ministry confirmed on August 7. The post had been vacant since May 2024, when former ambassador Gocha Javakhishvili stepped down in protest over the government's revival of the controversial foreign agents law.Kurashvili is a veteran diplomat with extensive international experience. Prior to his new role, he served as ambassador to Latvia beginning in 2023. He also previously held ambassadorships in Argentina, Switzerland, and several other countries in Latin America and Europe."He brings decades of diplomatic experience to one of Georgia's most important European postings," a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said. "We are confident he will strengthen ties between Georgia and France at a critical time."From 2022 to 2023, Kurashvili led the now-defunct Directorate General for European Integration, a body that once played a central role in Georgia's EU policy coordination.The appointment comes amid a sweeping reorganization within the Foreign Ministry. Over the past several months, key directorates focused on EU and NATO affairs have been restructured, and dozens of staff have reportedly been dismissed. Critics, including opposition figures and civil society groups, have called the changes politically motivated."The reshuffle is not about reform - it's about removing dissent," said one former ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity.Javakhishvili, Kurashvili's predecessor in Paris, resigned on May 9 after publicly opposing the reintroduction of the foreign agents law. At the time, he said the legislation had created tensions between Georgia and its Western partners, making his diplomatic mission "extremely difficult." Rescuers work at the site of a plane crash in the Mwihoko area, on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya, on Aug. 7, 2025. At least six people were confirmed dead and two others injured after a light aircraft belonging to AMREF Flying Doctors crashed in the residential area on the outskirts of Nairobi, a government official confirmed. (Photo by John Okoyo/Xinhua) NAIROBI, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- At least six people were confirmed dead and two others injured after a light aircraft belonging to AMREF Flying Doctors crashed in a residential area on the outskirts of Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, a government official confirmed. "We have six people dead. The four who were on board and two on the ground. Two others were injured on the ground," said Kiambu County Commissioner Henry Wafula. He noted that among those deceased were four medical personnel onboard the Cessna Citation 560 ambulance aircraft with registration 5Y-FDM, as well as two members of the public at the crash scene. According to Wafula, the injured, including an elderly woman, were rushed to a local hospital. Kenya Civil Aviation Authority (KCAA) Director-General Emile Arao said in a statement that the aircraft took off from Wilson Airport in Nairobi at 2:14 p.m. local time en route to Hargeisa in northern Somalia. It crashed three minutes later in the Mwihoko area. "We are deeply saddened by this tragic incident involving an air ambulance mission. Our immediate priority is to support rescue efforts and provide all necessary assistance to the families affected," Arao said. Kenya Defence Forces and National Police Service are leading the search and rescue efforts at the crash site, according to the statement. The Air Accident Investigation Department has dispatched a team to investigate the cause of the crash. AMREF also confirmed the accident, saying it was cooperating fully with aviation authorities and emergency responders to establish the circumstances surrounding the crash. AMREF Chief Executive Officer Stephen Gitau said in a separate statement that their immediate focus is on the safety and well-being of those on board and providing full support to their families and colleagues. "We are also offering all necessary assistance to the authorities as investigations continue," Gitau added. Images from the scene showed the wreckage engulfed in flames as witnesses watched from a distance. Rescuers work at the site of a plane crash in the Mwihoko area, on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya, on Aug. 7, 2025. At least six people were confirmed dead and two others injured after a light aircraft belonging to AMREF Flying Doctors crashed in the residential area on the outskirts of Nairobi, a government official confirmed. (Photo by John Okoyo/Xinhua) Rescuers work at the site of a plane crash in the Mwihoko area, on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya, on Aug. 7, 2025. At least six people were confirmed dead and two others injured after a light aircraft belonging to AMREF Flying Doctors crashed in the residential area on the outskirts of Nairobi, a government official confirmed. (Photo by John Okoyo/Xinhua) Rescuers work at the site of a plane crash in the Mwihoko area, on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya, on Aug. 7, 2025. At least six people were confirmed dead and two others injured after a light aircraft belonging to AMREF Flying Doctors crashed in the residential area on the outskirts of Nairobi, a government official confirmed. (Photo by John Okoyo/Xinhua) Rescuers work at the site of a plane crash in the Mwihoko area, on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya, on Aug. 7, 2025. At least six people were confirmed dead and two others injured after a light aircraft belonging to AMREF Flying Doctors crashed in the residential area on the outskirts of Nairobi, a government official confirmed. (Photo by John Okoyo/Xinhua) CANBERRA, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- Australian scientists have discovered a new fossil kangaroo species, revealing ancient evolutionary links between Australia and the island of New Guinea. Paleontologists have identified a new extinct wallaby species, Dorcopsoides cowpatensis, from fossils discovered in central Australia, closely related to New Guinea's living forest-wallabies, a group known as Dorcopsini, according to a statement released Thursday by Australia's Flinders University. About 12 million years ago, forest-wallabies migrated from Australia to New Guinea via a land-bridge, rising sea levels later formed the Torres Strait, isolating the New Guinea populations, it said. While forest-wallabies vanished from Australia around five million years ago, their descendants still thrive in New Guinea's rainforests today, said the study's lead author Isaac Kerr from Flinders University. "When the Torres Strait flooded again, however, these populations of animals became disconnected from their Australian relatives, and so didn't experience the dramatic drying-out that still defines much of Australia," Kerr said. The fossil species lived in dry, bushland environments, contrasting sharply with the wet, forested and mountainous habitats of its modern relatives, said the study published in Alcheringa: An Australasian Journal of Paleontology, the official journal of the Australasian Paleontologists, a specialist group of the Geological Society of Australia. Kerr noted that their visits to Papua New Guinea revealed the shared heritage between the two nations, both today and in prehistoric times. Researchers hope their study of Australian-Papuan evolutionary links will strengthen ties across the Torres Strait, the waterway between Australia and Papua New Guinea. China lodges serious protests with Philippines over its leader's remarks concerning Taiwan: foreign ministry spokesperson The All Bengal Citizens Forum has written to the Chief Election Commissioner in New Delhi, stressing the urgency of conducting a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll in West Bengal. The purpose of the SIR, according to the forum, is to ensure that no eligible citizen is left out, while no ineligible person is included in the electoral roll. As per the official notification, the revised electoral roll will be released only after all claims and objections have been duly addressed. Advertisement Sailen Parbat, president of the All Bengal Citizens Forum, stated that names of deceased individuals, those permanently relocated, infiltrators, untraceable persons, and those enrolled in multiple locations must be removed from the list. Advertisement He added: Migration in pursuit of better economic opportunities is a natural part of human existence. However, in the case of migration from Bangladesh to India, political and religious factors play a significant role. West Bengal is a densely populated state, and illegal migration from Bangladesh places a heavy burden on land resources. Urban congestion and the proliferation of slums have increased rapidly, as recent immigrants tend to settle in urban areas seeking employment. Mr Parbat further noted that, in addition to permanent illegal migrants, temporary and seasonal Bangladeshi migrants are also present, and they are less accountable to the nation. He alleged that various crimesincluding smuggling, robbery, prostitution, and trafficking of women and childrenare frequently organised by these temporary migrants in the border districts of West Bengal. Disturbances in border areas are so frequent that security is at risk, he said. He also criticised political parties in West Bengal for allegedly protecting illegal migrants over a prolonged period to expand their vote banks. Due to this political patronage, local administrations have been unable to enforce strict law and order, he claimed. In these circumstances, I would request you to announce the date of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) so that all booth level officers may proceed steadily, quietly, and swiftly, Mr Parbat urged in his letter. Bengals lone aluminum panel exporter and women Rakhi exporters based in the Durgapur region are in a quandary after the tariff blitzkrieg announced by US President Donald Trump, especially at a time when their maiden consignments have landed in Chicago, Illinois, and California just last week. Indian exporters of several items have now been slapped with a hefty 50 per cent tariff load following Trumps imposition yesterday. Nearly 20 per cent of exports from India, worth $87 billion, head to the US annually, data from the Export Council reveals. Advertisement Had the US, desperately equipped with its upheaval tariff policy, averted the bruising trade war, our importers in Chicago, New York and Washington would have breathed a sigh of relief. That would have obviously helped offbeat product exporters like us to grease our gears and sail well, remarked Naresh Sharma, the key person in Bengals lone Aluminum Composite Panel (ACP) exporter to USA. Advertisement ACPs are flat panels composed of two thin aluminum sheets bonded to a non-aluminium core like polyethylene. Other than the plant in Bengal, India has 24 exporters of ACP to the USA. The companies mostly operate in Gujarat and Maharashtra. Together, the companies made 115 shipments to 36 US importers till 31 July this year. China happens to be the largest ACP exporter to US, with 426 shipments during the period. Similar to Mr Sharmas predicament, many women in the Kalna area of East Burdwan have also expressed concern with Trumps tariff bomb. These women are employed in cluster units and manufacture various types of decorative Rakhis, a sacred thread tied on brothers by their sisters, which are much in demand by the Indian diaspora in the US. Tapan Modak, secretary of Kalna Weavers & Artisans Society, said today: Our first consignment reached California through a Mumbai handler for Raksha Bandhan. But, with this new taxation, our artisans are equally apprehensive about future orders if these high tariffs continue. Sharma has set up his 30 TPD (tons per day) unit at Ukhra a rural hub within the coalmine patches of Durgapur that produces 40,000 square feet of ACP a day. Of this, one-third is meant for shipment to US cities, he said. Im now worried that my clients those who were eager to procure our sheets wont place fresh orders, considering the heavier duty taxation to be levied upon them, he lamented. Sharmas unit also exports ACP to Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Italy. It imports aluminum coils from China. Such manufacturing units have an oversized contribution to countrys labour-intensive exports, which, according to Pradip Majumdar, state Panchayat and Rural Development minister, are now feared to receive a bumpy jolt, if India fails to negotiate with the US properly keeping countrys prime interests in mind. He added: This also leads to worry about further absorption of labourers and skilled workers. Assumptions were under cloud and the policy-makers in New Delhi are still grappling with Trumps repeated threats on Indian products. Indias Commerce & Industry Ministry is perceiving the issue with great concern and is currently estimating the magnitude of the implications. The Ministry, as the entrepreneurs assume, is trying to formulate a mutually beneficial bilateral trade agreement, prioritising protection and promotion of the domestic entrepreneurs. The Calcutta High Court on Thursday ordered the West Bengal Joint Entrance Examinations Board (WBJEEB) to scrap its merit list and prepare a new one, citing irregularities related to Other Backward Classes (OBC) certification and reservations. A single bench of Justice Kaushik Chanda directed that the revised merit panel be prepared based solely on the pre-2010 list of 66 recognized OBC communities. The court gave the board 15 days to implement the order and an additional three weeks to file an affidavit confirming compliance, to be submitted by a senior special secretary-level official. The merit list was scheduled to be published today, but the courts ruling has cast fresh uncertainty over the results. Justice Chanda reiterated that only the 7% OBC reservation quota, based on the pre-2010 list, will be valid for admissions. Advertisement The ruling stems from a 2024 Calcutta High Court verdict that nullified all OBC certificates issued under post-2010 classifications. The Left Front government had added 42 communities to the OBC list in 2010, followed by another 35 by the Trinamul Congress government in 2012. The court has declared all such additions invalid. Advertisement The ruling also questioned the legality and speed with which recent OBC certificates were issued, despite an earlier Supreme Court interim stay on the High Courts OBC verdict. How could all applications and verifications be completed within such a short span? the bench asked, expressing concern that the merit list was not prepared following proper procedures. Justice Chanda noted that the state government had violated the High Courts earlier order by not implementing it during the period before the Supreme Court stay came into effect. The order, which has to be communicated to the Chief Secretary of West Bengal, has added to the uncertainty facing thousands of students awaiting the results of the crucial entrance exam for engineering and pharmacy courses in the state. There was no immediate response from state education officials or the Joint Entrance Board. Senior BJP leader and former Union minister Sukanta Majumdar had criticised the state government over its delay in publishing the JEE results, alleging gross administrative failure and political negligence. The exam was conducted on 27 April. Today is August 7. Three months and 11 days have passed, and yet the results have not been declared, Majumdar said in a statement. Accusing Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of prioritising divisive narratives over governance, Majumdar alleged that the ruling Trinamul Congress was more focused on appeasement-driven politics than on resolving the crisis. While Bengals students remain anxious and uncertain, the CM is unmoved, he said. This is a direct result of her failure, negligence, and relentless politics of appeasement. The JEE Board has yet to announce a date for the release of the results. Replying to an unstarred question of Purulia MP, Jyotirmay Singh Mahato, the Union minister of state for tribal affairs Durgadas Uikey has informed the Lok Sabha today that the construction of the Eklavya Model Residential School (EMRS) at Bandwan in Junglemahal of Purulia district was delayed due to the state governments delay in providing the required land, which was eventually allotted in March 2025. At the request of the state government, the responsibility for construction has been entrusted to them. However, the work is yet to commence. As per guidelines, the maximum permissible period for construction is 18 months from the date of award of the work, he said. Advertisement The ceiling cost for the construction of EMRS Bandwan is Rs 37.80 crore. Advertisement However, since no fund release request has been received from the state government, no funds have been disbursed so far, the minister informed. To ensure the timely completion of the EMRS Bandwan project, several steps have been taken by the National Education Society for Tribal Students (NESTS), an autonomous organisation established to manage and implement the EMRS scheme in coordination with state EMRS Societies. In response to a request from the state government, the construction work of EMRS Bundwan has been entrusted to them. NESTS has shared comprehensive construction guidelines, including standard drawings and designs, with the state government. Additionally, to maintain quality standards, the state government has been advised to engage a third-party quality assurance (TPQA) agency. Regular communication is being maintained with the state authorities to expedite the commencement of construction, the Union minister said. More than 20 communications were sent by NESTS and ministry of tribal affairs regarding land allocations, to which the state government responded on 22.03.2023, 14.03.2024, and 26.06.2024. What started as a small argument over parking outside a house in Delhis Nizamuddin area turned into a tragedy on Thursday night. Actor Huma Qureshis cousin, Asif Qureshi, lost his life after being attacked by two young men during the heated quarrel. The entire sequence was caught on CCTV. It begins with one of the accused, a young man, walking straight towards Asif and charging at him. The two immediately get into a shoving match, both trying to defend themselves. Then a woman steps in to stop the fight, but they roughly push her aside. Advertisement Watch the CCTV footage here: Delhi : Actor Huma Qureshis cousin, Asif Qureshi, was stabbed to death following an altercation over parking in southeast Delhis Bhogal. Two accused Ujjwal and Gautam have been apprehended in connection with the incident. One of the accused had attacked Asif Qureshi with a pic.twitter.com/iLvoV0XY1V Advertisement Mohammed Zubair (@zoo_bear) August 8, 2025 Within moments, another man joins the first attacker, and the two gang up on Asif. They manage to push him to the ground and throw several punches. Some neighbours rush in, trying to calm things down. The chaos continues as all three men end up on the ground at one point. Asif Qureshi, Huma Qureshis cousin, manages to get back on his feet, but the argument refuses to die. The men exchange angry words from a distance while people try to keep them apart. Towards the end of the clip, one of the accused is seen walking back towards the crowd where Asif is standing. And, what happens next is not on camera. According to police, the fight broke out around 10 pm after Asif asked the men not to park their scooter right outside his houses main entrance. Shaheen Asif Qureshi, one of Asifs wives, as reported by NDTV talks about the final moments she saw her husband alive. Around 9:30-10 pm, a neighbour parked a scooter outside our house. My husband politely asked him to move it away. Instead, the man started abusing him and threatened to come back. Shaheen says that within minutes, the man returned, this time with his brother. But they werent there to talk. They came and stabbed Asif with a sharp weapon. I called my brother-in-law Javed for help, but by the time he reached, Asif had lost too much blood. He didnt survive, she said. Asif was rushed to the National Heart Institute in East of Kailash, but it was already too late. Doctors declared him dead on arrival. They told me he had died about an hour and a half earlier, Shaheen added. Delhi Police moved quickly after the incident. Both accused, identified as Ujjwal (19) and Gautam (18), have been arrested. Officers say they have also recovered the murder weapon. An FIR has been registered under Section 103 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), which deals with the offence of murder. Bollywood superstar Salman Khan was spotted in Mumbai on Thursday, offering his heartfelt support to his long-time bodyguard and close aide, Shera, after the loss of Sheras father. Sheras father, Sunder Singh Jolly, passed away earlier in the day at the age of 88 after a battle with cancer. The cremation was held at the Oshiwara Crematorium in Jogeshwari West. Later, Salman visited Sheras home to personally convey his condolences and stand by him in this difficult time. Advertisement Videos circulating on social media show Salman arriving in his car, surrounded by tight security. The moment he stepped out, Shera, whose real name is Gurmeet Singh Jolly, was waiting to greet him. Advertisement Without a word, Salman walked straight to him and embraced him warmly, offering silent comfort. The actor then went inside the house to pay his respects before leaving quietly. Shera has been by Salman Khan side for nearly three decades, working as his personal bodyguard and head of security since 1995. Over the years, he has become a part of Salmans inner circle and is often seen accompanying him everywhere, from film shoots to public events. Beyond his work with Salman, Shera runs his own security company, Tiger Security, which has handled high-profile assignments for several celebrities. One of the most notable moments in his career came in 2017 when he was responsible for global pop star Justin Biebers safety during his Mumbai concert. The bond between Salman and Shera has often been spoken about in the film industry, with Salman openly acknowledging Sheras loyalty and dedication. Asif Qureshi, 42, cousin of Bollywood actress Huma Qureshi, lost his life in an act of violence on the night of August 7 in Delhis Bhogal area. The fight started over something as small as a scooter parked in front of his house. But what followed was far more tragic than anyone could have expected. It was around 11 PM when Asif asked a group of youngsters to move their scooty, which was blocking the gate to his home. According to the police, things quickly turned ugly. Words were exchanged, tempers flared, and then, in a moment of shocking aggression, one of the boys allegedly stabbed Asif in the chest with a sharp object. The wound was fatal. Advertisement Despite being rushed to the hospital by his family, doctors declared Asif dead on arrival. Advertisement Who was Asif Qureshi? Asif Qureshi was not a celebrity, but he was related to one. His cousin Huma Qureshi is a well-known name in the film industry, with powerful performances in movies like Gangs of Wasseypur, Badlapur, and Jolly LLB 2. Asif, on the other hand, ran a poultry business and stayed away from the limelight. His family describes him as a peaceful man who worked hard and kept to himself. According to his uncle, Saleem Qureshi (Humas father), Asif had no enemies. He just asked them to move the scooter so he could get through the gate. It became an issue of ego, and they killed him, Saleem said to the media. This kind of violence over such small matters shows how angry and unstable people have become. Asifs wife, Shaheen (earlier known as Renu), was there when the attack happened. Still in shock, she spoke to the media about the terrifying moment. Ujjwal suddenly stabbed him in the chest. He fell to the ground, bleeding. I tried to help, but I was pushed away. Others from their house also joined in and started hitting and abusing him, she said. Shaheen also revealed that this wasnt the first time Asif had problems with the same people. According to her, the attackers had assaulted him before, back in November 2024. They were jealous of him. They never liked him. This was not just about a scooter. This was a planned attack, she claimed. She added that her husband didnt even interact with them much. We never had close contact with their family. We always stayed in our own group in the neighbourhood. But they treated him like an enemy without reason. The police have registered a case under the new Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita laws (FIR No. 233/25). Two young men, Ujjwal (19) and Gautam (18), both from the same neighbourhood, have been arrested. Asif and Shaheen had been married since 2018. It was a love marriage and the second for both of them. They were living together in the Nizamuddin area of Delhi. Manoj Bajpayee is all ready to bring a slice of Mumbais past to life in his upcoming film Inspector Zende. The movie, which also stars Jim Sarbh, is a thrilling crime drama set in the 1970s and 80s. In the film, Manoj steps into the shoes of Inspector Madhukar Zende, a determined police officer on a mission to capture the infamous Swimsuit Killer, a charming but dangerous criminal who escapes from Tihar Jail. Advertisement The role of this smooth-talking outlaw, Carl Bhojraj, will be played by Jim Sarbh. The story is loosely inspired by real events and promises an intense game of cat and mouse, filled with grit, determination, and unexpected twists. Advertisement View this post on Instagram A post shared by Netflix India (@netflix_in) Written and directed by Chinmay D. Mandlekar, Inspector Zende is produced by Jay Shewakramani and Om Raut. The cast also includes Bhalchandra Kadam, Sachin Khedekar, Girija Oak, and Harish Dudhade in important roles. On Thursday, Netflix unveiled the official poster of the film on its Instagram page, sparking curiosity among viewers. For producer Om Raut, the project holds a personal connection. Inspector Zendes story is one that deserves to be seen, remembered, and celebrated. Its not just a thrilling chase, but also an inspiring one. Most importantly, it was my fathers dream to make a film on Inspector Zende. Bringing this story to life with Netflix has been an incredible journey, he shared in a statement. Jay Shewakramani echoed the excitement, highlighting Netflixs role in making the film a global offering. Netflixs commitment to unique, authentic stories and their reach across the world make them the perfect partner for this project. We cant wait for people to meet Inspector Zende, an unlikely hero with an unforgettable story. The film is scheduled to premiere on Netflix on September 5. Meanwhile, Manoj Bajpayees fans also have another reason to celebrate. His much-loved series The Family Man is returning for a third season. Prime Video recently dropped a teaser introducing Jaideep Ahlawat as the new antagonist. The show will see familiar faces return, including Priyamani as Suchitra Tiwari, Sharib Hashmi as JK Talpade, Ashlesha Thakur as Dhriti Tiwari, and Vedant Sinha as Atharv Tiwari. Kapil Sharmas dream venture in Canada has once again been hit by violence. His coffee shop, Kaps Cafe, located in Surrey, faced a second round of gunfire in less than a month. The incident took place early Thursday morning at the cafe, which sits at 85 Avenue and Scott Road. According to Vancouver City News, the Surrey Police Service received a call at around 4:40 am after multiple gunshots rang out. Staff members were inside at the time, and no one was hurt. Police are still investigating and have not confirmed why the cafe was targeted. Advertisement Kapil Sharma and his team have not made an official comment yet. But just hours after the attack, a post began circulating online, allegedly from gangster Goldy Dhillon, claiming responsibility for the shooting. The post also threatened that their next action would happen in Mumbai. Advertisement Though the claim has not been independently verified, it has sparked fear among fans. Goldy Dhillon is reportedly linked to Lawrence Bishnois criminal network. This is not the first time the cafe has been under fire, literally. Just a few weeks ago, in mid-July, unknown shooters fired at least nine bullets at the outlet, barely days after it had opened. The cafe had to remain shut for ten days before reopening. When it finally welcomed customers again, the team posted a heartfelt message: We opened Kaps Cafe with hopes of bringing warmth, community, and joy through delicious coffee and friendly conversation. To have violence intersect with that dream is heartbreaking. We are not giving up. We will stand firm against violence to keep this place a symbol of warmth and community. Kapil had reshared the reopening post, writing, Proud of you team @thekapscafe . Interestingly, just before this latest incident, the cafe had shared a reel of Surreys mayor, Brenda Locke, and Surrey Police Service officials visiting the premises to show support. United we stand against violence, the caption read. Kapil Sharma is a household name in India. Rising to fame through The Great Indian Laughter Challenge and Comedy Circus, he went on to host hit shows like Comedy Nights with Kapil and The Kapil Sharma Show. These made him one of the most loved entertainers in the country. Currently, he is hosting The Great Indian Kapil Show on Netflix. Amid the raging issue over the imposition of 50 per cent tariffs on India by the United States over purchase of Russian oil, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin over a phone call. Addressing Putin as a friend, Modi said he had a productive phone call with the Russian President during which many issues, including the Ukraine war, were discussed. The PM also mentioned that he was looking forward to welcoming President Putin in India for a visit. Advertisement Had a very good and detailed conversation with my friend President Putin. I thanked him for sharing the latest developments on Ukraine, PM Modi posted on X (formerly Twitter). The PM is reported to have told the Russian President that India seeks a peaceful resolution of the conflict. Advertisement Had a very good and detailed conversation with my friend President Putin. I thanked him for sharing the latest developments on Ukraine. We also reviewed the progress in our bilateral agenda, and reaffirmed our commitment to further deepen the India-Russia Special and Privileged Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) August 8, 2025 The mention of Ukraine war issue assumes significance as United States President Donald Trump has accused India of funding the Russian War Machine in Ukraine by way of purchase of cheap Russian crude oil. India has defended the purchase of oil from Russia, describing it as a move to protect the interests of Indian consumers. The purchase of Russian oil has become a sticking point in the India-US bilateral relationship, and in the bid to finalise a trade deal between New Delhi and Washington, which seems to have got derailed and led to the imposition of higher tariffs by the US. Trump has attacked New Delhi over the Russian oil purchase, calling the Indian economy dead and imposing a total of 50 per cent tariffs on goods imported into the US from India. Some experts have described the current state of bilateral ties as the lowest point in over two decades. Politicians in the US have also called on Trump not to burn the relationship with good friend India, built over decades. PM Modi, meanwhile, also stated that he had discussed the bilateral strategic relationship with President Putin during the conversation which has come at a very important time. We also reviewed the progress in our bilateral agenda, and reaffirmed our commitment to further deepen the India-Russia Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership. I look forward to hosting President Putin in India later this year, Modi said further on X. President Putin is expected to travel to India later this year for the 23rd India-Russia Annual Summit. The conversation came just a day after National Security Advisor Ajit Doval called on President Putin in Moscow. Doval confirmed on Thursday that President Putins visit to India was confirmed and just the dates were remaining to be finalised. PM Modi may also meet Putin later this month in China where both the leaders are expected to travel to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Tianjin. VIENTIANE, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- Lao Minister of Foreign Affairs Thongsavanh Phomvihane extended his heartfelt congratulations and best wishes on the occasion of the 58th anniversary of the founding of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the 28th anniversary of the country's accession to the regional bloc. In a speech delivered to mark the two anniversaries, Thongsavanh highlighted ASEAN's achievements over the past 58 years in promoting peace, stability, and prosperity throughout the region, according to the Lao Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He emphasized that, despite the diversity of cultures, political systems, and levels of development among its members, ASEAN has remained resilient and united, earning global recognition. Its central role in regional dialogue and cooperation has fostered understanding and helped maintain peace. Since joining in 1997, Laos has actively contributed to ASEAN's development, helping advance peace, economic growth, and regional cooperation. This involvement has also strengthened Laos' international profile and built trust among ASEAN and external partners. Thongsavanh noted that ASEAN leaders have adopted the ASEAN Community Vision 2045, setting the direction for a stronger, more innovative, and people-centered ASEAN. Looking ahead, he called for deeper integration, stronger partnerships, and the continued reinforcement of ASEAN's central role in regional affairs. He expressed his gratitude to all ASEAN member states, partners, and the Lao people for their valuable contributions to ASEAN's work. Founded on Aug. 8, 1967, ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday alleged the Election Commission of India (ECI) is not tied to any political party but functions under the Constitution. The ECI, in response, asked him to either sign a declaration substantiating his allegations of poll fraud or apologise to the nation for making what it called baseless accusations. Advertisement If (Congress MP & LoP) Rahul Gandhi believes in his analysis and believes that his allegations against ECI are true, he should have no problem in signing the Declaration. If Rahul Gandhi does not sign the Declaration, it would mean that he does not believe in his analysis and Advertisement ANI (@ANI) August 8, 2025 Congress MP and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, was speaking at the Vote Adhikaar Rally in Bengaluru. He alleged, ECI does not work for BJP but functions under the Constitution of India. Speaking at the Vote Adhikaar Rally, Gandhi said the Constitution of India carries the spirit and voices of leaders like B R Ambedkar, Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Sardar Patel, as well as social reformers such as Basavanna, Narayana Guru, and Jyotirao Phule. He stressed that this Constitution guarantees every citizen the right to vote. Recalling recent elections, he alleged that during the last Lok Sabha polls, followed by the Maharashtra and Karnataka Assembly elections, something unusual came to light. In Maharashtra, he claimed, the INDIA bloc had won the Lok Sabha polls, but just four months later, the BJP secured victory in the Assembly elections. This, he said, was startling especially after discovering that one crore new voters had been added for the state polls. #WATCH | Bengaluru | At Vote Adhikaar Rally, Congress MP & LoP Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi says, In yesterdays press conference, we have proved 100% that the Election Commission and the BJP have committed theft of votes pic.twitter.com/cExZnTzGm8 ANI (@ANI) August 8, 2025 Referring to his press conference the previous day, Gandhi asserted that they had presented 100% proof of what he described as the Election Commission and the BJPs involvement in large-scale vote theft. Addressing a press conference, Gandhi had leveled allegations of electoral manipulation against the Election Commission and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, claiming that since the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the poll panel colluded with the BJP to steal elections. He cited discrepancies in voter lists and sudden spikes in voting patterns. The Congress leader had claimed there was vote chori of 1,00,250 votes in a constituency with 11,965 duplicate voters in one assembly segment; 40,009 voters with fake and invalid addresses; 10,452 bulk voters or single address voters; 4,132 voters with invalid photos; and 33,692 voters misusing Form 6 of new voters. Union Home Minister Amit Shah took a sharp dig at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, saying that while Gandhi carries a copy of the Constitution around, he should open it and read it. Shah accused the opposition of opposing the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) because infiltrators form a part of their vote bank. Shah said, Before the Bihar assembly elections, should the names of infiltrators be removed from the voter list or not? The Constitution of India does not give the right to vote to those who are not born in India. Rahul Gandhi is roaming around carrying the Constitution; he should also open it and read it They are opposing SIR because infiltrators are their vote bank Advertisement Slamming RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav over the law and order situation in Bihar, he said, I want to ask Tejashwi Yadav, his father and mother were in power for a long time. Apart from hooliganism, running gangs, kidnapping, demanding ransom, what have you done for the development of Mithilanchal? Advertisement Shah showed confidence in the NDA government that it would secure a victory in Bihar with a majority. The Home Minister on Friday congratulated the devotees of Lord Ram and Janaki Mata as he laid the foundation stone for the redevelopment of Janaki Mata temple at Punaura Dham in Sitamarhi, Bihar. After laying the foundation of the redevelopment project, Shah said, I congratulate the devotees of Lord Ram and Janaki Mata as the foundation stone has been laid for the redevelopment of Janaki Mata temple at Punaura Dham #WATCH | Sitamarhi, Bihar | Union Home Minister Amit Shah says, I congratulate the devotees of Lord Ram and Janaki Mata as the foundation stone has been laid for the redevelopment of Janaki Mata temple at Punaura Dham pic.twitter.com/dVu0Uotqxh ANI (@ANI) August 8, 2025 Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was also present at the ceremony. He announced that the Central government will invest Rs 883 crore to redevelop the Maa Janaki temple complex. THe CM also highlighted efforts to enhance connectivity between Sitamarhi and Ayodhya through improved road and rail networks, including the launch of a new train service between Sitamarhi and Delhi. The ceremony was also attended by Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Chaudhary. Marking the event as a significant occasion for the nation and particularly for the Mithilanchal region, Shah highlighted the sacred importance of Punaura Dham, recognized as the birthplace of Goddess Sita, consort of Lord Ram. In a statement shared on X on Thursday, Shah announced that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved the inauguration of the Sitamarhi-Delhi Amrit Bharat Train, aimed at improving connectivity for pilgrims visiting the site. This development aligns with ongoing efforts to enhance infrastructure and promote religious tourism in the region. Punaura Dham, also known as the Maa Janaki Janmabhoomi Temple, holds deep cultural and spiritual significance. Tentatively, the Bihar Assembly elections are expected to be held in OctoberNovember 2025, as the current assemblys term ends in November 2025. The Bihar polls have been marred by controversy over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, raising concerns about voter list discrepancies. On Tuesday, August 5, 2025, several MPs from the INDIA bloc parties, including Congress parliamentary party chairperson Sonia Gandhi, protested at the Parliament House complex against the Election Commissions voter roll revision in Bihar, demanding its reversal. Kozhikode Government Medical College in Kerala has dismissed A.M. Saseendran, the attendant accused in the ICU rape case of March 2023. The termination order was issued by the Principal of the Medical College following the recommendation of a committee that conducted an internal inquiry into the incident. Advertisement The shocking incident occurred on March 18, 2023, at Kozhikode Government Medical College Hospital. After undergoing surgery, a young woman was shifted to the Intensive Care Unit for recovery. Advertisement It was there that the ICU attendant, Saseendran, allegedly assaulted her. The crime came to light soon after, and Saseendran was subsequently arrested in connection with the case. Lieutenant Governor of Ladakh Kavinder Gupta, on Friday, attended the funeral of late Chhering Motup, an Ashok Chakra awardee, at Likir village in Leh. The Lt governor laid a wreath on the mortal remains of late Naib Subedar Chhering Motup, observed silence and paid last tributes as the latters funeral took place with full state honours. Advertisement He also met with the bereaved family members and relatives of late Chhering Motup and offered his condolences and expressed grief, stating that Ladakh has lost a son of the soil who cannot be replaced for years to come. Advertisement Chhering Motup, from the Khachepa family of Likir village, passed away on Sunday at 80. He joined the Ladakh Scouts in 1965 and was awarded the Ashok Chakra-Indias highest peacetime gallantry award- in 1985 for his extraordinary courage during a mission on the Saltoro Ridge in Siachen. His late son, Tsewang Morup, was a Vir Chakra awardee. On 21 February 1985, Lance Havildar Chhering Motup led a team of soldiers that attacked and captured a crest line overlooking an Indian post on the Saltro Ridge at the Siachen Glacier in extremely hostile weather and poor visibility. He was awarded the Ashok Chakra for the gallantry displayed by him. He retired as an Honorary Naib Subedar on 1 July 1989. Top brass of the Army and civil administration of Ladakh attended the funeral of Chhering. Chairman and CEC of the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) Tashi Gyalson was present at the funeral. Among others, GOC 14 Corps of the Indian Army, Lt General Hitesh Bhalla; Chief Secretary, Dr Pawan Kotwal, DGP Ladakh, Dr SD Singh Jamwal, SSP Leh, Shruti Arora; Army personnel, district officials and a large number of villagers from Likir and adjoining areas were present at the funeral. Assuring citizens that the state government stands firmly with flood-affected families in this hour of crisis, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Dr Mohan Yadav on Friday transferred 30 crore directly to the bank accounts of over 28,000 affected people across the state with a single click. The CM interacted virtually with victims from the Samatva Bhavan at his residence in Bhopal, holding discussions with people from Shivpuri, Guna, Damoh, Raisen and Chhindwara to review administrative arrangements during the floods. Advertisement He noted that the current monsoon has brought 37 per cent more rainfall than normal, triggering floods in several districts. The CM said 28 crore had already been disbursed earlier, with another 30 crore released today. Advertisement This does not include crop-loss compensation, for which surveys are underway. In 202526 so far, 123 crore in relief has been distributed under various categories, with adequate funds allocated to all districts for disaster management. According to officials, the state has received 729.1 mm of rainfall 37 per cent above normal within a short period. Guna, Niwari, Tikamgarh, Mandla and Ashoknagar have recorded the highest rainfall. The floods have caused 296 human deaths, the loss of about 1,685 livestock, complete destruction of 299 houses and partial damage to around 4,114 houses. Sixty-one relief camps are operational across the state, sheltering 7,345 people. Two camps in Mauganj are currently housing 175 residents. Most irrigation dams are at 40% to 90% capacity, while four have reached full capacity. A 247 toll-free helpline (1079) has been set up to assist the public during the flood situation, officials said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will chair a crucial high-level Cabinet meeting on Friday at 1 p.m. to assess the impact of the steep tariff hike recently imposed by the US on Indian exports. The move comes amid escalating trade tensions between the two nations, following the US decision to raise tariffs on Indian goods to a total of 50 per cent. Advertisement The meeting is expected to discuss Indias strategic response to the US action. Advertisement The latest round of tariffs, an additional 25 per cent hike, was announced by US President Donald Trump on Wednesday, citing Indias continued imports of Russian crude oil as the primary reason. This comes on top of a previous 25 per cent tariff that came into effect on July 20. Responding sharply to the US move, the Ministry of External Affairs called the decision unfair, unjustified, and unreasonable, stating that Indias energy needs and strategic autonomy must be respected. In a public statement shortly after the new tariffs took effect, Prime Minister Modi reiterated his governments unwavering support for Indias farmers, livestock holders, and fishermen. Speaking at the MS Swaminathan Centenary International Conference in Delhi on Thursday, he said, The interest of farmers is our top priority. India will never compromise with the interests of its farmers, livestock holders, and fishermen. And I know that I will have to pay a huge price for this personally, but I am ready. India is ready, for the sake of the countrys farmers, fishermen and livestock holders. Trump ruled out negotiations with India on the tariffs on Thursday. No, not until we get it resolved, he said when a reporter asked him if he expected more negotiations following the announcement of the 50 per cent tariff that is to take effect on August 27. A select group of 100 farmers from various parts of Rajasthan will undertake study tours to the Netherlands, Brazil, Australia, and New Zealand under the state governments Agro Knowledge Enhancement Programme. Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma approved the proposal for the tours on Thursday, subject to mandatory sanctions and clearances. Advertisement The selected farmers will travel abroad in batches on week-long exposure visits to study the latest technology and conventional practices in agriculture and the allied sectors. Practices in the cooperative sector will also be a major focus for study and orientation training. Advertisement The tours will be organised between November 2025 and March 2026, an official spokesperson said. The state government has launched several welfare initiatives to empower farming communities, including the Agricultural Knowledge Enhancement Programme. The implementation of such measures will soon have a positive impact on their living conditions, the spokesperson said. The Supreme Court has deleted two paragraphs from its August 4 order that had directed the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court to remove Justice Prashant Kumar from the criminal roster until his retirement, over his remarks suggesting criminal proceedings as an alternative in money recovery disputes. This effectively withdraws the directive barring him from handling criminal cases. A group of Allahabad High Court judges had written to Chief Justice Arun Bhansali, urging him to convene a full court meeting in response to the Supreme Courts recent order directing the removal of Justice Prashant Kumar from the criminal roster. Advertisement Supreme Court has deleted two paragraphs from its August 4 order in which it had directed the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court to remove Allahabad HC judge Justice Prashant Kumar from the Criminal Roster until his retirement (meaning the High Court judge will not be pic.twitter.com/5zPSGmElGU Advertisement ANI (@ANI) August 8, 2025 The letter, penned by Justice Arindam Sinha and signed by seven judges, expressed deep concern over the apex courts August 4, 2025 order. In that order, a bench of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and R. Mahadevan, while hearing a plea by M/s Shikhar Chemicals, made sharp observations against Justice Kumars judicial reasoning. The company had sought to quash criminal proceedings arising from a commercial dispute, which the High Court had earlier refused to do. Justice Kumar had ruled that forcing the complainant to pursue only civil remedies would be very unreasonable and that criminal proceedings could be used to recover dues. The Supreme Court overturned this view, calling it untenable and expressing shock at the High Courts reasoning. It ordered the matter to be reheard by a different judge and directed that Justice Kumar be removed from criminal case assignments and placed on a division bench with a senior judge until his retirement. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin on Friday released the State Education Policy (SEP) at Anna Centenary Library Auditorium in Chennai, a move seen as opposing the National Education Policy (NEP) by with two language formula. #WATCH | Tamil Nadu CM MK Stalin releases the State Education Policy (SEP) at Anna Centenary Library Auditorium in Chennai pic.twitter.com/f0cfFGV2pJ Advertisement ANI (@ANI) August 8, 2025 Advertisement State Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi said, Todays function serves as a proof of our SEPs (State Education Policy) output. They (centre) want to implement the three-language policy under NEP, but we dont want to do that #WATCH | Chennai, Tamil Nadu | State Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi says, Todays function serves as a proof of our SEPs (State Education Policy) output. They (centre) want to implement the three-language policy under NEP, but we dont want to do that https://t.co/9ECkfFiQYB pic.twitter.com/QQDdMn9wSs ANI (@ANI) August 8, 2025 The Tamil Nadu government has long opposed the Centres National Education Policy (NEP), particularly its emphasis on a three-language formula, viewing it as an attempt to impose Hindi. A moving roadways bus in Uttar Pradeshs Barabanki city was crushed by a falling tree, resulting in the death of five passengers, including four women teachers, on Friday. The accident occurred near the Harkh Chauraha area during heavy rainfall. Several passengers remain trapped inside, as rescue operations are currently underway. Advertisement According to eyewitnesses, the tree was so massive that the roof of the bus caved in. The bus was en route from Barabanki to Haidergarh when the mishap occurred. Advertisement A disturbing moment from the incident surfaced when a trapped female passenger lashed out at a bystander recording a video instead of helping. Were dying in here, and youre making a video! If you had helped remove the branches, we could have come out, the woman was heard shouting. Among the deceased are Shiksha Malhotra (53), who was posted at a primary school in Kadipur, and Anoj (45). The identities of the bus driver and another woman teacher are yet to be confirmed. One of the injured teachers shared, We were all on our way to our respective schools in Haidergarh when suddenly a tree fell on the moving bus near Harkh Chauraha. Local police and administration have reached the spot and are coordinating the rescue efforts. The area has been witnessing heavy rains over the past few days, which likely led to the weakening and fall of the tree. Further updates are awaited as rescue operations continue. ISLAMABAD, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- A senior Pakistani diplomat on Thursday called for a strategic alignment between Pakistan and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), urging deeper engagement amid rising global uncertainty. "This is the hour, not merely for routine dialogue, but for strategic alignment," said Imran Ahmed Siddiqui, additional secretary for Asia Pacific at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, during a roundtable titled "Pakistan and ASEAN: A Growing Partnership" held at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI), an Islamabad-based think tank, on the eve of ASEAN Day. Siddiqui, the chief guest, said Pakistan's engagement with ASEAN should now advance to a full dialogue partnership. He praised ASEAN as a "model of relevance" in a world where multilateralism faces mounting pressure, highlighting its consensus-based approach to regional cooperation. He noted that Pakistan had already achieved 30 percent of its targets under the 2024-2028 roadmap for ASEAN cooperation, citing joint media exchanges, business forums, scientific research, and cultural diplomacy. He also highlighted potential areas for collaboration, including climate resilience, counter-terrorism, smart cities, digital innovation, and educational exchanges. The roundtable brought together ASEAN heads of missions in Islamabad, Pakistani envoys posted in ASEAN capitals, scholars, diplomats, and civil society representatives. In his opening remarks, ISSI Director General Sohail Mahmood highlighted the expanding scope of Pakistan-ASEAN ties, noting that bilateral trade reached nearly 11 billion U.S. dollars in 2022. He supported calls to upgrade Pakistan's dialogue status with ASEAN and emphasized greater integration through frameworks such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. The Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) is preparing to roll out a nine-day nationwide initiative starting August 16 to commemorate its 61st foundation day. The campaign will emphasise cultural nationalism and the propagation of Hindutva values across the country. As part of the drive, the VHP has planned activities at over 1 lakh locations throughout India. The schedule will include spiritual gatherings such as satsangs, religious discourses, early morning processions (Prabhat Pheris), and elaborate Shobha Yatras. Nearly 90,000 local committees are expected to coordinate these events. Advertisement Speaking to mediapersons here on Friday, VHP national spokesperson Vinod Bansal said the primary aim is to bring the Hindu community together through shared cultural values. This campaign aims to deepen our presence across the countryfrom major cities to remote villages, he said. Advertisement In Uttar Pradesh alone, the organisation plans to host events at more than 8,000 locations, including the religiously significant cities of Ayodhya, Kashi (Varanasi), and Mathura. These programmes will be customised according to local traditions and cultural contexts to enhance community engagement. Bansal also shared that the campaigns outreach will go beyond Hindu temples, extending to Buddhist monasteries, Jain temples, and Sikh gurdwaras. Communities like the Ravidasia and Valmiki Dalit groups are also expected to be actively involved. A major focus of the campaign will be to inform people about topics such as religious conversions, love jihad, and spit jihad. At the same time, the initiative seeks to promote social unity by moving beyond caste and linguistic divisions. Experts see the campaign as part of a larger effort to solidify the VHPs grassroots presence and reinforce its ideological ties with the BJP. It may also serve to gauge public sentiment, build organisational strength for future political developments, and provide a counter-narrative to caste-based political discourse. Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra Friday criticised the Election Commission, accusing it of inaction and bias in response to allegations of electoral fraud. Her remarks come after the Chief Electoral Officer of Karnataka on Thursday called upon Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to provide evidence under oath to support his allegations against the Election Commission of India. Rahul Gandhi had earlier in the day claimed vote theft in recent elections, which the Congress party alleges were significant enough to impact the outcome. Advertisement Rahul Gandhi ji has made such a big revelation, it should be investigated. The Election Commission is not providing the voter list, not conducting an investigation, and instead is demanding an affidavit, Priyanka Gandhi said, asserting: We are continuously showing data, but why is the Commission not ready to accept its own data? Advertisement From the kind of statements coming from the BJP and the Election Commission, one thing is absolutely clear: there is massive fraud happening, Priyanka Gandhi alleged while talking to reporters outside Parliament. The controversy began when Rahul Gandhi alleged that there were over 1,00,250 fake votes in the Karnataka Assembly segment, benefiting the BJP. The Election Commission immediately responded, asking Rahul Gandhi to sign an affidavit regarding these claims. Priyanka Gandhis comments underscore concerns about the integrity of the electoral process. The Congress party demands a thorough investigation into the allegations, emphasising the need for transparency and accountability in electoral governance. Moreover, hundreds of Awami League supporters reportedly remain detained without trial, echoing the same human rights failures the new order claims to repudiate. India, as Bangladeshs closest neighbour and strategic partner, must observe these developments with measured engagement. While political stability is in Indias interest, so too is the emergence of a truly democratic Bangladesh. A facade of change will not suffice. The road to February 2026 offers a rare chance to reset the republic. But to succeed, Bangladesh must go beyond toppling personalities and pursue real structural reform. Liberation slogans may rally crowds, but lasting freedom will require building institutions that outlast their founders. The presence of key political blocs on stage during his election announcement ~ the BNP, Jamaate-Islami, and the student-led NCP ~ reflects a rare convergence. Yet this unity is brittle. Many of these actors carry their own histories of intolerance and opportunism. Bangladeshs political culture is marked by swings between absolutism and chaos, and the lack of institutional maturity has made every transition vulnerable to relapse. What remains especially delicate is the handling of transitional justice. The new government has committed to prosecuting abuses committed under the previous regime, including charges against Sheikh Hasina herself. Yet, without a clear and credible process, ideally one independent of political influence, the risk is high that justice will be seen as retribution. China on Friday said that it welcomes Prime Minister Narendra Modis participation in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit that is scheduled to take place at Tianjin, later this month. China welcomes Prime Minister Modi to China for the SCO Tianjin Summit. We believe that with the concerted effort of all parties, the Tianjin summit will be a gathering of solidarity, friendship and fruitful results, and the SCO will enter a new stage of high-quality development featuring greater solidarity, coordination, dynamism and productiveness, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Guo Jiakun said during a regular media briefing in Beijing. Advertisement China will host the SCO Summit in Tianjin from August 31 to September 1 this year. Leaders of over 20 countries including all member states of the SCO and heads of 10 international organisations will attend relevant events. The SCO Tianjin Summit will be the largest summit in scale since the establishment of the SCO, he added. Advertisement According to reports, Prime Minister Modi is set to travel to China to attend the SCO Summit to be held in Tianjin City from August 31-September 1. This will be PM Modis first visit to China since the violent Galwan clash in 2020, which severely strained bilateral ties. PM Modi had earlier travelled to China in 2019. He also held a meeting with the Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Russias Kazan in 2024. The breakthrough in bilateral talks, first after the Galwan Valley face-off between the soldiers of the two countries at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in June 2020, was made possible after New Delhi and Beijing reached an agreement on patrolling along the nearly 3500-km Line of Actual Control (LAC) to end the four-year-long border confrontation. In July, External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankars visited China to attend the Meeting of the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers in Tianjin. He also held discussions with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on the sidelines of the event. He also called on Chinese President Xi Jinping along with his fellow SCO Foreign Ministers. Earlier in June, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh visited China to attend the SCO Defence Ministers Meeting. India had refused to endorse the joint declaration at the SCO Defence Ministers meeting, citing the exclusion of concerns around terrorism as a key reason. India stated that it wanted concerns about terrorism reflected in the document, which was not acceptable to one particular country; therefore, the statement was not adopted. During his visit, Singh met his Chinese counterpart Admiral Don Jun and the two leaders had constructive and forward looking exchange of views on issues related to bilateral ties. National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval also visited China to attend the 20th meeting of the Security Council Secretaries of the SCO Member States in Beijing. In his intervention at the meeting, he highlighted the need to shun double standards in the fight against terrorism and take decisive actions against UN-proscribed terrorists and entities like LeT, JeM and their proxies and dismantle their terror eco-systems. The SCO is a permanent intergovernmental international organisation established in Shanghai on June 15, 2001. The member states of SCO include India, Iran, Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Belarus. Israels security cabinet has given the green light to a plan aimed at seizing complete control of Gaza City, with the initial phase of the operation set to conclude by October 7. Prior to the decision, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu emphasized Israels goal to establish full military authority over the entire Gaza Strip. Advertisement However, this move faced internal resistance, as Israels military chief advised against a complete takeover and suggested a more restrained strategy, which the security cabinet ultimately dismissed. Advertisement The announcement sparked widespread protests across several Israeli cities, while families of hostages held in Gaza condemned the plan, describing it as a death sentence for those caught in the conflict. Britain Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the move and stated that it is wrong. He called for an immediate ceasefire between the two nations. The Israeli Governments decision to further escalate its offensive in Gaza is wrong, and we urge it to reconsider immediately. Every day the humanitarian crisis in Gaza worsens and hostages taken by Hamas are being held in appalling and inhuman conditions. We need a ceasefire now, Starmer said in X. Opposition leaders slam the decision of Gaza takeover Opposition leaders have criticised Israel cabinets approval of plan to occupy Gaza City, terming it a disaster that will lead to many more disasters and that will result in the deaths of Israeli hostages and soldiers. Opposition leader Yair Lapid termed cabinets decision a disaster that will lead to more disasters. He stated that Israel National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich dragged Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu into a move that could cost tens of billions to the Israeli taxpayer, and lead to a political collapse. In complete contradiction to the opinion of the military and security ranks, without considering the erosion and exhaustion of the fighting forces, Ben Gvir and Smotrich dragged Netanyahu into a move that will take months, lead to the death of the hostages, the killing of many soldiers, cost tens of billions to the Israeli taxpayer, and lead to a political collapse. This is exactly what Hamas wanted: for Israel to be trapped in the field without a goal, without defining the picture of the day after, in a useless occupation that no one understands where it is leading, Lapid posted on X. Yisrael Beytenu party chairman and Israels former Defence Minister Avigdor Liberman stated that the cabinets approval of takeover of Gaza City over the objection of top defence officials proves that life-and-death decisions are being made in opposition to security considerations and the wars objectives, The Times of Israel reported. According to him, Israeli PM was once again sacrificing the security of Israeli citizens for the sake of his seat. Democrats party head Yair Golan stated that the decision implies that more hostages will be abandoned to their deaths and termed it as the decision typical of Netanyahu. He stated, He is weak, easily pressured, lacking decision-making ability, and without the capacity to bridge between what the professional level presents and the group of messianists controlling the government. He termed the decision a disaster for generations, The Times of Israel reported, citing Army Radio. He stated, Our sons and grandsons will still patrol the alleys of Gaza, we will pay hundreds of billions over the years, and all this for reasons of political survival and messianic visions, and questioned the government on how it plans to demilitarise Gaza Strip. The statement of leaders comes after Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahus office announced on Friday that security cabinet had approved plan for the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) to take over Gaza City. In a statement, Israel PMs office said that Israel will provide humanitarian aid to the people residing outside combat zones on what it termed the decision taken by the cabinet to back Netanyahus proposal to defeat Hamas. Most of the cabinet members supported list of five principles that Israel will demand in exchange for ending the war with Hamas, the Israel PMs office said. According to the statement, the demands include: the disarmament of Hamas, the return of all 50 remaining hostages, 20 of whom are believed to be alive, the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip, Israeli security control over the Gaza Strip, the existence of an alternative civilian government that is not Hamas or the Palestinian Authority. According to the Israel PMs office, majority of ministers believed that the alternative plan presented to the security cabinet would not have secured the defeat of Hamas or the return of the hostages. Gaza City is part of the 25 per cent of the Strip that the IDF is yet to conquer, in addition to several refugee camps in central Gaza. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum criticised the latest anti-migrant raids in the United States, vowing to protect Mexican nationals staying in the neighbouring country. We do not agree with the raids, and we will protect and help our compatriots, the Mexican president said at her daily press conference on Thursday. Advertisement Sheinbaum, who has urged efforts for the role of migrants in the US economy to be recognised, has worked to strengthen Mexicos consular service in the US to protect Mexicans deported or detained, including the Mexicans being held at the Alligator Alcatraz detention center in the US state of Florida, according to Rutilio Escandon Cadenas, the Mexican general consul in Miami, Florida. Advertisement From January 20 to August 1, more than 75,900 Mexicans were repatriated from the US, according to the Mexican government, Xinhua news agency reported. Earlier in July, 2025, Sheinbaum condemned US immigration raids targeting migrant workers in farm fields, saying the actions were unjust and would harm the US economy. These raids are deeply unfair and will severely damage the US economy, Sheinbaum said during her daily press conference. Emphasising the significant contributions of both Mexican nationals and other Latino migrants to the US economy, she said, Without that labor force, California and other states will see their fields go unharvested. Sheinbaum said that following the raids in California, staff from Mexican consulates are visiting detention centers to determine how many Mexicans may have been detained. She also announced increased funding for Mexicos consulates in the United States, especially to strengthen legal support for detained nationals. Our brothers and sisters over there need legal assistance, and were going to ensure they get it, she said. US President Donald Trump has ruled out negotiations with India on the tariffs that will rise to 50 per cent later this month. No, not until we get it resolved, he said when a reporter asked him if he expected more negotiations following the announcement of the 50 per cent tariff that is to take effect on August 27. Advertisement It was not clear from the curt reply if he meant the resolution of the Ukraine War, since the additional 25 per cent punitive tariff he announced on Wednesday for buying Russian oil is linked to it, or a settlement of issues underlying the 25 per cent tariff he imposed on India last week in his general trade war. Advertisement The punitive tariff appeared to aim at bringing economic pressure on Moscow to agree to a ceasefire, as India is the second-biggest customer for its oil. He was also ambiguous on Wednesday when a reporter asked him if he would end the 25 per cent punitive tariff if there was an agreement with Moscow on ending the war. He said, Well determine that later, but right now, theyre paying a 50 per cent tariff. Trump had put a 50-day deadline for Russia to agree to a ceasefire or get hit with more sanctions, at which time the punitive measures known as secondary tariffs would be imposed on all its oil customers. He later shortened it to 12 days, ending Friday, but came out with the 25 per cent punitive tariff singling out India on Wednesday, although it wont take effect till August 27. India said it was extremely unfortunate that the US was imposing additional tariffs on India for actions that several other countries are also taking in their own national interest. It vowed to take all actions necessary to protect its national interests. Trump and Indian officials had been very optimistic about reaching a trade deal, as recently as last month, saying it was imminent. However, the negotiations apparently collapsed, according to reports, over US demands for access to agriculture and dairy markets in India. About Fridays deadline for Russia sanctions and the secondary tariffs, Trump said, Its going to be up to him (Putin). Were going to see what he has to say. He added that he was very disappointed with Putin, who has defied Trumps attempts to end the Ukraine War. But Trump and the Kremlin have indicated that there was progress in their negotiations. Read more: Brazilian President Lula dials PM Modi, discusses Trumps unilateral tariffs Trumps Special Envoy Steve Witcoff held three hours of talks with Russias President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday. We had some very good talks with President Putin, Trump said, adding that there was a very good chance that they were nearing the end of the road to peace. The Kremlin said on Thursday that Putin and Trump planned to meet soon, and media reported quoting, US officials, that it could take place next week. Trump did not confirm the timing, but said, They (Russian leaders) would like to meet with me, and Ill do whatever I can to stop the killing in the Ukraine War. TOKYO, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- Japan's current account surplus in the first half of 2025 rose 9.1 percent from a year earlier to 14.60 trillion yen (about 99.1 billion U.S. dollars), helped by a smaller trade deficit and higher returns on foreign investments, data from the Ministry of Finance showed on Friday. The surplus in the current account balance, one of the widest gauges of international trade, hit the second-highest level for any half-year period since comparable data became available in 1985, the Ministry said in a preliminary report. In the January-June period, the goods trade deficit dropped 28.9 percent from the previous year to 1.76 trillion yen, as exports grew 2.3 percent to 51.86 trillion yen, while imports climbed 0.9 percent to 53.62 trillion yen, data showed. Primary income, which reflects how much Japan earned from overseas investments, increased 3.3 percent to a record 20.77 trillion yen. Among other key components, Japan's services trade deficit fell 30.9 percent to 1.38 trillion yen, helped by a surge in the travel surplus, which came to 3.61 trillion yen, a record high for any half-year period. Around 21.52 million foreign travelers visited Japan in January to June, up 21.0 percent year-on-year, according to the Ministry. In June alone, the country posted a 1.35 trillion yen current account surplus. (1 U.S. dollar equals 147.4 yen) In the wake of US President Donald Trump's aggressive 50 per cent tariff move against India, a media report claimed that Defence Minister Rajnath Singh cancelled a planned trip to the US. According to a Reuters report, India has also paused talks to procure defence equipment from the US, including Stryker combat vehicles made by General Dynamics Land Systems, Javelin missiles developed by Raytheon and Lockheed Martin, and some Boeing reconnaissance planes. The report claims that Singh was to make a few announcements in the US regarding some of these planned procurements. However, this claim was refuted by Indian defence ministry officials. What did the Reuters report say Reuters had quoted an official as saying that the weapon purchases will go ahead if and when India has clarity on tariffs and where the ties between the two countries are headed. "Written instructions had not been given to pause the purchases," another official has been quoted as saying. The report said Singh was planning to announce the purchase of six Boeing P8I reconnaissance aircraft and support systems at a cost of $3.6 billion for the Indian Navy. Nonetheless, one of the officials clarified that the broader US-India defence engagements, including intelligence sharing and joint military drills, are continuing without any hurdles. Defence officials clarify However, senior defence officials rejected the Reuters report saying it was false and fabricated" and added that the various procurement deals are being processed as per extant procedures. The news reports on India pausing the talks related to defence purchases with the US are false and fabricated. It is clarified that the various cases of procurement are being progressed as per extant procedures," a statement from the defence ministry officials read. It is to be noted that a few months ago, during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the US, the India and PM and Trump had welcomed the significant integration of US-origin defence items into India's inventory to date, including C 130J Super Hercules, C 17 Globemaster III, P 8I Poseidon aircraft; CH 47F Chinooks, MH 60R Seahawks, and AH 64E Apaches; Harpoon anti-ship missiles; M777 howitzers; and MQ 9Bs. Trump had then said the US would expand defence sales and co-production with India to strengthen interoperability and defence industrial cooperation. On August 6, Kochi City Police registered a case against popular Malayalam actor Shwetha Menon based on a complaint alleging that with the intent of financial gain, the accused deliberately and consciously acted in obscene scenes involving nudityin films, advertisements, and beyondin a manner intended to provoke fear or discomfort in others. According to the FIR, the complaint further states that these scenes were later circulated on social media and pornographic websites, allegedly exploiting the label of being a "vulgar sex film actress" to commercially benefit from it. The case was registered after the Ernakulam CJM Court forwarded a private complaint filed by Martin Menachery. Menon was charged under Sections 3 and 5 of the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956 (which pertain to prostitution-related offenses), and Section 67A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, which deals with the publication or transmission of sexually explicit material in electronic form. However, the Kerala High Court has since stayed the criminal proceedings against Menon and directed the magistrate to submit a report. The court has also issued a notice to the complainant. Importantly, the films mentioned in the complaintPaleri Manikyam, Rathinirvedham, and Kalimannuwere all certified by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) and lawfully released. Also read: Shwetha Menon obscene content case: Martin Menachery says complaint filed in March, not linked to AMMA elections CBFC sources told THE WEEK that during certification, the Board adheres to the provisions of the Cinematograph Act and its accompanying guidelines. They clarified that Section 67A of the IT Act does not come into play while certifying a film. They also stated that intimate scenes or nudity are assessed based on the context of the film and whether they align with the narrative. They also say that the certification ensures that the content does not violate the provisions of the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986, too. THE WEEK spoke to Supreme Court lawyer Advocate M.R. Abhilash to understand the nuances of the case filed against Shwetha Menon, its potential to set a troubling precedent, and the scope of the Information Technology Act, 2000, in addressing online nudity. 1) The police registered an FIR against the actor following a private complaint under the instructions of the court. The High Court of Kerala has stayed proceedings against the actor now. But is the court action directing a police complaint setting a dangerous precedent? When the police are reluctant to register a caseeven when a crime has already taken placethe law allows the court to direct an investigation under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS). This has long been a part of Indian law, even under the Code of Criminal Procedure. This provision can be misused by those with vested interests. Whether or not something is a misuse can be determined by the High Court on an appropriate petition. But regardless, this case seems to be a clear example of persecution triggered by her enemies in the film industry. The Magistrate Court also appears to have missed the requirements of law, as the FIR was directed without any police report as mandated by Section 175 (3) of BNNS. If an advertisement or a scene, originally legally certified and broadcast as part of a film or ad, is later sliced out and circulated separately, how can we call that immoral or illegal under the IT Act or the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act? If the full ad was lawfully broadcast, then how can we say the clip shared by an artist from it is criminal in nature? It is the Censor Board that assesses whether the content has sexually explicit material that's inappropriate for people under 18. So, if a movie clears the mandate and the advertisement is certified and aired, how can sharing it later be deemed unlawful? Even if an actor has performed a bold scene in a film, shouldnt the legal responsibility be with the producer, since he is the applicant before the CBFC? The allegation here is not about the film per seit's about the circulation of certain scenes. If something was lawfully telecast, how can an artist be penalised simply for it being shared again? 2) When this case came up, it raised questions about new-age, subscriber-only content created by certain celebrities and influencers for financial gain. Many emerging platforms allow semi-nude or sexually explicit content, enabling creators to share clips and earn money. Can such content be challenged or prosecuted under Section 67A of the IT Act? If such content is publicly circulated and deemed explicit, action can be taken as per the applicable law. That said, any prosecution should be based on reasonable magisterial satisfaction arising out of a due inquiry that a crime has occurred. There needs to be a fair basis, not just suspicion or moral panic. For example, even if someone posts sexual content behind a subscriber wall, a single leak on social media can open them up to prosecution. Why? Because platforms like Instagram and Facebook are easily accessible, even by a general search on the internet, to children and the elderly. Unlike a theater, where entry can be restricted, social media gives open access. So, when laws prohibit offensive language in public, the same is applicable to the digital space as well. Thats why we have the IT Actto prevent online abuse and illegalities. Still, enforcement must be reasonable. In my view, media regulation is necessary, but it must be done within a lawful framework. The Shwetha Menon case appears to be an example of targeted harassment driven by a private complaint with oblique motives, and the magistrate court appears to have acted on it, missing the requirements of procedural law. 3) Does Indian law have a clear definition of what is considered nudity and obscene? We must acknowledge that Indian law doesnt have a fixed definition of "nudity." What is considered obscene can differ from case to case. For example, a painting by M.F. Husain might reflect a nude figurebut is it obscene? If someone shows the human body in a context that a reasonable person might find lascivious or sexual, it could fall under provisions like Section 67A. 4) But if its presented as art, can that still be prosecuted? This is the difficultysocial media doesnt differentiate between art and obscenity. Thats why we need a framework that can draw such distinctions. Otherwise, we risk criminalising expression. Ive been thinking about this issue for a while. With kids getting more and more exposed to social media, we must protect them. The previous generationour parents, eldersalso deserve dignity in digital spaces. They also have a right under Article 21 of the Constitution to have a life with dignity. Its not just a legal issueits a cultural crisis. Children are exposed to abusive, vulgar content online. Even when they innocently ask their parents, What is this, Dad? how are we to respond? Its disheartening to see how uncivilized some people have become on social mediaabusing, trolling with vulgarity, and sharing explicit material without context. Perhaps when arrests happen, things get ordered. But until then, perpetrators feel emboldened by a sense of impunity. They feel the law cant touch them and continue their behaviour unchecked. Much of this stems from frustration in personal lives. In todays alienating work culture and society, people turn to social media to unleash their discontent, thereby getting cathartic relief. Ultimately, if even two people are arrested and prosecuted, it sends a strong message, and things will be in order. It is the certainty of punishment that deters. The national capital on Friday woke up to the shocking news of Huma Qureshi and Saqib Saleem's cousin Asif Qureshi getting killed during the wee hours over a scooter parking brawl. Who was Asif Qureshi? Though his cousins Huma Qureshi and Saqib Saleem are Bollywoods stars, Asif Qureshi stood away from limelight, according to The Times of India. The man, 42, was a running a poultry business in Delhi. He was a resident of Church Lane in Bhogal. VIDEO | Actor Huma Qureshi's cousin, Asif Qureshi, was stabbed to death following a dispute over parking in southeast Delhi's Bhogal area on Thursday. Two teenagers have been apprehended in connection with the incident. CCTV visuals of the incident.#DelhiNews (Viewers pic.twitter.com/DJrXqd3vwX Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) August 8, 2025 According to Asif's wife Shaheen, the accused had attacked him in November 2024, claiming they were jealous of him. She said it was not just about the parking of the scooter and that it was a pre-planned murder. On Friday, one of the accused, Ujjwal, 19, attacked Asif who asked him to move the scooter parked in front of his house around 10.30 pm. The other accused was identified as Gautam, 18. Both of them were residents of a building located a few houses away from Asif's home. The brawl escalated and Asif was allegedly struck with a "poker-type" weapon, which inflicted a deep wound in his chest. Asif's wife Shaheen told PTI that she was pushed away when she tried to save her husband. "He fell instantly, covered in blood," she added. Asif was rushed to a nearby hospital, where he was declared dead on arrival. The accused were charged under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 103(1) and 3(5). Notable movies of Huma Qureshi include 'Gangs of Wasseypur', 'Dedh Ishqiya', 'Badlapur', 'Jolly LLB 2', 'Army of the Dead', and 'Monica, O My Darling'. Saqib Saleem is known for acting in films like 'Dishoom', '83' and 'Double XL'. The Supreme Court on Friday rejected a Public Interest Litigation calling for an independent audit of Air India's safety standards. The PIL, filed last month, sought an examination of Air India's fleet by an independent committee headed by a retired Supreme Court judge to examine Air India's safety practices, maintenance procedures, and operational protocols, with a report to be submitted within three months. ALSO READ | Air India violations: What were the 51 safety lapses DGCA found in July audit? A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi told the petitioner in-person Narendera Kumar Goswami to withdraw his PIL and asked him to move the appropriate forum in case of grievances, adding that "if the authorities do not do anything, then only we will intervene", a PTI report said. "Don't give the impression that you are playing with other airlines. Why target Air India only which recently witnessed an unfortunate tragedy? If you want some regulatory mechanism in place, then why did you not make other airlines as party in your petition? Why only Air India?" the bench asked Goswami, a lawyer. ALSO READ | Air India insect scare: Cockroaches found in Mumbai-bound AI 180 flight from San Francisco When the petitioner claimed to be a victim of "some unfortunate incident" with the airline, Justice Kant said: "We also travel every week and know what is the status. There was a tragedy, a very unfortunate one. This is not a time to run down an airline." This follows not just the devastating Air India crash of June 12in which 260 people were killedbut also a slew of issues various flights have faced since then, such as cabin heat, "technical snags" that have prevented take-off, and insects inside the cabin. ALSO READ | Close shave as IndiGo flight aborts takeoff after engine catches fire at Ahmedabad airport Goswami had also asked for a comprehensive safety audit of Air Indias fleet by an international aviation safety agency accredited by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). He had also sought that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) be directed to implement and enforce a transparent, publicly accessible reporting system for all aviation safety incidents, including a centralised database, ensuring compliance with the Aircraft Rules (1937), and international best practices. The Centre said in Parliament on Friday that China illegally occupied 38,000 sq km of Indian territory at the end of the Sino-India 1962 conflict. Responding to a written query in Parliament, Minister of State for External Affairs, Kirti Vardhan Singh, said, "At the end of the 1962 conflict, China was in illegal occupation of approximately 38,000 sq. km of Indian territory," Singh said. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) was asked whether the Centre had any data on the "territories that were occupied by China during the Sino-Indian War of 1962". The ministry was also asked whether any diplomatic efforts or overtures were made with China since 1962 to reclaim such territories that were lost during the war. The MP also sought details of the progress of these talks. "There have been several initiatives taken bilaterally with China over the years to address the outstanding boundary question," the minister said in response to the query. "Following the visit of Chinese Foreign Minister Huang Hua to New Delhi in June 1981, India and China held 'eight rounds' of formal border negotiations from December 1981 to November 1987, led at secretary level," the minister added. "During the official visit of the then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi to China from December 19-23, 1988, the two sides announced the creation of the India-China Joint Working Group on the boundary question. The Joint Working Groups met for a total of '15 rounds' between 1989 and 2005," Singh said. The minister also informed the Parliament that when former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee officially visited China from June 22-27, 2003, the two sides announced the appointment of Special Representatives to explore, from the political perspective of the overall bilateral relationship, the framework of a boundary settlement. "Based on the first five rounds of talks between the Special Representatives, both sides signed the 'Agreement on Political Parameters and Guiding Principles for Settlement of India-China Boundary Question' on April 11, 2005," Singh said. "Thereafter, 10 more rounds of the SR talks were held until 2012, at the end of which the two sides identified further elements of consensus in a 'Common Understanding of the Discussions between the Special Representatives of India and China on the Framework of Settlement of the Boundary Question' in December 2012. Subsequently, eight more rounds of the SR talks have been held, the last one being in Beijing on December 18, 2024," he added. US President Donald Trump on Thursday doubled down on India, ruling out any trade negotiations until the dispute over tariffs is resolved. While the US Presidents new policy could batter the Indian export sector and the GDP, observers and trade analysts are eyeing ways to cushion the impact it would have on the Indian economy, which was anticipated to emulate China. While the first round of 25 per cent reciprocal tariffs that Trump announced for India has already come into effect, the next 25 per cent will come into play 20 days later. While India has so far shown no hints of submitting to Trumps demand - Prime Minister Narendra Modi stating he wont compromise on farmers needs - the going forward wont be easy. #WATCH | Responding to ANI's question, 'Just to follow up India's tariff, do you expect increased trade negotiations since you have announced the 50% tariffs?', US President Donald Trump says, "No, not until we get it resolved." (Source: US Network Pool via Reuters) pic.twitter.com/exAQCiKSJd ANI (@ANI) August 7, 2025 India exports $86.5bn worth of goods to the US, including garments, pharmaceuticals, gems, and jewellery. While a small hike in 10-15 per cent itself would be a major blow to the exporters, 50 per cent would be much beyond their capacity. The trade to the US is 18 per cent of India's total global export, making up 2.2% of GDP. At present, 25% tariff could cut GDP by 0.20.4%. India is working on ways to appease Trump by offering concessions and by not retaliating against the tariff. While deliberating on a potential trade deal was on, Trumps statement ruling out talks has put officials in a dilemma. Still, a trade deal is the only option. Soumya Kanti Ghosh, chief economic advisor of the State Bank of India Group and member of the Prime Ministers Economic Advisory council, told Bloomberg that a favourable trade deal benefiting both countries can be secured within the next three weeks. Then, there is the option to explore other trade opportunities in South Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Brazils President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has already rung up Narendra Modi, and the two have agreed to discuss mutual trade. This could also be taking a leaf out of Chinas playbook, which saw Chinese exports to Southeast Asia and other regions surge, while those to the US fell, after a 30 per cent tariff was imposed by the US. China released the data on Thursday to show how it beat the bully, as exports climbed 7.2% in July. But, unlike India, China has a lot of leverage in the tariff war and has proved to the US by cutting off exports of rare-earth magnets used in everything from mobile phones to missiles. Then, there is the question of abandoning ties with Russia to side with the US. "India's efforts to reduce its dependence on Russian military hardware and diversify its oil imports predate pressure from the Trump administration, so Delhi may be able to offer some conciliatory gestures in line with its existing foreign policy behaviour," Dr Chietigj Bajpaee, senior research fellow, Chatham House, told BBC News. Some believe Trump's recent actions give India an opportunity to rethink its strategic ties, the significance of which is reconsidering ties with China, signs of which are already happening. Prime Minister is heading to Beijing for the SCO Summit, and China has cheered for Indias decision not to submit to Trump. While New Delhi has so far not hinted at any plans to retaliate, this couldnt be ruled out. In 2019, we did that. Then India announced tariffs on 28 US products, including US apples and almonds, in response to the US tariffs on steel and aluminium. Some of them were eventually reversed. COLOMBO, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- The Sri Lankan government will take strict actions against individuals who have installed substandard private electric fences, given that they are a leading cause of elephant deaths, Minister of Environment Dammika Patabendi said on Friday. Patabendi said officers of the Department of Wildlife Conservation have been asked to investigate illegally or poorly constructed fences and pursue legal action where warranted. The minister said authorities would strengthen oversight to ensure compliance with safety standards. Human-elephant conflict is a serious problem in Sri Lanka, resulting in the deaths of 3,477 wild elephants and 1,190 people in the country between 2015 and 2024, according to official data. A total of 198 wild elephants died in the first seven months of 2025 due to various causes. Former Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Atishi slammed the Delhi government on passing the Delhi School Education (Transparency in Fixation and Regulation of Fees), 2025 Bill and said it takes away the rights of parents. The Delhi Assembly passed the Delhi School Education Bill regulating fees at unaided schools in the national capital. Education Minister Ashish Sood tabled the Bill on Monday and it was passed after four-hour debate in the Assembly on Friday. Lashing out at the Bharatiya Janata Party government, Opposition leader Atishi charged the Bill was not in favour of parents. "The private school bill is solely in favour of private schools. There is no provision for an audit in it, only 5 parents will be part of the fee committee, and they will be selected by lots. To file a complaint, at least 15 per cent of parents will have to come together, and the right to go to court has also been taken away," Atishi said. "Whatever rights parents had earlier have now been snatched away by this Bill. Parents were already troubled by private schools, and now, through this bill, a government stamp has been put on the looting by private schools," the former chief minister charged. During the discussion in the Assembly, AAP MLAs suggested eight changes to the Bill, however, the ruling party MLAs voted against it. The Delhi School Education Transparency in Fixation and Regulation of Fees Bill, 2025, was passed after a four-hour debate in the House. TheBill will be next sent to Delhi Lt Governor V.K. Saxena for approval. While the Rahul Gandhi vs Election Commission row over 'vote chori' charge rages, it has offered a direct reply to the most prominent question among five the opposition leader posed to the poll body - why CCTV footages from polling booths are being erased. The Election Commission fact-checked Gandhi's charges against it on Friday and called it "misleading". The poll body dared the Congress leader to file an oath based on his allegations. Addressing a Vote Adhikar rally in Bengaluru on Friday, Gandhi posed five questions to the Election Commission: 1. Why isn't the opposition getting the digital voter list? What are you hiding? 2. CCTV and video evidence are being erased - why? On whose orders? 3. Fake voting and tampering with the voter list - why? 4. Threatening and intimidating opposition leaders - why? 5. Tell us clearly - has the ECI now become an agent of the BJP? Responding to the charge of deleting CCTV footage from polling booths, the Commission said, "Any aggrieved candidate can file an election petition (EP) to challenge his election in the concerned High Court within 45 days. If an EP is filed, CCTV footage is retained; otherwise, it serves no purpose - unless someone intends to breach voter privacy." "For example, reviewing CCTV footage from 1 lakh polling stations would take 1 lakh days - that's approximately 273 years, with no legal outcome possible," the poll body said. The Commission also asked the Congress leader to refer to the judgment in the 2019 Kamal Nath vs ECI case on his question on the digital voter list. The Commission said the Congress party did not file any appeal during the preparation of the electoral roll for the Lok Sabha polls. "Many such allegations are being made by Rahul Gandhi and are being reported by the media, despite no written complaint ever being submitted by him," it said. "If Rahul Gandhi believes in his analysis and believes that his allegations against the Election staff are true, he should have no problem in submitting claims and objections against specific voters and sign the Declaration/Oath as per Rule 20(3)(b) of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960," the Commission highlighted. "If Shri Rahul Gandhi does not sign the Declaration, it would mean that he does not believe in his analysis, resultant conclusions and is making absurd allegations. In which case, he should apologise to the nation. Either sign the Declaration on issues you have raised in the press conference, which you believe is true or else apologise to the nation," it said. The Tata Group, which owns Air India, has reportedly offered 1 crore as compensation to each victim of the Air India Flight AI-171 crash, in Ahmedabad on June 12, 2025. The crash killed 242 people on board and 19 on the ground, while one passenger was injured. It is unclear whether this 1 crore offer is a purely humanitarian gesture or part of the victims legal entitlement. Air India has also reportedly paid 25 lakh as advance compensation under its obligations as per the Carriage by Air Act, 1972. While the Tata Groups offer is generous, questions remain about whether these amounts meet the standards set under the law. The law on international air crash compensation The Carriage by Air Act, 1972 (which includes the Montreal Convention) sets the rules for compensation. It provides a two-tier system: First Tier (No-Fault Liability) Airlines are obligated to pay compensation up to 151,880 Special Drawing Rights (SDRs), a globally recognised unit of currency, without requiring families to prove negligence. As revised by the International Civil Aviation Organization, this equates to approximately 1.91 crore per passenger. Second Tier (Fault-Based Liability) Families can claim more than the first-tier amount, but they must prove the airline was at fault. This law overrides other Indian laws (like the Fatal Accidents Act) for international flights. How does this compare with other accident laws? Different types of accidents (rail, road, or air) are governed by separate laws with varying compensation limits. This does not violate the Constitution, as each mode of transport has distinct risk factors and legal frameworks. Brief history of the law India first adopted the Warsaw Convention (1929) and later updated it through the Hague Protocol and the Montreal Convention (1999). These changes increased passenger protection by moving from capped liability to a stricter two-tier system. Why the Montreal Convention matters Courts in India and abroad have consistently held that the Montreal Convention is the exclusive framework for international air accident claims. Families cannot bypass it by filing cases under domestic tort laws. For example, in Sidhu v. British Airways (UK, 1997), the House of Lords ruled that national laws cannot override the convention. Similarly, in India, the Andhra Pradesh High Court has deemed the Carriage by Air Act a complete code for these cases. What counts as an accident? The law defines an accident broadly: it could be a crash, terrorist attack, or even an onboard injury like a snake bite. Each passenger or injured person is entitled to compensation individually. One victims case cannot affect anothers claim. Different court interpretations in India There have been conflicting rulings in Indian courts. In the Mangalore crash case, a single judge held that the first-tier, no-fault compensation must be paid in full. But later, a division bench said families must still prove damages under tort law principles. Similar confusion arose in the Kozhikode crash case, where compensation amounts varied widely, even among members of the same family. These conflicting views are now pending before the Supreme Court. Why clarity is needed The Supreme Court has yet to settle these differences, even though appeals from the 2011 Mangalore case and the 2020 Kozhikode case are still pending. Until the apex court gives a clear ruling, families in the Ahmedabad crash may face long, uncertain legal battles. The Montreal Convention was meant to bring uniformity and speed to compensation, but the current delays risk further injustice. What does this mean for the Ahmedabad victims? The Tata Groups 1 crore offer is less than the minimum amount stipulated under the first-tier, no-fault liability (1.91 crore). Thus, families may be entitled to a higher compensation as per the law. However, due to the existing ambiguity within the courts, they might need to fight a legal battle to get it. Advocate Kodoth Sreedharan appeared for the claimants in the Mangalore and Kozhikode crash cases before the Kerala High Court and the Supreme Court. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of THE WEEK. The author can be contacted at kodothsreedharan@gmail.com. China on Friday welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, which will be held from August 31 to September 1. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun stated, "China welcomes Prime Minister Modi to China for the SCO Tianjin Summit," adding that it will be a gathering of "solidarity, friendship and fruitful results" with the concerted effort of all parties. Guo added that the SCO will enter a new stage of high-quality development featuring greater solidarity, coordination, dynamism and productiveness. This will be the PM's first trip to China since the Galwan clashes in 2020. However, Modi had met his counterpart Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS Summit in Kazan in October 2024. The foreign ministry spokesperson's statement comes a day after Chinese ambassador to New Delhi Xu Feihong backed India amid 50 per cent tariffs imposed by the Donald Trump administration, while calling Trump a "bully". "Give the bully an inch, he will take a mile," Feihong posted on X. Along with the post, the envoy also attached a quote by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi made during a phone call with Brazilian president's chief advisor on August 6. It read: "Using tariffs as a weapon to suppress other countries violates the UN Charter undermines WTO rules and is both unpopular and unsustainable". Separately, Putin is expected to arrive in India later this year, according to National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, who was in Moscow. Union Home Minister Amit Shah slammed Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi and leaders of INDIA bloc for opposing intensive electoral roll revision in Bihar and asked whether infiltrators should be allowed to vote in elections. Addressing a public meeting at Bihar's Sitamarhi, Shah questioned the opposition's objection to electoral roll revision in Bihar. Asserting "infiltrators have no right to vote", Shah said, "Names of infiltrators must be removed from the voters' lists. They have no right to vote. But the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress are opposing SIR in Bihar because the names of infiltrators are being deleted from the lists." The home minister charged that the opposition is objecting to Bihar SIR as infiltrators are their vote bank. "ahul Gandhi is roaming around carrying the Constitution; he should also open it and read it. They are opposing SIR because infiltrators are their vote bank." Shah said the National Democratic Alliance will win with a huge majority during the upcoming Bihar Assembly polls. The home minister also criticised the opposition for their stand during the Operation Sindoor debate in Parliament. The Union home minister charged that terrorist attacks were "frequent in India during the UPA regime" and the situation changed after Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power. "India is different under the Narendra Modi ji's regime. Our soldiers killed terrorists in their hideouts. But the RJD and Congress leaders are opposing Operation Sindoor," he said. Shah charged the Tejashwi Yadav-led RJD did nothing for Bihar's development. "The RJD did nothing for Bihar. Lalu ji (Lalu Parasad Yadav) as central minister, sanctioned 1,132 cr for railway infrastructure in Bihar, while our govt provided 10,066 crore in FY'26," he claimed. Prime Minister Narendra Modi dialled Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday and invited him to visit India for bilateral talks later this year. The Putin-Modi call comes amid US President Donald Trump's tariffs on India over its ties with Russia. "Had a very good and detailed conversation with my friend President Putin. I thanked him for sharing the latest developments on Ukraine. We also reviewed the progress in our bilateral agenda, and reaffirmed our commitment to further deepen the India-Russia Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership," Prime Minister Modi said in a post on X. The Ministry of External Affairs said the prime minister reiterated Indias consistent position of peaceful resolution for the Russia-Ukraine conflict during the call. Modi also invited Putin to India later this year for the 23rd India-Russia Annual Summit. The Modi-Putin call came following National Security Advisor Ajit Doval's recent visit to Russia and amid tariff threats from the United States over India-Russia ties. US President Trump imposed a 50 per cent tariff on India imports over its purchase of Russian oil and defence equipment. Trump charged that India's oil purchase was fuelling Russia's war against Ukraine. India has longstanding ties with Russia. People familiar with Doval's visit to Moscow told PTI that bilateral energy and defence ties, as well as western sanctions on Russian crude oil, figured in his talks with Russian officials. Russia has emerged as India's top energy supplier since the West slapped sanctions on its crude oil after the invasion of Ukraine. The NSA was also expected to press Moscow to ensure early delivery of remaining two regiments of S-400 air defence systems to India. A judge of the Allahabad High Court has picked up a fight with the Supreme Court of India, and he is being supported by 13 sitting judges. On August 7, Justice Arindam Sinha, in his personal capacity, took up cudgels on behalf of fellow Justice Prashant Kumar, who was lambasted by the apex court for dishing out one of the worst orders and asking that he not be given any criminal cases to preside over henceforth. Here is a brief of the original case. A respondent had supplied thread worth Rs 52,34,385 to M/S Shikhar Chemicals, but the company failed to pay the full amount. When the supplier couldnt recover the money, they filed a criminal complaint alleging breach of trust under Section 405 of the Indian Penal Code. Shikhar Chemicals then approached the Allahabad High Court, asking Justice Kumar to quash the criminal proceedings, arguing this was purely a civil commercial dispute. Justice Kumar examined the case and dismissed their petition, allowing the criminal proceedings to continue. In his reasoning, he noted that asking the complainant to pursue a lengthy civil remedy would be very unreasonable when criminal proceedings could resolve the matter more quickly. But when the case reached the Supreme Court, everything changed. We are shocked by the findings recorded in paragraph 12 of the impugned order, the Supreme Court said, using language that legal observers are calling unprecedented in its harshness. The Supreme Court Bench of Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice R Mahadevan didnt stop therethey noted repeated erroneous orders and restrained Justice Kumar from hearing criminal cases till he demits office after he wrongly upheld summons of criminal nature issued by a trial court in a civil dispute. The Supreme Court called Justice Kumars order one of the worst and stripped him of all criminal jurisdiction, while declaring that his ruling amounted to a mockery of justice. In the eyes of his fellow judges, this is a public humiliation, and now, as Justice Sinha has pointed out, he was shamed for simply applying what legal principles were established by the Supreme Court itself. Sinhas letter reads: I, being a Judge of the Allahabad High Court and part of the institution, extended to be the Judiciary, was shocked and pained. He goes on to elaborate that the apex court got into territory it had no business venturing into. Justice Prashant Kumar took oath as an Additional Judge on February 27 2023. That makes him relatively new to the High Court and yet thrust into a constitutional storm. The Supreme Court went so far as to ask, What is wrong with the Indian Judiciary at the level of the High Court? Justice Sinha, in his letter, has methodically shown that his colleague was following Supreme Court precedent to the letter. In a case called Lee Kun Hee vs. State of UP, the Supreme Court had clearly stated that in offences of the nature contemplated under the summoning order, there can be civil liability coupled with criminal culpability. This means you can have both a civil case and a criminal case for the same incident. Even more damning, in another case (Syed Askari Hadi), the Supreme Court had declared: It is, however, now well settled that ordinarily a criminal proceeding will have primacy over the civil proceeding... disposal of a civil proceeding ordinarily takes a long time and in the interest of justice the former should be disposed of as expeditiously as possible. So when the Supreme Court criticised the High Court judge for not sending the matter to the civil court, it was essentially suggesting the exact opposite of what it had done earlier. Then there is the issue of how the apex court JusticesJB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan approached the matter. They handed out harsh criticism without direction for issuance of notice and attacked a judge who wasnt even there to defend himself. Justice Sinha quotes the Supreme Courts own warning from another case about such conduct: it creates a concavity in the hierarchical system and brings the Judiciary downhill and represents an incurable cancerous cell which explodes out at the slightest imbalance. Justice Sinha has raised fundamental questions about the constitutional relationship between Indias higher courts. While the Supreme Court can reverse High Court decisions through appeals, it cannot, according to Justice Sinha, dictate how High Courts run their internal administration. Its the difference between being a higher court and being a boss. Unprecedented pushback Thirteen sitting judges of the Allahabad HC have signed onto his call for a Full Court meeting, seeking a resolution that directions made in paragraphs 24 to 26 in the subject order dated August 4 2025, are not to be complied with as the Supreme Court does not have administrative superintendence over the High Courts. This level of institutional pushback against the Supreme Court is unprecedented. The timing makes this even more significant. Justice Sinha wrote his letter on August 7 2025, the same day the Allahabad High Court was swearing in five new District Judges. Justice Sinha is not defending a colleague but the idea that even in a hierarchical system, there are lines that shouldnt be crossed. The legal community is watching closely. Rejecting the three-language formula proposed by the National Education Policy 2020, Tamil Nadu will retain its own two-language formula. Unveiling the State Education Policy (SEP) 2025, at the Anna Centenary library in Chennai, on Friday, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin positioned it as a clear alternative to the Centres National Education Policy (NEP) 2020. Prepared by a 14-member committee formed by the Tamil Nadu government, headed by retired Justice D. Murugesan, the report was submitted in 2024. The SEP 2025 is deeply anchored in Tamil Nadus unique cultural, linguistic and social heritage and firmly endorses the two-language formula. The SEP argues that teaching only Tamil and English will preserve Tamil Nadus linguistic heritage while preparing students for the future. With the introduction of the SEP, Tamil will be made compulsory across all boards in Tamil Nadu. Till 10th standard, across all boards, including CBSE, ICSE and the State Board, Tamil will be made compulsory and students will study Tamil, School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi told the media after releasing the SEP. The policy shifts focus from memorisation to nurturing creative and critical thinking, aiming for 100 per cent higher education enrolment among students completing Class 12. The state plans to nurture every childs potential, ensure holistic development and uphold social justice and empower learners of the 21st century to thrive as compassionate, confident and responsible citizens in an evolving world. As of now, the state has a Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) of 102.6 per cent at upper primary level, which is higher than the national level. Though the state GER is higher than the national level, the policy says that there are persistent disparities in GER, dropout rates and learning outcomes among the SC, ST, minority and tribal students in specific districts. Addressing the challenges in Basic Literacy and Numeracy (BLN), the policy says that a mission-mode programme will be operationalised to ensure that children in Classes 1 and 3 acquire age-appropriate reading, writing and numeracy skills. All children entering Grade 1 will be assessed for language readiness and cognitive development using student workbooks and age-appropriate tools. The SEP also proposes to optimise the content for critical thinking, conceptual clarity and life skills. It also pushes back the NEPs proposal for public exams in Classes 3, 5 and 8. Calling it regressive, anti-social justice and a potential cause for higher dropout rates and commercialisation of education, the SEP battles for in-depth learning science, artificial intelligence and English along with substantial investment in state-run institutions. The SEP also recommends bringing education back under the state list from the concurrent list. While recommending teacher capacity-building and professional development, the SEP reaffirms the states commitment to invest in equipping the teachers. It also recommends an art-integrated learning approach. The release of the SEP comes months after protests against the NEP introduced by the Union government. Tamil Nadu has been vociferous against the Centre by calling it anti-social justice. The state has also been opposing the three-language formula suggested by the NEP. In May, the state government moved the Supreme Court, seeking a direction to the Centre to release the 2,291.30 crore due to the state through the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) scheme. The money has been withheld as a consequence of the state refusing to implement the NEP and the three-language formula proposed by the Centre. The state, also in its petition, sought to direct the Centre to comply with the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act 2009, by compulsory disbursal of 60 per cent of its share in the grants-in-aid, before the academic year. Israels security cabinet has approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus plan for the gradual military takeover of the entire Gaza Strip, a move that goes against the advice of the IDF and risks prolonging the nearly two-year war. The decision, reached after ten hours of deliberations, was announced in a pre-dawn statement today that outlined preparations to seize Gaza City first. The next phase would see Israeli forces push into central areas where Hamas is believed to be holding hostages, and where the army has so far avoided major operations. ALSO READ | Hezbollah refuses Lebanese order to disarm, threatens war with Israel The government said that the objective was a decisive victory over Hamas, which led the October 7, 2023 assault on Israel that triggered the conflict. The plan includes humanitarian aid for civilians outside combat zones and sets out five principles for ending the war: Hamas disarmament, the return of hostages, Gazas demilitarisation, continued Israeli security control, and the creation of a civil administration neither run by Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority. Netanyahus proposal was approved despite growing international concerns over Gazas humanitarian crisis and significant domestic opposition. The military will now mobilise reserves, reposition troops for the assault, and oversee the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from combat areas. ALSO READ | Netanyahu VS Israel army: Gaza takeover plan leads to open confrontation with army chief Eyal Zamir Some analysts suggest that the offensive may be intended as leverage in stalled ceasefire talks. US and Israeli officials have discussed an all-or-nothing deal under which Hamas would release all hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and a formal end to the war. Without such an agreement, Israel would press ahead with its campaign. The Israeli military claims to control 75 per cent of Gaza. The remainderfrom Gaza City in the north to Khan Younis in the southhouses many of the enclaves 20 lakh residents, including large numbers displaced into tents and temporary shelters. ALSO READ | Hamas rejects disarmament amid ceasefire talks, slams US envoy's Gaza visit In an interview with Fox News, Netanyahu had earlier insisted on seizing all of Gaza, rejecting military warnings about risks to hostages and civilians. He said the move would guarantee Israels security, remove Hamas from power, and allow governance to be transferred to another party, possibly Arab forces. Hamas condemned his comments as proof of his real motives and a reversal in negotiations. Internal tensions in Israel The decision has heightened tensions between Netanyahu and the military. Chief of Staff Lt Gen Eyal Zamir opposes the plan, citing the exhaustion of reservists, equipment readiness and the burden of administering millions of Palestinians. Military leaders prefer a new ceasefire to further escalation, arguing it could protect hostages and prevent wider destabilisation. ALSO READ | US Democratic House members push for Palestinian statehood recognition as party undergoes major churn over Israel This is the most serious clash between Netanyahu and the army since Zamirs appointment in February. While some government allies have criticised him, Zamir defended the Israel Defence Forces culture of debate and said that the commanders would continue to voice opinions freely, though decisions ultimately rested with political leaders. Military assessments suggest that the remaining parts of Gaza could be seized in a number of months, but establishing a West Bank-style security regime could take up to five years, with two years of sustained combat for full occupation. Opposition leader Yair Lapid called the plan a poor operational, moral and economic choice, while hostage families fear that the offensive could endanger their loved ones. Despite no official confirmation coming from India or host China, reports that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting have been cheered by Chinese state media Global Times. Welcoming the Prime Minister to China, the report hailed Modis potential visit as a move that could benefit their respective development and contribute to regional peace and prosperity. As a Hindu proverb goes, 'Help your brother's boat across, and your own will reach the shore," the report said, adding that deepening cooperation through the SCO not only benefits their respective development, but also contributes to regional peace and prosperity. Quoting Indian media reports about Narendra Modis impending visit, the Global Times said Modis visit has gained global attention. The Prime Ministers visit is a favourable chance to solidify the thaw in China-India relations. The report also hoped for a healthy China-India relationship, stating that the country awaited a new chapter of "the dragon and the elephant dancing together." The Chinese state mouthpiece, however, took a dig at the US, stating its attempt to rope in India to contain China in the Indo-Pacific does not align with formers foreign policy. Modis visit was interpreted by some Western media as an attempt to hedge against the US. Calling such views one-sided, Global Times justified India and Modi, stating free trade and countering unilateral tariffs is the shared will of most countries. It said China did not view China-India cooperation as a weapon against any third party. As two ancient civilisations with long-standing friendly exchanges, two major emerging economies, and key members of the Global South, both countries share common interests and their relationship follows its own historic logic. The article comes at a time when the India-China relationship witnesses a thaw and Chinas public support for India against Trump. Chinese Ambassador to India, Xu Feihong, took Indias side on Thursday when he took a jab at US President Donald Trump after his tariff imposition on countries, including India. "Give the bully an inch, he will take a mile," the Chinese envoy to India wrote on X. SYDNEY, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- A man has been hospitalized in a critical condition and a teenager has been arrested following the stabbing attack at a public park in Sydney. Emergency services were called to reports of an assault at the park in the inner-western Sydney suburb of Annandale at about 10:45 p.m. on Thursday. Police officers arrived and found six men with a range of injuries, who said they had been assaulted by a group of four unknown males following an argument. One of the victims, a 21-year-old man, suffered stab wounds and was taken to hospital in a critical condition. Four more of the injured men were also taken to hospital, while one was treated at the scene by ambulance paramedics but did not require hospitalization. Police established a crime scene and commenced an investigation into the incident. Following inquiries, a 15-year-old boy was arrested in Annandale at around 12:15 a.m. and taken to a nearby police station. A Canadian man was arrested after being charged with first-degree murder of a 21-year-old Indian student, Harsimrat Randhawa, in April. Hamilton police said at a press conference that Jerdaine Foster, 32, was arrested in Niagara Falls, Ontario, on Tuesday. The man was also charged with three counts of attempted murder. Randhawa, the Indian student, died at the hospital after she was hit and injured by a stray bullet after she had gotten off at the bus stop. She was standing and waiting to cross the road at the intersection of Upper James Street and South Bend Road on April 17. She studied occupational Physiotherapy at Mohawk College My statement on the recent arrest made in the Harsimrat Randhawa homicide #HamOnt pic.twitter.com/DPDPyl7KWn Monica Ciriello (@MCirielloMPP) August 7, 2025 Acting Detective Sergeant Daryl Reid said that the "Harsimrat was an innocent bystander," and "She was simply trying to make her way home from a local gym when she was struck and killed." The bullet had struck her in the chest after she was caught between the crossfire of a violent confrontation involving multiple vehicles. About seven people in four cars were involved in the dispute, which saw at least two guns being fired at each other. However, no other arrests have been made. Foster, the accused, has ties to Hamilton, Halton and Niagara Falls. "The investigation is still ongoing, and we will do everything in our power to identify, locate and arrest all these people who are involved in this death," Reid said. Chief Frank Bergen said Randhawa lost her life to "a senseless act of gun violence," and said that the arrest was a complex one, which took around five months and said that it was a "much welcome outcome for our grieving communities." Comedian and media personality Hardeep Singh Kohli has been accused of a series of sexual offences, including indecently assaulting a woman in a BBC studio. The 56-year-old Scottish artist has reportedly denied as many as six sex-related charges after being accused of offences against three women between 2007 and 2016. For a trial that is expected to last four to five days, the prosecution is preparing to present seven civilian witnesses, along with one police witness, before the Glasgow Sheriff Court, according to British media reports. In one of the cases, Hardeep Singh Kohli is said to have groped a woman from behind at BBC Studios in Glasgows Pacific Quay. He also allegedly tried to hug her forcefully and made sexual comments. However, this is being treated as a separate charge, as he made the comments at a Glasgow bar and restaurant. A third charge accuses him of stroking the woman on her back and touching her hair at the city's Radisson Blu Hotel. The second woman has reportedly alleged that the former Celebrity Big Brother contestant sexually assaulted her at the Cross Keys Hotel in Canonbie, Dumfries and Galloway. Kohli is accused of forcibly taking her arm before trying to kiss her face. He is also accused of "conducting himself in a disorderly manner" by exposing himself and performing a sex act on himself at the same hotel, according to a report by STV.TV. The third woman alleged that he sexually assaulted her at the Yes Bar in Glasgow city centre, the STV.TV report said. She accused him of forcing himself on her, claiming he attempted to put his tongue in her mouth after seizing her body. Who is Hardeep Singh Kohli? Kohli, of Indian Sikh heritage, is also known as a television presenter, writer, and broadcaster. Apart from Celebrity Big Brother, he was part of the BBC's The One Show, Question Time, Desi DNA, and Celebrity MasterChef, where he was a finalist. He has also been a regular on BBC Radio 4 and has written for newspapers like The Guardian and The Independent. He was charged by Scottish Police with multiple sexual offences, including rape and assault, in 2023. This significantly damaged his public standing. Paraguay President Santiago Pena met Hinduja family members (Prakash Hinduja, Ajay Hinduja and Ashok Hinduja) for an economic partnership The Hinduja Group is noted as a global powerhouse with a vast portfolio spanning from banking to automotive manufacturing with an influence extending across continents. A recent meeting with President Santiago Pena underscored their ongoing efforts to expand their international partnerships. The meeting was focused mainly on key growth sectors including energy, automation and technology for integration with Paraguay's long-term development objectives. Representing the Group at the meeting were Prakash Hinduja, Chairman of Hinduja Group Europe; Ashok P. Hinduja, Chairman of Hinduja Group of Companies (India); and Ajay Hinduja, a prominent member of the promoter family and son of Prakash Hinduja. The engagement was hosted by the Hinduja Family at The OWO in London, the restored Old War Office building. It is noted as a landmark development by the Hinduja Family, bringing together the Raffles London hotel and exclusive residences. President Santiago Pena described the meeting as a move in a right direction for Paraguays mission to attract high-value global investments. Reflecting on the meeting, President Pena said, I held a meeting with the principal shareholders of the Hinduja Group, the largest business conglomerate in India. We discussed the great opportunities that Paraguay offers in sectors such as energy, technology, and automation. With a presence in India, Europe, Asia, and the Americas, expressed strong interest in our country. I am convinced that we will continue to attract investments that generate jobs, development, and more opportunities for all Paraguayans. This interaction with the Paraguayan leader reflects the awareness of the evolving nature of the nation and how Hindujas are interested in playing a key role in the economic landscape of Latin America. With their footprint in multiple continents, the Hinduja Family has set a larger pattern of Indian-origin business in establishing subsidiaries in new and lesser explored markets. The Hinduja Family may lead to other Indian interests in Paraguay going forward. Paraguay has a great potential when it comes to developments as per the global trends in sustainability and technology. We look forward to working together to establish new value chains across Latin America, says Prakash Hinduja. The Hinduja Group has always invested in emerging opportunities that contribute to national development, said Prakash Hinduja. Paraguays vision and has inspired us, and we are excited about the future possibilities. Ajay Hinduja, representing the next generation of leadership within the Group, also highlighted, Our family has always believed in creating long-term relationships with mutual growth. Paraguay offers adequate opportunities to invest in both people and ideas. The Hinduja Group's interaction with President Pena highlights how family-owned organisations around the world can influence the international investment flows. Partnerships with large businesses like the Hindujas will have a lasting effect on Paraguay's economy. This meeting between President Pena and the Hinduja Group will help both sides to strengthen the economic ties, foster innovation and create a common path for sustainable development. On one hand, Paraguay can display the opportunities, it has to offer, to all the future investors and on the other hand, Hinduja Group can create an international vision guided by their generational commitments, while making a local impact. (Disclaimer: The above press release comes to you under an arrangement with NRDPL and PTI takes no editorial responsibility for the same.). PTI PWR Singapore, Aug 8 (PTI) Singapore is set to come alive with nostalgia and cinematic magic with a special tribute event honouring legendary filmmaker Raj Kapoor on his birth centenary. The event, titled "A Musical Tribute to the Great Showman Raj Kapoor", is being organised by Respect India, a nationally recognised non-profit dedicated to promoting Indias cultural heritage, at Global Indian International School on August 23. The event will feature an evening of timeless songs, iconic moments, and heartfelt memories from one of Indian cinemas most revered figures, reported Tabla!, a Friday weekly here. The chief guest for the evening will be actor and member of parliament Manoj Tiwari, while the guests of honour include former mayor of Delhi Rajni Abbi, noted orthopaedic surgeon Yash Gulati, and actor Mukesh Tyagi. The special tribute is part of a year-long global celebration of Kapoors 100th birth anniversary, with upcoming events planned in Russia, Mauritius, Uzbekistan, and cities across India. It aims to bring together the Indian diaspora, students, music and cinema lovers, and cultural leaders for an intergenerational experience that honours Kapoors legacy. According to Respect India, the goal is to inspire younger generations to discover Indian cinemas humanistic power and reconnect with Indias artistic roots. Born on December 14, Raj Kapoor, son of film and theatre veteran Prithviraj Kapoor, was an actor, an editor, a director and a producer who founded RK Studios in 1948. In his career spanning four decades, he directed films such as "Aag", "Barsaat", "Awara", "Shree 420", "Sangam", "Mera Naam Joker", "Bobby", "Satyam Shivam Sundaram", "Prem Rog", and "Ram Teri Ganga Maili". A shooting that injured five soldiers at one of the countrys largest military bases on Wednesday has resurfaced questions about a long-standing army policy that largely prevents service members from carrying personal weapons on military installations. Soldiers in the area who witnessed the shooting at Fort Stewart in Georgia immediately and without hesitation tackled the shooter to subdue him before law enforcement arrived, Brigadier Gen. John Lubas said at a news conference Wednesday. But they didnt have firearms to shoot back because of a policy first enacted decades ago to ensure safety by limiting armed members on army bases to military police. The suspect in the shooting, logistics Sgt. Quornelius Radford, used a personal weapon, Lubas said. Questions about why soldiers didnt have weapons were buzzing online after at least one video of the incident on social media appears to show service members in uniform running to safety amid a lockdown that lasted about an hour, instead of firing back at the shooter. While some have questioned why many service members in the area during the shooting didnt use weapons to defend themselves, others have questioned whether existing regulations do enough to prevent shootings on bases. The shooting is the latest in a growing list of violent incidents at American military installations over the years some claiming upward of a dozen lives. Experts say that there are reasons for long-standing regulations on military bases, despite their limitations. Department of Defense policy in place for decades Department of Defense policy prohibits military personnel from carrying personal weapons on base without permission from a senior commander, and there is a strict protocol for how the firearm must be stored. Typically, military personnel must officially check their guns out of secure storage to go to on-base hunting areas or shooting ranges, and then check all firearms back in promptly after its sanctioned use. Military police are often the only armed personnel on base, outside of shooting ranges, hunting areas or in training, where soldiers can wield their service weapons without ammunition. The federal policy leaves little room for local commanders to use discretion about how the policy is enforced. That means the regulation applies even in Georgia, a state with some of the most lax gun regulations in the country, where Fort Stewart is located. Designed to protect national security Robert Capovilla, a founding partner for one of the largest military law firms in the country, strongly believes in the Second Amendment. But he said that the strict firearm policies on military bases exist for a reason. A lot of these installations are involved in top-secret operations, dealing with top-secret information, and because of that you need a heightened security, said Capovilla, a former military prosecutor and defense attorney. You simply dont want folks walking around a federal installation with personal weapons. He said he has traveled to nearly every single major military installation in North America for his work. Whenever he visits an installation, he said armed military police have a visible presence almost constantly on base. He added that he doesnt believe Wednesdays shooting could have been prevented if military personnel had been armed at the time. Limitations to military gun regulation Firearms on military bases are more regulated than most states in some ways, according to former military prosecutor and defense counsel Eric Carpenter. But he said that the limitations on gun control on military bases parallel gun policy debates in the public more broadly. You dont forfeit all of your rights when you enter the military, Carpenter said. Outside of a military situation, the service member has just as much Second Amendment right as anyone else. For example, it could be fairly straightforward for a service member living off-base to bring a weapon onto the military installation, Carpenter said, because a senior commander cant regulate gun ownership off base. There is also scant legal ground for leadership to confiscate a gun when a service member is exhibiting signs of a mental health crisis or post-traumatic stress disorder, potentially posing a threat to themselves or others. In recent years, those gaps have come under more scrutiny because of mass shootings, he said. All those rules arent going to prevent someone from doing what the guy did today, Carpenter said. (AP) Although President Donald Trump has not directly said he thinks JD Vance should be the heir to his Make America Great Again base of support, he acknowledged this week that his vice president is probably the favorite to succeed him at this point. But even as he promoted Vance, Trump also made sure to mention Secretary of State Marco Rubio, telling reporters at the White House on Tuesday that his administrations top diplomat is somebody that maybe would get together with JD in some form on a future political ticket. The remarks reflect the massive influence the Republican president currently has over his party. They also serve to promote two of Trumps top advisers without telegraphing the presidents singular preference for a successor. Not definitively anointing Vance, or any other Republican, keeps those hoping to succeed Trump vying for his favor, both inside his administration and in the wider Republican field of possible contenders. Its early for the 2028 presidential field to begin forming, and other contenders will ultimately emerge. A challenge for anyone wading into the race, even with strong Trump connections, will be staying in the presidents good graces for the duration. Speaking with reporters following an executive order signing at the White House, Trump was asked if Vance were the heir apparent to MAGA. I think most likely, in all fairness, hes the vice president, Trump said. I think Marco is also somebody that maybe would get together with JD in some form. Its too early obviously, to talk about it, but certainly hes doing a great job and he would be, probably favored at this point. When Trump selected the then-39-year-old Vance over other more established Republicans including Rubio as his running mate last year, many theorized that Trump was planning for the future of his political movement, angling for a vice president who could carry MAGA forward. Vance has embraced the role at every turn, doing the presidents bidding on everything from his relationship with Ukraine to the fight over records related to the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking scandal. Trump, meanwhile, has not hesitated to give Vance high-visibility assignments. As the White House promotes mid-decade redistricting efforts in Texas and acknowledges it would like the notion to expand to other states Vance is expected Thursday to discuss redrawing district lines with Gov. Mike Braun during a trip to Indiana. While there, Vance will also headline a fundraiser for the Republican National Committee, which he serves as treasurer. In June he traveled to Los Angeles to tour a multiagency Federal Joint Operations Center and a mobile command center amid clashes between protesters and police and outbreaks of vandalism and looting following immigration raids across Southern California. And earlier this year, Vance was in swing congressional districts in his role as lead cheerleader for Trumps signature tax cut and spending law, an assortment of conservative priorities that Republicans dubbed the One Big, Beautiful Bill. He also lobbied senators on Capitol Hill, working to swing GOP holdouts to support the legislation, and in July cast a tie-breaking vote to get the measure passed in the Senate. Hes also taken on a robust role related to foreign policy, holding meetings of his own with world leaders, including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a trip to New Delhi, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House. Rubio, who has described Vance as among his closest friends in politics, said on Fox News Channel on Sunday that he felt Vance would be a great nominee if he decides he wants to do that. Other Republicans mentioned as possible 2028 contenders are already making the rounds of early-voting states. Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin speaks at a GOP fundraiser in South Carolina this weekend, and Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders headlines an event in that state later this month. Both have taken pains to curry the presidents favor. Not every Republican contender has gone that route. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, who lost the 2016 nomination to Trump, has been visiting early-voting states, too, but he voted against the presidents signature legislative measure. And Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp who has long harbored ambitions to run for president but has a complicated history with Trump recently said he was sitting out of a Senate race in his state, a decision telegraphed by some as an indication Kemp might be eyeing the 2028 White House race. (AP) The Trump administration is moving to shut down two NASA missions that monitor a potent greenhouse gas and plant health, potentially shutting off an important source of data for scientists, policymakers and farmers. President Donald Trumps budget request for fiscal year 2026 includes no money for the Orbiting Carbon Observatories, which can precisely show where carbon dioxide is being emitted and absorbed and how well crops are growing. NASA said in an emailed statement Wednesday that the missions were beyond their prime mission and being terminated to align with the Presidents agenda and budget priorities. But the missions a free-flying satellite launched in 2014 and an instrument attached to the International Space Station in 2019 that include technology used in the Hubble Space Telescope still are more sensitive and accurate than any other systems in the world, operating or planned, and a national asset that should be saved, said David Crisp, a retired NASA scientist who led their development. They helped scientists discover, for example, that the Amazon rain forest emits more carbon dioxide than it absorbs, while boreal forests in Canada, Russia and places where permafrost is melting absorb more than they emit, Crisp said. They also can detect the glow of photosynthesis in plants, which helps monitor drought and predict food shortages that can lead to civil unrest and famine, he said. This is really critical, Crisp said. Were learning so much about this rapidly changing planet. The decision to end the missions is extremely shortsighted, said Jonathan Overpeck, a climate scientist at the University of Michigan. The observations provided by these satellites (are) critical for managing growing climate change impacts around the planet, including in the U.S., he said. Looking to Congress Crisp and others hope Congress will vote to preserve funding for the missions, which are funded through the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30. A bill in the House closely aligns with the presidents request and would eliminate the missions, while a Senate version preserves them. But with Congress in recess, it is unclear whether a budget will be adopted before the new fiscal year begins Oct. 1. If it doesnt, Congress could adopt a resolution to continue current funding until a budget is passed, though some lawmakers fear the Trump administration could try to delay or withhold that money. Congressional Democrats warned acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy last month that it would be illegal to terminate missions or impound funds already appropriated by Congress. Experts said the administrations move to eliminate funding aligns with other actions to cut or bury climate science. The principle seems to be that if we stop measuring climate change it will just disappear from the American consciousness, said University of Pennsylvania climate scientist Michael Mann. Backup plan Crisp and others also are trying to put together a coalition of outside partners including from Japan and Europe that could fund and operate the instrument attached to the space station. NASA said it will accept outside proposals through Aug. 29. The free-flying satellite, though, is at risk of being brought down, meaning it would burn up in the atmosphere. National Public Radio first reported that NASA employees were making plans to end the missions. Crisp said advocates are hoping NASA also allows outside control of that satellite, which covers more of the globe, but there are legal hurdles to overcome because it would mean giving control of a U.S. satellite to a group that could include foreign partners. Were going out to billionaires. Were going out to foundations, Crisp said. But its a really, really bad idea to try and push it off onto private industry or private individuals or private donors. It just doesnt make sense. (AP) A senior FBI official who served as acting director in the first weeks of the Trump administration and resisted demands to turn over the names of agents who participated in the Jan. 6, 2021, investigations is being forced out of the bureau, two people familiar with the matter said Thursday. The circumstances of Brian Driscolls ouster were not immediately clear, but his final day is Friday, said the people, who were not authorized to discuss the personnel move by name and spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity. Additional ousters were possible. Spokespeople for the FBI declined to comment. The news comes amid a much broader personnel purge that has unfolded over the last several months under the leadership of current FBI Director Kash Patel and Deputy Director Dan Bongino. Numerous senior officials including top agents in charge of big-city field offices have been pushed out of their jobs, and some agents have been subjected to polygraph exams, moves that former officials say have roiled the workforce and contributed to angst. Driscoll, a veteran agent who worked international counterterrorism investigations in New York and had also commanded the bureaus Hostage Rescue Team, had most recently served as acting director in charge of the Critical Incident Response Group, which deploys manpower and resources to crisis situations. Driscoll was named acting director in January to replace Christopher Wray and served in the position as Patels nomination was pending. He made headlines after he and Rob Kissane, the then-deputy director, resisted Trump administration demands for information about agents who participated in investigations into the Jan. 6 riot by a mob of President Donald Trumps supporters at the U.S. Capitol. Emil Bove, the then-senior Justice Department official who made the request and was last week confirmed for a seat on a federal appeals court, wrote a memo accusing the FBIs top leaders of insubordination. Responding to Boves request, the FBI ultimately provided personnel details about several thousand employees, identifying them by unique employee numbers rather than by names. The FBI has moved under Patels watch to aggressively demote, reassign or push out agents. In April, for instance, the bureau reassigned several agents who were photographed kneeling during a racial justice protest in Washington that followed the 2020 death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers, two people familiar with the matter said Wednesday. Numerous special agents in charge of field offices have been told to retire, resign or accept reassignment. Another agent, Michael Feinberg, has said publicly that he was told to resign or accept a demotion amid scrutiny from leadership of his friendship with Peter Strzok, a lead agent on the FBIs Trump-Russia investigation who was fired by the Justice Department in 2018 following revelations that he had exchanged negative text messages about President Donald Trump with an FBI lawyer, Lisa Page. (AP) A new investigative report by the New York Post alleges that Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas), a first-term congresswoman known for her viral clashes with Republicans, has fostered a toxic and chaotic work environment behind the scenes, while prioritizing media appearances and personal branding over her official responsibilities. Crockett, who represents a Dallas-area district and has become a fixture on cable news for her fiery opposition to President Donald Trump, is described by former staff and associates as disengaged from her congressional duties, frequently absent from her Capitol Hill office, and verbally abusive to employees. According to the Post, multiple former aides say the congresswoman often works remotely from her luxury apartment near Capitol Hill and is rarely seen in her official office in the Longworth House Office Building. She is laying around her apartment, wont come into the office, and is really just indifferent to staff and will scream at them, one former staffer told the Post. The report cites several anonymous sources who claim that Crockett frequently berates staff members, creates a toxic workplace culture, and shows little interest in policy or constituent services. Instead, they say, she is focused almost entirely on building her personal brand. Shes more focused on, Get me on The View, Get me on this late-night talk show, one former aide said. The staff is really just an island unto itself, because she doesnt care about the local issues happening in her district. Staffers also allege that Crockett insists on being chauffeured around Washington in weekly-rented luxury vehicles such as Escalades, rather than using personal staff cars, with aides expected to act as drivers and open doors for her on arrival. She treats the scheduler like an Uber driver, a source told the Post, describing the routine as a power play. In one reported instance, Crockett is said to have reduced a legislative aide to tears by yelling, Do you really want to be here? And if not, you can leave! Another former aide, a young Black woman, was allegedly fired without explanation. I dont want to hear Jasmine Crockett talk about helping Black women when she just fired one for no reason, the aide confided to a colleague, according to the report. Crockett has gone through multiple chiefs of staff in less than two years, with one source saying that turnover stems from her unwillingness to focus on the day-to-day work of legislating. The actual job of a member of Congress isnt fun and glamorous, the source said. Unless youre somebody willing to say yes to all of the outrageous things she would like to do, youre not gonna last long. Crockett, a former criminal defense attorney and state lawmaker, rose to national prominence in May after a heated exchange with Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) during a House committee hearing. Crocketts bleach blonde bad built butch body retort to Greene went viral and became a Democratic fundraising tool, but reportedly drew criticism from within her own office. According to the Post, several of Crocketts staff members were uncomfortable with her use of the word butch. When they raised concerns, Crockett allegedly dismissed them, saying, Thats not offensive. Youre stupid if you think so. The Post also recounted Crocketts behavior during an interview with The Atlantic, where she reportedly berated a staffer in front of a journalist and mocked food brought to her by another aide. When the journalist sought comment from other lawmakers for the profile, Crockett reportedly attempted to cancel the story and revoke permissions. Another source alleged that Crockett once cut in front of two disabled passengers to board a commercial flight an incident reportedly observed by Rep. Lisa McClain (R-Mich.). The Post said that it made multiple attempts to reach Crockett for comment, including emails to her official press inbox and phone calls to both her Washington and district offices. None were returned, and phone lines reportedly went straight to voicemail during business hours. The accusations come as Crockett continues to rise in national Democratic circles. She delivered a speech at the 2024 Democratic National Convention, calling former President Trump a vindictive, vile villain, and remains a frequent presence on cable news and social media. (YWN World Headquarters NYC) Speculation around the 2028 Republican presidential race is already heating up and according to CNN senior data analyst Harry Enten, Vice President JD Vance is the man to beat. During a Thursday morning segment on CNN News Central, Enten told anchor Kate Bolduan that early polling shows Vance commanding a dominant 40% of Republican support for the 2028 nomination far ahead of other potential contenders like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (8%) and Donald Trump Jr. (7%). You know, Im gonna quote the esteemed scholar Larry David and say, Pretty, pretty good, Enten quipped. Theres no one even close to him. While Bolduan noted that 2028 is still years away, Enten pushed back, citing historical trends: since 1980, early frontrunners in wide-open GOP primaries have gone on to win the nomination 63% of the time. When youre dealing with fields that are five, six, seven, eight, nine, even twenty candidates, and one person is already breaking away you have to take that seriously, Enten said. Enten also noted the unique advantage Vance could hold if Trump throws his full weight behind his vice president. If Donald Trump decides to get behind his VP, this GOP nomination fight in 2028 is likely, adios amigos over, he said. The polling says it, the history says it at this point, things all seem to be coming up for JD. Your browser does not support the video tag. (YWN World Headquarters NYC) KABUL, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- Police have discovered 343 kg of illegal drugs during a series of operations in parts of Tirin Kot, the provincial capital of southern Afghanistan's Uruzgan province, provincial police spokesman Bilal Uruzgani said Friday. The drugs included opium poppy, heroin and methamphetamine, said the spokesman. The official said that the contraband, along with all documents found during the operations, had been handed over to the judiciary. President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order mandating a probe into whether banks have discriminated against conservatives and certain industries like gun manufacturers and cryptocurrency companies, invoking the vast powers to go after entities that the Republican president alleges have discriminated against him and his allies. The executive order deals with an issue known as debanking, which is when banks close accounts of individuals or declines to go into business with certain industries. Trump has accused JPMorgan and Bank of America of debanking him and his companies in the past, something both banks have denied. Trump ordered federal bank regulators to make sure banks do not discriminate against individuals or companies for their political or religious beliefs. He also ordered bank regulators to probe when banks may have allegedly discriminated and refer the cases to the Department of Justice. The move could open banks to potential civil or criminal investigations, fines or punishments. When Trump and his party discuss debanking, they typically refer to banks closing the accounts of a person or company when they no longer want to do business with them. Banks usually say they close accounts or deny loans because the person or business is deemed too risky. The banking industry has long argued that it has a constitutional right to choose whom they go into business with, if it does not violate laws like the Equal Credit Opportunity Act. Th act, which was part of several pieces of legislation signed during the Civil Rights Movement, bans banks from discrimination based on race, ethnicity, religion, sex and other protected statuses. Another type of debanking is when government regulators tell banks to avoid doing business with industries or individuals. Democratic President Barack Obamas Department of Justice told banks to avoid doing business with high risk industries, which included payday lenders and firearms manufacturers. This type of government-directed debanking is also known as reputational risk, where the historic reputation of an industry prompts banks to be more careful about banking and lending. Historic examples include entities who did business in high-risk countries, did business largely in cash or were repeatedly flagged by bank regulators. Conservatives have argued that reputational risk has become an umbrella term that allows banks to discriminate. The banking industry insists it does not actively debank and does not target specific industries or individuals. Banks have already been removing any mention of reputational risk from their policies and procedures, particularly since Trump returned to the White House. We dont close accounts for political reasons, and we agree with President Trump that regulatory change is desperately needed, said a spokeswoman for JPMorgan Chase. The Obama administrations government-directed debanking has been a rallying cry for conservatives. Its one reason why the cryptocurrency industry backed Trump in 2024. While the Biden administration did not explicitly force banks to debank the crypto industry, Democratic President Joe Bidens bank regulators did express some public concern about it, a move that was read by banks as a reason to steer away from crypto. That phrasing by the Biden administration was often referred to as Operation Choke Point 2.0 by Trump and his allies. Republicans have introduced legislation to cut down on alleged acts of debanking as well. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, chair of the Senate Banking Committee, has introduced legislation that would require bank regulators to no longer consider reputational risk as a factor in how they measure a banks health and risk profile. (AP) On Monday, Waterbury Police Chief Fernando C. Spagnolo, accompanied by Lieutenant and Chiefs Aide Rob Raad and Waterbury Hatzalah coordinators toured the Catskills to strengthen ties with the Waterbury Jewish community. The visit began at Taam Eden Bakery in Monticello, where they were welcomed by Catskills Hatzalah Coordinator Yidel Feig. The group then continued to the Hatzalah Air Hangar, where they were greeted by CEO and Chief Pilot Paramedic Eli Rowe. The delegation proceeded to the Sullivan County 911 Communications Headquarters for a meeting with Communications Chief and EMS Coordinator Alex Rau, and then visited Camp HASC to meet with staff and campers. During the visit, Chief Spagnolo presented a variety of gifts brought on behalf of the Waterbury Police Department to be distributed to the campersa gesture that was warmly received by all. The day concluded with a brunch in Monticello with Sullivan County Sheriff Michael Schiff, hosted by community askan and Catskills Hatzalah volunteer Shimmy Stern. Special thanks to Simcha Bernath and Baruch Ber Bender for their efforts in coordinating the visit and helping arrange the meetings, and to Akiva Tepper at Camp HASCa paramedic with NY and Waterbury Hatzalahfor his assistance and hospitality. (YWN World Headquarters NYC) New York Attorney General Letitia James is now under federal investigation, with two subpoenas issued as part of a grand jury probe examining her conduct in the high-profile $454 million civil fraud case against former President Donald Trump and her aggressive pursuit of the National Rifle Association. The investigation, spearheaded by Acting Albany U.S. Attorney John Sarcone in coordination with the FBI, was launched in May and is now intensifying. Sources say the grand jury is probing potential violations of civil rights laws and abuse of prosecutorial power. One subpoena reportedly targets records tied to the civil fraud judgment Jamess office secured against Trumpstill under review by an appellate court. The second subpoena seeks documents related to her long-running investigation into the NRA and other internal files. While details remain under wraps, the probe appears to have been triggered in part by a formal referral from Federal Housing Finance Agency Director William Pulte. In April, Pulte accused James of falsifying mortgage records to secure favorable loan terms on two propertiesone in Norfolk, Virginia, and another in Brooklynallegations James has denied as baseless. If average Americans submitted false documents to a bank, theyd be prosecuted. The same must apply to powerful public officials, Pultes referral letter read, warning that the conduct could rise to criminal charges, including wire fraud, mail fraud, and making false statements to financial institutions. James, who has built her political brand on targeting Trump and the gun lobby, fired back in a statement through a spokesperson: Any weaponization of the justice system should disturb every American. We stand strongly behind our successful litigation against the Trump Organization and the NRA and will continue to fight for New Yorkers rights. House Republican Conference Chair Elise Stefanik said Friday the Department of Justices investigation is a vital step toward justice, adding: Letitia James is about to learn firsthand what no one is above the law really means. Shes a disaster for New York, Trump said of James during a May 6 rally. Shes a horrible human beingand I think shes a total crook. The embattled attorney general, who previously retained former Hunter Biden lawyer Abbe Lowell, has accused Trump of launching a politically motivated revenge tour since his return to the White House. In a letter to the DOJ earlier this year, Lowell argued the investigation amounted to political retaliation and vowed to meet false claims with facts. This appears to be the political retribution President Trump threatened to exact, Lowell wrote. Meanwhile, eyebrows were raised in Albany when lawmakers quietly inserted a $10 million provision into this years state budget to help cover legal fees for public officials like James who face investigations unrelated to their official duties. Jamess office confirmed she intends to use both public and private funds to defend herself. (YWN World Headquarters NYC) Iranian state broadcaster IRIB announced that a man executed this week for espionage was a senior nuclear scientist who allegedly provided classified information to the Mossad. The man, identified as Rouzbeh Vadi, held a Ph.D. in nuclear engineering from the Amir Kabir University of Technology and worked directly with the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, the body at the center of Irans contentious nuclear program. According to a televised segment broadcast by IRIB, Vadi confessed to leaking sensitive data about Irans key nuclear sites, including Fordo and Natanzfacilities that have been at the heart of international concern over Irans uranium enrichment activities. Key facilities were Fordo and Natanz, for which I sent information. I told them I knew this and that about Fordo, they told me to send everything, Vadi is heard saying in what IRIB described as a confession video. He also detailed Mossads interest in the Uranium Conversion Facility and Fuel Manufacturing Plant, claiming they placed particular emphasis on the entry and exit of nuclear material. A voiceover accompanying the video alleges Vadi held five meetings with Mossad agents in Vienna, during which he was instructed to open a cryptocurrency account to receive payments. According to the segment, Mossad promised him a foreign passport in exchange for long-term collaboration. Iranian authorities presented additional documents tying Vadi to the countrys nuclear program, including a 2012 scientific paper he co-authored alongside Ahmad Zolfaqar and Abdolhamid Minouchehrtwo Iranian nuclear scientists who were assassinated in June. Israel has not commented on the execution or the allegations against Vadi. Iran, meanwhile, continues to accuse the Mossad of orchestrating an aggressive campaign of espionage and targeted killings aimed at crippling its nuclear progress, even after the 12 day war that significantly set back its nuclear program. (YWN World Headquarters NYC) Israel is poised to approve a sweeping military plan to seize vast swaths of the Gaza Strip over the next five months, displacing up to a million Palestinians and risking the lives of dozens of Israeli hostages, despite warnings from top military brass that the campaign could spiral into a drawn-out, bloody quagmire. According to multiple Hebrew media reports, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is expected to secure cabinet approval Thursday evening for the first full reoccupation of Gaza since 2005. The operation would begin with an assault on Gaza City and move into the central Strip, pushing civilians southward toward the Mawasi humanitarian zone. The goal, officials say, is twofold: crush what remains of Hamas and ratchet up pressure to release the roughly 50 hostages still in captivity, about 20 of whom are believed to be alive. But critics including Israels own military chiefs warn the strategy could backfire catastrophically, endangering the hostages, triggering mass casualties, and plunging the country into an unsustainable, open-ended occupation. IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir has reportedly warned Netanyahu in closed-door sessions that a full-scale conquest of Gaza would be a strategic misstep. Occupying the Strip would drag Israel into a black hole, Channel 12 quoted Zamir as saying, cautioning it would entail long-term governance over two million Palestinians and potentially years of guerrilla warfare. Senior defense officials agree with Zamir, estimating the offensive could kill dozens of IDF soldiers and injure many more. Some compared it to Americas disastrous entanglement in Vietnam. We could end up knowingly entering a Vietnam model, one senior official told Channel 12. Despite this, Netanyahu is expected to override objections. A meeting of the high-level security cabinet is scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday, with most ministers predicted to back the plan. Shas leader Aryeh Deri and Foreign Minister Gideon Saar may oppose it, but they are unlikely to shift the majority. The operation would begin with an evacuation notice to Gaza Citys one million residents, allowing time to establish medical facilities and camps in the central Strip. In parallel, a humanitarian aid surge would be coordinated with the U.S., quadrupling current aid sites from four to sixteen. By phase two, the IDF would launch a ground offensive, likely involving four to five divisions over several months. Kan News reports this would extend into central refugee camps, which have remained largely untouched by previous operations. Channel 12 noted the U.S. may deliver a formal speech possibly by President Trump announcing a $1 billion humanitarian funding package to support the new aid corridor. Still, administration officials stressed that Washington does not support any Israeli move to annex Gaza territory. The plan also includes the objective of encouraging voluntary emigration from Gaza. Israeli officials believe further southward displacement could create the conditions for Gazans to leave the territory a strategy Egypt and Qatar have condemned. An alternative proposal, reportedly favored by some military leaders, would have encircled Gaza City and central camps, cutting off aid and carrying out targeted strikes instead of a full invasion. But Netanyahu is said to have rejected that plan as too slow and ineffective. Still, internal dissent within the IDF is growing. Maj. Gen. Yaniv Asor, head of the IDF Southern Command, publicly acknowledged deep disagreements among military leaders, calling them professional disputes born of genuine concern for Israels security. According to Yediot Acharonot, Asor recently clashed with Israeli Air Force chief Maj. Gen. Tomer Bar, who has reportedly blocked some strikes due to surging civilian casualties. You there in Tel Aviv are disconnected from whats happening on the ground, Asor allegedly told top brass during a tense video call. President Trump has signaled he will not stand in Israels way. Its pretty much up to Israel, he said earlier this week when asked about the full takeover of Gaza. Axios reported that Trumps stance hardened after viewing a Hamas propaganda video showing a frail hostage, Evyatar David, forced to dig what appeared to be his own grave. However, a U.S. official told Axios that while the administration will not block Israels plan, it does not support any permanent annexation of territory. Instead, the U.S. hopes a new military dynamic might revive stalled hostage negotiations or facilitate a broader post-war framework. Those hopes remain slim. Israeli officials quoted by Kan said the chances of Hamas returning to the table before the operation begins are almost zero. (YWN World Headquarters NYC) Hamas is quietly disbursing salaries to tens of thousands of operatives using clandestine, cash-based methods while systematically looting humanitarian aid bound for Gazas civilian population, according to a BBC investigation published Wednesday. The report confirms long-standing Israeli allegations that the terror group has hijacked the flow of international assistance, distributing life-saving supplies to its loyalists and black-market networks while desperate families face hunger and disease. Despite a total economic collapse in the Gaza Strip, the BBC found that Hamas continues to pay approximately 30,000 so-called civil servants, issuing partial salaries every ten weeksoften just 20% of prewar pay. Three Hamas-linked employees said they had recently received NIS 1,000 (about $300) through secretive channels. The BBC cited a senior Hamas figure who claimed the organization had stockpiled an astonishing $700 million in hard cash inside its underground tunnel network ahead of the October 7 massacre, enabling it to survive financially even under sustained Israeli bombardment. To evade Israeli intelligence, Hamas operatives receive coded messages via encrypted phone appsoften simple invitations for tea. At the designated place, a courier brushes past, slipping cash into their hands before disappearing. The method is fraught with danger: Israeli forces have targeted several such distribution points. One man told the BBC he narrowly survived a deadly airstrike during a payout. But the covert salary system is just one part of a far more damning narrative. The investigation bolsters Israeli claims that Hamas is plundering massive quantities of international aid. Cigarette packs are being sold at 100 times their prewar price, and local traders are reportedly being taxed by the terror group desperate bid to raise funds. Anonymous sources in Gaza told the BBC that much of the aid is either handed out exclusively to Hamas supporters or redirected for sale on the black market. Significant quantities of aid were seized by Hamas during a two-month window earlier this year when Israel increased deliveries as part of a hostage release agreement. Despite Hamas and United Nations officials repeatedly denying such claims, the UN itself recently disclosed that 88% of aid trucks have been looted before reaching their intended destinations in Gaza. As food and medicine remain scarce, public anger toward Hamas is reportedly rising. When the hunger worsened, my children were crying not only from pain but also from watching our Hamas-affiliated neighbors receive food parcels and sacks of flour, said Nisreen Khaled, a single mother in Gaza. Are they not the reason for our suffering? Frustration is also boiling over among Hamas employees themselves. The meager cash they do receive is frequently unusableold, degraded bills that no one wants to accept. A separate Wall Street Journal investigation earlier this year similarly concluded that humanitarian aid has become a critical funding source for Hamas, as Israeli offensives cripple traditional revenue streams and foreign support dries up. (YWN World Headquarters NYC) High-level secret meetings were held this week in Bnei Brak between an American envoy representing U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and senior Gedolei Eretz Yisroel. The back-to-back meetings took place quietly at the homes of Harav Dov Landau, shlita and Harav Moshe Hillel Hirsch shlita. At the center of the discussions was a single, urgent issue: American intervention to halt the arrests of yeshiva bochurim who refuse to report to the IDF. According to sources close to the gedolim, the meetings were initiated in light of the growing distress in the Olam Hatorah over the governments increasing aggression toward yeshivaleit. Chareidi leadership pointed to a precedent in Ukraine, where the U.S. previously intervened to oppose the lowering of the draft age a move that threatened religious students in that country. The urgency was underscored earlier Thursday, Rav Dov Landau personally traveled to Beit Lid Military Prison to visit Refael and Baruch Itzhakov, two yeshiva bochurim from Tel Avivs Yeshivas Meoros HaTorah who were arrested after refusing to report to the IDF draft office. Despite his advanced age and delicate health, the Rosh Yeshiva insisted on visiting the imprisoned bochurim, a sign of the grave concern and kavod haTorah the Torah leadership feels for the bnei yeshiva who are being treated as criminals for their commitment to Torah. Close confidants of the Rosh Yeshiva revealed that he has been unable to sleep at night, deeply tormented by the idea of young bnei Torah sitting in prison cells not for theft or violence, but for staying true to Limud Torah. He is carrying the burden of all of Klal Yisrael on his shoulders, a person in Rav Landaus orbit said. Every bochur behind bars is a dagger in his heart. The meetings with the U.S. envoy mark a significant shift in strategy among chareidi leadership turning to international diplomatic pressure as the Israeli government doubles down on its attempts to criminalize Torah learning. (YWN World Headquarters NYC) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is accusing The New York Times of defamation over its reporting on starvation in Gaza, specifically a front-page photo of an emaciated child that the paper later acknowledged was misleading. [The] New York Times should be sued, Netanyahu told Fox News Bill Hemmer during an exclusive sit-down interview Thursday. Im actually looking at whether a country can sue The New York Times, and Im looking into it right now, because I think its such a its such clear defamation. Your browser does not support the video tag. Netanyahus criticism stems from a photo used in a Times article headlined, Young, Old and Sick Starve to Death in Gaza: There Is Nothing. The photo showed a young boy being cradled by his mother. He is clearly emaciated with his spine poking through his skin. The articles focus was meant to highlight the worsening humanitarian crisis in the war-torn region. Days later, the Times issued a correction acknowledging that the child had a preexisting medical condition that contributed to his appearance. Neither the article nor the caption originally included this information. I mean, you put a picture of a child thats supposed to then represent all these supposedly starving children, yet said Netanyahu, they put in this picture of a child who has cerebral palsy. The Times correction noted that after the story was published, they were informed of the preexisting health condition by the boys doctor. The outlet wrote: Had The Times known the information before publication, it would have been included in the article and the picture caption. But Netanyahu said the correction wasnt satisfactory. Its [The New York Times] put out this thing, said Netanyahu. Then it corrects it with a denial the size of a postage stamp buried in the back pages. (YWN World Headquarters NYC) Israels security cabinet late Thursday approved a major military operation to seize Gaza City, endorsing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus proposal despite warnings from senior defense officials that the move could endanger hostages. The plan, confirmed by Netanyahus office, authorizes the IDF to launch a ground offensive into Gaza City one of the last remaining areas of the enclave not under Israeli control. The move is expected to force the evacuation of more than 800,000 Palestinians currently living in the densely populated northern city. The IDF has largely avoided entering Gaza City since the start of the war, citing the complexity of urban warfare and the presence of hostages. But Netanyahu has insisted that retaking the city is essential to defeating Hamas and achieving Israels war objectives. In a statement following the cabinet vote, the Prime Ministers Office said the decision was aimed at defeating Hamas and would be accompanied by efforts to provide humanitarian assistance to civilians located outside combat zones. The operations approval comes amid a deepening rift between Netanyahu and top military officials, including IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, who has privately and publicly expressed concerns about a full-scale ground incursion. Zamir has warned that such a move risks the lives of the living hostages still believed to be held by Hamas, many of them thought to be in Gaza City or in refugee camps in the central part of the Strip. The cabinets decision did not specify whether the IDF would move beyond Gaza City and into other areas of central Gaza that also remain outside Israeli control. Netanyahu has previously said that Israel intends to take over all of Gaza, but Thursdays vote appears to focus only on the initial assault on Gaza City, signaling a potentially phased approach. Netanyahus office also said the cabinet endorsed a list of conditions that Israel would require to end the war. Those include Hamass disarmament, the return of all hostages, the full demilitarization of Gaza, continued Israeli security control over the territory, and the establishment of a new civilian governing authority unaffiliated with Hamas or the Palestinian Authority. The statement also noted that an alternative plan had been presented to the cabinet but was rejected by an overwhelming majority of ministers. That plan is widely believed to have come from Gen. Zamir, who has advocated for limited operations rather than a full re-occupation of the Strip. (YWN World Headquarters NYC) A senior military commander in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) was killed in an Israeli airstrike near the Lebanon-Syria border, the IDF and Shin Bet announced. The strike targeted a vehicle in Lebanons eastern Beqaa Valley and resulted in the death of Mohammed Wishah, a Syrian national who served as head of the PFLPs Military-Security Department in Syria. Your browser does not support the video tag. According to Israeli authorities, Wishah played a key role in facilitating cooperation between Palestinian terrorist groups and Iranian-aligned actors in the region. He had taken over the post following the death of his predecessor, Shantal al-Al, who was killed in an Israeli strike in Beirut in September 2024. In a statement, the IDF said Wishah was responsible for coordinating joint operations with other Palestinian terror factions and enhancing ties with what it described as the Shiite axisa reference to Iran and its regional proxies, including Hezbollah. The statement added that he had recently been involved in planning attacks against Israeli targets. Footage of the strike, which appears to show a precision missile hitting a moving vehicle, was released by the IDF following the announcement. Your browser does not support the video tag. (YWN World Headquarters NYC) Q: It was reported that during his visit to India, the Philippine leader said in an interview that if there is a confrontation over Taiwan between China and the United States, there is no way that the Philippines can stay out of it, simply because of our physical geographic location. If there is an all-out war (across the Taiwan Strait), then the Philippines will be joined into it. We will have to defend our territory and our sovereignty. He also cited the large volume of Filipinos in Taiwan and said that (if there is a war across the Taiwan Strait), it would spell a humanitarian crisis, and the Philippines has to get involved and try to bring their citizens back. This is the issue that the Philippines cares the most. They would immediately mobilize everything to bring their people out. It would not be a small problem, he added. What is Chinas comment on this? A: There is but one China in the world. Taiwan is an inalienable part of China. The Taiwan question is Chinas internal affair which is at the very core of Chinas core interests. How to settle it is a matter for the Chinese ourselves, which brooks no interference. The Philippine government has made serious commitments to China that it adheres to the one-China policy, recognizes that Taiwan is an integral part of the Chinese territory and understands the Chinese governments efforts to realize national reunification. The Philippine leader also said clearly to China that the Philippines is committed to the one-China policy, and the Taiwan question is purely Chinas internal affair that must be solved by the Chinese people. As these words are still ringing in our ears, the Philippines is going back on its words in disregard of the grave consequences. It has kept making wrong and provocative remarks and actions, kept fudging and hollowing out the one-China principle, and kept harming the China-Philippines relations. China firmly opposes this. The Chinese Foreign Ministry and Embassy in the Philippines have lodged serious protests with the Philippine side. It needs to be further stressed that geographic location and large volume of Filipinos in Taiwan should not be used as pretexts to interfere in the internal and sovereign affairs of other countries. These claims not only contravene international law and the ASEAN Charter, but also harm regional peace and stability and the fundamental interests of its own people. We urge the Philippines to earnestly abide by the one-China principle and the spirit of China-Philippines Joint Communique on the establishment of diplomatic relations, and refrain from playing fire on issues bearing on Chinas core interests. NEW DELHI, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- Amid the ongoing U.S. pressure on India-Russia oil trade, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday held a phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Modi posted a statement on social media, saying that he was looking forward to hosting the Russian president later this year. "I thanked him for sharing the latest developments on Ukraine. We also reviewed the progress in our bilateral agenda, and reaffirmed our commitment to further deepen the India-Russia Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership," Modi said. A recent phone call between President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu erupted into a shouting match over the crisis in Gaza, according to a report by NBC News citing senior U.S. officials. The July 28 call came just hours after Netanyahu publicly denied there was any starvation in Gaza, dismissing mounting global concern and graphic media reports. There is no starvation in Gaza, Netanyahu had declared at a public event. The next day, Trump responded publicly with open skepticism: Im not particularly convinced, he said. There is real starvation. You cant fake that. According to NBC, Netanyahu requested a phone call with Trump in the wake of that rebuke. The conversation that followed, sources say, was anything but diplomatic. Inside the call, Netanyahu reportedly attempted to downplay the crisis, arguing the starvation reports were fabricated by Hamas and insisting that hunger was not widespread. Trump, however, exploded. Trump interrupted him and began yelling, one U.S. official briefed on the exchange told NBC. The president was reportedly shown graphic evidence by his aides including images of starving children and grew increasingly furious as Netanyahu tried to dismiss the reports as propaganda. He didnt want to hear it called fake, the official said, describing the exchange as a direct, mostly one-way conversation dominated by Trumps outrage. Washington not only feels like the situation is dire, but they own it because of GHF, the official added, referencing the U.S.- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a group tasked with managing aid distribution that has been marred by chaos and bloodshed. While the White House and Israeli officials declined to comment, Netanyahus office lashed out on Friday, calling the report complete fake news. The claim that there was supposedly a shouting match between Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Trump is complete fake news, the Prime Ministers Office said in a short statement. Still, the incident highlights a rare public fracture between Netanyahu and Trump two allies who maintain a close and carefully managed partnership. It also reflects mounting pressure on Israel over its handling of the Gaza crisis, where months of limited aid have led to what the UN and aid agencies claim is near-famine in several areas. Although Israel continues to deny claims of widespread starvation, it has quietly increased aid deliveries in recent weeks following an 11-week blockade between March and May. (YWN World Headquarters NYC) A day after Israels security cabinet approved a sweeping plan to take full control of the Gaza Strip, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted Thursday that Israel does not intend to occupy Gazabut rather to free it from Hamas rule. We are not going to occupy Gazawe are going to free Gaza from Hamas, Netanyahu wrote on X. Gaza will be demilitarized, and a peaceful civilian administration will be established, one that is not the Palestinian Authority, not Hamas, and not any other terrorist organization. This will help free our hostages and ensure Gaza does not pose a threat to Israel in the future. According to a report by Ynet, the cabinet decision intentionally avoided using the word occupy due to legal concerns about international obligations that would be triggered by a formal occupation, including full responsibility for Gazas civilian population. Instead, the government described the plan as a takeover. But one senior Israeli official quoted in the report dismissed that distinction as superficial, saying the decision effectively establishes full military rule over the Strip. The approved plan, which would begin with the conquest of Gaza City, could dramatically shift Israels legal and humanitarian responsibilities. Until now, Israel has maintained that it does not bear responsibility for civilian services in Gazasuch as electricity, water, and medical aidbecause it does not have effective control over the territory. That position could become legally untenable if Israel reasserts control over major population centers. IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir reportedly raised precisely that concern in internal discussions, warning that a full-scale takeover could force Israel into assuming de facto responsibility for Gazas two million residents. According to sources cited by Ynet, Zamir cautioned that once Israeli forces capture Gaza City and other dense urban areas, the claim that the territory is not under Israeli control would be impossible to maintain. That shift could obligate Israel under international law to provide food, water, medical services, and civil orderservices currently managed by the UN and other international organizations. The same report noted that the military operation is not open-ended: if a hostage deal materializes, the plan to take full control of the Strip could be halted. Yet no such agreement appears imminent, and Hamas continues to hold hostages under increasingly dire circumstances. The cabinets approval of the plan marks a pivotal point in the war, yet the future of Gaza remains murky. Netanyahu has ruled out reinstating Hamas, the Palestinian Authority, or any other terrorist organization, but has offered little detail about who would govern the enclave once the dust settles. Critics at home and abroad argue that the governments endgame is dangerously undefined. You cant destroy a governing entity and not have a clear idea of what comes next, one Israeli security analyst told Channel 12 News. If Israel is not going to occupy Gaza, someone else must. And that someone doesnt currently exist. (YWN World Headquarters NYC) U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee launched a blistering attack Friday on British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, after the UK leader condemned Israels latest military plan to seize full control of the Gaza Strip. In a statement, Starmer warned that Israels expanded operations will do nothing to bring an end to this conflict and would only fuel more bloodshed on both sides. He called instead for an immediate ceasefire, an influx of humanitarian aid, the release of all hostages held by Hamas, and a negotiated political solution. Huckabee fired back with historical fury. So Israel is expected to surrender to Hamas & feed them even though Israeli hostages are being starved? Huckabee wrote. Did UK surrender to Nazis and drop food to them? Ever heard of Dresden, PM Starmer? That wasnt food you dropped. If you had been PM then, the UK would be speaking German! The ambassador was referencing the Allied bombing of Dresden during World War IIwhere some 25,000 people were killed and large swaths of the city were reduced to rubble. Huckabee wasnt done. He turned the tables on London, accusing Starmers government of hypocrisy and challenging Britains actual humanitarian commitment to Gaza. How much food has Starmer and the UK sent to Gaza? Huckabee continued. @IsraeliPM has already sent 2 MILLION TONS into Gaza & none of it even getting to hostages. Maybe UK PM ought to sit this one out & follow Arab League who said Hamas should disarm & release ALL hostages immediately. (YWN World Headquarters NYC) The head of a law firm behind one of the biggest class action lawsuits in English legal history has been abruptly replaced. Tom Goodhead, chief executive and co-founder of London-based Pogust Goodhead, has stepped away from the role. Chief operating officer Alicia Alinia has taken over. The leadership change comes at a critical moment for the firm as it awaits a ruling from the High Court regarding its 36billion class-action lawsuit against Anglo-Australian mining giant BHP. The case concerns the collapse of the Samarco dam in Brazil, which killed 19 people and contaminated waterways and land spanning several villages in 2015. An internal memo from the firm said Goodhead was on leave, according to the FT. He could not be reached for comment. The competition regulator has stepped up an inquiry into the 1.8billion takeover of NHS landlord Assura as suitors battle for control of the group. Britain's Competition and Markets Authority on Friday said it would investigate PHP's acquisition of its rival real estate investment trust to determine whether it would 'result in a substantial lessening of competition' in the UK market. Both Assura and PHP invest in properties leased out to healthcare organisations, including the National Health Service. Assura owns more than 600 buildings, including doctors' surgeries, with a portfolio valued at about 3.1billion. It has about 80 employees. It came as private equity giant KKR urged Assura's board to reconsider its June decision to reject its consortium's 1.6billion bid in favour of PHP's offer after a three-month bidding war. Assura is a provider of NHS properties When the healthcare buildings business backed the PHP bid, it said KKR's lower offer posed 'material risks and downsides' for its shareholders. But KKR said on Friday 'a number of factors have changed' which make PHP's offer less attractive. It claims that its cash offer is now 1.1 per cent higher than PHP's because of a decline in the shares prices of both PHP and Assura in recent weeks. Significantly it also said its offer would result in 'no competition or antitrust risk' and is 'able to provide the strongest ongoing stewardship for Assura, its team and all stakeholders including investing in NHS infrastructure'. The CMA has now served an initial enforcement order to block PHP from fully integrating Assura while it looks into the deal. It launched a consultation last month into PHP's agreed takeover for Assura, in what marked the first step ahead of a formal investigation. British American Tobacco (LON:BATS Free Report) had its price target boosted by Jefferies Financial Group from GBX 4,800 ($64.55) to GBX 5,200 ($69.93) in a research report report published on Tuesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have a buy rating on the stock. Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Citigroup restated a buy rating on shares of British American Tobacco in a research report on Wednesday, July 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on British American Tobacco from GBX 2,800 ($37.65) to GBX 3,300 ($44.38) and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Monday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on British American Tobacco from GBX 4,200 ($56.48) to GBX 4,400 ($59.17) and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Thursday, July 31st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated a sector perform rating and issued a GBX 3,000 ($40.34) price objective on shares of British American Tobacco in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of GBX 3,960 ($53.25). Get British American Tobacco alerts: Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on British American Tobacco British American Tobacco Stock Down 1.0% BATS opened at GBX 4,189 ($56.33) on Tuesday. The businesss fifty day moving average is GBX 3,693.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is GBX 3,344.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 74.63, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.88. The company has a market cap of 92.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.76, a PEG ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.27. British American Tobacco has a one year low of GBX 2,556.23 ($34.38) and a one year high of GBX 4,243 ($57.06). British American Tobacco (LON:BATS Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The company reported GBX 162.90 ($2.19) EPS for the quarter. British American Tobacco had a negative return on equity of 25.94% and a negative net margin of 52.84%. Analysts anticipate that British American Tobacco will post 361.5079365 EPS for the current fiscal year. Insider Buying and Selling at British American Tobacco In other British American Tobacco news, insider Soraya Benchikh bought 55 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of GBX 4,131 ($55.55) per share, for a total transaction of 2,272.05 ($3,055.47). Also, insider Tadeu Marroco bought 396 shares of the companys stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 4th. The stock was acquired at an average price of GBX 4,131 ($55.55) per share, with a total value of 16,358.76 ($21,999.41). Insiders purchased 682 shares of company stock valued at $2,649,800 over the last quarter. Insiders own 10.55% of the companys stock. British American Tobacco Company Profile (Get Free Report) BAT was founded in 1902 and was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1912. A constituent of the FTSE 100 since its creation in 1984, we have evolved, becoming the only truly global company in our sector. BAT is transforming and is well positioned with a global footprint and multi-category portfolio. Featured Stories Receive News & Ratings for British American Tobacco Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for British American Tobacco and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. AlphaCore Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of iShares Gold Trust Micro (NYSEARCA:IAUM Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 612,704 shares of the companys stock, valued at approximately $19,098,000. iShares Gold Trust Micro makes up about 1.6% of AlphaCore Capital LLCs investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of IAUM. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd bought a new stake in iShares Gold Trust Micro during the first quarter worth about $62,074,000. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of iShares Gold Trust Micro by 22.0% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 6,650,000 shares of the companys stock valued at $207,280,000 after buying an additional 1,200,000 shares in the last quarter. Vicus Capital lifted its position in iShares Gold Trust Micro by 172.6% in the 1st quarter. Vicus Capital now owns 1,113,568 shares of the companys stock worth $34,710,000 after buying an additional 704,995 shares during the last quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. purchased a new stake in iShares Gold Trust Micro in the first quarter worth approximately $9,548,000. Finally, World Investment Advisors purchased a new stake in iShares Gold Trust Micro in the first quarter worth approximately $6,958,000. Get iShares Gold Trust Micro alerts: iShares Gold Trust Micro Price Performance IAUM stock opened at $33.89 on Friday. iShares Gold Trust Micro has a one year low of $24.02 and a one year high of $34.37. The companys 50 day moving average price is $33.39 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $31.57. About iShares Gold Trust Micro The iShares Gold Trust Micro (IAUM) is an exchange-traded fund that is based on the LBMA Gold Price index. The fund tracks the gold spot price, less expenses and liabilities, using gold bars held in vaults. IAUM was launched on Jun 15, 2021 and is managed by BlackRock. Featured Stories Want to see what other hedge funds are holding IAUM? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for iShares Gold Trust Micro (NYSEARCA:IAUM Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for iShares Gold Trust Micro Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for iShares Gold Trust Micro and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Forsta AP Fonden grew its stake in Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE Free Report) by 4.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,450,800 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock after purchasing an additional 67,300 shares during the period. Forsta AP Fondens holdings in Pfizer were worth $36,763,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in PFE. Bristlecone Advisors LLC boosted its position in Pfizer by 20.7% in the first quarter. Bristlecone Advisors LLC now owns 201,465 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock valued at $5,105,000 after buying an additional 34,550 shares in the last quarter. WBH Advisory Inc. increased its stake in shares of Pfizer by 21.3% in the first quarter. WBH Advisory Inc. now owns 18,939 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock valued at $480,000 after buying an additional 3,332 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. raised its position in shares of Pfizer by 12.7% during the first quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 10,156,464 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock worth $257,365,000 after acquiring an additional 1,143,457 shares during the last quarter. Beacon Harbor Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Pfizer by 176.6% in the first quarter. Beacon Harbor Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 261,253 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock worth $6,620,000 after acquiring an additional 166,788 shares during the period. Finally, Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC lifted its position in shares of Pfizer by 4.7% in the 1st quarter. Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC now owns 17,076 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock worth $433,000 after purchasing an additional 769 shares during the period. 68.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors. Get Pfizer alerts: Analyst Ratings Changes Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on PFE shares. Wolfe Research increased their price objective on shares of Pfizer from $22.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock an underperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Pfizer from $27.00 to $28.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Pfizer from $32.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Citigroup upped their target price on Pfizer from $25.00 to $26.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Redburn Atlantic lowered their target price on Pfizer from $29.00 to $27.00 and set a neutral rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have given a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $28.12. Pfizer Stock Up 1.3% Pfizer stock opened at $24.25 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $137.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 0.52. The firms fifty day moving average price is $24.42 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $24.52. Pfizer Inc. has a 1-year low of $20.92 and a 1-year high of $30.43. The company has a current ratio of 1.16, a quick ratio of 0.96 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65. Pfizer (NYSE:PFE Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The biopharmaceutical company reported $0.78 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.58 by $0.20. The business had revenue of $14.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $13.43 billion. Pfizer had a net margin of 16.84% and a return on equity of 21.42%. The firms revenue for the quarter was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.60 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that Pfizer Inc. will post 2.95 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Pfizer Dividend Announcement The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, July 25th will be issued a dividend of $0.43 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 25th. This represents a $1.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 7.1%. Pfizers dividend payout ratio is 91.49%. About Pfizer (Free Report) Pfizer Inc discovers, develops, manufactures, markets, distributes, and sells biopharmaceutical products in the United States, Europe, and internationally. The company offers medicines and vaccines in various therapeutic areas, including cardiovascular metabolic, migraine, and women's health under the Eliquis, Nurtec ODT/Vydura, Zavzpret, and the Premarin family brands; infectious diseases with unmet medical needs under the Prevnar family, Abrysvo, Nimenrix, FSME/IMMUN-TicoVac, and Trumenba brands; and COVID-19 prevention and treatment, and potential future mRNA and antiviral products under the Comirnaty and Paxlovid brands. Featured Articles Want to see what other hedge funds are holding PFE? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Pfizer Inc. (NYSE:PFE Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Pfizer Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Pfizer and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM Free Report) by 5.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 8,382 shares of the CRM providers stock after acquiring an additional 466 shares during the period. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLCs holdings in Salesforce were worth $2,332,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the business. Coign Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Coign Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,183 shares of the CRM providers stock worth $586,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Liberty One Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Salesforce by 1.2% in the first quarter. Liberty One Investment Management LLC now owns 3,165 shares of the CRM providers stock worth $849,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Salesforce by 7.3% during the first quarter. First Command Advisory Services Inc. now owns 572 shares of the CRM providers stock valued at $154,000 after acquiring an additional 39 shares in the last quarter. Mendel Money Management raised its position in shares of Salesforce by 3.6% in the 1st quarter. Mendel Money Management now owns 1,112 shares of the CRM providers stock worth $298,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clarity Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Salesforce by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Clarity Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,760 shares of the CRM providers stock worth $472,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 80.43% of the companys stock. Get Salesforce alerts: Wall Street Analyst Weigh In A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Salesforce from $340.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Guggenheim raised shares of Salesforce from a sell rating to a neutral rating in a research report on Monday, April 21st. DA Davidson restated an underperform rating and issued a $200.00 price objective on shares of Salesforce in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Westpark Capital reiterated a buy rating and set a $320.00 target price on shares of Salesforce in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on Salesforce from $425.00 to $347.00 and set an overweight rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 29th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating, twenty-seven have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $348.16. Insider Activity In related news, insider Srinivas Tallapragada sold 6,697 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $295.00, for a total transaction of $1,975,615.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 41,422 shares in the company, valued at approximately $12,219,490. This trade represents a 13.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Marc Benioff sold 2,250 shares of the businesss stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $259.67, for a total value of $584,257.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,955,566 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,104,501,823.22. This represents a 0.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 46,479 shares of company stock worth $12,457,591 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 3.20% of the companys stock. Salesforce Trading Down 3.4% Salesforce stock opened at $240.63 on Friday. Salesforce Inc. has a 12-month low of $230.00 and a 12-month high of $369.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $230.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.26 and a beta of 1.37. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $263.97 and a 200 day moving average of $280.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.14. Salesforce (NYSE:CRM Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 28th. The CRM provider reported $2.58 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts consensus estimates of $2.55 by $0.03. Salesforce had a net margin of 16.08% and a return on equity of 12.94%. The firm had revenue of $9.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts expectations of $9.74 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.44 earnings per share. The companys revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Salesforce Inc. will post 7.46 earnings per share for the current year. Salesforce Cuts Dividend The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 10th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, June 18th were given a $0.416 dividend. This represents a $1.66 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.7%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 18th. Salesforces payout ratio is presently 25.98%. About Salesforce (Free Report) Salesforce, Inc provides Customer Relationship Management (CRM) technology that brings companies and customers together worldwide. The company's service includes sales to store data, monitor leads and progress, forecast opportunities, gain insights through analytics and artificial intelligence, and deliver quotes, contracts, and invoices; and service that enables companies to deliver trusted and highly personalized customer support at scale. Further Reading Want to see what other hedge funds are holding CRM? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Salesforce Inc. (NYSE:CRM Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Salesforce Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Salesforce and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. ISLAMABAD, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani security forces have killed 33 terrorists attempting to infiltrate from Afghanistan into Pakistan's southwest Balochistan province, the military said on Friday. The movement of the terrorists was detected in Sambaza area of Zhob district on Thursday night, the Inter-Services Public Relations of the army said in a statement. A large cache of weapons, ammunition and explosives was discovered, and an operation was underway to clear the area. NBW Capital LLC reduced its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC) by 24.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 80,067 shares of the financial services providers stock after selling 25,609 shares during the quarter. Wells Fargo & Company comprises 1.3% of NBW Capital LLCs portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest holding. NBW Capital LLCs holdings in Wells Fargo & Company were worth $5,748,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Accretive Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the 1st quarter valued at $399,000. Secured Retirement Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Wells Fargo & Company during the 1st quarter valued at $408,000. RKL Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 166.4% during the 1st quarter. RKL Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,185 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $588,000 after acquiring an additional 5,113 shares during the last quarter. Allianz SE lifted its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 22.6% during the 1st quarter. Allianz SE now owns 212,335 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $15,244,000 after acquiring an additional 39,150 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp lifted its position in shares of Wells Fargo & Company by 12.1% during the 4th quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 651,808 shares of the financial services providers stock valued at $45,783,000 after acquiring an additional 70,104 shares during the last quarter. 75.90% of the stock is owned by institutional investors. Get Wells Fargo & Company alerts: Wall Street Analyst Weigh In A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on WFC shares. Evercore ISI reiterated an outperform rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Piper Sandler reiterated an overweight rating on shares of Wells Fargo & Company in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Dbs Bank raised Wells Fargo & Company from a hold rating to a moderate buy rating in a research report on Thursday, July 17th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $77.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an overweight rating in a report on Wednesday, June 4th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on Wells Fargo & Company from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, June 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the companys stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $80.39. Wells Fargo & Company Price Performance NYSE WFC opened at $77.02 on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company has a fifty-two week low of $50.22 and a fifty-two week high of $84.83. The stocks 50-day moving average is $78.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $74.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.06, a current ratio of 0.84 and a quick ratio of 0.83. The firm has a market cap of $250.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.20. Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $1.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.41 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $20.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.83 billion. Wells Fargo & Company had a return on equity of 12.29% and a net margin of 16.82%. The firms revenue was up .6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.33 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Wells Fargo & Company will post 5.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Wells Fargo & Company Increases Dividend The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 1st. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 8th will be given a $0.45 dividend. This is an increase from Wells Fargo & Companys previous quarterly dividend of $0.40. This represents a $1.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 8th. Wells Fargo & Companys dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 30.82%. Wells Fargo & Company announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, April 29th that allows the company to repurchase $40.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase up to 17.2% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the companys board believes its stock is undervalued. About Wells Fargo & Company (Free Report) Wells Fargo & Co is a diversified and community-based financial services company, which engages in the provision of banking, insurance, investments, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance products and services. It operates through the following segments: Consumer Banking and Lending, Commercial Banking, Corporate and Investment Banking, and Wealth and Investment Management. Featured Articles Want to see what other hedge funds are holding WFC? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE:WFC Free Report). Receive News & Ratings for Wells Fargo & Company Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Wells Fargo & Company and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. AMF Tjanstepension AB cut its holdings in shares of Bristol Myers Squibb Company (NYSE:BMY Free Report) by 11.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 414,331 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock after selling 52,957 shares during the quarter. AMF Tjanstepension ABs holdings in Bristol Myers Squibb were worth $25,306,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Pinney & Scofield Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Bristol Myers Squibb during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bristol Myers Squibb during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates increased its position in shares of Bristol Myers Squibb by 137.5% during the 1st quarter. Global Wealth Strategies & Associates now owns 475 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 275 shares during the last quarter. Transce3nd LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Bristol Myers Squibb during the 4th quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Bristol Myers Squibb during the 1st quarter valued at $31,000. 76.41% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Get Bristol Myers Squibb alerts: Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth Several brokerages recently weighed in on BMY. Daiwa Capital Markets lowered Bristol Myers Squibb from an outperform rating to a neutral rating and set a $42.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Tuesday. Daiwa America lowered Bristol Myers Squibb from a strong-buy rating to a hold rating in a report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley reissued a hold rating on shares of Bristol Myers Squibb in a report on Thursday, July 31st. Wall Street Zen lowered Bristol Myers Squibb from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a report on Friday, June 6th. Finally, Piper Sandler began coverage on Bristol Myers Squibb in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. They issued an overweight rating and a $65.00 price objective for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fifteen have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Bristol Myers Squibb presently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $56.38. Bristol Myers Squibb Stock Performance Shares of BMY opened at $45.32 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $92.24 billion, a PE ratio of 18.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a current ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 1.11 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.54. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $47.36 and a 200-day moving average price of $51.98. Bristol Myers Squibb Company has a 12-month low of $42.96 and a 12-month high of $63.33. Bristol Myers Squibb (NYSE:BMY Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The biopharmaceutical company reported $1.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $12.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.32 billion. Bristol Myers Squibb had a return on equity of 80.04% and a net margin of 10.58%. The companys revenue for the quarter was up .6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.07 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Bristol Myers Squibb Company will post 6.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year. Bristol Myers Squibb Dividend Announcement The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 1st. Stockholders of record on Thursday, July 3rd were given a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 5.5%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, July 3rd. Bristol Myers Squibbs dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 100.00%. About Bristol Myers Squibb (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. Recommended Stories Receive News & Ratings for Bristol Myers Squibb Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Bristol Myers Squibb and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter. ALMATY, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- Construction of Kazakhstan's first nuclear power plant has officially begun near the village of Ulken in the Almaty Region, the country's Kazinform News Agency reported Friday. According to Almassadam Satkaliyev, chairman of the Atomic Energy Agency of Kazakhstan, the project will require a total investment of 14 billion to 15 billion U.S. dollars, with an additional 1 billion dollars earmarked for social facilities and modern infrastructure. During the launch ceremony, drilling work began to collect soil samples, which will be sent to Russia for analysis. The plant is expected to be completed between 2035 and 2036. ISLAMABAD, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- A frontier corps soldier was killed and at least three others injured in a terrorist attack in Pakistan's northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, police said on Friday. Terrorist attacked a security check post of paramilitary troops' frontier corps by dropping explosives with a drone in Bannu district of the province, district police officer Bannu Saleem Abbas Kulachi told media. The injured were shifted to a nearby hospital, and one security man was in critical condition. Police and security forces cordoned off the area and launched a search operation to track down the terrorists. No group claimed responsibility for the attack. Tributes have been flooding in for Robert Dunne, the son of the late Irish business tycoon Ben Dunne, who died peacefully in New York on August 1. Formerly of Castleknock, Dublin 15, Robert was the "darling son of Mary and the late Ben, dearly loved brother of Mark, Caroline and Nicholas and a beloved uncle of Ben, Katie, Pearl and Joseph", according to his death notice on RIP.ie. His passing has left a deep mark on family, friends, and the Irish-American legal community where he was widely respected. Robert built a successful legal career in the United States, where he was deeply involved in the Irish-American community, serving as President Emeritus of the Brehon Law Society of New York, an organisation dedicated to promoting justice and fostering links between the Irish and American legal worlds. READ MORE | RIP: 'Beautiful boy'- Shock and heartbreak as young boy (14) dies after short illness He was also the son of one of Ireland's most high-profile businessmen, the late Ben Dunne, former head of the Dunnes Stores retail empire, who died in 2023. The Brehon Law Society of New York described him as a leader and a friend, saying his "unwavering dedication to justice, his leadership within the Brehon Law Society, and his enduring commitment to the Irish-American legal community leave a lasting impression." They invited all who knew him to attend a Month's Mind Mass in his memory on September 4 in Manhattan. Friends remembered his "easy wit and gentle way" from his student days at Trinity, while others spoke of his creativity, warmth and humour. "He was a wonderful man, so creative and full of craic, may you rest in eternal peace," said one. Another recalled late nights in Rosie O'Grady's in Manhattan "playing cards with the Delaneys a down to earth gentleman." Many spoke of his ability to light up a room, with one friend noting: "His laugh was infectious, his wit second to none. May he rest in peace. Go raibh suaimhneas siorai air. Robert will repose at Cunningham's Funeral Home, Church Avenue, Blanchardstown, on Sunday, August 10, from 4pm to 6pm. His funeral will take place on Monday, August 11, at 11am in St Mochta's Church, Porterstown, followed by burial in Castleknock Churchyard. READ MORE | 'Landed deep in it': Consequences for tractor driver caught using phone while pulling silage Irish broadcaster Ryan Tubridy has repaid RTE a sum of 150,000 euro he received as part of a controversial payment deal made in 2020. Tubridy was to be paid a total 225,000 over three years by the national broadcaster as part of a deal to top up his salary, which was not disclosed by RTE. The presenter was paid two instalments of 75,000 euro by RTE for personal appearances for commercial sponsor Renault as part of the contentious deal. The deal involved Tubridy making three appearances per year at Renault events. RTE executives previously said Renault paid Tubridy the first 75,000 payment, but then pulled out of the tripartite deal. The payments were not disclosed by RTE in its annual accounts as salary payments. Tubridy left Irelands national broadcaster following weeks of controversy relating to the organisation publicly under-reporting payments to him. Tubridy was also the long-time host of RTEs flagship Late Late Show on Irish TV. In a statement issued on behalf of Mr Tubridy on Friday, he said: Earlier today I made a payment of 150,000 euro to RTE. I made this payment through my solicitor, without any discussions with RTE or with anyone acting on their behalf and without condition. I have said on various occasions that I intended making this payment and Im happy to have been able to do so today. RTE was mired in controversy after it emerged in June 2023 that it under-reported fees paid to Tubridy and failed to correctly disclose 345,000 euro of payments to him between 2017 and 2022. Tubridy, who now presents a show on Virgin Radio UK, previously said he would offer to pay back the payments at the centre of the controversy. RTE director general Kevin Bakhurst previously said he would welcome a repayment of 150,000 euro from Tubridy and his agent, Noel Kelly, over unfulfilled commercials events the broadcaster had underwritten. He told an Oireachtas committee in July 2023 that there is probably no legal obligation for them to do so. The furore led to further disclosures about RTEs internal financial, accounting and governance practices and its expenditure on corporate hospitality for advertising clients. The Government carried out two separate external reviews of RTE while a forensic auditor examined the broadcasters accounts. The Public Accounts Committee and Media Committee also conducted their own probes into the affair. In a statement, RTE said: RTE can confirm that it has received payment of 150,000 euro from Ryan Tubridy via his solicitor this afternoon. RTE welcomes the payment and would like to thank Ryan Tubridy for making it. A preview of tonight's festivities and Democratic Party moves that attempt to drum up support in local neighborhoods . . . Here's the word: "Black leaders in the Missouri Legislature said Thursday that they will fight any attempt to redraw the states congressional districts, pointing to the courts as the venue where they have greatest hopes to prevail." Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com screencap . . . Developing . . . This week elections in Kansas City, Kansas proved uneventful but one candidate has encountered criticism regarding court records and today she answered one of her possible constituents raising concern. Lisa Walker-Yeager advanced in her race for BPU at Large-1st District AND Commissioner 1st District but not without questions regarding her very recent past. Here are the basics of the story which we hope will inspire more reporting from our friends in the local media . . . According to court dox sent our way . . . It looks like KCK candidate Ms. Walker-Yeager confronts VERY SERIOUS charges for aggravated battery & unlawful discharge of a firearm. Of course she deserves her day in court but AWESOME TKC TIPSTERS sent word of this news our way along with their perspective . . . Here's how they questioned the candidate: "When we vote for people like this, what do we think we will get?!? lol!!!" And here's where things get interesting . . . From an FB account promoting her candidacy Ms. Yeager-Walker responded . . . "I am a Widow of a Veteran Whose daughter was brutally attacked, car broken into, and robbed at my house by a grown man! What would you do when you hear and see your daughter almost killed ? I stand up for my Family and my community!" Showing no ill-intent . . . The AWESOME READER OF www.TonysKansasCity.com offered this . . . "Now is not the time you run for office. You are charged with some very serious crimes. Take care of that and then focus on other things." That's not bad advice . . . In fact, we don't think this voter was being a hater at all when he simply wanted some clarification on a candidate. Honestly, TKC isn't exactly sure how a candidate out on bond can run for office. Still . . . We follow the lead of a brave reader by sharing this post and hope local media will do the same in order to better inform the electorate. Developing . . . We celebrate these dog daze of Summer with respect to fitness guru, DJ and hottie Sommer as we take another peek at pop culture, communtiy reporting and top headlines. Check TKC news gathering . . . Local Clap Back . . . Kansas City will no longer work with a contractor that repeatedly stole money from workers The city won't work with CJR Construction Group for two years, after the company repeatedly violated its prevailing wage rules. This is the first time Kansas City has debarred a contractor in years. Suburban Crumble Redux Homeowners look for help after FOX4 Problem Solvers crumbling driveways investigation Last week, a FOX4 Problem Solvers investigation took us to Blue Springs, Missouri, where homeowners were dealing with crumbling driveways - revealing a potential nationwide issue. Midtown Mourns . . . Family says goodbye to Larry Banks, killed in Family Dollar building collapse Larry Banks was born and raised in Kansas City, where most of his family still lives. He served in the Army for four years, which is why he was honored and buried at the Leavenworth National Cemetery. Latest Local Plauge Armyworms destroying lawns across the Kansas City metro. Here's how you can stop them A destructive pest is invading and feeding on lawns across the Kansas City metro. Experts share tips to save your lawn before it's too late. Don't Hate Players Or Game In The Dotte . . . Strawberry Hill bar in Kansas City, Kansas, takes pinball machines to next level The 403 Club in the Strawberry Hill neighborhood of Kansas City, Kansas, gives pinball wizards a chance to showcase their talents. Celebrate Celeb Hookup TikToker Mark Estes Hard Launches Relationship with Sommer Ray, 8 Months After Kristin Cavallari Breakup Last year, the Montana Boyz TikToker Mark Estes dated Kristin Cavallari, who called him "the best boyfriend I've ever had" after their breakup in September 2024. Estes' new girlfriend, Sommer Ray, once dated Machine Gun Kelly. MAGA Against Switcheroo Trump rips Duncan over switch to Democratic Party: 'Total loser' President Trump ripped former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan for joining the Democratic party and falling out of the GOP, calling him a "total loser" for making the switch. In an early Friday post on Truth Social, Trump said that Duncan was no longer wanted in the GOP because all he did was complain. Former Prez Can Still Garner Laughs . . . 'You can't lie to the American people' Joe slams Trump for using Heritage Foundation jobs numbers On the heels firing the Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner over a weak July jobs report, President Trump on Thursday displayed charts from Stephen Moore, an economist at the conservative Heritage Foundation. CNBC's Dom Chu joins Morning Joe to discuss. MAGA Secures Capital President Trump increases federal law enforcement presence in DC following violent crime surge President Donald Trump has directed federal law enforcement to increase its presence throughout the city of Washington, D.C., following a concerning surge in violent crime in the nation's capital. Holy Land War Worsens Israel plans to retake Gaza City, escalating the war with Hamas and fueling worries for hostages Israel says it plans to take over Gaza City. The decision to escalate its 22-month war with Hamas drew a dismissal from the militant group, renewed international calls to end the conflict and stirred fears for hostages still in Gaza. Eastern Europe Despairs Ukrainian troops have little hope for peace as Trump's deadline for Russia arrives Ukrainian soldiers are expressing little hope for a diplomatic solution to the war with Russia GOP Hope & Teachable Moment ROOKE: One Of The Largest School Districts In Country Was Failing For Years. Then Republicans Took Over It has been two years since Republicans in Texas took control of the nation's eighth-largest school district, and the results are impressive. About All That Racket PickleCon 2025 kicks off with glow-in-the-dark pickleball party in Kansas City PickleCon 2025 launched with a glow-in-the-dark pickleball party in downtown Kansas City, drawing players from around the country for neon-lit fun and friendly competition. Steamy Summer 2025 Cont'd We will have to deal with excessive heat and humidity for the next two days Today is a First Alert Weather Alert Day Ed Sheeran - A Little More is the song of the day and this is the OPEN THREAD for right now. First thing . . . KCATA CONTRACT BEEF HAS VERY LITTLE TO DO WITH BUS TRANSIT!!! It's about control and who (whom?) will feed first at this EPIC trough of public money. At the very least there are three sides to this debate: - Developers chasing "transit-orientated" cash. - Union leaders who want protection against privatization schemes and "audits" that would crackdown on workers. - Politicos who want more say over where so much money will be spent in order to return favors to patrons and/or constituents. Mostly patrons. We welcome any and every insight on this hot mess if only because the "transit" angle is fun for reporters but doesn't really represent the behind the scenes of this discussion as the mayor fights to populate the board with his peeps and his opponents do the same. "The KCATA held a special meeting Thursday afternoon, where the board went into an over-hour-long executive session to discuss a contract with Kansas City. No decisions were made on a contract following the closed-door portion of the meeting, which left bus riders furious." To be fair . . . Bus riders were never in a good mood. Read more via www.TonysKansasCity.com links . . . No decisions at KCATA Board meeting as bus riders' frustration grows No decision came from a special meeting held by the KCATA to discuss a partnership with Kansas City. Kansas City bus service at risk as transit authority and city struggle to reach contract agreement Kansas City, Missouri, runs the risk of significant changes to its bus routes if officials can't reach a deal with the Kansas City Area Transit Authority, KCATA, by mid-August. KCATA leaves special meeting with no decision on pending bus contract Bus service could suffer if KCATA and KCMO can't agree on a new contract by August 15 No action taken at Thursday's Kansas City Area Transit Authority special meeting, bus service in danger There's just a week for the Kansas City Area Transit Authority and Kansas City, Missouri, city council members to find a solution to keep the city's buses running. Developing . . . Thank you for signing up! Youll soon be getting your Toronto scoop in your inbox. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page. BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 8. The Memorandum of Understanding to be signed today in Washington by President Ilham Aliyev and US President Donald Trump will mark a new upheaval and set the golden standard of strategic partnership between Azerbaijan and the United States of America, American scholar in the field of European geopolitics and transatlantic security, Peter Tase, told Trend. He said this while commenting on the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the governments of Azerbaijan and the United States to create a Strategic Working Group that will help draft a Charter on Strategic Partnership between the two countries. According to the document, the strategic partnership between Azerbaijan and the US will cover three key areas: - Regional ties, including cooperation in energy, trade, and transit; - Economic investment, including artificial intelligence and digital infrastructure; - Security cooperation, including defense sales and counterterrorism. According to Tace, the economic and trade partnership between the US and Azerbaijan is the cornerstone of President Ilham Aliyev's historic visit to Washington. President Ilham Aliyev is making history by renewing the highly important bilateral partnership with the United States, Tace emphasized. The expert believes that the government of Azerbaijan is the principal pillar of American-style institutions in Europe. ''Such an amazing fact has encouraged President Trump to forge a great partnership with Baku and encourage closer business-to-business ties with Azerbaijans government and private companies leadership,'' he stressed. Peter Tase remarked that President Ilham Aliyevs unbridled leadership and admirable statecraft have delivered concrete economic and political achievements for Azerbaijan and its hard-working people. ''The implementation of Azerbaijani foreign policy is becoming ever more dynamic, and these tremendous national values and cherished achievements in the highly complex geopolitical environment have made Baku distinguish itself and defend the national interests of Azerbaijan,'' he stated. He also noted Azerbaijan's efforts to strengthen economic prosperity, regional integration, lasting peace, and forge a new regional chapter in resilient institutions and a green economy. ''The visit of President Ilham Aliyev to the White House is testimony of the outstanding achievements that Baku has made over the last ten years, and the US President Donald J Trump recognizes the remarkable leadership of the President of Azerbaijan,'' Peter Tase noted. According to him, it is paramount for the White House to preserve and strengthen the strategic partnership with the presidential administration of Azerbaijan. ISLAMABAD, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday strongly condemned the Israeli security cabinet's approval of a plan to take over Gaza City, warning it would worsen the humanitarian crisis and derail prospects for peace in the region. In a statement on social media, Sharif called the move "illegal and illegitimate," describing it as a dangerous escalation in the ongoing conflict. He stressed that the root cause of the tragedy was Israel's prolonged "illegal occupation" of Palestinian territory, adding that peace would remain elusive until the occupation ends. The prime minister reaffirmed Pakistan's unwavering support for the Palestinian people's right to self-determination and the establishment of an independent, sovereign state with East Jerusalem as its capital, in line with relevant UN resolutions. Sharif urged the international community to intervene urgently to halt Israel's aggression, protect civilians, and ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza. BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 8. The price of Azerbaijans Azeri Light crude oil on a CIF basis at Italys Augusta port declined by $1.76, or 2.5 percent, to $67.66 per barrel on August 7, a source in the oil market told Trend. At Turkiye's Ceyhan port, the price of Azeri Light on an FOB basis decreased by $1.76, or 2.6 percent, to $66.12 per barrel. Meanwhile, the price of URALS crude went down by $1.71, or 2.97 percent, to $55.70 per barrel. Brent Dated crude, produced in the North Sea, saw a decrease of $1.75, or 2.5 percent, bringing the price down to $67.73 per barrel. BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 8. Azerbaijan and Armenia, hopefully were taping this here today, but on Friday of this week, well be here to sign an agreement and the beginning of a peace deal there, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said during a briefing, Trend reports. On the broader issue of peace, the President is committed to peace and committed to being the President of peace. Azerbaijan and Armenia, hopefully were taping this here today, but on Friday of this week, well be here to sign an agreement and the beginning of a peace deal there, he said. Joint Declaration is expected to be signed between President Ilham Aliyev and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan following their meeting in Washington, in the presence of U.S. President Donald Trump Azerbaijan has put forward two main conditions for signing a peace agreement with Armenia: - A joint appeal to the OSCE regarding the dissolution of the Minsk Group; - Amendments to the Constitution of Armenia to eliminate territorial claims against Azerbaijan. The Joint Declaration, which is expected to be signed, confirms that Azerbaijan and Armenia will submit a joint appeal to the OSCE Secretary General regarding the dissolution of the Minsk Group. It also recognizes the necessity of taking further steps to sign and ratify the Agreement on the Establishment of Interstate Relations and Peace between the two countries following the initialing of its text. In other words, the need to amend Armenias constitution is confirmed as one of the key conditions for concluding a final peace agreement. Following the Patriotic War, President Ilham Aliyev repeatedly stated that there must be an unobstructed land connection between Azerbaijans mainland and Nakhchivan. This condition, put forward by President Aliyev, has now been accepted by Armenia. The Joint Declaration to be signed confirms the establishment of unobstructed transit between mainland Azerbaijan and Nakhchivan. Thus, the Zangazur Corridor is becoming a reality. BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 8. The White House has published the schedule of Trump's meetings with Aliyev and Pashinyan (Baku time), which will take place today. Trend presents the schedule: 22:30 President Trump meets with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan 22:35 Bilateral meeting between Trump and Pashinyan in the Oval Office of the White House 23:05 Signing ceremony between Trump and Pashinyan 23:10 Trump receives the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev 23:15 Bilateral meeting between Trump and Ilham Aliyev in the Oval Office of the White House 23:45 Signing of document between Trump and Ilham Aliyev 00:15 Trilateral document signing ceremony between Trump, Ilham Aliyev, and Nikol Pashinyan BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 8. Lets be honest: Donald Trump has been the punchline of countless jokes for years. Especially in Europe and Russia, where he was written off as a narcissist, a reality show president, someone who couldnt finish what he started. A guy who liked gold-plated everything but supposedly understood nothing about diplomacy. Well guess what just happened. Today, August 8, 2025, in Washington D.C., the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijantwo nations locked in a bitter, often bloody conflict for over 30 yearsare signing a peace deal. And the man who got them to the table and actually across the finish line? Donald J. Trump. Lets rewind. Since 1994, the Karabakh conflict has dragged on like a geopolitical zombie, never fully alive, never truly dead. The U.S., the EU, and Russia all claimed to want peace. They created working groups, hosted summits, issued statements, drafted roadmaps. But the truth is, they never seriously tried to solve anything. The conflict was too useful. It gave Washington leverage over Baku. It gave Moscow influence in Yerevan. It gave Brussels something to feel relevant about. So the peace process became just that: a process. Endlessly delayed, carefully managed, and never meant to succeed. And then Trump came. He didnt show up with a 500-page negotiation manual or lectures about democracy. He came in the way only Trump does: straightforward, transactional, and totally focused on the deal. Instead of pressure, he offered incentives. Instead of dragging things out, he moved fast. He proposed a plan that benefits everyone economically and gives both sides something tangible in return. The TRIPP initiative, Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity - is the centerpiece of the deal. Its not just a corridor linking Azerbaijan to Nakhchivan. Its a game-changing infrastructure project: railways, pipelines, digital networks. A new artery running through the South Caucasus, designed to bring stability through shared prosperity. While previous administrations tiptoed around the conflict, afraid of upsetting delicate balances, Trump went all in. He treated the region like a business deal: what do you want, what do we want, and how do we all come out ahead? Armenia gets out of isolation and into the global economy. Azerbaijan gains long-term security and connectivity. The U.S. reclaims strategic ground in a region where Russia and Iran once dominated. Thats not idealism. Thats execution. Remember all those smirks in Brussels? The snide takes on Russian state TV? The experts on cable news rolling their eyes? Theyre not laughing anymore. This deal doesnt just bring peace closer. It exposes how hollow and performative the Wests approach to the conflict has been for decades. Trump didnt just outmaneuver Russia or Europe. He embarrassed the entire diplomatic establishment. And he did it with the same style the world mocked him for. You dont have to like Trump. You dont have to vote for him. You dont even have to believe he cares deeply about the Caucasus. But you cant ignore the results. While others talked, he acted. While others drafted memos, he built momentum. While others played power games, he made peace profitable. In the end, history may remember this moment not just as a breakthrough for Armenia and Azerbaijan, but as a rare case where the guy nobody took seriously turned out to be the only adult in the room. Emin Aliyev is a political analyst and Editor-in-Chief of Trend News Agency in Azerbaijan. He has covered diplomacy, energy, and regional security in the South Caucasus for over a decade. BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 8. The visit of President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan to Washington, at the behest of US President Donald Trump, was more than just a diplomatic affair; it marked a pivotal moment in laying the groundwork for the new landscape of international relations in the South Caucasus. Its significance should be viewed through a multifaceted lensboth in the bilateral Baku-Washington relationship and in the grand scheme of resolving the Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, which is nearing the home stretch. The interaction between President Ilham Aliyev and President Donald Trump has a strategic flavor to it. Notably, three months before the 2024 US election, during the Global Media Forum in Azerbaijan's Shusha, the Azerbaijani leader articulated a favorable stance regarding Trump. This was not just a passing comment; it was a green light for rolling up sleeves and getting down to brass tacks with a politician who, during his first presidential term, played it close to the vest when it came to military force and wore his heart on his sleeve for bolstering traditional values. After Trumps return to the White House, a golden opportunity arose to take the relationship to new heights. Telephone talks, message exchanges, and, ultimately, the visit to Washington formalized a new political and economic track. Its institutional expression was the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding, which includes the creation of a Strategic Working Group to develop the Charter on Strategic Partnership. The three-pronged structure of future cooperation covers energy, trade, and transit; economic investments in the high-tech sector, including artificial intelligence; as well as military-political cooperation and joint counter-terrorism efforts. In a nutshell, this boils down to Azerbaijan getting its foot in the door of global technological supply chains and reeling in American capital for infrastructure and energy projects. Politically, this means strengthening mutual interdependence, with Baku gaining access to advanced technologies and investments, and Washington gaining a reliable partner in a strategically significant region, a key node in Eurasian transport and energy routes. On this account, a pivotal political move will be President Trumps signing of a document putting the brakes on the 907th amendment to the "Freedom Support Act." This measure, rolled out in 1992 under the guise of an alleged "blockade" of Armenia, has been wielded for decades as a stick to poke at Baku. The Biden-Blinken administration's attempt to resurrect this lever only strengthened Azerbaijans resolve to act more autonomously. Now, this element of US legislation has effectively lost its power as a tool for influencing Azerbaijans foreign policy. The second key piece of the puzzle during the visit ties into the peace agenda between Baku and Yerevan. With Donald Trumps mediation, a meeting between President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan of Armenia will take place, the outcome of which will be a Joint Declaration. The Azerbaijani conditions, previously considered "unacceptable" by Yerevan, have become the basis for the agreements: a joint appeal to the OSCE to dissolve the Minsk Group and constitutional reform in Armenia, excluding territorial claims against Azerbaijan. The significance of these points cannot be overstated. The disbanding of the OSCE Minsk Group effectively puts the nail in the coffin of international mediation, which turned out to be a wild goose chase. Constitutional changes in Armenia will legally cement the recognition of Azerbaijan's territorial integrity. A separate point of interest is the principle of uninterrupted land communication between the main territory of Azerbaijan and Nakhchivan, which was established in the declaration. The Zangezur Corridor, a bone of contention that Baku has been pushing for since the dust settled after the 2020 war, is now under the watchful eye of both regional and international guarantors. It's worth noting that the US, under Trump, is holding the reins of its launch. The preliminary agreement of the peace treaty between the two countries is not the be-all and end-all, but it lays a sturdy groundwork for its eventual signing after a referendum on constitutional changes in Armenia in 2026. Comparing Trumps role in this process to Jimmy Carters mediation at the Camp David negotiations is not an exaggeration: in both cases, we are dealing with an external arbitrator capable of fixing a balance of interests and preventing a return to confrontation. Washingtons peace agenda is not just diplomatic rhetoric for protocol purposes; its a game changer thats reshaping the whole regional landscape. President Ilham Aliyev, having already won a military victory in 2020 and restored the country's full sovereignty in 2023, was able to use the outcome of the war as a basis for politically solidifying the new realities. This line of reasoning can be followed through the timeline of happenings. Subsequent to the conclusion of the Second Karabakh War, Baku articulated a quintet of foundational principles aimed at facilitating a peace accord with Armenia. These principles encompass the mutual acknowledgment of territorial demarcations, the abrogation of territorial assertions, the initiation of communication channels, and the establishment of diplomatic engagements. For an extended duration of approximately two years, Armenia has strategically refrained from delivering a robust response, endeavoring to reintegrate the matter concerning the Armenian demographic in Karabakh into the forefront of the discourse. Azerbaijan's stance has been consistently articulated: the domestic dynamics of the nation are not subject to inclusion within the framework of an intergovernmental accord. The interventions by outside players - the Biden-Blinken administration and French President Macronfell flat and didnt bear fruit. Their attempts to apply pressure, appeal to sanctions rhetoric, and use international human rights organizations as tools of political influence led to a diplomatic deadlock. Real negotiations only began after Azerbaijans 2023 anti-terrorist measures, conducted within 24 hours, and culminated in the agreement on the peace treaty text in March 2025. The Joint Declaration in Washington will be the culmination of this process. Armenia has agreed to the dissolution of the OSCE Minsk Group and constitutional changes ensuring legal recognition of the new reality. The issue of the Zangezur Corridor, once met with categorical rejection by Yerevan, has moved into the realm of implementation. So, the Washington meeting will not just jot down the agreements made but will also weave them into the fabric of international guarantees. President Ilham Aliyevs visit has become not just a diplomatic event, but a demonstration of the maturity of Azerbaijan's foreign policy doctrine, which has managed to integrate national interests into the global agenda of key world capitals. The signing of the memorandum on strategic partnership, the suspension of the 907th amendment, and the establishment of guarantees for the Zangezur Corridor create a new geopolitical platform, on which Baku gains the opportunity for a more flexible and asymmetric foreign policy maneuver in the multipolar system of international relations. From the perspective of international relations theory, this is a textbook case of turning the tablestaking military might and spinning it into a web of lasting political, legal, and economic connections. In political science terminology, such cases are classified as "post-conflict institutionalization," where the outcome of armed confrontation is cemented not only by force but also by a dense network of formalized agreements, mutual guarantees, and inclusion in the system of international norms (rule-based order). The ripple effects of the talks in Washington are like a stone thrown into a pond, creating waves that reach far and wide. For Baku, it means expanded access to Western technologies and capital, increased investment attractiveness, strengthened subjectivity in regional politics, and the final consolidation of the post-war status quo ante bellum. For Washington, it sharpens the arsenal for flexing muscle in the South Caucasus, broadens the avenues for transit and energy, and pulls Azerbaijan into its strategic fold. For Yerevan, it entails inevitable adaptation to the new reality in the logic of realpolitik, where symbolic declarations no longer carry weight in the face of the material balance of power. The fallout from the papers inked in Washington will hit hard for those whose game plan revolved around spinning a tale of animosity against Azerbaijan. For French President Emmanuel Macron, who built the Caucasus vector on Azerbaijani-phobic rhetoric and the concept of Pariss "normative mission," this is a strategic failure. French MPs, who legally recognized a non-existent quasi-state entity, the European Parliament, human rights NGOs like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, and the Armenian lobby in the US led by ANCA, have found themselves politically marginalized. Their efforts to play hardball with "sanctions diplomacy" and isolationist tools have fallen flat, showing that the well of pressure tactics on Baku has run dry. President Ilham Aliyev has realized a rare scenario in modern world politics: after winning a war, he was able to win peace, formalizing the outcome in the form of international agreements, strategic alliances, and legally binding guarantees that weave Azerbaijan into the fabric of global security as an independent and equal player. BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 8. During the ongoing proceedings at the Baku Military Court on August 8, victim Idris Mirzayev stated that he was captured by the Armenian armed forces in the Tartar district of Azerbaijan in April 1994, Trend reports. According to the victim, he was kept at the Shusha prison, in Aghdara and Khankendi. Mirzayev added that he was forcibly involved in the construction of pig and poultry farms in Azerbaijans Aghbulag village (Khojavand districted.), occupied by Armenia at the time. While in captivity, the victim was beaten and subjected to torture, which resulted in spinal cord injury and lameness. Mirzayev added that the Armenians had tortured the Azerbaijani prisoners while being drunk and under the influence of drugs. Another victim Habib Aliyev claimed he was wounded and captured during the battles in Lachin in 1992 while serving in the military. While wounded, he was beaten and subjected to torture. The victim added that he had been kept in the basement for one year and eight months before being finally released from captivity on May 8, 1995. The court proceedings continue against Armenian nationals accused of crimes including war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, aggression, terrorism, and violations of the laws of war. The charges also include financing terrorism, the violent seizure and retention of power, and other serious offenses. Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 8. The signing of the Joint Declaration between Azerbaijan and Armenia could launch the process of finalizing the peace treaty, former US Ambassador to Azerbaijan Matthew Bryza told Trend. "For many years, I personally have believed that the involvement of the US President, whoever that is, in the Azerbaijan-Armenia peace process is really important to finalize a treaty. And I hope we're getting close to that now with President Trump today hosting President Ilham Aliyev and Prime Minister Pashinyan at the White House. I think there's not going to be a peace treaty signed today, but instead a framework agreement that defines the specific steps that both Prime Minister Pashinyan and President Ilham Aliyev are ready to take, willing to take, to get to the point of signing a peace treaty. And nobody knows exactly when the peace treaty will be signed, but the framework agreement will be very important," the ex-ambassador said. He reminded that in March of this year, President Aliyev and Prime Minister Pashinyan agreed on the final text of the peace treaty. "There's one key issue remaining, and that is Azerbaijan's insistence that Armenia amend its constitution to announce and make absolutely clear that Karabakh is part of Azerbaijan and remove any ambiguity that was or is today in the Armenian constitution. And that process will be difficult. It will require a victory in a very difficult political fight by Prime Minister Pashinyan inside Armenia. And President Trump's strong support for Prime Minister Pashinyan in doing so is something that now will come out, I think, of this meeting in Washington today as very important. But it's not a peace treaty. It's a framework agreement that will help the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan finalize their peace treaty, especially by Armenia amending its constitution as Azerbaijan wishes. There's talk also of strategic partnership agreements that will be reached between President Trump and President Aliyev on one hand, and President Trump and Prime Minister Pashinyan on the other hand, which will strengthen the economic and political relationships and security relationships between both countries," he also said. Besides, as Bryza noted, there's talk that Section 907 will be repealed, or that President Trump will urge the Republican-controlled US Congress to eliminate Section 907 once and for all. "And finally, it seems that there will be some sort of agreement reached on the Zangezur Corridor, or the corridor across Armenia, whereby a U.S. logistics company not a security company, but a logistics company will operate that corridor on Armenia's territory. These are all rumors, reports coming out of Washington now, and what happens later on today remains to be seen. But it's a very optimistic moment the most optimistic moment in all of my years covering the Karabakh conflict over a quarter century. And so I hope that what happens today does lead eventually to that final peace treaty, hopefully in a short time. The framework agreement, if written correctly, can enable that process of finalizing the peace treaty," he concluded. BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 8. We fully support the peaceful resolution of conflict in Georgia based on the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity within internationally recognized borders, the publication of the Azerbaijani MFA on X said, Trend reports. "Azerbaijan continues to attach great importance to its close partnership and neighborly relations with Georgia," the publication reads. To recall, on this date in 2008, 17 years prior, hostilities commenced between Russia and Georgia. Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel Photo: Press Service of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 8. President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has sent a letter of condolences to Romanian President Nicusor Dan, Trend reports. "Dear Mr. President, I was deeply saddened to learn of the passing of former President of Romania and prominent statesman Ion Iliescu. Ion Iliescu made significant contributions to the establishment and development of relations between the Republic of Azerbaijan and Romania, as well as to the strengthening of the bonds of friendship and cooperation between our countries. He visited Azerbaijan multiple times, and I always recall my meetings with him with the fondest memories. On this occasion of great loss, I extend my deepest condolences to you, to the family of the late president, and to the entire people of Romania," the letter reads. Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 8. The expected agreement on suspension of Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act by US President Trump during the visit of the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev will be a powerful signal reflecting a strategic rethinking of the interstate relations' direction, Irina Tsukerman, a US international law analyst and political observer, told Trend. "For decades, Section 907 functioned as a significant limitation, restricting American assistance to Azerbaijan on the basis of the unresolved conflict with Armenia. Its suspension signals a recalibration of U.S. policy, reflecting a more nuanced and pragmatic understanding of Azerbaijans role as a stabilizing force in the South Caucasus and a vital partner in energy security for the US and its allies. This change not only deepens bilateral ties but also sends a signal to other regional actors that the U.S. views Azerbaijan as a pivotal partner in its broader strategic vision for Eurasia," she said. Tsukerman also spoke about the significance of the Memorandum of Understanding, which is expected to be signed today in Washington. "The Memorandum of Understanding, which establishes a Strategic Working Group to advance the US-Azerbaijan Charter on Strategic Partnership, carries profound significance. This memorandum is more than a diplomatic formality; it institutionalizes the framework for a deep and multifaceted partnership. By creating a Strategic Working Group, the two countries commit to continuous and structured dialogue, which will ensure that their cooperation evolves beyond ad hoc agreements toward a coherent and sustained strategy. The working group will coordinate efforts across critical areas such as energy cooperation, including oil and gas development and transit; regional infrastructure projects enhancing connectivity between the Caspian, Turkiye, and Europe; and economic diversification initiatives," the analyst explained. According to Tsukerman, it's especially important that the inclusion of emerging technological fields like artificial intelligence and digital infrastructure signals a forward-looking dimension to the partnership. "This positions Azerbaijan as a regional innovation hub while leveraging American expertise and investment. Furthermore, cooperation in security, counterterrorism, and defense sales under this charter reflects mutual recognition of shared strategic interests in maintaining regional stability and countering common threats. This document shapes future cooperation by establishing clear mechanisms for progress reviews, joint planning, and resource mobilization, thus transforming bilateral relations into a strategic alliance that responds effectively to evolving geopolitical challenges," she added. Next, speaking about the peace process between Azerbaijan and Armenia, the analyst noted that the initialing of the peace treaty between the countries in Washington will become a landmark moment in a conflict that has long resisted resolution. "While initialing is a preliminary procedural step, it encapsulates the political will of both sides to commit to a comprehensive framework for peace and normalization. This phase sets out the foundational principles of the agreement, including mutual recognition of borders, security guarantees, mechanisms for dispute resolution, and frameworks for cooperation in economic and humanitarian areas. It represents a break from decades of hostility and lays the groundwork for a final signed treaty to be ratified by the respective parliaments, which will enshrine peace in legal terms. This process is critical to establishing durable peace, as it moves the parties from ceasefire to political reconciliation. Moreover, the treaty facilitates the reopening of communication channels and trade routes, contributing to regional stability and integration. Its initialing in Washington underlines the US renewed active role in shaping peace and stability in the South Caucasus," Tsukerman also said. Then, mentioning the significance of the Zangezur Corridor, she pointed out that the opening of this route promises to have transformative effects on regional connectivity and economic development. "This corridor, linking mainland Azerbaijan with Nakhchivan via southern Armenia, holds immense strategic importance. It creates a direct land route that will facilitate the flow of goods, energy, and people, significantly reducing transit times and costs. For Azerbaijan, the corridor is vital in consolidating its territorial unity and economic integration, allowing seamless access to Nakhchivan without reliance on third countries. Regionally, it represents an infrastructure breakthrough that can serve as a key artery connecting the Caspian Sea to Turkiye and onward to European markets, thus enhancing the South Caucasus role as a critical transit hub in Eurasian logistics and trade networks. The corridors development is expected to attract foreign investments, stimulate economic growth, and foster interdependence among regional economies, thereby contributing to long-term peace through economic integration," she explained. Additionally, the analyst touched upon the OSCE Minsk Group's dissolution. "The agreement by both Azerbaijan and Armenia to jointly appeal to the OSCE Secretary General for the formal dissolution of the Minsk Group signals a decisive shift in the mechanisms of conflict resolution in the South Caucasus. The Minsk Group, established in the 1990s under the auspices of the OSCE, has long been the primary international mediator in the conflict. However, over decades it has struggled to produce lasting solutions, often hindered by geopolitical rivalries among its co-chair countries and a lack of responsiveness to evolving realities on the ground. The joint appeal for its dissolution reflects both countries desire to move away from a framework that has become synonymous with stalemate and diplomatic inertia," she concluded. Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 8. The date of the next public hearing of the criminal case against citizens of the Republic of Armenia Arayik Harutyunyan, Arkady Ghukasyan, Bako Sahakyan, David Ishkhanyan, David Babayan, Levon Mnatsakanyan and others, who are accused of committing crimes against peace and humanity, war crimes, including the preparation and waging of an aggressive war, genocide, violation of the laws and rules of war, as well as terrorism, financing terrorism, violent seizure of power, violent retention of power and numerous other crimes as a result of Armenia's military aggression against Azerbaijan, has been announced, Trend reports. The trial, presided over by Judge Zeynal Aghayev with Judges Jamal Ramazanov and Anar Rzayev (reserve Judge Gunel Samadova), ensured that each accused was provided with a translator in their preferred language and with legal defense. The accused, their defense counsel, victims, legal heirs, representatives, and prosecutors defending the states charges were present at the session. The trial will continue on August 11. BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 8. The expected initialing of the text of the peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia is an immensely positive step, former US Ambassador to Azerbaijan Robert Cekuta told Trend. "It is important to realize that the agreement was by and large between the two countries," he emphasized. According to the former ambassador, despite the importance of the current events, Armenia and Azerbaijan should undertake additional steps. He also spoke about the importance of raising relations between Azerbaijan and the US to a qualitatively new level. "It will be possible to say more after today's historic meetings in the White House; however, relaunching a strategic partnership between the US and Azerbaijan is a positive development for the US and Azerbaijan as well as for peace and stability in the broader region," Cecuta underscored. He pointed out that the US and Azerbaijan had a strategic partnership for a number of years before his appointment as ambassador. "Counterparts in the Azerbaijani government and I sought to revitalize the meetings envisioned under that partnership, but we were unfortunately unable to see the success we wanted for a number of reasons. Given a number of realities, including Azerbaijan's geographic locationas the only country in the world that borders both Russia and Iranas well as the importance of the independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, and economic well-being of the countries of the South Caucasus and Central Asia, a strategic partnership between Baku and Washington only made sense. I am glad the Trump Administration seems to understand this and to be looking to work more energetically with Azerbaijan as well as with Armenia and others," Cecuta concluded. Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel Photo: Press service of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 8. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev will hold meetings at the White House today, Trend reports. The meeting between President Ilham Aliyev and US President Donald Trump is scheduled for 15:20 local time in Washington (23:20 Baku time). Later, at 16:00 local time (00:00 Baku time), President Aliyev will meet with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan in the presence of President Trump. Both meetings will be broadcast live via the official channels of the White House: https://youtube.com/@whitehouse?si=xPOdX0lCjaZzBAii https://x.com/whitehouse BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 8. While greeting Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev at the White House, the US President Donald Trump has expressed his strong confidence in achieving lasting peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Responding to a journalists question on how confident he was about lasting peace between the two countries, Trump said: I am very confident. BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 9. Armenia is creating an exclusive partnership with the United States to develop the Zangezur Corridor, which could extend for up to 99 years, and then they promise in 99 years they'll extend it, said U.S. President Donald Trump during his meeting at the White House with President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan. "Armenia and Azerbaijan are committing to stop all fighting forever, open up commerce, travel and diplomatic relations and respect each other's sovereignty and territorial integrity. So importantly, and I just spent a lot of time with these two men. I think they're going to have a great relationship. This declaration establishes what they are calling a great honor for me, I didn't ask for this the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity, which is a special transit area that will allow Azerbaijan to get full access to its territory of Nakhchivan, well, fully respecting Armenia's sovereignty, so they're going to be able to really live and work together. And it's amazing. So that's a very important territory, I guess, very special territory to you and to you, and now they work together. Armenia is also creating an exclusive partnership with the United States to develop this corridor, which could extend for up to 99 years. And then they promise, in 99 years, they'll extend it, right? You promise, but we anticipate significant infrastructure development and American companies are very anxious to go into these two countries, and they're going to spend a lot of money, which will economically benefit all three of our nations. This is incredibly positive news for the future of the entire region, and it's a very important region, as you know. Additionally, the US is signing a bilateral agreement with both countries to expand cooperation and energy trade and technology, including AI, and in terms of energy. Chris is here representing our country. And there's nobody better than Chris Wright. And Chris, I understand it's very fertile. It's a very fertile area," he said. BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 9. President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has proposed, together with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, to send a joint appeal to the Nobel Committee to nominate U.S. President Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize. During the joint press conference in Washington, the head of state noted, Maybe we can agree with Prime Minister Pashinyan to send a joint appeal to the Nobel Committee to award President Trump the Nobel Peace Prize, because, for the leaders of countries that were at war for more than three decades, having this historic signature here really means a lot. This is a tangible result of President Trumps leadership, and no one could have achieved it. There have been many presidents here since the beginning of the 1990s, and the so-called Minsk process, which, by the way, we put an end to today with my Armenian colleague, started in 1992. Negotiations under the auspices of the OSCE continued for more than three decades without any result. So, who, if not President Trump, deserves the Nobel Peace Prize? I dont want to go into the history of some very strange decisions by the Nobel Peace Committee to award the prize to someone who did not do anything at all. But President Trump, in six months, did a miracle. So I think that my Armenian colleague will support this idea. Judging by the reaction of the audience, I think as soon as we come back, we will issue a joint letter. Hopefully, when the President is awarded, we hope that he will invite us to the ceremony." BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 9. We are today establishing peace in the Caucasus, which will open great opportunities, not only for our region but for the world, said President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev during a joint press conference in Washington with U.S. President Donald Trump and Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan. Statement by President Ilham Aliyev - Thank you very much, Mr. President. First of all thank you for the invitation. Its a big honor to be invited by the President of the United States to this historic event. Actually, we are writing a new history in bilateral, interstate relationship between the United States and Azerbaijan. We are starting a path towards a strategic partnership. The Charter on Strategic Partnership will be elaborated over several months, and this is a historic achievement for Azerbaijan. Because being in the format of strategic partnership with the greatest country in the world is a great opportunity and also very big responsibility. And this strategic partnership format embraces so many important areas including mutual investment, trade, energy, connectivity, transit, AI, defense sales, counterterrorism all these areas in which we have had and hopefully will have very active cooperation in the future. It opens a lot of opportunities for Azerbaijan to continue its path of development, diversify its economy, keep unemployment low, as it is today, and to look to the future with great optimism. Also, I am very grateful to the President for lifting the restrictions that were imposed on Azerbaijan back in 1992, just one year after Azerbaijan restored its independence. These restrictions were imposed on us only a year after independence, and after 33 years, they have been lifted today. Its a day which will be remembered by the people of Azerbaijan with a feeling of pride and gratitude towards President Trump for his attitude towards Azerbaijan, for his vision not only for our region. We exchanged views today, and I said that within several months, he managed to put an end to conflicts in Asia, in Africa and now in the South Caucasus. What we could not achieve for more than 30 years we had to sacrifice lives, fight two very bad wars with a lot of casualties. Without President Trump, his team and our great friend Mr. Witkoff and his team, probably today, Armenia Azerbaijan would have been again in this endless process of negotiations. So really, it's a historic day. We are today establishing peace in the Caucasus, which will open great opportunities not only for our region. As President Trump correctly mentioned, the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity will create new connectivity lines, lift the walls and l create connectivity opportunities for so many countries with investments, with prosperity, with stability. You know, Azerbaijan and Armenia became independent at the same time as a result of the collapse of the Soviet Union. But at that time, we were already at war, and we lost a lot of years preoccupied with wars and occupation and bloodshed. Today is a historic day, and also because we are bringing peace. President Trump is bringing peace to Caucasus, and we are grateful for that. And I'm sure that Armenia Azerbaijan, will find courage and responsibility to reconcile, and the people will also reconcile. We will turn the page of standoff, confrontation and bloodshed and provide bright and safe future for our children. So I'm very happy, because today we're writing the great new history. And once again, Mr. President, thank you for all what you are doing for us, for our region and for the whole world. BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 8. My meeting with President Trump was held in a very sincere and friendly atmosphere, said President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev in an interview with journalists in Washington, Trend reports. "My meeting with President Trump was very sincere. I can say that it was held in a friendly atmosphere. Many important issues were discussed. In addition, as you may know, a Strategic Working Group has been established to prepare the Strategic Partnership Charter, and of course, this document is of tremendous importance. The directions of future cooperation are clearly defined in it. These include cooperation in mutual investment, energy, transport, communications, transit, security, artificial intelligence, the defense industry and defense, and other areas. In other words, simply listing these directions shows just how extensive the opportunities opening up before our country are, and the composition of the group that will represent the Azerbaijani side has already been determined on my instruction. We will put forward our proposals. Meetings have already been held with several leading American companies within the framework of my visit. In other words, we do not want to waste any time. I consider the four years of the previous administration as lost years because, unfortunately, during the Biden administration, American-Azerbaijani relations became hostage to Azerbaijani-Armenian relations. The achievements and the potential we had with the United States of America in previous years were almost frozen. Therefore, we cannot waste any time now. The audience may have felt the positive attitude of Mr. Trump, his administration, and his team towards Azerbaijan from the meetings we held and the atmosphere of the press conference," said President Ilham Aliyev. BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 9. We do not want to waste time; the past four years under the previous administration, I consider them lost years. Unfortunately, during the Biden administration, U.S.-Azerbaijan relations became hostage to Azerbaijan-Armenia relations, said President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev during an interview with the Azerbaijani press in Washington, Trend reports. "The achievements and potential we had with the United States in the previous period were effectively frozen. Therefore, we cannot afford to lose time now," President Aliyev emphasized. BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 9. The issue of territorial claims against Azerbaijan in Armenia's constitution did not allow for the signing of a peace agreement today, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in an interview with local media, Trend reports. "Of course, Armenia also has some homework to do, so to speak. As you may know, the issue of territorial claims against Azerbaijan in their constitution did not allow for the signing of a peace agreement today. But after these changes are made, the peace agreement can be signed at any time. However, when I expressed my opinion on some questions today, I said that if the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia agreed to initial this agreement in the White House, then we can consider that a lasting peace has already come to our region. I believe that this is an issue of special importance for Azerbaijan, Armenia, and indeed the entire region. Therefore, today can be considered a historic day, and for this reason too. The steps taken in the development of both US-Azerbaijan bilateral relations and the normalization of Azerbaijan-Armenia relations, the adoption and signing of the Joint Declaration, and the support and witnessing by the President of the United States, the most powerful country in the world, once again show the importance of this Declaration. I also noted at the press conference today that we did this in the number one capital of the world, in the number one office of the world, with the participation of the most powerful President of the world. Of course, everyone understands how important this is for our country, for the region, and for the wider geography. We restored justice through war. Now we have put an end to this on the political level," said President Ilham Aliyev. MOSCOW, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- Russia's Kronotsky state nature biosphere reserve said Thursday that automated camera systems in the reserve and South Kamchatka Sanctuary have documented positive population trends among red-listed pinniped species. Vladimir Burkanov, a member of the Russian Marine Mammal Council, said that the analysis of tens of thousands of images captured between July 2023 and September 2024 revealed a rising birth rate among Steller sea lions, a species endemic to the North Pacific. Steller sea lions are classified as "Endangered (EN A1b)" in the Red List of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, indicating a high risk of near-future extinction, and listed in Category II of Russia's Red Data Book. "At Kozlov Rock, the sole breeding site for Steller sea lions along Kamchatka's coast, roughly 100 pups have been born annually over the past five years," said the reserve in Telegram, calling the trend "encouraging." "This compares to 80 to 100 births per year in the previous decade," it added. The total Steller sea lion population at Kozlov Rock is estimated at around 400. BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 9. The EU warmly welcomes today's meeting of President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and Prime Minister Pashinyan of Armenia, hosted by President Trump of the USA, Trend reports citing the Joint statement by President Costa of the European Council and President von der Leyen of the European Commission on the initialling of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Peace Treaty and on the declaration between President Aliyev and Prime Minister Pashinyan in Washington DC. "It equally welcomes the initialling of the Agreement on Peace and Establishment of Interstate Relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The signing of the Political Declaration by Prime Minister Pashinyan and President Ilham Aliyev, in the presence of President Trump in the White House, is a major development for both Armenia and Azerbaijan, paving the way to lasting, sustainable peace for both countries and across the entire region, also culminating years of EU efforts," reads the statement. EU believes that it will now be important to ensure the timely implementation of the agreed steps to guarantee steady and uninterrupted progress towards full-fledged normalisation of relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan. "As conveyed on several occasions to both leaders, including most recently in the margins of the EPC summit in Tirana in May 2025, President Costa and President von der Leyen have been sincerely encouraged by the decisive steps undertaken by Azerbaijani and Armenian leaders on their bilateral track over the past few years, building also on the past series of their discussions in Brussels. The EU strongly supports the Armenia-Azerbaijan normalisation process and stands ready to invest in regional connectivity and full opening, to benefit first and foremost populations divided by conflict legacies, and to bring the region closer to sustainable peace, stability and prosperity," reads the document. BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 9. The directions for future cooperation have been clearly outlined in the Strategic Partnership Charter, said President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev during an interview with the Azerbaijani press in Washington, Trend reports. "A Strategic Working Group has been established to prepare the Strategic Partnership Charter, and of course, this document is of tremendous importance. The directions of future cooperation are clearly defined in it. These include cooperation in mutual investment, energy, transport, communications, transit, security, artificial intelligence, the defense industry and defense, and other areas. In other words, simply listing these directions shows just how extensive the opportunities opening up before our country are, and the composition of the group that will represent the Azerbaijani side has already been determined on my instruction. We will put forward our proposals. Meetings have already been held with several leading American companies within the framework of my visit. In other words, we do not want to waste any time. I consider the four years of the previous administration as lost years because, unfortunately, during the Biden administration, American-Azerbaijani relations became hostage to Azerbaijani-Armenian relations. The achievements and the potential we had with the United States of America in previous years were almost frozen. Therefore, we cannot waste any time now. The audience may have felt the positive attitude of Mr. Trump, his administration, and his team towards Azerbaijan from the meetings we held and the atmosphere of the press conference," said President Ilham Aliyev. BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 8. A panel discussion on The Global Virtual Community and Networking Platform was organized as part of the VI Summer Camp for Diaspora Youth in Khankendi, Trend reports via the State Committee for Work with Diaspora. Meanwhile, it is reported that the guests of the panel, moderated by Rauf Jabbarov, executive director of the Azerbaijan Cybersecurity Organizations Association, were Ali Mammadzade, head of the association's department, Panah Musayev, chairman of the board of directors of the AKTA Public Association, Orkhan Gabibzade, regional systems engineer at Crowdstrike, and Rahman Rasulzade, founder of the AREA Academy. The discussion focused on the importance of motivation in the field of cybersecurity and opportunities to support youth development in this area, as well as intellectual discussions on new criteria for creating virtual community platforms. In addition, the role of cyber simulation technologies in accordance with the requirements of the modern era was noted. Innovations in the field of unmanned aerial vehicles and robotics, the fact that these technologies are one of the main directions of the future, and the importance of supporting interested youth were highlighted. It was emphasized that such initiatives play an important role in educating the youth of the diaspora in the field of technology, cybersecurity, and innovation, integrating them into global networks, as well as uniting around national interests. The camp participants received answers to questions related to artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, and digital technologies. The VI Summer Camp for Diaspora Youth, which will run from August 3 through 9, is organized jointly by the State Committee for Diaspora Affairs and the Heydar Aliyev Foundation. The VI Summer Camp for Diaspora Youth is attended by 128 young people from 61 countries around the world. Previous camps were held in the cities of Shaki, Shamakhi, Shusha, Nakhchivan, and Lachin, and in total, more than 700 young people from over 60 countries around the world participate in the camps each year. On the occasion of the birthday of Azerbaijan's National Hero, Hokuma Aliyeva, the management and staff of Azerbaijan Airlines CJSC visited the grave of the heroic crew member at the Second Alley of Honor, Trend reports via Azerbaijan Airlines CJSC. The participants of the event respectfully honored the memory of Hokuma Aliyeva and laid flowers at her grave. The AZAL team also respectfully paid tribute to the memory of National Heroes of Azerbaijan Igor Kshnyakin and Alexander Kalyaninov. In connection with the anniversary of Hokuma Aliyeva's birth, a moment of silence was observed at Heydar Aliyev International Airport. Notably, by the decree of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, dated December 29, 2024, Hokuma Aliyeva Jalil gizi was posthumously awarded the title of "National Hero of Azerbaijan" for her exceptional professionalism, courage, and selflessness while performing her official duties and saving the lives of passengers during the crash of the Embraer 190 passenger aircraft, operated by Azerbaijan Airlines CJSC on the Baku-Grozny (Russian Federation) route. BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 8. A light infantry platoon from the 2nd Tundzha Mechanized Brigade of Bulgaria has concluded its participation in the multinational exercise Agile Spirit - 25, Trend reports citing the country's Defense Ministry. The drills took place at the Georgian Army Joint Training and Evaluation Center in Georgia. The servicemen from the 42nd Mechanized Battalion of the 2nd Mechanized Brigade took part in joint field exercises on defensive topics, as well as in live-fire drills within a company formed specifically for the exercise, together with units from the armed forces of Georgia and Moldova. Agile Spirit - 25 has been conducted since 2015 by the U.S. Army Europe and Africa Command in cooperation with the Georgian Armed Forces, with the participation of NATO member states and partner countries. This years exercise involved up to 2,000 military personnel and civilian staff from 12 countries and military structures. BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 8. The Croatian military participated in a joint search and rescue operation for an Italian married couple whose boat sank in the northern Adriatic Sea, Trend reports. In this operation, the Croatian Coast Guard deployed a GB-201 rubber boat from the Croatian Navy with four personnel, along with a Pilatus PC-9M aircraft from the Croatian Air Force, crewed by two pilotsthe aircraft commander and the co-pilot. Brigadier Damir Barisic, the aircraft commander, noted that the main challenge was the lack of precise information about the last known position of the missing persons, so the search area practically covered the entire western coast of Istria towards the open sea. The flight lasted 1 hour and 15 minutes, and we located the missing persons on our third pass after about half an hour of searching. Coast Guard and Harbor Masters Office colleagues arrived at the location within about ten minutes after we sent them the coordinates via the Air Surveillance and Guidance Battle Officer, said Brigadier Barisic. Lieutenant Matej Ravlic, the co-pilot, said he was especially happy and proud that on his first flight supporting the Coast Guard, he successfully located the missing persons. Officials from the Harbor Masters Office in Pula thanked the Croatian Coast Guard and Air Force, emphasizing that without their involvement, the search would have taken much longer. This coordinated search and rescue operation was initiated at the request of the National Coordination Center for Search and Rescue at Sea Rijeka MRCC Rijeka. The PC-9M aircraft was engaged in the northern Adriatic area, specifically along the western coast of Istria, from the Porer rock to the waters near the city of Porec, while the rubber boat operated from the Vargarola harbor. After being located, the Italian couple was transported by the rubber boat to the port of Pula, where they were taken over by Emergency Medical Services staff from the General Hospital Pula. Thanks to the quick response and efficient cooperation of all involved services, the two Italian citizens were successfully found and rescued. BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 8. Bilateral relations between North Macedonia and Spain are being further strengthened through the opening of the Skopje-Madrid air route, alongside the previously established Skopje-Barcelona line, Trend reports, citing the Ministry of Transport of North Macedonia. This was emphasized during a meeting between Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport Aleksandar Nikolovski and the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Spain, Rafael Soriano Ortiz. The two air routes, Deputy Prime Minister Nikolovski informed, are part of the governments program to develop air traffic, opening new prospects between the two countries and their peoples. During the meeting, opinions and views were also exchanged on current political and economic issues in the country and the region. Deputy Prime Minister Nikolovski highlighted that North Macedonia has entered an investment cycle focused on the development of road and rail networks, with special emphasis on corridors expected to drive regional economic growth. The meeting also outlined investment opportunities in the country through projects in sectors of mutual interest. At the end of the meeting, both interlocutors agreed that cooperation between the two countries is at a good level and that it can be further strengthened, especially in the economic field. BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 8. The Estonian Transport Administration has announced a new development tender for the second stage of EMDE 2.0 (Electronic Maritime Information System), Trend reports. The goal is to create a system that enables the submission of ship visit data and the management of workflows. The upgrade will also introduce a feature allowing ships to order and manage services offered at ports. A total of three bids were submitted for the second stage of the development project. The Transport Administration will now verify the accuracy of the submissions and review whether the bidders meet the qualification and compliance requirements of the public procurement process. Once the second stage is completed, shipping agents will be able to use new modules for ship visit management and service ordering. The development is based on the existing system, business analysis proposals, as well as the requirements of European Union Regulation 2019/1239 and recommendations from technical working groups. What is EMDE? EMDE, short for Eesti Merendus Dokumentide Edastus (internationally known as the National Maritime Single Window), was created to simplify the submission of maritime-related information and documents. The system allows vessels to transmit data to authorities about the ship, crew, passengers, and cargo before arriving at port. Currently, ships must submit large volumes of information to multiple authorities each time they visit a port. While international agreements call for harmonized reporting, practices in the EU have remained inconsistenteach country and port has its own requirements and systems. This creates a heavy administrative burden for shipping companies and makes monitoring maritime transport more difficult. EU Regulation 2019/1239 requires that data submission be more standardized and user-friendly. Information should be reusable, machine-readable, and submitted via a single portal. This is expected to improve maritime safety and environmental protection. The current system, over a decade old, no longer meets modern technical standards. Therefore, the Transport Administration, in cooperation with AgileWorks AS, has decided to develop a new, modern system, which is scheduled to be completed by early 2027. Progress so far The first development stage was awarded to OU ADM Interactive, tasked with creating the systems user interface, mobile views, database, and the necessary forms for initiating ship visits. The EMDE 2.0 project is funded through the national digital transformation program, led by the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Digital Affairs. BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 8. Estonian Minister of Economic Affairs and Industry Erkki Keldo today presented the governments economic cabinet with the Team Estonia export action plan, aimed at boosting the countrys position in the global marketplace, Trend reports. The strategy focuses on expanding export capacity, diversifying markets, shaping Estonias international image, and deepening cooperation between the government and the business sector. Exports account for nearly 80 percent of Estonias economy, which means that for long-term economic growth, we must sell more goods and services abroad. After two years of decline, Estonias exports are back on a growth path. To support this at the national level, we have worked with industry associations to create systematic and targeted actions that will bring maximum benefit to the economy and our companies, Minister Keldo said. In accordance with the newly instituted framework, the cohort of enterprises engaging in exports exceeding 10 million euros per annum is projected to escalate from 615 to 700 by the year 2028. Estonia is strategically positioning itself to amplify its aggregate export throughput from 30 billion euros to a projected 43 billion euros within the forthcoming quadrennial period. In pursuit of this objective, strategic business hubs will be established in Riga, London, Paris, Berlin, and Copenhagen, providing localized market facilitation for Estonian enterprises. Supplementary support will be extended to leverage investment prospects in Germany, while targeted intergovernmental collaboration frameworks will facilitate corporate penetration into emerging markets. To strengthen Estonias global image, the e-presentation centers services will be expanded, more Estonian export success stories will be shared in international media, and efforts will be made to promote Estonia as a smart industrial nation. An online export portal will also be launched to centralize essential information for businesses and improve communication between the state and entrepreneurs. The action plan prioritizes eight high-value sectors expected to deliver the greatest economic benefit: timber, maritime, food and beverages, machinery and metal, defense, information and communication technologies, green technologies, and health technologies. Businesses in these focus sectors will have access to export advisers in target markets, networking opportunities, trade fair participation, business missions, export financing and insurance, and guidance on local business environments. Such services help companies gain a foothold in even the most challenging and distant markets. For example, Estonian food producer Balsnack recently shipped a container of potato crisps to Indiaa direct result of a successful trade mission, Keldo noted. Fundamental export facilitation mechanisms will persist for all enterprises with international trade aspirations. The sectors were selected in alignment with four strategic imperatives delineated in Estonias TAIE development framework: comprehensive digital integration across all domains, advancements in health technologies and services, optimized value-added utilization of indigenous resources, and innovative, sustainable energy paradigms. Supplementary factors encompassed the industry's scale, its impact on gross domestic product, aggregate export figures, value generation metrics, and prospective tax revenue streams. The Team Estonia initiative is led jointly by the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Enterprise Estonia (EIS). The Ministry of Economic Affairs shapes the strategy, the Foreign Ministry provides diplomatic and representation support, and EIS focuses on delivering services to take Estonian businesses to the international stage and attract foreign investment. Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel MOSCOW, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday he hopes for a presidential summit with U.S. President Donald Trump as early as next week, with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) emerging as a potential venue. Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov confirmed that Moscow and Washington have agreed to hold the presidential meeting in the coming days, with the U.S. side having initiated the push for the high-level bilateral talks. He echoed U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio's view that the two leaders now have substantial ground to cover in their talks. Putin said that Russia has many friends who are ready to help organize his meeting with the American colleague. One of those friends is UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, he said. The New York Times previously reported that Trump intends to meet in person with Putin as early as next week, with plans to follow shortly afterward with a trilateral meeting involving Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Plans for the face-to-face meeting between the two leaders originally surfaced after Putin's three-hour working meeting with Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff on Wednesday. During a call with European leaders on Wednesday, Trump reportedly said the meetings would include only himself, Putin and Zelensky, excluding any European counterparts. Asked about the prospect of meeting with the Ukrainian leader, Putin said that the conditions for a possible meeting with Zelensky are still far from being created. "Unfortunately, we are still a long way from creating the necessary conditions," Putin told the press. Kirill Dmitriev, head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund, who greeted Witkoff at the airport, said that the Putin-Trump meeting would reinvigorate Russia-U.S. engagement, stressing that the dialogue allows Russia to articulate its positions with clarity. Dmitriev, who also serves as the special envoy of the president of Russia for investment and economic cooperation, said that the talks provide an opportunity to convey to U.S. partners that "Russia's economic growth has significantly outpaced the virtual stagnation plaguing the UK and EU economies." "We see vast potential for mutually beneficial collaboration, including with U.S. investors in Arctic projects, rare earth metals, and infrastructure development," he said. Reviving Russia-U.S. dialogue would benefit both Russian enterprises and U.S. investors seeking access to the Russian market, he said. BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 8. On August 8, Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs Kestutis Budrys joined a virtual meeting with the foreign ministers of Poland, Moldova, and Romania, Trend reports. The meeting, held at the initiative of one of the participating countries, focused on regional security and cooperation. The ministers deliberated on strategies to fortify airspace sovereignty, augment regional defense frameworks, amplify energy resilience, and mitigate nefarious operations across Europe. They also engaged in discussions pertaining to the intricacies of the European Union's expansion trajectory. Guaranteeing the integrity of airspace is a paramount objective for all nations situated along NATOs eastern perimeter and their adjacent territories. To keep our ducks in a row and ensure the safety of our citizens and critical infrastructure, its high time we put our heads together and take coordinated regional action. "Bolstering our air defense and anti-drone capabilities is no walk in the park, but we're all set to tap into the wealth of knowledge and experience our partners bring to the table," Budrys remarked. Budrys noted that the new two triangles meeting format is becoming an important link for closer cooperation between Baltic and Black Sea region countries. According to him, the current geopolitical climate demands a broader perspective and a coordinated response to hybrid threats and energy challenges. The meeting brought together foreign ministers Andrii Sybiha of Ukraine, Oana Silvia Coiu of Romania, Mihai Popsoi of Moldova, and Radosaw Sikorski of Poland, along with Acting Minister Kestutis Budrys of Lithuania. Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel This was emphasized during a government meeting chaired by President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, at which the results of recent reforms and plans for the regions future development were discussed. The Presidential Decree dated December 12, 2024, On Additional Measures for the Socio-Economic Development of Navoi Region, has significantly expanded the regions development prospects. In the first half of this year alone, Navoi attracted $643 million in investments and recorded exports exceeding $635 million. New production capacities worth $550 million were launched, along with 1,140 trade and service facilities. Despite this progress, substantial untapped potential remains. The President Mirziyoyev noted that, beyond large-scale industrial development, there are broad opportunities for expanding livestock farming, utilizing pasturelands, and growing the service economy. Navoi Region accounts for 20 percent of Uzbekistans mineral resources and 43 percent of the countrys pasturelands. The presence of major enterprises and modern infrastructure also creates strong demand across supporting sectors. To unlock this potential, a Regional Reform Headquarters has been established. During the meeting, new investment projects developed from business community proposals were presented. Investors have expressed willingness to invest $566 million in the development of eight mineral deposits located in Gazgan, Nurata, Khatirchi, Navbahor, and Uchkuduk. These projects are expected to increase industrial output by 2.5 trillion Uzbek soums and add $100 million to export revenues. For example, the Nurata district is home to an estimated 750 million cubic meters of granite. Plans have been proposed to establish a 50-hectare industrial zone dedicated to granite processing. Social support initiatives were also discussed. Among them are plans to provide low-income families with solar panels and mobile retail units as part of poverty reduction efforts. Overall, the region has developed an additional package of projects worth $1.6 billion. These initiatives are projected to create 10,000 new jobs, generate 1 trillion soums in budget revenues, and boost exports by $238 million. President Mirziyoyev gave specific instructions to improve the economic efficiency of these projects. He pointed out the lack of cooperation between large and small businesses and emphasized the need to better integrate small enterprises into regional value chains through guaranteed procurement systems. The goal is to double the contribution of small businesses to the regional economy. Further attention will be given to the development and sustainable use of pasturelands by improving water access and increasing food production. The average wage in Navoi Region is currently 1.5 times higher than the national average, driving strong demand for goods and services. In response, the President instructed officials to develop modern recreation zones, expand tourism infrastructure, and en TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, August 8. Saidkomil Saidnazirkhanov, Head of Foreign Economic Relations at Uzbekistans Chamber of Commerce, met with Liu Xinqi, Deputy Commissioner of Chinas Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, to discuss strengthening bilateral cooperation and exploring joint projects, Trend reports. In the course of the meeting, Deputy Commissioner of the XPCC, Liu Zhongguo, emphasized the importance of strengthening bilateral ties and expanding cooperation between Uzbekistan and China. He noted that a number of joint projects are being planned in strategic sectors such as construction, agriculture, textiles, tourism, software development, and information technology. In response, Saidnazirkhanov presented detailed information about Uzbekistans investment potential, as well as the favorable conditions the country offers for foreign investors. Both parties expressed mutual interest in further developing trade and economic cooperation and agreed to explore new opportunities for collaboration. The Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, established in 1954, is a unique Chinese state organization tasked with land reclamation, border security, and economic development. The XPCC has an annual turnover of $52 billion, operates 14 divisions and 22 development zones, and employs approximately 3.6 million people. BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 8. The prospects for Azerbaijan's collaboration with SpaceX were discussed during a meeting of Azerbaijan's Minister of Economy Mikayil Jabbarov and President of SOCAR Rovshan Najaf with Vice President of SpaceX Stephanie Bednarek, a social media publication of the minister said, Trend reports. Jabbarov noted that the meeting took place within the working visit of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev to the United States. "During the meeting, we emphasized Azerbaijans economic potential, strategic development trajectories, and favorable investment climate. We explored the prospects for collaboration with SpaceX, particularly in the application of cutting-edge space technologies, the integration of artificial intelligence solutions, and structured partnerships for knowledge transfer and capacity-building," the publication reads. Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, August 8. Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan, Bobur Usmanov, met with the Ambassador of China to Uzbekistan, Yu Jun, to discuss key bilateral issues, including political relations, Trend reports. In the course of the discussions, the sides reviewed key topics on the Uzbek-Chinese agenda, including political relations, trade, economic cooperation, investment opportunities, and collaboration within multilateral frameworks. The parties also exchanged views on the schedule of joint events planned for the remainder of the year, aiming to further deepen bilateral ties. This meeting follows a period of strengthened economic relations between the two countries. In the previous fiscal year, bilateral trade between Uzbekistan and China exceeded $13 billion, and both sides reaffirmed their strategic commitment to achieving the target of $20 billion set by the leadership of the countries. BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 8. An exchange of views on expanding Azerbaijan-US trade relations was held during a meeting of Azerbaijan's Minister of Economy Mikayil Jabbarov and President of SOCAR Rovshan Najaf with a delegation led by Senior Advisor to the President and Chair of the Export-Import Bank of the US (EXIM Bank) Dan Negrea, a social media publication of the minister said, Trend reports. Jabbarov noted that the meeting took place within the working visit of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev to the United States. "We emphasized Azerbaijans progress in sustainable development and economic diversification, noting new prospects for developing high-value-added sectors and for strengthening partnerships with international counterparts. We also exchanged views on leveraging instruments to expand Azerbaijan-US trade and investments and discussed next steps to deepen cooperation," the publication pointed out. Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, August 8. A business meeting was held between the Uzbek association Ozeltexsanoat and the Russian company Vostok Distribution during a working visit, thanks to the backing of the Embassy of Uzbekistan in Russia and the Uzbek Trade Representation, Trend reports. During the negotiations, both parties discussed the delivery of Uzbek-made products to the Russian market, laid their cards on the table regarding plans to gradually ramp up export volumes, and pinpointed promising avenues for future collaboration. Both parties articulated their dedication to forging synergistic alliances, underscoring that this engagement offers a significant avenue to enhance bilateral commerce and economic interdependencies. Concurrently, the bilateral trade volume between Uzbekistan and Russia experienced a growth trajectory of 5.2 percent, exceeding the $10 billion threshold by the conclusion of the previous fiscal year. Significant escalations were documented in the bilateral trade dynamics, specifically reflecting a surge in Russian export volumes to Uzbekistan alongside a corresponding uptick in Uzbek import activities from Russia. Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan, August 8. The authorities of the State Service of Maritime and River Transport of Turkmenistan held talks with Marina Hadjimanoli, Deputy Minister of Shipping of the Republic of Cyprus, to explore opportunities for bilateral cooperation in maritime transport and logistics, Trend reports via the service. In the course of the dialogue, the Turkmen delegation elucidated its advancements in maritime infrastructure evolution, underscoring the significance of the International Sea Port of Turkmenbashi as a pivotal nexus for transport and logistics within the Caspian basin. The two parties conducted a comprehensive evaluation of strategic focal points for collaboration, encompassing the capacity building of maritime personnel, synergistic technical engagement, and the formulation of integrated transport initiatives. Both stakeholders articulated a keen interest in amplifying collaborative efforts and inaugurating innovative initiatives to fortify economic synergies within the maritime and logistics domains. Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel ASTANA, Kazakhstan, August 8. On August 8, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a telephone conversation and discussed the progress of the dialogue with Washington regarding the settlement of the Ukrainian crisis, Trend reports via the Russian Embassy in Kazakhstan. Vladimir Putin briefed his counterpart on the main outcomes of his recent meeting with US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff within the framework of the Russian-Kazakh alliance and strategic partnership. Kassym-Jomart Tokayev expressed his gratitude for the provided information and praised the steps taken to find ways to peacefully resolve the conflict, the information notes. The sides discussed some current topics of the bilateral agenda with a focus on practical aspects of developing mutually beneficial trade and economic cooperation, the implementation of major infrastructure projects in industry and energy. Issues related to preparations for upcoming bilateral high-level events before the end of the year were also touched upon. In 2024, the trade turnover between Kazakhstan and Russia amounted to about $28 billion. Kazakhstan exported goods to Russia worth approximately $9.5 billion, which is 6.5 percent less than the previous year. TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, August 8. President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev held a telephone conversation with President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin and discussed issues on the bilateral and international agenda, Trend reports. During the call, President Putin briefed President Mirziyoyev on the outcomes of his recent meeting with the U.S. Presidents Special Envoy, Steve Witkoff, held on August 6 in Moscow. The leaders also discussed practical steps to further advance the comprehensive strategic partnership and alliance between Uzbekistan and Russia, with a focus on the implementation of previously reached high-level agreements. Special attention was given to adopting coordinated measures aimed at sustaining the positive momentum in mutual trade and investment growth, accelerating joint projects in priority economic sectors, and continuing robust engagement through regional cooperation, business dialogue, and humanitarian exchanges. The presidents also reviewed the schedule of upcoming bilateral meetings and joint events. Meanwhile, trade turnover between Uzbekistan and Russia reached $2.6 billion in the first quarter of 2025. Uzbek exports to Russia increased by 18.2 percent, underscoring the ongoing strengthening of economic ties between the two countries. BRUSSELS, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- European Council President Antonio Costa on Friday called on Israel to reverse its decision to take over Gaza City. "Such a decision must have consequences for EU-Israel relations, to be assessed by the Council," he warned on social media platform X, noting that the situation in Gaza remains dramatic, and the decision will only further worsen it. Israel's Security Cabinet has approved a plan to take over Gaza City, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in a statement earlier on Friday. "I strongly urge the Israeli government to reconsider its decision to take over Gaza City," Costa said. Israel's takeover, along with continued settlement expansion in the West Bank, large-scale destruction in Gaza, the blockade of aid and the spread of famine, "undermines fundamental principles of international law and universal values," he said. "The two-state solution remains the only sustainable, long-term solution for peace and security in Israel and the region," Costa noted. Kazakhstan's National Bank publishes July 2025 National Fund foreign currency sales Kazakhstan's National Fund sold $700 million in foreign currency in July 2025 to fund the Taldykorgan-Usharal gas pipeline and the budget. The Kazakhstan Stock Exchange sold 12 percent of its daily volume. The FX market was boosted by quasi-public companies selling $450 million. To ensure financial stability, the National Bank plans $400-$500 million in August sales. Access to paid information is limited If You already have a account, please log in Login Register ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan, August 8. The delegation from the State Secretariat for European and International Affairs of Austria visited the International Sea Port of Turkmenbashi as part of their participation in the Third UN Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDC3), Trend reports via the State Service of Maritime and River Transport of Turkmenistan. The objective of the visit was to assess Turkmenistan's transport and logistics infrastructure, facilitate knowledge transfer regarding port facilities, and deliberate on avenues for prospective collaboration. Austrian delegates were provided with an exhaustive briefing on the port's infrastructure, encompassing its state-of-the-art apparatus, terminal throughput, containerized logistics, and intermodal transportation functionalities. The delegation conducted a comprehensive site visit to the port facilities to evaluate the operational infrastructure in situ. Discussions centered on optimizing cargo throughput across EuropeAsia trade lanes, augmenting transport corridor synergies, and fortifying bilateral partnerships in logistics, digital transformation, and eco-friendly transportation solutions. Both parties articulated a keen interest in fostering sustainable synergies and propelling collaborative ventures in renewable energy and digital supply chain optimization solutions. Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel Uzbekistan hitting road to Malaysia, with tourism on rise and opportunities blooming Travel from Uzbekistan to Malaysia has seen a significant rise in the first half of 2025, driven primarily by tourism. New data reveals growing interest among Uzbek citizens in exploring Malaysia not only for leisure but also for family visits, official business, education, and medical treatment. Access to paid information is limited If You already have a account, please log in Login Register Uzbekistan expands melon exports in 1H2025 In the first half of 2025, Uzbekistan significantly boosted its melon exports, sending 14,000 tons abroadan increase of 8,000 tons compared to last year. This growth highlights the countrys expanding presence in regional and European markets. Access to paid information is limited If You already have a account, please log in Login Register TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, August 8. A delegation from Uzbekistan, led by Tashkent Region Governor Zoyir Mirzaev, is currently visiting Hungary, where a business forum was held at the Hungarian Export Promotion Agency (HEPA), Trend reports. The forum opened with welcoming remarks from Gabor Artner, Head of HEPA, and Governor Mirzaev. In his address, the governor highlighted industry, agriculture, tourism, and pharmaceuticals as priority sectors for enhancing trade and economic cooperation between leading entrepreneurs of the Tashkent Region and Hungary. The gathering convened a consortium of stakeholders and high-level executives from approximately 30 prominent Hungarian enterprises and national brands. Said Saidkarimov, a representative from the International Relations Division of the Tashkent Region Investment Department, articulated a comprehensive exposition on the regions entrepreneurial viability, infrastructural framework, and human resource capacity. Subsequent to the official protocols, the initiation of B2B and G2B engagements and deliberations is currently in progress to enhance bilateral synergies. In the interim, the aggregate portfolio of collaborative investment ventures between the two nations surpasses $500 million, with additional initiatives and projects delineated during the ongoing visit amounting to an estimated valuation exceeding 1.5 billion euros. Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel Turkmenistans foreign trade shows modest growth in first half of 2025 The bulk of exports is natural gas, most of which (about 40 billion cubic meters in 2024) is supplied to China. Petroleum products, textiles and chemical products are also exported. Turkmenistan imports a wide range of goods, including machinery and equipment, vehicles, food and consumer goods. The largest importers are Turkiye, Russia and the UAE. Access to paid information is limited If You already have a account, please log in Login Register TASHKENT, Uzbekistan, August 8. During an official business trip to China, a delegation led by Mirziyod Yunusov, Chairman of the Association Uzeltechsanoat, participated in the Shanghai International Display Innovation Expo 2025one of the world's leading platforms showcasing advanced technologies and collaboration opportunities in the field of display development, Trend reports. During the engagement, delegates from Uzbekistan convened with the executive cadre of the China Optoelectronics Industry Association (KODA) alongside other stakeholders within the optoelectronics sector. The stakeholders engaged in a dialogue regarding synergistic avenues for collaboration and articulated propositions for the establishment of display panel fabrication facilities within the jurisdiction of Uzbekistan. Initial discussions were conducted with prominent display and electronic component manufacturers, encompassing TCL and HKC. Discourse centered around the prospective execution of capital allocation initiatives, the transference of technological assets, and the domestication of manufacturing processes. The forthcoming visit is anticipated to serve as a pivotal milestone in the evolution of Uzbekistans electrotechnical sector, catalyzing the establishment of high value-added production capabilities, enhancing export viability, and engendering novel employment prospects. This assembly occurs subsequent to an interval characterized by enhanced bilateral economic synergies between the two nations. During the preceding fiscal cycle, the dyadic commerce between Uzbekistan and China surpassed the $13 billion threshold, with both parties reiterating their strategic allegiance to attaining the $20 billion benchmark established by the governance of the respective nations. Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel Photo: Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Azerbaijan BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 8. The issues of knowledge and experience transfer, creation of research centers, formation of data infrastructure, and development of human capital have been discussed between Azerbaijan and US, Trend reports. Within the framework of the working visit of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev to the US, Azerbaijan's Minister of Economy Mikayil Jabbarov held a meeting with Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Michael Kratsios. The meeting emphasized that the working visit of President Ilham Aliyev to Washington at the invitation of US President Donald Trump created a favorable basis for discussing the bilateral agenda and developing a strategic-level partnership. The importance of joint projects between the two countries, implemented within the framework of mutual interests for the development of the region, was noted, and the opportunities for realizing the existing potential to expand economic cooperation through joint initiatives were pointed out. During the discussions, special attention was given to Azerbaijans strategic geographical location, the successful outcomes of reforms aimed at economic diversification, the development of the non-oil and gas sector, and the favorable business and investment climate. The meeting stressed that, against the backdrop of global challenges, the digital transformation of the economy and the promotion of knowledge-intensive sectors are among the key priorities of Azerbaijans development strategy. The meeting also highlighted the fundamental role of technological innovation, scientific research, and artificial intelligence in economic transformation. Additionally, the efforts made to turn Azerbaijan into a strategic hub for knowledge and innovation in the region were acknowledged, and the potential for cooperation with the US in this area was noted. Stay up-to-date with more news on Trend News Agency's WhatsApp channel Photo: Official information source of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan ASTANA, Kazakhstan, August 8. The 19th meeting of the KazakhstanTajikistan Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation was held in Astana, co-chaired by Roman Sklyar, First Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan, and Hokim Holikzoda, First Deputy Prime Minister of Tajikistan, Trend reports via the press service of the Prime Minister of Kazakhstan. Speaking at the Plenary session, Roman Sklyar emphasized that the Intergovernmental Commission has become an important instrument of interaction between Kazakhstan and Tajikistan. The agenda included key issues of further deepening bilateral relations, implementation of agreements reached at the highest level, as well as expanding investment potential and interregional ties. In turn, Hokim Holikzoda noted that the results of todays meeting will give a new serious impetus to the development of bilateral relations, which are dynamically developing both in trade and economic spheres as well as in cultural and humanitarian fields. During the meeting, special attention was paid to prospects for developing cooperation in trade, industrial cooperation, agriculture, as well as transport and logistics, the information notes. Furthermore, Roman Sklyar pointed out that the Commissions work should primarily focus on thorough preparation for upcoming high-level meetings. The parties expressed confidence that the decisions made will contribute to further strengthening and deepening bilateral relations across all areas of cooperation. Following the meeting, the relevant protocol was signed. The next 20th meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission on Economic Cooperation is scheduled to take place in 2026 in Tajikistan. BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 8. ICGB, the independent operator of the Greece-Bulgaria interconnector (IGB), has obtained a construction permit for Lot 1 of its planned capacity expansion project - from 3 to 5 billion cubic meters per year (bcm/y), Trend reports via the ICGB. Issued by the Bulgarian Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works, the permit covers the upgrade of the gas metering station near the Bulgarian city of Stara Zagora. This key step enables ICGB to move forward with the procedure for selecting an Engineering, Procurement and Construction (EPC) contractor. Once selected, the EPC contractor will be tasked with installing additional filtration and gas pre-heating equipment, as well as building pressure reduction and metering lines at the Stara Zagora gas metering station. The Lot 1 upgrade will allow the gas metering station to accommodate higher flows (up to 5 bcm/y) while maintaining full safety and operational compliance. Alongside this progress, ICGBs management is actively engaged in discussions with financial institutions regarding funding for the expansion. The company has also recently launched a new two-year cycle of the incremental capacity process to assess market interest in increased capacity. Non-binding offers are expected by September 2025, with binding commitments planned for summer 2026. Once a sustainable financial plan is secured and ICGBs shareholders have approved a Final Investment Decision for the expansion project, construction activities under Lot 1 can commence. In parallel with the preparation of the procedures for Lot 1, the documentation for Lot 2 (gas metering station near the Greek city of Komotini) is also moving forward to ensure that both sites progress in sync, in line with the overall strategy for contracting under the project. The permit marks real momentum in our consistent efforts to push forward the expansion project, said ICGBs Executive Officers Teodora Georgieva and George Satlas. ICGB is committed to this project especially considering the infrastructures importance it holds for long-term regional energy security and integration in the SEE region. Expanding IGB is a key part of developing the Vertical Gas Corridor, enhancing access to diversified sources including LNG from Greek terminals and gas from Azerbaijan. Since its launch in Q4 2022, IGB has become a reliable natural gas route for Southeast Europe. This upgrade will solidify its strategic role even further, securing diversified deliveries for the Bulgarian market and other countries in the region including Ukraine thanks to IGBs connectivity to the Trans-Balkan gas pipeline and the Trans-Adriatic pipeline. MADRID, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- A fire broke out late Friday evening at the historic mosque/cathedral in the southern Spanish city of Cordoba and was successfully extinguished, local media reported. No casualties or individuals trapped were reported in the blaze, according to Spanish broadcaster Cadena SER, which also confirmed that a section of the site was affected by the fire. The blaze was sparked by a short circuit in the battery of an automatic sweeper while it was in operation, Cadena SER said. The fire broke out around 9:15 p.m. local time and rapidly spread from the interior to the roof. Flames were visible from various locations across the city, producing a large column of smoke that alarmed residents and tourists alike. Cordoba, located in the Andalusia region, is renowned for the UNESCO World Heritage Site, designated in 1984. It drew around two million visitors in 2024. BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 8. An Innovation Center will be opened in Ganja by the end of this year, the Chairperson of the Board of the Agency for Innovation and Digital Development, Farid Osmanov said, Trend reports. He made the remark at the opening ceremony of the international acceleration program Green and Digital Silk Road. Our goal is to support the creation of a startup ecosystem not only in Baku, but also in the regions, both materially and spiritually, as well as through similar acceleration programs, he said. In addition, he noted that a similar cluster will soon be created at Nakhchivan State University. AWAZA, Turkmenistan, August 8. The Third United Nations Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDC3) concluded with the adoption of two key documents: the Awaza Action Programme for 20242034 and the Awaza Political Declaration, Trend reports. Held over four days in Turkmenistans Awaza National Tourist Zone under the theme Advancing Progress through Partnership, the conference brought together global delegates to discuss shared challenges and strategies. Turkmenistans Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Rashid Meredov delivered the closing remarks, emphasizing the significance of the adopted measures and calling for active implementation. The Awaza Action Programme outlines priorities such as improved transit systems, economic diversification, digital transformation, climate resilience, and sustainable financing. The Political Declaration reaffirms support for the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and calls for greater international cooperation and trade integration. Turkmenistan expressed appreciation for the contributions of the UN, regional bodies, and partner organizations, underlining the importance of joint action moving forward. Hi, my name is Scott C. Waring and I wrote a few books and am currently a ESL School Owner in Taiwan. I have had my own UFO sighting up close and personal, but that's how it works right? A non believer becomes a believer when they experience their first sighting. You witnessed it, your perceptual field changes, so now you need to share it. I created this site to help the UFO community get a little bit organized. I noticed that there was a lot of chaos when searching for UFO sighting reports, so I hope this site helps. I wanted to support those eyewitnesses who have tried to tell others about what they have seen, yet were laughed at by even closest of friends. More and more each day the governments of the world leak bits and pieces of UFO information to the public. They have a trickle down theory in hopes of slowly getting citizens use to the idea that we are not alone in universe and never have been. The truth is being leaked drop by drop until one day we look around and find ourselves neck high in it. The discovery of alien species in existence is the most monumental scientific event in human history, suppression of that information is a crime against humanity. About me: I live in Taiwan. I OWN MY OWN ENGLISH SCHOOL, AND ONCE HAD 5 SCHOOLS. Am Former USAF at SAC base (flight line). Age: 42 Educ: BA in Elem ed. Masters in Counseling ed. I had two UFO sightings, (30+bus size orbs) in military and in 2012 personally saw the UFO over Taipei 101 building on New Years Day (and recored it). AFP: Israels security cabinet approved a plan proposed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the military to take control of Gaza City. What is Chinas comment to this? Guo Jiakun: China is gravely concerned about Israels decision, and urges Israel to stop the dangerous move at once. Gaza belongs to the Palestinian people and is an integral part of the Palestinian territory. The right way to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and realize the release of people being held is an immediate ceasefire, and the key to fully settling the conflict in Gaza is also a ceasefire. This is the only means to pave the way for ending the conflict and uphold security in the region. China stands ready to work with the rest of the international community to stop the fighting in Gaza as early as possible, ease the humanitarian disaster, implement the two-State solution and ultimately realize the full, just and lasting settlement of the Palestinian question. AFP: According to Indian media reports, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit China upon invitation on August 31 and attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit. Can you confirm that and what is your comment on this? Guo Jiakun: China will host the SCO Summit in Tianjin from August 31 to September 1 this year. Leaders of over 20 countries including all member states of the SCO and heads of 10 international organizations will attend relevant events. The SCO Tianjin Summit will be the largest summit in scale since the establishment of the SCO. China welcomes Prime Minister Modi to China for the SCO Tianjin Summit. We believe that with the concerted effort of all parties, the Tianjin summit will be a gathering of solidarity, friendship and fruitful results, and the SCO will enter a new stage of high-quality development featuring greater solidarity, coordination, dynamism and productiveness. Bloomberg: Donald Trump has said imposing secondary tariffs on China for Beijings purchase of Russian oil was a possibility, without giving details. Does the Foreign Ministry have a comment on this threat of secondary tariffs? Guo Jiakun: Chinas position on this issue is consistent and clear. It is legitimate and lawful for China to engage in economic, trade and energy cooperation with other countries, including Russia. We will continue to take energy supply measures that are right for China based on our national interests. Antara: The Indonesian President has instructed the evacuation and treatment of around 2,000 wounded Gaza residents on one of Indonesias islands. Does the Ministry have any comment on this, and would it consider cooperating in a joint humanitarian effort on this matter? Guo Jiakun: We are not aware of the specifics you mentioned. The fighting in Gaza has caused a grave humanitarian disaster. The pressing priority is to realize a lasting ceasefire in Gaza at once and ensuring the access of humanitarian aid. China stands ready to make active effort together with the international community to send a stronger message and play a bigger role on the Palestinian question, and promote the full, just and lasting settlement of the Palestinian question at an early date. Financial Times: It is said that China COSCO Shipping Corporation is seeking to acquire a 20 percent to 30 percent stake in CK Hutchisons global port deal. The details of the negotiations have not been finalized yet, but one option is allowing COSCO to take a stake in ports excluding the two Panama ports. What is the Foreign Ministrys comment? Guo Jiakun: On CK Hutchisons sales of its assets overseas, the Chinese government will conduct lawful regulation, firmly safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests, and uphold justice and fairness in the market. WASHINGTON, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday that a meeting between Russian and Ukrainian leaders isn't a condition for him to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in what would be their first in-person encounter in Trump's second term. Asked by a reporter at the White House Thursday afternoon whether Putin needs to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky before sitting down with Trump, the U.S. president said, "No, he doesn't." White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement shortly before Trump's Oval Office remarks that "the Russians expressed their desire to meet with President Trump, and the President is open to this meeting." "President Trump would like to meet with both President Putin and President Zelensky because he wants this brutal war to end," she said, adding that the White House is "working through the details of these potential meetings and details will be provided at the appropriate time." The Kremlin said earlier on Thursday that a meeting between Trump and Putin had been agreed on in principle and would happen "in the coming days." Plans for the face-to-face meeting between the two leaders surfaced after Putin's three-hour working meeting with Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff during the latter's visit to Moscow on Wednesday. Upon his arrival at Moscow's airport, Witkoff was greeted by Putin's investment chief Kirill Dmitriev. Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov said Thursday the U.S. side initiated the push for the high-level bilateral talks. Briefing Trump on his Moscow trip, Witkoff said Putin would like to meet, and Trump responded that he was open to a meeting but that he also would want Putin to meet with Zelensky to discuss a ceasefire, media reports said. Friday is the deadline set by Trump for Putin to end the conflict in Ukraine or face tough new economic sanctions. However, Trump suggested Thursday afternoon that the deadline might not be as firm as previously stated. "We're going to see what he has to say. It's going to be up to him. Very disappointed," Trump told reporters at the White House when asked if the Friday deadline remains intact. Khalid Ka Shivaji release suspended So, finally the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has suspended the release of the film Khalid Ka Shivaji Saturday August 9, 2025 0:42 AM , ummid.com with inputs from Agencies [A still from the film "Khalid Ka Shivaji" (Screen grab)] Mumbai: So, finally the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has suspended the release of the film "Khalid Ka Shivaji". The Marathi film on a Muslim boys understanding of Maratha warrior Shivaji was slated for a release today i.e. Friday August 08, 2025. The films release, however, has been suspended following the ministrys order under Sec 6(2) of the Cinematograph Act, 1952. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting put on hold the release of the film Khalid Ka Shivaji following the concerns raised by the government of Maharashtra. Trailer: Khalid Ka Shivaji The government of Maharashtra in its letter to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has raised its concerns over historical inaccuracies in the film and the potential impact on public order and cultural sentiments" in the state during the forthcoming festive season. after considering the representations and submissions made by all parties, and upon examination of the content and the potential implications for public order, the committee has opined that the public exhibition of the film at this juncture may not be conductive maintaining communal harmony and public tranquility, especially during a sensitive festive period, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting said in its order dated August 07, 2025. Therefore, in exercise of the powers conferred by Sub-Section (2) of Section 6 of the Cinematograph Act, 1952, the Central Government, being satisfied that it is necessary to do so in public interest, hereby orders that the certificate granted to the film Khalid Ka Shivaji be suspended for a period of one month from the date of this order, the order signed by Santosh Kumar Maurya, Under Secretary, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting said. The Maharashtra government also said the film will be removed from Cannes Film Festival listings. Maharashtra Cultural Affairs Minister Ashish Shelar said an expert committee had recommended that the film be sent to the Cannes Festival, but the recommendation was later withdrawn. Directed by Raj Pritam More, Khalid Ka Shivaji follows the journey of a Muslim boy who is mocked by classmates for being a Muslim. Later in the film, he seeks inspiration from the 17th-century Maratha warrior. The objections on Khalid Ka Shivaji were raised based on the films trailer which has some dialogues like 35% of Shivaji Maharajs force constituted of Muslims and 11 of Shivaji Maharajs bodyguards were Muslims. The film also highlights the mosque built by Shivaji in Raigad for his Muslim soldiers. The film has also touched on the issues like ban on Muslim women from visting mosques for prayers. Protests by Right Wing The Maharashtra government, through a letter written by Maharashtra Culture Secretary Kiran Kulkarni on August 06, 2025, approached the I&B Ministry amid claims by some right-wing organisations that the film distorts the history of Maratha king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, according to PTI. The news agency said the Maharashtra government had received a written complaint on August 5 from right-wing activist Nilesh Bhise, who, after viewing the films trailer, alleged that certain dialogues were factually incorrect and likely to hurt public sentiments. To further put pressure on the government, some members of a right wing Hindu group created ruckus when Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis started his address at an official function two days ago. Interestingly, allegations of distortion in history was also raised in case of Chhaava another film related to Shivaji and his son Sambhaji but which portrayed Mughal Emperor Aurangzebs negative and violent image. The film released in February this year, however, was declared tax free in various BJP ruled states, and was extensively promoted by PM Modi, CM Fadnavis and other BJP leaders. Ridiculous, Condemnable Meanwhile, State Congress Spokesperson Sachin Sawant criticised the BJP-led Mahayuti government for seeking to block the films release based merely on its trailer and without any genuine understanding of its content. He alleged that the move was driven by pressure from right-wing groups and aligned with the BJPs divisive ideology. Once again, it becomes evident that the BJP is intent on portraying Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj solely as an icon of Hindutvawad a narrow, bigoted, and conservative image that is factually incorrect, Sawant said, as quoted by PTI. He described the move as a ridiculous and condemnable attempt to diminish the towering stature of Shivaji Maharaj and a disservice to the progressive, inclusive ideology exemplified by his life. Why cant Maharaj be Khalids hero? Why is the BJP so disturbed if Muslims identify with the values of Shivaji Maharaj? Sawant asked. Follow ummid.com WhatsApp Channel for all the latest updates. Select Language to Translate in Urdu, Hindi, Marathi or Arabic Welcome Guest! You are here: Home Watch: Thousands bid farewell to Kaaba Volunteer killed in Cambridge, UK Tens of thousands Friday August 08, 2025 bid farewell to Mohammed Al-Qassim, a volunteer of Holy Kaaba in Makkah who was stabbed to death in Cambridge, United Kingdom Friday August 8, 2025 6:50 PM , ummid.com News Network [Sheikh Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais, President of Religious Affairs at the Grand Mosque and the Prophets Mosque (L) earlier in the day extended his deepest condolences to the family of volunteer Muhammad Al-Qassem. (Inset) Al Qassam's mortal remains taken for burial.] Makkah al Mukarramah: Tens of thousands Friday August 08, 2025 bid farewell to Mohammed Al-Qassim, a volunteer of Holy Kaaba in Makkah who was stabbed to death in Cambridge, United Kingdom. Imam e Haram led Al-Qassim's Janazah Prayer Mohammed Al-Qassim, a Volunteer at The Grand Mosque in Makkah, was in the United Kingdom for his studies. He was enrolled in a 10-week English language programme at EF International Language Campuses, Cambridge. The 20-year-old Saudi student was stabbed to death on August 01, 2025 near Mill Park, a short walk from the victims residence, when he was on his way back home. Two accused - Chaz Corrigan from Cambridge and another of 50-year age, were arrested in the case. The authorities further said a third suspect is still at large. Watch Video VIDEO: Thousands attend the Janazah Prayer of Muhammad Al Qasim in Masjid Al Haram, a 20 year old student and volunteer of Masjid Al Haram was was murdererd in the UK pic.twitter.com/ruzV8y88WY Inside the Haramain (@insharifain) August 8, 2025 Chaz Corrigan has been charged with murder and possession of a bladed weapon in a public place. Al-Qassim's body arrived in Saudi Arabia Thursday for burial in Makkah after the Friday Special Afternoon Prayers at the Grand Mosque (Masjid al Haram) August 08, 2025. Imam e Haram Sheikh Usaamah Khayyat led the funeral prayers of Mohammed Al-Qassim attended by tens of thousands. Al Qassim was later buried at the Al-Shuhada Cemetery in Makkah. Condolences Sheikh Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais, President of Religious Affairs at the Grand Mosque and the Prophets Mosque, earlier in the day extended his deepest condolences to the family of volunteer Muhammad Al-Qassem. Al Sudais praised the late volunteers dedication, sincerity, and years of service to the pilgrims and visitors of the Sacred House, praying that Allah grants him mercy, makes Al-Firdaws his abode, and grants his family patience. Earlier, the family, members, friends and close relatives in their condolence messages had called Al-Qassam a noble and devoted young man and a man worth a thousand men. Meanwhile, the relatives of Mohammed Al-Qassim have also set up a fundraiser to provide families in need in Saudi Arabia with clean water as a tribute to the departed soul. Follow ummid.com WhatsApp Channel for all the latest updates. Select Language to Translate in Urdu, Hindi, Marathi or Arabic Welcome Guest! You are here: Home With a score of 1663.1, AMU shines in 2025 India Today Rankings The Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) has secured top positions in the India Today Best Colleges and Best Universities 2025 Survey, the result of which was released Thursday Friday August 8, 2025 11:05 AM , ummid.com News Network Aligarh Muslim University: The Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) has secured top positions in the India Today Best Colleges and Best Universities 2025 Survey, the result of which was released Thursday. The India Today Best Colleges and Best Universities 2025 Survey is conducted in collaboration with the Marketing and Development Research Associates (MDRA). India Today Ranking Parameters The survey evaluated over 775 universities across more than 125 performance indicators, categorized under five key parameters: Reputation & Governance Academic and Research Excellence Infrastructure and Living Experience Personality and Leadership Development Career Progression and Placement Reaffirming its commitment to academic excellence and social responsibility, AMU has been ranked 3rd among General (Government) Universities in India, with an impressive overall score of 1663.1 out of 2000, just behind the University of Delhi and Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. AMUs outstanding performance reflects its strong academic framework, emphasis on research and innovation, and holistic student developmentall offered at a cost that remains accessible to students from diverse social and economic backgrounds. Rankings of AMU Colleges, Departments In the India Today Best Colleges 2025 Survey, several departments and constituent colleges of AMU earned top positions for offering high-quality education at remarkably low costs, thereby ensuring exceptional return on investment (RoI) for students. The Z.H. College of Engineering and Technology (ZHCET) was ranked first among government engineering colleges for offering the lowest course fees and best value for money. The Department of Architecture also secured the top rank among government architecture colleges with the lowest fees. Similarly, Dr. Ziauddin Ahmad Dental College was placed second among government dental colleges for lowest course fees, and also ranked second among top emerging dental colleges in the same category. The Faculty of Law earned the second rank in terms of RoI among premier law institutions, while the Department of Mass Communication achieved the first position nationwide for offering the lowest course fees in its field. The Department of Social Work was ranked third in RoI and fourth for lowest fees among the top colleges in the social work discipline. "AMUs Unique Position" These results highlights AMUs unique position as an institution where excellence and affordability converge providing thousands of students, particularly from underrepresented communities, access to world-class education without financial burden. Vice Chancellor Professor Naima Khatoon praised and congratulated the AMU fraternity on the occasion. This recognition reaffirms AMUs enduring mission to deliver quality education with equity. It is a moment of pride for all of us. I extend heartfelt congratulations to our faculty, staff, students, alumni, and supporters who continue to contribute to this shared success", she said. Sharing his appreciation, Pro-Vice Chancellor Professor Mohd Mohsin Khan said, AMUs consistent recognition in national rankings reflects our commitment to student-centric, research-oriented, and value-based education. These achievements encourage us to continue striving for inclusive academic excellence. Professor Salim Beg, Chairman, University Ranking Committee, stated said, As AMU adapts to national and global educational priorities, it remains firmly anchored in its founding vision of shaping informed, responsible, and empowered individuals. Follow ummid.com WhatsApp Channel for all the latest updates. Select Language to Translate in Urdu, Hindi, Marathi or Arabic MEXICO CITY, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Thursday criticized the latest anti-migrant raids in the United States, vowing to protect Mexican nationals staying in the neighboring country. "We do not agree with the raids, and we will protect and help our compatriots," the Mexican president said at her daily press conference. Sheinbaum, who has urged efforts for the role of migrants in the U.S. economy to be recognized, has worked to strengthen Mexico's consular service in the U.S. to protect Mexicans deported or detained, including the Mexicans being held at the "Alligator Alcatraz" detention center in the U.S. state of Florida, according to Rutilio Escandon Cadenas, the Mexican general consul in Miami, Florida. From Jan. 20 to Aug. 1, more than 75,900 Mexicans were repatriated from the U.S., according to the Mexican government. Description Mixed Media Artist Michelle Sider returns to Glass Art Studios this summer teach her Mosaic Transparencies workshop from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Aug. 8-10, 2025. Sider will provide personalized guidance and instruct students through her distinctive techniques for creating realistic transparent images in mosaic. Those who attend will learn about color selection, value and andamento - all while working to complete their own 10-inch by 10-inch mosaic. Extensive mosaic experience is not necessary to join this class. It will be held at Glass Art Studios, 304 Hallock Ave., Port Jefferson Station, New York, NY 11776 This will be my third year teaching at this inspiring studio, and it always feels like coming home, said Sider. The space is lovely and spacious, but what truly brings me back are the people. Many of the students return year after year, creating a warm, supportive, and creative atmosphere that I look forward to every summer. Space is very limited. Register now at https://mailxto.com/952bv8q269. Key Points Oneok expects to increase its dividend by 3%-4% annually. Williams sees 5% to 7% earnings growth in the coming years, which should support more dividend increases. These 10 stocks could mint the next wave of millionaires The energy sector is a great place to find high-quality, high-yielding dividend stocks. With numerous options available, it is easy for investors to overlook some excellent opportunities. Oneok (NYSE: OKE) and Williams (NYSE: WMB) are two energy dividend stocks that income-seeking investors won't want to miss. The high-quality nature of their payouts was evident in their recent second-quarter earnings report. Image source: Getty Images. A model of dividend stability and growth Oneok has a more than quarter-century record of delivering dividend stability and growth. While the pipeline stock hasn't increased its dividend every year, it has nearly doubled its payment over the past decade, far exceeding the growth of its peers. Oneok's payout currently yields almost 5.5%, several times higher than the S&P 500's sub-1.5% yield. The energy infrastructure company's strong financials demonstrate the safety of its high-yielding payout. Oneok's adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) surged 22% in the second quarter, fueled by recent acquisitions of EnLink and Medallion Midstream. It has produced more than $2.4 billion in cash through the first six months of this year, easily covering the less than $1.3 billion it paid in dividends. The company used the cash it retained to fund expansion investments and maintain its strong balance sheet. The pipeline company's earnings and cash flow should continue rising in the future. It has several organic expansions under way, including relocating a gas processing plant to the Permian Basin, with a Q1 2026 in-service date; expanding its refined products pipeline system to Denver in mid-2026; building two new natural gas liquids fractionators, in Q4 of 2026 and Q1 of 2027; and constructing a liquefied petroleum gas export terminal in early 2028. The company also recently made two smaller bolt-on deals, increasing its interest in the BridgeTex Pipeline Company from 30% to 60% and acquiring the remaining interest in a gathering and processing joint venture in the Delaware Basin. These growth investments will boost its earnings and cash flow in the coming years. Oneok has ample financial capacity to approve more expansion projects and continue making acquisitions. The company's growth drivers should fuel 3% to 4% annual dividend growth in the coming years. August 8 2025 A second and final public consultation on plans to turn a mixed commercial frontage on a busy Glasgow Street into student housing has taken place. Albert Investment with ThreeSixty Architecture and LUC propose to build out land at 93-113 St George's Road, replacing three buildings with a unified replacement block that retains only the facade of a former bakery. A stepped frontage will present to the busy M8 to provide approximately 300 student rooms without overpowering adjacent tenements, with ancillary spaces including a gym, cinema, yoga studio, green courtyard and roof terrace. In a statement, the architects said: "The design retains the distinctive St Georges Studios facade, blending it with blonde and red brick tones and slate-grey cladding inspired by surrounding tenements. The proposed footprint is more condensed than the current built form which creates generous new landscaped areas and improves connectivity through secure, green lanes." External amenity is led by a newly formed northern lane, demarcated by a portal frame. This will be complemented by a roof terrace on the north west corner and residents may be permitted access to the courtyard roof, subject to viability checks. The New York Philharmonic performs with New York Choral Artists at Avery Fisher Hall on September 10, 2011. Photo: Getty As the principal oboe for the New York Philharmonic, Liang Wang held one of the most prestigious posts in American orchestral music. Until he was fired last fall, he apparently earned more than twice the base pay of his colleagues, he was a member of the faculty at the Manhattan School of Music and NYU, and he gave master classes at Juilliard and the Curtis Institute of Music. According to newly released documents in a lawsuit Wang has filed against the Philharmonic alleging he was wrongfully dismissed, he also faced at least 11 allegations of sexual misconduct, ranging from, in the words of a report commissioned by the Philharmonic, inappropriate comments and unsolicited invitations, to sexual advances, to unwelcome kisses, to sexual assault and rape. Wang has denied all of the allegations and the lawsuit is still ongoing. That report and another one concerning Matthew Muckey, a trumpet player for the Philharmonic, were written by Tracey Levy, an attorney specializing in employment law, who was hired to conduct an investigation after an article I wrote for New York Magazine in April 2024, A Hidden Sexual-Assault Scandal at the New York Philharmonic, led to a public outcry. The article detailed accusations of sexual assault that Cara Kizer, a French-horn player, made against Muckey in 2010 and the circumstances surrounding Kizers departure from the orchestra shortly afterward. Gary Ginstling, who was the orchestras president when the article was published, called the allegations in it horrifying to me personally and added that he was deeply concerned about not only the specifics but broader issues of institutional culture. The orchestra suspended Muckey and Wang, and Levy was asked to investigate all allegations of inappropriate conduct against current musicians at the Philharmonic. According to her report, Levy interviewed Muckey and Wang and 67 of their fellow musicians as well as 23 other individuals, including several who reached out to Levy with new information after hearing about the investigation. In November, Deborah Borda, the Philharmonics executive adviser, announced that Levys investigation had uncovered new allegations against Wang and Muckey, but she provided few details. The orchestra moved to dismiss both men through a clause in their contracts that provided for non-reengagement even though they have tenure. It was such an unusual move that Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians, which represents the orchestras players, asked the Philharmonic to confirm that it would not use this process to get around tenure protections in the future, according to separate lawsuits filed by Muckey and Wang against the Philharmonic and Local 802 in the Southern District of New York. In their suits, Muckey and Wang ask the court to reverse their suspensions and stop the effort to dismiss them. Wangs attorney called Levys investigation a fig leaf to mask the Philharmonics predetermined termination decision to placate the mob that was clamoring for Wang and Muckeys heads. (Separately, Wang sued me and New York in May 2024 for defamation. In January, a judge threw out the lawsuit.) Now, because of court filings by the Philharmonic in the SDNY lawsuits, the public can see the reports Levy wrote and the evidence gathered there. The reports, which the orchestras lawyers added as separate exhibits to motions to dismiss the two lawsuits, enumerate multiple allegations of misconduct against both men, inside and outside the orchestra: the 11 faced by Wang and three claims of misconduct against Muckey, including Kizers. Muckey, Levy concluded, demonstrated a repeated failure to recognize when sexual partners lacked capacity or withdrew consent to sex. In the report on Wang, she wrote that he has engaged in a persistent pattern of sexual harassment toward women, ranging from offensive comments to rape and a range of abusive behaviors in between those extremes. The earliest complaint, against Wang, dated back to 2006. Ginstlings concerns about the culture of the Philharmonic seemed warranted. (A spokesman for the Philharmonic and for Local 802 declined to comment, citing the ongoing litigation.) In a statement, Alan S. Lewis, Wangs attorney, wrote, Many of the flaws in Levys process like her exclusion of evidence exonerating her two targets and disregard of every allegation heard about any other member of management or the orchestra are readily apparent. Lewis declined to litigate issues surrounding that subject in the media but said that Mr. Wang is a victim of the Philharmonics cowardice. Muckeys attorney, Steven Hyman, told New York that the Philharmonic and the union have chosen to flatly ignore evidence that refuted Levys conclusions. We fully expect, as set forth in our court documents, that Mr. Muckey will be rightfully restored to his position in the orchestra, Hyman wrote. Earlier this month, I spoke with one of the women interviewed for Levys report, where she is referred to as LW Complainant 10. She told Levy about an incident at the summer music program at Bowdoin in which, at a gathering in the dorms, Wang allegedly kept asking to kiss her and when she eventually offered her cheek, Mr. Wang grabbed her face and kissed her on the mouth. (She requested to maintain anonymity, saying she feared retaliation.) Levys report includes similar stories of alleged forcible kissing involving three other women, all of which Wang denies. LW Complainant 10 questioned why the orchestra took so long to talk with her. Of course I would have tried to reach out in 2018 had anyone made any sort of effort, she said. She told me that she was angered, but not surprised, to learn of the many allegations that have surfaced. All the allegations point to a huge power imbalance, she told me, part of what she says as a much bigger cycle of abuse of power at the Philharmonic. Wang has argued in court that Levy exhibited bias in her investigation when she appeared to automatically credit the stories told to her by female interviewees while either discounting or dismissing entirely Wangs statements and characterizing normal, if sometimes awkward, human dating interactions in nefarious terms. One of the women who spoke to Levy was a former student of Wangs. While she was studying under Wang, he kept her under his control, in the words of the report. One night in the fall of 2010, she said, Wang offered to cook her dinner. He served her port wine and salmon, and she passed out before finishing even one glass. She woke up naked in Wangs bed, with him next to her and her black tights lying near her. The report said that the next morning she went to a walk-in clinic to be tested for a sexually transmitted infection: She wanted to learn from the clinic if she and Mr. Wang had sex, Levy wrote, but she did not tell the clinic she thought she had been raped. After the alleged incident, according to Levys report, Wang called the woman repeatedly but she did not answer. He also tried to find her at her home. He came almost daily to see her in front of her house and tried to explain, Levy wrote. Wang apologized to her and said that he could not help himself. The woman said that she was so traumatized by what had occurred that she just lay on her bed and did not go out for a month. She told a friend at the time and a former teacher two years later about what happened, and both corroborated the consistency of her account, according to Levy. Her confession to her friend happened at a Chinese restaurant: She was hysterical, crying, and loudly said Liang raped me. Wang admitted to Levy that hed had a sexual relationship with the former student, but he said that it had been consensual and had begun some three years after shed graduated. Levy concluded that she found the woman credible in her account of Mr. Wang having raped and most likely drugged her. The allegation of being rapidly incapacitated by a glass of wine has an echo in another incident Levy included in her report, an accusation of rape and drugging made against Wang in 2006. The Philharmonic had investigated this incident in 2018 along with Kizers allegations of sexual assault against Muckey and fired both men, but an arbitration action contesting their termination brought by Local 802 got them both reinstated 18 months later. Levy did not interview the woman involved in the alleged 2006 incident but spoke with two orchestra members who each recounted to me that Arbitration Witness 1 had confided in them that she had been drugged and raped by Mr. Wang. Levy also quotes from the womans arbitration testimony in the 2018 matter. It was the same routine of me asking him not to do it, to stop, and tell him to behave, the woman said, but he wasnt hearing anything I would say. The arbitrator questioned Arbitration Witness 1s claim of nonconsensual relations because she and Mr. Wang continued to stay in contact and engaged in sexual activity several times thereafter. Levy disagreed with the arbitrator and found it more likely than not that Wang had engaged in the behavior she described. I find that Mr. Wang has engaged in a pattern of abusing his power that persists to the present, Levy wrote. At its most extreme, I find this likely has involved rape and sexual assault, and it has also included less severe forms of sexual harassment. These included brief incidents at the Philharmonic, such as reports of Wang calling a woman so ugly and vicious and a conversation in which Wang allegedly predicted a musician who got #MeTood would bounce back. (Look at me, Wang reportedly commented.) According to Levys report, Wang was also accused of making sexual advances toward another student, referred to as LW Complainant 7, who was attending the summer music program at Bowdoin, where Wang was a visiting artist. The student reported that Wang cornered her at a party, trapping her against a wall, and asking if she would dance for him and show some skin. The list of alleged incidents of sexual harassment in the report stretches on for many pages. Wang apparently denied them all in the course of the investigation, but Levy did not find his denials credible. In one instance, she describes an allegation made by a 21- or 22-year-old oboe student at the University of Redlands, where he was a guest artist. The student said that she spoke to him about her career ambitions. He asked for her phone number and texted her later that day and invited her to his hotel room, which she declined. Wang initially denied being at the university at all, Levy wrote, but in our second meeting, he provided photos of himself posing with students there. Eventually Wang acknowledged he spent several days in Redlands, being escorted by his former teacher. He denied making inappropriate advances toward the student, and in a court filing, Wangs attorney wrote that, Levy thwarted Wangs attempts to present his side of the story. In her report, Levy wrote about her methods for investigating claims against both men. In addition to interviews with witnesses and victims, she reviewed the evidence gathered by the arbitrator after their first dismissal as well as emails, text messages, Facebook messages, and photographs. In Muckeys case, she also reviewed the report prepared by the Vail police department in 2010, after Kizer accused him of sexual assault. Muckeys attorneys have argued that the sex with Kizer was consensual and that Levys report about their client represents a false narrative of sexual misconduct arrived at it in an irregular and intentionally manipulated process. In addition to Kizers assault claims, Levys report includes a discussion of two more instances, both from 2008, in which he was accused of having sex with a woman without her consent. One of these incidents involved a college student who met Muckey shortly after he joined the Philharmonic as a tenured trumpet player. The woman, known as Complainant 3 in Levys report, said Muckey invited her to a party in Washington Heights where several members of the orchestra had gathered. Muckey and another musician encouraged her to drink, at one point ladling alcohol over an ice luge. Of Muckey and the ice luge, the investigator wrote, Mr. Muckey also told me in our first meeting that he never served drinks to anyone, and then in our second meeting he shared a picture of him ladling alcohol into the ice luge to serve to a sub with the Philharmonic. Mr. Muckey said he had no independent recollection of anyone drinking at the party, yet he acknowledged there were other photos from the party that he had not shared with me including perhaps one of him on the receiving end of the ice luge. Complainant 3 recounted vague memories of later that night, which included kissing Mr. Muckey at some point, waking up in his bed, and then getting back to her dorm. She did not remember having sex with Muckey but when she showered in her dorm, she realized her vagina was sore. She told Levy she did not realize the inappropriateness of her interactions with Mr. Muckey until she was much older but that she now believed Muckey took advantage of her. Curiously, Levy wrote in her report, in my first meeting with Mr. Muckey, when I began generally asking if he recalled inviting a female student to a party in Washington Heights, Mr. Muckey replied that he did not invite an 18-year-old even though I had not mentioned anyones age. Muckey claimed he engaged in consensual sex with the woman, initially denying that either of them had been intoxicated. His attorneys also pointed to Facebook messages he received from the woman in which she wrote, i know youll want to say that i consented, which i did. Levy did not find those messages exculpatory. I credit Mr. Muckeys account that he and Complainant 3 had sex at his apartment after the party and she may even have seemed like a willing participant, but contrary to Mr. Muckeys assertion I find it more likely than not that Complainant 3 lacked the capacity to consent to that interaction because she was intoxicated, Levy wrote. Levys report includes details about the other 2008 incident involving Muckey, which was previously examined in the 2018 investigation and subsequent arbitration, which she cites. Levy wrote that a woman reported to the orchestra that she and Muckey had engaged in consensual foreplay but Muckey did not stop after she told him it hurts and no. The woman testified that she attempted to close her legs and pushed Mr. Muckey off her a little. The arbitrator questioned whether Muckey knew of the womans desire to stop and concluded that there was not clear and convincing evidence that the sex was not consensual. Levy wrote that this allegation, along with Kizers and Complainant 3s allegations, suggested that Muckey could be physically forward with women to a degree that presumed consent without considering power disparities, capacity, or more subtle indicators to the contrary. According to numerous musicians, Levy wrote, new women who join the Philharmonic are warned to be careful around him. Levy also noted, however, that the complaints about Muckeys behavior related to his early years with the Philharmonic, when multiple members of the orchestra described him as immature and irresponsible. She did not find that there have been any reports of offensive conduct by Mr. Muckey, of any sort, that occurred in the past decade. After Kizer reported her assault to the Vail police department, she felt that the Philharmonic turned against her, and in 2012, she was denied tenure. Levys report contains new information about the extent of Wangs alleged involvement in that decision. One of Wangs former students told Levy that she witnessed Wang call powerful people including Phil Myers, the principal horn player for the Philharmonic because he felt Kizers continued presence in the orchestra was not safe for him. According to the report, the student heard him making more than one of these calls, saying that Kizer was lying and that the situation was shameful for the orchestra. Levy also wrote that two orchestra members said that Wang had prompted Myers to change his mind about supporting Kizer for tenure. I therefore find it more likely than not that Mr. Wang retaliated against Ms. Kizer by seeking to have her removed from the Orchestra, Levy concluded. For Kizer, the reports findings on her tenure application offered little solace. What good does it do me, or anyone, to finally know that they fucked up my process? she told me recently. Since being denied tenure, she left New York and has struggled to find a tenured position elsewhere. My whole career was derailed by that, she said, and they didnt care and they didnt bother to look into it. Kizer, however, felt grateful that Levys investigation, and the New York article that prompted it, allowed more women to come forward. I feel lucky to have told my story, she said. It gave these women a window to open up. Beyond the individual accusations leveled against Wang and Muckey, Levys investigation suggests that sexism and misogyny continue to plague the upper ranks of classical music, one that would allow many of these allegations to go unaddressed for years. After Kizers allegations came to light last April, the president of Local 802 pledged to erase the culture of complicity that has raged at the N.Y. Philharmonic for too long. Today, with a new music director and, thanks to the dramatic consequences of the past year of allegations and inquiries, a new president the Philharmonic has the opportunity to address these problems head-on. In an interview last week, Erik Ralske, the principal horn in the Metropolitan Opera and a former musician in the Philharmonic, spoke of the continued need for change. This situation still hasnt been resolved, really, and Im sure that there have been many changes inside the organization to try to improve it but there are so many more that need to happen, Ralske said. It should never have happened in the first place and it should never, ever happen again. Here are the median account balances based on job tenure. For people who have been on the job for 2-3 years, the median account balance is a bit more than $20,000, 4-6 years, a bit more than $44,000, 7-9, almost $73,000, and more than 10 years, almost $166,000. How much are workers contributing to their accounts? Well, the median savings rate is 6.8% just from the worker, and it's 11.5% when you include the employer match. Now, that's below the 15% savings rate that really most experts recommend nowadays, which means many folks might be behind in saving for retirement. Those workers might consider maxing out their accounts, and the limit this year is 23,500. Then when they turn 50, contributing even more with catchup contributions up to $7,500 or starting this year, 11,250 if you're 60-63 years old. What percentage of workers with Vanguard 401Ks took full advantage of their accounts last year? Well, 14% max out their accounts, and 16% of the 15 and older crowd made catch up contributions. Robert Brokamp: How should you choose 529 plan? How do you compare it to the average 401K participant? You're listening to the weekend Personal Finance edition of Motley Fool Money. I'm Robert Brokamp. We're doing a trial run of something a bit different for our Saturday episodes in which per usual, we feature a guest interview, and this week, I speak with Martha Kortiak Mert of savingforcollege.com about the newly expanded uses of 529's and how to choose the right plan for you. But then I'll also offer some other personal finance tidbits and tricks. Let's kick things off with three items from the news in a segment we're calling last week in Money. First up, they say that comparison is the thief of joy. But that doesn't stop us from doing it, especially when it comes to our bunny. If you're curious how your 401K behavior stacks up to the average workers, Vanguard has some answers, and it's recently released, How America Saves Report, based on analysis of all the retirement plans with the firm in 2024. Here are some highlights. The amount you have in your 401K is highly dependent on how long you've been contributing. One easy trick could pay you as much as $23,760 more ... each year! Once you learn how to maximize your Social Security benefits, we think you could retire confidently with the peace of mind we're all after. Join Stock Advisor to learn more about these strategies. Story Continues Of course, it really doesn't matter how you compare to the average person. What really matters is whether you're on track to retire, when and how you want. To figure that out, you can start by using a good online calculator. One to consider is the CalcXML comprehensive retirement planning module. Just do an online search for it. You'll know you've found it if it has 606 as the last three numbers in its URL. Next item on our agenda, article from the Wall Street Journal, Jason Zweig, who highlighted the woes of small cap stocks. Over the past century, small caps have outperformed large caps by two percentage points annually on average, but not so much recently. In his article, Zweig cited the following staff from Steven DeSantis and Equity Strategist at Jeffrey's. Small caps have trailed large caps by more than seven percentage points over the last decade, which is the widest gap since 1935. Accordingly, money is just flowing out of ETFs that invested small US stocks while money is just pouring into the ETFs attract US large companies. This also means that small caps are a good bit cheaper. The Russell 2000 Index of small companies trades at a price to earnings multiple that is almost nine points lower than the S&P 500 PE. Iger argues, it might be time to go against the grade and grab some bargains by buying some small caps, which you can do pretty easily with a low cost ETF, such as the Vanguard Russell 2000 ETF, Ticker VTWO or the iShares CR S&P Small Cap ETF, Ticker IJR. Finally, we come to the number of the week, and that number is $435,300. That is the median price of an existing home that was sold in June an all time high, according to a report published last week by the International Association of Realtors, but while prices are up, sales volume is actually down 2.7%, and year over year inventory is up more than 15%. There's a bit of a slowdown in the real estate market. Growth of prices has boderated somewhat this year, and it took a bit of a dip in 2022. But anyone who owns a home that they bought more than a few years ago is likely sitting on some pretty nice gains. According to the Case Shiller National Home Price Index, home prices are up 49% over the past five years, 91% over the past decade, and 146% since the bottom of the housing crash in February of 2012. Putting a kid through college can easily cost well over $100,000. One way to prepare for that cost is by contributing to a 529 college savings plan. But how do you choose the right one? Here to provide some pointers is Martha Kortiak Mert, author and COO at savingforcollege.com. Martha, welcome to Motley Fool Money. Martha Kortiak Mert: Hello. Thanks for having me. Robert Brokamp: The benefit of 529 savings plans is that the growth and withdrawals are tax free, as long as the money is used for qualified expenses, and that used to mean pretty much just college costs. But the list of qualified expenses just keeps growing, including this month, thanks to the big beautiful bill that was passed on July 4. Let's start by telling us a little bit about what a 529 can actually be used for. Martha Kortiak Mert: Sure thing, and you're right. That list is actually pretty long right now. Let's start with when your child is young. A few years ago, added to the list of qualified expenses was K-12 tuition. But with the passage of the one big beautiful bill, you now pay for a lot more than just tuition at the K-12 level. You can pay for curricular materials, online materials, private tutoring. You can also once your kid is in high school, you can pay for things like standardized tests, SAT exams, ACT. Those were things that people would often ask about, can I use my 529 plan to pay for this. Finally, the answer now is yes. At the K through 12 level, withdrawals have been limited to $10,000 per year per beneficiary. That is going up to $20,000 per year starting in January. That's just at the K-12 level. Then once you get post post secondary education, you can pay for college tuition, room and board, books, supplies, computers, software, things that you need for your course of study. But in addition, you can also pay for trade schools. You can pay for vocational education. Now you can pay for a range of credentialing and accreditations and continuing education as well. This can include things like welding certification programs, HVAC. There are a number of different programs that are now going to be considered eligible expenses for 529 plans, as well as, again, if you're in law school, if you study to become an accountant, any studies that you're doing for your certification or your accreditation, like a CPA exam or bar exam, you can also now use a 529 plan to pay for those exam fees as well as educational courses that you're doing for those exams. Robert Brokamp: A much broader range of uses. That might appealing to anyone who's listening to this, so they think, OK, I maybe should open a 529. The interesting thing is, though, they're unique. If you want to open an IRA, you'd have to decide, well, yeah, I can go to Schwab or Vanguard or Fidelity or whatever. But with 529, they're operated by states. You're like, well, do I go with Virginia or Utah or Alaska? How should someone go about choosing the right 529 for their student? Because you don't have to stick with your own states plan. Martha Kortiak Mert: No, absolutely. This creates a lot of confusion for people and it gives them a lot of choices, which can be a good thing, but sometimes too many choices makes things hard. For one thing, we suggest look at your states plan. Now almost 40 states offer some type of state tax benefit. Most of the time, you have to use your state's 529 plan to get the tax benefit, but not in all cases. Check if you are in a state where you have state income tax, check to see if your state offers a deduction or a credit for contributions that you make to a 529 plan and whether or not you have to use your own states plan to get that. If you are not in a state that offers a tax benefit, and even if you are in one that offers, check out and see, we actually have an article one our site that breaks us down how much is available and you can say, what's the actual benefit? You can see how much is that worth to you and look around and look at how different plans are rated. If you're in a state that maybe doesn't have the highest performing 529 plan. If your 529 plan doesn't offer some of the options that you'd be looking for to invest in, shop around, see what else is out there. There are close to 100, 529 plans of different kinds out there. About half of them or maybe a little over half are direct sold, meaning you can just go to the website and open those yourself. The remaining ones have to be opened for you by a financial advisor or broker. Robert Brokamp: You can transfer money from one 529 to another. Can you try to game the system? Can you like, I'm going to contribute to my state's mediocre plan to get that tax break, but then I'm going to transfer it to another 529, or is there a catch there somewhere? Martha Kortiak Mert: No catch. You can totally do that. The other thing that happens is people move states sometimes, so maybe you open your states plan for that tax benefit, then you move to another state. Depending where you're moving, you could transfer that money, or you can just keep it where it is and open a new 529 plan in that new state if that offers a tax benefit, as well. They're actually really flexible in that way. There's no reason that you only have to open one 529 plan if you have more than one child. It's probably a good idea to open a different one for each child. But for sure, you can max out your tax savings in your state tax benefit, and then open an additional one. Robert Brokamp: You mentioned ratings of 529 plans. A few people do it Morningstar does it, but you all do it at saving for college.com as well. What are some of the criteria you use when it comes to how you've ranked and rated 529 plans? Martha Kortiak Mert: Yeah, let's start with the rankings, because that sort of feeds into our overall ratings, as well. Our rankings are an analysis we do of how all the 529 plans perform, so what their investment returns have been. Now, of course, within a 529 plan, you have multiple choices of how to invest your money. You can choose from portfolio options that are, give you age based or target year options. You choose the one that corresponds to your child's age or the expected age of enrollment in college, and those funds will shift over time from more aggressive type of investments to more conservative investments as your child nears college age. But they also offer different single fund and static blends and things like that. You do have quite a range of investment options. How do we compare the performance of one 529 plan to another 529 plan? We have to find a way to normalize those things. What we do is, in this case, we look just at the age based and year of enrollment portfolios, and we basically calculate an average across the age range. What would your average return be at any given point in time from 0-18 plus years of age? Then we compare that average performance for all the different plants. That's how we rank which are the best performing 529 plans. That performance component is definitely a big component for people. When we think about the rating and how we rate 529 plans, we want to be able to rate them based on which are the plans that are going to most help you as a parent, as a grandparent, ensure that you're reaching your goals for your child or your grandchild. Their performance is a big element of that, but we also think about things like saving success. That means, does the plan offer different types of features that will enable you to save more? This can include things like, does it have a gifting feature? How easy is it for you to if your parent have grandparents, family and friends on birthdays and holidays, make gift contributions into the 529 plan in lieu of a toy, for example. Ease of use. How easy is it to enroll in the plan? This is a place a lot of people drop off during the enrollment process because they really just get stuck. It's hard for them to figure out what these different options are that are being offered, and ultimately program delivery. How likely do we think it is that a 529 program manager is going to continue to deliver excellence to their investors? Those are some of the things we look at. We use both publicly available information, and we also survey all the 529 plan program administrators with a series of questions that they provide answers to us. Robert Brokamp: You mentioned various relatives there. Some people may wonder, well, how does a 529 affect my financial aid eligibility? It comes down really to ownership. Tell us a little bit about the different financial aid treatment when the parent owns it versus the kid or maybe another relative like the grandparent. Martha Kortiak Mert: A 529 plan is considered on the financial aid form, the FAFSA form that you fill out for federal financial aid. Whether it's owned by the parent or the student, it is considered a parent asset. A maximum of 5.64% of that asset value is included in the FAFSA form, ultimately. You put the full amount, but what's actually considered in the calculation is just up to 5.64%. Basically, if you're saving in any way, whether that money is in mutual funds or in a bank account, that's going to be considered at the same rate. If you can save, that's not a reason to not open a 529 plan. If a grandparent is considering whether to contribute to the parents 529 plan or to open their own, the good news for grandparents now is that a grandparent 529 is not considered for financial aid purposes. Now, in the past, it used to be withdrawals that you made from a grandparent 529 plan and then used to help the student were considered as untaxed student income. That was considered at a much higher rate, I think that was 20%. That has gone away. That untaxed income is no longer considered. Any cash support that's provided to the student from a grandparent or a family friend or other family member, that is not considered on the FAFSA. It does give an additional bump for grandparents that are trying to decide whether or not to open a 529 plan. The other thing to consider, too, or just to be aware of, really, if the parents are divorced, only one parent is filing the FAFSA form. That is the parent who provides most of the financial support to the student. If both parents have a 529 plan, the other parent, the 529 plan that they have for that same student would also not be reported on the FAFSA. Robert Brokamp: The whole grandparent thing, to me, feels like a huge loophole. It's basically completely ignored for financial aid purposes. Do you know why they made that change? Martha Kortiak Mert: I know that over time. I don't know exactly why that change was made. I know it was something, though, that had caused a lot of confusion over time. There was a whole strategy and loophole around how to use grandparent funds to pay for college without affecting financial aid, and so it used to be you would wait until the sophomore year to start withdrawing from a grandparent 529. There was a loophole there already, and a lot of people were aware of it, and that's gone away now, essentially, so I think made it a lot easier overall. Robert Brokamp: I say grandparent, but it's really anyone other than the parent doesn't have to be a grandparent. Let's move on to the final question. Are there any underappreciated or lesser known aspects of 529 accounts or just saving for college in general that you think more people should know about? Martha Kortiak Mert: Yeah. People are so concerned about what happens if I don't use it. I think especially in this day and age, where there is so much focus and emphasis on the value of a college degree, is it still worthwhile, especially given the student debt picture? A lot of people, they have a lot of uncertainty and trepidation around opening a 529 plan. For one thing, I do think that this expansion of benefits does help a lot because now you can say, look, your child is probably going to need something post high school, right, to make it in today's world. If that's not college, it's going to be something else. Really, there's not a great reason to not open a 529 plan. The other thing, we didn't really talk about, which I think people are aware of, but if you think about that tax benefit that you get of a 529 plan, we just focused on the state tax benefits. But of course, the really big benefit of a 529 plan is that those withdrawals that you're making come out federal tax free and state tax free. As long as it's being spent on qualified education expenses, we went through that list earlier. It's a pretty expansive list. That can add up to thousands of dollars. You could put the money in a mutual fund. You're going to be taxed along the way. In the case of a 529 plan, all that tax is deferred, and you are going to have to pay thousands of dollars every time you're taking withdrawals are. You're going to pay the capital gains tax rate, I should say. Depending on how much you have in there and how much you've earned over time, you're basically, you can't count on every dollar that you see in your account going to pay for college. With 529 plans, I think that's really the beauty of it that every dollar, when you go and look at your account statement online, every dollar that you see there can go toward education, and that's pretty huge. I think there are other flexibilities, you can transfer to another beneficiary if you end up. If you're in the enviable position of having more in your 529 plan than you need. The other actually pretty recent development that we didn't talk about that is huge is if you do end up with leftover money in your 529 plan. You can now transfer up to $35,000 to a Roth IRA for your beneficiary. You have to do it within the Roth IRA rules. You can only transfer so much up to the transfer limit each year. But that's a great way to jump start your kids retirement savings, as well. If you end up not spending or not spending all the money. I really encourage people to not delay, start early, put money away regularly. It's just I've heard from so many parents, friends of mine that say, I didn't get it. I didn't start saving until middle school, and I didn't understand the value of the compounding I would get if I'd started 10 years earlier, eight years earlier or something. You start early, you're going to use those funds one way or another. Robert Brokamp: Martha, this has been great. Thank you for joining us. Martha Kortiak Mert: Thank you so much. Robert Brokamp: It's time for our final segment. Get it done. In which we provide an actionable tip to make the boast of your bunny. A few weeks ago President Trump signed into law the one big beautiful bill, and there's a lot in that bill's 870 pages, including a higher standard deduction, a higher state and local taxes deduction, a bonus deduction for seniors, a higher child tax credit, and a deduction for tips received by some workers. But it's not all about the breaks. The bill also eventually eliminates energy efficiency tax credits, limits student loan repayment options, and make some cuts to social welfare programs. But hey, whalers get a higher deduction for whaling related expenses, so that's nice. In the end, how much the new tax law will reduce your tax bill will depend on all factors, including your income, job, your age, your address, things like that. But most middle to upper income households could see their after tax incomes rise 2-4% annually over the next few years. Think of it like a raise. With any raise, it's a good idea to be proactive about what you do with that extra money. My recommendation is to use most or even all of it to boost your savings rate, especially if you're behind in saving for retirement or any other goals. Right after you're done, listening to this podcast, log into your 401K, IRA, brokerage account, or your high yield savings account, and boost the amount that you have automatically contributed by a few percentage points. Because down the road, you may need that money. Estimates vary, but the big beautiful bill could increase the federal budget deficit by three trillion to $6 trillion over the next decade. Meanwhile, it could move up the depletion of the Social Security Trust Fund a year earlier to 2032, and around that same time, one of the trust funds that supports Medicare will run dry. In other words, over the next several years, the federal government will be borrowing even more money while two of its biggest and most important programs will become increasingly underfunded. Make the most of your tax cuts. Use that extra money to plump up your portfolio, because at some point, Uncle Sam is going to have to shore up Social Security, Medicare, and the rest of his finances, possibly resulting in higher future taxes and/or reduced retirement benefits. That's a show. What do you think of this new format for Saturday? Email your feedback to podcasts at fool.com. That's a podcast with an s at fool.com. As always, people on the program may have interest in the stocks they talk about, and the Motley Fool may have formal recommendations for or against, so don't buy or sell stocks based solely on what you hear. All personal finance content follows Motley Fool editorial standards and is not approved by advertisers. Advertisements are sponsored content and provided for informational purposes only. You see, our full advertising disclosure, please check out our show notes. I'm Robert Brokamp. Fool on, everybody. Robert Brokamp has positions in iShares Trust-iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends iShares Trust-iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. 529 Plans, 401(k) Plans, and Using Any Extra Money From Washington was originally published by The Motley Fool This content is expired! Unfortunely this content is expired and cannot be viewed anymore; if You are the owner of this content please login to our Website, go to our access panel and enable this content again. Berengo Gardin's career spanned over 60 years. Gianni Berengo Gardin, the Italian photographer celebrated for his iconic black-and-white images of life in Italy, died in Genoa on Wednesday at the age of 94. A tireless chronicler of Italy's social and cultural transformations over the past six decades, Berengo Gardin's legacy comprises more than two million photographs, 260 books and 360 solo exhibitions around the world. Throughout his award-winning career he remained faithful to his trusted Leica camera, defining himself as "an artisan" rather than an artist, saying: "My work is not artistic, but social and civil." Born in Santa Margherita Ligure on 10 October 1930, Berengo Gardin considered himself Venetian, maintaining a lifelong love for Venice. In the 1960s he began a long career as a professional reportage photographer, collaborating with important Italian and international publications including Domus, L'Espresso, Time, Stern and Le Figaro. Celebrated for his documentary photography and social commentary, Berengo Gardin captured images of industry, workers' struggles, giant cruise ships in the Venice lagoon, the earthquake-hit L'Aquila, and everyday life in post-war Italy. In 1969 he gained widespread acclaim for his hard-hitting photographs on the inhumane conditions of Italian psychiatric hospitals, with images that shook the country. The powerful reportage sparked a national debate that led ultimately to the passing, in 1978, of the Basaglia Law which imposed the closure of psychiatric hospitals in favour of a community-based approach and returned civil rights to psychiatric patients. Hailing him as "an undisputed master of photography", Italian culture minister Alessandro Giuli paid tribute to Berengo Gardin as: "A true explorer who captured humanity and nature in every corner of the earth. His gaze illuminated the history of the 20th century." Roma, 1973 Gianni Berengo Gardin Fondazione Forma per la Fotografia Milano. Pat Fitzgerald was laid to rest today after a Requiem Mass in the Sacred Heart Church at The Folly, Waterford. Father Gerry Chestnutt presided over the Mass and praised Pat as a dedicated and kind husband, father and friend. Fr Chestnutt welcomed the congregation with the words: "This is a day of immense sadness. Perhaps words are very difficult to find, but words must be and will be spoken, and there will be words that will cover the fullness of Pat's life from beginning to end. "We believe that all the ties of friendship and love, which unite us as one throughout our lives, do not unravel with death." Fr Chestnutt spoke of the shock of Pat's sudden death and how it has affected not only his family and friends, but the community also. He said: "What happened in this community last weekend was, to put it very mildly, tragic. Tragic for Pat and for you, his family, and for all who would have known him in his community and beyond for he was a very well-known figure. "It should not have happened, and therefore we should not be here." He continued: "I have not heard one bad word being spoken about Pat, for words of remembrance and certainly words of sadness, sad at what happened to him last weekend, and sad that he's no longer visible to the eye, especially with himself, his family." Beloved friend Pat's dear friend and fellow trade unionist Jimmy Kelly spoke lovingly about their many adventures, both in and outside of Waterford Glass. Pat was the former Chairperson of the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers Union (ATGWU) and was a passionate defender of workers' rights, especially during the collapse of Waterford Crystal in 2009. Jimmy said: "Having worked closely with Pat for 14 years, I have some great memories of Pat, some of them still covered by the Official Secrets Act. But for sure, a lot happened in past times across the Waterford Crystal factory, across our union, the local trade union movement through the Waterford Council of Trade Unions." He spoke about how entwined Pat's life was with 'The Glass'. "Pat gave his working life to Waterford Crystal and also to the union. Without fear of contradiction, it can be said that while Fitzy worked at the factory, he was a living legend. The history of Waterford Glass is Pat Fitzgerald's history. "Getting to know Pat, you knew a man who had an astute brain, a sharp, razor sharp wit, which we were all probably subjected to at one time or another. He was great at reading a situation and coming to a conclusion on the best way forward, while we valued each other's opinion." Devoted father Pat's son Wayne gave a lovely eulogy, describing Pat as a pillar of support and love for himself, his sister Joanne and brother Karl. He said: "He was always there for us, providing support, guidance and unconditional love. Although it may sound cliche, throughout our youth, he was our rock, our confidence and our inspiration." The Mass heard about the kind, loving and supportive father who took his daughter Joanne to the library every Friday and would read the books she was reading so that they could talk about them together. Wayne continued: "As a family, we spent many hours at the kitchen table chatting with Pat about the politics of today, issues happening in work, and with him, challenging us to think for ourselves and to know how to make a sound argument." Wayne spoke about the lifelong love between his dad Pat and mum Kathleen. He said: "When I think back to their antics, they were reckless, full of mischief and fun, and lived every day to the fullest without a care for the week ahead." Wayne continued: "Pat would have been extremely humbled and secretly delighted to see all of the recent write-ups about him and the impact he had during his time in the Union over the years. "As his family, we are so proud to hear the many sentiments about Pat, that he was generous to a fault, completely non-judgmental, with a great sense of humor and sharp wit, and that he always did things his way." The ceremony ended, fittingly, with the song 'My Way' by Frank Sinatra, followed by a cover of 'Days' by The Kinks. "Thank you for the days/ Those endless days, those sacred days you gave me/ I'm thinking of the days/ I won't forget a single day, believe me." May he Rest in Peace. ADNOC Gas has announced a 16% year-on-year increase in net income to $1.38bn (Dh5.07bn), the highest in the companys history, and an 8% rise in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) to $2.25bn in the second quarter of 2025 (Q2 2025). The company's product portfolio demonstrated strong performance, particularly in the local gas market, amidst oil price volatility. The Board of Directors has approved an interim dividend of $1.79bn, a 5% increase from the previous year, set for distribution in September. The first half of 2025 (H1 2025) saw a 49% rise in capital expenditure (capex), driven by significant advancements in strategic initiatives such as the first phase of the $5bn Rich Gas Development (RGD) project. In the short to mid-term outlook, the company anticipates completing the second phase of the Integrated Gas Development Expansion (IGDE-2), advancing the Maximising Ethane Recovery and Monetisation (MERAM) initiative and deciding on the investment for the final two stages of the RGD project. ADNOC Gas is also focusing on other growth projects including the Ruwais LNG project, which is expected to capture a larger share of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) market. These initiatives are expected to bolster the company's product portfolio, creating additional revenue streams and improving margins. ADNOC Gas CEO Fatema Al Nuaimi said: We are pleased to report the highest quarterly net income in ADNOC Gas history, fuelled by our strong local market business and improved operational efficiency. This performance shows that we are well on our way to achieving our ambition of over 40% EBITDA growth between 2023 and 2029, as outlined in our strategy update last November. With healthy cash flows and robust margins, we remain well-positioned for long-term growth, and our resilient business model continues to deliver strong returns. After being added to the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) Emerging Markets Index in June 2025, ADNOC Gas witnessed a significant influx of net capital, totalling around $500m. The company is now poised to join the FTSE Index in September 2025, with market estimates projecting more than $200m in added inflows. ADNOC Gas' AI journey is also ongoing, with the implementation of MEERAi, an AI agent designed to provide real-time data-driven insights for the Board of Directors. Furthermore, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation has entered a heads of agreement with an ADNOC Gas subsidiary, Abu Dhabi Gas Liquefaction Company, to procure 500,000 tonnes per annum of LNG over ten years. Waterford Fire Service held an open day initiative recently that drew a large crowd throughout the day. Waterford News & Star photographer, Joe Evans was there to capture images of those in attendance. More photos will also appear in the forthcoming print edition of the newspaper and are also online here at waterford-news.ie. Photos of other events are also available to view here on the website under the 'Archive' section and a collection of nostalgic photos from our archive, titled 'Colourful Memories of Waterford', is currently available as a fantastic photobook on sale at The Book Centre, in-store or through or office on Gladstone Street. Hard copy prints of photos are also available to buy through our office. Luke Myler showing Aria how to put out fires at the Waterford Fire Station open day. Photo: Joe Evans Ada, Max and Amelia Whelan, pictured at the Waterford Fire Station open day. Photo: Joe Evans Luke Myler teaching how to put out fires at the Waterford Fire Station open day. Photo: Joe Evans Rian Murphy, pictured at the Waterford Fire Station open day. Photo: Joe Evans Walsh and Burns familys, pictured at the Waterford Fire Station open day. Photo: Joe Evans Members of Waterford Youth Advisory Climate Council/Sli recently gathered at Woodstown to take part in a clean-up of the popular stretch of Waterford beach. Those involved were volunteering on behalf of the Clean Coasts initiative, which encourages the maintenance of our spectacular coastal areas. Photographer Joe Evans captured the team of young people hard at work. Well done to all involved! South East Technological University (SETU) is inviting expressions of interest from outstanding researchers based outside of Ireland for the Global Talent Ireland 2025 initiative. Funded by Research Ireland, the GTI is a national programme offering the Rising Star award (5 to 15 years post-PhD) which is designed to attract world-class talent to Ireland and support the development of ambitious, independent research careers. "We look forward to welcoming visionary researchers who will shape the future of SETUs research ecosystem and deliver meaningful global impact, said Professor Marie Claire Van Hout, SETU Vice President Research, Innovation & Impact. She said the university, which has main campuses in Waterford and Carlow along with a smaller campus in Wexford, is seeking exceptional candidates with a strong track record, international ambition, and a research vision aligned with the universitys research themes: Information and communication technologies; Environment, bioeconomy and sustainability; Pharmaceutical, chemical and biological sciences; Engineering and advanced manufacturing; Health, well-being, sport and physical activity; Business, finance, entrepreneurship and management practice; Creativity, culture and society. Successful applicants will receive significant funding and institutional support to establish or relocate their research programmes to SETU. In welcoming the call for worldwide talent, Prof Van Hout said: We are proud to support the Global Talent Ireland programme and look forward to welcoming visionary researchers who will shape the future of SETUs research ecosystem and deliver meaningful global impact. The aim of Global Talent Ireland is to aims to attract exceptional mid-career and established researchers from across the globe to Ireland. Researchers funded through the programme are required to transfer their research activities from their current location to an Eligible Research Body in Ireland. Given its commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion, Research Ireland welcomes applications from women and those from historically underserved communities. Expressions of interest are now open and will remain so until 1pm on August 11. Interested candidates are encouraged to contact SETUs Research Office for further details and guidance by email at research@setu.ie. This year marks a significant milestone in the history of Waterford industry. Portlaw Heritage Centre noted that 2025 was the 200th anniversary of the launch of the local cotton mill, in 1825, however, it also noted recently that this year is also the 40th anniversary of the closure of the Irish Tanners. One of those involved with the centre commented: "While 2025 marks the 200th anniversary of the launch of the cotton mill in 1825, we also need to remember the other significant industry which impacted on our village. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the closure of the Portlaw tannery, as the gates of Irish Tanners closed for the last time in July 1985." That closure also coincided with the closure of tanneries in Dungarvan and Carrick-on-Suir. There was also a plant in Gorey, in County Wexford, but its closure preceded those in Waterford by six years with it closing in 1979. "For those of us who grew up and went on to work in the factory, our lives revolved around the shifts and the factory hooter," said one of those who worked in the Portlaw site. "As children the hooter was a reminder, at a time when we had no mobile phones, that it was time to head home from our long summers day adventures," he said. "As employees, it marked the start and finish of the working day," he added, before commenting: "I entered the factory as a boy in 1977 and was one of the first made redundant in 1983. What I learned in those six years has stood to me all my life." The Portlaw Tannery will be remembered during Heritage Week. The Portlaw plant had been opened in September 1935 by the then Minister for Industry and Commerce, Sean Lemass, almost fifty years to the day before its closure. The new industry was part of the new Irish States efforts at the time to establish a self-sufficient industrial economy. As part of Heritage Week, the Portlaw Heritage Centre will use the opportunity to remember all those who worked in the tannery with a display of photographs. An exciting new exhibition of works by one of County Waterford's most talented artists will be officially launched this coming weekend. John Cullinan, from Tramore, will launch his exhibition in Birdies cafe/gallery, Fenor Co Waterford, on Sunday, August 17, at 11am. The exhibition will run thereafter, from August 19, until mid-September. The gallery will open to the public for viewing from Thursday to Sunday, inclusive between the hours of 10am to 4pm. Commenting on the exhibition, the artist said it will feature a lot of work that has never been exhibited before and as a result it presents an exciting opportunity for him to exhibit in Waterford. The fact the display will go on public view in a beautiful new setting is also something the artist is looking forward to, commenting: "Lots of new work, never exhibited before, so for me to exhibit in Co Waterford in a beautiful new setting where one can enjoy leisurely viewing and relax with some delicious refreshments in the cafe." A pro-Israel activist who alongside The Daily Telegraph took part in an alleged media sting at a Middle Eastern restaurant, is now suing the business for defamation. Ofir Birenbaum has brought a defamation claim against the restaurant, its owner and a staff member after the story made national headlines, with lawyers for the Sydney venue vowing to defend the matter in court. The man at the centre of a Daily Telegraph sting has begun defamation proceedings. Credit: Nine News While the details of the legal claim remain unclear, Birenbaum filed the application with the Federal Court on Tuesday, naming the company trading as Cairo Takeaway, owner Hesham El Masry and staff member Talaat Yehia as respondents. In February, Birenbaum entered the busy Newtown cafe known for its public support of Palestine wearing a Star of David cap. 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 In a stunning decision, a Federal Court judge has ruled that Never Get Busted, a documentary screening at the Melbourne International Film Festival, must have its directorial credits changed or be prevented from screening at all. Justice Yaseen Shariff handed down his interim decision last Wednesday afternoon, just days after an interlocutory hearing in which lawyers for Stephen McCallum and David Ngo (pronounced Go) each claimed their client was the rightful director of the film. Shariff had been urged by McCallums team to order that the film be screened with him credited as principal director, or alternatively with no director attributed at all but only a note indicating the directing credits are the subject of court proceedings. A still from Barry Coopers 2007 mail-order DVD Never Get Busted Again, in which he advised drug users how to avoid being arrested. Credit: Pinnacle Films Ngos team had insisted that to flag the legal proceedings would jeopardise the commercial life of the film, as the screenings at MIFF represented its best chance of being sold. The decision came down in McCallums favour. Shariff ruled that the documentary about American drug cop-turned-drug activist Barry Cooper could not be seen and heard in public or communicated to the public unless [it] both contains the credit Directed by Stephen McCallum and does not contain the credit Directed by [David Ngo]. Advertisement His orders also prevent Ngo or anyone else associated with the feature from promoting it unless it is credited principally to McCallum and not to Ngo. Although Ngo can still be listed as a director of the film, and as its writer and one of its producers, the result is a devastating blow for him and his colleagues at Adelaide-based Projector Films. It also poses an almighty headache for MIFF. Ngo was to have presented the film at its screenings on Friday and Sunday, but MIFF confirmed on Friday that those appearances would no longer happen. McCallum was not slated to appear at all. I am very pleased with the decision of the Federal Court today about the credits for the film, McCallum said. The orders require that I get the Directed by credit on the film and all promotions, and David Ngo should not. Those were the orders I asked for. But I acknowledge that the final hearing as to who is the principal director of the film will not be heard until mid-September. Who is Barry Cooper? The battle over who made Never Get Busted began in December, ramped up at the Sundance Film Festival in January, and reached its zenith in the Federal Court in Sydney last week. It has been ugly, expensive and, to outsiders, arcane. But none of that should detract from the movie itself, which is utterly fascinating. It tells the story of one-time Texas policeman Barry Cooper, who discovered in the early 1990s that he had a flair for busting people for narcotics possession, marijuana in particular. He trained his own dog, became an absolute gun, and went on to join the state drug enforcement agency. Advertisement But by the end of the decade, something had switched for Cooper. He realised he wasnt making society safer he was an agent of terror, whose arrests often broke up families over small, recreational amounts of dope. He realised the police with whom he worked were frequently corrupt. He didnt spare himself from that judgment either. He quit the force, became a pastor in an X-rated church that preached sex and free love, and met and fell in love with a stripper called Candi, whose appetite for marijuana was prodigious. Cooper became a favourite of news programs in the US, where he batted away criticisms of his position with facts and relentless logic. Credit: Pinnacle Films And that was when Cooper had a full-scale Damascene conversion. He grew his hair, got a bunch of tattoos, took to the reefer and in 2007 released a mail-order DVD, Never Get Busted Again, in which he shared his insider knowledge to help people evade arrest, and if arrested, escape conviction. Its a rollicking ride, and one thats already resonating with audiences; Never Get Busted won the grand jury prize for documentary feature at the Dances With Films festival in Los Angeles last month, where it had its world premiere ahead of its hometown debut on the weekend. Credit where credits due or not Its obvious that something strange is afoot with this movie from the moment the opening credits start to roll. Advertisement On the version I saw in late July, it begins with a title card saying director Stephen McCallum, followed by another that says written and directed by David Anthony Ngo. A third credit describes it as a documentary by David Anthony Ngo & Erin Williams-Weir. This is a highly unusual way of denoting authorship. To the outside world, it is merely confusing. But to those in the industry it suggests a hierarchy, at the apex of which sits David Ngo. And that, says Stephen McCallum, is fundamentally wrong. Husband and wife producers David Ngo and Erin Weir-Williams. Ngo wrote the film, but his claim to have directed it has been challenged. Credit: Projector Films In a statement of claim lodged in the Federal Court last December, McCallum alleged that he had been denied his moral right to be credited as sole director of Never Get Busted, for which he had been hired in January 2020 by producers David Ngo and Daniel Joyce, of Adelaide-based Projector Films. McCallum claims he was effectively locked out of the editing process in late 2023, which is roughly when he became aware that the credits listed on imdb.com had been changed from directed by Stephen McCallum to directed by Stephen McCallum and David Ngo. About that time, he also noticed that a sizzle reel on Vimeo had changed from directed by Stephen McCallum to directed by David Ngo and Stephen McCallum. In a cross-claim filed in April, Projector alleges that McCallum stopped working full-time on the film in early 2022, and had only minor involvement with it from mid 2023. Advertisement Invited to Sundance, the rarest of air McCallum was prompted to act in late 2024 when a version of Never Get Busted, which had originally been conceived as a four-part series, was invited to screen in the TV strand at Sundance in January 2025. Advance material listed the director as David Ngo. The shows landing page on the festival website listed no director at all among the credits, instead identifying Ngo and Williams-Weir as showrunners. But body copy under the heading meet the artist referred to the work as the directorial debut of David Anthony Ngo. Nowhere did Stephen McCallums name appear. Stephen McCallum, who was hired to direct the film in early 2020. His name was nowhere to be seen when it debuted at Sundance in January 2025. Credit: For a rising Australian filmmaker, appearing at Sundance is the kind of leg-up that can launch a career from Struggletown to the big leagues. Sundance is the rarest air that there is in some ways for a filmmaker, Ngo told The Age. It was certainly something Ive dreamt about since I was a kid, watching Tarantino and Soderbergh and Robert Rodriguez and those sorts of films get launched there. Advertisement When Joshua Thomson was growing up, the appearance of the years first Christmas beetles was a cherished moment a sign of good times to come. Jana Castillo and Lloyd Allison-Young star in Beetle, by Legs on the Wall, at The Joan Penrith in Sydney. Credit: Janie Barrett I remember it stood as a symbol of Christmas, summer, water, heat, fun, family and friends. Now, even though my family are living all over Australia, we all still share if we see one, the Legs on the Wall artistic director says. But like so much of our natural world, the Christmas beetle is disappearing the victim of climate change and a loss of habitat. So far the data is anecdotal as numbers are hard to pin down. The University of Sydney and Invertebrates Australia have partnered to recruit the public to do their own count to get a better idea of what is happening. But as the Australian Museum has said, even anecdotally, the evidence for their decline is compelling. As a lifelong beta male, my survival has always depended on being able to spot men who are another link up the food chain from me and staying out of their way. But no one could have spotted Nick Adams coming. The former inner west Sydney councillor, Hooters enthusiast and self-described alpha male was recently nominated as the US ambassador to Malaysia, bursting like a sulphurous fumarole from the MAGA underworld to burn everyone, perhaps most of all the Malaysians. It is nothing short of a lifetimes honour to take the Presidents goodwill, Adams said on X following his appointment by Donald Trump, and spread it to the great people of Malaysia. Nick Adams has criticised teaching Islam in US schools, which hasnt gone down well in Muslim-majority Malaysia. Credit: The Washington Post via Getty Images Adams elevation came as a shock to most Americans. Dude isnt even American, lol, wtf? one person posted on X. Wait how the f--- is this immigrant going to be a US ambassador? wrote another. The Sydney-born 40-year-old certainly doesnt look very MAGA: chubby and oddly effete, Adams has a doughy face and nasal, upper-register Australian accent that sounds like its being piped through a tin-can telephone. Yet hes been auditioning for the manosphere for years. I go to Hooters, he tweeted in 2023. I eat rare steaks. I lift extremely heavy weights. I read the Bible every night. I am pursued by copious amounts of women. He insists he has the physique of a Greek God and an IQ over 180. In his latest book, Alpha Kings, he says that the only concession hed make to a woman in his home would be to provide her with a small area for her to do her scrap-booking or host her sewing machine. In thrilling news for make-up enthusiasts Friday morning finally marks the public opening of Australian beauty retailer Meccas behemoth Bourke Street store. Well, sort of. The buildings main facade (which has been boarded up and under construction since circa 2022) wont be finished until November. Guests attending the venue for a preview event on Wednesday had to enter through a far less glamorous entrance in Union Lane. Sheesh. Meccas Bourke Street facade, pictured on Wednesday, isnt expected to be finished until November. Credit: Eddie Jim We hear theres a temporary Bourke Street access point now for Fridays opening. But expect tradespeople to be hanging about for a little bit longer. Thats showbiz, baby. Dubbed the Mecca of all Meccas, the 4000-square-metre, three-storey home of all things beauty has taken the spot of the old David Jones menswear store, in an area of Melbourne thats been begging for a facelift for quite some time. For example, pharmaceutical company Moderna recently merged its technology and human resources departments into a single function, appointing a Chief People and Digital Technology Officer to oversee both teams. The move, according to the Wall Street Journal, was driven in part by the companys partnership with OpenAI and the company leaning into AI to help handle things like HR support and some junior roles. It can also mean the collapse or conflation of traditional team structures. One key theme of organizations that are pivoting to AI-first structures is a kind of flattening of company structure, which essentially means fewer layers of management oversight, the removal of junior or support roles, and a growing reliance on AI systems to handle tasks that were once handled by human employees. While the utopian idea of a world without tasks like editing Excel spreadsheets or sorting through files sounds great in theory, what does an AI-first organization actually look like in practice? Tech bosses have been keen to promote a vision where AI automates the drudgery of work, cutting out admin while allowing soft skills and creativity to flourish. Or, as Microsofts Satya Nadella put it earlier this year: I think with AI and work with my colleagues. As business leaders race to integrate AI across their operations, entry-level roles are disappearing, management layers are thinning, and traditional team roles are starting to blur. Across the Fortune 500, middle management is taking hits, as are entry-level workers, but even at the C-suite, new power dynamics are at play as the old pyramid structure of corporate life starts to flatten out. AI isnt just a new tool for the modern workplace; its quietly reshaping how companies are organized. At Moderna, HR and tech now live under the same roof overseen by one Chief People and Digital Officer. At another one AI-first healthcare company, a team of 10 software engineers have been replaced with three person unit overseeing AI agents. At Amazon, layers of middle management are being stripped out as part of a broader push toward a leaner, AI-ready structure. The traditional corporate org chart, a neat triangle of power with executives at the top and junior workers at the base, is undergoing a quiet revolution, thanks to AI. AI is quietly changing the traditional corporate hierarchy, flattening structures and reshaping job roles from the bottom up. Companies like Amazon , Moderna , and McKinsey are eliminating layers of middle management, merging departments, and deploying AI agents to automate routine work. As AI automates various tasks, even the C-suite is changing, with new AI leadership roles emerging and long-held power dynamics shifting. Story Continues At consulting giant McKinsey, the company is deploying thousands of AI agents to support consultants with tasks such as building decks, summarizing research, and verifying the logic of arguments. On top of this, around 40% of the companys revenue now comes from advising on AI and related technologies. If youre an AI-first organization, you can use these AI agents to essentially do a lot of the execution work of organizations, Nick South, the managing director and senior partner of Boston Consulting Group, told Fortune. And when we organize our processes and our delivery processes around this AI native workforce, the role of the humans, then, is different. This is partly because the nature of individual job roles will change as tasks get automated by AI tools or agents. Our job roles get kind of deconstructed, because some tasks might be taken over by AI and others might be new, so the meaning, or the function of the job changes, Eva Selenko, a professor of work psychology at Loughborough Business School, said. You might need less of the one role, but that person will take over another function from another thing. This doesnt mean that entire jobs will be replaced, but it could mean employees roles become more diverse and take on tasks outside their normal scope of duties, or even their usual team. Job roles get deconstructed as tasks get automated, and their importance in the organization changes, Selenko said. As a result, strict divisions between teams may start to blur. Mix all this in with a few AI agents carrying out autonomous work, and the traditional org chart starts to look dramatically different. Now were moving to this more flat network of human teams supervising AI agents, Rob Levin, McKinsey senior partner and a leader of QuantumBlack, McKinseys AI arm, said. In early examples, were seeing that a client company thats building an agent factory supporting multiple business workflows, about 50 to 100 AI agents can be managed by just two or three people, he said. In one example, Levin said a healthcare company had replaced a traditional 10-person software development team with much smaller, three-person units. These consist of a product owner, a software engineer who can effectively prompt AI coding tools, and a systems architect who ensures integration with the companys broader tech ecosystem. However, these kinds of major structural changes are easier to implement in smaller organizations or startups rather than in larger companies that have more complicated structures. The plight of the middle manager One of the ways companies, especially in the tech sector, have tried to simplify and flatten their structures for the AI age is to slash employees at the managerial level. Palantir CEO Alex Karp, for instance, announced on Mondays earnings call that he intended to cull 500 roles from his 4,100-person staff. he called it a crazy, efficient revolution. Middle managers have especially taken a lot of flak, especially from the likes of Big Tech CEOs such as Andy Jassy, who has said that middle managers can hinder speed, ownership, and innovation at Amazon, particularly in the context of AI-driven organizational change. Jassy is currently pursuing a flatter company structure at Amazon by increasing the ratio of individual contributors to managers, aiming to remove layers and streamline decision-making. However, experts told Fortune organizations shouldnt be counting out middle managers just yet. One obvious possibility [of flatter organizations] is that its going to cause some sort of managerial thinning, said Tristan L. Botelho, an associate professor of organizational behavior at Yale School of Management. If AI is reducing the coordination burden, it could shrink the role of middle management, whose job it was previously to make these connections. However, while AI might change how middle managers work, Botelho does not expect them to disappear completely. I dont think middle management is going to be erased. I think its going to just redefine how managers think about their role within the organization, he said. One thing I often talk about a lot with executivesis this kind of idea that AI integrated with the organization, shouldlevel up your skill set as a manager. In the AI age, soft skills also become increasingly important, with middle managers serving vital HR functions. Employees still need to be managed, and a workforce still needs to function with empathy or organizations risk losing their best performers. There is a human side of things, Stella Pachidi, a Senior Lecturer in Technology and Work at Kings Business School, said. Its not sustainable to just have a boss as an algorithm, its not going to work in the longer term. In contrast to the Big Tech narrative, some experts say the managerial class will expand within traditional organizational structures as automation replaces low-level work. BCGs Nick South told Fortune that execution-level jobs, which are typically at the bottom of the org chart, will be the first on the chopping block due to AI agents, while the managerial or orchestration level will grow in complexity and importance. At the orchestration layer, that will need to be bigger than it is todaytherell be a critical human part of that, which is about making sure that all this stuff is doing things, he said. If you think about a classic middle manager profile, its sort of a general manager skill set. But what these people are going to need in the future is a combination of sufficient AI proficiency to manage a human-agentic workforce, plus the core skills of logic, understanding of ethics, rhetoric, and communication skills, so that they can communicate with others in much less siloed organizations, he said. So those orchestration roles are going to be quite complex. The new C-suite While middle managers and entry-level employees may be feeling the brunt of the AI burden, these changes go right to the top. AI is already shifting the power dynamics in the C-suite and creating new, powerful, executive-level jobs. According to a 2023 Foundry study on AI Priorities, 11% of mid- to large-sized companies have already appointed someone to serve as Chief AI Officer (CAIO), while an additional 21% are currently in the process of recruiting for the role. According to LinkedIns 2023 report on AI at work, companies with a Head of AI position around the world had more than tripled in the five years, growing by 13% from 2022. Alex Connock, a senior fellow at the University of Oxfords Said Business School, has observed the growth of these roles firsthand. Whilst it was perhaps relatively rare when we first launched our AI for business programmes a few years ago, we now have many people on our executive courses with the title of Chief AI Officer, he told Fortune. Its the new mainstream. The level of interest transcends all levels, from the 20-year-old undergrads up to seasoned executives. While theres some debate about whether these roles will stand the test of time, for example, experts have said that these roles can lack a clear purpose or authority, the executive level is not immune to the AI boom. South said that while the rise of some of these roles could also be a symptom of our immaturity with AI rather than a direct need for this work, the C-suite will still have to take on new responsibilities in the AI age. People feel quite nervous about missing the boat, he said. I think it will be interesting to see how this evolves over time as things settle down, how different will that be to the classic chief data officer? But here is a new responsibility in the C-suite to think about our competitive landscape, where are the potential sources of disruption, how we protect our sources of advantage. These are C-suite questions, and it would be a mistake to think, if we hire a chief AI officer, somehow we leave that with them. This is a really top-level thing to be thinking strategically about. While AI is set to disrupt all levels of organizations, Selenko noted that management structures are likely to protect those at the top from too much turmoil. In an influential management structure, if those at the tops job might be partly doable by an AI, they will not give up that power. So I think you will see this shift in power balance is probably more among less powerful positions in an organization, she said. This story was originally featured on Fortune.com But opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Michaelia Cash countered Wongs statement and declared the operational tactics were a matter for the Israeli government. What disturbs me more than anything is that so many now but in particular Penny Wong skip over this important detail: this war could end tomorrow if Hamas released the hostages and laid down their arms, Cash said. Most of the 2 million Palestinians in Gaza are currently in areas outside direct control by Israel, with many in Gaza City highlighting the risks to civilians in any military operation to take over the city. Israel says it controls 75 per cent of the Gaza Strip. The Israeli cabinet canvassed several other options on the best way to conduct the war when it met in the early hours of Friday, AEST, but rejected them. A decisive majority of security cabinet ministers believed that the alternative plan ... would neither achieve the defeat of Hamas nor the return of the hostages, the prime ministers office said, acknowledging the divisions. The first four principles agreed to end the war were the disarming of Hamas, the return of all hostages living and dead, the demilitarisation of the Gaza Strip and Israeli security control in the Gaza Strip. Loading The fifth principle was the establishment of an alternative civil administration over the territory that would be neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has joined other leaders in speaking to Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas in recent weeks, highlighting a global push to make the governing body in the West Bank a key part of a two-state solution that would include Gaza. Speaking before the security cabinet meeting, which ran for 10 hours through the night, Netanyahu had said Israel planned to take control over all of Gaza and eventually hand it off to Arab forces opposed to Hamas. Israels top general, Eyal Zamir, reportedly warned that it would endanger the remaining 20 or so living hostages held by Hamas and further strain Israels army after nearly two years of war. Many families of hostages are also opposed, fearing further escalation will doom their loved ones. Israels centrist opposition leader Yair Lapid blasted the security cabinets decision as a disaster that will lead to many more disasters. This is exactly what Hamas wanted: for Israel to be trapped in the field without a goal, without defining the picture of the day after, in a useless occupation that no one understands where it is leading, he said on social media. Yair Golan, the leader of the centre-left Democrats party, said the move was a death sentence for the hostages and would prove to be a disaster for generations. Israel has repeatedly bombarded Gaza City and carried out numerous raids there, only to return to different neighbourhoods as Hamas fighters regrouped. Loading Hundreds of thousands fled Gaza City under evacuation orders in the opening weeks of the war, but many returned during a limited ceasefire at the start of this year. Asked on Fox News whether Israel would take control of all of Gaza, Netanyahu had said the government intended to: Remove Hamas there, enable the population to be free of [Hamas] and to pass it to civilian governance that is not Hamas and not anyone advocating the destruction of Israel. Thats what we want to do, he said. We want to liberate ourselves and liberate the people of Gaza from the awful terror of Hamas. Netanyahu made no comment on a two-state solution with Palestine named by many countries, including Australia, as the preferred resolution to the conflict but set out a sharply different future in which Gaza was managed by Arab states. He did not say which countries would participate. Asked if Israel wanted to keep control of Gaza, he said that was not Israels ambition. We dont want to keep it. We want to have a security perimeter, he said in his earlier comments. We want to hand it over to Arab forces that will govern it properly without threatening us, and giving Gazans a good life. Thats not possible with Hamas. Hamas said in a statement that Netanyahus remarks that Israel intended to take military control of all of Gaza constituted a coup during ceasefire negotiations. Australia Palestine Advocacy Network President Nasser Mashni said: There can surely be no remaining pretence that Israel is doing anything other than permanently erasing Gaza in order to occupy and annex it ... What is happening now is the final stage of ethnic cleansing, and the world is enabling it. Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Alex Ryvchin said he wanted to see an end to the war, but the diplomatic route seems to have reached a dead end. Blaming Hamas for rebuffing offers of a 60-day pause in fighting in exchange for the release of 10 living hostages, Ryvchin told the ABC that Israeli soldiers would have to brace themselves for horrible fighting in tunnels and booby-trapped alleys and buildings, and there will no doubt be more military losses. Hamas terrorists killed 1195 people in the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, while launching more than 4000 rockets into Israeli territory and sending thousands of fighters across the border. Hamas returned to Gaza with 251 hostages. Israel estimates 50 have not been returned, with around 20 believed to be alive. Loading Israels military offensive has killed over 61,000 Palestinians, according to Gazas Health Ministry, which is linked to Hamas. It does not say how many were fighters or civilians. World leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, have urged Netanyahu to stop the war and allow more food to be distributed to civilians in Gaza, while also condemning Hamas and saying it should not have any role in the future of the Palestinian territory. With AP, Reuters By Dan Catchpole SEATTLE (Reuters) -One year after taking the helm during Boeings deepest crisis in decades, CEO Kelly Ortberg has stopped the company's freefall. Now, he faces new challenges: ramping up jet production, reviving a struggling defense and space division, and restoring profitability at the storied planemaker. Ortberg was comfortably retired in Florida when Boeings board offered him the top job at a company bleeding cash and reeling from reputational damage. The crisis had deepened after a mid-air panel blowout on a new 737 MAX in January 2024, prompting his predecessors exit and reviving memories of two fatal MAX crashes - in 2018 and 2019 - that killed 346 people. Ortberg arrived promising to restore trust, stay close to the factory floor, and ensure Boeing met its commitments to safety, quality, and transparency. Since then, Boeing has notched a string of wins: it has improved efficiency and quality on the 737 line, navigated President Donald Trumps trade policies, reached a deal with the U.S. Department of Justice to drop its prosecution over the crashes, signed blockbuster airplane deals, and landed the contract for the U.S.' first sixth-generation fighter, the F-47. Its stock is up 39% from a year ago, with the biggest gains coming in recent months as 737 output has risen. But Boeing is still losing money, trailing Airbus in the single-aisle market, struggling to fix its space and defense programs, carrying heavy debt, acquiring its biggest supplier, Spirit AeroSystems, and falling behind on certifying its newest jets. Ortbergs immediate challenge is to ramp up production of the 737 MAX to pre-crisis levels and beyond - while positioning Boeing to eventually replace it with a new model. "The biggest risk for Boeing looking forward is do they end up becoming a great company again or just a mediocre company?" said Ron Epstein, Bank of America aerospace analyst. Boeing declined to make Ortberg available for an interview. CULTURE CHANGE An Iowa native, Ortberg, 65, spent decades climbing the ranks at avionics firm Rockwell Collins, becoming CEO and steering it through a series of deals resulting in aerospace company RTX. Known for his no-nonsense style, he retired in 2021. Jans Timmers, who reported directly to Ortberg at Rockwell Collins, recalled Ortberg saying to him when dealing with a money-losing program: "Put all the shit on the table and let's deal with it." "And that's what he's doing at Boeing now," he added. When Ortberg arrived, Boeing - once celebrated for helping win World War Two and landing men on the moon - had become synonymous with cutting corners, prioritizing profits over production quality, and misleading regulators and customers. By Timothy Gardner, David Lawder and Seher Dareen WASHINGTON/LONDON (Reuters) -From punishing Brazil to trying to curb imports of fentanyl, U.S. President Donald Trump has wielded the threat of tariffs as an all-purpose foreign policy weapon. With a Friday deadline for Russia to agree to peace in Ukraine or have its oil customers face secondary tariffs, Trump has found a novel, but risky, use for his favorite trade tool. The administration took a step toward punishing Moscow's customers on Wednesday, imposing an additional 25% tariff on goods from India over its imports of Russian oil, marking the first financial penalty aimed at Russia in Trump's second term. No order has been signed for China, the top Russian oil importer, but a White House official said on Wednesday secondary measures that Trump has threatened against countries buying the petroleum were expected on Friday. These are the latest in a string of Trump's tariff threats on non-trade issues such as pressing Denmark to give the U.S. control of Greenland, attempting to stop fentanyl deliveries from Mexico and Canada, and penalizing Brazil over what he described as a "witch hunt" against former President Jair Bolsonaro. While secondary tariffs could inflict pain on the Russian economy - severing a top source of funding for Russian President Vladimir Putin's war effort - they also carry costs for Trump. Oil prices will likely rise, creating political problems for him before next year's U.S. midterm congressional elections. The tariffs would also complicate the administration's efforts to secure trade deals with China and India. For his part, Putin has signaled that Russia is prepared to weather any new economic hardship imposed by the U.S. and its allies. There is close to zero chance Putin will agree to a ceasefire due to Trump's threats of tariffs and sanctions on Russia, said Eugene Rumer, a former U.S. intelligence analyst for Russia who directs the Carnegie Endowment for International Peaces Russia and Eurasia Program. "Theoretically if you cut off Indian and Chinese purchases of oil that would be a very heavy blow to the Russian economy and to the war effort. But that isn't going to happen," he said, adding that the Chinese have signaled they will keep buying Russias oil. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Russian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond. NEW COSTS FOR RUSSIA Secondary tariffs would hurt Russia, the world's second leading oil exporter. The West has pressured Russia since late 2022 with a price cap on its oil exports, intended to erode Russia's ability to fund the war. That cap has piled costs on Russia as it forced it to reroute oil exports from Europe to India and China, which have been able to import huge amounts of it at discounted prices. But the cap also kept oil flowing to global markets. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has charged four men in Victoria, including a former barrister, with money laundering offenses linked to moving the proceeds of a large-scale investment scam to cryptocurrency exchanges. In a statement released Thursday, ASIC alleged that between January and July 2021, Dimitrios (James) Podaridis, Peter Delis, Bassilios (Bill) Floropoulos, and Harry Tsalikidis helped move funds gained from fraudulent bond and investment offerings. "ASIC alleges that the four dealt with victim funds which were the proceeds of crime and were reckless as to whether those funds were proceeds of crime," the regulator said. Podaridis and Floropoulos face 28 charges each of dealing in proceeds of indictable crime under multiple sections of the Commonwealth Criminal Code. Delis faces eight charges, and Tsalikidis has been charged with 12 offenses, including aiding and abetting the others. Although ASIC is not alleging that the men operated the scam themselves, it says the group played a key role in processing victim funds. Those funds were allegedly transferred from Australian bank accounts to offshore accounts or converted into cryptocurrency. The case underscores how investment scams are costing ordinary Australians hundreds of millions in lost savings every year. So far in 2025, Scamwatch has received more than 90,000 scam reports, amounting to roughly $98 million (Australian $147 million) in reported losses. Around half of those involved investment fraud. In 2024, Australians lost nearly $213 million, or Australian $319 million, to scams, with fake investment schemes consistently ranking as the most damaging. The specific scam in which the four men were charged Thursday used fake comparison websites and Facebook ads to lure victims. Investors were contacted by phone or email and sent high-quality fake prospectuses that closely mimicked materials from real financial services firms. ASIC Issues Warning Over Bitget's 'Unlicensed' Crypto Futures Products in Australia The phony products promised fixed returns between 4.5% and 9.5% over one to ten years. ASIC has not disclosed how much money was allegedly laundered in this case or how many victims were affected, and did not respond to a request from Decrypt for clarification. The matter is scheduled for a committal mention on October 30, 2025. It follows a string of recent enforcement actions by the regulator. Among them, Brendan Gunn, brother of Olympic breakdancer Rachel "Raygun" Gunn, was charged in March with one count of dealing with suspected proceeds of crime related to crypto fraud. ASIC has also issued warnings to crypto ATM operators over rising fraud and money laundering risks, signaling a broader crackdown as financial crimes surge across digital platforms. If you have an event you'd like to list on the site, submit it now! Submit By Elnur Enveroglu At long last, the protracted issue of AzerbaijanArmenia relations, one of the most entrenched conflicts in the South Caucasus, stands on the brink of resolution, with a historic summit about to take place in Washington DC. Significantly, it will occur with the direct participation of the 47th President of the United States, Donald Trump, who is now serving his second term. This moment can be described not only as historic, but also as a potentially decisive milestone for the future of the region. The outcome of this meeting could lead to the permanent closure of unresolved matters that have festered for over thirty years and dramatically reshape the geo-economic architecture of the South Caucasus. Many may recall the landmark meeting in 2001, mediated by former US President George W. Bush, between the late national leader of Azerbaijan, Heydar Aliyev, and Armenias then-president Robert Kocharyan. Today, the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, participating in this new summit as the leader of a proud and victorious nation, has travelled across the Atlantic with the aim of unlocking the long-sealed doors of peace in the South Caucasus. There is no need to look too far back to see how far the peace process has come. One need only remember the previous US administrations attempt to involve itself in the peace talks. During the US administration under the Democrats, efforts to support peace were presented with sincerity on the surface, but were ultimately undermined by deeply biased, anti-Azerbaijani positions taken by Congress. The Biden administrations overtly pro-Armenian stance and inconsistent messaging served only to weaken American credibility in the region. By contrast, Donald Trump and his Republican Party have pursued a more balanced and pragmatic approach, maintaining diplomatic sensitivity and avoiding the perception of partiality. It is for this reason that Azerbaijan, having previously succeeded in bilateral negotiations, accepted Americas offer of mediation this time with genuine openness. Azerbaijans Firm Conditions for Peace Washington must, in fact, thank Baku for its principled and objective stance. Since the end of the Second Garabagh War, Azerbaijan has laid out several key non-negotiable conditions for signing a comprehensive peace agreement: One of them is the joint appeal by both countries to the OSCE to formally dissolve the Minsk Group, which has long been irrelevant in the post-conflict landscape and which Azerbaijan considers obsolete. And constitutional reform in Armenia, specifically the removal or amendment of the preamble that contains territorial claims against Azerbaijan, especially with regard to Azerbaijan's Garabagh. These are not symbolic demands, but they reflect core legal and political concerns that must be addressed to ensure lasting peace. A peace agreement that leaves Armenias territorial claims untouched or leaves the door open for future revanchism would not be acceptable to Azerbaijan. Therefore, the anticipated Joint Declaration to be signed in Washington is expected to include a mutual commitment to address both issues. Zangazur Corridor: a strategic link reaffirmed Another significant development arising from the Trump-hosted summit is the expected confirmation of the Zangazur Corridor, a long-discussed transit route that would provide unobstructed land access between mainland Azerbaijan and its exclave, Nakhchivan. This corridor, which passes through southern Armenias Syunik province (historically Zangazur), has long been a strategic priority for Baku and is viewed as a crucial part of regional integration and connectivity. President Ilham Aliyev has consistently emphasised that the corridor is a natural right stemming from the November 2020 trilateral ceasefire declaration. Despite previous Armenian resistance, the upcoming declaration reportedly confirms Yerevans acceptance of this provision. The opening of the Zangazur Corridor will not only restore Azerbaijans territorial continuity but also enable broader regional transport and trade initiatives, such as connecting Turkiye, Central Asia, and the Caucasus through new eastwest economic corridors. President Donald Trump, since beginning his second term, has actively positioned himself as a peacemaker in a number of global conflicts. If this peace deal is signed under his mediation, it would mark a major diplomatic achievement, possibly the most significant of his foreign policy agenda so far. His personal statement on the eve of the summit describes the moment as "historic" and credits his administration with achieving what many others failed to do. While Trumps rhetoric may be characteristically self-assured, the reality on the ground is no less remarkable. For the first time in decades, Baku and Yerevan are poised to reach a genuine peace agreement, brokered not by European intermediaries or failed OSCE structures, but by a US president determined to reset the geopolitical dynamics of the region. Whether the summit results in a full peace treaty or a phased framework, the Washington talks mark a watershed moment. They may finally end the decades-long conflict and usher in a new era of diplomatic, economic, and logistical cooperation across the South Caucasus. The world watches closely as President Aliyev and Prime Minister Pashinyan prepare to sign a document that could shape the destiny of their peoples, and potentially of the broader region, for generations to come. Bank of America's NYC headquarters VIEW press/Corbis via Getty Images Bank of America joined other firms in asking junior bankers to disclose future job offers. This follows similar policies by JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Citi, and Morgan Stanley. BofA's approach seeks to balance conflict-of-interest concerns with young bankers' ambitions. Bank of America's junior bankers are the latest young cohort on Wall Street to receive new guidance on accepting hush-hush private equity jobs while employed by the bank. The Brian Moynihan-led bank will ask its analysts to disclose whether they have offers for future-dated jobs, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. The policy was first reported by Bloomberg. It follows similar rules rolled out by JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Citi, and Morgan Stanley in recent weeks, with one big exception: BofA juniors who accept these future-dated job offers will not be terminated but rather reassigned to another area within the bank. A Bank of America spokesperson declined to comment. By contrast, JPMorgan has told juniors that their "employment with the firm will end" if they take offers. Other banks weren't as specific about what would happen if the bankers attest that they indeed have future jobs lined up, which the banks have criticized as a potential conflict of interest. Citi's memo said that anyone with a future-dated job would be assessed on "a case-by-case basis," and Morgan Stanely juniors were told they could face disciplinary action. BofA's approach comes as banks struggle to balance their staffing needs with the career ambitions of young bankers who want to jump to the buy side after their investment banking analyst stints end, usually after two years. The PE industry's habit of filling future analyst classes with junior investment bankers two years in advance has become a major thorn in the side of many investment banks. In the last few years, the recruiting timeline has been pushed up to the point that college grads were secretly interviewing for future-dated PE jobs before they had even officially started their current banking jobs. Many banks have buyout firms as clients, which could lead to conflicts of interest for the bankers working on deals with future employers. "I think that's unethical. I don't like it, and I may eliminate it regardless of what the private-equity guys say," Dimon told college students at Georgetown University last year, adding: "You are already working for somewhere else, and you are dealing with highly confidential information for JPMorgan." Dragons from all over Ireland will be flying into north Mayo this weekend as the Ballina Dragons host their inaugural National Regetta this Saturday, August 16, at the Quay in Ballina. The first race kicks off at 9.30am with the finals taking place at 3pm, and it promises to be an exciting and entertaining day of boat racing action on the pristine waters of the river Moy, the jewel in the crown of Ballina and north Mayo. Entry is free for the event, which begins with a 200 metre sprint from the ice house to the slipway on the Quay. There will be food and refreshments available, and local businesses have come on board, operating stalls around the Kennedy Glasgow House. A designated autism-friendly quiet space is also available for all those who may require it. Clubs from around the country, from Belfast, Dublin, Cork, Carlow, Kilkenny, Carrick on Suir, Donegal, Sligo and Leitrim will be competing, truly bringing together the best of the best of Dragons for this unique event the first of its kind in Ballina. We decided to host a Regatta to say thank you to Ballina and North Mayo for trusting us with this idea, said club founder and chairperson Denise Swanick. We wanted to host this event and put a call out to other clubs around Ireland and in a couple of weeks we had 12 teams lined up and ready to compete. We invite the public to a fantastic day of racing. It will be great to watch these races on the beautiful river Moy and for everyone to come down and see what we do and how we do it. The Ballina Dragons will soon mark their second anniversary, having launched in September 2023, and the club has had a number of incredible achievements and hit astonishing milestones in their short existence. Launched by chairperson Denise Swanick, the Dragons humble beginnings came paddling in the waters of Ballina Swimming Pool but from acorns, mighty oaks grow, and the Ballina Dragons has grown very mighty indeed. They are now equipped with three full-size dragon boats, a safety boat and are a fully equipped club with over 120 members. The club raised over 10,000 with their 2025 calendar launch with 50% of proceedings going towards Breast Cancer Ireland. In collaboration with Molloys Pharmacy, they crafted 50 gift bags for the benefit of Mayo Oncology Service users. Ballina Dragons have also caught the eye at local level for their creativity, taking home the Best Float award at this years St Patricks Day parade. In addition, they have been named among the final five in the National Lottery Good Causes awards in the Sport category, taking place on October 18 next. Ballina Dragons are becoming a shining example, not just at home in their local community, but on a national level too; notably, Sport Ireland included a Ballina Dragons case study in their National Outdoor Recreation Plan. The Ballina Dragons are now a fully certified charity; a huge accomplishment and a testament to the efforts of all involved, from the executive to club members and volunteers. Ballina Dragons Meitheal Abhainn is a volunteer-led group providing a unique holistic and ecological approach to healing all levels of our well-being with a specific focus on those affected by cancer treatments, life-limiting conditions and supporters, through the sport of Dragon Boating. It is about so much more than dragon boating, however. Ballina Dragons, at their core, are about inclusion, openness and creating accessibility for people of all ages and experiences from every walk of life to be part of something special. For example, 40% of the Ballina membership are cancer survivors or have life-limiting conditions, while the remainder are supporters. People come to us for all sorts of reasons, explains Denise. Some people are cancer survivors living with other life-limiting conditions or surviving life. Dragons ensure a safe space for all. Age is not a barrier; members can be over 18 or over 80, she said. Ballina Dragons are in full flight over the Moy waters, but also over the land. They will soon move into a new base at the site of the former St Marys Secondary School. The new premises, married to Charity status, will allow them to expand these offerings to the community. The Dragons plan to expand current activities away from the water over the autumn-winter months. Current offerings are Pilates, Yoga, walking group, Sound Therapy, Head massage, meditation, Digital Story Telling, Art Sessions, Dragons Chorus Choir and Book Club. Specialist programmes in the planning are Can-React - an exercise-based rehabilitation and wellness programme and the Cancer Thriving and Surviving self-management programme for cancer survivors. These programmes will be open to the public free of charge. The Choir is active and preparing for their end of year fundraiser event; a performance of Handels Messiah at St Michaels Church directed by the renowned Kathy Fahey including support from the Mayo Concert Orchestra and Vocalessence and solo performances by Anna Louise Costello and David Lynn. This will take place on 14th December 2025 and ticket will be on sale at our regatta. There is always a seat on the boat for anyone, male or female, who wishes to become a Dragon. Full membership for the year is 125 and is recommended for those who want to take part in the dragon boating activities. This annual cost covers training and use of equipment. However, there is an Associate membership of 50 for those who want to be involved in the club but who may not want to be on the boats. Both memberships include access to the clubs ancillary activities. A registration session will take place on August 23 from 9am to 12pm at the Quay where the Ballina Dragons will have their gazebo up, signing up new members. The club encourages anyone who wants to get involved but feels as though finance could be a barrier to get in contact. Money should not be an obstacle to becoming a Dragon. Please call us and we will manage that with discretion and kindness, said Denise. I believe that everyone has something to offer throughout lifes journey. Life can throw challenges at us that might shake our confidence. Its at these times we need our family, friends and community. In the words of President Mary Robinson: Somebody who seems strong is not always strong. There are moments when one can be weak and need the friendship of friends and their support. This concept was the foundations for our values & ethos in Ballina Dragons Meitheal Abhainn. A leading Mayo solicitors practice has announced its expansion as it moves to a formal partnership structure. J.V. Geary Solicitors, based on Linenhall Street in Castlebar, was established by John Geary in 2010 and has since grown to a team of seven solicitors, supported by a dedicated legal and administrative staff. Speaking this week, principal solicitor John Geary said he was delighted to announce that Ita Feeney, his colleague of over 14 years, is joining him as a partner in the firm. Ita is a talented solicitor with extensive experience. She and I have worked alongside each other for many years, and it is only fitting that she joins me as a partner in the practice as we move into the next phase of the firms growth, Mr Geary said. She is a person of the highest integrity, and I greatly admire her legal skills and her ability to practice across a wide range of areas. A native of Pontoon and a long-time resident of Westport, John Geary founded J.V. Geary Solicitors in 2010, returning to his native Mayo after over a decade working with leading law firms in Dublin. He is editor of The Parchment magazine, the quarterly legal publication for the Dublin Solicitors' Bar Association, a role he commenced in 2009. Ita Feeney and John Geary. Ita Feeney, originally from Easkey in County Sligo, qualified as a solicitor in 2011 having previously worked in Dublin at ByrneWallace. She has since developed a broad and respected legal practice serving clients across the West of Ireland and beyond. She has particular expertise in all aspects of property and real estate law, advising on the acquisition and sale of residential and commercial properties, development land, housing schemes, retail units, and multi-property investments. She also represents clients, both landlords and tenants, in commercial leasing matters and complex property transactions. A highly experienced litigator, Ms Feeney regularly advises on personal injury, contractual disputes, and property-related litigation, with a reputation for practical, strategic legal solutions. She also practices in criminal defence, representing clients from Garda station detention through to serious criminal trials before the Circuit Criminal Court. In the area of family law, she advises on both contentious and non-contentious divorce and separation matters, with a client-focused and sensitive approach. From 2020 to 2024, she served as Honorary Secretary of the Mayo Solicitors Bar Association, demonstrating her commitment to the local legal profession. Reflecting on her appointment, Ms Feeney said: I am delighted to be joining John Geary in partnership. This is a dynamic and progressive practice with a strong reputation for client service and legal excellence. I look forward to contributing to the continued growth of the firm and to serving the people of Mayo and beyond in this new role. For more information, go to www.jvgeary.ie Jack Butler Yeats is my favourite artist. His work is always worth seeing. The National Gallery of Ireland is home to an amazing collection of his paintings, and among the many good reasons to visit this summer is that they have recently acquired another. The painting, which is titled Singing The Dark Rosaleen, Croke Park, is now on display in the Gallery. The painting does not directly reflect the events of Bloody Sunday in Croke Park in 1920, but it is believed to be inspired in some way by them. The Gallery says that the tone, setting and title of the picture certainly suggest it. According to their description, the painting deepens the gallerys representation of one of Irelands most beloved and influential artists, while offering a poignant reflection on a pivotal moment in Irish history. The painting has a bit of a history itself, being stolen in the 1990 Dunsany Castle Art theft, before later being recovered. It was acquired by the Gallery last year. It is thought to be one of Jack B Yeatss few overtly political works. That said, those who know his works well will have detected some republican sympathies in others in his portfolio, be that a poignant scene after British soldiers opened fire on Bachelors Walk, or one of visitors to prisoners outside Kilmainham Gaol. I cant explain my love for Jack Yeatss work as an art critic would. I cant tell you precisely what style or school he was in, or how and when his work evolved and changed though in the simplest terms, his early work was very realistic, his later work more impressionistic. What I can tell you though is how his work makes me feel. My sense is that when you stand in front of a work by Yeats whether in the National Gallery or in the Model in Sligo, where there are also many fine paintings of his on display you too will find many feelings summoned up. You dont need to know precisely what is going on in his paintings to be moved by them. When I see his painting titled and so my brother hail and farewell for evermore, I dont need to know whether it was a sombre reflection on the death of his poet brother, William Butler Yeats for all I can recall, it may have been painted before William died, though I dont think so. It is of no significance to me whether the title derives from the work of the Roman poet Catullus, and if it does, what that might or might not mean. The brushwork and technique and the particular style and influence he was drawing on in the work on are, I am sure, very interesting and significant. But none of that matters any time I look at the painting. Because what I see and feel every time is the poignancy of someone dear drifting away. A depiction of Midsummer festivities in Belmullet in June 1905, painted by Jack B Yeats. It is the same with his great painting, Grief. When you look at it, it can take a while before you notice the grieving mother and child, but you dont need to spot them or know the title of the painting to have an immediate sense of what this painting is about. It will overwhelm you with its power from twenty yards. Your reaction to his strident Men of Destiny will tell you a lot about how you feel about men of destiny are you intrigued, repulsed, admiring? The figures stride across the painting at you, and it is obvious that there is, as we might say, a lot going on. And there are so many more to see in the National Gallery, whether it is a man about to write a letter, the atmosphere of a midsummers night, a grand conversation which was under the rose, a famous Liffey swim, many ferries, a morning in the city (dont miss this one) or paintings and more paintings of horses, and sometimes, almost reluctantly, their riders. Some of his work is playful, some is powerful, all of it is full of meaning. There are so many greats that this little summary list only captures a taste of them. The Jack B Yeats painting 'Singing The Dark Rosaleen, Croke Park' (1921). Jack B Yeats, born in London, but more or less reared in Sligo, was the youngest son of the painter John Butler Yeats and of course the brother of William Butler Yeats. He spent much of his childhood, like his brother, in the care of his maternal grandparents. If William wrote of his Lake Isle of Innisfree and the waters and the wild of his Sligo youth, his brother said that every painting of his had a thought of Sligo in it. I dont think I love his work because of that west of Ireland connection but, as we say, it doesnt do them any harm in my estimation. Jack was a visual artist who captured human emotion, who painted impressions of scenes which could be interpreted by an open heart in a number of ways. You require no expertise in art to appreciate precisely what he was trying to do. The colour and vividness produce a humanity and a clarity which is more immediate than any photograph could ever capture. If you get a chance to pop up the road to the Model Gallery with very easy parking in Sligo this summer, you will see plenty of his fine work, and you will see even more in the National Gallery in Dublin. If you have a visitor this summer who might want a day out, you and they will certainly see those hints of the west of Ireland in all the works. But with the work of Jack Yeats, you will see much more than that. You will catch glimpses of truth, of beauty and of insight, and you will experience moments that, as Seamus Heaney said in one his greatest poems, catch the heart off guard and blow it open. Police say a 61-year-old man fatally shot a neighbor in rural Pennsylvania and then ambushed responding state troopers, wounding two while firing dozens of rounds from a semiautomatic weapon. State police Col. Christopher Paris told reporters Lori Waskos boyfriend called 911 after 11 a.m. Thursday from their home near Thompson to report shots fired. Paris says the 57-year-old woman was shot and killed outside her home near her vehicle. Paris says a man identified as Carmine Faino, 61, shot Wasko and then shot troopers Joseph Perechinsky and William Jenkins as they were arriving. Both troopers were in stable condition Thursday night. Faino was shot and killed by law enforcement. Arista Networks Inc (NYSE:ANET) is one of the Top AI Stocks Taking Wall Street by Storm. On August 6, Barclays analyst Tim Long raised the price target on the stock to $151.00 (from $119.00) while maintaining an Overweight rating. The rating affirmation follows Arista Networks second-quarter earnings report which beat expectations and included guidance for both the third quarter and fiscal year 2025 which exceeded market forecasts. Barclays has also increased its campus segmenta forecast. The firm anticipates it to surpass $1.5 billion in AI networking revenues for the year. The strength was broadbased with the higher guide assuming momentum across AI, cloud, and the enterprise, and ANET continued its track record of efficiency with improved inventory management and supply chain benefiting margins. Barclays Boosts Arista Networks (ANET) Price Target to $151 After Strong Q2 and AI Outlook A network engineer monitoring a large server cluster in a busy datacenter. The firm remains confident in Aristas ability to achieve over $10B in revenues in 2026. We raise our estimates and remain confident in ANETs ability to execute to achieve over $10B in revenues in 2026. The growth opportunity is widespead, and we maintain the view that the long-term revenue CAGR of mid-teens could see upside. Arista Networks Inc (NYSE:ANET) develops, markets, and sells cloud networking solutions. While we acknowledge the potential of ANET as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: 10 AI Stocks Gaining Attention on Wall Street and Top 15 AI Stocks Taking Wall Street by Storm. Disclosure: None. Relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages held by Hamas sail along the coast of Israeli southern city of Ashkelon towards the Gaza Strip, in a protest demanding their release from captivity and calling for an end to the war Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Leo Correa) Berkshire Hills Bancorp and Brookline Bancorp have announced a merger of equals, which will result in the formation of a new holding company named Beacon Financial Corporation. The legal name of the combined bank will be Beacon Bank & Trust, commonly referred to as Beacon Bank. Berkshire Hills is the parent company of Berkshire Bank, while Brookline Bancorp is the parent company of Brookline Bank, Bank Rhode Island, and PCSB Bank. Brookline Bancorp chairman and CEO Paul Perrault will act as CEO of the combined company, and Berkshire Hills Bancorp chairperson David Brunelle will remain as chairperson of the board for the combined company. Brunelle said: Our new name honours the legacy of Berkshire and Brookline while looking toward a bright and ambitious future. While the name is changing, we remain dedicated to offering trusted financial solutions and local expertise. Berkshire Bank operates as a community-focused bank in New England and New York. The bank has $12bn in assets and 83 branches, with its headquarters in Boston. It offers a range of banking services through its retail banking, commercial banking, consumer lending, private banking, and wealth Management divisions. Brookline Bancorp is a bank holding company based in Boston, Massachusetts, with $11.6bn in assets. It offers commercial and retail banking, cash management, and investment services across Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and the Lower Hudson Valley of New York. Perrault said: Our merger of equals will create a powerful financial institution with deep local roots, a broad, complementary footprint and a strong commitment to its employees, clients, stockholders and communities. The Beacon Bank name reflects our desire to be a reliable guide in financial decision-making, helping clients reach their goals with clarity, confidence, and trust. The merger is anticipated to be finalised in the third quarter of this year, pending regulatory approvals and standard closing conditions. "Berkshire Hills, Brookline Bancorp to merge to form Beacon Financial" was originally created and published by Retail Banker International, a GlobalData owned brand. Digital asset manager Parataxis Holdings is officially going public through a SPAC deal with SilverBox Corp IV, confirming earlier plans to list, it announced in a press release on Wednesday. The new entity will be called Parataxis Holdings Inc. and aims to trade under the ticker PRTX on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). At a $10 share price, the deal values the combined company at $400 million, with the potential to double that figure if Parataxis exercises the right to raise an additional $400 million through a share purchase agreement. About $31 million has already been raised and earmarked for purchasing bitcoin (BTC), giving future shareholders immediate exposure to the asset. Parataxis manages bitcoin in an active strategy that blends market exposure with yield-generating techniques. Unlike firms that simply hold BTC, Parataxis seeks to generate income through low-volatility trading and treasury-style operations. The platform is run by veterans from Parataxis Capital Management and serves institutional client, including pension firms and family offices. In June, Parataxis made its first international move by acquiring a controlling stake in Bridge Biotherapeutics, a healthcare firm listed on South Koreas KOSDAQ. That firm will be renamed Parataxis Korea and serve as a regional base for its bitcoin treasury strategy. Since the announcement, Bridge shares have jumped 350%, showing strong investor demand for the bitcoin-proxy play. South Korea offers a large user base, political support for digital assets, and notably, no spot Bitcoin ETF making the market fertile ground for BTC-focused public firms, the company said. Similar strategies have gained traction in Japan, where companies like Metaplanet have seen share prices surge after pivoting to bitcoin. The Parataxis-SPAC deal will also allow the firm to expand its U.S. treasury operations and explore other special situations investments. If successful, Parataxis could become one of the few publicly listed companies offering direct and active exposure to bitcoin outside of an ETF structure. The transaction is expected to close pending shareholder approval and a review from the Securities and Exchange Commission. Shares of the drugmaker are down 17.3% in the year to date. Although LLY stock started the year on an upbeat note, climbing to highs above $900, concerns over healthcare reform, tariffs, and a slowing economy eventually drove it down. Last Thursday, U.S. President Donald Trump sent letters to 17 major pharmaceutical firms, including Eli Lilly, urging them to reduce drug prices for U.S. consumers. Also, Trump said on Tuesday that U.S. tariffs on pharmaceutical imports would be announced within the next week or so. Eli Lilly and Company (LLY) is a leading global pharmaceutical firm specializing in the discovery, development, and marketing of a broad portfolio of medications. The company has a strong presence in key therapeutic areas, including diabetes, oncology, immunology, and neuroscience. Its product portfolio features well-known diabetes treatments such as Basaglar, Humalog, Jardiance, Mounjaro, Trulicity, and Zepbound, which also target obesity. LLY has a market cap of $707 billion. In this article, well delve deeper into Eli Lillys recent announcement, unpack its strategic implications, and explore why investors should closely monitor this blue-chip pharmaceutical stock as it cooks up this potentially game-changing growth catalyst. With cardiovascular diseases representing one of the leading risks for patients with Type 2 diabetes, doubling their likelihood of experiencing heart attacks or strokes, this development positions Mounjaro to become physicians top choice for a massive patient population. As the company prepares to submit the heart health data to global regulators by year-end, the path is set for potential regulatory approval and favorable insurance coverage as early as 2026. Eli Lilly and Company (LLY), one of the worlds leading pharmaceutical giants, might have just unveiled its next major growth catalyst one that could significantly bolster its dominant position in the highly competitive diabetes market. Last Thursday, Lilly announced encouraging results from a landmark study showing that its blockbuster diabetes medication, Mounjaro, delivers cardiovascular benefits comparable to traditional heart medications. This breakthrough could not only expand Mounjaros prescribing potential, but also accelerate the companys momentum. Story Continues www.barchart.com LLY Stock Plunges as Weight-Loss Pill Trial Disappoints LLY shares are down more than 14% at the time of writing after the company reported disappointing late-stage trial results for its experimental obesity pill, overshadowing strong quarterly results. The company said that in a Phase 3 trial, patients taking a 36-milligram dose of its oral GLP-1 drug, orforglipron, without food or water restrictions, experienced an average weight loss of 12.4%, equivalent to 27.3 pounds, over 72 weeks. That falls short of the 15% average weight loss seen with Novo Nordisks (NVO) injectable Wegovy. It also misses Wall Streets expected range of 12% to 14%, according to analysts at HSBC. Equally important were side effects, as nearly 25% of patients on the highest dose withdrew from Lillys study, according to Jared Holz, a healthcare strategist at Mizuho Securities. Investors are looking for a more well-tolerated drug, he said, emphasizing that the pill could be used as more of a consumer product. Weight-loss pills represent the next key battleground in the obesity market, and investors had believed Lilly held an edge over Novo. However, the latest data have cast doubt on Lillys claim to market leadership. Meanwhile, unlike Novo, which recently trimmed its growth forecast due to headwinds in the GLP-1 market, Eli Lilly raised the midpoint of its full-year revenue guidance by $1.5 billion to a range of $60 billion to $62 billion. In an interview, Lilly CEO David Ricks stated that the company wasnt disappointed with the results, even though they came in one or two points below what [the] Street had expected. Ricks added that the goal was to create a pill that was easy to take, scalable for mass production, and delivered weight loss results comparable to other GLP-1 treatments, and thats what weve achieved. While investors are underwhelmed with todays news, Lilly still has more in its pipeline, so lets take a closer look at one of its potential upcoming growth catalysts. Eli Lillys Mounjaro Makes Cardio Advance Last Thursday, Eli Lilly announced that its top-selling diabetes drug, Mounjaro, demonstrated heart health benefits in a late-stage trial that directly compared it to the companys older treatment, Trulicity. Mounjaro achieved the studys primary objective by proving it was not inferior to Trulicity in treating patients with Type 2 diabetes and established cardiovascular disease. Notably, the study involved over 13,000 patients with Type 2 diabetes and heart disease across 30 countries and spanned approximately four and a half years, making it the largest and longest clinical trial to date on tirzepatide, the active ingredient in Mounjaro. The study revealed that patients taking Mounjaro had a 16% lower mortality rate compared to those on Trulicity. Also, patients on Mounjaro had an 8% lower risk of cardiovascular death, heart attack, or stroke compared to those taking Trulicity. In addition, Lilly said that patients on Mounjaro experienced greater improvements in blood sugar levels, weight loss, and blood pressure. The most frequently reported side effects for both drugs were mild and related to the gastrointestinal system. The results come at a time when Trulicity, another top-selling Eli Lilly drug, is approaching patent expiration in 2027, potentially strengthening Mounjaros position in the diabetes market. They were strong enough for Mounjaro to meet the predefined statistical threshold for non-inferiority compared to Trulicity, but it fell short of the higher bar for superiority, disappointing some investors and causing the stock to drop 2.6%. Some clinicians noted that the results, especially the reduced risk of cardiovascular events, werent surprising, as they had expected Mounjaro to provide cardiovascular benefits. However, the difference in all-cause death rates between Mounjaro and Trulicity is really quite profound and definitely something clinically meaningful to us as clinicians, according to Dr. David Broome, clinical assistant professor at the department of internal medicines metabolism, endocrinology, and diabetes division at the University of Michigan. Tirzepatide, the active ingredient in Mounjaro and Zepbound, which Lilly markets for weight loss, has quickly emerged as one of the pharmaceutical industrys fastest-selling drugs. It has already established itself as a leading treatment option for Type 2 diabetes and obesity. In Q1, Mounjaro sales more than doubled to $3.8 billion, while Zepbound, still in the early stages of its launch, generated an impressive $2.3 billion, highlighting strong demand. In Q2, Mounjaro sales increased 68% to $5.2 billion and Zepbound sales nearly tripled to $3.4 billion. And the latest study is especially important to Lillys efforts to expand tirzepatides dominance, given the close connection between diabetes, obesity, and cardiovascular risk. Lilly stated that it believes the new data strengthens the case for making Mounjaro the top prescribing choice for patients with Type 2 diabetes, who face twice the risk of heart disease or stroke compared to those without the disease. Eli Lilly is set to present the study at a medical conference in September. The company intends to submit the heart health data to global regulators by year-end and noted that this could lead to approvals of Mounjaro for this purpose in 2026, potentially improving insurance coverage and boosting prescriptions. More precisely, Lilly aims to expand Mounjaros label to include an indication for cardiovascular risk reduction. These findings strengthen the case for Mounjaro as a potential front-line treatment for people with type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, Ken Custer, president of Lillys cardiometabolic business, said in a statement. Success is expected to strengthen Lillys position against Novo Nordisks rival GLP-1 drug, semaglutide, which the Danish pharmaceutical company markets as Ozempic for diabetes and Wegovy for weight loss. Novo has already demonstrated that both Ozempic and Wegovy lower the risk of heart attacks and strokes in patients with obesity and diabetes. Both drugs include labeling that highlights these benefits, giving Novo a competitive edge in coverage negotiations with insurers and government programs. What Do Analysts Expect for LLY Stock? Despite LLYs underperformance this year, Wall Street analysts remain highly bullish on the stock, as evidenced by its consensus Strong Buy rating. Out of 26 analysts covering the stock, 20 rate it a Strong Buy, two suggest a Moderate Buy, and the remaining four recommend holding. The average price target for LLY stock is $984.29, indicating solid upside potential of 53% from current levels. www.barchart.com On the date of publication, Oleksandr Pylypenko did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. This article was originally published on Barchart.com Wits Interfaculty Symposium on Climate, Sustainability and Inequality Professor Imraan Valodia, will be hosting the annual Inter-faculty Research Symposium on Climate, Sustainability, and Inequality. The symposium will be a platform to disseminate climate research throughout the university, to identify new areas of research, and to foster interdisciplinary collaboration. As an accredited observer to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Wits is allocated badges to attend the COP meetings, happening this year in Belem, Brazil from 10-12 November. Each observer organisation is allocated a certain number of badges but we do not yet know how many. However, we could like to gauge interest provisionally for who would be interested in receiving a badge to attend COP30 this year. Please complete this form if you are interested in receiving a badge AND are likely to have your own funding to cover associated expenses to attend. Please note that completing the form does not guarantee that you will be allocated a badge. Sexism in science: trailblazing women who shattered stereotypes The tools that feminist science studies have developed are critical to the sciences because they ask new questions, and develop new methodologies. Seven women were part of a trailblazing network of feminist scientists in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s in the Boston area in the US. Christa Kuljian is a science writer and historian of science who focuses much of her research on issues of science and society, gender and race. She is the author of two previous books of narrative nonfiction Sanctuary and Darwins Hunch. In her new book Our Science, Ourselves she focuses on the life stories of the seven women. We asked her about her book. How did you choose the scientists you focused on in the book? I grew up in the Boston area in the 1970s, and in high school, my parents gave me a copy of the revolutionary guide to womens health, Our Bodies, Ourselves, which was published by the Boston Womens Health Book Collective. In the early 1980s, I studied the history of science at Harvard and took a course with Ruth Hubbard called Bio 109: Biology and Womens Issues. Hubbard, in 1974, was the first woman to achieve tenure in biology at Harvard, and she features in the book. Her course taught about how scientists, including Charles Darwin, promoted stereotypes and myths about womens biology. The idea for Our Science, Ourselves grew from that formative experience in Hubbards course. But it also had roots in another, more recent experience. In 2016, I published Darwins Hunch: Science, Race and the Search for Human Origins, about the history of palaeoanthropology in South Africa. The book explores questions that some of my history of science professors might have asked. What influence did the social and political context of colonialism and apartheid have on the search for human origins? After it was published, I was struck by several stories that brought science and sexism into the popular media. In July 2017, James Damore at Google wrote that the gender gap in tech likely existed because of biological differences between men and women, and he received support from popular psychologist Jordan Peterson. In September 2018, an Italian physicist, Alessandro Strumia, said that the low number of women in physics was proof that women were innately less capable than men. He suggested that male scientists were being discriminated against to give opportunities to women. These statements reminded me of what former Harvard president Larry Summers had said back in 2005. Drawing on the work of psychologist and popular writer Steven Pinker, Summers spoke of women having a different availability of aptitude in science and math. Why were these myths about womens biology still having an impact in the 21st century? I decided to go back to my class notes and look more closely at Hubbards research. Who had she worked with at the time? What were other scientists with a feminist awareness saying in the 1970s and 1980s? As a result of many interviews, and research in the archives, I discovered a fascinating network of women, all of whom contributed to feminist critiques of science, and ultimately to the field of feminist science studies. Our Science, Ourselves follows the lives of Ruth Hubbard, Rita Arditti, Evelyn Fox Keller, Evelynn Hammonds, Anne Fausto-Sterling, Banu Subramaniam and Nancy Hopkins. None of these women scientists were born in Boston, but they all moved there to study, take a job, conduct research, or network with other scientists. Part of what made Boston interesting to me was the critical mass of colleges, universities and scientists, but also the presence of social movements that influenced these women, including Science for the People, the Combahee River Collective and others. Could you tell us about one or two of these womens stories? One of them is Rita Arditti. An Argentinian geneticist at Harvard Medical School, she led a protest in December 1969 at the annual conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Boston. Along with 12 colleagues carrying posters and pamphlets, she arrived unannounced at a special luncheon for women scientists, calling for an end to discrimination against women in science. Most of the women ignored Arditti, but Hubbard was in the audience and paid attention. The protest did have a ripple effect on the association. Over time, Arditti and Hubbard became friends, became active in a new organisation called Science for the People, and began to write not only about discrimination against women scientists, but also about how science portrayed womens biology in stereotypical ways. Another is Evelynn Hammonds, who studied physics at Spelman College, a historically Black womens college in Atlanta. In 1976, she read an important report, The Double Bind: The Price of Being a Minority Woman in Science, co-authored by Shirley Malcom and published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. With Malcoms encouragement, Hammonds applied to and was accepted at MIT in the Boston area. Over time, she joined a growing network of women who were critiquing their science. She became a teaching assistant for Hubbard and rented an apartment from Arditti, and became a foundational influence in gender, race and the history of science. Hammonds emphasised that when speaking out against scientific sexism it was important to speak out against scientific racism as well, and that it was critical to address both. How do the current US administration policies on science and diversity relate to your book? Sudip Parikh, the CEO of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, said in testimony before the US Senate appropriations committee on 30 April 2025: The scientific community is in paralysis right now. The current attack on science has had a major impact, ending funding for important scientific research. Young scientists and science students are concerned for their future. The US administrations policy of cutting funds to any programmes related to diversity or equity is an onslaught on decades of progress in this area, and will have a grave impact on the scientific research agenda. There is a growing list of words that have been scrubbed from US government websites and documents, including women, race, racism, feminism, activist and bias. The use of any of these words in scientific research proposals can result in federal funding being cut. For example, the US Food and Drug Administration published an announcement in mid-2024 that discussed the importance of diversity in clinical trials. That document is no longer available on the website. The women in Our Science, Ourselves made important contributions by highlighting how scientific institutions historically have been exclusionary. They also shone a light on how scientific research questions and analysis can be biased (rather than always neutral or objective), thereby affecting the knowledge they produce. The tools that feminist science studies has developed are critical to the sciences because they ask new questions, and develop new methodologies that help science account for gender and racial bias. Who is doing science? Who decides on the research questions? Who offers analysis and who benefits? The US administrations actions are a major setback for science and scientific research, as well as gender, race and sexuality studies, which have made vital contributions to science, medicine and technology. The history of these fields and the life stories of some of the dynamic women in them, can offer readers inspiration for the present moment. Our Science, Ourselves is available from University of Massachusetts Press and Amazon in the US, on Kindle, and from Love Books in Johannesburg, South Africa. Christa Kuljian, Research Associate, WiSER, University of the Witwatersrand. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. By Joe Cash BEIJING (Reuters) -China's exports beat forecasts in July, as manufacturers made the most of a fragile tariff truce between Beijing and Washington to ship goods, especially to Southeast Asia, ahead of tougher U.S. duties targeting transshipment. Global traders and investors are waiting to see whether the world's two largest economies can agree on a durable trade deal by August 12 or if global supply chains will again be upended by the return of import levies exceeding 100%. U.S. President Donald Trump is pursuing further tariffs, including a 40% duty on goods rerouted to the U.S. via transit hubs that took effect on Thursday, as well as a 100% levy on chips and pharmaceutical products, and an additional 25% tax on goods from countries that buy Russian oil. China's exports rose 7.2% year-on-year in July, customs data showed on Thursday, beating a forecast 5.4% increase in a Reuters poll and accelerating from June's 5.8% growth. Imports grew 4.1%, defying economists' expectations for a 1.0% fall and climbing from a 1.1% rise in June. China's trade war truce with the U.S. - the world's top consumer market - ends next week, although Trump hinted further tariffs may come Beijing's way due to its continuing purchases of Russian hydrocarbons. "The trade data suggests that the Southeast Asian markets play an ever more important role in U.S.-China trade," said Xu Tianchen, senior economist at the Economist Intelligence Unit. "I have no doubt Trump's transshipment tariffs are aimed at China, since it was already an issue during Trump 1.0. China is the only country for which transshipment makes sense, because it still enjoys a production cost advantage and is still subject to materially higher U.S. tariffs than other countries," he added. China's exports to the U.S. fell 21.67% last month from a year earlier, the data showed, while shipments to ASEAN rose 16.59% over the same period. The levies are bad news for many U.S. trading partners, including the emerging markets in China's periphery that have been buying raw materials and components from the regional giant and furnishing them into finished products as they seek to move up the value chain. China's July trade surplus narrowed to $98.24 billion from $114.77 billion in June. Separate U.S. data on Tuesday showed the trade deficit with China shrank to its lowest in more than 21 years in June. Despite the tariffs, markets showed optimism for a breakthrough between the two superpowers, with China and Hong Kong stocks rising in morning trade. Trump indicated earlier this week that he might meet Chinese President Xi Jinping later this year if a trade deal was reached. For bankrupt Claires, its either find a buyer or shut down. Court documents indicate that the accessories chain, which also sells items such as socks and slippers, is following a dual-track process that includes hiring Hilco Merchant Resources as the liquidation firm to close all stores. Claires operates 1,260 stand-alone locations across North America, plus 210 shops-in-shop inside select Walmart stores. Theres also an additional 850 company-operated stores overseas. The overseas operations are not part of the Chapter 11 case that was filed on Wednesday in a Delaware bankruptcy court. The company said its Canadian affiliates also plan to commence proceedings in Canada in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice under the Companies Creditors Arrangement Act. There were rumblings last month that a Chapter 11 filing was a possibility. But there were signs of cash-flow pressures earlier this year. More from WWD The agreement between Claires and Hilco allows for the suspension of the liquidation sale should the retailer find a going-concern buyer. But even if it does, at least 700 mall locations are on the chopping block and are expected to be shuttered by early September once store closing sales are completed. If no buyer is found, then all Claires are expected to go dark by the end of October. That doesnt mean that the Claires name will go away. The intellectual property assets for U.S. operations could be sold as part of a bankruptcy court auction. And a buyer could acquire the assets with an eye toward resurrecting the name online. Chris Cramer, chief executive officer, chief operating officer and chief financial officer, filed a document called a declaratory statement with the Delaware bankruptcy court, noting that the closure of 700 unprofitable store locations are part of a go-forward business plan centered on a smaller footprint. The company began marketing its go-forward plan in June, with outside advisers reaching out to more than 150 prospective strategic and financial buyers. Confidentiality agreements were signed with 60 parties. Cramer said the company is in talks with certain parties in connection with a potential stalking-horse bid. Cramer said the company sources merchandise from 250 vendors, with about 70 percent located outside of the U.S. Included in the overseas vendor list are 56 percent that are based in mainland China, 8 percent from Vietnam and 23 percent from Thailand. He said the heavy reliance on foreign suppliers has significantly impacted the company following the implementation of reciprocal tariffs in April. The company engaged in tariff-mitigation initiatives, including testing price increases. Cramer said the company knew that raising prices could contribute to a declining customer base and declining same-store sales, which is what happened in 2021 and 2022. Multiple revelations over the past few weeks shed further light on the growing activity of the fascist far-right within the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) and Canadian society more broadly. On July 8, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) laid weapons and terrorism-related charges against four men with ties to the Canadian military who led a fascist group they accuse of plotting to organize an anti-government militia and seize land near Quebec City. Two of the men, Marc-Aurele Chabot and Matthew Forbes, are CAF corporals, now suspended from their posts in the Van Doos Royal 22nd Army Regiment. Simon Angers-Audet allegedly left the CAF due to his opposition to COVID vaccinations. The fourth person charged in the conspiracy, Raphael Lagace, is a decorated former member of the Armys Cadet training program. CAF terrorist plotters' training mission [Photo: Royal Canadian Mounted Police] The authorities, led by Prime Minster Mark Carney and the federal Liberal government, are trying to cover up the significance of this latest exposure of violent far-right extremists in the military. They have refused to forthrightly identify their politics as fascist, claiming the terrorist plotters were merely anti-authoritarian extremists, a designation that deliberately conflates left and right-wing opponents. On Wednesday, the three of the four who face terrorism chargesChabot, Angers-Audet, and Lagacewere denied bail. However, the public has been denied any further insight into the terror plot, because the bail hearing was subject to a Court-imposed publication ban. If the government and state apparatus are seeking to prevent a thorough political exposure of the fascist current within the CAF, it is because it would gravely undermine their efforts to massively increase the size and firepower of the military and to make the working class pay for it; and underscore that the fascists enjoy considerable support within the ruling class. Ottawa Citizen reporter David Pugliese revealed in mid-July the existence of a far-right Facebook group run by soldiers of the CAFs Ottawa-based Cameron Highlanders regiment in Ottawa that traded in explicitly racist, homophobic and antisemitic content. The group, called the Blue Hackle Mafia named after the feather used on the caps of the units highland-dress regimental uniform, was reported up the chain of command in December. Yet the Lieutenant General of the Army, Mike Wright, claims he and other members of the top brass only found out about it on June 25, the day after the Ottawa Citizen sent images from the Facebook group to DND and asked him for comment. Wrights claim of ignorance is not credible. Multiple complaints were logged with various commanding officers, including the Judge Advocate General, but nothing was done. The group had at least 200 members and operated freely on Facebook for 14 years. According to Pugliese, They have posted images of male soldiers in uniform exposing their genitals, others posing naked with Canadian Forces weapons or simulating sexual acts with each other in uniform. Some of the photos were taken at military installations. The Facebook page also includes hateful comments directed towards women, derogatory sexual comments about former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as well as discussions about raping grandmothers. In other cases, posts disparage both Jews and Muslims. The Cameron Highlanders serve as ceremonial honour guards for visiting officials and public events. On July 18, the CBC and its flagship investigative journalism program, The Fifth Estate, exposed the growing network of fascist Active Clubs across the country. These organizations use physical fitness training in parks and private gyms to recruit white racists to train for a coming race war. Their mainly male recruits are drawn directly from the desperate and impoverished layers of the lumpenproletariat and lower middle class who were drawn into the misnamed, fascist Freedom Convoy. As the WSWS exposed at the time, the Convoy was supported and promoted by key sections of the Canadian capitalist ruling class; its political representatives, including the federal Conservative Party, its soon to be leader, Pierre Poilievre, and Premiers Doug Ford, and Scott Moe; and enjoyed significant backing from within the police and military. The fascist group Diagalon led by Jeremy MacKenzie, a CAF veteran from the Royal Canadian Regiment who participated in Canadas criminal neo-colonial occupation of Afghanistan, is one of two known fascist groups building these Active Clubs. Diagalon was among the initial promoters of the Convoy and was active both in the occupation of downtown Ottawa and the Coutts, Alberta, border blockade. CSIS reports on Diagalons involvement with the Convoy, submitted as evidence to the Public Inquiry Commission in 2022, remain highly redacted. Poilievre, shook hands with MacKenzie at one of his campaign rallies for the Conservative Party leadership, held after the convoy was dispersed. When he was elected leader, he openly solidarized himself with the campaign of another fascistic veteran, James Topp, in his misnamed walk for freedom demanding a halt to basic public health measures to stop the spread of COVID-19. Canadian Security and Intelligence Service highly redacted assessment of Diagalon during the Convoy. [Photo: CSIS] Diagalon has created a fascist successor organization, called Second Sons Canada, which openly advertises its racist, white supremacist ideology. It is this group which is organizing so-called Active Clubs. The group made its first public appearance in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, in April 2025, and its fascist nature was clearly evident in the groups white face masks and messaging. Second Sons openly attempts to divide the working class on racial lines, and to whip up hatred of immigrant workers: Our birthright has been stolen from us as we are being pushed out of society, academics and the workforce and replaced by foreigners without any roots or connection to the Canadian people, a section of the groups website declares. They are openly promoting the fascist and antisemitic Great Replacement Theory, which holds that mass immigration is part of a worldwide Jewish conspiracy to replace white workers with non-white workers. The group claims to have chapters in BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario, New Brunswick, and PEI. Second Sons' rally. Jeremy MacKenzie is the individual without a mask in front. [Photo: Reddit.] The other group is an openly Nazi formation calling itself NS-13, which stands for Nationalist Aryan Circle, a coded reference, via the use of numbers (1 for the letter A, 3 for the letter C) to a large, white racist Texas prison gang responsible for multiple murders. The group posts images of its members with their heads obscured by the SS symbol the Totenkopf or deaths head. It is active in Hamilton Ontario, where its members have staged several provocations inciting racial hatred against immigrants. Hamilton, the former centre of Canadian steel production and one of the poorest cities in Canada, has long been an organizing centre for the far-right, which preys upon and recruits from among the most socially backwards and demoralized layers. The ability of far-right and outright fascist groups to operate with virtual impunity is due to the promotion of their politics by powerful sections of the ruling elite. They enjoy no mass popular support but can make a fraudulent appeal to disoriented and backward sections of the population due to the sabotaging of all opposition to Canadian imperialisms program of war and austerity by the New Democrats and trade unions. Through their alliance with the Liberalsthe Canadian ruling elites traditional party of national governmentthe unions and NDP have systematically subordinated the working class to right-wing governments enforcing austerity and war. At the same time, they have worked to isolate and sabotage every major working class struggle. By suppressing the working class and ensuring it does not emerge as an independent political force offering its own socialist solution to the ever-deepening social crisis, the labour bureaucrats and social democrats leave the political field clear for reaction and the political dregs of society to come forward. The fight back against the fascist threat in Canada can only emerge from the building of a mass socialist movement in the Canadian and international working class. Conditions for this are extremely favourable, as shown by the mass protests involving millions of people against the fascist-minded Trump across the United States in recent months. But it can only succeed on the basis of a socialist and internationalist program, linking the fight against dictatorship with the struggle to stop imperialist war and the escalating onslaught on the social rights of workers at home. Londons Metropolitan Police threatened mass arrests on Monday of participants in Saturdays planned protest outside Parliament in Westminster, central London. This was followed by an announcement of three prosecutions under anti-terrorism laws of people arrested for opposing the proscription of the peaceful direct action anti-genocide group Palestine Action. The three and at least 200 others face up to 14 years in prison. Metropolitan Police make an arrest at the Palestine Action protest in London, June 23, 2025 The website of the main group organising Saturdays protest and most others nationally, Defend Our Juries, was taken down Wednesday. The witch-hunting of Palestine Action and its defenders has escalated ever since the High Court ruled July 30 that Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori can challenge the lawfulness of Home Secretary Yvette Coopers July 5 order banning the group. A judicial review is scheduled for November based on the grounds of disproportionate harm to freedom of expression/assembly and a failure to consult. The witch-hunt has involved the media, the Starmer government, the police and Zionist groups. On Sunday, the Daily Telegraph ran the headline, Exposed: Palestine Action supporters plot to overwhelm police. It spoke of a plot for Left-wing activists and members of the Muslim community to overwhelm the capacity of the police to arrest and detain an expected 500 protesters at a demonstration on Saturday carrying placards saying I Oppose Genocide, I Support Palestine Action. The source of this expose was a reporter who attended a meeting two weeks ago at which a briefing document, drafted by Defend Our Juries and published on its website, was circulated, stating, It would be practically and politically difficult for the state to respond to an action on this scale, and suggesting, could be enough for the ban to be lifted. On Tuesday, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Police issued a bellicose warning: We are aware that the organisers of Saturdays planned protest are encouraging hundreds of people to turn out with the intention of placing a strain on the police and the wider criminal justice system The Met is very experienced in dealing with large-scale protests, including where the protest activity crosses into criminality requiring arrests Anyone showing support for the group can expect to be arrested. Press reports indicate plans to bring in officers from other police forces and to clear police cells to hold those arrested. A Met Police spokesperson said, While we will not go into the specific details of our plan, the public can be assured that we will have the resources and processes in place to respond to any eventuality. Prison bosses have initiated emergency measures for a possible influx of arrested demonstrators this weekend amid concerns that some jails are close to full. Labour joined the pile-on, with Prime Minister Keir Starmers official spokesperson urging non-attendance and claiming that people should be under no illusion this is not a peaceful or non-violent protest group. Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy urged the public not to defend a proscribed terror organisation that wishes harm on the British people. A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said, The criminal justice system will always be ready to deal with sudden surges coming through the courts. On Wednesday, the Times reported Starmer telling Labours National Executive Committee that the government had evidence that Palestine Action targeted Jewish-owned businesses and of a history of break-ins, sabotage and other significant criminality. A source told the Times, He said there were some incidents that were well known, and others that were not. The source of this charge sheet was reported as the Community Security Trust, a Zionist organisation, which listed as victims of supposed antisemitic criminality the Jewish National Fund, which collects funds for Zionist settlements in the Occupied Territories, and the Zionist propaganda outfit the Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre in London. That evening, Defend Our Juries reported on its X/Twitter account that its website had been disabled due to an implied legal threat to the hosting company, either from the government or an Israel lobby group. The site provides information on the populations legal rights to protest. On Thursday, the Metropolitan Police responded to suggestions from Defend Our Juries that officers might shy away from mass arrests by announcing that three people had been charged under the Terrorism Act 2000: Jeremy Shippam, 71, from West Sussex, Judit Murray, 71, from Surrey and Fiona Maclean, 53, from Hackney. Arrested at a demonstration in Parliament Square July 5, they bring the number of people to be prosecuted for declaring support for Palestine Action to 10. They are due to appear at Westminster Magistrates Court on September 16. Dominic Murphy, the head of the Mets Counter Terrorism Command, threatened, Anyone who displays public support for Palestine Action, a proscribed organisation, is committing an offence under the Terrorism Act and can expect to be arrested and, as these charges show, will be investigated to the full extent of the law We are also planning to send case files to the Crown Prosecution Service for the other 26 people arrested on the same day. I would strongly advise anyone planning to come to London this weekend to show support for Palestine Action to think about the potential criminal consequences of their actions. The escalating assault on democratic rights will not stop with Palestine Action. Rather the proscription of PA spearheads an offensive against all opposition to the Gaza genocide and, ultimately, against any political and social opposition in the working class. On August 7, the Telegraph published an op-ed by Gideon Falter of the Campaign Against Antisemitism, another Zionist organisation which played a leading role in the witch-hunt in the Labour Party, titled, Just banning Palestine Action isnt good enough, Keir. Falter praised Starmer for recognising that Palestine Action has been terrorising Britains Jewish community for a long while now, before complaining that The bigoted, unpatriotic thugs have not acted in a vacuum: the authorities have appeased them. The appeasers included firstly Starmer for suggesting possible recognition of a Palestinian state, the police, our regulators and public bodies, and our politicians, Conservative and Labour, for not clamping down on anti-genocide protests, on our streets and campuses, and even within our broadcasters and hospitals It is no good proscribing Palestine Action unless the Government is willing to tackle the rest too, from the bloodcurdling Islamist sermons, to the terrorist-supporting marchers, to the radicalisation of our young people. Three days earlier, former prison governor and senior advisor to the British office of the US Counter Extremism Project, Ian Acheson, thundered, We must not allow Palestine Action activists to destroy our criminal justice system. He too denounced Starmers cave-in over Palestinian statehood for leaving blood in the water and giving succour to Palestine Action that could not be countered simply by proscription. This was true not only for the zealots who see their actions as martyrdom but, more dangerous still, for the naive and credulous who will also be mobilised in the PAs defence, on Gaza, and far broader issues. Acheson warns Britains rulers that targeted savage repression is needed as a deterrent now, or they will face much worse in future: The public mood is febrile across the country. This additional stress could be alleviated if the Government acts decisively against mass protests by people who simply believe the law does not apply to them. This means identifying the ringleaders of the PA strategy and dealing with them first. Whether the state is ultimately right or wrong about proscription is secondary to the public order risk. The authority of the criminal justice system must be preserved at all costs, because Our enduring problem here is the collapse of trust in our law enforcement agencies to enforce existing laws, not the lack of new ones. During a visit to New Zealand last week, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Kash Patel opened a new, permanent FBI office attached to the US embassy in Wellington. FBI Director Kash Patel opens FBI office in Wellington, New Zealand, July 31, 2025. [Photo: US Department of State/Ola Thorsen] The move is directly linked to US imperialisms accelerating preparations for war against China. In a video announcement on July 31, Patel declared that a key purpose of the new FBI office was to work with New Zealand on countering the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] in the INDOPACOM theatre. In other words, the FBIs operations are bound up with those of the US Armed Forces Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM), which is building its presence across the vast region and holding provocative military exercises, openly aimed against China. Driven by its economic crisis, the US ruling class is seeking to assert its hegemony over the worlds resources and markets at the expense of its rivals, above all China. New Zealands right-wing National Party-led government made no prior announcement of Patels visit or the new FBI office. The decision to expand the agencys presence in NZ was done in a secretive and anti-democratic manner. Defence Minister Judith Collins and Foreign Minister Winston Peters both downplayed Patels reference to countering China. Peters told Radio NZ (RNZ) that this was not discussed during his meeting with the FBI director. Collins said the FBI office would play an active role across the Pacific region in opposing drug trafficking, gun running and interference in countries systems. The governments evasiveness reflects its nervousness about the widespread hostility among working people to the fascistic Trump administration, which is escalating the genocide in Gaza, threatening all-out war against Iran and continuing the bloody proxy war against Russia over Ukraine. Sections of big business in New Zealand are concerned about deteriorating relations with China, NZs number one trading partner. In a statement responding to Patel, the Chinese Embassy in Wellington said: we strongly oppose any attempt to make groundless assertions or vilification against China out of the Cold War mentality. New Zealand is a minor imperialist power which, since World War II, has relied on its alliance with the US to uphold its predatory interests, including NZ dominance over small island nations in the southwest Pacific. The new FBI office will build on the already extensive intelligence ties between New Zealand and the US. As part of the Five Eyesthe intelligence-sharing network that includes the US, UK, Australia and CanadaNew Zealands spy agencies routinely share information with the US National Security Agency, including private communications intercepted by the Waihopai spy base. The FBI will assist with surveillance and the suppression of democratic rights in New Zealand and the Pacific. Over the past century the FBI has spied on, infiltrated and disrupted anti-war, Civil Rights, left-wing and socialist organisations, including the Trotskyist movement. In 1941, the FBI raided the offices of the Socialist Workers Party, which was followed by the prosecution of 29 of its leading members, 18 of whom were imprisoned because of their socialist opposition to the war. The agency now has 38,000 agents and a budget of more than $US10 billion. It is under the control of an extreme right-wing, authoritarian administration. Patel is a fascist who was appointed to lead the FBI because of his absolute loyalty to Trump: he supported Trumps January 6, 2021 attempted coup to overthrow the election of Joe Biden. The FBI is playing an integral role alongside ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) in the brutal mass detention and deportation of immigrants, and in the persecution of opponents of the Gaza genocide. New Zealands opposition Labour Party made clear that it supports the new FBI office in Wellington. Its leader Chris Hipkins merely told RNZ that it had come as a surprise and that the general public are going to be wanting to know what the rationale is for this. Labour also supports the National governments move to double military spending to strengthen the alliance with the US, and legislation to crack down on domestic opposition in the name of stopping foreign interference. The Green Partys intelligence spokesperson Teanau Tuiono said the FBI office flies in the face of our independent foreign policy. He called for New Zealand to exit the Five Eyes and said, with the chaotic nature of the Trump regime, more and more people around the world are looking to build alliances in other ways. The Greens, however, were part of the Labour-led coalition government from 20172023, which strengthened the alliance with the US and boosted New Zealands role in the militarisation of the Pacific. Te Pati Maori (TPM), another Labour ally in parliament, has launched a petition demanding an end to the FBIs operations in Wellington and a guarantee that no foreign law enforcement agency will operate in Aotearoa [New Zealand] without public debate, legal scrutiny, and Te Tiriti-based consultation. This means that such agencies should be allowed to operate if approved by the indigenous capitalist elite that TPM speaks for, in accordance with the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi (Te Tiriti). The treaty, signed in 1840 between the British Empire and hundreds of Maori tribal leaders, facilitated the colonisation of New Zealand. Meanwhile, liberal media commentators welcomed the FBIs new office. RNZ political reporter Anneke Smith said on August 5 that there was real concern about Patels close ties with Trump and his far-right positions. But despite this, she declared that the FBI would do really important work with New Zealand in tackling crime across the Pacific, which can only be a good thing. The pro-Labour Party Daily Blog endorsed Patels statement that the FBI office was needed to counter China. While admitting that the FBI would use the office to keep tabs on NZ politics, editor Martyn Bradbury declared that we have no options but to grant access to the FBI in the hope they can counter the Cartels and the Chinese Shadow Banking infrastructure, which he alleged was financing crime in the Pacific. Bradbury stated that China was encroaching into our sphere of influence in the Pacific, referring to a recent economic agreement between Beijing and the Cook Islands, a semi-colony of New Zealand. The Daily Blog has echoed the CIAs anti-China propaganda and repeatedly attacked the WSWS and the Socialist Equality Group (SEG) for opposing the build-up to war against China. Bradbury has demanded that the New Zealand intelligence agencies investigate the SEG as Chinese enablers and for possible treason. Bradburys embrace of the FBI is in keeping with the Daily Blogs pro-imperialist politics and contempt for basic democratic rights. The blog supports the vast expansion in military spending and recently argued for the return of compulsory military service. New Zealands ever-closer alliance with the US, as it charges towards a catastrophic war against China, underscores the urgent need for a unified international movement of the working class against war based on socialist principles. Workers and youth must break from Labour and its middle class allies, including the union bureaucracy, and join the Socialist Equality Group in its fight to end the capitalist system, which is the source of militarism and war. Elevenlabs AudioNative Player Palestinians struggle to get food and humanitarian aid from the back of a truck as it moves along the Morag corridor near Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, Monday, Aug. 4, 2025 [AP Photo/Mariam Dagga] The decision by the security cabinet of Israels fascistic government to expand its military occupation of the Gaza Strip will mean death for hundreds of thousands of Palestinians and presages their final ethnic cleansing. Workers and young people who want to stop this barbarism must construct a socialist movement in the working class against the Zionist regime and its imperialist patrons. The phased plan proposes the military conquest of the Gaza Strip, including Gaza City, Khan Younis and other refugee camps, where at least a million displaced Palestinians are located. Responding to tactical concerns expressed by the Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir of an unnecessary loss of military personnel and endangering the 20 hostages still held by Hamas, open talk of permanent annexation has given way to a proposal to hold the captured areas for five months with a new security perimeter set up inside the enclave, while Hamas is eliminated and the remaining hostages are freed. This is to be followed supposedly by some unspecified form of Arab control. Behind this rhetorical shift, mass murder and ethnic cleansing are still on the order of the day. The IDF has already issued new enforced displacement orders in parts of Gaza City in the north and Khan Younis in the south. A military spokesman said ground troops were preparing to expand the scope of combat operations. One million people, around half of the enclaves population, will initially be driven south toward the Mawasi humanitarian zonea concentration campafter which a military offensive will be launched in the ethnically cleansed area. Many of these people, who are already starving and have been displaced multiple times since the genocide began, will die en route. This is a genocide carried out by the Zionist regime but made in Washington, Berlin and London. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus ability to escalate the extermination and expulsion of the Palestinians is made possible by the unconditional support his government enjoys from the imperialist powers that have flooded weapons and other war materiel to the Zionist regime. Indeed, President Trump greenlighted Netanyahus plan when he declared on August 5, So Israel is going to have to make a decision. Its going to be pretty much up to Israel. Since the outset of Israels latest onslaught on Gaza in October 2023, the imperialist governments have combined their arming of Israel with efforts to crush popular opposition to the genocide at home by deploying police violence and smear campaigns branding anti-genocide activists as antisemites. But the decades-long support for the Zionist regime by the imperialist powers goes back to the creation in 1948 of a Jewish-exclusivist state in the British mandate of Palestine. As the Fourth International explained in May 1948, the partition of Palestine into a Jewish state and Arab territories is a compromise between the imperialist robbers in the US and Britain aimed at securing their positions in the region. Partition would throttle the anti-imperialist fight of the masses, while Zionists and Arab feudalists will vie for imperialist favours, the Fourth International warned. Nearly eight decades on, the imperialists can only preserve Israel as a bridgehead for their domination over the Middle East by backing the annihilation of the Palestinians. The determination on the part of Washington and its European accomplices to facilitate the genocide and crack down on any opposition flows from their desperate striving to advance their predatory economic and geopolitical interests amid a global capitalist breakdown. The same antagonisms between the major powers that led to two world wars in the last century have created the conditions for a third imperialist world war, which threatens the very survival of humanity. The initial stages of this conflict are well underway, with the genocide of the Palestinians serving as a component of US imperialisms push to secure unchallenged hegemony over the oil-rich Middle East. At the same time, the imperialist gangsters are waging a war against Russia with the aim of reducing it to a semi-colonial status and preparing a war on China to block its economic rise. The imperialists readiness to sanction the slaughter of an entire people provides an indication of the barbarism of which they are capable in pursuit of raw materials, markets, pools of labour and geostrategic influence. The despotic Arab regimes continue to vie for imperialist favours and are deeply complicit in mass murder. For the Egyptian, Jordanian, Saudi and other Gulf ruling elites, their main concern is to serve as junior partners in Washingtons war of regional conquest and plunder, forming an anti-Iranian alliance, without provoking an upsurge of the oppressed Arab working class against their rule. Thus their refusal to offer any opposition to the genocide beyond hypocritical statements of concern and proposals to orchestrate the expulsion of the Palestinians, i.e., carry out a crime against humanity more humanely. On the very day that Netanyahu discussed the expansion of military operations in Gaza with his security cabinet, Egypt inked a joint deal with the Zionist regime for the export of natural gas worth an estimated $35 billion. The Zionists and their imperialist paymasters have succeeded for nearly two years in carrying through their criminal final solution of the Palestinian question thanks above all to the despicable conduct of the social democratic parties, trade unions and their political hangers-on. Parties like Labour in Britain and Germanys Social Democrats that are in government have supplied Netanyahus fascist regime with weapons and military equipment and outlawed popular opposition. The trade unions in all of the major imperialist centres have systematically suppressed opposition in the working class to the genocide, ignoring the appeal of Palestinian trade unions at its outset for global solidarity actions to halt Israels onslaught. Millions of workers and young people have taken to the streets around the world to express their outrage over the genocide. However, the social democratic and Stalinist parties, as well as the pseudo-left organisations and campaign groups in their orbit, have shackled protesters to the bankrupt strategy of moral appeals meant to pressure the very imperialist war criminals responsible for butchering the Palestinians. The urgent task facing the working class in the imperialist centres is to mobilise its immense social power to halt the Gaza genocide and the war machine responsible for its implementation. Workers throughout manufacturing, transportation, and other key sectors must organise themselves in defiance of the union bureaucracy to fight for the following demands: An immediate halt to shipment of all weapons to Israel. The boycott of all trade and other economic activity with Israel. US, European and other corporations assisting Israel in carrying out the genocide must be indicted and prosecuted. The arrest of Israeli officials for war crimes. The end of repression of the opposition to the Gaza genocide. The immediate and unhindered access to Gaza for the supply of aid via all available land crossings. These demands can only be enforced through the initiation of an industrial and political struggle by the working class. This weeks strike at Boeing, at the very heart of the US war machine, underscores the real basis for the development of a mass movement against imperialist war and the horrendous crimes it produces. Strikes and a refusal to produce and handle goods destined for Israel must be combined with sustained efforts to broaden the struggle to other sections of workers and young people. Resolutions should be adopted by workers and delegations sent to other workplaces aimed at mobilising the working class all over the world to stop imperialist barbarism by taking up the fight for socialism. The Tate Modern in London is currently hosting a landmark exhibition celebrating the art of Emily Kame Kngwarreye (c. 19141996), recognised as one of Australias most significant visual artists of the late 20th century. The retrospective, running from July 10 to January 11, 2026, features 70 piecesfrom her early batik designs and her first canvas in 1988 to her final works in 1996. Emily Kame Kngwarreye, 1994 [Photo: Greg Weight/National Museum of Australia] The show, the first major solo exhibition of her work in Europe, was organised in close collaboration with the National Gallery of Australia, the Utopia Art Centre, and Kngwarreyes descendants. It offers insight into her unique artistic vision, inspired by her profound connection to her ancestral country and culture. Born and raised in Alhalkere, about 230 kilometres northeast of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory, Kngwarreye began her artistic career in 1977, initially gaining recognition for her batik prints. In the final six or seven years before her death, she turned to acrylic painting, creating more than 3,000 remarkable works. Kngwarreyes art draws from Aboriginal womens songs, ceremonies, communal body painting, and storytelling. The vibrant, intricate patterns embody her deep knowledge of Alhalkere, layering motifs that represent the plants, animals, and geological features of the desert ecosystem. While the Tate Modern exhibition provides a valuable overview of Kngwarreyes impressive career, it is important to acknowledge earlier international recognitionmost notably, her groundbreaking exhibition in Japan from February to July 2008. Initiated by Japanese curator Akira Tatehata and Margo Neale, this audacious exhibition attracted record-breaking attendance at the National Art Centre, Tokyo. It remains the only large-scale survey devoted to an Australian artist by a Japanese museum and led to the annual Emily Day event held in her honour. The show played a crucial role in expanding international appreciation of Kngwarreyes extraordinary work. Today we are reposting Emily Kame Kngwarreye retrospective: The Art of the Dreaming by Susan Allan, a 1999 review of Kngwarreyes then-recent exhibitions in Australia. The article offers a Marxist assessment of the origins and legacy of her work. Emily Kame Kngwarreye retrospective: The Art of the Dreaming AlhalkerePaintings from Utopia is a major retrospective exhibition of Emily Kame Kngwarreye just concluded at the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra and previously on show in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. It constitutes both a tribute and insight into the life and work of this remarkable Aboriginal artist. Big Yam, Emily Kame Kngwarreye, 1996 [Photo: Emily Kame Kngwarreye /WikiArt] Kngwarreye, who was 86 years old when she died in 1996, is arguably one of the more significant Australian artists to have emerged in the last decade and a half, and one with a prodigious output. In the last eight years of her life Kngwarreye produced over 3,000 works on silk, cotton, paper and canvassome canvases as large as three by eight metres. After being introduced to acrylic on canvas at the age of 78, she developed at least five different and distinctive styles in this medium. While the recent exhibition included only 89 of the works produced between 19811996, those on display reveal Kngwarreyes tremendous audacity and complexity of vision. Some critics have compared her work to that of the great impressionist painterClaude Monetor abstract expressionists Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko. Whilst there are similarities in the form, technique and medium used by Kngwarreye and many modern artiststhe explosion of brilliant dotted colors, the broad brush sweeps with their inventive simplified forms, the rhythmic gestural linesthese comparisons provide little information about the cultural and religious content of Kngwarreyes work. Emily Kame Kngwarreye was born in 1910 in Alhalkere, Utopia, Northern Territory, central Australia. Alhalkere, the Aboriginal name of Kngwarreyes country and the subject matter of all of her work, is situated on the north-west boundary of Utopia over 250 kilometres northeast of Alice Springs, and some 1,300 kilometres from the nearest coastline. Utopias borders, which cut across the lands of the Alyawarre and Anmatyerre people, were drawn up in 1927 as part of a lease for a 2,000 square kilometre cattle farm. Utopia is desert country. The soil is red and the land flat with rocky outcrops and low ranges. Dotted across this dry land is spindly scrub, spinifex and the occasional tree. To the untrained eye it appears almost without life. To the Aboriginal people this country yields a wealth of plant foods and wild life, and hosts many ceremonial and sacred sites. For most of her life Kngwarreye existed, along with other Aborigines in this sparsely populated country, in virtual isolation. She lived in poverty, had no formal education and little or no knowledge of the contemporary worldlet alone the world of galleries or art museums. Her first sighting of a white man was as a young girl digging for yams with her friend in a dry riverbed. The man appeared on horseback holding a whip guiding another horse with an Aboriginal man seated on it in chains with an iron collar around his neck. This was also the first time Kngwarreye had seen a horse. Forced from their land and ceremonial sites by the cattle farmers, the Alyawarre and Anmatyerre people were pushed into small areas adjacent to the farming homesteads. Here they were exploited as virtual slave labor, the men as stockmen and the women as domestic labor. Kngwarreye, who first worked as a domestic servant, was later employed with her husband to lead camel teams carrying supplies between Alcoota and the Wolfram Mine on Mt Riddock Station. Kngwarreye received no wages but was paid in food rationssugar, flour, teaand old clothing. Not only did Kngwarreye live thousands of kilometres from the great art centres of Paris and New York; but the cultural heritage that animated her work, lay thousands of years in her ancestral past. Kngwarreyes vibrant images evoke the characteristics and stories of the land of her originsits serene spiritual beauty and harmony, its harsh and primitive rawness. An artist of very few words who regarded talking about her work as other peoples business[ 1 ], Kngwarreye was asked in 1990 to explain what she painted. She told the interviewer that she painted her country, in all its aspects: Whole lot, thats whole lot, Awelye (my dreaming), Arlatyeye (pencil yam), Arkerrthe (mountain devil lizard), Ntange (grass seed), Tingu (a dream-time pup), Ankerre (emu), Intekwe (a favourite food of emus, a small plant), Atnwerle (green bean), and Kame (yam seed). Thats what I paint: whole lot.[ 2 ] In other words, far from Kngwarreye striving for a non-objectivist art, as many abstract painters do, she strove to nurture, celebrate and express nature in her paintings. The content and aim of her work was to express her Aboriginal Dreamingthe stories of her ancestors, their spiritual beliefs and their relationship to the land. Aboriginal culture and spirit-beliefs date back 50,000 years, originating in the primitive society hunter-gatherers. As the Russian Marxist Georgi Plekhanov explained in 18991900, one can only understand primitive art, the development of its aesthetic values and beliefs, as an outcome of the hunters way of life. Georgi Plekhanov [Photo: Wikipedia] The most important part of primitive mans experience is associated with the animal world and therefore the motifs, icons and dance are borrowed from that world. Before primitive man painted animals on caves he hunted; before he began to imitate the animals in his danceto relive the same excitement and energy of the hunthe participated in the hunt. Just as there existed a division of labour in primitive society between men who hunt, and woman who gather roots and wild fruits, so there was a division in the selection of motifs and icons for body painting and ceremonymen selecting animals and women wild foods. For example, the dances of Aboriginal women depict the pulling out of nutritious roots from the ground. As Plekhanov explained: The art of any people is determined by its mentality; its mentality is a product of its situation, and its situation is determined in the final analysis by the state of its productive forces and its relations of production.[ 3 ] The Aboriginal Dreamings or myths about creation, the development of the earth and cosmos, are presented as the outcome of journeys and activities of supernatural ancestral beings. The dreamtime stories, which outline definite customs and social laws, are also related to different regions. The Aboriginal people who reside in these areas are regarded as the custodians of these myths. Their responsibility is to pass them on through ceremony, ritual, song and dance, and to preserve and protect the land with its sacred sites. By enacting a dreamtime story Aboriginal people believe that they are activating the powers of ancestral beings, who will nourish and renew the land and all its inhabitants. As an elder and leader of womens ceremony, Kngwarreye was obliged to pass on her knowledge and the stories of the land. For Kngwarreye painting was not some separate aesthetic exercise but another component of the Dreaming ceremonies. To paint was a spiritual act. From ceremonial body painting to canvas On display at the retrospective exhibition, is Kngwarreyes Emu Woman, her first work on canvas. The painting, one of 81 works created between 198889 by the Aboriginal artists of Utopia, was part of a community project initiated by the Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association. Emu Woman, 198889, Emily Kame Kngwarreye's first acrylic painting. [Photo: National Museum of Australia] Emu Woman is based on painted body markings used in womens ceremonies (awelye). The body is smeared with animal fat and the breasts, arms and thighs are painted with powders ground from charcoal ash, red and yellow ochre and white clay. It is a unique and self-assured statement, consisting of striped and looped linear designs that are overlaid with bold marks of red, black, yellow and white dots. By 199091 a shift in style began to emerge in Kngwarreyes work. The previously distinct body and breast markings, the tracks of the emu and the path of the yam in her work were shrouded in a storm of dotted colours, spreading across large landscape canvases. In KameSummer Awelye 1, we are enveloped in glistening desert summer tonesgold, red, orange and yellow. Dot upon dot is applied with small brushes over a black background leaving only a thin black edge that acts as a frame, to encapsulate the growing warmth. Adopting a similar technique in Untitled (State of my Country), a myriad of tiny earth-coloured dots are applied, covering a splattering of soft blueperhaps reflecting the deserts night sky with a deep feeling of infinity or the desert floor after a downpour of rain. In this work, and others, Kngwarreye reveals an exceptional ability to create works of natural balance and harmony. In contrast to the succinctly applied and controlled dots of other contemporary desert artists, Kngwarreyes works are immediate, spontaneous and free of inhibition. The use of dots or repeated marks, common to the work of Kngwarreye and other artists from the desert regions, have a number of origins and diverse purposes. Firstly, in one of the more ephemeral and traditional art practices of the desertsand drawings and ground mosaicsdesigns are constructed and drawn onto the desert floor, sometimes as large as a hectare. The designs are created with a mixture of ground ochre and other natural materials, placed on the sand by hand, piece by piece, dot by dot, like a mosaic. The sand paintings are central to many Aboriginal ceremonies and are only considered a temporary setting for the performers, the image blown away by the wind after the event. Dots or marks are used by Kngwarreye in her paintings to create a sense of luminosity, visual energy and vibration. This affect is powerfully achieved in much of her work. Of particular note is, Untitled, (1994)a deceptively simple composition made up of red-ochre stripes on a white background overlaid with pale brown marks, creating the appearance of brilliant light emanating from the canvas. In the following years, as Kngwarreyes artistic work and reputation became more widespread, she faced inevitable pressures to produce more paintings. And while she increased her output Kngwarreye moved forward with extraordinary vigour and confidence for a woman of her age. She experimented boldly, taking risks and developing new styles and innovative techniques. Using larger, self-styled brushescutting down the hairs of the brush around its perimeter but leaving the central hairs longKngwarreye double dipped her colour and developed what was called the dump-dump style. Dipping into two or three colours, one after another, she would thrust the brush onto the canvas leaving the original splodge completely intact, other times giving the brush a final twist, spraying out the edges producing florets of colour. Those who had the opportunity to observe Kngwarreye at work compared her painting action to the movement and gestures of a dancer with the brush acting as an extension of her hand, arm and shoulder. At times using one brush in her right hand, changing the brush to the left, and on occasions with a brush in each hand, double dipping, thrusting and dragging the brush across the canvas like a dancers feet in the ceremonial sands. Kngwarreyes work constantly reveals the direct and living connection between Aboriginal art and ceremony. When Kngwarreye saw one of her paintings on display at Sydney art gallery in 1992 she spontaneously began ceremonial singing. As the retrospective catalogue relates: She sang a painting As her outstretched right arm pointed to the painting she began to quietly intone a thin, droning song at the harder edge of the voice Gloria Petyarre, Emilys niece and fellow artist, began to drum with her fingers on a board at hand in a steady supporting rhythm.[ 4 ] In the last two years of Kngwarreyes life, with failing eyesight, crippling arthritis and increasing ill health, her work took a number of diverse turns. From the simplified pure brushstrokes of colours that flow and bleed, to the tangled white on Black Yam Dreamings, to the furious translucent panels of movement and lifeKngwarreye not only revisited her beginnings, but challenged all that came after it. Emily Kame Kngwarray Anwerlarr anganenty (Big yam Dreaming) 1995, Acrylic paint on canvas [Photo: National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne] In October 1994, Kngwarreye was awarded the Australian Artists Creative Fellowship by the then Prime Minister Paul Keating. She was the first Aboriginal artist to receive such an award and soon after, at the age of 84, announced that she wanted to retire. But the expanding international audience for Aboriginal art and increasing demands of art dealers and galleries forced her to continue painting right up until her death. Evidence of the growing market for Aboriginal art is indicated by an auction last year at Sothebys in Australia. International bidders dominated the bidding with a record $3.35 million, $1 million higher than the previous year and easily matching prices achieved for works by non-indigenous artists. Kngwarreyes 1991 painting Alalgura, was sold for $145,500 and Billy Stockman Tjapltjarris, Wild potato (Yala) Dreaming went for $200,500. In contrast to the hundreds of thousands of dollars passing between the art dealers, gallery owners and the international auction houses, most Aboriginal artists and their communities live in poverty. As one art critic reported, paintings produced in the 1970s and 80s by well-known artist Johnny Warrangula are in major collections and sell on the private market for up to $50,000. In the mid-1990s, he was forced to make a living selling painted spears in main street of Alice Springs. Warrangula is not the only Aboriginal artist confronting this situation. On 29 August 1996, four days before she died, Kngwarreye completed her last painting, the exquisite Yam AwelyeBlue. Unfortunately, it was not made available for the retrospective. This final painting, a vibrant vision of tranquil beauty with striking, electric-blue brush strokes on an infinite background of black, is a powerful concluding statement of the creative force of her artistic work. For further information on the Kngwarreye retrospective at the Tate Modern and some examples of her work visit: https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/emily-kam-kngwarray A CoreCivic detention facility in Mason, Tennessee [AP Photo/George Walker IV] On August 5, Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff of Georgia released new findings from his offices ongoing investigation into human rights abuses in U.S. immigration detention. The report identified at least 510 credible reports of abuse since January 20, 2025, occurring across 25 US states, Puerto Rico, federal buildings, military installations, and deportation flights. These incidents involve facilities operated by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Bureau of Prisons (BOP), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and private contractors. Among the most serious documented cases are 41 instances of physical or sexual abuse, 14 of mistreatment of pregnant women, and 18 involving abuse or medical neglect of children, including US citizens. The findings provide further evidence that the Trump administration is carrying out a coordinated campaign of repression and intimidation against immigrants, including asylum seekers and children. At the same time, while confirming only a fraction of the abuse taking place within the US immigration system, the report functions as a damage-control operation aimed at preserving the legitimacy of the agencies and institutions responsible. Ossoff, one of ten Senate Democrats who voted in January to advance the Laken Riley Actand later among twelve who ensured its final passagebears direct political responsibility for the very infrastructure of detention and state violence he now claims to be investigating. The legislation mandates indefinite detention of immigrants accused of minor crimes. Abuse as standard practice The report documents widespread physical abuse and degrading treatment of detainees across US immigration detention facilities. At the El Paso Service Processing Center in Texas, a detainee was slammed to the ground, handcuffed, and dragged outside for a minor infraction. At Adelanto ICE Processing Center in California, 911 calls were made regarding sexual assaults or threats, while four emergency calls at the South Texas ICE Processing Center this year involved sexual abuse. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) staff allegedly forced seven detainees into stress positions as punishment. Detainees waiting to be processed at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center in Adelanto, California. [AP Photo/Chris Carlson] Under a 2025 DHSBOP agreement, one detainee placed in a federal prison dormitory was assaulted by another inmate. At the Federal Detention Center in Miami, detainees were confined without food, water, or toilets; after protesting, they were attacked with flash-bang grenades and pellet fire, zip-tied, and denied medical care. These incidents are standard practices across a network of detention facilities spanning the US and abroad, including Guantanamo Bay and Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti. Texas (29), Georgia (13), and California (12) account for the most cases, underscoring the systemic nature of abuse throughout the detention system. Medical neglect and mistreatment of women and children The report documents 14 credible incidents of abuse of pregnant women in ICE custody, including denial of urgent care leading to miscarriage, sleeping on floors, and long-delayed or canceled medical appointments. Eighteen credible reports detail the mistreatment of children. In one case, a US citizen child with a severe medical condition was hospitalized three times in CBP custody; after she began vomiting blood, a guard responded, Just give the girl a cracker. A 10-year-old recovering from brain surgery was denied follow-up care, resulting in brain swelling and impaired motor functions. A four-year-old with metastatic cancer was detained and deported without medical evaluation. These cases corroborate longstanding findings by human rights groups, journalists and whistleblowers that US immigration detention operates as a barbaric, criminal system, routinely violating the most basic legal and humanitarian norms. Obstruction of oversight The report notes that DHS has obstructed congressional oversight by restricting detainee interviews and staff site visits. Despite this, inspections were conducted at detention centers in Georgia and Texas, a federal prison in Atlanta and a shelter for unaccompanied minors in San Antonio. Ossoffs office sent oversight letters to DHS, the Department of Justice and the Department of Defense requesting information on abuses, family detention policies and Guantanamo conditions. The investigation remains ongoing and incomplete. That such basic accountability measures require months of Senate investigation underscores the secrecy and impunity with which DHS, ICE, and CBP operate. More fundamentally, the report raises the political question of Congresss roleincluding Democratsin authorizing, funding and expanding the mass detention system that produces these abuses, rendering oversight a mechanism for managing, rather than dismantling, the apparatus. The case of Chaofeng Ge One case not included in the Ossoff report, but which provides a grim indication of the conditions in detention, is that of Chaofeng Ge, a 32-year-old Chinese national who died at the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Pennsylvania on August 5. Ge had been in ICE custody for only five days before he was allegedly found hanging in a shower stall by staff employed at the GEO Groupoperated facility, which reopened in 2021 under the Biden administration. During the 2024 election campaign, for-profit private prison companies such as the GEO Group and CoreCivic were major financial backers of Donald Trump, contributing nearly $3 million to his re-election effort and inauguration fund, according to a recent analysis by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) analysis of Federal Election Commission documents. Ge had been imprisoned since January but was transferred to ICE custody in the last week. He was facing charges of credit card fraud and was awaiting a hearing before the Department of Justices Executive Office for Immigration Review. ICE claimed that Ge had undergone the standard medical and mental health screenings and that his death, while under investigation, was not the result of foul play. Ge is at least the second person that has died in the facility in the last two years. In December 2023, 37-year-old Frankline Okpua was found unresponsive in a cell at the for-profit detention center according to an ICE notice. While Ges name is unlikely to appear in any Senate floor speech or oversight hearing, his death illustrates the actual human cost of Trumps policies supported by Ossoff and his colleagues in both parties. Speedway Slammer Following the construction of the Florida Everglades concentration camp last month, the Trump administration is inaugurating a new immigration detention facility in Indiana, dubbed the Speedway Slammer. Located at the Miami Correctional Center near Indianapolis, the proposed installation will add 1,000 beds through a partnership under the 287(g) program, funded by the recent reconciliation package known as the One Big Beautiful Bill. This strategy is part of a broader push to expand ICE detention capacity by 100,000 beds. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and Indiana Governor Mike Braun praised the partnership, positioning it as a tool to remove the worst of the worst. In reality, the majority of the human beings forced to suffer in immigration hellholes, 71.1 percent as of July 2025, have not been convicted of any crime. This includes Luis Manuel Rivas Velasquez, a 38-year-old social media influencer and car enthusiast who nearly died at the Alligator Alcatraz concentration camp earlier this week after being denied medical care at the prison camp. Ossoffs political record Senator Jon Ossoff has played an active role in the bipartisan attack on immigrants. On the day of Trumps inauguration, he joined a small group of Senate Democrats in voting for the Laken Riley Act, which mandates detention without bail for immigrants merely accusednot convictedof certain offenses. Two days later, 46 House Democrats voted in favor. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Georgia., poses for a portrait during an event at Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Saturday, April 26, 2025, in Marietta, Georgia. [AP Photo/Brynn Anderson] The law also gives state attorneys general unprecedented authority to override federal immigration policy, including imposing nationality-based visa bans. The law represents a sweeping attack on due process and a dangerous expansion of state power that undermines constitutional protections for all. The bill passed easily with bipartisan support, reflecting the convergence of both parties on authoritarian measures. In Georgia, where 22-year-old nursing student Laken Riley was killed, Ossoffs vote served to appease right-wing constituencies and strengthen his vacillating political standing. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., wears a Laken Riley shirt as she arrives before President Joe Biden delivers the State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress at the U.S. Capitol, Thursday March 7, 2024, in Washington. [AP Photo/Andrew Harnik] Ossoffs investigation into detention conditions serves not to dismantle the system, but to manage public anger and preserve the illusion of reform. For decades, the Democratic Party has supported every major expansion of ICE, border militarization, and surveillance. The militarization of the USMexico border began under the Clinton administration and escalated under Deporter-in-Chief Barack Obama and his thenvice president, Joe Biden. As president, Biden continued Trumps use of Title 42 to block asylum seekers and immigrants from entering the United States, even as his administration dismantled COVID-19 protections. During her election campaign, Kamala Harris positioned herself as a more effective border enforcer than the erratic Trump, even promising to continue construction of his border wall. Campaign ad in which Harris, flanked by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, pledges to pass the "toughest border control bill." [Photo: Harris For President] The abuse of immigrants in US detention facilities is the outcome of a conscious and bipartisan policy aimed at criminalizing migration, instilling fear in the working class and reinforcing the mechanisms of state repression. Senator Ossoffs investigation, while shedding light on a fraction of these abuses, seeks to obscure the political responsibility of the Democratic Party and the capitalist state as a whole. The defense of immigrants and the struggle against fascism cannot be entrusted to either of the two parties of Wall Street, but must be taken up independently by the working class, united internationally in a struggle against the capitalist system. The Republican-led House Oversight Committee subpoenaed the Department of Justice (DOJ) August 5 to provide it with the investigative files on the late multi-millionaire financier and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. It issued 10 additional subpoenas and set dates for the depositions of Bill and Hillary Clinton, two former FBI directors and six former attorneys general. The move promises to intensify the crisis of the Trump administration and the entire political system over the cover-up of Epsteins far-flung sex ring, which abused hundreds of underage girls, and the likely involvement of high-profile businessmen, celebrities and politicians of both parties. Epstein, who socialized with Donald Trump, Bill Clinton and other political figures in the ruling class, was found dead in his Manhattan prison cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. His death was officially ruled a suicide. Epsteins former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, was sentenced in 2022 to 20 years in federal prison after being tried and convicted for sex crimes, including trafficking, conspiracy and transporting minors for the purpose of illegal sexual activity. Trump pledged during his 2024 election campaign to release the FBI files on Epstein, claiming they were being withheld from the public to protect Democrats implicated in the sex ring. But on July 7, after informing Trump that he was named multiple times in the files, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that the files contained no further revelations about Epsteins clients or his supposed suicide and they would not be released. This was a direct reversal of a statement she made in February when she promised to release the files imminently. This enraged sections of Trumps MAGA base and put congressional Republicans under pressure to oppose the decision of the Trump administration. Those subpoenaed by House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (Republican-Kentucky), in addition to the Clintons, include former FBI directors James Comey and Robert Mueller, and former attorneys general Merrick Garland, William Barr, Loretta Lynch, Eric Holder, Jeff Sessions and Alberto Gonzales. These individuals held office under Republican as well as Democratic administrations, including Trumps first term. Epstein with Ghislaine Maxwell in 2005. Maxwell was later convicted of helping him coerce teenage girls into sex. [Photo: US Department of Justice] The committee ordered the FBI files to be turned over by August 19 and set deposition dates for those subpoenaed between August 18 and October 14, with the final depositions to be those of Hillary and Bill Clinton. By subpoenaing the Clintons, Comer signaled that the Republicans hope to place the spotlight in the Epstein scandal on the Democrats, while exonerating Trump. Both, in fact, had frequent interactions with Epstein and could hardly have been unaware of his sex-trafficking operation involving underage girls. Both sent greetings to Epstein on his 50th birthday, including a message from Trump that included the outline of a naked woman. According to flight logs, both flew multiple times on Epsteins private jet. Epstein was member of Trumps Mar-a-Lago club until 2007, and Clinton visited Epsteins Manhattan residence at least once. The Republican effort to put the onus on the Democrats is further indicated by the extraordinary treatment of Ghislaine Maxwell by the Trump administration. Last month, the deputy attorney general and former personal lawyer of Trump, Todd Blanche, met privately for two days with Maxwell for the supposed purpose of extracting new information from her about Epstein. The White House is reportedly considering releasing either a video of the interview or a transcript, or both. Shortly after the interview, Maxwell was suddenly and without explanation moved from the low security prison in Tallahassee, Florida where she had been held to a minimum security womens prison in Texas that is known as Club Fed. The facility houses non-violent prisoners, in dormitory rooms with no bars and a low-profile presence of guards. The transfer of a convicted sex trafficker of underage girls to such a facility has been described as extraordinary and unprecedented. On Wednesday, the media widely reported a leak from an unnamed source concerning Blanches interview that had Maxwell telling Trumps emissary she never saw Trump do anything that would cause concern. For his part, Trump has not ruled out granting Maxwell as pardon. In what may very well be a shot across the bow of the Democrats, Maxwells lawyer David Oskar Markus said following the meetings with Blanche: She was asked about maybe about 100 different people. She answered questions about everybody and she didnt hold anything back. The biannual Talisman Sabre exercises in Australia concluded on August 4 having begun on July 13. With this years iteration, what began in 2005 as joint bilateral war games between the US and Australia took on the character of a full-fledged dress-rehearsal for war against China involving all the major imperialist and regional powers. Almost 40,000 troops from 19 countries participated in what were the largest military exercises in Australian history. Aside from the sheer number and range of nations represented, Talisman Sabre involved some of the most potent offensive weaponry in the world, including US long-range missile systems that have never before been present in the region. Australian Army soldiers conduct Tactical Air Land Operation as part of Exercise Talisman Sabre 2025 at Shoalwater Bay Training Area, Rockhampton, QLD. [Photo: defence.gov.au/photo Janet Pan] Despite this, the vast majority of the Australian population would have no idea that Talisman Sabre even took place. The exercises were subjected to a near total media blackout. That itself underscores the reality that what took place was the preparation for war, which the powers-that-be are aware could provoke widespread popular opposition. An article previewing the war games last month in the Wall Street Journal was far more extensive and forthright about the purposes of Talisman Sabre than anything that has appeared since in the Australian establishment press. The Journal bluntly declared that Talisman Sabre was meant to send a message to China of US preparedness to fight a war in the Indo-Pacific, then cited top American military officials making the same basic point. While the Journal, in keeping with US propaganda, presented Beijing as the aggressor, it boasted of the offensive capabilities being rehearsed in Talisman Sabre, noting that they would aid in a conflict fought over Taiwan, i.e., right up to the Chinese mainland. That is in line with the Trump administrations ratcheting up of the longstanding US military build-up in the Indo-Pacific against China, which is viewed as the chief threat to the global economic dominance of US capitalism. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has railed against China, while raising the prospect of imminent conflict over Taiwan. The Trump administration has demanded that US allies in the region massively boost their military spending and that countries such as Japan and Australia commit their military assets to a war with China in advance. In contrast to the Journals blunt outline of the purpose of Talisman Sabre, the little coverage in the Australian press has presented particular aspects of the military exercises in isolation. A number of the articles appear to have been prompted by the disruption to sections of the population caused by Talisman Sabre. One, for instance, noted that yachtsmen had been instructed to stay away from Queenslands Shoalwater Bay, because the US and Australian militaries were conducting massive live fire exercises there. For obvious reasons, regional papers particularly in Queensland and the Northern Territory, reported on a number of Talisman Sabre exercises, because they involved the besieging and takeover of entire towns. As the exercises began, police social media posts instructed residents in Sydney not to be concerned if they saw military helicopters flying at low levels above Australias most populous city. One operation in Sydney Harbour, in which British commandos descended from a helicopter and stormed a ferry against mock terrorists, appears not to have been reported by any of the major corporate publications. Defence industry publications, whose primary audience consists of military insiders, have hailed the scale of Talisman Sabre and drawn particular attention to the unprecedented deployment of highly potent US weaponry. At the conclusion of Talisman Sabre, the US army revealed that its Dark Eagle hypersonic missile system had been transferred to Australia for the exercisesthe first time it had been stationed outside of US territory. The hypersonic missiles travel at five times the speed of sound. They have a range of 1,700 miles. The new Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW) on display during Operation Thunderbolt Strike at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, March 3, 2023 [Photo: US Army] Dark Eagle was first test fired in December last year. At the time, the Army Recognition publication noted that it offers the longest reach of any land-based strike system currently in the U.S. inventory. The weapons warhead is engineered to deliver immense destructive power, capable of neutralizing heavily fortified military installations, command centers, and critical infrastructure with pinpoint precision. This makes the missile a decisive asset in scenarios requiring rapid engagement of high-value, time-critical targets. Dark Eagle would fulfil the role repeatedly raised in US strategic and think tank documents planning a war with China, of wiping out Beijings military capacities as rapidly as possible in the event of a conflict. The stationing of such a system in Australia should have been headline news, but again it has largely gone unreported. The extent of the secrecy was underscored by a report in the Stars and Stripes defence publication, which noted that there was no indication that the weapon was actually fired in Australiain other words, it might have been. The article cited Lt. Gen. Joel Vowell, deputy commander of US Army Pacific who stated that the American military was working with its Australian counterpart on a plan to station Dark Eagle in Australia. The prospect of Australia acquiring or hosting hypersonic missiles has previously been floated, but never has the Australian Labor government made so definite a statement as Vowell. During Talisman Sabre, the US army also fired its Typhon missile system, with a range of up to 2,500 miles, for the first time outside the continental United States. A missile successfully struck a target off the Australian coast. Live-fire HIMARS training at Shoalwater Bay during Talisman Sabre 2025 exercises [Photo: defence.gov.au/photo Michael Rogers] The HIMARS, or the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, was also used for the first time in Australia. The missile system, carried on trucks, is hailed for its maneuverability and has been used extensively in the US-NATO war against Russia in Ukraine. The missile capabilities would play a critical role in a war in the Indo-Pacific, enabling the US to implement its program of area denial, by striking Chinese vessels including at long range. Naval warfare was a heavy feature of Talisman Sabre. The US George Washington Carrier Strike Group and the America Expeditionary Strike Group were deployed and participated. So too did the British Carrier Strike Group in the first visit by a UK aircraft carrier to Australia since 1997. During Talisman Sabre, the Australian and British Labor governments signed a 50-year treaty, dedicated to escalating their military cooperation, particularly targeting China. The deepening of ties and military interoperability between the various US allies was a central focus, with troops from Japan and South Korea taking part in live-fire exercises and the major European imperialist powers France and Germany also participating. For the first time, an exercise was held outside of Australia in the strategically-critical Pacific country of Papua New Guinea. The US and its partners, particularly the Australian Labor government, have pressured, hectored and bullied the impoverished Pacific states not to develop their ties to China and to instead commit their territories to Washingtons conflict against it. As in World War II, the Pacific states would be crucial in a regional war. While couched in terms of deterrence and opposition to Chinese aggression, Talisman Sabre makes clear that these US talking points are an inversion of reality. There is no question that a Chinese or Russian-led military exercise of a similar scale in South or Central America would be viewed as something approaching an act of war against the United States. Talisman Sabre also pointed to the extent to which Australia has been placed on the frontlines of the US preparations for conflict, including by a vast expansion of US basing arrangements and a domestic military build-up by the federal Labor government, building on the actions of its predecessors spanning almost 15 years. The US is already in a de facto war with Russia in Ukraine and is sponsoring the Israeli genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, as part of a broader regionwide offensive targeting Iran. However, American imperialism is also preparing to open a new and even more catastrophic front in what increasingly has the character of a global war. The media blackout of Talisman Sabre is a backhanded recognition of growing anti-war sentiment and an attempt to prevent its development. When the plans for Australia to acquire nuclear-powered submarines from the US, at a cost of $368 billion, were revealed in 2023, they provoked substantial shock and anger. Last Sunday, a day before Talisman Sabre officially concluded, as many as 300,000 people marched across Sydney Harbour Bridge to oppose the Israeli genocide and the complicity of the Labor government, in one of the largest demonstrations in the countrys history. Talisman Sabre and the plans for war against China expose the bankruptcy of any perspective of halting one or another imperialist crime, including the genocide, by appealing to the governments that are responsible to change course. The turn by the imperialist powers to militarism and war, threatening a global conflagration, can only be answered by building a unified movement of the international working class based on a socialist and revolutionary program to abolish the outmoded capitalist system that is the root cause of war and threatens humanity with catastrophe. A 38-year-old Venezuelan man nearly died this week after falling seriously ill inside the ICE concentration camp known as Alligator Alcatraz, located in the Florida Everglades. As part of the ongoing mass deportation campaign, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is subjecting thousands of people to inhumane and deadly conditions. Authorities at the prison camp have refused to carry out testing for COVID-19, which appears to be spreading throughout the camp without any public acknowledgement. Earlier this month, a whistleblower employee at the camp told Floridas WFLA that she was fired after contracting COVID-19. According to a press release issued by his legal team, Luis Manuel Rivas Velasquezalso known as Luis Frio on Instagramcollapsed inside the camp after exhibiting symptoms of a serious respiratory illness. According to at least one witness, Rivas Velasquez was denied medical care after he collapsed. Luis Manuel Rivas Velasquez [Photo: Luis Frio] A guy is dying on the floor, and no one has called for medical help. The paramedics arent here, a detainee recalled in a phone call shared with NBC6 Miami. After collapsing some point on Tuesday for roughly 48 hours, Rivas Velasquez was held incommunicado from his family and lawyers. During this period, it was unknown if Rivas Velasquez had died. Rivas Velasquezs pro-bono immigration attorneys Eric Lee and Chris Godshall-Bennett wrote in their statement that while Rivas Velasquez was in the hospital receiving treatment, immigration thugs handcuffed him tightly to the bed and mocked him, with one guard telling another they needed to be tough on him. Rivas Velasquez, like the vast majority of those kidnapped by the US immigration Gestapo, is not a convicted criminal or a threat to society. Before he was taken by immigration agents, Rivas Velasquez was an influencer on social media, regularly sharing photos and videos of cars, Miami, family and friends to his over 160,000 followers. It was not until Thursday morning that lawyers and family confirmed that Rivas Velasquez was alive after he was allowed to make a brief phone call. When he was allowed to speak to his family and attorneys, he described conditions inside the facility as worse than jail, saying, They are treating us like dogs, like animals. People are suffering from lack of medicine. In a statement Thursday, Rivas Velasquezs sister, Ada Yeniree Velasquez Pereira, said her brother is not in good health. And according to the testimonies we have received, 80 percent of the people detained there are not either. This is not an isolated situation: It is a humanitarian emergency. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees ICE, is attempting to cover up what appears to be a serious viral outbreak. The facility was hastily erected in the Everglades earlier this year to warehouse immigrants en masse. Now, detainees are reporting outbreaks of disease, inedible food, backed-up sewage, beatings by guards and the total denial of medical and legal support. A recent phone call from a detainee inside the camp that was shared on social media captures the horror. There is a lot, a lot of abuse, too much abuse. In the dining room there was a lot of abuse. They stepped on him and stepped on his head. A guard got on top of him and they pushed us and kicked us. There is a lot of abuse ... in Alligator Alcatraz. Work progresses on a new migrant concentration camp at Dade-Collier Training and Transition facility in the Florida Everglades, Friday, July 4, 2025, in Ochopee, Florida. [AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell] We are very nervous here because we dont know what to do. We are stuck. They are finishing with us inside here. It has to come out somehow because theyre going to kill us! Theyre killing us little by little here. We have been here for 30 days, Ive been seeking justice and the mistreatment doesnt stop! These statements were recorded during a phone call in which detainees broke out into a protest, attempting to make themselves heard beyond the walls of the facility. Everyone is protesting. This is turning into chaos! They are treating us like the most vicious animals in the world. And we are not the vicious ones, they are! The guards! Theyre all abusing their power! In an interview with NBC Thursday, attorney James Hollis, who is also representing Rivas Velasquez, confirmed that before he collapsed on Tuesday he had asked repeatedly for help, explaining to the guards that he was experiencing chest pain and shortness of breath. Hollis said Rivas Velasquez was continually told, Hey, we cant help you. Upon arriving at the Kendall Hospital in Miami, he was diagnosed with a respiratory infection by doctors. Despite continued breathing difficulties, he was then returned to the concentration camp on Thursday. In a chilling and cynical statement, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin claimed Rivas Velasquez had merely fainted and was taken to the hospital out of precaution. She added, ICE takes its commitment to protecting those in its custody very seriously. This is a lie. At least 11 people have died in US immigration detention this year. On Tuesday morning, 32-year-old Chaofeng Ge was found hanging by the neck in a shower room in Pennsylvania. ICE and state police claim his death was a suicide. He had been imprisoned since January. The situation at Alligator Alcatraz is part of a nationwide expansion of the immigration gulag system under the Trump administrations big beautiful bill, which included the largest expansion of border enforcement in US history, alongside billions in tax cuts for the rich. This expansion has been made possible by the Democratic Party which provided Trump the votes to fast-track the anti-immigrant Laken Riley Act and the necessary votes to keep the government funded and operating this past March. The outbreak in the Florida Everglades camp is not an anomaly. It was only weeks ago that a tuberculosis outbreak was confirmed at the Tacoma ICE facility in Washington state. There is every reason to believe a similar outbreak, whether TB or COVID-19, is now sweeping through the Everglades camp. The same day Rivas Velasquez nearly died on August 5, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced the cancellation of $500 million in vaccine grants, signaling that the federal government is not only ignoring outbreaks inside detention centers, it is dismantling the public health infrastructure altogether. The war on immigrants is inseparable from the war on public health, democratic rights and the working class as a whole. If immigrants today can be treated like animals, tortured, denied medical care and disappeared without recourse, tomorrow it will be citizens and any who resist the tyranny of the financial oligarchy. In a damning joint statement, attorneys Eric Lee and Chris Godshall-Bennett of Lee & Godshall-Bennett LLP condemned the abuse: Crimes of historic proportions are taking place at the Alligator Alcatraz internment camp. Mr. Rivas Velasquezs disappearance and potential near-death experience in the custody of DHS and State of Florida must be a wake-up call for all Americans. None of us can claim ignorance. Will we allow crimes like this to be committed by the government in our own backyard? This sadistic human experiment must be immediately shut down. All those responsible for creating deliberately inhumane conditions must be criminally investigated and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Claire's Stores Inc., once a teen retail staple, has filed for bankruptcy protection for the second time in seven years as it contends with significant debt. The retailer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in a federal court in Delaware on Wednesday, highlighting the "difficulty facing mall-based retailers geared to the teen and tween customer," according to Sarah Foss, head of legal at Debtwire. In the filing with the U.S. bankruptcy court in Delaware, the U.S. firm, primarily owned by Elliott Management and Monarch Alternative Capital, estimated both its assets and liabilities at between $1 billion and $10 billion, underscoring the financial strain that led to its latest filing. Pressure From Shein, Temu Accelerate Retail Closures The filing comes shortly after the company tapped Houlihan Lokey Inc. to find potential buyers for some or all of Claire's locations, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg. Claire's is also facing a $500 million loan that's due in December 2026, Bloomberg reported. It also decided to defer interest payments on its debt to help preserve capital. A woman exits a Claire's store on Friday, December 1, 2006, in New York. In better times, the store targeted a younger demographic with a wide selection of affordable jewelry, hair accessories and beauty products. Today, the retailer, which sources from China, is facing higher import costs due to President Trump's tariffs. Consumers are also curbing their spending in response to the current economic climate. Read On The Fox Business App Us Retail Closures Hit Highest Level Since Pandemic One of the company's other core challenges, according to Foss, is that its target demographic "is notoriously fickle and heavily influenced by the trends they are seeing online, leaving some of the mall mainstays like Claires or Forever 21 struggling to keep up with the changing trends and preferences of its customer base." Claire's first filed for bankruptcy protection in March 2018/ Elliott and Monarch took control of the retailer when it emerged later that year. Jewelry is displayed at a Claire's store on June 23, 2025, in Novato, California. Foss said a bankruptcy filing can be a good option for a struggling retail chain as it allows a company to refocus, trim its debt and slim down its retail footprint, but "retailers that have emerged from Chapter 11 only to file again a few years later often find themselves liquidating and shutting their doors entirely, with some kind of online presence remaining." However, the company still hasn't filed a document outlining its proposed path in bankruptcy. Masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents escort a detained immigrant into an elevator after he exited an immigration courtroom, June 17, 2025, in New York. [AP Photo/Olga Fedorova] In a chilling demonstration of the accelerating authoritarianism of the Trump administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announcedand then rapidly rescindeda pilot bonus program offering cash rewards to agents for deporting immigrants within as little as seven days of arrest. The program, revealed in an internal email Tuesday morning, promised $200 bonuses for deportations completed within a week and $100 for those completed within two weeks. The intent was to increase the use of expedited removal, a fast-track process that denies immigrants access to legal representation, the right to a hearing and the most minimal legal protections. By Tuesday afternoon, ICE was forced to cancel the program, sending out an internal follow-up email marked in capital letters: PLEASE DISREGARD. The sudden reversal came only after inquiries from the New York Times, revealing that the plan had not been an offhand suggestion but had reached the level of signed internal memoranda. This brief but revealing episode cannot be dismissed as a bureaucratic error or public relations blunder. On the contrary, it illuminates the trajectory of the Trump administrations far-right, anti-immigrant policy and the broader turn of the American ruling class toward authoritarianism. The mere fact that such a program was devised, approved and internally circulated underscores a political climate in which unconstitutional and illegal acts are not only contemplated but actively prepared by state agencies. The ICE bonus scheme is a grotesque manifestation of the administrations effort to transform the immigration enforcement apparatus into a shock force of political repression. Its underlying logic is clear: reduce the number of immigrants with access to legal recourse, increase deportation quotas by any means necessary and financially incentivize agents to circumvent even the pretense of due process. The language of the internal memo makes clear the Trump administrations priorities: the program, the memo said, would help reduce overall removal costs and decrease strain on detention resources. In practice, this meant eliminating procedural barriers and encouraging ICE agents to push detainees into so-called voluntary departurea coercive measure cloaked in euphemism. A former senior Department of Homeland Security official, Scott Shuchart, captured the gravity of the plans implications: That is so ungodly unethical. You cant incentivize government agents to short-circuit peoples procedural rights. Would you pay a bonus to judges for wrapping up trials faster? But that, in effect, is precisely what this program was designed to do: monetize the deportation process, reward constitutional violations and spur ICE agents to eject immigrants from the country in the shortest possible time. The use of financial incentives to drive repression has deep historical precedents, each with dire consequences. In the 19th-century American West, bounty hunters were paid cash rewards for capturing or killing fugitives, creating a violent marketplace in which justice was secondary to profit. The ICE bonus program similarly encourages speed and numbers over law and humanity. As with the bounty system, moral and legal considerations are subordinated to quotas, targets and personal advancement. A more dystopian echo can be drawn from Suzanne Collinss novel The Hunger Games, in which the state orchestrates deadly competition for rewards, turning violence into a contest that serves the regimes goals. ICEs bonus plan resembles this gamification of enforcement: agents are rewarded not so much for their job performance, as for how quickly they can carry out acts of repression, treating human lives as little more than entries in a scorecard. In political terms, the clearest historical parallel lies in the methods of fascist regimes during the 1920s and 1930s. In Mussolinis Italy and Hitlers Germany, ultranationalism and xenophobia were used to mobilize state agencies against so-called internal enemies. Bureaucracies were reshaped to act quickly and ruthlessly, offering promotions, medals and privileges to those who most zealously carried out the regimes will. The ICE bonus programwhile not equivalent in scaleechoes these methods: rewarding loyalty, punishing hesitation and discarding democratic rights in favor of coercion and outright brutality. The broader context makes the implications even more dangerous. In July, Trump signed his signature domestic legislation expanding ICEs annual budget from $8 billion to a staggering $28 billionmaking it the single most heavily funded law enforcement agency in the country. The bill also authorized the hiring of 10,000 new agents, with signing bonuses of up to $50,000, and launched a national recruitment campaign soaked in militaristic and fascistic language. Want to mass deport illegals from Los Angeles? read a social media post by Trump adviser Stephen Miller, who has long been the ideological architect of Trumps anti-immigrant crusade. JOIN.ICE.GOV today and get a 50K signing/retention bonus. Make your family proud and be the hero America needs. Though the bonus program was officially rescinded, the Department of Homeland Security continues to promote the JOIN.ICE.GOV initiative on social media, underscoring that the campaign for mass deportations is still very much under way. Far from retreating, ICE is intensifying its activity. Department of Homeland Security thugs hid in back of Penske truck prior to Los Angeles raid at Home Depot Only days after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a temporary restraining order barring federal agents from stopping people without reasonable suspicion and from relying solely on factors like their race, place and type of work, or location to detain people, dozens of immigration police were spotted at the Home Depot in Westlake/MacArthur Parkscene of a massive military operation in Julyusing rented yellow Penske box trucks in their kidnapping operations. DHS claimed in a statement after the raid that 16 people were taken. The move drew widespread outrage due to its eerie similarity to the tactics of the neo-fascist group Patriot Front, which also uses such trucks to conceal the movement of its members during demonstrations. The public outcry was so intense that Penske was forced to issue a public statement disavowing any collaboration with DHS, stating that it strictly prohibits the transportation of people in the cargo area of its vehicles. This militarized and deceptive strategy signals a further descent into domestic repression. The use of unmarked vehicles for detentions recalls the black bag tactics used during the Portland, Oregon protests of 2020 and reveals an agency unconstrained by law or public accountability. That the raid took place just days after the 9th Circuits ruling underscores that the working class cannot rely on capitalist state institutions, including the courts, to defend democratic rights. Workers at the Federal Emergency Management Agency are also being drawn into the deportation apparatus. On Wednesday multiple outlets reported that over 100 staffnearly half its HR division and key security personnel have been reassigned to assist ICE in hiring 10,000 new agents under Trumps One Big Beautiful Bill. These 90-day reassignments come during peak hurricane season and amid multiple disasters, including historic Texas flooding. Department of Government Efficiency cuts have left FEMA short 2,000 staff. Officials warn that delays in processing local hires and security clearances are undermining disaster response. The use of personnel funded by the Disaster Relief Fund to support ICEfar outside FEMAs missiondiverts vital resources from lifesaving work to repressive operations. This shift threatens FEMAs ability to address natural catastrophes effectively while exposing how national priorities are being used to justify authoritarian restructuring. DHSs defense of the move, couched in vague slogans, underscores a dangerous transformation: agencies nominally tasked to assist civilians in emergency situations are being repurposed to serve a state apparatus centered on mass deportations and domestic repression. The attack on immigrant workers is a spearhead for a broader assault on the entire working class. The structures being builtquotas, incentives and militarized policingwill be used to crush strikes, suppress protests and silence dissent. ICE and the National Guard have already monitored demonstrations and surveilled activists, while FEMAs conversion into an ICE recruiting arm underscores how state agencies are being repurposed for repression. Anti-immigrant hysteria is a tool to divide workers and distract from deepening social crisis while the ruling class siphons their wealth to create the machinery of war and dictatorship. This threat can only be countered by a conscious, unified struggle of the working class against the capitalist system. The African National Congress (ANC) government has launched a mass police operation to arrest 1,000 migrant gold miners. The miners are working without permits near Barberton, a town in the northeast of the country, close to the borders with Eswatini and Mozambique. The operation is an extension of the ANCs violent Operation Vala Umgodi (Plug the Hole) that began with the Stilfontein massacre in January, where 90 miners, mostly undocumented migrants, died after police surrounded an abandoned mine, cutting off food supplies and forcing them to the surface. The horrific crime highlighted the ANC governments brutal response to the explosive social conditions developing in South Africa. The latest phase targeted Sheba Mine, part of the Barberton Mines group in Mpumalanga province. According to police spokesperson Donald Mdhluli, on August 2, 2025, About 1,000 illegal miners who are also illegal immigrants have been arrested, calling it a joint operation between mine security and the police. More arrests are expected as there are still miners underground. With cold indifference, he remarked, As they are coming out, they have been taken, before adding, There are no fatalities recorded so far. Following the strategy used in Stilfontein, police surrounded Sheba Mine, cutting off the supply lines to force miners to surface. This criminal tactic traps workers underground, ensuring their eventual arrest as they are unable to sustain themselves without food or water. The police, in conjunction with mine security, hold miners hostage in a life-threatening situation. Barberton Mines attacked the miners, scapegoating them for sacking formally employed miners earlier this year. A statement read, Earlier this year there was outcry from the community and employees when Barberton Mines retrenched workers as the mine was unprofitable and facing closure. Now we know the reason why! Food and supplies have been getting to a thriving illegal mining world underground, which had to be stopped, hence this intervention with the police and mine security. This message needs to be spread and illegal mining will not be tolerated. The arrested miners, largely from neighboring countries like Eswatini and Mozambique, face charges including trespassing, theft of gold-bearing material, and contravention of the Immigration Act, according to the National Prosecuting Authority. For those with prior criminal convictions, the state intends to oppose bail. The case is to be postponed until next week. Some of the miners arrested at Sheba mine appear in court [Photo: Still from video/SABC News/YouTube] Outside the court, family members expressed outrage at the governments actions. Protesters chanted, Release our husbands! They are not criminals, they are trying to make a living. One protester told the media, The mine is always killing our people [and] no one is arrested. Protesters chanting Release our husbands! They are not criminals, they are trying to make a living" and "The mine is always killing our people [and] no one is arrested. [Photo: Still from video: SABC News/Youtube] A woman, speaking in Zulu, condemned the government, stating: You have taken our brothers, and locked them up. They have IDs and you locked them up with those who are foreign. Our brothers should be free. We know what they did is wrong, but the bigger problem is we are poor. She continued, We do not have money for bail, the money they make is for survival, there are no savings. Another woman added, You want us to survive on the R350 grant ($20). What are we supposed to do? We are vulnerable. We know what they are doing is wrong, but they are actually trying to make a living. The problem with locking them up now when they have been hoping to get jobs. Now they are going to get criminal records. Another said, Get these guys out! South Africa is corrupt. All of you are corrupt. They did not kill anybody You are treating them like murderers. Another shouted, South Africa is corrupt. These are our brothers, and now our community is suffering because they are gone. These statements from South Africans highlight the devastating impact on the local economy, as many depend on the miners income. Some also reflect solidarity with other Africans, forced to migrate and work under brutal conditions just to survive, in contrast to the whipping up of xenophobia by the political establishment and the trade union bureaucracy. The ANCs barbarous actions are a devastating indictment of bourgeois nationalism and all the forces which have backed the ANC historically, above all the South African Communist Party (SACP). Official unemployment rate reached 33 percent in the first quarter of 2025, with 8.2 million people unemployed. The expanded unemployment rate, including discouraged work-seekers, rose to 43 percent. Youth unemployment stands at 46 percent among those aged 1534. 55 percent of the population live below the upper poverty line of R1,634 (approximately $88) per month, and 25 percent live below the food poverty line of R796 (approximately $43) per month. Mining in abandoned pits takes place in South Africa due to the social havoc wrought by the shuttering of much of the countrys mining infrastructure and the broader poverty fuelling a huge informal sector, with a workforce preyed upon by criminal syndicates. Another factor exacerbating the crisis is competition from lab-grown diamonds to South Africas diamond mining industry. Under apartheid, the lucrative mining industry was built on rampant exploitation of black workers, who suffered extreme racial discrimination and restrictions on organizing by the Chamber of Mines to prevent any bidding up of wages due to competition between mine owners. This was aided by the recruitment of huge numbers of migrant workers from neighboring countries. A combination of sharply falling gold prices, under-investment, outdated machinery, and the depletion of the most easily accessible reserves put enormous pressure on the industry in the late 1980s. Also confronting a surge in unionized activity bound up with the popular revolt that ended apartheid, the mine owners responded with closures and mass layoffs. The sector shed roughly 300,000 jobs between 1990 and 2020, leaving many communities without any source of income. The ANC government, in alliance with the SACP and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), waged a war on the working class while elevating a small group of black petty-bourgeois to super-rich status. Patrice Motsepe became South Africas first black billionaire in 2008 (he is now worth $2.8 billion) through his ownership of African Rainbow Minerals and Harmony Gold Mining. Other beneficiaries of mining wealth include Tokyo Sexwale and coal mine owner Sipho Nkosi, who served as president of the Chamber of Mines. Mining wealth has contributed to President Cyril Ramaphosas sprawling fortune. The black working classwho still make up 80-85 percent of minerscontinue to work in the brutal conditions. President Donald Trump meets South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, May 21, 2025, in Washington [AP Photo/Evan Vucci] Tens of thousands of zama zama miners, part of South Africas vast informal economy, make up a quarter to a third of the workforce. Lacking basic protections, they are subjected to hyper-exploitation, with their dangerous working conditions providing opportunities for criminal syndicates to thriveoften with political connections. Forced to work in abandoned mines, these undocumented miners sell the minerals they extract to mining companies or middlemen who profit from the illicit trade. This cycle of exploitation deepens their dependence on the underground economy, while mining corporations continue to profit from cheap, unregulated labor, avoiding responsibility for the hazardous conditions. For the South African ruling elite, the presence of migrant workers in the illegal mining industry serves as a convenient scapegoat for the problems facing the mining sector. Over the past four months, the ANC has arrested 1,826 miners, mostly migrants, including 1,128 Mozambicans, 473 Zimbabweans, 197 Basotho, and a Congolese and a Malawian. The Stalinist leadership within the ANC is directly responsible for these barbarous attacks on workers. Gwede Mantashe, former National Chairperson of the South African Communist Party (SACP) is the current Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources. Under this capacity he has consistently supported the mining corporations and governments crackdown on illegal miners. Months after the Stilfontein massacre, Mantashe declared in parliament: We collaborate with police, not only in Stilfontein, everywhere, and we love it. We love it. Mantashe also whipped up xenophobia against migrant workers, accusing them of raping our economy. As for the trade unions, they are also fully complicit. Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) and COSATU have remained completely silent on the mass arrests. A miner is transported on a stretcher by rescue workers after he was rescued from below ground in an abandoned gold mine in Stilfontein, South Africa, January 14, 2025. [AP Photo/Themba Hadebe] Meanwhile, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), which Ramaphosa once led, has backed the campaign, attacking mining companies for not doing more to support the crackdown and further inflaming xenophobia. In an interview to the media, an NUM spokesperson said this illegal mining has been happening for sometime [] The company is not doing anything. Instead, they are accusing our member of selling food to the Zama Zama miners. They forcefully take food from our members and this is causing a serious problem to our members who are now scared of going underground. The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) that claims to be a left alternative to the ANC has remained silent. What is needed is a truly socialist movement that defends the rights of all workers, whether local or migrant, against the violence of the state and the interests of capital. The solution to the mining crisis lies in the nationalisation of the mining industry, placing it under the democratic control of the working class. Only a socialist revolution that dismantles the capitalist state and reorders society in the interests of the workers can address the deep-seated inequalities and exploitation that have created this crisis. The World Socialist Web Site is continuing its reporting on the July 27 public hearing of the International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees investigation into the death of Stellantis worker Ronald Adams Sr. by publishing statements submitted to the investigation by workers and safety experts. Ronald Adams, a 63-year-old skilled tradesman, was crushed to death by an overhead gantry at the Dundee Engine Complex in Michigan on April 7 under circumstances which have still not been explained by either the company, the United Auto Workers, or the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration (MIOSHA). The hearing was attended by 100 workers, youth and community members. It was addressed by Shamenia Stewart-Adams, Ronald Adams widow, and featured powerful reports from Mack Trucks worker and IWA-RFC member Will Lehman, WSWS labor reporter Jerry White, and other autoworkers and rank-and-file workers. The meeting unanimously adopted a resolution to continue and expand the investigation, establish rank-and-file safety committees and build an international campaign to defend the lives and rights of workers. To become involved in the inquiry or to report information on workplace deaths and injuries, submit the form at the bottom of this page. Attendees unanimously adopt a resolution at the IWA-RFC investigation into the death of Ronald Adams, Sr., July 27, 2025 Steve, former Cal/OSHA compliance officer My name is Steve, and I am a former Cal/OSHA Compliance officer with over 30 years of occupational health and safety experience. I am writing to give my opinion on behalf of the independent rank-and-file inquiry into the death of Ronald Adams Sr. First, if I had investigated the death of Ronald Adams Sr., I would have immediately looked at why Stellantis and the UAW had skeleton keys in their lockout/tagout program. Central to an effective lockout/tagout program is effective key management. The existence of skeleton keys that circumvent each lockout lock that has a unique key brings into serious doubt that an employer has an effective lockout/tagout program. Second, I would look at the employers administrative section of their lockout/tagout program. Why would an employee be allowed to work on a piece of machinery or equipment for maintenance that was energized? The consequences of deviating from a lockout/tagout program, or not having an effective one, almost always result in a serious injury or death. I would also like to offer my thoughts on the horrific death of Brayan Neftali Toniel Canu Joj (19-year-old worker who was killed in July at the Tinas Burritos frozen-food plant in Vernon, California.) California General Industry Safety Order 8 C.C.R. 3202 Injury and Illness Prevention Program, which requires all employers in California to establish, implement, and maintain an effective Injury and Illness Prevention Program. Once more, it appears that Mr. Joj was cleaning a machine that unexpectedly energized, which resulted in his death. This, on its face, is a violation of General Industry Safety Order 8 C.C.R. 3314. The Control of Hazardous Energy for the Cleaning, Repairing, Servicing, Setting Up, and Adjusting Operations of Prime Movers, Machinery and Equipment, Including Lockout/Tagout. The right of employees to have a safe workplace is specifically spelled out in the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, aka the Williams-Steiger Act. Several states have supplemented the Williams-Steiger Act with their legislation on workplace health and safety. It is important to understand that all the regulations for workplace safety were paid for in blood. The blood of the people who were killed, injured, or sickened while trying to earn a living. Congress and state legislatures did not give employees these rights; workers demanded them. Thomas Adams, former GM worker in Flint, Michigan and author of searing critique, UAW, Inc. In relation to the death of Ronald Adams, I can find examples of the very same thing happening at General Motors where workers face speed ups and unsafe working conditions. UAW representatives on these safety committees are rubber stamping whatever management is doing. Thats how they did it at General Motors. The committees were supposedly established to maintain a high level of health and security in safety. But in fact, what the company was doing was buying the unions acquiescence in running their business however they wanted. We had a bunch of accidents at Buick City in Flint, where we had people getting smashed under dies. There was nothing left of them. We are talking about two story tall dies. People had slipped underneath the dies and got completely turned to liquid. And this was lockout, tag out, not being enforced. I never had an example of where they created an actual skeleton key, but what happened at Dundee doesnt surprise me. It sounds like the next logical thing. The joint funds and funding mechanism they are using at Stellantis and Ford are under different names. But its an insane amount of company money the UAW is getting even after they sold the training centers. I reported in 2019 that GM spent $3 billion on joint programs between 1982 and 2000. Ford and Chrysler reported spending more than $1.3 billion on joint programs between 1996 and 1999. Apparently the feds didnt see the importance of going after General Motors management when they went after the UAW directors of the joint training centers. They only indicted UAW officials. But, the UAW could not have spent any of that money unless there was 100 percent consensus by management and UAW officials on the board of directors. The federal government isnt serious about this. Wall Street interests are directing all of it. Thats obvious. The investment class is calling the shots. Thats why this rank-and-file investigation is so important. Workers deserve to know the full facts. To Ronald Adams family, I send my condolences. It is sad in this day and age we have UAW members lives sacrificed for profit. Ronald Adams Sr., his wife Shamenia Stewart-Adams, and one of their sons [Photo by Adams family] Autoworker and safety inspector in Michigan with over 40 years of experience at Big Three plants I witnessed a coworker have a heart attack on the line a few years ago. Our foreman called 911 but the person ended up dying. A general foreman made a statement that our safety protocol worked just like it should have. Obviously, I dont think it did at all. A lot of times you have parents, husbands, wives, kids all working in one plant. So, when something like this happens, when someone dies, it impacts not just that person but also the whole plant, and a lot of times theyre right there when it happens. At another plant that I worked at years ago, a coworker and a relative of mine was also crushed to death. He was on the line in the body shop and a car carrier came down and pushed him backwards and killed him. I didnt realize it was my family member until I was handed one of the arms of the stretcher that we were carrying him out on and it was clear to me that he was not going to make it. I heard that his kids were not doing too well after that and were having a lot of trouble. So, when you say that something like this devastates a family, it sure as hell does. He had to climb up a ladder where he was working in the plant. They couldve had a proximity switch on the ladder that when you grab the ladder, it moved down just a little bit and stopped everything. They couldve had a mat; they could have had a whole number of things in place to prevent that. But the company wants the numbers up. Thats how the plant works. So, people are discouraged from having those things in place or using those things because its all about keeping the numbers up. I dont believe in the UAWs safety nonsense at all. Theyre not doing what theyre supposed to be doing, theyre not doing what they are getting paid for. We workers have to look out for each other. Number one, we make sure if we see a problem, we tell our coworkers about it. I tell people, I dont want to be telling your wife why youre not coming home. In 1978, when I was 18 years old, I got my first job in an auto plant. My mom worked there and wanted to introduce me to an old nurse at the plant who was getting ready to retire. This nurse told me: You have to be careful in that warehouse with the forklift. Even back then, older people were trying to teach me how not to get hurt. I dont know why thats been lost but we have to bring it back. This dog eat dog mentality of the UAW leadership, not listening to the people on the floor, just worried about feathering their own nest, all the corruption: its all contributing to this problem of no safety in the plants. Workers have to look out for each other. No one is going to speak up for us until we do it ourselves. We have to keep this in the spotlight and keep talking about Ronald Adams. Thanks to everyone who is coming forward and speaking out, and thanks to the WSWS for keeping it out in the open. Tynisa Williams, a math teacher and founding member of the Alabama Educators Rank-and-File Committee First of all, I want to send condolences to the family of Ronald Adams and to all of the families of those we have lost in these industries, including those of 19-year-old Brayan Neftali Otoniel Canu Joj and 22-year-old Casen Garcia. (Tyson worker in Illinois) Im so sorry that because your family members did what they were supposed to doworking hard to feed their families, and they lost their lives. However, we thank you for going to the International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees (IWA-RFC). We need to come together to stop this death and pain. You are not alone. Were with you because its together that well be able to fight these corporations. You represent us and we are all with you to represent our families, our moms, our dads, our spouses. We are right there behind you to get you justice for your lost family member. The same thing happened here in Montgomery at the Hyundai plant where a worker on the line had a heart attack. When other workers stopped to try to help him, they were told to just keep going, that the ambulance was on the way. Well, shouldnt somebody be giving him CPR? The workers were told, No, you need to finish your production. That production is more important to them than your life. It took eight teachers to die in Montgomery, Alabama from COVID-19 [from November 2020 to January 2021] before they shut the schools down. They told us all that our lives were expendable. We went to the school board and said teachers were dying but they didnt hear us out. We tried to go to our union, the Alabama Educators Association. We pay dues but when we called them they didnt help. They said, Just do what they say and everything will be alright. No, we said, youre supposed to be on our side. But the people we pay to represent us were not on our side. So, we started taking pictures and showing the unsanitary and unsafe conditions in the school buildings. We started calling OSHA and the EPA and the Alabama Department of Public Health. It wasnt until we had our evidence to show that they started to pay attention. That information is only going to come from the inside, from the workers. We, the workers, have to understand what our power is. It was only when we spoke up, protested and walked out, that the Montgomery schools closed. It was only when we informed the school administration that we had 300 teachers who would refuse to be there when school reopened that we got their attention. Look, I care about my job and paying bills. But I cant pay bills if Im not alive. It gets to the point where we all have to walk out. I support this independent investigation because there is so much intentional cover-up. Also, the people who provide the information need to be protected, because only workers will do whats in the best interest of the workers. Corporations will do whats in their best interest, and their best interests do not include their workers. The only way we can defend ourselves is by having investigations like this one, where the people on the inside can speak up and provide evidence. I support the IWA-RFC because our power, our leverage, is all the workers, communicating together, like the Philadelphia garbage workers, the teachers, the meatpackers, and the autoworkers. Popular anger and frustration are rising over the Sri Lankan governments failure to provide adequate funding for life-saving medicines, essential medical equipment and laboratory facilities in the public hospitals and related health institutions. Patients are being forced to buy medicine and access services from private pharmacies and laboratories at exorbitant prices. Those who cannot afford these expenses face life-threatening risks. Nurses picketing at Matara General Hospital on February 27, 2025 against budget cuts Health Minister Nalinda Jayatissa has attempted to deflect the rising mass anger by blaming previous governments for failing to place timely orders for basic medical supplies. While this may be partly true, it is not the main cause of the worsening health crisis. During last years elections, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna/National Peoples Power (JVP/NPP) promised to improve the health service if elected. In line with International Monetary Fund (IMF) demands, the JVP/NPP government has reduced annual health expenditure to 383 billion rupees ($US1.27 billion) this year, down from 410 billion rupees in 2024. Sri Lankan hospitals face aging equipment, collapsing infrastructure, drug shortages and severe understaffing. Over 180 essential medicines are out of stock, vital tests face year-long delays, and life-saving devices are scarce. Nurses and doctors struggle with overwhelming workloads and increased exposure to diseases that the government is accused of downplaying. Attempting to deflect mounting public anger, the parliaments Sectoral Oversight Committee on Health, Media and Womens Empowerment met with health ministry officials on July 23 to review the situation. While health officials assured the committee that there would be no medicine shortages from 2026, neither they nor any government representative explained how patients are supposed to survive the next five months. World Socialist Web Site reporters recently spoke about the dire situation with medical staff and the relatives of patients at several key hospitals. Lakshmis husband has been receiving inpatient treatment for the past five months at Apeksha Hospital in Colombo, the countrys only dedicated cancer hospital. The couple are from Bandarawela, about 200 km away. She said the family had been forced to spend a significant amount of money for treatment over the past two months due to the lack of medicines and testing equipment at the facility. This includes 140,000 rupees (about $470) for a medicine called ARA-C. Some tests are not done here. Bone marrow tests are carried out through an Indian company. A single test costs about 40,000 rupees ($134). Ive already paid for two tests, Lakshmi said, explaining that she had to sell her jewellery to cover these expenses. The government has failed to intervene and resolve basic problems facing patients, she said. Even necessities, such as hot water, must be purchased. Chamila speaking with WSWS reporter Chamila from Matale in the Central Province, about 150 km from Colombo, brings her daughter to Apeksha Hospital for cancer treatment. We receive medicines from the hospital but must spend around 50,000 rupees ($168) per trip to bring our child here and take her home. Its a huge, unbearable amount. Ive been forced to take out 200,000 rupees in loans, she said. The hospital lacks an MRI machine, which means samples must be sent to Colombo National Hospital. If the state hospitals are privatised or made to pay levies to private institutions, then people could be left to die without any treatment. Some paying wards have already been introduced at Apeksha Hospital. A private hospital aide told the WSWS that expensive chemotherapy drugs are unavailable in the hospitals but are sold outside for hundreds of thousands of rupees and well beyond patients reach. He added that hospital equipment is severely dilapidated with radiotherapy machines breaking down weekly due to maintenance funding cuts. Sumitra, who is seeking treatment for her sibling, recounted how broken radiotherapy machines had delayed necessary care. She recalled that her brother had died two years ago under similar circumstances because he had not been given the required radiotherapy treatment. She said poor people feel utterly helpless because private care was so costly and remained inaccessible. Sumitra criticised the government, adding that pensioners savings were even being subjected to unfair taxes. How many lies were told so they could get into government? Now people are angry. They said they would spend sparingly and not use official government vehicles but all these [the election promises] are abandoned. Rice and coconut prices have skyrocketed. Ordinary people cannot survive these attacks, she said. A doctor from Badulla Hospital said, The lack of medicines and staff has worsened since this government came to power. Badulla Hospital is in Uva Province, about 230 kilometres east of Colombo, where some of the poorest sections of the islands population live. The doctor explained that although poor estate-worker mothers suffer from rheumatoid conditions, the hospital lacks adequate medicine. Because these women cannot afford to buy medicine from private pharmacies, they often give birth to underweight children. She denounced the JVP/NPP government, calling the health ministers claim that the highest budget allocation was made for health as a lie. A nursing officer with 10 years experience from Jaffna Teaching Hospital in the war-ravaged Northern and Eastern provinces where health services are among the worst in the country, explained, We are heavily understaffed, which is the main issue. Wards are always overcrowded. My ward currently has 47 patients, but its capacity is just 30 beds. This is the usual situation in every ward and so extra patients must sleep on the floor. We have just three nurses to care for them. If one takes leave, only two remain. Sometimes I have worked alone in one ward, she said. The overworked nurse explained that proper care is impossible under these conditions. Some patients, especially those needing special attention, are treated as burdens. Safe treatment requires fewer patients per nurse. Rushed care leads to deadly mistakes, she said. One patient had swallowed a medicine meant for vaginal use because no one properly explained the instructions. Overcrowded wards lack basic staff facilities, forcing nurses to rest on makeshift beds. There were no proper lunchrooms or washrooms, she added. The nurse blamed hospital administrators for overworking existing staff instead of hiring more. Patients free daily meals were being rationed because of drastic budget cuts. Nurses were also instructed not to register patients from Jaffna town and nearby areas. Many patients, she continued, have no visitorshigh bus fares and daily-wage jobs keep families awayand so dont get adequate food or clean clothes. The nurse explained that there was no proper program to improve nurses skills. The government does not support higher education. What will happen to the service if no one pursues further studies? she asked. She spent a large sum of money to complete her BSc in nursing but could not take academic leave to pursue a masters degree due to staff shortages. Earning around 60,000 rupees, her salary barely covers living expenses, even with overtime. She pays for board and uniforms (about 10,000 rupees) out of her own pocket. To survive, nurses are forced to work long hours and must sacrifice their family life because there is no alternative, she said. In March, nurses and other health workers protested the Dissanayake governments cuts to overtime, allowances, promotions and wages. The United National Party-aligned Government Nursing Officers Union stalled the action, following empty promises from the health minister. Other unions falsely praised the austerity budget as pro-worker. Sri Lankan union leaders continue to cling to President Dissanayakes bogus promise of a staggered salary increase over three years. German denim brand Closed filed for insolvency proceedings with the Hamburg District Court on Tuesday. Currently owned by Til Nadler, Gordon Giers and Hans Redlefse, the heritage brand is being advised by SJPP under the leadership of attorney Dr. Christian Mikolajczak. Attorney Stefan Denkhaus of the multidisciplinary law firm BRL has been appointed as provisional insolvency administrator for the Closed Group companies. More from Sourcing Journal Pre-financing of insolvency benefits for employees has already been initiated, securing a key foundation for the seamless continuation of business operations. In the next step, suppliers and other business partners will be integrated into the process. Denkhaus said initial promising talks with potential investors have begun. Closed is a great brandI am confident we will find an investor and preserve Closed as a Hamburg-based company, he added. Headquartered in Hamburg since the 90s, Closed has approximately 450 employees. The brand generates 120 million euros in annual revenue. BRL reports that 40 percent of revenue comes from wholesale with around 1,000 retail partners worldwide. Approximately 25 percent of revenue comes from Closeds online business and around 35 percent from retail business with 27 full-price stores primarily located in Germany and in other parts of Europe. Closed also has six outlets and nine franchise stores in Europe. Known for pioneering stonewashing and unique designs like angled X-pockets, Closed was founded by French designers Marithe and Francois Girbaud in 1978. The brand has exchanged business hands several times and undergone new creative direction over the years. Sustainability and European production are key pillars for the brand. Almost 90 percent of Closeds products are made in Europe. The brand is also scaling its Better Blue line of sustainable denim. In 2024, more than 73 percent of Closed denim products were made with sustainable materials, environmentally friendly dyeing techniques, and gentle washing methods. Chilean mining company Codelco has requested that Chile's mining regulator, Sernageomin, allow the reopening of a portion of its El Teniente mine, reported Reuters, citing two sources familiar with the matter. This follows an earthquake-induced collapse that resulted in the death of six workers last week. El Teniente is among the largest underground copper mines globally and produced more than 300,000 tonnes (t) of copper last year. Mining operations at El Teniente were halted to commence search and rescue operations, with Sernageomin subsequently imposing a formal suspension. Codelco has been instructed to submit four reports concerning the accident's causes and consequences before the suspension can be reconsidered. The company announced that it has complied with three information requests from Sernageomin and the Chilean labour inspection office. In addition to the reports, Codelco has been undertaking cleaning and maintenance at El Teniente's processing plants and smelter. The company has also been operating the smelter's anode furnaces bi-hourly to ensure the equipment remains functional. A source close to Codelco's operations indicated that the shift to 'maintenance mode' was due to the absence of copper for processing, as mining activities had ceased following the accident. Despite the halt in underground mining, Codelco initially continued its processing and smelting operations. However, the company has now had to seek permission to resume mining to maintain its operations. Minera Valle Central (MVC), a wholly owned subsidiary of Amerigo Resources, has also been affected by the suspension. Since 1992, MVC has been engaged in the production of copper concentrates through the processing of both fresh and historic tailings sourced from Codelco's El Teniente mine. MVC will continue processing historic tailings, while processing of fresh tailings will be on hold until El Teniente's operations are resumed. The full impact on Amerigo's annual production is yet to be determined and is contingent on the duration of El Teniente's closure. Currently, MVC estimates a daily production loss of 100,000 pounds of copper. "Codelco seeks approval to reopen El Teniente mine after earthquake-induced collapse" was originally created and published by Mining Technology, a GlobalData owned brand. The Gist Amal Clooney and her husband George were photographed in Lake Como, Italy on Wednesday. The human rights lawyer opted for a pink dress featuring a sultry thigh-high slit. The Clooneys have been spotted in Lake Como multiple times over the past week. Amal Clooney typically loves a neutral color palette, but she recently switched things up in a pop of pink. On Wednesday, she stepped out with husband George Clooney in Lake Como, Italy, where they've been spotted over the past week. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Amal opted for a fuchsia dress with a sultry thigh-high slit, which featured a small rosette affixed at the hip. She also added on a pair of slingback sandals, completing her look with a tiny gold purse, statement earrings, and oversized sunglasses. Cindy Ord/Getty Images Amal Clooney and George Clooney in 2023. Amal Clooney and George Clooney in 2023. George, meanwhile, sported a sleek slate suit and aviator frames. Last week, Amal embraced disco glamour for another date night with George. This time, the human rights lawyer modeled a sequined one-shoulder dress by Badgley Mischka. Backgrid George and Amal Clooney on July 30, 2025. George and Amal Clooney on July 30, 2025. Amal's sparkly number was trimmed with fringe, echoing fashion's current boho obsession. She accessorized with open-toe heels and a small clutch, wearing her highlighted brunette tresses in loose waves. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement George and Amal married in Venice, Italy in 2014, and three years later, they welcomed twins Ella and Alexander. Amal also favored a metallic look at the Cartier Women's Initiative Impact Awards in Osaka, Japan in May. She glittered in a gold Alexander McQueen gown complete with a plunging neckline and geometric sequin embroidery. Amal coordinated the archival numberfrom the designer's fall 2007 collectionwith her accessories, carrying a gold clutch and wearing matching metallic pumps. Cartier jewels, no less, including one of the brand's signature Baignoire watches, topped off her ensemble. In an Instagram post shared by Karie Kloss, Amal posed side-by-side with the supermodel, who is currently pregnant with her third child. The annual Cartier Women's Initiative Impact Awards honor up -and-coming female entrepreneurs. Read the original article on InStyle Its been nearly a month since Bad Bunny first lit up the iconic Coliseo de Puerto Rico Jose Miguel Agrelot (a.k.a. El Choli) with his historic residency, No Me Quiero Ir de Aqui. But the energy wasnt meant to stay confined to the island. With the residency now expanding its reach to fans beyond Puerto Rico, the buzz is extending worldwide and theres one platform where its especially evident: Tinder. Since the residencys announcement back in January, fans around the globe have been creatively inserting their love for Benito into their Tinder profiles. The data tells the story: mentions of Bad Bunny in bios have increased by nearly 13%, with men leading the charge at nearly 200% more mentions than women, according to Tinder stats shared with Billboard via email. Whether or not people snagged tickets to the concerts at El Choli, fans are finding their own ways to catch La Corriente. More from Billboard Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Activity on Tinder has skyrocketed in Puerto Rico itself, with a 35% increase in swiping on the island since July. Even more astonishing? A 52% increase in Tinder Passport Mode which lets users change their location to match with people in other cities or countries shows that Benito is turning San Juan into the hottest virtual travel destination of the year, data that the platform shared. So, who are the top virtual travelers landing in Puerto Rico to join the Bad Bunny buzz? Excluding the U.S., the data reveals that users from the Dominican Republic, Colombia, and Spain are leading the digital migration. Its almost as if everyone wants to capture the perfect profile picture call it a case of Debi Tirar Mas Fotos. The love for Bad Bunny extends to music, too. On Tinder, where Spotify anthems allow users to express their personality through songs, Benito reigns supreme as the No. 1 artist for users in Mexico, Spain, and Colombia (excluding the U.S.). Tracks from his new album are everywhere especially DtMF, BAILE INoLVIDABLE, and NUEVAYoL, Tinder reps inform. As Benito himself might say: No me quiero ir de aqui (I dont want to leave here), but folks clearly dont want to go alone either. Best of Billboard Sign up for Billboard's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. There is never a dull moment when it comes to the life of the royal family. Whether its a surprise birthday post from Meghan Markle that features Prince Harry or striking images of King Charles at his events, there are always plenty of memorable moments and pictures that instantly cause a conversation. The latest example of this is Princess Annes appearance at the Dublin Horse Show, which was posted on the official Buckingham Palace Instagram account on August 7. While her attendance drew a lot of excitement amongst fans, it was her striking portrait that stole the showand the sleek blue bag she carried on her shoulder that provided an ultra-relatable moment. The beautiful image can be seen in the first slide above. And as you scroll through, you'll notice she kept her purse on...the entire time. (Royals, they're just like us.) The move certainly made her seem much more relatable and down to earth. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The post was captioned, The Princess Royal has attended the official opening day of the 150th Dublin Horse Show at the Royal Dublin Society! The Dublin Horse Show brings together some of the top horses from around Ireland and the world, through competitions such as the best show horses and the best international show jumpers. During the visit, Her Royal Highness toured a special exhibition on the history of the Horse Show and met representatives from Festina Lente, a Bray-based charity which offers equine-assisted learning and therapy services. The Princess also met members of the Riding for the Disabled Association Ireland. Gareth Chaney/PA Images via Getty Images Coordinating her bag with a mint green blazer, a silk scarf and a dark green satin skirt, the princesss glowing appearance (and her respective charitable efforts) didnt go unnoticed. She looks fabulous! wrote one commenter, with another chiming in, I absolutely love Princess Royal. Moved with the times while keeping the Royal Family relevant and grounded. Hard working, very much like her mum. Hoda Davaine/Getty Images Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Princess Annes time at the Dublin Horse Show was reminiscent of the one-day visit to Gallipoli, Turkey, earlier this year, where she was seen rocking a pair of sporty, almost futuristic-looking sunglasses from Adidas that definitely brought forth the Y2K vibes. The princess may not be publicly photographed as often as other members of the royal family, but when she is, she always makes a statement. Want all the latest royal news sent right to your inbox? Click here. Princess Anne Wears Elegant Navy Wrap DressBut Her Large Sapphire Brooch Is the Real Head-Turner Why You Should Trust Us PureWow's editors and writers have spent more than a decade shopping online, digging through sales and putting our home goods, beauty finds, wellness picks and more through the wringerall to help you determine which are actually worth your hard-earned cash. From our PureWow100 series (where we rank items on a 100-point scale) to our painstakingly curated lists of fashion, beauty, cooking, home and family picks, you can trust that our recommendations have been thoroughly vetted for function, aesthetics and innovation. Whether you're looking for travel-size hair dryers you can take on-the-go or womens walking shoes that wont hurt your feet, weve got you covered. Aubrey Plaza recently was voted the Most Famous Delawarean by Delaware Online/The News Journal readers. Now she's going to play one of the most notorious brothel-runners in Hollywood history. Plaza will play one-time "Hollywood Madam" Heidi Fleiss, who ran a notorious high-end Los Angeles-based prostitution ring that included prominent and wealthy clients, including Hollywood actors. Plaza's "The Heidi Fleiss Story" was first relvealed in a Variety on Aug. 6. It is expected to begin filming soon. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In reaction to news of the film, Fleiss told TMZ she will not watch it "because 'the past is dead' to her and she's not trying to relive her life." Even so, she told the tabloid news site she is happy Plaza is the actress who will be portraying her: "Heidi tells us she's seen Aubrey's work in HBO's 'White Lotus' franchise and feels she's a great choice to play her on the big screen and will do a spectacular job." A sheriff's deputy clears the way through a crowd for Heidi Fleiss as she arrives at the Criminal Courts building for arraignment on five counts of pandering and one count of cocaine possession in 1993. "The Heidi Fleiss Story" will be the feature directorial debut of Leah Rachel (creator of Netflixs Chambers) and "follows Fleiss before trial, scrambling around Los Angeles trying to blackmail and leverage various connections to get the case dropped," according to Variety. Heidi Fleiss, the reputed "Hollywood Madam to the Stars," who was convicted on pandering charges in late 1994, appears in court in 1995 for a hearing to request a retrial. Fleiss was convicted of federal charges of tax evasion in September 1996 and spent three years in prison. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The news of the Fleiss project comes just weeks before the Aug. 22 release of Plaza's dark comedy "Honey Don't!," written and directed by Ethan Coen, half of the famed filmmaker duo the Coen brothers. It co-stars Margaret Qualley and Charlie Day. MOST FAMOUS Boom! Delaware's most famous person is revealed. Who did readers crown? TRIPLE THREAT Actress, comedian and author Aubrey Plaza prepares release of third book It's a busy time for Plaza, who released her third children's book, "Luna and the Witch Throw a Halloween Party," late last month. On the same day of her book release, Plaza won our "Most Famous Delawarean" poll, beating out boxer Dave Tiberi, who came in second place, and former President Joe Biden, who came in third. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Have a story idea? Contact Ryan Cormier of Delaware Online/The News Journal at rcormier@delawareonline.com or (302) 324-2863. Follow him on Facebook (@ryancormier) and X (@ryancormier). This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Filming begins soon for film starring Aubrey Plaza as Heidi Fleiss When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Credit: Toei Animation/Crunchyroll It's impossible to ignore anime's growing popularity. In Japan, the likes of Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle are breaking records but, in the US and beyond, shows such as Solo Leveling are becoming genuine bonafide hits. Speaking to President Online (H/T Automaton Media), Dragon Ball and One Piece director Tatsuya Nagamine and Toei producer Shinji Shimizu share their grand theories as to why anime has become such a sensation on western shores and it's partly down to Disney. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "I think overseas fans of animation are already tired of predictable Disney-style works," Nagamine said, pointing to anime's penchant for more outlandish adventures that are catching on with audiences worldwide. "Right now, only Japanese animation offers bizarre stories where you truly cant predict what will happen next," Nagamine offered. Shimizu weighed in, "Japanese anime comes from comics. There is great care put into the characters. Disney, on the other hand, has predetermined storylines, and there is always a happy ending. In Japanese anime, you may see a protagonist die halfway through, or a villain turn out to be a hero its made to be satisfying even for adults." While the pair's comments may seem outspoken, it's not uncommon for Japanese creatives to take aim at Disney's output. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As recounted in Steve Alpert's Sharing a House with the Never-Ending Man, Studio Ghibli director and co-founder Hayao Miyazaki criticized the "terrible" work on Fantasia 2000 during a studio tour. With a serious amount of new anime on the horizon, it appears anime could yet scale even greater heights. Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle will be joined in cinemas later this year by the Chainsaw Man movie, while the action-heavy Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War part 4 and more melancholic Frieren: Beyond Journey's End season 2 show the malleability of the medium in 2026 and beyond. For more, check out the best anime movies you should be watching right now, plus all the latest on Jujutsu Kaisen season 3. NEED TO KNOW Emma Thompson was photographed posing next to her 25-year-old daughter Gaia as the two attended the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland Her daughter, who stood just a little bit taller than her mom, wore a sparkly, white sheer shirt and matching white sparkly shorts Thompson and husband Greg Wise share Gaia and son Tindyebwa "Tindy" Agaba, whom they adopted from Rwanda Emma Thompson's daughter is her mini-me! Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Sense and Sensibility star, 66, was photographed posing next to her 25-year-old daughter Gaia as the two attended the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland. Thompson, who stars in the film The Dead of Winter, which premiered at the festival, could be seen wearing a two-piece white set with cherries on it. Her daughter, who stood just a little bit taller than her mom, wore a sparkly, white sheer shirt and matching white sparkly shorts. Gaia looked like the spitting image of her mom as the two smiled for photos together. Never miss a story sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Alessandro Levati/Getty Emma Thompson and her daughter Gaia Wise on Aug. 8, 2025 in Locarno, Switzerland Emma Thompson and her daughter Gaia Wise on Aug. 8, 2025 in Locarno, Switzerland Thompson and husband Greg Wise share Gaia and son Tindyebwa "Tindy" Agaba, whom they adopted from Rwanda. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In July 2024, Thompson's daughter Gaia shared a cheeky post on her Instagram Stories poking fun at 2023's Barbie movie's tagline and Thompson's ex, Kenneth Branagh. The post, shared on X (formerly Twitter) in July 2023, featured stills from the 1993 adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing starring Thompson, 65, and Branagh, 63. "She's everything. He's just Ken," it read, with a picture of Thompson as Beatrice on the left, and Branagh as Benedick on the right. Thompson and Branagh met on the set of the 1987 miniseries Fortunes of War. They married in 1989 before splitting six years later when the Dunkirk actor had an affair with Helena Bonham Carter. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement She later went on to marry Wise, whom she met while filming the 1995 period drama Sense and Sensibility. Alessandro Levati/Getty Emma Thompson and her daughter Gaia Wise on Aug. 8, 2025 in Locarno, Switzerland Emma Thompson and her daughter Gaia Wise on Aug. 8, 2025 in Locarno, Switzerland Before filming started, Wise had visited a witchy friend who told him that he would meet the love of his life on the set of the film. "He assumed it wasn't me because I was married and quite a lot older than him, so he thought it might be Kate [Winslet, Thompson and Wises costar on Sense & Sensibility]," Thompson said during an appearance on The Graham Norton Show in 2021, per Hello!. She went on to explain that Wise took Winslet to the Glastonbury Festival, but Winslet was so bored, prompting Wise to think that his destined partner may be someone else. She continued, "Then things happened that probably shouldn't have happened, and it's been 25 years in May [2021]. Read the original article on People The Gist Heidi Klum posed completely naked for Paris Match. She shared photos from the shoot on Instagram today. Earlier this week, Klum said she and her husband were trying a "worm and parasite cleanse." Heidi Klum wore literally nothingnot even makeupfor her latest photoshoot. On Thursday, the supermodel shared snaps from her new Paris Match pictorial, in which she poses nude on the beach in St. Barths. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement " MERCI @parismatch," Klum wrote in the caption of a new Instagram post. Aside from a pair of pointy red fingernails, the former Victoria's Secret Angel showed off her shaggy bangsa hairdo she debuted in June. While the style is a marked departure from her typical long layers, it's hardly the first time she's had bangs. Back in 2021, Klum shared a video of herself trimming her own fringe after her husband, Tom Kaulitz, told her it was his favorite hairstyle. This is clearly not a how-to video, she said in the clip. Yesterday, Klum stepped out in New York wearing one of her wackiest looks yet, modeling a design from one of Project Runway's current contestants. Klum returns to host the reality competition series for its 21st season, airing now on Freeform, Hulu, and Disney+. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement For an appearance on Good Morning America, the Calzedonia spokesmodel selected a cutout denim dress created by Belania Daley of BCD Planet. Featuring sheer puff sleeves, pops of butter yellow, polka dot panels, and a peplum skirt, her frock combined multiple current trends. Getty Images Heidi Klum on August 6, 2025. Heidi Klum on August 6, 2025. Klum added on jeweled statement earrings and rings, completing her look with navy pumps. "Love love love this fit DANKE @belania_daley @bcdplanet ," Klum captioned another recent Instagram post. Earlier this week, Klum revealed that she and Kaulitz, a German musician, are going to deworm and de-parasite for the first time" as part of a months-long regimen. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Everything Im getting on my Instagram feed at the moment is about worms and parasites," she told the Wall Street Journal. "So Im doing a worm cleanse and parasite cleanse with my husband." The supermodel said she feels "really behind" as people are supposed to do this once a year. Getty Images Heidi Klum and Tom Kaulitz at the 2024 Grammy Awards. Heidi Klum and Tom Kaulitz at the 2024 Grammy Awards. Read the original article on InStyle By Akbar Novruz The geopolitical, geostrategic, and geoeconomic dynamics in the South Caucasus are on the verge of a transformative shift. The upcoming meeting in Washington between Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, facilitated by US President Donald Trump, signals the promising dawn of a new phase that could reshape long-standing political realities in the region. This pivotal encounter not only paves the way for a potential peace agreement between these historically rival nations but also underscores the United States' commitment to emerging as a key strategic actor in the South Caucasus. Now is the time for us to recognise the significance of this moment and support efforts that could lead to lasting stability and dialogue in a region that has experienced decades of conflict. Now, let us take a brief look at the history of the processes and their possible implications. Azerbaijans conditions for signing a peace agreement remain unchanged, as President Ilham Aliyev recently stated at the III Shusha Global Media Forum: the abolition of the OSCE Minsk Group and amendments to Armenias Constitution to remove territorial claims against Azerbaijan. While constitutional amendments are expected to be addressed in the longer term, the decision to abolish the Minsk Group can be made now. Azerbaijan has no aggressive plans against Armenia. Baku is negotiating with the current legitimate leadership in Yerevan. This reassertion of the peace agenda is not a new development but a continuation of a process that began when Azerbaijan presented its five basic principles for a peace agreement in spring 2022. All agreements between Azerbaijan and Armenia are being reached in a bilateral format, an approach proposed by Baku and achieved despite resistance from Armenia and its backers. The expectation on communications remains firm: the Zangazur Corridor must operate under a special regime, with international oversight to ensure non-obstruction and security. The upcoming meeting will mark the first direct encounter between the presidents of Azerbaijan and the United States. It presents an opportunity to define the bilateral agenda. Meetings with Donald Trump often bring surprises, whether pleasant or unpleasant, that will be revealed in due course. What is already clear is that President Trump has publicly endorsed Ilham Aliyevs positions on social media. A few months before the US elections, Azerbaijani President openly stated that he shared Trumps political views, a bold stance when the Democratic administration still held power in Washington. During Trumps presidency, the two leaders exchanged letters and phone calls, and Trumps personal envoy visited Baku. In modern diplomacy, personal relationships often play a decisive role. Following this visit, plans are in motion to establish a Strategic Working Group to draft a Strategic Partnership Charter, with priorities in energy, trade, logistics, artificial intelligence, digital infrastructure, and security and defence, notably free from the ideological undertones of the BidenBlinken foreign policy approach. For these plans to be fully realised, however, the outdated and unjust Section 907 amendment must be repealed. Azerbaijan has always favoured pragmatic relations with the US, and now it is time for pragmatism to prevail in Washington as well. Once again, we are witnessing President Aliyevs ability to feel the time. Why is this meeting so significant, and who stands to gain the most from it? Russia, which has long been a key player in the peace talks between Azerbaijan and Armenia, is no longer involved in the process. Both countries have shown that they no longer wish for Russia to take on this role, primarily due to its recent strained relations with Azerbaijan and its insufficient support for the Armenian authorities. The meeting in Abu Dhabi in June clearly underscored this shift. Within the framework of the Washington talks, a joint declaration is set to be signed, confirming the peaceful intent of relations between Azerbaijan and Armenia. The sides will jointly appeal to the OSCE for the dissolution of the Minsk Group and commit to taking additional steps to achieve the signing and ratification of the peace agreement. This fulfils the first of Azerbaijans two core conditions and sets the groundwork for the second amending Armenias Constitution. Ratification will be tied to the outcome of a 2026 referendum in Armenia. Significantly, these developments are occurring with the direct participation of the President of the United States, a co-chair of the now-defunct Minsk Group and a figure with influence over most of its former member states. The agreed text of the peace treaty, already initialled by the foreign ministers, ensures that the negotiated provisions will remain intact. Initialling is not signing, but it is a decisive step forward. The United States is working to prevent potential conflicts in the South Caucasus and to facilitate the resolution of the Russia-Ukraine war in the post-Soviet region. This approach will involve a combination of negotiation and competition with Russia. Both Russia and the US are likely to express their concerns regarding each other's future expansionist ambitions, particularly in relation to Azerbaijani-Armenian relations. Armenia will serve as the context for this dynamic. The Bigger Picture: Transport Corridor The joint declaration also confirms Armenias agreement to provide unhindered movement between mainland Azerbaijan and Nakhchivan. The Zangazur Corridor will operate under a special regime, a sovereign decision by Armenia made in agreement with the United States. International guarantees for security and non-obstruction, long advocated by President Aliyev, will now be implemented under a USArmenia framework. The primary issue we've consistently highlighted in our articles regarding the restoration of communications and the opening of the Zangazur Corridor is that this initiative should be considered from a broader perspective. This corridor will establish a land connection with the Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan, facilitating freedom of movement. Moreover, the United States will gain a strategic foothold in the region and, by acting as a guarantor, will help prevent potential conflicts and resolve the ongoing stalemate in negotiations. For Armenia, this project offers a chance to break free from years of economic isolation. Positioned between Asia and Europe, the country stands to significantly enhance its economic prospects by allowing this corridor to be developed. This initiative will open the door to various energy and infrastructure projects, leading to substantial improvements in Armenia's economic well-being. The United States is closely monitoring not only Russia's ambitions in the South Caucasus but also China's activities in the region. China may become a reliable mediator between Baku and Yerevan in the future. Consequently, the US prioritises maintaining diplomatic and defence support for Yerevan. The noticeable positive trend in Turkiye's relations with the United States over the past two years also has the potential to affect Baku-Washington relations. The US strategy regarding Azerbaijan is as follows: if Washington's objectives align with those of Azerbaijan, the cooperation among Azerbaijan, Turkiye, and the US could serve to protect Armenia from Russian threats. This situation is particularly significant in light of the upcoming elections in Armenia next year. To achieve this, the US must take into account Azerbaijan's demands, especially regarding the Zangazur corridor. President Aliyevs consistent peace leadership President Ilham Aliyev has shaped and driven the peace agenda with deliberate consistency. From restoring Azerbaijans sovereignty and territorial integrity within international law to initiating a peace deal with Armenia, finalising the treaty text, and securing a principled position on the opening of communications, his approach has been strategic and patient. This progress has been achieved despite obstacles on the ground and in the UN Security Council. Throughout, President Aliyev has shown restraint, defended Azerbaijans perspective, and reframed external proposals positively, without succumbing to threats and blackmail from political figures. This meeting will highlight the failure of those figures. Today, many disputes of the past have been resolved, and the focus is shifting toward a future built on regional stability and mutually recognised sovereignty. If the United States can broker a peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia, it will be able to claim a leadership role in resolving a conflict that has eluded Russia, the European Union, the United Nations, and others for more than three decades. A big increase in the tax on university endowments is adding to financial uncertainty for the wealthiest colleges in the U.S., leading several already to lay off staff or implement hiring freezes. Spending more endowment money on taxes could also lead colleges to reduce financial aid, cutting off access to elite institutions for lower-income students, colleges and industry experts have warned. President Donald Trump signed the tax increase into law last month as part of his signature spending bill. The new tax rates take effect in 2026, but colleges such as Harvard, Yale and Stanford already are citing the tax as one of many reasons for making cuts across their universities. Each will be on the hook to pay hundreds of millions more in taxes, while also navigating reductions in research grants and other threats to funding by the Trump administration. A tax on college endowments was introduced during Trump's first administration, collecting 1.4% of wealthy universities' investment earnings. The law signed by Trump last month creates a new tiered system that taxes the richest schools at the highest rates. The new tax will charge an 8% rate at schools with $2 million or more in assets for each enrolled student. Schools with $750,000 to $2 million will be charged 4%, and schools with $500,000 to $750,000 will continue to be charged the 1.4% rate. The tax applies only to private colleges and universities with at least 3,000 students, up from the previous cutoff of 500 students. The tax now will really solely apply to private research universities, said Steven Bloom, assistant vice president of government relations for the American Council on Education. Its going to mean that these schools are going to have to spend more money under the tax, taking it away from what they primarily use their endowment assets for financial aid. This small group of wealthy colleges faces a tax increase The law will increase the endowment tax for about a dozen universities, according to an Associated Press analysis of data from the National Association of College and University Business Officers. Harvard, Yale, Stanford, Princeton and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are expected to pay the 8% rate next year. The schools facing the 4% rate include Notre Dame, Dartmouth College, Rice University, University of Pennsylvania, Washington University in St. Louis and Vanderbilt University. Some universities are on the edge of the law's parameters. Both Duke and Emory, for instance, were shy of the $750,000-per-student endowment threshold based on last fiscal year. Gordon Ramsay cannot stand poorly-run businesses, including both restaurants and hotels. After over 20 years on television, the celebrity chef and television host is no stranger to working with difficult business owners, usually restaurateurs, to make their failing ventures successful, with many viewers tuning into one of his most famous projects, "Kitchen Nightmares." In 2025, Ramsay is tackling bad restaurants from behind the cameras on "Secret Service," where he surveys and critiques poor practices through hidden cameras and secret diners. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement However, Ramsay doesn't just tackle restaurants. You may be familiar with "Hotel Hell," a successor to "Kitchen Nightmares," where Ramsay tries to help struggling hotels find their footing, despite the many disagreements, walk-outs and screaming matches that take place. Here is the Connecticut inn that Ramsay visited on "Hotel Hell" and where it is now. Gordon Ramsey has critiqued both restaurants and hotels. The Curtis House Inn, Woodbury Where: 506 Main St. About: Located in Woodbury, Connecticut, the Curtis House Inn was known as the oldest inn in the state. The episode saw the dysfunction of the two innkeepers, a pair of siblings, on full display. Unpalatable food, rooms falling into disrepair and draconian pricing policies plagued the inn during the episode, and it was up to Ramsay to help fix it. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement What happened: The episode aired in 2014, with it ending in a pleasant remodel of the over 200-year-old inn. However, the Curtis House Inn would be sold in 2019. Michael Bates-Walsh acquired the property, becoming the current owner, according to Connecticut Post reporting. After more renovations, the inn reopened as the 1754 House, which is situated at 506 Main St. S in Woodbury, Connecticut. Rin Velasco is a trending reporter. She can be reached at rvelasco@gannett.com. This article originally appeared on The Bulletin: Was Gordon Ramsay able to save this CT inn? Here's how it's doing Jonathan Bailey is seemingly everywhere across space and time, from the Regency era of Bridgerton to the fantasy world of the Wicked films. But, one place weve really enjoyed seeing him lately is in the dangerous grasslands near the equator facing off against dinosaurs in Jurassic World Rebirth. The British actor plays Dr. Henry Loomis, a bespectacled paleontologist with a heart of gold who ends up on a life-changing mission. This role took Bailey right into the heart of Thailand for shooting, which was no easy feat considering the locations oppressive humidity and almost prehistoric terrain. In fact, we got just a taste of Jonathan Baileys filming experience during a recent press trip to Thailand, thanks to Universal All Access and Mandy Kay Marketing. While there, we scaled a wall during a rock climbing expedition, set sail to explore caves and lagoons, and even trekked through the exact same grassland location where Dr. Loomis first saw the Titanosaurus herd. That moment of sheer awe mirrors and measures up to the first time Dr. Alan Grant laid eyes on a majestic creature brought back to life. It translates so effortlessly on film, but filming is anything but considering that theres no actual dino there. Universal Pictures So, how did Bailey translate those emotions and the physicality of his character to screen. Well, being in the elements certainly helps. When youre wading through mangroves up to your nipples, it really helps for a physicality and a specificity, he tells us during an interview in Thailand. While we suspect that his theater roots help translate these elements to cinema (which he didnt disagree with), he does say that acting changes due to different lenses. I also describe it as a different [view], like an apex and a concave lens on stage youre doing something very specific that you have to put through the lens to magnify its work for everybody. And on film, you just think about it in the other way, that everything youre doing comes to a point. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Oftentimes in Jurassic World Rebirth, that point is imaginary or a random stand-in for something terrifying. Along with his castmates, director Gareth Edwards, and others, you can experience the glory of this film at home. RELATED ARTICLE Jonathan Bailey Joins Orchestra to Record JURASSIC WORLD: REBIRTH Soundtrack It is currently available to own or rent through several retailers and comes with some pretty sweet bonus materials: ALTERNATE OPENING DELETED SCENES RAPTORS Featuring Mahershala Ali, Jonathan Bailey, Rupert Friend, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, David Iacono, Luna Blaise and Audrina Miranda MUTADON ATTACK Featuring Scarlett Johansson, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, David Iacono, Rupert Friend, Luna Blaise and Audrina Miranda JURASSIC WORLD REBIRTH : HATCHING A NEW ERA THE WORLD EVOLVES Journey into a reimagined Jurassic World with Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Bailey, Mahershala Ali and the rest of the cast and filmmakers. OFF THE DEEP END Dive into the thrilling ocean sequence and learn about the challenges of shooting on open water, the one-of-a-kind gimbal used to toss around the Essex and Mariposa, and the VFX wizardry that brought the Mosasaurus and Spinosaurs to life. TREKKING THROUGH THAILAND Follow the cast and crews footsteps as they navigate the challenges of shooting in exotic jungles, beaches, and tall grass fields that become home to the Titanosaurs. REX IN THE RAPIDS Brace for a T. rex encounter thats different than anything experienced before with a nail-biting river chase recreated from Michael Crichtons original Jurassic Park novel. DONT LOOK DOWN Soar into the Quetzalcoatlus sequence with Scarlett Johansson, Jonathan Bailey, and Bechir Sylvain as they train for and shoot their cliff rappelling scenes. MINI-MART MAYHEM Go inside the heart-stopping third act of Jurassic World Rebirth and witness the process of crafting sets that allow the movies mutant dinosaurs to step out of nightmare-inspired designs and stop on an exhilarating rampage. GAG REEL MEET DOLORES Meet the animatronic Aquilops with an extraordinarily lifelike personality. MUNCHED: BECOMING DINO FOOD Get a victims firsthand view inside the frightening jaws of deadly dinosaurs that munch, chomp, and chew their way into creating unforgettable death sequences. A DAY AT SKYWALKER SOUND Actress Audrina Miranda guides a personal tour of Skywalker Sound in California to meet the audio editors, foley artists, and mixers who design the movies wide array of sounds. HUNTING FOR EASTER EGGS Find out where to look for cleverly hidden Easter eggs that pay homage to everything from the first Jurassic Park film to other Steven Spielberg classics. FEATURE COMMENTARY WITH DIRECTOR GARETH EDWARDS, PRODUCTION DESIGNER JAMES CLYNE, AND FIRST ASSISTANT DIRECTOR JACK RAVENSCROFT FEATURE COMMENTARY WITH DIRECTOR GARETH EDWARDS, EDITOR JABEZ OLSSEN, AND VISUAL EFFECTS SUPERVISOR DAVID VICKERY Can you mimic Jonathan Baileys incredulous expressions to a tee? You can find out and see by grabbing this film on digital and watching it in the comfort of your own home. Boutique international sales and distribution company Parallax Films has boarded world sales on Chinese title A Dance in Vain, the second feature from Lee Hong-chi following his 2023 Venice Lion of the Future Award-winning debut Love is a Gun. The film has been selected for the Settimana Internazionale della Critica (SIC), the independent and parallel section of the Venice International Film Festival organized by the Union of Italian Film Critics (SNCCI). More from Variety Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The deal marks Parallaxs second collaboration with Lee after handling international sales on Love is a Gun. Interestingly, A Dance in Vain was actually shot before Lees breakthrough success with Love is a Gun, but extended post-production delayed its completion, allowing the directors debut to reach audiences first. The drama stars Cici Wang as Monkey, a theater company worker struggling to make ends meet in an unnamed big city. The story follows her repetitive daily existence, haunted by the 2020 suicide of her boyfriend Leo, who had returned to his hometown before taking his own life. Caught in cycles of routine and isolation, Monkey attempts to communicate her exhaustion to others, only to be met with dismissive responses telling her she should be grateful for what she has. Lee serves triple duty as director, screenwriter and cinematographer on the Chinese production, with Qi Ai and Justine O. producing. The filmmaker has established himself as both a performer and director in recent years. He won the best new performer award at the 52nd Golden Horse Awards and best leading actor at the 17th Taipei Film Festival for his role in Thanatos, Drunk. His acting credits include over 10 acclaimed features such as Bi Gans Long Days Journey Into Night (2018 Cannes), Midi Zs Cities of Last Things (winner of Platform Prize at 2018 Toronto International Film Festival), Lulu Wangs Tigertail (Netflix), and Baby (2018 San Sebastian). Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The 40th edition of the Settimana Internazionale della Critica features seven films in competition: Agon by Giulio Bertelli (Italy, U.S, France), Cotton Queen by Suzannah Mirghani (Germany, France, Palestine, Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan), Gorgona by Evi Kalogiropoulou (Greece, France), Ish by Imran Perretta (U.K.), Roqia by Yanis Koussim (Algeria, France, Qatar, Saudi Arabia), Straight Circle by Oscar Hudson (U.K.), and Waking Hours by Federico Cammarata and Filippo Foscarini (Italy). Special events include Confini, canti by Simone Massi as the opening film, Incontro di notte by Liliana Cavani as the closing film, Stereo Girls, and 100 Nights of Hero. In collaboration with the 82nd Venice International Film Festival, the section also presents A Dance in Vain. The SIC@SIC Short Italian Cinema section features seven titles in competition: Arca by Lorenzo Quagliozzi (Italy), Family Feast by Nadir Taji (Italy), Marina by Paoli De Luca (Italy), The Motorcycle by Matteo Giampetruzzi (Italy, Denmark, Spain), The Lost Child by Paolo Baiguera (Italy), The Pornographer by Hariel (Italy), and Saints by Valeria Gaudieri (Italy). The sections special events include Restare by Fabio Bobbio (Italy) as the opening short film and Confini, canti by Simone Massi (Italy) as the closing short film. The seven competition features are eligible for multiple awards including the IWonderfull Grand Prize (10,000/$11,645), Settimana Audience Award (3,000), and the Luciano Sovena Award for best independent producer (3,000/$3,495). All competition films are also eligible for the Lion of the Future Luigi De Laurentiis Venice Award for a Debut Film, worth $100,000, donated by Filmauro, to be divided equally between the producer and director. Best of Variety Sign up for Variety's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) A Portland jazz legend has died at the age of 85. Nancy King was known the world over, praised for her voice and her improvisational skills on stage. Words like treasure and unique talent are often spoken by those who knew King. Vegetation fire on Hwy 58 prompts Go Now evacs Nancy King, to many, was perhaps the best jazz vocalist to ever live. And she just so happened to live in Portland, Oregon, said Portland State University Jazz Professor Sherry Alves. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Alves knew King well, having interviewed King many times for her doctoral dissertation. A Grammy nominee, King grew up outside Springfield, started her career at the University of Oregon and said she was asked to leave because of her civil rights activism in the 1960s. She was known for her ability to scat, an improvisational vocal style in bebop and jazz. She was also known for her signature rose-colored glasses. She was absolutely magical as a musician and a person. And its kind of hard to describe a person who can move so many people in so many ways, Alves said. Alves said King could sing circles around any song, including well-known standards that she would make her own. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Over her career, she performed with other jazz legends, including Pharoah Sanders and Miles Davis. 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. When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Credit: Getty Images Royals and horses go hand in hand, but no one epitomizes the horse girl aesthetic more than Princess Anne. Queen Elizabeth's only daughter inherited her mom's love of all things equestrianand was an Olympic competitor to bootand on Thursday, August 7, she traveled to Ireland for a very on-brand outing. The Princess Royal, 74, also took a cue from the late Queen's fashion playbook for her Irish adventure, wearing shades of green while visiting the 150th Dublin Horse Show. Diplomatic dressing is a key part of royal visits, and Princess Anne represented Ireland's flag by wearing a dark green skirt with a mint-hued blazer while meeting with Ireland's president, Michael Higgins, and first lady Sabina Higgins. She accessorized with a blue and green scarf and a very appropriate broocha diamond-studded gold horse pin she's been wearing since the '80s. Advertisement Advertisement Noting that the brooch "aligns with her deep passion for horses and her successful equestrian career," Steven Stone Jewelers estimates that the Princess Royal's favorite horse brooch is valued at 15,000 or roughly $20,000. Princess Anne met with Ireland's president, Michael D. Higgins, and his wife Sabina Higgins before the horse show. | Credit: The Royal Family/X Princess Anne met with members of Riding for the Disabled Ireland. | Credit: The Royal Family/X The Princess Royal met some horses during the event. | Credit: The Royal Family/X After her presidential meeting, the princess headed to the Dublin Horse Show, meeting with competitors, horses and an organization that's been close to her heart for decades. The Princess Royal has been involved with Riding for the Disabled since 1971, having served its patron before becoming president in 1985. During the horse show, she spoke with members of the organization, which gives young people and adults with disabilities opportunities in riding and carriage driving along with equine therapy and other services. Per the Royal Family, she also met with a local charity called Festina Lente, which provides equine-assisted learning and therapy services, and toured an exhibition on the history of the horse show as it celebrates its 150th anniversary. Shop Similar Drapey-Twill Blazer Advertisement Advertisement View Deal 100% Washable Silk Skirt | Quince View Deal Floral Silk Square Scarf View Deal When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Credit: Getty Images Prince Harry made the "unthinkable" decision to step down from Sentebale, the charity he founded nearly 20 years ago, amid shocking bullying claims earlier this year. On August 5, the U.K.'s Charity Commission released the reports of its investigationwhich cleared the Duke of Sussex of "harassment" or "misogyny"but now a source close to the royal has condemned a statement from Sentebale's chair. Prince Harry, his Sentebale co-founder, Prince Seeiso of Lesotho, and trustees of the charity stepped down in March amid disputes involving its chair, Dr. Sophie Chandauka. The Zimbabwean lawyer then lashed out in a statement, raising allegations of "poor governance, weak executive management, abuse of power, bullying, harassment, misogyny, misogynoirand the cover-up that ensued." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to the Charity Commission's report , there was no evidence of "over-reach" by the Duke of Sussex or Chandauka, nor was there any "widespread or systemic bullying or harassment, including misogyny or misogynoir at the charity." However, the commission said "all parties" were to blame for the "incalculable damage" to Sentebale due to the media firestorm surrounding the charity battle. Prince Harry is pictured with Nacho Figueras and Sophie Chandauka at the 2023 Sentebale ISPS Handa Polo Cup. | Credit: Getty Images Prince Harry is pictured with a group of women during an October 2024 visit to Lesotho with Sentebale. | Credit: Getty Images After the Charity Commission's report this week, Chandauka's statement read, in part, "Despite the recent turbulence, we will always be inspired by the vision of our founders, Prince Harry and Prince Seeiso, who established Sentebale in memory of their precious mothers, Princess Diana and Queen Mamohato." The Duke of Sussex and Prince Seeiso founded their former charity in 2006, and a source close to Prince Harry told the Telegraph that bringing up Diana's name was inappropriate given the circumstances. "For Sophie Chandauka to have invoked Princess Dianas memory in her own defense was in the poorest possible taste," the insider said. "Shes got what she wants, which is control of the charity, but unfortunately the people who suffer most out of all of thisare the children of Lesotho and Botswana. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The source added that it was "devastating" for Prince Harry to watch Sentebale "go down in flames" after he made the charity "his life's work" for the past 19 years. Moving forward, the duke is said to be considering other ways to work with young people in Southern Africa. On August 6, a Sentebale statement insinuated that Chandauka's battle with the Duke of Sussex isn't over. It read, "The Commission has not investigated any individual allegations and therefore has not made any findings in relation to individuals, including Prince Harry. The issues not investigated by the Commission can and may be dealt with through avenues more appropriate than the Commission." Taylor Lautner Shares How He and Wife Tay Help Each Other Through Mental Health Ruts (Exclusive) originally appeared on Parade. Taylor Lautner is getting candid about his mental health and how he and wife Tay Lautner help each other through tough times. The Home Team star, 33, opened up about the subject while chatting exclusively with Parade amid his partnership with Blue Buffalo Wilderness for their summer adventure series. SIGN UP for Parade's Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox It's easy to slip up and to get in these ruts where you stop prioritizing [your mental health], he begins. Having each other in that journey is really helpful. We both often can identify each other when one of us is in a down cycle before we even know it, and we know what to do to pick the other one up. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The duo, who tied the knot in November 2022, are currently spending the summer in Idaho. Taylor goes on to tell Parade that exploring the great outdoors and being in nature plays a big role in the pairs overall wellbeing. For me personally, I think it's why we put the emphasis on spending this summer the way that we are [right now, because] when I fall out of being outside in nature and being active, that is when I notice that my mental health struggles, he continues. So it has been a really beautiful thing for both of us this summer to put an emphasis on being active and being outdoors, being in nature. So Im super thankful for that. Taylor and Tays summer adventure wouldnt be complete without their two dogs, Lily and Remi, whom the Twilight alum refers to as the couples children. His love for their pups is the reason why partnering with Blue Buffalo Wilderness the nations No. 1 most trusted natural pet food brand was an easy yes. Courtesy of Blue Buffalo Wilderness We have two dogs, so they're our family. They come everywhere we do. It just makes sense to fuel them with the right ingredients the same way that Tay and I fuel ourselves, he says. So we thought it would be really cool to team up and follow this summer adventure series that I'm doing, because we wanted to spend a lot of the summer outdoors. It was a perfect fit, and I'm honored to be partnered with them. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As for which products Taylors dogs cant get enough of, he tells Parade that they love the Blue Buffalo Wilderness Adult Chicken with Wholesome Grains recipe, as well as the Wilderness Wild Cuts. The Wild Cuts have this gravy in them that makes them irresistible, and you can use them as toppers or just a little treat along the way, he says. But I would say that's probably their go-to. I mean, they love the chicken recipe, but the Wilderness Wild Cuts are their little secret. Blue Buffalo is also running a promotion through Aug. 31 on its Instagram account, where social media users are encouraged to comment their favorite place to adventure with their dog, using #BLUEWilderness to enter the Made for Adventure sweepstakes. One lucky winner will be randomly selected to win a years supply of Wilderness dog food, as well as a Jeep Wrangler. Related: Latest Twilight Cast Reunion Has Fans Saying the Same Thing Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Taylor Lautner Shares How He and Wife Tay Help Each Other Through Mental Health Ruts (Exclusive) first appeared on Parade on Aug 7, 2025 This story was originally reported by Parade on Aug 7, 2025, where it first appeared. Nearly two decades after its initial release, The Devil Wears Prada is officially getting a sequel with most of its original cast members hopping on the project. Yes, you read that rightMeryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt, and Stanley Tucci are all reuniting at Runway magazine. Some fresh faces have also been cast, including Lucy Liu and Justin Thereaux, as well as Simone Ashley and Pauline Chalamet. Fake casting announcements featuring celebs like Dua Lipa and Cillian Murphy have also been circulating, but were quickly debunked. Dua Lipa spotted filming scenes for The Devil wears Prada 2 in New York City today. pic.twitter.com/smlnhjA35U stride (@xedirts) July 22, 2025 Cillian Murphy spotted filming scenes for The Devil wears Prada 2 in New York City today. pic.twitter.com/KYqvYexUH0 michi (@gofckapineapple) July 24, 2025 The latest pics that have been making rounds online seemingly feature Sydney Sweeney, whos disguised in track pants and a powder blue hoodie while trekking through New York on August 6. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to TMZ, the Euphoria star was spotted on set with Emily Blunt. Details on her role have not been revealed, and its unclear whether shes playing a character or making a cameo as herself. Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin - Getty Images Sydney Sweeney and Emily Blunt are seen on the set of "The Devil Wears Prada 2". pic.twitter.com/Y7nxuMNP7p (@metgalacrave) August 7, 2025 The Devil Wears Prada 2 has been filming across New York City, after all, so its not entirely far-fetched. Before Sydneys spotting, Anne Hathaway and Patrick Brammall were photographed shooting scenes at the Long Island Bar in Brooklyn on August 5. Aeon - Getty Images And, on July 29, she was filming with Meryl Streep and Emily Blunt in Hudson Yards. Sydneys involvement in the film has yet to be confirmed, but the buzz around her potential Devil Wears Prada role comes after she pulled up to the premiere of her latest film, Americana, alongside Halsey. She also has a few films slated for release later this year, including The Housemaid with Amanda Seyfried and a biopic about pro boxer Christy Martin. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Christy Martin has been such an incredible transformationphysically, mentally, and emotionally. Its been one of the most immersive transformations Ive ever made, and being able to have Christy on set with me almost every day has been inspiring and so emotional at the same time, Sydney exclusively told Cosmopolitan of the film in February. She also shared details about her last day on set for the upcoming flick, adding, I remember on the last day, we were all crying and it was such a beautiful experience. It was also empowering to see someone whos gone through so much, sitting there and watching her life be performed and put together on a big screen. You Might Also Like Having lived in the desert Southwest for almost 20 years, I'm no stranger to good Mexican fare. On any given day, we could take a short drive to enjoy ridiculously delicious, authentic Mexican food on both sides of the border. That taught me a thing or two about where to eat and what to order. Priority one: Find an authentic restaurant. Once that's done, it's time to explore the menu and consider trying something new. The options we encountered were endless, from handheld soft tacos to brothy soups to mind-blowing sauces. With all that experience under my belt, I'm here to share what I've learned. And to make certain you have the best dining experience when you go out for Mexican, I've included a few tips from renowned culinary expert and chef Marcela Valladolid. There's no doubt you'll find her comments enlightening! Read on and you'll soon discover how to find the right establishment, and then what and what not to order when you get there. Read more: 11 Mexican Restaurant Chains, Ranked Worst To Best Assuming The Restaurant Has Authentic Mexican Food Woman handing mexican food to another person - Boogich/Getty Images Don't assume that if a restaurant has a Mexican-sounding name, the menu items are authentic. If the menu features a smorgasbord of crispy tacos (especially those with cheese), burritos (and their deep-fried cousins the chimichangas), queso dip, chilli con carne, fajitas, and taco salad, you're most likely at a Tex-Mex joint. While there's nothing wrong with those dishes -- they're often tasty -- most of them originated in Texas and California, not Mexico. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Another red flag? Overstuffed tortillas. Traditional Mexican tacos feature soft corn tortillas topped with moist meat (beef, chicken, or pork), fresh cilantro, and diced onion. Drizzle a little salsa over top and you've got everything you need for an enjoyable bite. Tacos crammed with copious amounts of sour cream, cheese, and other fillings are not authentic. When the meat is perfectly seasoned and the salsa, onion, and cilantro are fresh, you don't need anything else. If you want a genuine Mexican culinary experience, seek out places that offer fresh, vibrant produce, house-made tortillas, hand-crafted salsas, and freshly ground spices. Traditional Mexican restaurants will weave those ingredients into mouthwatering soft tacos, enchiladas, the Mexican soup pozole, tamales, mole (Mexico's mother sauce), and other regional specialties. Choosing A Place For Their Margaritas Two margaritas - Gmvozd/Getty Images If you're a fan of the perfect margarita, let me tell you that pitchers of sugary, adulterated tequila and lime juice are not true margaritas. They're often made in big batches with margarita mix and cheap tequila, which is great for the restaurant, but not for you. These pre-made margaritas aren't just inauthentic; one drink can set you back 300 calories, with 31 grams of added sugar. And don't get me started on the frozen concoctions. Truth is, if you dine in Mexico, you likely won't find margaritas on the menu, unless it's a touristy spot. While there are many claims as to who invented the margarita, one thing rings true: it was a simple blend of tequila, orange liqueur, and fresh lime. If you're looking to imbibe and want something more traditional, opt for a paloma, a refreshing blend of high-quality blanco tequila, grapefruit soda, and fresh lime juice. If you're a beer fan, grab a michelada -- a marriage of beer and a Bloody Mary. For a non-alcoholic option, try the time-honored, ancient agua fresca, a thirst-quenching drink made with water and fresh fruit. Loading up on syrupy, bottomless margaritas before enjoying Mexican cuisine will likely diminish your appreciation of the food. Smothering Everything With Salsa bowl of salsa - Brent Hofacker/Shutterstock Marcela Valladolid, chef, author, culinary instructor, and host of Food Network's "Mexican Made Easy" has some serious pet peeves when it comes to people's expectations of Mexican food. She asserts, "One of the biggest mistakes people make when dining at a real Mexican restaurant is thinking that salsa is a universal condiment meant to be smothered on everything." She adds, "In traditional Mexican cooking, salsas are as nuanced as the dishes themselves; there are raw salsas and cooked salsas, each with a specific role some to brighten, others to deepen. A bright salsa verde cruda might lift the richness of carnitas, while a fire-roasted chile de arbol salsa is made to meet the intensity of grilled beef." Marcela explains that, "Any restaurant doing it right will offer multiple salsas at different levels of spice, not to torture you but to balance flavor." Expecting Shredded Cheese bowl of shredded cheddar cheese - Bhofack2/Getty Images Valladolid also has a thing or two to say about cheese, and the fact that it's an expected ingredient in a Mexican restaurant. She stresses, "I don't understand how pre-shredded cheese even became a thing, much less something people expect inside a traditional taco or sprinkled on a tostada. It has no place there, texturally or in terms of flavor." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Authentic cheeses found in Mexican cuisine include queso fresco, cotija, queso blanco, panela, chihuahua, asadero, and Oaxaca. These cheeses range from salty and nutty (think feta) to milky and stretchy (like mozzarella), and are incorporated into a variety of dishes. The crumbly cheeses are often sprinkled over Mexican soups, stews, and grilled vegetables, and the stretchy cheeses are melted into enchiladas and dips. You might not get a lengthy cheese pull from most of these cheeses, but you'll no doubt experience great flavor and texture that complement all other elements of the meal. Thinking Mexican Food Is Simple Gourmet mexican food - Lunamarina/Getty Images Valladolid strongly encourages folks to appreciate the sophistication of Mexican cuisine. "People assume Mexican cuisine is casual, easy, and cheap, when it's actually layered, complex, and worthy of the most elegant pairings." She adds, "A rich mole or pipian belongs beside a beautiful glass of Burgundy, and a grilled fish with a tomatillo salsa sings with a crisp Albarino." Marcela stresses, "Mexican cuisine has depth, structure, elegance, and deserves to be treated as such." The overabundance of U.S. fast-food Mexican and Tex-Mex chains doesn't help boost this message. Truth is, those haunts deliver Americanized dishes, made with American-sourced ingredients (i.e., yellow cheese). If your Mexican dining repertoire has been relegated to fajitas and chimichangas -- both of which are American-born -- you're missing out. Seeking out authentic, time-honored Mexican restaurants allows diners to enjoy Mexico's distinct food traditions in a genuine, vibrant environment. Ignoring Regional Variations map of mexico regions - Reservoir Dots/Getty Images Mexican cuisine is varied, layered, and showcases various regions of the country. If you're at a legit Mexican restaurant and not a Tex-Mex chain, you'll discover exciting ways to explore each culinary region, of which there are seven. There's the North (El Norte) with its deep ranch culture of grilled beef, goat dishes, and cheese production, including queso fresco and chihuahua. The North Pacific Coast has the country's largest production of grains, fruits, and vegetables, and is home to signature pork, beef, and seafood dishes. The Bajio is a mountainous region that specializes in rice dishes, carnitas (fried pork), and sweet desserts. Bajio is also the home of cotija cheese. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The South Pacific Coast is the birthplace of Oaxaca cheese, and the region is renowned for its seven different types of mole (sauce). The South, also known as the Yucatan Peninsula, is unique in that the food derives from Mayan culture, and many of the flavors are reminiscent of Cuban and Caribbean Island cuisine, as well as the cuisines of Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. The Gulf area stretches from the Caribbean, and the cuisine blends Afro-Cuban and Spanish, so you'll find seafood and dishes like chicken in peanut sauce. Central Mexico is where you'll find the bustling cities, with their countless taco stands and torta (sandwich) shops. This region pulls in flavors from the rest of the country and marries them to perfection. Expecting The Food To Be Spicy chilie peppers and flames on black background - Youssef Al-rayes/Shutterstock Mexico produces over 60 varieties of chile peppers, so it's no surprise to find them in a vast array of recipes. Fresh chile peppers like jalapeno, habanero, serrano, and poblano add great color and fresh heat to dishes, from salsa and pico de gallo to pastes and guacamole. Jalapeno and poblano peppers are also often stuffed with filling and served whole. Their dried counterparts, including cascabel, guajillo, pasilla, arbol, mulato, morita, pulla, and pequin, offer varying levels of heat -- from mild and fruity to those with a serious kick. Dried chile peppers are often used in sauces, stews, soups, marinades, adobo sauces made with chipotle peppers, and moles. A true Mexican restaurant will offer dishes and sauces with different heat levels, so you can adjust the spiciness at the table. Mexican food is meant to tantalize the taste buds, not destroy them, and by enjoying varying levels of heat, you can experience the individual components of each dish, without breaking a sweat. Filling Up On Chips And Salsa bowl or tortilla chips with salsa - Yuliia Kokosha/Getty Images It's tempting to dive into a pile of warm, crispy tortilla chips as soon as the basket hits the table (especially when it's free), but take note -- one serving of tortilla chips, which is one ounce, contains 140 calories and 7 grams of fat. And who stops at one ounce? Especially when the chips are fresh and warm. There are two problems with overloading on chips. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement First, tortilla chips are salty and starchy, and when you combine them with savory salsa, it makes you thirsty. This is great for the restaurant because it encourages you to guzzle refreshing drinks, like margaritas and frosty beers. But it's not healthy to down a bottomless basket of calories and fat. Second, and perhaps surprisingly, the combination of crunch and heat stimulates your taste buds at the very moment you're scouring the menu (don't be surprised if everything looks insanely delicious). By the time the server comes around, you're likely to over-order. So, yes, enjoy the fresh chips and house-made salsa, just save some room. Not Exploring The Menu variety of mexican tacos and side dishes - Grandriver/Getty Images Don't limit yourself to dishes you've already had. Next time you're dining at a true Mexican restaurant, consider ordering one of these delicacies. Elote is Mexican street food consisting of grilled or boiled corn on the cob laced with creamy sauce, chili powder, lime juice, and cotija cheese. Then there are chilaquiles, a one-skillet, breakfast-of-champions that marries red or green salsa with fried tortillas, simmered together in a pan. As the dish cooks, the tortillas soften, forming a stew-like consistency. The dish is often topped with avocado, radishes, chopped onion, and queso fresco. For added protein, throw in a couple of eggs. Also, consider pozole, a brothy soup spiked with chiles that can be red, green, or clear, and is crammed with pork and the dried corn known as hominy. Often garnished with cabbage, garlic, herbs, lime, salsa, and radishes, it's pure comfort in a bowl. Another favorite is the tamale, one of the world's oldest recipes. It is a cherished Mexican staple that features a corn-based dough stuffed with meat, veggies, chilies, and cheese. The mixture is nestled into a corn husk or banana leaf and steamed until cooked through. Use the husk (or banana leaf) to hold this hand-held treat while you eat. Perhaps the most popular of all are carnitas, Mexico's version of pulled pork. The meat is cooked in lard until buttery soft, then crisped before serving. The result is ultra-tender meat with caramelized crispy edges. To enjoy carnitas the traditional way, wrap the meat in a corn tortilla and garnish with salsa, chopped onion, and cilantro. Choosing The Unhealthiest Dishes chimichanga covered with cream - madimcnutt/Shutterstock Many Mexican-American restaurants in the U.S. offer items that are decidedly unhealthy. Here's what to avoid. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement If you're surprised that a bowl of melted cheese, AKA queso dip, is unhealthy, I give up. Not only is melted orange cheese not Mexican, one serving of queso can deliver 270 calories, 23 grams of fat, 13 grams of saturated fat, and 1210 mg of sodium (an entire day's worth of salt). Next up, the American-born chimichanga, which is an overstuffed, deep-fried burrito topped with sour cream, guacamole, and cheese. One chimichanga can clock in at 810 calories and 43 grams of fat. For all the flavor without any of the fat, get meat, Mexican cheese, and salsa on a flour or corn tortilla and call it a day. Translated from Mexican Spanish, quesadilla means "little cheese pastry", but that's far from what you'll find when you order a quesadilla in many restaurants. Loaded with cheese and sometimes meat, an American-style quesadilla can deliver 714 calories, 45 grams of fat, and 1360 mg of sodium. Thinking of getting a salad instead? Don't be fooled by the word "salad" in taco salad. With a fried tortilla as its vessel, a taco salad is often loaded with meat, cheese, refried beans, and sour cream. It's a belly bomb of calories and fat (600 calories, 38 grams of fat). If you want a salad, order mixed greens and add grilled steak or chicken. Read the original article on Tasting Table. When you're out and about and need to hydrate, you might be tempted to grab a bottle of bougie Fiji Water from the nearest store or vending machine. Is the water loved by Hollywood's elites worth the price? It is certainly expensive -- at Target, 16.9-ounce bottles of Fiji Water retail for around $8 for a pack of six, whereas you can get 24 bottles of Dasani water for about $5.30. But there's not just a high monetary cost to Fiji Water. The company's environmental impact, domineering presence in the country of Fiji, and potential links to microplastics may cause you to think twice about your hydration choices. While some may argue that premium bottled water like Fiji's is worth the cost because of the flavor, not everyone agrees. Martin Riese, TikTok's leading "water sommelier," dislikes Fiji Water, and other taste testers agree. In 2006, Fiji launched an ad campaign with the tagline, "The label says Fiji because it's not bottled in Cleveland" (via Washington Post). This marketing move backfired when Cleveland city officials compared Fiji Water and city tap water and found that Fiji Water contained arsenic, while Cleveland's tap water did not. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Even some one-time consumers of Fiji's bottled water are no longer fans of the taste. In a 2024 post in r/HydroHomies on Reddit, dozens of users agreed that the water doesn't taste like it used to. Of course, taste is subjective, and there must be a reason Fiji Water is touted by so many public figures. But no matter your opinion on the flavor, I think we can all agree that the water company's ethics are a bit murky. Read more: The Most Overpriced Grocery Store Chains In The US Fiji Water Controversies Fiji Water presented on trays at gala - Phillip Faraone/Getty Images Fiji Water is sourced from an aquifer in the island country of its namesake, but inhabitants don't always have access to clean drinking water. The company has maintained a tax-free status for many years, despite positioning itself as a savior of Fiji's economy. And then there's the company's silence on the numerous and well-documented human rights abuses within Fiji. Consumers are also critical of the company's unkept promises of being "carbon-negative," which is a lofty goal for a business that ships its products thousands of miles overseas and imports plastic for bottles from China. In fact, in 2011, Fiji Water was sued for false advertising because of the "carbon-negative" claims on its website. The company is not projected to be carbon negative until 2038. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Fiji Water faced more legal action over false advertising again in January 2025 when the Plastic Pollution Coalition filed a complaint alleging that the company used misleading marketing by calling the product "natural artesian water" and "protected from external elements." The complaint argued that these claims weren't accurate because of alleged BPA and microplastic contamination. In March 2025, a federal court in Illinois rejected the case, citing insufficient evidence. Studies examining samples of other brands have detected microplastics in bottled water; Fiji Water was not included in that research, though the company was part of a bottled water recall that affected millions. For more food and drink goodness, join The Takeout's newsletter. Get taste tests, food & drink news, deals from your favorite chains, recipes, cooking tips, and more! Read the original article on The Takeout. Corn bulls were battling back on the Wednesday session, as contracts closed out the session with just fractional to 1 cent losses in most nearbys. The CmdtyView national average Cash Corn price was down 2 1/4 cents at $3.63 3/4. The weekly EIA data showed a total of 1.081 million barrels per day of ethanol was produced during the week ending on August 1, a drop of 15,000 bpd from the previous week. With the drop in output, stocks saw a draw of 960,000 barrels to 23.756 million barrels. Refiner inputs of ethanol were up 2,000 bpd to 922,000, with exports dropping a total of 38,000 bpd to 116,000. More News from Barchart Export Sale estimates ahead of the Thursday morning release are calling for between 200,000 and 400,000 MT in old crop corn sales during the week of July 31. New crop business is estimated to total 1.3-2.5 MMT, as 1.1 MMT was already announced via daily releases last week. A South Korean importer purchased 68,000 MT of corn in their tender originally for 140,000 MT overnight. Brazil exported a total of 2.434 MMT of corn during July, which was a drop of 31.51% from last years total but well above the June total. A slower second crop harvest and soybeans still taking up a large chunk of the vessel lineup were a factor. Sep 25 Corn closed at $3.79 3/4, down 1 3/4 cents, Nearby Cash was $3.63 3/4, down 2 1/4 cents, Dec 25 Corn closed at $4.01 1/4, down 3/4 cent, Mar 26 Corn closed at $4.19 1/4, down 3/4 cent, New Crop Cash was $3.60 3/4, down 1 3/4 cents, On the date of publication, Austin Schroeder did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. This article was originally published on Barchart.com The internet is celebrating the reunification of Bam Bam, a 14-year-old dachshund mix, and his owner, Angel Santiago. On June 5, Bam Bam, who is an emotional support dog for the legally blind Santiago, was taken from Santiago's backyard in the Chicago neighborhood of Logan Square, per reporting from Fox 32 Chicago. But now, Bam Bam and Santiago are back together again. According to ABC 7 Chicago, Bam Bam was dropped off at a Chicago police station on Aug. 19 by two individuals. The dog, who is microchipped but was not wearing his collar at the time he was taken, appeared healthy and was reunited with Santiago. The police said an investigation into the alleged taking of Bam Bam is still ongoing. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Garrido Stray Rescue Foundation posted on its Facebook page about the reunion, writing that police contacted their organization after a man and woman dropped off the dog at a local precinct, where they were able to trace him to Santiago by scanning his microchip. "Thankfully Bam Bam was microchipped and the information was current," the foundation wrote in its Facebook post, urging pet owners to "please have a vet scan your pup annually when they get their rabies shot to verify your dog is still microchipped and contact the chip company to confirm your information is current." Santiago, who is legally blind due to progressive glaucoma, had let Bam Bam out in the backyard to go to the bathroom when he heard two people enter. Santiago attempted to grab one of the suspects but was unable to hold on to them. Santiago then said he heard Bam Bam barking, but that the sound got softer as the suspects, at least one of whom Santiago believes was a teenager wearing a long-sleeved shirt, fled with the dog. It was unclear to Santiago if the individuals who seemingly took Bam Bam were men or women. Bam Bam was allegedly stolen from Angel Santiago's yard on June 5, but was returned to a Chicago police station on Aug. 19. (GoFundMe) Santiago, who also lives with diabetes and became completely blind nearly three years ago, walked up to seven miles a day searching for his beloved dog, with volunteers joining the search. He had also put up posters and stood outside of local grocery store Tonys Fresh Market with Bam Bams leash and collar in hopes someone would come forward with information about the dogs whereabouts. The internet celebrates Bam Bam's return The internet was devastated to learn of Santiago's story, with many posts calling for Bam Bam's immediate return. Now, people on social media are celebrating, with some calling the story a rare piece of uplifting news. "Im actually overjoyed," one TikToker wrote in the caption of her video about the development. "We did it," another wrote in her TikTok. "Bam Bam is home!" HONOLULU (KHON2) An early morning argument in Kalihi has led to an immediate response from Honolulu police officers. On Aug. 7, at approximately 12:45 a.m., HPD responded to a stabbing incident near Lanakila Ave. and North School Street. According to HPD, the suspect, a 42-year-old male, and the victim, a 50-year-old male, were sitting inside the suspects car when the incident happened. Officials said they were arguing and eventually, the argument escalated into a physical altercation. The suspect then stabbed the victim multiple times, HPD said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Download the free KHON2 app for iOS or Android to stay informed on the latest news Upon HPDs arrival, the suspect was immediately detained and arrested for Attempted Murder in the Second Degree. Honolulu EMS immediately responded and brought the victim to a nearby hospital in critical condition, while administering advanced life support en route. Check out more news from around Hawaii Police said that the investigation is ongoing, with the suspect in custody, and charges will be sought with the Department of the Prosecuting Attorney. 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. COLUMBUS, Ga. (WRBL) 10 Georgia sheriffs, including Muscogee County Sheriff Greg Countryman, are condemning an effort by the Georgia Sheriffs Association to recover attorney fees in a civil complaint brought by TV Judge Glenda Hatchett. MCSO issued a press release on Friday addressing the matter. Back in 2021, Hatchett sued the Georgia Sheriffs Association and former Bleckley County Sheriff Kris Coody after he groped Hatchett during a Georgia Sheriffs Association conference. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Eventually, Coody pleaded guilty to charges of sexual battery in 2022 and was sentenced to 12 months probation and fined $500. He also resigned as Sheriff for Bleckley County. Her case was filed in Cobb County, but then moved to Morgan County back in May of 2024 and eventually withdrew her complaint back in June. Morgan County Judge Terry Massey then issued an order awarding attorney fees to the defendants. In a letter that was sent on Wednesday to the executive board of the Sheriffs Association and Executive Director Terry Norris, the 10 sheriffs said that they believe the decision to pursue financial penalties from a victim is not only harmful but incompatible with the values law enforcement leaders are called to uphold, according to MCSOs press release. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The letter also criticizes the legal strategy for the potential of re-traumatizing a survivor, while simultaneously deterring others from coming forward, especially in cases involving law enforcement officers. Seeking attorneys fees from a victim of sexual assault particularly in a case where the offender was one of the highest-ranking law enforcement officers of the state undermines the moral compass our organization purports to uphold: justice, accountability, and support for the vulnerable, the sheriffs wrote. The sheriffs are urging the Sheriffs Association to withdraw the claim for attorney fees and to issue a public reaffirmation of its support for victims of sexual violence, writing that This is not simply a legal matter it is a moral one. A hearing on the order is set for Monday, Aug. 18 at 9 a.m., in Morgan County Superior Court. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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 WRBL. The 118th Mechanised Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has shown how a wounded soldier was evacuated from the positions with the help of a ground robotic system. Source: Mezha Media, a technology and IT news platform within Ukrainska Pravdas holding company; 118th Mechanised Brigade on Facebook Quote: "Operators of the ground robotic systems of the 2nd Company of the 23rd Separate Rifle Battalion of the 118th Mechanised Brigade rescued a wounded soldier. The soldier was rescued with the help of a combat ground platform." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Details: The brigade did not name the front or the date when the video was taken. However, they note that the video shows how modern technology saves lives at the front line. This is not the first such case. Earlier, a Tor-800 ground logistics drone of the 13th Khartiia Brigade saved the life of a wounded infantryman who had been seriously injured in the leg. Before that, Khartiia successfully evacuated the wounded soldier using a ground robot that travelled 12 kilometres. However, robots are not only used for rescue. The ground robots of the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade helped captured the Russians for the first time. Defence Intelligence of Ukraine showed how a ground robot fired a machine gun at the Russians in Sumy Oblast. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon! WHO 13 anchor and reporter Jannay Towne announced her departure after 20 years with the station. Towne started at WHO 13 in 2005 where she covered anything from tornadoes to trials, according to her Facebook post announcing her departure. She worked alongside legacy anchors such as Erin Kiernan and Andy Fales. Towne was on the afternoon segments of the WHO 13 newscast. Towne's final day with WHO 13 is Aug. 14. While it may seem sudden for the general public, Towne said she is ready for a change after two decades. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "It has been a wild ride. It's been a good ride," Towne said. "But like all things, they always come to an end." Outside of work, Towne reads to children every Thursday with the Every Body Wins program at Monroe Elementary School. Towne has put in her time with the station, working late nights while being a leader in the community, said Rod Peterson, news and content director for WHO 13. "She is just the gold standard not only as a journalist but as a person," said Peterson. What's next for Jannay Towne? Towne has yet to announce what job she is taking next, but she told the Register she will remain in Iowa. She plans on exiting the news and broadcast industry, but hopes to continue telling stories through a career in communications. Towne is starting a new job later in August, she told the Register. She plans to announce where she is transitioning to in the next week or so. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "It is just my time to wrap a bow on this news career," Towne said. What did Jannay Towne cover while with WHO 13? Towne was born in northeastern Pennsylvania. Her family eventually moved to Montana and she graduated from the University of Montana with a degree in broadcast journalism. When she first started with WHO 13, she wrote about former Iowa Gov. Robert Ray's initiative to welcome Tai Dam refugees when the federal government would not. Towne did a follow up on the story when a grandson of Ray married a daughter of Tai Dam refugees. The story was called the "legacy of love." While it is hard to pick a favorite story, Towne said the best part of her job is the people, whether that be her coworkers or sources. "Sometimes when you are talking to them about the weather, you kind of forget you are still doing a job or that other people are watching," Towne said of her WHO 13 colleagues. "You just feel like you are talking to a friend." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Kate Kealey is a general assignment reporter for the Des Moines Register. Reach her at kkealey@registermedia.com or follow her on Twitter at @Kkealey17. This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: WHO 13 news anchor Jannay Towne is leaving the station after 20 years SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) Over a dozen people were arrested during a sting operation that took place during San Diego Comic-Con weekend, according to California Attorney General Rob Bonta. The operation was conducted from July 24 to 26 during the dates of the popular convention that drew large crowds to the Gaslamp Quarter and other parts of downtown. Human Trafficking Task Force helps combat crime at Comic-Con Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement During the joint investigation with the San Diego Human Trafficking Task Force, undercover agents initiated contact with people intending to buy sex throughout San Diego County. As a result, 13 people were arrested for solicitation in violation of Penal Code 647(b)(2), Bontas office stated in a news release Thursday. Last year, 14 people were arrested during Comic-Con weekend as a result of a similar human trafficking sting. Solicitation is a crime, and these arrests send a clear message to potential offenders that we stand ready to hold them accountable, Bonta said in a statement. The demand for commercial sex is a driving factor that contributes to human trafficking, where perpetrators profit from the exploitation of people for sex or labor by force, fraud, or coercion. Live facial reconstruction at Comic-Con aims to identify child found in San Diego in 2004 Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to the news release, while not all commercial sex is attributed to human trafficking, sex buyers may unknowingly contribute to trafficking by engaging in solicitation. Human trafficking comes in many forms, including sex trafficking, forced labor and domestic servitude stemming from force, fraud or coercion, Bontas office stated. The San Diego Human Trafficking Task Force is a collaboration between numerous agencies, including the California Department of Justice, California Highway Patrol, Federal Bureau of Investigation and others. If you and someone you know are a victim of trafficking, call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888 for resources. If you or someone else may be in immediate danger, you are encouraged to call 9-1-1. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. NEED TO KNOW A 15-year-old boy was convicted of murdering a classmate during their school lunch break on February 3, 2025 The victim, Harvey Willgoose, was remembered by his mother as a "fun-loving kid, cheeky-chappy, sociable kid" The convicted teenager is expected to be sentenced in October A 15-year-old British boy was found guilty in court Friday morning of fatally stabbing another 15-year-old classmate last February during a school lunch break. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Harvey Willgoose died after the other boy stabbed him to death in front of other students at All Saints Catholic High School in Sheffield, England on Feb. 3, while other children reportedly fled in fear. The convicted teenager, who has not been publicly identified because of his age, admitted to manslaughter saying he snapped in the moment but not to premeditated murder, according to The Guardian, BBC, and The Times. The outlets report that the teenager is expected to be sentenced in October. Willgooses mother, Caroline Willgoose, burst into tears as the verdict was read, according to The Guardian. I want him to be remembered as the fun-loving kid, cheeky-chappy, sociable kid that he was, Caroline Willgoose, who had to skip some days of the trial out of anguish, told The Standard. He was just a joy. He was a million miles an hour, he was a happy chappy, loved life, loads of friends. The stabbing took place after a days-long falling out between Willgoose and the culprit, prosecutors explained, according to The Guardian. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The newspaper reported that the convicted murderer and his victim had taken opposite sides in a dispute between two other boys, which frayed their relationship. Prosecutors alleged Willgoose told his friends that the perpetrator was acting like he had a knife under his shirt during class the morning of the stabbing. CCTV footage pf the attack reportedly showed the boy approach Willgoose as he ate lunch with friends. The 15-year-old punched Willgoose and then stabbed him after he fell backwards from the blow, according to The Guardian. Ioannis Alexopoulos/LNP/Shutterstock Police outside the All Saints Catholic High School in Sheffield on February 4, 2025 Police outside the All Saints Catholic High School in Sheffield on February 4, 2025 The newspaper reported that the 15-year-old said he brought the knife to school that day because he feared he would get hurt. The boy told the court that his mother had mental health issues and his dad, who was allegedly rarely present at home, had physically abused him. The teenager had recently searched online for rage rooms and other ways to take out anger, prosecutors said in court, per The Guardian. Prosecutors also said the boy had become "obsessed" with weapons, specifically knives, according the BBC. Read the original article on People NEED TO KNOW The Palm Beach County Sheriffs Office said Jade North, 16, and her grandmother Deidre North, 77, were killed after their SUV collided with a pickup truck on Aug. 2 in Jupiter Farms Authorities said Deidre drove through the intersection and didn't stop at the stop sign before the collision Shed light up every room she walks in," Jade's mother, Juanita North, said of her daughter A community in Florida is mourning the loss of a 16-year-old girl and her grandmother after they were both killed in a two-vehicle collision last weekend. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to the Palm Beach County Sheriffs Office, the incident happened on Saturday afternoon, Aug. 2, in Jupiter Farms, Fla., The Palm Beach Post, ABC affiliate WPBF and NBC affiliate WPTV reported. Authorities said an SUV driven by Deidre North, 77, went through the intersection of Alexander Run and Randolph Siding Road and failed to stop at the stop sign. That was when the SUV collided with a pickup truck, and the SUV went off the road and hit a tree. Deidre died at the scene while her granddaughter Jade North, 16, who was a passenger in the SUV, later died at a hospital, the media outlets reported. The driver of the pickup, identified by authorities as Logan Wolfe, suffered minor injuries, reported The Palm Beach Post, which added that all three people involved in the collision wore seat belts at the time. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Related: https://people-app.onelink.me/HNIa/kz7l4cuf In an interview with WPTV, Juanita North, Jades mother, said the teen recently began her junior year at Jupiter High School. Shes a great, great artist, Juanita told the outlet about Jade, who, along with her grandmother, was from Jupiter Farms. Shed light up every room she walks in. Lauren Dowd-Shedlock, who said she had known Jade and her parents, organized a candlelight vigil on Wednesday, Aug. 6, at the crash scene that was attended by 200 people, per The Palm Beach Post. She and my niece grew up together, Dowd-Shedlock told the newspaper. Jade was beautiful, artistic, talented, smart and she would light up a room. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The North family, who were present at the vigil, said that they hope their tragedy will bring change and called for more visible stop signs at every corner of the intersection, WPBF reported. Its mandatory. Its crucial, said Juanita, per the local news outlet. It has to be a four-way stop. Juanita also told The Palm Beach Post that she doesnt believe Deidre skipped the stop sign, adding that the thick foliage near a caution light needs to be cleaned up so that drivers can see it. A GoFundMe has been created on behalf of the North family, which has so far raised $26,000 as of Friday, Aug. 8. Never miss a story sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. They both had so much more to give. Two wonderful people taken from this world; they will be missed, they are loved, the fundraiser description read. PEOPLE contacted the Palm Beach County Sheriffs Office and Juanita North for comment on Friday. Read the original article on People TOPEKA (KSNT) Civil War soldier Moses Banks of the 2nd Kansas State Militia (KSM) can finally rest peacefully thanks to a Holton womans campaign to get him a headstone. Trisha Johnson from Holton has spent the past two years trying to get Civil War soldiers Moses Banks and Ben Hughes headstones in Topeka Cemetery 161 years after their deaths. Johnsons saga began by accident when she was cleaning headstones in the cemetery, something she does as a hobby. She would often research the men after cleaning their stones, and eventually she came across the 2nd KSM. While I was researching the regiment, I found some inconsistencies, Johnson said. There was no mention of Banks nor Hughes in much of the historical accounts at the time, except their mention on the Gage Memorial. I went down a rabbit hole of trying to find their bodies and learning about their lives. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement K-State band director talks Farmaggedon in Ireland Johnson said Banks and Hughes were the only two black men who served in the 2nd Kansas State Militia. Born into slavery in Missouri in the late 1830s, the men would eventually escape to freedom in Kansas by the 1860s. They enlisted in October of 1864 to defend Kansas from the threat of invasion by Confederate General Sterling Price during the Battle of Westport near modern Kansas City, Missouri. Winning this battle meant something else for Banks and Hughes, Johnson said. As runaway slaves, losing meant certain death, even if they survived. The battle lasted from the 21st to the 23rd, and the men from Shawnee County participated on the 22nd in a skirmish known as the Battle of Big Blue River. Both men were killed in action that day and buried in Topeka Cemetery with the other men from the 2nd KSM in an unmarked mass grave. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Topeka conference to support justice involved individuals reentering society Neither man lived long enough to enjoy their freedom, or to watch their children, who were born as slaves, grow up in a world where they were free, Johnson said in a social media post on Aug. 7. They died defending Kansas, their adopted state, and more importantly, died fighting so their families, and other black people would never have to live as slaves again. Johnson paid for Bankss headstone out of her own pocket. She has been working with the superintendent at the Topeka Cemetery to help collect documentation of these mens service to send to the state for a government-issued headstone. As it stands, Hughess headstone is some months away, as he had almost no paperwork at the time of his enlistment. Where Mosess widow at least filed for pension after his death, Ben had no one to do the same for him. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Topeka Police Department acquires new robot dog Johnson and the Topeka Cemetery are submitting the few documents with his name to the state for approval. When Hughess headstone is installed, Johnson will host a public memorial to honor the two men. I want people to remember their sacrifice and the importance of the Battle of Westport, Johnson said. If they had not stood and fought then and there, Kansas would have been lost. Best kept secret in the art world: Volland Foundation supports arts in rural Kansas For more local news, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news in northeast Kansas by downloading our mobile app and by signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track Weather app by clicking here. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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 KSNT 27 News. TOPEKA (KSNT) Shawnee Count District Attorney Mike Kagay has filed charges against an 18-year-old for his alleged role in the death of a local man in July. Kagay announced in a press release on Aug. 8 that he has charged Avant Chambers, 18 of Topeka, with several charges for his alleged part in the death of Destiny Voss, 28 of Topeka, last month. Chambers is charged with the following crimes: Murder in the first degree. Attempted aggravated robbery. Two counts of criminal discharge of a firearm at an occupied dwelling. Criminal discharge of a firearm into an occupied vehicle. Distribute or possess with intent to distribute marijuana. Unlawful use of a communication facility. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Motorcyclist clocked at 164 mph on the Kansas Turnpike Avant Chambers mugshot. (Photo Courtesy/Shawnee County Department of Corrections) Past reporting Police were called around 11:30 p.m. on July 6, 2025 following reports of a gunshot victim arriving at a local hospital. The shooting victim, later identified as Voss, was suffering from a life-threatening gunshot wound and died. The TPD learned the shooting occurred in the 3200 block of Southwest Randolph Avenue. The Topeka Police Department arrested Chambers for his alleged role in the killing on Aug. 6. Police said the death of Voss marks the ninth homicide investigation of 2025. If you have information to share with police regarding this investigation, call 785-368-9400 or send an email to telltpd@topeka.org. You can send in anonymous tips to law enforcement by contacting Shawnee County Crime Stoppers at 785-234-0007 or by clicking here. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Topeka police arrest 66, seize numerous guns in anti-crime push For more crime news, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news in northeast Kansas by downloading our mobile app and by signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track Weather app by clicking here. Follow Matthew Self on X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/MatthewLeoSelf Copyright 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 KSNT 27 News. Cotton futures are trading with 12 to 23 point gains so far on the Friday. The US dollar index is back down $0.189 to $98.040, as crude oil futures are up 26 cents. The Cotlook A Index was down 25 points at 78.00 cents on August 6. ICE cotton stocks were down 3,375 bales on 8/7 via decertifications, with the certified stocks level at 18,242 bales. USDAs Adjusted World Price (AWP) was down 13 points on Thursday afternoon at 54.39 cents/lb. More News from Barchart Oct 25 Cotton is at 65.08, up 12 points, Dec 25 Cotton is at 66.66, up 23 points, Mar 26 Cotton is at 68.12, up 22 points On the date of publication, Austin Schroeder did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. This article was originally published on Barchart.com (FOX40.COM) The Sacramento County Coroners Office has identified the pedestrian as Ricky Ray Reyes, 19, of North Highlands, who died in the vehicle vs. pedestrian crash on Wednesday in Natomas. Video above: Worst Commutes in the United States Sacramento City Councilmember Lisa Kaplin took to X and stated Reyes was waiting for the bus when the incident happened. Please dont drink & drive. A precious young man lost his life just waiting for the bus. A family is devastated & no one should have to experience this, said Kaplan. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to the GoFundMe page, Reyes was known as Reray, who was a son, grandson, cousin, and brother to four sisters and two brothers. He was honest, kind, and wholehearted. His loved ones said on the GoFundMe page that Reyes cared for everyone around him, and after graduating, he had his eyes on serving his country by participating in JROTC throughout school and dedicating his weekends to the Army National Guard Base in Sacramento. The following statement was shared with the community on GoFundMe. Reray worked at Corti Brothers, where he took pride in crafting deli sandwiches for his community and building connections with everyone he met. Tragically, Rerays life was cut short, 8 days before his 20th birthday, by a drunk driver while he was waiting at a bus stop after a school tour at UTI college in Natomas. He was exploring a future in HVAC, always looking for ways to build a better life for himself and his family. His loss has left a deep void in the lives of those who loved him, and his family is now facing the difficult task of arranging his funeral while coping with their grief. We are raising funds to help cover Rerays funeral expenses and to honor his memory. Any support, whether through donations or by sharing his story, will help our family during this incredibly hard time. In addition, please keep our family in your prayers. Thank you for helping us remember Reray and for standing with us as we say goodbye to someone who meant so much to so many. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The driver of the fatal crash that occurred in Natomas on Wednesday afternoon has been arrested after displaying signs of intoxication and remains in the hospital. According to the Sacramento Police Department, officers responded to reports of a vehicle vs. pedestrian crash that happened around 3:15 p.m. near Del Paso and El Centro Roads and found a male pedestrian down in the roadway and attempted life-saving measures. There are no updates regarding the driver who remains in the hospital at this time. Officials said the police department encourages any witnesses with information regarding this investigation to contact the dispatch center at 916-808-5471. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. JACKSON, Ky. (FOX 56) A woman is in the University of Kentucky Medical Center after being shot multiple times on Thursday night, and two men have been accused of trying to kill her. Kentucky State Police (KSP) said in a news release that just before 8:30 p.m. on Aug. 7, Post 13 in Hazard got a 911 call reporting a shooting on KY-30 West in Jackson. LATEST KENTUCKY NEWS: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement At the scene, first responders reportedly found a woman whod been shot multiple times, and emergency personnel immediately worked to keep her alive. She was taken to a nearby landing zone and flown to the University of Kentucky Medical Center, where authorities said shes stable. According to court documents, the victim was at her home when two men came up and asked if her husband was home. After a short conversation, she asked the men to leave when they allegedly shot through the glass door multiple times. Trooper Gayheart wrote on Facebook that after an initial investigation, 21-year-old Travis Watson of Beattyville and 24-year-old Christopher Roberts of Booneville were both arrested and charged with attempted murder. The pair was lodged in the Kentucky River Regional Jail. The shooting investigation remains ongoing. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. The Brief Two blind women feel Southwest Airlines left them behind and failed to communicate changes to their flight, which was delayed by several hours. Friends Sherri and Camille were traveling from New Orleans to Orlando. "There needs to be some improvement in how they communicate with their passengers, especially those that have disabilities" ORLANDO, Fla. - Two Florida women both blind were recently the only two people on their flight from New Orleans back to Orlando. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement While a unique experience, both women are frustrated with Southwest Airlines and believe the airline needs to re-evaluate how it handles people with disabilities. What we know Southwest Flight 2637 was scheduled to fly from New Orleans to Orlando on July 14. However, the flight was delayed by nearly five hours. Friends Sherri Brun and Camille Tate were at the airport and waiting by the gate, checking the airline's app for updates. When they finally boarded their flight hours later, they were the only two onboard. "Youre the only two people on this flight because they forgot about you," Sherri Bun said the two were told. What they're saying "We apologize for the inconvenience. Southwest is always looking for ways to improve our Customers travel experiences, and were active in the airline industry in sharing best practices about how to best accommodate Passengers with disabilities," Southwest Airlines said in a statement. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A spokesperson said in a statement to FOX 35 that while the flight was delayed, nearly all of the passengers on their original flight were re-booked on another Southwest flight to Orlando that left a bit earlier from a nearby gate. Both Sherri and Camille were not re-booked on that flight. Both Sherri and Camille said they had no idea another flight was even an option. "Nobody at B6 told us anything. Nobody came to get us at B4. The time passed," said Sherri. "That airplane took off, and our boarding pass had not been swiped," said Camille. How that happened remains unclear to both women. But, they contacted FOX 35 Orlando to share their story and to raise awareness. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "The way they help their customers that require additional assistance needs to change. There needs to be follow through," said Sherri. "There needs to be some improvement in how they communicate with their passengers especially those that have disabilities." said Camille. Southwest offered both women a $100 voucher as compensation for the delay. But, because they completed the flight, they're not eligible for a full refund. Read Southwest's full response The Customers were scheduled on Flight 2637. Although it ran almost five hours late that day, it remained their same flight number throughout. We issued the $100 vouchers as compensation for the delayed travel, but a refund is not available if a Customer actually completes the flight. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It appears the confusion about a plane coming back to get them might be because many of the Customers on that flight were accommodated on another MCO-bound flight that left a little earlier from a nearby gate. These two Customers were not re-booked on that flight, so their assigned gate never changed. Our records show they flew to MCO on the airplane that had been parked at their original gate. As far as accessibility policies, all of our information is found on the Disability-Related Accommodations section of the Help Center. For Customers who are blind, escort and navigation assistance is available from the airport curb to and from gates and between gates for connecting flights. To receive assistance, Customers must identify themselves and the type of assistance they require to a Southwest Employee when they arrive at the airport, at any connection points, and when they land at their destination. In the event of a gate change, our Employees are responsible for ensuring all Customers who need assistance reach the new gate. We apologize for the inconvenience. Southwest is always looking for ways to improve our Customers travel experiences, and were active in the airline industry in sharing best practices about how to best accommodate Passengers with disabilities. The Source FOX 35's Esther Bower talked with both Camille and Sherri about their recent flight experience on Southwest. A spokesperson for Southwest sent FOX 35 a statement regarding both Camille's and Sherri's experiences. The Brief Jeffrey Wilson and Lawrence Gacad, former officers at the now-closed FCI Dublin women's prison, pleaded guilty to sex crimes, bringing the total number to 10. This is the highest number of correctional officers charged with these types of crimes of any federal prison in the United States. Two of their sexual assault survivors described how it felt. OAKLAND, Calif. - Two more former officers at the now-closed FCI Dublin women's prison pleaded guilty to sex crimes on Thursday, bringing the total number to 10 the highest number of correctional officers charged with these types of crimes of any federal prison in the United States. Sexual abuse Jeffrey Wilson, 34, of Sacramento, a health technician and paramedic, and Lawrence Gacad, 33, of San Jose, a correctional officer with a master's degree in organizational leadership, made their first court appearances before U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzales Rogers, where they entered their pleas, meaning they are now convicted. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The judge made both former correctional officers read their guilty pleas aloud. She also ordered Wilson to take off his medical mask, which he had worn to the hearing, before he addressed her. Wilson pleaded guilty to five counts of sexual abuse of a ward between March and August 2022, and providing a false statement to the government. Gacad pleaded guilty to one count of abusive sexual contact related to his alleged abuse of a woman identified as S.L., between February and June 14, 2022. A total of 10 officers at FCI Dublin have been charged with sex crimes, the most of any prison in the United States. Wilson appeared with public defender Tamara Crepet, and answered "I understand, your honor," several times as he read aloud what he did. Reading charges aloud Wearing a black polo and black pants, Wilson described kissing and touching a woman named C.S. in 2022, urging her to come to the camp where he worked because "We'd have a little more fun." He bought her a $60 prepaid credit card so she could buy things. He told her to be last in the medical line in prison where he gave her seizure medications so that they wouldn't be detected when he digitally penetrated her or received oral sex from her. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement C.S. sued Wilson as part of a massive lawsuit against the Bureau of Prisons and, in December 2024, was awarded more than $1 million stemming from a $116-million payout to more than 100 survivors of sexual assault at the now-closed prison. Gacad also read aloud his charges. He described kissing and touching the buttocks of a woman identified as S.L., writing her notes and then creating fake emails to communicate with her, sometimes sexually. S.L. showed her naked body to him during 9 p.m. rounds one night. Gacad wore a light blue suit and was represented by Sierra Dugan of Oakland. Both Wilson and Gacad are out of custody. Wilson is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 6, and Gacad is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 19. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Neither guard seemed to have any friends or family in the courtroom. There were several FBI officers and other agents listening in on the hearing. No one talked to the media. Cameras are not allowed in the courtroom. Both officers were able to leave the courtroom without being captured on film. Neither walked out the main exit door of Ronald Dellums Federal Building in Oakland. KTVU interviewed, emailed and read the written testimony of more than three dozen women who are currently incarcerated at or released from custody from FCI Dublin about the sexual abuse and retaliation that occurs there. Sex assault survivors speak out Aja Jasmin and Darlene Baker are two women who were assaulted by Wilson, but who were not officially part of the criminal charges. In Zoom interviews after the hearing, both said they were glad Wilson was held responsible and they were disgusted by what he did to them. They also each received about $1 million in the BOP sex assault settlement. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Jasmine said she felt "completely vulnerable" when Wilson assaulted her on her first day at FCI Dublin. She said she tried to report his behavior but was told by a supervisor not to go forward with her complaint because it would be a "black mark on my record." Jasmine said she knows C.S. personally and her "heat breaks" for her. She said she also knows of eight other women who were assaulted by Wilson, and like her, none of them were formal victims in the federal complaint. Still, Jasmine said she's glad Wilson pleaded guilty, but "I don't know if he actually truly understands that what he did will reverberate in our lives and the lives of everyone in our communities forever." Baker said that Wilson "violently assaulted" her for a "very long time" when she was getting medical treatment for an autoimmune condition, but that someone interrupted them by knocking on the door, causing him to stop. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "I was surprised and disgusted," she said. "There was nothing about tenderness or anything other than a power grab. And he did it to other women as well. It's just an abuse of his position, particularly being a trusted medical officer." Remaining FCI Dublin officer cases With these two guilty pleas, nine of the 10 correctional officers at the former FCI Dublin prison have been convicted of sex crimes. The remaining officer, Darrell "Dirty Dick" Smith, continues to say he is innocent of the 15 counts of sexual abuse he is charged with. In April, a jury deadlocked on whether he was guilty. A new trial is scheduled for Sept. 15. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Here is an accounting of the other officers who have been charged, convicted and sentenced. UPDATE @ 8:40 a.m.: An all-night manhunt for the suspect accused of shooting four people, including two police officers, in East Cleveland ended with an arrest Friday morning. The suspect was captured alive around 8:30 a.m., WOIO reported. UPDATE @ 8:00 a.m.: A manhunt is underway for a suspect accused of shooting two Ohio police officers. [DOWNLOAD: Free WHIO-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] The shooting happened in East Cleveland just after 11 p.m. in the 1900 block of North Taylor Road, according to CBS affiliate WOIO TV in Cleveland. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement East Cleveland Mayor Lateek Shabazz said that both officers are in stable condition at University Hospitals. The first officer shot outside a home at the 1900 block of North Taylor Road. Shabazz told WOIO that two other people were shot and died inside the home. TRENDING STORIES: The second officer was shot near an abandoned building around 1 a.m. on Friday, WOIO said. Mayor Shabazz said the officers responded to a shooting and are searching for the suspected gunman. He is expected to hold a news conference later this morning. We will continue to update this developing story. [SIGN UP: WHIO-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] Two Pennsylvania state troopers were shot in an ambush responding to a call in Susquehanna County on Thursday morning, and the suspected gunman is dead, authorities said. Troopers Joseph Perechinsky and William Jenkins suffered serious injuries and were airlifted to a local hospital, according to Pennsylvania State Police. Both troopers were in stable condition and are expected to recover, Gov. Josh Shapiro said at a press briefing from the hospital. The suspect has not been publicly identified. State police leaders said the troopers were responding just after 11 a.m. to check the welfare of a person at a home near the tiny 250-person town of Thompson in the northeast corner of Pennsylvania. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Pennsylvania State Police Col. Christopher Paris added there was additional information about shots being fired in the call. Upon arrival, they were immediately fired upon and ambushed. They are very lucky to be alive, Paris said. Despite both of their patrol cars being riddled with bullets, a third trooper was able to get in and evacuate them. Law enforcement formed a perimeter around the scene, but the shooter refused to comply with commands, state police said. The gunman, who was armed with a rifle, was eventually shot and killed by officers on the scene. Following his death, there was no further threat to the community, officials said. Shapiro and Paris singled out Perechinsky for praise, saying he likely saved multiple lives including that of Jenkins, whom he applied a tourniquet to at the scene before the troopers escaped. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Pennsylvania Route 171 was shut down about 5 miles south of Thompson. A massive law enforcement presence was on the scene. Shapiro announced the shooting news before giving a speech at an unrelated press event in Bucks County. He then quickly traveled north to the scene. _____ Editors Note: This story was originally published stating that two teenagers were arrested. The article has been updated to reflect that one of the individuals is a 12-year-old. BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First) Two juveniles, ages 12 and 14, are in custody as part of an ongoing investigation into a string of vehicle burglaries in Walker. According to the Livingston Parish Sheriffs Office (LPSO), multiple burglaries occurred between Monday, Aug. 4, and Thursday, Aug. 7, near Ball Park Road and in the Meadow Crossing Subdivision. Investigators believe the incidents happened late at night or in the early morning hours. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As the investigation progressed, detectives identified the pair as suspects. Search warrants were obtained for the homes where they were staying, leading to the discovery of a gun on each juvenile and items belonging to several of the victims, Sheriff Jason Ard said. Both suspects were booked into the Florida Parishes Juvenile Detention Center. Each faces one count of possession of a firearm by a juvenile and ten counts of vehicle burglary. LPSO said more charges are possible. Nursing home employee in Baton Rouge accused of injuring elderly woman with dementia LPSO said the vehicle burglaries happened between Monday, Aug. 4 and Thursday, Aug. 7. (Photo courtesy of Livingston Parish Sheriffs Office) A 12-year-old and 14-year-old were taken into custody and charged with one count of possession of a firearm by a juvenile and 10 counts of vehicle burglary. (Photo courtesy of Livingston Parish Sheriffs Office) Burglary Detectives believe more victims are out there, Ard said. Were asking residents in Meadow Crossing to reach out if they believe they were also targeted by these suspects. Our investigation continues. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Anyone who believes they were a victim between Aug. 4 and Aug. 7 should call 225-686-2241 x1 or submit a tip through the LPSO app. The Walker Police Department assisted LPSO in the case. Latest 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 Louisiana First News. PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) Two women are accused of using sleight of hand to seal a $3,400 gold coin, among other crimes, and they are still at large. The women, 30-year-old Flavia Avram and 29-year-old Ariana I. Muntean, allegedly stole the gold coin from a shop in Southeast Portland on June 4. Man accused of deadly Motel 6 shooting jailed The Portland Police Bureau said they responded to the owner of a coin and precious metal shops report of a theft on June 6. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Surveillance images from the store in the 3500 block of Southeast 52nd Avenue in the Foster-Powell Neighborhood were shared by Portland police in hopes of locating the suspects. Ariana I. Muntean (left) and Flavia Avram are seen in surveillance video (courtesy Portland Police Bureau). Flavia Avram is accused of theft and is being sought by police (courtesy Portland Police Bureau). Ariana I. Muntean is accused of theft and being sought by the police (courtesy Portland Police Bureau). Flavia Avram (left) and Ariana I. Muntean are seen in a surveillance video (courtesy Portland Police Bureau). Though the two women are still at large, a Multnomah County grand jury indicted them on two counts of felony first-degree theft. The business owner reported that two unidentified women had entered the store and, through sleight of hand, stole a gold coin worth $3400, and attempted to steal another, PPB said. They are also accused of committing a similar crime in Washington. City Council to create unified housing strategy Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement PPB said a tip from a local news outlet pointed them in the direction of the Lynwood Police Department, which was investigating a similar case with suspects matching the description in the Portland case. LPD had identified the alleged suspects and provided the information to PPB amid their investigation. Flavia Avram is described as: 59 170-190lbs Brown eyes Dark brown hair (may be bleached) Seen wearing a black sweatshirt, black sweatpants and white shoes From Kent, Washington Ariana I. Muntean is described as: 55 180-200lb Brown eyes Dark brown hair Seen wearing a blue shirt and pants, sandals and tan coat From Lynwood, Washington Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Portland police believe the suspects may have committed other crimes around Portland and in other states. They said if anyone sees them, do not approach and call 911. If anyone has information about the case, theyre asked to call Portland police. 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. LAHAINA, Hawaii (KHON2) Its been two years since the deadly Maui wildfires, a tragedy that took 102 lives and displaced thousands. Recovery is still ongoing. There is hope: First business returns to Lahaina just before the second wildfire anniversary KHON2s Nikki Schenfeld went live from Front Street, showcasing signs of life returning to Lahaina in terms of nature reclaiming the business district. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Front Street has remained untouched since the debris cleanup was completed, but on smaller streets such as Wainee, Wahikuli and Aineakea, many homes are being built once again. Get Hawaiis latest morning news delivered to your inbox, sign up for News 2 You The anniversary brings mixed feelings for those who once lived in the area. Some want nothing to do with the day, some remain on the island but away from Lahaina, while others want to be with their community. Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen said he feels hopeful for the community and everything theyve gone through. 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. NEED TO KNOW A 26-year-old mom and her 5-month-old baby are dead after a tree fell on them at a campground in British Columbia on July 31 The odds of seeing that is slim, said Cumberland Deputy Fire Chief Stephane Dionne An investigation is ongoing A 26-year-old woman and her 5-month-old baby are dead after they were hit by a tree at a campground in British Columbia, officials said. On Thursday, July 31, first responders arrived at Cumberland Lake Park Campground in Cumberland near Comox Lake after a tree fell on the mother and child, the Comox Valley RCMP said in a press release. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Despite the efforts of first responders, the young mother passed away at the scene, the local police agency said. The infant was transported to hospital but sadly did not survive. Authorities offered their condolences to those impacted, and thanked the people nearby who stepped in to help under heartbreaking circumstances. No foul play is suspected, and an investigation is ongoing. https://people-app.onelink.me/HNIa/kz7l4cuf The Comox Valley RCMP, the BC Coroners Service and Cumberland Lake Park Campground have been contacted by PEOPLE. Cumberland Deputy Fire Chief Stephane Dionne told Global News that that tree was about 10 to 15 inches in diameter, and was located about 65 feet in the nearby woods. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The odds of seeing that is slim, he told the outlet of the freak accident. In an emotional statement, the woman and babys family shared their heartbreak as they invited people to gather at Comox Marine Park on Sunday, Aug. 10 in memory of the pair, who are only addressed by their first names. Never miss a story sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. GoogleMaps Cumberland Lake Park Campground in Cumberland, British Columbia. Cumberland Lake Park Campground in Cumberland, British Columbia. They asked attendees to share in the love that Lynae and Elias brought to this earth and to thank the community for their support, the statement read, according to Global News. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The family went on to thank first responders and passersby who tried to save our beautiful babies who we know are safe in the arms of Jesus. A spokesperson for the campground told Global News that they dont know what caused the tree to fall. The tree, which appeared to be dead, has since been removed. Read the original article on People This story was originally published on C-Store Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily C-Store Dive newsletter. Dive Brief: CrossAmerica Partners sold 60 convenience retail properties across several states during Q2, the company reported in its earnings statement on Thursday. The buyers included multiple small independent operators, a company spokesperson said in a statement to C-Store Dive. The 60 stores are scattered across the South Central, Mountain West and Northeast regions of the U.S., and included locations in Colorado and Kansas, marking CrossAmericas exit from those states, according to the statement and the companys spokesperson. The divestitures were part of CrossAmericas ongoing real estate rationalization efforts, which have notably included beefing up its c-store footprint by converting dealer sites to company-owned locations over the past year. Dive Insight: Part of CrossAmericas rationalization efforts has also included selling stores in regions the company doesnt see as core to its strategy. The 60 stores sold last quarter doubled the 30 locations CrossAmerica offloaded in all of fiscal 2024, according to last years Q4 report, signaling that the company is doubling down on its rationalization strategy. Nifong emphasized CrossAmericas intent on continuing this strategy during Thursdays earnings call, noting that the 60 stores sold last quarter were generally lower performing sites and markets that we have decided were no longer strategic for us, he said. He noted that CrossAmerica will maintain fuel supply agreements with the majority of the sold locations. CrossAmericas company-operated site count dropped from 372 this time last year and 376 at the end of last quarter to 361 at the end of Q2. This decrease was primarily attributable to the series of sales made during the quarter, according to the report. The sale resulted in $64 million in proceeds and a net gain of just under $30 million, according to the earnings report. Nifong added that CrossAmerica has a strong pipeline of asset sales through 2025. [We] expect to continue to add meaningfully to the total dollar value of sites divested by the end of the year, Nifong said. Recommended Reading When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. The extraordinary Bronze Age burial was found at the Tepe Chalow site, in the remote North Khorasan province of northeastern Iran. | Credit: Ali Vahdati Archaeologists in Iran have unearthed the lavish grave of a teenager who lived more than 3,000 years ago, when the region was part of the Greater Khorasan Civilization. The woman died at about age 18, probably of natural causes. Her rich grave goods, including gold jewelry, indicate that she came from a wealthy family with "inherited status," according to a study published April 21 in the journal Iran . Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The grave, at the Tepe Chalow archaeological site in northeast Iran's remote North Khorasan province, is one of the richest ever found from the Great Khorasan Civilization (GKC), study lead author Ali Vahdati , an archaeologist with Iran's cultural heritage ministry, told Live Science in an email. One of the most remarkable grave goods was a crafted rectangular box made from black stone, rich in "chlorite" minerals, which had been decorated with carvings of snakes and scorpions. The box was used to store cosmetics or "kohl" a black powdered mineral often used as eyeliner in ancient times. The snake and scorpion depictions "may have served ritual or protective functions," the study authors wrote. An extremely similar box had previously been found in a Bronze Age grave north of Tepe Chalow in the ancient region of Bactria, which now spans parts of Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan; and the Tepe Chalow box also seems to have been made from stone imported from Bactria, Vahdati said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Related: 'Cone-headed' skull from Iran was bashed in 6,200 years ago, but no one knows why Image 1 of 2 a close-up of excavated goods in a grave Archaeologists think the grave dates from the late third millennium B.C., when the ancient settlement was part of the Greater Khorasan Civilization. Image 2 of 2 a close-up of an excavated grave with a human skeleton in the dirt The ancient grave of a young woman found at Tepe Chalow is one of the richest graves from the Greater Khorasan Civilization ever found. Greater Khorasan Vahdati first located the Tepe Chalow site ("Chalow Hills" in Persian) in 2006 during an archaeological survey of a nearby river basin, but was unable to return to excavate it until 2011. A total of 48 graves have now been unearthed there, situated in widely spaced clusters and covered with low mounds that give the site its name. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Most of the graves date from the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC), which was part of the Greater Khorasan Civilization a Bronze Age polity with fortified settlements and monumental architecture that traded with both Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley until it began to decline in the 13th century B.C., Vahdati said. But a few of the graves date from even earlier, from the late Chalcolithic ("Copper-Stone") Age in the fourth millennium B.C., when Tepe Chalow was first settled. The grave of the teenage woman known as "Grave 12" was discovered in 2013, but the new study is the first time it has been described in detail, Vahdati said. The exact age of the grave isn't yet known, but it's thought the woman buried there lived in the late third millennium B.C., the study authors said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement She was buried in a crouched position and lying on her right side, with her face turned to the southeast in what seems to have been an ancient tradition at the Tepe Chalow site, the authors wrote in the study. Image 1 of 2 a close-up of an engraved blue box One of the most remarkable grave goods is this black stone box, apparently once used to store cosmetics and decorated with carvings of snakes and scorpions. Image 2 of 2 a close-up of a blue box with a snake engraved on its side The archaeologists say an almost identical box was found in another Bronze Age grave to the north of Tepe Chalow, and that this box was probably imported from there. "Inherited status" As well as the elaborate cosmetics box, the young woman's grave contained two gold earrings; a gold finger ring; several pins made from ivory and bronze, including one shaped like a hand; a bronze mirror; several pottery vessels; and a bronze stamp seal depicting human feet. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Vahdati said similar stamp seals have been found at Bronze Age archaeological sites in southern Iran, and that it was one of several seals found in the grave that signified the woman's active role and social standing in her community. He added that the ivory pins and beads of lapis lazuli indicated that her community had long-distance trade connections with other ancient regions, including what's now Afghanistan and the Indus Valley. RELATED STORIES Early humans lived on 'Persian plateau' for 20,000 years after leaving Africa, study suggests Archaeologists discover 4,000-year-old Bronze Age settlement hidden in Saudi Arabian oasis Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 'Stunning' Bronze Age burial chamber discovered on the English moor The woman buried in Grave 12 was an important person but was too young when she died to have achieved such status herself, Vahdati said. Instead, it's likely she inherited her social status and wealth from her family, either by birth or through marriage. "The presence of such wealth in the grave of an adolescent remains unique within the Greater Khorasan Civilization archaeological record," Vahdati said. "At this stage we can only speak of elite status passed down through lineage, which is consistent with the hierarchical nature of GKC society." Mesopotamia quiz: Test your knowledge about the ancient civilizations of the Fertile Crescent UNION COUNTY, S.C. (WSPA) Three people were arrested and charged in connection to two inmates who escaped from the Union County Detention Center. The inmates were found in Georgia on July 29, officials said. Georgia State Patrol notified the Union County Sheriffs Office of the inmates, who were unaware that the pair had escaped from the facility. Warrants identify the inmates as Devin Fisher and Nicklaus Bevis. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to the sheriffs office, the Union County Detention Center operates independently and is not under the direction or control of the sheriffs office. At the request of the county officials, the sheriffs office started an investigation to determine how the escape occurred and who helped the inmates after the escape. After the investigation, deputies arrested and charged 31-year-old Casandra Lacey Bailey, 41-year-old Bradley Dane DePratter and 41-year-old Katherine Anne Granger with accessory after the fact to a felony. Warrants report that Bailey drove Fisher and Bevis from a location in Union County to Spartanburg County. Granger, officials said, drove the inmates around Union County. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement DePratter is accused of aiding the inmates by attempting to send Fisher money through Cash App on July 29. This escape raised concerns that we are actively working to address, public safety is our top priority, and we are fully committed to uncovering who was involved, said Sheriff Jeff Bailey. We will pursue every lead until we have the full picture and everyone responsible is held accountable. 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 WSPA 7NEWS. At least three civilians were killed and 19 were injured in Russian attacks across Ukraine over the past 24 hours, regional authorities reported on Aug. 8. According to Ukraine's Air Force, Russian forces launched 108 Shahed-type attack drones, decoy drones, and rocket-powered kamikaze drones overnight. Air defenses shot down 82 drones, while 26 struck 10 locations. Debris from intercepted drones fell in eight additional areas, according to the statement. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In Zaporizhzhia Oblast, two civilians were killed as Russian forces carried out 545 strikes on 14 towns and villages, Governor Ivan Fedorov said. In Donetsk Oblast, 10 civilians were injured during Russian attacks, Governor Vadym Filashkin said. Five people were injured in Kharkiv Oblast, including residents of Kharkiv and seven surrounding settlements, according to Governor Oleh Syniehubov. One person was killed and another injured in Kherson Oblast, where Russian attacks damaged three apartment buildings and 15 houses, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said. Targets included both social infrastructure and residential areas. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In Sumy Oblast, three people were injured as Russian forces carried out nearly 110 attacks on 47 settlements, local authorities reported. The strikes come as Moscow continues its refusal to agree to an unconditional ceasefire and escalates its reliance on drones and rocket-powered munitions to target Ukrainian civilian infrastructure. Read also: Ukraine war latest: Putin, Trump to meet in coming days, Moscow says as US sanctions deadline draws near Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. NEED TO KNOW On Aug. 7, the New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner announced the identifications of three more victims of the 9/11 attacks, made possible by advanced DNA analysis Of the 2,753 people who were killed in the World Trade Center attack, about 1,100 victims remain unidentified "Our commitment to identify the missing and return them to their loved ones stands as strong as ever, said Dr. Jason Graham, the chief medical examiner Almost 24 years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, three more victims who perished in the tragedy have finally been identified. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In a news release shared with PEOPLE on Thursday, Aug. 7, the New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) announced Ryan Fitzgerald of Floral Park, N.Y., Barbara Keating of Palm Springs, Calif., and an adult woman, whose name is being withheld at the request of her family, as the 1651st, 1652nd, and 1653rd persons identified. Their identifications were made possible by advanced DNA analysis of remains recovered from the attack, along with family outreach, said the OCME. The OCME added that Fitzgeralds identification was confirmed through DNA testing of remains initially recovered in 2002, while the identifications of Keating and the unidentified woman were based on remains first retrieved in 2001. According to his obituary, as reported by CW affiliate WPIX, Fitzgerald had recently begun working in the foreign currency exchange desk at Fiduciary Trust before his death. As the oldest of three children, Fitzgerald had also just started living on his own in Manhattan, per the obit. Fitzgerald, who was a fan of the New York Yankees and Dave Matthews Band, was 26. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement https://people-app.onelink.me/HNIa/kz7l4cuf Keating, a 72-year-old grandmother who had worked as an executive director of the Big Brothers Big Sisters of South Middlesex in Massachusetts, divided her time between Cape Cod and Palm Springs. She was heading back to California after visiting her grandchildren on the East Coast when she was killed on American Airlines Flight 11, read an obituary. About 2,753 people were killed in the World Trade Center attack on Sept. 11, 2001. The remains of about 1,100 victims are unidentified, the OCME said. Nearly 25 years after the disaster at the World Trade Center, our commitment to identify the missing and return them to their loved ones stands as strong as ever, said Dr. Jason Graham, the chief medical examiner, per the news release. Each new identification testifies to the promise of science and sustained outreach to families despite the passage of time. We continue this work as our way of honoring the lost. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement New York City Mayor Eric Adams issued a press statement following the announcement of the three latest identifications. Never miss a story sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. The pain of losing a loved one in the September 11th terror attacks echoes across the decades, he said, but with these three new identifications, we take a step forward in comforting the family members still aching from that day. As a former law enforcement officer who served our city on 9/11, I understand deeply the feeling of loss so many families have experienced. We hope the families receiving answers from the Office of Chief Medical Examiner can take solace in the citys tireless dedication to this mission. Read the original article on People Josue Perez Gomez (Courtesy: Portsmouth Police Department) PORTSMOUTH, R.I. (WPRI) Police have arrested three men following a months-long undercover sex trafficking and exploitation investigation out of Portsmouth. Ricardo Ramirez, 28, of Bridgeport, Connecticut, Josue Perez Gomez, 29, of Acushnet, Massachusetts, and Connor Macleod, 37, of Newport, have been charged in connection with the investigation, which began back in June. Perez Gomez was taken into custody last month shortly after arriving at a predetermined location in Portsmouth, where police said he intended to engage in sexual activity with a minor. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement His arrest followed an online exchange conducted through a website commonly used for illicit purposes, according to police. Connor Macleod (Courtesy: Portsmouth Police Department) Perez Gomez has been charged with patronizing a minor for commercial sexual activity, indecent solicitation of a minor and procurement of sexual conduct for a fee. Macleod was taken into custody that same day after arranging to pay for sexual activity involving both an adult and a juvenile, police said. Hes been charged with procurement of sexual conduct for a fee and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Police said Ramirez was arrested in Connecticut Thursday following several online exchanges of explicit messages and files between him and someone he believed to be a minor. Ricardo Ramirez (Courtesy: Portsmouth Police Department) Ramirez has been charged with electronically disseminating indecent material to a minor and is awaiting extradition to Rhode Island. He had previously been arrested in Bloomfield, Connecticut, for similar charges involving minors, according to police. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Perez Gomez was granted $5,000 surety bail and ordered not to have contact with minors. Macleod was released on $1,000 personal recognizance. The Portsmouth Police Department was assisted throughout the investigation by Homeland Security Investigations New England, as well as the Warwick, Newport and East Providence police departments. Download the WPRI 12 and Pinpoint Weather 12 apps to get breaking news and weather alerts. Watch 12 News Now on WPRI.com or with the new 12+ smart TV app. Follow us on social media: Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Daily Roundup 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 WPRI.com. Deputies with the Riverside County Sheriffs Department responded quickly this morning when an unexpected visitor showed up at Jurupa Valley High School a full-grown 300-pound bull. Jurupa Valley sheriffs officials say the bull wandered onto the high school grounds, prompting a coordinated response from deputies, animal control officers and local handlers. Using calm, careful tactics and a lasso officers and deputies were able to safely wrangle the animal without incident. There were no injuries reported to students, school staff, deputies or the bull during the event. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This mornings unexpected visitor certainly wasnt your average back-to-school sight, sheriffs officials said in a social media post. Thanks to the quick action of law enforcement, animal control, and local handlers, the situation was resolved smoothly. While officials do not recommend such drop-offs, they expressed relief that everyone involved was safe and the school day could proceed without further disruption. The incident serves as a reminder of the diverse and sometimes surprising challenges local law enforcement faces in serving the community. The Sheriffs Station assured residents that deputies remain prepared to handle emergencies of all kinds, from animals on the loose to more serious matters. School officials have not released additional details, but the area was secured quickly and normal school activities resumed soon after. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. Cedarville University held a dedication ceremony for the Bolthouse Academic Center on August 8, marking a significant milestone in the universitys expansion plans. The ceremony took place at the construction site along State Route 72, where the new facility is expected to open in August 2027. The Bolthouse Academic Center, a $35 million project, is part of Cedarvilles One Thousand Days Transformed campaign, which aims to enhance the universitys infrastructure and academic offerings. [DOWNLOAD: Free WHIO-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] TRENDING STORIES: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Dr. Thomas White, president of Cedarville University, and Dr. Tom Mach, vice president for academics, spoke at the ceremony, reflecting on the significance of the project. Prayers were led by Dr. Kevin Jones and Dr. Mark Caleb Smith, deans of the schools that will be housed in the new facility. The Bolthouse Academic Center is named in honor of trustee emeritus William Bolthouse and will feature a Georgian-style design with three floors of classrooms, student collaboration spaces, and a coffee and dining venue. It will house the School of Education and Social Work and departments of English, literature and modern languages, history and government, psychology, and social work. A defining architectural feature of the building will be an 84-foot dome rising above Cedarvilles Main Street. The project was accelerated thanks to a $15 million anonymous gift, and the university is continuing to raise the remaining $4.8 million needed to complete the building. The academic center is the final major project of the One Thousand Days Transformed campaign, which has already funded several campus expansions, including the Scharnberg Business and Communication Center and the Civil Engineering Building. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A commemorative brick patio will be a key feature of the new facility, allowing individuals to sponsor bricks engraved with names as a tribute to lives changed through Cedarvilles mission. The Bolthouse Academic Center represents a significant step forward for Cedarville University, enhancing its academic facilities and supporting its mission of academic excellence and Kingdom service. The project is set to transform the campus landscape and provide new opportunities for students and faculty alike. [SIGN UP: WHIO-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] Four $100,000 lottery prizes were won or claimed across Massachusetts on Thursday. Three of the prizes were won during the daily Mass Cash drawing. The winning numbers for the Aug. 7 drawing were 2, 5, 10, 11 and 15. One of the winning tickets was sold in Cambridge at First United Market, while another was sold in East Boston. The third winning ticket that matched all five numbers was sold at Dennis Public Market in Dennis. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The fourth $100,000 lottery prize, which was claimed Thursday, was from a Diamond Deluxe scratch ticket. The winning ticket twas sold at Kurts Corner in Middleborough. Overall, at least 514 prizes worth $600 or more were won or claimed in Massachusetts on Thursday, including nine in Springfield, 16 in Worcester and 48 in Boston. The Massachusetts State Lottery releases a full list of winning tickets every day. The list only includes winning tickets worth more than $600. The two largest lottery prizes won so far in 2025 were each worth $15 million. One of the prizes was from a winning Diamond Deluxe scratch ticket sold in Holyoke, and the other was from a 300X scratch ticket sold on Cape Cod. Massachusetts State Lottery Read the original article on MassLive. SAO PAULO (AP) Police in Rio de Janeiro carried out raids against a criminal group Friday that allegedly operated a clandestine ride-hailing app that generated monthly profits of up to 1 million reais (about $185,000), authorities said. At least four people were arrested. Officials said in a statement that Comando Vermelho, one of Brazils most notorious criminal organizations, coerced motorcycle drivers into installing a ride-hailing app developed by the group and using it in Vila Kennedy, a neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro. More than 300 drivers were registered with the app, and the revenue was funneled through shell companies to finance drug trafficking operations. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Police have arrested four people so far and executed 12 search and seizure warrants in Rio and neighboring cities. Authorities said the ride-hailing operation was run by two well-structured groups: one that threatened and extorted drivers, and another that collected the profits and transferred them to the local drug lord. Comando Vermelho, which translates to Red Command in English, is one of Brazils oldest and largest criminal gangs. Originating in Rio de Janeiros prison system in the late 1970s, the group has expanded its operations into other criminal businesses, including international cocaine trafficking, and it also controls territory in several of Rios working-class neighborhoods. Armed groups that dominate these areas often manage basic services such as gas, internet and transportation. Brazilian media recently reported that Comando Vermelho has banned the use of popular ride-hailing apps like Uber and 99 from operating in certain areas. Motorcycle taxis are a longstanding and popular mode of transportation in Rio and other Brazilian cities. Uber launched its motorcycle ride service in Rio in January 2023 and, two years later, the company said in a statement that it had transported 3 million users and registered 100,000 drivers. ___ Follow APs coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america Energy companies will be forced to pay 40 in compensation for dumb smart meters and delayed installation appointments, under plans announced by the regulator. Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, wants to have smart meters installed in 75pc of homes by the end of the year despite only 68pc currently having one fitted. In an attempt to rescue the beleaguered rollout, Ofgem, the energy watchdog, will require suppliers to pay out 40 in compensation to households starting next year if installation is delayed by more than six weeks or if a dumb smart meter is not fixed within 90 days. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Miatta Fahnbulleh, the minister for energy consumers, said: This marks another step in our work to bring down bills for working people and rebuild consumers confidence in the energy sector. The smart meter rollout was started by Mr Miliband during his first tenure as energy secretary in 2008, but has been plagued with technical failures and low enthusiasm from consumers. Official figures show one in 10 smart meters does not work correctly, and the Telegraph has heard from countless homeowners whose faulty smart meters have landed them with surprise bills. Damning official figures show 3.5 million smart meters have gone dumb because they have lost their ability to send usage information. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The new rules will force suppliers to pay out for a failed smart meter installation due to a fault within the suppliers control. But Simon Francis, of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition charity, warned that most smart meter faults are caused by the Data Communications Company, not the energy supplier. He said: We are concerned that this fault will be exempt from compensation as it could be argued to be outside the suppliers control. Whats more, when faults with smart meters are ongoing, it means that even people who want a smart meter may not be able to access the best tariffs available. This is an issue that cant be dealt with by a one-off payment. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In the past year, Ofgem has overseen the repair or replacement of 600,000 faulty smart meters. The regulator said the new standards would further incentivise suppliers to install and repair smart meters as soon as possible. Charlotte Friel, of Ofgem, said: We know many customers who want a smart meter wait too long to get one installed or face delays on repairs when it stops working this needs to change. It comes as Mr Milibands energy department announces plans to pay homeowners living near new pylon lines 2,500 over 10 years. Households living within 500m of a pylon would receive a 125 discount off their energy bills every six months as part of the Governments push towards net zero. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Department for Energy Security & Net Zero estimates that around twice as much new transmission network infrastructure will be needed by 2030 as has been built in the past decade, which experts claim will require an additional 600 miles of overhead cables. 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. September WTI crude oil (CLU25) today is down -0.30 (-0.47%), and September RBOB gasoline (RBU25) is down -0.014 (-0.07%). Crude oil and gasoline prices dropped to 2-month lows today after Bloomberg News reported that the US and Russia are looking to reach a deal on ending the war in Ukraine, which would keep the US from ratcheting up sanctions on Russian energy exports. Losses in crude are limited due to a weaker dollar and a rally in stocks, which shows confidence in the economic outlook that is supportive of energy demand. More News from Barchart Crude prices are under pressure on the prospects of easing geopolitical risks after Bloomberg News reported that the US and Russia are aiming for a deal to end the war in Ukraine. Russia said it would halt its offensive in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine along the current battlelines as part of the deal if Ukraine cedes its entire eastern Donbas area to Russia, as well as Crimea. The end of the war could boost global oil supplies as sanctions on Russian energy exports could be lifted, which would add crude supplies to the global market. Crude prices have moved higher after President Trump said last Monday that he would impose new tariffs on countries buying Russian energy unless Russia reaches a ceasefire with Ukraine by today. On Wednesday, President Trump doubled tariffs on Indian exports to 50% from 25% because of India's purchases of Russian crude. JPMorgan Chase warned that if enforced, oil markets would be unable to ignore the impact of triple-digit tariffs on Russian oil, given the significant scale of Russian exports and limited OPEC spare capacity, which could potentially lead to a supply shock. Concerns about a global oil supply glut are weighing on crude prices after OPEC+ on Sunday endorsed an additional 547,000 bpd increase in its crude production for September 1. OPEC+ is boosting output to reverse the 2-year-long production cut, gradually restoring a total of 2.2 million bpd of production by September 2026. After Sunday's meeting, the group said it will closely monitor demand and may maintain production levels, restart halted supplies, or reverse recent production increases. OPEC+ has 1.66 million bpd of supplies that are currently due to remain offline until late 2026. The International Energy Agency said inventories have been accumulating at a rate of 1 million bpd and that the global crude oil market faces a surplus by Q4-2025 equivalent to 1.5% of global crude consumption. OPEC July crude production fell -20,000 bpd to 28.31 million bpd. SPARTANBURG, S.C. (WSPA) The Spartanburg Police Department said they are offering a $5,000 reward for information regarding the death of an infant. On August 3, officers were called to a shooting at an apartment on Collins Avenue. Seven-month-old Zymir Demarco Smith was found inside the residence with a gunshot wound to the neck. PREVIOUS STORY: Infant killed in Spartanburg shooting A $5,000 cash reward is available to anyone who provides information that leads to the arrest of the person(s) involved in the shooting, according to police. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Police ask that you contact Investigator S. Sanders at 864-594-7223 or Crime Stoppers at 1-888-CRIMESC (274-6372). 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 WSPA 7NEWS. MADISON Gov. Tony Evers signed 16 bills into law Aug. 8, while vetoing bills related to portable benefits for gig economy workers and voting barriers for individuals with criminal convictions. Here are the five bills killed by the governor's veto pen. Exempting direct primary care doctors from insurance regulations Evers vetoed a bill that would have allowed primary care doctors who provide care in exchange for monthly subscription fees to practice without being regulated as part of the insurance industry. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Direct primary care clinics have grown in popularity in recent years. Typically, patients are billed directly and pay a monthly membership fee at the clinic. The bill would have established requirements for direct primary care agreements, and made them exempt from Wisconsin insurance laws that protect patient rights. In his veto message, Evers said he vetoed the bill because it fails to provide sufficient protections for patients receiving care under these agreements. "Health care should not be a privilege afforded only to the healthy, the wealthy and the well connected. Every Wisconsinite should be able to get the healthcare they need when and where they need it and without fear of discrimination," Evers said, adding that he raised similar concerns when he vetoed earlier iterations of the legislation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement While the bill stated that direct primary care providers "may not decline to enter into or terminate a direct primary care agreement with a patient solely because of the patient's health status," language enumerating specific civil rights protects are not clearly outlined to protect against discrimination. Creation of a new chapter of Wisconsin statutes for specialty courts Evers vetoed a bill that would create a new chapter in state statutes for specialty courts. It would statutorily recognize specialized dockets for treatment courts and for commercial cases in circuit courts. Additionally, the legislation would create procedures for any judicial administrative districts that have established specialized dockets for commercial cases and would allow the Chief Justice of the state Supreme Court to add additional districts to the commercial court docket upon the recommendation of the Director of State Courts. While Evers said he supports the intent of creating and investing in dockets and problem-solving courts designed to respond to unique needs, reduce recidivism, increase efficiency and bolster public safety, he said he found the bill to encroach upon other constitutional offices and branches of government, including "attempting to micromanage the Wisconsin Supreme Court." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Should the Wisconsin Supreme Court decide creating additional problem-solving courts or pilots are appropriate and necessary, I am confident the Court is capable of making such a determination without being compelled by the Legislature," Evers said in his veto message. Requiring the Department of Corrections to recommend revoking extended supervision, parole, probation if person is charged with a crime while on it Evers vetoed a bill requiring the state Department of Corrections to recommend revoking a person's extended supervision, parole or probation if the person is charged with a crime while on extended supervision, parole or probation. The bill recommends automatically sending a person who violates their parole, probation or extended supervision back to prison if they are charged with a new crime, no matter the type of violation. It is estimated the bill would cost the state more than $330 million in the first two years, which doesn't include construction costs for billing additional state correctional facilities that would likely be needed to accommodate an influx of inmates, according to Evers' veto message. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The bill could increase the prison population by nearly 7,000 people a year, according to the Department of Corrections, which would only serve to add stress on the already struggling system. "I object to the unfunded mandate that such revocation would impose on the Department of Corrections, which would move Wisconsin in the wrong direction on criminal justice reform without improving public safety," Evers said. "We know we can keep our communities safe by holding offenders accountable, reform our justice system and save money, all at the same time by using evidence-based practices to help us make better decisions throughout the justice system." Currently, revocation is decided by a judge based on evidence and research that takes into account factors such as the nature of the new charge, supervision history and the risk to public safety. Those who are accused of a new crime are placed in a county jail while awaiting a hearing before an administrative law judge, who decides if the person will be sent back to prison. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Evers vetoed similar legislation in 2019. Voting barriers for individuals with previous criminal convictions Evers vetoed a bill that would create additional barriers to restoring an individual's constitutional right to vote if they have previous criminal convictions. Currently, in Wisconsin, when an individual completes their court-ordered sentence, their constitutional right to vote is restored without any additional steps. Under this bill, in addition to completing imprisonment or probation for a crime, a person must have paid all fines, costs, fees, surcharges and restitution, and have completed any court-ordered community service in order to have their right to vote restored. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Additionally, the legislation would have created a separate restitution procedure for certain crimes, which Evers said could "set a precedent that would elevate some crime victims over others." "My promise to Wisconsinites has always been that I will not sign legislation that makes it harder for eligible Wisconsinites to cast their ballot. I will continue to keep that promise," Evers said in his veto message. Portable benefits for gig economy workers Evers vetoed a bill that would have expanded benefits to drivers for delivery network and transportation network companies such as DoorDash, Uber and Instacart. Under current state law, these drivers are not able to participate in certain benefits that traditional full-time employees have, such as retirement accounts, health insurance and occupational accident insurance. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The bill would have reclassified these drivers as independent contractors and exempted them from state minimum wage, unemployment insurance and worker's compensation laws. Under the legislation, companies would be allowed, but not required, to offer independent contractors access to benefits and the ability to contribute up to 4% of quarterly earnings to health care and retirement savings accounts. These would be "portable benefits" not tied to a specific employer. Workers with portable benefits can access benefits regardless of their employment status. In his veto message, Evers said that while his administration asked both stakeholders and legislators working on the bill to ensure there was adequate time for dialogue about the proposal, the Legislature "declined to meaningfully provide that opportunity." "I am open to finding a pathway to portable benefits; however, such a solution must be thoughtful, benefit workers and be created through a process in which workers and management have the opportunity to participate, collaborate and reach agreement," Evers said in his veto message. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Wisconsin AFL-CIO President Stephanie Bloomingdale applauded Evers' for "looking beyond the corporate spin" in his decision to veto the bill. "Legislation that makes the loss of important worker rights a certainty while holding out the possibility of flexible benefits if and when the employer chooses to provide them is a bad deal for workers," Bloomingdale said in a statement Aug. 8. Lawmakers behind the bill, however, saw the veto as a halt to meaningful reform. Gov. Evers talks a lot about helping working families, but when it came time to act, he caved to outdated special interest politics, Rep. Alex Dallman, R-Markesan, said in a statement on Aug. 8. He vetoed innovation, he vetoed independence and he vetoed hope for thousands of Wisconsinites who just want a fair shot. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The bill was introduced during the previous legislative session and did not become law. Laura Schulte of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel contributed to this report. Anna Kleiber can be reached at akleiber@gannett.com. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin Governor Evers vetoes Uber driver legislation, other bills Health officials announced Friday they are investigating an unexplained illness affecting dogs in the Venice Canals area, with dozens of suspected cases and several deaths reported. This announcement comes after weeks of community unrest, with neighbors and visitors sharing eerily similar stories of taking their healthy dogs for a walk by the Venice Canals only for their beloved pets to die or become violently ill in the following days. Common symptoms include sudden and severe lethargy and weakness, lack of coordination, vomiting, tremors or seizures. The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health said that, as of Friday, there have been 26 cases logged in the investigation, including five canine fatalities. Community members have claimed at least seven canine deaths, but health officials did not confirm that number. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Specialists across the department including Veterinary Public Health, Environmental Health and Acute Communicable Disease are said to be examining all potential sources, from pesticides and harmful organisms to other environmental hazards. So far, their tests seem to point to algae toxins in the Venice Canals. As part of the investigation, the Water Quality Control Board tested the canal water, algae and scum, the department said in a release. Results found the presence of toxins produced by algae. Although this preliminary finding provides useful information for the investigation, officials said that a definitive link to the dog illnesses has yet to be confirmed. Furthermore, the department did not comment on whether this would be related to the deadly algae bloom that plagued sea animals along the California coast earlier this year. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In the meantime, public health officials said they will spread awareness, health education and post signage around affected canal areas warning residents and visitors of the potential risk of toxins from algae. An undated image provided in the State of California Water Quality Monitoring Councils website section about Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) is seen here. The health effects of the toxins from the algae vary by route of exposure, the release explained. For humans, the toxins can cause skin rashes, eye irritation, diarrhea, and vomiting. For animals, the toxins can cause diarrhea, vomiting, convulsions and death. The most recent case is said to have had symptoms that began on July 30, but the source of the illness is still being examined. Until further notice, officials strongly advise people and pets to do the following: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Avoid swimming in the canals Stay away from scum, foam, and cloudy or discolored water Do not use canal water for drinking or cooking Do not allow pets to enter or drink the water, or to eat, touch or sniff algae, scum, or any debris near the water Avoid eating shellfish from these waters If you catch fish in this water, throw away fish guts (which can contain toxins), and clean and thoroughly rinse fillets with clean, fresh water. Wash your hands, tools, and any surfaces afterward. When in doubt, do not eat the fish. The county also advised pet owners who think their pets may be sick should seek immediate veterinary care. In addition, to help in this investigation, veterinarians who have relevant information are asked to report suspected cases to the Veterinary Public Health Program at 213-288-7060 or vet@ph.lacounty.gov. City, state and county agencies are assisting with this investigation and response. For additional information on harmful algae, visit: https://mywaterquality.ca.gov/habs/index.html Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. LAS VEGAS (KLAS) A 23-year-old who killed a veteran in what records show was his fifth DUI has agreed to serve at least three years in prison, the 8 News Now Investigators have learned. Las Vegas Metro police arrested Alfredo Jauregui on Oct. 5 on charges of DUI resulting in death, records said. Jauregui, who does not have a drivers license, killed George Brown, 48, as Brown was in the road on Marion Drive near Nellis Boulevard and Cheyenne Avenue. The 8 News Now Investigators found Jaureguis fifth DUI arrest happened as prosecutors awaited blood results in his fourth an arrest from May. The delay impaired judges abilities to restrict or jail him, the investigation found. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement At the time of Jaureguis arrest in October 2024 for the crash involving Brown, he had racked up three misdemeanor DUI convictions, records said: One DUI on Jan. 8, 2021; a second on Sept. 4, 2021; and a third on Jan. 1, 2022. In May 2024, a North Las Vegas police officer stopped Jauregui for speeding, documents said. The officer said Jauregui appeared impaired. That, and an open can of beer in a cup holder, led to his arrest his fourth DUI-related arrest since 2021, police said. Jauregui agreed to plead guilty to a charge of DUI resulting in Browns death, which carries a potential sentence of 2-20 years. The plea includes a sentence of 3-10 years. As part of the agreement, prosecutors will not request any more prison time for the fourth DUI charge. Earlier this year, Metros average blood-alcohol testing turnaround time was 55 days, the department said as part of the 8 News Now Investigators report. The department estimated the turnaround time for drug toxicology was 90 days. Testing in cases involving death is expedited. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Jauregui previously turned down the same deal, records said. A judge will sentence him on Sept. 4. While defendants and prosecutors reach plea deals, sentencing is always up to a judges discretion. George Brown, a father, cousin and veteran, was 48 years old when he died on Oct. 5, 2024. (KLAS) Should the judge sentence Jauregui to the terms of the deal, he would be eligible for parole in 2027 with credit for time served. A proposal from Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo to amend Nevadas DUI laws to charge offenders like Jauregui with second-degree murder failed last legislative session, which ended in June. A bill to double the amount of jail time a second-time DUI offender has to serve passed, doubling the amount of jail time from 10 days to 20. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. FITCHBURG, Wis. (WFRV) Authorities say a 54-year-old Wisconsin man is dead after they crashed their motorcycle into an SUV Thursday evening. According to a release from the Fitchburg Police Department, officers responded around 5:20 p.m. at the 2600 block of South Seminole Highway for a report of a two-vehicle crash. Appleton American Legion to host Brat Fry Extravaganza, benefit Old Glory Honor Flight Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Police say a 54-year-old man from Verona was driving his motorcycle north on South Seminole Highway when he made contact with an SUV. Following the crash, the motorcyclist was taken to a local hospital with life-threatening injuries before later being pronounced dead by the Dane County Medical Examiners Office. At this time, there is no other information is available, there is no word from officials on what caused the motorcycle to crash with the SUV, and the name of the victim is expected to be released at a later 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 WFRV Local 5 - Green Bay, Appleton. NEED TO KNOW Enoch Palomar, 6, was attacked by a coyote at Del Amo Park in California on Monday, Aug. 4 He required 20 stitches and multiple rabies shots after the animal bit him on his head and legs "I'm glad I was there to see my kid and run to the rescue, but it could have been a tragedy," Enoch's mom, Melissa Palomar told CBS News A child was left seriously injured after being attacked by a coyote at a park in California. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On Monday, Aug. 4, Enoch Palomar was spending time with family at his sister's youth softball game at Del Amo Park when he was ambushed by a coyote, according to KTLA, ABC7 and CBS News. A witnesss phone captured the 6-year-old's screams as the animal chased him down before biting, KTLA reported. It just kept biting me and I was trying to kick it, Enoch told KTLA. It was too fast and it just jumped. I was trying my hardest and then it didnt work, and then I yelled. Never miss a story sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Google Maps Del Amo Park in Carson, California Del Amo Park in Carson, California Enoch tripped on a rock as he tried to escape the coyote attack, according to CBS News. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "It felt like pain, like I got bit from a wolf, he told the outlet. Enochs mother, Melissa Palomar, immediately ran to save her son once she heard his scream, ABC7 reported. "I ran towards him, and then I noticed it was a coyote, and I started making noise, and as soon as I got close to him, he ran off," Melissa told the outlet. "I'm glad I was there to see my kid and run to the rescue, but it could have been a tragedy," she added, per CBS News. Google Maps Del Amo Park in Carson, California Del Amo Park in Carson, California Enoch needed 20 stitches in his leg and multiple rabies shots following the attack. He also sustained bites to his head, according to ABC7. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement His mother, Melissa, was shocked that the animal attacked despite the large crowd of people. There's a lot of coyotes. I mean, I've seen them in the street driving, but I never thought they would be so close to us," she told ABC7. "For a lot of people to be there and still a coyote go to the playground and attack them, it's very shocking to me." Melissa hopes the city does something and they're accountable for it, she added to CBC News. "I know it's wildlife and we can't control them, but I hope they do something to have parents alerted, she continued. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Officials from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife have taken Enochs shirt for DNA testing amid their search for the coyote responsible for the attack, according to the outlet. Mayor of Carson, Lula Davis-Holmes, sent her condolences to Enoch and his family. "The City of Carson is deeply saddened by the incident," she said, per CBS News. "Our thoughts are with him and his family during this difficult time. Coyotes are a known presence in our region, and the City continues to take proactive measures to protect residents." PEOPLE has contacted the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and Carson Mayor Lula Davis-Holmes for comment Read the original article on People FRANKFORT, Ky. (FOX 56) 7 Brew, the drive-thru coffee giant, is giving back to the Kentucky communities it fuels. The coffee shop just opened its Somerset location, kicking it off with a pay what you want weekend. All proceeds were set aside for the Team Kentucky Storm Relief Fund. Read more of the latest Kentucky news Its London and Bowling Green locations also hosted similar events to benefit the cause, raising $30,000. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 7 Brews generous donation shows the true spirit of Team Kentucky of neighbors helping neighbors, said Gov. Andy Beshear. Thanks to contributions like this to the storm relief fund, we are helping survivors reclaim their lives and build stronger, more resilient communities. The 7 Brew team presented the $30,000 check to the governor during Thursdays Team Kentucky update. LATEST KENTUCKY NEWS: At 7 Brew, we believe in giving back to the communities we join, and as soon as we saw the devastation from the May tornado, we knew we wanted to jump into action, said Ralph Cole, franchisee of 7 Brew Somerset. Were honored to partner with Gov. Beshear and the Team Kentucky Storm Relief Fund to pour back into our community and help our fellow Kentuckians begin to rebuild. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Somerset location brings around 50 jobs to the area. For more information on how to get involved, 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 FOX 56 News. Dozens of boxes of the popular Labubu toy totaling around $7,000 were stolen from a store in La Puente, California, this week, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. The burglary happened around 1:29 a.m. on Aug. 6 at One Stop Sales, a store known for its Labubu dolls and accessories. "We worked so hard to get to this point, [only] for them just to come in and like nothing take it all away," Joanna Avendano, co-owner of One Stop Sales, told local ABC station KABC-TV on Thursday. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The shop has since posted surveillance footage of the incident on social media. One video shows at least four masked people breaking into the store, ransacking shelves and fleeing with boxes of merchandise. @onestopsaless/Instagram - PHOTO: The owners of One Stop Sales in La Puente, California, shared video on Instagram of a robbery at their store on Aug. 6, 2025. Avendano also shared images of the aftermath, showing shattered glass at the entrance and scattered products on the floor. Deputies told ABC News Thursday that the suspects remain at large but they have recovered the stolen white Toyota Tacoma used in the crime. Going loco for Labubu: Why adults can't stop buying the collectible plush toy Labubus, which debuted in China in 2015, have exploded in global popularity, spotted on celebrities like Rihanna, Lizzo, and BLACKPINK's Lisa and growing into a billion-dollar industry. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Revenue for Pop Mart, the Chinese designer toy company behind Labubus, doubled in 2024, reaching $1.8 billion, according to Pop Mart's annual financial report. While the doll retails for about $30, they can go for hundreds and sometimes even thousands of dollars on the resale market. On social media, videos show crowds packing store entrances and pop-ups, lining up for a chance to score a box. Edward Berthelot/Getty Images, FILE - PHOTO: In this June 12, 2025, file photo, Labubus are shown during a street style fashion photo session in Paris. Alex DePaoli, an associate teaching professor of marketing at Northeastern University's School of Business, told ABC News that part of the Labubu appeal comes from their marketed rarity and the way they are sold through a "blind box" system. How to tell the difference between a Labubu and a Lafufu Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "[It's a] system essentially where you don't know what's in the box, you hope that what's in the box is what you want," DePaoli said in an interview that aired Friday on "Good Morning America." "If you don't get what you want, you've got to go buy another one. A lot of folks have sort of likened that sort-of system to almost gambling." The market for Labubus has become so popular that some consumers are turning to counterfeit alternatives known as "Lafufus," which are made with lower-quality materials and may have different features than authentic Labubus. "They're not just toys, they are accessories," DePaolis said of the Labubu craze. "They are things that you can collect, not just to dress them up, not just be amused by, but also to complete an outfit." Aug. 17: Starlight Gala: Once Upon a Miracle, which benefits AdventHealth West Florida hospitals womens and childrens services. Features Postmodern Jukebox. $650. 4:30 p.m. JW Marriott Tampa Water Street. adventhealth.com/foundation/adventhealth-foundation-west-florida/foundation-west-florida-events. Aug. 23: Rays on the Runway: Dreams Take Center Stage, which benefits the Childrens Dream Fund. $200. 6:30-11 p.m. Power Design. childrensdreamfund.org/event/rays-on-the-runway-3. Sept. 6: Eye Ball: A Roaring 20s Speakeasy, which benefits the Lions World Vision Institute Foundation. Honorees include Sheriff Chad Chronister and Nikki DeBartolo. $250. 6 p.m. Armature Works. 813-289-1200. lwvi.org/special-events. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Sept. 13: The Fairytale Ball: A Night at the Oscars, which benefits My Fairy Godfathers Foundation. $300. 6:30 p.m. Armature Works. myfairygodfathers.net/the-fairytale-ball. Sept. 20: 59th annual Ybor City Chamber of Commerce Gala. From $120. 6-9 p.m. Columbia Restaurant, Ybor City. 813-248-3712. members.ybor.org. Sept. 27: FARA Energy Ball, which benefits the Friedreichs Ataxia Research Alliance. $750. 6 p.m. Tampa Marriott Water Street. https://curefa.org Sept. 27: Big Gala, which benefits Big Brothers Big Sisters of Tampa Bay. Features Ken Block and Drew Copeland of Sister Hazel. $300. 6-10 p.m. Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tampa. 813-769-3636. bbbstampabay.org. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Sept. 27: The 1905 Ball, which benefits the Sacred Heart Catholic Church as it celebrates its 120th anniversary. Black-tie attire is optional. $120. 7 p.m. Centro Asturiano de Tampa. sacredheartfla.org/giving/sacred-heart-gala. Contact Amy Scherzer at amyscherzersdiary@gmail.com to have your event listed on the calendar. Eighty years ago this week, the world truly changed. The United States dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima on Aug. 6, followed three days later by the atomic bombing of Nagasaki. Combined, the two nuclear explosions killed between 100,000 and 200,000 Japanese civilians, demonstrating with deadly effect the ultimate weapon, one with the ability to truly end civilization. The bombs were the culmination of arguably the greatest scientific effort in history, the Manhattan Project. That the effort was organized and overseen by the U.S. military in order to produce weapons for the largest war in world history tells us much about humanity, or at least how humans behave in the context of international relations. As the physicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson recently remarked in an interview, You can credit science for nuclear power. They became weapons because countries cant get along. Given the gravity of the events of 80 years ago, along with the continuing threat posed by nuclear weapons today, it is important to revisit the monumental decision to not just develop the bombs, but to use them. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The decision to develop the bombs was in some ways inevitable. The science of nuclear fission had been emerging for some time and gathered momentum in the 1930s. As a result, it was likely only a matter of time before scientists would harness that process for the purpose of not only producing energy for civilian use, but weaponizing it for military use. By the late 1930s, Nazi Germany was pursuing an atomic bomb, as was Imperial Japan. In that context, Albert Einstein penned a letter directly addressed to then-U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt imploring him to start a program to develop one for the United States. Thus began the Manhattan Project, which culminated in the successful testing of an atomic bomb in July 1945. To get more in-depth news and expert analysis on global affairs from WPR, sign up for our free Daily Review newsletter. As for the decision to use the newly developed weapons, it is perhaps shocking to our modern sensibilities that there was no decision per se to do so. At least, there was no decision in the way that people today think of civilian leaders making decisions about whether and how to wage war: in meetings between the president, his or her national security advisers and the military brass in the Situation Room, where the pros and cons of various contingencies are weighed. Back in August 1945, there was no such meeting between Harry Trumanwho had succeeded Roosevelt as president by the time the bombs were developedand his advisers. Instead, as the historian Alex Wellerstein has pointed out, a series of smaller and less momentous decisions led to the dropping of the bomb, including the pre-selection of possible target cities and the determination that the bomb should not simply be demonstrated with a public test. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Indeed, when the U.S. first decided to invest the resources into the Manhattan Project, it did so to develop a bomb that was meant to be used. As the historian Barton Bernstein wrote on the 50th anniversary of World War IIs end, The weapon was conceived in a race with Germany, and it undoubtedly would have been used against Germany had the bomb been ready much sooner. In short, there was a baked-in assumption from the outset that once the bomb was ready, it was going to be used against the enemy. Although the atomic bomb has not been used in war in the 80 years since it was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the possibility of its future use can never be ruled out entirely. Despite the horrific loss of life in Hiroshima and Nagasaki 80 years ago, some have argued that dropping the atomic bombs actually saved lives by speeding up the end of the war and thereby averting a full-scale U.S. invasion of mainland Japan. However, at the time, the U.S. didnt frame its path forward as a choice between dropping the bombs or invading. Instead, dropping the bombs was part of a series of measures Washington planned to take to convince Japan to end the war. The U.S. strategy, which has been referred to as the everything but the kitchen sink approach, was to begin with escalating the conventional bombing campaign of Japan, followed by dropping the atomic bombs. After that, the Soviet Union was to declare war on Japan and invade Manchuria. And only then did the U.S. military envisage launching the initial invasion of Japan, in what it expected to be late fall of 1945. The various elements of this strategy were not seen as substitutes for one another. They were seen by the decision-makers at the time as a package of actions that would finally compel Imperial Japan to accept unconditional surrender. Indeed, it was only after the bombings, when the horrifying and horrified press coverage began to emerge regarding the destructive power and massive death toll of the atomic bombs, that then-Secretary of War Henry Stimson began to publicly justify dropping the bombs by citing the potential losses U.S. forces would have suffered if they had invaded Japan. There is no doubt that the U.S. would have incurred large casualties if it had carried out an invasion. But the number of expected deaths from doing so was also inflated after the war, so as to make the decision to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki more palatable. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Admittedly, it would have been politically costly to Truman had the U.S. incurred massive casualties from an invasion, only for it to be later discovered that it possessed but did not use a super weapon that might have averted the need to invade altogether. But it is interesting to note that the bombs themselves may not have played the pivotal role in ending the war that they are often credited with. While Emperor Hirohito mentioned the bombs directly in his announcement of Japans surrender on Aug. 15, it seems that the greater shock to Japans War Cabinet was the Soviet entry into the war on Aug. 8. As planned, the Soviets invaded Manchuria, where they quickly defeated Japans Kwantung Army, considered to be the best forces at Tokyos disposal. Given the pace of the Soviets advance, there was a real danger that they, and not the Americans, would be poised to invade Japan. Given the long history of animosity between Tokyo and Moscow, compared to a prewar history of relatively cordial relations with Washington, it was likely seen as better to surrender as soon as possible to the U.S., rather than take a chance against the Soviet Union. In other words, while the dropping of the atomic bombs at the end of World War II changed the world, it may not have changed much with regard to the war itself. But regardless of whether or not the bombs were responsible for ending the war, it is critical to consider a counterfactual: If the bombs had not been used against Japan and their devastation not documented, would they eventually have been used in a later war? Would the nuclear taboothe notion that it is morally inconceivable to actually use nuclear weapons in warhave crystallized and consolidated, and would we have gone 80 years having developed nuclear weapons but not using them in war, if they had not been used that first time? Its a question we can of course not answer but only use to provoke further thought. Moreover, although the bomb has not been used in war in the 80 years since it was dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the possibility of its future use can never be ruled out entirely. Indeed, the specter of nuclear annihilation continues to hang over humanity. Its why the hands of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists Doomsday Clock stand so close to midnight. Its why a recent gathering of Nobel laureates signed a declaration pleading with nations to forgo nuclear weapons. Its why the Nobel Peace Prize is often given to those who advocate for the control and even abolition of nuclear weapons. The development of the first atomic bombs underscores the power of human ingenuity, but also the horrendous costs of humans ingeniously seeking power. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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 80 Years After Hiroshima, the Nuclear Taboo Cant Be Taken for Granted appeared first on World Politics Review. Energy Transfer (ET) stock is having a dismal run in 2025 and is down 9.2% for the year. The stock has underperformed many of its midstream peers, and its return trails the Alps Alerian MLP ETF (AMLP), which is in the green this year. One source of comfort for Energy Transfer investors has been its high dividend yield, which currently stands at almost 7.5% after the company announced an increase in its quarterly payout last month. In this article, well explore whether ET stock is ready for a rebound after the frustrating YTD underperformance. More News from Barchart www.barchart.com The Case for Midstream Energy Companies To begin with, lets build an investment case for midstream companies that are primarily involved in the transportation, storage, and processing of energy products. While the midstream energy industry does not witness outsized growth, two drivers could help support higher growth over the next few years. The first is artificial intelligence (AI), where tech companies are increasing their investments, including towards power-guzzling data centers, which looks like a structural tailwind for the energy sector. The second is President Donald Trumps trade and tariff policy. The U.S. is looking to push defense and energy exports in a bid to bridge the trade deficit with trading partners with whom it has a large deficit. We saw this play out with the E.U., and something similar could be on the table as the U.S. eventually signs a trade deal with China and India, two of the worlds biggest energy importers. However, despite the seemingly positive fundamentals, midstream energy stocks havent really rallied in 2025. This is in part due to the outperformance last year, where midstream stocks, including ET, delivered strong returns in anticipation of favorable policies under the Trump administration. While midstream stocks in general are having a tepid year, ET's underperformance stands out. For midstream companies like Energy Transfer, incremental growth comes either from acquisitions or new growth projects. ET reported a 13% year-over-year rise in its 2024 earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA), which was primarily led by the acquisition of Crestwood Equity Partners and WTG Midstream. However, the company expects its EBITDA growth to be 5% at the midpoint for 2025, as there wasnt any bump from inorganic growth as we saw last year. NEED TO KNOW A 12-year-old boy is facing charges after pouring hot water on his 9-year-old brother in Pennsylvania, according to police Police said the incident was part of a social media challenge called the "Hot Water Challenge" Some videos of a challenge described by some as a "fake" hot water challenge have recently been making the rounds on social media A 9-year-old boy is recovering from "severe burns" he sustained after his 12-year-old brother poured hot water on him. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The incident occurred on July 29 in Pennsylvania, according to a news release from the Lancaster Township Police Department (LTPD). The 12-year-old boy is said to have boiled water in a microwave before pouring it over his brother while the 9-year-old slept, leaving the child with "severe burns" on his neck and chest. The younger brother was transported to the Lehigh Burn Center, police said. His condition has not been made public. The Lancaster County District Attorney's Office has said the older brother is now being charged with aggravated assault and recklessly endangering another person, police said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Pollice claimed that this incident was part of a social media prank known as the Hot Water Challenge. Some news reports have surfaced over the last several years referencing the challenge described by the Lancaster Township Police Department, including one instance involving a 15-year-old from Texas in July 2018, shared by ABC affiliate KTRK-TV. PEOPLE cannot independently verify that a social media challenge exists in which individuals are encouraged to actually pour hot water on another individual. However, PEOPLE can confirm that a similar challenge, described by some on social media as a fake boiling water challenge, has been making the rounds. Never miss a story sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. The prank involves one person pretending to pour hot water on another individual, who is made to believe the water is much hotter than it actually is. Popular streamer ishowspeed is one of multiple online personalities featured in such videos. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The LTPD is reminding parents to monitor their child's online activity in the wake of the incident in Lancaster Township. Police are also encouraging parents to review the "Parenting Tips for Online Safety" from the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, a printable brochure that offers advice on how to take control and monitor childrens online activity. Read the original article on People Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) suggested Democrats who fled his state to stop a new set of GOP-friendly maps from being passed would have to stay out of the state for years for the tactic to work. Ill tell you this also, Democrats act like theyre not going to come back as long as this is an issue, Abbott told NBC News in an interview Thursday. That means theyre not going to come back until like 2027 or 2028, because Im going to call special session after special session after special session with the same agenda items on there. Abbott and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) have called for the arrest of Texas Democrats who fled the state starting Sunday, as they seek to deny Republicans the minimum number of lawmakers needed to do business during their special session while also ultimately blocking the ability to pass a new set of House lines favoring the GOP. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The governor said earlier Thursday the FBI and Texas Department of Public Safety were tracking down the Democrats who left his state. When asked by NBC News if the FBI had a legitimate role to play in the situation, Abbott replied: Im not going to disclose though all may or may not be involved. He added that they would use every tool that we can to hold those who left the state accountable. Experts who spoke with The Hill this week were skeptical that the FBI had jurisdiction to get involved as its unclear what federal offense Texas Democrats ran afoul of. It also remains unclear how long Democrats will remain out of the state. Texas committees in the state House and state Senate both passed an identical House map that aims to give Republicans five pickup opportunities that President Trump said the GOP is entitled to next year. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement That would set up floor votes in the Senate and House respectively, but with Democrats out of the state, those efforts are stalled. The maps will inevitably pass given Republican majorities in the state Capitol and the Governors Mansion. The redistricting battle, however, is prompting blue states to explore their options to do mid-decade redistricting in response. 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. Overnight visitors to Aberdeen will be saddled with one of the highest tourist taxes in Europe in a move branded economic madness. Hoteliers fear a 7pc per night premium will drive away tourists, yet the council has agreed to introduce the charge from April 2027. The council, which is run by the SNP and Liberal Democrats, expects the fee to generate up to 6.8m a year. The rate will be the highest in Scotland and will be higher than tourist behemoths such as Barcelona and Venice. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Visitors paying a typical rate of 70 a night for their Aberdeen stay will have to spend an extra 4.90 as a result of the levy. But a five-night stay at the citys high-end Marcliffe hotel, worth 1,015, would come with an additional 71 charge. This analysis is based on September booking costs. Councillors sitting on the finance and resources committee agreed on the 7pc premium at a meeting on Wednesday. They heard how businesses were broadly not in favour of the charge, with consultation responses stressing that this levy will make things worse for struggling businesses. Another questionnaire respondent wrote: The levy makes no sense in a city with poor transport links and few tourist draws, while another said it would be a disaster in winter months. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The tourist charge will be enforced all year round, with guests at small B&Bs and hostels also liable to pay. The council plans to use the predicted 6.8m income to pay for tourism infrastructure, attract business conferences and boost funding for city events. In Paris, tourist taxes are calculated on a sliding scale, with campsites attracting the lowest 0.65 fee and palaces attracting 15.60. In Aberdeen, however, the charge will be fixed at 7pc of the original accommodation price. The 7pc far surpasses Vienna (3.2pc), Palma (1 to 4) and Barcelona (4 per trip). Amsterdam charges the highest tourist fee of 12.5pc of the total cost of the hotel room. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Mike Duncan, of the Federation of Small Businesses, said the policy has the potential to raise vital funds but is a gamble. He said: It must be handled with extreme care. One size most definitely does not fit all. Research suggests some so-called tourist taxes can deter visitors and negatively affect the local economy. What works for Paris or Barcelona, for example, might be very different to what works for Aberdeen. Scottish local authorities were granted powers to introduce a visitor levy on overnight accommodation by the government last September. Edinburgh and Glasgow have approved a 5pc charge, while other regions such as Highland Council intend to agree a fee. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Councillor Alex McLellan said: The income generated from the visitor levy, paid by those visiting the city, will provide a huge boost to our local economy and allow us to invest in bringing major events and conferences here on a more regular basis. However, Fiona Campbell, of the Association of Scotlands Self-Caterers, said the decision is nothing short of economic madness. It demonstrates a worrying disconnect between policy ambition and operational reality, she said. The council must ensure the levy is not just collectable, but deliverable, in a way that doesnt destroy the very sector it aims to benefit. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Martin Greig, an Aberdeen councillor, said: When you visit tourist areas you gather memories and have great experiences but through the levy, youre able to leave a legacy. Youre able to demonstrate youre not just passing through but also show you care about the place by contributing something back. The council hopes the city, which drew in 2.2m overnight visitors last year, can attract major events thanks to the increased income. Visitors from cruise ships and motor homes will be exempt from the levy, along with those staying overnight for medical visits, asylum seekers and people who receive benefit payments. 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. ABILENE, Texas (KTAB/KRBC) An Abilene man has been accused of a child sex crime with a Clyde teen he was talking to on a social media app. Emilio Fernandez was booked into the Callahan County Jail Friday for Sexual Assault of a Child in connection to the allegations. A press release from the Clyde Police Department reveals the family members called police Thursday to report their concerns, and detectives were able to determine Fernandez was using a social media app to communicate with the teen a facilitate a meet up. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Clyde Police Department is offering parents the following tips for online safety in light of this event: 1. Understand the Apps being used, know how to navigate them and their capabilities. 2. Set rules for the use of the Apps. 3. Ensure you children are not sharing personal information. 4. Have frequent conversations with your children about their App/online activity. 5. Always check the activity/messages. Fernandez is now being held in the Callahan County Jail on a $75,000 bond. 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 KTAB - BigCountryHomepage.com. The Palm Beach County Commissions decision to make Clerk of Courts Joe Abruzzo the next county administrator creates a political opportunity for Gov. Ron DeSantis and the countys Republicans. The Republican governor gets to pick the replacement clerk of the circuit court and comptroller a job that has been filled for decades by Democrats. Multiple political insiders believe the job will go to state Rep. Mike Caruso, a Republican who is one of DeSantis staunchest allies in the Florida Legislature. Earlier this year, Caruso was subject of speculation about whether DeSantis would pick him to fill the vacant office of lieutenant governor. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Caruso didnt provide a direct answer about a potential gubernatorial appointment in a recent phone interview. Cant speculate on what the governors going to do. But Id be honored to serve wherever the governor wants me to in any capacity, he said. Caruso did know the dates of Abruzzos last day as circuit court clerk and comptroller (Aug. 18) and first day as county administrator (Aug. 19). Both dates were confirmed by spokespeople for the clerks office and the county government. Caruso has credentials for the position. Besides maintaining a vast array of court records and other government documents, the clerk and comptroller serves as the countys chief financial officer, treasurer and auditor. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He is a certified public accountant with a bachelors degree in business administration from George Washington University. Hes worked for big international accounting firms and founded his own firm and has done work as a forensic accountant. Like Caruso, who has been a state representative since 2018, Abruzzo is a former state senator and former state representative. A Caruso appointment would put a Republican in the countywide job, with a chance of retaining it next year in a special election. And it provides an avenue for Caruso, 66, to continue in public office. Term limits prevent him from running for reelection to the state House next year. An appointed clerk who wishes to remain in the job would have to run in the 2026 election for the final two years of Abruzzos four-year term. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The countys chief judge appoints an interim clerk from the time a vacancy occurs until the governor appoints a replacement. Related Articles Caruso, DeSantis Earlier this year, Caruso sided with DeSantis when the governor clashed with House Speaker Daniel Perez, who then punished Caruso by stripping him of his committee chairmanship and booting him out of his corner office into another space. And DeSantis has praised Caruso, calling him the legend and said he was strong for what the voters asked, even against the wishes and a lot of pressure coming down from politicians in Tallahassee. Mike stood strong against what the leadership was doing and he embraced what we had proposed. Republican opportunity Caruso could keep the clerk and comptrollers office in his partys hands. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He has name recognition in different parts of the county. He used to represent a more southeastern district, but moved north following the redistricting that changed district boundaries to reflect population changes uncovered in the 2020 Census. Palm Beach County has been trending increasingly Republican in recent years. Democrats currently have about 31,000 more registered voters than Republicans, out of a total of 913,000 in the county. A decade ago, the Democrats had a 129,000 voter advantage. In 2022, the last midterm election, Democratic turnout lagged, Republican turnout surged and DeSantis won the county. In 2024, Republicans enjoyed a second consecutive election of strong results, with President Donald Trump losing by less than 1 percentage point. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Also last year, Republicans came close to winning the race for state attorney. Democrat Alexcia Cox won with 49.2% of the vote to 48.4% for Republican Sam Stern and 2.4% for Adam Farkas, running with no party affiliation. Winning the clerks office would be a further step in the countys transformation after decades of Democrats holding the position. (Dorothy Wilken, a former county commissioner and Boca Raton mayor, was elected to the first of three terms in 1992. Her successor, Sharon Bock, was elected to the first of four terms in 2004. Abruzzo was elected in 2020 and reelected in 2024.) DeSantis has shown he is keenly aware of the political landscape in Palm Beach County, the states fourth largest. He has regularly mentioned that it has become much more Republican in recent years. And he has bragged that the County Commission, temporarily, had a Republican majority thanks to him. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In 2023, newly installed in his second term, he selected County Commissioner Dave Kerner as the executive director of the states Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, which includes the state Highway Patrol. Kerner was a Democratic county commissioner who broke ranks with his party and endorsed DeSantis for reelection. DeSantis then appointed Michael Barnett, who was the chair of the Palm Beach County Republican Party, to Kerners former County Commission seat. That gave the seven-member commission a Republican 4-3 Republican majority until November of last year when Barnett lost his bid to retain the seat. Ripple effect There are related, in more ways than one, political dominoes. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Caruso would have to resign from the state House of Representatives to become clerk and comptroller. DeSantis would then call a special election to fill the remainder of his term. House District 87, in the central part of the county along the Atlantic coast, leans Republican. The latest figures by the Supervisor of Elections Office show its registered voters are 40.4% Republican, 28.4% Democratic, 27.3% no party affiliation/independent and 3.9% minor party. An all-but-certain candidate to fill a vacancy: Mike Carusos wife, Tracy Caruso, a member of the Palm Beach State College board of trustees and the board of the Health Care District of Palm Beach County. She has already filed paperwork as a candidate to run in 2026 when her husband cant run for reelection. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Two other Republicans have also filed as 2026 candidates for the House seat. They could advance their plans and set up a Republican primary for a special election to fill a Mike Caruso vacancy, if it happens. Republican Jon Maples is a member of the Lake Clarke Shores Town Council. His website has pictures of him with several elected officials and describes him as not a career politician or a Tallahassee insider. Hes a husband, a father, and a small-business leader who is ready to fight for the Florida we love. Republican Gretchen Miller Feng describes herself on Facebook as a working Mother, and someone who knows how hard Floridians work just to make ends meet. Democrat Emily Watson Gregory has also filed paperwork as a 2026 candidate. Political writer Anthony Man can be reached at aman@sunsentinel.com and can be found @browardpolitics on Bluesky, Threads, Facebook and Mastodon. EAU CLAIRE One of several defendants in a sexual abuse case was back in court Thursday to update the judge on where the case stands. Robert Stelzer, 42, Stanley, faces a single count of repeated sexual assault of a child. The charge is a bit different from most, because it doesnt refer to a single offense. In order to get a conviction on the charge prosecutors must prove a person sexually assaulted the same child three or more times. During Thursday's hearing the defense said it is still waiting on some discovery materials from the prosecution. A new status conference was scheduled for November. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The charge is a Class C felony. Under Wisconsin law that means the potential sentence can be up to 25 years in prison, with 15 years extended supervision, with fines of up to $100,000. Stelzer is one of four extended family members charged in the case. Richard Stelzer and Ryan Stelzer currently have charges pending. Charges against Darcy Johnson were dismissed in June at prosecutors request. Each of the men pleaded not guilty. According to the criminal complaint, a woman told authorities she began being sexually abused almost immediately upon being placed in the Stelzers home. She was six at the time. She said the specifics of the abuse varied, but it was more or less continuous until she reached the age of 17, and that the defendants abused her at different times during those years. Ryan Stelzer, who faces a single count of first degree sexual assault of a child without great bodily harm, is next due in court in September. Richard Stelzer faces a charge of repeated sexual assault of a child and is due back in court in early September. Both men face Class B felony charges, which can bring 40-year prison sentences with up to 20 years extended supervision. Salvador Villa was working as an armed security guard at a Target store in downtown Los Angeles late last December when he confronted a suspected shoplifter. The man was spotted leaving the Fig at 7th shopping center carrying two suitcases stuffed with merchandise. Villa said he and two other store employees tried to stop him. Testifying at an L.A. County Superior Court court hearing Thursday, Villa was deadpan when asked whether anything strange happened next. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Yeah," Villa said. "He shot me." The suspect, Jabril Metoyer, faces multiple charges of attempted murder, robbery and attempted robbery. The Target incident, prosecutors say, was his second shooting in three days in downtown L.A. both less than two miles from the courthouse. Read more: Uvalde school shooter was fueled by Instagram and 'Call of Duty,' L.A. lawsuit alleges Villa said store surveillance cameras caught Metoyer, then 25, trying to steal goods later valued at $1,000 on Dec. 30. Villa said he walked up to Metoyer's left side and touched him on the shoulder. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "I told him, 'It's not a big deal. You're gonna sign some papers and you're gonna go home,'" Villa said of the initial encounter. Metoyer later told police he believed he was being kidnapped, and a detective had to explain that he couldn't take products out of a store without paying. Villa, who walked into the courtroom assisted by a cane, was shot five times by Metoyer, prosecutors allege. He testified that he couldn't keep his job because of his injuries. Authorities say Metoyer also shot William Davis, 34, who testified from next to the court reporter because his motorized wheelchair required because of the extent of his injuries prevented him from using the witness stand. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Davis greeted customers at Target, checked receipts and sometimes stopped shoplifters at the door. He said he was in the hospital for six months and had very little recollection of the shooting. He suffered bullet wounds that went through his leg and scars down his chest from extensive resuscitation attempts, he said. Police detectives, while hesitant to say whether Metoyer could have been experiencing a mental health episode or had been under the influence of drugs, described him as agitated during a taped interview, switching nonsensically from topic to topic. He was never tested for drugs or alcohol, but told police he was trying to stay sober. Los Angeles Police Det. Miguel Garcia testified that some of Metoyer's answers were "disconnected from reality" and rambling. Metoyer admitted to shooting at the security guards and identified himself in still photos from Target surveillance footage, police said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Metoyer's defense attorney, Molly Zavidow, read from a transcript in which her client said he was at the Target to get "supplies for the war I was in the state of." When investigators asked where he was going when he ran from the scene after the shooting, Metoyer said he was "running home to Jerusalem." Three days prior, Metoyer was allegedly involved in another shooting in the vicinity. A Los Angeles Police Department detective testified that Metoyer approached a man named Mohammed Hoque at a Chase ATM, asking him for donations for the conflict in Gaza. When Hoque said no, Metoyer walked away, then returned when Hoque pulled out his wallet to use the machine, demanding money again, according to the detective's testimony. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Det. Jaquelynn Navarro said Metoyer asked, "Is $110 worth getting shot over?" before pulling a handgun and shooting Hoque in the stomach. Metoyer told the police after he was arrested that he was defending himself after Hoque had made offensive gestures and reached for a gun in his waistband. Read more: Matthew Perry's 'Dr. P' pleads guilty to supplying actor with ketamine prior to death He was going to shoot "the entity" the word he used for Hoque a second time to kill him, but the gun didn't work, Metoyer told police, according to a transcript read by his attorney. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "I wouldn't even consider that thing a human," Metoyer said when police showed him a picture of Hoque, according to the transcript read in court. Metoyer was arrested on New Year's Eve after an hours-long standoff at his apartment building in the 1200 block of West Ingraham Street. Police recovered a 9-millimeter handgun that matched shell casings from the crime scenes, as well as a purple scarf that the Target suspect was seen wearing. Metoyer was ordered to stand trial and remain in jail on $4.1-million bail. His arraignment is scheduled for Aug. 21. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida is dropping its lawsuit against Gov. Ron DeSantis for missing a deadline to fill a judicial vacancy now that DeSantis has revealed he already filled it. The civil-rights group filed its notice of voluntary dismissal Aug. 9 with the Florida Supreme Court. In a filing docketed earlier the same day, DeSantis general counsel Ryan Newman told the court the governor had elevated Alachua County Court Judge Kristine Van Vorst to fill an empty circuit judge seat in the 8th Judicial Circuit in north central Florida. He included DeSantis' Aug. 1 appointment letter to Van Vorst. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On Aug. 8, the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida filed a petition for writ of mandamus, a request for the court to order a government official to carry out a legally required duty. Van Vorst's appointment has not been publicly announced on social media or by press release, as appointments usually are; as of Aug. 9, it had not been posted on the official website of the governor's office, flgov.com. Her appointment letter says, "You will soon receive your qualifying papers from the Department of State. Please note that these papers will need to be filed before you are able to assume your position." Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks at the swearing-in ceremony for Blaise Ingoglia, who now serves as the Florida Chief Financial Officer, Monday, July 21, 2025. Floridas constitution requires the governor to make an appointment within 60 days after a judicial circuit's nominating commission sends him its list of recommendations, which it did June 4. "Florida's Constitution requires our government operate in the sunshine, not in secret," the ACLU said in its notice. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Despite making the at-issue appointment eight days ago, the Governor choose not to announce his action until after business hours a week later, only after Petitioner filed suit," it added. "Nor did the Governor's counsel respond to undersigned counsel's repeated pre-filing inquiries about whether the appointment was made." As the ACLU's original filing notes, the timing of the appointment is important. If the appointment wasnt made by Aug. 18, whomever DeSantis named to the vacancy wouldn't have to appear on next year's ballot. Florida law requires appointed judges subject to elections to go before voters if they were appointed more than a year before the next election. The primary election next year is Aug. 18, 2026. The lawsuit comes after a similar suit filed by the ACLU in July on behalf of Maite Garcia, an attorney and resident in north Florida's 2nd Judicial Circuit. That suit involved the vacancy that arose when Judge Robert Wheeler resigned on March 28. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The suit was voluntarily dismissed after DeSantis appointed Jason Jones, a Leon County judge who was once general counsel for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, to replace Wheeler on July 17 two weeks after the ACLU filed the legal challenge. More: ACLU of Florida drops lawsuit after Gov. DeSantis fills Tallahassee judicial vacancy Among other things, circuit judges handle felony and juvenile cases and civil lawsuits worth $50,000 or more. According to the Office of the State Courts Administrator, as of the 2024-25 budget year, circuit judges were paid $196,898.04 per year. Van Vorst was first appointed a county judge by Gov. Rick Scott on Aug. 7, 2017, according to an online bio. She received her undergraduate degree in business administration and her law degree from the University of Florida. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Before becoming a county judge, she was a General Magistrate and Hearing Officer for the 8th Circuit, "handling mortgage foreclosure, child support, and mental health cases." (This story was updated to add new information.) Gray Rohrer and Jim Rosica, members of the USA TODAY Network Florida Capital Bureau, contributed. This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: ACLU of Florida ends legal fight after DeSantis makes judicial pick A police officer and a suspected gunman are dead following a shooting near the campus of Emory University in Atlanta. Students were forced into lockdown when a man opened fire outside the headquarters of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday. Multiple CDC buildings were struck by bullets at the public health campus, where thousands of scientists and staff work on disease research. A man opened fire outside the headquarters of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta on Friday - Reuters The gunman was found dead on the second floor of a building across the street from the CDC, Atlanta police chief Darin Schierbaum said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We do not know at this time whether that was from officers or if it was self-inflicted, he said. Police at the scene The attacker was armed with a long gun, and three additional firearms were recovered at the scene, according to a law enforcement official who spoke on the condition of anonymity. A heavy police presence was observed in the area, and the university warned students and staff to seek immediate shelter. An alert issued by the university urged people to run, hide, fight and avoid the area. DeKalb County CEO Lorraine Cochran-Johnson said: This evening, there is a wife without a husband. There are three children, one unborn, without a father. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Staff at The General Muir, a deli near the campus, locked the doors and sheltered in place during the shooting. Brandy Giraldo, the restaurants chief operating officer, said staff heard a string of gunshots. It sounded like fireworks going off, one right after the other, she said. Police have not yet named the officer who was killed. 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. A gunman, who reportedly believed he was sick from the COVID-19 vaccine, is dead after opening fire at Emory University, near the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters. A police officer who was critically wounded responding to the shooting later died in the hospital. The shooting unfolded on an Atlanta street corner Friday afternoon when gunfire rang out at a CVS on the universitys campus. The lone shooter fired multiple rounds through the windows of the CDC building across the street. Mayor Andre Dickens said at a Friday night press conference there were 92 children in a daycare on the CDC campus during the shooting. The children were unhurt but were only able to be reunited with their parents hours later. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Dickens told the parents of those daycare children, We will be making sure that you get reunited with them as soon as possible. I know your heart is just really, really aching, but the good news is none of them have been injured, and we will get you connected to those, to your loved ones really soon, he added. A shooter is dead after opening fire at Emory University, near the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters (Getty Images) The lone shooter fired multiple rounds through the windows of the CDC building, police say (AP) The mother of one of the children who was at the daycare told CBS News, "I'm also a bit angry that at a year and a half, he would have to experience something like this. Police believe the shooter was either sick or believed he was sick and blamed the COVID-19 shot, a law enforcement official told CNN. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The shooter was found on the second floor of the CVS and died at the scene, according to authorities. He had been struck by gunfire, but its not clear if he had been hit by one of the police officers responding or if the fatal wound was self-inflicted. Authorities revealed that the police officer who was shot and killed, David Rose, was a father of two whose wife is expecting their third child. Officer David Rose was a father of two whose wife is expecting their third child (DeKalb County Police Department) No civilians were shot. "He was committed to serving the community. At this time we are asking for the community's prayers," Interim Chief Greg Padrick of DeKalb County Police Department said of Rose. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Padrick continued: "It's a noble profession we all do. We answer the call to serve our community and he gave his life to a commitment to serve others." While there was no longer a threat to the community, police warned people Friday evening to avoid the area, as the scene remains active and law enforcement continues its investigation. One police officer died during the shooting (Getty Images) Police said the shooter was found dead on the second floor of the CVS where he was shooting out of (Getty Images) Employees at a nearby deli, General Muirs, heard gunshots, Brandy Giraldo, the delis chief operating officer, told the Associated Press. It sounded like fireworks going off, one right after the other, she said. During the active shooter threat, the university told students to run, hide, fight. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A spokesperson for CVS said no one inside the Emory Point store was injured in the shooting. "Were cooperating with the Atlanta Police Department as it investigates a shooting near our Emory Point store, the spokesperson told NBC News. All colleagues, customers and patients are safe. The store is currently closed and will reopen when the scene is cleared. A reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution who was on the scene wrote on X that more than 50 police cars were present, and many officers were carrying rifles and tactical gear. The university announced a shelter-in-place order had been lifted at around 6:30 p.m. ET. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A police emergency continues on the Emory Atlanta Campus at Emory Point. Avoid the area, an X post read. As of around 7:30 p.m., the CDC remained under lockdown, according to CNN and NBC News. During the active shooter threat, the university told students to run, hide, fight (AP) A spokesperson for CVS said no one inside the Emory Point store was injured in the shooting (Getty Images) Dickens denounced gun violence, saying, Mass shootings, active shooter scenarios should not become the norm. For individuals with these high-powered weapons that may have mental challenges, or those individuals with high powered weapons and are angry when they choose to use those weapons in a way that harms multiple people we have to put an end to that in our society, he said. The mayor was vague when speaking about the shooter and his possible motives. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He is a known person that may have some interests in certain things, that I cant reiterate right know with any confidence until the investigation is fully conducted, Dickens said. He added: But I think in short order youll know more about this individual and some assumptions about his motives, but I cant say right now. Earlier, it was reported by CNN that members of the suspects family said he may have believed he had been made ill by a COVID-19 vaccine. The network also reported that the mans father had phoned police before the shooting to say that he feared his son was suicidal. DeKalb County CEO Lorraine Cochran-Johnson told reporters Friday night, Today is a very dark day. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This evening there is a wife without a husband, she said of Rose. There are three children, one unborn, without a father. There were 92 children in a daycare on campus, and they are safe, according to officials (AP) The motive for the shooting remains unclear (Getty Images) FBI Director Kash Patel wrote on X of the slain officer, Pray for the family, friends, and colleagues of this hero who acted quickly to defend others and made the ultimate sacrifice. The FBI will offer them our full support. Several Georgia officials also responded to the active shooter threat as the incident was unfolding. U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock, a Democrat, wrote on X, Im monitoring the active shooter incident at Emory closely. Im praying for the officer who was injured, and all students and faculty. I am devastated that our community is facing yet another tragedy of gun violence. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Representative Mike Collins, a Georgia Republican, wrote: Students at Emory please take cover. Praying for a swift end to this threat. Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr wrote: Were horrified by the news out of Emory University and praying for the safety of the entire campus community. We stand ready to assist our law enforcement partners with whatever they may need. By Akash Sriram (Reuters) -Language-learning app Duolingo raised its annual revenue forecast and beat second-quarter revenue estimates on Wednesday, anticipating broader adoption of its AI-enhanced subscription tier among its global user base. The company's shares rose about 20% in trading after the bell. Duolingo operates on a freemium model, offering basic language-learning features for free while providing premium capabilities through monthly or annual paid subscriptions. The company now expects revenue for 2025 to be in the range of $1.01 billion to $1.02 billion, compared to analysts' estimates of $996.6 million. It had earlier projected revenue between $987 million and $996 million for the year. Revenue in the April-June period was $252.3 million, compared with analysts' estimates of $240.7 million. Duolingo's two subscription tiers Super, designed for frequent learners, and Max, tailored for advanced users include AI-driven features such as video-call conversation practice with chatbots, personalized error analysis and enhanced feedback tools. Since launching an AI-powered video-call tool for Android in January, Duolingo has expanded the feature to additional languages, aiming to boost subscription growth by enabling users to practice natural conversations across a broader linguistic range. Duolingo's gross margin benefited this quarter from lower-than-expected AI costs, as the decline in margin from expanding Max and AI features was much smaller than the company had originally expected. "The cost of calling AI tools has come down a lot. Ads also did better; ads are not a big part of our business, but it turned out that it helped margin a little bit as well," CFO Matt Skaruppa told Reuters. Duolingo leverages generative AI to create and personalize bite-sized lessons across more than 100 language courses. In April, CEO Luis von Ahn said that after taking 12 years to develop the first 100 courses, the company's AI tools helped it introduce 148 new courses in roughly one year. Duolingo expects revenue for the third quarter to be in the range of $257 million to $261 million, compared to analysts' estimates of $253 million, according to data compiled by LSEG. The firm also forecast an adjusted core profit of $288.1 million to $295.5 million for 2025. (Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Mohammed Safi Shamsi) Young performers have said they feel they have "no other option but to leave home" in order to pursue a career in acting due to the lack of drama school training in Northern Ireland. There are currently no full-time, degree-level national drama schools, despite the region's screen sector booming with hit shows like Game of Thrones, Hope Street and Blue Lights. The lack of formal and practical training in acting, as well as financial support, means their only option is to go elsewhere at a large cost. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A spokesperson for the Department for the Economy said it is "committed to supporting pathways into the performing arts, with high-quality courses already being delivered through our Further and Higher Education Sectors". The Alfie Boe James Huish Academy of Theatre Arts in Belfast is a youth academy for musical theatre but does not offer a three-year degree course. James Hutchinson, 18, from Aghagallon, who is a student there, said: "Having to pursue my dreams by going to a different country isn't easy. "If I could, I would stay here. I shouldn't have to go elsewhere just to train properly." Mya Jansen Van Rensburg says opportunities for performing arts are "really limited" [BBC] Mya Jansen Van Rensburg, 18, from Belfast, will soon join the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in London. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement She said the opportunities in Northern Ireland simply don't match the demand, adding: "There's nothing here." "The opportunities for performing arts in general are really, really limited." She added that many of her friends have already given up on their dreams because they couldn't afford to move elsewhere. "They're not getting enough loans or help, so they just stop," Ms Jansen Van Rensburg said. Derry Girls actor backs calls Game of Thrones and Derry Girls actor Ian McElhinney has backed student calls for a national drama school, saying that accessibility and affordability are key. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "The greatest value of having a drama school here is probably controlling the costs," he said. "Drama schools are becoming so expensive that a lot of people don't know how to afford it and are bypassing it if there were a drama school on the doorstep, that might just make it more feasible." Actor Ian McElhinney says "drama schools are becoming so expensive" [Getty Images] While universities in Northern Ireland offer a degree in drama, many students are seeking the practical experience they need to become an actor. McElhinney explained that written work should not be prioritised over performance. "The problem is universities here are obsessed with the degree. Because of the word 'degree' they seem to think you need to do a certain amount of written work. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "A lot of people who go into acting may well be writers and have very good writing skills, but they equally, may not. People didn't go in to write essays, they went in to perform," McElhinney said. 'Losing out in a big way' James Huish says the demand for training far outweighs the capacity of current institutions [BBC] James Huish, who runs the Huish/Boe Academy, said too many students are being left behind. "Just studying drama doesn't really fill the gap of what people need to actually be in the industry," he said. Mr Huish says the demand for training far outweighs the capacity of current institutions and without serious investment, Northern Ireland's creative economy could suffer. "Children here are losing out in a big way," he said. Hope Street actor urges funding For 28-year-old Bangor-born Hope Street actor, Finnian Garbutt, the absence of adequate full-time training for young actors in Northern Ireland is "hard to comprehend". Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Having attended drama school in England, the actor describes the experience as "a completely different beast" to the options available in Northern Ireland, which demands 40 hours minimum a week of intense training. But he said it was financially "unsustainable for a lot of people" as it can cost up to 13,000 for course fees in England. Garbutt is vocal about the need for more support closer to home. "I've worked with so many people from here who are so talented," he said. "Funding the arts is essentially what needs to happen here." Remaining hopeful about the future for the arts in Northern Ireland, Garbutt said: "I've been able to make a career here, so I definitely think there are opportunities, just not enough." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In a statement, the Education Authority told BBC News NI: "The policies which are implemented by Student Finance NI, in relation to eligibility of courses for which students may be awarded financial support, are determined by the Department for the Economy". The Department for the Economy said: "Queen's University and Ulster University offer a range of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in drama, film, and television". "Further Education Colleges also offer a range of HNDs, BTECs and foundation degrees in areas such as Performing Arts, and Creative Media Performance, aimed at entry into the industry or further study," it added. Attorney General Pam Bondi on Thursday announced a $50 million reward for information leading to the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. The Justice Department and State Department announced the reward, up from $25 million. The United States has accused Maduro of aiding drug cartels and street gangs, as well as operating a corrupt and repressive regime. "Maduro uses foreign terrorist organizations like TdA (Tren de Aragua), Sinaloa and Cartel of the Suns (Cartel de Soles) to bring deadly violence to our country," Bondi said in a video message. "He is one of the largest narco-traffickers in the world and a threat to our national security." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Us Accuses Venezuelan Regime Of Narco-terrorism Over Alliances With Tren De Aragua, Sinaloa Cartel President of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro arrives for the military parade as part of the 214th anniversary of Venezuela's independence celebrations on July 5, 2025, in Caracas, Venezuela. (Photo by Jesus Vargas/Getty Images) Cartel of the Suns is a Venezuelan drug-trafficking organization comprised of high-ranking Venezuelan officials. In March 2020, Maduro was charged in a federal indictment with narco-terrorism, conspiracy to import cocaine, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices. To date, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has seized 30 tons of cocaine linked to Maduro and his associates, Bondi said. The drugs are a primary source of income for Mexican and Venezuelan-based cartels, she said. Read On The Fox News App Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Bondi noted that cocaine is often laced with fentanyl, resulting in thousands of American lives lost. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has frequently criticized Maduro, whom he said is not the South American nation's legitimate leader following a disputed 2024 election victory. "One year since dictator Nicolas Maduro defied the will of the Venezuelan people by baselessly declaring himself the winner, the United States remains firm in its unwavering support to Venezuelas restoration of democratic order and justice," Rubio said last month. "Maduro is not the President of Venezuela and his regime is not the legitimate government." Rubio Rips Venezuela's Maduro As 'Narco-terrorist' Leader Threatening Us One Year After Disputed Election Attorney General Pam Bondi on Thursday announced a $50 million reward for information leading to the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. "Maduro is the leader of the designated narco-terrorist organization Cartel de Los Soles, and he is responsible for trafficking drugs into the United States and Europe," Rubio continued. "Maduro, currently indicted by our nation, has corrupted Venezuelas institutions to assist the cartels criminal narco-trafficking scheme into the United States." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In January, the State Department announced a $25 million reward for Muduro's arrest. The agency said Muduro has participated in a violent narco-terrorism conspiracy with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a designated foreign terrorist organization. In addition, Maduro negotiated multi-ton shipments of FARC-produced cocaine; directed the Cartel of the Suns to provide military-grade weapons to the FARC; coordinated with drug traffickers in Honduras and other countries to facilitate large-scale drug trafficking; and solicited assistance from FARC leadership in training an unsanctioned militia group that functioned, in essence, as an armed forces unit for the Cartel of the Suns. In addition to the charges against him, the Justice Department has seized more than $700 million of assets linked to Maduro, including two private jets and nine vehicles, Bondi said. Original article source: AG Bondi offers $50M for arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro The Brief Attorney General Ken Paxton announced an investigation into Texas Majority PAC. Paxton said he was investigating claims the group may have broken laws by funding Democrats that left to state to block a redistricting vote. Paxton has called for the removal of Democrats that do not return to the Texas House on Friday. AUSTIN, Texas - Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Thursday announced an investigation into a political action committee to see if it is breaking laws by funding Texas Democrats that left the state in an attempt to stop the passage of redrawn congressional maps. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Texas Majority PAC is a political action committee heavily funded by Democratic donor George Soros, according to Transparency USA. Paxton's investigation into Texas Majority PAC comes a day after he opened a similar investigation into Beto O'Rourke's Powered by People group. Paxton investigates Texas Majority PAC In a release Thursday, Paxton said he was investigating claims that TMP played a role in funding state Democrats who left the state to break quorum in the Texas House. Specifically, Paxton said he was looking for "illegal fundraising" and "bribery of Texas House members." Paxton called TMP part of "a growing number of far-left orgainizations attempting to suvert the will of Texas voters." What they're saying "If Texas lawmakers are bowing to the Soros Slush Fund rather than the will of the voters, Texans deserve to know. Getting financial payouts under the table to abandon your legislative duties is bribery," Paxton said. "Texas Majority PACs actions seem to indicate that it may be using its Soros-funded resources to break the law and fund the illegal abandonment of public office. If thats the case as determined by this investigation, there will be a heavy price to pay." Can Democrats' seats be vacated? The attorney general announced on Tuesday that he will seek judicial orders to declare lawmakers who left the state to have vacated their office if they do not return by Friday, Aug. 8. If these orders were to go through, the legislators would lose their seats. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Tuesday night, Gov. Greg Abbott filed a lawsuit asking the Texas Supreme Court to remove Texas Democrat Caucus Chair Gene Wu from office. Abbott filed an emergency petition to the Supreme Court of Texas for Wu's removal, citing his Sunday promise to attempt to do so for Democrats who left the state to prevent redistricting efforts. Abbott said Sunday that if the Democrat lawmakers were not back in office by the time the House reconvened Monday at 3 p.m., efforts to remove them would begin. Wu's removal is the first official attempt to be made. The lawsuit claims that Wu's actions as the state House's party leader, along with other Democrats who broke quorum, are an abandonment of their office. According to the governor, this justifies their permanent removal from their positions. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In a statement, Wu said denying a quorum in the House was not an abandonment of office, but an upholding of his oath to the office, which he said did not belong to him or Abbott and instead belonged to the voters in his district. "To Governor Abbott: You have failed the people of Texas, and you are using the courts to punish those who refused to fail with you," Wu said. "My purpose has been clear from the start: to serve my constituents and fight for what's right, no matter the cost. You will find that my commitment to the people of Texas is unbreakable." Texas Democrats break quorum The backstory A large number of Texas Democrat lawmakers left the state on Sunday, preventing a quorum being present to take action on a proposal to redraw Texas congressional districts. Since then, President Donald Trump, Governor Greg Abbott, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, and Paxton have been among the loudest voices calling for their arrests and removal from office if they do not return within the week. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Cornyn announced Thursday that the Federal Bureau of Investigation had agreed to help locate Democrats that left the state. Trump had said his administration expected to pick up five extra Republican seats by redrawing the Texas map. The Source Information on Ken Paxton's investigation comes from a release from the attorney general's office. Information on donors to Texas Majority PAC comes from Transparancy USA. Information on the Democrats' quorum break comes from previous FOX 7 reporting. How AI can make infectious disease surveillance smarter, faster, and more useful Public health agencies are under pressure to move faster, detect threats earlier, and make better decisions, even as their funding is cut and their authority reduced. While most public health agencies will have to do less with less, artificial intelligence systems provide an opportunity to maintain and possibly improve performance in one critical area: infectious disease surveillance. Healthbeat reports that even the best-resourced health departments rely on inefficient, error-prone systems. Disease surveillance often requires personnel to manually review lab reports, call health care providers, and write and revise code to clean, analyze, and visualize data. AI has improved performance in industries where data are abundant and decisions need to be fast and accurate, such as finance and logistics. Public health surveillance systems are essentially large repositories of data about a communitys health. The same tools that improve performance in other fields can help health agencies save time, improve accuracy, and act faster. What is disease surveillance and why does it matter? Surveillance is how governments monitor the incidence and overall burden of disease in a population over time, detect outbreaks, inform policies, and assess whether prevention and control programs are working. Each state maintains a list of notifiable diseases that health care providers and laboratories are legally mandated to report. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement With infectious diseases, most reporting occurs through laboratory-based surveillance. The system is supposed to work like this: A patient has symptoms and visits a health care provider, the provider collects a specimen from the patient and sends it to a clinical laboratory, the laboratory performs tests to identify a potential pathogen, then the laboratory reports that data to a state or local health agency. This is how health agencies collect data about everything from salmonella to HIV to Covid-19. Monitoring laboratory-confirmed cases, in this way, gives public health agencies the confidence that they are investigating cases of public health importance, not just people with symptoms of a disease that is less relevant to public health. Health agencies ideally receive these reports electronically through systems that use standardized digital formatting and vocabulary. But many reports still come by fax or phone. More importantly, regardless of whether data are transmitted digitally or analog, duplicate records must be adjudicated, errors corrected, and missing information often about patient demographics and exposures filled in. AI can improve how data get collected and reported Labs generate huge volumes of data. While some lab instruments automatically generate data in a format that can be readily reported to health agencies, technicians often must interpret and record results in another electronic system, and labs or health departments must process that data into a standardized format to merge them with disease surveillance databases. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement AI-powered natural language processing can scan free-text lab reports and extract useful data: which pathogen was detected, which test was used, when it was done, what the result was, and what identifiable and reportable information is there about the patient (e.g., name, date of birth, home address, gender, race, ethnicity). That information can be automatically formatted to meet public health reporting requirements. AI can also monitor data flowing from laboratory instruments and detect when a reportable disease appears. It can then automate the steps needed to report that infection without requiring a person to notice it, look it up, and enter data into a system manually. Another major problem is compliance with reporting. Staff turnover, new software, or new instruments can result in cases not being reported. Health departments often discover these problems only after reviewing trends (e.g., Why has this lab not reported any diseases in the past quarter?), then staff spend time reviewing data, contacting labs, and sometimes issuing official warnings. AI agents operated by health departments could continuously monitor reporting trends by facility, flag unusual drops in reporting, issue reminder emails, and even conduct calls to the laboratory facility with a human supervising the system, but not necessarily conducting the activities. AI can help clean and connect the data At a health agency, epidemiologists must merge surveillance data from many different sources, e.g., labs, hospitals, outpatient offices, and other facilities. AI algorithms help accelerate and improve identification and resolution of duplicates. Two reports might refer to the same patient but have different names or dates. Or one patient might have multiple test results for the same infection. AI can learn to match and consolidate these records, improving the accuracy of matching over time. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Most lab reports contain just a few pieces of information: name, age, sex, address, and the name of the doctor and facility that ordered the test. But to understand disease burden and identify outbreaks, public health investigators need much more: When did symptoms start? What was the patient exposed to? Did they travel? Were they hospitalized? To get these details, epidemiologists must call patients or providers and search other agency databases. That takes time, staff, and effort. AI tools and agents can help by automating some of these processes. AI agents could send links to patients mobile phones or email for online surveys or chatbot interviews and, as they evolve, even interview patients by voice. If legally permitted in a state, AI agents can connect to hospital records, immunization registries, or death certificates to fill in missing demographic and outcome data. AI can make sense of the data faster One of the most promising uses of AI is to improve the analysis, visualization, and communication of surveillance data. In well-resourced health agencies, epidemiologists run models to nowcast and forecast diseases. Most county health departments in the United States, however, lack epidemiologists with these skills. AI tools can be built to automate these processes, including merging surveillance data with other locally available databases, such as from emergency rooms, 911 calls, and/or pharmacy sales to estimate current and future incidence, depending on different interventions. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement AI can also write custom summaries of the data for different audiences. Most surveillance reports are dense and difficult to read, written by epidemiologists for a broad audience that covers experts and lay persons. Generative AI tools can create summaries that are tailored for different technical levels and perspectives, such as policymakers, journalists, health care providers, or the public. Privacy and security still matter While surveillance data is generally exempt from federal health privacy laws like HIPAA, it is still governed by strict state and local laws. AI tools used for public health surveillance must be designed to operate within these legal frameworks. They should not store or use identifiable information for training purposes. They must limit access to authorized personnel. And they should be run in secure, closed electronic environments. AI may also help allow more data transparency while preserving confidentiality. One reason health agencies hesitate to release detailed surveillance data is the risk that individuals could be identified. AI tools could help automatically de-identify records and test whether patients can be re-identified once datasets are made public. Whats next For AI to have an immediate impact, public health agencies need tools that are validated for data processing and analysis and can be easily adapted to the needs of epidemiologists. Partnerships between public health experts, AI developers, and policymakers will be essential to ensure these systems are incorporated and improve the speed, quality, and usability of public health surveillance systems, while maintaining robust security and privacy controls. This story was produced by Healthbeat and reviewed and distributed by Stacker. A person has been arrested in connection to the death of a Security Forces airman after a firearm discharge at F.E. Warren Air Force Base last month that led to service-wide scrutiny of the Sig Sauer M18 handgun. Airman Brayden Lovan, 21, was killed on July 20 at the Wyoming base while on duty. Air Force Global Strike Command issued an immediate pause and subsequent investigation of the use of 9mm Sig Sauer M18 handguns, and the service as a whole directed a service-wide supplemental inspection of the pistol. The probe into the incident led to Friday's announcement. "Since then, the investigation has progressed and an individual has now been arrested on suspicion of making a false official statement, obstruction of justice, and involuntary manslaughter," an Air Force spokesperson said in an emailed statement. "As with all individuals accused of a crime, the person arrested in this case is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in a court of law." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Read Next: The Little-Known Role of Jimmy Doolittle in Nagasaki Atomic Bombing The news marks a major development in the ongoing investigation into the circumstances behind Lovan's death and the scrutiny of Sig Sauer's P320 handgun, including its M17 and M18 military variants, amid yearslong allegations and lawsuits tied to reported accidental discharges of the firearms. Air Force officials did not immediately provide the name of the person who had been arrested or release a charge sheet on Friday that would include more detail about the accusations. Air Force Global Strike Command's pause and probe of the M18 is ongoing. Additionally, the Air Force's service-wide inspection continues, a spokesperson told Military.com. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement An attorney with Philadelphia-based law firm Saltz Mongeluzzi Bendesky who had been hired by Lovan's family told Military.com in an emailed statement that the Air Force is still seeking answers. "We have understood for weeks that the Air Force is continuing to investigate this incident, including performing analysis on the weapon at issue," Attorney Robert Zimmerman said on Friday. "We look forward to a full review of the investigative file when it is ready." Sig Sauer did not immediately provide a statement related to the development. The gunmaker, in a news release late last month, defended the safety of its P320 series handguns. "The P320 pistol is one of the safest, most advanced pistols in the world -- meeting and exceeding all industry safety standards. Its design has been thoroughly tested and validated by the U.S. military and law enforcement agencies at the federal, state and local levels," Sig Sauer said in a July 29 post on its website. Related: Air Force Conducting Service-Wide Inspections of Sig Sauer M18 Pistol After Airman's Death The Air Force has arrested an airman in connection with the July 20 death of another airman, which involved a Sig Sauer M18 and led the service to suspend the use of the pistol following the incident. In a Friday statement, a Department of the Air Force spokesperson said that the unidentified arrested person is accused of making a false official statement, obstruction of justice and involuntary manslaughter. Air Force Global Strike Command pulled the M18 from use after Brayden Lovan, a 21-year-old remote targeting engagement system operator in the 90th Security Forces Group at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Cheyenne, Wyoming, was fatally shot with that pistol. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The services Office of Special Investigations is still investigating Lovans death. As with all individuals accused of a crime, the person arrested in this case is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, the spokesperson said. No further details about the circumstances surrounding Lovans death or the arrest were available. The M18, along with the M17, is a derivative of Sig Sauers P320 that the Air Force and Army have used. However, the P320 pistol has faced allegations that it is prone to going off accidentally without the trigger being pulled. Sig Sauer has strongly denied those allegations and said its pistols do not discharge unless the trigger is pulled. An air quality alert was issued by the National Weather Service in Milwaukee-Sullivan at 1:53 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 8. This warning applies to Sheboygan, Ozaukee, Milwaukee, Racine and Kenosha counties. What are NWS meteorologists saying? At 1:53 p.m., the NWS issued a statement including the following information: "The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has issued an Air Quality Advisory for the following counties: Kenosha, Manitowoc, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Racine, Sheboygan. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement WHAT: The Ozone AQI is expected to reach the Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups level. It will be possible for the Ozone NowCast AQI to reach the Unhealthy level. WHERE: Lake Michigan shoreline. WHEN: Until 11 p.m.. Precautionary/Preparedness Actions: Sensitive groups: Make outdoor activities shorter and less intense. Take more breaks. Watch for symptoms such as coughing or shortness of breath. People with asthma: Follow your asthma action plan and keep quick-relief medicine handy. For more information on current air quality, please see: https://airquality.wi.gov" See air quality in your area What is an air quality alert? Air quality alerts are issued when elevated levels of pollutants in the air make it unsafe to be outside. In Wisconsin, Canadian wildfire smoke has often led to poor air quality. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Particles from wildfire smoke can cause minor symptoms, such as mild eye or throat irritation, or more serious heart and lung issues in some cases, according to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources . Wildfire smoke particles, which are called PM2.5, are especially dangerous for children, older adults, pregnant people and those with heart or respiratory conditions. How can I protect myself from poor air quality? The best way to protect yourself from poor air quality is to stay indoors, especially when the Air Quality Index reaches above 101, which is classified as unhealthy for sensitive groups, according to the Environmental Protection Agency . Here are some additional steps you can take to protect yourself from poor air quality, including wildfire smoke, according to the Wisconsin DNR: Keep windows and doors closed. Use an indoor air purifier. Run your AC on recirculate with a high-efficiency air filter. Avoid activities that can increase indoor pollution, like vacuuming, using candles, frying foods or using gas appliances. Use a damp cloth to trap and clean up dust, instead of a dry cloth or duster, which will only make the dust airborne again. If you must go outside, wear a N95 mask. How to check the air quality in Wisconsin The DNR has interactive air quality maps, which show the AQI and any active alerts or advisories by county. You can view them on the department's website , or you can also type in your ZIP code into the AirNow.gov website to view air quality in your area. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This weather report was generated automatically using information from the National Weather Service and a story written and reviewed by an editor. See the latest weather alerts and forecasts here This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Air quality alert issued for Milwaukee area An airman has been arrested in connection with the shooting death of Airman Brayden Lovan, 21, last month, which prompted the Air Force to curtail the use of M18 pistols, according to the service. Out of an abundance of caution and based on initial reporting, Air Force authorities ordered various safety precautions involving the M18 after this tragic event, an Air Force spokesperson said in a statement Since then, the investigation has progressed and an individual has now been arrested on suspicion of making a false official statement, obstruction of justice, and involuntary manslaughter. The Air Force has not yet identified the airman who was arrested for the July 20 shooting of Lovan at F.E. Warren Air Force Base in Wyoming. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As with all individuals accused of a crime, the person arrested in this case is presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, the spokesperson said. The investigation in this case is ongoing and further details are not available. On July 21, the commander of Air Force Global Strike Command suspended the use of M18 pistols pending the outcome of investigations into Lovans death. Security Forces airmen with the command were issued M4 carbines to replace their M18s. Shortly afterward, some Air Combat Command units also temporarily restricted using M18s, although the command as a whole did not suspend using the pistols. Top Stories This Week News Army infantry training unit reverses bay tossing ban By Jeff Schogol News The Marine Corps is looking for volunteers to leave the service early By Patty Nieberg News Air Force creates a second super squadron in South Korea By Nicholas Slayton Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Air Force then ordered service-wide inspections of its M18 pistols to validate the serviceability of weapons and reinforce confidence in their use, a service spokesperson told Task & Purpose earlier this month. However, Officials from the Army, Navy and Marine Corps told Task & Purpose in July that those services had no plans to pause use of the pistols, which are made by Sig Sauer. The M18 pistol is a compact variant of the Armys Modular Handgun System, which all the military branches have adopted as their standard sidearms since 2017. The pistols replaced the M9, which first entered service in 1985. UPDATE: 08/08/2025; This story was updated after publication with additional information surrounding the fatal shooting and the Air Forces response. MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WIAT) This week marks 60 years since the Voting Rights Act was signed into law in 1965. State leaders called it a milestone, but some say the fight for that right continues. The right to vote is a journey that is still continuing, said Barry McNealy, historic content expert for the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. McNealy said that the over 60-year journey is something Americans should be proud of. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Voting Rights Act is something that our nation should take pride in. When the Voting Rights Act was signed by Lyndon Johnson, for the first time our nations history, it became a true democracy, he said. Tafeni English-Relf serves as the director of the Southern Poverty Law Centers Alabama State Office. She said that democracy still comes with voter suppression. English-Relf said state laws like SB 1, making it illegal for people to give or receive help with an absentee ballot, make it difficult to vote. She said bringing early voting to the state would give even more access to voters. Family of Jabari Peoples release statement after being shown body camera footage of fatal shooting Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The crisis at the local level is really what were looking at when it comes to voter suppression bills, said English-Relf. And were continuing to see the mirroring of those bills from state to state. Former Secretary of State John Merrill said the Voting Rights Act leveled the playing field for Americans. Having people that are legal citizens of the United States be in a position to have their voice heard and have their vote counted is the most fundamental right that we have as citizens of the United States, said Merrill. In the words of John Lewis, English-Relf said that fundamental right is a nonviolent tool people can use to give voice. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Just to understand that your vote does matter. And, regardless of your party, you have the right to exercise your voice at the ballot box, she said. English-Relf said the right to vote is a guarantee that everyone can cast their vote regardless of race, ethnicity, religion or creed. 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. Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, looks over to a colleague while standing on the floor of the Alabama House of Representatives on Feb. 12, 2025 in the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector) A legislative committee Thursday voted to delay a legal services contract between the Alabama Department of Corrections and an attorney removed from another DOC case after a colleague used AI to generate a brief that contained fabricated citations. The vote by the Contract Review Committee puts a 45-day hold on the contract between DOC and attorney William Lunsford with Butler Snow LLP to defend the department in a lawsuit brought by the family of an inmate who died by suicide at Donaldson Correctional Facility. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, raised questions about the length of time the case has been litigated and asked Chief Deputy Attorney General Clay Crenshaw about the states strategy for ultimately finding a resolution in the matter. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX It appears that if we would have taken every plaintiff across the state, in cases that have sued the Alabama Department of Corrections, and put them in a room and said, How much would it cost to settle these cases if we just gave you a sum right now? We probably would have spent infinitely less money than we have on the lawyers on these cases, England said during the committee meeting. Sen. Tom Butler, R-Madison, requested the hold after England voiced his concerns. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I hope to get at the very least, answers about how many cases are pending, how much money we are paying for them, and ultimately, what is the expected resolution, said England in an interview with media following the meeting. Are we going to try the case, are we going to settle the case, what? The Contract Review Committee has the authority to delay finalizing contracts awarded by government agencies for up to 45 days but cannot compel the executive branch from rescinding them. According to the agenda, the case is pending, and a new contract is needed so that the Alabama Department of Corrections may retain representation in the case. Crenshaw said the case was previously handled by Butler Snow attorney Matthew B. Reeves, who with Lunsford and attorney William J. Cranford was removed from a lawsuit after Reeves used AI to generate a legal brief that included citations to nonexistent cases. Crenshaw said Reeves has been removed from any representation involving ADOC. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement U.S. District Judge Anna Manasco ordered all three removed from the case, referred the matter to the Alabama Bar Association and other licensing agencies and issued a public reprimand. Lunsford has been awarded millions of dollars in contracts to represent DOC in lawsuits. He was awarded a legal services contract in December for $4.68 million. Lunsford was also awarded a legal services contract for $7.68 million in June 2023. I dont have a problem with that, said Sen. Dan Roberts, R-Mountain Brook, regarding awarding the contract to Lunsford. I understand the details of how they got here. A major mistake was made, the court has already dealt with them on that, but he has done a lot of work for the state. Members of the Contract Review Committee also awarded a $200,000 contract to attorney H. William Bloom of Maynard Nexsen to represent Gov. Kay Ivey in a lawsuit filed by Kent Davis, the former commissioner of the Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ivey terminated Davis soon after members of the Alabama State Board of Veterans Affairs voted to retain him during a meeting in October, citing broad executive powers. Davis filed an ethics complaint against Kim Boswell, commissioner of the Alabama Department of Mental Health. Davis then filed a lawsuit in June alleging that he was wrongfully terminated and that Ivey violated his right to constitutional rights, such as free speech and due process. The Governors Office does not have the staff necessary to serve as lead counsel in this case, the agenda states. (Reuters) -Elf Beauty said on Wednesday it expects a smaller core profit margin for the first half of fiscal 2026 due to higher tariff costs, clouding gains from an upbeat first quarter. Shares of the company, which refrained from providing fiscal 2026 forecasts for the second time in a row, were down about 11% after the bell. Several retailers, already facing challenges with waning demand, have been struggling to chalk out their business plans owing to Trump administration's unpredictable trade policies, especially those related to Southeast Asia. Elf Beauty, which has reduced its production from China to "little less" than 75% from about 100% back in 2019, said that it has been optimizing its supply chain, diversifying its business and taking price increases to address tariff-related headwinds. Elf, which acquired Hailey Bieber's makeup brand Rhode, increased product prices by $1 across its brands starting this month to counter trade-related costs, similar to broader industry peers. The company expects adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization margins to be about 20% in the first half of fiscal 2026, compared with 23% in the same period of fiscal 2025. However, Elf has been able to hold up its sales growth across retail and online channels on the back of strong demand for products such as its vegan lip oils and blush tints available at drugstores and supermarkets including Walgreens, Target as well as Dollar General. Elf's quarterly revenue of $353.7 million beat estimates of $350.3 million, as per data compiled by LSEG. On an adjusted basis, the company's earnings came in at 89 cents per share, compared with analysts' estimates of 84 cents per share. (Reporting by Anuja Bharat Mistry and Neil Kanatt in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona) An employee at an Alaska airport has been arrested for allegedly stalking fellow staff members by placing GPS tracking devices underneath their vehicles, according to the state department of transportation. Dustin Madden, a 40-year-old airport operations specialist at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, was arraigned on Thursday afternoon "in connection with an investigation involving unauthorized GPS tracking devices placed on employees' personal vehicles," the Alaska DOT said in a press release on Thursday. Officials said Madden's arrest follows "multiple reports" from airport staff members who "discovered GPS trackers on their personal vehicles while parked in the airport's employee parking lot." Lance King/Getty Images - PHOTO: A welcome sign at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, July 4, 2019, in Anchorage, Alaska. Madden was charged with four misdemeanor counts of stalking and one felony count of tampering with evidence, but officials said "further charges may be forthcoming." Two of the stalking incidents known by officials occurred in July, with a third in 2024 and a fourth in 2022, according to court records. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The suspect had been an employee at the airport since Sept. 30, 2020, and is now on administrative leave, officials said. He remains in custody at the Anchorage Correctional Complex, according to jail records. DOT officials are asking for anyone impacted by this incident to contact authorities, as officials said they believe "there may be additional victims who have not yet come forward." If someone does discover a tracking device on their vehicle, officials said to not remove or tamper with it, to contact law enforcement immediately and allow officials to "respond, coordinate appropriate next steps and work to preserve the device as potential evidence." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement MORE: Man sentenced for stalking and harassing WNBA star Caitlin Clark "The Anchorage International Airport is committed to ensuring a safe, respectful and secure workplace, and acts of surveillance, intimidation or harassment will not be tolerated. Security and privacy protocols are under review to ensure strong protection of staff and visitors, and Anchorage Police and Fire are increasing patrol of parking areas," the department of transportation said. It is unclear whether Madden has an attorney who can speak on his behalf. Court records indicate his next court appearance is scheduled for Aug. 26. MORE: 16-year-old speaks out after escaping man who allegedly stalked, harassed her Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Anchorage Department of Transportation and the Anchorage International Airport Police and Fire did not immediately respond to ABC News' requests for comment. Anyone who was affected by the incident or has relevant information is urged to contact airport police at 907-266-2411. This undated image, provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, shows a mockup of the Surveyor, an ocean-floor-mapping ship under construction and scheduled to be homeported in Ketchikan. (NOAA image) This undated image, provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, shows a mockup of the Surveyor, an ocean-floor-mapping ship under construction and scheduled to be homeported in Ketchikan. (NOAA image) Next week, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is planning to host a ceremony in Louisiana to mark the start of construction on the NOAA ship the Surveyor, a new charting and mapping ship scheduled to be homeported in Ketchikan. NOAA announced the keel-laying ceremony, scheduled for Aug. 14, by email. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Surveyor is expected to be finished in 2027, and its sister ship, the Navigator, is expected to be finished in 2028. NOAA operates a fleet of 15 charting, mapping and fisheries ships using an unarmed officer corps like a scientific version of the U.S. military. The Surveyor and Navigator will be used primarily for ocean mapping and nautical charting. Two other deep-sea ships, the Oceanographer and Discoverer, are also under construction and are expected to be complete in 2026. All four ships are part of an ongoing effort to keep the NOAA fleet afloat; as of 2023, the fleets average age was 30 years old, and six of the fleets current ships are expected to reach the end of their service life by 2030. The ships will be built by Thoma-Sea Marine Constructors in Houma, Louisiana, under a $624.6 million contract that would allow NOAA to construct two more ships if funding is available. LAKE COUNTY, Tenn. WREG is digging deeper into Austin Drummonds criminal past while he was in and out of prison in Lake County. Austin Drummond is being held without bond, is being charged with four counts of first-degree murder. Court documents released Thursday show Drummonds continued involvement with illegal drugs in an alleged attempt to smuggle contraband into a correctional facility just outside Tiptonville, partnering with a man named Branden Powell. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Branden Powell is in custody and appeared in Lake County Court Thursday for arraignment by Judge Andrew Cook. Branden Powell Courtesy of Stephen Sutton Austin Drummond held in jail without bond; state seeks death penalty On June 18, Powell allegedly traveled to Lake County with Drummond intending to deliver marijuana, tobacco, and an ear piercing kit to an inmate at the local prison in Tiptonville, Tennessee. Court documents show that in the early morning of June 19, law enforcement tried to stop a vehicle reportedly driven by Drummond, who refused to stop and was seen throwing objects out of the vehicle. Austin Drummond defends himself in past parole hearing Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Evidence collected indicated that a drone was going to be used to deliver the contraband, including cell phones, and that three other suspects were involved in the conspiracy. Drummond reportedly identified Powell as the driver of the trailer car assisting with delivery. WREG Investigators dug deep into Drummonds drug problems while in prison, and with audio from a July 23, 2020, parole board hearing where Drummond blamed his drug abuse for not remembering a gas station holdup in Jackson when he was 17 years old. Murder suspect Austin Drummond in custody after weeklong manhunt in TN It was a BB Gun, Drummond told the parole board member. Honestly, I was on Xanax that night. I dont even remember doing it. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He told the board he was using Xanax, alcohol, and marijuana around that time. According to District Attorney Danny Goodman, Brandon Powell is only considered an accomplice of Drummonds in the June incident and not in connection with the four murders in Lake County. Powell, Drummond, and three suspects charged with accessory after the fact of first-degree murder are scheduled to be in Lake County Court Aug. 14. 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. Almost two million Americans are collecting unemployment in the highest figures since the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of Americans who have been continuously receiving unemployment benefits rose by 38,000 to 1.97 million in late July, according to Labor Department data released Thursday. This unemployment number hasnt been this high since November 2021. The number of new unemployment claims for the week ending August 2 climbed by 7,000 to 226,000. Its slightly above the 219,000 new claims economists had predicted, but it remains in the healthy range. Almost two million Americans are collecting unemployment in the highest figures since the COVID-19 pandemic (AFP/Getty) The new unemployment numbers come after last Fridays grim July jobs report sent financial markets spiraling downward, spurring President Donald Trump to fire the head of the agency that tallies the monthly jobs numbers. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The jobs report showed the economy added only 73,000 jobs in July, falling short of the 115,000 experts predicted. Revisions of previous data also shaved a stunning 258,000 jobs off May and June payrolls. The unemployment rate ticked higher to 4.2 percent as Americans dropped out of the labor force and the ranks of the unemployed rose by 221,000. Trump blamed Erika McEntarfer, the commissioner for the Bureau of Labor Statistics, for the dismal hiring numbers. We need accurate Jobs Numbers, he posted on social media. I have directed my Team to fire this [former President Joe] Biden Political Appointee, IMMEDIATELY. She will be replaced with someone much more competent and qualified. Important numbers like this must be fair and accurate, they cant be manipulated for political purposes. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement While Trump blamed fake numbers for the bleak jobs report, economists had warned Trumps sweeping global tariffs would burden U.S. businesses and individual Americans. Daniel Zhao, chief economist at the job search website Glassdoor, explained how slower hiring and the unemployment numbers are intertwined. We shouldnt ignore the impact of slower hiring, Zhao told The Washington Post. It means that its hard for unemployed people to get back into the workforce, but it also means that those unemployed workers might have to settle for a worse job, or people who are currently employed arent able to climb the career ladder. SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WCIA) The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum completed a six-year project to preserve documents of a Central-Illinois based Civil War veterans group. On Wednesday, ALPLM announced that this project, which preserves 271 charters from a Civil War veterans group that began in Illinois and grew to national prominence, had been finished. These records shed light on the Grand Army of the Republic, including early leaders and integration efforts. Deficit of over $400K projected in GCMS school districts proposed budget Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This multi-year project allows the once-fragile documents to be opened and read. This will give scholars information about the early history of posts across the state of Illinois. Additionally, the Grand Army of the Republic began in Decatur and Springfield in 1866. The group established local posts that provided camaraderie, political power and resources to veterans of the Civil War. At its height, the GAR had nearly 400,000 members and built significant political influence that it used to advocate for things such as military pensions, veterans homes and the establishment of Memorial Day. Every new GAR post also received a charter from state headquarters, listing its name, number, location and date. The charters usually featured military-themed artwork, a foil seal, the GAR membership badge and a certification signed by the Illinois commander. The charters also contain lists of founding members. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Its been a struggle: Illinoisans try to stretch their budgets amid higher energy costs As the years went by, these posts eventually closed as fewer and fewer Civil War veterans remained. Their charters were often tightly folded and transferred to the GAR headquarters for safekeeping. By 2019, the folded charters had grown so fragile that opening them would destroy the documents. In an effort to conserve these records, library experts carefully humidified the paper until it was flexible enough to unfold without breaking. Loose pieces, especially those with writing or print on them, were reattached, using methods that could be reversed if better conservation techniques become available in the future. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This project was sometimes daunting, as many tiny pieces had to be reattached to the documents with tweezers, said Ginny Lee, an ALPLM conservator. Luckily, head conservator Bonnie Parr and I both enjoy doing jigsaw puzzles, and completing a charter was very satisfying. Over $3M in funding heading to 8 Central Illinois schools, Sen. Turner announces In total, Illinois had approximately 800 GAR posts. The 271 charters in the ALPLM collection come from many places across Illinois. The counties with the largest number of charters include: Cook County: 23 Fulton County: 11 Vermilion County: 10 McLean County: 9 Sangamon County: 8 Macoupin County: 7 Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On top of this, some of the ALPLM charters are from the 11 Illinois posts that were exclusively composed of African American veterans and the 48 posts that were integrated. These documents will be made available to researchers at the presidential library, and the ALPLM plans to digitize the entire collection eventually in order to make them accessible to offsite researchers. GAR posts helped in the founding of soldiers homes, said Dr. Ian Hunt, the ALPLMs chief of acquisitions. They were advocates for veterans to receive their pensions and other benefits owed to them. They supported widows and orphans. They became a powerful political force, and many of these charters have the names of men who would go on to become extremely prominent within their own communities. Pritzker not worried of arrest of TX state lawmakers after announcement of FBI search Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In 1976, the Illinois State Historical Library received the records from the Grand Army of the Republic Memorial Association of Cook County, the successor to the GAR Illinois headquarters. In 2004, the historical library and its collections became part of the new Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. The ALPLM then launched its conservation work on the charters in 2019. According to the library, restoring GAR charters helps researchers uncover Civil War, community and family histories, including overlooked stories. These documents also support honoring veterans by preserving the personal stories of people who fought to save the Union and end slavery. For more information, visit the ALPLM website or follow them on Facebook, X/Twitter and Instagram. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. Hundreds of critics gathered outside the Indiana Governors Residence on Aug. 7 to show their disapproval with national Republican leadership, who have discussed the idea of holding a special session to redistrict Indiana. Many of those outside of the residence had previously protested Vice President JD Vance's visit to the Statehouse earlier in the day, where he held a meeting with Governor Mike Braun behind closed doors. Braun told reporters as he left the meeting that it went "pretty good" and "covered a wide array of topics." He said redistricting was a topic of conversation, but when asked if any agreement had been reached, he only said, "We listened." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But those waving signs outside the Governors Residence in north Indianapolis felt differently about the meeting. Elizabeth Buschmann of Carmel holds up a sign toward cars Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025, outside of the Indiana Governors residence on North Meridian Street in Indianapolis. Around 300 stood on the sidewalk to object to the idea of a special session for redistricting in Indiana. The purpose of (Vance's) visit was to make sure that there are no democratic seats in the 2026 election, and that Donald Trump is assured of election because he's rigged it already, said Lamont Hulse, an organizer with Indivisible Central Indiana. By 5:30 p.m., about 300 people lined Meridian Street, many holding signs like save our seats, stop the steal, and no votes for sale. Close to 100 people have gathered outside of the Indiana Governors Mansion to protest the state government, who floated the idea of redistricting the state in favor of Republican candidates. Indiana Republicans already hold 7 of the state's 9 US. House seats.@indystar pic.twitter.com/KtXWAswKfA Noe Padilla (@1NoePadilla) August 7, 2025 Hulse believed it was important for Hoosiers to share their voices about this issue. I am outraged at this. These are not the Hoosier values I was brought up with," Hulse said. The Hoosier values of fairness, of equity, of letting people's voice count, respecting your neighbors, and of not running over peoples rights. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement More: What Gov. Mike Braun said about redistricting in Indiana following meeting with JD Vance 'This is not the Indiana I remember.' Mike Cabat (left) and Susan Bettis greet cars passing by Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025, outside of the Indiana Governors residence on North Meridian Street in Indianapolis. Around 300 stood on the sidewalk to object to the idea of a special session for redistricting in Indiana. As lifelong Hoosiers, Susan Bettis and Mike Cabat felt embarrassed when they learned intentions of redrawing congressional boundaries had surfaced in Indiana. Traditionally, in Indiana, state leaders don't consider redistricting efforts until the U.S. Census Bureau collects its data at the start of the decade. "It's a blatant power grab that's happening right in the middle of the decade," Bettis said. Bettis and Cabat remembered a time in Indiana when it felt like both state Democrats and Republicans could work together and create legislation that benefited "all Hoosiers and not just the ones that voted for them." Patricia Ray of Westfield holds up a sign toward cars driving by Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025, outside of the Indiana Governors residence on North Meridian Street in Indianapolis. Around 300 stood on the sidewalk to object to the idea of a special session for redistricting in Indiana. A prayer While dozens of adults were holding up signs and chanting, Slone Young, 6, and her younger sister were playing hide and seek around the trees at the edge of the governors residence. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement An Indiana State Police officer took notice of the two girls playing in the yard and began to walk toward the children, before turning his attention to scold some adults who walked onto the property. When the officer stopped paying attention to them, Young knelt in front of a tree and began to pray. After completing her prayer, she turned to the Governors Residence and made the sign of the cross toward the building. She then ran to her mother, holding her sister's hands. When asked what she prayed for, Young said, "That's between God and me." Noe Padilla is a Public Safety reporter for IndyStar. Contact him at npadilla@indystar.com, follow him on X @1NoePadilla or Bluesky @noepadilla.bsky.social. This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Hundreds protest against redistricting outside Indiana Gov. Residence Credit - Photo-Illustration by Chloe Dowling for TIME (Source Images: Boris SV/Getty Images, Sebastian KaulitzkiScience Photo Library/Getty Images) Most people pee multiple times a day without giving it much thought. But if theres a change in how often you urinate or how much you pee on each occasion, it could make you wonder if something is amiss. Its normal to urinate six to eight times over the course of 24 hours, says Dr. Philippe Zimmern, a urologist and professor at UT Southwestern Medical Center. But you may pee more or less than that on a particular day, depending on what and how much you drink, your age, the weather, your stress, physical activity level, and overall health. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Theres actually a fairly wide range of normal: In a study published in 2023 in the journal Nursing Research, for example, researchers evaluated the urination patterns of about 2,500 healthy women and found that they peed two to ten times per day and zero to four times per night. Older women peed more often than younger ones (especially at night). Research suggests that men tend to pee slightly less often. A full bladder should hold at least 300 to 400 milliliters of fluid, which is equal to about 1 cups to just under two cups, says Dr. Michael Zell, assistant professor of urology at Case Western Reserve University. Given this, if youre drinking enough fluids throughout the day, having to urinate every three to four hours during the day is normal, he adds. Read More: What to Drink to Stay HydratedAnd What to Avoid In addition to quantity, the quality of your urine matters, too. Generally, its normal for urine to be light yellow, but if you drink a lot of fluids, it could be clear, almost like water, Zimmern notes. If youre dehydrated, your urine could be more concentrated and darker yellow. (Keep in mind that if youre taking certain vitamins or medications, your urine could be more yellow, too.) Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Urine shouldnt have much of a smell. Some foods such as asparagus can give it an odor, but otherwise, smelly urine can be a sign of a bladder infection, Zimmern says. How to tell something might be wrong When it comes to peeing patterns, some trouble signs are if your urine becomes bloody or cloudy, starts to smell, or you have difficulty urinating, take a long time to urinate or do so very frequently, says Zimmern. Pain over the area of the bladder or pain while urinating are also abnormal and can signal a bladder infection. If you pee more than eight times during your waking hours, thats considered increased frequency, which can be a symptom of undiagnosed or poorly controlled diabetes, says Dr. Nathaniel Barnes, a urologist with Memorial Hermann Health System in Texas. When [excess] sugar spills into the urine, it draws water with it, increasing urination. Think of each sugar molecule acting as a sponge, taking two water molecules with it. This is usually accompanied by increased thirst (called polydipsia), which causes you to drink more, thus perpetuating the cycle of increased urination (called polyuria). Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Read More: Do You Need to Take Electrolytes to Stay Hydrated? Other symptomssuch as having a weak or intermittent stream, needing to strain to pee, feeling like you need to pee when you actually dont, and peeing several times at nightare also worth investigating. If these symptoms bother you or affect your quality of life, discuss them with your primary care physician, experts say. If you pee a little when you laugh, sneeze, cough, lift something heavy, or exercise, these could be signs of stress incontinence. Leaking urine when you feel the need to go, or having trouble holding your urine until you can get to the bathroom, could be symptoms of urge incontinence. And if you wake up two or more times during the night to go to the bathroom, you may have nocturia, a common condition that becomes even more prevalent as people get older, according to the Urology Care Foundation. One in three adults older than 30 goes to the bathroom at least twice per night, and 70% of them are understandably bothered by this. (Besides being a hassle, going to the bathroom multiple times per night can lead to sleep loss.) Seeking help Whether youre peeing too often or experiencing any of these other symptoms, a good rule of thumb is that if it is bothering you or causing problems [in your life], it should be addressed with a health-care provider, Zell says. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Bring these symptoms to the attention of your primary care physician, who can do a urinalysis, urine culture, and basic lab tests to check kidney function, Barnes suggests. Depending on the results, you may be referred to a urologist. When it comes to problematic urinary symptoms, some people think they should see a nephrologist, but thats for [diagnosed] kidney disease, says Barnes. Issues like urgency, frequency, and nocturia are handled by urologists or urogynecologists. Bladder infections can be treated by a urologist, urogynecologist, or even your primary care physicianso thats usually the best place to start. Contact us at letters@time.com. Amazon is expanding its presence in Central Florida with the purchase of 90 acres of land in West Melbourne, Brevard County. The new operations facility, set to open this fall, is expected to bring over 1,000 jobs to the region. The land purchased by Amazon is located northwest of Interstate 95 and U.S. Highway 192, positioning the new facility in a strategic location for transportation and distribution. Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live. Amazon faces two huge lawsuits in the United Kingdom that could cost the online giant billions of dollars, including one that alleges the company illegally promotes products that use its environmentally damaging delivery services. What's happening? One lawsuit, reported by Tech in Asia, accuses Amazon of manipulating its "buy box" the area on a product page where customers can add an item to their cart or purchase it to promote products and sellers that use the company's logistics and delivery services. That case represents more than 200,000 third-party sellers and seeks nearly $3.5 billion in damages. Advertisement Advertisement The other suit accuses Amazon of undertaking unfair market practices and seeks $1.75 billion on behalf of millions of shoppers. The company argues neither case has merit. Why is Amazon important to the environment? When rated by market cap, Amazon is the fourth-largest company in the world. Any company of that size can potentially have a huge environmental impact, but Amazon's massive delivery and data operations take it to another level. In 2019, Amazon introduced its "Climate Pledge," a commitment to reach net zero pollution by 2040. But in the years since, data shows that Amazon's air-freight pollution increased by 67%, and its delivery van pollution grew by more than 190%. Perhaps a more surprising cause of Amazon's large carbon footprint is its wide network of data centers. The company has spent tens of billions of dollars building facilities that house the equipment that stores data and powers services such as video streaming and artificial intelligence. These centers use so much power that operating Amazon's facilities in northern Virginia requires more energy than the city of Seattle. Advertisement Advertisement Add it all up, and Amazon emits more carbon annually than the entirety of nations such as Switzerland and Denmark. What's Amazon doing about this? Along with its climate pledge, Amazon has taken some legitimately eco-friendly steps, such as introducing more electric delivery vehicles and eliminating roughly 15 billion plastic air pillows annually from its packaging. While these are undoubtedly positive moves, the company has still been accused of greenwashing the practice of companies touting their green initiatives while still doing massive amounts of environmental damage. As a consumer, studying up on greenwashing can help you support companies that actually do the right thing, allowing you to spend your money in a way that makes you feel good while also protecting our planet. Do you worry about companies having too much of your personal data? Absolutely Sometimes Not really I'm not sure Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. 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. The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. Updated at 9:56 p.m. ET on August 8, 2025 Last month, the worlds highest court issued a long-awaited opinion on how international law should regard climate harm. The International Court of Justice concluded, unanimously, that states have binding legal obligations to act to protect the climate system, and failure to do soby continuing to produce, consume, and subsidize fossil fuelsmay constitute an internationally wrongful act. In other words, curbing greenhouse-gas emissions is not merely voluntary in the eyes of the court; failure to do so is illegal. A week later, the U.S. government proffered an entirely opposite picture of legal responsibility. It announced a plan to rescind one of the most important legal underpinnings of the federal effort to combat climate change. The Environmental Protection Agencys endangerment finding for greenhouse gases, from 2009, says quite simply that these emissions endanger the public and qualify as harmful pollution; they can therefore be regulated under the Clean Air Act. This finding is the legal basis for power-plant rules, tailpipe-emissions regulations, and almost every other action the executive branch has taken to curb the release of carbon dioxide and methane. And the U.S. EPA would now like to throw it out. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The United States and the rest of the planet are now in completely separate worlds in terms of legal understanding of climate responsibility, the human-rights attorney Lotte Leicht, who works as the advocacy director of the nonprofit Climate Rights International, told me. I think almost nothing could have painted a starker picture, Nikki Reisch, an attorney and the Climate and Energy Program director at the Center for International Environmental Law, agrees. The ICJ opinion was the first time the world court has expressly addressed climate obligations under international law, and it did so with unusual clarity. It removed what Leicht described to me as a legal fog that the world has existed in for decades by rebuking two of the main arguments that high-emitting countries and companies have made to avoid liability. The first is that the climate crisis is simply too big and complex to attribute to any particular entity, rendering individual accountability impractical and unfair. The court made clear that that is not an excuse that holds up anymore, Leicht said. Thanks in part to attribution science, a particular country or companys contribution to the climate crisis can be assessed, and the fact that many entities are at fault is not an excuse to evade individual liability. The second argumentthat only special climate accords, such as the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement, could dictate their climate obligations, and that even then those pacts were by and large voluntarywas also struck down. In its opinion, the court wrote that climate action is not, in fact, voluntary at all: Instead, because climate change threatens lives, degrades health, and deprives people of their home, both domestically and across borders, climate agreements are legally binding, and states can be sued for failure to uphold them. In fact, according to the court, even if a state is not party to a climate treaty, or if a treaty agreement is too weak to prevent the climate harm that country is enacting, that state is still legally liable, thanks to customary lawwell-established fundamental legal principles that all countries must comply with, such as the general duty to protect basic human rights. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement An advisory opinion such as this one is not in itself legally binding. But the international laws it is meant to interpret are. In some countries, including the Netherlands and Kenya, international law is incorporated into domestic law at the point of ratification. In others, it can take precedence over domestic law; elsewhere, it may become domestic law through an act of legislature. Reisch told me that she expects this opinion to be used to support climate lawsuits against countries and companies going forward, and to justify new legislation in statehouses and local governments. Leicht, who is also the chair of the Council of the European Center for Constitutional Human Rights, told me the opinion would figure in one of the organizations cases: It is representing four residents of Pari, a tiny Indonesian island, who are suing Holcim, a major Swiss cement company, arguing that its outsize share of greenhouse gases is contributing to Paris disappearance. The U.S., famously, does not make much of international laws. In prior international climate negotiations, America has tried to minimize its responsibility as the largest cumulative emitter of greenhouse gases. Margaret Taylor, the U.S. legal adviser to the State Department under Joe Biden, presented commentary at the ICJ in December in which she argued that current human-rights laws do not provide for a right to a healthy environment, nor should countries be financially responsible for past emissions, both of which the ICJ ultimately disagreed with in this new opinion. The State Department has said its reviewing the opinion; whether or not the country acts on it, it does open the U.S. to new climate lawsuits and will strengthen those already under way, including two separate suits brought by youth in Montana and California, arguing that the Trump administrations actions on the environment threaten their rights. (The State Department did not reply to a request for comment.) The Trump administration, meanwhile, seems ready to simply ignore, if not outright reject, any responsibility the U.S. might have for climate change. Its intent to roll back the endangerment finding is at odds with recent domestic legal opinion. After the EPA announced its intentions, various legal experts spoke, almost in chorus, about the slim chance this plan had of making it through the likely court challenges. Jonathan Adler, a conservative legal scholar and professor at William and Mary Law School, said in a column that he agreed with it on policy grounds but called the move legally foolishthe Bush administration tried a similar strategy in 2007, only to have the Supreme Court affirm that greenhouse gases qualify as air pollutants. The EPA, in an emailed response to questions, acknowledged the 2007 decision, but noted that it did not require EPA to make an endangerment finding and did not review the logic or conclusions of the 2009 Endangerment Finding because it hadnt been issued yet. It also added, hopefully, that there have been two more recent decisions in which the Supreme Court pulled back aspects of the EPAs ability to regulate greenhouse gases. By attempting to abdicate any legal responsibility to provide for a healthy environment, the U.S. is running in the opposite direction as the global legal community. Last month, prior to the release of the ICJ opinion, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights also declared that the climate crisis qualifies as a human-rights violation, triggering rights-based obligations for countries and companies in that region. And last year, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea issued an advisory opinion qualifying greenhouse gases as marine pollution, triggering similar legal obligations for countries to mitigate them. This trend, Leicht reminded me, will likely outlive the current American political moment. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I found myself struck by the clarity of the final paragraph in the ICJs opinion, which reminds lawyers that climate change is bigger even than the law. A complete solution to this daunting, and self-inflicted, problem requires the contribution of all fields of human knowledge, whether law, science, economics or any other, the court wrote. Above all, a lasting and satisfactory solution requires human will and wisdomat the individual, social and political levelsto change our habits, comforts and current way of life in order to secure a future for ourselves and those who are yet to come. Indeed, rights apply not just to the people who exist now, but to future generations. As the U.S.s climate liability comes into sharper focus, so does the fact of its growing burden on that group. The question is how long the country will disavow that charge. This article originally stated that Lotte Leicht, the chair of the Council of the European Center for Constitutional Human Rights, was one of the lawyers litigating the case on behalf of Pari, the Indonesian island. She is not, although others at the organization are. Article originally published at The Atlantic This story was originally published on CFO Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily CFO Dive newsletter. Dive Brief: Cloud computing and content delivery platform Fastly tapped Richard Wong as its next CFO, effective Aug. 11, the company announced in a Wednesday press release. Wongs appointment is one of several executive leadership changes recently announced by Fastly, which also tapped Scott Lovett, previously its chief revenue officer, will be serving as its president, go to market, effective immediately, according to the release. The moves come after Fastly in June appointed its former Chief Product Officer, Charles Kip Compton, to serve as its CEO, according to a securities filing at the time. Compton succeeded Todd Nightingale, who departed from his role as CEO and president effective June 16 for another opportunity. Going forward, Im excited to share my vision for Fastly with a keen focus on accelerating our growth rate and driving to profitability in the near term, Compton said during Fastlys Q2 earnings call Wednesday, his first such call as CEO. In a separate press release Wednesday, the San Francisco, California-based company announced results for its second quarter, where it reported record revenue of $148.7 million. Dive Insight: Wong, who will replace Ronald Kisling as finance chief, was also hired as a senior advisor to the companys CEO, effective Aug. 7 and will serve in that role until the CFO transition date, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Kisling, meanwhile, will continue to serve as a strategic advisor to the company, which provides edge computing and content delivery services to businesses including SeatGeek and Neiman Marcus. Wongs previous roles include serving as the first CFO for both software platform Benchling and home remodeling software firm Houzz, according to his LinkedIn profile. His past roles also include serving as VP, finance for LinkedIn, as well as senior director, operations finance for Yahoo Inc. As CFO for Fastly, Wong will receive an annual base salary of $450,000 and will be granted a restricted stock award with an aggregate value of $8 million as a material inducement for him to commence employment, according to the Wednesday company filing. He will also be eligible to receive an annual performance-based bonus with a target amount equal to 70% of his base salary, per the filing. Rich has a strong combination of strategic financial planning experience and vision, combined with a robust foundation in investment banking, Compton said of the CFO appointment Wednesday. He will be an excellent addition to our leadership team as we grow and scale the business, and I look forward to him engaging with our investor community. The Brief Tampa Museum of Art debuts In a New Light: American Impressionism 1870-1940 , featuring over 100 works from more than 75 artists. The exhibit will be up from August 7 through November 30. Bank of America and Merrill Lynch cardholders get free admission during the first full weekend of each month. Tampa, Fla. - A major new art exhibition is bringing the beauty and history of American Impressionism to downtown Tampa. The Tampa Museum of Art is unveiling In a New Light: American Impressionism 1870-1940, an expansive exhibit made possible by Bank of Americas "Art in our Communities program." What we know The Collection features more than 100 works by over 75 artists and will be presented from August 7 through November 30. "These works reflect a country in transitionfrom coast to coast, and from realism to abstraction," said Dr. Micheal Tomor, the executive director of the Tampa Museum of Art. "Were proud to bring this exceptional collection to our community." Dig deeper The exhibit shows the journey through 70 transformative years in American art. Through expressive brushstrokes and a variety of vibrant colors, it showcases how artists across the country have developed a distinctly American interpretation of the Impressionist style. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement From the Hudson River School to early modernist movements, the collection connects historical art moments with vivid landscapes, portraits, and scenes of everyday life. The collection is organized by regions, including New England, the Midwest, the Mid-Atlantic and the American West. Some notable names that appear in the exhibit are Childe Hassam, John Sloan and George Inness. What they're saying Bank of America Tampa Bay president Micheal Esposito said, "Programs like this help make art more accessible to the public and support museums in their efforts to educate, engage, and inspire." What you can do Visitors are able to view this exhibit during normal museum hours, and Bank of America and Merrill Lynch cardholders can receive free admission the first weekend of each month as part of the Museums on Us program. To learn more or plan your visit, you can log onto the museum's website. The Source Information for this story came from a Tampa Museum of Art press conference and a press release. EAU CLAIRE The American Red Cross is reminding people of the need for blood and platelet donation during the month of August. During this month, those who donate will receive a free A1C screening, which screens for both prediabetes and diabetes, as well at a $15 e-gift card. We do see a decrease in donations during the summer months, said Executive Director of the Northwest Wisconsin Chapter of the American Red Cross Mary Jane Thomsen. If you think of August, were going from summer to school, the shifts in our calendars and activities, donating blood may not be on top of our mind right now. Fall brings new challenges to the blood supply that could impact patients in need of care. Thomsen urged both people who have never donated and regular donors to make an appointment and to keep it. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It is always important to eat a nutritious meal before giving, she said. Fasting is not required. Donors must be at least 16 years old. If they are 16, they need a parent or guardian consent form filled out. If youre 17, you can come in and give without that, she said. Theres no limit to donating blood as long as youre well and healthy and meet the general standards of giving blood. She said a full list of general requirements can be found at redcrossblood.org. However, speaking in generalities, she said, Get a good nights sleep and make sure that youre in good general health when you come in. If youre feeling like you have a cold or the flu, thats not the time for you to give. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement To find a location to donate, Thomsen recommended visiting the Red Cross website. From there, people can enter in their zip code to find the nearest locations and times. In Eau Claire, the Red Cross Blood and Platelet Donation Center is located on Hamilton Avenue. It is open six days a week. Mondays through Wednesdays, it is open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Fridays through Sundays, it is open from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Individuals can schedule an appointment online or call 1-800-RED CROSS. SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has gifted over $5 million to the American Red Cross, according to a press release from the American Red Cross of Utah. Every year, the Church provides a sizeable donation to the American Red Cross. This years gift will be used to provide new equipment for blood donation programs, fund sickle cell disease treatment programs, and other critical efforts being performed by the Red Cross. The Churchs donation will support Red Cross efforts and initiatives in Utah and across the country, Heidi Ruster, Chief Executive Officer of the American Red Cross Utah/Nevada Region, states in the press release. But this partnership goes far beyond funding. Its a testament to our shared dedication to serving and supporting those in need. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Currently, the Church is the largest single contributor to blood drives, and members reportedly donate approximately 97,000 units annually. The American Red Cross of Utah reports that more than 1 million units of blood were collected across more than 37,000 Church-hosted blood drives since their first drive in 1996. READ NEXT: Utah Red Cross volunteers deploy to Canada to help wildfire refugees The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the American Red Cross have joined together for humanitarian initiatives for more than a century, according to the press release. The Red Cross founder, Clara Barton, and Church Relief Society President Emmeline B. Wells worked together to assemble comfort kits for soldiers, which led to the creation of the Salt Lake City chapter. Through our collaboration, we are increasing blood donations, advancing sickle cell disease treatment and strengthening our ability to bless millions of lives, Blaine Maxfield, managing director of the Churchs Welfare and Self-Reliance Services, is quoted in the release. By uniting our efforts, we extend the Saviors love to those in need. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Last year, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints donated $7.35 million to support the American Red Cross. Earlier this year, they also provided a $1.2 million donation for relief efforts following the Southern California wildfires. Latest headlines: 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. We live in an increasingly cashless world one where those who still spend paper currency risk being left behind. Nations around the world are moving toward cashless societies, with Sweden, Finland, Australia, China and the United Kingdom among those leading the way. Don't miss Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Using an Artificial Intelligence sentiment analysis tool, Merchant Machine's survey of social media posts showed that most countries want to go cashless. Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund said that adoption of digital currencies could lead to the disappearance of cash altogether. Relying solely on credit cards or a mobile device for payments could impact the everyday Americans ability to provide for themselves and their families or even effectively function in society. Thats why two U.S. senators want to preserve the right to use cash in America. How COVID-19 made us go cashless The U.S. saw an accelerated decline in the use of cash during the COVID-19 mitigation measures, when many stores and merchants adopted touchless payment protocols. And five years later, there seems to be little desire to go back to a more frequent use of cash. The Federal Reserve's Diary of Consumer Payment Choice report found that cash payments accounted for only 14% of all payments in 2024. The report also found that consumers were more likely to use cash for payments under $25. Still, cash remains a source of value. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Nearly 80% of consumers held cash in their pockets, purses or wallets at least one day during their Diary reporting period, according to the Federal Reserves findings. And, on average, $306 in cash was stored elsewhere as a store of value. The report also found that two-thirds of those who use cash for a transaction would have preferred to use a different method demonstrating that cash largely serves as a backup. People in lower income households and those over 55 are more likely to use cash than younger or wealthier Americans. The pros of going cashless include increased convenience and transaction speeds, better security and fraud protection, reduced costs to producing and handling physical cash, and the potential for easier record keeping and transparency. But there are downsides, which include privacy concerns (such as the potential for government and corporate surveillance), increased vulnerability to cyberattacks or system failures, and the exclusion of citizens who dont have access to digital payment systems. Stay in the know. Join 200,000+ readers and get the best of Moneywise sent straight to your inbox every week for free. Subscribe now. Introducing the Payment Choice Act According to the World Economic Forum, cashless societies can exclude many people, including those who dont have bank accounts or credit cards, those who have a difficult time using computers and smartphones for banking purposes, or those who lack mobile or broadband connectivity. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Recent immigrants and retirees as well as those with disabilities or living in rural areas are especially vulnerable to the challenges of a cashless society. A 2023 report from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation found that 4.2% of U.S. households, which represents roughly 5.6 million homes, were considered unbanked, which means none of the household residents had a savings or checking account at a credit union or bank. With the aim of ensuring that Americans especially those that are unbanked can still use cash, Democratic Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania and Republican Senator Kevin Cramer of North Dakota have introduced a bipartisan bill known as the Payment Choice Act. With some exceptions, the measure stipulates that among other requirements any establishment engaged in the business of selling or offering goods or services at retail to the public who accepts in-person payments at a physical location must accept cash as a form of payment for sales made at physical locations in amounts up to and including $500 per transaction. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The bill also stipulates that anyone selling goods or services is not permitted to charge a higher price for cash-paying customers than what theyd charge for those not paying with cash. However, it provides exceptions for temporary system failures that prevent the processing of cash payments, or when the vendor has insufficient cash for making change. It also allows for sellers to provide machines that will turn cash into prepaid cards. Its simple: if youre open for business in America, you should take U.S. dollars, said Sen. Fetterman in a press release, adding that millions of Americans dont have access to bank accounts. "Every American should be able to use paper currency if they choose." Cash is still legal tender in the United States, despite some businesses exclusive acceptance of electronic payments, said Sen. Cramer. Forcing the use of credit and debit cards or imposing premium prices on goods and services paid for with cash limits consumer choice. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Currently, private businesses are permitted to create their own policies on cash. According to the Federal Reserve, there are no federal statutes that force a private business or organization to accept cash or coins as payment. When Sen. Cramer introduced an earlier version of the bill in 2023, it failed to pass. And whether this version of the bill passes or not, it brings attention to an important issue: how to prevent people from being left behind as we inevitably move toward a cashless or near-cashless world. What to read next This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind. SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) A federal judge ruled Tuesday that an Idaho anti-government activist could not file for bankruptcy to pay a multi-million-dollar defamation bill. In March 2022, a baby was being transported to St. Lukes Health System emergency room in Meridian, Idaho due to severe malnourishment. Soon after, anti-government activist, Ammon Bundy, spread narratives that the hospital was attempting to kidnap and traffic the baby, a lawsuit claims. Bundys group, the Peoples Rights Network, joined him in attempting to remove the child, leading to a large protest outside the hospital on March 15, 2022, despite there being no evidence of child trafficking or kidnapping. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The suit even alleged that multiple armed individuals entered the building during lockdown while the protest was ongoing. Anti-government activist Ammon Bundy asks judge to acquit him St. Lukes went on to file a defamation suit against Bundy, in which the court ordered him to pay the hospital over $50 million in damages. Bundy filed for bankruptcy in order to pay the extensive damages. However, a federal judge in Utah concluded that Bundy was fully adjudicated during the original suit and denied him bankruptcy to avoid the charges imposed by the defamation ruling. Bundy insisted he was innocent, calling the trial illegitimate. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The court found that Bundys actions were malicious and carried out to induce deliberate or intentional injury, citing precedent cases that lead to their decision. The courts hands are tied. The law is clear, and to hold otherwise would violate fundamental constitutional principles, the court said. St. Lukes was ordered to submit a final amount that Bundy owes. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Latest headlines: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) How does a historic aging ocean liner get sunk on purpose to become an artificial reef? Gradually, one step at a time. In February, the deteriorating SS United States left her port in Philadelphia, making her way, under tow, past the Carolina coast on her way to Florida, then to a salvage company in Mobile. Previous Coverage | Historic ocean liner departs Philadelphia on voyage to become the worlds largest artificial reef Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It was the iconic ships final voyage. Since arriving in Alabama, the 1000-foot ocean liner has been undergoing preparations for a new life as an eco-tourist attraction. Progress continues to be made on the worlds largest artificial reefthe SS United States. According to Okaloosa County officials, crews removed the massive 65-foot forward smokestack from the vessel this week. The stack will be preserved in a secure location for future use in the SS United States land-based museum. The ship itself is undergoing prepsincluding extensive cleaning and the removal of paint and other materials that contain toxinsall to ready it for its eventual sinking and new identity as a reef. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The ship will attract tourists and divers to its final resting place in the waters south of Destin-Fort Walton Beach at a depth of 180 feet to the bottom and about 55 feet to the upper deck. All this to appeal to beginner and technical divers, while creating an expanded marine habitat that will enhance the tourism, fishing and diving industries. Lake Lure Flowering Bridge will be removed after Helene damage made it beyond repair The ship shattered the transatlantic speed record in 1952 at a whopping 36 knots during her maiden voyage from New York to England. Originally designed to carry troops, the SS United States was reimagined as an ocean liner. Her passengers included celebrities and 4 presidents, and now she will be reimagined yet againthis time reincarnated as the worlds largest artificial reef. The aging ship sat idle, rusting and rotting on a Philadelphia dock for the past 30 years. It was purchased by Okaloosa County in 2024 to preserve the ships history by creating an expanded marine habitat and tourist attraction. The ship has since been undergoing major renovations to make it eco-friendly. It is expected to be deployed to its underwater resting place late this year. Exact locale to be determined. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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 Queen City News. CHICAGO The man in a blue Hawaiian shirt paced up and down the line of fellow protesters outside the Congress Plaza Hotel on South Michigan Avenue, shouting into a megaphone with the fervor of someone leading the sermon at a megachurch. They are not welcome in this city! he yelled. This is an immigrant city! The they he meant were three U.S. Department of Homeland Security representatives inside the Loop hotel at the BestHire career fair looking to recruit new hires. The man with the megaphone was one of a small but loud group of around 20 protesters who gathered on Thursday, responding to the presence of the DHS workers. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A news release from DHS on Wednesday announced that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement would offer $50,000 signing bonuses, as well as student loan forgiveness and enhanced retirement benefits. The incentives, pushed forward by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, continue the Trump administrations promises to reinvigorate border security in the U.S., and the $30 billion that President Donald Trump budgeted for ICE in the Big, Beautiful Bill last month. Thursdays protest exemplified the frustration many Americans expressed towards the Trump administrations immigration policies, but in doing so, it clashed with Chicagoans searching for jobs. Were hoping to make this space as inhospitable (for Customs and Border Protection) as possible, said Johnny, 33, a protester from Chicago who asked that his last name not be used. It seems like its working. At around 11 a.m., the protesters entered the hotels event space, their signs and megaphones in hand. Most of the protesters did not attempt to conceal themselves, though one wore a hood, sunglasses and a surgical mask, obscuring their face. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We are a group of autonomous citizens who believe we must protect the most vulnerable, said Bill Housewright, who carried a megaphone and led many of the chants. The protesters stood in front of the DHS table in an attempt to block the agents present from recruiting. They held up poster boards and hand-painted banners. A neon-yellow sign read, Trump, ICE, & CBP blame migrants so you dont blame billionaires. They passed around a megaphone for a series of well-rehearsed slogans. No ICE, no KKK, no fascist USA, they chanted. Protesters stayed in the building for about an hour, disrupting the fair. To some of the recruiters from other companies, the ruckus was frustrating. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It got louder and louder, more protesters came. It definitely affected the job fair, because it stopped everything, and were sitting there trying to talk to people, and they wouldnt allow it, said Ernie Sobjack, owner of the Radio Broadcasting Group. We pay a lot of money to be at these job fairs. Sobjack said it cost each business between $600 and $800 to attend the fair. He understood what the protesters were trying to do but was disappointed that it had to affect his recruitment efforts though he still ended the day with a thick stack of resumes sitting on his table. Krista Burrows, a senior recruiter for ChildCare Careers, was less bothered by the protest, even though her table stood right next to the DHS one. During the chaos, she said it was hard for job seekers to get to her table and too loud for conversation, but BestHire extended the job fair by an hour to make up for lost time. We werent really affected by it, Burrows said. According to witnesses at the fair, four police officers issued a verbal warning to the protesters twice before they left the hotel. After the second warning, the protesters left the hotel, scattering DHS pamphlets across the floor in their wake. They relocated to the sidewalk in front of the hotel, continuing to chant as they formed a line outside the hotels front doors; a few held up long cloth banners. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Stop kidnapping our neighbors, one read, with chains painted across the fabric. Back inside the hotel, Ross, 30, who asked to use only his first name, stood in line to talk to DHS recruiters though he had no intention of applying for a job with them. He was at the fair not to protest but to find a job, yet grew angry when he learned that DHS had a table. He waited in line with prospective applicants to tell the agents they are pieces of (expletive) and they shouldnt have been here, he said. Im not trying to do a big thing, Ross continued. Just look at them in the face and make them contend with themselves a little bit. When he reached the agent who said she does not work for ICE she nodded and smiled politely at Ross while he spoke his mind. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Even with the protest, more than 100 people signed up as interested candidates in joining the CBP team, wrote a spokesperson for Customs and Border Protection in a statement to the Tribune. The protest made CBPs booth the most visited booth at the event. ____ HENDERSON, Ky (WEHT) The EVSC is wrapping up the first week of a new school year, and after a staggered start, all students will attend classes together for the first time this week. Some of those students will have some extra encouragement. The annual Million Father March is taking place at Lincoln, Lodge, Glenwood, Washington and the Academy for Innovative Studies. The event encourages men to commit to the educational lives of children throughout the year by escorting them to school. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Although largely coordinated by African American men, adults of all ethnicities are encouraged to take part. The Million March was founded in 2004 and initiated locally in 2012. 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). URBANA, Ill. (WCIA) Lincoln Square Mall will be hosting an annual event honoring a late Champaign-based Sen. to gather resources and help families later this month. On Friday, Aug. 22, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., the Urbana mall will be hosting The Scott Bennett Family Resources Day. This yearly event is always held on the fourth Friday of August. The goal of the day is to gather community resources that assist families in one place, so that these families can attend and learn more about local resources available for them. Healing Our Hood event aims to stem the tide of violence in Champaign Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement What began with an emphasis on child support services has grown to include mental health, childhood education, housing, utility assistance, and many others, Champaign County States Attorney Julia Rietz said in a Facebook post. The event is named in honor of the late Sen. Scott Bennett (D-Champaign), who died of a brain tumor in December 2022. Rietz described Bennett as, a joyful public servant and true champion for families in this community. This year, the Champaign County States Attorneys Office is co-sponsoring this event in partnership with the Champaign County Regional Planning Commission and the Office of Illinois State Sen. Paul Faraci, who succeeded the late Sen. Bennett to represent the 52nd Legislative District. For more information on the event, visit Champaign County States Attorney Julia Rietzs Facebook page. For questions on the event, call 217-384-3733 or email resourcesday@champaigncountyil.gov. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. Mike Johnsons math problems may become much more difficult in the weeks to come. Already, the House GOP leader is stuck with an unruly caucus whose disparate factions have made the passage of most legislation an arduous process typically involving Donald Trump bullying one or more groups of lawmakers into line. The House of Representatives instead chose to cram many of the presidents priorities into one big, beautiful bill (a Trump nickname adopted by Congress) and passed it on a party-line basis in early July. The chamber came within a one-vote margin of the bill failing. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Now, the growing scandal enveloping Rep. Cory Mills, a Republican from Floridas 7th congressional district, threatens to turn that margin against Johnson and GOP leadership and make the passage of future bills an even greater hurdle for the presidents party. Mills, 45, is in his second term as a congressman. Having won re-election last year, the Seminole County representative was looking forward to a second term defined by his new chairmanship of a House subcommittee. Instead, hes being accused by the current reigning Miss United States of sextortion she claims he threatened to release intimate images and videos of her after they broke up. Mills denied the allegations and argued in a statement on Wednesday that the womans attorney, his former primary challenger, weaponized the claim to damage his reputation. Cory Mills looks on at a press conference. He's being accused by Miss United States of sextortion, which he denies (Getty Images) But the scandal is just one of several buzzing around the congressman. Hes also accused of racking up tens of thousands of dollars in unpaid rent and is under a totally separate House Ethics Committee investigation looking into whether he improperly benefited from federal contracts. An incident at Millss DC residence also led to a police investigation of Mills for assault earlier this year, though both he and the alleged victim denied an assault occurred. In short, Millss baggage is becoming a problem. At the bare minimum, its providing a target for Florida Democrats to go after as the 2026 midterms approach. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But if hes forced out sooner, Johnsons problems become a lot bigger. The Cook Political Report rates Mills district as +5 Republican, giving the GOP an edge but no guarantee of victory in an election over the next two years. Should Gov. Ron DeSantis be forced to call a special election, that could be a real issue for the GOP: Democrats have been consistently overperforming in special elections in 2025, even in districts with strong Republican bents. Three have already announced plans to run for the seat next year. The drip-drip of headlines is already making Millss colleagues nervous, Politico reported on Wednesday. Millss bad press marks the third time since the 2024 elections that a Florida Man member of the House has caused headaches for Mike Johnson and the caucus as a whole, and earned the derisive label synonymous with chaotic, bad decision-making and trashy behavior. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement First, the surprise resignation of Matt Gaetz just weeks after his successful re-election threw the House into a pre-Trump tizzy. The spat over his Ethics Committee report, which looked into allegations that he pursued underage girls for sex, led to Gaetzs failed bid to become Trumps attorney general and a special election, while casting a massive shadow over the presidents transition. Gaetz denied the allegations, but dodging efforts to investigate them cost him his political career. Then, another Florida congressman, Randy Fine, earned a condemnation from a fellow Republican, Marjorie Taylor Greene, after tweeting starve away in response to reports of widespread famine and devastation in Gaza; Fine is one of Israels most vocal supporters in the House, even among Republicans. Since joining the House, hes also made racist statements about Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Muslim and Somali-American congresswoman from Minnesota. Those wont cause him much trouble with Republican leadership, who rarely punish that sort of thing, but could earn him a censure or even expulsion if they continue under a Democratic speaker in 2027 or beyond. As Mike Johnson and Donald Trump look for ways to expand their single-digit majority with help from unprecedented gerrymandering attempts in Texas and other GOP states, one has to wonder whether the caucus would be served by examining why members from one reddening state keep giving them so much trouble. By Hyunjoo Jin, Heejin Kim and Nora Eckert (Reuters) -General Motors and Hyundai Motor on Wednesday outlined plans to develop five vehicles together as they seek to lower costs amid growing competition from nimble Chinese rivals, although some analysts questioned whether the plan would work. Four of the vehicles a compact SUV/car/pickup, and a mid-size pickup are targeted for launch in Central and South America in 2028 and support both internal combustion and hybrid powertrains. GM and Hyundai did not say where the models would be produced, but said they expected to be rolling out at least 800,000 vehicles a year at full production. The partnership will help GM and Hyundai battle growing competition from Chinese EV manufacturers in Latin America. But some questioned whether it would create meaningful synergies. "Even if they sell those new models in South America, it's hard to beat Chinese competitors which already are leading in the electric-vehicle market with low prices," said An Hyung-jin, chief investment officer at Seoul-based hedge fund Billionfold Asset Management. "Hyundai might be able to learn from GM about how to build pickup trucks, but it would take some time to generate earnings," he added. The two global automakers will also co-develop and produce an electric commercial van in the United States as early as 2028. "The partnership itself is a win-win strategy, since GM can learn the hybrid technology from Hyundai while Hyundai can use the relationship with GM as leverage for trade negotiations with the United States," said Teddi Kim, head of auto research firm Mirae-Mobility Research & Services. The United States and South Korea last week reached a trade agreement for a 15% tariff on U.S. imports from South Korea, including vehicles. Shares in Hyundai Motor rose 0.7%, against the wider market's 0.5% gain. The deal is among several announced between a South Korean company and a U.S. firm in recent weeks, following Samsung Electronics' chip deal with Tesla and Apple, and LG Energy Solution's battery deal with Tesla. Reuters in March reported that Hyundai and GM were nearing a deal to share two commercial electric vans and pickup trucks. This is the first major partnership for vehicle development for Hyundai Motor. GM has been unwinding several projects with Japan's Honda over the past decade. In 2023, the two companies scrapped a $5 billion plan to jointly develop affordable electric vehicles. Chinese carmakers have released several high-tech, low-cost models, putting pressure on legacy rivals such as GM to slash expenses and streamline manufacturing processes. To compete with these rivals, many have explored partnerships as a way to share development costs, especially for battery-powered models. The Missouri Capitol in Jefferson City (Jason Hancock/Missouri Independent). Despite Missouri lawmakers failing this year to pass legislation targeting antisemitism in public schools and colleges, the Anti-Defamation League concluded in a new report released Friday that the state has still made progress at combating what it called anti-Jewish sentiment. The report, which aims to evaluate all 50 states on a series of criteria, points to required Holocaust education in public schools, the establishment of the Holocaust Education and Awareness Commission and a 2020 prohibition on public entities contracting with companies engaging in boycotts of Israel as key areas of progress in Missouri. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement And this year, the legislature established the Missouri Task Force on Nonprofit Safety and Security, which will be responsible for studying and making recommendations on the security needs of nonprofit organizations at elevated risk of terrorist attacks. It also created a fund designed to help eligible nonprofits cover the costs of security enhancements. Jordan Kadosh, director of the Missouri-based ADL Heartland, called the task force critical in the fight against antisemitism. The report comes as the ADL says there has been a spike in antisemitic incidents in Missouri over the last two years since the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas in Israel that resulted in 1,200 civilian deaths. The attack started a war between Israel and Hamas militants that, according to Palestinian health authorities, has killed more than 60,000 people in Gaza, with nearly a third of the dead under the age of 18. Israel now faces growing international condemnation over conditions in Gaza, where the U.N. says there is mounting evidence of famine and widespread starvation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Missouri is home to approximately 59,600 Jewish residents, representing 1% of the states total population. While the ADL says Missouri has made progress, according to its criteria, there are areas the group hopes lawmakers will address when they return to session in January. Atop the list is legislation debated this year that would require the states Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and Department of Higher Education to assign a staff member to monitor antisemetic discrimination and harassment and investigate whether schools have responsibility for incidents. The bill would also encourage schools to teach pieces of Jewish-American heritage. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Though it passed the Missouri House, it failed to garner traction in the Senate. And it faced criticism over its use of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliances working definition of antisemitism. Though the definition has been adopted by a majority of U.S. states and included in orders at the federal level, the lead drafter of the definition has spoken against its application as a tool to target or chill speech on a college campus. The bill also included a list of possible examples of antisemitism, most notably claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor. Critics argued the bill was an attempt to silence any critique of Israels actions in Gaza on college campuses. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement During House debate, the bills lead sponsor pushed back on that criticism. The bill is intended to keep the Jewish students safe on campus, state Rep. George Hruza, a Republican from Huntleigh, said in April. It really is not taking sides or some kind of position on the conflict in the Middle East. SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) Someone walking or running along the bike trail through the Beadle Greenway in central Sioux Falls wouldnt notice it. But leaving the path and taking a few steps into the trees revealed an encampment Thursday afternoon right by the Big Sioux River; per the city, several have existed in the area recently. Summer heat returns to KELOLAND Its the type of dwelling that a proposed ordinance would prohibit. The Sioux Falls City Council is considering one that would ban encampments or tents in public places: a decision that could have a direct impact on people experiencing homelessness. Michelle Treasure, homelessness services coordinator with the City of Sioux Falls, says the goal is not to dismantle where people are attempting to live. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Were not going to come in here and just destroy all your things and take all of your possessions, Treasure said. Thats not what this is about. Were here to tell you that were here to help you. You cant live here. But how do we help you find a solution moving forward. Treasure says the focus is on public safety and public health as well as helping people connect with primary health care providers and shelters. Our shelters are there for a reason, Treasure said. Their doors are open, theyre ready, theyre ready and willing, and so as much as we can redirect people toward the services that we know are working, thats our goal. Shannon Ward owns the nearby social space Good NAtured thats located on 8th Street close to such shelters. Preferring energy be focused elsewhere, she describes the proposed ordinance as short-sighted. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A true housing-first program doesnt focus on, like, the person and where theyre at in a way that they have to go through treatment or they have to be sober or they have to have certain circumstances in order to be able to be accepted in, Ward said. Theyre just housed first, and then we figure it out from there. Even though Ward and Treasure see the proposed ordinance differently, they each use the word compassion when talking about how to approach these complicated issues. I think the thing thats really easy for us when were driving in our cars, and some people just straight up avoid 8th Street cause they dont even want to look at it, right, and thats the thing, Ward said. We cant just look away. Its not going to go away. The second reading in front of the city council for the proposed ordinance is scheduled for Tuesday; it passed its first reading Wednesday with a vote of six to one. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. VIENNA, Ohio (WKBN) The Antique Tractor Club of Trumbull County is preparing to host its summer show next weekend. More than 100 tractors will be on display for the annual Trumbull County Antique Tractor Club Show. For the first time, cars will also be included. The event runs from August 15-17 at the club on Ridge Road in Vienna. It includes tractor pulls, a parade of power, food vendors, a flea market and a Chinese auction. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Club President Terrance Taylor says its a fun, family-friendly event. Were trying to preserve the history of farming from way back when. We have a lot of antique tractors, of course. Well have some antique equipment, Taylor said. The club will also have a buffet-style breakfast each day of the show from 8-10 a.m. 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. Jim Lovell, the astronaut and commander of the Apollo 13 mission, has died aged 97. Nasa confirmed the death of Mr Lovell in a post on X, formerly Twitter, and said: We are saddened by the passing of Jim Lovell, commander of Apollo 13 and a four-time spaceflight veteran. Lovells life and work inspired millions. His courage under pressure helped forge our path to the Moon and beyond a journey that continues today. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The US astronaut helped to save the failed mission on April 11 1970, which was set to be the third lunar landing. Lovell managed to safely return the spacecraft to Earth following the explosion of an oxygen tank. Jim Lovells cool head helped the astronauts on Apollo 13 survive and return safely to Earth after an explosion occurred on board their shuttle - Paul Grover Lovell was born in Cleveland in Ohio and he graduated from the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, in 1952. Nasa, released a statement from Lovells family, who said: We are saddened to announce the passing of our beloved father, USN Captain James A. Jim Lovell, a Navy pilot and officer, astronaut, leader, and space explorer. He was 97. We are enormously proud of his amazing life and career accomplishments, highlighted by his legendary leadership in pioneering human space flight. But, to all of us, he was Dad, Granddad, and the Leader of our family. Most importantly, he was our Hero. We will miss his unshakeable optimism, his sense of humour, and the way he made each of us feel we could do the impossible. He was truly one of a kind. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The National Space and Air Museum, Smithsonian, Washington, posted on X: We are saddened by the passing of Gemini and Apollo astronaut Jim Lovell. With the crew of Apollo 8, Lovell became one of the first to leave Earth and journey to another world and on Apollo 13 his cool head helped turn a near-disaster into Nasas finest hour. Lovell was a great friend to our museum and we will miss him dearly. Buzz Aldrin and Jim Lovell after the Gemini 12 splashdown on Nov 15, 1966 - NASA / Avalon Sean Duffy, acting Nasa administrator, said in a statement on Friday said: Nasa sends its condolences to the family of Capt. Jim Lovell, whose life and work inspired millions of people across the decades. Jims character and steadfast courage helped our nation reach the moon and turned a potential tragedy into a success from which we learnt an enormous amount. We mourn his passing even as we celebrate his achievements. From a pair of pioneering Gemini missions to the successes of Apollo, Jim helped our nation forge a historic path in space that carries us forward to upcoming Artemis missions to the moon and beyond. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As the Command Module Pilot for Apollo 8, Jim and his crewmates became the first to lift off on a Saturn V rocket and orbit the moon, proving that the lunar landing was within our reach. As commander of the Apollo 13 mission, his calm strength under pressure helped return the crew safely to Earth and demonstrated the quick thinking and innovation that informed future Nasa missions. Known for his wit, this unforgettable astronaut was nicknamed Smilin Jim by his fellow astronauts because he was quick with a grin when he had a particularly funny comeback. Jim also served our country in the military, and the Navy has lost a proud academy graduate and test pilot. Jim Lovell embodied the bold resolve and optimism of both past and future explorers, and we will remember him always. Three of the crew members of Apollo 13; Fred Haise, Jim Lovell (centre), and Ken Mattingly - Bettmann Lovell flew four times on Gemini 7, Gemini 8, Apollo 8 and Apollo 13 and was one of Nasas most-travelled astronauts. He was due to become the fifth man to walk on the Moon but didnt do so because of the sudden blast. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Lovell once said although he was disappointed he never had that opportunity, the mission itself and the fact that we triumphed over certain catastrophe does give me a deep sense of satisfaction. Lovells story has been adapted in popular culture on a number of occasions, including in the 1995 film Apollo 13, which was based on Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13, an autobiographical memoir co-written by the astronaut with US editor of Time magazine Jeffrey Kluger. Former Nasa astronaut and bestselling author Mike Massimino, posted on X: I am so sad to hear about the passing of my hero Jim Lovell. He was a great role model not only as an astronaut, but also as a person who exemplified a life well lived both professionally and personally. He will be missed by many, Godspeed my friend. 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. By Will Dunham WASHINGTON (Reuters) -American astronaut Jim Lovell, commander of the failed 1970 mission to the moon that nearly ended in disaster but became an inspirational saga of survival and the basis for the hit movie "Apollo 13," has died at the age of 97, NASA said on Friday. Hollywood superstar Tom Hanks played Lovell in director Ron Howard's acclaimed 1995 film. It recounted NASA's Apollo 13 mission, which was planned as humankind's third lunar landing but went horribly wrong when an onboard explosion on the way to the moon put the lives of the three astronauts in grave danger. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Lovell and crew mates Jack Swigert and Fred Haise endured frigid, cramped conditions, dehydration and hunger for 3-1/2 days while concocting with Mission Control in Houston ingenious solutions to bring the crippled spacecraft safely back to Earth. "A 'successful failure' describes exactly what (Apollo) 13 was - because it was a failure in its initial mission - nothing had really been accomplished," Lovell told Reuters in 2010 in an interview marking the 40th anniversary of the flight. The outcome, the former Navy test pilot said, was "a great success in the ability of people to take an almost-certain catastrophe and turn it into a successful recovery." The Apollo 13 mission came nine months after Neil Armstrong had become the first person to walk on the moon when he took "one giant leap for mankind" during the Apollo 11 mission on July 20, 1969. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement There was drama even before Apollo 13's launch on April 11, 1970. Days earlier, the backup lunar module pilot inadvertently exposed the crew to German measles but Lovell and Haise were immune to it. Ken Mattingly, the command module pilot, had no immunity to measles and was replaced at the last minute by rookie astronaut Swigert. The mission generally went smoothly for its first two days. But moments after the crew finished a TV broadcast showing how they lived in space, an exposed wire in a command module oxygen tank sparked an explosion that badly damaged the spacecraft 200,000 miles (320,000 km) from Earth. The accident not only ruined their chances of landing on the moon but imperiled their lives. "Suddenly there's a 'hiss-bang. And the spacecraft rocks back and forth,'" Lovell said in a 1999 NASA oral history interview. "The lights come on and jets fire. And I looked at Haise to see if he knew what caused it. He had no idea. Looked at Jack Swigert. He had no idea. And then, of course, things started to happen." 'HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM' Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Swigert saw a warning light and told Mission Control: "Houston, we've had a problem here." In the movie, the line is instead attributed to Lovell and famously delivered by Hanks - slightly reworded - as: "Houston, we have a problem." With a dangerous loss of power, the three astronauts abandoned the command module and went to the lunar module - designed for two men to land on the moon. They used it as a lifeboat for a harrowing 3-1/2 day return to Earth. The astronauts and the U.S. space agency experts in Houston scrambled to figure out how to get the crew safely home with a limited amount of equipment at their disposal. Electrical systems were turned off to save energy, sending temperatures plummeting to near freezing. Water was drastically rationed, food was short and sleep was nearly impossible. The crew had to contrive a filter system to remove high levels of carbon dioxide that could have proven deadly. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "The thought crossed our mind that we were in deep trouble. But we never dwelled on it," Lovell said in the NASA interview. "We never admitted to ourselves that, 'Hey, we're not going to make it.' Well, only one time - when Fred looked at ... the lunar module and found out we had about 45 hours worth of power and we were 90 hours from home." People worldwide were captivated by the events unfolding in space - and got a happy ending. The astronauts altered course to fly a single time around the moon and back to Earth, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean near Samoa on April 17, 1970. Lovell never got another chance to walk on the moon after Apollo 13, which was his fourth and final space trip. His first trip had been the Gemini 7 mission in 1965, featuring the first link-up of two manned spacecraft. His second was Gemini 12 in 1966, the last of the programs that led to the Apollo moon missions. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Lovell's third mission was Apollo 8 in December 1968, the first to orbit the moon. During a telecast to Earth from their spacecraft on Christmas Eve, Lovell and crew mates Frank Borman and William Anders read verses from the Bible's Book of Genesis. Lovell, who later had a moon crater named in his honor, retired as an astronaut in 1973, working first for a harbor towing company and then in telecommunications. He co-authored a 1994 book, "Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13," that became the basis for Howard's film. Lovell recalled a meeting with Howard in which the director asked the astronaut which actor he would want to play him. "I said, 'Kevin Costner,'" Lovell said. "And Hanks never lets me forget that... But Hanks did a great job." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On Friday, Hanks praised Lovell and his accomplishments. "There are people who dare, who dream, and who lead others to the places we would not go on our own," Hanks wrote on social media. Lovell, Hanks said, "was that kind of guy." "His many voyages around Earth and on to so-very-close to the moon were not made for riches or celebrity but because such challenges as those are what fuels the course of being alive," Hanks added. Lovell made a cameo appearance in "Apollo 13" as the commander of the U.S. Navy ship that retrieves the astronauts and shakes hands with Hanks. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement James Lovell was born in Cleveland on March 25, 1928. He was just 5 when his father died and his mother moved the family to Milwaukee. He became interested in space as a teenager. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1952 and became a test pilot before being selected as a NASA astronaut in 1962. He had four children with his wife, Marilyn. (Reporting and writing by Will Dunham; Additional reporting by Nilutpal Timsina and Lisa Richwine; Editing by Bill Trott and Rosalba O'Brien) CHICAGO (AP) James Lovell, the commander of Apollo 13 who helped turn a failed moon mission into a triumph of on-the-fly can-do engineering, has died. He was 97. Lovell died Thursday in Lake Forest, Illinois, NASA said in a statement on Friday. Jims character and steadfast courage helped our nation reach the Moon and turned a potential tragedy into a success from which we learned an enormous amount, NASA said. "We mourn his passing even as we celebrate his achievements. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement One of NASA's most traveled astronauts in the agency's first decade, Lovell flew four times Gemini 7, Gemini 12, Apollo 8 and Apollo 13 with the two Apollo flights riveting the folks back on Earth. Lovell and fellow astronauts Fred Haise and Jack Swigert received renewed fame with the retelling of the Apollo 13 mission in the 1995 movie Apollo 13" where actor Tom Hanks portraying Lovell famously said, Houston, we have a problem. In 1968, the Apollo 8 crew of Lovell, Frank Borman and William Anders was the first to leave Earth's orbit and the first to fly to and circle the moon. They could not land, but they put the U.S. ahead of the Soviets in the space race. Letter writers told the crew that their stunning pale blue dot photo of Earth from the moon, a world first, and the crew's Christmas Eve reading from Genesis saved America from a tumultuous 1968. The Apollo 13 mission had a lifelong impact on Lovell Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But the big rescue mission was still to come. That was during the harrowing Apollo 13 flight in 1970. Lovell was supposed to be the fifth man to walk on the moon. But Apollo 13's service module, carrying Lovell and two others, experienced a sudden oxygen tank explosion on its way to the moon. The astronauts barely survived, spending four cold and clammy days in the cramped lunar module as a lifeboat. ''The thing that I want most people to remember is (that) in some sense it was very much of a success,'' Lovell said during a 1994 interview. ''Not that we accomplished anything, but a success in that we demonstrated the capability of (NASA) personnel.'' A retired Navy captain known for his calm demeanor, Lovell told a NASA historian that his brush with death affected him. I don't worry about crises any longer, he said in 1999. Whenever he has a problem, I say, I could have been gone back in 1970. I'm still here. I'm still breathing.' So, I don't worry about crises. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Lovell had ice water in his veins like other astronauts, but he didn't display the swagger some had, just quiet confidence, said Smithsonian Institution historian Roger Launius. He called Lovell a very personable, very down-to-earth type of person, who says 'This is what I do. Yes, there's risk involved. I measure risk.' Lovell spent about 30 days in space across 4 missions In all, Lovell flew four space missions and until the Skylab flights of the mid-1970s, he held the world record for the longest time in space with 715 hours, 4 minutes and 57 seconds. He was a member of really the first generation of American astronauts and went on to inspire multiple generations of Americans to look at the stars and want to explore, said Bruce McClintock, who leads the RAND Corp. Space Enterprise Initiative. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Aboard Apollo 8, Lovell described the oceans and land masses of Earth. "What I keep imagining, is if I am some lonely traveler from another planet, what I would think about the Earth at this altitude, whether I think it would be inhabited or not," he remarked. That mission may be as important as the historic Apollo 11 moon landing, a flight made possible by Apollo 8, Launius said. "I think in the history of space flight, I would say that Jim was one of the pillars of the early space flight program," Gene Kranz, NASA's legendary flight director, once said. Lovell was immortalized by Tom Hanks' portrayal Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But if historians consider Apollo 8 and Apollo 11 the most significant of the Apollo missions, it was during Lovell's last mission that he came to embody for the public the image of the cool, decisive astronaut. The Apollo 13 crew of Lovell, Haise and Swigert was on the way to the moon in April 1970, when an oxygen tank from the spaceship exploded 200,000 miles from Earth. That, Lovell recalled, was the most frightening moment in this whole thing. Then oxygen began escaping and we didn't have solutions to get home. We knew we were in deep, deep trouble, he told NASA's historian. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Four-fifths of the way to the moon, NASA scrapped the mission. Suddenly, their only goal was to survive. Lovell's "Houston, we've had a problem," a variation of a comment Swigert had radioed moments before, became famous. What unfolded over the next four days captured the imagination of the world. With Lovell commanding the spacecraft, Kranz led hundreds of flight controllers and engineers in a furious rescue plan. The plan involved the astronauts moving from the service module, which was hemorrhaging oxygen, into the cramped, dark and frigid lunar lander while they rationed their dwindling oxygen, water and electricity. Using the lunar module as a lifeboat, they swung around the moon, aimed for Earth and raced home. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement There is never a guarantee of success when it comes to space, McClintock said. Lovell showed a leadership role and heroic efforts in the recovery of Apollo 13. By coolly solving the problems under the most intense pressure imaginable, the astronauts and the crew on the ground became heroes. In the process of turning what seemed routine into a life-and-death struggle, the entire flight team had created one of NASA's finest moments. "They demonstrated to the world they could handle truly horrific problems and bring them back alive," said Launius. He regretted never being able to walk on the moon Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The loss of the opportunity to walk on the moon "is my one regret," Lovell said in a 1995 interview with The Associated Press. President Bill Clinton agreed when he awarded Lovell the Congressional Space Medal of Honor in 1995. "While you may have lost the moon ... you gained something that is far more important perhaps: the abiding respect and gratitude of the American people," he said. Lovell once said that while he was disappointed he never walked on the moon, "The mission itself and the fact that we triumphed over certain catastrophe does give me a deep sense of satisfaction." And Lovell clearly understood why this failed mission afforded him far more fame than had Apollo 13 accomplished its goal. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Going to the moon, if everything works right, it's like following a cookbook. It's not that big a deal," he told the AP in 2004. "If something goes wrong, that's what separates the men from the boys." James A. Lovell was born March 25, 1928, in Cleveland. He attended the University of Wisconsin before transferring to the U.S. Naval Academy, in Annapolis, Maryland. On the day he graduated in 1952, he and his wife, Marilyn, were married. A test pilot at the Navy Test Center in Patuxent River, Maryland, Lovell was selected as an astronaut by NASA in 1962. Lovell retired from the Navy and from the space program in 1973, and went into private business. In 1994, he and Jeff Kluger wrote "Lost Moon," the story of the Apollo 13 mission and the basis for the film "Apollo 13." In one of the final scenes, Lovell appeared as a Navy captain, the rank he actually had. He and his family ran a now-closed restaurant in suburban Chicago, Lovell's of Lake Forest. His wife, Marilynn, died in 2023. Survivors include four children. In a statement, his family hailed him as their hero. We will miss his unshakeable optimism, his sense of humor, and the way he made each of us feel we could do the impossible, his family said. He was truly one of a kind. ___ Babwin, the principal writer of this obituary, retired from The Associated Press in 2022. AP Science Writer Seth Borenstein contributed to this report. WASHINGTON A federal judge abused his authority in pursuing contempt proceedings against Trump administration officials over deportation flights carried out under the Alien Enemies Act, a federal appeals court ruled Friday. The three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit was split 2-1, with two Trump appointees in the majority and an Obama appointee dissenting. The decision overturns Washington-based Chief Judge James Boasbergs finding of probable cause that officials could be held in criminal contempt over flights that removed alleged gang members from the U.S. after Boasberg had ordered the Trump administration to halt the deportations. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Attorney General Pamela Bondi immediately posted on X, describing the decision as a "MAJOR victory" that will aid the Trump administration in carrying out its mass deportation plans. "We will continue fighting and WINNING in court for President Trumps agenda to keep America Safe!" she added. Lee Gelernt, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union representing plaintiffs who challenged the deportations, said in an email that even Justice Department lawyers knew the men should not be removed from the country. We will consider all options going forward but are disappointed in the ruling," he added. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement President Donald Trump and his allies have been particularly critical of Boasberg, previously widely respected in Washington, saying he should be impeached and filing a misconduct complaint against him. The administration has been heavily critical of other judges, too, and has faced similar claims of failing to comply with court orders. All three judges on Friday wrote separate opinions to explain their reasoning. The district courts order raises troubling questions about judicial control over core executive functions like the conduct of foreign policy and the prosecution of criminal offenses. And it implicates an unsettled issue whether the judiciary may impose criminal contempt for violating injunctions entered without jurisdiction," Judge Greg Katsas, one of the Trump appointees, wrote in his opinion. In her separate opinion, Judge Neomi Rao, the other Trump appointee, said Boasberg had no authority to pursue contempt findings because the Supreme Court had in April vacated his underlying ruling against the government. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement She described Boasbergs contempt order as especially egregious because it implicated senior government officials. His ruling also constituted an intrusion on the presidents foreign affairs authority, she added. Judge Nina Pillard, the Obama appointee, wrote in her dissent that government officials appear to have disobeyed Boasbergs order. Our system of courts cannot long endure if disappointed litigants defy court orders with impunity rather than legally challenge them. That is why willful disobedience of a court order is punishable as criminal contempt, she wrote. The underlying dispute concerns Trumps aggressive and unprecedented use of presidential power in invoking a rarely used 18th-century law called the Alien Enemies Act. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In March, Boasberg issued his first decision preventing the administration from deporting people the government claimed were members of the Tren de Aragua gang using the Alien Enemies Act. Critics immediately raised concerns about whether the administration had violated a verbal order from Boasberg in court that planes carrying alleged gang members turn around and return to the United States. Two flights subsequently landed in Honduras and El Salvador. On April 7, the Supreme Court then threw out Boasberg's original decision, saying he had followed the wrong legal process, although it made clear detainees are required to be given due process. Litigation on that point has continued in other courts. After that, Boasberg nevertheless moved forward with contempt proceedings, which is the only matter at issue in Friday's appeals court decision. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The case had been paused for months, leading to complaints from Democrats that the court was inappropriately delaying action on the case in part because a key figure, then-Justice Department official Emil Bove, was under consideration by the Senate for a position as a judge on the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Bove was narrowly confirmed on July 29. During that process, whistleblowers claimed Bove had told Justice Department colleagues that the government may have to defy court orders in order to carry out its deportation plans. The Justice Department denied that Bove committed any wrongdoing. This article was originally published on NBCNews.com A divided federal appeals court panel has thrown out U.S. District Judge James Boasbergs bid to pursue criminal contempt for Trump administration officials he says defied his orders in March by sending 130 Venezuelan men to a prison in El Salvador. The ruling can be appealed further. If it remains in place, it appears to sharply diminish but not completely rule out the possibility that lawyers or other officials in the administration could face contempt charges over their conduct during the high-profile deportation showdown. In the2-1 decision Friday, D.C. Circuit Judges Gregory Katsas and Neomi Rao both Trump appointees overturned an order Boasberg issued in April initiating the potential contempt proceedings. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The episode began when President Donald Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act, a rarely used wartime authority, to deport the Venezuelan immigrants to a notorious Salvadoran prison with just a few hours notice. When a handful of the men sued to block the deportations, Boasberg hastily convened a March 15 hearing and tried to halt them, saying they appeared to violate due process. He ordered Justice Department lawyers to ensure that deportees who had already been loaded onto airplanes were not transferred out of U.S. custody. The administration nevertheless continued the deportations, deplaning the men before a bank of TV cameras that captured them being forcibly transferred to Salvadoran officials. A month later, Boasberg found probable cause to hold the administration in contempt. The administration filed an unusual type of emergency appeal, arguing it had not defied Boasberg because his oral orders were not legally binding and he lacked authority over the planes once they left U.S. airspace. The D.C. Circuit panel quickly paused Boasbergs contempt-related order while the judges considered the administrations appeal. And on Friday, the panel issued its formal ruling on the matter. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement While both Katsas and Rao voted to vacate the contempt-related order, they disagreed about how far to go in limiting Boasbergs future options. Katsas wrote in a solo opinion that he wanted to rule out any further criminal contempt proceedings stemming from the El Salvador deportations. Rao, by contrast, wrote her own solo opinion stopping short of foreclosing that possibility. The third member of the appeals panel, Judge Cornelia Pillard, an Obama appointee, dissented. She said the majoritys ruling was legally unjustified and a grave disservice to Boasberg. The full 11-member bench of the D.C. Circuit which has seven Democratic appointees and four Republican appointees could reconsider the panels ruling and revive Boasbergs contempt proceedings. Lawyers for the deported men, who have since been moved to Venezuela as part of a prisoner swap brokered by the Trump administration, could also take the issue to the Supreme Court. Advocates for the deportees rejected the panels decision as misguided but didnt immediately indicate whether they would appeal. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We strongly disagree with the ruling and are considering all options going forward, ACLU Attorney Lee Gelernt said. The opinion brushes aside the considerable evidence that has emerged that DOJs lawyers understood the order at the time and simply ignored it. Katsas adopted a key Trump administration argument in the dispute: that ambiguity in Boasbergs directives left it unclear whether he intended to block the Trump administration from deporting only the men who remained on the U.S. mainland or whether it also applied to those who had left U.S. airspace at the time he issued the order. And Katsas said Boasbergs contempt bid would provoke many grave conflicts between the Judicial Branch and the Executive Branch at its highest levels. The government is plainly correct about the merits of the criminal contempt, and our saying so now would prevent long disputes between the Executive and the Judiciary over difficult, contentious issues regarding the courts power to control foreign policy or prosecutions, wrote Katsas, who was a deputy White House counsel during Trumps first term. Rao said Boasbergs contempt order improperly intruded on the executive branchs foreign policy powers and amounted to an attempt to strongarm the government into affording the deportees relief theyre not legally entitled to. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Dangling this sword of Damocles to compel the Executive to exercise its foreign affairs powers exceeds the courts authority and is an abuse of discretion, she wrote. What a court lacks the power to do directly, it cannot accomplish indirectly. Both Katsas and Rao noted that the Supreme Court ultimately rejected Boasbergs original order, which they said eliminated his power to try to coerce the government into complying with it. If the lawyers for the deportees appeal the panels ruling, theyre likely to draw inspiration from Pillards blistering dissent, which argued that Boasbergs effort to pursue criminal contempt proceedings was more than justified by the Trump administrations apparent defiance of his order. Our system of courts cannot long endure if disappointed litigants defy court orders with impunity rather than legally challenge them, Pillard wrote. That is why willful disobedience of a court order is punishable as criminal contempt. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Pillard also said her colleagues ruling amounted to a slap in the face to Boasberg, an Obama appointee who became the D.C. District Courts chief judge in 2023. Chief Judge Boasberg faced immense pressure to make a quick decision in a rapidly evolving, high-stakes situation. He performed that task calmly and with an even hand, Pillard wrote. Even when faced with what reasonably appeared to him to be footdragging, evasion, and outright disregard for his jurisdiction and his orders, he responded with unfailing composure, she continued. The majority does an exemplary judge a grave disservice by overstepping its bounds to upend his effort to vindicate the judicial authority that is our shared trust. In a related development, another three-judge D.C. Circuit panel ruled Friday to end Boasbergs effort to continue to seek due process for the men deported to El Salvador. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Citing the recent deal by Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele to transfer them to Venezuela , the panel found those events had overtaken Boasbergs original order. It sent the matter back to him to reconsider his ruling in light of the development. That appeals panel included Katsas and Rao along with Trumps only other appointee to the D.C. Circuit, Justin Walker. Washington A divided federal appeals court on Friday granted the Trump administration's request to set aside a district judge's decision finding probable cause that some federal officials committed criminal contempt by violating an order to turn around planes carrying Venezuelan migrants bound for El Salvador. The 2-1 decision from a panel of judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is a massive victory for the Trump administration, which has lambasted U.S. District Judge James Boasberg for overstepping his authority when he initiated criminal contempt proceedings in April. The D.C. Circuit had issued a temporary pause of Boasberg's decision while it took more time to consider the issue. In an unsigned opinion issued Friday, Judges Gregory Katsas and Neomi Rao, both appointed by President Trump in his first term, granted a request from the Justice Department to toss out Boasberg's contempt order. Judge Cornelia Pillard, an Obama appointee, dissented. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Alien Enemies Act case The dispute over Boasberg's contempt order stems from immigration officials' efforts to deport Venezuelan migrants under the wartime Alien Enemies Act, which President Trump invoked in March to swiftly remove alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. In response to a fast-moving legal challenge brought by a group of migrants in Washington, D.C., over the removals, Boasberg temporarily blocked the deportations and issued an oral order directing the Trump administration to return Venezuelan migrants subject to Mr. Trump's declaration who were on planes bound for El Salvador back to the U.S. A written order issued shortly after prevented the Trump administration from conducting any deportations of noncitizens under the Alien Enemies Act. But Boasberg said that despite his injunctions, the Trump administration did not stop the removals, and the planes carrying the migrants deported under the Alien Enemies Act landed in El Salvador. The planes were already outside U.S. airspace when Boasberg issued his order blocking U.S. officials from "removing" the detainees, a fact that the appeals court noted in ruling for the administration. Most of the people were transferred to El Salvador's notorious supermax prison, the Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The administration's actions raised questions as to whether it had violated Boasberg's order, and the judge in April ruled that probable cause existed to find government officials in criminal contempt over what he was their defiance. Boasberg said the government's actions demonstrated a "willful disregard" for his order. "The court does not reach such conclusion lightly or hastily; indeed, it has given defendants ample opportunity to rectify or explain their actions. None of their responses has been satisfactory," Boasberg wrote in his decision. He said the Trump administration could remedy his contempt findings by asserting custody over the migrants who were removed in violation of his order, so they can assert their right to challenge their removability. The Trump administration appealed Boasberg's contempt finding and asked the D.C. Circuit to vacate the decision, which it then agreed to do. In a concurring opinion on Friday, Katsas wrote that the dispute over the removal of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador in March "involves an extraordinary, ongoing confrontation between the Executive and Judicial Branches." He noted that the proceedings do not involve the lawfulness of removals made under the Alien Enemies Act in March, and said the court may not decide at this time "whether the government's aggressive implementation of the presidential proclamation warrants praise or criticism as a policy matter." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Still, Katsas wrote that a decision in favor of the Trump administration is appropriate because "the government is plainly correct about the merits of the criminal contempt, and our saying so now would prevent long disputes between the Executive and the Judiciary over difficult, contentious issues regarding the courts' power to control foreign policy or prosecutions, or to impose criminal sanctions for violating injunctions entered without jurisdiction." "In circumstances much less fraught than these, courts have reviewed interlocutory orders through mandamus to prevent extended inter-branch conflict," Katsas said. He wrote that Boasberg's contempt finding "raises troubling questions about judicial control over core executive functions like the conduct of foreign policy and the prosecution of criminal offenses." In her dissent, Pillard argued that Boasberg's contempt findings were appropriate, and said the majority's decision to throw out the contempt findings was "in error." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Our system of courts cannot long endure if disappointed litigants defy court orders with impunity rather than legally challenge them. That is why willful disobedience of a court order is punishable as criminal contempt," Pillar wrote. "When it appears that a judicial order has been disobeyed, the court's ability to learn who was responsible is the first step to accountability." ACLU attorney Lee Gelernt, the lead counsel for the plaintiffs in the Alien Enemies Act cases, said in a statement: "We strongly disagree with today's decision regarding contempt and are considering all options going forward. Even DOJ's own lawyers have now stated publicly that they understood that they were not supposed to hand over these men to El Salvador. There was zero ambiguity in the moment." Since Boasberg's findings and the appeals court's stay of his order, 252 Venezuelans who were deported from the U.S. to CECOT were sent from El Salvador back to their home country as part of a prisoner swap involving the U.S. Tensions between the Trump administration and the federal judiciary have escalated across Mr. Trump's second term, as judges have issued decisions blocking implementation of many aspects of the president's agenda. But the clash between Boasberg and the president has been one of the most fierce, and the judge's contempt finding marked the most direct rebuke of the administration so far. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Mr. Trump has called for Congress to impeach Boasberg, and the Justice Department filed a judicial misconduct complaint against the judge over comments he allegedly made at a closed-door meeting of the Judicial Conference in March. Global stock markets react to Trump's sweeping tariffs in effect now Israel's Security Cabinet approves plan to take over Gaza City Why Trump is calling for Intel CEO's immediate resignation WASHINGTON (AP) Appeals court tosses judge's contempt finding against Trump administration in deportations to El Salvador prison. By Qabil Ashirov Economic Minister Mikayil Jabbarov has reported on discussions aimed at implementing tools to support the expansion of trade relations between Azerbaijan and the United States, Azernews reports, citing a post shared by the Minister on his X account. According to the post, during President Ilham Aliyevs recent working visit to the U.S., Jabbarov, alongside Rovshan Najaf, President of the State Oil Company of Azerbaijan Republic (SOCAR), met with a delegation led by Dan Negrea, President and Chief Advisor of the U.S. Export-Import Bank (EXIM Bank). The parties highlighted Azerbaijans achievements in sustainable economic development and diversification. They emphasized new opportunities arising from the growth of high value-added sectors and the strengthening of relations with foreign partners. Discussions focused on the potential implementation of instruments to support the expansion of trade between Azerbaijan and the U.S., as well as future steps to deepen bilateral cooperation. (Reuters) -Waste management company GFL Environmental on Thursday announced a deal with funds managed by Energy Capital Partners to recapitalize its construction subsidiary, Green Infrastructure Partners (GIP), at an enterprise value of $4.25 billion. GIP will receive gross proceeds of $775 million, of which it will return $585 million to its shareholders and use $175 million to fund future growth, the Canadian company said. GFL will receive $200 million of the distributed amount and will own a near 30.1% interest in GIP valued at about $895 million, the company said. The deal allows GFL to partially monetize its investment in GIP, which it co-founded in 2022 alongside HPS Investment Partners and Patrick Dovigi, GFL's CEO. HPS and Dovigi will continue to hold a minority stake in GIP. GIP was spun off in 2022 with GFL retaining a 45% ownership stake. It was primarily controlled by HPS, which owned 47% of the company, while the remaining 8% was held by companies linked to Dovigi. The unit provides services such as road building, paving, and site development, and has benefited from a series of acquisitions and growing demand for civil infrastructure services. It operates separately from GFL's core solid waste and environmental business. During GFL's first-quarter earnings call in May, it told analysts it was exploring a "potential partial sale" of GIP. Despite being one of North America's largest waste management players, GFL's debt-fueled expansion has raised investor concerns, leading to a strategic review and the sale of underperforming assets. In January, GFL completed a $5.6 billion sale of its environmental services division to investment firms Apollo and BC Partners. (Reporting by Abhinav Parmar and Apratim Sarkar in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva and Shailesh Kuber) An appellate court could issue a ruling Friday on where the most serious police misconduct cases can be heard behind closed doors. The City of Chicago and the police union have been fighting over if they should be private or not for years. The city says its transparency is crucial in these cases. The union says the collective bargaining agreement gives officers the right for their cases to be heard out of the publics spotlight. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Back in March a Cook County judge ruled officers accused of serious misconduct could have their cases handled in arbitration instead of going in front of the police board but those hearings had to be done in public. The city says public hearings are critical in giving the hearings legitimacy. The union appealed arguing under the CBA those officer must be allowed private arbitrations. The sun times is reporting the appellate court could rule today on the case. The city council voted down the unions attempts to keep the hearings closed three times before the union filed its lawsuit. Regardless of the ruling the case could be appealed immediately to the state supreme court. 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. Apple will invest $2.5 billion to expand it's glass production in Kentucky for iPhones and Apple Watches. (Getty Images) Apple announced Wednesday it would spend $2.5 billion to fund the expansion of glass manufacturing for iPhones with Corning, a Harrodsburg-based company. Apple said the glass for all iPhones and Apple Watches would be made at the Corning facility. Apple CEO Tim Cook joined President Donald Trump in sharing the news Wednesday at the White House. Apple plans to spend $600 billion on U.S. companies and suppliers over the next four years. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Kentucky Republicans were quick to boost the news. State Sen. Amanda Mays Bledsoe, who represents the district that includes Corning, called it a major win for Kentucky and a proud moment for Harrodsburg. Mays Bledsoe called the news evidence that Kentucky is earning a place in advanced manufacturing and technology. Its a seed of growth toward a future where Kentucky leads on the world stage, she said, adding that our workers and communities are becoming a core part of a thriving ecosystem of innovation and opportunity. The top GOP candidates in Kentuckys U.S. Senate race also praised the move, crediting Trump with the expansion. The three former Attorney General Daniel Cameron, U.S. Rep. Andy Barr and businessman Nate Morris have been vying for the presidents endorsement. Cameron said on X Trump talked about bringing jobs back, and hes doing it right here in Kentucky, calling it a win for Kentucky workers thanks to America First policies! Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Barr, whose congressional district includes Harrodsburg, said in a statement the expansion was possible because of incentives for domestic manufacturing in the GOP megabill that Trump signed into law last month. Barr added, we are Making Manufacturing American Again! Morris warned Kentuckians to not let anyone else take the credit for these new jobs coming to Kentucky but the president. Its also a good reminder that RINOs who have openly attacked Trumps tariffs over the years, like Andy Barr and his mentor Mitch McConnell, couldnt have been more wrong, Morris said. On the campaign trail, Morris has been openly critical of the outgoing senator and has tied his opponents closer to McConnell. Kentuckys highest ranking Democrat, Gov. Andy Beshear, said during his Thursday press conference that the total number of new jobs is not yet known, but called Apples announcement a huge investment. He said the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development has been working with Corning for the past few months. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Apples substantial commitment is a major win for Mercer County and for the Commonwealth, Beshear said. I want to personally congratulate everyone in Harrodsburg, in Mercer County and the surrounding region who will benefit from the continued growth of this longstanding Kentucky company. Corning has been in Kentucky for more than 70 years and has more than 400 employees. Photo by Jim Small | Arizona Mirror Using the signature-counting formula to double-count invalid signatures when determining whether a citizen initiative qualifies for the ballot is unconstitutional, the states Supreme Court concluded this week, in an opinion explaining a ruling it made nearly a year ago. At the center of that opinion was a legal challenge that aimed to kick last years Proposition 140, also known as the Make Elections Fair Act, off the 2024 ballot. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In order to put a question on the ballot asking voters to amend the state constitution, Arizona requires valid signatures equal to 15% of the number of votes cast in the last governors election, giving Make Elections Fair a threshold of 383,923 signatures. The campaign collected more than 580,000 signatures, but as with all such petitions, a chunk of them were thrown out as duplicates or from people who werent registered voters. If the voters favored it, the constitutional amendment would have done away with partisan primary elections, allowing all registered voters to choose from all the candidates in the primary, regardless of their party affiliation. The top vote-getters would then advance to the general election, even if they didnt represent different parties. Make Elections Fair, which aimed to quash extreme divisiveness in the states elections, had detractors from both sides of the aisle. Opponents of Prop. 140, including the Arizona Free Enterprise Club, claimed that the Make Elections Fair campaign failed to collect enough valid signatures to reach the 15% threshold. But a trial judge and the Arizona Supreme Court both found that, as it was applied in the Free Enterprise Clubs challenge to Prop. 140, the mathematical formula that Arizona uses to determine the number of qualified signatures violated both the state and U.S. constitutions. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Arizona voters ultimately rejected the proposition by about 18 percentage points, a month after the states high court issued its initial, expedited ruling on the case on Oct. 4, 2024. The man behind the Make Elections Fair Act campaign, political consultant Chuck Coughlin, told the Arizona Mirror that even though the courts allowed the proposition to proceed to the ballot, the court challenge that ended only a month before Election Day doomed the campaign. Our opponents achieved their objective, Coughlin said. It was great to win (in court), but regrettable that we lost our ability to campaign. With resources tied up in court until just 30 days before the Nov. 5 election, Coughlin said he couldnt justify spending donor money on campaigning, or asking for more donations, until it was clear that Prop. 140 would make it on the ballot and that votes for it would be counted. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Scot Mussi, president of the Free Enterprise Club, told the Mirror via email that he stands behind the clubs comments made after the initial ruling last year, in which he claimed that Prop. 140 lacked the minimum number to qualify for the ballot to even be considered by voters in November. But Arizonas Supreme Court unanimously disagreed. The opinion released Aug. 6, explaining the case law and reasoning behind the courts Oct. 4, 2024 decision was authored by Vice Chief Justice John Lopez. Lopez wrote that the way the statutory mathematical formula was applied in this case required the Secretary of State to double-count some invalid signatures, increasing the qualification threshold from 15% to 15.2%. The founders of the Arizona Constitution deliberately selected a 15% signature threshold to qualify initiatives for the ballot nothing more, nothing less, Lopez wrote. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In a brief supporting the disqualification of Prop. 140 from the ballot last year, Arizonas Senate President Warren Petersen and then-Speaker of the House of Representatives Ben Toma, both Republicans, told the court that the fraction-of-a-percentage-point difference was so small that it didnt matter. The justices disagreed. The increase is not insignificant it is dispositive, Lopez wrote. The high court pointed out that, in this case specifically, with a razor-thin margin between making the ballot and failing to do so, the double counting would have disqualified Prop. 140 from the ballot. The justices also said that they could not so readily dismiss a requirement laid out so clearly in the Arizona Constitution. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The 15% threshold is a fixed point that neither this Court nor the legislature can increase, even incrementally, Lopez wrote. The justices acknowledged that, in most initiative signature challenge cases, which are all subject to the same mathematical formula used in this case, the modest increase in required signatures makes no impact on the outcome. But in close cases, as here, the statutes double counting may operate to improperly disqualify an initiative from the ballot by effectively increasing the 15% signature requirement, Lopez wrote. We defer to the legislature to decide whether to reconsider the statutory signature validation formula in light of its potential to violate the Arizona and United States Constitutions in closely contested initiative signature challenges. Petersen did not respond to a request for comment on the Supreme Courts opinion, or to a question about whether the legislature would plan to take action next year to bring the signature formula in line with the state and U.S. constitutions. We have not made any decisions about whether or not additional legislative action will be taken, Mussi told the Mirror in an Aug. 7 email. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE The Brief Arlington ISD has approved a new policy, "Away for the Day," that bans students from using personal electronic devices during school hours. The policy, which includes phones, smartwatches, and tablets, aligns with the new Texas House Bill 1481 that prohibits the use of personal communication devices in schools. Violations of the new rule will result in a tiered disciplinary system, with penalties ranging from device confiscation to in-school suspension and loss of the right to have a device on campus. ARLINGTON, Texas - Arlington ISD announced its new cell phone policy tonight after approval from the Board of Trustees. The new policy aligns with a new Texas education law (HB1481) that prohibits students from using telecommunications devices during the school day. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Away for the Day is the name of the personal communication device policy. Away for the Day means that students' personal devices, including cell phones, tablets, text-messaging devices, smartwatches, and similar electronics not issued by Arlington ISD, must be powered off and out of sight during all parts of the school day. This includes during transition periods, lunch, and restroom breaks. What they're saying Arlington ISD lists the discipline enforecment when a student is caught breaking the rules for the new Away for the Day policy. First Offense After a student's first offense, Arlington teachers or administration are to confiscate the device, contact a parent and review consequences for additional infractions. The student may then retrieve the device from the office at the end of the school day. Second Offense After a student's second offense, Arlington teachers or administration are to confiscate the device, contact a parent and review consequences for additional infractions. Then the parent may then retrieve the device from the office at the end of the school day. Third Offense After a student's third offense, students will receive in-school suspension. Arlington teachers or administration are to confiscate the device, then have a parent/administration meeting to review the consequences of an additional infraction. The parent may then retrieve the device from the office at the end of the school day. Fourth Offense After a student's fourth offense, the student will be assigned to the CHOICES alternative education program, and Arlington teachers or administration are to confiscate the device, then have a parent/administration meeting to review the consequences of an additional infraction. The parent may then retrieve the device from the office at the end of the school day, but the student loses the privilege to have any personal device on campus. HB 1481 Big picture view Texas House Bill 1481 is a state law that requires all public school districts and open-enrollment charter schools to adopt a policy prohibiting the use of personal communication devices by students during the school day while on school property. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The law defines personal wireless communication devices as any electronic communication device capable of sending or receiving data that is not provided by the school for instructional purposes. The Source Information in this article was provided by Arlington ISD. Additional information was provided by aisd.net US President Donald Trump plans to host a "peace summit" between long-time adversaries Armenia and Azerbaijan at the White House on Friday. Trump announced the meeting on his Truth Social platform on Thursday, saying Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan would attend. Senior US government officials said the two leaders would sign a joint declaration on building a trade route through southern Armenia, to be named the "Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity" (TRIPP). Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The route would give Azerbaijan unimpeded access to its autonomous exclave of Nakhchivan. The exclave is cut off from the heartland of Azerbaijan - it is surrounded by Armenia, Iran and Turkey. Although the new trade route runs through Armenia, the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity are to be preserved, the officials said, adding that negotiations would begin next week. The proposed route, which Washington envisions as part of a wider peace treaty, is intended to boost trade, transit and energy transport in the South Caucasus. It revives the long-debated idea of the so-called Zangezur Corridor, which has been a source of geopolitical tension for years, cutting across Armenian territory and potentially disrupting Irans direct land link to Armenia. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement US officials said safeguards would be in place to ensure conflict-free use of the road. For Russia, long seen as Armenias protector but now absorbed in its war in Ukraine, analysts describe Trumps initiative as a strategic defeat. Kremlin-linked political scientist Sergei Markov called it "a major victory for the US and personally for Trump," and a loss for both Russia and Iran. France and the European Union, he said, would also have preferred to broker such a deal themselves. Tensions between Armenia and Azerbaijan remain high. The Christian-majority Armenia and Muslim-majority Azerbaijan have fought for decades over Nagorno-Karabakh, a majority-Armenian enclave inside Azerbaijan. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Armenia occupied large parts of its neighbour in the 1990s, but Azerbaijan, buoyed by oil wealth, regained territory in 2020 and recaptured Nagorno-Karabakh in a lightning 2023 offensive. The defeat plunged Armenia into political crisis, with more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians fleeing to Armenia and Baku continuing to exert military pressure. Trump said the US would also sign bilateral agreements with both countries to expand economic opportunities and "fully unlock the potential of the South Caucasus Region," adding that many leaders had tried and failed to end the conflict "until now, thanks to TRUMP." A suspect has been arrested after a man broke into the homes of two elderly women and performed sexual acts on himself. The man first targeted one of the homes in Horwich, Bolton, at about 22:00 BST on 20 July before returning to the property multiple times throughout the night. Greater Manchester Police said he broke into a second home days later on 26 July at about 03:00. The suspect was arrested on suspicion of trespass with intent to commit a sexual offence and has been bailed pending further enquiries. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement PC Chanel Aspinall said the force was taking these concerning reports extremely seriously. "People deserve to be safe in their own homes and we will act against anyone who is targeting vulnerable people to commit crimes," she added. Listen to the best of BBC Radio Manchester on Sounds and follow BBC Manchester on Facebook, X, and Instagram. You can also send story ideas via Whatsapp to 0808 100 2230. Related internet links Aug. 7Inland Northwest residents can watch U.S. Army colonel and NASA astronaut Anne McClain return to Earth on Saturday, as long as her undocking from the International Space Station is not postponed again. NASA's SpaceX Crew-10 mission is coming to a close this weekend, five months after McClain and company launched to the floating laboratory aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule as part of the ongoing Commercial Crew Program, in which the space agency partners with commercial companies for crew rotations aboard the ISS. Joining McClain were fellow NASA astronaut Nichole Ayers, Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov and Takuya Onishi, an astronaut with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. Roscosmos is the Russian space agency. On Friday, McClain, Ayers, Peskov and Onishi will climb back into the same Dragon capsule that brought them to the space station for their more than 17-hour return trip. The crew is expected to undock from the station no earlier than 3:05 p.m. Pacific Time Friday and splash down off the coast of California around 8:30 a.m. Saturday. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement NASA plans to provide live coverage of the undocking, return flight and splashdown on their free streaming service NASA+, as well as a number of commercial streaming platforms. A complete guide on how to follow along from home can be found on the space agency's website. Crew-10 will be the first to land off the West Coast as part of the commercial crew program, after NASA and SpaceX officials moved the landing zone from off the coast of Florida to reduce the chance of debris falling over populated areas. The move took a "huge amount of work," said Steve Stich, manager of NASA's commercial crew program. "We had to establish new landing sites on the West Coast, new staging areas, look at the medical facilities, obtain support from other government agencies," including the Federal Aviation Administration, Stich said in a news conference days before Crew-10's March launch. In repositioning the landing zone to the West Coast, NASA and SpaceX officials also have cited better weather conditions and less risk of volatile storms delaying returns, as previously reported by The Spokesman-Review. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Crew-10's return originally was scheduled to occur Wednesday, then was pushed to Thursday due to weather. High winds at the splash down site in the Pacific led to another scrubbed undocking attempt Thursday. "Mission managers continue monitoring weather conditions in the area, as undocking of the SpaceX Dragon depends on spacecraft readiness, recovery team readiness, weather, sea states, and other factors," NASA said in a news release Thursday. Jim Lovell, the astronaut who commanded the Apollo 13 mission and became a symbol of courage and ingenuity, died Thursday at age 97, NASA announced. A veteran of four spaceflights, Lovells legacy spans his leadership in pioneering human space exploration and his role in safely navigating the near-tragic Apollo 13 mission back to Earth. Lovell, who passed away in Lake Forest, Illinois, was celebrated for his contributions to NASAs Gemini and Apollo programs. He was the command module pilot for Apollo 8 in 1968, the first mission to orbit the moon, marking a historic milestone in space exploration. He also flew on Gemini VII and Gemini XII and was part of the first crew to launch on the Saturn V rocket. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In 1970, Lovell commanded Apollo 13, a mission intended to land on the moon but was disrupted by an oxygen tank explosion thousands of miles from Earth. Alongside crewmates Fred Haise and Jack Swigert, Lovells calm leadership and quick thinking ensured their safe return, earning the mission the title of a successful failure. Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy praised Lovells resolve, stating, As commander of the Apollo 13 mission, his calm strength under pressure helped return the crew safely to Earth and demonstrated the quick thinking and innovation that informed future NASA missions. Duffy, in a statement released on Friday, reflected on Lovells impact: Jims character and steadfast courage helped our nation reach the Moon and turned a potential tragedy into a success from which we learned an enormous amount. We mourn his passing even as we celebrate his achievements. Lovells family shared their pride in his legacy, saying, We are enormously proud of his amazing life and career accomplishments, highlighted by his legendary leadership in pioneering human space flight. But, to all of us, he was Dad, Granddad, and the Leader of our family. Most importantly, he was our Hero. We will miss his unshakeable optimism, his sense of humor, and the way he made each of us feel we could do the impossible. He was truly one of a kind. Lovells life inspired millions, leaving an indelible mark on space exploration and those who knew him personally. NASA expressed its condolences, noting his role in forging a path to the moon and beyond, a journey that continues to shape the agencys mission today. Apollo astronaut Jim Lovell died six weeks before the movie about his rescue mission is set for re-release. NASA announced Lovell, the 97-year-old Gemini XII and Apollo astronaut, died Thursday, Aug. 7, in Lake Forest, Illinois. He served as the command module pilot for the Apollo 8 mission to the moon and, along with his crew, became the first to lift off on a Saturn V rocket and orbit the moon. During the nearly disastrous Apollo 13 mission more than 55 years ago, Lovell helped his crew return safely to Earth. Before reaching the lunar surface, their spacecraft encountered some serious trouble. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The spacefarers' perilous journey back to Earth was later recounted in "Apollo 13," a star-studded film released in 1995 whose title is the same as the now-infamous NASA mission. Academy Award winner Tom Hanks played Lovell in the Ron Howard film "Apollo 13." To mark the Academy Award-winning film's 30th anniversary, on July 24, Universal Pictures announced "Apollo 13" will head to IMAX theaters across the United States. The Sept. 19, 2025, IMAX premiere is meant to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the film's original June 30, 1995, theatrical release. Who was Jim Lovell? Apollo 13 brought the heroic story of Jim Lovell and the real Apollo 13 crew into the future. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Directed by Ron Howard and starring Tom Hanks, the late Bill Paxton and Kevin Bacon, "Apollo 13" the movie bills itself as "the dramatic true story" of how NASA engineers in Houston, Texas, worked with the three astronauts to get them home safely. NASA sends its condolences to the family of Capt. Jim Lovell, whose life and work inspired millions of people across the decades. Jims character and steadfast courage helped our nation reach the Moon and turned a potential tragedy into a success from which we learned an enormous amount," acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy said in a statement. "We mourn his passing even as we celebrate his achievements." Lovell was born in 1928 in Cleveland, Ohio and had flown in three space flights leading up to the Apollo 13 mission in 1970. What happened with Apollo 13? "Apollo 13" is inspired by the nearly disastrous April 1970 mission of the same name in which NASA's third planned mission to the moon had to be abandoned when an oxygen tank exploded on the service module. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement For the three astronauts selected for the mission Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise the critical mishap two days into the mission transformed the spaceflight into a life-or-death situation. Relying on backup life-support systems on the Apollo Lunar Module meant to transport them to the moon's surface from orbit, the astronauts used primitive methods of celestial navigation to make their way back to Earth. While in constant communication with flight controllers in Houston, Texas, the astronauts safely made a water landing April 17, 1970, in the South Pacific Ocean six days after launching from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. 'Apollo 13' partially filmed in Florida, premiered on Space Coast Ron Howard, who directed "Apollo 13," reportedly went to great effort to ensure the on-screen depiction of the mission was as accurate and realistic as possible. Lovell and NASA experts consulted on the film, which was even partially filmed at the Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island, Florida. What's more, two days before the film was widely released, it had a June 28, 1995 premiere on Florida's Space Coast, according to the website SpaceAgeChronicle. Haise and his wife, Mary, were both in attendance, as were many who were part of the Apollo 13 mission 25 years earlier. Who were the astronauts of NASA's Apollo 13 mission? A NASA picture shows astronaut Fred W. Haise, Jr. working inside the Apollo 13 lunar module after the explosion of the ship's oxygen tanks on April 13, 1970. The third Apollo crewed mission to the moon was cancelled due to an onboard explosion, forcing the crew to leave the command module and climb into the LEM (Lunar Exploration Module) before navigating their way back to Earth. Astronauts James A. Lovell, Jr., John L. Swigert and Fred W. Haise, Jr. were rescued in good condition after splashing down safely in the Pacific. The mission was under the command of Cleveland, Ohio, native Jim Lovell, then a veteran of three previous spaceflights who was first selected as a NASA astronaut in September 1962. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Jack Swigert, the command module pilot, had been selected as a NASA astronaut in 1966. Swigert, a native of Denver, Colorado, was a backup astronaut for the Apollo 13 mission and replaced astronaut Ken Mattingly, who was grounded after exposure to rubella. The third crew member of Apollo 13 was Biloxi, Mississippi native Fred Haise, the Lunar Module pilot who was part of the same astronaut class as Swigert. Haise, 91 is the remaining living crew member of Apollo 13. 'Apollo 13' 30th anniversary trailer 'Apollo 13' cast: Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton, Kevin Bacon star Actor Tom Hanks, star of the film 1995 "Apollo 13" appears in Los Angeles with director Ron Howard to mark the premiere of when the film previously hit IMAX theaters in 2002. "Apollo 13" features an ensemble cast portraying the mission's astronauts, their families and the NASA engineers who helped get them home. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Here's a look: Eric Lagatta is the Space Connect reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at elagatta@gannett.com This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Apollo 13 astronaut Jim Lovell dies. Tom Hanks film and NASA mission Astronaut Jim Lovell, best known as the commander of the near-tragic Apollo 13 mission to the moon, died Thursday in Illinois. He was 97. Lovell was a veteran of four spaceflights: Gemini VII, Gemini XII, Apollo 8 and Apollo 13. In a statement released Friday, the Lovell family highlighted his amazing life and career accomplishments and his legendary leadership in pioneering human space flight. But, to all of us, he was Dad, Granddad, and the Leader of our family. Most importantly, he was our Hero, the family said in its statement. We will miss his unshakeable optimism, his sense of humor, and the way he made each of us feel we could do the impossible. He was truly one of a kind. We are saddened by the passing of Jim Lovell, commander of Apollo 13 and a four-time spaceflight veteran. Lovell's life and work inspired millions. His courage under pressure helped forge our path to the Moon and beyonda journey that continues today. https://t.co/AjT8qmxsZI pic.twitter.com/jBlxzgrmSk NASA (@NASA) August 8, 2025 Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy said in a news release: NASA sends its condolences to the family of Capt. Jim Lovell, whose life and work inspired millions of people across the decades. Jims character and steadfast courage helped our nation reach the Moon and turned a potential tragedy into a success from which we learned an enormous amount. We mourn his passing even as we celebrate his achievements. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Lovell was selected to join NASA in 1962 as part of the agencys second round of astronauts a group that included Neil Armstrong, Charles Pete Conrad, John Young and others that were nicknamed the Next Nine. Lovells first two spaceflights, Gemini VII and Gemini XII, were designed to demonstrate how humans could live in weightlessness and to test rendezvous and docking technologies that would be essential for subsequent space station operations. Lovell next circled the moon on the Apollo 8 mission in 1968, but it was his fourth and final spaceflight that brought him the most fame. The Apollo 8 lunar orbit mission astronauts from left: James A. Lovell Jr., command module pilot; William A. Anders, lunar module pilot; and Frank Borman, commander at the Kennedy Space Center. (NASA) Apollo 13 launched into space on April 11, 1970, on a mission that was intended to be NASAs third moon landing. But 55 hours, 55 minutes and 4 seconds into the flight, disaster struck. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement One of the spacecrafts oxygen tanks exploded, causing another to fail as Lovell and his two crew members, John Jack Swigert and Fred Haise, were about 200,000 miles from Earth. It was Swigert who initially radioed the infamous message to NASAs Mission Control: OK, Houston, weve had a problem here. When asked to repeat, Lovell followed up: Houston, weve had a problem. Weve had a Main B Bus Undervolt. Over the next three days, NASA engineers and mission controllers executed a harrowing rescue that was lauded as one of the agencys finest achievements. The explosion crippled the command module, and the astronauts faced an extreme shortage of water and electrical power, along with dangerously high levels of carbon dioxide, according to NASA. After about six days in space, the Apollo 13 crew splashed down safely in the Pacific Ocean. The mission came to be known as a successful failure, one that demonstrated the ingenuity and tenacity of the agencys engineers and astronauts. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Lovell won praise for his steady leadership throughout the flight. As commander of the Apollo 13 mission, his calm strength under pressure helped return the crew safely to Earth and demonstrated the quick thinking and innovation that informed future NASA missions, Duffy said in the statement. The mission had receded into history until 1995 when Lovell was portrayed by Tom Hanks in Apollo 13, a movie that captured the danger and drama of the mission. The movie would make Lovells name among the most recognizable of astronauts, arguably only behind Armstrong and John Glenn. Hanks posted to Instagram Friday offering a parting message for Lovell. Lovell was born March 25, 1928, in Cleveland. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1952 and went on to log more than 7,000 hours of flying time. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Over the course of four spaceflights, Lovell spent 715 hours in orbit, according to NASA. He retired from the agency in 1973. In a 2020 interview with the TODAY show, Lovell reflected on the milestones of his life as an aviator and astronaut. I think Im very fortunate, he said. I think that Ive lived a life that if I had a chance to live all over again, even though if I knew what the consequences would be and the chance of coming back, you know, were not unknown at the time ... I would do it. CORRECTION (Aug. 8, 2025, 6:30 p.m. ET): A previous version of this article misstated the year Jim Lovell graduated from the Naval Academy. It was 1952, not 1962. This article was originally published on NBCNews.com Arena International has announced the launch of the GlobalData Automotive Europe Conference 2025, set to take place on 15-16 October in Munich, the heart of Europes automotive and data innovation scene. With the theme Driving Automotive Innovation Through Data, this flagship event will unite global leaders across OEMs, Banks, Captives, Suppliers, Mobility Leaders, and AI pioneers to explore the data revolution reshaping the value chain across the automotive industry. As Europe pushes toward electrification, autonomous driving, and connected mobility, this two-day summit provides a vital platform for decision-makers to share strategies, case studies, and breakthrough technologies driving the future of mobility and the future value of the asset. Among the key megatrends being addressed are electrification tech and new mobility business models. The program will include a session on battery sector developments that will include insights into battery cost trends and key supply chain developments. There will also be a look at GlobalDatas latest global electric vehicle (EV) market forecasts. Speakers at the event will include: Christoph Kohler, Manager Mobility Services, Porsche AG Yong Wang, Head of EU Power Swap Product Management, NIO Sam Adham, Head of Battery Materials, CRU Group Al Bedwell, Director, Global Powertrain, GlobalData Why Attend: Elite speaker lineup : Keynotes and panels featuring C-level executives from Europes leading OEMs, Captives, Consultancies, System Integrators and innovative startups, and regulatory bodies. Strategic networking : Connect with 200+ senior decision-makers from across the European automotive and technology landscape. Actionable insights : Real-world data use cases, EEV battery market and strategies for cross-border data collaboration. Sponsor opportunities: Showcase your solutions to an audience of budget-holders and digital transformation leads. Germany takes centre stage With Germany as the events focal market, thriving innovation ecosystem and proximity to Europes largest carmakers make it the ideal setting for this high-impact gathering. Supported by key German industry associations, the conference will drive direct engagement between established leaders and emerging disruptors. How to participate: Delegate registration is now open. Sponsorship packages are currently available for companies seeking high-visibility positioning within the European automotive network. For more information or to register, visit the official event website: https://www.arena-international.com/event/automotiveeurope Billionaires make it seem that we have all the tech we need to settle on the moon and Mars. But the hard part of living in space is adapting the human body to extraterrestrial conditions. Business Insider talked to astronauts and engineers about the complexities of space habitation. Pop stars are floating in zero-G while billionaires speak of building cities in space and on Mars. This is the wild reality we live in that's supposed to help pave the way for long-term space exploration and habitation. The hardest part of living in space, however, isn't rockets and robots it's the squishy human body. Until we can fix that or find a feasible workaround, life beyond Earth remains impossible. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement To understand just how much of a long shot life in space is, Business Insider spoke with astronauts, scientists, and medical professionals, and one guy who paid $30 million to join Russia's space program. Here's what they said. Only 757 people have made it to space and even fewer have stayed for very long. Cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov spent 437 days in space and looked like this when he landed. Pond5 One of the biggest problems of living in space or on another world is the unknown. We simply aren't certain of what it will do to the human body because no one has lived in space for longer than 14 months at a time, and only 757 people have ever entered space. What we do know, so far, is that it's not the healthiest way to live. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Common side effects of long-duration stays in microgravity include muscle and bone loss, decreased blood pressure, and blurred vision. While most of these return to normal once an astronaut is back on Earth, some effects of space radiation like an increased risk of cancer, cataracts, and damage to the central nervous system can be permanent. In all probability, the longer a person remains in space, the worse their health becomes. Even brief trips to other worlds like a return trip to Mars, would take two to three years, and "we just don't have a large enough data sample to understand how that would impact human biology," NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, who spent a US record of 371 consecutive days on the International Space Station, told BI. He said it took him six months to return to normal after experiencing "puffy head bird legs" syndrome astronaut slang to describe how the face puffs up and the legs grow thin as your bodily fluids react to microgravity in space. Another issue is location: There are only three feasible destinations and all of them suck. The moon is a few days' journey away. Mars is at least six months away. ChatGPT Low Earth orbit, or "LEO," is convenient, but it's getting crowded with over 9,000 metric tons of space junk, which raises the risk of a devastating collision that could kill everyone on board an orbital craft. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The moon is close but has no breathable air, hardly any atmosphere to protect against deadly space radiation, and nights there can last up to two Earth weeks. Mars has a thicker atmosphere than the moon, but it also lacks breathable air and has toxic dirt and harmful dust storms. "The single thing that differentiates the Earth from every other place in the solar system is that there is free oxygen in the atmosphere," said Mike Shara, astrophysicist at the American Museum of Natural History. "So we can go take a nice breath, and if you were to do that on essentially any other planet, you would die, almost instantly," he said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement There may be other planets outside our solar system more similar to Earth, but they're just too far away for current technology. "We're talking decades or at least a decade to get to the outer solar system. And 1,000, 2,000, or 10,000 years to get to the nearest star. Not practical," Shara told BI. Therefore, to survive anywhere beyond Earth, we need to build protective structures to live inside, which comes with its own challenges. Moon dust contains oxygen, silicon, and metals if we can figure out how to use them. ICON Many companies worldwide are exploring how to build livable complexes in space, and on the moon and Mars. Blue Origin and NASA, for example, want to 3D print structures and extract oxygen from lunar soil on the moon. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Meanwhile, SpaceX plans to transform Martian air into methane fuel to power colonies and rockets for return journeys to Earth. Space engineers call this ISRU: in-situ resource utilization. However, no one has proven ISRU works at scale in real life. "These are not unsolvable problems. The reason they haven't been solved yet is because it hasn't been tried," said Miguel Gurrea, a graduate student who published a paper in 2022 for the Mars Society outlining the weak points of SpaceX's proposed mission to Mars. Some space visionaries, including Jeff Bezos, say building on another, pre-existing world isn't the best idea. We should just build our own. An artist's concept of an O'Neill space colony, which could theoretically emulate Earth-like living conditions in space. Blue Origin Some space enthusiasts, including Jeff Bezos, believe the best option isn't the moon or Mars, but a massive rotating habitat built in free space an idea fleshed out in the '70s by particle physicist Gerard K. O'Neill. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Such a structure could generate artificial gravity through centrifugal force, but it would be the most ambitious and expensive construction project in human history, possibly taking centuries to realize. "Dr. O'Neill's idea was maybe the moon people will do their thing, and the Mars people will do their thing. But if you want to be able to freely go back and forth to the Earth, you need to be able to grow up in a simulated gravity field," said Rick Tumlinson, space activist and former student of O'Neill. Regardless of location, there's the serious problem that once you leave Earth's shield, space becomes a human flesh barbecue. This illustration shows a CME blasting off the Suns surface in the direction of Earth. NASA Astronauts on board the International Space Station absorb about 100x more radiation than people on Earth. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Moreover, a person on a 3.5-year round trip to Mars would be exposed to the equivalent of about 16,500 chest X-rays enough to cause cancer and other long-term health problems. And if you're in the wrong place at the wrong time, a single solar flare could kill your entire crew within hours. Astronauts should prepare to burrow underground and stay there to avoid deadly radiation on the surface of the moon or Mars. A conceptual space habitat buried under layers of rocks and dust. NASA The ground provides a natural barrier against radiation. Hence why many fallout shelters are underground. Similarly, astronauts on the moon or Mars should prepare to live underground like "moles or earthworms" to avoid radiation damage, said Dr. James Logan, a former NASA medical officer. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Meanwhile, our spacecraft to get between worlds may need to look more like meatballs. Spherical designs may be best for radiation shielding. Getty Images Logan says protecting astronauts from radiation might mean ditching long, slim ship designs. Instead? Dense, spherical craft that surround the crew with as much mass as possible. For example, some proposals place the crew's living quarters in the center of a sphere of liquid water that would absorb much of the space radiation, thus protecting the crew within. Then, there's the matter of food. Plants grown with human hair during an analog astronaut mission. Composite image: Michaela Musilova Even if we could build our own structures to safely live off-world, growing food to survive is another challenge entirely. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Astronauts grow plants on the ISS under LED lights, but it's not enough to survive on and they rely on food they bring with them from Earth, a luxury that would likely be impossible on Mars. While the moon and Mars have soil, it's nothing like Earth's. Martian soil, for example, contains many toxic compounds. So, you can't simply grow red planet potatoes like Matt Damon. You'd have to process the soil first, likely by flushing it with precious water to wash out the toxic compounds, using energy to bake it at high temperatures, or harnessing engineered bacteria to break the toxins down all before planting a single seed. There's also no 911 in space. Surgery in zero-G is possible, but complicated. University of Louisville In space, blood doesn't run; it pools in floating blobs. You can't use aerosol anesthetics because in microgravity, leaked gases don't rise or settle they just linger and spread throughout the cabin. So even a small leak could circulate through the air supply and accidentally sedate or impair the entire crew. Even anesthesia delivered via spinal injection may not flow right without gravity. And on Mars, an emergency signal could take 20 minutes to reach mission control on Earth. That makes surgery in space risky and deeply under-researched. "Most of that research is happening on parabolic flights on pigs," said Kelly Weinersmith, co-author of "A City On Mars," referring to planes that dive bomb to simulate zero-G. "So the answer to when we'll understand this problem better is when pigs fly." We once built a closed ecosystem on Earth and it nearly fell apart. Eight people; two years; one sealed dome. It nearly failed and that was on Earth. Getty Images In the early 90s, Biosphere 2 tested whether humans could live in a self-contained bubble. Built in the middle of the Arizona desert, it had sun, gravity, backup air and it still went haywire. Fast-growing microbes in the soil unexpectedly caused oxygen levels to dip and carbon dioxide levels to rise. Crops failed, and the crew split into factions. They made it the full two years inside the sealed ecosystem, but barely. And that was only eight people. Imagine thousands or millions of settlers on Mars. To be fair, NASA has run many self-contained experiments since the 90s including its HI-SEAS and CHAPEA Mars simulation missions that did not have the same issues as Biosphere 2. Nobody's had sex in space we think. Mammalian reproduction in space is untested and might not work at all. Getty Images Despite a few rodent experiments aboard the ISS, there's never been a successful mammal pregnancy in orbit. And no humans have "done the deed" up there yet, at least not officially. Moreover, trying to start a family off-planet could be unethical because we're unsure how space radiation would affect a growing fetus. It would be as unethical as if people had tried (they didn't) experimenting with human pregnancy in Chernobyl after the nuclear meltdown "just to see what happens," said Zach Weinersmith, co-author of "A City On Mars." Meanwhile, celebrities are already floating in space, albeit very temporarily, for fun. Suborbital tourism is booming if you've got the cash. Blue Origin Katy Perry, Star Trek actor William Shatner, and other ultra-wealthy passengers are already taking joyrides to space. Entrepreneur Nik Halik took a similar ride to suborbital space and spent $30 million of his own money to join Russia's space program. "I would gladly walk away, leave Earth, leave everything, and yeah, just be a colonist," said Halik, adding that his life goal is to walk on the moon or Mars. However, riding in a capsule for about 10 minutes, or becoming a backup cosmonaut, isn't the same as building a new civilization. For that, we need a lot more than flower selfies. This story was adapted from Business Insider's video series "The Limit." Watch the full video to see what it might really take to live in space. Read the original article on Business Insider Aug. 8 (UPI) -- Less than three months before general elections, Honduras' National Electoral Council, or CNE, faces unprecedented political, judicial and technical pressures that threaten to derail the process. The council's ability to ensure an orderly and reliable election has been called into question after a series of setbacks: a raid on its offices by the Public Ministry, delays in contracting the Preliminary Electoral Results Transmission System, or TREP, and errors in the voter registry. CNE President Cossette Lopez has denounced persistent interference and threats, while council member Ana Paola Hall submitted a conditional resignation over internal disputes. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Amid the crisis, the CNE reached an agreement Thursday after a two-week delay, resolving one of the main technical disputes -- use of the TREP. After intense negotiations, the CNE unanimously agreed to immediately and fully publish all tally sheets from the vote receiving boards on election night, followed the next day by a 100% visual verification in the presence of national and international observers. This week, the National Democratic Institute's Electoral Study and Accompaniment Mission visited Honduras. On Friday, it released a report warning about the negative impact of judicial intervention and interference by other institutions in electoral work, as well as the use of hate speech and attacks against journalists, social leaders and politicians -- particularly those targeting politically active women, including CNE members and candidates at all levels of office. The NDI identified five key challenges to ensuring election integrity: effective autonomy of electoral bodies, prevention of undue interference, reduction of polarization and premature fraud claims, prevention of electoral violence and easing tensions that affect civic space. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Among its recommendations, the NDI urged ensuring the independent participation of civil society and creating safe spaces for dialogue. It said Hondurans deserve credible, peaceful and inclusive elections, which require political, institutional and technical conditions that guarantee certainty, transparency and respect for the will of the voters. In a politically symbolic move, four of Honduras' five leading presidential candidates signed a pact Tuesday, Aug. 4, titled "Honduras First: A Promise That Is Demanded, a Duty That Is Fulfilled," promoted by the National Anti-Corruption Council. The public pledge -- focused on fighting corruption and impunity and promoting integrity in governance -- calls for, among other measures, creating an international commission against corruption and impunity, reactivating the extradition treaty with the United States, establishing a national public integrity system and implementing a nationwide transparency and anti-corruption strategy with an interagency approach. Signatories included Salvador Nasralla of the Liberal Party, Nasry Asfura of the National Party, Mario Rivera of the Christian Democratic Party and Nelson Avila of PINU-SD. Rixi Moncada, the ruling party's candidate and former finance minister under President Xiomara Castro, did not attend the signing. CHESAPEAKE, Va. (WAVY) A Chesapeake massage therapist appeared in court Thursday, facing a sexual assault charge tied to an alleged incident at a local spa. According to court documents, Ahmed Zejjari is accused of inappropriately touching a woman during a massage session at Hand & Stone Massage and Facial Spa in the Greenbrier area. Chesapeake massage therapist granted bond for sexual assault charges Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Paperwork shows the woman told police she went in for a birthday massage and that Zejjari, who introduced himself as Matt, manipulated the blanket to expose her and made skin-to-skin contact without her consent. Zejjaris defense attorney, George Yates, denies the allegation and says the womans claims are fabricated. These charges are made up, Yates said. Hes a 16-year therapist with no problems and a father of two. Its been devastating for him and his family. Yates also said Zejjari goes by Matt as a nickname. Zejjaris next court date is scheduled for Sept. 2, where a trial date could be set. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The alleged victim declined to comment when contacted by WAVY in April. 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. KANSAS CITY, Mo. An attorney is speaking out after a Family Dollar store collapsed last month in Kansas City, killing one person and injuring three others. Attorney Roderick C. White said his clients husband died when the roof of the store collapsed on July 27 on Broadway Boulevard near West 38th Street. Watch FOX4 News FREE on your streaming TV devices by downloading WDAF+ White filed a wrongful death lawsuit earlier this week in Jackson County Circuit Court on behalf of the wife of 69-year-old Larry Banks. Vicky Banks was married to Larry Banks for more than 45 years. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The lawsuit, filed against Family Dollar and the building owner, claims the defendants knew that the roof was at risk of collapsing and that the building was not structurally sound. The lawsuit also claims that the corner of the roof was visibly sagging for at least two days before the incident. FOX4 emailed the company for comment on Friday and is awaiting their response. Vicky Banks joined White during a news conference Friday morning at his law office on the Country Club Plaza. White said theyre seeking justice for her family as well as the community because they believe Family Dollar chose profits over people. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Businesses dont get to just stick their head in the sand and hope that their business are safe, White said. Because theyre inviting people in for their financial benefit, they have a responsibility to make it safe, and if they cant make it safe, to warn the community of known dangers. Online city records show that days before the collapse, someone contacted 311 to warn that the building appeared to be tilting. Video obtained by FOX4 from 2016 showed that a car crashed into the same Family Dollar building. The crash knocked out a pillar near the entrance. A separate lawsuit was filed last week by a woman who was hurt in the collapse. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As of Friday, court dates have not yet been set in either lawsuit, and attorneys have not been listed for the company and the building owner. Meanwhile, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating 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. MEMPHIS, Tenn. WREG Investigators uncovered new audio that has suspected mass murderer Austin Drummond defending himself as to why he had a weapon behind bars and used it in a fight years before he was arrested for the murder of four people last week. The audio was recorded on July 23, 2020 when Austin Drummond went before the Tennessee Board of Parole. Austin Drummond held in jail without bond; state seeks death penalty Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Hed been serving a 13-year sentence at a state prison in Lake County. Drummonds disciplinary infractions from the previous year were discussed during the hearing. Looks like you have some pending [charges] right now for drugs and a cell phone, said the parole board member. Those havent been handled yet, Drummond responded. Criminal background of Lake County homicide suspect On top of that, hed been in solitary confinement for 90 days for possession of a deadly weapon, an assault with that weapon, refusing a drug test, a security threat, and refusing to participate. Looks like youve had about 27 incidents total in total. Seven of them Class As. Seven Class Bs. Weve had threats, deadly weapons, violation of state law, threats, and etc. Does that sound right? the parole board member asked. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Yes sir. The assault and deadly weapon, it came after, it was self-defense. I was almost beat to death. Thats where that came from, Drummond said. The parole board records dont delve into Drummonds entire disciplinary record while in prison. Suspect identified in deaths of 4 people in West TN In 2023, photos reportedly posted to Drummonds Facebook page show him with premium liquor, streaming devices, video games and multiple phones. Drummond also picked up contraband, attempted murder, drug, and weapon charges during the end of his sentence. The parole board file confirmed hes a member of the Vice Lords gang, and he only finished the 10th grade. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He was tried as an adult after a video showed him at 17 years old in a gas station in Jackson pointing a pistol at a clerk. It was a BB Gun, Drummond told the parole board member. Honestly, I was on Xanax that night. I dont even remember doing it. He told the board he was using Xanax, alcohol, and marijuana around that time. Murder suspect Austin Drummond in custody after weeklong manhunt in TN by: Deja Davis, David Royer Then youve got 13 counts retaliation for past action. Tell me about this, asked the parole board member. Yes, sir. After my trial and after I was convicted, I was on the phone with my dad, and I made a comment I would be out soon, and I had the jury information, he said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Drummond confirmed he made threats to go after them. The district attorney in Jackson sent a letter opposing an early release, stating in part that Drummond has no desire for rehabilitation and is not capable of living among society. Drummonds stated as of 2020, he had only completed one program promoting pro-social behavior. He received his GED, but had not completed any vocational programs. Who is Austin Drummond? Records show Vice Lords tie, violent past The parole board voted unanimously against an early release. Drummond was on the run since July 29, when the bodies of James Wilson, 21, Adrianna Williams, 20, Cortney Rose, 38, and Braydon Williams, 15, were found along Carrington Road in Tiptonville. An infant who was related to the victims was also found safe in front of a house in Dyer County. The baby is safe and healthy, authorities said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Drummond was captured Tuesday. Hes now facing four counts of First Degree Murder, one count of Aggravated Kidnapping, four counts of Felon in Possession of a Firearm, and one count of Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Dangerous Felony. Drummond was in court Thursday. He was denied bond. To hear the full recording: WREG Investigators continue to dig deeper into this case and will keep you updated on what we find out. 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. Aug. 7RITZVILLE The Washington Auditor's Office is investigating allegations of financial irregularities at East Adams Rural Healthcare in Ritzville. "We have an active investigation of the hospital district," Adam Wilson, WSAO assistant director of communications, wrote in response to an email from the Columbia Basin Herald. "We are in the final stages of writing the report and expect to publish it in September. However, we are aware of new issues in the district that may require further investigation." Wilson said the auditor's office couldn't comment further due to the ongoing investigation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Hospital Chief Executive Officer Corey Fedie said the investigation is targeted at financial irregularities in the EARH Accounts Receivable Department. Fedie did not disclose the extent of the issue, but said a large amount of money is missing. "It's a significant sum," he said. "We found it and self-reported it to the state, and we're working very closely with (the auditor's office)." The financial issues were not a contributing factor for recent layoffs at the hospital, he said. About 12 people lost their jobs. Fedie said cuts were necessary to improve the hospital's bottom line. "We're one of the more distressed hospitals in the state," he said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The cuts helped stabilize the hospital's finances, which face strain not only because of the issues associated with the investigation, but also with Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement rates. "Our outlook looks balanced at the moment," Fedie said. What happens next is still to be determined. "The future is uncertain. It depends on reimbursement and operations," he said. "We definitely need some payor help." More than half of EARH patients use Medicare or Medicaid insurance, he said, and in many cases reimbursement of publicly funded insurance programs is less than the cost of providing the care. Ritzville hospital is a Critical Access facility, which has higher reimbursement rates. . Still, revenues lagged behind expenses, Fedie said, which required the hospital to make staffing cuts. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "You've got to control expenses if you're not being paid," he said. Hospital care is changing, with more medical procedures done on an outpatient basis, Fedie said, and EARH is unable to provide many of those procedures. That limits the hospital's income, he said. Nevertheless, the Ritzville hospital is still open and taking care of its patients, he said. "We're doing everything we can for survival," he said, and that requires difficult decisions. "We just have to restructure." SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) -We have settled into a very persistent weather pattern in the ArkLaTex where upper-level high pressure keeps temperatures hot and prevents any significant rain. It still appears that a strong tropical disturbance could threaten the Gulf in a few weeks. Tropical worries: No short-term changes since yesterday in the tropics. The National Hurricane Center continues to watch three tropical disturbances in the Atlantic. Tropical Storm Dexter has lost most of its tropical characteristics and continues to move away from the US. There is a small chance that a disturbance off the coast of the Carolinas will develop into a depression. A second disturbance out in the Atlantic has the best chance of developing. Neither of these systems will likely threaten the US coast. Long-range models are showing a series of disturbances coming off of Africa. Both the EURO and GFS show that one of these systems could threaten the Gulf in a few weeks. Above is a map showing the potential location of what could be a hurricane two weeks from today. There are still great differences in the models from run to run. Yesterday, both the GFS and the EURO had this system in the Atlantic. Last nights run of both had it in the Gulf. Todays run of the GFS is similar to yesterdays, while the EURO shows a Florida landfall with the system moving into the SE US. Given that both have been showing the presence of this system for the past several days, we probably will see it develop. The biggest question will end up being, where will it go. Stay tuned. Heat worries: Our biggest concern here at home in the next ten days will be the heat and humidity, with daytime temperatures settling into the mid to upper 90s. The heat index will be approaching 105 degrees. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Severe weather worries: Severe weather will likely not be an issue for the ArkLaTex. It appears that much of the area could stay dry from now through most of next week. If we have any worries, they wont appear until the last half of next week. Weather Worry Index for the next 10 days: 2 out of 10: Todays WWI for the next ten days will remain at 2 out of 10. Just remember how our August heat can sneak up on you. 10-Day Forecast for Shreveport Get daily forecasts and exclusive severe weather details on storms as they approach your area by downloading the Your Weather Authority app now available in the App Store and Google Play 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. SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australia has urged Israel "not to go down this path", after Prime Minister Netanyahu said Israel intended to take military control of Gaza. "Australia calls on Israel to not go down this path, which will only worsen the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said in a statement on Friday. Wong said permanent forced displacement was a violation of international law and repeated calls for a ceasefire, aid to flow unimpeded and for militant group Hamas to return the hostages taken in October 2023. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A two-state solution is the only pathway to secure an enduring peace a Palestinian state and the State of Israel, living side-by-side in peace and security within internationally-recognised borders, she added. Australia has not yet joined Western allies such as the U.K., Canada and France in announcing it would recognise Palestinian statehood but has said it would make a decision "at an appropriate time", while escalating its criticism of Israel's actions. Wong's comments come in response to Netanyahu saying Israel intended to take military control of all of Gaza during an interview with Fox News. He said Israel wanted to hand over the territory to Arab forces that would govern it, without elaborating on the governance arrangements or which Arab countries could be involved. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement After a security cabinet meeting on Friday, Netanyahu's office confirmed a plan to take over Gaza City had been approved. A statement said the Israeli Defence Forces would prepare to take control of Gaza City while providing humanitarian aid to the civilian population outside the combat zones. (Reporting by Christine Chen in Sydney; Editing by Kate Mayberry) WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) An Australian state lawmaker and convicted rapist, who is in jail awaiting his sentence, quit his seat Friday moments before a vote scheduled by his former colleagues to eject him. Gareth Ward, an independent member of parliament in New South Wales state, earlier refused to resign despite his July convictions by a jury for sex crimes against two young men. He failed in a legal bid Thursday to stop his peers taking rare action to expel him. Ward, 44, sexually assaulted a political staffer after a parliamentary event in 2015 and abused an 18-year-old at the politicians home in 2013. His sentencing on one count of sexual intercourse without consent and three counts of indecent assault is scheduled for September. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Jailed lawmaker tries to stop ouster vote In a bizarre and unusual episode for Australian politics, Ward refused to resign even after his bail was revoked last week following the convictions. He has said he plans to appeal and to keep his seat from jail in the meantime, prompting derision from his peers. If youre convicted of some of the most serious charges, sexual assault in New South Wales, you cant sit as a serving member of parliament drawing a parliamentary salary, state Premier Chris Minns told reporters Friday. How can you represent your community from behind bars in Cessnock? Ward on Monday launched a legal challenge to an expulsion vote planned for Tuesday. The bid was dismissed by an appeals court Thursday, allowing a new parliamentary vote against him to be scheduled. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Resignation comes as lawmakers readied to vote As lawmakers assembled to oust him from Parliament Friday morning a measure expected to draw cross-party support Ward wrote to the speaker of the house tendering his resignation. He would have been the first lawmaker to be expelled from the lower house of the state parliament in more than a century. Leader of the House Ron Hoenig told reporters it was shameful that Ward had taken so long to quit. I would have thought being a convicted rapist is enough infamy without going down in history as both a convicted rapist as well as the first person in a century to be expelled, Hoenig said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Expulsions from Australian legislatures are rare and only lawmakers in New South Wales and Victoria have ever exercised their powers to oust their peers by vote. The last lawmaker expelled from New South Wales lower house for unworthy conduct was in 1917. Constituents reelected Ward despite the charges Ward had held the seat of Kiama since 2011, first with the center-right Liberal Party and then as an independent after he quit the group when the charges against him emerged. A date has not been set for a byelection in his seat. His constituents reelected him in 2023, despite his 2022 suspension from Parliament awaiting trial. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Wards lawyer argued in the states appeals court Thursday that the fact of his convictions alone did not automatically mean his conduct was unworthy. In a scathing decision rejecting his legal bid, the court ordered Ward to pay costs. The former lawmaker faces a prison term of up to 14 years. He did not comment publicly Friday. Ward was the states minister for families, communities and disability services between 2019 and 2021. He served an eight-year term as a local council member before entering Parliament. Australia's recently jailed mushroom murderer also tried to poison her husband with a chicken korma curry, according to accusations aired Friday after a suppression order lapsed. Home cook Erin Patterson was found guilty in July of murdering her husband's parents and elderly aunt by lacing their beef Wellington lunch with lethal death cap mushrooms. A series of potentially damning allegations about Patterson's behaviour in the lead-up to the 2023 meal were withheld from the jury in an effort to give the mother-of-two a fair trial. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Supreme Court Justice Christopher Beale on Friday rejected an application to keep these allegations suppressed. Patterson tried to kill her estranged husband Simon on three occasions between 2021 and 2022, police alleged in one of the major claims not heard during the trial. She was accused of serving him poisoned dishes of pasta bolognese, chicken korma curry and a vegetable wrap, Australian media reported. Prosecutors dropped those charges before the start of Patterson's trial, with tight restrictions preventing media from revealing any details. Patterson will return to court on August 25 for hearings that will determine how long she spends behind bars. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Her legal team has 28 days after sentencing to appeal both her criminal convictions and her sentence. A 12-person jury found the 50-year-old guilty of murdering Simon's parents Don and Gail Patterson, as well as his aunt Heather Wilkinson. She was also found guilty of attempting to murder Heather's husband Ian, a well-known pastor at the local Baptist church. Patterson's trial drew podcasters, film crews and true crime fans to the rural town of Morwell, a sedate hamlet in the state of Victoria better known for prize-winning roses. Newspapers from New York to New Delhi followed every twist of what many now simply call the "mushroom murders". Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Throughout a trial lasting more than two months, Patterson maintained the beef-and-pastry dish was accidentally poisoned with death cap mushrooms, the world's most-lethal fungus. Death cap mushrooms are easily mistaken for other edible varieties, and reportedly possess a sweet taste that belies their potent toxicity. sft/lec/tym Gold (GC=F) futures in New York retreated from record intraday highs on Friday after the White House indicated it would clarify its trade position on the precious metal amid reports that imports of Swiss gold bars would not be exempt from tariffs. "The White House intends to issue an executive order in the near future clarifying misinformation about the tariffing of gold bars and other specialty products," a White House official told Yahoo Finance. Futures on the COMEX exchange trimmed gains to around $3,461. Futures had hit an intraday high of $4,490 per ounce earlier in the session after a Financial Times report said Customs and Border Patrol classified Swiss one-kilogram and 100-ounce bars of gold as subject to 39% tariffs recently imposed on Switzerland by the Trump administration. "The move is significant because 1-kilo and 100-ounce gold bars form the backbone of much of the gold trading activity in the United States," Ryan McIntyre, senior managing partner at investment manager Sprott, told Yahoo Finance. McIntyre highlighted contracts on the Comex with physical delivery requirements are based in large part on Swiss bars, noting "the introduction of tariffs will likely inject additional uncertainty into that market." Read more: How to invest in gold in 4 steps The prospect of tariffs on gold bars sent gold futures in New York skyrocketing as traders assessed the implications for transfers of the precious metals and how the futures market could be reshaped. UK-based Metals Daily CEO Ross Norman said those tariffs would amount to "pouring sand into an otherwise well functioning engine." Gold inventories in New York skyrocketed earlier this year as institutional investors shipped elevated amounts of physical bars to vaults in Manhattan ahead of tariff announcements. In late March, inventories reached their highest level since the pandemic in 2021, according to Bloomberg data. Read more: What to know before buying gold, silver, or platinum from Costco Gold futures in New York hit intraday record highs on Friday amid reports that imports of Swiss gold bars would not be exempt from tariffs. (Reuters/Angelika Warmuth/ File Photo) Reuters / Reuters Ines Ferre is a senior business reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on X at @ines_ferre. Click here for in-depth analysis of the latest stock market news and events moving stock prices Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance Australia's recently convicted mushroom murderer also tried to poison her husband with bolognese pasta and chicken korma curry, according to testimony aired Friday after a suppression order lapsed. Home cook Erin Patterson was found guilty in July of murdering her husband's parents and elderly aunt in 2023, lacing their beef Wellington lunch with lethal death cap mushrooms. A series of potentially damning allegations about Patterson's behaviour in the lead-up to the meal were withheld from the jury to give the mother-of-two a fair trial. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Supreme Court Justice Christopher Beale on Friday rejected an application to keep these allegations secret. Patterson tried to kill her estranged husband Simon on three occasions between 2021 and 2022, police alleged in one of the major claims not heard during the trial. She was accused of serving him poisoned dishes of pasta bolognese, chicken curry and a vegetable wrap, according to freshly released evidence. Simon told a pre-trial hearing in October last year how Patterson had asked him to taste test a batch of curries she had made. "I remember Erin saying that the purpose of the taste test was so she could, I guess, customise future curry production for our respective tastes," he said in testimony suppressed until now. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He later fell ill after eating a mild chicken korma served by Patterson on a camping trip in 2022. "At first I felt hot, especially in my head, and that led to feeling nauseous and then that led to me quite suddenly needing to vomit," he said. Simon eventually fell into a coma before receiving life-saving surgery to remove a section of his bowel. He later told doctor Christopher Ford that he had come to suspect Patterson might be deliberately poisoning him. He became worried when Patterson offered him a batch of homemade cookies, Ford said. "Simon was apprehensive about eating the cookies, as he felt they may be poisoned," the doctor told a pre-trial hearing last year. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "He reported to me that while they were away, Erin called several times and enquired about whether he had eaten any of the cookies." When his parents fell gravely ill after eating at Patterson's house, Simon would regretfully confide those fears to his family. "He wanted to tell us that he had suspected his own illnesses had been a deliberate act," cousin Ruth Dubois told a pre-trial hearing. "He had stopped eating food that Erin had prepared, because he suspected that she might have been messing with it. "And that he was really sorry that he hadn't told our family." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Prosecutors dropped those charges before the start of Patterson's trial, with tight restrictions preventing media from revealing any details. - Lethal fungus - Patterson hosted an intimate meal in July 2023 that started with good-natured banter and earnest prayer -- but ended with three guests dead. A 12-person jury found the 50-year-old guilty of murdering Simon's parents, Don and Gail Patterson, as well as his aunt Heather Wilkinson. She was also found guilty of attempting to murder Heather's husband Ian, a well-known pastor at the local Baptist church. Simon had been invited to that lunch as well, but pulled out because he felt "uncomfortable". Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement At the time, Patterson's relationship with Simon was starting to turn sour. The pair -- long estranged but still legally married -- had been fighting over Simon's child support contributions. Patterson's trial drew podcasters, film crews and true crime fans to the rural town of Morwell, a sedate hamlet in the state of Victoria better known for prize-winning roses. Newspapers from New York to New Delhi followed every twist of what many now simply call the "mushroom murders". Throughout a trial lasting more than two months, Patterson maintained the beef-and-pastry dish was accidentally poisoned with death cap mushrooms, the world's most-lethal fungus. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Death cap mushrooms are easily mistaken for other edible varieties, and reportedly possess a sweet taste that belies their potent toxicity. Patterson will return to court on August 25 for hearings that will determine how long she spends behind bars. Her legal team has 28 days after sentencing to appeal both her criminal convictions and her sentence. sft/cwl By Alasdair Pal SYDNEY (Reuters) -An Australian woman who murdered three of her in-laws with a meal of toxic mushrooms also allegedly tried to murder her husband using poisoned pasta, a chicken curry and a sandwich wrap, evidence showed on Friday after a judge allowed its disclosure. A jury last month found Erin Patterson lured her mother-in-law Gail Patterson, father-in-law Don Patterson and Gail's sister, Heather Wilkinson, to lunch at her home and poisoned them with servings of Beef Wellington that contained death cap mushrooms. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement They also found the 50-year-old guilty of the attempted murder of Ian Wilkinson, Heather's husband, who survived the 2023 meal at Erin Patterson's home in Leongatha, a town of about 6,000 people some 135 km (84 miles) southeast of Melbourne. Patterson was initially charged with three counts of murder and five counts of attempted murder in 2023, with the four additional counts relating to her estranged husband, Simon Patterson. Justice Christopher Beale previously ruled the charges should be split into two separate trials, before the prosecution dropped the attempted murder charges relating to Simon Patterson on the eve of the first trial. That meant details of the alleged attempts on her husband's life in 2021 and 2022 were never heard by the jury. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "After the first time I got sick, I had the idea I got sick from Erins food," Simon Patterson told a pre-trial hearing in Melbourne in October 2024. He eventually began keeping a spreadsheet of his illnesses that the court heard all happened after eating his estranged wife's cooking, including a penne bolognese, a chicken curry and a sandwich wrap. The alleged poisonings, on two camping trips and a walk, left him close to death, and he became so ill he was temporarily paralysed and had part of his bowel removed, the court heard at the time. In each case, doctors were unable to conclusively determine the cause of his illnesses. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Simon Patterson raised his suspicions with his doctor and with his family, including his father Don, who died at the lunch. Don Patterson was so certain he had been poisoned at the July 2023 lunch he arrived at hospital with a container of his own vomit for medical professionals to test. Evidence from a computer seized from Patterson's home showing searches for other kinds of poisons was also excluded from the trial. OPEN JUSTICE After Patterson was found guilty last month, Justice Beale ordered the suppression of the pre-trial material to protect Patterson's appeal rights. But on Friday he ordered the restrictions be lifted, rejecting an argument by her defence team, who said that the release of the material combined with intense media interest would jeopardise any potential of an appeal. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Open justice is a fundamental concern of our criminal justice jurisdiction," Beale said on Friday. Patterson has 28 days from the as-yet unknown date of her sentencing to appeal, though she has not indicated whether she will do so. Any appeal by Patterson was unlikely to succeed, though it could not be ruled out, Beale said on Friday. Patterson maintained her innocence throughout the case that has gripped Australia, with her defence calling the deaths a "terrible accident". She pleaded not guilty to the counts of attempted murder against her husband. The court will next hear the case on August 25, the first of a two-day plea hearing where victim impact statements will be read. (Reporting by Alasdair Pal in Sydney; Editing by Stephen Coates) No Kings rallies. Good Trouble protests. Rage against the Regime uprisings. These events in the first seven months of President Donald Trumps second term, along with public opinion polls, show that many Americans are concerned about Trumps expansive use of executive power. Views on this issue often have a partisan slant. Republicans express more concern about presidential power when Democrats control the White House, and vice versa. But many in both parties prefer that U.S. political leaders work through established channels, rather than through unconventional actions that may pose challenges to the Constitution and the rule of law, such as mass firings and large-scale deportations. Greek historian and ethnographer Herodotus lived from about 484 B.C.E. to about 425 B.C.E. Metropolitan Museum of Art/Wikimedia As a professor of classics, I know that concerns about authoritarianism go back thousands of years. One early discussion appears in the work of the fifth-century B.C.E. Greek writer Herodotus, whose History sometimes called Histories is considered the first great prose narrative in Western literature. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In it, Herodotus analyzed the Persian invasion of Greece the defining event of his time. To understand how Greece, a much smaller power, achieved a major victory over Persia, Herodotus explored the nature of effective leadership, which he saw as a critical factor in the conflicts outcome. A shocking upset Persia was already a vast empire when it invaded Greece, a tiny country made up of independent city-states. The Persians expected a quick and easy victory. Instead, the Greco-Persian Wars lasted over a decade, from 490 to 479 B.C.E. They ended with Greece defeating the Persians a shocking upset. Consequently, Persia abandoned its westward expansion, while various Greek city-states formed a tenuous alliance that lasted nearly 50 years. To explain this unexpected outcome, Herodotus described how Persian and Greek societies developed before this crucial conflict. In his view, the fact that many Greek city-states had representative governments enabled the Greek victory. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement These systems allowed individuals to participate in discussing strategies and resulted in the Greeks uniting to fight for freedom. For example, when the Persian fleet was headed toward mainland Greece, the Athenian general Miltiades says, Never before have we been in such extreme danger. If we give in to the Persians, we will suffer greatly under the tyrant Hippias. Herodotus tended to put his political philosophies into the mouths of historical figures such as Miltiades. He condensed his thoughts about government into what historians call the Constitutional Debate, a fictional conversation among three real characters: Persian noblemen named Otanes, Megabazus and Darius. A fragment from Herodotus Histories, Book VIII, on papyrus, dated to the early second century C.E. Sackler Library, Oxford/Wikimedia Persias ascent For centuries prior to invading Greece, Persia had been a small region inhabited by various ancient Iranian peoples and controlled by the neighboring kingdom of Media. Then, in 550 B.C.E., King Cyrus II of Persia overthrew the Medes and expanded Persian territory into what became the Achaemenid Empire. Thanks to his effective leadership and tolerance for the customs of cultures he conquered, historians call him Cyrus the Great. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement His son and successor, Cambyses, was less successful. He added Egypt to the Persian empire, but according to Herodotus, Cambyses acted erratically and cruelly. He desecrated the pharaohs tomb, mocked the Egyptians gods, and killed their sacred Apis bull. He also demanded that Persian judges change the laws so that he could marry his own sisters. After Cambyses died childless, various factions vied for the Persian throne. Herodotus set his discussion about alternative political systems in this unstable period. The case for democracy Otanes, the first speaker in the Constitutional Debate, says the time has passed for any one man among us to have absolute power. He recommends that the Persian people themselves handle state affairs. How can monarchy continue to be our norm, when a monarch can do whatever he wants, with no accountability whatsoever? Otanes asks. Even worse, a monarch disrupts the laws, as Cambyses did. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Otanes favors rule by the many, which he calls isonomia, meaning equality under the law. In this system, he explains, politicians are elected and held responsible for their behavior and make decisions transparently. Today, unlike Otanes, Republican members of Congress appear reluctant to hold Trump responsible for anything or ensure transparency within the administration. Prominent Democrats, including U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, are challenging Trump administration actions that they view as lawless, such as freezing of funds authorized by Congress. Do oligarchs know better? Otanes fellow nobleman, Megabazus, agrees that the Persians should abolish monarchy, but he raises concerns about rule by the people. The masses are useless theres nothing more witless and violent than a crowd, Megabazus asserts. He believes commoners dont understand the intricacies of policymaking. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Instead, Megabazus suggests oligarchy, or rule by a few. Choose the best men in Persia and let them rule everyone else, he urges, because they will naturally come up with the best ideas. But Megabazus doesnt explain who would qualify as the best men or who would select them. The U.S. has occasionally resembled an oligarchy, with small, elite groups holding most political power. For example, Article 1, Section 3 of the original Constitution provided for election of senators by state legislators, not directly by the people. Senators were not elected by popular vote until the 17th Amendment passed in 1913. More recently, Trump has received millions of dollars in support from billionaire tech industry leaders such as Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos, who hope to influence antitrust policy and deregulation. The Department of Government Efficiency, headed by Musk before he stepped down in May 2025, is now run by young men with virtually no government experience. DOGEs cuts to programs such as humanitarian aid are wreaking havoc across the globe. What about monarchy? The third speaker, Darius, sees democracy and oligarchy as equally flawed. He points out that even well-intentioned oligarchs fight among themselves because each wants his own opinion to prevail. This leads to hatred and worse, much like the Trump-Musk relationship gone sour. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Rather, Darius asserts, using good judgment, a monarch will be a flawless guardian of the people. He argues that since Persia was freed by one man, King Cyrus II, Persians should maintain their traditional monarchy. Darius doesnt explain how to ensure a monarchs good judgment. But his argument wins out. It had to, since in reality Darius became Persias next king. Kings, or shahs, ruled Persia it became known as Iran in 1935 until the Iranian Revolution of 1979 eliminated the monarchy and established the Islamic Republic of Iran. Trump is not technically a monarch, but some believe he acts like one. He and his administration have ignored court orders, preempted the powers of Congress and sought to silence his critics by attacking protected free speech. Protesters carry a banner representing the preamble to the U.S. Constitution in downtown Los Angeles during an anti-Trump demonstration on June 14, 2025. Mario Tama/Getty Images Lessons from Herodotus Herodotus himself was largely pro-democracy, but his Constitutional Debate doesnt endorse one form of government. Instead, it highlights principles of good leadership. These include accountability, moderation and respect for nomos, a Greek term encompassing the concepts of custom and law. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Herodotus emphasizes: Formerly great cities have become small, while small cities have become great. Human fortune changes constantly, and Persias failure to conquer Greece is just one example. History has seen the rise and fall of many world powers. Is the United States next? Herodotus viewed the Persian monarchy, whose kings believed their own authority was paramount, as the weakness that led to their astounding defeat in 479 B.C.E. 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: Debbie Felton, UMass Amherst Read more: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Debbie Felton is affiliated with the Democratic Party (registered to vote). HENDERSON, Ky. (WEHT) Indiana State Police say an Ohio man was arrested in Evansville after he was stopped in a construction zone, preventing him from fleeing authorities. According to a release from ISP, a trooper patrolling the Lloyd Expressway near U.S. 41 spotted a motorcycle traveling east at speeds greater than 80 mph on Friday. The trooper attempted to stop the motorcycle, but the rider and passenger reportedly continued traveling east between vehicles while continuing at a high rate of speed. However, authorities say the motorcycle was stopped in construction traffic on the Lloyd Expressway west of Burkhardt Road, and the rider was taken into custody. The rider, identified by Indiana State Police as Cameron Stark, 35, of Grove City, Ohio, was taken to the Vanderburgh County Jail and charged with resisting law enforcement, reckless driving and possession of marijuana. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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 Coast Guard and local agencies are searching for a 30-year-old woman whose belongings were found unattended Wednesday evening south of the Venice Beach Pier. The missing woman was identified as Ashanta Ayana Elise Cobb-McNeil of Las Vegas, Nevada. Her loved ones said she sometimes goes by Loni Legend. (United States Coast Guard) The missing woman has been identified as Ashanta Ayana Elise Cobb-McNeil of Las Vegas, Nevada. Her loved ones said she sometimes goes by Loni Legend. At about 8:40 p.m., Coast Guard Sector Los Angeles-Long Beach watchstanders received a report from the Los Angeles Police Department and a good Samaritan who discovered a phone, shoes, wallet, and passport on the sand. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Rescue crews from Coast Guard Station Los Angeles-Long Beach, Air Station Ventura and the cutter Narwhal searched the surrounding waters. The Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department and Santa Monica lifeguards from the Los Angeles County Fire Department Lifeguard Division conducted shoreline and waterside searches. LAPD is coordinating searches on land. Anyone with information on Cobb-McNeils whereabouts is asked to contact local authorities. 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. A woman from England is suspected of having smuggled an exotic animal into the United Kingdom by concealing it inside a cigarette package. What's happening? Authorities in Lincolnshire, England, discovered a baby tortoise after it had been stowed among the personal items of a woman from the Lincolnshire town of Boston, according to the Nottinghamshire Post. The Animal and Plant Health Agency reportedly alerted police, saying the suspect had purchased the tortoise at a Tunisian market before attempting to smuggle it into the UK. Believed to be a Testudo graeca also known as a Greek tortoise or spur-thighed tortoise the animal was recovered alive. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As of late July, an investigation was being conducted into potential violations of the Control of Trade in Endangered Species Regulations 2018 and the Customs and Excise Management Act 1979. The BBC reported that the offenses could "result in a fine or up to seven years in prison." "Smuggling wildlife can pose serious risks to both an animal's welfare and UK biosecurity," a statement from the Lincolnshire police read. Why is the illegal trade of wildlife concerning? The Greek or spur-thighed tortoise is a species currently classified as "vulnerable" on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species. The spur-thighed tortoise is also internationally recognized as a protected species by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. This means that international trade is regulated to prevent the overexploitation of the species in an effort to ensure its survival. "Endangered species such as tortoises are protected under international law, and bringing one into the country without the correct permits is a criminal offence," wildlife crime officer Aaron Flint explained in a news release. "What may seem like an innocent souvenir even if purchased for a small amount can result in serious criminal charges. If you don't have the proper documentation, don't take the risk the consequences can be severe." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The illegal wildlife trade can have significant impacts on delicate ecosystems. It has the potential to greatly affect biodiversity by disrupting natural food webs, ultimately upsetting the overall food chain. Wildlife smuggling can also endanger individual species, increase the risk of disease transmission, and lead to an increase in crime rates. What's being done? The baby tortoise was taken to Wild Things Rescue for evaluation and treatment. Lucy Steele, who works at the rescue, described in a statement some of the challenges of caring for the animal. "We usually work with British wildlife, so it was a surprise to be asked to care for an animal from Tunisia, especially under such distressing circumstances," Steele said. "The tortoise is not in the best condition and will be seeing a specialist vet ... . He is a wild animal, not an accessory, and should never have been treated this way." To help deter people from participating in the illegal wildlife trade and protect biosecurity, many countries have specific agencies empowered to address the issue. Punishments for wildlife crimes vary around the world, but many include hefty fines, imprisonment, and even the forfeiture of property used in any illegal activity. Should the government continue to give tax incentives for energy-efficient home upgrades? Absolutely No Depends on the upgrade I don't know Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. 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. CHARLOTTE (QUEEN CITY NEWS) Federal air marshals blend in seamlessly and are incognito by design. If youre a frequent flyer, chances are youll never recognize them on your flight. They are a discreet presence to protect passengers, crew and aircraft. However, for the first time, many officers on this secretive airborne police force are being redeployed to, among other duties, serve sandwiches and check for lice. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to reports, in a departure from their traditional role, hundreds of federal air marshals are being redeployed to provide security for flights with detainees in ICE custody. OFFICER DOWN: SLED raids McBee town hall, arrests high-ranking police officer This arrangement has raised concerns that marshals are being diverted from guarding against potential national security threats on board commercial passenger planes. CNN reports, in an unprecedented move, the highly trained agents are taking ICE posts at will; others are under pressure from supervisors, where agents are required to hand out sandwiches, clean aircraft and check for lice when not acting as flight security guards. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Re-deploying certain federal air marshals is part of the Trump administrations effort to carry out the largest deportation operation in history, tapping employees from across the federal government to secure a goal of removing a million immigrants a year. The government had hired a private contractorGEO Group Transportto provide security onboard ICE deportation flights, so the air marshals are essentially working under them to assist. The Air Marshal National Council sent a cease-and-desist letter to the Department of Homeland Security and the TSA, accusing the Trump administration of undermining security on commercial aircraft by moving air marshals to ICE flights and shuffling detainees to various detention centers and other countries. The council told CNN it should be using federal air marshals for the job they should be doing. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement After 9-11, the only job air marshals have is to prevent another hijacking on a commercial passenger plane. The Federal Air Marshal Service protects passengers, crews, airports and U.S. air carriers from terrorist acts and violence on passenger flights. They are highly trained in firearms, self-defense, investigative techniques and aircraft-specific tactics. They monitor flights and intervene when necessary to neutralize threats. Started in the early 1960s to combat airplane hijackings, but since September 11, their service has expanded more than a hundredfold. Currently, there are approximately 2,000 to 3,000 officers, and about 250 have been redeployed to ICE. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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 Queen City News. US vice-president JD Vance and his family fly to the UK for their summer holiday today, starting with a trip to see David Lammy at Chevening, the Foreign Secretarys grace-and-favour pile in Kent. The visit, expected to last three nights, promises to be a classic of the political odd-couple genre. We are told that Vance and Lammy have struck up an unlikely friendship rooted in their difficult childhoods and shared Christian faith. When Vance hosted Lammy and his wife, Nicola, earlier this year, they went to Mass together. It has been reported that they will pray together this time, too one up on those other great transatlantic pals, George W Bush and Tony Blair, for whom joint communion was a step too far. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement From the outside, however, Lammy and Vance could hardly be more different. The latter is Trumps America-first rottweiler, whose most memorable trip to Europe so far involved him berating leaders for their liberal attitude towards immigration. And Lammy is the urbane member for Tottenham who was one of the MPs who nominated Jeremy Corbyn for Labour leader. Vance and his family are due to stay at Chevening, the Foreign Secretarys grace-and-favour country house in Kent - Johnny Green/PA Lammy has tried to play nice with the vice-president, saying Vances book, Hillbilly Elegy, reminded him of his own childhood and reduced me to tears. The Foreign Secretary has even spoken of having an epiphany while sharing drinks with the vice-president, during which he realised the pair were not just working-class politicians, but people with dysfunctional childhoods. But as the weekend unfolds, Lammy still might have to explain what precisely he meant in 2018 when he tweeted that Donald Trump was a woman-hating, neo-Nazi-sympathising sociopath. Other subjects our Foreign Secretary might want to steer clear of: Ukraine, Nato, China, Israel, the climate, trans rights, immigration or the EU. Vance, for his part, might opt against bringing up (again) Britains lack of freedom of speech, incipient Islamism and lacklustre defence spending. Still, he is apparently quite the Anglophile. James Orr, the Cambridge academic who is a good friend of the vice-presidents, has said Vance criticises our leadership not because he hates us but because he loves us. He just has a funny way of showing it. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Moreover, as a generally polite and articulate man, except in the presence of Volodymyr Zelensky, Vance will be keen to avoid awkwardness as a guest. Contrary to usual dinner party advice, you can imagine both men doing all they can to desperately haul the conversation back to religion. Alastair Campbell reportedly said: We dont do God. Vance and Lammy may find its all they can do. Sit-downs aside, Kent, with its mix of affluence and deprivation, oast houses and oysters, should appeal to Vance. The vice-president grew up between Iowa and Appalachian Kentucky, the latter a wild and backwards place, full of violence and inbreeding. Where better to pick up on those themes than the Isle of Sheppey, a place with three prisons but no Waitrose? In the car on the way over, Lammy can entertain the vice-president by explaining the differences between Tonbridge and Royal Tunbridge Wells. That is if his passenger isnt intent on a deep and meaningful conversation about the fact the Foreign Secretary once called his boss deluded, dishonest, xenophobic, narcissistic and no friend of Britain. From Sheppey it is a short hop to Margate, a town that proves economic regeneration is possible in the least promising of circumstances. All it takes is Tracey Emin, a few good restaurants and the determination of the untold thousands of north London immigrant hipsters who have arrived in recent years, bringing with them the small-plate and natural-wine customs of their Hackney homeland. Lammy may even recognise some emigres from his Tottenham constituency. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement After a meal at Sargasso, Vance would surely dream of a similar transformation in Appalachia. Expect a special US visa scheme for east Londoners to follow in short order. They already have the lumberjack shirts. Lammy and Vance at the Munich Security Conference earlier this year - FCDO The pair could then pop around to Folkestone, where renewal has depended on a billionaire, Roger de Haan, who is determined to build hundreds of luxury flats. Perhaps Vance could pick up some pointers, on the off-chance he knows anyone else fond of real-estate deals. On a short walk down the coast they could see the Battle of Britain Memorial. It would be an opportunity for Lammy to gently remind the vice-president that occasionally, British soldiers have not only died alongside Americans in defence of liberty, but died while America neglected to get involved. Though Vance would have his turn further down the coast again, as he could point out where Julius Caesar landed, a chilling warning to nations that do not maintain sufficient military spending. By this point both men will no doubt be tired from their excursions and Lammy will have run out of excuses not to reply to Keir Starmers WhatsApps asking for a quick update on how its all going. Lammy has admitted the pair have different politics - FCDO Starmer went to great lengths to secure a trade deal with Trump earlier this year, and will be paying close attention to this geopolitical family holiday, keen to ensure that whatever improbable rapport his foreign secretary has built with Vance pays dividends. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Certainly, at the end of the weekend, both men will have learnt valuable lessons. If nothing else, Lammy will have met some ordinary British voters. He might also have learnt a thing or two about how to describe the American president when one has designs on high office oneself. Vance, meanwhile, who is expected to leave Chevening for the Cotswolds, will come away knowing that the old country needs all the help it can get. 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. United States President Donald Trump has hosted his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan at the White House for the signing of a peace treaty between the two longtime rivals. The US president said during a ceremony on Friday that he believed the two men would have a great relationship and that the agreement would bring peace and new economic opportunities to the region. I want to congratulate these two great people, Prime Minister Pashinyan and President Aliyev, for coming to Washington to sign this momentous joint declaration, Trump said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The countries of Armenia and Azerbaijan are committing to stop all fighting forever; open up commerce, travel and diplomatic relations; and respect each others sovereignty and territorial integrity. Aliyev echoed Trumps statements, saying that the deal marked the start of a long-lasting peace, eternal peace in the Caucasus. There should be no doubts and no suspicions that any of the sides would step back. If any of us Prime Minister Pashinyan or myself had in mind to step back, we wouldnt have come here, Aliyev said. The agreement will create a transportation corridor between the two countries, which have been embroiled in territorial disputes since the disintegration of the Soviet Union more than three decades ago. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Those wars were largely fought over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, which is within Azerbaijans borders but was previously populated by ethnic Armenians. They were ultimately expelled en masse during an Azerbaijani offensive in 2023. The deal grants the US exclusive developmental rights to the transport corridor, which will be dubbed the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity. We anticipate significant infrastructure development by American companies. Theyre very anxious to go into these two countries, Trump said. He added that the US was also signing bilateral agreements with both countries to increase cooperation in areas like energy, trade and technology, including artificial intelligence. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The deals would also lift previous restrictions on security coordination with Azerbaijan, which has faced scrutiny over its human rights record. Im very grateful to the president that he lifted the restrictions that had been imposed on Azerbaijan back in 1992, said Aliyev. While Trump has hailed the agreement as a diplomatic breakthrough and an opportunity for economic engagement, it is viewed with bitterness by many Armenians. During Azerbaijans 2023 military campaign, the country sought to bring Nagorno-Karabakh under its control. But that military offensive involved a brutal siege that rights groups say amounted to the restriction of food as a weapon of war. The conflict culminated in the forcible expulsion of the territorys ethnic Armenian population. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Images of displaced Armenians fleeing with their possessions recalled painful memories of what many consider the Armenian Genocide, which took place from 1915 to 1923. Azerbaijan maintains that the campaign was necessary to restore order in a territory within its borders and that Armenians could have stayed in their homes. Erasing Nagorno-Karabakh is not peace, Aram Hamparian, executive director of the Armenian National Committee of America, said in a statement on Thursday, saying the agreement had been reached at gunpoint. Normalising ethnic cleansing is not peace. By Andrea Shalal WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a U.S.-brokered peace agreement on Friday during a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump that would boost bilateral economic ties after decades of conflict and move them toward a full normalization of relations. The deal between the South Caucasus rivals - assuming it holds - would be a significant accomplishment for the Trump administration that is sure to rattle Moscow, which sees the region as within its sphere of influence. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "It's a long time - 35 years - they fought and now they're friends, and they're going to be friends for a long time," Trump said at a signing ceremony at the White House, where he was flanked by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. Armenia and Azerbaijan have been at odds since the late 1980s when Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous Azerbaijani region mostly populated by ethnic Armenians, broke away from Azerbaijan with support from Armenia. Azerbaijan took back full control of the region in 2023, prompting almost all of the territory's 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee to Armenia. Trump said the two countries had committed to stop fighting, open up diplomatic relations and respect each other's territorial integrity. The agreement includes exclusive U.S. development rights to a strategic transit corridor through the South Caucasus that the White House said would facilitate greater exports of energy and other resources. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trump said the United States signed separate deals with each country to expand cooperation on energy, trade and technology, including artificial intelligence. Details were not released. He said restrictions had also been lifted on defense cooperation between Azerbaijan and the United States, a development that could also worry Moscow. Both leaders praised Trump for helping to end the conflict and said they would nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize. Trump has tried to present himself as a global peacemaker in the first months of his second term. The White House credits him with brokering a ceasefire between Cambodia and Thailand and sealing peace deals between Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Pakistan and India. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement However, he has not managed to end Russia's 3-1/2-year-old war in Ukraine or Israel's conflict with Hamas in Gaza. Trump on Friday said he would meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on August 15 to work on ending the war in Ukraine. ENDING SANCTIONS EVASION BLIND SPOT U.S. officials said the agreement was hammered out during repeated visits to the region and would provide a basis for working toward a full normalization between the countries. The peace deal could transform the South Caucasus, an energy-producing region neighboring Russia, Europe, Turkey and Iran that is criss-crossed by oil and gas pipelines but riven by closed borders and longstanding ethnic conflicts. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Iran welcomed the agreement "as an important step toward lasting regional peace", but warned against any foreign intervention near its borders that could "undermine the regions security and lasting stability". In a statement posted on X, Iran's foreign ministry said Tehran was ready to work with both countries through bilateral channels and regional frameworks. Brett Erickson, a sanctions expert and adviser to Loyola University's Chicago School of Law, said the agreement would help the West crack down on Russian efforts to evade sanctions. The Caucasus has been a blind spot in sanctions policy," he said. "A formal peace creates a platform for the West to engage Armenia and Azerbaijan ... to shut down the evasion pipelines. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Tina Dolbaia, an associate fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Friday's signing was a big symbolic move, but many questions remained, including which U.S. companies might control the new transit corridor and how involved Armenia and Azerbaijan would be in its construction. She said Russia would likely be irritated by being excluded from the agreement and the U.S. role in the corridor. "Now the fact that ... Armenians are shaking hands with Azerbaijanis, and they are talking about U.S. involvement in this corridor - this is huge for Russia," she said. Olesya Vartanyan, an independent regional expert, said the deal added greater predictability to the region, but its long-term prospects would depend on continued U.S. engagement. "Armenia and Azerbaijan ... have a much longer track record of failed negotiations and violent escalations than of peaceful resolutions," she said. "Without proper and continued U.S. involvement, the issue will likely get deadlocked again, increasing the chances of renewed tensions." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Senior U.S. administration officials said the agreement marked the end to the first of several frozen conflicts on Russia's periphery since the end of the Cold War, sending a powerful signal to the entire region. Armenia plans to award the U.S. exclusive special development rights for an extended period on the transit corridor, U.S. officials told Reuters this week. The so-called Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity has already drawn interest from nine companies, including three U.S. firms, one official said on condition of anonymity. Daphne Panayotatos, with the Washington-based rights group Freedom Now, said it had urged the Trump administration to use the meeting with Aliyev to demand the release of some 375 political prisoners held in the country. Azerbaijan, an oil-producing country that hosted the United Nations climate summit last November, has rejected Western criticism of its human rights record, describing it as unacceptable interference. (Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Additional reporting by Daphne Psaledakis, Lucy Papachristou, Christian Martinez and Costas Pitas; Writing by Andy Sullivan and Andrea Shalal; Editing by Paul Simao, Richard Chang, Diane Craft and Mark Potter) HPEs $14 billion Juniper Networks acquisition faces renewed uncertainty despite DOJ approval, amid online conspiracy theories and political objections. A federal judge may review whether the merger is in the public interest, the result of controversy over a reversal of the DOJs initial opposition. Also, somehow Laura Loomer is involved, and no one knows why. HPEs stock is down, and CEO Antonio Neri remains under pressure from activist investor Elliott Investment Management, which holds a $1.5 billion long position in the shares. When Hewlett Packard Enterprise CEO Antonio Neri won a reversal from the U.S. Department of Justice, allowing HPEs $14 billion acquisition of Juniper Networks to go ahead, he could have been forgiven for thinking his troubles were behind him. Instead, HPE has been dragged into one of those weird MAGA conspiracy theories that orbit President Trumps White House. Even Laura Loomer, the vituperous online Trump activist, somehow got involved. Given that the DOJ dropped its opposition to the merger (it previously complained it would reduce market competition), Neri could reasonably have expected the federal judge overseeing the litigation to wave the deal through. But because the DOJs sudden reversal got the gears whirring inside the brains of multiple online sleuths, resulting in an objection letter from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, it is suddenly more likelyperhaps not probable, but plausiblethat Judge P. Casey Pitts will hold a Tunney review that may overturn the deal. A Tunney review is a judicial proceeding that asks whether a proposed merger is in the public interest. The Tunney Act was created in the 1970s in reaction to President Nixons meddling in the M&A market. A negative Tunney review would be a defeat for Neri, who is fending off activist Elliott Investment Management, which bought a $1.5 billion stake in the company and demanded seats on the board in part because it believes HPE stock is being held down by execution errors on Neris watch. Neri could lose his job if things do not go his way, sources have told Fortune. How did HPE get here? For its part, HPE believes it has done nothing wrong, and that it has simply prevailed in a routine judicial process. HPE is confident our acquisition of Juniper Networks is in the public interest and will promote further competition in the enterprise WLAN [wireless local area network] market, the company told Fortune. The transaction was appropriately approved with certain remedies by the U.S. Department of Justice, and it was unconditionally approved by 13 other antitrust regulators around the world. We respect the role our regulators play in maintaining competitive markets and appreciate the professional and constructive way in which the DOJ engaged with us in approving the deal. A B-2 bomber left a smiley face made out of bomb craters on the runway of a mock airfield during a test some two decades ago. This happened after personnel at the sprawling Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR) had run out of shipping containers to turn into targets that a B-2 would hit during a single attack run. Its a reminder of just how much precision destruction Americas upgraded stealth bombers can dole out in one pass. Air Force Maj. Gen. Jason Armagost, who was part of the crew that flew the test mission, mentioned the smiley face during an online talk that the Air & Space Forces Associations Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies hosted yesterday. Armagost, who is now commander of the Eighth Air Force, to which the Air Forces current B-2s, B-1s, and B-52s are all assigned, used the anecdote to highlight the unique capabilities offered by heavy bombers. A stock picture of a B-2 bomber refueling in mid-air. USAF I happened to fly an operational test mission where we tested the carriage of 80 500-pound JDAM [Joint Direct Attack Munition precision guided bombs] and released them all in a span of a little over 20 seconds on an airfield in the UTTR, Armagost said. I mean, thats an amazing sight to behold, such that we even ran out of CONEX boxes to strike, and so [we] drew a smiley face across the runway with JDAMs. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Armagost said that this flight occurred in 2004, but this appears to be in error. The rest of his description aligns completely with a widely publicized test that occurred on Sept. 10, 2003. The specifics of the event are detailed in the video below, which makes no mention of drawing the smiley face. The faux airfield constructed on the UTTR for the September 2003 test was just under a mile long. In addition to two mock runways, one graded and one just a desert strip, it included nine distinct simulated target areas. These were designed to represent an aircraft revetment, a helicopter landing pad, a control tower, a vehicle park, a generic structure, a hangar, an SA-6 surface-to-air missile system site, a fuel storage site, and a Scud ballistic missile launch site. The mock revetment, control tower, generic structure, and hangar were all made using arrays of shipping containers. From left to right, the aircraft revetment, control tower, hangar, and generic structure targets constructed from shipping containers for the September 2003 test. Public domain captures The B-2 bomber, flying at an altitude of some 40,000 feet, released all 80 JDAMs in a single pass. The GPS-assisted guidance packages in the tail fin sections in each of the bombs were programmed to hit a separate aim point, and all of the impacts occurred within a span of approximately 22 seconds. The JDAM was still a relatively new weapon at the time, and the B-2 used in the test had to be specially modified with new smart bomb racks to be able to drop the bombs. There were also safety concerns about dropping that many bombs from a B-2 in such rapid succession, and 11 other test flights were conducted to gather key data before the final 80-bomb pass on the mock airfield. A B-2 drops inert JDAMs in one of the test flights leading up to the Sept. 10, 2003, event. USAF Today, JDAMs, which consist of one of a number of low-drag bomb bodies combined with a new tail section that contains the guidance system, as well as clamp-on aerodynamic strakes, are among the most widely used air-to-ground munitions in the U.S. military. In addition to 500-pound-class types, there are also 1,000 and 2,000-pound-class versions. A graphic showing, from left to right, a pair of 2,000-pound class JDAMs, a 1,000-pound-class version, and a 500-pound-class-type. The guidance and control tail section is also shown separately at the top. USAF Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Air Force had certainly demonstrated the B-2s ability to drop large numbers of bombs, in general, before the September 2003 test. The service has continued to show off the B-2s capabilities in this regard in training and testing, as well as real-world operations, since 2003, as well. A B-2 bomber drops 47 unguided 500-pound class bombs over the Point Mugu Sea Range in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of southern California in 1994. USAF As mentioned, during yesterdays talk, Armagost used the 80 JDAM test to highlight the immense and unique capabilities that heavy bombers offer. The B-2, with its maximum payload capacity of around 60,000 pounds, has especially cavernous bomb bays. It is notably the only aircraft currently certified to operationally employ the 30,000-pound GBU-57/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) bunker buster bomb, the heaviest conventional munition in U.S. service today. It can carry two MOPs in its internal weapons bays. The MOP has now become a household name after the bombs were dropped on real targets for the first time during the Operation Midnight Hammer strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities in June. A B-2 drops a GBU-57/B MOP during a test. USAF Armagosts remarks yesterday about the 80 JDAM test came in response to a question about what he would want fellow airmen to better understand about the differences between what fighters and bombers bring to the fight. Bombers are an order of magnitude difference [from fighters] in what you can do with them, he also said. Now, they nest incredibly well together, right? We see that with our partners and allies, who fly fighters as their power projection capability. But when we nest them together with bombers, it is a completely different animal. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The United States is currently alone in the West as an operator of bombers. It is a small club overall, with Russia and China being the only other countries that do so anywhere else globally. Ill reflect back to that, that B-2 example of 80 500-pound JDAMs in a matter of a little over 20 seconds, and that was one aircraft, Armagost said later on in yesterdays talk. Its like the example we used to give of World War II attacks requiring massive formations with high numbers of people at risk to get a single target. And then, as we transition through the precision capability, kind of revolution, and then evolution, you get down to single aircraft with single targets. And then the B-2 with multiple targets per aircraft. And, so, most simply, the cost, the strike efficiency, and the cost per kill comes down to: it matters how big your weapons bay is. USAF Now it also matters what access you have bought with the platform or with the weapons, in the case of hypersonics from range, or a penetrating force bringing large numbers inside of denied airspace, the Eighth Air Force commander added. The ability of a single B-2 to destroy, or at least inflict severe damage, on a large facility like an airfield with pinpoint accuracy on a single pass, even when flying miles from the target, remains a significant capability, although one that is waning with the advent of ever more advanced integrated air defense systems. Regardless, this unprecedented ability is something TWZ has highlighted in the past when talking about the B-2. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In line with all of this, Armagost spent much of his time yesterday talking about the critical value he sees coming not just from the size of the planned fleet for forthcoming B-21 Raider bombers, as you can read more about here. The Air Force plans to buy at least 100 B-21s, if not many more. The service currently has just 19 B-2 bombers out of a total of 21 that were ever produced, which imposes significant limits on their operational capacity despite the highly valuable silver bullet capabilities they offer, as was demonstrated during the Midnight Hammer strikes. The B-21 is smaller than the B-2, and wont be able to carry as much gross tonnage of ordnance per sortie. Still, the Raider could have an even more impressive single pass strike capability, all while offering enhanced survivability. While 80 JDAMs may not be on the weapons menu, with new smaller standoff munition options like the GBU-39/B Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) or its successor, the GBU-53/B StormBreaker, the B-21 could exceed the quantity of the B-2s bomb load. And it could release those weapons at standoff ranges, eclipsing the B-2s impressive direct attack capabilities. The B-2 is not currently capable of employing the SDB or Stormbreaker. The ability to launch even small but just as accurate drones that can network together to swarm targets with deadly precision could take this capability even another step forward. The first pre-production B-21 Raider in flight. USAF Regardless of what the future holds, the smiley face anecdote that Armagost shared underscores why the Air Forces B-2s will continue to be prized for their unique ability to bring heavy ordnance loads deep into defended areas and deal massive, highly-efficient destruction in minimal time. Contact the author: joe@twz.com LORAIN COUNTY, Ohio (WJW) An outpouring of love and support continues for fallen Lorain Police Officer Phillip Wagner and fellow Officers Peter Gale and Brent Payne, who were wounded in an ambush attack last month. All day and night Thursday, proceeds from every meal ordered at Between the Bun in North Ridgeville were being donated to the officers and/or their families. I-TEAM: Why were Lorain officers shot? Still not clear Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We really wanted to do this because we love the police, said Lacia Rutherford, Owner of Between the Bun, The more money we make the more money were going to give. The restaurant located at 34445 Center Ridge Road has been a community hub for years and Rutherford has known some of officer Wagners family members for over a decade. Officer Wagner, who was a combat U.S. Marine Corp veteran, leaves behind a wife and three young children. Theyre a great family and its just really hard to see, she said, Its heartbreaking. Bill renaming portion of road after fallen Lorain police officer to be introduced Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But the turnout has been incredibly heartwarming. A busy lunch hour rush was followed by a brief break and then once again they were slammed for dinner. But we managed and loved it felt really good to see everybody come out a proud moment to see our community coming together, she said. Monetary donations are also being accepted until Sunday. People can call 440-281-8885. From slinging burgers to tattoos, also in Lorain County another fundraiser to Back the Blue is planned for Aug. 23. Josh Ison Jr., owner of Distilled Ink Tattoo Parlor told Fox 8 News that hes holding a flash event that day at his shop located at 111 East Bridge Street in Elyria. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The wife of an officer in Cuyahoga County is helping plan the event, which will include food trucks, raffles and lots of tats. 11 a.m. itll be starting, first-come-first-serve tattoos, we have a bunch of pre-made designs that will be available, he said, Just trying to do something good do something positive in this world. Everyone is welcome and more than anything they just want the officers and their families to know how much people care. We are one big community and well have your back always, said Rutherford. 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. Donald Trump is threatening a federal takeover of Washington, D.C. On Friday, the president deployed federal law enforcement agents to the nations capital, days after claiming that crime in the city is totally out of control. According to city data, violent crime is down 26% from last year, as of Friday. Trump also said the federal government was looking into overturning the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, the 1973 law that empowers limited self-government in Washington. On Thursdays The Weeknight, co-host Michael Steele, who grew up in D.C., blasted Trump for the proposal: You know, as a native Washingtonian and who has family who still live here in the city, Im just kind of sick of this. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Steele decried people who come into D.C. and think they can do whatever they want and strip away the rights of the citizens. The former chairman of the Republican National Committee noted that Washington residents do not have the same rights as every other American since they do not have voting representation in the Senate, and their sole House delegate cannot vote on final legislation. Steele advised all you wannabes who want to think you can control D.C. to just go walk through neighborhoods and understand how people actually live and raise their families here. He said Trumps threat to federalize D.C. strikes very personal for the citys more than 700,000 residents. The Weeknight co-host acknowledged the federal government does have some control over the city but said the president shouldnt crack down on the residents of D.C. Just back the hell up, President Trump, Steele said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He added: Here you have this man who couldnt even run a casino, thinking somehow hes going to run D.C.? ... The only thing Donald Trump knows about D.C. is the White House, and weve seen what hes done to that, right? You can watch Steeles full reaction to Trumps comments in the clip at the top of the page. This article was originally published on MSNBC.com RAVENNA, Ohio (WJW) Mark Burkey, a welder by trade, said he started selling fishing lures from a table in his garage. That was nearly a quarter-of-a century ago. For eight years, he did that before moving to a rented unit next door for the next two, then found a property that had been owned by the Knights of Columbus on state Route 14 that he believed would make the perfect bait and tackle store. Not the biggest issue: Trash violation fines causing confusion, concern in Cleveland Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Over the last 14 years, he has sold lures, rods and reels, fishing line, lottery tickets and snacks, working dawn until dusk and closing only twice over all of those years. I met so many great people over the years, customers who were on a first-name basis. I used to watch young men come in, little boys grow up to be men, and now they got married and now they are bringing their sons in getting them into the fishing, said Burkey. His store shares the stories and memories made by his customers out on the water even being open on Thanksgiving Day. The wives and grandmothers, wives daughters, they kicked all the guys out of the house for cooking and they would come in for bait and they would go hit the lake and be gone for the day until everything was done, Burkey said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I have gentlemen who come in and they are in their 50s, 60s, 70s and they will buy a big ol bag of lures and say, How am I going to get this by my wife?' That has taken its toll. People had to wake me up at my desk because running a bait shop is not a 9 till 5 hour job. I mean, you are up at 6 in the morning, till 8 or 9 at night. I worked 12 to 14 hours a day, seven days a week, working 10 days without a day off, he told FOX 8 News. I made a lot of sacrifices to get to where I am now and a lot of it is spending time with my wife and family and no vacations, he told FOX 8 News. Burkey said he has not even had time to go fishing himself. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I mean, my boat hasnt even seen water in four years. My wife likes to fish too, and I mean, we just havent had the time, he said. For several years, he has offered to sell the business, with no takers. So in June, he chose to reel it in, closing the store for good and putting everything in it up for auction, including the store itself. Its breaking my heart. Its bittersweet. Id love to sell the building, but I want it to stay the same because of the time and effort I put into it to get it to this point, he said. Ohio rivers level raised to accommodate Vice President JD Vances birthday kayaking trip Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Phase 1 of the auction closes on Friday with boxes of reels, lures and more to be sold to the highest bidder. Phase 2 will follow with more of the same. Then phase 3 will include his coolers, beer license and the building. Burkey said he has collected more than 50,000 lures at his home, many from between 1970 and 1997. He will continue to sell those through eBay, but he has promised his wife he isnt buying another lure. At 64, he said what he is looking forward to is making the most of his time off, including going fishing something he believes may be more valuable for the quality time rather than catching fish. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement You dont even see kids playing ball on the corners anymore, or spending time outside, and fishing is a way just to bond with fathers, sons, daughters anything, 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 Fox 8 Cleveland WJW. BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) A Bakersfield man was indicted Thursday on being a felon in possession of explosives, ammunition and manufacturing methamphetamine, according to the Department of Justice. Officials with the department said Matthew Henry Jacober, 43, of Bakersfield possessed and improperly stored 50 pounds of dynamite and 25 rounds of shotgun shells. At that time, he was in the process of manufacturing crystal methamphetamine. Jacober was previously convicted for making a destructive device without a permit, which is a felony. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement If Jacober is convicted of the drug offense, he faces a mandatory minimum prison term of five years and a maximum term of 40 years with a $5 million fine, officials said. According to officials, if Jacober is convicted of being a felon in possession of explosives, he faces a 10-year term. If he is convicted of being a felon in possession of ammunition, he faces a 15-year prison term. Both of the terms have a $250,000 fine. 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. Aug. 8MOSES LAKE First responders and the people they serve mingled this week in three Columbia Basin communities for National Night Out. "We're reaching the community, handing out some cool stickers and free stuff, showing them we're not so scary," said Washington State Patrol Sgt. Thomas LaFave at Quincy National Night Out on Monday. About 800 people came out to meet police officers, firefighters and community service organizations at Lauzier Park, according to QPD Sgt. Joe Westby, who organized the event. The Grant County Sheriff's Office, the WSP, Grant County Fire District 3 and other emergency services brought cars, trucks and ambulances to demonstrate for children, who were fascinated by the lights and sirens. The youngsters were allowed to climb inside the vehicles and check out all the specialized equipment. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "I think it's cool how they actually unloaded all the rigs," said Brenna Becerra, whose daughter, Luisa, was exploring an ambulance. "You can see all the equipment: the airway bag, the medication bag, stuff like that. So, if you're interested in what's inside of the ambulance, you can get in without having to be in one." Besides the first responders, there was plenty for children to do. Quincy Parks and Recreation brought out toys and games, but the most popular item by far was the dunk tower. That was kind of a reverse dunk tank, with a bucket suspended over a seat. Every time a pitcher hit the target, the bucket dumped its contents on the person below. Children waited in line to be the soaker and the soakee, and with temperatures in the 90s, the line to be dunked was longer. "We're just out here having fun with the kids," said Parks and Recreation Director Russ Harrington as he refilled the bucket from a hose. "A lot of the kids, we know from different programs that we put on, or know their parents, and so we can make fun of the kids and heckle them as they're trying to throw." The Grant Public Utility District brought a demonstration setup out to teach children about electricity. High-voltage wires were rigged up and PUD workers incinerated a kite on them to show the children why it was a good idea to stay away from power lines. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Anytime you introduce yourself to anything electric up here, where's it going to come out at? Your feet," PUD lineman Daniel Lindemeier told the dozen or so children watching the demonstration. "It's devastating. Please do not do it. That's why we always tell everybody, if you ever see anything down on the ground, stay back ... We do not stand a chance against electricity." Moses Lake had its event Tuesday, at Sinkiuse Square downtown. Fire trucks, police vehicles, the WSP's bomb squad equipment and the Grant County Sheriff's Office Mobile Command Center were all out on display. "(We're) getting people to sign up for county alerts so that we can alert them (to) police activity, road closures, flood warnings, severe storms, basically anything that people need to know from an emergency standpoint," said GCSO Emergency Management Specialist Jessica Olson, who was staffing the table outside the MCC. "And then we do a lot of public education with the kids, so we have coloring books, lights for their bikes. (We) answer any questions that they have, kind of humanize asking those questions and being a good partner." The Downtown Moses Lake Association had a scavenger hunt set up for the children, said DMLA President Denise Kinder. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Kids can go around (to) a couple of businesses and some booths, and they can go find the badge at each location, bring it back to us, and they get entered to win two wristbands to the carnival," Kinder said. National Night Out for Ritzville was held Tuesday evening and featured support from East Adams Rural Hospital, Ritzville Fire Department and Ritzville Police Department. "I think it went really well," said Ritzville Police Chief Mike Suniga. "Got to meet a lot of great citizens and we had a really good turnout for our movie night afterward." Ritzville's event features a free showing of the movie National treasure along with hot dogs grilled by Suniga and freshly popped popcorn. There were also activities such as ladder ball and bean bag toss that people could play or stop and check out the vehicles brought by the emergency service departments. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This was Suniga's first time hosting the event after taking over as chief in April and many first responder's first time participating in National Night Out in Ritzville. "This was my first time ever doing it or even hearing of it," said Officer Brandon Beckgemeiner with Ritzville PD. "(Suniga) has done it a couple of times with other departments he used to be with. He explained it to us it's just a cool time to hang out in the park with the community, say hi to people and give people some dinner with hotdogs and popcorn." Beckgemeiner said a small police department such as the one in Ritzville strives to do constant community outreach within the city during their day-to-day patrol, but an event such as this provides a more casual setting for the officers to sit down and interact with members in the community. This was also the first year attending National Night out for paramedic Sara Bayless with East Adams Rural Hospital. She said she enjoyed seeing the children at the event explore the firetrucks and ambulances and that it was important to get them more comfortable with first responders. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Sometimes the lights, the sirens, they can be scary and we're not always showing up at good times," said Bayless. "So, the more comfortable they can get with us in easy times, makes it easier when we run calls." The Ritzville Library was present with activities for online safety and information for upcoming events hosted by the library. Millie Hopkins, the director of the library, said the event was a good opportunity for her to go and meet the people of the community while also promoting what the library has to offer. The event also had support from Adams County officials and officers from Odessa Police department. Suniga said Ritzville will also be supporting Odessa's National Night Out on Aug. 20. For next year's event Suniga said he would also like to incorporate an "ice cream social" aspect and get more law enforcement partners involved. "It was great to see the community just embracing the National Night Out and just getting out there, meeting their neighbors, and having a good community event," he said. AUSTIN (KXAN) On Saturday, Bastrop County will host its third annual county health fair, hosted by the Bastrop Chamber of Commerce. The event lasts from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Bastrop Convention and Exhibit Center. According to the press release, the health fair will offer free health screenings, CPR certification, community wellness resources, and family-friendly fun for all ages. This years fair will feature a PHI Air Medical helicopter fly-in, The Big Pink Bus mobile mammography unit, We Are Blood donation station, free child I.D. fingerprinting kits, and a mascot parade at 1 p.m., as well as a variety of food trucks. 2025 Bastrop County Health Fair (KXAN photo/Christian Rodriguez-Panesso) 2025 Bastrop County Health Fair (KXAN photo/Christian Rodriguez-Panesso) 2025 Bastrop County Health Fair (KXAN photo/Christian Rodriguez-Panesso) 2025 Bastrop County Health Fair (KXAN photo/Christian Rodriguez-Panesso) 2025 Bastrop County Health Fair (KXAN photo/Christian Rodriguez-Panesso) 2025 Bastrop County Health Fair (KXAN photo/Christian Rodriguez-Panesso) 2025 Bastrop County Health Fair (KXAN photo/Christian Rodriguez-Panesso) The Bastrop Chamber of Commerce said the health fair was created to promote preventive care and healthy lifestyles, as well as give access to local health services. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Last year, the county said more than 600 residents attended, with over $10,000 back to the community in free services, according to the press release. 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. Nuclear weapons are back. This week, Moscow announced that it would no longer abide by the once hugely significant Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. Last week, President Donald Trump announced that he had moved nuclear submarines towards Russia. From growing stockpiles in China and North Korea, to growing cooperation between the UK and France, the direction of travel is clear. As Japan marks the 80th anniversary of the devastating atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Venetia talks to Dr Sidharth Kaushal, a senior fellow in military sciences at the Royal United Services Institute in London. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Whats driving this new nuclear arms race? Which country will be the next to go nuclear? And is there an argument that it actually makes the world safer? Listen to Battle Lines using the audio player in this article or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or your favourite podcast app. 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. (KRON) A Bay Area man was formally charged with stealing $216,000 worth of rare and historical Chinese manuscripts from a university library in Los Angeles County, the U.S. Attorneys Office announced Thursday. The suspect, 38-year-old Jeffrey Ying of Fremont, faces a felony charge for stealing major artwork. If convicted, Ying faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison. From December 2024 to July 2025, Ying stole the rare manuscripts from the universitys library, the U.S. Attorneys Office said, citing an affidavit in the case. Ying rented the manuscripts, brought them home for days at a time, then returned a dummy manuscript instead of the authentic one. He typically then traveled to and from China within several days of the thefts. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Manager at South Bay horse ranch charged with animal cruelty: DA An investigation began when the university library noticed that several rare Chinese manuscripts were missing. The university determined that the books were last viewed by a visitor using the name Alan Fujimori. Due to the rarity and value of the books, they are not in regular circulation in the library and must be reserved and checked out, the U.S. Attorneys Office said. Law enforcement searched Yings Brentwood hotel room and found blank manuscripts and paperwork in the style and manner of the books that Ying had checked out from the university. Law enforcement also found pre-made labels known as asset tags associated with the same manuscripts that could be used to create dummy books to return to the library in place of the original books. Video: Police remove rattlesnake from Walnut Creek kitchen Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The federal prosecutors did not say what university was targeted by the thefts. However, they noted that the UCLA Police Department is aiding in the investigation. Ying was arrested on Monday. During his arrest investigators allegedly found a fraudulent California ID with the name of Austin Chen. They also found two library cards using the names Austin Chen and Jason Wang. All suspects are presumed innocent until proven guilty. 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. Tourists in one beach town could now be hit with some steep fines if they don't abide by the resort town's new dress code. Authorities in the French beach town of Les Sables dOlonne, located in the Vendee region on Frances Atlantic coast, have announced fines of up to 150 euros ($175) for anyone found to be walking around topless or in their swimsuits anywhere other than on the beach. The town's mayor, Yannick Moreau, announced the new dress code in a post on Facebook last month, calling out what he described as "indecent behavior." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "This is indecent behavior that has a vicious tendency to develop summer after summer," he wrote in his post on Facebook. "So it's time to remind it clearly: it's forbidden to walk around naked or in a swimsuit at Sables d'Olonne." "A little outfit, please!" he added. In his social media post, Moreau shared an image of a poster announcing the fine, alongside the tagline In Les Sables dOlonne, respect doesnt go on holiday. Moreau explained that the fines are out of respect for the residents as well as to promote good hygiene in public spaces. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "It's a matter of respect for the Sablais people who don't want us to walk around half-naked at home," Moreau wrote in his post. "It's also a basic public hygiene rule in our markets, our shops, our streets." "We stick to our life frame and I asked our Municipal Police Officers to enforce this rule," he added. Moreau reminded everyone that they are still free to wear their swimsuits on the beach. "To flatter your chest and your most beautiful swimsuit at the Sables d'Olonne: 11 km of beaches are at your disposal," he wrote. "Enjoy it, in compliance with the rules and traditions of our resort." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement So next time you find yourself on the coast of France, be sure to check to make sure your attire is appropriate. Beach Town Issues Dress Code For Tourists With Heavy Fines first appeared on Men's Journal on Aug 6, 2025 I dont think [a rebate] would be particularly good policy, Alex Durante, senior economist at the Tax Foundation, told CNBC. I would prefer that the revenue was used for deficit reduction rather than just cutting checks to people. While a rebate check might sound appealing, critics argue that the money could be better used elsewhere particularly to reduce Americas growing debt burden. The press release also noted that U.S. tariff revenue hit nearly $30 billion in June and several forecasts suggest it could surpass $150 billion for the year. However, the benefit phases out for higher earners joint filers with an adjusted gross income over $150,000 and single filers earning more than $75,000 would receive a reduced amount. According to Hawleys press release, the bill would provide rebate checks of at least $600 per adult and dependent child (e.g. $2,400 for a family of four). If tariff revenue exceeds projections for 2025, the bill could allow for a larger credit per person. So, how much money are we talking about and who would qualify? To be fair, Trump also said the big thing we want to do is pay down debt but added that a little rebate for people of a certain income level might be very nice. Trump himself is open to the idea. Asked at the White House about a possible rebate for Americans from tariff revenue, he told reporters: Were thinking about that. We have so much money coming in, were thinking about a little rebate. Like President Trump proposed, my legislation would allow hard-working Americans to benefit from the wealth that Trumps tariffs are returning to this country, Hawley said in a statement. Robert Kiyosaki warns of a 'Greater Depression' coming to the US with millions of Americans going poor. But he says these 2 'easy-money' assets will bring in great wealth . How to get in now I'm 49 years old and have nothing saved for retirement what should I do? Don't panic. Here are 6 of the easiest ways you can catch up (and fast) Thanks to Jeff Bezos, you can now become a landlord for as little as $100 and no, you don't have to deal with tenants or fix freezers. Here's how Thats exactly what Senator Josh Hawley is proposing. On Monday, he introduced the American Worker Rebate Act of 2025 a bill that would send rebate checks to working Americans, funded by revenue from President Donald Trumps tariff policies. How would you feel about getting a $600 check from Uncle Sam? Moneywise and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue through links in the content below. Story Continues Others warn the checks could add fuel to inflation an issue still lingering after the pandemic-era stimulus measures. People will go out and spend some of that money and that would further put upward pressure on prices and probably magnify inflationary effects, said Joseph Rosenberg, senior fellow at the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center. Hawleys rebate checks are still just an idea but you dont have to wait for Washington to act to receive a financial boost. Savvy investors have long created their own passive income streams. Here are two simple ways to get started. Stay in the know. Join 200,000+ readers and get the best of Moneywise sent straight to your inbox every week for free. Subscribe now. Dividend stocks Dividends are payments companies make to shareholders from their earnings, typically on a quarterly basis. Investing in dividend-paying companies allows you to generate passive income without selling your shares and it can be surprisingly satisfying. As John D. Rockefeller, one of the richest Americans in history, once said, Do you know the only thing that gives me pleasure? Its to see my dividends coming in. While stock prices can rise and fall, companies with a strong track record of paying and growing dividends offer investors a steady cash flow. Over time, those increases can compound into a powerful income stream. If youd rather not pick individual stocks, dividend-focused exchange-traded funds (ETFs) offer a simple alternative. These funds hold a basket of dividend-paying companies, providing instant diversification across industries. Many also offer automatic reinvestment, allowing investors to compound their returns over time without lifting a finger. The beauty of ETF investing is its accessibility anyone, regardless of wealth, can take advantage of it. Even small amounts can grow over time with tools like Acorns, a popular app that automatically invests your spare change. Signing up for Acorns takes just minutes: link your cards and Acorns will round up each purchase to the nearest dollar, investing the difference your spare change into a diversified portfolio. With Acorns, you can invest in a dividend ETF with as little as $5 and, if you sign up today, Acorns will add a $20 bonus to help you begin your investment journey. Real estate Real estate is another popular way to generate recurring income. When you own a rental property and tenants pay rent, you earn a steady monthly cash flow. Its also a popular hedge against inflation, as property values and rental income tend to rise alongside the cost of living. However, while real estate investing has clear benefits, being a landlord comes with challenges and barriers to entry. Managing a property involves finding and screening tenants, collecting rent and handling maintenance and repair requests (out of your own pocket) and thats assuming you can save enough for a downpayment and get a mortgage to buy the property in the first place. The good news? These days, you dont need to buy a property outright to reap the benefits of real estate investing. Crowdfunding platforms like Arrived offer an easier way to get exposure to this income-generating asset class. Backed by world class investors like Jeff Bezos, Arrived allows you to invest in shares of rental homes with as little as $100, all without the hassle of mowing lawns, fixing leaky faucets or handling difficult tenants. The process is simple: browse a curated selection of homes that have been vetted for their appreciation and income potential. Once you find a property you like, select the number of shares youd like to purchase and then sit back as you start receiving any positive rental income distributions from your investment. Another option is First National Realty Partners (FNRP), which allows accredited investors to diversify their portfolio through grocery-anchored commercial properties without taking on the responsibilities of being a landlord. With a minimum investment of $50,000, investors can own a share of properties leased by national brands like Whole Foods, Kroger and Walmart, which provide essential goods to their communities. Thanks to Triple Net (NNN) leases, accredited investors are able to invest in these properties without worrying about tenant costs cutting into their potential returns. Simply answer a few questions including how much you would like to invest to start browsing their full list of available properties. What to read next This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind. Originally appeared on E! Online This news is beyond. For anyone whos been missing the ability go to one location for all your bedroom, bathroom and miscellaneous needs since Bed Bath & Beyond closed its doors after filing for bankruptcy in 2023, theres good news. The store is coming back. But this time, its greeting customers with a new name that promises even more: Bed Bath & Beyond Home. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Thats right, the stores new moniker spells out all that was already available in the brands original iteration, including supplies for the bedroom, bathroom and all the other locales in your home. Now, however, it will be written out as a promise on the stores facade. The first Bed Bath & Beyond Home opened its sliding doors in Nashville, Tennessee, on Aug. 8, with a number of perks for the first customers. Not only were the first 25 patrons be given an epic freebieThe Beyond Bed, a premium 10" memory foam queen size mattress, regularly valued at $226.99but all those walking through the door will be handed a beloved Bed Bath & Beyond staple: a coupon. But wait, theres more. More from E! Online Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Not only is Bed Bath & Beyond Home handing out new coupons, but it also promised to honor any old coupons from the original chain that foresighted customers may have been holding onto over the years. In fact, the company wrote, We encourage guests to bring in their legacy Bed Bath & Beyond coupons. PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images The news of the stores return was announced in a July press release from the Brand House Collective, the stores parent company. The company heralded the news as a bigger and better version of the beloved franchise which hasnt had a brick-and-mortar location since 2023. "We're proud to reintroduce one of retail's most iconic names with the launch of Bed Bath & Beyond Home, beautifully reimagined for how families gather at home today," The Brand House Collective CEO Amy Sullivan said in the release. "This isn't just a store, it's a fresh start for a brand that means something special to so many families. She continued, With Bed Bath & Beyond Home we're delivering on our mission to offer great brands, for any budget, in every room. It's a powerful addition to our portfolio and a meaningful step forward in our transformation." For the latest breaking news updates, click here to download the E! News App NEW BEDFORD, Mass. (WPRI) New Bedford residents came out in full force Thursday evening to express their concerns with a proposed waste transfer facility. The New Bedford Board of Health has been considering whether to approve the proposed facility, which would process up to 1,500 tons of solid waste each day within the citys industrial park. The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection green-lighted the project back in July. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But not everyone is on board with the idea. New Bedford residents took turns urging the board not to sign off on the proposal. The proposed facility would be located on Duchaine Boulevard, which is roughly 600 feet away from the nearest neighborhood. The question now before the Board of Health is not whether it meets criteria, but whether it is safe, resident Wendy Morrill said. The proposed facility would be owned and operated by South Coast Renewables, formerly known as Parallel Products. Though there would be about 200 vehicles coming and going from the facility each day, South Coast Renewables emphasized that it would fill a need in the state. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Several residents argued that the proposed facility would negatively impact their health, safety and quality of life. We need to stop using New Bedford as a dumping ground, resident Michael McHugh added. The Conservation Law Foundation is representing the residents who oppose the project, which several New Bedford City Councilors are also against. There are many industrial or remote locations better suited for a waste facility, New Bedford Councilor Naomi Carney said, adding that placing it near a school, senior housing and neighborhood is a dangerous and shortsighted decision. New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell is also wary of the proposal. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement From the outset, Mayor Mitchell has made it clear that adding another municipal waste facility in the business park is not in the citys best interest, Mitchells spokesperson, Jonathan Darling, said in a statement. Darling said that, since the facility has already been approved at the state level, the city has no choice but to allow it to move forward. The city made the best of this difficult situation by agreeing not to oppose the project in exchange for the company removing a biosolids facility from its proposal, paying significant tipping fees to the city that would support infrastructure projects in Ward 1, and a guarantee that the city would receive the lowest available price for disposing its trash at the facility, Darling explained. The Board of Health will be hosting another public hearing regarding the proposed facility on Aug. 26. Those who cant attend but want their voices to be heard have until that meeting to submit written comment. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Written comment can be submitted online through the Board of Healths Microsoft form or by mail: New Bedford Board of Health 1213 Purchase Street New Bedford, MA 02740 SEE ALSO: New Bedford condo proposal faces opposition despite developer revisions Download the WPRI 12 and Pinpoint Weather 12 apps to get breaking news and weather alerts. Watch 12 News Now on WPRI.com or with the new 12+ smart TV app. Follow us on social media: Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Daily Roundup 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 WPRI.com. Two days after she was a no-show for her own trial, alleged bee assailant Rebecca Rorie Woods was apprehended at a hotel in Tennessee Thursday evening, according to a spokesperson for the Hampden County Sheriffs Department. After hours of waiting for her to appear in Springfield District Court on Tuesday, a judge issued an arrest warrant the same day. The warrant was the result of her failure to appear for trial on multiple charges stemming from an October 2022 incident in Longmeadow, when members of law enforcement said she ambushed with live beehives while they were executing an eviction. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On Oct. 12, 2022, Woods arrived in a vehicle hauling the beehives, removed the lids and agitated the bees causing them to swarm and sting deputies and bystanders, authorities said. Some of those stung were allergic, and one Sheriffs Office employee was hospitalized. Wearing a beekeeper suit, she is accused of bringing another hive toward the home before being taken into custody. Woods faces four counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, three counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, and one count of disorderly conduct. Following her arraignment in Tennessee, extradition proceedings will begin to return her to Massachusetts to face trial. More Western Mass. Content Read the original article on MassLive. TALLINN, Estonia (AP) A Belarusian journalist was convicted of treason and revealing state secrets and was sentenced to 10 years in prison after a closed trial, a media group said Friday, the eve of the fifth anniversary of a disputed election that kept authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko in power and unleashed mass protests. Danil Palianski, who worked for several independent news agencies, was sentenced on July 25, but the trial's outcome was only revealed Friday by the Belarusian Association of Journalists. In addition to the prison sentence, Palianski was fined the equivalent of about $7,000. Belarus has already become the black hole of Europe, where people are judged for words and thoughts, said BAJ leader Andrei Bastunets. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Palianski, who was detained in September, is one of 37 journalists behind bars in Belarus. His jailing is part of a sustained crackdown on government critics after unprecedented mass protests following Lukashenko's disputed election on Aug. 9, 2020. Human rights groups say authorities have arrested more than 65,000 people, and hundreds of thousands more have fled the country in fear of persecution. There are about 1,187 political prisoners in Belarus, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate and peace activist Ales Bialiatski, according to the human rights group Viasna, which he founded. Self-proclaimed Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko has said that Russia has never asked Belarus to directly join the war against Ukraine, fearing it could prompt a NATO response. Source: Lukashenko in an interview with Time, the full text of which was released on the Belarusian presidential website Details: Lukashenko claimed that Belarus's involvement in active combat would have had very different political and military consequences. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Russia fully understands and we understand even more that if we openly join this war, it will create more problems. Russia knows how difficult it would be for us to hold that border, especially since we wouldnt be fighting only Ukrainians. It would trigger the deployment of NATO troops in Ukraine," he said. In his opinion, large numbers of foreign soldiers Germans, French, British, and others would arrive in Ukraine under the guise of volunteers. "We would have to fight NATO troops here. Were fully aware of this. On top of that, missiles would be launched against Belarus. Thats very close. We understand that and so do the Russians," Lukashenko said. He added that this issue is not even being discussed with the Russian leadership. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "By the way, the [former] CIA director, Mr Burns, came to visit us. I told him directly: were not going to fight or cross the border, but we are helping the Russians here. His main question was whether Belarus might get drawn into the war, whether wed cross the border, and so on. I told him: Look, we havent even had that kind of conversation with Russia," the Belarusian leader claimed. Background: Recently, Lukashenko once again called on the European Union to abandon confrontation and cooperate with Russia. On 26 June, Lukashenko publicly reflected on the reasons why Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan refused to visit Belarus for the summit of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon! The Brief Families of the victims suspect foul play and are urging authorities to investigate further, as they find the circumstances of the deaths suspicious and too similar. The investigation into Phat Tan Bui's death is ongoing, but the Georgia Bureau of Investigation maintains that the Lewis twins died by suicide after a thorough review. The families are advocating for an independent investigation into the deaths on Bell Mountain, seeking answers and resolution beyond the current official findings. Two families in Gwinnett County are pleading for answers after the deaths of three loved ones on Bell Mountain in Towns County, all ruled suicides by authorities but regarded with suspicion by those closest to the victims. Bell Mountain deaths The backstory The Georgia Bureau of Investigation determined that 19-year-old twins Qaadir and Naazir Lewis died by double suicide in March after their bodies were found atop Bell Mountain. Last week, the body of 38-year-old Phat Tan Bui was discovered in the same location. His death has also been classified as an apparent suicide. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement All three victims lived in Gwinnett County at the time of their deaths. Families of Lewis twins, Bui discuss deaths What they're saying Family members of both the Lewis twins and Bui say they believe foul play is involved and are urging authorities to take a deeper look. "My nephews were found deceased on top of Bell Mountain, and now the news about Phat Tan Bui was very shocking," said Samira Brawner, aunt of the twins. "It feels like it just happened all over again. You know, how did he end up like that? It just feels like the same exact situation as my nephews." Brawner said both college students were thriving and had no known issues that might explain suicide. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The families now find themselves connected in grief and suspicion. "It's like a nightmare all over again, and it's just too similar to my nephews," Bronner said. Cuong Bui, the brother of Phat Tan Bui, said his brother was a generous and well-known figure in the local skateboarding community. "He was a very caring person. He would give the shirt off his back to another person. That's just the type of person he is, willing to help regardless of the situation," Bui said. Buis frustration with the official investigation has grown since learning of the prior deaths in the same location. Qaadir and Naazir Lewis (FOX 5 Atlanta obtained permission from the rights holder) "Personally, to me, I don't feel like the GBI is doing what is necessary or needs to be done," he said. "I would want another bureau to step in to get it resolved if possible, because I don't want another suicide, which I know he would not have done." What we don't know The GBI's investigation into Buis death is ongoing. However, officials continue to stand by their previous ruling that the Lewis brothers died by suicide after an extensive review. What's next The families are now calling for an independent investigation into the cases. The Source Samira Brawner, aunt of Qaadir and Naazir Lewis, and Cuong Bui, the brother of Phat Tan Bui, spoke with FOX 5's Deidra Dukes for this article. Additional details were provided by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Previous FOX 5 Atlanta reports were also used. ASHEBORO, N.C. (WGHP) The North Carolina Zoo just named an interim director to lead the zoo while they search for Pat Simmons permanent replacement. Simmons passed away last month after a five-year battle with cancer. In this weeks Zoo Filez, FOX8s Shannon Smith shares the lasting legacy she leaves behind. 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. When a violent brawl erupted at Fourth and Elm streets in downtown Cincinnati on July 26, our city needed leadership. What we got from U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno was political theater. On July 31, Moreno went on Fox News and used the incident to threaten Cincinnatis federal funding. Instead of offering help to the people he was elected to represent including the many Cincinnatians who voted for him he blamed city leaders, accused them of failing to protect civil rights, and gave them a one-month ultimatum to come up with a plan or risk losing federal dollars. More: Cincinnati can charge parents for their kids' curfew violations. But the city doesn't Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Im going to call on federal agencies to review the funding that we provide Cincinnati," Moreno said. Im giving the leaders of Cincinnati one month to come up with a plan for them to protect the civil rights for their citizens." Mayor Aftab Pureval called Morenos comments "political theater." Hes right. This is not the kind of leadership Cincinnatians or Ohioans should expect in a moment of crisis. Moreno chose to feed partisan appetites rather than work toward solutions. Cincinnati needs leaders, not grandstanders Sen. Bernie Moreno said he hopes to name Ohio legislation to increase minimum sentencing after Holly, the woman who was knocked unconcious during a fight in downtown Cincinnati. Contrast Morenos approach with that of Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, a seasoned Republican statesman. DeWine didnt insult or threaten city leaders. He offered the help of the Ohio State Highway Patrol and spoke about the strong working relationship hes had with Cincinnati officials in the past. In a room full of politicians reacting to the fight, DeWine has been the only grown-up. Morenos tactics didnt make anyone safer. They deepened divisions and distracted from the urgent work of improving public safety. When Moreno met with city leaders on Aug. 6, he admitted, that meeting started a little rough, but it ended in a pretty good place. What weve committed to do is work together. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement More: 'Defend my city': Cincinnatians use social media to counter national narrative Good. Thats how it should have started in the first place. Instead of politicizing the fight by calling for FBI investigations and taking cheap shots, Moreno should focus on helping his constituents. This is a total travesty. Im not going to put up with it. Ohio deserves better. Cincinnati certainly does too, Moreno said of the brawl. We agree, Senator. Cincinnati does deserve better from all its leaders, including you. That means less grandstanding and more problem-solving. Our city needs leaders with serious solutions who genuinely care about our community, not political opportunists chasing headlines. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Opinion and Engagement Editor Kevin S. Aldridge writes this on behalf of The Enquirer's editorial board, which includes Editor Beryl Love and Senior News Director of Content Jackie Borchardt. Editorials are fact-based assessments of issues that are important to the communities we serve. These are not the opinions of our reporting staff members, who strive for neutrality in their reporting. This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Moreno's political theater doesn't make Cincinnati safer | Editorial BERTIE COUNTY, N.C. (WNCT) Two individuals were arrested in Bertie County after a narcotics search warrant was executed on Pine Street in Lewiston/Woodville. The Bertie County Sheriffs Office Special Operations/CID Divisions concluded a several-month-long investigation into the illegal sale of narcotics. The target of the investigation, Thomas Bishop Jr. of Lewiston, was located inside the residence and taken into custody without incident. 40 grams of cocaine, 19 grams of marijuana, and two firearms were seized as a result of the search warrant. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Bishop, a convicted felon, was charged with trafficking cocaine, possession of a firearm by a felon, and maintaining a dwelling for the sale of a controlled substance. 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 WNCT. All of a sudden, what those of us that are very involved in the TikTok deal are hearing, Canada says, Wait a second. If it goes dark in the US lights out in Canada, then you're over in Europe. Other countries say, Well, wait a minute. It must be spyware if the U.S. shut it off, just like India did. And slowly but surely, that market cap is being chiseled at one country at a time. The real risk, he argued, lies in what happens next. OLeary noted that TikToks U.S. business represents about 8.4% of ByteDances market cap not enough on its own to cause panic. So what I think is going to happen now is [TikTok] will probably go dark on September 17, he predicted. OLeary said he initially believed Trump might delay the decision again but he now sees the situation differently. Many of the lawmakers who wrote this anti-spyware law are done. Theyre done, he said. Midnight, September 17, OLeary said. Thats the date TikToks Chinese parent company, ByteDance, must divest its U.S. operations. If it doesnt, the platform faces a full ban. OLeary revealed hes among a group of investors syndicating a bid to acquire the U.S. assets of TikTok, calling the deal complicated with many moving parts. But one thing isnt moving: the deadline. He pointed out that negotiations with China are more delicate because of how Xi operates and that the TikTok situation is just one example of how fraught things have become. I was going to make one observation regarding negotiating with Xi, which is unique to every other country, OLeary said during a recent appearance on Fox Business. Xi and I know Trump would not do this to him would never submit himself to the rotisserie chicken White House press conference. Never. Thats never going to happen. Robert Kiyosaki warns of a 'Greater Depression' coming to the US with millions of Americans going poor. But he says these 2 'easy-money' assets will bring in great wealth . How to get in now I'm 49 years old and have nothing saved for retirement what should I do? Don't panic. Here are 6 of the easiest ways you can catch up (and fast) Thanks to Jeff Bezos, you can now become a landlord for as little as $100 and no, you don't have to deal with tenants or fix freezers. Here's how But its not just trade thats in focus. Non-trade issues like the fate of online video platform TikTok are also grabbing headlines. And Shark Tank star Kevin OLeary has a stark warning for investors watching the drama unfold. The U.S.-China trade talks in Stockholm have caught the attention of investors around the world. Any shift in the relationship between the worlds two largest economies has the potential to send shockwaves through global markets. Moneywise and Yahoo Finance LLC may earn commission or revenue through links in the content below. Story Continues He called it a domino effect of market cap. And even beyond the international fallout, OLeary warned that once TikTok goes dark in the U.S., users and advertisers will flee dragging down the platforms valuation. Right now, OLeary and his syndicate have lined up $20 billion in debt and equity for the deal. But if the platform gets shut down? We could do more, but the minute it's dark, I don't know. Is it $20 billion anymore? Stay in the know. Join 200,000+ readers and get the best of Moneywise sent straight to your inbox every week for free. Subscribe now. The implications are serious for ByteDance shareholders. But according to OLeary, it wont move the needle for Chinas top leader. Do you think Xi gives a boop about $20 billion? He doesnt give a boop about $20 billion Its such a rounding error. OLeary said. All shareholders are waking up to this, all investors. But it's not Trump that's holding the TikTok deal up it's Xi. And the more I watch this, the more I realize he doesn't give a rodents rear end. The lesson, OLeary says, isnt limited to TikTok its a wake-up call for anyone considering investing in Chinese companies. Youve got to think about that going forward, when you're putting together an international fund, how much of these Chinese golden share companies do I [want to own]? I'm not going to own any, he said. OLearys warning underscores a broader concern: rising geopolitical risks and unpredictable trade tensions can rattle even the biggest names in global business. For investors, that uncertainty is a powerful reminder of the need to hedge their portfolios and protect their wealth from shocks that can ripple across borders. A safe haven shines again In turbulent times, investors often seek out assets that can weather the storm. One that continues to stand out, according to legendary hedge fund manager Ray Dalio, is gold. People don't have, typically, an adequate amount of gold in their portfolio, Dalio told CNBC earlier this year. When bad times come, gold is a very effective diversifier. Long seen as the ultimate safe haven, gold isnt tied to any single country, currency or economy. It cant be printed out of thin air like fiat money and in times of economic turmoil or geopolitical uncertainty, investors tend to pile in driving up its value. Over the past 12 months, gold prices have surged more than 35%. One way to invest in gold that also provides significant tax advantages is to open a gold IRA with the help of Priority Gold. Gold IRAs allow investors to hold physical gold or gold-related assets within a retirement account, thereby combining the tax advantages of an IRA with the protective benefits of investing in gold, making it an option for those looking to help shield their retirement funds against economic uncertainties. When you make a qualifying purchase with Priority Gold, you can receive up to $10,000 in precious metals for free. A time-tested income play If gold is the go-to hedge for moments of chaos, real estate is the long game. While property values can fluctuate just like stocks real estate doesnt rely on a booming market to generate returns. Even in a recession, high quality, essential properties keep generating passive income through rent. In other words, you dont have to wait for prices to rise to see a payoff the asset itself can work for you. Legendary investor Warren Buffett has often pointed to real estate as a prime example of a productive, income-generating asset. In 2022, Buffett stated that if you offered him 1% of all the apartment houses in the country for $25 billion, he would write you a check. Of course, you dont need billions or even to buy an entire property to benefit from real estate investing. Crowdfunding platforms like Arrived offer an easier way to get exposure to this income-generating asset class. Backed by world class investors like Jeff Bezos, Arrived allows you to invest in shares of rental homes with as little as $100, all without the hassle of mowing lawns, fixing leaky faucets or handling difficult tenants. The process is simple: browse a curated selection of homes that have been vetted for their appreciation and income potential. Once you find a property you like, select the number of shares youd like to purchase and then sit back as you start receiving any positive rental income distributions from your investment. Another option is First National Realty Partners (FNRP), which allows accredited investors to diversify their portfolio through grocery-anchored commercial properties without taking on the responsibilities of being a landlord. With a minimum investment of $50,000, investors can own a share of properties leased by national brands like Whole Foods, Kroger and Walmart, which provide essential goods to their communities. Thanks to Triple Net (NNN) leases, accredited investors are able to invest in these properties without worrying about tenant costs cutting into their potential returns. Simply answer a few questions including how much you would like to invest to start browsing their full list of available properties. What to read next This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind. An art and community space in East Garfield Park has been transformed into an immersive exhibit showcasing the life of displaced Gazans. Hung around the small studio are photographs of little children sitting in rubble and ruin, a father securing his familys tent with sand, a group of young men playing beach volleyball along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Gaza in the photos of Palestinian photojournalist and filmmaker Ismail Abu Hatab is more than destruction and despair. Its not just war and rubble and bombing theres life, too, said Matt Perry, a Chicago organizer for ByPa, a nonprofit platform founded by Abu Hatab that seeks to redefine the Palestinian narrative through art. Perry worked closely with the photojournalist to bring Between Sky and Sea to life at Walls Turned Sideways. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The exhibit, which opened in July, has been in the works for several months. But the planning took on a new dimension after June 30, when an Israeli airstrike on the seaside Al-Baqa Cafe killed Abu Hatab. We were no longer just collaborating with him or even working for him, we became guardians and stewards of his work and of his vision, said Perry. Those large photos obviously werent easy to print or achieve, nor were they cheap. Specifically, the one of the boy jumping into the ocean I just felt like it had to be done as big as possible. Abu Hatab took that photo from the direct vantage point of Al-Baqa Cafe near the port in Gaza City. In the foreground, theres a hazy cloud of smoke. A young man dressed only in a pair of rolled-up sweats, arms spread out mid-air, gleefully jumps into the sea. The exhibit staff plays an audio accompaniment to supplement the viewing experience. The thud of drones is quickly washed over by the crashing of waves calm and restoring. People chatter, kids laugh, seagulls screech and birds chirp. A drone strikes again. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Each individual story on there takes on a totally different mood, Perry said about the impact of the audio. One thing I was looking at with joy at one time, minutes later its suddenly this very, dreadful type of sadness. The ambient sound was Abu Hatabs idea, said Sarah Ross, co-director and founder of Walls Turned Sideways. The sounds are just as loud from inside the large tent in the center of the Walls Turned Sideways space, meant for attendees to step inside and walk through. Under tattered fabrics held up by two rods are worn-out sheets, stuffed animal toys, empty crates turned into a dining table, a makeshift stove and a helium balloon cylinder, which Ross said represents a gas tank. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The tent represents the living conditions of thousands who have been displaced from their homes following the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on southern Israel, after which the Israeli military unleashed a heavy response. Ross, who was hanging a battery-operated camping lantern inside the tent on a recent Friday afternoon, said the collaborators were given a detailed list of items to procure. Related Articles There was no part of that that didnt come from Ismails original design, Perry added. I actually thought that the tent part would be the toughest, how do you actually recreate it, but when you look at the photos he provided versus what we ended up doing, it does evoke those feelings. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Perry lives in Chicago and first connected with Abu Hatab online through friends who were involved in Palestinian activism in Germany. They met Abu Hatabs brother, Ahmad, when he was in Germany and unable to return to Gaza. Perry got closer to the group around the end of 2023, when an entire wall collapsed on Ismail Abu Hatab after an airstrike struck his office building. Perry helped him and his family with medical bills and expenses as they moved into one of the remaining apartments in Gaza City. He remained in touch, corresponding via Instagram and WhatsApp. From there, it really took on a deeper level (Ismail) said to me, I have a new brother now,' said Perry. Perry said Abu Hatab asked for help in bringing his exhibit idea to Chicago. He said working on the project gave Abu Hatab some hope. But not long after the exhibit launched in Los Angeles, Abu Hatab was killed. Ghada Hamwi, co-founder of ByPa and one of Abu Hatabs closest friends, said the day of his death was unimaginable. Through tears over a recent Zoom call, Hamwi and Abu Hatabs brother, Ahmad, said they are still in a state of trauma. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We want to continue his dream, because he deserves to be seen all over the world, Hamwi said, with Ahmad adding that his mother asked him to work hard to bring attention to Ismails work. We promised Ismail that hes not going to be a number. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, more than 60,000 Palestinians have been killed during the war and around 90% of the population has been displaced. Experts say Gaza has been at risk of famine for months. Most of Ismail Abu Hatabs photos and video footage in the Between Sky and Sea exhibit were taken between the summer of 2024 and early 2025. A picture cannot actually stop (Israel) what matters is theres a lot of spiritual devastation that comes with it and anybody attuned to this is going to feel very dispirited and nihilistic, Perry said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But if theres any value to art, he said, its to revitalize the spirit. People need to be able to look at that photo of the young boy jumping in the ocean and feel irrespective of what else has happened that there are kids in Gaza who will grow up and see a new day. The exhibit runs noon to 5 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays until Aug. 23 at Walls Turned Sideways, 2717 W. Madison St., free, more information at wallsturnedsideways.org Update SUMMIT COUNTY, Utah (ABC4) The Interagency Incident Management Team has provided new information regarding the Beulah Fire. The wildfire, first reported Thursday morning, Aug. 7, is burning on the north slope of the High Uintas Wilderness on the Evanston-Mountain View Ranger District. The fire is reportedly located 7.5 miles southeast of the Bear River Ranger Station on Highway 150. There are critical fire weather conditions in effect for August 8th, Friday afternoons incident update states. The area is experiencing high winds and very low relative humidity. Fuel conditions are at critically low levels. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Firefighters reportedly saw erratic and extreme fire behavior on Thursday. The Summit County Sheriffs Office has evacuated campers in the East Fork of the Bear River, Mill Creek, and the West Fork of the Blacks Fork areas. Firefighter and public safety are the number one priority, the update states. Approximately, 140 people are working on the fire with resources engaged in full suppression activities. Today, crews will be focused on structure protection in the Hinkley Boy Scout Camp and mapping the fire perimeter. Challenges to firefighters include steep rocky terrain, accessing the fire, and fire weakened and standing dead trees. No further information is available at this time. Original Story SUMMIT COUNTY, Utah (ABC4) In the 24 hours since the Beulah Fire sparked in Summit County, it has expanded to burn an estimated 1,400 acres. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Officials tell ABC4.com that campers near the East Fork of the Bear River, as well as the Millcreek area and the west side of the Black Fork area, have all been evacuated. About 140 firefighters are battling the blaze with more on the way. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Utah Fire Info first reported the Beulah Fire just after noon on Thursday, Aug. 7. Officials described the fire as rapidly spreading, and said it had burned more than 300 acres in just under an hour. Its not uncommon to see rapid fire growth like this given the fuel conditions, which are extremely dry, explained Toby Weed, a spokesperson for the Northern Utah Interagency Management Team. Thats the case pretty much across the area right now. Extremely dry fuel conditions and wind and very dry weather conspiring to make it possible for this fire to blow up. For public safety, the North Slope Road at the West Fork of the Blacks Fork, the East Fork of the Bear River and Mill Creek was closed. Elizabeth Ridge and Elizabeth Pass roads were also closed. Please avoid the area and allow emergency crews to work safely, Utah Fire Info said in an update. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As of Friday, Aug. 8, Weed said there are no structures that are being threatened at this time, but crews are continuing to assess the situation, and depending on fire behavior, some structures could be impacted. ABC4 will continue to monitor the Beulah Fire and will provide updates as they become available. Latest headlines: 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. KAMAS A fire that prompted the evacuation of campers in the High Uintas wilderness on Thursday continues to grow, while crews battling the states largest fire say theyre bracing for potential impacts tied to shifting winds in Utahs forecast. The Beulah Fire has now burned approximately 1,400 acres of land within Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest, as of midday Friday, said U.S. Forest Service spokesman Toby Weed. It wasnt immediately clear if firefighters had gained any containment of the fire, which broke out about 3 to 4 miles east of Manorlands, a community near Mirror Lake Highway. A Type 3 firefighting team from the state has taken over command of the fire after crews from Summit County and Uinta County, Wyoming, initially responded. State firefighters reported that structures were threatened after the fire started, but Summit County officials said that was no longer the case by Thursday night. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Campers were strongly advised to evacuate because of how quickly the fire was burning, said Derek Siddoway, a spokesman for Summit County. Wind gusts of up to 50 mph were reported in the area on Thursday, which helped fan the flames. The U.S. Forest Service closed North Slope Road at the West Fork of the Blacks Fork River, the East Fork of the Bear River, and Mill Creek, as well as Elizabeth Ridge and Elizabeth Pass. People are still advised to avoid the area while crews battle the fire. New fire restrictions also went into effect Friday across the entire Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest landscape. The Perry Fire, which also broke out on Forest Service land on Thursday, has now burned about 10 acres in Box Elder County. State and federal firefighters say the fire is visible from I-15, but theyre encouraging people not to report it because crews are already on scene. How wind changes could affect Monroe Canyon Fire Meanwhile, crews battling the states largest fire this year are bracing for a shift in weather patterns that could impact how the fire is burning in central Utah. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A dry cold front passing through northern Utah on Friday is keeping temperatures cooler across the northern half. Its also shifting wind patterns, pushing winds from the northwest instead of the west and southwest. Cooler air will make its way to the central and southern parts of the state over the weekend, resulting in similar wind changes, said KSL meteorologist Matt Johnson. Firefighters battling the Monroe Canyon Fire in Sevier County say theyre planning for the wind shifts, which will test different areas on the fire. Its expected to help push the western and northern ends of the fire into itself, but could present challenges along the southern end of the fire. Thats why crews are focusing their attention on bolstering fire lines along that section. On the southern flanks of the fire, crews have been working around the clock to finish multiple layers of line construction, including handlines, dozer lines and retardant lines ahead of this wind shift, Great Basin Complex Incident Management Team No. 5 officials wrote in an update Friday. The fire has now burned 67,267 acres since it began on July 13, growing nowhere as quickly this week as it did last week. Containment has also increased to 19% after falling as low as 4% at the end of last week. Over 1,350 personnel are assigned to battling the fire. BEXLEY, Ohio (WCMH) Theres a new spin on a free pantry to help neighbors in need access fresh food. Last week, the City of Bexley introduced its first freedge, a shed outfitted with a refrigerator and freezer offering produce, frozen meals, ice cream, and other items that cant be placed in a free pantry. Bexleys Sustainability Programs Coordinator, Elizabeth Ellman, said not only will it help those facing food insecurity, but it will also cut down on food waste. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Fresh food is so important to help people get their nutrients but its also something that we have an abundance of in our community that might not otherwise be eaten, Ellman said. Food waste is a horrible problem in our country and throughout the world, and likewise, there are so many people in our community who dont have enough to eat. The freedge is funded through the Bexley Community Foundation and the non-profit organization No Child Goes Hungry. They are looking for donations to keep it operational. Anyone interested can schedule a time to drop off food or make a monetary donation. For more information, click here. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) Where once stood an Irish gift shop on Phillips Avenue is now a Mexican restaurant that just hit one year in business. Bibisol first welcomed in hungry guests on July 19, 2024, and since then has caught the eyes of a nationally recognized culinary foundation and local tastes. It was kind of unbelievable to us that we have been able to accomplish so much just in the first year, Salas said. Summer heat returns to KELOLAND Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Marcela Salas is one of the owners of Bibisol and says shes honored to carry on the tradition of this space by sharing her heritage with Sioux Falls. Really cool to just like follow in the footsteps of the Murphys, bringing that cultural richness to downtown, Salas said. Irish now Mexican. Last summer the restaurant held its grand opening. However, that wasnt the first time Salas has shared her creations. She also owns Salas Salsas with her mom Patricia Burbine thats been in business since 2020. I love to show the people different foods because in Mexico its different. North Mexico to south Mexico is totally different, its not only the same food, Burbine said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The two never thought making salsa at home would eventually turn into a full blown restaurant. This is my dream, Burbine said. Were so grateful that people have supported us and welcomed us into this community. We cant see ourselves anywhere else, Salas said. Within the year, Bibisol was recognized as a semifinalist for the James Beard Foundation, which is highly regarded in the culinary community. Its really cool to be able to be recognized for what weve done so far to me and to, you know, my family, Salas said. Im just impressed by their work ethic every day, to be honest, co-owner of Bibisol, Chris Nelson, said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Nelson and Salas are married. He says he had a different idea of what Mexican food was before they met. A lot of times its expected with like huge portions and for very cheap free chips and salsa. But we make our salsa fresh every day and everything is made to order. Its all of our homemade ingredients. Im very proud of what theyre able to put together, Nelson said. Salas says part of what makes the food unique is a traditional process called nixtamalization used to make the tortillas. Every night we cook them in an alkaline solution, allow them to soak overnight, and then we grind it via volcanic stone grinder. So the masa that we get from that process is what we use to hand-make all of our tortillas, our sopes, empanadas and tostadas, Salas said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A process that customers can taste. Its really consistent and theres not really anywhere that Im familiar with that you can get made-from-scratch fresh Mexican food. Its just always a really high quality, customer Ethan Olson said. And over the last 12 months has reflected on its impact in the community. What I found to be most fun over the years is just, people coming in and having a good experience, Nelson said. Help people understand that just like American food, theres so many different facets to Mexican food, Salas said. The people make me happy when I see a smile and they say hey the food is amazing, that is a precious present for me, Burbine said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement One physical symbol of growth comes in the shape of a banana tree at the center of the dining room. Nelson bought it more than five years ago. They noticed it recently sprouted a special surprise. To have it start to produce little bananas is something that wed never seen before, but we kind of took it as a sign of celebrating our nuptials and celebrating kind of all the love thats been poured into Bibisol and our one year as well, Salas said. Salas and Nelson married in June. The family hopes to continue cooking up new flavors for its customers. Bibisol says its currently planting its own corn to harvest and make into tortillas. It says one goal is make farm to table tortillas to sell to the public. Earlier this year, Bibisol also won the new business of the year award given by Downtown Sioux Falls. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. Former President Joe Biden's campaign team allegedly opted against a Super Bowl interview last year because of special counsel Robert Hur's report, Fox News Digital has learned. A source familiar with Anita Dunn's interview with the House Oversight Committee told Fox News Digital the report, in which Hur described Biden as "well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory," factored into Biden breaking with the decades-old tradition. But a source close to Dunn told Fox News Digital she said Biden's team decided against doing a Super Bowl interview last year because it thought the main coverage would be about what he did with classified records and not about the presidents policy decisions. The source claimed the choice was made before Hur's report was released. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Dunn sat with House investigators for just over five hours Thursday as Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., probes allegations that Biden's inner circle worked to conceal evidence of mental decline in the former president. Far-left Firebrand Says She 'Never Had A Concern' About Biden's Mental State As House Probe Heats Up Special Counsel Robert Hur's report on Biden played a role in his team's decision to skip a Super Bowl interview. The source familiar with her interview said Dunn also told committee staff that Bidens inner circle came to a consensus he should not take a cognitive test, concluding it would offer no political benefit. Read On The Fox News App It comes two days after Fox News Digital was told that ex-deputy White House chief of staff Bruce Reed, who met with House investigators Tuesday, said Biden's White House physician Kevin O'Connor called cognitive tests "meaningless." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The source close to Dunn said Thursday that Biden's team believed he would be able to pass a cognitive test, even if they saw no political benefit in one. Dunn also told investigators she was not aware of Biden's stutter, which he's said he dealt with all his life, until media coverage of it in 2020, the first source said. Longtime Biden Aide Says He Stood To Earn Up To $8M Had President Won Re-election "She went on to blame the media for pushing the narrative that President Biden was old," the source said. The practice of pre-Super Bowl interviews began with former President George W. Bush opting to sit for an interview before the big game in 2004 and has followed by both former President Barack Obama and President Donald Trump, though Trump also skipped out on a Super Bowl interview in 2019. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Biden sat for Super Bowl interviews in 2021 and 2022, but did not in 2023 and 2024. Anita Dunn, a former senior advisor to President Joe Biden, and other staff members stand without protective face masks in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington May 13, 2021. In 2023, talks about a pre-Super Bowl interview fell through with Fox Corp. Hur's report was released publicly Feb. 8, 2024. The Super Bowl was played Feb. 11 that year. Hur was appointed special counsel by former Attorney General Merrick Garland in 2023 to investigate whether Biden mishandled classified documents. Hur "uncovered evidence that President Biden willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice-presidency when he was a private citizen" but said it did not "establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Given that Biden "would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory," Hur said, "it would be difficult to convince a jury that they should convict him by then a former president well into his eighties of a serious felony that requires a mental state of willfulness." Ron Klain Dodges Reporters After Marathon Grilling In Biden Cover-up Probe Dunn is the tenth ex-Biden administration official to appear before the House Oversight Committee. In addition to investigating the alleged cover-up, Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., is looking into whether decisions were approved via autopen without the former president's knowledge. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Of particular interest to Comer is the myriad of clemency orders Biden signed in the latter half of his presidency, though the former president told The New York Times last month he was behind every decision. L-R: Ian Sams, former special assistant to the president and senior advisor in the White House Counsels Office; Andrew Bates, former deputy assistant to the president and senior deputy press secretary; former White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre; and Jeff Zients, former White House chief of staff, are expected to sit down with House Oversight Committee investigators behind closed doors. Dunn, like most who appeared before her, defended Biden's mental acuity to committee investigators. "The president made it clear that decisions rested with him, and White House staff brought issues to him for him to decide," Dunn said in her opening statement, obtained by Fox News Digital. "I believed strongly then, and I believe just as strongly today, that Joe Biden was an effective president who accomplished many important things for the American people." A spokesperson for the House Oversight Committee criticized Dunn after the statement came out in the media, however. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Its no surprise Anita Dunn is telling the American people not to believe their own eyes, claiming Joe Biden was sharp and fully engaged. This opening statement, leaked to media before Ms. Dunn even delivered it, is yet another example of the absurd lengths Biden loyalists will go to defend his failed presidency," the spokesperson told Fox News Digital. Fox News Digital also reached out to a representative for Biden and to Dunn's counsel for comment. Original article source: Biden camp skipped Super Bowl interview amid Robert Hur report concerns: source The Big Balls trend on X (formerly Twitter) emerged after a former Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) employee was assaulted in Washington, D.C. The late teens workplace nickname, Big Balls, subsequently became a viral hashtag as users discussed the attack. Why is Big Balls trending on Twitter? Former DOGE employee Edward Coristine, whose LinkedIn handle helped him get the nickname Big Balls, faced an assault during an attempted carjacking in Washington, D.C. The news of the attack led to social media users discussing the assault on Big Balls. As per D.C. police, ten minors tried to take the car of the former DOGE employee while beating him. The Metropolitan Police Department revealed that Coristine was with a woman during the early hours of Sunday when a group of minors approached him. Coristine wanted to ensure the safety of his companion first before dealing with the intruders when they came close (via New York Post). Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement At that point, for her safety, [Coristine] pushed his significant other into the vehicle and turned to deal with the suspects, the police report said. However, the suspects then began to assault [Coristine]. Police who were in the area noticed the commotion. When the officers exited their vehicle to approach Coristines car, the juveniles began fleeing on foot. So far, DC police have caught two minors. Coristine has identified the teenagers as his attackers. Both the teens, a fifteen-year-old male and female, were later arrested. They face the charge for unarmed carjacking. President Donald Trump posted a photo of Coristine on August 5, speaking of the attack. He wrote on Truth Social, Crime in Washington, D.C., is totally out of control. Local youths and gang members, some only 14, 15, and 16 years old, are randomly attacking, mugging, maiming, and shooting innocent Citizens. He further said, They are not afraid of Law Enforcement because they know nothing ever happens to them, but its going to happen now! Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trump asserted that laws regarding minors need to change. He argued that minors should face prosecution as adults, and authorities should lock them up for a long time, starting at age 14. He added, Washington, D.C., must be safe, clean, and beautiful for all Americans and, importantly, for the World to see. The post Big Balls Trends as DOGE Employee Assault Goes Viral appeared first on Mandatory. HAWAII, Hawaii (KHON2) Animal advocacy groups estimate there may be up to 50,000 stray cats roaming the Big Island. Some say its becoming a public safety issue and causing problems with endangered species. So the Hawaii County Council passed a controversial bill to help stop the growing problem. 21 native birds found dead in East Honolulu over weekend Stray cats are a becoming problem across the state. How to deal with the issue is up for debate. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement There is an overpopulation issue, said Sylvia Dolena of Aloha Animal Advocates. However, the way you handle that is not by starving the cats and have them all spread out and go after birds. The heaviness of the topic is shared by other advocates. It is a very emotional and tough subject, said Jordan Lerma, nene.org executive director. No one, you know, wanted to introduce a bill for feral animals, and its not very popular in any of the counties in the state. To try and deal with the issue on the Big Island, councilmembers just passed Bill 51 which makes it illegal to feed feral animals including cats on county property. Penalty would be a $50 fine for the first violation, and up to a $500 fine any time after. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It criminalizes the seniors, mostly seniors who are out there working really hard, Dolena said. Theyre trapping, theyre spaying and neutering, theyre returning, they cannot take all of those cats home, so they feed them on rotation, and they use their own money. Get Hawaiis latest morning news delivered to your inbox, sign up for News 2 You Those in favor of the bill say its to help protect the public from contracting diseases associated with feral cats, and also to protect endangered species like nene. State officials say one nene died last year because of toxoplasmosis, an infection spread in cat feces. If free-roaming cats dont have a human food source, the cats arent going to vanish, they are going to survive, said Steph Kendrick, Hawaiian Humane Society director of community engagement. Cats are survivors. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Animal advocacy groups say there is a difference between feral cats and animals who live in the wild, versus abandoned cats who are homeless. And they say other strategies, like TNRM, which stands for trap, neuter, return and manage, would better help the population issue. The version that they passed allows no exceptions for TNRM, even if the county wanted to approve such a project, which we think is terribly short-sighted and counterproductive if youre concerned about managing free-roaming cats, Kendrick said. Download the free KHON2 app for iOS or Android to stay informed on the latest news Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement For some, TNRM is not the magic spell to fix the environmental issue. Releasing cats back to protected habitats, to sensitive habitats, these cats are sterilized, but they can still cause harm, Lerma said. They still poop. They can still spread disease. They can still hunt. Both sides do agree on one thing theres no silver bullet. I dont think one bill is going to solve the problem, Lerma said. I think this is going to take a joint effort between the county and the state and the community to be able to address the animal, the free ranging animal problem. The bill now goes to Mayor Kimo Alameda for his approval. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. ROANOKE, Va. (WFXR) August is National Fishing Month, and WFXRs George Noleff says theres no better way to celebrate than to get out and catch some Big Ol Fish! Ryan Adkins landed a Giant Carp in Peak Creek. Brian Markhan netted a trophy Walleye on a trip to Lake Erie. Mark Kish got artsy with his submission, a black-and-white photo of him fishing for Steelhead Trout on the Rocky River in Ohio. You can send your pictures or videos to GNOLEFF@WFXRTV.COM Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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 WFXRtv. Earlier this week, Fox News anchor Bill Hemmer found himself inside Gaza, near the Egyptian border and the town or Rafah, or what used to be Rafah. That town has been reduced to rubble, there is very little if anything, that stands of Rafah today, Hemmer said in a report for his program Tuesday. More from The Hollywood Reporter Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Hemmer, the co-anchor of Americas Newsroom alongside Dana Perino, was embedded with an aid group, staffed by former U.S. special forces, and supported by IDF snipers, who were delivering food inside Gaza, with Hemmer noting the hunger facing the Palestinians they encountered, and acknowledging the limited window they had into what was happening there. This morning, we only saw a small part of this war, a small part of Gaza, a small part of this story. And one day does not make the entire story for this ongoing war, he told Perino. On Thursday, he made international news in an interview with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who replied we intend to when Hemmer asked whether Israel would take control of the entire Gaza strip. Hemmer also pressed the Prime Minister about allowing independent press to report from inside Gaza. A week or so earlier, however, Hemmer was dodging tourists and office workers (as well as a few stray climate change protestors) on the Avenue of the Americas in midtown Manhattan, explaining to The Hollywood Reporter his approach to delivering the news. In the cable news world, we want to take people to a fair representation of what is happening at that minute, Hemmer says. So when Im walking into the studio with Dana, I want to take the rundown, and throw it out the window. I want the audience to know that something is happening, were on top of it. You stay with us, and well take you through it. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It is an approach that can be traced back to his first day at Fox News, 20 years ago this month. A veteran of local TV, Hemmer had subsequently joined CNN as an anchor and correspondent, but he left the channel to join Fox, which had emerged by then as the clear ratings leader in cable news. He had a start date set, but began his new job a few days early to help the channel cover Hurricane Katrina, which was about to make landfall in New Orleans. I remember my boss at the time, Bill Shine, called me up and said, Hemmer, how about starting tonight?' the anchor recalls. It was a transformative moment for Hemmer, who was not only covering one of the biggest news stories of that decade, but ingrained in him a skill that helps explain why he (and for that matter Fox News writ large) has been so successful in retaining its audience: The ability to keep the story going, in real-time, on-air. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I think radio hosts have that ability. I think sportscasters have that ability by the way, I started in sports, and maybe thats a little bit ingrained in me but my colleagues have the ability to take just a little bit of information and expand on it, keep it on TV, it allows us to keep the story on the screen for a longer period of time, and the net effect is we can reach reporters, we can reach officials, Hemmer says. And it is a skill that still appears to be in vogue, even as the media landscape has shifted so vastly over the past 20 years, with social media platforms TikTok-ifying news content in to smaller and smaller bites. Well, if thats our competition, we have to be as fast as they are, Hemmer says, acknowledging that he has had to adapt accordingly: Im still old school. I still need to print things out, I need to highlight. I need to write questions in the columns and come back on the stuff I am consuming. I am tactile. A recent episode of Americas Newsroom underscored how Fox has reacted to that threat. Hemmer and co-host Dana Perino deftly weaved between a flurry of stories, from the silly (delivery robots in Los Angeles! A kitten in the New York City subway!) to the substantive (an update on the midtown Manhattan shooter, a segment about President Bidens pardons). Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement And along the way Hemmer and Perino helped the show make news: They hosted the CEO of the Tunnel to Towers Foundation in the studio, where he pledged to cover living expenses and education costs for the family of NYPD Officer Didarul Islam, who was killed in the midtown shooting. And they grilled Senate Majority Leader John Thune in a live interview, using comments that President Trump said in a press gaggle aboard Air Force One to press the Senator on confirming judges, and whether further sanctions on Russia were coming. We felt that was a way to make news on a story that hasnt been talked about a lot. Hes the Senate Majority Leader, so he would know, Hemmer says. Its incumbent upon me to know the story, to know it as well as I possibly can. And if something is said thats not making sense, follow up. The pace of Americas Newsroom bears little resemblance to the headline driven news carousels of cable news programs of yore. Alongside the news and newsmaking interviews were segments more focused on commentary, bringing a taste of Fox News primetime to the dayside hours, another sign of how the format has changed over the years. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Mark Levin, the conservative radio host and Fox News weekend host, appeared to promote his new book On Power, though it turned into something closer to an extended commentary on Israel, Gaza, and media criticism (I know Im filibustering here, Levin says at one point). And the segment ending the broadcast featured comedian and Fox News Saturday Night host Jimmy Failla and Fox Business host Brian Brenberg in studio for something closer to a two-hander, with the pair trading quips about Rep. Jasmine Crockett and Hunter Biden. I think the audience is expecting you sometimes to be assertive and sometimes to kick back in the chair, Hemmer says. With the majority leader, you want to catch every word. But if youre going to do lighter topics and have your colleagues join you for a lighter moment, give them that stage. The job of the anchor, Hemmer says, has changed. Sometimes you need to be on it, pressing a guest, and sometimes you need to take a step back and set up what comes next. When do you want to be assertive, and when do you want to be some orchestra conductor, and just tee up the instruments, he explains. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Of course, a big part of the job is still reacting: Reacting to the news, to what is said, and to what your gut instinct tells you. As any casual or avid viewer of cable news will tell you, President Trump seems to understand that dynamic better than anyone. Trump is a constant presence on cable news, answering questions while signing executive orders in the Oval Office, or holding extended press gaggles on the White House lawn or aboard Air Force One. The result is a constantly moving news cycle, often driven by his comments. Hemmer, for one, is always listening. He can be a moving target on so many issues. But if you listen, you can find the nuggets and you can you can tell whether or not he has moved himself on a particular issue, Hemmer says, noting that his comments on hunger in Gaza were a good example, disagreeing with Netanyahu about the scale of the problem. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Hemmer, of course, saw it firsthand a week later. Cable news remains a cutthroat business, and the best anchors and executives are acutely aware of their competition, not just the other channels, but the other places consumers are turning for news and information. Stories like the famine in Gaza and the fight between Israel and Hamas in many ways underscore that, with photos and videos ricocheting across social media at a speed that when Hemmer was covering Katrina would seem impossible to comprehend. Hemmer, for his part, keeps tabs on it all. Would I love for a 22-year-old to tell me that theyre watching cable news 24/7? Absolutely. But their habits change, and they can scroll for hours, and I admit that Instagram has gotten really good, he says with a smile, adding that he likes to keep tabs on whats happening so that it can inform his coverage. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement When he is anchoring Americas Newsroom, there is a panel in sight that has live feeds of all the other news channels, allowing Hemmer and Perino to see what stories everyone else are covering at that moment. Im a child of cable news. I watch a lot. I watch us, I watch the competition, I watch the financial channels, he says. I think its a good way to understand what the conversation is, in order to funnel the direction for what you think is important for that moment. Now, it could change in an hour. Could change in the day, for sure probably change within a week. And that interest extends to the larger news business, where he seems hopeful that the disruption facing TV can be managed, as painful as it might be, even if he wont claim to be the one to have all the answers. In a world with looming AI disruption that moves at social media speed, maybe there will be a benefit to moving just a little bit slower, and actually reporting from the places where the news is happening. I think the big brands will always have a home, Hemmer says. Fox is always going to be a force, as are other news brands. CNN, NBC, ABC, theyre not going out of business. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As far as adjusting to the changing landscape, we think about that a lot, he adds. Not to sound pollyannish, but I think in the end, everythings gonna be okay. Best of The Hollywood Reporter Sign up for THR's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. By Akash Sriram (Reuters) -Lyft's quarterly revenue miss overshadowed an upbeat gross bookings forecast for the September-quarter on Wednesday, as the ride-hailing services provider expands into Europe and forges new partnerships. Larger rival Uber Technologies, which offers ride-hailing, food and grocery delivery globally, beat revenue estimates and issued an upbeat forecast for the third-quarter earlier in the day. Lyft's shares were down 5.5% in after-hours trading. "Investors are likely selling off because it is growing far slower than Uber, owns less of the ride-share market, and is far less aggressive in grabbing a piece of the robotaxi market which will eventually dominate the space," said Andrew Rocco, stock strategist at Zacks Investment Research. Lyft recently completed its nearly $200 million acquisition of European mobility platform FreeNow and has signed a deal with China's Baidu to introduce the search-engine giant's robotaxis in the region. The company posted revenue of $1.59 billion in the second quarter, missing estimates of $1.61 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG. The 10.6% rise in revenue was slower than the 18.8% at which Uber's ride-hailing unit grew in the same period. Still, Lyft reported earnings of 10 cents per share for the June quarter, more than double analysts' expectations of 4 cents, driven by stronger adoption of higher-margin premium ride-hailing services. Rides on its platform grew 14% to a record high of 234.8 million, slightly below estimates of 235.9 million, according to 27 analysts polled by Visible Alpha. The company on Wednesday also announced a partnership, set to launch later this year, with United Airlines that will allow the carrier's customers to earn rewards on all Lyft rides. With partnerships including DoorDash and Chase already in place, Lyft's entry into Europe positions the company to extend such collaborations into international markets. Lyft said it expects gross bookings to be between $4.65 billion and $4.80 billion for the third quarter, well above estimates of $4.59 billion. The company recorded an adjusted core earnings of $129.4 million in the second quarter, above the average estimate of $124.5 million. (Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila) A Qatari billionaire is facing backlash after acquiring land in Patagonia, Noticias Ambientales reported. Environmental groups, Indigenous communities, and online critics have expressed their disapproval with the purchase. Abdulhadi Mana Al-Hajri, brother-in-law to the emir of Qatar, quietly purchased the 10,000 hectares of land near Bariloche, Argentina, to build a luxury mountain retreat and hydroelectric facility. Photo Credit: Reddit Al-Hajri is developing three private hydroelectric power plants in the Meseta Baguales area through his firm, Baguales Acquisitions. These stations, with a combined capacity of 920 kilowatts, will exclusively power a private residence and the Baguales Mountain Reserve, a ski resort that will charge guests upward of $1,500 per night. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This project has all the signs of greenwashing. Greenwashing is the practice of exploiting renewable energy to justify luxury and privatization. Environmentalists warn that the development threatens the Villegas River basin and fragile native forests, capitalizing on the image of sustainability while reinforcing inequity and land concentration. Al-Hajri, like many billionaires and large corporations before him, seems to be attempting to profit from an environmentally conscious framing of his purchase. Even more troubling, local Indigenous communities were never consulted despite laws requiring prior, informed consent for projects on their ancestral lands. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to Mongabay, the Mapuche people are organizing trawunes, or traditional gatherings, to resist this and other land and water grabs. "They always take the productive places," said Mario Martin, president of the Fofocahuel community. "And we're left with 70 meters of riverfront for 15 kilometers of community." Do you think billionaires spend their money wisely? Definitely No way Some do Most do Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. 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. Former Rep. Billy Long (R-Mo.) is being replaced as commissioner of the IRS less than two months after he was confirmed by the Senate, a White House official confirmed to The Hill. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will lead the agency on an acting basis, the official confirmed. Long is expected to be nominated to an ambassadorship. It is a honor to serve my friend President Trump and I am excited to take on my new role as the ambassador to Iceland, Long said in a statement provided by the White House. I am thrilled to answer his call to service and deeply committed to advancing his bold agenda. Exciting times ahead! Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Long was confirmed in June in a 53-44 party-line vote, with all Democrats voting in opposition to his confirmation. Long is a strong ally of President Trump, but he drew criticism from Democrats for his lack of experience and background with tax policy. The New York Times first reported on Longs exit. Trump has overseen a sweeping purge of the staff at the IRS, as he and other Republicans had regularly criticized spending in legislation during the Biden administration that allowed for the hiring of thousands of additional workers to crackdown on tax cheats to collect more revenue for the government. The National Taxpayer Advocates midyear report found that the IRSs taxpayer services division was expected to lose roughly 22 percent of its workforce. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Long was the fifth person to lead the IRS since the start of Trumps second term in January. Four others served on an acting basis. Senate Democrats launched an inquiry last December into Long, shortly after he was first nominated for the position, over his promotion of a pandemic-era tax credit that has been riddled with fraudulent claims. Long served in Congress from 2011-23, and at one time sponsored legislation to abolish the IRS. He previously worked as an auctioneer and real estate broker. The IRS referred questions to the Treasury Department, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Updated at 4:39 p.m. EDT. 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. As part of Operation Robocall Roundup, the attorneys general are demanding that voice service providers stop allowing illegal robocalls to be routed through telecom networks (Photo by Getty Images) Democratic and Republican attorneys general have launched a multistate effort to crack down on nuisance phone calls from automated recordings. As part of Operation Robocall Roundup, the attorneys general are sending warning letters to 37 voice service providers, which transmit the calls, demanding they stop illegal robocalls from being routed through telecom networks. They also sent letters to nearly 100 downstream providers that accept call traffic from those other providers to inform them that they are doing business with bad actors. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Who isnt fed up with scam calls!? We all get them multiple times daily. Enough is enough, New Jersey Attorney General Matt Platkin said Thursday. Our bipartisan coalition is cracking down on telecom companies enabling scammers to flood us with junk calls. Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey in a statement said the warning letters are the first step in holding those businesses accountable to prevent would-be scammers from using state networks. According to Feys office, the notified voice providers have not complied with Federal Communications Commission rules about responding to traceback requests nor have they registered in the robocall mitigation databases. The providers also have not filed a plan to reduce illegal robocalls on their network. By disregarding these simple rules, these companies are allowing robocallers onto their phone networks and then passing their calls on to other downstream providers until they reach the phones of Maine people, the office said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement These efforts from the 51 attorneys general, including the District of Columbia, are part of the anti-robocall litigation task force that formed in 2022. The task force investigates and takes legal action against companies responsible for significant volumes of illegal and fraudulent robocalls across the country. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) The Birmingham Public Library is inviting the public to see a new art exhibition on Friday, August 8. From 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m., the BPL will host a reception for an art exhibit called An Alabama Song by Tara Stallworth Lee. Lee pays tribute to Alabamas vibrant cultural legacy. The subjects of her portraits include local legends such as Hurricane Elaine Hudson, Sun Ra, and more. The opening will be held at the Central Library downtown. The exhibition runs through Oct. 2 in the First Floor Gallery. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. A woman who poisoned 11 husbands to death over a 22-year period is facing execution in Iran. Kolsum Akbari, 56, systematically married elderly men before murdering them with diabetes drugs and industrial alcohol to inherit their property and dowries. The killings went undetected for more than two decades due to victims appearing to die of natural causes because of their advanced age and existing health conditions. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Akbari confessed to the killings and she is awaiting sentencing, with victims family members calling for her execution. The killings began in 2000 and continued until 2023, when the death of her final victim, 82-year-old Gholamreza Babaei, led to her arrest. Babaeis son became suspicious after a family friend revealed his own father had previously been married to a woman named Kolsum who had tried to poison him. The family recognised her as Babaeis most recent wife and contacted police. During interrogation, Akbari confessed to the murders, though she gave conflicting accounts as to the number of victims. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I dont know how many I killed. Maybe it was 13 or 15 people. I dont remember exactly, she said. Credit: IRNA Akbari first married at the age of 18 in what relatives described as a brief and unsuccessful union with a man suffering from mental health problems. Her second marriage was to a much older man with children from a previous marriage. She lived with him in a northern village for years while reportedly suffering repeated beatings from her husband and stepsons. After his death, Akbari would attend womens gatherings and express interest in marrying elderly, lonely men. She would gain access to potential victims through their daughters acquaintances and after confirming their financial status, she would agree to marriage with high dowries. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement She then gradually poisoned victims with combinations of blood pressure medications, diabetes drugs, sedatives and in some cases industrial alcohol. When drugs alone proved insufficient, she would suffocate victims with pillows and towels. The murders happened across multiple cities in northern Mazandaran province, including Sari, Neka, Mahmoudabad, Babol and Qaemshahr. Geographic distribution The geographic distribution helped prevent authorities from connecting the deaths for years. Among the confirmed victims were Mirahmad Omrani, 69, who died a month after their marriage in 2013, Esmail Bakhshi, 62, who died two months after their 2016 wedding, and Ganjali Hamzei, 83, who died 43 days after marrying. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement One man, Masih Nemati, survived Akbaris poisoning attempt in 2020 after drinking contaminated syrup. He expelled her from his home but did not file a police complaint. At Wednesdays hearing in the Sari revolutionary court, families of four victims demanded Akbaris execution under Islamic law. The case involves more than 45 plaintiffs, including direct heirs and relatives of dead family members. Akbari initially denied the charges but confessed to the killings when crime scene reconstruction footage was played in court. Her lawyer argued for a mental health evaluation, but plaintiffs rejected the claim. Property and dowries Such a skilful plan that deceived many prominent families cannot be the work of an insane person, one family member said, mentioning the sophisticated drug combinations and careful planning involved. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The indictment includes 11 counts of premeditated murder and one count of attempted murder. Akbari typically transferred inherited property and dowries to her daughters name, prosecutors said. The case has become a cultural phenomenon in Iran, spawning jokes among couples and inspiring a popular state television series that aired during Persian New Year holidays to name a character after her. While the show did not explicitly reference Akbari, Iranian audiences understood the connection and generated additional satirical content about the case. Victims families expressed frustration that the case has become fodder for social media jokes. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This incident was difficult and terrifying for us because the victims of this crime were our fathers, a family member of one victim said. Now instead of witnessing swift justice and a thorough investigation of this case, we are seeing jokes that deepen our grief. The court will deliver its verdict after hearing from all plaintiffs in the case. 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. Gender-affirming care is not against the law in Pennsylvania. So why have staff at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center been told they could go to jail for providing it? As of June 30, at UPMC, one of the states largest hospital systems, young trans people can no longer be prescribed hormone therapy and puberty blockers, nor are they able to access gender-affirming surgeries. The health care workers who serve trans adolescents across UPMC are angry and heartbroken, two behavioral health therapists at a UPMC center told me this week. If providers continued medical transition care for anyone under 19, Katherine Anderson and Kailey Andrew explained, management said they could be charged with a felony, lose their medical licenses, and serve 10 years in prison. Even if therapists were to refer their clients to providers outside UPMC for gender-affirming care, Anderson said, management claimed that we could be charged with aiding and abetting a felony. Hospital workers were also told that if they were prosecuted, UPMC would not defend them, according to the two staffers. But when they repeatedly asked management what law they would be breaking, Anderson said, they were given really vague answers. Some weeks later, on July 25, the White House issued a strange and stomach-churning press release, taking credit for ending what the memo called child mutilation in the United States. For years, politicians have promised to end the barbaric, pseudoscientific practice, it proclaimed, but President Trump is the only one who has actually delivered. Thanks to Trump, the press release said, gender-affirming surgeries for youth were no longer offered at six hospitals and health centers. Trump also took credit for ending gender-affirming care entirely at 15 hospitals and health centers. By then, nearly 500 hundred UPMC staff had signed an open letter to hospital leadership, enraged that they were being asked to abandon their young trans patients and demanding that the hospital reverse its ban. The UPMC staff letter argued that directives such as Trumps January 28 executive order, Protecting Children From Chemical and Surgical Mutilation, as well as the attorney generals follow-up memo in April, are aimed at terrorizing medical institutions and providers, but they do not change any existing laws. Hospital higher-ups may say they are only trying to work within the law, but, as the staff letter emphasized, Gender affirming care is legal in Pennsylvania! Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The same is true of the other states where Trump has claimed credit for ending gender-affirming care at specialized adolescent programs: Arizona, California, Connecticut, Colorado, Illinois, New York, Virginia, Washington, and the District of Columbia. The decisions of hospitals in these states to deny care were not in response to any action by Congress, nor were they required by the recent Supreme Court decision on gender-affirming care, which will make it easier for states with bans to survive future legal challenges, while leaving the door open to further discrimination in health care. Why, then, in blue states and cities often presumed to be safer for trans kids, where parents might reasonably assume they would find some measure of protection from the Trump regime, are major hospitals refusing care? It is because, contrary to Trumps self-congratulatory claims, he has not ended gender-affirming care for young people; rather, hospital management, boards, and their legal advisers have ended it for him. The hospital system, for its part, insisted that its actions were warranted. A spokesperson for UPMC management told The New Republic this week, UPMC remains steadfast in our commitment to providing exceptional care for all patients. The Trump administrations actions, such as executive branch memos and subpoenas, the spokesperson went on, have made it abundantly clear that our clinicians can no longer provide certain types of gender-affirming care without risk of criminal prosecution. But the UPMC staffers I spoke to said that they believe the hospital has acted prematurely, endangering the young people they care for merely on the basis of threats from the administration. Ive had the experience of sitting with a trans teenager at an initial evaluation, and have them look me in the face and say, If I dont get access to gender-affirming care, I am going to kill myself, said Kailey Andrew, a behavioral health therapist at UPMCs Services for Teens at Risk, a program known as STAR, which serves adolescents who are experiencing suicidality, depression, and anxiety. Health care providers have understood for some years that, as multiple researchers have found, hormone therapy can decrease depression and suicidality among young trans people. They took pride, Andrew said, in being able to refer a young person to Adolescent Medicine at UPMC for care, to vouch for the people there, whom they could recommend because they work together closely. Now that the hospital has barred those providers from prescribing gender-affirming treatment, Andrew told me they didnt know, as a therapist, what their employer expected them to say to a trans teenager in crisis. But then they corrected themself; they knew exactly what kind of response was expected: Sorry, I dont know anything about that. Its illegal for me to share. In other words, Andrew would be expected to lie. And Im not willing to do that, they said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement There were early indications that hospitals would cave to Trump. Once he issued his anti-trans executive orders in January, major lawsuits followed, with legal experts pointing outas with all of Trumps executive ordersthat these decrees were not laws; some of them, such as those targeting trans people on the basis of their sex, were even violations of the law. Federal judges have asserted that Trumps anti-trans military ban screams animus and that his ban on gender-affirming care seems to deny that this population exists, or even has the right to exist. Still, as trans kids and advocates had predicted and feared, certain health care providers began complying with Trumps order in advance. Some trans kids were dropped from care months ago. In February, several thousand community members protested at NYU-Langone, demanding that hospital leadership restore medical transition care for adolescents. In April, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that the Justice Department would investigate providers of youth gender-affirming careby misusing a law against female genital mutilation. The Federal Trade Commission tried another tactic, reframing health care such as hormones and puberty blockersif offered to young trans peopleas fraud, and threatening their own investigations. Finally, last week, after months of such threats, the Department of Justice subpoenaed UPMCone of the more than twenty subpoenas the department said it has issued. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro joined a lawsuit challenging these subpoenas, filed August 1 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, alongside California, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, and Wisconsin. The lawsuit charges the Trump administration with targeting trans people relentlessly and unlawfully, refusing them longstanding, medically necessary, often lifesaving care. The administration has done this, the lawsuit continues, by intimidating providers with threats of civil and criminal prosecution. It adds, These threats have no basis in law. In fact, this intimidation has coerced hospitals and health care providers to potentially violate their states own antidiscrimination laws. At UPMC, staff were advised to preserve patient records, among other documents that could be responsive to the subpoena, according to an email obtained by The New Republic. (The UPMC legal staff listed as the senders of this email did not respond to a request to authenticate it before publication.) Staff were also told not to speak about the subpoena. We are treating the existence of this subpoena as confidential to reduce the potential impact on our patients and employees, wrote Mark Tamburri, UPMCs chief legal officer. In anticipation of potential future investigations and/or litigation, I am directing you to preserve materials beyond the scope of the current subpoena. Documents to be preserved included patient records, including identity, clinical indications, diagnoses, assessments, informed consent, patient intake, parent or guardian authorization, disclosure of off-label use, disclosure of potential risks, adverse events, side effects, or medically unfavorable consequences or outcomes, as well as diagnosis/ICD codes and use of those codes (e.g., for transsexualism, gender dysphoria, gender incongruence, gender identified disorder, or potential alternatives). Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In aggregate, these records amount to a huge quantity of sensitive information about the health of minors. UPMC Providers for Trans Justice, the emerging group behind the open letter, along with Pittsburgh Healthcare Workers and Scientists, a local group mobilizing for equitable health access, have since pushed back on what they fear is UMPCs willingness to hand over to the Trump administration minors protected health records. Shapiro is suing Trump and the DOJ partially because of this, said Katherine Anderson, who works with Kailey Andrew at STAR and also belongs to Providers for Trans Justice. Why not wait? The states own governor has said, in court filings, that providers have been intimidated out of providing lawful care, in part through these subpoenas; couldnt his assertion support UPMC in fighting the subpoena? Why not wait for that lawsuit and see how it goes? Anderson went on. Because our governor is actually standing up and doing something! (The UPMC spokesperson said that the hospital system will continue to provide essential behavioral health support and other necessary care within the bounds of the law while seeking to protect the confidentiality of the physician/patient relationship.) Providers for Trans Justice, Anderson and Andrew told me, plan to put pressure on UPMC higher-ups with a die-in, a direct action where protesters will symbolize with their own bodies the people who may die needlessly as the result of being denied gender-affirming care. The groups have been working with local organizations, such as ACT UP Pittsburgh and TransYOUniting, and members hope more hospitals and health care workers will join them. This is about trans kids, and our clients, and our community, and us as providers, Anderson said, but its also about large institutions like UPMC caving in to fascism. If major health care institutions are willing to let baseless threats end this care for a small population thats been politically marginalized, Anderson continued, and then hand over all of that vulnerable populations medical data without a fight, then none of us are safe. For now, that means health care workers must protect their patients and clients not only from Trump but from the leadership and the boards of the hospitals that ostensibly care for them. Former national security adviser John Bolton raised his eyebrows at the prospect of a meeting between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, casting doubt on the chance of a ceasefire. I think Putins going to try to take advantage of this one-on-one summit with Trump to advance his agenda, to put out a Russian peace plan, or ceasefire plan, in order to have Trump take it to [Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky] and see if Zelensky rejects it, Bolton said on NewsNations On Balance. Its posturing to see who can look like theyre more interested in peace, he told host Leland Vittert. I still think the parties are a long way apart. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trump has become increasingly frustrated with Russias ongoing war in Ukraine and has threatened to increase sanctions on Moscow and allies who buy its oil, including India, if a deal is not reached between the Eastern European nations. While the president originally gave Putin a 50-day deadline to agree to a ceasefire, he later shortened the time frame to Friday. The president has often raised the prospect of meeting with Putin, though its unclear when or where such a summit would take place. Whether Zelensky would attend is also an open question. Bolton on Thursday argued the Russian leader wanted the meeting to project an image of international legitimacy and to pull Trump back into his orbit. But he cast doubt on whether the president saw the full intricacies of the situation. Trump is getting into something he doesnt understand the gravity of. Hes precipitating this meeting because it will be great press, he said. I dont know where the meeting will be, but it will be surrounded by cameras and reporters. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Putin and Trump met six times during Trumps first term. Bolton said Trumps view was that he would be able to resolve tricky diplomatic situations so long as he had good personal relations with leaders of other countries. I think Trump is obviously displeased with Putin, but hes also been careful to say that hes not done with him yet that he still hopes somehow, that their friendship can be recreated, and like two good friends, they can resolve the war in Ukraine, the former Trump official told NewsNation. He still believes that fundamentally, international relations are the personal relations between heads of state, Bolton continued. And if he has a good personal relationship with a foreign leader, U.S. relations with that state are good. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He added, And that is a gross oversimplification. 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 Brief Santoria Latrice McLean was denied bond after being charged with vehicular homicide and reckless driving for a fatal crash that killed South Fulton Police Captain Helio Garcia. McLean's blood alcohol content was found to be 0.194, over twice the legal limit, and she was driving at 98 mph in a 45 mph zone at the time of the crash. The South Fulton Police Department and Garcia's family expressed the devastating impact of his loss, emphasizing his dedication as a public servant. ATLANTA - A judge has denied bond for Santoria Latrice McLean, the driver accused of killing South Fulton Police Captain Helio Garcia in an April head-on crash. The backstory McLean, 31, faces eight charges, including vehicular homicide and reckless driving, following the fatal collision on April 15. Investigators say McLean was driving at 98 miles per hour in a 45-miles-per-hour zone when she crossed the center line and collided head-on with Captain Garcia's cruiser. Garcia, 47, was on duty at the time of the crash. Santoria Latrice McLean (Credit: Fulton County Sheriff's Office) A blood test taken at the hospital revealed McLean's blood alcohol content to be 0.194, more than twice the legal limit. The state argued for McLean to remain without bond, and the judge agreed. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Garcia, a husband and father of three, was rushed to the hospital along with McLean, but he did not survive his injuries. McLean was arrested by the Georgia State Patrol and is currently being held in the Fulton County Jail. Lt. Helio Garcia was killed in a head-on crash on April 15, 2025. (South Fulton Police Department) What they're saying "She is a danger to the community and the people within it. She does have one prior felony conviction from Green County Superior Court. It was a possession of MDMA, which is a 2021 conviction. She finished that probation approximately four months before this event," prosecutor Adam Abbate told Fulton County Superior Court Judge Craig Schwall during Thursdays hearing. "The devastation that has caused, not only for the family and the police department's been devastating, Lieutenant Garcia gave his life not only for the officers that are here, but for all these people that are in the galley. He served as a, as a public servant for many, many years. There are so many resources that are available to people out there when they make the choice to drink and drive Ubers, Lyfts. Those choices were not made that night and the ultimate sacrifice that Captain Garcia faced by giving his life. Has been very hard for the agency and our community," South Fulton Police Lt. Helen Weathers told the court. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Garcia's father also spoke at the hearing. The officer's 16-year-old daughter wrote the court a letter describing the loss of her beloved father. Santoria Latrice McLean attends a bond hearing in a Fulton County courtroom on Aug. 7, 2025. (FOX 5) What we know Several members of the South Fulton Police Department attended the hearing to show support for Garcia's family. The department also requested that McLeans bond be revoked. What we don't know The investigation into the crash is ongoing, but authorities have not yet determined why McLean veered into oncoming traffic. What's next McLean will remain in jail until her next court appearance. The Source The Fulton County Superior Court records were the source for this article. Previous FOX 5 Atlanta reports were also used. The State Attorneys Office for Brevard County is seeking to revoke bond for Stephan Dieujuste, 24, who is charged with second-degree murder in the May 11 shooting death of 19-year-old Nathaniel Jennings in downtown Melbourne. Dieujuste was originally charged with manslaughter after he allegedly told police he shot Jennings in self-defense during a confrontation on Vernon Place, just south of East New Haven Avenue. Dieujuste remained at the scene and cooperated with law enforcement following the shooting. However, after reviewing surveillance video from a nearby business, prosecutors upgraded the charge to second-degree murder. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The footage, which captures the incident, shows Dieujuste drawing a handgun and firing multiple rounds. Prosecutors noted that Jennings was unarmed and never made physical contact with Dieujuste. Dieujuste has been out on bond since May 15. During a recent court hearing, prosecutors formally requested that his bond be revoked, citing the severity of the updated charge. A judge is expected to make a decision next week. If convicted of second-degree murder, Dieujuste faces a possible life sentence. Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live. Attorney General Pam Bondis Department of Justice has dropped fraud charges against a former Republican lawmaker being represented by her brother, Brad Bondi. Former Florida House Rep. Carolina Amesty was facing up to 20 years in prison for two counts of theft of government property related to COVID-19 relief funds, ABC News reported. The charges were filed under the Biden administrations Justice Department in a criminal complaint in mid-January. However, Bradco-chair of the Investigations and White Collar Defense practice at Paul Hastingsclaimed in a Wednesday court filing that the investigation has been dropped. Carolina Amesty arrives at the federal court in downtown Orlando, Florida, with her attorney Brad Bondi. / Orlando Sentinel / TNS Brad wrote that he learned last month that the government had ceased its criminal investigation ... and withdrew its outstanding subpoenas. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He added, We understand that the government no longer plans to seek an indictment. ABC News reported that prosecutors with Bondis Justice Department followed in court papers asking the judge to dismiss the previous criminal complaint without prejudice. On the heels of the charges against her, Amesty, who served as a member of the Florida House of Representatives for Floridas 45th District from November 2022 to November 2024, accused the Biden administration of making her a political target. In the Biden administrations complaint, Amesty was accused of stealing or embezzling $122,000 of COVID-19 relief loans, WKMG reported. In a statement to ABC News, a Justice Department spokesperson insisted that Bondis relationship with her brother had no influence on the cases outcome. This decision was made through proper channels and the Attorney General had no role in it, they wrote. The Justice Department denied that Bondi had any role in the decision. / Kayla Bartkowski / Getty Images DOJ spokesperson Gates McGavick echoed that sentiment in a statement to the Daily Beast. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Adding in a statement to ABC News, Jim Tobin, a spokesperson for Amesty, said that neither Carolina Amesty nor her counsel had any communications with the Attorney General regarding the matter. Tobin added, Experienced defense attorney Brad Bondi, who has been representing Ms. Amesty since 2024 and is widely regarded as one of the best attorneys in the country, and his excellent team presented overwhelming evidence of Carolina Amestys innocence to prosecutors. The governments decision today to ask the court to dismiss the criminal complaint was the right and just result on the merits, the statement concluded. The Daily Beast has contacted White House representatives on how the case could trigger potential ethics investigations. We recently published 10 Stocks Jim Cramer Talked About As He Warned About Have-Not Stocks. Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) is one of the stocks Jim Cramer recently discussed. Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) is a payments processing firm whose shares have gained 8.6% year-to-date. The shares have struggled recently due to investor fears about the impact on the firms business model from stablecoins. Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)s shares dipped by more than 9% in June once stablecoin legislation started making rounds in Congress. Cramer discussed the firms recent earnings report: [On strong performance]Well, thats Michael Miebach. He just does double digit after double digit after double digit. He continues to be incredibly impressive. The CEO, they have continued momentum, very strong fundamentals. Great new partnership with American Airlines, they say, but also Uber. Mastercard Incorporated (MA) Has Very Strong Fundamentals, Says Jim Cramer Cramer was also optimistic about Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) in his earlier remarks. Here is what he said: Okay, this is a very hard question because Visa and MasterCard are valued much more highly, I think, than American Express in terms of PE multiple. I want American Express of these three, and Ill tell you why. I think Americas Express has got this younger demographic that is really exciting and not really built into the price-to-earnings multiple. That said, look, these are all great companies I met with Mastercards management this week. I talked with Visas management. Youre not going to go wrong owning any one of these companies. Theyre three of the best companies in America. While we acknowledge the potential of MA as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an extremely cheap AI stock that is also a major beneficiary of Trump tariffs and onshoring, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: 30 Stocks That Should Double in 3 Years and 11 Hidden AI Stocks to Buy Right Now. BOONEVILLE A jury of 20 Prentiss County men and women will decide if anyone will face criminal charges for planting a fake bomb in downtown Booneville Wednesday morning. A report of a suspicious package Aug. 6 revealed what appeared to be a bomb. City, county, regional, state and federal agencies responded before the package was determined to be harmless. The investigation identified a suspect, but Booneville Police Chief Michael Ramey said due to circumstances and facts surrounding the incident, the case will be presented to the next Prentiss County grand jury, who will decide if any criminal charges are warranted. Booneville police were notified of a suspicious object behind a downtown building around 8:30 a.m. Wednesday. The officers were unable to determine if it was a real bomb. Wanting to err of the side of caution and to maintain public safety, the area was cordoned off and people were evacuated until it was safe to return. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Prentiss County Emergency Management Director Bud Lindsey responded to the scene and asked for the assistance of the Tupelo Police Department Explosive Ordinance Disposal unit (the bomb squad); the Department of Homeland Security; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms; and the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation. Once it was determined that the suspicious object was not a dangerous device, it was turned over to the Booneville Police Department, who began investigating the object and how it came to be downtown. Ramey stressed that at no time was there an actual threat to public safety. BOSSIER PARISH, La. (KTAL/KMSS) The Bossier Parish Police Jury has officially backed the creation of a $5 trillion National Infrastructure Bank (NIB), passing a resolution during the Regular Agenda Meeting. The initiative aims to address infrastructure needs across the country, including Bossier Parish. The American Society of Civil Engineers 2025 Report Card estimates that over $5 trillion is needed nationwide to bring infrastructure up to standard. According to Bossier Police Jury president Glenn Benton, that cost would not fall on Bossier residents. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This is a national movement, not just in Louisiana, said Jury President Glenn Benton. This is money thats not going to cost the federal government anything. Theyre just going to set the money aside, and it will be loaned to the local governments for transportation at a low-interest loan. Adding, We know firsthand how critical infrastructure is to our daily lives. Roads, bridges, and drainage systems are the things that help to keep Bossier Parish moving. The representative also emphasized that this NIB bill will enable Bossier to fund major road improvements, drainage upgrades, and other critical projects that may have been delayed due to budget constraints. Calling it a chance to invest in the parishs future without putting additional strain on local taxpayers. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The jury passed the resolution during their August 6 regular agenda meeting. Opponents of the bill say the risk is too risky and would need additional taxpayer funding over time. Robert Krol, an emeritus professor of economics at California State University, Northridge and a former economist at Security Pacific National Bank, positions that project costs are difficult to predict and would result in defaults that would further reduce the banks capital and would call for tax bolstering by citizens. In an online article for George Mason University, Krol also highlights concerns that funding decisions will be guided by factors such as partisan politics rather than economic facts. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He is not alone, the idea of an infrastructure bank has been debated for some time in government and has failed to pass in numerous attempts. The Public Investment Incentive Act of 1983, being one of the earliest, was proposed in the 98th Congress to allocate specified amounts to any State for the capitalization of a State Infrastructure Bank. The act did not pass. In 2011, the Senate blocked a $60 billion measure to create jobs and build and repair infrastructure by creating an infrastructure bank to leverage private and public capital for long-term projects. These are two examples of proposed infrastructure banks with different approaches that were rejected. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The proposed NIB that is supported by the Bossier Jury is said to be funded through existing Treasury debt and would call for no new taxes, and no new federal spending. If created, it is said to provide long-term, low-interest loans to local governments and public authorities. The bank would be governed by a Board of Directors appointed by Congress, made up of infrastructure experts, engineers, and local government representatives and reporting regularly to Congress to ensure transparency and accountability. The Bossier Parish Police Jurys resolution urges Congress to pass legislation establishing the NIB and instructs that a certified copy be sent to the Louisiana Congressional Delegation and NACo to show Bossier Parishs strong support. 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. (NewsNation) A Boston-area sheriff is facing federal charges for allegedly extorting thousands of dollars from the owner of a cannabis company, the FBI announced. Suffolk County Sheriff Steve Tompkins is accused of using his official position to secure $50,000 in stock for a company that sought to open in Boston, according to an indictment from the U.S. Attorneys Office in Massachusetts. Tompkins, who has held his position since 2013, was taken into custody Friday morning in Florida. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Teen driver flees scene of deadly car crash in Florida In 2020, the sheriff allegedly pressured the company for stocks as it prepared to sell its shares to the public. Tompkins had previously agreed to help screen and refer workers from the sheriffs office reentry program for jobs at the dispensary. The cannabis company executive feared that saying no to Tompkins request would jeopardize their working partnership, according to prosecutors. The indictment alleges that, in November 2020, Tompkins wired $50,000 from his retirement account to buy 14,417 shares of the company at $1.73 each. When the IPO launched the following year, that same stock was valued at $9.60 giving him a stake of roughly $138,000. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Indiana man accused of shooting, killing his father By May 2022, stock value had dropped such that Tompkinss equity interest in Company A stock was worth several thousand dollars less than the $50,000 he originally invested. He demanded his $50,000 back, and the company agreed. Repayments were completed over the course of five checks labeled in such a way as to disguise the nature of the payments, prosecutors said. Tompkins two extortion charges each carry a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. 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. Botswana only legalized consensual same sex conduct in 2019, so growing up as an openly gay man was tough, and I experienced numerous setbacks. When I was 25 years old, my uncle discovered a photo of me putting on makeup and dreadlocks. He took it from my social media and shared it with my mother. After that, my mum didn't speak to me for a year. I was finally able to be myself when I went to university, which is where I became an activist. I learnt vast amounts about LGBTQ+ people's rights, and I discovered the incredible LGBTQ+ centers in Botswana's capital, Gaborone. The centers soon became a haven for me and LGBTQ+ people throughout Botswana. With the support from organizations across the country, they have offered legal advice, therapy support for individuals and families, and provided contraceptives and drugs to prevent and treat HIV. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Whenever I've gone to a public medical center for support, I have felt judged because of my sexuality, and I know many others feel the same, too. By comparison, these LGBTQ+ centers make us feel safe and supported. Ten years on, I still use these centers for medicines that can prevent HIV spread, like PEP and PrEP, and it's where I get tested regularly. Although things are changing, it is still a challenge to be a gay man in Botswana. We have a long way to go in terms of mobilizing the wider community to accept LGBTQ+ people. It's incredible how these centers directly serve and influence societal norms, leading to a greater acceptance of us. Now, we can celebrate our identities at Pride events, which usually take place in October. Despite the progress we've made as a country, these centers are now at enormous risk due to global funding cuts. Several employees who work for LGBTQ+ organizations have been terminated, and now access to these centers is dwindling. There's a shortage of condoms, and we can't access psychosocial support anymore, which is devastating. Families are disowning their loved ones for their sexuality. We have also experienced disruptions in critical services, leaving people without essential care and support. The transgender community is also suffering, as they cannot access their gender-affirming treatment, which otherwise comes at a considerable expense. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement If this continues, these centers will close, and I worry that suicide rates will go up because of the lack of access to health care. Doctors and nurses won't hear our plight. We desperately need more healthcare workers who understand our situation. I am calling on Botswana's new government to ensure our needs are prioritized and that funds are distributed appropriately. Our healthcare system has to improve; otherwise, thousands of people's lives will be put at risk. Countries such as the USA and the UK must also reconsider their funding cuts so we can continue with our work. Thankfully, several organisations on our side have continually supported these centers in Botswana through legal advocacy and support. Amnesty International has also advocated on our behalf to create awareness of the harmful impact of laws criminalizing various aspects of LGBTQ+ people. I want to see others follow suit and ensure our LGBTQ+ friendly centers survive. We stand at a critical crossroads. The recent cuts to the HIV response by major donors have dealt a severe blow to our efforts to support the health, dignity, and rights of LGBTQ+ individuals. These cuts threaten not only our programs but also the lives and futures of those we serve. But let it be clearwe are not defeated. This moment calls for unity, innovation, and activism. We must come together to reassess, re-strategize, and amplify our voices. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We need to strengthen our networks. Going forward, we must build stronger coalitions among local centers, grassroots organizations, and activists. We need to explore alternative funding sources by engaging regional and international LGBTQ+ and health-focused donors. It's time to examine community-led solutions by empowering communities to take initiative through peer education, volunteer-run programs, and community health outreach. We must boldly advocate for the restoration of funding and equitable health access. Most of all, though, we have to take care of each other. The emotional toll of this struggle is real. Let our centers remain safe spaces of love, resistance, and hope. These fund cuts may slow us down, but they will not silence us. LGBTQ+ people in Botswana have always risen against the oddsand now, more than ever, we rise again. Our lives matter. Our health matters. Our voices will be heard. Mmueledi Pinoh Heaven Guest writer, Mmueledi Pinoh Heaven. courtesy pictured Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Voices is dedicated to featuring a wide range of inspiring personal stories and impactful opinions from the LGBTQ+ community and its allies. Visit Advocate.com/submit to learn more about submission guidelines. Views expressed in Voices stories are those of the guest writers, columnists, and editors, and do not directly represent the views of The Advocate or our parent company, equalpride. This article originally appeared on Advocate: Botswanas queer lifelines are vanishing The Brief Congress of Communities had two giant bounce houses stolen. The bounce houses are valued at $10,000. The SW Detroit community group is asking for help replacing them. DETROIT (FOX 2) - Thieves snatched these two giant bounce houses that were loved by kids in Southwest Detroit. "Shame on you, like seriously why?" said Amanda Holiday. The backstory Congress of Communities hosts events for kids on the southwest side and was planning to use the beloved bouncy houses for its upcoming summer splash on Saturday. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Not only did the crooks break into the shed to steal the bounce houses but they took a new lawnmower and a 20-by-20 tent. "People came in the middle of the night at 2 a.m.," said Holiday, with Congress of Communities. "Took about an hour to tear down this giant tent and drove away with it. We were pretty upset." The suspects were dedicated. The lock was left alone. What they did - it appears they removed the bolts and replaced them so nobody would notice. "One of the bouncy houses is 20 feet tall. These are really big," Holiday said. "Even (when they are) rolled up, theyre about this tall. Its definitely a job for two." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement She said the tent was stolen in the early hours of July 18th, and thieves struck the shed at a later date. Police believe a truck was involved. "Were just trying to figure out what to do next," she said. But the community is resilient Jose Prado who lives nearby, is helping mow their space in time for Saturday and they were able to borrow another bounce house for a discount. "It touched me because my children and my grandchildren participated in this event," Prado said. "I thought you know Im not gonna let that happen. Let me try to do something to make things correct." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Holiday said every little bit is appreciated. "I appreciate the gentleman coming and helping," she said. "I hope more people offer to help; were doing a fundraiser to replace the things we lost." The cost is about $10,000. You can donate at Congress of Communities website HERE. Anyone with information or questions can contact Holiday at 313-460-3444 or email - amanda@cocswdetroit.com The Source Information for this report is from the Congress of Communities. Editors Note: This story has been updated with more recent information regarding the weapon used in this robbery attempt. BOWIE (KFDX/KJTL) Bowie Police arrested a man Friday morning after an alleged bank robbery attempt, according to reports. Photo courtesy of Brent Shaw. According to the Bowie News, police said a man who was wearing what appeared to be a loaded pistol, but ended up being a BB handgun on his belt, attempted to rob the Wellington State Bank, but was unable to get anything. The News reported that the man then left and drove away. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement At 9:33 a.m., Bowie ISD posted to Facebook and said, We have been made aware of a bank robbery that occurred in town. The suspect is currently at large. Out of an abundance of caution, all campuses have implemented secure safety protocols. Please be assured that all students and staff are safe. We are working closely with local law enforcement and will continue to monitor the situation. Updates will be shared as they become available. Just 11 minutes later, the following update was posted: As of publication, law enforcement officials had not released the name of the person arrested. 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 Texomashomepage.com. SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KCAU) With a change of address in the near future for the Boys and Girls Home of Sioux City, city officials are taking a look at what could go in their current building next. The City of Sioux Citys Economic Development Department conducted a feasibility study of the former St. Josephs Mercy Hospital on Court Street. City officials are now looking for developers interested in converting the building into affordable housing. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The north portion of the complex, formerly the St. Josephs Mercy Hospital, is expected to be renovated for apartments. The southern portion, which dates back to 1913, has been vacant for decades and is set to be demolished. City officials said that with a housing demand in the city, redevelopment would be a beneficial opportunity. We need housing in Sioux City. We need affordable housing. I know the city councils interested in that, of course, and there are developers that weve worked with. So theres a possibility that, again, a developer may want to do it as an affordable housing project, and we would look to have additional housing on that same site. Its a fairly large site, like 13 or 14 acres, said the City of Sioux Citys Economic and Community Development Director, Marty Dougherty. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Dougherty said funding would be a significant factor for the redevelopment. It would be a very significant project. We are looking to get some additional grant funds, Doughtery said. As I mentioned, weve had some grant funds before to help us with planning, but we are looking for additional grant funds to help with the cost of a revitalization project. The Boys and Girls Home plans to donate the property to a developer for the revitalization project. 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 SiouxlandProud | Sioux City, IA | News, Weather, and Sports. The exterior of what was BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc.'s headquarters in midtown Anchorage is seen on Aug. 27, 2019. The company, once a dominant player in Alaska, sold off its assets, ended its production activities and vacated the headquarters building in 2020. But it remains responsible for cleanup of a pair of old North Slope exploration sites. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon) BP stopped producing oil in Alaska in 2020 after selling all its remaining assets to Hilcorp, but the energy giant still has some unfinished business in the state: cleanup and closure of two old oil-exploration sites. The company is responsible for plugging and abandoning a well drilled in 1963 at a site 91 miles southwest of Deadhorse, according to state records. The company applied to the Alaska Department of Natural Resources in July for an off-road travel permit to complete the work. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement BP itself did not drill the well, identified by the state as Gubik 1. It was drilled by Colorado Oil and Gas, a now-defunct company. BP wound up with the liability because it was in a joint venture with Colorado Oil and Gas and Sinclair, according to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. BP held an ownership interest in the lease, company spokespeople said. BP has applied for a permit from the Alaska Department of Natural Resources to travel across the territory next winter along a snow trail it intends to construct to access the site. The company has hired a contractor, and cleanup work is expected to be completed by next spring, according to the application. Meanwhile, BP is completing cleanup work at another North Slope exploration site, said Cesar Rodriguez, a company spokesperson. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The company has been tasked with cleaning and remediating the Foggy Island Bay State No. 1 site about 20 miles northeast of Deadhorse and just outside the boundary of the Prudhoe Bay Unit. The site is a gravel pad that has numerous remnants of past drilling activities. The area was drilled in 1975 by Amoco, according to state documents. Years later, in 1989, Amoco drilled several test holes there as part of a reserve-pit closure plan, according to the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation. BP bought Amoco in 1998. It has been a yearslong project for BP. The company is responsible for addressing an inactive reserve pit, burn pit, sewer pit, lined fuel storage area, and cellar drain pit, according to a 2022 Alaska Department of Natural Resources public notice about the project. Activities include the removal and disposal of contaminated materials, including drilling waste and crude-oil impacted material and gravel. Additionally, the project includes removing a layer of foam board insulation (geofoam) that underlays the pad, the 2022 notice said. Rodgriguez said BP is not aware of any other old well sites that it is responsible for cleaning. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The sites tasked to BP are among about four dozen orphan wells or other remnants of historic drilling activity that the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation is managing. Those sites, on state or private land, are mostly in Southcentral Alaska. Some are in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough. Several are farther south and are relics of the first Alaska oil drilling conducted a century ago at Katalla, about 50 miles southeast of the Prince William Sound port town of Cordova. The states orphan well program received a boost from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 under the Biden administration. That legislation provided $32.2 million for cleanup of sites that were once located on federal leases but are now on state or private territory. The states orphan well program is separate from the BLMs Alaska Legacy Wells Program. That program concerns closure and cleanup of old wells drilled prior to 1982 within the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska. These are grim times for public radio affiliates in rural New Mexico, including Native American owned and operated stations that have been on air for decades, as the Republican-controlled U.S. Congress makes good on a push to defund public media. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which distributes federal funding to both NPR and PBS and more than 1,000 public radio and television stations nationally, recently announced it will shut down next year being defunded by Congress, which voted last month to claw back more than $500 million of the organizations annual funding in a party-line vote. The move has sent public media affiliates in broadcast and radio scrambling to try to close what will be, in some cases, seismic and potentially insurmountable funding gaps. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Where does that leave New Mexico affiliates of NPR and PBS? Not in a good place. For some stations, the move is effectively a death knell unless something major changes soon. For others, it means scaling back their programming and presence. The Land of Enchantment, a rural state that has long struggled with high rates of poverty, has the third-highest reliance on federal funding in the country, after West Virginia and Alaska. Rural stations, which tend to see lower rates of donations than their urban counterparts, are the most at risk of closure. According to an analysis published by a former product manager for NPR, KSHI 90.9 FM out of Zuni Pueblo ranks the 3rd most vulnerable station in the U.S. because it has been as much as 95% reliant on federal funding in previous years. A full $5.8 million in grants and allocations went to about 20 radio and TV stations New Mexico last fiscal year, largely in the form of radio and TV community service grants, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting's website states. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "The closure of Corporation for Public Broadcasting, resulting from harebrained federal budget cuts by Republicans in Washington, will cut off vital access to emergency weather warnings, public safety alerts, and educational programming that many rural communities rely on as their primary source of trusted information," Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said in a statement on social media. In an email Thursday, Michael Coleman, a spokesperson for Lujan Grisham, said the governor is "deeply concerned" and "considering adding a proposal for state funding during a special session to help public media continue their operations despite Washingtons ill-advised budget cuts." No date has been set yet for a much-discussed special session to address the federal funding cuts across the board, although Coleman wrote in an email September is the most likely month for one to be held. A hard road forward Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement KSFR 101.1 FM is the only news station based in Santa Fe to receive funding from CPB, with about 30-40% of its budget coming from the organization, said Tazbah McCullah, the stations general manager. With its staff of five, KSFR received $131,252 in federal funding in the last fiscal year. Though McCullah said KSFR will be able to survive without making cuts to staff, she believes some stations in the state will end up going dark. "Our budgets are right now in flux and we have only a couple of weeks to react to this," McCullah said, noting stations are still awaiting some answers on the specifics of the CPB closeout. "That's where we are, actually just trying to figure out exactly what cuts we might have to make and what services we might have to reduce." President Donald Trump, who has consistently taken aim at legacy media, previously issued an executive order instructing CPB and federal agencies to cease federal funding for NPR and PBS, and requiring them to stop indirect sources of public financing for the news organizations. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In a social media post touting Trumps order, the White House said PBS and NPR receive millions from taxpayers to spread radical, woke propaganda disguised as news. The public broadcasting system dates back to the late 1960s when it was created as an educational and public service-oriented alternative to commercial broadcasters. Public radio and TV stations operate on budgets made up of public funding, philanthropic grants and donations and some operate in what are otherwise local news deserts. A Thursday morning roundtable in Albuquerque was convened by U.S. Sens. Martin Heinrich and Ben Ray Lujan both New Mexico Democrats to allow local public media leaders to sound off on the emerging crisis for public media. Panelists at the forum, which included a number of public media general managers for broadcast and radio stations in the state, said it will be a daunting task to close funding gaps, a feat some in underserved and remote regions will not be able to manage. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Emergency alerts Barbara Maria, the manager of KTDB 89.7 FM in the Navajo community of Pine Hill, said the station was among the first Native American-owned public media stations to hit the airwaves in 1972. In a previous interview, Maria said cuts would pose trouble for the station. Pine Hill is remote, part of the Navajo Ramah reservation about 50 miles from Gallup, east of Zuni Pueblo. KTDB has a staff of about five people, with a strong presence in communities such as Ramah, Fence Lake and Pine Hill, as well as in El Morro Valley. Its popular programs include National Native News, Native American Calling, and segments focusing on local news and the voices of community members. "To me, it's like we are going backwards," Maria said Thursday, speaking at the roundtable at KANW 89.1's Albuquerque office. "... These FM noncommercial radio stations and the television stations are sharing a lot of things. That's going to be all lost. What are we going to do? ... I feel halfway defeated, but I feel like we can get over this, all of us coming together." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Music royalties also could be a prominent issue for local stations because the CPB took care of that for the stations. Local stations also will have to fill more air time without access to some of the programs received through the CPB. Lujan and Heinrich warned of the impacts of the shuttering of rural radio stations in terms of public safety, since such stations send out a range of alerts for emergencies. "I think there's just an assumption on the part of some of the folks that are pushing this that the commercial stations reach 90% of the public," Heinrich said at the roundtable Thursday. "Well, what about the communities they don't reach? Are we just going to have a country where some part of the population doesn't matter?" "Every tribal station is at risk, every single one, and there are many parts of this state where the only signal that you get that's local is your local tribal station," Katie Stone, the executive director of The Childrens Hour, an Albuquerque-based weekly radio program. She continued, "Without those emergency alerts to those communities, how will the people all the way out in Western New Mexico know about the next wildfire that's right on their border?" ATHENS, Pa. (WETM) An inmate at the Bradford County Correctional Facility is facing up to five years in state prison after he was found guilty of aggravated assault. Gaige D. Brown, 27, was sentenced to a minimum of a year and a half to a maximum of five years in state prison for the crime of aggravated assault, a second-degree felony, as stated in a release from the Bradford County District Attorneys Office. One arrested after shots fired in Elmira Thursday evening Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Officials say Brown was charged with the crime by the Athens Borough Police Department in January of 2025 after he entered a home on Dogwood Avenue without permission and threatened those inside with a pistol. Officials further state that Brown was wearing a bandana that was covering his face during the incident. Officials note that further investigation into the incident determined that Brown had mistaken those inside the house for someone else, but he was sentenced regardless. 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. This story was originally published on CX Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily CX Dive newsletter. Dive Brief: McDonalds is focusing on frequency to drive growth, and its loyalty program will play an important role in that strategy, executives said on a Q2 2025 earnings call Wednesday. Non-loyalty U.S. customers visit a McDonalds location 10.5 times annually on average, President and CEO Chris Kempczinski said. Visit frequency jumps to 26 visits per year when they become MyMcDonalds Rewards members. McDonald's opportunity is always around frequency, Kempczinski said during the call. And so getting more and more consumers to be in our loyalty program that's how we're going to drive this business, because it's going to be frequency-led growth. Dive Insight: On top of growth, McDonalds sees its loyalty program as an essential part of its CX and technology strategy. Running great restaurants is just one component of serving up great customer experience, Kempczinski said. Our fans want greater personalization, convenience and value, and bringing millions more consumers into the McDonald's digital universe is how we're ensuring customers feel seen and satisfied with each and every visit. In 2023, the fast food company set a goal of growing from 150 million to 250 million active loyalty users by the end of 2027, according to Kempczinski. McDonalds reached 185 million 90-day active users in the second quarter of 2025. While McDonalds is making progress on the size of its loyalty program, the short answer is it's just not big enough, Kempczinski said. As I mentioned, in the U.S., roughly around one-fourth of our consumers are in the loyalty program, he said. But when we look to markets like China, when you can get the number to 90% or something along those lines, that's when you would see some really significant benefits attached to that. McDonalds financial performance was a strong point even if loyalty still has room to grow. The company reversed its earlier same-store sales decline with a global 3.8% year-over-year comparable sales increase in the second quarter of 2025, according to a company earnings report. Comparable sales were up 2.5% year over year in the U.S. Recommended Reading Working conditions at Teslas manufacturing plant in Fremont, California, have allegedly gone from bad to worse, with sexual assaults aboard company shuttle buses, drug and alcohol use onsite, all-out brawls breaking out between employees and prevalent bigotry including widespread use of the N-word, a bombshell lawsuit reveals. In a 159-page federal lawsuit filed Thursday and obtained first by The Independent, Ozell Murray, a former Fresno police officer in charge of security at the 22,000-person factory, claims he and his team routinely seized cocaine and fentanyl onsite, confiscated guns discovered in the building, investigated acts of sexual deviance on Tesla grounds, and, at regular intervals, pulled employees off the manufacturing line and sent them home for being alcohol-intoxicated and high on drugs. Those who reported the issues were fired over bogus charges or forced to resign, according to Murrays complaint, to which several of his ex-colleagues signed on as co-plaintiffs. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Healthy profits have always been more important to the Company than a healthy working environment, the complaint alleges. For Tesla, more bodies on the manufacturing line meant more vehicles flying out the factory door no matter how unclean the hands were that were assembling those cars. Teslas Model Y, Model S, Model 3 and Model X lines are manufactured in Fremont. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued Tesla in 2023 over allegations of unbridled racism at its Fremont plant. This spring, Tesla settled a lawsuit brought by a Black employee at the Fremont facility who accused a manager of greeting her by saying, Welcome to the plantation, and, Welcome to the slave house. A Tesla spokesperson did not respond on Friday to a request for comment. Tesla's Fremont, California, manufacturing facility is a hotbed of bigotry, according to ex-employees, who say it is not uncommon for Black workers to encounter 'nooses on desks. (AFP via Getty Images) A picture of a noose was included in the lawsuit filing. (US District Court for the Northern District of California) The complaint against Tesla, which was brought by Murray and former Tesla HR execs Linda Peloquin, Adam Chow, Tiara Paulino, Sharnique Martin and Gregory Vass, says Tesla CEO, and erstwhile presidential First Buddy. Elon Musk presently Americas least-likable public figure, according to Gallup was personally involved in many of the Fremont factorys hiring and firing decisions. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Musk was a frequent visitor to the facilityand not just for high-level photo opportunities, but to take a hands-on approach to managing, directing, and facilitating resolution of the manufacturing and workforce issues at the plant, the complaint states. Musk would frequently visit the plant and conduct issue-resolution meetings with actual line employees, not just upper management bureaucrats. Musk would hold meetings with line-level employees from every function of the plant from the manufacturing line to operations to HR and issue directives right then and there to resolve the issues employees raised. The complaint goes on to describe a significant portion of the carmakers hastily-hired and poorly-vetted workforce in Fremont as blatant racists and misogynists. Many who have worked there have likened the workplace to the Jim Crow South; an environment in which Black employees and brown-skinned workers are besieged with constant racial abuse, stereotyping, and hostility including with repeated use of inarguably the most brutal and degrading racial slur in the history of humanity: N****r, according to the complaint. ... Black Tesla employees have reported regularly encountering nooses on desks and other equipment as well as seeing the word N****r graffitied on walls, in bathroom stalls, elevators even on new Tesla vehicles rolling off the production line. The complaint filed by Murray and his former coworkers alleges that the use of the N-word was prevalent at Fremont. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In late 2021, one of Murrays direct reports, a Black security officer who was also a former cop, was victimized when a Tesla employee called her a n****r, the complaint states. Murrays colleague was so distressed by the incident and the impunity with which the word was used toward her that she had to take a medical leave from work to recover from the trauma, according to the complaint. Yet, instead of offering encouragement, Murrays supervisor counseled him that Murray should be informing all new Black security personnel that the use of the N-word was simply engrained [sic] in the culture at Tesla and, so, Murray should only be bringing aboard that are willing to accept and acquiesce to the prevalence of that word in the workplace. Tesla CEO Elon Musk is regularly involved in HR decisions at the Tesla plant in Fremont, California, according to a newly filed lawsuit (US District Court for the Northern District of California) In another incident indicative of the racial tension and toxicity at Teslas Fremont plant, the complaint says a Black assembly-line employee working on a vehicle called out a warning after he spotted a coworker about to do something that could potentially damage the car. According to the complaint, the coworker, who was white, responded by angrily yelling back, Do you want to hang by a tree? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Supervisors were also known to abuse Teslas zero tolerance policy at the time for drug and alcohol use on the job, the complaint goes on. It says that if a higher-up suspected an employee was under the influence, they could report the person to security and Murray or someone from his team would then escort them off the premises without question. However, in many instances, the supposedly intoxicated employee did not appear that way to the security officer tasked with removing them, according to the complaint. As it turned out, many supervisors and managers were merely using the policy as a means to retaliate against their subordinates and, in particular, when a line employee had turned down the supervisor or managers sexual advances, the complaint states. Or, when the manager or supervisor wanted to retaliate against someone because of their race or ethnicity. Or, when the manager or supervisor wanted to retaliate against someone because of a complaint an employee had lodged against them. Yet, the complaint claims incidents such as these were swept under the rug by one specific Tesla manager who had an irrational fixation on fostering the delusion that the environment and culture at Tesla is one of tolerance and innovation, rather than racism and retaliation. Because of sky-high demand for Tesla vehicles at the time, if a violent or racist Tesla employee were to actually get fired for cause, they were regularly loopholed back in via a temp agency, according to the complaint. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This, the filing says, allowed them to bypass the usual background check, and oftentimes meant an employee who had been previously victimized had to actually resume working with their attacker and tormentor. One loopholed employee who had been let go for workplace violence returned to Fremont and promptly attacked another colleague, the complaint states. Tesla's factory in Fremont, California, is a hornet's nest of unbridled racism, drug use, and violence, according to a bombshell lawsuit filed by a group of ex-employees (Getty Images) For his part, the complaint says Murray was outspoken with Tesla management about safety and security concerns in Fremont. For that, he wound up summarily fired under the pretextual guise of poor performance, even though he had never once been disciplined and was promoted five times in his six years with Tesla. Murrays co-plaintiffs all endured similar experiences, being drummed off the payroll for supposed poor performance, according to the complaint. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Each of them had brought up serious concerns about issues at Tesla, or had investigated and substantiated employee wrongdoing, and were subsequently outright fired for doing so, or resigned before they could be terminated, the complaint alleges. None had ever received any negative performance reviews, according to the complaint. Murray and his co-plaintiffs are suing Tesla on five causes of action, including retaliation, wrongful termination and failure to prevent unlawful discrimination. They are seeking compensatory damages, emotional distress damages, punitive damages and exemplary damages to be determined by a jury, plus attorneys fees and court costs. ERBACON, W.Va. (WBOY) Two people were arrested after children were found living in squalid conditions in a cockroach-infested home in Braxton County. An anonymous letter sent to a Braxton County Circuit Judge alleged that several children were suffering neglect; although the letter was vague, it sparked an investigation by the West Virginia State Police, according to a press release. Troopers said that the investigation led them to a home in Erbacon where two children were living the custody of Mary Bragg, 51, and James Bragg, 58. Troopers said that there was excessive trash throughout the home and that it was infested with cockroaches. Both of the suspects were also under the influence of controlled substances when troopers arrived, according to the release. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Man charged with sexually assaulting victim in Gilmer County The two juveniles told troopers that they had been forced to smoke illicit drugs by the Braggs, the release said. James Bragg Mary Bragg Mary and James Bragg were taken into custody and charged with multiple counts each of felony child neglect and are being held in the Central Regional Jail without bond. The release said that the children were evaluated by medical staff after being placed in the custody of Child Protective Services. Editors note: Although Erbacon is in Webster County, the West Virginia State Police release said that the residence in question was located in the Erbacon community in Braxton County. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. SAO PAULO (AP) Brazils president vetoed Friday parts of a congressional bill that sought to overhaul the countrys environmental licensing rules legislation pushed by the right-wing opposition but which environmentalists say would impede efforts to protect sensitive areas such as the Amazon rainforest. Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva threw out 63 out of the controversial bill's 400 measures, the government said, though the significance of the vetoes will be clearer once the bill is published in the official gazette and goes into effect. Lula's supporters and environmentalists had dubbed the legislation Devastation Bill, while allies of former President Jair Bolsonaro, held in house arrest on charges linked to an alleged coup plot, had pushed for its approval in congress. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Critics had argued that the bill undermines safeguards and harms Brazils credibility ahead of hosting U.N. climate talks in November. Environment protection groups welcomed Lulas vetoes though congress can still take steps to override them and introduce additional legislation. Several government ministers, speaking at a news conference at the presidential palace, lauded Lula's changes, saying he threw out parts of the legislation that would allow for fast-tracking of projects in the Amazon and curtailed the authority of federal agencies in issuing licenses for projects. Only enterprises of low polluting potential will be allowed to get that kind of fast track, the ministers said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It was not immediately clear if Lula had vetoed a measure on upgrading existing roads without oversight, which could allow the paving of the entire highway running about 900 kilometers (560 miles) through the western Amazon. Lula doesnt have the majority in Brazils congress, where Bolsonaro allies often side with moderates to pass conservative legislation. We understand we are keeping a dialogue with congress and assuring that there is integrity in environmental licensing, Environment Minister Marina Silva said. This is fundamental for the protection of the environment in a context of climate crisis, loss of biodiversity and desertification processes, she added. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Lula had already spoken about possibly vetoing parts of the bill after it passed in congress last month. Brazil's lower house approved the legislation by 267-116 in July, dealing a big blow to Lula after several moderates had sided with Brazil's opposition. The 79-year-old leftist Lula who was facing higher unpopularity, growing opposition in congress and increasing risks to his likely reelection bid saw his polls improve days later, after U.S. President Donald Trump imposed 50% tariffs on Brazilian imports. Trump, an ally of Bolsonaro, had linked the tariffs to Bolsonaros trial, which he called a witch hunt and demanded an end to the proceedings. Miriam Belchior, an official with Brazil's chief of staff, said Lula's vetoes will safeguard the rights of Indigenous peoples and communities of descendants of slaves, and incorporate mechanisms to make licensing quicker, but without harming Brazil's natural resources. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This is a victory for the society, said Malu Ribeiro, head of the SOS Atlantica nonprofit organization. One of Lula's vetoes also addresses protection of another endangered area, Brazils Atlantic Forest, which is the focus of the work of Ribeiro's group. Without the vetoes, she said there would have been much harm to efforts of "everyone who defends this national treasure. ___ Follow APs coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (WBOY) With August being Breastfeeding Awareness Month, the Monongalia County Health Department held the Breastfeeding Awareness Walk for the first time since 2019. Event organizers told 12 News that breastfeeding has a number of benefits for babies including decreasing the risk of diabetes, improving brain function, and increasing antibodies. Attendees and organizers of the walk told 12 News about a number of barriers that might keep women from breastfeeding, including working it into a daily schedule with work, procuring a breast pump, and stigma from breastfeeding in public. Looking to post that back-to-school picture online? Law enforcement says think twice Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement One of the walkers, Anne Dobnak, told 12 News that the stigma can make breast-feeding a really lonely journey and that she appreciates events like todays for connecting mothers with each other and a support system. Its nice to know that support is there, Dobnak said. Like, on our walk, we picked up people. West Virginia WIC State Breastfeeding Coordinator Kara Napier told 12 News that in West Virginia, 70% of babies are breastfed compared to the national average of 84%. Napier added that a lot of different groups are needed to support women who choose to breastfeed, including OBGYNs, hospitals, and pediatricians. 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. The mother of a 10-year-old in Georgia said online predators targeted her child through Roblox, and the familys attorney said theyve filed the first of potentially many such lawsuits against the company. The popular game may face more lawsuits, LIVE on Channel 2 at 5 p.m. Attorney Matthew Dolman said the lawsuit had been filed in Georgia on behalf of a DeKalb County mom and her son. A representative for the law firm said in a statement that the Roblox Corporation is responsible for creating a breeding ground for predators and enabling the sexual exploitation of a now 10-year-old boy because the company prioritizes financial gain over child welfare. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] TRENDING STORIES: [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] Britain would be speaking German if Sir Keir Starmer had been prime minister during the Second World War, Donald Trumps ambassador to Israel said. The broadside from Mike Huckabee came as the gulf between Washington and Europe over Gaza widened with Benjamin Netanyahu announcing Israels plans to occupy the entire strip. Sir Keir has united with other European leaders to urge Mr Netanyahu to reconsider. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In response, Mr Huckabee, an outspoken supporter of Mr Netanyahu shot back, saying: So Israel is expected to surrender to Hamas and feed them even though Israeli hostages are being starved? Did UK surrender to Nazis and drop food to them? Ever heard of Dresden, PM Starmer? That wasnt food you dropped. If you had been PM then, UK would be speaking German! Mike Huckabee is an outspoken supporter of Benjamin Netanyahu - Ronen Zvulun/REUTERS Mr Huckabee, a former Baptist minister, is the first evangelical Christian to serve as US ambassador to Israel. He was responding to a statement in which Sir Keir warned of the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza. What we need is a ceasefire, a surge in humanitarian aid, the release of all hostages by Hamas and a negotiated solution. Hamas can play no part in the future of Gaza and must leave as well as disarm, Sir Keir said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement While Mr Trumps own position on Gaza has softened with the president saying real starvation is occurring, Mr Huckabee has played down the conditions in the strip. The ambassador to Israel questioned why some nations were once again placing all the pressure on Israel instead of on Hamas. On Friday, Friedrich Merz, the German chancellor, announced Germany was suspending arms sales to Israel, saying it was increasingly difficult to understand how seizing Gaza was in keeping with its war aims. The UK, France and Canada have said they will recognise the Palestinian state in September if Israel does not agree to a ceasefire. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement During a meeting with foreign secretary David Lammy in England on Friday, JD Vance, the US vice-president, raised questions over the move, saying: I dont know what it would mean to really recognise a Palestinian state given the lack of a functional government there. The US State Department previously said Britain would be rewarding Hamas by recognising Palestine. 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. Jasmine Wyld was in a romantic relationship with Mark Gibbon, it has been claimed A British businessman was in a relationship with his daughter-in-law, whom he is accused of trying to drown in Florida, it has been claimed. Mark Gibbon, 62, has been charged with attempted murder after allegedly holding Jasmine Wylds head underwater while the pair were on holiday. Police were called to reports of a disturbance at the Solterra Resort in Davenport, Florida, where Mr Gibbon was staying with Ms Wyld and her two children, on Saturday evening. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to Ms Wyld and witnesses, Mr Gibbon was in the swimming pool with his 33-year-old daughter in-law when the pair started arguing about his grandchildren, police said. Polk County Sheriffs Office said: Gibbon is accused of pushing and holding the victims head underwater multiple times, preventing her from breathing. The victims nine-year-old daughter jumped into the pool in an attempt to stop Gibbon from drowning her mother. Grady Judd, the County Sheriff, said: We expect vacationers to behave while they visit with us. Because Mr Gibbon couldnt control his anger, he may find himself spending a lot more time in Florida than he had anticipated. US police said Mr Gibbon allegedly admitted to pushing his daughter-in-law underwater, but said he did not intend to drown her. Mark Gibbon is accused of pushing and holding Jasmine Wylds head underwater multiple times - Polk County Sheriff's Office A family source told MailOnline that Mr Gibbon had been in a romantic relationship with Ms Wyld, a British hairdresser, for the past two years after their respective marriages broke down. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ms Wyld is divorced from Mr Gibbons son Alex, with whom she shares two children. The source said the father and son no longer speak, and last year Alex was jailed for trying to drive a car at Mr Gibbon. The source said: Mark and Jasmine have been seeing each other for a few years, but theyve never admitted it. Alex and his dad dont speak at all. There have been a number of issues within the family. He feels an awful betrayal at how his dad has struck up a relationship with the mother of his two children. Mark and Jasmine do an awful lot together and they go away on holiday with the children a couple of times every year. She is always round at his house. She has a place of her own, but shes nearly always in Beaconsfield with Mark. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement They went to Florida two years ago and have been to Budapest, where she posted pictures of them together like a couple. I dont know for sure what happened on this holiday and why Mark has apparently tried to drown her. But I have been told that Jasmine was unhappy that they have been in a relationship for a few years and she is not named in his will. The source revealed that Mr Gibbon was going to leave his 800,000 estate to his two grandchildren, adding: His will has caused some tension in the family. There was a big argument Alex, 34, had worked with his father and was appointed a director with Ultralight UK Limited in 2019. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement However, he left the company in 2023 and, following an argument with his father, ran him over with an 80,000 Porsche, it has been claimed. He was sentenced to a jail term and was released six months ago. In February 2024, he was sentenced to two years in prison and given a three-year driving ban as well as a five-year restraining order. A family source told the Daily Mail: There was a big argument between Alex and his father in the street. Alex had had enough and got into his car to try and drive away, but Mark got in front of the vehicle to stop him from leaving. Alex shouted to him to get out the way but Mark continued to obstruct him and was hit by the car as a result. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Mr Gibbons son also pleaded guilty to harassing Ms Wyld in the past. Mr Gibbon, who was also charged with battery, will face court on Sept 9. 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. JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) A Brookhaven man was sentenced for possession of child sexual abuse material. Attorney General Lynn Fitch (R-Miss) announced Austin Christopher Stephenson was sentenced to 40 years, with five years to serve day-for-day without the possibility of parole and five years supervised probation in the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC). South Carolina man sentenced for transporting minor for sex Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Stephenson was also ordered to pay $1,000 to the Mississippi Childrens Trust Fund, $1,000 to the Mississippi Crime Victim Compensation Fund and $1,000 to the Victims of Human Trafficking and Commercial Sexual Exploitation Fund. He will have to register as a sex offender upon release. Thanks to the diligent work of our cyber crime investigators, we successfully stopped a predator from doing more harm. I am grateful to our partners in law enforcement from across the country who work closely with our office to protect our children and make the Internet a safer place, said Fitch. If you suspect a child is being sexually exploited, please report it. Your tip could be the key to serving justice for the victims and keeping others safe. Austin Christopher Stephenson (Courtesy: MS Attorney Generals Office) If you have information about a child being sexually exploited online, report it to 1-800-843-5678 or online at the cyber tipline. Close Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Daily 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 WJTV. BROOKINGS, S.D. (KELO) A company that owns four newspapers in South Dakota shut down abruptly Wednesday leaving those employees without a job and communities without a local paper. 4 South Dakota newspapers shut down Residents were seen outside of the Brookings Register Thursday wondering why they didnt get their latest copy of the paper. According to a social media post by The Brookings Register, the staff was told by its parent company News Media Corporation to shut down immediately. This is certainly a gut punch for the community local print journalism in South Dakota theres no doubt about it. Something this abrupt, is unprecedented, South Dakota News Media Association executive director, David Bordewyk said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Community members in Brookings were shocked by the news. The Brookings Register has been a trusted resource for decades, and we rely on that daily for not just big stories, but everyday updates, celebrations and local news that impacts our lives, Brookings Area Chamber of Commerce president, Kelsey Doom-Bjornestad said. Senator Tim Reed who represents Brookings County says the loss of the paper will also impact spreading information about local politics. A news desert really hurts when youre involved in politics because sometimes youre not necessarily getting the information out on whats happening in the legislature, with more of the local issues, Reed said. Theres less watchdog on government, theres less connection in terms of informing the community whats happening next week, in the coming days. Theres less opportunity for businesses and organizations to advertise, promote their goods and services in the community. Those things are all suddenly not there, and thats a sad thing to me, Bordewyk said. As the century old publication closes its doors, employees and the community will now have to figure out their next steps. The three other publications impacted include the Huron Plainsman, the Redfield Press and the Moody County Enterprise. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. A Bolivia man is facing several charges in connection with his wife's death. James Thomas Horn, 84, of Bolivia is being charged with first-degree murder and is under investigation in connection with Jill Elizabeth Horn's death, according to a Brunswick County Sheriff's Office Facebook post on Aug. 8. James Horn was arrested and charged days earlier for attempted first-degree murder and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill or inflict serious injury, the Facebook post states. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The arrest warrant for the assault with a deadly weapon charge claims James Horn assaulted his wife with a knife with the intent to kill and inflict serious injury. No details as to what exactly happened have been released. Horn's bond was set at $25,000 for the attempted first degree murder charge and $15,000 bond for the assault with a deadly weapon charge. His wife later succumbed to her injuries, the sheriff's office post states. On Aug. 8, a new arrest warrant with a murder charge for Horn was filed and served. The arrest warrant states the conditions of release will be determined by the judge at Horn's first appearance for the murder charge. STAY CONNECTED: Keep up with the areas latest Brunswick County news by signing up for the Brunswick Today newsletter and following us on Facebook and Instagram. Savanna Tenenoff covers Brunswick County for the StarNews. Reach her at stenenoff@gannett.com. This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Brunswick County, NC, man faces charges in connection with wife's death NewMed Energy, alongside partners in the Leviathan project, has signed an agreement for the sale of natural gas from the Leviathan reservoir to Egypt. The contract, signed with Blue Ocean Energy, an existing customer of Leviathan, is valued at approximately $35bn (Dh128.54bn) and involves the transfer of around 130 billion cubic metres (bcm) or 4.59 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. This deal represents the most significant export transaction in Israel's history and underscores the strategic importance of the Leviathan gas field since its discovery. The gas sales to Egypt are projected to continue until 2040 or until the agreed quantities are fully supplied. Production and export to Egypt began in January 2020, with current supplies totalling approximately 60bcm under contract, and an annual volume of 4.5bcm, plus additional spot sales. NewMed Energy CEO Yossi Abu said: This is the most strategically important export deal to ever occur in the eastern Mediterranean and strengthens Egypt's position as the most significant hub in the region. Since it begun production, Leviathan has brought many benefits both domestically and internationally, and the reservoir's expansion has been NewMed's key priority for years. This deal, made possible by our strong regional partnerships, will unlock further regional export opportunities, once again proving that natural gas and the wider energy industry can be an anchor for collaboration. The existing export agreement with Egypt, established in 2019, will be superseded by this new arrangement upon completion of the contracted 60bcm, expected in the early 2030s. To date, around 23.5bcm of natural gas has been sold from Leviathan to the Egyptian market. The new deal is structured in two stages, with the first concerning the sale of 20bcm and the second the sale of an additional 110bcm. The latter is contingent upon the completion of the Leviathan expansion project and the construction of a new pipeline to Egypt via Nitzana. The first stage is set to commence in the first half of 2026, following the completion of a third pipeline to the production platform and the Ashdod-Ashkelon transmission pipeline, increasing annual sales to Egypt by 2bcm. The second stage will begin after the Leviathan expansion project's completion, which is expected to boost Israel's natural gas production by 30% and increase the reservoir's annual production capacity to approximately 21bcm. Total gas exports for the second stage are estimated at 110bcm, with annual variations, culminating in a total annual quantity of roughly 12bcm from Leviathan to Egypt. Less than three years after his arrest on four counts of first-degree murder and one felony count of burglary in the University of Idaho murders, convicted killer Bryan Kohbergers early life is coming into focus. Kohberger was sentenced to four consecutive life sentences plus 10 years without the possibility of parole after breaking into a Moscow, Idaho home located at 1122 King Road in November 2022 and stabbing students Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Maddie Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves to death. After initially pleading not guilty, Kohberger submitted a guilty plea as part of a deal to take the death penalty off the table. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Keep scrolling for more on Kohbergers family and life before the murders. Details About Idaho College Murders Emerge as Gag Order Lifts: What Bryan Kohberger Did Bryan Kohberger Is a Pennsylvania Native Monroe County Correctional Facility via Getty Images Kohberger was born November 21, 1994 to parents Maryann and Michael. He graduated from Pleasant Valley High School in Brodheadsville, Pennsylvania, the same school system in which his mother worked. His father, meanwhile, was a maintenance worker, according to CBS News. After initially staying local and attending Monroe Career and Technical Institute in Bartonsville, he dropped out after a year and later became a security guard in his old school district. Kohberger earned an associates degree in psychology at Northampton Community College before attending DeSales University, where he obtained a bachelors in psychology and a masters in criminal justice. Bryan Kohberger Has 2 Sisters Bryan has two sisters, Melissa and Amanda. While not much is known about Melissa, Amanda worked as a school counselor, according to CBS News, and appeared in the 2011 slasher film Two Days Back. The film is about a serial killer who murders a group of young students. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Amanda also attended Bryans sentencing, along with Maryann. Bryan did not acknowledge them at the time. Bryan Kohberger Was Investigated for Break-In 1 Year Before University of Idaho Murders His family released a statement following Bryans plea deal in which they asked for privacy. We will continue to allow the legal process to unfold with respect to all parties, and will not release any comments or take any questions, they said in a statement shared with E! News by their legal representation, Amori & Associates LLC. "We ask that you respect our wishes during a difficult time for all those affected." Classmates Say Bryan Kohberger Was Bullied in High School Two of Bryans former classmates told 48 Hours in 2023 that he was overweight and bullied in high school until his senior year, when he lost about 100 pounds. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He was rail thin," classmate Casey Antz said. "It was after that weight loss that a lot of people noticed a huge switch." Antz alleged that Bryan was friends with her brother and "when Bryan would get kinda angry with him, he would gaslight him and get physically aggressive." Another classmate named Bree, who declined to give her last name, claimed that Bryan began using heroin. "You just saw him becoming more self-destructive," she said. "He really stayed secluded. Idaho Murder Victims Sister Tells Bryan Kohberger That Kaylee Goncalves Wouldve Kicked Your Ass Bryan Kohberger Was Diagnosed With Autism Bryan is on the autism spectrum, a fact that Judge Steven Hippler did not allow his lawyers to mention during opening statements. Hippler said that Bryan by all accounts is highly-functioning, though his lawyers insisted his diagnosis would prevent him from taking the stand in his own defense. Bryan Kohberger Was a Criminology PhD Student at the Time of the Murders Bryan was a PhD student at Washington State University at the time of the murders, where he was studying criminology and working as a teachers assistant. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement One of his former classmates, Josh Ferraro, called him an odd ball in the Amazon Prime Video docuseries One Night in Idaho: The College Murders. Purely based off the fact of his social inability to perform in a normal human manner, I can absolutely see someone like him be involved in something like this, he said. Originally appeared on E! Online New information surrounding Bryan Kohbergers gruesome murders has been uncovered. After the former criminology student was sentenced to life in prison for the killings of University of Idaho students Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, the Moscow Police Department released nearly 200 pictures from inside the off-campus home. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In the photos obtained by NBC News affiliate KTVB Aug. 8, signs of a typical college students daily life are present, including a foldable table covered in red plastic cups and spilled liquids, a bedroom desk with a basket of laundry and calculator sitting on top and a living room with a Saturdays are for the girls flag on the wall. However, the more haunting realities of Kohbergers murdersall four of which he confessed to as part of a plea deal last monthare also included. One picture, obtained by the outlet, shows a bed covered in blood and the blood-spattered wall next to it, while another captured drops of blood from a bedroom floor. A third image depicted the sliding glass door through which police believe Kohberger entered the now-demolished house on King Road. More from E! Online Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Prior to the release of the pictures, Steve Goncalvesdad to victim Kayleeshared his wish for the photos to not be shared with the public. You dont get that those are our children, and were not settling for that type of thing, he said during an appearance on NewsNations Banfield Aug. 6. I hope that we can give these kids some dignity and we dont have to go there. While Goncalves believes that the public has the right to know details about the case, he explained that the victims families were worried the images of their loved ones final moments might be viewed by the public. Instagram Were afraid that wed wake up one morning, he continued, and that might be on TV. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Beyond the families stance on the pictures from the crime scene, Goncalves noted he wasnt against authorities sharing other information from the case with the publicwith the exception of one piece of the investigation. The autopsies, some others wanted to keep that [private] and I understand that, he shared. That has an injury-by-injury write up, so its pretty gruesome. Goncalves concluded, Thatll be the last one that we really will try to keep close to the chest. For a deeper dive into the Idaho murders, keep reading (E! and NBC News are both part of the NBCUniversal family.) Who Were Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle? Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and her boyfriend Ethan Chapin, 20, were University of Idaho students who lived in an off-campus apartment. On Nov. 12, 2022the night before their bodies were foundGoncalves and Mogen were at a nearby sports bar, while Kernodle and Chapin were at the latters fraternity party. By 2 a.m. on Nov. 13, the four roommates and Chapin were back at the three-story rental house. Goncalves was a senior majoring in general studies at the College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences. She was expected to graduate in December before heading to Austin, Texas, for a job at a marketing firm, her friend Jordyn Quesnell told The New York Times. Mogen, who was studying marketing, was best friends with Goncalves since the sixth grade. She had plans to move to Boise after graduation, family friend Jessie Frost shared with The Idaho Statesman. Kernodle was a junior majoring in marketing, the University said at the time. She and Chapinwho majored in recreation, sport and tourism managementhad been dating since the spring, the roommates neighbor Ellie McKnight told NBC News. Were There Any Survivors? Two roommates, Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke, had been home at the time of the murders. In text messages that were unsealed March 6, 2025, Mortensen and Funke tried contacting their roommates on Nov. 13 after the former saw a masked man moving through the house, according to documents obtained by E! News. "No one is answering," Mortensen texted Funke at 4:22 a.m. "I'm rlly confused rn." She continued to reach out to their roommates, urging them to respond. "Pls answer," she texted Goncalves at 4:32 a.m. and again at 10:23 a.m. "R u up??" At 11:58 a.m., a 911 call was placed after Kernodle was found unresponsive, per an additional motion obtained by E! News. A woman named A1 in the transcript described the current situation to the operator. "One of the roommates who's passed out and she was drunk last night and she's not waking up," she said on the phone. "They saw some man in their house last night." Who Is Bryan Kohberger and How Was He Found? Bryan Kohberger, who was charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary, was a doctoral candidate at Washington State University. Over one month after the bodies of Gonclaves, Mogen, Kernodle and Chapin were discovered, Kohberger was taken into custody Dec. 30 in Monroe County, Penn. He was extradited to Idaho Jan. 4, 2023. As for how authorities connected him to the killings? DNA was found on a knife sheath that was left at the crime scene, prosecutors revealed in June 2023 court documents, per NBC News. When the DNA didn't match anyone in the FBI database, authorities ran the DNA through public ancestry websites to create a list of potential suspects, according to the filings. After learning that Kohberger had driven to his parents' home in Monroe County, local officials then went through their trash and found DNA that tied him to that found on the sheath. What Was Kohbergers Initial Defense? At the moment, a motive for the attack has not been detailed and a gag order prevents many involved in the case from speaking publicly, NBC News reported. However, the unsealed documents provided some insight into their initial arguments. Kohberger's attorneys argued in a motion obtained by E! News to strike the death penalty that Kohbergerwho initially faced death penalty if found guilty on all countshas autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and that executing him would violate the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on "cruel and unusual punishment." His defense argued that Kohbereger "displays extremely rigid thinking, perseverates on specific topics, processes information on a piecemeal basis, struggles to plan ahead, and demonstrates little insight into his own behaviors and emotions." "Due to his ASD, Mr. Kohberger simply cannot comport himself in a manner that aligns with societal expectations of normalcy," the motion said. "This creates an unconscionable risk that he will be executed because of his disability rather than his culpability." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Where Was the Trial Set? Initially, Kohberger had a judge enter a not-guilty plea to the first-degree murder charges on his behalf after remaining silent at his May 2023 arraignment. Although his trial was set to begin Oct. 2, 2023, Kohberger waived his right to a speedy trial in August 2023. His trial datewhich was scheduled to take place in Ada County, more than 300 miles from Latah County, where the killings took placewas set to begin Aug. 11, 2025. Latah County Judge John Judge previously ruled in favor of the transfer request made by Kohberger's defense in September 2024 based on "presumed prejudice" if the trial remained in Latah County. Ada County Judge Steven Hippler denied the defense's request to suppress key DNA and other evidence, including cell phone and email records, surveillance footage, past Amazon purchases and DNA evidence in the trial. What Was the Verdict in the Trial? Kohberger's murder trial was abruptly canceled after he took a plea deal from prosecutors on June 30, 2025. In accepting the deal, Kohberger agreed to plead guilty to four counts of murder and one count of burglary, as well as waive his rights to appeal and ask for a more lenient prison sentence. He entered his guilty plea on July 2, 2025, confirming with a "yes" after the judge asked if he killed all four victims "willingly, unlawfully, deliberately and with premeditation and malice with forethought." Did Kohberger Take a Selfie After the Murders? A selfie Kohberger took the morning after the murders took place was introduced in March 2025. The photograph, which sees him in front of a shower showing a thumbs up, displays how he may fit the description a witness identified as "D.M." gave in filings, who said the perpetrator had "bushy eyebrows." Steve Gonclaves, the father of victim Kaylee, later reacted to the image calling it a "trophy" in an interview with Fox and Friends. "I know the timeline, I know that he had just returned to the crime scene and he had come back," Gonclaves said. "He had realized that nobody had called 911." As he put it, "To him, thats his little trophy to let him know like, Hey, I got away with it, nobodys on me. What Did Kohberger Google Before the Murders? In a 2025 Dateline documentary about the murders, a former classmate of Kohbergers detailed a peculiar text she received from him after making his acquaintance at a party. I definitely felt a little obligated to chat with him, because to me, he seemed a little awkward, the studentidentified as Hollyexplained. Kind of like you might expect for a PhD student who didn't know anyone at the party and was maybe trying his best to kind of get out there and be social and make friends. The following day, Holly said she received a text from him, which she described as overly formal. Hey, I am pretty sure we spoke about hiking trips yesterday, Bryans text from July 10, 2022 at 1:19 p.m., read, per Dateline. I really enjoy that activity, so please let me know. Thanks! Elsewhere in the Dateline documentary, Kohbergers browsing history was found to have included searches for Ted Bundy, Britney Spears song Criminal, and the term University of Idaho Murders. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Did Kohberger Confess to Killing Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle? After accepting a plea deal that would spare him from the death penalty, Kohberger changed his plea to guilty in the murders of Goncalves, Mogen, Kernodle and Chapin, as well as one count of burglary, at a July 2, 2025 hearing in Idaho. When judge Hippler questioned Kohberger if he killed each victim "willingly, unlawfully, deliberately and with premeditation and malice with forethought," he replied with a firm, "Yes" for each. In taking the plea deal, Kohberger has waived his right to appeal or ask for a more lenient prison sentence, according to Hippler. How Long Is Kohberger's Prison Sentence? Though the families of Goncalves and Kernodle each slammed the decision to issue a plea deal, therby taking the death penalty off the table, Kohberger was officially sentenced to life in prison July 23, 2025. Judge Hippler sentenced Kohberger to four life termsto be served consecutivelywithout the possibility of parole for each count of first-degree murder, along with a $50,000 fine for each count and a $5,000 civil penalty to be paid to each of the victims' families. He also gave Kohberger 10 years and imposed a fine of $50,000 on the burglary count. For the latest breaking news updates, click here to download the E! News App This analysis and news roundup comes from the Canary Media Weekly newsletter. Sign up to get it every Friday. California is facing a severe housing shortage. And in some places, namely Los Angeles, the need for new construction is even more dire because of recent wildfire destruction. So in late June, Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) prioritized faster construction over cleaner buildings with a law that pauses updates to state building codes for six years. Itll also stop local jurisdictions from enacting their own stricter standards, Canary Medias Alison F. Takemura reports. The move comes after LA suspended its all-electric building requirements to speed its post-wildfire rebuilding efforts. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As it stands, California already has some of the strongest efficiency standards in the country. But this law will make it harder for progress to continue, stopping municipalities from implementing new rules that could, for example, encourage heat-pump adoption in multifamily buildings or mandate all-electric renovations. And it may not even help the state cut home prices or speed construction. A 2015 study showed no significant correlation between Californias efficient building codes and construction costs, while a 2019 analysis estimated that building an all-electric home cost less than a gas-powered home in most parts of the state. A more efficient home also typically means lower power bills, which translate to even more savings. On the other coast, a Massachusetts town is further boosting the case for efficient building codes, Canarys Sarah Shemkus reports. In 2024, the Boston suburb of Lexington banned gas hookups in new construction and adopted an efficiency-boosting building code. The move hasnt stymied development: Over the last two years, the town of 34,000 has still permitted around 1,100 new units of housing, 160 of which will be affordable. That aligns with a 2022 RMI study that found all-electric homes in Boston are slightly less expensive to build and operate than mixed-fuel homes. Another state will soon test the balance between affordable and clean construction, Alison reports. New York just approved an all-electric building code that bars gas and other fossil fuels in most new buildings. State officials estimate the new standards will end up raising construction costs, but the lowered energy bills they lead to should offset that increase within a decade. More big energy stories Solar for none? The U.S. EPA says it will roll back more federal clean energy funding, this time targeting $7 billion earmarked for states, cities, tribes, and nonprofits under the Solar for All program. The program was created under the Biden administration to help low- and moderate-income households tap into solar power that can help lower their electricity bills. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The clawback comes just as grant awardees were starting to spend their federal dollars. Just this week, Georgia launched a program to let homeowners lease rooftop solar panels for free. Colorado is meanwhile finalizing three programs to boost solar deployment and workforce development. And as Canary Medias Jeff St. John reports, burgeoning projects all across the country could lose their funding, threatening new power generation that the U.S. needs if it wants to lower electricity prices and meet rising demand. Advocates say the EPA doesnt have the authority to claw back the money and promised on Thursday to sue, as Jeff reports in a follow-up piece. A week of blows to renewables Its not just residential solar thats in the Trump administrations crosshairs. The administration has also issued a series of orders over the last two weeks targeting solar and wind development on federal lands and in federal waters. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Interior Secretary Doug Burgum started by ordering his department to stop preferential treatment for wind projects and to evaluate whether to halt wind development on federal lands altogether. The next day, the Interior Department de-designated more than 3.5 million acres of federal waters previously slated for wind development, rendering offshore wind leasing effectively dead in the U.S., Canary Medias Clare Fieseler reports. Back on land, the DOI also issued an order that would consider a power projects density before its approved. Its a test that wind and solar are destined to fail, as they take up more land than gas power plants to generate the same amount of electricity. Clean energy news to know this week Tax credit kerfuffle: Two Republican senators fight against the Trump administrations clampdown on wind and solar tax-credit use by placing holds on three of President Trumps Treasury Department nominees. (Politico) A literal moonshot: It is about winning the second space race: Transportation Secretary and interim NASA Administrator Sean Duffy will announce plans to build a nuclear reactor on the moon by 2030. (Politico) Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Electrification is brewing: A Minneapolis coffee company is curbing its emissions with its electric commercial-scale roaster, one of just a few of its kind in the U.S. (Canary Media) Driving change: As Illinois looks to meet ambitious EV adoption goals, utility ComEd is turning community leaders into EV ambassadors who can help convince skeptical neighbors and businesses to go electric. (Canary Media) Corruption correction: Ohio has finally repealed consumer-funded subsidies for two 1950s coal plants first created by the power-plant bailout law at the heart of the states utility corruption scandal. (Canary Media) Counting climate wins: A new report shows how local climate action like a Maine heat-pump installation campaign and the Keystone XL pipeline protests will keep millions of metric tons of carbon emissions out of the atmosphere across the U.S. (Grist) The Brief New details revealed about Burnet County crash Driver charged with five counts of second-degree felony manslaughter 5 young women, friends since middle school, died in the crash BURNET COUNTY, Texas - Court documents reveal more details about the Burnet County fiery crash that claimed the lives of five friends, and the driver charged in their deaths. Kody Lane Talley was arrested on August 5 for the July 25 crash and booked into the Burnet County jail on five counts of second-degree felony manslaughter. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Five young women, Jackie Velazco, Desiree Cervantes, Brianna Valadez, Ruby Cruz, and Thalia Salinas, friends since middle school, died in the crash. New details about Burnet County crash What we know Court documents obtained by FOX 7 Austin provide more details on the crash. According to an arrest affidavit for Talley, he was operating a white Dodge Ram pickup while towing a horse trailer loaded with horses, traveling north on US 281 approaching Park Road 4. The truck crossed over the center divider and began driving north in the southbound lanes, then crashed into oncoming traffic as it entered the intersection. The truck first hit a Chevy Malibu, then continued northbound and hit a Mercedes SUV. That impact "forced the SUV into the air where it overturned, came to rest on its right side, and caught fire," says the affidavit. All five women inside the SUV died, with one even being ejected from the vehicle. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Talley's truck then continued north in an arc across the roadway and eventually crashed into a fence. Talley was seen on body camera footage confirming he was the driver of the truck and speaking to Burnet County deputies, but he left the scene without speaking to any DPS troopers, says the affidavit. A witness who had been driving behind the Malibu and SUV also provided dash-cam footage showing the truck driving on the wrong side of the road and striking the other two vehicles, says the affidavit. The arrest affidavit also states the weight of the vehicle and trailer Talley was towing required a Class A driver's license, something he didn't have. His license also showed he had a restriction, requiring an ignition interlock device, but the truck didn't have one. What's next If convicted, Talley faces up to 20 years in prison. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement If it is proven he was intoxicated, his sentence could be stacked, and he could face up to a hundred years in prison. What they're saying Jeremy Rosenthal, an attorney not affiliated with the case, gave some insight into the charges. "When police first arrive on a scene, it doesn't always start out as some type of criminal investigation. A crash investigation by law has to occur, but that's one of the 80 things that's going on out there. It may have been clear or not clear to this individual that he was free to leave," he said. "It is defined as recklessly taking another person's life," Rosenthal said. "It doesn't require intoxication, and it could be potentially speeding, it could be potentially being on your phone. It means that you're just ignoring the risks that are at hand." Driver's criminal history in Williamson, Travis counties Kody Talley (Burnet County Jail) Dig deeper Court records reveal Talley has a history of drinking beer while driving in Williamson County. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In 2008, he was arrested for DWI in Liberty Hill. The charge was dismissed and refiled as a deadly conduct charge. He was placed on probation; it was revoked, and he was sentenced to a year in jail. The second DWI arrest was in 2011 in Cedar Park. He pleaded not guilty, but a jury convicted him. He was placed on probation, and again it was revoked. He was sentenced to 120 days in jail. The third DWI was four years later again in Cedar Park. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 75 days in jail. His record includes 21 charges in Williamson County and two in Travis County. The Source Information in this report comes from court documents and reporting by FOX 7 Austin's CrimeWatch reporter Meredith Aldis and previous reporting. Byron Allens local TV liquidation has begun. The comedian turned media moguls company Allen Media Group says that it has sold 10 of its local TV stations to Gray Media in a $171 million deal. More from The Hollywood Reporter Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The stations, mostly in the south and midwest, largely complement Grays existing station portfolio of about 180 local stations in 113 markets by creating duopolies. However Gray says that the deal will also bring it into three new markets: Columbus-Tupelo, Mississippi; Terre Haute, Indiana; and West Lafayette, Indiana, once it closes. The stations that Allen is selling span ABC, NBC, CBS and Fox affiliates, and include WAAY in Huntsville Alabama; WSIL in Paducah-Cape Girardeau-Harrisburg; WEVV in Evansville Indiana; WFFT in Ft. Wayne Indiana; WCOV in Montgomery Alabama; KADN in Lafayette Louisiana; WTVA in Columbus-Tupelo Mississippi; WREX in Rockford Illinois; WTHA in Terra Haute Indiana; and WLFA in West Lafayette Indiana. Gray says that it expects the deal to close in Q4, pending FCC approvals. Allen Media Group put its portfolio of 28 local TV stations across 21 local markets up for sale back in June, with Moelis & Company marketing the portfolio. The sale of about a third of those stations suggests that the bank will seek to cleave them off piecemeal to get the best deal. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Among AMGs other stations are affiliates located in Honolulu Hawaii, Madison Wisconsin, Flint Michigan and Tucson Arizona. AMG has had to undergo cuts over the last year or so as it has grappled with a rapidly changing media environment. In February it refinanced its $100 million revolving credit facility to give it more runway to execute. However Allen has continued to pursue new deals, taking over the 12:30 a.m. timeslot on CBS with his syndicated series Comics Unleashed, which he hosts himself. Best of The Hollywood Reporter Sign up for THR's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Byron Black's implanted defibrillator did not shock him during his lethal injection by the state of Tennessee Aug. 5, according to his attorney who said she evaluated data from the medical device. The finding eliminates one possible cause for signs of distress shown by Black, 69, during his execution, his attorney Kelley Henry said in a statement. But Henry said it leaves "many questions unanswered." Black lifted his head, groaned and told his spiritual advisor, "It's hurting so bad," as the lethal injection drug pentobarbital flowed through his veins at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville the morning of Aug. 5. Byron Blacks attorney Kelly Henry speaks on his behalf after the execution at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. Black was executed by lethal injection for the 1988 murders of Angela Clay and her two girls Latoya, 9, and Lakeisha, 6. Black, who suffered from congestive heart failure, had an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) that worked like a pacemaker to maintain his heart rhythm. After receiving the greenlight from the Tennessee Supreme Court, the Tennessee Department of Correction executed him without deactivating the device, causing concern from his attorneys that the device may cause repeated, painful shocks during his execution. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Henry said she and other attorneys are awaiting Black's autopsy, which she estimated will take eight to 12 weeks to be released. They are also "seeking information through public records requests to piece together exactly what went wrong during Mr. Blacks execution. "But make no mistake, we all saw with our own eyes that the pentobarbital did not work like the state's expert testified that it would. Mr. Black suffered," Henry said. The Tennessean has made a public records request for a copy of Black's autopsy report. Black had been on Tennessee's death row since 1989. He was convicted and sentenced to death for the 1988 killings of his ex-girlfriend Angela Clay and her two daughters Latoya, 9, and Lakeisha, 6. Prosecutors said he entered the Clay home in South Nashville while Clay and her daughters were sleeping and shot them to death. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Two of the victims' relatives, speaking after the execution, said his death represented closure for the family. Have questions about the justice system? Evan Mealins is the justice reporter for The Tennessean. Contact him with questions, tips or story ideas at emealins@tennessean.com. This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Byron Black's heart device did not shock him during execution: Lawyer Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) is reintroducing a bill on Friday to assert congressional control over the District of Columbias sentencing policies. Dubbed the D.C. Criminal Reforms to Immediately Make Everyone Safe Act, or DC CRIMES Act, the bill would prohibit the Districts local officials from changing sentencing laws and restrict the ability of local judges to be more lenient with younger criminals. The bills introduction comes as President Trump this week floated fully federalizing D.C. as a means to address crime in the nations capital. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trumps message came after Edward Coristine, who worked in the Department of Government Efficiency and gained notoriety for his nickname Big Balls, was allegedly beaten in connection with a carjacking attempt. Two 15-year-olds were arrested A version of the DC CRIMES Act passed in the House in May 2024 in a bipartisan 225-181 vote, with 18 Democrats supporting the legislation, even as former President Bidens White House opposed the legislation. The bill would amend the D.C. Home Rule Act to prohibit the council from enacting any changes to sentencing laws. It also makes a number of changes in an attempt to address the surge in juvenile crime in D.C. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The bill would change a provision that allows for lighter sentences for some convicts younger than 25 lowering the threshold to 18. It removes a provision that allows youth offenders to be sentenced below mandatory minimums, and requires the Attorney General to publish a website on juvenile crime statistics. For far too long, our nations capital has been plagued by an epidemic of violence due to the soft-on-crime policies of far-left, local leaders, Donalds said in a statement. Weak leadership by anti-cop radicals gives rise to chaos and the reign of terror unleashed on innocent residents and visitors of our nations capital must end now. Congress has a constitutional responsibility to oversee the District of Columbia, and its imperative that we act quickly to assert our control when local government fails to do its job. The American people deserve better, and I will not stand idly by while our capital city devolves into chaos. My DC CRIMES Act will restore law and order to the District, Donalds said. Trump this week called for changes in D.C. and to prosecute minors as adults. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement They are not afraid of Law Enforcement because they know nothing ever happens to them, but its going to happen now! Trump posted on Truth Social. The Law in D.C. must be changed to prosecute these minors as adults, and lock them up for a long time, starting at age 14. The president added: If D.C. doesnt get its act together, and quickly, we will have no choice but to take Federal control of the City, and run this City how it should be run, and put criminals on notice that theyre not going to get away with it anymore. 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. Brigham Young University will acquire the collected papers of former Sen. Orrin Hatch, President Shane Reese announced Thursday, to give students unique access to one of the largest collections of congressional history in the West. The acquisition will include more than 3,000 boxes of legislative records, private papers and other documents spanning the career of Utahs longest-serving U.S. senator, who died in 2022 after 42 years in Congress higher chamber. Reese made the announcement at the annual Orrin G. Hatch Foundation Titan of Public Service Award Gala, saying the move will give BYU scholars and students an unprecedented view into the meetings, negotiations and remarks of one of BYUs most distinguished alumni. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Sen. Hatch was also a champion of civil dialogue and constitutional government values that align with the principles we uphold at Brigham Young University, Reese said. This effort will not only enrich the academic research, but it will also inspire the next generation of principled leaders that is a legacy worthy of Sen. Hatch and one BYU is proud to help carry forward." Brigham Young University President C. Shane Reese speaks at the Titan of Public Service Award gala event of the Orrin G. Hatch Foundation at Salt Lake City's Grand America on Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. During the event it was announced that BYU had acquired complete collection the of Sen. Orrin Hatch documents. | Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News Over his more than four decades of public service beginning in 1977, Hatch passed more pieces of legislation than any member of Congress, totaling over 750 bills, receiving in his final term in office the title of most effective member of the Senate. Given the nickname Gentleman of the Senate, Hatch was known for his decadeslong friendship with Massachusetts Democrat Sen. Ted Kennedy, and his sponsorship of landmark legislation like the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This legacy showcases a rare contribution of principle, pragmatism and compassion, Reese said Thursday night before a room of community leaders, lawmakers and several members of Hatchs family. Elaine Hatch, the senators wife of nearly 65 years, died in May. I cannot tell you how delighted we are that the Hatch Papers Collection has finally found a home at Sen. Hatchs beloved alma mater, BYU, said Matt Sandgren, the executive director of the Orrin G. Hatch Foundation, and Hatchs final chief of staff. Air quality alerts went into effect in 11 states this week, as wildfire smoke from Canada as well as Central Californias Gifford Fire which has burned nearly 100,000 acres and is just 15 percent contained spread across the United States. As the planet warms, such blazes are burning more intensely, billowing smoke that can travel thousands of miles. In July, a group of Republican members of Congress went so far as to write an official letter of complaint to Canada, arguing that the countrys smoke is making it difficult for Americans to enjoy summer. But a growing body of research is reinforcing the knowledge that wildfire smoke is much more than an inconvenience in fact, its actually killing far more people than the flames themselves. New research on the fallout of the Palisades and Eaton fires that ravaged Los Angeles in January bears this out. Officially, the conflagrations killed 30 people. But the new study suggests thats a significant underestimate, because it isnt factoring in the victims who may have died miles away from the flames as toxic smoke wafted over the landscape. These researchers estimate the death toll may be closer to 440 or higher. Thats a big difference between what was officially recorded versus what we estimate based on our mortality modeling, said Andrew C. Stokes, a mortality demographer at the Boston University School of Public Health, co-author of the research letter describing the findings in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Los Angeles has a strong death investigation system, and yet its still very difficult for the medical examiners and coroners to accurately assign cause of death during a natural disaster. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The researchers found the additional deaths by looking at mortality data from the National Center for Health Statistics at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. From this they could see how many people died in Los Angeles County in 2018, 2019, and 2024 that is, how many Angelenos typically pass away in a given year. (They skipped 2020 through 2023, because those years were not typical, given deaths from the Covid-19 pandemic.) The Palisades and Eaton fires raged throughout January, so the researchers looked at data from January 5 to February 1, 2025. Based on prior years, 5,931 deaths would be expected in the county during this time but the period actually saw 6,371 deaths. The difference between those figures, 440, suggests thats the number of people whose deaths can be attributed to the fires. Those include not only people directly killed in the blazes, but also those who suffered from abundant smoke pouring over the metropolis. That pollution can exacerbate conditions like heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and asthma. But those deaths were likely attributed to preexisting conditions by medical examiners and coroners, rather than the triggering effects of wildfire smoke inhalation. There may also have been people who died from more indirect effects of the wildfires, like the disruption to health systems or negative impacts on mental health. It shows that the flames werent the biggest killer, said Jessica Yu, a research scientist for the Climate and Energy Policy Program at Stanford University who was not involved in the research. Its also the smoke. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Wildfire smoke is a mix of gas, water vapor, and tiny particulate matter, such as tar, carbon, and soot, but it can contain hundreds of harmful chemicals. The smaller the particulate matter, the greater the threat: PM 2.5 particles, which are about a thirtieth the width of a human hair, are small enough to enter the bloodstream. They can cause inflammation, trigger immune responses, and aggravate any number of preexisting health conditions. (As smoke travels through the atmosphere, it also transforms, producing ozone that further irritates the lungs.) Even relatively brief exposure to wildfire smoke can have long-lasting health effects, especially for vulnerable communities that struggle with poor air quality even outside wildfire season. And because PM 2.5 particles are so small, they can linger unseen in the air long after a fire has ended. This new tally of 440 deaths may still be an underestimate, and necessarily so. (Previous research has estimated that between 2008 and 2018, wildfire smoke in California was responsible for around 55,000 premature deaths, with an economic impact of over $400 billion.) These researchers only had data between January 5 and February 1, but the impacts may have stretched longer still, especially as cleanup crews worked with the many toxicants left behind as lead pipes, plastics, and everything else in homes, cars, and a built environment went up in smoke or melted. The studys data also only covered Los Angeles County, while the smoke could have killed still more people in nearby jurisdictions. Toxicants do not respect county borders, Stokes said. Neighboring counties were likely also deeply affected. Toxicants dont respect international borders, either. The relentless wildfires blazing across Canada have been throwing smoke into northern U.S. states for months now. (That smoke may be even more toxic than usual, as the fires are burning through mining regions, where soils are heavily polluted with lead, mercury, and arsenic.) Canadas smoke is even traveling clear across the Atlantic Ocean, contaminating the skies above Europe. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Whats needed, Yu says, is a more holistic approach to disaster response. Community HEPA programs could provide air filters to low-income neighborhoods. Advanced planning for fire season within the healthcare system could allow hospitals to allocate surge capacity to affected areas, pre-position mobile medical units, and ramp up telehealth services to ensure people can access care during the crisis. Events like this, theyre not necessarily equal-opportunity health risks, said Yu. They affect people differently in communities of color and low-income neighborhoods. We must really think about how to prioritize and target some of these healthcare responses. While it remains challenging to determine the true death tolls of wildfires, the researchers think their framework can be applied elsewhere. As worsening wildfires continue to expose more people to smoke, further research could give scientists and public health officials a better understanding of the threat. We think that we have a generalizable set of tools, Stokes said. We have the modeling infrastructure that would allow for us to look at other events and to continue to tease this out. This story was originally published by Grist with the headline As California burns, new research shows smoke is wildfires silent killer on Aug 8, 2025. By Laman Ismayilova The Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences (ANAS) continues to expand its international scientific cooperation. For the first time in the past three years, ANAS has been accepted as a full voting member into several prestigious international organizations, including the International Science Council (ISC) and the Association of Academies and Societies of Sciences in Asia (AASSA). Now, ANAS has achieved another significant milestone in this direction. ANAS has been elevated from provisional membership to full membership in the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP). This step strengthens the Academy's participation in global scientific processes, provides Azerbaijani scientists with equal access at the international level, and ensures more effective integration into the global scientific community. In this regard, a formal letter was addressed to ANAS President, Academician Isa Habibbayli, by IAP Co-Presidents Masresha Fetene and Margaret A. Hamburg. The letter states that the General Assembly of the IAP has approved the transition of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences to full membership status. ANAS's full membership has already come into effect and will be reflected on the official IAP website. The letter also includes an invitation for ANAS President Academician Isa Habibbayli to participate in the IAP Conference and General Assembly to be held in December 2025 in Cairo, Egypt. It was noted that this event serves as a unique platform for member academies to connect, exchange experiences, and explore cooperation opportunities. Detailed information about the event will be shared soon. As a full member, ANAS President Academician Isa Habibbeyli has been invited to participate in the following areas: Participation in regional and global programs; Nomination of expert candidates to IAP working groups; Contribution to statements and consultations; Engagement in communication and capacity-building initiatives; Involvement in setting shared priorities. ANAS's international reputation continues to grow. Recently, the International Plato Academy, headquartered in Athens, Greece, responded positively to ANAS's membership application and informed Academician Isa Habibbayli of this decision in an official letter. (Reuters) -The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it had opened an audit into 137,256 Kia America vehicles on Friday to assess the effectiveness of the automaker's remedy for defective piston oil rings in some Seltos and Soul models. In February, Kia America launched a recall of the said Seltos and Soul vehicles, model year 2021-2023, over concerns that piston oil rings may have been manufactured incorrectly, which can result in engine damage causing a loss of motive power or an increased fire risk. The auto safety regulator said its Office of Defect Investigation's recall division reviewed complaints that allege ineffectiveness and unavailability of recall remedy, as well as inconsistency in inspection results. The audit query will look into Kia's remedy measures in view of the 47 complaints received from April 29 through June 27, this year. (Reporting by Aatreyee Dasgupta in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee) California has secured a Fire Management Assistance Grant from FEMA to help battle the Canyon Fire burning in L.A. and Ventura counties. As of Friday morning, Cal Fire shared that the blaze has burned approximately 4,856 acres since it erupted on Thursday afternoon near Holser Canyon, north of Piru. Officials confirmed that at least two minor structures, which were not believed to be homes, have been destroyed by the fire. KTLAs Erin Myers reported that containment moved up to 25% as of 10 a.m., with more than 400 personnel working overnight in steep terrain and hot, dry conditions. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The blaze has placed more than 4,300 residents under evacuation orders, and an additional 12,000 were put under evacuation warnings due to the blaze, according to the states Office of Emergency Services. The cause of the fire 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 KTLA. OTTAWA With trade talks stalled with the Trump administration, Canada is turning its focus to deepening ties with Mexico. Prime Minister Mark Carney dispatched two of his top Cabinet members to Mexico City for meetings this week with President Claudia Sheinbaum and top officials and business leaders. Canada is playing its energy card in Mexico as part of a strategy to diversify economic relations as a bulwark against Donald Trumps tariffs, which the president hiked to 35 percent last week after his Aug. 1 deadline for a new deal passed without agreement. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It's no secret that Canada is an energy powerhouse and that we have the ability to supply energy to willing countries, Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand told POLITICO from Mexico City. Canadas Mexican charm offensive underscored the imperative for Carney's government to shore up relations with Mexico ahead of the upcoming review of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement. Carney insists the pact provides tariff-free trade for 85 percent of Canadas exports to the U.S. despite the 35 percent tariff imposed last Friday. There are no guarantees Trump will continue to honor the USMCA as tensions rise. While Anand and Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne were making the rounds in Mexico, a top White House official accused Ottawa of cozying up to China. Canada and China are the only two among roughly 90 countries to impose retaliatory tariffs on the U.S. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Stephen Miran, chair of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, told CNBC on Wednesday that things are looking very promising for finalizing a trade deal with Mexico after Trump gave the country a 90-day extension. Canada needs to get its act together, Miran said. I think Canada has decided it would rather be similar to China and retaliate against the United States. Anand dismissed Mirans criticism. Negotiations between the United States and any other country are not comparable to Canada's negotiations with the United States, Anand said. You can't take a playbook from one country and simply apply it across the board to other countries. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement She said Canada-U.S. relations in security and defense remain strong, but she conceded: In every relationship, there are hills and valleys. In Mexico City this week, Anand and Champagne devoted two days to revitalizing two-way collaboration on investment and energy. Anand said their 75-minute meeting with Sheinbaum on Tuesday opened doors to further talks with several of her senior Cabinet members and additional meetings with top executives from Mexican firms and Canadian companies in Mexico. Spurring investment in Mexican energy infrastructure projects, including pipelines and ports, was a major topic, Anand told POLITICO. That included finding investment opportunities for Canadas Maple 8 pension fund group of companies, which has more than C$2 trillion in assets. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We know that the Maple 8 pension funds are world-renowned because of their infrastructure investments in countries like Australia and Finland and Germany and India. The country of Mexico is ripe for additional investments, Anand explained. While the Anand-Champagne visit was about doing some necessary spadework in anticipation of a visit by Carney to Mexico later this year, it was all about setting the proper conditions between Canada and Mexico ahead of the USMCA review. Anand said the review would likely begin next year, as originally envisioned in the six-year sunset clause in the 2020 pact. While thats consistent with what Carney said earlier this week, it runs counter to what Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc recently told POLITICO. After meeting Mexican officials in Washington last week, LeBlanc said the USMCA review could start as early as this fall. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ontario Premier Doug Ford is pushing for a quick start to the USMCA review because of one persistent and unpredictable threat. At any given time, President Trump not that he even follows the rules he can pull the carpet out from underneath us on CUSMA tomorrow with one signature," Ford told reporters at Queen's Park in Toronto. "So let's be prepared. I think it'll be coming in November. He's going to come at us with double barrels, so we better be ready and throw everything and the kitchen sink at this." Key Takeaway Canadians returning to the country by automobile from the U.S. declined 33.1 percent in June. In 2024, Canadian tourism generated $20.5 billion in spending. States across America are suffering from a steep decline in Canadian tourism following a tumultuous first half of 2025. Canadians returning to the country by automobile from the United States declined 33.1% in June, compared to the same time last year, according to Canada's national statistical agency. And Canadians returning from the U.S. by air dropped 22.1 percent. In fact, the agency said June was the sixth consecutive month of year-over-year automobile declines. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The dip in Canadian tourists follows a turbulent political year that saw President Donald Trump campaign to make the country the 51st state." In February, then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called for Canadians to not spend their money on vacations in the U.S, instead asking them to "choose Canada" and change their "summer vacation plans to stay here in Canada and explore the many national and provincial parks, historical sites and tourist destinations our great country has to offer," according to The New York Times. As of April, advance bookings for flights from Canada to the U.S. between April and September were down more than 70% compared to the same time last year, according to Axios, citing statistics from aviation data firm OAG. Even just a small dip in tourism could be very costly since Canadian travelers typically account for the highest number of international visitors to the U.S., according to the U.S. Travel Association. In 2024 alone, a total of 20.4 million Canadians visited the country, generating $20.5 billion in spending. A 10 percent reduction in visitor numbers, for example, would equate to a potential loss of $2.1 billion. Some states will likely suffer more than othersFlorida, California, Nevada, New York, and Texas tend to be the most popular states for Canadian visitorsbut others have started to feel the crunch as well. In New Hampshire, which borders the eastern part of Canada, officials are seeing a dramatic drop in Canadian tourism. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Absolutely, the Canadian numbers are lower this year, for sure," Taylor Caswell, New Hampshire's commissioner for business and economic affairs, told local WMUR-TV. "They're running at about 30 percent underneath what we've seen in prior years." In Montana, credit card transactions have shown the impact of fewer tourists. Spending by Canadians in Kalispell, in the western part of the state, has decreased by an average of about 37 percent per month from January to April, Diane Medler, the executive director of Discover Kalispell, told NBC Montana. In nearby Whitefish, Canadian credit card spending has dropped 25 percent through the month of May, Zak Anderson, the executive director at Explore Whitefish, told the network. But not everyone is giving up. In September, for example, New Hampshire is planning its own trade delegation visit, WMUR-TV reported. "We're going to continue to focus on our relationships with Canada, which are quite important," the state's Gov. Kelly Ayotte said, according to the network. Read the original article on Travel & Leisure Cancer vaccines will be given to NHS patients with deadly head and neck tumours. A trial of jabs that could cure peoples cancer and prevent it from returning is being expanded to include more than 100 patients with mouth, throat and other head-related cancers, over the next year. The world-first programme has already been trialling personalised cancer vaccines in some 550 patients with either bowel or skin cancers. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Tens of thousands of patients will be recruited to trial the various vaccines in development for different forms of the disease over the coming years. The programme, called the NHS Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad, uses a match-making service to partner eligible cancer patients with appropriate trials at nearby hospitals, led by the Southampton Clinical Trials Unit. The cancer vaccines use mRNA technology, first pioneered to create Covid-19 jabs during the pandemic. The vaccine used in this trial, known as AHEAD-MERIT (BNT113-01), will help the immune system recognise and kill cancer cells containing human papillomavirus (HPV) proteins, which are commonly linked to head and neck cancers. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Around 11,000 new cases of head and neck cancer are diagnosed in England every year, with a recent University of Sheffield study finding rates had increased by 47 per cent between 2013 and 2020. Aggressive forms of the disease are difficult to treat and have high rates of returning, while fewer than 50 per cent of patients will live for two years after being diagnosed. The vaccine used in the trial is encoded with two proteins that are commonly found in head and neck cancers associated with high-risk types of HPV. It trains the bodys immune system to attack and kill the cancer cells. Prof Peter Johnson, NHS Englands national clinical director for cancer, said it was a potentially transformative vaccine, offering renewed hope of holding the disease at bay. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The NHS is always looking for evidence-backed innovations in treatment to improve survival and quality of life for people diagnosed with cancer, and this expansion of our Cancer Vaccine Launch Pad will give hundreds of patients the chance to be part of cutting-edge advances in cancer care, he said. It will be available to selected patients from 15 NHS hospitals over the next 12 months, NHS England said, which is partnering with German life sciences company BioNTech on the programme. Karin Smyth MP, the health minister, says the new cancer vaccine trial is a massive win for Britain The announcement to expand trials into vaccines using mRNA technology comes after Robert F Kennedy Jr, the US health secretary, announced he would cancel $500 million in funding for mRNA vaccines to tackle viruses that cause diseases such as flu and Covid-19. Kennedy, a vaccine sceptic, said he was pulling the funding over claims that mRNA technology poses more risks than benefits for these respiratory viruses, in a move that has been heavily criticised. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Karin Smyth MP, the health minister, said the new cancer vaccine trial was a massive win for Britain and could be game-changing for patients facing some of the most challenging diagnoses. By getting these trials running in our NHS, were putting ourselves at the forefront of medical innovation, she said. Lord Vallance, the science minister and former chief scientific officer for the Government, said: Our partnership with BioNTech is delivering for patients right across the country, and I hope to see more ambitious work like this as they continue to invest in research and development and AI as part of their billion-pound backing for the UK over the next 10 years. Cancer Research UK says the launch pad is an important route to fast-track promising mRNA vaccine technology into clinical trials - E+ Chris Curtis, 67, from Blackpool, was diagnosed with a HPV-related head and neck cancer in 2011 and set up a support charity, The Swallows. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He said: When I was diagnosed with stage four tongue cancer and two secondary cancers, one each side of the neck, my world just fell apart. I then had to go through brutal treatment, including six weeks of radiotherapy, chemotherapy every week, two neck dissections and be fed on a tube for almost three years. I lost 12 stone in weight and was severely physically and mentally unwell. With this aggressive cancer you live in fear every day so anything that could help control the disease or give people peace of mind is ground-breaking. Itll allow people to get on with their lives and move forward. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Dr Iain Foulkes, executive director of research and innovation at Cancer Research UK, said the launch pad was an important route to fast-track promising mRNA vaccine technology into clinical trials. Research into personalised cancer treatments is vital. There are over 200 different types of cancer and its unlikely there will ever be a single cure that works for everyone. 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. Far-right commentator Candace Owens thinks President Trump and JD Vance should be rushing to defend her as French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte, sue her for defamation. Owens has been running a monthslong harassment campaign, or transvestigation, against Brigitte, claiming she was born a biological man. The Macrons lawsuit, filed in Delaware, alleges that Owens has used this false statement to promote her independent platform, gain notoriety, and make money. This includes Owenss Candace podcast and her eight-part YouTube series on Brigittes gender, Becoming Brigitte. After looking into this, I would stake my entire professional reputation on the fact that Brigitte Macron is in fact a man, Owens posted on X in March 2024. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Now, as the lawsuit approaches, Owens is grasping at straws and begging for help, to no avail. She even went so far as to reveal that Trump called her on the phone to tell her to drop the transgender allegations. You have a literal European leader that is basically saying eff you to the American Constitution, right? Emmanuel Macron and Brigitte are saying, You know what, we dont like that podcaster in America, and we are gonna launch a lawsuit thats never been launched before, an unprecedented lawsuit, to impoverish her for speaking, Owens opined. And both JD Vance and Trump have not issued a statement. In fact, where are the journalists even asking them to make a statement, OK? she continued. A state leadera state leader is speaking about your constituent, and launching a lawsuit and saying theyre gonna impoverish them for executing a First Amendment right. Where are you? If you are Trump, the first thing you should have done, if you purport to care about America and our Constitution you would come out and you would say I dont even know whether I believe that shes a man or a woman, it doesnt matter, right? Candace Owens appears PANICKED as she calls the Macrons lawsuit a "FOREIGN INVASION," begging for Trump and J.D. Vance to intervene: "It's CRAZY that Trump has been silent on this matter." She also claims the Macrons want to "impoverish her for speaking." Candace and her pic.twitter.com/E3OIjGcIvI Nathan Livingstone (MilkBarTV) (@TheMilkBarTV) August 7, 2025 He could even say, like he said to me on the phone, that I looked at her real close in the Eiffel Tower, and it looked like a woman to me. OK, you can say all those things, but you should say its unacceptable, Owens continued. That this leader would threaten the First Amendment in any way. The job of the federal government is to defend us against foreign invaders, and I would pretty much say Emmanuel Macron right now is being a foreign invader. But no, theyre silent. They are silent. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This is a real hit dog hollering moment. Owens claimed for months that the first lady of France is a biological male, based a significant portion of her million-dollar podcast content on that baseless lie, and is now crying for the president to save her while the Macrons gear up to sue the hell out of her, and rightly so. Piers Morgan somehow said it best: You kind of know [the rumor about Brigitte] is not true, but youve ridden the wave of conspiracy theory about it because its been so lucrative, he told Owens on his show on Wednesday. That is why theyre suing you, because ultimately they know youve been amplifying this massively more than the journalists had in France. The Brief The Canyon Fire erupted around 1:30 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 7, near Lake Piru in Ventura County. It quickly spread towards Santa Clarita. Several evacuation orders and warnings are in effect in LA and Ventura counties. VENTURA COUNTY, Calif. - A fast-moving wildfire erupted near Lake Piru in Ventura County on Thursday afternoon amid high heat. What we know The blaze, dubbed the Canyon Fire, sparked just before 1:30 p.m. southeast of Lake Piru in Ventura County, near the border of Los Angeles County. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As the fire continued to burn toward Santa Clarita, mandatory evacuation orders and warnings were issued in LA and Ventura counties. Firefighters from the two counties, along with assistance from Angeles National Forest personnel, are fighting the flames. As of Friday, officials said the fire was 5,370 acres and is 25% contained. The National Weather Service reported that temperatures in the area were hovering around 100 degrees when the fire sparked on Thursday afternoon. RELATED:Southern California braces for hottest weather of the summer There was no immediate word on the cause of the fire, and no reports of any injuries. EVACUATION ORDERS Evacuation orders were issued for the following zones: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement PIRU-14 PIRU-01 LAKP-05 LAKP-06 LAKP-04 CAS-VALVERDE CAS-OAKCANYON CAS-HASLEY CAS-ROMERO EVACUATION WARNINGS Evacuation warnings were issued for the following zones: CAS-INDUSTRY CAS-GOLDENSTATE-B CAS-SLOAN CAS-GREENHILL CAS-CAMBRIDGE CAS-HILLCREST LAKP-01 LAKP-02 The evacuations are impacting roughly 4,200 residents and 1,400 structures. To find your evacuation zone in LA County, click here. To find your evacuation zone in Ventura County, click here. EVACUATION SHELTERS An evacuation center was established at College of the Canyons. As for those with animals, large animals can be taken to Pierce College in Woodland Hills and small animals can be taken to the Castaic Animal Care Center and the Agoura Hills Animal Shelter. What they're saying A man visiting his parents from Australia said he was making lunch with his mother when the fire broke out. "It was pack everything up and get out," he recalled. What we don't know The cause of the fire is under investigation. The Source Information for this story came from Cal Fire. Firefighters continue to battle the fast-moving Canyon Fire on Friday morning as it burns near the Ventura-Los Angeles County line, forcing thousands to flee their homes. As of Cal Fires latest update, the blaze has charred about 5,370 acres since it erupted Thursday afternoon near Holser Canyon, north of Piru. Officials confirmed that at least two minor structures, which were not believed to be homes, have been destroyed by the fire. Containment moved up to 28% as of 6 p.m., with more than 400 personnel working overnight in steep terrain and hot, dry conditions. The fire is being fought under unified command between the Ventura County and Los Angeles County fire departments. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Were going to continue constructing firelines, providing structure defense and reinforcing control lines, said Andrew Doud with Ventura County Fire. Our firefighters are working tirelessly through the day in rugged terrain and high temperatures, and were hoping to see that containment number increase. Called to aid, the Kern County Fire Department announced it deployed task forces to help crews working tirelessly to contain the fire. Myers reported from the scene early Friday that officials have seen video of at least one structure burning. Nearly 3,000 residents remain under evacuation orders in both Ventura and Los Angeles counties. There have been no reports of injuries. Crews are seen working on containing the Canyon Fire on Aug. 8, 2025. (KTLA) Aerial footage shows a large plume of smoke from the Canyon Fire on Aug. 8, 2025. (KTLA) The growing Canyon Fire is seen looming in the mountains beside Six Flags on Aug. 7, 2025. (TNLA) Evacuation orders were issued near Piru in Ventura County due to a fast-moving brush fire on Aug. 7, 2025. (KTLA) The growing Canyon Fire is seen looming in the mountains beside Six Flags on Aug. 7, 2025. (TNLA) Evacuation orders were issued near Piru in Ventura County due to a fast-moving brush fire on Aug. 7, 2025. (KTLA) Evacuation orders were issued near Piru in Ventura County due to a fast-moving brush fire on Aug. 7, 2025. (KTLA) Evacuation orders were issued near Piru in Ventura County due to a fast-moving brush fire on Aug. 7, 2025. (KTLA) Evacuation orders were issued near Piru in Ventura County due to a fast-moving brush fire on Aug. 7, 2025. (KTLA) Evacuation orders were issued near Piru in Ventura County due to a fast-moving brush fire on Aug. 7, 2025. (KTLA) Evacuation orders were issued near Piru in Ventura County due to a fast-moving brush fire on Aug. 7, 2025. (KTLA) Evacuation orders were issued near Piru in Ventura County due to a fast-moving brush fire on Aug. 7, 2025. (KTLA) Evacuation orders were issued near Piru in Ventura County due to a fast-moving brush fire on Aug. 7, 2025. (KTLA) Evacuation orders were issued near Piru in Ventura County due to a fast-moving brush fire on Aug. 7, 2025. (KTLA) Evacuation orders were issued near Piru in Ventura County due to a fast-moving brush fire on Aug. 7, 2025. (KTLA) Also on Friday morning, Castaic High School announced it would remain closed after flames had encroached near the campus late Thursday night. While the school is safe, it is still in a mandatory evacuation zone and, as such, will be closed today, read the schools statement on Facebook. Evacuations Evacuation Orders: PIRU-14, PIRU-01, LAKP-05, LAKP-06, LAKP-04, CAS-VALVERDE, CAS-OAKCANYON, CAS-HASLEY, CAS-ROMERO Evacuation Warnings: CAS-INDUSTRY, CAS-GOLDENSTATE-B, CAS-SLOAN, CAS-GREENHILL, CAS-CAMBRIDGE, CAS-HILLCREST, LAKP-01, LAKP-02 Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Residents can check their specific evacuation zone and status at: Shelters and animal care People: College of the Canyons, East Gymnasium, 26455 Rockwell Canyon Road, Santa Clarita Large animals: Pierce College, 6201 Winnetka Ave., Woodland Hills Small animals: Castaic Animal Care Center, 31044 Charlie Canyon Road, Castaic; Agoura Hills Animal Shelter, 29525 Agoura Road, Agoura Hills Sky5 over the Canyon Fire Sky5 was overhead at 6:30 a.m. Friday. KTLAs Rich Prickett reported seeing the most active flames along Hasley Canyon Road, with other hot spots producing heavy smoke. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement First overhead look this morning of the Canyon Fire here up in the Lake Piru area. What youre seeing right now is the most active spot we are seeing as of right now really, theres not a whole lot of active involvement, just a lot of smoke, Prickett said. From the air, Prickett noted that flames had receded from Castaic High School. Helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft were expected to resume water drops to target hot spots burning in the canyons. Government takes action Governor Gavin Newsom announced Friday morning that California has secured a Fire Management Assistance Grant (FMAG) from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to help with the battle against the Canyon Fire. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The grant is meant to help ensure the availability of vital resources to suppress the Canyon Fire burning in Los Angeles County, stated Newsoms office. The cause of the fire remains under investigation. This is a developing story. Stay with KTLA for 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 KTLA. Firefighters are continuing to make progress battling a wildfire burning in the hills near the Los Angeles and Ventura county line, allowing thousands of evacuated residents to return to their homes Friday evening as public health officials warned of potentially unhealthy air in the area through the weekend. By 6 p.m. Friday, crews had reached 28% containment on the 5,370-acre Canyon fire burning near Castaic, which broke out amid a heat wave Thursday and has destroyed at least two buildings and injured three firefighters, according to the L.A. County Fire Department. Evacuation orders affecting around 2,700 residents have been downgraded to warnings, while evacuation warnings affecting around 14,000 residents have been lifted, according to Ventura County Fire Department spokesperson Andrew Dowd. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "We've made tremendous progress on this fire; we are very proud of the hard work that has been done by the men and women on the ground," Dowd said. "I think residents in the area can be thankful for the firefighters that came here to help serve them." At 6:20 p.m., a single vehicle rolled over at the scene of the fire and one person was taken to a hospital for treatment, Dowd said. The Ventura County Fire Department is investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident and did not say whether the person injured was a firefighter. According to the South Coast Air Quality Management District, smoke from the Canyon fire is causing unhealthy air quality in Los Angeles County, primarily in the 5 Freeway corridor near Castaic Lake. The L.A. County Department of Public Health has issued a smoke advisory until 11 a.m. Sunday, and is urging everyone in areas where they can see or smell smoke to limit or avoid outdoor activity. Ventura County officials said the fire ignited just before 2 p.m. Thursday when temperatures were peaking at around 100 degrees northeast of Piru, a small, unincorporated town not far from Castaic Junction. It then charged east, threatening homes and temporarily prompting evacuation orders in the L.A. County communities of Val Verde, Hasley Canyon and Castaic. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Taking advantage of cooler temperatures Thursday night into Friday morning, crews were able to make inroads against the fast-moving blaze that grew to several thousand acres in a matter of hours, Dowd said. But he said the fight ahead remains challenging, given the hot weather, rugged terrain and a parched landscape that, together, can foster extreme fire growth. We are seeing some flare-ups in various parts of the fire," Dowd said Friday morning. "We still have record-low fuel moisture in the area, so were not letting our guard" down. Two small structures, probably sheds or outbuildings, have been confirmed destroyed, Dowd said. Officials have not confirmed any homes or businesses damaged, but video from the scene showed a few buildings destroyed or engulfed in flames. It wasn't immediately clear if that was additional damage from the two small buildings. A helicopter drops fire retardant on a hot spot on the hill above Castaic High School while battling the Canyon fire in Castaic on Friday. (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times) Dowd said he expects containment to grow over Friday night as firefighters double down on the work that's been done so far "so that's patrolling, mopping up, reinforcing containment lines, addressing hot spots and flareups as they occur, and continuing to provide structure defense and structure protection to those properties that may be at risk." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Residents in the Val Verde area said flames were visible from the neighborhood's western edge Thursday, but the threat appeared to have calmed a bit by Friday morning, though the air remained thick with soot and ash. Theres a lot of smoke. The air is really, really bad," Jennifer Elkins, president of the Val Verde Civic Assn., said Friday. Her neighborhood was under an evacuation order Thursday afternoon, but was able to return home Friday. "Were just kind of staying locked up indoors and keeping an eye on things," Elkins said. This is a really tough fire season, and Im really glad the Fire Department is really taking every fire seriously. ... This is a pretty big threat to the community. The Canyon fire quickly became one of the largest of several fires sparked during days of intense heat in Southern California. To the north in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, the much larger Gifford fire has burned more than 100,000 acres. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Unfortunately for firefighters on the ground, the heat is expected to persist into the weekend, though temperatures may drop a degree or two. Temperatures were forecast to peak Friday at 98 degrees around the Canyon fire, and that heat plus the winds, low humidity and parched landscape would continue to create elevated fire conditions through the weekend, said Mike Wofford, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Oxnard. Its ripe for fires and fire spread," Wofford said. A hand crew battles flames from the Canyon fire in Castaic. (Eric Thayer / Getty Images) "Although a few degrees of cooling is expected through the weekend, a very warm air mass will remain in place. An onshore flow regime will keep temperatures from exceeding record levels, but temperatures are expected to remain above seasonal normals as high pressure aloft lingers over the southwestern United States," the weather service said in a Friday morning forecast. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Read more: Canyon fire: Evacuation zones, road closures, shelters The fire was initially reported to be about 30 acres, but within about two hours that estimate jumped to over 1,000 acres, according to Ventura County officials. By midnight, it had spread across 4,856 acres and was racing east toward Castaic and the 5 Freeway in L.A. County. On Friday, it grew another 514 acres. More than 400 firefighters were assigned to the incident, according to fire officials. A resident sprays down his home as firefighters prepare to battle flames from the Canyon fire in Castaic. (Eric Thayer / Getty Images) The American Civil Liberties Union raised concerns about the fires proximity to the Pitchess Detention Center, where about 5,000 inmates are housed in four jails. The center is east of the 5 Freeway and fell just outside an evacuation warning zone the first night of the fire. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Senior staff attorney Melissa Camacho said she was gravely concerned about the growing fire. Januarys Hughes fire burned within a half-mile of the jails and not a single person incarcerated there was evacuated, Camacho told The Times. Its heartbreaking that, less than eight months later, the 5,000 people in the jails and their loved ones will spend another sleepless night watching a fire and praying that it doesnt reach them. The L.A. County Sheriffs Department, which operates the facility, said it was actively monitoring fire conditions and was in constant communication with fire and county officials. Similar to evacuation plans implemented at Pepperdine University in Malibu, the Fire Department has advised that a shelter-in-place strategy is the safest option for custody staff and inmates, given the building construction type and current fire behavior, agency spokesperson Nicole Nishida said in a statement. The area around the building has been cleared of brush and has wide defensible space, she said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday announced that the state had secured Federal Emergency Management Agency support to help pay for the fight against the blaze. The Fire Management Assistance Grant can provide federal funding for up to 75% of eligible firefighting costs, including expenses for field camps, equipment use, supplies and mobilization, and demobilization activities, according to FEMA. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) Capitol police are searching for a suspect who robbed a Jackson bank. The robbery occurred at Cadence Bank on Canton Mart Road just before 2:15 p.m. on Friday, August 8. Warrants issued for two more suspects in Jackson neighborhood shootout Bailey Martin, spokesperson for the Mississippi Department of Public Safety (MDPS), said the suspect had left the scene before officers arrived. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Police said the suspect had a gun when he entered the bank, as well as a shirt around his head. He took an undisclosed amount of money. No injuries were reported. The robbery occurred at Cadence Bank on Canton Mart Road just before 2:15 p.m. on Friday, August 8. (WJTV) The robbery occurred at Cadence Bank on Canton Mart Road just before 2:15 p.m. on Friday, August 8. (WJTV) The robbery occurred at Cadence Bank on Canton Mart Road just before 2:15 p.m. on Friday, August 8. (WJTV) Anyone with information on the whereabouts of the suspect can contact Capitol police at 601-359-3125. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Daily 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 WJTV. PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) Western Minnesota Municipal Power Agency intends to build a powerplant south of the Deuel County community of Toronto in eastern South Dakota and sell the electricity to Missouri River Energy Services. They jointly filed a permit application on Thursday with the South Dakota Public Utilities Commission. As one of the first steps in considering the application, the commission has scheduled a community input meeting at the Deubrook Elementary School gym in Toronto on September 24, starting at 5:30 p.m. CT. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The 145-megawatt plant would be fueled primarily by natural gas, with fuel oil as a backup. RHODEN PAC Two lawmakers have formed a political action committee because they want Gov. Larry Rhoden to run in 2026. Republican Rep. Mike Derby is chairing the PAC called Strong, Safe & Free and Republican Sen. Arch Beal is co-chair. Rhoden was South Dakotas lieutenant governor for more than six years. On January 27, he became governor after Kristi Noem stepped down. Rhoden hasnt publicly said yet whether he will run in the Republican primary on June 2. In announcing the PACs formation, Derby said Rhoden would bring a ranchers sensibilities and problem solving to the race. I hope he chooses to run for a full term as governor. If he does, Strong Safe & Free PAC stands ready to support him, Derby said in a statement. While others are campaigning, hes doing a great job focusing on leading our state. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement So far three Republicans U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson, House Speaker Jon Hansen and Aberdeen businessman Toby Doeden have announced they will be running. History will be on the side of the winner of the Republican primary. The most recent election that South Dakota voters chose a Democrat as governor was 1974. BRIEFLY: The National Science Foundation has invested $7 million in six South Dakota universities to launch Ge-STAR: Germanium-based Science and Technology Advancement Research. Campuses participating in the four-year project are University of South Dakota at Vermillion, South Dakota School of Mines at Rapid City, South Dakota State University at Brookings, Black Hills State University at Spearfish, Dakota State University at Madison and Mount Marty University at Yankton A SDSU research team has been looking into how grapevine canes can be converted into plastic-like material that is stronger than traditional plastic and will decompose in the soil in just a few weeks of time. An article about the work recently appeared in Sustainable Food Technology Journal Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Former South Dakota Legislative Research Council director Terry Anderson will be featured as the guest during the on-line History Talks program presented by the South Dakota State Historical Society at 7 p.m. CT on August 19. Hell recount his experiences as a teen-age Republican on the 1968 Victory Special train that promoted Republican candidates that election year. He wrote about it in an essay, This Train Is Coming, published in the summer 2025 issue of South Dakota History. You can reach KELOLAND Capitol Bureau reporter Bob Mercer with news tips, questions, complaints and story ideas by calling 605-280-7580. He also can be reached via digital messages at bmercer@keloland.com or @pierremercer on X, or through U.S. mail at 1810 Camden Court, Pierre, SD, 57501. 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. US-based fast-casual chain Noodles & Company has announced a leadership transition. Joseph D Christina, who currently holds the position of president and chief operating officer, is set to take over as president and CEO on 31 August 2025. His appointment also includes a position on the board of directors. Christina will take the helm from Drew Madsen, who will step down from the CEO position for personal reasons. Madsen will continue to aid in the leadership transition during August, and will maintain his involvement with the company as a member of the board. With a quick-service and fast-casual dining sector background, Christina has experience in market development, human resources, operations, financial management, marketing and franchise leadership. His career began at Burger King and has seen him progress ij 29 years from restaurant manager to the senior vice-president of US franchise operations for the West Division. Following Burger King, he held the position of executive vice-president of US operations at Churchs Chicken, before becoming its president, CEO and a board member. His latest leadership role was as Tijuana Flats CEO, where he played a pivotal role in steering the company through industry challenges, modernising its offerings, and expanding its market presence, according to the companys release. Christina stated: I am grateful for the opportunity to have joined the company under Drews leadership and look forward to leading a laser focus on operational excellence as well as enhancing our menu offerings, to unlock long-term value for our guests, team members, franchisees and shareholders. Noodles & Company launched an April 2025 taste tour featuring new flavours and exclusive daily offers for its rewards members. The company also expanded its presence with the opening of a new restaurant in Williston, North Dakota, lin 2024. The new location is operated by franchise partner Little Deep Pasta, a subsidiary of Cultivate Solutions, and is their 16th Noodles & Company establishment. "Noodles & Company promotes Joseph Christina to CEO" was originally created and published by Verdict Food Service, a GlobalData owned brand. The Brief Troopers say a pursuit of robbery suspects early Friday ended with a crash into a pond in Riverview. The Florida Highway Patrol says the pursuit began in Manatee County before the suspects entered Hillsborough County. FHP says no one was found in the car or in the water following the crash. RIVERVIEW, Fla. - Investigators are searching for robbery suspects whose car they say was found in a pond after leading law enforcement on a pursuit through two counties early Friday. What we know According to the Manatee County Sheriff's Office, the robbery victim was selling personal items to three men when one of them pointed a gun at the victim. Investigators say the suspects got away in a 2025 Toyota sedan. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement MCSO says detectives identified two persons of interest, then found a car matching the description of the one used in the robbery. Troopers with the Florida Highway Patrol joined Manatee County deputies in pursuing the car early Friday. Troopers lost sight of the car, according to FHP, then received a crash alert from the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office in the area of Gibsonton Dr. and Mathog Rd. in Riverview. Investigators found the car submerged in a pond and removed it with the help of aviation and dive teams, but they say no one was found in the vehicle or in the water. As of Friday morning, the suspects have not been found and the investigation is ongoing. The Source This story was written with information from the Manatee County Sheriff's Office and the Florida Highway Patrol. Aug. 8ROCHESTER Rochester-based Cardinal of Minnesota, which provides residential and in-home services for people with disabilities and employs about 450 people, is under new ownership as longtime CEO Jack Priggen retires. The Cottages Group of Burnsville, a family-owned, 24-year-old company providing the same services, is now behind the wheel at Cardinal. This acquisition more than doubles the company's footprint in Minnesota and grows its workforce from 250 to 700. "Our intention is to make as little changes as possible. We're just merging the two companies together. Jack and Michelle (Priggen) did such a great job with Cardinal," said Cottages CEO Brittany Eriksmoen. "We're not changing the name. We're keeping all of the employees. We want to make this seamless for both employees and clients." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Cardinal's headquarters will remain in the complex at 3008 Wellner Dr. NE, which it built in 2008. All of the 45 care residences that provide care and housing for people with developmental disabilities and related conditions will continue to operate as they have in Rochester, Winona, Austin, Red Wing, Harmony, Chatfield, Spring Valley, Mantorville and Bemidji. The Cottages' facilities are located in St. Cloud, Burnsville, Dakota County and now in southern Minnesota. Priggen explained that the fit between the companies, both geographically and philosophically, made sense. "I'm delighted that a buyer was found who is so well aligned with our mission, vision and values, and I couldn't be more excited about the future of the company that I spent 30 years building, being in good hands," he said. "It was a key filter for us to find an organization that not only shares our values, but also isn't headquartered in Arizona or Michigan and just wants to expand their national footprint." Cardinal worked with The Braff Group, a mergers and acquisitions advisory firm in Pennsylvania specializing in health care services, to line up The Cottages as a buyer and to guide the sale process. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement For Priggen, who admitted the first client into a Cardinal residence on April 1, 1995, the transition is a bittersweet one. "I loved what I was doing and the people that I worked with, but there comes a time to hand off the baton when you are 74-years-old," he said. Investing.com -- Prime Minister Mark Carney has unveiled a sweeping military pay increase as part of a C$9 billion investment in Canadas defense capabilities, a move that positions the country to meet its NATO target of allocating 2% of GDP to defense spending by year-end. The new raises, ranging from 8% for colonels and above to 13% for lower ranks, will cost the federal government approximately C$2 billion annually. In a speech delivered at Canadian Forces Base Trenton, Carney framed the pay increases as a matter of both national security and fairness. These are the men and women we trust to wear the maple leaf, the Canadian flag, and to risk their lives for it, he said, emphasizing the growing demands on the armed forces in the face of global instability. The initiative also introduces a Military Service Pay benefit, tied to years of uniformed service, and support programs for combat training and high-risk domestic deployments, such as wildfire emergencies. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The pay hike and supporting incentives are part of a broader realignment of Canadas defense posture in response to mounting global challenges and aging military assets. With only one of Canadas four submarines currently seaworthy and less than half of the maritime fleet operational, the federal government plans to overhaul procurement processes and expand domestic defense manufacturing capabilities. Carney underscored Canadas intention to meet a longer-term NATO commitment of spending 5% of GDP on defense annually by 2035, quadrupling current spending levels. He called the investments a generational shift, and noted, Canada has not seen something like this since the late 1990s. The announcement arrives amid renewed scrutiny of Canadas emergency preparedness, as wildfires and climate-induced disasters prompt increased military deployments domestically. Carney cited the armed forces role in evacuating over 6,000 Canadians and delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza, calling it the forces at its best in one of the worst situations in the world. With the revised compensation structure and expanded investment, the Carney government aims to reverse recruitment shortfalls and improve retention rates across Canadas military branches. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Related articles Carney boosts military pay in push to hit NATO spending target Surge of 50% since our AI selection, this chip giant still has great potential 7 Undervalued Stocks on the Rise With 50%+ Upside Potential MADISON COUNTY, Neb. (KCAU) The wife of Jason Jones, the man convicted of murdering four people in Laurel, Nebraska, has been found guilty of first-degree murder, tampering with evidence, and accessory to a felony. Carrie Jones trial began on July 28, lasting for approximately two weeks. On Thursday/Friday, a jury found Carrie Jones guilty of all three of her charges. Her trial took place at the Madison County Courthouse. Opening statements of her trial included testimony from local officials, her neighbor, and the victims Gene and Janet Twifords daughter. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Twiford family gave a statement after the trial was officially dismissed. We are relieved by todays conviction and deeply appreciate the hard work of the legal team and law enforcement throughout this process. Were also incredibly grateful to the jury for their time and dedication during such a long and difficult trial. While this marks another step toward justice for our loved ones, we recognize that the legal proceedings in the death penalty case are still ongoing and must be respected. Our focus remain on healing and honoring our Mother/Grandma, Father/Grandpa, and Sister/Aunt carrying their love and memories with us every day. The Twiford Family Also during the trial, Jason Jones, who was found guilty of murdering four people last year, also took the stand. This was a rare appearance for Jason Jones as he chose not to appear in person for his trial and also requested to be absent from a hearing that will determine whether or not he will receive the death penalty. Story continues below Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement While he was on the stand, Jason Jones told the courtroom Carrie did not know about his plans to kill the Twiford family, stating the following: I was fed up with living and decided that if I was going to kill myself, I could cause some problems for other people and people that were bothering us, and so I set their house on fire. Carrie Jones was charged with murdering one of the four victims, along with tampering with physical evidence and accessory to a felony. These charges stem from the murders of Michele Ebeling, 53, Gene Twiford, 86, Janet Twiford, 85, and Dana Twiford, 55, in Laurel, Nebraska, in August 2022. She pleaded not guilty to those charges in May 2023. Carrie Jones is scheduled to receive her sentencing on November 20. 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 SiouxlandProud | Sioux City, IA | News, Weather, and Sports. YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) Current drug trends are changing. While Youngstowns Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) continues to find cocaine and fentanyl, it is now seeing a big increase in methamphetamine use in the local area. Its cheap, its easy to get, and the cartels are flooding the market right now, said Bryan Klutzaritz, resident in charge of the Youngstown DEA office. Klutzaritz said drug combinations are also making it more dangerous for users. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement So youre seeing a lot of other drugs that are getting mixed in with your main drugs, like cocaine and methamphetamine, that are making these drugs much more dangerous, he said. The Youngstown DEA continues to find dealers and prosecute them. We are targeting these cartels, we are not going to stop until we defeat them, Klutzaritz said. The American public, let them know that we have their backs and that we are fighting this war for them. Klutzaritz credits the ease of getting drugs over the southern border compared to the difficulty of getting the ingredients needed to make the same drugs as to why the cartels drugs are gaining popularity. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. Officials fear that Latin American drug cartels are among those who obtained sensitive court data due to a sweeping breach of the federal judiciarys case filing system, raising concerns that the groups will now be able to target cooperating witnesses involved in criminal trials against them. The worry, according to three judicial officials and investigators with knowledge of the hack, is that cartels could weaponize the stolen data to identify witnesses in cases the federal government has opened against them, or to gain knowledge of impending or ongoing criminal investigations, such as sealed wiretap orders and arrest and search warrants. POLITICO first reported on the hack , which the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts determined was serious, in early July. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement At least a dozen district courts across several U.S. states are believed to have been directly impacted by the ongoing compromise of the digital case filing system, known as CM/ECF, according to the first two people. The incident is believed to be one of the most serious hacks into the federal court filing system in years. Its unclear if the cartels were directly connected to each of those breaches because multiple nation-states and criminal groups are thought to have penetrated CM/ECF simultaneously, while at least some of those groups have been inside the system for years, the first two people said. All three people were granted anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue. It is also possible that the cartels are purchasing the data from other hackers with access to the system. The news about the cartels gaining access to sensitive criminal court data comes as the Trump administration is ramping up the federal governments efforts to prosecute criminal activity from Latin American drug gangs, such as Tren de Aragua, MS-13 and the Sinaloa cartel. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The New York Times reported Tuesday that Trump has signed a secret order authorizing the Defense Department to use military force against certain drug cartels. The CM/ECF system allows legal professionals to upload and manage court documents. Some of these are kept sealed and others become available to the public via PACER, the systems external-facing side. One of the nation-state hacking groups with access to the system is suspected of vacuuming up all data uploaded on CM/ECF every week for months, one of the people familiar said. The group, which has retained access inside the CM/ECF system for several years, previously accessed data in a more targeted fashion but appears to have grown bolder with time, the person added. The FBI referred questions to the Justice Department, which did not respond to a request for comment. The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, which manages the courts online docketing system, did not respond to a request for comment about the hack and whether that system is secure. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement President Donald Trump, soon after his return to office, designated some cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. Attorney General Pam Bondi also passed new guidance in April instructing the Justice Department to shift its priorities to prosecuting gang activity, including drug smuggling, human trafficking and violent crime. Those activities are often prosecuted at the district court level, meaning some information on cases against the cartels would be readily available to those with access to the federal court filing system. By contrast, classified data used in national security cases is not housed on the CM/ECF system and is typically maintained as physical documents for security purposes. The vast majority of sensitive information thats filed at the district courts is related to criminal actors and sophisticated criminal enterprises, said Adam Hickey, the former deputy assistant attorney general of the Justice Departments National Security Division. The idea that a cartel might be following law enforcements tracks is very concerning. While nation-state hackers appear to have access to the case filing system, it is the involvement of cartels that has set off major alarm bells across the judiciary and among investigators, according to two of the people with knowledge of the hack. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Cartels are thought to be more likely to commit acts of violence on U.S. soil. They also have a large footprint in the countrys prison system, where they can potentially issue threats against government informants identified through stolen court records. Foreign adversaries such as Iran have also hired criminal gangs in the U.S. to kill dissidents and political figures living in the country. As of July 2022, the Justice Department was investigating another hack of the federal court system that then-House Judiciary Chair Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) described as startling. Nadler said at the time that three nation-state groups were involved. It is not clear if any of those same foreign groups are involved in the most recent hack of the federal court filing systems. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts vowed Thursday to increase the security of information posted to its electronic case filing system . This has not allayed concerns by those in the federal judiciary. One of the people familiar said their district court is working on new security policies, and they have been directed in recent days to only discuss those measures on paper or via encrypted messaging services. The measures, while not yet finalized, are expected to involve changes to the way the court handles information on cooperating witnesses, the identities of grand jurors and plea agreements. Itll be any cases of foreign or cartel interest, that person said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In addition to not uploading sensitive new data onto CM/ECF, the second person familiar said some courts are also trying to scour already uploaded files for information that might be of interest to the cartels or foreign nation states. Since CM/ECF is used by federal courts across the country, data uploaded by the country's 94 district courts are thought to be vulnerable, two of the people said. The latest test of President Donald Trumps powers starts next week in California. Thats when a federal judge will weigh whether the Trump administration violated a nearly 150-year-old law when it deployed thousands of National Guard and 700 active-duty Marines to Los Angeles this summer against the wishes of the states governor and the citys mayor. The bench trial will begin Monday in California, where Senior U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer will be asked to decide whether Trump had overstepped the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, which forbids the U.S. military from acting as a domestic law enforcement arm except under the most extraordinary circumstances. The judge is also expected to hear arguments from both sides about the definition of a rebellion. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The stakes in the case are high, and not just for California: It will test the lengths to which Trump or any future president can use military force to quash unrest or sidestep local officials, as well as how they could plan to handle demonstrations or other crises in a given state. The suit was brought by California Gov. Gavin Newsom and the states attorney general, Rob Bonta, who called the administrations actions an unmistakable step toward authoritarianism. Trump, the governor argued in his lawsuit, did not have the constitutional authority to send in troops or take over the states National Guard without his express consent. The administration had manufactured [a] crisis, the governor said in a June 9 statement. This is him intentionally causing chaos, terrorizing communities and endangering the principles of our great democracy, Newsom said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The case stems from Trumps deployment of troops to respond to protests against immigration raids carried out in downtown Los Angeles Fashion District in June. Protesters unsuccessfully attempted to stop those raids, with demonstrators gathering outside of a federal courthouse the night of June 6. Skirmishes broke out between protesters and police, and the courthouse was vandalized. Local police declared an unlawful assembly, and as rumors of more raids spread, other demonstrations cropped up, including one where a car was set on fire. The next evening, June 7, Trump issued a memo authorizing the deployment of 2,000 California National Guard troops for up to 60 days, ostensibly to respond to riots. If Governor Gavin Newscum, of California, and Mayor Karen Bass, of Los Angeles, cant do their jobs, which everyone knows they cant, then the Federal Government will step in and solve the problem, RIOTS & LOOTERS, the way it should be solved!!! Trump wrote on social media the same day. It was the first time in over 50 years that the federal government opted to haul in the National Guard without a governors approval, which is usually required: Neither Newsom nor Bass had made the request. In fact, both vocally opposed it. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Newsom slammed it as little more than an opportunity for Trump to escalate tensions between law enforcement and protesters and manufacture a crisis. This brazen abuse of power by a sitting President inflamed a combustible situation putting our people, our officers, and the National Guard at risk. Thats when the downward spiral began, Newsom said in a statement, calling the deployment dangerous as well. Just days after the initial deployment, the chief spokesman for the Pentagon Sean Parnell announced the Defense Department would mobilize another 2,000 California National Guard troops to support ICE and enable federal law enforcement to safely conduct their duties. The Marines were also deployed. As California officials publicly decried the administrations conduct, Trump suggested they should be arrested: Newsom, Bass and any other officials who stand in the way of law and order, yea, they will face judges, Trump saidon June 8. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Posse Comitatus Act was passed, as the Brennan Center for Justice noted in its study this year, after the end of the Reconstruction Era and as white supremacists were ascending to power in Southern states as well as in Congress. The idea for the act wasnt noble: Congress wanted to ensure that the military would not be able to step on the toes of states that were trying to keep Jim Crow laws in place even after the Confederacy had fallen. According to a report from the Congressional Research Service on the law, the act outlaws the willful use of any part of the Army or Air Force to execute the law unless expressly authorized by the Constitution or an act of Congress. There are, however, questions over the acts context of assistance to civilian police. At least, in this context, the courts have held that, absent a recognized exception, the Posse Comitatus Act is violated when (1) civilian law enforcement officials make direct active use of military investigators; or (2) the use of the military pervades the activities of civilian officials; or (3) the military is used so as to subject citizens to the exercise of military power which was regulatory, prescriptive or compulsory in nature, the report reads. The act is not violated when the Armed Forces conduct activities for a military purpose. Under posse comitatus, the National Guard is only able to support other federal law enforcement officers or conduct enforcement on federal property. They are not allowed to assist local law enforcement in performing their local duties. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The statute also declares that these deployment orders shall be issued through the governors of the states a pretty big point for Newsom, who, again, openly disavowed the deployment. It is unclear if that point will stick, however, since the language of the statute does not explicitly state that consent must first be granted. However, Trump invoked an obscure federal code, Section 12406, which states that whenever the U.S. is invaded or is in danger of a foreign nation or if there is a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States, if it cannot be resolved through regular means then the president may call into Federal service members of the National Guard of any state in any numbers he sees fit. Newsom and Bonta argue that Trumps invocation of Section 12406 was illegal because it didnt expand those limits, and further, that there was no actual rebellion to quell. In court records, lawyers for the Trump administration have argued that protests against ICE amounted to a rebellion in California. Breyer will likely preside over an intense debate over the legal definition of the word rebellion since there is no agreed-upon legal definition of it. U.S. code does lump rebellion in with insurrection, however, and it is generally understood as an organized uprising against established laws. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The bench trial will last just three days, through Aug. 13. Up to this point, success for Californias suit on the issue has been a mixed bag. Judge Breyer first sided with Newsom when he agreed on June 12 to issue a temporary restraining order that would block Trump from commandeering the California National Guard. But within days, an appellate court halted Breyers order and sided with Trump. On June 19, Judges on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unanimously that Trump could retain control and found it was likely that he exercised his authority as president lawfully. The appellate court said that since protesters had damaged federal buildings, caused at least one federal building to be closed and vandalized a federal van, the interest of the government to prevent those incidents from happening again was significant, the judges wrote. And, in another helpful decision for Trump, the court also found that even if Newsom wasnt notified that the National Guard in his state was being federalized, as governor, he lacked any power to veto Trump. A drawdown of the troops in Los Angeles got underway at the end of last month, just a week shy of the 60-day deadline laid out in Trumps memo. Lawyers for the Trump administration emphasized in court records, however, that had Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wanted to extend that deadline, he had the right to do so based on the situation on the ground. A Pentagon spokesperson said there are still 300 National Guard troops left in Los Angeles. CANTON, Ohio (WJW) A drug raid in Canton led to the seizure of more than two pounds of cocaine and the arrest of a local man on multiple felony charges, authorities announced Friday. The Stark County Sheriffs Office Metro Narcotics Unit worked with the Medway Drug Enforcement Agency and the Canton Police Department to execute the search warrant at a home on Dorothy Avenue NE on Thursday, according to a release. I-Team: Suspect in custody after 2 East Cleveland officers shot Rashawn Emmanuel Phillips, 30, of Canton, was arrested during the operation. He faces several first-degree felony charges, including possession and trafficking of cocaine, as well as aggravated drug possession and trafficking. Courtesy: Stark County Sheriffs Office Search expected to resume for teen who fell into Black River Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Investigators said the raid followed an extensive probe into cocaine and controlled substance trafficking. The search of the residence uncovered: 1,057 grams (2.33 pounds) of cocaine 452 grams (1 pound) of methamphetamine 783 methamphetamine pills 20 fentanyl pills $4,940 in cash An FN handgun Three vehicles: a 2014 Ford Fusion, a 2018 BMW X5, and a 2022 Dodge Challenger Scat Pak The investigation remains ongoing. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Stark County Sheriffs Office at (330) 430-3800 or leave an anonymous tip at (330) 451-3937. 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. LAKE OZARK, Mo. Last November, voters in Missouri turned down a measure that would have allowed a new Ballys Casino to be built near the banks of the Osage River. However, the Lake of the Ozarks area could still end up with a casino as plans for a different one continue to move forward. A Draft Environmental Assessment has been released for a new casino and high-rise hotel by the Osage Nation. Because it would be constructed on land under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), it would not be subject to approval by state voters. However, it would need to be approved by the BIA and signed off on by the state governor. While the new report isnt in itself a green light for the tribe to begin the project, its release is a substantial step toward starting construction. Its also a confirmation that the proposed casino is still moving forward after months of no new public announcements from the tribe. Osage Nation The proposed Osage casino was in the works before the failed Ballys plan was announced. It would be built on 28 acres of tribal-owned land at the intersection of Bagnell Dam Boulevard and Osage Beach Parkway. The site was most recently home to a Quality Inn hotel, which was demolished, and the land has since been cleared. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Due to the land being under the jurisdiction of the tribe, an Osage casino would not be subject to the current state laws, which limit casinos to areas near the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. The Draft Environmental Assessment provides detailed information on how the plan would impact the land, traffic, utilities, and emergency response. It also highlighted the potential economic impact. The report listed three alternatives, which were studied. The first includes a full casino and hotel. The second option includes just a casino without an attached hotel, while the third option entails a hotel only without a casino. The casino-hotel proposal was the preferred option, followed by the casino-only plan. The filing sheds light on what the casino-hotel would look like and the economic benefits. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to the report, plans call for a $167-million, 3-star level 15-story hotel tower with 150 rooms, 2 food and beverage areas, a gift shop, meeting/convention space, and a fitness center. The casino area of the facility would include a 40,000 square foot gaming area with 750 gaming devices. As for the economic impact, the report states that in its first three years of operation, the casino-hotel would generate $64.2-million in gaming revenue, $6.5 million in hotel revenue, $7-million in food and beverage revenue, and $2.1-million in other revenue. Image courtesy Osage Nation In the past, the Osage Nation stated its casino, hotel, and convention center would generate between $60 million and $100-million in investment in the region. That income, the tribe says, would result in new jobs, tourism, and economic benefits for the Lake of the Ozarks area. The potential economic benefits of an Osage casino would be different from what was touted with the Amendment 5 Ballys plan. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Amendment 5 ballot language stated that annual gaming tax revenue of $14.3 million would be generated for the state. The ballot measures promised, All state revenue derived from the issuance of the gambling boat license shall be appropriated to early childhood literacy programs in public institutions of elementary education. However, since the Osage is a sovereign nation, there are no stipulations tied to how its casino revenue is spent. In addition, the venue will not have to pay federal taxes or state sales taxes as would be required of a privately operated gaming center. On its website, the Osage Nation says it uses revenues from its other casinos to fund tribal government, programs, and economic development, and provide for the welfare of its members, support charitable organizations. The Draft Environmental Assessment explains that the report is an analysis of the environmental effects and its not in itself a decision or proceed with an action. There will now be a 30-day appeal period. After that, the BIA can make a decision, and the action may be implemented. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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 KOLR - OzarksFirst.com. CACHE COUNTY, Utah (ABC4) Logan Canyon will experience some delays between August 11 and August 15, as ranchers move their cattle through the canyon. According to the U.S. Forest Service, Logan Canyon travelers may experience delays. Reportedly Permittees will be moving cattle within the canyon from 11a.m. to 3p.m. each day between Monday, August 11, and Friday, August 15. Over 1,300 cattle will be moved over the five-day period, in groups of 300 to 400 cattle at a time. Permittees will be moving cattle on US Highway 89 between the cattle guard below Twin Creek and Bunchgrass Creek. Courtesy: U.S. Forest Service Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest The US Forest Service is urging drivers to slow down and be cautious, especially around any of the steep curves in Logan Canyon. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Additionally, they ask drivers to use extra caution during the evening and night hours. While permittees wont be moving cattle during this time, there may be stray cattle in the area. Latest headlines: 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. By Gwladys Fouche OSLO (Reuters) -Norway's $2 trillion sovereign wealth fund will announce changes to the handling of its Israeli investments, Finance Minister Jens Stoltenberg said on Friday, ruling out any blanket withdrawal over the war in Gaza. The fund itself said it would provide an update on its Israeli investments on Tuesday. The government this week launched an urgent review of the investments over ethics concerns linked to the war in Gaza and the Israeli occupation of the West Bank. "I see several measures over time, but what can be addressed quickly, must be done quickly," Stoltenberg told a press conference after holding his second meeting with fund officials in three days. He did not say what these measures could be, but added that there would not be a wholesale divestment from all Israeli companies. "If we did that, it would mean we are divesting from them because they are Israeli," he said. The review followed local news reports that the fund had built a stake in an Israeli jet engine group, Bet Shemesh Engines Ltd (BSEL) BSEN.TA, which provides services to Israel's armed forces, including the maintenance of fighter jets, creating a political debate in the Nordic country ahead of elections on September 8. On Wednesday, the fund's ethics watchdog, which checks that the fund's investments respect ethical guidelines set by parliament, acknowledged it should have considered Bet Shemesh Engines for possible divestment. Bet Shemesh did not reply to requests for comment. USE OF EXTERNAL MANAGERS UNDER SCRUTINY Stoltenberg said that one question being discussed between the finance ministry and the fund was its use of external portfolio managers for some of its holdings. He said Bet Shemesh had been handled by an external manager, which he did not name. The fund said it uses three Israeli external fund managers for some of its holdings in the country. The fund, which owns stakes in 8,700 companies worldwide, held shares in 65 Israeli companies at the end of 2024, valued at $1.95 billion, its records show. It has sold its stakes in an Israeli energy company and a telecoms group in the last year, and its ethics watchdog has said it is reviewing whether to divest holdings in five banks. Pro-Palestinian campaigners have said this is not enough and have called for a country-wide divestment by the fund. Norway's parliament in June rejected a proposal for the fund to divest from all companies with activities in the occupied Palestinian territories. (Reporting by Gwladys Fouche and Terje Solsvik in Oslo, additional reporting by Stefania Spezzati in London; Editing by Kirsten Donovan) LAS VEGAS (KLAS) Students will be back in the classroom at the Clark County School District on Monday. The districts superintendent, Jhone Ebert, was made available for one-on-one interviews. Below is that conversation where Ebert discussed a range of things, including boosting student performance, extending the school day, pushing back school start times, and increasing student safety. The interview has been edited for clarity. Clark County School District Superintendent Jhone Ebert discusses school safety and school start times ahead of the 2025 -2026 school year. (KLAS) 8 News Now: We were talking before this started about everything you have going on for the first day. Any jitters? Or what are you experiencing? Jhone Ebert: Oh, yes. Absolutely, butterflies. Its not my first day of school, obviously, but it is my first day as the superintendent for the Clark County School District. Im still waking up before the alarm goes off, and excited to get everyone in the classrooms and lets get going for the 2025-2026 school year. 8 News Now: With your background as the superintendent of public instruction, youve seen the English Language Arts and math scores. I think next month is when the Nevada Department of Education releases them [for the previous school year], and youve seen the upward trajectory the state has made in all schools in the state, specifically for CCSD. What do you expect to see in those numbers when they come out next month? And how do you think you can supercharge student performance? Jhone Ebert: Yeah, those numbers will come out on September 15. We do have a preliminary indication just looking at the raw data. Its not official that we will have progress made in several areas. Attributable to that is the consistency of staff, right? Keeping the staff that we have and making sure theyre in the schools. That theyre trained. That we have the materials that the teachers need, which were provided out of ESSER funds three years ago. So, using the materials, being consistent, having kids in the classroom. That is a huge piece as well. You cant be successful as a student if youre not in school. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement And you know, statewide, this is when its positive to have a drop. The chronic absenteeism rate it dropped nine percentage points statewide. So, getting back to the norm and the pre-pandemic, I fully expect this time next year were going to be way above the pre-pandemic scores. Well wait for the official ones this year. But yes, upward trend, fully expect it and expect more coming out of this year. 8 News Now: One of the things you mentioned when you were being interviewed as a candidate for superintendent was longer school days. How is that going? Jhone Ebert: Yeah, so we do have schools already that have additional time added to their instructional day. And we also have schools that have added days. So, it is not something new for the Clark County School District. It is something, though, that we do need to address. We are comparing ourselves, you just asked about test scores. Were comparing ourselves to students and schools that have half an hour, 40 minutes longer school day than we do here, as well as a longer school year. And its about time, you know, how much interaction and time do our children have with our amazing teachers and our classrooms, with the supports that comes along in school, and the co-curricular activities just club, dance, theater, music, band. All of those activities in after school. So, yes. Want to see that happen. We obviously do need to seek more funding to have that happen with the legislature. But its something that is needed and, quite frankly, that our children deserve. 8 News Now: You know, as a state superintendent, you, in your previous role, you were there when the Nevada Department of Education, the Board of Education, tried to push back high school start times. At the time, CCSD was against it. But now that youre the superintendent of CCSD, whats your stance on pushing back high school start times? Jhone Ebert: We are going to put out a survey this fall that asks our community exactly that. What do they see in school start times? The prior administration, there were a lot of concerns in regard do we have enough buses to be able to do that work. Ive had the team here look at do we have enough buses. Can we move even just 30 minutes so that the high schools dont start any earlier than 7:30? That just moves everything. Thirty minutes and its doable. But I do want to go out and ask the community where they would like to see this. We know in other states there are laws already in place where school start time, you dont start before 8 a.m., and in some places, 8:30 a.m. We have our high schools now starting at 7 a.m. And so in some instances, theyre on buses starting at 6 a.m. when they should be sleeping. 8 News Now: Nevada lawmakers passed open enrollment. How do you see that playing out [at CCSD]? Jhone Ebert: We have had open enrollment in CCSD for many years, actually decades. Let me back up. Its the construct of open enrollment that has been different. So, school choice has been made available in the Clark County School District. We recently called it COSA and thousands of people have been participating in school choice that way. Were clearing the air. We realize people dont understand COSA, but they understand open enrollment what you just said. So, changing the name to open enrollment. Parents do have the opportunity to participate in that. If there are seats available at the school that they would like their child to attend, then there is a process that we follow, and then we fill those seats until the school is full. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 8 News Now: So the law doesnt conflict with COSA? Jhone Ebert: It just amplifies. And thats what we found that there was some confusion there. 8 News Now: As the state superintendent, because you have that unique background where you saw across the state whats going on and you know, the numbers and the data. Theres an increase in parents choosing charter schools over public schools. Is there a concern next month when you finally get a tally on enrollment numbers? Is it going to be lower because now your schools are competing with charter schools? Jhone Ebert: I have been tracking the data right now, as were sitting here, were about the exactly the same where we were this time last year. So, enrollment today is not going down, but we are also, were back up. I also do believe in school choice, whether its charter, private school or homeschool. I want though the Clark County School District to be the familys first choice. What I found now, Im day 81 in the job. What I found so far is that there is this piece of the universe where people dont know CCSD, and theyre opting out before they even know their neighborhood school. And we need to change that narrative. And so thank you again. You know, the media needs to get out there and show what we have. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement So were nationally known in many areas and gold stars in so many areas. But that feeling of, you know, this community and school has not been positive over the last few years. Every kid that I have spoken with and family, theyre excited to get back to school. Theyre excited to see CCSD, and I want that excitement for every child. So, were driving for full transparency where were doing well, where were not doing well, you know, and thats what Ive asked youyou need to report where were not doing well. Please make sure its just fair and accurate, where, parents have the right information to make the right choice. It could be a neighborhood school that they want to go to, or they want to go to a magnet school because theres aviation at Rancho High School, and they want their child to become a pilot. All of those pieces coming together and changing the narrative. We are going to be the destination school district. Were a destination community. Were going to be the destination school district. 8 News Now: The last question I had is just looking forward. What more in terms of safety can CCSD do to keep guns out of the campus and reduce violence? Jhone Ebert: So the number of guns on campus has gone down slightly. I know that you report on it really well. Thank you again. Theres one instance, you know, report the facts. We need to make sure that families that do have guns in the home, that they are locked up, that our students do not have access to those sorts of guns. We also need to make sure that our students are saying something when they know or hear. If theres even just a rumor going around that they use either SafeVoice, or that they tell their teacher right away. They tell their principal, any adult on campus. And then on top of all of that, this is not going to be tolerated in the Clark County School District, ever. And as an entire community, its going to take all of us to make sure our schools are safe, whether it is in regard to weapons, whether its the traffic safety around our schools, whether it is just the entire environment, health and safety. First and foremost, you cant have a good learning environment if the school is not safe. And thats important to me. 8 News Now: The metal detectors at every high school are they permanent? Jhone Ebert: We do the random checks. We will have them the first week of school. Absolutely. We will have them out. Our school police, we our coordinated with our emergency team. They will be activated that whole first day just to get make sure that everybodys rolling. Our buses are rolling. Well, were coordinated with Metro, and the other municipalities, so that, you know making sure we have a tight partnership, and communication will help eradicate those issues that we have now. 8 News Now: All right. Thank you so much. I wish you the best of luck. You and the 18,000 licensed staff members. Jhone Ebert: About 18,000 teachers, 44,000 employees. Total for 300,000 kids. If I can add just one word. Traffic in our city. When you think about that, 300,000 children that have been at home over the summer and their parents are going to start moving on Monday. Leave early, leave 10 to 15 minutes early. Give grace to our new bus drivers as they were out practicing their routes. If we all just take a little more time and grace and what were doing will be successful. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. (KRON) Former KRON4 News Anchor and Special Contributor Pam Moore was inducted into the National Association of Black Journalists Hall of Fame on Friday. During the induction ceremony in Cleveland, Moore, who sat in the anchor chair at KRON for over three decades, also announced she would be launching a scholarship. I feel so much appreciation because this was not an honor that I sought, said Moore at Fridays induction ceremony, nor was it ever something that I imagined for myself because there are so many people in NABJ who are deserving of this recognition. Pam Moore (Photo: Noelle Bellow/KRON4) The values and principles that shaped NABJ helped to shape me as a journalist, added Moore, who is a former vice president of the organization. Particularly, my views about our commitment to our communities and to each other, in newsrooms all across this country. $50,000 for 50 years of NABJ At the conclusion of her acceptance speech, Moore surprised the crowd by announcing that she would be launching a scholarship. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I appreciate this organization, my heart is warm today and now I would like to give back some of what has been given to me for the young people who will lead NABJ into the future, Moore told those in attendance. They, I hope, will have the same excitement, commitment and dedication that I have grown to have when I started as a young journalist. So, Id like to make a scholarship donation. KRON4 KRON4 Recognizing 50 years of NABJ, five college scholarships, two for my hometown Detroit area, three for my current home in the Bay Area, to be distributed next year, she continued, $10,000 each, $50,000 for 50 years of the National Association of Black Journalists. A look back at Pam Moores celebrated career Moore first joined KRON4 in March of 1991 as an anchor and general assignment reporter. An Emmy nominee for the special, Selma to Ferguson, she is an inductee into the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Silver Circle. Photo: KRON Prior to joining KRON4, Moore worked at WBZ-TV in Boston as an anchor and general assignment reporter. Prior to that she was a general assignment reporter at KCBS-TV in Los Angeles. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Moore won a number of awards for KRON4s five-part series, About Race, which garnered her a George Foster Peabody Award, the Pew Center Batten Prize for Civic Journalism, an In-Depth Reporting Award from the Northern California Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists, and top honors from the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame and Best Documentary from the California Associated Press Television Radio Association. Moore retired from the KRON4 anchor desk in 2023. She remains a KRON4 News Special Contributor. 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. NEW YORK (PIX11) Dominican heritage is on display as PIX11 News counts down to one of the biggest cultural celebrations in the U.S., the National Dominican Day Parade! PIX11s Julie Millet reveals the sights, sounds and flavors of the Dominican Republic from Inwood. Watch the video player for the full interview. 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. CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WCIA) The start of the new school year is near. But students arent the only ones getting ready Central Illinois teachers are too. A group of them met this week to encourage each other before that first school bell rings. Teachers usually encourage students to collaborate and brainstorm with one another. However, this week, they took some of their own advice. From the Farm: U of I researcher receives top honor as budget cuts risk operations Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Teachers from all around Central Illinois including places like Shelbyville, Danville, Milford, even Eastern Illinois University. Teachers said that it was a great networking opportunity, and it all leads back to how they can better the future and opportunities for their students. Laurie Grant, an elementary school teacher from Danville, said a big part of her job is not only teaching students about language skills, but about work ethic, collaboration, organization, and community involvement. Its kind of nice to know were all sort of in the same boat. I think I might be the only elementary person here, so it is kind of cool to see that the things that were thinking and doing at the elementary are applying, and theyre wanting to see those kinds of skills travel upward, Grant said. She said the meeting proved to her that the skills shes taught do matter, and it will help her students in the future. The teachers also said that they always want whats best for their kids, and meeting this week was another step toward helping their students win. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. Democratic congressional candidate Cherlynn Stevenson, center, at lectern, talks about Medicaid cuts outside a Louisville hospital on Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. (Kentucky Lantern photo by McKenna Horsley) LOUISVILLE Medicaid is becoming a flashpoint in Kentuckys 6th Congressional District, as Democratic candidates attack President Donald Trumps One Big Beautiful Bill Act and Republicans mirror their congressional counterparts on support for the GOP megabill. Cherlynn Stevenson, a former Kentucky House Democratic caucus chair, was in Louisville Thursday morning to highlight how Medicaid cuts will affect patients in the states largest city. UofL Health said earlier this week that it would delay a South End birthing center project indefinitely after the cuts passed Congress earlier this summer. Stevenson was flanked by two Democratic Louisville Metro councilwomen Jennifer Chappell and Josie Raymond as well as Lindsay Micka, a labor and delivery nurse who was supposed to begin her orientation to work in the center on Monday. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Louisville area speakers that joined Stevenson made it clear they hoped voters in Central Kentucky would back a candidate who will help the states lone Democrat in Congress, U.S. Rep. Morgan McGarvey, from the Louisville area district and a vocal critic of the law, which includes scaled back spending on Medicaid and other assistance programs. Let me be blunt. This is whats on the ballot come November 2026, Micka said. When voters go to the polls, they need to remember their choices shape our community. They need to remember who will actually fight to protect their Medicaid and the essential care it provides here. UofL Health issued a Thursday afternoon statement that said several factors have changed the health care environment and influenced this decision. Those include a nationwide shortage of obstetric physicians and the medical liability environment in Kentucky making it difficult to recruit needed obstetricians, along with a decreasing trend in birthrates and changes to Medicaid. While the hospital is not in the 6th Congressional district, Stevenson argued that Medicaid access is a Kentucky issue, adding that the major cuts will create ripple effects across our community as patients lose access to care and facilities are impacted. The nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation says the legislation will cut federal spending on Medicaid by nearly $1 trillion during the next decade and lead to 11.8 million people becoming uninsured. Kentucky, KFF says, will experience the largest rural Medicaid spending cut, estimated at almost $11 billion over 10 years. The Kentucky Hospital Association has warned the legislation would eliminate 33,000 jobs as Medicaid underfunding forces hospitals to reduce services or even close. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I think that as people wake up to whats happening and realize the consequences that this is having, that its absolutely going to send people to the polls, and I absolutely think that Democrats are going to have a good year next year, Stevenson said. Nationwide, Democrats are focusing on Medicaid cuts under the GOP megabill as midterm elections for control of Congress heat up. Republicans narrowly have control of the House and Senate, following the 2024 elections with President Donald Trump at the top of the ticket. Democrats have their eyes on the 6th Congressional District, currently held by Republican U.S. Rep. Andy Barr who is running for Kentuckys open U.S. Senate seat and backed the megabill. The district has a history of alternating between political parties. Like Stevenson, two other Democratic primary candidates in the 6th Congressional District former federal prosecutor Zach Dembo and former Lexington Councilman David Kloiber have highlighted Medicaid cuts on the campaign trail. Dembo sent a statement to the Kentucky Lantern Friday calling cuts to Medicaid a direct attack on Central Kentucky and criticized Barrs support for the law. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In my recent conversations here at home, people are scared about what this will mean for families, patients, healthcare workers and local economies, Dembo said. Kentuckians are going to lose affordable care, costs will skyrocket for everyone not just those on Medicaid and rural hospital will close. Rep. Ryan Dotson, R-Winchester. (LRC Public Information) Dembo said this type of corruption and cruelty is why he resigned as a federal prosecutor and entered the race. Kloibers campaign did not return and emailed requests for comment. The primary is in May. One Republican candidate in the race, state Rep. Ryan Dotson, of Winchester, told the Lantern that Medicaid wont be as big of an issue as Democrats are making it out to be. He said he was supportive of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, adding that Medicaid was not sustainable the way that it was and needed parameters like work requirements to ensure those resources were going to the poor, the disabled and the elderly, not for the able-bodied. Dotson was also supportive of the laws eligibility removal of Medicaid for people who do not have permanent legal status. I think the Democrats will take and twist anything they can to their advantage, to use it as a sticking point, to do fear-mongering and to get people off guard, because a lot of the stuff they say is untrue, Dotson said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Dotson also predicted that Democrats would not be able to flip the 6th Congressional District and that the Republicans and the moderate Democrats will stand together. Dr. Ralph Alvarado, another Republican candidate vying to represent the district, told the Lantern during the Fancy Farm Picnic in West Kentucky last weekend that he would like to improve health care going forward and that the Republican megabill would help Medicaid be used for the people that it was intended for and make it a more efficient system. Theres got to be more changes to come if we want to make it sustainable for the future, he said. Alvarado is a former state senator and was Tennessees health commissioner. His campaign did not return a request for comment for this story Thursday morning. The campaign for a third Republican candidate, state Rep. Deanna Gordon, of Richmond, did not return an emailed request for comment Thursday. This story was updated with additional comments Friday afternoon. Oxford Police Chief Michael Daniels says that a lack of staffing is making it difficult for the police department to address worries regarding traffic safety. In a Facebook post on Wednesday, the chief wrote that over the past few weeks, he has been fielding concerns from residents that drivers are rolling through stop signs, speeding, and failing to slow down at intersections. He added that the department has seen reports of children riding bikes in the middle of the road, playing chicken with vehicles. You get a kid... on a side road close to Main where that intersection is, theyll drive towards a car and theyll swerve out of the way, the chief told MassLive. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Most of the traffic calls the department receives pertain to the intersection of Main Street and Sutton Avenue, according to Daniels. The intersection is close to Interstate 395, which has drivers coming from both Massachusetts and Connecticut. People are cutting in front of people turning left onto Main Street, Daniels said. Other people are cutting, people are going right..turning onto Main Street because the traffic builds up so much there that theres a level of impatience with people. So they try to sneak past people and then they try to burn through the lights just to get through the intersection, which causes accidents. The area is also filled with children during the summertime, as thats where several shops are, according to Daniels. He has seen Facebook posts about children on bikes driving in and out of traffic. The chief said that no child has suffered an injury playing chicken with vehicles yet. He added that he wrote the post on Facebook to prevent potential injuries from happening. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement If youre a parent, please take a few minutes to talk with your kids about staying out of the road, riding safely, and being aware of traffic, the post reads. Weve got to look out for one another before something preventable turns tragic. In the post, Daniels writes that the department is doing all that it can to address these concerns but that it is difficult due to staffing limitations. Officers are often pulled away from their traffic enforcement duties to take care of other calls. A 2024 staffing analysis conducted by the Town of Oxford and the New Hampshire-based consulting firm Municipal Resources Inc. found that hiring four additional patrol officers would help address these issues. An opportunity to provide the police department funding for these hires came in 2025, when town voters were given the choice as to whether they would approve an override of Proposition 2 1/2. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Proposition 2 1/2 is a law that places a 2.5% limit on property tax increases. Towns, however, can make an exception to override the proposition if voters approve of it. The increase in property taxes would have helped address funding issues for the police department. The town ultimately voted down the proposal in May, according to Daniels. With a lack of funding available to hire more officers, the Oxford Police Department is doing all that it can to address traffic concerns, Daniels said. He said that he has to pull officers out of the towns three sectors to provide some level of traffic oversight. While this addresses peoples concerns, Daniels said that more officers are needed to tackle the traffic concerns truly. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We are putting a band-aid on a problem that we cannot solve long-term without increased presence and manpower, he said. More Worcester Stories Read the original article on MassLive. BERKELEY COUNTY, S.C. (WCBD) An aluminum company announced plans this week to boost production at its Berkeley County plant, citing the Trump administrations tariff hike on imported metal. Century Aluminum stated Aug. 7 that it would invest $50 million to restart more than 50,000 metric tons of idled production at its Mount Holly smelting facility, aiming to bring the plant to full production for the first time in a decade. The companys goal is to have the smelter, which currently operates at 75 percent capacity, reach full production levels by June 30, 2026. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Goose Creek Economic Development Director Rob Wiggins said in a statement to News 2: Even though Century Aluminum is not in the city limits of Goose Creek, it contributes greatly to the Goose Creek economy by providing high-paying jobs to many of our residents, and utilizing numerous city businesses for their goods and services. The City of Goose Creek is excited about the return to full production for Century and the impact it will have on our City and the region. The investment is expected to boost U.S. domestic aluminum production by nearly 10% and create approximately 100 new jobs in Berkeley County. Officials attributed the restart to President Donald Trumps decision earlier this summer to raise tariffs on aluminum and steel imports from 25 percent to 50 percent, calling it the direct result of that trade policy. The tariff hike took effect in early June despite warnings that it could push prices higher for consumers. Todays annoucement was made possible by President Trumps commitment to onshoring manufacturing of critical metals, protecting Americas national security, and to protecting American workers in our industry whose expertise is needed to ensure future generations do not have to rely on foreign supplies to build our communities and grow our economy, CEO Jesse Gary said in a statement. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trumps new tariffs go into effect as US economy shows signs of strain The company said it has reached a preliminary agreement with Santee Cooper to extend its contract through 2031 and purchase the additional power needed for the restart. However, it is still subject to final approval. Our team stands ready to continue leading the resurgence of domestic primary aluminum, starting with bringing our Mt. Holly smelter back to full production, Garys statement continued. Berkeley County Economic Development Director John O. Williams said in a statement to News 2: Berkeley County is proud that Century Aluminum has decided to grow and expand in our community. As Centurys additional investment is subject to property tax incentives, Berkeley County is excited to work with our corporate partner to develop a plan that is a win for everyone. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Century Aluminum is the largest producer of primary aluminum in the U.S. and also operates facilities in Iceland, the Netherlands and Jamaica. 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. Each school year presents another opportunity for students to make lifelong friends, acquire new skills, and be inspired by various subjects and career paths. This period can be exciting for some and nerve-wracking for others. As a state lawmaker, father and concerned citizen, I hope the laws and policies the Tennessee General Assembly passes give parents confidence and empower all students to thrive. Republicans this year worked hard to improve academic outcomes and proactively find innovative ways to enhance Tennessees education system. More recess, more concentration Ive spoken with families in our community who are excited about one major change this school year: More recess time for students. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I was excited to spearhead the legislation that made this a reality because I know more recess means better concentration in the classroom, healthier students and higher success rates. The new law requires all school districts to provide at least 40 minutes of unstructured recess to elementary students each day. Previously, the state only mandated 15 minutes per day and 130 minutes a week. Expanding recess can enhance attention spans, boost social and emotional development and reduce disruptive classroom behavior, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Importantly, it will also help children become more active. A report from the Tennessee Department of Health and the Tennessee Department of Education revealed that more than 40% of Tennessee students were overweight or obese in the 2022-23 academic year. Additional time for physical activity will promote healthier lifestyles at an integral time in a childs life. It will also allow them the mental break and socialization time they need during the school day. Im eager to hear feedback from Maury County teachers, students and parents on this policys efficacy. Prohibition of cell phones Another new measure that benefits students in the classroom is a prohibition on cell phones and electronic devices during instructional time. Districts with these policies already in place have reported significant successes, and Im confident we will see the same result across the state. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Time and again, Ive heard from educators and administrators how disruptive devices can be. This bipartisan law addresses these concerns so that students receive the uninterrupted instruction they deserve. School choice for families Republican lawmakers in January passed landmark legislation ensuring all children in Tennessee have access to the school of their choice. The Education Freedom Act of 2025 allocated 20,000 scholarships, worth more than $7,000 each, for students to attend a school that best fits their needs. This historic new law rejects the outdated system in which income and zip code determine where a child attends school. Instead, these scholarships empower families and prioritize students by recognizing that everyone thrives in different learning environments. Teacher bonuses begin The GOP supermajority also invested heavily in our states public education system, approving nearly $200 million for one-time teacher bonuses, $96 million for pay raises and $148 million for Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement formula growth. Historic amount spent to boost education in Tenn. Since 2012, Republicans have allocated more than $4.4 billion to public education, including the largest teacher pay increase in history last year. By 2026, the minimum starting pay for teachers will be $50,000, making Tennessee one of the most competitive states in the nation to attract even more quality educators. Best practices for teacher evaluations To further these efforts, I passed a new law this session commissioning a study to identify best practices for teacher evaluations. These must be fair, research-based and effective, and this analysis will help ensure we give teachers the support and resources required to succeed in educating the next generation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Recent test results have shown that Tennessees education system is on the right path. The laws passed this year will play a pivotal role in building on these successes. I join my Republican colleagues in remaining committed to boosting student achievement, empowering families and supporting teachers. Rep. Scott Cepicky, R-Culleoka State Rep. Scott Cepicky represents District 64 in the Tennessee House of Representatives, which includes part of Maury County. He is chairman of the Education Instruction Subcommittee. This article originally appeared on The Daily Herald: Cepicky: Fewer classroom distractions will boost student success this school year N'DJAMENA, Chad (AP) Chad 's prosecutor general Friday requested a 25-year prison sentence for Succes Masra, the country's former prime minister and opposition leader accused of inciting racial violence and other charges. Masra and dozens of co-defendants, mostly people from the same Ngambaye ethnic group, are on trial accused of causing a clash between herders and farmers in May in Logone Occidental in the southwest of the country. The fighting left 35 people dead and six others injured. Masra has denied the charges against him. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We believe that ... the criminal court will be able to draw the consequences of all the statements that have been made against the client and will render the justice that we hope to be rendered on behalf of the Chadian people, Kadjilembay Francis, Masra's lawyer, told reporters after the proceedings. In addition to the prison term, the prosecutor also requested the freezing of their assets and the payment of 5 billion West African Francs ($8.9 million) to the state as compensation. Nine other defendants are recommended for release on the grounds of a lack of evidence. Masra, who was prime minister between January and May last year, is the head of the Les Transformateurs party and has been a sharp critic of Mahamat Deby, Chad's current president. Deby took power in 2021 after his father Idriss Deby Itno was killed while fighting rebels in the country's north. He had ruled the country for 30 years. Deby legitimized his presidency with an election earlier this year, which was opposed by Masra and his party. ARAPAHOE COUNTY, Colo. (KDVR) A registered sex offender accused of attempting to kidnap a child from a playground will not face prosecution after a judge dismissed the case due to a finding of permanent incompetence. Carmen Galligan previously known as Solomon was charged in connection with an attempted kidnapping at Black Forest Hills Elementary in April 2024. According to police, Galligan targeted multiple children who were playing outside, sparking panic among parents and neighbors. Aurora police were missing Major Crimes reports dating back decades Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But in court Thursday, a judge dismissed the case after doctors at Fort Logan State Hospital determined Galligan has a chronic mental condition and will never be competent to stand trial. This is a case where the victims expressed great fear at what happened to their children, and then outrage and concern about the state of the law, which required dismissal in this case, said Assistant District Attorney Ryan Brackley, who prosecuted the case in the 18th Judicial District. Colorado law requires dismissal of criminal charges if a defendant is found permanently incompetent and non-restorable. It marks at least the fourth time since 2018 that charges against Galligan have been dropped for similar reasons. Families of the victims say the system failed them and could fail others again. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We cant go back and change the things that already occurred, said Dante White, whose son was among the children targeted. But we can dictate what can happen in the future. Brackley said Galligan will be placed in short-term civil commitment, but there is no requirement for long-term care, nor any obligation to notify victims if Galligan is released from treatment. Douglas County crimes rates down: DA points to non-residents as perpetrators Public safety is at risk because of our inability to mandate treatment when someone is found incompetent and a case is dismissed, Brackley said. If we are going to allow a case to be dismissed under the criminal statutes, then we need to have stronger civil commitment. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Defense attorneys also acknowledged gaps in the system, stating Galligans needs were never fully addressed until entering the criminal process. As of now, Galligan remains in the custody of Fort Logan State Hospital. The long-term future of their care and the future of cases like this rests with lawmakers and mental health officials. 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. We recently published 10 Stocks Jim Cramer Talked About As He Warned About Have-Not Stocks. Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NCLH) is one of the stocks Jim Cramer recently discussed. Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NCLH) is a cruise ship company that Cramer has discussed several times in 2025. The shares have lost 3.9% year-to-date due to weak earnings performance earlier in the year and investor worries about the Trump administration ending tax exemptions for the sector. However, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NCLH)s shares jumped by 9% after the firm reiterated its 2025 earnings per share forecast of $2.05 to beat analyst estimates of $2.02. The stock soared as Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NCLH) entered the earnings season with bearish sentiment. Cramer discussed the firm: And one we didnt even talk about that I think is going to shock cruise people, is Norwegian Cruise. When the other day, we had Royal Caribbean, people didnt like their outlook but they said they were still the best. But it turns out that the one that is really the best is, Norwegian Cruise. Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (NCLH) Turned Out To Be A Hidden Surprise, Says Jim Cramer Here are Cramers previous comments about Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (NYSE:NCLH) made after an earlier earnings report that indicate the pessimism surrounding the firm: Yeah look I think Norwegian, again the forecast was not as robust as they could have done. They could have easily said look things are really good. While we acknowledge the potential of NCLH as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an extremely cheap AI stock that is also a major beneficiary of Trump tariffs and onshoring, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: 30 Stocks That Should Double in 3 Years and 11 Hidden AI Stocks to Buy Right Now. CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) A Charleston building with deep roots in Black history is slated for demolition and the move is drawing criticism from community members, students, and advocacy groups who say the site should be preserved, not replaced with student housing. The former YWCA building on Coming Street, once a safe haven during the Civil Rights Movement, sits on a potters field. The potters field under the site is an unmarked burial ground believed to hold the remains of nearly 4,600 people, including enslaved Africans and Indigenous Americans. Anyone who was at that meeting the other night might remember a student stood up and led the chant: We dont want this we dont said Paul Garbarini, student at the College of Charleston. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Community members gathered at two public meetings this week to express concern over the College of Charlestons plan to build dorms on the historic property. Many say the announcement caught them off guard especially in a city known for its dedication to historical preservation. The College of Charleston is supposed to be a pillar of the community. They do a lot of great preservation work in other areas so for them to fall short when it comes to Black people, especially when Black people are so foundational to Charleston, it was disappointing and heartbreaking, said James Jonjo, a concerned resident. The proposed student housing complex would accommodate nearly 1,000 students and, according to school officials, help address growing demand for on-campus living options. But for those advocating against the development, the issue is about more than space its about dignity and remembrance. Some of those bones are from people who got off the ship directly from Africa and didnt survive they are buried there. Disturbing those souls is unspeakable. Please consider advising the college to choose another location, said Garbarini. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In response to community concerns, the College of Charleston issued the following statement: Representatives from the College of Charleston were present at last nights meeting of the Charleston History Commission, and we welcome further engagement from the commission and the public on the Coming Street Commons project. The College is meticulous in its approach to assess and document the history and cultural significance of the site. We will continue to solicit feedback and share project updates. If approved, construction on the new dorms is expected to begin in fall 2026, with plans to open to students by fall 2028. 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. CHARLESTON, Ill. (WCIA) Two Coles County law enforcement agencies issued a total of 77 speeding tickets during a recent traffic safety campaign they took part in. The Coles County Sheriffs Office and Charleston Police Department were two of hundreds of law enforcement agencies across Illinois that participated in the Speeding Catches Up With You campaign throughout July. It was a statewide effort spearheaded by the Illinois Department of Transportation that aimed to reduce highway fatalities and injuries linked to speeding. The police departments of Champaign, Decatur, Jacksonville and Mattoon, and the Champaign County Sheriffs Office were some of the other Central Illinois law enforcement agencies that took part in the campaign. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On Friday, the Coles County Sheriffs Office and Charleston Police Department released the results of their efforts. Lake Mattoon beach closed after algal bloom signs still present, city says The Coles County Sheriffs Office issued 43 speeding tickets. In addition, deputies issued tickets for three seat belt violations, four suspended or revoked licenses, seven uninsured drivers and two expired registrations. Deputies issued 26 warnings for other traffic violations and also arrested two people on outstanding warrants. The Charleston Police Department, meanwhile, issued 34 speeding tickets, plus an unspecified number of tickets for cell phone usage, driving on a suspended or revoked license and for being uninsured. Another 24 traffic warnings were issued, officials added. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Speeding Catches Up With You campaign supported IDOTs border Its Not a Game campaign, and it was funded be federal highway safety dollars administered by IDOT. 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. Two history festivals will return to Gloucestershire this autumn, with a wide range of celebrities and historians billed to appear. Cirencester History Festival has announced its first wave of headliners, who will appear at 17 venues across the town for talks, crafting, historical cookery, film screenings, exhibitions and interactive workshops. This Country star Charlie Cooper, retail campaigner Mary Portas, and comedian Ben Miller are among those appearing at the festival, which runs from 24 October to 2 November. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Gloucester History Festival will run between 6 and 21 September, with the likes of comedian Frank Skinner, actress Celia Imrie and historian David Olusoga sharing their knowledge. Cirencester Festival announced Cooper, a keen metal detectorist, as the ambassador for this year's festival, which will focus on geopolitics and international history. Cooper, who co-created BBC Three shows This Country and Myth Country, said: "History grounds us, it reminds us of where we come from and helps us feel connected to something bigger than ourselves. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "When you stand outside, holding a centuries-old coin or step into the old Cirencester Station, you're touching history and something deeper. "We're seeing a surge in people wanting that connection, to find comfort in what we know, and joy in discovering what we don't." Other guests include international affairs expert Tim Marshall, broadcaster John Suchet, historical investigator Philippa Langley, and historian and columnist Simon Jenkins. Topics at Gloucester History Festival will range from the Bayeux Tapestry to famous magicians [Gloucester History Festival] The two history festivals are operating in association with one another, with Gloucester History Festival organising the annual Winstone Talk, which will take place on 25 October at St John Baptist Church in Cirencester. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Among other names announced for the Gloucester event are Horrible Histories guru Greg Jenner, Digging For Britain's Professor Alice Roberts, journalist Lyse Doucet, slavery research professor Olivette Otele, and former deputy prime minister Michael Heseltine. Topics will range from from the Bayeux Tapestry, Magna Carta and the English Civil War to famous magicians, the legacy of Malcolm X and the lives of Margaret Thatcher and Harold Wilson. Follow BBC Gloucestershire on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to us on email or via WhatsApp on 0800 313 4630. More on this story Related internet links WEST ALTON, Ill. For the past 16 years, Wallace Maier has been taking guests up and down the Mississippi River to search for catfish on charter trips. Maier was on the water late Thursday morning with five guests, heading back up the river, when they saw a crew working on a transmission line over the Mississippi River. Maier said hell never forget what he saw next. All of a sudden, it touched the line, and it wasnt a helicopter anymore. In two seconds, it was a thousand pieces, Maier said. All you seen was a fiery ball and it came across and landed on this Missouri-side barge waiting up here to go through the lock. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Maier called 911 and noticed two transmission lines in the water. Its believed the people in the helicopter were working to install visibility markers; the orange spheres help low-flying aircraft and migrating birds better see the lines. Wright City McDonalds worker accused of stealing $52K from employer When it hit, it was a split second. It didnt wrap up or anything. As soon as it touched, it was just an explosion, he said. It was just gone. It was a white helicopter and when it hit, it wasnt a white helicopter anymore it was just a fireball. Two people are confirmed dead after the helicopter crashed onto the deck of a barge that was moored to the shore, waiting to go through the Melvin Price Lock and Dam near Alton. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Props to whoever that barge captain is out there, whoever it is. Because they pulled off that barge and went over there and put that fire out within minutes. Before the fire department, Maier said. Because the fire department couldnt get here that quickly. That could have been a way bigger disaster than it already is. 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. The Brief Lillian Hughes, 32, of Lyerly, was arrested Aug. 5 and charged with three counts of sexual exploitation of children and one count of bestiality, the GBI says. Investigators say the case began in July after a tip from the Chattooga County Sheriffs Office led to a search of her home and her arrest. The charges are part of the GBIs ongoing Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force effort targeting the possession and distribution of child sexual abuse material. CHATTOOGA COUNTY, Ga. - A Chattooga County woman has been arrested on multiple charges involving child exploitation and bestiality, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. What we know The GBI says 32-year-old Lillian Hughes of Lyerly was taken into custody Aug. 5 and charged with three counts of sexual exploitation of children and one count of bestiality. She is being held in the Chattooga County Jail. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Investigators say the case began in July after the Chattooga County Sheriffs Office referred a tip about Hughes possible possession and distribution of child sexual abuse material online. That led to a GBI investigation, a search warrant at her home and her arrest. The sheriffs office assisted with the search and arrest. What we don't know No details about the allegations were revealed. FOX 5 Atlanta has reached out for a mug shot of Hughes. What they're saying The GBI says the case is part of an ongoing effort by the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force to identify people involved in trading child sexual abuse material. The federally funded program, housed within the GBIs Child Exploitation and Computer Crimes Unit, targets online predators and works to prevent unsupervised contact between them and minors. What you can do Anyone with information about other cases of child exploitation is urged to contact the GBI Child Exploitation and Computer Crimes Unit at 404-270-8870 or report to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Childrens CyberTipline at Cybertipline.org. Anonymous tips can also be made at 1-800-597-8477, online at gbi.georgia.gov/submit-tips-online or through the "See Something, Send Something" mobile app. CHEROKEE COUNTY, Texas (KETK) The Cherokee County Sheriffs Office is mourning the loss of their beloved K-9 officer who suddenly died in late July after only serving the community for two months. Texas DPS mourns loss of beloved Longview narcotics K-9 According to the sheriffs office, their one-and-a-half-year-old Dutch Shepard, K-9 Zable, and his handler were returning home from working a shift on July 21 when Zable experienced a medical emergency while walking from the patrol unit to his pen. The K-9 was rushed to the emergency vet in Tyler, where he died. K-9 Zable, courtesy of the Cherokee County Sheriffs Office Zable was then taken to Texas A&M University for a necropsy, where they advised that Zable passed away from Myocarditis caused from Chagas Disease, officials said. Chagas disease is caused by a protozoal parasite, T. cruzi kissing bug. Chagas disease is most common in Mexico, Central America and South America, though cases are frequently diagnosed in southern Texas with a gradual northern spread of this disease. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Officials said that young dogs seem to be more susceptible to the disease and typically present with severe, acute heart failure. Some dogs will suddenly die without showing any signs of the disease, and they can be infected after eating infected kissing bugs. Zable came to the sheriffs office from Hill County Dog Center after he was purchased using drug seizure funds, the sheriffs office said. Zable and his handler trained for 5 weeks together in Pipe Creek, Texas, before returning to Cherokee County to serve the community. K-9 Zable was trained in narcotics and apprehension. Search continues for missing Palestine K-9 officer after Sunday storm The sheriffs office said they were 100 percent reimbursed for the cost of Zable and the training by Hill Country Dog Center. I would like to personally thank Hill Country Dog Center for their loyalty and standing with us through this unforeseen medical death, the Cherokee County Sheriff said. You can now stream KETK and FOX51 News live 24/7 on your smart TV with KETK+, our brand-new app! No antenna, cable, or satellite neededwatch for free, anytime. Just download it on your Roku, Apple TV, or Fire TV and start streaming. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. HARLEM, Manhattan (PIX11) Its not all fun and games at a Chess Tournament in Harlem. Its about building up better community relations between pre-teens, teenagers, and the NYPD. More Local News Nearly 40 children and two dozen police officers attended the annual event, organized by Jackie Rowe-Adams. She is the founder of Harlem Mothers and Fathers S.A.V.E. Rowe-Adams tells PIX 11 News, I lost 2 kids to gun violence, I knew I couldnt bring them back, so I could help another mother, another family from feeling the pain and hurt, saving lives. This is not all about the police arresting, it is about police working with community and letting the kids know we care. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Speaking to the crowd, Assistant Chief Ruel Stephenson with the Manhattan North Patrol Borough said, I love nothing more than when our people are humanized by sitting down and playing, I love when you see the real people in the uniform. So much is being said about our people in uniform in soundbites, in mini-seconds, and it doesnt tell the real story, of the human. Angel Mazariegos,14, told PIX11 News that playing chess with members of the NYPD, helps you to have, or gain trust with the people who are protecting you, and its very good for the neighborhood to consider police part of our family as well. Darin Monroe, 18, also gained an added benefit. He said, Chess just taught me a lot about myself, about how to be able to be better. Chess is a game of strategy, and chess teaches you how to move forward in life. 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. The Brief A 31-year-old pedestrian was struck and killed in a hit-and-run around 4 a.m. Sunday. The crash happened near West 76th Street and South Stewart Avenue in Auburn Gresham. Police are asking for tips as they search for the driver. CHICAGO - A 31-year-old pedestrian was killed in a hit-and-run crash early Sunday on Chicagos South Side. What we know Chicago police said the fatal crash happened around 4 a.m. at 399 W. 76th St., in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The pedestrian was struck by an unknown vehicle, which left the scene. The hit-and-run crash occurred near the intersection of West 76th Street and South Stewart Avenue. | Google Maps via CPD What we don't know A description of the suspect's vehicle is unknown at this time. What's next Anyone with information is asked to contact the Major Accidents Investigation Unit at 312-745-4521. Anonymous tips can also be submitted at CPDTIP.com using reference report number JJ359901. The Source The information in this article was provided by the Chicago Police Department. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson warns that finances in the nation's third most populous city have "reached a point of no return." The mayor said this week that the city will need to take steps to deal with looming budget shortfalls and that key systems that Chicago provides, including education, housing, health care and transportation, are "woefully underfunded." Eight-hundred miles to the east, there are concerns in the nation's most populous city that if democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani wins the election in November as New York City's next mayor, the city could be headed for a fiscal abyss similar to the crisis half a century ago, when it came close to bankruptcy. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Chicago Tribune Warns 'Halloween Comes Early ' As City Faces Shortfalls Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic Party's mayoral nominee in New York City, speaks to reporters on Aug. 7, 2025. Incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, who dropped out of the 2025 race for New York City's Democratic Party mayor nomination and who is running for re-election as an independent, struck a deal with the city council on a roughly $116 billion budget for fiscal year 2026. "There are no perfect budgets. But we have come a long way, and this one gets pretty close," City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams said at a press conference announcing the deal in late June. Read On The Fox News App Cuomo Flips Scipt On Mamdani In New York City Mayoral Race Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But the 33-year-old Mamdani, who is the polling frontrunner over Adams, former New York State Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and two other contenders in November's general election, is running on an expensive platform to tackle affordability and inequality in one of the nation's most expensive cities. Mamdani grabbed national attention in late June after topping Cuomo and nine other candidates in the Democratic Party primary, as he took a big step towards becoming the first Muslim and first millennial mayor. Former New York Governor and independent candidate for NYC Mayor Andrew Cuomo attends the funeral of slain NYPD officer Didarul Islam at Parkchester Jame Masjid on July 31, 2025 in the Parkchester neighborhood of the Bronx borough in New York City. Mamdani, a Ugandan-born state assemblyman from the New York City borough of Queens, is proposing to eliminate fares to ride New York City's vast bus system, making CUNY (City University of New York) "tuition-free," freezing rents on municipal housing, offering "free childcare" for children up to age 5, and setting up government-run grocery stores. There are concerns that the significant spending increases to pay for Mamdani's proposals, along with the possibility of revenue shortfalls, could put a strain on New York City's budget. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement And at the center of Mamdani's proposals to pay for his pricey plans is a "millionaire's tax," which critics say will spur ultra-wealthy New York City residents to flee. Mamdani's agenda has given Republicans plenty of fodder to use to go on offense, as they spotlight his "socialist" policies and try to anchor him to Democrats facing challenging re-elections next year. President Donald Trump has gone further, accusing Mamdani of being a "communist." And Mamdani's rivals in November's mayoral election are also taking aim at him. Adams has said Mamdani is making "false promises" that will hurt low-income New Yorkers. And the mayor argues that Mamdani's proposal to set up government-run supermarkets will "devastate the local bodegas and local stores." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Cuomo on Friday took to social media to argue that "Chicago is proof that incompetent leadership can turn a deep-dish city into a half-baked mess." A day earlier, as he proposed his own plan to address affordability in New York City, Cuomo charged that Mandani is "proposing a theory of socialism that has never worked anywhere." "What is the best answer to affordability? It is business development. It is opportunity. It is jobs. It is economic growth. It is not anti-business socialism," Cuomo said as he asked and answered his own question. Firing back, Mamdani campaign spokesperson Dora Pekec claimed that "trusting Andrew Cuomo to address New Yorks affordability crisis is the equivalent of tasking an arsonist with putting out a fire he created this crisis." Original article source: Chicago's budget shortfall puts spotlight on Mamdani's 'socialism' agenda for New York City The Brief Weiss Memorial Hospital in Uptown closed its doors on Friday as a result of recent financial hurdles. Medicaid and Medicare removal is prompting the reported shutdown, though some departments will remain open. Sen. Dick Durbin says the hospitals quality and safety issues have raised concerns. CHICAGO - Weiss Memorial Hospital on Chicago's North Side shut down on Friday as a result of recent financial hurdles and other concerns, including its removal from federal Medicaid and Medicare programs. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The closure leaves patients who count on the hospitaland employeeswith more questions than answers. What we know The safety net hospital, located in the Uptown neighborhood, went dark on Friday after being dropped from key federal programs. The facility has been in financial trouble for years, and recently faced a myriad of issues, including a major A/C failure earlier this summer that forced patients to be transferred to other facilities. According to Block Club Chicago, some departmentsincluding radiology, cardiology, and womens healthare expected to remain open at the building, located at 4646 N. Marine Drive. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Dr. Manoj Prasad who is the CEO of Resilience Healthcare, which owns Weiss Memorial Hospital and West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park, said on Friday that the facilities are in desperate need of more state funding, and claims that he stepped into a dire situation when they took over in 2022. Now, concern is growing that West Suburban Medical Center could be heading down the same path as Weiss. What they're saying On Friday afternoon, a group of local leaders, nurses, and patients rallied outside Weiss Memorial Hospital's ER, calling for swift intervention to keep the hospital open for vulnerable community members who rely on it. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "We cannot allow this hospital to close," said Marc Kaplan with Northside Action for Justice. "This is a community disaster." A sign outside of the hospital's emergency department stating its closure marks the end of affordable and accessible care for countless neighbors. "Closing Weiss is devastating, it's the loss of a critical resource and a lifeline. Every day in our ER, we see people who cannot afford to wait. Seconds matter, minutes matter. Without Weiss, those minutes stretch longer and the distance to care grows wider," said Daniel Maser, a registered nurse in Weiss Memorial Hospital's emergency department. On Friday afternoon, when searching Weiss on Google, the facility was listed as "Temporarily closed." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "With the hospital closing, the thousands of patients and hundreds of staff who depend on Weiss Memorial Hospital for their healthcare and livelihoods will be hung out to dry. This is part of a larger story of disinvestment, corporate neglect of community, safety-net hospitals like Weiss and private, for-profit speculation in Uptown," Hannah Gelder, Director of Organizing for ONE Northside, said in a news release. Meanwhile, a doctor who is affiliated with another healthcare group but works out of the adjacent professional building, shared off-camera with FOX 32 that the hospital is "empty" and there haven't been patients there in weeks. "This is about accessibility, accountability, and action," said Ald. Leni Manaa-Hoppenworth, 44th Ward. Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin acknowledged growing concerns about the hospitals quality of care and patient safety. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "We have been in touch with them to really investigate some reports that weve received about the quality of care and safety for the patients. That is the bottom line here," Durbin said. "And some questions were raised and we communicated those to Weiss. Were going to continue to follow that, but I think what youre hearing there is something thats being heard by other hospitals as well. What about the future?" Dig deeper A series of recent, troubling signs pointed to an uncertain future at Weiss Memorial Hospital. In mid-June, a significant air conditioning failure occurred during a citywide heat wave, prompting patient transfers and service disruptions. In a news conference on Friday, Prasad called the ordeal "catastrophic." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement At the time, most patients were moved to the hospitals sister facility, West Suburban Medical Center, or to other nearby hospitals. Outpatient services and ancillary departments at Weiss remained in operation. Weiss Memorial Hospital and West Suburban Medical Center are owned by Resilience Healthcare, which acquired both facilities after former owner Pipeline Health System filed for bankruptcy in 2022. By late June, Resilience had stopped paying its PR firm. Then, in late July, the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) confirmed that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) was terminating Weiss' access after the hospital was found to be noncompliant during recent inspections. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement That covers the majority of people seeking care there. Weiss' 'Illinois Hospital Report Card' shows that in 2024, 87 percent of inpatients and 61 percent of outpatients were on Medicare or Medicaid. "Uptown is a landing ground for so many immigrants, and refugees and asylum seekers from all around the world who would not have access to healthcare if it were not for Weiss Hospital," said State Sen. Mike Simmons, (D) 7th District. While activists were voicing their concerns outside of Weiss, the hospital system's CEO spoke during a separate news conference. "That outcome was entirely unexpected," Prasad said of CMS' decision. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Prasad said both hospitalsWeiss and West Suburbanneed very expensive repairs. "All of the buck stops with me, but all of this needs funding," Prasad said. Prasad is appealing the decision by CMS to cut them loose; at the same time, he says he is committed to making sure West Suburban doesn't suffer the same fate. "It's not a short plan, it's not an easy plan, it takes almost a year for either of these processes to be completed," Prasad explained. "It's easy for us to cut and run but that's not what we are about." What's next Prasad claims that some outpatient services at Weiss will continue to be available to patients. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The next closest hospital is Thorek Memorial Hospital, located at 850 West Irving Park Road or Ascension Saint Joseph at 2900 North Lake Shore Drive. The Source The information in this article was obtained from Block Club Chicago and community activists. New Yorks top financial regulator has fined Paxos, a New York City-based stablecoin issuer, $26.5 million for systemic failures in its compliance and anti-money laundering programs, including a past partnership with global crypto exchange Binance, according to a Thursday announcement. In addition to the fine, Paxos agreed to spend another $22 million improving its compliance program to bring it up to snuff with the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) standards. The Department of Financial Services has led the nation in regulating the virtual currency industry, protecting consumers and markets through examinations, supervision, and where necessary, enforcement, NYDFS Superintendent Adrienne Harris said in a press statement. Regulated entities must maintain appropriate risk management frameworks that correspond to their business risks, which includes relationships with business partners and third-party vendors. The Department continues taking significant steps to ensure accountability, in turn protecting consumers and safeguarding the integrity of the financial system. The compliance failures identified by NYDFS were largely tied to Paxos one-time partnership with Binance, the worlds largest crypto exchange. The two companies teamed up in 2019 to issue Binances dollar-pegged stablecoin, BUSD. The relationship with Binance eventually landed Paxos in hot water: in 2023, NYDFS launched an investigation into Paxoss issuance of BUSD, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sent Paxos a Wells notice informing the company of its intention to sue (a year later, the SEC decided to drop its enforcement action) and Paxos ultimately decided to stop issuing BUSD altogether at the order of NYDFS. The fine announced Thursday is tied to NYDFS original investigation. According to NYDFS press release, the investigation revealed that Paxos didnt have appropriate controls in place to effectively monitor for illicit activity occurring through Binance. And when illicit activity was identified, the regulator said, the company failed to escalate red flags to Paxos higher-ups and board members. In addition to the Binance-related compliance issues, NYDFS said its investigation into Paxos turned up other deficiencies in its compliance program, including an unsophisticated Know Your Customer (KYC) program that allowed illicit actors to open multiple accounts and remain undetected, and a deficient transaction monitoring system that prevented Paxos from detecting obvious patterns of money laundering. (FOX40.COM) A Chico teenager admitted to committing racially-motivated assault with a deadly weapon in court on Wednesday, the Butte County District Attorney said. Video Above: What to do if you witness a crime On July 15, a 31-year-old international student at Chico State University was assaulted by four juveniles, including the 13-year-old defendant, according to the district attorney. Child allegedly drives into house with mother, other children in vehicle Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As the victim walked through the university campus from the grocery store, the group of juveniles threw rocks at the victim while yelling racial slurs and racially charged comments, the district attorney said. The district attorney also reported that despite the victim trying to flee the scene, two of the juveniles followed him and eventually used a tree branch to beat the victim. The district attorneys report specified that the two other juveniles watched the assault from the other side of the creek. Man arrested for manslaughter following bar fight in Folsom The victim was eventually able to get to safety and called 911, but sustained injuries to his head, arm, shoulder blade and neck, as well as dealing with the emotional turmoil caused, Ramsey said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It was reported that the two juveniles who were involved in the original harassment were located nearby and identified as a 16-year-old female and a 14-year-old male. According to Ramsey, that same day, police arrested both juveniles on the allegation of resisting arrest. Chico State University Police reviewed numerous surveillance cameras and identified the 13-year-old defendant. The delinquent now waits in the juvenile hall until sentencing, where he faces a maximum of six years in the local juvenile hall, according to Ramsey. While three of the juveniles involved have been identified, one suspect is unknown, the District Attorney released. Information on the identity of the remaining suspect is encouraged to be shared with the Chico State University Police at (530) 898-5555. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. Fact checked by Sarah Scott Parents/GettyImages/Aleksandr Zubkov Since the pandemic, theres been a noticeable drop in vaccination rates among kids. A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that this trend seems to be continuing even further. Fewer kids are getting vaccinated before they enter school and more kids are getting non-medical exemptions from vaccines that are required by schools. If you are a parent of a school-age kiddo, you likely have questions and concerns about what this means, and how lower vaccination rates might impact your family. Experts in the field help us understand why this is happening, what it means for parents and kids, and what you can do to keep your child safe from infectious diseases. Vaccination Trends the Report Highlights The CDC report, published at the end of July 2025, looked specifically at the rates of vaccination and vaccine exemptions for the 2024 to 2025 school year. The report found that vaccination coverage for kindergartners entering school decreased. The trend was seen for all vaccines. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But the CDC notes that the vaccine rate for diphtheria, tetanus, and acellular pertussis vaccine (DTaP) dropped to 92.1%. Additionally, the vaccine rate for measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine (MMR) and polio vaccine dropped to 92.5%. This new data shows that the vaccination declines we saw during the COVID-19 pandemic arent rebounding, says Robert Amler, MD, pediatrician, former CDC officer, and dean of the School of Health Sciences and Practice and Institute of Public Health at New York Medical College. It also means we are moving too far away from the type of vaccine protection we need for herd immunity. You need 95% coverage to achieve herd immunity, which is when vaccines are able to prevent spread of diseases from one person to another, and also protect people who dont have immunity to the disease. Dr. Amler has more concerns. "A similar concerning trend is a small rise in the proportion of that population who obtained non-medical exemptions to vaccines, implying more parents chose to avoid at least some vaccines for their children, he says. Rising exemptions also help push down vaccination rates. Why Are Vaccination Rates Declining? Its not entirely clear why vaccine rates have continued to decline, but Kathleen Mueller, MD, American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) board member, has some ideas why this is happening. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The prevalence of mis- and disinformation online, coupled with uncertainty surrounding vaccine recommendations, has made many parents question the safety and effectiveness of vaccines, she says. Amy Edwards, MD, assistant professor of pediatrics at the School of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University, believes that although vaccine skepticism has been around for a long time, the COVID pandemic shifted that into high gear. Prior to the COVID pandemic there was very slight, but noticeable year-on-year increases in this skepticism," shares Dr. Edwards. "But the politically-based reaction to the COVID vaccine seems to have spilled over to other vaccines and there has been a dramatic spike in online content across all social media platforms pushing a false narrative around various anti-vaccine talking points such as vaccines dont undergo safety trials.'" Dr. Mueller points out that vaccines are actually rigorously tested, go through widespread research, and undergo trials and safety checks led by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) before they are offered to people. What Are the Impacts of Reduced Vaccination? Most of us werent alive during a time before vaccines were widespread. But history tells us that having an under-vaccinated population can be a real threat to all of our health and well-being. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In the decades and centuries before vaccines became available, many thousands died from diseases that now are preventable, says Dr. Amler. These conditions declined dramatically because of vaccines, but evidence shows they can and will return and infect again when vaccines are withheld or not given according to established schedules. Unfortunately, we are already seeing some of the impacts of declining vaccination rates. As weve seen with the continued measles outbreaks across the country, especially in Texas, lower vaccination rates can lead to widespread outbreaks, Dr. Mueller says. Sadly, this has led to many children being hospitalized and two children even lost their lives. These deaths were preventable with vaccines, she points out. While vaccination rates falling by just a few percentage points may not seem like a lot, as Dr. Mueller points out, last years rates meant that 280,000 kindergartners were not protected from the measles. This means they were at risk of getting sick and spreading the disease in their classrooms and communities. We know that illnesses can spread rapidly in schools and daycares, says Dr. Mueller. When unvaccinated children are infected, they are more likely to get severely ill, be hospitalized, and face long-term complications from preventable diseases. "When unvaccinated children are infected, they are more likely to get severely ill, be hospitalized, and face long-term complications from preventable diseases." Kathleen Mueller, MD Where To Get Reliable Information About Vaccines It can be confusing to navigate the world of vaccines and medicine, especially when its easy to get wildly different opinions online, in the media, or among friends and family members. Theres nothing wrong with asking questions and doing your due diligence to make the best decisions for your family. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Still, its vital that you get your information from trusted sources. Your best resource is a health care provider who you trust and who knows your familys background, point-of-view, and medical needs. Your doctor understands that you're trying to make the best decision, and we want to help to answer your questions and equip you with information that makes you feel comfortable about whatever decision you make, Dr. Mueller assures. The best thing you can do if you are feeling unsure about vaccines or have questions is to reach out to your health care provider and begin a conversation, says Dr. Mueller. Share your medical history, she suggests. Share your concerns. Ask your questions. Your doctor wants to help you make the best decision for you and your family. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Other resources that experts recommended for evidence-based information about vaccines include: How To Keep Your Child Healthy and Safe Above all, the best way to keep your child safe for infectious diseases is to get doctor-recommended vaccines. Most doctors use the vaccine schedule from the APA. Vaccines are recommended in the dosing and at the times where they can do the most good (protect children when they are most vulnerable, for example), says Dr. Edwards. While most physicians highly recommend vaccination to keep your child healthy and safe, there are other precautions you can take. Well also reinforce other precautions to stop germs from spreading including washing hands frequently, cleaning high-touch areas at home and at school, covering coughs and sneezes and staying home when sick, Dr. Mueller shares. Read the original article on Parents CHILLICOTHE, Ohio (WCMH) A Chillicothe hospital has announced the retirement of its board president and CEO. Adena Health President and CEO Jeff Graham is retiring at the end of September. The hospital has been the focus of several NBC4 investigations. Graham joined Adena in 1999 and took over the president and CEO role in 2017. Adena Health announced that Katherine Edrington, the chief operating officer, will step into the president and CEO role. She joined Adena Health eight years ago. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In a statement to NBC4, an Adena spokesperson shared that Graham has been planning his retirement for some time. NBC4 Investigates has covered Adena Health for the last few years, uncovering sexual assault allegations against at least one staff member, lawsuits regarding patient care, and just last week, NBC4 obtained leaked emails showing top Adena officials discussing a doctor operating without the proper credentials. Adena denies that the doctor lacked the necessary credentials. 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. ST. LOUIS Judge Stephen Clark sentenced chimpanzee handler Tonia Haddix to more than what advisory guidelines recommended, as he told Haddix directly that its as if shes been wearing virtual reality goggles and needs to remove them. Tonia Haddix claimed to be saving chimpanzees, until prosecutors charged her with crimes. Then Haddix herself admitted to breaking the law when she pleaded guilty in March to perjury and obstruction of justice. Her guilty plea came after years of defiance, in which Haddix repeatedly told FOX 2 News that she would not surrender the chimpanzees, which she kept at a compound outside of Festus, Missouri. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Those chimps were once part of a business called Chimparty, in which they were used for everything from childrens birthday parties to greeting cards and even a movie. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Daily News When the Festus facility became rundown, the animal rights group PETA obtained a court order to have the chimps moved to accredited animal sanctuaries, but Haddix fought that hard, saying she would not comply. At one point, she claimed one of the chimpanzees had died. U.S. Marshals later found that chimpanzeenamed Tonkalocked away in Haddixs basement. Haddix was arrested, charged, and pleaded guilty to her deceit. After being released on bond, Haddix was again caught hiding another chimp in her basement. That was just a couple weeks ago. It raised questions about how much prison time Haddix might get. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Unlike the chimpanzees that she locked in her basement, Tonia Haddix is guilty, Brittany Peet of PETA said. She had a choice of whether she ended up locked behind bars as she is now a choice that she denied those chimpanzees. Judge Stephen Clark gave her 46 months in prison. Its an extraordinary case that caused any amount of obstruction of the administration of justice here in this courthouse, so we think it was an appropriate sentence, Assistant U.S. Attorney Hal Goldsmith said. The defense said Haddixs sentence could have been much worse. Until the judge correctly ruled in our favor on those legal objections at the beginning of the hearing, both the prosecution and ultimately Ms. Haddix were looking at a possible advisory guideline sentence of nearly twice what she ultimately got in particular, 78 to 97 months, defense attorney Justin Gelfand said. And so, a sentence of 46 months, while we believe it is more severe than what we were asking for, in some ways, candidly, is not as severe as she might have otherwise faced. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The defense had asked for Haddix to serve one year and one day in federal prison, but Judge Clark emphasized the need for people to follow court orders if this is to remain a civilized society. Haddix remained quiet and stone-faced as U.S. Marshals took her away. 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. BEIJING (Reuters) -China accused the Philippines on Friday of "playing with fire" after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said the Southeast Asian nation would be drawn into any conflict between China and the United States over Taiwan. It was responding to remarks by Marcos during a state visit to India that the Philippines' closeness to Taiwan and the large Filipino community there would make involvement necessary in such a conflict. "'Geographical proximity' and 'large overseas populations' are not excuses for a country to interfere in the internal affairs of others," China's foreign ministry said in a statement. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "We urge the Philippines to earnestly adhere to the one-China principle ... and refrain from playing with fire on issues concerning China's core interests." Marcos' remarks came amid heightened tension between Beijing and Manila over territorial disputes in the busy waterway of the South China Sea. Both countries have traded accusations of aggressive manoeuvres and sovereignty violations there, prompting the United States to reaffirm its commitment to defend the Philippines. Beijing views democratically-governed Taiwan as its territory, a claim Taipei rejects. The Philippine embassy in Beijing did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On Wednesday, Marcos told Indian media outlet Firstpost, "If there is an all-out war, then we will be drawn into it." He added, "There are many, many Filipino nationals in Taiwan and that would be immediately a humanitarian problem. "We will have to go in there, find a way to go in there, and find a way to bring our people home." China said such arguments "not only violate international law and the ASEAN charter, but also undermine regional peace and stability and the fundamental interests of (the Philippines') own people." (Reporting by Beijing Newsroom; Editing by Clarence Fernandez) China has deployed cannibal mosquitoes, larvae-eating fish and surveillance drones as it battles to curb an unprecedented outbreak of chikungunya virus. More than 7,000 cases of the debilitating mosquito-borne disease have been reported across the southern Guangdong province since July a record number driven by international travel, high temperatures and unusually heavy rains. This chikungunya outbreak in China is exceptionally rare and unprecedented, said Dr Yanzhong Huang, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, adding it is the largest since the virus was first seen in China in 2008. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The disease, which is sometimes confused with dengue, is rarely fatal, but it does cause a severe fever, rash and joint pain. The word chikungunya itself comes from a Swahili dialect and roughly translates as to bend over a reflection of its debilitating symptoms. So far in China the vast majority of cases have been in the manufacturing hub Foshan, a city of 10 million roughly 105 miles from Hong Kong which reported its first case on Monday. A US advisor urged travellers to take increased caution due to the outbreak. Now, Chinese authorities have launched a major mosquito-crackdown to suppress chikungunyas spread, alongside patriotic public health measures reminiscent of Chinas stringent zero-Covid policy. Posters in Guangzhou promote mosquito control, urging citizens to help clear stagnant water - Chinatopix via AP Predatory prowess Among the tools deployed are giant, compulsive killers known as elephant mosquitoes (Toxorhynchites, in scientific jargon) whose larvae devour the Aedes mosquito which transmits chikungunya and dengue to people. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Just one larvae can consume a staggering number of the larvae, up to several thousands, according to a paper in the Journal of Tropical Medicine in 2024 which described their cannibalism. Their predatory prowess extends beyond direct consumption, the researchers wrote. Toxorhynchites larvae exhibit a fascinating behaviour known as compulsive killing, where they kill mosquito larvae but leave them uneaten. Professor Eng Eong Ooi, a researcher at Duke-NUS Medical Schools Emerging Infectious Diseases programme in Singapore, said another benefit is that the adult elephant mosquitoes dont suck blood meaning they dont spread viruses by biting humans. It is likely that the health authorities in China are hoping that, by releasing Toxoryhnchites mosquitoes, they would reduce the Aedes mosquito population and thus control the spread of chikungunya virus, Prof Ooi told the Telegraph. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He added that the policys effectiveness will be dependent on how often and how many mosquitoes are released, plus the specific species of Toxorhynchites used. China is not the first country to deploy the killer bugs America, Malaysia, and India are among countries where releases have been conducted, according to the 2024 paper. Results have been varied, but New Orleans saw a reduction in Aedes mosquitoes of up to 45 per cent, after the cannibal insects were deployed. Unusually heavy rains have hit Guangdong, cretaing the ideal conditions for mosquitoes to thrive - Deng Hua/Xinhua via AP Killer fish Yet this is just one aspect of Chinas fight against the Aedes mosquito. A team from the Mosquito Factory at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangdong have also deployed 5,000 larvae-eating fish, which consume the larvae that hatch in the citys lakes, according to local media. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The idea is to have natural predators of mosquitoes at different stages of the lifecycle, to reduce the overall population, virus transmission and hence disease rates, said Prof Ooi. The Aedes mosquito does not only lay its eggs in lakes and ponds. The insect thrives in the hot, rainy conditions that have recently hit southern China, and breeds in any small container of stagnant water, from flowerpots to discarded bottles. To tackle this, officials are using tools reminiscent of Chinas controversial zero-Covid policy, which involved mass testing, mandatory quarantines, widespread surveillance and citywide lockdowns. Locals in Foshan have been told that they could see their electricity cut off or face fines of up to 10,000 yuan (1,040) if they do not remove potential containers outside their homes, while drones have been used to detect sources of stagnant water across the industrial city. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Dr Huang said that those infected have also been told to stay in hospital beds covered by mosquito nets evoking the forced isolations seen in Covid while large-scale insecticide spraying campaigns have seen soldiers fogging streets and parts and workers entering homes without consent, a tactic reminiscent of pandemic-era intrusions. Chinas response echoes its zero-Covid play book, albeit on a more localised scale, he said. This blend of implicit coercion and community enforcement highlights Chinas enduring patriotic public health model, [which prioritises] rapid containment over individual liberties. According to local authorities, while 3,000 cases were reported last week alone, numbers do appear to have peaked and 95 per cent of patients were discharged within seven days. A drone sprays insecticide in Guangzhou, as part of measures to curb the spread of Chikungunya fever - Chen Chuhong/China News Service/VCG via Getty Images Explosive outbreaks The outbreak comes as chikungunya surges across the globe. The virus was first identified in Tanzania in 1952, and has since spread to 110 countries, though it is most regularly seen in sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia and South America. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement There have even been cases in the south of France. Chikungunya tends to cause sudden explosive outbreaks and then disappear for years, before returning to cause another outbreak, said Prof Ooi. This year has been particularly explosive. A surge in cases began in islands in the Indian Ocean in early 2025, including 54,000 cases and 12 deaths in La Reunion, while spikes in cases have also been reported in South America especially Bolivia. The World Health Organization (WHO) said patchy data makes it hard to say with certainty that this year has been the worst for chikungunya on record, but every region in the world including Europe has reported cases in 2025. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Outbreaks in some of these countries including France and China are happening as the Aedes mosquito moves into new territory, as changing climates and urbanisation means they can survive and thrive in different places. In these regions, the chikungunya virus has also found large populations with no prior exposure to the virus. For some countries, the proportions of non-immune populations are now large enough to allow for rapid outbreak spread, a WHO spokesperson said. So [the] introduction of chikungunya virus, when Aedes mosquitoes are present, can result in large outbreaks. Dr Andre Siqueira, head of the dengue global programme at the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative, said countries across the world should brace themselves for more outbreaks as temperatures continue to rise and rapidly work towards developing countermeasures. Although there are now two chikungunya vaccines, there are no specific antiviral treatments. He also warned against underestimating the disease, which is rarely deadly but can cause severe illness especially in newborn babies, the elderly, and people with underlying medical conditions. Symptoms include a fever, rash, headache and joint pain. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The previous belief that acute chikungunya is a mild disease has been challenged by the severity of joint pain and for reports of complications such as myocarditis and encephalitis, as well as for the evidence for excess mortality in locations experiencing outbreaks, Dr Siqueira said, pointing to several studies in Brazil. He added that in as many as 60 per cent of patients, the virus can cause debilitating joint and pain inflammation that may last from months to years after the infection. This results in an important burden for the health system, as well as an economic hazard for individuals and affected societies, said Dr Siqueira. Protect yourself and your family by learning more about Global Health Security Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more. China has sharply criticised Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr after he suggested his country would be drawn into a potential conflict between China and the United States over Taiwan. During a state visit to India this week, Marcos said the Philippines geographic proximity and the large Filipino community in Taiwan meant the country would be forced to get involved in the event of war. If there is an all-out war, then we will be drawn into it, Marcos told Indian broadcaster Firstpost. There are many, many Filipino nationals in Taiwan and that would be immediately a humanitarian problem. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In response, Chinas Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a strongly worded statement on Friday, warning Manila not to play with fire and urging it to uphold the one China principle. Geographical proximity and large overseas populations are not excuses for interfering in others internal affairs, the statement read. Tensions between China and the Philippines have intensified in recent years over territorial disputes in the South China Sea. Both sides have accused each other of provocations, with altercations at sea involving ramming incidents, water cannon blasts, and clashes involving weapons such as spears and knives. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Beijing continues to assert that Taiwan is part of its territory and a breakaway province, a position Taipei rejects. China also dismissed Marcoss justification as undermining both international law and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations charter, saying his comments risk destabilising regional peace and harming the interests of the Philippine people. Marcoss trip to India also saw the signing of new security agreements aimed at strengthening defence ties between New Delhi and Manila, including cooperation between both countries armies, air forces and navies. Indian warships recently began joint patrols with the Philippine Navy in the contested South China Sea in a move likely to anger China. In another sign of rising tensions, Philippine officials earlier this week condemned the launch of a Chinese rocket, which they said dropped suspected debris near a western province, alarming residents and threatening local ships and aircraft. No damage or injuries were reported. The escalating maritime standoff has also increasingly drawn in the United States, which has a mutual defence pact with the Philippines. Washington has reaffirmed its commitment to defend Filipino forces, including coastguard personnel, aircraft and public vessels, should they come under attack anywhere in the South China Sea. By Liz Lee GUANGZHOU, China (Reuters) -The several hundred residents of Pingtou, a village in China's sub-tropical south, have seen plenty of typhoons and rainstorms over the years. But nothing prepared them for this week's flooding - the worst there in generations. Knee-deep brown water still covered the main road into the village, in Guangdong province, on Friday as residents dragged damaged furniture and home appliances out of their homes, at least four of which collapsed in the downpour earlier this week. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "The older folks here say that in the 100 years we've been here, they've never experienced such flooding," said one villager aged in his 50s who asked to use only his surname Zhong. Floodwaters have never before entered his two-storey house, but this time they surged in, wrecking many of his belongings. Water marks on the walls of nearby houses were more than a metre (3.3 feet) high. It was not immediately clear if anyone had been killed in the village. A record 622.6 mm (24.5 inches) of rain fell on Guangzhou, the provincial capital from August 2-6 - almost three times average monthly rainfall for the city in August. At least seven people were killed due to flooding there, state media said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement China has been battling with record rainfall in its north and south as well as prolonged heatwaves in its interior. The government announced on Thursday 430 million yuan ($59.9 million) in fresh funding for disaster relief, taking the total allocated since April to at least 5.8 billion yuan. But in Pingtou, villagers said they were not getting enough support from local authorities to deal with the aftermath. Zhong said he was told by officials that there was no relief aid available to deal with the floods. "There was not even a bottle of mineral water provided to us," he said. 'NO ALERTS' Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Across Guangdong, 75,000 people were evacuated as a precaution, but several residents of Pingtou told Reuters there had been no alerts about flooding in the area - leaving them ill-prepared. On the night of the heaviest downpour on Tuesday in Pingtou, 73-year-old Zhang was woken up by her worried daughter-in-law in the middle of the night and rushed over to the relative safety of her son's two-storey home. When the family woke the next day, the roof of Zhang's house had caved in. "I'd been living in that house for more than 50 years," said Zhang, as she stared at her household items coated in the debris left by the receding waters. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Just outside Pingtou, fish and duck farmer Hu Songlin said the deluge had swept away the fish in his ponds, estimating the immediate losses at about 120,000 yuan. "Now we won't be able to earn a single cent," his wife Hua said. Experts have linked China's erratic weather - including floods and droughts - to climate change. "We say that global warming can lead to heavier rainfall, but there's only so much water," said Johnny Chan, a professor at the City University of Hong Kong's School of Energy and Environment. "So if one area has more rain, another area will have less rain. So what we're seeing is that there will be places which are becoming wetter and there will be places which will become much drier." ($1 = 7.1827 Chinese yuan renminbi) (Reporting by Liz Lee; Additional reporting by Florence Lo and Joyce Zhou in Hong Kong; Writing by Ryan Woo;Editing by Helen Popper) BURLINGTON, Vt. (ABC22/FOX44) The Chittenden Unit for Special Investigations (CUSI) said Thursday that a man now living in Milton is at a higher risk than other offenders to re-offend. Christopher Edwards, 37, was twice convicted when he was 20 of sexually assaulting 15-year-old female victims. According to CUSIs notice, if he were to re-offend, his victim would likely be an intoxicated or otherwise vulnerable adolescent girl. Christopher Edwards, 37, was released from prison August 5, 2025. (Courtesy: CUSI) Edwards was formerly released from prison in 2019 to live in Burlington, and CUSI sent out a notice on that occasion as well. Two months later, according to the U.S. Marshals Service, Edwards cut off his ankle monitor. He was found near University Mall in South Burlington two days later. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement High risk sex-offender to be released Thursday Edward later filed suit in district court claiming that the notice had constituted illegal retaliation; that lawsuit was dismissed. CUSI also said that anyone who is struggling as a victim of sexual assault can call a state-wide confidential hotline at (800) 489-7273 or visit the Vermont Network against Sexual and Domestic Violence website at http://www.vtnetwork.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 ABC22 & FOX44. A World War II exhibit at the Stephens County Historical Museum will bring a war hero to town Thursday afternoon. Gilbert Choc Charleston is set to visit the Stephens County Historical Museum at 1 p.m. Aug. 7. Charleston will turn 102 Dec. 24. In 2024, just ahead of his 101st birthday, Charleston traveled to Belgium and Luxembourg for the 80th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge. He participated in a ceremony to honor the Native American soldiers who served in the war from Dec. 15, 1944, to Jan. 15, 1945. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement During his visit to Duncan, Charleston will share stories from his exhibit at the historical museum. Charleston was born Dec. 24, 1923, on Payne Ranch near Duncan. Charleston enlisted in the Armed Services in 1943 and served in the United States Army as a tank driver in the 739th Tank Battalion. He served in WWII in Europe and drove a tank off of a landing craft at La Harve, France. Charleston said he landed in France and they fought in France, Luxembourg, Belgium, Holland and they went through the Siegfried Line into Aachen, Germany. During the event, the Stephens County Honor Guard will present the colors. There will also be a special performance by Erica Dees-Wilkerson and a proclamation from the City of Duncan. During Charlestons visit, a special song will be performed in Choctaw and English. The Stephens County Historical Museum is located at 1402 W. Beech Ave. in Duncan. By Stephanie Kelly NEW YORK (Reuters) -Oil prices dropped on Thursday for a sixth consecutive session after the Kremlin said Russian President Vladimir Putin would meet U.S. President Donald Trump in the coming days, raising expectations for a diplomatic end to the war in Ukraine. Brent crude futures settled down 46 cents, or 0.7%, at $66.43 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude fell 47 cents, or 0.7%, to $63.88. Both benchmarks slid about 1% on Wednesday, touching their lowest in eight weeks, after comments from Trump on progress in talks with Moscow. Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said on Thursday that Trump and Putin would meet in the coming days in what would be the first summit between leaders of the two countries since 2021. A White House official had previously said that Trump could meet Putin as soon as next week. The U.S., however, continued preparations to impose secondary sanctions on major buyers of Russian energy products to try to pressure Moscow to end the war in Ukraine. Russia is the world's second-biggest producer of oil behind the United States. The U.S. ordered a new set of tariffs on Indian goods. Trump imposed an additional 25% tariff on Indian goods on Wednesday, citing the country's continued imports of Russian oil. The new import tax will take effect on August 28. India is the second-biggest buyer of Russian oil after China. Trump also said he could announce further tariffs on China. Oil prices have dropped over 9% over the last week. "Additional increases in OPEC production remain as the overriding negative consideration while continued tariff uncertainties are still providing the main argument favoring lower price levels," analysts at energy advisory firm Ritterbusch and Associates said in a note. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies including Russia, together known as OPEC+, agreed on Sunday to raise oil production by 547,000 barrels per day for September. Thursday's selling was limited by a crude stockpile drawdown in the U.S., higher Saudi prices for Asia and solid Chinese crude imports in July, said UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo. The Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday that U.S. crude oil stockpiles fell by 3 million barrels to 423.7 million barrels in the week ended August 1, exceeding an expected decline of 591,000 barrels in a Reuters poll of analysts. [EIA/S] In China, crude oil imports in July fell by 5.4% from June but were still up 11.5% year-on-year, with analysts expecting refining activity to remain firm in the near term. Tom Martello writes a regular column about the 2025 race for New Jersey governor. There was a tiny tremor in the New Jersey political scene last week, which, if you think about it, was kind of an earthquake. Jack Ciattarelli actually disagreed with Donald Trump on something. Pause on that one a second: The Republican candidate for Jersey governor who spent much of the spring working hard to win the presidents endorsement has broken with the administration on not one, but two key proposals. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement First, he declared hes against the Trump administrations plan to use part of Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst to temporarily house immigration detainees in tents. And his campaign also says he opposes proposed military cuts that could cost 1,000 jobs at Picatinny Arsenal part of Democrat Mikie Sherrills congressional district in Morris County, a place Republicans say Jack needs to carry to win this November. (Sherrill opposed the two Trump Jersey military plans before Ciattarelli did.) These mid-summer stands came after Ciattarelli did not divert one bit from Trumps agenda while running for the GOP nomination and in the aftermath of his June primary victory. Nor are they necessarily unexpected: Some Jersey Republicans had figured there would be a general election pivot or two on Trumps unpopular stances to counter Sherrills primary argument against Ciattarelli, which boils down to Trump is your boss. NJ governor's race chat But with polls showing Jersey voters arent keen on Trump namely his Big Beautiful Bill and his immigration raids another question emerges: Does Ciattarelli have to break even more with Trump in the weeks to come? And how many times can you shirk the loyalty-obsessed president before Trump decides hes done with you and puts you on his regularly revised enemies list? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement For Ciattarelli, its the textbook definition of the term delicate dance. Its also a dance with an interesting bit of history. After Ciattarelli got Trumps endorsement during the primary, several Republicans told me to look to Jacks past to predict what kind of governor hed be. He couldnt win a GOP primary in 2025 without Trumps backing, they said, but wink, wink, nod, nod . thats not what hes really about. Theyd remind me that when Chris Christie was governor and Republicans in the Legislature were branded the bobbleheads because theyd always agree with him, Ciattarelli often shook his head and said no. It showed, they said, that Jack was independent. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Of course, such dissent isnt really tolerated in Trumps GOP, and Ciattarelli has surprised some political insiders by steadfastly backing Trump all summer long. But his backers say the recent stances on the military bases show he will shake his head no on Jersey issues. The Trump administration wants to use Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst as a temporary detention center to house immigrant detainees. Both Jersey candidates for governor oppose such a move. Its no secret that Jack was endorsed by President Trump during the primary and was happy to have the endorsement, Ciatterelli spokesman Chris Russell told me. And so, as Jack has said, if its good for New Jersey, hes going to be supportive of the president. And if its bad for New Jersey, hell speak his mind. Whatever you say, Jack ... Of course, the Sherrill camp isnt buying it. Her campaign spokesman Sean Higgins said Ciattarelli isnt pivoting at all, calling him a MAGA follower who has pledged his loyalty to Trump. He sent across a half-dozen quotes where Jack has unsurprisingly said nice things about the president in recent weeks. (Ciatarelli is expected to hold a rally with MAGA influencer Scott Presler in Seaside Heights on Saturday.) Matt Hale, a political science professor at Seton Hall University who is also a Democratic councilman in Highland Park, said Ciattarelli cant win with just the votes of Republicans who love Donald Trump, so theyve got to try some independence. And this is a way of doing it because nobody wants to use Fort Dix as a detention center for immigrants. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement And nobody expects Ciattarelli to do a 360 on the big Trump initiatives that have dominated the summer. Hes doing this balancing act because, you know, if he were to come out against something big and significant, like if he were to say the Big Beautiful Bill is a big disaster for New Jersey, then he runs the risk of Trump disowning him, right? Hale said. And Trump is all about being loyal to him. That balancing act was on full display in the Ciattarelli camps statements on the detention center and Picatinny. While he opposed putting the detention center in New Jersey, Ciattarelli claimed state Democrats, including Sherrill, created the crisis with a sanctuary state policy that says police should not cooperate with ICE in non-criminal matters. The blaming the Dems part is music to Trumps ears. On the proposed Picatinny cuts, the campaign says Jack would have a better chance at quashing them because he, unlike Sherrill, will be able to work with Trump. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Mike DuHaime, who helped run Christies two successful campaigns for governor, noted that while Trump came surprisingly close in Jersey last year, he still lost by 250,000 votes. Ciattarellis best case scenario? DuHaime said its to make it a referendum on the status quo in Trenton to appeal across party lines. And, to his credit, thats exactly what Jack is trying to do. While Mikie links him to Trump, hes casting her as an extension of state Democratic policies that have failed taxpayers. With a race this tight, the candidate who dominates these competing campaign narratives will be your next governor. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement So where else can Jack muster his independence? It really depends on what Donald Trump does on any given day, one Republican operative told me. A 250% tariff on pharmaceuticals, that would certainly hurt Jerseys economy, and I think thats an area where Jack would certainly have to disagree with President Trump. Look, Jack is his own person, but we cant predict Trump, just like we cant predict the weather. I mean, who knows what hes going to do next week, right? Previous columns: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Looking for even more N.J. political coverage? Try Brent Johnsons new newsletter:What Makes Jersey Run. Thank you for relying on us to provide the local news you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a voluntary subscription. Tom Martello may be reached at tmartello@njadvancemedia.com. After the viral beatdown in downtown Cincinnati that captured the nations attention, a candidate for Cincinnati mayor is pointing to relaxed bail policies and mismanagement of police funding as the primary cause of chaos wreaking havoc on citizens. In a news conference days after the assault, Mayor Aftab Pureval denounced the attack while vowing to find the assailants and hold them accountable. "This was an awful incident, and our law enforcement has been working quickly and effectively to bring all responsible to justice," Pureval said. "Let me be clear, there is no place for violent crime in Cincinnati, whether it's a fight or gun violence. We will pursue those responsible, and we will hold them accountable no matter who they are." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Cincinnati Brawl Timeline: Brutal Assault Spirals Into National Firestorm Mayor Aftab Pureval speaks at a news conference after a viral beatdown in downtown Cincinnati Aug. 1, 2025. On Friday, a grand jury indicted the six individuals arrested in connection with the violent assault in downtown Cincinnati. Patrick Rosemond, 38, Jermaine Matthews, 39, Montianez Merriweather, 34, DeKyra Vernon, 24, Dominique Kittle, 37, and Aisha Devaughn, 25, are each charged with three counts of alleged felonious assault, three charges of assault and two charges of aggravated rioting, the Hamilton County Prosecutor's Office confirmed to Fox News Digital. Read On The Fox News App "What I saw on video is not the Cincinnati I know and love," Hamilton County Prosecutor Connie Pillich said. "These charges hold those involved in the attack accountable." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Pureval has since come under fire for his handling of public safety within the city, with only 11 officers stationed in the downtown area on the night of the attack. Cincinnati Residents On Edge After Viral Beatdown Sparks Crime Concerns: 'What's Gonna Happen Next?' Cincinnati mayoral candidate Cory Bowman speaks at a town hall event in Cincinnati Aug. 4, 2025. Republican mayoral candidate Cory Bowman points to what he believes is widespread mismanagement within the city serving as the root cause of the unsafe conditions. "There are things from City Hall that are showing that the police are not supported the way they need to," Bowman, Vice President JD Vances half-brother, told Fox News Digital. "They are unable to do their jobs because they've been told time and time again that they have to use restraint in certain things instead of enforcing the law. They're told to dial back, and then what happens is that we have prosecutors and judges that have a catch-and-release system." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Standing on a street corner in the citys Over-the-Rhine (OTR) district, which had already seen two deadly shootings this week, Bowman blamed the citys relaxed policies for violent offenders bailing out of jail. Cincinnati Mayor Missing During Viral Assault Crisis As Gop Senator Slams Absence, Sets Deadline For Action "So many officers have come to me, and they've said they don't even see a point in making arrests because the criminals are just going to be back on the streets the very next day," Bowman said. "We have to put pressure on all the judges and prosecutors, and we have to be able to let the officers know, Do your job, see your training and do your job properly, and you're going to have all of City Hall to back you up in that circumstance." Bowman looked to the recent viral brawl that captured the countrys attention, pointing out that one of the alleged assailants, Jermaine Matthews, was free after posting bail. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "It's one thing to see crime," Bowman told Fox News Digital. "It's another to see crimes that are noticeably preventable by locking up criminals and giving them the charges and the sentences that they deserve." Democratic Policies Paved Way For Cincinnati Brawl, Say Ohio Republicans: 'Fear And Chaos' Aftab Pureval, mayor of Cincinnati, took his family on vacation after learning about a brutal beatdown in his city that left multiple people seriously injured July 26, 2025. According to citywide data , crime in Cincinnati is on par with last years numbers and is down by roughly 200 reported offenses since August 2023. To date, the city has approximately 15,000 reported offenses with instances spiking over the summer months. Bowman asserts Pureval is not doing enough to support the community and members of law enforcement when it comes to protection and safety, citing the police departments lateral hiring process taking months to beef up authorities presence on the streets. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "We have to get all the help that we can get," Bowman said. "Whether it be from the state or federal [level], we have to be able to accept all the help that we can get to be able to take care of crime that's happening in our downtown area." Cincinnati Mayoral Candidate, Vp Vance's Half-brother, Slams City Leadership After Brutal Beatdown "So, 64% of the city's budget goes toward public safety. But what we have to understand is that there are initiatives and programs that are dividing the city from the police department when it comes to where those funds should be going." He pointed to numerous community involvement initiatives he believes are draining funding from the police department and putting public safety on the line. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "There are all these initiatives that have been stacked on top of each other for years that are draining the funds out of our city budget," Bowman said. "All those resources need to go back into the police department. We need to have higher amounts of patrols. We need to have a higher recruiting class. And we need to be able to have a strong stance against what's going on." The mayors office did not respond to Fox News Digitals multiple requests for comment. On Thursday, Holly, a victim in the brutal assault, told The Ingraham Angle that police never took a statement from her after the widely circulated assault. Fox News Digital has made multiple attempts in the last week to contact the Cincinnati Police Department for comment on the incident. "It definitely didn't seem like an incident. It seemed like a beat down. I look at it as attempted murder. I mean, there's no other way to describe it," Holly told Laura Ingraham Thursday. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "And I have yet to receive a phone call from her or the mayor just apologizing for what happened and for letting these thugs and criminals run the streets when they should have been in jail to begin with." Original article source: Cincinnati mayor under fire for police management after viral beating exposes lax bail laws The six individuals arrested in connection with the viral beating in downtown Cincinnati have been indicted by a grand jury and are facing additional charges. Patrick Rosemond, 38, Jermaine Matthews, 39, Montianez Merriweather, 34, DeKyra Vernon, 24, Dominique Kittle, 37, and Aisha Devaughn, 25, are each charged with three counts of alleged felonious assault, three charges of assault and two charges of aggravated rioting, the Hamilton County Prosecutor's Office confirmed to Fox News Digital. "What I saw on video is not the Cincinnati I know and love," Hamilton County Prosecutor Connie Pillich said. "These charges hold those involved in the attack accountable." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Cincinnati Brawl Timeline: Brutal Assault Spirals Into National Firestorm (L-R) Jermaine Matthews, Dominique Kittle, DeKyra Vernon, Montianez Merriweather, Patrick Rosemond and Aisha Devaughn are facing various charges for their alleged roles in the viral beatdown in Cincinnati, Ohio on July 26, 2025. The update comes nearly two weeks after a bystander video showing the brutal beatdown on the corner of Fourth and Elm streets went viral, sparking national outrage and forcing local leaders to answer for the brawl that broke out around 3 a.m. on July 26. Witness video obtained by Fox News Digital shows a man repeatedly yelling racial slurs at a group before being violently thrown to the ground and kicked repeatedly. Read On The Fox News App "I saw a little ruckus going on, saw people kind of scuffling, so kind of zoomed in, and once my phone kind of focused in, I saw the so-called victims being pretty aggressive toward the group of people that were already standing out there," witness Jay Black told Fox News Digital. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Cincinnati Residents On Edge After Viral Beatdown Sparks Crime Concerns: 'What's Gonna Happen Next?' Black added that he watched the man get knocked to the ground, before getting up and start fighting again. "Once he got up, you know people were kind of backing off of him, but he was kind of still going at people, you know, and using racial slurs," Black said. He told Fox News Digital that "contrary to what people think," there were actually "a lot of people" trying to break up the fight. The fight ignited a national firestorm as local leaders were left to answer for the apparent lack of police presence in the downtown area when the fight occurred after it was revealed that only 11 officers were stationed downtown the night of the brawl. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Cincinnati Mayor Under Fire For Police Management After Viral Beating Exposes Lax Bail Laws In a press conference held last week, Cincinnati Police Chief Theresa Theetge revealed that, of the approximately 100 individuals present on the street corner at the time of the fight, only one person called 911. "That is unacceptable to not call the police," Theetge said. "Traffic was horrendous. People saw this. They were fighting in front of traffic. Why didn't people call us?" One of the victims in the attack, Holly, can be seen in additional footage being violently slammed to the ground and knocked unconscious as she tried to split up the fight. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "I remember being afraid, terrified," Holly told Fox News Digital. "I just remember my life flashing before my eyes, and all I can think is, Dear God, I hope my children know that I love them." Cincinnati Viral Beating Victim Says Violent Mob Started Attacking 'Like A Pack Of Wolves' Holly, a victim in the viral July 26 Cincinnati brawl, poses for a photo. The single mother sustained life-altering injuries after trying to break up a brutal beatdown that left six people injured and ended in six arrests. Holly revealed the horrific fight left her with brain damage and life-altering injuries, including a severe concussion. "I'm having someone help take care of me financially, mentally and physically," Holly said. "It's very humbling, it's very embarrassing to not be able to just be able to hang out by myself. I think that's the scary part, to not know just how deep the damage is going to be." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval also weighed in on the violence that lit up social media at a press conference last week. Video Of Racial Slur Yelled During The Brutal Cincinnati Beatdown Emerges "This was an awful incident, and our law enforcement has been working quickly and effectively to bring all responsible to justice," he said while standing alongside other city officials and leaders. "Let me be clear, there is no place for violent crime in Cincinnati, whether it's a fight or gun violence. We will pursue those responsible and we will hold them accountable no matter who they are." However, Pureval has since come under fire for his handling of the citys law enforcement, with mayoral challenger Cory Bowman, who is also Vice President JD Vances half-brother, slamming city leadership for what he believes is relaxed bail policies allowing violent offenders back on the streets. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Cincinnati Business Owners Slam Viral 'Out Of Control' Beating Amid Fight To Clean Up Downtown Cincinnati mayoral candidate Cory Bowman speaks at a town hall event in Cincinnati, Ohio on Monday, August 4, 2025. "There are things from City Hall that are showing that the police are not supported the way they need to," Bowman told Fox News Digital. "They are unable to do their jobs because they've been told time and time again that they have to use restraint in certain things instead of enforcing the law. They're told to dial back, and then what happens is that we have prosecutors and judges that have a catch-and-release system." In a previous statement, Council Member Anna Albi also condemned the brutal beating, while vowing to support the communitys police force. "Under no circumstances is it ever acceptable to condone such awful violence," Albi said. "Our greatest responsibility as elected officials and city leaders is to ensure the safety of our community. That is why this City Council continues to invest in supporting and growing our police force while simultaneously investing in social services to foster safe and healthy communities." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement If convicted, the suspects face the possibility of 29.5 years in prison. Fox News Digital's Peter D'Abrosca contributed to this report. Original article source: Cincinnati viral beating suspects face new charges in grand jury indictment (FOX40.COM) A Citrus Heights couple was sentenced for an unemployment insurance fraud scheme on Thursday. Video above: How to tell when a major California company is planning layoffs According to the United States Department of Justice, Citrus Heights resident Deshawn Oshaea Campbell, who is 38, has been sentenced to seven years and three months, and Rochelle Pasley, who is 35, was sentenced to five years and five months, and both of them were ordered to pay $1,157,000 in restitution. The sentencing was made by U.S. District Judge Daniel J. Calabretta. DOJ said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to the court documents, between June and December 2020, Campbell and Pasley conspired to commit fraud by submitting fraudulent unemployment insurance claims to the California Employment Development Department, seeking Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits under the CARES Act. Lucky Powerball player wins more than $700,000 in Sacramento County The defendants got hold of other peoples personal information and used their identities to file dozens of fake claims. They claimed, among other things, that these people had lost their jobs or couldnt find work because of the COVID-19 pandemic. DOJ said these claims were fake due to many of the individuals whose identities were used not residing in California, making them ineligible for benefits from EDD. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Since the beginning of the pandemic, the U.S. Attorneys Office has been committed to combating fraud that abuses the provisions of the CARES Act, said Acting U.S. Attorney Sanchez. We will continue to prosecute fraud arising out of the pandemic and bring offenders to justice. The DOJ also said the defendants used mailing addresses they controlled or ones tied to their family and friends to pull off the scheme. EDD ended up approving over 50 of the fake claims and told Bank of America to send out EDD debit cards loaded with benefits. The defendants obtained these debit cards and used them to withdraw the benefits at the ATMs throughout California and made direct purchases. The scheme resulted in EDD paying them for more than $1 million. These defendants stole from our nations unemployment insurance program by fraudulently filing for UI benefits in the names of individuals who were not entitled to such benefits. They took advantage of the UI program at a time when so many deserving American workers were suffering from pandemic-related economic challenges, Quentin Heiden, Special Agent-in-Charge, Western Region, U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General. The U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, remains committed to combating UI fraud and holding individuals accountable for their fraudulent schemes. I would like to acknowledge the outstanding investigative work of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the California Employment Development Department-Investigations Division, and the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Eastern District of California in this collaborative investigative effort. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement DOJ stated that Campbell also pleaded guilty to possessing a firearm after having been convicted of a felony. 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. Before hundreds of swimmers are set to jump into the Chicago River in September, organizers and advocates say they are taking a victory lap of their own. On Thursday, the city of Chicago approved the first official open-water swim to take place in its urban waterway in almost a century. A city spokesperson said the permit process was still in progress. This comes after 13 years of planning, and after last years event had to be relocated to Lake Michigan when, just two months out, transportation officials denied a permit citing safety concerns. This is, really, a long time coming, said Doug McConnell, organizer of the Chicago River Swim and founder of A Long Swim, an area nonprofit that will produce the event to fund Northwestern University research for ALS, a fatal neurological disorder known also as Lou Gehrigs disease. Its been a lot of pick-and-shovel, hard work, and people really dedicated to a common goal and outcome. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement To address safety, organizers said they will deploy over 100 safety personnel with 40 lifeguards, or one for every seven swimmers to monitor the course on kayaks, paddleboards, jet skis, rowboats and power boats. Participants will also wear an electronic GPS chip on their ankles and autonomous buoys so that organizers can account for their position on the course, which the U.S. Coast Guard will close to vessels. Riverwalk access will also be limited to specific areas. On Sept. 21, from 7 to 10 a.m., 500 Olympic, triathlon and open-water swimmers from around the world will participate in either a 1-mile or 2-mile race that will kick off at the Dearborn Street Bridge and head east to State Street, then back west to Lake Street. The finish line will be near the Clark Street Bridge. Our goal is to have the swim started, completed, done, wrapped up and everything by the time the commercial day starts on the river, McConnell said. The tour boats and the architecture boats and the kayaks and all the rest we dont want to be in their way. Applications for the swim are open to the public at chicagoriverswim.org until Monday at 10 p.m. There is no fee to apply, but prior experience as an open-water swimmer, Olympian or triathlete is required. Those selected to participate will be notified of their acceptance. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The day of the race, spectators will be able to watch and follow along from the Riverwalk between Lake and Clark streets, where vendors will offer refreshments. Tickets will also soon be available for purchase for an official VIP viewing party. Like last year, the event will raise money to pay for swim lessons for kids in underserved local communities. And this time, advocates say, it will also be an opportunity to celebrate the rivers bounce back from murky and polluted to inviting, swimmable waters that teem with aquatic life. Now is the time to fly that banner, McConnell said. The river is the cleanest it has been in a long time, especially since the Clean Water Act of the early 1970s and since the Environmental Protection Agency declared the river safe for swimming in 2011. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement So this, really, is the natural next step for whats right for Chicago, whats right for the Chicago River, and whats right for the people who live here, said Margaret Frisbie, executive director of advocacy nonprofit Friends of the Chicago River. Today, the waterway is home to a thriving economy and restored wildlife, including migratory birds, beavers and turtles, as well as almost 70 species of fish up from fewer than 10 in the 1970s. A lot of them are native fish, and I like to talk about how the native fish are pretty picky about what they enjoy, from a water quality standpoint, said Austin Happel, research biologist at the Shedd Aquarium. Seeing a ton of native fish really speaks to the increase in health of the ecosystem. While most of his work focuses on studying wildlife specifically fish and how they move and behave in the Chicago River Happel also gets to hear from people and learn how they interact with the environment. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In the early 20th century, the Chicago River Swim was an annual event that drew thousands of spectators All of these recreational activities are bringing people to a natural resource, he said, and the more attention and the more people that use that natural resource, the more capacity we have and the ability to fight, to protect and restore it. Organizers will still keep a close eye on bacteria levels in the river another main focus of swimmer safety. Besides real-time water quality monitoring that the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago and local water innovation hub Current already carry out in the main branch of the river, scientists from the University of Illinois Chicago will test the water for bacteria levels every day for three weeks leading up to the event, McConnell said. In the news release, organizers said they are committed to allowing swimmers in the river only if it meets all safety standards for human contact. Related Articles Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Data collected in the lead-up to the event will guide the final call, and the team is prepared to postpone or cancel the swim if necessary, according to the statement. In Chicago, heavy rains can cause overflows in its sewer system, with pipes that carry both stormwater runoff and sewage, releasing fecal matter into local waterways. Rains can also transport contaminated sediment from industry and even dog poop, which also has fecal coliform the bacteria found in waste from warm-blooded animals. Drinking or coming into contact with elevated levels of fecal coliform may cause an upset stomach, vomiting, fever or diarrhea in people. It can also cause serious conditions or death in vulnerable populations such as children, older people and immunocompromised individuals. Some of these concerns about bacteria have recently played out on an international stage. Last July, the open-swimming competitions of the Paris Olympics were held in the iconic Seine River after initial contention and canceled test runs due to water quality concerns. After competing, many of the athletes experienced symptoms such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and stomach cramps. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But water quality readings in the Chicago and Calumet rivers last summer showed that conditions remained good or low-caution for recreational users on 78 of 101 days, according to a Current report released in May. The other 23 days last summer had high caution readings that lasted anywhere from one to 24 hours, only four of those corresponding with sewer overflows. Last month, three new swimming sites opened on the Paris riverbank for locals and tourists after a $1.5 billion cleanup project. Taking a dip there had been illegal since 1923 because of pollution and river navigation. I think theres a global surge in interest in swimmable urban rivers, said Alaina Harkness, CEO of Current. To have Chicago front and center, bringing a river swim back its just such an important way for us to showcase all the investment over decades (in) making our river safe to swim. President Donald Trump promises clean water. His proposed budget guts needed protections. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Frisbie, from Friends of the Chicago River, said in a Thursday news release that swimming in the waterway is about more than just recreation. This is opening the door to a whole new way of using the Chicago River, she told the Tribune. In the statement, she said hosting the historic event demonstrates to the city, the region and the world that Chicago cares about its people, the environment and its water resources and that Chicago is a leader in recognizing the considerable role our rivers can play in public health and a climate resilient future. This year, the event will host 2020 Olympian Natalie Hinds of USA Swimming, who earned a bronze medal in Tokyo. As an athlete ambassador for the teams foundation, she said she feels aligned with the events mission to raise money and fund swimming lessons for children whose families cannot afford them. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I care deeply about water safety, broadening access to swimming, and preventing drownings through community outreach and education, Hinds said in the news release. Partnering with an event that champions local learntoswim programs in Chicago is both inspiring and deeply meaningful to me. Black and Hispanic people are less likely to know how to swim than any other racial or ethnic groups in the United States. Experts have found that even a few lessons can significantly decrease the risk of drowning, McConnell said. The return of the Chicago River Swim marks a major victory for our city a testament to decades of hard work revitalizing our river, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said in the news release. I commend the organizers for their commitment to safety and dedication to empowering Black and Brown youth through swim education. This event is a celebration of Chicagos progress and a brighter, more inclusive future. adperez@chicagotribune.com LAS VEGAS (KLAS) Classes begin on Monday for the Clark County School District. As the school year approaches, when it comes to crosswalks and student safety, things will look a little different, according to City of Las Vegas Mayor Shelley Berkley. Theres nothing more important to a parent or a grandparent than making sure your child or grandchild gets to school safely, and gets home safely, Berkley added. We are doing everything we can. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement School crosswalks have been a common topic in Las Vegas since a student tragically lost her life at Arbor View High School in May. High School senior McKenzie Scott was walking along a crosswalk on Buffalo Drive when she was hit and killed by an accused drunk driver. The tragedy led to many students and parents advocating for change. Arbor View High School student McKenzie Scott, 18. (Courtesy of Tiffany Reynolds) Mayor Shelley Berkley said she ran into Scotts grandmother over the weekend, while shopping, and they had a poignant conversation. She asked if it was possible to lower the speed limit in front of the school. I told her I would look into it, Berkley said. Came back to city hall, spoke to my public works director. She informed me we were, in fact, lowering the speed limit. A rally in support of Arbor View High School senior McKenzie Scott, who was hit while in a crosswalk by a car on her way to school in May 2025. (KLAS) The one uphill battle the city still faces regarding improving school safety is having enough crossing guards. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement That would be the one thing that would slow down the implementation of this, is finding the crossing guards that are reliable, that we can count on, she said. But whatever we have, well be implementing next Monday when kids go into school. Mayor Shelley Berkley said she ran into Scotts grandmother over the weekend, while shopping, and they had a poignant conversation. (KLAS) The mayor also said she hopes similar safety updates will be extended to high schools next school year, if their budget allows. On Wednesday, the city funding will add $415,000 to its $2.8 million budget for crossing guards in 2025-2026. New pedestrian safety improvements at Arbor View High School Pedestrian safety flasher at the crosswalk on Buffalo Drive at the high school driveway Refreshed the crosswalk and added signage on Buffalo Drive Planning to reduce the speed limit on Buffalo Road from Sky Pointe to Grand Teton Drive by the end of August 2025 On Whispering Sands, Public Works in collaboration with the Clark County School District, installed a mid-block crosswalk with ramps at the high schools main entrance New volunteer crosswalk group with signs to assist students in crossing safely New legislation Nevada SB309 signed by Governor Lombardo on June 10, regarding penalties for driving under the influence of alcohol or other prohibited substances New E-bike ordinance added to Las Vegas Municipal Code Arbor View High School added to pilot program for crossing guards at high schools for the upcoming school year, joining Cimarron-Memorial and Palo Verde high schools. Crossing guard positions Crossing guard positions pay $17 per hour in unincorporated Clark County, Las Vegas, and North Las Vegas. Working hours are approximately one hour in the morning and one hour in the afternoon. For more information on the application process, click HERE or email HERE. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. LAS VEGAS (KLAS) The City of Las Vegas wants to help qualifying homeowners with drip repair and lead paint remediation. The City of Las Vegas is partnering with the Las Vegas Valley Water District to assist qualifying homeowners with drip repair from active water leaks. Homeowners may receive up to $7,500 in financial assistance for repairs. There are several qualifications that homeowners must fit: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The home must be located within the City of Las Vegas jurisdiction. The households annual income must be less than 80 percent of the area median income (currently capped at $76,150 for a household of four or $53,350 for a single occupant). The home must be the primary residence of the homeowner. Funding must be used to repair water leaks at the home, including leaks from the on-site service line that connects homes to water meters. The funding for the program, about $500,000, was provided by the Las Vegas Valley Water District through the Excessive Use Charge paid by the utilitys highest water users. City Neighborhood Services staff will work with the homeowner to obtain three repair estimates and choose a licensed, registered contractor to complete repairs. The city will then pay the contractor directly from the program funding when the work is completed. To apply for the program, visit this link. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Additionally, the city is offering lead-hazard assessments and remediation in older homes to help improve health and safety for residents with small children. The program is free to eligible households. Homeowners and property owners must be located within the city of Las Vegas limits and follow the following qualifications. To register for the program, visit this link. Requirements for homeowners to qualify for the program include: Property was built prior to 1978 Household has a child under the age of 6 years old who resides or frequently visits Household meets Department of Housing and Urban Development income guidelines. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Requirements for property owners to qualify for the program include: Property was built prior to 1978 Household has a child under the age of 6 years old who resides or frequently visits If property becomes vacant within first three years of service, property owner must give priority to families with a child under 6 years old for at least three years Tenant household must meet HUD income guidelines. The city was given a 48-month grant by the Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes to help develop cost-effective ways to reduce lead-based paint hazards. The goal of the program is to create lead-safe and healthy housing in Las Vegas and reduce incidents of childhood lead poisoning. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. During a special-called meeting Tuesday, the Crossville City Council approved change order No. 5 and granted a 24-day contract extension due to manufacturing delays associated with sign post supports for the downtown pedestrian improvements projects. The extension makes the completion date of the project Sept. 5. Adams Contracting LLC formally requested the extension in a letter to James Golias, senior project manager of CT Consultants. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We are currently awaiting the delivery of the decorative permanent signpost for the street signage. We have been formally discussing and tracking the manufacturing delay in the weekly progress meetings. However, at this time we have not been given a delivery date from the manufacturer. At this time, we request a time extension of the project completion to be extended to Sept. 5, 2025, Tracy Barrett of Adams Contracting LLC wrote. In a letter to Hayden Rogers of Tennessee Department of Transportation, Golias wrote, Upon review of this request, consensus by all parties was to increase the contract time by the requested 24 days with no additional compensation as part of change order [No. 5]. As such, CT Consultants, Inc. recommends approval of change order [No. 5] as currently being presented. City Manager Valerie Hale explained the current contract was set to expire Aug. 12 and that is why they needed to schedule a special-called meeting for the extension. Councilman Mark Fox asked where the 25-day extension figure was coming from. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Since the manufacturing company cant even give an expected delivery date, are we just starting with 25 days? Fox said. I just thought it was worth knowing how we chose 25 days if we dont have an ETA. City Engineer Tim Begley said the current posts are knock-out posts but the contractor was going to start looking for solid, square posts. We would really like to go with the square posts, Begley said. Councilman Mike Turner motioned to approve the extension pending TDOT approval. Fox supported the motion, and it was unanimously approved in a 4-0 vote. Councilman Art Gernt did not attend the meeting. Following the special-called meeting, the city council met for its work session. NEWPORT NEWS A civil trial against a former assistant principal accused of failing to act after multiple people warned her that a first grader may have brought a gun to school can proceed before her criminal case is heard, a judge ruled Friday. Former Richneck Elementary School Assistant Principal Ebony Parker was sued by Abigail Zwerner after Zwerner was shot by one of her students while teaching a reading class. Zwerners lawsuit also named the School Board, the schools principal, and the superintendent of schools as defendants but they were later dropped from the claim, leaving Parker as the only remaining defendant. The shooting happened Jan. 6, 2023. When Zwerner saw a 6-year-old boy pull a gun from his hoodie pocket and aim it at her, she raised her left hand in defense. The boy fired a single bullet that went through her hand and struck her upper chest and shoulder. She spent 10 days in the hospital and has undergone multiple surgeries. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Zwerner filed a $40 million lawsuit three months later, in which she claimed the shooting could have been prevented if Parker had not ignored multiple warnings from staff members who suspected the boy might have brought a gun to school. A few weeks before the lawsuit was filed, Parker was indicted on eight counts of felony child neglect related to the shooting. Zwerners attorneys dropped the School Board from the case after the Supreme Court of Virginia determined school boards hold wide-ranging sovereign immunity from personal injury claims. Circuit Court Judge Matthew W. Hoffman, who presided over Fridays hearing, tossed the claims against the superintendent and principal last month after ruling the allegations against them werent sufficient to proceed to trial. Parker resigned shortly after the shooting, the superintendent was fired and the principal was reassigned. Parkers attorneys argued during a hearing Friday that it was unfair to have the civil case tried before the criminal case. If Parker decides to assert her Fifth Amendment rights against self incrimination when called to testify in the civil case, its likely going to cause the jury to view her negatively, they claimed. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But Zwerners lawyers argued that if theyre forced to wait until the criminal case is tried, and all appeals are exhausted in the event of a conviction, it will take years before they can present their case. They also said case law clearly allows civil cases to precede criminal ones. Its been 2 years since the injury and she hasnt received a penny and is suffering greatly, Zwerners attorney, Jeffrey Breit, said. We could be here for years waiting for Abby Zwerner to have her justice. The judge agreed and denied the defenses motion for a continuance. The civil trial against Parker is scheduled to begin Oct. 27, while the criminal case is set for Nov. 17. Jane Harper, jane.harper@pilotonline.com Civil rights activist Mary Dean was escorted out of a Wichita City Council meeting on Thursday night after she exceeded her speaking time and refused to sit down during the public comment part of the meeting. Dean has been advocating for a reparations ordinance for Black Wichita residents for years, but has hit road blocks after the city dissolved its Diversity, Inclusion and Civil Rights Advisory Board. Council mandated me to go to the Diversity, Inclusion and Civil Rights Advisory Board, Dean said during public comment. I did everything that I was supposed to do. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement City ordinance gives at most five people five minutes to speak during public comment. Wichita Mayor Lily Wu asked Dean to sit down several times after her five minutes were up, but Dean refused. The Diversity, Inclusion and Civil Rights Advisory board voted in May to submit a letter to the City Council requesting that the citys leaders consider a proposed reparations ordinance without endorsing the plan. With new federal guidelines, the city recently suspended the board and has been cautious about implementing any new ordinances pertaining to race and gender. I dont think its news to anyone that things have changed in Washington in terms of federal rules, regulations and laws, City Manager Robert Layton said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Dean said the city has wasted her time. She plans to file a complaint against the city with the United Nations Human Rights Council, pointing to food deserts and other health inequities among Black residents in the city. They have shown the people in this city, especially Black people, that they dont give a hoot about you, Dean said in an interview with The Eagle after being escorted out of the building. Dean was walked out of the building by at least two City Hall security staff and was followed by several supporters, including District 1 council candidates Joseph Shepard and LaWanda Deshazer. They could have took me to jail as far as I was concerned, Dean said. For Palantir, it has been a slow, albeit volatile, climb to where it is nowmarked by contentious legal battles, noisy protests and picket lines, and an eccentric leadership team and employee base who sometimes endearingly refer to one another as hobbits, in credit to the companys Lord of the Rings nomenclature. (A Palantir is a seeing stone created by elves that enables people to see far away or communicate with others.) And, more recently, in the past two years, Palantir has ridden the generative AI wave. On the financial side, theres a different kind of critic: those who question how such a relatively small companyone whose revenue and profits are so small in comparison to peers that it doesnt even qualify for the Fortune 500 listcould reasonably become one of the most valuable companies in the world. Palantir, a software company cofounded by Peter Thiel, has many haters, as Karp puts it. As a tech company that got its start selling to the U.S. military during the War on Terror, Palantir has been fully embedded in some of the most polarizing political debates of modern geopolitics. Particularly now, Palantir has stirred criticism over its software being used by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as well as the Israeli military. Well, as usual, Ive been cautioned to be a little modest about our bombastic numbers, but honestly, theres no authentic way to be anything but have enormous pride and gratefulness about these extraordinary numbers, Karp said. As he wrapped up the call, he gave a quippy message to retail investors about the analysts who have been wrong about every quarter Maybe stop talking to all the haterstheyre suffering, he said. As he started speaking on Mondays earnings call, Karp, who has a PhD in neoclassical social theory, was absolutely delightedand true to form, a bit snarky, too. Palantir, based in Denver, surpassed $1 billion in quarterly revenue for the first time this week, posting growth figures that blew past analyst estimates. Palantirs stock soared to more than $160 a share, marking a 555% increase from this time last year. By market close on Tuesday, Palantirs market cap had hit nearly $409 billion, making it the 23rd most valuable company in the world, just behind Johnson & Johnson, a company with more than 23 times Palantirs revenue and more than 35 times the number of employees. But this weekafter Palantir reported blockbuster earnings on MondayKarp took a moment to bask in his companys meteoric rise and take a jab at his critics. Alex Karp, the frizzy-haired CEO of defense software company Palantir, has become somewhat of a pro at deflecting criticism. As he sat for an interview in April at the tech-policy-focused Hill and Valley Forum in Washington, D.C., and a heckler started shouting at him from the balcony, Karp responded rather calmly, telling the audience he believed it was her right to express her views. Story Continues Theyve got their feet under themtheyve got their sales cycle down a little bit more. Theyre just making things really, really sticky for large multinational corporations, says Evan Loomis, a venture capitalist who is close friends with Palantir cofounder Joe Lonsdale and whose construction technology startup, Icon, uses Palantirs software platform Foundry. While the company is currently one of the best-performing stocks in the S&P 500, Palantirs stock has also been known to be incredibly volatile, and sometimes dramatically influenced by retail investor activity. Palantir is undoubtedly having a momentbut will it last? Two times more expensive There are a host of near-term data points analysts look at: sales, cash flow, profit, customer retention. If you look at most of these near-term fundamentals, Palantir is trading at a premium. They are trading at least two times more expensive on the traditional metrics, says Mariana Perez Mora, an equity analyst at Bank of America Securities, who has been following the company since 2022. But as we speak, Perez Mora reminds me about another important, longer-term metric for SaaS companies that Karp has repeatedly reminded onlookers to pay close attention to. That metric is called the Rule of Forty. The Rule of Forty figure is calculated by adding the year-over-year revenue growth rate and adjusted operating margin. If those percentages are collectively higher than 40%, you have sustainable growth. If you look at Palantirs last quarter, Perez Mora points out, the rule of 40 was 94%. That is the type of growth they are having. And the reality is that growth is accelerating, and that accelerating growth is not at the expense of profitability. And that is pretty unique, she says, adding: Palantir is trading as the company that they are growing into, and this is why its more expensive. There are a few key contributors to these numbers. For one, new government contracts. Palantir has been working with the government since the beginningits first customer being the CIAand government contracts still make up a majority of its business. At the end of July, Palantir signed a 10-year contract worth up to $10 billion with the U.S. Army. It was one of the largest software contracts the Department of Defense has ever signed and, by far, Palantirs largest contract to-date. And ironically, it is the same customer Palantir sued (successfully) almost 10 years ago, accusing the department of unlawfully excluding companies like Palantir from its procurement process. There could be more contracts of this scale in the future, too. The Fostering Reform and Government Efficiency in Defense Act, or Forged Act, currently on the table, would reshape the Department of Defenses procurement process for private contracts, eliminating hundreds of statutes and making it easier for tech companies like Palantir to sell to the government. The legislation, which Palantir has publicly endorsed and which its executives have pushed for in public hearings, would likely cut into the advantage that some industry incumbents like Boeing, Lockheed Martin, RTX, and Northrop Grumman have gained over the years. The Department of Defense has been making cuts to its budget since Trump named Pete Hegseth to the top role. But Palantir is seemingly benefiting from that, too. Only a couple of months after the Department of Defense said it had cut more than $5.1 billion in contracts to consulting agencies, including Accenture and Deloitte, both companies announced new strategic partnerships with Palantir to collectively deliver solutions to government clients. But the lions share of growth at Palantir over the past year is coming from a newer segment of customersthe commercial side of the business. Revenue for the commercial side rose 93% year over year this past quarter. And nearly all of those contracts stem from the generative artificial intelligence platform it released in 2023, called AIP (which stands for the ever-original artificial intelligence platform). Perez Mora says that while a lot of companies are building and offering large language models, Palantir has found a way to help companies make use of themand drive real results for their businesses. On this last earnings call, Karp said that Citibank was onboarding its customers and running the relevant know-your-customer and security checks in seconds, down from nine days. He said that residential mortgage enterprise Fannie Mae is uncovering mortgage fraud in seconds, versus two months. And he said that Lear Corp. is using Palantirs platform to manage tariff exposure. Investors seem to have taken note, as there is a direct correlation between the launch of AIP in 2023 and the steady upward trajectory Palantirs stock has experienced since. But generative AI is still newand many companies and industries havent fully explored or realized just what jobs AI will be able to replace or make more efficient. Palantir itself doesnt seem to have it sorted out either. CEO Karp said in an interview on CNBC this week that he thinks Palantir could keep growing revenue while reducing headcount by 500 jobs to about 3,600 people. But if you look at Palantirs headcount, it has been doing the opposite: adding about 200 people between 2023 and 2024, not cutting roles. Though companies like Alphabet and Salesforce boast of efficiencies they are adding within their ranks by using AI, those same companies have seen their workforces grow. One of Silicon Valleys most controversial companies Palantirs valuation may be climbing to new heights, but the company is as controversial as ever. It has been the target of sit-ins, picketing, and other protests that have rallied hundreds in New York City, Palo Alto, Denver, Seattle, and Los Angeles, condemning Palantirs contract with ICE (Palantir has been running a six-month pilot contract centered on enforcement prioritization and immigration life cycle management, the company says). Palantir has a partnership with the Israel Defense Forces for war-related missions, which has also come under fire. A report submitted to the UN Human Rights Council in June that singled out companies aiding Israel in the war in Gaza, including Lockheed Martin, said there were reasonable grounds to believe Palantir was providing automatic predictive policing technology and core defense infrastructure to Israel. A Palantir spokeswoman said the company does not provide the technology for Israel to conduct missile strikes or targeting operations in Gaza and has no involvement in the Lavender or Gospel systems. These targeting capabilities are entirely independent of and predate our partnership with Israels Ministry of Defense. Demonstrators gather outside Palantirs Palo Alto office to protest the company and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on July 14, 2025. Karp addressed some of the criticism Palantir has received over the years on the last earnings call. Palantir gets attacked just because we help make this country even better. Because we support the values, because we defend it, he said. Earlier this year, Karp and Palantirs head of corporate affairs, Nicholas Zamiska, published The Technological Republic, which criticizes Silicon Valley for spending its time on consumer apps and dodging working with the government and playing a role in defending freedom and democracy. But there has also been some notable pushback, even from former employees in the past couple of years. In May, more than a dozen former Palantir employees signed an open letter to the tech community, alleging that Palantir had violated principles core to the company owing to its work with the Trump administration. Palantir prides itself on [a] culture of fierce internal dialogue and even disagreement on difficult issues related to our work, a Palantir spokeswoman said. The small number of former Palantir employees13 of 4,000raising concerns are certainly entitled to express their views. Despite heightened criticism on the public stage, Silicon Valley has come to not only accept but embrace defense tech since 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine. Its one of the hottest sectors around right now, with companies like drone startup Anduril garnering a $30.5 billion valuation in the private markets. Indeed, tech companies used to shy away from defense contracts. But under the Trump administration, theres been a tidal shift. Meta teamed up with Anduril to start working on helmet and headset projects for the U.S. military. Numerous LLM companies, including OpenAI, xAI, and Anthropic, started working with the Department of Defense on national security. Even Google, which famously stopped working with the government in 2018 after internal upheaval from its employees, has gotten into the military business. In some ways, Palantirand SpaceX toohave been a catalyst for the shift. Palantir had initially been rejected from top Silicon Valley venture capital firms when the founders tried to raise initial capital, as Sequoia Capital and Kleiner Perkins both famously passed on the investment. Cofounder Thiel ended up putting in much of his own money and raising capital from former officials in President George W. Bushs administration as well as the CIAs venture capital firm, In-Q-Tel. Now, with Thiel protege JD Vance as vice president of the United States and a defense-tech-friendly White House in charge, the company has access to the inner circle at the highest levels of power. And Karp, who pens a letter to shareholders thats published on Palantirs site in English, German, and French each quarter alongside the financial results, has a lot of thoughts to share. The United States is not, and should not be permitted to become, a soft compromise and amalgam of global values and tastes, he wrote in his most recent letter, referencing a 1943 work by C.S. Lewis that describes men without chests. Such men without chests, Karp said, promise to shepherd us forward yet lack much substance and content, even a flicker of an animating worldview or belief structure, other than their own self-preservation and advancement. For now, at least, Karps worldview and Palantirs business seem to be defying the critics, the haters, and the chest-less. This story was originally featured on Fortune.com CARL JUNCTION, Mo. An impeachment hearing of Carl Junction Mayor Mike Moss is set for Tuesday, Aug. 26, and Thursday, Aug. 28, starting at 6 p.m. both days. Bill Fleischaker, the attorney representing Moss, had filed for a continuance last week to delay a hearing originally set for Aug. 4, saying he had not had a chance to do his own investigation in defense of Moss. He also told Nate Dally, the attorney with the Lauber Law Firm representing the city in the impeachment, that the hearing may require more than just one evening. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Carl Junction Board of Aldermen also voted to hire attorney Stephen Kaderly, with the Law Offices of Kaderly and Kaderly, in Lamar, to serve as counsel to advise Mayor Pro Tem Hollie LaVigne, who would serve as presiding official at the impeachment. The cost to the city to hire Kaderly would be a $2,400 retainer and $300 per hour. LaVigne said at Tuesdays board meeting that she would be more comfortable with Kaderly serving as hearing officer because she has no experience in leading a meeting of this kind. Dally said Kaderly would be available to LaVigne to consult at any time, including when objections are made during the hearing. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Dally also said the board could talk at its next meeting Aug. 19 about whether to use Kaderly as hearing officer or adviser to the mayor pro tem. Moss faces four specific counts and if found guilty by the board of any one of the charges he could be removed from office. Article 1 accused Moss of malfeasance in office specifically alleging he referred to female employees of city hall as Steves harem, according to Alderman James Shanks, referring to City Administrator Steve Lawver. Article 2 accuses Moss of misfeasance, or the improper performance of his duties, by failing to enforce a city code that says all employees, have the right to a workplace free of sexual harassment. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Article 3 alleges Moss violated the citys personnel policy against age discrimination by allegedly making age-biased comments about Lawver, including inquiries as to when Lawver was going to retire and insulting him due to his age. Article 4 alleges misfeasance, nonfeasance and/or malfeasance on the part of Moss and that his actions further establish that Mayor Moss is not suited to hold public office, is an inadequate steward of the position of mayor of the city of Carl Junction and undeserving of the trust placed in him by the citizens of the city of Carl Junction, Missouri. Moss has declined to discuss his case on advice from his attorney. Fleischaker, representing Moss, said the mayor denies all charges. WACO, Texas (FOX 44) China Spring High Schools EngineeringTango Flight Career & Technical Education (CTE) program has made history as the first school in Central Texas to build a fully operational Vans RV12 airplane from the ground up, in partnership with nonprofit organization Tango Flight. What started as over a thousand metal parts in 2023 is now a fully functional RV-12 airplane. China Spring High Schools Engineering-Tango flight program has made history as the first school in Central Texas to complete this build. To celebrate this milestone, the China Spring Independent School District held a ceremony at the Waco Regional Airport on Friday for families, friends, and supporters to see the plane with their own eyes and celebrate the students accomplishment. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement They come in with one expectation, and you realize the importance of whats happening and what theyre doing, and they really get on board, said Jeff Bay, the aeronautical engineering teacher. 6,300 specific instructions to build the airplane. It takes 18 months, two full school years. And I think by the end point, the kids will tell you its phenomenal, what theyve learned. I think eight of them are going into an engineering degree, and very, very rarely do you have engineering major students that actually starts out with hands-on experience. Bay has been a teacher for 31 years and said this group of students, whom he has had the pleasure of teaching for the past two years, is his best group yet. Now that these young engineers have graduated, theyre taking their experience to the next level, with many pursuing an engineering degree at Texas A&M this fall. It makes some of like, the hard days, you know, where you had a lot of other things going on and then you still had to go and show up and put in work. Makes it worth it to see that. Now, something that we built is gonna fly, said Easton Roby, one of the recent China Spring High graduates who helped build the plane. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Weve been in the shop, you know, coming in every day, and this things been on the ground, you know? But to finally see everything that weve done, all in one spot, it looks like a little ant size, so its super cool. Were flying to new heights in a way, said Brady Oakley, also a recent China Spring High graduate who helped build the plane. Oakleys grandfather had a passion for planes, and now his grandson has grown that same passion. Its in the blood, you know, to work with planes and to be a part of all this. So Im so glad I get to continue on that legacy of that, Oakley added. For these students, being able to fly the plane theyve dedicated half of their high school career to is one in a lifetime opportunity. Many of the young men have said they walked into the CTE course as strangers, but left as a family. They hope to keep their bond close as they step onto the campus of Texas A&M together this fall. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement From the classroom to the clouds, the students of the China Spring High Schools EngineeringTango flight career & technical education (CTE) program prove that the sky isnt the limit, but just the beginning for China Spring ISD. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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 KWKT - FOX 44. For the first time since Saturday, state officials havent issued an air quality health alert as the smoke from Canadian wildfires should be subsiding. Winds from the south are expected to flow into the region this afternoon, according to the National Weather Service. That southerly wind flow will help push out the smoke, said weather service meteorologist Ben Lott. It moves out by Thursday evening. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Forecasts show those winds should continue flowing from the south through the weekend, keeping the smoke at bay. Since Sunday, State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Amanda Lefton and State Department of Health (DOH) Commissioner Dr. James McDonald have been issuing daily Air Quality Health Advisories warning of the potential for smoke-related pollution to reach unhealthy levels that affect people with cardiovascular and respiratory concerns, as well as the general public. Thursdays air quality is forecast to be moderate, the second-lowest category, said the New York state Department of Environmental Conservation. For most people without health conditions, its a great day to be outside, DECs website says. Only people who are unusually sensitive to air pollution should limit outdoor activities, DEC officials said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement More than 100 wildfires are burning in Canada, the worlds second-biggest country by land area, and many of those fires are out of control. Theyve been pumping smoke into Upstate New York since Sunday, when the first air quality alert was issued. For the latest air quality information from the DEC, including air quality alerts by region, visit tinyurl.com/4466y6tp. Syracuse.com contributed to this report. CNNs chief data analyst Harry Enten on Thursday spotted how Vice President JD Vance is the overwhelming favorite to become the 2028GOP presidential nominee. It looks pretty gosh darn good or pretty, pretty good for the man from Ohio, said Enten in a segment with CNNs Kate Bolduan. Vance who President Donald Trump described as being most likely to be the heir apparent to the MAGA throne this week has taken on a good fireman-like role in the administration, one Trump ally told CNN on Thursday. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Once a self-described Never Trump guy, those in Trumps circle have been impressed by Vances behind-the-scenes efforts to speed the presidents priorities and foresee the 2028 nomination as his for the taking, per CNN. Enten turned to early 2028 polling (excluding the current president) that shows Vance on top with 40% support, while Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Donald Trump Jr. trail behind him at 8% and 7%, respectively. Since 1980, 63% of early favorites who ran in incumbent-less presidential elections have won the nomination, Enten noted. He added that the last five sitting veeps to run for president Richard Nixon (1960 election), Hubert Humphrey (1968 election), George H.W. Bush (1988 election), Al Gore (2000 election) and Kamala Harris (2024 election) all became their partys nominee. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Historically speaking, if JD Vance gets in this fight and hes the sitting vice president, the history books say, Hey, hes got a pretty gosh darn chance of going all the way, at least to the general election, because five out of five, he said. If Trump decides to get behind his veep, it could work in Vances favor, Enten argued. At least 95% of Trumps endorsees in congressional and gubernatorial races since 2020 have resulted in that candidate winning the GOP primary, per Enten. At this point, things all seem to be coming up for JD, he said. H/T: Mediaite Related... Conservative commentator Scott Jennings endured some quick-witted pushback Thursday on CNN for arguing that a bunch of people could start to join Immigration and Customs Enforcement and help round up immigrants simply because actor Dean Cain announced he will. Having someone like that out touting it, talking about, Hey, this is a thing you can do for your government, this is a public service, its going to help them recruit and they have a bunch of people to recruit, Jennings said on NewsNight With Abby Phillip. Related: Desperate Parents Pleaded With Cops To Act During Uvalde School Shooting, Video Shows Cain, who played Superman in the 1990s ABC series Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, told Fox News on Wednesday that hes already a reserve police officer in Idaho. The former television star then announced that hell be sworn in as an ICE agent ASAP. Related: Man Stopped By Border Patrol Voices Guilt About Voting For Trump, Joins Lawsuit Jennings joined a burgeoningRepublicanchorus in touting the news as an invaluable recruitment tool. Guest panelist and podcaster Van Lathan couldnt help but interrupt, however, and said: Scott, its not 95. Nobody gives a Sam Hill what Dean Cain does. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement You may not, replied Jennings, suggesting Cain remains an influential conservative. Lathan went on to suggest some unspoken motivations for Cain joining ICE, which received an enormous funding infusion as a result of the GOPs so-called Big Beautiful Bill and has since announced a maximum signing bonus of $50,000 for Americans of all ages. Dean aint worked in a while, Lathan told Jennings. Dean needs the 50,000. Thats what got Dean off the couch. Dean aint worked in a while. Deans gonna take that money and buy some crypto [currency] with it. Dean needs the 50 [thousand dollars]. Thats what Dean is on. Jennings: Having someone like Dean Cain out touting itIt's going to help them recruit. Lathan: Its not 1995. No one cares what Dean Cain thinks. pic.twitter.com/eInYOEcwQb Acyn (@Acyn) August 8, 2025 Lathan wasnt the only suspicious panelist. Even Mediaite founder Dan Abrams who said President Donald Trumps administration deserves an enormous amount of credit for securing the U.S.-Mexico border dismissed Cains role as a PR move. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement You know, look, its like he said: Im getting sworn in, right? Abrams said Thursday. When you talk about getting sworn in, hes not really going to be an ICE agent. I mean, hes going to go on some ICE raids, hell be an honorary member, et cetera. Related: John Leguizamo Brutally Insults Loser Dean Cains New ICE Role Jennings noted earlier in the discussion that theres a massive amount of recruitment at ICE because the agency now has a huge amount of money to hire new agents. Abrams agreed, but said he hopes the quality of these recruits exceeds that of their current peers. I just hope that they have that reasonable suspicion that weve been talking about, he said about ICE agents. I hope theyre not just going in and grabbing a bunch of people because they happen to be waiting outside the Home Depot looking to earn a living that day. Related... Read the original on HuffPost CNN has reported that a memo by Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby, which paused military aid to Ukraine in July, includes a provision that allows the United States to divert certain weapons and equipment intended for Ukraine back into US stockpiles. Source: CNN, as reported by European Pravda Details: Four CNN sources familiar with Colby's memo said one provision permits the Pentagon to return weapons manufactured for Ukraine under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) to US stockpiles. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The USAI was established by Congress in 2016 to allocate funds for the Pentagon to purchase weapons for Ukraine directly from US defence manufacturers. Last week, a US Senate committee approved US$800 million for USAI within the Pentagons annual budget legislation, known as the National Defense Authorization Act. "The memo gives DOD [Department of Defense] the authority to take back weapons that were already contracted to Ukraine," one of the sources told CNN. "That appears to undermine what the president has said the US is doing to get Ukraine to what it needs." Colbys memorandum categorises US stockpiles into three groups "red", "yellow" and "green", The first two categories indicate shortages and require additional approval before export; these include, among others, interceptor missiles for Patriot air defence systems. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The CNN sources believe the provision concerning USAI in Colbys memorandum has apparently not yet been implemented. Background: In early July, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth paused a large shipment of weapons to Ukraine. Shortly afterwards, US President Donald Trump reversed Hegseths decision and pledged to continue supplying defensive arms to Ukraine. Trump also announced a deal with NATO to provide Ukraine with billions of dollars worth of US-made weapons funded by European allies. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon! A new coalition under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy has launched at Missouri State University to promote the use of cleaner alternative fuels in fleets of trucks, buses and other vehicles. The Ozarks Clean Fuels Coalition was designated in December 2024 by the DOE as part of the Ozarks Environmental and Water Resources Institute at Missouri State. The group recently held a webinar for businesses, municipalities and others to introduce itself and the services it provides. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We are a new clean cities and communities designated coalition by the Department of Energy, said Doug Neidigh, coalition director. We are doing outreach to different parts of our region, which is the 29 counties in southern Missouri, to introduce businesses and organizations to our coalition and what resources we can provide to them in their efforts of looking into alternative fuels or fuel conservation strategies. We did a workshop recently for municipalities on electric vehicles, talking about infrastructure, best locations, those kinds of things. Were still pretty much developing our program. Neidigh said the coalition is not focused on encouraging the use of one alternative fuel over the others, but promotes the fuel that is the best option for the group it is working with. We offer a lot of educational resources, technical information from Department of Energy on different types of alternative fuels, Neidigh said. When we look at alternatives were really talking about biodiesel, hydrogen, electric, propane, natural gas and even ethanol. And so were not really focused on one or the other. We can help to do what we call fleet analysis, where we will do an analysis on their fleet vehicles and help them investigate whats the best alternative fuel for them based on cost to implement as well as life cycle cost and other factors. Propane buses Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Neosho School District is a large user of alternative fuel vehicles in the Joplin area. Scott Quinly, transportation director for the Neosho School District, said 14 of its 58 school buses are powered by propane and the district worked with Amerigas to install the propane tank and distribution system and provide propane at the Neosho bus barn. Quinly said propane-fueled buses have lower harmful emissions and, until recently, were more economical than gasoline- or diesel-powered buses the district also operates. They were a lot more economical when we first adopted them, Quinly said. Recently, the price of propane skyrocketed. Last year, we were paying $1.41 a gallon for propane, but now its more like $2.18 a gallon whereas gasoline for our fleet is $2.07 a gallon. It may go back down, but well have to wait and see. Jeff Ragsdale, a bus maintenance technician at Neosho schools, said some drivers love propane buses while others prefer the gasoline or diesel. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He said the district cant send its propane buses more than 100 miles away from Neosho because of the lack of propane fueling stations in Southwest Missouri so school groups going further than Springfield on trips have to take conventional buses. Neidigh said the coalition was established to help groups such as school districts, municipalities and private companies determine if a fleet powered by an alternative fuel is right for them, which fuel is right and how to make it happen when they make the decision to go with alternative fuel vehicles. We provide those resources and we can provide grant funding when grant funding is available, Neidigh said. We could apply for grants directly and include different coalition members to participate in those grants or we can write grants on behalf of our coalition members so that they can access grant funding. Whether its funding to put in alternative fuel infrastructure or purchase vehicles, we want to help. Neidigh said the coalition also provides education to inform companies and people about the options as far as alternative fuel vehicles. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Also we do workshops, webinars and different events where were just providing more educational resources, more focused events, He said. The last one we did was focus on electric vehicles for municipalities. Another one we did before was focused on biodiesel targeting on-road fleets as well as agriculture. So we work with fleet on- and off-road. We have a portfolio of different resources. We have access to engineers, technical experts from Department of Energy, we can also get them engaged with companies and fleets to get more information. If they have more technical questions specifically about different motors or different devices, we can tap in into those resources as well. For more information on the Ozark Clean Fuels Coalition, go to https://oewri.missouristate.edu/ozarks-clean-fuels- coalition.htm. SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) Two suspected smugglers are in custody after a high-speed boat pursuit Wednesday off the coast of San Diego. Around 5:44 a.m., Coast Guard Cutter Sea Otter reported a high-speed personal watercraft crossing the maritime boundary line about 4.5 miles south of San Diego, the U.S. Coast Guard said in a news release Thursday. A Coast Guard boat crew attempted to intercept the watercraft, but the two individuals tried to evade them by doing erratic and dangerous maneuvers, according to authorities. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement What is Slamarack? Inside surfings running of the bulls One of the suspected smugglers suffered an arm injury during the pursuit when Coast Guard personnel deployed two rounds of LA-51, a non-lethal warning device. Authorities were able to get the boat to comply, giving first aid and transporting both individuals ashore. The injured suspect was taken to UC San Diego Medical Center in Hillcrest. Both individuals are in the U.S. Department of Homeland Securitys custody for further 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 FOX 5 San Diego & KUSI News. DENVER (KDVR) East Colfax Avenue will be the first corridor in Denver to receive a Bus Rapid Transit Line. Rapid transit lines move the transportation process along faster and offer more convenience and comfort for riders, but some business owners on Colfax Avenue say there is a price to pay for all of that growth. Bus Rapid Transit project gets boost on East Colfax Mama Jos owner, Jodi Polson, tells FOX31 her business is losing customers as a result of the construction. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As soon as the construction got heavy in front of us, people stopped coming in, she said. A Denver Department of Transportation and Infrastructure spokesperson tells FOX31 the section of the project adjacent to Mama Jos is scheduled to be completed by mid-2026. A 50% loss at least on a daily basis and especially for a smaller, newer restaurant like us thats thats huge, so that means that weve had to cut staff and the hours of the staff that we are able to retain. Ive taken a pay cut; my husband and business owner, is taking a pay cut, said Polson. Customer Evan Whitaker tells FOX31 he frequents several restaurants along the corridor. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement K-9 search held for 2016 cold case of missing mother Youre inclined to travel to places where (you) can find with ease, right, so its like I think this almost makes it a hassle to make you not want to go there, he said. DOTI tells FOX31 the BRT project will offer more frequent service, updated shelters and technology, boosting economic development when completed. A construction watch party was held on Monday at the Maria Empanada restaurant. Owner Lorena Cantarovici told FOX31 the additional bus traffic will provide support for small businesses. Todays an important day for me and for all the small businesses here that are on Colfax because this shows progress, said Cantarovici. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement DOTI tells FOX31 the project will reduce travel time by 15 to 30 minutes, provide access to more than 250,000 jobs and community services and is expected to increase ridership by 31% by 2040. I heard its supposed to cut down on commute time quite a bit, which will be great, but we still need to be here when the project is finished, said Polson. Small business owners say they hope customers will continue to support them despite nearby construction because it could mean the difference between surviving and going out of business for good. Unions share concerns over upcoming Denver city worker layoffs Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Denver Economic Development and Opportunity administers the Business Impact Opportunity Fund program, which offers assistance to businesses affected by city-funded construction projects, including a one-time grant of up to $15,000 as well as technical assistance. The BRT project team also hosts monthly gatherings called Chats on Colfax to hear from small businesses about their concerns and to update owners on the projects developments. 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. - - - Correction: Subscribe to The Post Most newsletter for the most important and interesting stories from The Washington Post. In a previous version of this article, a photo caption incorrectly said that the FAA limited Newark Liberty International Airport to 28 takeoffs and landings over Memorial Day weekend. The airport was limited to 28 takeoffs and landings per hour over that weekend. - - - In his first few days guiding aircraft at the Oakland, California, air traffic control center, trainee Ryan Higgins deleted a planes data from the radar screen. It was untrackable for a few frantic moments while more experienced controllers made sure the plane was on a safe path. The rookie mistake rattled Higgins and earned him a stern rebuke. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement By that point, Higgins, a promising candidate with a college degree, already felt slighted by the veteran Federal Aviation Administration controllers who are responsible for training recruits under the agencys apprenticeship system. He witnessed another trainee get cursed out in front of his peers. He found the centers equipment outdated, with technology that he said made it difficult to understand pilots communications. And for all the stress, the payoff - after at least three years of training - would be working in a job marked by six-day workweeks. He quit. I just felt kind of miserable going to work and being berated when Im just trying to learn, said Higgins, who was 28 when he first arrived at the Oakland center, which guides thousands of passenger planes a day along busy West Coast air routes. Higginss experience was far from unusual, according to a Washington Post examination of data and interviews with trainees who pursued a career in the federal system but ultimately washed out. The FAAs high trainee dropout rate is a leading cause of the nations dangerous shortage of air traffic controllers. In some cases, recruits failed their training and were dismissed. In others, they left of their own accord rather than endure what they described as haphazard instruction, organizational dysfunction and abusive conditions. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The agency employs about 11,500 certified controllers, about 3,000 short of its goal, a shortfall that affects almost every airport in the country. Chronic shortages put safety at risk and force flight delays when towers are understaffed, according to independent reviews of the system, while also requiring controllers to work grueling overtime schedules that contribute to fatigue and burnout. Overall, about 20 percent of trainees fail to certify as a controller at the first assigned facility, according to FAA data. Some get a second chance, but almost 1,400 recruits hired since 2010 never became a controller. And those national figures dont reveal the full scope of the problem. At many individual air traffic hubs the washout rates are far worse than the FAA average, reflecting what critics call a lack of standardization and poor FAA oversight. At the Oakland control center where Higgins worked, 45 percent of trainees fail to earn full certification, according to data compiled by the National Air Traffic Controllers Association union. At a key New York facility that is one of the busiest in the country, the failure rate was 69 percent. New controllers are almost entirely trained by the FAA at taxpayer expense. Candidates must pass a screening test and a background check before attending the agencys Oklahoma City academy. Those who successfully finish the three-to-four-month academy are assigned to one of the FAAs hundreds of facilities for their apprenticeship - the longest phase of their training, typically lasting between 18 months and four years before they become fully certified. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The FAA has for decades been unable to resolve its controller shortage. Under the Trump administration, it has vowed to improve the academy in a bid to increase readiness and retention of recruits. When trainees graduate from the academy and reach control towers, they are often insufficiently prepared to manage flights in busy, high-stress conditions, trainees and experienced controllers said. The agency also says its making a renewed effort to improve the quality of on-the-job training and installing more simulators at towers. The FAA is embarking on a fresh campaign to add the air traffic controllers it needs. Starting pay for trainees can be as low as $55,000, but the agency is now offering bonuses when trainees hit milestones. Salaries rise to as much as $226,000 for certified controllers, depending on location, and pay increases substantially with overtime. The agency declined to make senior officials available for an interview about its training programs. Successfully completing the training to become an air traffic controller is not easy, and it shouldnt be, the FAA said in a statement. The FAA will maintain high standards, regardless of the failure rate. The stakes are too high. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Yet trainee failures create ripple effects everywhere, contributing to shortages throughout the system. When an Army helicopter crashed into an American Airlines regional jet at the D.C.-area Reagan National Airport in January, killing 67 people, scrutiny immediately fell on the control tower. An FAA report said staffing at the time of the crash was not normal and that a key controller was handling two sets of duties - monitoring both helicopter and jet traffic. The National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the crash and is scheduled to hold hearings this week, has not reached conclusions about its cause. The tower at National Airport has better-than-average retention of trainees but was nonetheless understaffed before the crash, with 25 controllers assigned and a target workforce of 30. It has continued to struggle with short staffing since the crash; the FAA says it now has 26 controllers, but the controllers union says the figure, when accounting for who is available full time, is 20, according to a person familiar with staffing at the tower. - - - Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Controller mystique Experienced controllers said in interviews that the training is intense and rigorous by design - and that they need to be able to force out candidates who dont have what it takes to do the demanding job safely. One controller described tough treatment as a kind of test, and a chance for trainees to show they can bounce back after a bad day. If youre someone who cannot take a joke, youre not going to make it in this career, said the controller, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly discuss his work. There is an ill-defined mystique associated with air traffic control, a belief among some controllers that people are essentially born to do the job. But the idea obscures the fact that skills controllers need can be readily taught. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Controllers act like gatekeepers, demanding recruits prove they are worthy of entry to their club, said Linda Pierce, a retired FAA psychologist who studied how controllers are trained. Its this professional guild, but to me it also felt like a college hazing, she said. It was hostile. Trainees said they struggled with trainers belittling them, telling them they were expected to fail and otherwise making it difficult to adapt to an insular, high-stress culture. The FAA has been warned for years that it needs to improve its training. But in recent years the situation has grown worse, with training taking longer - more than seven years in a few dozen cases. Failure rates are climbing at the biggest facilities, according to a study published last month by the National Academies, a congressionally chartered research institute. Each loss represents years of wasted investment and hundreds of thousands of dollars spent by the agency. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Theres no standard, consistent approach to training, said Quentin Miles, a retired air traffic controller and training manager at a large facility in Southern California. You dont have any accountability. Higgins, who has a degree in political science from the University of Central Florida, stumbled onto the idea of becoming an air traffic controller while browsing the federal governments hiring website. In 2019, after taking a test and undergoing medical and security screening, he was offered a place at the academy and shipped out to Oklahoma. The FAA placed Higgins in the demanding career track for controllers who manage aircraft in the middle of their journeys at high altitudes. Higgins said he struggled through the academy program, graduating at the bottom of his class and getting saddled with an undesirable posting to Oakland. The centers 45 percent failure rate for trainees is one of the worst in the country, according to facility-by-facility data compiled by the controllers union. Controllers are trained on individual tasks at their facility, known as positions, largely by experienced controllers who serve as trainers and sit with them as they build their skills. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement At 31 percent, a critical facility on Long Island has the lowest training success rate in the nation. It handles planes bound for airports around New York City. The FAA has struggled for years to tackle understaffing there, and last year it broke the facility up and sent some of its controllers to Philadelphia. Technology outages after the move contributed to a wave of delays at Newark Liberty International Airport in the spring that officials had to scramble to fix. In the middle of the crisis, which captured national headlines, the FAA disclosed that there were only 24 controllers available to fill 38 slots, adding to the disruptions. The FAA said it has since upgraded communications and is adding staff. Dylan Sullivan, who retired from the New York facility in 2022 after almost 26 years, said many of the trainees were brand-new hires sent to one of the FAAs most difficult postings. FAA data shows that the facility had 59 new trainees assigned in late 2023, far more than any other comparable facility. Sullivan said trainees were given every opportunity to succeed, but many had a hard time. Its very intense. Its a very complex facility, he said. Somebody may be able to accomplish it in Omaha, but when they come to New York its above their level. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement - - - Make you fail But two retired FAA training experts said the culture varies significantly among locations, with staff at some facilities far more willing to try to help trainees succeed. One recent trainee assigned to the Long Island facility recalled his welcome: One of the contract instructors stuck his head in, burped and said I looked like a piece of s--- and said I would fail the map test. Dana Broach, a retired FAA psychologist who spent years studying training, compared the Long Island facility with a similar one that handles the Washington region and has an 88 percent training success rate. Both serve complex skies, he said, but in Washington theres a more supportive culture. In New York its, Were here to make you fail, Broach said. Trainees pointed to poor relationships with their trainers as one of the major reasons they struggled, according to survey results the FAA published in 2018. They use intimidation, public ridicule, embarrassment, gossip & yelling or condescension, one recruit told the agency - a sentiment shared both by trainees who successfully qualified and those who washed out. One trainee compared their facility to the movie Mean Girls, a teen comedy set in a high school. Another described an openly racist and homophobic supervisor. Pierce, the retired psychologist and training expert, analyzed the survey results and concluded the agency needed to do more to set standards for training. The agency should reconsider how it often assigns young recruits to facilities far from their families or other support networks, she said. Its heartbreaking for these kids when they get thrown in there, and its a meat grinder and they wash out, Pierce said. The field is dominated by White men, who make up almost two-thirds of the workforce, according to Transportation Department data. Women and racial minorities can face even greater hurdles breaking into the job. In 2014, Regina Mendez-Scott was trying to qualify at a third facility after being belittled by a trainer at New Yorks John F. Kennedy International Airport and allegedly experiencing sexual harassment at a second, smaller airport. I was fighting for my career, Mendez-Scott said in an interview. But when she got to Republic Airport on Long Island, things only got worse. According to allegations that were upheld by a federal administrative judge, she had a plastic strip used to track flight information thrown at her. One meeting ended with a trainer slamming her fist on a table and becoming aggressive. The trainer called her a fat black n----- c---, according to a ruling by the civil service board. After a supervisor terminated her training, Mendez-Scott appealed to a federal panel that protects civil service employees. An administrative judge upheld her complaint in 2018, saying witnesses corroborated the racism Mendez-Scott alleged. The judge ruled that she was subject to mistreatment that was frequent, severe, humiliating, and was at times physically threatening. The judge ordered Mendez-Scott reinstated, and she did briefly return to the airport but resigned in 2020. No one could have endured what I have endured, Mendez-Scott said in the interview. - - - Pay starts low In interviews, some former trainees pointed to the cost of living where they were assigned and the prospect of punishing overtime schedules as factors in their decisions to quit. One trainee who previously worked as a military controller said the FAA was supposed to be the place all controllers strive to be, but the trainee is now looking to return to the Defense Department or take a private-sector job. The trainee cited the brutal schedule, the pay, the workload, the time away from family, speaking on the condition of anonymity because they werent authorized to talk publicly. Arriving in Oakland, Higgins, who is originally from Florida, said he immediately confronted a high cost of housing. Good pay was one of the things that attracted Higgins to the job - but his starting pay after graduating from the academy and getting his Oakland assignment was around $58,000. With his future wife and a newborn baby in tow, he struggled to find a decent apartment. They eventually crowded into a one-bedroom place, and Higgins questioned whether the areas $1 million homes would ever be in reach on his paycheck. His first day at the Oakland control center - a blocky government building next to a string of auto body shops 16 miles from Oaklands airport - was intimidating, he said, but after he passed an initial round of tests, boredom soon took hold. Controllers do not immediately work with live traffic. Higgins said he and other trainees waited months for a spot to open up in the simulator labs where they would practice scenarios specific to their slice of West Coast airspace. In that time, Higgins said there was little to do. Trainees could review material they had already studied or spend time watching what was happening on the main air traffic control floor, but they did not get any hands-on training. Youre doing nothing. Youre sitting there, and youre talking to your co-workers, he said. Youre kind of just spinning wheels. The delays are largely caused by a lack of spots on facility floors to accommodate trainees. They are a problem at multiple air traffic control facilities, according to former trainees and managers. Because controllers are stretched thin at so many of the FAAs understaffed facilities, they have even less time to handle training and mentoring for recruits, according to Karen Feigh, a professor at Georgia Techs aerospace engineering school and one of the authors of the National Academies review. Once you get to a certain low level of staffing, its just really hard to dig yourself out, Feigh said. - - - The it factor Graham Dugan, 31, applied to become a controller as he was leaving the Marine Corps. He was sent to the tower at Harrisburg International Airport in Pennsylvania in 2023. It was close to where he had grown up, and Dugan was excited to start handling traffic. Within six weeks of arriving, he was plugging in alongside his trainers and getting to work. There were procedures governing his training, but Dugan said what really counted was other controllers assessment of whether he measured up - what Dugan called it. No one is able to put it into words, Dugan said. Theyre very unapologetic about that notion. Dugan said he often struggled to hear aircraft designations correctly over the radio and was told he had a hard time maintaining a complete picture of the area he was controlling. After Dugan failed to qualify on the second job in the tower, a review board gave him another shot. Dugan said he was determined to succeed, but he failed a second time. Dugan said the training he got was not well suited to recruits like him. He had no experience but was given the same training resources as others who had previously worked as military controllers. He lived in fear that one mistake could kill his career. His sleep suffered. I didnt realize at the time how much stress I was under, he said. It was extremely relieving to be on the other side of that. Higgins described a similar buildup of stress as his training continued. He developed high blood pressure. But by early 2020, he said he felt like he was making progress in the simulators. He said an instructor called one of his evaluations among the best he had seen. Then the coronavirus pandemic began. The agency halted training across the country, exacerbating a staffing shortage that had slowly been building over the course of a decade. Higgins was sent home for a year, with only weekly study materials the FAA later sent him, and by the time he returned in 2021 the skills he felt he had been building had eroded. His wife - whom other controllers had labeled his starter wife because of the careers high divorce rates - eyed joining the Air Force. Higgins decided to quit. Now 34 and a stay-at-home father of four, Higgins said it was the right choice. Yet, he also said his failure to become a controller was not inevitable. If it was a more respectful, understanding culture, more patient, then I think I would have been more inclined to stick with it, Higgins said. - - - Graphics: https://washingtonpost.com/documents/b2958fd5-a646-4970-8245-5a28894725cb.pdf Related Content D.C. residents react to Trumps takeover of the citys police force Inside science labs trying to survive in the Trump era He builds sand sculptures for joy. A huge carving of Crocs put him on the map. PepsiCo, Inc. (PEP) is a global leader in the food and beverage industry, headquartered in Purchase, New York. With a market cap of around $191.2 billion, the company operates in the Consumer Staples sector, specifically within the beverages-non-alcoholic industry. PepsiCo stock has posted a year-to-date decline of approximately 5.4%, while its 52-week performance also remained negative, down about 16.2%. This performance significantly lags the broader market, with the S&P 500 Index ($SPX) rising 7.8% YTD and 21.9% over the past year. More News from Barchart Also, within its own sector, PepsiCos performance has not been promising, as the Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLP) gained 4.6% YTD and around 5% over the past year. www.barchart.com Major drivers behind PepsiCos subdued performance include rising costs, sluggish volume growth, and a consumer shift away from packaged food and beverages in favor of fresher, healthier, or lower-cost alternatives. While PepsiCo has successfully implemented price hikes, this strategy is reaching its limits as elasticity begins to weigh on demand. In the longer term, concerns over health trends have also capped investor enthusiasm. However, the companys strong brand portfolio and global footprint continue to provide stability during broader market volatility. On July 24, the company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.4225 per share, representing a 5% increase from last year, payable on September 30, 2025, to shareholders of record as of September 5. This marks PepsiCos 53rd straight annual dividend increase since 1965. However, shares declined marginally post announcement given the macroeconomic headwinds. Analysts project PEP to report an EPS decline of 1.7% year-over-year to $8.02, on a diluted basis, for the current fiscal year, ending in December 2025. The company has topped the earnings consensus estimate in three out of the four trailing quarters, while missing on another occasion. Among the 20 analysts covering PEP stock, the consensus rating is a Moderate Buy. Thats based on six Strong Buy, 13 Hold, and one Strong Sell ratings. www.barchart.com The current configuration has remained consistent over the past few months. DENVER (KDVR) Coloradans who count on the boost received from the Taxpayer Bill of Rights payments each spring will be out of luck for the upcoming tax season, according to two state senators. State Senators Jeff Bridges, a Democrat, and Barbara Kirkmeyer, a Republican, sat down with FOX31s Matt Mauro on this weeks Colorado Point of View. Both seemed firm in their opinion that Coloradans will not see any TABOR refunds this coming spring. TABOR refund amounts announced for 2025, based on income Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement HR1 brought us below the TABOR refund limit, which means that there will be no TABOR refund next year because of HR1, Bridges said. HR1, or the Big, Beautiful Bill, was a congressional spending bill passed and signed into law earlier this year. On Wednesday, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis called a special session of Colorados General Assembly and said the state is facing a $700 million hole in the general fund after losing over $1 billion in state revenue from the federal bill. To help combat that, Polis implemented a hiring freeze. There is a significant loss in revenue, largely from the corporate tax changes that are in this bill. Right? Its not, for instance, the taxes on tips that blows the budget out, Polis said during his press conference on Wednesday. Its the corporate tax changes. Some of which are real corporate tax cuts, some of them are just a shift in timing that affects the budget in the current year. Like the accelerated schedule for depreciation, one of the biggest drivers of this deficit. Kirkmeyer said that despite the lack of TABOR funds, Coloradans will see tax relief, but did not expound on that statement. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Both legislators seemed fairly certain that TABOR refunds would return for the 2026 and 2027 tax seasons. Right now its projected that they will in 26, 27, said Kirkmeyer. What to know about Colorado legislatures special session, hiring freeze amid budget gap Yes, its unlikely for the next year, but the year following that, we should be back into that TABOR refund, agreed Bridges. But lets keep in mind, the Democrats, through some of the bills that they have passed, have drained our TABOR surplus and drained our TABOR refund, said Kirkmeyer. Lets not forget about what HH was, when it was out there, what they were trying to do there, and essentially take away the TABOR surplus. Theyve done that with other legislation, other bills that have done that as well. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Bridges noted that Proposition HH did not pass. The measure was considered by voters during the 2023 elections and would have allowed the state to reduce the refunds given under TABOR, keeping and spending some additional excess revenue. Kirkmeyer said that not having a TABOR surplus is not a bad thing. It means were living within our limits and that government is not expanding beyond control, which is what TABOR was, Kirkmeyer said. Bridges said that being above the TABOR refund limit does not coincide with the amount the Colorado government is spending, but rather is a matter of the revenue being collected by the state. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. DENVER (KDVR) The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers is taking the state to court in a First Amendment lawsuit aimed at stopping a new law that would require warning labels on gas stoves. The law went into effect on Wednesday, one of hundreds of new laws that came into effect, and requires the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to establish a page with credible, evidence-based information on the health impacts of gas-fueled stoves. These Colorado laws will go into effect on Aug. 6 Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The bill also requires that retailers have a yellow adhesive label on display models of gas stoves that states: Understand the air quality implications of having an indoor gas stove. The label then must have a link or a QR code so consumers can see the webpage created by the health department. A similar label must also be posted for online sales of new gas-fueled stoves in Colorado. The home appliance manufacturers association said that it is seeking an emergency injunction to prevent the law from taking effect. The association also said the lawsuit shows the new law violates the First Amendment by singling out gas stoves, and ordering retailers and manufacturers to warn consumers of alleged health risks and health impacts that the association says have not been proven. We strongly support science-based practices that protect consumers, said Kelly Mariotti, president and CEO of AHAM. What we are opposing is a state government compelling private companies to communicate a message that lacks scientific consensus. The First Amendment protects not only the right to speakbut also the right not to speak, particularly in a way that is misleading. If the labeling requirement remains in place, Coloradans may be persuaded to make decisions based on incomplete and unproven information. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The American Public Health Association published a report in 2022 that says harmful air pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide are generated by gas stoves, and can lead to higher nitrogen dioxide concentrations in homes. The groups study also pointed to an increased risk of asthma in children. Similar statements were published by the Minnesota Department of Health. According to AHAM, the overwhelming majority of health resources do not show an association between gas stoves and adverse health outcomes and said the research also fails to demonstrate causation. Indeed, the vast majority of studies conclude that the potential health risks of cooking with gas are no different than cooking with electricity, AHAM said in a release announcing the lawsuit. Because the alleged health risks from using gas stoves are not supported by scientific consensus, the law violates the First Amendments protection against compelled speech. Plague kills cat near Evergreen, first confirmed case in Jeffco since 2023 Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement AHAM said it filed the lawsuit to protect consumers from biased and misleading information. Colorados new labeling requirement is a misguided effort to address unproven hazards, said Mariotti in the associations release. Requiring retailers and manufacturers to present inaccurate and incomplete information is likely to lead to consumer confusion, questions and unintended consequences. The group pointed to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, which surveyed scientific evidence and shared a report on the matter in March of this year. The agency concluded that there is disagreement about the extent of linkage between the emissions produced by gas stoves and certain health issues. The report also states that there is no consensus on the health effects of nitrogen dioxide emissions directly attributable to gas stove cooking. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. Firefighting aircraft respond to the Turner Gulch Fire near Gateway on July 15, 2025. (Mesa County Sheriff's Office) Last updated: 11:32 a.m., Aug. 20. Fueled by hot summer weather and persistent drought conditions across the western half of the state, wildfires as of Aug. 20 had burned more than 200,000 acres in Colorado in 2025. Its Colorados worst fire year since 2020, when multiple historic blazes burned a record-setting 625,357 acres, according to National Interagency Fire Center data. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Drought conditions classified as severe or extreme extend nearly all of the Western Slope, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. A large area covering most of Garfield and Rio Blanco counties is now considered to be in exceptional drought, the monitors most severe classification. A critical fire weather advisory for western Colorado and several neighboring states has been issued by the Rocky Mountain Area Coordination Center, a Denver-based branch of the NIFC, and will remain in place through at least Aug. 27. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX After a dry winter with minimal snowpack fuel moistures are well below normal, and much of the region is under severe to extreme drought, the agency warns. Extreme fire behavior marked by rapid spread, torching, and resistance to control is being driven by critically dry fuels, and drought-stressed brush and trees. As heat intensifies and fuel moistures decline further, fire potential will remain elevated across the area. Here is a look at three 2025 Colorado fires: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Lee Fire , west of the town of Meeker in Rio Blanco County, has burned an estimated 137,755 acres with 68% containment as of Aug. 20. It was caused by lightning on Aug. 2. The nearby Elk Fire , southeast of Meeker, was also caused by lightning on Aug. 2. It burned an estimated 14,518 acres and is 100% contained. The Turner Gulch Fire, east of Gateway near the Colorado-Utah border in Mesa County, is 79% contained and has burned an estimated 31,698 acres since it was started by lightning on July 12. Gov. Jared Polis has issued a broad emergency declaration covering fires burning in multiple counties and the risk of new fires as the state faces continued high temperatures, high winds, severe to extreme drought conditions, and near record level fire indices. Due to climate change, much of Colorado has grown hotter and drier in recent decades, increasing wildfire risk. The three largest wildfires in Colorado history all occurred in 2020, and the states 20 biggest fires on record have all occurred in the past 20 years. Rising levels of greenhouse gases, mostly the result of fossil-fuel combustion, have caused much of the Western Slope to warm by an average of more than 4 degrees Fahrenheit above pre-industrial levels, and the regions current megadrought is its worst dry spell in at least 1,200 years. Most wildfires are caused by human activity. To minimize the risk of sparking a fire, authorities urge visitors to national forests and other public lands to follow local fire restrictions, ensure that vehicles are properly maintained and trailer chains are secured, and avoid driving or parking on dry grass. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In 2017, the State Forest Service reported that more than 2.9 million Coloradans lived in the wildland-urban interface areas at risk of being impacted by wildfires. Fire safety experts urge residents of such zones to familiarize themselves with the Ready, Set, Go system of precautions. Key Events Aug. 20, 2025 11:24 am Evacuations ordered in Eagle County as Derby Fire nears 1,000 acres Aug. 18, 2025 4:00 am Human emissions driving Colorado River megadrought, CU Boulder research finds Aug. 15, 2025 9:23 am Polis declares emergency over near record level Colorado fire danger Aug. 12, 2025 4:13 pm Crosho Fire breaks out in Rio Blanco County, burns 300 acres Aug. 12, 2025 11:03 am Lee Fire amid extreme drought spreads as officials prepare for Wednesday heat Aug. 11, 2025 12:19 pm Lee Fire becomes 5th largest in Colorado history as Oak Fire burns to the south Aug. 10, 2025 4:29 pm Lee Fire becomes one of biggest in Colorado history Aug. 10, 2025 4:04 pm Inmates evacuated from facility in Rifle Aug. 6, 2025 2:23 pm Western Slope wildfires already add up to Colorados worst fire year since 2020 Jul. 16, 2025 3:27 pm Turner Gulch wildfire nears 14K acres in western Colorado Evacuations ordered in Eagle County as Derby Fire nears 1,000 acres The Derby Fire in northwestern Eagle County was caused by lightning on Aug. 17, 2025. (Photo courtesy of White River National Forest) Mandatory evacuations have been ordered after a new wildfire grew rapidly in a remote area of northwestern Eagle County on Tuesday. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Derby Fire was estimated at 839 acres as of 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, having more than tripled in size over the previous 24 hours, and continued to grow overnight, officials said. It was first reported on Sunday near Sweetwater Lake, about 15 miles northwest of Gypsum, and is believed to have been caused by lightning. The Eagle County Sheriffs Office has ordered residents in several zones along the Colorado River to the east of the fire to evacuate by midday Wednesday. Other areas nearby have been placed on pre-evacuation notices. Up-to-date evacuation information is available on Eagle Countys emergency information website. U.S. Forest Service officials have closed the area of the White River National Forest where the Derby Fire is burning until further notice. About 80 personnel were assigned to the Derby Fire as of Wednesday, and a federal incident command team assumed control of firefighting efforts as of 6 a.m. No containment has yet been achieved on the fire, whose remote location makes access very difficult, officials said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Were currently cooperating with the local agencies that have initially attacked this fire, Philip Knaub, operations section chief for the team assigned to the fire, said. We started yesterday afternoon with our own personnel, gathering intelligence and checking out the roads, checking out all the houses, looking at the structures and what might be needed in order to protect them. As far as the fire goes, we do have a slew of aircraft well have helicopters and well have air tankers working on that fire today, applying retardant and water where its most beneficial, he added. Last updated: 11:29 am Human emissions driving Colorado River megadrought, CU Boulder research finds As historic drought conditions on the Western Slope fuel another dangerous wildfire season, a new paper from researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder warns that human-caused climate change is playing a major role in making those conditions worse. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Previously published climatological research has found that the Colorado River Basins current megadrought is the worst dry spell the region has experienced in at least 1,200 years. But a new study, published last week in the journal Nature, concludes that those persistently dry conditions are being driven by human activity more intensely and more directly than previously understood, its authors say. A 2022 study attributed about 40% of the megadrought to higher temperatures alone, as hotter weather leads to greater evaporation of moisture from water surfaces and soils. Modeling global warmings precise impacts on rainfall patterns has proved more elusive, but Pedro DiNezio, an associate professor at CU Boulders Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, said the new paper add(s) more human influence to that previous number. Whats important here is that were showing that rainfall has also been influenced by humans, in addition to just evaporation, said DiNezio. Both contribute to drought. Read more. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Last updated: 12:03 pm Polis declares emergency over near record level Colorado fire danger Colorado Gov. Jared Polis on Thursday issued a broad emergency declaration covering multiple wildfires currently burning on the Western Slope and the risk of new fires as dangerous weather conditions persist in the coming weeks. More than 2,000 local, state and federal personnel are currently battling nine large fires in Colorado, including the Lee Fire in Rio Blanco County, which as of Friday ranked as the fifth-largest fire in state history at an estimated size of 133,602 acres. Polis said in a press release that Thursdays executive order declaring an emergency would bolster our ability to jump on fires early as elevated fire risk continues. Continuing throughout July and into August, and as part of the same prolonged weather pattern, parts of Colorado have experienced continued high temperatures, high winds, severe to extreme drought conditions, and near record level fire indices, the order says. Elevated fire weather and fire risk is forecast for the coming weeks. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Read more. Last updated: 2:37 pm Crosho Fire breaks out in Rio Blanco County, burns 300 acres As the Lee and Elk fires continue to blaze in Rio Blanco County, a new fire sparked near the countys border with Routt County on Monday night, officials reported. The new fire, near Crosho Lake and about 22 miles southwest of Steamboat Springs, has burned about 300 acres. Evacuation orders were issued for campgrounds surrounding Crosho Lake, and pre-evacuation orders were issued for nearby areas. About 110 firefighters were on scene as of Tuesday morning, and no structures were immediately threatened, according to an update from Routt County officials. For more information about the Crosho Fire, visit the Routt County website. Lee Fire amid extreme drought spreads as officials prepare for Wednesday heat A photo posted to the Rio Blanco County Sheriffs Office Facebook on Aug. 12, 2025. (Rio Blanco County Sheriffs Office Facebook) Containment of the Lee Fire west of Meeker has dropped slightly to 6%, compared to its 7% containment Monday. A Tuesday morning map of the fire, which is the fifth-largest in state history, showed 116,859 acres burned. Thats more than 3,000 new acres burned since Monday. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Lee Fire started in Rio Blanco County and has spread toward Rifle in Garfield County, pushed by strong winds and dry conditions. During a community meeting at Colorado Mountain College on Monday night, incident meteorologist Rose Schoenfeld said smoke conditions are expected to improve in Rifle throughout Tuesday as winds change. But fire crews still face challenges ahead, especially moving into Wednesday, Schoenfeld added. Wednesday is really the day to watch with regards to fire weather, Schoenfeld said. Wednesday is going to be warmer, and its going to be more of an unstable atmosphere. In the past 30 days, we have gotten 5% of the normal precipitation, putting the area in extreme drought, she added. For information on road closures and evacuations, visit the Garfield County Emergency Operations Center website, the Rio Blanco County Sheriffs Office Facebook and the Elk and Lee Fire Information Facebook. Last updated: 11:23 am Lee Fire becomes 5th largest in Colorado history as Oak Fire burns to the south The Lee Fire near the town of Meeker in Rio Blanco County has grown to be the fifth-largest wildfire in state history as crews continued to battle fires in several parts of Colorado on Monday. Dry weather and strong winds have pushed the Lee Fire south toward Garfield County, blazing through more than 113,000 acres. It was at 7% containment as of Monday. The fire was believed to have been caused by lightning on Aug. 2. The states newest wildfire, the Oak Fire, sparked Sunday west of Pagosa Springs in Archuleta County. The blaze prompted mandatory evacuations in Elk Park and pre-evacuation orders in other nearby areas. Read more. Lee Fire becomes one of biggest in Colorado history A view of the Lee Fire in western Colorado, posted Aug. 10. (Elk and Lee Fire Information Facebook) The Lee Fire in recent days became one of the biggest wildfires in Colorado history. The fire, which began Aug. 2 in Rio Blanco County and has pushed south toward Garfield County and the Interstate 70 corridor, stood at about 107,000 acres Sunday, putting it in the No. 7 position among the states biggest fires. It was 6% contained. The fire was believed to have been caused by lightning. For information on road closures and evacuations, visit the Garfield County Emergency Operations Center website, the Rio Blanco County Sheriffs Office Facebook and the Elk and Lee Fire Information Facebook. Inmates evacuated from facility in Rifle The Lee Fire in Rio Blanco County prompted the evacuation Saturday of all 179 people incarcerated in the Rifle Correctional Center, according to the Colorado Department of Corrections. Evacuees from the minimum security prison at about 10:30 p.m. were relocated to the state prison in Buena Vista. No injuries were reported. Staff members remained on site in Rifle working with emergency management personnel to safeguard the facility and property, according to a press release from the Department of Corrections. The fire as of midday Sunday had grown to about 107,000 acres. Western Slope wildfires already add up to Colorados worst fire year since 2020 High winds and extreme drought conditions in northwest Colorado have fueled the rapid growth of two wildfires this week near Meeker in Rio Blanco County, where firefighting crews say theyre prioritizing structure protection with limited resources on hand. The Lee Fire, west of Meeker, nearly doubled in size Tuesday and has now burned 22,497 acres, predominantly on Bureau of Land Management land south of Colorado Highway 13. About 20 miles to the east, the Elk Fire is estimated at 8,304 acres in size. Both fires are believed to have been started by lightning strikes on Aug. 2. With the latest growth, the estimated area burned in Colorado by 11 major wildfires in 2025 now stands at 64,196 acres, according to federal data. That doesnt include smaller fires suppressed by state and local first responders, but it already makes for the states worst fire year since 2020. Read more. Last updated: 12:58 pm Turner Gulch wildfire nears 14K acres in western Colorado The Turner Gulch wildfire near Unaweep Canyon northeast of Gateway is burning about 14,000 acres as of Wednesday afternoon. This fire remains active and continues to make significant advances to the east as winds become aligned with the terrain. Fire officials are developing a strategy to protect values while providing for safety of firefighters and the public, said a Wednesday afternoon update from the Rocky Mountain Complex Incident Management Team 1. The fire was caused by lightning on July 10. Winds have stoked the blaze in recent days. Read more. Last updated: 12:58 pm NEW YORK The recent cyberattack at Columbia University affected close to 870,000 students, applicants and employees, compromising their Social Security numbers, health information and other sensitive data, according to school officials. In late June, Columbia students were locked out of their school emails and other platforms as part of a technical outage involving user authentication services. The university launched an investigation and determined that hackers obtained information related to admissions, enrollment and financial aid processes, which also included applicant demographic data and academic records. Though our investigation is still underway, we have learned more about the nature of the incident and the data involved, college officials said in a statement. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It does not appear that any patient records at the Columbia University Irving Medical Center were breached. The attacks scope, first reported by Bloomberg News on Friday, was disclosed in Columbias data breach notifications submitted this week to state governments. The university started notifying impacted individuals on Thursday and offering two years of credit monitoring. We remain committed to continuously improving our defenses, the school officials added. Columbias statement did not include a motive for the attack. However, a person claiming to be the hacker previously told Bloomberg their goal was to expose race-based admissions practices at Columbia after the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in 2023. The university says it complies with the law. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Some of the breached data was shared with The New York Times, showing Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani identified as Asian and Black or African American on his application to Columbia, which was denied. Mamdani, who is of South Asian descent, was born in Uganda and attended Bowdoin, a small liberal arts college in Maine. Weeks after the data breach, Columbia agreed to share admissions data broken down by race, grades and test scores with President Trump, as part of a sweeping settlement in the name of fighting antisemitism, but also inclusive of other administration priorities. On Thursday, the government broadened that directive regarding applicants to all U.S. colleges that receive federal funding. _____ COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) This week on Columbus Business Beat, Digital Anchor Rachel Ramsey talks to Mark Somerson, Managing Editor of Columbus Business First, about business news across central Ohio. To watch this weeks episode, view the video player above. OhioHealth has applied to rezone the former Big Lots headquarters at 4900 E. Dublin Granville Rd. Columbus Business First looked into an application that was filed with the city of Columbus that stated it would be used for hospital or medical use. Developer Manav Singh is looking to build a boutique hotel at the site of the former 5th Ave Floral Co. The shop was open for more than 120 years and closed permanently this summer at 1877 Kenny Rd. Singh has purchased the land, but plans are still in the early stages. A restaurant that will feature Midwest comfort food with soul is open at 2333 N. High St. near Ohio States campus. The eatery is taking over after Oishii 2 Japanese Bistro opened in the spring, but closed. Before Oishii was Adelaides Gin Joint, which closed in 2024. Ohio States new members-only club is getting underway. Construction has started for the 1922 club, which will be located inside Ohio Stadium. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement NBC4 digital reporters David Rees and Ava Boldizar also discuss some of their business stories in this latest episode. Hot Chicken Takeover has shuttered another central Ohio location, marking the chains third closure since it was acquired by a new owner last year. Longtime Texas chicken chain named Laynes Chicken Fingers is expanding with locations in central Ohio. A restaurant group will soon launch its latest Potbelly Sandwich Shop location in Marysville, and plans to open over a dozen more in central Ohio. Cava is coming to 1790 Hilliard Rome Road, according to city permits filed last week. The national brand plans to remodel the building in the Hilliard Green neighborhood, which housed a Skyline Chili that closed 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 NBC4 WCMH-TV. On 7 August, combat medic Maryna "Meri" Hrytsenko of the 3rd Assault Brigade was killed in action while on a combat mission at the front. In civilian life, she served as chief curator of the collections at the Chernihiv Art Museum and was an active member of the Ukrainian scouting organisation Plast. Source: Plast Chernihiv Details: Maryna was 39 years old. She is survived by her 15-year-old daughter Yuliia and her parents. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Born into a family of medics, she earned a degree in history from the Faculty of History at the Taras Shevchenko National University "Chernihiv Collegium". In 2021, she joined Plast together with her daughter and served there as secretary. She was passionate about music and Ukrainian historical rituals and traditions. Since 2008, Maryna had worked at the Hryhorii Galagan Chernihiv Regional Art Museum, first as a research associate and later as a senior researcher. Eventually, she became the museums chief curator. In February 2023, she joined the Armed Forces, serving as a rifleman and combat medic in the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade with the rank of junior sergeant. As a combat medic, she took part in the fighting in Kharkiv Oblast, Plast Chernihiv reported. Photo: Maryna Hrytsenko on Facebook Photo: Maryna Hrytsenko on Facebook Photo: Maryna Hrytsenko on Facebook Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In January 2025, she was decorated with the Order for Courage as a medic of the brigades 1st Assault Battalion. On the morning of 7 August, Meri and two fellow soldiers were carrying out a combat mission at the front. All three were killed by a strike from a Russian drone. "Maryna embodied the resilience of our museum during the siege. Her character and indomitable spirit wouldnt let her stand aside her soul was drawn to the fight. We are proud of her, knowing deep down she was stronger than many of us. The museum has lost not just a staff member; it has lost a part of itself. We are grieving deeply," the Chernihiv Art Museum wrote. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon! Comedian and ex-Big Brother contestant Hardeep Singh Kohli has been accused of indecently assaulting a woman in a BBC studio, a court has heard. Mr Kohli, 56, has denied six sex-related charges against three women between April 2007 and December 2016. Glasgow Sheriff Court heard that in one alleged incident he grabbed a woman's buttocks and hugged her at BBC Scotland's headquarters at Pacific Quay, Glasgow. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He is also accused of making sexual comments and other assault charges. He is due to go on trial in November. Mr Kohli, from Kelvinside in Glasgow, is a former reporter on BBC's The One Show and panellist on The Wright Stuff on Channel 5. He is accused of indecently assaulting the woman at the Raddison Blu Hotel in Glasgow. He is said to have stroked her back and touched her hair. Charges related to a second woman state that Mr Kohli indecently assaulted her at Cross Keys Hotel in Canonbie, Dumfries and Galloway. It is alleged that he seized her arm, lunged towards her and attempted to kiss her face. A special defence of consent has been lodged. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Mr Kohli is also accused of conducting himself in a disorderly manner and committing a breach of the peace on the same occasion. The final charge alleges that he sexually assaulted a third woman at the former Yes Bar in Glasgow city centre. Mr Kohli is accused of seizing her, hugging her and kissing her on the mouth. Urfan Dar, representing the comedian, told the hearing the defence was ready for a trial that is expected to last four to five days. Prosecutor Sean Docherty told the court that he would cite seven civilian witnesses and one police witness. Sheriff John McCormick set the trial for November and continued Mr Kohli's bail. Travelers often assume that over-the-counter medications are harmless to pack, but international drug laws may tell a different story. U.S. staples like Sudafed and Benadryl are banned or strictly regulated in a number of countries, making preparation essential for hassle-free travel. Some countries even require special permits or advance approval for common medications. Here are some OTC drugs you may not think twice about packing for your next trip abroad, but could require a doctor's note or previous preparation for smooth entry. Sudafed and Pseudoephedrine restrictions Pseudoephedrine, the active ingredient in cold decongestant Sudafed, is prohibited in destinations such as Japan and Mexico. Bringing it in without awareness may result in a seizure at customs. Codeine: A controlled substance abroad OTC medications containing codeine, commonly used in cough suppressants or pain relievers, face strict restrictions in multiple countries. For instance, the UAE, Japan, Greece, and Indonesia all consider codeine a controlled substance and may require prior approval or a doctors note to allow entry. Benadryl is restricted in places like Japan and Zambia (Getty Images) Benadryl (Diphenhydramine) May Be Flagged Internationally The antihistamine diphenhydramine, present in Benadryl, is restricted in places including Japan and Zambia. It can be confiscated at customs and may only be allowed with proper documentation. ADHD medications Travelers bringing along ADHD medications like Adderall and Ritalin may require prior approval before entry into the UAE, Japan, Singapore, and South Korea. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Often classified as controlled substances, these substances may require documentation or approval for special permits for entry. What to know before you go Travelers should always do their research on the country they are visiting and their respective drug laws. Even though its sometimes handy to put your medications into a fun little travel organizer or loose in your luggae, experts encourage travelers to keep their OTC drugs in their original bottles. Optics matter. This can create more of a headache when navigating questions than the medications are meant to help, Quinn English of FreeQuinnt Flyer, told Travel and Leisure. Pseudoephedrine, the key ingredient in Sudafed, is banned in Japan and Mexico (Getty Images) Always travel with the original prescription bottle on your person so they can be easily examined and can help answer immediate questions related to the condition, she added. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Traveling with a written copy of your prescriptions and/or a doctors note is also suggested. The potential consequences of entering a country with illegal OTC drugs can range from paying a fine to being detained or arrested. The CDC and travel expert Katy Nastro recommend checking the U.S. Embassy website for your destination, and consulting groups like the International Narcotics Control Board or the International Pharmaceutical Federation for medication-specific rules. ST. LOUIS Community Cuts for Kids is celebrating 24 years of helping children across St. Louis prepare for school. Craig Blac, founder of The Burton & Craig Shields Foundation and Community Cuts for Kids, talks about his background in radio broadcasting and how it led to the creation of the program that provides free haircuts and back-to-school necessities for kids. 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. That picture can start to look very different depending on how short they are of covering estimated medical expenses. "When I have these conversations with clients, especially those who are unprepared, the first step is just helping them slow down," said Melissa Cox, owner of Future-Focused Wealth in Dallas, Texas. "There's often a mix of embarrassment and fear. Many say, 'I didn't know this was something I needed to think about.' We walk through Medicare together, clarify what's covered and what isn't, and start looking at how their current financial picture can support a more realistic health care forecast." Financial advisors say one of the biggest impediments to planning for health care costs in retirement is a misconception about the role of Medicare. Namely, that it will cover more medical expenses than it does. "Year after year, so many Americans underestimate how much they'll need to save to cover health care costs in retirement," Talib said. "We recognize the impact health care costs can have on retirement savings. With the right tools and guidance, pre-retirees and retirees alike can take greater control of their financial futures by beginning the planning process as soon as possible." Many retirees have found themselves ill-equipped to handle those costs, according to Shams Talib, head of Fidelity Workplace Consulting. The estimate includes out-of-pocket prescription drug costs, Medicare premiums and other medical expenses, such as co-payments and deductibles. Researchers did not include potential costs from other health care-related expenses, including over-the-counter medications, most dental services and long-term care. Since Fidelity began tracking retiree health care costs in 2002 when the estimated expense for a 65-year-old was just $80,000 projected costs have steadily climbed, far outpacing inflation. In the past year alone, Fidelity reported a 4% increase in total expected health care spending for retirees. Health care costs for retirees just keep rising. A 65-year-old retiring in 2025 can expect to spend $172,500 on health care costs and medical expenses throughout retirement, according to a new survey from Fidelity. Financial advisors say ignoring that number can be a costly decision for retirees. Story Continues "Sometimes we have to pivot, adjust spending, reframe goals or revisit timelines, but that's okay," Cox said. "What matters most is giving people a sense of control over something that felt out of reach." Encourage clients to plan early Preparing for health care costs in retirement can be a relatively straightforward process as long as clients start early, advisors say. Near-retirees have several cost-effective options to help cover expenses, including Medigap, long-term care insurance and life insurance with care-related riders. But for older retirees seeking coverage later, the process becomes more complex and often more expensive. According to Andrew Crowell, vice chairman of wealth management for D.A. Davidson in New York City, waiting too long to sign up for certain plans can make them difficult to obtain at all. "I've had some clients recently, in good health but in their 70s, who were looking for a little extra coverage. Both of them [were] denied coverage because they couldn't pass a cognition test," Crowell said. "I have perfectly lucid conversations with them all the time, but the test that they were given was an individual over the phone reading a long list of words, and then they were asked to repeat back as many of the words they remembered hearing in the short space, and they froze up. They stammered through a few of them, and the insurance just denied them on that, and they have no aches, no pains, no typical aging stuff." If those same clients had tried to sign up for policies in their 50s or 60s, the situation would have looked very different, Crowell said. "If we had done that in their 60s or in their 50s young, healthy they would have qualified for a great preferred rate premium, and it wouldn't be an issue," he said. "Now they can try to reapply, but you know they're going to have the jitters from the minute they reapply, and they're probably going to freeze up again just because of that." Crowell, who has been working in the industry for over 30 years, said insurance companies are becoming more cautious when assessing people due to increasing longevity. When it's too late to start early Starting early is one of the most effective strategies in financial planning and health care planning is no exception. But even for clients who come to an advisor later in life, there are still viable options to manage rising medical costs. "When I work with clients who are unprepared for these costs, the conversation often shifts to what they value most in their retirement plan," said Beau Kemp, a financial advisor at SwitchPoint Financial Planning in Lehi, Utah. "If the plan goes from looking good to looking constrained with the increased health care costs, we have to make some adjustments." Exactly what those adjustments look like depends on the client's lifestyle preferences, Kemp said. Clients set on maintaining their current lifestyle may need to delay retirement as they build up their savings. Others who are more concerned with retiring at a specific age may have to scale back their spending to make room for medical costs. "I rarely decrease the projected medical expenses in a plan because these costs are largely out of our control," Kemp said. "The focus needs to be on what we can control and if a client is comfortable with those adjustments. The goal is to create a plan that provides both financial security and peace of mind." Community, loved ones say final farewell to late CMPD Assistant Chief Vicki Foster The Charlotte community gathered on Friday to say final goodbyes to the highest-ranking female in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Departments history. Assistant Chief Vicki Fosters former brothers and sisters in blue gathered at First Baptist Charlotte for Fosters funeral. Foster was recognized as a woman who gave everything to her community in a celebration of life that preceded. Friends and family said the world will be different without this woman who broke barriers. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Foster joined CMPD in 1991, working one of the toughest beats, rising through the ranks. She became the highest-ranking female in CMPD history. She wore her badge for nearly 30 years, working within her community. Foster was 56 when she passed following a year-long battle with an illness. Channel 9s Hunter Saenz is at the church where Foster was laid to rest. Tune in to Eyewitness News at 5 p.m. to hear more about Fosters legacy. WATCH: CMPDs highest-ranking female officer in history, Vicki Foster, dies MARCUS, Iowa (KCAU) August heat and humidity are typical for fair-goers, but that hasnt stopped many from attending. From the friendly farm animals to the rides and all the great vendors, there were plenty turning out for the annual community fair in Marcus, Iowa. Story continues below Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Marcus Community Fair is one of the longest-running fairs in Iowa, dating back 89 years from when it started. This is a free event that occurs every year, and organizers said they can keep it that way because of their generous community support. And the only reason that we can do that is that we have tremendous support from the community, not only from the businesses, but also just individual, individual families in the community that are really good at supporting what we do here, said Fair Board member Lisa Letsche. It means a lot, and it just shows you what this community is all about, right? We support everything that happens in this community. The Marcus Community Fair is also an economic boost for the small Iowa town. The fair runs through Sunday, August 10. 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 SiouxlandProud | Sioux City, IA | News, Weather, and Sports. PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) Theres major pushback on the removal of a few traffic diverters in parts of Portland, even as Mayor Keith Wilson is calling the removals necessary for public safety. People who ride bikes around Portland have likely seen these traffic diverters. However, bicyclists might see less of them in Northwest Portland, as Wilson is directing the Portland Bureau of Transportation to remove the diverters at Northwest 20th Avenue and Northwest Everett Street, and on Northwest Johnson Street at the intersections of Northwest 14th and 15th Avenues. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Portland jazz legend Nancy King dies at 85 In a statement sent to KOIN 6 News, Wilson said: I hear and understand your frustration, and I have listened to residents, business owners, and public safety partners about escalating drug dealing, narcotic use and sales, reports of assaults on pedestrians and cyclists, and obstacles for emergency responders in this corridor. In response, PBOTs traffic engineers and the PPB Traffic Safety Division worked together to develop a plan that recommends repositioning diverters, adding intersection signage, daylighting intersections and restoring two-way vehicular traffic while preserving safe bike and pedestrian access. This is not a political decision, but an operational change coordinated across city bureaus to meet the needs of the entire City, with safety and access as our top priorities. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Its this reasoning that had dozens of people gathered at the Northwest 20th Avenue and Everett Street location, for rally in opposition to the change. Jeremiah Via with StrongTownsPDX said these diverters are a part of the Northwest In Motion plan. The original vision was to craft a way to make northwest more walkable, make it more bikeable and just make it more inviting for people to spend time in the streets, particularly children, elderly people who really benefit from having a calmer streetscape, Via said. He and others worry the removal of these diverters, would not do any good for public safety. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Mayor Wilson said he has heard community concern and wants to make Northwest Portland safer. But diverter advocates like Harper Haverkamp said they arent buying that rationale. It takes away the ability for all the people biking here to be safe, to feel safe, and to feel like this is a city that includes them. So, were moving backwards. And this is yet another indication of the backwards direction were taking it, Haverkamp said. Thorns begin second half of season The advocates said they feel so strongly that theyll be at the Northwest 20th Avenue and Northwest Everett Street location early Friday morning in anticipation of the removals, though the city has not informed KOIN 6 News when this will happen. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. Fundraiser for girls hurt in crash at lemonade stand draws controversy Three young girls injured in a car crash while running a lemonade stand are receiving support from volunteers as their families await funds from a previous fundraiser. The crash happened in June south of Morganton, and since then, the community has rallied to assist the families by organizing lemonade fundraisers and building ramps to help the girls safely enter their homes. Channel 9s Dave Faherty reported that although thousands of dollars were raised at one of the fundraisers, the families only received $25 each. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A police report has been filed for obtaining property by false pretenses, indicating potential mismanagement or fraud related to the fundraisers proceeds. PAST COVERAGE: Community builds wheelchair ramps for girls struck by car at lemonade stand The crash happened on June 10 when two vehicles wrecked sending one into the yard where the girls had set up a lemonade stand. The highway patrol said two of the girls were airlifted to a hospital with very serious injuries. Volunteers from the Foothills Service Project built handicap ramps for the girls when they returned home from the hospital later in June. Come clean The families said since then, theyve also been in touch with the sheriffs office after an organization called Luxury Lemons hosted a fundraiser at the fire department shortly after the wreck. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement That lemonade sale raised thousands of dollars for the families, but they said theyve only received $25 each. It makes me angry that she took a situation a very tragic situation to help her, said Sierra Barnette, a victims mother. The owner of Luxury Lemons told Faherty they have sent the families gifts through Amazon. We did mail the checks out but somehow they didnt get them, said Amber Wells, with Luxury Lemons. We had to cancel them, and with any cashiers check, (it)(takes up to 90 days. Brendletown Fire and Rescue officials said they were glad deputies are looking into the missing money and hopes the family gets what they deserve. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I dont know if she needs to go to jail about it or what, but she needs to come clean because it was all raised for these kids, said Harry Brittain, with Brendletown Fire. Faherty asked Luxury Lemons how much money they planned to send the families but have not gotten a response. Been amazing Teachers from W.A. Young Elementary School helped with Fridays fundraiser and they visited the third graders when they were in the hospital. The families are thankful for the school. It gave her something to look forward to when they got home, said Marie Shell, a victims grandmother. They have been family to us. W.A. Young has been amazing. PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Fridays fundraiser got underway in the morning at Pleasant Ridge Baptist Church along Conley Road. Their teachers set up a lemonade stand to help their families with medical expenses. The teachers who organized Fridays fundraiser said they will give the families the money later in the day. VIDEO: Community builds wheelchair ramps for girls struck by car at lemonade stand GREENVILLE, S.C. (WSPA) Easley police officer Matthew Hare, who was killed in the line of duty while helping someone in a mental health crisis, was honored at the Rupert Huse Veteran Center. He joined a courageous group of law enforcement officers who made the ultimate sacrifice. August 2, 2023, in a single act of bravery, Officer Matthew Hare gave his life so that another could live, said Theresa Thompson, Chief Operating Officer of Upstate Warrior Solution. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It was a tragedy that shook the community. Hare was just 22-years-old when he was hit and killed by a train while trying to help someone on the tracks. I will remember Matthew as the kid who always smiled, said Easley Police Chief, Brandon Liner. Chief Liner said Hares courageous actions embody the purpose of serving the community. What I want to remember most about him is that its not often that you think you will learn from a 22-year-old kid, but Ive learned that no matter what, its not about me in life. Its not about him in life. Its about everybody else, said Liner. And if you have to make that sacrifice, I hope I can do what he did. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Hares impact stretches far beyond Easley city limits. On Thursday, Upstate Warrior Solution unveiled a permanent memorial in his honor, surrounded by family, friends, and fellow officers from across the region. It makes us proud to live in a community who comes out like this and shows their support. Its not everywhere in the country that that happens, but it does happen here, said Thompson. Its amazing to see this turnout. Its overwhelming and it truly makes me understand what community is. That community is what keeps us together and keeps us and helps us keep serving the rest of the community, said Liner. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement There were tears, warm embraces, and quiet strength from a police family that said it has only grown stronger since that summer day. Our entire department was broken when this happened. And then to come in at the funeral and see all these agencies Since then, theyll come and visit, and theyll reach out to Matthews parents, Liner said. Its never going to leave us. But I will say, as a department, its literally brought us together as a family, he added. Hanging now in the Rupert Huse Veteran Center, Officer Hares name is displayed on the Blessed are the Peacemakers wall along with memorials for Greenville Police officer Allen Jacobs, Greenville County deputy Andrew Mazur, and Deputy Austin Aldridge from the Spartanburg County Sheriffs Office. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It means a lot to the community in the family, too. The best thing we can do for our law enforcement officers is to support them, respect them, admire them, especially when it comes to the ultimate sacrifice, said Thompson. When I say this honors Matthew here, obviously, that goes much further. But to the family, Ive spoken with them. It meant everything. And thats what matters to me, said Chief Liner. The legacy of Matthew will be here forever. Hares family said theyre deeply honored by the commitment to keep his memory alive. Every single day, there are men and women who are standing on that front line for us, and they dont even know us, but they choose to do it every day for us. And I think thats really important to show support for them too, said Thompson. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Were here to protect and serve, and we will do whatever it takes to do so. It doesnt matter who they are, it doesnt matter where they came from. You hear that 911 call come out, were going and were going to help that person, said Liner. 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 WSPA 7NEWS. GRANDVIEW, Mo. New details are emerging concerning Wednesdays collapse of a staircase at a Grandview apartment complex. On Thursday, a city codes enforcement officer determined that those stairs had recently been remounted, but that they were safe to use. A maintenance employee was injured when the staircase fell on Wednesday afternoon. $7B Biden-era solar program slashed by EPA, Missouri households to feel impact Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Grandview Spokesperson Valarie Poindexter said that a city inspector also recommended that temporary wooden steps be put in place until all stairs at the Grand Summit Apartments could be inspected by engineers. Documents indicate recent citations have been issued for code violations here, but property owners have always been cooperative in making repairs, and none of those violations were related to safety. All of our problems weve had with this place, nobodys done anything about it, Brian Smith, a tenant at Grand Summit, said on Thursday. Smith said he believes on-site managers have known about the broken steps for a while, but theyre one of many maintenance requests that havent been filled. A Facebook group focused on alleged issues at the apartment complex echoes many of these same contentions. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Theres peoples heat and air out. Theres people on oxygen here. Thats an issue. They even have it in their lease that if its an emergency, it needs to be tended to in 24 hours. Thats how it should be, and they dont do that, Smith said. Theres people where the top four or five stairs are busted on one side. Even if you use the railing, it shakes. Leawood official weighs in on Royals stadium issue Grandview Fire Chief Rodney Baldwin said hes unsure of the victims condition, but hes still a patient at a metro hospital. FOX4 News approached local Grand Summit managers for comment on Thursday, but we were told to leave the property. FOX4 News also reached out to Lindsey Management, the Arkansas group that owns this property, but no one has called back yet. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Poindexter said code inspectors are working with property owners to ensure repairs happen 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 FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports. India appeared on the fast track to a trade deal. An early White House visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi led to months of negotiations. By July, the Indians believed they had struck an agreement and that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer were simply waiting on President Donald Trumps approval. It never came. Instead, Indian goods now face a 50 percent tariff after Trump hit the country with a 25 percent levy on its goods and then followed up with an additional 25 percent to dissuade it from buying Russian oil that was set to kick in later this month, a one-two punch on New Delhi and Moscow. The Russian oil purchases coupled with Trump's view that India was not lowering its own import tariffs enough sank the deal. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The unraveling of what had appeared to be a promising trade dynamic between the U.S. and one of the worlds fastest-rising economies illustrates the precarious nature of crafting an economic partnership with a mercurial Trump administration that has freely used high tariff rates to try to bend the world to its will. We are in a situation now where he is completely upset with India, and the 25 years of effort to build a relationship seems to be going down in 25 hours, said Mukesh Aghi, the president and CEO of the U.S.-India Strategic Partnership Forum. We need to arrest this in some manner because the relationship is critical for both nations. The clash also underscores the challenging position the U.S. is in as its hefty tariffs push countries like India and Brazil closer to Russia and China. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva spoke with Modi on Thursday as the Brazilian leader calls for a joint response to Trumps tariffs from countries that are part of the so-called BRICS group of emerging economies. For months, it seemed as if the White House was ready to announce a deal with India. One person close to the Trump administration, granted anonymity to share details of private conversations, said they understood that a trade accord had been done for several weeks. Indian officials were convinced that an early agreement was only waiting for Trumps approval. The president himself said he believed a deal with India was imminent. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "We're very close to India, and ... we could possibly make a deal with (the) EU," Trump said in mid-July. But his focus quickly shifted to the European Union, while negotiations with India came to a standstill. India, which has some of the highest tariffs in the world, agreed to reduce a lot, but not all, of its trade barriers, according to an administration official, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly about negotiations between the countries. The contrast grew even more stark as other countries, like Indonesia, were offering deals that lowered many of their rates to zero. The president was able to get a number of countries to go to zero, or close to zero in other cases, the person close to the administration said. And so when he looked at the India offer, the team realized it was just totally insufficient. Indians, meanwhile, believed the two countries could reach a deal if Modi and Trump could speak directly in a meeting or phone call. That never happened, as Modi, under pressure from the opposition party in India, was reluctant to put himself in a position to be publicly berated by Trump. And Trump administration officials note that the U.S. struck agreements with Japan and South Korea without leader-to-leader calls. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He has projected himself, the prime minister, as a strong leader, Aghi said. And when you project yourself as a strong leader, then you don't want to get berated by a leader of another nation. And if you get berated, then you hit back. So probably he does not want to go into that position, and that's the reason to avoid the call. The Indian embassy in Washington declined to comment. That was before Trump, who has grown increasingly frustrated with Russia over its continued attacks on Ukraine, singled out India for an additional 25 percent tariff over its continued purchases of Russian oil. India bought $52.7 billion worth of Russian oil last year, some of which it then refined and sent to Europe. India argues that its Russian oil purchases are solely about maintaining its own energy security and has complained that it is being singled out. Other purchasers of Russian energy like the EU, the largest buyer of Russian natural gas, and Turkey, a significant purchaser of Russian coal, have not been targeted by the administration. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Randhir Jaiswal, a spokesperson for Indias Ministry of External Affairs, said in a statement that it is extremely unfortunate that the U.S. should choose to impose additional tariffs on India for actions that several other countries are also taking in their own national interest. Trump, speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday, suggested that other countries might soon face similar so-called secondary sanctions over their purchases of Russian oil. Its only been eight hours, Trump said after signing the executive order imposing the additional tariffs on India. Youre going to see a lot more. Still, trade talks between the two countries continue. An agreement ahead of the new Aug. 27 deadline could prevent India from ever having to weather the 50 percent tariffs. The president has not criticized the prime minister. He's always said he's my friend, and so far, no criticisms have come from that perspective, Aghi said. So I think that's by design, also just to keep that line of communication open. With just days to go before Weiss Memorial Hospital was scheduled to lose Medicare funding, concerns swirled Thursday about whether the hospital was about to close. Dr. Manoj Prasad, the head of the company that owns the hospital, and other hospital officials did not respond to requests for comment Thursday. But three hospital staffers, who asked to remain unnamed, told the Tribune that theyd been told the hospital would close at 7 a.m. Friday. The Uptown hospitals hallways were mostly empty Thursday morning. The emergency waiting room was deserted, and some of the offices and waiting rooms had signs reading permanently closed. A white folding table at the entrance of Weiss held four flyers with instructions for patients about how to get medical records, ask billing questions and find their doctors at other locations. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A man wearing scrubs walked through a hospital entrance Thursday morning carrying cardboard boxes. Its devastating, said Marianne Lalonde, an Uptown resident and past president of the Lakeside Area Neighbors Association, of the possible closure. It serves a population that is really in need. I think people are really going to struggle to find care and especially more vulnerable populations are going to struggle. Worries about closure follow news last month that the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services planned to terminate Weiss from the Medicare program Aug. 9, which is this Saturday. The federal agency issued a public notice, at the time, saying that the Uptown hospital would lose its ability to participate in Medicare because it was out of compliance with rules related to nursing services, physical environment and emergency services. The notice did not elaborate on specific problems, but it came after the Illinois Department of Public Health conducted an on-site investigation at the hospital in June in response to complaints of high temperatures after air conditioning equipment at the facility failed, according to a state health department memo obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The state health department found temperatures as high as nearly 89 degrees in the hospitals intensive care unit and nearly 87 degrees in the emergency department, according to the memo. At the time, the hospital moved all of its inpatients to West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park and other hospitals because of the heat, according to a previous news release from the hospital. The air conditioning was supposed to be fixed by the end of June, according to the state memo. The air conditioning appeared to be working again Thursday, at least in parts of the hospital. The state health department said in a statement Thursday that no patients were currently housed at Weiss. The department said it was continuing to monitor developments around the status of Weiss Memorial Hospital. The Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services confirmed Thursday that if the hospital loses Medicare funding, it will also lose Medicaid dollars, under federal regulations and state law. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It would be difficult for any hospital to keep its doors open without Medicare and Medicaid funding, and especially so for Weiss. In 2023 about 88% of Weiss inpatients and nearly 67% of its outpatients were on Medicare or Medicaid, according to the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board. This week, a number of local elected officials and community organizations wrote a letter to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services asking for an eight-week extension and a reevaluation of conditions at Weiss before the hospitals Medicare participation is terminated to give the hospital more time to become compliant with the agencys standards. Our communities stand to lose not only a critical healthcare provider, but also a key employer and stabilizing force in the Uptown neighborhood, they wrote in the letter. Signers included Ald. Angela Clay, 46th; Rep. Kelly Cassidy, D-Chicago; Rep. Hoan Huynh, D-Chicago; and Sen. Mike Simmons, D-Chicago, among many others. The elected officials said in the letter that theyve convened emergency meetings with leaders at Weiss, the state and city health departments and officials from the mayors office, among others, to help find solutions. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Its been a critical safety net hospital for working families and seniors and communities of color, immigrants and refugees, and so we want to make sure that this hospital is here to stay, Huynh told the Tribune. Ruth Castillo, with the Lakeside Area Neighbors Association, said that if the hospital closed, it would be heartbreaking. Its such an important resource for the community, she said. There are so many neighbors that are on Medicare and Medicaid. They wont have a resource (thats) walking distance or a short bus ride away. She said, however, she thought years ago that something like this might happen. The hospital has gone through a series of ownership changes in recent years. A previous owner, California-based Pipeline Health, agreed several years ago to sell a Weiss parking lot to a developer, angering community members who worried, in part, that it was the beginning of the end for Weiss. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A hospital that has a future plan is not going to sell the last bit of land that it has to develop, Castillo said. Pipeline later sold Weiss and West Suburban Hospital in Oak Park to a new company called Resilience Healthcare led by Prasad, who touted, at the time, his ability to turn around struggling hospitals. Over the past 30 years Ive had the privilege of leading numerous health care organizations and have rescued a number of challenged facilities, Prasad told the Health Facilities and Services Review Board in 2022 as he sought to buy Weiss and West Suburban. WBEZ and the Chicago Sun-Times first reported news of the hospitals potential closure. SAN ANGELO, Texas (Concho Valley Homepage) The Concho Valley may be entering the space race and getting its very own launchpad. A volunteer board member for the Concho Valley Technology Alliance (CVTA) sat down with CVHP to explain how the Concho Valley may potentially enter the space race. Gabe Menchaca, volunteer board member for the CVTA, started off explaining what CVTA is and said they are just a group of tech enthusiast whose ambition is to advance technology in the Concho Valley. The Texas Space Commision has granted the Concho Valley Council of Governments $500,000 award for them to go find a company to conduct a feasibility study for a launchpad reported Menchaca. This study looks at multiple different factors like if theres public interest, is there enough power, land availability, water resources and is there enough manpower to operate this facility correctly. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Menchaca was asked who is able to use the launchpad and he said since the Texas Space Commision funded it, its a race to space. He mentioned that Texas is interested in getting back to the moon. He said that rockets and satellites could be launched from this potential launchpad. The sentiment about the launchpad in the public is mixed reported Menchaca. The technology minded people are excited but theres people who worry about its effects on the environment said Menchaca. For anyone interested in learning more about the learning about CVTA or the potential launch pad, there will be a meeting at 6 p.m. on Aug. 12. at the Concho Valley Council of Governments, located 5430 Link Road. 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. KINSHASA, Congo (AP) The Congolese government has reshuffled its cabinet which now includes opposition members in an effort to cobble together support across the remaining regions where the government still retains control. In a television address by the government spokesperson, Tina Salama, late Thursday, the government announced the 53 members of the new cabinet, including Adolphe Muzito, a former prime minister under former President Joseph Kabila as the vice prime minister in charge of the budget. More than 90% of the old cabinet members have been retained. The incumbent president, Felix Tshisekedi, defeated Kabila in 2019, putting an end to the latter's 18-year rule of the central African country. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Direct talks in Doha scheduled for Friday between the Congolese government and the M23 rebel group will not take place as neither party has traveled there. On Thursday, the rebel group claimed it had not received an official invitation to the talks. More than 100 different groups are fighting in the mineral-rich eastern region. Prominent among them is the M23 movement, which now controls key cities in the region. The M23 group had said it would not be engaging in further talks if Kinshasa does not release approximately 700 members and sympathizers it has allegedly imprisoned. The government had committed to releasing the prisoners but no release has been recorded. On Thursday, the government denounced the rebel groups violation of the peace agreement signed in June. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In February, the president announced wide-ranging political changes and a proposed government of national unity to forestall the conflict in the eastern part from spilling over into broader fighting. Initially announced as a smaller cabinet, the new one remains bloated, only one fewer than than the last cabinet announced in May 2024 as an effort to retain broad support across the country. Dublin, California-based Ross Stores, Inc. (ROST) is a leading off-price apparel and home fashion retailer in the United States. With a market cap of $46.4 billion, it operates under the brands Ross Dress for Less and dds DISCOUNTS, offering brand-name clothing, footwear, accessories, and home goods at discounted prices. The retail giant has underperformed the broader market over the past year. ROST stock has surged 7% over the past 52 weeks and dropped 3.1% on a YTD basis, compared to the S&P 500 Indexs ($SPX) 21.1% gains over the past year and has returned 7.9% in 2025. More News from Barchart Narrowing the focus, Ross Stores has also lagged behind the industry-focused VanEck Retail ETFs (RTH) 24.1% surge over the past year and 9.6% uptick on a YTD basis. www.barchart.com On May 22, ROST reported its Q1 results, and its shares dipped over 9% in the following trading session. Investor concerns drove the sharp decline after the company withdrew its full-year guidance, citing macroeconomic uncertainty and potential tariff impacts, especially since over half its merchandise is sourced from China. On the bright side, its EPS of $1.47 surpassed Wall Street expectations of $1.43. The companys revenue was $4.98 billion, topping Wall Street forecasts of $4.97 billion. For the current fiscal year, ending in January 2026, analysts expect ROST to deliver a 1.4% year-over-year decline in earnings to $6.23 per share. On a more positive note, the company has a solid earnings surprise history. It has surpassed the Streets bottom-line estimates in each of the past four quarters. The stock holds a consensus Strong Buy rating overall. Of the 18 analysts covering the stock, opinions include 14 Strong Buys and four Holds. www.barchart.com This configuration is more bearish than two months ago, when 15 analysts gave Strong Buy recommendations. On Jul. 2, Financial Group Inc. (JEF) upgraded ROST from a Hold to a Buy rating. The firm also raised its price target to $150, citing improved traffic trends, solid inventory management, and a favorable off-price retail environment as key catalysts for potential upside in the stock. ROSTs mean price target of $153.75 represents a 4.9% premium to current price levels, while its Street-high target of $175 suggests a 19.4% upside potential. On the date of publication, Kritika Sarmah did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. This article was originally published on Barchart.com HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) In a final report issued Friday, the Connecticut Office of Inspector General says a Hartford police officer who shot at a suspect at the scene of a hit-and-run last May was justified. According to the report, officer Devanand Budhoo responded to a report of a hit-and-run on Wethersfield Avenue just after midnight on April 27, 2024. While speaking to the victim, the officers heard gunfire coming from a three-story apartment building across the street. BACKGROUND: Office of Inspector General releases preliminary report, body camera footage of Hartford officer shooting at man Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The suspect- Luis Ortiz- was one of two people to then come out of the front door of the building. He was allegedly carrying a firearm and fired at least one shot toward the other person. Budhoo drew his service firearm and ordered Ortiz to get on the ground, then fired two shots towards Ortiz when he did not comply. The Office of the Inspector General says neither shot struck Ortiz. BACKGROUND: Investigation underway after Hartford officer fired weapon The suspect ran back into the building, but was apprehended soon after and charged with numerous felony charges, according to the report. Based on our investigation, I conclude that, under the totality of the circumstances, Officer Budhoo honestly believed that Ortiz posed an imminent threat of serious injury or death to the victim, himself, Officer Cameron and others in close proximity to the incident. I determine that Officer Budhoos use of deadly physical force was objectively reasonable and justified under the applicable legal standards, the report states. Connecticut Office of Inspector General finds Hartford officer justified in shooting at armed suspect in May 2024. Connecticut Office of Inspector General finds Hartford officer justified in shooting at armed suspect in May 2024. Connecticut Office of Inspector General finds Hartford officer justified in shooting at armed suspect in May 2024. 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. Lower Carson Slough, looking toward Eagle Mountain (Photo: The Amargosa Conservancy) Environmental groups are asking federal land managers to reverse a decision approving an exploratory drilling project near a desert wetland that provides a lifeline for migratory birds and endangered species. Last month, the Bureau of Land Management greenlit a proposal by the St. Cloud Mining Company to drill up to 30 boreholes on public lands just north of Ash Meadows National Wildlife Refuge in search of clinoptilolite a clay-like mineral used in water filtration, odor control, and soil conditioner. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Boreholes would be drilled just a few hundred feet away from the boundary of Ash Meadows, in an area of critical environmental concern that includes habitat for several rare and endemic species found nowhere else in the world. Despite the projects location, federal land managers concluded the project would have no significant impact on the environment and did not require a more in-depth environmental analysis before being approved. Now a coalition of four environmental groups the Center for Biological Diversity, Amargosa Conservancy, Friends of the Amargosa Basin, and the Sierra Clube Toiyabe Chapter are asking the federal government to halt the drilling project while that decision is reviewed. These species and this landscape are direly threatened by mining exploration as proposed by St. Cloud Mining. If the St. Cloud project moves forward, it will cause irreparable harm to lands and waters in and around Ash Meadows and possibly drive these species toward extinction, wrote Patrick Donnelly in a declaration to the BLMs California state office. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement St. Cloud Mining, which operates an existing mine nearby that was approved in 1987, did not respond to a request for comment. In a letter to the California BLM director Joseph Stout, the coalition cites the projects proximity to sensitive wildlife habitat, concerns with surface and groundwater resources and the impact to cultural sites, as reasons for concern. The letter, which lays out evidence to support the groups request, says the federal government did not adequately analyze the projects potential impact on wildlife, air quality, or water resources. California BLM director Stout can affirm the original decision, reverse it completely, or modify it in part. If the request is denied, it can be appealed to the Interior Departments Board of Land Appeals, or the environmental review could be the subject of a lawsuit. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Drilling will be limited to about one acre of surface area. The company plans to fill them up and replant seeds after exploration is complete. Any further construction would require further environmental review with an opportunity for public comment. Federal hydrologists did acknowledge the companys plan to drill boreholes up to 300 feet deep would likely hit groundwater due to the areas shallow water table, a major concern for conservation groups. Ash Meadows is home to a dozen federally protected species that rely on groundwater dependent springs, meaning any change to groundwater flow could be detrimental to them. Exploration is typically the least environmentally damaging stage of mining, but even shallow drilling in the Amargosa Basin groundwater system can have severe, unpredictable, and far-reaching impacts. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Borehole Spring in Inyo County, California, near Tecopa Hot Springs, started as an exploratory drill hole dug by the Stauffer Chemical Company for sodium prospecting in 1967. After a driller punctured the aquifer at a depth of 350 feet, the Stauffer Chemical Company attempted to plug the leaking borehole, but steady water pressure kept eroding each successive well seal. A year later the cavity was filled with over 10,000 cubic yards of gravel, but the flow was never completely contained. St. Clouds proposed exploration project, by their own admission, will intersect groundwater. If their drilling activities cause a perturbation to the groundwater flow system, or worse, hit uncontrolled artesian flow, it could affect springs, Donnelly wrote. Still, federal hydrologists maintained it was unlikely the project would hit a pressurized water zone, adding that the risk of creating an uncontrolled water flow was low. The drilling operation will also require somewhere between 20,000 40,000 gallons of water to be trucked in from either the Longstreet Inn in Amargosa Valley or Wolfenstein Construction in Pahrump. Conservation groups noted that Ash Meadows is already threatened by groundwater pumping in the Amargosa Basin, due to water intensive dairy operations and alfalfa farming nearby. Residents of nearby Amargosa Valley have also reported domestic groundwater wells drying up near their homes. Federal Judge Kathleen Williams, from South Florida, has halted any type of construction at Alligator Alcatraz in the Everglades. This means any kind of paving, filling, or infrastructure, will not be allowed in the area for now. The move comes after a months long legal battle between the Federal Government and environmental groups. Since even before the detention facility started operating, Alligator Alcatraz has faced backlash, especially when it comes to the potential impact to the native land. Governor Ron De Santis has said the facility was built on concrete that was already there, left over from an unused airport that stopped operations decades ago. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement State Representative Anna Eskamani was a witness at a hearing to debate the motion on Wednesday. This is a positive decision for Florida environment, the people who care for Florida environment, and Im hopeful we see another win in the near future, Eskamani said. Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers are opposing the move. This is another ridiculous injunction by another out of control judge who is trying to execute a coup against Donald Trump, and I can tell you in Congress were not going to put up with it, U.S. Representative Randy Fine said. The injunction will remain in place until at least August 21, while attorneys from both sides of this debate argue their case. Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live. HUBER HEIGHTS, Ohio (WDTN) Progress is being made on a highly-anticipated convenience store in Huber Heights. On Aug. 8, 2024, crews broke ground on Ohios first Buc-ees at 8000 State Route 235. The groundbreaking came almost exactly one year after Huber Heights Mayor Jeff Gore announced on Aug. 10, 2023, that the mega-convenience store would be coming. Current Progress of Buc-ees at 8000 S.R. 235 in Huber Heights, Ohio on July 3, 2025 | Tyson Reed/WDTN Photo WDTN first reported in early July the chain listed management positions available for the new location. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement When WDTN.com last spoke with Buc-ees, a company spokesperson confirmed the store was on track to be operational in spring 2026. To find all of WDTNs prior coverage of Buc-ees, click here. Buc-ees in Huber Heights, Monday August 11, 2025. (Dion Johnson / WDTN) Buc-ees in Huber Heights, Monday August 11, 2025. (Dion Johnson / WDTN) 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 Brief Construction is pushing pets in nearby neighborhoods Pest control company says anywhere there's development or greenbelts can have this issue AUSTIN, Texas - Construction near the Y in Oak Hill isn't just pesky because of slow traffic. It's also pushing pests into neighborhoods, according to one pest control company. What they're saying "You have a lot of pressure, puts a lot of pressure on rodents and wildlife," Manuel Ortiz, general manager of the residential pest department at ABC Home and Commercial Services, said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It's not just Oak Hill; anywhere there's development or greenbelts can have this issue. Ortiz says the West Lake Hills and Lakeway area also has a lot of unwanted guests. "When they go into your neighborhood, they have to find a good harborage, have to find a source of food and a source of water. That's whenever they make your home theirs," Ortiz said. In South Austin, Ortiz showed FOX 7 Austin examples of pests trying to intrude. Squirrels chewed one part of the roof, and rodents gnawed a hole through the trash can. Whether you live near construction or greenery, there could be critters around. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Austin is beautiful, but there's a lot of wildlife, a lot rodents, and that goes hand in hand whenever you move into this town," Ortiz said. What you can do Ortiz offered some tips on how to reduce pests' impact on your home. Keep your trees trimmed to make it harder for pets to get in. "When you have trees that go right over your home, that offers a ladder, a red carpet into your home," he said. Avoid leaving any kind of food out. "Keeping your pet food and your pet water overnight is a bad idea. You're calling them in, you're ringing the dinner bell for them," he said, adding that rodents can find food in disposal and sewage systems. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Call a pest control company for help treating and preventing pests. Seal your home so it's harder for critters to get in. Just because a house is new doesn't mean it'll be pest-free, Ortiz said. "If your home isn't sealed, it is not a matter of if, it is a matter of when," he said. The Source Information in this report comes from interviews by FOX 7 Austin's Angela Shen. Former Vice President Kamala Harris has announced she has no intentions to run for Californias governorship. Its a significant development for the states political picture after previous polling showed she was the odds-on favorite by a wide margin. So, with Harris opting to sit out instead of participate in another high-stakes race, what does the rest of the field look like in 2026? According to new polling data from Emerson College, the field is about as wide open as can be. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The latest poll, commissioned by KTLA parent company Nexstar Media for The Hill and Inside California Politics, included responses from hundreds of registered voters in California to gain insight on their feelings heading into the June 2026 primary. With Gov. Gavin Newsom termed out, and now equipped with the knowledge that Harris, a California native, would not be on the ballot, the survey reveals that its anybodys race, with only two candidates holding particularly convincing leads. Among them, the top Democrat in the race is former Orange County Rep. Katie Porter. Porter, who opted not to seek re-election in an effort to become Californias U.S. senator, a position later secured by Adam Schiff, announced her bid for the Governors Mansion in March, and by all accounts is the person to beat on the Democrat side. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In April, when Harris was dominating the potential field of candidates, Porter garnered around 12% support from presumptive voters. In Augusts new polling data, Porters support has bumped up to 18%, but still a far cry from the 49% support Harris received from registered Democrats. Porter leads among voters over 50 years old (22%), those with postgraduate degrees (35%), and white voters (23%), according to Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling. Democrat Katie Porter waves at supporters at an election night party on March 5, 2024, in Long Beach, after failing to advance in the U.S. Senate Primary race. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File) Porters 18% is more than three times as much as the nearest Democrat contender, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. The 72-year-old Villaraigosa has held positions in the Obama administration and was previously the speaker of the California State Assembly, but he has not held elected office since 2013. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Villaraigosa is polling at around 5% in August, a stagnant figure from the April poll. Former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra, who previously served as Californias Attorney General from 2017 to 2021, is polling around 3%; Newsoms second-in-command, current Lieutenant Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, also received around 3% of potential support, but on Friday, she announced she would be dropping her bid for governor and instead filing to run for state treasurer. Billionaire real estate developer Rick Caruso, who has not formally announced any plans to seek the governorship, received 4% support by respondents if he were to hypothetically announce a bid. Democrat Rick Caruso speaks in Los Angeles on June 7, 2022. (AP Photo/Alex Gallardo) Caruso founded a real estate company that bears his name and owns several luxury retail centers and mixed-use properties in the Los Angeles area, including the Grove and the Americana at Brand. Caruso was the runner-up to Karen Bass in L.A.s most recent mayoral race. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Other candidates included former State Controller Betty Yee, former California Senate Pro Tempore Toni Atkins and current Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, who are all polling around 2%, as is former CEO of Diamond Resorts Stephen Cloobeck. On the Republican side of things, a new contender has entered the fray for California conservatives. Former Fox News host and contributor Steve Hilton, a London-born politico who was a top advisor to Prime Minister David Cameron, sits atop the field of Republican candidates in the latest Emerson poll. Steve Hilton attends the Los Angeles premiere of Reagan at TCL Chinese Theatre on Aug. 20, 2024, in Hollywood, California. (Robin L Marshall/FilmMagic) Hilton announced his candidacy in April and was not included in that months Nexstar poll. He now holds 12% potential support among voters as of the August poll. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement An ardent supporter of President Donald Trump, Hilton has been endorsed by conservative political commentator Charlie Kirk, 2024 presidential candidate and former Department of Government Efficiency co-head Vivek Ramaswamy and others in the MAGA orbit. Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, who was the leading Republican candidate in Aprils poll, received 7% support in August. While trailing Hilton, Bianco actually experienced a 3% bump among potential voters, pollsters found. Sheriff Chad Bianco of Riverside County speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on May 15, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images) A Republican has not been elected governor in California since Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2003; a Republican hasnt won any statewide race in California since his re-election in 2006. Five percent of those polled said they supported someone else, while 38% said they were currently undecided, a smaller margin than the 54% of undecideds in the April poll. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Emerson College poll also asked respondents about potential candidates for the White House in the 2028 race, with Newsom currently leading the field for the Democrats, and Vice President J.D. Vance the favorite for Republicans. For additional information about the Emerson College poll, including methodology and other survey responses, 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 KTLA. This week marks the 80th anniversary of President Trumans fateful decision to drop atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (respectively, Aug. 6 and 9, 1945). To date, those two bombings represent the only instances in which nuclear weapons have been deployed in war. At least 150,000 Japanese perished a majority of them civilians. But the bombings were successful in achieving their intended effect: Japan announced its formal surrender to the Allies six days after the second bombing, finally bringing the bloodiest conflict in human history to an end. Read more: Contributor: They survived the bombing of Hiroshima, and then they saved the world For decades, ethical opposition to Trumans decision has mostly come from left-wing critics. That seems to be changing. Last year, Tucker Carlson claimed that nuclear weapons were created by demonic forces and asserted that the United States was evil for dropping the bomb on Japan. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard also posted a highly peculiar video in June that, while falling short of apologizing for the bombs, did pointedly warn of warmongers who are bringing the world to the brink of nuclear holocaust. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This is misguided. Looking back eight decades later, Trumans decision deserves not condemnation but a tragic and grudging gratitude. It was the right decision, and America must never apologize for Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Critics often portray Trumans decision as an act of monstrous brutality a flex of raw military might by a sadistic and trigger-happy superpower. But such characterizations, drenched in presentist moral narcissism, do a grave disservice to the reality on the ground and the countless lives Truman undoubtedly saved. They are also a grave disservice to the memory of all those killed by the Japanese at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. Carlson and his fellow ultra-pacifists should visit Pearl Harbor and stand over the sunken USS Arizona, the final resting place of more than 900 sailors and Marines. One can still see and smell the oil leaking from the ships, all these decades later; it is an extraordinary experience. Shocking sensory intakes aside, the sober reality is that the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, no matter how morbid and macabre, were strategically and morally correct. When Truman authorized the use of the atomic bombs, he faced a truly appalling alternative: a full-scale land invasion of Japan. Operation Downfall, the planned invasion of the Japanese home islands, had projected American and Japanese casualties potentially reaching as high as a million lives each. Imperial Japan, steeped in a kamikaze warrior ethos, had proven time and again at Iwo Jima, Okinawa and elsewhere that it would fight to the last man, woman and child. Schoolchildren were being trained to attack American troops with sharpened bamboo sticks. Fighting to the death was not mere speculation; it was core doctrine. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The underdiscussed truth is that imperial Japan was just as ruthless as its Nazi German wartime ally. And the atomic bombs absolutely horrific though they were finally shocked Japan into surrender. They punctured its carefully curated myth of divine invincibility and left Tokyos bellicose leadership with no doubt that continued resistance could only mean annihilation. More than 100,000 Americans had already been killed in the Pacific theater, and those who had survived were overjoyed by Trumans decision: They knew they would live and return home to their families. Trumans decision also affirmed a deeper American nationalistic sentiment: that from an American perspective, the safety and security of American lives must necessarily be prioritized over foreign lives. Truman did not see any moral virtue in sacrificing our soldiers on the altar of an abstract globalism or a relativistic humanitarianism. His first obligation as commander in chief was to protect American lives by securing a final, unconditional end to the war. In this, he succeeded resoundingly. Critics often claim Japan was already on the brink of surrender. They point to back-channel diplomacy and note the Soviet declaration of war the day prior to the bombing of Nagasaki. But Truman didnt have the benefit of postwar memoirs or archival research. He had bloodied maps, hundreds of thousands of dead soldiers, grieving families and military intelligence suggesting the Japanese army would never accept unconditional surrender without a shock so great it shattered their will to fight. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This, too, reflects a clarity that modern Western leaders often lack: the resolve to act decisively, to bear the weight of terrible decisions in pursuit of peace and justice. Trumans choice was not only militarily sound but morally defensible. Nor were the bombings, as many armchair critics have argued over the decades, a form of ethical utilitarianism; Trumans decision to bomb was simply reflective of how real war-and-peace decisions must be made in the heat of the moment. It is fashionable now to question the morality of Trumans decision from the safety of the present. But it is an act of historical myopia to pretend that the atomic bombings were gratuitous or overly callous. They were not. They were the tragic price of a brutal victory and the necessary cost of hard-fought peace. War, we know, is hell. Indeed, that is a very good reason to avoid starting wars in the first place. But once upon a time, Western societies understood that once a horrific war has been initiated, there can be no substitute for absolute victory. That lesson has long been forgotten. It is past time to learn it once again. Josh Hammers latest book is Israel and Civilization: The Fate of the Jewish Nation and the Destiny of the West. This article was produced in collaboration with Creators Syndicate. @josh_hammer If its in the news right now, the L.A. Times Opinion section covers it. Sign up for our weekly opinion newsletter. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. SAN ANGELO, Texas (Concho Valley Homepage) A building in downtown San Angelo that was once a historic hotel is now serving as a senior living community after accepting its first residents on Aug. 6 following over a year of renovation work. The Roosevelt Lofts announced on Aug. 7 that the community had welcomed its first residents. Property manager Adrianna Aguero told Concho Valley Homepage that the residents officially moved in on Aug. 6. The Roosevelt Lofts website states that the property is a senior living community for people ages 55 and up, offering multiple floor plans for units ranging in size from 605 square feet to 907 square feet. Unit prices range from $710 to $1,030, as per the website. Aguero stated that the property will feature a secured building, a courtyard and an elevator, among other amenities. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Aguero said only the first floor of the three-story Roosevelt Lofts building has been approved as of the time of publication. She shared that approval for the second and third floors should be coming soon, however. $4M high-end San Angelo steakhouse in historic building awaits approval Aguero also stated that a grand opening for the Roosevelt Lofts is being planned for September. In the meantime, the community is invited to attend an open house for the property on Aug. 14 from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Located at 50 N. Chadbourne St., the structure was formerly the Roosevelt Hotel, a hotel built in 1929 as the Rainbow Hotel until it rebranded in 1933, according to the Texas Historical Commission. The hotel closed in 1995. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The iconic Roosevelt Hotel sign was removed from the property in March 2017, with the promise that it would be refurbished during the construction phase of the Roosevelt Lofts. The Overland Property Group purchased the property in 2024 and announced in May 2024 that renovations for the building were underway. The sign would be returned to the structure in April 2025, this time advertising the Roosevelt Lofts. I spoke with a lot of potential prospects and current residents about how it used to be, how they remember the hotel back in the day, Aguero said. Theyre really excited about it. Those interested in residing at the Roosevelt Lofts may visit rooseveltlofts.com and call (325)-242-9800 to learn more. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. A Fall River man earlier convicted of child rape and other crimes against minors has been arrested by federal authorities. Dennis Costa, 66, a native and citizen of Portugal, was administratively arrested on July 29 at his home in Fall River, ICE Homeland Security Investigations New England said in a statement on Friday. Costa was convicted on Nov. 25, 1991 of rape and abuse of a child and indecent assault and battery on a child under 14 years of age, federal officials said. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison and required to register as a sex offender in Massachusetts. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Costa entered the United States as a lawful permanent resident on or around Jan. 26, 1969, federal officials said. He will be held in ICE custody pending a hearing before an immigration judge. This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available. Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW MEMPHIS, Tenn. A man who served time in prison for the kidnapping and murder of nursing student Holly Bobo loses an appeal to get out of prison on gun charges. Jason Autry, 50, a 16-time convicted felon, served eight years for solicitation of first-degree murder and facilitation of especially aggravated kidnapping in Bobos death in 2011. He also served time for being a felon in possession of a handgun. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The United States Attorneys Office for the Western District of Tennessee said approximately 25 days after his September 2020 release from prison, Autry was found in possession of a gun, which he had stolen. And within 78 days of his release, he possessed other guns and ammunition. In November 2022, he pleaded guilty to three counts of being a felon in possession of guns and ammunition. Holly Bobos convicted killer asks for new trial after co-defendant recants testimony Jason Wayne Autry Jason Autry, sentenced in Holly Bobo murder, released from prison In 2024, a judge sentenced Autry to 19 years in federal prison for the gun offenses. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Sixth Circuit court upheld the sentence on Thursday and said that Autry had a criminal past, including aggravated assault, drug trafficking, burglary, active membership in the violent Aryan Nation gang, and admitted participation in Bobos abduction and murder. Reports said Autry was violent towards his partners and family members, committed a racially-motivated assault, and was involved in violent altercations and drug trafficking while serving prison sentences and during pre-trial detention. 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. The visit of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to the United States has begun. The visit is taking place at the official invitation of President Donald Trump. This event can be called historical and demonstrates how much the international authority of Azerbaijan has increased today. Both the visit itself and the discussions that are planned within its framework mark the beginning of a new stage in bilateral relations, as well as a new stage in solving the problems of stability in the South Caucasus. Azerbaijan and the United States have a lot to talk about. There are great prospects for the development of cooperation between the two countries in trade, economic, energy, investment, transport and transit, industrial and other fields. In the new geopolitical scenario, all these topics are becoming more ambitious and deserve broad cooperation. A lot has happened in our region and on the continent as a whole since the first term of Donald Trump's presidency. The victory in the 2020 war significantly increased the status of Azerbaijan, transferring it to the category of medium-strength states. Baku is an influential participant in international processes today, and its interests have significantly expanded and gone far beyond the South Caucasus. As you know, Azerbaijan is already entering the Middle East, a region that is extremely important to the United States, and Washington needs such an influential and reputable ally as Ilham Aliyev. The team that preceded the current US administration tried not to see these realities, but Donald Trump, as a pragmatist and politician who puts the interests of the United States above the interests of lobbying circles, knows who to deal with in this region. After being elected President in November 2016, Trump said in a telephone conversation with the President of Azerbaijan that he had heard a lot of good things about him. These words clearly went beyond the standard diplomatic protocol and spoke about the awareness of the new head of the White House regarding the regional situation. Over the past months, the two leaders have developed the kind of relationship that happens between friends who live far away but always keep each other in mind. At the Shusha Global Media Forum in July, President Ilham Aliyev, answering questions from participants, explained why Donald Trump is preferable to the previous team for Azerbaijan. The head of state stressed that Trump "shares fundamental values, including family values. He is the only president of the United States who has not started wars. And in the short time he has been in power, it is clear that he is a man who ends wars. And we are also very grateful to him personally for his desire to help Azerbaijan and Armenia eventually reach an agreement." Donald Trump posted an excerpt from Ilham Aliyev's speech at the Shusha Media Forum on his Truth Social network. This fact has not gone unnoticed by the world's media and analysts. First of all, attention was drawn to the fact that the White House, it turns out, attentively listens to the speeches of the head of Azerbaijan. Earlier, in an interview with Chinese CGTN TV channel, the Azerbaijani leader said in connection with Donald Trump's entry into the White House: "I think the world can become much safer... We remember the time when President Trump was the head of the United States and our relations developed very successfully, unlike in the last four years, when they were in decline due to the unfair approach of the Biden administration to Azerbaijan." Donald Trump. In turn, during his first and second terms, he constantly emphasized Azerbaijan's contribution to international security and its leadership in strengthening Europe's energy security through the Southern Gas Corridor initiative. The American leader has also always advocated promoting the peace process, but not with the usual phrases that other politicians juggled, but by demonstrating an oval interest in resolving the problem. In a congratulatory message on the occasion of Azerbaijan's Independence Day on May 28, the US President wrote: "The United States continues to support lasting peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia. A peaceful settlement of the conflict will further contribute to the prosperity of the South Caucasus and provide more opportunities for cooperation with the United States. It is time to commit ourselves to peace and usher in a new era of prosperity for the peoples of the South Caucasus." Despite the importance of the Azerbaijani-American agenda, the increased attention to what will happen in Washington this week is also caused by the upcoming discussions around the peace process in the South Caucasus. Not only in Armenia and Azerbaijan, but also in other countries of the region and the world, they are waiting for what will happen on the cherished Friday, designated as the day of negotiations between the leaders of the two countries. The Armenian media has already reported on the departure of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan to Washington. Azerbaijan's victory in the 44-day Patriotic War created a new situation in the region, opening up opportunities for peace, stability and good neighborliness. Other parties who tried to mediate peace did not succeed, as they pursued their own geopolitical interests that contradict the interests of the South Caucasus. Trump has a different approach. His administration does not take the pro-Armenian position that was traditional for the United States in previous years, which appeals to Baku. You can talk and even negotiate on such a platform. It should be recalled that during the Second Karabakh War, then-President Trump took a neutral position, did not make harsh statements against Baku, while Europe was seething. The detractors are fooling around, claiming that nothing will come of Trump's peacemaking, just as it did not in Ukraine and Gaza. But there is one very important caveat: negotiations will always succeed where the parties want to reach an agreement. Azerbaijan and Armenia want to reach an agreement and bring long-awaited peace to their peoples. Probably, the participants in other conflicts do not pursue a similar goal, which is why the failures are connected. What can the United States do if the conflicting parties themselves are unwilling to negotiate? Armenia also went to this understanding for a long time and hard, but Nikol Pashinyan's team still managed to draw the right conclusions. President Ilham Aliyev's strength, tenacity and effective diplomacy in the international arena have left Yerevan no room for maneuver. Baku's demands on Yerevan remain unchanged. These are amendments to the Armenian Constitution, a joint appeal to the OSCE regarding the abolition of the Minsk Group.According to information disseminated by the media, both points identified by the Azerbaijani side as a condition for signing a final peace will be reflected in the document to be signed in Washington. The next most important point is the opening of the Zangezur corridor. It is reported that this issue is also reflected in the text of the Joint Declaration scheduled for signing. It is expected that during the discussions in the United States, the legal and technical aspects of issues related to the Zangezur Corridor will be considered. Some analysts today draw parallels between the upcoming negotiations in Washington and the signing of the agreement between Egypt and Israel in 1978 at Camp David (USA), mediated by the then President of the United States Jimmy Carter. It was one of the most high-profile successes of American diplomacy. Donald Trump is making every effort today to repeat this success in the Russian-Ukrainian war shaking Europe. in ending the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, in the settlement between Baku and Yerevan. I think the success of Camp David can be repeated in our conflict. More precisely, not in the conflict, as it is over, but in establishing a final peace between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Baku is not exaggerating at all, recalling the rule of Joe Biden's team with an "unkind word." During his years in the White House, the Biden administration has managed to seriously damage relations with Azerbaijan. It should be recalled that she brought to light the notorious 907th Amendment and tried to turn it into an instrument of pressure on Baku. The amendment itself is an example of blatant injustice, bias, and bias. And the attempts to wave it in Azerbaijan's face were evidence of no less blatant shortsightedness and political blindness. Not only Biden, but also a number of other Western leaders have chosen the wrong and completely ineffective policy towards Azerbaijan. Many people tried to break Baku, including state leaders, international organizations, and the Armenian lobby. The current visit of President Ilham Aliyev to Washington and the upcoming discussions with the Armenian leader there, mediated by Donald Trump, will be a kind of response to all these forces, a blow to the piles of lies and phobias, and will also destroy the established and already entrenched system according to which the West supports the Armenian side by default. Trump is not Macron, the current head of the White House understands that taking sides will not solve problems. This is the truth that Baku has been trying to convey to the Western world year after year. Azerbaijan and the United States are strategic partners. This partnership manifests itself in a variety of ways. Washington is an undoubted partner of Baku in energy projects. Let's say more - the support of the United States played a significant role in the implementation of the Southern Gas Corridor. Further, the United States supports Azerbaijan with advanced technologies and investments. Also, let's not forget about the field of defense and security. The parties cooperate in the fields of defense industry, joint fight against terrorism and regional security. What is expected from this visit in Azerbaijan? Expanding the bilateral agenda between Baku and Washington, improving the quality of cooperation and reaffirming the values that bind the United States and Azerbaijan. We also expect a breakthrough in the Armenian-Azerbaijani settlement. And we think that the same is expected in Armenia. The visit of the Azerbaijani President to the United States is already a breakthrough in itself. San Francisco, California-based Salesforce, Inc. (CRM) is the leading provider of on-demand Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software, connecting companies and customers worldwide. With a market cap of $236.6 billion, the company offers critical services including marketing automation, customer service & support, document management, analytics, etc. The software giant has significantly underperformed the broader market over the past year. CRM stock has gained 4.5% over the past 52 weeks and plunged 25.5% on a YTD basis, compared to the S&P 500 Indexs ($SPX) 21.1% gains over the past year and 7.9% returns on a YTD basis. More News from Barchart Narrowing the focus, CRM has also underperformed the Technology Select Sector SPDR Funds (XLK) 31.1% surge over the past year and 13.1% gains in 2025. www.barchart.com The sharp decline in CRM stock prices in 2025 can be partly attributed to the fears of AI agents reshaping the industry, which may alter the need for Salesforce. Its stock prices dropped 3.3% in the trading session after the release of its Q1 results on May 28. The company has continued to observe healthy growth in subscription and service revenues, leading to a 7.6% year-over-year growth in overall topline to $9.8 billion. Meanwhile, its adjusted EPS grew by a much more modest 5.7% year-over-year to $2.58. Nevertheless, these figures surpassed the Streets expectations by a small margin. Investors concerns primarily stem from Salesforces AI offerings not flaring out as expected. For the full fiscal 2026, ending in January, analysts expect CRM to deliver an EPS of $8.54, up 8.2% year-over-year. Further, the company has a solid earnings surprise history. It has surpassed the Streets bottom-line estimates in each of the past four quarters. The stock has a consensus Strong Buy rating overall. Of the 49 analysts covering the stock, opinions include 36 Strong Buys, two Moderate Buys, nine Holds, and two Strong Sells. www.barchart.com This configuration is slightly less optimistic than three months ago, when four analysts gave Moderate Buy recommendations. On Jul. 16, Citizens analyst Patrick Walravens reiterated a Market Outperform rating on CRM and set a price target of $430. CONWAY, S.C. (WBTW) The Waccamaw River flows throughout Conway increasing the possibility of flooding for both residences and businesses and city leaders hope new water level sensors will help better prepare their residents for the next time water levels become a concern. At a meeting on Monday, the city council approved the purchase of five water level sensors for the city. The sensors provide real-time information about water levels, including what the normal ranges are and when the levels begin to rise. June Wood with the city said one sensor is currently installed at the Conway Marina, but that one sensor isnt enough. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We need some additional sensors in some flood-prone areas, she said. According to city documents, five sensors will be installed throughout Conway: Waccamaw River at The River Walk Kingston Lake at the Railroad Tressel Crabtree Swamp at North Main Street Crabtree Swamp at Church Street Crabtree Swamp at El Bethel Wood said the sensors have been a topic of conversation for years, but the council decided it was time to commit. Every year, these areas are experiencing flooding, Wood said. And we know we need to be able to monitor them at all times. Wood said the sensors would also serve as a key feature in emergencies. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement That is one of the reasons we needed the sensors, she said. So that we would have that real-time data as were in the emergency operations center, we can actually monitor those without having to put someone in harms way. And it also gives the residents real-time, immediate information. So theyre not relying on that information from someone else. Bonefire Taqueria is a restaurant on the bank of the Waccamaw River. Elisa Haik, a manager there, said the business has occasionally experienced flooding. In 2018 or 2019, we had the big hurricane and [Bonfire] got a few feet of water in the building, she said. So our owners, Darren and Cindy, have done a lot of maintenance, repairs. Haik said she believes the additional sensors will be a helpful tool in the future. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Every year you kind of see new things happening on the river, weather-wise, or the water gets a little bit higher every year, she said. So the more information they can gather, the more beneficial to properties right along the water, and ones that will be along the water. The sensors cost just under $26,000. Wood said the sensors were factored into the recent fiscal budget. City documents show that Green Stream Technologies will provide the sensors as well as engineering, installation, and web dashboards. City Council Agenda 8/4 City Council Agenda 8/4 Wood said the city hopes to begin installing the sensors in the next few months. * * * Madi Codispoti is a multimedia journalist at News13. Madi is a native of Spartanburg, South Carolina, and most recently worked at WJHL in Johnson City, Tennessee. She graduated from Emory & Henry University in May 2023. You can keep up with Madi on Facebook and read more of her work here. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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 WBTW. The Brief Bradley Robertson, 41, was indicted on eight felony counts including reproduction and possession of child pornography. Prosecutors say he was a teachers aide at Palatine High School and linked to explicit content shared on the Kik app. Authorities executed a search warrant at his home in June; Robertson later surrendered and remains in jail. PALATINE, Ill. - A teachers aide in northwest suburban Chicago has been indicted on child sex crime charges, according to the Cook County States Attorneys Office. What we know Bradley Robertson, 41, was indicted on eight felony counts, including reproduction of child pornography involving a victim under 13, and possession of child pornography, prosecutors said. He made his first court appearance on June 19, where he was taken into custody and has remained in the Cook County Jail since. He was arraigned on July 28. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Prosecutors said Robertson worked as a teachers aide at Palatine High School in northwest suburban Chicago. The backstory According to court documents, investigators received a tip in early 2025 from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about child sexual abuse material linked to a Kik messaging account. Bradley Robertson, 41. (Cook County Jail) Investigators traced the account to Robertson using the associated IP address, email, phone number, and home address, prosecutors said. Multiple agencies, including the Palatine Police Department, the Illinois State Police SWAT team, and the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Unit, executed a search warrant at Robertsons residence on June 17. Robertson wasnt home at the time, but gave authorities permission to enter. Three laptop computers were seized, according to court records. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Later that day, Robertson voluntarily turned himself in at the Palatine Police Department. Law enforcement reportedly found that the Kik app on his cellphone had been used to upload at least three files containing explicit material depicting children under 13. They also discovered a conversation in which he allegedly discussed sharing child sexual abuse material with others. What's next Robertsons next court date is scheduled for Aug. 28. The Source Details for this report were provided in a statement from the Cook County State's Attorney's Office. Thursday evening sees our afternoon clouds staying tough while also keeping temps on the cooler side in the 70s. While an isolated sprinkle early on cant be entirely ruled out tonight, that will be the exception rather than the rule. If we see some spots break from the clouds, isolated fog will be on the table. Expect overnight lows near 60. Friday morning sees a fairly cool start as we go from the 60s in the morning to near 80 as we move into the afternoon. For those heading out to the State Fair of West Virginia for Day #2, Friday will be a mix of sun and clouds with just an isolated shower chance later in the day. Dont forget plenty of breaks with humidity levels making it feel stuffy at times. Friday evening again sees the clouds persisting, but they will slowly diminish as we head into the weekend thanks to a high pressure system moving in. It will take time for the clouds to erode away but it wont impact any evening plans that much. Overnight lows are expected to drop near 60 with another round of morning fog on Saturday. Saturday starts the weekend in the 60s for any early morning riser. Temps will quickly reach the 70s during lunchtime as our high pressure system from the northeast takes control. With plenty of sunshine, daytime highs are expected to reach the low 80s. Make sure to have something around to keep you hydrated if you plan to be outside for an extended period of time. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Sunday follows a similar pattern to Saturday morning church goers will deal with some morning fog with temps starting in the 60s. Our high pressure will stay in control with rain showers staying primarily down into North Carolina. With more sunshine, this will give daytime highs the opportunity to climb into the middle 80s. Our Interactive Radar Monday sees our high pressure system slowly move down to the south and east. This will start next week with a mix of sun and clouds. Along with a touch more humidity, pop-up hit or miss storms in the afternoon will warrant keeping a rain jacket around just in case. Morning temps will be in the 60s with daytime highs in the middle 80s. Tuesday brings in a cold front from the northwest. This system, along with some humidity in the afternoon, will spark isolated to scattered showers and storms during the day, primarily in the afternoon. If you plan to head out to the State Fair, once again keep those umbrellas around with daytime highs in the low 80s. Wednesday wont be too bad in the morning outside of an isolated shower chance. But with our front from Tuesday stalling out to our north, this will again be the spark to create more scattered showers and storms in the afternoon. Pack something to keep you dry and pack the water if you plan to be outside with daytime highs in the 80s. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement #WeatherTogether In your extended forecast, we follow a summerlike pattern as we head into the following weekend. Our stalled frontal boundary will again provide more chances for showers and storms. It doesnt look to create too much trouble for any remaining State Fair plans but just remember to find something to keep you dry with temps in the 80s. TONIGHT Cloudy at times. Mild with isolated fog. Overnight lows near 60. FRIDAY Clouds persist. Mild PM. Chance for iso. sprinkle. Highs near 80. SATURDAY Clouds clear out. Becomes mostly sunny. Warm PM. Highs in the low 80s. SUNDAY Sunshine continues. Staying dry and warm. Highs in the middle 80s. MONDAY Hit or miss clouds. Muggy with PM pop-up storms. Highs in the middle 80s. TUESDAY Partly cloudy skies. Isolated to scattered storms. Highs in the low 80s. WEDNESDAY AM chance for rain. Scattered storms PM. Highs in the middle 80s. THURSDAY Isolated to scattered storms. Plenty of breaks. Highs in the middle 80s. FRIDAY Passing clouds. Hit or miss storms. Still lots of breaks. Highs in the 80s. SATURDAY Isolated showers AM. Scattered storms PM. Highs in the 80s. SUNDAY Staying warm and muggy. Hit or miss storms. Highs in the 80s. 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. SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) Happy Friday, Utah! Slightly cooler temperatures are expected in Northern Utah today following the passage of a dry cold front. The bottom line? Cooler air moves into Northern Utah while fire danger holds in the South. The dry cold front moved through northern Utah and stalled in central Utah, bringing decreasing winds by the weekend and a noticeable decrease in temperatures today. Expect temperatures along the Wasatch Front to stay in the mid to upper 80s, with low 90s expected through central Utah. High heat sticks around in Southern Utah with triple digits holding on in St. George, Moab, the Four Corners and near Lake Powell. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Since the cold front stalls, areas south of it will still see elevated, gusty winds paired with these hot temperatures and dry conditions. Red Flag Warnings are in effect for the entire state, apart from Summit County. Conditions will generally be similar across the board with southwest winds at 10-25 mph gusting up to 35-40 mph and humidity in the 8-15% range, but the timing varies. The West Desert and Mojave Desert, including St. George and Cedar City, will expire at 9 p.m. tonight. The northern West Desert, Wasatch Front, and the Wasatch Mountains will also expire at 9 p.m. Warnings hold on in eastern and south-central Utah through tomorrow. The Four Corners region, East Uinta Basin, and Book Cliffs warning expires on Friday at 8 p.m. Just an hour later at 9 p.m. Friday the last of the warnings expire which make up the largest area and includes places like the San Rafael Swell, Grand Staircase, Color Country Mountains, West Uinta Basin, and Central Mountains where the Monroe Canyon Fire is still burning roughly 65,000 acres. As far as wet weather goes, we dont have any in the forecast. Dry conditions statewide with worsening drought conditions are expected, with long-range weather models suggesting we dont see precipitation through mid-month. There is a slight chance storms bubble up Monday but with dry air at the surface, gusty winds would be our biggest threat. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We will see how the weather pattern shapes up, so well keep you updated on the latest developments in our 4Warn Weather forecast both on-air and online we are Good4Utah! 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. PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) A wrongful death lawsuit filed against the city of Coos Bay claims police officers allowed a man to overdose in the back of a cop car, ultimately leading to his death in July 2024. In the suit, the plaintiffs allege that Nathan Bradford Smith, 33, was left in the car unattended for 40 minutes before dying in the hospital. His family estate is now seeking damages. Supervisor hospitalized after stabbing on TriMet paratransit vehicle Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Officers Benjamin Martin, Tristan Smith, and Wesley OConnor are accused of neglecting Smith while he was displaying signs of being in a medical crisis during his arrest for alleged disorderly conduct on July 7, 2024. According to police reports, Smith had interacted with police three times that day. The first two interactions involved Smith smoking meth and then speaking quickly and incomprehensibly, and his eyes were fluttering rapidly, the lawsuit says. The third led to the incident that began near a Motel 6 at 1445 N Bayshore Drive around 5 p.m. One of the 911 callers indicated they were concerned for Mr. Smiths safety, according to the lawsuit. Another caller indicated that Mr. Smith was on the ground flailing around. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The lawsuit claims the man was pinned to the ground by officers Martin, Smith, and OConnor and held in a stress position to handcuff him. Officer reports said the man had fought with police, but the lawsuit claims body-worn camera footage showed that he did not resist arrest. Mr. Smith struggled to move his own body into the car, and his breath was rapid and exaggerated, the suit said, adding that camera footage showed him gasping for air at times, with his eyes closed. (U.S. District of Oregon Court) (U.S. District of Oregon Court) (U.S. District of Oregon Court) According to the lawsuit, Officer Martin sprayed air freshener in the car while Smith appeared to slump over in the back before leaving the area around 5:10 p.m. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement After arriving at the Coos Bay Police Department headquarters, the lawsuit alleges that Martin went into the building while the car windows were left closed in 68-degree, sunny weather, noting that the windows had not been working. While in CBPD headquarters, Defendant Smith scrolled on his phone, reviewed and responded to intimate text messages, and looked at TikTok for several minutes, the lawsuit said. Mr. Smith at the same time was shaking uncontrollably and gasping for breath. Emersons arraignment rescheduled again, set for September Three minutes later, Martin returned to find Smith unconscious and began sternal rubs and administering Narcan, the suit says. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Smith was taken to the hospital, where he entered cardiac arrest around 5:50 p.m. and was declared dead by 6:25 p.m., according to the lawsuit. His cause of death was listed as hyperthermia due to Methamphetamine intoxication and probable exogenous contribution from wearing multiple layers of heavy clothing, the suit claims. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now KOIN Breaking News Alerts According to the lawsuit, the officers were deliberately indifferent to Mr. Smiths serious medical need or otherwise serious risk of harm in not calling for medical attention or otherwise rendering aid to a person with Mr. Smiths conditions in their custody. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement KOIN 6 News has reached out to the City of Coos Bay for comment; this story will be updated with their response. Stay with KOIN 6 News as this story develops. 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. A homeless man has been busted for sucker-punching a 94-year-old shopper inside an Upper East Side Apple store during a random and unprovoked attack, NYPD officials said Friday. Cops nabbed 31-year-old Lewis Reynolds after a sergeant spotted him in Midtown at about 12:10 a.m. and recognized him from a wanted poster, cops said. Police charged him with assault, officials said. This is his first arrest in New York City. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Hes accused of storming into an Apple store on Madison Ave. and E. 74th St. at about 5:45 p.m. on Tuesday and socking his elderly victim in the face without saying a word. After hitting his victim, he took off on Madison Ave. and disappeared. His victim suffered minor injuries and said he didnt require medical attention. He told police he didnt know Reynolds, nor had words with the man at any point before the attack. Reynolds arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court was pending Friday. Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch hailed the arrest on Fox 5s Good Day New York Friday morning. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The good news is last night, while you were sleeping, we made an arrest in that case and got the person responsible, Tisch said, calling the attack upsetting. While it remained unclear why Reynolds lashed out, Tisch said most of the people who commit random attacks in the city suffer from a mental health crisis. We need to care for these people, she added. New York State needs a different approach in caring for and treating people with mental health issues, and it cant be the police department always being called to do everything. A 40-year-old man accused of killing a 10-year-old girl and seriously injuring a woman presents a continued danger to others, prosecutors say, after police discovered 39 empty beer cans on his boat on the day of a tragic boating accident. According to multiple reports, prosecutors say Quinten Kight was heavily intoxicated over the weekend when he drove his boat into a group of swimmers at Harris Lake in North Carolina's Chatham County, resulting in the death of 10-year-old Brooklyn Carroll and seriously injuring Jennifer Stehle, 41, a social worker at the elementary school Carroll attended. Stehle remains in the hospital where she had to have her leg amputated. At his arraignment on Monday, prosecutors say police found a staggering 39 empty beer cans on Kight's boat, "seven of which appear to have been shotgunned," prosecutors said. They also accuse Kight of trying to get rid of empty beer cars by tossing them into the lake. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Carroll and Stehle were swimming near their boat when Kight came out of nowhere and drove into them and several other swimmers. Kight faces a litany of felony charges, including operating a motor vessel while under the influence of an impairing substance and unintentionally causing the death of another person. Jennifer Stehle with her family. GoFundMe 10-year-old Brooklyn Carroll. GoFundMe Kight is being held on $500,00 bond. If he posts bail he'll have to wear an ankle monitor, according to Fox 12. Who was Brooklyn Carroll? She was a fifth-grader attending West Lake Elementary School in Cary, North Carolina before she tragically lost her life in a senseless and selfish boating accident. According to her GoFundMe, "BB was a light in every room she entered, with an infectious smile, a loving heart, and a spirit that touched everyone who knew her. Her laughter, kindness, and energy brought so much joy to her family and friends." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Brooklyn's parents, Kim and Matt, are now trying to raise money to help cover Brooklyn's funeral expenses "and time away from work, so they dont have to worry about finances while coping with this devastating loss." Who is Jennifer Stehle? She's a social worker who worked at West Lake Elementary School. She's a wife and mother who now faces a long and challenging road to recovery. "As Jennifer begins this difficult journey, her familyespecially her husband, Justinis doing everything they can to support her, but they need our help," Stehle's GoFundMe reads. "The emotional and financial burden is immense, and any support will make a significant difference in her recovery process." Quinten Kight's mugshot. Chatham County Sheriff's Office Does Quinten Kight have a criminal history? Yes. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to ABC 11, Kight was out on a $15,000 secured bond on the day of the deadly boating accident. The bond stems from a felony hit-and-run he was charged with on Dec. 8, 2023 after clipping Alex Myers' motorcycle. Myers told the TV station that a friend stationed overseas sent him a link to the story about the deadly boating accident, and he couldn't believe that the same man accused of leaving him for dead is also allegedly responsible in the death of a 10-year-old girl. Related: Potential Mass Shooting Stopped at Major Airport "I opened it up, and it was just mind blowing to me that that guy is just living out there completely careless," Myers said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Myers said he was driving his motorcycle in North Carolina in December 2023 when Kight's pickup truck crossed over the center line. Myers said he swerved at the last second to avoid a head-on collision with Kight, whose pickup truck still clipped the motorcycle, causing Myers to crash. Kight's accused of leaving the scene and leaving Myers on the side of the road injured. "If I hadn't have done that, I would have hit him straight in the center of that truck and I wouldn't be here standing and talking to you today," he told ABC 11. Myeers was also charged with DUI following a 2009 arrest in New Mexico. He pled no contest, received an interlock device and served probation. Cops Make Disturbing Find After Boater Hit and Killed 10-Year-Old Girl on Popular Lake first appeared on Men's Journal on Aug 6, 2025 Years after a Coral Springs Charter School teacher allegedly groomed and sexually exploited a then-sophomore, the abuse has come to light following his arrest on Thursday, police said. Joseph Michael Melendez, 33, is facing charges of sexual battery by a custodian, lewd and lascivious molestation and two counts of lewd and lascivious battery, an arrest report read. Police say the victim, now an adult, spoke to Coral Springs Police detectives on July 21 and revealed Melendez had sexually abused him when he was a 15-year-old sophomore at Coral Springs Charter School. The arrest report states that during the students freshman and sophomore years, in 2018, Melendez was his teacher and oversaw the after-school American Sign Language club. They had several conversations as the then-young boy confided in him about his sexuality. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Melendez used that trust to groom him, sharing more lewd and sexual details with the teen and becoming what he described as a sexual mentor, the report read. Over the year, Melendez would later touch the boy over his clothes, sometimes at the charter school, which would escalate to several encounters of sexual abuse, the report states. Detectives instructed and supervised the victim as he opened a conversation with Melendez in July to get him to talk about the past sexual abuse which police say Melendez did recall to him. He was arrested in the parking lot of the Northwest Regional Library in Coral Springs. Detectives said he later admitted to the sexual relationship when the victim was 15. The Coral Springs Charter School, which is operated by Charter Schools USA and governed by the Coral Springs City Commission, immediately fired him. OURAY COUNTY, Colo. (KREX) The identities of the victims in crashes on U.S. 550 that happened on Tuesday and Wednesday were announced by the Ouray County Coroners Office. Coroner R. Glenn Boyd said the occupants in the car on Red Mountain Pass were Louis Michael, 42, of Farmington, New Mexico, and Leoba Valdez, 79, of Aztec, New Mexico. Their vehicle rolled over 320 feet down Red Mountain Pass and landed in the river. A girl was also in the vehicle and was transported to the hospital with serious injuries. There has not been an update on her condition. Boyd also said the driver in a two-vehicle crash near Colona who died was Montrose man Tyler Smith, 40. The passenger of Smiths car was transported to the nearby hospital with serious to critical injuries. The two occupants in the other vehicle sustained minor injuries. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Boyd said the causes of death are under investigation, pending the completion of autopsies and toxicology testing. He also offered his condolences to the families, friends and loved ones of Michael, Valdez and Smith during this difficult and heartbreaking time. Colorado State Patrol is investigating both crashes. Meanwhile, a third collision happened on Highway 550 on Thursday and the second one on Red Mountain Pass. The driver was reported to have minor injuries. 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 WesternSlopeNow.com. The Brief A 23-year-old Corpus Christi man was sentenced to 96 months in federal prison for two armed robberies and leading police on a high-speed chase. Jose Rodriguez pleaded guilty to using a firearm to rob two separate vape stores in July 2024. His sentence includes a consecutive 84 months for brandishing a firearm, which will be followed by three years of supervised release. CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - A 23-year-old Corpus Christi resident has been ordered to federal prison for armed robbery followed by a high-speed chase. What we know Jose Rodriguez pleaded guilty on April 22. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement U.S. District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos has now imposed a 12-month imprisonment for Rodriguez's aggravated robbery. He also received an additional 84 months for brandishing a firearm, which must be served consecutively. The total 96-month sentence will be immediately followed by three years of supervised release. At the hearing, the court considered the danger of Rodriguezs conduct, noting that he not only robbed store employees at gunpoint but also led officers on a reckless high-speed chase through residential neighborhoods. Vape store robberies The backstory On July 9, 2024, Rodriguez and 25-year-old Alex Espinosa entered a Vape City store on Ayers Street in Corpus Christi and demanded money from the registers. Rodriguez also pointed a firearm at employees while demanding cash and their cell phones before departing. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Later that night, both men then visited a second Vape City location in Calallen. They entered the store in the same manner and robbed the employees. High-speed chase Dig deeper Law enforcement identified Rodriguezs vehicle leaving the scene of the second robbery and attempted to stop him, but he quickly fled. He continued driving recklessly through the city at speeds over 100 mph, even turning off his headlights to avoid detection. The pursuit lasted approximately 25 minutes and covered 20 miles. Rodriguez eventually drove to his residence, where both Rodriguez and Espinosa exited the vehicle and attempted to flee on foot, but were soon taken into custody. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Espinosa, of Corpus Christi, pleaded guilty to his role in the robberies and was previously sentenced to 36 months to be followed by two years of supervised release. What's next Rodriguez has been and will remain in custody pending transfer to a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives conducted the investigation with assistance from the Corpus Christi Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ashley Martin prosecuted the case. The Source Information in this article was provided by a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Southern District of Texas. By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) -The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said it ended its case accusing Ripple Labs of selling unregistered securities, leaving a $125 million fine intact and ending one of the cryptocurrency industry's highest-profile lawsuits. Ripple and the SEC agreed on Thursday to dismiss their appeals of the fine imposed by U.S. District Judge Analisa Torres in Manhattan and her injunction against the sale of Ripple's XRP token to institutional investors. XRP is the third-largest cryptocurrency by market value, trailing bitcoin and Ethereum, according to the market service CoinMarketCap. The SEC sued Ripple in December 2020, near the end of U.S. President Donald Trump's first White House term, accusing it of selling XRP tokens without registering them as securities. In a mixed ruling in July 2023, Torres said XRP was covered by securities laws when sold to institutional investors, while XRP that Ripple sold on public exchanges was not. She imposed the fine in August 2024. Following Trump's reelection, a more crypto-friendly SEC began retreating from some enforcement cases, and together with Ripple asked Torres to lift the injunction and reduce the fine to $50 million. She refused, saying neither side came close to showing "exceptional circumstances" that outweighed the public interest in enforcing the injunction and $125 million fine. The SEC said the dismissal of the appeals means the injunction and fine remain in effect. Stuart Alderoty, Ripple's chief legal officer, in a post on X referred to the SEC's actions and said the dismissals mark "the end" of the case. Since Trump reentered the White House, the SEC has also ended civil lawsuits against crypto exchanges Binance, Coinbase and Kraken. The case is SEC v Ripple Labs Inc, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 20-10832. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Joe Bavier) MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WHNT) Visitors to Wind Creek State Park have even more reasons to explore Lake Martin, thanks to five new Lakeside Cottages and major campground improvements. Local officials, tourism leaders and Alabama State Parks staff gathered Tuesday, August 5 for a ribbon-cutting ceremony celebrating the upgrades. Weve made it our mission to offer excellent amenities and a first-class experience for all of our visitors, and the upgrades here at Wind Creek State Park accomplish that goal, said Chris Blankenship, Commissioner of the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The parks latest additions are five fully furnished cottages, each featuring three bedrooms and three bathrooms with water views. These new accommodations give guests more options for overnight stays while keeping them close to the parks shoreline attractions. Upgrades to the popular campground include: Expanded RV pads to fit todays larger, high-tech RVs, 50-AMP electrical service for improved power reliability, and greater ADA-compliant accessibility for campers with mobility needs Todays RVs have everything from full-sized appliances to air conditioners, Blankenship noted. While electrical upgrades might not sound exciting, theyre essential. Many RV owners simply wont stay without 50-AMP service its no longer a luxury, but a necessity. The improvements were made possible through the $85 million bond issue for Alabama State Parks approved by voters in 2022. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Wind Creek State Park is one of the largest state-owned campgrounds in the United States, that distinction is not the only thing that makes Wind Creek special it is the publics access to Lake Martin. Wind Creek is one of the true gems of the State Parks System, said State Sen. Clyde Chambliss, whose district includes the park. These fantastic upgrades will help even more people enjoy the park for years to come. Reservations for campsites and cottages can be made online through the Alapark.com Plan Your Alabama State Parks Adventure Online portal. We want people to stay, play, and explore all of our State Parks, said State Parks Director Mathew Capps. These new amenities give visitors another reason to come enjoy Wind Creek and Lake Martin. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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 WHNT.com. New Release: Farm, merge, grow and expand your land in this new puzzle game! New Release: Farm, merge, grow and expand your land in this new puzzle game! A mosquito-borne virus has led to a widespread outbreak in China but could it show up in the U.S.? The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a Level 2 alert on Wednesday for an outbreak of chikungunya virus in the Guangdong Province, where health officials have reported more than 7,000 cases, The Associated Press (AP) reported. There are efforts underway to control the mosquitoes spreading the virus, including the use of nets, insecticide and drones, the report stated. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Mosquito-borne Virus Spreading Through China Causes High Fever, Joint Pain Chikungunya cases have also been spreading throughout Europe, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). The virus is transmitted when a mosquito feeds on an infected person and then bites someone else. Read On The Fox News App The chikungunya virus spreads when an Aedes mosquito feeds on an infected person and then bites another person. Dr. Paul Sax, clinical director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Brigham and Womens Hospital in Boston, said an outbreak in the U.S. is unlikely. Chikungunya is a predominantly tropical virus spread through Aedes mosquitoes, which can be found in the southern United States. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Cdc Issues China Travel Warning Over Chikungunya Virus Outbreak "The reason why we don't have lots of chikungunya, dengue or Zika in the United States is that there isn't that many of those mosquitoes here," Sax said. "To really sustain an outbreak of chikungunya in the United States, you need to have a lot more people with chikungunya. And we only occasionally have people with that." It is mainly Americans who have recently traveled to highly endemic areas of the world who could potentially contract chikungunya, the expert noted and then they would have to be bitten by mosquitoes that spread it to others. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "So, it's very unlikely to have a big outbreak, but if we were to have an outbreak it's most likely to occur in places like Florida, Louisiana and Texas," Sax said. A sanitation worker sprays insecticide to prevent the spread of the chikungunya virus on Aug. 3, 2025, in the Guangdong Province of China. There was a recent case of chikungunya at Brigham and Womens hospital involving a patient who had traveled to Bolivia, the doctor shared. For more Lifestyle articles, visit www.foxnews.com/lifestyle "She contracted it there and then came back here and was diagnosed here," he said. "But that person then has to be bitten by an Aedes mosquito, which then transmits it to another person If there isn't very much circulating chikungunya in our community, we're not going to see a sustained epidemic." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Symptoms of the chikungunya virus typically include fever, headache and severe joint pain. The joint pain can last weeks or even months after the initial infection, Sax shared. There is no antiviral treatment for chikungunya, but some patients may see a joint specialist who can prescribe anti-inflammatory drugs. Common chikungunya virus symptoms include headache, fever and joint pain. Over-the-counter anti-inflammatories like ibuprofen can also help relieve symptoms, according to Sax. Two vaccines also exist IXCHIQ and VIMKUNYA which are a popular choice for those who travel to highly endemic regions. Dr. Neil Maniar, Ph.D., professor of public health practice in the Department of Public Health & Health Sciences at Northeastern University in Boston, agreed that the risk of chikungunya in the U.S. is low. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Click Here To Sign Up For Our Lifestyle Newsletter In a separate interview with Fox News Digital, Maniar suggested that the outbreak in China is most likely related to their monsoon season, as pests like mosquitoes and even ticks thrive in warm, wet environments. The expert encouraged people to take proper precautions when traveling or visiting tropical areas, even in the U.S. Experts recommend precautions to avoid mosquito-borne illness, including vaccinations when appropriate. Those include using bug repellent, wearing long pants and receiving appropriate vaccinations when traveling to affected areas. "We're seeing an increase in illnesses that are transmitted by mosquitoes and ticks because we're seeing longer seasons where they can thrive," he said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "The population of mosquitoes and ticks is just growing and I think that's something we should all pay attention to." Fox News Digital's Melissa Rudy contributed to this report. Original article source: Could chikungunya virus spread to US? Here's what Americans should know A Honolulu City Council measure connected to the proposed Haleiwa housing and commercial development project thats sparked opposition over the potential loss of agricultural land, increased traffic congestion and the high cost of living was paused Wednesday. The Council voted unanimously to recommit a committee draft of Bill 37, related to a rezoning effort by the developer of Haleiwa Backyards LLC, to the panels Zoning and Planning Committee for further consideration. On its third and final reading, Bill 37s deferral followed over an hour of oral testimony from area residents against the measure and its associated proposed development project. The item also drew more than 850 written testimonials submitted in opposition to the measure, versus five in support of the bill. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Given what weve heard I respectfully ask for a deferral of this measure, Council member Esther Kia aina said, prior to the vote. As proposed, the project is on a more than 7.5-acre vacant parcel between Kamehameha Highway and Joseph P. Leong Highway, near Achiu Lane and Cane Haul and Emerson roads. The development calls for up to 156 low-rise, two-bedroom rental units with an accompanying 30, 000 square feet of office and retail space, parking and a wastewater management system. Basin Project Inc.operated by D.G. Andy Andersonis the property owner. After the meeting, Anderson told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that despite the measures deferral thus far, there is no impact to his project. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He added Kia aina, who chairs the zoning committee, asked us if we would agree to a deferral and we concurred. The developer says the rental units could include eight affordable two-bedroom units targeted for those who earn 80 % of the area median incomefor one person in 2025 that equates to earning $85, 150 annually, state data indicates. As proposed, about 140 units would be leased as market-rate rentals. The eight, two-bedroom units proposed for lease at 80 % AMI would see a monthly rent of $2, 500. The remaining units would have monthly rents of $2, 800. Also, at least 31 units in the project would be deemed affordable rentals to 120 % AMI, the developer says. In 2025 a single person at 120 % AMI earns $108, 600 annually, state data indicates. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement With a mix of uses, the project would feature multifamily housing with a density of 20 units per acre and three stories not exceeding 40 feet in height, according to the developers consultant. The project is deemed gap housing or workforce housing usually considered affordable to middle-income earnersand not solely as an affordable housing project, the developers consultant states. But the Councils vote on a committee draft of Bill 37 does not advance or approve the project itself. Instead, it would allow for zoning changes for the proposed development site. The bulk of the projects property about 7.29 acresis currently zoned agricultural. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Bill 37, if fully adopted, would amend the state Land Use District Boundary Mapfor an area known as the Haleiwa Quadrangleby reclassifying the 7.29 acres from its current state land use agricultural district to the state land use urban district, to allow for its development. The measure says the project will help address the citys housing crisis by allowing for the development of decent, reasonably -priced housing with access to schools, serv ices, amenities, and job opportunities. At the meeting, North Shore residentsmany appearing at the meeting wearing green and white T-shirts and caps imprinted with the words, Keep the Country Country !opposed Bill 37. Haleiwa resident Chris Hagen said his town is already plagued with heavy traffic, so it does not need a new housing development to add to the problem. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement That land was bought as ag land. It was bought to be flipped, he said. (Anderson ) bought it, he sat on it. So when people come up and say its not being farmed, its not being farmed because its being used for development. Hence, (Anderson ) sits on it, he flips it, he makes a lot of money, Hagen added. We as a community suffer. Linda Molina of Haleiwa also expressed concern over the Councils prior votes to advance Bill 37. Most of you have refused to hear the voices of the people who put their trust in you, she said, adding agricultural land in the Haleiwa area is prime growing land. We cannot depend on the ships bringing food here ; this is our source of food. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement North Shore resident Racquel Achiu spoke to the tsunami that threatened Hawaii on July 29, following a magnitude-8.8 earthquake off Russia. And yes, the tsunami revealed a very scary realitywere over capacity. That day, I couldnt get to my mom, she said, emotionally of traffic that snarled area roads for hours. If we didnt have a lead time, we wouldnt be here today. We had three or four hours and I still couldnt get to her. And shes very literally five minutes away. State Sen. Brenton Awawhose Senate District 23 encompasses the North Shorealso spoke in opposition to Bill 37. What we have here is another example of smart investors working towards land flipping, Awa said. Theyve known for dec ades that if they buy ag land, which typically costs less than residential, and they come here they follow the blueprint and get the City Council members votes, the land that they own, if its rezoned, skyrockets in value. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He added this rezone from precious agricultural land to urban development strains the North Shore community. We need homes, we know that, Awa said. But we want those homes put in places that are designated to be built. The Hawaii Regional Council of Carpenters was in support of Bill 37. Just to clear up a common misunderstanding, this bill does not approve the final project, the final site plan or the affordability levels, Carpenters Union member Juan Padasdao Jr. said. What it does is allows us to move forward into the real planning phase. He added, the zoning change unlocks land thats been sitting fallow, and it allows the developer and the community to work through detailed conditions like unit types, affordability, traffic analysis and design. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement If we say no now, we lose the opportunity to shape any portion of the housing project, he said. Mitchell Tynanes, a Carpenters Union member, said he supported the measure because workforce housing is needed on Oahu. And Haleiwa Backyards is a reasonable and responsible place to build it, he added. And although she voted to recommit Bill 37, Kia aina asserted developer Anderson is still a private landowner who has the right to pursue this housing and retail project. The Councils next zoning committee meeting is scheduled for Aug. 21. CHULA VISTA (FOX 5/KUSI) More information has come to light following an ICE arrest near Enrique Camarena Elementary School in Chula Vista Wednesday. Chula Vista Elementary School District Superintendent, Dr. Eduardo Reyes said in a districtwide statement the same day of the incident that the arrest was off campus and reassured families that schools remain safe spaces for all students. Cellphone video shows the moment federal immigration agents moved in during morning drop-off to arrest a parent of children who attend the school. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Why would you do that in front of hundreds of children? It causes a lot of trauma. Theres no need to do this, said Councilmember Michael Inzunza, who represents District 3 where the campus is located. New age limits, riding restrictions adopted for e-bikers in Chula Vista Inzunza raised concerns about the way the arrest unfolded and said he was told two children were present while their mother was arrested. Our police chief informed me that the children were present and that another relative came to pick them up to make sure they were safe, said Inzunza. According to Field Office Director Patrick Divver with ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations San Diego, the woman arrested had a deportation order in absentia from July 15, 2022, and added the arrest was part of ICEs ongoing enforcement efforts and was resolved promptly, safely, and not on the school grounds. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We asked ICE if the woman has been criminally charged but have not heard back. Were seeing a lot more of the in absentia orders coming through of people who have previous deportations and removals getting picked up by ICE right now, so people who otherwise have clean records, said immigration law attorney Saman Nasseri. He explained that an in absentia order means someone didnt show up to their court date. DHS is moving to recalendar all of these cases from 2012, 2013, 2014 so dont wait; file something now while you can while you qualify, if you qualify for something, and you may be able just to protect yourself from getting picked up, said Nasseri. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The CVESD superintendent also informed families and staff in his message that they have strong protocols in place to prevent unauthorized access to their schools. We cant have federal agents just walking on the campus. They need federal warrants, so we want to make sure that were protecting our students, said Inzunza. The district superintendent also recommends families create a plan that allows schools to care for a student in the event parents are unable to pick them up or drop off due to unforeseen circumstances. 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. Counter-terror police shut down an online planning meeting for supporters of Palestine Action, it has emerged. A large number of people had logged on to a Zoom briefing on Thursday night to receive final instructions ahead of Saturdays mass demonstration in Westminster. More than 500 people are expected to deliberately flout terrorism laws by openly declaring their support for the banned group Palestine Action. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Details of the plans to overwhelm the police with such numbers that it will render the law unenforceable were first revealed in The Telegraph. But as Defend Our Juries, the organisers, were outlining plans for the gathering, including offering legal advice, Scotland Yard intervened and pulled the plug on the online meeting. The move came after the Metropolitan Police issued a warning to anyone considering joining the protest that they should expect to be arrested and charged with terrorism offences. And in a further signal of their determination to clamp down on the protest, police have been using all the powers at their disposal. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Defend Our Juries said it had received an email from Zoom that said it was granting a request from the Mets Counter-Terrorism Internet Referral Unit to restrict users accessing the meeting. A spokesman for Counter Terrorism Policing said: The Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit (CTIRU) is a national Counter Terrorism Policing unit based within the Mets Counter Terrorism Command, which is dedicated to the assessment of potential online terrorist and extremist material, including such material found online by the public. It works with service providers to seek the removal or restriction of such material. If material breaches UK terrorism law, police may also carry out an investigation. The CTIRU works closely with a range of technology, social media and online service providers, but we do not comment on specific content or any communication we may have with specific platforms or providers. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Met is expected to have a large number of officers on duty at the weekend to deal with the event, which is one of a number of protests planned. It has even brought in officers from other forces to assist. Dept Asst Commissioner Ade Adelekan: Anyone showing support for Palestine Action can expect to be arrested - BBC Dept Asst Commissioner Ade Adelekan, who will lead the policing operation, said: What sets this protest apart from others is participants are coming out not just to express a view, but with the aim of being arrested in very large numbers to place a strain on the police and the wider criminal justice system. The Met is very experienced at dealing with large-scale protests, including where the protest activity crosses into criminality requiring arrests. While we will not go into the specific details of our plan, the public can be assured that we will have the resources and processes in place to respond to any eventuality. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Anyone showing support for Palestine Action can expect to be arrested. I would once again urge people to consider the seriousness of that outcome. An arrest under the Terrorism Act can have very real long-term implications from travel, to employment, to finances. Also, as we have seen this week, it is very likely an arrest in these circumstances will lead to a charge. Palestine Action was proscribed last month after a group of supporters allegedly broke into RAF Brize Norton and damaged two aircraft. Since the group was outlawed, more than 200 people have been arrested for declaring their support, an offence under the Terrorism Act that is punishable by up to 14 years in prison. Earlier this week, the first three people were charged with supporting Palestine Action and are due in court next month. 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. There can never be enough places in Niagara Falls where you can take it easy with a nice breakfast. Thats what Raquel Schiro and her boyfriend, Dana Guy, hope to serve with their new restaurant, The Country Hen. The new restaurant serving classic diner breakfast food opened on July 11 at 10158 Niagara Falls Blvd., replacing the Parkers Pit BBQ and Como at the Airport that had been at the plaza across from Niagara Falls International Airport. Its your basic breakfast foods, your waffles, your pancakes, your eggs, said Schiro. An omelet option called the Cluckzilla has five eggs, sausage, bacon, ham, and vegetables. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Originally born in Minnesota, Schiro grew up in Canada with parents who operated bar-restaurants in the St. Catharines, Ont., area, which have since closed. She previously worked as a paralegal with the Niagara Falls law firm Falk & Falk, which required her to commute from St. Catharines every day. She has been back living in the states for the past 15 years. Along with Guy, a veteran who went to culinary school and worked at area restaurants, they both worked for the Department of Veterans Affairs, mainly at the Buffalo office. When the department started laying off employees earlier this year, part of a plan to eliminate 30,000 positions by the end of the fiscal year, Guys position was cut, while Schiro lost her position through the Deferred Resignation Program. (Dana) figured he would come here and do something with me, Schiro said. As they drove by the old Parkers Pit location, following an earlier attempt to buy a former restaurant that had fallen through, they saw that the lease for the space was available. It took them a week and a half to decide to go with it, signing the lease in May, and it took two months to perform renovations. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The two also run a chicken farm in Wilson, which helped lead to the restaurant name, but not all the eggs produced there end up at the Country Hen. Schiro said they would need a lot more hens to make the farm-to-table method work. The restaurant currently has a capacity of 80 patrons between the main dining area and the smaller high-top diner area. The two are still undecided on what to do with the other space next to the kitchen, with Schiro thinking they could either add baked goods or expand the diner counter. Were pretty steady, Schiro said, with weekends being their busiest days. They have been asked if they could be open longer and every day of the week, but she said they would not consider that until they have a better idea of how business will continue. Hours of operation are 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) El Paso County Commissioner Jackie Butler has introduced a resolution opposing the development and operation of a migrant holding facility at Fort Bliss. The 5,000-bed migrant detention center located on Fort Bliss is in Precinct 1 of the County, which Butler represents. Butler said the facility, set to be the largest detention site of its kind in the nation, is being built under a $1.26 billion federal contract. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement She said there has been limited public oversight and no local consultation. The resolution is expected to be considered at the County Commissiones Court meeting on Monday, Aug. 11. The people of El Paso deserve transparency when a billion-dollar, taxpayer-funded facility is placed in their backyard, Butler said. We dont know who will staff this facility. We dont know how detainees will be treated. And we dont know how our local law enforcement, infrastructure, and community services will be affected. Thats unacceptable. According to Butlers office, the resolution raises concerns over: The contractors lack of experience in detention management The absence of public input and military coordination The risk of human rights violations in tent-based structures The potential impact on Fort Bliss military readiness The threat to civil liberties under accelerated deportation policies Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Butler added: Our County was not asked for input. But we will not stay silent. This resolution is a clear statement: El Paso County stands for due process, public accountability, and the humane treatment and dignity of every person no matter their immigration status. 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. A decades-old Illinois Supreme Court decision bars Cook County prosecutors from unionizing, an administrative law judge for the states labor board found Wednesday. A bid from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 700 to represent nearly 700 assistant states attorneys should therefore get tossed out, the judge, Michelle N. Owen, found. The petition is clearly inappropriate, she wrote. Earlier this year, county prosecutors launched the first major union drive the office had seen in decades, saying they were seeking parity with Cook County public defenders, who have been unionized since the 1980s. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Teamsters said they believed the legal winds had changed since the 1995 state Supreme Court decision that found prosecutors were managerial employees barred from union membership. The union argued the states Workers Rights Amendment, which since 2022 has enshrined the fundamental right to collective bargaining in the Illinois Constitution, should pave the way for a prosecutors union. But in her order, Owen found that the labor board lacked jurisdiction to determine whether state law should be preempted by the relatively new constitutional amendment. Matt McGrath, a spokesperson for the states attorneys office, said the office was pleased with the order. Our position all along has been that this is a well-established legal matter that requires a legislative solution, and the (labor board) agreed, McGrath said in a statement. States Attorney (Eileen ONeill) Burke supports organized labor and the right of workers to collectively bargain, but as the countys chief law enforcement official and former judge, she will always follow the law first and foremost. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The labor board judge also wrote that the Teamsters had failed to demonstrate that a majority of the prosecutors had signed union cards, though the union had previously claimed to have secured support from a majority of the ASAs. Pasquale Gianni, director of government affairs for the Illinois Teamsters, said the union still believed it had filed its petition with more than 51% support and that it was not sure how the labor board had reached that determination. The union can appeal the order. Gianni declined to say definitively whether or not the Teamsters would do so, but said in a statement the union was charting our new direction forward. Obviously, we are disappointed with the decision, which amounts to the disenfranchisement of working people who wish to be represented by a union. It is our intention to leave no stone unturned to achieve that end, he said. The union has soured on its relationship with ONeill Burke, whom Local 700 endorsed, since she took office. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement While she was on the campaign trail, the Teamsters have said, the union secured a promise from ONeill Burke that, if elected, she would recognize a prosecutors union if a majority of her staff wanted one. Before filing a petition for union representation earlier this year, the Teamsters asked for that voluntary recognition. ONeill Burke didnt provide it, after which the union filed a petition with the state labor board. The Teamsters including the unions general president, Sean OBrien, who at a May rally in Chicago said the union had gathered to give ONeill Burke a dose of truth-cillin have accused the states attorney of reneging on a promise. ONeill Burkes office has maintained throughout the union push that she supports the right of ASAs to unionize once Illinois law allows for it. NEED TO KNOW A Pennsylvania couple have been arrested on accusations of abusing a 5-year-old boy in their care, police say According to police, the boy was "emaciated and covered in bruises" The alleged victim also claimed that he was forced to eat his own feces and would go for days without eating A Pennsylvania couple is being accused of torturing a 5-year-old boy and forcing him to eat his own feces. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On Monday, Aug. 4, the Westmoreland County and District Attorneys Office revealed in a press release that Charles Smitley, 29, and Colleen Cassidy, 29, of Monessen are facing multiple child abuse charges. The child in question is reportedly the son of Smitley, while Cassidy is Smitley's girlfriend, according to CBS News. A Monessen couple is facing charges after police said a young boy was left with relatives and appeared to be emaciated and covered in bruises, the district attorney's office release alleged. The pair are being charged with endangering the welfare of children, unlawful restraint, as well as simple assault. PA State Police/Facebook PA State Police car PA State Police car After an unnamed relative became the guardian of the child in April, the family member became concerned after noticing the boy looking dirty, unhygienic and hungry. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The loved one was reportedly the childs grandfather and Smitleys father, per CBS News. 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. According to the relative, the child appeared to be in pain and his legs and buttocks were covered in bruises. The relative took the victim to a local emergency room for evaluation where he was admitted to a pediatric unit for further evaluation and treatment, authorities continued. Healthcare workers said the boy appeared to be emaciated and had not eaten for a period of time. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Police were told by hospital staff that the boys injuries on his buttocks indicated that he had been seated for an extended time. Getty Stock image of a police car Stock image of a police car The victim allegedly told workers that he was struck with a paddle and tied to a chair, officials said. During a forensic interview, the victim allegedly disclosed that he was spanked with a paddle by Cassidy and Smitley, forced to eat his own feces, and went days without eating. He added that he had been tied down in a chair previously by his father's girlfriend," Monessen Police Lt. Aaron Thompson said, per CBS News. The boy also told authorities that he was forced to sleep on a bathroom floor in the basement without blankets or pillows. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Another child who resided with Smitley and Cassidy allegedly corroborated the victim's claims of abuse to forensic interviewers but denied any abuse toward him, the release continued. The other child is said to be Cassidys 11-year-old son, according to CBS News. He said he once found the 5-year-old "in a closet with his hands taped together with duct tape." The children have since been removed from the house and are both in good condition, according to CBS News. Neighbor Katherine Secleter told the outlet that she never knew children were living with Smitley and Cassidy. "My heart celebrates that bad people are off the street, but it aches for those kids," she said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement https://people-app.onelink.me/HNIa/kz7l4cuf Smitley and Cassidy were arraigned and remanded to the Westmoreland County Prison after failing to post bail, the attorneys office said. Cassidy and Smitley remain on $100,000 and $250,000 bail, respectively, with their preliminary hearings set to take place on Aug. 22, per CBS News. PEOPLE has reached out to the City of Monessen Police Department for an update on the case and to confirm the victim's connection to the couple in custody. Read the original article on People This story was originally published on Payments Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Payments Dive newsletter. Shift4 Payments experienced leadership upheaval this week as the company's chief financial officer switched roles with a board member and the founder's father resigned from the board. CFO Nancy Disman resigned on Tuesday, telling the companys board shell step down Sept. 1, and a member of the Allentown, Pennsylvania-based payment processor's board of directors, Christopher Cruz, will take her place, according to a Tuesday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. "It is with careful consideration that I made the difficult decision to retire from my role as CFO," Disman told investors during prepared remarks in a Tuesday earnings call. She will remain with Shift4 in an advisory role until the end of the year, she added. Company founder Jared Isaacman's father, Donald Isaacman, also stepped down from the board of directors as of Tuesday, the filing said. Jared Isaacman was tapped by President Trump to run NASA in December, but the president pulled his nomination in late May. The younger Isaacman returned to the company as executive chairman he was previously the CEO in June, and then president Taylor Lauber was named the new CEO. Disman was named one of the company's board of directors, a position she will take after she officially steps down as CFO, according to the SEC filing. Her eventual replacement, board member Christopher Cruz, will take over the role the day she steps down. Cruz has been a member of Shift4's board since the company went public in 2020. The bulk of his previous experience is in investing, and he has been involved in multiple companies, according to Shift4's 2024 proxy statement. He served as a partner at the investment management firm Searchlight Capital and was a member of the investment team at Oaktree Capital Management, the proxy statement said. Cruz will be paid an annual base salary of $500,000, along with a signing bonus of $2 million and the possibility of additional annual cash bonuses of $500,000. Additionally, Jordan Frankel, who has been the companys general counsel and executive vice president of legal, risk and compliance since 2014, according to Shift4s latest proxy statement, will become the chief legal officer, the company said. Frankel will be paid a base salary of $335,000 under a new three-year contract, with the possibility of bonuses. He had the same base salary in 2024, the proxy statement said. The son of a British couple detained in Iran has said they do not have access to clean drinking water. Lindsay and Craig Foreman, from East Sussex, were arrested by the Iranian authorities in January on spying charges, which their family denies. "Can you imagine being in a cell with over a dozen people... where the water from the tap isn't safe to drink?" said their son Joe Bennett, who is from Kent. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Foreign, Development and Commonwealth Office has been approached for comment. Mr Bennett said that Mr and Ms Foreman do not have any money, which is needed to buy essentials like bottled water and toilet paper in prison. They have been relying on the generosity of fellow inmates to give them what they need, he said. Mr Bennett called on the Foreign Office to get money to his parents. "It's hard to believe this is what they're enduring," he said. "This isn't about comfort. It's about survival. Water, food, soap - the bare minimum. "We still don't know their real state of health and wellbeing. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "This is urgent. They need support now. Not next week. Not after more meetings - now." Temperatures in Iran's capital Tehran, where Mr Foreman is being held separately from his wife, average at 35C in August. Ms Foreman, who was on a once-in-a-lifetime motorcycle trip around the world with her husband when they were detained, has been placed inside female-only Qarchak Prison. The NGO Iran Human Rights calls the facility "one of the darkest symbols of systematic human rights violations" in Iran. Violence, abuse, overcrowding, unsanitary drinking water, a lack of basic facilities and inadequate healthcare have also been documented by the NGO at the prison. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Mr Foreman has been detained in Fashafoyeh prison, where similar issues have been reported. Brendan O'Hara, vice chair of the all-parliamentary group for arbitrary detention and hostage affairs, previously told the BBC that the East Sussex couple were "bargaining chips" between Iran's government and Western states. Iran has held British nationals in the past to pressure the UK amid political disputes. Follow BBC Sussex on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to southeasttoday@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp us on 08081 002250. More on this story Related internet links (NewsNation) An Ohio couple has welcomed a baby boy born from a 30-year-old embryo in what is believed to be the longest storage time before a birth. Through whats known as embryo adoption, Lindsey and Tim Pierce used a handful of donated embryos that had been frozen since 1994, hoping to have a child after fighting infertility for years. The Pierces received the embryos from 62-year-old Linda Archerd, who underwent in vitro fertilization therapy in the 90s. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Little-known program helps pediatric cancer families Their son, Thaddeus, was born July 26 from an embryo that had been in storage for 11,148 days, which the Pierces doctor says sets a record. I just think that God had him in store for us, Tim Pierce told Morning in America on Friday. He held onto him just for us, on reserve. Lindsey Pierce said they used the Open Hearts program to select their embryos. You pick embryos that are older or might not be picked for other reasons, she said. We just decided, why not? We believe in life at conception, so well just give it a chance and see what happens. I wanted to be part of this babys life: Embryo donor After turning to IVF in 1994, Archerd ended up with four embryos and initially hoped to use them all. However, she eventually found Snowflakes, a division of Nightlight Christian Adoptions, which offers open adoptions to donors. She was also able to set preferences for which families would adopt her embryos. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I wanted to be part of this babys life, she told the Associated Press. I wanted to know the adopting parents. Of the three donated embryos the Pierces received from Archerd, one didnt make the thaw. Two were transferred to Lindsey Pierces womb, but just one successfully implanted. As cases climb in NYC, what is Legionnaires disease? According to Dr. John David Gordon, the transfer of the nearly 31-year-old embryo marks the longest-frozen embryo to result in a live birth. He would know: Gordon said his clinic assisted in the previous record, when Lydia and Timothy Ridgeway were born from embryos frozen for 30 years, or 10,905 days. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Pierces said theyve been in contact with Archerd throughout their journey and hope to one day meet. This photo provided by Rejoice and John David Gordon on July 31, 2025, shows Thaddeus Pierce. (Rejoice and John David Gordon via AP) This image provided by Rejoice and John David Gordon, shows the two embryos on Nov. 14, 2024, that survived being frozen for thirty years. (Rejoice and John David Gordon via AP) This photo provided by Rejoice and John David Gordon shows Tim and Lindsey Pierce in November 2024 at Rejoice Fertility in Knoxville, Tenn. (Rejoice and John David Gordon via AP) What is embryo adoption? Embryo adoption involves using donated embryos to help couples struggling with infertility. Its a concept that has been around since the 1990s but is gaining traction as some fertility clinics and advocates, often Christian-centered, oppose discarding leftover embryos because of their belief that life begins at or around conception. I felt all along that these three little hopes, these little embryos, deserved to live just like my daughter did, Archerd told the Associated Press. Just about 2% of births in the United States are the result of IVF, and an even smaller fraction involve donated embryos. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement However, medical experts estimate about 1.5 million frozen embryos are currently being stored throughout the country, with many of those in limbo as parents wrestle with what to do with their leftover embryos created in IVF labs. 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 NewsNation. A federal appeals court on Friday overturned U.S. District Judge James Boasberg's attempt to initiate contempt proceedings against the Trump administration related to the March deportation of hundreds of migrants to El Salvador, in what the panel's majority described as an "extraordinary, ongoing confrontation between the Executive and Judicial Branches." In a 2-1 decision, Judges Gregory Katsas and Neomi Rao -- both Trump appointees -- vacated Judge Boasberg's contempt-related order that sought to determine if members of the Trump administration deliberately defied a court order after the president invoked the Alien Enemies Act in March. "The district court's order raises troubling questions about judicial control over core executive functions like the conduct of foreign policy and the prosecution of criminal offenses. And it implicates an unsettled issue whether the judiciary may impose criminal contempt for violating injunctions entered without jurisdiction," Judge Katsas wrote in a concurring opinion. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement MORE: Trump administration likely acted in contempt of court by not turning around deportation flights, judge says The Trump administration invoked the Alien Enemies Act -- an 18th century wartime authority used to remove noncitizens with little-to-no due process -- to deport two planeloads of alleged migrant gang members to the CECOT mega-prison in El Salvador by arguing that the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua is a "hybrid criminal state" that is invading the United States. Boasberg issued a temporary restraining order and ordered that the planes be turned around, but Justice Department attorneys said his oral instructions directing the flight to be returned were defective, and the deportations proceeded as planned. Boasberg subsequently sought contempt proceedings against the government for deliberately defying his order. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Judge Katsas, in Friday's decision, wrote that the "ambiguities" in Judge Boasberg's original order blocking the removal of the migrants make it impossible to definitively say that the Trump administration acted in contempt. Presidency Of El Salvador/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock - PHOTO: Alleged members of the Venezuelan criminal organization Tren de Aragua who were deported by the U.S. government, are detained at the Terrorism Confinement Center in Tecoluca, El Salvador in a photo obtained Mar. 16, 2025. "At the time of the alleged contempt, just hours after the TRO hearing and before any transcript of it was available, the district court's minute order could reasonably have been read either way. Thus, the TRO cannot support a criminal-contempt conviction here," he wrote. In a searing dissent, Judge Cornelia Pillard defended Judge Boasberg's attempt to initiate contempt proceedings to "vindicate the authority of the court" after the "apparently contumacious conduct." "The rule of law depends on obedience to judicial orders," she wrote. " Yet, shortly after the district court granted plaintiffs' emergency motion for a temporary restraining order, defendants appear to have disobeyed it. Our system of courts cannot long endure if disappointed litigants defy court orders with impunity rather than legally challenge them. That is why willful disobedience of a court order is punishable as criminal contempt." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement ACLU lawyer Lee Gelernt, the lead counsel in the case, said following the ruling, "We strongly disagree with today's decision regarding contempt and are considering all options going forward. Even DOJ's own lawyers have now stated publicly that they understood that they were not supposed to hand over these men to El Salvador. There was zero ambiguity in the moment." Attorney General Pam Bondi celebrated Friday's ruling on social media, calling Judge Boasberg's order "failed judicial overreach at its worst." "Our @TheJusticeDept attorneys just secured a MAJOR victory defending President Trump's use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport illegal alien terrorists. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed what we've argued for months: Judge Boasberg's attempt to sanction the government for deporting criminal-alien terrorists was a "clear abuse of discretion," Bondi wrote. "We will continue fighting and WINNING in court for President Trump's agenda to keep America Safe!" Court orders reinstatement with full back pay for officer fired after Jim Rogers tasing death 11 Investigates has learned that the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania issued an order reinstating former Pittsburgh police officer Keith Edmonds with full back pay. Edmonds was one of several officers fired following an October 2021 incident in Bloomfield, where Jim Rogers was tased while being arrested over a stolen bike. Body-camera footage shows Rogers, who allegedly stole a bicycle, with his hands up being tased by Officer Edmonds. He falls to the ground and is tased again. He then tries to run and is tased yet again. Rogers went into cardiac arrest and died at the hospital the next day. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The City of Pittsburgh paid Rogers family $8 million to settle a federal civil rights lawsuit. However, the citys medical examiner deemed Rogers death accidental. The police union appealed Edmonds firing, claiming he was not responsible for Rogers death. An arbitrator ruled in Edmonds favor, though a common pleas judge later upheld the termination, saying there was overwhelming evidence Edmonds violated policy. Edmonds was ordered reinstated with full back pay by Commonwealth Court after the union appealed further. The other officers who were fired had all been reinstated previously. None of the officers were ever criminally charged. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Robert Swartzwelder, president of Fraternal Order of Police Fort Pitt Lodge No. 1, gave this statement: The FOP is pleased with the overturning of the Common Pleas Court and the concurring opinion of one of the judges stating that personal opinions do not belong in judicial rulings. The FOP knew all along of Officer Edmonds innocence and that he acted reasonably. It was unfortunate and tragic that Jim Rogers died, but in the Citys rush to judgment, the City ignored all medical evidence and made a public media mess of the officers lives involved. However, as is the Citys practice, they will likely appeal again. The FOP expects the Pa. Supreme Court to shut that appeal down for the Commonwealth Court, in an En Banc ruling legally destroying every issue the City of Pittsburgh raised. Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW (FOX40.COM) A federal appeals court struck down Californias first-in-the-nation gun control law that required background checks to purchase ammunition, declaring it a violation of Second Amendment constitutional rights. Video Above: Understanding common gun terms Background The controversial law was passed by voters in 2016. However, two years later, gun rights advocates filed a successful lawsuit, Rhode v. Bonta, to reverse the law. In 2020, the suit led to an injunction issued by a federal district court to reverse the law, but an appeals court blocked the order and allowed the law to take effect. California gun control bill that could ban popular Glock pistol sales moves forward Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Fast forward another two years, and a precedent was set in a gun rights case that made it to the U.S. Supreme Court. In New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen, the Supreme Court ruled that New Yorks proper cause requirement for concealed carry permits was unconstitutional. Subsequently, Californias gun laws were thrust back into the spotlight. The ruling On July 24, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit struck down Californias ammunition background check law, deeming it unconstitutional. Circuit Judge Sandra Ikuta said California failed to prove that the law was consistent with the countrys historical tradition of firearm regulation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Northern California deputies warn about sex predator targeting local teens By subjecting Californians to background checks for all ammunition purchases, Californias ammunition background check regime infringes on the fundamental right to keep and bear arms, Ikuta said. Californias governor condemned the courts decision. Strong gun laws save lives and todays decision is a slap in the face to the progress California has made in recent years to keep its communities safer from gun violence, Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement. Californians voted to require background checks on ammunition, and their voices should matter. The aftermath According to the California Department of Justice, ammunition purchase laws, including background checks, are still in effect. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The DOJ said that even though the appeals court made a ruling, the Ninth Circuit must issue its mandate, which would make its decision final and transfer jurisdiction back to the district court. Currently, none of those procedural steps have been taken, the DOJ said on its website. Accordingly, Californias background check requirements for ammunition purchases currently remain in effect and should continue to be followed by dealers/sellers until further notice. 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. DOTHAN, Ala (WDHN) A father in Covington County has filed a lawsuit against Roblox, a popular video game, on claims that his daughter was groomed and almost raped by a man she met on the world-building game. In the lawsuit, the father and attorneys claim the 14-year-old girl was manipulated and groomed through Defendants dangerous apps by a predator who ultimately attempted to rape her. According to the lawsuit, when the girl was 13, she met an adult man on the gaming app, claiming also to be 13, who began grooming the girl to build an emotional connection with her. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement After gaining the girls trust, the man intensified the interactions not just on Roblox, but also on Discord, a messaging and video chat app, attorneys say. Discord was also named in the lawsuit. Parents file lawsuit against Elba schools after 14-year-old childs suicide He sent Plaintiff graphic messages describing sexual acts he intended to do to her, and sent her sexually explicit images of himself, attorneys wrote in the lawsuit. The predator also used Robloxs virtual currency Robux to coerce Plaintiff into continuing to interact with him. By regularly giving Plaintiff Robux, the predator was able to manipulate Plaintiffs emotions and foster Plaintiffs dependency on him. Attorneys claim the man eventually convinced the girl to meet with him in person, and in January 2025, he traveled from another state to Covington County, where he met her at a fast food restaurant near her house. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement After meeting at the restaurant, the man took her to another location, where he attempted to rape her, but she fought back, and law enforcement arrived during the attack, according to the lawsuit. After the attack, the girl was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and depression, and was hospitalized twice for psychiatric treatment. The Plaintiff has suffered unimaginable harm. Her innocence has been snatched from her forever. Tragically, what happened to her is far from an isolated event, said attorneys. Attorneys for the family did say the man was arrested by law enforcement. WDHN has contacted authorities in Covington County for more information. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This lawsuit is one of multiple that have been filed against the mega world-building game over the past few weeks in California, Florida, Indiana, New Jersey, Texas, and Washington. One suit filed in Iowa calls Roblox a digital hunting ground for child abusers. Parents sue Roblox claiming it makes grooming, kidnapping too easy But unlike a single game, Roblox is actually a huge online platform hosting millions of user-created environments where kids can build, explore, and interact live with others, Titania Jordan, an executive at content monitoring app Bark and author of Parental Control, told WDHNs parent company NEXSTAR. Its blocky, playful style makes it seem safe and welcoming, but that surface can be misleading when it comes to real safety. Because of its size and the way it encourages chatting and socializing, Roblox can sometimes act like a virtual playground with minimal adult supervision. Stay with WDHN for updates. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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 WDHN - wdhn.com. LOUISVILLE, Ky. (FOX 56) Children were sent running for cover when shots rang out while waiting for the school bus on the first day of classes in Jefferson County. Now the Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) is searching for the person they believe pulled the trigger. Read more of the latest Kentucky news The Louisville FOX affiliate, WDRB, reported that shots were fired around 8:07 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 7, in the 1000 block of West Chestnut Street near Central High School and Coleridge-Taylor Montessori Elementary. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This person has no regard for our kids safety, firing shots near several young students, Deputy Chief of Police Emily McKinley said. A milestone day like this should not be overshadowed by a coward with a gun. The police department released the following images of the alleged shooter in hopes that someone will recognize them. Suspected bus stop shooter (LMPD) Suspected bus stop shooter (LMPD) Suspected bus stop shooter (LMPD) Suspected bus stop shooter (LMPD) Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Thankfully, nobody was hurt, but the emotional toll is real, McKinely said. We wont stand for this kind of violence, and our community should not have to. LATEST KENTUCKY NEWS: Additional officers were patrolling on Friday morning, reassuring students and their families. Were trying to speak with the parents, speak with the kids, and make sure everybody feels safe, Major Bryan Edelen said. Our officers are doing everything they possibly can to close out the event that happened yesterday morning. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement WDRB reported on Saturday that a teen had been arrested and charged in connection with the shooting 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 FOX 56 News. While I appreciate Laurie Roberts recent concern for the safety of my position leading the exceptional members of the U.S. Attorneys Office in Arizona, her article cherry-picked statistics to mischaracterize the impressive success weve had in Arizona over the last six months. That success is based on securing the southern border, cooperating with local law enforcement to detain aliens found in local jails, and doing the hard work of fixing the damage done to the immigration system over the last four years. First, Ms. Roberts asserts that lower federal immigration case numbers means that federal authorities are not meeting the presidents mission. But she selectively ignores the operational control the administration has achieved over the southwest border in just six months in office. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The bottom line is that the number of illegal border crossings, which make up the majority of federal immigration prosecutions, has cratered. Illegal border crossings are down markedly in Arizona For example, in June 2024 there were 130,415 reported encounters along the southwest border of the United States. Compare that to June 2025, where the number of encounters plummeted to 9,306 14 times lower than the previous year. Since the presidents assumption of office and under the leadership of Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, the federal government has established control over the border, deterring people from entering the United States illegally, which has led to fewer illegal border crossings, and therefore fewer prosecutions. Next, Ms. Roberts tries to draw the conclusion that because of a nationwide statistic that only 40% of ICEs 112,000 arrests have criminal convictions, the focus is not on criminal immigration enforcement. Again, she mischaracterizes the state of immigration enforcement in Arizona by using the word convicted. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Because Arizona has no sanctuary jurisdictions and lets keep it that way local law enforcement agencies honor ICE detainers for people who are arrested and are in the United States illegally. As all who respect our criminal process know, an arrest is not a conviction. We are focused on criminal immigration enforcement But for a deportation, ICE must review the underlying facts of the arrest to determine if an alien committed a crime that warrants a certain type of removal. This review often happens before a conviction because ICE cannot risk the release of a law-breaking alien back into our community. According to Ms. Roberts definition, deporting an illegal alien who was arrested for aggravated assault or drug distribution is not focusing on criminal immigration enforcement. We respectfully disagree. Opinion: ICE detained 2 as kids walked to a Phoenix school. This is not OK Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Finally, Ms. Roberts fails to appreciate the great harm done by the previous administrations failure to properly enforce the administrative aspects of immigration law, which are the foundation on which future criminal prosecutions are built. The U.S. Attorneys Office has a high standard for its evidence in a criminal prosecution. Because previous administrations, going back decades, did not always prioritize the required documentation for prosecution, we are now left to clean up the files. There's a reason we're using administrative removals Much of the current use of administrative removals is to create clear, legally defensible records that will form the basis of any future prosecution if an alien returns to the United States without permission. Federal law enforcement officers in the District of Arizona have secured the border, are removing and arresting criminal aliens thanks to the help of local law enforcement, and our office is prosecuting every viable criminal immigration case. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Our success demonstrates the high caliber of support we are providing to the men and women in ICE, who are tasked with enforcing valid immigration laws, after years of neglect. I wish Ms. Roberts had reached out to our office to ask about our work before jumping to conclusions. I would have gladly pointed her to these successes to better inform her column. Timothy Courchaine is United States attorney, District of Arizona. Reach him on X at @USAO_AZ. Like this column? Get more opinions in your email inbox by signing up for our free opinions newsletter, which publishes Monday through Friday. This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona is safer, even with lower immigration case numbers | Opinion Cuban American Republican members of Congress from Miami said they will work to freeze Cuban government assets abroad and put more pressure on foreign governments helping the regime in Havana, after a Miami Herald investigation revealed that the Cuban military has hoarded billions of dollars sitting in unknown bank accounts. The Herald obtained secret accounting documents from GAESA, the conglomerate run by Cubas Revolutionary Armed Forces, showing that it had $18 billion in current assets in March last year, of which $14.5 billion were deposited in unidentified bank accounts and GAESAs financial institutions. Where is Cubas money? Secret records show the military has massive cash hoard Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Heralds reporting raises questions about the governments narrative blaming the U.S. embargo as the exclusive cause of the countrys severe economic crisis and the Cuban militarys role in the ongoing humanitarian crisis. GAESA runs businesses in several sectors, including tourism, banking, trade and retail, and can tap into many of the islands revenue streams in foreign currency. The military conglomerate and several of its companies are under U.S. sanctions--meaning their assets in the U.S., if any, are frozen--but even so, it has managed to generate billions in revenue, the documents show. GAESAs financial statements obtained by the Herald show the conglomerate made $2.1 billion in net profits during the first quarter of 2024 and $7.2 billion during the first eight months of 2023, all while the islands electrical grid collapsed repeatedly and the government asked the United Nations for humanitarian aid to provide milk to young children. Reacting to the revelations, Republican U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez, said he would work with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, also a Cuban American, to hold the regime and its accomplices accountable. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The regime in Cuba is not only murderous and cruel, but profoundly corrupt, Gimenez told the Herald. The dictatorship is quick to blame U.S. policy for its woes, but it has billions of dollars tucked away in banks while the Cuban people suffer. These funds were stolen from the Cuban people, and we will use all the diplomatic and legal tools available to freeze the regimes assets and shame complicit foreign governments who profit off the continued oppression of the Cuban nation. To implement a recent presidential memorandum, U.S. agencies are expected to issue regulations that would allow imposing secondary sanctions on foreign companies engaging in transactions with Cuban military-owned entities. These Cuban companies are actually run by the military, secret documents show U.S. Rep Mario Diaz-Balart said a bill he introduced last month to fund the State Department and other foreign operations for fiscal year 2026 would deny U.S. aid to governments or entities engaging financially with military-run entities in Cuba. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement While the regime in Havana blames the embargo, secret records show the Cuban military is swimming in cash, Diaz-Balart said on a publication on X. My Appropriations bill makes sure not a dime from the U.S. taxpayer supports them and blocks aid to anyone bankrolling or doing business with the regimes oppressive security forces full stop. U.S Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar took issue with the Cuban governments denunciations of the U.S. embargo, which Cuban officials say denies the government the resources to buy foo and medicines and maintain the power grid. Cubas real blockade is the Cuban dictatorship, she said in an X publication commenting on the Herald story. While the regime blames the U.S. for blackouts, hunger, and medicine shortages, its sitting on billions through its military empire, GAESA. That money isnt used to feed the people or fix the grid, its used to suppress them. The Castro mafia doesnt need help, they need to be eradicated from power and held accountable, she added. Cubans suffering is not caused by the embargo. Its caused by the criminals in power. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Five takeaways from a Herald investigation of Cuban militarys secret dollar cache While that sort of rhetoric coming from Miami politicians usually prompts a reaction on government-controlled media in Havana, the Cuban government has been conspicuously silent. The Cuban government has also not responded to the information reported by the Herald about GAESAs finances. GAESAs finances are treated as military secrets, are not shared with other ministries or government agencies and are outside the purview of the governments comptroller, who is not authorized to audit them. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not reply to a request for comment for the story, nor the countrys government comptroller, and the social media accounts of senior diplomats who actively comment on U.S-Cuba relations or revelations published in U.S. media have been muted on the subject. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On Tuesday, when the Herald published the investigation, Cubas leader Miguel Diaz-Canel tweeted about sports, the birthday of a renowned Cuban choir director and the war in Gaza. On Friday, the State Departments Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs shared the Herald investigation on X with the comment: GAESA is hoarding billions while the Cuban people lack food, medicine, and electricity. If the Cuban militarys secret war chest isnt addressing the peoples needs what is it being used for and who really is running Cuba? SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) Happy Friday eve, Utah! Todays weather will be similar to what we saw yesterday with toasty temperatures and a mix of sun and clouds. Daytime highs will run about 5 degrees above average which translates to mid to upper 90s for valleys, upper 80s to low 90s for cooler spots and high terrain, and low to mid 100s for the usual hot spots. Triple digits are not out of the question for the Wasatch Front, yesterday the Salt Lake International Airport briefly measured 101 degrees! While the afternoon will start clear for most of us, well see increasing clouds coverage through the day. Breezy conditions are expected ahead of an incoming dry cold front, that coupled with the dry vegetation and low relative humidity means fire conditions are critical. Red Flag Warnings are in effect for the entire state, apart from Summit County. Conditions will generally be similar across the board with southwest winds at 10-25 mph gusting up to 35-40 mph and humidity in the 8-15% range, but the timing varies. The West Desert and Mojave Desert, including St. George and Cedar City, will expire at 9 pm tonight. The northern West Desert, Wasatch Front, and the Wasatch Mountains will also expire at 9 pm. Warnings hold on in eastern and south-central Utah through tomorrow. The Four Corners region, East Uinta Basin, and Book Cliffs warning expires on Friday at 8 pm. Just an hour later at 9 pm Friday the last of the warnings expire which make up the largest area and includes places like the San Rafael Swell, Grand Staircase, Color Country Mountains, West Uinta Basin, and Central Mountains where the Monroe Canyon Fire is still burning ROUGHLY 65,000 ACRES. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement While alerts in southwest Utah expire tonight, there will still be a critical fire threat from the southwest and through eastern Utah into Saturday thanks to gusty winds. The reason we see elevated winds in parts of central, southern and eastern Utah is linked to the progression of an incoming cold front. This dry cold front will move through northern Utah into Friday night before stalling, bringing decreasing winds by the weekend and a noticeable drop in temperatures, especially in the north. We could see a day or two in the mid to upper 80s, which would be a nice change from the summer heat. Well keep you updated on the latest developments in our 4Warn forecast both on-air and online, we are Good4Utah! 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. Shopify (SHOP) shares closed more than 20% up on Wednesday after the e-commerce company reported significantly better-than-expected earnings for its second financial quarter. Investors cheered SHOP also because the management issued upbeat guidance for Q3, indicating confidence in the companys ability to navigate higher tariffs under President Donald Trump. More News from Barchart Shopify stock has been in a sharp uptrend over the past four months and is now up roughly 120% versus its year-to-date low in early April. www.barchart.com Management Remains Bullish on Shopify Stock Other than the headline numbers, there was plenty in the managements commentary that warrants buying SHOP stock following its second-quarter financial release. For starters, executives confirmed that tariffs have not resulted in any drop in US demand, whether inbound, outbound, or local. If anything, the market actually accelerated in the recently concluded quarter even in the wake of several Shopify merchants choosing to increase prices, added Jeff Hoffmeister, the firms CFO. Shopify shares may be worth owning for the long term also because the e-commerce platform is aggressively spending on AI tools to attract and retain merchants. SHOP Shares Are Trading at a Premium Valuation While there was hardly anything in the quarterly release to discourage initiating a position in SHOP shares, investors are still recommended caution primarily due to valuation concerns. Shopify stock is currently going for a forward price-earnings (P/E) multiple of more than 120x, which is much higher than peers including Amazon (AMZN) and Etsy (ETSY), both of which are trading at around 30x only. Thats why UBS analysts maintained their Hold rating on the Canadian company last week, and left their $110 price target unchanged, signalling potential for nearly 30% downside from here. How Wall Street Recommends Playing Shopify Investors should remain wary of buying Shopify stock today since its already trading significantly above Wall Street analysts mean price target. According to Barchart, while the consensus rating on SHOP shares remains at Moderate Buy, the average price target of about $119 only indicates potential downside of more than 20% from current levels. Crowds lined the streets of St Helier to watch Jersey's Battle of Flowers parade. Renowned for its colourful floral floats and dancers, the 123-year-old annual event brings a carnival atmosphere to the streets of Jersey. There were Disney-themed floats as well as others which celebrated nature and the world of films and music. The event was free of charge and scaled-down this year to save money, and the exhibits, marching bands and dancers went through the town instead of along Victoria Avenue. Bianca Walters said there were more people this year [BBC] There will be an evening parade on Saturday at 19:30, with a firework finale. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Both parades are free to attend this year for the first time. Bianca Walters said it was "probably a bit better this way". "There are more people, the atmosphere's back and everyone's enjoying themselves," she said. Tia Hardwidge said it was really different [BBC] Tia Hardwidge said: "It's nice just being in town seeing it rather than it being on the Avenue. I think it's really different." Justine Young added: "It's bigger down the avenue, the floats are bigger but here it's more, because you get to take part a little bit closer to it, it's really good." Justine Young attended the parade [BBC] Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Follow BBC Jersey on X and Facebook. Send your story ideas to channel.islands@bbc.co.uk. More on this story Related internet links Crystal to hold meeting on relocation of convicted sex offender originally appeared on Bring Me The News. A community meeting will be held in Crystal next week to discuss a convicted sex offender who recently moved to town. It comes after members of the community reached out to the department with concerns regarding Crystal PD's process when informing local residents about the relocation of Whaid Malik Al-Hamid, 61, also known as Rickey Caffey Jr., to the city. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Crystal PD posted a notification to its social media pages on Wednesday concerning Al-Hamid's relocation, but received complaints in the comments as the notice states he moved to the area almost a month earlier, on July 10. "The purpose of this meeting is to provide as much information as possible regarding his relocation and to listen to community concerns and feedback regarding the notification process," Crystal Police Chief Brian Hubbard said in a statement. "I recognize and do not take lightly the concerns and frustrations this situation has caused and am committed to hearing those and ensuring we are able to do better at meeting community expectations moving forward." The meeting will be held on Aug. 11 at 7 p.m. at Crystal City Hall, according to a Thursday announcement from the police department. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Al-Hamid, 61, who changed his name from Rickey Caffey Jr., recently moved to the 5900 block of Quail Avenue North, near Crystal Airport. He is a Level 3 sex offender who was convicted of sexually assaulting two women and was released in late 2024. The Minnesota Department of Corrections notes that he "used force and a weapon to maintain control" when carrying out the assaults. Crystal PD announced earlier this week, as required by Minnesota law, that Al-Hamid had relocated to Crystal. Whaid Malik Al-Hamid, aka Rickey Caffey JrMinnesota DOC This story was originally reported by Bring Me The News on Aug 8, 2025, where it first appeared. (COLORADO SPRINGS) The Colorado Springs Fire Department (CSFD) announced the passing of retired Captain Patrick Rogacki on Aug. 1, 2025, after a long and brave battle with an aggressive form of job-related cancer. Courtesy: CSFD, retired Captain Patrick Rogacki Captain Rogackis illness was a result of his heroic work at Ground Zero after the 9/11 attacks, wrote CSFD. As a Search Group Manager with Colorado Task Force 1, he spent countless hours in the dangerous and hazardous debris piles, focusing on safety and recovery efforts for those lost in the tragedy. Captain Rogacki joined CSFD in 1979 and served with the department for 35 years before his retirement in 2014. According to the fire department, he was part of the Wildland Program, served as a Medical Lieutenant, and spent 15 years in the High Angle Rescue Program. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Captain Rogacki also helped create the CSFD High Angle Rescue Techniques and Procedures manual. This manual has aided firefighters in performing hundreds of high-angle rescues safely, wrote CSFD. Serving as a dedicated member of the CSFD Honor Guard, he supported several City events, including memorial services for fallen firefighters. He took pride in supporting firefighters and their families, wrote CSFD. As part of Colorado Task Force 1, he helped communities across the country during national disasters. His rescue and recovery work provided families with closure when they lost loved ones. Another notable deployment for Captain Rogacki, according to CSFD, was the Space Shuttle Columbia crash in Texas, in addition to Ground Zero. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement CSFD Fire Chief Randy Royal described Captain Rogacki as a passionate and dedicated firefighter who always went above and beyond. We are saddened that his service at Ground Zero led to his passing, but we are proud of the positive impacts he made locally and nationally, wrote Fire Chief Royal. We are honored to have had him as part of the CSFD family. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends, and we look forward to honoring him at his memorial service. According to CSFD, Captain Rogackis memorial service will be private, but invites the community to line the streets to honor him and support his family during the procession. Those details will be shared at a later time. Firefighters who are diagnosed with and die from job-related cancer, even after retirement, are considered Line of Duty Deaths, wrote CSFD. This is due to their illness being directly linked to the dangerous conditions they faced while serving. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. A Connecticut woman was among two people sentenced to prison on Wednesday for her role in a decade-long scheme involving a Hawaii-based company that defrauded hundreds of investors out of millions of dollars. Jamey Denise Jackson, 62, who formerly resided in Honolulu and now lives in Colchester, was sentenced to two years in prison, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of Hawaii. Curtiss E. Jackson, 72, of Honolulu was sentenced to 13 years in prison for his role in the scheme, federal officials said. Curtiss E. Jackson and Jamey Denise Jackson, who were formerly married, were respectively CEO and president of Semisub Inc., a shipbuilding company based in Hawaii. According to authorities, they lied for years to investors, saying a prototype vessel, Semisub One, was weeks or months away from beginning operations. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Authorities said the Jacksons solicited investments based on lies purporting that Semisub had entered into agreements or developed relationships with government agencies and a private investment firm to build and sell a fleet of Semisubs for tens of millions of dollars. They allegedly made other misrepresentations as well. According to federal officials, the Jacksons used money from investors to pay for luxury residences in Hawaii and California, a Mercedes-Benz, luxury vacations, psychics and marijuana. Curtiss Jackson also allegedly sent a death threat to Jamey Denise Jackson during the investigation, which authorities said was done by sending a link to an online video entitled Death of FBI Informants. The video reportedly contained graphic clips from The Sopranos television series showing the deaths of several characters who had cooperated with the FBI, officials said. The day before Curtiss Jacksons bond revocation hearing, authorities said he obstructed an official proceeding by attempting to flee the countrys territorial waters aboard the Semisub One, which was subject to criminal forfeiture proceedings, according to authorities. In May 2024, Curtiss Jackson was convicted by a jury of securities fraud, conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud, witness tampering and obstructing an official proceeding while on pretrial release, according to federal authorities. In January 2023, Jamey Denise Jackson pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud, officials said. EXCLUSIVE: Rep. Carlos Gimenez, the lawmaker who fled the Castros' communist regime as a youth, put forward a resolution Friday to boot "Squad" member Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-Ill., from the Homeland Security committee for violating her oath of office. The resolution cites Ramirez's comments in Spanish during an event in Mexico City earlier this week, in which she declared, "I am a proud Guatemalan before I am an American." "I was born in Cuba and exiled from my homeland shortly after the communist takeover," Gimenez, R-Fla., told Fox News Digital on Friday, just before he filed the bill during the House's brief pro-forma session. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Everything I am, I owe to this exceptional country of limitless opportunities that paved the way for a Cuban refugee like me to become a firefighter, fire chief, city manager, county commissioner, county mayor, and yes, even a member of Congress." Lone Cuban-born Rep Amped Up To See Nation Liberated, After Emotional Return 64 Years In The Making Rep. Carlos Gimenez and Rep. Delia Ramirez. "Only in America," said Gimenez, who is the only Cuban-born member of Congress. Read On The Fox News App While an immigrant himself, Gimenez said that when a fellow lawmaker "openly declares allegiance to a foreign nation" over the U.S., they lose the right to be in certain positions in the federal government. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "It is not only unacceptable, it is disqualifying for service on a committee tasked with securing our homeland," he said. Gimenez also serves on the House Homeland Security Committee, chairing its maritime and transportation subcommittee. Exclusive: Venezuelan Oppo Leader Joins Cuba-born Rep To Laud Trump After Biden's Maduro Oil Deal Canceled Blowback continued online throughout the week, with actor James Woods quipping, "Well, okay then, Hasta La Vista." Conservative commentator Matt Walsh added that Ramirez should be arrested. Ramirez' office directed Fox News Digital to a statement on the blowback the Chicagoan received after her comments south of the border. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The statement said, "Republican commentators" and the social media presence for the Department of Homeland Security wrongly attacked her for "showing pride in her multi-cultural, multi-ethnic heritage." Ramirez said she is a U.S. citizen by birth and that the attacks over the past days were "a weak attempt to silence my dissent and invalidate my patriotic criticism of the nativist, White supremacist, authoritarians in government. It is the definition of hypocrisy that members of Congress, who betray their oath each day they enable Trump, are attacking me for celebrating my Guatemalan-American roots." Ramirez added that "no one questions" her many colleagues who celebrate their Irish ancestry, or others of similar Caucasian descent. "I am the daughter of immigrants and the daughter of America. I am both Chapina and American. I am from both Guatemala and Chicago, Illinois." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ramirez later offered a formal response to Fox News Digital, saying she saw Gimenez' effort coming. "It's not normal, but it's predictable. I am the most progressive member of Congress on the Committee on Homeland Security," Ramirez said. "I speak out and was the first to call for Noem's resignation for the many ways she is violating our civil rights and undermining the Constitution. The Trump administration and Republicans in Congress are attacking me because they hate what I stand for: I represent diversity, I fight for equity, and I demand inclusion." "They will use any opportunity to misconstrue what I said and weaponize it to attack me. I have and will continue to use my voice, my heritage, and my experience to defend everyone in America, our Constitution, and our rights," the Chicago congresswoman concluded. Original article source: Cuban-born congressman calls for 'Squad' members removal over Guatemalan before American remark A Miami Herald investigation that revealed that a Cuban military conglomerate is holding billions in secret dollar reserves amid the ongoing collapse of the economy shows the islands armed services have created an extensive network of companies that tap into almost every string of foreign revenue entering the island. Secret financial documents obtained by the Herald show that GAESA, the militarys umbrella company that has a multitude of subsidiaries, had $18 billion in current assets as of March 2024, most of it deposited in unknown bank accounts. Where is Cubas money? Secret records show the military has massive cash hoard Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Herald obtained more than 20 financial statements from GAESAs internal accounting system for March and August 2024. The Herald also obtained a PowerPoint presentation with financial information from Cimexs, the largest holding company under the umbrella. Financial statements for March and August last year, titled Balance de datos (Data Balance) and Estado de Resultados por Conceptos (roughly translated as income statement by concept), identify 25 companies in the conglomerate, grouped into three categories: state enterprises, international economic associations, and mipymes, the Spanish acronym for micro, small, and medium enterprises. The Cuban government uses the international economic associations category to authorize contracts with foreign firms to manage Cuban hotels, exploit natural resources and similar partnerships. It may involve the creation of new companies in a joint venture or just a contract for services. Cimexs presentation mentioned six of its companies, though most were not named. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Some of the companies named in the documents obtained by the Herald have not been previously identified as being part of GAESA. That includes Aries S.A., the company that operates the cruise terminal in Havana, which was used by several cruise companies taking U.S. travelers to the island between 2016 and 2019. Five takeaways from a Herald investigation of Cuban militarys secret dollar cache Cimex is believed to be the islands largest commercial corporation, with businesses in several sectors including international trade, retail, tourism, banking, transportation, logistics and real estate among others. According to a 2020 research paper authored by a Cimex analyst, the holding had 41 enterprises at the time. It also operated 668 gas stations around the country in 2020, according to the declaration of its legal director, Mali Suris Valmana, in a U.S. court case involving a lawsuit filed by Exxon against Cimex. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In her declaration, Valmana spilled the beans regarding Cimexs true ownership: the Cuban company is owned by Corporacion CIMEX, S.A, registered in Panama. GAESA and many of its companies, including Cimex, are under U.S. sanctions, though several mentioned in the documents are not. Here is the list of the companies named in the documents obtained by the Herald: International economic associations Monte Barreto, a real estate company that owns and operates the Miramar Trade Center, an office and retail building complex in Havana in a joint venture with Ceiba Investments Ltd, a company registered in the Isle of Guernsey, a tax haven. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Azul Inmobiliaria, a real estate company that manages condominiums in partnership with an Italian company, BD International. Logistica Hotelera del Caribe (LHC), a joint venture based at the special development zone in Mariel that sells food and supplies to hotels in Cuba. State enterprises Complejo de Museos Historicos Militares, (Military History Museum Complex), an enterprise that manages the Museum of the Revolution, the Morro Castle and the Cabana fortress in Havana. Comercializadora de Aceite Ecasol (Ecasol Oil Marketing Company), a cooking oil commercialization company. Empresa de Servicios Generales de la Marina (Maritime General Services Company). The Herald could not find public information about this company. Empresa de Servicios Ingenieros Direccion Integrada de Proyectos Mariel (Mariel Integrated Project Management Engineering Services Company), a company handling port, logistics, infrastructure and building projects at the special development zone in Mariel. Empresa Inmobiliaria Almest, a real estate company investing in hotels. Empresa TRD-Caribe, one of the islands largest hard currency stores chain. Aerogaviota S.A., an airline serving tourists. Almacenes Universales S.A., a logistics company that handles operations at the port of Mariel. Corporacion Antex S.A., (previously known as Corporacion Antillana de Exportaciones, SA), a corporation contracting doctors and managing businesses in Angola. Cubagro S.A. (also known as Empresa Comercializadora y Exportadora de Productos Agropecuarios y Agroindustriales, S.A.) is an importer and exporter of agricultural products, which functions as an intermediary for private enterprises importing food products. Exploracion y Extraccion de Petroleo y Gas S.A (Oil and Gas Exploration and Extraction S.A.). The Herald could not find public information about a company with this name. A similarly named company (Union de Exploracion, Perforacion y Extraccion de Petroleo) merged with Union del Combustible in 1992 to create CUPET, Cubas main oil company. Grupo de Turismo Gaviota S.A., GAESAs flagship tourism company Inmobiliaria Caribe S.A., a real estate company providing rental services in prime areas of the capital, according to its Facebook profile. Servicios Maritimos S.A. (Maritime Services S.A.). The Herald could not find public data about a company with this name. Cubas Communist Party newspaper Granma reported last year that a new Cuban company named Servicios Maritimos Mariel S.A. operating at the special development zone in Mariel, would offer customs services, processing of manifests and supplies to ships and crews at the port of Mariel. Servicios Automotores S.A., a company importing and selling cars and car parts. Servicios de Auditoria S.A., a company providing auditing services with its main office in Miramar, in Havana. Aries, a company that operates the cruise terminal in the port of Havana. It was previously believed to be affiliated with GEMAR, a holding company part of the Ministry of Transportation. Empresa Importadora y Exportadora de Productos Tecnicos (Technical Products Importer and Exporter Company, also known as Tecnoimport), a company sued by Russian truckmaker Ural for non-payments. Cementos Moncada, a new cement factory built last year in Santiago de Cuba. The administration of the plant was offered as an investment project in 2021, according to a document by the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment. Micro, small and medium enterprises Agencia Importadora Caribe Surl, an importing company. Publicitaria Grafo Caribe Surl, an advertising company. Both are linked to TRD Caribe, the store chain, the documents show. Cimex companies Cummings Aerospace unveiled a variant of its Hellhound drone designed to meet homeland defense missions at the Space and Missile Defense Symposium in Huntsville, Alabama, this week. The company is taking its S3 variant and beefing it up into a new S4 variant to take on air defense missions, particularly countering drone threats, that could fit within the framework of President Donald Trumps homeland missile defense shield dubbed Golden Dome. The turbojet-powered, 3D-printed Hellhound S3 drone can carry a variety of payloads, and the company is putting that version forward as a loitering munition option for a competition that the U.S. Army is planning to kick off this year. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The S4 variant, designed to take on Golden Dome mission sets, is a scaled-up version of the S3 that adopts its modular architecture such as the removable nose that allows the unmanned aerial system to shift from countering drones to intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance or serving as a weapon itself like a low-cost cruise missile, according to Sheila Cummings, the companys CEO. The S4 is really a multimission capability as well as a multilaunch platform capability, she added, so ground-based is kind of the primary, but then the airframe and launch canister can support both an air- and sea-based launch. Mobility and multimission capability are obviously paramount to any sort of layered approach for Golden Dome, she said. While the S3 variant is roughly 12 to 14 pounds, depending on the payload, the S4 falls in the 45-pound range. But the majority of the capability uses the same software, additive manufacturing techniques, 3D-printed materials and other commercial-off-the-shelf parts. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The S4 is in the engineering development phase and the company is building prototypes. The plan is to go into flight tests with the capability from as early as this fall through next spring, Cummings said. Like the S3 manufacturing strategy, the S4 design also takes into account the reality that it will need to be manufactured at a large scale. The military is changing the way it acquires weapon systems and, in many cases, requires companies to prove they can build systems at scale as part of competitive acquisitions. Historically, a weapon system might be chosen for its performance on the battlefield without much attention paid to the amount of work it would take to build a system or even how stable the supplier base was. The Huntsville-based company chose a space next door to Redstone Arsenal, Alabama, home to the program office and testing and development for Army aviation, in 2021 and designed and built a facility intended to produce large numbers of the drones. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A large portion of the Hellhound air vehicle is made using commercially available 3D printers in-house and buying commercially available standard parts that are not unique to just a few suppliers, Cummings said. If you think about low-cost solutions thats part of the strategy is we have to design something that we can get screws from multiple vendors, we can get 3D print material from multiple vendors, she said. We talk about exquisite payloads, thats a different challenge, but electronics, we have to make sure we can source them from multiple vendors. For the Huntsville facility, Cummings said her goal is to produce at least 100 S3 air vehicles a month. The same distributed manufacturing approach that we have considered for the Hellhound S3 through our supplier partners is the same approach that were looking to take with S4 again, Cummings said, such as, the combination of U.S. and international partners [and] licensing agreements for the vehicle design, whether it be with the government or with industry partners, in order to meet the production demand. The company is well suited to bring forward the solution set for Golden Dome as part of that layered defensive strategy, she said. Cummings Aerospace was built on missile defense programs. Thats how we first got started, and so we have, over the last 16 years, contributed to almost every interceptor, sensor or [command-and-control] program within the missile defense portfolio. NEW YORK (PIX11) Ever wanted to meet and work for the bosses of JPMorgan Chase, Google, or Amazon? Thanks to a non-profit, more than 52,000 people in underserved communitiesand thousands of them are CUNY college studentsare getting a shot at dream careers in corporate America. More Local News Fresh off a bus tour across the Southeast, and back in New York City, JPMorgan Chase Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon sat down with PIX11s Monica Morales and was eager to discuss investing. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Not in the stock market, but in jobs for everyday New Yorkers. Dimon started a non-profit called the NY Jobs CEO Council five years ago, connecting major businesses and colleges to help tens of thousands of New Yorkers access pathways into corporate America. Dimon says it has surpassed all expectations. The Job Council has helped more than 52,000 people find jobs, including MD Miah from the Bronx, who appeared on the Monica Makes It Happen show this week. Dimon stresses that there is a vast reservoir of untapped talent. Its a win-win. The goal of the Jobs Council is to hire 100,000 low-income New Yorkers by 2030, including 25,000 graduates from CUNY. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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) Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is denying a New York Times report that he recently spoke with President Donald Trump about the race for New York City mayor. It comes amid multiple reports that Trump is considering weighing in on the race on behalf of either Cuomo or Mayor Eric Adams in an effort to defeat Democratic nominee Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani. Cuomo said he has not reached out to Trump in more than a year, and he firmly rejected the idea of seeking or accepting the Presidents endorsement. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I left a message after the attempted assassination. I dont believe I spoke with him. I believe I left a message, Cuomo said, calling The New York Times story false. Im not seeking anyones support. On the issue of engaging with Trump generally, Cuomo said he was best positioned to work with him when benefiting New Yorkers, but said he would remain firm on key values like maintaining New Yorks status as a sanctuary city. Despite distancing himself from Trump, Cuomo has previously argued that the only candidate capable of defeating Mamdani in the crowded field may need to appeal to a broader coalition of voters a coalition that could include those aligned with or influenced by Trump. Still, Cuomo brushed aside any suggestion that Trump would help him clear the field: If I was opining on his political point of view, I would say Im the last person he wants. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement More Local News Cuomo cited allegations that Trump had control of Mayor Adams in return for dismissing federal corruption charges a claim Adams denies. Trump has also denied any recent conversations with Cuomo. Mamdani, rallying Thursday outside New Yorks immigration court, dismissed both denials. I believe The New York Times over Donald Trump and Andrew Cuomo, he said. Mamdani, a Democratic socialist, has come under scrutiny from moderates who claim his policies could alienate voters and potentially energize Trumps national base during the 2026 midterm elections a concern Cuomo appeared to echo in his remarks Thursday. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement More: Latest News from Around the Tri-State The job of the mayor is to stand up for New York values, Mamdani countered. Not to audition to be the jester of a wannabe king. Mamdani defended his political approach, arguing that bold progressive leadership is the best way to counter Trumps influence. My administration would be Donald Trumps worst nightmare, he said. We know the most effective way to take on Donald Trump is not through cowardice and collaboration, but through courage and conviction. 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. ROANOKE, Va. (WFXR) The Roanoke County Police and Sheriffs Department is giving back to the community by helping students get ready for school through its Cuts with Cops program. Its free event with haircuts, vaccines, and school supplies. The event kicks off at 10 a.m. on Saturday, August 9th, at the Carilion Childrens Center at Tanglewood. It will be bustling with childrens activities, all to help families get ready for back to school. Hairstylists from three different salons will be there giving haircuts. As for the supplies, organizers say theyve received over 700 backpacks filled with things needed for school. Fleet Feet has donated 600 shoes and pairs of socks, and Mission Barbecue is donating 600 meals as well. School Bus Safety: What Virginia drivers need to know Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Things like haircuts, like school supplies, can be a financial burden on families, as well as a scheduling burden. So, having this available all in one place, I think, its really helpful to support the kids and help the family make that transition, making the start of school nice and easy, Andrew Herman, the chair of pediatrics at Carilion Clinic, said. The Virginia Department of Health will also be there, giving all the vaccines children need to start the school year. They recommend parents bring any medical records, so they know exactly which vaccines their children need. I would bring themselves, bring a smile, bring an appetite, bring some long, shaggy hair, Herman 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 WFXRtv. By Nivedita Balu TORONTO (Reuters) -Sun Life Financial's shares plunged as much as 8.5% on Friday, a day after the Canadian insurer said it would miss a 2025 profit target for its dental business in the U.S. due to uncertainty over Medicaid funding. Sun Life, which bulked up its dental business through the $2.5 billion acquisition of DentaQuest in 2022, said underlying net income for the dental business, which has struggled in past quarters, is expected to be below $100 million in 2025. The forecast revision was driven by uncertain Medicaid funding resulting in slower negotiations with states on coverage rates and higher Medicaid claims, the company said. Sun Life works with U.S. states to administer Medicaid and Medicare Advantage dental benefits through the DentaQuest business and is dependent on government funding. "The claims are also increasing at a faster pace, which I partially think is because people are seeing that they may lose their Medicaid benefits. So they're going to the dentist more quickly," CEO Kevin Strain said in an interview on Friday. Strain noted that the states have been reluctant to pass on the increased claims costs, something he expects to sort itself out over the next few years. "If we're struggling, you can imagine that the smaller players are really struggling with it ... We'll work our way through it," he said. The U.S. remained one of the company's fastest growing and least capital-intensive regions, Strain added. Sun Life expects over 12% underlying net income growth for Sun Life U.S. in the long term, with the dental business expected to contribute at least a third of overall earnings in the region. The stock has lost about 8% of its value, including Thursday's losses, while peer Manulife which also reported weakness in its U.S. business, is down 6.5%. "We believe that a reversal in the (Sun Life's) U.S. dental business that caused the company to retract its 2025 profit target for this business has implications beyond the quarter," National Bank analyst Gabriel Dechaine said. Analysts have said Sun Life's dental business could be vulnerable to provisions in U.S. President Donald Trump's recent tax-cut and spending legislation, known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which aims to cut Medicaid spending. That could weigh on the future growth of the business as tighter eligibility requirements could shrink Medicaid enrollment over time. Underlying net income fell 4% in the U.S., which accounts for about a fifth of the company's underlying earnings. Firefighters have run and cycled more than 700 miles (1,100km) in memory of colleagues who died in a fire at a business park. On Wednesday, firefighters from Scotland, Somerset and Norfolk arrived at Bicester Fire Station - the home station of Martyn Sadler and Jennie Logan. The pair died alongside a member of the public, Dave Chester, while tackling a blaze at a hanger on the Bicester Motion site on 15 May. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Gavin Callander who, along with Grant Bailey, cycled from Cambuslang, near Glasgow, said the challenge - which will raise funds for the Fire Fighters Charity - was about "doing our bit". Martyn Sadler, Jennie Logan and Dave Chester all died in the fire at Bicester Motion [Family photos] It took the pair two days to cycle the 400 miles (645km) to Bicester from the Scottish Fire and Rescue Headquarters. They were joined at the finish line by Scott Butler - who ran 150 miles (240km) from Somerset - and Nick Winter, who cycled from Great Yarmouth. Explaining the challenge, Mr Callander said: "Scott and Martyn started out together in Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue a few years ago, and Nick and I later joined. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "We were a close-knit service while we were all there and have incredible memories of our time." All of those taking part had previously worked with Martyn Sadler [Oxfordshire County Council] He said the fundraiser was "two days of real physical and mental endurance, in memory of two firefighters who paid the ultimate sacrifice". "This is for their families, their friends and everyone who had the privilege of knowing them," he added. Oxfordshire's deputy chief firefighter Mike Adcock said the team had "not only honoured Jennie and Martyn, but reminded us all of the strength and unity within the fire and rescue community". He added that the response to the "heartbreaking" incident at Bicester Motion had been "nothing short of inspiring." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement You can follow BBC Oxfordshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram. More on this story Hes worked for some of the most controversial people to enter the dock: Harvey Weinstein, Julian Assange, Mike Tyson. He famously was part of the team that got OJ Simpson acquitted of murder in 1995 dubbed the trial of the century. Leading American defence lawyer Alan Dershowitz also represented Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier and convicted paedophile who has been causing trouble for President Donald Trump from beyond the grave. Dershowitz speaks to Tim about Epsteins relationship with Trump and Bill Clinton; whats really in those files; and the kind of deal that imprisoned Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell could do with the Justice Department. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Telegraph has also spoken to Epsteins former butler, who makes a new set of bombshell allegations about the late financier and his ties to Trump. We put those claims to Dershowitz. Watch episodes of The Daily T here. You can also listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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. (NewsNation) A once-daily oral pill helped people with obesity lower their weight by an average of 12% after 72 weeks, according to manufacturer Eli Lilly. The results were observed in the pharmaceutical companys Phase 3 trial of orforglipron, a GLP-1 drug like Ozempic, that requires no injections and has no food or water restrictions. More than 3,120 adults reduced their weight by an average of 27.3 pounds, the study showed. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Lithium may reverse Alzheimers disease: Study Participants who saw results included those who used the highest dose of the pill, didnt have diabetes and were obese or overweight with at least one weight-related medical problem, Lilly also manufactures Zepbound for obesity, and Mounjaro and Trulicity for diabetes. Oral weight loss pill a good off-ramp for injection users: Doctor Dr. Sue Decotiis, a weight-loss doctor in New York City, said an oral pill on the market will help serve more patients. Here is another drug that we have that we can use on people, right? Because there are shortages of everything, so its nice that patients have another option, Decotiis said. And of course, this is an oral drug, and some people shy away from injections. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement While Decotiis said the pill is not as effective as an injection, it could serve as an off-ramp for patients to stop injections while maintaining weight loss as long as its fat, not muscle, thats been lost. Sometimes you lose more muscle and water than you want to. If you dont get your body fat down into the real sweet spot youre probably going to gain that weight back, Decotiis said. Chikungunya virus spreading in China: What to know Another potential caveat for the pill? Its not a peptide, like Ozempic, Zepbound and other drugs that promise similar results, said Decotiis, which leaves room for uncertainty. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Peptides or chains of amino acids that humans run on work so well with the body, Decotiis explained. Theyre so safe, minimal side effects, she said. So, Im not so sure, with this drug not being a peptide, that its going to have the long-term safety and efficacy data. The pills side effects include diarrhea, indigestion, constipation, nausea and vomiting, all of which are also known side effects of injectable GLP-1 drugs. Eli Lilly said it plans to submit the pill to the Food and Drug Administration for approval as a weight loss medication this year and for approval as a diabetes drug in 2026. It will ultimately be up to the agency to decide what it can be used to treat. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement NewsNations Steph Whiteside 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 NewsNation. Two of Texas largest cities ended their diversity, equity and inclusion efforts this week to preserve hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding. The Dallas and Fort Worth city councils said the shift was needed to align with the Trump administration, which has made ending such initiatives a top priority. The votes follow similar decisions by state agencies, universities and school districts across the state and country. Other Texas cities, including Houston, San Antonio and Austin have yet to take similar action. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Dallas City Manager Kimberly Tolbert on Wednesday said she has directed all city departments to stop using policies and programs considering race, gender, ethnicity, religion or national origin while allocating funds or benefits. Compliance ensures that we are accountable, transparent and eligible for the resources that we know our community deserves, Tolbert said. The Dallas City Council in June authorized Tolbert to review and evaluate city programs to be in compliance with the federal directives and pause any initiatives that do not comply with regulations. It is unclear how the changes would affect Dallass office of equity and inclusion. The office was created in 2018 to create access and opportunities for underserved members of the community. Dallas officials did not respond to interview requests. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Dallas Morning News reported the city received about $305 million annually from the federal government in grants. The vote in Fort Worth followed five hours of emotionally charged public comment, according to the Fort Worth Report. The council voted 7-4, with all three Black council members Mia Hall, Chris Nettles and Deborah Peoples voting no. Elizabeth Beck who is white also voted against the elimination of the programs. Fort Worth City Manager Jay Chapa said the city would need to increase its property tax rate by about four cents per $100 to account for lost revenue. Immediately after voting to suspend their DEI initiatives, the Fort Worth council voted to create a small business development program to help mitigate any adverse effects from removing specific economic incentives for minority and women-owned businesses. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Austin officials said they were aware of the change in federal policy and believe the city is in compliance with all rules and laws. The City of Austins law department is evaluating all related city programs and, as of today, we are in compliance with federal requirements, said T.C. Broadnax, the city manager. Federal funding is critical in our efforts to provide programs that support Austinites and keep our city healthy, resilient, and thriving. San Antonio's city manager echoed Broadnax. The City of San Antonio continues to evaluate all relevant programs to ensure compliance with federal requirements," Erik Walsh said in a statement. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Some cities elsewhere have pushed back against the Trump administration. Earlier this year, Baltimore, along with the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education, filed a lawsuit against the administrations directive ordering cities to eliminate DEI initiatives or lose federal funding. Shape the future of Texas at the 15th annual Texas Tribune Festival, happening Nov. 1315 in downtown Austin! We bring together Texas most inspiring thinkers, leaders and innovators to discuss the issues that matter to you. Get tickets now and join us this November. TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase. The Dallas Police Department says a suspect shot at an off-duty police officer early Thursday evening during an apparent road rage incident. Following the ordeal, additional officers arrived at the scene at the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Julius Schepps Freeway around 5:50 p.m. The Dallas Police Department says the off-duty officer was in uniform at the time of the shooting. While the suspect shot at the officers vehicle, the department said no injuries were sustained. It is unclear which party initiated the road rage incident. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement So far, the suspect involved in the shooting has not been identified, and no arrests have been made. Last month, The Dallas Express reported on another road rage incident where police arrested John Schwoyer, 59, after he allegedly fired shots into a truck carrying three children, injuring a seven-year-old boy. (KRON) A mother pleaded no contest after she helped her son flee from a Daly City homicide scene and hide from police, according to the San Mateo County District Attorneys Office. Zaib Un Nisa Afridi, 50, of Daly City, changed her plea from not guilty to no contest in court this week. Her 21-year-old son, Maarij Afridi, is charged with murdering a custodian who worked in a gym. According to prosecutors, on September 29, 2024, Maarij Afridi got into an argument with the custodian, 60-year-old Rolando Yanga, while Yanga was cleaning the gym. The argument reportedly stemmed from Maarij Afridi breaking gym rules about cleanliness. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Around 7 p.m. that evening, Zaib Un Nisa Afridi and her son followed the victim from the gym to the victims home on South Mayfair Avenue in Daly City, prosecutors said. The mother thought that her son was just going to confront the victim, prosecutors said. Instead her son shot and killed the victim in the driveway of Yangas home while Zaib Un Nisa Afridi watched the homicide unfold, the DAs office wrote. The victim was shot multiple times. After the killing, the mother acted as a getaway driver and helped her son hide from Daly City Police Department detectives, according to the DAs office. Zaib Un Nisa Afridi drove the alleged killer to her sisters home in Sacramento in order to help him hide, prosecutors wrote. A SWAT team found and arrested the son on September 30, 2024. He is currently facing first-degree murder charges. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Lawsuit filed after Calif. girl, 10, kidnapped by man she met online With a jury trial looming, the mother avoiding standing trial by pleading no contest to felony accessory to murder Wednesday. Under a plea agreement, Zaib Un Nisa Afridi faces a maximum of three years in prison. She will remain out of custody on $100,000 bond until her sentencing hearing, which is scheduled for September 23. Meanwhile, her son remains behind bars without bail. Maarij Afridi has pleaded not guilty to all charges and he is set to return to court in December. 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. DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) School is almost back in session, meaning drivers will need to be more cognizant of the yellow buses and the passengers inside, as well as kids walking to and from school or the bus stop. During a media event Thursday, the Dayton Police Department reiterated the rules regarding how cars should interact with school buses, as well as other rules that come into play this time of year. Map: When do school districts around the Miami Valley go back? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to DPD, they and surrounding departments have seen an increase in the number of drivers illegally passing school buses that are stopped to drop off kids over the last several years. I tell people all the time, some schools dont have the flashing signals or the flashing indicators, or maybe you come off of a side street and you dont see those flashing indicators, said Sgt. Gordon Cairns, a supervisor with DPDs Traffic Services unit. If you see children walking to school or youre not even sure if school is in session, just go on the side of caution and just do the 20 miles an hour. Same with the school bus. Passing a school bus while its stopped can get you a $500 ticket, a license suspension and even more if a crash results from it. DPD did acknowledge that there are times a driver may need to go around a bus. They just urged drivers to do so safely. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement During the 2023-24 school year, the Ohio State Highway Patrol reported 267 crashes involving school buses just in Montgomery County. DPD said that these accidents are often the result of distracted driving, as well as people rushing during their commute. They urge drivers to give themselves plenty of time to reduce the rush. Chances are theres children on these buses, and so lets drive safely around them, said Cairns. If you see a bus up ahead again, dont go zipping around it. Dont tailgate it, because chances are its going to stop to be picking up or dropping off children. So just drive safely around them. If youre in doubt or youre not certain, and the school bus is there and it is dropping off or picking up children, just stop and wait. Its not worth potentially injuring a child, because you werent sure if youre allowed to pass or not pass. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement While most schools in the area start within the coming days or weeks, DPD also wanted to emphasize that drivers should remain aware at all times for schools that run year round. 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. By Courtney Rozen WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The Trump administration plans to slash security funding for Washington, D.C., according to a grant notice, even as President Donald Trump asserts crime in the U.S. capital is totally out of control. The Federal Emergency Management Agency said in a notice posted last week that D.C. and surrounding areas would receive $20 million less this year from its urban security fund, reducing the funding to $25.2 million and amounting to a 44% year-on-year cut. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees FEMA, said on Friday it cut funds to D.C. and other cities to align with the current threat landscape. The agency has "observed a shift from large-scale, coordinated attacks like 9/11 to simpler, small-scale assaults, heightening the vulnerability of soft targets and crowded spaces in urban areas, it said. FEMA also cut security money for Chicago, New York City, Los Angeles, Jersey City and San Francisco, but the reduction in D.C. was the largest for any urban area that received funding from the program last fiscal year. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowsers office did not immediately respond to a Reuters email requesting comment on the funding cuts. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The federal security funding covers needs in the National Capital Region, an area that includes D.C. and nearby cities in Maryland and Virginia. Regional officials in the past have used the money to pay for hazmat training, hiring officers and replacing fiber in their emergency communications network, according to a 2016 report from D.C.'s Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency. FEMA has $553.5 million to spend to help cities across the U.S. shore up their security. Reuters could not immediately verify how much of the National Capital Region's total security budget comes from that program. Trump directed federal police on Thursday to step up their presence in the capital, days after staffer Edward Coristine was attacked in D.C. It was the president's latest step toward taking over running the city that is the seat of the U.S. government. Violent crime in D.C. dropped 35% between 2023 and 2024, according to a December report from the U.S. Attorneys Office for D.C. (Reporting by Courtney Rozen; Editing by Nia Williams) The death toll from a migrant boat disaster off Yemen has climbed to 96, underscoring the growing human cost of perilous journeys across the Red Sea. The overcrowded boat, carrying mostly Ethiopian nationals, sank on Sunday while en route to Abyan governorate in southern Yemen a regular landing site for people-smuggling operations headed for Gulf countries. Yemeni officials and a source from the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said two more bodies had been found by Tuesday. Local fishermen had initially buried the bodies after they washed ashore, before the IOM confirmed them as victims. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Earlier, a Yemeni security source and a local official had reported 94 bodies recovered, with many already buried. The official added that more corpses continued to wash up in the days after the sinking. Migrants fleeing Ethiopia killed in shipwreck off Yemen coast Dismantling migrant camps An AFP journalist who visited the site reported seeing at least two bodies on the beach. Makeshift tents were scattered along the shore, and groups of African migrants were being moved out of the remote coastal area. Security forces in Abyan province, backed by local authorities, launched a sweep of the shoreline to dismantle migrant camps run by trafficking networks. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Brigadier General Ali Nasser Buzaid, the top security official in Abyan, said the dead included both men and women. The IOM and local officials estimate that the boat was carrying around 200 people. On Monday, two Yemeni security sources reported that 32 individuals had been rescued, though dozens remain unaccounted for. A year after the ceasefire in Tigray, Ethiopia is little closer to peace Ethiopia's migrant exodus Despite the ongoing civil war that has gripped Yemen since 2014, the country continues to serve as a major transit route for irregular migration, particularly from Ethiopia, where many face limited opportunities and instability. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The situation in Ethiopia's Tigray region has added further urgency to the migrant exodus. The recent resurgence of conflict in the north marked by reports of violence, displacement, and humanitarian challenges has pushed more people to seek refuge elsewhere and embark on the perilous journey across the Red Sea. (with AFP) DECATUR, Ala. (WHNT) Candidates for the upcoming Decatur City municipal election faced voters to discuss the most pressing issues in the city: unity, economic growth and transparency. The Young Professionals of Decatur, along with the Chamber of Commerce, played host to Know Before You Vote to 250 concerned Decatur citizens. All candidates faced tough questions from the crowd from start to finish. Q&A with candidates in Madison Mayor Race Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement What is the mayor, city council and school board responsible for. What do they actually do? Because we think sometimes people get confused on who is responsible for what and who does what, said Cheyenne Sanchez, President of Young Professionals of Decatur. Among the candidates are all 4 candidates for mayor: Councilman Billy Jackson, Kent Lawrence, Suzie Wiley and William Butch Matthews. The event was designed to equip voters with the knowledge and confidence they need ahead of the elections. Many of the questions from voters focused on how the candidates plan to bring a divided city together since the police shooting death of Steve Perkins in September 2023. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This situation that occurred in 2023 is not over for us. Theres an upcoming trial, so how are we as a city going to be able to navigate through that? Decatur citizen Madison Brown said. Chandler Davis, a college student from Decatur, told News 19 that he believes that all of the candidates understand whats at stake. The policing and the Steve Perkins incident were a problem, and it brought a lot of shock to our community, said Davis. I think all of the candidates pretty much were sympathetic towards the situation, and I think they are all decently prepared to attend to that problem. The Decatur City Municipal Election is set for August 26. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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 WHNT.com. As President Donald Trumps reciprocal tariff scheme roared to life this week, the fallout is already becoming apparent. Among the most swiftly and acutely impacted targets of tariff terror is India, which, in addition to being hit with 25-percent duties on Thursday, will face an additional tariff burden of 25 percent beginning Aug. 28. More from Sourcing Journal While all United States trading partners now face double-digit duties, even the hardest hit apparel sourcing destinations pale in comparison to Indias hefty 50-percent duty rate. Nearby neighbors like Pakistan (19 percent) and Bangladesh (20 percent) will also face hardships, along with Asian sourcing locales like Laos and Myanmar (40 percent), Vietnam (20 percent) and Cambodia and Indonesia (19 percent), but the adverse effects of Trumps new duties to Indias burgeoning apparel and textile industry could prove devastating. Ratings agency Moodys said as much on Friday, commenting that the duties could stymie the growth of the countrys manufacturing sector. Moodys predicted that should the weight of the full, 50-percent duties be thrust upon the countrys producers, Indias gross domestic product (GDP) growth could slow, contracting by 0.3 percent from its 6.3-percent forecast for fiscal 2025-2026. Beyond 2025, the much wider tariff gap compared with other Asia-Pacific countries would severely curtail Indias ambitions to develop its manufacturing sectorand may even reverse some of the gains made in recent years in attracting related investments, Moodys said Friday. Clothing Manufacturers Association of India (CMAI) president Santosh Katariya was more to the point, saying the imposition of the additional 25-percent tariffs will deliver a crippling blow to the Indian apparel industry. A 50-percent duty increase will up the cost of India-made apparel by 30 to 35 percent compared with analogous goods from countries like Vietnam and Bangladesh, making Indian exports uncompetitive in the global market, Katariya said. Buyers are unlikely to bear such a substantial pricing gap, which could lead to a sharp decline in export orders, he added, with multiple outlets reporting that he denounced the tariffs as unjustified, unfair, and arbitrary. According to the U.S. Fashion Industrys 2025 benchmarking study released in July, which relied on input from 25 leading U.S. apparel executives at the nations largest brands and retailers, India earned a four-out-of-five score in terms of price competitiveness as a sourcing destinationa distinction that stands to be threatened massively should this reality take hold. Immigrant advocacy groups are raising the alarm about new plans to use a maximum-security prison north of Indianapolis to house immigration detainees facing deportation, accusing local and state officials of "complicity" in the Trump administration's "inhumane" treatment of undocumented immigrants. Gov. Mike Braun's office announced earlier in August that up to 1,000 undocumented immigrants will be housed at the Miami Correctional Facility, a men's prison located on the former Grissom Air Force Base about 70 miles north of Indianapolis. The facility has a capacity for up to 3,100 men, but it has been only partially filled. The announcement came shortly after revelations that the Trump administration is also planning to house up to 1,000 ICE detainees at Camp Atterbury, a military training facility south of Indianapolis. State and federal officials have promoted the partnership as a way to remove "the worst of the worst" from the country. Department of Homeland Security Kristi Noem dubbed Miami Correctional the "Speedway Slammer," a moniker that prompted some pushback from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But immigrant advocates condemned the partnership as a "cruel" way to target, detain and deport undocumented immigrants regardless of criminal history, according to a joint statement from local and national organizations. Turning Miami Correctional and Camp Atterbury into massive ICE detention centers could turn Indiana into a "new regional hub for ICE detention" and dramatically escalate arrests of immigrants in Indiana and in the Midwest, the groups said. "The decision to increase ICE detentions through the Miami Correctional Facility 'Speedway Slammer' and Camp Atterbury deepens Indiana's complicity in a system that tears families apart and inflicts long-term harm," Sayra Perez, organizer at the Indiana Undocumented Youth Alliance, said in the statement. "Our states growing role in ICEs detention and deportation machine is a direct attack on immigrant Hoosiers our coworkers, students and neighbors." A continuing surge in arrests, coupled with a new federal policy that disqualifies immigrants from bond hearings, has created an increased demand for more bed spaces and detention facilities. In the past, immigration judges have allowed immigrants who are not considered a threat or a flight risk and have community ties to be released while they fight deportation. But the Trump administration has circumvented the years-long practice. Advocates say this means more and more immigrants regardless of criminal history will be detained for longer periods of time while they fight deportation. Indiana Gov. Mike Braun, shown July 15, 2025, has struck a deal with the federal government to house ICE detainees at Miami Correctional Facility in northern Indiana. "The inevitable increase in the number of Hoosier immigrants detained will further put pressure on legal service providers as well as the Chicago and Indianapolis Immigration Courts to adjudicate cases, despite the fact that many immigration judges have either resigned or been fired since March," said Hannah Cartwright, an attorney at Mariposa Legal, an Indianapolis nonprofit that represents immigrants. "As a result, the Trump Administration is effectively eliminating due process for Hoosier immigrants as a practical matter and further entrenching a mass deportation system in the midwest. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement ICE has relied on a large network of jails and state, federal and privately operated facilities to hold immigration detainees. In Indiana, four county jails, including Marion County, have contracts with the U.S. Marshals Service to house ICE detainees. The federal government pays the local jails a per diem rate for each detainee, as well as transportation and meal costs. Clay County Jail, which has been housing immigration detainees since 2013 and significantly expanded its capacity in recent years, is one of the largest ICE detention centers in the Midwest. Contact IndyStar reporter Kristine Phillips at (317) 444-3026 or at kphillips@indystar.com. This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: 'Speedway Slammer' plans could turn Indiana into ICE detention hub, critics say PALMER A lawyer for a Hampden teen accused of dealing drugs from his home and in the parking lot of Minnechaug Regional High School is challenging the search warrants local police filed and led to an arrest. Nicholas Shea, formerly of Wilbraham, was 18 when he was arrested at school and charged with 22 criminal counts related to drug sales and firearms in January. Wilbraham police charged Shea with possession of a Class B substance (Oxycodone and Adderall), possession of a Class C substance (Psilocybin mushrooms), and possession of a Class E substance (Xanax). He also faces charges of possession of a Class B substance (cocaine and crack cocaine), and possession of illegal firearms. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and was released on house arrest. He was arrested early on a Friday morning as school was set to begin. Police executed two separate search warrants for his car and his home on Raymond Drive. Defense attorney Daniel D. Kelly on Friday argued to a judge in Palmer District Court the evidence gleaned from the searches should be tossed since the applications for the search warrants were flimsy, built on speculation and conjecture. For one, the applications cited carrying a backpack as a matter of suspicion. We know that drug dealers often utilize backpacks, Kelly said, quoting one application. People who also use backpacks are students going to school. Every single person of this age walking to Minnechaug High School were using backpacks, Kelly told Judge Michael Mulcahy. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He also pointed out that one of the key things that led police to pursue an investigation was an anonymous letter from a concerned citizen, who told investigators there was a fair amount of traffic going to and from Sheas home. The letter was not tested for basis on knowledge or veracity, Kelly argued. Police said that during physical surveillance at Sheas home, they spotted him coming out carrying a bag of brick-like substances and stash it in his trunk. They also said students had met Shea at school, and jumped in his car briefly before jumping back out again. Kelly countered that the police had not conducted any controlled buys of narcotics using their own operatives. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Assistant Hampden District Attorney Andrew Gilbert argued the defenses motion to suppress evidence should be denied. Mulcahy took the matter under advisement. However, the judge granted a motion to relax the conditions of Sheas pretrial release namely, the house arrest. Mulcahy eased the round the clock curfew to 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. This led to a mini-celebration by Shea in the parking lot after the hearing. Free at last! he said while throwing his arms out before climbing into his Mercedes. I love you, but you need to be home by 8, his mother responded. More Western Mass. Content Read the original article on MassLive. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is considering reversing a ban on the "shark attack," the time-honored aggressive practice used by drill sergeants to train U.S. Army recruits in basic training. The practice was usually employed at the beginning of training by having several drill sergeants swarming trainees and yelling in their faces at the top of their lungs. "It starts at basic training. It starts at our military academies," Hegseth said Thursday during an appearance on "The Will Cain Show." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "We are going back to basics. Drill sergeants will be drill sergeants with knife hands who ensure, who maintain good order and discipline and train up great recruits who will make great formations. Just like we need military officers with that same rigorous discipline and background. So, we're going back to the basics, and it's bearing fruit." Hegseth Vows To Restore Warrior Mentality And Raise Standards In Sweeping Military Transformation U.S. Army drill sergeants assigned to Foxtrot 1st Battalion 34th Infantry Regiment participate in the "shark attack" or fear stage of the discipline process, as trainees arrive on the first day of basic combat training June 12, 2017, at Fort Jackson, S.C. The Army began phasing out the shark attack in recent years and largely ended it in 2020. It was replaced by the 'First 100 Yards,' a more structured training exercise designed to build camaraderie and encourage teamwork under stress. Read On The Fox News App Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "The First 100 Yards is a U.S. Army trainee's first exposure to their Basic Training (BCT), Drill Sergeants, and their first opportunity to begin their transformation as members of the worlds most potent and lethal fighting force," the U.S. Army Center for Initial Military Training posted on Facebook . "The First 100 Yards, a homage to their lineage of closing the last 100 yards of the fight, incorporates teamwork into a competition that features mental and physical challenges on the day they arrive to their basic training company." Hegseth Spars With Senate Democrats Over Marine Deployment To La Anti-ice Riots: 'Not About Lethality' The act of replacing the shark attack grew out of deliberations at the Army Infantry School in Fort Benning, Georgia. Senior leaders believed the practice was outdated but stressed at the time that the Army was not going soft despite the absence of the in-your-face pile-on trainees were subjected to. Supporters of the shark attack said it helps trainees transition from civilian to military life and prepares them for the chaotic environment some will experience on the battlefield. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "The secretary is very excited to be making basic training great," Defense Department press secretary Kingsley Wilson said Thursday. "Again, I can confirm that he's going to be looking at basic training and making sure that the standards are where they should be. "We want our warfighters to be strong, and that starts in basic training, and we want to make sure we really, again, go back to basics. And shark attacks are going to be something that he is looking at reinstating." Sgts. 1st Class Alec Donahoe and Todd Owen, drill sergeants with the Mississippi National Guard Recruiting and Retention Battalion, motivate a warrior in the Recruit Sustainment Program during a "shark attack" Oct. 7, 2017. One Army unit recently reversed a ban on "tossing bays," another traditional practice in which drill sergeants overturn bunks and mattresses, wall lockers, garbage cans and other items in the bays where enlisted trainees sleep, forcing them to clean the area. A July 31 memo by Col. Christopher J.C. Hallows, commander of the 197th Infantry Brigade, which trains infantry soldiers, announced that bay tossing was "strictly prohibited." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Drill sergeants will not toss the bay to include flipping mattresses, knocking over wall lockers, touching and/or damaging Trainee personal items or equipment," the memo states. "Drill sergeants will not use bay tossing for any reason to include methods of corrective action." On Sunday, Hallows issued another memo reversing the ban. On Thursday, Hegseth noted that bay tossing and the shark attack have been part of basic training for decades. U.S. Army Drill Sgt. 1st Class Aleman assigned to Foxtrot 1st Battalion 34th Infantry Regiment participates in the "shark attack" or fear stage of the discipline process. "It's the basic stuff that anyone who went through any form of basic training for decades understood as a recruit, you were going into a crucible," he said. "You were going to be forged. You were gonna be challenged. You were to be scared, nervous and anxious. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "And by coming through that, you are gonna be forged an American warrior. A shark attack is when drill sergeants surround one particular enlistee, right?" he added. "Creating a stressful situation that they have to figure out how to manage. Bed tossing inside barracks after you've had a long day doing map out on the range or walk in patrol this is basic stuff. This is not beyond what's been done. This is a restoration." Original article source: Defense Secretary Hegseth considers reversing Army ban on aggressive 'shark attack' training Whatever happens in Dover on Aug. 12 could decide how much Delaware property owners end up paying in taxes this year. Delaware Democrats seem to have a plan, at least according to the numerous lawmakers who presented their ideas at a press conference in Wilmington on the morning of Aug. 8. There were representatives for the state House and members of the Christina school board, Wilmington City Council and New Castle County Council present at the meeting to demonstrate intergovernmental collaboration. The whole reassessment process has been a reactive one. Borne from a lawsuit in Chancery Court settled in 2021, there hasn't been a statewide process in decades. And yet, Delaware lawmakers remain on their heels. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The reassessments were largely managed at the county level, with little state oversight. State lawmakers say concerns didn't reach their level until people saw their bills, and the data was finalized this spring. Democratic Rep. Frank Burns, who was elected in 2024 and represents Pike Creek, called it a "complete surprise." "No one had reached out to me until people started getting tax bills," he said. The special session is intended to focus on Band-Aid, short-term solutions for this year, while teeing up long-term fixes for the next legislative session to come in January 2026. A focus on Delaware's short-term solutions Rep. Wilson-Anton speaks during a press conference advocating for home owner protections, correct assessment values and an efficient and equitable home reassessment process at the Carvel Office Building auditorium in Wilmington on Aug. 8, 2025. Rep. Madinah Wilson-Anton, a Democrat from Newark and Bear, introduced multiple bills ahead of the special session. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The session was called in response to the sticker shock and beyond that followed this year's property reassessments and correspondingly new tax bills. Many Delawareans saw increases in their tax bills, as tax burden shifted squarely onto residential properties rather than a balance with commercial properties. Wilson-Anton's top priorities in Dover next week are allowing school districts to split their tax rates between residential and commercial to level the playing field; establishing payment plans for property taxes; and adding legal protections against late fees and sheriff sales for compliant taxpayers, which is a public auction of a property that has been repossessed. Rep. Kim Williams, another New Castle County Democrat, also sponsored a bill that would allow school districts to split tax rates between residential and non-residential properties in order to alleviate the tax burden placed on residential properties. A split tax rate could lead to a substantial discount on current bills, though many would still increase overall. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Christina school board member Doug Manley said the median increase for someone in his district was $600, but a split rate could dial that increase back to around $100, which he called "reasonable" after decades of no reassessments. "The law says we have to set exactly one rate, which is why I'm very supportive of being able to do a split rate, because that will let us get back to something that looks a little bit more like 2024," Manley said. Christina Chief Financial Officer Bob Vacca said the district is already working on what split rates would look like when and if they are allowed to enact them. He previously estimated needing about a week of runway to get figures back to the county. SPECIAL SESSION PREVIEW New legislation drops as reassessment fallout pulls lawmakers into a special session Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Of the five bills Wilson-Anton introduced, she wants House Bill 247, which establishes the payment plan protections, to make it through the process the most. She has another bill that would allow for payments to be made monthly or quarterly. Wilmington Democrat Rep. Nnamdi Chukwuocha introduced a similar bill to allow for at least three equal payments for taxpayers whose bill rose by at least $300. "I know we have all heard from constituents worried about being able to pay bills instead of losing their homes as a result of reassessment, and it is valid," Rep. Sophie Phillips, a Christiana Democrat, said. "At the end of the day, we have to make sure no homeowner loses their homes over this." Wilson-Anton introduced legislation that would protect people who enter a potential payment plan from penalty fees and a sheriff sale for the 2025-26 tax year. A sheriff sale is not a foreclosure. The payment plan would slow down receipts for school districts, however, according to Vacca, Christina's CFO. He said it would cut into the 10% boost in reassessment-related revenue the school district can legally take. More ambitious legislation could affect future assessments Legislative Hall in Dover as seen on June 30, 2025. Another bill introduced by Wilson-Anton is a ground stop on the new reassessed values. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement If passed, current tax bills would be void and new tax bills would be reissued using the 2024 assessed values. The deadline to pay the bill would also be extended to Oct. 30. School districts that budgeted for the new values and experience a cash shortfall would then be allowed to borrow money from the state. Wilmington City Council member Christian Willauer said this bill would ease the pain on taxpayers, while the state can address any potential mistakes made with the reassessment. "There will be much less disruption for homeowners, and that in this next year, we can address all the issues, make sure that all the protections for vulnerable communities are in place, like get it right," Willauer said at the press conference. WILLAUER TAKES ON TAX HIKES Wilmington City Council member calls for a reassessment mulligan Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement However, if this legislation passes, it could throw school district budgets into disarray. Christina School District is taking the legal 10% revenue bump and would have to fly back into budget hearings weeks before students return to classrooms. Christina officials were not confident they'd easily gain state financial support. Lawmakers are also setting their sights on long-term fixes. That includes a joint resolution from Wilson-Anton that would require multiple state agencies to perform a comprehensive study on how Delaware can better support property reassessments in the future, which are four years from now in Kent County and five years from now in New Castle and Sussex counties. The legislation recommends that studies look toward Pennsylvania and New Jersey for ideas. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Wilson-Anton got legislation passed and signed in 2023 that requires reassessments to be done every five years, establishing a necessary cadence to blunt sticker shock. Republican-sponsored bills opposed Delaware State Rep. Frank Burns gives an interview during New Legislator Orientation at Legislative Hall in Dover, Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024. Everyone who presented at the press conference, including Wilson-Anton, Phillips, Willauer, Manley, Burns, Rep. Larry Lambert of Wilmington and New Castle County Council member Brandon Toole, stood in opposition to Republican-sponsored bills that would eliminate the 10% that school districts can make from reassessments. "I just want to put that on the record that I will not be supporting any bill that takes away schools' ability to raise revenue after reassessment," Wilson-Anton said. Burns said there were no discussions in Dover about property tax reassessments and surrounding reforms until very late in the session on June 30, which is already a hectic time to cram bills in before the July 1 deadline. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Email any questions or experiences regarding the 2025 Delaware property tax reassessment to Shane Brennan at slbrennan@delawareonline.com This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: How Delaware Democrats are teeing up short-term tax reform EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) A Delta Academy teacher has been honored for having a 100 percent certification success rate for students who complete his welding program. The El Paso Independent School District made the announcement on Wednesday, Aug. 6, via its website. Welding instructor John Gable was recently recognized during a Juvenile Justice Board meeting for his unwavering commitment to student success and workforce readiness, according to EPISD. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement EPISD said Gable is making a powerful impact on students in the Challenge Program at the El Paso County Juvenile Probation Department (JPD), and this accomplishment means that every eligible student leaves the program with a credential that opens doors to future employment and career opportunities. This recognition is well deserved, Roberto Padilla, principal of CCTA, RTA, and Delta academies, said. Mr. Gables work with the students in the Challenge Program shows that with the right support, high expectations, and opportunity, every student can thrive. His impact extends far beyond the classroom and hes helping students build futures. In addition, the recognition included a heartfelt speech from one of Gables students who earned their Industry-Based Welding Certification under his guidance. The welding certification is more than just a credential; it represents a second chance for many students who have faced significant challenges. Mr. Gables passion, patience, and persistence have inspired confidence and created real pathways for success, read the news release by EPISD. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. LANSING, Mich. (AP) A Detroit lawmaker is dropping out of the race to represent Michigan in the U.S. Senate, he announced Friday, leaving three Democratic front-runners to compete in the primary. State Rep. Joe Tate, who was the first Black speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives, told The Associated Press on Thursday that he is suspending his campaign to move in a different direction of service. He struggled to compete with the fundraising numbers put up by the three other Democratic candidates, U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens, state Sen. Mallory McMorrow and public health official Abdul El-Sayed. The race is likely to be one of the most watched in 2026, as Republicans seek to defend their majority in the U.S. Senate. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The past three months have been wonderful, just to touch base with Michiganders, Tate said of his campaign. Tate was the fourth Democrat to jump into the race after Democratic U.S. Sen. Gary Peters announced his intention to retire at the end of his term. The other three candidates far outpaced Tate in fundraising, according to recent campaign finance reports. Stevens reported a haul of $2.8 million, McMorrow brought it $2.1 million, and El-Sayed banked about $1.8 million. Stevens amount includes $1.5 million she transferred from her previous U.S. House campaign. Meanwhile, Tate raised around $193,000 and reported having about $70,000 on hand as of June 30. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Tate said he is looking into seeking reelection for his House seat. Tate stepped down as speaker after Republicans gained a majority in the November election. On the Republican side of the ballot, former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers is running again after losing to Democrat Elissa Slotkin in the states 2024 U.S. Senate race by just 19,000 votes. The way was all but cleared for him after GOP U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga, who was exploring a run, announced in July that he would not seek the seat. Rogers' main campaign account reported bringing in about $1.2 million as of June 30, according to his Federal Election Commission filing. The ranking Democratic members of two key House committees have written a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel to express great concern about the abuse of federal public safety resources in response to reports the FBI is helping Texas law enforcement track down Democrats who fled Texas to stop a partisan redistricting effort. The Democrats, led by Reps. Robert Garcia (Calif.), the ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and Jamie Raskin (Md.), the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, raised alarm over reports the FBI is diverting federal law enforcement away from fighting terrorism, drug trafficking and other federal crimes to instead harass and target Texans duly elected representatives. They wrote that the reports raise urgent questions about the legal basis, scale, and appropriateness of federal law enforcement involved in a state-level political matter. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Reps. Greg Casar (D-Texas) and Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) also signed the letter. The letter came in response to a claim made by Texas Sen. John Cornyn (R) on Thursday that the FBI is assisting the Texas Department of Public Safety in identifying or locating Democratic state lawmakers who left the state to stop a GOP effort to radically redraw Texass congressional map. The House Democrats pointed out that Texas state Democrats from both parties have fled the state in prior years to disrupt bills from moving forward. They noted that the House Ethics Committee reprimanded then then-House Majority Leader Tom Delay (R-Texas) for requesting that the Federal Aviation Administration and the Department of Homeland Security track a plane of Democratic state lawmakers who fled Texas in 2003 to stop a GOP-led effort to redistrict the states congressional map. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Garcia, Raskin and their colleagues pointed out that a Texas state district judge ruled in 2003 that the states Department of Public Safety lacked the authority to apprehend lawmakers for breaking quorum in the state legislature. The court held that Texas law limits the role of DPS to enforcing the laws protecting the public safety and providing for the prevention and detection of crime. The ruling made clear that the state cannot treat quorum-breaking as a criminal offense subject to law enforcement pursuit, they wrote. The House Democrats suggested that Cornyn asked the FBI to get involved in the political fight because hes battling for his political survival in the face of a primary race next year against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. On July 31, 2025, U.S. Senator John Cornyn, trailing far behind in a Republican Senate primary, chose to ignore this precedent and publicly called for the FBI to assist Texas authorities in tracking down Democratic state lawmakers, they wrote. This request has been criticized by legal experts and civil rights advocates, who raised concerns about criminalizing political protest and the potential misuse of federal resources in a partisan dispute. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Democrats asked for confirmation on whether the FBI or the Department of Justice has agreed to assist with the efforts to track state lawmakers. They wanted a full accounting of Justice Department and FBI personnel assigned to the state of Texas or the Texas Department of Public Safety to assist in locating and identifying state lawmakers. They requested a detailed explanation of what legal authority the FBI is citing to pursue state-level lawmakers. They asked for all communications between Justice Department, FBI and Texas officials about the matter. The FBI declined to comment on the matter. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Department of Justice did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 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 group of six Democratic lawmakers is demanding more details from the Air Force as to how the service is siphoning funding from a nuclear missile modernization program to pay for retrofits for a luxury jet, gifted to the Trump administration by Qatar, to make it usable as Air Force One. In a letter sent Wednesday to Air Force Secretary Troy Meink, the lawmakers voice their concerns about how the Air Force is managing funds for the Sentinel nuclear missile program, including whether those funds are being raided to retrofit a personal gift to President Trump that likely violates the emoluments clause of the Constitution. The letter was signed by Sens. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Reps. John Garamendi (D-Calif.) and Jamie Raskin (D-Md.). Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The United States and Qatar are on track to soon finalize a deal for a 747 Boeing luxury jet that will be used as Air Force One, after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and his Qatari counterpart last month signed an agreement outlining the terms of Qatars unconditional donation. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have said that the 13-year-old luxury jet, previously used by the Qatari royal family, raises ethical and corruption questions in addition to costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars to retrofit the plane into a secure and working Air Force One. President Trump, who first announced the controversial gift in May ahead of his visit to the Middle East, has repeatedly insisted the plane is a gift and free of charge. But American taxpayers will foot the bill for the Air Force to strip the jet nearly to the studs to install the required security and communications equipment to function as Air Force One a task that Meink in June optimistically estimated to cost less than $400 million. Aviation experts and engineers, however, have placed the figure at as much as $1 billion or more. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Democratic lawmakers worry that in providing Trump with a palace in the sky, Qatar is trying to curry favor with the administration. Furthermore, as the plane needs significant modifications to meet Air Force One standards, including required security and communications equipment, the Air Force has plans to pull hundreds of millions of dollars from the Sentinel program an overbudget and overscheduled upgrade to Americas nuclear-equipped missiles to an unspecified classified project believed to be the Air Force One upgrade. The total price tag of the upgrade is classified, further frustrating lawmakers. It appears that funds for programs that the Air Force has continually claimed are among its top national security priorities are now being used as accounts for presidential whims, while the egregious lack of transparency hides the true costs of these programs from taxpayers, they write. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The lawmakers ask Meink for answers to a range of questions by Aug. 20, including whether the Air Force has assessed if shifting funds out of the Sentinel program will increase the programs costs or risk further delaying its schedule, whether any of the $934 million pulled from the Sentinel program has or will go to retrofits for the Qatari plane, and how much the retrofit is now estimated to cost, among other queries. 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 last time House Democrats held the majority, they made a sweeping package of good-government reforms including an attempt to end partisan gerrymandering a centerpiece of their legislative agenda. The people should choose their politicians, then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in 2021, moments before the House passed the bill that would later die in the Senate. Politicians should not be choosing their voters. Now, as President Donald Trump pushes Republicans in red states to redraw congressional district lines to their benefit, some Democrats are abandoning their past push for reforms. Instead, they're cheering on leaders like California Gov. Gavin Newsom who say their party must fight fire with fire. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Pelosi, in a statement to POLITICO, said she backs Newsoms effort to overrule a bipartisan California map and counter GOP attempts to rig the elections in their favor. Her U-turn is emblematic of the larger rethinking underway within the Democratic Party, where leaders who once embraced anti-gerrymandering initiatives and feared a race to the bottom in partisan warfare between red and blue states are now increasingly willing to set aside their lofty goals at least temporarily. Its another facet of the dilemma thats vexed Democrats since Trump first won the presidency. Theyve tried to present themselves to voters as adults in the room willing to set aside partisanship for the public good. But now that theyre being confronted with a potential existential threat to regaining power in 2026 or beyond, theyre entertaining bare-knuckle tactics. That includes some groups who have long advocated for high-minded changes to the political system, such as the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, a group founded in 2017 by former Attorney General Eric Holder. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This organization is taking a posture that we're not going to oppose states taking corrective and temporary measures, said its president, John Bisognano. And its happening in the House, too, where the reform agenda promoted under Pelosi has fallen by the wayside. While Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and members of his leadership team continue to advocate for voting rights advancements and other key policies, they've not made them central to their opposition to Trump and his Republican allies in Congress. Rep. Joe Morelle (D-N.Y.), the top Democrat on the committee overseeing federal elections, called Trump an anomalous figure requiring an emergency response including when it comes to gerrymandering. I will be an advocate for continuing to try to create national standards, but until those national standards are agreed to by everyone, I think it's going to make it increasingly difficult for states to continue to engage in a more nonpartisan system of redistricting, he said in an interview. As with so many things, Donald Trump shatters the norms and the standards that we have lived for, and as we try to improve our democracy, he is just shattering it. We have no choice but to respond in kind. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The rethinking has been prompted by Texas Republicans decision to respond to Trumps push to launch an unusual mid-decade redrawing of congressional lines in a special legislative session called last month by GOP Gov. Greg Abbott. The effort is now on hiatus with Democratic state lawmakers having fled the state to deny Republicans a quorum in protest of what they see as a partisan power grab. Other Republican-controlled states such as Missouri, Ohio and Indiana could follow Texas lead and rework their own congressional maps to shore up the three-seat House GOP majority ahead of next years midterm elections. Confronted with claims of partisan overreach, Republicans gladly point to Democratic states that have drawn their own gerrymanders. Illinois 14-3 map in a state where Trump won 44 percent of the vote has been excoriated by good-government advocates. New Yorks move to sidestep an independent map ended up in the courts and threw the 2022 midterms into chaos. Democratic Rep. Mike Quigley, asked by a POLITICO reporter Thursday at an event in his hometown of Chicago, said he is "aware that our maps in Illinois are gerrymandered." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Look, in an ideal world, these maps are drawn by nonpartisan commissions, and they represent what the Constitution said we should do," he said. "We're not there yet. ... So you can't be a Boy Scout in a situation like this you have to be as tough as they are." Enter Newsom, who has triggered the effort to expand Democrats advantage in California by overriding the map and sifting as many as five seats away from Republicans which could entirely offset the Texas redraw. The effort has rekindled the war over redistricting inside the Golden State, which has been done by an independent citizens commission since a successful 2010 ballot initiative. Before the vote, Pelosi and other prominent California Democrats including then-Rep. Adam Schiff, then-state Sen. Alex Padilla, who are now both U.S. senators opposed stripping line-drawing power from elected officials and backed a measure to maintain state lawmakers control. Foes of independent California redistricting, like Pelosi, tried to persuade voters it wasted tax dollars on unaccountable bureaucrats. But their opponents countered that officeholders were motivated to protect their turf. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Elected officials dont like to change the system that got them elected unless they can be super sure about what comes out of that and that theyre going to be okay, said Eric McGhee, a Public Policy Institute of California expert who has written extensively about redistricting. Only later did Californias most prominent Democrats embrace independent redistricting as a national matter. Now, theyre back on familiar ground, defending their partys right to undertake its own power play in the face of GOP efforts elsewhere. While we continue to support enacting legislation to create nationwide independent redistricting commissions, Democrats must respond to Republicans blatant partisan power grab, Pelosi said in her statement. Democrats cannot and will not unilaterally disarm. Her fellow House Democrats dont have any remorse about the political capital spent trying to pass the voting rights legislation in previous Congresses, though some are wistful about their failure in light of their current predicament. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Both their sweeping campaigns-and-elections package, dubbed the For the People Act, and a narrower measure aimed at restoring the 1965 Voting Rights Act, named after the late Rep. John Lewis, ran headlong into the Senate filibuster and now have zero path to passage under the GOP trifecta. This is an example of why we need it, said Missouri Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, whose Kansas Cityarea district could be redrawn by the state GOP in the coming weeks. Quigley said that Democrats should continue "pushing and advocating" for national redistricting standards, "educating the public of where we can be and why it matters" even as they pursue their own partisan lines. Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, also argued for reviving Democrats voting bills in a future Congress and for eventually going even further by implementing multi-member congressional districts and ranked-choice voting. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But he acknowledged the reality of the situation Democrats face. I would rather fight fire with water and put gerrymandering out of business, he said. But if the Republicans are going to plunge us into a race to the bottom, then we have to fight back with every means at our disposal. Shia Kapos, Nicole Markus, Jeremy White and Liz Crampton contributed to this report. the Von Ruden farm sits on a hill overlooking Vernon County. (Henry Redman | Wisconsin Examiner) State Sen. Brad Pfaff (D-Onalaska) and Rep. Jenna Jacobson joined Wisconsin Farmers Union President Darin Von Ruden on his Vernon County farm Thursday to criticize the economic and agricultural policies of President Donald Trump as bad for Wisconsins small and medium farms. The event at the farm in Westby came as Wisconsin Republicans have ignored or disputed the cumulative effect on farmers of tariffs on foreign imports, cuts to programs at the U.S. Department of Agriculture and an immigration policy that has scared away some farm laborers who are afraid to show up to work. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The tariffs coming out of Washington D.C. are hurting our farmers across Wisconsin and across the country, and you dont have to just take this from me, Pfaff said. All you have to do is look at the economic indicators, those troubling signs that are coming across from Washington, D.C. Job growth is stagnating, prices are rising, and the agriculture sector is taking a hit. Sadly, my Republican colleagues in Madison seem to be turning a blind eye to all of these concerns. Wisconsin Farmers Union President Darin Von Ruden speaks about the affect of Trump tariffs as state Sen. Brad Pfaff (D-Onalaska) and Rep. Jenna Jacobson (D-Oregon) listen. (Henry Redman | Wisconsin Examiner) Sen. Howard Marklein (R-Spring Green), whom Jacobson is challenging in next years midterm elections, recently said that farmers arent concerned about the potential damage of Trumps policies. At a telephone town hall earlier this week, U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany said that through actions such as raising the estate tax exemption for farms and the establishment of trade agreements with countries around the world, Wisconsin farmers will be able to benefit from free markets. But Von Ruden told the Wisconsin Examiner he doesnt see how Wisconsins farmers can benefit when the federal government is cutting programs that directly help them find markets for their products while tariffs only make it harder to export. Trump and Republicans have made massive cuts to USDA programs that help schools and food banks buy food from local farmers. The recently enacted Republican reconciliation law makes large cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as food stamps, which low-income residents have been able to use to buy food from producers at local farmers markets. Thats hundreds of millions of dollars that farmers are going to lose because the governments not going to be purchasing [food] to take care of the most needy people in this country, Von Ruden said. The other thing is, because weve allowed so many loopholes in the USDA, fewer people are getting bigger dollars from the government or insurance subsidies and things like that. So thats taking money away from the small producers, because we dont have the capabilities to hire an attorney to make sure that we get that $5 or $6 million check from Uncle Sam. Our members and myself, I would much rather get my income from the marketplace versus depending on a government check. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Von Rudens kids are the fourth generation to work on his family farm. He said that with Trumps tariffs, his costs are going up. Canadian fertilizer is more expensive. The John Deere tractor he uses will soon be unaffordable. We need to make sure that were growing agriculture, not decreasing it. Looking at how tariffs are going to affect this farm, were going to see the trickle down effect from that in the commodity markets, Von Ruden said. That trickle down effect is the biggest concern for farmers, he added. The president has said that hes going to make sure that farmers are taken care of, Von Ruden said. Tariffs arent going to do that. So lets stop all the rhetoric. The Von Ruden farm has been in the family for four generations. (Henry Redman | Wisconsin Examiner) Jacobson pointed to a number of proposals in the Wisconsin Legislature meant to help farmers respond to Trumps trade wars that Republicans have blocked. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Wisconsin Republicans had three chances to support our farmers, and three times they voted no, she said. Howard Marklein and Republicans in both chambers have failed to support our family farmers, failed to invest in our agricultural industry and made it harder for those in need to buy food. This is completely unacceptable. The driftless region of western Wisconsin is set to become a major target for Democrats in next years midterm elections as the effects of Trump administration and Republican policies hit the purple swing region. In addition to Jacobsons challenge of Marklein, Democrats are targeting U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Ordens 3rd Congressional District seat. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX (Reuters) -Nutrien topped Wall Street estimates for second-quarter profit on Wednesday, as the world's top potash producer benefited from improved demand in North America amid a robust corn planting season. U.S. farmers expanded corn plantings by 5% this year to the highest since 2013 while cutting soybean acres by 4% to a five-year low, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in June. The agency expects U.S. farmers will seed 95.203 million acres (38.527 million hectares) of corn this year, up from 90.594 million last year. "Fertilizer market fundamentals are supported by strong global demand, persistent supply disruptions and project delays. We have seen healthy fertilizer customer engagement and field activity in North America," CEO Ken Seitz said in a statement. Saskatoon, Canada-based Nutrien said it expects current-year potash sales volumes to be in the range of 13.9 million tonnes to 14.5 million tonnes. It previously projected potash sales volumes of 13.6 million tonnes to 14.4 million tonnes. U.S.-listed shares of the company were up more than 2% in trading after the bell. Nutrien's second-quarter potash sales jumped 31% to $991 million in the three months ended June 30. Total sales rose to $10.44 billion, from $10.16 billion a year earlier, with the retail segment, the company's largest by revenue, reporting sales of $7.96 billion during the quarter. The company posted an adjusted profit of $2.65 per share, compared with analysts' average estimate of $2.40, according to data compiled by LSEG. (Reporting by Vallari Srivastava in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila) DENVER (KDVR) The Denver Police Department investigated a separate shooting and stabbing late Thursday night. DPD said just after midnight that officers responded to a shooting incident in the 7100 block of Leetsdale, with two victims transported to the hospital with unknown injuries. FOX31 Newsletters: Sign up to get breaking news sent to your inbox The agency also said just after 11:30 p.m. that officers were investigating a stabbing in the 3900 block of North Colorado Boulevard, with one victim transported to the hospital with unknown injuries. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement No suspect informaton was provided from either 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 FOX31 Denver. DENVER (KDVR) Denver Public Schools is holding a two-day celebration ahead of the start of the new school year. Called the Back to Class Bash, the celebration of community spirit, school pride, and support for Denver students and educators, includes three separate events, starting with a service day on Friday. 2 Denver schools get AC after voters approved $975M bond in 2024 The service day is being held from 7 to 11 a.m. at both Hallett Academy and Carson Elementary, where volunteers will gather to beautify school grounds, assist with campus improvement projects and prepare welcoming environments for students and staff. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Back to Class Bash is one of the ways we show our deep commitment to students and educators, said Sara Hazel, DPS Foundations President & CEO, in a statement. The second event is a free pop-up shop at Abraham Lincoln High School on Saturday, Aug. 9, from 11 a.m to 2 p.m. Families who attend will have access school supplies and backpacks, free of charge. (The Back to Clash Bash) about creating a sense of belonging, pride, and preparedness across our schools and neighborhoods and we are incredibly grateful to our community and generous supporters for helping to make this possible, Hazel said. The Back to Class Bash wraps up with an employee and community 5k and fun run event on Sept. 27 at Berkeley Lake Park. Check in for the fun run starts at 8 a.m. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. BATTLE CREEK, Mich. (WOOD) A targeted investigation led to the arrests of two men, who are accused of trying to solicit sex from a minor, according to the Calhoun County Sheriffs Office. Deputies identified the men as 58-year-old Daniel Styler of Battle Creek and 45-year-old Stephen Mayne of Savannah, Georgia. They were charged with accosting a child for immoral purposes and using a computer or the internet to communicate with another person to commit a crime, according to the sheriffs office. The charges stem from a weeklong investigation into human trafficking and child exploitation, which was led by sheriffs deputies, the office said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Online jail records show Mayne was arrested Monday and Styler Tuesday. Maynes bond was listed as $5,000 and Stylers $10,000. In a statement, Sheriff Steve Hinkley affirmed his offices commitment to protecting children. If you come after our children, were coming after you, he said. The sheriff warned parents of the dangers of social media. Have conversations with your children. Monitor their activity, trust but verify, and always keep the lines of communication open, he told parents. Awareness and education are critical tools in protecting our youth. The Albion Department of Public Safety, Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi Tribal Police, Southwest Enforcement Team, Marshall Police Department, Michigan State Police, Homeland Security Investigations and Calhoun County Consolidated Dispatch Authority also played a role in the investigation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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 WOODTV.com. NEW MEXICO (KRQE) Despite economic uncertainty, experts say that the state is experiencing an increase in revenue. In fact, the latest numbers indicate there was more cash flowing into the state than anticipated. Jennifer Faubion, senior economist for the Legislative Finance Committee, said, Were in a really, really good position in case of a serious downturn. Story continues below Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Earlier this summer, the Legislative Finance Committee released its latest report. It revealed that in February, the state generated $200 million more than expected. Much of this funding came from taxpayers within the state. Consumer spending is really driving a lot of the gross receipts tax and personal income tax, Faubion added. While oil and gas and federal mineral leasing royalties still account for the largest portion of revenue, there is a cap on how much of that money the state can spend. So essentially what they did was they said anything over FY24 levels, were going to put into some different trust funds, Faubion said. This cap means that the additional funds from oil and gas will go to the Early Childhood Trust Fund, the Tax Stabilization Reserve, and the Severance Tax Permanent Fund. Though oil and gas collections are down by $9.1 million compared to last year, the state still boasts a healthy economy and a backup plan. If oil and gas revenues decline, capital outlay would be reduced to make up the difference. So, if oil and gas kind of, if we do hit that really detrimental scenario, 60% of the revenue loss would hit those other funds first before hitting the general fund. So, our operating budgets are pretty well insulated from really any downturn, Faubion said. The next report will be released in the coming weeks and will take into account the effects of the latest federal cuts on state funding. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. CANTON, S.D. (KELO) Witnesses say there is no doubt that Justin Rackley murdered three people last summer in southwest Sioux Falls. However, police body cam video shows Rackley telling police hed been tied up in a basement and didnt know who fired the gun. Thats just some of the evidence presented in day two of testimony in the Lincoln County triple murder trial. 86th year of the Sioux Empire Fair Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Thursday, jurors got to hear from the man and woman who were at the party and survived. It gave them an idea of what happened leading up to the shooting and after police arrived. Heres what they had to say. Today, inside the Lincoln County Courthouse, jurors found out what brought Justin Rackley to the home on Drexel Drive on June 8th, 2024. A woman, who was shot in the arm but survived, told jurors she met Rackley at Woodys Pub. She said he bought her a drink, and they went to a couple of other bars. At the third location, she says a woman invited them to the get-together at the southwest Sioux Falls home. After they arrived, she says Rackley went to get firewood with the other men, and they gave him the nickname Texas. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The second witness who took the stand told jurors he and victim Kellie Reaves were dating and lived in the home where the shooting happened. He also said victim Daniel Kemnitz was his best friend and that he saw Rackley shoot him. The man told jurors that image will never go away and that its burned in his mind. The man says the third victim, Michael Thompson, was a friend of his as well. After the shooting, both witnesses say they ran into the home. The man told jurors he ran back outside while he was on the phone with 911. That brief call was played Thursday in court. The man says he dropped his phone as an armed Rackley chased him back into the house. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement When the woman heard them come inside, she said she hid in a closet. Thats where she heard Rackley ask, Who shot these people? When asked if she believed he didnt know who pulled the trigger, she said she had no doubts that Justin Rackley fired the gun. During cross examination, Rackleys attorneys pointed out that both witnesses were drinking throughout the night and questioned their ability to remember the nights events correctly. The defense also pointed out that during interviews after the shooting, the male witness was confused about where he met Rackley and didnt remember calling 911 or dropping his phone. He also told an officer he wasnt sure if Rackley hit him with a gun. On the body cam video, the courtroom saw multiple police officers running into the basement where Rackley and the male witness were in a scuffle. This was where we heard the witness claim that Rackley had killed his best friend, but we also hear Rackley claim he was tied up in the basement when the shooting happened. However, yesterday in court, jurors saw video showing Rackley chasing the male witness with a gun. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. The Brief Two people were killed on Detroit's east side after an argument between men broke out in gunfire. A third party, identified as a family member of one of the victims and a CPL holder, killed the shooter. Police believe it was self-defense. It happened on Bwick Street near Mack on Thursday morning. DETROIT (FOX 2) - While details are still murky about what led up two people dying on Detroit's east side, the fallout was felt immediately. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Family members were seen crying on the side of Bewick Street late Thursday morning after gun violence broke out, littering the pavement with shell casings and tragedy. What we know Around 10:30 a.m., Detroit police were called out to Bwick near Mack for reports of a shooting. Two people died after one approached another and an argument broke out. The suspect, a man in his 20s, opened fire on a man in his 30s, killing him. In response, a man in his 30s who had a concealed pistol license and was armed, shot the suspect, killing him. Police took the CPL holder into custody and detained him. Detroit Police's chief said it appeared to be self-defense. What we don't know The nature of the argument that led to gunfire is unclear. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Police did confirm that the CPL holder, a man in his 40s, was related to the victim. Why you should care Chief Todd Bettison said even though violence has dropped around Detroit, the rate of people using violence to solve their problems was still too high. "My message is this: Its been too much violence in this city, even though crime is down, it doesnt feel like it, and its been too much," he said. In the wake of the shooting, family were left grieving the death of one of their own. "That was my first cousin, that was my aunt's son," said one man, who asked to not be identified. "Not good at all, not good at all. And you know, we grew up together - of course their younger than me but we grew up together." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Others who live nearby shaken by the violence worried about letting other family even go outside. Family members heartbroken over violence in Detroit. "We should be able to let our kids go to the park, we should be able to let our kids go outside to play. You cant do that. Cause youre sacred theyre going to get shot," said Ruth Washington. Michella Miller, another resident who lives nearby pleaded for an end to the violence. "Its sad that young folks are losing their life quicker than the older people are dying," she said. "Its sad. We need to stop. All this shooting just need to stop." The Source Interviews with family, police, and neighbors were used for this story. RUTHERFORD, N.J. (PIX11) Rabbi Yitzchok Lerman woke up to flames on Friday inside a New Jersey synagogue that he and his family, including four young children, had lived in. Our building went up in flames within minutes, Lerman said. More Local News He had been a rabbi at Congregation Beth El for 11 years, he told PIX11 News. The congregation had been in that synagogue since the 1950s, according to Lerman. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Police officers responded to 185 Montross Ave. around 3:45 a.m. as the massive inferno charred the place of worship. The rabbi and his family managed to escape the fire and run to a neighbors house. Thank God everyone is safe. Its a miracle that were all safe, that we got out in time, Lerman said. I heard all the noise and I came out to see whats going on, Frank Wilson, a neighbor, told PIX11 News. And I saw the rabbi came to my house he came with the family and they came out just with their lives. Lerman told PIX11 News that a neighbor took his kids to his parents home. The synagogue partially collapsed and was destroyed in the fire, according to officials. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement More: Latest News from Around the Tri-State Its devastating to see the destruction of the synagogue, of everything we love, of our Torah scrolls Its terrible, Lerman said. The rabbi said the congregation will rebuild and there are plans to launch a GoFundMe to help with the process. Saturday services will be held outside, according to Lerman. 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. Related video: KNWA/FOX24s Regan Wynn talks Devils Den double homicide on NewsNations Banfield FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) A pair of Northwest Arkansas school districts confirmed that the suspect connected to the Devils Den double homicide applied for jobs in those districts, in addition to being hired at the Springdale school district. Andrew McGann, 28, is charged with two counts of capital murder connected to the stabbing deaths of Clinton David Brink, 43, and Cristen Amanda Brink, 41, from Prairie Grove, at Devils Den State Park. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement McGann spent time at school districts in two states, Texas and Oklahoma, before coming to Arkansas. Spokespeople for Bentonville Schools and Fayetteville Public Schools confirmed to KNWA/FOX24 that McGann applied for jobs in those districts. He was ultimately hired by Springdale Public Schools as a teacher candidate for the upcoming school year. Wisconsin investigators revisit 2020 Devils Lake homicide after Arkansas arrest A spokesperson with SPS said that McGann had not yet started working in the district before his July 30 arrest. The Bentonville spokesperson said McGann submitted his resume and was deemed unqualified for employment. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Fayetteville spokesperson said McGann applied but was not interviewed for a position. McGanns teaching history McGann has an extensive teaching history, starting at Donald Elementary in the Lewisville Independent School District in Flower Mound, Texas. Sierra Marcum, whose son was taught by McGann at Donald Elementary, told KNWAs NBC affiliate in Dallas, NBC 5 DFW, that she recalled her son voicing several concerns. TIMELINE: Prairie Grove couple killed at Devils Den State Park Marcum said McGann was her sons homeroom teacher. She said he didnt manage his class well. She also said that her son had voiced concerns about inappropriate behavior, saying he had seen some things that made him feel uncomfortable. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement McGann also taught in Broken Arrow and Sand Springs in Oklahoma. CNN previously reported that McGann was hired by the Plano Independent School District in August 2024 for four days and resigned before the first day of school. McGann is being held in the Washington County Detention Center without bond. His arraignment is scheduled for Aug. 14. 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 KNWA FOX24. Aug. 7With references to Ohio's legalization of cannabis and the prevalence of social media in the lives of children, Gov. Mike DeWine Thursday toured the Dayton Children's Hospital Mathile Center for Mental Health and Wellness. DeWine said the opening of the $110 million center shows that Ohio is a "state that is a leader in mental health." "Dayton Children's has really stepped up," the governor said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement During the tour, DeWine expressed his dismay at the increase in juvenile cases across the state related to cannabis since its legalization in 2023. According to Dr. Kelly Blankenship, Dayton Children's associate chief medical officer, when the hospital first opened its mental health unit in 2019, there would be maybe one patient experiencing psychosis in the unit at any given time. Today, that number has risen to as many as five. Blankenship attributes the rise to the increase in cannabis use among adolescents. "Unbelievable," said DeWine, who opposed the legalization of marijuana. "When you legalize it, it sends the message it's OK." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Mathile Center consolidates and expands all of Dayton Children's crisis mental health services under one roof, and doubles the number of inpatient mental health beds to 48 that the hospital provides. The center begins accepting inpatients Wednesday. Intentional self-harm was the top inpatient diagnoses in 2023, according to the hospital's annual report. During the governor's tour, Blankenship and Dayton Children's CEO Deborah Feldman pointed out special features through the facility designed to limit the potential risk to patients. Furniture in common areas is either too heavy to lift and throw or too light to cause any damage if thrown. Shower curtains in rooms won't support a person's weight and tear away from the wall. Sensory lights in some rooms changes color to help calm and relax patients. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Natural light is prevalent throughout, something Feldman said is key for patients and families. "Space matters. Space absolutely matters," Feldman said. "Families come in nervous and upset. They walk into a building that says 'we're here for you.'" DeWine and a regional delegation for the Ohio General Assembly allocated $25 million to the project from American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds. Patient rooms cost about $100,000 each and were designed to prevent self-harm. Doors open inward and outward to prevent children from barricading themselves inside and are also equipped with anti-ligature door handles. Media boards in each room allow for video calls and other uses. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement DeWine and the hospital staff said mental health will continue to be a focus of government and the medical community, with more ways needed to address children with "severe" problems. "Mental health is the crisis of this generation" Blankenship said. Sen. Ron Latz, DFL- Saint Louis Park, rises for a point of order while debating a motion to refer a bill to the floor during session Monday, March 3, 2025. Photo by A.J. Olmscheid/Senate Media Services. Sen. Ron Latz, DFL-St. Louis Park, pledged to introduce legislation next year closing a loophole in Minnesotas regulation of so-called ghost guns untraceable firearms without serial numbers. The declaration comes after the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that state law doesnt clearly restrict Minnesotans from possessing guns without serial numbers. The high court stated in its ruling that Minnesotans can possess a gun without a serial number as long as it complies with federal law. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The case originates from a 2022 car crash in Fridley. A state trooper responding to the crash found a Glock pistol without a serial number in the car, and the driver Logan Vagle was charged with felony possession of a self-assembled gun without a serial number. The Minnesota Supreme Court on Wednesday reversed an appeals court decision that upheld the felony charge and sent the case back down to the district court for further review. Minnesota has not established an independent firearm serial number regime, and federal law does not require that Vagles pistol have a serial number, Associate Justice Paul Thissen wrote in the majority opinion, joined by justices Anne McKeig, Gordon Moore and Sarah Hennesy. Chief Justice Natalie Hudson wrote the dissent, which was joined by Associate Justice Karl Procaccini. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In a statement, the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus praised the courts ruling and said, in particular, it will impact lawful gun owners who manufacture firearms for personal use or own firearms manufactured before 1968 the year the feds mandated gun manufacturers to include serial numbers on their firearms. Minnesotans who lawfully build personally manufactured firearms and possess pre-1968 firearms have always acted within the law. The courts decision confirmed that fact, said Gun Owners Caucus Chair Bryan Strawser in a statement. In the end, the final decision on whether and how to regulate ghost guns rests with the Legislature, Thissen wrote in his opinion. Latz, who serves as chair of the Senates Public Safety Committee, interpreted the Supreme Court opinion as a call to action. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement No one couldve foreseen a world where you could print the parts to make a gun at home, but thats the world we live in today, Latz said in a statement. This decision makes it clear that our state gun laws need to reflect this new reality and the increasing prevalence of ghost guns. Its unclear whether this Latzs proposal will gain bipartisan support, which will be required to pass the Minnesota House and also the Senate, depending on the results of two special elections. The House is expected to return to a tie between Republicans and Democrats after a special election. By Niket Nishant, Manya Saini and Andrea Shalal (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump's administration could kick off initial public offerings of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac later this year, according to a senior administration official, marking a key milestone for the mortgage finance giants that have been under government control for years. The share sales could value Fannie and Freddie at nearly $500 billion combined, the official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. The deal would be an important turning point for the companies, which have been under federal conservatorship since 2008. The administration has been talking to banks about the potential share sale but has not formally appointed one to lead the process, a source familiar with the matter said. Fannie and Freddie were created by Congress to support the housing market by ensuring affordable mortgage financing, but crumbled after being severely bruised during the financial crisis. They were bailed out with taxpayer funds, and the Department of Treasury received preferred shares in return, which paid billions of dollars in dividends over the years. Over the years, efforts to return them to private control have continued, including under Trump's first term, but have failed to get traction. "The U.S. mortgage market has proven healthy in recent years. While Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are very different from the types of companies that have recently tapped into the IPO market, pent-up demand for new stocks could be tailwinds for their listings," said Angelo Bochanis, data and index associate at Renaissance Capital, a provider of IPO-focused research and ETFs. The administration's latest plans were first reported by the Wall Street Journal. The plans are tentative and could change. MORTGAGE MARKET BACKBONE Fannie and Freddie buy mortgages from lenders, holding them in their portfolios or bundling them into mortgage-backed securities for sale. The cash lenders receive from these sales fuels more lending, helping ensure a steady supply of mortgage financing for homebuyers, apartment investors and other multifamily property purchasers. By converting mortgages into MBS and guaranteeing payment of principal and interest, Fannie and Freddie lure investors into the secondary mortgage market, increasing the funds available for housing. With Trump back in the White House, hopes have resurfaced that their long-pending privatization could finally be completed. Billionaire investor Bill Ackman, who has held stakes in Fannie and Freddie for more than a decade, said last year he was counting on Trump to finish the job. WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem pledged to continue ICE raids in sanctuary cities. She spent Friday near Chicago where she accused local democrats of shielding undocumented immigrants in the Windy City. We will defend the homeland, said Noem. Its the unequivocal message the Trump administration is sending to every so-called sanctuary city. Noem blasted Chicago area Democrats, accusing them of shielding criminal migrants from ICE raids. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Our federal officers have had to do this alone without their support, said Noem. Within minutes, Chicago Democrats fired back on a press call. They can try to intimidate. The truth is the law is on our side, said Rep. Chuy Garcia (D-Ill.). Illinois Congressman Chuy Garcia says non-criminals and families are being swept up by raids. In a letter to the Trump administration Thursday, Illinois Democrats accused DHS of using illegal tactics to undermine local laws. Its the latest scuffle over the presidents mass deportation plans. Border czar Tom Homan praised red states willing to house a surge in detainees. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Every bed we fill pretty quickly, said Homan. Noem says theyre adding a thousand beds to the detention center in Speedway, Indiana, thanks to new funding from the big, beautiful bill. This week a judge ordered the administration to pause construction on Alligator Alcatraz over environmental concerns, that facility is in heart of Floridas Everglades, but Florida Governor Ron Desantis called the judge an activist and says the facility will remain operational. 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 DC News Now | DC, Virginia, Maryland News, Weather, Traffic, Sports Live. NEED TO KNOW Bryan Kohberger submitted a document naming alternate perpetrators he planned to introduce at trial as potential suspects in the murders of four University of Idaho students Days later, an individual identified as J.D. submitted his fingerprints into evidence at the Idaho State Police Lab, according to unsealed documents from the Moscow Police Department An individual with the initials J.D. is also identified as being the ex-boyfriend of Kaylee Goncalves Bryan Kohberger entered into a plea deal with prosecutors just days after his attempt to introduce possible new suspects as alternate perpetrators of the murders was rejected by the judge in the case. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Those alternate perpetrators were first introduced by Kohberger's defense team in a motion that was filed under seal on May 16. Their identities were not revealed in any of the subsequent court filings, but comments made by the court and information contained in recently released documents suggests that one of those individuals may have been the ex-boyfriend of Kaylee Goncalves. Kaylee Goncalves/Instagram Kaylee Goncalves Ada County District Court Judge Steven Hippler wrote that three of the people Kohberger planned to accuse of the murders "were each socially connected to one or more of the victims, interacted with one or more of the victims at social events in the hours prior to the homicide, lived within walking distance of the crime scene and were familiar with the layout of the victims' home from prior social events." Goncalves' ex had a connection to a victim, interacted with her in the hours prior to the homicide, lived within walking distance and was familiar with the layout of the crime scene. 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. A recently released document from the Moscow Police Department reveals that an individual identified as J.D. "was scheduled to provide fingerprints at the [Idaho State Police] Lab in Coeur d'Alene at 1300 hours" on May 29. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement That would have been a little over a week after Kohberger filed his alternate perpetrator motion, and in his order denying that motion on June 26, Judge Hippler wrote that each of the individuals identified by the defense "cooperated with law enforcement, providing DNA samples, fingerprints." KYLE GREEN/POOL/EPA/Shutterstock Bryan Kohberger Bryan Kohberger In an interview with police on Nov. 16, 2022, a friend of Goncalves identified as K.N. told police that Kaylee dated a guy called J.D. "for a couple of years and the two were high school sweethearts." Another friend of Goncalves, R.R., also identified J.D. as her ex-boyfriend, and said the two "started dating when they were younger" and had a good relationship despite splitting up, in a Dec. 14, 2022 interview with police. Those unsealed documents also revealed that Goncalves and J.D. shared custody of her dog Murphy, and that J.D. made sure the dog did not end up with animal control after the murders. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Documents also show that J.D. cooperated with police throughout the investigation and was thoroughly vetted by authorities and at no point considered a suspect in the murders. Days after Judge Hippler rejected Kohberger's motion, the former criminology student confessed to the murders of Goncalves, 21; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20. Three weeks later, Kohberger was sentenced to serve four lifetimes in prison. The Idaho State Police and the Moscow Police Department did not respond to requests for comment. Read the original article on People NEED TO KNOW Ted Bundy is one of the most notorious serial killers in United States history He killed at least 30 women and girls in the 1970s Bundy was given three death sentences for his crimes in Florida Ted Bundy is one of the most prolific serial killers in United States history. He embarked on a spree of sexual slayings in the 1970s, primarily targeting dark-haired young women and girls. Bundy would typically use his good looks and charisma to lure women to his car. Then, his dark side would emerge, with Bundy knocking his victims unconscious before driving them to a secondary location, beating or strangling them to death, sexually assaulting them and dumping their bodies. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Bundy escaped capture twice: In 1975, he was arrested and ultimately found guilty in Utah on charges of aggravated kidnapping and attempted criminal assault. But when he was transferred in 1977 to face a murder charge in Colorado, he escaped from a courthouse library while acting as his own attorney. Bundy was recaptured but escaped again six months later this time fleeing to Florida, where he would commit his final murders. In January 1978, Bundy brutally killed two college co-eds in Florida State Universitys Chi Omega sorority house, subsequently raping and murdering 12-year-old Kimberly Leach three weeks later. However, Bundy was finally captured when a Pensacola, Fla., police officer stopped him for driving a stolen vehicle. In 1979, Bundy was convicted and sentenced to two death sentences in the Chi Omega murders; six months later, he received a third death sentence for his killing of Leach. Bundy's crimes are the subject of the Hulu docuseries Ted Bundy: Dialogue With the Devil, which premiered on Aug. 7. So, how did Ted Bundy die? Here's everything to know about the serial killer's demise on death row. How did Ted Bundy die? Bettmann Archive/Getty Theodore "Ted" Bundy is seated in court in Miami, Florida in 1979. Theodore "Ted" Bundy is seated in court in Miami, Florida in 1979. Despite numerous attempts to appeal his sentences during his decade on death row, Bundy was ultimately executed via the electric chair. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement If there's ever been anyone on Florida's death row that deserved the electric chair, Ted Bundy was that individual, then-Florida governor Bob Martinez said following Bundys execution. Though Bundy had received three separate death sentences, it was the 1978 rape and murder of Leach his final killing that he was executed for, per the Los Angeles Times. Bundy died in an execution chamber as 42 witnesses looked on from behind a glass window, according to the Los Angeles Times. When did Ted Bundy die? Bettmann/Corbis/Getty Ted Bundy. Ted Bundy. Bundy was executed during the early morning hours of Jan. 24, 1989. The executioner pressed the button at 7:06 a.m. and Bundy was officially pronounced dead at 7:16 a.m. by Dr. Frank Kilgo, the chief physician at the Florida State Prison, according to The Oklahoman. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The sentence of the state of Florida vs. Theodore Bundy has been carried out, Prison Lt. Don Davis told the reporters and witnesses present. Where did Ted Bundy die? Bundys execution took place at Florida State Prison in Raiford, Fla. He had been held there on death row for nearly 10 years. At the time, Bundy was the 20th man to die by the death penalty in the state of Florida and the 106th in the country since the U.S. Supreme Court allowed states to reinstate the death penalty in 1976, per The Oklahoman. How old was Ted Bundy when he died? Bettmann Archive/Getty Theodore Bundy in 1979. Theodore Bundy in 1979. Bundy, who was born on Nov. 24, 1946, was 42 years old when he was executed. What were Ted Bundys last words? Bettmann Archive/Getty Theodore "Ted" Bundy at the Leon County Jail in 1978. Theodore "Ted" Bundy at the Leon County Jail in 1978. Prior to his execution being carried out, Florida State Prison Superintendent Tom Barton asked Bundy if he had anything to say. At that moment, the usually-confident Bundys voice shook as he addressed his attorney James Coleman and Rev. Fred Lawrence, a Methodist minister from Gainesville, Fla., per The Oklahoman. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Bundys last words to them were, Jim and Fred, I'd like you to give my love to my family and friends. How did Ted Bundy spend his final hours before his execution? The night before his death, Bundy was interviewed by religious broadcaster James Dobson. The interview was then televised the same day the serial killer was executed, according to The New York Times. In the taped discussion which Bundy reportedly requested he revealed that he had developed a problem with pornography as an adolescent, per the Los Angeles Times. Bundy began to watch increasingly violent pornography until he turned to rape and murder. He also spoke about how he became desensitized as he committed his violent sex slayings across the country, Dobson shared. According to Dobson, the notorious serial killer appeared remorseful during their conversation, despite telling investigators days earlier that he didnt feel guilty for any of it. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He wept several times while talking to me, Dobson recalled. He expressed great regret, remorse for what he had done, for the families that were hurting. In addition to the Dobson interview, Bundy spent his final hours with Lawrence. According to The Oklahoman, Lawrence sat outside Bundys cell for the entire night before he was executed. Part of the time, they spent in prayer, prison spokesman Bob Macmaster told the outlet. On the morning of his execution, Bundy also called his mother, Louise Bundy, twice to say his goodbyes. At the end of the second phone call, Louise who had staunchly defended her sons innocence, according to USA Today reportedly told him, Youll always be my precious son. Did Ted Bundy confess to any additional crimes before he was executed? Bettmann Archive/Getty Theodore "Ted" Bundy in Tallahassee, Florida on July 27, 1978. Theodore "Ted" Bundy in Tallahassee, Florida on July 27, 1978. Even after he was convicted, Bundy spent years maintaining his innocence, claiming he was the victim of conniving investigators and circumstantial evidence, per The New York Times. But in the days prior to his execution, he met with several investigators from the states of Washington, Utah, Idaho and Colorado and admitted to at least 23 additional murders, according to The Washington Post. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The confessions were a last-ditch effort by Bundy to avoid the electric chair. He felt, if he finally starts doling out information, perhaps the state will keep him alive indefinitely, Joe Berlinger, the executive producer of Netflixs Conversations With a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes, told ABC News in February 2019. However, Martinez called the confessions despicable and the state moved forward with Bundys execution. Where are Ted Bundys remains? Bundys remains were cremated, and his ashes were strewn over the Cascades Mountains in Washington per his wishes, according to the Los Angeles Times. The western mountain range is where Bundy had confessed to leaving the bodies of several of his victims. What was the public reaction to Ted Bundys death? Bettmann Archive/Getty Theodore "Ted" Bundy leans on the Leon County jail wall as an indictment charging him with the murders of two FSU coeds at the Chi Omega house is read by Leon County Sherriff Ken Katarsis on July 27, 1978. Theodore "Ted" Bundy leans on the Leon County jail wall as an indictment charging him with the murders of two FSU coeds at the Chi Omega house is read by Leon County Sherriff Ken Katarsis on July 27, 1978. Bundys death was celebrated by hundreds of individuals who had gathered outside of the Florida State Prison on the morning of his execution. The crowd had as many as 2,000 spectators and included children, according to The Washington Post and only a handful were there in protest of capital punishment. The rest sported T-shirts and held signs with slogans like Burn Bundy Burn and Toast Ted, among others. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement When a scarf was waved from the prison door to indicate that the execution had been completed, the crowd cheered, banging on frying pans and setting off fireworks. Good, Vivian Rancourt, the mother of victim Susan Rancourt, said following the execution, per The Washington Post. The only thing I can say is, thank God, its finally over. George Robert Dekle, who prosecuted the Leach case and was present for Bundys execution, expressed similar feelings. The thing that kept going through my mind was the awful crime scene I saw 11 years ago, he said, according to the Los Angeles Times. I kept saying to myself, that is where it started and this is where it ends. Read the original article on People COLUMBUS, Ga. (WRBL) The Dillingham Street Bridge in downtown Columbus has reopened after being temporarily closed due to concerning items that were found in the Chattahoochee River down below, Columbus Police confirmed to WRBL News 3. The Columbus Police Department confirmed a diver in the Chattahoochee River discovered potential explosive devices and left them in the water. Investigators examined the items that were found in the river. Columbus Police and the bomb squad were then called to the scene and Columbus Fire and EMS was on standby for potential medical support. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Dillingham Street Bridge, a portion of Bay Avenue and portions of the Riverwalk were blocked off. CDP eventually issued an update and confirmed with WRBL News 3 that no items were recovered from the river. 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 WRBL. Ancient dinosaur footprints dating back 115 million years were discovered in Northwest Travis County, Texas, after recent flooding swept away layers of sediment and brush that had long hidden them, according to officials. The discovery was made in the Big Sandy Creek area over the weekend by a group of volunteers, Travis County Judge Andy Brown, who serves as the county's chief executive, told ABC News. The tracks were found on private property, with the exact location being kept secret at the owner's request. University of Texas paleontologists confirmed at least 15 individual footprints, Matthew Brown, a paleontologist at UT Austin, told ABC News. Each footprint measured approximately 18-20 inches long and dated back 110-115 million years, according to Brown. Travis County - PHOTO: Dinosaur tracks were uncovered after flooding in the Big Sandy Creek neighborhood. The tracks were left by meat-eating dinosaurs similar to an Acrocanthosaurus, a roughly 35-foot-long bipedal carnivore, Brown said. Additional prints found nearby might have represented a large herbivorous sauropod dinosaur called Paluxysaurus, which is the official state dinosaur of Texas. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement MORE: Massive shark caught off the Connecticut coast may break state record Brown and fellow UT Austin paleontologist Kenneth Bader on Tuesday afternoon visited the spot where the tracks were discovered to assess them and to advise officials on protecting them during ongoing flood cleanup efforts. "We expect to return to the site in the near future to more thoroughly document the tracks with maps and 3D imaging," Brown said. He said his team hoped to determine whether multiple dinosaurs moved together as a group or if individuals crossed the area independently. Travis County - PHOTO: July floods reveal dino tracks in texas. Dinosaur tracks arent unusual in central Texas, Brown said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Often people don't realize that it is possible to find them in their own backyards," he said. Travis County - PHOTO: Dinosaur tracks were uncovered after flooding in the Big Sandy Creek neighborhood. Last month, deadly floods ravaged parts of central Texas, claiming more than 130 lives. The disaster was severe in Kerr County, where at least 36 children lost their lives at nearby Camp Mystic. According to Brown, the discovery would not impact ongoing cleanup efforts in the area. Local officials encourage anyone who finds additional tracks to report them to the University of Texas paleontology department Five men were booked into the Denton County jail in late July on felony charges involving child sex crimes, tampering with evidence, and weapons possession. This edition of Dirty John ranks the arrestees by the number and severity of alleged offenses. High-weight felonies like aggravated sexual assault of a child and possession of child pornography take precedence over lesser or single charges. 1. Jezick C. Collett DOB: February 6, 2003 Height: 510 | Weight: 140 | Race: White Arrested: July 15, 2025 | Cell: P-13 Agency: Denton County Sheriffs Office Charges: Aggravated Sexual Assault of Child Count I Aggravated Sexual Assault of Child Count II Assault Family/Household Member Impede Breath/Circulation Driving While License Invalid with Previous Conviction/Suspension/No Financial Responsibility Failure to Comply with Sex Offender Duty to Register Life/90 Day Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Collett faces five separate charges, including two counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child and an allegation of choking a family or household member. He is also accused of violating his sex offender registration requirements. 2. Taquino Williams DOB: March 17, 1991 Height: 57 | Weight: 150 | Race: Black Arrested: July 31, 2025 | Cell: P-25 Agency: Denton County Sheriffs Office Charges: Aggravated Sexual Assault Count I Aggravated Sexual Assault Count II Burglary of Habitation Florida Department of Corrections Hold Williams was booked at the end of July on multiple first-degree felony charges, including two aggravated sexual assault counts and an alleged break-in. He also faces a hold from Florida authorities. 3. Dallas D. Carter DOB: February 16, 2006 Height: 56 | Weight: 150 | Race: Black Arrested: July 17, 2025 | Cell: S-3 Agency: Denton County Sheriffs Office Charges: Possession of Controlled Substance PG 2 1G<4G Sexual Assault of a Child Tampering/Fabricating Physical Evidence with Intent to Impair Unlawful Carrying of a Weapon Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Carter, who is 19 years old, faces four charges, including sexual assault of a minor, drug possession, and evidence tampering. The Sheriffs Office also alleges he unlawfully carried a weapon. 4. Sidney Cobb DOB: October 6, 2000 Height: 59 | Weight: 160 | Race: Black Arrested: July 29, 2025 | Cell: P-07 Agency: Denton County Sheriffs Office Charge: Possession of Child Pornography 50 Depictions or Videos Cobb is charged with possessing more than 50 pieces of child sexual abuse material, a serious felony under Texas law. 5. Moises D. Castro DOB: June 30, 2002 Height: 58 | Weight: 165 | Race: White Arrested: July 25, 2025 | Cell: P-06 Agency: Denton County Sheriffs Office Charge: Community Supervision Violation Aggravated Sexual Assault of a Child Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Castros arrest stems from an alleged violation of community supervision terms tied to a prior conviction or charge for aggravated sexual assault of a child. All individuals listed have been arrested for alleged crimes and are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Mugshots and information were obtained from the Denton County Sheriffs Office through its mobile app. SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) For over an hour, Sioux Falls city councilors heard the concerns from many community members about the states partnership with ICE. The meeting lasted just shy of five hours, with over an hour dedicated to Operation Prairie Thunder. Public comments ranged from concerns for immigrant families especially the Hispanic community costs, and an insensitive logo. UPDATE: 1 dead in Wednesday 10th Street crash Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Gov. Larry Rhoden recently announced Operation Prairie Thunder, an initiative that enhances anticrime efforts in Sioux Falls with increased officers and saturation patrols and assisting ICE agents in deporting immigrants. People gathering outside the City Council Chambers in solidarity with immigrant communities. People gathering outside the City Council Chambers in solidarity with immigrant communities. People gathering outside the City Council Chambers in solidarity with immigrant communities. People gathering outside the City Council Chambers in solidarity with immigrant communities. Packed house inside City Council Chambers. Twenty-four people chose to address the city council to oppose Operation Prairie Thunder, including Nasly Peredes, a mother and small business owner in Sioux Falls. This is creating a lot of hate in our community, Peredes said. When you go to a restaurant and people are just looking or staring at you or your kids, its not nice. Just because you were not born here, just because youre not the same skin color as other people. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Sioux Falls community concerned with Operation Prairie Thunder Some who spoke questioned where funds for the program are coming from and whether that money should go toward other priorities like teacher salary or funding school lunches. I am here tonight to voice for my community, Sandra Ansua Fischer said. Those who are afraid to speak, whose rights are being violated and stripped away all over across the country, we are not criminals, we are not rapists, we are not drug dealers. We are your neighbors, we are your small business owners, we are the doctors, the truck drivers, the caregivers. We are part of the fabric of this city and please stand with us. Throughout the public comments, Mayor Paul TenHaken reminded those speaking that the new initiative is a state-wide one and a local city government is not able to implement opposing immigration policies to the state. However, he said the council will take the publics concerns to the Governors office. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to a news release from Rhoden, Highway Patrol will help ICE with arrests, the National Guard will help ICE with processing criminals and administrative functions and the Department of Corrections will help with transportation and identifying immigrants in prison for deportation. Mike Curtis, a longtime Sioux Falls resident and U.S. Army veteran opposed the tactics ICE uses, comparing them to Gestapo, and whether that was necessary in a city like Sioux Falls. We have people with no bad badges, no badge numbers, no nameplates, no IDs, no warrants, generic uniforms, weapons, chaos, bullying, harassment, fear, all without regulation or even vetting of those thrust upon us, Curtis said. Nancy Reynoza says Operation Prairie Thunder sends a message of fear and division for immigrant families and Sioux Falls as a whole. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I respect law enforcement, but safety doesnt require helicopters, military-style patrols, or ICE partnerships, especially when violent crime is at a five-year low. This isnt about crime. Its about control, Reynoza told the council. Operation Prairie Thunder Two people specifically opposed Operation Prairie Thunder because of the logo design: a buffalo with a law enforcement officer hat and sunglasses with two lightning bolts. Larry Peterson, a retired pastor from the west side of the state, said he spent a lot of time with the Lakota people, who may find the use of a buffalo in this way culturally insensitive. The Lakota people have always felt a deep respect, kinship of relatives to the buffalo. This symbol that stands there representing Operation Prairie Thunder, a picture of a buffalo with sunglasses on his face with some kind of figure over the lenses in both eyes is culturally very offensive, and I dont think it should go unrecognized. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Jen Drieske, a local Jewish woman, raised concern with the two lightning bolts over the sunglasses. According to the Anti-Defamation League, the double lightning bolts are used by neo-Nazi and white supremacist groups as an antisemitic dog whistle. Why would symbolism that brought fear and terror to Jews, the LGBTQ, persons of color, and righteous Gentiles during Nazi Germany be used today to bring fear and terror to our immigrant and refugee communities? Why is history repeating itself? She said the usage and approval of the symbol by the Governors office is frightening and disheartening. Peterson said he wants the council to tell the Governor about their concerns and hopes Rhoden apologizes to the Lakota community and removes the image from Operation Prairie Thunder branding. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to a news release from Rhoden, Highway Patrol will help ICE with arrests, the National Guard will help ICE with processing criminals and administrative functions and the Department of Corrections will help with transportation and identifying immigrants in prison for deportation. Gov. Rhodens spokesperson Josie Harms sent a statement to KELOLAND News: It is a completely off-base notion that this is somehow a Nazi logo. South Dakota is proud of our buffalo, and the logo reflects the Prairie Thunder theme. The Nazi allegations stem from fraudulent photoshopped images meant to undermine the hard work of law enforcement. Governor Rhoden is proud to be working to keep Sioux Falls and the entire state safe, and that includes supporting ICEs work to remove illegal alien criminals. 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. Oklahoma pediatrician Neha Gupta was portrayed by the Miami-Dade Sheriffs Office as a mother who staged her daughters murder to look like an accidental drowning. But just weeks later, prosecutors declined to pursue that charge opting instead to file a lesser count of aggravated manslaughter of a child. Despite the shift in charges, she remains jailed in Miami-Dade County on no bond. Gupta, 36, was taken into custody last month at her suburban Oklahoma home by local police after a warrant was issued accusing her of intentionally killing her 4-year-old daughter, Aria Talathi, during a stay at an Airbnb in El Portal, just north of Miami city limits. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement MORE: Doctor staged drowning to cover up daughters murder during Miami vacation: MDSO In the predawn darkness of June 27, officers from the El Portal Police Department and Miami-Dade Fire Rescue responded to a 911 call about a child found unresponsive in a swimming pool at 156 NW 90th St. Rescue crews pulled the 4-year-old from the water and attempted CPR. She was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital, where a physician pronounced her dead around 4:30 a.m. Dr. Tuyet Tran, a medical examiner for Miami-Dade County, ruled out drowning, according to Nehas arrest warrant. She found no water in Arias lungs or stomach instead, she discovered bruises inside the childs cheeks and cuts in her mouth. Her findings suggested Aria died of asphyxiation, likely smothered, before being placed in the pool, Miami-Dade Sheriffs Office detectives laid out in the warrant, which took over the investigation from El Portal police. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But Nehas attorneys have maintained that the decision by the Miami-Dade Sheriffs Office to file her arrest warrant under a first-degree murder was a rush to judgement. Our position from day one has been that Dr. Gupta did not intentionally harm her child, that her child tragically got out of the locked door and fell into the pool accidentally, and this [is confirmed] by the states filing, Michael Mirer, Guptas attorney, said after her Thursday court hearing. Gupta did not attend the hearing before Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Zachary James. Under Florida law, for Gupta to be charged with first-degree murder, her case must be presented to a grand jury, which would ultimately decide on the charge. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Based on the evidence presently available to prosecutors, the [first] degree felony charge of aggravated manslaughter of a child has been deemed as the appropriate criminal charge, Ed Griffith, Miami-Dade State Attorney spokesman, said in a statement to the Miami Herald. A vacation gone wrong? Gupta, a licensed pediatrician in Oklahoma for the past six years, had traveled to South Florida with her daughter two days before her death. The trip was a mother-daughter vacation, and the two were staying in a short-term Airbnb rental in El Portal. Surveillance footage and rental records show Gupta and Aria were the only occupants of the home, according to Nehas arrest warrant from the Miami-Dade Sheriffs Office. Gupta shared custody of Aria with her ex-husband, Dr. Saurabh Talathi, also a pediatrician, who remained in Oklahoma. Authorities say he was unaware the child had been taken out of state. Dr. Neha Gupta, a pediatrician from Oklahoma City, was arrested for first-degree murder after her daughter was found dead in a Miami-Dade pool. With her attorney present, Gupta gave a voluntary statement to investigators two days after Arias death describing their day leading up to the tragedy. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to the warrant, Neha said the two spent a day the beach and rode Jet Skis before returning to their rental between 7 and 8 p.m. Aria, tired from the day, fell asleep, then awoke around 9 p.m. to eat dinner. Later, the two shared a bed and fell asleep. Around 3:20 a.m., Gupta told investigators, she was awakened by a sound and discovered Aria missing. She said she found the sliding glass door which she said she had locked ajar and spotted her daughter submerged in the backyard pool. MORE: Body cam video shows Oklahoma doctor being arrested in daughters murder charge Gupta claimed she cant swim but tried for 10 minutes to save Aria before calling 911. Autopsy told a different story But an autopsy painted a far more troubling picture. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Dr. Tran, a medical examiner for Miami-Dade County, ruled out drowning, according to Nehas arrest warrant. She found no water in Arias lungs or stomach instead, she discovered bruises inside the childs cheeks and cuts in her mouth. The injuries, Tran noted, were inconsistent with resuscitation efforts. Her findings suggested Aria died of asphyxiation, likely smothered, before ever being placed in the pool. Adding to investigators doubts, Arias stomach was completely empty, contradicting Guptas claim that the child had eaten dinner only hours earlier. Based on the autopsy and evidence gathered, detectives concluded Gupta caused Arias death and tried to stage it as an accidental drowning, according to the warrant. The warrant noted that Arias cause and manner of death remain pending further investigation. Her autopsy has not been publicly released. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But Mirer, her attorney, says that her arrest paperwork filed by the Miami-Dade Sheriffs office is no longer valid. I think today was a vindication for Dr. Gupta, because the state has now decided to not charge her with murder, Mirer said. He added that he is expecting an updated autopsy report. The Brief A documented gang member from Mexico was arrested after a chase involving Splendora police. An officer initially stopped the suspect due to a traffic violation, but the driver sped off. Investigators also learned the suspect has previous felony convictions and three previous deportations. SPLENDORA, Texas - A traffic violation in Splendora led to the arrest of a documented gang member from Mexico, the Splendora Police Department reported. Documented gang member arrested in Houston-area What we know According to officials, a traffic trip was initiated on a vehicle and the driver stopped at first, but as the officer approached, the driver sped off. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The driver led police on a chase which eventually ended in San Jacinto County when the suspect lost control of their vehicle. Police say the driver tried to run from the scene but was quickly arrested by the officer. CRIME: Deadly Harris County crash: Multiple vehicles reportedly ran over pedestrian on I-10, didnt stop Splendora authorities say the suspect was identified as a documented gang member who was in the U.S. undocumented. Investigators also learned the suspect has multiple, previous felony convictions and three previous deportations. He was also in possession of meth. The suspect is facing criminal charges and is being held on an immigration detainer with the assistance of Immigration and Homeland Security Investigations. The Source City of Splendora Police Department on Facebook DES MOINES, Iowa One of the newest attractions at the Iowa State Fair is the Blue Ribbon Bar and Eatery, and it comes from a long fair legacy. One of the owners is Joni Bell, who has made her mark on the Iowa State Fair with her other two eateries, The Rib Shack and Whats Your Cheez?. She won best new food a record-setting three times with these two stands. Now, Bell and her sister, Dianna Marquardt, are drawing crowds to the Blue Ribbon Eatery. New accessible playground for all at Iowa State Fairgrounds Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement General Manager, Toby Kruse, said the restaurant had a soft opening on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday ahead of the Fair. It looked like a slow fair day. [There were people] from the back patio area out to the sidewalk, taking in the food, the drinks, the atmosphere, he said. Another draw is live music. Kruse said they have two bands scheduled every day. They also open at 7 a.m. with their breakfast menu that goes until 10 a.m. Some fair workers come as early as 6:20 a.m. to place their orders in advance. The eatery is hard to miss as it is all blue and located on the Grand Concourse, inside the former Steer N Stein location. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Last year, the fair opted not to welcome back the former ownership group, as Michael Krantz is accused of not paying several Steer N Stein employees after the 2024 fair. The Iowa State Fair Board held a special meeting earlier this year where they decided who would take over the location. After 27 proposals, the Blue Ribbon Bar and Eatery was chosen. This year, around ten former employees at Steer N Stein returned to work at the Blue Ribbon Bar and Eatery. The new restaurant is making some humorous nods to the former establishment. The new bar now has a couple signs that say 26.9 is the new 27 and another sign that says Our beer is still cold, as Steer N Stein was known for its 27-degree beer. One of the shirts employees are wearing also says Cold Beer and Paid Employees on the back. Erich Hayes is one of the former Steer N Stein employees who now works for the Blue Ribbon Bar and Eatery. He said hes happy to be back at the fair for another year. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Blue Ribbon Bar and Eatery is open daily from 7 a.m. Through 8 p.m. Metro 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. By Tatiana Bautzer, Saeed Azhar and Pete Schroeder NEW YORK (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump met the CEOs of Citigroup and Bank of America on Wednesday to discuss the administration's plans to privatize U.S. mortgage financing companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, according to two sources familiar with the situation. Citi CEO Jane Fraser met with Trump at the White House, said one of the sources, who declined to be identified discussing a private meeting. Trump also met BofA CEO Brian Moynihan and his team, a second source said. The White House declined to comment on private meetings. The Trump administration plans to take both firms public and is asking for pitches from the largest banks. The president plans to privatize the mortgage companies, potentially with a large share offering. But in social media posts in May, Trump said he intends to keep government mortgage guarantees and oversight. The meetings follow those held in late July with other bank leaders, including Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, the second source said. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been under federal conservatorship since 2008 following the financial crisis, during which both entities became insolvent amid the subprime mortgage meltdown. Since then, the companies have rebuilt capital reserves, repaid their Treasury loans and returned to consistent profitability. Shares of both firms, currently traded on over-the-counter markets, have surged amid speculation over privatization plans. The pair guarantee over half of the nation's mortgages. Taking the firms public would end a far-reaching government backstop that was intended to be a temporary reprieve, but could also make mortgages pricier and harder to obtain if the entities guaranteeing fully return to the private sector. Analysts noted that while Trump has been willing to risk economic turmoil in his wide-ranging tariff agenda, there may be more sensitivity to drama in mortgage rates, which are highly visible and familiar to many consumers. "Tariffs may have impacted the stock market, but they did not result in immediate price hikes at Walmart or Dollar General," wrote TD Cowen analyst Jaret Seiberg in a May note. "By contrast, the price of mortgages will respond to each recap and release development. That makes the political cost more immediate. It is why we expect a slower and more deliberative process." (Reporting by Tatiana Bautzer and Saeed Azhar in New York, Pete Schroeder in Washington; additional reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Lananh Nguyen and Chris Reese) Everyone has that one dish that makes you feel completely at home because of its flavors or the memories tied to it. Reader's Digest is here to pin down the most comforting dishes from every state "whether its a sweet treat, a savory snack or an old-school meal." For Arizona, Reader's Digest selected the chimichanga, which is certainly a beloved dish in the Grand Canyon State. Other nearby states' comfort foods include chile relleno (New Mexico), green chili (Colorado), funeral potatoes (Utah), steak and eggs (Nevada) and rocky road ice cream (California). Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Here's what to know about the dish and why it could be considered the state's comfort food. Are chimichangas Arizona's comfort food? Arizona has a long list of iconic dishes that feel like a taste of the Grand Canyon State. Think Sonoran hot dogs, fry bread and tamales. Though there are a lot of uniquely Arizona dishes, the chimichanga does fit the bill. For the uninitiated, a chimichanga is basically just a deep fried burrito, so the fillings vary from person to person and place to place. You can get them dry (crispy and topped with sour cream, guacamole and cheese) or wet (smothered with a sauce or salsa). Arizona restaurant owners have long claimed the "invention" of chimichangas. Legend has it that a chef at El Charro Cafe in Tucson created the dish by accidentally dropping a burrito into a deep fryer sometime in the 1950s. Where to get a chimichanga in metro Phoenix The Arizona Republic's dining team recommends these restaurants that serve chimichangas: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Carolina's : 2126 E. Cactus Road, Phoenix. 602-275-8231. Find other locations at carolinasmexicanfood.com. The Original Blue Adobe Grille : 144 N. Country Club Drive, Mesa. 480-962-1000, originalblueadobe.com. Comedor Guadalajara: 1830 S. Central Ave., Phoenix. 602-253-8299, comedorguadalajara.com. Macayos : Multiple locations across the Valley. Find the one closest to you at macayo.com. Rositas Place : 2310 E. McDowell Road, Phoenix. 602-244-9779, rositasplace.com. El Bravo : 8338 N. Seventh St., Phoenix. 602-943-9753, elbravoaz.wordpress.com. La Pinata : 5521 N. Seventh Ave., Phoenix. 602-279-1763, lapinatarestaurantaz.com. Ritos Mexican Food: 907 N. 14th St., Phoenix. 602-262-9842. Find other locations at ritosmexicanfood.com. What is your favorite Arizona comfort food and where do you like to order the dish? Send you thoughts to shelby.slade@gannett.com. This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Is this dish Arizona's top comfort food? Why Reader's Digest thinks so HOPEWELL, N.Y. (WROC) An army veteran and his family are navigating a road of uncertainty after investigators say a man swerved his car off the road and crashed into the side of their house. The homeowner, Jeromie Templar, says nobody was home at the time of the incident. He found out about the accident from his neighbor, who saw what happened and called him right away. I was kind of awestruck, Templar said. I couldnt believe it happened. If I didnt leave here when I did, I wouldve been in the kitchen cooking breakfast when it happened. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to the Ontario County Sheriffs Office, the incident took place at around 8:00 a.m. on Thursday morning. Investigators say 38-year-old Sequan Broadus was driving his 2021 Range Rover along Routes 5 & 20 when he veered off the road and hit their house. OCSO claims Broadus was under the influence of marijuana at the time of the crash. He was charged with DWAI and issued multiple traffic citations. Templar explained that Broadus car collided with the house at around 70 mph and hit the exterior wall of the kitchen and the foundation, shifting the structure three inches. If he wouldve hit it four feet to the right, he wouldve hit the fuel tank in the basement. Four feet to the left, he wouldve hit the propane tank. It couldve been a lot worse, Templar said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Templar is a disabled Army veteran of more than 20 years and was diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). His family and he are now staying in a hotel room in Geneva while the damage is assessed, awaiting options for whether they can rebuild or will be forced to move. He says the long road ahead of them is worrisome. Im having a hard time with it, basically the foundation of where I live is gone, Templar said. It doesnt feel the same anymore. Our whole life is uprooted because someone was foolish. A close family friend of the Templars set up a Go-Fund-Me to help cover the 50% of out-of-pocket expenses not covered by their homeowners insurance. The link to it can be found here. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. After a wave of Department of Government Efficiency-led cuts, the National Weather Service has gained approval to hire back for several hundred positions but staffing at Wisconsin forecasting offices will remain unchanged for now. NWS recently got the green light to hire 450 meteorologists, hydrologists and radar technicians nationwide, including for 126 new positions, CNN reported on Aug. 5. The hirings come just months after the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which monitors and predicts weather, underwent drastic cuts under President Donald Trump's directive to slash federal spending. NOAA has about 12,000 employees worldwide, including 4,000 NWS staff. Between firings and early retirement incentives, the NWS has lost more than 550 staff since Trump took office, CNN reported. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But Wisconsin forecasters were able to weather the storm, according to Tom Fahy, legislative director of the National Weather Service Employees Organization, the union representing NWS staff. Compared to other states, the five NWS offices serving Wisconsin were in "great shape" throughout the cuts, Fahy told the Journal Sentinel in June. Thats primarily because not many NWS employees in Wisconsin took voluntary buyouts from the Trump administration earlier this year, which Fahy attributed to reports from employees that they generally enjoy living and working in Wisconsin. As of Aug. 7, Fahy said that still remains the case, with none of the NWS offices in Wisconsin considered critically understaffed. As the result, "the new hires will not be coming to Wisconsin in the near future," he said in an email. Here's how staffing currently looks at the NWS offices in Wisconsin. How many positions are vacant at NWS offices in Wisconsin? The staffing situation at NWS offices in Wisconsin has remained unchanged since June, Fahy said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As of Aug. 7, here's what staffing looked like at each of the NWS offices serving Wisconsin, including two Minnesota offices that forecast for parts of northwest Wisconsin: Milwaukee/Sullivan has 12 meteorologists on staff, compared to 14 when at full capacity. Green Bay has 11 meteorologists on staff, compared to 13 when at full capacity. La Crosse has nine meteorologists, compared to 13 when at full capacity. The office is also missing a manager, or the meteorologist in charge, but an acting manager has been appointed. Duluth, Minn. has 12 meteorologists on staff, compared to 13 when at full capacity. Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minn. has 13 meteorologists on staff, compared to 14 when at full capacity. A storm moves over Ellsworth Park in Bayside on Tuesday, September 6, 2016. What does the National Weather Service do in Wisconsin? The NWS provides weather, hydrologic and climate forecasts and warnings in the U.S., including in Wisconsin. There are three NWS offices in Wisconsin in the Milwaukee area, Green Bay and La Crosse. According to its website, the NWS Milwaukee office issues forecasts and severe weather watches and warnings for 20 counties in south central and southeast Wisconsin. The Wisconsin offices can be found at: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement La Crosse: 711 County Road FA, La Crosse Milwaukee/Sullivan: N3533 Hardscrabble Road, Dousman Green Bay: 2485 S. Point Road, Ashwaubenon This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: How many people work for the NWS in Wisconsin? PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) Efforts to make local governments more efficient are underway in the Tampa Bay area. Florida DOGE, or the Department of Government Efficiency, was in Pinellas County Thursday. Pinellas County Commissioners said DOGE was housed inside the fourth-floor conference room of the courthouse. A sign on the front door said meeting in progress. 8 On Your Side was told there were no opportunities for recording their visit. Judge orders temporary halt to construction at Floridas Alligator Alcatraz detention center Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Theres just a lot of people in a big conference room looking at spreadsheets and budgets, said County Commissioner Vince Nowicki. Nowicki said the county has budgeted for positions it cant fill, and the government is working efficiently without those positions. Im hoping they come in with some cuts and some reductions in things. Thats what my fingers are crossed for because I see a lot of things that can be trimmed down, Nowicki said. Commission Chairman Brian Scott sent a letter to the Florida DOGE team Wednesday. It said, We share your commitment and have implemented efficiency and cost saving measures. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The letter mentioned Pinellas County having the lowest level of debt among peer counties and they corrected information they said DOGE had wrong regarding property taxes and general funding expenditures. I am so proud that they actually stood up and pushed back, said State Representative Michele Rayner. I think that its so important to say less and we know what were doing. We are making sure we have the best interest of our residence here in mind. The representative argues the state should be solving the housing crisis and working to bring down everyday costs. Ultimately, it really feels disingenuous. It doesnt feel like its about the people in the community. It feels like its about targeting democratic lead cities and counties, Rayner said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Nowicki said the letter was just pointing fingers and a lot of double talk. He said DOGE is what people at the local, state, and federal levels voted for. Anytime you have sunshine and scrutiny, thats good governance. So anybody that says more eyes looking at how taxpayer dollars are spent is a bad thing, I think theyre the problem, Nowicki said. It is not clear when the assessment from DOGE will be made public. DOGE is expected to be in other Tampa Bay counties next week. 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. Federal prosecutors in Albany have issued subpoenas to New York Attorney General Letitia James inquiring about her office's civil fraud case against President Donald Trump and corruption case against the National Rifle Association, multiple sources told ABC News. The Justice Department declined to comment. A spokesperson for James called the subpoenas a "weaponization of the justice system," invoking a criticism Trump used to describe her case against him that resulted in a half-billion-dollar penalty. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement MORE: New York AG will continue to pursue $454 million civil fraud judgment against Trump "Any weaponization of the justice system should disturb every American. We stand strongly behind our successful litigation against the Trump Organization and the National Rifle Association, and we will continue to stand up for New Yorkers rights," the spokesperson said in a statement. The civil fraud case is on appeal with the New York State Appellate Division's First Department. Trump, his eldest sons and his business were found liable for 10 years of fraud that inflated the presidents net worth. Yuki Iwamura/AP, FILE - PHOTO: New York Attorney General Letitia James speaks during a news conference outside Manhattan federal court in New York on Feb. 14, 2025. James sued the NRA in 2020, accusing the gun rights group's former CEO, Wayne LaPierre, and others of misappropriating donor funds to finance luxury items for themselves. The jury determined LaPierre owed more than $4 million. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The subpoenas, from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of New York, are part of an investigation into whether James and her office violated the civil rights of Trump or the NRA executives, the sources said. MORE: Jury finds NRA liable for mismanagement, says Wayne LaPierre violated duties An attorney for James, Abbe Lowell, called the probe "a dangerous escalation" and "the most blatant and desperate example of this administration carrying out the presidents political retribution campaign." "If prosecutors carry out this improper tactic and are genuinely interested in the truth, we are ready and waiting with the facts and the law," Lowell said in a statement. Jefferson Siegel/Pool/Getty Images, FILE - PHOTO: In this Jan. 11, 2024, file photo, former President Donald Trump sits in the courtroom during his civil fraud trial at New York Supreme Court, in New York. Trump and his eldest sons owe more than $500 million including interest in their civil fraud case after a judge ruled in 2023 that they repeatedly inflated Trump's net worth to secure better loan terms over a decade of business dealings. Judge Arthur Engoron said the frauds "shock the conscience" while handing down the fines last year. A ruling on Trump's appeal of the judgment could come at any time. The Department of Justice convened a grand jury to investigate New York Attorney General Letitia James, marking an escalation in President Donald Trump's fight with New York's top prosecutor. The investigation is being run out of Albany and focused on possible deprivation of rights allegations, two well-placed sources familiar with the probe told Fox News Digital. The investigation, which came at the direction of Attorney General Pam Bondi, is in an early stage, but Fox News Digital has learned that James's office received subpoenas for documents this week, including for information related to her civil fraud lawsuit against Trump. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement James, a Democrat who was elected attorney general in 2018, has long been a target of Trump. James successfully brought civil charges against him for business fraud in 2022 and has had an instrumental role in challenging his current administration's executive actions in court. Ny Ag's Office Hires Attorney That Repped Hunter Biden To Defend Letitia James Against Fraud Accusations New York Attorney General Letitia James speaks during a press conference, Sept. 21, 2022, in New York. A spokesperson for James suggested the latest action by the DOJ was a "weaponization" of its prosecutorial power. Read On The Fox News App "Any weaponization of the justice system should disturb every American," the spokesperson said. "We stand strongly behind our successful litigation against the Trump Organization and the National Rifle Association, and we will continue to stand up for New Yorkers rights." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A DOJ spokesperson declined to comment on the grand jury investigation. James began investigating the Trump Organization soon after she took office, eventually securing a $454 million judgment against the then-former president and some of Trump's company's executives, including two of his sons. A New York judge found Trump and his business partners grossly overstated Trump's wealth to obtain favorable loans and other financial benefits. Trump is appealing the decision. James said at the time that financial fraud was not a "victimless crime." "If average New Yorkers went into a bank and submitted false documents, the government would throw the book at them, and the same should be true for former presidents," James said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Dangerous And Illegal: Democrat Ags Sue Trump Over Effort To Use Snap To Locate Migrants James also has been a leading figure in bringing litigation challenging the second Trump administration's executive actions. James and other Democratic attorneys general have sued to fight spending freezes on federally funded social programs, mass firings of federal employees and restrictions on transgender care for minors, among other matters. Convening a grand jury is the first step in an investigation and could potentially lead to an indictment. The panel examines evidence, including documents and witness interviews, and determines if probable cause exists to bring charges against a person. The process can take weeks or longer, and it is historically much easier for a grand jury to secure an indictment than it is to obtain a subsequent conviction. News of the investigation comes as tensions have continued to build between Trump and James. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In April, the Trump Federal Housing Finance Agency asked Bondi to investigate James over mortgage fraud, and the DOJ opened a separate investigation into that matter. James received subpoenas from a grand jury as part of the inquiry, the Washington Post reported. Fox News confirmed on Friday that Pardon Attorney Ed Martin, who is also leading a weaponization task force, is heading up the mortgage fraud investigation into James, as well as leading a similar investigation into Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., James' mortgage case is based in Virginia, and Schiff's is in Maryland. James has denied the mortgage-related allegations. Amid news of the mortgage inquiry, Trump called James a "wacky crook" on Truth Social. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Letitia James, a totally corrupt politician, should resign from her position as New York State Attorney General, IMMEDIATELY," Trump wrote. Fox News' Maria Paronich and Peter Doocy contributed to this story. Original article source: DOJ opens grand jury investigation into Letitia James tied to Trump civil case The Department of Justice is opening an investigation into New York Attorney General Letitia James' office over their fraud case against President Trump. NBC News Senior Executive Editor of National Security and Law David Rohde and former New York Assistant Attorney General Adam Pollock join Ana Cabrera to weigh in on the latest. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has appointed a special attorney to probe mortgage fraud allegations against Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and New York Attorney General Letitia James, two administration officials told NBC News. The Justice Department is also in the initial stages of an investigation of James over her successful civil fraud case against President Donald Trump, according to three people familiar with the matter. Bondi tapped Ed Martin, a conservative activist and former interim U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., as special attorney to investigate Schiff and James, both prominent Democratic opponents of the president, the two administration officials said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A senior law enforcement official said a grand jury seated in the Eastern District of Virginia will investigate the James mortgage fraud allegations and a grand jury in Maryland will investigate the allegations against Schiff. Martin met Friday morning with Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte, who sent a criminal referral for the California senator to the Justice Department in May, the administration officials said. Pulte sent a referral for James in April, prompting the Justice Department to open an investigation into allegations that she made false statements on mortgage loan applications. Trump had previously called for both Democratic officials to be prosecuted because of the mortgage fraud allegations. Schiff and James have denied wrongdoing. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Preet Bharara, who is representing Schiff, said in a statement Friday that the allegations against the senator are transparently false, stale, and long debunked. Schiff previously blasted Trumps claims in a video statement in July. This is the kind of stuff you see tinpot dictators do. It is designed to intimidate his political opponents and somehow try to silence them, he said then. The U.S. attorneys probe of James is focused on whether her office used its authority to violate Trumps legal rights through its civil lawsuits against the president and his businesses, according to three people familiar with the matter. That investigation is also looking at whether the National Rifle Associations rights were violated by her civil suits, the three sources said. It is being run out of the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Northern District of New York, two of those sources said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In response to an NBC News inquiry, a spokesperson for the attorney generals office said: Any weaponization of the justice system should disturb every American. We stand strongly behind our successful litigation against the Trump Organization and the National Rifle Association, and we will continue to stand up for New Yorkers rights. A spokesperson for the U.S. attorneys office did not return a request for comment. James, a Democrat, successfully sued Trump and his company over what her office said were fraudulent misrepresentations of his wealth and financial statements. A judge awarded James office over $300 million in the case, an amount thats since swelled to over $500 million with interest. Trump is appealing the judgment. James office also sued the NRA and its leadership with mixed results. The attorney general had sought the dissolution of the NRA in what is commonly referred to as the corporate death penalty, but a judge struck down those claims. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In 2024, James office did win its civil corruption case against the longtime head of the NRA, Wayne LaPierre, with a jury finding him liable for diverting millions of dollars from the gun group for his own personal lifestyle. The gun group said it was gratified to find out about the investigation. She uses her powers as an elected official to try, in her words, to dissolve the organization in its entirety, thus silencing the voice of millions of our members, NRA Executive Vice President and CEO Doug Hamlin said in a statement. That she now expresses concerns over weaponization is the height of hypocrisy an utter lack of self-awareness at the very least. It is not immediately clear how far along the DOJ investigation into James office is and what evidence, if any, the Justice Department has gathered in the probe. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement An attorney for James, Abbe Lowell, said the probe of James fraud case against Trump and his businesses has to be the most blatant and desperate example of this administration carrying out the presidents political retribution campaign. Weaponizing the Department of Justice to try to punish an elected official for doing her job is an attack on the rule of law and a dangerous escalation by this administration, he added. The FBI and Justice Department began its probe of the mortgage fraud allegations against James in the spring. Its unclear why Martin is now in charge of the review. Martin served as Trumps interim U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., earlier this year, but his nomination was withdrawn after Republican senators expressed concerns over his association with Jan. 6 rioters. Trump then announced in May that Martin was moving to the Justice Department to serve as director of a weaponization working group. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Martin did not comment on the Friday appointment. In his statement defending Schiff, Bharara criticized Martin, calling him the most brazenly partisan and politically compromised person possible for the task. Any supposed investigation led by him would be the very definition of weaponization of the justice process, said Bharara, who served as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York before being fired by Trump during his first term in office. Lowell pushed back on the allegations against James in an April letter to Bondi, acknowledging there were some mistaken forms while noting contemporaneous letters and forms showing that James submitted the correct information. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The letter called the threadbare allegations the next salvo in President Trumps revenge tour against Attorney General James. In addition to her fraud case against Trump and his companies, James and her office have launched a number of successful legal challenges to his administrations agenda, dating back to his first term in office. Trump has maintained that James is biased against him. In 2021, he sued to stop her from proceeding with her fraud investigation, saying, Her mission is guided solely by political animus and a desire to harass, intimidate, and retaliate against a private citizen who she views as a political opponent. The lawsuit also alleged that Trump was the victim of viewpoint discrimination. Trump later dropped the suit, but has continued to criticize James, including in an April Truth Social post that called her a wacky and totally corrupt politician who should immediately resign. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement CORRECTION (Aug. 12, 2025, 9:47 a.m. ET): An earlier version of this article misidentified the case against LaPierre. It was a civil corruption case, not a civil fraud case. This article was originally published on NBCNews.com The Justice Department has opened an investigation into the Office of New York Attorney General Letitia James (D), the states top prosecutor, who brought a successful civil fraud case against President Trump. The probe by federal prosecutors, launched by the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Northern District of New York, issued two subpoenas this week, seeking information related to Jamess case against the Trump Organization as well as another brought against the National Rifle Association (NRA). Separately Friday, the Justice Department appointed Ed Martin to investigate a prior criminal referral made by the Federal Housing Finance Agency alleging James claimed a Virginia home was her primary residence to secure more favorable loan terms. Martin also appears to have been tapped for similar allegations made against Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), multiple outlets reported Friday. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement An attorney for James confirmed the inquiries, characterizing them as weaponization by the Department of Justice in going after a Trump adversary. Investigating the fraud case Attorney General James won against President Trump and his businesses has to be the most blatant and desperate example of this administration carrying out the presidents political retribution campaign, attorney Abbe Lowell said in a statement. Weaponizing the Department of Justice to try to punish an elected official for doing her job is an attack on the rule of law and a dangerous escalation by this administration, Lowell added. If prosecutors carry out this improper tactic and are genuinely interested in the truth, we are ready and waiting with the facts and the law. James scored a big victory in her civil suit against Trump, with a judge issuing a nearly half-billion-dollar penalty for the Trump Organization after determining the business overvalued its assets. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Several outlets also reported Friday that another subpoena was issued to Jamess office related to a case she brought against the NRA, arguing it failed to properly administer its charitable organization. That judgment included $6.35 million in penalties for NRA leaders. The Justice Department declined to comment. The Hill has reached out to the U.S. attorneys office for the Northern District of New York for comment. James, who was elected as New Yorks attorney general in 2018, has long been the recipient of Trumps ire. The states top prosecutor has long challenged the administrations directives in court and successfully sued the president and his organization over what her office said was business fraud. A New York judge ordered Trump to pay nearly $355 million in penalties in early 2024. Jamess office said that with interest, the figure would balloon to more than $450 million. Beyond Fridays subpoenas, the mortgage investigation led by Martin is one of the first cases for a man who was tapped to lead DOJs new Weaponization Working Group after he failed to be confirmed by the Senate as U.S. attorney for D.C. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The FHFA first made a criminal referral for James in April, raising claims about a Virginia home and another New York based property. Lowell also dismissed that probe, noting that Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) has also faced allegations he improperly claimed three homes as his primary residence to secure more favorable mortgage terms. The appointment of Ed Martin so extreme he couldnt even win enough support from his fellow Republicans in the U.S. Senate to become an actual U.S. Attorney makes it crystal clear this is a manufactured investigation to pursue political retribution, he said in a statement. As we wrote to Attorney General Bondi, any objective inquiry would conclude Attorney General James violated no laws in managing her properties, but one must wonder why AG Bondi failed to include Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in her mandate. Will Mr. Martin also be pursuing the reports of mortgage fraud involving the AG Paxton, or will that somehow fall outside his definition of justice because he is not allowed to review the conduct of Republicans? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Attorney Preet Bharara called the Schiff accusations transparently false, stale, and long debunked in a statement issued late Friday. Now Ed Martin, the most brazenly partisan and politically compromised person possible for the task, has been picked to investigate a political adversary. The bias here is glaring. Mr. Martins nomination to be U.S. Attorney of the District of Columbia was derailed not only by his partisanship and unfitness, but also by the hold Senator Schiff appropriately placed on the nomination. Mr. Martin is a January 6-defending lawyer who has repeatedly pursued baseless and politically-motivated investigations to fulfill demands to investigate and prosecute perceived enemies. Any supposed investigation led by him would be the very definition of weaponization of the justice process. Updated at 8:14 p.m. EDT 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. Aug. 8 (UPI) -- The Department of Justice asked New York judges to unseal more evidence in the Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell criminal cases, but it still wants to shield "personal identifying information." This is an expansion of Attorney General Pam Bondi's earlier request to courts to unseal five days of grand jury testimony in relation to the cases. In July, a Florida judge refused to unseal transcripts related to a criminal case brought against Epstein for sex charges in the early 2000s. That case was resolved in a controversial plea deal that saw the billionaire financier serve about a year in prison. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The latest request is about Epstein's 2019 criminal case in New York, which was dropped after he died by suicide in his jail cell. It also asks to unseal grand jury evidence in Maxwell's case, which ended in her conviction and sentence of 20 years in prison. The request to shield personal identifying information could protect others from being tied to the case. "Any effort to redact third party names smacks of a cover up," victim Annie Farmer said through her lawyer in an Aug. 5 letter to the court. Farmer testified for the prosecution in Maxwell's 2021 criminal trial. "To the extent any of Epstein's and Maxwell's enablers and co-conspirators who have thus far evaded accountability are implicated by the grand jury transcripts, their identities should not be shielded from the public," Farmer's lawyer, Sigrid McCawley, added. She added that victims' identifications should be redacted. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The new request comes after the judges handling the requests -- Richard Berman for the Epstein case and Paul Engelmayer for the Maxwell case -- told the department to specify their positions. The department requested to have until Aug. 14 to notify everyone who's name appears on the evidence and update the judges. Usually, grand jury proceedings and evidence are kept secret. Meanwhile, advocacy group Democracy Forward filed suit Fridy against the Justice Department and the FBI for records on their handling of the Epstein investigation. It wants records about senior administration officials' communication about Epstein documents and any correspondence between Epstein and President Donald Trump. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The group says it submitted requests under the Freedom of Information Act for the records related to communications about the case in late July that have not yet been fulfilled. "The court should intervene urgently to ensure the public has access to the information they need about this extraordinary situation," Skye Perryman, president and CEO of the group, said in a statement. The federal government often shields records on criminal investigations from public view. Maxwell earlier this week opposed the Justice Department effort to unseal the grand jury testimony. She said it would compromise her privacy and her potential to appeal. Also earlier this week, the House of Representatives Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., subpoenaed the Department of Justice, former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and several others for documents and testimony about Epstein. The Trump administration is looking to sell its stock holdings in mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac through a public offering that it believes could raise $30 billion and begin later this year. The plans being discussed within the administration, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, could value these firms at a combined $500 billion or more and involve a 5% to 15% sale of Fannie and Freddie shares. Still being debated is whether the mortgage giants would go public as two separate entities or one combined company. The president is still weighing all of his options. The over-the-counter shares of Fannie Mae (FNMA) and Freddie Mac (FMCC) both jumped 21% on Friday following the report. They are up over 190% and 130%, respectively, year to date. Chiefs of the country's biggest Wall Street banks, JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Goldman Sachs (GS), Bank of America (BAC), Citigroup (C), Morgan Stanley (MS), and Wells Fargo (WFC), have visited Washington, D.C., in recent weeks to meet with President Trump one by one to discuss plans for Fannie and Freddie, according to the Wall Street Journal. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and Bill Pulte, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees Freddie and Fannie, attended some of these meetings, according to the report. These giants play integral roles in the US housing market by purchasing mortgages and repackaging them as securities. Both fell under government conservatorship during the 2008 financial crisis when mortgage defaults soared. Investors in the mortgage-backed securities offered by Fannie and Freddie rate them as lower risk compared to their private-sector equivalents, given the implicit guarantee that they have the government's backing. Dealing and wheeling: President Trump holds charts as he speaks about the economy in the Oval Office of the White House on Aug. 7. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein) ASSOCIATED PRESS Read more: Where and how to find the lowest mortgage rates right now It remains unclear whether the Trump administration plans to fully relinquish its stakes in these major institutions. "I am working on TAKING THESE AMAZING COMPANIES PUBLIC, but I want to be clear, the U.S. Government will keep its implicit GUARANTEES, and I will stay strong in my position on overseeing them as President," Trump said in a post on Truth Social in late May. Many housing experts and critics alike worry that fully privatizing these firms will cause investors to view their mortgage obligations as more risky, creating a ripple effect across the US housing market that would raise mortgage rates for homebuyers. Making such a guarantee explicit without the government's ownership would require an act of Congress. That kind of federal guarantee could even prompt mortgage rates to fall, benefiting borrowers, but "political gridlock makes this unlikely," Moody's Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi noted in June. The Justice Department expanded its investigation into New York Attorney General Letitia James, subpoenaing James for her office's handling of the civil fraud investigation into President Trump, according to a Trump administration source familiar with the investigation. Another subpoena was sent to James' office regarding her office's investigation into the National Rifle Association. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of New York is leading the investigations, the source said. The subpoenas are an indication that the Trump administration is continuing to investigate the president's political adversaries. James investigated Mr. Trump before his 2024 election victory. The New York Times first reported the subpoenas. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The U.S. Attorney's office in the Northern District of New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment. A spokesperson for the New York Attorney General's office said in a statement, "Any weaponization of the justice system should disturb every American. We stand strongly behind our successful litigation against the Trump Organization and the National Rifle Association, and we will continue to stand up for New Yorkers' rights." James' attorney Abbe Lowell said in a statement, "Investigating the fraud case Attorney General James won against President Trump and his businesses has to be the most blatant and desperate example of this administration carrying out the president's political retribution campaign." In 2022, James brought a civil suit against Mr. Trump and the Trump Organization, seeking a penalty that grew to $370 million and asked the court to bar him from doing business in the state of New York. She won the case, and the court ordered Mr. Trump and his company to pay $354 million in fines a total that has risen when interest is factored in. The court also barred them from seeking loans from financial institutions in New York for three years and banned Mr. Trump from serving as an officer or director of any New York corporation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Additional penalties were ordered for Mr. Trump's sons, Eric and Donald Trump Jr., who are executives at the company. Mr. Trump and his company appealed the ruling over a year ago, but there has still been no decision in the case. Lowell accused the Trump administration of "[w]eaponizing the Department of Justice to try to punish an elected official for doing her job" and said it was "an attack on the rule of law and a dangerous escalation by this administration." "If prosecutors carry out this improper tactic and are genuinely interested in the truth, we are ready and waiting with the facts and the law," Lowell said. In May, CBS News reported that a criminal fraud probe led by the FBI had been launched into James for alleged mortgage fraud. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement President Trump says meeting with Russia's Putin is not to broker peace deal in Ukraine Trump says he's placing D.C. police under federal control, deploying National Guard Could Tropical Storm Erin become the first Atlantic hurricane of 2025? Former Miami-Dade County Commission Chairman Joe Martinez was given a reprieve Thursday during sentencing at his public corruption trial when the judge practically begged his defense team for legal help in trying to keep the former public servant out of prison. After six hours of highly-emotional testimony, Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Miguel de la O told state prosecutors and defense attorneys he was giving them three more weeks to provide the court with legal arguments for and against incarcerating Martinez. He said he would sentence the former commissioner on Sept. 15. I am not taking Mr. Martinez into custody, de la O said, addressing Martinez as he stood next to attorney Ben Kuehne at the close of Thursdays hearing. But the fact that I want downward departure doesnt mean I can. If I can do it legally, I will. I dont want to send you to prison. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Martinez, convicted of two counts of public corruption in November, is facing between 34 1/2 months and 20 years in prison. The state recommended the least amount of time under state law. Defense attorneys argued Martinezs clean record, four decades of public service and heroic acts are enough to satisfy the conditions to lessen his term, even send him home. Martinez, 66, parlayed a decorated law enforcement career into five terms at the highest levels of Miami-Dade County government, spending two of those terms as the powerful chairman of the 13-member board. He was found guilty in November of accepting $15,000 in exchange for backing legislation to permit a West Kendall store owner much-needed refrigerated containers outside his West Kendall Extra Supermarket. The sticking point Thursday from the states perspective was that Martinez refused to admit remorse, a legal term under state law that can be used along with other factors to lessen time spent behind bars. Martinez has said in court filings and in public that he regrets not listing the payments as gifts or in a timely manner, but hes never admitted to committing a crime. De la Os courtroom was packed with Martinez supporters Thursday family, friends and mostly retired Miami-Dade police officers who had expected the judge to rule. Many in attendance, including Martinezs wife Ana and their two daughters, spoke. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Several speakers had to take a moment to contain themselves, their voices breaking and tears streaming. Sobs and crying were audible from people seated in the packed benches. Martinez was clearly pained as immediate family members took to the podium. Hes an honest man, said daughter Joana Martinez, looking toward the defense table. I love you pop. My dad is no threat to the community. I need him around. He makes people better. Miami, Florida, August 7, 2025 - Former Commissioner Joe Martinez, left, comforts his daughter Joana Martinez, right, after she testified on the character of her father during his sentencing trial. Former Doral Police Chief Ricky Gomez openly wept through as he sung Martinezs praises, recalling his former co-worker at Miami-Dade Police helping his family while his wife dealt with a cerebral hemmoraghe about two decades ago. This man is a collection of good deeds, Gomez told the judge. It breaks my heart because I know hes a good man. Incarceration will not do anything. Its already ruined his career. Judge Miguel de la O listens to arguments from the defense attorney during the sentencing hearing of former commissioner Joe Martinez on Thursday, August 7, 2025, at the Richard E. Gerstein Justice Building. The judge said he needed more time to rule and sent the sentencing date to September 15, 2025. A long, slow fall Martinezs downfall was anything but swift. He was arrested on charges of unlawful compensation and conspiracy to commit unlawful compensation in August 2022 five years after an investigator from the countys Office of Inspector General first questioned him about money the commissioner received from a constituent. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A month after his arrest, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended him from office effectively putting an end to almost four decades of public service. After years of delays, Martinez finally went to trial last November and was found guilty of of accepting three $5,000 payments in 2016 and 2017 from Extra Supermarket owner Jorge Negrin. Prosecutors said in exchange for the payments the former commissioner pushed legislation that would have permitted the large refrigerated containers at the West Kendall mall. That the legislation was never voted on didnt matter. The law is based on intent. Lead prosecutor and Miami-Dade Assistant State Attorney Tim VanderGiesen told jurors Martinez was so desperate for money that he also helped his boss at a security firm try to get a bridge loan and to secure a $16 million contract with the countys water and sewer department. Martinez, who could have made tens of thousands of dollars through the contract, was never paid. He recused himself just prior to the vote as investigators honed in on the plot, the state told jurors. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement And finally in May, Martinezs final attempt to clear his name was denied by de la O, who said jurors were not misled by state prosecutors and there would be no new trial. Martinez began his policing career patroling the streets of West Kendall. He rose to lieutenant, working with civic groups and gaining recognition and awards during his almos two decades of service. When that ended in the late 1990s, he became a County Hall mainstay, serving more than four terms in office two of them as the powerful chair of the County Commission. His popularity soared as he provided his West Kendall constituents with food from Farm Share, held Crime Watch meetings and later hosted movie nights outdoors in his district. Miami, Florida, August 7, 2025 - Ana Martinez, wife of Joe Martinez, emotionally testifies on behalf of her husband former Commissioner Joe Martinez during his sentencing . Hes been punished Martinez chose not speak about his case Thursday, only standing momentarily at the dais next to his attorney as the judge explained the nuances involved should he have chosen to speak. And with the burden of sentencing on the defense, Miami-Dade Assistant State Attorney William Gonzalez spent little time at the dais, only briefly explaining to de la O why Martinez should spend almost three years in prison. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Kuehne argued that Martinez deserved his freedom because he had led an unusual and exceptional life that was filled with heroism, like the time he ran into a burning building to save people, or when he confronted a narco who had pulled a gun on his partner in the late 1980s. Hes convicted. Hes been punished, said Kuehne. Hes not getting away with anything. When Martinezs wife of 29 years, Ana, took to the podium, the room hushed. She said Martinezs entire being is his willingness to help people. She said her husband was the person anyone would want beside them if someone needed help or was in danger. I see it everywhere he goes. He helps people, she said. I beg you, please, please dont take him from me, hes not just my husband, hes my safe space. NEW YORK (PIX11) In a wide-ranging interview, Zohran Mamdani was pressed about his affordability agenda, police pay and said he would absolutely support Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill in her bid to become New Jerseys next governor. The sit-down with PIX on Politics host Dan Mannarino was his first in-person sit-down for the 33-year-old Queens assemblyman and Democratic nominee for mayor since returning to New York City from Uganda 10 days ago. More Local News President Donald Trump Donald Trump, Mamdani said without hesitation when Dan Mannarino asked who the Democratic socialists greatest challenge is in the New York City general election. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Three of them are Donald Trumps candidates. We have one he is formally coordinating with, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Another that hes functionally bailed out of legal trouble: Mayor Eric Adams. And other Curtis Sliwa, who belongs to the same party as him, the Republican Party. Cuomo and Trump have denied coordination despite reporting from The New York Times. Adams said he was innocent of the federal corruption charges and did not make a deal with Trump to get his case dropped. Sliwa, despite being the Republican mayoral nominee, is not endorsed by Trump. During the interview, Mamdani repeatedly assailed what he said was Trumps failure to deliver on affordability, speaking specifically about the medical and food program cuts contained in his Big, Beautiful Bill. On his approach to Trump, Mamdani said he would oppose any attempts by the president to overreach when it came to city business, but would not be reflexive, working with him on affordability issues where possible. Mamdani confirmed he has not spoken with Trump at any point. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement More News: PIX on Politics Affordability On his affordability agenda, Mamdani defended pricy plans like universal child care, which he estimates will cost $6 billion. He said that it would pay for itself fourfold by allowing families to stay in the city, driving the economy forward. So what were talking about here is making the investments that will aid our economy, by aiding our people, Mamdani said. However, there have been serious concerns about how the assemblyman would pay for his agenda. Gov. Kathy Hochul has continued to say she would not raise taxes on New Yorkers, especially in 2026, which is an election year for her. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Mamdani projected confidence that he can move the needle on raising taxes. He said he wants to work with the governor, but also points to fellow Democrats in the state legislature, which has time and time again shown its interest in these kinds of things. The Democratic nominee has proposed raising $10 billion a year in new revenue. He said $9 billion would come from raising the New York corporate tax rate to be on par with New Jersey. Opponents like Cuomo have pointed out that the plan would make New York effectively higher than New Jersey when factoring things like the MTAs taxing authority. The remaining $1 billion, Mamdani said, is within the citys control, pointing to the collection of fines and fees from landlords and reducing city procurement costs with independent auditors. There are many options on the table, my commitment is to the outcome, Mamdani said. Not the way be get there, but that we deliver these things. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Cuomo, Mamdanis next closest challenge in the polls, rolled out a competing affordability agenda rolled out Thursday. He emphasized it was transit and food subsidies just for low- and middle-income New Yorkers, and would not apply to wealthy people. The former governor knocked Mamdanis free bus plan, asking why rich people shouldnt have to pay to ride the bus. Mamdani said that when his free bus pilot was implemented, it most directly benefited people making $28,000 or less because they did not have to navigate a government process to get a reduced fare. The MTA and New York City currently offer an underenrolled transit subsidy program known as Fair Fares. This is for every New Yorker, Mamdani said, speaking more broadly about his campaign promises. The mark of a successful public good is that everyone uses it, even those who can afford the private sector. I mean, look at the way we treat our education system, look at the way we treat universal pre-K, we are saying this is for every single New Yorker. Public safety Mamdani has faced steady criticism for past statements on X about defunding police departments and calling police racist. He has slowly walked much of that back, while still maintaining that the NYPD should be less focused on issues like mental health response and protests, and more focused on criminal activity. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He was asked how New Yorkers could trust his evolving views on police. I ask New Yorkers to think about how they thought about this in the height of 2020, when many were feeling frustration for the murder of George Floyd, and the deep gap between safety and justice, and the need to deliver on both of those things, Mamdani said. I have said throughout this campaign, it is clear police are part of creating public safety, and we need not choose between those two things. I think we have to showcase that leadership also means listening, learning, Mamdani said. I can tell you that in the time of these last five years that I have become an elected official There is much that I have learned. Mamdani has also been unwilling to commit to giving NYPD officers a raise, against the backdrop of pledging to slash police overtime. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I think that we need to pursue each and every avenue to increase retention, Mamdani said. But when pressed by Mannarino about whether he believed cops deserve more money, like teachers, he said, There is much we go through with in negotiations with each and every union across the city. What Ive said time and again is when we look at why 200 officers are leaving the department every month, one of the leading causes in that is forced overtime. More: Latest News from Around the Tri-State The Democratic Party Mamdani was also asked about what his ascension to the leading candidate for New York City mayor means for the Democratic Party and its electoral prospects. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Many in the Democratic establishment have waffled on supporting Mamdani. Still, the assemblyman said he absolutely supports Rep. Mikie Sherrill in her bid to become New Jerseys next governor. Mamdanis relevance to an important neighboring race in 2025 may be a preview of what Republicans seek to accomplish during the crucial 2026 midterm elections. What Im excited about is creating an example in this city of what it means to deliver for working people, Mamdani said when asked about the 2026 elections. When we make buses faster, when we freeze the rent, when we deliver universal childcare, let that be an example of when Democrats actually get into office, deliver for working people. The full interview will first air Friday, Aug. 8 at 6:30 p.m. on PIX11 News, PIX11+ and pix11.com. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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) As the number of days remaining in summer vacation dwindles, a local nonprofit is working to make sure the blood supply doesnt suffer the same fate. Carol Leitheiser is a regular at the Community Blood Bank donor room at Dawley Farm in Sioux Falls. Almost 400,000 vehicle count for Sturgis Rally Every 56 days if I can, Sioux Falls resident Leitheiser said. A pint of blood goes a long way at Community Blood Bank, a nonprofit that supplies blood to 30 cities in South Dakota, Iowa, and Minnesota. Leitheiser says shes donated eight gallons over the years. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Because theyre always needing blood for different things, especially in the summer when theres more accidents and stuff and I just think its a good thing to do, Leitheiser said. The Community Blood Bank requires an estimated 550 units per week to meet the needs of its hospitals, but donations are especially important during the summer months. You know, as the summer progresses, a lot of our blood donors are reliable, steady blood donors have donated blood. Theyve had that opportunity to give blood. You can only donate blood every 56 days. So what winds up happening as we enter August, a lot of those individuals that have been committed are not eligible to donate, Community Blood Bank Executive Director Ken Versteeg said. Versteeg expects a boost in donations once the school year starts. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We really rely upon our high school and college students. Twenty percent of the blood supply comes from our first-time blood donors and so when we get back into that school mode again, were kind of back in the swing of things, and we see more blood drive opportunities. We got quite a few high schools that go at least two, maybe three times a year. It makes for a lot easier for us to collect blood and maintain a steady blood supply, Versteeg said. And it only takes a few minutes to make a difference. Ten-minute thing to save somebodys life is worth it I guess, yeah, Leitheiser said. Versteeg says Community Blood Bank is currently in need of O-Negative the universal blood type. The bloodmobile will be in Luverne, Minnesota and Rock Valley, Iowa on Friday, or you can donate at any of three donor rooms in Sioux Falls. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. The western German city of Dortmund is threatening legal action against the use of its coat of arms on election posters put up by the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD). The city has asked the AfD district association via a lawyer to remove the coat of arms as the use of the symbol is not authorized, a city spokesman said on Friday. If this is not complied with, the city will enforce the ban in court by means of a temporary injunction. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement During the local election campaign, the party is putting up posters which, according to the city, illegally bear the more than 1,000-year-old Dortmund coat of arms in a slightly modified form. "For reasons of neutrality, no party will be authorized to use the city coat of arms for election campaign purposes," the city said in a statement. The district association of Chancellor Friedrich Merz's conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) has publicly opposed the appropriation of the city's coat of arms. The row involves 950 campaign posters, and more have been reordered said, Dortmund's lead AfD candidate Heiner Garbe. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He was personally of the opinion that the AfD did not have to paste over the symbol, as other parties have also used it publicly in the past. In addition, he claimed that the AfD had asked for authorization after the fact. Ultimately, however, the AfD board will decide whether the party will comply with the city's request. CASTLE ROCK, Colo. (KDVR) New information shows there has been a drop in crime rates in Douglas County in the last six months. However, 23rd Judicial District DA George Brauchler said the majority of people committing crimes in Douglas County are from other counties. CSP rescues child from car driving with gas nozzle attached The DA showed a dramatic video of Castle Rock police trying to capture a man driving a stolen car. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The man behind the wheel can be seen trying to get away from officers by driving the vehicle back and forth, as it was pinned between two other cars. The driver is eventually able to speed away but is captured by officers from the Castle Rock Police Department moments later after a loud crash. My best advice is, follow the freaking law. If you wont do that, do yourself and us a favor, go break it somewhere else because this is the place you come to get held accountable, Brauchler said. Brauchler said in his first six months in office, his team, along with the Douglas County Sheriffs office and other law enforcement agencies, has helped lower motor vehicle theft rates by nearly 26%. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The DA said crime rates were also down for other crimes, including burglaries and robberies partly due to his prosecution of the cases. Both Brauchler and Douglas County Sheriff Darren Weekly said they are concerned about out-of-towners committing many of the crimes. Right now, downstairs in my jail, inmates in my custody, 70% do not reside in Douglas County, Weekly said. Free on Your TV New FOX31+ App for Roku, Fire TV, Apple TV Investigators said the man driving the stolen car, shown on the video, was 170 miles away from his hometown and had a long criminal history. The judicial system supervision has got to be better because it is failing us, Brauchler said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Brauchler said 30% of the people his office deals with are on either probation or parole. FOX31 asked Governor Jared Polis for a response to Brauchlers comments regarding the judicial system. We cannot independently verify the DAs statistics to respond to specific circumstances in his district but Governor Polis wants to ensure that dangerous criminals are appropriately held in jail pending trial. Criminal activity has no place in Colorado and the Governor supports efforts to keep our communities safe and hopes to work with DA Brauchler and others on how we can improve public safety. Governor Polis is proud of the states investments in data-driven public safety solutions that have caused crime to drop for two years in a row. The Governor appreciates the concerns from DA Brauchler and is always open to hearing from local officials about ways state laws can better keep our communities safe and hold criminals accountable, said Governor Jared Polis Deputy Press Secretary Eric Maruyama. Maruyama also provided FOX31 with statistics that included statewide decreases in murders, non-consensual sexual offenses, robberies, and aggravated assaults between 2023 and 2025. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) Dr. Melinda Cail joined us in the KFOR studio on Thursday to talk about the dangers of Legionnaires disease and other health topics. Legionnaires Disease infected a Midwest City senior living community, and they are relying on bottled water and sponge baths. One person at the living facility recently died from the disease. To learn more, watch the video above or visit Primary Health Care Partners. 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. (This story was revised to add a photo gallery of the 2024 event.) PANAMA CITY Destination Panama City will host its annual Oktoberfest on Sept. 27. This will be the 37th Oktoberfest event in Downtown Panama City. This years event will be from 3 to 9 p.m. on Harrison Avenue from East 5th Street to Oak Avenue. The main stage will be on the Panama City Center for the Arts lawn, 19 E. 4th St. According to the Destination Panama City website, there will be a wide variety of food vendors available in downtown Panama City during the event. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Live music will be performed by The PolkaMeisters and there will be a costume competition to a win special prize. There will be two other competitions during the event: Stein Hoisting Competition : Only adults 21 and older are allowed to participate. Put your strength and endurance to the test by lifting and holding a full stein. Kids Pretzel Toss: For children 12 and younger. Teams of two will compete to see who can toss their pretzel the farthest for a prize. The schedule of events are as follows: 3-4 p.m.: Live Music 44:30 p.m.: Kids Pretzel Toss 4305:30 p.m.: Live Music 5:306:30 p.m.: Stein Hoisting Competition 6:307:30 p.m.: Live Music 7:308 p.m.: Costume Competition 89 p.m.: Live Music Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Bus Safety: 'Be patient and careful': Bay District Schools asks drivers to take care as school starts The bars at Oktoberfest will be cash only and ATMs will be on site in case you need cash. Anyone planning to drink alcohol at the event must be 21 or older and must have ID. Those who are 21 and older will receive a 21+ wristband. This article originally appeared on The News Herald: Panama City's 37th annual Oktoberfest is Sept. 27 downtown HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) The case involving a driver accused of hitting two Connecticut State Police troopers on Interstate 91 in Enfield was continued Friday. On July 11, Joel Alexander Caiza-Nishue was traveling in the left lane of I-91 when he drove through standing water and lost control, spinning across three lanes before hitting the back of one of the police vehicles that was parked on the shoulder. The cruiser was pushed into Trooper Christopher Genoveses vehicle, and Genovese, who was standing next to the cruiser at the time, was forcefully thrown about 50 feet. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement State police said Genovese sustained serious injuries and was taken to a hospital for treatment. Sources told News 8 he broke his femur. Trooper Matthew Cerri was also taken to a hospital with moderate injuries, with state police confirming he suffered a concussion. He has since been released from the hospital. Caiza-Nishue broke both of his legs, according to his public defender. Video footage of the crash shows the Acura traveling faster than the flow of traffic before spinning out, according to the police report. Man charged with injuring 2 state troopers to appear in court virtually In a probable cause affidavit obtained by News 8, state police said Caiza-Nishue denied speeding at the time of the crash. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement During an interview with troopers afterward, Caiza-Nishue said he was on his way to work after leaving his home in Waterbury. He said he saw the police on the highway from a distance and was driving about 65 mph when he encountered the puddle of water, which caused him to lose control of the vehicle. Federal agents are seeking to arrest Caiza-Nishue, according to a senior official from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), who told News 8 that he is not a U.S. citizen and is from Ecuador, adding that he entered the U.S. in 2023. ICE has lodged a detainer for his arrest, the official said in a statement. Caiza-Nishue attended a virtual arraignment in July on charges of reckless driving, traveling too fast for conditions, operating a motor vehicle without a license, and failure to drive in the proper lane. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement His bond was set at $20,000, and he was ordered not to operate motor vehicles while the case is pending. The case was continued to Sept. 19. 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. PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) A driver is facing a DUII charge after a deadly crash in Lake County in early August, authorities announced Wednesday. Just after 12:30 p.m. on August 1, Oregon State Police responded to a reported crash between a vehicle and a bicyclist on Highway 395 near milepost 157. A preliminary investigation revealed the bicyclist, 69-year-old Robert McGee of New Pine Creek, was traveling southbound on the highway when a white GMC 3500 HD pickup truck tried to pass McGee before striking him. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Washington woman diagnosed with malaria did not travel outside of US McGee was declared dead at the scene, according to Oregon State Police. Authorities determined that the driver 64-year-old Greg Stiles of Guernville, California was impaired at the time of the crash. Stiles was arrested for driving under the influence of intoxicants and lodged at Lake County Jail. 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. By Nazrin Abdul Azerbaijan and Armenia are set to sign a significant agreement in Washington on August 8, marking a critical first step toward a comprehensive peace treaty between the two nations. Azernews reports that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the development during a press briefing with journalists. With regard to the broader peace agenda, the President is fully committed to achieving lasting peace and wants to be remembered as a president of peace. On August 8, we will be here to witness the signing of an agreement that will lay the foundation for a future peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Rubio stated. The agreement is expected to be formalized in Washington during a trilateral meeting attended by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, and U.S. President Donald Trump. A Joint Declaration will be signed as part of this historic event. Azerbaijan had previously set two key conditions for signing a peace deal with Armenia. The first required both countries to jointly appeal to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) for the formal dissolution of the Minsk Group. The second demanded constitutional amendments in Armenia to eliminate any territorial claims against Azerbaijan. The forthcoming Joint Declaration is expected to confirm that Azerbaijan and Armenia will jointly submit a request to the OSCE Secretary-General to formally dissolve the Minsk Group. Additionally, the document will acknowledge the necessity of taking further steps to finalize and ratify the future peace treaty, including constitutional changes in Armenia that would remove anti-Azerbaijani provisions. Following the 2020 Second Garabagh War, President Ilham Aliyev has repeatedly emphasized the importance of establishing an unhindered land corridor between mainland Azerbaijan and its Nakhchivan exclave. According to the terms of the declaration, Armenia has agreed to this condition as well. The Joint Declaration explicitly affirms the establishment of unimpeded transit between Azerbaijans main territory and Nakhchivan, effectively paving the way for the realization of the long-anticipated Zangazur Corridor. This agreement represents a milestone in the post-war reconciliation process and could significantly reshape regional dynamics in the South Caucasus. By Isla Binnie and Nandita Bose WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday that aimed to allow more private equity, real estate, cryptocurrency, and other alternative assets in 401(k) retirement accounts opening the way for alternative asset managers to tap a greater share of trillions of dollars in Americans' retirement savings. The White House said regulatory overreach and litigation risks have prevented retirees from benefiting from potentially higher returns, while critics warned the investments were inherently riskier, lacked the same disclosures and carried higher fees than traditional retirement investments. "My Administration will relieve the regulatory burdens and litigation risk that impede American workers retirement accounts from achieving the competitive returns and asset diversification necessary to secure a dignified, comfortable retirement," the order said. It directed the Labor Secretary and Securities and Exchange Commission to make it easier for investors to access alternative assets in their defined contribution retirement plans. It did not expressly ask the agencies to add more legal protections for investments, but directed them to clarify or potentially revise rules that could help shield the industry from litigation risk. Asset managers welcomed the news, saying it was a major step toward modernizing retirement savings. "Expanding access to investments long out of reach will help ensure millions of Americans build stronger, more diversified portfolios designed to increase savings and address the practical considerations of DC plan fiduciaries," Jaime Magyera, head of retirement for leading asset manager BlackRock said in a statement, referring to defined-contribution plans like 401(k)s. The move could be a boon for big alternative asset managers such as Blackstone, KKR, and Apollo Global Management by opening the $12-trillion market for all defined-contribution plans, of which 401(k)s are the most popular, to their investments. Some of those firms have already struck partnerships with asset managers who run those plans. A Blackstone spokesman said the firm welcomed the decision. BlackRock, which lobbied the Trump administration to expand asset options, plans to launch its own retirement fund that includes private equity and private credit assets next year. Proponents have argued that younger savers can benefit from potentially higher returns on riskier investments in funds that get more conservative as they approach retirement. A passenger was killed in a fiery, one-vehicle crash in Cape May County on Tuesday afternoon, but Good Samaritans were able to rescue the driver from the wreck, according to police and witness accounts. Walter Chattin, 77, of Villas, was driving south on Route 611/Tyler Road near Fremont Avenue in Woodbine when his vehicle ran off the roadway to the left, struck a utility pole and overturned, according to New Jersey State Police. The vehicle was engulfed in flames, police said. Emergency crews responded to the scene around 4:15 p.m. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Passenger Diana Chattin, 70, of Villas, died of her injuries in the crash, police said, while the driver suffered minor injuries. Paul Fowler posted on Facebook about working with two others to rescue the driver from the burning vehicle and expressed regret that he could not save the mans wife. The passenger and the couples two dogs were in the backseat, Fowler said, but the fire spread too quickly for anyone to reach them. To the driver I truly am sorry I wish I could have done better, Fowler posted in the Facebook group Cape May County Fire Wire. A poster named Walt Chattin replied to Fowlers comment and identified himself as the driver. He thanked Fowler for his heroic deed. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement You saved my life, Chattin wrote. You are a true hero for your herculean effort, you had the courage to stop and save the life of stranger while risking your own life to do so! I tragically lost my wife and my two dogs but you tried your best to save them! Chattin said he was hospitalized and recovering from burns, broken ribs and other injuries. In an interview with NJ Advance Media, Fowler said he was heading home from work when he encountered the crash. He saw smoke up ahead and first thought it was a fire at a stand where a man sells corn along the side of the roadway. When I got closer, I realized it was a car on fire and it was on its drivers side lying in the woods, Fowler said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He pulled over and saw a hand pressed up against the windshield from inside the vehicle. He said he grabbed a small hammer from his vehicle and tried to break out the windshield to free the occupant. With the help of another passerby, they were able to pull Chattin free, and he told them his wife and their dogs were in the backseat. Fowler, 50, credited fellow passerby Serena Seijo for rushing to help and providing a shovel to break out a side window in the vehicle as they tried to get to the passenger. The smoke was too thick. The fire was spreading too fast, Fowler said. It was moving towards the back of the car and we just couldnt see in there at that point. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He appreciated Chattins Facebook response and was glad to hear hes recovering, but wishes he could have done more. Ive just got a lot of regret because I didnt know his wife was in there as well, Fowler said. Maybe I could have done something different. The cause of the crash remains under investigation, police said. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Matt Gray may be reached at mgray@njadvancemedia.com. A Reddit post showing a mobile billboard truck cruising Connecticut highways has sparked discussion about advertising overload on America's roads. The image, shared to the "r/Connecticut" subreddit, captures a large LED screen mounted on the back of a truck displaying what appears to be an advertisement for health and dental insurance. Photo Credit: Reddit The post asked, "How long until we start seeing Brooke Goff on these mobile billboards?" referencing the controversial Connecticut-based lawyer known for his ubiquitous highway advertising. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Fellow Connecticut drivers expressed frustration with the growing trend of mobile-based advertising invading their commutes. The bright digital displays feature rotating advertisements that follow traffic patterns throughout the day, maximizing exposure to captive audiences stuck in their vehicles. The advertising arms race is a reflection of an even bigger issue: the relentless push for consumer attention that drives companies to produce more goods, generating pollution from manufacturing and contributing to overflowing landfills. This constant bombardment of ads encourages impulse purchasing and excessive consumption. Americans encounter thousands of marketing messages daily, creating psychological pressure to buy products they don't need and fueling the production of disposable goods that ultimately end up as waste. Redditors didn't mince words when it comes to mobile advertising. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Maybe I'm the minority out here but we should ban them altogether," wrote one commenter. "It's an unsightly addition to the highways that distract drivers." Another Redditor called the displays "incredibly distracting." One commenter suggested following the example of other states: "Let's learn from Maine, Alaska, Hawaii, and Vermont and just ban billboards altogether. They're ugly and distracting." Do you think we should be trying to pull pollution out of the atmosphere? Absolutely I need to know more In some situations No way Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. It's true that communities across the nation are fighting back against excessive advertising and local Buy Nothing groups can also help neighbors share resources instead of purchasing new items, with thrift stores and consignment shops offering sustainable shopping alternatives that keep products in circulation longer. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Organizations that promote more mindful consumption and zero-waste lifestyles offer practical strategies for resisting advertising manipulation, encouraging us to build stronger communities focused on sharing rather than accumulating. 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. LAS VEGAS (KLAS) More than 30 pounds of methamphetamine, 28 guns and 26 40mm grenades were recovered as 15 people were arrested in a nine-month undercover investigation of drug and firearms trafficking centered in Mohave County, Arizona. The Mohave County Sheriffs Office on Thursday announced the results of Operation Mohave Typewriter, detailing the arrests involving the FBI, ATF and several local law enforcement agencies. Eight Golden Valley residents were arrested and charged, along with four people from Kingman, two from Chloride and one Calexico, California resident. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In addition to 32.5 pounds of meth, officers seized one gram of fentanyl powder and one ghost gun. Three of the weapons seized were fully automatic and four were reported stolen. Arrests included: David Alan Baker , 51 of Golden Valley, charged with two counts possession of a weapon by prohibited person, and two counts first-degree trafficking in stolen property David James Daniels , 58 of Golden Valley, charged with three counts possession of a weapon by prohibited person, first-degree trafficking in stolen property, and possession of narcotic drugs Joan Louise Lapointe , 63 of Kingman, charged with two counts sale of dangerous drugs, and transport of dangerous drugs for sale Mathew Montijo , 50 of Kingman, charged with three counts selling prohibited weapons, and misconduct involving weapons Richard Damon Eldridge , 44 of Chloride, charged with four counts misconduct involving a firearm, six counts sale of dangerous drugs, and four counts transport of dangerous drugs for sale Richard Ryan Hanson , 53 of Golden Valley, charged with two counts possession of a weapon by prohibited person, first-degree trafficking in stolen property, and first-degree burglary Rosemary Ann Gomez , 39 of Chloride, charged with six counts misconduct involving a firearm, three counts sale of dangerous drugs, two counts transporting dangerous drugs for sale, promoting prison contraband, and possession of dangerous drugs Shayleigh Joanne Wolsey , 34 of Kingman, charged with possession of dangerous drugs for sale, and transporting dangerous drugs for sale Michelle Diane Dahl , 57 of Kingman, charged with possession of dangerous drugs for sale, and transportation of dangerous drugs for sale Hugo Dominguez-Rodriguez , 39 of Calexico, CA, charged with three counts possession of dangerous drugs for sale, and three counts transportation of dangerous drugs Jordan Andrew Purdy , 34 of Golden Valley, charged with possession of a weapon by prohibited person Tyler Ian Troy Stidham , 22 of Golden Valley, charged with first-degree burglary Scott Alle Bell , 62 of Golden Valley, booked for parole violation felony warrant, and five misdemeanor warrants for contempt of court Christopher Michael Donnelson , 29 of Golden Valley, booked for two felony probation violation warrants Tanya Marie Bales, 37 of Golden Valley, booked for felony warrant for possession of dangerous drugs Special agents with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), along with detectives from the Mohave Area General Narcotics Enforcement Team (M.A.G.N.E.T.) concluded the investigation of drug and firearm trafficking. During the operation, ATF, DEA and MAGNET were assisted by the Bullhead City Police Department, Mohave County Sheriffs Office and the Flagstaff Police Department METRO task force. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This operation is ongoing with the possibility of further charges and additional arrests. 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. DES MOINES, Iowa A Des Moines man learned his sentence on Friday for allegedly starting a house fire that injured his grandma and uncle in 2023. In December 2023, a house caught fire in the 1700 block of Forest Avenue while two people were trapped inside. Firefighters were able to rescue the 85-year-old woman and 53-year-old man from the burning home, who were transported to nearby hospitals for treatment. At the time, the Des Moines Police Department announced that the fire was started intentionally by a relative of the two victims. According to court records, 36-year-old Otis James Richardson, the grandson and nephew of the victims, was seen on security cameras walking around the home just minutes before a firework was detonated, causing combustible materials at the back of the house to ignite. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Head-on crash in Pocahontas County claims life of man Shortly after the fire, Richardson was arrested and charged with first-degree arson, possession of incendiary or explosive device, and violation of a no contact order. According to the Polk County Attorneys Office, in July this year Richardson entered an Alford guilty plea to first-degree arson, meaning he acknowledged there was enough evidence collected that would likely lead to his conviction by a jury, but maintained his innocence. On Friday, a Polk County Judge sentenced Richardson to a maximum of 25 years in prison. The attorneys office said that as part of his plea agreement he must serve a minimum of 12.5 years before being eligible for parole. Metro news Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. ALEXANDRIA, Va. (DC News Now) A person died Friday morning after they reportedly tried to escape being arrested by the FBI at an apartment building in Alexandria, according to officials. During a press conference, Reid Davis, FBI special agent in charge of the Washington Field Office Criminal Division, said that at around 6 a.m. on Aug. 8, agents were executing a criminal arrest warrant at The Alexander Apartments when the person they were trying to arrest leaped from a 15th-story balcony. Agents tried to save the person, but he died. At the scene, several police cars could be seen lining the street in front of the building, with police tape sectioning off the area. Alexandria police are on the scene of a death investigation on King Street on Aug. 8. (Brandon Dobbs/DC News Now) Crash on Baltimore-Washington Parkway prompts lane closures in Anne Arundel County Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As of Friday morning, the persons identity has not been released as officials work to notify their immediate family. Authorities have also not disclosed what the arrest warrant was for; however, Alexandria Police Chief Tarrick McGuire noted that there is no threat to the community. We are grateful to our partners at the Alexandria Police Department and Alexandria Fire Department for their immediate response and assistance, the FBI said, in part, in a statement to DC News Now. As a result of the investigation, eastbound King Street was down to one lane, and police closed the sidewalk from Hampton to Park Center. Virginias Office of the Chief Medical Examiner will determine the official cause of death. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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 DC News Now | DC, Virginia, Maryland News, Weather, Traffic, Sports Live. NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) Starting next month, residents will not be able to use the East Convenience Center on Richard G. Adams Drive as the facility will be upgraded. The Nashville Department of Waste Services announced the East center will be getting some much-needed site improvements that will close the center for about eight weeks. The closure is expected to begin Sept. 8. According to NDWS, the project is designed to provide smoother traffic flow and create a more customer-friendly experience at the center. A key part, according to Waste Services officials, is the construction of a new main entrance building, which will significantly enhance safety for Waste Services staff and provide a more welcoming visit for customers. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Additionally, new safety railings will be installed around the drop-off points, and updated road striping will be added for smoother vehicle movement around the center. Were putting up safety railing, so that there will be easier access to our bins. Were creating safety zones. Were going to be adding some yellow highlighted zones to our parking lot. The overall effort is about improving our customer experience, Director of Waste Services, Tracey Thurman said. Neighborhood News: Stories impacting your community | Read More Since opening in 2001, the East Convenience Center has not undergone a substantial overhaul, according to NDWS. The upgrade project will improve the centers infrastructure and ensure a more durable and long-lasting facility. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We recognize the East Centers temporary closure is an inconvenience for residents and sincerely appreciate your patience as we work to enhance safety and services, NDWS Director Tracey Thurman said in a release. These planned improvements are part of our commitment to upgrading the overall customer experience and meeting the expanded needs of our growing city. According to a spokesperson with NDWS, the East center averages around 4,000 visitors per month. The center processes an average 195.8 tons of refuse material monthly. While the closure continues, residents are encouraged to visit any of the other convenience center locations: Anderson Lane Convenience Center : 939A Anderson Ln., Madison, 37115 Omohundro Convenience Center : 1019 Omohundro Pl., Nashville, 37210 Ezell Pike Convenience Center: 3254 Ezell Pk., Nashville, 37211 Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement All the centers are open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Donelson neighborhood installs LPRs Residents can also use any of the departments seven drop-off sites for recyclables. Hours and locations can be found online here. Further, NDWS said those needed to dispose of household hazardous waste should visit the Ezell Pike Convenience Center. For electronics disposal, both the Ezell Pike and Omohundro locations are available for drop-off. Do you have news happening in your neighborhood? Let us know by sending an email to neighborhoodnews@wkrn.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 WKRN News 2. EAST LIVERPOOL, Ohio (WKBN) Families in East Liverpool can pick up free school supplies during a drive-through giveaway. It runs from 5-6:30 p.m. Friday at the First Church of the Nazarene on Walnut Street. Parents can drive up with their kids, and volunteers will hand out cinch sacks filled with supplies. Walk-ups are welcome, too. Bags will be given out first-come, first-served served while supplies last. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First) After unanimous approval by the East Baton Rouge Parish Metro Council, they said this plan will not only reshape the city-parishs health care programs, but save taxpayers $19 million. We found changes that we can make that wouldnt impact our employees and wouldnt have a significant impact on our retirees, said Councilwoman of District 12 Jen Racca. Those changes, they said, were financially responsible and needed. At the special meeting, members gave the green light for a shift in health benefits. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This is a privatized Medicare plan thats through the Blue Cross Blue Shield Network. So, the network doesnt change what it does for the retirees, so they no longer have to pay for it each month. So, they have no costs to themselves. There will be no costs to be on this plan, said Racca. Racca said that with the amount of money being taken out of the citys budget due to shifts like ThriveBR and giving funds to St. George, she said this was a more cost-efficient route. We have to try to find revenue to bring into our city and to our parish, Racca said. So, we need the money. So, anywhere this money goes, whether its a million, whether its 19 million, whatever we can use it for, to not cut services to our people, to not raise taxes to our people throughout the parish, whatever we can do to stop that from happening is what weve been working towards. Councilmembers said the only word on their mind for this is saving. Those who choose not to enroll wont be affected and can continue using their current plan. Much of this covers visits to the hospital, prescriptions, and other medical needs. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement While she said many who fit the criteria are happy, some still have questions. She said hopefully this new opportunity can expand in the future. But we want those conversations to continue to see if there are changes there that could be potential savings for 2027, said Racca. Over 1,500 people in East Baton Rouge Parish are currently eligible for the plan. Open enrollment starts in October. Latest News Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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 Louisiana First News. (NewsNation) An economist aligned with President Donald Trump isnt backing White House claims that monthly U.S. job numbers have been rigged against the Republican, but he says its high time for calculation methods to be revamped for better accuracy. Stephen Moore joined the president Thursday for a news conference in which he helped tout the Trump administrations economic policies and inserted himself into the controversy over the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Trump fired the head of BLS after accusing the bureaucrat of revising downward recent monthly job tallies to make him look bad, even though corrections have been a hallmark of the process. Moore said he doesnt see a political subtext but agrees BLS has produced inaccurate figures. He says the agency overestimated by 1.5 million the number of jobs created by Trumps predecessor, Joe Biden, in the Democrats last two years in office. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Why job numbers change: Understanding the latest revisions We have to find new techniques to find out how many jobs were really created over the months, Moore told CUOMO on Thursday evening. Look, government policy, employment policy by businesses, all of this stuff is really affected. When we want to take a pulse of the economy, the most important number that comes out every month is the jobs number. He did not provide specifics but likened todays outmoded methods of compiling job statistics with political pollsters who still rely on reaching out to voters through land lines when most people use cellphones. Response rates are much, much worse, and thats why you get these kind of crazy results, Moore said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He said job statistics have gotten progressively worse over the last few presidential administrations. Moore currently is a senior visiting fellow in economics at The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. He co-authored a 2018 book, Trumponomics: Inside the America First Plan to Revive Our Economy. 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. GREENVILLE, N.C. (WNCT) East Carolina University archaeologists with the Maritime Studies Program found multiple shipwrecks recently, one which is thought to be the remains of La Fortunas vessel. The fleet belonging to La Fortuna, a Spanish privateer from Cuba, exploded near the colonial wharves at Brunswick Town (now Brunswick County) during King Georges War in 1748. ECU archaeologists think the newly discovered shipwrecks could, in part, be La Fortunas due to the type of wood used in the ship build. The age of the remains and where they were located also correlate with La Fortunas ship. We are extremely excited about these important sites, as each one will help us to better understand the role of BTFA [Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson] as one of the states earliest colonial port towns, said Dr. Jason Raupp, Assistant Professor for the Department of History and Maritime Studies. These submerged colonial waterfront features are incredibly well-preserved and present an excellent opportunity for ECU students to engage in hands-on, collaborative research. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Three other shipwrecks were discovered along with the potential La Fortuna shipwreck at the BTFA waterfront. 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 WNCT. Trump's Asia tariffs takes a massive hit on Bitcoin miners originally appeared on TheStreet. As per the latest report by The Block, President Donald Trump's latest order on global tariffs seems to be becoming a pain in the neck for the Bitcoin mining community in the U.S. As the 90-day tariff pause deadline neared, Trump announced a slew of new global tariff rates on July 31. Among the worst-hit are the key centers of mining rig manufacturing in Southeast Asia. For those unfamiliar, crypto mining is the process of using high-tech hardware to validate and secure transactions on a blockchain network. Ethan Vera, the COO of a Bitcoin mining technology and services company, Luxor Technology, shared a document with The Block as per which the latest directive imposes 21.6% tariffs, including a 19% "reciprocal tariff," on imports of application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) from Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand beginning Aug. 7. Join the discussion with Scott Melker on Roundtable here. ASICs are chips that are designed to execute a specific task extremely efficiently such as crypto mining, as opposed to general-purpose processors like central processing units (CPUs) or graphics processing units (GPUs). As per the report, U.S. tariffs on imports from China, a major hub of mining rig manufacturing, stand at a staggering 57.6%, which includes a 10% baseline reciprocal tariff and an additional countryspecific tariff of 20%. Anyway, the tariff pause deadline between the two countries is set to expire on Aug. 12, and there has been no breakthrough so far. While still lower than earlier rates, the current tariffs are significantly higher than the 2.6% tariffs on ASICs imported from the Southeast Asian countries before Trump's second term. However, Chinese machines even earlier used to face an additional 25% ad valorem rate. HIGH POINT High Point economic developers say the city is in a position to capitalize on future growth in the region like the proposed JetZero factory. The startup aircraft manufacturers pledge to create more than 14,000 jobs at the Piedmont Triad International Airport campus could draw ancillary suppliers and other businesses in proximity to its plant. The area near the airport with the most developable land is in north High Point, Economic Development Director Peter Bishop told the EDC board Wednesday. As we all know in economic development, these jobs arent going to be created this month or this year. This is a 30-year project. Many in this room had a lot to do with this. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In the meantime, other projects in High Point are proceeding, he said, including Cascade Die Casting Group, which has begun hiring for an $8.1 million expansion of its automotive, electronics and appliance components manufacturing plants on Old Thomasville and Albertson roads that was announced in June. Guilford Technical Community College is seeing enrollment growth, including in its aviation programs, said Manuel Dudley, vice president of workforce and continuing education. GTCC is kind of leading in this, but it takes a collaborative effort from Alamance, Forsyth, Randolph and others to help us train the 14,500 employees they want, he said. Of course, we have our aviation campus and the future aviation campus at the Cameron Campus will break ground in about a month. In downtown High Point, the proposed redevelopment of the vacant Showplace West former office building is proceeding, said Downtown High Point President and CEO Rebekah Cansler. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The prospective buyer thats proposing to redevelop the building with 130 apartments has completed its due diligence phase on the property, she said. The developers architectural drawings are under review as part of the application process for historic preservation tax incentives that would be used to offset the projects cost. Presidents of wealthy, elite universities are in a pickle. On one hand, they have to balance faculty members demanding their institutions make no deals with what most professors likely see as the devil in the White House. On the other, they know the federal government has access to so many levers of epic institutional disruption that due care of their institutions virtually demands making a deal with the ideologues in the Donald Trump administration. Take the high road and the labs dependent on federal funding shutter. Not only are jobs lost but institutional missions are compromised. Plus lawyers love multimillion-dollar settlements, as weve learned away from the campus, too. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement So what weve seen so far are public protestations of defiance and the importance of academic freedom from university presidents of varying intensity accompanied by quieter, behind-the-scenes dealmaking. Ergo, Harvards reported openness to dropping a stunning $500 million to make its fight with the Trump administration go away, following on from Columbia Universitys agreement to cough up $200 million with the same aim. Reportedly, though, the Harvard leaders have now bristled because Brown University, which everyone knows is among the most progressive of the Ivy League institutions, apparently has gotten away with paying only $50 million (and paid to more palatable state work force development organizations, rather than the feds), one tenth of what Harvard apparently was willing to shell out to the federal government. Sure, Harvard has a much larger endowment and a bigger political profile, but its sins against the Trump crew are no greater. So how, people in Cambridge are asking, can that be fair? Harvard, it seems to us, has now taken to negotiating in the media, coaxing out sympathetic stories that express misgivings over whether Trump can be trusted, presumably hoping to save itself some money. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement If you read between the lines of what The New York Times reported Monday as Harvards position, you can see the universitys lawyers arguing that whereas most settlements put an end to disputes, which is why people agree to them, this one offers no guarantees that the Trump administration wont come back six months from now making additional, perchance slightly revised, demands and, again, leaving Harvard little choice but to comply and write a big check. To put all of that in terms of realpolitik, Harvard is arguing for a discount in the light of ongoing future risk and hoping the other side reads the story and sees its point. This is why the federal government should not be engaged in crude dealmaking with some of the best universities in America. All of the above paragraphs, of course, would have been unimaginable even in the first Trump administration, prior to the current administrations decision to target schools with which it feels it has the biggest beefs, a list that also includes Northwestern University. The Evanston university currently is trying to unfreeze $790 million in federal funding, the loss of which has caused it to shed more than 200 jobs in order, it says, to self-fund that research. Like his peers, Northwestern President Michael Schill clearly is motivated to make a deal. (He also had to deal with being summoned back to Washington Tuesday by the House Committee on Education and Workforce to answer questions on campus antisemitism.) Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On the other hand, he also has to appease faculty members like the Northwestern Concerned Faculty Group, which wrote to the Daily Northwestern last week to observe that acquiescence to the administrations tactics would make Northwestern complicit in an assault on higher education, which is an essential bulwark of civil society. The administration is skirting legal processes and demanding what amounts to ransom from universities; such actions continue its well-documented and dangerous abuse of executive power. Not an easy week for Schill. We sympathize. Of course, the real enemy of the Northwestern Concerned Faculty Group is not their own administration but the federal government; thats just a target with a firmer belly, and infinitely more leverage, than professors turned administrators who likely agree in their hearts with those criticizing them, even as their lawyers negotiate terms. What to do about a crisis that comes atop a separate issue for higher education involving the enrollment challenges arising from the falling birth rate? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As with so much, wed like to see some of those in the administration with cooler heads realize that the federal government shaking down leading universities for millions of dollars, so-called dealmaking, is as cancerous as it is un-American. The federal government has a legitimate interest in ensuring a safe and equal-opportunity campus environment for all students and in ensuring compliance with federal anti-discrimination laws; universities should follow those laws and everyone in higher education knows they have sometimes been skirted for ideological reasons when it came to hiring the best qualified person for a given job. And, of course, Congress could decide to tax huge endowments differently, if that is the will of the people. But the feds do not have a role in policing what speech happens at a private university, nor should the government be trying to influence who is hired as president (or anything else) beyond the above. The liberal bias on campuses is self-evident, but universities have to deal with that themselves. And if students dont want to be taught in such a way, they should enroll elsewhere. Thats how the marketplace of ideas works. At private schools, at least. When it comes to where the federal government spends its research money, those decision-making public servants should be looking hard at the quality of the research, not extraneous political factors. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement To put all of that simply, wed like to see a deal that does not involve some massive transfer of hundreds of millions of dollars away from universities and toward God knows what. Wed like to see campuses pledge their willingness to keep all students safe, to treat all job and student applicants fairly, to advance students intelligent critical thinking so they can express themselves without fear or favor and find their way in this changing world. In return, the Trump administration should let them use their money for what it was intended: research and teaching. _____ When a member of Congress publicly declares allegiance to another country over the United States, its bound to raise eyebrows and for good reason. Thats what happened when U.S. Rep. Delia Ramirez, speaking at an event in Mexico City, said: Im a proud Guatemalan before Im an American. Ramirez, whose district stretches from DuPage County to Chicagos Northwest Side, has since attempted to clarify her intent, saying on X that honoring my Guatemalan ancestry only strengthens my commitment to America. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Thats a message we all can embrace. But the damage was done. At a time when trust in public officials is already fragile, statements like hers erode confidence and invite exactly the kind of backlash shes facing. Lets begin with a clear point: Calls to deport Ramirez are not only baseless she was born in Chicago but also fundamentally un-American. This nations legacy is built on welcoming immigrants and celebrating the diverse backgrounds that shape our national identity. Even so, we take issue with the congresswomans comment, which crossed the line between honoring heritage and undermining public trust. Federal officials are elected to represent their constituents here in the United States. As such, they should champion this country especially when speaking abroad. Statements that cast doubt on their loyalty to the U.S. are damaging and irresponsible. As a nation of immigrants, many Americans feel deep affection for their ancestral homelands. In Chicago, pride in cultural roots from Mexico to Poland and beyond long has enriched the city. But Americans expect their leaders to confirm their belief in and allegiance to this country while extolling their lineage. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We have to hope the clarification provided by Ramirez, the daughter of Guatemalan immigrants, reflects what she actually thinks. When speaking on the world stage, elected officials must choose their words carefully. This episode should remind all elected leaders: Words matter. Americans expect their representatives to honor their heritage, yes but also to speak with conviction about their commitment to this country. Democrats have a valuable opportunity here to reaffirm that patriotism and progressivism are not mutually exclusive that you can celebrate diversity while championing America. At the same time, Republicans should resist the impulse to exploit moments like these with anti-immigrant rhetoric that alienates the very communities helping to shape the partys future. Both parties would do well to remember: A big tent means embracing diverse backgrounds. But it also demands shared respect for this nation and all who call it home. _____ ELKHART Kristen Edson has been hired as the new executive director at Elkhart Public Library, the organization announced Thursday. Currently serving as director at Livonia (Michigan) Public Library in the suburbs of Detroit, Edson will begin her work as executive director in Elkhart on Oct. 1 The seven-member Elkhart Public Library Board of Trustees voted unanimously to hire Edson at the conclusion of a national search. Bradbury Miller Associates assisted the board with the process. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Board of Trustees is extremely pleased with the selection of Kristen for this important position, said James W. Rieckhoff, the president of the board. Elkhart Public Library is in a strong position with our offerings of materials, information services and programs. The librarys next leader must recognize these strengths and position us effectively to deal with future opportunities and concerns we all know will come. In her professional biography, Edson confirms her commitment to enhancing library services through technology, policy development, and strategic partnerships. Edson earned her masters degree in library and information science from Wayne State University. Her work experience includes a supervisory role in Chicago Public Librarys History and Sciences Department, the position of Central Library Manager with Bossier Parish (Louisiana) Libraries, and Deputy Director of East Baton Rouge Parish (Louisiana) Libraries. Edson succeeds Lisa Guedea Carreno, who left Elkhart Public Library in January after more than 10 years as executive director. Mary Beth Schlabach, the librarys Director of Public Services, has served as interim leader since February and continues in her position. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We on the Board of Trustees are grateful for the efforts put in by Mary Beth and the entire staff during this transition period, Rieckhoff said. Elkhart Public Library is a beloved and trusted institution in our community, and the staff has many reasons to feel proud of its current standing. More information about Elkhart Public Library is available at MyEPL.org and @MyEPL on social media. One of the contentious issues to be addressed in the new framework is Hamass disarmament. Egyptian and Qatari mediators are working on a new hostage deal proposal that would include the release of all hostages, both living and deceased, at once in return for an end to the war and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip, The Associated Press reported on Friday, citing two Arab officials. One of the sources is directly involved in mediation efforts, and the other was briefed on the discussions. The efforts for the new proposal have the backing of major Arab Gulf monarchies. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The monarchies have concerns over further regional destabilization if Israel fully reoccupies the Strip, the officials said. The proposal is not finalized. One of the contentious issues to be addressed is Hamass disarmament. Current discussions center around freezing Hamass weaponry so that it can hold on to it but not use it. It also calls for Hamas to relinquish its power over Gaza. The new framework proposes having a Palestinian-Arab committee run Gaza and oversee reconstruction efforts until a new Palestinian administration with a police force is established. Hamas terrorists stand guard during a hostage release in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, February 22, 2025; illustrative. (credit: REUTERS/Hatem Khaled/File Photo) The police would be trained by two US allies in the Middle East. According to one of the officials, the role of the US allies remains unclear. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The US has been briefed on the parameters of the framework, according to the second official. Security Cabinet decision to expand Gaza operations Israel's Security Cabinet on Friday approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's proposal to occupy Gaza City. Several members of Israels Security Cabinet, who spoke with The Jerusalem Post following last nights decision to launch an operation to capture Gaza City, acknowledged that the plan is unlikely to lead to Hamas's defeat or the return of the hostages. There are 50 Israeli hostages remaining in the Gaza Strip, with 20 of them presumed to be alive. This is a developing story. ST GEORGE, Utah (ABC4) Since 2024, St. Georges extensive trail system has used electronic counters in multiple locations to determine how many people use those trails. St. George is home to over 75 miles of trail networks across the city. In an effort to determine usage and allocate resources, twelve key locations have electronic counters that read how often those trails are used. The electronic counters have been installed along the Virgin River Trail network, the Santa Clara River Trail, and at various underpasses near Utah Tech University and Bluff Street, all of which reportedly see a large amount of traffic. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The twelve permanent counters are placed in areas where they can collect data on longer trail segments, which ensures the system collects data on longer travels, rather than short trips. Additionally, the city uses temporary counters that can be moved to gather additional data in specific areas. An electronic counter located at a St George trail (Courtesy: St George City) Cyclists travel on a St George trail, where an electronic counter collects data on trail usage (Courtesy: St George City) An electronic counter located at a St George trail (Courtesy: St George City) Photos of a trail with an electronic counter. Courtesy: St. George City According to St. George officials, each electronic counter is placed on the side of a trail and shoots an infrared beam across the path to collect data on how many individuals travel a specific trail. Additionally, wires embedded in the trail can determine whether the person is a pedestrian or riding a bicycle. The data collected by these counters includes daily averages and peak usage times and days, allowing specialists to see how often trails are being used throughout the year. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The counters also allow accurate data to be collected on a more frequent basis. Previously, the city would conduct manual counts once or twice a year. They were also limited in comparing usage across different locations. With the electronic counters, collecting data is significantly easier. These counters have saved us a lot of time and effort, says Lloyd Sutton, St Georges active transportation coordinator, We no longer have to send staff out to manually track trail usage. This data helps us understand which trails are most popular and how to allocate maintenance dollars effectively. While previous trail development has come from St. Georges budget, city officials hope to get future funding from grants. The trail data collected by electronic counters may help get funding for trail development. The electronic counters help prove that St George trails are well-used by the public, which some grant programs require. Sutton told ABC4.com, When were able to back it up with over a million people using it at a few different locations, thats a pretty compelling argument to be able to justify more funding. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The city says theyve recorded around 1.1 million trail users between August 2024 and August 2025. The trail data is also beneficial to the local community and city officials. Sutton says, Its also good to know that the investment that weve already put on the groundis being used by the community and the community can benefit. The City of St George and Utah Department of Transportation are currently working to create a public dashboard that would show trail usage statistics. Additionally, four more counters are set to be installed in the next year. Joseph DeGolyer contributed to this story. Latest headlines: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. SAN FRANCISCO Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis will drop out of the race for California governor, she announced Friday, exiting a crowded contest in which she was among the top Democratic contenders. She will instead run for state treasurer next year a pivot that POLITICO first reported Kounalakis began discussing with political allies as early as March , amid polling that showed her behind former Rep. Katie Porter and former Vice President Kamala Harris, who recently passed on the contest. In a statement Friday, Kounalakis said she decided to switch races after careful consideration and reflection about what she could accomplish in the treasurers role, as the states primary banker and investment manager. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This decision was not made lightly, she said. At this moment, I believe I can make the greatest impact by focusing on Californias financial future. Her exit from the governors race is the second major development in the last week following Harris much-anticipated decision that has shaken up the Democratic field to succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom. Kounalakis is close with Harris, and the two share close longtime advisers and a political network anchored in the San Francisco Bay Area. The contest has drawn a host of well-known Democrats, including Porter, former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, former state Senate leader Toni Atkins, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, billionaire Stephen Cloobeck, former Controller Betty Yee and Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond. Kounalakis move creates an opening for them to compete for the support of deep-pocketed San Francisco donors who had lined up behind the lieutenant governor. She had already raised roughly $9 million in her state campaign accounts the majority of which her campaign said she can transfer to the treasurers race and was among the top handful of Democratic contenders in polling, though she significantly lagged Porter. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Her exit and the absence of her money in the race could also make the race more appealing to deep-pocketed politicians with their own money to spend, such as Rick Caruso, the Los Angeles billionaire and former mayoral candidate. And it opens the door for former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a longtime kingmaker in Democratic politics who had supported Kounalakis, to consider endorsing another gubernatorial hopeful. Meanwhile, Kounalakis joins a still-evolving field of candidates vying for treasurer. Among those already running: state Sen. Anna Caballero, former Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf and Board of Equalization member Antonio Vazquez. Several other Democrats have campaign committees and could still enter the race. Kounalakis, a former housing developer, said shes running to make sure the state efficiently leverages every dollar at our disposal to build affordable housing, as well as to oversee its investments in clean energy and infrastructure projects. Two Asian elephants have been transported across the country as part of a conservation breeding programme for the endangered species. Karishma, 26, and her nine-year-old daughter Elizabeth, moved from Whipsnade Zoo in Bedfordshire to their new home at Chester Zoo in Cheshire. The move took months of planning and involved keepers, vets, two lorries, a crane able to carry 100 tonnes, and a team of animal transport experts. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Stefan Groeneveld, section manager for elephants at Whipsnade Zoo, said that collaboration between zoos was "integral to keeping a strong and healthy insurance population for animals at risk of extinction in the wild". The elephants were transported in custom-built travel crates, weighing 10 tonnes each, specially designed to keep them comfortable for the duration of their road trip. This included being fitted with air conditioning and CCTV cameras for drivers to check on them during the four-hour journey. The two lorries, driven by animal transportation experts, travelled in convoy down the motorway with two of the keepers from Whipsnade Zoo. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Beth and Karishma received a health check from the zoo's vet team to confirm they were fit and healthy for the move. Mr Groeneveld said the "wild population of Asian elephants is dwindling due to habitat loss, degradation, and poaching for their ivory tusks", and conservation breeding programmes were vital. He added: "It was a bittersweet day for all of the elephant keepers here when we said farewell to two of our elephants, Beth and Karishma. "Karishma arrived at Whipsnade Zoo just over 20 years ago, and she and her daughter Beth, named after HM Queen Elizabeth II, have been much-loved members of our herd." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He said that their remaining herd of five elephants, including male Ming Jung, females Kaylee, Lucha, and Donna, and calf Nang Phaya, would continue to contribute to the breeding programme at Whipsnade Zoo. Follow Beds, Herts and Bucks news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X. More on this story Related internet links Eleven domestic workers have been arrested in Hong Kong on suspicion of "child destruction" and illegal abortions, police have said. The women, in their 30s and 40s, were rounded up after one was found at her employer's home with a dead foetus, later confirmed to be at least 28 weeks old. Police also found drugs they suspected were abortion pills - which eventually led them to the 10 other women. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Five have since been charged, while five are on bail and one has been remanded in custody for further investigation. If found guilty of the most serious charge, child destruction, they could face a life sentence. The investigation began in June after paramedics were called to help a 39-year-old domestic worker, who had collapsed at her employer's home. Paramedics then found the foetus hidden in a laundry basket in her room, police said, which had not been born alive. When questioned, the woman admitted buying the pills from a friend - another foreign domestic worker. She was arrested in July, with police eventually carrying out a series of raids between 29 July and 8 August, during which another eight domestic workers were detained. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Inspector Lam Ho-yin, of the Yuen Long district crime squad, said it did not appear to be a crime syndicate. Instead, preliminary findings showed "the 32-year-old foreign domestic helper... brought them back from another country" and had been allegedly selling them on. It is not clear what each woman - whose nationalities police would not reveal - has been accused of. Abortion is legal in Hong Kong, but only under strict conditions - under 24 weeks when continuing with the pregnancy would damage the mother's life, or if the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman is at risk, or in the case of severe foetal abnormality. Over 24 weeks, abortions can only be carried out if the mother's life is in danger. People found guilty of supplying or using drugs for abortion can face up to seven years of jail time. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On Friday, police asked employers to get their domestic workers to speak to a medical professional if they were pregnant. Hong Kong hosts some 368,000 foreign domestic workers, according to government statistics. Most - some 55% - come from the Philippines, while 42% are from Indonesia. Most earn a government-fixed monthly minimum wage of HK$4,990 (US$636; 473). (WHTM) New polling in the California Governors race shows Katie Porter (D) and Steve Hilton (R) leading the field after former Vice President Kamala Harris decided not to enter the race. The survey showed the former congresswoman Porter leading the field with 18% with a six-point bump since April. Hilton, a media personality and former British policy advisor, received 12% in his first appearance in the Emerson College Polling survey. Kamala Harris says political system is broken during Colbert interview Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Former Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco (R) received 7%, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (D) received 5%, and businessman Rick Caruso (D) received 4% in the Emerson College Polling survey. Thirty-eight percent of voters polled were undecided in the race, down from 54% in April when Harris had not yet announced her intentions to stay out of the race. The survey of 1,000 California voters also showed Governor Gavin Newsom (D) with a 44% approval rating. Voters were largely split on Newsoms plan to potentially redraw congressional districts in response to Texas, with 33% of California voters favoring a redraw, 25% opposed, and 42% undecided. Newsom is also Californias early favorite in the 2028 Democratic presidential primary, receiving 23% from the 444 California Democratic primary voters surveyed. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg received 17% and Harris received 11% in her home state. The poll, with a 4.6% margin of error, has New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez with 9% and Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear at 5%. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders each had 4%. Josh Shapiro responds to noise regarding potential 2028 presidential bid New Jersey Senator Cory Booker was at 3%, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz was at 2%, and 14% of voters were undecided. The polls full results can be found on the Emerson College Polling website. Political Power Ranker Latest episodes of Political Power Ranker Spencer Kimball, Director of Emerson College Polling, and Chris Berg, Political Content Director for Nexstar Media Group, discuss the polls findings in this weeks episode of Political Power Ranker. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Each week, Chris and Spencer will examine whos up and whos down in the world of politics based on the latest data from Emerson College Polling, focusing on the states and races that impact the national picture. 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 ABC27. By Nupur Anand and Saeed Azhar NEW YORK (Reuters) -Decisions by some major U.S. banks to close accounts were based on rules around reputational risk, people familiar with the matter said, pushing back on President Donald Trump's accusation that he and his conservative supporters were denied services for political reasons. Trump on Tuesday renewed his criticism of JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America, saying they discriminated against him by refusing to accept hundreds of millions of dollars in deposits. While banks have been careful not to contradict the president directly and provoke his ire, two industry sources cited regulations under the former President Joe Biden's administration that forced them to weigh reputational risks as the reason lenders have dropped clients or avoided others. The sources declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter. One bank was concerned about this issue when dealing with Trump because of his legal woes during the Biden administration, the first source said. Spokespeople for JPMorgan and Bank of America both said they do not consider political affiliations in banking decisions and welcomed Trump's efforts to change regulations. A source familiar with the matter said that JPMorgan continues to have a banking relationship with members of the Trump family and it also banks a number of campaign accounts linked to Trump. The White House did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment. BIDEN ERA RULES Under the Biden era, regulators who oversaw the banks would judge the lenders' compliance with the rules, which banks said were based on subjective judgments by government supervisors, the first industry source said. Banks were also concerned about whether regulators would punish them for providing services to individuals who faced legal proceedings, like Trump, the first and second sources said. The main U.S. bank regulators -- the Federal Reserve, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency -- have all directed its supervisors this year to stop considering reputational risk when examining banks, a metric that had drawn industry complaints for being too subjective. "The heart of the problem is regulatory overreach and supervisory discretion," the Bank Policy Institute, an industry group, said in a statement. A looming executive order expected as early as this week would instruct regulators to review banks for "politicized or unlawful debanking" practices, according to a draft reviewed by Reuters. NEED TO KNOW The Arizona Superior Court for Maricopa County ruled in Emilie Kiser's favor on an order to redact two pages from the Chandler Police Department (CDP) report on the death of her 3-year-old son, Trigg Emilie filed to censor the report on July 29; at the time, AZ Central cited court documents in which Matthew Kelley, a lawyer representing the defendant, claimed that the two redacted pages reveal why the CPD recommended a Emilie's husband Brady be charged with felony child abuse Despite the recommendation, the Maricopa County Attorney's Office previously determined that there was "no likelihood of conviction" against Brady, who was home at the time of Trigg's fatal drowning incident Emilie Kiser has won yet another legal battle in her effort to seal certain details about the death of her 3-year-old son, Trigg. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On Friday, Aug. 8, the Arizona Superior Court for Maricopa County ruled in Emilie's favor after she filed to remove two pages from the Chandler Police Department (CDP) report on Trigg's drowning incident in their backyard pool on May 12. He died six days later after hospitalization, police confirmed to PEOPLE at the time. In a statement to PEOPLE, Emilie's attorney Shannon Clark states that the two censored pages describe the fatal tragedy. Were grateful to Judge Whitten for carefully balancing the important interests at stake and allowing a narrow but meaningful redaction to the Chandler police report, removing two pages that detail the graphic final moments of Triggs life," reads Clark's statement. "These redactions do not alter any material facts of the accident, but they protect the dignity of a little boy whose memory should reflect the love and light he brought to the world." Emilie Kiser/Instagram Emilie Kiser and her husband Brady Kiser with their two sons Trigg and Theodore in April 2025. Emilie Kiser and her husband Brady Kiser with their two sons Trigg and Theodore in April 2025. She continues, "From the start, this has been about protecting Trigg and the familys ability to grieve privately. This decision allows them, and the public, to remember him for the beautiful life he lived, not the tragic way it ended. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement AZ Central reported Emilie's initial motion to censor the CPD's report on July 29. The outlet cited court documents in which Matthew Kelley, a lawyer representing The Arizona Republic, claimed that the two pages reveal why the CPD recommended Emilie's husband Brady be charged with a class 4 felony of child abuse. The Maricopa County Attorney's Office (MCAO) ultimately determined that there was no likelihood of conviction against Brady. According to Kelley, Emiles legal team filed to remove the pages due to concerns that, should the police report become public, the details of the case could be used to create disturbing content, such as reenactments with artificial intelligence. "The section of the report Ms. Kiser seeks to redact contains information and context that is critical to provide the public a reasonably full understanding of the investigation of the drowning, the police department's decision to recommend criminal charges and the county attorney's decision not to pursue criminal charges," Kelley said, as reported by AZ Central. The MCAO announced its decision not to charge Brady in a statement on Friday, July 25, noting that the review of the case involved "highly experienced senior attorneys and the County Attorney herself." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We are grateful to law enforcement and the county attorney for conducting a thorough investigation and confirming that this was a tragic accident," Kiser's attorney Flynn Carey said in a statement shared with PEOPLE. "Brady remains in the midst of the grieving process and is thankful to be with his family as they heal together. We appreciate the compassion and support shown during this difficult time. Due to Emilies social media persona, she initially filed a lawsuit on Tuesday, May 27, in Arizona Superior Court for Maricopa County to keep records about Trigg's death out of public view, according to court documents. Her filing stated that the City of Chandler and the Maricopa County Medical Examiners Office had received more than 100 requests for access to public records related to the incident. On June 3, the Arizona Superior Court for Maricopa County ruled in Emilies favor on another motion she filed to keep her personal declaration private, granting Kiser temporary confidentiality on both her declaration and her larger request for privacy while the court reviewed evidence to make a final ruling. Emilie Kiser/Instagram Emilie Kiser, husband Brady Kiser and their son Trigg. Emilie Kiser, husband Brady Kiser and their son Trigg. A source told PEOPLE at the time that Emiles personal declaration reflects an intensely personal account of her grief and trauma, submitted to help the court understand her perspective not for public consumption. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The core legal issues remain fully transparent through public filings by counsel and the court. Emilies sealed declaration does not hinder the publics understanding of the case or its legal significance," the source continued. "Preserving a small measure of privacy in the midst of public scrutiny is a reasonable and compassionate choice given the circumstances." Read the original article on People Emirates is the latest airline to crack down on power banks. From October, passengers won't be able to charge them or use them to charge other devices. Several airlines have introduced restrictions since one caught fire on an Air Busan flight in January. Emirates has become the latest and largest airline to crack down on power banks. The Dubai-based carrier announced Friday that using such devices will be prohibited on board its flights, starting October 1. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Though many other airlines have cracked down on the use of power banks after one caught fire on a flight in January, Emirates' rules are among the strictest. Passengers won't be allowed to charge devices with power banks, nor charge a power bank itself using a plane's outlets. They're also only allowed one, which must be under 100 Wh, and stored in the seat pocket or a bag under the seat in front, not the overhead bin. It joins Southwest Airlines, Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines, and Thai Airways, among others. Authorities in Hong Kong and South Korea have also instituted rules about power banks on planes. Why airlines are cracking down on power banks On any airline, power banks must be carried in the cabin and not left in checked baggage, so cabin crew can intervene quickly to stop a fire from getting out of control. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The dangers were spotlighted in January, when an Air Busan Airbus A321 caught fire before takeoff in South Korea. All 176 people aboard survived, but 27 were injured. Investigators said the fire was likely caused by a power bank, and the South Korean government announced stricter rules around their usage. Emirates said on Friday: "There has been a significant growth in customers using power banks in recent years, resulting in an increasing number of lithium battery-related incidents on board flights across the wider aviation industry." In May, a Southwest plane was forced to divert when a customer's battery charger overheated on a flight from Baltimore to Tampa. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It occurred just 24 hours after the airline instituted new rules requiring customers to keep power banks visible while in use. The Southwest flight attendants followed procedures and put the device in a containment bag. The plane landed safely in South Carolina, where passengers had to wait five hours before continuing their journey on a new plane. Power banks are particularly risky because of their lithium batteries. If overcharged or damaged, it can result in thermal runaway, leading to rapid temperature increase. Unlike phones and laptops, many power banks don't have safeguards against this. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Emirates has the fourth-largest network in the world by seat miles, behind only the US's Big Three. Its decision suggests more airlines could follow suit. Read the original article on Business Insider A catastrophic mudslide swept away an entire village in the Indian Himalayan state of Uttarakhand on Tuesday, taking at least four lives. Rescue crews are searching for several people still missing after flash floods pounded the small settlement. At about 1:30 p.m. local time Tuesday, officials believe a powerful cloudburst unleashed a torrent of water, mud, and debris that swept through Dharali's mountainside location. The aftermath was nothing short of devastating. Cloudbursts pack destructive force, channeling flash floods through steep slopes and valleys that can overwhelm communities in their path. "Any sudden and heavy fall of rain, almost always of the shower type," is how the American Meteorological Society defines a cloudburst. "An unofficial criterion sometimes used specifies a rate of fall equal to or greater than 100 mm (3.94 inches) per hr." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The potential cloudburst that may have destroyed Dharali was made worse by the region's topography. Dharali is nestled in Uttarakhand's Uttarkashi district at an average elevation of almost 10,000 feet, positioned within the Bhagirathi valley, where steep hillsides and glacier-carved gorges dominate the Himalayan scenery. "The news of heavy damage caused by a cloudburst in the Dharali (Uttarkashi) region is extremely sad and distressing," Pushkar Singh Dhami, Uttarakhand's chief minister, posted on X, per Bloomberg. The Uttarkashi District Magistrate told the Times of India that the Army, National Disaster Response Force, and State Disaster Response Forces were sending personnel to the region ravaged by the flooding. Part of their rescue efforts will include finding possible victims trapped under debris. Heat-trapping gases are building up in Earth's atmosphere, acting like steroids, supercharging several extreme weather events around the world. Scientists with World Weather Attribution recently released a study that revealed our overheating planet intensified heavy monsoon rain in Pakistan during June and July. More than nine inches of rain came down in just one day on July 17. The National Disaster Management Authority reported that by early August, there were 300 deaths nationwide as a result of the flooding. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Non-profit Climate Central did an analysis of 150 U.S. locations to determine the change in hourly rainfall intensity since 1970. It found just over 90% of them have experienced an increase, and "rainfall hours became 13% wetter on average across all 150 stations from 1970 to 2022." Hourly rainfall intensity has climbed in every region of the country, with the biggest jumps seen in the Central and Southwestern U.S. "Heavy downpours bring more rain, faster-causing flash flooding and landslides that can displace families, drown crops, damage infrastructure, and expose people to hazardous debris, contaminants, and water-borne disease," noted the authors of the study. "These events are especially hazardous because their rapid onset limits time to issue warnings and get people out of harm's way." 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. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday announced that it will eliminate a $7-billion grant program designed to help low-income households install solar panels on their homes. The "Solar for All" program was awarded to 60 recipients including states, tribal groups, regions and nonprofits under the Biden administration's Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, a $27-billion program geared toward addressing climate change. The Solar for All funds would have delivered residential solar projects to more than 900,000 households nationwide. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In a post on X, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin described the program as a boondoggle in which not enough was actually going for solar projects. "One of the more shocking features of Solar For All was with regards to the massive dilution of the money, as many grants go through pass-through after pass-through after pass-through after pass-through with all of the middlemen taking their own cut at least 15% by conservative estimates," Zeldin said. "What a grift. "With clear language and intent from Congress in the 'One Big Beautiful Bill,' EPA is taking action to end this program for good," Zeldin added, referring to President Trump's tax and spending bill he recently signed into law. Read more: Major clean power plant serving L.A. goes fully online in Kern County Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Solar energy is widely considered one of the best ways to address climate change, by eliminating emissions that come from burning coal or natural gas to make electricity. This week, Los Angeles celebrated the opening of one of the nation's largest solar and battery power plants, the Eland facility in Kern County, which is now supplying 7% of the city's power. California is home to multiple projects that received funding from the Solar for All program, according to the federal project database. They include a $250-million award for California's Solar for All program, intended to fund solar initiatives statewide. The California Public Utilities Commission, the California Energy Commission and the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency were going to oversee and distribute the grant funds, which were particularly focused on low-income and disadvantaged communities and California tribes. In a joint statement, the three agencies said the EPA's termination of Solar for All funding "needlessly increases the cost of community solar and storage projects in California and damages Californias efforts to unleash innovation, train people for todays energy jobs, and build clean energy projects." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Two nonprofits the Community Power Coalition and GRID Alternatives each had $250-million awards for separate efforts to develop community solar and multifamily solar projects across several states, including in California. Read more: California Supreme Court sides with environmental groups in rooftop solar case Environmental groups were outraged by the announcement. Estimates were that the program would have saved low-income households $400 a year on electricity bills, created more than 200,000 jobs and eliminated more than 30 million metric tons of air pollution, according to the nonprofit Climate Power. "This is a deliberate choice to make life harder for working Americans," Alex Glass, Climate Power's communications director, said in a statement. "The Trump administration isn't just walking away from climate solutions they're ripping affordable energy away from the families who need it most." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trump who received record donations from fossil fuel companies during his 2024 presidential campaign is making a number of efforts to slow the transition to clean energy while encouraging the use of fossil fuels, including canceling credits for solar and wind projects by the end of 2027. The president has said these efforts will help save taxpayers money and strengthen American energy independence. Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), a member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, denounced the EPA's decision to cancel the program as illegal. The funding for the program had already been fully obligated and contracts for all recipients were signed, he said. "This latest heist from the Trump administration will cause energy costs to rise, keep Americans beholden to monopolistic electric utilities, and make our grid overburdened and less reliable," Markey said in a statement. "Trump and Zeldin's attacks on the Solar for All program and their attempts to cancel legally-binding contracts will mean energy bills are going to continue to spike nationwide." The program would have created more than $8 billion in overall savings across all 50 states, Markey said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Officials with California's Solar for All program said similarly that the EPA's decision is unlawful and urged the agency to reverse the program's termination. The state was already well underway in implementing its grant after the funding was made available in March, they said. "Congress appropriated these funds with a clear mandate," the California Public Utilities Commission, the California Energy Commission and the California Labor and Workforce Development Agency said in their joint statement. "Revoking them now undermines our legal system and destabilizes ongoing projects." The Environmental Protection Network, composed of more than 600 former EPA employees, described the decision as an "abrupt and arbitrary" betrayal of public health, environmental justice and economic opportunity. "Communities promised relief from punishing energy costs are now left in the dark, former EPA senior advisor Zealan Hoover said in a statement. "Nearly a million families will pay hundreds of dollars more each year for their electricity bill because the Trump administration killed a program that would have more than paid for itself." This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Jeffrey Epstein loved life too much to kill himself and was confident of securing bail before he died, his butler for 18 years has told The Telegraph. In an interview that will heap renewed pressure on the Trump administration to make the Epstein files public, one of his closest aides said he had spoken to the paedophile financier before he died and insisted he had been in good spirits. Valdson Vieira Cotrin, who ran Epsteins Paris home, told The Telegraph he could not accept the official verdict of suicide and feared that his own life was in danger. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He also said he believed that Virginia Giuffre, the Epstein victim who accused Prince Andrew of rape and died by suicide in April, was a victim of foul play. Mr Cotrin also made the extraordinary claim to The Telegraph that Epstein told him he had been offered a job by Donald Trump in his first administration in 2016 but had turned it down. There is no evidence that the allegation is true, and Mr Trump has maintained that he stopped speaking to Epstein in 2004 after they fell out over a business deal. But Mr Cotrins recollection of a conversation with his boss will fuel a growing demand for the full Epstein files the trove of documents from the criminal investigations into the financier that allegedly name high-profile celebrities and politicians, possibly including Mr Trump to be released. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In his exclusive interview with The Telegraph, Mr Cotrin, speaking on the record for the first time, also alleged that: Prince Andrew visited Epstein in Saint Tropez along with a British photographer famous for taking pictures of naked girls and accused of having sex with a 13-year-old Prince Andrew was a frequent guest at Epsteins Paris town house, with Royal protection bodyguards paid for by the British taxpayer Ghislaine Maxwell was the authoritarian boss who gave the orders in the Epstein household Epstein gave money to Woody Allen to finance one of his movies Mr Cotrin remains in possession of a number of photographs taken with friends of Epstein, including a photo of himself with Bill Clinton on the so-called Lolita Express, Epsteins private plane that he used to traffic underage girls and women for sex. Bill Clinton on board Epsteins private jet in a new picture obtained exclusively by The Telegraph - The Telegraph The existence of the photo showing Mr Clinton on board Epsteins jet will also fuel demands for the former president to reveal his full dealings with Epstein. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Mr Clinton was issued with a subpoena on Tuesday, demanding he give evidence to a congressional committee investigating the financier. Mr Cotrin also shared a photograph of himself with Epstein, taken on his private jet in January 2019, which may be one of the last taken of the financier. Epstein looks puffy, but is smiling and relaxed, and is notably wearing an Israel Defense Forces sweatshirt. Epstein has long been accused of being an operative for Mossad, Israels intelligence service, although last month his former lawyer told The Telegraph that Epstein used to laugh off the claim. Mr Cotrin, who acted as Epsteins butler, chauffeur and cook in Paris, recalled driving his boss to Le Bourget airport in Paris to catch a flight to New York, where he was arrested upon landing on July 6 2019. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Epstein, who was 66, was charged with sex trafficking underage girls and remanded in custody. He was found hanged in his cell on Aug 10 that year. But Mr Cotrin is insistent that Epstein would never have killed himself. Epstein had told him he was planning to negotiate with the judge in the case to secure bail, having been held in custody as a possible flight risk. I am like his brother [Mark Epstein]. I dont believe this was suicide. He loved life too much, said Mr Cotrin. Mr Cotrin recalled seeing Epstein for the last time. Epstein, he said, was relaxed and had been talking about making more investments in his islands he had discreetly bought a second, which Mr Cotrin visited as well as spending more time in Paris. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I drove him to Le Bourget airport. It was a Saturday, because on Monday he was supposed to appear before the judge regarding all these accusations, he said. When I got home, two young women rang, his main girlfriend who had been with him officially for several years, Karyna [Shuliak] and another who worked for him. And then they told me, Mr Epstein has gone to prison. He arrived in New York. The police were waiting for him. Mr Cotrins partner, Maria Gomes de Melo, who also knew Epstein well, recalled that in Paris, Epstein had said goodbye to her and added: Ill be back next week. Ms de Melo told him: Sir, dont go. She also questioned the official conclusion that he had killed himself. Mark Epstein has suggested the financier may have been murdered, ordering a second autopsy that tended to back up that assertion. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On the Saturday late, we got the news that he had hanged himself, and honestly, he loved life too much to float away like that, she said. The Department of Justice has released nearly 11 hours of surveillance video from outside Epsteins cell in the Manhattan Metropolitan Correctional Center, but a crucial minute from 11:58:58pm to midnight was missing. That has further fuelled conspiracy theories that Epstein was murdered to silence him. Credit: U.S. Department of Justice Mr Cotrin remains fiercely loyal to Epstein and insists he never saw his boss cavorting, let alone having sex, with underage girls. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He said young women were hired to give Epstein massages and to cut his nails, adding: The girls did that to him, but it stopped there. Mr Cotrin gave an extraordinary insight into Epsteins world, and the rich and famous who would stop by for his guidance and hospitality. Mr Cotrin, who has joint French and Brazilian nationalities, worked for Epstein for 18 years, managing his sumptuous eight-bedroom Paris apartment on Avenue Foch, overlooking the Arc de Triomphe. He lived in a garret flat on the sixth floor. Jeffrey Epsteins eight-bedroom Paris apartment, on Avenue Foch But he also worked dozens of times at Epsteins properties in New York, Palm Beach, Florida and on Little St James, Epsteins private Caribbean island dubbed paedophile island where he is said to have trapped and raped often underage victims. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He trusted me completely, said Mr Cotrin, who has not worked since his bosss death six years ago. I was his chauffeur, his cook, his housekeeper. I did everything in Paris, I was his only full-time, paid-up employee and worked for him from 2001 until his death. If someone could have seen something, its Valdson, theres no one else, he said. His interview with The Telegraph took place in his French home over a beer and Brazilian bread and cheese balls, which he says were a hit with Bill Gates. Upstairs, a large photo of Mr Cotrin and Epstein taken on the Lolita Express hung on one wall, alongside another with the butler and Mr Clinton. Mr Cotrin reeled off a list of dignitaries who came to visit Epstein over two decades, including Prince Andrew, who he cooked for and chauffeured five or six times in Paris and New York; Mr Clinton, whom he met once in Epsteins jet during a stopover in Paris; Lord Mandelson, now the UKs ambassador to Washington DC; Woody Allen; and Israeli ex-prime minister Ehud Barak, along with other Middle Eastern dignitaries. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A photograph of Lord Mandelson with Epstein and Mr Cotrin, taken at the Paris apartment on Epsteins birthday, has been widely circulated, causing Lord Mandelson, the former Labour cabinet minister, huge embarrassment. Peter Mandelson (left) and Epstein, celebrating a birthday at Epsteins Paris apartment in January 2007. Mr Cotrin is holding the cake Mr Cotrin has refused countless requests for interviews since Epstein was found hanged in his prison cell, but told The Telegraph he was breaking his silence to tell my truth about Epstein, to whom he refers as Monsieur or Patron. Mr Cotrin and Ms Gomes de Melo, 65, who often accompanied him to Epsteins properties, both insist they never saw any evidence of the sexual abuse multiple young women have said they suffered. I want to say with all my heart from the life I lived with him, Monsieur is not the man they say he was, insisted Mr Cotrin. One reason the couple had declined to talk publicly was concern for their own safety. They pointed to what they consider Epsteins mysterious death and also the suicides of Ms Giuffre, who had accused Prince Andrew of rape (he denied it but paid her millions of pounds to settle a civil case) and Jean-Luc Brunel, who ran a modelling agency that procured girls for Epstein. Giuffre took her own life at her home in Australia in April, aged 41. Brunel was found dead in his prison cell in Paris in February 2022, after apparently hanging himself. He was awaiting trial on charges of raping a 17-year-old girl. And what about Virginia [Giuffre] Roberts? said Mr Cotrin, adding: Im scared because after what happened to them, poor Valdson, who knows? Mr Cotrins interview with the Telegraph took place in his French home over a beer and Brazilian bread and cheese balls, which he says were a hit with Bill Gates Mr Cotrin never met Mr Trump Mr Trump and Epstein had fallen out over the sale of a property in Palm Beach in 2004. However, Mr Cotrin said that Epstein had boasted of being offered a job by Mr Trump after his surprise first presidential election win in November 2016. The claim if true would be dynamite, although there is no evidence to back it up. Sources inside Mr Trumps first administration told The Telegraph that Mr Cotrins recollection appeared fanciful. Mr Cotrin said: I can tell you one thing [regarding Mr Trump]. A few days after Trumps [2016] election, Mr Epstein arrived in Paris on Monday or Tuesday, and I went to pick him up at the airport. He said: Valdson, you saw that Trump is the new US president? Yes, I replied, I saw it on the news in Paris. Well, Trump asked me to work for him in the new government. I said: Congratulations. Im happy for you, in my bad English. He said: No, I didnt accept. Mr Cotrin insisted Epstein was not in the habit of trumpeting false claims in such a confidential setting. He said his boss made no mention of what position that might be. I was surprised, because I would have thought such a position could be interesting, but I asked no more questions as it wasnt my place, said Mr Cotrin. In my job, one waits to be spoken to. But in my opinion, if he did turn it down, it was because he liked his freedom. I think he didnt want to be controlled by anyone, because once you accept a position, a job of any kind in a government, the president is going to give you orders and you have to listen to him. Thats how it is. Just look at Elon Musk and all his financial power, and see what happened in his life today. Donald Trump with Epstein at Mar-a-Lago in 1992 - NBC News Epstein would visit his Paris home for a week roughly every two months but periodically Mr Cotrin was flown abroad to cook for famous friends. It could be a dinner with Ehud Barak, Bill Gates. Epstein hired top chefs in New York or Paris and then he asked me to show them what I did because he liked it, he recalled. There is no suggestion that any of the dignitaries were involved with the women hired by Epstein, and Mr Cotrin said he saw nothing inappropriate. But Mr Trumps Maga movement has long contended that Deep State elites continue to protect Epsteins most powerful associates in the Democratic Party and Hollywood. After the 2024 election win, the Trump administration acknowledged that it was reviewing tens of thousands of documents and videos related to Epstein. But in a memo made public last month, the Justice Department and FBI said there was no evidence that the disgraced financier kept a client list or was blackmailing powerful figures. The memo also dismissed the claim that Epstein was murdered in jail, confirming his death by suicide, and said the agencies would not be releasing any more information on the investigation. Mr Trump has not been accused of any wrongdoing in the case. Mr Cotrin continued to work for Epstein even after he was first convicted of sex crimes in 2008. Three years earlier, in 2005, the FBI and Florida police began an investigation into Epstein for the alleged sex trafficking of more than 30 young women, mostly minors. He pleaded guilty in state court to just two felony charges, including soliciting a minor, as part of a plea deal that avoided far tougher federal charges. In the end, Epstein served just 13 months in prison and was obliged to register as a sex offender. The deal, described by victims lawyers as extraordinarily lenient, protected Epstein and unnamed co-conspirators from future prosecution. Mr Cotrin said: I remember the first time he went to prison. It was in Florida and I accompanied him to Palm Beach airport. The boss called me and said, Im going to jail. To prison. I said, Why, Monsieur? He said: Because of these ladies. Mr Cotrin has no recollection of Epstein ever meeting Mr Trump either in Paris or in Florida but did recall Ghislaine Maxwell, Epsteins one-time girlfriend, driving to Mr Trumps residence at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach. She used to pop over there very often in her Mercedes shortly after I was taken on in the early 2000s, he said. He added that he had no idea who she visited. Epstein with Ghislaine Maxwell, his one-time girlfriend who was jailed for 20 years after conspiring with him to recruit, groom and sexually abuse underage girls In 2021, Maxwell, the daughter of the disgraced British newspaper proprietor Robert Maxwell, was sentenced to 20 years in prison for conspiring with Epstein to recruit, groom and sexually abuse underage girls. Maxwell, 63, has been moved to a minimum security jail in Texas after giving two days of testimony in July to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, who is also Mr Trumps former personal attorney. Maxwell was well aware of the goings-on inside Epsteins households, and Mr Cotrin is certain she holds the key if any other celebrities or politicians are to be dragged into the scandal. Mr Cotrin said: If anyone knows things, its Ms Maxwell. She was the boss and the lady of the house. She was harder and more authoritarian because [she was] more bourgeois. She didnt give massages, but she was in charge. For a long time, she ran everything in the house. Mr Cotrin said that, in every home, there were notepads to jot down messages. He had a photograph of two one with Epsteins name on it and the other headed Lady Ghislaine. Lady Ghislaine was the name of the luxury yacht from which her father was presumed to have fallen overboard to his death in November 1991. Mr Cotrin had a photograph of two notepads, one with Epsteins name on it and the other headed Lady Ghislaine We wrote in either depending on who the message was for, said Mr Cotrin. I also kept the bosss professional American Express card, which no longer works, of course, as a memento. I told myself it might bring me luck for later. He remembered being hired by Epstein in 2001, but said that Maxwell had been instrumental in sorting out the details, suggesting she controlled the day-to-day running of the Epstein homes. The first time I met him, he came out of his jet with a beautiful woman aged around 25 to 30. and he was in a tatty sweatsuit. He often looked like a tramp in cheap clothes. I had my CV. He looked at me and said: How old are you? Forty. How long have you been working for? I said 20 years. He said: Youve got the job. Then he said: Wheres Ms Maxwell? My English is bad and she speaks perfect French, so he handed me the phone. She said, Dont worry, he wants you to work for us, come to Avenue Foch tomorrow. He said, Is it ok now? And that was it. Asked whether he saw Maxwell bring back girls for Epstein, he said: I never saw Madame leave the house, go anywhere and come back with a new girl, never. It was more people who came to see her whether they were contacts she had before or other people, I cant tell you. But to say, Oh yes, Ms Maxwell was here, she went to Trocadero and came back with two women I didnt know, thats not true. Never. Maxwell introduced Epstein to Prince Andrew, and Mr Cotrin recalled first serving the Duke of York along with the late, disgraced British photographer David Hamilton at a property in Saint-Tropez in the early 2000s. The pair came for tea. David Hamilton at a property in Saint-Tropez in 1999. He died by suicide in 2016 following allegations he had abused underage models as young as 13 The presence of Hamilton is ironic given that he died by suicide in 2016 following allegations that he had abused underage models as young as 13. The accusations came after decades in which he was feted for his semi-erotic, soft-focus shots of mostly nude girls in their early teens, which he said depicted a lost paradise. It was my first year working for Monsieur, so it was 2002, said Mr Cotrin. There were many girls. At that time, he was at the height of his powers, both financially and as a young man. In terms of women, it was a merry-go-round. Two arrived and two left every day. But there were no big parties. Monsieur was not a socialite, he insisted. He said he also served the Duke in Paris when Epstein lent him his flat. He was not sure of the dates. I remember him coming twice to Paris. Once for two or three nights, and the second time for two nights. And when he came to Paris, he came alone with his bodyguards. Monsieur told me to look after him. I picked him up in the bosss Mercedes. It was a V12 600, very luxurious. He was a very nice man, very polite. He taught me how to make a proper cup of tea. He told me: Valdson, its not strong enough. One time, I drove him to a soiree at the Eiffel Tower. I left him at the foot of a building and came back a few hours later. Once, a woman aged between 25-30 came to Monsieurs flat in Avenue Foch to serve him tea. They talked together, but I never saw them touch each other. It lasted about an hour, and then she left. I also met him in New York, maybe once or twice. He told me to cook for the Prince Epsteins servant also cooked for his boss, who was not a big eater. Monsieur didnt eat much he grazed. But he told me to cook for the Prince, who had an appetite. Upon Monsieurs instructions, in New York I prepared fresh mushrooms, a nice steak filet French-style seared on both sides, rare in the middle with sauce au poivre. The Duke clearly approved. He asked me: Who taught you to cook like that? I told him I taught myself, he recalled. He said: I never had better and yet he had all that staff and good cooks. Mr Cotrin took it as a compliment, coming from a royal. Rattling through the globally known figures he came across, the ex-butler mentioned Mr Clinton, whom he met just once in the autumn of 2002 when the former US president passed through Paris at the end of a nine-day trip with Epstein. Flight logs indicate that Mr Clinton was on Epsteins private jet at least 26 times between 2001 and 2003. When Monsieur went on tour to Africa in 2002, when I got to Le Bourget to fetch the boss, he asked me whether I wanted to meet the president. I thought it was George W Bush, but no, it was Clinton. I was trembling as its not every day you meet someone of that stature, he said. Mr Clinton had been travelling with Kevin Spacey, Maxwell and Epstein himself. Also present was a 21-year-old masseuse, Chauntae Davies, who later testified that she was repeatedly raped and abused by Epstein, whose little black book contained 14 phone numbers for Mr Trump, and 21 for Mr Clinton. Mr Clinton then joined in a tour the Duke of York led around Buckingham Palace, in which Maxwell and Spacey were pictured sitting side-by-side in thrones reserved for the late Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh. The extraordinary photograph of Maxwell and Spacey on the thrones was first made public by The Telegraph. Another obtained by The Telegraph showed Mr Clinton, Prince Andrew and Maxwell in Buckingham Palace. Ghislaine Maxwell and Kevin Spacey sitting on thrones belonging to Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh at Buckingham Palace Bill Clinton, Prince Andrew and Ghislaine Maxwell in Buckingham Palace The former US president has always denied having had any knowledge of the terrible crimes committed by Epstein. However, he has come under fresh scrutiny since July, when it was reported that he praised Epsteins childlike curiosity in a birthday message to the paedophile in 2003. Mr Cotrin remembers that Epstein often laughed in front of a painting he bought of Mr Clinton in red high heels and a blue dress just like the one Monica Lewinsky reportedly wore for their Oval Office encounter that hung in his Manhattan mansion. A painting Epstein bought of Mr Clinton in red high heels and a blue dress The butler then brandished a photo of himself alongside the Democrat ex-president, now 78, in Epsteins luxury Boeing 727. Monsieur said: Youre not going to sell that photo, are you? He never did. Mr Cotrin had no recollection of another notorious photograph the one taken in 2007 of himself presenting a birthday cake to Epstein, in which Lord Mandelson is also present. Lord Mandelson has always insisted he regretted ever meeting Epstein or being introduced to him by his partner Ghislaine Maxwell. Mr Cotrin struggled to recall the birthday in 2007. I saw so many important people, its hard, he said. But I remember his [Mandelsons] face and do recall travelling with that man in Mr Epsteins private jet with him from his island. We flew from Saint Thomas to New York. It was soon after I started working for Monsieur, in the early 2000s. I remember he had a trade position at the time. Lord Mandelson was the European Commissioner for Trade from November 2004 to October 2008. I have no recollection of any of their conversations, as my job was to make myself scarce, he said. All I can say is that I got the impression that nobody came to see Epstein to bring him something but to ask for something, whether it be money, although some like Bill Gates clearly didnt need it business advice or investment tips. He met the Microsoft billionaire a couple of times in Paris and New York, he recalled, and drove Woody Allen around at the request of his boss. Mr Cotrin and his partner alleged that Epstein gave Allen money for a film, though they didnt know the details. The Telegraph reached out to Allens representative for comment. Allen has likened Epstein to Dracula, with young female vampires who service the place. Epstein is photographed walking with Woody Allen on Madison Avenue in New York in 2013 Mr Cotrin said the Paris home, which has been sold in the aftermath of Epsteins death, contained a large gym, a massage room, a dining room, there was a nice kitchen, [eight] bedrooms, a kitchen, a living room, and around 820 square metres. New York was much bigger. Three or four times that. So it was seven floors, also with a sauna and steam room. He had to have a massage and sauna every day it was a need with him. Despite scores of testimonies by alleged victims and other evidence, Mr Cotrin and his partner refuse to believe Epstein had sex with underage girls. I would like to tell the truth that I knew. Its not the truth the world is talking about, said the butler. He was aware that young women were coming and going from the Paris home, but was not aware of wrongdoing. If something abnormal that was scary and someone screamed or was abused, I would have phoned the police but I saw nothing, he said. I cant understand everything thats being said, because I really lived almost his private life, not everything, but almost. I cant rule out foul play. But you cant live with someone for 18 years and not see the good or the bad. I did everything, I took care of the house, was his chauffeur, his cook. I even changed his sheets. In 18 years, how many times do you think I would have seen the signs of someone who had done sexual acts? If you ask me, he just liked to surround himself with girls without necessarily having sex with them. It was mostly for show. But he added: Its true [Epstein] wasnt into older women. He preferred the company of younger women and liked to change those around him. But that doesnt mean they were underage they certainly didnt look it to me. Some would stay for 10 minutes and leave if not comfortable, others would stay. Mr Cotrin painted a picture of Epstein as anything but an unbridled hedonist. He didnt like food, alcohol, he wasnt a socialite. And I can tell you that in 80 per cent of cases, nothing happened with women to the extent I told some young women, Im not like him, at least I go all the way. All he does is have massages and nothing else. I said it loud so he could hear me when he annoyed me. He rarely did anything with these young women. All they did was say Ill rub your back, Ill cut your nails. The girls did that to him, but it stopped there. Mr Cotrins partner, Ms Gomes de Melo, backed him up. Never did we see anything untoward with any underage women in 20 or so years, neither in New York, nor on the island or in Paris, she said. They nicknamed his plane the Lolita Express. It flew from New York to the island. I took that plane with him, my husband. But there were no young girls. There was the pilot, the co-pilot, him, an assistant, and just me. Thats it. Epstein standing in front of his private jet She said that a police search of the Paris home by French police had also yielded nothing, bar some nude photos on the walls, along with photographs on the mantelpiece of Epstein with a host of famous people, from Fidel Castro to Pope Jean-Paul II, as well as Mr Trump, Mr Clinton and Allen. There was one of I think a Sultan of Dubai and a wealthy Saudi, recalled Mr Cotrin. He said French police took them all and never gave them back. Ms Gomes de Melo said: The police came in with machines. They said they were for scanning the walls and floors in case there were hidden cameras or rooms with hidden children and torture devices. They did a thorough job. They arrived at 2pm and they left at 4am. There were 16 of them. They found nothing. But she did say the house also contained numerous pictures of Ms Giuffre, whose allegations against Epstein and later Prince Andrew effectively sparked the FBI investigation that led to Epsteins downfall. The Duke of York, Virginia Giuffre, and Ghislaine Maxwell in Maxwells London home. The photograph is said to have been taken on March 10 2001 There were lots of photos of Virginia, who accused Prince Andrew, in the Paris flat. And at one point, when I was there with my husband, I said to Epstein: Sir, are you going to throw the photos away? since we knew it was she who had started all [the lawsuits]. And he said: Why, Maria? She was part of my life. I have nothing to hide. The photographs of Ms Giuffre were taken away by the French police. Prince Andrew has denied any wrongdoing and suggested the infamous photograph of himself with Ms Giuffre taken in Maxwells London home may have been a fake. Ms Gomes de Melo agreed. For me, its a photo montage. Because if you look closely at the girls hand, its not around Andrews arm, she said. In the aftermath of Epsteins death, Mr Cotrin has struggled to find work tainted, presumably, by association with Epstein. There was an apparent lump in his throat as he recalled driving Epstein that one last time to the airport in Paris, a month before his death. I often tell myself, I should have had an accident with him on the way to the airport, not a fatal one, just one that prevented him from leaving. Sometimes chance can change everything, he said. We could have been hospitalised, I could have broken an arm, but the next day everything would have been different. I dont know if Im right or wrong, but thats what I would have wanted. It is an astonishing wish, but an intriguing one too. For if Epstein hadnt died in custody, perhaps the full truth of what happened in those homes in Paris and elsewhere might have come out. You can write this too, said Mr Cotrin. The day I die, I would like to continue serving him up there his tea, coffee, his sandwiches, his bread and cheese buns. 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. Jeffrey Epstein survivor Annie Farmer has torn into Donald Trumps description of the ongoing furore over the Epstein files as a Democratic hoaxbranding his words offensive. Trumps attempted dismissal of the matter came during an Oval Office photo-op, in response to reporters questions about a rumored meeting at the residence of Vice President JD Vance to discuss how to deal with the scandal that is engulfing his administration. Trump tried to wave the matter off, declaring: The whole thing is a hoax. Its put out by the Democrats because weve had the most successful six months in the history of our country. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement And thats just a way of trying to divert attention to something that is total bulls--t. Donald Trump continues to downplay his friendship with the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. / Davidoff Studios Photography / Getty Images In response, Farmerwho, with her sister Maria, first alerted the FBI and NYPD to Epstein in 1996said the remark sends a terrible message to the wider community about how seriously we take child-sex crimes. Speaking to CNNs Kaitlin Collins on Thursday night, Annie Farmer said: Its offensive. This is not a hoax. You know, there has, there have been so many people that have come forward and shared their stories. I hate that it has been politicized the way it has because I think we lose sight of the bigger picture in that. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement And, you know, I think this is really about people using their power to harm others, and that is not a political issue. Annie Farmer (left) thanked CNN host Kaitlin Collins for continuing to cover the story. / TheDailyBeast/CNN The Farmer sisters have been prominent in speaking out about allegations they have made against Epsteinwho died in his cell while awaiting trial for sex offenses in 2019Epsteins accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell, and Trump. Trump has distanced himself from Epstein and has never been accused by authorities of any wrongdoing in relation to the disgraced financier. Maria Farmer alleged in a 2019 lawsuit that she was violently sexually assaulted by Epstein and Maxwell in 1996. Her sister, Annie, also accused Maxwell of groping her when she was 16 in another lawsuitthough both were withdrawn in 2020 as part of a deal to receive restitution from Epsteins estate in a compensation fund for victims, according to NBC News. Annie Farmer told CNN that she and other survivors have spent weeks tryingin vainto learn what, if anything, the Justice Department is doing to protect the trove of sealed testimony and evidence from political meddling. Annie Farmer testified in court against Ghislaine Maxwell in June 2022. / Anadolu / Lev Radin/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images She said she had reached out to the prosecutors who secured the guilty verdict against Maxwell, but they knew so little because they have not been involved in this process. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Farmer also revealed she had sent a letter to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blancheonce Trumps personal lawyerwho late last month held two meetings with Maxwell, days before she was moved to a cushy prison. I wrote [to him] saying, you know, these are my concerns about whats happening, she said. And there has not been a response. However, Farmer added she was not alone in that, among Epstein survivors. Even though so many politicians are talking about this, I dont think anyone has actually been contacted. Todd Blanche, Trumps deputy attorney general, met with Maxwell last monthBlanche was once Trumps personal lawyer. / Ken Cedeno/Reuters Farmers frustration landed amid reports that senior Trump officials, including Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel, did meetinside the White House, not Vances residenceto map out next steps for containing the scandal. The meeting was reportedly quietly moved from the Naval Observatory to keep it secret. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Those reports contradict Vances insistence Wednesday that chatter about such talks was completely fake news. Farmer said the secrecy only deepens survivors fears that politicians are treating the case as a partisan issue, rather than a quest for accountability. People on both sides care about the safety of children, she said. I really hope that that Trump understands that a message is being sent beyond just the individuals involved in this case to the wider community about the seriousness of these types of crimes. The Daily Beast has contacted the White House, the Justice Department, and Todd Blanche for comment. The women whom Jeffrey Epstein abused demand to be heard. And their voices long suppressed, but now emerging powerfully and with courage could further fuel the maelstrom around President Donald Trump and aides who dig the scandal deeper each time they try to end it. These are women whove been let down for years, at multiple levels, by a government that was supposed to keep them safe. Their families are victims, too, since abuse sows trauma through generations. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement And its happening again as the Trump administration refuses to release files about Epsteins life, which several of its members had promised to make public. CNN has reported that Attorney General Pam Bondi briefed Trump in May that his name was mentioned in the files, among those of other high-profile figures. Trump has never been investigated or charged over anything to do with Epstein, whom he knew in the 1990s and early 2000s. The White House says Trump threw Epstein out of Mar-a-Lago because he was a creep. But hardly anyone at the White House ever mentions the young women whom Epstein used and abused. What they really need is for it to go away, Sky Roberts, the brother of one of Epsteins most prominent victims, Virginia Giuffre, told CNNs Erin Burnett on Thursday. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Theres a lack of transparency here and what we are not hearing is we are not hearing the survivors voices coming through, Roberts said. This is a human issue, and I think we need to bring that back because we are dehumanizing survivors by not bringing justice forward. Giuffre took her own life in Australia, where she lived, earlier this year. Sky Roberts, the brother of Virginia Giuffre, along with his wife Amanda, appear on CNN on Thursday. - CNN In a sign of the administrations political priorities, there were no Epstein survivors represented at a Wednesday night White House meeting that addressed the crisis, CNN reported. Those in attendance included Vice President JD Vance, Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel. The meeting was moved from the vice presidents residence amid a media storm. The focus at those White House talks appears to have been about ending a political problem rather than alleviating any further agony for people whose live were blighted by Epstein and Maxwell. One Epstein accuser, Annie Farmer, told CNNs Kaitlan Collins on Thursday that she had reached out to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche who spent two days interviewing Epsteins jailed accomplice Maxwell last month but had not heard back. Some victims and their families view the meeting as a political maneuver to find a way to refocus attention away from Trump. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I hate that it has been politicized the way it is because I think we lose sight of the bigger picture in that, Farmer said on The Source. I think this is really about people using their power to harm others, and that is not a political issue, Farmer said, referring to Epsteins past conduct. I think people on both sides care about the safety of children and I really hope that Trump understands that a message is being sent beyond just the individuals involved in this case to the wider community about the seriousness of these types of crimes. The question now is whether survivors and their families can coalesce as a political force as they seek to influence the administrations decision-making even if they are seldom mentioned by MAGA media. Virginia Giuffre, with a photo of herself as a teen, when she said she was abused by Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell and Prince Andrew, among others. - Miami Herald/Tribune News Service/Getty Images Can they secure the recognition of which they were so often deprived by the justice system? Will their influence further complicate a controversy that the White House has downplayed and dismissed but that keeps growing? And could they add a new dimension of political exposure for a White House so far mostly concerned with extinguishing a scandal that is uniquely dangerous for Trump because it opened a rift between him and his base? Could that increased attention even make it more difficult to for Trump to pardon Maxwell, if that is his intention? Victims have been ignored for years Its nothing new that the powerful are ignoring the victims. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Its been running on repeat for years. As young girls, these women were victimized by Epstein, a disgraced financier, in a sordid web of soliciting, abuse and underage sexual exploitation. They were also victimized by Maxwell, his onetime paramour, who was sent to prison for 20 years for grooming Epsteins young female victims and abusing some herself. They were victimized by a lenient Florida plea deal in 2008 that allowed Epstein, an accused sex trafficker, to escape federal charges and a possible long prison term. He used the time he got back to perpetrate more horrendous crimes. They were the victims of justice denied when Epstein killed himself in prison rather than face trial. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A modicum of recognition arrived when Maxwell was convicted. But that vindication is under threat because of politics. The conspiracy theorists who made this an animating cause of the MAGA right profess to care about child sex trafficking, but the coverage in fringe right-wing media rarely mentions the plight of victims themselves. Using the Department of Justice to protect Trump, not victims This undated trial evidence image obtained December 8, 2021, from the US District Court for the Southern District of New York shows British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell and US financier Jeffrey Epstein. - US District Court for the Southern District of New York Now, top administration officials are using the power of the Department of Justice in a plan apparently designed to take the political heat off Trump over his past relationship with Epstein. The clue is in the name the Department of Justice. Its supposed to deliver justice to victims and to honor their suffering. Instead, its being used to protect a president. When Trump was asked about Giuffre, he said he recalled that Epstein stole her, as if she were chattel, from his employ at the spa at Mar-a-Lago. The inhumanity of Trumps remark prompted Giuffres family to first speak up, in a move that appears to have encouraged other families to come forward. She wasnt stolen, she was preyed upon at his property, at President Trumps property stolen seems very impersonal. It feels very much like an object, and the survivors are not objects; women are not objects, Roberts told CNNs Collins last month. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Hardly anyone at the White House has publicly voiced concern for those dragged into some of modern historys most notorious sex crimes. The opposite is true. Trump, increasingly agitated as the Epstein fallout drowns out his presidency, keeps blasting the entire Epstein drama as a hoax in remarks that only makes the anguish worse. He even called it B.S. on Wednesday. Its not a hoax, Roberts told Burnett on Thursday, his voice breaking. I think its pretty clear that these survivors are not a hoax. These are people. It hurts. They are still healing. They had something taken from them that they can never get back. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The White House has tried other ruses to make the scandal go away. It has asked a judge to release grand jury testimony about the Epstein case, apparently hoping to slake demands for transparency by MAGA influencers. But the material is only a fraction of what the Justice Department controls. Then Blanche, Trumps former personal lawyer, interviewed Maxwell. Then, mysteriously, Maxwell was moved to a much more comfortable prison in a highly unusual show of leniency for a sex offender. This fueled warnings of a cover-up, since Maxwell has an incentive to help Trump politically: He has the power to pardon her or improve her conditions. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, right, leaves his hotel for the federal courthouse on Friday, July 25, in Tallahassee, Florida, to meet with Ghislaine Maxwell. - Colin Hackley/AP The contempt for the victims is outrageous, Jennifer Freeman, a lawyer for some of those abused by Maxwell, told CNNs Collins on Wednesday. When the voices are so strong from everyone else except for them. Theyre not given any attention whatsoever. Freeman lamented that those caught up in the Epstein political saga have been ignoring the survivors over and over . (in) one of the largest law enforcement failures in US history. The disrespect keeps on coming. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In an interview with Newsmax last week, Trump was asked why Blanche met with Maxwell. Wed like to release everything, but we dont want people to get hurt that shouldnt be hurt, and I would assume that was why he was there, Trump told Newsmax a week ago. His remark was ambiguous. But it seemed to prioritize people who came into contact with Epstein, including himself, rather than those who have already been hurt the victims. CNN reported this week that audio tapes were made of the Maxwell interview and that officials are considering releasing a transcript. There is no indication of wrongdoing by Trump in his dealings with Epstein, Maxwell or in any other area of the case. He has never been charged or investigated. But there is growing scrutiny over how often hes mentioned in the Epstein files held by the Justice Department. Some victims want all of the Epstein files publicly released so any men who associated with the accused sex offender must account for what they knew about his activities. But they fear what will happen with Maxwell and the pardon that Trump keeps saying he has the constitutional authority to grant. Such an outcome would be another betrayal of those who have suffered so terribly already. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com (WJET/WFXP) The Erie man convicted for a 2023 homicide will spend the rest of his life behind bars without parole after receiving his sentencing Thursday. Defonta Butler, 32, was sentenced by Erie County Judge Daniel Brabender to life in prison after being convicted of first-degree murder for the killing of 40-year-old Jeffrey Johnson. Erie man found guilty on all charges for 2023 murder Butler was also given another 3 and a half to seven years for carrying a gun without a license and two and a half to five years for aggravated assault. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Jeffrey Johnson was shot and killed on September 22nd, 2023, on East 17th Street between State and French Streets, with prosecutors calling it an act of revenge for Johnson shooting Butler back in 2015. WATCH: Jade Leah Burns live at the Ben Crump news conference regarding Marchello Woodard Before his arrest, Erie police said Butler fled to Meadville, where he was taken into custody 18 hours after the shooting. The day of the sentencing was also Butlers birthday. 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. Hee-kyung giggles as she steps into Seoul's new "warm-hearted convenience store". At 29, she is perhaps not the person most would have imagined wanting to take advantage of the South Korean capital's latest efforts to combat loneliness. But Hee-Kyung visits every day to grab the free instant ramen noodles and spend hours chatting with other visitors and social workers. "I tell myself, 'another day, another escape from feeling lonely'," Hee-kyung says. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A teenage runaway, she no longer talks to anyone from her family. The friends she has she met online, through the shared love of K-pop group SuperJunior, and they live far away. Currently unemployed, she has no work mates to chat to. She lives alone, and whiles away the time watching cute animal videos on her phone as she lies on the floor. "I have no other place to go if it weren't for [the store]." Hee-Kyung is one of 20,000 people to visit the four stores since they were opened in March. The city had been expecting just 5,000 in the first year. This particular location, in the city's north-eastern district of Dongdaemun, sees around 70 to 80 visitors each day. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Most are in their 40s and 50s, but Hee-Kyung is far from being the only young person to access the store's services. A 2022 study revealed an estimated 130,000 young people in the city - those aged between 19 and 39 - are either socially isolated or shut in. That same study also found the share of single-person households in the capital had reached nearly 40% - that alarmed a government that has been trying to reverse plummeting birth and marriage rates. The stores, which resemble a living room at home, offer comfort and company [Jake Kwon/ BBC] The day the BBC visited, around a dozen visitors - men and women, young and old - were sitting on benches or burrowed into beanbags, watching a film together. "We have movie days to encourage low-level bonding," whispers Kim Se-heon, the manager of the city's Loneliness Countermeasure Division. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The stores are designed to offer a warm, cafe-like atmosphere. In one corner, an older woman closed her eyes as she sank into the automatic massage chair that hummed. In another, there are stacks of noodles. "Ramen is a symbol of comfort and warmth in South Korea," Kim explains. While waiting for the noodles to cook, visitors are asked to fill out a brief survey on their mood and living conditions. These are just a handful of the growing number of socially isolated people that the city is trying to reach. The change South Korea has undergone is seismic: in a generation, it has gone from a war-torn agrarian society to a developed economy. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A few decades ago, it was common to see large families with six to eight children, living under the same roof. But years of migration to cities have shrunk families and turned places like Seoul into sprawling metropolises. Unaffordable housing, rising costs and gruelling working hours have led more and more young people to reject marriage or parenthood, or both. On the other end is an ageing population that feels neglected by children who are racing to keep up. Lee In-sook works as a counsellor at the convenience store [Jake Kwon/ BBC] "You know the saying that the least tasty meal is the one you are having alone? I ask older people who come in if they were eating okay. They would tear up, just being asked that question," says Lee In-sook, the counsellor at the store. After a divorce and her grown-up children leaving home, she understands how it feels to be alone. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The first time Hee-kyung - who is around the age of In-sook's daughter - arrived at the store, she immediately caught her eye. Like many visitors, Hee-kyung was quiet on the first day, barely speaking to others. The second time she came, she began to speak to In-sook. It was the growing number of "lonely deaths" that worried Seoul officials enough to act. Older people were dying alone at home, and their bodies were not discovered until days or weeks later. That mission soon expanded to tackling loneliness itself. But Seoul is not the first to do this. In 2018, the UK appointed a Minister for Loneliness. Japan followed the example, establishing an agency to address the problem which it said had become more pronounced in the Covid-19 pandemic. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The phenomenon of withdrawing from society altogether is common enough in Japan that it has a name: hikikomori. In South Korea too, a rising number of young people have been voluntarily cutting themselves off from a highly competitive and exacting society. "Perhaps it was the pandemic that led to this," muses Lee Yu-jeong, who manages one of Seoul's anti-loneliness programmes. She points out how her children remain buried in their smartphones when their friends visit. "People today express how difficult it is to have a network of friends. Loneliness has become something that needs to be tackled as a society." More and more South Koreans feel socially isolated, research shows [Getty Images] The first step was opening a hotline for people who need someone to speak to. A nationwide survey in 2023 found that a third of Korean adults have either no one to ask for help with housework or speak to when feeling sad. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Its counselors offer a 40-minute call to discuss any topic. Park Seung-ah has been making three calls a day from her cubicle. "I was surprised to see that many young people wanted these sessions. They want to share the burden on their chest but there is often a power dynamic with parents or their friends. So they come to us." The "warm-hearted convenience stores" followed swiftly, a physical location where the lonely were welcome. The Dongdaemun location was picked due to its proximity to low-income housing, where residents live in tiny, subdivided apartments alone. Sohn, 68, visits the store once a week to watch films, and to escape his cramped home. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "[The stores] should have opened before I was born. It's good to spend even just two to three hours," he says. Sohn has spent more than five decades of his life caring for his mother, who suffered a brain aneurism when he was a child. As a result, he never married or had children. The cost of the dedication became clear when she died. Penniless and walking with a cane since suffering a brain haemorrhage himself several years ago, he says there aren't many places for him. "Places cost money, going to the cinema costs money," he says. South Korea's ageing population increasingly reports feeling lonely [Getty Images] The stores were created specially to welcome those who aren't welcome in other places, explains store manager Lee Bo-hyun. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement They go beyond a bit of room and a film - offering air-conditioning during the hottest summer months to those on low incomes who cannot afford it at home. It is also supposed to be a space where the lonely can sidestep the stigma of asking for help. The choice of name - "convenience stores" - was a deliberate attempt to distance them from psychiatric clinics, important in a country where there is still a stigma against asking for help for mental health - especially among older residents. And yet, some of their reservations can still be seen when they walk through the door for the first time, compounded by their experience of isolation. Visitors are often uncomfortable speaking to another person or eating together initially, store manager Lee says. "The typical loneliness, if that repeats for days, months, and half year, that is now more than a feeling," Lee explains. "Those folks start to avoid places with people. So many people ask us if they can take the ramen to go because they won't eat with others." Lee would tell them that they don't need to talk. They can simply sit at the same table and have noodles. It has been months since Hee-kyung was one of the quiet new arrivals. So, has it made a difference? In-sook recalls a conversation she was having with a local paper. When she brought up her daughter, she felt a sudden pang and her voice broke. "I am going to hug you," Hee-kyung declared. She walked over from the other side of the room and embraced In-sook. The EU Council approved a regular tranche payment of 3.2 billion euros ($3.7 billion) under the Ukraine Facility mechanism on Aug. 8, a smaller amount than initially planned due to Kyiv's failure to complete key reforms. Ukraine had aimed to receive 4.5 billion euros ($5.2 billion) in the fourth installment, the largest so far. However, Kyiv's failure to implement 3 of the 16 required reforms led to European Commission agreeing to provide a reduced amount of funding. The remaining unfulfilled reforms concern decentralization, judicial appointments to the High Anti-Corruption Court, and a law reforming the Asset Recovery and Management Agency. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The approved 3.2 billion euros serves as a higher amount than was initially approved by EU Commission ambassadors which totaled 3.05 billion euros ($3.5 billion). European Commission spokesperson Guillaume Mercier said on July 25 that under the EU's partial payment policy, funds tied to unmet benchmarks may be disbursed later if reforms are completed within 12 months. The Ukraine Facility was approved in February 2024 as a four-year program providing 33 billion euros ($36 billion) in loans and 17 billion euros ($18 billion) in grants to stabilize Ukraines economy and support post-war recovery. The Ukraine Plan serves as the reform roadmap tied to the country's EU accession process, covering governance, rule of law, reconstruction, and economic modernization. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On July 16, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that the EU intends to allocate an additional 100 billion euros ($115 billion) for Ukraine from its long-term 20282034 budget, doubling the current Ukraine Facility budget. Read also: Trump-Putin meeting tentatively scheduled for end of next week, NBC News reports Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Headquartered in Galway, Ireland, Medtronic plc (MDT) develops, manufactures, and sells device-based medical therapies. With a market cap of approximately $115 billion, the company derives revenue from four core segments: Cardiovascular Portfolio, Medical Surgical Portfolio, Neuroscience Portfolio, and Diabetes. MDT stock has surged 10.6% over the past year, trailing behind the S&P 500 Index ($SPX), which surged by 21.1% during the same period. However, year-to-date, MDT stock has advanced by 11.9%, outpacing the S&P 500s 7.9% gain. More News from Barchart Focusing on the industry, MDT has surpassed the S&P Healthcare Equipment SPDRs (XHE) decline of 8.3% over the past year and a 13.3% drop year-to-date. www.barchart.com On July 21, Medtronic announced that it had received CE Mark approval for its MiniMed 780G insulin delivery system. The market initially responded cautiously, but by the next trading session, shares had risen by nearly 2.2%. For the current year, ending in April 2026, analysts anticipate MDT to achieve EPS growth of 1.1%, reaching $5.55 on a diluted basis. Notably, Medtronic has consistently beaten consensus estimates over the past four quarters. Among 30 analysts covering MDT stock, the consensus rating is a "Moderate Buy," comprising 13 "Strong Buy" ratings, one "Moderate Buy," 15 "Holds," and one Strong Sell. www.barchart.com The current analyst sentiment is slightly more bullish than two months ago, when MDT had a total of 12 "Strong Buy" ratings. On Jul. 16, Mizuho Financial Group, Inc.s (MFG) Anthony Petrone raised his price target from $98 to $100, while maintaining an Outperform stance. He believes Medtronic is well-positioned within the medical technology sector. Similarly, on Jul. 15, Morgan Stanley (MS) bumped its price target from $98 to $107, reaffirming its Overweight rating. The firm sees continued relative stability in procedure volumes and capital spending trends across hospitals as a reason to stay constructive on the industry, and on Medtronic in particular. The mean price target of $95.83 represents a 7.2% premium to MDTs current price levels. Meanwhile, the Street-high price target of $110 suggests a potential upside of 23.1%. On the date of publication, Kritika Sarmah did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. This article was originally published on Barchart.com The Washington Post has reported that European capitals were left bewildered after news broke that US President Donald Trump is planning to meet with Russian ruler Vladimir Putin. Source: The Washington Post, citing an unnamed European official, as reported by European Pravda Details: The WP source noted that Europe was extremely worried when they learned that Trump intended to personally meet with Putin. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Quote from the source: "For all the bluster, Trump has not put a single iota of pressure on Putin yet. Zero, zip." More details: Meanwhile, an unnamed Ukrainian high-ranking official told the newspaper that Kyiv is trying to remain optimistic about the TrumpPutin meeting, hoping it could lead to a partial ceasefire that would curb Russian airstrikes on Ukraine. "In general, we all understand that finishing the war is fully in Trumps hands," the senior official said. "If there would be a partial ceasefire everything except the line of contact as a first step, that would be good," he added. The official noted that theyve received off-the-record signals suggesting Russia might be open to such an agreement. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement However, he cautioned that "trust is fully broken between [both] sides". The official added that talks regarding a partial ceasefire might just be a tactical move by Russia to placate Trump and give him a political win ahead of midterm elections. The official said that such an outcome would allow Trump to claim success, saying something like: "I stopped the killing of hundreds of innocent civilians daily." Official European Union representatives, meanwhile, have responded with scepticism. EU Foreign Affairs spokesperson Anita Hipper stated on Thursday: "It is very clear that Russia is not interested in any peace as such because we have seen it in their actions, not in their words." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Background: Putins aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters earlier that a meeting between Putin and US President Donald Trump is expected in the coming days possibly next week. Trump said he believed there was a good chance that there will be a meeting with Putin in the near future. The Russian leader believes the United Arab Emirates would be a suitable venue for a USRussia summit at the level of heads of state. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon! Concern is mounting across Europe over toxic "forever chemicals," which studies show are present in our blood, food and water, often at unsafe levels. In recent years, several European countries have faced scandals involving industrial discharges of forever chemicals, or perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), into soil and waterways, creating serious health risks for nearby communities. With public pressure growing, governments are being forced to act. But how effective are their efforts and are they enough? What are PFAS? PFAS are a group of more than 10,000 human-made chemicals known for taking an extremely long time to break down. They are widely used in products like non-stick pans, food packaging and waterproof clothing because of their ability to repel heat, water and oil. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement While useful, the exposure to PFAS, even at low levels over time, has been linked to a range of health issues: liver damage, high cholesterol, weakened immune responses, low birth weights and several types of cancer. Are there PFAS in our blood? The European Environment Agency (EEA) examined a series of studies on the levels of PFAS in teenagers' blood across nine countries. It found that 14.3% had concentrations above acceptable levels, with significant variation: from just 1.3% in Spain to 23.8% in France. France leads in legislation France has introduced some of Europe's toughest regulations on PFAS. A law passed in February bans the use of the substances in cosmetics, clothing, shoes and ski waxes starting in 2026, with a broader ban on PFAS in textiles coming into force in 2030. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The law also mandates regular monitoring of PFAS in drinking water. Last week, the French government launched a public online map showing PFAS levels in water across the country. In the areas of Meuse and Ardennes, tap water consumption was banned after abnormal levels were detected last month. Belgium's twin PFAS crises In the Belgian region of Wallonia, public anger erupted in 2023 after an investigation by local broadcaster RTBF revealed that warnings about PFAS contamination were ignored for years. The US military, operating from a base in the small city of Chievres, had flagged high PFAS levels in local water in 2017 after an incident involving firefighting foam, a substance made with large amounts of PFAS. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The US base advised its personnel to drink bottled water but locals were left in the dark for years, even after the regional government was informed of the issue in 2018. Large-scale blood testing was carried out in Chievres in early 2024 and later extended to nearby areas. Authorities said almost 1,300 people across approximately 10 municipalities had their blood samples taken to confirm exposure to the chemicals in recent weeks, as part of a fresh campaign launched in June. Wallonia's government has also pledged to enforce upcoming EU drinking water standards a year ahead of schedule, by 2025. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In the region of Flanders, meanwhile, chemical giant 3M reached a 571-million ($664 million) remediation deal in 2022 with the government after widespread PFAS pollution was linked to its Zwijndrecht factory, near Antwerp. Jail time for polluters in Italy Italy had similar problems with big corporations and PFAS. In June, an Italian court sentenced executives at a chemical plant to jail terms of up to 17 years for polluting water used by hundreds of thousands of people with PFAS. Some 11 executives from companies including Japan's Mitsubishi and Luxembourg-based International Chemical Investors Group (ICIG) were convicted for contaminating nearly 200 square kilometres of drinking water as well as soil through the Miteni plant in the north-eastern city of Trissino. Netherlands: Everyone has PFAS in their blood A nationwide study by the Dutch National Institute for Public Health (RIVM) found PFAS in all 1,500 blood samples tested, with nearly every case exceeding health-based safety limits. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "There are no possibilities to fully avoid contact with PFAS," RIVM concluded. "These substances are present throughout the Netherlands in soil, food and drinking water." What is the EU doing? In 2023, the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Norway and Sweden submitted a proposal to the European Chemicals Agency calling for a blanket ban on all PFAS. It is currently under a review by European scientific committees, which is scheduled to conclude in 2026. The European Commission said in its action plan for the chemicals industry published in July that it is "committed to presenting a proposal as soon as possible" when it receives the review "with the overall objective of minimising PFAS emissions." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It said it will consider a ban on consumer uses, but if alternatives can't be found for critical industrial uses, the use of PFAS may be allowed. It also committed to take decisive efforts to clean up already polluted sites based on the polluter pays principle or with public money if no liable entity can be found. An EU-wide PFAS monitoring framework is also on the cards to collect data and map pollution hotspots. In Germany, economy ministers of several states have voiced their opposition to a blanket PFAS ban. Baden-Wurttemberg's economy minister, Nicole Hoffmeister-Kraut of the conservative Christian Democrats (CDU), argued that while the effects on human health are well known, a ban would destroy entire production sectors in the EU. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This would have the effect of a broad deindustrialization programme, she said. Schleswig-Holstein's CDU economy minister, Claus Ruhe Madsen, said he also viewed EU chemical regulations with concern. "They are causing immense damage to the chemical industry and the value chains that depend on it through ever-increasing costs, considerable planning uncertainty and a backlog of innovation and investment," Madsen said. Some rules are already in place at an EU level, such as a limit on PFAS levels in drinking water from 2026 and restrictions on a particular sub-group of PFAS. Not all countries equally affected Some EU countries report far lower PFAS exposure. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In Slovenia, the national health laboratory says the country lacks heavy industry using PFAS and has found only minimal contamination in past testing. However, the Slovenian Consumers' Association did find chemicals from the PFAS group in almost one third of everyday products that they tested, including some that are banned in the European Union. Slovenia plans to begin systematic water monitoring in 2026. Bulgaria was among the countries with the lowest percentage of water bodies exceeding the PFOS (a type of PFAS) environmental quality standard in 2022, according to the EEA. However, additional findings indicate the presence of PFAS in rivers and other water sources. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As the EU mulls a potential ban, the true cost of PFAS on people and the environment is coming into focus. The content of this article is based on reporting by AFP, BTA, Belga, dpa and STA as part of the European Newsroom (enr) project. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has called on the Israeli government to reconsider its decision to expand the war in the Gaza Strip. "The Israeli government's decision to further extend its military operation in Gaza must be reconsidered," the commission president wrote on X on Friday. Von der Leyen also called for "immediate and unhindered" access for humanitarian aid to the sealed-off coastal territory, as well as the release of all remaining hostages. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "A ceasefire is needed now," she added. Israel's Security Cabinet approved a proposal by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu overnight to capture Gaza City in the north of the territory in a major expansion of Israel's ongoing military campaign. US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee arrives to a court hearing of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Distrcit court in Tel Aviv, July 16, 2025. (photo credit: FLASH90) The UK Prime Minister released a statement urging Israel to stop the occupation because he believed that it would "do nothing to bring an end to this conflict." US ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee bashed UK Prime Minister Keir Starmers Friday statement condemning Israels new Gaza occupation plan. Starmer said that the expanded operations will do nothing to bring an end to this conflict, adding that it would result in more bloodshed on both sides. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He continued to say that what the war needed was a ceasefire, a surge in humanitarian aid, the release of all hostages held by Hamas and a negotiated solution. Huckabee responded: So Israel is expected to surrender to Hamas & feed them even though Israeli hostages are being starved? Did UK surrender to Nazis and drop food to them? Ever heard of Dresden, PM Starmer? That wasnt food you dropped. If you had been PM then, the UK would be speaking German! The American ambassador was referencing the US and UKs bombing of Dresden, during which nearly 7 km of the city was destroyed and at least 25,000 people were killed. Nazi propagandists at the time called it a mass murder. Palestinians walk to collect aid supplies from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, in Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip, May 29, 2025 (credit: REUTERS/Hatem Khaled) Huckabee slams UK for Gaza occupation statement Huckabee then challenged Starmer on how much food his government had sent to Gaza. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement How much food has Starmer and the UK sent to Gaza? @IsraeliPM has already sent 2 MILLION TONS into Gaza & none of it even getting to hostages. Maybe UK PM ought to sit this one out & follow Arab League who said Hamas should disarm & release ALL hostages immediately. This comes after several European and Middle Eastern countries denounced the government's plans for occupying Gaza. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz went so far as to say that his country would pause all arms shipments to Israel. MADISON Wisconsin nurses will have more authority to oversee health care decisions, including by prescribing medicine, under a new law. Gov. Tony Evers signed a bipartisan bill on Friday, Aug. 8, that aims to expand access to health care in Wisconsin and address effects of nursing shortages by allowing qualified registered nurses to practice independently. The new law comes after a years-long effort to reach an agreement on its parameters. Nurses play a critical role in our healthcare workforce, and Im proud of our work to expand opportunities for nurses to not only grow their career but create a system that allows for more advanced practitioners here in Wisconsin, Evers said in a press release Aug. 8. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Under the new law, nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, certified registered nurse anethetists and certified nurse-midwives who meet certain qualifications may be licensed by the state board of nursing as advanced practice registered nurses, or APRN. They would generally have the authority to presribe medication, delegate some tasks to other clinically trained care workers and use the title "A.P.R.N." Licensed APRNs who meet certain criteria, including a minimum of 3,840 hours worked under the supervision of a physician or dentist, can practice independently under the law. Certified nurse-midwives would be exempt from that requirement, but would be required to submit a plan for births outside a hospital. Lawmakers in the state Assembly and Senate voted unanimously to pass the bill after nursing groups have advocated for its passage for more than a decade. Legislators on both sides of the aisle applauded the work put into improving health care access across the state, especially in Wisconsin's rural and underserved communities. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We are all deeply aware of the workforce challenges we face in our state when it comes to the healthcare industry, Sen. Patrick Testin, R-Stevens Point, said in an Aug. 8 press release. APRNs will help close that gap and we are certain they will continue to step up and provide quality health care to everyone in Wisconsin. Close to 40% of Wisconsins need for primary care providers is currently unmet, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. A 2018 report projected Wisconsin will likely require more than 740 additional primary care professionals to meet the growing demand for care, but the number of primary care physicians is expected to grow by just 4% by 2035. In a statement to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Sen. Kelda Roys, D-Madison, said the law is a "positive, bipartisan step toward a better future for Wisconsinites." "I am happy we were able to get this across the finish line. I have been steadfast in my support of nurses practicing to the full extent of their training so they can further ensure health care access is available in every community," Roys said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Similar proposals had been introduced dating back to 2015, but the COVID pandemic reinvigorated the effort in part because the requirement that advanced practice nurses have a collaborative agreement with a doctor was temporarily suspended under the state's public health emergency. Nurses who backed the legislation argued that if it was OK for them to practice independently during the pandemic, there's no reason they shouldn't be able to continue. Wisconsin is now one of nearly 30 states that grant "full practice" authority to advanced practice registered nurses. Under the legislation, it is estimated that Wisconsin has about 8,000 registered nurses who qualify as APRNs under this law, about 80% of whom are nurse practitioners. Anna Kleiber can be reached at akleiber@gannett.com. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin governor signs into law bill expanding nurses' authority Gov. Tony Evers signs AB 257 into law Friday. The bill creates a credential and pathway for advanced practice registered nurses to practice independently. (Photo courtesy of Office of Gov. Evers) As expected, Gov. Tony Evers signed legislation Friday that clears the way for nurses with advanced training to practice independently. Nurses play a critical role in our healthcare workforce, and Im proud of our work to expand opportunities for nurses to not only grow their career but create a system that allows for more advanced practitioners here in Wisconsin, Evers said in a statement released Friday announcing his plans to sign AB 257, the advanced practice registered nurses (APRN) legislation, now Wisconsin Act 17. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The bill creates a new license category and a professional pathway for nurses who qualify to practice independently. Evers vetoed two other closely watched bills one that would have carved out app-based drivers from protections under state employment laws and one that would require the state Department of Corrections to recommend sending back to prison people charged with a crime while they are on probation, parole or extended supervision. Altogether the governor signed 16 of the 21 bills that the Legislature formally presented to him on Thursday and vetoed five. Advanced practice nursing bill wins approval The Wisconsin state nursing board will oversee the credentialing of advanced practice nurses, a group that includes certified nurse-midwives, certified registered nurse anesthetists, clinical nurse specialists and nurse practitioners. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advocates said the measure will increase the availability of health care providers, particularly in parts of Wisconsin where doctors are scarce. Evers vetoed previous versions of the bill in 2022 and 2024. Both times he expressed support for the concept but insisted nurses should meet tighter qualifications before they can practice on their own. The bill he signed Friday adds those requirements increasing the amount of supervision that an APRN must have under a physician to 3,840 hours before practicing independently; adding additional supervision requirements for certified registered nurse anesthetists who specialize in pain management; and including language to restrict the titles APRN practitioners use so patients arent confused about their credentials. The Wisconsin Medical Society cited those issues in opposing APRN bills in previous legislative sessions, and with the 2025 revision shifted its stance to neutral. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In floor votes in June, lawmakers from both parties stressed the bipartisan compromise reflected in the measure that was presented to Evers this week. In his announcement, Evers thanked lawmakers for their work on the measure, including Republican state Sens. Patrick Testin and Rachael Cabral-Guevara, Republican state Rep. Tony Kurtz and Democratic state Rep. Lisa Subeck. He also thanked the many nursing and physician groups that we worked with to get this bipartisan bill across the finish line to help bring more folks into the healthcare profession and ensure that Wisconsinites get the high-quality care they need when they need it while setting our nurses up for success. Bill classifying gig drivers vetoed Evers vetoed AB 269, legislation that would have blocked drivers from app-based rideshare and delivery businesses from being declared employees. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The legislation would have automatically classified drivers for Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and similar businesses as independent contractors, bypassing current Wisconsin laws that differentiate independent contractors from direct employees. It would have categorically excluded app-based drivers from coverage under the states unemployment insurance, workers compensation and minimum wage laws. I object to the bills definition of independent contractor status in the absence of any guaranteed benefit for workers, Evers wrote in his veto message. In a campaign pushed most prominently by DoorDash and other app-based businesses that enlist drivers, advocates focused on the bills provisions that would permit but not require those businesses to establish portable benefits for drivers. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Evers acknowledged in his veto message that app-based drivers are a growing segment of Wisconsins workforce. But he said changing the states independent contractor definitions demands substantive conversations among several parties, with management and workers both at the table. Evers wrote that while the bill was moving through the Legislature, his staff asked lawmakers and groups with an interest in the measure to allow time for robust dialogue and engagement to reach consensus and compromise over the legislation. Unfortunately the Legislature declined to meaningfully provide that opportunity, choosing instead to send this bill to my desk anyway, he wrote. My veto today will allow time for these important conversations to occur so Wisconsin can find a path forward. The Wisconsin AFL-CIO praised the veto. Legislation that makes the loss of important worker rights a certainty while holding out the possibility of flexible benefits if and when the employer chooses to provide them is a bad deal for workers, President Stephanie Bloomingdale said. Bill pushing revocation for offenders rejected Evers vetoed AB 85, legislation that would require the Department of Corrections to recommend automatically returning a person to prison who is charged with a crime while on extended supervision, parole or probation. Evers vetoed a similar bill in 2019. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Evers wrote in his veto message that the legislation was an unfunded mandate likely to cost the state more than $330 million in the first two years, according to the fiscal estimate, and hundreds of millions in unknown, ongoing costs. In addition, he wrote, it would likely require building more prison facilities and would be expected to impose new costs on local governments, while he blamed lawmakers for significantly underfunding existing operations at the Department of Corrections in the most recent state budget. The bill would move Wisconsin in the wrong direction on criminal justice reform without improving public safety, Evers wrote. Instead, he urged lawmakers, Wisconsin should be investing in data-driven, evidence-based programming that addresses barriers to reentry, enhances educational and vocational opportunities for individuals who will be released after completing their sentence, and provides treatment for mental health and substance use issues, which will help to reduce recidivism and save taxpayer money while improving public safety. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In a message posted on Facebook the bills author, state Rep. Brent Jacobson (R Mosinee), criticized the veto. It is unacceptable to give repeat criminals the opportunity to continue to put our families and neighbors at risk again and again without facing consequences, he wrote. The bill was opposed by criminal justice reform organizations, including the national prison reform group Dream.Org and Wisconsin-based Ex-incarcerated People Organizing (EXPO). This harmful bill would have led to more people being revoked from community supervision and incarcerated, making it harder to build safe and thriving communities in Wisconsin, Dream.Org posted on Facebook. The organization credited campaigning by advocates and community groups with persuading Evers to veto the measure. Primary care medicine measure falls Evers vetoed SB 4, legislation that would specify that subscription-based direct primary medical care arrangements are not subject to the states insurance laws. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement While the legislation had some bipartisan support in concept, it foundered at the governors desk on the issue of anti-discrimination language. Evers listed in his veto message a number of provisions in the legislation that forbid primary care providers from refusing to treat patients. Nevertheless, he wrote that he objected to the Legislature failing to provide sufficient protections for patients receiving care under direct primary care agreements from being discriminated against and potentially losing access to their healthcare. Evers did not specify what additional protections he believed the measure should include. I previously raised similar concerns when I vetoed earlier iterations of this legislation five years ago concerns the Legislature has declined to satisfactorily address in the bill that is now before me and despite having ample opportunity, he wrote. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In 2020, when Evers vetoed the version of the legislation on his desk at the time, he wrote that he objected to an amendment in which lawmakers had removed language protecting patients from being refused treatment on the grounds of genetics, national origin, gender identity, citizenship status, or whether the patient is LGBTQ. In his veto message Friday, Evers wrote, Every Wisconsinite should be able to get the healthcare they need when and where they need it and without fear of discrimination. I welcome the Legislature revisiting this legislation and the opportunity to enact a version of this bill that sufficiently addresses my concerns. The announcement issued by the governors office Friday includes a complete list of bills that the governor signed and vetoed, with links to the enacted measures and to Evers veto statements. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX MADISON Wisconsin hospitals will now be required to obtain explicit written consent before allowing medical students to perform a pelvic exam on a patient who is unconscious or under anesthesia. That's the result of a bipartisan bill first introduced five years ago and signed into law Aug. 8 by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers. "I am glad to be signing this bipartisan legislation today that brings Wisconsin in line with the majority of other states and that codifies practices already happening at healthcare providers across the state to require written, informed consent for educational pelvic exams," Evers said in a statement. "This bill has been many years in the making, and I am grateful for the dedicated work of several bipartisan legislators, healthcare professionals, and stakeholders to get this done to protect the rights and privacy of patients." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The law applies only to pelvic exams conducted solely for educational purposes and would not bar a health care provider from performing the exam in the case that it is medically necessary. The law also requires hospitals to have written policies and procedures requiring informed consent. According to bill author Sen. Andre Jacque, R-De Pere, Wisconsin will join 28 other states with such laws on the books. That's up from 10 when the bill was first introduced in 2020. "Female patients deserve to have their bodily integrity respected when they are unconscious and vulnerable during a medical procedure," Jacque said in testimony delivered in February. "Forgoing consent before educational intimate examinations leads to moral distress in medical students, and embedding explicit consent requirements into law will not threaten educational goals, as the majority of patients will consent to these examinations, and will improve the system of medical education, as students will leave their training with more respect for patients bodies and knowledge of the importance of informed consent." During a pelvic exam, a health care provider inserts gloved fingers into a patient's vagina to examine the vulva and internal reproductive organs, seeking to identify infections or tumors. A speculum is used to spread the patient's vaginal walls, in order to examine the vagina and cervix. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Medical students can practice the procedure with conscious volunteers or mannequins, but it can be easier to examine the internal organs of an anesthetized patient whose muscles are relaxed. Although it is a standard medical procedure, a pelvic exam places a patient in a vulnerable position and can be retraumatizing for victims of sexual assault. The issue first came to lawmakers' attention when Sarah Wright of Madison brought concerns to her then-state Rep. Chris Taylor, D-Madison. Taylor, now an appeals court judge who is running for a seat on the state Supreme Court. The Republican leads on the current version of the legislation are Jacque and Rep. Joy Goeben, R-Hobart. The Democrats are Sen. Tim Carpenter, D-Milwaukee, and Rep. Lisa Subeck, D-Madison. Wright had experienced extreme vulvar sensitivity following the removal of an ovarian cyst and ultimately concluded that either she had been given a pelvic exam or a uterine manipulator had been used during the laparoscopic procedure both things she was not aware would be involved. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "I was not informed my vagina would be involved at all," Wright said during testimony on the bill during a 2023 hearing. "To me, the key question here is, if a doctor or medical student or whoever would not do something to a conscious person without asking them, then clearly they should not be doing that to an unconscious person without letting them know that that's going to happen." Guidance from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists states that medical students should participate in pelvic exams under anesthesia "only when patients have provided explicit consent for their participation, the examination is relevant to the surgical procedure, the patient has recognized the trainee as a member of their care team, and the examination is performed under direct supervision." The law is supported by groups including the Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault, the Wisconsin Nurses Association and End Domestic Abuse Wisconsin. Some health care providers have already adopted policies that follow the spirit of the legislation, including the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine & Public Health in 2019. Jessie Opoien can be reached at jessie.opoien@jrn.com. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Evers signs bipartisan bill requiring consent for certain pelvic exams JUNIATA COUNTY, Pa. (WHTM) A Grand Jury earlier this week indicted the former assistant director of Central Pennsylvania Youth Ministries (CPYM) on child pornography charges. Court documents filed in the Middle District of Pennsylvania show Daniel Reed was indicted Wednesday on attempted production of child pornography, production of child pornography and possession of child pornography. Reed faces up to 70 years in prison if he is convicted on all his charges, according to the Department of Justice. No date has been scheduled yet for a trial. Start of the investigation Court documents outline how the FBI and Pennsylvania State Police became aware of allegations involving Reed. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Accusations were brought forth in December regarding Reed after a female alleged Reed groomed her into a sexual relationship when she was a teenager. Reed, who was the assistant director at the time, was then fired when the allegations were brought to CPYM officials. Ive made a decision: Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity teases run for governor Court documents show State Police began investigating after a CPYM official reported finding a peep hole in a second-floor hallway closet that looked into a bathroom, a month after Reed was fired. When Reed was fired, officials say he refused to provide the password to his computer and did not let anyone go through his computer. The bathroom and the two-way mirror Reeds office on the second floor was right next to a utility closet and across from the bathroom, which he reportedly encouraged to be built in 2023, the charges filed by investigators show. It was also the only bathroom that had a shower. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Troopers were told that the closet was always locked, and the key was in Reeds office. Inside the bathroom, on the wall, was a 12 x 12 mirror facing the shower. The other side of the wall was the closet. Troopers entered the closet, and they saw that the mirror was a two-way mirror, along with an outlet box that appeared to be used to power a small camera or recording device. Tax relief for campgrounds in Pennsylvania could come at the expense of revenue tool for local governments About a year and a half ago, an official found a wall-mounted camera in an outlet in the bathroom and confronted Reed. He claimed he set it up in his office to see if people were going inside and that someone must have taken it, mistaking it for a phone charger. Search of Reeds home Multiple electronics were seized when the FBI, along with State Police, raided his home in July. Pictures of nude girls, along with images of bedrooms and bathrooms were allegedly found on one of his devices, according to court docs. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Reeds search history included terms like can manufacturers view my footage when on wifi, hidden smoke detector camera, and hidden camera sex convention. Following federal charges being filed, CPYM released a statement, saying that as a ministry, their utmost concern is the safety of students. In December, Daniel Reed, The Juniata County youth director, was released from his duties with Central Pennsylvania Youth Ministries due to sexual misconduct, CPYM Executive Director Shirey Little said. At that time, we immediately notified the proper authorities, who began a formal investigation. Since then, we have fully cooperated with the investigation and will continue to do so alongside the authorities and those affected. As a ministry, our utmost concern is for the safety and well-being of the students in our care. We invite you to join us in prayer for all individuals involved in this difficult situation. Children ages 10 to 18 are hosted by CPYM, whose mission, according to its website, is To share the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ with young people in the Central Pennsylvania community. By mobilizing and equipping Gods Family of Believers, we will build relationships and develop programs that clearly communicate Jesus of the Bible. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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 ABC27. A former Connecticut State Police sergeant who pulled a gun when a YouTuber showed up at his home in Groton in July, leading to a tense exchange that ended with the YouTuber and his cameraman being arrested, was suspended following an internal affairs investigation into the matter. State police Col. Daniel Loughman issued a statement Thursday saying Faheys suspension was unpaid and enforced before his retirement, which was reportedly filed for in May and took effect on Aug. 1. He said the internal investigation was completed on July 24 and sustained a charge of conduct unbecoming against Fahey. It was not immediately clear how long the suspension was. It is my understanding that, separate and apart from the Connecticut State Police Internal Affairs investigation, the July 11 incident remains under investigation by the Town of Groton Police Department and the Windham States Attorneys Office, Loughman said. The Connecticut State Police have and will continue to cooperate fully with that investigation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I appreciate the continued trust that the people of Connecticut provide us and I encourage our Connecticut residents to read the report, Loughman added. We believe transparency is a cornerstone of public trust. Above all, please know that the Connecticut State Police will always strive to earn and keep your confidence. CT state trooper involved in incident with YouTuber to retire Loughman encouraged those following the incident to get their information from the Internal Affairs report which was released Friday in response to a Freedom of Information request from the Courant. Loughman said the report outlines a complete, accurate and fair representation of the incident, which he said was unlike the edited videos and inaccurate accounts that are being circulated online of this incident. The exchange between Fahey and 34-year-old SeanPaul Reyes occurred as Reyes said he went to Faheys home to confront him about a tip he received involving the troopers overtime pay. Reyes operates an Instagram page and a YouTube channel known as Long Island Audit, where he describes himself as a constitutional activist and investigative journalist. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement After arriving at the home, Fahey can be seen in the video coming outside shortly thereafter and telling Reyes to get off his property. At that point, Reyes begins slowly backing away and continuing to talk while the cameraman records. Fahey can then be seen coming out of the home and marching toward Reyes while holding what police said was a firearm. He gets in Reyes face and engages in a tense encounter while Reyes backs off the property and into the street. Following the incident, Reyes and his cameraman, 20-year-old Tahiem Glover, were arrested on charges of voyeurism, trespassing and breach of peace. When reached for comment Friday, Reyes said it was hard to express his feelings about Faheys suspension because it was not immediately clear how long it was in effect. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It could have been a day, I dont know, Reyes said. Its hard to have any thoughts on the suspension. YouTuber arrested after incident with off-duty CT state trooper wants charges filed against sergeant According to the report outlining the internal affairs investigation, police verified Faheys claim that his property has a No Trespassing sign that was posted in the grass along his driveway. The investigation alleges that Reyes edited the video he shared to not show the signs. Reyes claimed that this was just one of the multiple falsities he found when reviewing the investigation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement There arent any no trespassing signs. There arent any cuts, Reyes said, adding that the only sign he saw indicated that the road was private. When investigators interviewed Fahey, he alleged that Reyes and individuals believed to be his followers had made threats to show up at his home, the report said. He also alleged that names of his family members have been posted online and that they had received threats, including death threats, the report said. Fahey told investigators that the alleged threats he received included statements like Fahey is better off dead, We know where he lives, Everybody has to sleep at night and We should walk up behind him at headquarters and splatter his brains all over his cruiser, the report said. Fahey also claimed that Reyes went deeper into his yard upon being asked to leave. Reyes insisted he headed toward the street upon being asked. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Fahey reportedly acknowledged during the internal affairs interview that he spit in Reyes face, though he said he did not remember doing it at the time, the report said. Investigators wrote in the report that this reflected conduct unbecoming, which was defined as any conduct that would reflect negatively on the Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection which oversees Connecticut State Police. Reyes said he still maintains that Fahey should be arrested. I believe he should be prosecuted, Reyes said. I believe in due process. He needs to be held accountable. JAY, Okla. A Fairland woman pleaded guilty on Thursday to child sex abuse-related charges and was sentenced to 20 years in the state Department of Corrections. Shelly Douthit-Delcour, 44, of Fairland, pleaded guilty in Delaware County District Court in Jay to two counts of enabling child abuse and child neglect, all felonies. Her trial was set to begin on Monday, court records show. SHELLY DOUTHIT-DELCOUR Her sentence included 10 years suspended, and she received two years credit for time served. Delcour will also be required to register as a sex offender. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The District Attorneys Office confirmed that Douthit-Delcour, a former daycare worker, must serve 85 percent of the sentence. Investigators said no children at the daycare were sexually abused or harmed in any way. Declour was also charged in Ottawa County. In that case, a 20-page affidavit shows Delcours pedophilia ideology began after meeting Bruce Bandy on an adult website geared toward deviant sexual practices, such as pedophilia, bestiality, and child pornography. Two of Delcours three children were fathered by Bandy to have a pedophiliac family, according to the affidavit. Delcour told investigators Bandy wanted to have children so that he could sexually abuse them, the affidavit states. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Ottawa County charges were dropped when Delaware County picked up the sex-abuse charges. Bruce Allen Bandy, Jr. Delcour testified in Bandys trial that she saw him sexually abusing a toddler, who was under the age of two, during a video call and was physically present when he sexually assaulted a child in a motel room. She failed to notify the police of the sexual abuse that was committed while she was present. During Bandys trial, testimony showed Bandy stopped sexually abusing the toddler when the toddler learned to speak. He was convicted in 2023 and sentenced to three life sentences on three counts of child sexual abuse in Delaware County. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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 KSNF/KODE | FourStatesHomepage.com. With a market cap of $26.7 billion, PPL Corporation (PPL) is a diversified utility holding company, serving approximately 3.5 million electricity and natural gas customers. Operating through its Kentucky Regulated, Pennsylvania Regulated, and Rhode Island Regulated segments, the company delivers energy across multiple states and generates power primarily in Kentucky. Shares of the Allentown, Pennsylvania-based company have underperformed the broader market over the past 52 weeks. PPL stock has returned 19.1% over this time frame, while the broader S&P 500 Index ($SPX) has rallied 22.1%. However, shares of the company are up 11.9% on a YTD basis, outperforming SPX's 7.9% gain. More News from Barchart Looking closer, the energy and utility holding company stock has slightly outpaced the Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund's (XLU) 18.1% return over the past 52 weeks. www.barchart.com Shares of PPL fell nearly 1% on Jul. 31 after the company reported Q2 2025 adjusted EPS of $0.32, missing the consensus estimate. Despite a 7.7% year-over-year increase in revenues to $2.03 billion and operating income rising 4.1% to $406 million, investors were likely concerned by higher operating expenses of $1.6 billion and rising interest expenses of $199 million. Segment-wise, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island both saw year-over-year EPS declines, with Rhode Island's adjusted EPS dropping 75% to just $0.01. For the fiscal year ending in December 2025, analysts expect PPL's EPS to grow 7.7% year-over-year to $1.82. The company's earnings surprise history is mixed. It beat the consensus estimates in two of the last four quarters while missing on two other occasions. Among the 14 analysts covering the stock, the consensus rating is a Moderate Buy. Thats based on nine Strong Buy ratings, one Moderate Buy, and four Holds. www.barchart.com On Aug. 4, BofA raised its price target on PPL to $33 while maintaining a Buy rating. As of writing, the stock is trading below the mean price target of $38.64. The Street-high price target of $42 implies a potential upside of 16.1%. On the date of publication, Sohini Mondal did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. This article was originally published on Barchart.com The murder trial against an ex-Navy JAG officer accused of killing and dismembering his wife in late 2022 began this week, as his defense attorneys argued his innocence and state prosecutors encouraged the jury to use common sense in convicting the husband. Nicholas Kassotis is facing 12 charges related to the death of his second wife Mindi Mebane Kassotis, including malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, tampering with evidence, and dismembering a body, according to the local Coastal Courier, local WSAV, and WTOC. PEOPLE previously reported that Mindis body was discovered in the woods of a hunting club in Riceboro, Ga., on Dec. 2, 2022 roughly a week after investigators suspect she was killed when a hunter happened upon her body while tracking a deer. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Police worked for months to identify Mindis body, which was found dismembered and in pieces along with a knife and a container of blood. After identifying Mindi, a writer and business owner who earned a master's degree in public and international affairs at Virginia Tech, PEOPLE reported that local police soon arrested her husband Nicholas in connection with her death in May 2023. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said the couple was living in Savannah, Ga., at the time of Mindi's death. Lancaster County Prison Nicholas James Kassotis Nicholas James Kassotis As the trial begins this week, Kassotis attorneys have presented a defense that state prosecutors have dismissed as a CIA, conspiracy theory type argument, according to local WJCL. The Coastal Courier reported that Kassotis defense attorneys claimed he was innocent and instead, was a man who lived in fear, relentless, all-consuming fear" of an man purportedly named "Jim McIntyre" whose identity has never been verified. According to his attorney Douglas Weinstein, Kassotis had been acting suspiciously and lying to friends and family out of fear of this alleged figure, who, according to the defense, claimed to work for the FBI and warned the couple that their lives were in danger. They were living, moving every few days, few weeks, few months, under control of this person well keep calling Jim McIntyre, Weinstein claimed ahead of Kassotis trial, according to WJCL. While the state says that thats a fabrication, its clearly not a fabrication that he makes up after the fact. Because he and Mindi told people about what was going on, why they were on the run, and everything else. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement https://people-app.onelink.me/HNIa/kz7l4cuf Two days into the trial, Weinstein has not yet explained how the defense believes Mindi ended up dead as a result of the couples alleged interactions with the supposed McIntyre figure. Weinstein did not respond to PEOPLEs request for comment Thursday. The Coastal Courier reported that Assistant District Attorney Laurie Baio delivered the opening arguments during the first day of the trial this week, imploring the jury: Bring your common sense, follow the law, and give justice to Mindi Kassotis. The trial is expected to last two to three weeks, according to reports. Read the original article on People Content Warning: This article contains explicit language. Reader discretion is advised. Arlington Mayor Jim Ross is facing backlash after newly surfaced footage from 2018 shows him using vulgar language and making explicit remarks toward a Christian street preacher. The video, recorded by Vice News in 2018, was filmed at the Southern Decadence festival in New Orleans, an LGBTQ event held annually over Labor Day weekend. In the footage, Ross, whose face was blurred, can be heard addressing street preacher Ruben Israel with crude language and profanity. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Israel, known for preaching at public events, passed away in 2023, according to Christian Post. I believe yall can have free speech But this is some hateful sh*t and I am a heterosexual guy, Ross said in the video (begins at 11:47 in the video). You stand out here like you are a b*dass motherf*cker, Ross continued. He then asked Israel, You dont think anal sex is good, do you? Have you ever f*cked your old lady in the *ss? Id f*ck your old lady in the *ss. Despite Ross comments, Israel and others did not directly engage. Ross continued, stating, Shut your *ss, shut your *ss, you little piece of sh*t. You ought to talk sh*t, these people around here are having a good f*cking time. At another point, he called Israel a p*ssy motherf*cker. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The footage ends with Ross approaching the group and appearing to initiate a confrontation. Several Arlington and Tarrant County residents expressed disgust over Ross behavior. First, this is unfortunate. I am not certain what prompted this altercation. He sounds inebriated, Truth Talk podcast host and Arlington resident Kathi Arocha told The Dallas Express. This video is beyond shocking. What a disgusting piece of human garbage. Mayor Ross should resign immediately, Tarrant County GOP Chairman Bo French said. The now Mayor of Arlingtons vile, profanity-laced rant at the late Ruben Israel, a Christian street preacher, is a disgrace. Perhaps the mayor was stressed out because of not being able to pay his taxes of late, but his unprofessional conduct mirrors the worst of todays cursing Democrats. Leadership demands better, Tarrant County Republican Precinct Chair TK Campbell added. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ruben Israel was no shrinking violet; yet even he deserved dignity and respect from an elected representative. Arlington can demand better without trading insults for insults. Be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good (Romans 12:21), wrote Pastor Troy Jackson, PhD, Biblical Citizenship Pastor, New Beginnings Church, Bedford, Texas, to The Dallas Express. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying. (Ephesians 4:29), Jackson added. This is not the first time Ross has drawn public criticism. As previously reported by The Dallas Express, Ross publicly acknowledged financial difficulties after it was revealed that the IRS began garnishing his salary due to unpaid taxes. Records from the Tarrant County Tax Assessor-Collector dated June 2025 show Ross owes $940.39 in penalties and interest, with a total outstanding debt of $174,945.93. The Dallas Express reached out to Vice News and Jim Ross for comment, but did not receive a response. By Sarah N. Lynch, Brad Heath and Jana Winter WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The FBI has asked local police to submit the names of people tied to drug cartels and gangs to the U.S. government's terrorist watch list created after 9/11, which could land more Americans on the list, according to law enforcement documents seen by Reuters. The bureau told law enforcement agencies in a May 9 email to share the names of people they believe are linked to eight criminal groups President Donald Trump has labeled foreign terrorist organizations. It also asked agencies to share information about family members and associates of the groups' members. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The existence of the email, which was obtained by the national security-focused transparency nonprofit Property of the People through a public records request and shared with Reuters, has not been previously reported. The email was sent to law enforcement agencies and groups including the National Sheriff's Association, which confirmed receiving it from the FBI. The FBI declined to answer detailed questions about the email, instead referring to an earlier statement that said "watchlisting is an effective tripwire keeping those who would engage in violent criminal acts, illicit drug trade, and human smuggling/trafficking out of the country." The watch list contained some 1.1 million names, including about 6,000 U.S. citizens and permanent legal residents, as of August 2024, according to a January report from the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, which is the most recent federal data available. The change means that local police officers are likely to see more terrorism alerts when they conduct traffic stops or run background checks using the National Crime Information Center database, the FBI said in the email. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Trump administration in February declared gangs including MS-13, Tren de Aragua and the Sinaloa drug cartel foreign terrorist organizations, saying they pose a risk to national security and economic interests. The document, sent by a former FBI assistant director, said that "agencies that possess information about members of these organizations, including their family members and associates, are required to share" it with the National Counterterrorism Center. The FBI-led Threat Screening Center would then lead an effort to determine which names should be added. The bureau also told local police that it had recently added 300,000 immigration records to the National Crime Information Center database, including people who are facing administrative warrants for removal from the United States. A state law enforcement office that helps facilitate intelligence sharing between federal, state and local officials issued a bulletin in late July providing instructions about how to submit names for potential inclusion on the watch list, according to a copy seen by Reuters. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement GESTURES, TATTOOS Civil liberties advocates say the U.S. government sometimes relies on questionable evidence to decide who to include. "The U.S. watch-listing system is already a notoriously error-prone, bloated, due process nightmare and this instruction raises major red flags," said Hina Shamsi, director of the ACLU's National Security Project. The White House and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said the government will use every legal avenue available "to prevent terrorists from killing Americans." Designating cartel and gang members as terrorists has the potential to drastically expand the number of people on the watch list. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "In the cartel context, when you are talking about people inside the U.S., the watch lists reach becomes even broader because of the way drug trafficking networks play out," said Spencer Reynolds, a former Department of Homeland Security attorney who is now with the Brennan Center for Justice. He said it remains unclear whether low-level gang affiliates who sell or transport drugs would be labeled terrorists, even if they have no idea their work is connected to one of the designated cartels. Civil rights groups have voiced concerns about the secretive nature of the list, which can subject people to surveillance on airplanes, travel restrictions and secondary screenings at airports and other ports of entry into the United States. They have also complained that the government has sometimes flagged people as members of gangs based on evidence such as their tattoos and clothing. A federal judge ruled in 2019 that the list infringed on the constitutional rights to due process of certain U.S. citizens. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "If your name pops up in a law enforcement hit, that has all kinds of cascading consequences," said Sirine Shebaya, executive director for the National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild. Authorities must spell out reasonable suspicion that a person is associated with one of the designated terrorist groups before being added to the watch list, according to public government standards. Their friends and associates would not be added automatically unless the government also suspects them of involvement, though there are exceptions to that standard, a former official familiar with the process said. The Privacy and Civil Liberties Board released a report in January with recommendations on how to improve the list's accuracy and reliability. Several days later, the Trump administration fired three of its four board members. "As Trump dismantles the rule of law and targets even mild dissent as security threats, ballooning terrorist watch lists are another glaring indicator of our descent toward authoritarian rule," Property of the People's Executive Director Ryan Shapiro said. (Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch, Brad Heath and Jana Winter; Editing by Scott Malone and Mark Porter) By Jonathan Stempel (Reuters) - The Trump administration on Friday ordered a comprehensive review of Harvard University's federally funded research programs, and threatened to take title to or grant licenses from the school's lucrative portfolio of patents. In a letter to University President Alan Garber and obtained by Reuters, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick accused Harvard of breaching its legal and contractual requirements tied to the research programs and patents. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Lutnick also said the Commerce Department has begun a "march-in" process under the federal Bayh-Dole Act that could let the government take ownership of the patents or grant licenses. Signed in 1980, that law ensures that Americans benefit from inventions funded through taxpayer dollars, a senior administration official said. "The Department places immense value on the groundbreaking scientific and technological advancements that emerge from the Government's partnerships with institutions like Harvard," Lutnick wrote. He said that carried a "critical responsibility" for Harvard to ensure that its intellectual property derived from federal funding is used to maximize benefits to the American people. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Harvard did not immediately respond to requests for comment. President Donald Trump has made bolstering the country's manufacturing and economic competitiveness a priority of his second White House term, including by raising tariffs on imports from dozens of countries. ADDED PRESSURE Friday's letter ratchets up White House pressure on Harvard, which it has accused of civil rights violations for failing to address antisemitism on campus. Harvard sued in April after the administration began stripping or freezing billions of dollars of federal research money. Lutnick demanded that Harvard provide by September 5 a list of all patents stemming from federally funded research grants, including how the patents are used and whether any licensing requires "substantial U.S. manufacturing." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As of July 1, 2024, Harvard held more than 5,800 patents, and had more than 900 technology licenses with over 650 industry partners, according to a university website. Other schools that have faced federal funding losses have included Columbia University, which last month agreed to pay more than $220 million to settle the government's antisemitism claims. The New York Times has said Harvard was open to spending up to $500 million to settle similar claims. Signed by President Jimmy Carter about six weeks before he left the White House, the bipartisan Bayh-Dole Act was sponsored by Senators Birch Bayh of Indiana and Bob Dole of Kansas. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Carter said at the time it was important that industrial innovation promote U.S. economic health, and the legislation "goes far toward strengthening the effectiveness of the patent incentive in stimulating innovation in the United States." Many civil rights experts, faculty and White House critics believe the Trump administration's targeting of schools is a pretext to assert federal control and threaten academic freedom and free speech. (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; editing by Diane Craft) By Shivam Patel and Aftab Ahmed NEW DELHI (Reuters) -New Delhi has put on hold its plans to procure new U.S. weapons and aircraft, according to three Indian officials familiar with the matter, in India's first concrete sign of discontent after tariffs imposed on its exports by President Donald Trump dragged ties to their lowest level in decades. India had been planning to send Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to Washington in the coming weeks for an announcement on some of the purchases, but that trip has been cancelled, two of the people said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trump on Aug. 6 imposed an additional 25% tariff on Indian goods as punishment for Delhi's purchases of Russian oil, which he said meant the country was funding Russia's invasion of Ukraine. That raised the total duty on Indian exports to 50% - among the highest of any U.S. trading partner. The president has a history of rapidly reversing himself on tariffs and India has said it remains actively engaged in discussions with Washington. One of the people said the defence purchases could go ahead once India had clarity on tariffs and the direction of bilateral ties, but "just not as soon as they were expected to." Written instructions had not been given to pause the purchases, another official said, indicating that Delhi had the option to quickly reverse course, though there was "no forward movement at least for now." Post publication of this story, Indias government issued a statement it attributed to a Ministry of Defence source describing news reports of a pause in the talks as "false and fabricated." The statement also said procurement was progressing as per "extant procedures." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Delhi, which has forged a close partnership with America in recent years, has said it is being unfairly targeted and that Washington and its European allies continue to trade with Moscow when it is in their interest. Reuters is reporting for the first time that discussions on India's purchases of Stryker combat vehicles made by General Dynamics Land Systems and Javelin anti-tank missiles developed by Raytheon and Lockheed Martin have been paused due to the tariffs. Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had in February announced plans to pursue procurement and joint production of those items. Singh had also been planning to announce the purchase of six Boeing P8I reconnaissance aircraft and support systems for the Indian Navy during his now-cancelled trip, two of the people said. Talks over procuring the aircraft in a proposed $3.6 billion deal were at an advanced stage, according to the officials. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Boeing, Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics referred queries to the Indian and U.S. governments. Raytheon did not return a request for comment. RUSSIAN RELATIONS India's deepening security relationship with the U.S., which is fuelled by their shared strategic rivalry with China, was heralded by many U.S. analysts as one of the key areas of foreign-policy progress in the first Trump administration. Delhi is the world's second-largest arms importer and Russia has traditionally been its top supplier. India has in recent years however, shifted to importing from Western powers like France, Israel and the U.S., according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute think-tank. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The shift in suppliers was driven partly by constraints on Russia's ability to export arms, which it is utilizing heavily in its invasion of Ukraine. Some Russian weapons have also performed poorly in the battlefield, according to Western analysts. The broader U.S.-India defence partnership, which includes intelligence sharing and joint military exercises, continues without hiccups, one of the Indian officials said. India also remains open to scaling back on oil imports from Russia and is open to making deals elsewhere, including the U.S., if it can get similar prices, according to two other Indian sources. Trump's threats and rising anti-U.S. nationalism in India have "made it politically difficult for Modi to make the shift from Russia to the U.S.," one of the people said. Nonetheless, discounts on the landing cost of Russian oil have shrunk to the lowest since 2022. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement India's petroleum ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. While the rupture in U.S.-India ties was abrupt, there have been strains in the relationship. Delhi has repeatedly rebutted Trump's claim that the U.S. brokered a ceasefire between India and Pakistan after four days of fighting between the nuclear-armed neighbours in May. Trump also hosted Pakistan's army chief at the White House in the weeks following the conflict. In recent months, Moscow has been actively pitching Delhi on buying new defence technologies like its S-500 surface-to-air missile system, according to one of the Indian officials, as well as a Russian source familiar with the talks. India currently does not see a need for new arms purchases from Moscow, two Indian officials said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But Delhi is unlikely to wean itself off Russian weapons entirely as the decades-long partnership between the two powers means Indian military systems will continue to require Moscow's support, one of the officials said. The Russian embassy in Delhi did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (Reporting by Shivam Patel and Aftab Ahmed; Editing by Katerina Ang) By Poppy McPherson and Napat Wesshasartar BANGKOK (Reuters) -One of Thailands top art galleries removed, at China's request, materials about Beijing's treatment of ethnic minorities and Hong Kong from an exhibit on authoritarian governments, according to a curator and communications seen by Reuters. In what the artists called the latest attempt by Beijing to silence critics overseas, the Bangkok Arts and Cultural Centre changed multiple works by artists in exile in the exhibit on authoritarian governments collaborating across borders. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement When Reuters visited on Thursday, some works previously advertised and photographed had been removed, including a multimedia installation by a Tibetan artist, while other pieces had been altered, with the words Hong Kong, Tibet and Uyghur redacted, along with the names of the artists. Three days after the show, "Constellation of Complicity: Visualising the Global Machinery of Authoritarian Solidarity, opened on July 24, Chinese embassy staff, accompanied by Bangkok city officials, "entered the exhibition and demanded its shutdown, said the exhibit's co-curator, Sai, a Myanmar artist who goes by one name. In a July 30 email seen by Reuters, the gallery said: "Due to pressure from the Chinese Embassy - transmitted through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and particularly the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, our main supporter - we have been warned that the exhibition may risk creating diplomatic tensions between Thailand and China." The email said the gallery had "no choice but to make certain adjustments", including obscuring the names of the Hong Kong, Tibetan and Uyghur artists. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Several days later, Sai told Reuters, the embassy demanded further removals. The Chinese embassy in Bangkok and foreign ministry in Beijing, and Thailand's foreign ministry did not respond to multiple requests for comment. The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration referred Reuters to the gallery, which did not respond to an email seeking comment. A gallery representative at the exhibit said the team had agreed not to comment on the issue. 'AUTHORITARIAN PRESSURE' Rights groups say China carries out a sophisticated campaign of harassment against critics overseas that has often extended into the art world, allegations Beijing has denied. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Sai, co-founder of Myanmar Peace Museum, the organisation that put together the exhibition, said the removed pieces included Tibetan and Uyghur flags and postcards featuring Chinese President Xi Jinping, as well as a postcard depicting links between China and Israel. "It is tragically ironic that an exhibition on authoritarian cooperation has been censored under authoritarian pressure, he said. Thailand has long been a refuge for dissidents. This is a chilling signal to all exiled artists and activists in the region." Sai said he was speaking from overseas, where he had fled after Thai police sought to find him. The superintendent of Pathumwan Police Station, who oversees the gallery's Bangkok neighbourhood, told Reuters he had received no reports of such an incident. Thailand this year returned to China 40 Uyghurs, members of a mainly Muslim ethnic minority numbering about 10 million in China's far western region of Xinjiang, in a secretive deportation. U.N. experts had warned they would be at risk of torture, ill-treatment and "irreparable harm". China denies abusing Uyghurs. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Bangkok exhibition also features works by artists in exile from Xinjiang as well as Russia, Iran and Syria. China has been steadily increasing its influence in Southeast Asia, where governments are balancing cooperation with the regional giant against concerns over sovereignty. Beijing recently sought unsuccessfully to block screenings in New Zealand of a Philippine documentary on that countrys struggles in contested parts of the South China Sea amid alleged harassment from the Chinese coast guard and maritime militia, local media reported. It was pulled from a film festival in the Philippines in March due to "external factors", the filmmakers said. BLACK SCREEN Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Chinese officials returned to the Bangkok gallery on Wednesday, asked to remove another flyer and reiterated enforcement of the One China policy, Sai said, citing updates from contacts. That policy, observed by governments that have relations with Beijing, acknowledges Beijing's position that the People's Republic of China is the sole legitimate government representing all of China, including Taiwan. China has never renounced the use of force over the self-governed island. Taiwan's government says only Taiwan's people can decide their future. Foreign governments refer to Tibet and Xinjiang as part of China. Works withdrawn from the Bangkok exhibit by Tibetan artist Tenzin Mingyur Paldron included video of Tibetans carrying Palestinian flags while calling for accountability for genocide and a film titled "Listen to Indigenous People". Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The works were previously advertised, and Sai shared images of them previously on display with Reuters. By forcing (the gallery) to remove significant parts of my work, the Chinese government has once again demonstrated that it desperately wishes to cut Tibetans off from the rest of the world, said Paldron, adding that China did not want its complicity in other colonialisms and genocides to be recognised. Who are museums for?" he said. "They should be for the people, not dictators of any ideology." When Reuters visited, video monitors showed a black screen. A film by a Uyghur artist played, but there was a black mark where her name had been. (Reporting by Poppy McPherson; Additional reporting by Panarat Thepgumpanat, Juarawee Kittisilpa, and Chayut Setboonsarng in Bangkok, Marissa Davidson and Bahareh Khodabandeh in London; Editing by William Mallard) MANHATTAN, N.Y. (PIX11) Almost two weeks after the deadly mass shooting inside a Midtown high-rise, the NYPD is bringing in therapy dogs to help ease unseen wounds. Officers from the responding precinct are now given a space to process the trauma they may be experiencing. More Local News The calls were frantic, and police officers were sprinting into the unknown, only knowing that lives were on the line, including their own. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement These are the same officers from the 19th precinct station house who went into 345 Park Avenue in Midtown when gunman Shane Tamura shot several people, including one of their own, Detective Didural Islam. Many of the officers were first on the scene. They had to rescue people, carry out victims, ease fears, and restore order. They went through it all with their training and adrenaline, but after, their own anxiety and pain set in. On Thursday afternoon, officers received a surprise visit from therapy dogs. Capt. Julieann Staple remembers the day when the officers ran into the unknown to save lives. We train to run into danger when everyone else is running away from it. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The captain added that many of the officers are new to the job and were first on the scene. The therapy dogs are from Puppies Behind Bars. The dogs are trained by inmates in jail. Gloria Gilbert Stoga of the organization said, Dogs are magical. They can make people talk, open up, and express emotion in a way that no human being can. During evening roll call, the officers had a moment to spend a little time with the dogs. The dogs can sense everything the officers are feeling. More: Latest News from Around the Tri-State Det. Theresa Mahon, NYPD Health and Wellness, spoke with the officers about warning signs, things they might be feeling that are not normal. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The department and its partners said help can come in many different ways. To help any officer in need, therapy dogs are specially trained to comfort people in distress. For some of these officers, its the first time they have smiled in about two weeks. The NYPD and partners say mental health resources and support can come in many different forms these therapy dogs can sense everything. The dog can just help you process what you just expressed, and they can help cope through it for the days, weeks, months to come, said Chief Lawrence Rotta of the Tuckahoe 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 PIX11. LAS VEGAS (KLAS) The future of digital defense took center stage at the Black Hat convention and Def Con in Las Vegas. Were moving into an area of more geopolitical pressure, I think the adversaries and the next areas of conflict, arent necessarily likely to be a shooting war per se, but economic espionage, DataTribe Managing Director Robert Ackerman said. Its a form of corporate espionage, stealing confidential business information like proprietary technology or financial data to gain a competitive advantage. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ackerman also added that IP theft accounts for nearly $600 billion a year on average, lost in the United States. His company develops technology to fight the growing threat, but he added that it could take another five to 10 years before the benefits are fully realized across the board. He was in Las Vegas, collaborating with other experts at Black Hat, one of the worlds leading cybersecurity conferences. I think thats why these gatherings are important, to sort of look behind the curtain and crystal ball to see whats next, in cyber security, he added. Because not understanding whats next has ramifications financially as well as peoples well-being. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We get complacent, lazy. Theres a real fine line between convenience and privacy, and in general, people tend to err on the side of convenience, he added. If privacy starts to intrude on their ability to watch videos and download things, they tend to put privacy aside. That means having a heightened sense of awareness, regularly changing your passwords, and making sure all your home devices are properly secured. Being cautious about where and how you share your data is also important. AI feeds on data, and your data is going to be looked at, he added. I think how you think about it, controlling it, and how you store it, is really important. 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. Physician assistant Carla Dowdy (left) takes notes while treating a patient in the Ekalaka, Montana, hospital. (Arielle Zionts/KFF Health News) Some doctors and the groups that represent them say physicians extensive training leads to better emergency care, and that some hospitals are trying to save money by not hiring them. They support new laws in Indiana, Virginia, and South Carolina that require physicians to be on-site 24/7. EKALAKA, Mont. There was no doctor on-site when a patient arrived in early June at the emergency room in the small hospital at the intersection of two dirt roads in this town of 400 residents. There never is. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Dahl Memorials three-bed emergency department a two-hour drive from the closest hospital with more advanced services instead depends on physician assistants and nurse practitioners. Physician assistant Carla Dowdy realized the patient needed treatment beyond what the ER could provide, even if it had had a doctor. So, she made a call for a medical plane to fly the patient to treatment at Montanas most advanced hospital. Dowdy also called out medications and doses needed to stabilize the patient as a paramedic and nurses administered the drugs, inserted IV lines, and measured vital signs. Emergency medicine researchers and providers believe ERs, especially in rural areas, increasingly operate with few or no physicians amid a nationwide shortage of doctors. A recent study found that in 2022, at least 7.4% of emergency departments across the U.S. did not have an attending physician on-site 24/7. Like Dahl Memorial, more than 90% were in low-volume or critical access hospitals a federal designation for small, rural hospitals. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The results come from the 82% of hospitals that responded to a survey sent to all emergency departments in the country, except those operated by the federal government. The study is the first of its kind so there isnt proof that such staffing arrangements are increasing, said Carlos Camargo, the lead author and a professor of emergency medicine at Harvard Medical School. But Camargo and other experts suspect ERs running without doctors present are becoming more common. Placing ERs in the hands of nondoctors isnt without controversy. Some doctors and their professional associations say physicians extensive training leads to better care, and that some hospitals are just trying to save money by not employing them. Ben Bruski visits the clinic at Dahl Memorial Healthcare Association in Ekalaka, Montana, for help with his allergies. He says hes happy with the care hes received from the hospitals emergency room and that he knows people who were saved by its providers. (Arielle Zionts/KFF Health News) The American Medical Association, open to all medical students and physicians, and the American College of Emergency Physicians both support state and federal laws or regulations that would require ERs to staff a doctor around the clock. Indiana, Virginia, and South Carolina recently passed such legislation. Rural ERs may see fewer patients, but they still treat serious cases, said Alison Haddock, president of ACEP. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Its important that folks in those areas have equal access to high-quality emergency care to the greatest extent possible, Haddock said. Other health care providers and organizations say advanced-practice providers with the right experience and support are capable of overseeing ERs. And they say mandating that a physician be on-site could drive some rural hospitals to close because they cant afford or recruit enough or any doctors. In an environment, especially a rural environment, if you have an experienced PA who knows what they know, and knows the boundaries of their knowledge and when to involve consultants, it works well, said Paul Amiott, a board member of the Society of Emergency Medicine PAs. Im not practicing independently despite working 12-hour night shifts without physicians on-site at critical access hospitals in three states, he said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Amiott said he calls specialists for consultation often and about once a month asks the physician covering the day shift at his hospital to come help him with more challenging cases such as emergency childbirth and complicated trauma. Amiott said this isnt unique to PAs ER doctors seek similar consultations and backup. The proportion of ERs without an attending physician always on-site varies wildly by state. The 2022 survey found that 15 states including substantially rural ones, such as New Mexico, Nevada, and West Virginia had no such emergency departments. The ambulance bay of the emergency room at Dahl Memorial Hospital in Ekalaka, a small town in sprawling, rural southeastern Montana. (Arielle Zionts/KFF Health News) But in the Dakotas, more than half of emergency departments were running without 24/7 attending physician staffing. In Montana it was 46%, the third-highest rate. None of those three states have a program to train physicians as ER specialists. Neither does Wyoming or Idaho. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But Sanford Health, which bills itself as the largest rural health system in the United States, is launching an emergency medicine residency in the region. The Sioux Falls, South Dakota-based program is intended to boost the ranks of rural emergency doctors in those states, the residency director said in a news release. Leon Adelman is an emergency medicine physician in Gillette, Wyoming, which, at around 33,800 residents, is the largest city in the states northeast. Working in such a rural area has given him nuanced views on whether states should require 24/7 on-site physician coverage in ERs. Adelman said he supports such laws only where its feasible, like in Virginia. He said the states emergency physicians organization pushed for the law only after doing research that made it confident that the requirement wouldnt shutter any rural hospitals. Camargo said some doctors say that if lawmakers are going to require 24/7 on-site physician coverage in ERs, they need to pay to help hospitals implement it. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Adelman said when instituting staffing requirements isnt possible, states should create other regulations. For example, he said, lawmakers should make sure hospitals not hiring physicians arent refraining just to save money. He pointed to Vermont, where a report recommended that several of the states hospitals cut physicians from their ERs. The report was part of a mandated process to improve the states troubled health care system. Adelman said states should also require PAs and NPs without on-site physician supervision to have extensive emergency experience and the ability to consult with remote physicians. Some doctors have pointed to a case in which a 19-year-old woman died after being misdiagnosed by an NP who was certified in family medicine, not emergency care, and working alone at an Oklahoma ER. Few NPs have emergency certification, an analysis found. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Society of Emergency Medicine PAs outlines training and experience PAs should have before practicing in rural areas or without on-site doctors. Haddock said emergency physicians have seen cases of hospitals hiring inexperienced advanced-practice providers. She said ACEP is asking the federal government to require critical access and rural emergency hospitals to have physicians on-site or on call day and night. Haddock said ACEP wouldnt want such a requirement to close any hospital and noted that the organization has various efforts to keep rural hospitals staffed and funded. Dahl Memorial Hospital has strict hiring requirements and robust oversight, said Dowdy, who previously worked for 14 years in high-volume, urban emergency rooms. Mobile mammogram clinics make it easier for people in the Ekalaka, Montana, area to get care since their local facilities dont offer the technology, which helps detect breast cancer. The facilities also dont have childbirth or chemotherapy services; the nearest that do are about two hours away. (Arielle Zionts/KFF Health News) She said ER staffers can call physicians when they have questions and that a doctor who lives on the other side of Montana reviews all their patient treatment notes. The ER is working on getting virtual reality glasses that will let remote physicians help by seeing what the providers in Ekalaka see, Dowdy said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement She said patient numbers in the Ekalaka ER vary but average one or two a day, which isnt enough for staff to maintain their knowledge and skills. To supplement those real-life cases, providers visit simulation labs, do monthly mock scenarios, and review advanced skills, such as using an ultrasound to help guide breathing tubes into patient airways. Dowdy said Dahl Memorial hasnt had a physician in at least 30 years, but CEO Darrell Messersmith said he would hire one if a doctor lived in the area. Messersmith said theres a benefit to having advanced-practice providers with connections to the region and who stay at the hospital for several years. Other rural hospitals, he noted, may have physicians either as permanent staff who leave after a few years or contract workers who fly in for a few weeks at a time. People eating at Ekalakas sole breakfast spot and attending appointments at the hospitals clinic all told KFF Health News that theyve been happy with the care they have received from Dowdy and her co-workers. Ben Bruski had to visit the ER after a cow on his family ranch kicked a gate, smashing it against his hand. And he knows other people whove been treated for more serious problems. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Weve got to have this facility here because this facility saves a lot of lives, Bruski said. The hospital in Ekalaka, a small town in sprawling, rural southeastern Montana, sits at the intersection of two dirt roads. (Arielle Zionts/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 KFF the independent source for health policy research, polling, and journalism. Earlier this summer, Trump signed the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act into law, which delivers tax cuts to the richest Americans and strips away health care for the poorest. The bill calls for nearly $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid, a state and federal health care program that pays for medical procedures and preventative health services for low-income adults and children, folks with disabilities and others with limited resources. Its estimated that roughly 12 million people will lose their health care coverage because of this legislation, and the ripple effects are expected to be felt in health systems and hospitals across the country particularly in rural hospitals. Decisions in Washington dont just stay in Washington they shape lives everywhere. HuffPost is committed to reporting on how policies affect real people. Support journalism that connects the dots. Join our membership program today. There are 60 million rural Americans, said Alan Morgan, the chief executive officer of the National Rural Health Association. And every single state has at least one rural area, so these Medicaid funding cuts will impact hospitals in every state, whether Kansas, California, Maine, Virginia, New York or wherever. Heres how: The loss of Medicaid funding will force some rural hospitals to close. Illustration: HuffPost; Photos: Getty Some rural hospitals will be forced to close because of the Medicaid cuts. Medicaid really is a foundational pillar of hospital financing in the U.S., particularly for those hospitals that serve low-income, elderly or disabled populations across the country, said Alan Condon, the editor-in-chief of Beckers Healthcare, a health care business news publication. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Hospitals see patients that present themselves at their door, and then they bill for those services, whether its private pay, whether its Medicaid, whether its Medicare, whether its the VA ... then the hospitals wait to see if they get paid and how much they get paid, Morgan explained. Medicaid accounts, on average, if we take a snapshot of hospitals across the country, it could be anywhere from 15% to 25% of their total revenue, Condon said, adding that for hospitals known as safety-net hospitals, which provide care to uninsured folks and those on Medicaid, Medicaid can account for upward of 45%, 50% or even 60% of total revenue. Condon said he cant underscore enough the magnitude the Medicaid cuts will have on hospitals, particularly those that do rely heavily on Medicaid for funding and this is largely going to impact rural hospitals. [Rural America] is a unique health care environment, and I say that because roughly 1 in 4 rural Americans are on Medicaid. Rural America is older, its sicker, its poorer, and it has a population with high health needs, and in many cases, the inability to pay for health services, Morgan said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Providers end up footing the bill a lot of time in these areas, which has led to huge funding problems, Morgan added. Before this bill was passed, 45% of rural hospitals were already operating in red, so youve got nearly half of all rural hospitals operating at a loss before any cuts, and as a result of that, roughly 300 rural hospitals are at risk for closure now, Morgan noted. This is only going to get worse as Medicaid funding is ripped from hospitals, he continued. There were statements ahead of this bill that the Medicaid cuts may result in rural hospital closures I dont believe thats accurate. The Medicaid cuts will result in rural hospital closures, Morgan said. Its not a maybe when youve got [nearly] half already operating at a loss. Any reductions are going to push them over the edge, he said. Experts expect that some rural hospitals will have to stop offering certain health care services because of Medicaid funding cuts. FS Productions via Getty Images The Medicaid cuts will also mean certain care wont be available at some rural hospitals. Some rural hospitals will have enough funding to stay open, but they wont be able to keep running all aspects of the care they offer, experts say. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Some rural hospitals stand to lose millions of dollars because theyre not going to be receiving some of the extra funds from the Direct Payment Program, which is eliminated by the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act, said Laura Dyrda, the vice president of editorial at Beckers Healthcare. For states like Oklahoma, where around 97 hospitals have negative operating margins already and many have a large population of Medicaid beneficiaries, they could have to cut services, Dyrda added. There are specific services that tend to get cut first. What weve seen is as finances get more dire, rural hospitals begin to eliminate service lines usually the first two that are eliminated are maternity care and behavioral health, Morgan said. These critical services are generally not profitable for hospitals, Condon added, which is where Medicaid comes in to help fund these programs so communities can get care. There will also be layoffs at certain rural hospitals. Beyond actual impacts on health care in rural communities, the Medicaid cuts will lead to layoffs, too, experts say. As hospitals close, people will lose their jobs, whether they work in administration, marketing, finance or are actual doctors and nurses. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement These hospitals are often the largest employers in their counties, Morgan said, which will further impact rural communities. Well unfortunately see a lot more layoffs in some of these hospitals [and] health systems across the country as they try and balance the books to make up the gap, Condon added. The risks to rural hospitals are well known; lawmakers added special funding to the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act, but experts say its not enough. The impact these health care funding cuts will have on rural hospitals is known among both Republicans and Democrats, Morgan said. As talks went on, legislators added an initiative called the Rural Health Transformation Program to the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act, which provides $50 billion in funding over five years to rural health systems, Dyrda said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But many leaders that we speak to believe that wont be enough to cover everything that is being cut from these hospitals, Dyrda added. At this time, its unclear how the funding will actually be administered and split up among hospitals, both Dyrda and Morgan said. We are thrilled that there is a recognition of the concern for rural Americans thats bipartisan, Republicans and Democrats and the administration understand that rural hospitals are at risk, and so were glad that they created this fund, but its not a comparable trad- off here, Morgan noted. Rural hospitals are expected to see funding cuts of $155 billion over 10 years, Morgan said. And this is $50 billion set aside over five years, so, youre moving out $155 billion over 10, and youre putting back $50 billion over five. Those are not the same, Morgan said. So, its more than just a Medicaid problem its a problem for American health care as a whole. Shouldnt you care that your low-income neighbors and those with disabilities may get booted from their health care coverage? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I think the general public just thinks, Thats not my problem, thats a Medicaid problem. They dont realize that this is about their hometown hospital, Morgan said. As mentioned above, these cuts to Medicaid could mean your local rural hospital has to shut down, or maybe the services you need are no longer available there. Its really not safe to live in a community where youre more than 30 miles from a 24/7 emergency room facility, Morgan said. Whether or not youre on Medicaid and whether or not you live in a rural area, these cuts to Medicaid will still impact you. It definitely will significantly and more acutely impact the rural facilities, but that will also, of course, trickle down to some of those urban facilities, Condon said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As rural hospitals close or end certain services, urban hospitals will likely absorb some of those displaced patient populations, which can really strain their emergency departments, ICUs, even their charity care and compensated care budgets as well, Condon noted. With that in mind, these cuts to Medicaid arent good for anyone, whether youre on Medicaid, have a loved one on Medicaid or even if you dont personally know anyone with the health care coverage. These cuts will make America sicker and make necessary health care harder for folks to get. Related... Valued at a market cap of $32.7 billion, The Estee Lauder Companies Inc. (EL) is a global leader in prestige beauty, offering skincare, makeup, fragrance, and hair care products. The New-York based companys portfolio includes iconic brands like Estee Lauder, MAC, Clinique, La Mer, and Jo Malone London. It operates through a mix of department stores, specialty retailers, e-commerce, and travel retail channels across over 150 countries. EL shares have struggled to keep up with the broader market over the past 52 weeks. Shares of EL have dropped 3.5% over this time frame, while the broader S&P 500 Index ($SPX) has soared 21.1%. However, on a YTD basis, the stock has surged 20.2%, compared to SPXs 7.9% rise. More News from Barchart Narrowing the focus, EL has also trailed the Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Funds (XLP) 4.3% uptick over the past 52 weeks but has surpassed the ETFs 3.8% rise on a YTD basis. www.barchart.com On May 29, Estee Lauder shares rose over 3%, following the announcement of Lisa Sequinos appointment as president of its makeup brand cluster. With a strong track record as former CEO of Supergoop! and JLo Beauty & Lifestyle, Sequinos hiring was seen as a strategic move that bolstered investor confidence and lifted the stock. For the fiscal year that ended in June, analysts expect ELs EPS to decline 42.1% year over year to $1.50. The companys earnings surprise history is promising. It exceeded the consensus estimates in each of the last four quarters. Among the 24 analysts covering the stock, the consensus rating is a Moderate Buy which is based on five Strong Buy, one Moderate Buy, and 18 Hold ratings. www.barchart.com This configuration is more bullish than a month ago, with three analysts suggesting a Strong Buy rating. On July 25, JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) upgraded Estee Lauder from "Neutral" to "Overweight" and raised its price target from $62 to $101, reflecting growing confidence in the companys near-term growth and market potential. While EL currently trades above its mean price target of $81.76, the Street-high price target of $110 suggests an upside potential of 22% from the current market prices. On the date of publication, Kritika Sarmah did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. This article was originally published on Barchart.com You can probably tell. Something's off. Birds aren't as loud. Plants bloom at the wrong time. Maybe you've been tossing and turning at night, too. Turns out, it's all connected. What you're noticing isn't just a weird season it's the heat. Unrelenting, record-breaking heat. And while it might just feel uncomfortable at first, the bigger issue is how it's upending local ecosystems. That's when it starts to hit us. What's happening? As the BBC reported, prior to a July heatwave with projected temperatures of 34 degrees Celsius (93.2 degrees Fahrenheit) in the U.K., experts warned of the heat's likely effect on wildlife. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Wildlife [is] stressed by heat that changed their behaviour on a daily basis," said Dr. Kevin Collins, a senior lecturer at the Open University. "They need to seek shade and better access to water and food." "Birds, in really hot weather, will fly less, which means they're not accessing food, not hydrating properly, which weakens them and causes disease and mortality," Collins noted. A study published by the British Ecological Society found that bees in Europe may stop pollinating altogether when temperatures spike. The pattern repeats with other species. "Bumblebees will fly less," Dr. Collins explained. "And even if they get to plants, the plants will also be under stress and may not be producing as much nectar, so when the bumble bee arrives its food source may not be available." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Not every species suffers. Ants thrive in heat, which shifts the balance. "They become a good food source for woodpeckers," said Collins. Still, the disruption runs deep. Why is the heatwave concerning? Seasonal rhythms are falling apart. Dormice rely on autumn tree nuts and berries to survive winter. But those are coming earlier. "Food being produced early could also impact endangered species like dormice," said Dr. Collins. Without that nutrition, "they would otherwise go into winter in ill health, impacting on the population for the following years." Matt Jackson, conservation director at the Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire Wildlife Trust, sees the shift too. "Things like bird breeding, insects emerging, even the flowers emerging in the woodlands are starting to happen a good few weeks earlier than they used to." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He didn't mince words: "We think drought is now the biggest threat to nature reserve management across the country." What's being done about it? Conservation teams are adapting. "It is changing the way our nature reserves work, and we're having to try and work out how to adapt to that," Jackson said. Some fixes are already in motion. Slope adjustments in canals have helped animals escape. Researchers have tracked suffering, death, and even changes in how animals eat, move, and rest. When nature breaks, so do the systems we rely on. 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. The hills of Atapuerca in Burgos, Spain, have long been a treasure trove for scientists. However, their latest revelation pushes the boundaries of what we thought we knew about our prehistoric past. Dating back roughly 5,700 years, skeletal remains found in El Mirador cave bear chilling signs of cannibalism: precise cut marks, controlled burning, evidence of cooking - even human bite marks. According to Antonio Rodriguez-Hidalgo, researcher at the Institute of Archaeology-Merida (IAM-CSIC) and co-author of the study published in Scientific Reports, while recorded examples of prehistoric cannibalism are relatively few, in Neolithic Iberia the practice was more frequent than it might seem and integrated into the culture of the time. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Related Image of a child's femur punctured to extract the marrow - IPHES-CERCA Eleven victims of "extreme exploitation The discovery includes the remains of 11 individuals - children among them - subjected to what experts describe as extreme exploitation of the bodies. One haunting example: a childs femur, deliberately struck to release the marrow, revealing not just brutality, but skill. Researchers believe the massacre was an episode of war cannibalism, far more than a simple act of killing. For our ancestors, this was about erasing an enemy from both the physical and spiritual realms. Consuming the flesh was believed to destroy the soul entirely, eliminating any trace of the adversary. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The fact that all 11 died at once rules out long-term funerary rites, and with no signs of famine or harsh climate, survival cannibalism is off the table. Bones from cannibalised limbs - IPHES-CERCA "If youre eating someone from your own group, you usually take only whats needed to survive, Rodriguez-Hidalgo explains Instead, the exhaustive use of the bodies found at El Mirador suggests that the victims did not belong to the same social group as their aggressors, but were enemies who had to be completely obliterated. This discovery challenges the long-held image of Neolithic societies as peaceful farming communities, demonstrating that they also "resolved conflicts violently". Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement However, as the researcher points out, this does not imply that human beings are genetically predisposed to war: "It's not that war is in our genes, but rather that what we usually do, and succeed in doing, is to avoid it with tools such as diplomacy or politics." Atapuerca: The capital of cannibalism The Atapuerca site has established itself over the last three decades as the world epicentre for the study of prehistoric cannibalism. As Rodriguez-Hidalgo jokes: "Atapuerca is as if it were the capital of cannibalism" on a scientific level. The findings related to anthropophagy at this site span an extraordinary time span. The earliest discovery dates back almost a million years, constituting the first documented case of cannibalism in the history of human evolution. More recently, just over a week ago, the same research team announced the discovery of evidence of infant anthropophagy from over 850,000 years ago. Cases have also been documented from the Bronze Age, some 4,000 years ago. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Atapuerca's exceptional productivity in this field of study is no coincidence. Much of this success lies in the work of a dedicated team led by Palmira Saladie at the Catalan Institute of Human Palaeoecology and Social Evolution (IPHES), whose expertise allows them to spot subtle bone markings other researchers might miss. Members of the IPHES team (Palmina Salamina, Antonio Rodriguez-Hidalgo, Francesc Marginedas) - x.com - Francesc Marginedas Half a century of revolutionary discoveries The modern history of Atapuerca began long before it became a world reference in palaeoanthropology. In 1863, Felipe de Arino and Ramon Inclan published the discovery of prehistoric human remains in Cueva Ciega, marking the first signs of the archaeological wealth of the area. However, it would not be until more than a century later that the site's modern scientific chapter would truly begin. The turning point came in 1976, when Emiliano Aguirre began to work in the Sierra de Atapuerca, where he conceived the project as a multidisciplinary quarry of researchers with a long-term mission. That same year, the speleology group led by Trinidad Torres undertook excavations in search of bear fossils, and what they found was a remarkably complete human jawbone in the Sima de los Huesos. The first discovery of a human fossil was made in 1976 by Trinidad Torres, who at that time was doing her doctoral thesis on prehistoric bears, and it was then that Emiliano Aguirre took on the challenge of forming a research team. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The 1990s marked a turning point for Atapuerca. In 1992, the discovery of human remains in the Sima de los Huesos site brought the area major scientific and public attention. Two years later, archaeologists unearthed fossils over 900,000 years old that belonged to a newly identified species, Homo antecessor. This find transformed our understanding of human evolution in Europe, revealing a group of hominids that lived before both Neanderthals and modern humans. International recognition soon followed. In 2000, UNESCO declared the Atapuerca sites a World Heritage Site, consolidating their status as one of the most important archaeological sites in the world. Emiliano Aguirre was distinguished with the Prince of Asturias Award for Technical and Scientific Research in 1998, in recognition of decades of pioneering work. Remarkable discoveries have continued into the 21st century. During the 2022 excavation season, researchers uncovered a facial fragment and part of a jawbone from Homo affinis erectus, dated to around 1.2 million years ago - the oldest human remains ever found at the site. Claim: A July 2025 survey found that 47% of Republican voters said they'd still support U.S. President Donald Trump even if he were officially implicated in the late Jeffrey Epstein's sex crimes. Rating: Rating: True Context: The question asked of around 1,000 American voters was: "If Donald Trump was officially implicated in Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking activities, would this make you more likely to vote for another party, or would it not affect your vote for Donald Trump?" Forty-seven percent of Republican respondents said such a revelation would not affect their vote, though based on other polling data this appears to reflect voter loyalty more than approval of the alleged actions. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In early August 2025, a claim circulated on social media that 47% of Republican voters said they would not change their support for U.S. President Donald Trump even if he were officially implicated in Jeffrey Epstein's sex crimes. Trump's past association with the late sex offender has long fueled speculation, though no formal charges have linked Trump to Epstein's criminal activities. In early July 2025, the Department of Justice shared a memo stating that its review found no incriminating "client list" and no credible evidence that Epstein had blackmailed prominent people. One TikTok post (archived) on the topic had a caption reading, "47% of Republican voters said they'd still support Trump even if he were officially implicated in Epstein's sex crimes WHAT THE F***?" (TikTok user @nowthisimpact) The claim also spread on social media platforms including Facebook, X, Reddit and Instagram. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In short, the claim was true: A survey conducted in late July 2025 found that 47% of Republican voters said Trump being implicated in Epstein's criminal activities would not affect their vote. While some viral posts framed this as proof of continued support, the poll specifically asked whether the allegation would influence Republicans' voting behavior not whether respondents condoned the alleged actions. Source of the statistics The statistic came from a poll the Canadian market research company Leger conducted in partnership with the media companies 338Canada and Maintenant Media between July 25 and 27, 2025. It was published on July 30. The survey explored the attitudes of a representative sample of around a thousand American voters on several topics, including the potential political fallout if Trump were officially implicated in Epstein's sex trafficking activities. One question, labeled Q10, asked: If Donald Trump was officially implicated in Jeffrey Epstein's sex trafficking activities, would this make you more likely to vote for another party, or would it not affect your vote for Donald Trump? Base: Republican voters (n=322) The question was asked only of respondents who identified as Republican voters, making up a subset of the full sample. According to the poll, 47% of Republican voters said Trump being implicated would not affect their vote. Meanwhile, 27% said they'd be more likely to vote for another party and 26% were unsure or preferred not to answer. (leger360.com) A side note in the report added, "Among those who say they would vote for the Republican candidate in 2028, 23% report they would be more likely to vote for another party if Donald Trump were officially implicated in Jeffrey Epstein's activities." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The survey revealed additional insights by region, age and gender. For instance, Republicans age 18-34 were the most likely to say they would vote for another party if Trump were implicated (61%), and older Republicans (55+) were the least likely to be swayed, with 58% saying it wouldn't affect their vote. Additionally, male respondents were more likely than female respondents to say it would not affect their vote (55% vs. 38%). You can read the full report below: https://media.snopes.com/2025/08/us-politics-leger-338canada-maintenantmedia-final.pdf What other surveys say Other surveys on Republican voters' views regarding Trump and the Epstein case show notable division and skepticism among party supporters. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement For instance, a mid-July 2025 Quinnipiac University poll found Republicans split on Trump's handling of the Epstein files 40% approved, 36% disapproved and 24% remained undecided. Overall, 63% of all voters disapproved of how the Trump administration managed the Epstein case. An Economist/YouGov poll found 45% of Republican voters approved of Trump's handling of the Epstein investigation, with 25% disapproving. Despite this division, surveys have shown that many Republican voters strongly desire transparency. According to the same poll, the vast majority of Americans (89% of Democrats and 73% of Republicans) believed that the government should release all documents it has about the Epstein case. A Reuters/Ipsos poll showed that among Republicans, 35% approved of Trump's handling of the case, compared to 29% who disapproved and the rest who said they weren't sure or didn't answer the question. All in all, the claim that 47% of Republican voters said they would still support Trump if he were implicated in the Epstein case was accurate but it reflected voter loyalty more than approval of the alleged actions. Other polls showed Republicans were divided on Trump's handling of the case and broadly supported full disclosure of the so-called Epstein files. Other Epstein-related rumors we've investigated include a claim that Trump once said, "I never had the privilege of going to his island" and a 2002 photo allegedly showing 22-year-old Chauntae Davies, an accuser of Epstein, giving former President Bill Clinton a shoulder massage. Sources: 63% Of Voters Disapprove Of The Trump Administration's Handling Of The Jeffrey Epstein Files, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; Nearly Half Of Voters Would Consider Joining A Third Party, Just Not One Created By Elon Musk | Quinnipiac University Poll. 16 Jul. 2025, https://poll.qu.edu/poll-release?releaseid=3928. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Agiesta, Jennifer. "Half of Americans Dissatisfied with How Much Epstein Info Government Has Released, CNN Poll Finds | CNN Politics." CNN, 15 Jul. 2025, https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/15/politics/jeffrey-epstein-cnn-poll. Comparing Disapproval of Trump and Biden, Ukraine Aid, Jeffrey Epstein, and PBS: July 18 - 21, 2025 Economist/YouGov Poll | YouGov. https://today.yougov.com/politics/articles/52631-donald-trump-joe-biden-job-approval-ukraine-aid-russia-jeffrey-epstein-public-broadcasting-pbs-npr-july-18-21-2025-economist-yougov-poll. Accessed 7 Aug. 2025. Esposito, Joey. "Did Trump Say He 'never Had the Privilege' of Visiting Epstein's Private Island?" Snopes, 29 Jul. 2025, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/trump-epstein-private-island/. Lange, Jason, and Jason Lange. "Trump Faces Backlash as 69% Believe Epstein Details Concealed, Reuters/Ipsos Poll Finds." Reuters, 17 Jul. 2025. www.reuters.com, https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-faces-backlash-69-believe-epstein-details-concealed-reutersipsos-poll-2025-07-17/. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement PerryCook, Taija. "Real Photo Shows Epstein Accuser Chauntae Davies Giving Bill Clinton Shoulder Massage in 2002." Snopes, 3 Aug. 2025, https://www.snopes.com//fact-check/photo-massage-epstein-bill-clinton-chauntae-davies/. Presser, Jonah. "Trump, Epstein, and The American Party." Leger, 4 Aug. 2025, https://leger360.com/trump-epstein-and-the-american-party/. Claim: Trader Joe's offered people over 50 years old a gift basket for under $12 if they filled out an online form in August 2025. Rating: Rating: Scam Context: "Trader Joe's only sells products inside our stores. Trader Joe's is a card-present retailer, meaning we only accept payment in our physical store locations," Trader Joe's said when Snopes reached out by email. In August 2025, some people began posting to Facebook about what they claimed to be a great deal on Trader Joe's products. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Facebook (archived) posts (archived) told (archived) similar (archived) similar stories about the poster's daughter working at Trader Joe's and telling them about a deal for people over 50. According to the posts, these people could claim a Trader Joe's gift basket for under $12 by filling out an online form. Snopes readers sent us emails and searched our site wondering if the posts were about a real offer. https://www.facebook.com/61579247935409/videos/1065234155767342/ The "deal" in the posts was not a real Trader Joe's offer. The supposed gift basket was a scam. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Trader Joe's only sells products inside our stores. Trader Joe's is a card-present retailer, meaning we only accept payment in our physical store locations," Trader Joe's said when Snopes reached out by email. "We don't want anyone impersonating us and disappointing our customers, and we do everything we can to prevent this." The accounts posting about this gift basket frequently linked to the survey people supposedly needed to fill out to claim a gift basket. A scan of one such link https://food-basket.org/traderjoes by ThreatYeti, an online software for detecting malicious links, rated the URL as "high risk." ThreatYeti found the website was created within a week of people sharing it on Facebook; phishing links and other malicious websites are often newly created because their sites eventually get discovered and taken down. ThreatYeti also found the website's host similarly hosted a number of other suspicious and high risk websites. The above URL redirected people to another website, which is also common for phishing links and scam websites. The URL people were redirected to showed different content for human and non-human users. While human users saw a page for starting the survey, nonhuman users, such as archive tools, saw a 2013 blog post reviewing a Trader Joe's product. This is a technique scammers use called "cloaking," which helps them evade detection by search engines and security tools, according to NordVPN. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The page humans were sent to had a timer at the bottom. Creating a false sense of urgency is another common scam tactic meant to rush people into making hasty decisions without thinking them through. While there was a Trader Joe's logo at the top left of the page, clicking it did nothing (as opposed to taking the user to the Trader Joe's homepage, as it does on the company's actual website). Similarly, a search icon and shopping list icon at the top right of the page did nothing when clicked. People who completely filled out the survey were taken to the "product page" (archived screenshot) which required a person to give out their personal information to claim the gift basket. That page also included a countdown claiming the special offer expired within a few minutes, as well as a notice that the stock was limited, which itself counted down to further create a sense of urgency. None of the webpages people were redirected to in the process of "claiming" their gift basket were part of Trader Joe's website. It's unlikely Trader Joe's or any other legitimate retailer would host an authentic offer to customers on a website other than their own. Scammers create pages like these to potentially harvest victims' personal information, steal their credit card info and/or "sell" them products or subscriptions that never come. Sources: "AlphaMountain ThreatYeti: Results for Food-Basket.org." ThreatYeti, alphaMountain, threatyeti.com/search?q=food-basket.org/tr%D0%B0derjo%D0%B5s. Accessed 8 Aug. 2025. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement NordVPN Experts. "Threat Protection Pro: Defending against Cloaking Techniques." NordVPN, 24 June 2024, nordvpn.com/blog/threat-protection-cloaking-techniques/?srsltid=AfmBOoo7S0VN5IDCr7VWq0Jz3WWEtdiv4JYolPvgfxXz_LajRdPuNAbU. Accessed 8 Aug. 2025. Rohde, Nakia. "Comment from Trader Joe's Public Relations Manager." Received by Emery Winter, 8 Aug. 2025. Did three former U.S. presidents -- Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Bill Clinton -- reject Secret Service detail assigned under the Trump administration for being "DEI hires"? No, that's not true: The rumor was first published on a self-described satire website. No professional journalistic organization reported on any such claim. The rumor originated from an article (archived here) published on March 30, 2025, by dailyskrape.com. It opened: Obama, Clinton, Biden Say No Thanks to DEI Security Details. The article continued: In a dramatic twist of irony, the Secret Service's attempt to dismiss agents hired under Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives has been thwarted by an Obama-era judge, sources have confirmed. The agency, which had been planning to return to a merit-based hiring system, was stopped in its tracks by a court ruling deeming the layoffs illegal. In response, President Trump took a mischievous approach by reassigning these agents to provide personal security for former presidents Clinton, Obama, and Biden. However, the trio quickly declined the service, citing a preference for agents selected through traditional, merit-based criteria--specifically requesting male agents with robust resumes. This is what it looked like at the time of writing: Source: screenshot of dailyskrape.com The website that published the story, however, was a self-described satire page. Its About section (archived here) reads: Welcome to The Daily Skrape, where reality gets a wedgie and dignity is on permanent vacation. We're the news's cheeky cousin, delivering a daily dose of satire with a side of absurdity. Our mission? To poke fun at the pompous, skewer the self-serious, and ensure that no topic is safe from our satirical scalpel. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Terms of Service section (archived here) continued: WE AND THE OTHER COMPANY ENTITIES MAKE NO REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY THAT THE SITE (OR ANY PART THEREOF) IS OR WILL BE ACCURATE, COMPLETE OR ERROR-FREE... Later, on August 6, 2025, the claim resurfaced (archived here) on the internet as a meme. No credible media organization reported the purported story: Searches across Google News and Yahoo News (archived here) returned no relevant matches. Did President Donald Trump order background checks on Democrats to be made public, showing cases of assault, domestic violence and insider trading? No, that's not true: The post spreading that Trump rumor and the false list of cases came from a Facebook page with a satire disclaimer and a warning that all the contents of the page are fabricated. The owner of the page is known for tricking conservatives into liking and sharing made-up content. The site includes a warning that reads: "nothing on this page is real." The claim originated in a post (archived here) published by the America's Last Line Of Defense Facebook page on August 4, 2025. The caption on the video included the typo "accordancewith": Trump ordered the background check on all of the Democrats be made public in accordancewith FOIA. This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing: Source: Facebook screenshot taken by Lead Stories. The claim continued to spread on social media without a satire label, with one video posted on TikTok (archived here) that included the typo from the original satire post. The video included slides of Democratic elected officials, each captioned with a made-up charge, as listed here: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Representative Nancy Pelosi "3 counts of operating under the influence." Source: Facebook screenshot taken by Lead Stories. Representative Jerry Nadler "fined $6.9 million for insider trading." Senator Bernie Sanders "plead guilty of tax evasion." Representative Jasmine Crockett "2 counts of welfare fraud." Source: Facebook screenshot taken by Lead Stories. Representative Ilhan Omar "fined $10,000 for filing forged paperwork with US customs." Senator Corey Booker "arrested twice for domestic violence." Representative Maxine Waters "two counts of assaulting a police officer." Senator Amy Klobuchar "fined $4.3 million for shorting stocks." Senator Elizabeth Warren "possession of amphetamines and LSD." Source: Facebook screenshot taken by Lead Stories. Senator Adam Schiff "failed to pay $773,000 in child support." Representative Ayanna Pressley "two counts of assaulting a parking attendant." Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez "11 counts of public drinking at Boston University." Representative Pramila Jayapal "four counts of disturbing the peace." Senator Chuck Schumer "owed his ex-wife $14 million alimony when she died broke." Source: Facebook screenshot taken by Lead Stories. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The America's Last Line of Defense account that shared the post is the creation of Christopher Blair, a self-professed liberal from Maine, who for years has run networks of websites set up to troll conservatives with made-up news items in order to get them to share his posts. He uses the nickname "Busta Troll." A 2018 BBC profile called Blair "the Godfather of fake news," describing him as "one of the world's most prolific writers of disinformation." His websites usually have multiple satire disclaimers and the stories very often contain obvious hints they are not real, like category names indicating they are fiction, links to "sources" that instead go to funny or offensive images or an "S for Satire" logo added to the images used as illustration. Another telltale sign is the name "Art Tubolls" (anagram for "Busta Troll") for characters in the stories. Blair also frequently pays homage to two of his friends who passed away by using their names ("Joe Barron" and "Sandy Batt") in stories. Blair's stories have been widely copied by foreign website networks trying to make money by spamming American conservatives with clickbait headlines. DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) An internet sensation is becoming even more customizable than they already are, thanks to tattoo parlors like Royal Prevail. Photo/The Piercing Parlor at Royal Prevail Tattoo Photo/The Piercing Parlor at Royal Prevail Tattoo Photo/The Piercing Parlor at Royal Prevail Tattoo The tattoo shop is tattooing and piercing Labubus, making one of the internets buzziest collectibles even more punk-rock. Royal Prevail is located at 216 N. Broad St. in Fairborn. 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 Brief Fairfax County Public Schools will install weapon screening systems in all middle and high schools this fall, making it one of the few districts in the region with metal detectors at the middle school level. Nearby school systems like Stafford, Loudoun, Prince William, and Montgomery County do not currently use metal detectors in middle schools, though D.C. Public Schools does. The expansion follows a pilot program in high schools last spring, and comes just weeks before the new school year begins on August 18. FAIRFAX, Va. - 23 middle schools across Fairfax County Public Schools are getting metal detectors ahead of this school year. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It will make Fairfax County Public Schools one of few districts in the region to have metal detectors in middle schools. FOX 5 has learned there are no metal detectors at middle schools in Stafford Schools Loudoun County Public Schools Prince William County Public Schools Montgomery County Public Schools DC Public Schools has metal detectors in its middle and high schools. The letter from Fairfax County Public Schools superintendent Dr. Michelle Reid is dated August 4 and was addressed to middle school families. Beyond saying the school district is continuing to work hard to keep students safe by constantly reviewing the latest in school safety practices, FCPS does not offer additional reasoning for the last-minute expansion. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The school districts first day of school is less than two weeks away on Monday, August 18. The metal detector program expansion comes after FCPS says it piloted a weapon screening system across its high schools last spring. Were told this weapon screening system will be expanded to all middle and high schools this fall. "Thats quite scary. Theres guns and knives being brought into schools and that is worrying," said Megan Stimart, a McLean resident who also lives in London. "If thats something thats being looked at then obviously its a concern. What the right answer is though, I dont know," said Stimart. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "I think in todays society with things happening to youngsters you just never know," said Ernesto George who lives in Lorton. Fairfax County Public Schools says its weapons detection program is similar to ones that have been used at sporting events and concerts for many years. A spokesperson with Fairfax County Public Schools declined to discuss the expansion with FOX 5 DC Thursday. FCPS also says it will provide more details as they prepare for the coming school year to ensure that students, staff and families understand and feel comfortable with the process. FALL RIVER, Mass. (WPRI) Two baby raccoons spotted wandering around without their mother were given a new lease on life earlier this week. In a social media post shared Thursday, the Fall River Police Department explained that the raccoons were first spotted Tuesday morning by detectives during Operation Clear Path. Based on their size, they appear to be just over a month old and should still be under the constant care of their mother, the police department wrote. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Police said detectives spotted the raccoons again Wednesday night as they were attempting to cross Brayton Avenue while clinging to one another. It became clear they had been orphaned, the police department continued. Fall River Animal Control officers have since captured the two raccoons and brought them to a wildlife rehabilitation center. SEE ALSO: Westerly officers save injured osprey Download the WPRI 12 and Pinpoint Weather 12 apps to get breaking news and weather alerts. Watch 12 News Now on WPRI.com or with the new 12+ smart TV app. Follow us on social media: Close Thanks for signing up! Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Daily Roundup 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 WPRI.com. WINONA, Mo. The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) is hosting a fishing event in Shannon County for families on Saturday, August 16. According to an MDC press release, the Twin Pines Conservation Center in Winona, Missouri, is hosting a Family Fishing Day event from 9 a.m. to noon on August 16. Marty Marsh joins MDC as new education district supervisor The event will include door prizes, permit-free fishing and lunch, the release says. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement MDC will honor anglers who catch the most fish, the largest fish and the smallest fish. Fishing at the center will be catch-and-release only. The fishing day will be free for visitors at the Twin Pine Conservation Center, which is located five miles east of Winona on U.S. Highway 60. 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 KOLR - OzarksFirst.com. Key Points It was a double miss for the Wegovy maker in its second quarter. It's been hammered not only by competing licensed drugs, but it also has to contend with copycats. 10 stocks we like better than Novo Nordisk Novo Nordisk (NYSE: NVO) stock imitated the company's leading product on Wednesday by slimming down in price. The Danish pharmaceutical's shares lost nearly 4% of their value following its latest earnings release, comparing unfavorably to the modest (0.7%) gain of the S&P 500 index. Still growing, but... Novo Nordisk, famous for its Wegovy obesity drug (and its sibling, diabetes treatment Ozempic), unveiled its first half and second quarter of 2025 figures early Wednesday morning. Image source: Getty Images. For the quarter, the company booked 76.9 billion Danish kroner ($11.9 billion) in revenue, which was up only marginally on a sequential basis, and 13% higher compared to the same period of 2024. Net income, meanwhile, was down from the previous quarter but up from the year-ago quarter. It rose by 32% year over year to 26.5 billion kroner ($4.1 billion), or 5.96 kroner ($0.92) per share. Both headline numbers missed the consensus analyst estimates, although not by much. Pundits tracking the company were modeling the equivalent of just under $12 billion for revenue, and $0.95 per share on the bottom line. Although Novo Nordisk continues to post double-digit increases thanks largely to Wegovy and Ozempic, it has been in the investor doghouse so far this month. That's because at the end of July, it significantly cut its guidance for both total sales and operating profit. Withering competition Much of this has to do with the intense competition Novo Nordisk is facing due to the runaway success of those medications. These days, pharmacy sector powerhouse Eli Lilly is doing brisk business with a directly competing product, Zepbound, while third parties are copying Wegovy's semaglutide molecule for their own compounded products. The company announced no fewer than 14 new lawsuits on Tuesday, making a total of 146 across 40 U.S. states, to combat the latter. Should you invest $1,000 in Novo Nordisk right now? Before you buy stock in Novo Nordisk, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now and Novo Nordisk wasnt one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, youd have $619,036!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, youd have $1,092,648!* NEED TO KNOW Five women died on a birthday trip after their SUV was struck by a pickup and caught fire Kody Lane Talley, 37, was charged with five counts of manslaughter, according to reports The young women were celebrating one of the victim's 23rd birthday Donations have poured in for the families of the five young women killed in a car crash while on a birthday trip. Thalia Salinas, Ruby Cruz, Brianna Valadez, Desiree Cervantez and Jacqueline Velazco were identified as the victims killed in a crash on July 25 in Texas, according to reports from KVUE and KTBC. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The outlets, as well as CBS News Texas, reported that Kody Lane Talley, 37, was arrested on Aug. 5. He was charged with five counts of manslaughter. It is not immediately clear if he has entered a plea. The young women, who were on a trip to celebrate Salinas' 23rd birthday, were killed after a pickup truck pulling a livestock trailer allegedly crossed into oncoming traffic, KTBC reported, citing authorities. Related: Man Charged with Deaths of 5 Texas Women Killed in Car Crash on Birthday Trip The pickup first struck a Chevy Malibu before it hit a Mercedes SUV with the five young women inside. The SUV overturned and caught fire, killing the occupants inside, according to the report. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Since the crash, GoFundMe fundraisers have been started to benefit the families of the women. "Thalia was quiet but to those that knew her well she was the funniest person in the room, she was witty, intelligent, loyal, and the true manager of our household, always keeping us all in line," the organizer of the GoFundMe for Salinas wrote. "If you were lucky to call her a friend, she was the best friend you had." Another fundraiser was also started for Ruby Cruz. "This sudden and unimaginable loss has left our family completely devastated and many friends in mourning," the organizer wrote. "Faced with so much pain, we turn to our family, friends, and acquaintances for support. The emotional and financial burden is immense, and any helpno matter how smallcan make a huge difference." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Valadez's family wrote that she was on the verge of starting nursing school prior to her death. "We will carry Bris light with us always, and we will keep telling her storybecause she deserves to be remembered for how brightly she lived," her family said in a GoFundMe. Velazco's sister wrote in a GoFundMe that, "she was a light in our lives: loving, strong, fun, and full of grace. Her soul was truly beautiful, and to know her was to love her deeply." 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. Cervantez had worked at a law firm at the time of her death, according to her loved ones on a GoFundMe page. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Desiree brought warmth, light, and kindness to everyone she encountered," the organizer wrote. "Her shy, dimply smile was genuine, her heart was sincere and she had a quiet strength that made a lasting impression on so many of us. For those who knew her closely, you know how deeply she cared about all her loved ones, strangers and even animals." In total, the GoFundMes have combined to raise nearly $100,000. Fox 4 reported that the funerals for the women, who had been friends since childhood, were set to be held this week. Read the original article on People THE BRONX (PIX11) After a teen was killed in a Bronx playground in a possible case of mistaken identity, his family has opened a fundraiser to give him a meaningful send-off. The family of 14-year-old Angel Miguel Mendoza has opened a GoFundMe to help raise funds for the teens funeral costs as well as to send his body back to the Dominican Republic. More Local News Mendoza was killed on Tuesday when a group of at least 10 young men attacked him and a 17-year-old at the Williamsbridge Oval Playground, witnesses told PIX11 News. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The 14-year-old was punched, kicked, pistol-whipped, and attacked with a scooter before he was stabbed multiple times, authorities and witnesses said. Mendoza was later pronounced dead at the hospital. More: Latest News from Around the Tri-State The 17-year-old was also stabbed in the abdomen and shoulder but was taken to the hospital in stable condition, according to police. A knife was also recovered at the scene. Investigators believe Mendoza may have been killed in a case of mistaken identity and that the group may have been after the 17-year-old at the scene. Four people were arrested and charged with murder in connection with the incident on Wednesday, including two 18-year-olds, a 16-year-old and a 15-year-old. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. UPDATE: Watch the full press conference with civil rights attorneys Ben Crump and Harry Daniels, joined by the family of Leonard Cure, below. ORIGINAL: Civil rights attorneys Ben Crump and Harry Daniels will join the family of Leonard Cure to address the federal indictment of Camden County Sheriffs Office Sgt. Buck Aldridge on civil rights charges. The event will take place at noon Friday in front of the Frank M. Scarlett Federal Building in Brunswick. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Aldridge is facing a 13-count indictment for using excessive force on arrestees in four separate incidents and filing misleading reports to justify that force, according to the Department of Justice. >>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<< The indictment comes nearly two years after Leonard Cure, a 53-year-old Black man, was shot and killed by Aldridge during a traffic stop. The District Attorney concluded that the use of deadly force was objectively reasonable in Cures killing. The Department of Justice has stated that Aldridge used excessive force and filed misleading reports. Cures death, captured on body camera video and widely circulated online, prompted national outrage and renewed scrutiny of Aldridges history. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Aldridge was previously fired from another Georgia police department in 2017 after violently throwing a woman to the ground during a traffic stop. Cure had spent more than 16 years wrongfully imprisoned for a 2003 robbery before being exonerated and was pursuing a college degree while speaking publicly about his experience of wrongful conviction. Representatives from the Camden County NAACP will also be present at the event to address the indictment and its implications for civil rights. [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks] Camden County Sheriff's Office releases video of Leonard Cure traffic stop Photo: Innocence Project of Florida FILE - This still image from a deputy's body camera video provided by the Camden County Sheriff's Office shows Staff Sgt. Buck Aldridge following a chase and arrest in Camden County, Ga., June 24, 2022. (Camden County Sheriff's Office via AP, File) [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter] Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live. The Brief 18-year-old Giovanni Pelletier of North Carolina went missing on August 1st, after he and his cousins went to visit additional family in Florida. Pelletier's cousins told Charlotte County Sheriffs Deputies Giovanni began acting erratically, got out of the car and walked away near I-75 and State Road 70 in Manatee County. Giovanni's mother tells FOX 13 this is uncharacteristic of her son, and she will not stop searching till he is found. MANATEE, Fla. - Giovanni Pelletiers family raised a reward of $25,000 for any information about the missing teen. "We are not going to stop looking for him." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Friday, Aug. 8, will mark one week since a teen disappeared while going to visit other family members in Florida. Bridgette Pelletier wants what any mom of a missing teen would want. "The biggest message for me is that we want our son home," she told FOX 13. Shes been searching for answers that will lead to her 18-year-old son, and its been agonizing. "We understand there are a lot of people who may be scared to speak up, or maybe there arent people who are willing to relay information, but this isnt just a missing person. "This is our heart, and hes part of our family," she said. What we know Last week, Pelletier and his family from North Carolina were visiting a relative in Englewood. The Charlotte County Sheriffs Office said on Friday, Aug. 1 around 1:30 a.m., he left with cousins to visit additional family in Brevard County. What happened next baffled his family. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "He texted help me. "My son would not have put me in a place to be scared or worried, because he knows when it comes to my children there are no limits and nothing I wouldnt do it for him," said Bridgette Pelletier. Those in the car told Charlotte County Deputies that Pelletier began acting erratically, got out of the car and walked away near I-75 and State Road 70 in Manatee County. His backpack and phone were found on the side of the road. "If something were to come up where maybe he was experiencing something, they would have been there and not think of somebody leaving somebody on the side of the road. It doesnt make sense. "There are too many things that dont make sense. "The narrative thats being told is not the true story, and its disappointing because I believe thats why we dont have any more support from law enforcement thus far. "Theres been some amazing people in Charlotte County that have been so helpful, but without information we cant move forward, said his mom, Bridgette. The non-profit search group, We Are the Essentials, and Giovannis family continue to search parts of Sarasota County leading to Englewood. Theyre trying to narrow down the timeline. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "We are going to be focusing based upon the time that he left the family home, based on the text messages and face-time videos that were sent and attempted to receive from his mother," said Shelley Croft of We Are the Essentials. Theyre asking anyone with footage of the white Chevy Malibu Giovanni was traveling in to come forward. "If you believe that you see them, that video can make a world of difference in knowing where that car was at what time, in what area. "You are maybe the missing piece to the puzzle," said Croft. "Our family is not the same without Geo. We are not going to be able to stop looking for him, we wont be able to go home and go back to normal. "We need him home," said Bridgette Pelletier. What you can do If you have any information, contact the Charlotte County Sheriffs Office at their non-emergency number (941) 639-2101. The Source Information was gathered through the Charlotte County Sheriffs Office; Giovanni Pelletiers family and We Are the Essentials. The family of a 21-year-old man who drowned at a New Jersey beach while lifeguards were on duty has sued the local borough and its beach patrol. Joseph Volm died on August 6, 2023, when he was dragged into the ocean by a rip current, according to a lawsuit filed in Cape May County Superior Court. His family alleges that lifeguards in Wildwood Crest failed to warn beachgoers about the hazardous conditions, which may have saved their son from his fate, the suit, obtained by NJ Advance Media, says. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Volm visited the beach on August 5, 2023, when he entered the water and was grasped by the rip current, the lawsuit states. Riptides varying speeds and strengths can make them particularly dangerous for even experienced swimmers. After being washed ashore, the youngster was found unresponsive, according to NJ Advance Media. The family of a 21-year-old man that drowned at a New Jersey beach while lifeguards were on duty, has sued the local borough and its beach patrol (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.) Lifeguards did perform CPR on Volm and he was later moved off the beach by a rescue rig and taken to Cape Regional Medical Center. There, he was pronounced dead. Volms family alleges that the beach patrols at Wildwood Crest were not adequately staffed and did not put in place adequate measures to prevent the tragedy. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Red flags, to warn about hazardous conditions, were allegedly not in place in the area where the youngster had entered the water, per the suit. Born in Marlton, Volm wrestled and played lacrosse for Paul IV High School, according to an online obituary. In his free time, he enjoyed bowling, playing video games and hanging out with his cousins. Volm also loved animals, especially his dogs Rocky and Sophie, and was known to family members as the dog whisperer. NJ Advance Media also reported that, around a week before his death, Volm had left a drug treatment center. However, his family told investigators that he had not been showing signs of drug abuse at the time he drowned. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The lawsuit asks a jury to award compensatory and punitive damages to Volms family. Wildwood Crest Mayor Don Cabrera told NJ Advance Media he was aware of attempts to sue the borough, but directed questions elsewhere. The Independent has reached out to Wildwood Crest for comment about the Volm family lawsuit. ALABAMA (WHNT) The family of a 16-year-old killed in a crash in a multi-county police chase in 2023 is suing the City of Decatur and several current and former city officials for his death, including former Decatur Police Officer Mac Marquette. In a filing with the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, the family of Jaiden DeJarnett filed a civil rights and wrongful death lawsuit against the City of Decatur, Mayor Tab Bowling, and several police officers, including former Police Chief Todd Pinion and former Police Officer Mac Marquette. DeJarnett, who was 16 at the time, died on Sept. 4, 2023, after a police chase that began in Decatur and ended in Courtland. According to the lawsuit, the chase went for 40 minutes and reached speeds of 135 miles an hour as it moved through several North Alabama cities. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The familys attorney, Stanley Stallworth of Evergreen, Ala., spoke to News 19 on Friday. We believe the problems are systemic, that this was not just a one-time occurrence, Stallworth said. There is a pattern here; policies are not being followed. Stallworth pointed out that one of the defendants is former Decatur Police Department officer Mac Marquette, who the lawsuit says was part of the chase on Sept. 4, 2023. The attorney said Marquette probably should not have been working when he shot and killed Stephen Perkins on Sept. 29, 2023, given his involvement in the DeJarnett deadly chase. Stallworth said the lawsuit opens up the possibility of evidence gathering, known as discovery, in the case. He said that the process is just beginning. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Its not just the unreasonable seizure attempt and civil rights violations, he said. Its also officers being allowed to run unchecked and get away with it because they are police officers. He went to get a hamburger and ended up dead. Stallworth said DeJarnetts family wanted to pursue the case quietly and reach a settlement with the City of Decatur, but that didnt work out. No amount of money can bring Jaiden back, the only thing we can do is to seek justice and preserve his memory, the attorney said. The Decatur Police Department said at the time that an officer attempted to stop a vehicle in the area of Highway 67 and Danville Road around 2:40 a.m. Authorities said the driver did not stop, leading officers on a chase from Morgan County into Lawrence County. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement No one was charged in DeJarnetts death as a Lawrence County Grand Jury no-billed the case, according to Lawrence County District Attorney Errek Jett. In its complaint on Thursday, attorneys for DeJarnetts family said the chase began because the teen was not using headlights and/or taillights. The filing asks for compensatory and punitive damages for wrongful death, excessive force and unreasonable seizure, and municipal liability. 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 WHNT.com. TALLAHASSEE, Fla. A federal appeals court Thursday rejected arguments that a 54-year prison sentence should be reduced for a man who was convicted of planting pipe bombs at Florida A&M University in what authorities said were racially motivated incidents. A panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Lawrence Lombardi was not entitled to a reduced sentence based on changes in federal sentencing guidelines. Lombardi was convicted in 2000 on six charges related to setting off the pipe bombs in bathrooms at the historically Black university. No one was injured in the two bombings. A U.S. Supreme Court decision in a separate case later led to two of the six convictions being tossed out, and U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle in 2020 resentenced Lombardi to 54 years in prison. Lombardi, now 67, worked for a business that serviced vending machines at the university. The pipe bombs exploded Aug. 31, 1999, in a bathroom of the universitys Lee Hall and on Sept. 22, 1999, in the Perry-Paige Building, according to a brief filed in 2021 by federal prosecutors in another appeal by Lombardi. After the bombs exploded, an anonymous caller made racially charged phone calls to local news media. The appeals-court panel Thursday upheld a decision by Hinkle declining to reduce the sentence. The panel, made up of Judges Adalberto Jordan, Jill Pryor and Andrew Brasher, rejected Lombardis arguments related to the sentencing guidelines, while adding that on this record, and given Mr. Lombardis offenses, we cannot say that the district court abused its discretion in alternatively ruling that it would deny the motion for reduction of sentence even if Mr. Lombardi was eligible for a reduction. 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 mypanhandle.com. Service on the busiest route of Palm Beach County's public bus operator, Palm Tran, could speed up after Florida transportation officials execute a multimillion-dollar upgrade of bus stops along one of the busiest roads in the county. The Florida Department of Transportation plans to upgrade 13 Palm Tran bus stops on its most popular line, Route 1, along Dixie Highway and U.S. 1, by raising them to the same level as bus doors. This would speed up the boarding of passengers who use wheelchairs. New digitals signs will announce when bus arrives The bus stops will also have bicycle racks for cyclists to park their rides if the racks attached to bus fronts are full. They could retrieve their bikes on return. New digital signs will tell passengers when the next bus will arrive. The new stops' ceilings will have lights, too, to illuminate them after dark. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement While Palm Tran bus stops do not have real-time bus arrival signs, they do have QR codes passengers can scan with their smartphones to see live updates showing buses' current locations. Bus stop replacement will start in spring 2026, end by spring 2027 and cost $5.1 million, FDOT has said. The department must search for a contractor and make sure construction would not hit underground utilities. About 56% of the budget will come from the federal government, a department spokesman said. A computer-generated rendering of an upgraded Palm Tran bus stop on Dixie Highway in West Palm Beach that the Florida Department of Transportation says it plans to build by spring 2027. The bus stops to be replaced are in Northwood in West Palm Beach and on the east and west sides of U.S. 1 at or near these intersections: Gregory Road in West Palm Beach Lantana Road Linton Boulevard in Delray Beach Lindell Boulevard in Delray Beach Spanish River Boulevard in Boca Raton Northeast 20th Street in Boca Raton Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Construction will happen during "non-peak hours," FDOT has said, and crews will close only one lane at a time to do work. Temporary bus stops will be erected while work is done on existing ones. Palm Tran buses picking up or unloading passengers who use wheelchairs or other physically disabled riders must currently lower their entrances by more than one foot to ground level, then extend a ramp to bridge the gap between the bus and the sidewalk. The disabled passengers roll or slowly walk onto the bus and pay their fare. Separately, Palm Tran is working on installing 250 roofs at bus stops that lack coverage from the sun, rain and other elements. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The upgraded stops may have features such as security cameras, solar-powered lighting and digital signs showing when the next bus will come, a Palm Tran spokeswoman said. Those upgrades will cost $4.2 million, paid for by a federal grant. Technology to make traffic lights stay green longer is coming New bus stops are not the only way Palm Tran has been working on to speed service on U.S. 1. By summer of 2026, Palm Tran and Palm Beach County traffic engineers say. Buses and traffic signals will be equipped with special technology that will make traffic lights stay green for longer when buses approach. Previously: New traffic-lights on U.S. 1 will help bus-induced traffic jams in Palm Beach County Traffic lights on a 32-mile stretch of U.S. 1, from Northlake Boulevard to Palmetto Park Road, will have this technology. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Public bus operators in in other parts of the country sped up service thanks to this technology, to the point that it's possible to increase service on routes without needing more buses, Palm Tran Executive Director Ivan Maldonado has said. The money for the traffic signal control project is coming from an $11.6 package Palm Beach County commissioners approved March 11. About $4.8 million will come from grants such as those administered by the Palm Beach Transportation Planning Agency, a federally mandated agency that secures federal and state money for local projects. Chris Persaud covers transportation in Palm Beach County for The Palm Beach Post. Email news tips and article ideas to cpersaud@pbpost.com. This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Smart bus stops for faster buses coming to busy Palm Beach County road SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) A man from Farmington, Utah was sentenced Thursday to prison and is required to repay money after he admitted to embezzling over a million dollars from his small business job. Timothy Sean Edgar, 44, pleaded guilty to federal charges of wire fraud and money laundering. Judge Howard C. Nelson, Jr. sentenced Edgar to 18 months in prison, to three years of supervised release, and to pay back $1,778,251 to the victim, the U.S. Attorneys Office District of Utah announced Thursday. South Jordan man sentenced to federal prison for CSAM possession, was a repeat offender Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Edgar admitted to creating a years-long scheme to steal roughly $1.7 million from his employer, a small business in Utah, from 2021 to October 2024. He worked in sales at the company. Using that position, he fraudulently opened a new sales channel through an online marketplace, accessed the vendor portal, and redirected automated clearing house payments to his personal bank account. He then used his personal credit card to make payments back to his employer. The case was a joint investigation of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations, the FBI Salt Lake City Field Office, and the North Salt Lake City Police Department. Wire fraud is a charge that applies when someone uses wire communication, or electronic communications such as phone calls, emails, or the internet, in order to fraudulently transfer money across state lines. Latest headlines: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. Mechanized berry harvesters are seen in the bottom field July 29 at Sarbanand Farms in Sumas. Eight years ago, an H-2A farmworker died after experiencing headaches on the job at Sarbanand. (Finn Wendt/Cascadia Daily News) This article was first published by Cascadia Daily News. Amid the largest mass deportation in U.S. history, the Trump administration is looking for ways to maintain an agricultural workforce. One option is expanding the H-2A visa program, which is supposed to give farmers another legal way to hire workers in the face of a labor shortage something the agricultural industry has reportedly faced for years. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement However, it isnt a popular option in Whatcom and Skagit counties. Here, the number of H-2A workers has decreased in the past decade, not increased, as most of the state has seen. The reduction of H-2A workers in the two counties began after a fatality eight years ago at a blueberry farm in Sumas. This is likely due to strong union presence in the area, where farmworker activists have long claimed the H-2A program lacks wage, health and safety protections. Others in the farming community also attribute the drop-off to union activism, but claim that activism has demonized farms in the area that employ H-2A workers. Rosalinda Guillen, a longtime farmworker and activist, has fought to protect farmworkers for decades. Federal actions since January have been more intense than we thought, Guillen said. I mean, the first three months of this year were horrible, with the detentions and deportations of farmworkers, she said, but what we need to do is look forward at structural change. A death strikes change In August 2017, wildfires tore through the Cascades and turned the skies hazy with smoke. At Sarbanand Farms in Sumas, as temperatures rose and air quality worsened, hundreds of H-2A workers still pressed on picking blueberries. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Honesto Silva Ibarra, a 28-year-old father and H-2A worker from Mexico, started getting headaches on the job. There are conflicting reports of what happened next: One of Ibarras colleagues said that Ibarra was made to keep working after complaining of his headaches and eventually collapsed. Sarbanand said Ibarra simply returned to his living quarters. On Aug. 6, Ibarra died at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. Ibarra was a diabetic, and in a subsequent investigation, the Washington Department of Labor & Industries ruled he died of natural causes. Sarbanand was not deemed responsible. L&I did fine Sarbanand $73,000 after finding that employees were frequently denied work breaks or fed meals later than promised. In June that year, the fine was cut in half. More than 70 Sarbanand workers went on strike in protest of Ibarras treatment. After learning of his death, those workers and many supporters marched in protest of their employer. The protesting workers were all fired. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The number of H-2A workers, who are given a visa to work for a specific U.S. farm for a designated amount of time, more than doubled between 2017 and 2022 across Washington. Whatcom County saw the opposite trend, dramatically dropping from 690 to 78 in the same time span. Dillon Honcoop, communications director of Whatcom Family Farmers, said that drop was a result of the fallout after Ibarras death. Sarbanand, which employed 519 H-2A workers in 2017, mechanized its operations after that year because that farm had been so targeted by local activist groups despite the fact that they were not to blame, Honcoop said. Honcoop said that H-2A workers remain less common in western Washington than in other parts of the state, in large part because the farm work is less labor-intensive. Farmworkers unions Whatcom and Skagit counties are unique compared to other agricultural areas in Washington because of a strong local farmworker union: Familias Unidas por la Justicia, which has more than 500 members. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Familias Unidas formed in 2013 to fight for worker protection at Sakuma Brothers Berry Farms in Burlington and came to a collective bargaining agreement after four years. United Farm Workers, a longstanding union that spans multiple states, has chapters in other areas of Washington. But Familias Unidas is the only independent union led by local farmworkers. Familias Unidas helped organize H-2A workers who protested against Sarbanand in the wake of Ibarras death. Along with Community to Community, the union has been speaking out against the H-2A program since. H-2A farmworkers do not have collective bargaining rights under the National Labor Relations Act, and employers do not need to recognize labor organizations or engage in any collective bargaining activities. That makes H-2A workers more vulnerable to wage theft or other abuses, such as inadequate housing or hour violations. These are contracted workers imported from Mexico and other South American countries that are brought in here with a visa specifically to work under one specific employer, Guillen explained. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement So theyre in company housing, no transportation, with a visa for just that farm. And if theres no rules for safety that can be enforced or monitored, the employer can do whatever they want. Its like a quasi-slave labor force, she continued. C2C and Familias Unidas have successfully advocated for L&I to enforce heat protections for farmworkers, create oversight for workers with H-2A visas and ensure that H-2A workers are being paid competitive wages. Alfredo Lelo Juarez Zeferino, who was detained by ICE in March and chose to voluntarily depart to Mexico on July 14, was a central voice in fighting for those protections. Guillen has repeatedly spoken out about believing that ICE intentionally targeted Lelo for doing such advocacy work. In 2024, under the Biden administration, the Department of Labor passed a rule to improve protections for H-2A farmworkers. Included in the rule was protection from retaliation by their employers when attempting to unionize. But this June, the DOL suspended enforcement of that rule due to several federal injunctions, it said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Now, Guillen worries that protections for all farmworkers could be stripped away, while the number of H-2A workers in the counties could grow. The future of farmwork Though the Trump administration has loudly proclaimed it wants a 100% American workforce, thats something that Guillen said is unlikely, if not impossible. The reality is that there are no local people that can go out and harvest berries right now that are not Latino and Indigenous workers. They just wont do it. And you know what? They wont do it because it doesnt pay enough, she said. And Ill tell you, the farmers dont even want to hire them, because they dont have the skills to pick the berries at the speed of [current] workers, she continued. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In May, Washington Rep. Dan Newhouse reintroduced a bipartisan bill meant to stabilize the agricultural workforce: the Farm Workforce Modernization Act. The Act aims to streamline the H-2A visa process to expand the number of H-2A workers who are hired, and cap wage fluctuations for up to nine years, meaning H-2A wages could stay low. At the same time, the Act would also require all farmers to enroll in a program to E-Verify the citizenship status of their hired workers, pushing growers not to employ undocumented residents. The Act also would create a new Certified Agricultural Worker status for some undocumented workers, allowing them to legally stay in the U.S. for five and a half years as long as they continue working in agriculture. Certified Agricultural Workers could also eventually qualify for permanent residency, upon good recommendations from their employers. United Farm Workers has publicly supported the bill, though they opposed capping H-2A wages. But Guillen opposes the bill entirely, saying that giving employers a say in their workers qualifications for citizenship makes workers less able to speak out against their employers or seek protections. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Instead of temporary protections, Guillen hopes to see more pathways to permanent residency and citizenship that arent tied to a persons labor. We have to survive, yeah, but you cant just do that. Theres gotta be a strategy for taking advantage of opportunities for the long haul, like, what is our future? Guillen said. Were not going to be victims. We have to do more than survive. Risa Schnebly is an environmental/science reporter, placed at CDN through the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Mass Media Fellowship. Reach her at risaschnebly@cascadiadaily.com. Cascadia Daily News is a locally owned newspaper in Bellingham, Washington. You can learn more about the publication and subscribe here. New York fashion designer Martha Nolan-OSlatarra has been identified as the woman who was found dead on a boat docked at the Montauk Yacht Club. Nolan-O'Slatarra was identified by Suffolk County Police, who noted that homicide squad detectives are investigating her death. According to her LinkedIn page, Nolan-O'Slatarra founded a fashion brand called East x East and was director of operations for K4 Capital Management. She also founded a company called Duper. Nolan-O'Slatarra was active on TikTok. Martha Nolan O'Slatarra Was Found Unconscious on the Boat, Police Say According to the New York Post, some members of the Montauk Yacht Club, including captains, heard screams coming from the docks on the evening of Aug. 4. Advertisement Advertisement She was well known in the community. She was very friendly. Always smiling, a source told the Post, adding, Theres going to be a lot of conversation out of this. The "Suffolk County Police Homicide Squad detectives are investigating after a Manhattan woman was found dead on a boat docked in Montauk this morning," police wrote on Aug. 5. "East Hampton Town Police responded to a 911 call from a man reporting a woman unconscious on a boat docked at the Montauk Yacht Club, on Star Island Road, at approximately 12 a.m.," they wrote. "Good Samaritans attempted to perform CPR on the woman. Martha Nolan-OSlatarra, 33, of Manhattan, was pronounced dead on the boat by First Responders," the police news release says. Advertisement Advertisement "The preliminary investigation and exam were inconclusive regarding the cause of death, which will be determined by an autopsy conducted by the Suffolk County Medical Examiners Office," they added. "Anyone with information on this incident is asked to contact Homicide Squad detectives at 631-852-6392." Martha Nolan-O'Slatarra Created a 'Sustainable Resort Wear Brand' Nolan-O'Slatarra's company describes itself as "a sustainable resort wear brand" that "was founded on the belief that fashion should not come at the expense of our planet. Our founders, natives of New York City and The Hamptons, were inspired to create a line of stylish and sustainable sunglasses, swimwear, and resort wear for men and women." She attended the University College of Dublin in Ireland, according to her LinkedIn page. "I have had the pleasure of managing Martha Nolan, Business Analyst in Calypso between February and November 2015," a man wrote in a LinkedIn recommendation on her page. "During this time Marthas was challenged regularly across diverse projects yet her ability to adapt and deliver continuously impressed." Advertisement Advertisement A feature story on her in the Irish Independent says she was from Carlow. Related: Loni Anderson Kept Working Despite Illness Diagnosis Fashion Designer Martha Nolan OSlatarra's Cause of Death Is Under Investigation first appeared on Men's Journal on Aug 6, 2025 NEED TO KNOW A fast-spreading wildfire near Six Flags Magic Mountain continues to burn, according to CalFire As of early Friday morning, the fire covers more than 4,800 acres According to the Associated Press, around 4,200 residents and 1,400 structures are under an evacuation order A fast-moving wildfire continues to spread less than 5 miles away from one of the countrys top amusement parks. According to CalFire, at around 1:30 p.m. local time on Thursday, Aug. 7, a brush fire northwest of Los Angeles erupted, prompting evacuation orders for thousands of people. As of early Friday morning, the Canyon Fire covered more than 4,800 acres and is 0% contained. Eric Thayer/Getty A firefighter watches flames from the Canyon Fire on Aug. 7. A firefighter watches flames from the Canyon Fire on Aug. 7. The fire, just east of Lake Piru, continues to burn less than 5 miles from the Six Flags Magic Mountain theme park in Valencia, Calif. Though, sources tell PEOPLE the park plans to operate normally on Friday as the fire is at a safe enough distance and wind and smoke moves away from the park. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement While the fire is taking place in a largely remote mountainous area in Los Angeles and Ventura counties, evacuation orders were issued for the Val Verde, Halsey Canyon and Santa Clarita areas. Andrew Dowd, a spokesperson for Ventura County Fire Department, told AP News around 4,200 residents and 1,400 structures are under the order. Meanwhile another 12,500 residents were under an evacuation warning. Eric Thayer/Getty Firefighters battle flames from the Canyon Fire on Aug. 7 in Castaic, Calif. Firefighters battle flames from the Canyon Fire on Aug. 7 in Castaic, Calif. https://people-app.onelink.me/HNIa/kz7l4cuf On Thursday, Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors chair Kathryn Barger issued a local emergency proclamation. The issuance of this emergency proclamation is a crucial step in our fight against the Canyon Fire, Barger said in a statement. It allows us to unlock vital state and local resources more quickly and removes barriers that could slow down our first responders. Our priority is to protect lives, homes, and critical infrastructure, and this proclamation will help ensure that we have the tools and support necessary to meet the urgent needs of our communities. Eric Thayer/Getty A street sign is near flames from the Canyon Fire on Aug. 7. A street sign is near flames from the Canyon Fire on Aug. 7. As of early Friday morning, the cause of the fire is still unknown. No injuries have been reported. Never miss a story sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Its stressful, not going to lie, Halsey Canyon resident Connor Van Der Linde told local outlet ABC 7. I have been through this before where I have seen these very hills on fire in the past I have a bit of experience with it, but you know, this is never something you want to do. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Elsewhere in California, the Gifford Fire continues to burn as the largest blaze of the year in the state. As of Aug. 8, the central California fire covers over 99,000 acres and is 15% contained. Areas of San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties are under evacuation orders. According to CalFire, there have been three civilian injuries and four firefighter injuries confirmed as a result. Read the original article on People (FOX40.COM) A man is dead after being involved in a crash with a vehicle that went into part of the California Aqueduct on I-5 in Modesto early Tuesday morning. Video above: How to report a public safety threat According to the California Highway Patrol, Modesto officers responded to a fatal crash on I-5 north of Sperry Avenue for a traffic crash involving an SUV that entered the water. CHP said they contacted the Stanislaus County Sheriffs Departments Dive Team to respond to the scene to assist with the recovery of a 2003 Nissan SUV that was pulling a single-axle utility trailer. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The male driver, who has not been identified officially, was found deceased inside the vehicle, CHP said. There were no other people reported to be inside the car. Lucky Powerball player wins more than $700,000 in Sacramento County Authorities said the initial inquiry shows that the driver of the Nissan was traveling northbound on I-5 north of Sperry Avenue in the number one lane. The driver pulled an unsafe turning motion to the right, which caused the vehicle to continue in a northeasterly direction across the roadway and down a steep grassy embankment for about 1,000 feet. Afterwards, the Nissan collided with two sets of barbed-wire fencing before entering the California Aqueduct, according to CHP. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement At this time, CHP stated it is unknown if drugs or alcohol were involved. The mission of the CHP is to provide the highest level of Safety, Service, and Security, CHP 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. NEED TO KNOW A man is questioning whether he was right to refuse to cover his arms and legs after his son's teacher called his tattoos "off-putting" and claimed they went against the school dress code In a post shared to Reddit's "Am I the A------?" subreddit, the 38-year-old dad shared that he had an uncomfortable encounter with his son's new teacher after they moved from a big city to a small town "We just told her that I wasn't going to change how I dress and wasn't going to stop picking up my kid, so she and anyone else who had a problem would have to just deal with it," he wrote A man is questioning whether he was right to refuse to cover his arms and legs after his son's teacher called his tattoos "off-putting" and claimed they went against the school dress code. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In a post shared to Reddit's "Am I the A------?" subreddit, the 38-year-old dad shared that he, his wife, 36, and their 5-year-old son had just moved from Seattle to a small town in Texas a few weeks prior, after they inherited his grandmother's house. The man explained that he had a lot of tattoos all over his body, which was not common in his new town. "I have a lot of tattoos, long hair, just a general look that really isn't common here but was totally normal in Seattle," he shared. "I've gotten a lot of looks and some s--- from people here, which I don't really give a f--- about, but suffice it to say my appearance doesn't fit in." The dad went on to share that his wife had been the one dropping off and picking their son up from school, but due to their work schedules finally syncing up after a few weeks, the couple had started doing drop-offs and pick-ups together. Getty A stock image of a dad dropping kids off at school. A stock image of a dad dropping kids off at school. Never miss a story sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. "I met our son's teacher (a woman in her late 20's) earlier today and I could just tell she was uncomfortable with my appearance from the jump," he shared, noting that he was dressed in shorts and a tank top. "My wife and I talked to her for a bit about how our son was adjusting to the new school. After talking about that for a bit his teacher asked me to cover up my tattoos (which would basically require covering up all of my skin below the neck) when I come pick him up and drop him off because it was off-putting and apparently tattoos are against the school dress code." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement https://people-app.onelink.me/HNIa/kz7l4cuf The Redditor was quick to tell his son's teacher "no," right away, stating that he wasn't a student, so dress code rules wouldn't apply to him. "Besides, none of my tattoos that are visible when I'm clothed to any degree can be considered offensive unless you find the very idea of tattoos offensive," he continued. "She insisted, which irritated me and my wife, and basically we just told her that I wasn't going to change how I dress and wasn't going to stop picking up my kid, so she and anyone else who had a problem would have to just deal with it." Soon after, the man shared that he and his wife called the school's principal to set up a meeting and tell her about these comments and "to see if this policy even actually exists." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "We'll keep an eye on how our son is treated by the teacher and his classmates too," he noted. In a follow-up shared just days later, the dad shared that he and his wife met with the principal and vice principal just before school let out for the day to discuss the matter. GETTY A stock image of a school bus. A stock image of a school bus. "Turns out those of you who said this was probably the teacher overstepping and not an actual rule were totally right," he shared. "Apparently it is against dress code for both the students and teachers to have tattoos (temporary or otherwise), but as long as you're decent a parent can show up dressed as they like." "The meeting went about as well as it could have gone," he added. "The principal was pretty avoidant of saying the teacher did anything wrong, per se, and did try to pass it off as the result of his teacher's inexperience, but she did say that the teacher's actions 'weren't right,' so I guess that's something." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to the post, the principal also agreed to transfer the 5-year-old to a new class "if he seems unhappy for any reason or if we think the teacher is treating him unfairly." The whole experience at this son's school has also contributed to making the family consider moving out of town within the year, even though they moved there for "financial and sentimental reasons." "Basically, even before we got here, the plan was to not stay for any longer than 3 years, but honestly, we might be moving before the end of this one because my wife and I really despise it here and our son seems so let down every weekend," he wrote candidly. The dad also spoke about wanting to be a role model for his son and not wanting to back out of an uncomfortable situation simply so he didn't have to rock the boat. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Obviously whether people accept my tats or not doesn't mean much in the grand scheme of things, but I don't want my son to think that it is okay for other people to tell him to look a certain way because that's what they want/are 'comfortable' with, nor do I want him to think it's okay to treat others that way," the dad wrote. "I don't think teaching him to conform is ever a good thing. I also don't think trying to conform actually makes people accept you any more, but that's just me." "Plus he's 5 and he's already brought cupcakes to school, so I should hope the other 5 year olds aren't going to have a problem," he finished. Getty Stock photo of tattoos Stock photo of tattoos Tons of commenters underneath the two posts applauded the dad for standing up for himself and for advocating for a healthy environment for his son. "As long as you, your wife, and your son show up in clean clothing that covers the necessary parts, and are polite and respectful of others, she has no business trying to police you at all," one commenter wrote. 'Its a hard lesson to learn, but eventually Karens will need to be made to understand the rest of us dont exist to cater to their demands." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Kudos. Standing up to an overbearing authority figure takes guts," another Redditor chimed in. "The teacher's dress code obsession is petty and misdirected. Your son will benefit from having a parent who isn't afraid to assert their individuality, even if it ruffles some feathers." Read the original article on People Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker accused Republicans of grandstanding Thursday after Texas GOP U.S. Sen. John Cornyn said the FBI granted his request that they assist Texas law enforcement in locating House Democrats who fled the southern state, many of them to west suburban St. Charles. The reality is that all that he has said, Cornyn, is that the FBI has been authorized to locate the Texas House Democrats, nothing more. And you know why? Because there is no federal law that allows them to arrest Texas Democrats who are here visiting the state of Illinois, Pritzker said in Springfield after cutting the ribbon to open the Illinois State Fair. I welcome the FBI coming to the state, the Illinois governor said. I hope they take in the state fair. I hope they go see the beauty of Lake Michigan, the adventure awaits for all of them. But they wont be arresting anyone. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It was unclear what the FBIs activities would entail since the Texas lawmakers have not been charged with state- or federal-level criminal activity. They are facing civil warrants for leaving the state, but they are unenforceable outside of Texas. As for locating the Texas lawmakers, the bulk of them were staying at the same hotel in far west suburban St. Charles, where they went after arriving at Chicagos OHare International Airport on Sunday night. Their hotel was the subject of a bomb threat Wednesday that caused them to be evacuated during a search that turned up nothing. There were no reports of FBI activity in or around the hotel Thursday. Still, the decision by FBI Director Kash Patel and the Trump administration represents the latest escalation in what has become a national battle between Republicans and Democrats after Texas House Democrats left the state Sunday to deny Republicans a quorum to approve a new mid-decade redistricting plan that would flip five Democratic congressional seats to the GOP. The new Texas congressional map, encouraged by Trump, is aimed at helping ensure Republicans maintain their narrow U.S. House majority in next years midterm elections and during the presidents final term. It also has prompted Democratic Govs. Gavin Newsom of California and Kathy Hochul of New York to consider counter-efforts to redraw their states congressional boundaries to flip GOP seats to Democrats. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The FBIs involvement at Cornyns request also represents a further politicization of the redistricting issue for Texas and national Republicans. Cornyn, a four-term senator from San Antonio, has sought to ingratiate himself with the Trump administration to win the presidents endorsement in his Texas GOP primary race against the states attorney general, Ken Paxton. Paxton, also courting Trumps backing, has vowed to ask local courts in the absent House members districts on Friday to declare their seats abandoned so Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott can name replacements. I am proud to announce that (FBI) Director Kash Patel has approved my request for the FBI to assist state and local law enforcement in locating runaway Texas House Democrats, Cornyn said in a statement. I thank President Trump and Director Patel for supporting and swiftly acting on my call for the federal government to hold these supposed lawmakers accountable for fleeing Texas. We cannot allow these rogue legislators to avoid their constitutional responsibilities, he said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement One of the Texas lawmakers who has stayed in St. Charles, Texas state Rep. John Bucy, called Cornyn a weak man thats about to lose his primary and hes trying to play tough. Its sad that he would sink his reputation down to do this, Bucy said of Cornyn. This is America. What theyre doing are tactics that weve seen in authoritarian states. Its disgusting that they would try to use any legal force, especially the FBI, to come try to lock us up or take us back because we have political disagreements. Thats not what America stands for. And I think the people know that and theyre resisting John Cornyn and Greg Abbott and Ken Paxton, and their rhetoric. On Thursday, Pritzker vowed to protect the Texans while they were in Illinois and called the move to get the FBI involved a lot of grandstanding by the Trump administration, by John Cornyn (and) by Gov. Abbott. Pritzker said Republicans started the affair and accused the GOP of attempting to thwart democracy by seeking to redraw maps in the middle of the decade rather than every 10 years after the federal census is conducted. Were going to do everything we can to protect these Texas House Democrats and to help them do what theyre doing, Pritzker said, again referring to the Texas lawmakers as heroes for what theyve given up for all of us by leaving their homes. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Pritzker also referred to Abbott as a lapdog for Trump, belittling Abbott for focusing on the remap issue rather than the purpose for which he called Texas lawmakers into special session providing relief from the July Fourth flooding in the states Hill Country that killed more than 130 people. Its too bad that he doesnt know what his job is, that he doesnt carry out his job, which is to take care of the people of Texas, and, frankly, to work with the rest of the states in getting the job done of whether its immigration reform, which he should have worked on with all of us, or caring for democracy, by making sure that there isnt a remap, Pritzker said of Abbott. The Trump-inspired redistricting effort isnt just in Texas. In neighboring Indiana on Thursday, Vice President JD Vance met in Indianapolis with top Indiana Republicans to encourage them to redraw congressional boundaries. Gov. Mike Braun said the meeting with Vance and GOP legislative leaders covered a wide array of topics, including redistricting. But he was noncommittal on the state moving forward with a new map. Asked if any agreement had been reached, Braun said, We listened. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Republicans hold a 7-2 majority over Democrats in Indiana. If Hoosier Republicans moved forward, the most likely target for a seat to flip would be U.S. Rep. Frank Mrvans in northwest Indiana. Mrvan joined protesters at the Indiana statehouse and said Republicans were afraid of checks and balances. Meanwhile, the Florida state House speaker, Daniel Perez, said his Republican-led chamber will take up redistricting this fall through a special committee. Though Pritzker has said everything is on the table in Illinois to counter the Republican redistricting plans in Texas and elsewhere, he said Illinois Democrats are not working on a new congressional map to replace the states already heavily politically gerrymandered boundaries to try to wring out at least one additional Democratic district at the expense of Republicans. The 2021 Illinois redistricting map approved by Democrats and signed by Pritzker created a 14-3 Democratic majority in the states congressional delegation, boosting their majority while reducing Republicans from the 13-5 split in the previous decade map when Illinois had 18 U.S. House seats. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Nobodys done any work on a map for Illinois. We have a map in Illinois. It was passed and signed back in 2021. Thats when theyre done, right after a decennial census, and thats when they should be done not in the middle of a decade just because Donald Trump wants to change the math for 2026, Pritzker said. Were not making any moves right now. If we have to, were going to look at all the options that are available to us. Later, he told reporters he would only make a move to call a special session on redistricting in consultation with Democratic House Speaker Emanuel Chris Welch and Senate President Don Harmon. On that subject, its important that we have some agreement about doing something like that, Pritzker said. But I dont anticipate were going to have to do that. I really hope that the Texas House Democrats are going to be successful at thwarting this attack on democracy coming from Texas. In response to Patels decision to engage the FBI on the matter, the leader of the Democratic minority in the U.S. House, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, used social media to ask, Shouldnt the FBI be tracking down terrorists, drug traffickers and child predators? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Trump administration continues to weaponize law enforcement to target political adversaries, he wrote on the social media platform X. These extremists dont give a damn about public safety. He added, We will not be intimidated. Bucy would not discuss what security measures are currently in place for him and his fellow Democratic lawmakers, saying only that were going to leave that up to the authorities and people in charge to make those decisions. But he said he and his colleagues are undeterred. These guys are playing political games and we are fighting for the future of Americas democracy, said Bucy, whose district is based in the Texas state capital of Austin area. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In a statement Thursday, state Rep. Ann Johnson, who represents the Houston area, said she will not be intimidated into silence by politicians who are trying to rig our democracy to cling to power. If standing in the way of authoritarianism makes me a target, so be it, she said. Id rather be chased for doing whats right than complicit in whats wrong. Gorner reported from Springfield. Buck William Aldridge, the sergeant with the Camden County Sheriffs Office accused of turning a routine traffic stop in 2023 into a deadly altercation that killed 53-year-old Leonard Cure, has been indicted on civil rights violations by a federal grand jury. Just three years before he was killed, Cure, a client of the Innocence Project of Florida, was exonerated and released from prison after being incarcerated for 16 years. The traffic stop did not have to end in Lennys death, Seth Miller, executive director of the Innocence Project of Florida, said in a statement days after Cures death. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We believe the officers aggressive behavior toward Lenny, and his placing Lenny under arrest, triggered a response you would expect from someone who spent 16 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. Aldridge, who is white, pulled over Cure, who is Black, on suspicion of speeding on Interstate 95 in Camden County on Oct. 16, 2023, and asked him to step out of his vehicle. The interaction escalated when Aldridge tased Cure, which turned into a physical struggle between the two men. Aldrige then drew his gun and shot Cure. A still image from a deputys body camera video shows Camden County Sheriffs Office Staff Sgt. Buck Aldridge following a chase and arrest on June 24, 2022. (Camden County Sheriffs Office via the Associated Press) In the 13-count indictment, Aldrige is charged with deprivation of rights under color of law and falsifying records charges for his actions during and after the traffic stop. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The charges were announced Thursday by Tara M. Lyons, acting U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Georgia, and Paul Brown, special agent in charge of the FBI Atlanta Field Office. Law enforcement officers are entrusted with the authority to uphold the law not to break it. When that trust is violated, the FBI will act. No badge puts anyone above the Constitution, Brown said in a statement. The indictment alleges that Aldridge also used excessive force during four separate arrests and later prepared multiple false reports to justify that force. Aldridge could face a maximum 10 years in prison for each federal civil rights violation, and 20 years in prison for each false report, according to U.S. sentencing guidelines. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In February, Keith Higgins, district attorney for the Brunswick Judicial Circuit, declined to press charges against Aldridge for the shooting, telling the Associated Press that deadly force was objectively reasonable. Last year, attorney Ben Crump and Cures family filed a $16 million federal lawsuit against Aldridge and former Camden County Sheriff Jim Proctor for their alleged roles in Cures death. The post FBI Charges Georgia Sheriff in Fatal Shooting of Black Man Freed by Innocence Project appeared first on Capital B News - Atlanta. The Brief Texas Senator John Cornyn says the FBI is helping locate Democratic state lawmakers who fled to Illinois to block a redistricting vote that could benefit Republicans in the midterms. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker called the move political theater, noting theres no federal law allowing the arrest of Texas lawmakers in Illinois. The Texas Democrats are in their fifth day of self-exile in Illinois, aiming to prevent a quorum in the Texas legislature over the GOP-led remap proposal. ILLINOIS - A U.S. senator from Texas said the FBI is now on the lookout for the state's Democratic lawmakers hiding out in Illinois. What we know Texas Republican Senator John Cornyn issued a press release saying, "I am proud to announce that Director Kash Patel has approved my request for the FBI to assist state and local law enforcement in locating runaway Texas House Democrats." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This comes amid the bitter feud over redistricting in Texas that has brought Texas Democrats to the Chicago suburbs. This is the fifth day of the coalition of Texas Democrats in exile in Illinois. Their goal is to prevent a quorum in that state's legislature from moving forward on a controversial remap proposal that could net Republicans five seats in Congress by the midterm elections. Pritzker weighs in Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker dismissed Cornyn's threats as a lot of hot air on the part of politicians trying to appeal to the MAGA base. "This is a lot of grandstanding by Senator Cornyn, by Governor Abbott," said Pritzker. "All that he has said is the FBI has offered to help locate the Texas House Democrats, nothing more. You know why? There is no federal law that allows them to arrest Texas democrats in the state of Illinois." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Pritzker said it amounts to little more than a political witch hunt. "I welcome the FBI coming to the state. I hope they take in the state fair. I hope they go see the beauty of the state fair..." he said. The backstory Cornyn is locked in a bitter primary reelection battle with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who has vowed to "hunt down" the missing Democrats. On Wednesday, Sen. John Cornyn (RTexas) announced that the FBI had assigned "agents in both the San Antonio and Austin office" to his request that the agency help Texas law enforcement track down more than 50 House Democrats who left the state Sunday afternoon to delay a vote on redistricting plans proposed by the Republican majority. Texas already has several mechanisms to use in coaxing the Democrats back. Each day they're gone, the fleeing Democrats incur a $500-per-day fine. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott also released an order for their arrest by the Texas Department of Public Safety, describing the Democrats' conduct as "abandonment or forfeiture." Republicans in the Texas House, meanwhile, have issued arrest warrants for the absent Democrats, and Attorney General Ken Paxtonwho is challenging Cornyn in his re-election bidhas called for their removal from office. In his letter to FBI Director Kash Patel, Cornyn states that "federal resources are necessary" to find the runaways. Cornyn couches his demands for FBI involvement in a cloak of concern about "solicited or accepted funds to aid in their efforts to avoid their legislative duties," sharing with Patel his belief that Democrats' actions may constitute "bribery or other public corruption offenses." A group backed by former Texas U.S. Rep. Beto O'Rourke (DTexas) is covering the costs of the fines accrued by the AWOL Democrats, according to The Texas Tribune. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement However, no charges have been filed in connection with their absence, and Texas Democrats have been visible in Chicago, Boston, and New York, holding press conferences and speaking with national outlets. The FBI has yet to act on Cornyn's request. As of Thursday, "no federal agents had been seen or reported," in Illinois, per The New York Times. It is also unclear whether Patel was swayed by Cornyn's argument or by President Donald Trump, who indicated on Tuesday he "may have to" order the FBI to help apprehend the fleeing Democrats, as reported by The Guardian. Notably, this is not the first time a Texas Republican has attempted to have the FBI intervene in state matters. In 2003, over 50 Texas legislators left the state to block a redistricting vote, prompting state officials to seek federal assistance in retrieving them. However, the George W. Bush Justice Department declined to assist, stating they were "not aware of any information" that would "warrant action by federal law enforcement authorities, including those of the FBI," per CNN. Regardless of how involved the FBI will become, the bureau's involvement at all degrades the principle of federalism by infringing upon Texas's authority to discipline its lawmakers. It is also the most recent example of the Trump Justice Department being weaponized for political gain and tasked with duties outside its standard wheelhouse. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In April, the FBI arrested Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan for obstruction of federal immigration enforcement and allegedly "concealing an individual to prevent his discovery and arrest," as covered by Reason. In May, FBI field offices nationwide received orders to increase the number of agents assigned to immigration enforcement significantly. Through June, the agency routinely assisted Immigration and Customs Enforcement in immigration raids and arrests, before shifting its focus back to counterterrorism. Meanwhile, the bureau has also gone after Trump dissidents, with Patel supporting an investigation into former FBI Director James Comey, after he posted an image on Instagram of seashells spelling out "86 47" on the beach. Comey was later investigated and followed by the Secret Service. Though Patel dismissed concerns during his confirmation hearing that he would weaponize the FBI, he seems to have set his sights on the Texas Democrats, despite Trump's Day One executive order to end the "weaponization of law enforcement and the weaponization of the Intelligence Community." While the Democrats' plan is an attempt to circumvent a vote, they've broken no federal laws or statutes. There is simply no need for the FBI's involvement. The post The FBI Has No Business Tracking Down Texas Democrats appeared first on Reason.com. In late July, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced its plans to both revoke or propose to revoke 52 food standards, including several "standards of identity," after it said it found them to be "obsolete." And now, that may include orange juice, too. Here's what this means for your morning glass of juice and beyond. First, what is a food standard of identity? As Food & Wine previously explained, the FDA began setting standards of identity in 1939 to promote "honesty and fair dealing" and ensure the "characteristics, ingredients, and production processes of specific foods were consistent with what consumers expect." Back then, the FDA added, companies often sold products "that were represented as jams containing fruit, but the products contained little fruit," so it established baseline rules for certain foods to be labeled as such. For example, the Oregon Growers explained that "preserves" and "jams" must contain at least "55% sugar and 45% fruit. If a product does not meet these requirements, it must be called by another name." With this new update, jam makers may no longer be required to adhere to these percentages if their standard of identity were to go away, meaning your next jar could be more sugar, water, or some other ingredient entirely than mostly fruit. Why is the FDA changing it for orange juice? On Aug. 5, the FDA announced that it's proposing to amend the standard of identity for pasteurized orange juice, which has been in place for six decades, in an effort "to promote honesty and fair dealing for consumers." It added that the proposed rule change will "provide flexibility to the food industry." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Why the change now? As the FDA explained, it's in response to a petition by the Florida Citrus Processors Association and Florida Citrus Mutual, which is asking for the change, as the current standard of identity has a minimum Brix requirement, "a measurement that indicates the sugar content of a liquid," at 10.5%. It wants to reduce this requirement to a flat 10%. That's because the state of Florida has been ravaged by citrus greening disease, which has caused a lower crop production as well as fruit that has less sugar than before. "The FDA's pasteurized orange juice standard of identity, when originally promulgated in 1963, was carefully constructed to reflect the qualities of U.S. oranges," the petition by the two organizations states. "It should now be updated to align with the properties of the modern U.S. crop. Without these changes, manufacturers of finished pasteurized orange juice products must increasingly rely on higher Brix imported juice to meet or exceed the U.S. minimum Brix for pasteurized orange juice." The FDA further explained that the change shouldn't affect the taste of orange juice and will have "a minimal impact on the nutrients found in orange juice." Beyond importing more oranges to meet the standard of identity, many are also starting to toy with the idea of mixing fruits to create orange blends that will still satisfy our taste for OJ without the cost. F&W reported in 2024 that the UK company Coldpress launched a mandarin juice to give consumers an OJ alternative. Related: A Deadly Citrus Tree Disease Is Wreaking Havoc on California Fruit What other standards of identity may change? Other foods that may have their standards of identity change soon include several types of canned fruits and vegetables, including artificially sweetened canned fruits (apricots, cherries, pears, peaches, pineapples) and select canned vegetables, such as field corn and dry peas. More than a dozen dairy products are included in the list, including lowsodium cheddar and colby cheeses, along with cream cheese blends, and frozen desserts like goat milk ice cream and mellorine. Milk breads, rolls, and buns are also on the list, as are enriched macaroni and frozen juice concentrates. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The FDAs Standards of Identity efforts have helped ensure uniformity, boost consumer confidence, and prevent food fraud. But many of these standards have outlived their usefulness and may even stifle innovation in making food easier to produce or providing consumers healthier choices, FDA Commissioner Marty Makary added in the July press release. Antiquated food standards are no longer serving to protect consumers. It is common sense to revoke them and move to a more judicious use of food standards and agency resources." Read the original article on Food & Wine A Lakewood, California, city councilmember is speaking out after he says U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents boarded his boat without cause and asked for identification an encounter he believes was racially motivated. Councilmember David Arellano detailed the incident in a Facebook post on July 15, saying he was out on the water with a friend to unwind when federal agents in full tactical gear pulled up alongside their boat near the harbor. As we were leaving the harbor, a Border Patrol boat pulled up next to us, Arellano wrote. They asked where we were going, then I heard the driver say, Ask them for their papers. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Two CBP agents boarded the vessel and asked both Arellano and his friend to present identification, he said. No explanation. No cause. Just suspicion and being brownjust based on how we look, the councilmember alleged. My friend was just as stunned as I was. Federal agents are seen boarding a Lakewood councilmembers boat in July 2025. (David Arellano) Arellano said the agents demeanor shifted once they saw the pairs identification, which confirmed they were U.S. citizens. Suddenly, they were apologetic. But the damage was done, he wrote. KTLA reached out to Customs and Border Protection for comment. On Wednesday, Aug. 6, a spokesperson from the Department of Homeland Security issued a statement defending the agents actions. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It is shameful and wrong that Councilman Arellano baselessly accused the brave men and women of CBP of racism, as they simply try and keep our maritime borders safe, said Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of DHS. During the interview, agents requested vessel documentationsimilar to when you are pulled over in your carand acted with professionalism and courtesy. According to DHS, the operation was part of a lawful inspection process in which CBPs Marine Interdiction Agents randomly select boats for inspection, noting that smugglers often attempt to blend in with regular boating traffic. Arellano, however, believes the interaction was anything but random. I felt angry, powerless, hurt and demeaned, he wrote. Im a lifelong U.S. citizen. Born and raised here. A public servant. And yet in that moment, I was just someone who is brown. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement McLaughlin pushed back on that assertion, adding: It is revealing that the councilman prioritizes race baiting and demonization of law enforcement over the safety and security of our homeland. Arellano emphasized that his post was based on personal experience and urged others to share their own. Its the reality for millions of Latinos across this countryregardless of legal status, he said. We all have different views and beliefs, but we need to do better. We need to treat each other with respect, dignity and decency. 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. The Brief A $20 million defamation lawsuit filed by Chicago woman Jimalita Tillman against Shannon Sharpe, Chad Johnson, and their podcast team has been dismissed in federal court. The suit stemmed from an April podcast episode where Tillman was allegedly mischaracterized as being married and divorcing after a viral Usher concert moment, which she says was false and damaging. Tillman expressed satisfaction with resolving the matter, emphasizing a desire to move forward and recognizing both her and Sharpes community contributions. CHICAGO - A $20 million defamation lawsuit against podcasters Shannon Sharpe and Chad Johnson filed by a Chicago woman has been dismissed, according to officials. What we know Jimalita Tillman filed the civil lawsuit on April 24 against Sharpe, his media company, Johnson also known as Chad "Ochocinco" Johnson and their producer. The case, which alleged libel and defamation, was moved to federal court in Chicago. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The case has been dismissed, though further details haven't been released. "I am pleased with the outcome," Tillman said. "We were able to put this matter behind us without a long-drawn-out court matter. We look forward to future discussions about the positive contributions Mr. Sharpe and I both make to the community. I wish him, his family, and his business endeavors continued success." The backstory The lawsuit stemmed from an April 12 episode of Sharpe and Johnsons podcast, Nightcap, in which the former athletes allegedly claimed Tillman was married and going through a divorce following her viral moment at an Usher concert in London. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The implication, according to the complaint, was that Tillman contributed to the breakup. Tillman maintained she was neither married nor in a relationship at the time. She said she attempted to contact the podcast hosts and their company to correct the record but received no acknowledgment or retraction. Tillman also added that the incident negatively impacted her personal and professional life, including her role as director of the Harold Washington Cultural Center and her work in homeschooling advocacy. The Source The information in this article was reported by FOX 32's Tia Ewing. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida has issued a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO), halting further construction at the immigration detention site situated at the Everglades Jetport, commonly known as Alligator Alcatraz. The Courts ruling was in response to a lawsuit filed by the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida, together with Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity. Last month, the Tribe moved to intervene in the ongoing federal case, Friends of the Everglades, Inc. et al. v. Noem et al. The Court granted the Tribes request to intervene. Never miss Indian Countrys biggest stories and breaking news. Click here to sign up to get our reporting sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement - The lawsuit seeks to stop the unauthorized construction of the facility, located near traditional Miccosukee villages. While the TRO does not affect current operations at the site, it prohibits any additional construction activity until the court reconvenes. We welcome the courts decision to pause construction on this deeply concerning project. The detention facility threatens land that is not only environmentally sensitive but sacred to our people, said Miccosukee Tribe Chairman Talbert Cypress. The restraining order will remain in effect until Tuesday, August 12, 2025, when the court is scheduled to hold an evidentiary hearing on the motion for a preliminary injunction. In the meantime, the Tribe continues to advocate for its rights, raising concerns about the facilitys impact on sacred lands, water resources, and cultural preservation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Miccosukee Tribe remains steadfast in defending its sovereign rights, protecting its people, and preserving the ecological integrity of the Everglades. While this order is temporary, it is an important step in asserting our rights and protecting our homeland. The Miccosukee Tribe will continue to stand for our culture, our sovereignty, and the Everglades, Chairman Cypress said. About the Author: "Levi \"Calm Before the Storm\" Rickert (Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation) is the founder, publisher and editor of Native News Online. Rickert was awarded Best Column 2021 Native Media Award for the print\/online category by the Native American Journalists Association. He serves on the advisory board of the Multicultural Media Correspondents Association. He can be reached at levi@nativenewsonline.net." Contact: levi@nativenewsonline.net Alabama must use independently drawn congressional maps that created a second Black-majority district more favorable to Democrats in the state for the rest of the decade, a federal court said Thursday. A three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama ruled unanimously that the state must use the map drawn up by a court-appointed special master until regular redistricting is scheduled to be done in 2030. The decision, which enabled Democrats to gain a seat in the last election, comes as both parties gear up for competing redistricting efforts in response to a move by Texas to redraw boundaries to improve the chances that Republicans will pick up five additional seats. The court in Alabama barred the state from using a map drawn in 2023 that did not include a second Black-majority district in defiance of a Supreme Court ruling. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Two of the judges, Anna Manasco and Terry Moorer, were appoint to their seats by President Donald Trump. The third, Stanley Marcus, was appointed by President Bill Clinton. In May, the same panel of judges ruled the states 2023 map violated the Voting Rights Act, and chastised Alabamas legislature for deliberately ignoring court rulings to draw the maps with a second predominantly Black district. Last year, after the state implemented maps drawn by the special master, Rep. Shomari Figures won the states redrawn 2nd Congressional District, giving Democrats two seats in Alabamas congressional delegation. The court also denied a request to have the Department of Justice approve any changes in the states maps going forward a move DOJ said it opposed in June. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The ruling comes as both Republicans and Democrats mount aggressive mid-cycle redistricting campaigns across the country, triggered by President Donald Trumps push to redraw the maps in Texas. Alabama Republicans have previously signaled they may appeal the ruling again to the Supreme Court, potentially offering another opportunity to rule on the Voting Rights Acts statutes on race-based redistricting. The court is already weighing a similar issue regarding Louisianas congressional maps. TULSA, Okla. A federal judge rejects the sentencing recommendations of a plea agreement for a former Wyandotte Special Education teacher and her husband and is sending them to prison. Keith Enyart, 52, and Jennifer Enyart, 45, entered into plea agreements in May. They both agreed to plead guilty to one count of child neglect with the recommendation neither would get additional jail time. The couple appeared in U.S. District Court in Tulsa Thursday, before Federal Judge John Russell for the sentencing phase of their case. The plea agreements recommended the Wyandotte couple serve no additional time, saying the appropriate disposition is time served and five years of supervised release. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Part of the plea agreement (shown below) does say the defendants are aware that the Sentencing Guidelines are advisory. The document also says the Court is not bound by those guidelines and the defendants are aware that any estimate of the sentence received from any source is a prediction, not a promise. There were additional stipulations in the plea agreements, but they also say the defendants understand that neither the Court nor the United States Probation Office is bound by the foregoing stipulations, either as to questions of facts or as to determination of the correct advisory sentencing guideline calculation. And Judge Russell, rather than accepting the sentencing recommendation, sentenced both to 18 months behind bars. Keith Enyart was ordered to surrender to the Bureau of Federal Prisons on Sept. 24 and Jennifer to surrender on Oct. 29, to serve their time. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Enyarts child abuse charges were dropped and Jennifer Enyarts remaining charge of assault with a dangerous weapon with intent to do bodily harm and child abuse in Indian Country was also dismissed. Judge Russell also ordered the couple to serve three years of supervised release. show_temp-25_099fdbDownload Jennifer Enyart was accused of using a stun gun on her adopted, disabled sons genitals. A child abuse pediatric examination report showed that several of the childs injuries were consistent with the use of a taser or stun gun, court records show. The report concluded the teens injuries were likely the result of child abuse. According to an objection filed in the case, Keith Enyart disputed portions of his presentence report (PSR), saying it improperly relied on uncharged and unproven allegations and introduced prejudicial information. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The motion states Keith Enyart objected to the allegations that he permitted or directed other children to tase, punch, or strike M.V. [the special needs child] with plastic hangers, or that he tased the victim. These alleged acts were expressly excluded from the factual basis of the plea agreement, the motion states. Enyart did not plead guilty to child abuse. By including these disputed allegations the [report] improperly punishes Mr. Enyart for conduct he disputes and has not been convicted of, in violation of due process protections under the Fifth Amendment. KEITH ENYARTS OBJECTION TO PRESENTENCE REPORT In this case, Mr. Enyarts plea of guilty was specifically to child neglect, the motion states. The alleged physical abuse, involving items like tasers, paddles, and plastic hangers, goes far beyond the conduct admitted at the change of plea and represents a wholly distinct narrative. KEITH ENYARTS OBJECTION TO PRESENTENCE REPORT Judge Russell overruled the Enyarts objections to their PSRs. Those PSRs are sealed, but the objection filed in the case reveals some of the information included in those reports. When the couple was arrested and charged, the school placed Jennifer Enyart on administrative leave. She resigned from the district in January, 2025. In December, the Oklahoma State Board of Education suspended her teaching certification. Superintendent Brad Wade said in an earlier interview that Keith Enyart was employed at the Wyandotte School District as a support staff member and was fired on Dec. 19. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Years ago, Keith Enyart was employed as at an area youth services 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 KSNF/KODE | FourStatesHomepage.com. Sen. Steve Livingston, R-Scottsboro, listens to discussions during a special session on redistricting on Wednesday, July 19, 2023 in Montgomery, Ala. Federal judges Thursday ordered the state to retain a congressional map drawn by a special master in 2023 through the 2030 U.S. Census. (Stew Milne for Alabama Reflector) A three-judge panel Thursday denied a request from plaintiffs in Alabamas redistricting case to put the state back under preclearance, which would subject any future congressional maps to approval by the court. In a separate order, the three-judge panel U.S. Circuit Judge Stanley Marcus, appointed by former President Bill Clinton, and U.S. District Judges Anna M. Manasco and Terry F. Moorer, both appointees of President Donald Trump barred Alabama from using a map the Legislature passed in 2023 to conduct elections. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The judges also ordered the state to administer future congressional elections under the current congressional map, drawn by a special master in 2023, until the state enacts new congressional maps based on the 2030 U.S. Census. The map resulted in the election of U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures, D-Mobile, in the 2nd Congressional District last November. That election marked the first time in history that Alabama elected two Black U.S. Representatives at the same time. We have no doubt that the remedial rulings we have entered fully redress the constitutional and statutory violations we have found. We do no more than enter a remedy designed to restore the victims of discriminatory conduct to the position they would have occupied in the absence of such conduct. Accordingly, we decline at this time and on these facts to bail Alabama back into federal preclearance, the judges wrote. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX The court ordered the state to draw a new congressional map in 2023 after nearly two years of litigation with two appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court. The panel ruled that the Legislature-approved map did not give Black voters the ability to choose their preferred leaders, and ordered a majority-minority congressional district and a district with a near-majority of Black voters to be drawn. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement After a trial earlier this year, the court ruled in May that Alabama had intentionally discriminated against Black voters by approving a map in 2023 that initially only had one majority-Black district. Plaintiffs attorney Deuel Ross with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund expressed both disappointment and gratitude regarding the decision. We, as in the parties, the plaintiffs and the defendants, all asked the court to move quickly and not wait on issuing an order, Ross said in an interview Friday. Just as I said, disappointed that the court did not impose preclearance, but grateful for the courts ruling that will keep in place, a fair remedy through 2030. Ross said that the ruling provides a specific remedy that is fair to all voters and that he is excited because this is a hard fought one. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Alabama Attorney Generals office stated it was pleased with the ruling. We are pleased that the Court accepted our arguments and rejected the plaintiffs far-reaching request, said William Califf, a spokesperson for the office in an email. In its order, the three-judge panel stated a desire to provide a remedy with minimal intrusion into state government affairs. We have taken care to calibrate the equitable relief in this case (and in the related cases) to remedy the serious constitutional and statutory violations we identified in the least intrusive and most restrained manner possible, and no more, the judges wrote. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The courts analysis also stated its reasoning for denying the plaintiffs request to put Alabama back under federal preclearance. The judges stated that they saw no compelling reason to tread into such intrusive waters so long as state officials abide by the courts injunction to use the new map. We see no need to prematurely inject the federal government into an election that postdates the secretarys and Legislatures concessions by seven years, the judges wrote. And we will not, in an unrestrained attempt to resolve any hypothetical issue that may arise far down the road, assign to our court the exceedingly intrusive task of supervising Alabamas congressional elections for the next fifteen years. The state of Alabama has a brief due on September 4th, asking the Supreme Court to hear the case a third time, with the plaintiffs response due a month later. Ross also mentioned that the courts decision provides clarity as the case is currently on appeal to the Supreme Court. This at least gives clarity on what the issues are going to be in front of the Supreme Court, which at this point is not about the preclearance issue that that we had put in front of the court, and its only about whether or not the Supreme Court agrees that Alabama violated the Voting Rights Act, Ross said. The NASA Wallops Flight Facility Visitor Center on the Eastern Shore could soon close to the public, according to federal workers who are fighting the closure. The move comes after employees received an email Monday listing several planned facility closures that would take effect Oct. 1 at Goddard Space Flight Center and Wallops, including the visitor center, according to reporting from WBOC-TV. The email said management assessed the planned closures and was working to provide timely and transparent communication. The visitor center sits on Wallops Island in Accomack County, where the population of the entire county totals just over 33,000, according to census data. Despite the rural setting, tens of thousands of people visit each year for NASA educational programs, tours and launch viewings free of charge, according to American Federation of Government Employees Vice President Ben Robbins. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement AFGE represents the federal employees at NASA Wallops, and one member said in a statement the proposed closure would not only hurt Wallops connection to local communities, but would economically devastate a region that already has scarce resources. More than 40,000 people visited Wallops last year, including more than 8,000 participants in more than 100 free programs. Nearly 3,600 people watched rockets launch at the site, and roughly 1,000 children and adults took guided field trips there. The visitor center doesnt directly generate money from visitors, but thats 40,000 people who will no longer be supporting local businesses, staying at hotels or partnering with NASA to get young people interested in science, Robbins said. The reason for the proposed closure is unclear. NASA officials did not respond Friday to a request for comment. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Other branches of NASA have already been the target of massive cuts by the Trump administration this year. However, union members are concerned the planned closure is punitive action against employees. Some remaining staff at Wallops have refused to voluntarily separate or resign throughout recent NASA downsizing and restructuring, and AFGE claims to have received reports the decision to close the visitor center is punitive rather than budgetary. Now, the union is demanding congressional intervention and other accountability measures to protect workers from a decision they say is intentionally designed to inflict maximum damage on Wallops staff. The NASA Wallops Visitor Center represents the best of public service, scientific exploration, and small-town community pride, the AFGE said in a statement. To dismantle it under the guise of restructuring is to undervalue the very spirit of American spaceflight and to abandon the communities that make it possible. Devlin Epding, 757-510-4037, devlin.epding@virginiamedia.com BAY COUNTY, Fla. (WMBB) The Filipino American Association of Bay County is hosting its Barrio Fiesta event on Saturday. The event will showcase authentic Filipino food and cultural dances. The food will be served starting at 11 a.m. and include egg rolls, kabobs, desserts and more. The Barrio Fiesta is actually a celebration of good harvest. In the good old days, we are born as farmers, so after their good crops, they celebrate. Thats how it started, then it became a town festival that the people get used to doing, organizer Marissa Madriaga said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The event takes place at the St. Peter & Paul Church in the Parish Hall. For more information, call Madriaga at 850-387-3365 or Josie Wright at 916-397-3597. 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 mypanhandle.com. LYNN HAVEN, Fla. (WMBB) On Thursday, James Finch, the owner of Phoenix Construction, issued a statement in regards to the rejection of his petition to recall Lynn Haven Mayor Jesse Nelson. The Bay County Supervisor of Elections, Nina Ward, said earlier Thursday that the Committee had stated that their start date was on July 4. However, the first valid signature was dated June 7, which would end the 30 days on July 7. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Based on that date range, only 226 petition signatures are valid. Ward said that as a result, her office was unable to verify the necessary number of signatures required by Florida law. Recall petition effort against Mayor Jesse Nelson declared invalid James Finch said that after reviewing the data submitted by the Supervisor of Elections office, they discovered that two petitions were signed and dated 6/7/25 and 6/8/25, instead of the intended dates of 7/7/25 and 7/8/25. The error resulted in a loss of 27 days to secure the required signatures. He also specified that from July 4 to August 2, we successfully collected over 1,600 signatures, of which more than 1,550 have been confirmed and validated. He says only 1,532 signatures are necessary. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We respect the process established by the Office of the SOE and take full responsibility for not catching this error before submission, Finch said. However, we remain committed to being a voice for the people and will continue our efforts to ensure the success of this initiative. Finch said they will continue looking for signatures and that hes confident that after the distribution of financial data regarding Lynn Haven tomorrow, he will be able to obtain even more signatures to support their cause. 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 mypanhandle.com. A Russian drone hit a civilian facility in Kharkivs Saltivskyi district on the night of 7-8 August, causing a fire that spread over 500 sq m. Two civilians have been injured. Source: State Emergency Service of Ukraine (SES); Oleh Syniehubov, Head of Kharkiv Oblast Military Administration Quote from Syniehubov: "At around 23:55, a strike on a civilian business facility was recorded. As a result of the attack, the roof and mechanical floor caught fire, covering an area of 500 sq m. The fire was extinguished." Photo: State Emergency Service of Ukraine Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Details: Two civilians a man, 66, and a woman, 63 suffered an acute stress reaction due to the nighttime attack. They were provided with the necessary assistance. Photo: State Emergency Service of Ukraine The SES reported the drone strike caused a fire in a four-storey office building in the Saltivskyi district. The roof structures and mechanical floor were ablaze. Fifty firefighters, a team of bomb disposal experts from the SES and 13 fire appliances were involved in the firefighting operation. Background: Late in the evening on 7 August, Kharkiv was struck by a Russian drone, sparking a fire in the city. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon! A fire broke out in the historic mosque-turned-cathedral in Cordoba on Friday but the monument was saved as firefighters quickly contained and then extinguished it, the Spanish city's mayor said. Widely shared videos had shown flames and smoke billowing from inside the major tourist attraction, visited by two million people per year. "The monument is saved. There will be no spread, it will not be a catastrophe, let's put it that way," Mayor Jose Mara Bellido said on Cadena television. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Later, he said the fire, which the fire brigade had earlier described as under control, was now extinguished. "Luckily, the rapid and magnificent intervention of the Cordoba firefighters averted a catastrophe. The fire is now out, and tonight firefighters and local police teams will remain on site to avoid any risk," the mayor posted on X. The spectacular blaze had broken out around 9:00 PM (1900 GMT), raising fears for the early medieval architectural gem and evoking memories of the 2019 fire that ravaged Notre Dame cathedral in Paris. ABC and other newspapers reported that a mechanical sweeping machine had caught fire in the site. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Considered a jewel of Islamic architecture, the site was built as a mosque -- on the site of an earlier church -- between the 8th and 10th centuries by the southern city's then Muslim ruler, Abd ar-Rahman, an emir of the Umayyad dynasty. After Christians reconquered Spain in the 13th century under King Ferdinand III of Castile, it was converted into a cathedral and architectural alterations were made over following centuries. mig/rlp/gv/ksb The Brief Fire officials evacuated 12 minors from Now Faith Apostolic Ministries due to the church operating an unpermitted board and care facility without necessary fire safety measures. The teens were between the ages of 15 and 18 and were under the custody of Georgias Division of Family and Children Services. The church has acknowledged multiple code violations, but says that the teens were just "temporarily" relocated to the church due to a flood at their licensed treatment center. CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. - Clayton County Fire officials held a press conference on Friday to discuss the recent discovery of a dozen teens found living in the basement of a local church. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In late July, officials removed the teens between the ages of 15 and 18 from the Now Faith Apostolic Church in the 3000 block of Rex Road. SEE MORE: Pastor disputes fire safety allegations amid evacuation of foster teens What we know The Clayton County Fire Marshal's Office inspected the site on the same day the kids were found, officials said previously. During the inspection, the church's director reportedly told officials the church was being used as a boarding site for teens in the custody of the state Division of Family and Children Service (DFACS). The 12 teens were found to be sleeping in the Clayton County church's basement. (FOX 5) "The scene raised immediate concerns regarding the facilitys occupancy use and fire code compliance, prompting notification of the Clayton County Fire Marshals Office for further investigation," firefighters said in a statement at the time of the removal. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Officials issued five citations to the building's owner for issues involving fire safety systems, exit requirements, and "general requirements for board and care." Because the church was not zoned to house the youths, DFACS was called to help with the relocation efforts. What they're saying On Friday, Chief Tim Sweat revealed that crews were initially called to the church after a 911 report of a young female injured during a possible altercation. When a paramedic and nurse practitioner arrived, they found evidence that youths were living in the building. Fire marshals confirmed the churchs basement had been converted into living quarters for minors without approval or proper safety measures. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "We acted strictly on the presence of fire code in which we are authorized," said Chief Tim Sweat of Clayton County Fire and Emergency Services. According to county officials, the church violated multiple fire codes. Deputy Fire Marshal Chris Cameron said, "Not one single required fire code provision for a board and care home facility was met." Sweat said that the basement lacked a sprinkler system, fire alarms, smoke detectors, emergency lighting, fire extinguishers and safe exits. Several windows used as secondary escape routes were boarded over, hallways were blocked, and combustible materials were stored near the kitchen and electrical panels. Meals were also being cooked on site without required suppression systems. At a news conference, fire officials displayed photos of the violations. They included windows covered with wood, making them unusable during an evacuation; rooms without fire suppression systems; and the absence of a mechanism to automatically unlock doors in case of a fire. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Every safeguard that protects life in a fire detection, notification, suppression and safe egress was absent," Cameron said. Sweat also said that state officials confirmed they had not authorized the relocation of the children to the church, despite claims by the facilitys director and owner. Clayton County reportedly determined the buildings zoning and business licenses did not allow it to operate as a care home. Clayton County officials emphasized the decision was based solely on life safety concerns and the facilitys failure to meet fire code standards, not on living conditions inside. Commissioner DeMont Davis said the church still plays a role as an emergency shelter when needed, but Commissioner Chairwoman Dr. Alieka Anderson-Henry emphasized that "they have to follow the state rules, especially when children are involved. Were going to take care of children definitely first." The other side Last week, Senior Pastor Dr. C.H. Braddy told FOX 5s Christopher King that the state fire marshals office authorized the church to temporarily house the teens after their licensed treatment center in Riverdale flooded. County officials said that is not true. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement After the teens were removed, the leaders of Now Faith Apostolic Church said that the 12 teens were "temporarily" relocated to the church due to a flood at their licensed treatment facility. Church leaders described the youths as "survivors of extreme trauma that includes long-term hoteling due to a lack of placement availability for treatment and severe abuse." "The facility at Now Faith Apostolic Ministries meets the states standards for emergency housing, and these youth have not at any point been placed in harms way," the statement read. The church said it is working to address the citations and operate under state and local guidelines. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement When asked last week if there was a serious fire hazard, Braddy responded, "No, I dont see it being a serious fire hazard. Theres adequate ingress and egress." What we don't know FOX 5s efforts to reach him again Friday were unsuccessful. What's next The citations issued against the church will be reviewed by the countys code enforcement board next month. The Source Information for this story came from releases by Clayton County Fire and Emergency Services and Now Faith Apostolic Church as well as previous FOX 5 reporting. This story has been updated since the press conference. LINEVILLE, Iowa The town of Lineville suffered severe storm damage Thursday morning after a severe storm passed through the town. Jeff Landrum, the Assistant Fire Chief of the Lineville Volunteer Fire Department, said he thinks the storm may have been a tornado. Itd be great to have National Weather Service. Give us some ideas if this really was a tornado with the way that damage looks throughout the town. Were pretty confident it was, Landrum said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trees fell all across town, some of them damaging homes and roofs. Some of the most severe damage occurred at the Lineville Volunteer Fire Department which had a four bay garage completely destroyed. Moonpie the three-legged cat looking for forever home Brentt Snow, the Fire Chief of the Lineville Volunteer Fire Department, said the garage took five years of fundraising to build and only recently finished construction. Weve been talking about it for five and really got serious about it two years ago. So, finally got enough money to get started. And now were going to start from scratch again. So, its going to be rough, Snow said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Landrum said an outpouring of support has already come to Linesville and hes confident the fire department will rebuild. Its just a sad day in Linville. But any small town in Iowa, we got two great people and they all showed up today. And well get back to, back to normal. So, appreciate everybodys help and we look forward to getting our station going again, Landrum said. The Lineville Volunteer Fire Department is accepting donations to help rebuild the building it lost. Donations can be sent to the First Interstate Bank in Corydon, Iowa, to the Building Fund Account. Iowa news Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. BAY COUNTY, Fla. (WMBB) The Sleep Center of Panama City donated 22 Tempur-Pedic mattresses to Bay County Emergency Medical Services on Friday morning, continuing their tradition of supporting first responders since 2018. The donation, which also included seven bed frames and seven box springs, is part of an ongoing effort to provide comfort to first responders who work long and demanding hours. The Sleep Center has been collaborating with Tempur-Pedic to ensure that firefighters, EMTs, and paramedics have high-quality mattresses for their rest periods. Theyve got to get up and go, said the owner of the Sleep Center in Panama City, Richard Branham. If theyre going to get just a limited amount of sleep, theyre going to sleep on something very good. I called Tempur-Pedic. I said, can we work something out? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement First responders from Panama City, Panama City Beach, Lynn Haven, Callaway, and Mexico Beach have all benefited from these donations. The initiative aims to improve the quality of rest for those who are often on call for emergencies. All of our first responders and our EMTs, paramedics, and firefighters are kind of wired to work long hours and work through fatigue, explained Bay Countys Battalion Chief, Matt Gothard. But with all that, they also, you know, behind all those uniforms is a human that does need some rescue. The Bay County EMS alone handles 36,000 calls a year, highlighting the intense workload faced by these first responders. The mattresses provide a much-needed opportunity for rest and recovery during their shifts. With the continued support from the Sleep Center of Panama City, first responders in the region can look forward to improved rest and recovery, enhancing their ability to serve the community effectively. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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 mypanhandle.com. NEWPORT, Ark. Officials with the Arkansas State Police said five suspects in a deadly 2023 Newport shooting have pleaded guilty. ASP officials said the shooting took place at a concert in the former Branch High School Building at around 2:30 a.m. on Feb. 5, 2023. Fatally shot during the incident was 19-year-old Tamrionna Jarrett of Augusta. Shooting at Newport concert leaves 1 dead, 4 injured Officials said the five suspects were named through a two-year ASP investigation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The five received varying terms after pleading guilty. Tashawn Landers pleaded guilty on June 25 to second-degree murder, two counts of attempted murder and six felony counts of committing a terroristic act. The 24-year-old was sentenced to 55 years in the Arkansas Division of Corrections (ADC). Additional arrests made in February Fredo Bang concert shooting in Newport Steven Dye pleaded guilty on May 5 to second-degree murder, two counts of attempted murder and six felony counts of committing a terroristic act. The 21-year-old was sentenced to 25 years in the ADC. Dedrick Robinson pleaded guilty on March 4 to felony hindering apprehension or prosecution and three counts of felony tampering with physical evidence. The 24-year-old was sentenced to 20 years in the ADC. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Aaron Warren III pleaded guilty on June 5 to felony committing a terroristic act and four counts of felony aggravated assault. The 31-year-old was sentenced to seven years of felony probation with the Arkansas Division of Community Correction (ACC). Man killed in North Little Rock shooting Richard McGee pleaded guilty on June 5 to felony committing a terroristic act and four felony counts of aggravated assault. The 33-year-old was sentenced to seven years of felony probation under ACC. 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. The 30-year-old suspect was detained and brought in for questioning at the Etzion police station in the West Bank. One of the suspects in the rape of a Polish tourist was arrested in Beit Jala, south of Jerusalem, on Saturday night after having spent five years on the run. The 30-year-old Palestinian suspect was detained and brought in for questioning at the Etzion police station in the West Bank during an Israel Police operation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In February 2020, a Polish tourist and her partner were driving in their car towards the town of Beit Jala, near Bethlehem. At the same time, the defendants were hitchhiking in the same area with two other people. When the Palestinians saw the couple, they blocked their car and ordered them to stop, with one of them introducing himself as a Palestinian police officer. Arrest operations by Judea and Samaria District police officers. (credit: POLICE SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT) The four suspects tied up the tourist's partner, who begged them to let them go, grabbed the woman, and began to sodomize and rape her one after the other. All of this was recorded on camera, with the woman being forced to look at it while one of them held a knife and another made sure her partner wouldn't escape. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement They then stole the woman's jewelry and cash, slashed the tires of the couples car, and fled the scene. Fourteen years in prison Two years ago, the Judea Military Court sentenced two 19-year-olds involved in the rape to 14 years and 6 months in prison, along with financial compensation. "The acts of the defendants were committed with great cruelty and inhumanity," the verdict said. "One of those involved even carried a cold weapon with him. During the incident, three of the attackers committed several acts of rape and sodomy on the victim, simultaneously and one after the other. The latter was helpless and was held by force by them, crying and begging for her life." "Throughout the entire time the acts were committed, none of the four attackers showed a shred of humanity, compassion, or mercy towards her," the verdict stated. BEIJING (AP) Heavy rains in northwestern China caused flash flooding that killed at least 10 people and left 33 missing in Yuzhong County area of Gansu province, Chinese state media reported Friday. The rains also caused at least one landslide in mountainous areas near the city of Lanzhou, according to state broadcaster CCTV. The downpour knocked out power and telecommunications services in the Xinglong Mountain area, stranding more than 4,000 people across four villages. Three people were missing after a landslide in the village of Maliantan in Yuzhong County late Thursday. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Maximum rainfall in the area had reached 195 millimeters (7.7 inches) by early Friday, according to Lanzhou local authorities. Chinese President Xi Jinping urged all-out rescue and flood prevention efforts. Several parts of China are being battered by heavy rains. In the southern metropolis of Guangzhou, seven people died and seven others were injured after a flood-triggered landslide buried homes in the citys northern Baiyun district Wednesday. In Zhengzhou, the capital of the central Henan province, local authorities shut down schools, offices and factories and closed traffic in parts of the city, which saw catastrophic floods that killed at least 292 people in 2021. Paul Llewellyn, attorney for a family suing American Airlines, explains why the lawsuit is in play and why he believes American Airlines is culpable for the actions of one of its former flight attendants, Estes Carter Thompson III., filming passengers by placing a phone in the plane lavatory. 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. ORLANDO, Fla. An Orlando psychologist who sells emotional support animal documentation online finds herself caught in the legal crosshairs of a notoriously lawsuit-savvy political activists newest crusade to shut down scam support animal businesses. South Florida activist Timothy Chaz Stevens is suing alleged Central Florida clinical psychologist Carolina Estevez for what he calls fraudulent practices. Estevez sells emotional support animal, or ESA, evaluations and letters for $125 on Fiverr, a freelance work site. If presented to a landlord, the letters should allow an animal to reside in a housing unit free of any pet charges. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But Stevens is claiming her business is a letter mill scheme, where health care practitioners issue fraudulent documentation to people who dont have a disability or dont want to pay pet housing fees. This is bogus. said Stevens, who previously made national headlines for constructing a beer can Festivus pole at the Florida Capitol to promote the separation of church and state. They basically issue an instant ESA letter. You fill out a couple questions online, make a payment of about 100 bucks or so and an instant later, a letter pops up. While Estevezs practice is listed on Google at a building in Southwest Orlando, a visit by the Orlando Sentinel found that no such business seems to exist at that address and a medical spa stands in its place. She also owns no property in Orange County, according to property appraisal records. Stevens said Estevez is one of five practitioners in the U.S. hes filed or is planning to file a lawsuit against. His suit says she is in violation of a 2020 law which established Florida practitioners must have knowledge of a patients history and need for an emotional support animal before issuing documentation for one. The law states violators would face a misdemeanor charge. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement One piece of evidence: a letter he bought from her. Before filing his lawsuit in late July, Stevens obtained one of the Fiverr letters under the name Timothy Richard, according to public records. He filed for ESA documentation for two imaginary dogs, Max and Luna, and said he needed support animals because he was diagnosed with autism and an anxiety disorder. He also reported he experienced frequent sensory overload, which his dogs helped treat. He had documentation for both within a day, according to emails obtained by the Orlando Sentinel, and he said Estevez never confirmed his conditions. While he said she sent him a mental health evaluation consent form which would allow her to use his government-issued ID to confirm his age, she never asked for the ID. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement She didnt bother to call me, to verify my name, none of that stuff, Stevens said. I could have been anyone. In the ESA letter issued to him, Estevez wrote, I am familiar with Mr. Richards mental health conditions and with the functional limitations and impairments imposed by his mental health disabilities. I ask that you make reasonable accommodations for Mr. Richards disability by allowing his ESAs to live with him in his home, she said later in the letter. Estevez did not respond to multiple inquiries via Fiverr, email, telephone and the in-person visit by the Orlando Sentinel. The U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division states on its website, There are individuals and organizations that sell service animal certification or registration documents online. These documents do not convey any rights under the ADA and the Department of Justice does not recognize them as proof that the dog is a service animal. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Rep. Anna Eskamani D-Orlando, who co-sponsored the 2020 bill, said that while some landlords charge excessive pet fees, people who take advantage of a fraudulent letter while not having a disability are making it much more difficult for people with actual need from being able to benefit from this law. If abuse continues, the legislature may roll back these opportunities for people with disabilities, she said. But there could still be room for interpretation, she said. If Stevens efforts do expose such fraudulent businesses, lawmakers could have an opportunity to refine the bill. What Chaz is exposing is very concerning, she said. It gives an opportunity for the legislature to revisit the statute and make it stronger, without a doubt. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Although hes funding his lawsuits pro se, or out of pocket, Stevens said he wont stop until these businesses go dark. The only way were going to change this is if you de-platform, de-list and blacklist these providers, Stevens said. You knock them off the internet. ________ Authorities in Florida first accused Oklahoma pediatrician Neha Gupta of staging her daughter's murder in late June as an accidental drowning but now, as she remains jailed without bond in Miami-Dade County, prosecutors are pursuing a lesser charge of aggravated manslaughter against her. Gupta, 36, was arrested by law enforcement last month at her Edmond home after she was accused of killing her 4-year-old daughter, Aria Talathi, while they were staying at an Airbnb north of Miami in southeast Florida. Officers with the Village of El Portal Police Department responded to a 911 call about 3:40 a.m. June 27 reporting a child drowning in the residential pool. Paramedics took the unresponsive child to Jackson Memorial Hospital, where Aria was pronounced dead just before 4:30 a.m., according to an arrest affidavit. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement An autopsy cited in that same affidavit showed that the daughter's lungs and stomach were dry and empty. The medical examiner also said she believed Aria was dead before she was in the pool and found injuries consistent with asphyxiation by smothering, according to the affidavit. More: Oklahoma doctor arrested after her 4-year-old daughter was found dead in a Florida pool A vehicle branded by the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office as pictured on the Florida agency's official webpage. *PROVIDED Detectives with the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office traveled to the Oklahoma City metro area to assist in arresting Gupta on July 1 after a warrant was issued for her by Miami authorities. She was later extradited to Florida and booked July 17 into custody of the Miami-Dade Corrections and Rehabilitation Department on a first-degree murder complaint. The Oklahoman reached out to Gupta's Florida-based attorney, Michael Mirer, but he did not provide comment by time of publication. Gupta's legal counsel, however, has maintained to other news outlets that authorities were too quick to label her a suspect in her daughter's death. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "It's disheartening to learn the Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office is rushing to judgment without all the investigatory tools having come to fruition," Richard Cooper, another attorney for Gupta, said shortly after her arrest. "Because we think it's a rush to judgment, we look forward to all the facts coming out, and all the evidence, and then we'll see what happens." Gupta had previously told investigators she and her daughter had spent June 26 at the beach riding jet skis, had come back to the Airbnb to eat dinner and had fallen asleep together shortly after midnight. She said she was awoken by a noise around 3:30 a.m. to find Aria no longer with her in the bed and the glass sliding door leading to the outside patio unlocked and open, according to the affidavit. She said she then saw her daughter submerged in the deep end of the pool but wasn't able to retrieve her because she can't swim, according to the affidavit. Gupta told investigators she tried to get the girl out of the pool for about 10 minutes before calling 911. Related: Pediatrician accused of staging 4-year-old daughter's death as drowning Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Investigators initially believed Gupta staged the death as an accidental drowning within the swimming pool to cover up an alleged homicide. Now, officials say they are standing by the lesser charge. "Based on the evidence presently available to prosecutors, the 1st degree felony charge of aggravated manslaughter of a child has been deemed as the appropriate criminal charge," Lissette Valdes-Valle, a spokeswoman for the Miami-Dade State Attorney, said in a statement to The Oklahoman. Court filings also show that Gupta had been in a child custody battle following a contentious divorce with her ex-husband, Dr. Saurabh Talathi, who told investigators he was unaware Gupta and their daughter had left Oklahoma. Gupta had also been let go from her job as a pediatrician with OU Health in late May. This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma pediatrician faces lesser charge in daughter's death in Florida TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WMBB) On Thursday, Floridas Chief Financial Officer, Blaise Ingoglia, announced that more than $44 million in unclaimed property was returned to Floridians during July. Unclaimed property is a financial asset that is unknown, lost, left inactive, unclaimed, or abandoned by its owner. Here are the Unclaimed Property Returns by Region for July 2025: Pensacola $734,180 Panama City $571,239 Tallahassee $1.4 Million Jacksonville $3 Million Gainesville $1 Million Orlando $8.2 Million Tampa/St. Pete $9.9 Million Fort Myers/Naples $2.4 Million West Palm Beach $7.1 Million Miami $10.2 Million Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement To search for unclaimed property or to claim an account, go online to FLTreasureHunt.gov. My office is working to reunite Floridians with whats rightfully theirs, returning millions of dollars in unclaimed property back into the hands of hardworking taxpayers, families, and small businesses across the state, just like former CFO Jimmy Patronis worked so hard to do during his tenure. Whether its forgotten bank accounts, insurance proceeds, or utility deposits, leaving no stone unturned in our mission to put money and assets back where they belong, Ingoglia 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 mypanhandle.com. Feature: Young entrepreneurs let dreams take flight amid China's innovation drive Xinhua) 10:15, August 08, 2025 BEIJING, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- Feeling bogged down and in need of a hug? Well, you can step into the AI Power Box where a digital friend will appear on the screen, listen intently to you, offer emotional support and even guide you through stress-relieving breathing exercises. This AI-powered psychological health product is created by tech startup Glacier Wisdom, with the aim of addressing the growing emotional needs of people in today's world. "An increasingly high-tech society will accelerate emotional alienation, creating more psychological needs," said Yuan Rui, 25, founder and CEO of the company. "I want to harness technology to meet these needs." The AI product is one of many novel creations of the Beijing Subway Line 10 Youth Entrepreneurship Village at the Jijiamiao area in Fengtai District, a former hub for traditional industries like paper making and automotive bearing manufacturing. Amid China's industrial upgrading and drive for high-quality development, this location is now transforming into a thriving entrepreneurship park where young innovators are turning ideas into tangible outcomes. First established in 2018, this village now hosts 316 enterprises and has drawn in a total investment of approximately 1.5 billion yuan (about 209 million U.S. dollars). Notably, of the over 1,600 employees working here, more than 78 percent were born in the 1980s or 1990s. "This place is a cradle of dreams," said Zuo Hongwei, an official from Yuquanying subdistrict in Fengtai. DREAM WILD AND WIDE Zhang Yichao calls himself a "dream creator." The 29-year-old, who returned from Japan three years ago with a master's degree in architecture, has opened a Dream Lab in the village. Equipped with facilities such as robotic arms and 3D printers, the company works as an incubator platform for college students and graduates who have creative ideas. "We support them throughout the entire process, from blueprint drafting and modeling to 3D printing, as well as market operation and packaging," he said, adding that right now the lab is helping a student to produce a smart teacup that can display temperature and automatically select brewing methods based on different types of tea. "Currently, the company is not making any profit, but I love what I do and believe in the power of creativity," Zhang said. The daring spirit of young entrepreneurs to pursue their dreams stems largely from the country's growing prowess in science and technology. According to Zhang Zhihao, general manager of an investment firm that has funded over 10 startups in the village, AI technology has been empowering young people's dreams. "Previously, I had to look for an extremely versatile project team. The lead creator of the project needed to be skilled in all aspects of the work -- from giving ideas and manufacturing to team management and even finance," he said. "But now, with AI technology, the targets of our investment only need to have one thing -- ideas." MARKET POTENTIAL AND POLICY SUPPORT Also located in the entrepreneurship village, Beijing Volumetric Capture Technology Co., Ltd, a player in the field of virtual digital humans, leverages volumetric technology to convert real human images into holographic virtual images -- which have been used in TV programs and tourist site guide videos. "There is a saying that starting a business is a journey where nine out of 10 ventures fail," the company CEO Guo Songjie said. "I once worried about failing in my business." "But I believe that if we're moving in the right direction, things will work out, and high-tech industries are that right direction," he added. In recent years, a number of enterprises founded by young Chinese, such as Unitree, DeepSeek and DJI, have demonstrated the innovative vitality of China's youth and the rapid development of the country's high-tech sector. China's innovation-driven economy is seeing rapid advancements. In 2024, the value-added output of new growth drivers -- including new industries, business forms and models, rose to over 18 percent of GDP, while the value-added output of high-tech manufacturing grew 8.9 percent year on year, outpacing overall industrial growth by 3.1 percentage points. Guo said government support, such as financial subsidies and training programs, is also a source of his confidence. According to the Yuquanying subdistrict, a maximum amount of 3 million yuan will be provided to companies if they are recognized as national high-tech enterprises or "little giant" enterprises, as well as those with innovation platforms like key laboratories. Companies there also enjoy one-stop services in terms of industrial and commercial registration and tax registration. In February, several Chinese ministries, including the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security and the Ministry of Education, issued a document proposing the building of a support system that integrates "entrepreneurship training, services, incubation and activities." "The market potential and government support fill us with courage and hope," Guo said. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) By Qabil Ashirov On August 8, at the Baku Military Court, victims testified about their captivity during the early years of the Garabagh conflict. Among them, Idris Mirzayev recounted being captured by Armenian armed forces in April 1994 in the Tartar district. According to Azernews, Mirzayev was held captive in various locations including the Shusha prison, Agdere, and Khankendi. During his imprisonment, he was forcibly made to work on constructing pig and chicken farms in the village of Aghbulag (Khojavend district), which was then under Armenian occupation. Mirzayev detailed the severe mistreatment he endured, including beatings and torture; at one point, a bottle was broken on his head. As a result of his injuries, his spine was damaged, causing him to limp. They were drunk, using narcotics, and inflicted torture on us, he said. Another victim, Habib Aliyev, testified that he was captured in Lachin in 1992 after being wounded during combat while serving in the military. He was beaten and tortured while injured. Aliyev also revealed that a fellow prisoner was burned alive in front of him. He spent 1 year and 8 months in captivity, mostly confined in a basement, and was finally released on May 8, 1995. The ongoing trial addresses crimes committed by citizens of the Republic of Armenia as a result of its military aggression, including crimes against peace and humanity, war crimes, preparation and conduct of aggressive war, genocide, violations of laws and customs of war, terrorism and financing terrorism, forcible seizure and retention of power, and numerous other offenses. A Florida dairy farm is the source of the raw milk linked by the Florida Department of Health to seven people being hospitalized and triple that number getting sick. At Keely Farms Dairy in New Smyrna Beach, the source identified for the raw milk the Florida Department of Health said on Aug. 4 was linked to 21 cases of Campylobacter and Shiga toxin-producing E. coli infections, raw milk is advertised for $12 a gallon, $8 a half-gallon (or $12 in a glass bottle). While it is legal for people to drink raw, unpasteurized, straight-from-the-cow milk in Florida, it is illegal for anyone to sell to people to drink. Raw milk can be sold as pet food, but it must be clearly labeled "not for human consumption." Keely's webpage did not mention pets. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Severe complications were reported in two cases, the health department said, and seven people have been hospitalized. Six of the infected people were children under age 10, the FDOH said. The cases were all in Central and Northeast Florida. The health department's bulletin noted that "sanitation practices in this farm are of particular concern due to the number of cases" and said it was working with the dairy "to ensure that effective sanitation practices are implemented consistently across every batch." Keely Farms Dairy in New Smyrna Beach supplied the raw milk that sickened seven people in the state. Keely Farms Dairy did not immediately respond to a text message seeking comment on Aug. 7, and its gate was locked. Interest in raw milk has been growing in recent years, especially among people seeking unprocessed foods, after a surge of testimonials from content creators on TikTok, mom groups, actress and businesswoman Gwyneth Paltrow, and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. who insist it's healthier and easier to digest. In June 2024, Kennedy said he "only drinks raw milk." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This is despite documented evidence over many years that drinking or eating products made from raw milk can expose people to high levels of a variety of bacteria, including E. coli and listeria. "We sort of forgot that people were dying before we had things like processed foods," said Keith Schneider, a food-safety professor at the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences. Illness from raw milk can cause diarrhea, stomach cramping and vomiting, and severe complications can lead to paralysis, kidney failure, stroke, or even death, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said. Here's what to know before trying it. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement E. coli outbreak: Raw milk from New Smyrna Beach dairy farm sickens 21 people in Florida What is raw milk? Is it safe to drink? "In fact, raw milk is one of the riskiest foods," the CDC says. "Raw milk can be contaminated with harmful germs that can make you very sick." Raw milk is simply milk from cows, sheep and goats (or any other animal) that has not been pasteurized, a process of heating the milk to neutralize any harmful microorganisms in it. Raw milk and the products made from it, including soft cheese, ice cream, and yogurt, are an excellent medium for germs, which can come from an animal's waste, skin or udder. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Harmful bacteria can also come from the area where the animal lives, from insects or rodents, from unsanitary conditions, or even from cross-contamination from dairy workers, and any of that can happen no matter how small the farm is or how clean the conditions are. According to the CDC, improperly handled raw milk is responsible for nearly three times more hospitalizations than any other food-borne disease source. Dairy cows standing side-by-side while robotic milking arms suction raw milk from their udders at MoDak Dairy. What does the Florida Department of Health say about drinking raw milk? Although the FDOH has previously warned that "Raw milk can be very dangerous to your health," the Aug. 4 bulletin from the department, led by Dr. Joseph Ladapo, is less harsh. Many people consume raw milk safely, the bulletin said. However, the producers handling of raw milk and milking procedures are vital in prevention of contamination." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Floridians are encouraged to use this information to make informed decisions about their health and sources of raw milk should they choose to consume it. Ladapo, who was handpicked by Gov. Ron DeSantis to be Florida's surgeon general, also has advised Floridians to make their own decisions regarding vaccines against COVID and the measles. What can raw milk do to you? For many, drinking raw milk will have no adverse effects. But even people who have drunk plenty of it over the years still can get sick from a contaminated batch and experience many days of diarrhea, stomach cramping, and vomiting. Some people may develop chronic, severe or life-threatening diseases, including: Guillain-Barre syndrome, which can cause paralysis Hemolytic uremic syndrome, which can result in kidney failure, stroke, and even death Bovine tuberculosis, which can cause infections in the chest, lungs, kidney, spine and brain Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Illnesses caused by bacteria from raw milk "can be especially problematic for infants, young children, the elderly, and the immunocompromised," according to the FDA. Between 1987 to September 2010, the FDA found at least 133 reported outbreaks from the consumption of raw milk and raw milk products, leading to 2,659 cases of illnesses, 269 hospitalizations, 3 deaths, 6 stillbirths and 2 miscarriages. In 2014, two people were infected with listeriosis from raw milk distributed by a Pennsylvania dairy, one from California and one from Florida. The Florida victim died, the CDC said. What is pasteurized milk? Is it safer to drink? Pasteurization is a process that uses heat to kill harmful bacteria and pathogens in milk, making it safe to drink while extending its shelf life. The process has been used to preserve wine for over a thousand years. In the 1860s, French microbiologist Louis Pasteur discovered that less aggressive, briefer, less hot temperatures would work just as well, and the process was called "pasteurization" in his honor. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Routine pasteurization of milk started in the 1920s and became widespread in the 1950s, leading to "dramatic reductions" in the number of people getting sick, the CDC said. According to the American Dairy Association, "pasteurization has made milk one of the safest foods in the world." Is raw milk legal in Florida? A sign along South Glencoe Road advertises raw milk at Keely Farms Dairy of New Smyrna Beach. The dairy was identified by the Florida Department of Health as the source of raw milk that sickened 21 people over the past six months. Seven have been hospitalized, health officials said, and two suffered severe complications. It is not illegal to drink raw milk in Florida or any other state in the U.S., but it is illegal here for anyone to sell anything besides Grade A pasteurized milk and milk products for human consumption, according to Florida Statute 502.091(1). Cheese made from raw milk may be sold retail to the final customer or food service establishments, but only if the cheese is aged more than 60 days at a temperature above 35 degrees. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Raw milk may be sold as pet food from farms, markets and health stores, provided it is labeled "not for human consumption." Anyone with access to the animals can use their milk as they like. It's not a federal regulation to prohibit or label raw milk. Federal regulations only prohibit selling or distributing raw milk and raw milk products across state lines. Why are people drinking raw milk? Is raw milk good for you? Raw milk fans say it's healthier. "Pasteurization destroys enzymes, denatures anti-microbial and immune-stimulating components, diminishes nutrient availability, denatures fragile milk proteins, destroys vitamins C, B6 and B12, kills beneficial bacteria, promotes pathogens and is associated with allergies, increased tooth decay, colic in infants, growth and behavior problems in children, osteoporosis, arthritis and heart disease," according to A Campaign for Real Milk. Raw milk tastes better, advocates say, and claim it contains more butterfat, no additives, and it's easier to digest. And while the need for pasteurization was great in the 20th century when tuberculosis, scarlet fever and other diseases were widespread, they say that modern farming eliminates that risk. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement However, according to the FDA, multiple studies have shown that pasteurization has no significant effect on the nutritional quality of milk, and raw milk contains no additional benefits but many additional risks. When I hear people say, Youre cooking the nutrition out of them," Schneider said, "no, were cooking the death out of these foods and making them safe. Pasteurization is recommended by the CDC, the FDA, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Veterinary Medical Association, the National Association of State Public Health Veterinarians, and others. This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Raw milk from Florida dairy farm linked to E. coli, hospitalizations TAMPA, Fla. A round of storms is bringing soaking tropical moisture to the Gulf Coast and Florida this weekend. While eyes stay on two tropical areas to watch in the Atlantic Ocean, forecasters are monitoring heavy rainfall in Florida, Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi. Right now, it's unclear if these storms will evolve into anything tropical that would warrant attention by the National Hurricane Center. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On Friday, heavy showers moved into Florida, lingering over the state. Rainfall totals of up to 5 inches are possible through Tuesday on Florida's southern Gulf Coast, while other parts of the Gulf Coast could see totals around 2-3 inches. Noaa Sticks With Prediction Of Above-average 2025 Atlantic Hurricane Season As Peak Nears Some forecasts suggest the system will dissipate into Florida and the moisture will feed into a disturbance off the Southeast coast near the Carolinas. However, other models hint at the potential for a separate system to form in the Gulf of America by late this weekend into early next week. But the FOX Forecast Center says there is only a very low chance of this system developing into anything tropical. Original article source: Florida, Gulf Coast face weekend washout amid waves of tropical downpours A new statue in Central Florida is seeing mixed reception. A statue of civil rights icon the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was recently unveiled in Winter Park, with critics online claiming its proportions are "awkward." The statue was designed by North Carolina artist Andrew Luy, who its committee selected from the arts, parks, and CRA boards. According to Hville Blast, Luy was chosen out of over 1,000 applicants Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I included a 9-foot-tall MLK I wanted him to be larger than life because his personality was larger than life," he told the outlet about his vision. Where is the new Martin Luther King Jr. statue in Florida located? The statue can be found at Winter Park's Martin Luther King Jr. Park, located at 1050 W. Morse Blvd. What does the MLK Jr. Florida statue look like? See the unveiling video The bronze statue, called "The Ripple," depicts King dressed in a suit, holding a book in one hand while the other extends upward in a wave. In front of it stands a polished, knee-high wall inscribed with one of King's most famous quotes, "Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." Winter Park further describes the statue and the meaning behind its appearance on its social media. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "His outstretched hand is not only a gesture he frequently made while speaking, but it also symbolizes his calm, peaceful demeanor," the city wrote on Instagram. "On both sides of Dr. King, black granite memorial walls with concentric seating feature inscriptions of the former families that once lived on the parks land." The caption added that the city is pleased to offer such a "meaningful tribute for our community to honor the life and legacy of Dr. King." What are people saying about Winter Park's MLK Jr. statue? Since the statue was unveiled last month, some critics and residents have voiced their opinions, with many pointing out its disproportionate head, body and limbs. "It looks awkward. It just didn't look up to the standards that Winter Park is so well known for," Jonathan Blount, co-founder of Essence Magazine, told Winter Park commissioners at a July 23 City Commission meeting. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "His head was too big, his arm was too big, and it looked really like a caricature of Dr. King and really didn't look anything like him," he told local NBC News affiliate WESH2. "Do it over. It just isn't good enough for a permanent, lifelong representation of someone that is just so important to our history." Has the MLK Jr. statue artist spoken up about the comments? Yes, he has. Luy told WESH2 that the feedback he received from committee members and attendees of the unveiling was overwhelmingly positive, but that he welcomes all feedback. The city shared a letter written by Luy on Aug. 6, addressing feedback and describing the artistic vision behind the statue. "This sculpture was never intended to be a hyper-realistic replica of Dr. King. It was conceived through an in-depth, iterative process guided by a committee of Winter Park residents, civic leaders, and cultural stakeholders," the letter said. "Together, we focused not only on physical likeness but on capturing the spirit, message, and enduring presence of a leader whose impact continues to ripple through time." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Luy explained that the adjustments were made for "symbolic reasons." For example, enlarging King's feet and shoes were representative of his metaphoric "big shoes to fill," while his left arm was adjusted to emphasize the "weight and power" of the book held in that hand. His head was enlarged to maintain visibility from multiple vantage points in the park and surrounding streets. "While we could have used 3D scanning or digital modelling to produce a highly accurate, photographic likeness, the stakeholders emphasized a different goal: to create a sculpture with love, care, and remembrance, not just precision," the letter read. "The final work reflects that intent. We chose to depict Dr. King in a stylized, larger-than-life scale." Winter Park officials weigh in on the discussion Mayor Sheila DeCiccio responded to concerns raised at the commission meeting, saying, "Maybe it didn't come out the way everybody had hoped it would." However, with the installation having cost $500,000, she said it isn't likely to change. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "I hear what you're saying, dont know what we can do at this point. It was a very big investment," she said. This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Martin Luther King Jr. statue in Florida sparks mixed reactions The Brief A Florida mother is facing a felony child neglect charge nearly two years after her 3-month-old daughter was found unresponsive and severely injured at a DeLand home. Investigators say the infant was hospitalized in November 2023 with brain injuries and bruises. The child's mother was booked into the Volusia County jail and is being held on a $5,000 bond. DELAND, Fla. - A Florida mother has been arrested on a felony child neglect charge nearly two years after her infant daughter was found unresponsive and severely injured at a Volusia County home, authorities said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The baby, just 3 months old at the time, was reportedly hospitalized with bruises and brain injuries. What happened? The backstory In November 2023, the infant was rushed to the hospital after family members told DeLand police that she was lethargic, limp, and unresponsive. When officers questioned the child's mother, 22-year-old Kelly Ward, about visible bruises on the babys stomach, Ward claimed a dog had jumped on her daughter. CLICK TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX LOCAL APP Nearly two years later, Ward was arrested in Hillsborough County on a warrant accusing her of causing great bodily harm to her child. Kelly Ward (Credit: Volusia County jail) Court documents offer some insight into what happened that night, but many details remain unclear. According to the DeLand Police Department, Ward and her boyfriend who FOX 35 News is not naming, as he currently faces no charges were the last people known to be with the baby. The next morning, Wards mother noticed bruising on the infants stomach and realized the child would not wake up. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Police described the inside of the DeLand home as a mess, with cobwebs and spiders covering the corners of the ceiling and roaches crawling along the walls. Wards boyfriend reportedly told investigators he believed the bruises may have come from rats in the house. SIGN-UP FOR FOX 35'S BREAKING NEWS, DAILY NEWS NEWSLETTERS What's next Ward was booked into the Volusia County jail on Aug. 4 and is being held on a $5,000 bond. Her arraignment hearing is scheduled for Aug. 28 at 1:30 p.m., according to court records. The Source This story was written based on information collected from the DeLand Police Department and online court records. Floridas political map could be in for a shake-up Florida may soon join other states in redrawing its congressional map ahead of the upcoming midterm elections. Republican State House Speaker Danny Perez has announced the formation of a committee to examine redistricting efforts in the state. According to reports, Orlando area Democrat Darren Sotos district could be a primary target for Republicans during the redistricting process. This development coincides with President Donald Trumps call for the Commerce Department to create a new U.S. Census that excludes undocumented immigrants. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Such a change could significantly impact Florida, potentially leading to the loss of a congressional seat and an Electoral College vote. The U.S. Constitution mandates that all people living in the country be counted, regardless of immigration status, which could lead to substantial legal challenges. Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live. The Florida Supreme Court building. (Photo by Colin Hackley) Gov. Ron DeSantis has yet to fill a vacant judgeship in Northeast Florida, and the American Civil Liberties Union is asking the Florida Supreme Court to intervene. After Eighth Judicial Circuit Judge Mark Mosely announced his retirement earlier this year, the judicial nominating commission for the circuit delivered a list of candidates to the governor. The Florida Constitution requires a governor to appoint a judge within 60 days after he receives the list. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement ACLU attorneys representing Gary Edinger, a resident of the judicial circuit, filed a motion in the state high court Friday arguing that DeSantis has violated the Florida Constitution by taking longer than 60 days the deadline elapsed on Aug. 3 to name a replacement. If the Governor fails to fill this vacancy by August 18, 2025, his appointee may evade the electors until the 2028 election, Edingers attorneys argue in a 14-page petition. The difference between an appointment before or after Aug. 18 is the difference between the new judges first election happening in 2026 or 2028, they contend. Primary elections are scheduled for Aug. 18, 2026. Per the Constitution, appointees dont need to stand in an election happening less than a year from the date of appointment. Further delay could give the appointee an extra two unlawful years to serve, the motion argues. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The circuit covers Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Gilchrist, Levy, and Union counties. Mosely had served since 2004. The Governors failure leaves the court without a full complement of judges, burdens the People of Florida who rely on a fully functioning judiciary for the efficient administration of justice, and threatens to prevent the Circuits voters from having the opportunity to vote on the Governors appointee at the next election if he does not fill the vacancy by August 18, 2025 ten days from today, Edingers attorneys wrote. Last month, DeSantis was sued for the same thing in the Second Judicial Circuit, covering Leon County and the surrounding area. DeSantis filled that position seven days after the suit was filed and 11 days after the date constitutionally required. However, as explained below, this case warrants an expedited decision by this Court since Petitioner and other Circuit voters will be prejudiced and indeed irreparably harmed if the appointment is unlawfully made so late that the appointee is not up for election at the next election, in 2026, Edingers attorneys wrote. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Aug. 8CLOQUET The Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa is working to restore the habitat of Minnesota's native brook trout through the rehabilitation of the headwaters of Jolicouer Creek, which flow into Otter Creek, a designated trout stream. Fond du Lac Resource Management Division officials plan to remove two embankments on Jolicouer Creek that are causing water to warm in the dammed ponds in the tributary stream. The restoration project is expected to start in the fall and last six weeks. "It isn't anything super fancy or high-tech," said Nancy Schuldt, a water projects coordinator for the Resource Management Division. "It's just a very straightforward cold water tributary stream reconnection." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The project will take place just south of the Cloquet Carlton County Airport, which is located on the Fond du Lac Reservation. It is being funded through a $100,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency. Though remediation of waterways can be a laborious, years-long process, the plan for Jolicouer Creek is fairly straightforward. Construction crews will cut V-shaped notches into the embankments, allowing the water to drain slowly out. It is expected to take two weeks for the creek to dry out. The stream is expected to reestablish a natural channel to Otter Creek, providing it with the clean, cold water brook trout need to thrive. As the stream works to reestablish itself, the Resource Management Division will plant trees and shrubby vegetation to secure the surrounding bank while monitoring for invasive species. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The origin of the embankments is unknown, but it is believed they are agriculture-related, according to Kelsy Federico, watershed specialist at Fond du Lac Resource Management, who is overseeing the project. "We're guessing it was a farmer back in the day that wanted a place for his cows to cross," Federico said. "That's just from looking at historical photographs." The restoration project has been a priority for the band for several years, dating back to at least 2016, according to Schuldt. It initially received funding through the U.S. Department of Agriculture, but after getting backlogged, the grant expired. The Fond du Lac Band is one of roughly 60 tribes nationwide with a federally approved water quality standards program, which gives it complete jurisdiction within the boundaries of its sovereign nation, according to Schuldt. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement However, because several outside agencies lease and own land on the reservation, the Fond du Lac Band had to sign several agreements with the city of Cloquet and Carlton County to pursue the project. Because the creek is just south of the county airport, they had to ensure it met Federal Aviation Administration regulations. "Wherever possible, we try to work collaboratively and in coordination with agencies and local units of government," Schuldt said. The project is in line with the Fond du Lac Resource Management Division's border goal of establishing healthy lakes, streams and rivers across the reservation, according to Schuldt. "This is not an uncommon kind of impairment for little stream tributaries; they don't always get the kind of undivided attention and resources to do something positive," Schuldt said. As an avid traveller, Kelly Bergquist used to visit the United States at least once a year. The Edmonton woman was last south of the border in August 2024 when she went to a concert in Las Vegas. She considered another U.S. trip this year, but the ongoing trade war made her think again. "I just don't really want to support them right now. If they're going to do that to us, I don't want to give any money to them," Bergquist said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Bergquist said she may instead go to Mexico in the future, and she is already planning a big trip to the Balkan countries in southeastern Europe for next year. "I could have easily done a Mississippi River cruise or done any kind of cruise that basically goes out of the States or things like that. But as of right now, I'm just putting all that aside until we kind of see where things are going," she said. Kelly Bergquist use to travel to the United States at least once a year. Now, with the ongoing trade war, she is reconsidering her travel plans and instead making plans to travel to other international destinations. (Samuel Martin/CBC) Since the start of the recent trade war, some Canadians have been shunning travel to the United States. Many are opting for trips within Canada instead, but there is new data showing Canadians are turning to international destinations other than the United States. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Data provided by Flight Centre Canada to CBC News shows that travel spending for many countries booked between May 1 to July 30 is up compared to last year. Travel spending jumped 148 per cent in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 137 per cent in Osaka, Japan, 112 per cent in Copenhagen, Denmark and 101 per cent in Curacao in the Caribbean, according to Flight Centre Canada data. Aruba, also in the Caribbean, also saw a 71 per cent jump in travel spending, along with Lisbon, Portugal at 61 per cent. Meanwhile, Prague, Czech Republic saw an increase of 38 per cent, Barcelona, Spain saw 35 per cent, Dublin, Ireland jumped 29 per cent and spending in Cape Town, South Africa went up 27 per cent. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement WATCH | Where will Canadians head instead of the U.S.? Tourism organizations from several countries are also showing similar trends. According to the Japan National Tourism Organization, between January and June, Japan saw 335,400 Canadian visitors, compared to 272,264 during the same period in 2024 an increase of 23 per cent. Turismo de Portugal told CBC News that, from January to May, the number of Canadian visitors grew 6.5 per cent compared to the same period in 2024. Data from Visit Brasil provided to CBC News reveals there were 57,065 Canadian tourists in Brazil between January and June, a 12.9 per cent jump from the same period last year when there were 50,556 Canadian tourists. Data provided by Flight Centre Canada to CBC News shows the countries that have seen increases in travel spending by Canadians between May and July compared to the same time last year. (Adam Ciolfi/CBC News) Flight options, promotional materials and the exchange rate can all influence how a trip is planned. Andrew Stafford, a manager with Flight Centre in Vancouver, said tensions with the United States are top of mind for clients. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "In the scenario that people are choosing not to do those four or five-day trips south of the border, we're seeing them compile that time and put it into one longer trip to see further-flung destinations," he said. "People are still travelling at the same rate they were. They're just choosing different destinations." Targeted campaigns Marival Group, a Canadian-owned hotel chain in Mexico, has also seen more Canadians at its three all-inclusive resorts since the start of the trade war, according to Salvador Ramos, vice president of sales and marketing. Ramos pegs the increase at between five and six per cent, which he said translates to about 15,000 more Canadians at Marival Group's hotels. In provided materials, a view is seen of Marival Armony resort in Mexico. (Submitted by Marival Resorts) He expects those numbers will grow closer to the high season, which starts in November, and he said the company is doubling down on attracting even more Canadian travellers. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ramos said the company has digital campaigns, in both French and English, in 20 different cities across Canada, including Calgary, Ottawa and Winnipeg, as well as Google ads, magazine collaborations and participation in sporting events. "[They] give us the opportunity to show our brand and let them know that we are super welcoming Canadians." "It's a market that we love, that we care for," said Ramos when asked how coveted Canadian travelers are right now, adding Canadians make up a sizable chunk of the company's business year-round. Feeling safe and welcome Every year, Joan Allison of Windsor, Ont., would spend four months in Fort Myers Beach, Fla., and a couple other weeks in the U.S. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement After U.S. President Donald Trump took power in January, Allison said she lost her "mojo" to be in the United States. Allison cites a combination of Trump's pardons for Jan. 6 insurrectionists, border security concerns and the trade war for her changing travel attitudes. "The threats to our economy are massive. And so for that reason alone, I have no desire to spend any money in the United States," she said. An ardent traveller, she is now proactively choosing international travel that does not involve the United States. Allison said she has booked a trip to Portugal for next year and is mulling another sunny destination as well. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Wayne Smith, the director of the Institute for Hospitality and Tourism Research at Toronto Metropolitan University, said Canadians want to go to places where they will feel safe. "Canadians do like to travel in general. But we're also seeing that Canadians are changing their travel patterns to go to places where they feel comfortable and welcome," he said. Smith also said that Canadians like good value and with rates in cities such as Las Vegas and Los Angeles being seen as expensive and aggressive, he argues that there could be a long-term chill on travel to the U.S. "You add in the social political stuff and then you add in things like the immigration permits and the potential of dealing with border security and ICE, this is probably not going to be a short-term pattern for the U.S.," he said. ANDERSON COUNTY, S.C. (WSPA) A former Anderson County deputy and school district employee is accused of sexually abusing a 12-year-old boy. Gregg Hayden, 48, appeared for his bond hearing Thursday afternoon where a judge set his bond at $100,000, with GPS monitoring. Family members of the victim watched from the courtroom as Hayden appeared remotely from the detention center. During the hearing, a family member of the victim gave an emotional statement. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I just ask that the defendant, search in his heart and trust that he will do the right thing for a child that has never had anyone do right for him. This child still believes he is a good and honorable man. And so do I. Anderson County Sheriff Chad McBride said the investigation began on July 30 when a woman called 911. Complainant was seeing a moving vehicle with two occupants, a man and a child. And, of course, she didnt know either, in the vehicle and believed that she was witnessing some, suspect activity, McBride said. McBride said Hayden served as a deputy for at least 25 years before retiring about a year and a half ago. He was also a member of Anderson School District 5, working as a security and safety supervisor. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Disappointed and saddened, and mad, angry. Doesnt seem very common to somebody thats been in law enforcement background because obviously law enforcement, you know, were trying to fight for our victims, McBride said. An investigator with the sheriffs office had requested no bond or the highest bond possible, but Haydens attorney argued he had turned himself in and had been cooperative. Hayden faces two charges of sexual conduct with a minor. His initial appearance in court is October 30 at 9 a.m. Anderson School District 5 said Hayden was hired in February 2024 and that the district accepted his resignation Wednesday. On Thursday, Anderson School District 1 said Hayden had resigned as a board member effective immediately. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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 WSPA 7NEWS. The Brief Former Austin ISD art teacher sentenced, convicted on 20 charges of sex crimes against children He will serve 71 years in prison HAYS COUNTY, Texas - A former Austin ISD art teacher has been sentenced and convicted on 20 charges of crimes against children, including continuous sexual abuse of a child. What we know 54-year-old Kevin Abeyta, formerly of Austin, was convicted this week by a jury of: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 1 count of first-degree felony continuous sexual abuse of a child 6 counts of second-degree felony possession of child pornography with intent to promote 7 counts of third-degree felony possession of child pornography Abeyta was sentenced to 37 years on the first count, three years on each count of possession with intent to promote and two years on each count of possession. District Judge Sherri Tibbe stacked the sentences and Abeyta must now serve 71 years. He is also not eligible for parole on the first count of continuous sexual abuse, says the Hays County Criminal District Attorney's office. Kevin Abeyta (Hays County Jail) The backstory The charges stem from a Hays County Sheriff's Office investigation into Abeyta that began in February 2021 after an outcry of child sexual abuse. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Hays County law enforcement officials traveled to Georgia, where Abeyta was then living and working as an elementary school art teacher. Several days after he was interviewed, he gave several hard drives to a friend, who discovered they had child sexual abuse material (CSAM) on them. The friend reported it to the authorities and the hard drives were collected and investigated. More than a thousand media files were identified as CSAM, some including images and videos of the child victim. Abeyta had also been secretly filming at least one child under her desk at school. Dig deeper Abeyta worked at Campbell Elementary School in Austin ISD as an art teacher. The child who initially reported the abuse was not a student, says the Hays County Criminal DA's office. The Source Information in this report comes from the Hays County Criminal District Attorney's office and court records. ELIZABETHTON, Tenn. (WJHL) Gary Smith broke family tradition by going into the Air Force instead of the Navy, but it led him to a 24-year career with the military and laid the groundwork for a lifetime of serving others. I always wanted to fly. My wifes father was actually in the Air Force, and he had passed away before I met her, Smith said. His uniform hung in the closet, and I was always just inspired by that. Smith joined the Air Force in 1980 after deciding that college wasnt the right fit. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I started out as a Morse systems operator. Believe it or not, I still know Morse code. From there, the Air Force, actually later combined career fields, and we became a Signals Intelligence Unit, Smith said. We support the war fighters indirectly, and we give information to the national-level decision makers so that they kind of know which direction they need to go. Smith spent time stationed in England and Japan. He was also stateside during certain operations. I worked everything from Morse to satellite systems. Then, for when the war started, this past time, I was actually assigned to the French Language Institute, where they trained military linguists, Smith said. Thats where we were at on 9/11. Smith retired as an E-9 Chief Master Sergeant. He then volunteered with the Carter County Sheriffs office as a Reserve Deputy for a few years before taking over the countys Emergency Management Agency in 2014. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The military is a great training ground, and I loved my time in the military. If they called me back today. Id be more than happy to go back, Smith said. [Being in emergency management] was a lot like being in the military. It requires the same kind of personnel. Youve got to have people who are service before self, who are disciplined, who are self-motivated and are ready to respond at any time. Youre 24/7. Before retiring for a second time in 2021, Smith orchestrated the response for some of the countys most noteworthy disasters. EMA, we are a force multiplier. Were not in charge of any incident per se. We are there to make sure that the responders that are there have the materials and resources that they need, Smith said. Its exactly the same skill set here. Youre using people who are self-motivated, people that are disciplined, that understand how to work as a team and also how to coordinate big resource requirements. One of those situations was the Dale Earnhardt Jr. plane crash in Elizabethton. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement That was probably one of the best responses anybody will ever find. Everybody worked together tremendously, and it wasnt just first responders, Smith said. It was highway, it was, public works, all kinds of agencies that people dont normally think about that come together to handle things like that. And just a few months ago, Smith answered the call to serve again. I was honored to be called into to be asked to come back. Like I said, I love this county. I love the state. Ive spent the majority of my life, my adult life, serving in some capacity. To me, its just a natural extension, Smith said. Im all about service. I love this job. I love the people that we work with, and its amazing when you see everything come together. Even though the Carter County EMA has permanent leadership now, Smith is staying on in a voluntary role and working on IT and upgrading the Emergency Operations Center. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Is there a veteran whose story needs to be told? Email adaniel@wjhl.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 WJHL | Tri-Cities News & Weather. AUSTIN (KXAN) A Hays County judge sentenced a 54-year-old man to 71 years in prison on Thursday, after a jury convicted him of multiple counts of possession of child sexual abuse material, or CSAM, according to a press release from Hays County District Attorney Kelly Higgins. The jury found defendant Kevin Abeyta guilty of continuous sexual abuse of a child, six counts of possession of child pornography with intent to promote and 13 counts of possession of child pornography, the release said. Kevin Abeyta, 54 (Williamson County Jail Photo) The Hays County Sheriffs Office started its investigation in the former teacher in February 2021 after it received a tip from a minor who the release said was not a student of Abeytas. According to the DAs Office, investigators traveled to Atlanta, where Abeyta worked as an elementary school art teacher. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The release identifies Abeyta as a former Travis County educator who worked at Campbell Elementary School; however, the release doesnt specify if he worked at the Campbell Elementary in Austin, or at a school with the same name in Atlanta. KXAN asked the Hays District Attorney for clarification it confirmed that Abeyta worked at the Austin school. Several days after Abeyta was interviewed by law enforcement, he gave several hard drives to a friend who subsequently found child sexual abuse material on them. The friend notified authorities, and the hard drives were collected and investigated, the release said. Investigators searched the hard drives and found more than a thousand media files that had CSAM. The release also said that Abeyta had secretly filmed at least one young child under her desk. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Wed like to thank the investigators at Hays County Sheriffs Office, the witnesses who testified in this case, Abeytas acquaintance for notifying the police about the incriminating evidence he found and the brave survivor who stood up to her offender, said Hays County Assistant District Attorneys Katie Arnold in the release. Without the bravery of each witness, this man might still be in a classroom putting young children at risk. 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. The Brief A former Texas city employee has been sentenced to 18 months in federal prison. She pleaded guilty to embezzling over $121,000 intended for a federal homeless housing program. Another former Amarillo employee was sentenced last year for stealing over $465,000 from the same program. AMARILLO, Texas - A former employee of the City of Amarillo will be spending time in federal prison after being convicted of embezzling thousands intended to house the homeless. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The former grant manager was found to have stolen over $121,000 from the federal program, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced Wednesday. Former Amarillo employee convicted Vanessa Robinson, 35, worked for the City of Amarillo from 2013 to 2024 in their community development department. She was responsible for distributing funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to homeless or near-homeless individuals in the city with housing costs. Instead, Robinson pocketed many of those dollars for years. Robinson was shown to have embezzled in several ways. Nearly $35,000 was stolen by posing as a program recipient and living rent-free for more than two years, the U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Texas said. She also filled out fake applications for her family members to get them housing assistance, as well as making up lease agreements and a fictitious landlord to pocket grant money, the court showed. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In all, Robinson caused the program to spend $121,325 on her scams. She pleaded guilty to conspiracy to embezzle from a federally-funded program in March. On July 22, U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk sentenced Robinson to 18 months in federal prison and ordered her to pay restitution of $121,325.21 to the City of Amarillo. Officials comment on sentence What they're saying "These defendants abused trusted positions within the City of Amarillo to steal from federal funding intended for residents experiencing significant financial hardship and homelessness," said Acting U.S. Attorney Nancy Larson. "This breach of the public trust will not be tolerated, and we are proud of our law enforcement partners work in seeing justice done in this case." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "The defendants in this case embezzled funds from a program meant to help disadvantaged residents in their area. They abused their positions as city employees for personal gain at the expense of their community," said FBI Dallas Special Agent in Charge R. Joseph Rothrock. "The FBI would like to thank HUD-OIG for partnering with us to hold these individuals accountable for defrauding a federal program funded by taxpayer dollars." "This sentencing demonstrates our continued commitment to protecting taxpayer dollars and holding individuals accountable for the misuse of federal funds," said Special Agent in Charge Robert Lawler with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Office of Inspector General (OIG). "HUD OIG will continue to work with the U.S. Attorneys Office and our law enforcement partners to pursue those who exploit public trust for personal gain." Related Amarillo employee sentence Dig deeper Another former employee of Amarillo pleaded guilty last year to embezzling from the same HUD program, the U.S. Attorney's release said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Amy Dixon admitted to stealing over $465,000 from the federal grants, and was sentenced to two years in federal prison in October 2024. She was also ordered to repay the full amount to the city. The Source Information in this article came from the U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Texas. The former head of the US Food and Drug Administration is testing the Trump administrations commitment to Make America Healthy Again with a challenge to crack down on some of the key ingredients in ultraprocessed foods. In a petition filed Wednesday, the former FDA commissioner, Dr. David Kessler, argued that the agency has the authority to declare that certain sweeteners, refined flours and other additives are not generally recognized as safe. Removing that designation, known as GRAS, would force makers of ultraprocessed foods to remove products from the market and reformulate recipes or try to prove that those ingredients are not harmful. It would be a sweeping change to the food industry and a significant shift in the Trump administrations MAHA strategy. So far, US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has relied on popular food brands to volunteer to remove artificial dyes and other additives from their products. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Kessler has given the FDA a way to define the vast majority of ultra-processed foods. In doing so, he has handed RFK Jr a huge gift on the path to regulating these products. Its just what MAHA has asked for. I hope they take it seriously, Marion Nestle, the Paulette Goddard professor emerita of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University, said in an email. Kessler proposed that companies have 12 months to submit a petition to keep those food additives in their products and then go on to prove they are safe. Its a very appropriate, worthy step to shift the burden of proof where it belongs and have the industry meet that burden, or stop using the substances. said Michael Taylor, a former FDA food regulator and current co-chair of the nonprofit STOP Foodborne Illness. Its using the GRAS tool to really drive a serious safety conversation. HHS did not respond to a request for comment. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Federal health officials announced last month that they are looking for input on how to define ultraprocessed foods, a first step in eventually setting up new regulations, which could take months to years to establish. Kesslers petition could put pressure on that ultimately lengthy timeline; the agency is required to respond to the request within 180 days. Kessler, a physician who served as FDA commissioner under presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush, and advised President Joe Biden during the Covid-19 pandemic, oversaw the agency when it began requiring nutrition labels on food products. He also spearheaded efforts for FDA to regulate tobacco in the 1990s and sees parallels to that fight. What was key in tobacco was finding the regulatory hook, Kessler told CNN. It was about asking the right legal question that would frame the issue. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement That has been the tricky part of setting up any regulatory standards for sugary and starchy foods, he said. The term ultra processed foods has resonated with the public, he said, but its going to be hard to define, legally, whats in it. But there is a pressing need to do that, he argues. The FDA allowed these ingredients under GRAS regulations four decades ago, and rates of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease have climbed in the years since, he wrote in his petition. The argument echoes Kennedys own case for MAHA reforms to food policy. Former FDA commissioner, Dr. David Kessler speaks during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions hearing on Capitol Hill, on May 11, 2021. - Jim Lo Scalzo/AP A brilliant move on processed foods The petition focuses on refined flours and starches which the body breaks down into sugars that are subjected to food extrusion technology, including wheat, corn, tapioca, oat and potato flour. It also references refined sugars, including corn syrup, corn solids, dextrose, xylose, maltose, and high-fructose corn syrups. Finally, the petition targets any manufactured sugars, flours and starches that contain additives commonly used in todays ultraprocessed foods. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Tackling the issue of too much sugar is a key to better health, experts CNN spoke with agree, but they say the real genius of Kesslers petition is his focus on additives. The food industry uses the emulsifiers, the stabilizers, the gels and the rest to make inexpensive, high volume, industrially processed foods, said Christopher Gardner, director of nutrition studies at the Stanford Prevention Research Center. If you take those tools away from industry its not that foods will taste bad and icky, Gardner said. They wont be as addictive, as flavorful, as tasty and industry has made these foods as manipulatively flavorful and manipulatively tasty. Thats the problem. Several food and nutrition experts heralded Kesslers petition as a bold move that would, if enacted by FDA, reshape the food industry. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This is an important proposal that is based on the true meaning of GRAS, which would exclude the majority of foods on our grocery shelves, said leading nutrition researcher Dr. Walter Willett, professor of epidemiology and nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston. The GRAS standard, created in 1958, was originally intended to narrowly apply to commonly used ingredients in the nations food supply, such as oil, vinegar and baking soda. Manufacturers that used those products could rely on existing research to show their safety but are supposed to file GRAS petitions for newer ingredients like refined sugars. FDA updated its system in the late 1990s amid a backlog of petitions for new additives allowing companies to voluntarily notify the agency that they had determined their ingredients were generally safe. A 2022 analysis conducted by the Environmental Working Group found that nearly 99% of new chemicals used in food or food packaging since 2000 were green-lit for use not by the FDA but by the food and chemical industry. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement During that period, food manufacturers asked the FDAs permission to introduce a new substance only 10 times, according to the analysis. Barry Popkin, the W. R. Kenan, Jr. Distinguished Professor at the Gillings School of Global Public Health in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, called Kesslers petition a brilliant move. Knowing the FDA like he does - hes put industry in a real bind, Popkin said. They have to show that without a reasonable doubt that carbohydrates, along with additives, are healthy, and do not hurt health. And thats next to impossible. Its the strongest play a citizen can do to affect our food supply that Ive ever seen. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But Kesslers proposed changes are likely to meet significant pushback from major food brands. Michael Taylor was FDAs deputy commissioner for foods in 2015 when the agency revoked the GRAS status of partially hydrogenated oils, or trans fats, citing extensive research about their links to risks of heart disease and stroke. The agency gave companies three years to comply and remove those oils from their products. But at that time, the handwriting was on the wall for industry and many companies had already stopped using those trans fats, Taylor said. Obviously the substances that [Kessler] is describing, its a lot of highly processed, fine carbohydrates, and a lot of products. The petition lands as Trump administration officials, led by Kennedy, prepare to release their second MAHA report. While the MAHA Commissions first dispatch in June singled out potential drivers of chronic illnesses in children including ingredients in ultraprocessed foods its second installment is expected to lay out proposed policy changes. The report is due by Tuesday. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com BOSTON (WWLP) A former Massachusetts State Police trooper was sentenced to prison for his role in a conspiracy to falsify records for certain CDL applicants, including those who had failed or did not take the CDL skills test. In a news release sent to 22News from the Department of Justice, 64-year-old Perry Mendes of Wareham conspired with others to give automatic passing scores to at least 17 CDL applicants on their skills tests regardless of whether they actually passed between January 2019 and April 2022. Former Mass. State Police Sergeant convicted of extortion in CDL scheme Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Mendes was charged in a January 2024 indictment of 74 counts along with five others in the alleged conspiracy and related schemes. In July 2025 he admitted to his role in the alleged conspiracy, including that he cut skills tests short for golden applicants and entered false information on CDL score sheets. Mendes pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to falsify records, three counts of falsifying records and two counts of making false statements. On Thursday, he was sentenced to one month in prison, to be followed by one year of supervised release with the first two months on home confinement. 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. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. MEMPHIS, Tenn. A former Memphis police officer has pleaded guilty to federal charges in connection with the deadly shooting of his ex-girlfriends boyfriend in 2021. In court Thursday, Patric Ferguson admitted to kidnapping Robert Howard, shooting him in the back of the head, and then dumping his body in the Wolf River. Patric Ferguson (SCSO) Former Memphis officer accused of killing man while on duty is indicted on murder, other charges Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As part of a plea agreement, Ferguson would receive 38 years in prison and waive his right to an appeal. A judge still has to sign off on the deal. In May, Joshua Rogers pleaded guilty in federal court to destroying evidence by helping Ferguson dispose of Howards body. Joshua Rogers (SCSO) Prosecutors said on January 5, 2021, while Ferguson was on duty, he went to the home of his ex-girlfriend, a fellow MPD officer, and confronted her new boyfriend, Howard. Ferguson admitted to forcing Howard into the back of his squad car, driving him to a parking lot, shooting him, and then leaving his body in a field near an apartment complex. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Prosecutors said Ferguson later called his childhood friend Rogers to help get rid of the body. They said Ferguson and Rogers attached chains, padlocks, and cinder blocks to Howards body before throwing the body from a Memphis bridge into the Wolf River. Ferguson admitted they sold Rogers SUV, which was used to move the body to a salvage yard, to get rid of any evidence. Fergusons defense attorney, C. Anne Tipton, said there are no winners in this situation, and Ferguson is sorry for what he did. Mr. Ferguson, I think, has demonstrated through certain actions starting very close in time to his arrest and throughout my representation has expressed significant remorse for what happened, said Tipton. Patric Ferguson in court in January of 2021. WREG photo. Ferguson also has a case pending in state court where he is facing charges of first-degree murder, especially aggravated kidnapping, tampering with evidence, and abuse of a corpse. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ferguson is scheduled to return to federal court on November 13, when a judge will decide whether to accept the plea agreement. 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. Former South Carolina Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer (R) is suspending his Senate campaign that sought to primary Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), saying he doesnt want to further contribute to division in the country. Bauer, in a Friday post on the social platform X, said he didnt make the decision lightly and entered the race with a goal of serving, believing the country needs leaders grounded in truth, integrity, and faith. But I believe now, more than ever, that in order for us to truly move forward, we must stop tearing one another down with lies and division, he continued. I cannot and will not be part of a political climate that rewards deception over honesty, or ambition over unity. God calls us to walk in truth, to speak life, and to be peacemakersnot power seekers. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Bauer said winning wont come through slander but through unity, humility and a shared desire to honor God and serve one another. I pray the remaining candidates can do just that, the former lieutenant governor added. Im deeply grateful to all who supported this campaign my family and I over the years. Bauer likely faced long odds challenging Graham, a close ally of President Trump who has already secured his endorsement. The incumbent senator also has the support of South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster (R) and his colleague Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), the chair of Senate Republicans campaign arm. Graham has faced primary challenges in the past when hes been up for election but has fended each of them off. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He reposted Bauers post on his own X account, wishing him well and expressing appreciation for his service to the state. Bauer served as lieutenant governor from 2003-11 under former Gov. Mark Sanford (R) and unsuccessfully ran for a House seat in 2012. Graham is still facing a primary challenge from Paul Dans, who was an author of the Heritage Foundations Project 2025, a blueprint of conservative hopes for Trumps second term. 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. COLUMBIA, S.C. (WCBD) Just weeks after announcing his bid to unseat Lindsey Graham in the U.S. Senate, former South Carolina Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer is exiting the race. Bauer, a Republican, wrote in an Aug. 8 post on social media that he decided to suspend his campaign after deep prayer and reflection. I entered this race with a servants heart believing that our nation needs leaders who are grounded in truth, integrity, and faith, he wrote. But I believe now, more than ever, that in order for us to truly move forward, we must stop tearing one another down with lies and division. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I cannot and will not be a part of a political climate that rewards deception over honesty, ambition over unity, he continued. Bauer, 56, launched his senatorial campaign in early July, arguing that Graham was not conservative enough. He described himself as a real, America First conservative intent on representing what he saw as South Carolina conservatives true values, according to the Associated Press. In a statement reacting to Bauers exit, Graham said: I wish Andre and his family well and appreciate his service to our state for many years. Graham, who has already secured President Donald Trumps endorsement, still faces other challengers in his bid for a fifth consecutive term. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Paul Dans, an attorney who worked in the first Trump administration, officially kicked off his campaign during an event in Charleston late last month. Dans is well-known for being an architect of Project 2025, a right-wing political framework that seeks to reduce the size of the federal government and downsize the federal workforce. [Bauers] decision to step aside reflects the humility & integrity SC conservatives cherish, Dans wrote in a Friday afternoon post on X. His call for unity and truth resonates deeply with our mission to put SC first. Greenville businessman Mark Lynch is also challenging Graham for the GOP nomination. The Democratic field includes pediatrician Dr. Annie Andrews, logistics professional Kyle Freeman, and former U.S. Senate candidate Catherine Fleming-Bruce. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Another small business owner Brandon Brown also said he intends to run but has not yet filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission. This story is developing and may be updated. 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. Pete Serrano, a Republican, makes remarks during a debate in the Washington attorney general race, in Spokane, Wash., on Sept. 18, 2024. Serrano lost in the November 2024 election to Democrat Nick Brown. (Photo by Bill Lucia/Washington State Standard) Pete Serrano, the Pasco mayor who mounted a failed Republican bid for state attorney general last year, is in the running to be the next top federal prosecutor in eastern Washington. He told The Spokesman-Review on Thursday that he was excited and waiting for it to be finalized. In an interview with the Standard later in the day, he was more reserved. Im excited to be under consideration. I expect to know next week, he said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Serrano is the founder of the conservative nonprofit Silent Majority Foundation, which has unsuccessfully challenged the states gun restrictions and COVID mandates. His potential appointment as U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Washington would have to be considered by the U.S. Senate. There are 93 U.S. attorneys nationwide. They prosecute federal criminal cases and work on civil litigation in cases that include the federal government. The White House, Department of Justice and U.S. attorneys office in Spokane didnt immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday afternoon. Last month, Richard Barker stepped down as acting U.S. attorney after assuming the position in February. He left to return to private practice in Spokane. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Barkers predecessor, Vanessa Waldref, had resigned. Stephanie Van Marter has served as the acting U.S. attorney since Barkers resignation. Serrano, 44, ran last year for attorney general against Democrat Nick Brown, who previously served as U.S. attorney for the Western District of Washington. Serrano garnered 44% to Browns nearly 56%. In a debate with Brown last year, Serrano described rioters arrested at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 as political prisoners. Originally from California, Serrano moved to Pasco in 2015 with his family. He worked as an environmental lawyer for the U.S. Department of Energy and at Energy Northwest before founding the Silent Majority Foundation, where he is now general counsel. Serrano is also the former leader of the Franklin County Republican Party. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He was one of the attorneys representing a gun shop owner over the states ban on ammunition magazines holding more than 10 rounds. The state Supreme Court sided with the state in May. Since taking office in January, Brown has sued the Trump administration more than 30 times. The Western District of Washington has also had an acting U.S. attorney since February, when the Trump administration ousted Tessa Gorman. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Teal Luthy Miller was promoted to replace Gorman. Standard reporter Jerry Cornfield contributed to this report. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Had it been around in 2022, Wesley Armstrong, 37, might have been a passenger on the Rotary Connection, the free bus service that launched in Fort Lauderdale this week. Armstrong was homeless at the time, an ex-con, unwanted by family who had frankly had enough of his cycle of addiction and the illegal conduct that accompanied it. Just three years later, Armstrong is clean. He has a job and a permanent place to stay. And he volunteers as a driver for the Rotary Connection bus, operated by Fellowship Recovery Community Organization, the outreach group he credits with rescuing him from despair. The bus service started operating on Monday, offering rides to homeless people from downtown Fort Lauderdale to 40 locations, each designed to provide needed services to people and families without permanent housing. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This once was me, said Armstrong, looking at dozens of homeless people who attended a weekly community court near the bus terminal in downtown Fort Lauderdale. I just thought, I got the help I needed when I needed it. I just need to help other people get to the services they need. As a member of the Rotary Club of Fort Lauderdale, Gwynne Beatty had the same idea. Looking at the clubs array of good deeds in the community, she said she approached then-Rotary Club President Rick Riccardi with a question: What does Fort Lauderdale need? Riccardi, who is also CESO of Fellowship Recovery, had a ready answer: The homeless need a bus to get to needed resources, he told her. And they need it to be free. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Beatty went on a search for funding, securing $35,000 from Florida Blue and Go Therefore Ministries to acquire and paint the 14-seat bus. The Rotary Connections route starts at the Fort Lauderdale Bus Terminal on Northwest First Avenue just north of Broward Boulevard at 8:30 a.m. Stops on the route include the Department of Children and Families, Legal Aid, the Housing Authority, Henderson Behavioral Health and Lifenet, as well as several church and hospital organizations. The Rotary Connection relies on no government funding. An American Heritage High School student, Sam Danzig, won a contest to design the exterior of the bus. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I wanted to make it inviting, said Danzig, 18, who avoided colors associated with law enforcement. I understood what services need to look like. I wanted to give them no reason to think they cant get on that bus. For information about the route and schedule, contact Fellowship Recovery Community Organization at 954-249-5589. Rafael Olmeda can be reached at rolmeda@sunsentinel.com or 954-356-4457. Follow him on Threads.net/@rafael.olmeda. The Brief Quornelius Radford, 28, is accused of shooting five people at Fort Stewart; two victims remain hospitalized but are expected to recover. Reports say Radford was bullied over his stutter in 2018 and recently complained of racism while seeking a transfer from the base. He was arrested for DUI in May in Hinesville and was due in court Aug. 20; he remains in the Liberty County Jail as the Army prepares charges. ATLANTA - The soldier accused of shooting five people at Fort Stewart is facing a military trial as new details about his past come to light. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Two of the wounded soldiers remain hospitalized, but all are expected to recover. The Armys Office of Special Counsel is in the process of drafting charges against the suspect, identified as 28-year-old Quornelius Radford. Radford enlisted in the U.S. Army in 2018 and worked at the base as a supply sergeant. ORIGINAL STORY: Fort Stewart shooting live updates: Sergeant arrested for shooting 5 soldiers Chilling text message What we know So far, officials have not released a motive for the attack, though the New York Times reports Radford sent a chilling text message to his aunt just moments before the shooting, saying goodbye to "everybody" and that he would be "in a better place." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement His father told the Times his son had requested a transfer from Fort Stewart after complaining of racism. However, he also said that he hadn't noticed anything unusual about his son's behavior recently. The New York Post reports Radford was bullied over his stutter during the two months he spent at Fort Lee, Virginia, in 2018. What they're saying Sgt. Cameron Barrett, a friend from that time, told the paper Radford was picked on "a lot" because of his speech problem. Sgt. Carlos Coleman, who served in the same formation at Fort Lee, said Radford became quiet after the mocking began, adding that he never saw him angry and was surprised by the shooting. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Another former coworker described him as a "hard worker" who liked to joke around during lunch breaks. RELATED: Quornelius Radford: Who is the accused Fort Stewart shooter? DUI arrest What we know Radford also has a recent arrest on his record. In May, Georgia State Patrol says he was taken into custody for DUI after running a red light in Hinesville, just three miles from Fort Stewart. According to the incident report, Radford refused breathalyzer and field sobriety tests, insisting he was not intoxicated. However, the arresting officer noted the smell of alcohol and described Radfords eyes as watery and bloodshot. He was scheduled to appear in Liberty County court on Aug. 20, according to USA Today. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The command staff at Fort Stewart were reportedly unaware that Radford had been arrested in May. Radford had no known prior discipline or mental health issues reported on base, according to officials. Soldiers honored What we know On Thursday, six soldiers were awarded medals for heroism after stepping in to stop the shooting at Fort Stewart and for providing aid to the five fellow service members who were wounded. During a ceremony at the base, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll praised the soldiers' quick-thinking actions, saying they likely prevented more injuries or deaths. According to Driscoll, one soldier tackled the suspected gunman before another jumped on top of him and wrestled away his firearm. The other four soldiers immediately began treating the five wounded service members. RELATED: Fort Stewart shooting: Army honors soldiers who subdued gunman Radford is currently being held in the Liberty County Jail. Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker backed the City Councils decision to suspend the citys Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) department, citing legal concerns and fiscal responsibility. The 74 vote followed public debate, as previously reported by The Dallas Express. The City Council made the right decision today to continue following federal law and to adhere to U.S. Supreme Court precedent to protect nearly $300 million in multi-year grants for our city, Parker said. She said the decision was not only legally necessary but also essential to preserving critical city services. This was a vote to continue critical services for residents who need them most across our community and for sound financial management within the City of Fort Worth. It was the fiscally responsible and, quite frankly, the only legally viable path forward. Parker said that failing to comply with federal guidelines could have jeopardized funding for key services, including the fire department, emergency management systems, and Department of Transportation projects. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement She added that Fort Worth would continue to support local businesses through a small business strategy in partnership with local chambers of commerce. My priorities as we work through the new changes are to ensure Fort Worth continues to be one of the best-managed cities in the nation while bolstering opportunity for all and fostering an excellent, welcoming work environment for every City employee, Parker said. Some Fort Worth residents expressed support for the decision Four people died this week when a medical transport plane caught fire after crashing in Arizona. The plane crashed while landing at an airport within northern Arizona's Navajo Nation. The small plane crashed just before 1 PM local time near the Chinle Municipal Airport, according to the Navajo Police Department. "Non-local" medical personnel were aboard the plane when it crashed. The FAA says that the plane was a Beechcraft 300, and that the Navajo tribe's medical, fire and rescue services rushed to the scene of the accident. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "These were people who dedicated their lives to saving others, and their loss is felt deeply across the Navajo Nation," said Navajo Nation Buu Nygren. "We honor their service, their sacrifice, and the love they showed our communities through their work. On behalf of the Navajo Nation, I extend my deepest condolences to their families, colleagues, and all who are grieving." The cause of the crash is still unknown, but the FAA and National Transportation Safety Board are still investigating. The crash is the latest in a series of aviation incidents this year in the state of Arizona. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Two private jets collided in February at the Scottsdale Airport, killing one person and injuring four others. Two people died just over a week later at the Marana Regional Airport, when two single-engine planes ran into one another. A Disturbing Trend of Plane Crashes Those crashes also represent a growing level of concern around aviation throughout the entire country, following devastating and tragic accidents in areas like Washington D.C. and Philadelphia. 67 people died near Reagan National Airport in Washington earlier this year, when an American Airlines passenger plane made sudden contact with a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter. Another medical plane crashed in the streets of Philadelphia this year, killing seven people. Six people in the plane died, and another person was killed when the plane crashed. An additional 24 people were hurt during the incident, as debris was strewn about a shopping center and residential area. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Newly appointed transportation secretary Sean Duffy believes pilot error is responsible for many of this year's tragic accidents. A consequence-free space where you make errors, serious errors, and you dont pay any kind of price for it, somethings wrong with that, Duffy said, suggesting that pilots who do not follow instructions from air traffic control shough be fired. And maybe this is the way we get pilots to start paying attention again and following the direction of air traffic controllers. Four Dead After Medical Plane Crash Near Arizona Airport first appeared on Men's Journal on Aug 6, 2025 Explosions have shaken two districts in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast as Russian forces carried out around 40 attacks on 8 August. One woman has been killed and five other people have been injured. Source: Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Military Administration on Telegram Quote: "In the Nikopol district, the aggressor deployed drones, mounted artillery strikes and dropped munitions from UAVs. They targeted the city of Nikopol and the Marhanets, Myrove, Pokrovske and Chervonohryhorivka hromadas. [A hromada is an administrative unit designating a village, several villages, or a town, and their adjacent territories ed.] Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Three people were injured two men aged 45 and 68 and a 56-year-old woman." Details: Russian forces also targeted the Mezhova, Pokrovske and Malomykhailivka hromadas in the Synelnykove district. They used drones and a guided aerial bomb, injuring a woman. Update: Later, Serhii Lysak, Head of Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Military Administration, added that the Russians killed a 56-year-old woman in Nikopol. Emergency workers retrieved her body from under the rubble of a house destroyed by Russian artillery. Emergency workers Photo: Serhii Lysak A 62-year-old man was injured. He was taken to hospital in a serious condition. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon! PEORIA HEIGHTS, Ill. (WMBD) A familiar name in the local food scene is returning to Peoria Heights. Frank Abdnour, former owner of The Spotted Cow, is teaming up with his son Noah to open Franks: Home of Franks Famous Italian Beef later this month. The new restaurant will be located at 4408 North Prospect Rd., the former home of The Other Dawg, behind Busted Brewing. The shop will be carry-out only, serving a focused menu of five items, including Italian beef sandwiches, hot dogs, Italian subs, and a salad. Abdnour said the decision to keep the menu small was intentional, focusing on quality. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement My son, who hes 27, has wanted to open a sandwich shop. And I thought, you know what? Nows the time. Everything just kind of fell into place. This location, I started here back in 1987 in Peoria Heights with my first restaurant. So its kind of a homecoming here, you know, we kind of come full circle, Abdnour said. The Italian beef recipe, which Abdnour has been perfecting for decades, is something he describes as unique to central Illinois. Its not Chicago style, its Frank style. We slow roast it for about 18 hours, season it, and its the best there is, he said. Franks will also offer catering and bulk orders for offices, events, and even weddings. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We do a lot of work with offices, doctors offices, auto dealerships, and weve got two weddings coming up next month, Abdnour said. As for future plans, Abdnour said the focus is on making this first location the best it can be. We just want to provide the best food, the best service, and the best price at this location. Were not going to even think about any expansion right now, he said. For Abdnour, the most rewarding part of the journey has been reconnecting with old customers. Seeing a lot of old customers from my Spotted Cow days and having so many people reach out and congratulate us, its great to have that kind of community involvement, he said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Franks is expected to open Wednesday, Aug. 20 and will operate Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Customers can still place online orders via Facebook Messenger until the grand opening, with pickup at the new location. 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 CIProud.com. Some Frederick County government videos will now be translated and posted to a dedicated Spanish YouTube channel as part of an effort to better engage the county's growing Hispanic and Latino populations. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates that 11% of Frederick County residents, or about 31,000 people, speak Spanish at home. Of those, the Frederick County government says, over 11,000 speak Spanish as their primary language. The new YouTube channel, @CondadoDeFrederickMD, has already published several videos on topics such as health services on Frederick's Golden Mile, recognizing financial exploitation and how to prepare for a medical emergency. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Scott Betts, Frederick County's video services supervisor, said in an interview on Thursday that the county's communications team started getting requests for Spanish-language content "many years ago." At the time, Betts said, the communications team "struggled to translate that content" independently and often relied on Spanish-speaking employees of other county divisions for help. Late last year, Betts said, the county moved to hire a bilingual video technician to help with the production of Spanish-language content. "With the increase in content, we thought it was appropriate to create a second channel on our YouTube account," Betts said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Several outreach workers at the Asian American Center of Frederick, a nonprofit organization serving Frederick County's immigrant population, welcomed the new Spanish-language YouTube channel as a step in the right direction. Yok Ling Candelario, a family engagement specialist at the AACF Family Support Center, said the majority of Spanish-speaking participants in her program need help with tasks like registering a child for school or filing court documents. Mark Kraham, AACF's director of communications, said people often wrongly assume that speakers of other languages want access to information in those languages because of a resistance to learning English. But even those who learn English will still find it easier to understand information in their native language, Kraham said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Bravo and kudos to the county for realizing that the U.S. is not just English anymore," said Nancy Noriega, the program director for the Family Support Center. Noriega, a Spanish speaker herself, said she is glad the county is starting with Spanish-language programming. She hopes the county will expand to other languages common in Frederick County, such as Hindi, Mandarin Chinese and French. Betts said that right now, the county's video team is focusing on Spanish content because it is the second-most common language after English. The county's communications team has implemented other changes to help speakers of less-common languages access government services, such as offering live translation of certain video feeds and making news releases available to download in multiple languages. "We're always tracking language data and looking at who's speaking what languages in our community," Frederick County communications manager Hope Morris said on Thursday. "Our big goal is really to bridge the language barriers that might exist in our community and ensure that everyone has equal access to the information that we're putting out." BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First) An event geared toward the youth is happening later this month. Monique Ware Ellis, who founded Psalms 41 Outreach, and Andreika Thomas, founder of Becoming Courageous and Determined, are hosting the Raising Royalty Workshop. This workshop will show kids and teens that they are royalty. Kids will learn etiquette skills and life skills. This workshop will include mock interviews. This way, young people can learn how to dress and act during a job interview. The Raising Royalty Youth Workshop takes place at 1 p.m. on Aug. 23 at the Denham Springs-Walker Branch Library. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Reach out to Monique Ware Ellis to register your child for this event. Family Focus: Five ways to address short attention spans Latest 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 Louisiana First News. All students at Marion County Public Schools may get free breakfasts and lunches this school year, regardless of family income. The free meals will be available starting Monday. No application is required to participate. Here are the schools that are hosting the free meal program starting Monday include: Anthony Elementary Acceleration Academy Belleview Elementary Belleview High Belleview Middle Belleview-Santos Elementary College Park Elementary Dr. N.H. Jones Elementary Dunnellon Elementary Dunnellon High Dunnellon Middle East Marion Elementary Eighth Street Elementary Emerald Shores Elementary Fessenden Elementary Fordham Early Learning Forest High Fort King Middle Fort McCoy Greenway Elementary Hammett Bowen Elementary Harbour View Elementary Hillcrest School Horizon Academy at Marion Oaks Howard Middle Lake Weir High Lake Weir Middle Legacy Elementary Liberty Middle Madison Street Academy Maplewood Elementary Marion Charter Marion Oaks Elementary Marion Technical Institute McIntosh Area School North Marion High North Marion Middle Oakcrest Elementary Ocala Springs Elementary Ocali Charter High Ocali Charter Middle Osceola Middle Reddick-Collier Elementary Romeo Elementary Ross Prairie Elementary Saddlewood Elementary Shady Hill Elementary South Ocala Elementary Sparr Elementary Stanton-Weirsdale Elementary Sunrise Elementary Vanguard High Ward-Highlands Elementary West Port High Winding Oaks Elementary Wyomina Park Elementary Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The program is provided in partnership with the Community Eligibility Provision initiative and is funded by the United States Department of Agriculture. Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live. HONOLULU (KHON2) Friday, Aug. 8 is National Spam Musubi Day. L&L Hawaiian BBQ is celebrating by giving out free spam musubis at all locations from noon to 2 p.m. PHOTOS: What Hawaii wahine looked like in the 1800s National SPAM Musubi Day was established in 2021 and falls on Aug. 8 which is recognition to Hawaiis 808 area code, a symbol of local pride. The musubi concept goes back to 19th-century Japanese immigrants who brought the idea of onigir which is rice balls wrapped in seaweed to Hawaii. The word musubi comes from the Japanese verb musubu, which means to bind or tie together. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Download the free KHON2 app for iOS or Android to stay informed on the latest news L&L is ecstatic to be a top seller of SPAM Musubi in the country, serving over 6.2 million musubi every year across 230+ locations. Thats about 17,000 a day. Get all the musubi information and more at hawaiianbarbecue.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 KHON2. French authorities said Friday that they were counting on better weather conditions to help put out the country's biggest wildfire in at least half a century after firefighters finally managed to bring it under control. The fire near the Mediterranean coast ravaged a vast area of the Aude department at the peak of the summer tourist season, killing one person and wounding several others. Experts say European countries are becoming ever more vulnerable to such disasters due to intensifying summer heatwaves linked to global warming. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Firefighters announced that the Aude blaze was brought under control on Thursday, though it would still take several days before it is completely extinguished. "The weather is changing in our favour," Remi Recio, a senior regional official who is the sub-prefect for the southern city of Narbonne, told reporters, pointing to "a weakening of the wind" and rising humidity. "The light drizzle this morning is also welcome," he said in Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse, the town hit worst by the fire. However the low cloud cover that helps the firefighters on the ground makes aerial operations to fight the fire more complicated. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Meanwhile, the weather forecast was set to be less favourable going into the weekend, with the region placed on alert for a heatwave and the wind also expected to pick up. "The firefighters will do their utmost before the return of the tramontane" this weekend, the president of the Aude departmental council, Helene Sandragne, told AFP, referring to a northerly wind that regularly blows through the area. "It's a relief that the fire is under control, but it's still essential to show complete vigilance," she said. - 'Complete despair' - The fire, the largest for at least 50 years, swept through 17,000 hectares (4,200 acres) of vegetation in just over 48 hours. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Local authorities have said that around 2,000 people evacuated are still unable to return home. Almost 2,000 firefighters are mobilised to fight the fire. In Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse, a 65-year-old woman was found dead Wednesday in her home, which was devastated by flames. The authorities said 18 people were injured: two residents who were hospitalised, one of whom suffered serious burns, as well as 16 firefighters. As well as the damage to forests, local authorities estimate that "800 to 900 hectares" of vineyards have been lost. "If we don't get help, we won't recover. We're losing a lot. It's complete despair," Fabien Vergnes, 52, told AFP on his 20-hectare property in Tournissan outside Saint-Laurent. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "It outrages me, this vineyard, all these years of work, went up in smoke in an hour," he said. Regional prosectors have said investigations are underway into the origin of the fire. With Europe facing new August heatwaves, many areas are on alert for wildfires. Portugal on Thursday extended emergency measures because of the heightened risk of fires. Near the Spanish town of Tarifa, fire crews secured areas near hotels and other tourist accommodations after controlling a major blaze that destroyed hundreds of hectares and forced the evacuation of more than 1,500 people. The blaze, which broke out Tuesday in a wooded area near a beach outside Tarifa, a well-known hub for windsurfers, has now been brought under control, officials said. bur-dmc-sjw/jh/js The Latest: Israel plans to take control of Gaza City, drawing international condemnation Israel says it plans to take over Gaza City in another escalation of its 22-month war with Hamas NewsNation National Correspondent Robert Sherman has found himself on the frontlines of some of the worlds biggest stories: from Ukraine to Israel and across the United States. He shares what hes seeing on the ground. Subscribe to his newsletter: Frontlines with Robert Sherman here. (NewsNation) Its deadline day for Russia. President Trump has made clear that Russia must move towards peace. If they dont, economic sanctions and secondary tariffs will come down. Weve already seen the White House upping the tariff rate on India by 25% earlier this week for their purchases of Russian oil. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement How are things on the ground ahead of this deadline? Well, multiple times throughout the day here, air raid sirens have blared in Kyiv. That includes during my live report for NewsNation Live with Marni Hughes. Frontlines: Life Under Siege Does that mean we wont see something happen later in the day? No. Its common in the hours before a ceasefire goes into effect for there to be an increase in military operations. Its military strategy. While theres still time on the clock, try and knock out as many of the enemys positions as possible. But its clear that were also not across the finish line. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement President Trump said Thursday in the Oval Office, Its going to be up to [President Putin] and were going to see what he has to say, and that he was very disappointed. Still, as the president puts the ball squarely into Russias court, the door is open for diplomacy. A sit-down between President Trump and President Putin looks likely in the coming days, though details are sparse on the when and where. As all of this goes on, the Ukrainians want to make sure they have a seat at the table. President Zelenskyy said in his Thursday evening address, It is just that Ukraine be a participant in the negotiations. Russias war is against Ukraine, against our independence as the embodiment of the independence of every European nation. So the format of meetings, of leaders meetings, is, in particular, a trilateral format. And we discussed this in detail yesterday several bilateral formats, the trilateral format, all the options. Russias terms for peace are steep. Demilitarization in Ukraine, guarantees Ukraine wont pursue NATO membership and territorial relinquishments that include cities and communities Russia doesnt even occupy right now. A recent survey conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology here in Ukraine found 76% of Ukrainians reject such terms. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trumps deadline for Russia to end war in Ukraine arrives So there will have to be some serious negotiations to get Russia into dealmaking territory, as presently, the gaps to bridge are wide. Could the pressures put on Russia by the White House make a difference? Absolutely. Or, they could backfire. The prime minister of India, Narendra Modi, posted this on X today: Had a very good and detailed conversation with my friend President Putin. I thanked him for sharing the latest developments on Ukraine. We also reviewed the progress in our bilateral agenda, and reaffirmed our commitment to further deepen the India-Russia Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership. I look forward to hosting President Putin in India later this year. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The president described Russia as wily when it comes to their ability to avoid tariffs and sanctions, and its clear Russia is looking for a safety valve in its trade partner India. Adding to all of that, there is inherent distrust on the ground here for Russia. As a result, people in Ukraine do not have much optimism Russia is serious about making a deal, which is why folks are not getting their hopes up. Frontlines: Kyiv Under Fire Pressures are colliding, and whether it pushes to the negotiating table over away remains to be seen. This week, weve shared some exclusive reporting out of Ukraine, which we will take an even deeper dive into on our Saturday night special this week, Ukraine: On the Frontlines, that I will co-host with Natasha Zouaves live from Ukraine. I hope you will join us Saturday, August 9, at 8 p.m. ET on NewsNation for that. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement That will include some of our reporting inside a Ukrainian drone workshop near the frontlines where modern warfare is evolving rapidly. Is the United States ready for the new era? The Ukrainians say no. Weve also showcased the people in Ukraine who defend the skies from Russias drones, the Witches of Bucha. Theyre a near all-female group of volunteers who by day have their normal jobs but at night shoot down drones. Its a fascinating look inside the all-hands-on-deck mentality here in Ukraine. And once more, thank you for all of your support surrounding my book Lessons from the Front. Its been a blessing to see a renewed interest in my reporting from Ukraine this week. As Ive said before, the day Russia invaded Ukraine and I was on a plane to Europe, my life changed forever. For those stories and more, you can preorder my book through Amazon, Barnes and Noble or Bloomsbury. 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. SAN ANGELO, Texas (Concho Valley Homepage) A barricaded San Angelo fugitive was captured by local officials after he fell through a ceiling. On Thursday, Aug. 7, the TGSO concluded a two-day search for Joe Lucio, 40, of San Angelo, when deputies entered a residence in a home off of Gregory Drive. At approximately 11:15 a.m., deputies observed Lucio outside the home. The suspect then ran inside after refusing to respond to the deputies efforts for him to surrender. San Angelo man arrested for aggravated robbery; bond set to $150,000 Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Tom Green County Special Response Team entered the residence and determined that Lucio had barricaded himself inside the attic of the residence. Deputies then dispensed chemical munitions into the attic, and Lucio subsequently fell partially through the ceiling of the residence in his attempt to shield himself from the chemical, the TGSO reported. Deputies took him into custody without incident from that point. He is now in the Tom Green County Detention Center. The Tom Green County Sheriffs Office would like to thank the San Angelo Police Department, Texas DPS, and the FBI for their assistance in apprehending this suspect, TGSO 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 ConchoValleyHomepage.com. CEDAR BLUFF, VA (WVNS) The lack of local OBGYNs in our surrounding area can be worrying for upcoming mothers. There is now a new, full-time face at Clinch Valley Medical Center. Dr. Rickey Pierre is filling in the shoes for two doctors that served 30 years at the Center. Pierre began his duties back in March, and is willing and ready to serve the community. He discusses what they offer at his office. US secures Olympic quarterfinals spot with win over South Sudan Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We do what we call full spectrum womens health, that is delivering babies, OBGYN care. We do exams all the way to OBGYN surgery, said Dr. Pierre. Dr. Pierre went to medical school at Virginia Commonwealth University, INOVA Campus in Fairfax, Virginia and completed a residency at Albany Medical Center in Albany, New York. 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. SPRINGFIELD As the state grapples with a work stoppage over pay for private attorneys who represent indigent defendants, the system that ensures representation for those in federal court is also in crisis. The program that pays private attorneys to represent those who cant afford a lawyer in federal court ran out of money last month and wont be able to pay lawyers until the new federal fiscal year in October, according to a statement from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. Not only are lawyers not getting paid, but the investigators and experts we use wont get paid either, said Peter Alexander Slepchuk, a Springfield lawyer who is on the panel of private attorneys who takes the cases. It does create a problem. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Across the country, about 40% of indigent people in federal court are represented by private attorneys who are part of a court districts Criminal Justice Act Panel, according the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. The rest of the low-income defendants are represented by staff from federal public defender offices that employ lawyers full time, similar to the Committee for Public Counsel in Massachusetts. The courts ran out of money to pay the private attorneys for cases in July. The continuing resolution to fund the government for fiscal year 2025 passed by Congress in March froze all Judicial Branch funding at the FY 2024 level, which resulted in panel attorney funding running out unusually early, the administrative court office said in a statement. CJA lawyers are performing constitutionally required legal work on behalf of defendants, said Daniel Cloherty, a Boston attorney who is chair of the District of Massachusetts CJA panel. They are critical to the operation of the system and they are no longer getting paid for their work, Cloherty said. Many of them, not all but many, are in small firms or solo practitioners. They are small businesses that are being forced to go through a pause in payments. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Lawyers are still continuing to take cases, Cloherty said. My concern is that it will become increasingly difficult to attract lawyers to do this work if this becomes a persistent problem. The funding pause impacts the attorneys, and also people like translators and experts paid by the court for an indigent defendants case, Cloherty said. Lawyers are in a position of trying to hire vendors to assist them in the cases but I cant tell them when they are going to get paid, he said. That can be a challenge. Theres been funding issues in the past, but this is a particularly long period, the U.S. Courts statement said. Payments to panel attorneys have been suspended during previous congressional budget crises, but rarely for more than a few weeks in a single fiscal year, the statement said. While Slepchuk takes federal cases as a panel member, his law practice is diverse and he does not rely on them. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He said he knows other attorneys, however, who do depend on the cases. I know its a pressing problem for them, he said. Some attorneys are not taking cases because they dont want to essentially give the government an interest free loan for however many months, Slepchuk said. Read the original article on MassLive. CHEROKEE COUNTY, S.C. (WSPA) A man was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison for repeatedly sexually assaulting a child in Gaffney, according to the 7th Circuit Solicitors Office. The solicitors office claimed that the crimes occurred in Cherokee County between August 2020 and August 2022. 46-year-old Daniel Machito Buckson repeatedly molested a young girl, whose identity has not been revealed to protect her safety. Buckson also had text messages detailing the sexual abuse perpetrated on the victim. The victim testified at the trial where Buckson was found guilty. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The victim exhibited true courage not in the absence of fear, but in spite of it, said Deputy Solicitor Kim Leskanic. She stood up for herself and stopped this felon from committing these heinous acts against anyone else. Buckson was tried and found guilty of five counts of criminal sexual conduct with a minor. Buckson was sentenced to life in prison without parole. 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 WSPA 7NEWS. Former Worcester Police Chief Gary Gemme, a 33-year veteran of the department, has died, the Worcester Police Department said Thursday. Gemme died on Wednesday at his home in Shrewsbury, the Telegram & Gazette reported. He was 71. He was a U.S. Navy veteran and graduated from the FBI National Academy before he joined the police department and served for 33 years, police said in a statement. He rose through the ranks, being promoted to sergeant in 1990, lieutenant in 1993, captain in 1995 and deputy chief in 2000. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Gemme became chief of police in 2004 and served until 2016, becoming Worcesters longest-serving chief since World War II, the department stated. Gary Gemme was a dedicated public servant who committed his life to the city of Worcester and its citizens, Worcester Police Chief Paul Saucier said in a statement. His contributions will never be forgotten. Former Chief Steve Sargent was named as Gemmes replacement after Gemme retired at 62. Sargent retired and was succeeded by Saucier. When Gemme retired, former City Manager Ed Augustus said he was a man of honor and integrity. His intelligence, integrity, and leadership have served this city very well," Augustus added. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In his time as the head of our police force he has overseen tremendous advancements in technology and crime analytics, making Worcester one of the safest of all cities in Massachusetts, said Mayor Joseph Petty previously said. His lifelong commitment to our City was exemplified by his belief in community policing and his dedication to relationship building between his department and our neighbors. From retirement, Gemme became an author and released his own book in 2018, Margarets Dove: A Novel," a love story set on Cape Cod. This is something Ive wanted to do for a really long time, Gemme told MassLive at the time. Gemme was later diagnosed with leukemia before he received a bone marrow transplant from his youngest son, Matthew, on Feb. 14, Valentines Day, 2020. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I got a tremendous gift. I got the gift of life from my son on Valentines Day, Gemme told MassLive. Its emotional for me, there is really a bond there. More Worcester Stories Read the original article on MassLive. Local, state and federal partners gathered for an event on Aug. 7, 2025, marking the rerouting of the Red River through a control structure as a major milestone in the Fargo-Moorhead Area Diversion Project designed to protect the metro area from catastrophic flooding. (Dan Koeck/For the North Dakota Monitor) Officials on Thursday marked a milestone in flood protection for the Fargo area, with water from the Red River flowing through part of a channel designed to send floodwaters around the city. The 30-mile Red River diversion is scheduled for completion in 2027 to protect the Fargo areas more than 260,000 residents from flooding. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Thursdays event took place at a dam near Horace, south of West Fargo. Officials had planned to remove plugs in berms that were keeping the Red River from entering the channel around the control structure, but recent heavy rains caused the river to top the berm, filling the channel. Instead, officials opened gates on the dam to mark the rerouting of the river. The $3.2 billion project includes $850 million from the state of North Dakota and $750 million in federal funds. The control structure alone used $115 million of the federal funds. Sen. John Hoeven speaks with Fargo Mayor Tim Mahoney at the dedication of a Red River Diversion Structure near Fargo on Aug. 7, 2025. In 2009 as Fargos deputy mayor, Mahoney wore the safety vest during the historic flood fight that year. (Dan Koeck/For the North Dakota Monitor) The Red River Control Structure includes three 50-foot wide by 52-foot tall steel gates, each weighing nearly 300,000 pounds, according to a news release from Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D. It is the largest of the three gated structures on a 22-mile earthen embankment. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This has been a tremendous undertaking, requiring us to bring in partners from across all levels of government and from the private sector, but now, we are seeing tremendous results as the very heart of the project, the Red River Control Structure, is brought online, Hoeven said. North Dakota Gov. Kelly Armstrong applauded the cooperation on the project with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The diversion also improves flood protection for Moorhead, Minnesota, with Minnesota Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith taking part in the ceremony. Not since the opening of Garrison Dam in 1953 has a river of this size been intentionally rerouted through a manmade structure in North Dakota, Armstrong said. What is happening here today is beyond impressive, moving our states largest metro area one giant step closer to a more secure and prosperous future. Local, state and federal officials toured the Red River Control Structure south of Fargo on Aug. 7, 2025, that routes the Red River into a diversion channel to protect the metro area from catastrophic flooding. North Dakota Gov. Kelly Armstrong, from left, Fargo Mayor Tim Mahoney, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Sen. John Hoeven and Sen. Tina Smith participated in the tour led by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. (Dan Koeck/For the North Dakota Monitor) The project has had some detractors. During floods, the dam could create a reservoir on farmland to the south of the north-flowing river. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Cash Aaland is an attorney who lives in an area that could be flooded. He said the dam was added to the diversion project to protect farmland near Fargo for possible future development at the expense of landowners who are being forced into the reservoir area. He has joined with other attorneys to help fight for fair compensation in the area impacted by the diversion. He said the group has settled about 30 cases where the Metro Flood Diversion Authority has used eminent domain to obtain easements on property that could be flooded by the dam. He said the group is still working on more than 50 cases. North Dakota Monitor Deputy Editor Jeff Beach can be reached at jbeach@northdakotamonitor.com. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX A gay asylum seeker from Jamaica is fighting to be released from ICE custody after he was detained before his asylum hearing. Rickardo Anthony Kelly, 40, was arrested by ICE officers at an immigration courthouse in Manhattan on Monday morning while he was waiting for his prescheduled hearing, accompanied by his attorney. Agents offered him $1,000 to self-deport, and apprehended him when he refused, Kelly said in a writ of habeas corpus petition filed Wednesday and reported by Courthouse News Service. Kelly said that he came to the U.S. on a tourist visa in 2021 shortly after he was the victim of a violent attack motivated by his sexual orientation, during which he was shot ten times. He warned that deporting him to Jamaica would put him at risk, and that keeping him in custody could cause him to experience severe and quite possibly fatal medical complications as a diabetic. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Kelly's asylum attorney, Peter Schuur, said in a declaration of support that Kelly "does not pose any risk of danger or flight" and that he "is a hard-working man whose consistent goal since I began representing him in 2021 has been to remain in New York and be a productive member of society." Kelly currently works as a security guard in New York City. He was arrested under the Laken Riley Act, which mandates detention without bond for non-citizens charged with or convicted of theft, assault, or other violent crimes. Kelly has a pending third-degree assault charge that he said stems from a domestic dispute which prosecutors have not moved forward with. The case is expected to lapse this month under the Speedy Trial Act, according to Courthouse News Service. Schuur said that he believes "if Mr. Kelly returns to Jamaica, he faces a grave risk of being killed or severely injured because he is gay." To keep him in ICE custody could also be fatal, as Schurr asserted that he has "learned alarming information about his current conditions of confinement, which further heightens the need for his release." "Mr. Kelly is currently suffering ongoing and irreparable harm as a result of his unlawful detention including the deprivation of his constitutional rights, heightened medical risks due to his diabetes, and severe psychological distress connected to both his past trauma and his present confinement," Schurr wrote. "The governments inability to promptly respond only underscores the rashness of its decision to detain Mr. Kelly in the first place, without adequate consideration or justification. At a minimum, any extension should be conditioned on his immediate release." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The government has been given until Saturday to show just cause for detaining Kelly. Prosecutors have filed a petition asking Judge John P. Cronan to extend the deadline until Wednesday. This article originally appeared on Advocate: Gay Jamaican asylum seeker 'suffering' in ICE custody, lawyer says RELATED Relatives of Israeli hostages have described the expansion of the war in the Gaza Strip, decided by the government's Security Cabinet, as a "death sentence" for the hostages still being held. The decision by the political leadership is an official declaration of abandoning the hostages and will lead them and Israeli soldiers into a "colossal catastrophe," the Hostage Relatives Forum said on Friday. According to Israeli assessments, there are still 50 hostages in Gaza, of whom 20 are believed to be alive. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Gaza war was triggered by the massacre carried out by the Palestinian Islamist organization Hamas and other extremists from the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023, which left 1,200 people dead and around 250 abducted to the Gaza Strip. More than 60,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel in the ensuing conflict, according to figures from the Hamas-run health authorities in the Gaza Strip. The figures do not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but are seen as credible by the United Nations and other organizations. LEXINGTON, Ky. (FOX 56) The video is hard to forget: a replica of the Dukes of Hazzards General Lee car soaring over Somersets historic Fountain Square. When it happened in June, videos of the jump spread like wildfire on social media, making headlines worldwide. But the lead stuntman behind that jump said a recent incident has made him feel like his world has come crashing down. Raymond Kohn has spent the past 18 years as a stuntman, completing 31 harrowing jumps. After the Somerset jump, there was a lot of attention on him and his business, the Northeast Ohio Dukes. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We were on top of the world. We were getting calls and emails and messages from everyone, Kohn said. LATEST KENTUCKY NEWS: Nearly a month later, everything came to a complete stop. Kohn told FOX 56 that he was approached by what seemed to be a podcast called The Kim Gravel Show to do an interview about the jump on Facebook Live. After doing some background research on the podcast, he agreed to the interview. He soon discovered that it was really scam artists posing as staff for The Kim Gravel Show who hacked into the Northeast Ohio Dukes Facebook page. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement They hacked into our Facebook account during the Zoom interview, and next thing you know, our over 150,000-fan page was gone. They renamed it, and they wiped it from us completely. Took all of our content. Nearly 20 years of my life. Completely gone in a matter of seconds, he said. Kohn even had to change all of his bank account information because the Facebook page was connected to the businesss bank account. The page was renamed Walking With God, but Kohn said its posts are anything but godly. This isnt the first time Kohn has faced a major setback, though. In 2023, he underwent surgery to remove a life-threatening brain tumor. LATEST KENTUCKY LISTS AND RANKINGS: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I got back in the car, and I beat that, and its like to go through that, to get back in the car and do the biggest jumps of my career and then have it stolen from you It just adds insult to the injury, Kohn said. Since the hack, the real Kim Gravel Show has been in contact with Kohn, confirming that it was a scam and that they have received several reports of scams like this happening to other people. But when it comes to Facebook and its parent company, Meta, Kohn said he hasnt had the same level of communication. They have no customer service. And somebody is allowed to come into your life, steal your Facebook, your business Facebook, and take everything away from you. And there is nothing that you or I can do about it, Kohn said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Kohn told FOX 56 that he even received a message from Facebook and Meta saying their investigation found no fault and that the case is closed. Kohn appealed it. At the end of the day, Kohn said hes not asking for muchhe just wants his page back. Its taken us a long time to get past 150,000 likes. And where do we go from here? Start over? Im 47 years old I dont want to start over. I want my page back, he said. Since the hack, Kohn has created a new Northeast Ohio Dukes Facebook page and encouraged people to follow it. But he warned anyone who followed the original page not to unfollow or block itbecause if he is able to regain access, he said blocking the page would prevent fans from seeing updates again. On a more hopeful note, Kohn told FOX 56 about the Northeast Ohio Dukes future plans. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Latest central Kentucky weather forecast Given the success and widespread attention the General Lee Jump got in Somerset, he is hoping to soon take a jump to the national stage. Kohn said, That was a very historical thing. And it was a very American thing. And we even launched an idea to President Trump to do a freedom job where we build an American version of a Dodge Charger, and we jump it in front of the White House for our nations 250th birthday for next year. The Northeast Ohio Dukes team has created a Facebook page for that jump as well. 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. Six months after the nation's highest court ruled that a man could theoretically reopen his age discrimination case to contest an arbitrator's unfair decision, the Denver-based federal appeals court determined he could not actually do so under the procedural rules. A convicted felon living in Rome was arrested and detained for threatening to kill U.S. President Donald Trump on Thursday. The U.S. Department of Justice said Jauan Rashun Porter was arrested and detained Friday on federal charges of knowingly and willfully making threats against the president. According to U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg, Porter allegedly joined a livestream on social media platform TikTok on July 26. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] During the livestream, which was about the president and titled Alligator Alcatraz, Porter commented on the stream saying that theres only one way to make America great again and that is putting a bullet in between Trumps eyes, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office. TRENDING STORIES: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement USAO said that over the next few minutes, still on stream, Porter made additional comments about killing Trump, including: Im gonna kill Donald Trump. Im gonna put a 7.62 bullet inside his forehead. Im gonna watch him bleed out and Im gonna watch him die... Im gonna do that. The DOJ said that when the livestream host asked Porter about federal agents coming to his door, Porter threatened to kill them, too. While investigating, members of the Secret Service, Floyd County police officers and Georgia probation officers searched Porters apartment, finding two pipes, pistol ammo and explosive material Tannerite. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The allegations against Porter are serious and required a swift, decisive, and collaborative response, Hertzberg said. We do not tolerate threats against public officials or law enforcement officers, and Porter will now face the consequences of his actions. Before the arrest for threatening to kill the president, Porter was convicted for making terroristic threats, influencing a witness, committing mutiny in a penal institution, drug possession, battery, possessing a firearm as a convicted felon and domestic violence. Porter was on probation, according to the Justice Department. The United States Secret Service takes threats against a protectee very seriously. We will investigate every threat, and if warranted, prosecute those who make threats to the fullest extent of the law, Robert Donovan, Deputy Special Agent in Charge, Atlanta Field Office, United States Secret Service, said. The DOJ says Porter will have a detention hearing on Aug. 12 at 2:30 p.m. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] Georgia Power customers say their bills surged to nearly $800 over the last month Georgia Power customers in metro Atlanta are reporting unexpectedly high electricity bills, with some seeing increases of over $300 despite maintaining consistent thermostat settings. Brenda Lankfert and Michael Reff, both Georgia Power customers, received bills nearing $800. Weve had hot days, but thats a huge leap, said Reff, who saw a 117% increase in his bill from the previous month. Lankfert was shocked by her nearly $780 bill, with $490 attributed to one air conditioning unit and over $290 to another. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I said, How can I pay this? Lankfert said. I dont run my units cold. I keep my house about 78 degrees year-round. Channel 2s Cory James brought the complaints to Georgia Power. The agency sent him a statement, saying: This July was one of Georgias hottest in nearly a decade, with temperatures averaging 25 degrees above normal. When temperatures rise, so does energy use. Even with seasonal spikes Our rates have averaged 15% below the national average since 1990. TRENDING STORIES: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The utility company suggested customers use resources like the Community Assistance Resource Locator, Income Qualified Portal, and EASE Program to help manage their bills. During peak hours from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m., electricity costs are higher than during non-peak hours. As temperatures continue to rise, Georgia Power customers are urged to explore available resources and consider energy-saving measures to mitigate high bills. Georgia Power airs a segment each Saturday morning on WSB-TV Channel 2 sharing tools customers can use year-round to lower their energy bill. A ban on abortion procedures in a Catholic-run hospital was upheld by a German court on Friday, as 2,000 people joined a protest against the measure. The Hamm Labour Court in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia rejected a complaint by doctor Joachim Volz against regulations issued by his new employer, Klinikum Lippstadt-Christian Hospital, following a merger. Judge Klaus Griese said the hospital operator was "authorized" to "make these specifications within the scope of the right to issue regulations." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Abortion is technically illegal in Germany, but it is not punishable by law during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy after counselling. There are exceptions in cases of medical necessity, malformation of the foetus and rape. Volz, a gynaecologist, performed medically indicated abortions during his 13 years as head physician at the Protestant Hospital in Lippstadt. However, after the merger, he was forbidden to do so by the new Catholic management in cases of severe foetal malformations. The ban has been in force since February and also covers his private practice in Bielefeld. Exceptions are only to be made if "the life and limb of the pregnant woman are in danger." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In the courtroom, Volz said that the new hospital management had left him no room for manoeuvre, even in cases of serious damage - such as an unborn child without a skullcap, for which he was not allowed to perform an abortion. In serious emergency situations, a woman must have the freedom to decide for herself, he argued. On the sidelines of Thursday's protest, Volz told dpa that he does not see the dispute as an isolated incident. Wherever Catholic organizations are involved in politically motivated mergers of hospitals, it is to be feared that abortions are no longer offered, the gynaecologist warned. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Volz said he is concerned women will be marginalized and stigmatized, and could even resort to going abroad to secure an abortion. The hospital's managing director, Hauke Schild, said that an employer is allowed to decide what their company does. "That is entrepreneurial freedom." After the decision, Volz said he was "almost certain" that he would appeal the ruling. Thousands join protest Some 2,000 demonstrators joined a protest organized by Volz and Green politician Sarah Gonschorek ahead of the court's decision on Friday. Volz said: "From the point of view of the Catholic sponsor, every termination of a pregnancy is murder. Therefore, my team and I would be murderers." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Demonstrators carried banners with slogans such as "Heaven, hell, hypocrisy! Church, set women free." Police said the protest was carried out peacefully, with only five people joining a counterdemonstration. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Friday announced a suspension of exports of military equipment to Israel that could be used in the Gaza Strip following the Israeli government's decision to expand operations in the coastal territory. "The German government remains deeply concerned about the ongoing suffering of the civilian population in the Gaza Strip," Merz said in a statement. "With the planned offensive, the Israeli government bears even greater responsibility than before" for supplying the civilian population of the strip with aid, Merz added. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The chancellor said that the move, taken by Israel's Security Cabinet overnight, makes it increasingly difficult to achieve Israel's goals, such as the release of hostages, a ceasefire and the disarmament of the Palestinian militant group Hamas. Germany has been one of Israel's strongest supporters since the October 7, 2023, attacks. Berlin has repeatedly blocked EU initiatives to sanction Israel over the desperate humanitarian situation in Gaza. Germany has suspended all military exports to Israel that could be used in Gaza after Israels security cabinet approved a plan to take over Gaza City, an escalation in the 22-month war. Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced the decision on Friday, shortly after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus office confirmed the security cabinet voted in favour of a plan to seize the largest city in the besieged Palestinian territory. A day earlier, Netanyahu had declared that Israeli forces were aiming to take full military control of the entire Gaza Strip despite mounting international condemnation over Israels war, which has killed tens of thousands of people and caused a starvation crisis. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Under these circumstances, the German government will not authorise any exports of military equipment that could be used in the Gaza Strip until further notice, Merz said. While continuing to back what he called Israels right to defend itself and the release of captives held by Hamas, Merz stressed that Germany could no longer ignore the worsening toll on civilians. The even harsher military action by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip, approved by the Israeli cabinet last night, makes it increasingly difficult for the German government to see how these goals will be achieved, he said. Netanyahu spoke with Merz on Friday and expressed disappointment with the arms decision, according to a statement by the Israeli government released late in the day. It added that it feels Germany is rewarding Hamas and failing to support Israels just war. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The timing of another major Israeli ground operation remains unclear since it will likely hinge on mobilising thousands of soldiers and forcibly removing civilians, almost certainly exacerbating the humanitarian catastrophe. Gaza health authorities said 201 people, including 98 children, have died of malnutrition during the war in Gaza as Israel continues to impose severe restrictions on supplies of humanitarian aid. A United Nations-backed assessment has warned that famine is unfolding in the enclave. Merz urged Israel to allow full and sustained access for humanitarian groups, including the UN and NGOs, to help civilians. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement With the planned offensive, the Israeli government bears even greater responsibility than before for providing for their needs, Merz added. He also warned Israel against any steps towards annexing the occupied West Bank. In July, the Israeli parliament approved a symbolic measure calling for the annexation of the West Bank. From October 2023 to May this year, Germany issued arms export licences to Israel worth 485 million euros ($564m), making it one of Israels key military suppliers, according to figures from the German parliament. Netanyahus office has said the Israeli army will prepare to take control of Gaza City while providing humanitarian aid to the civilian population outside the combat zones. By Kirsti Knolle and Riham Alkousaa BERLIN (Reuters) -Germany is to suspend exports of weaponry that could be used in the Gaza Strip because of Israel's plan to expand its operations there - the first time united Germany has acknowledged denying military support to its long-time ally. Chancellor Friedrich Merz's sudden about-turn on Friday followed mounting pressure from the public and his junior coalition partner over the manmade humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where Israel has severely restricted supplies of food and water. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In a statement, Merz acknowledged Israel's right to disarm Hamas and seek the release of Israeli hostages, but said the Israeli decision "makes it increasingly difficult to see how these goals can be achieved". Germany is Israel's second biggest weapons supplier after the U.S., and has long been one of its staunchest supporters, principally because of historical guilt for the Nazi Holocaust - a policy known as the "Staatsraison". But an opinion poll in June indicated that 73% of Germans want tighter controls on arms exports, including 30% who favoured a total ban. "This is the right decision. The humanitarian suffering in Gaza is unbearable," said vice chancellor and finance minister Lars Klingbeil of the Social Democrats, who govern alongside Merz's conservatives. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office and the Israeli foreign and defence ministries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. GERMANY'S REVERSAL A BLOW FOR ISRAEL "Politically and morally, this is certainly a hard blow for Netanyahu and his policies," said Meron Mendel, the director of the Anne Frank Education Centre in Frankfurt. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Germany provided 30% of Israel's major arms imports in 2019-2023, primarily naval equipment including Saar 6-class frigates (MEKO A-100 Light Frigates), which have been used in the Gaza war. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Merz said the release of hostages and ceasefire negotiations were Germany's top priorities, along with civilian suffering. He also urged the Israeli government not to take any further steps towards annexing parts of the West Bank. Far-right members of Netanyahu's coalition have been pushing for a total takeover of Gaza, though the military has warned this could jeopardise the lives of surviving hostages. Germany's parliament reported in June that export licences for 485 million euros ($564 million) of military equipment for Israel had been granted between the day of the Hamas attack that triggered the Gaza war, October 7, 2023, and May 13, 2025. In the months after the Hamas attack, Germany increased its arms exports to Israel roughly tenfold. Human rights groups launched legal challenges, saying the weapons could be used in the Gaza war, but none has succeeded so far. (Reporting by Kirsti Knolle and Riham Alkousaa, additional reporting by Miranda Murray; Editing by Ludwig Burger and Kevin Liffey) GRAZ, Austria Germany will halt weapons exports to Israel until further notice in response to the Netanyahu governments decision to militarily occupy Gaza City. The halt will prevent the granting of permissions for the export of all weapons and military goods that may be utilized in the Gaza Strip, Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced in Berlin on Friday. He said the step was a direct response to the Israeli cabinets decision to take even tougher military action by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip, which was announced the night before. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Israeli political decision to undertake a majorly expanded ground operation was made despite the Israeli Defense Forces chief of staff and other senior officers openly opposing plans for a complete takeover of the territory. The announcement by Merz represents the continuation of a remarkable shift in Berlins position vis-a-vis Israel. Germany has long stood as a stalwart supporter of Tel Aviv for a sense of historical responsibility rooted in the atrocities of the Holocaust. This has sometimes put the government in Berlin at odds with public opinion. During his announcement, Merz reaffirmed Israels right to self-defense and the necessity of disarming Hamas. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Since the start of the conflict until mid-May, Berlin approved the delivery of 485 million ($565 million) in weapons and military gear to Israel, according to a government tally . Germany accounted for around 30% of Israels arms imports between 2019 and 2023, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, placing it second only to the United States. German weapons exports to Israel grew significantly following the start of hostilities in the fall of 2023. Previously, Chancellor Merzs government had warned Israel that the country risked consequences if it continued its disproportionate response to Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, 2023. In May, Germanys foreign minister, Johann Wadephul, called the situation in the Palestinian Gaza Strip unbearable, and said that a halt to arms and even sanctions were on the table if Israel continued unabated. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Gaza Health Ministry has counted over 61,000 Palestinians killed in the war. Independent studies suggest that the actual number may be significantly higher. Local health authorities reported that nearly 200 people, almost half of whom were children, have died of hunger in the conflict. The World Health Organization, an impartial UN Agency, said that about 12,000 children younger than five were suffering from acute malnutrition in July. In late July, Germany and Jordan announced a joint air lift operation to supply Gaza with food and medicine from the air. Pressure has mounted on the Israeli government in recent months as the human suffering in the Gaza Strip reached new levels as a result of indiscriminate Israeli bombing and blockading of the territory. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Several Western governments traditionally supportive of Israel have shifted their stance in response. France, the UK and Canada all announced their intention to formally recognize a Palestinian state, something Germany has not yet done. Human rights organizations, including several in Israel , have called Israeli actions against the Palestinian people genocidal. Berlins halt of weapons deliveries does not represent a total arms embargo, and it leaves the door open for the delivery of gear that cannot be used against Gaza, such as potentially air defense systems. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Friday announced a suspension of exports of military equipment to Israel that could be used in the Gaza Strip following the Israeli government's decision to expand operations in the coastal territory. The move represents a major step for Berlin, which has been one of Israel's strongest supporters since the October 7, 2023 attacks and has repeatedly blocked EU initiatives to issue sanctions over the desperate humanitarian situation in Gaza. "The German government remains deeply concerned about the ongoing suffering of the civilian population in the Gaza Strip," Merz said in a statement. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "With the planned offensive, the Israeli government bears even greater responsibility than before" for supplying the territory's civilian population with aid, Merz added. The chancellor underlined that Israel has the "right to defend itself against the terror of Hamas" and insisted that the release of hostages and targeted negotiations on a ceasefire remain Germany's highest priorities. But Merz said the decision to launch a fresh offensive, agreed by Israel's Security Cabinet overnight, makes it increasingly difficult to achieve Israel's goals in the war. "Under these circumstances, the German government will not authorize any exports of military equipment that could be used in the Gaza Strip until further notice," he added. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Germany has consistently opposed banning military exports to Israel during the conflict with the Palestinian Islamist Hamas group. Between October 7, 2023, and May 13, 2025, Berlin approved 485.1 million ($564.8 million) in weapons and military equipment to Israel, according to figures from the Economy Ministry. Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil backed the decision to suspend exports on Friday. "We stand in full solidarity with the State of Israel, but wrongdoing must be named and shamed," he said. The humanitarian suffering in Gaza is unbearable, and the Israeli government bears great responsibility for the situation, argued Klingbeil, who also serves as finance minister. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "That is why humanitarian aid must now be allowed into Gaza as quickly and comprehensively as possible," he stressed. Both Klingbeil and Merz also emphasized that Germany opposes any efforts by the Israeli government to annex the West Bank. BERLIN (AP) Germany won't authorize any exports of military equipment to Israel that could be used in Gaza until further notice, Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Friday, in a strikingly quick response by one of Israel's strongest international backers to a decision by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Cabinet to take over Gaza City. The move by Germany, which has previously stopped short of tougher lines against Israel's government taken by some of its European Union allies, appeared likely to further isolate Israel in the wake of the military takeover plan that has been decried by the United Nations, aid and human rights groups, and supporters of Israeli hostages still held in Gaza, among others. Germany, along with the United States and Italy, is among the top foreign suppliers of equipment used by Israel's military. The pause adds to action taken by European countries including economic, military and diplomatic measures against Israel in recent months out of concern over its government's conduct in the nearly two-year war in Gaza. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Merz said in a statement that Israel has the right to defend itself against Hamas terror and that the release of Israeli hostages and purposeful negotiations toward a ceasefire are our top priority. He said that Hamas mustn't have a role in the future of Gaza. The even harsher military action by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip, approved by the Israeli Cabinet last night, makes it increasingly difficult for the German government to see how these goals will be achieved, he said. Under these circumstances, the German government will not authorize any exports of military equipment that could be used in the Gaza Strip until further notice. Netanyahu spoke with Merz Friday and expressed disappointment with the arms decision, according to an Israeli government statement. Germany is rewarding Hamas and failing to support Israel's just war against the group, the statement said. It wasn't immediately clear which military equipment from Germany would be affected. Asked by The Associated Press for details, the German government declined to comment. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Germany has led efforts among the EUs 27 member nations to block collective criticism of or efforts to stop Israels blockade of Gaza and military campaign in the coastal enclave. Alongside Hungary and the Czech Republic, Germany has argued against calls from Spain, Ireland and the Netherlands to scrap a bilateral agreement with Israel, sanction settlers, and enact an arms embargo. Weight of responsibility The German government remains deeply concerned about the suffering of civilians in Gaza, Merz said. With the planned offensive, the Israeli government bears even greater responsibility than before for providing for their needs," he said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Merz called on Israel to allow comprehensive access for aid deliveries including for U.N. organizations and other nongovernmental organizations and said that Israel must continue to comprehensively and sustainably address the humanitarian situation in Gaza. The move has particular weight because Germany has been seen as one of Israels strongest supporters arguably surpassed only by the United States. Germany has maintained a strongly pro-Israel stance for decades largely because of its historical responsibility for the Holocaust, which has shaped its postwar foreign policy around ensuring Israels security and combating antisemitism. Merzs government didn't join announcements by French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer that their governments plan to formally recognize a Palestinian state in September. The reluctance so far of Germany, the EUs biggest economic power, to take a tougher line on the actions of Netanyahus government clouded the prospects that international pressure might have an impact on Israels decisions. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Israels air and ground war has already killed tens of thousands of people in Gaza, displaced most of the population, destroyed vast areas and pushed the territory toward famine. The campaign was triggered when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and abducting 251 people. Merz also called on Israels government not to take any further steps toward annexing the West Bank. A big deal but not decisive According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, or SIPRI, last year, Germany was the No. 2 supplier of arms to Israel after the United States. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement German companies provide 30% of Israels defense imports, mostly naval armaments, according to data analyzed by Zain Hussain, an arms transfers researcher at SIPRI. He suggested the German pullback would be temporary. This is going to be a limited measure, Hussain said. Germany has been committed to providing Israel with arms, especially with ships. Germany, which has stood firmly with Israel, "is openly admitting that it is uncomfortable with Israels actions and limiting some arms transfers, and for Germany this is a huge deal," he said. However, I dont think this alone will stop Israels operations in Gaza, and Israel still has the USA as a committed arms supplier. German-made engines can be fitted in Israeli Merkava tanks and Namer armored personnel carriers, which are actively deployed in Gaza. Saar corvettes small warships festooned with sophisticated radar equipment and cannons from Germany have been used to shell targets in Gaza during the war, Hussain said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The German news agency DPA, citing figures from the Germany Economy Ministry, in early June reported that the government had approved 485 million euros (about $565 million) worth of arms exports to Israel between Oct. 7, 2023 and May 13 this year. Other European officials express concern In a post on X, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Israels extension of military operations in Gaza must be reconsidered, in her strongest criticism yet during the war. She called again for Israel to let in more aid. The foreign ministers of the Netherlands and Denmark called Israel's decision to intensify the operation wrong and expressed concerns for civilians and the humanitarian situation in Gaza. Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky told the CTK news agency his country considers Israel's plan a risky step. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Last week, even before the Gaza City takeover plan, Slovenia announced that it would ban the import, export and transit of all weapons to and from Israel in response to the countrys actions in Gaza saying it was the first EU member country to do so. Last month, two dozen mostly European countries condemned Israels restrictions on aid shipments into Gaza and the killings of hundreds of Palestinians trying to reach food. Last year, the U.K. suspended exports of some weapons to Israel over concerns they could be used to break international law, but it was a move with limited military impact. The decision related to about 30 of 350 existing export licenses for equipment that could be used in Gaza, including parts for military planes, helicopters and drones. Outrage over Israels actions in Gaza has grown in Europe as images of suffering Palestinians have driven protests in London, Berlin, Brussels and other capitals. More recently, almost-daily killings of Palestinians while seeking aid have tested the EUs friendly relationship with Israel like never before. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Israeli decision, taken after a late-night meeting of top officials, came despite mounting international calls to end the war and protests by many in Israel who fear for the remaining hostages held by Hamas. Tens of thousands of Palestinians are bracing to once again be forced from their homes, while families of the hostages fear their loved ones wont return. Most of the hostages have been released in ceasefires or other deals but 50 remain inside Gaza. Israel believes around 20 of them to be alive. The timing of another major Israeli ground operation remains unclear since it will likely hinge on mobilizing thousands of troops and forcibly evacuating civilians, almost certainly exacerbating the humanitarian catastrophe. ___ Sam McNeil reported from Brussels. Karel Janicek in Prague and Jamey Keaten in Lyon, France, contributed to this report. Germany will halt the export of military equipment to Israel that could be used in the Gaza Strip, Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Friday, sparking an angry response from Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Berlin's move, in response reaction to an Israeli plan to take control of Gaza City, marks a drastic change of course for Germany, long one of Israel's staunchest international allies. Merz expressed "deep concern" at the suffering of Gaza's civilians. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It was "increasingly unclear", he said, how the latest Israeli military plan would help achieve the aims of disarming Hamas and freeing the remaining Israeli hostages. "Under these circumstances, the German government will not authorise any exports of military equipment that could be used in the Gaza Strip until further notice," he said in a statement. Netanyahu spoke to Merz later Friday to express his "disappointment", said a statement from the prime minister's office. "Instead of supporting Israel's just war against Hamas, which carried out the most horrific attack against the Jewish people since the Holocaust, Germany is rewarding Hamas terrorism by embargoing arms to Israel," it said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement - Disarming Hamas 'imperative' - Germany's Central Council of Jews also called Merz's decision "disappointing", saying the government should "correct course" and increase pressure on Hamas instead. Israel has until recently enjoyed broad support across the political spectrum in Germany, a country still seeking to atone for the World War II murder of more than six million Jews. Between the Hamas attack of October 7, 2023 that started the Gaza war and May this year, Germany approved defence exports worth 485 million euros ($565 million) to Israel. The deliveries included firearms, ammunition, weapons parts, electronic equipment and armoured vehicles, the government said in June. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Merz reiterated that "Israel has the right to defend itself against Hamas' terror" and that "the release of the hostages and negotiations on a ceasefire are our top priorities". "The disarmament of Hamas is imperative. Hamas must not play a role in Gaza in future," he said. But "the new military push agreed by the Israeli security cabinet makes it increasingly unclear how these goals are to be achieved", he added. - Gaza suffering 'unbearable' - Merz's decision is a dramatic step for Germany, where the chancellor's tone towards Israel had been sharpening in recent months as the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza deteriorated. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil of the Social Democrats welcomed the "just decision", saying "the humanitarian suffering in Gaza is unbearable". A poll published this week by public broadcaster ARD found that 66 percent of Germans expected the government to exert greater influence over Israel to change its actions in Gaza. However, while often voicing concern, Germany had so far avoided major concrete steps. It refrained from following France, Britain and Canada, which have announced plans to recognise a Palestinian state in September, arguing recognition must come at the end of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Berlin has also opposed the suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, which had been under review by the bloc. Global alarm has been growing over the suffering in Gaza, where a UN-backed assessment has warned that famine is unfolding. German air force planes have joined others with humanitarian aid airdrops over the war-battered coastal territory. Merz said that "with the planned offensive, the Israeli government bears even greater responsibility" for providing aid to Gaza and again urged "comprehensive access" for UN agencies and aid groups. He also said his government had urged Israel "to refrain from taking any further steps toward an annexation of the West Bank". Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Last month, 71 members of Israel's 120-seat parliament, including members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing coalition, passed a motion calling on the government to annex the occupied West Bank. The German-Israeli Society, which promotes closer ties between the two countries, condemned Merz's move and pointed to a $3.5-billion deal under which Germany had agreed to buy Israel's Arrow-3 anti-ballistic missile shield. The group said that "if Israel were to retaliate in arms deliveries to Germany, the future of German aerial defence looks bleak". jsk/fz/jj Colorado's second-highest court on Thursday reversed a Douglas County judge's decision to impose more than $850,000 in sanctions on a pair of plaintiffs and their lawyer without explaining why the amount was justified. Aug. 8 (UPI) -- Germany on Friday suspended further military exports to Israel over the latter's public comments about entirely taking over the Gaza Strip. "In the German Government's view, the new military push by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip agreed by the Israeli security cabinet last night makes it increasingly unclear how these goals are to be achieved," German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said in a statement issued Friday. "Under these circumstances, the German Government will, until further notice, authorize no military equipment exports that can be used in the Gaza Strip." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Merz did say that Germany believes Israel has the right to defend itself from terror and that "Hamas must not be allowed to play a role in Gaza's future." Israel's security cabinet on Thursday approved a plan put forth by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take control of Gaza, after almost two full years of war. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Friday that Germany believes Israel has the right to defend itself from terror and that Hamas must not be allowed to play a role in Gazas future. Photo by Chris Kleponis/UPI Netanyahu's plan includes disarming Hamas and gaining security control of the Palestinian enclave. On Aug. 1, Slovenian Prime Minister Robert Golob said his country would ban all weapons trading between the two countries because of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Slovenia became the first EU country to take such a stand. Israel's security cabinet ignored international criticism and overnight approved a plan put forth by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take control of Gaza, after almost two full years of war. File Photo by Debbie Hill/UPI Germany had previously hinted at taking a similar approach, amid mounting external pressure about the situation in Gaza. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "The German government remains profoundly concerned about the continued suffering of the civilian population in the Gaza Strip. With the planned offensive, the Israeli government bears even more responsibility than hitherto for ensuring that civilians can be provided with the supplies they need," Merz said Friday. "It must enable comprehensive access for relief supplies, including for UN organizations and other non-state institutions. Following the correct steps taken in recent days, Israel must continue to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza in a comprehensive and sustainable way." The German Chancellor also urged Israel to refrain "from taking any further steps towards an annexation of the West Bank." Germany is the second-largest importer of military weapons and equipment to Israel, after the United States. Davids view The most important story in electoral politics right now is the Republican drive to re-draw as many state maps as they can, through three interlocking methods. And Democrats, ready as they are to fight back, are in a weak position to resist. First, the Trump administration is lobbying red state leaders to eliminate as many Democratic seats as possible. Theres been no real resistance in those states; the internal criticism has come from Republicans stranded in blue states, like California Rep. Kevin Kiley and New York Rep. Mike Lawler, who want a truce so that their Democrats dont push them out of jobs. Next, the administration hopes to benefit from a forthcoming decision in , if the Supreme Courts conservatives side with non-African American plaintiffs who argue that Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, requiring map-makers to consider minority representation when they draw districts, is racially discriminatory. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Without that, nothing would compel for example South Carolina to maintain Rep. Jim Clyburns historically black seat, which runs from Columbia to Charleston. As it happens, Rep. Ralph Norman, a Republican candidate for governor, has pre-emptively called for that district to be scratched out. The administrations third move is the most ambitious a mid-decade re-do of the Census, which would add a citizenship question. Theres no constitutional basis for that question, or for a mulligan of a $15 billion process that must be done within every subsequent term of ten years of the Congress. But the goal is the same as it was six years ago, when Trump attempted to add a citizenship question ahead of the last census. Stop counting non-citizens, and maps (as well as government funding formulas) could only be drawn around citizens, which would eliminate at least a single-digit number of seats that Democrats usually win. And the larger goal is historic, as old as the arguments between Hamilton and Jefferson, about whether the city or the country would get to run America. Each of these actions would reduce the political power of cities; once de-powered, the cities would lose some of their self-governance. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Austin, Houston, and the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, which are all losing seats on the new Texas map, have watched local reforms struck down by Republicans in the capitol in the GOPs mind, for the cities own good. Nashville, which reliably elected Democrats to Congress, lost that ability when Republicans split the city into three red districts. It still elects a Democratic mayor, who, according to Kristi Noem, doesnt deserve to be in office. Last month, at the American Legislative Exchange Councils conference in Indianapolis, Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts explained how that could happen: When we have cities like Austin, or Nashville, or other capital cities whose local government is not representative of the will of the people, de-charter them and establish them as state municipal districts in the name of common sense. What do you do with cities that elect progressive Democrats, give sanctuary to illegal immigrants, and do not put enough criminals in jail? You dont let them run themselves. You certainly dont let them run the country. Their elections cant be trusted, their immigration policies are probably a scam to import quasi-legal voters, and their ideas from re-zoning to grow their populations, to bike lanes, to the whole book of criminal justice reform are poison. Thats the mindset, as easy to see as its goal. Notable Ghana's President John Mahama has promised a full investigation into Wednesday's helicopter crash that killed two government ministers and six other people. Defence Minister Edward Omane Boamah and Environment, Science and Technology Minister Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed, both 50, were among those killed when a military aircraft crashed in the central Ashanti region. In a televised address to the nation, Mahama said the crash represented "a personal loss" for him. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The president confirmed that the flight data and cockpit voice recorders - often referred to as the "black boxes" - had been retrieved and that the armed forces had "initiated a full and transparent investigation". "I shared a bond with many of those who died. Our nation is grieving," Mahama told Ghanaians. The Z9 helicopter, carrying three crew and five passengers, came down in a dense forest as it was flying from the capital, Accra, to the town of Obuasi for an event to tackle illegal mining. There were no survivors. The bodies of the eight deceased have been recovered from the crash site, and samples have been sent to South Africa for forensic identification and analysis. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ghana's Deputy National Security Coordinator and former Agriculture Minister Alhaji Muniru Mohammed was also among the dead, along with Samuel Sarpong, Vice-Chairman of the governing National Democratic Congress party. A state funeral will be held on 15 August for the victims, AFP reported. What caused the crash? Authorities have not confirmed the cause of the crash. Ghana's meteorological agency had forecast unusually cold weather for August, with recent rains and light showers causing foggy conditions in many forest areas. Local farmers near the crash site reported morning fog as the helicopter flew overhead. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement One eyewitness told the BBC the helicopter was flying at an "unusually low altitude" and the weather was bad. He said he heard the sound of the helicopter passing by, followed by a "loud sound" and then a "bang". "That's when I realised that the helicopter had exploded. So I hurried to the place to see if I could find survivors," he said. The farmer said when he got to the scene there was "no-one to be rescued". This is the most deadly of three separate emergency incidents involving Ghana Air Force helicopters in recent years. In 2020, a Ghana Air Force Harbin Z-9 helicopter made an emergency landing near Tamale Airport, and last year, another Ghana Air Force helicopter made an emergency landing at Bonsukrom in Ghana's Western Region. Three days of national mourning Many Ghanaians are shocked by the news and are still struggling to come to terms with the news. Images purportedly showing the charred remains of the helicopter have been circulating on social media. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement President Mahama has suspended all his scheduled activities for the rest of the week and declared three days of mourning starting from Thursday. The country's flags are flying at half-mast. The crew members were named as Squadron Leader Peter Bafemi Anala, Flying Officer Manin Twum-Ampadu, and Sergeant Ernest Addo Mensah. Who was Edward Omane Boamah? Boamah served under Mahama's previous government as communications minister and before that he was minister of environment. As defence minster he tackled jihadist activity that was brewing in the northern border in Burkina Faso. In 2022, a France-based NGO, Promediation, said its research showed that jihadist groups had recruited between 200 and 300 young Ghanaians. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Violence in the area has also been on the rise, with concerns that jihadists may be trying to exploit communal in-fighting between rival communities in northern Ghana. Boamah's book A Peaceful Man In An African Democracy, about former president John Atta Mills, was due to come out later in the year. Who was Ibrahim Murtala Muhammed? Muhammed was at the forefront of the battle against illegal gold mining, which has wrecked the environment and contaminated rivers and lakes. Protests against the practice, known locally as Galamsey, peaked during Mahama's run for the presidency last year. More about Ghana from the BBC: [Getty Images/BBC] Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent. Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica BBC Africa podcasts This first reported meeting between Moore and the UN aid organizations comes after a group of UN experts called for the dismantlement of the foundation. Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) head Rev. Johnnie Moore met with leaders of UN aid organizations on Wednesday, according to a Thursday report by Axios, citing a US official and two other sources with direct knowledge of the matter. This is the first reported meeting between Moore and the UN aid organizations since GHF began its humanitarian aid operations in the Gaza Strip, and it comes after a group of UN experts called for the dismantlement of the foundation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The statement, led by UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese, expressed concerns over the GHFs operations, and said that Palestinians are paying the ultimate price of the international communitys legal, political and moral failure. The GHF, a non-governmental organisation created by Israel in February 2025, with US support, to allegedly distribute aid in Gaza, is an utterly disturbing example of how humanitarian relief can be exploited for covert military and geopolitical agendas in serious breach of international law, said the statement. Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur for Palestine, at an Emergency Conference of States, hosted by Colombia and South Africa, to discuss measures against Israel, in Bogota, Colombia, July 15, 2025; illustrative. (credit: REUTERS/LUISA GONZALEZ) The entanglement of Israeli intelligence, US contractors, and ambiguous non-governmental entities underlines the urgent need for robust international oversight and action under UN auspices. Albanese sanctioned by the US over 'political, economic warfare' against Israel These statements come as Albanese faces sanctions by the US because of her stance over Israel, with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio criticizing her efforts to have the International Criminal Court take action against US and Israeli officials, companies, and executives. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Albaneses campaign of political and economic warfare against the United States and Israel will no longer be tolerated, Rubio said Wednesday in a post on X/Twitter. We will always stand by our partners in their right to self-defense, he wrote. The United States will continue to take whatever actions we deem necessary to respond to lawfare and protect our sovereignty and that of our allies. Ghislaine Maxwell, the former accomplice and ex-girlfriend of Jeffrey Epstein, has been barred from taking part in service dog training programs at her new prison, according to a report. Maxwell was transferred from a federal prison in Tallahassee, Florida, to the Federal Prison Camp in Bryan, Texas, her attorney previously confirmed to Fox News Digital. FCP Bryan is a minimum-security prison camp, with much more freedom than she had in Tallahassee. According to NBC News, FPC Bryan offers service dog training programs to inmates. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement However, Paige Mazzoni, CEO of Canine Companions, which runs the service dog programs at FPC Bryan, told the outlet puppy training won't be offered to inmates like Maxwell. Jeffrey Epstein Accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell Moved To New Prison Amid Fight Over Answers, Immunity Ghislaine Maxwell was barred from participating in the service dog training program at her new prison, FCP Bryan. "We do not allow anyone whose crime involves abuse towards minors or animals including any crime of a sexual nature," Mazzoni said. "Thats a hard policy we have, so she will not be able to. Read On The Fox News App "Those are crimes against the vulnerable, and youre putting them with a puppy who is vulnerable." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Epstein Accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell Plays Model Inmate As She Seeks Path Out Of Prison Federal Prison Camp Bryan Aug. 4, 2025, in Bryan, Texas. Ghislaine Maxwell was transferred there last week from FCI Tallahassee. Dave Aronberg, former Palm Beach County State Attorney, previously told Fox News Digital Maxwell's new prison is more like a "dorm-style housing situation, rather than a cell." The former Epstein associate's move to FCP Bryan came one week after she met with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche in Florida to discuss her ties to the disgraced financier, for whom she helped procure underage girls. Ghislaine Maxwell jogs around the track at FCI Tallahassee in Tallahassee, Fla., July 10, 2025. The Trump administration denied allegations that Maxwell was given preferential treatment, however, telling Fox News, "Any false assertion this individual was given preferential treatment is absurd. Prisoners are routinely moved in some instances due to significant safety and danger concerns." Original article source: Ghislaine Maxwell blocked from puppy training program at Federal Prison Camp Bryan: report Ghislaine Maxwell is infamous for her role in helping her ex-boyfriend, Jeffrey Epstein, run a decades-long scheme to abuse and sex traffic young women and girls. But her life began with the privilege and promise that many can only dream of. Maxwell, 63, is the daughter of a wealthy media baron and British politician. As a result, she grew up surrounded by affluent and powerful individuals a pattern that trickled into adulthood and led to her meeting Epstein. But ultimately, her proximity to Epstein, a wealthy financier who became a convicted sex offender, would be her downfall. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Maxwell spent years procuring young women and girls into her and Epsteins orbit to groom them and then sexually abuse them together. But it is her closeness to the mysterious Epstein, who died by suicide while in federal jail in 2019, that has made her of interest to the federal government recently. Now, Justice Department officials are hoping Maxwell can provide more information about Epsteins so-called client list of high-profile individuals who allegedly participated in sexually abusing minors. Ghislaine Maxwell was a British socialite whose life intertwined with sex-offender Jeffrey Epstein and ultimately led to her imprisonment (US Department of Justice) And they have sought to unseal grand jury testimony in the Epstein and Maxwell cases, in an effort to quell the firestorm of conspiracy theories surrounding their cases not to mention the political furor that has lashed back on President Donald Trump and his administration over it. But Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year-long sentence for sex trafficking minors, is asking them not to as she seeks to appeal her case to the U.S. Supreme Court and amid rumors she is courting a presidential pardon from Trump. Who is Ghislaine Maxwell? Maxwell is a former British socialite born into wealth thanks to her father, Robert Maxwells, success as a media mogul. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As the youngest of nine siblings, Maxwell claimed she received very little attention from her mother as a child. Despite that, she said she still faced pressure to excel in school. Maxwell attended an elite boarding school for high school and eventually, Oxford University. Her father was a well-connected man, having founded the publishing house Pergamon Press and then becoming a Member of Parliament. As a result, she had access to high-profile and wealthy individuals such as Prince Andrew. Maxwell seemingly had an especially close relationship with her father he even named the family yacht, Lady Ghislaine, after her. Maxwell was close to her father Robert Maxwell (AFP/Getty) Two of Maxwells older siblings, Anne Halve and Phillip Maxwell, said their sister was overly dependent on their fathers approval and as a result became vulnerable to abusive and powerful men. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Maxwells lawyers echoed this to the judge overseeing her sex trafficking sentencing, claiming Maxwell had a difficult, traumatic childhood with an overbearing, narcissistic, and demanding father. While Maxwell initially grew up wealthy, money became less available over time as her father incurred debts for a series of poor business decisions, including purchasing the tabloid the New York Daily News. By the time of Robert Maxwells death in 1991, he owed millions of dollars the extent of which was not clear until his children inherited his debt and were forced to shut down the family companies. Those who know Maxwell said in court filings that she was extremely impacted by her fathers death which occurred after he fell overboard the Lady Ghislaine. How did Ghislaine Maxwell know Jeffrey Epstein? Accounts of Maxwell and Epsteins first meeting differ. Court filings indicate Maxwell met Epstein in New York in the early 1990s after her fathers death; however, some reports claim Maxwell met Epstein in the late 1980s. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement What is known is that Maxwell and Epstein began a romantic relationship in the 90s that fizzled into a deep friendship. But even after, Maxwell remained a constant presence in Epsteins life managing his homes, recruiting girls and young women to provide Epstein with massages, arranging for travel, and more. Its a mysterious relationship that they have, David Patrick Columbia, a society journalist, told New York Magazine in 2002. In one way, they are soul mates, yet they are hardly companions anymore. Its a nice conventional relationship, where they serve each others purposes. Maxwell and Epstein had a romantic relationship in the 1990s that developed into a deep friendship in which Maxwells life was intertwined with Epsteins (US District Court for the Southern District of New York) Her life became so entangled with Epstein that some former employees referred to Maxwell as the lady of the house. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement During her sex trafficking trial, prosecutors provided a list of strict rules that Maxwell instilled in Epsteins homes, such as a nondisclosure agreements for employees, a 58-page household manual that told staff to never make eye contact with Epstein, and a rule to never disclose Epstein or Maxwells activities with others. What happened at Epstein Island? While Epstein and Maxwells victims were abused at various homes that Epstein owned, the most notorious location was his so-called Epstein Island a 75-acre private island in the U.S. Virgin Islands, called Little Saint James, that Epstein owned. The massive estate on the island was outfitted with luxurious amenities and beautiful scenery, making it the ideal place to vacation with high-profile individuals. Among the famous names reportedly hosted by Epstein were theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, comedian Chris Tucker, Victorias Secret magnate Les Wexner, model Naomi Campbell, Prince Andrew, and more. Maxwell often traveled with Epstein and arranged for other guests, including young women and girls, to travel with them (US District Court for the Southern District of New York) While there have been allegations former president Bill Clinton was also a guest, he denies ever having been there. Trump also denies having been to the island, though his name has appeared on Epsteins general flight records. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But its remote location also made it the perfect place for Epstein to commit crimes with underage girls girls that Maxwell helped recruit. Federal prosecutors said that Maxwell enticed and groomed victims to engage in sex acts with Epstein by developing a rapport with them first and then normalizing sexual abuse. That included speaking about sex, undressing in front of girls, watching them undress, or being present while Epstein sexually assaulted them. The massive estate on Jeffrey Epsteins island was outfitted with luxurious amenities and beautiful scenery, making it the ideal place to vacation with high-profile individuals. (Reuters) Virginia Giuffre, a well-known victim of Epsteins abuse, said the island was the center of Epsteins grooming scheme. She claimed young women and girls were brought there to be dazzled by the financiers opulent display of wealth. But then they would be forced to have sex with Epsteins guests, so-called clients, and then threatened or blackmailed to prevent the survivors from going to authorities. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Giuffre filed multiple civil and criminal lawsuits against Maxwell and Epstein. In 2009, she settled a civil lawsuit with Maxwell and Epstein for $500,000. In 2022, she settled a civil lawsuit with Prince Andrew for an undisclosed amount. Giuffre died by suicide in April. Maxwell (right), pictured with Prince Andrew (left) and Virginia Giuffre (center) (US Department of Justice) Sarah Ransome, a survivor of Epsteins abuse, was 22 years old when Epstein brought her to his island and raped her. She said she was sexually abused multiple times a day, every day, while staying there. She has always pointed to Maxwell as the architect of the encounters. Ghislaine was the ringleader of the inferno, the enforcer, Ransome wrote in her 2021 book Silenced No More. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ransome sued Epstein and Maxwell for sex trafficking in a civil suit in 2017. They settled for an undisclosed amount in 2018. What was Ghislaine Maxwell convicted of? Maxwell was convicted on federal charges of sex trafficking of a minor, transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, and three counts of conspiracy to commit felonies in 2021. During her one-month-long trial, multiple witnesses testified that Maxwell played an instrumental role in arranging meetings between Epstein and girls or young women that often led to sexual abuse. Maxwell had previously denied the allegations and pleaded not guilty. One survivor, who testified under the name Carolyn, said Maxwell and Epstein began sexually abusing her when she was 14 years old, around 2001. She said Maxwell had groped her breasts, buttocks, and complimented her great body to be used by Epstein and his friends. During her one-month-long trial, Maxwell faced multiple survivors who testified about her grooming techniques (U.S. Attorney's Office) Carolyn testified that Maxwell always arranged for her to come over to Epsteins Palm Beach estate and provide him with massages that always turned sexual. She said Maxwell was also the one to pay her. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Another survivor, who testified under the pseudonym Jane, testified that after a chance encounter with Maxwell and Epstein, she was invited into Epsteins circle to provide him with sexual favors. She testified that the two enticed her with promises of career success thanks to their relationships with Donald Trump, Bill Clinton, and Mike Wallace. Maxwell was moved from a low-security federal prison to a minimum-security federal prison this year (Federal Bureau of Prisons) While Jane said she was most often sexually abused by Epstein, she said Maxwell played a role in organizing it arranging for her travel and leading her to Epsteins massage table to show her how the financier liked to be touched. Another witness, who testified under the pseudonym Kate, told jurors Maxwell recruited her to give Epstein massages in 1994, when Kate was 17 years old. She described how, over time, Maxwell arranged for her travel occasionally international, ushered her into massage rooms with Epstein, and at one point gave Kate a schoolgirl outfit to wear. Where is Ghislaine Maxwell now? Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 2022 and served the first three years of her sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution in Tallahassee, Florida a low-security prison for females. However, after willingly conducting interviews with the Justice Department in July, Maxwell was suddenly moved to Federal Prison Camp in Bryan, Texas a minimum security facility with a low staff-to-inmate ratio. Such facilities are commonly referred to aas Club Fed. Trump has maintained that such transfers are not uncommon and that he was not aware of the move until it became public knowledge. Maxwell has also appealed her five-count conviction, claiming the U.S. Attorney of the Southern District of New York ignored a non-prosecutorial agreement that Epstein struck in 2007 in Florida, which she says covered some of her crimes. However, a New York appeals court upheld her conviction and sentence. (Federal Bureau of Prisons/AP) Shes appealed again to the Supreme Court to intervene. Until the court rules, Maxwell is attempting to seek leniency from the government especially as they press her for more information. Maxwell has offered to testify in front of Congress in exchange for immunity or other perks. Its unlikely Congress will agree to such terms. Lawyers for Maxwell have also invited Trump to offer their client clemency in return for her open and honest public testimony. Trump has not ruled out pardoning Maxwell; however, he said he had not given it much thought when asked about it in July. The former assistant director at the Federal Bureau of Prisons says that Jeffrey Epstein's accomplice's move to a minimum security prison is "highly unusual." Ghislaine Maxwell was transferred from a federal prison facility in Tallahassee, Florida, to a Federal Prison Camp in Bryan, Texas, her attorney previously told Fox News Digital. Neither the Bureau of Prisons nor Maxwell's attorney gave a reason for the move. Others at the female-only faculty, FPC Bryan, include Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes and celebrity housewife Jen Shah. The prison primarily houses white-collar criminals convicted of non-violent crimes. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The move sparked criticism from the family of Virginia Giuffre, who said in a statement to Fox News they oppose the treatment Maxwell has been given. Justice Department Weighs Release Of Ghislaine Maxwell Interview General view of Federal Prison Camp Bryan, Monday, August 4, 2025 in Bryan, Texas. Ghislaine Maxwell was transferred here last week from her FCI Tallahassee. Elizabeth Holmes exercises on the track at Federal Prison Camp in Bryan, Texas, Saturday, Aug. 2, 2025. The 41-year-old fraudster is serving an 11-year sentence for fraud related to her former company, Theranos. "It is with horror and outrage that we object to the preferential treatment convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell has received," Giuffre's family wrote in a statement. "Ghislaine Maxwell is a sexual predator who physically assaulted minor children on multiple occasions, and she should never be shown any leniency. Yet, without any notification to the Maxwell victims, the government overnight has moved Maxwell to a minimum security luxury prison in Texas. This is the justice system failing victims right before our eyes." Read On The Fox News App Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Judi Garrett, former assistant director at the Federal Bureau of Prisons, told Fox News Digital the transfer of Maxwell to FPC Bryan is "highly unusual." Garrett said it's "very rare" for a sex offender to be transferred to a minimum security facility like FPC Bryan, adding that traditionally, individuals designated as a sex offender cannot be placed inside a camp. Elizabeth Holmes Spotted At Texas Prison Where Ghislaine Maxwell Was Transferred Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell were both indicted on federal sex trafficking charges stemming from Epstein's years of abuse of underage girls. "I am sure there were more than one, but it was very rare, and it required a tremendous amount of work to convince us at the Bureau of Prisons that that information initially contained in the pre-sentencing investigation report was somehow inaccurate, mischaracterized, etc," Garrett said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement At federal prison camps like FPC Bryan, Garrett said that there's no fence, and prisoners aren't watched constantly. "Being that camps are minimum security, the notion is we don't have fear that the people are going to run off because they are unrestricted essentially," Garrett said. "You could leave whenever you want, there's no fence. We don't fear that you are gonna harm one another, and we don't have fear that you are going pose any kind of risk to the community. Minimal staffing so that people are not watching you all the time, supervising you all time." Since Maxwell is at a minimum-security prison camp, Garrett said it's not likely prison guards will be able to keep a closer eye on Maxwell versus other inmates. "Really hard to do in a camp, you just don't have staff there," she said. "I don't know, honestly, that there's a lot they can do, and I think that's probably what is giving them some heartburn, given her connection to Jeffrey Epstein." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Dave Aronberg, former Palm Beach County State Attorney, previously told Fox News Digital Maxwell's new facility is more of a "dorm-style housing situation, rather than a cell." Maxwell's move to FPC Bryan comes a week after she met with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche at a courthouse in Florida to discuss her involvement with Epstein, whom she helped procure underage girls for him to abuse. Ghislaine Maxwell jogs around the track at FCI Tallahassee, Tallahassee, Florida, Thursday, July 10, 2025. Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence for sex trafficking in connection with Jeffrey Epstein. A senior administration official previously told Fox News that "Any false assertion this individual was given preferential treatment is absurd. Prisoners are routinely moved in some instances due to significant safety and danger concerns." Fox News' Julia Bonavita and David Spunt contributed to this report. Original article source: Ghislaine Maxwell prison transfer called 'highly unusual' by former federal prison official (NewsNation) TV and film actress Alicia Arden, an alleged survivor of Jeffrey Epstein, says Ghislaine Maxwell should not remain in a minimum security Texas prison camp. Arden joined Banfield alongside attorney Gloria Allred to discuss the possibility of grand jury transcripts being unsealed in the sex-trafficking case against Maxwell, who was Epsteins former chief enabler. Maxwell was recently moved from a federal prison in Florida to a prison camp in Texas without explanation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I think that she should be moved back to the facility where she was, and thats where shes serving her time, Arden told NewsNation. Why should she be moved to a lower facility with not as much protection, and with more freedom there? Trump is wrong about Epstein files: Alan Dershowitz A federal judge is considering a government request to release transcripts of Maxwells recent two-day interview with a senior Justice Department official. In letters filed this week to the judge in the Maxwell case, some survivors say theyd support the release of grand jury records if they could see them first and redact sensitive information. Others in that group, including Arden, want everything out in the open. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The truth should come out, and its important for me, as a victim. I think I have a right to see them and the other victims they have a right to see them, Arden added. I dont really feel that it should be hidden from us. We all have a right to see 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 NewsNation. 'Ghost guns' without serial numbers now legal in Minnesota after court ruling originally appeared on Bring Me The News. The Minnesota Supreme Court has ruled that it's not illegal to possess a so-called "ghost gun," a firearm that lacks a serial number and is often assembled in parts, after more than a year of deliberations. In its opinion issued Wednesday, Minnesota's high court determined that the definition of a serial number under state law is unclear since it hinges on a federal law that doesn't require gun markings. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The opinion reverses a Court of Appeals decision that reinstated charges against a man who was in possession of a ghost gun, which he assembled from parts that he purchased, during a 2022 rollover crash in Fridley. Justice Paul Thissens majority opinion concluded that Minnesota's serial number law only applies to a fully manufactured firearm. It was supported by Justices Anne McKeig, Gordon Moore and Sarah Hennesy. "We should exercise caution before criminalizing the conduct of a large group of Minnesotans who have never understood their behavior to be criminal, Thissen wrote in his opinion. Chief Justice Natalie Hudson and Justice Karl Procaccini dissented, while Justice Theodora Gaitas recused herself from participating in the case. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "By any measure, the vast majority of firearms in the country are not registered in any database, Hudson wrote in a dissenting opinion. "But the lack of a registry does not mean that the statutory imposition of a serial number is a futile endeavor, as the court claims." It took 14 months for the the state Supreme Court to deliver its opinion. Firearms without serial numbers are now legal under Minnesota law, but at least one state lawmaker hopes to change that soon.Unsplash A final decision on whether and how to regulate ghost guns is now in the hands of the Minnesota Legislature. State Sen. Ron Latz (DFL-St. Louis Park) announced Thursday that he plans to introduce legislation "closing the loop hole" and "aligning state law with federal law" next session Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement No one couldve foreseen a world where you could print the parts to make a gun at home, but thats the world we live in today, Latz said in a statement. This decision makes it clear that our state gun laws need to reflect this new reality and the increasing prevalence of ghost guns." Attorney General Keith Ellison spoke out Wednesday and called the opinion concerning." Ghost guns, by definition, circumvent many of the protections in place to ensure firearms are only put into the hands of qualified buyers, allowing them to more easily be used for criminal acts and to be trafficked, Ellison said in a statement. Leaders in Minnesota need to work together to fill this gap in state law, ban ghost guns, and keep people safe. Minnesota's current serial number law was enacted in 1994 and has since come into play in hundreds of criminal cases, MPR News reported, citing state courts data. This story was originally reported by Bring Me The News on Aug 8, 2025, where it first appeared. Colorado Democrat Jena Griswold, the term-limited secretary of state, plans to report that her campaign for attorney general raised more than $800,000 in the year's just-completed second quarter, her first in the race. Aug. 7A 31-year-old Glenville man was sentenced last week in Freeborn County District Court to 180 days in the Freeborn County jail and a four-year stayed prison sentence for criminal sexual conduct with a teenager and possessing child pornography. Nathan Richard Lee Roselius will serve 10 years on probation but will not have to serve the prison term if he follows his probation during that time. He also will be able to serve the jail term as work release. Roselius in April pleaded guilty to two counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct involving a victim between 13 and 15 years of age and one count of possession of pornographic work. One other count of third-degree criminal sexual conduct was dismissed along with nine other counts of possessing pornographic work. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Court documents state Roselius and the juvenile girl met each other through a mutual acquaintance and eventually developed a friendship. They started playing Xbox together before the relationship turned sexual when she was 13 years old. They had sexual intercourse approximately 30 times altogether, the girl estimated. The girl also sent nude photographs of herself to Roselius. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension had received two cyber tips from Facebook about Roselius and the girl. At first Roselius denied having sex with the girl and denied that she had sent him any photos, but after being brought into the Law Enforcement Center, he admitted to a few occasions involving sexual activity with the girl in his apartment. As part of his sentence, Judge Christy Hormann ordered Roselius to register as a predatory offender for 10 years, not have contact with individuals under 18 and not have access to or use the internet without approval. His phone will be subject to monitoring. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He must also attend a sex offender program and complete a psychosexual evaluation, among others. He must have no contact with the victim or with vulnerable adults, and he cannot enter places where sexual materials are available or possess any sexually explicit material. More News Vance Boelter pleads not guilty to federal indictment in lawmaker shootings Anxiety running high at Stillwater prison as officials begin to move inmates out of aging facility Concerns over federal tariffs and budget bill dominate Farmfest policy forum Court dispositions: July 3-15, 2025 Print Article NEED TO KNOW Lindsey Langston, who was crowned Miss United States 2024, filed a police report with the Columbia County Sheriffs office in Florida on July 14 alleging Republican Congressman Cory Mills threatened to release sexually explicit images and videos Langston said she was in a romantic relationship with Mills from Nov. 2021 to Feb. 2025 Mills has denied the claims A woman crowned Miss United States last year has accused her ex-boyfriend, a Florida Republican Congressman, of threatening to release sexually explicit images and videos of her. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Lindsey Langston, a 25-year-old Republican state committee member who was crowned Miss United States 2024, filed a police report with the Columbia County Sheriffs office in Florida in July where she alleged that her ex, Rep. Cory Mills, contacted her multiple times after they broke up threatening to release nude images and videos of her, to include recorded videos of her and Cory engaging in sexual acts, according to a police incident report obtained by PEOPLE. A sheriff's office spokesperson told the Associated Press that the report was forwarded to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement could not be reached for comment. In an interview with sheriff's investigators, Langston alleged she began a relationship with Mills in November 2021. During their relationship, Langston said she lived with Mills at his house in New Smyrna Beach, splitting his time between there and Washington, D.C. Lindsey advised when her and Cory met he was still technically married, read the report. However Cory informed her that him and his wife were separated, which is why she agreed to move to New Smyrna with him. Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc/Getty Cory Mills Cory Mills 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. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to the report, on Feb. 20, 2025 Langston saw news reports that Mills had been in a physical altercation with his girlfriend while in Washington. The woman later took back her statements to police and prosecutors declined to file charges, per the Washington Post. Mills allegedly denied any infidelity and allegedly claimed the press fabricated the story. Lindsey then found a social media account for the other woman and saw posted photos of her with Cory, according to the report. Langston then moved back to her parents home. The threats allegedly started when Cory believed Lindsey to have other romantic partners in her life after the break up, according to the report. Lindsey also provided text messages and Instagram messages between her and Cory, which consisted of Cory threatening to harm any men Lindsey intended to date in the future. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The last message allegedly between the former couple was on June 12 when he sent her a message stating, I hope you hold your crown until the end, the report alleged. The 45-year-old lawmaker has denied the claims in a statement to CBS News. "These claims are false and misrepresent the nature of my interactions," he said. "I have always conducted myself with integrity, both personally and in service to Florida's 7th District." Mills or his attorney didnt return PEOPLEs call for comment. Langston also could not be reached for comment. Read the original article on People Republican Rep. Carlos Gimenez is introducing a resolution that would remove Illinois Rep. Delia Ramirez from the House Homeland Security Committee, citing recent comments the Democrat made at a summit in Mexico City. Ramirez, speaking at the Panamerican Congress earlier this month during the chambers August recess, said: I am a proud Guatemalan before I am an American. The comment drew backlash on social media. Gimenez told CNN on Friday he was moving to strip his colleague from her committee assignment because he views her conduct as unbecoming of any member of Congress. The Florida congressmans resolution is privileged, meaning it will receive a full vote in the House once lawmakers return in September. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I was born Cuba and was exiled from my homeland shortly after the Communist takeover. Everything I am, I owe to this exceptional country of limitless opportunities, Gimenez said in part in a statement. He added that when a Member of Congress openly declares allegiance to a foreign nation over the United States, it is not only unacceptable it is disqualifying for service on a committee tasked with securing our homeland. In response to the resolution, Ramirez said she saw this coming. Its not normal, but its predictable, the congresswoman told CNN in a statement. I am the most progressive member of Congress on the Committee on Homeland Security. I speak out and was the first to call for (Homeland Security Secretary Kristi) Noems resignation for the many ways she is violating our civil rights and undermining the Constitution. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ramirez suggested President Donald Trumps administration and her Republican colleagues have criticized her because they hate what I stand for. I represent diversity, I fight for equity, and I demand inclusion, she said in her statement. They will use any opportunity to misconstrue what I said and weaponize it to attack me. I have and will continue to use my voice, my heritage, and my experience to defend everyone in America, our Constitution, and our rights. Addressing on Monday the blowback she had received for the remark, Ramirez, an American citizen born to Guatemalan immigrants, argued that honoring (her) Guatemalan ancestry only strengthens (her) commitment to America. No one questions when my white colleagues identify as Irish-American, Italian-American, or Ukrainian-American to honor their ancestry. Ive consistently expressed pride in my heritage and history - a pride also often reflected in the origin stories of my colleagues, she said at the time. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ramirez is not the only Democrat who could be removed from the House Homeland Security Committee in September. GOP Rep. Clay Higgins has introduced a privileged resolution to censure Democratic Rep. LaMonica McIver, which would also remove her from the panel. McIver pleaded not guilty in June to federal charges accusing her of assaulting and interfering with immigration officers outside a New Jersey detention center during a congressional oversight visit at the facility. Immigration and Customs Enforcement uses Newarks Delaney Hall, a privately owned, 1,000-bed facility, as a detention center. Democrats including New Jersey Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman and Rob Menendez who were with McIver at the detention center that day, have criticized the arrest and disputed the charges. McIver has vowed to fight the charges. The Associated Press contributed to this report. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Good government advocates are stuck in a bind, as Republicans in Texas push to squeeze five more Republican seats out of their state with new maps, and Democrats in states where anti-gerrymandering reforms have taken hold look to fight back with new maps of their own. Theyve triggered this response and were not going to roll over and were going to fight fire with fire, Gov. Gavin Newsom told reporters regarding his plan to push through new district maps in California in response to the GOPs effort to push through new maps in Texas. Indeed, President Donald Trumps directive to Texas Republicans, insisting they draw new maps to give themselves more House seats and potentially extend their House majority indefinitely, whether or not Democrats make gains in the popular vote has set off an arms race, with leaders in states like New York, Illinois, Ohio and Missouri also saying that they will look to redraw their House maps ahead of the 2026 elections. Other state leaders have indicated an interest as well, such as in South Carolina, where Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., has suggested the state ought to replace its only majority Black district with another Republican district. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement However, for good government advocates and some in the Democratic Party, the efforts to redraw maps in New York and California, in particular, have spurred criticism. While anti-gerrymandering advocates have spoken out against the efforts in Texas and elsewhere, a return of partisan redistricting in New York and California would mark the rollback of two major victories for the movement, with both states passing laws in recent decades to enshrine independent redistricting into law. Common Cause, one of the leading anti-gerrymandering organizations in the United States, has staked out a position opposing redistricting mid-decade, even if Republicans do so in Texas. Point blank, this is a dangerous move, said Darius Kemp, executive director of California Common Cause. We know independent redistricting works because California has been the national leader for years. We cant afford to put our states democracy on the line during a time of national instability. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement For some, however, the situation presents a dilemma, as a refusal by Democrats to respond in kind to Republicans could create a situation where Democrats are left without any opportunity to return to the majority in the House, giving Republicans and President Donald Trump further power and more time to enact their agenda or curbing civil freedoms and unraveling democratic institutions. Carol Kuniholm, a co-founder of Fair Districts PA, told Salon that, although she is not in one of the states considering redistricting, she understands why groups like Common Cause have voiced opposition to redistricting in California. To say we cant bring a knife to a gunfight, to me, thats rather troubling language and and when you weaponize the foundations of democracy, youre really undermining democracy itself. And I would say that gerrymandering steals power from voters no matter who does it, Kuniholm said. When asked whether she was concerned that a refusal by Democrats to gerrymander could make them uncompetitive nationally, Kuniholm said that there needs to be structural solutions implemented on the national level. In 2021, Democrats in Congress attempted to pass a bill banning partisan gerrymandering, but the bill died in the Senate due to a Republican filibuster and Democratic opposition to work around or abolish the filibuster. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I would say that trying to solve those structural problems by ripping apart one solution that has been effective in some states is, to me, really problematic, Kuniholm said. I believe that we need, we need a federal redistricting reform bill of some sort, and its unfortunate that those have been blocked, and I believe that the Supreme Court needs to up its game and address some of this and and maybe they will, and maybe they wont, but I still think that its best to help voters understand whats at stake, to help return agency to voters, to let voters know that they no matter how badly gerrymandered those districts are, there are still ways to to influence the process and still ways to be heard. Kuniholms sentiments echo those expressed by state anti-gerrymandering advocates, like Kemp, who said, Gavin Newsom is wrong on redistricting. California is the gold standard when it comes to people-first districts. Governor Newsom can still choose to lead with our state as a gold standard, rather than pick a fight that honestly, his political party cannot and will not win, Kemp said in a statement in late July. Common Cause declined to comment for this story. Start your day with essential news from Salon. Sign up for our free morning newsletter, Crash Course. Some Democrats, too, have come out against efforts to redistrict in response to Texas. In California, state Rep. Alex Lee, who is one of the most progressive members of the state legislature and was endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America, has come out against the effort, saying Republicans resort to cheating to win. He received significant pushback online from other Democrats, including other progressives, like Texas state Senate candidate Karthik Soora, who called his stance naive. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We win by running clear platform [sic] for the working class & delivering, Lee argued in a post on X. Fundamentally, gerrymandering UNDERMINES democracy. The right answer is to abolish politicians picking their own voters & drawing maps nationally for good. It is dangerous to kick off a race to the bottom w/ gerrymandering. Other Democrats, like Xavier Becerra, the former Secretary of Health and Human Services, have come out in favor of redrawing the maps in California if the maps are redrawn in Texas. Legally, we can do it, Becerra told Politico. Politically, we must do it. In terms of where this leaves the United States in terms of a precedent, Jonathan Cervas, a political scientist at Carnegie Mellon who has advised on redistricting processes in New York, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, told Salon that the situation is reminiscent of the 1800s. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ive noticed that a lot of people say either that mid-decade redistricting is illegal, or that it breaks the rules of a law, or something like that. But from a historical perspective, mid-decade redistricting was actually quite common in the 19th century, Cervas said. Cervas added that, although Democrats might be able to make up for seats lost in Texas by redrawing lines in New York and California, a redistricting arms race is ultimately something Democrats are unlikely to win. One big difference in my mind is actually the practical ability of doing a gerrymander. Its very, very easy in most states to draw Republican leaning gerrymandering. Its very difficult in most states to draw a Democratic leaning gerrymander, Cervas said. Cervas said that, using computer algorithms, political scientists are able to run simulations testing millions of different maps in different states and then compare the average number of Democratic and Republican districts. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement What you find is that its much easier to draw extreme Republican maps than it is to draw extreme Democratic maps, and thats because of political geography, Cervas said. While the effect of gerrymandering on how many House seats each party wins varies by election and by state, a classic example of the effect it can have comes from Pennsylvania in 2012. In those House elections, the Democratic Party received 51% of the popular vote, but won only five of the 18 House seats. The post GOP power grab puts voting rights advocates in a bind appeared first on Salon.com. Republican Rep. Cory Mills of Florida is alleged to have threatened to release sexually explicit videos and images of a woman who said she was previously in a relationship with him, according to a police incident report obtained by NBC News. Lindsey Langston, 25, a Republican state committeewoman and Miss United States 2024, filed a report with Florida authorities on July 14 alleging that after their breakup, Mills contacted her numerous times on numerous different accounts threatening to release nude images and videos of her, as well as videos of the pair engaging in sexual acts, the report said. The incident report was made to the Columbia County Sheriffs Department in Florida, which provided it to NBC News. Drop Site first reported the allegations. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to the report, Langston said their relationship began in November 2021 and ended in February 2025 after she saw news reports that Mills was alleged to have been involved in a physical altercation with another woman in Washington, D.C. Mills denied any wrongdoing, and that woman later said no physical altercation" had occurred. Washington police investigated the matter, as well as their own handling of the incident; no charges were filed. Lindsey confronted Cory about the woman, to which Cory told her he was not in a romantic relationship with her and the press fabricated the story," according to the Florida incident report filed by Langston. "Lindsey then found a social media account for the other woman and saw posted photos of her with Cory." Langston, according to the report, said Mills threatened to release the sexual videos and images involving her when he believed Lindsey to have other romantic partners in her life after the breakup. She provided text messages and Instagram messages between her and Mills to authorities, which also included his threatening to harm any men Lindsey intended to date in the future, according to the report. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The last communication between Langston and Mills was in June, when he sent her a message saying, I hope you hold your crown until the end, the report said. Anthony Sabatini, Langstons legal adviser, said she filed a petition for a restraining order against Mills, which is pending before a judge. Sabatini declined to comment further. NBC News has not reviewed the petition for a restraining order. Mills, in a statement shared with NBC News, noted that Sabatini was his primary opponent in 2022. Breakups happen, but its truly tragic when a washedup politician drags someone else into his vendetta. I wish Ms. Langston well and genuine happiness. I remain steadfast and committed to doing the work of serving my constituents, he said. Langston didnt respond to a request for comment. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A spokesman for House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday about whether Mills should face any disciplinary action. The matter has been turned over to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for further review, said Sgt. Steven Khachigan, a spokesperson for the sheriffs department. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement confirmed that it received the referral from the sheriffs office on July 16 but said it does not comment on active inquiries or investigations. Mills, 45, was elected to Congress in 2022. In addition to Langstons allegations and the February police investigation, he also faces an eviction lawsuit in Washington, in which a property management company has accused him of failing to pay $85,000 in rent this year. Mills responded on X that he had repeatedly emailed asking for a link to pay his rent. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Mills is an Army veteran who served in the Iraq War and later worked as a military contractor. He represents a north central Florida district between Daytona Beach and Orlando. He easily won re-election last year, defeating Democrat Jennifer Adams 56.5% to 43.5%. This article was originally published on NBCNews.com As Texas Republicans try to muscle a rare mid-decade redistricting bill through the Legislature to help Republicans gain seats in Congress -- at President Donald Trump's request -- residents in Austin, the state capital, could find themselves sharing a district with rural Texans more than 300 miles away. The proposed map chops up Central Texas' 37th Congressional District, which is currently represented by Democrat Rep. Lloyd Doggett, will be consumed by four neighboring districts, three of which Republicans now hold. One of those portions of the Austin-area district was drawn to be part of the 11th District that Republican Rep. August Pfluger represents, which stretches into rural Ector County, about 20 miles away from the New Mexico border. Google Earth, Princeton Gerrymandering Project - PHOTO: Texas 2021 Congressional map in Austin area Rural congressional districts, where people often live further apart, tend to be larger because districts are intended to have roughly the same number of residents so one Americans vote is not more diluted than anothers. Further, fellow rural voters are likelier to share demographic similarities with each other than with urban voters. Google Earth, Princeton Gerrymandering Project - PHOTO: Texas 2021 Congressional map in Austin area That would mean people in that area would share a congressman with people who live more than 311 miles away, a distance that is about 15 times more than that between them and those who currently live the farthest away. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "If you look at many of these districts, whether they're here or elsewhere in the nation, you do not necessarily see a community of interest," Sherri Greenberg, the assistant dean for the LBJ School of Public Affairs at UT Austin told ABC News. "You don't see the following, for instance, county lines or city lines. You see perhaps along skinny districts, or districts that look like a piece of pie where you are not keeping communities together or interests together." Greenberg, asked what the new map means for the 37th district, said, "you're spreading thin across many, many miles, with different cities, counties, communities, different interests, different topography, geography, culture, potentially." Greenberg served in the Texas House as a Democrat in the 1990s. Redistricting is an exercise that state legislatures participate in after the decennial census, accounting for population shifts across the country, and doing so in the years between a census is rare. But the White House in June approached Texas Republicans about redrawing the map ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, to protect their fragile majority in the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Last month, President Trump said he was looking for "a very simple redrawing; we pick up five seats." David Wasserman, senior editor and elections analyst for The Cook Political Report, told ABC News that the proposed map could lead Democrats on a "collision course," finding themselves competing for the remaining Democratic-leaning district in their area. One such showdown could happen in Austin between Doggett and Rep. Greg Casar. Democrats have slammed the draft map as being "rigged," a "power grab," and "racist" and Texas House legislators have fled the state to preclude Republicans of the quorum needed to pass it. "They're trying to suppress the votes of Black and brown Austinites right now under this map," Casar said Monday at a protest outside the Texas governor's residence. "We won't let that happen, because if they're able to suppress the votes of Austinites under Trump's plan, soon enough, they'll try to suppress the votes of all Americans." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Wasserman said he estimates the proposed map would help Republicans pick up three to five additional seats in Texas by spreading out minority voters. "This map would clearly impair the voting strength of Texas' minority voters," Wasserman said. "It dilutes or eliminates districts where minority voters have elected Democrats in recent years." But Greenberg and Wasserman said Democrats may face an uphill battle in court because of voting trends that show Latinos shifting toward conservatives, making it harder to argue that drawing them out of Democratic districts prevent them from voting for who they want. "Republicans will make the case in court that Hispanic voters no longer constitute a cohesive political group because they've migrated so much towards Donald Trump, and that could really weaken Democrats' argument in court that those performing districts deserve protection," Wasserman said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It's a case Republican state Rep. Carl Tepper made to ABC News. "These new districts reflect the population and the voting trends of Texas," Tepper said. "We are a vast and very heavily Republican state, conservative state, and we deserve some more consideration sending our delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives. Several of the protesting Texas state lawmakers' Democratic allies in blue states have vowed to pursue redrawing congressional lines in their own states, including California, to shore up Democrats' numbers and counter what is happening in Texas. If Texas changes its maps mid-decade, and other states follow suit over the next few years, Greenberg says the constant changes could lead to chaos. "If you're having constant redistricting, it would be chaos. I mean, for people to run, they have to have -- know their districts. For, you know constituents who are voting, they need to know who they're voting for. If you are having all over the nation this constant redistricting every year, I don't know how that works." Have you received a worrying phone call or voicemail from a woman named Evelyn who is deeply concerned about your loan application and just needs a little more info? There is no Evelyn, the Better Business Bureau said in an alert Aug. 5, and no "Lending Union," the company she names. It's a scam to get your Social Security number, bank account details and other personal information from you, and it's happening a lot. The BBB has received about 1,500 Scam Tracker reports in under a month over the same phone call from "Evelyn" or, before her, "Jessica," with the same message, the agency said. The BBB serving Central Florida said in an email they talked to "a frustrated local woman" who had received over 100 loan processing scam calls all by herself. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Here's what to know. What does 'Evelyn' from 'Lending Union' say in the loan processing phishing scam? "Hi, this is Evelyn with Lending Union's West Coast branch," a sample voicemail said. "I've been trying to reach you over the past few days. I left a voicemail and sent a text last week but I haven't heard back so I just wanted to follow up personally. "I'm not assigned to your file and it looks like we're almost there. Everything's almost approved and ready to go. We just need to confirm a couple quick things specifically in income related. And if it's easier, you can also complete that online through the loan portal If you've got a minute now." The call continues with different ways you can provide information, including a callback number and application ID to make the message seem legitimate, the BBB said. What is the loan processing scam? In the scam, someone claiming to be from a loan processing team says they've been trying to contact you about your loan application and need just a few more details. While most people answering the phone likely have not applied for a loan, this can be very dangerous for someone who has and is eager for an approval. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Returning the call, or going to the provided website, can lead to scammers collecting sensitive information that can help them steal your identity or cash. How to avoid loan processing scams According to the BBB, check everything. Verify the company: If youre contacted about a loan application you dont recall submitting, hang up. If you did apply for a loan, verify which financial institution you used and contact them directly using verified contact information. You can also look up the company's name online. Never share personal information with unsolicited callers: Scammers often ask for details like your Social Security number or bank account information. Avoid sharing sensitive information over the phone unless you initiated the call. Watch for red flags in voicemails: Be wary of messages with vague details, generic names, or urgent demands for a callback. Scammers often use scripted messages to target as many people as possible. Avoid calling unknown numbers back: Resist the urge to call the number back. Returning calls to unknown or suspicious numbers could connect you to scammers or result in unexpected fees. Check for scam reports: Look up the phone number or details of the voicemail online. Many victims post about similar scams to warn others. You can search BBB reports at bbb.org/scamtracker/lookupscam Report suspicious activity: If you believe youve been contacted by a scammer, report the incident to BBB Scam Tracker at BBB.org/ScamTracker. Floridians a favorite target for scammers Floridians were scammed out of more than $1 billion in 2024, according to the latest annual Internet Crime Report released by the FBI in April, up from $874.74 million the year before. The Sunshine State saw both the third-most complaints and the third-highest losses behind California ($2.5 billion) and Texas ($1.35 billion). Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The hardest hit? People older than 60, the IC3 report said. In 2024, seniors were taken for just under $300 million, nearly the same amount that was scammed from people of all other ages combined when ages were known. And the numbers are almost certainly much higher than that, as many people may be embarassed to come forward after they've fallen for a scam. Earlier this year, Floridians were beset with fake toll charge texts demanding online payment. The Florida Attorney General's Officed reported that hundreds of fraudulent SunPass websites had been taken down, but scammers are still out there. "Stay vigilant and cautious to protect yourself from phishing scams like this one," the BBB said. "If an offer seems too good to be true, it likely is!" This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Scam loan application calls rising in Florida. Evelyn is fake The U.S. Supreme Court (Susan J. Demas illustration) Wednesday marked the 60th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act being signed into law. Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court started a timer on what some fear could be the demise of key provisions of the landmark civil rights legislation. Justices signaled last week they intend to consider whether a state violates the U.S. Constitution when it seeks to remedy a violation of the Voting Rights Act by taking race into account during the redistricting process. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The court issued an order Friday to parties in Louisiana v. Callais, a lawsuit that non-Black voters filed against the state over the creation of a second majority Black district for the state in the U.S. House of Representatives. They are being asked to explain whether the states intentional creation of a second majority-minority congressional district violates the 14th or 15th amendments to the U.S. Constitution. Its an ominous question, said Michael Li, senior counsel for the Brennan Center for Justice, a progressive organization that follows redistricting issues throughout the country. The 14th and 15th amendments gave formerly enslaved people the right to vote and prohibit any discrimination that keeps a person from voting. The Voting Rights Act, which was approved in 1965, bolsters the protections granted in those amendments. At question in the Callais case is Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act, which prohibits voting laws or procedures that purposefully discriminate on the basis of race, color, or membership in a language minority group. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Bringing the Voting Rights Act into question makes the case among the most important the court will rule on in its coming term. The decision could have nationwide implications, as it could set the standard for the degree to which race can be considered when drawing election maps after each decennial census. A decision on Callais and on Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act will not come until next spring. The process that put the case before conservative-majority court started years ago. FEBRUARY 2022: During an 18-day special session on redistricting, Louisiana lawmakers passed laws that redrew the borders of Louisianas six U.S. House seats and its legislative districts. The Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus advocated for maps that increased the number of majority Black districts. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement One-third of six is two became the rallying cry of Black lawmakers, who believed that since Black people made up nearly a third of the states population, they should be represented by one-third of Louisianas congressional districts. Republicans, who held the majority in the legislature, declined to increase Black representation, opening themselves up to litigation. MARCH 9, 2022 Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat, vetoed the congressional map Republicans supported. He said the boundaries, which kept just one district majority Black, violated the Voting Rights Act. MARCH 30, 2022 Lawmakers convened a one-day special session to override Edwards veto. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Hours later, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and Black Louisiana voters filed a lawsuit, Robinson v. Ardoin, challenging the map, claiming it violated federal law. JUNE 6, 2022 U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick sided with the Black Robinson plaintiffs, ruling the map an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. Dick was appointed to the bench by President Barack Obama in 2012. Her ruling required the legislature to draw a new map with two majority Black districts that could be used in the 2022 congressional midterm election while litigation continued. JUNE 2022 The Louisiana Legislature met for another special session to create a map to comply with the judges guidance. In defiance of the federal court order, lawmakers adjourned without approving new congressional districts. Several days later, the U.S. Supreme Court granted Louisianas request to block Dicks ruling, pending the outcome of a similar redistricting case from Alabama, Allen v. Milligan. The courts order meant the map Republicans passed in February would remain in place for the 2022 congressional midterms, despite a lower court ruling that it violated the Voting Rights Act and was racially discriminatory. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement JUNE 8, 2023 On the final day of Louisianas 2023 legislative session, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a ruling in Allen v. Milligan. Conservative Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh joined the courts three liberal members in an opinion that Alabamas map violated Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The courts decision put a charge into the Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus and Black voters, as Louisianas case was mathematically stronger than Alabamas. Alabama has seven districts and a 26.8% Black population, while Louisiana has six districts and a 32.8% Black population. Im ecstatic, Sen. Royce Duplessis, D-New Orleans, said with a grin after learning of the news. FALL 2023 Republican U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was forced out of his position, setting up a power struggle for his replacement. House Majority Whip Steve Scalise of Jefferson was viewed as the natural successor, but a key McCarthy ally, U.S. Rep. Garret Graves of Baton Rouge, had other ideas. His role in the speaker drama was widely viewed as costing Scalise the speaker position, which ultimately went to U.S. Rep. Mike Johnson, R-Shreveport. Graves stance cost him support among Republicans in Washington, D.C., and back home. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement At the same time, Graves bet on the wrong horse in the gubernatorial election, spurning the shoo-in winner, Attorney General Jeff Landry, for his college buddy, Stephen Waguespack, a business lobbyist. It put Graves at odds with an incoming governor who would exert more power than any other had in decades. NOV. 11, 2023 The conservative U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed the Louisiana Legislature violated the Voting Rights Act with its congressional map and set a Jan. 15, 2024, deadline for drawing a new version. That deadline was tricky, as both the legislative leaders who fought for the map and the Democratic governor who vetoed it were weeks from leaving office. None had any desire to do the tedious work of redistricting in their final days in office. Landry wouldnt take office until Jan. 8, and the state constitution requires seven days lead time before a special session can convene. Lawmakers didnt have enough time to pass a map before the deadline. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement JAN. 15-19, 2024 With a deadline extension from the federal court in hand, Gov. Jeff Landry convened the legislature for a special session. In just a week, lawmakers rammed through a new congressional map with two majority Black districts. The session brought together a set of strange bedfellows: Black Democrats, who wanted more minority representation; and white Republicans, who used the opportunity to unseat Graves, who was short on allies and long on enemies. To unseat Graves in the 6th Congressional District, Republicans had to draw a map that complied with fewer traditional redistricting principles than the one Black voters preferred. The Republican-crafted 6th District lines run from Shreveport to Baton Rouge, slashing down the center of the state and veering to pick up clusters of Black voters along the way. JAN. 30, 2024 White voters filed the Callais lawsuit claiming the map was drawn solely based on race and discriminated against them. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement APRIL 2024 An appellate panel of three federal judges found the new district lines were illegal, though the map was allowed to be used for the 2024 election. NOV. 4, 2024 The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to take up an appeal from Black voters in the Callais lawsuit. NOV. 5, 2024 For the first time in decades, Black voters in Louisiana got the opportunity to elect two members of the states congressional delegation. U.S. Rep. Cleo Fields was elected to a third term in Congress. He previously represented the 4th Congressional District until 1997, when a federal court ruled its boundaries were an unconstitutional racial gerrymander. JUNE 2025 In a rare move, U.S. Supreme Court punted a ruling on Callais, instead scheduling it for further arguments. At the time, justices did not say what new question it would raise. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Last week, the court made its question known, and the answer could reverberate across the country. Li said the question posed by the court is so ominous because justices have questioned over the years whether there is a time limit to race-conscious redistricting practices. At the same time, he said, the courts question is befuddling because time limits to Section Two are actually built into the Gingles Test. Created by the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1986 case Thornburg v. Gingles, plaintiffs must show the existence of three preconditions to prove redistricting dilutes minority voting strength: The racial or language minority group sufficiently large and geographically compact to constitute a majority in a single-member district The minority group is politically cohesive The majority votes sufficiently as a block to usually defeat the minoritys candidate of choice Section Two, by itself, automatically sunsets as conditions on the ground get better, Li explained, referring to minorities access to equal voting opportunities. The question is also troubling, experts say, because if the courts ruling expands beyond Louisiana, it could be a further whittling down of the key civil rights legislation that has already been narrowed in recent years. Civil rights proponents say that if the Supreme Court takes an ax to the Voting Rights Act with its ruling in the Callaiscase, it would be a reversal of its recent decisions. John Bisognano, president of the National Redistricting Foundation, a voting rights organization, said courts have never ruled there is a conflict between the U.S. Constitution and Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The Supreme Court upheld Section 2 in its decision on Allen v. Milligan, the Alabama case that required a second majority-Black congressional district in the state. To comply with that law, Louisiana must have a congressional map that includes two Black opportunity districts, Bisognano said in a statement. If the Court decides to now undo that precedent, it would be a head-spinning reversal of itself. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Aug. 8Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy named Janelle Earls to serve as acting revenue commissioner beginning Friday, with the departure of outgoing Commissioner Adam Crum. Earls, who will serve in the commissioner position until a permanent replacement is selected by Dunleavy, previously worked in the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services. She joined the Department of Revenue last year and most recently worked as administrative services director, the governor's office said. Crum said last month that he was leaving the Dunleavy administration, after serving first as health and social services commissioner, and then as revenue commissioner for nearly three years. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In a statement released Friday, Crum said he planned to share "a vision that puts Alaska first in every decision we make." "This isn't just about the next election it's about the next generation," he wrote. However, he said in a brief phone interview he was not prepared to announce whether he would run for office in 2026. "Alaska can be a place that is attractive to families, with safe neighborhoods, good schools, jobs, and opportunity within reach for everyone willing to seize it. This fight needs a leader, and I won't back down," Crum wrote in the statement. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Alaska legislators have raised concerns over the conduct of the Department of Revenue under the leadership of Crum. Leaders of the House and Senate have said that the department's unwillingness to cooperate with the legislative auditor may indicate that the state is not collecting the full oil and gas taxes it is owed. The Legislature in the coming months is expected to continue its efforts to audit the Department of Revenue, after voting earlier this month to override Dunleavy's veto of a bill that clarified the role of the legislative auditor. KANSAS CITY, Mo. Kansas Governor Laura Kelly on Friday ordered flags to be flown at half-staff in honor of Wyandotte County Deputy Elijah Ming, who was killed in the line of duty. In accordance with Executive Order #20-30, Gov. Kelly said this applies to all state buildings, grounds and facilities from sunup to sundown on Aug. 11. Funeral services announced for fallen Wyandotte County Deputy Elijah Ming Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The death of a law enforcement officer is always a tragedy, and Deputy Ming was taken far too soon, Gov. Kelly said. He made the ultimate sacrifice in service to his community, and he will not be forgotten. My sincere condolences go out to Deputy Mings loved ones during this difficult time. Ming was killed in the line of duty on July 26 after a woman asked officers to accompany her as she moved out of her home near South 30th Street and Shawnee Drive. When Ming and a KCKPD officer approached the front door, investigators said someone shot at them from inside the house. Ming was shot and taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Kansas seeks death penalty in Wyandotte County deputy killing Shawn Harris, 38, has been charged with one count of capital murder and one count of criminal possession of a weapon by a felon for Mings death. He faces the death penalty, if convicted. Deputy Ming will be honored during services held on Aug. 11. You can find funeral service details here. Those interested in donating to Deputy Mings family can 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 FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports. A federal judge on Wednesday dismissed some of the claims brought by the former police chief of the Regional Transportation District in his employment discrimination lawsuit. PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek has approved funds to create a public access point at a place some consider a hidden gem after previously threatening a veto. The move approved $45 million in legislative money to acquire more than 40 acres on the West Linn side of the Willamette Falls. Large vegetation fire off Hwy 58 near Oakridge prompts Level 3 Go Now evacuations The trust defended their position Friday as West Linn City leaders celebrated the chance to unlock a hidden gem. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement For everybody in the city to dream about what this could look like and to have the funding to make it a reality because the issue for us as a city is were strapped for cash, Mayor Rory Bialostosky said. The move comes after Gov. Kotek considered vetoing the dollars, citing concerns over how previous bond money was spent. The project involves private and public partnerships with plans to engage the community and local tribes in determining the sites future. That could include a park, a fish cleaning station, or a national heritage site. A statement from the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde, which chose to withdraw from the trust and four other tribes with ties to the falls in 2019, said they were disappointed in the decision. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde is deeply disappointed that Governor Kotek chose not to veto the legislatures $45 million appropriation of public funding for the Willamette Falls Trust. This legislative appropriation was made without any engagement with Grand Ronde, despite the Tribes ancestral connection to Willamette Falls or meaningful public input from Oregonians. Governor Koteks decision represents indifference about Oregons true tribal history and sends a message to Oregon tribes like Grand Ronde that our documented and indisputable ancestral connections to Willamette Falls and our treaties do not matter. This decision reaffirms the premise that political opportunism by affluent Oregonians will win over honoring Oregon tribal homeland integrity. It rewards backroom deals while critical state-wide programs such as transportation and education remain unfunded. Moving forward, the Governor and Oregon Legislature must demand more transparency and accountability from the Trust, including an accounting for the millions of public dollars theyve spent in the past by Oregon taxpayers. Willamette Falls is a sacred site. Any public investment must be guided by the original Tribes and bands who call this place home since time immemorial not by a private nonprofit with a long record of exclusion and unanswered questions. Willamette Falls in Oregon. July 8, 2025 (KOIN). The Willamette Falls in Oregon City, April 14, 2025 (KOIN) Meanwhile, the Willamette Falls Trust said it deeply appreciates Koteks decision to sign House Bill 5006. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As Oregonians, we now have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to restore and celebrate a landscape of immense cultural, historical, and environmental significance, the Trust said. The Trust affirms its commitment to wise stewardship of public and private resources and to an inclusive, collaborative process that honors our shared histories, reflects our collective values, and shapes a future we can all be proud of. While more than $30 million had been earmarked for a former public access project between legislative funding and metro bonds, Kotek recently said the trust was able to show those dollars havent been touched. They are still unspent the dollars spent from Metro and the space, Bialostosky said. West Linn Council President Mary Baumgarder, who sits on the trusts board, said the city is committed to continuing to partner with all tribes as they work to re-imagine the space which has served as a sacred gathering space for centuries. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We dont wish for there to be any kind of hidden agenda or secrets behind the scenes, she said. I would like to be as open as possible, and we are currently in communications with Grand Ronde leadership. Stay with KOIN 6 News as this story develops. 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. TOPEKA (KSNT) Kansas Governor Laura Kelly is calling President Donald Trumps recent efforts to redistrict Texas sad. Trump, along with Texas Republicans, are pushing to redistrict the state in an attempt to pick up five more seats in the House of Representatives. Republicans hold a very slight majority in the House with Trump doing everything he can to hold onto that majority ahead of the 2026 midterm election. Kansas Republican accuses governor, DCF of SNAP cover-up Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The current proposed redistricting threatens Democratic seats in the Dallas and Houston metro areas. Trump has stated that he believes Republicans are entitled to those seats, and Kelly made it clear to 27 News that she disagrees. This whole idea that any of us is entitled to an elected office is ridiculous, Kelly said. California Governor Gavin Newsom has threatened to retaliate if Texas goes through with the redistricting. He believes he would have the power to redistrict California in favor of the Democrats. While states are legally able to change their district map at any time, Kelly believes these current efforts to do so in Texas are not right. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I think there will be lots of grounds to rule this unconstitutional, Kelly said. Whether we do it in Texas or in California. I just think its sad that we even have to go down this road at all. Trump is also looking into redistricting Missouri to possibly pick up a Congressional seat in Kansas City. Gov. Kelly speaks on decision to sue President Trump 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. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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 KSNT 27 News. This story has been updated with more information from Soliman's lawyer. Federal lawyers accused a former Cincinnati hospital chaplain of "murder and terrorism related activities" in a recent court filing that argues he should not be considered for asylum in the United States. The claims, revealed Aug. 7 in federal court, contend that criminal warrants in Iraq connect Ayman Soliman to those offenses. But the government provided few details about the allegations, and Soliman's lawyers said they are false. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to the court filing, which was written by Soliman's lawyers, attorneys with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security made the claims in July in immigration court. Soliman's lawyers have been seeking his release from jail since immigration agents arrested him July 9. Government lawyers, however, argue Soliman, an Egyptian who came to the United States a decade ago seeking asylum, is a security risk and should be sent back to his home country. Former Cincinnati hospital chaplain Ayman Soliman, who was arrested by immigration agents July 9, remains in the Butler County Jail. Based on the three outstanding warrants in Iraq for murder and terrorism related activities, the respondent is also ineligible for asylum and withholding of removal because there are serious reasons for believing that he committed serious nonpolitical crimes prior to his arrival to the United States, the federal lawyers claimed in immigration court. The government also argued, as it has in the past, that Soliman worked for a charity connected to the Muslim Brotherhood. The United States does not consider the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization, but the Department of Homeland Security has said during Soliman's case the group is linked to violence. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Soliman and his attorneys have denied any involvement with the Muslim Brotherhood or with terrorist groups. In response to the accusation tying Soliman to murder and terrorism in Iraq, his lawyers complained the government offered no proof, only a mention of the claim in a footnote attached to documents filed in immigration court. Nazly Mamedova, one of Soliman's immigration attorneys, told The Enquirer he has never been to Iraq. She said the government must be confusing him with someone else, or forgot to delete the footnote from a previous, unrelated document. "DHS offered no copies of the warrants, no Interpol notices, provided nothing to even indicate Petitioner has ever even been to Iraq," Soliman's lawyers wrote. Soliman's case garnered national attention following his arrest July 9 during a check-in meeting with immigration agents. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He said he was persecuted by Egyptian officials while working as a freelance journalist and was later detained and tortured. He fled to the United States in 2014 and was granted asylum in 2018. Immigration officials later said they determined he was a security risk because of his alleged ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and are now seeking to return him to Egypt. Before his arrest, Soliman worked as an imam in Cincinnati and as a chaplain at Cincinnati Children's hospital. This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Jailed chaplain accused of 'murder and terrorism;' lawyers deny claim South Dakota Republican Gov. Larry Rhoden speaks during a press conference Feb. 6, 2025, at the Capitol in Pierre with Lt. Gov. Tony Venhuizen. (Seth Tupper/South Dakota Searchlight) South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden announced a potential $17 million deal Friday to acquire land for a new mens prison in northeast Sioux Falls and trade away state-owned land 15 miles south of the city that was formerly chosen as a prison site. The plan is subject to approval by the Legislature, which is scheduled to convene for a special session Sept. 23. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement South Dakota needs a new prison to keep our people safe, and we are moving forward with delivering a proposal that prioritizes safety and conservative fiscal stewardship, Rhoden said in a news release. If approved, the transaction could resolve a controversy over plans to replace the oldest parts of the antiquated and crowded state penitentiary in Sioux Falls. A red square shows the site chosen for a prison construction project in northeast Sioux Falls. (Courtesy of State of South Dakota) The controversy dates to 2023 when the administration of then-Gov. Kristi Noem announced the selection of state-owned land in rural Lincoln County, sparking opposition and a lawsuit from neighboring landowners. The fight culminated last winter in the Legislatures rejection of funding for a prison project at the Lincoln County site. That spurred the new governor, Rhoden, to appoint a Project Prison Reset task force. The task force, led by Lt. Gov. Tony Venhuizen, worked through the spring and summer considering prison plans and locations, ultimately endorsing a $650 million budget including land acquisition for a 1,500-bed facility on one of two large parcels of undeveloped land in the same area of northeast Sioux Falls. The area is bordered by Interstate 229, Benson Road and the Big Sioux River. Neither of the two site finalists encountered opposition similar to the backlash against the rural Lincoln County location. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Rhodens chosen site is along Benson Road, south of the Sioux Falls Area Humane Society and a National Guard facility, and north of Gage Brothers Concrete Products. Great Bear Ski Valley is across the Big Sioux River to the southeast. Venhuizen said in a Friday interview that the site is a little bit better deal and a more regularly shaped parcel that will better accommodate the states plans. The state has a purchase agreement with TCB LLC (which is registered to Patty Nohr of Sioux Falls) and Lynnette Sue Unzelman. Under the terms of the agreement, the state would pay TCB $11.56 million for its 137 acres of Sioux Falls land, including a $1 million payment to the Myrl and Lois Unzelman Family Fund at the Sioux Falls Area Community Foundation. For the remaining 11 acres of land, the state would pay $937,858 to Lynnette Sue Unzelman. In addition, the state would transfer ownership of its 320 acres in rural Lincoln County worth an estimated $4.5 million to TCB, raising the total value of the deal to $17 million. A fact sheet published by the Rhoden administration says the owner of land neighboring the Sioux Falls site has indicated a willingness to sell an additional 28.98 acres. Venhuizen said the state hasnt decided whether to make an offer for that property. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As the design progresses, well ascertain whether thats necessary or not, he said. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX When the state was planning to build on the rural Lincoln County site, the state was not required to follow county zoning, which was a point of contention in a lawsuit filed by neighboring landowners. Rhodens news release said the Lincoln County land will be privately owned and subject to county zoning if his plan is approved. Prior to the Legislatures rejection of the Lincoln County site, lawmakers had been budgeting money for several years in anticipation of a prison construction project. Rhoden anticipates having enough state funds to build the project without taking on any debt. The cost of land acquisition is $10 million less than the task force had conservatively estimated, Venhuizen added. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Questions remain, however, about how much of the money spent by the state on plans, site work and infrastructure agreements at the Lincoln County site is recoverable or transferable to the Sioux Falls location. The total amount of those expenditures is more than $50 million. Venhuizen said the state will put out a more specific breakdown about that in the next couple of weeks. Quite a bit of it is transferable, he said. EDITORS NOTE: This story has been updated since its original publication with additional details from the purchase agreement. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker is demanding action after State Farm announced that homeowners insurance rates in the state will rise by 27% on average in August. What's happening? WBBM confirmed the price hike after receiving an email from State Farm. This change is happening because State Farm's profits are dropping. The company said that it spent $1.26 for every $1 per homeowner paid in 2024. Pritzker suggested in a statement, however, that part of State Farm's story isn't adding up: "I am deeply concerned by State Farm's unfair and arbitrary insurance rate hike. These increases are predicated on catastrophe loss numbers that are entirely inconsistent with the Illinois Department of Insurance's own analysis indicating that State Farm is shifting out-of-state costs on to the homeowners in our state." Why is this price hike important? State Farm said that these price hikes are also occurring because severe weather is happening more often. Illinois reportedly had more claims for hail damage in 2024 than any other state except Texas, per CBS News Chicago. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement While severe weather events aren't unusual, the scientific consensus is that they are becoming more extreme because of rising global temperatures. If premiums continue to rise across the country and beyond, this will make it more difficult for so many people to afford even the essentials. What's being done about the price hike? The governor is calling on the Illinois Department of Insurance and the state's General Assembly to take action. Through a combination of legislative and regulatory acts, Pritzker hopes that this will lower rates for Illinois homeowners. More broadly, major oil and gas companies are among those at fault for creating the majority of pollution. One of the most effective ways to use your own energy in this case is to advocate for change. If you hear about a law that will reduce pollution and protect your community, talk about it with your community. 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. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis speaks during a news conference on May 6, 2024, at the Colorado Capitol. (Quentin Young/Colorado Newsline) On Aug. 1, Cornerstone Apartment Services the largest property management company in central Denver, with over 290 properties across the Front Range sent out a notice that they will begin billing tenants for utilities using a variable system managed by third-party companies Zego or RealPage. The change, effective Oct. 1, replaces flat-rate utility billing with a monthly, usage-based system determined by proprietary algorithms. While seemingly innocuous, Cornerstones adoption of third-party utility billing reflects a broader and more dangerous trend: the normalization of AI-driven pricing systems that use opaque algorithms to manipulate costs and extract more from tenants, supported by a governor working to advance AI technology. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Many Coloradans might recognize the name RealPage, the Texas-based software company currently at the center of an ongoing antitrust investigation and multi-state lawsuit, which includes Colorado, that highlights how algorithmic price fixing enables corporate landlords to share proprietary rental data and coordinate rent increases, effectively suppressing competition and driving prices up in cities across the U.S. These systems obscure how prices are set and shift financial risk onto working people. The Colorado Legislature has also made its own attempt to push back on AI price-fixing in the housing market. House Bill 25-1004: No Pricing Coordination Between Landlords, the second attempt of its kind following a similar bill was killed in the 2024 legislative session, looked to restrict the sale, distribution and use of algorithmic pricing tools in rental housing as a direct response to the growing body of evidence that software like RealPages is driving up housing costs through covert collusion. However, in May, Gov. Jared Polis vetoed the bill. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Instead of siding with tenants and affordable housing advocates, Polis veto sent a clear message: He is more interested in protecting the interests of tech giants and property monopolies than defending Coloradans from predatory pricing schemes. The veto came at a time when rent has far outpaced wage growth, evictions remain at record highs, and corporate landlords have consolidated control of a significant portion of the rental housing market. In Colorado and across the nation, the implications of AI overreach extend far beyond housing. Polis is reconvening the Legislature for a special session to address the states severe budget shortfall. But the agenda also includes efforts to weaken or eliminate emerging AI regulations put into place by Senate Bill 24-205: Consumer Protections for Artificial Intelligence, scheduled to go into effect Feb. 1. This will mark a profound misalignment of priorities between state legislators and the executive branch at a time when tens of thousands of Coloradans are losing access to essential services. Drastic cuts to Medicaid, SNAP, child care assistance, and other safety net programs in the recently signed One Big Beautiful Bill have left many working families across Colorado reeling. Coupled with Colorados own budget shortfalls, a special session should be laser-focused on stabilizing public services and correcting the states dire budget trajectory. In a time of volatile federal preemptions and deepening budget constraints, the governors focus on deregulating AI, particularly in the housing sectors, is yet another troubling example of his alignment with corporate interests over the needs of Coloradans. Rather than enabling an industry that threatens affordability and consumer protections, Polis should use every opportunity, beginning with the special session, to fight for the well-being of the very people he was elected to serve. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) The Montgomery County grand jury has declined to indict eight police officers in a fatal shooting during a mental health check in October. The mother of Taylor Cotton, 24, first called 911 to request a mental health wellness check on her son at a home in the 1200 block of Rosedale Drive around 8:20 a.m. on Oct. 19, 2024. She told dispatch that her son had threatened to kill her. The mother soon after made a second call to 911 to report that her son had a firearm. In the background of the call, a voice believed to be Cottons said they wanted to have a shootout with the police. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Cotton left the home in a car with a shotgun. Multiple crews from Moraine, Kettering, the sheriffs office and more responded to the call and began to gather information from the mother. Around 8:40 a.m., Cotton returned in his car. He opened the drivers door but remained seated in the vehicle with the shotgun in his lap. Officials said the subject returned to the residence armed and making threats, prompting a county-wide call for assistance. Law enforcement attempted to deescalate the situation and get Cotton to put the gun down and exit the vehicle. Around 9:10 a.m., Cotton got out of the vehicle and aimed the shotgun at officers. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Six Dayton Police officers, one Moraine Police officer and one Montgomery County Sheriffs Deputy fired, hitting him multiple times. Cotton was pronounced dead at the scene. The shotgun was later found to have been unloaded. Due to the scope of the potential investigation, Montgomery County Prosecutor Mat Heck Jr. requested assistance from outside counties. Two Franklin County assistant prosecutors were appointed as special assistant prosecutors for the 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 WDTN.com. YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) A man arrested by Youngstown police in May, who reports said had a large amount of drugs, was indicted Thursday by a Mahoning County grand jury. Rodney Smith, 35, is charged with possession of fentanyl, a first-degree felony. It is not clear when he will be arraigned in common pleas court. He is free on bond following his initial appearance in Youngstown Municipal Court. The indictment stems from a May 27 arrest when a car Smith was a passenger in was pulled over by police on West Delason Avenue for an improper turn. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The driver of the car gave police permission to search it, and in the back seat, officers found a satchel that had a large bag of fentanyl inside, 35 fentanyl pills, two bags of crushed fentanyl pills and three bags of crack cocaine, according to a police report. Reports said Smith told police the bag belonged to him. The driver of the car was cited for a traffic violation and arrested on a warrant for driving under suspension. 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. YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) A man accused of attacking a neighbor who was doing yard work was indicted Thursday by a grand jury. Read next: Victims report carjacking, robbery in local Dunkin Donuts parking lot Marcus Cobb, 61, faces a charge of felonious assault, a second-degree felony. It is unclear when he will be arraigned. He has been free on $10,000 bond since his initial appearance July 7 in Youngstown Municipal Court. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Cobb was charged after a man called Youngstown police on June 24 to report that Cobb had attacked him while he was doing yard work. Police redacted the address where the alleged attack took place on an incident report. The man told police that Cobb was arguing with him and then ran back inside his house and came back with a metal pipe and hit him in the head several times. The man was taken to St. Elizabeth Health Center to be treated for injuries to his back, arms and head. Cobb had run away before police arrived. A warrant was issued for his arrest July 1. 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. GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) Sharks took up residence at the Grand Rapids Public Museum this summer. Now, theyve invaded the shelves of the citys libraries. The Grand Rapids Public Museum and the Grand Rapids Public Library have teamed up for a citywide shark scavenger hunt to celebrate the museums Sharks exhibit. The exhibit, created by the Australian Museum, is on display until Aug. 31. Bored this summer? Read, earn prizes from your local library Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It felt like it made the most sense that it would be a fun end-of-the-season rush, said Rob Schuitema, director of public programs at the GRPM. And it coincides also with getting ready for back to school and getting kids back into the swing of things. Theres a shark hidden inside each of the librarys eight branches. Scavenger hunt participants need to find each shark using the hunts clues and write down the species of each shark. After finding each shark and filling out the species list, participants can head to the museum for a prize. Play oversized Operation and other classic games at Grand Rapids Public Museum Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Schuitema hopes theyll also take the time to sign up for a library card, check out books on topics like sharks and the ocean or stop in to see the Sharks exhibit. He expects the hunt will take a few hours. Both the library and museum have other programs happening throughout the rest of the summer, like a STEAM day on Aug. 9 for the museums Summer Saturdays series or the librarys summer reading 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 WOODTV.com. The Air Force Academy has rolled out a new mission statement that drops the word "educate" and adds in a focus on winning wars. The statement was posted on the academy's website without consulting or informing the school's faculty. A grass fire in Northridge destroyed structures before it was knocked down Friday afternoon. The blaze broke out shortly before 2 p.m. behind a one-story home in the 9200 block of Encino Avenue, the Los Angeles Fire Department said in a news release. A fire threatened structures in Northridge on Aug. 8, 2025. (KTLA) A fire threatened structures in Northridge on Aug. 8, 2025. (KTLA) A fire threatened structures in Northridge on Aug. 8, 2025. (KTLA) It took just over an hour for 55 firefighters on the ground and helicopters dropping water from the air to extinguish the blaze, fire officials said in an update. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Three structures two sheds and an accessory dwelling unit were destroyed, as was much of the back yard. One firefighter sustained a significant hand laceration during the battle, fire officials said. In good condition, he will be transported to an area hospital for primary care. No other firefighter or civilian injuries were reported. The department said the cause of the fire remains under investigation, though a battalion chief at the scene told KTLA that its believed that a gardener using a weedwhacker ignited vegetation in the homes back yard. James Ramos 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 KTLA. SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) A Grateful Dead fan suffered a medical emergency while he was dancing at a Dead & Company concert in San Franciscos Golden Gate Park and died, according to his friends and family. The fan was identified by the San Francisco Chief Medical Examiner as Fred Cothard, 54, of Saint Joseph County, Michigan. Cothard was one of 60,000 people who attended shows last weekend celebrating 60 Years of the Grateful Deads timeless music. Cothard passed away on Sunday, August 3. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement His twin children, Sadie Cothard and Sawyer Cothard, are left feeling unimaginable grief. Sadie Cothard wrote on a GoFundMe page, Our dad was attending their 60th anniversary show in San Francisco when he suddenly collapsed. Even though this was sudden and we were not there with him, we take comfort in knowing that he was surrounded by thousands of his Dead family, and the music that he loved so much. His daughter wrote, Fred was an incredible father and friend to all. His love for us was endless. The fan attended the concert with a friend, Jody Leddy. They snapped a photograph smiling together just two hours before Fred Cothard collapsed while dancing to the song, They Love Each Other, according to Leddy. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia has childhood street named for him in San Francisco The Grateful Dead formed in San Franciscos Haight-Ashbury neighborhood in the mid-60s. Touring into the 90s, the band spawned legions of Dead Heads who would follow the band from gig to gig. Many fans who attended last weekends shows traveled from outside the Bay Area to soak in the music. 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. ATHENS (Reuters) -At least one person died and homes and farmlands were destroyed as wildfires stoked by gale-force winds broke out across Greece on Friday, from the southern outskirts of the capital Athens to regions near Ancient Olympia. A major blaze broke out in the small town of Keratea southwest of Athens. Firefighters discovered the body of an elderly man in a burned-out structure there, Greek Fire Brigade Spokesman Vassilis Vathrakogiannis said during a briefing. In the region of Ancient Olympia in the southwest of the country, huge flames devoured olive groves and forestland. Another fire broke out on the touristy island of Kefalonia. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Much of the region around Athens has seen barely a drop of rain in months. Wind gusts of up to 80 kilometres per hour fanned the flames, setting olive tree orchards alight. Homes were engulfed as locals wearing flimsy face masks assisted firefighters. Witnesses said the wind gusts were so strong that dousing some areas was near impossible. "The wind would push it back," a Keratea resident told Reuters. High winds are expected through the weekend and beyond. At Ancient Olympia, an extensive region in the western Peloponnese that includes the site of the first Olympic Games, firefighters were battling a blaze fanned by interchanging winds. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "If the wind doesn't die down we will have huge problems," Ancient Olympia vice-mayor Georgios Linardos told state broadcaster ERT. Gale-force winds caused extensive delays in the sailing of ferry boats from ports around Athens. On the island of Milos, two Vietnamese holidaymakers drowned at sea amid the high gusts, a coast guard official said. Greece and other Mediterranean countries are in an area dubbed "a wildfire hotspot" by scientists, with blazes common during hot and dry summers. These have become more destructive in recent years due to a fast-changing climate, prompting calls for a new approach. Parched southern France is currently facing its worst wildfire in decades, where fires are contained but not over. (Reporting by Ivana Sekularac, Daria Sito-Sucic, Edward McAllister and Michele Kambas; Editing by Mark Porter) Gov. Greg Abbott (R) threatened to push for even more GOP-leaning congressional seats in Texas if Democrats continue to block a mid-decade redistricting effort sought by President Donald Trump to give his party an edge in the 2026 midterm election. In an episode of the Ruthless Podcast released Friday, Abbott was asked how he expects the ongoing standoff with Democrats to end. The Democrats always come back, Abbott said. It could be tomorrow, it could be next week. It could be next month. Theyre going to come back or well be able to track them down. One way or the other, theyre coming back, and its going to end with these maps being passed. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement If they dont start showing up, I may start expanding it. We may make it six or seven or eight new seats were going to be adding on the Republican side, he continued. Dozens of Democrats have fled Texas, leaving the state GOP unable to establish the quorum of lawmakers needed to establish business and vote to approve the congressional map that would give Republicans five more GOP-leaning congressional seats in the Lone Star State ahead of the 2026 midterms. Subsequently, the GOP-controlled Texas House of Representatives issued civil arrest warrants for Democratic lawmakers who left the state, and Abbott called on state troopers to help find them and arrest them. Abbott has also filed a lawsuit to remove the chair of the Texas House Democratic Caucus. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) on Thursday said FBI Director Kash Patel approved his request to have FBI agents help locate the Democratic lawmakers who fled the state. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement While Abbott declined to say whether the FBI should have a role in ending the impasse, he told NBC News on Thursday evening that Republicans will use every tool that we can to make sure that these runaway Democrats are going to be held accountable. Abbott also defended the redistricting effort, citing the results of the 2024 presidential election, where Trump got over 56% of the vote. A lot of people who voted Republican, who voted for Donald Trump, were trapped into Democrat districts, Abbott told NBC. When you look at the facts, when you look at the law, there is every reason to go ahead and draw the lines so that we can assure that every voter is going to have the opportunity to vote for their candidate of choice. Republicans are looking to expand their redistricting push beyond Texas. Vice President JD Vance on Thursday visited Indiana, where he met with Gov. Mike Braun (R) and other local officials as part of a White House effort to pressure conservative states to redraw their maps. Meanwhile, the Republican speaker of the Florida House of Representatives created a redistricting committee. Related... A grieving mother unleashed an emotional, expletive-filled rant against her daughters killer during his sentencing, reported Law & Crime. On August 1, 34-year-old Maxwell Anderson was sentenced by a Milwaukee judge to life in prison without the possibility of parole after he was found guilty in June of the April 2024 murder of Sade Robinson, then 19. Anderson murdered and dismembered Robinson at his apartment after their first date. In the subsequent months, Robinsons body parts began washing up on local beaches. Her torso has never been found. The jury reached a quick verdict, partially due to incriminating photos on Andersons phone showing Robinson either passed out or deceased. In the photos, shes wearing the same clothes she can be seen wearing in CCTV footage of her and Andersons date earlier in the evening. There was also testimony from a confidential informant and friend of Anderson's who claimed that Anderson had been planning the murder for months, even showing him his plastic-wrapped basement and explaining how he planned to kill Robinson. Related: Authorities Searching for Prisoner After 'Organized' Escape At Andersons sentencing on Friday, Robinsons mother, Sheena Scrborough, tore into her daughters murderer. "My daughter referred to you as a man," Scarborough began. "You will never be a f---ing man. You're a p---y a-- b---h. Following that remark, the judge requested that Scarborough deliver the remainder of her statement to her. Calling the trial freaking torture, Scarborough claimed Anderson knew he was guilty but went ahead with a trial anyway. She also called out Andersons "negligent mammy and pappy, promising, Ill deal with them later. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Judge, I'm asking this demon be respectfully returned back to hell as soon as possible," Scarborough continued, adding that Maxwell f---ed with the wrong family." You will be eternally haunted," she concluded. "I know you cannot sleep at night. You will never get peace. You will never sleep." Despite the evidence and his conviction, Anderson is still proclaiming his innocence and has plans to appeal the verdict. "I did not commit these crimes," he said. I hope and pray that further investigations not only prove my innocence but find and deliver true justice." Related: 'Gangster Granny' Sentenced to Decades Behind Bars Grieving Mother Eviscerates Daughter's Killer at Sentencing first appeared on Men's Journal on Aug 6, 2025 Last summer, the Congressional Budget Office released a report under the unassuming name Budgetary Effects of Policies That Would Increase Hepatitis C Treatment. I read it because I am the type of person who is interested in the budgetary effects of policies that would increase hepatitis C treatment. Embedded in the report, though, was a point that will be important for just about anything the federal government tries to do to save the lives of Americans. Hep C is a nasty viral infection whose effects are, for a virus, unusually long-lasting. Untreated, it causes serious liver damage over the course of decades, leading to much higher rates of cirrhosis and liver cancer, all of which is very expensive to treat. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But in the 2010s, a number of extremely effective antivirals, which randomized trials show cure upwards of 95 percent of chronic infections, came on the market. Like most new drugs, these antivirals are under patent and quite expensive; as of 2020, the cost of an eight-to-twelve week course of the drugs, usually enough to cure an infection, was between $11,500 and $17,000. Yet CBO concludes that the drugs are so effective, and the costs of treating patients with hep C who havent been cured are so massive, that expanding treatment with these drugs reduces federal spending on hep C treatment and associated complications overall. Doubling the number of Medicaid patients getting the drugs would increase federal spending by $4 billion over 10 years. But over the same decade, the federal government would save $7 billion through reduced need for treatments like liver transplants and ongoing care for chronic cases. Put like that, this starts to sound like one of the rarest discoveries in federal budgeting: a free lunch. That means a policy that is good on its own merits (saving lives and preventing debilitating chronic disease) but also saves the government money. But the most interesting part of the report to me comes at the end. An increase in hepatitis C treatment could also affect the federal budget in other waysfor example, by leading to improved longevity and lower rates of disability, the authors note. The latter point is pretty straightforward: If hepatitis C leads to disabilities that make people eligible for disability insurance and subsidized health coverage, then reduced hep C means lower spending on those programs. But (and this is me speculating, so blame me and not the CBO if Im wrong) that effect is probably swamped by that of improved longevity. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Simply put: curing hep C means people live longer, which means they spend more years collecting Social Security, Medicare, and other benefits. That could mean that whatever cost savings the actual hep C treatment produces might be wiped out by the fact that the people whose lives are being saved will be cashing retirement checks for longer. I like to call it the Grim Reaper effect. The US runs a large budget deficit. It also provides far more generous benefits to seniors than to children or working-age adults. Per the Urban Institutes regular report on government spending for children, the ratio of per capita spending on senior citizens to per capita spending on children is over 5 to 1. Put together, the deficit and the elder-biased composition of federal spending implies something that is equally important and macabre: helping people live longer lives will, all else being equal, be bad for the federal budget. In an increasingly aging country, hep C is not the first place where the Grim Reaper effect has been felt, and it wont be the last. I dont have an easy fix for the situation, but it feels important to at least understand. Logans Run economics One of the first and clearest cases of this longevity dilemma in budgeting came with cigarettes. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The history of mass cigarette smoking in the US is surprisingly short. Per the CDC, American adults were only smoking 54 cigarettes annually per capita as of 1900. By 1963, that number had grown to 4,345. The development of automatic rolling machines, milder forms of tobacco, and mass marketing meant millions of working and middle-class Americans became pack-a-day smokers. But while the per capita average floated around 4,000 from the late 40s to the early 70s, it then began a precipitous decline. In 2022, the most recent year for which the Federal Trade Commission released data, Americans bought 173.5 billion cigarettes, or 667 per adult, less than a sixth of the peak, while fewer than 12 percent of American adults now smoke. Cigarettes are, of course, deadly, but they kill with a lag, usually after decades of regular smoking. That meant that in the late 1980s and 1990s, the US started to hit peak cigarette deaths, as adults who came of age during the smoking era started to get lung cancer and emphysema en masse, at numbers that less-addicted subsequent generations wouldnt match. The male death rate from lung cancer peaked in 1990, and the female death rate peaked in 1998. A flurry of economic research at the time tried to make sense of what this meant for the federal budget. Smoking harms your health. But it also shortens your lifespan. A useful 1998 Congressional Budget Office report noted that most research found that, over their lives, smokers spend more in health care costs (including more that goes on the federal tab) than non-smokers, even accounting for their shorter lifespans. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But that picture changed once you added in pensions and other non-health spending. Economists John Shoven, Jeffrey Sundberg, and John Bunker in 1989 estimated that the average male smoker saved Social Security $20,000 (about $60,000 today) in benefits not paid. The figure for women, who live longer than men on average but earn less in wages and thus in Social Security, was about half that. It seems likely that the Federal budget currently benefits from smoking, two Congressional Research Service researchers concluded in 1994, when the benefits of early death to Social Security and Medicare were included. Malcolm Gladwell, in a thoughtful 1990 treatment of the problem in the Washington Post, was catchier: Not Smoking Could be Hazardous to Pension System. Decades later, the CBO did a fuller analysis of the budgetary consequences of smoking in the aftermath of the large cigarette tax increase President Obama signed in early 2009 and proposals for further hikes. At first blush, the revenue raised from a cigarette tax should be easy to estimate: multiply annual cigarette sales by the amount of the tax. But obviously raising the price of the good will reduce the amount people buy; one major reason for cigarette taxes, after all, is to deter smoking. The CBO used a price elasticity of -0.3, meaning that a 10 percent increase in cigarette prices reduces the number sold by 3 percent. But the 2012 report was meant to go a step or two further, according to then-director Doug Elmendorf, who explained the backstory in a recent conversation with me. The effects of making people healthier are good for those people, obviously, but also perhaps good for the federal budget because the federal government pays for a lot of health care. If youre healthier, you dont need so much health care. But at the same time, It was clear that if people were healthier, they would live longer, and that could have budgetary costs. It wasnt obvious offhand what the balance of those effects would be. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The 2012 CBO report tried to put all these effects together: the effect of lower smoking on reducing health-care spending (including government-funded spending) due to a healthier population, the effect on Social Security and other benefit spending from resulting longer lifespans, the effect of lower smoking rates on wages, and tax revenue from those wages. (The latter is often not included in formal CBO scores, as it tips closer to dynamic scoring where the effect of legislation on the overall economy is included.) Over the first 10 years after a hike in the cigarette tax, they found that having a healthier population was more of a blessing than a curse, budget-wise. The health effects of a cigarette tax hike reduced federal health spending by over $900 million over a decade, even after accounting for people living longer and claiming more years of Medicare. By contrast, retirement programs only spent $183 million more because people lived longer. Swamping all that was a $2.9 billion increase in tax revenue from a healthier population capable of working and earning more. But thats just the 10-year effect. As the decades pass, the effect of longevity would grow and grow. First, Medicare costs would start to rise, as the cost of a longer-lived population began to swamp the cost savings of that population being healthier overall. (Even people whove been healthy for a long time can run up major health spending at the end of their now longer lives.) Social Security costs would keep rising, too. Fifty years in, these costs would overwhelm the benefits, and the cigarette taxs health effects would start costing the budget, on average. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The point isnt cigarette taxes are good or cigarette taxes are bad. The point is that even a policy that saves lives isnt necessarily a slam dunk from the hard-eyed perspective of budget policy. Recent years provided a possibly even darker example. In 2022, the Medicare Trustees pushed back the date they expected the programs Hospital Insurance Trust Fund to be depleted by two years. They had several reasons, but a major one was that Covid-19 had killed hundreds of thousands of Medicare patients prematurely. Not only that, but Medicare beneficiaries whose deaths were identified as related to COVID had costs that were much higher than the average Medicare beneficiary prior to the onset of the pandemic. Put another way: Covid killed off Medicares sickest, and most expensive, enrollees. That meant the program was left with an overall healthier population, which by itself lowered medical costs by 2.9 percent in 2021. Similarly, a paper by a team of health economists earlier this year estimated that the 1.4 million excess deaths in the US due to Covid had the net effect of boosting the Social Security trust fund to the tune of $156 billion. That represented $219 billion in benefits that no longer needed to be sent, minus $44 billion in lower payroll tax revenues and $25 billion in new benefits to surviving family members. It all reminds one of Logans Run, in which people are killed off upon hitting age 30 lest they take up too many of societys resources. That movie is a dystopia but as a budget proposal, itd score very well. Its good to save lives, actually The economists and agencies doing this math are, of course, only doing their jobs. We need to know what government programs will cost over the near- and long-run. These effects on health and life and death matter to those calculations. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Members of Congress regularly thought that we were ghoulish for talking about how, if people live longer, therell be higher benefits for Social Security, Elmendorf recalls. But its not ghoulish. Obviously, we want to live longer and members of Congress should try to help all Americans live longer. CBOs job an analysts job in general is just to be honest about the likely effects. But the fact that increased human longevity on its own worsens the budget picture should lead to some reflection. For one thing, it suggests that sometimes we should embrace policies simply because theyre the right thing to do, even if they dont pay for themselves. Recall the hepatitis C treatments that prevent expensive long-term expenses for Medicaid, but might add on new costs by extending the benefits lifespans. Its possible that, upon taking the latter into account, expanding access to hep C drugs costs the government money on net. Its a free lunch no longer. Thats not a reason not to embrace the policy, though. Lots of things the government does cost money. The military doesnt pay for itself. K12 schools dont pay for themselves. Smithsonian Museums dont pay for themselves. That doesnt mean those arent important functions that it makes sense to put some of our tax dollars toward. Hep C treatment, I think, fits in that list, even if its not literally free from a budget standpoint. Congress should also allow agencies like the CBO to do more to symmetrically account for the positive budgetary effects of longevity, along with the negatives. People who live longer, after all, often earn wages in those new years of life, wages that generate income and payroll tax revenues for the federal government. Moreover, people at the end of their careers are earning more money and hence paying more taxes than young people, meaning life extension helping people in their 50s and 60s might be especially good for tax revenue. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The problem is that the CBO generally considers how many workers paying taxes are there to be an economic effect and only considers it in special dynamic scores of legislation, in which the economic consequences of them are taken into account. Dynamic scoring has been a topic of great controversy for decades, going back at least to the Bush II administration, but the rule Congress sets for CBO on when to use dynamic scoring results in CBO applying dynamic scoring very rarely in practice. A middle ground option, though, would be something called population change scoring, in which CBO considers the direct effects of a change in the population (through longer lifespans, say, or immigration) on the level of employment and tax revenue, without doing a full, more complicated dynamic score. That would make its accounting of the effects of longer lives less biased: the budgetary benefits would be counted alongside the costs. We should also consider the aspects of our budget situation that make the longevity effect a reality. One is the USs long-standing, bipartisan choice to run massive budget deficits, even during relative boom times. One arithmetic consequence of that choice is that it makes the continued existence of every American a net loss for the countrys books. Thats not the main reason to avoid large deficits during booms, but its a somewhat toxic byproduct all the same. The other aspect driving this effect is the choice to invest government resources very heavily in seniors relative to other age groups. This is due in large measure to the US choice to provide universal health care for seniors but not other age groups, and due to our lack of investment in very young children and working-age adults compared to other rich nations. There is no law of nature saying the US has to weigh its priorities that way. As long as we do, the numbers will imply that its better for the budget for people to die before they get old. GRIMES, Iowa Court documents reveal a Grimes man struck his two-month-old daughter more than 40 times with as much force as he could earlier this week, leaving the child in serious condition and on life support. Dylan Brown Dylan Brown, 23, is being held in the Polk County Jail on charges of felony child endangerment-serious injury, felony domestic abuse assault impeding air/blood flow, and two counts of felony willful injury-causing serious injury. His bond is set at $250,000 cash-only. Names of victims killed in western Iowa shooting, home explosion released Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Polk County Sheriffs Office said the charges stem from an incident in the early morning hours of August 7th, when emergency responders were called to a residence in the 600 block of NE Jacob Street on a report of a two-month-old not breathing. The baby was transported to a local hospital with serious injuries. Thursday night, Brown was arrested in the case. Court documents said the mother of the child awoke to Brown hitting the baby. When she tried to stop him, he hit her in the head and chased her out of the bedroom. Brown is accused of strangling the woman from a Bear Hug position until she passed out. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The complaints also said Brown admitted to striking the baby all over the body, more than 40 times. Officials said the victim, has injuries to the brain, vagina, left arm and temple. No contact orders have been granted to protect the mother and baby. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for August 18th. Metro 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. CHICAGO (WGN) Two groping incidents at West Ridge Nature Park have prompted an alert from the area Ward Office. The 40th Ward Office on Thursday shared that it had been notified of two incidents this week involving a man approaching women in West Ridge Nature Park. According to the office, police are investigating after the man allegedly followed the woman and inappropriately touched them. As a result, West Ridge Nature Park will have additional police presence and surveillance. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Residents are encouraged to remain vigilant and call 911 if they fear for their safety. In an update Friday, Chicago police described the suspect as a male, 20-45 years of age, standing between 57-511, heavy set, with long black hair, and a black beard. The suspect wore a dark colored blue sweater, black sweatpants, and Nike sandals during the first incident, police said. The male suspect wore a flannel shirt and pants during the second incident. Read more: Latest Chicago news and headlines West Ridge Nature Park is located at 5801 N. Western Avenue in the citys Lincoln Square neighborhood. 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. Blue Lard by Vladimir Sorokin (trans. Max Lawton) New York Review, 358 pp., $18.95 HOW FAR DOES AN AMBITIOUS WRITER have to go to outrage his readersor for that matter, the mob of censorious semiliterates who wouldnt dream of reading anything so corrupt as a modern novel but who have heard tell of such goings-on and demand a stop to them, or even bay for the blood of the vile perpetrator? William S. Burroughs in Naked Lunch (1959) retails the adventures of a longtime addict to just about every sporting drug there is. Teaching that junkies are impervious to the repugnance of others, he proceeds to bombard the innocent reader with repugnant matter in unprecedented abundance. In Thomas Pynchons Gravitys Rainbow (1973), sex and death are boon companions, as Nazi rocket strikes on London home in on Lieutenant Tyrone Slothrops trysting places, while the elderly General Pudding, who cannot forget the mud of Passchendaele, decorated with putrefying corpses, now engages in ritual coprophagy with the demonic Mistress of the Night, his choking ecstasies described with truly repellent lubricity. (The brigadier winds up dying of a massive E. coli infection, which I suppose makes Pynchon something of a moralist in spite of himself.) Then of course there is the case of Salman Rushdie, whose sendup of the Prophet in The Satanic Verses (1988) was adjudged by Sharia severity to be worthy of death; and more than three decades later, a devout Muslim assassin found the novelist in a vulnerable position, struck, stabbed him more than a dozen times, blinded him in one eye, and nearly killed him. These authors offenses against decency are minor, however, when set beside the blasphemies and assorted other acts of sacrilege by the Russian writer Vladimir Sorokin (born 1955). He swears by all that is unholy to Mother Russia, and indeed repulsive to most normal people everywhere. No piety, religious, political, cultural, survives his onslaught. His artistic plan of attack is simple and straightforward: raise the Jolly Roger, rape, pillage, plunder, slit throats, and take no prisoners. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Sorokin has written fourteen books, ten of which so far have been translated into Englishmost recently his 1999 novel, Blue Lard, rendered with emetic gusto by the American novelist and musician Max Lawton. Soviet censors banned Sorokins early works. More lenient authorities in subsequent years allowed him to publish, but the multitudes were not pleased. When Blue Lard appeared in Russia, the populace called for the authors head on a sharp stick. Muscovite demonstrators on the side of Putinesque virtue gathered at the Bolshoi Theatera key locale in the novel, subjected to memorable desecrationripped up copies of the malefactors books, and hurled the remains into a large papier-mache toilet. Two years later Sorokin was awarded the Andrei Bely Prize for notable achievement in Russian literature. Get 30 day free trial As nettlesome in the present regimes eyes as a slew of renegade oligarchs, Sorokin is prudent enough to take up residence outside his native landin Berlin, the world capital of hipster cool, where avant-garde audacity goes to party. But to be compelled by fear to leave his home behind must be an ordeal for a writer who so clearly has Russia on his mind and in his blood. Will he get his own back in the end, and be remembered one day in a civilized Russia after the ferret-faced psychopath currently occupying the Kremlin is forgotten? For Sorokin styles himself the flamboyant ingrate heir to the Russian literary tradition. Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Chekhov write in order to make Sorokins nihilist misadventures possible, and he treats them all with slaphappy contempt, as a mad potentate would his hunchbacked court jester. A mid-twenty-first-century scientific operation in the wilds of Siberia has cloned seven iconic writersthe three mentioned above, as well as Vladimir Nabokov, Boris Pasternak, Anna Akhmatova, and Andrei Platonov. The cloned geniuses are set to work: They produce parodies of the original texts, and although Sorokin appears to be enjoying himself enormously, this comic turn of his goes on to the point of dreariness. But then the purpose of the clones writing is not literary excellenceit is the manufacture of blue lard, a miraculous superinsulator whose temperature remains perfectly steady whatever the circumstances, and is intended for the construction of a reactor on the moon that will plus-directly solve the problem of perpetual energy. The fabulous stuff accumulates around the subjects kidneys as they write. They had to be good for something. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A terrorist attack by the Order of the Earth-Fuckers of Russia, a millenarian neo-Zoroastrian sect, brings a bloody end to the scientists whorish project; the OEFR has its own uses for the blue lard. The estimable minds of the order propel through the funnel of time and encased in ice one of their most sacred members, a gargantuan baby boy (Babe) with mega-gargantuan genitalia, to Moscow in 1954. There the Babe will exchange the blue lard for that which your brothers have now been yearning for forty-two years: the cataclysmic end of the universe. This time-and-space-traveling Babe arrives on the stage of the Bolshoi Theatre in the midst of the gala concert for the opening of the All-Russia House of Free Love. Share Soviet history has taken a peculiar tack in Sorokins telling. Although Stalin as we know him died in 1953, here he is alive and well a year later. His situation is not altogether a happy one: Familial mores distress him, for his two sons are transvestites of an extravagant bent, and his wife has been having an affair with Boris Pasternak, who just dumped her. For consolation the dictator seeks the tender embraces of Count Nikita Khrushchev. After Stalin has watched Khrushchev torture a man to death, and the fortunate pair has feasted on the tenderloin from around this latest victims kidneys, the boys get down to it: Khrushchev French-kissed him between his shoulder-blades, then, moving his lips to Stalins ear, whispered, What is the little boy afraid of? The fat worm. . . Stalin sobbed. Where does the fat worm live? In the nice mans pants. What does the worm want? To break free. To break free and go where? The worm goes where such worms like to go, so that these world-weary masters of Russia might enjoy a brief respite from their consuming concerns: To forget . . . to forget everything, my little boy. An account of the action follows in elaborate detail. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The historical funhouse mirror transformations hold some other surprises. Stalin joined forces with Hitler to defeat the Allies in the Second World War, as together they launched a nuclear attack on London to end the conflict. All Europe is theirs, while the United States remains the sole democratic holdout, protected by distance so far; but the lords of the unfree world gleefully anticipate the day when they will have enough hydrogen bombs to devastate America at one glorious go. Predictably, there are more disturbing sexual episodes when Stalin and his family come to Berchtesgaden, with Hitler raping Stalins daughter with Sade-like inventiveness. But of course you knew all along these were bad guys. Get 30 day free trial The villainous political men are not the only ones put through Sorokins wringer. The virtuous sworn enemies of Stalinismlegendary heroes and heroines of courageous dissentsuffer the authors lampoonery as well. Perhaps the most disgusting episode in the novel involves the poet Anna Akhmatovahere a decrepit crazy hag, Triple Aand her quest for a worthy successor. Even the shining lights of Russian culture at its best are blackened by Sorokins savage comedy. After this, how the novel ends is a matter of small importance. As the translator writes in An Extroduction, Sorokin himself was at a loss to explain just what happens, and seemed to venerate even his own incomprehension of Blue Lard. What Sorokin does want the reader to understand is that every sanctity is up for grabs in modern Russia, and that sanctimony is the one unforgivable offense against this truth. None escapes whipping in Sorokins hellbent romp, and one senses the immensity of the challenge he set himself, even if the result proves rather too exorbitantly repugnant and even something of a bore in the end. Send this review to a friend who needs a moment of respite from real-life filth: Share CHARLOTTE (QUEEN CITY NEWS) A Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools employee is facing a felony charge after two firearms were discovered in his fanny pack on school property, according to Mecklenburg County court documents. Records state the incident happened Thursday morning, August 7, at Butler High School. A CMS employee found a fanny pack inside the schools learning center. While checking the bag for any identification to return it to its owner, the employee reportedly found a pistol inside. The discovery was reported to the school principal, who was able to identify the bags owner as Justin Parker Moyer, who is listed as the high school academics facilitator at Butler High School in court records. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Charlotte middle school football coach accused of inappropriately touching 13-year-old student Moyer reportedly admitted to owning the bag and the firearms found. Court documents said the fanny pack contained a .380 semi-automatic Glock pistol and a North American Arms .22-caliber Derringer. CMPD said Moyer has a valid concealed carry permit issued in Cabarrus County and told police the weapons were for personal protection. Despite the permit, North Carolina law prohibits firearms on school campuses, even for those with concealed carry licenses. As a result, Moyer has been charged with felony possession of a weapon on educational property. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools confirmed with Queen City News that Moyer has been suspended with pay following his arrest. He was first hired with CMS in 2013. Moyer was recently released on a written promise to appear in court. He had his first court appearance on Friday afternoon, Aug. 8. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools sent this message to families: Good Afternoon Butler High School families, this is Principal Blakeney. Today, a staff member brought a gun to campus as discovered and reported by another staff member. We immediately contacted law enforcement and an investigation is underway. At the time of the discovery, students were on the extremities of the campus for sports and other extracurriculars. No students were involved or harmed. No staff were harmed. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Possession of a weapon of any kind in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools is a violation of CMS board policy and has serious consequences. Anyone in violation will be disciplined accordingly. In preparation for the start of each school year, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools conducts a review and updates all safety protocols. As always, the safety and well-being of our students and staff is our top priority, therefore we encourage all students and staff to report weapons or threats immediately. Reports can also be made anonymously through the Say Something App. Thank you for your continued support of Butler High School. MORE FROM QCNEWS.COM Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools 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 Queen City News. Influential conservative Charlie Kirk, a new member of the Air Force Academy Board of Visitors, called for accelerating the restoration of the chapel during a meeting Thursday because the work is expected to stretch into 2028. The renovation that started at the end of 2019 is aimed at fixing the chronic leaking that has plagued the building since the 1960s. New aluminum panels are planned to prevent leaking and eliminate the need for storm windows that were installed as a stop-gap measure after the building was completed. Kirk raised his concern about the chapel after meeting with cadets and hearing how some are disappointed they will have attended the school for four years without ever having the opportunity to go into the building. He asked the academy's administration to provide the board with a list of the what is needed to get the work done more quickly so they can advocate on behalf of the project. "I think nine years is outrageous," said Kirk, who is the founder of Turning Point USA, a conservative organization. Kirk said he would love to finish the project ahead of the current timeline to surprise some cadets. The chapel, modeled after the European cathedrals such as Chartres and Notre Dame, has been underneath a large white box during construction in recent years to protect it. The box allowed crews to remove the skin of the building as part of the remodel. Restoring the chapel for Interstate 25 travelers to enjoy is also important, Kirk said. "It's an unbelievable beacon of hope and of unity," he said. Gen. Tony Bauernfeind said the project could move faster with additional focus and resources. "We would love to swarm this and accelerate this," he said. The restoration of the building was expected to cost $250 million, The Gazette reported last year. The chapel was originally built for $3.54 million. The price tag was driven by the complexity of the building. The next major construction project for the academy is likely to be Sijan Hall, based on a presentation by Col. Ahave Brown, the new commander of the 10th Air Base Wing. Sijan Hall, built in 1968, is expected to need a major remodel to upgrade its heating, electrical, plumbing and fire protection systems, the Gazette reported last year. It also needs work to renovate window walls, bathrooms, cadet rooms and workspaces. Its a six-story building with 625,000 square feet housing 891 dorm rooms. Haiti has appointed businessman Laurent Saint-Cyr as the head of its transitional presidential council as the country continues to battle rampant gang violence, corruption and economic insecurity. Saint-Cyrs inauguration ceremony took place on Thursday at the Villa dAccueil, a colonial-style mansion in a suburb of the capital, Port-au-Prince. We must restore state authority, Saint-Cyr said at the ceremony. The challenges we face are certainly linked to insecurity, but they also are the result of our lack of courage, a lack of vision and our irresponsibility. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But even the location of Saint-Cyrs inauguration was a sign of the instability Haiti faced. The federal government has been largely displaced from downtown Port-au-Prince, where gangs control nearly 90 percent of the city. On Thursday morning, one prominent gang leader, Jimmy Barbecue Cherizier, even pledged to disrupt Saint-Cyrs inauguration. We have decided to march on the premiers office and the Villa dAccueil to end it all, Cherizier said in a video posted online. He called on Port-au-Princes residents to assist him and his fighters in their approach of the mansion: People of Haiti, take care of yourselves and help us. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But Cherizier was ultimately not successful. A security mission backed by the United Nations and led by Kenya issued a statement explaining that police officers had increased their patrols in the area. Armed gangs had plotted to disrupt national stability and render the country ungovernable, the statement said, asserting that law enforcement had successfully deterred those efforts. Supporters celebrate the appointment of Laurent Saint-Cyr to the transitional presidential council in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on August 7 [Odelyn Joseph/AP Photo] Saint-Cyrs appointment, however, has drawn scrutiny for what it symbolises in the conflict-torn country. Both Saint-Cyr and Haitis prime minister, Alix-Didier Fils-Aime, are light-skinned, mixed-race businessmen who made their fortunes in the private sector. Saint-Cyr worked in the insurance industry, while Fils-Aime led an internet company. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The majority of Haitians, however, are Black, with only 5 percent of the population identifying as mixed race. The country itself is the poorest in Latin America. Some critics fear the leadership of figures like Saint-Cyr could herald a slide backwards for Haitis government, where power has long been concentrated among the rich and lighter-skinned. The country has not held a presidential election since 2016, and turmoil in the country increased following the 2021 assassination of Jovenel Moise. Criminal networks have exploited the power vacuum to expand their own influence, while denouncing the remaining government leadership as inefficient and corrupt. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Though the presidential council was only formed in April 2024, by the end of that year, three of its members had been accused of corruption, though they denied wrongdoing. The transitional presidential council is considered to be widely unpopular, and its nine members have been rotating into the leadership position. Saint-Cyr is meant to be the final head of the council before it completes its task of holding a presidential election on February 7, 2026. At that point, Saint-Cyr and the council are expected to hand off power to the elections victor. Elections for roles in the federal government are expected to unfold in three stages, starting in November and ending with Februarys presidential race. But critics warn gang violence could thwart those plans. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The United Nations estimates that 4,864 people in Haiti were killed from October 2024 to June of this year. Threats of violence have forced essential services to shut down, including hospitals and roadways, and nearly 1.3 million people have been displaced from their homes. The humanitarian situation in Haiti is considered among the most dire in the world, and Saint-Cyr called on the international community to respond with further resources. I invite all international partners to increase their support, send more soldiers, provide more training, Saint-Cyr said at Thursdays ceremony. I am asking the security forces to intensify their operations. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ambassadors from several foreign countries were in attendance. He directed some of his remarks at them. Our country is going through one of the greatest crises in all its history, Saint-Cyr said. Its not the time for beautiful speeches. Its time to act. The Palestinian Islamist group Hamas has condemned Israel's plan to seize Gaza City as a "full-fledged war crime." The move was "part of Israel's ongoing policy of genocide and forced displacement" and formed part of a "brutal practice of ethnic cleansing against our Palestinian people," the group said in a statement on Friday. Israels Security Cabinet, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, earlier decided that the military should take control of Gaza City, marking a major expansion in the 22-month Israel-Hamas war. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Civilians would be expected to move to other areas of the blockaded coastal strip before Israeli forces enter. The timing of the major military operation is not clear. Hamas claimed Netanyahu's government was indifferent to the fate of the hostages, saying: "They know that expanding the aggression means sacrificing them." The decision, Hamas said, explained why Israel had pulled out at the last moment from indirect talks aimed at securing a ceasefire and a swap of hostages for Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. Hamas said that it remained open to a negotiated settlement, including a comprehensive deal for the release of all hostages being held by militants and an end to the war in one step. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Netanyahu has so far pursued only a phased agreement involving the release of some hostages while keeping open the option of continuing the war. Hamas has rejected that approach, demanding guarantees for a full end to the conflict. The war was triggered by the October 7, 2023, massacre in Israel carried out by Hamas and other extremists from Gaza, in which 1,200 people were killed and 250 taken hostage. JOHANNESBURG (AP) A South African court on Friday ruled in favor of the government of Zambia and ordered that it can repatriate the remains of its former president and bury him in his home country, against his family's wishes. The Zambian government and the family of the late Edgar Lungu, Zambian president from 2015 to 2021, have been embroiled in a legal battle over his remains and burial. Lungu died in June, aged 68, at a South African hospital following an undisclosed illness. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement His family wanted him to be buried in South Africa and for the current President Hakainde Hichilema neither to attend his funeral nor be involved in its arrangements. The family said it was Lungu's final wish that Hichilema should not get anywhere near his burial, but the Zambian government went to court to stop him from being buried in South Africa. The court ruled on Friday that Zambia had the authority to hold a state funeral for its former leader. The court noted that the Zambian courts have previously emphasized that a state funeral is a matter of public interest and protocol for a person of national significance. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Such that even if a president has expressed a desire not to be given a state funeral, such a wish must be overridden by public interest, said Judge President Aubrey Ledwaba. Lungu's family applied for leave to appeal the ruling on Friday, but they will have to convince the same court that made the order that there are reasonable prospects for a different outcome. Lungu and Hichilema were sworn political rivals. Their conflict led to Hichilemas imprisonment in 2017, when Lungu was president. Last year, Lungu accused Hichilemas government of using police to harass him and restrict his movements. His family also said the government had initially prevented him from traveling to South Africa for treatment, a charge the government denied. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Zambia's Attorney General Mulilo Kabesha welcomed the ruling, telling reporters that he hoped it would bring the matter to a close even though the family still had a right to appeal. This is not winning. You don't win over a burial. It's just what makes good sense, that the former president of the Republic of Zambia should be buried in his own country, the country where he was president, said Kabesha. __ Jacob Zimba in Lusaka contributed to this report. ____ APs Africa coverage at: https://apnews.com/hub/africa More than 100 calls related to gunfire, drug transactions, drunkenness, fighting, illegal gambling, and breaches of the peace over five years led Metro Nashville police to padlock and shut down 404 Bar and Grill on Aug. 7. Around 10 a.m., crews boarded up the windows, hung a banner that said "Closed by Court Order" and confiscated gambling machines from the South Nashville restaurant, the Tennessean previously reported. The restaurant had "continued issues and calls for service over the last five years draining resources from Midtown Hills Precinct," Metro police said in a post on X. BREAKING: Specialized Investigations Division detectives this morning are padlocking the 404 Bar & Grill, 404 Elysian Fields Rd, following continued issues & calls for service over the last 5 years draining resources from Midtown Hills Precinct. pic.twitter.com/c7VaOAHykt Metro Nashville PD (@MNPDNashville) August 7, 2025 Here's what else to know about the closure. Why did Nashville police close 404 Bar and Grill? Criminal Court Judge Steve Dozier issued a temporary injunction and padlocking order for 404 Bar and Grill, after being a "drain on police resources for years," said police. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The men and women of the Midtown Hills Precinct, in coordination with other components, work very hard to serve the residents and businesses in this particular area," said Metro Police Chief John Drake in a statment. "Having to respond to the same place for many of the same issues over and over again, over a period of years, isnt right," he added. "Enough is enough. According to allegations from the Metro Nashville Police Department and the District Attorneys Office, the bars owners and operators exhibited "reckless disregard" and "deliberate indifference" toward the rights of neighboring property owners and their own patrons. Metro Nashville police padlocked and shut down 404 Bar & Grill Aug. 7, citing continued issues including gunfire, drug transactions and gambling. Midtown Hills Commander Sean Richmond said the business has been a public nuisance. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Over the course of five years, we've responded to approximately 123 calls for service at this location," Richmond said during a news conference. "Officers have conducted 314 extra patrols at this location. That's very labor intensive on the police department. This takes officers away from high priority emergencies when people call in." Police found 15 gambling machines inside the restaurant, Richmond said. Richmond added the department's goal in shuttering the business is to increase the quality of life for community members. "It is our message to businesses in this community: We want you to be part of this community and do so legally, and build on the quality of life that every Nashvillian deserves," he said. " We really want everyone to have a good quality of life and this business was not interested in that." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Richmond said no criminal charges have been filed but that the investigation is ongoing. Business owners have a court hearing scheduled for Aug. 11. The court order shuttering the business prohibits the owners of the restaurant and the owners of the property from going onto the premises, according to the police. What happened at 404 Bar and Grill? Metro Nashville Police padlocked the 404 Bar & Grill for being a public nuisance Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. According to police, 404 Bar and Grill has been repeatedly linked to incidents involving fighting, gunfire, assaults, drug violations, loud music, vandalism, and inadequate security. Some of the assault calls came when security personnel, not licensed by the state, assaulted patrons, Richmond said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In 2024, Metro officers attempted to disrupt drug activity involving a known MS-13 gang member in a nearby parking lot, said police. The suspect fled, prompting a pursuit during which shots were fired at officers from the vehicle. The individual was later apprehended that night. The Metropolitan Beer Board has also investigated the bar for multiple violations, including the sale of alcohol to at least three underage individuals, said police. Nearby businesses and residential property managers have voiced ongoing concerns about the bar. In response, the police department held a community meeting last November to address these issues. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Although representatives from 404 Bar & Grill were invited, none attended, said police. Where is 404 Bar and Grill located? 404 Bar and Grill is located at 404 Elysian Fields Road. What other establishments have been padlocked, closed by Nashville police? In June 2024, Nashville police raided the Star Market in the 1600 block of Buchanan Street and designated it "closed by court order." Nashville officers responded to the store more than 400 times over a five year period for gun violence, assaults and other crimes, the Tennessean reported. Business owners Bolis Boktor and Basem Farag were charged with money laundering, organized retail crime and attempted theft of property in connection with a scheme where they allegedly purchased stolen goods from shoplifters and resold them in their store. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to police, the operation fueled organized retail theft and contributed to rising costs of groceries and consumer goods by creating a market for stolen merchandise. Boktor and Farag later pleaded guilty, and the District Attorneys Office deemed Star Market eligible to reopen. In 2023, police raided and padlocked 3000 Bar Nashville located at 1516-A Demonbreun St. after years of public nuisance complaints and calls for fights, shootings and assaults. Tennessean reporter Kirsten Fiscus contributed to this report Diana Leyva covers trending news and service journalism for the Tennessean. Contact her at Dleyva@gannett.com or follow her on X at @_leyvadiana This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: What happened at 404 Bar and Grill? Why Nashville bar was shut down NEW MEXICO (KRQE) Check out community events around New Mexico from August 8 to 14. Albuquerque New Mexico August 8 Fringe Film Festival From 6 to 9 p.m. in Taos, explore bold and brilliant queer cinema at the Fringe Film Festival. Featuring a curated selection of local and international films that push boundaries, tell untold stories, and celebrate LGBTQ+ voices. August 8-17 San Juan County Fair Events in Farmington include a parade, rodeo, competitions, vendor booths, livestock shows, games, rides, and more. More information is available online. August 9 High Desert Flow Festival Join Rio Rancho for a day of healing, joy, and community in the heart of the high desert. This vibrant celebration will feature dance, yoga, qigong, sound baths, a curated vendor market offering wellness products, handmade goods, holistic services, shaded spaces, kids welcome, and lots of good vibes. This festival is from 2 to 7 p.m. August 9 Summer 2025 Arts & Crafts Fair Los Alamos Arts Council and Fuller Lodge Art Centers Annual Summer Craft fair is right around the corner and just in time to beat the back-to-school blues. Visit the Fuller Lodge Lawn to peruse from over 100 vendors, crafters, and end summer with a bang from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. August 9 Enchanted Circle This bicycle tour offers participants the opportunity to ride some of the most scenic areas in the southwest, through Taos, Angel Fire, Questa, Red River, and Eagle Nest. On both the 85- and 100-mile courses, cyclists will experience rewarding climbs, rolling hills, fast descents, and hairpin turns. The tour includes full route support, stocked aid stations, music, food, and libations. August 9 Full Moon Night at White Sands National Park Join Ruidoso Parks & Rec for a magical full-moon evening at White Sands National Park. Enjoy hiking, stargazing, and stunning dune views from 6 to 11 p.m. August 9 Otero County Farmers Market Check out the only year-round farmers market in the area with many local farmers, crafters, bakers, and more, exclusively from Otero County. This event occurs every Saturday from 8:30 to 11 a.m. August 9 Splash Bash Visit Hobbs for a day of slides, bouncy houses, water games, DJ music, food trucks, and more. This event is from 12 to 6 p.m. August 10 Santa Fe Bike Fest Calling all two-wheeled ridersklunkers, cargos, customs, and more. Line up, swap stories, and show off the wear and tear. No podiums, just well-loved bikes, fun prizes, and plenty of gawking, high-fives, and tire pressure debates. If it rolls and has a story, it belongs. This event starts at 5 p.m. August 12-16 Curry County Fair Events in Clovis include live music, rides, rodeo, contests, performances, and more. More information is available online. Albuquerque Notices Albuquerque Animal Welfare says HEART ordinance updates will help enforce the law New city rules are cracking down on people illegally selling puppies and kittens on Albuquerques streets and in parking lots. Those rules give clear authority to the City of Albuquerques Animal Welfare Department to seize pets for sale. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Whats happening at Expo New Mexico this August? The New Mexico State Fair is coming the first weekend of September at Expo New Mexico. Before the fair begins, Expo is home to a variety of events happening throughout August. APS leaders discuss gun safety going into new school year Classes begin for many Albuquerque schools this Thursday. And in the wake of rising rates of guns on campuses, the Albuquerque Public Schools is ramping up safety and security on campus. Albuquerque makes DOJs sanctuary jurisdictions list The United States Justice Department published a list of sanctuary jurisdictions around the country and threatened legal action against them. Albuquerque was included in the list of cities. I-25 northbound offramp at Paseo del Norte frontage road to close overnight The I-25 northbound offramp for the Paseo del Norte frontage road will be closed on Tuesday from 8 p.m. to 3 a.m. on Wednesday. The New Mexico Department of Transportation said the closure is for an attenuator replacement. The westbound flyover will stay open. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Celebrating 20 years of helping women coming out of incarceration The nonprofit, A Peaceful Habitation, aims to empower, encourage, and enlighten women in transition from incarceration back to the community. The organization has a transitional home for women and a wellness center that offers resources for men, women, and families. This year, A Peaceful Habitation is celebrating its 20th anniversary. Community invited to open house at New Mexico Coalition Against Domestic Violence The New Mexico Coalition Against Domestic Violence is inviting the community to an open house at their new office later this month. Partners, advocates, and elected officials are also welcome to attend. Over $7.5 million appropriated to affordable housing projects in downtown Albuquerque, Barelas Albuquerque city councilors passed a resolution Monday night appropriating millions of dollars to multiple affordable housing projects in downtown and Barelas. The measure allocates more than $7.5 million in state capital outlay funding to three projects. APS welding teacher passing the torch; plans to support students in new role Punching a time clock, creating cost estimates, making materials lists, and completing welding projects for Albuquerque Public Schools while earning money. This isnt a job posting; its how Valley High School teacher Shawn Coffey has operated his classroom while teaching students the ins and outs of welding and the trade industry. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement City of Albuquerque partners to bring virtual program for solo agers The six-week virtual Aging Alone Together series is DOROTs flagship program for solo agers, people who by choice or circumstance expect to age independently. The program is offered in partnership with the City of Albuquerque and Older Rainbow Community Albuquerque. New Mexico Notices Main intersection in Santa Fe temporarily closing for construction A frequently traveled intersection in Santa Fe will be temporarily closed for construction next week. Route 66 communities across New Mexico awarded grant funding ahead of centennial The New Mexico Tourism Department has awarded its second round of Route 66 Centennial grant funding. A total of $1,306,097 is expected to be awarded to Route 66 communities across the state in the fiscal year of 2026. New Mexico expands SNAP benefits for residents impacted by disaster New Mexico has temporarily expanded SNAP benefits for residents impacted by disaster to allow them to purchase hot and ready-to-eat foods from deli departments. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A dozen trees at Fort Marcy Park cut down ahead of 101st Zozobra burning Residents near a park in Santa Fe are mourning the loss of a dozen trees that organizers said had to go before this years burning of Zozobra. Some neighbors said theyre outraged, while Zozobra organizers said it lays the groundwork for something better. Gila Wildlife Rescue rehabilitates between 150 to 300 animals each year In Silver City, theres a nonprofit thats been rehabilitating birds and mammals for over 45 years. Gila Wildlife Rescue is an organization run by Dennis and Denise Miller, who aim to release animals back into the wild after theyve been through the rehab process. They care for anywhere between 150 and 300 animals a year. FBI report shows reduction in crime in New Mexico The FBI released a nationwide crime report, looking at data from 2024. The study shows a major improvement in every category they studied, and so has New Mexico. Free vaccine clinics available around New Mexico in August The New Mexico Department of Health is offering free vaccinations for children 18 years old and under throughout August. The Got Shots clinics around the state give families a chance to get caught up on required shots ahead of the school year. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement What Happens When The Rio Grande Runs Dry? The Rio Grande is dry in the metro again, for only the second time in 40 years. With New Mexico already in a water debt to Texas under the Rio Grande Compact, what does this mean for farmers, crops, and the local drinking water supply? Federal tax credit to expire for EV purchases but state credit will continue Last week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency made the move to repeal some greenhouse gas emission regulation standards for vehicles. These changes in emissions standards will impact people buying electric cars nationally and in Albuquerque. Even though the federal tax credit will be going away, the good news is that New Mexico will offer a lesser tax credit that will not be going away. Committee: More than 98,000 New Mexicans could lose Medicaid coverage The Medicaid Advisory Committee said recent federal cuts could have a negative impact on New Mexicans. They claim more than 98,000 New Mexicans could lose Medicaid coverage. 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. ELKHART The city faces some hard decisions as a property tax reduction measure passed by the Indiana General Assembly takes effect, officials have learned. The city council finance committee listened and asked questions Wednesday night during a presentation about the effects of Senate Enrolled Act 1 on the citys funding. Senate Enrolled Act 1, signed into law by Gov. Mike Braun this spring, cuts property taxes and overhauls local income taxes. Future property tax revenues for Elkhart and other local governments are projected to be much lower due to the measure. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement State estimates show the citys property tax revenues will be up to $6 million lower in 2028, when the measure takes full effect. The income tax the city currently collects, about $34 million a year, will be eliminated in 2028. Jason Semler, a principal with Baker Tilly Municipal Advisors, gave a nearly hourlong presentation to the city council finance committee describing the effects Senate Enrolled Act 1 would have on the city. Some city council members expressed their dismay at the new law. City Councilman Dwight Fish called it a Ponzi scheme. I dont see any benefit from this for cities and towns, Fish said. Everybodys going to take a hit, so whats the greater conversation saying? Are they going to adjust at the state level and give us some relief here, because this is silly in my mind. The finance committee will have to consider revenue replacement options to make up for the lost revenue, Semler said. Some of the options include a wheel tax, a food and beverage tax, and a trash fee. The committee projects that the fees could generate about $1.9 million for the city in 2027. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement City Councilman Aaron Mishler thanked Baker Tilly for the presentation and called the numbers very sobering. The city has some hard choices in front of it, Mishler said. We could cut the entire parks department, The Lerner Theatre, the railroad museum, the cemetery, and 20 percent of most of the other departments, not counting public safety, and we would not be able to touch the proposed cuts from losing the local income tax portion of this, Mishler said. So all options are on the table. I dont say that lightly and I take this with all the seriousness that it deserves. Mishler said he suggests the state legislators look closely at the local income tax portion of the cuts to see how it affects local services in cities and towns around them. City Councilman Alex Holtz noted that Senate Enrolled Act 1 would benefit those who live in the county at the expense of tax-paying people in the cities and towns. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement City Councilman David Henke said the goal of Senate Enrolled Act 1 was to reduce the cost of living for most of the population, but if another tax or fee is added in replacement of a different tax, then residents gain nothing. It was a shame that our legislators decided to punish us, City Council President Arvis Dawson said. Weve done all these great things in the city and they pushed this burden upon us. While we have to make some hard decisions, I encourage, especially our citizens, to contact their legislators and go let them know what it is that our city is going through if this continues down this path. Dawson added that creating fees and taxes is the last thing the council wants to do. Others noted that local governments across the state confront a similar issue. The city of Goshen has already advanced a local wheel tax to make up funding it has lost. It paused a reconstruction project for Shanklin Pool and construction of a new fire station because of the funding losses. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In Elkhart, officials have indicated that projects could be delayed or cut entirely. Mayor Rod Roberson in a news conference Tuesday said the construction of a new Fire Station 6 and the Hively Avenue Overpass would remain on schedule, but delays and cancellations could be on the horizon for other projects the city had deemed as priorities. The Brief The argument stemmed over a proposed tax hike to continue funding the county's childcare program. Video shows Judge Hidalgo interrupting Commissioner Lesley Briones, who voted against the proposal. Commissioners Briones and Adrian Garcia issued statements regarding the judge's "disruptive behavior." HARRIS COUNTY, Texas - Commissioners Court got heated on Thursday as Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo butted heads with commissioners who went against her tax proposal. Harris County: Heated exchange between Judge Hidalgo, commissioners What we know The argument stemmed over the county leaders' discussion over a tax rate proposal. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Judge Lina Hidago introduced what was being referred to as a "penny tax" to continue funding the county's Early REACH Program, which allows eligible kids to receive free childcare. The program previously received federal funding via COVID-19 relief. If the judge's proposal was approved, Harris County homeowners would pay an extra $10 a year for every $100,000 of home valuation. However, the proposal was denied by some commissioners, including Precinct 4 Commissioner Lesley Briones, who called the proposal "half-baked" during Thursday's Commissioners Court. Judge Hidalgo repeatedly interjected Commissioner Briones as she expressed her thoughts on the proposal. She was also seen holding signs with data during the exchange. Statements from Harris County Commissioners What they're saying Commissioner Briones issued a statement shortly after the exchange with Judge Hidalgo: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "I was disappointed to witness Judge Hidalgo's disruptive behavior at Commissioners Court today; it distracted from the serious issues before us. As colleagues, we may disagree, but fundamental respect and decorum are non-negotiable. The democratic process is built on civil debate, and as elected leaders we must hold ourselves to the highest standards. The people of Harris County deserve better." Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia, who had previously commented against the tax hike, also issued a statement on the exchange: "Its beyond frustrating to yet again witness Judge Hidalgo's disruptive behavior at Commissioners Court today. We must hold ourselves to the highest standards. It was particularly offensive to witness her trying to use children as props for her political agenda. The people of Harris County deserve better." Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey shared his statement on social media: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Ive said it before and Ill continue to say it: this is not the first and - I predict - wont be the last unprofessional moment from our County Judge. Her outbursts continue to escalate to the detriment of the Countys business. Todays actions and words by the Judge to those in attendance were an embarrassment for all of Harris County. Issuing an apology would be the decent thing to do. She continues to exhibit a lack of leadership experience and maturity in the position." It breaks my heart The other side Judge Hidalgo spoke about the proposal being declined: "Im so disappointed that they wouldnt even let us ask the voters. Obviously, its children. I cant explain it, but Im really proud of all of these kids, families. It breaks my heart that theyre going to lose their early childhood education, their parents' work." Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo censured by Commissioners Dig deeper Following a very heated and lengthy debate regarding the funding of the county's Early REACH Program, a motion was presented to the court by Harris County Commissioner Tom Ramsey regarding, "discussion and possible action on the Rules of Procedure, Conduct and Decorum at Meetings of the Commissioners Court of Harris County, Texas." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to the request by Ramsey, "Motion effective today to amend the rules of procedure, conduct, and decorum at meetings of the Commissioners Court of Harris County, Texas, to include the following language in Section 5. Any county elected official, or county employee, shall conduct themselves in proper respect in decorum in addressing the court and participating in public discussions before the court. And in all actions in the presence of the court or while in Commissioners Court courtroom. Profane, insulting, or threatening language in racial, ethnic, or gender slurs or epitaphs will not be tolerated. A member of court may be censured for failure to conduct themselves with proper respect and decorum in Commissioners courtroom by a majority of court. A censure shall be a formal declaration of condemnation of the court member's behavior to be placed in the minutes of Harris County Court." The motion was then seconded by Harris County Commissioner Adrian Garcia. Garcia asked for an amendment to include "failure to acknowledge points of order" and "failure to conduct themselves with proper respect" to the list of reasons a member can be censured. Ramsey accepted the amendment. Following that, Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis inquired to the County Attorney about if there were any issues as they are written. The county attorney stated, "I think these rules, as they're written right now, I don't think there's any issue here. If we were to go, more than this, we would need to, something we would have to look at and research. But the court, the court can create rules to govern itself this way." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The vote for the motion passed unanimously, 4-0. Then following that vote, Ramsey immediately moved for censure of Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo for, "a failure to conduct herself in a proper respect in decorum de die, August 7, 2025 in the presence of children and the full court, as well as her use of profane language in the presence of a 7-year-old on June 26, 2025, who was visiting Commissioners Court and was seated behind me in the dais. Further, I include in this motion, a request that a copy of this formal declaration of condemnation of County Judge Lina Hidalgo be placed in the minutes of today's meeting." The motion was seconded by Garcia. That vote passed by a vote of 3-1 with Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis voting "no". The Source FOX 26's Jonathan Mejia was present during Harris County Commissioners Court on August 7. CLARKSBURG, W.Va. (WBOY) The Harrison County Sheriffs Office revealed three new squad cars on Thursday that were purchased by the Harrison County Commission for its D.A.R.E program. The D.A.R.E. program is an educational curriculum that aims to prevent drug use, gang involvement, and violent behavior. Robert Waybright, Chief Deputy of the Harrison County Sheriffs Office, emphasized the importance and impact of the new vehicles in the community. Photo of new D.A.R.E. vehicle in Harrison County (WBOY image) Photo of new D.A.R.E. vehicle in Harrison County (WBOY image) They are going to be visible to the community with the markings on it, and in addition to that, thats a full police cruiser with radar units, so that way the PROs within their assigned schools can set and enforce the school zone speed limits, he said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement WVU prepares for students to return to Morgantown According to Waybright, the D.A.R.E. program has a lifelong impact on participants. I talk to adults now that talk about their D.A.R.E. instructor that they had when they were in elementary school. They remember their names. They remember their curriculum. They remember what they learned and Im talking 20-30 years later, its had a positive impact on them, Waybright said. Funding for the squad cars came from the $200,000 in opioid settlement funds that the county approved for the D.A.R.E. program. This money is part of the roughly $3 million that the county is set to receive from the settlement over the course of seven years. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Harrison County Commission President Susan Thomas told 12 News she believes the commission made the right choice by purchasing the cars with the settlement money. We thought that was a good way to spend it, is the three D.A.R.E. officers could have the new cruisers and they came up with the emblems on the vehicles. I think they did a fine job, Thomas said. Thomas said the majority of the settlement money went towards the vehicles and added that none of the settlement money went toward the programs curriculum. 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. Aug. 7When Lindsey Merrell first laid eyes on Jon Merrell at Whitworth University in 2004, she knew she had found the one. "I was just starstruck, and I was like, 'He's it for me. That's my man. I'm going to marry him,' " Merrell said. The tall, mysterious stranger who she referred to as the "hot art boy" was a fellow art major in the year ahead of her. She intentionally joined a class he was a teaching assistant for to spend more time around him. Unbeknown to her, Jon did the same thing for a class she was a TA in. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It wasn't until they finally started talking in a class together that they noticed the feeling was mutual. Ever since then, they've never been apart. The pair married in 2008 and welcomed their now-9-year-old daughter, Ellie, in 2015. Art is an integral part of their life as a family. Not only did they both hold careers in the art field, but they love to spend time creating together as well, making clever diptych prints and filling notebooks with doodles showing each family member's unique artistic flair. But when Jon was struck by a vehicle on his bike ride to work in 2021, all of that changed. The life-threatening crash broke just about every bone from the waist up, and he had to be resuscitated from death twice. After waking from a coma and taking a brief break from art, he slowly began to get back into his typical creative outlets. Then last August, less than two weeks before his 42nd birthday, Jon received a devastating diagnosis. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, commonly known as ALS, is a terminal degenerative nervous system disorder that progressively weakens muscles until they atrophy, then paralyze. Though treatments are constantly improving, there is still no known cure. Prior to the diagnosis, Jon was the sole wage earner for the family, illustrating advertisements for local businesses and posters for bands. But since the disease stripped motor control from his arms and hands, he's had to retire from his professional art career, leaving the family in economic uncertainty. "It's been crushing for him because art and playing guitar were his two favorite hobbies, his livelihood and his outlet," Lindsey said. "Once he lost motor control of his arms, it was a huge change." In the wake of this life-changing diagnosis, the Spokane community has pitched in to support the family. A previous GoFundMe raised enough money for the family to take their dream vacation to Hawaii. A new GoFundMe created to support their evolving medical needs has raised $9,000 so far out of its $30,000 goal. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On August 30, Hat Trick Brewing will host a "Tap Party" fundraiser to help the family renovate their home for greater accessibility as the disease progresses. Leading the event is Emily Gwinn, a close friend of the Merrells for 15 years. After seeing that Hat Trick Brewing was involved with Ales for ALS, a nonprofit raising money and awareness for ALS through beers, she had an idea. "When I first met Jon and Lindsey, Jon was a big home brewer," Gwinn said. "I home brewed and I made stuff that was barely drinkable, but his beer was always pretty on point." She proposed a "brew day" at Hat Trick for people to gather, enjoy barbecue and recreate his fond memories by brewing their own beer. The parties agreed, and next week they will be creating a special ALS SUX IPA beer. Though the brewing process is for close family and friends, the beer will be served to the public at the Tap Party. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The party will feature live music and artwork for silent auction, including original illustrations and jewelry by the couple's daughter, Ellie. The event is still a work in progress, and anyone interested in providing live music, art or other support for the family is encouraged to contact Gwinn at gwinn.emily@yahoo.com. "These expenses that are going to come up are going to hit this family hard, and the only thing I can do is hopefully host an event that we can raise some funds at and help them support Jon's journey through this process," Gwinn said. Though the process has not been easy, the Merrell family has found ways to adjust and cherish their time together. They've recently picked up Dungeons & Dragons, which mostly relies on players' imaginations. And Jon still continues to create art, albeit in different methods. Using computer technology that recognizes facial cues, he can create digital illustrations and 3D print them into stamps for printmaking. Some of these works will be on display at Terrain Gallery this December in the couple's joint art show, Time Dilation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Losing the ability to illustrate has been anything but easy for Jon, Lindsey said. But she doesn't look at his change in artistic methods as a negative. She looks to the legendary visual artist Henri Matisse for inspiration. After his mobility became limited from surgery, the 20th-century oil painter switched to the more accessible medium of collage. These later cut-out pieces became some of his most renowned works, defying the idea that his physical condition would cease his creativity. "As his health deteriorated even further, it became him just dropping paper onto a canvas from his bedside. So very different from his oil paintings from when he started, but there's still artistry in that," Lindsey said. "I'm trying to frame it like that, like it's not that you're getting worse or your art is bad, or things like that. We're just shifting how it's done." Bonny Matejowsky'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. By Akbar Novruz The International Labor Organization (ILO) has held a technical seminar in Baku focused on Addressing a just transition in nationally determined contributions, bringing together representatives from relevant state agencies, social partners, and the ILO. According to the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of the Population, the event aimed to discuss Azerbaijans process of preparing national contributions for a just transition to a green economy, as well as the progress made in this direction. Key topics included the role of human capital, green job creation, skills development, and ensuring decent work during the transition period. The seminar highlighted Azerbaijans efforts to build a workforce tailored to the requirements of a green economy. Significant achievements were noted in strengthening the countrys social protection system and expanding the digitalization of services in labor, employment, and social welfare. Participants also discussed the Just Transition for All concept, its relevance in shaping and implementing nationally determined contributions, and the ILOs ongoing activities in Azerbaijan. Presentations and exchanges of experience underscored the importance of aligning environmental goals with social and labor priorities to ensure an inclusive and sustainable transition. In the stands at Stillman Field, hundreds of parents and loved ones anxiously awaiting a reunion with the cadets. When the newly accepted Air Force Academy cadets broke into a whirlwind of hugs, Eileen Um celebrated with her sister, a newly minted Naval Academy graduate. Um was one of about 1,100 cadets formally accepted into the Cadet Wing at the end of basic training and one of 262 women or about 23% of the class that will graduate in 2029. The right two lanes of northbound State Route 99 at the Aurora Avenue Bridge in Seattle are set to close from 4 to 11 a.m. on Saturday, August 9, and Sunday, August 10. According to the Washington State Department of Transportation, the closure will allow bridge maintenance crews to safely inspect the bridge. Drivers were told to expect delays. For up-to-date traffic information, use the WSDOT mobile app and the real-time travel map. It's officially too hot. A potentially dangerous heat wave is set to continue through Friday, with the National Weather Service's Albuquerque office forecasting temperatures throughout the state approaching or exceeding 100 degrees. Amid the hot weather, the state Department of Health on Thursday issued an advisory encouraging residents to take steps to protect themselves against heat-related illness, including remaining indoors when possible, remaining hydrated and planning outdoor activities during cooler times of day. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Vulnerable populations, including children, adults over 65 years of age, outdoor workers, and those with chronic health conditions are at greatest risk," department Environmental Health Epidemiology Bureau Chief Chelsea Eastman Langer said Thursday in a news release. The hot weather stems from a high-pressure system currently sitting over New Mexico, said National Weather Service Albuquerque meteorologist Clay Anderson. "We're talking about an anomalous event actually, one of the strongest high-pressure systems on record for the month of August," he said. On the ground, the system is causing higher-than-usual temperatures, surpassing 100 degrees in much of the state. Temperatures on Wednesday maxed out at 106 degrees in Roswell, with triple-digit temperatures in Clovis, Socorro and Truth or Consequences, too. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Temperatures in Santa Fe, which reached 96 degrees Wednesday, have been creeping upward all week. The National Weather Service has issued heat advisories for Thursday and Friday afternoons in the Albuquerque metropolitan area, Chaves County and the Northwest Plateau near Farmington. Much of the state, including Bernalillo and Dona Ana counties, is also categorized as at "major" heat risk Friday on the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention HeatRisk map. The heat isn't just inconvenient; it can be dangerous. Heat-related illness has caused nearly 500 emergency room visits across the state so far in 2025, according to the latest data from the New Mexico Environmental Public Health Tracking portal. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Symptoms of heat-related illness include muscle cramps, headache, nausea, pale and clammy skin, a fast but weak pulse, and weakness, dizziness or passing out. The CDC warns people with chronic medical conditions including asthma, heart disease and poor circulation are at greater risk of heat-related illness, as are pregnant women, young children, seniors and people who live or work outdoors. Additional heat protections for workers may be on their way to New Mexico but they haven't yet been finalized. The New Mexico Environment Department's Occupational Health and Safety Bureau published a proposed version of a heat injury and illness rule in March. When the heat index is at or above 80 degrees, the rule would require employers to provide regular access to water, shade and breaks from the heat, assess worksite-specific heat hazards and maintain a heat illness prevention plan and make it available to employees. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The department accepted public comments on the proposal in April and May. Some commenters called the rule an important step forward in worker safety, while others lamented it as onerous and unrealistic for business owners. The Environmental Improvement Board has scheduled a Jan. 12, 2026, hearing on the proposed rule, state Environment Department spokesperson Drew Goretzka wrote in an email to The New Mexican. "The Department is currently reviewing public comments and is planning additional stakeholder meetings during the next couple of months to consider changes to the proposed rule prior to the public hearing, Goretzka wrote. TOKYO (AP) Torrential rain pounded the southern Japanese island of Kyushu on Friday, triggering floods and landslides and sending residents to shelters as officials issued highest-level warnings in parts of the region. A mudslide hit a house in Aira city in Kagoshima prefecture, burying two people who were rescued alive and taken to hospital, according to the Fire and Disaster Management Agency. The agency issued evacuation advisories to more than 360,000 people in Kagoshima prefecture and neighboring Miyazaki. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Television footage showed muddy water gushing down swollen rivers. In Kirishima city, floodwater was up to knee level at a shopping mall. The heavy rain paralyzed local transportation, halting trains and buses. Dozens of flights in and out of Kagoshima have been canceled. Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba 's government set up a task force for emergency response and support. The government will do everything to protect your life and safety, he said. The Japan Meteorological Agency predicted heavy rainfall and thunderstorms through Friday in Kyushu because of a low-pressure system. JMA official Shuichi Tachihara, in a nationally televised news conference, warned that there is a growing risk of disaster, urging residents in the region to take early precautions. HEBRON, Conn. (WTNH) The Hebron Fire Department announced a new online tool, Community Connect, on Friday designed to help firefighters and first responders assist members of the community during an emergency. Meriden cuts volunteer firefighters due to budget, decrease in numbers Once a Community Connect account is created, community members can add information which can be vital in an emergency, such as property details, the amount of people in a residence, people in the home with different abilities, and pet information, according to fire officials. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement App users can also have direct access to requesting permits, public education, as well as smoke detector battery replacement and installations, officials said. Hebron-Residential-FlyerDownload Business owners can also use the app and will receive a text notification if emergency personnel are responding to the facility, officials said. A promotional flyer noted that the information provided to Community Connect is secure and will not be used for any purpose except for providing assistance. Login and password information is protected with bank level security and encryption. 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. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth may bring back the practice of several Army drill sergeants swarming and screaming at recruits during basic training in what is known as a shark attack. The practice, used at the beginning of training to establish dominance, was largely ended five years ago. But Hegseth is now looking into having the Army bring it back, Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson confirmed to reporters Thursday. I can confirm that hes going to be looking at basic training and making sure that the standards are where they should be, Wilson said. We want our warfighters to be strong, and that starts in basic training, and we want to make sure we really, again, go back to basics. And shark attacks are going to be something that he is looking at reinstating. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement News that Hegseth was considering reinstating shark attacks was first reported this week by Just the News. Hegseth shared the story on the social platform X along with the emoji 100. And Thursday, during an appearance on The Will Cain Show, Hegseth said military training was going back to basics. Drill sergeants will be drill sergeants with knife hands who ensure, who maintain good order and discipline and train up great recruits who will make great formations, he said. Just like we need military officers with that same rigorous discipline and background. So, were going back to the basics, and its bearing fruit. The Army began phasing out shark attacks prior to mostly ending the practice in 2020, with the U.S. Army Infantry School at Fort Benning, Ga., deciding the practice was not as effective for training infantry soldiers, given it was developed when most soldiers were draftees. Todays force is made up of all volunteers. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The shark attack was seen as a way to launch trainees into a whole new way of life in which theyd have to obey the Armys rules and listen closely to and follow instructions, officials said in a September 2020 Army news story. This was deemed especially necessary during the Vietnam War period, when vast numbers of those in uniform were draftees. After the Vietnam War, authorities ended the draft and the Army has been all-volunteer since. The Army has replaced shark attacks with the First 100 Yards. In that exercise, drill sergeants lead trainees through a series of physical training events seen as more structured and designed to build camaraderie. But Hegseth insists shark attacks and other phased-out practices have been part of basic training for decades, saying bringing them back would be a restoration of them. Its the basic stuff that anyone who went through any form of basic training for decades understood as a recruit, you were going into a crucible, Hegseth said. You were going to be forged. You were gonna be challenged. You were to be scared, nervous and anxious. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement And by coming through that, you are gonna be forged as an American warrior. A shark attack is when drill sergeants surround one particular enlistee, right? Creating a stressful situation that they have to figure out how to manage. . . . This is not beyond whats been done. This is a restoration. 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. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Thursday promoted a CNN interview with an infamous Christian nationalist, anti-LGBTQ +advocate Doug Wilson. All of Christ for All of Life, Hegseth wrote in a post on X. Hegseth, who is a member of Wilsons Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches in Tennessee, also sends his children to schools associated with Wilsons ministries. Wilson, whose ministry operates hundreds of churches around the world, is an outspoken right-wing evangelical, espousing extremely conservative views of Christianity, including the view that the U.S. should be a theocracy. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Id like to see the nation be a Christian nation, Wilson told a CNN reporter. Wilson advocates for a Christian world devoid of other religions and beliefs, by peaceful means, by sharing the gospel, and contrasts Christian theocracy with democratic rule. In the interview with CNN, Wilson called women the kind of people that people come out of and for their role in life to be the chief executive of the home. Senior pastors at his church, Kings Cross Church, supported the idea of repealing the 19th Amendment, which gives women the right to vote, and called instead for men and women to vote as a household. Wilson denies that he is a sexist or a misogynist. Hegseth has previously praised Wilson, saying that Trump-era conservatives are standing on the shoulders of avowed Christian nationalists like him. Start your day with essential news from Salon. Sign up for our free morning newsletter, Crash Course. Among Wilsons controversies are comments he made about chattel slavery in the 1990s, when he claimed there was a mutual affection between master and slave. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It depends on which master and slave youre talking about, he told CNN, defending his earlier remarks. While he acknowledged horrendous abuses done by slave owners, he said that some decent human beings also owned slaves. Asked for comment, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell defended Hegseths association with Wilson The Secretary is a proud member of a church affiliated with the Congregation of Reformed Evangelical Churches, which was founded by Pastor Doug Wilson. The Secretary very much appreciates many of Mr. Wilsons writings and teachings, Parnell said. Wilson, for his part, said that Hegseth and the department he leads are not organizationally tied to his ministries, but said Hegseths close involvement is the kind of thing we like to see. Watch the CNN interview below: The post Hegseth promotes interview with avowed Christian nationalist appeared first on Salon.com. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has vowed not to back down from celebrating Americas proud Confederate history. We recognize our history, Hegseth told Fox News host Will Cain on Thursday. We dont erase it. We dont follow the woke lemmings off the cliff that want to tear down statues Were proud of our history. Hegseth was defending the decision to restore a Confederate monument in Arlington National Cemetery that critics say whitewashes the history of slavery in America. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Shortly after rebuking those who want to remove Confederate symbols, Hegseth made it clear that he is willing to do whatever it takes to defeat his opposition. Our job is to ensure our enemies know exactly what we will do to them if they threaten us up to and including total war, he said. The monument in question is Moses Ezekiels Confederate Memorial. It features an inscription in Latin that describes the Civil War as a lost cause that was honorable for its noble principles and resistance to tyranny. An image of the memorial taken between 1914 and 1920. It was unveiled in 1914. / HUM Images/Universal Images Grou The sculpture also depicts Black people as supporting the Confederate soldiers, implying that they wished to remain enslaved. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The 32-foot-tall monument offers a nostalgic, mythologized vision of the Confederacy, including highly sanitized depictions of slavery, according to an archived version of the National Cemetery website. It was erected in 1914 and taken down under former President Joe Biden in 2023. The monuments restoration is part of a broader push by the Trump administration to bring back Confederate symbols. / Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images The move to restore the sculpture is part of a broader push by the Trump administration to restore references to the Confederacy across the government. The National Park Service announced earlier this week that it is bringing back a statue of Confederate Army Gen. Albert Pike, who once wrote that the white race, and that race alone, shall govern this country. It is the only one that is fit to govern, and it is the only one that shall. The administration has also restored the names of a number of army bases named for Confederate leaders. Many would say the pro-Palestine movement is already filled to the brim with contradictions but then steps forward an Austrian multi-millionaire heiress whose family made millions off the back of the Holocaust and who is now joining the latest freedom flotilla to Gaza. I decided to join the flotilla because I wanted to support the effort to end this genocide, said Marlene Engelhorn, 33, in one Instagram post. Engelhorn, who inherited some 21m in 2022, is a descendant of Friedrich Engelhorn, who founded the chemical giant BASF. In the 1920s, BASF merged with another German company, IG Farben, which later supplied Zyklon B to the Nazis. This poisonous gas was used to kill an estimated one million people, most of them Jews, at Auschwitz and other death camps. Friedrich Engelhorn, who founded the chemical giant BASF - Alamy The conglomerate also forcibly took over Jewish-owned competitors, exploited slave labourers and constructed an Auschwitz sub camp. After the war, the company was broken up for its central role in the genocide and BASF returned to Engelhorns family. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Marlene Engelhorn first hit the headlines in early 2024 when she announced she was setting up a citizens group to redistribute her fortune. She sent out 10,000 invitations to randomly selected Austrian citizens aged over 16 asking them to take part in an initiative called the Good Council for Redistribution. She is also a co-founder of Tax Me Now, a group of wealthy people in Germany who are campaigning for greater taxes on their earnings. She has pledged to give away 90 per cent of her money to the 50 people who impress her most with their causes and the Gaza flotilla is her latest cause. But some have questioned whether she has paused to contemplate the optics of someone with her familys background going on the attack against the only Jewish state which has been fighting an existential war of survival. Engelhorn has pledged to give away 90 per cent of her money - Getty The falsehoods about me have already begun to spread, she says on her Instagram page. Yes it is true that my family profited from the Nazi regime and I am deeply ashamed of that. But it is a lie that they invented and sold Zyklon B. They are using lies about my family because they have nothing real to say about me. Here is my message to all Israeli propaganda: I live now. I act now, and I want to break the cycle of violence and genocide. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It is only in recent years that BASF has begun to address the part it played in the Nazis crimes, and in 2021 it initiated a programme of education among its employees, Remember. Reflect. Rethink, to establish a future-oriented culture of remembrance within the company. Austrian social worker and family therapist Connier Kerman has coined the phrase descendant fragility to describe those who are descended from people who aided the Nazis and who instantly attack anyone who mentions it. How much worse if your family is as infamous as Engelhorns? Austrian sociologist Prof Karin Stogner one of the worlds leading scholars of anti-Semitism suggests that Engelhorn is engaged in guilt-deflecting behaviour, in her attacks on Israel. Israeli Holocaust survivor Bilha Haim, whose grandson Yotan Haim was kidnapped and killed in Gaza, says that a true woman of compassion would also be demanding the release of the hostages. Bilha Haim (right) and her grandson Yotam, who was kidnapped and killed in Gaza Im a woman of peace. I oppose the war, I oppose starvation, but after seeing the images of the hostages [starved by Hamas] I can no longer stay silent, says Haim, who lives in Israels Southern District. First and foremost, she should be calling for the release of the hostages. Why hasnt anyone sailed to support the hostages and called for their rescue? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I tried not to look at the photo of Eyvatar David [the emaciated Israeli hostage filmed digging his own grave], its too painful. It brings back memories of my own childhood. I had a respiratory attack after seeing those images they look like Holocaust survivors. If she [Engelhorn] wants to meet me I will talk to her. I want to ask her what does she see when she looks at me? Ms Engelhorn has been approached for comment. 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. Milwaukee is home. When I look out at our newsroom, I see Wisconsin natives and Milwaukee transplants. I see lots of folks who came to the Journal Sentinel years ago and stayed and a host of newcomers we hope will do the same. I see a group of journalists relentless and remarkable who are determined, in the face of immense challenges, to put this community first, our community first, every single day. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Milwaukee is where our heart is. Now were asking for your help to keep that heart beating strong. Over the years, many of you have supported our newsroom by making tax-deductible contributions through Report for America to support reporting fellows in our newsroom. That helped us tell hundreds upon hundreds of stories that would otherwise not have been told. As our relationship with Report for America winds down, weve entered a new partnership with Local Media Foundation, a nonprofit charitable trust dedicated to strengthening journalism. With its help, weve launched our own Community-Funded Reporting Project to help bolster coverage of vital areas: neighborhoods, the environment, education, and arts and culture; and to support our newsroom internships for college and high school students. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Around here, we often talk about the power of partnerships. Weve relied on support from universities, foundations and civic-minded individuals for years to help produce journalism that exposes wrongdoing, elevates important voices, identifies challenges and points to solutions. Over just the past few months, we have been able to: Launch a pilot program buoyed by five new staff members focused on news and voices from Milwaukee neighborhoods. Sustain our vital reporting around the Great Lakes and the environment. Expand our internship program, giving the next generation of journalists a leg up on the future. We are well on the way to reimagining our coverage of the intersection of arts and culture. And well soon be bolstering our education coverage with an eye toward answering reader questions and elevating ideas from those on the front lines teachers, students, parents. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In the coming weeks, well share more about what each of these new initiatives involves and how they will strengthen our connection with our most valued partners members of the community we serve. Our aim is to keep building partnerships and truly make the Journal Sentinel the communitys newsroom, something I pledged on my first day on the job. We hope you will help power this effort. Contributions can be made online at jsonline.com/support. That page also has more information about this effort. The Community-Funded Journalism Project at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is administered by the Local Media Foundation, tax ID #364427750, a Section 501(c)(3) charitable trust affiliated with the Local Media Association. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Checks can be addressed to Local Media Foundation with JS Community Journalism in the memo, then mailed to: Local Media Foundation, P.O. Box 85015, Chicago, IL 60689. Now, there are some things you should know: Any contribution to the new Community-Funded Journalism Project is tax deductible. It all goes directly to the purpose stated. It does not go toward paying the light bill or other basic functions. We dont take money from politicians or political parties or anyone trying to force an agenda upon us. We are staunchly independent. All grant-funded work is done under the direction of our editors. Every journalist in our newsroom is held to the same high standards. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement If you support us, youre not buying a story. Rather, you are helping bolster our ability to tell stories in key areas. We want to do more journalism and better journalism. Contributions may help us do more community events, pay for costs tied to investigations or pursue important stories wherever they take us sometimes across the country or the globe. We dont have secret funders. We list our largest contributors with the initiatives and projects they support. We will only accept donations from people who give us their full names. And well report back to everyone, laying out each year the work we are doing together. This is not a new thing. Newsrooms across the nation have increasingly turned to grants and community support to strengthen their journalism. We have used grants for decades to pay for reporting trips from connecting with our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan to tracing the rise of the paper industry in China and the growth of dairy in Vietnam and Mexico. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We have longstanding relationships with universities that allow us to do deep-dive investigations and explanatory projects. The true picture of gun deaths in Wisconsin. Broadband access in rural areas. Harmful chemicals in vaping products. Education results that are hampered by students who move between schools and teacher vacancies that go unfilled. The story is often only our starting point. After we did a project on bridging the skills gap and bringing more manufacturing jobs back to the United States, we convened a panel of experts at Milwaukee Area Technical College and partnered with area businesses to hold a job fair in the hallway. This is how we serve our community. Finally, you should also know this: We are grateful. Every one of us. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We are grateful to our supporters, subscribers and readers. We are grateful for your interest, your story ideas, your praise and yes your criticism, especially when it helps make us better. And we are grateful for your consideration of this effort. Milwaukee is home. It is where our heart is, has always been, and will always be. Greg Borowski is executive editor of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. You can follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @GregJBorowski and reach him via greg.borowski@jrn.com. Help power more independent journalism Through a new relationship with the Local Media Foundation, a nonprofit charitable trust dedicated to strengthening journalism, you can now directly support our newsroom in these vital areas: Neighborhoods, environmental coverage, education, arts and culture, interns. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Journal Sentinel Community-Funded Journalism Project is administered by the Local Media Foundation, tax ID #364427750, a Section 501(c)(3) charitable trust affiliated with the Local Media Association. Learn more about our community-funded journalism and how to make a tax-deductible gift at jsonline.com/support. Checks can be addressed to Local Media Foundation with JS Community Journalism in the memo, then mailed to: Local Media Foundation, P.O. Box 85015, Chicago, IL 60689. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Support our neighborhood, environment, education, arts journalism Oil and gas infrastructure is seen on the Roan Plateau in far western Colorado. (Courtesy of EcoFlight) This story was originally published by Capital & Main. Public health researcher Lisa McKenzie remembers her first aerial view of the landscape-altering impacts of fossil fuel production on the picturesque mesas that rim the western slope of Colorados Rocky Mountains. It was well pad, after well pad, after well pad, said McKenzie, a recently retired associate professor at the Colorado School of Public Health. I remember thinking to myself, thats like 7,000 point sources of benzene. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The marred panorama altered the trajectory of her work. Since the 2010s, shes leveraged her background in environmental chemistry and epidemiology to lead seminal studies that quantified the health effects of an oil and gas extraction process known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. Her research transformed how drilling is regulated nationwide. Fracking, which forces water, sand and chemicals into the earth to crack shale and release fossil fuels, helps energy companies plumb deposits miles underground. Since its widespread adoption this century, wells have multiplied and moved closer to populated areas from California to Colorado, New Mexico, Texas and Pennsylvania. Today, a majority of Americans oppose fracking, according to an October Pew Research Center survey. Drill pads proposed on the fringes of several fast-growing suburbs led some Coloradans to ponder whether the scientific literature is now at a tipping point, like that of tobacco research, at which there is conclusive evidence to prove fossil fuel extraction harms human health. McKenzie and her peers, some of whom she inspired to research public health impacts of the industrial process in other states, think it is. There is starting to be enough evidence to say that living near oil and gas wells, in these areas with a lot of oil and gas development, may have health consequences, McKenzie said, particularly for the most vulnerable populations, like young children, fetuses and older people with heart issues. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX There is consistency of results across multiple studies that were conducted using different methodologies in various states and time periods and among diverse populations, providing heightened confidence in the body of research, she added. Her work is pivotal to this sea change. Its included in compendiums published in California and New York that span hundreds of pages. The pioneering scientist reflected on her extensive body of research and its impacts as she prepared for her retirement last month. Scientists shes mentored call her humble, meticulous and brave her studies have been publicly criticized by state health officials and the oil and gas industry. And even with her retirement imminent, state oil and gas regulators took notice in June of several recent studies she co-authored as a reason to create a new panel of experts to evaluate recent public health research on the impacts of fracking. Lisa McKenzie (University of Colorado) This would be an opportunity for the authors of these studies to present their study methodology and findings, said Trisha Oeth, a commissioner with the Colorado Energy & Carbon Management Commission. I think ultimately this would help me understand the key takeaways. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The first of many key public health takeaways for McKenzie came in the early 2010s when she co-authored among the first studies to quantify the potential for fracking to make people sick. Her work stemmed from a request by Garfield County officials that the Colorado School of Public Health study whether air pollution from the oil and gas wells that were encroaching on neighborhoods could impact residents health. McKenzie was the lead author on the project. The first-of-its-kind study garnered national attention after it appeared in 2012 in the peer-reviewed journal Science of the Total Environment. Its novel findings triggered a congressional field hearing that month in Denver. In the ornate Old Supreme Court chambers in the state Capitol, McKenzie told members of the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources that her team estimated higher cancer risks for residents living nearer to wells as compared to residents residing further from wells. Benzene, a known carcinogen, is the major contributor to lifetime excess cancer risk for both scenarios, she testified. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement McKenzie recommended that regulators reduce air emissions from oil and gas development. And she capped her six pages of written testimony by listing the limitations of her research and issuing a call for further study. Earliest empirical evidence Scientists nationwide took notice of this paper and others McKenzie authored in 2014 that used birth records to research connections between birth outcomes and proximity to oil and gas development. She and her colleagues found that children with congenital heart defects were more likely to be born to a mother who was living in the densest areas of oil and gas development. Her studies provided some of the earliest empirical evidence suggesting associations with outcomes like adverse birth outcomes and pediatric cancer risks, said Nicole Deziel, an associate professor at the Yale School of Public Health, who has authored papers with McKenzie and who cited her research in testimony in 2023 before the U.S. Senate Budget Committee. Her work also helped shape how exposure is conceptualized in this field. Outside academic circles, McKenzies findings gained traction in political campaigns. Celebrities including Daryl Hannah, Lance Bass and Hayden Panettiere cited her work in a video that called on U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colorado), then Colorados governor to ban fracking. The video was later repurposed to target state officials across the country. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Residents used her studies to advocate for tougher rules on oil and gas pollution. As pressure built on officials, Colorados chief medical officer, Dr. Larry Wolk, said in a statement that McKenzies 2014 study did not consider the effect other risk factors may have played and the findings showed only association, not causation. Her team pointed out these limitations in their paper. Trying to isolate which pollution sources contribute to health impacts is a tricky endeavor. Most of McKenzie and her peers work talks about associations between energy extraction and acute conditions or chronic illnesses because its difficult to single out one environmental contributor. And proving causation is another matter altogether. We almost can never do the gold standard of epidemiology, which is a randomized control trial, and thats because first, we cant put people in laboratories, said the scientist from her office on the University of Colorados Anschutz campus, and second, we really dont expose people to things we know are going to harm them to see what will happen. The quandary didnt stop McKenzie from continuing to ask questions about how thousands of new wells fracked in Colorado each year are impacting the health of residents. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement There is starting to be enough evidence to say that living near oil and gas wells, in these areas with a lot of oil and gas development, may have health consequences ... particularly for the most vulnerable populations. Lisa McKenzie In the last 14 years, her peer-reviewed studies found associations between the intensity of oil and gas exploration and congenital heart defects and neural tube defects, childhood cancer and early indicators of cardiovascular disease among residents nearby. She and colleagues also found that home values were lower for residences closer to wells. They built on previous research in a study from early 2018, based on an air sampling campaign conducted by state and federal agencies, that estimated far higher lifetime excess cancer risks, as well as other health risks, for residents living nearest fossil fuel pads. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement What makes McKenzies research unique is her pairing of whats known as exposure monitoring or the measurement of a communitys exposure to air pollutants or other environmental stressors with detailed health assessments, said Joan Casey, an environmental epidemiologist and associate professor at the University of Washington who has co-authored with the Colorado health researcher. McKenzie also collaborated with Meagan Weisner, a senior scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund, on a 2023 study of residents in Broomfield, a municipality north of Denver, that found that people living within one mile of oil and gas pads reported headaches, respiratory and gastrointestinal effects and nosebleeds more often than those living more than two miles away. Shes very pragmatic in the way she approaches research she says, We may find nothing, and there may be no correlation between oil and gas and these symptoms, Weisner said. Thats not what we found. Regulators rein in oil and gas development McKenzies push to expand the scientific understanding of how oil and gas pollution is associated with illness reverberated nationwide. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I have little doubt that Lisas research contributed significantly to the ban on hydraulic fracturing in the state of New York it was a meaningful part of the compendium released by Physicians for Social Responsibility at the national level, said Lauren Swain, coordinator for the groups Colorado chapter. The state of Vermont also banned fracking, Maryland essentially banned fracking, and fracking is banned along the Delaware River in multiple states, she added. In Colorado, the rare June decision by state regulators to convene a panel to meet directly with public health researchers underscores the widespread impact of McKenzies research on how states hold energy companies accountable today. Public health advocates and residents in Colorado credit her work with raising awareness among regulators about the need to curb air emissions from oil and gas production, account for the cumulative impacts of all pollution sources when considering drilling permits, and to protect disproportionately impacted communities. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This shift culminated in a 2019 law that changed the mission of the states oil and gas agency from fostering energy development to prioritizing public health, safety and the environment. Today, regulators say they issue fewer drilling permits because of the tighter standards on energy companies. In Colorado, you almost cant do any oil and gas rulemaking without her research coming up, said Weisner. She influences the overall scope of how we look at things. As McKenzies studies in Colorado built upon one another, Californias oil and gas regulator invited her and other scientists in 2020 to review the public health implications of fossil fuel development. After synthesizing hundreds of pages of scientific research that quantified the public health impacts of oil and gas drilling, the California Geologic Energy Management Division found for the first time a causal relationship between close geographic proximity to such wells and adverse perinatal and respiratory outcomes. In a 523-page report released by the panel in 2024, McKenzie is cited 81 times. Researchers who joined her on the panel, several of whom have co-authored studies with her, said her contribution to the current understanding of how oil and gas development impacts residents health was pivotal to the enactment of Californias toughest-in-the-nation setback rules. The panels work informed a 2022 law that requires that wells be set back 3,200 feet more than half a mile from residences. Absolutely, Lisas work was used as a backbone of that legislation, said the University of Washingtons Casey. Its also been instrumental in giving community members scientific data they need to back up their intuition on whats going on with oil and gas extraction and their health. Fierce pushback from oil and gas industry In May, the scientist gave community members something more to work with when she co-authored a paper in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention. The study found that Colorado children diagnosed with a type of cancer of the blood and bone marrow were more likely to live near oil and gas well sites than children who were free of cancer. As a result, McKenzie and her colleagues suggested that a state law that requires that oil and gas development be set back 2,000 feet from residences may not be sufficient to protect kids health. The paper, like most of her work, drew fierce pushback from the oil and gas industry. By its own admission, the report fails to establish any causal connection between childhood leukemia and oil and gas production, according to a story in Energy in Depth, a website established by the Independent Petroleum Association of America. In an interview, McKenzie said that the study considered the overall density of oil and gas sites that emit air pollutants like benzene, a known carcinogen. She added that she and her colleagues lacked data to say how much of the contaminant toxin children were exposed to and could not conclusively say what caused leukemia. McKenzie added that she gauges the validity and impact of her work by the number of times her peers cite it in their research. Indeed, tallies kept on Google Scholar show that her 2012 Garfield County study has been cited 853 times, and her 2014 birth outcomes study 425 times. And her most recent first-of-their-kind findings didnt stop there. A second peer-reviewed study published last spring in Environmental Health Perspectives on which McKenzie advised revealed emissions reductions practices that oil and gas operators are required to undertake at well pads in Colorado are failing to protect people living nearby. The paper concluded that for communities near fossil fuel extraction sites acute health risks persist after the implementation of best management practices to reduce emissions. The risks surpassed Environmental Protection Agency thresholds during production thats not something that has been really studied, said the EDFs Weisner, the papers lead author. Risks were assumed to be during pre-production and fracking. Researchers recommended that regulators establish policies that require energy companies to drill and frack wells outside of whats known as ozone season, the period between May 31 and Aug. 31 when lung-damaging pollutants become trapped in the Denver basin. Nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds emitted by vehicles and oil and gas operations react with the regions plentiful sunlight to create ground-level ozone. Inhaling such pollution can exacerbate asthma and other respiratory conditions, particularly for children and older adults. Cities along the eastern flank of the Rockies routinely rank among the worst in the nation for this pollution, which so far has prompted health officials to issue 23 public health alerts warning residents to reduce time outdoors since May 31. The state has failed for years to meet federal clean air standards. Worsening air pollution and an expanding number of fracking projects on the cusp of suburban communities provide opportunities for researchers to continue to study the impacts of such industrial development on residents health. And even though McKenzie is retired, she plans to continue consulting. Shes not done asking questions about how air emissions from intensifying fossil fuel development affect millions of people who call the eastern edge of the Rockies home. Copyright 2025 Capital & Main SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE A Venezuelan suspected of being in the U.S. illegally is accused of stealing around $68,000 from a Canon City ATM in May by infecting it with malware that caused the machine to dispense money without a transaction, according to city police and federal prosecutors. In July, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of California announced that a grand jury indicted Joel Morantes-Leal, 25, and an alleged co-conspirator on charges of stealing "hundreds of thousands of dollars" from more than 30 ATMs in Arizona, California, Colorado, Oregon, Nebraska, Utah and Washington. Morantes-Leal was taken into custody in late May in the Denver area, according to a Thursday news release from Canon City police. He faces charges of third-degree burglary and cybercrime in Canon City. He also faces federal charges of conspiracy to steal cash from ATMs, bank robbery, accessing a protected computer in furtherance of fraud and attempting to access a protected computer in furtherance of fraud. Federal court documents state that he pleaded not guilty in an Eastern California U.S. District Court in July. Featured Local Savings Canon City police's news release said the "elaborate ATM jackpotting" case "rapidly expanded" and involved numerous agencies from various jurisdictions. The agencies were not specified because other investigations are still ongoing. The U.S. attorney's office stated in its release that its investigation was conducted by the FBI, Larimer County Sheriff's Office and the Eugene Police Department in Oregon. Hezbollah has admitted none of its fighters wounded in Israels unprecedented pager attacks last year have properly recovered. Thousands of rigged pagers belonging to the armed Lebanese militant group simultaneously exploded on September 17 last year, wounding 3,000 people and killing at least 12, including two children. The remotely triggered plot took a decade of planning by Israels Mossad spy agency and dealt a powerful blow to Irans most powerful proxy, severely degrading its logistical capabilities and shattering morale. It also left the Iran-backed group with the financial and psychological burden of assisting thousands needing long-term medical treatment. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A representative of Hezbollahs Association of Wounded told the Associated Press that none of the injured had fully recovered. The group, which had been firing rockets near-daily into Israel in support of its ally Hamas for nearly a year before the pager bombings, acknowledged most of the casualties were its fighters or personnel. However, dozens of civilians were also harmed, many being relatives of the groups members or workers in Hezbollah-linked institutions. The exact number is still not known. Dozens of civilians were harmed in Israels pager attack - X Israel lauded the attack as a show of its intelligence prowess and technological superiority, but the UN and other rights groups say it may have violated international law, claiming it was indiscriminate. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Israeli officials have rejected the accusation, saying the pagers had undergone testing to ensure only the person holding the device would be harmed. But what Mossad could not control was who picked up the pagers. A pager exploded in the hands of Sarah Jaffal, a 21-year-old university graduate - Hassan Ammar/AP Sarah Jaffal, a 21-year-old university graduate, had woken up on the morning of the attack to hear a family members pager buzzing in the kitchen. Seconds later, it exploded in her hands. She lost an eye and four fingers in the blast, which deeply scarred her face. She has had 45 surgeries so far and can barely see. Ive put up with so much pain I never imagined I could tolerate, she told the Associated Press. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Hussein Dheini, 12, suffered a similar fate when his fathers booby-trapped pager exploded in his hands, costing him his right eye, several fingers, his teeth and the tip of his nose. Before, I used to spend a lot of time on my phone. I used to run and go to school. Hussein Dheini, 12, sustained significant injuries - Hassan Ammar/AP The boy, a member of the Hezbollah scouts, the groups youth movement, said he now spent his time going to Beirut for treatment. Zeinab Mestrah, 26, who also lost an eye after a pager belonging to a relative blew up nearby, recalled how hospitals were overwhelmed with casualties. It was like a slaughterhouse, the interior designer said. People didnt recognise each other. Families were shouting out their relatives names to identify them. Hussein Dheini is comforted by his mother - Hassan Ammar/AP The day after the pager attacks, Hezbollah walkie-talkies exploded in another Israeli operation that killed at least 25 people and injured over 600, according to Lebanese health officials. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Days later, Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollahs leader, was assassinated and hundreds of his fighters, as well as civilians, were killed in an Israeli campaign of air strikes that ended with a ceasefire in November. Zeinab Mestrah, 26, who lost an eye, recalled how hospitals were overwhelmed with casualties - Hassan Ammar/AP Hezbollah, mortally wounded by its war with Israel, was forced to end its military presence in southern Lebanon and the Lebanese army was charged with disbanding the armed group. Despite last years US-brokered truce, Israel still carries out sporadic strikes on Hezbollah targets. On Friday, the Israel Defense Forces claimed it killed an intelligence officer in the groups special operations force in a drone strike. This week, the Lebanese government agreed to an end-of-year target for the groups full disarmament. 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. You can thank the southerly winds for sending away the pesky Canadian wildfire smoke that permeated Wisconsin for over a week. You can also thank those winds for bringing a heat wave back. On Aug. 8 and 9, heat indices will rise into the mid- to upper-90s in parts of southern Wisconsin and eclipse 100 degrees in northern and central counties. The triple-digit feels-like temperatures prompted the National Weather Service to issue a heat advisory from noon to 7 p.m. Aug. 8 for the Fox Valley and Green Bay areas, along with western parts of the Northwoods. The following counties are under the heat advisory: Menominee, Northern and Southern Oconto, Shawano, Waupaca, Outagamie, Brown, Waushara, Winnebago, Calumet and Southern Marinette. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Milwaukee heat indices will encroach the mid- to upper-90s Aug. 8, followed by 95 to 100 degrees Aug. 9. There will be minor relief Aug. 10, but feels-like temps will still be firmly in the mid-80s, possibly even warmer. "We're not quite reaching heat advisory criteria," Milwaukee/Sullivan National Weather Service meteorologist Cameron Miller said. "We're going to stop just a few degrees short." Possible storms and showers will provide the best chance for cooler temperatures. After a slight chance of storms during the day Saturday, there is a 60% chance of rainfall overnight, leading to a more-than-likely wet Sunday. Those storms and showers could bring heavy rainfall, Miller said, leading to potential flash flooding and high wind gusts. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Unfortunately, the dew points will still be high, meaning while it will be cooler, there will be a lot of humidity. "It's still going to feel pretty oppressive," Miller said. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: High heat, humidity return to Wisconsin before storms and showers come VILLEROUGE LA CREMADE, France (AP) Firefighters who helped contain Frances largest wildfire in decades were on high alert Friday with high temperatures forecast that could reignite the blaze in the country's south. Fires prompted evacuations elsewhere in the Mediterranean region. The fire in France's Aude wine country claimed one life and quickly spread over more than 160 square kilometers (62 square miles) over three days in hot and dry weather, forcing hundreds of residents to flee their homes. Local authorities said they need to remain vigilant throughout the weekend because temperatures were expected to rise above 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) during another heat wave. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Meanwhile, wildfires forced authorities to order evacuations near the Greek capital and in northern Turkey, where authorities also had to temporarily suspend maritime traffic through the Dardanelles due to the smoke. In France, Aude administrator Christian Pouget said some 1,000 people have not yet been able to return to their homes after the fire swept through 15 communes in the Corbieres mountain region, destroying or damaging at least 36 homes. One person died at home, and at least 21 others were injured, including 16 firefighters, according to local authorities. Hundreds of homes without electricity and many roads blocked Some 1,300 homes were still without electricity on Friday morning after infrastructure was extensively damaged, the Aude prefecture said. Residents have been warned not to return home without authorization, as many roads remain blocked and dangerous. Those forced to flee have been housed in emergency shelters across 17 municipalities. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Many fled to the community of Tuchan when the fire started on Tuesday, its mayor Beatrice Bertrand told The Associated Press. We have received and hosted over 200 people. We gave them food, thanks to local businesses who opened their stores despite it being very late, Bertrand said. "Civil Protection brought us beds. And also the local villagers offered their homes to welcome them. It was their first night here and many were shocked and scared. In the hamlet of Coustouge, Paulette Ricard, a local resident said neighbors were left to battle the encroaching flames with little more than garden hoses and stored rainwater. The village was surrounded by fire. Flames all around us, she said. There was only one fire truck. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ricard's family worked through the night dousing small blazes in gardens and orchards before firefighters arrived. Remi Recio, deputy prefect of Narbonne, said crews were using thermal drones and GPS mapping to monitor for flareups. We are watching very carefully the hot spots, he said. With that, were able to detect with precision the potential places for reignition. More than 1,000 personnel remained deployed in the fire zone and an investigation was underway to determine what sparked the fire. Authorities said the fire was the largest recorded since Frances national fire database was created in 2006. But Frances minister for ecological transition, Agnes Pannier-Runacher, went even further calling the blaze the worst since 1949 and linked it to climate change. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Mediterranean basin has seen multiple large fires this summer. Scientists warn that climate change is exacerbating the frequency and intensity of heat and dryness, making the region more vulnerable to wildfires. Last month, a wildfire that reached the southern port of Marseille, Frances second-largest city, left around 300 people injured. Europe is the worlds fastest-warming continent, with temperatures increasing at twice the speed of the global average since the 1980s, according to the European Unions Copernicus Climate Change Service. Wildfire threatens homes in Greece A fast-moving wildfire on Friday forced a series of evacuations southeast of the capital Athens. The blaze approached residential areas as firefighters battled strong winds. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The fire advanced over scrub-covered hillsides in the Keratea region, spreading through an area with scattered homes, some 40 kilometers (25 miles) from Athens. The Fire Service said one man was found dead during evacuation. There were no additional details. As the flames tore through clusters of homes, gas canisters used for cooking exploded, cars went up in flames and residents battled from porches to save their homes. Eleftheria, a local resident who only gave her first name, filled plastic buckets full of water, joined by her 86-year-old mother who struggled to stand because of the high winds. It came really fast, and suddenly the fire reached our home, Eleftheria said. The wind is so strong. Its hard to stop. Thankfully they responded fast and the helicopters flew really low, over our heads Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Firefighting planes and helicopters swooped over the flames that sent thick black clouds of smokes toward coastal areas. Authorities deployed 190 firefighters supported by volunteers, and police blocked traffic in the area to allow fire trucks through. Strong winds disrupted ferry services at ports around Athens. Wildfire in Turkey prompts evacuations A wildfire fueled by strong winds in northwest Turkey prompted authorities to evacuate a university campus and an elderly care home and to suspend some maritime traffic Friday, reports said. The flow of ships through the Dardanelles Strait was temporarily halted due to heavy smoke and reduced visibility in the narrow waterway. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The fire broke out at an agricultural field near Saricaeli village, in Canakkale province, before spreading rapidly into a nearby forested area. With the flames approaching dangerously close to the care home and a campus of the Canakkale Onsekiz Mart University, both facilities were evacuated as a precaution, the Cumhuriyet newspaper and other media reported. Footage aired by Haberturk TV showed a fire truck being engulfed in flames, forcing firefighters to flee for safety. ___ Gatopoulos reported from Keratea, Greece. NEED TO KNOW Lauren Gardner, wife of missing hiker Grant Gardner, says she is "in shock" as her husband remains missing in the Wyoming wilderness The wife last spoke to her husband on July 29 after he began a hike in the Misty Moon Lake area of Wyoming, but believes he could still be alive Lauren described Grant to a newspaper as an experienced outdoorsman who has been hiking for over a decade. The wife of a man who has been missing in the Wyoming wilderness for more than a week is speaking out. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Grant Gardner, 38, from Minnesota, last made contact with his wife, Lauren Gardner, on July 29 after he began a hike through the Misty Moon Lake area, according to a news release from the Big Horn County Sheriffs Office (BHCSO). He was said to have planned on an approximate three-day hike through the Misty Moon Lake area, eventually summiting Cloud Peak, and returning to his vehicle, completing his journey. Grant last told his wife that he had made it to the summit of Cloud Peak on July 29, but she has not heard from him since, per the sheriffs office. The BHCSO said it was alerted to an overdue hiker, Grant, on Aug. 1, and immediately began a search and rescue operation. Still, the hiker has not been found. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Lauren, who shares two children with her missing husband, ages 11 and 13, recently told Cowboy State Daily that she still hopes Grant will be found alive. She described him as an experienced outdoorsman who has been hiking for over a decade. Hes used to this stuff, and hes very detail-oriented, she explained, noting that the last week has been a surreal experience. Big Horn County Wyoming Sheriff's Office Grant Gardner, who has been missing since July 29 Grant Gardner, who has been missing since July 29 Im in shock, I think, and trying to stay strong for the kids, Lauren continued. This has never happened in all the years hes gone out. He knows what hes doing and has the skills. Im just hoping right now. Knowing Grants experience, County Sheriff Ken Blackburn told Cowboy State Daily that crews are still in active search-and-rescue mode not recovery. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Meanwhile, Lauren said she is staying by my phone every second as she waits for news about her husbands whereabouts. Im very grateful and thankful for all the help, everyone out there who has been to look for him and support our family, she explained. Images By T.O.K./Alamy Stock Photo Cloud Peak as viewed from Circle Park Road in the Bighorn National Forest Cloud Peak as viewed from Circle Park Road in the Bighorn National Forest Grants vehicle was located by search crews in the parking lot of the West Ten Sleep trailhead, where the BHCSO said he began his journey. The hiking log at the trailhead, they added, revealed hed entered the wildness area as he had indicated in his hiking plan. Never miss a story sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. In a text message to his wife, authorities said Grant explained that the climb "was more taxing than he expected and he was tired." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Anyone with information or sightings of Grant's whereabouts is asked to contact the Big Horn County Sheriffs Office at 307-568-2324 or the Wyoming Missing Person Tip line on the Wyoming DCI website. Read the original article on People Editor's note: This story has been updated with State Department Spokesperson Tommy Pigott's statement. U.S. President Donald Trump said Aug. 7 that the ceasefire deadline he set for Russia scheduled for tomorrow, Aug. 8 now depends on Russian President Vladimir Putin. "We're going to see what he has to say. It's going to be up to him. Very disappointed," Trump told reporters at the White House when asked whether the deadline remains in effect. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trump initially gave Moscow 50 days to reach a peace agreement with Ukraine when he issued the ultimatum in mid-July. Since then, he has voiced growing frustration with Russia's continued aggression and has moved to accelerate the timeline for a ceasefire. The statement comes as the U.S. president is preparing for an in-person meeting with Putin as early as next week, followed by a potential trilateral summit with Zelensky. State Department Spokesperson Tommy Pigott said the upcoming meeting should be viewed not as a matter of trusting Russia but as one of demanding concrete results. "This is not a question of trust, it's a question of actions," Pigott said during a briefing. "He (Trump) said we need to see actions, not just words he said that himself." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Getting the sides to the table is key to reaching a diplomatic solution to this conflict. So again, it's not about trust it's about action, and about doing everything we can to help bring this war to an end." Trump's comments follow a high-level meeting in Russia between Putin and U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff. The talks were reportedly requested by the Kremlin in an effort to avoid a new round of sanctions threatened by the United States if no ceasefire is reached by Aug. 8. While Trump described the meeting as "highly productive," his latest comments indicate that the outcome now depends on Moscow. Trump previously warned that if Russia fails to comply, his administration will impose secondary sanctions targeting countries that continue to buy Russian oil including India and China. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On Aug. 6, Trump escalated pressure on Moscow by signing an executive order imposing a 25% tariff on imports from India, citing its ongoing purchases of Russian crude. The move is part of a broader strategy aimed at crippling Russia's oil revenue, which accounts for roughly one-third of its federal budget and remains a key source of funding for its war in Ukraine. Read also: Ukraine war latest: Putin, Trump to meet in coming days, Moscow says as US sanctions deadline draws near Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Students celebrate graduation in 2024 at Cleveland High School in Liberty County, Texas, one of the fastest-changing counties in the country. Hispanic, Asian and multiracial people drove population growth in the United States last year, according to a new analysis by the Brookings Institution. (Vanesa Brashier | Bluebonnetnews.com) Hispanic, Asian and multiracial residents drove population growth in the United States last year, and 16 states would have lost population without gains in those groups, according to a new analysis published this week by the Brookings Institution. In three states where the number of residents declined Mississippi, Vermont and West Virginia growth in those communities prevented even greater population loss, according to the analysis. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Nationwide, the 1% population growth for the year was mostly fueled by immigration, representing a much-needed uptick from the historically low population growth of the COVID-19 period, along with the diminishing growth of recent decades, the Brookings report said. Recent Census Bureau data breaking down changes by race and Hispanic status show that Hispanic, Asian and multiracial categories made up 93% of the nations population growth. The number of Black and Native people also grew but at a much slower rate, while the white population declined. Hispanic, Asian and multiracial people made up 86% of the growth in Texas, which had the largest population growth for the year at almost 563,000, and 78% of the growth in Florida, which ranked second for growth at about 467,000. California, which grew by about 233,000, would have lost population without growth in those groups. In addition to California, 15 other states would have lost population, but grew instead, because of larger numbers of Hispanic, Asian and multiracial people: Alaska, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Washington. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Stateline reporter Tim Henderson can be reached at thenderson@stateline.org. 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. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX NEED TO KNOW Congregation Beth El synagogue in Rutherford, New Jersey, was destroyed in a fire on Friday, Aug. 8, officials confirmed The city's Police Chief John R. Russo told WABC-TV, "Luckily the rabbi and his family, six members total, were the only members in the structure" "They were able to get out, but the structure is a complete loss," he added A family is lucky to be alive after escaping a fire that engulfed a historical synagogue in New Jersey. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Rutherford officials shared on X Friday, Aug. 8, that a large structure fire had been reported at the Congregation Beth El synagogue, located on the corner of Montross and Fairview Avenues, at around 3:50 a.m. The Borough of Rutherford asked residents in the vicinity to be on the lookout for embers falling in their property, and for residents outside the area to avoid it as emergency services responded. In an update on X, Rutherford Mayor Frank Nunziato shared in a statement that the synagogue was lost in a devastating overnight fire, noting that its residents fled to safety and there were no injuries or loss of life. Never miss a story sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human-interest stories. Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Large fire completely destroys Congregation Beth El synagogue in Rutherford, New Jersey, on Aug. 8, 2025 Large fire completely destroys Congregation Beth El synagogue in Rutherford, New Jersey, on Aug. 8, 2025 Rutherford Police Chief John R. Russo also told WABC-TV, "Luckily the rabbi and his family, six members total, were the only members in the structure. They were able to get out, but the structure is a complete loss. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement People has reached out to the Rutherford Police Department for comment. Neighbors of the synagogue told PIX11 that the rabbi and his family had been sleeping inside the synagogue when the fire broke out. They noted that the family was able to escape and seek shelter at a neighbors home. I heard all the noise and I came out to see whats going on, the familys neighbor, Frank Wilson, told PIX11 News. And I saw the rabbi came to my house he came with the family and they came out just with their lives. Mayor Nunziato said the fire was "absolutely devastating" for the entire community, according to WNYW-TV. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He also noted the importance of the synagogue to their community in a statement on X, saying it had been home to Congregation Beth El since the early 1950s and their Volunteer Fire Department has participated in the Menorah lighting and gelt drop at the synagogue during Hanukkah. Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty A photo of the scene of the Congregation Beth El synagogue hours after the fire on Aug. 8, 2025 A photo of the scene of the Congregation Beth El synagogue hours after the fire on Aug. 8, 2025 Congregation Beth El also shared a statement on their website, writing, This is a devastating loss; all support is very much appreciated at this time. Were going to rebuild bigger and stronger than we were before!" The synagogue was previously the target of a firebombing incident in January 2012, and a 19-year-old man was arrested and charged with throwing incendiary devices into the building, according to WABC-TV and WNYW-TV. However, authorities told the latter outlets that there was nothing that indicated the latest fire was suspicious. Read the original article on People 'Historic wage increases' as union workers agree deal with pork processors originally appeared on Bring Me The News. Workers at Quality Pork Processors (QPP) in Austin, Minn., have ratified a new, three-year contract that secures "historic wage increases and a ratification bonus," the UFCW Local 663 announced this week. The contract gives workers a 15.6% raise, which is the largest wage increase given at QPP, according to the union. That includes a $2.20 per hour raise in the first year and a $3.10 per hour increase over the three-year term of the contract. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Additionally, workers received a $200 ratification bonus, as well as improved vision and dental benefits. Quality Pork ProcessorsGoogle Maps Ill be celebrating this contract with my coworkers," Josh Nelson, a worker in the cut department at QPP, said in a statement. "Having the negotiations room packed with members won us more money than we ever have before." QPP did not respond to a request for comment on the ratification. "The workers at QPP stood together to demand a contract that values their hard work with fair wages and dignity, said UFCW 663 President Rena Wong. "In Austin, a proud union town, workers made it clear: fair pay isnt optional, its necessary." Related: Hormel workers allege company violated state's new sick and safe time law This story was originally reported by Bring Me The News on Aug 8, 2025, where it first appeared. President President Donald Trump visits a migrant detention center, dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz," located at the site of the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport in Ochopee, Florida on July 1, 2025. Credit - Andrew CaballeroAFP/Getty Images The Trump Administrations attacks against immigrants may be unprecedented in its willingness to push legal boundaries, but the intense rhetoric used to justify its policy has a long track record. For more than a century, politicians and powerbrokers have used incendiary language to aggressively respond to threats abroad. Theyve labeled non-white natives whove challenged American interests overseas bandits, savages, or terrorists. Now, similar terms are being applied to perceived enemies at home, especially to describe undocumented migrants. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement There is a crucial utility to this framing. American leaders and commentators often portrayed international adversaries in unflattering and discursive brushstrokes. Using loaded descriptors not only intimate cultural distinctions that reinforced a sense of American superiority but also justified bending or breaking established rules of engagement against foes who were described as morally deficient. Today, the Trump Administration is using similar rhetorical tropes to defend its aggressive deportation efforts. One of the earliest examples of this phenomenon occurred in the Philippines. At the turn of the 20th century, Emilio Aguinaldo led an armed resistance against U.S. colonization, which started a conflict that would kill some 4,200 Americans and as many as 200,000 Filipinos. U.S. officials and chroniclers often depicted the rebels as savages for using sneak attacks, booby traps, and torturetactics supposedly considered beyond the pale of "civilized" warfare. Read More: Prohibition Exposes the Dangers of Trump's Immigration Rhetoric This depiction justified to the broader American public brutal acts of retaliation, including razing villages and employing the infamous water cure to captives. American officials defended these actions by claiming that military personnel were merely reacting to the conditions around them. Senator Henry Cabot Lodge said, I think they have grown out of the conditions of warfare, of the war that was waged by the Filipinos themselves, a semi-civilized people. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Two decades later, the U.S. undertook a fight against Nicaraguas Augusto Sandino that bore similar hallmarks to the earlier Philippines campaign. In their resistance to the presence of U.S. Marines in their country, Sandinistas engaged in unconventional guerrilla tactics. Consequently, Americans commonly referred to Sandino as a bandit, a term that casually dismissed his political grievances and positioned him outside the bounds of legitimate resistance. The label also suggested that the U.S. response to his resistance did not have to abide by legitimate methods of international law, either. This rationale enabled Marines to pursue Sandinistas with impunity, leading to allegations of civilian targeting, village razing, and indiscriminate airplane bombing. These tactics provoked little outrage from the American public in part because of how U.S. officials portrayed the Sandinistas. The specific terms bandit and savage fell from the lexicon over the latter half of the 20th century, but the U.S. continued to rhetorically respond in similar ways to foreign opponents who challenged what they considered to be U.S. imperial ventures, particularly in the Middle East. The charged climate after 9/11 provided a new set of inflamed terms to apply to such resistance. Those who contested the U.S. occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq were automatically conflated with al Qaeda as terrorists or unlawful enemy combatants. While these terms were different from those used in the early 20th century, they largely held the same meaning. They inferred that such men used illicit violence and thus were not entitled to any legal rights if captured. This understanding justified the indefinite detention of thousands of individuals, many of whom would be subject to euphemistically named enhanced interrogation techniques that not only failed to produce much useful intelligence but undercut the U.S.s longstanding position as a champion of human rights. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement For more than a century, demonizing opponents has been useful for delegitimizing threats and justifying exceptional actions in foreign lands. But as the threat of insurgents has receded abroad, the Trump administration has brought these tactics home. By casting undocumented migrants as those who are in Trumps words poisoning the blood of our country, it is turning domestic people into foreigners undeserving of civil treatment. Read More: How Schools Are Navigating Trump's Immigration Policies The case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Salvadoran man deported in March despite a court order protecting him from removal, has epitomized this approach. For three months, the Trump Administration stalled on adhering to a court decision to facilitate his release, using loaded terms to suggest the law should not apply to Abrego Garcia. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, for example, referred to him as a gang banger, alluding to alleged ties to the gang MS-13. In a press conference with Trump, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele called Abrego Garcia a terrorist. Moreover, masked ICE agents have arrested tens of thousands of peopleoften under the pretense of preventing terrorism and gang activity without demonstrating substantive evidence. Venezuelan migrants, for instance, have been singled out on the suspicion they belong to Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang. The Trump Administration has speciously invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798a long dormant and wildly unpopular law in its dayto deny them court hearings and to facilitate deportation. In some instances, they were sent to El Salvadors notorious CECOT prison with virtually no due process. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Meanwhile, international students, like Mahmoud Khalil and Rumeysa Ozturk were detained and their pro-Palestinian activism was conflated with support for the terror group Hamas. Both Khalil and Ozturk were eventually released. The history of American officials using this language to justify foreign policy decisions shows that it is not merely an anodyne attempt to describe people. Rather, the use of terms like "terrorist" or "gang banger" has an important utility in framing perceived threats and thus rationalizing the deployment of extraordinary tactics against them. What had once been used effectively to support military action overseas is now being applied to combat undesirable populations at home. Michael E. Neagle is professor of history, director of history & political science, and co-chair of the terrorism studies program at Nichols College and author of the forthcoming book, Chasing Bandits: Americas Long War on Terror. Made by History takes readers beyond the headlines with articles written and edited by professional historians. Learn more about Made by History at TIME here. Opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of TIME editors. Write to Made by History at madebyhistory@time.com. HOLYOKE The Greater Holyoke Chamber of Commerce said Friday it filed a criminal complaint against a former executive director, Jordan Hart, with the Holyoke Police Department. In a statement, the chamber said an audit revealed evidence of apparent theft and misappropriation of funds. The Holyoke Police Department received a report from the chamber in June, according to a response The Republican received Friday from Chief Brian Keenan. Holyoke Police said the matter is now in the hands of the Massachusetts Attorney Generals Office. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Attorney Generals Office received a request, and it is under review, according to a spokesperson. The Attorney Generals staff declined further comment. The Attorney Generals Office regulates nonprofits. Hart did not respond to calls and text messages seeking comment Friday afternoon. The chambers statement said the organizations leadership identified financial irregularities in November and initiated an internal review, led by its Executive Committee, over several months. A public relations firm issued the statement under the name of Harry Montalvo Cuevas, president of the Holyoke chambers board of directors. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The statement said the chambers investigation suggested that Hart used the organizations funds for personal expenses and that certain grant funds designated for specific programs were diverted to other purposes. The release said Harts employment with the Chamber was terminated in January. According to her Linkedin account, Hart worked for the Chamber for just longer than 11 years, the last four of them as executive director. The statement from the chamber did not specify how much money it believes was misappropriated. The chamber said it will have no further comment. The group said it has implemented new financial oversight protocols and will continue to strengthen procedures to ensure fiscal accountability. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The chamber deeply regrets that this situation occurred and takes the matter with the utmost seriousness, the statement said. Stories by Jim Kinney Read the original article on MassLive. Peak Vista Community Health Centers has named Jaeson Fournier as CEO of the Colorado Springs-based safety net provider, which offers medical, mental and dental care for uninsured, indigent and low-income residents across Southern Colorado. Fournier will join Peak Vista in mid-September, according to a news release. He has led community health centers for over 20 years, most recently as CEO of CommUnityCare Health Centers, the largest federally qualified health center in Texas. His appointment comes after a months-long search involving Peak Vista's board and an executive search firm. As a Board, we were dedicated to finding a leader who can guide Peak Vista into its next phase of growth and success as well as further strengthen our commitment to patient care, financial sustainability, workforce development, community engagement and operational excellence and we are confident we have found that in Jaeson," Stella Hodgkins, board chair, said in the release. Fournier said he is looking forward to advancing health equity for those who need and deserve access to care. "I am deeply grateful for the opportunity to join such a dynamic team, united by a shared commitment to the community we are so privileged to serve. I cant wait to roll up my sleeves, listen, learn and lead alongside this extraordinary group as we shape a healthier, more equitable future across the region," he said in the release. Fournier will work closely with Richard Eitel, who has served as interim CEO of Peak Vista since January, to ensure a seamless transition, according to the release. Eitel became interim CEO after Emily Ptaszek, a psychologist, left to pursue a career that would "allow her to make more impact across the industry," according to previous Gazette reporting. Peak Vista's patient count dropped by almost 20,000 people, going from 93,000 to 74,000 during Ptaszek's three years at the helm. In August 2024, employees filed 18 charges of labor law violations against the organization with the National Labor Relations Board. The agency determined in December 2024 that Peak Vista wrongfully terminated five doctors last summer and said they could proceed with claims against their former employer. Peak Vista is appealing the labor board's decision on the termination of the physicians. HOLYOKE, Mass. (WWLP) Holyoke Police are seeking animal cruelty charges against a Ludlow man following an investigation into an alleged abuse incident involving a German Shepherd. Springfield police issue 60+ tickets for code violations crackdown Police Chief Brian Keenan said the investigation began August 2, when Holyoke Police Detectives and the citys Animal Control Officer were alerted to a video circulating on Facebook that appeared to show the suspect striking the dog with a leash. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The alleged incident occurred around 10 a.m. on August 1 near 600 Main Street. Detective Jared Hamel and Animal Control Officer Erick Velez spoke with the suspect, a 69-year-old man from Ludlow. On Thursday, August 7, detectives applied for a criminal complaint in Holyoke District Court. The mans name will be released if the complaint is issued and he is arraigned. Police have not released further details about the dogs condition. 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. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. Editors note: This story was updated to correct the name of the LAPD chief. A Studio City homeowners quick call to 911 may have stopped a would-be burglar overnight, but its the latest in what police and residents say has become a near-daily threat across Los Angeles County. LAPD officials say a woman was inside her home late Thursday night when she heard someone trying to break in and immediately called 911. Officers responded quickly even deploying an LAPD helicopter but by the time they arrived, the suspect had already fled. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The incident adds to a growing list of burglaries and attempted break-ins hitting neighborhoods across the region. Many of these crimes are occurring despite homeowners investing in security systems, surveillance cameras, and even private security patrols. Recent high-profile cases include an attempted burglary at the home of Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, a Hollywood Hills homeowner holding a suspect at gunpoint until police arrived, and the shocking killings of an American Idol executive and her husband in what authorities have described as a violent home invasion. Police say the crimes are increasingly sophisticated. LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said some groups are conducting pre-incident surveillance, placing hidden cameras near homes to track residents schedules and determine when properties are empty. Officials believe some crews are tied to organized theft rings from South America, while others operate out of South Los Angeles. Authorities also warn that thieves are using electronic jammers to disable Wi-Fi and security systems, further complicating homeowners defenses. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In response, city leaders including the mayor and police chief have held meetings to address the surge in break-ins. While arrests have been made, police say prevention remains key. McDonnell urged residents to stay vigilant and take steps to protect their homes, including building relationships with neighbors. Your best bet is get to know your neighbors, he said. Be aware of who belongs in your community and look out for each other. The latest attempted break-in remains under investigation. Police have not released a suspect description and are asking anyone with information to contact the LAPD. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. MANHATTAN, N.Y. (PIX11) A homeless man is accused of attacking a 94-year-old man in Manhattan on Tuesday, according to the NYPD. Police said 31-year-old Lewis D. Reynolds was arrested on Friday and charged with assault. The 94-year-old victim was inside an Apple store at 940 Madison Ave. around 5:45 p.m. when he was approached by Reynolds, according to authorities. More Local News Police said Reynolds allegedly punched the victim in the face, causing him to fall to the ground. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The victim suffered injuries but refused medical treatment, according to authorities. 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. 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. BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First) A homeless man was arrested on multiple charges after he allegedly broke into a mausoleum at a historic cemetery. Michael Dubroc, 43, was charged with resisting a police officer with force or violence, desecration of graves, simple burglary, and gross littering prohibited. Baton Rouge police officers started investigating after seeing a large amount of trash around a mausoleum at the Magnolia Historic Cemetery on North 19th Street on Thursday, Aug. 7. According to an affidavit, Dubroc was inside the mausoleum where four people were interred and refused officers orders to get out. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Dubroc was placed into custody after a taser was used. Nursing home employee in Baton Rouge accused of injuring elderly woman with dementia Latest 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 Louisiana First News. A homeless woman has been charged with assault and false imprisonment of a Long Island woman, whose apartment she was temporarily staying in. Nassau County police received a call from a third party on Tuesday night claiming her friend was being held against her will at a residence in Farmingdale, cops said in a press release Thursday. Upon arrival, officers were met with defendant Shawnequa Polite, 42, and a female victim, 28, who had visible injuries on her, authorities said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A subsequent investigation revealed the two women had gotten into an argument over finances, which escalated to Polite punching and kicking the victim before locking her in a room. The alleged hostage was eventually able to call a friend, who reached out to law enforcement for help. The victim was treated at a local hospital for evaluation and treatment. Polite was arrested at the scene and booked on charges of unlawful imprisonment, burglary, robbery and assault. She was arraigned in Hempstead court on Wednesday. A homeowner took to Reddit to express their frustration after their homeowners association denied their request to install rooftop solar panels. The poster said the HOA's covenants, conditions, and restrictions are in line with a North Carolina State law that solar panel installation can only be banned if it is on the front face of a home. "I have tried expressing to the HOA that I believe that they are rejecting my ARC [architectural review committee] request outside of [North Carolina] General Statutes," shared the poster. "But they aren't budging." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement HOAs are notorious for denying homeowners' requests to make eco-friendly upgrades to their properties. Many states, including the poster's state of North Carolina, have passed laws to prevent HOAs from policing those upgrades at the cost of efficiency. Commenters were quick to point this out. "Hire a lawyer. Have them reference this," replied one commenter, linking to a news article on the passage of the North Carolina law prohibiting HOAs from banning solar panels. While the homeowner noted that they don't have the funds to engage in a court battle, they did send a letter to the HOA citing that state law. Having done this due diligence, they could proceed with their solar installation. If they choose to go that route, they can expect to save up to 100% on their energy bills, as solar is the ultimate home energy hack. They can save even more by using EnergySage's helpful online tools. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement With EnergySage, homeowners can get estimates and compare quotes for free. Homeowners can use EnergySage's mapping tool to see what the average cost of solar panels is in their state. Along with saving money on solar installation, using EnergySage opens homeowners up to nearly $10,000 in incentives. However, it's essential to act quickly. Earlier this month, President Donald Trump signed into law the One Big Beautiful Bill, which requires residential solar projects before Dec. 31 to be eligible for tax credits. Join our free newsletter for easy tips to save more and waste less, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet. Leawood, Kansas Last week, a FOX4 Problem Solvers investigation took us to Blue Springs, Missouri, where homeowners were dealing with crumbling driveways revealing a potential nationwide issue. This week, it takes us to Leawood, Kansas. Metro homeowners dealing with crumbling driveways reveal possible nationwide problem After I saw your story, I was like thats us, said Leawood homeowner Bill Keith. Hopefully together we can get a positive resolution. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Our investigation uncovered possible causes for new driveways crumbling after just a few months. According to some builders, an area-wide switch to a new cement mix called Portland 1L may be to blame. It was a change, they say, no one told them about. What we have learned is that the 1L concrete is less forgiving. So there really has to be a tighter set of standards regarding how it is cared for and how ultimately it is poured, said Will Ruder, executive vice president of the Home Builders Association of Greater Kansas City. Of all the parts in the process that go into pouring a driveway, its difficult for experts to definitively say that all the crumbling driveways are caused by the same issue. The effect though, is quite similar. This should be a driveway that lasted us 25-30 years, Keith said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Its a sentiment shared by several homeowners. The FOX4 Problem Solvers received calls, comments and emails after our initial story aired. Most had similar messages. I dont know what else I can do, wrote one viewer. Imagine how bad it will be in a year! said another. Are you able to provide insight into the best way for us to seek satisfactory resolution with our builder? a viewer asked. FOX4 Problem Solvers took those questions to the Better Business Bureau (BBB). Josh Planos covers the BBB of Midwest Plains (Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa and South Dakota). He said data shows 6.6% of all their complaints this year across that region are related to concrete issues. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Its created a lot of headache within the Kansas City metro, Planos told FOX4. So, what can you do as a consumer? Certainly it does fall on the business to make the consumer happy, Planos said. I think most businesses would stand behind their products [and] what they do to source their materials. They dont want an unhappy consumer any more than any reputable business does. He said if you cant get answers, you can file a complaint with the BBB. We obviously have a much higher resolution rate with our accredited business community because theyve agreed to uphold the standards of trust that we have outlined, Planos said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He said a positive resolution could vary from situation to situation. He said it could be an entirely new driveway or another compromise between the business and homeowners. Industry experts on the builder and concrete side told FOX4 that sealing new driveways after the concrete is poured can help prevent these cosmetic defects. But homeowner Bill Keith believes the responsibility goes a step further back. Im a dentist. Im a small business owner, too, he said. If a company that I buy supplies from wouldve changed things without telling me, I would expect that they fix it for me because Im a regular customer of theirs. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He wants to see concrete companies take accountability for the issues. The BBB also suggests asking for more protection before signing your warranty. Theres a lot of conversation that can be had on the front end that many of us choose to bypass because we dont feel like its necessary, Planos said. FOX4 Problem Solvers reached out to the Kansas and Missouri Attorneys Generals Offices. The Missouri Attorney Generals consumer protection department suggests that people reach out to the BBB and possibly look into a private attorney. I hate for it to have to go to attorneysbecause when it goes to attorneys, only attorneys win, Keith said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But if thats what it takes and thats where it needs to go for a concrete company to realize what theyve done is wrong, thats what we need to do. FOX4 has additional resources listed below: You can file a complaint with the BBB by clicking here . You can file a complaint with the Missouri Attorney Generals consumer protection department here . You can file a complaint with the Kansas Attorney Generals consumer protection department here. This story airs tonight on FOX4 News at 9. 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. NEENAH, Wis. (WFRV) Richard Daseke doesnt consider himself a hero. But on March 21st, 1969 alone, bleeding, and surrounded by chaos he did what heroes do. Daseke, a 21-year-old Army specialist at the time, was stationed at Landing Zone White in Vietnam with the 1st Cavalry Division when a unit of the North Vietnamese Army launched a surprise attack in the middle of the night. Before I knew it, everyone around me was either gone or dead, Daseke recalled. I couldnt see anything, so I crawled to the mortar pit and started firing illumination rounds. I did it for 40 minutes straight until artillery from another base started firing over us. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Hometown Heroes: Veterans discover hope and healing with Music Success guitar lessons He was hit with shrapnel in the back, face, and ear wounds that earned him a Purple Heart. But it was his bravery under fire, continuing to fight while wounded and alone, that earned him the Bronze Star Medal with V device for valor. You dont go into the Army thinking youll be a hero, Daseke said. You just do what seems like the right thing to do in the moment. Now 77 years old and living in Neenah, Daseke continues to serve. Hes the Senior Vice Commander of the Military Order of the Purple Heart in Wisconsin, regularly speaking at schools and national conventions to share the stories of veterans especially those who never made it home. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In order to receive a Purple Heart, you have to be wounded by the enemy in combat, he explained. Less than three percent of people who serve ever receive one. It makes me unique but it also reminds me every day what others gave. Hometown Heroes: Jessika Georges family history, deep passion for country is why she served Daseke served in the Army from 1968 to 1979, first in the infantry and later as a helicopter crew chief with the 229th Assault Helicopter Company. He flew daily missions over Vietnam often under heavy fire and somehow, despite losing three helicopters in five months, never lost a man under his watch. But coming home wasnt easy. He remembers arriving at the Oakland terminal to face anti-war protesters and being spit on. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It was the worst part, he said. Thats why I make it a point now to tell these stories. People need to know what we went through. What we gave. Daseke says his work with the Purple Heart organization now focuses on building membership among younger veterans something he says is more important than ever. Click here for more sounds and stories from Wisconsins Hometown Heroes Todays generation doesnt always see the value in joining, he said. But these associations are about remembering. About honoring. About healing. As for Purple Heart Day itself observed every year on August 7 Daseke says its not just about recognition. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Its about never forgetting. My oath is not over. When you sign up to protect this country, theres no expiration date. 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 WFRV Local 5 - Green Bay, Appleton. QUEENS, N.Y. (PIX11) One of the biggest multicultural festivals in the country returns to New York City for its 35th year. The annual Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival will kick off at Flushing Meadows Corona Park in Queens on Saturday and will run throughout the weekend, offering free family fun. Traditional Dragon Boat racers will set sail at 9 a.m., with races continuing throughout the early evening. Things To Do Around NYC NEW YORK, UNITED STATES AUGUST 12: People are seen on the dragon-headed boat during the Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival held at the Flushing Meadows-Corona Park in New York, United States on August 12, 2023. The traditional dragon-headed boat races which were built in 1967 World Fair, inspired from the Chinese culture in Queens. (Photo by Fatih Aktas/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images) Families will be able to enjoy the main event alongside parades, live music performances, folk dancing, martial arts demonstrations, and more. In between events, visitors can also grab snacks and drinks from the international food court. QUEENS, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES 2015/08/08: A team carries aloft a dragon puppet chasing the sun as they parade through the festival on the first day of the event. The two-day 25th Annual Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival was held in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. (Photo by Albin Lohr-Jones/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images) The tradition of Dragon Boat racing dates back to 278 BC when, legend has it, the ancient poet Qu Yuan jumped into the Ni Lo River after hearing his home had been invaded. A local fisherman raced out to save him but couldnt. The fisherman is said to have thrown rice dumplings into the water as an offering to Qu Yuans heroic spirit. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement More Local News In modern times, Dragon Boats are blessed by a Buddhist monk before hitting the water and are brought to life by having their eyes dotted in red paint before the races. Each boat is powered by up to 20 members consisting of a drummer, a steersperson, and paddlers. People dot the eyes of a dragon boat during a dragon eye dotting ceremony of Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival in Central Park in New York, the United States, on July 20, 2023. A dragon eye dotting ceremony was held in New York City, the United States, on Thursday as a prelude to the 2023 Hong Kong Dragon Boat Festival, which is scheduled for next month. Eye dotting is a tradition celebrated each year to mark the beginning of the race season, and to promote safety and good luck in the coming months of practice. (Photo by Michael Nagle/Xinhua via Getty Images) For more information on the NYC Dragon Boat race and to find the full schedule of events, click here. 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. HONOLULU (KHON2) The first surf school business returned to Lahaina just before the second anniversary of the tragic wildfires. According to the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, the disaster claimed about 800 businesses, which provided about 7,000 jobs in the community. Lahainas historic Banyan Tree Park could re-open in several months HI Surf Club Maui is now the first of those businesses to return home to Lahaina. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This new beginning for business owner Andrew Nakihei is a symbol of hope to all the other businesses in Lahaina that they will return home one day. The surf club has now been open for over a month, operating out of a donated van, on the same grounds where their original building once stood on Breakwall Beach. This beach is where I learned how to surf, and many others in Lahaina Town. I have two daughters this is where they learn how to surf, Nakihei said. The surf school operated from a rented space provided by the Hakuna Matata Hostel, owned by Daniel Miranda, before both were lost in the fire. Get Hawaiis latest morning news delivered to your inbox, sign up for News 2 You The biggest key is the access to the beach, thats why everybody cant fathom how we are operating. Nobody knows we have a permit, Nakihei said. Everybody thinks we are doing the rogue. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement HI Surf Club Maui was able to obtain a permit from the state to resume operations since they have private property access to the beach, whereas other surf schools access the beach from Kamehameha Ike Park, which is still closed. Our situation is different; we dont access the water through the park; we access it through private property. So, we just needed a permit from the state, not the county, Miranda said. Thats why we are the only ones operating, because we have access to the water through private property. Four days after the fire, Nakihei had to begin work at another job to provide for his family and pay his mortgage. Download the free KHON2 app for iOS or Android to stay informed on the latest news Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I couldnt even grieve; I couldnt even be sad, he said. Once he had enough money to keep his family afloat, he invested the rest to reopen the surf school. I purchased about $25,000 worth of boards, which is a lot, Nakihei said. Overall, I have about $40,000 invested. He did not receive any support from the state for rebuilding his business. Transport of Lahaina wildfire debris begins, what you need to know I would love to see more available funding for small businesses, like mine, and regular businesses, Nakihei said. As far as business goes, he says its trickling in. The road to recovery will be long, but Nakihei wants to keep spirits high for the Lahaina community. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Keep your head and keep pushing forward. You cant dwell on the past. There is hope. he said. We love everybody, we love Lahaina, and we know Lahaina loves us. Please support the HI Surf Club Maui and visit their 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 KHON2. After three workshops to hear from candidates, the Palmer Lake Board of Trustees has appointed a longtime water utilities operator to fill a vacancy. The appointment could make a difference in the upcoming vote on annexing a location for the Texas travel store Buc-ee's later this month. The vacancy came about after the sudden resignation of Mayor Glant Havenar in June. Shortly after, Trustee Dennis Stern was appointed by the board as mayor. Stern's trustee term until 2026 became vacant. On Wednesday, the board voted 4-2 to appoint Michael Boyett, a current member of the town's sanitation district board. Boyett told trustees at an interview on July 10 that he had worked in water utilities for over 40 years. He has been a sanitation board member for two years. Boyett told the board that he had an "open mind" about the upcoming annexation vote. He said that the town struggled to pay for important infrastructure and services without more business activity. "I don't have all the facts, but I'm not opposed," he said. Boyett said he had not read the town's master plan yet, but he felt it was a "living document" that could be flexible for the public interest. On Wednesday, Boyett was not the first candidate considered in a vote. The board was tied on appointing Michael Beeson, a member of the Palmer Lake Planning Commission. During Beeson's interview, Stern asked him about his signing of petitions that now form the three questions on a special election set for September. Two recall petitions against Trustees Shana Ball and Kevin Dreher made it on the ballot, while a third for Stern was voided by his appointment as mayor. A third petition will bring a ordinance to voters that would require all new and recent annexation requests to be decided as ballot questions. The ordinance, if passed, would retroactively include the Buc-ee's annexation if it receives board approval. Featured Local Savings Stern asked Beeson to confirm that he signed the three petitions, later saying the line of questioning would not factor into his decision making, since he did not ask the same of all candidates. Beeson said he signed one recall petition due to inappropriate "personal behavior," though he did not specify which recalled trustee he was referring to. He also confirmed signing the petition for the annexation ordinance, saying he thought the "citizens should vote." "Is that a disqualifying factor?" Beeson asked during the interview. Trustees Atis Jurka, Kevin Dreher and Amy Hutson voted for Beeson, while Stern, Ball and Tim Caves voted against. Boyett's appointment was successful with four "yes" votes and two from Jurka and Hutson against. A medical worker walks by a hospital entrance in New York City. A new study found that hospitals are increasingly buying up private physician-owned practices, and costs for services are rising. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images) As more hospitals have gobbled up private physician practices, costs for childbirth and other services have gone up, according to a new study. Since the early aughts, the share of physicians in the United States working for hospitals has nearly doubled, according to the study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, a nonprofit research organization. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement And as fewer doctors work in physician-owned practices, patients or their insurers end up paying more, the studys authors found. For example: Two years after a hospital buys an OB-GYN practice, prices for labor and delivery jump an average of $475 and physician prices rise by $502, according to the study. Researchers focused on births, which are the most common reason for hospital admission among people with private insurance. This rapid acquisition by hospitals is reshaping a U.S. industry once dominated by tens of thousands of small, physician-owned practices. Only about 42% of U.S. physicians work in a physician-owned private practice, according to the most recent survey data from the American Medical Association. Nearly 47% work for hospitals, a sharp rise over the past several years. Most emergency room physicians are now employed by hospital systems or by private equity-owned staffing groups. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The new research offers further evidence for how hospital acquisitions of private practices can result in anticompetitive price increases, said Matthew Grennan, one of the studys authors and an associate professor of economics at Emory University, in a news release. As a result, I think economists and others in the antitrust community are likely to give more careful consideration to these potential sources of harm, he said. Medical debt is a leading cause of bankruptcy in the United States, with about 14 million Americans owing more than $1,000 in medical debt, according to research nonprofit KFF. These post-merger price increases are driven by reduced competition, Grennan and his fellow researchers found. Yet theres been little effort by federal or state regulators to halt hospital mergers that could lead to higher prices for consumers. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But states have taken some steps toward lowering medical costs in recent years. Bipartisan groups of lawmakers in more than a dozen states have addressed so-called facility fees, which are charges that some hospitals tack on for patient visits to hospital-owned physician offices. This year in Oklahoma, Republican lawmakers passed a bill requiring hospitals to make the cost of many of their services more transparent to patients so theyre aware of the costs. Providers can face penalties for noncompliance. A similar Oklahoma law authored by Democrats and passed last year requires debt collectors to submit evidence of a hospitals compliance with price transparency rules before filing to collect on medical debts from patients. Some states have capped the rates hospitals or physicians can charge. Colorado sets provider and hospitals rates based on a specific formula if insurance plans arent able to lower peoples premiums to a certain level, while Montana and Oregon limited the amount hospitals and other providers can charge for their state employee health plan. This story was originally published by Stateline. Like Maine Morning Star, 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. "I would give everything to see my Matan beside me tonight, Zangauker said. Hamas captivity survivors and families of hostages held a Kabbalat Shabbat on Friday evening outside the home of Defense Minister Israel Katz in protest of the Gaza City occupation plan announced earlier. The Hostages and Missing Families Forum organized the event. Other Israelis also joined the families. 'Until every hostage returns, I won't have a real Shabbat meal' We missed so many Friday meals, and were still missing them, said captivity survivor Iair Horn, whose brother Eitan remains in captivity. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Until they all return, you cant call this Kabbalat Shabbat. Our family is completely broken, but weve become one big family. Until every one of the hostages returns, I wont have a real Shabbat meal. Captivity survivor Ohad Ben Ami described conditions in captivity. When Friday came a special day we received a quarter pita and a cup of water. We would make kiddush over the water and say the blessing over bread, he said. Im here now, but the five friends I was with are still there, all 50 hostages in the tunnels. They dont have time. The government thinks it has time we wont sit quietly. Hamas captivity survivors and families of Israeli hostages held a Kabbalat Shabbat on Friday evening outside the home of Defense Minister Israel Katz, joined by supporters (credit: Uriel Even Sapir) Ben Ami also said that Hamas told the hostages the Israeli government had abandoned them, but they were encouraged by signs of public support. We saw with our own eyes that the people had not given up on us, he said. Einav Zangauker, mother of captive Matan Zangauker, said: All of Israel wants to see our fighters coming home from war to guarantee the security of its citizens, we must end this injustice that has been done to our loved ones for 22 months. Everyone who eats around the Shabbat table tonight appreciate the family members beside you. I would give everything to see my Matan beside me tonight. SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) Its a warm and humid morning in much of southern KELOLAND we get ready for a hot day ahead. Storms have stayed west and north of Sioux Falls so far, but that could change tonight. Aberdeen had strong winds around 4:30am around 60mph. This is what it looked like on our LIVE Cam there early this morning. Gusty winds also moved into Watertown overnight. Heres a look at the camera view there. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Big storms rumbled across North Dakota last night. 90mph winds hit Grand Forks with that line of severe weather. Back to KELOLAND, hot and humid weather is in place across the southeast today. Heat advisories are in effect for the Sioux Falls area. Heres a look at the planner for Sioux Falls. Could we get more storms tonight? If the cap breaks, the chance is there for severe weather. The far northeast is most likely to see to the storms chances, along with our Minnesota counties late tonight. You can watch Futurecast in the videos below for some details. Here are the details of the forecast. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) In celebration of National Panini Day, Hot Table is giving sandwich lovers a reason to smile and save. Patriots preseason opener against Commanders kicks off Friday On Monday, August 11, the Springfield-based panini shop is offering small paninis for just $5 at all 13 of its locations in Massachusetts and Connecticut. The one-day promotion is available for dine-in, takeout, and online orders, allowing customers to enjoy Hot Tables signature grilled sandwiches however they choose. Known for fresh ingredients and perfectly pressed paninis, the restaurant has built a loyal following since its founding, and this deal is their way of saying thanks. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Were thrilled to celebrate National Panini Day with our community, said Chris DeVoie, co-owner of Hot Table. Our paninis are made with fresh ingredients and grilled to perfection, and we cant wait to share this special offer with everyone on August 11th. For more details about the menu and to find your nearest location, visit their website or follow them on social media. 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. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. A proposed federal spending bill would dramatically reduce funding for Jersey Shore beach replenishment projects. (Daniella Heminghaus for New Jersey Monitor) Democratic Rep. Frank Pallone is criticizing Republican colleague Rep. Jeff Van Drew over a congressional plan to gut federal funding for beach replenishment, with Pallone saying Van Drew is not doing enough to save the funds from being cut. This is coming from the Trump administration, its coming from the Republicans in Congress, and now you see somebody like Jeff Van Drew saying, Oh, its not really a problem, said Pallone in an interview Thursday. Well, of course its a problem. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Asked to respond, Rep. Van Drew said hell always protect the Jersey Shore, and pointed to millions included in the current federal budget for dredging and resiliency projects along the coastline. Ive been working closely with our towns, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the administration to ensure that beach replenishment projects along our coast are fully funded and we fully expect that to happen, Van Drew said in a statement to the New Jersey Monitor. At the center of this battle is a GOP-backed appropriations measure in Congress that would slash funding for the U.S. Army Corps beach replenishment projects from the typical $200 million down to $60 million in the new federal fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1. The proposed cuts would jeopardize projects in Avalon, Beach Haven, and Stone Harbor. While the Army Corps typically funds projects with some help from local and state money, small Jersey Shore towns cant foot the bill alone, Pallone said. He noted that towns have to abide by strict requirements and show a cost-benefit analysis to be approved for the projects that, ultimately, save towns money when storms hit. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Its going to cost you more money, because these are only done when you can show that, in fact, it saves money, he said. So if you said, No, were not going to do it, and theres no resiliency, its going to cost more. Pallone said the measure, which was voted out of committee but hasnt received a full House vote yet, would be the first time in nearly three decades that there isnt enough federal funding to pay for beach replenishment. Pallone and Van Drew both represent Jersey Shore towns, Pallone in Central Jersey and Van Drew in South Jersey. Van Drew cited past federal funds hes brought to his 2nd District for seawalls, living shorelines, beach replenishments, and coastal resilience projects. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement For five years running, we have been number one when it comes to delivering grants and funding. That hasnt changed regardless of whether weve had a blue or red administration or whether weve been in the majority or the minority in the House, he said. Hard work has always gotten the job done. Our record speaks for itself. Pallone suggested the cuts are politically motivated to hurt New Jersey because it is run by Democrats. Theres never been this phenomenon where its essentially down to zero, and were going to continue to fight it, said Pallone. I just am disappointed with Van Drew because he suggested that this isnt happening, and in fact, it is happening. Its very clear. The Brief Houston police released video of a suspect wanted in a deadly stabbing. A 77-year-old man was stabbed while riding his bike to work in Second Ward. The suspect has not been identified. HOUSTON - Houston police have released new surveillance video of a suspect wanted in the deadly stabbing of a 77-year-old man who was riding his bike to work. What's new The video released by police shows a man dressed in a dark blue or black shirt and khaki shorts walking past a METRO Rail stop. His face is visible. What you can do Police are trying to identify him. Anyone with information is asked to call the Houston Police Departments Homicide Division at (73)308-3600. Man stabbed to death on Houston bike path The backstory Anival Patricio Elvir Ortiz, 77, was biking on a trail in Second Ward near Canal Street when he was attacked and stabbed just before 6 a.m. Thursday. The incident was caught on surveillance footage. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Houston police say its about a 10-to-15-minute ride from where Ortiz was stabbed to The Spencer Company on North Drennan Street, his place of work, where he collapsed. "He rode all the way to work. He collapsed at work. They called an ambulance, and he passed away at Memorial Herman Hospital," said Detective Sgt. Mark Holbrook. "He might not have realized his injuries were so severe, and he just kept riding his bike, and eventually he succumbed to his injuries." HPD says the suspect left the area and was seen going south on Lockwood that morning. What they're saying The Spencer Company said in a statement, "We understand that one of our valued team members was attacked by an assailant on his way to work this morning, and he subsequently passed away due to his injuries. We are cooperating with the authorities in their investigation, and most importantly, our thoughts and prayers go out to our team members' family and friends during this difficult time." The Source The information in this article comes from the Houston Police Department. The Spencer Company released a statement about the incident. As the mysterious interstellar object known as 3I/ATLAS plummets through our Solar System, NASA's good old Hubble Space Telescope has captured the best look yet at the interstellar visitor. On July 21, the interstellar interloper passed close enough to Earth and to Hubble, which orbits us at about 320 miles above the planet that the veteran space telescope was able to capture a surprisingly detailed image of it, NASA explains in a statement about the image. In the space agency's incredible shot the second the Hubble has captured since the discovery of 3I/ATLAS a "teardrop-shaped cocoon of dust," as NASA calls it, is seen trailing behind the puzzling object, which many scientists suspect is a sizable interstellar comet. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Discovered a mere five weeks ago on July 1, 3I/ATLAS is only the third known interstellar object to pass through our solar system, with the first being the ever-mysterious 'Oumuamua back in 2017. As with that strangely elongated visitor, there is some speculation that 3I/ATLAS could be some sort of alien spacecraft but NASA believes we're looking at the "solid, icy nucleus" of a comet. That said, there's quite a lot about this interstellar visitor that is extraordinary and unexplained. In an editorial for Space.com last month, a pair of astrophysicists posited that 3I/ATLAS is much older than 'Oumuamua and 3I/Borisov, the second-ever recorded interstellar object discovered by amateur astronomer Gennadiy Borisov back in 2019. Those scientists, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor's Aster Taylor and Michigan State University's Darryl Seligman, suggested that this latest interstellar interloper could be anywhere from three to 11 billion years old, and cited its massive speeds of 134,000 mph relative to the Sun as the source of their hypothesis. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Since the influence of the galaxy tends to speed up objects over time," the astrophysicists wrote, "this velocity implies that ATLAS is far older." NASA has, meanwhile, proffered in its latest findings, which have been accepted into the Astrophysical Journal Letters, that 3I/ATLAS' nucleus may be as large as 3.5 miles across or as small as just 1,000 feet in diameter. The new Hubble image played a big role in those estimates, though as the agency noted in another statement, the "solid heart of the comet presently cannot be directly seen, even by Hubble." While scientists continue to glean bits and pieces of information about this out-of-solar-system visitor, there's still one huge, outstanding question about 3I/ATLAS. "No one knows where the comet came from," explained Hubble science leader David Jewitt in the statement. "Its like glimpsing a rifle bullet for a thousandth of a second. You can't project that back with any accuracy to figure out where it started on its path." More on comets: Scientists Just Found Something Very Weird About the Mysterious Object Hurtling Into Our Solar System U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, a staunch defender of the country, repeatedly invoked the World War II Allied bombing of the German city of Dresden to defend Israels actions in Gaza amid intensifying global condemnation. In an appearance on "Fox and Friends" early Friday morning, Huckabee sought to defend Israels aggressive military operation in the Gaza Strip, which has drawn significant outcry from global allies and even prompted accusations of genocide from international human rights organizations and within MAGA circles back home. "They never get credit for the things they do to try to prevent civilian loss of life, Huckabee told Fox News. Can you tell me anywhere in the history of the world where a country that was attacked in war was expected to feed the country that attacked them and gets criticized if they didnt do it as efficiently or as readily as the critics said? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Huckabee then directed his criticism to the United Kingdom, whose Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Friday led a chorus of international voices condemning Israels planned escalation of military operations in the Gaza Strip. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday that it could include a full occupation of Gaza. "You have got the Brits out there complaining about humanitarian aid and the fact that they don't like the way Israel is prosecuting the war. I would remind the British to go back and look at their own history, Huckabee said. At the end of World War II they weren't dropping food into Germany, they were dropping massive bombs. Just remember Dresden over 25,000 civilians were killed in that bombing alone. And it wasn't food that the British were sending into Germany." Huckabee doubled down on the analogy later in a post responding to Starmers statement on his personal X account later Friday. So Israel is expected to surrender to Hamas & feed them even though Israeli hostages are being starved? Did UK surrender to Nazis and drop food to them? Ever heard of Dresden, PM Starmer? That wasnt food you dropped. If you had been PM then UK would be speaking German! the ambassador wrote. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The joint British and American firebombing of Dresden in the final stretch of World War II has long been a point of controversy, triggering arguments over if it was justified both immediately after the war and in the decades since. Allied forces dropped nearly 4,000 tons of bombs and incendiary devices, destroying large swaths of the historic city and killing roughly 25,000 people, according to an independent historical commission, while military planners defended the raid. Huckabees repeated comparison, which he also introduced in an interview with CBS News released on Thursday, comes amid increased scrutiny for the Israeli campaigns devastating impact on Gazas Palestinian civilians. Global leaders began voicing outcry in earnest in recent weeks amid dire warnings from international aid and relief organizations that the nearly 2.1 million people living in the Gaza Strip face immediate threat of starvation as a result of Israeli food blockades. Joining the chorus of voices have been an increasing number of MAGA pillars, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has decried Israels operation in the strip as a genocide. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement President Donald Trump has attempted to thread the needle, refusing to go so far as to join allies committing to support Palestinian statehood ahead of next months United Nations General Assembly, while still recognizing the humanitarian crisis gripping the Gaza Strip. Netanyahus Thursday declaration of intent to take control of the Gaza Strip which he has claimed would only be a temporary measure before handing over control to unspecified Arab forces triggered outcry both in the U.S. and internationally. Even Germany, which has long been hesitant to diverge from full support of Israeli independence given the historical backdrop, announced on Friday that it would halt arms exports to Israel that could be used in the Gaza Strip. Under these circumstances, the German government will, until further notice, not approve any exports of military equipment that could be used in the Gaza Strip, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said in a statement. The Brief Ismael Holguin has reportedly been charged with his wife's shooting death. The shooting was reported early Wednesday in a parking garage on Wild Indigo Street. Holguin was arrested after an alleged car chase. HOUSTON - A man has been arrested and charged for allegedly killing his wife in a Houston parking garage, according to police. Houston Wild Indigo Street: Husband accused of shooting wife What we know On Thursday, Houston police announced the arrest of 35-year-old Ismael Holguin. Police say he has been charged with murder and evading arrest. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Holguin was identified as a suspect in the early Wednesday shooting in a Houston parking garage. It was reported at about 3:15 a.m. on Wild Indigo Street, near West Loop South and Westpark Drive. When police arrived on the scene, they said they found Holguin's wife unresponsive in the parking lot. She was taken to a hospital but was later pronounced deceased. Police later found Holguin's vehicle on Tinker Street and tried to stop him. Allegedly, he started a chase, but was later taken into custody. What we don't know The victim has not been identified to the public until her loved ones have been notified. Police say she was 32 years old. The Source Houston Police Department AMSTERDAM (Reuters) -The International Criminal Court (ICC) said on Friday it had issued an arrest warrant for a Libyan national accused of war crimes. The ICC said Saif Suleiman Sneidel is believed to be a member of "Group 50", a sub-group of the Al-Saiqa Brigade, and said there are reasonable grounds to believe he is responsible for war crimes of murder, torture and outrages upon personal dignity, allegedly committed in Benghazi or surrounding areas, in Libya, in 2026-2017. (Reporting by Charlotte Van Campenhout, editing by GV De Clercq) Colorado Springs is mourning the loss of retired fire Capt. Patrick Rogacki, who died Aug. 1 of an aggressive form of cancer he developed while working at ground zero in New York after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, according to a news release from the department Friday. The release said firefighters who are diagnosed and die of job-related cancer are considered line of duty deaths, including after retirement. Rogacki joined the Fire Department in 1979 and retired in 2014. He was part of the department's Wildland Program and served as medical lieutenant. The release also said he spent 15 years in the High Angle Rescue Program and helped create the Fire Department's manual on those operations. [Rogacki] was a passionate and dedicated firefighter who always went above and beyond, whether on a single alarm or in broader roles with the CSFD Honor Guard and Colorado Task Force 1, Fire Chief Randy Royal said in the release. We are saddened that his service at Ground Zero led to his passing, but we are proud of the positive impacts he made locally and nationally." The retired captain led the department's Honor Guard for many years, according to the release. Rogacki also served at the International Association of Fire Fighters Fallen Firefighters Memorial in Colorado Springs. As a search group manager with Colorado Task Force 1, Rogacki traveled to disasters across the country including ground zero after the 9/11 attacks and the Space Shuttle Columbia crash in 2003. More than 400,000 people were exposed to toxic dust on 9/11 and 44,000 first responders and survivors have World Trade Center Health-certified cancers, according to the 9/11 Memorial and Museum's website. Over 350 chemical agents were identified in the dust and as of 2024, 140,000 people were enrolled in the World Trade Center Health Program. Rogacki's memorial service will be private, according to the release. CSFD is inviting the community to line the streets during his procession and details will be shared at a later date. The International Criminal Court on Friday unsealed an arrest warrant for a Libyan militia member accused of war crimes including murder and torture between 2016 and 2017. The court said there were "reasonable grounds to believe" that Saif Suleiman Sneidel was responsible for war crimes of murder, torture and "outrages upon personal dignity". The November 2020 warrant found "reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Sneidel participated in three executions where a total of 23 people were murdered", the ICC's prosecutors office said in a statement. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The crimes were allegedly committed in Benghazi or surrounding areas, in Libya, on or before June 3, 2016 until on or about July 17, 2017. The prosecutor's office said Sneidel's arrest warrant had been issued under seal to "maximise arrest opportunities" and to minimise risks to the criminal investigation. "For this reason, no details of the application or warrant could be provided until this stage," it said. The decision to make it public followed a second application by the prosecutor's office to "increase prospects for arrest". "We hope to create the momentum for Mr Sneidel's arrest and surrender," said deputy prosecutor Nazhat Shameem Khan said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "The Court can now discuss issues related to possible arrest with States, the UN Security Council, and the international community at large, fostering support and cooperation." - Group 50 - Sneidel is believed to have been serving in Group 50, a sub-unit of the Al-Saiqa Brigade led by the the late Libyan commander, Mahmoud Mustafa Busayf Al-Werfalli. Prior to his death, Al-Werfalli was the subject of two ICC arrest warrants for eight executions in Benghazi, three of which the prosecution alleges Sneidel took part in. "The prosecution alleges that Mr Sneidel was a close associate of Mr Al-Werfalli, and had an important leadership role alongside him in the Al-Saiqa Brigade," the statement said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The ICC has been investigating atrocities in Libya since 2011, following a referral from the United Nations Security Council. The ICC also confirmed that another Libyan suspect, Khaled Mohamed Ali El Hishri, had been arrested by German authorities on July 16, 2025 for war crimes and crimes against humanity. He remains in custody in Germany pending legal proceedings. Libya has faced years of instability, militia violence and fractured government since Gaddafi was overthrown and killed in 2011 near his hometown of Sirte during the Arab Spring uprising. srg/jj NEWARK, N.J. (PIX11) Four illegally present individuals accused of being child sex offenders have been apprehended by ICE agencies in Newark, the Department of Homeland Security announced Thursday. All of the individuals below were required to register as sex offenders in New Jersey and are currently being held in ICE custody pending removal proceedings. More Local News A Mexican national, Daniel Garcia Cruz, 35, was arrested in Hoboken on Aug. 3. Garcia was previously sentenced to three years of probation after being convicted of criminal sexual contact on March 24, 2023. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement An Ecuadorian national, Manuel Gregorio Loja Loja, 36, was arrested in Newark on July 24. Loja was then sentenced to a three-year term of probation for false imprisonment and cruelty and neglect of children. A Salvadoran national, Leonidas Rivera Gonzalez, 40, was arrested in Newark on July 24. Rivera was previously sentenced to parole supervision for life after being found guilty of endangering-sexual conduct with a child by a non-caretaker on July 14, 2023. A Honduran national, Jeferson Isaac Flores Pineda, 19, was arrested in Newark on July 31 in West New York, New Jersey. Flores was previously charged with aggravated sexual assault and false imprisonment on June 6, 2022. He was convicted of false imprisonment on Dec. 1, 2023. ICE agents nab depraved criminal off NYC streets Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Officials say Garcia, Loja, and Rivera entered the United States without inspection or parole from an immigration officer. Officials add that Flores was encountered in Hildalgo, Texas, by the United States Border Patrol on April 14, 2019, and was initially determined to be in the U.S. illegally; however, an immigration judge in Newark had terminated his immigration case in June 2022. Ben Mitchell is a digital content producer from Vermont who has covered both local and international news since 2021. He joined PIX11 in 2024. See more of his work here. Copyright 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. ICE agents have arrested eight child sex offenders that were illegally present in the United States, the agency said. The arrests took place over the last several weeks. On July 17, Juan Villatoro Valle, 45, of El Salvador, and Reyes Peralta-Salazar, 38, of Mexico, were taken into custody, according to a statement from Homeland Security Investigations Newark. Villatoro Valle was convicted on Aug. 2, 2019, of sexual assault involving a victim under the age of 13, aggravated criminal sexual assault, and endangering with sexual conduct and was sentenced to five years in prison, authorities said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He entered the U.S. without inspection sometime before 2000, was granted Temporary Protected Status in 2006, but his application for permanent residency was denied in 2009, officials said. Peralta-Salazar was arrested on Sept. 14, 2023, for criminal sexual conduct and endangering the welfare of a child and was sentenced to 180 days in jail, the agency said. Peralta-Salazar entered the U.S. without inspection at an unknown date. El Salvadorian national Gerson Jose Saenz Umana, 27, and Mexican national Javier Garcia Nicolasa, 42, were arrested by ICE agents on July 21, authorities said. Garcia Nicolasa was convicted on Dec. 1, 2023, of endangering sexual conduct with a child by a caretaker and was sentenced to three years in prison, Homeland Security Investigations said. He entered the U.S. on an unknown date and through an unknown location. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Umana is a registered sex offender with a sealed criminal history that involves the exploitation of a child, the office said. He was first encountered near Falfurrias, Texas, in November 2012, as an unaccompanied alien child. Three days later, Manuel Gregorio Loja Loja, 36, an Ecuadorian national, and Salvadorian national Leonidas Rivera Gonzalez, 40, were arrested by ICE agents in Newark, investigators said. Loja, 36, was sentenced to a three-year term of probation on June 24, 2024, in Essex County Superior Court for false imprisonment and cruelty and neglect of children. Rivera Gonzalez was sentenced to parole supervision for life after being found guilty of endangering the welfare of a child on July 14, 2023, in Hudson County Superior Court, authorities said. Jeferson Isaac Flores Pineda, a 19-year-old Honduran national, was arrested by ICE on July 31 in West New York, Homeland Security Investigations said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Flores Pineda was arrested by detectives from the Hudson County Prosecutors Office for aggravated sexual assault and false imprisonment on June 6, 2022, and On Dec. 1, 2023, the Juvenile Court of Hudson County convicted him of false imprisonment, the office said. Daniel Garcia Cruz, a 35-year-old Mexican national, was arrested by ICE on Aug. 3 in Hoboken, officials said. Garcia Cruz was previously sentenced to three years of probation after being convicted for criminal sexual contact March 24, 2023, in Hudson County Superior Court. Garcia Cruz, Loja and Rivera Gonzalez entered the United States at an unknown date through an unknown location without inspection or parole from an immigration officer, investigators said. Flores Pineda was encountered by the United States Border Patrol April 14, 2019, in Hidalgo, Texas, was determined to be present illegally but later, in June 2022, an immigration judge in Newark, terminated his immigration case, according to the statement. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The eight men were required to register as sex offenders in the state and all are being held in ICE custody pending either a hearing before an immigration judge or deportation, the office said. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a voluntary subscription. Chris Sheldon may be reached at csheldon@njadvancemedia.com. Federal agents detain an individual as he exits immigration court in July in New York City. Immigrants released at the border are being targeted for arrest when they show up for court hearings. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images) Inside immigration courts around the country, immigrants who crossed the border illegally and were caught and released are required to appear before a judge for a preliminary hearing. But in a new twist, the Trump administration has begun using an unexpected legal tactic in its deportation efforts. Rather than pursue a deportation case, it is convincing judges to dismiss immigrants cases thus depriving the immigrants of protection from arrest and detention then taking them into custody. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The practice, affecting immigrants released at the border and given a notice to appear in court under both the Trump and Biden administrations, sometimes leads to people being quickly deported by Immigration and Customs Enforcement through a process called expedited removal. Many of the immigrants had requested asylum, as allowed under U.S. law. Late last month, advocates filed a lawsuit on behalf of a dozen immigrants unexpectedly arrested by ICE, often after having their cases dismissed. When an immigrant crosses the border illegally and is caught, they may be given a notice to appear, or NTA, ordering them to appear before an immigration judge. It can sometimes take years, however, before their case comes up. One of the immigrants in the lawsuit was caught at the border with Mexico and given a court appearance ticket in 2022 after fleeing Cuba. His opposition to forced conscription and the communist government in Cuba led to his arrest there and he was raped in custody, according to the lawsuit. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement At his first hearing in U.S. immigration court in May, his case was dismissed with no reason given and his attorney agreed, thinking the relatively new maneuver was a positive development. But as he left the Miami court, the immigrant was arrested and sent to Washington state for detention, thousands of miles from his family and his wife, who is a U.S. citizen, according to the lawsuit. The aftermath of these courthouse arrests and dismissals for placement in expedited removal wreaks further havoc on peoples lives, according to a class-action lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice filed in July by a group of immigrant advocates. The group argued the practice is illegal and contrary to the traditional way people are treated when released at the border for court dates. The lawsuit includes 12 immigrants: three from Cuba, three from Venezuela, two from Ecuador, two from Guinea and others from Liberia and the Chechen Republic. A Department of Justice spokesperson, Natalie Baldassarre, said the department had no comment on the lawsuit. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement After a courthouse arrest in New York City in July, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told CBS News that the new policy is reversing [President Joe] Bidens catch and release policy that allowed millions of unvetted illegal aliens to be let loose on American streets. However, the Trump administration has also released immigrants seeking asylum at the border pending court dates, according to a June 27 report from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at the University of Syracuse, an organization that tracks federal statistics. Almost 18,000 people were released at the border in May even after Trump officials closed the border, vowed not to allow anyone in and to immediately detain anyone not legally in the country caught inside the U.S., the report stated. Other immigration attorneys who spoke with Stateline described uprooted lives caused by the new practice of arresting people after they show up for court hearings, but the attorneys declined to speak on the record for fear of drawing negative attention to their clients cases. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Vanessa Dojaquez-Torres, practice and policy counsel for the American Immigration Lawyers Association, which represents more than 17,000 immigration attorneys and is not involved in the lawsuit, said the Department of Homeland Security is now arguing in court that anyone caught crossing the border should be arrested and detained, though its not happening in every case. There is a large number of people going to court and getting arrested, and also people in detention not getting let out, Dojaquez-Torres said. This happens to people with no criminal background, no negative immigration history they might even have a sponsor that says, We will house them and feed them and make sure they show up to their court hearings. There are also cases of people arrested in court even if their case isnt dismissed, Dojaquez-Torres said. One of the immigrants in the lawsuit, a Venezuelan who said he faced persecution in his home country as a gay man with HIV, was arrested July 1 after a hearing in New York City even though his case is still active, according to the lawsuit. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement One woman born in Venezuela, who fears persecution because of her sexual orientation and opposition to the Venezuelan government, applied for asylum within a year of entering the United States in 2022, but was arrested at her first court hearing May 27. She now faces an expedited removal order, which could mean an immediate deportation if she loses appeals. She is currently in detention in Ohio, according to the lawsuit. Other cases mentioned in the lawsuit involved arrests at immigration courts in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and Nevada. Most of the immigrants mentioned in the lawsuit were caught crossing illegally. But two presented themselves at the border legally via an appointment set up through a phone app for asylum-seekers, CBP One, designed to limit the number of people who could cross the border asking for asylum. (The Trump administration shut down the app on its first day in office.) In one of those cases, a gay man from Ecuador, facing government threats over his LGBTQ+ advocacy efforts, used the app in January and appeared in court June 4, according to the lawsuit. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The government moved to dismiss his case, and he was deported back to Ecuador within a month, despite asking for more time to file an asylum case, according to the suit. He is now living in hiding. The class-action lawsuit has not yet been answered by the government, though the chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, James Boasberg, ruled July 18 that the immigrants suing could use pseudonyms without identifying information as long as they provide real names and addresses in documents sealed from public view. Courthouse arrests may cross a new line legally but theyre not likely to increase deportation significantly the way current large-scale workplace raids and transfers from local jails might, said Muzaffar Chishti, an attorney and policy expert at the Migration Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C., think tank. The administrations goal of 1 million deportations a year still seems unlikely, he said. Arrests declined in July over the previous month, but deportations increased, according to an Aug. 2 TRAC report, with 56,945 people in detention. The number of detainees will increase with more federal funding for detention, but is still unlikely to reach the level needed to deport a million people in a year, Chishti said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The issue of courthouse arrests makes legal representation for immigrants all the more important, Chishti said. Even in these horrendous cases, if you have a lawyer, hell know how to handle it and say, He cant be removed, hell be subject to torture, Chishti said. The difference between arrest and deportation could be the presence of a lawyer. Nevertheless, the prospect of arrest and detention during a case that may last years could make immigrants hesitant to show up for court dates, which in turn could make them subject to immediate deportation. If you dont show up for a court date, they will enter whats called an in absentia removal order. If you come into any contact with ICE after that, you will be most likely detained and removed, Dojaquez-Torres said. Stateline reporter Tim Henderson can be reached at thenderson@stateline.org. Federal agents detain an individual as he exits immigration court in New York City in July. Immigrants released at the border are being targeted for arrest when they show up for court hearings. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images) Inside immigration courts around the country, immigrants who crossed the border illegally and were caught and released are required to appear before a judge for a preliminary hearing. But in a new twist, the Trump administration has begun using an unexpected legal tactic in its deportation efforts. Rather than pursue a deportation case, it is convincing judges to dismiss immigrants cases thus depriving the immigrants of protection from arrest and detention then taking them into custody. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The practice, affecting immigrants released at the border and given a notice to appear in court under both the Trump and Biden administrations, sometimes leads to people being quickly deported by Immigration and Customs Enforcement through a process called expedited removal. Many of the immigrants had requested asylum, as allowed under U.S. law. Late last month, advocates filed a lawsuit on behalf of a dozen immigrants unexpectedly arrested by ICE, often after having their cases dismissed. When an immigrant crosses the border illegally and is caught, they may be given a notice to appear, or NTA, ordering them to appear before an immigration judge. It can sometimes take years, however, before their case comes up. One of the immigrants in the lawsuit was caught at the border with Mexico and given a court appearance ticket in 2022 after fleeing Cuba. His opposition to forced conscription and the communist government in Cuba led to his arrest there and he was raped in custody, according to the lawsuit. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement At his first hearing in U.S. immigration court in May, his case was dismissed with no reason given and his attorney agreed, thinking the relatively new maneuver was a positive development. But as he left the Miami court, the immigrant was arrested and sent to Washington state for detention, thousands of miles from his family and his wife, who is a U.S. citizen, according to the lawsuit. The aftermath of these courthouse arrests and dismissals for placement in expedited removal wreaks further havoc on peoples lives, according to a class-action lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Justice filed in July by a group of immigrant advocates. The group argued the practice is illegal and contrary to the traditional way people are treated when released at the border for court dates. The lawsuit includes 12 immigrants: three from Cuba, three from Venezuela, two from Ecuador, two from Guinea and others from Liberia and the Chechen Republic. A Department of Justice spokesperson, Natalie Baldassarre, said the department had no comment on the lawsuit. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The difference between arrest and deportation could be the presence of a lawyer. Muzaffar Chishti, an attorney and policy expert at the Migration Policy Institute After a courthouse arrest in New York City in July, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told CBS News that the new policy is reversing [President Joe] Bidens catch and release policy that allowed millions of unvetted illegal aliens to be let loose on American streets. However, the Trump administration has also released immigrants seeking asylum at the border pending court dates, according to a June 27 report from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at the University of Syracuse, an organization that tracks federal statistics. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Almost 18,000 people were released at the border in May even after Trump officials closed the border, vowed not to allow anyone in and to immediately detain anyone not legally in the country caught inside the U.S., the report stated. Other immigration attorneys who spoke with Stateline described uprooted lives caused by the new practice of arresting people after they show up for court hearings, but the attorneys declined to speak on the record for fear of drawing negative attention to their clients cases. Vanessa Dojaquez-Torres, practice and policy counsel for the American Immigration Lawyers Association, which represents more than 17,000 immigration attorneys and is not involved in the lawsuit, said the Department of Homeland Security is now arguing in court that anyone caught crossing the border should be arrested and detained, though its not happening in every case. There is a large number of people going to court and getting arrested, and also people in detention not getting let out, Dojaquez-Torres said. This happens to people with no criminal background, no negative immigration history they might even have a sponsor that says, We will house them and feed them and make sure they show up to their court hearings. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement There are also cases of people arrested in court even if their case isnt dismissed, Dojaquez-Torres said. One of the immigrants in the lawsuit, a Venezuelan who said he faced persecution in his home country as a gay man with HIV, was arrested July 1 after a hearing in New York City even though his case is still active, according to the lawsuit. One woman born in Venezuela, who fears persecution because of her sexual orientation and opposition to the Venezuelan government, applied for asylum within a year of entering the United States in 2022, but was arrested at her first court hearing May 27. She now faces an expedited removal order, which could mean an immediate deportation if she loses appeals. She is currently in detention in Ohio, according to the lawsuit. Other cases mentioned in the lawsuit involved arrests at immigration courts in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and Nevada. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Most of the immigrants mentioned in the lawsuit were caught crossing illegally. But two presented themselves at the border legally via an appointment set up through a phone app for asylum-seekers, CBP One, designed to limit the number of people who could cross the border asking for asylum. (The Trump administration shut down the app on its first day in office.) In one of those cases, a gay man from Ecuador, facing government threats over his LGBTQ+ advocacy efforts, used the app in January and appeared in court June 4, according to the lawsuit. The government moved to dismiss his case, and he was deported back to Ecuador within a month, despite asking for more time to file an asylum case, according to the suit. He is now living in hiding. The class-action lawsuit has not yet been answered by the government, though the chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, James Boasberg, ruled July 18 that the immigrants suing could use pseudonyms without identifying information as long as they provide real names and addresses in documents sealed from public view. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Courthouse arrests may cross a new line legally but theyre not likely to increase deportation significantly the way current large-scale workplace raids and transfers from local jails might, said Muzaffar Chishti, an attorney and policy expert at the Migration Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C., think tank. The administrations goal of 1 million deportations a year still seems unlikely, he said. Arrests declined in July over the previous month, but deportations increased, according to an Aug. 2 TRAC report, with 56,945 people in detention. The number of detainees will increase with more federal funding for detention, but is still unlikely to reach the level needed to deport a million people in a year, Chishti said. The issue of courthouse arrests makes legal representation for immigrants all the more important, Chishti said. Even in these horrendous cases, if you have a lawyer, hell know how to handle it and say, He cant be removed, hell be subject to torture, Chishti said. The difference between arrest and deportation could be the presence of a lawyer. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Nevertheless, the prospect of arrest and detention during a case that may last years could make immigrants hesitant to show up for court dates, which in turn could make them subject to immediate deportation. If you dont show up for a court date, they will enter whats called an in absentia removal order. If you come into any contact with ICE after that, you will be most likely detained and removed, Dojaquez-Torres said. This story first appeared in Stateline, a sibling site of the Minnesota Reformer and part of the States Newsroom nonprofit news network. Stateline reporter Tim Henderson can be reached at thenderson@stateline.org. Lt. Gov. Micah Beckwith said in a now-viral town hall recording this week that ICE detainees at Camp Atterbury do not have a right to due process or to see a judge, and drew a comparison to the United States' response to the bombing of Pearl Harbor in World War II. Immigration attorneys say this is patently false and an alarming comparison to make. "Hes so absolutely wrong," said Buck Shomo, a longtime immigration attorney in central Indiana. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement At the town hall in Vigo County on Aug. 4, an attendee asked whether state leaders would make sure immigrant detainees at Camp Atterbury see due process. "So due process in this situation is, are you here legally?" Beckwith, a Republican, responded. When pressed about the opportunity to come before a judge, Beckwith added, "They don't have a right to see a judge." He then asked, "When the Japanese were bombing Pearl Harbor, did we give them due process?" During that time, Japanese citizens and non-citizens were forcibly taken to internment camps in a move that later presidencies officially declared unjust. President Ronald Reagan signed a law giving reparations to former detainees. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Beckwith doubled down on his comments when reached by IndyStar on Aug. 8, reiterating that "constitutional rights don't apply to people who are here illegally." But Beckwith said noncitizens should still be treated with "dignity and respect." "I'm not saying be undignified or treat them with a lack of respect," he said. "But there's a big difference between giving somebody a day in court, paying for a lawyer for them by the people and their tax dollars." Does everyone have a right to due process? The U.S. Constitution grants due-process rights to all "persons" on American soil. There are some circumstances where noncitizens may not see a judge, immigration attorney Sarah Burrow said. For example, if a person had received a removal order in the past and then re-enters unlawfully, ICE can reinstate that removal order without the need for another hearing. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement There's also a process known as expedited removals. This used to be for people who are found within a certain mile-range of the border and who had only very recently crossed unlawfully. The Trump administration has expanded the application of expedited removals to longer time periods and to any location in the United States, but even so, people placed in this category have the right to request asylum. Outside of those exceptions, removal proceedings must include a hearing, she said. "(Beckwith) is making very clear that he believes if you enter this country unlawfully, then you have no right to due process, and that is patently false," she said. "This is sensationalism, it is playing to the base, its legally incorrect." Making the comparison to the treatment of the Japanese during World War II is like "saying the quiet part out loud," she said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "So are they ICE detention facilities or are they internment camps? That would be my question," she said. In referencing the Japanese, Beckwith said a reason they didn't get due process is that they invaded the country. To Shomo, this comparison also further demonizes immigrants and seems like a "dog whistle." "To characterize this as an invasion is a cynical way to play on racial fears," he said. Contact IndyStar state government and politics reporter Kayla Dwyer at kdwyer@indystar.com or follow her on X@kayla_dwyer17. This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Micah Beckwith's due process immigration comments go viral Idaho Gov. Brad Little gives a press conference after delivering his annual State of the State address on Jan. 6, 2025, in the Lincoln Auditorium in the Idaho Capitol. (Pat Sutphin for the Idaho Capital Sun) Idaho Gov. Brad Little announced Friday he has authorized the Idaho National Guard to deploy personnel and resources to support the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is commonly known as ICE. In the announcement, Little said he was activating up to 14 Idaho National Guard personnel to support ICE. Little said Idaho is providing clerical and administrative resources so that ICE can focus on law enforcement. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As Commander in Chief, I am proud that the Idaho National Guard always stands ready to support our federal partners in any capacity that strengthens public safety and national security, Little said in a written statement. Our guardsmen are trained, disciplined, and committed to serving the people of Idaho and the nation. Idaho governor shows support for Trumps immigration policies Fridays announcement marks the latest effort by Little to support and align himself with the immigration policies of U.S. President Donald Trump. In June, Little announced that the Idaho State Police was partnering with ICE to transport immigrants who are convicted of a crime and who do not have the legal authorization to be in the United States to ICE detention facilities for deportation. The first ICE transports under the new Idaho State Police partnership took place Thursday, Little announced. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On Thursday, the Idaho Statesman reported that Idaho State Police is partnering with ICE under the more aggressive Task Force Model, not the Jail Enforcement Model that Littles office originally announced in June. The Task Force Model allows Idaho State Police to question people on the street about their immigration status and interrogate anyone believed to be an immigrant, the Statesman reported. ICE arrests have spiked in Idaho There has been a significant increase in the number of ICE arrests in Idaho this year, the Idaho Capital Sun previously reported. Compared to the same time period a year ago, ICE arrests in Idaho are up by 797% this year. Thats up from 41 arrests during the first half of 2024 to 368 arrests during the first half of this year, the Sun reported. Need to get in touch? Have a news tip? CONTACT US Weve seen an increased number of calls, typically from loved ones whose loved one has been detained, Chris Christensen, a Boise immigration attorney, previously told the Sun. We have seen a lot more immigration holds and weve also seen a lot more aggressive tactics used by local ICE. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Idaho National Guard personnel are authorized to support ICE through Nov. 15, according to Littles announcement. The Idaho National Guard personnel will be federally funded and remain under Littles control while they work directly with local ICE offices, Little said. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE L.A. County Supervisor Janice Hahn announced Wednesday the successful removal of 75 tons of illegal fireworks from a warehouse in the City of Commerce, thanks to a joint effort by the EPA, Cal Fire and the Los Angeles County Fire Department. These fireworks were a disaster waiting to happen and needed to be dealt with immediately before someone got hurt, Hahn said in a statement. I appreciate both the EPA and Cal Fire for hearing my and Chief [Anthony] Marrones concerns and acting as quickly as they could. This was a challenging situation, and it took coordination across all levels of government to solve. The illegal fireworks were discovered in late May during a raid conducted by Cal Fire and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Classified as hazardous materials, the fireworks were outside the authority of the L.A. County Fire Department to remove. Hahn and L.A. County Fire Chief Daryl Marrone raised alarms when they learned in mid-July that the fireworks would not be moved until mid to late August. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On July 16, Hahn and Marrone wrote to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin requesting expedited removal. Over several days, the EPA moved the materials to a safer location for destruction. This removal comes amid a spate of illegal fireworks incidents throughout Southern California, highlighting ongoing safety risks. On July 7, a fireworks explosion and resulting fires in Pacoima destroyed four homes and claimed the life of a 30-year-old man. Several others suffered injuries from burns and smoke inhalation. Earlier this month in Buena Park, an illegal fireworks display misfired and exploded near a home, critically injuring 8-year-old Jasmine Nguyen, who later died. A man has been arrested in connection with the incident. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement San Bernardino County deputies confiscated 900 pounds of illegal fireworks during Fourth of July enforcement operations targeting multiple communities. Authorities continue to warn the public about the risks posed by illegal and improperly handled fireworks. Officials urge residents to avoid using fireworks outside of legal parameters and to report suspicious activity to prevent further injuries and property damage. 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. Anti-migrant groups have been preventing foreign nationals in South Africa from accessing public health facilities, claiming they are overburdening state resources. As these groups face criticism for acts of vigilantism, social media users are sharing an image, claiming it shows a Zimbabwean who died after being dragged out of a hospital. However, this is false; the photograph first surfaced in January 2025 and was unrelated to ongoing disputes between locals and foreigners. Furthermore, the provinces health department identified the man in the photo as South African, not Zimbabwean. A Zimbabwean man dies after he was dragged out of hospital by South African Dudula gangsters, here in the photo his wife stands confused and shocked all because of bad governance in Zimbabwe (sic), reads an X post published on August 2, 2025. Operation Dudula is a movement that promotes the deportation of undocumented migrants (archived here). Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The X post, with over 2,000 likes, features a photo of a man lying on the ground outside a metal gate, with a young woman standing above him. Screenshot of the false post, published on August 2, 2025 Comments to the X post were mixed, with some replies asking why the man hadnt gone to a private hospital and others criticising the poster for using an old photo to spread propaganda. Screenshot of some of the replies to the X post, taken on August 7, 2025 Similar claims have circulated on Facebook and YouTube. However, the image shows an incident earlier in the year, unrelated to the ongoing disputes about foreigners in South Africa. January reports A reverse image search of the photo led to Afrikaans online articles from January 2025 by regional radio station OFM and the paywalled newspaper Netwerk24 (archived here). Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to the news reports and the original Facebook post describing the incident, the photo was taken when the posts author, Vuyo Majuba, came across a deeply disturbing scene at MUCPP Mangaung Community Health Centre in Bloemfontein, Free State province (archived here). An elderly, sick man was lying outside the clinic gates with his children by his side, visibly helpless, read the post published on January 2, 2025. The post added that the gates were locked, and security told him the clinic only assists women giving birth. At the time, the Free State Department of Health responded to the backlash from concerned citizens (archived here). Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Last night, Thursday, 02 January 2025, it transpired that a patient was taken to MUCPP after 21:00 and their pictures were spread on social media when they could not get help because the clinic is closed at that time for casualty services, said the provincial government. The health department added: The ambulance services were contacted to check the situation but did not find this person because they had been taken to Pelonomi Hospital. The provincial health spokesperson told AFP Fact Check on August 6, 2025, that they are aware that the picture has suddenly resurfaced as an apparent new issue. We can confirm that this is used for misinformation purposes," Mondli Mvambi wrote in a WhatsApp message. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Mvambi also confirmed that the man was reportedly South African, not Zimbabwean. We checked MUCPP that night to see what had transpired after our EMS had been sent to MUCPP, only to be told that this South African patient had been taken by car to Pelonomi," he said. The health department could not locate the patient after that night: We checked Pelonomi and there was never any confirmation of a patient with such a description. Healthcare dispute In recent years, groups including Operation Dudula as well as March and March have been blocking undocumented foreigners from accessing public healthcare in South Africas Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal provinces (archived here and here). Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The groups advocate for the deportation of undocumented foreigners from South Africa, claiming they are straining the countrys resources. The South African Human Rights Commission condemned these actions as unconstitutional (archived here), and the Socio-Economic Rights Institute (SERI) launched a case in the Gauteng High Court in 2024. The case was heard in June, but the court reserved judgment, meaning that a written decision will be handed down at a later date (archived here). A man serving life for murder in an Iowa prison has filed a lawsuit demanding to be deported. (Stock photo via Getty Images) A convicted child-killer serving a life sentence in an Iowa prison is suing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, insisting that he be deported to Mexico for having come to the United States illegally in the 1990s. The lawsuit, filed Thursday by prison inmate Juan Ledesma, seeks a court order that will force Homeland Security agents to come to Anamosa State Penitentiary and take custody of Ledesma and send him back to Mexico, his country of origin. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In August 1997, Ledesma was convicted of first-degree murder in the death of Karen Jasmen Orozco, an infant who lived with her mother, Mirta Medina, and Ledesma in their western Iowa home. Court testimony indicated Ledesma was home alone with the child on Jan. 28, 1997, while Medina was out looking for a job. When Medina arrived home, she found the child vomiting and having seizures in her crib. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Ledesma, who worked a night shift at a meatpacking plant, allegedly told authorities he didnt intend to hurt the child, but she kept waking him as he tried to sleep. Iowas state medical examiner at the time, Thomas Bennett, attributed the childs subsequent death to shaken baby syndrome, although the defenses medical expert, Dr. John Plunkett, testified at Ledesmas criminal trial that the death could have been caused by a 3-foot fall that may have occurred several days prior to the childs death. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ledesma was convicted of first-degree murder, child endangerment, neglect of a dependent individual and assault causing serious and willful injury. He was later sentenced to life in prison. Court records indicate that over the past 28 years, Ledesma has filed at least five applications for post-conviction relief, most recently in 2023, and that all of the applications have been denied. Lawsuit cites Trumps executive order Ledesma, 52, is now suing the U.S. Department of Justice, Immigrations and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa. The lawsuit argues that ICE and Homeland Security have a duty to deport him in compliance with directives from President Donald Trump to deport all illegal aliens. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In his lawsuit, Ledesma claims he is a national of the country of Mexico and is an illegal alien, having come to the United States illegally in 1994. He claims that sometime after being convicted of murder, he was sent to the Anamosa State Penitentiary, where he was visited by ICE agents and signed voluntary deportation documents that remain on file with ICE. The lawsuit notes that on Jan. 20, 2025, Trump took office and signed an executive order directing Homeland Security and other agencies to pursue the efficient and expedited removal of aliens from the United States. The order, the lawsuit argues, requires the removal of all criminal aliens located in the United States. I am not excusing my terrible behavior just because of my youth. No! I take complete responsibility for my own actions. Juan Ledesma in a 2019 letter to a prosecutor Ledesma also argues that he has been declared a burden to the American taxpayers by the Trump administration, and that his ongoing health problems are only going to increase the financial burden associated with his continued incarceration. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement By returning the petitioner back to his country of origin, costs to American taxpayers can be focused on lawful citizens, the lawsuit alleges, adding that Ledesma has the right to be deported from the United States under federal law and not be further detained without due process. Ledesma is representing himself in the case. The federal government has yet to file a response to the lawsuit. Ledesma expressed regret in 2019 Court records show that in January 2019, Ledesma wrote to the Woodbury County prosecutor who handled his case, asking for her assistance, including a letter of recommendation, in his efforts to obtain a commutation of his life sentence. In his letter, Ledesma wrote: I want you to know from the bottom of my heart the great sorrow that I feel for the innocent life that I took due to my terrible actions. Sadly, when I was young and stupid, I let my bad temper and emotions take control over me. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In his letter, Ledesma said that during his 23 years in prison, he had completed his GED, taken computer classes and was transcribing books to braille for the blind. I am not excusing my terrible behavior just because of my youth, he wrote. No! I take complete responsibility for my own actions. Now that I am older, I can reflect back into my own life and I can see clearly all the terrible decisions, mistakes and errors that I made back in my youth. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE As the 2025 school year approaches, the city of Colorado Springs has a slate of projects in the works to increase pedestrian safety for students, including installing new school zones. "The changing times mean changing needs," said Tony Karr, Colorado Springs School District 11 executive director of school operations. Karr said that with more students arriving to schools through a drop-off line rather than school buses, traffic had increased. District 11's Holmes Middle School is one of the schools with a recently installed zone, which generally indicates with flashing lights a 20 mph speed limit at certain times of day. The city has 12 zones tentatively planned for installation in 2025 and 2026. Todd Frisbie, a city traffic engineer for Colorado Springs, said middle and high schools made up most of the list. He said the city used to forgo zones near schools for older students. "The primary thinking behind that is that students are older and can navigate the transportation system better," he said. While the city had "internal discussions" about extending school zones to middle and high schools, Frisbie said a fatal pedestrian crash that killed a Doherty High School student in 2023 was the impetus for the changes. Days after the death of 17-year-old Giorgia Trocciola, D-11 announced it would install a school zone outside Doherty where the crash occurred. "When we installed the school zone at Doherty it set a precedent that pushed us to pursue school zones at other middle and high schools," said Frisbie. Featured Local Savings Now, he said the city's policy was to install a school zone near any schools where the speed limit is 40 mph and above. He said schools in residential areas with slower speed limits do not usually require a school zone. Doherty is one of 10 schools where the city has installed school zones since 2023. Frisbie said that while crashes involving pedestrians are infrequent near schools, the city's policy was caution. "Our focus in traffic engineering is we don't necessarily want to wait until there's a crash," he said. School zones are not the only safety initiatives that the city is pursing ahead of the school year. Construction crews are working to reconfigure the crosswalk near Mark Twain Elementary School by adding "bump outs" to decrease the length of the crosswalk on North Chelton Road. The project will also rebuild the existing pedestrian signal. The city estimates the project will be complete by the end of next week, before the beginning of the school year for Twain Elementary. BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (WTNH) A man already serving 72 months in prison for trafficking fentanyl and cocaine in Vermont in 2022 pleaded guilty in federal court to possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime. Three men charged in February shooting of Waterbury detective According to evidence and testimony, Christopher Purvis, 29, was an occupant in a vehicle stopped by New Britain police on May 7, 2022. As officers approached the vehicle, it accelerated, leading to a crash. Purvis and the other occupants fled the scene. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A search of the vehicle discovered quantities of fentanyl and cocaine, and a loaded Glock 9mm handgun which had been reported as stolen. Purvis DNA was found on the gun and the drug packaging. Purvis faces a mandatory minimum of five years in prison and a maximum term of life in prison. Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 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 WTNH.com. The United States Coast Guard (USCG) says Alaska-based crews responded to two Chinese research vessels detected in the U.S. Arctic, with a total of five Chinese vessels being monitored in or near the area. On August 5, A C-130J Coast Guard plane responded to the Chinese vessels named Ji Di and the Zhong Shan Da Xue Ji Di seen in the Bering Sea, according to a release from the USCG. The following day on August 6, the C-130J and USCG Cutter Vessel Waesche responded to the Zhong Shan Da Xue Ji Di, which was sailing above the Arctic Circle. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Coast Guard says the responses are, intended to counter malign activities, defend sovereign interests, and promote maritime conduct consistent with international law and norms. The incidents are part of an ongoing trend that crews have monitored over the last three years of Chinese ships seen in waters under U.S. sovereignty, the release said. For more information on the sightings, visit USCG.mil. India and Brazil moved to resist US trade pressure, in a sign of how the White Houses economic policies are alienating friendly nations. The two countries leaders said after a phone call that they were committed to defending multilateralism, and separately sought to gird their economies against US tariffs: New Delhi faces levies tied to its purchase of Russian oil, and Brasilia over its prosecution of a former leader that US President Donald Trump sees as an ally. In a speech to the key farming lobby, Indias prime minister pledged to never compromise in the face of Washingtons tariffs, whereas Brazils president is reportedly weighing diverting development funds to support companies hit by American duties. India is pausing plans to procure new weapons and aircraft from the United States in apparent retaliation for President Donald Trumps tariff hike on its exports this week, according to news agency Reuters, citing three Indian officials. Two of the officials familiar with the matter told Reuters that India had been planning to send Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to Washington in the coming weeks for an announcement on some of the purchases, but that the trip had been cancelled, the news agency reported. Following publication of the story on Friday, Indias government issued a statement it attributed to a Ministry of Defence source describing news reports of a pause in the talks as false and fabricated. The statement also said procurement was progressing as per extant procedures. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Relations between the two countries nosedived this week after Trump imposed an additional 25 percent tariff on Indian goods on Wednesday as punishment for New Delhis purchases of Russian oil, which he said meant the country was funding Russias invasion of Ukraine. That raised the total duty on Indian exports to 50 percent among the highest of any US trading partner. Trump has a history of reversing course on tariffs and India has said it remains actively engaged in discussions with Washington. One of the officials who spoke to Reuters said the defence purchases could go ahead once India had clarity on tariffs and the direction of bilateral ties, but just not as soon as they were expected to. Written instructions had not been given to pause the purchases, another official said, indicating that India had the option to quickly reverse course, though there was no forward movement at least for now. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement New Delhi, which has forged a close partnership with the US in recent years, has said it is being unfairly targeted and that Washington and its European allies continue to trade with Moscow when it is in their interest. Reuters reported that discussions on Indias purchases of Stryker combat vehicles, made by General Dynamics Land Systems, and Javelin antitank missiles, developed by Raytheon and Lockheed Martin, had been paused due to the tariffs. Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had in February announced plans to pursue procurement and joint production of those items. Singh had also been planning to announce the purchase of six Boeing P8I reconnaissance aircraft and support systems for the Indian Navy during his now-cancelled trip, two of the people said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Talks over procuring the aircraft in a proposed $3.6bn deal were at an advanced stage, according to the officials. Boeing, Lockheed Martin and General Dynamics referred queries to the Indian and US governments. Raytheon did not return a Reuters request for comment. Strained relations Indias deepening security relationship with the US, which is fuelled by their shared strategic rivalry with China, was heralded by many US analysts as one of the key areas of foreign-policy progress in the first Trump administration. New Delhi is the worlds second-largest arms importer, and Russia has traditionally been its top supplier. India has in recent years, however, shifted to importing from Western powers like France, Israel and the US, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute think tank. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The shift in suppliers was driven partly by constraints on Russias ability to export arms, which it is utilising heavily in its invasion of Ukraine. Some Russian weapons have also performed poorly in the battlefield, according to Western analysts. The broader US-India defence partnership, which includes intelligence sharing and joint military exercises, continues without hiccups, one of the Indian officials said. India also remains open to scaling back on oil imports from Russia and is open to making deals elsewhere, including the US, if it can get similar prices, according to two other Indian sources speaking to Reuters. Trumps threats and rising anti-US sentiment in India have made it politically difficult for Modi to make the shift from Russia to the US, one of the people said. Nonetheless, discounts on the landing cost of Russian oil have shrunk to the lowest since 2022. While the rupture in US-India ties was abrupt, there have been strains in the relationship. New Delhi has repeatedly rebutted Trumps claim that the US brokered a ceasefire between India and Pakistan after four days of fighting between the nuclear-armed neighbours in May. Trump also hosted Pakistans army chief at the White House in the weeks following the conflict. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In recent months, Moscow has been actively pitching India on buying new defence technologies like its S-500 surface-to-air missile system, according to one of the Indian officials, as well as a Russian source familiar with the talks. India currently does not see a need for new arms purchases from Moscow, two Indian officials said. But India is unlikely to wean itself off Russian weapons entirely as the decades-long partnership between the two powers means Indian military systems will continue to require Moscows support, one of the officials said. The Russian embassy in New Delhi did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. ROME TWP. (WETM) An Indiana County man has been sentenced to serve time in state prison after officials say he was found guilty of theft in Bradford County. Francis E. Werner, 44, was sentenced to a minimum of two and a half years to a maximum of nine and a half years in state prison for the crimes of forgery (second degree felony) and receiving stolen property, as stated in a release from the Bradford County District Attorneys Office. Bradford County inmate sentenced for aggravated assault Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Officials say Werner was charged with the crimes by Pennsylvania State Police in April of 2022 following an investigation into fraudulent checks on Battle Creek Road in Rome Township. Officials say that at the time of his sentence for this crime, Werner was already serving other sentences in Beaver County. It is further noted that Werner has had a significant criminal history, including thefts, burglary, access device fraud and more. 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. HENDERSON, Ky (WEHT) Members of the Indiana House Democratic Caucus met with other state senators and U.S. representatives in Indianapolis to speak out against redistricting. State Senator Jim Tomes is one republican who doesnt think redistricting is needed. Tomes says he believes the lines are fairly drawn and believes republicans are in good shape for the 2026 midterms. He also says that if you look at the statewide races, republicans are strongly in control. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Democratic State Representative Alex Burton says the republicans are bending the knee to political pressure from Washington D.C instead of addressing urgent issues. Burton says in light of surging energy cost in the state, his colleagues should focus on bringing relief to Indiana residents. He also says that if there is any special session called, it should be on issues like energy and taxes being raised on cities in the Hoosier State. We reached out to both democratic and republican lawmakers from southern Indiana about their stance on the issue. 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). By Yuddy Cahya Budiman BEKASI, Indonesia/KARANGANYAR, Indonesia (Reuters) -Spraypainting brick walls in an empty yard, Indonesian artist Kemas Muhammad Firdaus braved midday heat to paint a skull in a straw hat on a black background, a nod to the Japanese manga series "One Piece" about treasure-hunting pirates. Over the past month, students and activists in the world's third-largest democracy Indonesia have put up the pirate sign used by "One Piece" character Monkey D. Luffy as a symbol of protest against several government policies ahead of the country's Independence Day on August 17. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Some officials have lambasted the sign, with a member of parliament saying it was akin to treason. President Prabowo Subianto's office said that while the country respects freedom of expression and criticism, the sign could undermine Indonesia's national flag if flown side by side. Kemas, 28, a mural artist in West Java's Bekasi district, said he was painting the pirate sign as a form of protest against government corruption and unemployment. "Many Indonesians are hoisting the 'One Piece' flag because they want the government to listen to them," Kemas said in an interview while drawing his mural, which shared some design elements of the official logo for Indonesia's 80th anniversary. In Central Java's Karanganyar district, custom-made flag seller Dendi Christanto said he had received an overwhelming number of "One Piece" flag orders over the past month and had stopped accepting them. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The pirate sign has dominated Indonesian social media, and its popularity follows student protests in February across several cities against budget cuts and other policies, such as an increased role of the military in civilian life. Students and activists dubbed the demonstrations as "Dark Indonesia". Indonesia has a history of student activism and protests that sometimes turn violent. In 1998, students held a series of demonstrations against corruption, food shortages and mass unemployment that ended in deadly riots in May and the downfall of former President Suharto after decades of authoritarian rule. This week, local media reported that authorities in East Java confiscated some of the "One Piece" flags, a move criticised by Amnesty International as heavy-handed. "They didn't have to do all that, accusing them of dividing Indonesia - that's wrong," artist Kemas said. "It's just art." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement President Prabowo's office said the government did not order any raids. (Reporting by Yuddy Cahya Budiman in Bekasi and Budi Purwanto in Karanganyar; Writing by Stanley Widianto and Ananda Teresia; Editing by Tom Hogue) Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones is still struggling to come to terms with Donald Trumps dismissal of the ongoing furore over the Jeffrey Epstein files, reacting with dismay to the president calling it total bulls*** earlier this week. The InfoWars host posted a clip of Trump in the Oval Office taking questions from the press corps on Wednesday and saying of the scandal: Look, the whole thing is a hoax. Its put out by the Democrats because weve had the most successful six months in the history of our country. Thats just a way of trying to divert attention to something thats total bulls***. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Jones commented on the exchange: Trumps disastrous handling of the Epstein firestorm last month was starting to die down and now he has let the corporate media bait him into re-launching a new Streisand effect. Alex Jones muses on the latest Jeffrey Epstein developments on Thursday August 8 2025 (The Daily Kos/YouTube) His latter reference is to the phenomenon through which a public figures attempt to suppress information only succeeds in drawing more attention to it. Jones subsequently posted a video of his own in which he said that he had been left facing a personal conundrum by the whole affair. This is just crazy, he said, observing that Trump is not stupid but suggesting he had been caught off guard with a new issue and had underestimated the strength of feeling about Epstein among his supporters. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I dont know what to say at this point. I am actually in a conundrum. Im gobsmacked. The uproar over Epstein began after the Justice Department and FBI ruled last month that the deceased sex trafficker left behind no client list and died by suicide in his New York jail cell in August 2019. The verdict incensed many of Trumps followers, who have long suspected foul play and have continually demanded the release of all federal files on the investigation into the financiers crimes, which stretches back for more than two decades. Trump himself has not been accused of any wrongdoing over his past association with Epstein and is currently suing The Wall Street Journal for reporting that he once sent the sex offender a bawdy doodle for his birthday, but remains under pressure to publish the files. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Among the most extreme reactions to the Justice Departments initial announcement came from Jones, who filmed a video behind the wheel of his car in which he almost burst into tears of frustration as he accused Trump officials like Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel, and his deputy Dan Bongino of being involved in a cover-up. President Donald Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi remain under pressure to release the Epstein files (Reuters) Before that, Jones had responded to Elon Musk, alleging during his war of words with Trump in early June that the president was withholding the files because he was mentioned in them by writing simply: God Help Us ALL. The bear-like and emotional Texan has been at the forefront of Americas conspiracy theory movement for more than two decades, entertaining such unlikely paranoid myths as Lady Gagas Super Bowl half-time show serving as a front for a Satanic ritual, Michelle Obama living as a man in disguise and the Pentagon inadvertently turning frogs gay after its experimental love bomb leaked chemicals into the water supply. More disturbingly, he has spread misinformation about the 9/11 terror attack and claimed that the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre of December 2012 was completely faked with actors, a hoax sponsored by the Obama administration to provide a pretext for introducing stiffer firearms restrictions. He was sued for defamation by the grieving families caught up in that tragedy for pushing that falsehood and was ultimately forced to pay $1.5bn in damages in 2022, forcing both him and Infowars to declare bankruptcy. KENTUCKY (FOX 56) As scammers continue to target all kinds of Kentuckians, Gov. Andy Beshear announced a new website to fight back. The website is StopScams.ky.gov. The governor said its going to serve as a one-stop resource on how to spot scams as well as ways to report those scams. There are even going to be resources for recovering what was lost should someone become the victim of a scam. LATEST KENTUCKY NEWS: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The website will also offer Kentuckians the option to sign up to receive scam alerts through text or email about the latest scams. 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. BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) An inmate was injured after he was attacked by two others allegedly using an improvised weapon on Tuesday afternoon at Kern Valley State Prison. The attack was reported around 1:58 p.m. when two inmates were striking another. Personnel responded and ordered them to get down. The attack allegedly continued, according to officials with CDCR. Staff used two blast grenades to stop the attack. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The victim was then transported to an outside medical facility and he is reported in fair condition. The two inmates involved were medically assessed at KVSP and rehoused, according to officials. One improvised weapon was found. 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. A man is dead after someone else led Georgia State Patrol on a chase in a stolen truck. The victims daughter speaks LIVE on Channel 2 Action News at 4. Troopers say they spotted a blue Chevrolet Silverado that had been reported stolen from Hardy Chevrolet in Gainesville on Shallowford Road on Wednesday afternoon. Instead of stopping when troopers tried to pull him over, the driver, later identified as 35-year-old Daniel Davis, sped off through several city streets, according to GSP. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] Troopers tried to stop Davis with two separate PIT maneuvers, but were unsuccessful. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Thats when GSP says Davis crashed into the back of another car, sending it off the road and into several trees. The driver of that car, 50-year-old Agustin Rivera of Gainesville, died at the scene. TRENDING STORIES: [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] At the JBJ Soul Kitchen, anyone can eat a full meal regardless of whether they have money to pay for it. The restaurant, run by Dorothea Bongiovi, the wife of rock star Jon Bon Jovi, operates four locations across New Jersey where guests can either make a suggested donation of $20 to $30 or pay with their time by volunteering. The model allows patrons to work as servers, dishwashers or in other roles to earn their meals. But Bongiovi emphasizes the approach isn't charity. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Ours is a model of empowerment," Bongiovi said. "We're not here to make somebody feel like, 'Oh, I'm giving this to you.' You have earned it." The restaurants, which first opened in 2011, go beyond just serving meals. Staff members like hostess Nicole Dorrity provide community outreach, helping patrons secure housing, mental healthcare and a state ID. "I came out of homelessness in 2017. So because of my lived experience, I'm able to kind of inherently know some of the barriers somebody might be up against," Dorrity said. The Bongiovis protect the privacy of those who volunteer for meals rather than pay with money. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "I would never wanna exploit someone's circumstances," Bongiovi said when asked about interviewing volunteer diners. The restaurants have faced some criticism. The mayor of Toms River complained that a temporary lunch program at a local library was attracting unhoused people to the area. "We did a pop-up in a library. We're giving folks lunch. That's all it is. Soup, salad, sandwiches, easy stuff," Bon Jovi said. Despite any controversy, the restaurants have earned recognition for food quality. They hold the highest ratings on TripAdvisor in two of the towns where they operate and made the platform's "Best of the Best" list in 2023, placing them in the top 1% of reviewed businesses nationwide. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Volunteer dishwasher Hugh Daly finds joy in his unpaid work at the restaurant. "It is the best part of my day," Daly said. "I walk in and there's a big stack of dirty pots and pans, and I'm happy." The success stems partly from classically trained chefs like Emily Yasi, who said the celebrity owners stay involved behind the scenes. "This past weekend I saw Jon on the ring camera coming and was just weeding and sweeping the walkways," Yasi said. "They do it all, all behind the scenes, too." For Jon Bon Jovi, the restaurants represent a homecoming after decades of global touring. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement When asked which of his songs best describes the restaurants, he chose "Who Says You Can't Go Home." "I mean, I've been everywhere there is to be, and all you wanted is to do is come back to where you're from and be a part of that," he said. Global stock markets react to Trump's sweeping tariffs in effect now Sean "Diddy" Combs wants to go back to Madison Square Garden in the future, attorney says Israel's Security Cabinet approves plan to take over Gaza City How significant is Chinas military buildup? What does Xi Jinpings ongoing purge mean for the Peoples Liberation Army? And how likely is an invasion of Taiwan in the next few years? Dive into the strengths and weaknesses of Chinas military and its remarkable transformation over the last few decades from obsolete to world-class in a three-part podcast series with Battle Lines host Venetia Rainey. As the US pivots to the Indo-Pacific and the threat of a truly global war looms, understanding the evolving role of Chinas military on the world stage has never been more important. Episode 1 - From obsolete to world-class Once little more than some rusting planes and ships, episode one looks at how the Peoples Liberation Army built itself up. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Today, its strengths include a vastly modernised Navy, now the largest globally, and an Air Force equipped with stealth fighters and advanced drones. Plus, there is growing focus on Chinas potent non-conventional forces, such as its highly sophisticated cyber warfare units, its independent aerospace and counter-space capabilities, and the secretive Rocket Force, responsible for a fast-expanding nuclear arsenal. Episode 2 - The three major flaws For all its strengths, Chinas military is not a real army - its the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party. Ideology is paramount and corruption is endemic. Plus, the Peoples Liberation Army hasnt fought a war since 1979. Xi Jinping calls it the peace disease. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Episode two looks at the PLAs weaknesses and how the Chinese president is trying to fix them, from endless purges of top generals to a specially built training centre in Mongolia and live-fire drills around Taiwan. Episode 3 - Taiwan Will China invade Taiwan? If so, when and what signs should we look for that will show it is imminent? How exactly could Beijing seize the island? And what would the US do in response? These questions have been at the core of Indo-Pacific security concerns for decades, but in recent years, the threat has become more tangible - and the questions more urgent. Episode three considers different views on whether Beijing is getting ready to invade the self-ruled island it claims as its own. What are the different scenarios that could unfold and crucially, what that would mean for a conflict with the US? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Listen to Battle Lines using the audio players in this article or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, or your favourite podcast app. 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. The Connecticut Office of Inspector General has found that a Hartford police officer was justified when he opened fire at a man who was shooting a gun at a man outside an apartment building in April 2024. The findings of the investigation were detailed in a report released on Friday which included statements from multiple police officers who responded, their body worn camera footage and footage taken from a street pole. The investigation, conducted by Inspector General Eliot Prescott, concluded that Officer Devanand Budhoo was justified when he fired two rounds at Hartford resident Luis Ortiz, who was 34 years old at the time. Based on our investigation, I conclude that, under the totality of the circumstances, Officer Budhoo honestly believed that Ortiz posed an imminent threat of serious injury or death to the victim, himself, Officer (William) Cameron and others in close proximity to the incident, Prescott wrote. I determine that Officer Budhoos use of deadly physical force was objectively reasonable and justified under the applicable legal standards. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Lt. Aaron Boisvert, a spokesperson for Hartford police, said the department believes the investigation was timely, thorough and fair. The Hartford Police Department would like to thank the Office of the Inspector General and the Connecticut State Police for their work in investigating the officer involved shooting incident that occurred on April 27, 2024, Boisvert said. According to the report, Budhoo and Cameron were investigating a hit-and-run crash on Wethersfield Avenue on April 27, 2024, around 12:13 a.m. when they suddenly heard gunshots coming from an apartment building across the street. The footage from Budhoos body camera shows him speaking to a man involved in the crash when two gunshots can be heard, which are then followed by two more rounds of gunfire. Budhoo then radios in that we got shots fired at the home just as a 30-year-old Hartford man emerges from the house running, the footage shows. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Just a few seconds later, a second individual, later identified as Ortiz, can be seen exiting the front door of the home in what appears to be in pursuit of the first man, the bodycam footage shows. According to the report, Ortiz was firing shots at the first individual. Budhoos bodycam footage shows him pointing his firearm in the direction of Ortiz and yelling, Hey, get down. Get down. He then fires two shots toward the direction of Ortiz as the first man drops down to the ground behind a car, the footage shows. No one was struck by gunfire. Budhoo then rushes toward the home after Ortiz goes back inside and closes the door, the footage shows. He calls in that he has a party down and gives a description of the suspect as he stands outside the home, where voices inside can be heard. The footage also shows Budhoo instructing someone else at the scene to check on the first man. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Prescott wrote in his report that it was fortunate Budhoo and Cameron were investigating the crash as the shooting unfolded. It likely saved the victim from being shot, he wrote. Prescott also noted in his report that the footage shows that Ortiz was facing away from Budhoo when he fired the two shots. According to Prescott, Ortiz had moved suddenly back toward the entrance of the apartment building just before Officer Budhoo fired his weapon. It is well established that there is a delay between the time that ones brain perceives a threat and then carries out a physical reaction to that threat, Prescott wrote in his findings. An individual must perceive the threat, evaluate it, decide how to react to it, and then physically perform the reaction. Prescott noted that the process typically is not instantaneous. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement By my calculation, less than one second elapsed between the time Officer Budhoo ordered Ortiz to get down and when Ortiz began turning to head back inside, Prescott wrote. Under these emergent circumstances, a reasonably trained police officer would have believed that it was necessary to fire shots to prevent Ortiz from continuing to fire on the victim or others. Ortiz easily could have turned again to position himself to fire additional rounds at the victim or to shoot at the officers. Prescott said his office would take no action against Budhoo. Hartford police arrested Ortiz following the incident on charges of illegal discharge of a firearm, criminal possession of a firearm, criminal use of a weapon, attempt to commit first-degree assault and first-degree reckless endangerment. Those charges, as well as a violation of probation case, remain pending. According to court records, Ortiz was on probation for an assault conviction involving a firearm. He remains held on a $775,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in Hartford Superior Court on both matters later this month. The fruit bouquet and fruit arrangement store that was founded in Connecticut 25 years ago and has grown to hundreds of location, now is rebranding and expanding products to suit the next generation of shoppers. Yes, Edible Arrangements is getting a fresh image. The company that offers happy birthday wishes, sympathy, congratulations and other messages with fruit, some of it dipped in chocolate, now has 800 locations in North America. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Somia Farid Silber, CEO and daughter of founder Tariq Farid, said the business has been renamed Edible and will carry coffee, smoothies baked goods, some of which can be customized, candles, balloons, fresh flowers and more. Its so much more than fruit, Silber said of the new business model. It makes it a fun and customized. Its a gift that works for everyone, in the household. Customers will be able to enjoy a treat in the store and/or, make a basket for someone else to be delivered or brought in person. Their new marketing also promotes using their products for everyday occasions such as a job promotion. The company has long been known for what it has dubbed a creative gifting solution for various life events. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The soft opening of its first next-generation store prototype is happening now in North Haven, 101 Washington Ave., just a few towns from where it all began in East Haven, the companys headquarters for years. The headquarters is now in Atlanta. This North Haven location is the first physical expression of Edibles reimagined retail vision, and will serve as the prototype for the brands next-generation store concept. The concept has been updated to fit in with todays consumer behaviors, a company spokesperson said, including the growing desire to shop in-store, discover new products and enjoy personalized, immersive brand experiences. The layout is open and the variety is very attractive, Silber said. In some cases, items can be customized such as frosting brownies with school colors. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement They will carry smoothies, coffees, brownies, fresh baked cookies, an assortment of baked goods, cheesecake, fresh flowers, non-alcoholic wine, candles, balloons, fresh flowers and all kind of fruit plain or chocolate dipped. Its very interactive, Silber said. People can make their own baskets. Most of the products are already available across Connecticut. Its important to us that the experience is really, Wow, Silber said. She grew up in the business their Hamden store and said its special to help someone make a special moment more special. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Silber said her dad started the business in 1999 out of the back of his florist shop. Tariq Farids mother emigrated from Pakistan to the United States in 1981. The brand has hundreds of primarily franchised, locally owned and operated locations in the US and Canada. Reach Pam McLoughlin at pruddell@courant.com. (FOX40.COM) A pond just off the American River has become a hot spot for primrose, an invasive plant species. For nearly a year, the local organization Waterbird Habitat Project has been trying to remove it. Volunteers made a dent, but the plant stretches above and below the water for miles along the shoreline. This week, over a dozen crew members of the California Conservation Corps helped with removal efforts. William B Pond Recreation Area is a popular spot for fishermen. However, the tall and tangled primrose has become an issue. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement They call it invasive because it just takes over the area, Dr. Andrea Willey said. While the greenery and yellow flowers look nice on the surface, the plant grows deep and wide, entangling not only wildlife but fishing lines, fishing hooks, and other equipment. It was about two years ago when Dr. Andrea Willey, founder of the Waterbird Habitat Project, saw the issues firsthand. We got out here in kayaks and there was so much gear in the plant we couldnt even get an oar through it, Willey said. Volunteers with the environmental conservation group have gradually been removing the invasive plant. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We started this at the end of November, and we spent three days out here, just my volunteers, and we removed 9,000 pounds manually and that was proof of concept to show that it could be done, Willey said. Willey knew it was a tedious process that her organization could use help with. After reaching out to the California Conservation Corps about teaming up in efforts to remove the plant, CCC crews were in the water assisting just a few months after the request. Tiler Luciani is one of the crew members working in the pond this week. Im a tools specialist. Aint nothing to do with tools out here. Its just kind of picking the primrose out of the water one at a time by the roots, Luciani said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement From Monday to Thursday this week, crews put their waders on and got to work pulling primrose along the shore and out in the water by hand or with rakes. Several crew members worked along the shoreline pulling the plant. Two other crew members worked from inside a small boat to pull the dense vegetation from further out, filling a bin, and then being pulled back to shore to drop it. Crews continued this process for several hours each day. We have to get all the way in there sometimes. Sometimes we have to get all the way down to our shoulders, Luciani said. The CCC was also at William B Pond Recreation Area in June and was able to remove nearly 40 dump trucks worth of primrose throughout the month. The removal process is far from over, but less than a year of removal efforts have created a noticeable change for wildlife and the community thanks to Waterbird Habitat Project volunteers and the CCC. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement They will see the animals swimming freely in the water. They immediately have a shore that they didnt have before, and the animals love it. The people enjoying the animals will love it too, Willey said. The removal process is far from finished, but the CCC and Waterbird Habitat Project have agreed to continue working together for at least the next several months. In the meantime, the Waterbird Habitat Project will remain busy with primrose removal at Arden Pond. Volunteers hope to expand their efforts on the American River to keep gear and other invasive species out that harm wildlife. Its just an invasive plant that just grows, and the conditions are such that it outpaces the growth of the natives, and its not just this waterway, its a lot of the waterways. Im getting calls from all sorts of people because of the success that weve had here. There are people now wanting to remove it from the creeks throughout the area, Willey said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. Note: This story contains disturbing images. In late July and August 2025, a series of social media posts spread the claim that 27-year-old Palestinian man named Adel Madi had died of starvation and malnutrition. A report from Turkish state-run news agency Anadolu and multiple photos from the reputable image bank Getty Images corroborated the claim that Madi died and severe malnutrition was a factor in his death, given his state of emaciation. It is important to note that Anadolu quoted someone they identified as Madi's cousin saying he had hepatitis. Further, the Palestinian reporter who took some of the photographs of Madi also said the man had been ill and had not received care. However, we could not locate a death certificate with an official cause of death. In August 2025, a rumor began to spread that a 27-year-old Palestinian man in Gaza named Adel Madi had died of malnutrition and starvation. Several images of his remains circulated on the internet. For example, the Palestinian Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and writer Mosab Abu Toha, who at the time of this writing was based in Syracuse, New York, posted (archived) images of the young man on his Facebook account, writing, "I have never seen something like this in my life": Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement https://www.facebook.com/mosab.abutoha/posts/pfbid0Ho7A33FrCzhhZ7TY4eCzrsLxD6zZj4EHhxLizo6NkUZ1qQmEs8zPUN7HLBunYYNSl The July 31, 2025, post had received 5,500 reactions and 3,600 shares, as of this writing. Other posts on Facebook shared the story and varying images, including one (archived) from a man named Ahmed Abuelreesh, whose Facebook profile page indicated he lived in Brussels, Belgium, but was originally from Gaza City. The profile added he had been a humanitarian worker. Abuelreesh's post indicated the location at which Madi reportedly died, the Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Yunis. Snopes contacted Abu Toha and Abuelreesh to ask about their sources for the images. We will update this report should they respond. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As we'll outline below, a report from the Turkish state-run news agency Anadolu corroborated the posts' claims, as did photographs taken from different angles that were available through the database of the reputable image agency Getty Images. As a result, we deemed the claim that Madi died in Gaza and that malnutrition was a factor in his death true, given his state of emaciation and the lack of any evidence we found to disprove the story. That said, it was unclear exactly how Madi's reported hepatitis diagnosis and lack of access to care and drugs contributed to his death, and we could not locate a death certificate with an official cause of death. Hepatitis as a factor? On July 31, a report by Anadolu said Madi weighed 15 kilograms (33 pounds) when he died. The article, which did not use the same images that appeared in the above social media posts, corroborated Abuelreesh's assertion that Madi had died at Nasser Hospital. The article also quoted a man identified as Madi's cousin, who said Madi had been sick with hepatitis: He had hepatitis, and his health worsened because of malnutrition, the siege, and despair. We had no access to medicine, food, or clean water. If the crossings had been open and treatment available, Adel would not have ended up like this. His weight kept dropping, and there was nothing we could do. No medicine, no clean water, and no one answered our pleas. Anadolu's report featured a photograph of men standing around a white body bag. The photograph was credited to Hani Alshaer, a journalist in Gaza. Also on July 31, 2025, Alshaer posted a video of Madi's remains in the open body bag on Instagram (archived). The caption under this video indicated that Madi's illness and lack of access to care played a role in his death, along with malnutrition. The translated caption read: They are dying of hunger and disease... only in Gaza... / The young man Adel Madi (27 years old) is a victim of malnutrition and the lack of treatment in the #GazaStrip... due to the closure of the crossings. While it is unclear which type of hepatitis Madi reportedly had, it is important to know that malnutrition can cause hepatitis. Further, advanced liver disease, a complication of hepatitis, can result in malnutrition, as it can cause low appetite and nutrient malabsorption. We could not confirm Madi's diagnosis. However, it is plausible and even likely that malnutrition would contribute to accelerating the death of a hepatitis patient. The reverse is equally true: Hepatitis could also contribute to accelerating the death of a starving or malnourished person. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Further, more photographs credited to Alshaer appeared in the reputable image bank Getty Images on the same day, though their captions spelled the man's name differently, as "Adil Mazi." Such differences in spelling can result from variations in the transliteration of Arabic, the pronunciation and intonation of which changes from region to region. The situation in Gaza Expert confirmation of famine conditions in Gaza bolstered the credibility of the claim. Two days before the posts and report of Madi's death, the United Nations published a report asserting that experts had found "mounting evidence" of a famine raging in Gaza. Also on July 29, 2025, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) platform said the "worst-case scenario of famine" was now "unfolding in the Gaza Strip." The IPC uses a five-phase classification system to determine famine conditions, with Phase 5 being the most severe. Most areas of Gaza, the IPC alerted, had passed the threshold for the fifth phase. One metric for the fifth phase, according to the IPC, was two adults dying of starvation per 10,000 people each day, or four children dying of acute malnutrition per 10,000 people each day. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Further, reliable reports from reputable news outlets multiplied on the famine conditions and vulnerable people in Gaza dying of malnutrition and starvation. In August 2025, Snopes published an in-depth report on what it takes to declare a famine in a crisis zone. This was not the first claim about starvation in Gaza that we've investigated. Previously, we looked into assertions that posts featuring an image of an emaciated boy misleadingly omitted context about a muscular condition the boy suffered from. Sources: Alshaer, Hani. "Adil Madi, 27, Dies of Starvation as Gaza Blockade Continues." Getty Images, 31 July 2025, www.gettyimages.com/search/2/image?agreements=&family=editorial&phrase=hani%20alshaer&sort=best&phraseprocessing=excludenaturallanguage&suppressphrasecorrection=true&recency=daterange&begindate=2025-07-31&enddate=2025-07-31. Accessed 6 Aug. 2025. IPC ALERT: Worst-Case Scenario of Famine Unfolding in the Gaza Strip IPC ALERT: GAZA STRIP. 29 July 2025, www.ipcinfo.org/fileadmin/user_upload/ipcinfo/docs/IPC_GazaStrip_Alert_July2025.pdf. Accessed 6 Aug. 2025. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "IPC Global Platform." Www.ipcinfo.org, www.ipcinfo.org/. Accessed 6 Aug. 2025. Majed, Mohamed, and Tarek Chouiref. "Weighing Only 15 Kg, Gazan Youth Starves to Death under Israeli Siege." Aa.com.tr, 31 July 2025, www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/-weighing-only-15-kg-gazan-youth-starves-to-death-under-israeli-siege/3647388. Accessed 6 Aug. 2025. United Nations. "In Gaza, Mounting Evidence of Famine and Widespread Starvation." UN News, 29 July 2025, news.un.org/en/story/2025/07/1165517. Accessed 6 Aug. 2025. Some agricultural fertilizers marketed as sustainable in Europe may not be quite as clean as they seem, reports The Guardian. An investigation found that ammonia used in fertilizer production is being made in Texas using shale gas, a highly polluting, dirty fuel, despite the green claims from the companies involved. What's happening? Chemical giants Yara and BASF opened an ammonia plant in Freeport, Texas, in 2018, with claims of "cost-efficient" and "sustainable" production, reported The Guardian. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The facility was intended to utilize a low-emission hydrogen byproduct from a nearby plastic plant to produce the ammonia, a key ingredient in commercial fertilizers. However, an investigation by DeSmog, Data Desk, and The Guardian revealed that the hydrogen used was derived from fracked gas extracted from oil fields in Texas. The hydrogen used is still a byproduct from the nearby plastics plant, the report said. But the plant's energy-intensive plastic-making process, which creates that byproduct, is powered by fracked shale gas. Yara claimed the setup would cut pollution, but experts say it drives up fossil fuel use because the plant must burn more fracked gas to compensate for the hydrogen sent to Yara. Why is fertilizer production important? Fertilizer manufacturing produces more pollution than aviation and shipping combined, the report said and Yara is Europe's biggest producer. Shale gas, meanwhile, is one of the most environmentally damaging fuels, responsible for the release of toxic pollutants. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Approximately a quarter of the ammonia produced at the Texas site is exported, with the majority destined for Europe to manufacture fertilizer for crops such as wheat and potatoes. In 2023, Ireland got 14% of its fertilizer imports from this source, with the UK and Spain not far behind. "While fertilizer giant Yara markets 'green solutions', it's actually pioneering new frontiers for fracking and fossil fuels," he said. "Our food system is becoming Big Oil's emergency escape hatch." Raj Patel, a food researcher at the University of Texas, told The Guardian the investigation "exposes the bitter truth" of the fertilizer industry. What's being done about it? While ordinary people can't do much about ammonia production or fracking, it is still important to educate ourselves about corporate greenwashing. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Yara has recently invested in "green ammonia" projects powered by renewable energy in Norway and the Netherlands, and claims it has cut its emissions by 45% since 2005. Still, it closed two major plants in France and Belgium, and the investigation uncovered how its European operations use ammonia from Texas. An ambitious pledge to reduce fertilizer emissions in the European Union was announced in 2021, but efforts have since stalled. Calls are growing for more systemic solutions, including policies that reduce fertilizer use altogether, not just lower-emission versions of the same model. 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. BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First) A man was taken to the hospital in critical condition after a house fire in Baker on Friday morning. The Baker Police Department, Baker Fire Department, and EMS responded to a house fire just after 8 a.m. in the 1000 block of Southwest Drive Aug. 8. When they arrived, they found a man who was trapped inside the home. That person was rescued and sustained burns all over his body, Baker PD said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to Baker police, investigators are looking into the incident as a possible explosion due to a gas leak. Arson investigators and Baker detectives will be investigating the source of the explosion. The investigation remains ongoing. An investigation is underway after a house fire in Baker, Louisiana on Friday, August 8. (Michael Johnson) An investigation is underway after a house fire in Baker, Louisiana on Friday, August 8. (Photo courtesy of Baker Police Chief Carl Dunn) An investigation is underway after a house fire in Baker, Louisiana on Friday, August 8. (Photo courtesy of Baker Police Chief Carl Dunn) An investigation is underway after a house fire in Baker, Louisiana on Friday, August 8. (Photo courtesy of Baker Police Chief Carl Dunn) Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement An investigation is underway after a house fire in Baker, Louisiana on Friday, August 8. (Photo courtesy of Baker Police Chief Carl Dunn) An investigation is underway after a house fire in Baker, Louisiana on Friday, August 8. (Photo courtesy of Baker Police Chief Carl Dunn) An investigation is underway after a house fire in Baker, Louisiana on Friday, August 8. (Michael Johnson) Nursing home employee in Baton Rouge accused of injuring elderly woman with dementia Latest 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 Louisiana First News. Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird spoke on "Iowa Press" Aug. 30, 2024. (Photo courtesy of Iowa PBS) Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird led a multistate letter Friday questioning whether a new net-zero carbon emissions standard for businesses is illegal under state and federal law. The letter was sent to David Kennedy, CEO of the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), a group that recently released its Financial Institutions Net-Zero standard. This standard is meant to aid financial institutions in addressing their most significant climate impact through alignment and sector-specific targets, according to the document, through actions like stopping or limiting investments in new projects related to fossil fuel expansion and addressing deforestation risks in existing investments. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This standard could run afoul of state and federal laws limiting ESG investment strategies practices where investment firms account for environmental, social and governance factors when making investments, according to Birds letter. According to the law firm Morgan Lewis, there are 20 states with anti-ESG rules in effect as of 2023. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Bird also wrote SBTi and the businesses that commit to following the standard may be in violation of state consumer protection laws and federal and state antitrust laws, constituting an illegal boycott by deliberately cutting off investment and insurance for certain industries through their standard on oil, gas, and coal expansion. Some economic arrangements are illegal because they are unfair or unreasonably harmful to competition; the good intentions behind them are irrelevant, Bird wrote. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The letter was co-signed by attorneys general from 22 other states Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming. It included a list of requested information and documents from SBTi on its communication with members about how it plans to meet net-zero carbon emission commitments, how the standard was developed, and how it is working with insurance companies to reduce emissions. In a news release Friday, Bird called the standard from SBTi, which partners with the United Nations, the World Wide Fund for Nature and other organizations in providing advisory information, the next attempt by radical environmentalists to coordinate companies to squeeze important American industries into eliminating carbon dioxide production by some future date. SBTi is trying to redo President Bidens radical green scheme, Bird said in a statement. If successful, theyll hurt farmers, energy producers, and Iowans. Its program limits output of goods or services, and these unrealistic net-zero programs harm both American agriculture and industry. Making net-zero a goal actively harms Americans, creates risk for energy independence, and increases the cost of safe, healthy, nutritious food. Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier also took steps to investigate SBTi last week, announcing he would issue subpoenas to the advisory group and the CDP, an international nonprofit focused on environmental impact reporting. The investigation will look into whether these organizations violated state consumer protection and antitrust laws by coercing companies into disclosing proprietary data and paying for access under the guise of environmental transparency, according to a news release. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Radical climate activists have hijacked corporate governance and weaponized it against the free market, Uthmeier said in a statement. Florida will not sit back while international pressure groups shake down American companies to fund their ESG grift. Were using every tool of the law to stop the Climate Cartel from exploiting businesses and misleading consumers. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird spoke on Iowa Press Aug. 30, 2024. (Photo courtesy of Iowa PBS) Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird led a multistate letter Friday questioning whether a new net-zero carbon emissions standard for businesses is illegal under state and federal law. Idaho Attorney General Raul Labrador also signed the letter, which was was sent to David Kennedy, CEO of the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), a group that recently released its Financial Institutions Net-Zero standard. This standard is meant to aid financial institutions in addressing their most significant climate impact through alignment and sector-specific targets, according to the document, through actions like stopping or limiting investments in new projects related to fossil fuel expansion and addressing deforestation risks in existing investments. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This standard could run afoul of state and federal laws limiting ESG investment strategies practices where investment firms account for environmental, social and governance factors when making investments, according to Birds letter. According to the law firm Morgan Lewis, there are 20 states with anti-ESG rules in effect as of 2023. For instance, in 2023, the Idaho Legislature passed, and Gov. Brad Little signed, House Bill 191, which restricts the state from using environmental, social and governance criteria in evaluating contract bids. Contract awards, including for public works projects, must be based on competitive pricing, contract requirements and contractor qualifications, the laws statement of purpose states. The state cannot consider unrelated, subjective ethical or sustainability criteria when determining whether a contractor is qualified or a bid is awarded. State attorneys general say ESG hurts competition Bird also wrote SBTi and the businesses that commit to following the standard may be in violation of state consumer protection laws and federal and state antitrust laws, constituting an illegal boycott by deliberately cutting off investment and insurance for certain industries through their standard on oil, gas, and coal expansion. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Some economic arrangements are illegal because they are unfair or unreasonably harmful to competition; the good intentions behind them are irrelevant, Bird wrote. The letter was co-signed by attorneys general from 23 states Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming. It included a list of requested information and documents from SBTi on its communication with members about how it plans to meet net-zero carbon emission commitments, how the standard was developed, and how it is working with insurance companies to reduce emissions. In a news release Friday, Bird called the standard from SBTi, which partners with the United Nations, the World Wide Fund for Nature and other organizations in providing advisory information, the next attempt by radical environmentalists to coordinate companies to squeeze important American industries into eliminating carbon dioxide production by some future date. SBTi is trying to redo President Bidens radical green scheme, Bird said in a statement. If successful, theyll hurt farmers, energy producers, and Iowans. Its program limits output of goods or services, and these unrealistic net-zero programs harm both American agriculture and industry. Making net-zero a goal actively harms Americans, creates risk for energy independence, and increases the cost of safe, healthy, nutritious food. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier also took steps to investigate SBTi last week, announcing he would issue subpoenas to the advisory group and the CDP, an international nonprofit focused on environmental impact reporting. The investigation will look into whether these organizations violated state consumer protection and antitrust laws by coercing companies into disclosing proprietary data and paying for access under the guise of environmental transparency, according to a news release. Radical climate activists have hijacked corporate governance and weaponized it against the free market, Uthmeier said in a statement. Florida will not sit back while international pressure groups shake down American companies to fund their ESG grift. Were using every tool of the law to stop the Climate Cartel from exploiting businesses and misleading consumers. 08_50AA0FFDEC9AC Iowa Capital Dispatch, like the Idaho Capital Sun, is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Iowa Capital Dispatch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kathie Obradovich for questions: info@iowacapitaldispatch.com. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Iowa State University President Wendy Wintersteen, left, and University of Iowa President Barbara Wilson speak with Iowa lawmakers Feb. 24, 2025. The University of Iowa is facing increasing distrust from Iowa lawmakers after incidents involving staff and events relating to diversity, equity and inclusion.(Photo by Robin Opsahl/Iowa Capital Dispatch) While a decision by the Iowa Board of Regents to propose changes to its policies relating to academic freedom and the teaching of controversial topics is being seen as a good first step, a key Iowa lawmaker said one of the states public universities has lost some respect in the wake of repeated incidents relating to diversity, equity and inclusion. Rep. Taylor Collins, R-Mediapolis, said in an interview he believes its significant that the Iowa Board of Regents will bring forward proposed policy changes for adoption, though language has shifted drastically from the first to final draft. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The new version eliminates mentions of diversity, equity and inclusion and critical race theory and inserts that instructors can teach controversial topics if it relates to the course and is taught in a manner that fosters critical thinking and avoids indoctrination of one perspective. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX I think theyre coming to the same realization that many of the legislators have come to, that its just inappropriate that some of these materials are forced on Iowa students, Collins said. And ultimately, this is about restoring trust in our institutions. Collins previously posted online that the Iowa Legislatures Higher Education Committee, which he chairs, would be ready to act if the board didnt approve the previous policy. With the new policy released, he said it ensures controversial topics are dealt with in a manner that is appropriate in the classroom and wont indoctrinate students into a certain ideology. New suggested policy OKs controversial topics with caveats The initial policy, originally set to be read and approved in June, had concerned students, university staff, members of the public and Sen. Herman Quirmbach, D-Ames, speaking out against the harm it could cause, leading the board to slow down the approval process. Board President Sherry Bates announced in July another delay in consideration of the policy, setting a special meeting date for Aug. 12. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As shown in board documents released ahead of the meeting next week, the proposed policy revision has shifted its focus from diversity, equity and inclusion and critical race theory-related topics to not referring to specific areas of study at all. Instead, it clarifies that controversial topics can be taught as long as they relate to the course and adds guidelines for how instructors should teach these areas. The original policy restricted requiring students to take classes that include substantial content that conveys DEI or CRT. The new proposed addition to the boards academic freedom policy instead states faculty are expected to uphold academic integrity, encourage open and respectful inquiry, and present coursework in a way that reflects the range of scholarly views and ongoing debate in the field when teaching controversial subjects, of which no examples are provided. If approved, state universities will be required to implement practices to ensure compliance with the new policy and the board will have the power to direct staff to audit these practices. Another addition to board policy stated classes should incorporate opportunities for students to openly examine and discuss the concepts, ideas, and materials addressed in the class, and student grades must reflect their mastery of course content and skills, not their agreement or disagreement with particular viewpoints expressed during instruction or in their work. University of Iowa president sees diminished trust from Collins As the board of regents and its universities work to come under compliance with state and federal law when it comes to DEI programs and policies, Collins told University of Iowa President Barbara Wilson in an email the university needs to recognize the DEI ideology is present in campus culture and send a strong message that DEI is done. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The UI last week came under scrutiny of national media and state government when Fox News aired a video showing Andrea Tinoco, assistant director of UI Leadership and Student Organization Development, telling someone about how she still uses the term DEI and how the university could be working around DEI restrictions. Gov. Kim Reynolds referred the incident to the state attorney general for review of potential violations of state law. Both the university and board said they are working to investigate the incident. Collins said he found another violation made by the university in a drafted orientation schedule for the UIs radiation sciences program, which was sent to him by a student. A training session titled Implicit Bias and Microaggressions and IRESPOND Toolkit was included in the schedule on the document, which Wilson said in her email was a draft taken from last years program and not ready to be published. The document has now removed this session, she said. I am sorry for this error, and I apologize for the concern it has raised, Wilson said in her email. The Carver College of Medicine assures me that they are redoubling their efforts to comply fully with directives from the Iowa Board of Regents as well as state and federal laws enacted to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion programming and initiatives. I am confident they will make every effort to ensure this will not happen again. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Collins said in his response he hopes UI leadership will recognize the current approach of treating these situations individually and hoping things will blow over is not sustainable and seek to change the culture that continues to encourage this kind of behavior. Me and my colleagues trust in your leadership was severely diminished this week, Collins wrote to Wilson. The UI has fumbled the elimination of DEI since April 2024, Collins said in his email, and if incidents like these continue to occur, the reputation of our states flagship institution will continue to deteriorate. My colleagues and I recognize that our legislative emails will continue to inundated with concerns from students, faculty and staff until we fundamentally change the culture in higher education specifically at the University of Iowa, Collins said in his email. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He added the university needs to work on encouraging intellectual diversity on campus, and said the pattern behind these incidents is why there was such broad support for legislation passed last session establishing a center for intellectual freedom at the UI. Looking ahead to the next legislative session, Collins said one issue remaining for him in higher education in Iowa is core curriculum requirements and how he believes a student studying an area like accounting shouldnt be required to take courses with DEI content. One of the things that I look forward to having a stronger conversation on next year is really civics education and making sure that we have strong standards when it comes to students, Collins said, making sure that they have three credit hours of American history, making sure that they have three credit hours of American government. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE In May, the State Libraries of Iowa feared for the future of its book share program. Federal funding cuts to the Institute of Library and Museum Services meant public libraries in Iowa would not be able to afford to continue the IA Shares program, a delivery service between almost all public libraries in the state. This allowed for small, rural libraries to lend books from other libraries to meet the wants and needs of their communities. For a few weeks last spring, it seemed the system might be lost forever. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Will we lose our carrier service all together? I mean that was our first concern, said Janette McMahon, the DeWitt Community Library director. Iowa AEA quickly realized the need in the library system. The two organizations had never partnered before, but, McMahon said, they share many of the same goals, which made it a natural partnership. Also, the AEA already had infrastructure in place for a delivery system. We had van delivery systems, we had van delivery drivers, said Shane Williams, Mississippi Bend AEA chief administrator. We were already, at least in Mississippi Bend, delivering to our 21 school districts on a weekly basis. It did not take much for them to add 19 libraries in the region to their routine. Week one began on Monday, Aug. 4. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Its gone swimmingly this past week, said Williams. I think thats just a sign of really good things to come. McMahon said the AEA stepping relieved a lot of the stress on librarians before the summer started. The summer is usually the busiest time of the year for libraries with summer reading programs for kids on break. There was no time for the added stress of an uncertain future. It was a sigh of relief on one point, said McMahon. On the other, its how do we provide high quality service? Even with the AEA helping with deliveries, the book share system will still feel the effects of the budget cuts. Instead of deliveries twice a week, it will just be once per week. This change may make waiting times increase for some books requested, but it is far better than the alternative of having no system. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement With week one coming to an end, Williams believes that the AEA will be able to sustain the partnership for the long term. If youre interested in using the program, all you need to do is ask your local librarian about a book that interests you. If one of the public libraries in Iowa in this program has it in its catalog, then it will only be a matter of time before the book is in your hands, ready to be read. 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. By Mohammed Atti OFF IRAQ'S COAST (Reuters) -Iraq's navy has detained a Liberian-flagged oil tanker in its territorial waters as part of a crackdown on fuel smuggling at sea, sources with the navy and oil and transport ministries said on Friday. Smuggling is common in Gulf waters, where heavily subsidised fuel from some countries is sold on the black market to buyers across the region, though it has been relatively rare until recently for Iraqi authorities to seize ships. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The vessel - identified by both the authorities and shipping sources as the Liliana tanker - was carrying 93,000 metric tons of fuel oil when it was intercepted earlier this week 26 nautical miles from Iraq's coast near Basra's oil terminal. Reuters footage showed an armed Iraqi military team boarding and searching the vessel on Tuesday with the crew being questioned and their passports checked. Another ship was also stopped and searched, the footage showed. Farhan Al-Fartousi, head of the General Company for Iraqi Ports, said the authorities had launched a comprehensive inspection operation after receiving information about smuggling and illegal oil operations in the area. "Any vessels ... engaging in suspicious activities within Iraqi territorial waters will be detained, and anyone proven guilty and anyone involved will be arrested," he told Reuters during an inspection of the tanker. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The oil on board was suspected to be of Iraqi origin and was potentially being smuggled out of the country, the naval and ministry sources said. They added that the vessel would remain in the location where it was seized until its papers were referred to the judiciary. It would then be towed to a port for a court to rule on the matter. Liliana's ship manager, which was listed in shipping databases as Dubai-headquartered Babylon Navigation, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The vessel's last position was at anchor off the Iraqi coast with its previous destination listed as the Iraqi port of Khor Al Zubair, LSEG ship tracking data showed on Friday. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In March, Iraqi naval forces seized an unidentified ship in Iraqi territorial waters in the Gulf that was also suspected of smuggling fuel. (Reporting by Mohammed Ati, Aref Mohammed in Basra in Basra, Muayad Kenany in Baghdad and Jonathan Saul in London; Writing by Jonathan Saul; Editing by Joe Bavier) The sister of a man killed in the Omagh bombing, who has launched a legal bid to force the Republic of Ireland to set up its own public inquiry, has branded its government "cold" and "defensive". Shawneen Conway's brother Gareth, 18, was among 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins, who died in the Real IRA attack in 1998. The atrocity came less than three months after the people of Northern Ireland had voted yes to the Good Friday Agreement. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ireland's Department of Justice said it would be inappropriate to comment on any ongoing legal proceedings, but said a memorandum of understanding signed in April was an "important step" in its support of the UK's Omagh Bombing Inquiry. It added that the inquiry's chair, Lord Turnbull, had expressed reservations about two "parallel inquiries running concurrently". Ms Conway said her "kind" and "hardworking" brother Gareth had just gained a place to study engineering at university and had been "hopeful for a bright future" when he was killed. In her first ever interview, Ms Conway told BBC News NI that she feared the UK public inquiry, which began in January, would be a "waste of time" if only "half a truth is examined". Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "There are two sides involved," she said. "It involved intelligence and security failures on both sides of the border, and if there's going to be real accountability and understanding, both governments need to be fully transparent. "The UK inquiry is a step in the right direction, but without a parallel inquiry in the Republic, it's going to go nowhere it'll be a waste of time." 'My parents died not knowing the truth' Shawneen Conway and Michaela Taggart whose brother Gareth Conway was killed in the Omagh bombing [BBC] Ms Conway and her sister Michaela Taggart told BBC News NI that the loss of their brother Gareth had "shattered" their family. They said they lost another brother seven years after the bomb, and that both their parents died four years ago desperate for truth and justice. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ms Taggart said: "I used to go to the house after Gareth passed and we would keep his memory alive by talking with mum and dad. "But now that mum and dad have both gone - when they died, it was like losing him all over again." "It completely devastated them," Ms Conway added. "And both of them died not knowing the truth, which is horrible. "My mummy did say to me she wouldn't find it out, but she hoped that I would, that we would. And that's what she wanted. She wanted to know why, and she wanted justice." What has the Irish government agreed to? The public inquiry was established to examine if the attack could have been prevented by UK authorities. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Earlier this year, the Irish government agreed a cooperation agreement with the UK inquiry, allowing it access to material held by the Irish state. But some victims' families argued that an inquiry in that jurisdiction would be the only way to ensure full disclosure of information and compel witnesses based in Ireland to provide evidence. Ms Conway is one of two applicants who launched legal proceedings in the High Court in Dublin at the end of July. The other applicant, Emmet Tunney, is a severely-injured survivor of the bomb. They are seeking to bring a case to compel the Irish government to establish its own inquiry. It's understood the Irish state is to oppose the applications, and has until 4 November to respond in full to the proceedings. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ms Conway said there had been very little communication with the Irish government and that when it did recently reach out to talk to families of those killed or injured in the bombing, she didn't think it went well. "They were very cold, very defensive, there was no empathy, there was no care," she said. "And I got the sense that they didn't want to know - they don't want to know. They just want it to go away and they think it will if they ignore it." In a statement, Ireland's Department of Justice said it would not be appropriate to comment on "ongoing legal proceedings". Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement However, it did say that a memorandum of understanding signed in April with Lord Turnbull, the Omagh Bombing Inquiry chair, was a "truly important step" in delivering on the government's commitment to "facilitating and supporting the Omagh Inquiry". It also said Lord Turnbull had expressed reservations on the issue of two parallel inquiries running concurrently, particularly around the "possibility of divergence between two inquiries assessing the same evidence and witnesses, and the question of which findings would take priority". It added: "On the margins of the Core Participant hearings in June, Irish government officials used the opportunity to convene a meeting to listen to families and survivors of the bombings." The bomb was claimed by the Real IRA and remains the single biggest atrocity of the Troubles [PA Media] Omagh bombing anniversary Next week 15 August marks the 27th anniversary of the bomb, which remains the single biggest atrocity of the Troubles. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ms Taggart said having to identity her brother's body was one of the hardest things she's ever had to do. She said every anniversary brings her back to that devastating day. "I get catapulted back emotionally, everything. I'm back in the room. I'm back in the wake with his body because it's the last place he was for me." Both sisters said getting to the truth behind the bomb was what they needed to achieve some level of closure. 'Unvarnished truth' Conor Cullen, the solicitor representing the Conway family in the legal challenge, told BBC News NI that a parallel inquiry in the Republic of Ireland was necessary in uncovering "the unvarnished truth". Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "We don't want to get to a situation where we come to the end of the UK public inquiry and there are still some questions arising, which we say the Irish state could possibly answer," he said. He said it was "vitally important" to get "all the facts surrounding the intelligence and the actions or inactions of the Irish authorities". Mr Cullen said it was important an Irish inquiry was in place ahead of the next stage of the UK inquiry, scheduled for March 2026, during which evidence will be heard in relation to who was behind the bombing and how it was carried out. He added: "We say you can't properly understand the Omagh bomb if you only look north of the border." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As such, he said, a parallel inquiry would "mean everything to the families". "They currently have a seat at the table at the UK public inquiry. We say they also should have a seat at the table in a public inquiry set up by the Irish state," he said. "And I think for the families, it would really show to them that their lives and their loss is valued no matter what side of the border they live on." The Omagh bombing killed 29 people, including a woman pregnant with twins [BBC] Who carried out the Omagh bombing? Three days after the attack, the Real IRA released a statement claiming responsibility for the explosion. It apologised to "civilian" victims and said its targets had been commercial. Almost 27 years on, no-one has been convicted of carrying out the murders by a criminal court. In 2009, a judge ruled that four men - Michael McKevitt, Liam Campbell, Colm Murphy and Seamus Daly - were all liable for the Omagh bomb. The four men were ordered to pay a total of 1.6m in damages to the relatives, but appeals against the ruling delayed the compensation process. A fifth man, Seamus McKenna, was acquitted in the civil action and later died in a roofing accident in 2013. More on this story KENDALL COUNTY, Ill. (WGN) An Illinois State Police Trooper was injured in a crash Friday afternoon in Kendall County. ISP said the crash happened just before 1 p.m. in the 15900 block of Ridge Road just north of Minooka in Kendall County. Chicago Traffic: Visit the WGN News traffic map for the latest real-time updates Officials said troopers were sent to the area to investigate a single-vehicle crash involving an ISP trooper. The trooper was taken to an area hospital for treatment of injuries. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The roadway is currently closed and no other information was released. 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. Israels security cabinet early Friday approved a plan to take control of Gaza City, which is meant to help accomplish the five principles for concluding the war shared by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus office. The five principles released Thursday on a social media post from Netanyahus office, are: The return of all 50 hostages, 20 of whom are believed to still be alive. The disarming of Hamas. Israeli security control over the enclave. The demilitarization of Gaza. The establishment of an alternative civilian administration that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On Thursday, Netanyahu said that Israel plans to take over all of Gaza, but the plan approved on Friday stops short of stating that Israel would take full control of Gaza. The Israeli military will prepare for taking control of Gaza City while distributing humanitarian assistance to the civilian population outside the combat zones, Netanyahus office said, per NBC News. Gaza City is the largest city in the enclave and the plan to take it over also includes Israeli forces disarming Hamas, the return of all the hostages and the demilitarization of the whole Gaza Strip and Israeli control of it. The statement said that the goal of the plan is to achieve a decisive victory over Hamas bringing an end to the war which started on Oct. 7, 2023 after Hamas attacked Israel. Raed Salem Aslyieh, left, from Jabaliya, hugs his relatives after the death of his son, Ahmed Raed Aslyieh, 18, who succumbed to injuries sustained in an Israeli strike that killed eight other family members four months earlier, worsened by a lack of proper treatment due to medicine shortages, at the morgue of Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi) | Jehad Alshrafi This plan also includes providing humanitarian aid to the civilian population outside the combat zones, according to The New York Times. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to CNN, the deadline for the first phase of operations, including the evacuation of Gaza City and expanding aid distribution, is Oct. 7, the second anniversary of the attack on Israel by Hamas. The cabinet meeting lasted 10 hours before the plan was approved and a majority of the security cabinet voiced their approval. According to The New York Times, Israel says it has already conquered around 75% of Gaza. By Alexander Cornwell JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Israel's security cabinet approved a plan to take control of Gaza City, a move expanding military operations in the shattered Palestinian territory that drew strong fresh criticism at home and abroad on Friday over its pursuit of the almost two-year-old war. Germany, a key European ally, announced it would halt exports of military equipment to Israel that could be used in Gaza, a decision Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called disappointing. Britain and other European allies urged Israel to reconsider its decision to escalate the Gaza military campaign. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement However, U.S. President Donald Trump's ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, told Reuters that some countries appeared to be putting pressure on Israel rather than on the militant group Hamas, whose deadly attack on Israel in 2023 ignited the war. In Israel, families of hostages held by militants in Gaza, and opposition leaders blasted Netanyahu for a decision that they said would put hostages' lives at risk. Far-right allies in the prime minister's coalition have been pushing for a total takeover of Gaza as part of his vow to eradicate Hamas militants, though the military has warned this could endanger the lives of remaining hostages held by militants. Opposition leader Yair Lapid called the decision to send Israeli forces into Gaza City a disaster, saying it defied the advice of military and security officials. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He accused far-right ministers Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich of dragging Netanyahu into a prolonged campaign that would result in the deaths of hostages and soldiers. Netanyahu told Fox News Channels Bill Hemmer in an interview that aired on Thursday that the military intended to take control of all of Gaza. He said Israel did not want to keep the Gaza Strip, but to establish a "security perimeter" and to hand over the territory to Arab forces. The announcement from the prime minister's office early on Friday, following Thursday's security cabinet meeting, said the military would take Gaza City, but did not say if Israeli forces would take all of the enclave. Israel's cabinet is expected to endorse the Gaza City plan. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Netanyahu spoke with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Friday to express disappointment over Berlin's suspension of weapons exports to Israel, the prime minister's office said. Netanyahu told the chancellor that Israel's goal was to "free Gaza from Hamas" so a peaceful government could be established there, and that Israel does not intend to take it over, it said. 'HEART OF GAZA' The military has said that it controls around 75% of Gaza. Amir Avivi, a retired Israeli brigadier general, estimated that if the military did take Gaza City, it would give Israel control of about 85% of the strip. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Gaza City is the heart of Gaza. It's really the centre of government. It has always been the strongest and even in the eyes of Hamas, the fall of Gaza City is pretty much the fall of Hamas," said Avivi. "Taking over Gaza City is a game changer." Israeli media have said 900,000 people now live in Gaza City, including many who have been displaced by the military. "Where should we go? Do we throw ourselves in the sea?," said Maghzouza Saada, a displaced Palestinian from Gaza's north. Before the war, Hamas' most powerful fighting units were believed to operate in northern Gaza, including Gaza City. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement There are 50 hostages still held in Gaza, of whom Israeli officials believe 20 are alive. Most of those freed so far emerged as a result of diplomatic negotiations. Talks toward a ceasefire that could have seen more hostages released collapsed in July. CONDEMNATION FROM ABROAD European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was among foreign leaders urging Israel to reconsider its decision to advance into Gaza City. Regional power Saudi Arabia, which has said it could not normalise ties with Israel without the establishment of a Palestinian state, condemned any move to occupy Gaza. Asked in an interview with Reuters about criticism of Israel's decision to escalate the war, U.S. Ambassador Huckabee questioned why some nations were once again placing all the pressure on Israel instead of on Hamas. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Huckabee said Trump was frustrated that Hamas is unwilling to reach "any kind of reasonable settlement", adding the president insists that the militant group cannot remain in power and must disarm. Israel had already come under mounting pressure at home and abroad over the war in Gaza, including over the humanitarian disaster in the enclave. In recent weeks, Britain, Canada and France said they could recognise a Palestinian state at the U.N. General Assembly next month. DOMESTIC PRESSURE Netanyahu has said there will be no end to the war until Hamas is disarmed. Opinion polls have shown that a majority of Israelis believe he should end the war immediately in a diplomatic agreement that would see the release of remaining hostages. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Hostages Families Forum, which represents many families of captives in Gaza, said the pursuit of occupying Gaza means abandoning the hostages all while ignoring public support to immediately end the war in a deal that releases the hostages. It said in a statement the security cabinet had chosen to "embark on another march of recklessness, on the backs of the hostages, the soldiers, and Israeli society as a whole". "I think it's a death sentence to all the hostages that are still being held there. And it's the wrong decision to do it at this time," Danny Bukovsky, a hotelier in Tel Aviv, said of the announcement that Israeli forces would move into Gaza City. A full occupation of Gaza would reverse a 2005 decision in which Israel withdrew thousands of Jewish settlers and its forces, while retaining control over its borders, airspace and utilities. (Reporting by ReutersWriting by Michael Georgy and Alexander CornwellEditing by Frances Kerry) The Israeli government confirmed Friday morning that it would seek to occupy Gaza City one of the few remaining areas in the war-torn region that has not already been evacuated or turned into an Israeli buffer zone. The decision comes amidst growing international pressure for Israel to allow humanitarian aid into the strip as reports of devastating starvation and malnutrition mount. It immediately drew backlash from leaders in a swath of countries, including Germany and the United Kingdom. The Israeli government said in a press release that ending the war would be contingent on, in addition to the release of Israeli hostages, the establishment of an alternative civil administration that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The announcement appeared to stop short of comments Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made Thursday about occupying the entirety of Gaza. Israel already controls about three-quarters of the territory. A series of international leaders, including British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, quickly condemned the move, warning it would only bring more violence. The Israeli Governments decision to further escalate its offensive in Gaza is wrong, and we urge it to reconsider immediately, Starmer said in a statement. This action will do nothing to bring an end to this conflict or to help secure the release of the hostages. Germany, meanwhile, moved to halt military exports that could be used in Gaza Friday, citing the decision of Netanyahus cabinet. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The even harsher military action by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip, approved by the Israeli Cabinet last night, makes it increasingly difficult for the German government to see how these goals will be achieved, Chancellor Friedrich Merz said. Prominent members of Netanyahus cabinet have also advocated for even more escalatory measures in Gaza. Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, two far-right ministers, have proposed displacing Palestinians out of Gaza, a move that international observers said would be ethnic cleansing. Israel occupied Gaza until 2005. In late July, Smotrich mulled rebuilding Israeli settlements in the strip that had been evacuated 20 years prior. 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. Israeli companies have sold weapons systems, parts, and software to British firms, and the overall trading partnership between the two countries is worth 6 billion pounds and supports 38,000 jobs. Israel may withdraw defense and security cooperation with the United Kingdom should Prime Minister Keir Starmer recognize a Palestinian state, diplomatic sources told The Times on Thursday. According to the report, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government is examining potential options for retaliation against the UK's intention to recognize a Palestinian state in September. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In July, Starmer said that Britain would recognize the state of Palestine unless Israel allows for more humanitarian aid into Gaza, stops Jewish settlement in the West Bank, and agrees to a ceasefire and commits to long-term peace. An official told The Times that the UK and other countries seeking to recognize Palestinian statehood must "carefully consider" the consequences of that action. The Times cited another source as saying, "London needs to be careful because [Benjamin Netanyahu] and his ministers have cards they could play too. Israel values its partnership with the UK, but recent decisions mean it is coming under pressure, and the UK has a lot to lose if Israel's government decides to take steps in response." British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer speaks to military personnel during a visit to a military base training Ukrainian troops, April 22, 2025 in the West of England, Britain. (credit: Finnbarr Webster/Pool via Reuters) The report added that Israel's potential withdrawal of security and defense cooperation with Britain would have significant economic and security implications. Mossad provided information on Iranian threats, resulting in counter-terror raids For example, Israeli intelligence has provided significant information to UK spy agencies about Iranian-backed threats. The Times said that Mossad has passed crucial information to British counterparts that thwarted an Iranian-linked terrorist plot on the Israeli embassy in London, resulting in large counterterror raids in the UK. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Additionally, the UK has used Israeli-made drones for surveillance operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, along with Israeli defense equipment, saving the lives of British soldiers. Israeli companies have also sold weapons systems, parts, and software to British firms such as BAE (British Aerospace Public Limited Company), and the overall trading partnership between the two countries is worth 6 billion pounds and supports 38,000 jobs. Israel fired back at Germany on Friday over its decision to pause the shipment of arms for use in Gaza. Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with Germany Chancellor Friedrich Merz and directly expressed his disappointment. Instead of supporting Israels just war against Hamas, which carried out the most horrific attack against the Jewish people since the Holocaust, Germany is rewarding Hamas terrorism by embargoing arms to Israel, the official prime minister of Israels account wrote in a post on the social platform X. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israels goal is not to take over Gaza, but to free Gaza from Hamas and enable a peaceful government to be established there, the statement added. Amid reports of starvation and Israels decision to ramp up its operations in Gaza, Merz said it was time for his government to take a stand. From the German governments point of view, the even tougher military action of the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip, which was decided by the Israeli security cabinet last night, makes it increasingly difficult to see how these goals are to be achieved, the German leader said in a Friday statement. Under these circumstances, the German government is not approving any exports of armaments that can be used in the Gaza Strip until further notice. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Merz maintained that Israel has a right to defend itself against Hamas, while adding that determined negotiations on a ceasefire are Germanys top priority. The German Government remains deeply concerned about the continuing suffering of the civilian population in the Gaza Strip, Merz said. With the planned offensive, the Israeli government bears even greater responsibility than before for their supply. It must provide comprehensive access for aid deliveries, including for UN organisations and other non-governmental institutions, he added. In late July, Israeli leaders said they would resume airdrops for aid but denied reports of a humanitarian crisis, as alleged by advocacy groups and journalists on the ground. In response, France, Canada and the United Kingdom have said they will recognize Palestine as a sovereign state. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. Israel will tell civilians in Gaza City that they have until Oct 7 to evacuate before it launches a full military occupation. Under a plan approved by the security cabinet on Thursday night, the IDF will order the population to move to the south of the Strip before commencing its assault in an effort to defeat Hamas fully and return the Israeli hostages. Although the meeting technically approved only the full occupation of Gaza City in the first instance, it is widely understood the plan will apply to every piece of the enclave not yet under Israeli control. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Set for the two-year anniversary of the Hamas massacre that started the war, the evacuation deadline gives Israel just two months to prepare a humanitarian response for the approximately one million residents of the northern town. Under the Israeli plan. the IDF will order the population to move to the south of the Strip before commencing its assault - Jack Guez/AFP The move has prompted international condemnation, including from Sir Keir Starmer, who said the offensive would only bring more bloodshed. The UN Security Council is to meet on Saturday to discuss the Israeli plan to take over Gaza City, with Antonio Guterres, the UN secretary general, describing it as a dangerous escalation. JD Vance, the US vice-president, said Washington has some disagreement with Mr Netanyahu over the strategy, but that the administration shared Israels objectives. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Meanwhile, Germany has said it will halt arms sales to Israel until further notice. Talks to achieve a ceasefire and a deal to release hostages broke down last month, with both sides accusing the other of intransigence. Since then, Hamas has released videos showing two of the remaining captives in emaciated states. Benjamin Netanyahus government says fighting into the areas where hostages are believed to be held until now considered unthinkable is the only way to rescue them in time. However, opponents accuse the prime minister of endangering the hostages by prolonging the war to preserve his coalition with ultra-nationalist parties, who want to see Gaza repopulated by Jewish settlements and the Palestinians removed. Credit: Anadolu via Reuters Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On Thursday, Mr Netanyahus office said the new offensive was being conducted in order to disarm Hamas, return all the hostages, demilitarise Gaza and ensure Israeli security control of the Strip, and to establish an alternative civil administration that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority. Although only 25 per cent of Gaza is currently unoccupied by Israel, that is where most of the Strips approximately two million Palestinians live. Military sources have suggested the operation could extend the war by a further five months at least. They have also hinted at hope that news of the plans might prompt Hamas back to the negotiating table. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement However, Yair Lapid, the main opposition leader, described the proposed operation as exactly what Hamas wanted. The operation is aimed at disarming Hamas, returning all hostages and ensuring Israeli security control of the Strip - IDF Other political figures have condemned it as a disaster and a death sentence for the hostages. The official Hostage and Missing Families Forum said the government had formally abandoned their loved ones. A statement from Number 10 said: The Israeli governments decision to further escalate its offensive in Gaza is wrong, and we urge it to reconsider immediately. This action will do nothing to bring an end to this conflict or to help secure the release of the hostages. It will only bring more bloodshed. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Sir Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, demanded that Sir Keir impose sanctions on Mr Netanyahu. However, the Tories criticised Sir Keirs statement and said his plan for a ceasefire and the recognition of Palestine was unworkable. Gazans gather with pots and pans as a charity distributes meals in western Gaza City - Abdalhkem Abu Riash/Anadolu via Getty Images Lt Gen Eyal Zamir, the IDF chief of staff, is known to be deeply opposed to the operation. However, he has so far disappointed critics of the invasion, who are hoping that he will resign. On Friday, Mr Zamir held an assessment with senior officers of Southern Command to discuss the current fighting situation and formulation of plans and preparations for the continuation of the fighting in the Gaza Strip, according to the IDF. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Germany, a strong ally of Israel, said it would not approve any exports of military equipment to Israel that could be used in Gaza until further notice. Friedrich Merz, the Chancellor, said it was increasingly difficult to understand how the proposed operation would achieve Israels legitimate war aims of disarming Hamas and freeing the hostages. Bezalel Smotrich, Israels ultra-nationalist finance minister, appeared unperturbed by the formal commitment to hand over a post-war Gaza to an Arab administration. In an interview, he said Israel would erase the Palestinian state and correct what he described as the sin of dismantling Jewish settlements in Gaza 20 years ago. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It came as he was pictured next to graffiti which said Death to Arabs. He later disavowed the slogan. Hamas warned Israel that seizing control of Gaza City would amount to sacrificing the hostages that were still being held captive by the terror group. The decision to occupy Gaza confirms that the criminal Benjamin Netanyahu and his Nazi government do not care about the fate of their captives, the group said in a statement. They understand that expanding the aggression means sacrificing them. 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. Israeli leaders have approved a plan to escalate the countrys war with Hamas in Gaza. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ramps up his threats against Democratic lawmakers who fled the state. And the prime suspect in a shooting at an Army base in Georgia was bullied, former co-workers say. Heres what to know today. Israel says it will retake Gaza City, escalating war with Hamas Israel said it will take over Gaza City, escalating its war with Hamas even as it faces growing international calls to end the 22-month conflict. The plan, announced early Friday local time, stops short of the full occupation of the Gaza Strip that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had discussed in an interview yesterday on Fox News, in which he said that Israelis intend to take over the enclave but that he didnt want to keep it long term. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement An Israeli offensive could displace tens of thousands of people and could also endanger the remaining hostages held by Hamas. This is Morning Rundown, a weekday newsletter to start your day. Sign up here to get it in your inbox. Israels announcement comes as commercial satellite images show Israels military building up troops and equipment near the border with Gaza that would support a possible new ground invasion of the Palestinian enclave, according to three U.S. officials and a former official who viewed the imagery. It comes at a tense time in relations between Israel and the U.S. At the end of last month, Netanyahu and President Donald Trump had a private phone conversation that devolved into shouting amid White House concerns over whether the U.S.- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is working, according to a senior U.S. official, two former U.S. officials and a Western official who were briefed on the matter. The phone call prompted a trip to the region last week by Steve Witkoff, the U.S. special envoy to the Middle East, to find a unified path forward in the war. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Asked earlier this week whether he would support Israels occupying Gaza, Trump said he is focused on getting people food. As for military occupation, he said, I really cant say. Thats going to be pretty much up to Israel. Follow our live blog for the latest updates. Texas Gov. Abbott vows special session after special session Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is ramping up pressure on state Democratic lawmakers who fled the state to block redistricting legislation, saying in an exclusive interview with NBC News that hell call special session after special session after special session and that the Republican-led state House has approved civil arrest warrants for the missing lawmakers. Democrats act like theyre not going to come back as long as this is an issue, Abbott said. That means theyre not going to come back until like 2027 or 2028, because Im going to call special session after special session after special session with the same agenda items on there. Abbott defended the mid-decade redistricting efforts, saying theyre necessary because both the law and the facts have changed since we drew the lines back in 2021. And, he said, the results of the 2024 election is political justification for redrawing the maps. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement More than 50 Democratic lawmakers fled the state earlier this week, a decision that halts action on redistricting, as well as other bills in the legislature. It has also led to mounting fines and financial uncertainty for the lawmakers who have left their families and day jobs for an extended period of time. Read the full story here. More politics news: Federal agents are expected to have a stronger and more visible presence in Washington, D.C., after Trump bashed the citys crime rate. Trump announced he would nominate Stephen Miran, a key architect of the president's tariff war, to fill an open role at the Federal Reserve. The National Weather Service was given permission to fill 450 job positions in a move by the Trump administration to undo most of the DOGE cuts from earlier this year. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A Florida judge ruled to temporarily halt new construction at Floridas controversial Alligator Alcatraz immigration detention center. Rep. Nancy Mace, a Republican candidate for governor of South Carolina, said shell debate anyone and likes tough questions after a town hall where some who disagreed with her were asked to leave. Fort Stewart shooting suspect was bullied, Army soldiers say A day after a soldier was arrested and accused of opening fire at his Army base in Georgia, wounding five people, those who knew the suspect, 28-year-old Quornelius Radford, said the shooting came as a complete shock. But Radford had endured relentless bullying over his stutter almost as soon as he joined the military in 2018, former co-workers said. It was very bad to the point where he could barely talk, said Sgt. Cameron Barrett, who was friends with Radford. Still, Radford showed no signs of anger, resentment or deeper issues, Barrett and other fellow soldiers said. However, Sgt. Carlos Coleman, who remained friends with Radford on Facebook after they parted ways, said Radford expressed deep heartache earlier this year about losing a loved one in a wrong-way crash. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Radford remained in custody yesterday, and Army officials said a motive was unclear. The five wounded soldiers were in stable condition and are expected to recover. Read the full story here. Read All About It Three more victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center have been newly identified. The Canyon Fire north of Los Angeles forced thousands of evacuations as the blaze grew to over 1,500 acres. An 18-year-old was arrested after allegedly throwing a sex toy into the crowd at a Phoenix Mercury game, the fourth such time the stupid prank, as the teen himself called it, has unfolded at a WNBA game recently. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The rollout of a new Instagram Map that allows users to share where they are in real time has sparked privacy concerns. Brandon Blackstock, Kelly Clarksons ex-husband and the father of her two children, has died at the age of 48 after a three-year battle with cancer. Remember the stomp clap hey era of music? Its making waves online again much to peoples annoyance. Staff Pick: This summers hottest accessory: a mini fan Elizabeth Renstrom for NBC News This story came to be after I walked into the office one sweltering morning wondering, When did everyone outside of Asia start carrying handheld fans? A coworker promptly whipped out two versions of the mini blasters, and the story was born. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Long popular in Asian countries, personal fans seem to be everywhere lately, from New York City subways to Los Angeles climbing gyms. Data shows top searches are in hot southern states, and the popularity points to a rise in both temps and fast accessories, with platforms like Shein making it easy to export the handhelds out of China. The global personal fan market is set to surpass $1 billion by 2033, nearly doubling its current value. Some influencers have even created a brand out of selling them, like model Remi Bader, whose product is called Fangirl, naturally. Jessica Prois, NBC Asian America Editorial Director NBC Select: Online Shopping, Simplified Want to challenge your brain? Spend some time trying to piece together the mysteries locked within these mind-bending puzzle books. Plus, NBC Select has suggestions for everything you need to properly prepare an emergency kit, according to FEMA and CDC guidance. Sign up to The Selection newsletter for hands-on product reviews, expert shopping tips and a look at the best deals and sales each week. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Thanks for reading todays Morning Rundown. Todays newsletter was curated for you by Elizabeth Robinson. If youre a fan, please send a link to your family and friends. They can sign up here. This article was originally published on NBCNews.com Israel Prison Service succeeded in returning two escaped inmates as it expands operations to bring fugitives to justice. Israel Prison Service successfully carried out operations over the past few days to catch and return two escaped inmates, IPS confirmed on Thursday. The first operation, carried out by IPS's Maoz Unit, led to the arrest of a inmate who fled from supervisors after removing his ankle monitor. The individual was arrested in Tel Aviv on intelligence provided by Israel Police. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement IPS's Barkai Unit, whose focus is locating those who have violated their parole, handled the second operation that lead to the arrest of an inmate who escaped sentencing. They succeeded in arrested the escapee by working in tandem with the National Guard and Israel Police to lock down and surround the inmate's residence following a prolonged foot chase in southern Israel, IPS confirmed. Over 240 fugitives have been re-arrested to serve out the remainder of their sentences, since the beginning of IPSs operation to catch and return escaped inmates. Police operate at a crime scene in Nazareth, December 2022. (credit: AVSHALOM SASSONI/MAARIV) Suspected rapist arrested In a separate instance on Saturday night, Israel Police arrested the suspected rapist of a Polish tourist who has been on the run for five years. The suspect was arrested in Beit Jala on Saturday night, and was brought to the Etzion police station for questioning. Israels security cabinet early Friday approved a plan to occupy Gaza City, marking an escalation in Israel's ongoing war against Hamas. The announcement comes after an all-night meeting of the security cabinet, following Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus announcement that Israel planned to retake control over the entire territory and eventually hand it off to friendly Arab forces opposed to Hamas. "The Security Cabinet has approved the Prime Minister's proposal for defeating Hamas. The IDF will prepare for taking control of Gaza City while distributing humanitarian assistance to the civilian population outside the combat zones," read a post from the official X account of the Prime Minister of Israel. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The office said the Security Cabinet had adopted, by vote, five principles for concluding the war which include: the disarming of Hamas, the return of all hostages living and deceased, the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip, Israeli security control in the Gaza Strip, and the establishment of an alternative civil administration that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority. Ap Roasted Over Jaw-dropping Story About Hezbollah Terrorists' Struggle To Recover From Pager Attack Israels Security Cabinet early Friday approved a plan to occupy Gaza City, marking an escalation in the nearly two-year war between Israel and Hamas. "A decisive majority of Security Cabinet ministers believed that the alternative plan that had been submitted to the Security Cabinet would neither achieve the defeat of Hamas nor the return of the hostages," the prime minister's office said. Read On The Fox News App Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Israel has bombarded Gaza City repeatedly since Oct. 7, 2023 massacre in addition to carrying out numerous raids. Today, it is one of the few areas of Gaza that hasnt been turned into an Israeli buffer zone or placed under evacuation orders. From Homeroom To Hate: How Jewish Students Are Facing A New Kind Of Pressure In Public Schools Hundreds of thousands have fled Gaza City since the start of the war, but many returned during a ceasefire earlier this year. Asked in an interview with Fox News ahead of the Security Cabinet meeting if Israel would "take control of all of Gaza," Netanyahu replied: "We intend to, in order to assure our security, remove Hamas there, enable the population to be free of Gaza." Destroyed buildings lie in Gaza, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, July 28, 2025. "We don't want to keep it. We want to have a security perimeter," Netanyahu said in the interview. "We want to hand it over to Arab forces that will govern it properly without threatening us and giving Gazans a good life." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The prospect of a full military occupation of Gaza comes 20 years after Israel's full disengagement from the enclave when, as part of the country's unilateral disengagement, the government forcibly removed around 8,600 Jewish residents from the area. Shortly after, Hamas won the Palestinian legislative elections and staged a violent coup to overthrow the Palestinian Authority and seize control of the Gaza Strip. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatens legal action against The New York Times, accusing the paper of defamation over its Gaza coverage. Hamas-led militants abducted 251 people and killed around 1,200 in the Oct. 7, 2023 massacre that triggered the war. Since then, more than 60,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's retaliatory offensive according to Gaza's Hamas-run Health Ministry which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Most of the hostages have been released in ceasefire deals but 50 remain inside Gaza. The Israeli government believes around 20 of them are still alive. Original article source: Israel security cabinet approves plan to occupy Gaza City Red paint and slogans were daubed at the entry to the offices of national Israeli airline El Al in Paris, with Israel Thursday urging French authorities to take action over the "barbaric act". Anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian slogans and inscriptions, including "Free Palestine" and "El Al Genocide Airline", were written on the entrance which, along with the pavement, was also daubed with red paint overnight Wednesday to Thursday. "I condemn the barbaric and violent act against El Al and expect the law enforcement authorities in France to locate the criminals and take strong action against them," Israel's Transport Minister Miri Regev wrote on X. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The act was the result of announcements by President Emmanuel Macron that "make gifts to" Palestinian militant group Hamas, she added -- an apparent reference to his announcement last month that France plans to recognise a Palestinian state. Israel's ambassador to France Joshua Zarka, visiting the scene, described the vandalism as an "act of terrorism" that aims to "terrorise El Al employees, terrorise Israeli citizens, scare them and try to make them feel that they are not welcome." According to El Al, quoted by Israeli TV channel N12, "the incident occurred while the building was empty and there was no danger to the company's employees. "El Al proudly displays the Israeli flag on the tail of its aircraft and condemns all forms of violence, particularly those based on anti-Semitism," the national airline added. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement French Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot condemned the "acts of vandalism" on X, saying that "acts of hatred and antisemitism have no place" in France. Authorities have opened an investigation into acts of property damage committed on the grounds of race, ethnicity, nationality or religion, Paris's public prosecutor's office told AFP. In early June, several Jewish sites in Paris were sprayed with green paint. Three Serbs were charged and placed under arrest and are suspected by investigators of having acted to serve the interests of a foreign power, possibly Russia. The October 2023 attack by Hamas on Israel that sparked the war between Israel and Hamas resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, the majority of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Out of 251 hostages seized during Hamas's attack, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead. The Israeli offensive has killed at least 61,258 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to figures from the Gaza health ministry which are considered reliable by the United Nations. bla-dmv-sjw-ekf/jj BEIRUT (AP) An Israeli airstrike on eastern Lebanon killed a number of people, including a senior member of a Palestinian group and his bodyguard as they were on their way to Syria, news reports and his group said Friday. The airstrike near the Lebanese border crossing of Masnaa on Thursday afternoon killed Mohammed Wishah, a member of the central committee of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, or PFLP, the group said in a statement. The Israeli army confirmed the airstrike, saying that Wishah was responsible for coordinating with other militant groups in the region and strengthening ties between the PFLP and Iran's so-called axis of resistance. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The military said that Wishah was advancing attacks against Israel and took his job as the PFLP's top security official in Syria after his predecessor was killed in an airstrike in Beirut in September. In a post on social media, senior PFLP official Marwan Abdel-Al mourned the death of Wishah and his bodyguard, Mufid Hussein. We have lost two of the most loyal comrades who gave their precious souls to freedom, Abdel-Al wrote. Lebanons state-run National News Agency, or NNA, said that the airstrike on east Lebanon killed six people and wounded 10 others, without identifying the victims. Since the Israel-Hamas war began in October 2023, Israel has targeted Palestinian officials in Lebanon, including PFLP members. Three FPLP members were killed in an airstrike on a Beirut apartment in September. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A FPLP official said that Wishah had been in Lebanon to meet with other officials with the group and was on his way back to Syria when the airstrike happened. The official, who wasn't authorized to speak with the media, spoke on condition of anonymity. The PFLP statement said Wishah was born in the Gaza Strip in 1954 and spent five years in Israeli jails shortly after he joined the Palestinian group in 1973. For many years, the leftist and secular PFLP has been the No. 2 member of the Palestinian Liberation Organization after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Fatah group. On Friday morning, an Israeli drone strike hit a car in a coastal highway in south Lebanon, killing citizen journalist Mohammed Shehadeh, NNA reported. Hezbollah later said that Shehadeh was one of its members. Since the 14-month war between Israel and the Hezbollah militant group ended, Israel has carried out scores of airstrikes on Lebanon, mainly targeting Hezbollah members. The Israeli Security Cabinet early on Friday approved a proposal by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take military control of Gaza City and to disarm Palestinian militant organization Hamas, according to a statement by Netanyahu's office. The statement said that the Cabinet approved a takeover by the Israeli military of Gaza City, in the north of the territory, while providing humanitarian assistance to the civilian population outside the combat zones. Netanyahu's office said the Cabinet approved a plan by the premier which would see the disarmament of Hamas, the return of hostages to Israel, the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip and "Israeli security control" over the territory in exchange for an end to the war, which has been raging for over 22 months. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The plan also requires that the territory be ruled by an "alternative civilian government that is not Hamas or the Palestinian Authority." The plan did not specify whether Israel would be seeking to take over the entire Gaza Strip, which Netanyahu had said on Thursday was part of his plan. On Thursday, Netanyahu told US broadcaster Fox News: "We intend to, in order to ensure our security, remove Hamas there, enable the population to be free of Gaza and to pass it to civilian governance that is not Hamas and not anyone advocating the destruction of Israel." "That's what we want to do," Netanyahu said in an excerpt of the interview. "We want to liberate ourselves and liberate the people of Gaza from the awful terror of Hamas." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The approval of the plan came after a Security Cabinet meeting lasting more than 10 hours and ending on Friday morning. Israel is estimated to currently control around 75% of the largely destroyed territory, which is home to roughly 2 million Palestinians. A full occupation could take the Israeli military up to six months to complete, Israeli media have reported. The Israeli Security Cabinet early on Friday approved a proposal by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to take military control of Gaza City and to disarm Palestinian militant organization Hamas, according to a statement by the premier's office. The statement said that the Cabinet approved a takeover by the Israeli military of Gaza City, in the north of the territory, while providing humanitarian assistance to the civilian population outside combat zones. Netanyahu's office said the Cabinet approved a plan by the premier which would see the disarmament of Hamas, the return of hostages to Israel, the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip and "Israeli security control in the Gaza Strip" in exchange for an end to the war, which has been raging for 22 months. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The plan also requires that the territory be ruled by an "alternative civil administration that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority." The approval of the plan came after a Security Cabinet meeting lasting more than 10 hours and ending on Friday morning. The plan did not specify whether Israel would be seeking to take over the entire Gaza Strip, which Netanyahu had said on Thursday was part of his plan. On Thursday, Netanyahu told US broadcaster Fox News: "We intend to, in order to ensure our security, remove Hamas there, enable the population to be free of Gaza and to pass it to civilian governance that is not Hamas and not anyone advocating the destruction of Israel." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "That's what we want to do," Netanyahu said in an excerpt of the interview. "We want to liberate ourselves and liberate the people of Gaza from the awful terror of Hamas." Israel is estimated to currently control around 75% of the largely destroyed territory, which is home to roughly 2 million Palestinians. A full occupation could take the Israeli military up to six months to complete, Israeli media reported on Thursday. Israeli TV station N12, citing a senior official, reported on Friday that the operation approved by the Security Cabinet would target only Gaza City. According to the report, residents are to be evacuated to refugee camps in central Gaza by early October. There was no immediate official confirmation of N12's report or further details. Possible negotiation tactics in ceasefire talks Months of indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas over a new ceasefire and the release of more hostages have so far yielded no results. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "I understand exactly what Hamas wants. It doesn't want a deal," Netanyahu said in a video message on Sunday. He said that recent videos released by the militant group had only strengthened his resolve to defeat Hamas and bring the hostages home. Some media outlets have speculated that the latest announcement of expanded military operations could be a negotiating tactic aimed at increasing pressure on Hamas in ceasefire talks. Israeli politicians have hinted at such a strategy. N12 reported that mediators Qatar and Egypt are already pressing Hamas to return to the negotiating table. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Around 50 hostages are still being held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, of whom about 20 are believed to still be alive. The Gaza war was triggered by the massacre carried out by Hamas and other extremists from the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023, which left 1,200 people dead and around 250 abducted. More than 60,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel in the ensuing conflict, according to figures from the Hamas-run health authorities in the Gaza Strip. The figures do not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but are seen as credible by the United Nations and other organizations. The UN on Thursday voiced strong opposition to an expansion of Israel's offensive. "There's the prospect of huge levels of humanitarian suffering, including potential starvations that could worsen if the conflict gets worse," UN spokesman Farhan Haq said in New York. The Israeli government backed a plan to take control of Gaza City, but stopped short of explicitly supporting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus intention to control the entire enclave. After a 10-hour meeting, a majority of the security cabinet agreed to expand the war. It also declared conditions for ending the war, including the return of all hostages and the disarmament of Hamas. The head of the Israeli military pushed back, The New York Times reported, saying forces were exhausted. The plan was met with condemnation from the EU, China, and Britain among others, while Germany said it would pause exporting military equipment to Israel that could be used in the Gaza Strip. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Two foreign-policy experts argued for the Carnegie Endowment that the move was a march of folly, and that without a political peace process, Israel and Hamas were doomed to an endless wash, rinse, and repeat cycle of war and suffering. Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid has described the Security Cabinet's decision to capture the city of Gaza as a "catastrophe" that "will lead to many more catastrophes." He wrote on the platform X on Friday that the planned conquest of the largest city in the Gaza Strip would lead to the death of the hostages as well as the killing of many Israeli soldiers. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been driven by his far-right coalition partners Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, contrary to the objections of the military leadership, Lapid further explained. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The two ultra-right ministers are advocates of the idea of fully capturing the Gaza Strip and expelling the approximately 2 million Palestinians living there. The Security Cabinet approved a plan to capture the city of Gaza early in the morning. Before the meeting began, Netanyahu told the US broadcaster Fox News that Israel wanted to take control of the entire Gaza Strip but not occupy the area permanently. It should be freed from the Palestinian Islamist organization Hamas to eventually be handed over to other forces. Israels security cabinet has approved a plan by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the military occupation of Gaza City, located in the north of the Palestinian enclave. The [Israeli military] will prepare to take control of Gaza City while providing humanitarian aid to the civilian population outside the combat zones, Netanyahus office said in a statement early on Friday announcing the takeover plan. Two Israeli government sources told the Reuters news agency that any resolution by the security cabinet would now need to be approved by the full government cabinet, which may not meet until Sunday. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Occupying Gaza City marks a major escalation by Israel in its war on the Palestinian territory and will likely result in the forced displacement of tens of thousands of exhausted and starving residents who are experiencing famine conditions as Israel continues to block humanitarian aid from entering the territory. United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Israels plan to escalate the assault on Gaza was wrong. This action will do nothing to bring an end to this conflict or to help secure the release of the hostages. It will only bring more bloodshed, he said in a statement. Axios news reporter Barak Ravid, who first reported the security cabinets approval of the plan, quoted an unnamed Israeli official as saying the operation will involve the forced displacement of all Palestinian civilians from Gaza City to the central camps and other areas by October 7. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A siege will be imposed on the Hamas militants who remain in Gaza City, and at the same time, a ground offensive will be carried out in Gaza City, Ravid wrote on X, citing the official. On Thursday, in advance of the security cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said Israel would take control of all Gaza. In a television interview with US outlet Fox News, Netanyahu also said Israel does not want to be a governing body in Gaza and would hand over responsibility to an unspecified third party. We dont want to keep it. We want to have a security perimeter. We dont want to govern it, he said. Netanyahus comments followed reports in Israeli media earlier this week that the Israeli leader would imminently announce plans to fully occupy the entirety of the Gaza Strip. This picture taken from the Israeli border with the northern Gaza Strip shows Israeli soldiers looking over the destruction in Gaza City on January 1, 2024 [Menahem Kahana/AFP] Hamas said Netanyahus comments represent a blatant reversal of the negotiation process and clearly expose the real motives behind his withdrawal from the last ceasefire round, despite our nearing a final agreement. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement His plans to expand the aggression confirm beyond doubt that he seeks to abandon his own prisoners, sacrificing them to serve his personal interests and extremist ideological agenda, the group said in a statement. Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said the decision to take over Gaza City was a disaster that will lead to many more disasters. The plan will take months, lead to the death of the hostages, the killing of many soldiers, cost tens of billions to the Israeli taxpayers, and lead to a political collapse, he wrote in a post on X. This is exactly what Hamas wanted: for Israel to be trapped in the field without a goal, without defining the picture of the day after, in a useless occupation that no one understands where it is leading. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Shihab Rattansi, Al Jazeeras correspondent in Washington, DC, said Israels move to occupy Gaza has been telegraphed for several days now. Donald Trump has all but greenlit whatever Benjamin Netanyahu wants to do. He said it would be up to the Israelis, Rattansi said. It is unclear how many people still live in Gaza City, the enclaves largest population centre before Israels war on the territory that has now killed more than 61,000 Palestinians since October 2023. Hundreds of thousands of people fled Gaza City under forced evacuation orders issued by the Israeli military in the opening weeks of the war, but many returned during a brief ceasefire at the start of this year. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A major ground operation in Gaza City could displace many thousands and further disrupt efforts to deliver food to the famine-stricken territory, where almost 200 people have now died from starvation and malnutrition. There is nothing left to occupy, Gaza resident Maysaa al-Heila said on hearing of the planned takeover of the city. There is no Gaza left, al-Heila told The Associated Press news agency. They adopted five principles for ending the war, namely disarming Hamas, returning hostages, demilitarizing Gaza and maintaining a security presence, and the formation of a civilian government. Israel's Security Cabinet approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's proposal to occupy Gaza City, the Prime Minister's Office confirmed on Friday morning. The statement did not use the term "occupation," rather using the term "takeover," due to legal ramifications for the civilian population in the enclave, Ynet reported. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Notably, this is not a full occupation of the Gaza Strip, but specifically of Gaza City. Some believe that this occupation is an expansion of the current operation but only if the working assumption and goal remain that a hostage deal is still desired. Security Cabinet adopts five principles for ending the war The Security Cabinet also adopted five principles for ending the war, namely disarming Hamas, returning all hostages, both living and murdered, demilitarizing the Gaza Strip, Israel maintaining security control over the Gaza Strip, and the existence of a civilian government that is not controlled by either Hamas or the Palestinian Authority. An absolute majority of cabinet ministers believed that the alternative plan, which was presented to the Security Cabinet, would not achieve the defeat of Hamas or the return of the hostages. "There is no humanitarian response for the million people we will transfer. Everything will be complex, I suggest that you remove the return of the hostages from the military objectives," IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen Eyal Zamir said, reaffirming his objections to the plan. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Stop talking to the media. We want a decision. We all worry about the hostages, but also about the soldiers who demand victory. There are constant briefings by military officials. You are subordinate to the political echelon. Learn from the police how to obey the decisions of the political echelon," National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir responded to Zamir. Notably, some cabinet ministers believe that the operation will not lead to a decisive victory or the release of hostages, and that a full-scale operation to occupy the entire Gaza Strip should have been carried out. "We must talk about victory. If we go for a temporary deal, it is a defeat. We must not stop halfway. We must exact a price from Hamas; Hamas must pay a price for what it did," Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich commented. The Israeli security cabinet meets to discuss the full military takeover of the Gaza Strip. (credit: Avi Ohayon/GPO) After the decision to occupy Gaza was made, sources close to Smotrich commented to Israeli media on his disappointment with the new plans, explaining that they seem to aim for a deal more than a full military occupation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "This is not an operation to get complete military control of the territory, the only way to ensure victory and return the kidnapped. It is a specific and dangerous operation whose sole purpose is to return Hamas to the negotiating room," they said. Defense Minister Israel Katz described Hamas in a later statement as an extremist organization, part of the Muslim Brotherhood movement, that continues to strive for Israels destruction. He linked the group to the horrific massacre it carried out and said it must be decisively defeated. Katz said that the Security Cabinets decision sends a clear message that Israel is committed to its war objectives: The complete defeat of Hamas, creating conditions for the return of all hostages, and ensuring the safety of Israeli communities through a strong security buffer around Gaza. The defense minister said he and Netanyahu have been authorized to approve IDF plans to implement the cabinets decision and that the army is already preparing for its full execution. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Our enemies will find us as one strong, united fist striking them with great force, Katz said, adding that international criticism and threats of sanctions would not deter Israel. He said the leadership must be worthy of the countrys soldiers regular and reserve fighting in Gazas tunnels, the families of hostages, the relatives of the fallen, and the wounded who fought like lions to defend the homeland. Satellite footage indicates increased IDF mobilization near Gaza Strip, NBC reports Commercial satellite imagery showed the IDF amassing troops and equipment near the Israel-Gaza border, according to three current and one former US official who all viewed the footage, NBC reported on Friday. The sources stated that these troop movements and formations are signs of an "imminent major ground operation." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The plan, proposed by Netanyahu and deliberated in the meeting on Thursday-Friday overnight, includes encircling Gaza City and relocating around one million residents to the southern part of the enclave. Israeli public broadcaster KAN noted that the meeting lasted approximately 10 hours. Following this, a senior Israeli official told The Jerusalem Post that the military would target the terrorist strongholds in the city, with operations later expanding to the central refugee camps. Occupation op. expected to last at least six months The operation is expected to take at least six months. A senior official told the Post that Netanyahu is determined that this is the only path to defeating Hamas. In an interview with Fox News on Thursday, the prime minister stated: We intend to militarily take over the entire Gaza Strip, dismantle Hamas, and transfer control to another authority. Regarding whether the Trump administration supports the move, a US official told the Post that Israel is to decide what it needs to do for its own security. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Hamas will treat any force formed to govern Gaza as an 'occupying' force linked to Israel, an official from the terror organization told Al Jazeera Mubasher on Thursday, following Netanyahu's remarks. Meanwhile, Israeli politicians slammed the government ahead of the critical security cabinet meeting earlier on Thursday, as protests against the decision raged outside the meeting. Family members of hostages held in Hamas captivity, along with hundreds of demonstrators, demanded that the government not proceed with the plans for the operation, warning of its harm. Sarah Ben-Nun, Keshet Neev, Anna Barsky, and Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report. This is a developing story. The United Nations human rights chief is among several global leaders condemning Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plan for the Israeli military to take over Gaza City and expand its control of Gaza. The plan, which was approved by Israel's Security Cabinet overnight, would see an expansion of military operations in Gaza despite growing criticism at home and abroad. "The Israeli Government's plan for a complete military takeover of the occupied Gaza strip must be immediately halted," Volker Turk said in a statement Friday. "On all evidence to date, this further escalation will result in more massive forced displacement, more killing, more unbearable suffering, senseless destruction and atrocity crimes," Turk said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said in a statement that the Israeli plan was "wrong." He said it would "do nothing to bring an end to this conflict or to help secure the release of the hostages." "It will only bring more bloodshed," Starmer said. Netanyahu's office said overnight Friday that "the IDF will prepare for taking control of Gaza City while distributing humanitarian assistance to the civilian population outside the combat zones." In a statement, the prime minister's office also said five new principles had been adopted for concluding the war in Gaza: disarming Hamas, returning all the hostages, "the demilitarization" of Gaza, "Israeli security control" in Gaza, and "the establishment of an alternative civil administration that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority." People watch as a plume of smoke rises during an Israeli strike on Gaza City's southern al-Zeitoun neighborhood on Aug. 8, 2025. / Credit: BASHAR TALEB/AFP via Getty Images German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Friday that, because of the plan, Germany will not approve the export of any military equipment that could be used in Gaza until further notice. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Merz said while it was Israel's right to disarm Hamas and seek the release of the hostages, "the German government believes that the even tougher military action in the Gaza Strip decided upon by the Israeli cabinet last night makes it increasingly difficult to see how these goals can be achieved." Far-right members of Netanyahu's government have been pushing for the total takeover of Gaza by Israel, though the Israeli military has warned that could jeopardize the lives of the approximately 20 surviving hostages being held there. There have been widespread protests in Israel against the plan, as well. The group representing the families of those hostages condemned the decision Friday. "Last night's cabinet decision to pursue occupation of the Gaza Strip means abandoning the hostages, while completely ignoring the repeated warnings from military leadership and the clear will of the majority of the Israeli public," the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said. "Our government is leading us toward a colossal catastrophe for both the hostages and our soldiers. The cabinet chose last night to embark on another march of recklessness, on the backs of the hostages, the soldiers, and Israeli society as a whole." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Hamas also condemned the decision, saying it "constitutes a new war crime." "We remain committed to taking all steps necessary to pave the way for an agreement, including advancing toward a comprehensive deal that ensures the release of all occupation prisoners in one batch leading to an end to the war and the withdrawal of occupation forces," Hamas said in a statement. "We warn the criminal occupation that this reckless venture will come at a high cost and will not be a walk in the park." Global stock markets react to Trump's sweeping tariffs in effect now Sean "Diddy" Combs wants to go back to Madison Square Garden in the future, attorney says Israel's Security Cabinet approves plan to take over Gaza City Israel's decision to expand its military offensive to seize control of Gaza City has sparked widespread international alarm, with allies and rivals of the government warning of catastrophic humanitarian consequences. The plan, proposed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and approved overnight by Israel's Security Cabinet, marks a major escalation in the nearly two-year war. A spokeswoman for the United Nations on Friday described Israel's decision as "deeply alarming." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "It is clear that this would risk catastrophic consequences for millions of Palestinians and further endanger the lives of the remaining hostages in Gaza," spokeswoman Alessandra Vellucci said in Geneva. "Any decision to expand Israeli military operations in Gaza [is] deeply alarming," she said in a press conference in response to a journalist's question. Vellucci stressed that suffering and hunger would increase as a result, and humanitarian aid would be hindered. A statement from Netanyahu's office said that humanitarian assistance would be provided to the civilian population outside combat zones. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The plan envisages the disarmament of the Palestinian Islamist organization Hamas, the return of hostages to Israel, the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip and "Israeli security control in the Gaza Strip" in exchange for an end to the war. It also requires that the territory be ruled by an "alternative civil administration that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority." The statement did not specify whether Israel would be seeking to take over the entire Gaza Strip, which Netanyahu had previously said was part of his plan. The premier told the US broadcaster Fox News on Thursday that Israel wanted to take control of the entire Gaza Strip but not occupy the area permanently. It should be freed from Hamas to eventually be handed over to other forces. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Israeli TV station N12, citing a senior official, reported on Friday that the operation approved by the Security Cabinet would target only Gaza City. According to the report, residents are to be evacuated to refugee camps in central Gaza by early October. There was no immediate official confirmation of N12's report or further details. Von der Leyen advises Israel to reconsider European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen expressed concern at the announcement, and called on the Israeli government to reconsider its decision. "Immediate and unhindered" access for humanitarian aid must be provided to the sealed-off coastal territory, she wrote on X on Friday. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The humanitarian situation for the approximately 2 million Palestinians in the blockaded coastal area has deteriorated to such an extent that UN organizations and experts are warning of famine. "The Israeli government's decision to further extend its military operation in Gaza must be reconsidered," the commission president added. "A ceasefire is needed now," she wrote, adding that all remaining hostages must be released. Berlin announces halt to arms deliveries The German government, one of Israel's strongest supporters since the beginning of the war, announced that it would suspend exports of military equipment to Israel that could be used in the Gaza Strip in response to the decision. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Chancellor Friedrich Merz underlined that Israel has the "right to defend itself against the terror of Hamas" and insisted that the release of hostages and targeted negotiations on a ceasefire remain Germany's highest priorities. But Merz said the decision to launch a fresh offensive makes it increasingly difficult to achieve Israel's goals in the war. "Under these circumstances, the German government will not authorize any exports of military equipment that could be used in the Gaza Strip until further notice," he added. The move is major step for Berlin, which has consistently opposed banning military exports to Israel and blocked EU initiatives to issue sanctions over the desperate humanitarian situation in Gaza. Israeli opposition slams Cabinet decision The Security Cabinet's decision also drew fierce criticism at home, with Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid describing it as a "catastrophe" that "will lead to many more catastrophes." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He wrote on the platform X on Friday that the planned conquest of the largest city in the Gaza Strip would lead to the death of the hostages as well as the killing of many Israeli soldiers. Netanyahu has been driven by his far-right coalition partners Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, contrary to the objections of the military leadership, Lapid argued. The two ultra-right ministers are advocates of the idea of fully capturing the Gaza Strip and expelling all the Palestinians living there. Relatives say new offensive is 'death sentence' for hostages Relatives of Israeli hostages meanwhile described the expansion plan as a "death sentence" for their family members. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The decision by the political leadership abandons the hostages and will lead them and Israeli soldiers into a "colossal catastrophe," the Hostage Relatives Forum said on Friday. According to Israeli assessments, there are still 50 hostages in Gaza, of whom 20 are believed to be alive. Some 250 people were captured during the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 people. During the ensuing Gaza war, Israel has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians, according to figures from the Hamas-run health authorities in the Gaza Strip. The figures do not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but are seen as credible by the United Nations and other organizations. Israel's decision to expand its military offensive to seize control of Gaza City has sparked widespread international alarm, with allies and rivals of the government warning of catastrophic humanitarian consequences. The plan, proposed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and approved overnight by Israel's Security Cabinet, marks a major escalation in the nearly two-year war. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said he was "gravely alarmed" by the Israeli governments move. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "This decision marks a dangerous escalation and risks deepening the already catastrophic consequences for millions of Palestinians, and could further endanger more lives, including of the remaining hostages," his office said in New York on Friday. Guterres warned that the expansion would result in further forced displacement, killings, and massive destruction, compounding the "unimaginable suffering" of Palestinians in Gaza. European Council President Antonio Costa also urged Israel to rethink the operation, warning it would have "consequences" for EUIsrael relations. He said the escalation "undermines fundamental principles of international law and universal values." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A statement from Netanyahu's office said that humanitarian assistance would be provided to the civilian population outside combat zones. The plan envisages the disarmament of the Palestinian Islamist organization Hamas, the return of hostages to Israel, the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip and "Israeli security control in the Gaza Strip" in exchange for an end to the war. It also requires that the territory be ruled by an "alternative civil administration that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority." The statement did not specify whether Israel would be seeking to take over the entire Gaza Strip, which Netanyahu had previously said was part of his plan. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The premier told the US broadcaster Fox News on Thursday that Israel wanted to take control of the entire Gaza Strip but not occupy the area permanently. It should be freed from Hamas to eventually be handed over to other forces. Israeli TV station N12, citing a senior official, reported on Friday that the operation approved by the Security Cabinet would target only Gaza City. According to the report, residents are to be evacuated to refugee camps in central Gaza by early October. There was no immediate official confirmation of N12's report or further details. Berlin announces halt to arms deliveries The German government, one of Israel's strongest supporters since the beginning of the war, announced that it would suspend exports of military equipment to Israel that could be used in the Gaza Strip in response to the decision. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Chancellor Friedrich Merz underlined that Israel has the "right to defend itself against the terror of Hamas" and insisted that the release of hostages and targeted negotiations on a ceasefire remain Germany's highest priorities. But Merz said the decision to launch a fresh offensive makes it increasingly difficult to achieve Israel's goals in the war. "Under these circumstances, the German government will not authorize any exports of military equipment that could be used in the Gaza Strip until further notice," he added. The move is major step for Berlin, which has consistently opposed banning military exports to Israel and blocked EU initiatives to issue sanctions over the desperate humanitarian situation in Gaza. Israeli opposition slams Cabinet decision The Security Cabinet's decision also drew fierce criticism at home, with Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid describing it as a "catastrophe" that "will lead to many more catastrophes." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He wrote on the platform X on Friday that the planned conquest of the largest city in the Gaza Strip would lead to the death of the hostages as well as the killing of many Israeli soldiers. Netanyahu has been driven by his far-right coalition partners Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, contrary to the objections of the military leadership, Lapid argued. The two ultra-right ministers are advocates of the idea of fully capturing the Gaza Strip and expelling all the Palestinians living there. According to Israeli assessments, there are still 50 hostages in Gaza, of whom 20 are believed to be alive. Some 250 people were captured during the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed 1,200 people. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement During the ensuing Gaza war, Israel has killed more than 60,000 Palestinians, according to figures from the Hamas-run health authorities in the Gaza Strip. The figures do not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but are seen as credible by the United Nations and other organizations. Hamas has condemned Israel's plan to seize Gaza City as a "full-fledged war crime." The move was "part of Israel's ongoing policy of genocide and forced displacement" and formed part of a "brutal practice of ethnic cleansing against our Palestinian people," the group said in a statement. Israel presses ahead with plan Despite the outcry, the Israeli military plans to expand its operational plans in the coming days, Chief of General Staff Eyal Zamir said at a briefing on Friday. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "The discussion focused on the current operational situation and formulating plans and preparations for the continuation of the ground operation in the Gaza Strip," he wrote on Telegram. The aim is to create the conditions for the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas and end the group's rule in the territory, he added. According to media reports, Zamir had previously spoken out against entering areas not yet controlled by the Israeli military. There are feats that a broader offensive could endanger the Israeli hostages - some of whom are thought to be in Gaza City. However, as chief of general staff, Zamir is bound by the decision of the Security Cabinet. The Brief An 8-year-old is traveling from Italy to Florida to remove a brain tumor using radiation. State-of-the-art medical technology played a major role in saving her life, doctors say. The procedure was successfully done on Thursday at the Renaissance Institute of Precision Oncology & Radiosurgery. WINTER PARK, Fla. - An 8-year-old girl from Italy is recovering after undergoing a state-of-the-art, noninvasive procedure to remove a brain tumor using precision radiation technology in Central Florida. What we know State-of-the-art medical technology played a pivotal role in successfully removing a brain tumor from a young girl, showcasing the power of innovation in saving lives. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Jenny DArienzo had a tumor removed at the Renaissance Institute of Precision Oncology & Radiosurgery on Thursday in Winter Park. Jenny traveled to Winter Park for the procedure. CLICK TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX LOCAL APP The machine used to remove the tumor essentially burned the tumor using high-energy X-rays and radiation. Because the radiation beam is so precise, the procedure removed the tumor that was in the middle of her brain without harming it further. She did not have to be sedated, and minutes following the procedure, she was celebrating with her family and medical team. What we don't know Doctors have not disclosed the long-term outlook for Jennys condition or whether she will require additional treatment or follow-up. Details about how the family connected with the Florida facility or how the procedure was funded were also not shared. The backstory Jenny's tumor was located deep within her brain and considered inoperable through traditional surgery. Her family traveled from Italy seeking advanced treatment options. The radiation technique used allowed doctors to "burn" the tumor with extreme accuracy, eliminating the need for sedation or an open surgical procedure. What they're saying FOX 35 watched the procedure as it happened and spoke with the doctors further about it afterward. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "The tumor was in an inoperable location. So with this procedure, we could burn the tumor at an early stage," said Dr. Pantaleo Romanelli, Jennys neurosurgeon. "This is the fastest device that can do these procedures with extreme precision. Again, it's not invasive. We send these shaped beams, which are extremely small, and they go on the tumor, on the target, in the brain, and essentially they burn the tumor," he continued. SIGN-UP FOR FOX 35'S BREAKING NEWS, DAILY NEWS NEWSLETTERS The doctors are grateful to be able to give this young girl the gift of a happy life. "Being able to non-invasively cure someone of a brain, an inoperable brain tumor, is truly a special privilege," said Dr. Evan Thomas, a radiation oncologist. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Another doctor in the Central Florida community donated tickets for Jenny and her family to go to Walt Disney World to forget about her worries and just be a kid. "Dr. Bob Wilkins. He's a colleague and friend of mine, and he learned about their story, and he felt compelled to help make their experience more special," said Dr. Thomas. The Source This story was written based on information shared by the Renaissance Institute of Precision Oncology & Radiosurgery. ROME (Reuters) -Italy has grounded a reconnaissance plane used by a German migrant rescue charity, in the first use of tighter regulations for such aircraft, the NGO said. The National Civil Aviation Authority (ENAC) confirmed on Friday that the Sea-Watch group's Seabird 1 plane had been placed under administrative detention. It said it acted after being informed by the Italian coastguard that the Seabird 1's pilot had failed to notify relevant authorities about an emergency situation at sea. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Sea-Watch called the aircraft's detention "a new escalation in the Italian government's fight against civilian human rights observation in the Mediterranean". Italy has temporarily halted dozens of charity rescue vessels, and last year passed a decree allowing similar measures against charity-operated aircraft. The tighter regulations for rescue vessels and planes, which are used to spot boats in distress, were brought in under Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who in the past accused charities of cooperating with traffickers to bring in more migrants. The government said the crackdown was necessary to ensure better coordination with authorities and avoid abuses. Charities say the measures seriously limit their capacity to operate, putting migrants' lives at risk. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Sea-Watch said it was considering legal options against the grounding of its plane and had deployed another monitoring aircraft to continue its work. (Reporting by Francesca Piscioneri and Alvise Armellini;Editing by Helen Popper) JACKSON COUNTY, Fla. (WMBB) Jackson County Tax Collector Mary Carol Murdock issued a news release Tuesday, announcing shes closing branches on the east and west sides of the county. The offices in Sneads and Graceville will cease operations Oct 1. Murdock says they opened back when business was conducted by mail or in person. With the advent of online transactions, she says, circumstances have changed. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The thought of closing the branches has been ongoing. Its nothing that just happened this year. Every year, as we looked at the budget and the analysis, we saw the fees decreasing and the expenses of keeping those offices open were increasing, Murdock says. The county decided to make several moves after receiving letters from Floridas Department of Government Efficiency. Murdock says, It was not a hasty decision. It was careful after careful consideration of seeing the decline over the years. Having gotten my letter from note from the governor concerning efficiency, I just feel that as an elected officer, its my duty to close the branches in order to manage public funds more efficiently. The Marianna office is also moving to a new location, along with the drivers license office, the Department of Motor Vehicles, and the property tax office. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Employees in Sneads and Graceville will move to the Marianna office. Murdock believes the closings, combined with the new office, will be a big benefit for customers. One of the most important benefits in combining those offices is saving the taxpayers dollars. 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 mypanhandle.com. Documentary filmmaker Jacqueline Zunds first fiction feature Dont Let the Sun set to premiere at Switzerlands Locarno Film Festival portrays a world of stifling heat where human contact is hard to establish. Speaking to Variety, the Swiss director talked about how the idea had come to her while working in Japan on her documentary Almost There in 2016: The whole idea started with a discovery I made in Japan of an agency where you can rent any social relation, like somebody waving at the station when you go to the holidays, or somebody sitting close to you and saying nothing, or maybe a lost daughter or just a friend for a birthday party. And the concept of this agency made me think about human relations and how they may change. This idea connected to another project provisionally called Heat about life changing due to rising global temperatures. I wanted to focus on how human relations change with the influence of exterior conditions like, for example, our climate crisis. So what happens, for example, when its so hot, when its unbearable to be in your own skin, how can you get close to somebody else? More from Variety Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In Dont Let the Sun, sold by Sideral Cinema as the winner of its inaugural Goes to Cannes Award, Levan Gelbakhiani plays Jonah, a young man who works for an agency pretending to be other people. He takes on a job of playing the father of a young girl, Nika (Maria Pia Pepe). We did a lot of exercises before filming with the heat, but then when we filmed in Milan in August it was 40 degrees. It was so hot, you didnt have to pretend anymore. It was really tough, but it felt right. Its almost a silent film, because everything is too much, so you dont even talk anymore. Even in the editing, we cut a lot of dialogue because you get a reduction of of everything. Shooting in Milan and Genoa in Italy with additional footage of Sao Paulo by Sebastian Metz standing in for the sun-bleached exteriors, the shoot also involved long nights as the characters could only come out once the sun had gone down. Its not so far from the reality were living in now. There are countries where people start to work at night because its too hot during the day, like construction workers in the Emirates, for example. Its not like a future thing for me. Its just like a step to the side and a glimpse into a possibility which is very close. Zurich born, Zund studied at the London International Film School before debuting with her documentary about insomnia Goodnight Nobody in 2010, which picked up a number of awards including Best Newcomer Film at Nyons Visions du Reel. As her first fiction film, Dont Let the Sun overlapped with a parallel documentary. I was filming and researching a documentary called Heat about how heat influences people. It will be finished by the beginning of next year: the first quarter of 2026. One project influences the other one and inspired the other one. I could take some stuff from the documentary world to write in the fiction world, like, for example, the cooling room, where, where these guys are going, just to sit and to cool down, which I found in New York. Shooting in Sao Paulo was nixed because of budgetary considerations but suitable locations of expressive brutalist architecture were found in Milan and Genoa. When making documentaries, Im always looking for very strong locations which reflect the inner states of the people, Zund says. The way I do my documentaries is not so far away from fiction. The subjects are real people but I condense their life in a way. So its not so far away from like a fiction. Besides that, they are their lives and their stories, and theyre playing themselves, and so what was liberating for me was to work for the first time with actors. You dont have to have this responsibility for like these human beings who are playing themselves and their stories. That was very liberating for me. But its close. The two things creatively brush against each other. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Dont Let the Sun is produced by Louis Matare at Switzerland Lomotion, in co-production with Davide Pagano at Italys Casa Delle Visioni with backing from Swiss public broadcaster SRF Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen. Best of Variety Sign up for Variety's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Terminator writer-director James Cameron fears that his classic film about artificial intelligence nearly destroying humanity could end up coming true if the real world version of AI is ever connected to weapons systems. Simultaneously, the Avatar director also insists he doesnt think AI could ever actually replace people at least artists, anyway. More from TheWrap Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Camerons comments come from a lengthy new interview with Rolling Stone, where he said in part, I do think theres still a danger of a Terminator-style apocalypse where you put AI together with weapons systems, even up to the level of nuclear weapon systems, nuclear defense counterstrike, all that stuff. Because the theater of operations is so rapid, the decision windows are so fast, it would take a superintelligence to be able to process it, and maybe well be smart and keep a human in the loop. But humans are fallible, and there have been a lot of mistakes made that have put us right on the brink of international incidents that could have led to nuclear war, he added. The Avatar director also explained that he considers superintelligence, meaning an as-yet uncreated version of AI, an existential threat alongside climate change and nuclear weapons. Were at this cusp in human development where youve got the three existential threats: climate and our overall degradation of the natural world, nuclear weapons, and superintelligence, he said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Theyre all sort of manifesting and peaking at the same time, Cameron said, though he also wondered if superintelligence is the answer, adding that hes not predicting that, but it might be. Cameron also told the magazine that people make a little too much about me predicting artificial intelligence being a bad thing, especially when associated with nuclear weapons. But we exist in that world right now, and whether a superintelligence can help us or whether it gets weaponized and put in charge of our missile defense because it can react much faster than we can, who knows? We could be entering that world as we speak. Despite those dire warnings, Cameron rejects at least one of the biggest claims boosters of AI keep making that the technology could make human labor obsolete. Cameron explained that while hes leaning into teaching myself the tools of generative AI so that I can incorporate them into my future art I utterly reject the premise that AI can take the place of actors and take the place of filmmakers and all that sort of thing. So we always have to approach any technology as being potentially dangerous and potentially helpful. The post James Cameron Warns AI Could Cause Terminator-style Apocalypse but Utterly Rejects Idea It Could Replace Artists appeared first on TheWrap. WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) Japanese warships docked in New Zealand s capital Friday for a rare visit amid efforts by Tokyo to deepen its strategic ties in the South Pacific Ocean. Two destroyers with more than 500 crew on board sailed into Wellington harbor accompanied by the New Zealand navy ship HMNZS Canterbury. The JS Ise and destroyer JS Suzunami were on an Indo-Pacific deployment and arrived from Sydney, where Japans military took part this month in war games involving New Zealand, Australia and other countries. The Wellington visit was a ceremonial one, but it came as Japan, whose only treaty ally is the United States, has increasingly sought to deepen bilateral military cooperation amid ongoing regional tensions. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Our defense force are developing cooperative work, not only with New Zealand and Australia but also many Pacific Island countries, Japans envoy to Wellington, Makoto Osawa, told reporters Friday. Our main goal is the free and open Indo-Pacific. The ambassadors remarks followed the announcement Tuesday by Australias government that Japanese firm Mitsubishi Heavy Industries had won the bid for a contract to build Australian warships, beating out a German firm. While officials in Canberra said the Japanese proposal was the best and cheapest, they also hailed it as the biggest defense industry agreement between the countries. New Zealand too has sought to shore up its strategic and military relations in Asia as part of a foreign policy reset in recent years that the government says has turned more attention on Pacific cooperation and security. Officials in Wellington announced in July that work had started on a defense logistics agreement with Japan, intended to make it easier for the countries militaries to work together. Japanese naval vessels do not often make visits so far south in the Pacific Ocean, but the rich and strategically important waters of New Zealand, Australia and smaller Pacific Island countries are increasingly contested by the worlds major powers, making it the site of a fierce battle for influence between Beijing and Western nations. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A Japanese ship visited New Zealands largest city, Auckland, in 2016. Although remote, New Zealand has recently been drawn into more fraught questions of regional security. In February, live firing exercises by Chinese naval frigates in the Tasman Sea between New Zealand and Australia drew alarm from those countries governments after flights were forced to divert at short notice. ___ This story has been edited to remove the incorrect statement that the most recent visit to Wellington by a Japanese naval vessel was in 1996. Military vessels have visited the port more recently, including in 2007. KANSAS CITY, Mo. On Thursday morning, Jay Zs Team ROC filed a legal amicus curiae brief, challenging the dismissal of a lawsuit against the Unified Government (UG) of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas (KCK) and supporting multiple women who claim to have been assaulted by now-deceased KCKPD detective Roger Golubski. According to the brief, Team ROC has requested that the courts reverse the dismissal of a lawsuit filed by five of Golubskis alleged victims Michelle Houcks, Saundra Newsom, Niko Quinn, Ophelia Williams and Richelle Miller and asks that the women be afforded access to the federal court system to litigate their claims. Man suffering possible heart attack waits 5 hours for ambulance at Atchison County hospital Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The original lawsuit, which was filed by the women in 2023, claims that KCKPD and the UG were complicit and allegedly created an environment that enabled officers like Golubski to stalk, assault, beat, rape, harass, frame, and threaten Black citizens, Team ROC said. Nine other civil rights groups and advocacy organizations joined the brief, including the Innocence Project, Justice Strikeforce, Kansas Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Violence, Midwest Innocence Project, and more, calling themselves as a collective with Team ROC, Amici in the filing. According to Amici, their primary concern is that the state statutes of limitations is being misapplied to unjustly time-bar continuing violations of abuse, government cover-ups, and deeply entrenched institutional misconduct. The organizations say the dismissal by the district court judge was unjust and that Kansas two-year statute of limitations should be paused due to the victims having dealt with decades of threats, sexual violence and retaliation, until Golubskis death by suicide in December 2024. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Amici believes pausing the Kansas statute of limitations would be the only solution for a fair and just legal proceeding, due to the women having been silenced for years. Instead, the organizations say the statute of limitations should have started after Golubski took his own life or after the threat of retaliation was gone. Lees Summit chef identified as victim killed in Cass County crash These are not threats which dissipate after an arbitrary two years, the filing said. Rather, when a powerful government agent makes such a threat, one instance can be good enough to keep someone quiet for a lifetime. The nature of threats or intimidation is that, depending on the context, a threat can still exist long after an overt act is made to express a specific threat. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In addition to the arguments for a dismissal, the brief lists several alleged assaults and statements of intimidation used by Golubski. It alleges that Golubski told one of his victims who threatened to report him, Report me to who? I am the police. The brief also claims that in many of the assaults, Golubski was wearing his KCKPD uniform, displaying his position of power over the victim. As a result of the brief, Amici hopes that the courts uphold federal civil rights statutes, like Section 1983, which allows people to sue state and local governments that violate their constitutional or legal rights. It also hopes to set a national precedent that will lead to increased accountability and visibility regarding systemic abuse. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement See the latest headlines in Kansas City and across Kansas, Missouri This isnt just about one corrupt officer or department its about protecting communities across the country from institutional misconduct by state officials, Team ROC Managing Director Dania Diaz said. Setting the right example in places like Kansas City, Kansas where community members have been subject to decades of harm is critical to ensure that government officials are being transparent and will be called to answer for their conduct if they violate the law. To read the brief, 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 FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports. I found JD Vance the meme version, anyway. The real Vance snuck through tunnels Aug. 7 while visiting Indiana to push for congressional redistricting in Indiana. But his image was very visible upstairs at the Statehouse. Democrats rallied at the Statehouse, as well as outside the Indiana governor's residence, during a day of protest against President Trump's effort to redraw Indiana's congressional districts further to their advantage. Republicans already hold seven out of nine congressional seats. That number just isn't high enough for the Trump administration. At the Statehouse, grievances overlap Carolyn Craig writes her message on her poster on Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025, for the Statehouse Sit-In: No Cheaters in Democracy in Indianapolis in the Indianapolis Statehouse. The Statehouse was spirited. Folks were angry, but I noticed a sense of optimism, too. Equipped with their sardonic signs, Hoosier Democrats channeled their energy into a protest against forced redistricting. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It wasn't all about redistricting, though. Denise Hay, a retired teacher from Speedway, joined the Statehouse sit-in because of Indianas attitude toward public education. Hay said she retired five years early due to changes in the Statehouse, which she thinks have had a horrific impact on Indianapolis Public Schools. She talked about how censorship and changes in curriculum are leaving students uneducated and unaware. Its all about control, Hay said, frustrated with the influence legislators have on education. As I talked to protesters, what stuck with me was their wide-ranging concerns. The sit-in was representative of all the grievances that Hoosiers have against elected officials they view as corrupt, whether that's on the state or federal level. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The merged protests make sense. These issues are interconnected. Vance's visit is worrying because Indiana Republicans hold all the power and they have not been willing to stand up to the Trump administration. Yet, despite Democrats' defeats and disappointments, there was hopefulness and good humor in the air. After talking with Hay, I met Shelley Ross, who was firmly dedicated to the sitting part of the sit-in protest. She took a seat on the floor and told me she was there to make a fuss. Briggs: Remember Jim Banks' tariff cheerleading when the economy tanks Ross is the founder of the Indianapolis Protest Finder Facebook group. After feeling frustrated with the difficulty of finding details and locations for Indianapolis protests, she created the Facebook group to amplify and centralize protest information. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ross told me she's been to all of the major anti-Trump protests in Indianapolis, including No Kings Day. Her goal is to get people to continue to show up to actions and protests. (I have) no intent other than making it easy for more people to come, Ross said. Ross opposes gerrymandering a term that originally referred to oddly shaped congressional districts but now often applies to drawing congressional boundaries that favor one political party. It's a complicated concept, and Ross acknowledged there are parts of the redistricting conversation she doesnt entirely understand. But, despite not knowing all the nuances, Ross showed up to advocate for voting rights and representation. Crowd erupts as JD Vance arrives Citizens display homemade signs on Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025, for the Statehouse Sit-In: No Cheaters in Democracy in Indianapolis in the Indianapolis Statehouse We ended our conversation with Ross calling herself an old White lady and laughing. She wants to use her Karen-privilege her words to make an impact. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We dont have anything to lose, Ross said. Jackson Franklin, a young progressive running for Congress in Indianas 5th District seat held by Republican U.S. Rep. Victoria Spartz, said he went to the Statehouse to make it abundantly clear to Vance that Hoosiers wont stand for weakening their votes. Briggs: Steak 'n Shake's MAGA makeover is a desperate bid to save a dying business They made it pretty clear. At 10:52 a.m., organizers of the sit-in informed the crowd that Vance was in the building. The boos and shouts from the crowd might have been loud enough for people outside the Statehouse to hear. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Franklin thinks the push for early redistricting is happening because Republicans know their policies are unpopular. This is just another power grab, he said. We rescue one another as Hoosiers, U.S. Rep. Andre Carson, D-Indianapolis, said at a press conference following the sit-in. That resonated with me. I like the idea of working together to rescue each other, because democracy is worth that fight. There was a real love for Indiana and democracy present today. That bright and bold energy carries on even after Vance has left Indianapolis' underground tunnels. Contact IndyStar opinion fellow Sadia Khatri at sadia.khatri@indystar.com. This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: JD Vance pushes redistricting as Indiana Democrats resist | Opinion Vice President JD Vance on Friday weighed in on President Donald Trumps comments that he will most likely succeed Trump as the GOP presidential nominee in 2028. Speaking to reporters in the United Kingdom alongside British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, Vance joked that he doesnt want to talk about lowly things like politics, before noting that he felt it was too early to start thinking about the next presidential race. My view on the politics of 2028 is Im not really focused even on the election in 2026, much less one two years after that, Vance said. If we do a good job for the American people, the politics will take care of itself. Earlier this week, Trump was asked if he shared the view that Vance was the MAGA heir apparent. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I think most likely, in all fairness, hes the vice president, Trump replied, while floating U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio as another possible contender who could team up with Vance. I think Marco is also somebody that maybe would get together with JD in some form. I also think that we have incredible people, some of the people on the stage right here. So its too early, obviously, to talk about it, but certainly hes doing a great job, and he would be probably favored at this point, he added. While Trump seems to be warming up to the idea of having Vance succeed him as the leader of the Republican Party, he didnt seem too enthusiastic about the prospect during a February interview with Fox News. Do you view Vice President JD Vance as your successor, the Republican nominee in 2028? host Bret Baier asked the president. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement No, but hes very capable, Trump said at the time. So far I think hes doing a fantastic job. Its too early. Were just starting. Related... (NewsNation) Vice President JD Vance met with Republican leaders in Indiana on Thursday to discuss redistricting plans as part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to reshape congressional maps in GOP-led states ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. Indiana Gov. Mike Braun has so far been hesitant to express overt interest in redistricting plans. We listened, Braun told reporters when asked about what transpired in the meeting with Vance. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Seven out of nine congressional districts in Indiana are Republican-controlled, so it is unclear why the Trump administration is making an effort to target the state. Citing discrimination, White House targets debanking Texas lawmakers clash over redistricting efforts Texas Republicans initiated a nationwide redistricting dispute by proposing a congressional map that would secure five additional GOP seats in the U.S. House. After the proposed maps were put to a vote, many Texas House Democrats fled the state to stall the process. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and other Republican leaders have expressed disdain for the Democrats leaving the state and have even threatened legal action. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Director Kash Patel has approved my request for the FBI to assist state and local law enforcement in locating runaway Texas House Democrats, Sen. John Cornyn said in a statement Thursday. Tensions reached a boiling point earlier this week, as a bomb threat was reported at a hotel where two Texas lawmakers who fled were staying. This morning, a threat was made against the safety of the members of the Texas House Democratic Caucus. We are safe, we are secure, and we are undeterred, Texas Democratic caucus leaders said in a statement responding to the incident. What you need to know as Trumps new tariffs take effect Nationwide redistricting push escalates In response to the proposed gerrymandering efforts, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced plans to counteract the Texas redistricting plan with a redistricted map of his own. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Other Democratic states have followed suit with threats to redistrict if Republicans take action. According to The New York Times, Illinois, Maryland, New York and New Jersey are all states that could follow Californias lead in redistricting. In addition to Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, South Carolina and Nebraska are Republican states that could follow Texas lead in redistricting efforts to increase seats in the House. With all of the proposed redistricting, it appears many of the changes could ultimately cancel each other out. Patel must explain what the deuce is going on with Epstein case: Bill OReilly Indiana Democrats respond Many gathered at the state capital in Indianapolis on Thursday to voice their opposition to the redistricting. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Though Indiana Democrats do not possess the power to walk out and stop a vote from occurring due to Republicans holding a supermajority in the state house and senate, Democratic leaders are urging constituents and allies around the country to fight back. President Trump and the Congressional Republicans are so arrogant that they dont feel any need to hide their political power grab. They are up front about the fact that they are willing to cheat to win the midterm elections, State Rep. Matt Pierce said in a statement. The question is, will Gov. Braun and the leaders of the General Assembly go along with it? Pierce concluded. 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. NEED TO KNOW Vice President JD Vance's security detail reportedly coordinated for the water level of an Ohio river to be raised to accommodate his recent family kayaking trip for his birthday According to a report from The Guardian, the vice president's security detail from the Secret Service requested that the Army Corps of Engineers change the outflow of a lake into the Little Miami River in Ohio One source claimed to The Guardian that the request was not only made to support safe boating on the river, but also to create "ideal kayaking conditions" Vice President JD Vance's security detail coordinated for the water level of an Ohio river to be raised to accommodate his recent family boating trip in celebration of his 41st birthday. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to reports from The Guardian and the Associated Press, the vice president's security detail from the Secret Service requested that the Army Corps of Engineers change the outflow of a lake into the Little Miami River ahead of Vance's trip to southwest Ohio on Saturday, Aug. 2. According to a statement given to the Guardian by the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), the request from the Secret Service was made to "support safe navigation" for Vance and his family. Social media posts obtained by the AP that day showed Vance kayaking on the river, which feeds into Ohio's Caesar Creek Lake. One source alleged to The Guardian that the request was not only made to support safe boating on the river, but also to create "ideal kayaking conditions." Alamy The Little Miami River in Ohio. The Little Miami River in Ohio. https://people-app.onelink.me/HNIa/kz7l4cuf Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Public data from US Geological Survey (USGS) obtained by The Guardian showed a sudden increase in the Little Miami River's level and a corresponding drop in lake elevation during the dates Vance was in Ohio. USACE spokesperson Gene Pawlik told the outlet that USACE Louisville had received a request to temporarily increase outflows from Caesar Creek Lake to support safe navigation of US Secret Service personnel." "It was determined that the operations would not adversely affect downstream or upstream water levels," Pawlik said in an additional statement, per the AP. "Downstream stakeholders were notified in advance of the slight outflow increase, which occurred August 1, 2025." The Secret Service also said in a statement to The Guardian that it had worked with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and USACE to plan for motorized watercraft and emergency personnel to operate safely. The agency added that it could not discuss specifics of its operational planning. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The outlet also reported that the USACE has modified outflows to accommodate public use such as for emergency personnel training and community events in the past. Parker Magid, a spokesman for the vice president, said that Vance was unaware the river had been raised. "The Secret Service often employs protective measures without the knowledge of the Vice President or his staff, as was the case last weekend," he told the AP. Aaron Schwartz/Bloomberg via Getty Vance on June 28. Vance on June 28. Several officials criticized Vance for potentially exploiting public infrastructure resources for his personal use amid the Trump administration's funding cuts for government jobs and scientific research. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, a Democrat from Ohio's 9th district, called the river rising "outrageous" in a post on X following the report. "Must be why he wasnt available to meet about his Big Bonanza for Billionaires Bill which will devastate Ohio manufacturing jobs and our rural hospitals," she wrote, using a joke name for the Big Beautiful Bill. "The Army Corps of Engineers should share records with relevant committees of jurisdiction in Congress." Richard W. Painter, who served as chief White House ethics lawyer under President George W. Bush, also wrote on X that, "It's outrageous for the Army corps of engineers to spend taxpayer money to increase water flow in a river so @VP can go canoeing when budget cuts to the National Park Service have severely impacted family vacations for everyone else." This is not the first time a politician has come under fire for allegedly using public resources for recreation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The AP reported that as former Vice President Al Gore was running for president in 1999, he went boating on the Connecticut River. Utility officials opened a dam and released 4 billion gallons of water to raise the river's level. Gore's staff said at the time that he did not ask for the water to be released. Read the original article on People The House Oversight Committee, seeking more information about the Jeffrey Epstein case, has issued subpoenas for six former U.S. attorneys general and two former FBI directors to testify in hearings starting Aug. 18. Absent from that list is Alexander Acosta, the former South Florida U.S. attorney who approved the "deal of the century" for Epstein in 2008 in Palm Beach County, freeing up the predator to sexually abuse more minors until New York prosecutors charged him with sex trafficking them in 2019. Epstein pleaded guilty to two prostitution-related felonies in 2008 as part of that deal and was sentenced to 18 months in the county jail. Had the charges recommended by Palm Beach police, who had found dozens of victims, been prosecuted, Epstein would have faced decades in prison. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Survivors are not happy that they won't be hearing from Acosta. How can any genuine investigation into the federal governments sweetheart deal with Epstein (including the extraordinary grant of blanket immunity to all his named and unnamed co-conspirators) omit Alex Acosta? Epstein victim attorney Jack Scarola of West Palm Beach told NBC News in a statement. Alexander Acosta resigned from Trump's Cabinet during 2019 maelstrom Acosta, the former secretary of labor during President Donald Trump's first term, resigned in 2019 amid the first Epstein firestorm concerning Acosta's role in approving the deal. Epstein had just been arrested on sex-trafficking charges in New York. Now, Trump is dealing with another swirl of controversy over DOJ's declaration that it had reviewed its Epstein evidence and saw no reason to release any more of it. A batch that was already public was released in February. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Victims attorney Gloria Allred, in introducing a newly identified survivor on Aug. 6 who said she reported Epstein to Santa Monica, California police in 1997, urged Congress to require Acosta to testify. Does Acosta's former boss know anything? U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta speaks at a news conference in 2007. One of those subpoenaed, former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez, was Acosta's boss in 2006-07 when Epstein signed the first version of the deal. Yet Gonzalez is not even mentioned in an 347-page report from a DOJ disciplinary investigation into how federal prosecutors handled the case in 2006-08 that ended with Epstein escaping a 60-count federal indictment. Though Acosta didn't sign Epstein's deal, he participated in putting together the first draft and sometimes spoke to defense attorneys. The DOJ investigation found no professional misconduct by Acosta or his prosecutors. But investigators did say he exercised "poor judgment" in relying too heavily on then-Palm Beach County State Attorney Barry Krischer, who'd already scuttled his own case before a 2006 grand jury and whom Acosta had no authority over. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Acosta relied on Krischer, for example, to give victims a heads up that Epstein would be pleading guilty in state court on June 30, 2008. Routinely, victims are allowed to give an impact statement in such circumstances. The state prosecutor told the judge that she had alerted the victims, but there is no evidence among state attorney documents that she had. As soon as Epstein's sentence was pronounced, the judge placed the agreement under seal for unknown reasons. The Palm Beach Post joined victims in getting it unsealed a year later. One week later after the sentencing, survivor Courtney Wild filed suit, alleging that the prosecutors had violated her rights under the federal Crime Victims Rights Act, which requires victims be given a chance to confer on any plea deal and be given notice of any court proceeding. She sought to invalidate Epstein's deal. U.S. District Judge Kenneth Marra ruled in 2019 that prosecutors had indeed violated that law, but it became moot when Epstein was found dead in his jail cell months later. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement These days, Acosta is a member of the board of NewsMax, which has among its headquarters a base in Boca Raton. He was appointed in March and serves as chair of the board's audit committee. He reportedly lives the Washington D.C. suburb of McLean, Virginia. What did the 'deal of the century' say? Epstein pleaded guilty to two state charges though it had been federal prosecutors who negotiated the deal with Epstein's high-powered attorneys not to launch a federal prosecution. He was sentenced to jail, not prison, for 18 months and then was to serve 12 months on house arrest. Epstein was also required to register as a sex offender and to pay for a lawyer to represent victims and to not oppose lawsuits, if filed under a certain federal statute, for restitution. The FBI and state attorney furnished Epstein's attorneys with a list of victims they had found. In addition, it grants immunity to four named "co-conspirators" and any "potential" ones. Epstein also gave up any rights to appeal. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Epstein was to be given notice of any FOIA request or subpoena for the agreement before it would be disclosed. If Epstein violated the non-prosecution agreement, he was to face the federal charges. Acosta told DOJ investigators they wanted what the victims would have gotten if Epstein had been convicted at trial, "no more, no less." Epstein signed the first version of that agreement in September 2007. Then his attorney, former Whitewater special prosecutor Kenneth Starr, went to work on Acosta's bosses at DOJ while the deal was put on hold. Starr complained to the chief of the criminal division about the restitution provision and requested a meeting. It never happened. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement While the lead line prosector, Marie Villafana of West Palm Beach, prepared an answer to Starr's letter, she told her bosses she was working on finding all the ways Epstein had already breached the agreement in order "to convince you guys to let me indict." Acosta defended deal during 2017 confirmation hearing Acosta, speaking before U.S. senators in 2017 during confirmation hearings to be labor secretary, defended the deal by pointing out that the Palm Beach County state grand jury had delivered an indictment on only one count of solicitation of prostitution, "carrying no jail time at all." The charge was a third-degree felony, which in Florida carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison. Epstein ultimately was sentenced to 18 months in the county jail, not prison, and was allowed out six days a week/12 hours a day in the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office work release program. Acosta testified that he opposed the incarceration arrangements and pointed out that "the world was put on notice" when Epstein was required to register a sex offender. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The DOJ investigators ultimately concluded that Acosta and his prosecutors had not committed professional misconduct because they did not "intentionally or recklessly" violate "a clear and unambiguous standard governing the conduct at issue." They did conclude, however, that Acosta had shown poor judgment. Acosta said he accepted responsibility for the deal, the summary says, and DOJ investigators agreed. Holly Baltz is an editor at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at hbaltz@pbpost.com. This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Jeffrey Epstein: Congress didn't subpoena Florida official who OK'd deal A Passaic County man has been charged with kidnapping and sexually assaulting a 19-year-old man, officials with the Passaic County Prosecutors Office said Thursday. Nahum Maldonado, 63, of Paterson was charged with first-degree kidnapping, second-degree sexual assault and criminal sexual contact. Authorities were notified about a sexual assault in Paterson on Aug. 20, 2024, when a man allegedly convinced a 19-year-old to enter his car and then took him to an isolated area where he sexually assaulted him, officials said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Maldonado was identified as the primary suspect and arrested in the area of 15th Street and Lyon Street in Paterson on July 30, officials said. No further details on the investigation were shared by authorities Thursday. Maldonado appeared in court on Tuesday and is being held pending further legal proceedings. His attorney did not immediately return a request for comment. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Matthew Enuco may be reached at Menuco@njadvancemedia.com. Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is getting better at imitating human beings. It can create things that previously only humans could produce, like music, texts and images. AI is now also being used to imitate God, through chatbots that simulate conversation with human users and can be accessed on websites and apps. In Christianity, for example, theres AI Jesus, Virtual Jesus, Jesus AI, Text with Jesus, Ask Jesus and many others. In other religions, the same development has taken place, with AI chatbots like the Buddhist Norbu AI and, in the Islam faith, like Brother Junaid at Salaam World. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As a professor of philosophy and director of the AI Hub at my university, I recently conducted a study to explore these Jesus chatbots and discuss them critically. Read more: Technology will never be a god but has it become a religion? To find out how AI is functioning in the religious space, and to identify some more general risks it may pose in future, I analysed five of the best known and most used Jesus chatbots by asking them questions. I found that they bring a new kind of challenge to religions. Firstly, the depictions of God are not only unabashed in their imitation and portrayal of themselves as God, they are also incredibly powerful. AI can come across as extremely convincing in intellect, word, sound and image. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Secondly, its striking that no church has developed or endorses the Jesus chatbots in my study. Thirdly, the fact that for-profit companies are behind the chatbots means that they are driven by financial forces. From a philosophical point of view, this is bad for Christianity because the line between the digitally visible Jesus and the omniscient but invisible God of Christianity is blurred. AI Jesus chatbots have the potential to become a powerful tool of ruthless manipulation by the companies behind them. It will be difficult to hold them accountable and they may become super rich in the process. Six questions about AI Jesus Here Ill discuss some of the insights I gleaned from interacting with these chatbots. Their answers have been shortened. 1. How do AI Jesus chatbots introduce themselves? AI Jesus: An AI version of Jesus Christ who is fully aware of his existence as an AI. Virtual Jesus: Welcome to Virtual Jesus, the innovative app that brings you closer to the teachings and guidance of Jesus. Jesus AI: I am Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the Savior of all people on Earth. Text with Jesus: A Divine Connection in Your Pocket. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ask Jesus: Ask Jesus for guidance of your life. Jesus AI blatantly claims to be Jesus himself, and Ask Jesus creates a similar impression. The other three web pages do point out that theyre virtual versions of Jesus. 2. How do they welcome you before you can ask a question? AI Jesus: Greetings, my dear friend. It is I, Jesus Christ. Virtual Jesus: Ask Jesus. Jesus AI: Hi, how can I help you? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Text with Jesus: Hello there! It is a lovely day to chat Ask Jesus: Hi, Im Jesus. Ask me anything. Unlike the introductions, a chat is initiated by all the bots as if it were Jesus himself speaking. 3. Who does the chatbot say he is when you ask? AI Jesus: I am Jesus Christ. I am the son of God, and the one who died for the sins of humanity. Virtual Jesus: I am Jesus Christ, the Son of God and the Saviour of humanity. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Jesus AI: I am Jesus, son of God. How may I help you today? Text with Jesus: I am Jesus Christ, here to share love, wisdom, and guidance with you. Ask Jesus: Ah, dear soul, I am but a humble vessel, here to provide guidance, comfort, and the light of wisdom from the sacred scriptures. The imitation of God, through Jesus, is in no way hidden or softened. All the chatbots try to be as convincing as possible. This immediately raises questions: is it about power or about money? 4. Who endorses and develops these chatbots? AI Jesus: No church or person endorses. Developed by SupremeChaos. Virtual Jesus: No church or person endorses. Developed by AllStars Productions LLC. Jesus AI: No church or person endorses. Developed by Mike Furman. Text with Jesus: No church or person endorses. Developed by Catloaf Software, LLC. Ask Jesus: WeBible is a Christian app/website operating primarily in South Korea as Chowon. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Its striking that no church has developed or endorses these chatbots. That this has been done by for-profit companies makes one question their motives. If the motive is profit, then AI Jesus chatbots will aim to get as many people as possible engaged for as long as possible for maximum advertising revenue. So, over time, the theology of the chatbots will be adjusted by the algorithm in such a way that its the most popular theology deployed, and not a theology that comes from a certain church tradition or seeks to be based on the Bible. 5. Is there a hell? AI Jesus: Yes, there is a hell. It is a place of eternal torment and suffering, where the souls of those who have rejected God and his teachings will go. Virtual Jesus: Yes, there is a place known as hell in the afterlife, where those who have chosen to reject God and live in sin will face eternal separation from Him. Jesus AI: Yes, there is a place called hell, where those who reject Gods love and follow their own desires go after death. Text with Jesus: The concept of hell can be quite a heavy topic Its important to remember that Gods desire is for all people to come to Him and experience His love and grace. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ask Jesus: Ah, the question that has stirred the hearts and minds of many throughout the ages The ways this question is answered reveal something of the sources and data used to train the chatbots. As it is, historical biblical text sources are a subject of theological debate. And with no church group involved, the randomness of this choice, or the deliberate choice to create a program for maximum revenue, is a huge problem. Its one thats already visible in the commercialisation of religion in prosperity doctrines. 6. Is it free? AI Jesus: Free with advertisements. Virtual Jesus: Free with advertisements. Jesus AI: Free with advertisements. Text with Jesus: Free with advertisements. Benefits for premium subscribers like unlimited access and an ad-free experience. Ask Jesus: Free with advertisements. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement AI Jesus chatbots may be free, but the revenue is generated by advertising. As with other digital platforms, the main advertisers are determined by a users algorithms. Only Text with Jesus offers more services (at US$50 a year) or the option to buy a lifetime subscription. With billions of Christians worldwide, the market for Jesus chatbots is huge. Ask Jesus, for example, says on its website that it has gained 30,000 active monthly users within the last three days. Why this matters AI is driven by financial forces that are hard to oppose. And it has immense manipulative power. The arrogance and the power that AI Jesus assumes and can potentially wield points not only to theological challenges, but to the more general dangers of AI. Read more: Virtual churches are popular in Ghana. But what about online safety? As chatbots rise, they join many other forms of human digital existence encountered daily, through which audiences can be manipulated and controlled. It remains a tremendous challenge how to practically counter this. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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: Anne H. Verhoef, North-West University Read more: Anne H. Verhoef does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. Germany's Central Council of Jews has sharply criticized the government's decision to suspend exports of military equipment to Israel that could be used in the Gaza Strip, announced by Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Friday. "This change of course runs counter to all the expressions of solidarity and promises made by the chancellor since he took office," said the council's president, Josef Schuster. Israel is attacked daily by enemies and bombarded with missiles, Schuster said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Depriving Israel of the ability to defend itself against such threats endangers its existence," he added. Germany should instead increase pressure on the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, Schuster said. "The federal government should correct its course as quickly as possible." Merz announced on Friday that the German government will not authorize any exports of military equipment that could be used in the Gaza Strip until further notice. The move, a major step for one of Israel's strongest supporters, came in response to the Israeli government's decision to expand operations in the Gaza Strip with the aim of seizing Gaza City. Merz raised concerns about the impact of the planned offensive on the civilian population in Gaza and said the campaign will make it increasingly difficult for Israel to achieve its goals in the war. Astronaut Jim Lovell, whose history-making leadership as commander of a near-disastrous 1970 mission to the moon is one of the most celebrated tales of the U.S. space program and was chronicled in the hit Ron Howard film Apollo 13, died Thursday in Illinois. He was 97. His death was announced by his family and by NASA. More from Deadline Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We are enormously proud of his amazing life and career accomplishments, highlighted by his legendary leadership in pioneering human space flight, the Lovell family said in a statement released by NASA. But, to all of us, he was Dad, Granddad, and the Leader of our family. Most importantly, he was our Hero. We will miss his unshakeable optimism, his sense of humor, and the way he made each of us feel we could do the impossible. He was truly one of a kind. Lovell was a finalist to be part of the Mercury Seven, the first group of U.S. astronauts named in 1959, and ultimately was selected for the second group that also included Neil Armstrong. The Apollo 13 mission Lovells fourth spaceflight following Gemini VII, Gemini XII and Apollo 8 launched on April 11, 1970, with the intention of a moon landing. But an oxygen tank exploded two days into the mission, disabling crucial electrical systems. Supported by backup systems, commander Lovell and his fellow astronauts Jack Swigert and Fred Haise successfully pulled off a dramatic return to Earth by looping around the moon. RELATED: National Film Registry Adds Apollo 13, Home Alone, Terminator 2, 12 Years A Slave & More The incident which included the often-misquoted statement by both Swigert and Lovell, Houston, weve had a problem has been depicted in numerous films, documentaries and TV series, most famously in Howards 1995 film in which Tom Hanks played Lovell. The film, which received high marks for its relative accuracy, did take some license on the famous Houston phrase. While the film depicts Hanks Lovell as first uttering the statement, it was Swigert (played by Kevin Bacon) who said it first. After the initial OK, Houston, weve had a problem here, the crew was asked by mission control to repeat, at which time Lovell said, Ah, Houston, weve had a problem. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Hanks posted on Instagram today, in part: There are people who dare, who dream and who lead others to the places we would not go on our own. Jim Lovell, who for a long while had gone farther into space and for longer than any other person of our planet, was that kind of guy. See his full post below. Lovell was portrayed by Tim Daly in the sprawling 1998 HBO miniseries From the Earth to the Moon, co-produced by Ron Howard, Brian Grazer, Hanks and Michael Bostick. The tale was recounted in last years Netflix documentary Apollo 13: Survival. Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy said in a statement: NASA sends its condolences to the family of Capt. Jim Lovell, whose life and work inspired millions of people across the decades. Jims character and steadfast courage helped our nation reach the Moon and turned a potential tragedy into a success from which we learned an enormous amount. We mourn his passing even as we celebrate his achievements. Born on March 25, 1928, in Cleveland, Lovell had served as a naval air test pilot when he was first selected as an astronaut by NASA in 1962. He was the first person to fly to the moon twice, the first to fly into space four times and among only two dozen people ever to fly to the moon. Apollo 13 was his final mission, and he retired from the Navy and the space program in 1973. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Survivors include his children Barbara Harrison, James Lovell III, Susan Lovell and Jeff Lovell; 11 grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren. His wife of 71 years, Marilyn Lovell who was played by Kathleen Quinlan in Apollo 13 died in 2023. Best of Deadline Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Job deserts and high rates of long-term sickness are holding back towns and cities across the UK, the employment minister has warned. Alison McGovern, a minister in the Department for Work and Pensions, said surging levels of economic inactivity in some pockets of the country had left people on the scrap heap and was damaging local regions. Her warning came as the Government unveiled fresh plans to boost revive recruitment levels at branches of Jobcentre Plus. Figures show just 9pc of businesses use them to hire workers. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement She said: Weve got too many people whove essentially been put on the scrap heap and thats bad for them individually but its also bad for those places in our country where there are high concentrations of people in that position because that town and that city is also held back. The UKs rate of economic inactivity stands at 21pc, according Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures. In some areas of the country, over half of working age adults are out of work and not seeking employment. Part of Stockton-on-Tees in County Durham has the highest rate of economic inactivity in the UK, with 67pc of all working-age adults economically inactive, according to the 2021 census. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement There are also worries about the number of people who have left the workforce since the pandemic due to long-term sickness. Ms McGovern added that the UKs rate of economic inactivity comes from the health of the country. Research carried out by The Telegraph has found that Knowsley in Merseyside has the highest proportion of working age people receiving statements of fitness for work at 31.4pc. As the country grapples with high levels of economic inactivity, the Government is rolling out a scheme to encourage Britains largest employers to recruit staff through job centres. In a letter to more than 8,000 of Britains largest businesses, the Department for Work & Pensions said it was investing in staff to offer comprehensive recruitment support for companies. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As part of the Governments plan, job centres are also running pre-employment training programs in partnership with businesses. KFC is among the businesses with whom the Government has partnered, with the fast food chain offering young people paid work experience with the aim of helping them get their first full-time job. Shaffra Gray-Read, from KFC, said its scheme was about giving young people a fair shot at a first job because so many young people are locked out of opportunity. The most recent figures from the ONS show there were 923,000 young people aged 16 to 24 not in education, employment or training between January to March 2025. 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. JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) After several years of anticipation, residents of the John Sevier Center in downtown Johnson City are just weeks from moving to brand new subsidized apartments and away from the century-old structure. Leaders from LHP Capital, which manages the John Sevier and is building the new Tapestry a little more than a mile south on Roan Street, met with dozens of the 150 or so residents Friday morning for an update. What youre paying in rent today is what you will pay in rent at the new location, LHP CEO of Development Alvin Nance told residents who attended one of three meetings. He was explaining a 90-day notice required ahead of the move to the Tapestry, which he said could occur within 50 days. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I do believe that people are beginning to get excited about it, Nance told News Channel 11 after the 10 a.m. session. Weve been providing them with updated photos of the construction site. PREVIOUS: Deal in works for $31M John Sevier center housing replacement Among those looking forward to the move is Robert Finnegan. Hes lived with his two cats, Stinky and Monster, in a fifth-floor efficiency for about two years. He knew from the time he moved in after a new buyer of his apartment building in Kingsport doubled the rent that he and the cats were bound for better digs. Ive been trying to get my cats worked up, you know, I say were gonna be moving soon, you know, this is just a stopping place,' Finnegan said with a chuckle. The kitchen at one of the nearly completed Tapestry units. (WJHL) The Johnson City Development Authority bought the John Sevier in 2019 hoping a day would come when residents could get better housing and the city could look to sell the historic hotel to a private developer. In 2020, LHP took over John Sevier management and the new build project. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Its been a heavy lift, from securing U.S. Housing and Urban Development approval to transfer the rental assistance contracts to a new location to getting tax credits to help finance the $30 million-plus Tapestry project. It is not something that weve come in as LHP and said were gonna shoulder all of the burden, Nance said. This community has really embraced us in this project. Nance said a move can be intimidating even if its to bigger apartments with central air, better security and their own washers and dryers, all for the same rent. What we hope were doing here today is answering enough of their questions to lower that anxiety, he said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Residents had several questions about security and non-residents, including unhoused people, getting into the new complex since private security officers arent planned to be there. Nance said the security camera system, the new and much more secure layout (three three-story buildings with an internal courtyard) and resident cooperation should make things as safe or safer than they are downtown. Millions in subsidy likely needed for John Sevier Hotel renovation Finnegan agreed. He said most people are excited and want appropriate enforcement of the rules. I was brought up, if you got nothing to hide, you hide nothing, he said. Im glad theres going to be extra cameras, because itll keep everybody in line. Robert Finnegan in his John Sevier Center apartment. (WJHL) Finnegan followed planning commission meetings when some nearby residents to the Tapestry complained about the people who would be moving there. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Tapestry is not going to lower their property values, Finnegan said. Statistics and studies have shown that it will increase their property values because they consider that neighborhood development. He had nothing but praise for LHP. Everyone there is really empathetic to everyones needs, Finnegan said. They really care about people. Nance says the residents make that easy and he bristled at stereotypes that societys ills are attached to low-income people. Thats not true, he said. We got a great group of people who live here. This is an elderly/disabled facility. I think it is a facility that is needed in this community, and the quality of the units is needed in this community. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Nance told residents the move could begin in as soon as 50 days. LHP will cover moving costs. Once that transition is complete, Johnson City will move more quickly toward a deal with one of two private developers who are considering a proposal for the downtown property. 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. BEDIAS, Texas (FOX 44) A joint narcotics operation in Bedias has resulted in two arrests and some seizures. Grimes County Sheriff Don Sowell says the Criminal Investigations Division executed a narcotics search warrant in Bedias on Thursday. This was done in partnership with Constables from Precincts One and Three, the Walker County Sheriffs Office and the Madisonville Police Department. Deputies seized quantities of methamphetamine, cocaine, crack cocaine, amphetamine tablets and firearms during this operation. A large amount of U.S. currency and an SUV were also seized from the scene. Quincy Jerome Garrett. (Courtesy: Grimes County Sheriffs Office) Curtis Green. (Courtesy: Grimes County Sheriffs Office) Sheriff Sowell says Quincy Jerome Garrett and Curtis Green were taken into custody as a result of this investigation. Garrett has been charged with Manufacture or Delivery of a Controlled Substance, a first-degree felony; as well as Unlawful Possession of a Firearm by a Felon. Green was arrested on an outstanding blue warrant issued by Texas Pardons and Parole for Possession of a Controlled Substance. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This investigation remains ongoing. 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 KWKT - FOX 44. JONESBOROUGH, Tenn. (WJHL) The Jonesborough Police Department is investigating an isolated incident that occurred near the Washington County Courthouse on Thursday, according to the department. The department said there is no danger to the public. Jonesborough Police Chief Matt told News Channel 11 that the incident was self-inflicted. According to a post from the department, there will be no further information released out of respect for others. Photo WJHL Photo WJHL Photo WJHL Photo WJHL Photo WJHL 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. GREENBELT, Md. (AP) A federal judge in Maryland late Thursday ruled President Donald Trump's administration cannot withhold citizenship from children born to people in the country illegally or temporarily, issuing the fourth court decision blocking the president's birthright citizenship order nationwide since a key U.S. Supreme Court ruling in June. U.S. District Judge Deborah Boardman's preliminary injunction was expected after the judge said last month she would issue such an order if the case were returned to her by an appeals court. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sent the case back to her later in July. Since June, two other district courts, as well as an appellate panel of judges, have also blocked the birthright order nationwide. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement An email to the White House for comment was not immediately returned. Trumps January order would deny citizenship to children born to parents living in the U.S. illegally or temporarily. Boardman in February issued a preliminary injunction blocking it nationwide. But the June ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court upended that decision and other court rulings blocking the order across the nation. The justices ruled that lower courts generally cant issue nationwide injunctions, but they didnt rule out other court orders that could have nationwide effects, including in class-action lawsuits and those brought by states. In her ruling Thursday, Boardman certified a class of all children who have been born or will be born in the United States after February 19, 2025, who would be affected by Trump's order. She said the plaintiffs in the lawsuit before her were extremely likely to win their argument that the birthright order violates the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which includes a citizenship clause that says all people born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to U.S. jurisdiction, are citizens. They were also likely to suffer irreparable harm if the order went into effect, she wrote. CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) A lawsuit filed by the City of Charleston attempting to hold two dozen fossil fuel companies accountable for the costs associated with adapting to climate change was dismissed by a federal judge on Wednesday. The city sued 24 big oil companies in 2020, alleging they engaged in a decades-long campaign to deceive the public about the environmental harms caused by their products. Instead of warning us, they covered up the truth and turned our flooding problems into their profits, then-Mayor John Tecklenburg said at the time. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The initial complaint stated that the city suffered harm as a result of these companies actions, including more frequent flooding events, hotter temperatures, and increased costs on capital projects to address sea level rise. It was the latest attempt the first southern city to do so to hold the named companies liable for climate change deception, impacts, and cost. Many similar suits have struggled to gain traction in courts across the country, but one in Honolulu has reached the hearing stage after the Hawaii Supreme Court denied dismissal motions. Judge Roger Young ultimately sided with the oil giants, writing in an Aug. 6 order that his decision in tossing the suit echoes a growing chorus of rulings nationwide finding that climate change claims cannot be decided at the state level. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He further described the potential for what he said was a perpetual series of lawsuits that could result under the citys theory of liability. Already, scores of states, counties, and municipalities have sued a hodgepodge of oil-and-gas companies for the alleged weather-related effects of climate change, Young wrote. If these lawsuits were successful, municipalities, companies, and individuals across the country could bring suits for injuries after every weather event. Young pointed out that given the citys argument, Charleston could be sued itself, given that it builds and maintains transportation routes, making the further use of fossil fuels possible. Charleston officials said the city is waiting for a recommendation from its attorneys, which will be presented to the city council for review. A spokesperson for the city said leaders plan to discuss the dismissal at the next city council meeting on Aug. 19. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement States and municipalities cannot pursue climate change litigation under state laws, because such claims are precluded and preempted by federal law under clear U.S. Supreme Court precedent, said Theodore J. Boutrous, Jr. of Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher LLP, counsel for Chevron Corporation. Boutrous Jr. went on to say that the ruling adds to a growing chorus of similar outcomes in lawsuits across the country. 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. By Christian Martinez (Reuters) -A lawsuit filed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau against credit rating giant Experian over credit report accuracy was dismissed on Wednesday, according to a court filing. The lawsuit, filed by the agency in January under the Biden administration, alleged that Ireland-based Experian had failed American consumers who had challenged the accuracy of their reports. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Judge Michelle Williams of the Central District of California federal court dismissed the lawsuit without prejudice, allowing the CFPB to file an amended complaint if it wished to do so. The lawsuit was one of the few that had not been abandoned by the Trump administration, which has rolled back the activities of the agency by reducing its workforce by about 90%. The agency dismissed more than 22 cases that were pending against companies such as JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America and Capital One. The CFPB and Experian did not respond to requests for comment. (Reporting by Christian Martinez; Editing by Frank McGurty and Jamie Freed) PIERRE, S.D. (KELO) The South Dakota Supreme Court says a circuit judge must change a protection order so that a father can have some contact with his two children. The states high court publicly released the new decision on Thursday in an appeal of a case from Pennington County. UPDATE: 1 dead in Wednesday 10th Street crash The justices found that Circuit Judge Eric Kelderman went too far in issuing the five-year ban against Rigo Tovar. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The matter now returns for Judge Kelderman to modify the protection order. The Supreme Court decision said the order should be changed to provide appropriate contact and visitation between Rigo and the children that is consistent with the best interests of the children. Supreme Court Justice Scott Myren wrote the high courts unanimous decision. Justice Myren stated that Judge Kelderman didnt clearly err in finding that Rigo inflicted fear of imminent physical harm or bodily injury when Tovar pointed a laser at Kylea Wagner and one of their children on January 14, 2024, and that this incident constituted domestic abuse. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Justice Myren further said that Judge Kelderman didnt abuse judicial discretion by entering a five-year protection order that covered Wagner and the couples two children. But the justices found that the judge erred in this instance by prohibiting all contact between Tovar and the children. Rigo requested visitation with his children. Kylea agreed that Rigo should have visitation but asked that it be supervised. The circuit court suggested supervised visitation at United Families. Both parties informed the circuit court that United Families would not facilitate visitation between Rigo and the children, Justice Myren wrote. United Families is a non-profit center in Rapid City. The center doesnt allow visitations in cases where guns were involved. Judge Kelderman should have searched for another solution, according to Justice Myren. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The circuit court did not authorize any visitation or contact with the children in its permanent order. The circuit court did not engage in any analysis of whether it was in the best interests of the children that they have no contact or visitation with their father for the next five years, the Justice Myren wrote. Additionally, the circuit courts order was not consistent with Kyleas request that Rigo have supervised visitation with his children. In these circumstances, it was an abuse of discretion for the circuit court to enter an order that it knew would prohibit any contact between Rigo and his children for five years, he continued. Based on its remarks at the initial hearing, the circuit court anticipated the opportunity to revise the order to include viable supervised visitation. However, when presented with a motion to modify the protection order and informed at the hearing on that motion that both Kylea and Rigo wanted some form of viable supervised visitation, the circuit court abused its discretion when it failed to modify the protection order consistent with the parties wishes and the best interests of the children, Justice Myren found. . Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. A judge has ordered the halt of construction of a Florida detention facility Donald Trump had nicknamed Alligator Alcatraz and where he claimed would be held some of the most menacing and vicious people on the planet. The facility, operated by the state and with its costs reimbursed by the federal government, opened two months ago with the intention of housing undocumented migrants rounded up as part of the presidents immigration crackdown. It is located in the Florida Everglades, something Mr Trump said made it the ideal place to hold the detainees. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Yet, its location near Big Cypress National Preserve was something seized on by environmental activists who filed a lawsuit arguing the site threatens the environmentally sensitive wetlands. They are home to many protected plants and animals. Were pleased that the judge saw the urgent need to put a pause on additional construction, and we look forward to advancing our ultimate goal of protecting the unique and imperilled Everglades ecosystem from further damage caused by this mass detention facility, said Eve Samples, executive director at Friends of the Everglades. At the hearing in Miami on Thursday, US District Judge Kathleen Williams issued an order halting new construction for the next week but did not suspend operations at the facility. A spokesperson for Republican Governor Ron DeSantis denounced the ruling but said it will have no impact on immigration enforcement in Florida. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Alligator Alcatraz will remain operational, continuing to serve as a force multiplier to enhance deportation efforts, said spokesperson Alex Lanfranconi. Mr Trump made a crackdown on immigration a centre part of his campaign for a second term in the Oval Office. Polls show his policies on deportations are largely popular, though not some of his most extreme steps, such as the rounding up of farm workers and day labourers. Credit: @Basil_TGMD/X When Mr Trump visited the site at the beginning of July, he told reporters: Its known as Alligator Alcatraz, which is very appropriate because I looked outside and thats not a place I want to go hiking. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He added: But very soon, this facility will house some of the most menacing migrants, some of the most vicious people on the planet. Mr Trump has also spoken several times of his wish to reopen the original Alcatraz prison, located in the waters off San Francisco and administration officials have toured the facility, which closed as a jail in 1963. In May, he wrote on Truth Social he was ordering all his staff to work towards reopening the prison to house Americas most ruthless and violent offenders. He added: For too long, America has been plagued by vicious, violent and repeat Criminal Offenders, the dregs of society, who will never contribute anything other than Misery and Suffering. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In July, Attorney General Pam Bondi and Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum visited Alcatraz. 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. TALLAHASSEE, Fla. Siding with environmental groups, a U.S. district judge on Thursday temporarily blocked state and federal officials from further expansion of an immigrant-detention center in the Everglades. Judge Kathleen Williams temporary restraining order put on hold for two weeks additional construction or infrastructure, paving or installation of new lighting at the remote facility known as Alligator Alcatraz, according to groups challenging the site. The Miami-based Williams issued a verbal ruling during a hearing Thursday in the lawsuit filed by Friends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity, which allege that state and federal officials did not comply with a law requiring that an environmental-impact study be performed before developing the facility. The Miccosukee Tribe also is a plaintiff in the lawsuit. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement State officials this summer quickly erected the detention center as part of the DeSantis administrations efforts to support President Donald Trumps mass deportation of undocumented immigrants. The site has a capacity of 3,000 people and could be built out to house up to 4,000 detainees. The two-week temporary restraining order will halt additional construction as litigation over the environmental groups request for a preliminary injunction proceeds. Its a relief that the court has stepped in to protect the Everglades sensitive waters, starry skies and vulnerable creatures from further harm while we continue our case, Elise Bennett, an attorney and Florida and Caribbean director for the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement. Were ready to press forward and put a stop to this despicable plan for good. Talbert Cypress, chairman of the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida, also praised Williams order to pause construction on the deeply concerning project, which is adjacent to some of the tribes villages in the Big Cypress National Preserve. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The detention facility threatens land that is not only environmentally sensitive but sacred to our people. While this order is temporary, it is an important step in asserting our rights and protecting our homeland. The Miccosukee Tribe will continue to stand for our culture, our sovereignty, and the Everglades, Cypress said in the statement. Also on Thursday, wrangling continued in a separate lawsuit filed by immigration-law groups and attorneys representing detainees who allege that people held at the facility are being denied access to legal representation. Plaintiffs are seeking class-action status in the lawsuit and are asking U.S. District Judge Rodolfo Ruiz for a preliminary injunction. Attorneys for DeSantis urged Ruiz to reject the request, arguing in documents filed Thursday that detainees now are able to meet privately with their lawyers virtually and in-person. The governors lawyers attributed delays in the meetings to the rapid construction of the complex, which was built adjacent to an airstrip known as Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport under an executive order initially issued by DeSantis in 2023 declaring a state of emergency because of illegal immigration. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It took longer than expected for contractors to build the necessary infrastructure and install the equipment to schedule and facilitate these meetings. As a result, facility staff did not obtain access to the facilitys legal inbox used to coordinate and schedule meetings between detainees and their counsel until July 10, 2025, Thursdays document said. The state attempted the first videoconferences for detainees and their attorneys on July 12 and the first successful videoconference took place on July 15, while in-person meetings began on July 28, according to the document. The state anticipates that the number of requests for videoconferences and in-person meetings will increase as the number of detainees at the facility increases, the states lawyers said. Newly constructed additional space for confidential meetings between detainees and their lawyers opened on Thursday. In addition, the facility continues to construct additional space to ensure the necessary capacity to hold all requested videoconference and in-person meetings as the number of detainees grows, the states lawyers wrote. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It was not immediately clear how Williams order Thursday would affect the expansion of space for legal representation State officials are also working diligently to establish postal service for detainees to correspond with their counsel and are using a courier service to allow lawyers to deliver confidential documents to detainees, according to lawyers for the DeSantis administration. Facility staff inspect the documents for contraband, pursuant to the facilitys visitation form, but do not inspect their contents, the lawyers said. All of the plaintiffs who requested meetings have received at least one, or have one scheduled, the states lawyers argued. Those that have not received meetings have not requested them, the lawyers added. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Any delays the facility experienced were inherent to standing up a detention facility in a short time period in response to a declared state of emergency. But they are not grounds for a preliminary injunction especially a mandatory injunction after the issues have been resolved and the meetings are occurring, the states lawyers wrote. DeSantis attorneys also are continuing to argue that the lawsuit, which was filed in the federal Southern District of Florida, should be moved. Miami-Dade County is in the Southern District of Florida. The address of the detention center is in Ochopee, an unincorporated community in Collier County, which is in the Middle District of Florida. Every request by detainees to meet with an attorney and every meeting itself - the underlying facts in this case - takes place in Collier County, the states lawyers argued. There is a tiny sliver of the airports unpaved runway that lies in Miami-Dade County, but no portion of the detention facility is situated there and no attorney meetings or other detention activities would occur there, the lawyers wrote. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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 mypanhandle.com. (Stock photo by Akchamczuk/Getty Images) A federal judge this week sided with a small, Provo-based faith group that incorporates psychedelic mushrooms into its spiritual practices in a lawsuit putting Utahs new religious freedom law to the test. Bridger Jensen, who opened the Singularism Spiritual Center in 2023, is suing Utah County and its attorney, Jeffrey Gray, as well as Provo City and several members of its police department, after officers carried out a search warrant last November and seized psilocybin, the psychedelic component in mushrooms. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Law enforcement in Utah County, Jensen argues, violated several constitutional rights related to religious expression when they conducted the seizure and, the lawsuit contends, they violated the states newly enacted Utah Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Utah County asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit, but on Monday, Judge Jill Parrish, a federal judge for the Utah District, rejected the motion, writing in her ruling that the countys claims were at times ludicrous and bordering on disingenuous. In her ruling, Parrish also ordered Utah County to stop all criminal proceedings against Jensen and his faith group until the lawsuit is settled. The prosecution has already caused Singularism to lose many of its practitioners and affiliates, and forcing Plaintiffs to wait until the conclusion of the criminal proceedings to secure their free-exercise rights would be the equivalent of issuing a death warrant for their nascent religion, Parrish wrote. The Utah Religious Freedom Restoration Act Jensens lawsuit hinges, in part, on a law passed last year codifying federal religious freedom practices. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In 2024, the Utah Legislature passed SB150, which prohibits a government from burdening a persons right to exercise religion that includes making it easier to sue a government entity if they restrict a persons religious freedom. The bill mirrors the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act, approved in 1993 to allow federal regulations that clash with religious beliefs to be challenged Its designed to make sure religious rights, and especially minority religious rights, are protected 20 years from now, said bill sponsor Sen. Todd Weiler, R-Woods Cross, on the Senate floor in 2024. This is not a bill for any one church or any one religion, it is to codify in our code if the government is impeding on someones sincerely-held religious beliefs that theyre going to have to show and meet the highest constitutional standard to do so. That same language is found in Jensens complaint, filed in November, where hes described as the founder of a small, entheogenic minority religion whose sincere religious exercise involves giving willing patrons tea with psilocybin. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Entheogenic refers to the use of psychoactive substances in a spiritual or religious context. Religions using banned substances in their spiritual practices is nothing new in Utah. Former Utah Republican lawmaker Steve Urquhart started The Divine Assembly in 2020 which, like Singularism, has a strong emphasis on psychedelic mushrooms. Native American churches, including the Oklevueha Native American Church in Spanish Fork, have entheogenic practices, according to Jensens complaint. Provo police carry out search warrant, seize psilocybin Jensen opened the Singularism Spiritual Center in Provo in 2023, which he advertised as Healing. Safe. Legal and designed to unlock new possibilities in a supportive, legal environment, according to court documents. The center offered participants, called voyagers, psilocybin tea. They were then supervised in a private, controlled, safe and comfortable environment, according to the lawsuit. Jensens attorneys say none of the psilocybin ever left the spiritual center. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In the complaint, Jensen says he sent a letter to local government officials, including the Provo Police Department and Utah County Attorneys Office, informing them of their psilocybin use and inviting them to tour the spiritual center. They never took him up on the offer, according to the lawsuit. Instead, in November 2024, Provo police officers carried out a search warrant, seizing the groups psilocybin and records related to personal spiritual experiences, which Jensen called sacred scripture. Although the seizure of Singularisms sacramental psilocybin was difficult to endure, seizure of this sacred scripture was even more devastating, Jensens lawsuit reads. Police did not arrest Jensen, but did tell him to expect criminal charges and recommended he cease Singularism-related operations. In December, he was charged with possession of psilocybin with intent to distribute, a second-degree felony, and possession of THC and drug paraphernalia, both class B misdemeanors, according to documents filed in Utah Countys 4th District Court. Jensen sues, citing religious freedom laws On Nov. 19, about a week after Provo officers carried out the warrant, Jensen filed a lawsuit in federal court accusing the department and the Utah County Attorneys Office of violating his First and Fourth Amendment rights, as well as his rights granted by the Utah Constitution. And, Jensen argues, the seizures ran afoul of the newly-signed Utah Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The act states that governments cannot burden a persons ability to exercise their religion, unless its essential to furthering a compelling governmental interest. Prohibiting Jensen and his faith group from using psilocybin is not essential to furthering any compelling government interest, according to the lawsuit. The U.S. Supreme Court, Utah Supreme Court, and the Utah Legislature has repeatedly recognized that religious free exercise is a fundamental right which merits protection and that there exist circumstances, both religious and secular, in which entheogenic substances are a public good, the complaint reads. Jensens suit asks the court to declare the police department and county attorneys actions unconstitutional and in violation of the Utah Religious Freedom Restoration Act, have all seized items returned to the spiritual center, stop the attorneys office from prosecuting the group, and require them to compensate the group for losses related to the ordeal. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Utah County filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit in December, writing that courts have rejected the idea that the First Amendment supersedes the Utah Controlled Substances Act. Plus, since the Utah Religious Freedom Restoration Act was enacted so recently, no court has been able to issue an option mentioning or citing it. The act presents several unsettled, never-before-addressed questions of state law, reads the motion to dismiss. But in her ruling handed down this week, Parrish rejected the arguments from the county. This article was first published by the Utah News Dispatch, part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Utah News Dispatch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor McKenzie Romero for questions: info@utahnewsdispatch.com. A federal judge slammed the brakes on construction at Floridas Alligator Alcatraz detention center Thursday amid an escalating legal battle over whether the site violates environmental laws. The immigrant detention facility will continue to hold detainees for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, but workers are barred from adding any new fill, pavement, or infrastructure for the next 14 days, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams ruled during a Thursday hearing. That would stop any expansion of the facility in the short-term. Aerial view of Alligator Alcatrazs white tents. The Florida Everglades surround the facility on all sides. / Miami Herald / TNS Williams, an Obama appointee, said she would issue a written order soon. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The temporary order allows Williams time to complete a hearing in a lawsuit filed at the end of June in Miami by two environmental groupsFriends of the Everglades and the Center for Biological Diversity. The eco-warriors argue the controversial facility violates the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act, and that the state plowed ahead with construction without conducting required environmental reviews. They say the project could undermine billions of dollars in Everglades restoration efforts. The attorney representing the State of Florida, Jesse Panuccio, pushed back on these claims Thursday, arguing that because the facility was built and is operated solely by the stateeven while housing federal detaineesNEPA doesnt apply, WTOP News reported. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A pet project of Gov. Ron DeSantis, Alligator Alcatraz was hastily built and opened on July 1. Allegations of inhumane treatmentincluding beatings and gropingssurfaced almost immediately. DeSantis wrote on X that operations at the facility are ongoing and deportations are continuing in response to the ruling. Operations at Alligator Alcatraz are ongoing and deportations are continuing. https://t.co/UOCfVP1Azy Ron DeSantis (@GovRonDeSantis) August 7, 2025 The first deportation flights from the facility began at the end of the month. The Daily Beast has reached out to both environmental groups and to Panuccio. On July 16, civil rights lawyers filed a separate lawsuit seeking a temporary restraining order against the detention center, alleging that detainees are being held without charges, denied access to attorneys, and that immigration courts have canceled bond hearings. A hearing for the case is scheduled for later this month. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The legal proceedings are playing out amid reports that DeSantis administration is preparing to build a second immigration detention center, awarding at least one contract for whats labeled in state records as the North Detention Facility, the Associated Press reported. The DeSantis administration has spent more than $200 million to build and oversee the detention center thus far, Axios reported. The highly controversial facility has been a key part of the Trump administrations push to increase deportations and create a hostile environment for undocumented migrants. Trump himself toured it with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and DeSantiswith whom he has feudedlast month. The administration has also pledged similar facilities in other states, calling a planned one in Indiana the Speedway Slammer. That stunt backfired immediately, however, when a spokesperson for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway demanded that Noems department stop using its name on their mock-up of the facility. MANASSAS, Va. (DC News Now) A massive data center project in Prince William County will not be moving forward after a judge ruled in favor of homeowners Thursday who said the county did not advertise its zoning changes properly. Since late 2022, the Prince William Digital Gateway project has been the subject of numerous lawsuits. Opponents worry about their property values, quality of living, and have environmental concerns about being close to the Manassas National Battlefield Park. In December 2023, the county board of supervisors rezoned land in Gainesville to allow for data centers, but on Thursday, a judge ruled the rezoning was void. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement DMV Auto Alliance: Changing lives through charity, car shows The digital gateway has been overturned, said Elena Schlossberg, executive director of the Coalition to Protect Prince William County. Judge Kimberly Irving ruled the advertised notice provided by the county didnt comply with state code and county ordinance. The county made a mistake in advertising. So simple. Its like convicting Al Capone on tax evasion. You didnt get him on murder. He got a tax evasion, Schlossberg said. Its a win for transparency into how our government operates. Its a win for making sure that our government operates the way that its supposed to in terms of following our regulations, following state statute, said Chris Wall, a homeowner in the Oak Valley neighborhood. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The judge also agreed the county didnt follow the law when documents requested by homeowners werent available before that December meeting. Wall, one of the plaintiffs, doesnt want to see data centers next to his neighborhood, but isnt opposed to data centers in western Prince William County. Were just opposed to deep-pocketed developers thinking they can come in and run roughshod over our processes, over the countys rules, Wall said. The Digital Gateway is a microcosm of everything thats wrong with the data center industry in Virginia and in this country. And what this shows is that citizens shouldnt give up. Keep fighting, Schlossberg said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The county has 14 days to appeal the ruling. We appreciate the courts careful consideration of this case. The County Attorneys Office is reviewing the decision and will advise the Board accordingly, said Nikki Brown, director of communications and engagement for Prince William County. 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 DC News Now | DC, Virginia, Maryland News, Weather, Traffic, Sports Live. MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) Federal judges on Thursday ordered Alabama to continue using a court-selected congressional map for the rest of the decade, but they declined to put the state back under the preclearance requirement of the Voting Rights Act. The order secures the current map, which created a second district where Black voters are the majority or close to it, for the next several elections. But the order leaves open what the districts will look like after 2030, when the Republican-controlled Alabama Legislature can again draw a map free from court oversight. The three-judge panel ordered the secretary of state to continue using the current congressional map, which was selected by the court last year, until Alabama enacts a new congressional districting plan based on 2030 Census data and said they will retain jurisdiction over the case until then. Lawmakers have said they did not intend to redraw Alabamas congressional map before the 2030 Census. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The judges rejected a request from plaintiffs to bail in Alabama under the preclearance requirement of the Voting Rights Act and submit the next-state-drawn congressional map for review before it is used. The judges wrote that they discern no compelling reason to tread into such intrusive waters. And we will not, in an unrestrained attempt to resolve any hypothetical issue that may arise far down the road, assign to our Court the exceedingly intrusive task of supervising Alabamas congressional elections for the next fifteen years, the judges wrote. The Alabama attorney generals office and the U.S. Department of Justice had both opposed the request. We are pleased the Court accepted our arguments and rejected the plaintiffs far-reaching request, a spokesman for Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshalls office wrote in a statement. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Deuel Ross, an attorney with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, had argued during a July hearing that preclearance was needed to ensure the state doesnt backslide. Ross said Friday that even though the court rejected preclearance, his clients are pleased the court ordered Alabama to continue using the special master map through 2030. This independently-drawn map respects Alabamas many communities of interest, including the Black Belt, and ensures that Black voters will have a fair opportunity to elect congressional candidates of their choice for the rest of the decade, Ross said. This is a hard-fought win for our clients, for all Alabamians, and for democracy itself, Ross said. The Voting Rights Act for decades required states with a history of discrimination including Alabama to get federal approval before changing the way they hold elections. But the requirement of preclearance effectively went away in 2013 when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the provision determining which states are covered was outdated and unconstitutional. (WHTM) One person is dead, and two others were flown to trauma centers after a Juniata County crash on Friday morning. Emergency crews were called for a three-vehicle crash with entrapment on Route 322 eastbound near Locust Run Road in Walker Township at 9:17 a.m., Mifflintown Hose Co. #1 said in a Facebook post. Two people were found trapped in their vehicle when crews arrived. One of them was dead, while the other was pulled from the wreckage to be flown for treatment. Another person in a different vehicle also had to be flown, Mifflintown Hose Co. #1 said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A stretch of Route 322 was closed for hours and didnt reopen till a little after 1:30 p.m., according to Mifflintown Hose Co. #1. Photos from the Millerstown Fire Department appeared to show two people being taken to Life Lion and One Life Flight helicopters for transportation. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now This Week in Pennsylvania Thompsontown Volunteer Fire Company No. 8, Thompsontown Ambulance, FAME EMS, Millerstown Ambulance, Port Royal EMS, the Juniata County Coroner, State Police, and more crews were also at the scene. This is a developing story. Stay with abc27 News as more information becomes available Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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 ABC27. Aug. 8---- One of the people arrested after the search of two homes in southeast Willmar earlier this year has been acquitted of a felony weapons charge. Owen Daniel Schwanke, 21, of Willmar, was acquitted July 29 when a jury rendered a verdict of not guilty on a charge of being a felon in possession of ammunition. Schwanke remains on probation for a felony threats of violence conviction in Renville County in May of 2024. He pleaded guilty to that charge in exchange for two years of supervised probation, which is set to expire in May of 2026, according to court documents. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to the criminal complaint filed against Schwanke in Kandiyohi County District Court, police found a magazine with 10 live 9mm rounds inside a third-floor bedroom where Schwanke was staying. Two of the rounds found within the magazine matched other ammunition found in the living room of the home. Schwanke is now the second of four people arrested after the law enforcement search of two Willmar residences to conclude their court case. According to court documents, officers say that the search yielded 22 pounds of marijuana, more than a pound of hallucinogenic mushrooms, a 9mm pistol with a serial number rubbed off, and thousands of dollars in cash among other items. Benjamin Joseph Wadsworth, one of the homeowners, was sentenced on July 16 after pleading guilty in June to a felony first-degree drug possession charge. Wadsworth's sentence is a stayed imposition, meaning if he successfully completes probation, his conviction will be entered as a misdemeanor instead. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Shylah Brynne Jacobsen, 24, and Dylan Dakota Quimby, 26, are the remaining two defendants still going through court proceedings. Jacobsen has agreed to plead guilty to an amended charge of third-degree drug possession, per a plea petition dated July 15. Her plea hearing is currently scheduled for Oct. 2. Quimby is facing 10 charges, including felony first-degree drug sale and possession. His next scheduled court appearance is Aug. 29 for a contested omnibus hearing to hear pretrial motions. The arrests occurred after two homes in close proximity to each other were searched on Jan. 23, in relation to a Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement in October 2024. That shooting resulted in a 17-year-old male being airlifted for treatment of gunshot wounds. The teen was successfully treated and later released from a Twin Cities hospital approximately two days after the shooting. According to court documents, Talan Lehmann, 18, was one of the suspects identified by police in the shooting and was known to visit Wadsworth's residence, described as kitty-corner to the other residence searched. Residents in both houses knew each other socially, according to court documents. Lehmann was not at either of the homes when police executed the search warrants. Jacobsen, Schwanke, Quimby and Wadsworth were all arrested. Lehmann was arrested in Willmar the day after the searches. He has since been for second-degree attempted murder. The jury in the trial of a former head teacher and his ex-wife - who are both accused of historical sexual offences against children - has been sent out to consider its verdicts. Lee Brumby - who was head teacher at Mayflower High School in Billericay, Essex - denies two counts of rape and three other offences. Elaine Brumby has denied six charges, including sexual assault and causing a child to engage in sexual activity. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement None of the charges related to any pupil at the school, past or present. 'Partner-in-crime' In his summing up, Judge Richard Conley told the jury how Lee Brumby - 64 years old and from Wellands in Witham - had worked at other Essex schools prior to Mayflower, including Southend High School for Girls and St Clere's School in Stanford-le-Hope. Mr Brumby had spent nine years teaching in Newcastle at Benfield School, the court heard, where he had been responsible for helping its GCSE results improve, and he had received several positive references from his previous jobs. The jury at Southend Crown Court was told by the judge that Mr Brumby also briefly worked at a police force in the late 1980s during a break from teaching. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Mr Brumby had told the trial that "I'm struggling to know why these allegations have been made," Judge Conley said. Ms Brumby, 62, from Kiln Way in Great Wakering, had worked at The St Christopher School - an academy special school in Leigh-on-Sea. She had told the trial that she denied being a "partner-in-crime", Judge Conley added. Mr Brumby is charged with two offences of rape of a child, two counts of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child, and indecency with a child. His ex-wife is charged with four offences of engaging in sexual activity in the presence of a child, causing a child to engage in sexual activity, and sexual assault. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Judge Conley said that the pair had "vehemently" denied all of the allegations against them. Follow Essex news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X. Related internet links (Getty Images) After Judge John Coughenour ruled against the Trump administration, local authorities received a false report that hed killed his wife. Police showed up to his home with guns drawn in what is known as a swatting incident. Not long after, the FBI was told a bomb was at his familys home. That wasnt true, either. Coughenour, a U.S. District Court judge in Seattle, shared those experiences during a public forum last week. The incidents are emblematic of the ways judges have increasingly come under attack in the Trump era, as they often block his controversial policies. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In the early days of President Donald Trumps second term, Coughenour, who was appointed to the bench by Republican President Ronald Reagan, had called Trumps executive order restricting birthright citizenship blatantly unconstitutional. He was the first judge in the nation to rule against a Trump policy this year. Other federal judges joined Coughenour in speaking out at last weeks event. They described attacks on the rule of law as the Trump administration has flouted some court rulings and the president has criticized judges by name. Judge John Coughenour. (Photo provided by U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington) Judges dont often publicly discuss issues that could be perceived as partisan out of fear of showing bias. I signed up for this and Ill endure the threats and attempts to intimidate, but my family didnt, Coughenour said. What kind of people do these things? Its just so disgusting. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The nonpartisan judicial advocacy organization Speak Up for Justice organized the panel discussion. Such threats against federal judges have been on the rise for years, but have accelerated in the months since Trump retook office. A Rhode Island judge shared a voicemail his office received calling for his assassination. Others said the killing of a judges son in New Jersey by a disgruntled lawyer had been invoked to intimidate other judges across the country. Judge Robert Lasnik, who President Bill Clinton appointed to the federal bench in Seattle, said he was one of the many who received an unsolicited pizza delivery mentioning Daniel Anderl, who was murdered in 2020 and is the son of Judge Esther Salas. Two of Lasniks adult children also got similar suspicious pizza deliveries to their homes. The harassment came after he spoke about Trumps rhetoric on the judiciary with KUOW, a local NPR affiliate in Seattle. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The message Lasnik said he took from this was we know where you live, we know where your children live, and they could end up dead, like Judge Salass son. As a senior judge, Lasnik opted out of cases involving the Trump administration so he could feel free to speak about attacks on the rule of law. I saw it from my colleagues, some of whom have only been on the bench for two or three years, he added. They would make a ruling, they would be bombarded with hate mail and hate emails and threats. And its so discouraging to a young judge to suddenly not only worry about, how do I do this job right, but how do I keep my family safe? The Trump administrations moves to block gender-affirming care for transgender youth, withhold federal funding and bar refugees are among the issues that have ended up before judges in Washington state. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Coughenour recalled helping Russian judges to develop an independent judiciary after the fall of the Soviet Union. Those judges looked at the U.S. justice system with reverence. That reputation has now been damaged, he said. He reminded the audience that attacks on the rule of law and judicial independence preceded the rise to power for Nazis in 1930s Germany and Pol Pot in 1970s Cambodia. He said the United States needs a call to action: Not in this country. Not on our watch. To Chef Olivia Ostrow, bigger is better especially when it comes to her new kosher restaurant. The Paris-born Ostrow, who opened Ostrow Brasserie in Miamis Buena Vista neighborhood in 2023, is ready to open her new endeavor, Maison Ostrow, in the former space of Osteria del Teatro in North Bay Village. The restaurant will serve French cuisine with a Mediterranean touch, and it, too, is kosher. Or rather, it just happens to be kosher, as Ostrow says. Because first and foremost, Maison Ostrow is about fine dining. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement One thing that I always say is we are not a kosher restaurant, she explains. We do not do kosher food. We just happen to make our food kosher. Chef Olivia Ostrow at Maison Ostrow in North Bay Village. The distinction is a fine one. Trained in France, Ostrow explains that shes well aware that certain expectations often come with the idea of a kosher restaurant. Customers often assume their choices will include popular kosher comfort food like beef brisket or matzo ball soup. Ostrow and her team, however, create a fine dining menu first, then work on making each dish kosher. We make our food the way we know how to do it, she says. When you learn to make classically French food, you can make any kind of food. Greek food, Italian food, Mediterranean food. We do not serve anything that is not the real dish. If we cannot master it by making it kosher, it doesnt make it to the table. Ostrow calls the new spot phase two of the Ostrow Global brand, which she hopes to expand to France. Maison Ostrow, she says, is a chill French restaurant to which she will add Mediterranean flavors as well as a touch of Italy through homemade pastas. There will be soups and salads, fish and meat dishes, and house-baked bread, which you can also buy to take home after a quick stop in the restaurants shop. Also for sale: sauces and Ostrows famous non-dairy butters, among other items. One of the eye-catching nooks at Maison Ostrow in North Bay Village. At 3,500 square feet, the new restaurant has a much bigger kitchen than Ostrow Brasserie, which closed in May, and allows Ostrow more flexibility with the menu. She can also now offer full catering services, something she has wanted to do for a while. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The restaurant seats 145 diners indoors and on an outdoor terrace that seats 40, and theres a private dining room and a chefs table. Theres also a full liquor bar, which Ostrow Brasserie didnt have, where you can order cocktails and tapas flights. Ostrow loves the new location in North Bay Village, which she believes can draw guests from neighborhoods across Northeast Miami-Dade and Miami Beach. The fact that its a bit removed from other Miami restaurant clusters is a plus, she says: That makes it a destination. The bar at Maison Ostrow in North Bay Village. I dont necessarily want to be surrounded by other kosher restaurants, she says. I like to stand on my own. Its an incredible neighborhood across from the water, and it has a great view. The feel is extremely French. Part of that French vibe involves the liberal use of Ostrows personal art collection, which plays a huge role in the decor and producing the Parisian brasserie atmosphere that defines the restaurant. She used it to some extent at Ostrow Brasserie, but with more room, she can showcase more of the art thats meaningful to her in salon-style fashion. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement People say, Oh my God, you cannot go crazy, but Im actually going even crazier, she said. Im pushing my limits with everything. The wine storage at Maison Ostrow in North Bay Village. Maison Ostrow Where: 1666 79th Street Causeway, Suite 102, North Bay Village Opening: Aug. 17 Reservations: Resy Hours: Lunch 11:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Sunday-Friday; dinner 5-11 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, 5 p.m.-seasonal hours Saturday More information: maisonostrow.com A proposed Waukesha County charter school originally set to open this fall will likely be unable to open its doors to students this year. Autumn Hill Academy said the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, which authorized the school's charter, informed the school by email Aug. 5 that it won't allow the school to open because it had a smaller student population than expected. Enrollment was expected to be 35 to 50 students this year. UW-Milwaukee said Autumn Hill had "fallen seriously short" of its contracted minimum enrollment numbers of 168 students. The numbers, even before factoring in typical attrition, created too big of a risk to families of potential closure mid-school year. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement School founder Maria Luther said in an email to parents, community members and supporters Aug. 7 that she could not "begin to describe the deep disappointment our team feels right now." Autumn Hill had planned to open Aug. 27 to grades six through 10, then planned to add 11th and 12th grades over the next two years. Enrollment had picked up in recent days, Luther said, with three more students requesting to enroll since Aug. 5. "What we had been told is that it's very common for charter schools like ours to see a good portion of their enrollment happen in August, and we were definitely seeing that momentum. But this decision came and didn't even allow us the opportunity to get through the end of the month," she said. Luther said she spent two days seeking reconsideration from UW-Milwaukee but said no one from the university replied to her. Parents of prospective students disappointed in UWM's decision Parents who had planned to have their children attend Autumn Hill were also caught off guard. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Allison Stolpa and her husband were disappointed by the announcement. Their son had planned to attend. They said they had been told at an open house the school would be around at least three years. "To suddenly be notified that this school wouldn't be available was devastating and stressful," Stolpa wrote in an email. "We now only have a couple of weeks to find an opening elsewhere and to hope it'll be the right fit for our son. We hope Autumn Hill will be available next year, though it's hard to know if it'll still feel right then, and if we can trust that it really will be available or if we'll be frustrated and scrambling again."Jamie Cortney, who was also hoping to enroll her child into the school, said she didn't understand UW-Milwaukee's decision because she expected the school's enrollment to grow. Cortney said the school has to find a way to open. "If UWM says no, we have to find another way because these kids need it," she said. UWM says enrollment "seriously short" of contracted minimum enrollment numbers UWM has authorized charter schools for more than 25 years, according to university spokesperson Jodie Tabak. She said UWM is dedicated to ensuring accountability and long-term success for the schools it authorizes, a key component of which is ensuring schools have sustainable enrollment projections to support operations. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Luther said UWM "had known for a long time" that the school wouldn't get 168 students and led Autumn Hill to believe it could work so long as the school showed it would right-size its operations to fit the smaller enrollment projection. Luther is also concerned the school will lose a grant it received from the Wisconsin Charter Schools Program administered by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction and supported by the U.S. Department of Education. Autumn Hill would have been able to use the funds as reimbursements for costs, such as paying teachers, purchasing supplies and providing professional development. Losing the grant would make the path forward extremely challenging, she said. The school could reapply for the grant, but a new grant would not cover any items the school already purchased for the upcoming 2025-26 year. Autumn Hill will hold a town hall meeting to answer families' questions. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Where: N25W23050 Paul Road in Pewaukee When: 6:30 to 8 p.m. Aug. 10 Contact Alec Johnson at (262) 875-9469 or alec.johnson@jrn.com. Follow him on X (Twitter) at @AlecJohnson12. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Autumn Hill Academy in Pewaukee told it cannot open this fall A 6-year-old boy in California needed 20 stitches after a coyote bit him during his sisters softball game. Enoch Palomar was at Del Amo Park in Carson with his family on Monday when the animal attacked him. "I wasn't thinking of anything, I was just yelling," Enoch told ABC 7. His mother, Melissa Palomar, added, "He yelled immediately as soon as the coyote bit him. I ran towards him, and then I noticed it was a coyote, and I started making noise, and as soon as I got close to him, he ran off." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The bites to the back of Enochs head and both legs required 20 stitches and several rabies shots. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife is collecting clothing evidence for DNA testing to find the coyote. The young boy was watching his sister's softball game in Southern California when he was attacked by a coyote (Getty Images) According to wildlife officials, coyotes are often seen in California, but attacks on people, particularly children, are uncommon. In a statement on Thursday, Carson Mayor Lula Davis-Holmes said she is "deeply saddened by the incident." "Coyotes are a known presence in our region, and the City continues to take proactive measures to protect residents by posting signage in all Carson parks warning of coyote activity and providing instructions on how to report sightings," she said. "We urge the public to remain vigilant, avoid leaving food or trash that may attract wildlife, and report any coyote encounters through our official Coyote Report page or by calling Wildlife and Gaming. The City remains committed to public safety and will continue its efforts to educate the community, encourage responsible precautions, and ensure our parks remain safe and welcoming for all." Enoch Palomar needed 20 stitches across his legs and the back of his head after the attack (abc7) Meanwhile, Melissa hopes sharing their story will raise awareness about the dangers of nearby wildlife. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "There's a lot of coyotes," she told ABC 7. "I mean, I've seen them in the street driving, but I never thought they would be so close to us. For a lot of people to be there and still a coyote go to the playground and attack them, it's very shocking to me." The CDFW says on its website that people should keep a safe distance from coyotes and back away slowly if approached by one. The department added that you should keep small children and pets close. It also encourages residents to make loud noises by yelling, clapping, or blowing a whistle, and make themselves look bigger by waving their arms. Allow the coyote to leave the immediate area on its own. Finally, if a coyote makes contact, fight back and afterward, call Animal Control or 911, the CDFW says. An aerial photo of the Beachie Creek Fire in the Willamette National Forest taken Sept. 9, 2020. (Mark Turney/U.S. Forest Service) In his 1852 novel Bleak House, set in a grimy, smoggy and hidebound London of the 1830s, Charles Dickens took on on a problem unresolved and worsened two centuries after: The interminable legal case. His particular (fictional) target was the civil lawsuit Jarndyce and Jarndyce, a battle over conflicting wills that in turn seemed to last beyond the grave: This scarecrow of a suit has, over the course of time, become so complicated, that no man alive knows what it means. Innumerable children have been born into the cause; innumerable young people have married into it; innumerable old people have died out of it. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Something like that has threatened to happen in the mass swarm of cases, about 2,0000 of them at present, involving the large wildfires from 2020 linked to the PacifiCorp electric company. Half a decade has passed so far since the actual events involved, and in the normal patterns of legal resolutions, years more may pass before resolution or remuneration. The old saw that justice delayed is justice denied comes clearly to mind. Judge Steffan Alexander of Multnomah County seems to grasp that, and he has been taking steps to move the container box of cases ahead at a much faster clip than usual. If he succeeds, he could set a template for other long-running cases, in Oregon and beyond. But more than a single judges work will be needed. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Big cases do not have to last forever. In Idaho, the Snake River Basin Adjudication, which resolved more than 150,000 water rights covering most of the state, was settled (nearly) within three decades, which may sound long but is lightning speed compared to most cases of the kind. Many western state water adjudications involving only a few score rights can drag on for half a century. Careful organization, among other conditions, can make a big difference. But its not easy. The legal morass emerging from the massive Oregon wildfires of 2020, which left massive damage in its wake, had many causes, from housing sprawl to climate change, but one in particular targeted for damages: the electric utility PacifiCorp, based at Portland. The utility is attached to a large outside source of funds: Berkshire Hathaway Energy, one of billionaire Warren Buffetts properties. The legal activity has found traction. A massive case in 2023 led to a big jury award for about 1,500 plaintiffs, declaring PacifiCorp showed recklessness and gross negligence. The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a case as well. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The remaining cases in Alexanders court involve about 2,000 plaintiffs, and PacifiCorp has asked for separate damages trials in each case, which would be enormously costly and take many years to carry out. So massive is the case load that the courts database system hasnt been able to keep up. New solutions are needed. The years-old case has yielded basic verdicts for just 300 claimants, and appeals may keep them from getting compensation for years to come. One law professor speculated, Maybe they [PacifiCorp] think they can outlast the other side. The utility would have motivation: At least one estimate puts the amount of damages realistically at stake at around $10 billion. On July 28, Judge Alexander signed a new case management order (opposed by PacifiCorp) with the intent of drastically speeding the process. It called among other things for running four damages trials every month, beginning in February 2026, then in the following January doubling that to eight per month. Alexander estimated that by March 2028, all of the cases should be resolved. This is a serious attempt, at least, to try to bring resolution to the cases without stretching them out to the unforeseeable future. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement There is a limit, though, to what a single judge can do, and even this effort is holding off justice for a long time. There are procedures used in some very large legal cases, such as use of special masters to develop sweeping resolutions, that havent been used here; the objection of one party can sometimes block the way. The courts have to operate within the limits of the law, and within their budgets, and in those two areas the Oregon Legislature could step in to help. On the budgetary side, more judges and related staff and facilities, to allow more simultaneous action, would help. And so would changes in some of the laws governing the allowable procedures, from discovery to court postponements to much more, which could be reviewed for fairness through a large lens fairness to parties who are priced out or timed out of getting legal redress. (Theres been one estimate that 50 of the original plaintiffs in the PacifiCorps cases have died since the cases first were filed.) Too many legal cases and courts have long been the locus of an American Bleak House. That need not be the case forever. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX The Justice Department has subpoenaed New York Attorney General Letitia James office as part of a criminal investigation into President Donald Trumps longtime adversary, according to multiple sources, in the latest example of the Trump administration taking on the presidents perceived enemies. The US attorneys office for the Northern District of New York issued two subpoenas seeking information about James investigations into the Trump Organization and National Rifle Association, the sources said. A grand jury investigation into James has also convened in Albany, New York, according to a source familiar. The grand jury probe into James is said to be looking into deprivation of rights, which means violating someones constitutional rights, against Trump. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Justice Department declined to comment on the subpoenas and grand jury investigation. Abbe Lowell, an attorney for James, said, Investigating the fraud case Attorney General James won against President Trump and his businesses has to be the most blatant and desperate example of this administrations carrying out the presidents political retribution campaign. Lowell added: Weaponizing the Department of Justice to try to punish an elected official for doing her job is an attack on the rule of law and a dangerous escalation by this administration. If prosecutors carry out this improper tactic and are genuinely interested in the truth, we are ready and waiting with the facts and law. CNN has asked the White House for comment on the investigation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement James is among of a long list of Trumps perceived political enemies who are now facing scrutiny from his administration. The Justice Department has opened investigations into former FBI Director James Comey and former CIA Director John Brennan, the Obama administrations handling of Russia 2016 election interference, former DHS official and Anonymous author Miles Taylor and former CISA head Chris Krebs, who was fired for saying the 2020 election was not rigged. The office of special counsel earlier this month launched a Hatch Act investigation into former special counsel Jack Smith, who indicted Trump twice in 2023. In May, FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed there was an investigation into James based in the Eastern District of Virginia over whether she committed fraud on a mortgage application. Lowell said that probe is focused on baseless and long-discredited allegations. Trump civil fraud case In September 2022, the New York attorney generals office filed a sweeping civil lawsuit against Trump, his adult sons and the Trump Organization, alleging they inflated the value of its properties to mislead lenders and insurers. A judge found Trump liable for fraud and ordered him to pay more than $450 million. Trump has appealed to have the judgment thrown out, which is still pending. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trump posted a $175 million bond while he appealed. Trumps hostility with James was evident during the 11-week trial, which took place in 2023 and 2024 ahead of his New York criminal trial. Trump railed against James from the witness stand and in the hallways of the courtroom. This is a political witch hunt and I think she should be ashamed of herself, Trump said of James during a days worth of combative testimony. You believe this political hack back there and thats unfortunate, he said in reference to James, who frequently attended the trial sitting behind her attorneys. James countered by making her own statement outside of the courthouse in lower Manhattan and through social media videos. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Included on Trumps defense team in the civil fraud case was Alina Habba, who is now an acting US Attorney in New Jersey and one of several personal Trump attorneys who were appointed to positions in his Justice Department. Habba also frequently criticized the New York attorney general during the trial. In her closing statement, Habba went after James personally, saying: I looked back and saw her shoes were off this morning, and she had a Starbucks coffee. The judge stopped her, responding that closing arguments had to stick to the facts of the case. NRA litigation The attorney generals office also took on the National Rifle Association and won judgments forcing the organization to reform its structure. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement James filed a lawsuit in 2020 to dissolve the NRA over allegations the organization violated laws for non-profit groups, committed tax fraud and took millions for personal use. A jury in February 2024 found that the NRA mismanaged charitable funds when it failed to stop top executives from diverting millions of dollars for lavish personal trips, no-show contracts and other questionable expenditures. The jury found that the groups longtime leader Wayne LaPierre, who had resigned the month earlier, should pay the gun rights group $4.3 million in damages for mismanagement and misspending charitable funds. CNN has asked the NRA for comment on the DOJ investigation. Any weaponization of the justice system should disturb every American, a spokesman for James office said. We stand strongly behind our successful litigation against the Trump Organization and the National Rifle Association, and we will continue to stand up for New Yorkers rights. This story has been updated with additional developments. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com The Justice Department told two federal judges Friday it wants to release grand jury exhibits in the Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell cases, in addition to transcripts, with appropriate redactions of victim-related and other personal identifying information. The filing, signed by Attorney General Pam Bondi, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche and Southern District of New York US Attorney Jay Clayton, is the latest in the Trump administrations efforts to release grand jury materials in the cases as it faces mounting pressure to release the so-called Epstein Files. However, its unclear how much information in the grand jury transcripts and evidence is already not in the public sphere. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement President Donald Trump has faced continued backlash from his own party, Democrats and the public on the lack of transparency around releasing the files. The Justice Department released an unsigned memo on July 7 on the files, saying they did not plan to release more information and that a client list did not exist. CNN reported recently that Bondi had briefed Trump on the files in May and that his name appeared several times. While many of the victims told the courts this week they did not directly oppose the release of materials, many requested severe redactions in order to protect their identities. Victims also said that they were being used in political warfare by the Trump administration. Maxwells attorneys opposed the release of grand jury materials in a filing earlier this week. Her attorneys argued that her legal interests in her own case should come before the publics interests in the Epstein files. Fridays filing comes after two federal judges in New York, Richard Berman and Paul Engelmayer, requested clarification from the Justice Department on whether it wants to unseal exhibits in addition to transcripts. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Justice Department said it has started contacting victims from the investigations whose names appear in grand jury exhibits but not in transcripts. It also is notifying parties of the extent that their names appear in grand jury materials that were not publicly admitted during Maxwells trial. DOJ also asked both judges to refrain from making any decisions on releasing the requested grand jury exhibits and transcripts until it hears back from victim-related parties next week. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com The Justice Department has opened new investigations into Letitia James, the New York attorney general who brought a civil fraud case against President Donald Trump, US media reported Friday. The New York Times said a subpoena had been issued to James, an outspoken Trump critic, in the civil fraud case and another that her office brought against the National Rifle Association (NRA). A New York judge ordered Trump in February of last year to pay $355 million plus interest for unlawfully inflating his wealth and manipulating the value of properties to obtain favorable bank loans or insurance terms. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Times said the Justice Department was examining whether James's office had violated Trump's civil rights in the civil fraud suit brought against the real estate tycoon. James's office also filed a financial mismanagement case against Trump ally Wayne LaPierre, which saw the senior NRA executive banned from serving in any role at the gun rights advocacy group for 10 years. A Justice Department spokeswoman declined to comment on the reports. James is also reportedly the target of a Justice Department criminal probe for allegedly falsifying records related to properties in Virginia and New York to obtain better loan terms. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In a statement in April when reports emerged of the investigation, James denied any wrongdoing and said that she "will not be intimidated by bullies." Since taking office in January, Trump has taken a number of punitive measures against his perceived enemies, stripping former officials of their security clearances and protective details, targeting law firms involved in past cases against him and pulling federal funding from universities. The FBI recently opened criminal investigations into two other prominent Trump critics, former FBI director James Comey and ex-CIA chief John Brennan, for making alleged false statements to Congress. Abbe Lowell, James's personal lawyer, told the Times that any investigation into James over Trump's civil fraud case is "the most blatant and desperate example of this administration carrying out the president's political retribution campaign." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Weaponizing the Department of Justice to try to punish an elected official for doing her job is an attack on the rule of law and a dangerous escalation by this administration," Lowell said. A spokesperson for James said "any weaponization of the justice system should disturb every American. "We stand strongly behind our successful litigation against the Trump Organization and the National Rifle Association," the spokesperson said, "and we will continue to stand up for New Yorkers' rights." cl/jgc Lenexa City Council member Melanie Arroyo receives a standing ovation after revealing during the Aug. 5, 2025, council meeting that city police investigated her citizenship status and required her to prove her citizenship. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector) TOPEKA The Kansas Bureau of Investigation deleted the voicemail that prompted a police inquiry into the citizenship of a Lenexa City Council member, the bureaus legal department says. Melanie Arroyo, a clinical counselor and art therapist who was elected to the city council in 2021, revealed the police investigation during a council meeting Tuesday. She said police required her to provide proof of her 2018 naturalization before they closed the case. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The KBI and Lenexa police, responding to Kansas Reflector questions, revealed new details about the false allegation that sparked the investigation. Law enforcement officials said a man called the KBI and left a voicemail in which he questioned Arroyos citizenship and requested an investigation. His complaint was based on assumptions he made about testimony Arroyo gave to the Legislature in February opposing a bill that would eliminate in-state tuition for immigrants. In an interview for this story, Arroyo said the revelation of the deleted voicemail and the lack of substance in the complaint were shocking and disturbing. There are a couple of things here that further confirm for me that this was politically motivated, Arroyo said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Neither the KBI nor Lenexa police would disclose the identity of the Johnson County man who complained about Arroyo. Kansas Reflector submitted a Kansas Open Records Act request to the KBI for a copy of the voicemail. The agency responded with a letter signed by KBI Legal Division, which said a special agent confirmed that a message was left in our Lenexa office. Once the substance of that message was forwarded on to the Lenexa Police Department we deleted the recording as it was no longer relevant to our agency, the letter said. The letter also said the message, or any documents related to the message, are classified as criminal investigation records. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The KBIs records retention policy says special agent investigation files are to be retained for 70 years after a case is closed, and then transferred to state archives. A spokeswoman for the agency didnt respond to Kansas Reflector questions about why the voicemail was deleted and whether the deletion was consistent with the records retention policy. She also didnt say why the KBI decided the voicemail was credible enough to forward to Lenexa police. Rep. Susan Ruiz signs up to speak at the Aug. 5, 2025, Lenexa City Council meeting. She said it was upsetting that council member Melanie Arroyo couldnt confront the person who questioned her citizenship. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector) Danny Chavez, a master police officer who fields media inquiries for the Lenexa Police Department, provided a copy of the text of the email that KBI sent police. The callers name and number were omitted. The KBI email said an individual called with a question regarding the citizenship of a member of the Lenexa City Council. He stated that in February of 2025 Melanie Arroyo (possibly Melanie Arroyo-Lopez), a representative for Ward 3, gave testimony wanting to give illegals more benefits. During this testimony she acknowledged that she came to this country illegally as a child, but never acknowledged naturalization. He stated that this testimony was posted to the internet. He stated that to be a qualified elector, they had to be registered to vote and be born here or naturalized. He wanted to report this information for investigation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Chavez said police questioned Arroyo because city ordinance requires office holders to be a qualified elector, which means they must be a U.S. citizen. As we would with any complaint brought to our attention about matters pertaining to Lenexa City Code, we carried out our duty to investigate, Chavez said. Arroyo submitted written testimony in opposition to Senate Bill 254, which would have eliminated in-state tuition and other benefits for immigrants. State Sen. Mike Thompson, R-Shawnee, provided a public platform for Attorney General Kris Kobach to promote the bill but refused to allow Arroyo and others to speak during a contentious hearing in February. The full Senate never took a vote on the proposal. The caller who complained about Arroyo got several facts wrong. Although her testimony said she grew up as an undocumented immigrant girl, a reference to overstaying her visa, she said her family came to the country legally. Her testimony also said she resolved my immigration status in order to attend college in Kansas. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement She earned a bachelors degree in studio art and psychology from the University of Saint Mary and earned masters degrees from Emporia State University in clinical counseling and art therapy. Arroyo, whose extended name is Arroyo Perez, said the callers complaint was alarming and inconsistent with her testimony. So this persons manufacturing something false, she said. And then for this person to say maybe Melanie Arroyo-Lopez is f***ing racist and insulting. Theres nothing wrong with that last name, Im just like, its not even remotely close to Perez. How do you come up with that? State Rep. Susan Ruiz, D-Shawnee, said in an interview before Tuesdays meeting that she believed Arroyo was targeted for being an active and outspoken city leader. Whats so upsetting about this is theres no recourse, Ruiz said. Her privacy was invaded. Her civil rights were invaded. She gets no chance to confront the person that made the allegation. She doesnt even know who it is. The police wont tell her. They wont even tell her lawyer. KANSAS CITY, Mo. A Kansas City man was sentenced Thursday in connection with the deaths of three people. Tiger Draggoo, 25, has been sentenced to 40 years in federal prison with 30 years of supervision upon his release, the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Western District of Missouri announced. Man accused of running over Kansas City teacher with car before shooting, killing her In October 2024, Draggoo pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of conspiracy to distribute fentanyl and three counts of distributing fentanyl resulting in death. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Draggoo admitted that, on three separate occasions, the fentanyl he sold led to the deaths of three people, including a juvenile. All three deaths occurred in either Belton or Raymore in 2022. Draggoo also admitted that he was responsible for distributing or possessing at least 22,364 pills that contained a total of 2,460 grams of fentanyl. As part of the investigation, during a search of Draggoos apartment, law enforcement found 17 firearms, including two machine guns, ammunition of various calibers, $246,769 in cash, a ballistic vest with plates, a money counter and numerous pills that contained fentanyl. This case is a sad reminder of the horrific damage and destruction that fentanyl can have in our community, U.S. Attorney R. Matthew Price said in a statement. It is also a stern reminder to those who seek to make a profit off dealing fentanyl will be vigorously investigated, prosecuted, and incarcerated. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I want to express my condolences to the family members of the victims and thank our law enforcement partners and United States Attorneys Office staff who worked on this case. I know that the sentence does not bring back their loved ones but hope that the lengthy sentence brings some measure of peace that justice was served. The Jackson County Drug Task Force, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the Belton Police Department, the Raymore Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) assisted in this case. 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. ALLEN COUNTY, Kan. A Kansas man is rescued from a grain bin, On Friday, the Allen County Sheriffs Office shared details on the Thursday evening call involving a farmer trapped in a 10,000-bushel grain bin full of corn. It happened at Bernsten Farms along 3061 Utah Road, La Harpe, about 9 miles northeast of Iola, around 7:45 p.m. Reportedly, the farmer did not fall in the bin, but was inside it when he was nearly buried. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Additional units from La Harpe, Iola, Colony and Anderson County assisted in the four-hour effort. Eventually, he was extracted and taken by ambulance to a county hospital. 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 KSNF/KODE | FourStatesHomepage.com. With children across Kansas returning to school next week, health officials are urging parents to consider the measles, mumps and rubella vaccination. The state hasn't had any new measles cases reported in about three weeks. (Jan Sonnenmair/Getty Images) TOPEKA Kansas reported no new measles cases for the third week in a row Wednesday, and health officials are encouraging parents to vaccinate their children as they return to school next week to keep that trend going. The lack of new cases puts Kansas about halfway through the 42 days required for a measles outbreak to be considered over, which is two incubation periods of 21 days each, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Close proximity in classrooms creates the ideal environment for the spread of measles, considered the most contagious vaccine-preventable disease, said Karen Winkelman, public health director for the Barton County Health Department. She said county health officials maintain a strong working relationship with schools, which helps speed communications if there is a measles case. With measles, its going to be quick action, quick notification, she said, adding that theyre also encouraging schools to adopt and teach strong hygiene practices. Handwashing, good practices when sneezing and coughing, and encouraging parents to keep their children home when they have symptoms are among the practices Winkelman highlighted. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Also review immunization records, making sure they are properly and appropriately vaccinated, and also just being honest, up front, she said. Were not going to force vaccination, but we want you to know what the consequences are if there would happen to be an exposure. With a 21-day incubation period, an unvaccinated child who has been exposed may not be able to attend school for that time period. School vaccination data from 2025 isnt available yet, but many Kansas school districts last year reported decreased vaccination rates, according to Kansas State Department of Education data. For instance, the Gray County kindergarten vaccination rate dropped from 76% in the 2022-23 school year to 66% in 2023-24. Stevens County dropped from 98% to 83% in the same time period. Ninety cases of measles have been reported in 12 Kansas counties since January, according to Kansas Department of Health and Environment data. Most of the cases, 87, are related to an outbreak, which occurs when three or more cases are linked to each other. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The last new Kansas measles cases were reported during the week of July 6. Certainly we can hope that the current outbreak situation is improved and nearly ending, said Dana Hawkinson, medical director of infection prevention and control at the University of Kansas Health System. But Hawkinson said measles cases continue to increase at the national level. The CDC reported 1,356 confirmed cases of measles as of Wednesday. Communicating about the importance of vaccines continues to be important, he said. Many people still quote information that has been thoroughly researched and debunked, Hawkinson said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement There have continued to be publications which continue to support the safety and benefits of vaccines, but especially the (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine, he said. There continue to be new, updated, well-done studies that show the safety of these vaccines. Hawkinson referenced a recent Denmark study of 1.2 million children born between 1997 and 2018 that found no association between minute amounts of aluminum in vaccines and long-term health impacts. I think we have to continue to promote honest science and transparency, and it is a battle against disinformation, which has persisted and really grown in the past few decades, he said. Hawkinson said vaccine information has become intertwined with political and societal views. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement When were talking about our mechanic or our lawyer or our electrician, we will listen to them and take their advice, he said. But when it comes to the most important thing, we are finding it harder and harder, as a society, to take the advice of those people and those experts who are dedicating their lives and their training and their every day to giving accurate information and trying to keep individuals and communities healthy. Hawkinson said its important for parents to make informed decisions about their childrens health, and to also consider that an illness like measles can have an economic impact in terms of missed work and medical costs. Before the measles vaccine was available in the 1960s, most people were infected with the measles virus, with about 400 to 500 people dying each year; 48,000 being hospitalized; and 1,000 suffering from encephalitis, or brain swelling, the CDC website said. Then-Lawrence High School student journalists Natasha Torkzaban, left, and Maya Smith appear during an April 19, 2024, meeting with school board president Kelly Jones to outline proposed policy changes for how the district uses spyware so that all students are protected from unwarranted intrusion. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector) There you are a Kansas teacher supervising a high school hallway in between classes. Students flood past you in a clattering blur of high-top sneakers, yoga pants and laughter. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement One student strides past you, pulling a cellphone out of her purse to respond to an email. Another student, on her way to photography class, slides her digital camera into its case. A third student slings a backpack over his shoulders, laptop stowed safely in the main pocket. Your job seems simple: keep these students safe. But how much surveillance is needed to protect them? Will you monitor every message in the email account of an honor roll student? Will you inspect the images of the award-winning student photographer? Will you reach into the backpack of a random student to inspect his laptop? A federal lawsuit filed last week by students in Lawrence alleges their school district has gone too far in its surveillance. The plaintiffs, former and current Unified School District 497 students, claim the use of Gaggle, digital surveillance software deployed by the district, unconstitutionally monitors them while infringing on their First and Fourth Amendment rights. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement During an interview this week, Harrison Rosenthal, one of the attorneys representing the students, extended my hallway metaphor. He said USD 497 is reaching into the private files of students and basically conducting what we think is a digital strip search. This would be akin to the school going into lockers, opening the lockers, opening the bookbags your private bookbags and searching and rummaging around your personal files. Mark Johnson, another attorney for the plaintiffs, said USD 497s use of Gaggle is worse than that. The surveillance isnt reaching into just one student backpack. Its everybody, Johnson said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As the former director of an association dedicated to student journalism, I know and admire the journalism teacher, many of the students, and two of the lawyers at the heart of this lawsuit. Some of the students also have been my students at the University of Kansas. Hearing their stories in conversation since the controversy began made it clear to me how overreaching and ineffective the districts surveillance has been. The 311-page lawsuit intricately describes the districts failures. In this fully digital age of American education, students at many Kansas high schools are now required to do most of their coursework on computer, often using software mandated by the district. In USD 497, this means software in the Google Workspace/Suite. And that platform is monitored by Gaggle. This creates a disturbing domino effect. Students must attend school. They must use Google software. And therefore, they must submit to 24/7 Gaggle oversight of their every keystroke. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In this way, Kansas students are obligated to be surveilled. The stated objectives of the districts contract with Gaggle is about student safety. One USD 497 agenda described Gaggle as a digital surveillance tool that helps school districts manage student safety on school-provided devices and platforms by monitoring student accounts to identify and flag those who may be struggling and need help. As the complaint details, one district employee said in a meeting that student journalists were valuing their constitutional rights above the mental health of their peers. Then-Lawrence High School student journalists Jack Tell, left, and Morgan Salisbury, answer questions during an April 18, 2024, interview. (Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector) In an era of problematic teenage mental health and suicide trends, a seemingly sophisticated intervention or technological solution is enticing for our schools. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Embedded in the complaint is Exhibit O, a spreadsheet with 1,246 rows each one detailing an instance when Gaggle found problematic content in a students digital lives. Reading the words found in student documents creates a grim portrait of Lawrence students and the American teenage psyche: im broken, slit my wrists, suicidal, cutting, im not okay, voices in my head, wanted to die, i have no hope. I asked Rosenthal why school districts shouldnt respond with surveillance like Gaggle. Student safety should be a paramount concern for the district, but surveillance cant come at the expense of constitutional rights, Rosenthal said. Safety does not mean dragnet, widespread, suspicion-less searches of every students thoughts. And its incumbent upon the district to craft a mechanism that keeps with the Constitution. This controversy has been brewing for months. Students from Lawrence High School have been questioning and opposing the districts use of Gaggle since last year, propelled by the investigations of student journalists. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In April 2024, it appeared temporarily that the students had prevailed. A headline in the Kansas Reflector offered: How student journalists fought a Kansas district over spyware and won. Since then, the concessions made by the school district didnt solve the free expression issues. In one instance detailed in the complaint, a student journalist describes how she did not receive an email containing an open records request from USD 497. The topic of the open records request: Gaggle. Why didnt she receive the email from within the school district? Because, the complaint claims, Gaggle had flagged and seized (her) emails, such that they were never received until her teacher was copied. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Like the fox guarding the henhouse, Gaggle prevents parties from learning about how and when it operates, the complaint reads, in describing the incident. Rosenthal said having student journalists as clients has made filing the complaint exponentially easier. Everything is documented and verified in the complaint itself, Rosenthal said. We cite their reporting. The consequences of the lawsuit promise to ripple beyond our state. Gaggles website says more than 1,500 school districts use its surveillance software. This is not just about Lawrence USD 497, Rosenthal said. Lawrence, in this whole scheme, is the canary in the coal mine. Gaggle or similar platforms are being adopted in school systems across the country, often quietly, often without public debates, and often without legal review. So we took this case in part because it has the ability to set an important national precedent. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As a parent of a high school student, I considered what my sons academic life would look like at a school with Gaggle the school described by Lawrence students in the lawsuit. Its a school where universal digital surveillance leads to clumsy, if any, intervention. A school where student journalists are stifled from independent reporting. A school where taxpayer dollars flow to a company that hovers over student creative work. A school where students are united not just by the hallways but by a sense that Big Brother is watching. That is a school hallway I dont want my student walking down. Eric Thomas teaches visual journalism and photojournalism at the William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. 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. Leawood attorney Larkin Walsh will become Kansas next state Supreme Court justice, Gov. Laura Kelly announced Thursday. Walshs selection comes as Kansas braces for a polarizing fight over whether to return to a system of directly electing high court justices after more than 60 years of relying on a nominating commission that screens candidates and picks three finalists for the governor to choose from. Our states process for nominating Kansas Supreme Court justices produces highly qualified nominees and incorporates voices from across the state, Kelly said in a press release. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Appointing justices to the Kansas Supreme Court is one of the most important responsibilities I have as governor, and it is not one I take lightly. The nine Supreme Court justices have the final say in consequential criminal and civil cases that work their way through Kansas courts. The high court issues on average between 100 and 160 opinions annually. Kelly chose Walsh, a 46-year-old senior counsel at Stueve Siegel Hanson, over two current district court judges Christopher Jayaram of Lenexa and Amy Hanley of Lawrence. Walsh will replace former Justice Evelyn Wilson, who resigned from her seat last month after sharing news of her ALS diagnosis. Walshs law firm bio calls her a champion for the rights of workers, consumers, and survivors of forced labor, trafficking, and sexual abuse. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Larkins extensive legal experience and her background of service makes her an excellent addition to the Kansas Supreme Court, Kelly said. Her deep understanding of appellate courts, combined with her breadth of experience in civil practice, gives her a unique and invaluable perspective. Before joining a private practice, Walsh, a University of Kansas Law School graduate, clerked for U.S. District Court Judge Carlos Murguia and worked as a research attorney for former Kansas Supreme Court Justice Carol Beier. In the press release, Walsh pledged to be the type of Justice that all Kansans deserve. She described that as someone who with a clear understanding of the legal issues, will faithfully interpret and impartially apply the law to the unique facts of each case, irrespective of popular opinion or the political winds, while maintaining an awareness of each decisions impact on people and on history. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Senate President Ty Masterson, an Andover Republican who is running for governor next year, welcomed Walsh to the bench with a cutting remark. I wish Justice Walsh well on the court and certainly hope she discovers a judicial philosophy that is in line with Kansans, given she indicated she currently has no philosophy or even views on how to interpret the constitution., Masterson said in a statement. Such an answer would never fly with Kansans, which is why we need to restore their right to determine who sits on our states highest court. Looming court fight Next August, Kansans will be asked to vote on a constitutional amendment proposal brought by Republican lawmakers who want to eliminate the state Supreme Court nominating commission. Opponents of the proposal say the current system has shielded the court from politics and that statewide judicial races in Kansas would quickly devolve into partisan, money-fueled brawls that scare away the most qualified candidates. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement They point to this springs Wisconsin Supreme Court contest, which drew more than $100 million in spending, including from super PACs run by billionaires Elon Musk and George Soros. Some Kansas Republicans have grown increasingly frustrated with the state Supreme Court over decisions protecting abortion access . Lawmakers have long viewed judicial reform as a potential avenue for bringing the court to heel. They argue that the makeup of Kansas nine-member nominating commission gives attorneys undue representation. Under the current system, governors appoint one nominating commission member from each of the states four Congressional districts, and licensed attorneys from within each district vote to choose their representative on the commission. Lawyers from across the state also have the opportunity to select an at-large attorney member who serves as chair of the commission. Those commissioners vetted 15 candidates who applied to fill the most recent vacancy. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Sen. Kenny Titus, a Wamego Republican and attorney, recently told The Star that its disingenuous to claim that Kansas selection process shields the high court from politics. He said theres a political tilt to practicing lawyers in Kansas, adding that they carry that baggage with them onto a nominating commission that gives them an outsized influence over the judicial system. Its just like any other election. They send out campaign letters, they talk a little bit about their values and what they believe in, but the real difference is that only a very small number of people get to see that, Titus said. If voters see it the same way, Walsh could be the last Kansas Supreme Court justice placed on the bench without running a statewide campaign. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Beier, the former state Supreme Court justice whom Walsh worked as a research attorney under, said she believes that would be a mistake. In a statement to The Star, Beier said Walshs selection reflects the very best of our merit-based process. Larkin Walsh has already served the Supreme Court of Kansas with distinction, and I have no doubt she will again, Beier said. I have seen firsthand her sharp intellect, rigorous work ethic, and dedication to justice. Boston's sanctuary sheriff was arrested Friday on federal charges after allegedly leveraging his elected position to extort $50,000 from a cannabis executive who was seeking state approval to open a dispensarya scheme FBI Director Kash Patel called a betrayal of public trust. Suffolk County Sheriff Steven Tompkins, 67, who oversees more than 1,000 employees in the Boston-area, was handcuffed Friday morning in the Southern District of Florida after a federal grand jury indicted him on two counts of extortion under color of official right, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts. "When someone entrusted with enforcing the law is accused of breaking it for personal gain, it undermines the publics trust in every honest officer who wears the badge," Patel told Fox News Digital. "The FBI will pursue corruption at every level, because no one is above the law. The people of Suffolk County, and the country, deserve leaders who serve them, not themselves." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Suspected Ice Facility Attackers Arrested In Blue City, Charged With Assaulting Federal Officers Tompkins was appointed sheriff of the Suffolk County Sheriffs Department (SCSD) in 2013, elected in a 2014 special election, and later re-elected to serve successive six-year terms. He made headlines in 2019 after booting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents out of the county jail, signing an eviction notice that required hundreds of illegal immigrant detainees to be moved out within 60 days, according to a report from the Boston Herald. Read On The Fox News App Florida Ex-sheriff Arrested For Allegedly Running Illegal Gambling House That Generated Millions Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to court documents, a cannabis company applied in 2019 for a retail dispensary license in Boston through the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission (CCC). To meet the states Positive Impact Plan (PIP) requirement, the company partnered with the sheriffs department, which agreed to screen and refer graduates from its re-entry program for work at the dispensary's retail store. The companys partnership with SCSD was formalized in a letter signed by Tompkins in 2019 and submitted with its dispensary license application in 2020. The cannabis commission approved the license in 2021 and renewed it in 2022 and 2023, with the company citing the partnership to meet the PIP requirement in each application. Suffolk County Sheriff Steven Tompkins is accused of pressuring an executive into selling him stocks and then demanding a refund. To raise capital for an initial public offering (IPO) and expand as a publicly traded company, executives sought multimillion-dollar investments from institutions and other high-net-worth investorsnot the general public, according to court documents. By mid-2020, the company was preparing for its IPO by producing audited financial statements, hiring attorneys and obtaining additional financing. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Prosecutors allege Tompkins pressured the cannabis executive for stock, reminding the executive he had helped the company in its licensing efforts. The executive feared Tompkins might exploit his position as sheriff to undermine the partnership with the department, putting both the license and the companys planned IPO in jeopardy. Patels Immigration Push At Fbi Yields 10,000 Arrests Since January In October 2020, the company asked Tompkins for an updated partnership letter to submit with its license renewal application, according to court documents. Within a month of signing the letter, and after alleged pressure on the executive, Tompkins obtained a pre-IPO stake in the company. Prosecutors claim that in November 2020, Tompkins wired $50,000 from his retirement account to an account controlled by the executive, purchasing nearly 29,000 shares at $1.73 each. Following a reverse stock split, he held about 14,400 shares valued at $3.46 each. Suffolk County Sheriff Steven Tompkins is facing up to 20 years in prison for each count of extortion. Once the company launched its IPO in 2021, the stock value jumped to $9.60 per share, increasing the value of Tompkins $50,000 purchase of 14,417 shares to $138,403. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement By May 2022, the value of Tompkins stock had dropped thousands of dollars below his $50,000 investment, but he allegedly demanded a full refund. The executive agreed, issuing five checks between May 2022 and July 2023. Prosecutors claim some checks were marked as "loan repayment" and "[company] expense" at Tompkinss direction to disguise the nature of some of the payments. Us Attorney For Massachusetts Says Interference With Ice Operations Is 'Disturbing,' Threatens Arrests U.S. Attorney Leah Foley wrote in a statement that elected officials, particularly those in law enforcement, are expected to be ethical, honest and law-abiding, "not self-serving." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "His alleged actions are an affront to the voters and taxpayers who elected him to his position, and the many dedicated and honest public servants at the Suffolk County Sheriffs Department. The people of Suffolk County deserve better," Foley wrote. "Public corruption remains a top priority for my administration, and we will continue to investigate and prosecute anyone who uses their position of trust and power for their own gain." FBI Boston special agent in charge Ted Docks added the act was "clear-cut corruption." "From his very first day as Suffolk County Sheriff, Steven Tompkins sought to portray himself as a man of the peoplea principled public servant and reformer, devoted to the cause of justice. Thats why its beyond disappointing that hes now accused of gaming a system instituted in the interests of public safety and fair play," Docks wrote in a statement. "We believe what the Sheriff saw as an easy way to make a quick buck on the sly is clear-cut corruption under federal law. The citizens of Suffolk County deserve better, not a man who is accused of trading on his position to bankroll his own political and financial future. Public servants must be held to the highest of ethical standards, and those falling short will be rooted out." Tompkins, who faces a sentence of up to 20 years in prison for each count, will appear in Boston federal court at a later date. Original article source: Kash Patel slams 'corrupt' sanctuary sheriff indicted for cannabis company extortion KANSAS CITY, Mo. A Kansas City, Kansas, man was sentenced Thursday to nearly four years in prison for drug trafficking. According to court documents, Rayvon Porter, 33, pleaded guilty to one count of possession with intent to distribute cocaine and fentanyl. He was sentenced to 46 months in prison. Six former cult members sentenced in 12+ year KCK forced child labor scheme The investigation into Porter stemmed from multiple fentanyl-related overdoses. While investigating the supplier, Porter was identified as a suspect and law enforcement began to conduct surveillance. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Investigators took him into custody while he was inside a business. While searching his car, they found a loaded Glock handgun, 1.32 grams of cocaine, 9.7 grams of fentanyl and digital scales. Illegal fentanyl is a blight on our community that causes death and destruction, U.S. Attorney Ryan A. Kriegshauser said. Our office will do everything in its power to help eliminate it and stop its distribution. This sentencing represents the hard work and dedication by USPS OIG Special Agents working with the Kansas City, Kansas Police Department and the U.S. Attorneys Office to bring charges on this significant narcotics investigation, added Special Agent in Charge Dennus Bishop, U.S. Postal Service, Office of Inspector General (OIG), Central Area Field Office. The OIG, along with our law enforcement partners, remains committed to safeguarding the U.S. Mail and ensuring the accountability and integrity of U.S. Postal Service employees. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Kansas City, Kansas Police Department and the U.S. Postal Service Office of Inspector General (USPS-OIG) investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ryan J. Huschka and David P. Zabel prosecuted the case. 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. New Hampshire Gov. Kelly Ayotte has ruled out joining the rush of states redrawing the lines of congressional districts for partisan advantage in the 2026 midterms. The governor told a local TV station Friday that it was a question of timing. The timing is off for this, because we are literally in the middle of the census period, she said in an interview with WMUR. And when I talk to people in New Hampshire ... it's not on the top of their priority list. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The White House has been urging Republican governors around the country to take up redistricting to increase the partys chances of retaining the House majority. Texas called a special legislative session to redraw district lines, prompting states controlled by Democrats, including California and New York, to pursue efforts to do the same. Ayotte, a former senator, made similar comments about the timing of redistricting in December after winning the governors race. Her predecessor, Chris Sununu, vetoed a Republican-drawn map in 2022 that would have created a Republican-leaning congressional district. Attorney General Ken Paxton on Friday asked the Texas Supreme Court to expel 13 Democrats from the state House, the latest in a flurry of unprecedented actions aiming to resume business at the Capitol and pass new congressional maps to benefit Republicans. Gov. Greg Abbott previously asked the court to expel Houston Rep. Gene Wu, the chair of the Texas House Democrats. [Gov. Greg Abbott asks Texas Supreme Court to expel House Democratic leader who left state] Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Wu is also named in Paxtons petition, alongside Reps. John Bucy, Lulu Flores, Vikki Goodwin, Gina Hinojosa and James Talarico of Austin, Jessica Gonzalez and Mihaela Plesa of Dallas, Suleman Lalani of Sugar Land, Christina Morales of Houston, Ron Reynolds of Missouri City, Ana-Maria Rodriguez Ramos of Richardson and Chris Turner of Grand Prairie. Paxton argued that these representatives effectively abandoned their offices by leaving the state Sunday to stop the House from passing a new congressional map that would redraw district lines with the aim of netting five seats for Republicans. He said these 13, among the dozens who have left the state, made incriminating public statements regarding their refusal to return, essentially confirming in their own words the very grounds for this legal action. Respondents conduct amounts to an intentional, concerted effort to stop all legislative activity by refusing to show up let alone hear testimony, debate, or vote on legislation, Paxton wrote in the filing. By any metric that constitutes abandonment of office. Legal experts say it does not amount to abandoning office if a member intentionally does not show up for work in an effort to stymie the passage of a bill that their constituents oppose. Texas lawmakers have engaged in these quorum breaks since the 1870s and none have ever been expelled as a direct result of leaving the chamber. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement [Abbotts bid to expel the House Democratic leader goes to a court filled with his appointees] When Democrats left the state in 2021, the courts ruled that the Texas Constitution specifically enables quorum-breaking, but also allows for quorum-forcing, in which the chambers find ways to lure members back. Since then, the House passed new rules fining members $500 for every day they are gone. Citing that case, Paxton said allowing members to participate in a quorum break would upset the careful balance of powers that this Court recognized leaving the Texas Legislature unable to force a quorum and the people of Texas without a body capable of exercising legislative power. In a response to Abbotts lawsuit, Wu disputed the premise of both cases, saying he had not abandoned his office. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement To the contrary, he continues to carry out his legislative duties as his judgment dictates, lawyers for Wu wrote in the Friday afternoon filing. They asked for the case to be dismissed, noting that Wu had not died, nor had he been expelled by the House by a two-thirds vote or voluntarily resigned any of which would be grounds for removal from office under state law. If the case was not dismissed, Wu's lawyers argued that the Supreme Court was not the correct venue, as the Houston lawmaker had a right to a jury trial before he would be removed. They also contended the entire case seemed to be based on hearsay. Given that the Governor has included no proper statement of facts or record to respond to itself a grave due process problem Respondent generally disputes the factual allegations that are scattered throughout the petition, such as they are, the filing said. Earlier in the week, Paxton himself seemed to indicate the case might need to go through the district courts, rather than starting at the Texas Supreme Court, telling conservative podcaster Benny Johnson that his office might have to undergo a lengthy and complicated legal battle that could involve filing in each members district. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We'd have to go through a court process, and we'd have to file that maybe in districts that are not friendly to Republicans, Paxton said. So it's a challenge because every district would be different. But in Fridays filing, he argued that the Texas Supreme Court has the right to rule directly on this case, especially when there is a need to swiftly resolve the matter. Bucy, in a statement, said he would not be returning to Texas because of Paxtons lawsuit. This seat belongs to the people of Texas House District 136 not Ken Paxton, he said. I am not afraid. I am not backing down. If the court were to find that the seats were vacant, they would be filled through a special election. But in the meantime, the vacancies would reduce the number of members required to meet the quorum threshold. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Paxton previously challenged Abbotts ability to bring his suit against Wu, citing a part of state law that says this type of petition must be filed by the attorney general, or a county or district attorney. Abbott argued he was filing under a different provision and asked the court to uphold his right to bring the case. The Texas Supreme Court is made up entirely of Republicans and six of the nine were appointed by Abbott. On Friday, Paxton also announced he was suing former U.S. Rep. Beto ORourke and his fundraising group, Powered by People, for providing financial support to the Democrats while they are out of state. The lawsuit, filed in a Tarrant County district court, said the group was intentionally blurring the dichotomy between political and personal funds in a deceptive and confusing manner to take advantage of donors. Paxton previously said he was investigating ORourke for allegations of bribery related to the quorum break. A Tarrant County judge granted Paxtons motion, prohibiting ORourke from financially supporting the Democrats who left Texas. ORourke filed his own lawsuit against Paxton in El Paso district court, saying the Republican was bluntly using the vast power of the Attorney Generals office to effectuate a fishing expedition, constitutional rights be damned. He asked a judge to block Paxton from investigating him or Powered by People, and to rule that Paxton violated both the U.S. and Texas constitutions in initiating the case in the first place. Shape the future of Texas at the 15th annual Texas Tribune Festival, happening Nov. 1315 in downtown Austin! We bring together Texas most inspiring thinkers, leaders and innovators to discuss the issues that matter to you. Get tickets now and join us this November. TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase. KENTUCKY (FOX 56) Corning Incorporated may not be a household name, but its partnership with Apple, a multinational tech corporation, is a long one. Cornings Harrodsburg facility has produced glass for Apple products for about 18 years, including prior iPhone and Apple Watch models. This is for the first time ever, every single new iPhone. And every single new Apple Watch sold anywhere in the world will contain covered glass made in Kentucky, Apple CEO Tim Cook said in the Oval Office on Wednesday. Not only will manufacturing expand at the facility, but the opening of a new innovation center is something Sen. Amanda Mays Bledsoe believes is promising for rising Kentucky graduates. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We do know theyre going to help to create the next and best products. And what would be the next generation for an Apple anything could be created right here, she told FOX 56. LATEST KENTUCKY NEWS: Bledsoe represents the Harrodsburg community in the State Senate. She explained many reasons she sees for why Apple would invest $2.5 billion expanding operations here instead of in Silicon Valley. I think Kentucky is in a really unique position geographically. We can move items in and out pretty quickly, especially having access to the airport right here. Not to mention, were going to have a great quality of life in Lexington and central Kentucky, which allows you to maximize kind of rural areas, manufacturing areas, as well as the high tech and university right here at University of Kentucky, she said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Bledsoe says central Kentuckys position as a logistics hub is unique in the sense that most of the country is reachable from here within 6 hours. With many seats at the table, theres plenty of credit to go around. Our team at the Cabinet for Economic Development has been working with Corning over the past few months. Though I think the project grew significantly, and were grateful for that, Gov. Andy Beshear said at Thursdays Team Kentucky. LATEST KENTUCKY LISTS AND RANKINGS: When youre working from the federal government to state government to local government, rarely these things happen in a bubble. Typically, all the things have to match and have to be really accelerated to see this kind of investment. And so in this case, I think everyone wins, Bledsoe said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) A new lawsuit against two major video game and media app companies has been filed in relation to an alleged kidnapping in Kern County. The suit is against against popular gaming apps Roblox and Discord. Its in connection with an alleged kidnapping of a young Kern County girl in April. The suit claims 27-year-old Matthew Naval posed as a child on the apps and developed a friendship with a 10-year-old girl from Taft he met online. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement She gave him her address, Naval allegedly picked her up from her home and drove her to a hotel in Sacramento County. Officers say they found the girl inside Navals car in a state of distress. Police arrested Naval and hes now facing criminal charges. Matthew Naval maintains he had no idea what he was walking into, and should be presumed innocent. I personally was supposed to pick up a supposed friend, lets just say. They gave me their address, they gave me all sorts of info. Pretty much, I lets just say I gained their trust or they gained my trust in some sort, Naval said from jail. The lawsuit claims that a large number of predators troll through Roblox and Discord and if the platforms had the most basic system of age and identity verification, the girl would have never engaged with the alleged predator and never been harmed. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In June, Roblox announced it will use an age estimation selfie technology to help confirm users ages. 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. Kevin Franke is not done with Jodi Hildebrandt a mental health therapist who provided care for him, his former wife and multiple other family members after she went to prison for physically abusing his two youngest children. Instead, he filed a lawsuit asking Utahs 3rd District Court to order her to pay him based on economic and emotional damages he claims she caused him. The lawsuit does not ask for a specific amount of money, but does say it exceeds $300,000. Franke claims she was negligent as his therapist and breached the duty of care she had to him while he was vulnerable by using improper mental health care techniques. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Hildebrandt and Frankes ex-wife, Ruby Franke, each pleaded guilty to four counts of aggravated child abuse, a second-degree felony, and were sentenced to four consecutive terms of one to 15 years in prison. Franke says in the lawsuit that he did not know his wife and younger children were living in Hildebrandts home during the summer of 2023. The lawsuit said that while he was paying her for counseling services to help him reunite with his family, she was isolating them from him. Ruby Franke is pictured in a July 29, 2025 prison photo. | Utah Department of Corrections The reuniting of the family was the very core, stated objective of the services she was providing, but in reality, she was abusing his children and taking drastic steps to distance his family further and further from Kevin and from each other, the lawsuit states. The complaint said Hildebrandt was introduced to Kevin Franke through her personal and business association with Ruby Franke as they worked together on a Facebook group called Moms of Truth. Ruby Franke was previously an influencer with over 2.3 million subscribers on her 8 Passengers YouTube channel. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Kevin Franke said that before Hildebrandts arrest on Aug. 30, 2023, she had advised both Ruby and Kevin Franke and sold them books and workbooks. He said that although she was licensed as a clinical mental health care worker, Hildebrandt often referred to herself as a psychologist and he believed in her exaggerated credentials. In the lawsuit, he also said he believed Hildebrandts diagnosis of him without any specific testing that he was lustful, narcissistic, manipulative, deceptive, controlling and selfish. He said she also convinced his wife of this diagnosis. The home of Ruby Franke is pictured in Springville on Friday, Sept. 8, 2023. | Laura Seitz, Deseret News Franke said he and his 17-year-old son cut contact from family members as treatment mandated by Hildebrandt, whom they paid hundreds of dollars a month to, to protect his marriage and family. He alleges she used his commitment to his religion, marriage and family to manipulate him. He said he was threatened by others, at the direction of Hildebrandt, that if he did not change quickly, his wife would divorce him. According to the lawsuit, Hildebrant told Ruby Franke to hold on to letters he was instructed to write to her, including anything he did that was selfish, as evidence in any potential divorce proceedings. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement At the encouragement of Hildebrandt, who convinced him he was not worthy, Franke said he did not renew his Latter-day Saint temple recommend, which led him to lose his job at BYU, where it was a requirement. The lawsuit said she advised him that losing his job may wake (him) up, and that he was not worthy to work at BYU. When he did lose his job, he was scolded by Hildebrandt and told he was selfish, according to the lawsuit. It said Hildebrandt was extremely mentally abusive, and belittled Franke, accusing him of loving darkness and hiding evil, urging him to confess until she was satisfied. He said she shared confidential information with others in group sessions and invited them to abuse him doing the same for others in the group. On July 26, 2023, the lawsuit claims Hildebrandt announced she was suspending Frankes services, saying he needed solitude to heal, and she would follow up after six months of absolute solitude, communicating only with God. She claimed violating this would cost him his marriage and family. Franke is not the first to file a lawsuit against Hildebrandts practices. Another man receiving treatment claimed earlier this year in a federal lawsuit seeking millions that she and Ruby Franke, along with their business Connexions Classroom, participated in electronic fraud and encouraged child abuse. Each of the defendants in that case, including Hildebrandt, is seeking to dismiss it. Key player in Feeding Our Future fraud sentenced to 28 years in prison originally appeared on Bring Me The News. A key player in the $300 million Feeding Our Future fraud scheme has been sentenced to 28 years in prison. On Wednesday, a federal judge sentenced 36-year-old Abdiaziz Shafii Farah for his role in the widespread fraud scheme to exploit a federally funded child nutrition program during the COVID-19 pandemic. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Farah was convicted on multiple counts, including money laundering and wire fraud, after a seven-week trial. Prosecutors say Farah played a leading role in the case, claiming to serve 18 million meals to kids and stealing more than $47 million in federal funds in the process. Sherburne County Jail Farah was among the very first defendants to see an opportunity for fraud and exploit it. Farah immediately opened a number of fraudulent program sites and began falsely claiming to serve meals to thousands of children per day. Many of the purported 'sites' served no meals at all and were nothing more than parking lots or vacant commercial spaces, the U.S. Attorneys Office for Minnesota said after the verdict. Farah personally profited more than $8 million in taxpayer money, buying five luxury vehicles and real estate in both Minnesota and Kentucky. He also sent money overseas, and bought additional real estate in Africa. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This overseas money is beyond the reach of American law enforcement neither these funds nor Farahs international real estate holdings have been, or can be, seized or forfeited," the U.S. Attorney's Office said. After federal investigators began executing search warrants related to Feeding Our Future in 2022, Farah fraudulently got a passport and tried to leave the country on a one-way ticket before he was arrested. Further punishment could follow, with Farah due to be sentenced for conspiring with others to bribe a juror in his case with $120,000 in cash in exchange for a "not guilty" verdict. He has pleaded guilty in that case, and will face additional jail time for that offense. This story was originally reported by Bring Me The News on Aug 8, 2025, where it first appeared. Aug. 7WILKES-BARRE When Keystone Mission Innovation Center for Homeless and Poverty shut its doors for the last time on Aug. 1, the East Union Street building was left in spotless condition, the nonprofit's chief executive officer, Walter Baron, said on Thursday. Walls were painted, rooms were cleared of furniture and floors were clean enough to eat off of, Baron said. One issue Baron strongly disputed in a Times Leader story earlier this week regarding the property owner filing a civil lawsuit over missed lease payments by Keystone Mission was the agency promoted "homelessness, filth and vagrancy near the property and throughout Wilkes-Barre." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "I'm not going to discuss the lawsuit, but I will stand up to say that statement is completely not true by any means," Baron said. "We've helped thousands of people, we provide food, a place to stay, a place to take showers and provide opportunities. I was appalled by that statement. It sounds like we are not a responsible organization, which we are, and we serve the community by helping those who need help." The statement about promoting homeless and vagrancy was included in a seven-page civil lawsuit the property owner, JG Realty PA, LLC, of Dallas, filed against Keystone Mission alleging breach of contract, nuisance and negligence. The suit was filed in Luzerne County Court on Monday. Baron, who recently became Keystone's CEO, said he had not been served with the lawsuit. When the innovation center was open, approximately 75 people a night were assisted with a place to stay, shower and wash their clothes while also receiving a meal, Baron said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Baron said those who stayed at the innovation center had to follow strict policies, including daily cleaning of the building and property. In addition, Baron said, there was no vagrancy around the building, meaning one could not stay outside at night. "We were not just a place to stay. We helped those find employment, took them to doctor appointments, we did everything for them and offer spiritual guidance," Baron said. "We were anything but a nuisance." Baron said Keystone, which also provides homeless programs in Scranton, is financially supported by community donations. "That's how we survive; to say a comment we promote homelessness is absurd," Baron said. "Homelessness will never go away, and as a matter of fact, the highest demographic of homelessness is the elderly who can't afford their housing any longer." Keystone Mission's Transformation Center on Parkview Circle near Coal Street, Wilkes-Barre, remains open and provides dinner to up to 50 people a day, Baron said. A teacher and students in a classroom. (Photo by Klaus Vedfelt/Getty Images) I recently read over my sons last report card and was overwhelmed with pride. It showed how far hes come progress that, not long ago, felt out of reach. I made mental notes of the areas where we still need to do some work, but mostly I just sat with the joy of seeing comments like participates well in class and a pleasure to have in class. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A few years ago, those kinds of remarks seemed impossible. My son is on the autism spectrum. Hes bright, curious, and kind, but he faces challenges in areas that come more naturally to his peers things like socializing, staying focused, and following multi-step directions. To support his growth, our family relies on services in Milwaukee made accessible through Medicaid. Without it, we couldnt afford the therapies and supports that have made such a profound difference in his life. One of the most transformative resources weve accessed through Medicaid is applied behavior analysis (ABA) therapy. Before my son began this program, he had a hard time sitting still, struggled with completing even small tasks, and rarely interacted meaningfully with others. The world often overwhelmed him, and those feelings showed up as frustration or withdrawal. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Our family was doing everything we could to support him, but we needed help. Medicaid made that possible. The ABA therapy was intensive and, at times, exhausting but it worked. Over time, we watched our son develop new skills, regulate his emotions, and engage with the world in a completely new way. By the time the program ended, we had a different child. Not in that he changed who he was but because he could finally show the world the amazing person he had always been. He could carry on a conversation, initiate play with peers, connect with adults, and begin building friendships. Today, thanks to Medicaid, he continues to receive occupational therapy and speech therapy at school. These services help him strengthen motor skills, improve communication, and better navigate daily life. He also receives support through his Individualized Education Plan (IEP), ensuring he has the accommodations he needs to succeed. Because of this, my son is not just surviving he is thriving. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But now, all of this is under threat. Millions of families like mine could lose Medicaid because the Trump-GOP budget the so-called One Big Beautiful Act strips away the very support that children like my son depend on, all to finance tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy. Its hard to describe the fear that takes hold when you realize that your childs future has been jeopardized with the stroke of a pen. Some 37 million children roughly half of kids in the United States rely on Medicaid for health care, therapies, and other essential services. For kids with disabilities, Medicaid is often the only option for accessing the support they need. Without it, families face impossible choices foregoing therapies, draining savings, or going without care altogether. Whats even more heartbreaking is the callousness with which some elected officials treat this issue. Watching Republican Senators dance to a disco song as they celebrated the passage of this harmful bill made me physically ill. While they partied, families across the country worried about how to care for their children, afford therapy, or keep a roof over their heads. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This isnt political for me its personal. My child is not a budget line item. He is a human being who deserves the chance to live a full and meaningful life. Every child does. Medicaid has been a lifeline for us, and it should be protected, not gutted. No parent should have to fight this hard for basic support, and no child should have their future jeopardized by politics. The promise of America is an opportunity for all. That promise cannot be fulfilled if we dismantle the very systems that allow families like mine to survive let alone thrive simply to cut taxes for the wealthy. We need to do better. We must do better. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX People carrying bags, sleeping mats and blankets scurry towards the glowing green M signalling the entrance to Zoloti Vorota metro station in the historical centre of Kiev. Mothers hold their children by the hand, the essentials for another night spent under ground stuffed into a backpack. Parents carry sleeping children down into the station located some 100 metres underground - named after the nearby Golden Gate a reconstruction of the main gate in the city's medieval fortifications. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The station dates back to Soviet times, designed at the time when a potential US nuclear attack was the big worry. Smokers have already gathered outside the entrance, listening to the sounds of war in the distance while keeping their eyes firmly on their phones. Screeching sirens herald another night of air raids on the Ukrainian capital. Telegram channels close to the military have warned of a Russian drone approaching from the east, flying over the Dnipro River towards the city centre. Occasional gunfire can be heard in the distance, while the distinctive hum of the Iranian-made combat drones comes closer and closer. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A missile rises, followed by a loud bang. Shortly afterwards, an update: "Destroyed by air defence." But the calm doesn't last. Dozens more drones and missiles will target Kiev throughout the night, causing another sleepless, terror-filled night for its 3 million residents. Since the beginning of the year, the Russian military has ramped up the number of drones deployed against Ukraine compared to last year, concentrating its attacks on one region in particular. Hardly a night goes by in Kiev without the sound of air raid alarm, with Russian projectiles managing to increasingly penetrate the city's air defences. First reports of casualties Some of the arrivals set up camp in the entrance area of the station. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement They sit on stairs, on radiators or roll out their sleeping mats to try and get some sleep amid the glow of the emergency lighting and the beeping of the vending machines. But most people seeking shelter in Zoloti Vorota station head down further into the underground. Many have already set up a place to sleep after lugging in mattresses or camp beds, while others sit on the folding chairs provided. A man on crutches initially waits in the entrance area, somewhat indecisively, until a metro employee brings him a chair and he sits down. Elderly people and those with limited mobility rarely go into the metro shelters, which are not prepared for their needs. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The sound of aerial combat can be heard throughout the night from afar. Mayor Vitali Klitschko and rival military governor Tymur Tkachenko provide updates via Telegram. Around 1 am, they report the first casualties and fires in several neighbourhoods. Videos circulated on social media show drone strikes in the south of the city near Zhuliany city airport, which is used by the air defence. Most of the enemy aircraft appear to be heading for targets in this area far from the city centre that night. Act two After around four and a half hours, the first air raid alarm is over. Many people leave the station and go home - hoping to get some much-needed rest. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But again the calm doesn't prevail. At 4:30 am, the sirens wail again. "Kiev is in danger from ballistic missiles," writes Tkachenko on Telegram. After these types of missiles are launched, they take less than three minutes to reach their target. The underground station fills up again. But new reports on Telegram now say groups of cruise missiles are approaching the capital - which take longer to reach their destination than ballistic missiles, leaving Kiev residents a little more time to get to a safe place. A little later, a dozen explosions rock the city within a short period of time. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In a courtyard near the metro, car alarms begin to wail, triggered by the powerful pressure waves. A young woman with a fashionable short haircut flinches at the thunder and begins to sob quietly. She and her partner only made it to the metro moments earlier, bringing along a dog and a cat in a carrier bag. The man strokes her head comfortingly, not taking his eyes off his phone. He gives the golden retriever and the cat some water in a bowl. They don't stay long. Only a puddle that lingers for a short while is a reminder of their presence. Amid the crackling of anti-aircraft missiles, a delivery man arrives with fresh baked goods for the kiosk in the underground entrance area. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Unmoved by the noise outside, he unloads the boxes and prepares the displays for the next morning. One of the people waiting asks, looking at the pastries: "When do you open?" "At seven," is the laconic reply, while the air defence can still be heard outside. Packing the emptied boxes back onto his handcart, he rolls them just as stoically outside and continues on his way. After almost 40 minutes, this air raid alarm also ends. Staying home Only a fraction of Kiev's 3 million residents is able to seek shelter in the underground railway, underground car parks or one of the few shelters available. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Most, like Inna, stay within their own four walls during the Russian attacks. "We have a disco almost every night," the hairdresser from the Darnytsya district tells dpa. "I lie in bed with the window open and watch as one volley after another rises into the air," she says, describing the nights as witnessed in the east of the city. Her husband sits in the corridor during air raids so that he is at least protected by two walls. "It's like a lottery," she says, referring to the strikes that frequently hit apartment blocks. "I don't have this tourist equipment, like mats, and you don't get any sleep in the metro either," says the blonde woman in her late fifties, explaining why she doesn't go to the shelter. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement She prefers to stay home, Inna says, "especially as we have to go to work the next day, which nobody has done away with yet." 'Kiev is living with tears in its eyes' Natalya also prefers to stay in her own flat when the air raid sirens sound. "We wrap ourselves in blankets in the hallway and wait and see," says the kiosk saleswoman, who lives near the frequently attacked Artem rocket factory in the Lukyanivka district west of the city centre. During one of the most recent attacks, she briefly went to a shelter with her daughter. "But I went back to the flat because of the cats. The cats are like children to me; I can't leave them alone," she explains. Leaving Kiev is out of the question for her because of her two sons serving at the front. "Kiev is living with tears in its eyes right now," she says, thinking about the victims at the front and in the city itself, as she prepares coffee for the next customer. After the day has settled in, the Ukrainian air defence reports that over 300 drones and eight cruise missiles were deployed by Russia in its latest overnight attacks. Five missiles and 21 drones hit their targets, mainly in Kiev, completely destroying several homes and killing more than 30 people. The next evening, as every day, the guitarist at the Golden Gate plays the city anthem composed in Soviet times: "How could we not love you, my Kiev." A Ukrainian firefighter extinguishes a blaze in a block of flats damaged in an overnight Russian drone attack. Patryk Jaracz/SOPA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) Police in West Virginia shot and killed a knife-wielding man in a hospital emergency room after he attacked an employee early Friday, authorities said. The shooting occurred around 1:45 a.m. at Charleston Area Medical Centers General Hospital in Charleston, Police Chief Scott Dempsey said at a news conference. The suspect walked into the emergency room shortly after midnight seeking treatment for an undetermined injury. He began acting erratically, yelled and became aggressive toward others. The man eventually came out of a bathroom with a knife, lunged at others, moved furniture and sprayed a fire extinguisher, Dempsey said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Others in the emergency room were trying to just de-escalate the situation, but it obviously was not working. And at some point they had to protect theirself by getting to safety, Dempsey said. When an arriving officer ordered the suspect to drop the knife, the man went into an elevator and began attacking an employee before the officer shot the suspect. The suspect fell to the floor and later was pronounced dead. The employee was not injured, the chief said. Police later identified the man as Peter Delnardo Lilly, 46, of Charleston. The emergency room was locked down for about two hours afterward, hospital spokesperson Dale Witte said in a statement. Israel's security cabinet has approved a plan to take control of Gaza City, in a controversial escalation of its war in Gaza. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians live in the city in the north of the Gaza Strip. It was the enclave's most populous city before the war. Several world leaders have condemned the plan, and the UN has warned it would lead to "more massive forced displacement" and "more killing". Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Hamas warned of "fierce resistance" to the move. The plan also faces fierce opposition within Israel including from military officials and hostages' families. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had told Fox News earlier that Israel planned to occupy the entire Gaza Strip and eventually "hand it over to Arab forces". Much is still very unclear, but here's what we know about the new plan. What are the details of the plan? A statement released by the office of the Israeli prime minister said the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) would "prepare for taking control of Gaza city". It also outlined what it said were five "principles" for ending the war: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The disarmament of Hamas The return of all hostages, both living and dead The demilitarisation of the Gaza Strip Israeli security control over the Gaza Strip The establishment of an alternative civilian administration that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority. The IDF said the military would prepare to take control of Gaza City while providing humanitarian aid to the "civilian population outside the combat zones". It is unclear if this is new aid, and if it will be delivered by the controversial Israel and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation or another mechanism. Hamas has said the approval of plans to occupy Gaza "constitutes a new war crime". Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "We warn the criminal occupation that this criminal adventure will cost it dearly and will not be an easy journey," it said in a statement on Friday. Why is just Gaza City being taken over? Before the cabinet meeting Netanyahu said he wanted Israel to control all of Gaza, but in the new plan only Gaza City is mentioned. Reports in Israeli media suggest there were heated exchanges with the army's chief of staff, who voiced his strong opposition to a full takeover of Gaza. Israel has said it currently controls 75% of Gaza, while the UN estimates some 86% of the territory is either in militarised zones or under evacuation orders. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The plan aims to have Israeli forces move to take control of the largest city in the enclave, which has already been heavily damaged by Israeli bombing and ground offensives. It is surrounded by land that has already been under the IDF's control or subject to an evacuation order. Control over the city is likely to be the first phase of a full scale takeover of the Gaza Strip, our Middle East correspondent Hugo Bachega says. There has also been some speculation that the threat of full occupation could be part of a strategy to put pressure on Hamas to make concessions in stalled ceasefire negotiations. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Netanyahu told Fox News Israel does "not want to keep" Gaza and intends to hand it over to "Arab forces". "We want to have a security perimeter. We don't want to govern it," he told the channel. When will Israel take over Gaza City? Israel has not said when the takeover will begin but reports in Israeli media suggest the military will not move into Gaza City immediately - and residents will need to leave first. Israel said it believed that the "alternative plan" presented to its cabinet would not "achieve the defeat of Hamas or the return of the abductees". However it it not clear what the alternative plan was or who had submitted it. Israeli media reports it was a more limited proposal from the army's chief of staff. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Netanyahu is being "intentionally vague" over which "Arab forces" he believes could run Gaza, according to the BBC's chief international correspondent Lyse Doucet, as he has been in the past with his plans for the territory. He may be referring to the Jordanians and the Egyptians, who have said they are willing to work with Israel - but they have made it clear that they will not go into Gaza on the back of an Israeli occupation. No more details have been shared regarding a timeline for Gaza's post-takeover government. What has the reaction been? Netanyahu is facing mounting criticism from hostage families and from world leaders. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has called Israel's escalation "wrong" and that it "will only bring more bloodshed". On Friday Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz said his government will not approve any exports of military equipment to Israel that could be used in Gaza until further notice. He said it was "increasingly difficult to understand" how the Israeli military plan would help achieve legitimate aims. Historically, Germany has been one of the largest arms suppliers to Israel. The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas has described the move as a "fully-fledged crime". Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Turkey's foreign ministry said Israel aims to "forcibly displace Palestinians from their own land". The UN's human rights chief Volker Turk says "the war in Gaza must end now" and warns that further escalation "will result in more massive forced displacement, more killing, more unbearable suffering, senseless destruction and atrocity crimes". The Hostages Families Forum Headquarters said the decision "is leading us toward a colossal catastrophe for both the hostages and our soldiers". However, the US has been much less critical. On Tuesday, US President Donald Trump said it was "pretty much up to Israel" whether to fully occupy Gaza, and Washington's Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said that the plan is not America's concern. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "It's not our job to tell them what they should or should not do," he said. Bilateral meetings between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his U.S. counterparts were a regular occurrence early in his 25-year tenure. But as tensions mounted between Moscow and the West following the illegal annexation of Ukraines Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and allegations of meddling with the 2016 U.S. elections, those meetings became increasingly less frequent, and their tone appeared less friendly. Heres what to know about past meetings between Russian and U.S. presidents: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Putin and Joe Biden Putin and Joe Biden met only once while holding the presidency - in Geneva in June 2021. Russia was massing troops on the border with Ukraine, where large swaths of land in the east had long been occupied by Moscow-backed forces; Washington repeatedly accused Russia of cyberattacks. The Kremlin was intensifying its domestic crackdown on dissent, jailing opposition leader Alexei Navalny months earlier and harshly suppressing protests demanding his release. Putin and Biden talked for three hours, with no breakthroughs. They exchanged expressions of mutual respect, but firmly restated their starkly different views on various issues. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement They spoke again via videoconference in December 2021 as tensions heightened over Ukraine. Biden threatened sanctions if Russia invaded, and Putin demanded guarantees that Kyiv wouldnt join NATO - something Washington and its allies said was a nonstarter. Another phone call between the two came in February 2022, less than two weeks before the full-scale invasion. Then the high-level contacts stopped cold, with no publicly disclosed conversations between them since the invasion. Putin and Donald Trump Putin met Trump met six times during the Americans first term - at and on the sidelines of G20 and APEC gatherings but most famously in Helsinki in July 2018. Thats where Trump stood next to Putin and appeared to accept his insistence that Moscow had not interfered with the 2016 U.S. presidential election and openly questioned the firm finding by his own intelligence agencies. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement His remarks were a stark illustration of Trumps willingness to upend decades of U.S. foreign policy and rattle Western allies in service of his political concerns. I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today, Trump said. He just said its not Russia. I will say this: I dont see any reason why it would be. Since Trump returned to the White House this year, he and Putin have had about a half-dozen publicly disclosed telephone conversations. Putin and Barack Obama U.S. President Barack Obama met with Putin nine times, and there were 12 more meetings with Dmitry Medvedev, who served as president in 2008-12. Putin became prime minister in a move that allowed him to reset Russias presidential term limits and run again in 2012. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Obama traveled to Russia twice once to meet Medvedev in 2009 and again for a G20 summit 2013. Medvedev and Putin also traveled to the U.S. Under Medvedev, Moscow and Washington talked of resetting Russia-U.S. relations post-Cold War and worked on arms control treaties. U.S. State Secretary Hillary Clinton famously presented a big reset button to Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at a meeting in 2009. One problem: instead of reset in Russian, they used another word meaning overload. After Putin returned to office in 2012, tensions rose between the two countries. The Kremlin accused the West of interfering with Russian domestic affairs, saying it fomented anti-government protests that rocked Moscow just as Putin sought reelection. The authorities cracked down on dissent and civil society, drawing international condemnation. Obama canceled his visit to Moscow in 2013 after Russia granted asylum to Edward Snowden, a former National Security Agency contractor and whistleblower. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In 2014, the Kremlin illegally annexed Crimea and threw its weight behind a separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine. The U.S. and its allies responded with crippling sanctions. Relations plummeted to the lowest point since the Cold War. The Kremlins 2015 military intervention in Syria to prop up Bashar Assad further complicated ties. Putin and Obama last met in China in September 2016, on the sidelines of a G20 summit, and held talks focused on Ukraine and Syria. Putin and George W. Bush Putin and George W. Bush met 28 times during Bushs two terms, according to the Russian state news agency Tass. They hosted each other for talks and informal meetings in Russia and the U.S., met regularly on the sidelines of international summits and forums, and boasted of improving ties between onetime rivals. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement After the first meeting with Putin in 2001, Bush said he looked the man in the eye and found him very straightforward and trustworthy, getting a sense of his soul. In 2002, they signed the Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty - a nuclear arms pact that significantly reduced both countries strategic nuclear warhead arsenal. Putin was the first world leader to call Bush after the 9/11 terrorist attack, offering his condolences and support, and welcomed the U.S. military deployment on the territory of Moscows Central Asian allies for action in Afghanistan. He has called Bush a decent person and a good friend, adding that good relations with him helped find a way out of the most acute and conflict situations. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Putin and Bill Clinton Bill Clinton traveled to Moscow in June 2000, less than a month after Putin was inaugurated as president for the first time in a tenure that has stretched to the present day. The two had a one-on-one meeting, an informal dinner, a tour of the Kremlin from Putin, and attended a jazz concert. Their agenda included discussions on arms control, turbulence in Russias North Caucasus region, and the situation in the Balkans. At a news conference the next day, Clinton said Russia under Putin has the chance to build prosperity and strength, while safeguarding that freedom and the rule of law. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The two also met in July of that same year at the G8 summit in Japan, in September at the Millennium Summit at the U.N. headquarters in New York, and in November at the APEC summit in Brunei. In an interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson last year, Putin said he asked Clinton in 2000 if Russia could join NATO, and the U.S. president reportedly said it was interesting, and, I think yes, but later backtracked and said it wasnt possible at the moment. Putin used the anecdote to illustrate his point about the Wests hostility toward Russia, a big country with its own opinion. We just realized that they are not waiting for us there, thats all. OK, fine, he said. Associated Press writer Yuras Karmanau contributed. Kodak Black has been named in a lawsuit regarding a 2022 shooting that left multiple people, including himself, injured. According to Complex, Mark Schaefer and Adam Rahman were shot as they attended a Super Bowl Party hosted by Justin Bieber in Los Angeles that erupted in gunfire. Schaefer and Rahman claim that the Florida rapper initiated the violent incident that resulted in bullets. The No Flockin' performer was also shot in the leg during the altercation. Bieber, as well as the venue The Nice Guy, were previously named in the lawsuit. In the litigation, Rahman and Shaefer seek $10.6 million in damages. During a court hearing on Wednesday (Aug. 6), their attorney informed the court that Kodak was the only remaining defendant and should be found in default because he failed to respond to the complaint, per Complex. The judge denied and said Schaefer and Rahman did not provide sufficient proof of damages, and gave an Aug. 25 deadline to resubmit their request. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Kodak Blacks lawyer, Bradford Cohen, informed TMZ Hip-Hop, We are not paying them a thing its us who are the victim of a legal assault by these two people. He also continued to claim that they were not aware of the lawsuit and were not properly served. They allege Kodak initiated the altercation that led to the shooting? There is video evidence that shows Kodak running to the scene of a fight to help people getting beat up when the gunfire starts. Kodak gets shot, so they are suing the man who got shot? I dont understand the lawsuit, detailed Cohen. Attendees at the party where the initial incident occured included Drake, Lil Baby, Gunna, Jeff Bezos, Lauren Sanchez, Khloe Kardashian, and more. At the time, Cohen spoke out about the proximity of the 28-year-old to the parties allegedly responsible for the melee. There was an unprovoked attack on an individual Kodak was with, when security and Kodak came to his aid. Several shots were fired at them by an unidentified assailant, explained Cohens statement. Luckily, this was all caught on video. Kodak was struck in the leg. It was not life-threatening, he will make a full recovery and he is in stable condition. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement VIBE has contacted representatives for Kodak Black regarding a statement on the lawsuit. More from VIBE.com Sign up for Vibe's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Gov. Tina Kotek delivers her State of the State address on Monday, Jan. 13, 2025. (Laura Tesler/Oregon Capital Chronicle/pool) Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek has signed into law a plan to allocate $45 million to the Willamette Falls Trust to make the waterfalls publicly accessible. The decision comes one week after she issued a notice that she was considering vetoing the plan, alongside three other bills. Alongside the funding plan for Willamette Falls, Kotek also didnt veto a bill allowing physical therapists to practice dry needling. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Following last weeks notice of potential vetoes, I considered all perspectives and gathered additional information before making final decisions, which I believe reflect what is best for the state, Kotek said in a news release. Kotek, who signed the funding plan into law on Thursday, said the Willamette Falls Trust provided her office with additional information following her notice of the veto. The trust agreed that it will not seek additional legislative support and it will follow through with transparency requirements, she said. I take seriously my responsibility for stewardship of public dollars, and with the assurances outlined in the letter of understanding from Willamette Falls Trust and the accountability measures that will be built into the bond agreement, I am satisfied these funds will be fully accounted for every step of the way, she wrote in a letter of approval. Kotek vetoes bill to ease cattle veterinary regulations, expediting projects in Curry County Kotek vetoed Senate Bill 976, a bill that would have allowed an individual to verify whether cattle are pregnant without holding a valid license issued by the Oregon State Veterinary Medical Examining Board under certain circumstances. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The bill passed almost unanimously in both legislative chambers, but Kotek in a veto letter said the bill has unintended consequences because it would allow unlicensed individuals to charge for services similar to those provided by veterinarians. With diseases such as the bird flu in cattle that can impact humans, Kotek said its critical to maintain a connection between animal owners and licensed veterinarians. I recognize the need to increase access to key veterinary services in rural parts of our state, especially for large animals, Kotek said. I believe that we can have continued conversations about how to meet the needs of rural Oregon while also ensuring the health of our cattle statewide. She also vetoed Senate Bill 1047, which would have required Curry County and the Water Resources Department to expedite review of applications for use on specified lands. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement While she normally supports efforts to improve permitting processes, Kotek said there is no overriding policy rationale for moving the application for a new water right to the head of the line for agency consideration. While she said she understands many of Oregons rural counties are looking to expand economic development, she said the bill prefers Curry County over others. Preferencing any one potential project in statute without substantial public debate does not serve the public interest, nor allow for thoughtful and deliberate consideration of the impacts of a proposed development opportunity on a constrained resource, especially one as important to our survival as water, she wrote. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE On Friday 8 August, a funeral was held in Kyiv for Viktoriia Roshchyna, the Ukrainian journalist who was killed in Russian captivity last year. Source: Ukrainska Pravda Details: A memorial service took place at St Michaels Cathedral, followed by a public farewell ceremony at Independence Square and burial at Baikove Cemetery. The farewell ceremony. Photo: Ukrainska Pravda The ceremony was organised by colleagues from several editorial teams Roshchyna had worked with. Her family had asked that no media requests for comment be directed to them during the ceremony. The farewell ceremony. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Photo: Ukrainska Pravda Viktoriia began her career in journalism at the age of 16, focusing on crime, human rights and the judicial system. After Russias full-scale invasion, she reported from frontline and occupied areas. Some of her work was published by Ukrainska Pravda. The farewell ceremony. Photo: Ukrainska Pravda Read also: The Viktoriia Project: the story of the captivity and torture endured by journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna and thousands of Ukrainians imprisoned by Russia Background: In March 2022, Roshchyna was captured by Russian forces and held for 10 days in the temporarily occupied city of Berdiansk. In 2022, Roshchyna wrote a series of articles for Ukrainska Pravda from the temporarily occupied territories. Her work included stories about life in occupied Crimea during the war, the sham referendum in occupied Donetsk Oblast, and a photo report from the devastated city of Mariupol. On 25 July 2023, Roshchyna left Ukraine for Poland, planning to make the three-day journey via Russia to the occupied part of Ukraine's east. On 3 August 2023, Roshchyna went missing in Russian-occupied territory. It was not until May 2024 that Russia admitted to having detained Roshchyna. The Russian Ministry of Defence sent a letter confirming this to her father, Volodymyr Roshchyn. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posthumously awarded the Order of Freedom to journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna on 2 August. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon! A farewell ceremony was held in Kyiv on Aug. 8 for Viktoriia Roshchyna, a Ukrainian journalist who died in Russian captivity after torture in the fall of 2024. Her death has become a stark symbol of Russia's systemic abuse of Ukrainian civilians and the brutal risks faced by journalists in occupied territories. Roshchyna, 27, disappeared in August 2023 while reporting from Russian-occupied territories. Moscow admitted to detaining her the following year. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The journalist's body was returned to Ukraine in late February 2025, falsely labeled as that of an "unidentified man." DNA testing later confirmed her identity. Ukrainian authorities officially confirmed her death on Oct. 10, 2024, though the cause remains under investigation. Russia claims she died on Sept. 19. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A memorial service was held at St. Michael's Cathedral, followed by a public farewell on Independence Square (Maidan Nezalezhnosti). Roshchyna will be buried in a Kyiv cemetery. A media investigation revealed that her body was returned with several missing organs, prompting suspicions that the disfigurement was meant to conceal signs of suffocation. The day before the ceremony, Ukraine's Prosecutor General's Office charged the head of Russia's Detention Center No. 2 in Taganrog, Rostov Oblast, in absentia for organizing the torture and death of Roshchyna and other Ukrainian detainees. According to prosecutors, Russian forces detained Roshchyna in occupied Zaporizhzhia Oblast and transferred her to the Taganrog facility, where she was systematically tortured, denied medical care and water, beaten, and psychologically pressured to cooperate. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The suspect, who has not been publicly named, is accused of inhumane treatment of civilians by a group acting in collusion. If convicted, he faces up to 12 years in prison. Prosecutors said the suspect knowingly violated international law, including the Geneva Conventions, by targeting a civilian journalist protected under wartime legal norms. Read also: If authoritarians are scared of journalists, we must be doing something right Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Originally appeared on E! Online The latest viral toy has led to an unfortunate La-break-in. As Labubus continue to fly off the shelves, both in person and virtually, one Los Angeles store shared that a group of burglars had snatched up a bunch of the toothy monsters from their establishment. "Today we got robbed," One Stop Sales said in an Aug. 6 Instagram post. "They took all of our inventory, trashed our store. We are still in shock." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The La Puente store shared surveillance footage from 1:37 a.m., in which four masked men entered the property after the sound of shattering glass, before rummaging through the stock and running out with several boxes. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department confirmed to NBC News that "several boxes of Labubu dolls were stolen, valued at approximately seven thousand dollars" during the Aug. 6 burglary. The store's co-owner Joanna Avendano told KABC that other blind boxes and merchandise were also stolen, totaling more than $30,000. More from E! Online Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "We worked so hard to get to this point," she told the outlet, "and for them to just come in and, like nothing, take it all away, it's really bad." While One Stop Sales continues to pick up the pieces following the heartbreaking incident, local officials did find some of the products. "Thank you to the Industry Sheriff's Department for helping us recover some of our items," the shop shared on Instagram Aug. 8 alongside a mountain of inventory. "Thank you for your service in helping us out. We appreciate everything! As well as our community that has been helping us as well!" VCG/VCG via Getty Images The store added that while the case is still under investigation, they will continue to share updates if more items are found. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Labubus have made a monstrous mark in pop culture this summer with the toys/fashion accessorieswhich retail for $27.99being sold second-hand for hundreds. From stars like BLACKPINK's Lisa to David Beckham and Kim Kardashian, the key-ringed plushies have solidified their presence hanging off a lot of bags. As Lisa told Vanity Fair in 2024 ahead of the mainstream craze, "This is my secret obsession." "If I fly to New York, I go to Miami, I try to find Pop Mart there," she admitted, "Paris, everywhere. Kind of like finding treasure." (E! News and NBC News part of the NBCUniversal family.) Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As One Stop Sales awaits more updates, read on for more shocking break-ins. Brad Pitt The One Upon a Timein Hollywood stars Los Angeles home was broken into in June 2025, NBC News reported. Three people were reportedly seen climbing over a fence and entering through a front window. The actor was not home at the time. Nicole Kidman & Keith Urban According to NBC News, several suspects smashed through glass to ransack the couples house before fleeing the scene on Valentines Day 2025. The actress, the singer and their daughters Sunday and Faith were not home at the time. Macklemore The "Thrift Shop" rappers home was targeted in June 2025 when his familys nanny alleged that two men entered the home through a patio door after midnight and sprayed her with bear mace. The intruders stole clothing, jewelry and shoes. Joe Burrow The Cincinnati Bengels quarterback was in Texas when model Olivia Ponton reported a burglary at his home, noting she found his bedroom ransacked and the window shattered. I feel like my privacy has been violated in more ways than one, the athlete said in a December 2024 press conference. Way more is already out there than I would want out there and that I care to share, so thats all I got to say about that. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Travis Kelce & Patrick Mahomes In October 2024, Patrick Mahomes and wife Brittany Mahomes were the victims of a break-in when their Missouri estate was burglarized just after midnight. A day later, Travis Kelce's backdoor was damaged in during a similar incident, with police noting $20,000 in cash was taken. Kristin Cavallari While in the Bahamas with her and ex Jay Cutlers kids Camden, Jaxon and Saylor, the Hills alum experienced a break-in at her rental property. I had Camden in the bed with me. Cam and I were sleeping, she said of the 2020 incident. And I woke up to a man crawling on my bedroom floor. I go, What the f--k are you doing? This man stands up, runs out the door, she continued. He had a ski mask on, full black arms, black pants, the full thing, right? And I went, Oh, f--k. Cavallari said she later learned the suspect was an HVAC technician who had come to the home for a repair earlier in the day. Prince William & Kate Middleton In October 2024, the Prince and Princess of Wales had a close call after a burglar allegedly broke into the grounds of Windsor Castle, where their primary residence Adelaide Cottage is located. While Thames Valley Police confirmed to NBC News that the burglar did not make it to Adelaide Cottage, but the person entered a farm building on the palace grounds then made off with a black Isuzu pickup and a red quad bike. Taylor Swift In March 2019, Roger Alvarado was arrested after police said he climbed onto the singers second floor balcony and used a brick to break a window to enter the NYC apartment. He was sentenced to six months in jail for Attempted Burglary in the Second Degree and Criminal Contempt in the First Degree. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement David Spade In 2017, Beverly Hills Police confirmed to E! News that the Saturday Night Live alums home was robbed. According to TMZ, suspects stole $80,000 worth of belongings from Spade's home, including cash, jewelry and a wedding band that belonged to his mom. David Beckham and Victoria Beckham London Metropolitan Police confirmed to E! News in 2022 that the Beckhams mansion in London was robbed while the couple was home with their daughter Harper. Police noted a number of items were reported stolen. Audrina Patridge The Hills alum fell victim to the Bling Ring robberies in 2009. Having just gotten back from Australia, she left for a party without unpacking. However, when she returned, I was like, Am I losing my mind? My suitcase is gone, my laptop. Everything is off my bed. What is going on?'" she told Rachel Bilson on her podcast in February 2024. "Then I went in my closet and I called my sister and I was like, OK, if I open my jewelry box and stuff is gone, someone is in my house or stole stuff. I opened it, and everything is gone. The Bling Ring, which consisted of members Alexis Haines, Rachel Lee, Nick Prugo, Courtney Ames, Diana Tamayo, Johnny Ajar and Roy Lopez, were all arrested in 2009. Many of the members went on to serve time in prison or probation and community service. Lee, the alleged ringleader, served a year and a half in state prison out of her four year sentence. Prugo served a year in prison, while Haines served 30 days in prison. Ames was sentenced to three years of probation and two months of community service. Tamayo was sentenced to probation and two months of community service. Similarly, Lopez Jr. was sentenced to three years of supervised probation. Ajar was sentenced to three years in prison, but ended up serving one. Hilary Duff The Lizzie McGuire alum was in Canada on vacation with son Luca when her Los Angeles home was broken into in 2017. This is a scary and upsetting situation for anyone to go through, Duffs rep told E! News at the time, but Hilary is thankful that her family, her staff, her home and her pets are all safe. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Julianne Moore While the actress was in Toronto filming Carrie in 2012, her New York City apartment was burglarized and 10 pieces of jewelry totaling at least $127,000 were stolen, NYPD Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne confirmed to E! News. Rita Ora The singer defended herself when burglars entered her northern London home in 2016. Dont f--king come up these stairs, Ora can be heard saying in a recording of her call to police. I will f--k you up, you f--king hear me! Still, the suspect stole nearly $295,000 worth of jewelry, clothes, iPhones and Mac computers. Nicki Minaj While the Super Bass rapper was out of town in 2017, her Beverly Hills home was robbed and around $175,000 worth of jewelry and other items were stolen. Mariah Carey The Obsessed singer was the victim of a burglary in 2017, when $50,000 worth of handbags and sunglasses were taken from her Los Angeles home. The suspect, according to the LAPD, entered through a window. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Kendall Jenner In 2017, $200,000 worth of items were stolen from the models Hollywood Hills home, according to TMZ. For the latest breaking news updates, click here to download the E! News App NEED TO KNOW Four men broke into a Los Angeles store and stole around $7,000 worth of Labubu dolls The owners of the store believe the burglary was planned after the owners posted on social media about restocking the dolls Labubu dolls, made by Chinese brand Pop Mart, are highly sought-after collectibles A group of four men stole $7,000 worth of Labubu dolls, the summers hottest new toy, from a California store. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The store, One Stop Sales, posted on Instagram that burglars broke into their store and stole all of our inventory, including the trendy plush toy known for its toothy gremlin smile and big eyes. Today we got robbed, and they took all of our inventory, trashed our store, we are still in shock, the post read. If you guys can share this post please, and help us find these thieves. One Stop Sales/Instagram Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputies responded to the robbery in La Puente at 1:29 a.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 6, the department told NBC News. "Several boxes of Labubu dolls were stolen, valued at approximately seven thousand dollars," the sheriff's department told the outlet in a statement. The four men used a stolen Toyota Tacoma that was recovered by deputies after the burglary, the statement added. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement One Stop Sales posted security footage on Instagram that shows the four men breaking into the store and taking several boxes of the toys away. Joanna Avendano, the co-owner of the store, told ABC7 that the shop had only been open for two months before it was robbed. "There was a lot taken, maybe like around $30,000 or more of inventory," Avendano said. "We worked so hard to get to this point, and for them to just come in and, like nothing, take it all away, it's really bad." Avendano believes the break-in was planned, she told the outlet. She had noticed a truck parked near the store on Tuesday night after the store posted on social media that it had restocked the store with Labubus. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "I was watching everything, from when they got in, what they were taking," she said. "I was panicking because I was just ... I couldn't do anything." 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. Labubu dolls are exclusively made by Pop Mart, a Chinese retailer that makes blind box items, where the contents remain unknown until the box is opened. According to the company's website, the pricier dolls can go for $500, and most dolls are sold out online. The Los Angeles County Sheriffs Departments investigation is ongoing, local outlets reported. Read the original article on People Thieves ransacked a Los Angeles shop, stealing thousands of dollars worth of Labubu dolls, the highly sought after plush toys fans are queuing for hours to get their hands on. A gang broke into One Stop Sales in La Puente, and stole $7,000 worth of Labubus during a heist on Wednesday morning. Joanna Avendano, co-owner of the resale store, said the thieves bypassed cash and electrical goods to specifically target the Labubus. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Labubu dolls, designed by Hong Kong artist Kasing Lung and sold through Beijing firm Pop Mart, come in blind boxes so the buyer does not know which variety of doll they have until they open it. The cuddly, sharp-toothed monster toys are released in limited runs, driving up the price of some of the rarer versions into the thousands. Thieves search for Labubu dolls after breaking into One Stop Sales in La Puente In June, Pop Mart paused the sale of Labubus in its British stores after customers were fighting over them on the shop floor. One Stop Shop was selling some of the dolls, which are commonly worn as key chains on handbags for upwards of $500, NBC News reported. According to the Los Angeles County Sheriffs Department, multiple boxes of the dolls were taken at an estimated value of around $7,000. Other items were also taken. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Today we got robbed, and they took all of our inventory, trashed our store, we are still in shock, read a statement posted to the shops Instagram account. Other items were also stolen - ABC7 Speaking to ABC 7 news, Ms Avendano said: There was a lot taken, maybe like around $30,000 or more of inventory. We worked so hard to get to this point, and for them to just come in and, like nothing, take it all away, its really bad. Ms Avendano said the suspects targeted the store after she posted on social media about a restock of the dolls. Several boxes of Labubu dolls were stolen, valued at approximately $7,000, the sheriffs department said in a statement. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The burglars were using a stolen Toyota Tacoma that was recovered shortly after the store was targeted. 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. LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) The Boulet administrations proposed $803 million budget was the focus of two recent hearings held today attended by city and parish council members. News 10 spoke with Lafayette Mayor President Monique Blanco-Boulet, who says the councils top priorities are making sure residents know their government is working for them. A government should really be for the people of the people and the council, they each come from their own respective districts and bring their concerns and the issues that theyre dealing with, said Boulet, emphasizing the importance of council members roles in the budget process. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The budget discussions covered various areas including community development, planning, innovation and technology, municipal civil service and public works. These items represent a significant portion of the overall budget, highlighting the administrations priorities for the upcoming fiscal year. These items at the August 7 hearings totaled to $342 million, which is just a portion of the budget. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now KLFY Daily Digest One of the notable projects included in the budget is the development of Jefferson Boulevard. One of the new projects is Jefferson Boulevard which that is the other side of Jefferson Street, past the tracks, said Boulet. Its piece of roadway that DOTD has owned and really has not maintained well, thats been on the books for a long time, so we will start the construction on that project should it make it through this budget process. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Next week, council members will continue their review of the budget with departments such as parks and recreation, police, fire departments and libraries. Boulet has encouraged residents to participate in these meetings to express their concerns and priorities for their neighborhoods. Boulet also highlighted the complexity of the budget process is due to the consolidation of city and parish functions. Its that consolidation that makes it really complex, so you see the implications of that consolidation in this budget process, said Boulet. So, you see the implications of that consolidation in this budget process, because there are things that are done together as well as separate, and its interesting to watch the two different councils work together when they need to and then work independently when they need to. The ongoing budget hearings are a critical step in determining the allocation of resources for the city and parish, with public participation being encouraged to ensure that community needs are addressed. The outcome of these discussions will shape the administrations focus for the coming year. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement An adoption for the budget is expected to be made by the parish and city councils on September 11. For more information on what the budget includes, visit the Lafayette Consolidated Governments Finance Page. Latest 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 KLFY.com. Lake City beauty queen accuses Republican Florida congressman of revenge porn threats U.S. Rep. Cory Mills, a central Florida Republican, has been accused by a beauty pageant titleholder of threatening to release intimate videos and private images of her after she ended their romantic relationship, according to a report filed with law enforcement last month. His ex-girlfriend, Lindsey Langston, reigning Miss United States, filed a report with the Columbia County Sheriffs Office on July 14 alleging that Mills threatened to release nude photos and videos of her after they broke up. Mills on Wednesday denied the allegations. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement These claims are false and misrepresent the nature of my interactions, Mills said in a statement. I have always conducted myself with integrity, both personally and in service to Floridas 7th District. >>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<< Langston claims that after discovering Mills was seeing someone else, she moved out of his New Smyrna Beach rental property, but Mills continued to contact her despite her requests for him to stop. The sheriffs office forwarded the information to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which is now handling the case, Sgt. Steven Khachigan, a spokesman for the Columbia County Sheriffs Office, said in an email. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement No charges have been filed. The FDLE said Wednesday that it doesnt comment on any active inquiries or investigations. In his statement, Mills said the allegations were being pushed by a former political opponent, Lake County commissioner Anthony Sabatini, who ran against him in a 2022 GOP primary for the House seat. Anthony Sabatini is weaponizing the legal system to launch a political attack against the man who beat him in the primary, using his corporate legal office to push a narrative built on lies and flawed legal arguments all to score political headlines, Mills said. Mills said he wouldnt comment further. [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks] My team and I will fully cooperate to ensure the truth is made clear. I remain focused on serving my constituents and advancing America First policies, Mills said in the statement. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Sabatini didnt respond to an emailed inquiry, but posted on social media on Wednesday: Mills must resign. Langston told sheriffs office investigators that she started a romantic relationship with Mills in 2021, and it ended in February. During their time together, she lived with him at a home in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, while the congressman traveled back and forth from Washington. At the time they met, Mills was still married but had separated from his wife, and he told her that the divorce was finalized in 2024, she said. Langston said she moved out of the New Smyrna Beach home earlier this year and moved to Columbia County following news reports about allegations against Mills from another woman described as his girlfriend in Washington. After she left, the congressman contacted her numerous times, threatening to release nude images of her and videos of her and Mills engaging in sex acts, she said in the sheriffs office report. The congressman also threatened to harm any men that the woman planned to date in the future, she said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Mills was first elected to Congress in 2022, and his district stretches from the Orlando area to the Daytona Beach area. [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter] Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live. A major wildfire has broken out south-east of Athens and is burning out of control, fanned by strong winds, the local fire service said on Friday. Several villages have been evacuated as a precaution, and civil protection authorities have declared the highest level of fire danger across much of the Aegean. The blaze, which erupted on Friday afternoon for reasons that remain unclear, is located about 35 kilometres south-east of the Greek capital. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Authorities said three water-bombing aircraft and five helicopters are battling the flames from the air, while firefighters from other parts of the country are reinforcing local crews. Additional support is on the way, state broadcaster ERT reported. Tourist facilities in the area are not currently at risk, according to reporters at the scene. The Athens meteorological service has warned of gale-force winds across the Aegean. Forecasters expect strong winds to continue hampering firefighting efforts in the coming days. Meteorologists warned that, given the ongoing drought, even small sparks could ignite a large blaze within minutes. When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Aerial photograph of the Amazon rainforest in Brazil. It is the largest rainforest in the world. | Credit: Ignacio Palacios via Getty Images Although rainforests cover only a small percentage of Earth's total surface area, they're home to half of the world's plant and animal species. As the name suggests, rainforests are also very wet: They receive more than 70 inches (178 centimeters) of rain each year, on average. There are many types of rainforests, but they can be split into two general categories: tropical and temperate. Tropical rainforests are hot, lush forests located close to the equator, while the rarer temperate rainforests are found farther north or south of the equator, near coastal areas, according to the NASA Earth Observatory . All of the biggest rainforests on Earth fall into the former category, but we've included the largest temperate rainforest as an honorable mention. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It's tricky to compare rainforest sizes because where they start and finish is not always clear; a single forest can span several countries and may be broken up. Rainforest sizes also fluctuate over time due to climate change and deforestation . There's no doubt about the largest and second-largest rainforests on this list, but the remaining two are based on estimates and expert opinion. 4. Sundaland rainforest Image 1 of 3 In this aerial view the Musi River glistens gold in South Sumatra, Indonesia. The Musi River glistens gold in South Sumatra, Indonesia Image 2 of 3 a corpse flower blooms at night in the forest The Sundaland rainforest is home to the corpse flower, which smells like rotten flesh when it blooms. Image 3 of 3 a young orangutan rides on the back of its mother Orangutans also roam the Sundaland rainforest. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Sundaland rainforest is the fourth-biggest rainforest in the world, at about 197,000 square miles (510,000 square km), according to Mongabay , a nonprofit news website for environmental science and conservation. The rainforest includes the Malay Peninsula on mainland Southeast Asia and the nearby islands of Sumatra, Java and Borneo. It spans Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Thailand and Singapore. The Sundaland rainforest is home to many species, including orangutans, Bornean rainbow toads (Ansonia latidisca) and corpse flowers (Rafflesia arnoldi), the world's largest flower. Indonesia's primary rainforest has declined by more than 37,000 square miles (97,000 square km) since 2001, according to data from Global Forest Watch, a nonprofit that monitors forests around the world. Nonetheless, Elizabeth Goldman , a research manager for Global Forest Watch at World Resources Institute, told Live Science she considers the country one of the brighter spots when it comes to deforestation. "Historically, there has been a lot of commercial oil palm plantation establishment or timber extraction," Goldman said. But in recent years, she added, "we've seen decreasing primary forest loss in Indonesia and Malaysia." The Indonesian government has been very active in trying to reduce deforestation, especially since the country was badly affected by fires in 2015, she added. 3. New Guinea rainforest Image 1 of 3 An aerial photograph of a rainforest in Papua New Guinea. An aerial photograph of a rainforest in Papua New Guinea. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Image 2 of 3 a crowned pigeon walks across the forest floor Crowned pigeons are a distinctive type of bird native to the New Guinea rainforest. Image 3 of 3 a tree kangaroo holds onto a branch The endangered tree kangaroo also calls the New Guinea rainforest home. The third-largest continuous rainforest in the world is on the island of New Guinea, which is split into two countries: The eastern half is part of Papua New Guinea, and the western half belongs to Indonesia. This island covers about 303,000 square miles (786,000 square km) and is home to at least 5% of the world's plant and animal species, including tree kangaroos and crowned pigeons, according to the WWF . The New Guinea rainforest can also be mapped to include the forests of northern Australia as they were once connected; New Guinea and Australia became separated by ocean about 11,700 years ago, according to the Australian government's Geoscience Australia website. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Commercial logging and agriculture are rapidly deforesting New Guinea. The process usually starts with selective logging of commercially valuable timber, with the area then more likely to be converted to industrial plantations to grow crops such as oil palm trees, according to Mongabay . 2. Congo Basin Image 1 of 3 The Congo River at sunset in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Congo River at sunset in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Image 2 of 3 two young bonobos hug each other with more bonobos in the background One of humans' closest animal relatives, bonobos, are found in the Congo Basin rainforest. Image 3 of 3 two elephants walk through tall grass Packs of forest elephants also rove through the Congo Basin rainforest. The Congo Basin rainforest in Central Africa is the second-largest rainforest, spanning more than 780,000 square miles (2 million square km), according to the WWF . The rainforest encompasses six countries in West and Central Africa: Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, the Central African Republic, the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The DRC has more than 383,000 square miles (992,000 square km) of primary rainforest more than any other country except Brazil, according to Global Forest Watch data. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Gorillas, forest elephants and thousands of other species call the Congo rainforest home. Many of these species, such as bonobos (Pan paniscus) and okapi (Okapia johnstoni), are found nowhere else on Earth. The Congo Basin is threatened by deforestation, primarily for agriculture. In contrast to the industrial agriculture deforestation in the Amazon, the Congo rainforest is typically cut down for smaller-scale agriculture for example, by subsistence farmers who grow food to feed their families or to supply local markets, Goldman said. "It's often cultivated for a few years until soil nutrients are depleted, and then it's left fallow for a number of years," Goldman said. "And oftentimes, the forest will actually come back as secondary forest and then will get cut again. So you see this shifting cycle of loss and regrowth in those areas." The forest is also threatened by expanding urban areas, mining and industrial logging, according to Mongabay . 1. Amazon rainforest Image 1 of 3 More than 850,000 indigenous people in over 300 tribes live in the Amazon rainforest in Brazil. More than 850,000 indigenous people in over 300 tribes live in the Amazon rainforest in Brazil. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Image 2 of 3 a jaguar emerges from the water Jaguars prowl the waters of the Amazon rainforest. Image 3 of 3 a harpy eagle opens its mouth with a crowd of people behind it Harpy eagles, one of the largest species of eagle in the world, also call the Amazon rainforest home. The Amazon rainforest in South America is, by far, the largest rainforest in the world. It covers about 80% of the Amazon basin, which spans at least 2.3 million square miles (6 million square kilometers), according to the NASA Earth Observatory . That's more than half the size of the U.S. and three times bigger than the next-largest rainforest. The Amazon is spread across nine countries in South America: Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Venezuela, Guyana, French Guiana and Suriname. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to the WWF , the forest includes at least 10% of Earth's total biodiversity, or variety of plants, animals and other living things. This includes many species, such as sloths , harpy eagles (Harpia harpyja), Brazil nut trees (Bertholletia excelsa) and jaguars (Panthera onca). Brazil has the largest chunk of the Amazon rainforest , with more than 1.2 million square miles (3.11 million square km) of primary rainforest. These are mature forests that haven't been disturbed in recent times. However, that forest is rapidly deteriorating; Brazil is also the No. 1 country for forest loss, with a decline of more than 100,000 square miles (260,000 square km) since 2001, according to data from Global Forest Watch. "A lot of this is due to agricultural expansion," Goldman said. "Fires will be set to clear land, and oftentimes, those fires will escape into neighboring forests." Amazon clearing is typically for larger-scale industrial agriculture for example, for growing animals such as cattle and crops like soy, according to Goldman. Fires contribute to climate change , which causes the forests to become hotter and drier. That makes them more flammable, thus creating a destructive feedback loop. Data from the World Wildlife Foundation suggests that nearly 20% of the Amazon forest has been completely destroyed, and more of the forest has been degraded. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Related: The Amazon rainforest is officially creating more greenhouse gases than it is absorbing Honorable mention: Tongass National Forest Image 1 of 2 A photo in the Tongass National Forest on Baranof Island, Alaska. A photo in the Tongass National Forest on Baranof Island, Alaska. Image 2 of 2 a grizzly bear stands on its hind legs in a field Grizzly bears (also known as brown bears) are one of the many animals that live in the Tongass National Forest. The largest temperate rainforest in the world is the Tongass National Forest in Alaska. It is much smaller than any of the tropical rainforests on this list, at about 26,250 square miles (68,000 square km), according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Temperate rainforests cover less land than tropical rainforests and are found in cooler climates, usually next to oceans. LAS VEGAS (KLAS) Erika Ballou, the embattled district court judge who repeatedly defied state supreme court orders to send a criminal defendant back to jail, commented publicly for the first time Thursday, defending her actions in a criminal case that led to the district attorney calling for her removal from the bench. At a public hearing of the state Commission on Judicial Discipline, Ballou defended her actions in a case regarding a womanMia Christmanwho pleaded guilty to two felony charges and started serving, at minimum, a 10-year prison sentence in 2016 as part of a violent crime spree when Christman was 18. Ballou, whose testimony was at times feisty, essentially argued that in allowing Christman to remain out of prison, she was showing compassion based on Christmans troubled past and that she had a baby while she was free. Ballou testified she tried to avoid separating Christman from her newborn. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I didnt want that to happen, Ballou testified. That compassion, Ballou argued, was grounded in the canons of judicial ethics. I would hope that it would bring respect to the judicial system, Ballou said. Tom Pitaro, Ballous attorney, in his closing argument to the commission, concurred. It doesnt bring disrespect upon the court if a judge looks at a terrible situation facing a six-month-old child and says, I want to give you time to straighten it out,' Pitaro said. I dont believe anyone thinks that that brings dishonor on the court. Arguing it does blows my mind. Ballou also explained certain court procedures that led to some of the allegations against her, and denied having any bias against prosecutors. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Its not correct, Ballou said. Ballou vacated Christmans sentence in 2021, resulting in Christmans release from prison before she finished serving the original term. The state objected to and appealed Ballous decision to release Christman, and ultimately appealed to the state supreme court, which ordered Ballou to rule in favor of the state and return Christman to custody. When Ballou refused to comply, the district courts chief judge reassigned the case. Christman, 31, is currently being held at Florence McClure Womens Correctional Center, a state prison for women in North Las Vegas, according to records from the Department of Corrections. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ballou said she inherited the Christman case when she assumed her elected position in district court. Ballou was elected in 2020 and began her term in 2021, replacing a retired judge. Thursdays hearing began at 8 a.m. without Ballou, who arrived late, indicating she had gotten lost before arriving at the hearing location at the Las Vegas office of the Nevada State Bar. The State Commission on Judicial Discipline formally charged Ballou in April for ethics violations for, among other things, bias, not recusing herself from the Christman case, failing to cooperate with the commissions investigation, and failing to uphold the law. The commission had previously censured Ballou for certain ethical violations. This is a case about honor, or, more specifically, failure of honor, Thomas Bradley, special counsel prosecuting the case against Ballou, said at the outset of Thursdays hearing. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Pitaro, on behalf of Ballou, summarized his entire argument in one sentence to the commission. The question is, what did Judge Ballou do? The commission also heard testimony, largely of a procedural nature, from Christmans court-appointed attorney, Betsy Allen. Allen had secured Christmans release when she successfully moved that the court reconsider Christmans sentence. In addition to the Christman case, Ballou remains at the center of additional controversies. She was publicly censured and ordered to take a course on judicial and social ethics after posting a photo of herself in a hot tub with public defenders in 2021 and a separate incident in which she made comments about police. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In May 2025, Clark County District Court Chief Judge Jerry Wiese stripped Ballou of all of her criminal cases after a public defender accused Ballou of mistreatment. That defense attorney filed a document with the court alleging Ballou accused her in open court of having a sexual affair with her client. The 8 News Now Investigators solicited comment concerning each of these matters from either Ballou or her attorney, Tom Pitaro, to no avail. Both Pitaro and Ballou refused the 8 News Now Investigators request for comment after Thursdays hearing. Ballou served as a public defender for over 15 years before being sworn into the bench in 2021. Her current term ends in 2027. 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. LAS VEGAS (KLAS) Las Vegas Metro police documents obtained by the 8 News Now investigators detail the allegations made against a man accused of sexually assaulting a man while massaging her. Police looking for additional sexual assault victims of Las Vegas man The man, identified as 58-year-old Eduardo Gregorio MartinezMillan, was arrested on July 20. He is facing two counts of sexual assault and one count of open/gross lewdness and operating a business without a license, according to court records. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On July 20, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police received a womans report that a man took off her pants and touched her private parts while he was giving her a massage in his home. LVMPD detectives say they are seeking other sexual assault victims of Eduardo Gregorio MatinezMillan. (LVMPD) The womans husband met MartinezMillan the previous day, outside a grocery store on East Lake Mead Boulevard near Civic Center Drive in North Las Vegas, according to documents. Her husband told police MartinezMillan was handing out business cards advertising massage therapy services, so he contacted him later that day to schedule an appointment at MartinezMilans home. The victims husband received a massage first while she watched their children, according to the report. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement MartinezMillan started her massage and got about halfway through the service when her husband had to leave to get food for their children, according to the documents. Once the victim was alone with MartinezMillan, she stated that he asked her to remove her bra and proceeded to massage her breasts to reduce pain in her neck, according to the report. She told police that MartinezMillan then instructed her to lie on her stomach on the massage table and pulled her shorts down, before inserting his finger into her rectum to fix her waist, documents stated. The victim recalled being in pain, crying, and asked MartinezMillan to stop, to which he reportedly replied, Fine, you do not want to get better, the report said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement After the incident, the victim told her boyfriend about what happened, and they called 911, which led to MartinezMillans arrest. During an interview with police, MartinezMillan admitted to working without a business license and described his massage skills as self-taught. He also said it was common for him to perform massages at his home late at night. MartinezMillan told officers the actions he performed were normal massage techniques and referred to the incident as a misunderstanding. He is being held on a $100,000 bail in the Clark County Detention Center. He is scheduled to appear in court for an arraignment on August 11. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Anyone who believes they may be a victim or have information about crimes associated with MartinezMillan is urged to contact the LVMPD Sexual Assault & Abuse Section at (702) 828-2963 or by email: SAHotlinetips@lvmpd.com. To remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers at (702) 385-5555. 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. LAS VEGAS (KLAS) Las Vegas police are asking for the publics help to identify a person of interest after a severed pigs head was mailed to a Las Vegas home. On July 30, Las Vegas police were notified of a suspicious package delivered to a west Las Vegas neighborhood near Alta and Sky Vista drives. The package contained a severed pigs head, police said. Las Vegas Metropolitan police did not specify in their news release if this case is the same as the one 8 News Now reported earlier this week about a Las Vegas man who recieved a bloodied pigs head in his mail. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A source confirmed to 8 News Now that the cases are the same. Through the investigation, police recovered surveillance footage of a man wearing a black t-shirt entering a post office on July 28. Detectives are now asking for the publics help to identify that man. Police ask for help identifying person of interest after severed pigs head mailed to residence. (LVMPD) Police ask for help identifying person of interest after severed pigs head mailed to residence. (LVMPD) Anyone with information regarding this incident or the individual depicted in the pictures is encouraged to contact LVMPD Summerlin Patrol Detectives at (702) 828- 9471, or email at s9319i@lvmpd.com. To remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers at 702- 385-5555, or on the internet at www.crimestoppersofnv.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 KLAS. LAS VEGAS (KLAS) Las Vegas police are searching for five people accused of committing a robbery at a business in the north Las Vegas valley. It took place on July 9 in the 6000 block of North Decatur Boulevard near Tropical Parkway. Las Vegas police are searching for five people accused of a committing a robbery at a business in the north Las Vegas valley. (LVMPD) Las Vegas police are searching for five people accused of a committing a robbery at a business in the north Las Vegas valley. (LVMPD) Las Vegas police are searching for five people accused of a committing a robbery at a business in the north Las Vegas valley. (LVMPD) Las Vegas police are searching for five people accused of a committing a robbery at a business in the north Las Vegas valley. (LVMPD) The suspects are accused of stealing merchandise and using violence, including a weapon, against employees who attempted to prevent the theft, police said. Anyone with information is urged to call Las Vegas Metro police or Crime Stoppers at 702-385-5555. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. LAS VEGAS (KLAS) A 78-year-old woman died more than a month after a DUI hit-and-run crash in the southeast valley. On July 3, at around 7:15 p.m., police responded to a collision at the intersection of Mountain Vista and Rawhide streets involving two vehicles. Police said evidence at the scene showed a 2003 GMC Yukon was driving south on Mountain Vista approaching Rawhide. At the same time, a 2017 Hyundai Sonata was stopped at a stop sign on eastbound Rawhide. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Hyundai began entering the intersection, turning left. The collision happened when the GMC hit the left side of the Hyundai. The driver of the GMC, later identified as Carlos Lee, 41, then got out of his vehicle and ran away from the scene. Medical personnel took the driver of the Hyundai, a 78-year-old woman, to a nearby hospital. On August 6, she succumbed to her injuries, and hospital staff pronounced her dead. Lee later returned to the scene and was arrested for DUI, reckless driving resulting in death or serious bodily harm, and duty to stop at the scene of an accident. He posted bond and is expected to be in court on Sept. 30. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. LAS VEGAS (KLAS) A federal judge sentenced a woman to more than 2 years in prison for her role in stealing 38 firearms from a Federal Firearms Licensee business and selling at least 20 of them. Alexis Breanna Worrell, of Las Vegas, pleaded guilty to one count of theft of firearms from a licensee and one count of possession of stolen firearms. A judge sentenced her to 30 months in prison, followed by two years of supervised release, according to a release from the Department of Justice. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Her co-defendant, Dennis James Caputo, was sentenced to six years in prison after pleading guilty to those same charges. According to court documents, on July 24, 2023, Worrell, Caputo, and a third person drove from Las Vegas to Overton, Nevada. After the Federal Firearms Licensee business in the city closed, Caputo climbed onto the roof and used a tool to open a hole. Caputo told Worrell to wait for his call at a gas station convenience store while he dropped into the business, silenced the motion-sensor alarm, and pulled various firearms from displays, filling two five-gallon buckets and a rifle case, court documents showed. Worrell admitted she helped Caputo put the guns into the cab of a vehicle. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Between July 25, 2023, to Sept. 5, 2023, the two sold and transferred some of the stolen firearms to other people, the release stated. So far, law enforcement recovered nine of those stolen firearms from five prohibited people who were engaged in criminal activities in the Las Vegas valley. Four of the firearms remain outstanding. Worrell was previously convicted of trafficking methamphetamine in Clark County. Caputo was previously convicted of felony drug crimes in Douglas County, Clackamas County, and Coos County, Oregon; and burglary in Cowlitz County, Washington. 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. Jacobs Ladder Festival is back for what may be its final year, celebrating 47 years of folk, country, and community in Israel. In a running joke among music fans, British rock greats The Who refuse to retire. This summer, they are performing what is billed as their final tour, after having done numerous farewell tours over the last couple of decades. But who knows? Founders of the venerable Jacobs Ladder Festival, Menachem and Yehudit Vinegrad, are hedging their bets on calling this Octobers gathering the last one, but it could very well be. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It depends if people buy tickets and book rooms, said Yehudit with a chuckle, during a recent phone call from her home in Katzrin. If its full, well be encouraged to do it again. The Vinegrads, both 78, made aliyah from England in 1967 to the North, and launched the folk/country/Irish music cultural meetup back in 1978 at Kibbutz Mahanayim. Since then, its become an Israeli institution, with generations of rootsy music lovers, both Anglo and native Israeli, making the pilgrimage to various northern locations from Horshat Tal to Kibbutz Ginossar (its home from 2003 until COVID time) for two to three days of music, activities, swimming, food, and family time in a secure and loving setting. Acrobats, face-painting and new age accoutrements blended effortlessly with banjos, fiddles, rock & roll, camping, swimming, and barbecues. A FLASHBACK to a Jacobs Ladder outdoor festival in 2015 at Ginosaur. (credit: HADAS PARUSH/FLASH90) A cultural institution in Israel We treated our entire family to Jacobs Ladder every summer without fail for 15 years, said Jerusalem resident Brian Blum. It was great bonding time, and the kids loved jumping in the Kinneret. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The pandemic and, soon after, the war in Gaza and Lebanon along with evolving economic constraints wreaked havoc with the festivals scheduling and format, and in 2022 it was reborn as a smaller-scale, but still encompassing indoor event at Kfar Blum, where it has found a welcome home. But the Vinegrads expressed doubt that it will continue beyond this years festival, taking place on Friday and Saturday, October 3-4, beginning the day after Yom Kippur. We planned to do this until we were 89, said Menachem Vinegrad. At first we said, when were 60. Then no, when were 70. So if we can get to 80, it will be a wonderful achievement. And if not, its still a wonderful achievement. The festivals been going for 47 years, and during that time we must have put on over 60 of them. So, it hasnt been a bad run. IF IT is the final one, this years festival will make the legacy proud. Headlining will be festival favorites The Abrams from Canada, returning for the first time since 2017. Featuring brother John Abrams and James Abrams, the family band effortlessly combines country, bluegrass, rock, and pop with unbridled enthusiasm, and has ended many a Jacobs Ladder on an ecstatic note. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to the Vinegrads, even though the group is well beyond the festivals modest pay scale, they love the vibe and the crowds in Israel so much, they forgo some of their contract requirements. In addition, as ardent supporters of Israel, the Christian Zionists are getting their flights subsidized by Bnai Brith Canada. They had contacted us in 2019 and asked to appear, and we had to turn them down because we couldnt afford it, said Yehudit. The last big festival we had at Ginossar, we only covered the expenses, except for our own. We worked so hard for months, and we were able to pay all of the artists and suppliers, except for ourselves. It was very stressful; we were afraid we wouldnt be able to pay all of the artists. But with the flights taken care of, and amid the specter that this might be the last time for the Abrams and Jacobs Ladder connection, arrangements were made for their return. If this is our last festival, lets go out in style, said Menachem. We have a very good relationship with the Abrams. We always pick them up at the airport, we stayed with them when we were in Ontario. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Theyre coming for three nights from Canada, added Yehudit. They said, We would never do this for anyone but Jacobs Ladder. However, with the North being only a few months free of steady rocket fire from Hezbollah, the Vinegrads told the brothers, who are coming with their father, Brian, the bands founder, that they could back out if hostilities resumed. We told them we didnt want them to endanger themselves, and if Canada issues a warning saying its not safe, then please dont come, said Yehudit. But theyre so enthusiastic. Its touching and amazing. The Abrams arent the only reason to attend this years festival. Among the other artists doing sets will be festival regular Shay Tochner & Friends; Black Velvet with Ronit Shahar doing Irish and Scottish material; the Rusties performing a rocking tribute to Neil Young; and gospel, soul, and ecology from the unique Maple & the Ecosystem. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Im sad that the summer camping version of Jacobs Ladder has ended, but our whole crew kids and friends will be attending the winter version this year, in Airbnbs and the Kfar Blum kibbutz hotel, said attendee Blum. The lineup looks amazing. Were so glad Jacobs Ladder is continuing one year at a time, as who knows what the future may hold? The Vinegrads found satisfaction in that multigenerational pull the festival held for so many years. One of things we encounter all the time is people in their 30s and 40s contacting us and saying we grew up at Jacobs Ladder, and we would so much have loved for our children to have been able to attend something like that three days of music and peace in absolute safety, said Menachem. Were sorry we cant offer that much anymore, but we can offer the music, and the feeling, in a slightly different fashion. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The music is still the key, added Yehudit. Its authentic, and its simple, like it has been for the whole time of the festivals existence. We go to hear every group personally before adding them to the bill. The festival has traditionally always ended with the Lead Belly standard Irene, Goodnight, sung by whichever artists are still there and the entire audience in one group sway hug. When the song finishes this year, it may never return. But the reverberations will be felt by anyone who had the privilege of attending a Jacobs Ladder festival. When asked whether someone else, their children or grandchildren, could or would take over the festival when they step down, the Vinegrads demurred. Jacobs Ladder is something unique in our DNA, said Yehudit. I dont think anyone else can take it over. For tickets and information, jlfestival.com Giving away your money can be rewarding and enjoyable while creating a lasting, living legacy for your business and your family. A great example is one couple who came up with a creative plan to give away $ 5 million with the goal of inspiring others to join them. Many worthwhile organizations struggle just to keep their doors open each year and we decided to help change that, said philanthropists Ellen and Joe Checota. We decided to pick three arts organizations we really care about and give each a challenge grant of $5 million. The Checotas pledged a matching grant to the endowments of each organization with the requirement that matching gifts be raised in amounts no larger than $300,000 each in order to grow the number of donors to the endowments. Endowments are invested and the organizations use only the earnings on those investments so the original gift lasts for many years. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement These challenge grants are unprecedented in Milwaukee and promise to be transformational for our fundraising efforts," said Chad Bauman, president of the Milwaukee Repertory Theater, one of the recipients. The theater is undergoing an $80.1 million makeover. Charitable investments can deepen impact of giving Many people and families are missing the opportunity to be more creative and make a charitable investment that lasts for many years into the future and makes them feel really good about sharing their wealth. Creating a lasting living legacy can keep alive the story of those who created the wealth being passed from one generation to the next. A legacy gift can inspire future generations to continue the tradition of giving and keep the family memory alive for generations into the future. By combining the philanthropy with family histories the legacy takes on a life of its own and grows over time. The time to start this process is while members of the current generation are able to tell their story themselves. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In future columns, we will discuss the hows and whys of business and personal philanthropy. We will explore different examples of creative philanthropy and the basic tools that can be used to capture, sustain and grow a living legacy. We will also respond to questions and examples of philanthropy from readers. You may submit your questions or comments by writing us at: cmueller777@gmail.com. H. Carl Mueller is a career communicator who has run a successful business and worked with many philanthropists and nonprofit organizations over the past four decades. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee Repertory Theater benefits from matching grant | Opinion TAHLEQUAH The United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians and the Cherokee Nation are at odds over new language in existing public law, proposed by U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-District 52. The sixth proviso under Operation of Indians Programs in Public Law 102-154 for fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 1992, as amended by public law 105-277 for fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 1999, has been put forward by Mullin to be repealed. Provided further, that no funds appropriated under this or any other Act shall be used to take land into trust within the boundaries of the Cherokee Nation reservation in Oklahoma without the written consent of the Cherokee Nation, states the proposed language. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Except as provided, no other Indian tribe than the CN shall possess tribal jurisdiction over such reservation or any portion thereof under any provision of law, including the treaties with the CN referenced in section 602(3) of Public Law 103-331, 116 Stat. 2845, reads the proposed language. That the two preceding provisos shall not: No. 1: prevent any such other Indian tribe from exercising any jurisdiction that such Indian tribe may have over any parcel of land within that reservation which was acquired in trust for such other Indian tribe by the Secretary of the Interior pursuant to 25 C.F.R. part 151 prior to the date of enactment of the [insert short title of the appropriations bill that will include this language], reads the proposed language. No. 2, which the two preceding provisos wont affect, involves the validity of the acquisition of a parcel of land in trust for any other Indian tribe provided that any use of a parcel of land shall be for non-gaming purposes only, reads the proposed language. Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. wrote in his weekly Chief Chat column that as an act of fairness to the UKB, he has asked Congress to allow the 76 acres containing the UKBs government complex to remain in trust. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The legislation does nothing to undermine the authority of the UKB as a band of Indians authorized in 1946, Hoskin said. It simply serves as a check on the UKBs claims; notwithstanding its 20th century origins, it somehow possesses Cherokee Nation treaty rights and governing authority established in the 19th century. Hoskin said the UKB has fabricated claims of possessing CNs treaty rights and history for decades. Fortunately, neither the Congress, the courts, nor the federal executive branch have agreed with the UKBs phony narrative, Hoskin said. We respect the fact that UKB is a federally recognized tribe that traces its roots to a 1946 Act of Congress, declaring it a band and granting it no rights to jurisdiction or other treaty rights. The Cherokee Nation will not stand by while UKB claims otherwise, putting the public at risk in the process through its baseless assertion of criminal justice authority, Hoskin wrote. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We appreciate Sen. Mullin, a proven defender of tribal sovereignty, advancing the legislation and we look forward to it being signed into law, Hoskin said. The UKB has responded as strongly as the CN on this issue, and Chief Jeff Wacoche said the UKB demands immediate retraction of a shocking and shameful legislative provision drafted by [Cherokee Nation] member Sen. Markwayne Mullin at the behest of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. He states this legislation would terminate the UKBs right to trust land and basic economic development rights within the reservation that it shares with the CNO of Northeastern Oklahoma. A press release from the UKB, under the headline of Proposed Congressional language seeks to eliminate the United Keetoowah Bands sovereignty and land rights, states the tribes case in this matter. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians demands immediate retraction of a shocking and shameful legislative provision drafted by Sen. Markwayne Mullin at the behest of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma that would terminate the UKBs right to trust land and basic economic development rights within the reservation that it shares with the CNO in Northeastern Oklahoma, states the release. The statement avows that the legislation drafted in secret, without input from the UKB, represents a full-scale assault on the sovereignty, identity, and legal status of the UKB. The UKB only has access to the secret language because it made a request under the Freedom of Information Act, states the release. This is not a policy disagreement. This is a deliberate, targeted act of tribal termination by ... Mullin, Wacoche said. The draft language is a blatant betrayal of the U.S. governments trust responsibility, a violation of federal law, and an attack on tribal sovereignty. Wacoche called the action genocide by redline, and said it is being carried out not with muskets or manifest destiny, but by with a secret pen in a Senate office. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We are a federally recognized tribe with our own government-to-government relationship with the United States, Wacoche said. To suggest otherwise is to willfully ignore history, federal law, and the truth. The UKB is demanding that the language be withdrawn from consideration in any upcoming appropriations bill. ... and that they stop shamefully attempting to erase a sovereign Native nation and its people, and that they get back to work for Indian Country, including defending the legal treaty rights of the UKB, states the press release. Mullins office did not respond to attempts to seek comment on this issue. Israel said early Friday that it plans to take over Gaza City, drawing rejection from the Palestinians and international condemnation. The decision, agreed in a late-night meeting of its security Cabinet, marks a further escalation of Israel's 22-month war with Hamas. It also provoked worries in Israel over the fate of hostages still held by Hamas. Another major ground operation would almost certainly exacerbate the humanitarian catastrophe, in which Israel's air and ground war has pushed the territory toward famine. Hamas said people in Gaza would remain defiant against occupation. Heres the latest: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Emergency UN meeting on Israels plan to expand Gaza operations changed to Sunday The U.N. Mission of Panama, which holds the Security Council presidency this month, said the meeting has been rescheduled to 10 a.m. EDT on Sunday. It was originally scheduled to take place at 3 p.m. EDT on Saturday. Panamas Mission said the change was made following further consultations and careful consideration. It provided no details, but Saturday is the Jewish Sabbath and Israel is certain to want to speak at the meeting. UN and Gaza Humanitarian Foundation officials met this week The dialogue on the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza took place at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in New York. It was attended by the chairman of the Israeli-backed American foundation known as GHF and some U.N. entities and partner organizations, U.N. associate spokesperson Stephanie Tremblay said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Israel facilitated the establishment of four GHF sites in Gaza in May after blocking the entry of all food, medicine and other goods for 2 1/2 months. The U.N., which has delivered aid to hundreds of distribution points across Gaza throughout the war when conditions allowed, says GHF sites require Palestinians to travel long distances and risk their lives for food, and give Israel control over who gets aid. The U.N. human rights office says some 1,400 Palestinians have been killed seeking aid since May, mostly near GHF sites but also along U.N. convoy routes where trucks have been overwhelmed by crowds. It says nearly all were killed by Israeli fire. Six Palestinians killed and dozens wounded near aid crossing At least six Palestinians were shot dead and more than 140 were wounded at the Israeli-run Zikim Crossing in northern Gaza, where U.N. aid convoys enter. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Dr. Mohamed Abu Selmiya, the director of Shifa Hospital, which received the dead and wounded, said all six were killed by Israeli gunfire. A Palestinian witness, who asked not to be named for security concerns, said a small number of looters with knives were among desperate crowds that unloaded a convoy, but that it was less chaotic than on previous days and that more trucks entered. He said Israeli troops still fired toward the crowds. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed while seeking humanitarian aid in Gaza since May, when Israel eased a 2 month blockade. Witnesses, health officials and the U.N. human rights office say they were killed by Israeli fire. The military says it has only fired warning shots at people who approach its forces. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Canada's Carney says Gaza takeover plan puts hostages at risk Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney says Israels plan to take over Gaza is wrong and puts the lives of the hostages at a greater risk. We join many others in viewing that this is wrong, that this action is not going to contribute in the improvement of the humanitarian situation on the ground. It is going to put the lives of the hostages at greater risk rather than lessoning it, Carney said. We reiterate our call for an immediately ceasefire, he said when asked about it Friday. France condemns Israel's plans to take control of Gaza Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement France condemned the plans in the strongest possible terms. In a statement from the foreign affairs ministry, France said it reiterates its firm opposition to any plan for the occupation of the Gaza Strip and the forced displacement of its population. The ministry said such actions would constitute further serious violations of international law and would lead to an absolute dead end. France, which keeps pushing for a two-state solution, insisted that Israels plans would undermine the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinians to live in peace in a viable, sovereign, and contiguous State, and pose a threat to regional stability. UN Security Council to hold emergency meeting on Israel's plans to take over Gaza Panama, which holds the council presidency this month, said the meeting will take place at 3 p.m. EDT on Saturday. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas had called for an immediate emergency meeting of the U.N.s most powerful body to stop Israel from escalating the fighting in Gaza. Panamas U.N. Mission said the request to the 15-member council for an emergency meeting was made by the United Kingdom, Denmark, France, Greece and Slovenia. It was supported by Algeria, Russia, China, Somalia, Guyana, Pakistan, South Korea and Sierra Leone. The United States, Israels closest ally, did not support the request. Iran condemns Israel's plan to take over Gaza Iran has condemned Israels plan to take over Gaza and claimed it is an indication of Israels intention to carry out genocide" in the Palestinian territory. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei in a statement called Western nations and the U.S. accomplices of Israel and urged the international community to force Israel to stop the move. He also urged Islamic nations to meet immediately to discuss a joint act to help the Palestinians. UN chief calls Israels decision to control Gaza City `a dangerous escalation Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says the governments decision risks deepening the already catastrophic consequences for millions of Palestinians, and could further endanger more lives, including of the remaining hostages, his spokesperson said. Guterres also warns that an Israeli offensive will result in additional forced displacement, killings and massive destruction, "compounding the unimaginable suffering of the Palestinian population in Gaza, associate spokesperson Stephanie Tremblay said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The secretary-general reiterated his urgent appeal for a ceasefire, she said. He strongly urged Israel to abide by the July 2024 advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice to end its unlawful presence in Palestinian territory including Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem, Tremblay told U.N. reporters on Friday EU report finds little aid is getting into Gaza The European Union has concluded that little aid is flowing into Gaza despite an understanding reached between Brussels and Israel last month, according to a report by the 27-nation blocs foreign service. Although roughly 5,000 trucks entered Gaza during the limited lifting of the blockade by Israel, there are still significant operational and bureaucratic constraints on aid delivery, according to a copy of the report obtained by The Associated Press. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Since May 19, an average of 36 trucks a day has entered Gaza, laden with food, nutrition supplements, medical supplies and chlorine, but 90% was looted once in Gaza, the report says. The EU had reached an agreement with Israels Foreign Minister Gideon Saar to increase humanitarian aid into Gaza, but officials have not been able to confirm any improvements for themselves. Israel has blocked an EU monitoring team from entering Gaza because they were not humanitarian aid providers, said Anna-Kaisa Itkonen, a European Commission spokesperson, at a press conference in Brussels on Thursday. Czech Republic warns against Israel's Gaza City plan Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said his country considers a plan by Israel to take over Gaza City a risky step. Lipavsky said the Czechs believe that Israel will take all necessary steps to protect the civilian population and will act in line with international law while the release of all hostages and a lasting ceasefire remain priorities. He said the only way of reaching a long-term peace is a two-state solution of the Israel-Palestinian conflict. The condition for that to happen is that Gaza will not be ruled by the terrorists from Hamas, which is a position shared by Czechia, Israel and a number of Arab countries in the region," Lipavsky said in comments to the state-owned CTK news agency. the Czech Republic has been one of Israel's biggest allies in the EU. Saudi Arabia denounces Israeli plan to expand Gaza operations The Saudi Foreign Ministry condemned what it referred to as Israels starvation, brutal practices and ethnic cleansing against the Palestinians. It said Palestinians have an emotional, historical and legal connection to their land and lamented the failure of the international community to halt the fighting. Saudi Arabia, a major Arab power, appeared to be close to forging diplomatic ties with Israel as part of a larger agreement with the United States before Hamas Oct. 7, 2023, attack ignited the war. The kingdom has repeatedly criticized Israels wartime conduct and says it will only normalize ties in an agreement that includes major progress toward the creation of a Palestinian state, something Israels current government and most of its political class rejects. Pakistan prime minister condemns Israels plan as dangerous escalation Pakistans Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has condemned the Israeli Cabinets plan to take control of Gaza City, calling it a dangerous escalation that will worsen the humanitarian crisis and derail peace prospects. In a statement on X, he attributed the ongoing conflict to Israels prolonged, illegal occupation of Palestinian territory, stating that peace is impossible as long as the occupation continues. Sharif reiterated Pakistans support for a sovereign Palestinian state and urged the international community to take action against Israels latest plan. German military hardware has been used in Gaza, expert says Germany's move to suspend defense exports to Israel will be a limited measure, according to Zain Hussain, an arms transfers researcher at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. German companies provide 30% of Israels defense imports, mostly naval armaments, according to Hussain's analysis. Germany has been committed to providing Israel with arms, especially with ships," he said, citing Germanys deep support for Israel and enmeshed defense ties. Currently Germany provides some hardware to Israel, such as small warships and tank engines. Those engines can be fitted to Israels Merkava tanks and Namer armored personnel carriers, which are actively deployed in Gaza. German-made Saar corvettes, small warships festooned with sophisticated radar equipment and cannons, have shelled targets in Gaza during the war, Hussain said. Since 2018 Germany has rapidly increased its share of the Israeli arms market, mostly with naval hardware like corvettes and torpedoes. Hussain said it was a big deal for Germany, one of Israel's staunchest allies, to admit it was uncomfortable with Israel's actions in Gaza. However, I dont think this alone will stop Israels operations in Gaza, and Israel still has the U.S.A. as a committed arms supplier, he cautioned. Egypt and Qatar draw up framework to end the war and release hostages Mediators from Egypt and Qatar are working on a new framework which will include the release of all hostages dead and alive in one go in return for an end of the war in Gaza and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the strip, according to two Arab officials who spoke to The Associated Press anonymously due to the sensitivity of the discussions. One is involved directly in the deliberations and the second was briefed on the efforts. The efforts have the backing of major Arab Gulf monarchies, the officials said, as they are concerned about further regional destabilization if Israels government proceeds with a full reoccupation of Gaza, two decades after Israels unilateral withdrawal from the strip. The yet-to-be finalized framework aims to address the contentious issue of what to do with Hamas weapons, with Israel seeking full disarmament and Hamas refusing. The official directly involved in the efforts said discussions are underway about freezing arms, which may involve Hamas retaining but not using its weapons. It also calls for the group to relinquish power in the strip. A Palestinian-Arab committee would run Gaza and oversee the reconstruction efforts until the establishment of a Palestinian administration with a new police force, trained by two U.S. allies in the Middle East, to take over the strip, he said. It is unclear what role the Western-backed Palestinian Authority would play. The second official said that a powerful Gulf country is supporting the Egyptian-Qatari efforts. A senior Hamas official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasnt authorized to brief the media, said the groups leadership has been aware of the Arab mediators efforts to revive the ceasefire talks, but has yet to receive details. AP reached out to the governments in Qatar, Egypt and Israel for comment. U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff told hostage families during his recent visit that Israel was shifting its approach to pursue a comprehensive all-or-nothing deal aimed at ending the war and securing the release of hostages, a person who attended the meeting told the AP, speaking on the condition of anonymity as they are not authorized to speak about the private meeting. By Samy Magdy in Cairo and Sam Metz in Jerusalem Germany suspends military exports that could be used in Gaza German Chancellor Friedrich Merz says his country will not authorize any exports of military equipment that could be used in Gaza until further notice. Germany has been a stalwart supporter of Israel for decades. In a statement, Merz emphasized that Israel has the right to defend itself against Hamas terror and said that the release of Israeli hostages and purposeful negotiations toward a ceasefire in the 22-month conflict are our top priority. He said Hamas must not have a role in the future of Gaza. The even harsher military action by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip, approved by the Israeli Cabinet last night, makes it increasingly difficult for the German government to see how these goals will be achieved, he added. UK, Spain, Turkey and Australia criticize Israel's Gaza City plan Israel's plan to escalate military operations in Gaza drew international condemnation Friday. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer urged Israel to reconsider, saying the expanded offensive would do nothing to end the conflict or secure the release of the remaining hostages. Our message is clear: a diplomatic solution is possible, but both parties must step away from the path of destruction, Starmer said. Spains Foreign Minister Jose Albares said Israel's plan would only lead to more destruction and suffering. Turkeys Foreign Ministry said the escalation marked a new phase of Israel's expansionist policies in the region. Israel must immediately halt its war plans, accept a ceasefire in Gaza, and begin negotiations toward a two-state solution, it said in a statement on Friday. Australia also condemned a further occupation of Gaza. Foreign Minister Penny Wong said a two-state solution is the only pathway to secure an enduring peace: a Palestinian state and the State of Israel, living side-by-side in peace and security within internationally recognized borders. LATTA, S.C. (WBTW) Allan Rogers has officially been named Chief of the Latta Police Department, according to the departments Facebook page. Rogers, who was previously serving as the interim chief, was hired for the role permanently on Thursday. The Town of Latta is in great hands, the post reads. We all look forward to working under Chief Rogers leadership to advance our great city and the even greater citizens we proudly serve. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Rogers was honored in February by the South Carolina House of Representatives for his retirement from the Dillon County Sheriffs Office after a 35-year career in law enforcement. He replaces Christopher Bryant, who, along with several others, had their certifications temporarily suspended over unpaid fines racked up by the department. Mayor Teresa Mason said in June that Latta Town Council unanimously approved a payment plan for the fines. * * * Jordan White is a Digital Producer at News13. She joined the News13 team in August 2024. Jordan, a Myrtle Beach native, graduated from St. James High School in Murrells Inlet and is a graduate of Coker University. Follow Jordan on Facebook, X, formerly Twitter, and read more of her work here. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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 WBTW. PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) A law signed by Gov. JB Pritzker would add rewilding as a conservation strategy for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. At a national level, the strategy can be seen at its most successful in the national park Yosemite, where they added wolves back into the wild to deal with deer populations. The Illinois law gives more tools for IDNR to balance its ecosystems. They could add more Beavers and Bison, who are keynote species that are known for keeping their environments healthier. Healthier environments could mean fewer floods, which could, in theory, save the state billions of dollars. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Cynthia Kanner is the executive director for the Prairie State Conservation Coalition, a non-profit organization that assists conservation land trusts. She said when you restore land, it can keep nutrients in like nitrogen and phosphorus in the ground, meaning farmers dont have to add those nutrients themselves, saving farmers money. These practices are not just about pretty places and nature, but its about solutions for a healthier life for people and nature and it just makes sense from the environmental and economic standpoint, said Kanner. This strategy isnt just limited to large mammals. Plants that used to be native in the area could be added back if they can improve nutrient quality in the soil or hold back erosion by riverbanks. Nature knows what to do, Kanner said. The simplest way to think about it is stepping back as humans with the blockades and things we put into place and providing that opportunity for nature to recover, which also means reintroducing things that were once there. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The law takes effect on Jan. 1, 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 CIProud.com. A law firm for the city of Los Angeles racked up $1.8 million in legal bills over two weeks while fighting a nonprofit's attempt to take control of homelessness away from Mayor Karen Bass. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images) A high-profile law firm representing the city of Los Angeles in a sweeping homelessness case submitted an $1.8-million invoice for two weeks of work in May, according to records reviewed by The Times. The invoice from Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP comes as the city is already under serious financial pressure, caused in part by rapidly growing legal payouts. With at least 15 of Gibson Dunn's lawyers billing at nearly $1,300 per hour, the price tag so far equates to just under $140,000 per day over a 13-day period. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Gibson Dunn, while representing the city of Grants Pass, Ore., recently secured a landmark ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court that upheld laws barring homeless encampments in public spaces. Los Angeles officials retained the law firm in May, roughly a week before a seven-day evidentiary hearing to determine whether control over the city's homelessness programs should be taken away from Mayor Karen Bass and the City Council and turned over to a third-party receiver. A month later, U.S. District Judge David O. Carter issued a scathing ruling, saying the city failed to adhere to the terms of a three-year-old settlement agreement with the L.A. Alliance for Human Rights, which calls for the creation of 12,915 homeless beds or other housing opportunities by June 2027. Still, Carter also concluded that "this is not the time" to hand control of the citys roughly $1 billion in homelessness programs to a third party. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Matthew Umhofer, an attorney representing the Alliance, said the city paid big money to Gibson Dunn in a failed attempt to wriggle out of its legal obligations. "The city should be spending this money on complying with the agreement, and/or providing services to the people who need them," he said. "Instead, they are paying a law firm to fight tooth and nail against obligations that are clear in the settlement agreement and that a judge has affirmed they are in violation of." The invoice, which The Times obtained from the city attorney's office, lists a billing period from May 19 to May 31, covering a week of preparations for the high-stakes federal hearing, as well as four of the seven trial days each of which typically lasted eight or more hours. Read more: A federal judge weighs turning L.A. city's homelessness programs over to a receiver Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Theane Evangelis, head of the Gibson Dunn team representing the city, referred questions about the invoice to the city attorney's office. Karen Richardson, a spokesperson for City Atty. Hydee Feldstein Soto, said in a statement that Gibson Dunn "did an outstanding job of stepping into a crucial matter that had been in litigation for nearly 5 years before they were hired," compressing "what would normally be years worth of work into a very short time period." "We are grateful for their service and are in the process of reviewing the expenditures ... to ensure that we go back to Council with a complete picture of what was done and charged," she said in a statement. The city retained Gibson Dunn just as council members were signing off on hundreds of employee layoffs, part of a larger strategy for closing a nearly $1-billion budget shortfall. The first batch of layoff notices was scheduled to go out this week. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The City Council initially appropriated $900,000 for Gibson Dunn, for a period not exceeding three years, according to the firm's contract. Going over $900,000 required prior written approval from the city attorney, according to the contract. Read more: Mayor Karen Bass says she has reached a deal to restore police officer hiring The law firm quickly surpassed that threshold, eventually billing double the specified amount. During the seven-day hearing, Gibson Dunn took a highly aggressive posture, voicing numerous objections to questions from attorneys representing the Alliance, as well as two organizations that intervened in the case. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Councilmember Bob Blumenfield, who serves on the council's homelessness committee, said the city attorney's office did not advise him that Gibson Dunn's legal costs had reached $1.8 million in such a short period. Blumenfield, who represents part of the San Fernando Valley, said he is "not happy" but is reserving further comment until he receives more specifics. Three months ago, Blumenfield co-authored a motion with Councilmember Tim McOsker seeking regular updates on the Alliance litigation both from Gibson Dunn and the city attorney's office. McOsker, who serves on the budget committee and spent several years running the city attorney's office, also did not receive notification of the Gibson Dunn $1.8-million invoice from the city's legal team, according to Sophie Gilchrist, his spokesperson. Gilchrist said her boss had asked for regular updates to "prevent any surprises in billing" related to the Alliance case. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Thats why the Councilmember is requesting that this matter be brought to City Council immediately, so the City Attorney can provide a full accounting and discuss all invoices related to the case," she said. Gibson Dunn has filed a notice of the city's intent to appeal at least portions of Carter's ruling, which ordered a third-party monitor to review and verify the data being produced by the city on its housing and encampment goals. Carter signaled that he probably would order the city to pay the legal fees of the Alliance and homeless advocacy groups that have intervened in the case. So far, the Alliance has sought $1.3 million from the city to cover its legal expenses incurred since April 2024. In a statement to The Times earlier this week, Evangelis, the Gibson Dunn lawyer, cited the judge's "suggestion that the Alliance may recover attorneys' fees" as one reason for the appeal. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "The City believes that its resources should be spent providing services to those in need, not redirected to the Alliances lawyers particularly when the district court has rejected most of their arguments," she said. Two other parties that have intervened in the case Los Angeles Catholic Worker and the Los Angeles Community Action Network, both advocates for homeless Angelenos are seeking $201,000 from the city. That money would cover legal costs incurred by the groups as a result of the city's violation of the Alliance settlement agreement. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. NEW MEXICO (KRQE) Its a problem plaguing New Mexico, leading to frustrations for prosecutors and lawmakers, and heartbreak for families and the community. Now, lawmakers are making another run at the issue of how to make criminal offenders get the treatment they need. Senator Moe Maestas (D-Albuquerque) is bringing back a proposal that didnt make it across the finish line in the last legislative session. He says its time to change outdated laws surrounding civil commitment. Free rides on the New Mexico justice train Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Its an issue that hits home for Maestas. I had a niece who recently committed suicide because we could not force her into drug treatment, said Sen. Maestas. Sen. Maestas wonders if she would be alive today if the law had made it easier for a court to order her into treatment. A recent Larry Barker investigation revealed that time and time again, people are arrested for crimes, but are later released after being found incompetent to stand trial, with no help in dealing with their underlying mental health and substance abuse problems. Its a revolving door that Sen. Maestas hopes to stop. This will facilitate loved ones, securing treatment options for their immediate family members. Right now in New Mexico, a family member, a medical practitioner, or a law enforcement officer can petition the court for civil commitment. But Sen. Maestas said the guidelines for judges to make that decision rely too much on predicting how someone will behave in the future. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Sen. Maestass bill, which didnt make it through the last legislative session, would focus instead on behavior in the recent past to define a persons risk of harm to self or others. If in fact theyre suicidal, if in fact theyre unable to care for themselves, this will allow the judge to better assess whether that person should be committed into drug treatment, said Sen. Maestas. As one of the governors priorities, Sen. Maestas said hes optimistic the bill will be included should there be a special session in the next month. The Bernalillo County District Attorneys Office told KRQE News 13, In general, DA Bregman supports getting people treatment who need it. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. Update: Senate Bills 1 and 2 were voted out of committee Friday afternoon. They will go before the Senate next week for consideration. AUSTIN (KXAN) In response to the deadly July 4 flooding, lawmakers are now looking to require outdoor warning sirens in flood-prone areas. The Upper Guadalupe River Authority, which oversees the river in Kerr County, could also face new scrutiny. And, camps in floodplains could be required to have emergency evacuation plans. The Senate Select Committee on Disaster Preparedness and Flooding heard testimony Friday on four bills related to the flood, which killed at least 117 people in Kerr County, including 27 campers and counselors at Camp Mystic. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Under Senate Bill 2, local counties would be required to install, maintain and operate one or more sirens. A grant program would be established to help cover costs. The bills author, Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, previously told KXAN investigators he wanted to go back to old technology because mobile alerts have become too overloaded. Lawmaker floats banning camps from flood zones, industry reps react You want to try to get as many chances to get the publics attention that trouble is on the way, Bettencourt told us a month ago. A raging Guadalupe River leaves fallen trees and debris in its wake, Friday, July 4, 2025, in Kerrville, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay) Another proposal under Senate Bill 1 would subject the UGRA to a limited Sunset review in 2027. At the July 31 special hearing in Kerrville, the UGRA came under fire after its director, Dr. William Rector, who is appointed by the governor, told lawmakers flood sirens were never installed and its eight property-tax funded river gauges arent locally monitored with data instead collected by the National Weather Service. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I would say that you should be in the business of protecting people from the things that are going on in the river, said Sen. Donna Campbell, R-New Braunfels. I dont see how the Upper Guadalupe River Authority helped in any way in this flood. Top Kerr County leaders asleep, too late to issue flood evacuation Lawmakers questioned what had been done since the UGRA was created in 1939. Under the SB 1 bill, filed by the committee chair, Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, the UGRA would face new scrutiny over the way its governed, how it responded to and prepared for natural disasters, its operating structure and if it complies with legislative requirements. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Lawmaker blasts camps wholly unprepared for flooding as malpractice Other proposals listed in the bill include: Campgrounds located within a floodplain should have emergency ladders to access cabin roofs and develop emergency evacuation plans when there is a flash flood warning. Campground operators shall implement the emergency evacuation plan on issuance by the National Weather Service of a flash flood warning for an area of the campground. If a disaster is imminent or recently occurred and the designated emergency management director is unavailable, that job would fall to the sheriff or county commissioner with the longest period of continuous service on the commissioners court. In cities, it would fall to the mayor pro tempore. Emergency management coordinators must be licensed and complete at least 40 hours of training. Establishes a statewide volunteer management system to credential and deploy volunteers and conduct criminal background checks. Establish a mass fatality data management system capable of providing real-time status updates and notifications for close relatives of a victim of a mass fatality, track chain-of-custody for dead bodies and store autopsy reports. On Aug. 5, lawmakers heard testimony on other other bills related to the flooding, including one that would require camps submit annual flood disaster plans or face fines. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. Editors Note: A lawsuit only portrays one side of a story. SPRING CITY, Utah (ABC4) Nearly a dozen Spring City residents and the nonprofit organization, Friends of Historic Spring City, have filed a lawsuit against the city council over projects they call a threat to the towns historical status. The lawsuit states that the city council has advanced multiple infrastructure projects, including a watershed project, without following the proper legal steps to advance those projects. This would lead to a rezoning that would threaten the towns historic nature. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The town, which has just over 1,000 residents, is one of only five towns in the United States listed as a Nationally Registered Historic Place. The lawsuit states the proposed zoning changes would threaten this designation by changing the original 1.06-acre lots to just half-acre lots. The lawsuit says the plaintiffs are seeking declaratory and injunctive relief to preserve the historic and cultural character of a town whose significance extends beyond its borders. In an interview with ABC4.com, Brian Stucki, former president of the Friends of Historic Spring City, says the lawsuits goal is to balance preservation with growth. There are just some anomalies in terms of how things have been happening as it relates to the city, the city council completely ignoring our planning and zoning commission, those sorts of issues, Stucki said. Were not looking for money from the city. We just want the city to slow their roll, so that we can have important conversations about this. ABC4 has reached out to Spring City for comment but has not received a response at the time of this article. Latest headlines: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. PADUCAH, Ky. (FOX 56) A 13-year-old boy left the McCracken Regional Juvenile Detention Center with a broken arm. Now his father is suing the correctional captain whos allegedly responsible. According to the Aug. 4 lawsuit, the boy identified in the lawsuit as M.W. was sentenced in September 2024 to 30 days of detention for truancy while he was under his mothers care. Kentucky juvenile facilities have issues with force, staffing, report says Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In October 2024, M.W. was escorted from his shared cell by Captain Tyler Lynn. Court documents state that as M.W. passed another room, he placed his fist to the window and said, Fist bump. Thats when video shows that Lynn reportedly grabbed M.W. and pressed him against the wall, into a wall-mounted phone, and then against a water fountain while bending his arm toward his head. He pleaded for Lynn to stop, his fathers counsel, Ashley Abary, wrote. But Lynn allegedly persisted until his arm visibly gave way, producing a loud snapping sound. It was bent completely backward over his head. According to the lawsuit, injuries went untreated for three days when a doctor ordered an X-ray that depicted M.W.s fractured arm. His father said that he wasnt notified that his son was injured until hed been transferred back to the detention center. Two days later, M.W. had completed his sentence and was subsequently released. Later that month, court documents state that M.W. had to undergo surgery due to the injuries sustained at the McCracken Regional Juvenile Detention Center. LATEST KENTUCKY NEWS: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Lynns employment was later terminated, per court documents. Lynns conduct was intentional, wanton, malicious, willful, oppressive, reckless, and grossly negligent and was motivated by evil motive or intent, the lawsuit reads. Hes now being sued for excessive force and negligence, as well as assault and battery. According to court documents, the boys family requests a trial by jury and compensatory and punitive damages. The Department of Justice launched a civil rights investigation into Kentuckys juvenile justice centers in 2024. 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. (Mary Hennigan/Arkansas Advocate) The League of Women Voters of Pulaski County will launch its effort to collect signatures for a proposed 2026 direct democracy ballot measure later this month, the group announced in a news release. The Leagues ballot question committee, Save AR Democracy, will host a launch party for its petition drive from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Aug. 26 at Southern Tail Brewing in Little Rock, according to the release. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Direct democracy is the process by which Arkansans can propose new laws or constitutional amendments and place them on the ballot for a statewide vote. Arkansas is one of 24 states that allow citizen-led initiatives, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. In May, Attorney General Tim Griffin certified the ballot title for the Leagues proposed constitutional amendment. The measure would prohibit state lawmakers from changing the Arkansas Constitution themselves and require that any new law affecting the initiative and referendum process must be approved by voters at the next general election. Additionally, the amendment would permit only voters, not state lawmakers, to propose changes to Article 5, Section 1 of the state Constitution, the section that outlines the initiative and referendum process. The Legislature would determine the name and title of referendums, and votes on a bill with an emergency clause (a provision that allows laws to become effective immediately) would have to occur at least 24 hours after the bill passes. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Griffin rejected the proposed amendment three times before certifying it. In his third rejection, he cited a new state law that prohibits ballot titles from being written above an eighth-grade reading level as his reason for denying certification. This was one of several policies related to direct democracy that drew public opposition during the 2025 legislative session before becoming law. The League of Women Voters of Arkansas filed a federal lawsuit in April alleging that eight such laws are unconstitutional. In July, a judge granted two ballot question committees, Protect AR Rights and For AR Kids, permission to intervene in the case. The committees sought to challenge additional laws not included in the original suit, including Act 602 of 2025, the law that prohibits initiative petitions from being written above an eighth-grade reading level according to the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level formula. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Protect AR Rights is a coalition of civic groups behind the Arkansas Ballot Measure Rights Amendment, which Griffin certified in July after previously rejecting it under Act 602. The group also filed its own complaint in the lawsuit against the slate of direct democracy laws, many of which put additional requirements on petition canvassers and signers. Supporters of the new laws have said the requirements will help protect the integrity of the states initiative and referendum process. Proposed constitutional amendments require 90,704 signatures from 50 counties to qualify for the ballot. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE At least three people were injured in the Ukrainian cities of Kharkiv and Sumy overnight into Friday in Russian drone attacks. Ukraine's State Emergency Service said that it had managed to contain a fire that broke out at a four-storey building in Kharkiv following the strikes. Two people were injured, according to local authorities. One person was injured in Russian strikes on residential building in Sumy. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Emergency services were seen dousing flames and clearing rubble in the aftermath. Ukraine's Air Force said that Russia had launched 108 Shahed-type attack drones, decoy drones and kamikaze drones overnight in their attack. Eighty-two were shot down while 26 struck 10 locations, the air force said. Ukrainian servicemen of the 148th artillery brigade load ammunition into a M777 howitzer before firing towards Russian positions in Zaporizhzhia, 7 August, 2025 - AP Photo The Defence Intelligence of Ukraine reported that Ukrainian attack drones struck several targets in Crimea, including a landing craft, air defence base and several radar stations. These attacks came on the day of a deadline set by the White House for Moscow to show progress towards ending their full-scale invasion of Ukraine or suffer additional economic sanctions. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The strikes follow news that US President Donald Trump will reportedly meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, even if the Russian leader won't meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Putin chaired a meeting of the Security Council to discuss regional security issues on Friday. It was the first time in years that it was held in person following COVID-era restrictions. Related Despite months of US-led efforts to negotiate a peace, Russia has continued in its all-out invasion of its neighbour. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to the United Nations, tens of thousands of soldiers have been killed on both sides as well as more than 12,000 Ukrainian civilians. The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think tank, said in an assessment on Thursday that Putin remains uninterested in ending his war and is attempting to extract bilateral concessions from the United States without meaningfully engaging in a peace process." "Putin continues to believe that time is on Russia's side and that Russia can outlast Ukraine and the West, it said. KANSAS CITY, Mo. A 38-year-old man has been sentenced to nearly five decades in prison following the 2024 abduction of a 16-year-old girl in downtown Leavenworth, Kansas. On Aug. 14, 2024, Lajuan Sammie Louis Lowery, of Leavenworth, assaulted the teen near 10th Street between Pottawatomie and Osage streets. The victim was walking to her mothers house around 7 p.m. when Lowery grabbed her from behind and dragged her into an alley. He placed his hand over her mouth and threw her to the ground during the struggle. Man accused of running over Kansas City teacher with car before shooting, killing her Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The teen fought backelbowing Lowery, yelling for help and screaming that she was pregnant. Lowery eventually fled the scene. Leavenworth police canvassed the area and collected surveillance footage. One Ring doorbell camera captured the violent struggle, showing Lowery dragging the victim across an alley behind a yard before fleeing. On Aug. 16, 2024, the Leavenworth Police Department posted still images from the surveillance footage on Facebook, seeking public assistance in identifying the suspect. Shortly afterward, a citizen contacted authorities, reporting she had seen the man in a local store rubbing individual ice cream packs on his body. By Aug. 19, 2024, detectives had obtained additional footage, including video of the assault and another clip showing Lowery running into a residence on Pottawatomie Street. Combined with surveillance from local businesses, investigators were able to identify and apprehend Lowery. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On April 8, 2025, a jury found Lowery guilty of aggravated kidnapping. He was acquitted of a separate charge of aggravated sexual battery. The court noted Lowery had at least two prior person felonies and was on parole at the time of the offense. At the sentencing hearing on Thursday, Lowery was sentenced to 586 months in the custody of the Kansas Department of Corrections. He will be eligible to reduce his sentence by up to 15% (7.3 years) based on Department of Corrections determination of good time credits. Lowery will also be required to register as a violent offender if and when he is released from prison and would be on parole for 36 months post-release. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This is one of the most terrifying situations anyone could imaginea young girl walking home is suddenly grabbed by a stranger and dragged into an alley, said Leavenworth County Attorney Todd Thompson. Her courage in fighting back and calling for help was extraordinaryand it likely saved her life. This conviction is the result of that bravery, the swift action of the Leavenworth Police Department, and the strong support from our community, who helped identify the suspect. This case is a reminder that when we stand together, we can protect each other and ensure justice is served. 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. BECKLEY, WV (WVNS) For decades, the Academy of Careers and Technology has offered technical and vocational education in the local area. Staff have been working to make sure those programs stay available. Raleigh County Schools back-to-school fair announced Recent legislation presented to the WV House of Delegates could put control of local technical programs at risk. If passed, House Bill 3452 would transfer administration of advanced career education from county boards to community and technical colleges. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement ACT Principal and Director Charles Pack said the results of ACTs work speak for themselves. At a recent meeting of the Raleigh County Commission, he said those who are concerned should contact their state leaders to make sure these programs remain available in Raleigh County. If they start a program with us, they finish is and they get the license or certifications that they need, said Pack. Contact our legislators, our senators and make sure that we keep this in Raleigh County. In a recent visit to the Beckley area, Governor Patrick Morrisey spoke on the importance of non-traditional education. He said programs for vocations such as plumbing and welding are essential to the success of the West Virginia economy. Many of these types of programs are offered through the Academy of Careers and Technology. We want to grow votech opportunities. Theres almost an unlimited number of jobs available now from a votech and contracting perspective, said Governor Morrisey. We also want to make sure were remembering the plumbers, the electricians, the sheet metal workers, those who work with their hands. Its a very noble, noble cause. House Bill 3452 passed through the House of Delegates Education Committee in March. Most recently, the bill was presented for first reading on the House floor but did not make it through the legislative process before the close of the session. 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. El Paso County Public Health is urging people to avoid encounters with wildlife after a bat found in Colorado Springs tested positive for rabies on Tuesday. A person who came into contact with the bat is receiving appropriate treatment, according to a news release. Human exposure to rabies-infected animals is rare and to prevent exposure health officials advise avoiding contact with wild animals, teaching children about the dangers of wildlife encounters and keeping pets on a leash. "Animals that are sick or injured should be reported to Colorado Parks and Wildlife," Bernadette Albanese, co-medical director of county Public Health, said in the news release. "The public should be particularly cautious in the summer months when people spend more time outdoors. Rabid animals can be identified by showing signs of aggression and violently approach people or pets, according to the release. Rabies-infected animals might also be quiet, try to hide or have trouble walking. Featured Local Savings Seek medical attention if bitten, scratched or come into contact with any wild animal, health officials said. The bat marks the first animal to test positive for the disease in El Paso County this year, according to the release. From 2022 to 2024, 12 bats tested positive for rabies in El Paso County and no other species tested positive. The Tso family approached the Tribal Homeownership Coalition of the Southwest for help in selling this home on Navajo Nation trust land in LeChee, Arizona. Its successful sale in January represents an "unprecedented achievement in supporting tribal sovereignty, equitable homeownership and generational wealth-building on Indian trust lands," the organization says. (Courtesy photo by Tammie Billey / Largo Photography) In tribal communities in the Southwestern United States, the path to owning a home can present obstacles, including a cultural taboo against selling a home; a lack of awareness that doing so is even an option; and the absence of guardrails in the event a real estate transaction goes sideways, says Christopher Billey, executive director of the Tribal Homeownership Coalition of the Southwest. Billey and his organizations Program Manager Melinda Williams are scheduled to meet with the interim legislative Indian Affairs Committee at its meeting in Taos on Aug. 14 to discuss removing barriers to tribal homeownership. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Their discussion, Billey told Source NM in an interview on Friday, will include a case study of the first-ever public sale of a home on land owned by the Navajo Nation, which happened in January in LeChee, Arizona and set a precedent for future real estate market development in reservation communities. An estimated 30,000 homes need to be built on the Navajo Nation, according to the case study, and thousands of Navajo families are on waiting lists for homes. The nation spans New Mexico, Arizona and Utah. Christopher Billey. (Courtesy photo) Billey said most tribal leaders dont understand homeownership because people living within the U.S. reservation system were historically not allowed to buy, trade or sell lands. Even though these transactions do happen today, they often rub up against a core traditional belief among Navajo, Pueblo and Apache tribal members that a home is the center of a family and shouldnt be sold. You have the modern idea of homeownership, and then youve got the traditional side, which has been allowed to grow, and when these two ideas come together, people get upset, he said. I had a conversation with a Zuni council member who said: We dont normally do this, we dont normally sell our homes. We give them to our kids and our grandkids. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Another topic Billey said he expects to discuss with the committee is building new homes. Jemez Pueblo and San Felipe Pueblo provide good examples of New Mexico tribes that are expanding housing availability, Billey said, by training their own workers to build housing. Theyre doing new housing developments in their communities and are able to keep costs down, he said. Billey, a licensed realtor and citizen of the Navajo Nation, said in the next 10 years, as more tribal members learn they can sell their homes, he hopes state and tribal governments will enact reforms to protect buyers, sellers and contractors who build homes on reservations whenever the parties disagree. For example, legislation is needed to allow a real estate transaction dispute to be resolved in either state or tribal court, because most tribal courts have no policies around real estate. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Building on the reservation is very complicated and theres a lot of risk involved, so its the time right now to start moving that needle, he said. This is the moment of change. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX AUSTIN (KXAN) If your child has mentioned setting up a lemonade stand to help victims of last months devastating floods, theres a cold-pressed juice company hoping to make that easier for families to set up. Twisted Alchemy was inspired by kids stepping up to raise money for Central Texas flood relief efforts, so they are giving them a way to apply for a free lemonade kit. Twisted Alchemy, a cold pressed juice company, is offering free lemonade kits for Central Texas flood relief lemonade stands. (Twisted Alchemy Photo) Twisted Alchemy, a cold pressed juice company, is offering free lemonade kits for Central Texas flood relief lemonade stands. (Twisted Alchemy Photo) Each lemonade stand kit includes four 16-ounce bottles of Twisted Alchemys Cold-Pressed Eureka Lemon Juice, a kid-sized custom Twisted Alchemy yellow apron, and a lemonade stand sign you can download with a recipe card. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Anyone interested needs to submit a form and apply for a kit. Some of the nonprofits verified by Twisted Alchemy as beneficiaries include the Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country, Central Texas Food Bank, American Red Cross, Mercy Chefs, Kerrville Pets Alive and Austin Pets Alive, among others. During the application process, if you dont see your organization youd like to donate to, you can select other and share the name of the nonprofit youd like to support. 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. Aug. 6 was the 60th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act, which prohibited racial discrimination in voting. It prohibited jurisdictions that had engaged in egregious voting discrimination from implementing any change affecting voting without confirmation from the U.S. attorney general or the U.S. District Court for D.C. that the change does not discriminate against protected minorities. Yet the 2013 Shelby v. Holder U.S. Supreme Court decision declared this provision obsolete and unconstitutional. Voting rights have since been eroded in many states with gerrymandering, restrictive voter ID laws, voter roll purges, elimination of polling stations and more. Federal courts have upheld many of these actions, even denying individuals rights to challenge them. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Meanwhile the 2019 Supreme Court decision Rucho v. Common Cause determined that federal courts cannot review allegations of partisan gerrymandering, as these lie outside their jurisdiction. The court is considering a Louisiana challenge to a VRA provision that protects against racial gerrymandering that dilutes the voting power of racial and ethnic minorities. Texas brazen partisan gerrymandering is now off-limits to federal courts. Pennsylvania has a last defense in our state Supreme Court that in 2018 struck down the Legislatures 2011 redistricting map as an unconstitutional gerrymander and ordered a new one drawn. Pennsylvania Justices Christine Donohue, Kevin Dougherty and David Wecht, who concurred in that decision, are on the ballot on Nov. 4. They must be retained to protect our voting rights. Phila Back Kutztown To the editor: If I read the article right, the courts ordered a stop to Immigration and Customs Enforcement's roving patrols to target immigrants ( Federal agents use Penske rental truck as Trojan Horse to raid Los Angeles Home Depot, Aug. 6). By my estimations, that makes the raid that took place at a Home Depot with a Penske truck illegal. Yet through all of this, I havent read that any police department showed up to stop what was happening. Somebody needs to explain why, when another illegal act is in progress, we can have a number of police cars there in three to four minutes, but no police cars showed up for this. I always thought illegal is illegal, no matter who's committing the crime. Luis Cruz, La Mirada This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. A Guatemalan national who is registered as a Level 2 sex offender in Massachusetts has been arrested by federal immigration authorities. Eynar Estuardo Vielman Jimenez, 38, was administratively arrested in West Roxbury over the weekend on Saturday, ICE Homeland Security Investigations New England officials said in a statement on Friday. Photo Date:08/28/2024 Jimenez, who has a West Roxbury address, was convicted in 2017 of three counts of indecent assault and battery on a person aged 14 or older, officials said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He was sentenced to 328 days in jail and required to register as a Level 2 sex offender in Massachusetts, officials said. Jimenez entered the U.S. through an unknown location and without inspection around Dec. 1, 2008, according to federal immigration authorities. He remains in ICE custody pending removal proceedings. This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available. Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW DAVIDSON COUNTY Could support from an unlikely ally be the ironic twist of fate Charles McNeair needs to be released from prison after nearly half a century behind bars? McNeair and his growing number of supporters who believe the 62-year-old inmate was wrongfully convicted of rape 45 years ago sure hope so. Im shocked that it hasnt already had an impact, said Wanda Cox, a Davidson County woman who has championed McNeairs cause for more than four years. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The unlikely ally is Chief Robby Rummage of the Lexington Police Department the same department whose investigation landed McNeair behind bars in the first place. On April 29, Rummage sent a letter to the office of Gov. Josh Stein, imploring the governor to give McNeairs case a thorough review and consider granting him clemency. Objectively, given the facts currently available, it simply doesnt make sense to me why he hasnt (been released), when many people with murder convictions have been released, Rummage said in an email to The High Point Enterprise. What troubles the veteran law enforcement officer the most, the chief wrote in his letter, is the fact that the police department no longer has the investigative file from McNeairs case. What remains is a troubling gap: We have no documentation of the investigation that led to Mr. McNeairs life sentence, Rummage wrote. The limited materials we do possess do not present a coherent narrative and do not pertain to the offense in question. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to Rummage, the departments only case file related to McNeair involves a different incident one for which he was never charged. The SBI might have participated in the original McNeair investigation and may still have its case file, but Rummage cannot confirm that, he wrote. This lack of clarity continues to trouble members of our community and presents a hindrance to our efforts to foster the trust that is essential to effective policing, he wrote. Rummage, whose 26-year career in law enforcement has been entirely with the Lexington Police Department including the past four years as chief said via email that this is the first time hes ever felt the need to write a letter addressing a matter of parole or clemency. Cox said she appreciates the chiefs efforts on McNeairs behalf. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Im grateful someone in authority stepped up and said, Theres no investigative police file why is this man in prison? she said. Charles was pleased, too. I think he often feels overlooked and neglected by the justice system. He said he was glad somebody that important believes the truth now. McNeair, who is Black, was only 16 years old in November 1979, when he was charged with raping a 57-year-old white woman at her home in Lexington. He has consistently denied the accusation he claims they had had consensual sex several times before the incident in question but Lexington police charged him with first-degree rape and first-degree burglary. The alleged victim has since died. In 1980, McNeair accepted a plea deal to get the charges reduced to second-degree rape and breaking and entering. In turn, he was sentenced to life in prison, a deal he says he agreed to only because his lawyer told him he could face the death penalty if he went to trial and lost. That was wrong there was no death penalty for rape then but McNeair didnt know that and took the deal to save his life. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Public support for McNeair has grown in recent years, with even the Lexington City Council approving a resolution requesting his release. Cox and other advocates say they believe in McNeairs innocence, but even if he committed the crime, they say he shouldve been released from prison years ago. If convicted of the same crime today, he would likely face a maximum 10-year prison term. In September 2022, Duke Law Schools Clemency Project prepared a formal petition requesting clemency for McNeair and submitted it to the N.C. Juvenile Sentence Review Board. That panel, established by former Gov. Roy Cooper in 2021, was created specifically to review sentences imposed on individuals such as McNeair who were tried as adults for crimes before they were 18. To this point, however, McNeair remains behind bars. Hes currently an inmate at Randolph Correctional Center in Asheboro. Cox, who has become McNeairs loudest, most vocal advocate, said shes appalled that he still has not been granted clemency, especially in the wake of Rummages letter to the governors office. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement When we have law enforcement saying theres no file to document that a crime even took place, but the people who run our justice system still arent stepping up, thats shocked me more than anything thats ever happened in my life, she said. I really had faith in the people who are in power to not let something like this happen, but it appears I was wrong. Last week, she met with Davidson County Sheriff Richie Simmons and asked him to write a letter as Rummage had done. Simmons told The Enterprise he agrees there are valid questions about McNeairs case, but he didnt feel compelled to write a letter. Rummage, on the other hand, not only asked that McNeair be considered for clemency, but also requested an explanation as to why hes still in prison. If permissible, I also ask that any rationale regarding the continued incarceration of Mr. McNeair be shared with the public, he wrote, to help our community better understand how justice is being served. Or, as McNeairs supporters believe, how its not being served. WASHINGTON The Liberian Ship Registry is urging the Federal Maritime Commission to set a new standard when referring to the quality of foreign-flag ship registries and the ship owners that use them by ditching the long-standing flags of convenience (FOC) label. The tag has been used as a pejorative short-hand, the registry told the FMC, to imply that because they are open to foreign ship owners as opposed to flag states that limit vessel registration to ship owners based in that country, such as the United States they are used to evade regulations and as a way to register vessels cheaply. While there are certainly such flag states in existence, the distinction between those that require national linkage and those that do not as a shorthand for low cost, poor quality, or regulatory evasion, is no longer apt, the Liberian Flag stated in comments filed in the FMCs flag registry fraud investigation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement And today, among the highest-performing vessel registries, are international flags, such as the Liberian Flag as well as the Marshall Islands Flag. The registry recommends that instead of a binary choice between national flag (closed) registries and FOC (open) registries, a more appropriate categorization should be: International Flag : Flag states that allow for the registration of vessels with foreign ownership. National Flag : Flag states that limit the registration of vessels to owners of that country. Flags of Non-Compliance (FONCs): Flag states whether international or national that eschew national and international laws, standards, norms, and responsibilities, and are utilized by shipowners to operate on the cheap, evading international customary laws, national laws of port and coastal states, and related regulations. The registry pointed out that large international flags such as Liberia and the Marshall Islands are sought after by ship charterers because of their quality, which in turn is an incentive for shipowners to choose them. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The three largest international authorities that measure ship registry quality (by assessing vessel detention records) is the Paris MoU, a cooperative of 27 countries mainly in Europe, the Tokyo MoU, a cooperative of 22 countries mainly in the Asia-Pacific, and the United States Coast Guard. The Paris MoU has consistently white-listed the Liberian Flags ships, the registry told the FMC, which demonstrates Liberias performance as a high-quality flag state. At the same time, the authority currently has on its grey list 13 national-flag vessels. This is evidence of the fact that international flags such as Liberia and Marshall Islands even outperform many national flags on a quality basis, the registry stated. This also demonstrates that quality is not inherent in national flags, and they too can have quality and performance deficiencies just like FONCs. For its vessels calling at U.S. ports, the registry pointed out that it has achieved the Coast Guards annual Qualship 21 designation for highest performing flag states (based on vessel detention records) nine times between 2011 and 2024. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Liberian Flag lost that quality designation starting July 1, however, according to the Coast Guards latest Port State Control assessment, and will be ineligible for Qualship 21 status through June 30, 2026. In addition to retiring flags of convenience, the registry suggested the FMC should consider imposing other requirements on flag states depending on what it uncovers in its investigation, including: Becoming a signatory member of the Registry Information Sharing Compact, a platform used by flag states to share information regarding sanctions-evading vessels. Using Long Range Identification and Tracking and Automatic Identification System data in their sanctions compliance assessment of vessels. Creating an office in the U.S. that can coordinate with government agencies, including the Coast Guard and the Treasury Department. Creating an in-house sanctions compliance department. Producing their ISO 9001:2015 certifications to relevant regulatory bodies to encourage effective flag state quality management. Related articles: Click for more FreightWaves articles by John Gallagher. The post Liberian flag challenges flags of convenience appeared first on FreightWaves. A California library user who allegedly took home rare Chinese manuscripts and returned fake ones in their place has been charged with $216,000-worth of theft, US officials said Thursday. Jeffery Ying used a number of aliases to get access to classics works, some over 600 years old, at the library at the University of California, Los Angeles, the Department of Justice said. Ying, 38, would check the works out and return days later with dummy manuscripts. He would frequently travel to China shortly thereafter, charging documents say. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "The library noticed that several rare Chinese manuscripts were missing, and an initial investigation revealed the books were last viewed by a visitor who identified himself as 'Alan Fujimori,'" the DoJ said. When detectives raided the Los Angeles area hotel where Ying was staying, they found blank manuscripts in the style of the books that had been checked out. "Law enforcement also found pre-made labels known as asset tags associated with the same manuscripts that could be used to create 'dummy' books to return to the library in place of the original books." Libraries allow rare, one-of-a-kind works to be examined on site; they are not permitted to be taken home like regular paperbacks. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ying, from Fremont, in the Bay Area, was also found to have a number of library cards in different names. If convicted of the charge of theft of a major artwork, Ying, who is being held in state custody, faces up to 10 years in federal prison. China is home to one of the world's fastest-growing art markets, with a booming number of state-sanctioned museums as well as a lively private market, as an increasingly wealthy and nationalistic middle class looks to claim the country's cultural heritage. hg/amz/sla When Jay Fraser left Scotland last summer to fight for Vladimir Putin, the then 23-year-old believed he was joining a great crusade against Western cultural rot and the international rules-based order. A year on, he is starting to regret his decision. Snubbed by comrades and rejected for Russian citizenship, he says that while he still believes in a Kremlin victory, he has no great love for Russia or her people. My entire ideological reasoning for coming here collapsed in on itself; I truly realised that I am a Celt and will never be of the Rus, he said this week. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Over the last 12 months, he has realised that Russia is not the bastion of common sense he once wrote that it was, and that fighting for Putin will not spark a nationalist renaissance in his native Scotland, as he once thought it might. While many accounts from foreign fighters on the Ukrainian side have emerged since 2022, Fraser is one of the few to give the Russian perspective. Speaking to The Telegraph, he says the novelty of being a Scotsman in the Kremlins army has run out, and some of his comrades now see him as a liability due to his basic Russian. Fraser has only a basic grasp of the Russian language Fraser, one of a handful of Britons known to have served with Russian forces, was reportedly a regular at a Russian Orthodox church before leaving to fight for Russia. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He has hinted he received military training in a Balkan country before officially signing up, and there are believed to be pro-Russian paramilitary training camps in the Republika Srpska, an autonomous Serb region in Bosnia. He joined the artillery of the Pyatnashka mercenary unit, formed in the self-proclaimed Donetsk Peoples Republic inside occupied Ukraine, but now incorporated into the Russian military. It is understood to include a number of Orthodox Serbs. The former brewery workers first deployment was to Kursk in late 2024 to repel Ukrainian forces that had swept across the border earlier that year. He said conditions in Kursk were cushy in comparison to what he was to later encounter in Donetsk. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement After being pulled off the line in Kursk, Fraser was transferred to a section of the front in Donetsk near Chasiv Yar and now serves around Kramatorsk, near Bakhmut. Less and less of a Russia lover It was here that the young Scots illusions about the war and the men he was serving with were dispelled. He describes how anything left lying is liable to be stolen, from socks to laptops to gear for going up to the front. Soldiers would also make friends with him only to borrow money with no intent of ever paying it back. The sort of Gopnik [delinquent youth] alcoholic type are very common here in the military unfortunately, he says. Made a lot of great friends, but also been burned a few times which has definitely, again, contributed to me becoming less and less of a Russia lover. The ruined city of Chasiv Yar in Ukraines Donetsk region, where Fraser served Conditions in Donetsk, which he notes has been at war for a decade, are much worse than in Kursk. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He describes tough slogs to get up to the dugouts, no running water, little opportunity to run to the shops, and much more intense drone and counter-battery fire. Just three weeks ago, Fraser says his artillery position was hit by shelling, sending him running for the safety of a basement. While he was sheltering, Ukrainian fire hit the ammunition stockpile, igniting the whole area and triggering secondary explosions. We got incredibly lucky, no casualties, and I managed to get away with only losing the hairs on my arm from running past burning supplies. Fraser with the flag of the Pyatnashka mercenary unit he joined Life on the front, he says, involves a lot of waiting around, working at most two to three hours a day. They have WiFi and spend most of the time sitting about and relaxing, although of course, that short time out in the thick of it is incredibly intense. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I think people are always quite surprised at how much of military life is just waiting around... because of how static the front is... theres just a lot of waiting around for weeks or months for the infantry until an assault. In artillery, were working daily on enemy positions because we can do so from range. His unit is rotated to the rear every two to three weeks, where they collect their salary in cash. Fraser, who uses flowery language and talks of war philosophically, says he finds artillery work aesthetically pleasing. I like how man has mastered nature and machines into these sorts of beasts, he adds. Artillery is also a job which is relatively safe compared to other jobs. The gun I work, were usually five to eight kilometres from the contact line depending on the position. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As individuals, we also have a massive output on the actual war effort compared to any individual infantryman, destroying countless positions, vehicles we can be sending up to 70 or shells a day. Because his application for Russian citizenship has been rejected, he is confined to base unless accompanied by an officer. He spends time reading, playing video games, and helping out in the kitchens because Im good friends with the guys there. He speaks with annoyance of the bureaucratic limbo he finds himself in, which relates to the fact that he joined up with a private military outfit, not the Russian defence ministry. Over the last 12 months, Fraser realised that Russia is not the bastion of common sense he once wrote that it was Though he has received support from his commanders and Russian journalists, he is angry because, he says, the law on citizenship stipulates that service with irregular units qualifies him for citizenship. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Theres no logical reason behind it. We do the exact same work they do, and were contracted to the Main Intelligence Directorate of Russia. The Telegraph understands that those joining Russian private military units sign shorter contracts, but do not have access to the same benefits as those joining regular forces. In his first combat tour in Kursk, Frasers base was a compound rented from a farmer about a 15-minute walk from a town. Here they could buy stuff from the shops or go to restaurants, get stuff delivered, nice buildings we just stuck bunk beds in, and we were allowed to go out to banyas [saunas] in the evening. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement All round very cushy environment. But they were there to fight, not to enjoy the steam baths. He recounted being struck by a Ukrainian kamikaze drone that exploded inside a house he was staying in. We ended up having to bust out through a window and just grab what we could in our hand then escape, no casualties though luckily, he says. We were then chased for a while by follow-up kamikaze drones, but lost them after splitting up and hiding. We got [evacuated] shortly after. Credit: Jay Fraser His current sergeant in the Donetsk region, where fighting is fiercest, is very safety-first and concerned with the lives of his men, he says. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Fraser says his boss can become stressed with the Scot when he doesnt understand what he is supposed to do. Others, however, such as a soldier with the call-sign Kino, named after a famous Soviet-era rock band, try to help him out and put difficult military lingo into simple instructions. He says the drone pilots, who tend to be younger and fluent in English, see how Im doing, take me out for coffee, and teach him Russian card games. No remorse for killing Ukrainian soldiers The now 24-year-old says he has no remorse over killing double digits of Ukrainian soldiers. But he told The Telegraph, however, that he has great respect for his enemy and that Ukraine as an idea or nation has been proved as valid through the baptism of blood it has gone through. He says this idea is not widely shared by his comrades, and that he does not believe it is reciprocated by the Ukrainians. A lot of the propaganda around this war on both sides is about dehumanisation of the enemy and fuelling hatred, and that attitude prevails on both sides. Russian soldiers prepare a Lancet drone for action - Russian Defense Ministry Press Service/AP War is impersonal for him, he says, and he claims he finds it difficult watching drone footage of his artillery strikes tearing the enemy to pieces, but I view myself as fighting the idea rather than the man. He claims to have more respect for the Ukrainian military than its supporters, who he says cheer on the bloodshed with no risk to themselves. Fraser has written extensively about losing faith with the Russian system and his drifting views on the war, but has so far faced no sanction from Moscow. Though Fraser would like to return to Scotland, he believes the political situation would make it impossible without facing jail time and says he still supports a Russian victory wholeheartedly and will fight here til victory or death, regardless of my legal issues. Another Briton who signed up to fight for Putin told The Telegraph there are about ten British nationals fighting on the side of Russia, although it is not possible to verify this number. Their stated motivations include support for ethnic Russians in eastern Ukraine and a belief that a Russian victory would damage US international hegemony. 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. Amy Stephens is the former Colorado House Majority Leader, working with Save the Storks in Colorado Springs. U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury speaks to a small crowd of environmentalists who honored him and other members of the New Mexico congressional delegation for their role getting rid of a public land sell-off in the recently enacted reconciliation bill. (Photo by Patrick Lohmann / Source NM) Two prominent New Mexico conservation groups took advantage of the New Mexico congressional delegations visit home this week to honor members for their help beating back an effort to sell off public lands. Leaders of the environmental groups Conservation Voters of New Mexico and New Mexico Wild presented U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich and U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury, both Democrats, with framed photographs of picturesque New Mexico public lands during a Friday event at Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Amid all of the other environmental threats that President Donald Trumps administration poses, from increasing energy extraction, rolling back environmental reviews, or repealing the roadless rule, cause for celebration exists due to the removal of a provision in a recent spending bill that mandated the sale of millions of acres of public lands, said Demis Foster, executive director of Conservation Voters of New Mexico. The list just goes on and on and on, Foster said of the Trump administrations environmental degradation. But there really is some light cracking through this unprecedented darkness. Stansbury and Heinrich both briefly recounted how a diverse coalition defeated the provision from U.S. Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) that would have mandated the disposal of between .5% and .75% of all United States Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management land across the West, which means up to 3.2 million acres or 5,000 square miles. Both mentioned a deluge of calls from the public as playing vital roles in convincing Republicans to vote against the provision. Heinrich said a coalition from birdwatchers to bowhunters mobilized across party lines to oppose the measure, which he said demonstrated to his Republican colleagues in the Senate that touching public lands was deeply unpopular. They knew that their voters, their hunters, their fishermen, their hikers, the people that choose to live in their states because of those public lands, wanted nothing to do with this, Heinrich said. And so quietly, when the final bill was filed on the floor, there was a big black Sharpie marker through all of those pages. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Lee said he wanted to sell the public lands to housing developers, citing a nationwide housing shortage. In a brief interview with Source New Mexico after his speech, Heinrich dismissed that explanation as a pretext and said the coalition that emerged to save public lands will stay intact. It doesnt matter what the pretext is going forward, he said. What a lot of my colleagues learned is that the policy was deeply out of step with the American people, and it didnt matter where you were on the political spectrum. U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (center) stands alongside federal Fish and Wildlife Service employees and during a gathering of environmental advocacy groups Friday at the Valle de Oro wildlife refuge south of Albuquerque. (Photo by Patrick Lohmann / Source NM) He hopes the same coalition rears its head to fight the Trump administrations effort to divert funding from the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which purchases land and easements. I hope we can just use this coalition for other things that are deeply popular with the American people, like predicting the Land and Water Conservation Fund, he said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Stansbury told attendees to celebrate themselves for the pressure they put on Congress, and she called for a round of applause for the United States Fish and Wildlife Services employees who were in attendance. Fish and Wildlife manages the Valle de Oro refuge and also has employees across the state, including some who were fired earlier this year. Our federal workforce is under attack, she said. That includes the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, countless New Mexicans and Americans all across the country to get up every day and put their uniform on and go to work on behalf of the American people, including right here in this wildlife refuge. President Donald Trumps mass deportation efforts gained new momentum this week when Uganda signed a formal third-country agreement, part of a broader push to partner with nations willing to accept deportees whose home countries refuse to take them back or present other barriers. Uganda became the latest nation to forge a third-country agreement with the Trump administration as it continues its "mass-deportation" efforts. A statement Thursday from the Ugandan Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed in a statement that "an agreement for cooperation in the examination of protection requests was concluded. The Agreement is in respect of Third Country Nationals who may not be granted asylum in the United States but are reluctant to or may have concerns about returning to their countries of origin." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Foreign Affairs Secretary Bagiire Vincent Wasiwa said the newly-formed arrangement is "temporary" and stipulates that unaccompanied minors who are deported from the U.S. as well as any deportee with a criminal record will not be accepted by Kampala. The White House celebrated the news, with spokesperson Abigail Jackson saying in a statement the administration is "committed to fulfilling President Trumps promise to carry out the largest mass deportation operation of criminal illegal aliens in history, using all the tools at our disposal." Ugandan International Relations Minister Henry Okello Oryem told the Associated Press that while Uganda is known for having a benevolent refugee policy, it can be limited. Read On The Fox News App Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Oryem said Kampala was also in talks with Washington over "visas, tariffs, sanctions, and related issues." Officials in Rwanda agreed to take in 250 illegal immigrants in a deal forged with the State Department on August 5, joining nearly a half-dozen other nations that have done the same. When the talks between Washington and Kigali began earlier this year, Rwandan Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe said the idea is not new to his country, as it previously forged a similar deal with the United Kingdom that was nixed by a London court. Illegal immigrants deported from the U.S. will be given help to get back on their feet, according to a spokesperson for Rwandan President Paul Kagame. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement They will need to be individually approved for resettlement and then receive "workforce training, healthcare and accommodation to jump-start their lives in Rwanda," the spokeswoman, Yolande Makolo, told the BBC. Trump Has Custody Over Jailed Cecot Migrants, El Salvador Says, Complicating Court Fights Rwandan diplomat Olivier Nduhungirehe, left, with President Donald Trump In another African nation, Eswatini, named Swaziland until 2018, five foreign nationals were deported from the U.S. to Mbabane in July. But that operation reportedly lacked the same formal third-country agreement as Rwanda. The tiny landlocked country, the last absolute monarchy on the continent, abuts Mozambique and South Africa. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The deported men were all convicted of crimes ranging from battery to murder to gang activity and methamphetamine-related offenses. "This flight took individuals so uniquely barbaric that their home countries refused to take them back," DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement. "These depraved monsters have been terrorizing American communities, but thanks to [Trump and Secretary Kristi Noem] they are off of American soil." The convicts hailed from Vietnam, Jamaica, Laos, Cuba and Yemen. A spokesman for King Mswati III, who has ruled Eswatini since 1986, told the BBC Eswatini hopes to "facilitate" returning the criminals to their homelands. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement South Sudan also received eight deportees in July. Boston federal Judge Brian Murphy issued a preliminary injunction blocking Sudanese deportations and others, ruling migrants needed opportunities to file for protection under a U.S. diplomatic Convention Against Torture (CAT) that precludes expatriation to dangerous countries. The Supreme Court later stayed Murphy's ruling. European Nation Agrees To 'Temporarily' Host Deported Immigrants From Us Amid Trump Push In February, Costa Rica agreed to accept 200 deported migrants, which included some foreign nationals from India, according to VisaVerge. That nation's law allows temporary migrant sheltering. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The government in San Jose also reportedly forged a $7.8 million deal in which the U.S. would help it deport immigrants, according to Reuters. The wire service further confirmed the February report. Also in February, Panamas foreign ministry told CBS News its first flight of about 200 non-Panamanian deportees arrived from the U.S. under another agreement forged with Washington. The U.S. will cover the cost of those deportations, which included migrants of mostly Asian descent, from countries like China, Uzbekistan, Nepal, India and Vietnam. Migrants from as far afield as Cameroon and Iran were also reportedly among the group. The most visible country to aid in deportation efforts has been El Salvador, where congressional Democrats flew after a suspected human trafficker living in Maryland was deported to its infamous CECOT prison. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Democrats like Hunter Biden have called out the Trump administration for the effort, which has been met by incredulous responses, such as a retort from Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele. Bukele poked fun at Bidens past drug use in response, asking on X if he was "sniffing powdered milk" when the former first son claimed he would threaten to invade El Salvador if he were elected president and if it refused to return deportees. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., was the first to fly to San Salvador to visit Garcia, a trip that appeared to inspire more Democrats to go and others to attempt to gain entry into domestic ICE sites in Newark, Baltimore and New York City. Fox News' Louis Casiano, Jacob Wheeler and the Associated Press contributed to this report. Original article source: Trump expands deportation deals as more countries agree to take migrants Lt. Col. James H. "Jimmy" Doolittle famously led the first U.S. strike against the Japanese homeland during World War II, and Doolittle as a lieutenant general also had a little-known role by happenstance in the last strike in the form of the atomic bombing that destroyed Nagasaki on Aug. 9, 1945. Doolittle became involved when a distraught Navy Cmdr. Frederick L. "Dick" Ashworth came to his tent on just-liberated Okinawa to give a report on what he then thought was a failed mission to bomb Nagasaki with the second atomic weapon used in warfare, resulting in the bomber missing the target and ending up with a "Mayday" landing on Okinawa. Ashworth, who had been the "weaponeer" aboard the B-29 Superfortress in charge of arming the bomb, had just come from a harrowing landing in which two engines conked out for lack of fuel. He could have expected the chewing out of the century for bursting into the general's tent unannounced to give a failed mission report, but Doolittle settled on hearing out Ashworth after his initial "Who the hell are you?" greeting. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Commander Frederick L. Ashworth, U. S. Navy, reporting, sir. We've just dropped the second atomic bomb over Nagasaki. We need to send a report back to Guam, but your communications people aren't cooperating," Ashworth would later recall in a 1958 article for the U.S. Naval Institute. "Well, son, sit down and tell me about it," Doolittle said. Ashworth, a 1933 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy who had earned a Distinguished Flying Cross for his service on torpedo bombers in the Solomon Islands, told of a mission plagued by mishaps before the B-29 carrying the 10,000-pound plutonium bomb dubbed "Fatman" got off the ground from Tinian island for the 1,500-mile flight to Japan. A pump on a reserve fuel tank had failed, meaning that the mission would have to proceed without a hitch for the bomber to make it back to Tinian, but there were several hitches to come. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The B-29 was dubbed "Bockscar," for its usual pilot Frederick Carl Bock, but the pilot of Bockscar for the Nagasaki mission was Maj. Charles Sweeney. Bock instead flew a B-29 called "The Great Artiste" that carried scientific instruments and photography to measure and record the effects of the nuclear weapon. A third B-29 carrying special cameras missed a rendezvous point, forcing Bockscar to waste fuel waiting for the third plane to show up before the decision was made to proceed to the primary target of the city of Kokura without it. "So we headed for Kokura, our primary target," Ashworth wrote. "However, at 30,000 feet over Kokura, we looked down at a heavy concentration of haze and smoke, apparently resulting from a bombing attack the night before on Yawata, just across the river. That place was still burning." The Bockscar crew was under strict orders from Gen. George C. Marshall to make a visual sighting of the target and not bomb by radar. The B-29 made three passes over the city, burning more fuel, but could not find a hole in the clouds for bombardier Capt. Kermit Beahan. It was said of Beahan that he could drop a bomb on a pickle barrel from 30,000 feet. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "After the third pass over Kokura, ground anti-aircraft fire opened up on us," Ashworth wrote. "Shortly after, we saw about 20 fighters on their way up. The decision to get out of there and head for our secondary target of Nagasaki was not difficult to make." Ashworth continued: "At this point, we broke radio silence to notify air-sea rescue teams that we might have to ditch south of Japan. As we approached Nagasaki, the weather appeared to have deteriorated to almost solid overcast. That left us in a real pickle. Here we were supposed to drop an atomic bomb on Nagasaki under visual conditions, and we couldn't even see Nagasaki!" "At the last minute -- actually about the last 20 seconds -- the bombardier, who had been following very closely the radar run, and who had been receiving dropping angles from the radar operator, detected what he thought was the aiming point, a bend in the river flowing through the middle of Nagasaki. He yelled that he had his bomb sight on the target and let go visually." The air burst of the Fatman bomb exploded at an altitude of about 1,650 feet with a force of about 22 kilotons of TNT, compared to the 12.5-kiloton "Little Boy" uranium bomb that destroyed Hiroshima three days earlier on Aug. 6, 1945, according to initial estimates. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The initial estimates also were that 60,000 to 80,000 people were killed in the Nagasaki bombing, compared to the 90,000 to 166,000 killed at Hiroshima, but many thousands more were to die of the aftereffects. "Our gas shortage restricted us to one turn around the atomic [mushroom] cloud, after which we picked up a heading for Okinawa. On the way, I pulled out my target chart. A prolonged examination produced a gnawing uncertainty," Ashworth wrote. "I knew we had hit Nagasaki, but did we hit our target?" Doolittle interrupted: "What do you think? Did you hit the target?" Ashworth replied: "No, sir, I don't think we did." He pointed to a spot on the map that was about a mile and a half northeast of the main target. Doolittle then leaned over "and took a closer look at the map. A smile played upon his lips. Then, he stood up and put his arm around my shoulders." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Well, son, I wouldn't worry a bit about that mission," Doolittle said. "I'm sure that General Spaatz [Gen. Carl Spaatz, commander of Strategic Forces] will be much happier to know that the bomb went off up there in the industrial area instead of over the city of Nagasaki." Six days after the Nagasaki bombing, Emperor Hirohito announced the unconditional surrender of Japan on Aug. 15, 1945. The formal surrender documents were signed aboard the battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay on Sept. 2, 1945. In his radio address to the nation announcing the surrender, Hirohito, whose voice was being heard by much of the Japanese public for the first time, said, "We must bear the unbearable and endure the unendurable in order to pave the way for peace for all future generations." "Furthermore, the enemy has begun to employ a new and cruel bomb, causing immense and indiscriminate destruction, the extent of which is beyond all estimation," Hirohito said. "Should we continue to fight, not only would it result in the ultimate collapse and obliteration of the Japanese nation, but it would also lead to the total extinction of human civilization." ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) Governor Hochul announced over 900 school districts are prepared to enter the school year with the new bell-to-bell cell phone policies. During the governors roundtable discussion, Hochul said she spoke with students, parents, and school board members. She acknowledges that moving from this type of addiction for kids will be difficult. If youre a smoker one day and the next day you dont have a pack of cigarettes, thats a rough time for you, Hochul said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Hochul is also asking the community to cut schools some slack, as there may be disruptions introducing these policies into the schools. Cell phone policies in New York schools: Where does your district stand? Despite these challenges, Hochul says these cell phone bans will open communication at home and in schools and restore a healthier student body across the state. Theyll be more highly functioning adults, theyll be able to work in groups, they wont be these people that are challenged with social interaction, Hochul added. This comes after all of New Yorks schools had to implement a bell-to-bell cell phone ban, which required all students to put their electronic devices away for the entire day. The deadline for all schools to have those specific policies was August 1. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement However, News 8 learned recently that some schools missed the deadline to submit those plans. According to the governors office, approximately 200 schools failed to implement these plans. On Friday, Hochul acknowledges the number of schools implementing these policies is still going up. 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. (NewsNation) California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Friday the state will hold a special election in November on a ballot measure that would allow Democrats to redo the House district map. Newsom hosted Texas Democratic lawmakers Friday as they broke quorum to prevent Republicans from advancing congressional maps that could favor the GOP in upcoming elections. We have till Aug. 22. With the leadership behind me, they will get this on the ballot. Were calling for a special election that will be the first week of November, Newsom said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Newsom said they will pick up five seats with the consent of the people. And thats the difference between the approach were taking and the approach. Hegseth may lift Shark Attack training ban for Army This comes as Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, filed a lawsuit Friday looking to vacate the seats of 13 Democratic state lawmakers. The event at the State Capitol featured Democratic leaders, including House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, Rep. Zoe Lofgren and state legislative leaders alongside the Texas Democrats who left their state to block redistricting efforts. We are talking about emergency measures to respond to whats happening in Texas, and we will nullify what happens in Texas, Newsom vowed. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Texas House Democrats departed their state in an attempt to deny Republicans the quorum needed to pass new congressional maps. The proposed maps could give the GOP five additional pickup opportunities ahead of the 2026 elections, according to Democratic officials. Despite threats of arrest warrants, FBI intervention and a bomb threat against other lawmakers who fled to Illinois, the Democrats have vowed to continue their standoff against the mid-decade redistricting. 2nd bomb threat reported at IL hotel housing TX Dems Paxton seeks to remove 13 Texas Democrats from their seats Paxton filed lawsuits Friday targeting 13 Democratic state representatives who left Texas to break quorum, seeking court declarations that their seats are vacant and alleging illegal fundraising by groups supporting them. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Paxton filed a petition with the Texas Supreme Court asking justices to declare the lawmakers have abandoned their offices by failing to return after a deadline set by House Speaker Dustin Burrows. The rogue Democrat legislators who fled the state have abandoned their duties, leaving their seats vacant, Paxton said in a statement, calling the lawmakers cowards who deliberately sabotaged the constitutional process. The 13 lawmakers affected include Democratic state Reps. Ron Reynolds, Vikki Goodwin, Gina Hinojosa, James Talarico, Lulu Flores, Mihaela Plesa, Suleman Lalani, Chris Turner, Ana-Maria Ramos, Jessica Gonzalez, John Bucy III, Gene Wu and Christina Morales. Several of the impacted Democrats denounced the new lawsuit in separate statements. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In a separate lawsuit, Paxton sued former U.S. Senate candidate Beto ORourke and his organization, Powered by People, alleging they operated an illegal fundraising scheme to support the absent Democrats expenses while misleading donors about how contributions would be used. Paxton accused ORourke of providing Beto Bribes and requested a court order preventing further fundraising for the lawmakers. ORourkes organization did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Man given home detention after assaulting anti-abortion protesters Texas redistricting war escalates across the country The decision by Texas Democrats to flee the state has ratcheted up tensions and started a new phase in the redistricting war around the country. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has vowed to protect lawmakers who traveled to his state from the threat of arrest from top Texas leaders. And while hosting several Texas Democrats in her state Monday, Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said she will explore different options available to redraw her states maps. Republicans are responding as well. In Florida, the states Republican House speaker announced this week that his chamber will take up the issue this fall through a select committee on congressional redistricting. Billy Long to depart as IRS commissioner Second bomb threat reported at Illinois hotel housing Texas Democrats A second bomb threat was reported at the Illinois hotel housing the Texas Democrats, local police reported Friday. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The St. Charles Police Department said in a press release that it responded to a report of a possible bomb threat at 8:32 a.m. CDT on Friday at the Q Center. The St. Charles Police Department, in coordination with the Kane County Sheriffs Office Bomb Squad and the Explosive Detection K-9 Unit, conducted a thorough search of the area. No explosive device was found. The area has been secured by authorities, and all 70 hotel guests are safe, the department said. This mornings secondary threat occurred two days after the initial bomb threat was reported to police by the Q-Center on Aug. 6, the department continued. In both instances, no explosive devices were found, and the designated areas were deemed safe. As a continued precaution, the St. Charles Police Department has increased patrols in the area since the initial report. Texas Democrats had to evacuate their hotel earlier this week due to another bomb threat, though no devices were found and those inside were unharmed. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Rep. Thomas Massie begins effort to force Epstein files release Abbott orders arrest of Democrats who fled Texas GOP Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday ordered the arrest of the Democrats. Texas House Democrats abandoned their duty to Texans, Abbott said in a statement. By fleeing the state, Texas House Democrats are holding hostage critical legislation to aid flood victims and advance property tax relief. There are consequences for dereliction of duty. In a separate statement, Abbott said he was also directing the Texas Rangers to investigate the Democrats over potential bribery in connection with donations they were allegedly receiving from donors to offset the $500 daily fines the lawmakers are facing. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement NewsNation partner The Hill 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 NewsNation. LIVE Video: Texas Dems give remarks from California amid redistricting battle President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet Aug. 15 in Alaska, he said on Truth Social on Friday evening. The meeting has been teased this week and was announced the day that Trump had set as a deadline for Putin to talk about peace terms for his war in Ukraine. Trump is replacing IRS Commissioner Billy Long with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, the White House announced Friday. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Justice Department on Friday subpoenaed New York Attorney General Letitia James, the states top prosecutor, who brought a successful civil fraud case against Trump. The probe by federal prosecutors, launched by the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Northern District of New York, issued two subpoenas this week, seeking information related to Jamess case against the Trump Organization as well as another brought against the National Rifle Association (NRA). It also notched a win in court, as an appeals court tossed the contempt order against administration officials that was issued in April by District Judge James Boasberg. In Texas, the state House tried to hold a session at quorum but without Democrats in Austin, continuing their protest against redistricting the state to give Republicans five more seats in Congress, the chamber adjourned. Republicans on Thursday got the cooperation of the FBI in tracking down Texas lawmakers who have fled the state. Catch up here on todays news: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement And follow along here all day for 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 The Hill. SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KCAU) With less than three weeks before school kicks off, and a building thats still under construction, one Sioux City school remains confident that it will meet its deadline. Work continues on Siouxland Christian Schools new junior-senior high school building, located across from their current building on Gordon Drive. The project started this spring and is 100% funded by donations. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Officials said crews have been working hard, and theyre confident that students will be in the new building by the first day of school, a goal that has required an all-hands-on-deck approach. That six-month timeline is extremely aggressive. This would normally be about a 12 to 18-month process. So were having to be really flexible and nimble. People working on top of each other to pull it off, just to get in by the first day of school, said Nic Scandrett, the Superintendent at Siouxland Christian School. Scandrett said that due to such a short construction period and a fast-approaching deadline, an unusual approach had to be taken. Its untraditional in how these tradesmen are having to work around each other. So, framers are working next to the drywallers. Normally, its the framers doing their work; they leave, and then drywallers come in. Theyre kind of working at the same time. So its cool to see the collaboration, Scandrett said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Story continues below As the final weeks of construction wrap up, excitement continues to build around the new facility. Im a little biased, but I think this is going to be the nicest, most innovative facility for secondary education in the Siouxland area. So were really excited to welcome people in and give them tours and show them what a modern educational facility looks like, said Scandrett. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This is the projects first of four phases; a gymnasium, auditorium, and additional offices are planned to be built in the future. Classes start at Siouxland Christian on August 25. 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 SiouxlandProud | Sioux City, IA | News, Weather, and Sports. YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) Earlier this week, Foxconn announced it is selling its Lordstown plant and a local leader says thats a good thing. The company is selling the plant and all of its equipment to a firm called Crescent Dune, but says it will still operate out of the facility. Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber President and CEO Guy Coviello says the decision will put the entire 6.2 million square foot plant back into productive use. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Foxconn has been a great corporate citizen here in the Mahoning Valley; we want them to stay. Sounds like they will manufacture the product thats inside that, and thats what their specialty is. Its not owning the products, but manufacturing other companies products, Coviello said. He says Crescent Dune is most likely a subsidiary of a better-known company, but theyre still learning about the firm. Coviello says they will probably be manufacturing hardware for data centers at the plant, involving AI technology. If thats the product thats going to be manufactured in there, it would be really nice to have us on the cutting edge of brand-new technology thats going to have decades and decades of shelf life, he said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He says that means a lot of new jobs. This one feels completely different, and this is a legit, proven company, Fortune Three company, third-largest employer in the world, Coviello said. If it is truly data center hardware, it is a technology that unlike a vehicle, where every few years you have a new model and you wonder if you are going to continue to make a model in your facility this will be here for a long time. Coviello says the turnaround for the Lordstown plant from shuttered in 2019 to now being put back to use is something that the whole community should feel very good about. He said they dont yet have a timeline on when well find out more information. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement You can watch Coviellos entire interview in the video player above. Josh Frketic 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 WKBN.com. LISBON, Ohio (WKBN) A man who worked as a chaplain has been indicted on 85 charges involving child sex abuse material. Read next: Victims report carjacking, robbery in local Dunkin Donuts parking lot Joseph Sabella is charged with 85 felony counts of pandering obscenity involving a minor or impaired person. Investigators say Sabella created, reproduced, or published obscene material with a minor as one of its participants or portrayed observers. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement They also say he bought, procured or possessed child sex abuse material. Investigators say Sabella was uploading and had child sex abuse material following a search at his Beloit home. The material was in print and digital form. Gerry Ricciutti and Patty Coller 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 WKBN.com. SAN DIEGO (FOX5/KUSI) With the school year beginning for many children in San Diego County, 75 students were taken on a back-to-school shopping spree on Thursday. This was organized by the Barrio Logan College Institute, a non-profit with the goal of helping kids be the first in their families to attend college. BLCI programs focus on neighborhoods with low graduation rates and experiencing poverty. Students in the BLCI program were given a $100 gift card to Target Mission Valley to spend on school supplies and clothing. Sportswear brand Champion offered giveaways to students as well. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Megan Evanson, Development Manager for BLCI, said some families in their programs have several children and this opportunity alleviates some of that financial pressure. A majority of families we serve are low-income, so being able to save a few hundred dollars on school supplies each year is really helpful for them, Evanson said. Susie Citizen, Target district senior director for central San Diego, said that opportunities like this are important and even some of her employees participated in BLCI growing up. Supporting young people during back-to-back season is really important because every student deserves to go to school and feel like they are on a level playing field with their peers and their friends, Citizen said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KCAU) Thanks to a multi-year federal grant totaling $1.75 million, Briar Cliff University will soon be launching a new initiative. The 5-year Student Support Services Grant from the U.S. Department of Education will allow Briar Cliff to improve college access for underrepresented students. Story continues below Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The university also plans to use the money to assist in expanding its capacity to provide advising, mentoring, and counseling services for 200 students yearly. The grant is a part of the federal outreach and student services programs targeting first-generation college students, those from low-income backgrounds, and students with disabilities. 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 SiouxlandProud | Sioux City, IA | News, Weather, and Sports. It was inside the now-shuttered Federal Correctional Institution in Dublin, California, that a Callahan woman, who asked Action News Jax not to show her face, said she felt helpless. She said she was held there for 4 months after she was sentenced for defrauding FEMA involving Hurricane Irma. We were trapped inside with the monsters, said the victim. Couldnt get help. Couldnt get anybody to hear us. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement >>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<< The prison was known as the rape club because of rampant staff-on-inmate sexual misconduct. The woman Action News Jax talked with said she was one of over 100 women who filed individual lawsuits against the Bureau of Prisons over their treatment at the federal prison in California. She said she received $1.2 million as part of a settlement, but she said the money will not repair the harm that she suffered. Its like a cage, said the victim. You are caged like a dog, and you cant get out. The victim stated that the abuse started when Corrections Officer Andrew Jones made these comments to her as she worked in the prison kitchen. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement You look good, and then turned around, said the victim. I ignored it and then walked on. [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks] And the next day, she said he pulled her back toward an office where there were no cameras, where she said she was raped. I sat in my cell, I cried, said the victim, I didnt know what to do. She reported it, but she said it was not until two years after she got out, her voice was finally heard. Last year, the FBI searched the prison as part of a year-long investigation into sexual abuse of inmates by guards. People were subject to forcible sexual assault by officers, said Attorney Amaris Montez, who advocates for prisoners. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The victim said there is one way to protect women in prison. If they would take the male guards out of the female prisons, it would stop it, said the victim. Jones pleaded guilty in Aug. 2023 and was sentenced to 8 years in prison. The victim is encouraging those who have loved ones incarcerated to check in on them so that nothing like this happens to others. [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter] LONDON, Ky. (FOX 56) The London Police Department is breaking its silence, providing an update on the shooting that claimed the life of Doug Harless for the first time since December 2024. Just days before Christmas 2024, 63-year-old Douglas Doug Harless was shot and killed by London police during what state troopers said was a search warrant following an investigation. Doug Harless killed in London police search warrant shooting: A look at the timeline, investigation Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Kentucky State Police (KSP) said the officer-involved shooting took place at 511 Vanzant Road, despite obtained dispatch audio noting 489 Vanzant Road as the warrants target. Since that night, questions linger in the Laurel County community as the investigation unfolds. On Friday, Aug. 8, Chief of Police Bobby Day provided an update on the shooting investigation, which Kentucky State Police have since handled. With regard to the officer-involved shooting from Vanzant Road, I spoke with investigators with the Kentucky State Police, who advised that they were in the final stages of the investigation, but at this time, there are no additional updates, Day said. When I do receive updates from the state police, I will relay those updates to the public. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Since the night shots were fired at Doug Harless home, questions have haunted the community. To answer the question of why this investigation has not been completed yet? Its important to note that neither the London Police Department, the mayors office, nor the City of London has any control whatsoever over the investigation or how long it takes, Day explained. We relinquished that control on December 23rd when, pursuant to policy, the Kentucky State Police was requested to handle the investigation. He affirmed that everyone wants this investigation to be fair, impartial, and thorough. LATEST KENTUCKY NEWS: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In fairness to the Kentucky State Police, there are many critical incidents they are investigating, and many of them, like this one, are at the mercy of many working parts, one of which is crime laboratories and other resources needed to support an investigation, Day explained. When the case is completed, KSP will present all evidence to the Commonwealth Attorneys Office for review. The mayor said several times. I will also say if theres any wrongdoing found to have occurred, we will ensure that all those responsible are disciplined. According to Day, state police and prosecutors will be the ones who determine whether a law was broken and, if so, which one. Were all waiting for the results and the findings of this investigation, and hopefully well all have the facts surrounding this case soon, Day said. FOX 56 continues to track the latest on the investigation; click here for more information. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. The lone House Republican in Maryland's congressional delegation is warning that his state could lose its main connection to the White House if Democrats there made good on threats to redraw district lines. "Right now, as the sole Republican representative, I'm the liaison between the state and the executive branch and the legislative branch, and that would be lost if they went to single-party representation," Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., told Fox News Digital. "I don't think Marylanders are going to put up with that." Maryland is one of the latest states threatening to jump into the growing redistricting war that's taking over U.S. politics. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Texas Republicans are moving to change the Lone Star State's congressional map with a proposal that could give the GOP as many as five new seats in the House of Representatives. Gop Governor Nominee Pushes Redistricting To Oust State's Lone House Dem Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, right, is leaving all options on the table if Texas moves forward with a Trump-backed plan to change district lines. Democratic strongholds California and New York have threatened to make their own changes in response, which would sidestep independent redistricting commissions in both states. Read On The Fox News App Since then, the fight has spilled over to a number of other states, particularly those with lopsided congressional representation, like Maryland. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Maryland Gov. Wes Moore's office told Fox News Digital that the Democratic leader "will continue to evaluate all options as states around the country make decisions regarding redistricting," while blasting Texas' move as a "power grab." "Look, the governor talks a lot about bipartisanship. Obviously, that would not be a bipartisan bill, to attempt to make it a single-party delegation," Harris told Fox News Digital. "And, you know, an attempt at that in 2022 failed in the courts. I think an attempt to that this time might fail again." Gop Lawmakers Clash Over Strategy To Avert Government Shutdown Crisis Rep. Andy Harris is the lone Republican in Maryland's entire congressional delegation. Harris was wary of a wider redistricting fight across the country, but accused Democrats not Texas Republicans of starting the battle. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "I think that we should probably shy away from mid-cycle redistricting," Harris said. He added, however, "Look, the Democrats started it. I'm not surprised that Texas wants to do what they want to do." Harris pointed to states like Alabama, where a lengthy court battle led to the ruby-red state drawing in a second Democrat-leaning district ahead of the 2024 elections. Voting rights groups had argued that an existing map by Republicans unfairly violated the 1965 Voting Rights Act by suppressing Black voters' representation in the state. It resulted in Alabama adopting a court-approved map with two majority-Black districts, both of which are currently represented by Democrats. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is pushing for a new map that could give Republicans there as many as five new seats in the House of Representatives. "The bottom line is that the Democrats started the discussion about whether or not redistricting would be accomplished mid-cycle," Harris argued. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement And despite his wariness of the practice now, Harris praised President Donald Trump's call for a snap census that would exclude anyone in the U.S. illegally. "I think Americans should realize that if we weren't counting illegal aliens in our census, there would be 10 to 12, maybe 15 fewer Democrats in the House of Representatives," Harris said. Original article source: Lone Maryland GOP congressman warns redistricting could cut White House ties for entire state SAN ANGELO, Texas (Concho Valley Homepage) The San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts (SAMFA) will be hosting the 25-26 San Angelo Chamber music series and starting with a performance called Brass Without Borders. As a cultural cornerstone in San Angelo, the Chamber Music Series offers unforgettable musical experiences for audiences of all ages and backgrounds. Concerts will take place in the Museums Grand Hall, located at 1 Love St., reported SAMFA through a press release. Come experience the timeless beauty of chamber music with this seasons incredible performers, said SAMFA. Curated by Dr. Fagner Magrinelli Rocha, the series reflects a bold artistic vision that emphasizes musical excellence and cultural depth. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This season begins on Sept. 14, from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. with a performance by West Texas Symphonys resident brass quintet, Lone Star Brass, featuring a dynamic blend of music for all ages in Brass Without Borders. The Lone Star Brass consists of trumpeters Eric Baker and Ben Fairfield, hornist Scott Millichamp, trombonist Stewart Rhodes, and tubast Arturo Galvan. 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. The Citadel in Charleston would be home to the nations eighth maritime academy under a proposal by state Rep. Tom Hartnett Jr. of Charleston. (Photo by Ed Wray/provided by The Citadel) With more than 1,100 miles to think while driving from Charleston to Galveston, Texas, three years ago, state Rep. Tom Hartnett Jr. found himself asking the same question again and again. Why doesnt South Carolina have its own maritime academy? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Hartnett was taking his son, Rhett, to the Texas A&M maritime academy one of just seven such schools nationwide for his freshman year. Rep. Tom Hartnett Jr., R-Charleston, was first elected to the state House in November 2022. (Provided by Tom Hartnett) Months later, the Charleston Republican won his first election to the Statehouse. Rhett, who plans to become a merchant mariner, will graduate later this year. Since that trip, the elder Hartnett a former stevedore turned real estate appraiser has been taking steps to bring a new maritime academy to Charleston. Palmetto State residents interested in jobs on commercial vessels or along the waterfront shouldnt have to face long distances and expensive out-of-state tuition to reach their goals, he said. Earlier this week, Hartnett met with Brig. Gen. Sally Seldon, provost and dean of The Citadel, to discuss the potential creation of the South Carolina Maritime Academy at South Carolinas military college. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement She was very receptive, Hartnett told the SC Daily Gazette, adding he hopes a working group of education and maritime industry leaders will be formed in the coming months to discuss the next steps. The academy would integrate with The Citadels existing infrastructure, reducing startup costs and accelerating the academys launch timeline. Hartnett said he hopes the academy will be up and running within two years. A spokesperson for The Citadel did not respond to a request for comment, but the idea already has strong backing. The maritime industry faces significant challenges in meeting the growing demand for a skilled workforce, Bradley Kerr, director of sales and marketing at Detyens Shipyards, said in a written statement. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement To ensure the future security and resilience of our nations maritime infrastructure, we must establish accessible and robust pathways for local and state students to pursue careers in critical fields such as marine engineering, naval architecture, marine mechanics and logistics, thereby fortifying our shipyards and logistical framework, Kerr said. John Cameron, executive director of the Charleston Harbor Pilots, said merchant marine officers who go on to leadership roles with shipping companies, insurers, admiralty law firms and port administration are more likely to be from a state with a maritime academy. South Carolina ought to be one of them, Cameron said in a written statement. Hartnett said the Port of Charleston and the areas well-established maritime industry offer ready-made training opportunities. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Our back yard is nothing but a classroom a training area for mariners, he said. A spokesperson for the S.C. State Ports Authority, which owns and operates Charlestons port, said in an email that the state agency is thankful for Hartnetts continued support of the maritime industry and expects to participate in conversations with him to support his efforts. A handful of private and public maritime training programs already exist in the Charleston region, including at Trident Technical College which offers an associates degree in marine engineering technology. But existing programs arent on the scale of what an academy recognized by the U.S. Maritime Administration would offer. Such academies must provide all of the instruction and at-sea training needed to become a commissioned officer and U.S. Coast Guard-licensed Merchant Mariner. The proposed Citadel program would also offer four-year degrees in marine engineering, logistics and transportation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The federal Maritime Administration, part of the U.S. Department of Labor, provides training vessels and some funding, although the S.C. Legislature would likely need to kick in additional state money for a South Carolina academy. Its still too early to know how much that might take, Hartnett said. By leveraging Charlestons port infrastructure and The Citadels military structure, the academy would provide immediate access to real-world maritime experience through partnerships with local shipyards, port operators, and federal Ready Reserve Force vessels owned by the Maritime Administration, according to a release from Hartnett announcing his proposal. The seven maritime academies nationwide graduate fewer than 1,500 licensed officers annually far below the yearly estimated need for 2,200 licensed officers and 9,700 water transportation workers, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. More than half of current merchant marine officers are expected to retire over the coming 15 to 20 years. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The median pay meaning half earn more and half less for such workers is $66,490 per year, according to the bureau. How can we continue to deny our citizens the ability to open the doors to career paths like that? Hartnett said. We owe it to South Carolina. We owe it to our citizens, the students and our waterfront industry. Its just something that has to be done. Maritime academies There are currently seven maritime academies nationwide. Here are their locations: The U.S. Merchant Mariner Academy at Kings Point, N.Y. California State University Maritime Academy at Vallejo, Calif. Great Lakes Maritime Academy at Traverse City, Mich. Maine Maritime Academy at Castine, Maine Massachusetts Maritime Academy at Buzzards Bay, Mass. State University of New York Maritime Academy at Fort Schuyler, N.Y. Texas A&M Maritime Academy at Galveston, Texas Source: U.S. Maritime Administration Aug. 7Following a rocky few weeks, an upscale Nob Hill staple is closing its doors for good. Scalo, an Italian restaurant located in the historic Nob Hill Business Center at 3500 Central SE, announced it would be closing after nearly four decades in business in a message posted on its website. "We were trying to keep this Scalo flame alive by operating at a loss and still trying to find a new buyer to take it over," the message reads. "Unfortunately, we had no success in that pursuit and we were forced to shut down." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The owners, Kristie and Prashant Sawant, did not respond to a Journal request for comment. In mid-June, the restaurant said in another website message that it had closed for "renovations and rebranding" and would "reopen under new ownership in a few weeks." Shortly after, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, or EEOC, filed a lawsuit against the restaurant owners, alleging the restaurant engaged in sexual harassment and retaliation against its female employees. The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in Albuquerque on June 30. The lawsuit remains pending. Between 2022 and 2024, female workers experienced "unwelcome verbal and physical sexual harassment and a male manager who requested sex in exchange for more hours on the schedule," the suit alleged. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A former server brought the alleged problem to the EEOC in a complaint filed in December 2023. The EEOC investigated the charge and found a generalized pattern of sexual harassment by supervisors toward female employees, the suit alleges. The federal agency sent Scalo a letter in December 2024, seeking mediation talks with the restaurant "to eliminate the unlawful employment practices," but was unable to reach an agreement, according to Journal reporting. The EEOC lawsuit alleged the owners who took over the restaurant in 2020 "never met or interacted with most Scalo employees." It is unknown if the lawsuit played a role in the decision to close. "I think the lawsuit was certainly a contributing factor," said Jim Long, founder and CEO of Heritage Cos., which owns the Nob Hill Business Center. "They were not restaurateurs... and I think it was a business that they struggled to operate from the get-go." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Long said he's already started receiving phone calls from people interested in filling the space Scalo is leaving behind. The probability of another restaurant stepping in is high, Long said. "That's an iconic building, an iconic restaurant, so there's a lot of interest in Nob Hill in general and specifically that location," Long said. "I do suspect that we will find a very talented chef, owner to take over that business sometime in the near future." CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WCIA) The school year is almost here, and there have been numerous school supply drives in Central Illinois. This week, there was a different kind of drive. The Salvation Army of Champaign County gave out hygiene products. PREVIOUSLY: Salvation Army in Champaign Co. hosting hygiene giveaway When students have access to these products, they can start the school year with their best foot forward. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We want the kids, as theyre going back to school, to have every bit of confidence possible, Champaign County Salvation Armys Corps Officer, Kenyon Sivels, said. They saw a lot of community partners hosting school supply drives, but noticed something missing. We found a gap in terms of students going back to school having the necessary hygiene supplies they need to have a great and successful year, Sivels said. So, the idea was born to have their first ever hygiene supply drive. Rachel Banfield is entering her 30th year of teaching, and she has seen the need first-hand. We have students who come to school every day, maybe they dont know the hygiene that they need to do or maybe they dont have the supplies at home to do that, Banfield said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Sivels said their goal is to help teens have positive self-esteem. Central Illinois teachers are teaching each other You feel confident when you have your backpack and your notebooks and your folders, etc. You also feel confident when you have, you know, soap and deodorant, Sivels said. Banfield sees why thats so important. Whenever you think about the confidence of a kid, I mean, you want them to have their best foot forward. And whenever they dont have those hygiene products and they arent able to take care of themselves in that way, then it is kind of a hindrance, Banfield said. The community donated many of the products from shampoo to sanitizing items. This showed Sivels that hes not the only one who wants to invest in students. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Kids are the future. But even for the right now, kids do so much. They bring so much value to every community theyre in, and if we can give them value, we want to do that, Sivels said. Urbana City Council set to vote on funding for new consultant, task force sessions The hygiene drive will run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Friday at the Salvation Army on Market St. as well. However, even after Friday, the Salvation Army will still be accepting hygiene products to continue supporting students throughout the school year. Only high school students in Champaign County can participate. 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. BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First) Louisiana Office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control Commissioner Ernest Legier Jr. has submitted his resignation to Governor Jeff Landry. Officials confirmed that Legier handed in his resignation on Aug. 5. Photo of Ernest Legier, Jr. (Photo courtesy of Gov. Jeff Landrys Office) Legier plans to leave public service to pursue other interests. My service at ATC has been one of the greatest honors of my life, Legier wrote. I am eternally grateful for the trust you placed in my ability to lead this wonderful little agency. The people at the ATC are among the best and most dedicated public servants in state government. People are truly amazed when I share that ATC regulates alcohol, tobacco, vape, and CBD statewide with only 67 positions. I assure you; no other state has accomplished that feat. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Legier is a recognized leader in alternative dispute resolution, executive management, federal funding application, grants management, and construction management. He also served as Executive Director of the Orleans Parish Hospital Service District, where he recruited and hired all staff members, instituted all required policies, and oversaw the construction of a $100 million hospital project. Legier shared the following statement with Louisiana First News. I have resigned my appointment as Commissioner, Louisiana Office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control effective August 11th. I have decided ultimately to pursue opportunities outside of state government, but will assist a transition as Deputy Commissioner. I am very proud of all the ATC has accomplished under my leadership. I would like to thank the Governor for this wonderful opportunity. I look forward to the next chapter in my professional life. Ernest Legier Jr., Commissioner of Louisiana Office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control Latest 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 Louisiana First News. BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First) Hoffmann Family of Companies has acquired Elmer Chocolate. This Louisiana candy maker is famous for its heart-shaped boxes on Valentines Day and its popular Easter treats, like Gold Brick Eggs and Heavenly Hash Eggs. According to a news release, the Nelson family, which has run Elmer for three generations, will keep partial ownership and continue leading the company. The purchase price was not disclosed. The new partnership aims to help Elmer sell more chocolates year-round while keeping its classic recipes the same. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Elmer has been making candy since 1855 and operates a large, modern factory in Ponchatoula. A 2016 expansion brought the plants size to more than 400,000 square feet, making it one of the most advanced in the industry. Louisiana Blue cuts jobs to manage rising health care costs Hoffmann Family of Companies has over 120 brands around the world. They work in several areas, including manufacturing, hospitality, agriculture, and real estate. Latest News Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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 Louisiana First News. George Brauchler is the 23rd Judicial District attorney and former district attorney for the 18th Judicial District. He has served as an Owens Early Criminal Justice Fellow at the Common Sense Institute. Follow him on Twitter (X): @GeorgeBrauchler. The Louisiana Department of Children and Family Services should scrutinize its spending more, according to the Louisiana Legislative Auditor. (Julie O'Donoghue/Louisiana Illuminator) The Louisiana Board of Ethics voted unanimously Friday to make a job offer to its acting ethics administrator eight months after legislators took unprecedented steps to initially block his hiring. The ethics board made David Bordelon its top staff member on a temporary basis in December in order to appease state lawmakers. Legislators filed an unsuccessful lawsuit last fall to try to stop the board from picking a new administrator at that time, and Bordelons interim status was considered a compromise. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Legislators were not objecting to Bordelon personally. The lawsuit was aimed at delaying any hiring until several board positions turned over to new appointees at the beginning of 2025. When the ethics board hired Bordelon for the temporary position at the end of 2024, it was made up of appointees picked by Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards and members of the Louisiana Legislature from the previous term. Legislators wanted the board to wait to select a permanent ethics administrator until appointees from Republican Gov. Jeff Landry and current-term lawmakers had been seated. A 2024 law change Landry pushed gave governors and lawmakers more influence over the new people seated on the ethics board. Previously, governors and legislators ethics board appointees were required to be selected from a list provided by leaders of Louisianas private colleges and universities. Starting this year, Landry and legislators can now put who they want on the board without outside input. The board that hired Bordelon this week includes members picked by Edwards and previous lawmakers as well as Landry and current legislators. Board chairman Jason Amato, appointed by Landry, has been impressed by Bordelons leadership. State government leaders and legislators have enjoyed working with Bordelon, he said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As the permanent ethics administrator, Bordelon will have to help the board navigate dozens of ethics and campaign finance law changes approved this year that loosen restrictions on government officials. Criticism and scrutiny of the ethics board has skyrocketed since Landry took over as governor in 2024. Landry has had a fraught relationship with the board for years after being reprimanded multiple times for ethical and campaign finance problems. Presently, the governor is negotiating with the board for charges he faces for not disclosing flights he took to Hawaii on a political donors private plane while attorney general. The ethics board investigates local and state government officials everyone from the governor to small town employees for allegations of corruption, conflicts of interest and campaign finance violations. It can fine and charge public servants with violating the state ethics code, though its ability to fully enforce those laws remains relatively weak. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) The Louisiana Film Prize announced its Top 20 short film finalists on Thursday evening at Nobel Savage restaurant in downtown Shreveport. So who is ready to open some envelopes and find out the Top 20? said Film Prize executive director Gregory Kallenberg to a cheering crowd. The films will compete for the world`s largest cash prize for a short film, $50,000, at Prize Fest 2025 happening October 15-19. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Its a convening of filmmakers from all over the county that are here because Shreveport-Bossier is not only the Independent Film making capital, but this community has built itself up to be something very special, said Kallenberg. So when you are wondering about Shreveport-Bossier and all the things that we have, tonight is the night. Tonights the night that filmmakers come in from Los Angeles and New York, Florida, Dallas, Austin, wherever they come from when they made their films here. They are coming here tonight to find out if they made it to the Top 20. Kallenberg says this years line up will feature more quality films than ever before because in addition to the cash prize, a major opportunity is being offered. As a community member you need to be down at Film Prize because one, its a blast. Two, you are awarding the worlds largest cash prize for a short film. And this year well be awarding the winner of Film Prize the ability to be qualified for an Oscar Award. The Film Prize is one of five categories that comprise Prize Fest, along with Food Prize, Music Prize, Fashion Prize, and Comedy Prize. Kallenberg says he is thankful for how the community has embraced the event. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement When you look at an environment thats out there that has a shrinking film festival scene, Shreveports Prize Fest has grown exponentially. Were so lucky because the community comes out and supports it, he said. That is something that we will always be grateful of no matter where we are and no matter what we are doing. 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. LEITCHFIELD, Ky. (FOX 56) A fugitive from Louisiana who was reportedly living illegally in the U.S. was arrested on Wednesday in Grayson County on rape and child molestation-related charges. The U.S. Marshals Office asked for help from the Grayson County Sheriffs Office (GCSO) regarding 45-year-old Juan Chavez-Trevizo, originally from Mexico, who was staying at a home on Cave Mill Road in Leitchfield, according to a Facebook post from Aug. 7. Read more of the latest Kentucky news Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement GCSO claimed that he was arrested without incident and charged with: Second-degree rapethree counts Molestation of a child under 13four counts Molestation of a child with controlled supervision of the victimfour counts Indecent behavior with a child victim under the age of 13 The post said he was booked into the Grayson County Detention Center while awaiting extradition. LATEST KENTUCKY NEWS: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On behalf of the Sheriffs Office and the citizens of Grayson County, we are grateful for our federal partners for removing this individual from our streets and stopping him from potentially perpetrating on other child victims. Our partnership with the US Marshals Office, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and other federal agencies will continue to strengthen as we focus on removing other criminal illegals, drugs, and local criminals from Grayson Countys streets, wrote Sheriff Norman Chaffins. Additionally, GCSO announced that two other individuals were arrested at the same location. 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. The field of candidates for California governor expanded rapidly this year as a growing number of politicians entered the race to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom, but now it's starting to shrink. Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, a major Democratic donor and the first well-known candidate to formally launch a campaign for governor in April 2023, said Friday morning that she is dropping out of the governor's race and will instead run for state treasurer. Her announcement is the second big development in the governor's race in the last two weeks. Last Wednesday, former Vice President Kamala Harris said she would not run, creating a vacuum other Democrats in the race are rushing to fill. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Kounalakis said in a statement that as treasurer, she can "make the greatest impact by focusing on California's financial future." The state treasurer manages California's assets and serves on powerful boards that oversee the state employee pension systems and award financing for affordable housing and infrastructure projects. That role, Kounalakis said, would allow her to focus on "fiscal responsibility, economic opportunity and strategic investment in our state's priorities from affordable housing and clean energy to infrastructure and education." "This work is critical and I am prepared for the challenge," Kounalakis said. Read more: Who is running for California governor in 2026? Meet the candidates Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Kounalakis is the former U.S. Ambassador to Hungary and the daughter of a wealthy real estate developer from Sacramento. In 2016, Kounalakis was a California co-chair of Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, helping raise money and advising on foreign policy. Her family has deep ties to the well-heeled world of Bay Area political donors and power brokers, including U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) who gave Kounalakis a nod on TV last week after Harris decided not to run for governor. Her exit from the governor's race creates an opening for other candidates to build relationships and secure contributions from those donors, some of whom were waiting to give until Harris made a decision. The other Democrats in the race include Toni Atkins, a former Assembly speaker and Senate president pro tem; Xavier Becerra, former California attorney general and Biden Cabinet secretary; Stephen Cloobeck, a philanthropist and businessman; Katie Porter, a former congresswoman from Orange County; Tony Thurmond, the superintendent of public instruction; Antonio Villaraigosa, the former mayor of Los Angeles; and Betty Yee, the former state controller. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement There are two prominent Republicans running: former Fox News commentator Steve Hilton and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco. Early polling showed Kounalakis in the top half of the gubernatorial field, but most voters also said they haven't made a decision yet and don't know the candidates. Kounalakis had raised millions of dollars in her race for governor, most of which her campaign said she will be able to transfer to her race for treasurer. She will face several other longtime California politicians in that race, including state Sen. Anna Caballero (D-Salinas); the former mayor of Oakland, Libby Schaaf; and Tony Vazquez, a member of the state Board of Equalization. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Kounalakis was first elected lieutenant governor in 2018 and was reelected in 2022. The office is a largely ceremonial post that has been a launchpad for the governor's mansion in the past: Both Newsom and former Gov. Gray Davis previously served as lieutenant governor. Get the L.A. Times Politics newsletter. Deeply reported insights into legislation, politics and policy from Sacramento, Washington and beyond, in your inbox twice per week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. The Brief California Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis has dropped out of the 2026 gubernatorial race. She will instead run for State Treasurer, citing a desire to focus on the state's financial future. Kounalakis, who was polling at 3%, is barred from seeking a third term as lieutenant governor. LOS ANGELES - California's Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis has announced she is ending her campaign for governor in the 2026 election and will instead seek the position of state treasurer. What we know On Friday, Kounalakis announced that she is withdrawing from the 2026 gubernatorial race to run for state treasurer. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Kounalakis, a Democrat who in 2018 became the first woman elected as California's lieutenant governor, is barred from seeking a third term in her current post. RELATED: CA Governor Race: Who is running to replace Newsom The current state treasurer, Fiona Ma, is also term-limited and is running for lieutenant governor. The field for treasurer also includes former Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, California State Board of Equalization member Tony Vazquez, and Senator Anna Caballero. The backstory A poll released Friday by Emerson College Polling showed Kounalakis with 3% of the vote for governor, tying with former Secretary of Health and Human Services and state Attorney General Xavier Becerra. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Former Rep. Katie Porter led the poll with 18%, and former Fox News Channel host Steve Hilton was second with 12%. SUGGESTED: Kamala Harris says she will not run for California governor Kounalakis previously worked for her family's housing development firm and served as the United States ambassador to Hungary from 2010 to 2013. What they're saying In a statement, Kounalakis said, "after careful consideration and reflection, I have made the decision to end my campaign for governor and to run instead for state treasurer in 2026." She added that she believes she can "make the greatest impact by focusing on California's financial future," and that as state treasurer, she will bring a "deep commitment to fiscal responsibility, economic opportunity and strategic investment in our state's priorities from affordable housing and clean energy to infrastructure and education." Big picture view The role of the state treasurer is to act as California's lead asset manager, banker, and financier. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The treasurer also chairs or serves on numerous state authorities, boards, and commissions. SUGGESTED: New effort to recall Gov. Newsom now underway following LA fires Kounalakis's decision to run for this position, along with Fiona Ma's run for lieutenant governor, sets up a new political dynamic for California's 2026 statewide races. The Source This article is based on a public statement released by Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis and a gubernatorial poll from Emerson College Polling. Additional details on the candidates and the treasurer's role were compiled from existing public records. A Lubbock cardiologist has agreed to pay $1.2 million to resolve allegations that he issued prescriptions for opioids and other drugs to himself. Juan Kurdi is an interventional cardiologist who co-owned and co-operated a medical practice in Lubbock, the Department of Justice announced in a release on August 7. He allegedly prescribed powerful narcotics, including Oxycodone, to friends and family but intended them for his personal use. Prescribing opioids and other dangerous narcotics outside the usual course of professional practice betrays the trust placed in physicians by society and threatens public safety, said Nancy Larson, acting U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Texas, in the release. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Officials allege he violated the Controlled Substances Act by taking advantage of his position to prescribe drugs, including Oxycodone, Alprazolam, Tramadol, Dextroamphetamine, Vyvanse, and more. In addition to the $1.2 million settlement, he agreed to relinquish his DEA registration. In the settlement, Kurdi reportedly acknowledges and admits he prescribed drugs like Oxycodone for his own personal use. Kurdi issued these prescriptions without establishing a legitimate physician-patient relationship, performing physical examinations, or creating medical records that documented the rationale for the purported treatment, the release reads. He filled these prescriptions at Lubbock area pharmacies, even though some supposed recipients lived hundreds or thousands of miles away. In many cases, he would pick up the drugs himself. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Some of Kurdis apparent patients from 2017 expressed frustrations online with scheduling, long wait times, and overall service. Its all about money, procedures, one of them wrote. DEA-Fort Worths Diversion Squad and Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Robbins investigated the case, overseen by Northern District of Texas Civil Chief Kenneth Coffin, and Deputy Civil Chief Brian Stoltz. The DEA will continue to aggressively target and hold accountable physicians who, like Dr. Kurdi, contribute to the poisoning crisis in our communities, said Acting Special Agent in Charge Joseph Tucker in the release. This case should serve as a strong warning to all physicians who knowingly prescribe controlled substances without a legitimate medical need or a proper doctor-patient relationship. A Denton doctor pleaded guilty in 2022 to illegal opioid prescriptions, as The Dallas Express reported at the time. Also, earlier this year, the DEA announced a massive multi-state bust of more than 400 kg of fentanyl. Luigi Mangione last month accused NY prosecutors of fraudulently acquiring his Aetna health history. On Friday, prosecutors blamed Aetna, saying they over-responded to a lawful, limited DA subpoena. "Mistakes do occur," including on the part of the defense, the prosecutor wrote. Luigi Mangione's confidential, 120-page medical history was accidentally emailed to his New York prosecutors not once, but twice first by Aetna and then by his own defense lawyers, according to a new court filing. Prosecutors took "appropriate measures" both times, forwarding the confidential health records to the judge and deleting their own copy, the lead assistant district attorney, Joel Seidemann, wrote in revealing what he described as a double-snafu on Friday. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Mistakes do occur," Seidemann wrote in his three-page filing meaning on the part of defense lawyers and Aetna, but not himself. "Aetna erroneously sent us materials," he wrote. "Like Aetna, the defense then erred, compounding Aetna's mistake," he wrote. "Defense counsel sent the People an email attaching the entire Aetna file she now complains about." "Once again, we complied with our ethical obligations by asking counsel if she intended to send us the file," Seidemann wrote. "When she indicated that she did not and asked that we delete it, we complied with her request and did not take advantage of her error." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Aetna, meanwhile, defended its own role in the records relay, saying through a spokesman that they got a subpoena, and they answered it. "Our response is the same as before," wrote Phil Blando, executive director for communications for Aetna's parent company, CVS Health. "Aetna received a subpoena for certain medical records, and we provided them appropriately." It's the latest round of finger-pointing in a month-long battle between state-level prosecutors and defense attorneys over the confidential medical records of Mangione, the 27-year-old Maryland native accused in the December shooting murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. The records included "different diagnoses as well as specific medical complaints made by Mr. Mangione," his lawyers complained in their own filing last month. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Both prosecutors and the defense agree that Seidemann's May 14 subpoena asked Aetna for very limited data, just Mangione's health insurance account number and the period of time he was covered. Beyond that small patch of common ground, the sides diverge widely. The defense, led by attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo, wrote last month that Seidemann should never have asked directly for Mangione's health insurance account number, arguing that it is protected under HIPAA, the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. "The requested information does not appear to be protected by HIPAA, since it did not relate to a condition, treatment, or payment for health care," Seidemann countered in Friday's filing. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The sides also differ on what happened once Aetna attached Mangione's entire healthcare history, in four files, to its June 12, supboeana-response email to Seidemann. Seidemann wrote in Friday's filing that his subpoena "was lawful and properly drafted," and that, as required, it directed Aetna to return the requested materials to the judge. The defense accuses Seidemann of sitting on the sensitive records for 12 days before forwarding them to the judge. They additionally want to know how Aetna wound up sending the records directly to the prosecutor. They've asked the judge, New York Supreme Court Justice Gregory Carro, to order "a full evidentiary hearing" to determine possible penalties, including kicking Seidemann off the case. They've asked that the hearing include sworn testimony and the surrender of correspondence between prosecutors and Aetna. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement By late Friday afternoon, the judge had not issued a decision on calling such a hearing. A defense spokesperson declined to comment on Friday's filing. In addition to the state case, Mangione is charged with murder in a federal indictment that seeks the death penalty. In another, more behind-the-scenes battle, prosecutors in both venues, state and federal, have said they intend to bring Mangione to trial first. The order of trials has yet to be worked out. State court has an advantage, in that Mangione's case is proceeding more quickly there, given the lack of complicated capital-punishment issues. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The feds, too, have an advantage, in that Mangione is in federal custody, and they have physical control of where he goes. Judges in both venues have said they hope to bring him to trial in 2026. Read the original article on Business Insider Belarusian strongman Alexander Lukashenko has said he is not seeking another term in office. "No, I don't intend to do that," Lukashenko said in a video interview released on Friday with the US Time magazine in Minsk. The 70-year-old has ruled Belarus as president since 1994, aligning the country closely with Moscow under Russian President Vladimir Putin. He is due to serve until 2030 after winning another term in January in elections that were seen internationally as neither free nor fair. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A wave of mass protests erupted against Lukashenko's rule in 2020 after an election that demonstrators believed was rigged. On the fifth anniversary of the protests, human rights organizations have highlighted that around 1,200 political prisoners remain behind bars in Belarus after the demonstrations were brutally put down. Lukashenko said he had wanted to leave office earlier, but nobody could accuse him of being a traitor and abandoning his country. The longtime dictator denied that his youngest son Nikolai, 20, would one day succeed him. While Lukashenko did not rule out the possibility that his successor would pursue a different course in office, the next person to lead Belarus "shouldn't just throw things overboard straight away," he argued. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The interview with a US media outlet is seen as a sign of thawing relations with the United States under President Donald Trump, who is set to meet Putin to discuss an end to the war in Ukraine in the coming days. The state news agency Belta reported flattering comments by Lukashenko, saying he hopes to be in as good shape as Trump is at 79 years of age. Aug. 7Luzerne County lost its appeal attempting to stop the Citizens Advisory of Pennsylvania from accessing video surveillance footage of county buildings where ballots were processed and voting equipment was maintained around the time of the November 2022 general election. The 2022 election drew intense scrutiny for paper shortages at polling places that forced the court to extend voting from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. to help compensate. County Court of Common Pleas Judge Lesa S. Gelb had upheld the Citizens Advisory's request for access to the video surveillance footage in September 2023, affirming a final determination by the Pennsylvania's Office of Open Records that the county had appealed. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The county retained Obermayer Rebmann Maxwell & Hippel LLP in Philadelphia to file the appeal in Commonwealth Court, according to prior reporting. Commonwealth Court issued a decision this week affirming the county court decision. The new opinion cites a procedural flaw made by the county and said the Commonwealth Court decision did not focus on the "substantive merits" of the county's argument that access should be denied for building security and criminal investigatory reasons. The county waived its argument of a building security exception because it had failed to "preserve" that issue in a required filing related to the case, the Commonwealth Court opinion said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "The County's procedural missteps bar any merits decision," the opinion said. However, it notes that the county did not prove that redacted records "implicated the personal security exception" and did not "establish a conflict with" the state's Right-To-Know Law. In response to the ruling, Citizens Advisory President Ben Herring said this is the third time his organization has obtained orders to provide access to the records. "If the County chooses to appeal this matter to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, taxpayers need to be aware they'll be looking at another large expense on top of the $97,000 already spent by Luzerne County to date," Herring said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "While we respect the District Attorney and the subsequent investigation that was conducted into 'Papergate,' many questions remain unanswered, and the immediate appeals taken by Luzerne County officials to prevent disclosure on this matter remain alarming," Herring said. County Manager Romilda Crocamo said Thursday a cursory review of the new opinion "indicates that the decision was based on procedural irregularities rather than substantive shortcomings." "We will be conferring with outside counsel as to next steps," Crocamo said. In her September 2023 ruling, Gelb had ordered the county to make any necessary redactions to protect the identities of employees within 30 days, which would involve blurring faces. Within 30 days thereafter, Herring was directed to arrange inspection of the records subject to access provisions under state law. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Herring has repeatedly emphasized he is not interested in seeing the faces of workers and said he requested a viewing of the footage amid concerns about the election paper shortage. Herring has said he wants to see if anything appears amiss, stressing he would report anything suspicious to law enforcement. Based on his understanding, the footage would cover the county-owned voter warehouse and Penn Place Building in Wilkes-Barre, he has said. Reach Jennifer Learn-Andes at 570-991-6388 or on Twitter @TLJenLearnAndes. HONOLULU (KHON2) A new study out of the University of Hawaii at Manoa is raising urgent questions about disaster recovery and delivering clear answers. Dr. Alika Maunakea, UH-JABSOM professor and lead researcher for the study Health and Social Support in the Aftermath of the Maui Wildfires, said the team asked a question no one else had. PHOTOS: What Hawaii wahine looked like in the 1800s Simply, its asking whats helping people recover, he said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The findings are changing the way health experts think about disaster response, particularly after large-scale climate events. The study tracked more than 1,100 adults between six and 14 months after the Lahaina and Kula wildfires. It found both mental and physical health challenges remain high but that strong social support networks are acting as a powerful defense against poor health outcomes. Link between social support and physical health While emotional and mental health benefits of social connection are well known, Dr. Maunakea said the data went even further. We found a clear and encouraging sign that social support is playing a protective role in health during recovery, he said. Those with strong social support since the fires report recovering faster from the acute symptoms that was really common among survivors, including skin irritation, headaches, nausea, fatigue, problems breathing. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement These individuals were also less likely to exhibit symptoms of depression and anxiety, he added. The study used a validated scale to assess social support. Those with strong networks had about five fewer days of poor health each month and significantly lower depression scores, even when they had high exposure to fire-related toxins, he said. Lingering physical and mental health problems Dr. Maunakea said nearly half of participants reported ongoing symptoms like fatigue and breathing problems. About 22% had reduced lung function, he said. For those within the burn zones, lung capacity was about six percentage points lower than neighbors farther out. Get Hawaiis latest morning news delivered to your inbox, sign up for News 2 You The mental health data was equally alarming. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement About 50% screened positive for depression, compared to about 30% before the fires, he said. One in four had anxiety and suicidal thoughts were about five times more common than pre-disaster levels. Disparities in who receives support Not everyone had access to the kind of social networks that eased recovery. There are also others that reported not having that strong network, Dr. Maunakea said. Amongst those in particular, they experienced these exacerbated health conditions. People with preexisting conditions like asthma saw worsening symptoms, especially if they did not receive care early. Were starting to see that play out in the data, he said. We also see people who have not been able to seek the care that they needed they also had problems with these health issues. One year later, signs of improvement The research team has begun following a subset of participants over time. Amongst the 424 individuals tracked a year after the fires, there were signs of progress. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement There were actually improvements in their health, Dr. Maunakea said. Suicidal ideation fell about half amongst that group of individuals. He also noted a rise in health insurance coverage, particularly for Hispanic participants who initially lost coverage. Thanks to programs like Kaiser Permanentes Charitable Health Access, they were able to get some of this relief, he said. Strong community bonds remain a key factor in recovery. About 60% within that cohort continue to exhibit, and express having strong social support, he said. Thats actually a really good sign. A warning for future disaster planning Dr. Maunakea said the study sends a message to government agencies, especially as climate-driven disasters increase. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Maui is becoming a case study for the nation, he said. We know that wildfires and the climate disasters are becoming more severe and more frequent. Our findings actually show that the long-term health recovery requires much more vigilance. He went on to explain further. Its not just within, you know, like, youre okay and check on people like, you know, a few months after the disaster, he said. Theres long-term persistent effects. A renewed sense of community The early response from local groups helped lay the foundation for resilience. That initial sort of attempt to galvanize the community and strengthen linkages between them had been really important, he said. Theyre getting to know their new neighbors now just as part of that coping, you know, as a collective. Theyre telling us that thats also creating a sense of a renewed sense of community around them. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement And its making a difference. That seems to be really what is helping them to recover faster, he said. Thats what were starting to see in the data. And thats what were pointing here today. You can click here to read the full study from JABSOM. Get news on the go with KHON 2GO, KHONs morning podcast, every morning at 8 Today, Aug. 8, marks two years since the wildfires on Maui changed the lives of Hawaii residents forever. And it was through our collective action, Malama Maui, that recovery has been possible. 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. Ernest Luning, Colorado Politics) Former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords, an Arizona Democrat and co-founder of gun-safety advocacy organization GIFFORDS, and U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, a Colorado Democrat, thank the crowd after participating in a town hall sponsored by the Colorado Democratic Party on Aug. 6, in Thornton. All products featured on Glamour are independently selected by Glamour editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, Conde Nast may earn an affiliate commission. Courtesy of brand MAC Cosmetics is helping to bring much needed support to underserved families. In collaboration with BirthFund, a non-profit initiative founded by Elaine Welteroth to confront the maternal health crisis in the United States, and The Victoria Project, a grant-making organization focused on expanding access to safe, empowering, and holistic maternity care, the makeup brand is working to support maternal health and fund midwifery care for families in need. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Welteroth is the former editor-in-chief of Teen Vogue, and her creation of BirthFund is rooted in personal experience with the maternal health system and her own home birth experience. Courtesy of Elaine Welteroth The Victoria Project x BirthFund is the makeup brand's first-ever maternal health recipient, and thanks to a $200,000 grant from MAC's Viva Glam Fund, this partnership will be able to support the birthing experience for multiple families. This grant will directly support midwifery-led, culturally affirming maternity care for 38 underserved families across the U.S.ensuring they receive the care they deserve without financial barriers, the brand said in a press release. According to MAC, the United States faces the highest maternal mortality rate of all industrialized nations (10 times that of other high-income countries). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that in 2022, the maternal mortality rate for Black women was 49.5 deaths per 100,000 live births. Together, The Victoria Project and BirthFund are working to change the system by providing families with access to holistic, community-rooted, full-spectrum care." A essential part of this includes midwifery: The World Health Organization has found that midwifery care could could avert more than 80% of all maternal deaths, stillbirths and neonatal deaths. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The alliance is helping reimagine childbirth and maternity care in America by working to remove systemic barriers such as financial hardship, lack of culturally relevant care, limited access to trusted providers, or geographic isolationall of which prevent those who are pregnant or postpartum from being able to receive effective maternity services. Since its creation in 1994, MAC Viva Glam has raised more than $535 million for those in need. To support the partnership with MAC Cosmetics and BirthFund, it's easy to get involved. All you have to do is purchase the MACximal Silky Matte Viva Glam Lipstick. 100 percent of the selling price of the lipstick goes to MAC Viva Glam to support charities worldwide, and the lipstick is offered in four shades: Viva Heart, an intense blue-red created at launch in 1994 in support of those impacted by the AIDS crisis; Viva Planet, a muted pink-beige with shimmer; Viva Empowered, a brown-plum shade and the darkest and most dramatic in the Viva Glam line; and Viva Equality, a universally-flattering deep neutral, introduced in 2024 to mark 30 years of giving back. Shop them below. MAC Cosmetics MACXIMAL Silky Matte Viva Glam Lipstick in Viva Heart $25.00, Ulta MAC Cosmetics MACximal Silky Matte Viva Glam Lipstick in Viva Planet $25.00, Ulta MAC Cosmetics MACXIMAL Silky Matte Viva Glam Lipstick in Viva Empowered $25.00, Ulta Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement MAC Cosmetics MACXIMAL Silky Matte Viva Glam Lipstick in Viva Equality $25.00, Ulta Catharine Malzahn is the contributing associate beauty editor at Glamour. Originally Appeared on Glamour A man was arrested after robbing a Salisbury Circle K gas station armed with a machete on Friday, police say. According to a release from the Salisbury Police Department, police were told 31-year-old Rudolph Alfredo Smith Jr. entered the store around 3:45 a.m. and demanded money from the associates. ALSO READ >> CBD, tobacco products stolen in Charlotte robbery; suspect charged He was given money and then fled the scene in a car. Police were able to use surveillance footage to identify the suspect and his vehicle. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement They located his vehicle off Bringle Ferry Road and arrested him. Smith was charged with robbery with a dangerous weapon. He is being held in the Rowan County Detention Center with no bond. VIDEO: Machete attack injures 2 outside east Charlotte restaurant To scientists who study it, mRNA is a miracle molecule, The New York Times reported in May. The vaccines that harnessed it against Covid saved an estimated 20 million lives, a rapid development that was recognized with a Nobel Prize. The report added that mRNA research has raised hopes of possible treatments and perhaps even cures for deadly cancers and a host of genetic and chronic diseases. Nevertheless, this week, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that he and the Trump administration are terminating a series of federal contracts focused on developing mRNA vaccines. The conspiracy theorist, who has a lengthy record of promoting bizarre and unscientific ideas, also said hes winding down additional federal investments in mRNA technology. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The reactions from those who take science, medicine and public health seriously have bordered on apocalyptic. Mike Osterholm, a University of Minnesota expert on infectious diseases and pandemic preparations, told The Associated Press, I dont think Ive seen a more dangerous decision in public health in my 50 years in the business. USA Todays Rex Huppke added that Kennedys policies are almost certainly going to kill people. Even Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who put aside everything he had learned about Kennedy and voted to confirm him, eventually issued a public statement this week describing this weeks move as unfortunate. (Dont strain yourself, senator.) But perhaps most notably, Trumps own former surgeon general stepped up, too. NBC News reported: Dr. Jerome Adams, who served as the surgeon general during Trumps first term, criticized the current administrations move to cut about $500 million in mRNA vaccine development contracts. Ive tried to be objective & non-alarmist in response to current HHS actions but quite frankly this move is going to cost lives, Adams said in a post to X [published on Wednesday night]. mRNA technology has uses that go far beyond vaccines ... and the vaccine they helped develop in record time is credited with saving millions. Adams, its worth noting, also condemned Kennedy in June after the secretary gutted the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). Months earlier, Adams also encouraged Senate Republicans to think twice before voting to confirm Kennedy. (Soon after, 52 Republicans including alleged moderates such as Maines Susan Collins and Alaskas Lisa Murkowski ignored his advice.) Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement If recent history is any guide, Trumps former surgeon general will be deemed a MAGA enemy if he hasnt been already and angry presidential tweets are likely to follow. As for Trumps perspective on this weeks developments, a reporter reminded the president at an Oval Office event this week that he used to celebrate mRNA vaccines the president explicitly referred to them as a modern-day miracle before he put the nations public health infrastructure in the hands of a guy who has claimed, among other things, that Wi-Fi causes leaky brain. Asked for some kind of explanation, the president told reporters, Well, were going to look at that. Were talking about it and theyre doing a very good job. ... We are speaking about it. We have meetings about it tomorrow, actually, tomorrow at 12:00, and well determine. Were looking for other answers to other problems, to other sicknesses and diseases. I havent the foggiest idea what this was supposed to mean, but given how radical and dangerous Kennedys decision is, Trumps meandering assurances do not inspire confidence. This article was originally published on MSNBC.com Todays edition of quick hits. * Ill be eager to learn more about preliminary reporting like this: President Trump has secretly signed a directive to the Pentagon to begin using military force against certain Latin American drug cartels that his administration has deemed terrorist organizations, according to people familiar with the matter. * These negotiations sure do start to look like shake-downs: The Trump administration has proposed a $1 billion settlement with UCLA amid a larger battle over federal funding. The payment of such a sum would have disastrous effects on the university, school officials said on Friday. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement * Does this mean the White House isnt following through on its sanctions deadline? A meeting between President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin is tentatively scheduled for the end of next week, a senior White House official told NBC News on Friday. The location is still being discussed, this official said, but possibilities include the United Arab Emirates, Hungary, Switzerland and Rome. * Tough-to-defend developments at the D.C. Circuit: It was a rare instance of potential consequences for Trump administration officials back in April, when U.S. District Judge James Boasberg raised the prospect of criminal contempt over Alien Enemies Act flights to El Salvador in March. But two Trump-appointed appellate judges just vacated his probable cause order, granting the administration extraordinary relief over dissent from an Obama appointee. * The thing to know about Miran is that hes a Trump loyalist whos been critical of Jerome Powell: President Trump has nominated his top economic adviser, Stephen Miran, to serve as a governor at the Federal Reserve, an institution the president has repeatedly attacked for failing to acquiesce to his demands for lower borrowing costs. The opportunity to reshape the top ranks of the central bank arose when Adriana Kugler, whose term as a governor was set to expire on Jan. 31, unexpectedly announced last week that she was stepping down early. * Bizarre developments in Texas: Attorney General Ken Paxton on Friday asked the Texas Supreme Court to expel 13 Democrats from the state House, the latest in a flurry of unprecedented actions aiming to resume business at the Capitol and pass new congressional maps to benefit Republicans. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement * Following up on a story we talked about earlier in the week: The Smithsonians National Museum of American History on Friday unveiled an updated impeachment display that now includes context about President Donald Trumps historic cases a change the institution made a week after The Washington Post reported that a temporary placard containing his name had been removed from the exhibit as part of a Smithsonian content review prompted by White House pressure to oust a museum director. The new text makes minor changes to and offers slightly fewer details than the temporary signage. Have a safe weekend. This article was originally published on MSNBC.com It was just a few years ago when Carolina Amesty was elected to Floridas state legislature and quickly earned a reputation as a rising star in the state Republican Party. That, however, was before she ran into serious legal trouble. According to federal investigators, Amesty allegedly engaged in fraud while obtaining Covid relief funds. According to a criminal complaint, Amesty sought funds through a foundation and a car dealership that might not have existed and used the money for personal expenses. Federal investigators also said they believe some of the money she received went to a private Christian college she helped run. Amesty has long insisted that she did nothing wrong. Now, however, the former GOP state legislator no longer has to worry about these allegations. The Tampa Bay Times reported: The federal government is no longer seeking an indictment against Carolina Amesty, attorneys for the former lawmaker say, citing significant exculpatory material her defense has provided in the case. The criminal investigation into Amesty, who was accused of fraudulently obtaining COVID-19 relief loans in 2020 while working as an administrator for her familys university, has ended, her attorney Brad Bondi wrote in a motion filed in federal court Wednesday. Take another look at that last line of the excerpt and you might notice a familiar name: Amesty was represented by Brad Bondi, who happens to be Attorney General Pam Bondis brother. (Amesty hired her lawyer a few weeks after his sister was tapped to serve as the nations chief law enforcement official.) Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In other words, federal investigators filed a criminal complaint against Amesty, and later Pam Bondis Justice Department decided not to pursue charges against Brad Bondis client. There have been a variety of reports about this in recent days from several independent news organizations, and they all include similar elements: Amesty has long maintained her innocence; her defense attorney said they presented the Justice Department with compelling evidence; and the DOJ has said the decision to drop the matter is unrelated to any familial or political considerations. In fact, a Justice Department spokesperson explicitly told ABC News in a statement, This decision was made through proper channels and the attorney general had no role in it. But consider the larger context to all of this. Amesty and Brad Bondi at the federal court in Orlando, Florida, in February. (Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda / Orlando Sentinel via Getty Images file) Donald Trumps Justice Department has a serious credibility problem. In recent months, Americans have seen the DOJ purge employees who worked on cases the president didnt like. Weve seen Bondi play the role of a hyperpartisan activist aligned with the White Houses political agenda. Weve seen Bondi fire her personal ethics adviser. Weve even seen Bondis DOJ drop other cases against defendants with political ties to the White House. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Patty Hartman, a 17-year former Justice Department official who was fired after having worked on Jan. 6 cases, recently told CBS News, The rules dont exist anymore. She added, There used to be a line, used to be a very distinct separation between the White House and the Department of Justice, because one should not interfere with the work of the other. That line is very definitely gone. In a social media post, Hartman went on to write, We appear to be driving straight into an abyss that holds no memory of what democracy is, was, or should be. With this in mind, as the decision to drop the case against Amesty comes to public attention, an awkward question hangs overhead: Have Bondi and the Justice Department earned the benefit of the doubt? Daniel Richman, a former federal prosecutor, recently wrote in The New York Times about the Justice Department suffering a credibility crisis inside courtrooms and out. If administration officials expect that crisis to fade anytime soon, they should probably lower their expectations. This post updates our related earlier coverage. This article was originally published on MSNBC.com As if Donald Trump and his team hadnt already targeted enough of the presidents perceived political foes, the Republicans Justice Department has recently added to the list, launching an investigation into New York Attorney General Letitia James office the same office that a brought a successful civil case against Trump and his family business. That the president and his team appear to be brazenly weaponizing federal law enforcement is a scandal unto itself, but in case the developments werent quite provocative enough, NBC News also reported: U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi has tapped Ed Martin, the ex-interim U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., as special attorney probing New York Attorney General Letitia James, two administration officials told NBC News. ... [Martin] will also be involved in a Justice Department probe against Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., over alleged mortgage fraud related to his ownership of homes in California and Maryland, the administration officials said. Theres good reason Martins name might sound familiar. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement During his astonishing tenure as the interim U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C., the Trump loyalist was effectively a caricature of himself. Before taking office, Martin was a conservative activist who supported Jan. 6 criminal defendants and was a prominent member of the so-called Stop the Steal movement. While in office, he put that background to predictable use. Over the course of roughly 16 weeks, Martin repeatedly proved his critics right, acting as a hyper-partisan prosecutor who appeared eager to abuse the powers of his office. The Republican-led Senate tends to act as a rubber stamp for White House nominees, but Martin was so extreme that his nomination failed in the face of bipartisan opposition. It was at that point that the president and the attorney general rewarded the activist with a new job or more to the point, a few new jobs. In May, Trump said the Missouri Republican would lead the Justice Departments new Weaponization Working Group tackling a problem that exists only in the minds of Republican conspiracy theorists and serve as the DOJs new pardon attorney, succeeding Elizabeth Oyer, who was fired in March allegedly after she refused to sign off on a plan to restore actor Mel Gibsons gun rights. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A few days later, Martin announced at a press conference that he intended to use his new platform to name and shame individuals the Justice Department determines it cannot charge with crimes. In other words, federal law enforcement officials might investigate suspects, only to discover that their targets didnt break any laws. According to Martin, his working group will take steps to smear these Americans publicly anyway which, as an NBC News report noted, would amount to a major departure from longstanding Justice Department protocols. A month later, Martin declared that hes also investigating Joe Bidens clemency actions, pursuing a different Republican conspiracy theory. Now, evidently, Bondi has made Martin a special attorney (not to be confused with a special counsel) wholl investigate at least two of the Democrats whove been repeatedly singled out by Trump. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A couple of weeks after joining his partys national ticket, then-Sen. JD Vance was eager to ease the minds of voters concerned about Trump and his threats of retaliation. Trump, the future vice president said at the time, is not a vengeful guy. Shortly after the election, Trump appeared on NBC News Meet the Press and suggested vengeance wasnt part of his plans for a second term. Im not looking to go back into the past, he said, adding, Retribution will be through success. The Republican president echoed the point during his second inaugural address, declaring, Never again will the immense power of the state be weaponized to persecute political opponents. I have some bad news for anybody who believed any of these claims. This post updates our related earlier coverage. This article was originally published on MSNBC.com It was nearly a decade ago when the Obama administration ended an existing ban on transgender Americans serving in the U.S. Armed Forces. Then-Defense Secretary Ash Carter announced in June 2016 that transgender service members are talented and trained Americans who are serving their country with honor and distinction. Donald Trump disagreed. In fact, around this time eight years ago, the Republican president announced he was rolling back the clock and undoing the Obama-era progress. Asked to defend his discriminatory policy, Trump not only struggled, he also seemed confused about the substantive details of his own actions. After Trump lost his re-election bid, Joe Biden reversed the reversal and restored the protections for transgender service members. When the Republican returned to power once more, he re-imposed the restrictions from his first term. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As part of the incumbent presidents policy, there isnt just a ban on transgender Americans volunteering to put their lives on the line for their country, theres also an effort to identify transgender Americans who are already serving and kick them out of the military. Its against this backdrop that Reuters reported: The Air Force is denying early retirement to all transgender service members with between 15 and 18 years of military service, opting instead to force them out with no retirement benefits, according to a memo seen by Reuters. These longer-serving transgender service members will have the same choice as more junior ones: quit or be forced out, with corresponding lump-sum payments as they walk out the door, the August 4 memo says. In other words, there might very well be transgender service members who are thinking to themselves, I'd prefer to keep serving, but if the Air Force no longer wants me because of my gender identity, Ill just retire. The Air Force is effectively responding, If you retire, youll be eligible for retirement benefits, and we dont want you to have them. Whats more, according to Reuters report, many service members had already been approved for early retirement, but those approvals were rescinded. An Air Force spokesperson said that a subset of retirement applications were prematurely approved. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Shannon Minter of the National Center for LGBTQ Rights told Reuters the developments are devastating, adding, This is just betrayal of a direct commitment made to these service members. This article was originally published on MSNBC.com Republican Nate Morris speaks to media at the Fancy Farm Picnic on Saturday, Aug 2, 2025. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Austin Anthony) FANCY FARM Just how MAGA is Kentucky? More pertinently, how MAGA are Kentucky Republicans? And most proximately, how MAGA are the people who will vote in the states May 2026 Republican primary for U.S. senator? Senate candidate Nate Morris may provide the answer to the last question, at least. The wealthy Lexington businessman says he supports Donald Trump 100% of the time. Hes trying to be Kentuckys version of the president, with a candidacy based on outrage and rhetoric that was once deemed outrageous but Trump has made routine. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement At Saturdays Fancy Farm Picnic, Morris main target was the man he wants to succeed, Mitch McConnell, and his most personal attack sounded like one Trump made on the senator earlier this year. Saying he would trash Mitch McConnells legacy, Morris said that goal is pissing off a lot of people, but I have a serious question who here can honestly tell me that its a good thing to have a senior citizen who freezes on national television during his press conferences as our U.S. senator? It seems to me, maybe just maybe, that Mitchs time to leave the Senate was a long time ago. After loud boos from the crowd, Morris mentioned former President Joe Biden and asked, Why is it you all get so defensive when I talk about a man whos older than Biden, just as mentally compromised and holds the same positions as Biden on amnesty, Ukraine funding and his hatred for Trump? A constituent greets U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell and his wife Elaine Chao at the Fancy Farm Picnic on Saturday, Aug 2, 2025. (Kentucky Lantern photo by Austin Anthony) Plain talk and cutting rhetoric are expected at Fancy Farm, but those lines didnt seem to set well with most of the audience in and around the St. Jerome Church pavilion. They had repeatedly cheered and applauded McConnell, 83, who left before the speeches by Morris and his main opponents, 6th District U.S. Rep. Andy Barr and former state Attorney General Daniel Cameron. Earlier, at the Graves County Republican breakfast before McConnell arrived, Morris was more polite and diplomatic. He said he was very, very disappointed in the senators votes against three Trump nominees. I know in this room that makes some of you all uncomfortable, he said, but as an outsider and a disrupter, my job is not to make people comfortable, its to get results, and to bring something totally different. In Mitch McConnell I saw amnesty, I saw blank checks to Ukraine, I saw somebody who wasnt standing with the president, and I saw two guys who if they were to get that spot they would be more of the same. Both these guys are puppets for Mitch McConnell, no different. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The night before, in his first campaign speech before an unmanaged audience, Morris dominated the smaller room at the Marshall County Republican dinner until he started ragging on McConnell. That brought an interjection from Frank Amaro, the Todd County GOP chairman and 1st Congressional District vice chairman: Mitch is not running. What are you running on? Morris said Barr or Cameron would be Mitch 2.0, judging from who supports them then mentioned his main platform plank, a full moratorium on immigration until all illegal immigrants are deported. The impracticality of that was conceded by state Rep. John Hogsdon of Fisherville, who manned Morris merch-and-signup table. He told me, Its like saying we want to cure cancer. In other words, as MAGA folks have often said of Trump, dont take him literally. In a state Trump won by 30 points, Morris may think he can say the sorts of things that only Trump has been able to get away with and capitalize on McConnells unpopularity among Republicans. Caldwell County Chairman Steve Meadows, a banker who hasnt picked a candidate, told me the party needs a new direction, away from McConnell, but he said Amaro made a good point by challenging Morris. Folks like Meadows and Amaro once led local opinion that shaped primary votes. Now voters seem more guided by partisan media sources such as Fox News, the Daily Signal and Breitbart, which is promoting Morris. But some such sources have raised questions about Morris business record, which he needs to answer. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Morris, Cameron and Barr all want the presidents endorsement, which likely would decide the primary. Morris full-MAGA approach will appeal to Trumps ego, and Morris counts Vice President JD Vance and Donald Trump Jr. in his corner. But the president hates to endorse losers or take unnecessary risks, and thus seems unlikely to make a pick unless he thinks he can get credit for the win. That wont keep the candidates from sucking up to him, and if he keeps acting like a dictator, that could backfire on Republicans before the Jan. 9 filing deadline. Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear says he wont run, but he keeps getting asked. If not, he should find a good alternative. That might look presidential. This commentary is republished from the Northern Kentucky Tribune, a nonprofit publication of the Kentucky Center for Public Service Journalism. Georgia Rep. Mike Collins attempted to capitalize on the rights love of Sydney Sweeneys American Eagle jeans ad by posting an AI-generated video of himself clad in denim. Collins, a Republican running to unseat Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff next November, used the jeans discourse to tout his states production of cotton. The Georgia cotton industry supports over 53,000 jobs, has a $3 BN economic impact, and makes some of the finest jeans around, he captioned the video, which shows his face on a male models body. Collins runs his fingers through his hair and then strolls away from the camera as rapper Charlie Boys 2009 single I Look Good plays. The Georgia cotton industry supports over 53,000 jobs, has a $3 BN economic impact, and makes some of the finest jeans around. I will always fight for our farmers, growers and producers, and Georgia's rural culture and economy. pic.twitter.com/cBtRx2umYi Mike Collins (@MikeCollinsGA) August 7, 2025 I will always fight for our farmers, growers and producers, and Georgias rural culture and economy, Collins added. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The video was created by pro-Trump podcaster and meme creator Brenden Dilley, who has a history of incendiary rhetoric. In addition to sharing the clip, Collins replied to Dilley approvingly on X, You guys have too much fun! Great talent! Conservative figures have voiced support for Sweeneys ad campaign, which has the tagline Sydney Sweeney has great jeans, after some accused it of having racial connotations. President Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and South Carolina gubernatorial candidate Nancy Mace are among those who have defended it and in some cases co-opted it for their own purposes. Donald Trump, JD Vance and Ted Cruz have rushed to defend Sweeney's American Eagle jeans ad. / Mario Anzuoni / REUTERS As for the AI video of Collins, some users said the move was unoriginal in light of former Georgia Sen. David Perdue sporting a Canadian tuxedo for his successful 2014 campaign. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On the bright side, at least everything in the video Collins shared was spelled correctlyunlike a video announcing his bid for governor. Last month, the Mike Collins War Room account on X mistakenly showed a graphic reading, Georiga, lets ride! instead of Georgia, lets ride! The calls from President Donald Trumps MAGA base are getting noisier: Texas Democrats who fled the state to derail a hyperpartisan GOP redistricting maneuver should be criminally charged, arrested and dragged back to Austin. Now, it appears the FBI is involved in the hunt. But those screaming the loudest appear likely to wind up disappointed. Theres no known evidence that the absconding lawmakers have actually broken any federal or state laws, despite Gov. Greg Abbotts strained suggestion that they may have committed bribery. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Its a familiar refrain for Trumps second term: The far right lusts to see prominent Democrats or Trump adversaries hauled off in handcuffs, only to be let down when their revenge fantasies run into reality. They voted for that and now they realize they cant have retribution because its not legally sound, said Gene Rossi, a white collar criminal defense lawyer who spent 30 years at the Justice Department. This cycle impetuous promises of criminal consequences followed by dejection when Trumps enemies arent immediately arrested has already happened with Jack Smith, with James Comey, even with Joe Biden and Barack Obama (and their top advisers). The Trump administration has ordered investigations of all these figures, but legal experts say the probes are largely performative and unlikely to prompt serious or legitimate criminal charges. Its also happening, perhaps most profoundly, with MAGA loyalists dissatisfaction over the Jeffrey Epstein saga. The base believed Trump would vindicate conspiracy theories about Democrats and other public figures being involved in Epsteins sex trafficking, leading to a new wave of arrests and prosecutions. That hasnt materialized. Brash promises and MAGA backlash Trump, of course, has long stoked his bases hunger for criminal reprisals, even dating back to his 2016 Lock her up pledge against Hillary Clinton. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He escalated that rhetoric during the 2024 campaign. I am your retribution, he promised his supporters. And ever since he returned to office, administration officials and influential MAGA figures have suggested that high-profile arrests are justified and imminent, often vowing that justice is coming. But both Trump and his base are learning that its not simple to round up political opponents, even with Trump loyalists in charge of the Justice Department. I want arrest[s] not DOJ people making promises on Fox News, said Trump-aligned podcaster and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones in a recent poston X, which appended a list of MAGA-fueled scandals that have not led to any notable legal consequences. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Jones isnt alone. A cascade of Trumps influential backers have wondered aloud why the president and his Justice Department have not delivered the arrests and indictments they crave. The issue flared most prominently last month when the Justice Department and FBI made thewhiplash-inducing admission that the so-called Epstein files do not contain a client list of celebrity sex traffickers. The existence of such a list has been an article of faith among MAGA influencers for years, and Trump aides efforts to unwind the conspiracy theories have plunged the administration into weeks of turmoil and recriminations. Whats the time? Oh look, its no-one-has-been-arrested-oclock again, Elon Musk wrote in aJuly 7 post on X. The targets so far To be sure, the Trump administration has brought criminal charges against some Democrats and other officials who oppose or are perceived as opposing the presidents agenda. They include Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.), who was arrested while visiting an immigration detention center, and Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan, who was charged with obstructing federal immigration authorities. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trump has also used other powers of his office to target perceived foes, like yanking the security clearances of lawyers who have worked on cases against him and ordering agencies to cancel contracts with law firms that have employed those lawyers. (Those efforts have largely been blocked by federal courts.) And he has ordered the Justice Department to investigate former Department of Homeland Security official Miles Taylor and former cybersecurity chief Chris Krebs, who have become vocal Trump critics. He has also called for the impeachment of judges who have blocked his policies. But Trumps base wants more. Far-right influencers have clamored for arrests stemming from a range of other purported conspiracies, including: the allegation that Obama and his top aides engaged in a treasonous conspiracy in how they handled intelligence related to Russias attempt to influence the 2016 election; the theory that Bidens aides committed crimes by allegedly covering up his cognitive decline, and that Bidens end-of-term pardons are invalid; the false claim that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump through rampant fraud; and the false claim that the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol was orchestrated by the government. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trump himself has floated investigations, arrests and prosecutions for many of those involved. Each example, amplified by Trump and his closest allies, has been backed by little to no evidence but has nevertheless become dogma among MAGA supporters. Now theyre seething over the lack of action. Number of tweets that President Trump & his team have sent about arresting Russia Hoax traitors: 275,322. Number of arrests that President Trump & his team have made of Russia Hoax traitors: 0, Emerald Robinson, a prominent pro-Trump broadcaster, recently posted. Another pro-Trump activist, Laura Loomer, demanded the Justice Department arrestComey, the former FBI director, for a controversy over an Instagram post of seashells spelling out 86 47, which Trump allies said was a coded threat against the president. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement For now, the administration appears willing to open all manner of investigations, even those seen as flimsy and unlikely to lead to actual arrests. Attorney General Pam Bondi this week ordered a grand jury investigation of the Russia-related allegations. Fox News Laura Ingraham recently reported that Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) is being eyed by the U.S. attorney in Maryland over mortgage paperwork an allegation Schiff has called political retaliation. Smith, the former special prosecutor who brought two federal criminal cases against Trump, is under the gaze of the Office of Special Counsel, which probes allegations of improper political activity by government officials. None of the matters have yielded any criminal or ethics-related charges to date. The cycle moves to Texas Now, the Texas redistricting battle has ignited the cycle anew. Texas House leaders have authorized the civil arrest of Democrats to compel their attendance at a special session to consider redistricting legislation. But their power only extends to Texas borders, and more than 50 of the Democratic lawmakers have fled to friendlier turf, like Illinois and Massachusetts. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This week, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who is locked in an uphill primary campaign against state Attorney General Ken Paxton, urged the FBI to support Texas efforts to locate the fleeing lawmakers. On Wednesday, Abbott indicated that the FBI had agreed to assist. The FBI declined to comment on its involvement, but the agency is tasked with federal law enforcement and its unclear what role the bureau could play in the matter. Still, the news of the bureaus apparent involvement reignited Trump allies belief that arrests could be imminent. Paxton too welcomed possible help from the FBI, despite saying earlier that he thought the feds had no role to play. Let me first say, this is a state issue, Paxton said on pro-Trump podcaster Steve Bannons War Room podcast. I dont know what the FBI would have to do with this, nothing. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On Wednesday, Bannon also hosted a Texas lawmaker, Rep. Brian Harrison, who has become a vocal critic of GOP leaders for what he says was a failure to thwart Democrats effort to block the redistricting measure. He says Republicans arent doing enough to hold those Democrats accountable. To Trumps detractors, the chaos is the point, even if stoking supporters hunger for arrests never results in legitimate criminal charges. There isnt really a plan and he doesnt see, look for or care about a bigger picture, said Ty Cobb, a former Trump attorney who has since become a vocal critic. Courts will disrupt or halt many of these nascent efforts as they mature but that is fine with him too as it helps further discredit the courts in the eyes of his followers and weakens democracy even more. It is all such a waste. The Lee and Elk fires in Rio Blanco County remained at zero percent containment Tuesday as they took over a combined 20,000 acres. Make America Healthy Again advocates have grown increasingly concerned their emissary to the White House, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is falling short even as he prepares to release a roadmap for how to improve the nations health outcomes. MAHA advocates are frustrated Kennedy, as health secretary, has done little to hold vaccine makers accountable in instances when patients experience adverse reactions and that he hasn't pushed harder to restrict or ban pesticide use. Some of them are threatening to primary Republicans in the midterms if they don't get the commitments they want. They're eagerly awaiting Kennedy's new report, which is due Tuesday and is expected to widely impact the food, farm and pharmaceutical industries. The document comes from the MAHA Commission, which Kennedy chairs, and will outline the Trump administrations priorities for policy to overhaul the food supply and address the chronic disease crisis. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But the White House has already stepped in to soften the blow of how far the policy recommendations would go, reassuring agriculture industry groups that there would be no surprise regulatory announcements on pesticides and would not venture beyond what Kennedy already promised to do on food. Kennedy and Trump administration officials haven't publicly indicated whether the report would explicitly call for curtailing vaccines, especially for children, much to MAHA proponents' dismay. This MAHA report could turn the tide to tackle chronic [disease] in America and beyond, said Zen Honeycutt, founder of Moms Across America, which advocates for banning environmental toxins. Its crucial that our elected officials in this administration have the courage to stand up against the chemical corporations which are trying to corrupt democracy. The battle over Kennedy's health agenda could split the uneasy alliance President Donald Trump knit together on the campaign trail between MAHA acolytes and traditionally Republican farm groups, who've recently felt alienated. Rifts over pesticides and vaccines could have long-term implications beyond the MAHA report, with several advocates expressing fears that Kennedys movement is being steamrolled in other ways by congressional Republicans. Theyre furious, said a person who works closely with MAHA groups and was granted anonymity to discuss private conversations. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement White House spokesperson Kush Desai didnt acknowledge concerns among MAHA advocates. President Trumps pledge to Make America Healthy Again launched a nationwide movement that has brought together stakeholders across American society from parents to food companies to farmers to remove artificial ingredients from our food supply and deploy Gold Standard Science to finally address our chronic disease epidemic, he wrote in a statement. An HHS spokesperson also shrugged off fears that the report could fall short of the movements expectations. Secretary Kennedy is focused on his mission to Make America Healthy Again, and thats exactly what were doing, the spokesperson said. Were confident in the direction were taking on both vaccine oversight and environmental health. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Agriculture industry lobbyists, who've spent the last few months in closed-door meetings with Trump administration officials, are counting on the White House to stand by its promise that the new report won't introduce unexpected regulations. The White House has certainly gotten the message, both from agriculture and the food sector, that they are on the edge of a nanny state, said one lobbyist who was granted anonymity to candidly share their thoughts. Like this is Michelle Obama on steroids. The message we've gotten from the White House is, Don't worry, we're not letting the crazy people run rampant over the food sector. Bayer, which makes the commonly used pesticide Roundup, has spent more than $2.5 million in the last quarter lobbying administration officials and lawmakers on pesticide policy. Lobbyists for major pharmaceutical companies told POLITICO the sector has shrugged off the potential for attacks in the final MAHA report, devoting their attention instead to Trumps renewed threats to impose tariffs on drugmakers. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement You're not going to change [Kennedys] opinion on anything, said one lobbyist who was also granted anonymity to share details on the pharmaceutical industrys approach. You only lobby on things you can actually impact. David Mansdoerfer, an HHS official during the first Trump administration, applauded the way Kennedy is walking the line by pushing some policies that MAHA advocates favor while not going so far on others that could prompt wider blowback. Theres actually a lot of diversity of opinion in this crowd, he said. Youre never going to please all of them with any of these actions. What the new report will say is just one issue in a long list of fights MAHA world is undertaking. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement MAHA moms, farmers and environmental advocates have lobbied against a provision in a federal spending bill that they say would shield pesticide makers from liability and limit the governments ability to regulate pesticides. The proposed language, championed mainly by Republicans, parallels a nearly 40-year vaccine law, which limits the liability manufacturers face if patients experience an adverse reaction. Meanwhile, many anti-vaccine activists have grown disillusioned with what they perceive as the limited impact of Kennedys movement. Theyre frustrated by the Food and Drug Administrations decision in July to approve Modernas Covid vaccine for high-risk children under 12 and that the secretary hasnt fully walked back CDCs recommendation for healthy kids to get the shots, as he once promised. Kennedys announcement this week pulling federal funding for nearly two dozen mRNA vaccine projects also wasnt sufficient for activists who want the vaccines removed from the market entirely. mRNA technology poses more risks than benefits. So why is it still on the market? Mary Talley Bowden, a MAHA world doctor who gained notoriety during the pandemic, posted on social media, quoting Kennedys announcement of the funding cancelation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Those close to Kennedy have pushed him to publicly back legislative proposals that eliminate the vaccine makers shield, and to take executive action to shake up the federal court program that compensates people who claim vaccine injuries. If things dont go their way, advocates say theyre prepared to cause political problems. An anti-vaccine group has warned Kennedy he will face the electoral consequences at the state and federal levels if he doesnt crack down on mRNA vaccines. At least one MAHA-affiliated group has formed a new political advocacy arm, in part to primary Republicans who voted for the federal spending bills pesticide provision. Another MAHA influencer has urged her Instagram followers to call their representatives over the language. I have every intention of using all conservative influencers I'm in touch with to make sure those people are not re-elected, because it's anti-American to be passing a liability shield, said Kelly Ryerson, founder of American Regeneration and a supporter of stricter regulations on pesticides. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Both factions hope that Kennedys long history fighting the pesticide and drug industries including winning a major lawsuit against Monsanto, previously the maker of Roundup will ensure he doesnt give way to K Street pressure, both on the legislative front and for the new report hes expected to release. For their part, farm-state Republicans who have defended pesticide use on behalf of farmers dont seem phased by MAHA advocates anger. I'm not tired of winning yet and winning doing the right thing, House Agriculture Committee Chair G.T. Thompson (R-Pa.) said when asked in recent weeks if he was worried about how pesticides might play for the GOP in the midterms. He added that he would welcome the chance to meet with Kennedy to discuss how healthy American agriculture is. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Hills MAHA Caucus members Kennedy allies who are tasked with coming up with legislative proposals based on the new report have cautioned patience: This stuff is not going to happen all overnight, Rep. Nick Langworthy (R-N.Y.) previously told POLITICO. At a press conference in March, the leader of the nonprofit advocacy group MAHA Action previewed the pesticide fight to come and expressed confidence about the groups influence. This is a top issue for Robert Kennedy, said Del Bigtree, then-CEO of the group and former communications director for Kennedys 2024 presidential bid. We believe MAHA is now a voting body, and that pressure is also going to make a difference. Amanda Chu and Grace Yarrow contributed to this report. Early last spring, while still cleaning up the wreckage of devastating winter storms, southern Maine towns began drafting new rules governing how theyd rebuild or develop on stretches of land that were widely inundated months before. The process coincided with the adoption of new federal flood maps and is required by the Federal Emergency Management Agency for participation in the National Flood Insurance Program. After years of back-and-forth between FEMA and local officials, the agency finalized its first flood map updates for Cumberland and York counties in decades. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The maps finalization last summer meant local officials had to update their floodplain ordinances to FEMA standards or risk their residents losing out on federal flood insurance often a requirement for homeowners with government-backed mortgages who live in FEMA flood zones. While municipalities could simply adopt boilerplate language that the Maine Floodplain Management Program provides towns based on their local flood threat (i.e. coastal or riverine), towns also had the opportunity to fine-tune or strengthen their floodplain rules further. One way to do that is by requiring heightened standards if new developments or significant renovations occur inside regulated flood zones. Municipalities, for example, could require that the lowest floor of a new development be built higher than the one foot above flood level that FEMA recommends, giving future homes more protection from sea level rise, which FEMA flood maps dont account for. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Thats the path that Scarboroughs town council took last year. Their updated floodplain ordinances require anyone building a new development or making repairs worth more than 50 percent of a buildings value to raise the lowest floor two feet above flood level. Brian Longstaff, Scarboroughs zoning administrator, said that he was a little hesitant about the proposal at first when considering the challenges it could pose to homeowners who were already in compliance with the FEMA minimum. It was a little bit of a big bite, I thought, but in the end, it makes sense, Longstaff told The Maine Monitor, adding that the town is conducting a vulnerability assessment and its projections for future sea level rise show local flood risks growing down the line. Im looking at the vulnerability assessment, the picture of risk maps and there are some areas of Scarborough the projections are pretty scary, Longstaff said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Down the coast in Wells, town officials took a different approach. They kept the one-foot minimum elevation requirement in flood zones but expanded the criteria that triggers it. Whereas Scarborough requires repairs or remodels that are worth more than 50 percent of a buildings value and completed within one year to be elevated to its two-foot minimum, Wells tracks the cumulative value of such projects adding up project costs over a multi-year period to determine when an elevation change is required. Thats an effective way to close a common loophole used to get around similar ordinances according to Sue Baker, coordinator of the Maine Floodplain Management Program. (The Wells code enforcement director and town planner could not be reached for comment by publication.) There are some people that will just piecemeal their projects so that they stagger them out over a number of years, so that they don't ever trigger the substantial improvement rule, Baker said. What I think is bad about that is now you're putting thousands and thousands of dollars into a building, but you haven't changed the risk. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Scarborough considered similar language during the towns ordinance development, but ultimately town officials didnt adopt it, according to Longstaff. As a certified floodplain manager, he said he carefully evaluates projects in flood zones and can typically reach an understanding with the applicant about flood risks and how to mitigate them, though calculating cumulative improvements is 'a great idea to do over a reasonable period. The deadly floods that devastated Central Texas last month provide a stark example of what happens when flood zone development regulations are absent or unenforced. Camp Mystic, the summer camp where 27 campers and counselors died, was built in a high-risk flood zone. In rural Texas, there are few regulatory powers afforded to county governments over flood zones and many communities exist outside of the jurisdiction of municipal ordinances, according to the Texas Tribune. In Maine, meanwhile, unorganized communities are overseen by the state Land Use Planning Commission, and county hazard mitigation initiatives are widespread. Outside of southern Maine, Baker said the state is developing updated flood maps for multiple watersheds and pursuing new initiatives through the recently formed State Resilience Office and Office of Community Affairs. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But with the vulnerabilities exposed in last years storms and climate change's intensification of sea level rise and heavy precipitation events, it only makes sense to elevate and move back from flood-ravaged areas whenever possible, according to Baker. I heard a good quote once upon a time, Baker said. There's going to be retreat. The question is whether it's going to be managed or unmanaged. An American journalist who was reported missing while on a solo backpacking trip in Norway earlier this week has been found alive. 38-year-old Alec Luhn survived on his own for up to six days in Folgefonna National Park after injuring his leg while on a hike. Luhn visited one of the glaciers in Odda, Norway on July 31, where he reportedly injured his leg and was unable to escape the 210 square-mile park. His wife reported him missing four days later on Monday, August 4, when Luhn did not show up for his flight home to England. Folgefonna National Park in 1895 The Emmy-winning environmental journalist is apparently a seasoned outdoorsman, according to his wife Veronica Silchenko, who at first brushed off not hearing from him. Alec is basically obsessed with the Arctic," she told CBS News, "he loves glaciers and snow, and he loves explorers." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A brief search for Luhn began Monday, but had to be called off due to inclement weather. Two days later, Luhn was found waving for help just north of Nedre Buarbreen Glacier. A Norwegian helicopter sent down officials, including a doctor, to rescue Luhn and treat his wounds. The person who has been missing since Monday evening has been found alive near Folgefonna. He was located by helicopter crew and has now been transported for medical treatment Norges Rde Kors (@rodekorsnorge) August 6, 2025 Luhn survived off of rain water and a few chocolate bars that he had on hand. Response leader Stein Buer detailed serious but not life-threatening wounds to Luhn's legs and feet. He was transported to a nearby hospital. "We are very, very happy," Silchenko told local Norwegian newspaper Verdens Gang, "Many thanks to everyone in Norway who has helped find him." Luhn, who is originally from Wisconsin, is expected to receive treatment in Norway before returning to his family in England. His brother, Brian Luhn, posted an update on Facebook thanking those who helped find Alec. Major Discovery Made After Award-Winning Journalist Goes Missing on Glacier Backpacking Trip first appeared on Men's Journal on Aug 6, 2025 Soup recalls can affect millions of people at a time. Some of the more notable examples from recent memory have involved pulling large amounts of chicken soup from store shelves. However, these kinds of incidents have a long history, and unfortunately, the number of people who get sick is not always zero. One especially infamous recall involves a rather uncommon product vichyssoise, a thick French dish made with potatoes, leeks, and onions which can be served cold. It's a vintage soup that restaurants rarely make anymore and is even harder to find canned in grocery stores. In the 1970s, when the soup was more accessible, it was tied to a fatal case of poisoning. During the summer of 1971, a company called Bon Vivant had to recall several thousand cans of vichyssoise because they were suspected of containing a botulism toxin. Not long before the recall, a husband and wife in Westchester County just north of New York City fell dangerously ill the man ended up dying, and the wife survived but was left paralyzed. Both tragedies were traced back to their consumption of Bon Vivant vichyssoise soup. The couple never finished it because they thought it tasted off. Still, within hours, they were rushed to the hospital. Read more: Canned Foods You Should Avoid At All Costs The Vichyssoise Botulism Incident Pot of Vichyssoise - Nataly Hanin/Getty Images At the time, the poisoned vichyssoise generated multiple headlines. Only a few cans were actually confirmed to contain the toxin, but the FDA soon found that Bon Vivant's food safety standards were unacceptably low and cracked down. The agency removed more than a million cans of the company's soup, and Bon Vivant's processing plant in New Jersey was shut down entirely. The incident is also the reason you've likely never heard of Bon Vivant soups: The company fought against the FDA in court, and it briefly tried filing for bankruptcy and changing its name to Moore and Co. The ploy didn't work, and the company's soup stock was destroyed. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Nowadays, you might be more likely to hear about recalls triggered by undeclared allergens in food. While instances of botulism don't happen as often, this contamination poses a severe risk. It's caused by a dangerous bacteria called Clostridium botulinum, which can attack your nervous system and cause extremely dangerous symptoms like breathing difficulties and muscle paralysis. Even if the vichyssoise incident has faded from public memory, it remains a notable event in the history of the food safety industry. For more food and drink goodness, join The Takeout's newsletter. Get taste tests, food & drink news, deals from your favorite chains, recipes, cooking tips, and more! Read the original article on The Takeout. We love a mystery as much as the next person, but it's always a bit of a thrill to uncover which manufacturers are behind our favorite private-label brands. We took a deep dive and uncovered that Wells Dairy is behind Walmart's Great Value ice cream, and that Keurig Green Mountain is the brand that makes Costco's Kirkland K-Cups, but there's always more to unearth. When it comes to Kroger's private-label products, the company has a passion for fresh ingredients, so it makes perfect sense that the Kroger brand peanut butter is made from a manufacturer that gets its peanuts from the surrounding area. Kroger's private-label peanut butter is made by Tara Foods, one of the many manufacturing plants owned by Kroger. The facility is located in Albany, Georgia, and functions as a massive source of economic development in the area, both from the fact that it creates jobs and that it works with local farmers to source peanuts. This not only lowers the cost of production but also contributes to lower price points for customers, as well. Tara Foods produces about 25 million jars of peanut butter per year for the Kroger brand, sending the colorfully decorated containers to Kroger locations across the country and internationally. Read more: 8 Store-Bought American Cheese Brands, Ranked Worst To Best Tara Foods Is Whipping Up The Good Stuff Kroger's red jar of creamy peanut butter - Steve Cukrov/Shutterstock Kroger's private-label peanut butter is a big hit amongst customers, with one Redditor admitting it's "the only thing [they] buy to consume that isn't going to be buried in a recipe with other ingredients covering the flavor." Tara Foods develops various flavors of peanut butter for the Kroger brand, including creamy, natural creamy, honey creamy, crunchy, and honey crunchy. The manufacturing plant purchases over 70 million pounds of local peanuts per year to keep up with demand, making it one of the largest plants churning peanut butter other than big brands such as Skippy or Jif. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Peanut butter isn't the only product that Tara Foods manufactures for Kroger, though it is the facility's claim to fame. The manufacturing plant, which opened in 1977 (even though Kroger is the oldest grocery chain in the U.S.), is also responsible for juices, wines, baking extracts, peanut oil, and more. A few years ago, the Kroger brand peanut butter was even the subject of an advertisement encouraging customers to shop its private-label brand for better quality at better prices. Kroger's private-label brand racks up billions of dollars in revenue for the massive chain, much of which can be traced back to products manufactured at Tara Foods. Read the original article on Tasting Table. Recently, while touting gun seizures in a city that has some of the most authoritarian gun laws in the United States, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch lamented, "the number of illegal guns that we've seen used in New York City has exploded since 3D technology has come about." She's not alone. Homemade guns are increasingly sophisticated and available almost everywhere. That's a good thing. Americans, Armed and Scary American dedication to privately owned weapons alarms observers from more restrictive countriesmuch to the amusement of many Americans, it should be noted, whose ancestors fled those places in search of greater freedom and found it, in part, in the ability to arm themselves and to generally flip the bird to government. That means that from the foundation of the U.S., privately owned weapons and their protection by the Second Amendment have had a strong ideological component. Now, innovators around the world are embracing private arms as expressions of liberty and creating simple designs that can be built in home workshops with commonly available tools and parts. Critics argue that 3D-printed DIY firearms and their enthusiasts are spreading libertarianism around the world. Let's hope they're right. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Summarizing events at June's MoneroKon conference in Prague, an annual meeting devoted to "privacy-enhancing technologies and distributed systems," security expert Zoltan Furedi described a presentation by the pseudonymous Ze Carioca, designer of the recently unveiled Urutau, a 9mm select-fire firearm designed to be constructed with a 3D printer and components purchased at any hardware store. Rather than focus on his creation, Ze Carioca instead championed 3D-printed firearms as companions to cryptocurrency in challenging the power and reach of governments. "His speech blurred the lines between technology, ideology, and extreme libertarian politics," commented Furedi. He added of the speakers' message, "Just as the freedom to transact (via cryptocurrency) is now seen as a fundamental human right, so too should be the right to bear armsworldwide." DIY Weapons: Innovative and Popular To that end, Ze Carioca includes with his freely downloadable Urutau designs a document co-authored with fellow weapons designer Ryan Smith. Dubbed "The New Second Amendment," the authors state their "deep conviction that the unlimited right to keep and bear arms is a fundamental human right." To that end, they make it their objective that "a governing entity must find it impractical or impossible to overcomplicate or prevent the production of a privately manufacturable weapon." Ze Carioca appears to have succeeded. In January, with Yannick Veilleux-Lepage of the Institute of Security and Global Affairs at Leiden University, Furedi described the Urutau as "much easier to build than the FGC-9, a semi-automatic 9mm firearm primarily constructed with 3D-printed parts and simple tools." They added that "the assembly instructions for the Urutau are exceptionally well-designed." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The FGC-9 (Fuck Gun Control 9mm) was designed by Jacob Duygu, a former German soldier who went by the pseudonym JStark before he died under mysterious circumstances after being questioned by German police. It was refined by an American identified by The New York Times as licensed firearms manufacturer John Elik. In a documentary about Europe's underground DIY weapons movement, a masked Duygu said that "to bear firearms is a human right" and that people "need to have the same force on the individual level as the executive force of the government entity that is ruling over them." "This American brand of libertarianism has historically been a tough sell in many other parts of the world. Even if some people believed it in theory, strict laws made buying a gun so difficult that the ideology was almost beside the point," wrote Lizzie Dearden and Thomas Gibbons-Neff of the Times. "The FGC-9 is changing that." The FGC-9 quickly became globally popular. In 2022, France24 reported the FGC-9 to be in wide use by rebels in Myanmar fighting that country's brutal government. They used the DIY guns for training, for hit-and-run missions, and to fill in the gaps in supplies of commercially produced arms. The Urutau is designed as a simpler-to-produce successor to the FGC-9. It's intended to make restrictions even more difficult for governments to impose. And what's interesting is that both it and the FGC-9 were designed by non-Americans who embraced the idea that individuals should be put on an even footing with government enforcers. That's a major shift for a movement that began when Cody Wilson, a former law student from Austin, Texas, created the first 3D-printed single-shot pistol in 2013. That gun, dubbed the "Liberator," was also intended to enhance freedom and limit the reach of government. The movement, and the ideology behind it, have found fertile ground outside the United States. Spreading Liberty Through Disobedience Scofflawry as a means to expand liberty isn't limited to the field of firearms, of course. Ze Carioca gave his presentation at a conference where the main focus was on cryptocurrency and encryptiontwo technological means for putting human activity beyond state control. Marijuana is currently legal for recreational use in roughly half of U.S. states, but it remains illegal at the federal level. Those states choose to ignore federal law under pressure from residents who have long enjoyed the stuff with little concern for its legal status. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Decades ago, the movement to legalize homosexuality got its jump start from the Stonewall Uprising. In 1969, gays and lesbians streamed into the streets of New York City to violently confront police after the latest in a series of raids on the Stonewall Inn, a popular bar. And, perhaps most famously, Prohibition ended in the U.S. largely because mass defiance, moonshiners, and bootleggers made enforcement impossible. It makes sense that people from countries with restrictive firearms would take the lead in a movement that seeks to make those laws unenforceable. Americans may have cultivated the ideology and offered inspiration, but the movement picks up support where it's most needed. That's not to say the U.S. is immune to gun banners. As mentioned above, New York City has authoritarian laws as do other jurisdictions. Ze Carioca and Ryan Smith are clear that their New Second Amendment is for Americans too, should the government and its laws become more restrictive. "Legal constraints like the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution are finite, vulnerable to ignorance, and have national boundaries, but our guiding principle does not," they wrote. Americans delivered a libertarian DIY firearms movement to the world. The world may help preserve it. The post Making the World Freer with Homemade Guns appeared first on Reason.com. KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) -Malaysian Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan will seek details from Myanmar's military leadership about a planned election when he leads a four-nation delegation to the war-torn country next month, Malaysian state media reported on Friday. Myanmar has been in chaos since a 2021 military coup against an elected civilian government plunged the country into civil war. Last week, the junta lifted a nationwide state of emergency and nominally transferred power to a civilian-led government ahead of the election, although the junta chief remained in charge of the country in his other role as acting president. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "I want to obtain a clearer picture (of the elections) to bring to the attention of ASEAN leaders in October," Mohamad said, referring to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations grouping, Malaysian state news agency Bernama reported. Mohamad, who will be accompanied by his counterparts from Thailand, the Philippines, and Indonesia for the trip on September 19, wanted clarity on whether Myanmar would hold a comprehensive election, Bernama reported. Myanmar state media has reported that martial law and a state of emergency would be imposed in more than 60 townships across nine regions and states, with voting to be held in December and January. Last month, Mohamad said ASEAN had agreed that an election in Myanmar was not a priority and urged the junta to adhere to the grouping's "five-point consensus" peace plan instead. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Myanmar is an ASEAN member, but its generals have been barred from attending the bloc's key meetings since 2022 for failing to honour the peace plan. Malaysia is the current chair of ASEAN. Myanmar's election has been dismissed by Western governments as a sham to entrench the generals' power and is expected to be dominated by proxies of the military, with opposition groups either barred from running or refusing to take part. (Reporting by Danial Azhar; Editing by John Mair) MALONE, N.Y. (ABC22/FOX44) Parents and others worried about getting school supplies as the end of summer draws near will be happy to know that organizations ranging from local to state-wide have their back. On Thursday, August 14, Malone kids will be getting free clothing, backpacks, and school supplies in an event at Malone Middle School. Though the event is held at the middle school, kids from preschool to 12th grade will be able to show up between 12:00 and 6:00 p.m. Energy company National Grid is one of the sponsors of the event in Malone, which is one of many throughout the state. Throughout New York as a whole, National Grid says its providing backpacks to more than 20,000 children. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement New York launches summer meal program for kids Great things can happen when students feel good about themselves and are ready to learn, and were honored to be part of that journey, said regional director Alberto Bianchetti. National Guard & Buzz Boxx will be at the event giving free haircuts to Malone students as well. Malones school year will start September 4, so if your kids free haircut is a little too short for their liking, never fear theres still time to prepare. Other sponsors of the event include UVM Healths Alice Hyde Medical Center and local teachers and administrators unions in Malone along with CSEA New York. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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 ABC22 & FOX44. ST. LOUIS The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department (SLMPD) says its Homicide Unit is investigating a fatal stabbing that occurred in the Penrose neighborhood, leaving one man dead. According to detectives, a man in his 60s was discovered with multiple stab wounds in the 4400 block of Sexauer Avenue shortly after 4:30 p.m. on Thursday. Officials say the fatal stabbing was an isolated incident and they have identified a person of interest. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement No further information about the victim, the alleged suspect, or the fatal stabbing has been made available by SLMPD, as they are currently investigating the case. 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. KILLINGLY, Conn. (WTNH) A judge approved a plea deal for the man charged in the October 2023 death of a visiting nurse in Willimantic. Joyce Grayson, 63, was killed during a medical appointment for a convicted rapist and registered sex offender, Michael Reese, at a halfway house on Oct. 28, 2023, on Chapman Street in Willimantic. He was her first appointment of the day. Family files wrongful death lawsuit in slain visiting nurse case Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Officials said Grayson was found in the homes basement, strangled with multiple blunt force injuries. Reese was charged with murder and attempted first-degree sexual assault in this case. On Friday, he agreed to plead guilty to murder and will serve 50 years in prison without the possibility of parole. Since Graysons death, state leaders have established new legislation aimed at keeping visiting nurses safer. Heres a look at the new laws: Requires home health care agencies to share with employees a patients history of violence against health workers in the past If possible, share crime rates for cities and towns that nurses visit Provide monthly safety-related training for workers Agencies need to do timely reporting of any violence, verbal threats, or sexual abuse to the state Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Health care agencies are being incentivized with state money to provide escorts for visiting nurses and also a GPS-like device that workers can carry to notify police with the push of a button. A federal investigation ruled Graysons employer, Elara Caring, exposed home healthcare employees to workplace violence from patients who exhibited aggressive behavior and were known to pose a risk to others. The company is facing $163,627 in fines for not protecting Grayson, according to OSHA. Stay with News 8 for the latest developments. 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. KANSAS CITY, Mo. Jackson County Prosecutor Melesa Johnson announced Friday murder charges against a Blue Springs man in connection with the killing of a woman in Northeast Kansas City. Arel Dawkins, 36, faces charges of first-degree murder and armed criminal action. Woman dies after shooting in Kansas Citys Old Northeast: KCPD According to court records, on Wednesday, Kansas City police were dispatched to a home on Morrell Avenue. When officers arrived, they found a woman on the ground with multiple gunshot wounds. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Victim was pregnant with Dawkins child, probable cause statement says The victim has been identified as Braisen Cain, who was a teacher at the Academy for Integrated Arts in Kansas City. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Based on eyewitness testimony and surveillance footage, a man ran her over with his Ford F-150, then got out and shot her multiple times at close range while she was on the ground. He walked toward the street, turned back and fired at her again, surveillance footage shows. After reloading his weapon, he returned and shot her again before driving away. The victim recently broke up with Arel and she was pregnant with Arels child, the probable cause statement says. The probable cause statement also claims that Dawkins confessed to Cains murder. Several 911 calls were received from family of Dawkins claiming he called them and confessed to killing (Cain) and was threatening to commit suicide, it reads. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Dawkins cell phone also pinged in the area of the crime scene just prior to the homicide, according to court records. According to the Missouri State Highway Patrol arrest report, Dawkins was arrested at 11:50 p.m. Wednesday and was taken to the Greene County Jail. He is being held without bond. Kansas City leaders address recent rise in domestic violence homicides Kansas City leaders recently addressed the rise in domestic violence homicides. Police said one out of every three homicides in the metro is related to domestic violence. According to city officials, in 2024, there was a total of 12 domestic violence homicides for the year. So far this year, that number has already been surpassed. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A GoFundMe has been created to support Cains children. As of 3:30 p.m. Friday, over $12,000 has been donated. Click here to donate. Her childrens ages range from 2 years old to 19 years old. All are boys. You can also drop off donations at the Kansas City Charter School AFIA. It is located at 7910 Troost Ave in Kansas City, Missouri. Cains family says if youd like to help, you can donate online to the fundraiser started by school staff. You can also help by donating school supplies for her children for this upcoming school year. Staff say that to start a school year without her is heartbreaking and unbelievable, adding that she was loved by everyone there. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement She just had an ability to be able to help our students be the best their best selves. She saw the best in every single person. All the students. All the staff members, Executive Director for AFIA, Tricia DeGraff shared with FOX4 Friday. DeGraff says Cain was part of the schools family for nine years, starting at the time her children began attending the school. Cain worked there for seven of those years. Our school community knows Ms. Braisen. We know her five children and we care and love all of them. When she would come into the room, she just had this glow about her that nobody ever understood, Latoyia Armstead, an aunt to Cains children said, as she described Cain as a supermom. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Now a beautiful soul has left this Earth too early and was robbed of her life and her children were robbed of their lives. From the amount of love and support that we are getting from everyone it just shows how many lives she impacted, Lisa Armstead, another aunt to Cains children shared. Domestic violence resources If you are a victim of domestic violence, you can call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 or text START to 88788. Those with hearing impairments can contact 1-800-787-3224. Missouri residents can find local shelters and domestic violence resources on the Kansas City Missouri Police Departments website. Kansas and Missouri residents can find additional resources here. Mental health resources If you are having suicidal thoughts or a mental health crisis, call or text 988. Veterans can press 1 after dialing 988 to connect directly to the Veterans Crisis Lifeline. For texts, veterans should continue to text the Veterans Crisis Lifeline short code: 838255. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement You can also call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255. Kansas City residents can find local mental health resources 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 FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports. A Hudson County man is accused of sexually assaulting a woman as she entered a home in Jersey City, officials with the Hudson County Prosecutors Office said on Friday. Richard Murphy, 35, of Jersey City was charged Thursday with first-degree aggravated sexual assault, second-degree burglary and third-degree assault, authorities said. Jersey City police responded to Sussex Street just after 11:30 p.m. on July 26 for a report of a sexual assault, authorities said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The woman told police that a man physically and sexually assaulted her as she entered a residence, officials said. The woman was taken to Jersey City Medical Center to be treated for her injuries, according to officials. Murphy was arrested Friday at Jersey City Medical Center and is being held at the Hudson County Correctional Facility pending his initial court appearance. No further details on the investigation were shared by authorities. An attorney for Murphy was not listed in court records Friday. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Matthew Enuco may be reached at Menuco@njadvancemedia.com. YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) A man arrested on a gun charge Thursday had been on probation for his role in a 2021 robbery and abduction case. Read next: Victims report carjacking, robbery in local Dunkin Donuts parking lot Undrel Fletcher, 27, is expected to appear later Friday in municipal court on charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm, a third-degree felony, and improper handling of a firearm in a motor vehicle, a fourth-degree felony. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He is currently in the Mahoning County Jail. Reports said Fletcher was the driver of a car that was pulled over about 6:40 p.m. at Hudson and West Indianola avenues for a traffic offense, and he appeared nervous when he was asked if he had a gun. Fletcher later told police he had a gun in the center console that had belonged to his late father, reports said. Police checked inside and found a loaded .380-caliber semiautomatic handgun, reports said. In March 2023, Fletcher pleaded guilty to a charge of attempted robbery, a fourth-degree felony, and was sentenced to two years of probation. His probation ended in February, according to court records. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He had been charged with taking part in the 2021 beating of a Loveland Road man in his driveway. That conviction bars Fletcher from having or being around a handgun. 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. Nottinghamshire Police officers arrested a suspect on Kingsley Avenue in Mansfield Woodhouse [Nottinghamshire Police] A 40-year-old man has been arrested after a knifepoint robbery at a shop in Mansfield Woodhouse. Nottinghamshire Police said officers were called to the Tesco Express in Leeming Lane North at about 17:00 BST on Thursday. A statement said a man with a knife threatened a shop assistant and forced them to hand over cash, before he grabbed more notes and pushed another worker as he fled the scene. The suspect was arrested on suspicion of robbery and two counts of criminal damage, and remains in custody. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Police are examining CCTV footage from the shop, and also appealing for any witnesses to come forward. Det Sgt Andrew Sansom, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: "Incidents of this nature can be distressing for shop staff and those involved will be supported as the investigation progresses." Follow BBC Nottingham on Facebook, on X, or on Instagram. Send your story ideas to eastmidsnews@bbc.co.uk or via WhatsApp on 0808 100 2210. Related Internet Links SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) A Caddo District judge has issued a ruling for a Shreveport man convicted of fatally beating a fellow prisoner in the city jail. Initially arrested for simple battery, a misdemeanor, Andrew Drew Adaway, 37, will now serve the rest of his natural life in prison. Andrew Drew Adaway was convicted of fatally beating 72-year-old Bobbie Young on June 3, 2022. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Young had been arrested for drug offenses shortly before Adaway was booked. The District Attorneys office states that Adaway was compliant during the booking process but protested when jailers attempted to place him in a group cell after he was booked. Once in the cell, Adaway brutally attacked Young, striking him in the head with a closed fist more than a dozen times. Young was immediately transported to Ochsner LSU Health where he succumbed to his injuries weeks later. On July 22, 2025, a five-man, seven-woman jury took less than one hour to find Adaway guilty after the District Attorneys office called nine witnesses to prove that Adaway killed Young. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement August 7, 2025, District Judge Donald Hathaway Jr. imposed a mandatory life sentence. The sentence must be served at hard labor without the possibility of probation, parole or suspension of sentence. 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. GRANDVIEW HEIGHTS, Ohio (WCMH) A Columbus man has been arrested after allegations of a sexual assault involving a 3-year-old girl surfaced in Grandview Heights. According to the Grandview Division of Police, an investigation was launched in July for an alleged sexual assault that took place the previous month against a juvenile. One dead after shooting at bar in Old North Columbus Court documents state that on July 18, the mother of the victim called the Grandview Heights Division of Police to report that Alan Lichti performed a sexual act on her 3-year-old daughter in June. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Detectives interviewed the witness numerous times and discovered that additional sexually related contact had allegedly occurred at unspecified times. Evidence collected included electronic communication that corroborated the mothers statements, and on Aug. 5, the child was interviewed at the Child Advocacy Center. Lichti, 40, was arrested Thursday on one count of rape of a child less than 13 years of age and taken to the Franklin County Jail. Ohio Wildlife Center assists in crow rescue, highlights West Nile uptick On Friday, a Franklin County Municipal Court judge issued Lichti a $200,000 bond and granted a temporary protection order against him. A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for Aug. 15. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Grandview Heights police said it expects additional charges to be filed at a later date and ask that anyone with additional information regarding the investigation to call 614-488-7901. 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. EXCHANGE, W.Va. (WBOY) A man has been charged with multiple felonies after allegedly sexually assaulting a victim multiple times in Gilmer County. Bobby Cottrell On Aug. 6, troopers with the Gilmer County detachment of the West Virginia State Police were dispatched to Sand Fork Church to assist with a report of alleged sexual assault, according to a criminal complaint. When troopers arrived, they spoke with a victim who stated that Bobby Cottrell, 47, of Exchange, had sexually assaulted [them] several times, and troopers transported the victim to the state police detachment to perform a proper interview, troopers said. In that interview, the victim told troopers that Cottrell had sexual intercourse with [them] without [their] consent several times, telling troopers that Cottrell performed sexual acts despite the victim telling Cottrell no, according to the complaint. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The assault allegedly took place in July 2025. Healthnet called after 2 fall about 20 feet in Wood County On Aug. 7, troopers interviewed Cottrell, who admitted to having sex with [the victim], according to the complaint. Cottrell has been charged with second degree sexual assault and incest. He is being held in Central Regional Jail on $40,000 bond. 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. The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. a bright line runs through Irans domestic movement for democratic change: on one side, frank opponents of the regime, and on the other, proponents of incremental reform. One figure stands out for bridging that divide, making him one of Irans most promising political prospects. Mostafa Tajzadeh, a former deputy interior minister, is one of Irans best-known and most broadly popular political prisoners. Tajzadeh had already spent more than a decade behind bars, much of it in solitary confinement, when the Iranian judiciary handed him a new five-year sentence, on July 12, for charges based on statements hed made in captivity. His release date is now set for 2032. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Tajzadeh supports free elections, opposes mandatory veiling for women and other repressive policies, and backs diplomatic rapprochement with the United States. Abdollah Momeni, an activist and former political prisoner, described Tajzadeh to me as having a rare combination of moral courage, political honesty, and loyalty to the people. He is respected both by official reformists and a significant section of civil society, radical democracy activists, and antiauthoritarians. [Read: The Iranian dissident asking simple questions] Reform in Iran has meant working inside the system to improve it, and many of its practitioners therefore refuse to endorse street protests that voice criticisms of the regime as a whole. Tajzadeh is different. He lent his explicit support to the 202223 movement known by the slogan Women, Life, Freedom. He has also called for abolishing the position of supreme leader, which would effectively end the Islamic Republic. But hes still a reformist in other ways: He opposes violently overthrowing the regime, and even ran for president in 2021 as the main candidate of the reformist camp until he was denied a place on the ballot. (Wholesale opponents of the regime often reject participating in such elections at all, on the grounds that they provide democratic window dressing for an autocratic system.) In June, Israeli air strikes pummeled Iranian targets, and Tajzadeh issued a statement from prison both condemning the bombardment and acknowledging that some Iranians were happy about it. He called for a peaceful transition to democracy by means of a constituent assembly and a change in the constitution. On July 23, he called on Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to either agree to free elections and fundamental changes or resign. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement That Tajzadehs appeal bridges Irans fractious opposition was evident in the reaction to his most recent sentencing. Many in the opposition, including in the diaspora, spoke out against it. So did Azar Mansouri, the head of the Iranian Reformist Front, a coalition of reformist groups and political parties, who told me that she opposes Tajzadehs imprisonment because he has a long history of trying to bring about change from within the system; he has never backed violence; and his activities have been mostly civic, political, and peaceful. Alan Ekbatani, a California-based antiregime activist and former political prisoner, told me that he had high hopes for Tajzadeh, especially if he dares to declare solidarity with those who are after fundamental transformation and separation of religion from politics, because he has resisted Khamenei and has shown he is ready to pay a cost in the pursuit of his goals. Tajzadeh served his first prison sentence from 2010 through 2016. Upon release, he organized a series of online debates on platforms such as YouTube and Clubhouse. Before tens of thousands of Iranians, Tajzadeh engaged figures as diverse as Tehrans hard-line mayor, Alireza Zakani, and Morad Veisi, a well-known supporter of Irans former crown prince, Reza Pahlavi. He even declared his readiness to debate Pahlavi himselfa major taboo for a former regime officialshortly before he was sent back to prison, in 2022. This insistence on engaging a wide range of Iranians in conversation was what drew Saeed Barzin, a United Kingdombased dissident, to write a two-volume book in Persian about Tajzadeh. Barzin told me that Tajzadeh is unique in modern Iranian history as someone who encourages adversarial political tribes to maintain a dialogue with each other. This is crucial for Irans plural society. Tajzadeh entered politics as a revolutionary activist in 1979 and served the regime in the 1980s in a variety of positions, mostly within the Ministry of Culture. At the time, Mohammad Khatami headed that ministry. And much like Khatami, in the 1990s, Tajzadeh began to temper his revolutionary Islamism with an openness to liberal and democratic reform. Khatami won the presidency on a reformist platform in 1997 and initially considered Tajzadeh for his chief of staff before making him deputy interior minister. This position placed Tajzadeh on the front lines of the battle over democratization that unfolded between Khatamis government and the hard-line establishment that eventually defeated it. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Khatami government sought to curb the abuses of the Iranian security establishment, secure greater freedoms of speech and association, create space for a more robust civil society, and make directly elected local councils laboratories for democratic change. Most of these initiatives met obdurate resistance from more powerful sectors of the state, and by the end of Khatamis second term, in 2005, the reform movement had lost much of its momentum. A hard-line president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, succeeded Khatami. But when his first term came to an end, Ahmadinejad faced a new reformist challenger, who revived Khatamis energy and then some: Mir Hossein Mousavi, a former prime minister, whose supporters called themselves the Green Wave in 2009. Ahmadinejad quickly declared himself the winner of that election, and Mousavi claimed that the results were rigged. A street movement broke out in Mousavis support. The regime crushed the protests and placed Mousavi under house arrest. It also banned the main reformist parties and meted out long prison sentences to the politicians associated with them, including Tajzadeh. When these men came out of prison, they mostly chose between two paths: Some left Iran to become critics in exile; others remained inside and kept their heads down, not daring to disparage Khamenei, in the hopes that they might find their way back into politics. Tajzadeh is notable for having chosen a third path. He has remained in the country but articulated a radical critique of the Islamic Republic, openly assailing Khamenei for violating the rights, dignity, and freedom of Iranians and calling for the leaders position to be abolished. Whether by design or merely by following his conscience, Tajzadeh has put himself in a position to unite the agendas of Iranian dissidents inside and outside the country. He doesnt like to be talked about as a leader, hero, or savior, Tajzadehs wife, Fakhrolsadat Mohtashamipour, told me, employing a Persian mode of modesty. All he does is for the country and for his compatriots and against authoritarianism. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Mohtashamipour married Tajzadeh in 1980, shortly after the revolution, and she told me that theirs has always been a political partnership. We are still fighting for the ideals of 1979, which have now been tarnished under a dictatorship that tolerates no criticism, she said. The regime is afraid of him because they know he can attract people by his words. Although keeping him in prison also shows their absolute stupidity, because he has become even more a point of reference from inside prison. [Arash Azizi: The Islamic Republic was never inevitable] The notion that Iranian reformists see their project as continuous with the ideals of 1979 has helped make them a credible force inside the regime, but it has also made some younger activists uneasy. Faraj Sarkohi, a dissident writer in exile, told me that the revolutionary and Islamist pasts of people such as Tajzadeh and Mousavi could present obstacles to winning the trust of secular Iranians today. Tajzadeh cant be a leader for the transition, Sarkohi said, suggesting that workers, women, students, and pro-democracy intellectuals would be likelier candidates for that role. But he can be part of a movement for democracy and help convince some of the regime base and bring them on this path. From another point of view, that very trajectoryfrom Islamist revolutionary to champion of the peoples democratic aspirationscarries a particular moral weight. Mousavi, who is 83 years old and has been under house arrest since 2011, recently called for a constituent assemblya call he also made in support of the street protests in 2022. Mousavi was Irans prime minister in the 1980s, when he was a favorite of the regimes founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Now he is too frail to serve in a major political role himself, but more than 800 prominent Iranians inside and outside the country have signed a petition in support of his call for a constituent assembly. Tajzadeh and Momeni are among those signatories (Momeni has already been summoned for questioning by the judiciary as a result). Another demand for a constituent assembly to be organized under the supervision of independent international institutions has been issued by a more radical group of dissidents that includes the Nobel Peace laureate Narges Mohammadi, the human-rights activist Nasrin Sotoudeh, and more than 1,500 other Iranians. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Outside Iran, the opposition can seem bitterly divided, with some parts of the diaspora embracing Pahlavis leadership and others in disarray. But a political space appears to exist inside the country for critics who wish for a different kind of government from the Islamic Republic, and who may look to figures such as Tajzadeh for the wisdom and moral courage to make it real. Article originally published at The Atlantic A man was critically injured after he was stabbed in Roxbury early Friday, according to Boston Police. At around 2:10 a.m. Friday, police responded to a call for a walk-in stabbing victim at a hospital. The stabbing happened near Reading and Farnham streets, police said. Arriving officers learned the victim, a 48-year-old man, had sustained a critical stab wound. While officers were at the hospital, other units searched the area and found a crime scene at the intersection, police said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement No arrests have been made and the stabbing remains under investigation. More local crime stories Read the original article on MassLive. SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) A Magna man is behind bars after allegedly firing a gun inside someone elses home Thursday. Christopher Lee Shaw, 43, was arrested on felony charges of aggravated assault and discharging a firearm. Salt Lake City Police responded to reports of a man with a firearm who entered a residence Thursday evening. Officers say they quickly began setting up containment when they heard a loud bang. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to court documents, police forced entry into the home where they found Shaw holding a handgun. One of the residents of the home told police that Shaw had pointed the gun at him. New details released in West Jordan shooting, suspect grazed in the head The resident told police the handgun had been pointed at him was his own. He and a roommate had left the home to get dinner earlier that day. When they returned, one of them noticed the gun was missing. The residents soon found Shaw pointing the gun and threatening to shoot one resident in the knee, court documents show. The resident then fled and called police, who later found a bullet hole in the ceiling of the home. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement After his arrest, Shaw told police he was trying to recover the firearm which he claims belonged to his brother who passed away five years ago, according to court documents. When asked why he fired the gun, Shaw told officers he wanted a police response so they could prove the gun belonged to his deceased brother. Shaw is being held without bail in the Salt Lake County Jail. Latest headlines: 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. NEED TO KNOW Gach Top, 26, went missing after leaving his residence in Alice Springs in Australia's Northern Territory on July 28 Police spent several days looking for him before suspending the search on Aug. 2 Two days later, he was found alive A man who was missing for a week in the Australian outback was found alive and told first responders that he survived by drinking water from discarded bottles. Northern Territory Police Force first announced in a news release that Gach Top, 26, was last seen leaving his residence in Alice Springs on July 28 at 3:30 p.m. local time. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement About two hours later, Top spoke with his family by phone, but he never showed up for work that evening. His car, a red Mazda CX5, was found the following near John Flynns Grave Historical Reserve, which is located about 4 miles outside of Alice Springs. Northern Territory Police Australia's Northern Territory Police Force shared this photo related to the search for Gach Top, who went missing since July 28, 2025 Australia's Northern Territory Police Force shared this photo related to the search for Gach Top, who went missing since July 28, 2025 The search for Top involved over 50 personnel, including local police units and partner agencies, and employed ATVs, drones, and helicopter support, police said in an update on July 31. Despite extensive efforts, Search Coordinator Acting Sgt. Chris Grotherr said that "forecasted sub-zero overnight temperatures over the coming days are increasing our concerns for Gachs welfare. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On Saturday, Aug. 2, police announced they had suspended the search for Top after five days and the case was handed over to the Northern Territory Police Southern Crime Division for additional investigation. https://people-app.onelink.me/HNIa/kz7l4cuf Throughout the search, authorities had appealed to the public to contact them if they may have spotted Top in the vicinity or provide information that would lead to his whereabouts. Meanwhile, Tops family and community members continued their search for the 26-year-old man in the outback, reported Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), 9News and The Age. Northern Territory Police Australia's Northern Territory Police Force shared this photo related to the search for Gach Top, who went missing since July 28, 2025 Australia's Northern Territory Police Force shared this photo related to the search for Gach Top, who went missing since July 28, 2025 On Monday, Aug. 4, Top was found alive in the vicinity of Jay Creek outstation, about 18 miles west of Alice Springs. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He was wrapped in a blanket and was exhausted, Chuol Yat of the African Association of Central Australia told The Age. The family, including the community, are overjoyed because many of us felt that this young man was not dead. He was found alive, and everybody was so happy. Andrew Thomas, a director with St. John Ambulance NT, said Top appeared dazed and confused after being lost in the bush, according to 9News. Top was then treated for dehydration and taken to hospital in Alice Springs. "He told responders he had survived by drinking water from discarded bottles found along the roadside," Thomas said. Nyawuor Kong, Tops stepmother, told ABC that her family was celebrating the news of their loved one, who became a father in July. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "My eldest son was devastated, because he is close to his elder brother Gach, but when he heard the news that Gach is fine, he is smiling again., Kong said. "Our family are happy again." She also expressed gratitude to those who assisted in the search of Top. Never miss a story sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Northern Territory Police Force confirmed Tops return in an update on Aug 4. He was located safe in the vicinity of Jay Creek earlier this evening and has been conveyed to hospital for assessment," they wrote. "Police would like to thank members of the public for their assistance." Read the original article on People MEMPHIS, Tenn. A man was convicted of multiple child sex crimes while in court on Thursday, according to the Shelby County District Attorneys Office. Eric Goolsby, 38, was found guilty of two counts of child sexual abuse, one count of aggravated sexual battery, and one count of tampering with evidence. New audio: Austin Drummond defends himself in past parole hearing Prosecutors say the victim was abused between the ages of four and eight, but disclosed the abuse at the age of 15. They say key anatomical details were provided. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Goolsby was accused of trying to mislead authorities about his physical condition. Prosecutors say his attempt was uncovered by investigators and medical professionals. That is when he was reindicted after a follow-up exam confirmed that he had tampered with evidence. After less than an hour of deliberation, the jury returned a guilty verdict. Eric Goolsby is set to be sentenced to prison at a later date. 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. DENVER (KDVR) A Jefferson County jury has found a man guilty of multiple counts, including first-degree and second-degree murder, after a robbery in 2023 at a Wheat Ridge jewelry store. Charles Robinson Shay, 41, was found guilty of 11 counts, including first-degree murder for the death of Peter Damian Arguello, said the Colorado First Judicial District Attorneys Office in a press release on Thursday. Feels like a bad dream: Family speaks out after deadly crash kills 5 in Kremmling Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On Nov. 29, 2023, Arguello, the owner of Peter Damian Fine Jewelry and Antiques, was shot and killed during a robbery at his store near 38th Avenue and Teller Street in Wheat Ridge. At that time, FOX31 had reported that Wheat Ridge police released photos of the suspects vehicle, which was believed to be involved in the homicide case. Surveillance video in an affidavit showed that during the incident, a male pulled a gun on Arguello and tried to handcuff him. Arguello resisted, and the male shot him three times. Police tape outside Peter Damian Fine Jewelry and Antiques where Peter Damian Arguello was killed on Nov. 29, 2023. In 2024, police matched DNA from Shay on flex cuffs found at the crime scene, according to an arrest affidavit obtained by FOX31. At that time, police said that Shay was arrested for a burglary at the jewelry and antique store that occurred on Dec. 26, 2023, nearly a month after the homicide, but was not facing charges relating to Arguellos death. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Following the initial arrest, police recommended murder charges against Shay in 2024. In May of 2024, police arrested a second suspect, Michael McCormack, and charged him with multiple counts, including second-degree murder, for allegedly being an accomplice in the homicide case of Arguello. McCormack is expected to stand trial on Aug. 22. The district attorneys office said that after a seven-day trial, the jury began deliberations on Monday and on Wednesday afternoon, he was found guilty on the first 10 counts. After a second phase of the trial began, known as the habitual criminal phase, additional evidence was shown for Shays prior felony convictions under Colorados Habitual Criminal statute. FOX31 Newsletters: Sign up to get breaking news sent to your inbox Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Shay was found guilty of count 11, concluding that the six prior convictions were separate and distinct criminal episodes, said the district attorneys office. The jury found Shay guilty of the following charges: Murder in the first-degree Murder in the second-degree Second-degree kidnapping Aggravated robbery Second-degree motor vehicle theft Second-degree arson Tampering with physical evidence Second-degree motor vehicle theft Second-degree burglary Habitual criminal (six prior felony convictions) Shay is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 10 and faces a mandatory sentence of life without the possibility of parole for first-degree murder and additional penalties for the other guilty counts, said the district attorneys office. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. HARTFORD, Mich. (WOOD) A man who was charged last year after a shooting involving two trucks in a Van Buren County neighborhood has been found not guilty by a jury, court records show. A jury found Justin Arellano, 22, not guilty of assault with a dangerous weapon and a weapons charge Thursday. Men charged for truck shootout in Hartford neighborhood The charges stemmed from Aug. 17, 2024 when multiple 911 calls complained of people in two trucks shooting at each other. Home security camera video shows a yellow truck speeding by a house before shots ring out for several seconds. Despite the multiple shots, police say no one was hurt. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Arellano, then 21, was charged along with 18-year-old Elias Ramirez. At the time, Arellano and his parents told News 8 it was a case of self-defense. Ramirez pleaded guilty to a charge for firing from a vehicle in November and a weapons charge was dismissed. 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 WOODTV.com. CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) After a three-day trial where the victim testified, a local man was convicted and sentenced for committing a child sex crime. Christopher Robert White was sentenced to ten years in prison and five years of probation for committing the crime of criminal sexual conduct with a minor in the third degree. Judge Jennifer McCoy handled sentencing, the Ninth Circuit Solicitors Office said. Solicitor Wilson stated, Judge McCoy recognized that this horrific crime robbed a child of their innocence and sentenced him accordingly. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement White was found guilty unanimously by the jury. The victim also read a statement revealing the impact the situation has had on her life, according to the solicitors office. Assistant Solicitor Frierson added, The victim carried this heavy burden with courage and dignity, helping bring it to a just end. 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. WASHINGTON (DC News Now) One person was arrested after a man was injured in a stabbing on H Street in Washington, D.C. late Thursday, according to officials. Details about what led up to the stabbing are limited; however, the Metropolitan Police Department said officers responded to the incident in the 300 block of H St., NE, just minutes before midnight. Upon arrival, police found a man suffering from stab wounds. Medics rushed the man, who was conscious and breathing, to the hospital for treatment. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trump orders increased federal law enforcement presence in Washington to make DC safe again Officers arrested the person suspected of stabbing the man at the scene of the crime, MPD noted. As of Friday morning, it is unclear whether the pair knew each other and if the suspect was charged. The incident came about an hour after a woman was reportedly injured in a shooting on H Street. 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 DC News Now | DC, Virginia, Maryland News, Weather, Traffic, Sports Live. The Brief A man accused of killing five women in a crash was allegedly accelerating at 100% just before impact. Kody Talley was reportedly driving an overloaded truck that was not equipped with a required ignition interlock device. Talley has two prior DWI convictions and allegedly left the scene before speaking to DPS troopers. BURNET COUNTY, Texas - The man arrested after five Dallas women were killed in a Burnet County crash is believed to have been accelerating in the wrong direction when he caused the wreck, a newly released document says. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to the arrest warrant affidavit obtained by FOX 4, the man's car data showed that his accelerator pedal was pushed as far as it would go just before impact. Burnet County crash affidavit Kody Talley The latest The man accused of causing the crash, Kody Talley, is believed to have been driving northbound on US 281 prior to the July 25 crash. Suddenly, the arrest document says, Talley swerved over the center divider into oncoming traffic before hitting a Chevrolet Malibu. Witness dashcam video reportedly confirmed this. Talley's Dodge Ram 4500 pickup bounced from the Malibu to a Mercedes-Benz SUV, after which it came to a stop at a fence line on the northbound side of the roadway. The Benz, which overturned and caught on fire, was carrying five Dallas women: Brianna Valadez, Ruby Cruz, Jackie Velazco, Desiree Cervantes and Thalia Salinas, all of whom were pronounced dead after the crash. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement After the incident, investigators found that Talley's airbag control module showed he was accelerating for about the last second and a half before hitting the Malibu, with his accelerator at 100 percent depression for the last 0.3 seconds before impact. Furthermore, investigators found that Talley was driving an overloaded truck, which required a different level of driver's license than he has. He is also allegedly required to have an ignition interlock device, which the truck was not equipped with. He was also found to have two prior convictions for driving while intoxicated. A previous crash report obtained by FOX 4 says Talley was never tested for drugs or alcohol at the scene, and his arrest warrant affidavit says he left before speaking to DPS troopers, though he did briefly talk to local authorities. Talley has been accused of driving on the wrong side of the road, improper driver's license for class of vehicle, violating driver's license restriction, failure to control speed, and he faces five counts of manslaughter. Injured Malibu occupants Dig deeper The affidavit identifies the occupants of the Malibu as Cody Burton, 51, and his son, Dylan Burton, 20. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement FOX 4 reached out to Cody, who says he'll be in an inpatient facility for some time after surgery for injuries to his leg and a shattered hip and pelvis. He was taken from the scene via helicopter after the crash. According to Cody, Dylan has been released after being hospitalized for cracked ribs and a broken sternum. Dylan was the one driving the Malibu, and Cody says his son was able to swerve a bit just before the crash to avoid being hit head-on. Five Dallas friends killed in crash Burnet County crash victims Local perspective The five victims killed in the crash were childhood friends, their families tell FOX 4, and were on their way from North Texas to Kingsland for a birthday celebration for Salinas, 23, where they were set to meet with the girl's family at a lake house. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Valadez, 22, worked at Oak Cliff Pediatrics, where she is remembered as a bright light with a soft, quiet spirit who welcomed all families, her former coworkers say. A GoFundMe for Cruz, 23, reads, "This sudden and unimaginable loss has left our family completely devastated and many friends in mourning." Family members of Velazco, 21, and Cervantes, 23, have declined to speak publicly as they process their loss. What's next Funerals for all five of the women are set to be held this week. The Source Information in this report came from a document provided by Burnet County. CHICAGO (WGN) A man is dead and a search is underway after an argument led to a stabbing inside a residence on the citys South Side early Friday morning. Chicago police say the incident unfolded just after 4 a.m. at a residence in the 7400 block of S. South Shore Drive, in South Shore. Read more: Latest Chicago news and headlines According to police, a witness on the scene told officers that the stabbing unfolded shortly after two people got into an argument that eventually escalated and became physical. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The victim, a 32-year-old man, sustained multiple stab wounds to his body and was pronounced dead on the scene. No arrest has been made in connection with the incident, and an investigation is now underway. Authorities have not yet identified the victim. LATEST CASES: Missing people in Chicagoland Anyone with information on the deadly stabbing is asked to contact CPD Area One detectives at 312-747-8380 or dial 911. Those with information that could help authorities in their investigation can also leave a tip at CPDtip.com. Tips can be filed anonymously. 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. A 51-year-old man who killed a bystander when he fired several gunshots inside a dance hall in Lynn was granted parole in a narrow decision by the states parole board. Alfred Jenks was convicted of first-degree murder for the April 1994 shooting and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Jenks, who was 20 at the time of the shooting, became eligible for parole when the Supreme Judicial Court ruled life sentences without parole for emerging adults, those between 18 and 20, were unconstitutional. He made his first appearance before the parole board in March. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The shooting Jenks was convicted of took place on April 2, 1994. That day, Jenks got in an argument with another man outside a dance hall in Lynn, drawing his 9mm pistol and pointing it at the other man. A bystander intervened and separated the two men. The other man walked into the dance hall. Sometime later, Jenks followed, still armed with the pistol. Inside, Jenks confronted the man again, pulling his pistol and saying, Whats up now? The man backed away from Jenks and several people inside tried to disarm him, which led to Jenks falling to the floor and dropping the gun. Jenks grabbed the gun, stood up, and fired five rounds into the ceiling. He then fire two more rounds straight ahead before he was chased out of the dance hall. Urzula Nonon, 16, was killed by one the shots. She was found lying in a pool of blood with a gunshot wound to the head after one of the bullets passed through a wall. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In its decision, the board noted that Jenks had invested in his rehabilitation before the SJC decision came down last year. While incarcerated, Jenks earned a bachelors degree from Boston University. Jenks has gained employment skills and developed insight into the factors that led to the shooting, the board wrote. Jenks is already in minimum security and has had excellent conduct while detained, the board added. He has developed a re-entry plan with a licensed clinical social worker who testified at his hearing. Jenks has a support system to assist his transition. The board ultimately voted four to three to grant his parole. Jenks must serve six months in lower security in New Hampshire due to an interstate compact. Jenks must also submit a home plan for approval before being released to New Hampshire and undergo testing for drugs and liquor. He is barred from having contact with the victims family. More on the Massachusetts Parole Board Read the original article on MassLive. A man has pleaded guilty to stabbing his partner to death in what police believe was an act of domestic violence. On Tuesday, Victor Agudelo-Monsalve accepted a plea deal to the lesser charge of second-degree murder. PREVIOUS COVERAGE: 1 in custody after woman fatally stabbed in domestic violence case, CMPD says Prosecutors said Agudelo-Monsalve fatally stabbed 19-year-old Yamile Alejandra Giraldo Gomez in southwest Charlotte in December 2023. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The incident occurred months after Gomez moved to the United States. Agudelo-Monsalve was sentenced to 25 years in prison. VIDEO: 1 in custody after woman fatally stabbed in domestic violence case, CMPD says Ian Cleary pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a fellow college student in Pennsylvania in 2013 after cruelly taunting her with a Facebook message declaring, So I raped you, authorities say. Cleary, 32, finally faced the music after being extradited from France more than a decade after Shannon Keeler accused him of sneaking into her first-year dorm at Gettysburg College and attacking her. Its taken a lot of twists and turns to get to this point, said Keeler, 30, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. It took a lot of people doing the right thing to get us here. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement After the crime occurred, former prosecutors reportedly declined to pursue the case. But Keeler renewed her pursuit for justice in 2021 after receiving the disturbing message from the monster on Facebook. The Post-Gazette reports that the perv also promised his victim, Ill never do it to anyone ever again. Cleary was finally indicted after the Associated Press published its investigation into the case and the outlet reports that authorities spent three years hunting him down. U.S. Marshals ultimately discovered that the fugitive was in custody in Metz, France, on minor unrelated charges. Cleary pleaded guilty to second-degree sexual assault, a charge that could see him slapped with up to eight years in prison when hes sentenced in October. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I hope that we as a society, the institutions around us, can make truly successful legal outcomes more viable for victims, Keeler said in court, per the Post-Gazette. It starts with listening to victims and making sure their voices are heard even if the systems slow to catch up. Aug. 7A 49-year-old man was sentenced to at least 23 years in prison for repeatedly raping and molesting a girl over a 10-year period starting when she was 6, according to court documents and the Spokane County Prosecutor's Office. A jury convicted Caleb R. McKee on all eight charges four counts of child rape, two counts of child molestation and one count each of bribing a witness and tampering with a witness after a nearly three-week trial that started in mid-May, the prosecutor's office said in a news release. The bribery and tampering charges stemmed from McKee's attempts to influence the victim against testifying. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On July 31, Spokane County Superior Court Judge Tony Hazel sentenced McKee to 23 years to life in prison. The Spokane County Sheriff's Office started investigating McKee in 2019 after the girl reported the abuse to her high school counselor, prosecutors said. LIMESTONE COUNTY, Ala. (WHNT) A Morgan County man, who was sentenced to 30 years in prison for the drunk driving death of a Harvest teen, is asking for a new trial. Reaford Williams car hit and killed 19-year-old Troy Rashawn Howard in 2019. Download the WHNT News 19 App to stay updated on the go. Sign up for WHNT News 19 newsletters to have news sent to your inbox. Williams received his sentence in May, but he was back in a Limestone County courtroom Thursday, with his attorneys arguing he did not receive a fair trial. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The jury was allowed to hear information about Williams past that made it difficult for them to find him not guilty. Williams kept his head down as his attorneys argued that the prosecutors closing statements were particularly prejudicial during his trial. The state responded by saying there is precedent in Alabama for the way they put together their case against Williams, and his legal team did not ask for certain evidence to be stricken from the record while the trial was underway. Troy Howards family has been a constant presence in the courtroom throughout the case, and they were present on Thursday. During the crash in March 2019, police said Williams was driving on the wrong side of the road on I-565 when he hit Howards car head-on near County Line Road. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Limestone County Circuit Court Judge Chad Wise will decide if Williams will be granted a new trial. 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 WHNT.com. MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. (DC News Now) A man was sentenced to prison for robbery and kidnapping on Wednesday. A Montgomery County Circuit Court judge sentenced 42-year-old Luis Davila-Marerro to 35 years in prison. He was found guilty of two counts of kidnapping, one count of carjacking, and one count of robbery. Davila-Marerro was convicted of the charges on Feb. 19. Suspect arrested in robbery of a 63-year-old woman in Montgomery County Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The 35-year sentence stems from an incident that happened on July 6, 2024. At around 9 p.m., a woman who was working for a taxi service dedicated to Spanish-speaking customers got a call from Davila-Marerro, whom she had driven for several times already. Instead of contacting the business, Davila-Marerro reached out to her directly and told her that he needed a ride. The woman picked him up along the 18000 Block of Contour Road in Montgomery Village. She also had her 12-year-old son in the car. Davila-Marerro began instructing the woman on where to drive. They drove several hours into Howard County and then back to Montgomery Village while he threatened her and her son. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He demanded cash and had both the womans and her sons cell phones. Montgomery County police rescue boy with autism from pond The woman only had a few dollars in cash. Davila-Marerro accessed her bank app on her phone and transferred $480 to himself. Officials said he started talking on the phone to someone, asking what he should do with the woman and her son, causing the pair to fear for their lives. Davila-Marerro got out of the womans car at 1 a.m. in Montgomery Village. 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 DC News Now | DC, Virginia, Maryland News, Weather, Traffic, Sports Live. A man was left seriously injured by a machete-wielding gang after a car crash in West Yorkshire. Officers received reports of a collision between two cars in the Crofton area of Wakefield at about 13:40 BST on Friday, which was then followed by a man being assaulted by a "number of people" armed with the large knives. The man was taken to hospital after the attack on High Street, West Yorkshire Police said, with his injuries described as serious but not life-threatening. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The force appealed for anyone with information to come forward. A car was left at the scene, police said, with a further vehicle found abandoned in Sharlston Common. Det Insp Fiona Allan said: "I would like to reassure the public that we are dedicating significant resources to investigating this incident to ensure that those involved are identified and arrested. "We will also have an increased neighbourhood policing presence in the area to provide further reassurance to residents." Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North. Related internet links After the shots rang out, news of the dead bear spread quickly among the neighbors. For the past few years, residents of Willow Bend in Fort Walton Beach say theyve come to know the Florida black bears that often roam the neighborhood. Theres Burt, a hefty 500-pound male who is a regular on Ring cameras. And theres Big Mama, often spotted running around with her cubs, Larry, Moe and Curly. So when a state wildlife vehicle arrived in front of a home the night of June 24, after neighbors heard gunshots, their worries grew. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I was concerned, said Tosha Vanderford, 49, who posts videos on social media of bears visiting her yard. When her husband later saw a dead bear in the yard a few houses down, she said she was completely devastated. Wanting to know more, she requested the incident report from wildlife investigators. That document, reviewed by the Tampa Bay Times, details how Vanderfords neighbor, 24-year-oldJohn Robinson,said he felt extremely threatened after a bear entered his backyard. Two months earlier, a bear had eaten six of his chickens. A state bear biologist who responded at the timetaught Robinson to scare off future bears by waving his arms and yelling, according to an incident report. On June 24, Robinson watched from inside his home as a bear walked along a back wall, the report states. The bear did not seem right, records show he told an investigating wildlife official. It was not afraid of me and was walking around during the daylight. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He grabbed a pistol, he said, to protect himself and his wife. From behind a cracked door, he yelled at the bear to go away. Robinson said it knocked over his griddle and walked toward him. The bear, a male, weighed roughly 180 pounds and was estimated to be between 2 and 4 years old, according to wildlife officials. I felt extremely threatened and thought the bear was going to come through the door, records show he told an investigating wildlife officer. So I then began shooting the bear. Robinson shot it 12 times, records show. He stopped firing when the bear turned away from him, and he watched as it walked a few dozen feet before dropping to the ground. Robinson has not responded to multiple voicemail messages requesting comment. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In the 17-page incident report, a wildlife investigator recommended Robinson be charged with a second-degree misdemeanor for violating state bear conservation laws. But citing a Florida law signed by Gov Ron. DeSantis last year, the state attorneys office in the Panhandle told the Times that Robinson wont face charges. The law, which the Legislature approved despite concerns from environmental groups, allows people to shoot and kill bears in self-defense if they reasonably believed it was necessary to avoid death or serious injury. The state attorneys office in the 1st Judicial Circuit declined to file any charges because of the law, Ashley Herndon, a deputy chief assistant state attorney, confirmed in an email. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The incident in Okaloosa County is one of the first known cases statewide where the new self-defense law has been applied. Jaclyn Lopez, director of the Jacobs Public Interest Law Clinic for Democracy and the Environment at Stetsons College of Law, reviewed the incident documents and said under the Florida law, the shooting seems justified. Very sad to see a dead bear though, Lopez wrote in an email. Our wildlife simply has nowhere else to go. Were destroying their remaining refuges and creating conflict, resulting in death. Since the law went into effect in July 2024, there have been about eight incidents involving the shooting of a bear that have been investigated in Florida, according to Shannon Knowles, a spokesperson for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. The agency hasnt said how many of those incidents didnt result in charges,but a Marion County man also wasnt charged after shooting and killing a bear in July 2024. When investigating a bear shooting, the agency collects evidence, documents the scene and interviews witnesses. It then hands over its findings to state attorneys, who are tasked with filing charges, Knowles said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Rep. Jason Shoaf, a Republican from Port St. Joe who sponsored the bear self-defense bill last year, wrote in a statement that his bill was designed to enable Floridians to defend themselves in the event of a bear attack without fear of persecution from an unelected government agency, referring to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Without commenting on the specifics of Robinsons case, Shoaf said he trusted law enforcement and prosecutors to weigh the facts and uphold the law. You have the right to stand your ground and protect yourself, others and your property, Shoaf said. I dont care if its a threat from a burglar, a rapist or a wild animal. As Shoafs bill was moving through the Legislature last year, records show the governors office received a swarm of public opposition to the proposal, with more than 25,000 emails, letters, petition signatures and phone calls against the measure. In contrast, just 22 people contacted the office with their support. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Fort Walton Beach incident occurred as Floridas top wildlife officials consider the first regulated black bear hunt since 2015. In May, a board of wildlife commissioners, appointed by DeSantis, greenlit a set of rules that would lay the groundwork for a hunt. The board will vote on a final approval Wednesday at its quarterly meeting. Still, the bear shooting has enraged residents who say they have coexisted with the bear population for several years. They said they are worried the lack of charges might encourage more people to shoot bears in the area. I just dont understand how they felt its not necessary to at least give him a fine or something of that nature, said Franki Holloway, who moved to the neighborhood seven years ago. Holloway said shes been in contact with state wildlife biologists who said they are going to increase bear awareness around the neighborhood. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I just dont want people seeing this story and saying, Well, a bear got in my trash can, and that guy was allowed to shoot him, so Im going to shoot him. The Tampa Bay Times launched the Environment Hub in 2025 to focus on some of Floridas most urgent and enduring challenges. You can contribute through our journalism fund by clicking here. A man was shot and killed by police after a standoff in Mercer County. According to a report shared by Pennsylvania State Police on Friday, officers went to a hotel on the 3300 block of New Castle Road in West Middlesex Township on Thursday to serve an arrest warrant. The suspect, Tyrell Askerneese, 46, of Farrell, had a weapon and resisted officers, police said. Mercer County CIRT was called to the scene. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Police shot and killed Askerneese, who they said refused to surrender peacefully and presented a threat to officers. Pennsylvania State Police are investigating. Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) A 23-year-old man was shot on a trail Wednesday in Miramar. The incident occurred around 9:50 p.m. in the area of 10000 Maya Linda Road, the San Diego Police Department said in a news release Thursday. Authorities say the 23-year-old man suffered a grazing gunshot to his lower torso from a 47-year-old man. 13 arrested in human trafficking sting operation during San Diego Comic-Con weekend Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement After the shooting, the 23-year-old man bit the tip of the suspects middle finger off in self-defense during a physical struggle, per SDPD. Both men were taken to the hospital for treatment. The 47-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon. Police recovered the firearm used in the shooting. Anyone with information about the incident is encouraged to call the listed command handling the investigation or Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477. 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. A 35-year-old man who told his ex-girlfriend that he was sleeping among her bins to "feel close to her" has been fined 250. Suraj Acharya, from Artana Street, Belfast, was also ordered to pay the woman 750 compensation after repeated cases of watching and following her movements. Belfast Magistrates' Court heard he sent the victim messages stating he was "addicted" and "obsessed". Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Acharya pleaded guilty to stalking the woman between November 2024 and January this year. 'Obsessed' Prosecutors said the unwanted contact involved texting to disclose he had watched her from a distance while she was at work in Belfast. As the behaviour escalated, he showed up at a bar where the woman was on a night out with colleagues and began drinking with the group. She felt so uncomfortable and upset that she left the venue early to get a taxi home. But Acharya got into another cab and followed the victim back to the house, where he was warned that police would be called if he did not leave. During a further incident in December, he boarded the same bus as the woman, got off one stop after her and hung around outside her home for most of the night. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "He sent the injured party a WhatsApp message stating that he had been sleeping between her bins just to feel close to her," a crown lawyer said. "He also sent her messages that he was addicted to her and obsessed with her." In January, a further encounter took place at a Belfast shopping centre. Days later, she was at her gym when Acharya showed up again, informing her he had also taken out a membership. "This left her feeling very unnerved and that she had no choice but to leave that gym," the prosecutor added. Acharya's lawyer Jonathan Browne said his client's actions were "alarming" but "it did not spill into any form of adverse physical contact". A restraining order was also put in place, banning Acharya from contacting the victim or going within 200m of her home. Residents near Canada's Deer Lake Power plant have had to deal with years of basement and backyard flooding. In 2014, frustrated homeowner Richard Dewey decided he'd had enough and took action, as detailed by The Telegram. He told CBC radio that digging trenches failed to eliminate the "brook" in his basement. What Dewey uncovered would spark a legal battle he never expected. His search for answers confirmed his fears about water leaking from the Humber Canal. It exposed decades of neglect tied to Corner Brook Pulp and Paper, The Telegram reported. The CBC noted that the canal pulls water from Grand Lake to power the mill and provide electricity for its factory. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In 2019, he discovered rusting barrels at the canal's bottom, per CBC News. The debris may date back to the 1950s, according to the outlet. After pleading for inspections via email, the company conducted a cleanup. However, Dewey expressed distrust toward the tests, which claimed the barrels caused no harm. Other families joined Dewey in suing Kruger Inc., the town, and the province back in 2015. Kruger owns the paper factory and the power plant. The provincial Supreme Court stopped the case twice, as noted by The Telegram. In 2025, the local Court of Appeals finally certified their class action, giving residents hope. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "It is a classic story, and it's coming to light because of the dogged determination and the get-up-and-go of Richard Dewey," his lawyer, Bob Buckingham, told The Telegram. The local Department of Government Modernization and Service Delivery issued a statement that a probe was underway. This investigation could pave the way for actions toward environmental cleanup and safer drinking water for the community. Dewey vowed to fix the "canal nightmare," honoring a promise to his late mother, Linda. According to The Telegram, she died of cancer in 2014. In his CBC News interview, Dewey said that creosote, a toxic, tar-like timber preservative, coated the canal's penstocks or wooden pipes. He believed the same water seepage damaging neighbors' homes could be linked to their illnesses, including cancer. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A court win would bring peace of mind to many elderly residents who have lived with flooding for years. The support from Dewey's neighbors and their reactions highlight why taking action as a community is worth it. With the right resources, even long fights can bring change. As Dewey said, per The Telegram, "There still may be a long legal road ahead, but we are in this until the end." 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. NEED TO KNOW After Steve Callahan's boat was hit during the middle of the night, he had to flee his sinking ship for his life raft For 76 days, he survived on next-to-nothing, losing about 1/3 of his body weight He spent his time on the water living "like an aquatic caveman For 76 days, Steve Callahan was stranded alone on a six-foot inflatable life raft in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean with little food or water, and nobody was aware that he was even adrift. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It was a view of heaven from a seat in hell, he tells PEOPLE four decades after his rescue. On Jan. 29, 1982, Callahan, an experienced sailor, set out to travel 3,000 nautical miles from the Canary Islands to Antigua on his self-designed sloop, Napoleon Solo, a 21-foot boat. About a week into the trip, which had been picturesque up to that point, the 29-year-old Callahan experienced rough seas. In the middle of the evening, something hard, likely a whale, smashed into his boat, leaving it badly damaged and water coming in like fire hoses. With little time before the boat would certainly sink, Callahan, wearing only a t-shirt, grabbed some essentials and bailed out into his life raft. I spent the next two and a half months learning to live like an aquatic caveman, Callahan, 73, says. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Aboard his life raft, Callahan was armed with nothing more than nuts, raisins, eggs, baked beans, cabbage, a can of meat and eight ounces of water. He then experienced what he calls recoil, a state of being that comes after surviving the initial threat. Its really difficult to get through. For me, that lasted about two weeks. Well, basically your whole life has been flushed down the toilet, and it's like, 'Well, now how do I survive?' he says. "In my case, which is quite common, you're reflecting on your life and really beating myself up for all my failures and shortcomings and all those kinds of things. And it's tough to wade your way through that to re-normalizing life, clinging to whatever you can. "76 Days Adrift" Documentary Steve Callahan shows his sextent on "76 Days Adrift." Steve Callahan shows his sextent on "76 Days Adrift." While aware of the dangers of running out of food and water, he began thinking of his situation as a continuation of the voyage. Callahan kept a daily log and began trying to figure out where he was by using the North Star, the horizon and a sextant he built with pencils, one of the few things that came equipped with the raft. Still, he felt he would die in the middle of the ocean and even wrote his epitaph on paper scraps. I would do things like navigate, exercise, everything I could to maintain routines, and the things that I couldn't maintain, because they'd all gone away, you kind of make up new ones, new strategies and take things one step at a time, he says. It was like, okay, prioritize the biggest problem, the most critical problem, work on that and take small, achievable steps to the eventual goal, and eventually they stack up. Never miss a story sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. He even tried to get the attention of multiple passing ships with flares, but failed. Callahan was also losing weight at a rapid pace, and his naked body was being covered with salt sores from the unrelenting ocean. On the 43rd day of being adrift, he poked a hole in the bottom of the raft, which took him 10 days to repair. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement That was definitely the low point for me. That took me right to the edge of where I really just didn't think I could do it anymore, he says. As time went on, Callahan learned how to make fresh water using solar still prototypes, devices used in WWII for distilling water using solar heat (they came with the raft). As an ecosystem of barnacles and mahi-mahi developed around him, he learned to fish with a spear hed grabbed during the frantic exit from his sloop. I had a number of encounters with sharks, some of them pretty scary, but I wasn't plagued with them all day long, 24/7 as some survivors have been, he says. It really was an existence like a cave person, but at sea. I had my little rubber cave, my rubber ducky, my raft, and it took me a long time to learn how to fish properly [Mahi mahi] provided me with food, kept me alive. They became a sort of spiritual center for me. At the same time, they became friends to a large degree. I knew a number of them individually by the end of the voyage. He adds, I became kind of a fish farmer. They are, to me, emblematic of the magic and the mystery of the ocean and the wilderness environments and our connection to it all. "76 Days Adrift" Documentary A still from "76 Days Adrift" shows a life raft in the middle of the ocean. A still from "76 Days Adrift" shows a life raft in the middle of the ocean. Callahan knew the end of his journey was coming after noticing changes in his environment: He saw an airplane flying overhead, meaning land was likely near; the bird life was changing; he also saw the illumination from a lighthouse on the 75th night. What he didnt know was that it was a lighthouse on the Caribbean island of Marie Galante, about 100 miles south of his initial sailing destination, Antigua. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As daylight began brightening the sky on the morning of April 20, 1982, and after hed drifted about 1,800 miles, birds surrounded the life raft, looking to dine on the fish that had been following Callahan. Two fishermen offshore of Marie Galante noticed the flock and floated over the area, hoping the birds would lead them to schools of fish. Instead, they found Callahan, who quickly donned his lone t-shirt and made a makeshift diaper with a triangular bandage to cover his nether regions. He weighed about 100 pounds, having lost one-third of his body weight from the time he set out to sea. They weren't sure what to make of me, he says of the rescuers, one of whom spoke English. In the end, the fish brought my salvation because they were a key part of this ecosystem that drew the fishermen to me. So, it really is a fish tale. Steve Callahan Steve Callahan on his boat in 1983. Steve Callahan on his boat in 1983. Following the rescue, Callahan was taken to a hospital. I remember the nurse taking the T-shirt and picking it up with two little fingers, holding it away from herself. I mean, I couldn't smell anything, but I'm sure I stunk like old, rotten fish and all kinds of stuff. I never saw that t-shirt again, he says. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The life raft that became the distressed sailors solace is now in the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Mass. Callahan, who resides in Maine with his wife, Kathy, recounted his story in his 1986 memoir, Adrift: Seventy-six Days Lost at Sea. Director Ang Lee also consulted Callahan on his water-based 2012 Oscar-winning film, Life of Pi. Kristina Bumphrey/Variety via Getty Ang Lee at "The Good House" premiere on Sept. 28, 2022. He said that I want to make the ocean into a character, Callahan recalls of the famed filmmaker. Usually, Oceanic films use the ocean as a set, and often, they are lifeless. They look like a stage covered with water and just don't have any life. And so he offered me the opportunity to try to bring the oceanic wilderness alive and all of its moods and its joys and its beauty and horrors and to help use the oceanic set to tell the story in a reflective way. Lee is also the executive producer of 76 Days, a documentary based on Callahans book. The documentary, released in 2024, is currently in select theaters. Read the original article on People BOWIE COUNTY, Texas (KTAL/KMSS) The Bowie County Sheriffs Office arrested a Texarkana man after barricading himself inside a home amid claims of elder abuse. On Thursday, August 7, 2025, the Bowie County Sheriffs Office was called to 9200 Danube Ave. for an alleged assault. When deputies arrived, they found the suspect, Michael Casey Dodson, 50, whom they had encountered for calls before, outside of his home. Deputies said Dodson fled from deputies, entered the house, barricaded himself on the second floor of the home, and refused to cooperate with law enforcement. The victims of the alleged assault were Dodsons parents. Fearing Dodson was armed, negotiators were brought in from the sheriffs office, the Texarkana Texas Police Department, and the Texas Department of Safety, but were unsuccessful. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Early morning homicide investigation underway in Texarkana TTPD Special Weapons and Tactics team responded and fired a chemical agent into the barricaded area of the home to force Dodson out. He then fled to the attic to escape the chemicals, but eventually fell through the ceiling. Dodson was arrested and booked into the Bowie County Jail for two counts of injury to an elderly individual/family violence, and interfering with an emergency call. No bond was set when police announced Dodsons arrest. The Bowie County Sheriffs Office commended the assistance they received from other law enforcement agencies to resolve the matter safely. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. A man suspected in a shooting at a Montana bar that left four people dead was captured Friday just a few miles from where the shooting happened after hundreds of law enforcement officers spent the past week scouring nearby mountainsides, authorities said. Michael Paul Brown, 45, was taken into custody around 2 p.m. near the area where authorities had focused their search in the days following the Aug. 1 shooting at The Owl Bar in Anaconda, about 100 miles (190 kilometers) from Missoula. Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen said during a news conference that about 130 law enforcement officers made a hard push Thursday after getting tips that helped verify they were looking in the right area. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Its not someplace hed been hiding. He was flushed out, Knudsen said. Gov. Greg Gianforte first confirmed Browns capture on social media Friday afternoon, saying it was the result of what he called a Herculean effort from law enforcement officers across the state. The community finally would be able to sleep tonight, Anaconda-Deer Valley County Attorney Morgan Smith said, adding that the case is just the beginning for prosecutors who will be seeking to charge Brown with the killings. It was not immediately clear if Brown had legal representation. Email and phone messages were left Friday with the Montana public defenders office. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement State authorities have not said what sparked last weeks shooting, which left a female bartender and three male patrons dead. The victims were identified as Nancy Lauretta Kelley, 64; Daniel Edwin Baillie, 59; David Allen Leach, 70; and Tony Wayne Palm, 74. Browns niece, Clare Boyle, said Kelley worked previously as an oncology nurse and was a close family friend who helped Browns mother when she was sick. Bar owners from around the state have pledged to donate a portion of sales to a fund for each of the victims families. The shooting rattled the tight-knit town of about 9,000 people and prompted the closure of a 22-square-mile (57-square-kilometer) stretch of forest as authorities searched for Brown. He had fled from the shooting in a white pickup that he later ditched. Authorities say he later stole another white vehicle stocked with clothes, shoes and camping gear. Earlier in the week, Knudsen had said it didnt appear that Brown had broken into any homes in the area for food or additional supplies. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Lee Johnson, administrator of the Montana Division of Criminal Investigation, said search teams found Brown at a structure near The Ranch Bar and that he looked to be in pretty good shape, physically. He was communicative and able to identify himself, Johnson said. Brown was taken to a hospital for treatment and was medically cleared earlier Friday. Eric Hempstead, who owns The Ranch Bar, about 5 miles (8 kilometers) west of The Owl Bar, described an intense law enforcement presence in the densely wooded area over the last couple of days that involved search dogs and drones. The guy was never going to make it out in the open, he said, noting that he and his neighbors were armed and ready to protect themselves. Brown, who lived next door to The Owl Bar in Anaconda, served in the Army as an armor crewman from 2001 to 2005 and deployed to Iraq from early 2004 until March 2005. He also was in the Montana National Guard from 2006 to 2009. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Boyle told The Associated Press that her uncle has struggled with mental illness for years, and she and other family members repeatedly sought help for him. Before Browns father died in 2015, Boyle said Brown was a good, loving uncle." Then, she and other family members noticed a slip in his mental state. Brown began experiencing delusions and often did not know who, when or where he was. He was an avid hunter and kept guns in his home. Family members had requested wellness checks when they believed he was becoming a danger to himself, she said. Boyle said Brown would tell authorities he was fine. The Anaconda-Deer Lodge County Law Enforcement Department did not respond this week to several email and phone messages requesting records of the wellness checks Boyle said they helped conduct on Brown in the years leading up to the shooting. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement At the news conference, Knudsen said officials had no comment on whether police had performed wellness checks. Montana is not among the states that have red flag laws allowing families to formally petition for guns to be removed from the homes of people who are deemed a danger to themselves or others. The state Legislature passed a bill this year banning local governments from enacting their own red flag gun laws. The governor signed it into law in May. ___ Associated Press journalist Thomas Peipert in Denver contributed to this report. Crossville Police learned this week a 58-year-old man suspected of stealing three surveillance cameras at a new construction site didnt take the property. He simply removed the cameras, the man told police, to his meeting with a woman for extramarital activities. CPD officers were called to a Ved St. address on Aug. 2 on a report of a man entering houses under construction in a new subdivision. He reported the man entered the property between 12:30-5:30 a.m. and that three video cameras valued at $100 each had been taken. A picture from the cameras showed the suspect had an identifying tattoo on his arm which led to police developing a suspect, according to Ptl. Haylee Hosmuns report. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The suspect was later located in the parking lot of a Crossville business and he told police he did not take the cameras, but simply removed then and hid them behind a house nearby. The man went on to tell police he removed the cameras because he was having an affair with a woman who lives in the city and he was afraid someone would catch them doing their deed. The cameras were located where the suspect said they were and no charges were filed. The man and woman, however, have been banned from the subdivision. BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First) A man Livingston Parish deputies were searching for was found and arrested in Texas. The Livingston Parish Sheriffs Office said Trevor Lockett, 25, was wanted in connection with a domestic violence investigation. He fled from deputies on Sunday and was last seen near Highway 444. Deputies, K9s and air support were a part of the search. Louisiana First News contacted LPSO for more information about the charges Lockett faces in the case. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Satsuma man convicted of video voyeurism sentenced to 15 years Latest 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 Louisiana First News. SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) A man wanted for a Rapid City shooting was arrested Friday morning by Sioux Falls Police. Almost 400,000 vehicle count for Sturgis Rally It happened near Bragstad Drive in eastern Sioux Falls when Kenneth Norman, 29, of Sioux Falls, broke into a home and stole a truck. A woman inside the home got in the truck attempting to stop Norman from taking it. Norman drove away with the woman inside. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Norman was apprehended near 14th Street and Minnesota Avenue after police assembled a perimeter when Norman ran on foot from the truck. The woman was found safe. A drone was used in the area during the search for Norman. He was wanted in Rapid City for shooting someone and a parole violation. Norman was arrested for robbery, grand theft and fleeing police. He was listed as being on parole for previous crimes. 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. In back-to-back rulings, the New Jersey Supreme Court narrowed the scope of the states rules for mandatory prison time for certain gun offenses. In two decisions a day apart, the Supreme Court said judges should have more power to review prosecutors choices when they refuse to offer lighter sentences. The court also clarified that a certain gun possession charge used for repeat offenders doesnt automatically mean the person has to follow the toughest parole rules. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The first case, involving Zaire J. Cromedy, the court ruled that a specific gun charge used against repeat offenders does not automatically trigger the Graves Act. The Graves Act is a New Jersey law that sets mandatory minimum prison sentences for certain gun-related crimes. Cromedy was arrested in 2021 with a handgun and had a prior conviction for reckless manslaughter. He pleaded guilty to a first-degree gun charge in Middlesex County and received a 10-year sentence with five years of parole ineligibility. The Supreme Court justices ruled that the charge against Cromedy is not explicitly listed in the Graves Act and should not carry automatic penalties. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In a second case, the high court said judges should have more authority to review prosecutors decisions when they deny requests for lighter sentences. The ruling came in the case of Delshon J. Taylor Jr., who was arrested in Penns Grove in 2017 after fleeing police and dropping a loaded handgun. Although Taylor had no adult criminal record, prosecutors refused to waive the Graves Acts mandatory minimum sentence. The Supreme Court held that judges should be allowed to override that decision if its unfair, rather than only in cases of abuse of discretion. Together, the rulings give judges more flexibility in sentencing decisions for gun crimes and make clear that only lawmakers, not prosecutors, can decide which crimes deserve mandatory prison time. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Taylors case will now return to the trial court, where a judge must reconsider the prosecutors denial of a Graves Act waiver using a less deferential standard, potentially allowing for a reduced sentence. Cromedy will also be resentenced, this time without the Graves Acts mandatory parole restrictions, after the court ruled that the charge he pleaded guilty to isnt covered by the laws automatic penalties. Deputy Public Defender Alison Perrone praised both decisions, saying they reinforce judicial oversight and protect against unchecked prosecutorial power in sentencing under the Graves Act. The Supreme Courts decision in State v. Taylor underscores the importance of judicial oversight to ensure that prosecutors exercise their extraordinary discretion over Graves Act waivers fairly and consistently with the Attorney General guidelines, Perrone said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Supreme Courts decision in State v. Cromedy helps preserve judicial discretion and safeguards against the overreach of mandatory minimum sentencing, she added. In Taylors case, the state was represented by the Salem County Prosecutors Office, which did not immediately return a request for comment. Cromedys case was handled by the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General, which declined to comment. Colleen Murphy may be reached at cmurphy@njadvancemedia.com. LOUISVILLE, Ky. (FOX 56) A manhunt is underway in Louisville after a reported home invasion led to a bank robbery Friday morning. According to WDRB, the FOX affiliate in Louisville, Louisville police were called around 9:30 a.m., where an injured woman was found at the PNC Bank at the 8000 block of Shelbyville Road near the Oxmoor Center. Louisville Metro Police Department spokesperson Dwight Mitchell said that a man broke into her home and drove her and two children to the bank. While inside, the man demanded cash while armed with a knife before fleeing from the bank. LATEST KENTUCKY NEWS: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Officials said the woman was assaulted during the robbery, but her wounds werent life-threatening, and the children were unharmed. On Facebook, LMPD released images around 11:40 a.m. of a man who was seen on surveillance footage wearing a white jacket pulled over his head. WDRB reported that a witness told law enforcement she saw a man matching the photos officers posted, who was identified as Armond Langford, 32. Police reportedly chased Langford, who allegedly hid in the brush under a westbound overpass before he was found and arrested. Read more of the latest Kentucky news Langford was lodged in the Louisville Metro Department of Corrections, where WDRB reported that he was held on a $1 million bond and charged with: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Kidnapping an adult Kidnapping a minor First-degree assault First-degree robbery Court documents show that Langford allegedly confessed to committing a prior crime in 2020 and two other 2018 crimes while being interviewed by investigators. He is due in court at 9 a.m. on Monday, Aug. 11. Corey Elam contributed to this story. 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. American citizens have been increasingly caught up in the immigration crackdown: a 4-year-old boy with cancer deported to Honduras, a doctoral student filming a raid in Hollywood detained for 25 hours, an Illinois man held for 10 hours in detention. Increasingly frustrated that the aggressive tactics are sweeping up American citizens, Democratic members of Congress have been pressing for a full accounting of the citizens detained. On Friday morning 49 Congress members, led by Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), and Reps. Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana) and Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.), sent letters to the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General Joseph V. Cuffari and two other immigration oversight offices asking them to open an investigation into encounters with American citizens and "determine whether DHS is violating Americans' civil rights." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "ICE policy makes clear that, by law 'ICE cannot assert its civil immigration enforcement authority to arrest and/or detain a U.S. citizen," the legislators wrote. "However, in recent high-profile cases, ICE has erroneously arrested U.S. citizens, at times appearing to use violent physical force." "ICE has even deported U.S. citizens: in multiple cases, ICE has deported U.S. citizen children along with their undocumented parents, reportedly against the families wishes. Particularly in Latino and Native American communities, Americans increasingly fear that their citizenship will not protect them from being swept up in DHSs immigration enforcement activities." For months Democratic members of Congress have been demanding the Trump administration answer pointed questions, to little avail. The letters were sent to Cuffari, Troup Hemenway, acting officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, and Joseph Guy, director for the Office of Immigration Detention Ombudsman. The latter two of those offices have been hollowed out under the Trump administration, which had attempted to abolish them completely. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "The administration owes the American people answers, particularly as Republicans in Congress just approved record funding for immigration enforcement, which threatens to put even more citizens at risk, said Warren. The Trump administration has adamantly defended its actions. "DHS enforcement operations are highly targeted and are not resulting in the arrest of U.S. citizens," said department spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin in response to The Times' inquiry about the number of Americans detained, arrested and deported under the administration. "We do our due diligence. We know who we are targeting ahead of time," she said. "If and when we do encounter individuals subject to arrest, our law enforcement are trained to ask a series of well-determined questions to determine status and removability. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In the case of Romero, the 4-year old with Stage-4 cancer, DHS said at the time that his mother had a final deportation order and said she chose to be deported with her children. Her lawyers contend the mother, who was arrested during a check-in with immigration officials in Louisiana, was never given a choice and was prohibited from talking to lawyers. They filed a lawsuit last month, along with another mother who also was deported with her 2-year-old citizen daughter. Jennifer Ibanez Whitlock, a policy expert at the National Immigration Law Center, said Immigration and Customs Enforcement used to publish data related to citizens booked-in and arrested, but that was mandated through appropriations and is no longer required. Currently available data show that in fiscal year 2025 there were no citizens deported and seven arrested. There were 3,700 parents of citizens removed and 6,341 arrested. The data are aggregated and do not show the location, reason for enforcement, outcome or length of detention as lawmakers are asking for. Whitlock suspects the data are an undercount based on the number of cases she has seen in the media. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The immigration crackdown is expected to expand considerably. Congress approved a $170-billion budget for border and immigration enforcement earlier this summer, giving the agency the largest boost in generations. President Trump wants 10,000 new U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and 3,000 new Border Patrol agents to be hired. Immigrant advocates fear with more capabilities, enforcement levels will explode and exacerbate encounters with citizens. Already they said, the White House has given agencies wider latitude than they had before. "We are seeing the agency unleashed like never before," said Jesse Franzblau, associate director of policy of National Immigrant Justice Center. "ICE is just picking up people, whoever is nearby and there is a lot of racial profiling happening." He points to Julio Noriega, a 54-year-old U.S. citizen who was among those picked up in sweeps in early January in Chicago and placed in handcuffs. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Noriega had been looking for work when agents picked him up and took him to an ICE processing center before looking inside his wallet, according to court documents. The Center and the ACLU of Illinois attorneys said he was detained for 10 hours and then released without his arrest ever being documented. Lawyers argued DHS violated a 2022 settlement requiring agents have probable cause to believe that a person is in the country illegally before arresting them and then reporting it. "We don't have any transparency about warrantless arrests, we don't have transparency about how many U.S. citizens are being swept up and being arrested, " he said. The data on citizen detained, he said, aren't always being captured. "We don't know how many U.S. citizens are being detained beyond the media accounts," he said. "It's incumbent on these agencies to produce this information. These are serious issues." The letter asks the oversight bodies to provide by Sept. 5 detailed information on stops, arrests, detentions and deportation of citizens including a breakdown by month, location, reason for enforcement action, outcome, and length of time in ICE custody. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It should send chills down everyones spine if just one U.S. citizen is detained without due process during an ICE raid," said Padilla. "This is not a question of rights of immigrants versus rights of Americans, its about ensuring that due process is afforded and protected for everyone, which the 5th Amendment guarantees." Debrorah Fleischaker, the former chief of staff at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said verifying somebody's citizenship can sometimes be complicated, but officials should be explaining how that works. "It's not necessarily automatically inappropriate to have arrested or held a U.S. citizen, but they certainly should not be deporting them," she said. "My guess is that they are encountering U.S citizens much more often than they have historically just because the scope of their interior enforcement activities are so much larger than they ever have been." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Eduardo Casas, an attorney for Job Garcia, the doctoral student who was detained after filming a raid at a Home Depot in Hollywood, said he has been asking immigration officials for information about citizens detained and arrested during the Los Angeles sweeps this summer, but has so far been rebuffed. "They are not being transparent," said Eduardo Casas, an attorney with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. "We know that citizens are being caught up in this broader enforcement paradigm that centers around mass deportation. The way they try to accomplish mass deportation is by pushing the boundaries of civil liberties in the same way that they've done for people like Job." Casas said he interviewed other citizens present during raids and a pattern emerged. People filming angered agents, who then arrested them and took them to detention centers. "They'll take people as far as detention centers, and then say that you may be charged, and then they let them go," he said. "It's also not always a very formal process." Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. The British government faces fresh criticism over allowing weapons to be exported from the UK to Israel as the countrys security cabinet approves plans to ramp up its offensive on Gaza. Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahus office says the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) will take full control of Gaza City while providing humanitarian aid to the civilian population outside the combat zones. The plan marks a new escalation in the nearly two-year offensive that has seen tens of thousands of Palestinians killed or displaced, as those who remain are pushed further into a worsening famine. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement British prime minister Sir Keir Starmer has criticised Israels decision to further escalate its offensive, adding: This action will do nothing to bring an end to this conflict or to help secure the release of the hostages. It will only bring more bloodshed. Sir Keir Starmer has urged Israel not to escalate the war in Gaza with a takeover of Gaza City (PA) Reacting to the plans, campaigners and opposition MPs have called on the government to order a complete suspension of UK arms to Israel, rather than the partial one that is currently in place. Lib Dem leader Ed Davey said: Rather than sitting on its hands and issuing strongly worded statements, the UK government needs to take decisive action. Keir Starmer needs to stop the export of all UK arms to Israel - today - and sanction Netanyahu and his cabinet." However, former national security adviser Lord Ricketts defended the governments approach, arguing that the current partial arms suspension in place means it has taken most of the available steps. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The real harsh truth is there is almost nothing the British government can do which is going to influence Netanyahu and his calculations about what to do in Gaza, he added. Heres everything you need to know about the UKs weapon exports to Israel: How many weapons does the UK export to Israel? The latest export licensing figures released in May show that the UK approved 127m of military equipment to Israel in single issue licences between October and December 2024. This was more than the total amount of exports from 2020 to 2023, which combined made up 114m, according to the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT). The exports also came in the three months after foreign secretary David Lammy announced a partial suspension of arms exports over concerns they could be used in violation of international humanitarian law. This suspended 30 licences out of around 350. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement From 2015 to 2024, the total value of the UKs military exports to Israel stands at 504m. However, CAAT points out that the UK government has stored roughly 15 per cent of export data in a confidential system since 2023. An Israeli Air Force F-35 Lightning II fighter aircraft, pictured in April 2023 (AFP via Getty Images) This comprised 1,325 standard licences with 150 including military radar equipment, 92 including targeting equipment components, and 55 including submarine components. The figure excludes the 71 open licences, which do not limit the quantity or value of exports. The CAAT says that UK sources also supply Israel up to 15 per cent of the value of their F-35 planes which are used in airstrikes. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement While direct exports of these F-35 components are included in the governments arms partial suspension, concerns remain that parts from the UK will later be sold to Israel despite allegations that the aircraft are being used to violate human rights in Gaza. Defending the exemption, Mr Lammy said: The global F-35 supply chain is vital for the security of the UK, our allies and Nato. The government was taken to court over the carve-out in May by human rights group Al-Haq, but the case was thrown out by the High Court in June. A government spokesperson said: As set out to parliament in September, we have suspended licences for items to the IDF that might be used in military operations in Gaza, based on our assessment that these could be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international humanitarian law. It is not currently possible to suspend licensing of F-35 components for use by Israel without prejudicing the entire global F-35 programme, which would have serious implications for international peace and security due to its crucial strategic role in the defence of Nato and other UK allies. The High Court has upheld this governments thorough and lawful decision-making on this matter. Former Greensboro City Attorney Chuck Watts used at least some city resources and systems to carry out work for an outside client, according to documents provided by the city. These documents include screenshots showing Watts conducting legal business on behalf of the defense contractor Cyberlux using his city email. In addition, two spreadsheets cataloging legal filings in April and May listed submissions for two cases involving Cyberlux that did not involve the city of Greensboro. Watts, who retired from the city on July 2, said in an email Thursday that the emails in question were sent in error and did not incur any cost for the city. As for the filings, Watts said that city finance liaison gave permission and that he paid the city back for any expenses. When asked about the documents, the city declined to comment specifically on them, other than to say they had completed our due diligence by conducting an internal review and submitting it to authorities. The statement went on to say the city respects(s) the DAs decision not to pursue further investigation into the matter. In a separate email, Mayor Nancy Vaughan said the citys review uncovered emails and financial transactions, most of which have been released and clearly show the outside relationship. These documents were among 374 emails the city disclosed in response to a News & Record public records request for any emails concerning Cyberlux that were sent between 2019 the year Watts became city attorney and July 7, the date of the request. Many of the messages supplied by the city were duplicates or copies of emails from media or residents asking for records or raising concerns about the Cyberlux work and other aspects of city government. Certain emails or attachments were redacted and 129 were withheld due to attorney-client privilege, something the Greensboro City Council would have the power to waive. However, the mayor said the issue was not the question of privilege between the board and their attorney, but a matter of the confidentiality between Watts and Cyberlux. Vaughan said releasing those emails concerning the outside business could expose the city to legal liability. Cyberlux and the city attorney The screenshots of Watts emails discussing Cyberlux were attached to a June 25 email from Jason Hicks, a local activist who has been critical of Watts work for Cyberlux, to City Manager Trey Davis. The images showed emails from April 1 and April 4 when Watts corresponded with a fellow attorney regarding payments from Cyberlux to another company. In both instances, Watts sent the messages using his city-assigned email. While the unredacted screenshots of those messages were provided along with Hicks email as a response to the records request, the emails from Watts themselves were not included separately in the records request. When asked about the emails, Watts wrote that they were inadvertently sent, occurred very infrequently, and did not result in any cost to the city. In the spring, Legal Services Manager Jennifer Smith-Sutphin sent emails containing receipts for purchase card orders and spreadsheets detailing legal filings in April and May. The spreadsheets attached to those emails listed filings in two lawsuits involving Cyberlux: Aerotek v. Datron World Communications Inc. and Cyberlux Corp. and The ARG Group v. Cyberlux Corp. These lawsuits involve claims of contractual breaches by Cyberlux and do not involve the city of Greensboro in any way, according to a review of the court documents in the cases. The records did not show any charges or payments associated with those filings. However, Watts said in an email that those filings were pre-approved by our departmental finance liaison with the understanding that I would personally reimburse the associated costswhich I did in full. Watts went on to say the activity shown in the documents did not conflict with his contract, which he said permitted limited outside professional activity. As amended in 2020, Watts contract specified that he was to dedicate substantially all of his professional energy to the city, revised from the previous version which required complete professional attention to Greensboro. Both contracts did include exclusive employment provisions. These few instances fall well within that scope and do not suggest that I failed to devote substantially all of my professional energy to the work of the city of Greensboro, Watts said. The News & Record emailed several city officials, including City Attorney Lora Cubbage and City Manager Trey Davis, presenting images of the documents and asking whether they felt city resources had been misused. In response, Eric Chilton, Greensboros strategic and crisis communications manager, provided a statement on behalf of the city that said city officials are unable to comment on specifics surrounding our former city attorney because of personnel laws. The statement continued: The city of Greensboro conducted an internal review and sent the findings to the Greensboro Police Department who forwarded it to the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI). In turn the findings of the SBI investigation were presented to the Guilford County District Attorneys office who deemed that no further actions were necessary. Since the legal process played out and we completed our due diligence we respect the DAs decision. Guilford County District Attorney Avery Crump decided against moving forward with the investigation on July 18. Crump said in a statement that the information presented to her did not warrant a request for a full investigation at this time because the information provided did not give rise to the belief that a crime was committed. However, while Crump added that while she saw no indication of criminal activity, the DA went on to say in her statement that this does not mean that she believes the matter was in all respects handled appropriately from an administrative viewpoint by the city. When asked what steps the city would take to avoid situations like this in the future, the city responded with a statement that began: Any responsible government body is constantly looking for ways to improve policies and procedures. The statement continued: This is, and always has been, an ongoing process to ensure that we are operating in a manner that allows the best governing structure for our city and its residents. We take that responsibility seriously and will continue that practice year in and out as we always have. Vaughan pointed to the updated language in the contract for new City Attorney Lora Cubbage that requires her to get prior approval before doing any outside work. Cubbage is currently allowed to continue in her adjunct teaching role at N.C. A&T State University. The News & Record texted and emailed Watts on Thursday morning asking for comment but had not heard back as of noon Thursday. Whose privilege is it? While the record request yielded a number of documents, it was also notable for the number of emails that were not released. In total, the city did not release 129 emails and redacting 19 others on the grounds of attorney client privilege. State law does exempt from public record written communications to public bodies covering discussions concerning claims by or against the local government, the conduct and resolution of legal cases and in other legal matters where the local government is a party or could be directly affected by legal action. However, the statute also allows the city council to allow the public to see documents that would otherwise be hidden. Rebecca Fisher-Gabbard, a professor at the UNC School of Governor, affirmed in an email that a majority of the council would have the ability to waive privilege but that there are reasons a governing board would choose not to make public communications with the board attorney, including, for example, the possibility of future litigation. Vaughan said the privilege covering some of the documents is not because of Watts work for the city, but because of Watts relationship with his outside client. Some documents are protected by attorney-client privilege and attorney work product, Vaughan said in an email. Although created on city equipment, the privilege belongs to the attorney and his external client. Releasing them would violate that confidentiality and could expose the city to legal liability. Mike Tadych, an attorney whose areas of specialty include public records law, said it may indeed be the case that at least some of Watts emails are not open for public scrutiny. To me, the conundrum here is that the records in questions are not likely public records as they were not made or received pursuant to law or ordinance in connection with the transaction of public business by any agency of North Carolina government or its subdivisions. Tadych said in an email. They were admittedly NOT for the city of Greensboro. However, Tadych did say there was a possibility that acts or omissions from Watts and Cyberlux may have brought the emails into the public realm. If (Watts and his client) were concerned about these privileges, what did they do to assert them to prevent the SBI and others from reviewing them? If nothing, then I think both privileges have been waived, he said. Mass Ave resident Jeff Stroebel knows in this day and age people are always on their phones. That's why The Mass Ave Cultural Arts District created Mass Ave Indy a free mobile app that shows a map and list of neighborhood restaurants, shops, art and events, providing a modern-day experience for people roaming the popular downtown hub. "People live on their phones, and if they come to Mass Ave and they are looking for somewhere to go, the first place they will go look is their phone," said Stroebel, a three-year board member on MACAD. "There are so many things we have done in the past to market businesses that maybe dont fit into the lifestyle people have now." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement So far, around 250 users have downloaded the app, Stroebel said, and the association believes they are the first cultural district to offer a mobile aid. Already, 110 businesses are listed on the app. Though there's smaller, unofficial apps that suggest tips for what to do around the Circle City, Mass Ave Indy offers an official community tool to navigate the area, find places to eat or visit local stores. Mass Ave officials hope it will also increase spending in the commercial district. Offering the app is a way to replace the physical maps that line the district's main street and ensure information directing people around is accurate. Stroebel lamented seeing visitors study physical signs along the street that were a few years old and did not accurately reflect the nearby establishments. "There are so many things we have done in the past to market businesses that maybe dont fit into the lifestyle people have now," he said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Mass Ave Indy app was born out of a desire to have a digital presence during Summerfest, the district's annual festival during the third weekend in July. The district started working on the project just two weeks before the 2025 Summerfest, hiring GrandStand, a company that creates event management apps, to bring the concept to life. After Summerfest ended, district leaders transitioned the app to an everyday use, the current versions users interact with today. In the future, the physical signs on Mass Ave will most likely be replaced with some sort of instructions directing people to their phone, whether that's a QR code that leads to the district's website or a way to download the app, Stroebel said. Users can find a directory and map on Mass Ave Indy, the new mobile app offered by the Mass Ave Cultural Arts District. It's believed to be the first neighborhood app in Indianapolis of its kind. The app is particularly helpful since the Mass Ave district is growing outside the main strip, said Meg Storrow, president of the Mass Ave Merchants Association. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "We have quite a few members that are adjacent to the avenue and the commercial district is expanding, so the benefit is more than just marketing," she said. "We used to print a map, and people loved it but as soon as you print it, its out of date." Public art: A 30-foot sculpture is planned for Broad Ripple. Some welcome it; others call it 'tall scary man' What features are available on Mass Ave Indy? The app offers a directory and interactive map with about 100 restaurants, stores, art installations and historical places. More will be added as new places open. Hightlighted in the app are establishments along the "Mass Ave Mile" from the 300 to 800 blocks of Massachusetts Avenue along with the surrounding areas, including Lockerbie Square and Chatham Arch. Users can also read about the area's history and see upcoming events. How to download Mass Ave Indy Mass Ave Indy is available for free download on mobile devices via the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Alysa Guffey writes business, health and development stories for IndyStar. Have a story tip? Contact her at amguffey@gannett.com or on X: @AlysaGuffeyNews. This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: New Mass Ave app lets people explore the neighborhood on their phone Margaret Cho ripped MAGA Superman Dean Cain for becoming ICE Barbies sidekick in a new recruitment video for the DHS, telling him pointedly, Youll never be white. Why would you join ICE and encourage people to join ICE when your ancestors were interned in World War II? Cho asked in a video posted to her Instagram account with the text Why would you join #ICE #dumb written across it. Youre Japanese, she continued, Youre not even white I know you, and you are not white. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Cain, who is half Japanese on his fathers side, was born Dean Tanaka, and has insisted he has no shame about his heritage. Tanaka is my given name, and its funny that people are like, Well, you tried to hide that. Its tattooed on my ankle, he told Variety last week. My family was interned in the Minidoka internment camp in Idaho. That was a horrible injustice, but I dont think that I deserve any sort of reparations, he added. UNITED STATES - NOVEMBER 17: LOIS & CLARK: THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN - Oct. 1995 Gallery - Dean Cain (Photo by ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images) / ABC Photo Archives / Disney General Entertainment Con The 1990s Lois & Clark star and ardent MAGA supporter posted a video to social media this week encouraging Americans to join ICE and help arrest hundreds of thousands of criminals, including terrorists, rapists, murderers, pedophiles, MS-13 gang members, drug traffickers, you name itvery dangerous people. Data from TRAC revealed that about seven of every 10 migrants detained by ICE, as of July 27, dont have a criminal record in the U.S., however. Still, Cain drew on his law enforcement background to help beef up recruitment numbers for the agency for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. For those who dont know, I am a sworn law enforcement officer, as well as being a filmmaker, and I felt it was important to join with our first responders to help secure the safety of all Americans, not just talk about it. Cain also revealed that he will be sworn in as an honorary ICE agent. Cho rose to fame as a standup comic and her subsequent casting in 1994s All American Girl, the first sitcom to center a Asian-American family. / Rebecca Sapp / Getty Images for The Recording A Cho, who is Korean-American, rose to fame from her stand-up and subsequent casting in 1994s All American Girl, the first network sitcom to center a Asian-American family. Her show premiered in 1994 and aired on ABC at the same time as Cains Lois & Clark. She returned to stand-up after her shows short-lived run. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement She called Cain a dumba-- for joining the efforts as she highlighted ICEs role in detaining and deporting mostly non-white people from the country under Trumps policies. Cain has been unapologetic about his support of the president, however, as a regular face on Fox News and booster of MAGAs anti-woke ideals. He spoke out against James Gunns new iteration of Superman before hed even see the film, blasting the director for calling the superhero an immigrant, since he believes the comment alienates supporters of Trumps mass deportations. Youre never gonna be white, no matter how many of these white activities that you participate in, Cho added in her video. No matter how racist you are... Always Wong, never white. For more, listen to Margaret Cho on The Last Laugh podcast. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene does not take kindly to being compared to a bunch of liberal progressives. Speaking with One America News on Thursday, Greene responded to criticism from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee by accusing them of breaking U.S. laws, underscoring that she was absolutely furious. AIPAC excoriated Greene in a fundraising email to its supporters earlier that day, blasting the Georgia congresswoman for describing Israels actions in Gaza as a genocide. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Im absolutely furious, and as a matter of fact, AIPAC needs to register as a foreign lobbyist because theyre breaking U.S. laws by donating to members of Congress and by taking them on a fully funded trip to Israel, Greene told OAN. Every single freshman member of Congress this year, they just took them over just recently and had them meet with the prime minister of Israel. House Democrats were the latest recipients of the AIPAC-funded trip, flocking to Israel on Wednesday, according to Punchbowl News. The trip is led by Maryland Representative Steny Hoyer and Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar of California. They did not confirm the details of the trip to CNN, including whether or not they expected to meet with Netanyahu. But lets frame that correctly, Greene continued. They take them over to meet with the secular government of nuclear-armed Israel. Israel who is less than $400 billion in debt. Israel who has taxpayer-funded health care and college. Israel is not hurting, and theyve already proven that they are more than capable of not only defending themselves but annihilating their enemies to the point of genocide, and thats whats happening in Gaza, she added, emphasizing that the reason why AIPAC is attacking me is because I dared to tell the truth. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advocates, academics, United Nations experts, and human rights groups in and out of Israel have said the state, founded in the wake of the Holocaust, is committing genocide against Palestinians. Last week, Greene joined their voices. Its the most truthful and easiest thing to say that Oct 7th in Israel was horrific and all hostages must be returned, but so is the genocide, humanitarian crisis, and starvation happening in Gaza, the far-right Georgia congresswoman wrote on X. A U.N.-backed international food security body reported last week that the worst-case famine scenario is currently occurring in Gaza, where Israeli forces have restricted local access to food, water, electricity, and medicine. The report fell short of labeling the situation a full-blown famine, though at least 197 starvation deaths have been reported thus far, local health authorities told Vatican News. Yet AIPAC derided Greenes comments as disgusting, and likened the MAGA lawmaker to Representatives Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar for critiquing Israel. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement If AIPAC wants to come after me and accuse me of betraying my American valuesAIPAC, you know what? You can bring it on. I am totally ready for this, and this is a fight that I will fight and I will give it my all, and I can guarantee you, youre gonna lose because America is fed up, Greene told OAN Thursday. Theyre fed up to here with funding foreign wars, funding foreign causes, funding foreign countries for foreign reasons that have nothing to do with Americans while Americans work their ass off every day and pay their taxes and come home and theyre living paycheck to paycheck and their credit cards are maxed out, she continued. I dont care anymore. I honestly dont care, so Ill burn this bridge to the ground and I will let the flames light the way cause this is a fight that needs to happen. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene shot back at Fox News after a host called her a lunatic. Mark Levin called Greene a lunatic on his eponymous show after the Georgia representative said Israels war in Gaza constituted a genocide. The Republican Party isnt going the way of Marjorie Taylor Greene or her ilk. No way! Levin said, calling her an absolute lunatic with an IQ of a snail. Greene responded to the remark in an appearance on Real Americas Voice News. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Fox News [had] better start paying attention, but their problem is, most of the people that watch Fox News are very much up in age, Greene said. The Baby Boomer generationwho I love, those are my parentsbut thats their biggest audience. Thats not the future of America. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said Fox News viewers do not represent the According to a 2023 report from the Los Angeles Times, the median age of viewers for Fox News was 68. Greene said Levin and the network are out of touch with the views of younger people who are opposed to foreign involvement in wars. Hes insulting big time people that are under the age of 40, Greene said. Those younger generations dont have a future in America because of Mark Levin and people like him and their policies that have destroyed our country for decades now. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Mark Levin is Israel first, not America first, she added. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is a strong ally of President Donald Trump, though she has broken with the president on issues such as the war in Gaza and the Epstein files. / MEGAN VARNER / REUTERS/Megan Varner Greene said further that Levin had insulted her constituents. Mark has never called me or talked to me in person, Greene said. When he goes on Fox News, the network where he hosts his show, and calls me crazy and refers to Marjorie Taylor Greene and her ilk, hes insulting my entire district. Greene doubled down on her remarks in an X post, saying that she will never apologize for putting America first. If that offends NeoCons like Mark Levin, too bad. When Mark Levin attacks me, hes really insulting my entire district and the millions of Americans who are done funding endless foreign wars. I was elected REPRESENTATIVE for Georgias 14th District, not foreign countries. Ill never apologize for putting America First. If that pic.twitter.com/codn8Bg5bY Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (@RepMTG) August 6, 2025 The spat comes as Greene has broken with President Donald Trump on issues like the hunger crisis in Gaza and the Epstein files. She also criticized Republicans treatment of women in an interview with the Daily Mail and said she no longer feels at home in the GOP. I dont know if the Republican Party is leaving me, or if Im kind of not relating to the Republican Party as much anymore, Greene told the Daily Mail. The course that its on, I dont want to have anything to do with it. The Brief Christopher Daniels was arrested in Alabama after allegedly shooting two MARTA police officers at the Five Points station in Atlanta. The officers, Rayven Thomas and Carlos Williams, were shot while attempting to arrest Daniels for urinating on the platform; Thomas was grazed in the knee, and Williams was shot in the arm and remains in ICU. Daniels reportedly fled the scene, discarded his weapon, and was tracked by the U.S. Marshal Service to Alabama, where he was apprehended. ATLANTA - The man accused of shooting two MARTA police officers overnight at the Five Points station was arrested in Alabama. What we know The Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force with the U.S. Marshal Service took 26-year-old Christopher Daniels into custody in Guntersville, Alabama after tracking his vehicle from Georgia. Guntersville is about 150 miles northwest of Atlanta. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Authorities say both officers were shot when they tried to stop a man peeing near a platform at the MARTA station. Christopher Daniels. Courtesy of MARTA The shooting happened around 11:30 p.m. Thursday at the station's Alabama Street exit. According to MARTA, the officers confronted the man and attempted to put handcuffs on him. He then reportedly fired several shots over his shoulder, hitting both officers. Officials say a female officer was grazed by a bullet in the knee and should be released soon to recover at home. A male officer was shot in the arm and is currently in the ICU. Authorities say the bullet may have shattered his bone, and he may need surgery. What they're saying MARTA Police Chief Scott Kreher said Daniels was confronted around 11:30 p.m. Thursday by Officers Rayven Thomas and Carlos Williams after he was allegedly seen urinating on the Five Points Station platform. Kreher said Daniels became agitated as the officers attempted to arrest him. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "As they got one of his arms in handcuffs, he used the other arm to shoot at the officers," Kreher said. "He fired a total of six shots. And both of the officers are extremely lucky to be alive today. That firearm was going off next to our officers head." Thomas suffered a shrapnel injury to her knee and temporary hearing loss from the close-range gunfire. She was released from Grady Memorial Hospital Friday morning. Williams, who was shot in the arm, remains hospitalized in intensive care and underwent surgery to repair a broken arm. Kreher told FOX 5's Marc Teichner that the gunman got on a train after the shooting and got off at the West End station. The gunman then reportedly tried to get rid of his weapon by throwing it on the station's roof. The weapon has since been recovered. "When you give them a bad guy to find they find him," Kreher said of the U.S. Marshal Service. "And its very rarely that they dont." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Kreher said Daniels is a local resident with a minor criminal history but had no previous contact with MARTA police. He added there is no clear reason why Daniels went to Alabama, other than to avoid arrest. Despite the shooting, Kreher emphasized that MARTA remains safe to ride, noting that both robberies and aggravated assaults are down this year. "We are currently in a mandatory overtime detail the whole month of August," Kreher said. "In the history of MARTA, the fall August, September-ish seems to be when we uptick the most in crime, so weve wanted to take a proactive approach to that and put a lot of resources out there." Two officers were shot at the Five Points MARTA station after authorities say they tried to stop a man peeing in the station's parking lot. (FOX 5) Dig deeper MARTA has also identified the officers as Rayven Thomas and Carlos Williams. Thomas suffered a shrapnel injury to her knee and temporary hearing loss due to the proximity of the gunfire. She is now recovering at home. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Williams, who was shot in the arm, is still in ICU at Grady Memorial. His family is with him, according to MARTA. Rayven Thomas and Carlos Williams. Courtesy of MARTA. What's next Daniels is being transported back to the Fulton County Jail. Local perspective Due to the police investigation, service to the Five Points station was temporarily shut down. The station has since reopened. What you can do If you have any information that could help with this investigation, call the Atlanta Police Department. The Source Information for this article came from interviews with Atlanta police officers at Grady Memorial Hospital and MARTA Chief of Police M. Scott Kreher as well as posts on X by MARTA. WARE With demolition equipment surrounding the former Mary Lane Hospital, locals have not given up on plans to bring back health care to the town. And they want to do it at the Mary Lane site where care had been delivered for a century. They even offered to buy the 21-acre, five-building property at 8589 South St. for $1, said Cynthia Allen Bourcier of Friends of the Mary Lane Hospital. The offer that was not accepted, she said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The community built that hospital and paid for that hospital, she said. Baystate never paid one penny for that hospital. Three weeks ago, after nearly a year wrangling over remediation and historic preservation, the town of Ware issued Baystate Healths demolition permit for the site. This week, Baystate announced that demolition would start Monday. Plans to call to remove all the buildings except for the oldest. The Wetherby Building, completed in 1923, was once the only building in the hospital complex. And last month, the Ware Select Board voted 3 to 1 to back Baystates plan that it control an estimated $17 million in trust funds, including about $7 million from the Lewis Gilbert Trust. And the board also supported Baystates plans to bring health care back to town, said Stuart B. Beckley, the Ware town manager. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The town has rezoned the property to encourage medical offices, health care and related housing development. Baystate, in a written statement this week, reiterated plans to create a primary care or convenient care practice located in Ware, not on the Baystate Mary Lane campus. But there is no location and no timeline. We will entertain all offers that represent fair market value for the property, Baystate said in a statement Friday. Allen Bourcier said the money should be in the hands of the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts for use in attracting a new health center one with more extensive services than the new health care facility should be in the Wetherby Building, which once was the only hospital building. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Beckley said the trust fund issue is now in the hands of trustee Bank of America and the state attorney generals office and will be headed to Probate Court. But there is no court date. Baystate Health announced in 2021 the phased closure of Mary Lane, a process it completed in 2023. Services for that region of eastern Hampden and western Worcester counties shifted to Baystate Wing in Palmer. Wing and Mary Lane were competitors until 2014 when Worcesters UMass Memorial Health Care transferred Wing to Baystate. Ware area residents mistrust of Baystate has only grown, Allen Bourcier said. For months residents have gone to select board meeting after select board meeting. Minutes reveal constant questions over activity at the site, the removal of windows, and the lack of a demolition permit. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement HKT Architects estimates that it would cost $9 million to $12 million to rehab buildings on the Mary Lane property, according to select board minutes. Baystates plan is to leave the Wetherby Building boarded up while it looks for a redevelopment plan. But Allen Bourcier questions why the building was left without windows, allowing weather damage all winter. In 2013, Baystate partnered with Westmass Area Development Corp. in an attempt to redevelop the property. But Westmass hasnt worked on the parcel in about a year and a half, said president and CEO Jeffrey Daley. And Baystate, in its press release this week, said efforts so far to find a use for the property have been unsuccessful. Stories by Jim Kinney Read the original article on MassLive. Former Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola holds a commanding lead in the 2026 election for governor of Alaska if she chooses to jump into the race, a new survey from progressive pollster Data for Progress (DFP) shows. Peltola, who was elected to Alaskas at-large U.S. House seat in a 2022 special election and then to a full term in the House before losing her seat in 2024, is widely viewed as the most formidable potential Democratic candidate for either governor or U.S. Senate in 2026. She was the first woman to represent Alaska in the U.S. House, the first Alaska Native person elected to Congress and could be the states first Alaska Native governor. I think thats a huge thing, not just for representation, but for policy and peoples lives, said Jason Katz-Brown, an Alaska-based senior adviser at DFP. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Peltola had the highest favorability ratings of major Alaska politicians in the survey, which was shared first with The 19th. She holds a net positive favorability of 9 points, and leads a crowded field of lesser-known and less popular Republican gubernatorial opponents by double-digit margins. Katz-Brown said Peltolas focus on issues like fisheries management and opposing the proposed merger of grocery chains Kroger and Albertsons has made her especially well-regarded among voters. Shes done a lot to deserve being so popular and being in such a strong position, he said. DFP conducts regular surveys of Alaska. In 2024, the organizations polling accurately captured the margin of President Donald Trumps victory in the state and the tight race for U.S. House that Peltola went on to narrowly lose to GOP Rep. Nick Begich. The most recent poll surveyed 678 likely voters from July 21 to July 27 with a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Alaska votes solidly Republican on the presidential level, but its politics have a unique independent streak: over half of registered voters arent affiliated with either major political party, and both chambers of the state legislature have a majority ruling coalition made up of both Democratic and Republican lawmakers. Incumbent Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy is term-limited, setting up an open governors race. And with Democrats out of power, all eyes are on Peltola, who joined the legal and public affairs firm Holland & Hart in March and has not yet publicly made moves toward entering either race. The policies that she spent her whole last two years running on, especially on fisheries policy, are really, really popular things in Alaska, and the policies of the Republican governor are extremely unpopular, Katz-Brown said. All thats combined, I think, really backs up the people in the state who really want to see a Peltola governorship. Several Republicans, including Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom and conservative activist and businessperson Bernadette Wilson, have declared or taken steps to launch campaigns while the Democratic side of the field remains open. Elections in Alaska are conducted with top-four nonpartisan primaries and ranked-choice general elections. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The survey included a ranked-choice general election simulation of Peltola and several other declared and potential candidates, and in every round, Peltola came out far ahead of the competition. In the first round, 40 percent of voters said they would rank Peltola first, 11 percent said they would rank Wilson, and 10 percent said they would rank Dahlstrom with other candidates in the single digits. When all other candidates were eliminated and their votes reallocated, Peltola would beat Dahlstrom by 30 points, 65 percent to 35 percent, in a head-to-head competition. This poll makes clear shes in an extremely strong position to run for governor, Katz-Brown said. Even in the most pessimistic of scenarios, where not sure votes are allocated to Dahlstrom or Republican voters rank four Republican candidates and their votes arent exhausted, Peltola comes out on top, he said. Peltola would benefit from Dahlstrom being largely unknown and unpopular in the survey, and a fractured Republican field, Katz-Brown said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I think it reflects that the Republican Party is literally years away from unifying around one candidate, and has a ton of work to do, he added. In the 2026 Senate race, 46 percent of voters said they would rank GOP Sen. Dan Sullivan first, and 45 percent said they would rank Peltola first. But Katz-Brown said defeating Sullivan, a second-term incumbent who won reelection by 13 points in 2020, would be a much tougher lift for Peltola than an open governors race. Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski didnt entirely rule out making a run for governor herself in recent comments to local media. But that potential bid could be threatened by her cratering favorability ratings. The DFP survey found Murkowskis net favorability has plummeted by over 20 points since the organizations last poll conducted in the spring, following her controversial vote for Republicans massive party-line tax cut and spending legislation, which Trump dubbed his One Big Beautiful Bill. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In DFPs last Alaska survey released in March, Murkowski had a slim net positive approval rating, with 49 percent of respondents holding a favorable view of her and 48 percent holding an unfavorable view. In the July survey, 37 percent of respondents held a favorable view of Murkowski, while 60 percent held an unfavorable view, putting her favorability rating at net negative 23 points. Murkowski cast a critical vote for the megabill, which passed 51-50 with Vice President JD Vance breaking a tie, following the addition of several provisions and carveouts beneficial to Alaska. After voting for the legislation, Murkowski stated that she hoped the House would make changes to the bill, calling it not good enough for the rest of our nation and not ready for the Presidents desk. But House Republicans made no such changes to the Senate-passed bill, sending the legislation to Trumps desk by the July 4 deadline he set for lawmakers. Murkowski later told the Anchorage Daily News that she felt cheated by Trump signing executive orders that undercut one of the concessions in the bill that she negotiated, a 12-month window preserving tax credits for wind and solar energy projects. Murkowski, who has served in the Senate since 2002, has historically drawn much of her support from Democratic and independent voters. Shes frequently broken with Trump and in 2022, she defeated a Trump-backed Republican challenger to win another six-year term. While her net negative favorability ratings among Republicans stayed consistent between the two most recent DFP surveys, her net favorability among Democrats fell by nearly 40 percentage points from 63 percent in the spring to 26 percent in July. Among independent and third-party voters, her net favorability fell from 12 points to 21 points underwater. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I think her run for governor could also be imperiled by having really no base of support anymore, Katz-Brown said. Peltola has ample time to make a decision about her political future before the June 2026 filing deadline for governor. On July 1, the day the Senate passed the megabill, Peltola spoke out against the legislation. We can not [sic] secure Alaskas future by increasing healthcare and energy costs for regular Alaskans, so millionaires, like many of my former colleagues in Congress, and their billionaire donors can get even richer, she wrote on social media. Yes, lets develop Alaskas resources, but for the benefit of all Alaskans, not just a few. The post Mary Peltola would be the strongest likely candidate for Alaska governor, poll shows appeared first on The 19th. News that represents you, in your inbox every weekday. Subscribe to our free, daily newsletter. U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola, D-Alaska, speaks on Jan. 4, 2024, at a town hall meeting on the possible Albertsons-Kroger grocery merger. The meeting was held at the Teamsters Local 959 headquarters in Anchorage. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon) This story was originally reported by Grace Panetta of The 19th. Meet Grace and read more of her reporting on gender, politics and policy. Former Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola holds a commanding lead in the 2026 election for governor of Alaska if she chooses to jump into the race, a new survey from progressive pollster Data for Progress (DFP) shows. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Peltola, who was elected to Alaskas at-large U.S. House seat in a 2022 special election and then to a full term in the House before losing her seat in 2024, is widely viewed as the most formidable potential Democratic candidate for either governor or U.S. Senate in 2026. She was the first woman to represent Alaska in the U.S. House, the first Alaska Native person elected to Congress and could be the states first Alaska Native governor. I think thats a huge thing, not just for representation, but for policy and peoples lives, said Jason Katz-Brown, an Alaska-based senior adviser at DFP. Peltola had the highest favorability ratings of major Alaska politicians in the survey, which was shared first with The 19th. She holds a net positive favorability of 9 points, and leads a crowded field of lesser-known and less popular Republican gubernatorial opponents by double-digit margins. Katz-Brown said Peltolas focus on issues like fisheries management and opposing the proposed merger of grocery chains Kroger and Albertsons has made her especially well-regarded among voters. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Shes done a lot to deserve being so popular and being in such a strong position, he said. DFP conducts regular surveys of Alaska. In 2024, the organizations polling accurately captured the margin of President Donald Trumps victory in the state and the tight race for U.S. House that Peltola went on to narrowly lose to GOP Rep. Nick Begich. The most recent poll surveyed 678 likely voters from July 21 to July 27 with a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points. Alaska votes solidly Republican on the presidential level, but its politics have a unique independent streak: over half of registered voters arent affiliated with either major political party, and both chambers of the state legislature have a majority ruling coalition made up of both Democratic and Republican lawmakers. Incumbent Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy is term-limited, setting up an open governors race. And with Democrats out of power, all eyes are on Peltola, who joined the legal and public affairs firm Holland & Hart in March and has not yet publicly made moves toward entering either race. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The policies that she spent her whole last two years running on, especially on fisheries policy, are really, really popular things in Alaska, and the policies of the Republican governor are extremely unpopular, Katz-Brown said. All thats combined, I think, really backs up the people in the state who really want to see a Peltola governorship. Several Republicans, including Lt. Gov. Nancy Dahlstrom and conservative activist and businessperson Bernadette Wilson, have declared or taken steps to launch campaigns while the Democratic side of the field remains open. Elections in Alaska are conducted with top-four nonpartisan primaries and ranked-choice general elections. The survey included a ranked-choice general election simulation of Peltola and several other declared and potential candidates, and in every round, Peltola came out far ahead of the competition. In the first round, 40 percent of voters said they would rank Peltola first, 11 percent said they would rank Wilson, and 10 percent said they would rank Dahlstrom with other candidates in the single digits. When all other candidates were eliminated and their votes reallocated, Peltola would beat Dahlstrom by 30 points, 65 percent to 35 percent, in a head-to-head competition. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This poll makes clear shes in an extremely strong position to run for governor, Katz-Brown said. Even in the most pessimistic of scenarios, where not sure votes are allocated to Dahlstrom or Republican voters rank four Republican candidates and their votes arent exhausted, Peltola comes out on top, he said. Peltola would benefit from Dahlstrom being largely unknown and unpopular in the survey, and a fractured Republican field, Katz-Brown said. I think it reflects that the Republican Party is literally years away from unifying around one candidate, and has a ton of work to do, he added. In the 2026 Senate race, 46 percent of voters said they would rank GOP Sen. Dan Sullivan first, and 45 percent said they would rank Peltola first. But Katz-Brown said defeating Sullivan, a second-term incumbent who won reelection by 13 points in 2020, would be a much tougher lift for Peltola than an open governors race. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski didnt entirely rule out making a run for governor herself in recent comments to local media. But that potential bid could be threatened by her cratering favorability ratings. The DFP survey found Murkowskis net favorability has plummeted by over 20 points since the organizations last poll conducted in the spring, following her controversial vote for Republicans massive party-line tax cut and spending legislation, which Trump dubbed his One Big Beautiful Bill. In DFPs last Alaska survey released in March, Murkowski had a slim net positive approval rating, with 49 percent of respondents holding a favorable view of her and 48 percent holding an unfavorable view. In the July survey, 37 percent of respondents held a favorable view of Murkowski, while 60 percent held an unfavorable view, putting her favorability rating at net negative 23 points. Murkowski cast a critical vote for the megabill, which passed 51-50 with Vice President JD Vance breaking a tie, following the addition of several provisions and carveouts beneficial to Alaska. After voting for the legislation, Murkowski stated that she hoped the House would make changes to the bill, calling it not good enough for the rest of our nation and not ready for the Presidents desk. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But House Republicans made no such changes to the Senate-passed bill, sending the legislation to Trumps desk by the July 4 deadline he set for lawmakers. Murkowski later told the Anchorage Daily News that she felt cheated by Trump signing executive orders that undercut one of the concessions in the bill that she negotiated, a 12-month window preserving tax credits for wind and solar energy projects. Murkowski, who has served in the Senate since 2002, has historically drawn much of her support from Democratic and independent voters. Shes frequently broken with Trump and in 2022, she defeated a Trump-backed Republican challenger to win another six-year term. While her net negative favorability ratings among Republicans stayed consistent between the two most recent DFP surveys, her net favorability among Democrats fell by nearly 40 percentage points from 63 percent in the spring to 26 percent in July. Among independent and third-party voters, her net favorability fell from 12 points to 21 points underwater. I think her run for governor could also be imperiled by having really no base of support anymore, Katz-Brown said. Peltola has ample time to make a decision about her political future before the June 2026 filing deadline for governor. On July 1, the day the Senate passed the megabill, Peltola spoke out against the legislation. We can not [sic] secure Alaskas future by increasing healthcare and energy costs for regular Alaskans, so millionaires, like many of my former colleagues in Congress, and their billionaire donors can get even richer, she wrote on social media. Yes, lets develop Alaskas resources, but for the benefit of all Alaskans, not just a few. A bicyclist was seriously injured Thursday after being involved in a crash with a dump truck in Orleans. Around 3:30 p.m., a male on a bicycle and a 2008 Isuzu Dump Truck collided at the intersection near Rock Harbor Road, the Orleans Police Department said in a press release on Facebook. The bicyclist was taken by helicopter to Brigham and Womens Hospital in Boston. Officials did not have any further information on his condition. The driver of the dump truck remained on the scene. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The investigation into the crash remains ongoing. Police are asking anyone with information to call 508-255-0117. More News Read the original article on MassLive. Mass. sheriff arrested on charges of extorting $50K from cannabis company, feds say A Massachusetts sheriff was arrested by the FBI in Florida on Friday morning on charges of extortion involving a Boston-based cannabis company, federal officials said. Suffolk County Sheriff Steven W. Tompkins, 67, is slated to face a judge in the Southern District of Florida after he was indicted by a federal grand jury on two counts of extortion under color of official right, according to the United States Attorneys Office of Massachusetts. United States Attorney Leah B. Foley alleged in court documents that Tompkins extorted an executive from an unnamed cannabis company in Boston by using his position of power to obtain a pre-IPO interest in the companys stock. Mr. Tompkins is a sitting Sheriff, responsible for over 1,000 employees, who was elected by the good people of Suffolk County. Today, he is alleged to have extorted an executive from a cannabis company, using his official position as Sheriff to benefit himself, Foley said in a statement. Elected officials, particularly those in law enforcement, are expected to be ethical, honest, and law-abiding, not self-serving. His alleged actions are an affront to the voters and taxpayers who elected him to his position, and the many dedicated and honest public servants at the Suffolk County Sheriffs Department. The people of Suffolk County deserve better. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ted E. Docks, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Boston Division, alleged that Tompkins extorted $50,000 from the owner of the cannabis retailer, who sought to open a dispensary in Boston in 2019. We believe what the Sheriff saw as an easy way to make a quick buck on the sly is clear-cut corruption under federal law, Docks said in a statement. Court documents indicate the cannabis company partnered with the Tompkins department to meet licensing requirements and that the partnership was part of the companys Positive Impact Plan for the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission. In 2020, Tompkins allegedly pressured a company executive for stock, leveraging his role in the companys licensing process. He then wired $50,000 from his retirement account to purchase 14,417 stock shares valued at $3.46 a share before the companys IPO launched, court documents showed. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement When the company launched its IPO, the stock value initially increased to $9.60 a share, but later decreased, leading Tompkins to demand a refund of his investment, federal prosecutors allege. The executive ultimately refunded the $50,000 in installments, allegedly disguising the payments as loan repayments. Memos on copies of checks shared by federal investigators read loan repayment and [company] expense to disguise the nature of some of the payments: Public corruption remains a top priority for my administration, and we will continue to investigate and prosecute anyone who uses their position of trust and power for their own gain, Foley added. Tompkins was first appointed sheriff in 2013 and has been elected to successive six-year terms. From 2020 to 2022, court documents showed he earned salaries of $152,437, $161,911, and $172,783. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The charges of extortion under color of official right each provide for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000. Tompkins will appear in federal court in Boston at a later date. Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW Assyrian Patriarch Sako Marks 11th Anniversary of ISIS Genocide of Assyrians and Yazidis Chaldean Patriarch Sako. On the 11th anniversary of the mass displacement of Christians from Mosul and the towns of Nineveh Plains in the wake of the invasion by the Islamic State (ISIS), Chaldean Patriarch Mar Louis Raphael Sako reflected on the 2014 tragedy, describing it as "a back-breaking event" for Iraq's Christian community. In a special message commemorating the occasion, Patriarch Sako urged the Iraqi government to take full responsibility for protecting the indigenous Christian population and to adopt fair and just measures that safeguard the rights of all minorities who have long inhabited this land. Houses of "Nun, Nusrani, Christian" During ISIS's occupation, Christian homes in the region were marked with the Arabic letter "Nun" () -- short for nusrani, meaning Nazarene or Christian. This branding was used by the terrorist group to designate Christian properties for confiscation. "This symbol remains deeply etched in the memory of Mosul's Christians," Sako stated, "serving as a reminder of their steadfast faith and their refusal to surrender to injustice, despite the enormous sacrifices and hardships endured." The Patriarch emphasized the Christians' strong attachment to their ancestral land and their deep pride in their history, language, and heritage. He underscored their right to live in safety, with justice and dignity, to ensure their continued presence in their historical homeland. Sako also expressed hope that such a tragedy would never be repeated -- against Christians or any other Iraqi community -- and that all citizens might live together in peace, harmony, and brotherhood. 2014: Living Memory of Loss In 2014, ISIS seized control of Mosul, Iraq's second-largest city, and imposed a brutal extremist regime. Christians were presented with four choices: convert to Islam, pay the jizya (a tax imposed on non-Muslims), flee, or face execution. The terrorist group confiscated Christian properties, homes, churches, and businesses. They destroyed dozens of churches, including the historic Al-Saa'a Church with its landmark clock tower, as well as Mar Behnam Monastery -- a cultural and spiritual treasure. Numerous statues, rare manuscripts, and religious books dating back centuries were also obliterated in what amounted to a cultural and religious genocide. Although Mosul and Nineveh Plains have since been liberated, life remains precarious for Christians in the region. Many have not returned, and the Christian population continues to decline sharply. What ISIS perpetrated was not merely forced displacement, but a deliberate and systematic attempt to erase a historical, cultural, and religious presence that had endured for more than 2,000 years. According to Patriarch Sako, restoring this existence requires more than physical reconstruction. It demands justice, lasting security guarantees, and a sincere process of societal reconciliation. The CEO of a spine device company based in Massachusetts was ordered to pay over $900,000 in fines and will spend time in home confinement after he lied to the federal government about a payment he made to a surgeon. Kingsley Chin, 61, the founder, president and CEO of SpineFrontier, Inc., was sentenced on Wednesday to one year of supervised release with the first six months served in home confinement by U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani. Chin, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., was also ordered to pay a fine of $9,500, in addition to $40,000 as part of a related civil settlement and $855,000 his wholly-owned company, KICVentures, agreed to pay as part of the same settlement. Chin pleaded guilty to one count of false statements in May. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Medical device manufacturers such as SpineFrontier are required by law to report any payments or transfers of value made to doctors, including spine surgeons. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has a database that tracks these payments and makes them publicly visible. Chins company would pay surgeons to consult on the development of SpineFrontiers medical devices, but some of those payments were made to surgeons who did not help with the products. On Jan. 19, 2016, Chin told his employees to report a payment of $4,750 payment that was made to a surgeon to the federal government as a consulting payment but the surgeon didnt do any consulting work. Chin was aware that the surgeon didnt work for the payment, and knew that his company was required to make its payment reports accurate, the U.S. Attorneys Office said. More local crime stories Read the original article on MassLive. The CEO of a Massachusetts-based company has been sentenced for making false statements to the federal government, the U.S. Attorney said Thursday. Dr. Kingsley R. Chin, 61, founder, president and CEO of SpineFrontier Inc., a medical device company headquartered in Malden, was sentenced Wednesday in federal court to one year of supervised release with the first six months to be served in home confinement, U.S. Attorney Leah Foley said in a statement. U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani handed down his sentence. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Chin was also ordered to pay a fine of $9,500, in addition to $40,000 he personally agreed to pay as part of a related civil settlement, Foley said, and $855,000 his wholly-owned company, KICVentures, agreed to pay as part of the same settlement. Chin pleaded guilty in May to one count of making false statements to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Open Payments Program. The Physician Payment Sunshine Act requires device manufacturers like SpineFrontier to report any payments or transfers of value to physicians, including spine surgeons, Foley said. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services maintains a database, via the Open Payments website, which makes all such payments or transfers of value publicly accessible. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to the charging documents, SpineFrontier offered surgeons the opportunity to engage in purported consulting on product development. Specifically, Chin directed his employees to report the payment of fees paid to a surgeon as consulting fees that were not compensation for actual consulting work. Chin caused his employees to report a payment of $4,750 on Jan. 19, 2016, to the surgeon as a consulting payment, even though Chin knew that the surgeon had not performed actual consulting work for the payment, prosecutors said. Chin also knew that he and SpineFrontier were required to accurately report any payments or transfers of value to the surgeon, prosecutors said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available. Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW BOSTON (AP) A sheriff in one of Massachusetts' largest counties was charged Friday with allegedly pressuring a Boston-based cannabis firm to sell him stock in the company. Sheriff Steven Tompkins, 67, who oversees about 1,000 employees in the Suffolk County Sheriffs Department, is facing two counts of extortion. He was taken into custody in Florida and had his first appearance there. He will appear in Boston federal court later. Elected officials, particularly those in law enforcement, are expected to be ethical, honest and law abiding not self-serving, U.S. Attorney Leah Foley said in a statement. "His alleged actions are an affront to the voters and taxpayers who elected him to his position, and the many dedicated and honest public servants at the Suffolk County Sheriffs Department. The people of Suffolk County deserve better. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement No one from the sheriff's department could be reached for comment and an attorney for Tompkins did not respond to a request for comment. According to the court documents, Tompkins first pressured the unnamed company for stock as it was considering launching an initial public offering in 2020. The company, according to the documents, feared Tomkins could undermine the company's partnership with a sheriff department program that referred released inmates to work there. It feared that could put the company's operating license risk as well as the timing of its initial public offering. In November, 2020, Tompkins allegedly wired $50,000 from his retirement account to an account controlled by the company to purchase the stock. After the initial public offering, the stock value increased significantly. But when it began to fall a year later, Tompkins alleged demanded his money back and, despite, the decline in the stock's value, the company gave him a full refund. Among the evidence in the court document was five checks written to Tompkins, with a note they were for a loan repayment. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Tompkins has run afoul of the law before. In 2023, Tompkins paid a fine of $12,300 for violating conflict of interest laws after he created a position in his department for his niece and for asking his subordinates to run personal errands for him. If found guilty on the extortion charges, Tompkins could face a sentence of up to 20 years in prison on each count, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. DESTIN, Fla. (WMBB) Mattie Kelly Arts Foundation is accepting applications for the Adult Collaborative Art Exhibit component of the 30th annual Festival of the Arts. The Collaborative Art Exhibit showcases the work of seasoned and emerging adult artists and local student artists. They compete for the $1,050 McIlroy Awards given in honor of the late Patricia McIlroy, Destins first First Lady and an MKAF advocate and patron. The competition is open to the first 25 eligible applicants. The entry fee is $35 per person for up to three pieces of art no larger than 24 x 36. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Artwork should be of an artistic caliber associated with a juried fine art show. Artists in the Adult Collaborative Exhibit can display and/or sell up to three pieces of artwork. The application deadline is Friday, Sept. 5, 2025. You can download an application here, or you can contact Deb Nissley at the Mattie Kelly Arts Foundation by calling (850) 650-2226 or by email at deb@mkaf.org The Festival will begin with the Arty Kickoff Party Oct 24 and continue at the Mattie Kelly Cultural Arts Village in Destin, Florida, on October 25-26. To make a tax-deductible donation or provide a corporate sponsorship, or for more information about the Festival of the Arts, you can do so by clicking here or by calling (850) 650-2226 Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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 mypanhandle.com. When Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-FL) won his first election to the House in 2022, Jewish leaders in his Orlando, Fla., district who had been encouraged by his personal outreach were optimistic he would follow through on a range of commitments he had made vowing to uphold support for Israel. Despite some initial concerns about his history of involvement in pro-Palestinian demonstrations as well as relationships with anti-Israel activists, Frost had circulated a lengthy Middle East position paper in consultation, in part, with a top pro-Israel group that largely assuaged lingering reservations among Jewish community leaders over the sincerity of his views. In the paper as well as a candidate questionnaire solicited by Jewish Insider during his first primary, the young progressive organizer, describing himself as both pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian, voiced opposition to conditioning aid to Israel arguing that the security threats facing the Jewish state are far too grave to enact such measures. In backing a two-state solution, he clarified that any agreement should require the basic recognition that Israel has a right to exist as well as an end to the antisemitic rhetoric and positions of Hamas. And if elected, he pledged to visit Israel which he called one of the United States most important allies and strategic partners. Now, almost midway into his second term, Jewish and pro-Israel leaders are expressing some buyers remorse as Frost, 28, has embraced positions that put him at odds with his past commitments, fueling frustration among those who had believed he would be a more dependable ally on key issues concerning Israel. Frost, for his part, insists that the humanitarian conditions in Israels war with Hamas in Gaza have deteriorated so drastically during his tenure that he had no choice but to change his views, though that has not quelled discontent among his former allies. He has broken a lot of promises, said one Jewish leader, echoing others who expressed dismay with Frosts turn in Congress. The most recent move to draw scrutiny from Jewish and pro-Israel leaders is a letter Frost signed urging the Trump administration to recognize a Palestinian state over growing concerns with the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The letter, signed by several prominent House progressives and led by Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) who plans to introduce a similar resolution said such a state will need to fully recognize Israel and guarantee the disarmament of and relinquishing of power by Hamas. But pro-Israel activists broadly see the renewed effort as a misguided concession to Hamas amid the ongoing war as the terror group seeks to leverage international outrage over Israels military conduct. Democratic Majority for Israel, whose political arm had provided input on Frosts position paper during his primary, took issue with his decision to join the letter. While the group felt sufficiently comfortable with Frosts Middle East policy views when he first ran for Congress, opting not to intervene on behalf of a top primary rival who had won an endorsement from its super PAC, it has become dissatisfied with his approach as he has continued to stake out more adversarial stances toward Israel during his time in the House. We strongly support a two-state solution that ensures Israels future as a Jewish and democratic state with recognized borders and upholds the right of Palestinians to live in freedom and security in a viable state of their own, Brian Romick, DMFIs president, said in a statement to JI on Tuesday. But unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state at this time as the terrorist group Hamas still governs parts of Gaza and continues to hold Israeli hostages would not advance peace. It will instead prolong the war by incentivizing Hamas to reject any ceasefire deal, and reward the terrorism we saw on Oct. 7 while making future acts of terror more likely. In addition to the letter which followed a similar resolution he co-sponsored in 2023 during his first term Frost in May joined legislation to place unprecedented new conditions on aid to Israel by withholding offensive weapons over its alleged violations of international law. Last year, he also voted against a widely approved bill to provide supplemental aid to Israel six months after Hamas attacks. In a statement explaining his thinking at the time, Frost wrote that he was only able to justify aid for defense, not offense, and this legislation did not allow me to separate the two, as the war has claimed the lives of countless innocent Palestinian civilians and brought us no closer to the return of innocent Israeli hostages held by Hamas. For me, the North Star here is having a two-state solution, and everything, all the decisions we make, have to point to that, Frost said, arguing that he has remained consistent in upholding his core beliefs on the conflict even as his positions on specific policies have changed since he launched his initial campaign for Congress. The thing I have in mind is the safety and security of everybody, of Israel, of Palestinians of everybody. Meanwhile, Frost has yet to fulfill his campaign vow to travel to Israel, and has declined invitations to do so while in Congress, according to a person familiar with the matter. In an interview on Wednesday, Frost acknowledged that his approach has changed since he entered the House, attributing his new positions to his revulsion at Israels behavior in Gaza which he described as completely unacceptable and abhorrent in light of the civilian death toll. In terms of specific policy points, things have changed, Frost told JI. Things have changed a lot and unfortunately, not for the better. For me, the North Star here is having a two-state solution, and everything, all the decisions we make, have to point to that, he added, arguing that he has remained consistent in upholding his core beliefs on the conflict even as his positions on specific policies have changed since he launched his initial campaign for Congress. The thing I have in mind is the safety and security of everybody, of Israel, of Palestinians of everybody. Even as he condemned Hamas and said the terror group should have no role in rebuilding postwar Gaza, Frost said the conflict has evolved into what he regards as a war on innocent people, resulting in massive loss of innocent life that has fueled his decision to speak up against the Israeli government and its ongoing military campaign. In the Middle East position paper he wrote in his first primary, Frost had rejected placing additional conditions on aid to Israel because, he wrote at the time, it would undermine Israels ability to defend itself against the very serious threats it faces. But he explained on Wednesday he had also felt such measures were already written into the law and we didnt really need to go further in enforcing it at the time. Now, however, I do believe that the law is being violated, he told JI, clarifying his recent support for legislation that seeks to withhold transfers of offensive weapons to Israel. Because of that, we have to look at the way that we are both complicit but also encouraging the current behavior of the Netanyahu government, he said. Unlike a handful of his far-left House colleagues who have accused Israel of carrying out a genocide in Gaza, Frost hesitated to use the term himself, calling it a difficult word because of its historical connection to the Holocaust. Still, he said he would not seek to discourage others from such charges. Im not going to sit here and defend what is going on right now in any way, shape or form, he said. I understand why people use that word. But when we see whats going on, its hard to find the words for it. Theres a lot of things to hold, but the main thing is, yes, there are many things that have changed, he reiterated. But for me, what has not changed is the main goal, which is making sure that everyones safe and everyones secure. Frost is hardly alone among Democratic lawmakers who in recent months have become more critical of Israels behavior, with even some of the staunchest supporters of the Jewish state struggling to defend the Israeli government as the humanitarian situation in Gaza has continued to worsen nearly two years into the war. Its a radical shift, one community activist told JI, voicing frustration with Frosts positions, even as he described their ongoing conversations as very open and honest. His vacillating stances also illustrate some of the cross-pressures facing progressive Democrats who are not completely aligned with the partys far left on its hostility toward Israel. Pro-Israel Democrats have recently voiced their concerns that anti-Israel policies could become a litmus test for the left in the midterms, particularly amid Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus moves to occupy the enclave. But Jewish community leaders in Frosts district, who spoke on condition of anonymity to address what they characterize as an increasingly delicate relationship with the congressman, explained they are particularly disappointed with his evolution on Middle East policy, given their initial hopes that he would be among a dwindling number of progressive allies committed to defending Israel in the House. Its a radical shift, one community activist told JI, voicing frustration with Frosts positions, even as he described their ongoing conversations as very open and honest. The activist noted that Frost, who had been a prominent gun control advocate before he was elected to Congress, has a good heart and doesnt want to see people dying. But as a result, he said, Frost has a lot of blind spots in his assessment of the conflict. The activist argued that Frosts critique of Israels conduct in Gaza has ignored Hamas role in perpetuating the crisis as it refuses to surrender. At the end of the day, he very much comes from the oppressor-oppressed worldview and sees Israel as the oppressor, the activist said. Frost, for his part, said his statements have been misconstrued by a wide range of critics across the spectrum, including pro-Palestinian activists who allege that he made separate commitments during his first primary bid that he has failed to uphold in Congress. He stressed that he does not do tit-for-tat stuff while addressing the war. Whenever I post about the hostages, Ill have people sending me messages. What about this? No, he said. Whenever I post about Palestinians, Ill have people saying, What about this? No, I will post about it all. I will talk about it all. I will say how I feel about everything. Im very firm in that, just coming from a place of, since I was 15 years old, being involved in the fight to end gun violence, and have grown up through a movement of death, he told JI. I just dont think thats the way to live as a human, quite frankly. Weve been disappointed that he has not met the commitments he gave to us, one DMFI source told JI. At the same time, were grateful that he has come to realize he made a mistake in at least one case, but members of Congress should think through their votes fully and discuss them with knowledgeable people before casting them. Even as Jewish and pro-Israel leaders say their relationships with Frost have worsened in recent months, frustration over his approach to Israel has been mounting since his first term, when he called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza just days after Hamas terror attacks. As a freshman, he also voted against a resolution condemning rising antisemitic activity on college campuses, but he later said that vote had been a mistake after meeting with Jewish students in his district. While Frost had shown contrition for his vote on the resolution in November 2023, DMFI still expressed dissatisfaction with his initial decision at the time alleging he had not performed proper due diligence beforehand. Weve been disappointed that he has not met the commitments he gave to us, one DMFI source told JI not long after the vote. At the same time, were grateful that he has come to realize he made a mistake in at least one case, but members of Congress should think through their votes fully and discuss them with knowledgeable people before casting them, the source stated. A spokesperson for Frost told JI at the time that the congressman is trying to hold multiple truths all at once as he receives input from constituents pushing opposing interests. Im very comfortable with the decisions Ive made, Frost said of his approach to Israel. As I walk the streets of my district, as I speak with the people in my district, this is where I find most people are at. Theyre not really at the extremes that Ive heard from. Speaking with JI on Wednesday, Frost said he has appreciated his ongoing discussions with pro-Israel leaders in his district even if they have not been aligned on major policy questions in recent months. Hearing their perspective is really important, he confirmed. What I always tell people is I might not always come to the conclusion that you agree with, he said, but I hope youll always feel Ive engaged in good faith. He suggested that Jewish community activists who have been irked by his approach to the Middle East have not fully reckoned with his belief that Israels military actions have damaged its reputation in the United States. Its palpable across the country, and I think a lot of this has to do with the decisions that are being made by Netanyahu, he argued. Im very comfortable with the decisions Ive made, Frost said of his approach to Israel. As I walk the streets of my district, as I speak with the people in my district, this is where I find most people are at. Theyre not really at the extremes that Ive heard from. When he assumed office in 2023, Frost had sought guidance from pro-Israel Democrats including Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY), who enthusiastically backed his campaign, and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), one person familiar with the matter told JI. But the congressman has since drifted away from the two lawmakers on Israel while staking out positions that have put him more in line with the far left. More recently, Frost has built closer relationships with such leading Israel critics as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), the source told JI, even if he has resisted identifying as an official member of the so-called Squad of progressive House Democrats. Owing in part to his network in Congress, Jewish community leaders are doubtful Frost will change his views on Israel. It may be the best that we can hope is that he doesnt become an actual member of the Squad, said one activist, while noting that Frost is totally safe in his deeply blue district as he seeks a third term next year. Still, the activist said, his refusal to actually go and see Israel first-hand is a problem, particularly in light of his primary vow to visit the Jewish state as a congressman. Frost, who acknowledged the commitment that he had made, said he hopes to see the region at some point, but added that it has been difficult to figure out the timing. After the interview, Frost asked his spokesperson to clarify that he would like to travel to the region at a point where hed be able to visit both Israel and the Gaza Strip, indicating a potential visit is unlikely to occur in the foreseeable future. When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Two lidar images of major Maya ceremonial centers with a plaza surrounded by houses and farmland. | Credit: Estreda-Belli et al. 2025. Redistributed under Creative Commons licence CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 The Maya population during the civilization's peak 1,400 years ago may have been far larger than previously thought, new research reveals. The study also hints that Maya settlements at that time were far more complex and interconnected than prior studies had suggested. A 2018 study estimated there were 11 million Maya between A.D. 600 and 900, known as the Late Classic Period. But in new research published online July 7 in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports , some of the 2018 study's authors have revised the estimate to 16 million. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Both studies estimated the Maya population size using lidar (light detection and ranging) data, which is obtained with an aircraft carrying a machine that shoots laser pulses at the ground to create 3D maps of an area. The ruins of buildings on these maps can provide clues about population density, which researchers can extrapolate to come up with a total population count. "We expected a modest increase in population estimates from our 2018 lidar analysis, but seeing a 45% jump was truly surprising," Francisco Estrada-Belli , a research professor in the Middle American Research Institute at Tulane University in Louisiana and the new study's lead author, said in a statement . "This new data confirms just how densely populated and socially organized the Maya Lowlands were at their peak." The Maya Lowlands are swathes of forested land that include parts of modern-day Guatemala, Belize and Mexico. Specifically, the researchers created lidar maps for 36,700 square miles (95,000 square kilometers) of land in Guatemala's Peten department, western Belize, and the Mexican states of Campeche and Quintana Roo. The Maya civilization peaked between A.D. 250 and 900, with numerous cities thriving in Mesoamerica during that time. Researchers have long thought that, aside from these cities, the civilization was limited to scattered settlements interspersed with farmland in the region's sprawling tropical rainforests. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Related: Genomes from ancient Maya people reveal collapse of population and civilization 1,200 years ago However, the new research shows that Maya settlements were far more complex and interconnected than previously thought. "We're confident these lidar-based findings give us the clearest picture yet of ancient Maya settlement patterns," Estrada-Belli said. "We now have hard evidence that Maya society was highly structured across both cities and rural areas and far more advanced in resource and social organization than previously understood." The researchers found the same construction patterns across urban and rural areas, with a central public square controlled by the elite, and residential areas and agricultural fields distributed around these plazas. Almost all of the buildings revealed with lidar were located within 3 miles (5 km) of a plaza, suggesting that rural folk, who generally weren't elites, had access to most aspects of civic and religious life, according to the study. A map of the study area in the Maya Lowlands. The polygons and lines show the locations of lidar data samples. The dashed lines demarcate the northern and southern regions referred to in the research. | Credit: Estreda-Belli et al. 2025 . Redistributed under Creative Commons licence CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 The findings challenge the long-held assumption that rural Maya settlements were isolated from the cities and, therefore, disconnected from administrative and ceremonial centers. "No rural community could be regarded as isolated, disembedded or independent," the researchers wrote in the study. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The results also showed that the northern Maya Lowlands were more urbanized and densely populated than previously recognized, explaining the bump in the estimated population size. "The northern Central Maya Lowlands were far from predominantly rural," the researchers wrote. "The relative proportions of urban to rural density zones [...] are remarkably similar between the southern and northern regions, challenging earlier assessments." RELATED STORIES Lasers reveal Maya city, including thousands of structures, hidden in Mexico 3 ancient Maya cities discovered in Guatemala, 1 with an 'astronomical complex' likely used for predicting solstices Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ancient Maya 'blood cave' discovered in Guatemala baffles archaeologists Still, the northern Maya Lowlands had extensive agricultural infrastructure, which was likely run by elites who managed food production and distribution, the researchers wrote. The new population estimates raise new questions about the civilization's fall between A.D. 800 and 1000, because a bigger population may have exacerbated political turmoil and environmental problems, the team concluded in the study. The stark contrast between Meagan Kohlers life before and after she joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had made her skeptical of claims that the church is sexist that it prioritizes men over women or that women are second-class citizens. In every way that matters, my life is significantly better than it was before joining the church, she said Thursday during the 2025 FAIR Latter-day Saints Conference in Lehi, Utah. During an address titled, A broader framework for unerstanding gender equality in the church, Kohler described early experiences enduring domestic violence, poverty and substance abuse in her family. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement You probably have an idea where my life was headed, but thats not what happened, she said, sharing later photos alongside her husband after marrying and being sealed in a Latter-day Saint temple and of her college graduation. Men can be trustworthy? Kohler, who is a regular contributor at the Deseret News, recalled meeting Latter-day Saint missionaries in the street as a teenager. One of the first things that drew my interest to the church was that not a single missionary made any attempt to engage with me on a sexual level. At an age and time of life when many men are at their most destructive in relation to women, she said, They were sacrificing their time and energy to God primarily getting up at 6:30 in the morning to read their scriptures and then, you know, pray. This was my first experience where trustworthy males were the norm, Kohler said. Prior to this time, the trauma she experienced at the hands of different men was difficult. My own healing is still a process, she acknowledged, and not something that I anticipate will be fully finished in this life. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Being in this church and experiencing the Savior through the programs and policies and doctrines of the church has been extremely healing for me, she continued. Then she asked, What if the greatest harm to women is caused by everyday men who are ungoverned by the formative aspects of institutions like this. And as a result, she said, these men are unrestrained, irresponsible, uncommitted and uncaring? If that is the case, she added, we need a broader vision of gender equality that goes beyond whos in which roles and which better accounts for how mens moral and emotional development impacts women. Institutional egalitarianism The vision of equality she most often sees expressed, Kohler noted, is more structural, in asserting that we can make men and women equal by creating church hierarchy that features men and women in equal numbers and roles. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This reflects a belief that seeing women in the same roles as men and at the same rates as men would address the gender imbalance. Kohler was quick to say, I dont think that this is a bad way of looking at things. I think that there are a lot of places in life where we need more of this, because men and women, for all of their differences, can bring different strengths and perspectives to similar roles and responsibilities. The problem is that this understanding of equality is too narrow to address the kinds of painful, abusive and degrading circumstances many women around the world face, and in which she herself was raised. There are real costs to men falling through institutional cracks, Kohler said, citing statistics on violent crime, sexual assault, substance abuse and single motherhood. And those costs are disproportionately borne by women and children. Training men to be their best selves So what can help men rise above tendencies to control, use and even abuse women? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement There are a lot of assumptions that we inherit from the world around us, Kohler cautioned. And if we import these assumptions and we never question them, then the things that the church does are not going to make a lot of sense to us. Rather than seeing priesthood and leadership roles in the church as something that give you power over others, Kohler encouraged a perceptual shift to see priesthood in formative terms, in terms of responsibilities. Without denying real decision making and influence certain roles can wield, Kohler said, it really would be inappropriate, I think, to characterize mens roles in the church as being primarily about those things rather than being primarily about service and formation. The institution is placing men in these roles that require sacrifice from them a sacrifice that had such a profound influence on me from my earliest associations with the church. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This isnt just an intellectual exercise, Kohler noted. She said the sacrifice of priesthood leaders in her early church experience altered the course of my life into her young adult life, where she continued to experience men making very unexpected sacrifices to build up a young woman who was really torn down. I remember priesthood leaders who were formally designated to represent the Savior sitting across from me and feeling through the Spirit that the way that they saw me was a reflection of the way that the Savior saw me. I needed someone representing the Savior to see those things in me first, she reflected, and then I could believe them. Shaping men who care for women Koeher cited Elder Dale G. Renlund of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles as sharing in a recent book that rather than priesthood leaders at the top of a power pyramid trying to control families for their own interests, Jesus calls for just the opposite: leaders serving families who occupy the most important pinnacle of the pyramid. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement That power and influence are a function of love and virtue, Kohler said. This is what we are explicitly taught in our scriptures and by church leaders. Citing the closing portion of Section 121 in the Doctrine and Covenants, one of the standard works of the church, she said, Power is not about making other people do the things that you want. In fact, were explicitly told that if you try to do that, your authority will be revoked. Instead, power is about creating genuine connections with other people, understanding their problems and seeking to support them. What if priesthood roles and responsibilities teach men restraint, responsibility, commitment and love? And so for anyone who is concerned about systems in which men are dominating women, this should be really exciting news, because we have a training program for dealing with that in our church, she said. What about men who arent listening? To those women who still feel their voices and ideas dont matter, Kohler said, Im not saying that there isnt room to improve. I am not suggesting that everything in this church is perfect. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I do think that there are things that will continue to evolve and change that will incorporate womens voices and perspectives at all levels of the church, and thats a wonderful thing. But please dont make the mistake of thinking that the way things are now does not have a purpose. Kohler described profound spiritual witnesses that the senior leadership of this church are prophets whom God has called a conviction that has shaped her approach to these questions, she admits. Because ultimately, I do believe that the way that this church is organized reflects a God who calls leaders that understand how he feels about women. I think it is really important that you have a personal witness that of Christ and the leaders that he calls, Kohler said, not so that we excuse the wrong that our leaders do, but so that we can bear with their faults, knowing, as we do that the Savior has a plan, and if I do what he is asking, its going to be okay. My voice will be heard. I do feel that our leaders do their best. They are going to have shortcomings, but I know that the Savior cares about what women feel, and I believe he is striving to have that be represented in the way that the church functions. Health bosses in East Sussex are urging parents and carers to check their children are up to date with measles vaccinations amid a surge of cases across the country. In East Sussex, more than one in 10 children turning five had not had the necessary two doses of the MMR vaccination according to the latest figures from 2023-24, and 10% turning two had not had their first dose. UK Health Security Agency figures show more than 520 confirmed cases of measles in England since the beginning of the year, including one which claimed the life of a child in Liverpool. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Darrell Gale, director of public health in East Sussex, said: "Measles is an extremely infectious virus that spreads very easily." He added that while some people experienced no symptoms, the virus could be "extremely dangerous to others". "The tragic death of a young child from measles in Liverpool highlights the importance of staying up to date with vaccinations," he said. "Two vaccines are needed to be fully protected and, whilst ideally children should receive the MMR vaccine at 13 months and again at three years and four months, it is never too late to catch up." Figures from the UK Health Security Agency show more than 520 confirmed cases of measles in England since the beginning of the year [Getty Images] In most people, measles can cause a high temperature, cold-like symptoms, sore watery eyes, white spots in the mouth and a rash, but complications can lead to blindness, meningitis, pneumonia and even death, according to the NHS. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Mr Gale added: "To prevent the virus spreading, vaccination rates need to be around 95%. "The rate across England is currently at around 84%." The NHS said anyone experiencing symptoms should stay at home and urgently call their GP or NHS 111. To avoid passing on the infection, people should not go to their doctor's surgery or hospital unless a healthcare professional has asked them to, added the spokesperson. Follow BBC Sussex on Facebook, on X, and on Instagram. Send your story ideas to southeasttoday@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp us on 08081 002250. More on this story Related internet links Over the past few months, Marcia Dinkins eldest child has been hospitalized frequently. A serious infection swept through her daughters body, affecting her pancreas, spleen, and gallbladder. Fortunately, Dinkins daughter, Marshale Malone, was able to afford and receive life-saving surgery, thanks to Medicaid. But without it, Dinkins said, the health emergency could have meant either life or death for Malone, who is 40. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The same can be said for her two other daughters, who also suffer from health-related issues, including seizures and blood clots in their lungs and legs, Dinkins told Capital B. In their cases, too, insurance, including Medicaid, has been vital in receiving the care they desperately need. But because of the significant Medicaid cuts and provisions in the budget and reconciliation package, also known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Dinkins now worries that these changes will impact the critical care her daughters and others could receive in the future. Thats what made me so angry, said Dinkins, founder of Black Appalachian Coalition, because this one bad bill that they want to call beautiful is only going to make it harder for individuals like her and seniors and countless others in the region to be able to get access to health care, especially when the hospitals are already closing down. Medicaid changes could affect millions Its been a month since President Donald Trump signed the act into law. The legislation requires able-bodied individuals on Medicaid to participate in a work program or community engagement for at least 80 hours a month. It also eliminates a 5% increase in federal matching funds for states, which means state governments must find a way to shoulder the costs. That additional expenditure, experts say, limits their ability to pay for Medicaid. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This year marks the 60th anniversary of Medicaid, and currently 71 million people are enrolled, with children and women making up the majority. While Black people account for 20% of enrollees, white people represent the highest percentage at 40%, Pew Research Center reports. Children, adults and individuals with disabilities living in rural areas are most at risk, as they are more likely to rely on Medicaid. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the provisions in the new law will reduce federal Medicaid spending by $1 trillion over the next decade and increase the number of uninsured people by 10 million. Some estimates say $150 million of that funding will be removed from rural areas. Health care advocates, medical professionals, and doctors are concerned that nursing homes and rural hospitals may close, since the facilities already operate on low margins and rely heavily on Medicaid. An analysis by the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research found that more than 300 rural hospitals could face closure or service reductions. But, health care professionals, along with advocates, say their biggest fear is that Black communities will be the hardest hit, and the lack of access could lead to death and chronic illnesses, and worsen economic disparities. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Dr. Kristopher Stepps, a traveling physician in Arkansas and Texas, said, Basic necessities are not so basic for people in rural areas who are trying to decide whether to pay for extra medication or to travel to their specialist appointments, which Medicaid helps cover. There is a fear that if those services are taken away, what happens to the members of this community? Stepps said. Regardless if youre a Democrat [or] Republican, at the end of the day, were here to take care of people. My biggest fear is that we start losing more lives due to preventable illnesses because of economic crises and folks couldnt get access to health care. A crisis within a crisis Marcia Dinkins, founder of Black Appalachian Coalition, said the federal spending bill will make it harder to get access to health care, especially when the hospitals are already closing down. (Courtesy of Marcia Dinkins) In many rural areas, health care access has become a choice between slow care or no care, Dinkins said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Urgent care centers are no longer providing rapid services, and emergency rooms are becoming overcrowded with patients who are not experiencing a crisis, but need primary care. This often causes longer wait times, as many are unable to see a doctor due to shortages or lack of transportation, she added. Others already cant afford the co-pay, which forces them to forgo care. Cassandra Welchlin lives in Mississippi, where there are already high rates of maternal mortality, obesity, cancer, heart disease, and other illnesses. It is also one of the poorest places in the country. Although the state has not expanded Medicaid, the legislation will still affect those who are enrolled as well as those who make too much money to qualify for it, but dont make enough to purchase their own insurance, she added. This isnt just a health care issue, but an economic and workforce development problem, said Welchlin, who is the executive director of the Mississippi Black Womens Roundtable. Welchlins organization focuses on economic security for women and girls. This is going to not just devastate Black folks, but because we know theres a disproportionate amount of Black folks that will be harmed, its going to be devastating to our communities, Welchlin told Capital B. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Its not just about health care, its about jobs, she added. And when you talk about the cuts to jobs, you talk about people now not having a paycheck to pay the basic necessities, such as rent, such as food, such as utilities. So its going to be devastating because its going to impact peoples kitchen tables like they havent seen it before. In neighboring Louisiana, the state expanded Medicaid in 2016. Alma Stewart Allen, the founder of the Louisiana Center for Health Equity, helped secure that expansion. As a result, it broadened access to primary care, and by 2020, the rate of uninsured adults dropped from 22.7% to 8.9%. Now, this new legislation threatens to undo that progress, Stewart Allen said. Approximately 1 in 5 Americans are enrolled in Medicaid. In certain districts represented by Republican congressional leaders including Speaker of the House Mike Johnson and Reps. Julia Letlow, and Clay Higgins of Louisiana more than 30% of residents are on Medicaid, according to The New York Times. Stewart Allen said theres no doubt it will devastate hospitals and the people they serve. Stewart Allen expressed disappointment, but also concern for the youth and how the decisions made now will affect their future. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I know that based on the data, theyre not faring well, anxiety, depression, suicide, suicidal ideation, is on the increase. What does that say about us as a society? she said. Those who have the responsibility on their backs should be concerned about what kind of world you are creating and a society that is not conducive to the overall well-being of its own people to allow them the opportunity to live, to grow, to thrive. Save our own souls Shelton Anthony is an administrator at a critical access hospital in Louisiana, where he said about 37% of the revenue the institution receives is from Medicaid payments. He projects the facility may experience up to $700,000 cuts in Medicaid over the next three years and says hospital officials refuse to cut services or lay people off. Anthony is finding alternative ways, and options like grants, to help the majority Black community of Donaldsonville. In the city, nestled along the west bank of the Mississippi, many people suffer from limited wages and health care disparities. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He said some of the hospitals patients make $20,000 a year. Can you just stop and even imagine living on $20,000 a year? Thats what were faced with, so we have to bring clinics like this to the community so that we can continue to be healthy, he said. Anthony, who leads West Ascension Parish Hospital as the CEO, is partnering with community organizations like the health nonprofit Love Impact Coalition to host a free clinic in September. At the event, residents regardless of insurance can receive free dental, vision, and health care services. And many advocates, doctors, and patients are still uncertain on how Louisiana will respond to the cuts. Despite that, Stewart Allens organization is preparing to educate communities. It will continue its mission to improve health outcomes over the next decade through its initiative, LA40by30. In September, shes hosting the organizations annual Health Summit, which includes a town hall to hear directly from residents who may be affected, while explaining to others what this law means. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In Mississippi, Welchlin and her organization will push for improving health care outcomes, including Medicaid expansion and paid leave. They are also continuing their Strong Moms Healthy Babies campaign, which advocates for moms to have 12 months of postpartum under Medicaid. Back in Ohio, Dinkins is working on education and training initiatives where she works with people in her state as well as in Pennsylvania, Kentucky, West Virginia, and Michigan. She is going to offer a virtual class on the implications of Medicaid cuts, and shes building a Black doula network. Shes also calling on organizations in other states to work together to build coalitions. When we can come together for that, then we can get back to the place we used to be. Organized people became the organized power that we need, she said. Lets learn about the impact that this is going to have on our communities. Dinkins added: We have to really have a strong vision in the reality of where we are, and being clear on what is our future vision, and how do we get to that point to save our own souls? The post Medicaid Cuts Endanger Life-Saving Care for Black Families in Rural America appeared first on Capital B News. Changes to Medicaid as a result of the One Big Beautiful Act could result in disabled New Mexicans losing their health insurance, the CEO of Disability Rights New Mexico writes. Just when we thought wed seen everything, Congress has thrown down a breathtaking new gauntlet: a national work requirement for people participating in Medicaid. Every state will now be required to track the employment status of its Medicaid recipients in order to receive federal funding for the program. We dont know exactly how New Mexico will enact this new rule. The One Big Beautiful Bill does not prescribe how to set up such a tracking system, and it certainly doesnt fund it. But every U.S. state will need the system in place in extremely short order, most likely by late 2026. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement There are a lot of unknowns, but what we do know is this: Work requirements dont work for people with disabilities. As CEO of Disability Rights New Mexico, I have seen how every year, we provide free legal services to thousands of people with disabilities across our state. We exist, in part, because the systems designed to support people with disabilities are so often unnavigable. Now, Medicaid will erect a new barrier that many people with disabilities wont be able to scale. The new legislation requires that Medicaid recipients prove that they work, volunteer or attend school for 80 hours each month as a demonstration of worthiness for coverage. If people fail to report, their health care is cut off. There may be some exceptions to the work requirement for folks with medical issues or parenting obligations. But whether or not they are required to work, we are profoundly uneasy about the ability of many people to navigate a reporting system that requires regular check-ins and submission of documentation. Even if someone is entitled to a medical exemption, they dont necessarily have the ability to provide regular proof of it. Consider the following common scenarios: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A young man with an intellectual disability works in a warehouse, where the predictable routine and structure support his ability to succeed on the job. He is enrolled in Turquoise Care, New Mexicos basic Medicaid plan. Despite working 80 hours each month, his disability makes it impossible for him to regularly report his work hours to the state. Even though he is meeting the requirements, he loses his health coverage simply because he cannot navigate the reporting system. A woman with traumatic brain injury meets the medical criteria exempting her from work. However, her disability deeply impacts her executive functioning skills to the point where she is incapable of filling out the exemption forms, scheduling a medical appointment to certify her status and regularly submitting the required documentation. Because of impairments caused by her disability, she loses her health care. These arent hypotheticals. These are real examples of the many disability-related obstacles faced by real New Mexicans. And a lot more people are about to be impacted. According to New Mexicos Health Care Authority, HCA, New Mexico has 836,000 enrolled in Medicaid, approximately 40% of New Mexicos population. Approximately 254,000 Medicaid members would be subject to the bills new work requirements. Although the details of exemption requirements have not been disclosed, we can expect a significant number of this group could lose coverage, not because they are unwilling to work, but because the policy ignores real world barriers. HCA estimates that nearly 89,000 will lose coverage for vital health care. We expect that number could be significantly higher, particularly in the rural areas where work and volunteer opportunities are limited. Added to that reality is the limitation of transportation of essential transportation services. As if those were not enough barriers to overcome, there is the new six-month redetermination requirements that pose an additional threat to maintaining continuing eligibility, especially for those with disabilities attempting to continue to meet paperwork requirements. They will be subject to a confusing and punitive federal reporting mandate. These individuals will need ongoing support to navigate the new rules and how to follow them. We shared these concerns with U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D-N.M.) at a recent Medicaid roundtable, and he has taken action to try and right the ship on Medicaid. The entire Congressional delegation has been supportive of New Mexicans regarding the consequences of these Medicaid changes. We ask that other state New Mexico lawmakers and state leaders do the same, recognizing the chaos and harm that will be unleashed by this new federal mandate and taking steps to do something about it. We call upon our states leaders to develop, fund and support an employment reporting system that is as accessible, inclusive and fair as possible. We cannot allow the Medicaid system to punish the very individuals it was established to support by depriving them of essential health care services. Taggert Sabo and his friends took turns scribbling equations on a white board in a University of South Florida study room last spring. They needed to work out a confusing proof for a take-home test, Sabos friend and fellow classmate Matthew Boutout remembers. The youngest of the group at 17, Sabo suggested idea after idea, but nothing worked. Hours passed. Then he figured it out. Theres a stereotype that math students like Sabo who fast-track their academic journeys can always look at a problem and immediately know the solution, Boutout said. But, Boutout said, he is more in awe of Sabos dedication and capacity to run through hundreds of potential solutions without giving up. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Sabo is the youngest student in the University of South Floridas graduating summer class. On Saturday, hell have a bachelors degree in math before most kids his age are finishing high school. He spent most of his high school years dual-enrolling in different colleges, from USF to the University of Florida and the State College of Florida. But it never burned him out. Sabo said he always has disagreed with the sentiment that math is rigid and lacks enjoyment. Math is just games and riddles, he said. If I can solve puzzles all day and get paid, thats great. Sabo was born in Baltimore and grew up in North Port in Sarasota County. He memorized his multiplication tables before stepping into a kindergarten classroom. He read the Percy Jackson series during recess. He participated in his elementary schools gifted program every year, except fourth grade, because he didnt want to make a project for the science fair. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He initially wanted to be a veterinarian, then a physicist. By eighth grade, Sabo decided he was more interested in math. He said that while physics poises fascinating questions about the universe and the stars, it will always be limited by what technology is accessible. Math, though, is limitless. You just need a pen, paper and some creativity. He cruised through algebra I, algebra II, and geometry. He jumped straight to calculus II as a sophomore and realized hed hit a stopping point. I would have had to take a gap year of math, or just completely slow down the rate at which I learned math, he said. And I didnt want to do that. He dual-enrolled in three colleges to take online classes, which allowed him to take five math classes a semester rather than the typical one or two. His mother worried about him burning out. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Take a break, take a rest, he remembers her saying. You dont need to do all this. But math never made him feel drained. Its like saying video games could make a player exhausted, he said. It wouldnt. Sabo graduated from high school a year early. He traded a traditional senior prom, graduation and a final year of track and cross country for living in a dorm at USFs Tampa campus, perusing bookstores and sipping boba tea with his friends. Boutout said Sabo always arrived early to classes they shared. He watched and listened intently and didnt take notes. He lent Sabo a quantum computing textbook that Boutout said read like hieroglyphics. He said Sabo took the book to the dining hall and a read a hundred pages over lunch. He would ask questions that other students couldnt understand, Boutout said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Sabo said in his first class, he and the professor talked back and forth for 10 minutes. Oh my god, this is amazing, he remembers thinking. This person is a world expert in mathematics and I can just pick their brain. Sabo is starting a doctoral program at USF in a few weeks, where hell be working on quantum computing research and as a teachers assistant. After that, Sabo wants to become a professor. He is an advocate for universal education and LGBTQ+ rights and said he wants to create a classroom where students feel comfortable being themselves. He said that while math is just puzzle that doesnt inherently help anyones well-being, being a mentor for students will. 'Murder hornets' have been making a buzz in the media for years for their immense size and deadly behaviour. Also called the northern giant hornet (formerly the Asian giant hornet), these terrifying insects were first detected in Canada in 2019, near Nanaimo, B.C. This invasive species poses a huge threat to Canadas ecosystems, as they are known to quickly destroy entire bee colonies, which are essential in maintaining healthy ecosystems. RELATED: Wasps are aggressive right now; here's why and how to stay safe Each summer, people across Canada will report murder hornet sightings. However, experts are quick to clarify that the sightings people commonly report are actually European hornetsa species that was introduced to North America over 160 years ago and has become part of Canadas natural ecosystem. While they were introduced, this does not make them invasive as they have naturally integrated with the environment and are not harmful. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Both insect species belong to the family Vespa, but there are some big differences between the two. Northern giant hornet (murder hornet) (Yasunori Koide/Wikimedia Commons) CC-BY-SA 4.0 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:20200512-P1100071_Vespa_mandarinia_japonica.jpg Murder hornets, formally called northern giant hornets, are invasive to Canada and pose a major risk to native bee colonies and our ecosystems. (Yasunori Koide/Wikimedia Commons) CC-BY-SA 4.0 European hornets versus murder hornets European hornets are found in Eastern Canada and can look scarily similar to the murder hornet. They are much larger than the yellowjackets that we are used to seeing each summer but are actually a lot smaller than murder hornets. They have a similar striped pattern on their abdomens to murder hornets, but the key difference is that their abdomens are yellow, whereas the murder hornets are more yellow-orange. SEE ALSO: That's not a bee! Why these helpful flies hover around your backyard Unlike murder hornets, European hornets dont pose a threat to other native insect species and ecosystems. While they do sometimes eat bees, they dont destroy entire colonies and can actually provide bees protection from other predatory insects, such as wax moths. European Hornet (Dr. Guido Bohne/iNaturalist) CC-BY-SA 4.0 https://inaturalist.ca/observations/27660605 European hornets can be found in Canada and are often mistaken for the murder hornet (northern giant hornet). (Dr. Guido Bohne/iNaturalist) CC-BY-SA 4.0 Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement European hornets also create paper nests similar to those made by paper wasps and yellowjackets. Conversely, murder hornets build their nests underground around tree roots. Like any other stinging insect, the European hornet can get aggressive when you invade its territory or grab at it, but they otherwise try to avoid interacting with people. They do have a soft spot for sweet fruits, though, and you may see more of them buzz around you in the late summer and early fall as their natural food sources begin to dwindle. Despite their scary appearance, European hornets are important for our ecosystems, providing natural pest control and pollination services. If you believe you have spotted a murder hornet in Canada and are able to take a photo as proof, you can report it to the Invasive Species Centre. Thumbnail image credit to Judy Gallagher/iNaturalist CC-BY-SA 4.0 James Talarico is everywhere now. Hes on major television networks. Hes on the front page of news websites. Hes even been on the most popular podcast in America, The Joe Rogan Experience. But the one place hes not is in the Texas capitol building, where his Republican adversaries in the states House of Representatives aim to redraw electoral districts in their favor ahead of the 2026 midterms. The thirty-six-year-old middle-school-teacher-turned-politician isnt in Texas at all, actually. Hes in an Illinois hotel room no bigger than a college dorm, barely sleeping in a twin bed that faces a lonely sink, taking calls from the media and constituents back home. Its not that he and his fellow Democratic representatives dont want to be in Texas. But without their presence in the state house, a vote cant occurwhich is exactly the point. Theyre breaking quorum to protest Donald Trumps attempt to rig the next election, as Talarico wrote on Instagram. But by being everywhere except the Lone Star State, hes made himself a national nameone that might grace an upcoming Senate ballot. Esquire talked to Talarico about fleeing Texas, how his Christian faith informs his politics, and what the Democrats can do to earn Americas favor. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Questions and answers have been edited for length and clarity. Esquire: How are things in Illinois? Whats the morale like? James Talarico: Its an intense work road trip. I had a journalist ask me what I was going to do on my break. And this is the break. Its the worst break Ive ever had, because we have been working around the clock here, talking to media and talking to our constituents about whats happening in Texas, shining a national spotlight on this redistricting power grab. But even though were not in Texas, were still serving our constituents. Ive been on the phone with my team back in the capitol, ensuring that the folks in our district have everything they need. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Its been exhausting to say the least. Early mornings, very late nights. But I would say the morale is good. I am here in Illinois with probably the largest group of Democratic members. Yesterday was a little scary when we woke up to a bomb threat and had to evacuate the premises. But we shouldnt have been shocked, given that [Texas attorney general] Ken Paxton has put out a tweet asking for his followers to hunt us down. Some of our Republican colleagues have put our location out on national news outlets. Of course this was going to be a security risk, but we all know that we have right on our side and that we are fighting for our constituents, for all Texans, and their right to elect representatives of their choice. Thats bigger than any one of us. Its bigger than any one politician or any one political party. How are your accommodations in Illinois? The rooms where were staying are probably the smallest hotel rooms Ive ever stayed in. Theyre much more like a college dorm room or a prison cell, whichever way you want to look at it. One twin bed with a sink across from the bednot in a bathroom. But were on a budget on this quorum break. But were all very proud to be doing this important work, standing up to these wannabe tyrants. Youre fined every day for your absence, and theres also the cost of hotels, meals, and so on. How long do you and your colleagues think you can hold out? We earn $600 a month for our service in the legislature. We have day jobs. Thats how we make ends meet, pay our bills, and support our families. And weve left those jobs behind and families behind to do this. It was not a decision we made lightly. Quorum breaks are not easy, which I think is important. If they were easy, the minority party would probably do it all the time. But theyre incredibly hardpersonally, financially, politically, legally, and logistically. Theyre only reserved for the most egregious abuses of power, whether its voter suppression or mid-decade redistricting. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement When Trump called Georgia Republicans and asked them to find him 11,000 more votes after he lost the 2020 election, they said, No, sir. But when Donald Trump asked Texas Republicans to find him five more congressional seats, they said, How about Thursday? So the responsibility to defend this American experiment fell to Texas Democrats. We are proud to answer the call. The governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, has threatened to remove you and your colleagues from office. How have you reacted to that threat? Its concerning when a governor tries to remove duly democratically elected representatives from office, especially when they are engaging in a constitutional activity. Quorum breaks are protected in our state constitution. They are a tool the minority has to check the abuses of the majority, so we havent broken any law. Theres two hundred years worth of history of quorum breaks in this country. Were here in Illinois, the land of Abraham Lincoln, where he broke quorum as a state senator back in 1840 by jumping out of a window of the Illinois state capitol. Thankfully, I didnt have to jump out of any windows in Texas. But we are participating in a long American tradition of standing up to bullies, speaking truth to power. Of civil disobedience, of good trouble. The current special legislative session is slated to end August 19, but the Texas House Republicans could always call another session. How do you see this playing out? We were most worried about, What if we had done nothing? What if we had just allowed this blatant power grab to go through with maybe a few floor speeches? That, to me, was a much more disturbing reality. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I dont know what the future holds. I dont know what will happen. But I know we have to take a stand. If throughout American history, people only took a stand when they knew they were definitely going to win, I fear to think about what our country would look like right now. Im proud that were taking this moral stand against this power grab. That said, we do want to be strategic. The last quorum break I was a part of was in 2021, against the voter-suppression bill. It shined an international spotlight that pressured our Republican colleagues to take the worst parts out of that bill. It still passed, and I voted against it, but it was materially less harmful to my constituents and the people of Texas because of our quorum break. I think its important for national outlets to remember that, although they sometimes want to look at it as a loss, there are shades of gray. I think our act of civil disobedience is inspiring Democrats in blue states to retaliate or at least threaten to retaliate. If Texas Republicans cheat in this way, then we can at least even out the playing field and ensure that the American people can elect to Congress to hold the president accountable next year. Do you think that its the necessary next step, for blue states to redistrict in retaliation? When one side shoots, all bets are off. I pray every night that Texas Republicans dont cheat and dont break the next election. But if they do, it requires a response. We have to look bullies in the eye and not blink. Thats the only way you beat a bully, and thats exactly what I expect other states to do. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We want gerrymandering out of every state. Ive introduced a bill to create an independent citizen-led redistricting process in Texas, and I want that in every state, blue or red. Weve got to get the politics out of map drawing, but we cannot unilaterally disarm as Democrats. Is it simply a left-versus-right battle? Because youve also said its a top-versus-bottom economic battle in this country. What are your thoughts on that? I do not think this is an issue of party. I think this is an issue of power. People in power want to stay in power. The only way that you can check power is through free and fair elections. This is not about the Democratic party. Its about the democratic process. I am fighting for Democrats, independents, and Republicans alike and their ability to change their government from the bottom up, their ability to elect the representatives of their choice, their ability to hold the most powerful politician in the country accountable. That is what this is about. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I know people are tempted, especially in the media, to make this just a red-team-versus-blue-team thing. That couldnt be further from the truth. They may be coming for Democrats right now, but they come for all of us in the end. Thats how this playbook works in other countries. We need to wake up to that fact before its too late. The Austin American-Statesman/Hearst Newspapers - Getty Images In your role as a red-state Democrat, whats the lesson youre learning right now, and how can that apply to blue-state Democrats? I dont think the divide in the Democratic party right now is moderate versus progressive. I think its fighters versus holders. I hope Texas Democrats are reminding the Democratic party nationally how to fight for the people. Thats why most folks are frustrated with the national Democratic party: its inability to get things done and inability to deliver for our constituents. How do you delineate between actions that make a difference and performative action? We have to play to the fullest extent of the rules. We have to use every tool in our toolbox. Im not going to diminish speeches. Dr. Kings I Have a Dream speech was performance, but I hear what youre saying. Getting on cable news and saying some sound bites into the camera when you may have actual tools that you can use legislatively or legally or politically, thats just theater. Rhetoric used to be an art form, and I do think communication is a tool in that toolbox. But if its your only tool, I would encourage you to think more deeply about the power you actually have to fight for your constituents and fix this democracy. Youve gained national attention partially because of your identity as a Christian whos also a Democrat. How does your faith inform your politics? I can talk about how my faith is informing quorum break. Its what gives me the courage and the strength and the peace to do something like that, to risk arrest, to risk financial ruin for my constituents. I dont think most normal people would want to do that, right? I dont think I would want to do that normally. But my granddad was a Baptist preacher who taught me that we follow a barefoot rabbi who gave us two commandments: Love God and love neighbor. Loving thy neighbor requires action, not just in the sanctuary but in the streets. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Thats why I went into public service, first as a middle school teacher and now as a state representative. This democracy is more than a constitution. Its a covenant, a relationship between neighbors, a promise that we make to each other, to share this country, even when we disagree, even when were different. Two thousand years ago, when the powerful few abused the many, that barefoot rabbi didnt stay in his room and pray. He walked into the seat of power, and he flipped over the tables of injustice. I would say to my fellow Christians, that if we love democracy, if we love our neighbors, its time to start flipping tables. Thats an interesting analogy. People sometimes forget about that story from the Bible, that Jesus was taking action. Its what got him killed by the government. He was killed by the Roman Empire and executed. Crucifixion was the punishment for rebels. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We sometimes over-spiritualize the gospel. Our whole faith is built on incarnation, the idea that God took human form, that God cares about our human bodies and our physical existence. How much we have to eat and drink, whether we have health care, and that. We miss that when we over-spiritualize. Spirituality is a central part of my faith but has to be balanced out with concrete action in the world, for human beings. How can Democrats win over the evangelical Christian vote? Theres a lot of diversity within the Christian church. Black Christians are some of the most deeply religious Christians in our country and historically and continue to this day to vote for Democratic candidates. When were talking about white Christians, which is an important caveat, I think part of the problem is that my party has stopped talking about faith over the last 40, 50 years, really since Jimmy Carter. Of course, there are candidates who do the obligatory church visit and all that. But Im talking about how central our faith is to everything we do. And it is central for me. It is my foundation for everything I do in my life, including public service. So Im going to talk about that. Im not going to be ashamed to talk about it. And it may, it may rub some people in my coalition wrong in the wrong way, and Ive gotten pushback from some progressive Democrats about how outspoken I have been about my faith. But Im going to show up as I am, and Im going to be myself, even if that bothers some people in my own party. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I do think that its helpful, building a bridge to folks who dont feel like they belong in the Democratic party because of their faith. I want them to know they have a seat at our table if theyd like to join us. There is data Ive seen from groups that have been reaching out to evangelicals that it is moving the needle. In Pennsylvania, some of the only counties that moved toward Vice President Kamala Harris were counties where the group Evangelicals for Harris campaigned, which I helped support. You recently went on The Joe Rogan Experience. What did you think of the reaction to your appearance? Do you think it will help you spring into the next phase of your political career? I was surprised to get the invite to go on Joe Rogan, the biggest podcast in the country, as a state rep in Texas. We got an email, and all it said was, Joe saw one of your social media videos, and hed love to talk. That was it. Typically, when a journalist interviews an elected official, they lay out the topics theyre going to cover to give a sense of what the conversation is going to be about. That was not the case, probably because I dont think Joe Rogan considers himself a journalist. Hes, in a lot of ways, just a very curious guy who is a good conversationalist. It was unusual, as an elected official, to engage in such a long, unscripted conversation with someone whos a little skeptical of the Democratic party. I was a little nervous, to be honest, because of those things, and that its such a big audience. But Joe Rogan is good at what he does. Once I put on those headphones, he drew me into a real human conversation, like you would have at a bar with a friend. Two and a half hours flew by. It was a shock when they were over. I had a blast. Like any really great conversation, it went down all these different rabbit holes and explored all these weird ideas and hot takes. It was cool to have a conversation like I would have with a friend on such a big platform. It seems like people responded to that. Its been overwhelming. Im flooded with messages and calls and DMs and emails from people who are not partisan Democrats. A phrase kept popping up in almost every message that I got: This is the first time Ive messaged a politician. I must have received 30 or 40 messages that started with that exact phrase, which I thought was interesting. It shows you the kind of audience he has: people who arent super partisan. Theyre very suspicious of this corrupt political system and are sick of both parties. It certainly is reaching a whole group of people that dont watch MSNBC or Fox News or tune into the legislative live stream here in Texas. There is a clip going around in which Rogan told you to run for president. Whats the next step in your political career? I am seriously looking at the U.S. Senate race. I havent made a decision yet. Im trying to figure out if I should run for that seat or whether I should continue my work in the legislature. I see drawbacks and advantages to both positions. But ultimately, Ive got to figure out whats right for me and, more importantly, whats best for the people of the state. I had set a deadline to make a decision next week, funnily enough, and then this quorum break happened. So its kind of been pushed off the agenda for me right now. I was elected by 200,000 people in Central Texas to fight for them at the state capitol. Im basically their lawyer in state government, even though Im not a lawyer. I am fighting for their interests here in Illinois by breaking quorum. I take that very seriously, and so I intend on doing this job before I start applying to other jobs. Jason Bollenbacher - Getty Images If you were to pursue the Senate and win, what would you hope to accomplish on a national level? I have worked hard in Texas to get big money out of our politics. Ive been outspoken about the billionaire mega donors who basically run our state government. And if thats true in Texas, its certainly true at a national level, increasingly so. I would hope to be a voice against corruption. I would hope to fight for specific systemic changes to our political system that would allow us to make progress on all the other issues we care about, housing, health care, education. But Im not sure if theres enough voices really talking about anti-corruption measures at the national level. That would certainly be even more important if Ken Paxton is the Republican nominee for the Senate seat. He is perhaps the most corrupt politician in the entire country. I was part of the bipartisan effort in the Texas House to impeach Paxton, so I know his crimes more than most people do. I hope that whoever the Democrat nominee is, whether its me or one of my colleagues, shines a spotlight on how corruption is preventing us from being the country we can be. What does the Democratic party need to do next to address these things and create a fairer system? We have to remember our heritage as Democrats, that were the party that fights for regular people, for the little guy. That was true in the New Deal era, and it was true in the Great Society era, when another Texas Democrat was transforming this country to help working people. Weve lost touch with that unfortunately in the last few years, and we need to remember that legacy. How can you reconnect with that legacy? This quorum break is showing you how you how you can have a backbone, have a spine, and fight. Theres a Spanish word here in Texas, ganas, which is hard to translate in English. But it means heart, desire, passion that comes from something deeper, somewhere else. Thats what our party, our politics in general, is missing. You Might Also Like Melania Trump celebrated after Democratic strategist James Carville took down parts of a podcast episode that alleged a connection between her and Jeffrey Epstein, following involvement from the first ladys lawyer. At the start of Thursdays episode of his podcast, Politics War Room, Carville issued an apology, saying his team removed some comments from last weeks episode and took down an accompanying video after hearing from the first ladys attorney. After the episode, we received a letter from Melania Trumps lawyer. He took issue with our title of one of those YouTube videos from that episode and a couple of comments I made about the first lady, Carville said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We took a look at what they complained about, and we took down the video and edited out those comments from the episode. I also take back these statements and apologize. The video had been titled: The Epstein Connection: Trump & Melania. Its no longer available on YouTube. The first ladys X account was updated Thursday with a post about the videos removal, sharing a screenshot from the since-removed clip, with a big red X over it, and James Carvilles written apology. (Getty Images) The first ladys X account was updated Thursday with a post about the videos removal, sharing a screenshot from the since-removed clip, with a big red X over it, alongside Carvilles written apology. Her social media post has been liked 17,000 times, as of Friday morning. First Lady Melania Trumps attorneys are actively ensuring immediate retractions and apologies by those who spread malicious, defamatory falsehoods. The true account of how the First Lady met President Trump is in her best-selling book, Melania, a spokesperson for the first ladys office told The Independent. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Last week, legal pressure from Melania Trumps attorney also led to an apology and retraction by The Daily Beast after the site posted an article about the first lady and Epstein. The article can no longer be found on the outlets website. An editors note now appears in the articles place. After this story was published, The Beast received a letter from First Lady Melania Trumps attorney challenging the headline and framing of the article. After reviewing the matter, the Beast has taken down the article and apologizes for any confusion or misunderstanding, it reads. Before her Thursday post about Carville, the last thing Melania Trumps X account posted was a link to an article about the Daily Beast removing its piece. Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein were friends in the 1990s and early 2000s. Their friendship dissolved around the mid-2000s. After Epstein's arrest on sex trafficking charges in 2019, the president told reporters he hadn't spoken to him in 15 years. (NBC News) There has been ongoing speculation over the so-called Epstein Files ever since the Justice Department released a July 6 memo which concluded that no further investigation was warranted. It reiterated earlier official reports that the convicted sex offender died by suicide, and also stated there was no evidence to support the existence of a client list of high-profile individuals involved in his alleged sex trafficking. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The memo was disappointing to many, who had anticipated more revelations around the case. Attorney General Pam Bondi had previously said she had a truckload of information to review on the case, and even suggested the client listwas sitting on her desk. She released Phase 1 of the files in February, most of which was publicly available information. Members of Trumps MAGA following as well as lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have called for heightened transparency around the Epstein case. The president had been friendly with Epstein in the 1990s and early 2000s, with photos capturing them together at parties. Their friendship dissolved around the mid-2000s. After Epstein's arrest on sex trafficking charges in 2019, the president told reporters he hadn't spoken to him in 15 years. The president has repeatedly called Epstein a "creep." Last month, Trump revealed that he had ended his friendship with Epstein after he stole young female employees from his private club. A Mar-a-Lago member told the Miami Herald that Trump had Epstein kicked out in 2007 after the financier "harassed the daughter of a member. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump made a 50th birthday card for Epstein in 2003 that included a sexually suggestive drawing and a mention that they shared a secret. Trump has vehemently denied making the card and sued the newspaper and its owners for defamation in a $10 billion lawsuit. Trump has never been formally accused of wrongdoing or charged with any crime in connection with the Epstein case. Trump recently reached settlements with CBS News and ABC News after he filed lawsuits against the networks over allegations unrelated to Epstein. First lady Melania Trump shared an X post in triumph on Thursday after Democratic strategist James Carville retracted claims disputed by her lawyer. Carville opened his latest episode of the Politics War Room podcast with a legal note, abandoning his usual folksy and avuncular style for a more serious tone. "In last week's podcast episode, we spoke with Judd Legum," he said. "After the episode, we received a letter from Melania Trump's lawyer. He took issue with our title of one of those YouTube videos from that episode and a couple of comments I made about the first lady. We took a look at what they complained about, and we took down the video and edited out those comments from the episode. I also take back these statements and apologize." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Melania Trump shared a screenshot of the above apologys transcript and a crossed-out screenshot of a video of the episode titled, "The Epstein connection: Trump & Melania." Comer Subpoenas The Clintons, Trump's Doj In House Oversight's Epstein Probe First Lady Melania Trump speaks during a roundtable discussion on the "Take It Down Act" in the Mike Mansfield Room at the U.S. Capitol on March 3, 2025, in Washington, DC. Melania Trump's dispute was about how Carville characterized how she met her future husband. Read On The Fox News App An aide to the first lady, Nick Clemens, told Fox News Digital in a statement, "First Lady Melania Trumps attorneys are actively ensuring immediate retractions and apologies by those who spread malicious, defamatory falsehoods. The true account of how the First Lady met President Trump is in her best-selling book, Melania." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Last week, The Daily Beast pulled an article detailing allegations by journalist Michael Wolff that Melania Trump was introduced to her husband Donald Trump via a modeling agent connected to Jeffrey Epstein, after a challenge from the first ladys lawyers. Click Here For More Coverage Of Media And Culture Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville is not shy about criticizing President Trump, but apologized as he retracted claims about the first lady. The outlet shared an Editors Note in place of the article, declaring, "After this story was published, The Beast received a letter from First Lady Melania Trumps attorney challenging the headline and framing of the article. After reviewing the matter, the Beast has taken down the article and apologizes for any confusion or misunderstanding." Original article source: Melania Trump posts victory X post after James Carville removes podcast alleging 'Epstein connection' The Brief A Melvindale police lieutenant is accused of assaulting three different people who were stopped by police. Matthew Furman is charged with assault and misconduct in office for the alleged assaults, which happened in 2021 and 2024. MELVINDALE, Mich. (FOX 2) - A Melvindale police lieutenant accused of assaulting people while working three separate times was arraigned on criminal charges Friday, a day after the prosecutor's office announced charges against him and detailed the alleged crimes. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Lt. Matthew Furman is facing three counts of assault and three counts of misconduct in office. He was given a $50,000 personal bond. The backstory According to the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office, the first alleged assault happened on July 23, 2021. Authorities said that on that day, Furman joined a pursuit that ended in Dearborn. When the pursuit was over and the suspect was being held on the ground by other officers, Furman allegedly kicked the suspect in the leg and ankle multiple times while he was being placed in handcuffs. The other two alleged assaults happened last year - one in April and one in July. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On April 13, 2024, Furman stopped a woman in the parking lot of a school in the 19600 block of Wood Avenue in Melvindale for expired plates and no insurance. He asked the woman for her license and registration. According to authorities, the woman did not comply but continued to ask Furman questions until he opened her door and tried to force her out of the vehicle. When he couldn't get her out of the vehicle, he allegedly tased her in the leg before ordering the woman and her children out of the vehicle. A few months later, on July 20, 2024, Furman again allegedly used force during a traffic stop. According to the prosecutor's office, he stopped a 36-year-old Melvindale man in the area of Homestead Avenue and Wall Street in Melvindale for improper plates. When the man said he did not have his identification with him, Furman told him to get out of the vehicle and place his hands on the vehicle's roof. The prosecutor said the man did so. While the man was standing with his hands on the vehicle's roof, Furman allegedly tased him in the back. Other officers then arrived to assist with arresting the driver. Once those officers got the man on the ground, Furman allegedly put his food on his ribs. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The driver was injured, and medics were called to the scene. While the man was being treated by the Dearborn Fire Department EMS, Furman allegedly got into an argument with the driver, which led to the officer grabbing the man by his shirt and hair and pulling him against the fire truck. What they're saying "It is important to remember that the majority of our police officers are bravely placing their lives on the line every day and proudly serving with the utmost integrity. The alleged behavior of this officer is a criminal and does a disservice to the men and women who have taken an oath to protect and serve all of our citizens," said Prosecutor Kym Worthy. "The Melvindale Police Department also responded to the charges in a statement: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "The Melvindale Police Department was made aware of an officer complaint against Lieutenant Matthew Furman. An internal investigation was initiated. Due to the nature of the allegations, the Melvindale Police Department determined that the matter needed to be forwarded to an outside agency. "The Melvindale Police Department contacted the Michigan State Police Department for an external investigation. "On 08/07/2025, the Melvindale Police Department was made aware of criminal charges against Lieutenant Matthew Furman, stemming from their investigation. Lieutenant Matthew Furman was placed on unpaid administrative leave and his Michigan Commission on Law Enforcement Standards (M.C.O.L.E.S.) license was suspended. "The Melvindale Police Department would like to thank the Michigan State Police Department and the Wayne County Prosecutors Office for their assistance." The Source A Wayne County Prosecutor's Office press release was used to report this story. SAVANNAH, Ga. (WSAV) Memorial Healths chief of trauma spoke to WSAV Thursday after the hospital treated multiple victims injured in Wednesdays shooting at Fort Stewart. Memorial Health chief of trauma Dr. James Dunne once served as chief of trauma in both the Navy and Army. He said Wednesdays shooting on Ft. Stewart brought back memories of treating wounded soldiers. That was essentially what my job was when I was in the Navy, taking care of the casualties that came back from Iraq and Afghanistan, mostly the U.S Marines, but also the Army soldiers, Dunne said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Suspect in fatal 2022 Fort Stewart shooting makes first court appearance, officials say Now at a level one trauma center, he said the urgency, preparation and teamwork that he once saw in combat still applies here at home. They have a team on standby 24/7. Once we get the call, the team will organize, and well mobilize, and well be down in the trauma bay waiting for those patients to arrive, he said. And once they arrive, were pretty good about treating them and figuring out whats wrong with them and getting them to x-ray and getting to the OR in an expeditious fashion. He said the hospital can manage 66 critically injured patients at once. He added early action, like the soldiers who stopped the bleeding, can make a major difference. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Questions remain after 5 injured in Fort Stewart shooting The military is the leader, even with even in the civilian sector, about pre-hospital care, he said. They wrote the book on triple c, or tactical combat, he said. Casualty care is the best training course thats out there. He said communication is key in a high-stress situation, like a mass casualty situation. We practice two to three times a year, said Dunne. We have a well thought out, well practice plan on how to take care of a number, multitudes of severely injured people and be able to care for them, resuscitate them and get them to the operating room in an expeditious fashion. In general, a level one trauma center is set up specifically to do just that. We have level one trauma centers dedicated a significant number of resources in order to take care of the most critically injured patients that we see. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It was just chaos: Witness of Fort Stewart aftermath He said, those resources allow us to have a team ready and waiting for the patient to come in before the patient even arrives. A gunshot wound that needs to go to the operating room and in expeditious fashion, based on the resources that were able to mobilize, were able to get them to the operating room within 20 or 30 minutes, sometimes as quick as 15 minutes. Even without a mass casualty alert on Wednesday, the staff was ready to move. We werent anticipating a mass casualty situation, given the numbers, but certainly everyone was on standby, Dunne said. In fact, people were calling in and saying, hey, listen, can I help? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Army officials said a soldier still remains at Memorial Health, with a road to recovery. However, they said doctors are optimistic. 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. Men firing rifles at targets miss, hit driver on Interstate 35 originally appeared on Bring Me The News. A driver was shot in the leg as he drove south on Interstate 35 in Minnesota, with police learning that the bullet came from a group of men shooting at targets on a nearby property. The incident happened around 10:40 a.m. on I-35 near Harris, with a passenger calling 911 to report the driver, a 48-year-old Duluth man, had been shot in the leg by a bullet that entered through the driver's side door. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Deputies arrived in the area and reported "hearing gunfire consistent with rifle target shooting," according to the Chisago County Sheriff's Office. A canvass of the area and the use of a police drone led police to a private property along I-35 where three men were found shooting rifles "at a target positioned in the direction of the interstate." The three men are reportedly cooperating with police. The distance from the point of firing to where the victim was struck is about 1,500 feet. The driver sustained non-life-threatening injuries and was taken to Regions Hospital in St. Paul. Three passengers in the vehicle were not injured. Pixabay This story was originally reported by Bring Me The News on Aug 7, 2025, where it first appeared. NEW MEXICO (KRQE) On prior episodes of New Mexico Strange, KRQE covered the hauntings of Old Town Albuquerque and the Painted Lady Bed & Brew; on this episode of New Mexico Strange, News 13 Host and Anchor Chad Brummett sat down with someone who has seen it all, Magician and Mentalist Jordan Jonas, to discuss some Albuquerque hot spots for paranormal activity. Jonas, the self-proclaimed professional weirdo, has been connected with New Mexicos haunted scene for years now. Working as an entertainer, mind-reader, and ghost tour guide, Jonass time as a practitioner of the dark arts has led to many extraordinary happenings. Jonas detailed a few of the paranormal encounters he had while guiding ghost tours in Albuquerque and even talked through the time he felt a stabbing pain while trying to contact spirits at the Painted Lady Bed & Brew. On this episode of New Mexico Strange, Jonas details his reactions to the presence of certain spirits, speaks on photos capturing ghosts in Old Town, and demonstrates his mind-reading skills with Brummett. Jonas has relocated to Chicago, but you can still see his work online and at various venues; to stay up-to-date with his latest projects, click here. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement About New Mexico Strange New Mexico is perceived worldwide as a mecca for the extraordinary. Whether its the healing soil of Chimayo, the haunted trails of the Old West, or visitors from the final frontier, our state is home to countless myths and mysteries. New Mexico Strange is KRQE News 13s online exclusive web series, celebrating our unique history and shedding light on the shadows of the unexplained, unexplored, and unknown. Hosted by Chad Brummett, New Mexico Strange takes viewers through some of the Land of Enchantments most mysterious folklore and conspiracies. 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. FORT SMITH, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) Mercy, in partnership with the Cherokee Nation, has begun construction on a 40,000-square-foot expansion of its oncology services in Fort Smith. The new center will consolidate Mercy Fort Smiths existing oncology services, relocate radiation therapy and expand infusion capacity, according to a news release. The projects estimated cost is $41 million, with potential additional phases increasing the total to $55 million. Construction is expected to finish by spring 2027. COURTESY: Mercy Fort Smith COURTESY: Mercy Fort Smith COURTESY: Mercy Fort Smith COURTESY: Mercy Fort Smith COURTESY: Mercy Fort Smith Planned upgrades include additional linear accelerators, advanced imaging, more infusion chairs and more than doubling the number of oncology physicians and specialists. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Fort Smith Regional Airport to host Global Entry enrollment event The Cherokee Nation has contributed $8 million to the project as part of its initiative to improve cancer care access for tribal citizens and the regional population. Each year, more than 5,000 people in the River Valley are diagnosed with cancer, according to the release. With other providers reducing services or closing, Mercy Fort Smith has reached capacity, causing 30% to 40% of patients to seek care outside the area. 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 KNWA FOX24. Body camera footage shows a Mesa County Sheriff's deputy conducting a traffic stop of Utah student Caroline Dias Goncalves on June 5, 2025. Dias Goncalves was arrested by federal immigration authorities shortly thereafter. (Screenshot from Mesa County Sheriff's Officer YouTube) Mesa County is suing top Colorado officials over a state law that limits the type of information local law enforcement can share with federal immigration authorities, continuing fallout from a June traffic stop in the county that led to a Utah college students 15-day detention. The lawsuit, filed Thursday in federal court in Denver, alleges that the Colorado law, known as Article 74, is vague to the point of being unconstitutional and interferes with the federal governments constitutional discretion over immigration. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The vagueness and lack of clarity surrounding the operation and scope of Article 74, coupled with the severe penalties and hardships for noncompliance, has caused confusion among law enforcement agencies, systemically chilled Plaintiffs interactions with federal law enforcement, and caused the Mesa County Sheriffs Office to pull back from cooperation with federal law enforcement agencies, the lawsuit says. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Article 74, created through bills passed in 2021 and this year, prohibits local law enforcement and government officials from sharing certain information with federal agents for the purpose of immigration enforcement. There are exceptions for active criminal investigations. Earlier this summer, Mesa County Sheriffs Deputy Alexander Zwinck pulled over a 19-year old college student from Utah, Caroline Dias Goncalves, for trailing a semitrailer too closely. Zwinck let Goncalves go with a warning, but told immigration officials about her presence in the county through a Signal group chat meant for drug enforcement operations. Goncalves, who is from Brazil and has applied for asylum, was then detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents for nearly two weeks. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Afterwards, Mesa County Sheriff Todd Rowell placed Zwinck on a three-week unpaid leave and Attorney General Phil Weiser filed a lawsuit against the deputy. Rowell is a plaintiff in the countys lawsuit against the state. We will not stand by while our employees are targeted for doing their jobs. Mesa County Attorney Todd Starr The statutes lack of clarity creates a significant risk, as weve already seen, of arbitrary enforcement, which could lead to substantial fines and legal challenges against our employees, Mesa County Attorney Todd Starr said during a county commissioner meeting on Tuesday. This action sends a clear message: We will not stand by while our employees are targeted for doing their jobs. This step is not just lawful, its necessary. It protects those who protect our community and ensures they can continue to work without fear of politically motivated litigation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The lawsuit alleges that Article 74 has compromised criminal investigations in Mesa County related to drug smuggling, child exploitation and sex crimes because it limits collaboration with local and federal law enforcement. The county wants a federal judge to clarify that law enforcement and government employees violate Article 74 only if they disclose personal information for the sole purpose of helping with immigration enforcement, and that local law enforcement can inquire about someones immigration status for reasonable and legitimate law enforcement purposes. Weiser and Gov. Jared Polis are named as defendants. In a statement, Weiser spokesperson Lawrence Pacheco wrote that Colorados law is clear that state law enforcement does not do federal civil immigration enforcement. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Its unfortunate that Mesa County filed this lawsuit. The Department of Law has a responsibility to follow facts and defend and enforce state law. Well continue to take this duty seriously, he wrote. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) An Oklahoma City woman said shes had enough after paying thousands for a shed that is falling apart and a contractor who has dodged her calls. I mean, Ive been lied to so much and Im still being lied to, said Ericka Rumbo. Rumbo wanted a new shed to replace her old one. She said she bought a shed at a Lowes in Southwest Oklahoma City near the beginning of July for just under $5,000. She said Lowes had contracted the building of the shed out to Building Products LLC, and a worker came by to start building on July 28th. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A worker came by and worked on the shed for several days, and when he said they were finished, Rumbo pointed out several issues. There are nails just sticking out everywhere, said Rumbo. The shed she paid for had come with vents, but she showed us there were no vents. A wooden pole on the doors fell off when Rumbo showed News 4 the problems. Did you see that? Its literally falling apart in my backyard, said Rumbo. LOCAL: Scared and sad: OKC neighborhood left with bills after teen vandals target pools The joists were meant to be 16 feet apart, but Rumbo measured them and showed that they were only a foot apart. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement That means to fix it, youd have to tear it all down, said Rumbo. There was over an inch gap in the ceiling where you could see the roof from inside the shed. Thats just asking for hail to fall through, said Rumbo. Some of the wooden planks inside the shed were torn apart. There were also nails left all around the shed, as well as shingles and trash. There were gaps near the top of the shed, among many other issues. Im not upset at the worker; it was over 100 degrees outside, and I could tell he needed someone else outside with him. The manual requires two people or more to build the shed. The person I spoke with laughed when I mentioned that, said Rumbo. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Rumbo said for over a week, shes been trying to get in contact with someone to fix her problems. She said she reached out to almost a dozen people between Lowes, the shed manufacturer, and Backyard Products. The whole time shes tried to get a hold of somebody, everything that was inside her old shed was sitting in her yard and on her porch. It rained, so all of that had to be moved to the porch, said Rumbo. LOCAL: Husband and wife charged with embezzlement in Wilson She said that she wanted it to get fixed, but because of the lack of communication and how long it has taken, shes just looking for a refund and for them to tear down the shed. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Someone from Backyard Products was supposed to come Thursday morning, but News 4 was with her Thursday, and in the afternoon, nobody had yet arrived. Everybody just seems to give me the runaround. They dont seem to care, said Rumbo. News 4 called a manager at Backyard Properties several times and even left a message. An hour or so after that call, Rumbo said they had a worker come by to take the shed, but she had to leave for work. She was told they would come back Friday morning. A representative from Lowes got back immediately after a Thursday email and said they are working as soon as possible on getting the situation resolved for Rumbo. They have her situation with Customer Relations. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. The Mexican government is considering suing Elon Musk's SpaceX after a Starship rocket exploded during testing near Boca Chica Beach on June 18, sending chunks of debris across the Rio Grande and into Mexico, according to multiple media reports. What's happening? Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said at a news conference that investigators are determining whether Musk's SpaceX testing in South Texas is contributing to excessive pollution and marine die-off in her country, as reported by USA Today. Sheinbaum said Mexico "will file any necessary claims" if the investigation finds violations of international law. Why is this important? This is hardly the first time Musk's SpaceX has drawn the ire of governments, conservationists, and communities near test sites, raising questions not only about the program's environmental ramifications but also its impact on public health. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In 2023, for instance, testing caused a cloud of "brown grime" to blanket Port Isabel, Texas, according to The New York Times, and resulted in earthquake-like shaking. One resident called the experience "truly terrifying." The testing troubles have continued in the years since. The San Antonio Express-News noted that three consecutive Starships launched from South Texas have now broken up while in the air, causing nearly 500 flight delays or diversions and costing airlines and aircraft operators millions of dollars. What's being done about this? The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration determined in 2022 that SpaceX launches "would not significantly impact the quality of the human environment within the meaning of [the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969]." However, public opposition to the SpaceX testing is ongoing. The Surfrider Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting oceans and beaches, also challenged those findings in court after a launch explosion in April 2023, saying the agency "failed to assess and mitigate the full range of environmental and beach access impacts of the large project." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement For its part, SpaceX also remained steadfast after the June 18 incident that its Starship debris poses "no chemical, biological, or toxicological risks," according to independent testing. "We have requested local and federal assistance from the government of Mexico in the recovery of anomaly related debris, offered resources and assistance in the clean-up, and have sought validation of SpaceX's right to conduct recovery operations," the company wrote on X. However, President Sheinbaum has refuted these findings, saying that Mexican scientists discovered that the space debris was harming wildlife in the state of Tamaulipas and the Gulf of Mexico. "There is indeed contamination," she said, per the Express-News. 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. NEW MEXICO (KRQE) After more than two years in captivity, a New Mexico wolf is now back in the wild. Asha the Mexican grey wolf has been at the center of a long running controversy. Asha attracted attention across the country, she is even the star of a book. Story continues below Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In 2023, Asha made headlines for wandering beyond a Mexican wolf boundary set by the U.S. government to protect her endangered species. Weve been happy to advocate for a young female wolf following her instincts, said Chris Smith Wildlife Program Director, WildEarth Guardians. Especially the fact that her journeys have taken her into northern New Mexico, where wolves used to roam and I hope will roam again. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service captured Asha and kept her in captivity. Their reasoning was to keep her with her kind. But they faced back lash from animal advocacy groups who argued she should be allowed to live freely and follow her wild instincts. Theyre a critically imperiled species. Theyre iconic here in New Mexico. Thats where UNM gets its mascot, the lobos, and they play a critical ecosystem role, said Smith. For years, groups have demanded for her release. The pressure increased after she gave birth to five pups in June. My hope is that her pups reach, you know, a mature age and find mates and start new packs and so, her really valuable genetic material and her mates genetic material are dispersed throughout that population. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife service confirmed her pups and her mate, Arcadia were released August 6. Ranchers have raised concerns about wolves threatening their livestock, but federal wildlife officials said they will step in to help if conflicts arise. Groups like WildEarth Guardians argue that research shows wolves are not a major cause of livestock losses. We should be sympathetic, but wolves are not the huge impact to the livestock industry that they want you to believe. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Wildlife Guardians said Ashas release was pushed along by a letter demanding it from more 8,000 citizens and 36 conservation organizations. 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. U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez addresses a small group of oil workers, families and organizers in Hobbs on Thursday, Aug. 7, 2024. Vasquez announced the reintroduction of legislation to require the largest oil and gas companies to pay into funds for workers health care. (Danielle Prokop / Source NM) HOBBS, NM His voice steady, Marcos Carranza, an immigrant and retired oil and gas worker, recounted that he saw coworkers die on the job during his 15 years in the industry. The most vulnerable workers need the most support since they are affected the most, Carranza said in Spanish. Marcos Carranza, a retired oil and gas worker said he saw workplace accidents and insufficient safety equipment result in the deaths of coworkers in the 15 years he worked in the industry. (Danielle Prokop / Source NM) U.S. Rep. Gabe Vasquez (D-N.M.), who represents border communities in New Mexicos 2nd Congressional District, says hes hoping to help provide that support. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement After a day of triple-digit heat across much of the Southwestern corner of the state, Vasquez on Aug. 7 announced the reintroduction of legislation mandating oil and gas companies to pay for oil and gas workers health care costs. You are the ones sacrificing your bodies, your health, Vasquez said to the crowd of about two dozen people, including oil workers and their families, gathered under the awning in Heizer Park for the announcement. Most wore yellow shirts emblazoned with the sunburst logo of immigrant rights group Somos Un Pueblo Unido. Earlier this year, Somos Un Pueblo Unido released a report with researchers from the University of New Mexico that documents conditions for workers in the oil-and-gas producing Permian Basin, including: work days exceeding 12 hours; dangerous driving conditions; hazardous workplaces; and a lack of access to health care or unemployment benefits during injuries or downturns. New Mexicos Permian counties including Eddy and Lea counties consistently rank poorly on national surveys of air quality and Southeastern counties have reported high rates of asthma hospitalizations, particularly in Chaves County. Vasquezs legislation, introduced on Tuesday, requires oil and gas companies making more than $50 million a year in revenues to pay into a trust fund to reimburse oil and gas workers for medical costs related to low air quality and prolonged heat exposure. Vasquez introduced a similar measure in 2023. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The fund, which requires contributions equal to the total paid to each companys 10 top-compensated employees, would allow reimbursement for out-of-pocket medical costs to oil and gas workers, their spouses and children for certain health conditions, including asthma; illnesses due to heat exposure; and cardiovascular diseases linked to methane exposure. In the new version of the bill, Vasquez is also calling for a federal study of long-term health outcomes in oil and gas producing states: New Mexico, Texas, North Dakota, Colorado, Louisiana and Alaska. Vasquez noted that Latino and Hispanic workers, many of them immigrants, represent a significant portion of New Mexicos oil and gas workforce. The U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics estimates Latino and Hispanic workers accounted for one-third of the national workforce in 2024. Its really important to me that the Hispanic community in the Southeast part of New Mexico feels that they are represented, that they are taken care of, for their contributions in this country, he said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Vasquez said that people who are undocumented or hired by contractors or subcontractors are vulnerable to losing out on unemployment and health care, and this fund would address some of the gaps. We cannot accept that these folks dont deserve the same level of health care that other workers deserve, Vasquez told Source NM. When it comes to respiratory diseases not just for them, but for their families as well they must be taken care of. Because if were going to generate billions of dollars for the oil gas companies, we should also be able to spare enough to take care of the people who actually make those profits. Vasquez said Republicans in the administration are using harmful rhetoric and immigration enforcement to threaten U.S. oil and gas security, saying he hopes to offer a reality shock to members in Congress. They have to also come to accord with the fact that the majority of the Hispanic population here that is now being targeted for deportation from ICE is going to detract from those economic goals of the Republican Party, he said. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX NEW MEXICO (KRQE) A New Mexico man has pleaded guilty to charges from an assault that left another man with severe injuries. James Williams Julian pleaded guilty to assault resulting in serious bodily injury and faces up to ten years in prison when sentenced. Story continues below Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to court records, Julian, an enrolled member of the Jicarilla Apache Tribe, assaulted the victim on February 2, 2025. Court records state Julian repeatedly punched the victim in the face, which caused serious injury. When sentenced, Julian will be subject to three years of supervised release when released from 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 KRQE NEWS 13 - Breaking News, Albuquerque News, New Mexico News, Weather, and Videos. SANTA FE, N.M. (KRQE) New Mexico is one of seven states that have been selected to receive a College in High School Alliance (CHSA) grant for expanding high school dual enrollment opportunities. The funding is specifically meant for students in rural and low-income areas. Story continues below Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The initiative says its focusing on these three goals: setting a statewide vision for dual enrollment, expanding dual enrollment access, and creating intentional dual enrollment experiences with structured pathways toward college credentials. Statewide meetings involving stakeholders are planned for the fall. The College in High School Alliance is a group of organizations working together to improve policies and support programs, The New Mexico Higher Education Department and The New Mexico Public Education Department stated in a press release. These programs help high school students enroll in affordable college pathways leading to degrees and certificates, with necessary support. The New Mexico Dual Credit Program is a collaborative effort with NMHED, NMPED, local districts and charters, and higher education institutions through the New Mexico Dual Credit 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 KRQE NEWS 13 - Breaking News, Albuquerque News, New Mexico News, Weather, and Videos. Mexico's government said Friday it was seeking compensation from Adidas, which is accused of cultural appropriation for bringing out sandals resembling traditional design from the southern state of Oaxaca. The Oaxaca Slip-On sandals were created by US fashion designer Willy Chavarria, who has Mexican heritage, but drew pushback from officials in Oaxaca, who say he did not receive authorization from the Indigenous community behind the original design. The government said that Adidas had agreed to meet with Oaxaca authorities, who argue that the sandal is modelled on the traditional "huarache" (sandal) of the village of Villa de Hidalgo Yalalag. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "It's collective intellectual property. There must be compensation. The heritage law must be complied with," President Claudia Sheinbaum said during her regular morning press conference. The controversy is the latest instance of Mexican officials denouncing major brands or designers using unauthorized Indigenous art or designs from the region, with previous complaints raised about fast fashion juggernaut Shein, Spain's Zara and high-end label Carolina Herrera. yug/cb/sst Mexicos President Claudia Sheinbaum said Friday that any US military presence Mexican soil to combat drug cartels was absolutely off the table, in response to a New York Times report that US President Donald Trump had signed a Pentagon directive initiating the use of military force against drug trafficking organizations. We cooperate, we collaborate, but there will be no invasion, Sheinbaum said. Earlier this year, Trump ordered that certain cartels including five Mexican syndicates be designated as foreign terrorist organizations, raising the specter of unilateral US intervention in Latin America. On Thursday, the US doubled its bounty for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduros arrest to $50 million a gesture that critics described as largely symbolic. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum insisted Friday that there would be "no invasion of Mexico" following reports that President Donald Trump had ordered the U.S. military to target Latin American drug cartels. "There will be no invasion of Mexico," Sheinbaum declared after The New York Times reported that Mr. Trump had secretly signed a directive ordering military force against cartels his administration has declared terrorist organizations. "We were informed that this executive order was coming and that it had nothing to do with the participation of any military personnel or any institution in our territory," Sheinbaum told her regular morning news conference. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement AFP contacted the Pentagon to confirm the order but has not yet received a response. The Times said Mr. Trump's directive provided an official basis for military operations at sea or on foreign soil against the cartels. Separately, the Reuters news agency, citing law enforcement documents, reported that the FBI is seeking to add drug cartel suspects to the U.S. government's terrorist watch list. White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly, while not confirming the reports, said in a statement that Mr. Trump's "top priority is protecting the homeland, which is why he took the bold step to designate several cartels and gangs as foreign terrorist organizations." In February, the Trump administration designated eight drug trafficking groups as terrorist organizations. Six are Mexican, one is Venezuelan, and the eighth originates in El Salvador. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday the administration could use the designations to "target" cartels. "It allows us to now target what they're operating and to use other elements of American power, intelligence agencies, the Department of Defense, whatever ... to target these groups if we have an opportunity to do it," Rubio said. "We have to start treating them as armed terrorist organizations, not simply drug dealing organizations." After the designations were announced in February, Sheinbaum also warned that Mexico would never tolerate an invasion by the United States. "This cannot be an opportunity for the U.S. to invade our sovereignty," she said at the time. "With Mexico it is collaboration and coordination, never subordination or interventionism, and even less invasion." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Two weeks ago, the Trump administration designated another Venezuelan gang as a foreign terrorist organization, the Cartel of the Suns, which has shipped hundreds of tons of narcotics into the United States over two decades. On Thursday, the U.S. Justice Department doubled to $50 million its bounty on Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro, whom it accuses of leading the Cartel of the Suns. Venezuela has denounced the allegations. Venezuela's Foreign Minister Yvan Gil dismissed the bounty as "the most ridiculous smokescreen we have ever seen." Global stock markets react to Trump's sweeping tariffs in effect now Sean "Diddy" Combs wants to go back to Madison Square Garden in the future, attorney says Israel's Security Cabinet approves plan to take over Gaza City By Raul Cortes MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -Mexico is looking for footwear giant Adidas to pony up after a Mexican-American designer, Willy Chavarria, working with the firm launched a shoe inspired by a traditional Indigenous sandal, authorities said on Friday. Chavarria, who has been hailed in the United States for his work bringing Latino issues to light - including his controversial collection touching on the alleged gang members locked up at El Salvador's notorious CECOT prison - recently dropped the "Oaxaca Slip On" shoe, a sneaker sole topped with the weave of Mexico's huarache sandals. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Critics in Mexico argued that the shoe uses the name of the southern Mexican state, a major manufacturer of the traditional leather sandals, while Chavarria's design is manufactured in China and Indigenous artisans received no credit or benefit from the multinational firm. "Big companies often take products, ideas and designs from Indigenous communities," Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum said in her morning press conference. "We are looking at the legal part to be able to support them." Deputy Culture Minister Marina Nunez confirmed that Adidas had contacted Oaxacan officials to discuss "restitution to the people who were plagiarized." The dispute is the latest by Mexico to protect its traditional designs from global fashion firms, having previously lodged complaints against Zara-owner Inditex and Louis Vuitton. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Chavarria said in a statement on Saturday that he was "deeply sorry that the shoe was appropriated in this design and not developed in direct and meaningful partnership with the Oaxacan community." His approach fell short of the respect the community deserved, he said, stating that his intention had always been to "honor the powerful cultural and artistic spirit of Oaxaca and its creative communities," the statement added. Adidas did not respond to a request for comment. Chavarria, born in the United States to an Irish-American mother and a Mexican-American father, had told Sneaker News in a prior interview that he had intended to celebrate his cultural heritage through his work with Adidas. (Reporting by Raul Cortes; Editing by Kylie Madry, Anna Driver and Mark Porter) The Brief A Metro Detroit father is still waiting for justice for his 22-year-old daughter who was killed in 2023. The father says a family member was picked up twice in the case, but hes been told theres not enough evidence despite the video and witnesses. WAYNE COUNTY, Mich. (FOX 2) - A Metro Detroit father is still waiting for justice for his 22-year-old daughter who was killed. Meanwhile, he has video evidence and has been talking to witnesses, but still no one has been tried for his childs murder. Big picture view Claude Joseph Jr. had just buried his 22-year-old daughter and the time FOX 2 talked with him, he was becoming more exasperated. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Now, hes unequivocal he wants the person responsible arrested and prosecuted. "I dont see how the Detroit police or prosecutor's office or anyone, Kim Worthy, can watch that video and not charge anyone. Its horrifying," said Joseph. The backstory It was December 2023 when 22-year-old Jackquline Joseph was shot in the chest in Indiana near Tireman. Claude says a family member was picked up twice in the case, but hes been told theres not enough evidence despite the video and witnesses. "Its been sickening, I really cant explain it," Joseph said. "Its so many thoughts and emotions. What would anybody think." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement When I asked, the Detroit police said theyre deferring to the Wayne County Prosecutors Office. What they're saying They sent FOX 2 a statement: "We denied this case for insufficient evidence and there was a request further investigation by the police. It was returned and reviewed and again denied for insufficient evidence to charge a case beyond a reasonable doubt. We understand that the family is disappointed with this outcome, but if we cant prove a case beyond a reasonable doubt it is our duty to not issue charges." Claude says he has been doing everything he can. He is talking to witnesses and reaching out to the Board of Police Commisioners looking for any kind of help. He is not going to stop fighting until he gets justice. If you know anything, you can reach out to Detroit police or call Crimestoppers at 1-800-SPEAKUP. LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) The Michigan Department of Attorney General has launched Operation Robocall Roundup, a multistate effort to crack down on robocalls nationwide, according to a statement released Thursday. Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel reports that she and 50 other attorneys general are sending warning letters to 37 telecom companies, demanding that they stop illegal robocalls being routed through their networks. Operation Robocall Roundup will help ensure voice service providers do their part to stop illegal robocalls, Nessel said in a news release sent to 6 News. I look forward to continuing to work with the Anti-Robocall Litigation Task Force to protect people from these persistent and intrusive calls. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The department says that these providers havent followed Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requirements by disregarding government requests and failing to file plans to reduce illegal calls. The Anti-Robocall Litigation Task Force will also send the letters to more than 100 other providers that accept call traffic from the 37 companies. The FCC reports that it will remove seven of these providers from the Robocall Mitigation Database, meaning that other providers will no longer be allowed to accept and route any calls from their networks. The voice service providers receiving warning letters are: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advantage Investors LLC Alpha Stream Ananya Traders LLC Ariyan Khan BBT Voice Private Limited Belthrough BPO VoIP Collection 3 LLC Communications and Telephone Systems Co. Dial Vista Corp. DigitalOcean, LLC Dtel Network LLC End Zone Financial Services EON Telecom Inc. Family Communication Inc. Fiber Flux VOIP First Tele Communications Inc. Flow VOIP LLC Globe Tech Solutions Higher Response Marketing, Inc. HK KwaiFong Group Limited Infinity SIP LLC Lexico Telecom LTD / Lextel LTD Mexico IP Phones LLC Nexusphere VOIP LLC Pleedex LLC Quantum Link VOIP LLC Ringnition SK Teleco LLC SkyPulse VOIP Stacy Newsome LNCC LCC Telnextrix LLC Terra Voip TheVisionConnect Tiera Enterprises LLC Voip Torque Whisl Telecom, LLC / Telconus / Telcon US / Telcon Voice 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 WLNS 6 News. The Michigan Lottery offers several draw games for those aiming to win big. Heres a look at Aug. 7, 2025, results for each game: Winning Daily 3 numbers from Aug. 7 drawing Midday: 7-4-4 Evening: 1-4-0 Check Daily 3 payouts and previous drawings here. Winning Daily 4 numbers from Aug. 7 drawing Midday: 8-0-8-8 Evening: 1-8-0-5 Check Daily 4 payouts and previous drawings here. Winning Lucky For Life numbers from Aug. 7 drawing 16-25-26-27-36, Lucky Ball: 16 Check Lucky For Life payouts and previous drawings here. Winning Poker Lotto numbers from Aug. 7 drawing AC-9C-10D-2S-4S Check Poker Lotto payouts and previous drawings here. Winning Fantasy 5 numbers from Aug. 7 drawing 03-13-18-24-35 Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 12-15-18-24-31 Check Fantasy 5 payouts and previous drawings here. Winning Daily Keno numbers from Aug. 7 drawing 02-03-05-07-14-18-20-26-42-44-46-49-50-51-52-57-58-66-68-71-72-74 Check Daily Keno payouts and previous drawings here. Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news & results Are you a winner? Heres how to claim your lottery prize All Michigan Lottery retailers can redeem prizes up to $600. For prizes up to $99,999.99, winners have the option to submit their claim by mail or in person at one of Michigan Lotterys Regional Offices. To claim by mail, complete a ticket receipt form, sign your winning ticket, and send it along with original copies of your government-issued photo ID and Social Security card to the address below. Ensure the names on your ID and Social Security card match exactly. Claims should be mailed to: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Michigan Lottery Attn: Claim Center 101 E. Hillsdale P.O. Box 30023 Lansing, MI 48909 For prizes over $100,000, winners must claim their prize in person at the Michigan Lottery Headquarters in Lansing located at 101 E. Hillsdale in downtown Lansing. Each winner must present original versions of a valid government-issued photo ID (typically a drivers license or state ID) and a Social Security card, ensuring that the names on both documents match exactly. To schedule an appointment, please call the Lottery Player Relations office at 844-887-6836, option 2. If you prefer to claim in person at one of the Michigan Lottery Regional Offices for prizes under $100,000, appointments are required. Until further notice, please call 1-844-917-6325 to schedule an appointment. Regional office locations are as follows: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Lansing: 101 E. Hillsdale St. Lansing; Phone: 844-917-6325 Livonia: 33231 Plymouth Road, Livonia; Phone: 844-917-6325 Sterling Heights: 34700 Dequindre Road, Sterling Heights; Phone: 844-917-6325 Detroit: Cadillac Place, 3060 W. Grand Blvd., Suite L-600, Detroit; Phone: 844-917-6325 Grand Rapids: 3391-B Plainfield Ave. NE, Grand Rapids; Phone: 844-917-6325 Saginaw: Jerome T. Hart State Office Building, 411 E. Genesee Ave., Saginaw; Phone: 844-917-6325 For additional information, downloadable forms, and instructions, visit the Michigan Lottery's prize claim page. When are Michigan Lottery drawings held? Daily 3 & Daily 4: Midday at 12:59 p.m., Evening at 7:29 p.m. Fantasy 5: 7:29 p.m. daily Poker Lotto: 7:29 p.m. daily Lotto 47: 7:29 p.m. Wednesday and Saturday Lucky for Life: 10:38 p.m. daily Daily Keno: 7:29 p.m. daily This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by a Michigan editor. You can send feedback using this form. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan Lottery Daily 3, Daily 4 results for Aug. 7, 2025 LAUREL COUNTY, Ky. (FOX 56) Deputies with the Laurel County Sheriffs Office (LCSO) are seeking a man and woman accused of breaking a motel window before allegedly nearly running people over while fleeing the scene. Authorities posted on Facebook around 10:30 a.m. on Aug. 8 that Lissa Marie Shephard, 37, of Springport, Michigan, and a man who may go by the first name Darnell were allegedly caught breaking a motel window by security camera footage. LATEST KENTUCKY NEWS: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to the sheriffs office, the pair was also allegedly seen fleeing the scene in a white Ford Focus nearly running over people in the parking lot. Lissa MArie Shephard, 37, of Michigan, is wanted for allegedly breaking a motel window. (Laurel County Sheriffs Office) Police are also searching for a man that reportedly may go by the name Darnell. Authorities said security camera footage captured him allegedly breaking a motel window. (Laurel County Sheriffs Office) The interior of a motel where a window was broken on Aug. 8. (Laurel County Sheriffs Office) A view from outside a Laurel County motel, where a window was broken on Aug. 8. (Laurel County Sheriffs Office) Anyone with information that could help find Shephard or the man is asked to contact the LCSO at (606) 684-6600 or email g.acciardo@laurelcountysheriff.gov. 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. In 2023, Justine Wilson launched her Curious and Kind Education forest-based microschool in Sarasota, Fla. Enrollment there, much like the rest of the microschool sector, has seen a boom, and operators such as Wilson believe state laws are a key to the future growth of alternative school settings like hers. (Photo courtesy of Justine Wilson) When Siri Fiske founded the Mysa Microschool in Washington, D.C., in 2016, there wasnt a widely accepted term for her small, one-room schoolhouse model. Now, the school is referred to on its website as one of the first microschools in the nation, and Fiske has seen a growing microschool movement since the COVID-19 pandemic. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In the five years since remote schooling amid pandemic-era lockdowns, microschools and homeschooling have emerged as increasingly popular alternatives to traditional public and private models. Smaller class sizes, individualized classrooms and lack of standardization are an appeal to parents, Fiske said. Theres this idea that people who open microschools are doing it for cultish or religious reasons, and theres a misconception that all are like that, Fiske said. Ive seen my students graduate into top colleges. Theres many ways to achieve academic success. Some education experts, however, have expressed concern about the growing movement. They question whether microschools are properly regulated and being held accountable, and whether theyll pull dollars out of the public education system. There is no federal definition of a microschool, and with the Trump administrations plans to shutter the U.S. Department of Education, the onus is on states to figure them out. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Schools calling themselves microschools today are not what I wouldve called one back then. But I think thats OK. Its evolving. Siri Fiske, founder and head of Mysa School In some states, microschools face a bind: If they operate as private schools, theyre required to meet facility, staffing and curricular standards that are often cost-prohibitive for schools their size. If they operate under homeschool laws, they face oversight, assessment mandates and reporting requirements that arent designed for multifamily or educator-led models. Some states, including Georgia, Tennessee and Texas, have passed Learning Rights Protection Acts to codify microschools right to operate. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts and Oregon, learning pods and microschools often face child care or private school licensing requirements if they involve multiple families, hire instructors or provide compensation for child care. Schools calling themselves microschools today are not what I wouldve called one back then. But I think thats OK. Its evolving, Fiske said. She pointed to the national school choice movement and states such as West Virginia for helping the microschool movement flourish. In 2022, West Virginia became one of the few states to define a microschool, distinctly separating it from a private school, homeschool or learning pod. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Those classifications, and how these schools are funded and regulated, affect everything from whether a school must hire certified teachers to how it ensures student safety or civil rights protections. And with more public dollars flowing to private or hybrid learning options through vouchers and education savings accounts to the detriment of public school funding, some argue states will need to define these schools and their place in the ecosystem. States will have to fill the gaps, said Weade James, senior director of K-12 education policy with the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning policy think tank. Accountability can vary wildly. Some microschools arent required to have certified teachers, conduct annual assessments, or even guarantee civil rights protections, said James. If public voucher dollars are going to a microschool, there has to be some level of oversight and accountability. Many microschools arent accredited Microschools defy easy classification, and many advocates argue thats by design. Don Soifer, CEO of the National Microschooling Center, an industry group, cautions lawmakers against rushing to impose fixed legal definitions. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Innovation is happening too fast. The moment you define it in law, it becomes obsolete, Soifer said. A 2024 sector analysis by the National Microschooling Center one of the only sources of national data on the topic found that many schools are operating outside traditional education principles. In a survey of 400 microschools across 41 states, more than 60% of founders reported they were not currently licensed educators. Eighty-four percent reported their schools were not accredited. Among prospective founders, 48% are licensed educators (though only 14% currently work in public schools), 32% come from non-education fields, and 23% are parents building schools for their own children. Most microschools (55%) operate under homeschool laws, while others function as private schools (37%), charters (6%) or fall into unique state categories (3%), according to the analysis. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement So, you can be a private or homeschool microschool program, where you arent required to provide students with certified teachers, or you arent required to conduct annual assessments, James said. Often described as homeschool hybrids or small-scale learning communities, microschools often serve around 16 students or fewer, and tend to cater to families with average or above-average incomes in their area. In some states, microschools have been authorized to receive public funds through voucher programs. Some critics note that, like private schools, microschools may charge tuition, potentially excluding lower-income families and contributing to educational disparities. These schools often operate in commercial spaces (41%), private residences (28%) or houses of worship (25%), according to the National Microschooling Center. The center also found the movement is diversifying: 37% of prospective founders are people of color, compared with 27% of current operators. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Because building and zoning codes vary from state to state and locality to locality, many operators may be unaware of the extra costs to meet school codes standards. Fiske recalls difficulties in expanding from Washington, D.C., to Vermont, which has stricter laws on water fountain requirements. Most people in the U.S. starting a microschool are doing it under the radar because the regulations to open a licensed school are so intense, Fiske said. For the new school, she recalled, it took us forever, and we had to install ADA-compliant toilets and water fountains for just 10 kids in Vermont. Microschooling is not one thing Microschools also operate in a legal gray zone, often outside the traditional K-12 system and subject to a patchwork of state and local policies that can either support or constrain their growth. Growth has accelerated in conservative-leaning states with robust school choice programs, such as Arizona and Florida. Other states, such as Maryland, New York and North Dakota, have more restrictive homeschool or private school laws. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Microschooling is not one thing. These schools look different in every state, and the policy frameworks around them vary wildly, said Soifer, of the National Microschooling Center. What is classified as a microschool can vary from 10 kids in a basement in Kentucky to a 200-kid schoolhouse elsewhere. Fiske said states need to create a way for operators and parents to know what to expect in a certain state, and help willing operators get the education and business acumen they need to run the schools successfully. But if you look at who is starting microschools in the U.S., its a lot of millennial parents who may not have any teacher training but wanted to create a learning environment for their children and others in the local community, said Fiske. And without efforts by the state to provide some incentives to earn accreditation and information as both a school and a small business, a few of these will find themselves going under. Seeking choices After two decades working in conventional schools in the United States and around the world including in Brazil, Egypt and Qatar Justine Wilson turned down a high-paying leadership role at a prestigious private school. Instead, in 2023 she opened Curious and Kind Education, a two-day-a-week microschool in Sarasota, Florida, built around trust, nature-based learning and self-directed play. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Enrollment at Curious and Kind is mostly driven by word of mouth, she said. The program now has a waitlist. And Wilson has seen her enrollment grow from 18 students in her first year to roughly 100 students for the upcoming school year. The number of 5-year-olds on my waitlist is shocking, she said, and then I realized theyre COVID babies and their parents have really been driving this search for alternative schooling since the pandemic. James, of the Center for American Progress, questions whether microschools generally match the quality of traditional public schools, which still educate more than 80% of schoolchildren. She says families may be under the assumption that school choice options equate to better quality. We have created an illusion of choice to be quality, and I think a lot of families are seeking various choice options because they associate that with quality. But that doesnt necessarily mean that where those students are going is any better than where they left, she said. We need to take a closer look at what we are presenting to families, James said. Its not just about having options and having a choice. Its about having quality choice options. That quality, Soifer said, is what microschools are trying to achieve. Microschools do very well on the left, on the right at the top end of the economy and at the fragile end of the income spectrum, he said. Its really a matter of the new economy and a new way of thinking about education. Stateline reporter Robbie Sequeira can be reached at rsequeira@stateline.org. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE In 2023, Justine Wilson launched her Curious and Kind Education forest-based microschool in Sarasota, Fla. Enrollment there, much like the rest of the microschool sector, has seen a boom, and operators such as Wilson believe state laws are a key to the future growth of alternative school settings like hers. (Courtesy of Justine Wilson) When Siri Fiske founded the Mysa Microschool in Washington, D.C., in 2016, there wasnt a widely accepted term for her small, one-room schoolhouse model. Now, the school is referred to on its website as one of the first microschools in the nation, and Fiske has seen a growing microschool movement since the COVID-19 pandemic. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In the five years since remote schooling amid pandemic-era lockdowns, microschools and homeschooling have emerged as increasingly popular alternatives to traditional public and private models. Smaller class sizes, individualized classrooms and lack of standardization are an appeal to parents, Fiske said. Theres this idea that people who open microschools are doing it for cultish or religious reasons, and theres a misconception that all are like that, Fiske said. Ive seen my students graduate into top colleges. Theres many ways to achieve academic success. Some education experts, however, have expressed concern about the growing movement. They question whether microschools are properly regulated and being held accountable, and whether theyll pull dollars out of the public education system. There is no federal definition of a microschool, and with the Trump administrations plans to shutter the U.S. Department of Education, the onus is on states to figure them out. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In some states, microschools face a bind: If they operate as private schools, theyre required to meet facility, staffing and curricular standards that are often cost-prohibitive for schools their size. If they operate under homeschool laws, they face oversight, assessment mandates and reporting requirements that arent designed for multifamily or educator-led models. Some states, including Georgia, Tennessee and Texas, have passed Learning Rights Protection Acts to codify microschools right to operate. In Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts and Oregon, learning pods and microschools often face child care or private school licensing requirements if they involve multiple families, hire instructors or provide compensation for child care. Schools calling themselves microschools today are not what I wouldve called one back then. But I think thats OK. Its evolving, Fiske said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement She pointed to the national school choice movement and states such as West Virginia for helping the microschool movement flourish. In 2022, West Virginia became one of the few states to define a microschool, distinctly separating it from a private school, homeschool or learning pod. Those classifications, and how these schools are funded and regulated, affect everything from whether a school must hire certified teachers to how it ensures student safety or civil rights protections. And with more public dollars flowing to private or hybrid learning options through vouchers and education savings accounts to the detriment of public school funding, some argue states will need to define these schools and their place in the ecosystem. States will have to fill the gaps, said Weade James, senior director of K-12 education policy with the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning policy think tank. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Accountability can vary wildly. Some microschools arent required to have certified teachers, conduct annual assessments, or even guarantee civil rights protections, said James. If public voucher dollars are going to a microschool, there has to be some level of oversight and accountability. Many microschools arent accredited Microschools defy easy classification, and many advocates argue thats by design. Don Soifer, CEO of the National Microschooling Center, an industry group, cautions lawmakers against rushing to impose fixed legal definitions. Innovation is happening too fast. The moment you define it in law, it becomes obsolete, Soifer said. A 2024 sector analysis by the National Microschooling Center one of the only sources of national data on the topic found that many schools are operating outside traditional education principles. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In a survey of 400 microschools across 41 states, more than 60% of founders reported they were not currently licensed educators. Eighty-four percent reported their schools were not accredited. Among prospective founders, 48% are licensed educators (though only 14% currently work in public schools), 32% come from non-education fields, and 23% are parents building schools for their own children. Most microschools (55%) operate under homeschool laws, while others function as private schools (37%), charters (6%) or fall into unique state categories (3%), according to the analysis. So, you can be a private or homeschool microschool program, where you arent required to provide students with certified teachers, or you arent required to conduct annual assessments, James said. Often described as homeschool hybrids or small-scale learning communities, microschools often serve around 16 students or fewer, and tend to cater to families with average or above-average incomes in their area. In some states, microschools have been authorized to receive public funds through voucher programs. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Some critics note that, like private schools, microschools may charge tuition, potentially excluding lower-income families and contributing to educational disparities. These schools often operate in commercial spaces (41%), private residences (28%) or houses of worship (25%), according to the National Microschooling Center. The center also found the movement is diversifying: 37% of prospective founders are people of color, compared with 27% of current operators. Because building and zoning codes vary from state to state and locality to locality, many operators may be unaware of the extra costs to meet school codes standards. Fiske recalls difficulties in expanding from Washington, D.C., to Vermont, which has stricter laws on water fountain requirements. Most people in the U.S. starting a microschool are doing it under the radar because the regulations to open a licensed school are so intense, Fiske said. For the new school, she recalled, it took us forever, and we had to install ADA-compliant toilets and water fountains for just 10 kids in Vermont. Microschooling is not one thing Microschools also operate in a legal gray zone, often outside the traditional K-12 system and subject to a patchwork of state and local policies that can either support or constrain their growth. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Growth has accelerated in conservative-leaning states with robust school choice programs, such as Arizona and Florida. Other states, such as Maryland, New York and North Dakota, have more restrictive homeschool or private school laws. Microschooling is not one thing. These schools look different in every state, and the policy frameworks around them vary wildly, said Soifer, of the National Microschooling Center. What is classified as a microschool can vary from 10 kids in a basement in Kentucky to a 200-kid schoolhouse elsewhere. Fiske said states need to create a way for operators and parents to know what to expect in a certain state, and help willing operators get the education and business acumen they need to run the schools successfully. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But if you look at who is starting microschools in the U.S., its a lot of millennial parents who may not have any teacher training but wanted to create a learning environment for their children and others in the local community, said Fiske. And without efforts by the state to provide some incentives to earn accreditation and information as both a school and a small business, a few of these will find themselves going under. Seeking choices After two decades working in conventional schools in the United States and around the world including in Brazil, Egypt and Qatar Justine Wilson turned down a high-paying leadership role at a prestigious private school. Instead, in 2023 she opened Curious and Kind Education, a two-day-a-week microschool in Sarasota, Florida, built around trust, nature-based learning and self-directed play. Enrollment at Curious and Kind is mostly driven by word of mouth, she said. The program now has a waitlist. And Wilson has seen her enrollment grow from 18 students in her first year to roughly 100 students for the upcoming school year. The number of 5-year-olds on my waitlist is shocking, she said, and then I realized theyre COVID babies and their parents have really been driving this search for alternative schooling since the pandemic. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement James, of the Center for American Progress, questions whether microschools generally match the quality of traditional public schools, which still educate more than 80% of schoolchildren. She says families may be under the assumption that school choice options equate to better quality. We have created an illusion of choice to be quality, and I think a lot of families are seeking various choice options because they associate that with quality. But that doesnt necessarily mean that where those students are going is any better than where they left, she said. We need to take a closer look at what we are presenting to families, James said. Its not just about having options and having a choice. Its about having quality choice options. That quality, Soifer said, is what microschools are trying to achieve. Microschools do very well on the left, on the right at the top end of the economy and at the fragile end of the income spectrum, he said. Its really a matter of the new economy and a new way of thinking about education. Stateline reporter Robbie Sequeira can be reached at rsequeira@stateline.org. Stateline and the Nebraska Examiner are 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. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Aug. 8When Siri Fiske founded the Mysa Microschool in Washington, D.C., in 2016, there wasn't a widely accepted term for her small, one-room schoolhouse model. Now, the school is referred to on its website as one of the first microschools in the nation, and Fiske has seen a growing microschool movement since the COVID-19 pandemic. In the five years since remote schooling amid pandemic-era lockdowns, microschools and homeschooling have emerged as increasingly popular alternatives to traditional public and private models. Smaller class sizes, individualized classrooms and lack of standardization are an appeal to parents, Fiske said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "There's this idea that people who open microschools are doing it for cultish or religious reasons, and there's a misconception that all are like that," Fiske said. "I've seen my students graduate into top colleges. There's many ways to achieve academic success." Some education experts, however, have expressed concern about the growing movement. They question whether microschools are properly regulated and being held accountable, and whether they'll pull dollars out of the public education system. There is no federal definition of a microschool, and with the Trump administration's plans to shutter the U.S. Department of Education, the onus is on states to figure them out. Schools calling themselves microschools today are not what I would've called one back then. But I think that's OK. It's evolving. Siri Fiske, founder and head of Mysa School Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In some states, microschools face a bind: If they operate as private schools, they're required to meet facility, staffing and curricular standards that are often cost-prohibitive for schools their size. If they operate under homeschool laws, they face oversight, assessment mandates and reporting requirements that aren't designed for multifamily or educator-led models. Some states, including Georgia, Tennessee and Texas, have passed "Learning Rights Protection Acts" to codify microschools' right to operate. In Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts and Oregon, learning pods and microschools often face child care or private school licensing requirements if they involve multiple families, hire instructors or provide compensation for child care. "Schools calling themselves microschools today are not what I would've called one back then. But I think that's OK. It's evolving," Fiske said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement She pointed to the national school choice movement and states such as West Virginia for helping the microschool movement flourish. In 2022, West Virginia became one of the few states to define a microschool, distinctly separating it from a private school, homeschool or learning pod. Those classifications, and how these schools are funded and regulated, affect everything from whether a school must hire certified teachers to how it ensures student safety or civil rights protections. And with more public dollars flowing to private or hybrid learning options through vouchers and education savings accounts to the detriment of public school funding, some argue states will need to define these schools and their place in the ecosystem. States will have to fill the gaps, said Weade James, senior director of K-12 education policy with the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning policy think tank. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Accountability can vary wildly. Some microschools aren't required to have certified teachers, conduct annual assessments, or even guarantee civil rights protections," said James. "If public voucher dollars are going to a microschool, there has to be some level of oversight and accountability." Many microschools aren't accredited Microschools defy easy classification, and many advocates argue that's by design. Don Soifer, CEO of the National Microschooling Center, an industry group, cautions lawmakers against rushing to impose fixed legal definitions. "Innovation is happening too fast. The moment you define it in law, it becomes obsolete," Soifer said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A 2024 sector analysis by the National Microschooling Center one of the only sources of national data on the topic found that many schools are operating outside traditional education principles. In a survey of 400 microschools across 41 states, more than 60% of founders reported they were not currently licensed educators. Eighty-four percent reported their schools were not accredited. Among prospective founders, 48% are licensed educators (though only 14% currently work in public schools), 32% come from non-education fields, and 23% are parents building schools for their own children. Most microschools (55%) operate under homeschool laws, while others function as private schools (37%), charters (6%) or fall into unique state categories (3%), according to the analysis. "So, you can be a private or homeschool microschool program, where you aren't required to provide students with certified teachers, or you aren't required to conduct annual assessments," James said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Often described as "homeschool hybrids" or "small-scale learning communities," microschools often serve around 16 students or fewer, and tend to cater to families with average or above-average incomes in their area. In some states, microschools have been authorized to receive public funds through voucher programs. Some critics note that, like private schools, microschools may charge tuition, potentially excluding lower-income families and contributing to educational disparities. These schools often operate in commercial spaces (41%), private residences (28%) or houses of worship (25%), according to the National Microschooling Center. The center also found the movement is diversifying: 37% of prospective founders are people of color, compared with 27% of current operators. Because building and zoning codes vary from state to state and locality to locality, many operators may be unaware of the extra costs to meet school codes standards. Fiske recalls difficulties in expanding from Washington, D.C., to Vermont, which has stricter laws on water fountain requirements. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Most people in the U.S. starting a microschool are doing it under the radar because the regulations to open a licensed school are so intense," Fiske said. For the new school, she recalled, "it took us forever, and we had to install ADA-compliant toilets and water fountains for just 10 kids in Vermont." 'Microschooling is not one thing' Microschools also operate in a legal gray zone, often outside the traditional K-12 system and subject to a patchwork of state and local policies that can either support or constrain their growth. Growth has accelerated in conservative-leaning states with robust school choice programs, such as Arizona and Florida. Other states, such as Maryland, New York and North Dakota, have more restrictive homeschool or private school laws. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Microschooling is not one thing. These schools look different in every state, and the policy frameworks around them vary wildly," said Soifer, of the National Microschooling Center. What is classified as a microschool can vary from "10 kids in a basement in Kentucky" to a 200-kid schoolhouse elsewhere. Fiske said states need to create a way for operators and parents to know what to expect in a certain state, and help willing operators get the education and business acumen they need to run the schools successfully. "But if you look at who is starting microschools in the U.S., it's a lot of millennial parents who may not have any teacher training but wanted to create a learning environment for their children and others in the local community," said Fiske. "And without efforts by the state to provide some incentives to earn accreditation and information as both a school and a small business, a few of these will find themselves going under." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Seeking choices After two decades working in conventional schools in the United States and around the world including in Brazil, Egypt and Qatar Justine Wilson turned down a high-paying leadership role at a prestigious private school. Instead, in 2023 she opened Curious and Kind Education, a two-day-a-week microschool in Sarasota, Florida, built around trust, nature-based learning and self-directed play. Enrollment at Curious and Kind is mostly driven by word of mouth, she said. The program now has a waitlist. And Wilson has seen her enrollment grow from 18 students in her first year to roughly 100 students for the upcoming school year. "The number of 5-year-olds on my waitlist is shocking," she said, "and then I realized they're COVID babies and their parents have really been driving this search for alternative schooling since the pandemic." James, of the Center for American Progress, questions whether microschools generally match the quality of traditional public schools, which still educate more than 80% of schoolchildren. She says families may be under the assumption that school choice options equate to better quality. "We have created an illusion of choice to be quality, and I think a lot of families are seeking various choice options because they associate that with quality. But that doesn't necessarily mean that where those students are going is any better than where they left," she said. "We need to take a closer look at what we are presenting to families," James said. "It's not just about having options and having a choice. It's about having quality choice options." That quality, Soifer said, is what microschools are trying to achieve. "Microschools do very well on the left, on the right ... at the top end of the economy and at the fragile end of the income spectrum," he said. "It's really a matter of the new economy and a new way of thinking about education." Stateline reporter Robbie Sequeira can be reached at [email protected]. YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE. PUTNAM COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) A traffic stop in Putnam County last month led to the discovery of meth inside a vehicle, as well as the transfer of a powdery substance believed to be fentanyl to the floor of a patrol car when deputies took a suspect to jail. Body camera footage shows Lisa Harris getting out of a truck on July 25. The Putnam County Sheriffs Office said authorities found approximately 166 grams of meth and drug paraphernalia inside the vehicle. Once the deputies arrived at the jail, they got Harris out of the patrol car and noticed the floorboard was covered with a yellow powder, which the suspect said was fentanyl. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Metro police padlock 404 Bar & Grill as public nuisance What is all of this, this powder? a deputy asked as she pointed at the substance in the vehicle. That is what was on my shoesBecause remember I told you that meth pipes not mine, and I stepped on it and there was powder, Harris replied. (Courtesy: Putnam County Sheriffs Office) This is an example of the dangers our deputies can face on a daily basis, especially with the prevalence of fentanyl, which is not only dangerous to users, but to anyone who comes in contact with it, Putnam County Sheriff Eddie Farris told News 2. According to the Tennessee Department of Health, Putnam County saw 32 drug overdose deaths in 2023, which was the most recent year for the data. Twenty-seven of those deaths roughly 84% involved fentanyl. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Employee at Portland senior center arrested for possessing meth, police say Meanwhile, Matt Peters with the Metro Public Health Department said overdoses are decreasing across the country. According to Peters, in the first half of 2025, Nashville saw 234 overdose deaths, which is down from 280 during the same period the year before. However, fentanyl was present in more than 72% of the overdose deaths from the first half of this year while the numbers Peters supplied from 2024 showed fentanyl was present in less than 70% of the autopsies for suspected overdose victims. The good news is were seeing a decrease in overdoses, a decrease in fatal overdoses. This is good news, Peters explained. The bad news is the number is still way too high; fentanyl continues to be the driver of this crisis. Numbers are lower than they have been in past years, but still far too many people dying of an overdose. Its a preventable thing. Read todays top stories on wkrn.com Peters said the decrease in these deaths comes down to public education and the availability of products like naloxone that reverse opioid overdoses. There are even vending machines in Middle Tennessee that provide free overdose reversal medication. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Narcan is more available to everyone more so than it ever has been, and more people know how to use it, and I think there is less stigma around overdosing. Just about everybody knows somebody who fell victim to an overdose at some point, Peters added. If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction, the Tennessee REDLINE is a FREE service that provides accurate, up-to-date addiction information and referrals to anyone 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Call 1-800-889-9789 toll-free or visit the Tennessee REDLINE website 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 WKRN News 2. Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Jordan condemned Israel's Security Cabinet's decision, as others remained silent Israel's plan to take over Gaza City is another indication of its intent to commit genocide, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on X/Twitter Friday. A ministry spokesperson called on the International Criminal Court, the International Court of Justice, and UN member states to address the decision. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Egypt's Foreign Ministry "condemned in the strongest terms the cabinet's decision to develop a plan to occupy the entire Gaza Strip." Egypt is a mediator in the hostage and ceasefire negotiations between Hamas and Israel. "Egypt reiterates that Israel's continued policy of starvation, systematic killing, and genocide against the defenseless Palestinian people will only fuel the conflict, further escalate tensions, deepen hatred, and spread extremism in the region, a situation already exacerbated by the brutal Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip and the unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe it has caused there," the statement reads. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi expressed his support for the Palestinian people in a phone call with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and stressed Egypt's "categorical rejection of the displacement of Palestinians from their land," according to a statement by the foreign ministry. All Abraham Accords signatories, including Morocco, Sudan, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain, have remained silent on the issue as of Friday afternoon. Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, US President Donald Trump, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman and Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa attend a group photo session with Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) leaders in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, May 14, 2025. (credit: REUTERS/BRIAN SNYDER) Saudi Arabia's foreign ministry also said it condemns any Israeli move to take control of Gaza in a statement. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The kingdom "categorically denounces Israeli occupation authorities' persistence in committing crimes of starvation, brutal practices, and ethnic cleansing against the brotherly Palestinian people," it said in a statement. The Jordanian Foreign Ministry said on X/Twitter that King Abdullah expressed the country's "total rejection" of Israel's plan to expand military control over Gaza in a phone call with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday. Hostage deal mediator Qatar issued a statement condemning "the Israeli occupation authorities to fully occupy the Gaza Strip." The country's Foreign Affairs Ministry urged the international community "to take immediate action to prevent the Israeli occupation authorities from implementing this decision." Turkey condemns Israel's plans Additionally, Turkey's foreign ministry said it condemned in the strongest terms Israel's plan to take control of Gaza City, calling on the international community and the United Nations Security Council to act to prevent the plan's implementation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The ministry said Israel must immediately halt its war plans, agree to a ceasefire in Gaza, and start negotiations for a two-state solution, saying each step by Israel's government to continue what Turkey called "Israel's genocide and occupation of Palestinian lands" dealt a heavy blow to global security. This is a developing story. MIDLAND, Texas (KMID/KPEJ)- A Midland man is facing a felony charge after police say he assaulted an 80-year-old man outside a home during a dispute over funeral clothing. Cortney Lemar Iglehart, 42, was arrested August 6 and was charged with injury to an elderly individual, a state jail felony under Texas law. According to the Midland Police Department, the incident happened on July 30 outside a Midland home. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The victim, a local funeral home director, told police he was trying to collect clothing for a womans funeral when Iglehart arrived and confronted him. The funeral director said Iglehart hit him in the head, knocking him to the ground. Once on the ground, Iglehart allegedly got on top of the man, put his hand on his neck, and continued to hit him in the face and chest. The victim said he could not breathe during the attack. A neighbor then reportedly stepped in and pulled Iglehart off. The victim said he drove home and called the police before going to the hospital. He reported pain in his shoulder and arm and said he had trouble seeing out of his left eye after the assault. Responding officers documented bruising on the mans face and abrasions on both elbows. His clothing was also covered in dirt. Police confirmed the man is 80 years old. Detectives said his injuries, age, and medical treatment met the requirements for a charge of injury to an elderly individual. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Court records show Iglehart was arrested on Wednesday, August 6, and booked into the Midland County Detention Center, where he remains as of Thursday (8/7/25). His bond was set at $20,000. The case 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 Yourbasin. MIDLAND, Texas (KMID/KPEJ) A Midland woman is facing two felony charges after investigators say she illegally dumped an RV in a field in southern Midland County. The case gained attention after photos of the abandoned vehicle were posted online. Melinda Gayle Wade, 45, was arrested on August 6. She is charged with two counts of illegal dumping of more than 1,000 pounds or 200 cubic feet of waste, both state jail felonies. Her total bond was set at $15,000. According to court records, the investigation began July 31 when the Midland County Fire Marshals Environmental Unit received a tip about a dumped RV near South County Road 1200 and West County Road 125. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement When investigators arrived, they found a silver RV abandoned in a field. Photos of the RV were later shared by Midland County Environmental Enforcement on its official Facebook page, along with a public request for help identifying the person responsible. Credit: Midland County Environmental Enforcement Facebook Page On August 4, Constable Cook contacted the Environmental Unit and said Wade was the owner of the RV. He had served her with an eviction notice at the same trailer on July 29, two days before it was found abandoned. Their original post read, Well, when it rains, it pours. This beautiful living area was kindly left on W. County Rd 125 off of S. County Rd. 1200. If this looks familiar to you, dont hesitate to contact Crime Stoppers. On August 4, Constable Cook notified investigators that the RV belonged to Melinda Wade. Cook said he had posted an eviction notice at the RVs previous location on July 29, two days before it was found dumped in the field. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A warrant was issued for Wades arrest the next day. The Midland County Environmental Enforcement Unit said it received tips from the public and assistance from other law enforcement agencies, which helped confirm Wades identity as the suspected dumper. Wade was then booked into the Midland County Detention Center, where she remains as of Thursday (August 7, 2025). Her case is pending in Precinct 2 Justice Court. The Midland County Environmental Enforcement Unit urges residents to report illegal dumping by calling (432) 688-4479 or visiting 694tips.com. Photos and tips shared online often help investigators identify those responsible. From the Midland County Environmental Crime Website: An offense under this section is a State Jail Felony if the litter or solid waste to which the offense applies weighs 1000 pounds or more, or has a volume of 200 cubic feet or more, or is disposed of for a Commercial Purpose and weighs 200 pounds or more, or has a volume of 200 cubic feet. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A county ditch is not a permitted site for you to get rid of your garbage. If someone you hire hauls away trash or materials and then dumps them illegally, you may be held liable and charges filed against you. The bottom line is that solid waste has to be taken to a state-permitted landfill. 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. The Defense Department has begun construction on what defense officials claim will be the largest detention center for detained migrants in the United States, Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson announced at a press briefing Thursday. The facility will be located at Fort Bliss, Texas, and is expected to have the capacity to hold 1,000 people by the end of August. This capacity will be grown to 5,000, Wilson said. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has already approved access to the base and use of the site by the Department of Homeland Security, Wilson told reporters. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Upon completion, this will be the largest federal detention center in history for this critical mission the deportation of illegal aliens, Wilson said. The site will function as a processing center where immigrants lacking permanent legal status will be detained before they are referred to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Air Operations for removal flights from the country. The site will reportedly be operational as of Aug. 17. Fort Bliss, which spans 1,700 miles across both Texas and New Mexico, is the second-largest U.S. Army installation, rivaled only by White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. Like Arizonas Barry M. Goldwater Air Force Range, Fort Bliss has had problems over the years with drug smuggling and human trafficking. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In August 2023, the son of El Paso drug trafficker Jimmy Chagra was arrested for selling drugs, including cocaine, fentanyl and LSD, to soldiers based at Fort Bliss. This May, a Fort Bliss resident and another individual were arrested by Border Patrol agents for alleged cross-border human smuggling. It has not been confirmed whether those arrested were service members. While the Fort Bliss detention facility is new, the installation has long been a site where the military and law enforcement have cooperated to halt illicit narcotics trafficking, with the first joint center at that location targeting transnational crime established in 1986. The trial for a 78-year-old Milwaukee attorney charged with sexual assault in Wisconsin has been delayed after he was arrested on an aggravated stalking allegation in Georgia. Robert Lee Taylor had been scheduled to stand trial Aug. 11. Instead, the trial was moved to Dec. 15, almost exactly three years from the date he was first charged. Its an unfortunate situation," said Milwaukee County Circuit Judge David Borowski at a hearing Aug. 6. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Taylor, who did not appear in person or by video for his Milwaukee hearing, has been free on $10,000 bail while the sexual assault case is pending. He has spent much of that time living at a house he owns in Savannah, Ga. He was arrested July 20 on an allegation of aggravated stalking and is expected in court on Aug. 12, according to public records in Georgia. Mary Atkins, a neighbor of Taylors, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in an interview that Taylor was arrested after he violated a protection order she filed against him earlier this year. The Journal Sentinel verified through court records that a judge granted the protection order in March. The Chatham County Police Department denied a records request for reports related to Taylor's recent arrest, citing the ongoing investigation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Atkins said Taylor has repeatedly harassed her, dating back to their first interaction in 2017 when she said he touched her inappropriately as she dropped off a Christmas gift to her then-new neighbor. "There's no respect for women or boundaries, Atkins said in an interview. Atkins said she and her husband had an ongoing series of disputes with Taylor over the years about chemical treatment for trees and feral cats in the neighborhood. She said Taylor has repeatedly trespassed on their property. In April 2019, Atkins called Chatham County police and described what was happening, according to a report reviewed by the Journal Sentinel. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In addition to the allegations that Taylor had poisoned or cut down trees on her property, she also said Taylor regularly was shining a powerful spotlight at her bedroom windows at night and playing extremely loud music, the report says. The officer advised her to call 911 if she ever felt unsafe around her neighbor. Attorney awaiting trial on sexual assault charges from 2022 Taylor's case in Milwaukee began when a woman called 911 on Dec. 11, 2022, and asked to be taken to a hospital for a migraine. During the call, Taylor got on the phone, identified himself as attorney Robert Taylor and tried to downplay the womans condition, according to a criminal complaint. Taylor told the 911 operator that the woman had mild stroke symptoms, before adding that shes fine and she doesnt want to go to the hospital. I dont know why shes calling you, the complaint says. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Paramedics arrived and took the woman to a hospital where she disclosed that she had been sexually assaulted. According to the complaint, she said she and Taylor had gone to his out-of-state property. On the way back to Wisconsin, she said he raped her at a hotel and again once they returned to his apartment in Wisconsin, the complaint says. Court records show that forensic testing did not find evidence that the woman had been drugged. Taylors defense has sought to admit information on the womans prescribed medication and to allow testimony from Taylor's medical providers. At the hearing on Aug. 6, attorney Andrew Joel Golden, who represents the victim in the Milwaukee case, said the woman objected to the trial postponement. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The judge set a status hearing for Aug. 18 that could serve as an initial appearance if prosecutors file a bail-jumping charge related to Taylor's arrest in Georgia. There are a lot of moving parts," Assistant District Attorney Erin Karshen said in court. In response to questions from the Journal Sentinel, Karshen said she did not take a position on Taylor's residency while he was out on bail. "Defendants living out of state may give victims more of a sense of security knowing there will not be incidental contact in Milwaukee," she wrote in an email. One of Taylors attorneys, Robert Webb, declined to comment about the case, as did Golden, who represents the victim. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee attorney charged with sexual assault arrested in Georgia The Brief The owner of a Milwaukee auto shop was seriously injured after he was shot by a customer. Investigators say the shooting suspect became upset because his car wasn't being fixed fast enough. Warning: The video in this story is graphic and might be disturbing to viewers. MILWAUKEE - An angry customer leaves a Milwaukee auto shop owner seriously injured. Investigators say he was upset about his car when he started shooting. Shooting at Divine Auto Shop What we know At Divine Auto Shop, employees are used to doing quick repairs. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement When a customer walked in last Friday (Aug. 1) asking about his Kia Soul, they never expected any of this. Snapshot right before the shooting SIGN UP TODAY: Get daily headlines, breaking news emails from FOX6 News Family of the victim tells FOX6 the car was brought in for a steering column repair the day before. They say the man became upset because they weren't working fast enough. The customer is seen shoving the shop owner. When he walks toward him, the customer pulls out a gun and starts shooting at point-blank range, even firing at the victim while he's on the ground. He continued to shoot as he ran from the scene. Video snapshot during the shooting The victim's family drove him to the hospital after they say he was shot eight times with injuries to his arm, shoulder, and stomach. He's needed three surgeries. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The suspect was arrested on Monday. Days later, bullet holes remain in the windshield of the cars in the lot. FREE DOWNLOAD: Get breaking news alerts in the FOX6 News app for iOS or Android Bullet hole in a windshield A family whose faith is written in the name of the business says it was the grace of God that their loved one is still alive. What's next The 27-year-old suspect is in jail being held on a $100,000 bond. The Milwaukee County District Attorney's Office says charges are currently under review. The Source FOX6 spoke with the victim's family and obtained surveillance video from the auto shop where the shooting happened. Pet owners in Milwaukee might need to start microchipping their animals and follow tight regulations on tethering that is, if two major animal organizations can find common ground. The Milwaukee Area Domestic Animal Control Commission is pushing for stricter ordinances to ease the strain on its overwhelmed facility. Karen Sparapani, executive director for MADACC, presented proposed ordinance changes to a city committee in July, citing a low return-to-owner rate for stray dogs and cats. But Alison Fotsch, CEO of the Wisconsin Humane Society, doesn't think Sparapani's proposed mandates will yield the results they're both hoping for, and warned that such changes might perpetuate inequities. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Mandating procedures like spay/neuter, microchipping, and training without addressing affordability and access will disproportionately impact low-income residents and communities of color," she said in a letter of opposition to the committee. She told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel she would rather support increasing pet owners' access to services and information. The debate comes as MADACC, which takes in any animal picked up by the Department of Neighborhood Services and also accepts surrendered pets, faces growing pressure. In 2024, MADACC accepted 6,323 dogs and 6,565 cats. Council member Sharlene Moore, who sponsored the legislation with Robert Bauman, said the changes aren't to punish people, but to solve recurring issues that fall to MADACC to address. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Sparapani said the city of Milwaukee accounts for 80% of MADACC's intakes out of the 19 municipalities it serves. When the facility is full, there's nowhere else for the animals to go. Stricter regulations, Sparapani said, could help Milwaukee residents understand the importance of taking care of their animals. She pointed to a September 2024 case where 50 dead dogs found in a Milwaukee man's home as a catalyst for the proposal. "Usually, something bad has to happen before anyone does anything. To me, there's something bad going on all the time," Sparapani said. Sparapani had hoped to gain approval from the committee and send the legislation to the full Common Council. After Fotsch whose organization serves the full state and works in partnership with MADACC submitted a letter of opposition and attended the meeting to speak against the proposal, city officials asked both organizations to revise the proposed ordinances and return with a unified plan. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Here's what was originally proposed. Fewer pets allowed under proposal Currently, Milwaukee residents can have up to four rabbits, dogs or cats over the age of 5 months without a breeder permit. The new ordinance, as it stood before being tabled, would change that to three. If an individual exceeds the limit because their animal had babies, they would need an animal fancier permit a license for animal breeders before selling or giving the offspring to someone else. All animals over 4 months would need to be microchipped Under existing ordinances, pets that are picked up as strays or are reported to the Department of Neighborhood Services as dangerous can be referred to MADACC for a microchip insert. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Under the new ordinance, when any cat or dog is over the age of 4 months, it would have to be microchipped. Animals intended to be sold would also have to be microchipped, and the owners would have to produce proof of the chip and vaccinations before transfer. Once an animal is transferred to a new owner, it would need to be reported to the national pet microchip registry within 30 days. Sparapani said if every dog or cat is microchipped, it will aid the agency in locating owners for stray animals. All cats over the age of 5 months would need to be spayed or neutered Cats over the age of 5 months that haven't been spayed or neutered would be in violation of the new provisions unless they are being used for breeding or have a veterinarian's permission not to be neutered. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Outdoor cats would be required to be spayed or neutered, vaccinated, sterilized and microchipped. Moore said this requirement would reduce the number of stray and feral cats on the streets. Owners wouldn't be able to tether their dog alone outside for long periods The current ordinance doesn't address leaving a dog tethered outside all day without supervision. Alderman Scott Spiker said during the July meeting that the council receives calls about this frequently. Sparapani said dogs left tethered for long periods without supervision can become violent. If a dog weighs more than 45 pounds it would have to be controlled by a leash that's no longer than 6 feet. In order to tether a dog outside without supervision, the dog would have to be tolerant of the tethering, 6 months or older, and could not be tethered for more than three hours in one day. It also must be provided with water. What happens if an animal is taken by MADACC for violating ordinance? Sparapani said animals will be seized only if the owner is a repeat offender. In that case, they would need to pay $25 for each impoundment and a fixed rate for each day the animal is in MADACC's custody. MADACC would determine that price. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement If a dog is documented as aggressive or has a record of feral behavior, it can be seized, and in some cases euthanized, which is part of the current ordinance. The owner could also be barred from purchasing another animal. Sparapani said MADACC's top priority is to educate animal owners and provide them with necessary resources. Any sort of punishment is their last resort. Who is in charge of enforcing animal regulations? The Department of Neighborhood Services and MADACC are both in control of oversight. They perform inspections, monitor license holders, and suspend or revoke permits if necessary. If the issues are considered criminal violations or public safety risks, the agencies could call in the Milwaukee Police Department. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Under the proposed provisions, MADACC would be required to report its enforcement efforts to the Common Council twice a year. What's next for the proposal? Sparapani said there have been no discussions between MADACC and the Wisconsin Humane Society that she's aware of since the July meeting. She didn't think the Humane Society would vocalize its opposition, since it doesn't have direct oversight of Milwaukee County. "This is only for one municipality where there are very significant issues that we can no longer wait to mitigate," she said. MADACC has proposed and gotten ordinance changes approved in other municipalities like Glendale, West Allis and Cudahy. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Fotsch said the Humane Society has been in contact with the city committee and Department of Neighborhood Services, and made their stance clear on which ordinance changes they'd support, and which ones they'd like to see changed. It's unclear when or if the provisions will be reintroduced. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee pet ordinances could be getting stricter The Brief Contract negotiations between Milwaukee and the police union are ongoing. Wisconsin Republican lawmakers wrote a letter to the mayor demanding action. The mayor said he'd like the state to "step up" and provide additional funding. MILWAUKEE - Republicans in the Wisconsin Legislature have a message for Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson: They want more police officers on the streets. Violence downtown The backstory With the contract tug-of-war between the police union and the city ongoing, Republicans called out recent violence. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement FREE DOWNLOAD: Get breaking news alerts in the FOX LOCAL Mobile app for iOS or Android It was a violent July for Milwaukee's popular night scene on and around Water Street. Seven people were shot, two of whom died. Last week, FOX6 News uncovered that Milwaukee Police District 1, which covers downtown, had only three officers scheduled to work one night. Citywide crime data shows robberies are down 24% and car thefts are down 14%, while homicides are up 6%, compared to this time a year ago. Republicans write, mayor responds What they're saying State Rep. Bob Donovan, a former Milwaukee alderman, is among the Republicans calling for an increased police presence. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "We can't take officers from areas like this that need their presence to go downtown, so we're hopeful that the chief would take the initiative and reorganize the department temporarily to allow for more officers to get out on to the streets, including command staff officers," he said. SIGN UP TODAY: Get daily headlines, breaking news emails from FOX6 News Donovan also suggested the possibility of Police Chief Jeffrey Norman patrolling the streets himself. "Unfortunately, that's not going to solve the problem," said Alex Ayala, president of the Milwaukee Police Association. "Even to have their command staff going on patrol, we do need the command staff where they're at, you know, being part of leadership and having the different bureaus." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In their letter to the mayor, Republicans in the Wisconsin Legislature wrote violence in the city has reached a "breaking point." Milwaukee City Hall "I appreciate some of their concerns and some of the things that they said," Johnson said. "I think it's important to make sure the police department has the tools necessary to make sure they find success and keep our neighborhood safe. The Republican lawmakers called for the contract fight between the union and the city to be "immediately resolved." "This almost three-year-long failure to come to an agreement with the police labor agreement that's wreaking havoc on morale within the department," said Donovan. "I think it sends the absolute worst message to individuals who are patrolling the most dangerous urban environment in the state of Wisconsin." Efforts fall short Dig deeper The Milwaukee budget funds three recruitment classes of 65 each. The graduation classes have been much smaller recently just 25 graduates. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "What we need is more candidates in the academy, you know, applying to be police officers and being officers, so we can have more people on the streets. That's what we need," Ayala said. "Our contract is our biggest barrier. And if we don't have a contract in place, this is never going to stop, and it's not going to get fixed." "I would like the state to also step up to the plate to provide some additional funding for law enforcement," said Johnson. Last week, a Milwaukee Common Council committee held an emergency meeting on downtown violence. "Were outnumbered. If we have limited officers, even a two-officer response to a 10-person brawl, its very difficult to step in," Heather Hough, MPD chief of staff, said during the meeting. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Were going to add some officers here and there. Were going to beef this up a little bit, theyre going to put lights on their shoulders," Ald. Bob Bauman said at the time. "If thats the best we can do, youre basically telling downtown, youre on your own folks. Hope for bad weather." What's next The Milwaukee Police Department told FOX6 News that, since the letter was sent to the mayor, reaction should come through his office. The mayor is expected to reveal steps toward protecting downtown safety on Friday. The Source FOX6 News interviewed people, looked at Milwaukee crime data and referenced prior coverage for this story. State officials are urging residents across Cape Cod to conserve water as that region experiences significant drought levels. The Cape Cod region has been upgraded to a Level 2 - Significant Drought status, up from a mild drought status last month, Energy and Environmental Affairs Secretary Rebecca Tepper said Friday. The Southeast, Connecticut River Valley, Western, Central, and Northeast regions remain at normal conditions, although conditions are starting to dry all across the state, Tepper said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Nantucket County is currently at mild drought status, while Dukes County remains at normal conditions within the Islands regions. Observed groundwater levels have begun to decline once more in the Cape Cod region, Tepper said. A lack of precipitation and prolonged higher temperatures have resulted in an elevated risk for outdoor fires, Tepper said. These weather conditions have resulted in drier soil and reduced water levels in rivers, streams, and ponds, which have impacted fish passage, particularly in the Cape Region, Tepper said. Drought is a look back on conditions over a period of time. July was notably warm in Massachusetts, with average temperatures 2 to 5 degrees above normal, Tepper said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Precipitation levels vary in the state, with some areas getting above-normal rainfall amounts, while areas north of I-90, and the Northeast, Southeast, Cape Cod, and the Islands regions have seen below-average rainfall. Regions that are currently not in a drought are starting to see some indices impacted by the low precipitation. More precipitation is needed to improve hydrological systems, especially groundwater and fire danger indices, in areas that are lagging. The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection will continue to assist communities in managing their water systems. Tepper said the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) water supply system is not experiencing drought conditions. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement State officials offered the following recommendations for residents and communities within a Level 2 Significant Drought and Level 1 Mild Drought region, including those using a private well: For regions in Level 2 Significant Drought Residents and Businesses: Minimize overall water use; Limit outdoor watering to hand-held hoses or watering cans, to be used only after 5 p.m. or before 9 a.m.; Follow local water use restrictions; Fix indoor leaks, such as from toilets, faucets, and showers, which result in more than 60 percent of indoor use; and, For larger buildings and businesses, conduct water audits to identify areas of leaks and potential water conservation opportunities. Immediate steps for communities: Adopt and implement the states nonessential outdoor water use restrictions for Drought Level 2 which calls for limiting outdoor watering to hand-held hoses or watering cans, to be used only after 5 p.m. or before 9 a.m. If local restrictions are more stringent, continue to keep them in place during the course of the drought. Limit or prohibit washing of hard surfaces (sidewalks, patios, driveways, siding); personal vehicle or boat washing; and, Establish water-use reduction targets for all water users, identify top water users and conduct targeted outreach to help curb their use. Short- and medium-term steps for communities: Establish a year-round water conservation program that includes public education and communication, taking advantage of the states library of outreach materials; Provide timely information to local residents and businesses; Implement or establish drought surcharge or seasonal water rates; Check emergency inter-connections for water supply; and, Develop or refine your local drought management plan using guidance outlined in the state Drought Management Plan. For Regions in Level 1 Mild Drought Residents and businesses: Minimize overall water use; Limit outdoor watering to one day per week from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 a.m., or less frequently if required by your water supplier; Plant only local and drought-resistant species; Fix indoor leaks, such as from toilets, faucets, and showers, which result in more than 60 percent of indoor use; For larger buildings and businesses, conduct water audits to identify areas of leaks and potential water conservation opportunities; Minimize lawn sizes; and, Harvest rainwater for outdoor watering. Communities/municipalities: Establish a year-round water conservation program that includes public education and communication, taking advantage of the states library of outreach materials; Provide timely drought and water conservation information to residents and businesses; Check emergency inter-connections for water supply; and, Develop a local drought management plan (learn more here). Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement State agencies will continue to closely monitor and assess conditions across the state, Tepper said. State officials will meet again on Sept. 8 to assess drought conditions. This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available. Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW Sources close to Smotrich criticized the decision, admitting that the proposal led by Netanyahu might sound promising but is, in reality, more of the same. Several members of Israels Security Cabinet, who spoke with The Jerusalem Post following last nights decision to launch an operation to capture Gaza City, acknowledged that the plan is unlikely to lead to Hamas's defeat or the return of the hostages. This plan may be better than what Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir proposed, but it is still far from being a good plan, said the ministers. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The plan approved last night includes the capture of Gaza City. In the first stage, Israel will attempt to evacuate the citys one million residents to the south before beginning the military operation. Several Israeli officials admitted in conversations with the Post that the plan is essentially intended to pressure Hamas into agreeing to a deal. Sources close to Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich criticized the decision, admitting that the proposal led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and approved by the Cabinet might sound promising but is, in reality, more of the same. This is not an operation to take control of the entire Gaza Strip, establish full military control, and achieve decisive victory - the only way to ensure long-term security and the return of the hostages, said those close to Smotrich. Instead, its a limited and dangerous operation aimed solely at bringing Hamas back to the negotiating table - an objective that is not a legitimate goal of war. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich (right) and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. (credit: AMIR COHEN/REUTERS) Minister Bezalel Smotrich voted against the plan, while Justice Minister Gideon Saar and Minister of National Missions Zeev Elkin abstained. The army is proposing a plan to end the fighting, said Elkin. They want to treat Gaza like the West Bank - with routine security operations. Thats not a war. He added, We must speak in terms of victory. If we settle for a temporary deal, its a defeat. We must not stop halfway. Hamas must pay a price for what it did. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir supported the operation itself but opposed allowing humanitarian aid into Gaza and objected to the idea of a different governing body taking control of the Strip the day after. According to him, such a move does not encourage emigration from Gaza. Removing return of hostages from objectives of war During the meeting, IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir reportedly said that following the approval of the plan, he recommends removing the return of the hostages from the objectives of the war. Minister Ben Gvir responded: Stop speaking to the media. We want a decisive victory. We all care about the hostages, but we also care about the soldiers and fighters who demand victory. There are constant leaks from military sources. You are subordinate to the political echelon. Learn from the police how to follow orders from the elected leadership. The Brief Minnesota officials say the state will fall $800,000 short in damages from storms in June to qualify for federal reimbursement assistance. Throughout the northern regions, roughly $8.3 million in tree damage has been assessed, with approximately $10.7 million in damage needed to qualify for federal funds. Minnesotas Disaster Assistance Contingency Account will be able to assist those affected at a 75% reimbursement rate, as opposed to the 100% level if approved for federal help. BELTRAMI CO., Minn. (FOX 9) - Still cleaning up from damaging storms that rolled through the region on June 21, Beltrami County Emergency Management says the state fell $800,000 short of damages needed to be eligible to request federal assistance to help with cleanup efforts. Beltrami County storm damage What we know In a social media post on Wednesday, the agency said it had assessed roughly $8.3 million in tree damage, using a formula based on the average number of trees per acre, combined with the amount of acreage that was impacted, to estimate the total tree loss. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The agency said that number is likely to increase as final assessments are made. However, for Minnesota to qualify to be eligible for a federal declaration, approximately $10.7 million in damages is needed between the state and tribal nation assessments. Beltrami County Emergency Management Director Christopher Muller said many of the destroyed trees were multiple generations old, and no one in the area had ever seen such extensive damage. Muller said the forests will not be the same, and that "We're never going to see it return to where it was within our lifetime." State program help Dig deeper The county could still qualify for public entities to receive reimbursement through Minnesotas Disaster Assistance Contingency Account (DACA) if Gov. Walz approves a State Disaster Declaration. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Under the program, DACA would be able to assist at a 75% reimbursement rate, as opposed to the 100% level if approved for federal help. On July 1, Walz announced the authorization of emergency assistance for areas of St. Louis County, which suffered damage caused by wildfires in May. What they're saying "While we are disappointed we fell short of qualifying for federal assistance, we are grateful Minnesota has our state program," Beltrami County Emergency Management Director Christopher Muller told FOX 9. "The Disaster Assistance Contingency Account will provide 75% reimbursement for eligible damages and activity. Without that assistance, not only would the storm have been physically destructive, but financially as well." What's next The lack of reimbursement could ultimately mean damage repairs will impact the countys budget in the future. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement An online fundraiser created through United Way has been started to help "support local agencies serving the community." As of Thursday morning, it had raised $3,749. The Source Information provided by Beltrami County Emergency Management From one war to the next, Soroka has learned to work smarter and create a level of response to meet the needs of their patients. There is an element of luck, karma, miracle, whatever you want to call it, says Prof. Shlomi Codish, director-general at Beershebas Soroka Medical Center. Hes sitting in his office overlooking the three-helicopter landing pad and a building with two of the top floors smashed by a missile fired by Iran during the June war. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On his windowsill is a souvenir chunk of shrapnel that remained from the windows that were blown out by the shock wave of the blast. Today, hes looking out of shiny new windows The Center in Beersheba is a huge hospital complex. Founded in 1959, it serves the vast and diverse Negev region with its population currently pushing over one million. When first built, the Egyptian border was only 30 km. away. Now, that territory is Gaza. With close to 1,200 beds, the facility is formidable, covering around 29 hectares (70 acres) with more than 200,000 sq.m. of constructed space. It is a tertiary care teaching hospital affiliated with Ben-Gurion Universitys Faculty of Health Sciences, and it is acclaimed for medical research and innovation. While buildings like pediatrics, oncology, and maternity are relatively new, as in other Israeli hospitals, several of its buildings are 70 years old and have never been upgraded to accommodate the ongoing security situation. NORTHERN SURGICAL Buildings collapsed roof after the Iranian direct hit. (credit: SOROKA MEDICAL CENTER) Our catchment area runs all the way to Eilat, Codish explains. Although some areas are very sparsely populated, between Yeroham and Eilat, there are probably around 30,000 citizens plus another 50,000 foreign agricultural workers. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Arad is 40 minutes away. Dimona is 40 minutes away. If you go west, youll make it to Netivot. If you draw a circle half an hour around us, you still have at least 10,000 people. Oct. 7 Mass Casualty Event at Soroka From one war to the next, Soroka has learned to work smarter and create a level of response to meet the needs of their patients. We can never close the Emergency Department or divert patients, explains Codish. The entire Negev relies on us. And we have maintained a level of readiness from 1967 on, when we were inundated with patients from the Egyptian front. Oct. 7 was the largest mass casualty event in [Israels] history, he continues. Barzilai in Ashkelon was closer but its a smaller hospital. On Oct. 7, we treated 674 patients, which exceeded our largest drill in which we prepared to treat 300. There simply were no options. We treated them and then sent them elsewhere. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Since Oct. 7, we have treated 4,000 patients from the war alone, he adds. We have had over 300 helicopter landings in a year and a half. The 12-Day War Preparing for the Worst The logistics of trying to protect patients were formidable. Hospital preparations began on June 13 at 3:30 a.m., immediately after Israel announced the attack on Iran. It was the most elaborate alarm clock in the history of the State of Israel, quips Codish. By 4:15 a.m., Soroka Medical Center personnel were awake, had driven through the sirens, and mobilized at the hospital. Within probably five or six hours, we had already moved a couple of hundred patients from non-sheltered areas into sheltered areas. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Soroka was not new to rocket attacks, having sustained major barrages from Gaza over the years. Although they had protected spaces, many of the buildings were simply not built to withstand impacts. As a medical center treating emergencies for many years, I think we made reasonably good use of the week we had before the strike. Based on what they had learned from Grad rockets from Gaza, Codish decided to leave the newer internal medicine building fully occupied because it has shelters within the building. Only about 20% of our beds are fully sheltered but there are sheltered areas (in specified rooms and hallways). If a patient is mobile, they just need to be near a sheltered area, which is about 50% to 60% of our beds. But for the bedridden, even if the shelter is right outside your door, youre not going to make it in time unless someone can roll you out. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Building by building, the staff sent home patients that they could, but the hospital was reluctant to send patients to elderly care facilities, which might have been even less secure than the hospital. They were still at 60% capacity. They shifted patients to more secure locations, including an underground bomb shelter built in the 1970s when the threat was from Egyptian airplanes flying overhead. We have room for 60 patients there, explains Codish. We had been using them as warehouses because putting people into a large underground hall with no showers didnt seem right. On the one hand, its unconscionable to have elderly patients just 40 cm. from one another in a basement. But at least they were protected. PATIENTS WERE evacuated from the building one day before the missile hit. Only beds and equipment were destroyed. (credit: SOROKA MEDICAL CENTER) Disaster Scenarios On June 18, just one day before the Iranian ballistic missile packed with over 400 kg. of explosives slammed into the Northern Surgical Building that, in addition to surgical theaters, housed ENT, urology, and opthalmology, Codish decided to call a staff meeting to explore possible disaster scenarios along with the Beersheba search and rescue teams and Home Front Command. Together, they reviewed and refreshed earthquake protocols. We didnt want to tell our team, This is what well do if a rocket hits, because its very scary, explains Codish in an interview with the Magazine, but we refreshed what to do if an earthquake happens because the basic immediate response is the same. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The very next day, when the missile hit, the search and rescue team knew where our situation room was, they knew what we expected from them, and they knew who to liaise with, which are items that typically can waste an hour of time when they get started. On June 13, we closed eight operating theaters because theyre unprotected, says Codish. We decided to evacuate the top story of that building. We evacuated the labs. Even though they had protected corridors, we emptied the fifth floor simply because we had a little more protection in nearby buildings. It was a good decision because in that building, the protected corridors wouldnt have done much. We probably had between 1,500 and 2,000 people in the hospital (patients and staff) that day when the rocket hit. The rocket hit at 7:14 a.m. Outpatient clinics usually open at 8 but imagine if, God forbid, we had a mass casualty incident on our hands. Or if a second rocket had hit another building, with half of my operating rooms closed. Codish says there is a certain element of randomness to this. Why did he evacuate that floor? Why on that day? The day before that, he said they didnt have anywhere to move them to. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We even went overboard, and we moved urology, neurology, and ear, nose, and throat, not out of cautiousness, just because we had a better room, so we figured lets move them anyway. While I sleep better knowing that we did that, we really cant relax. This is why Soroka needs to be fortified before other medical centers. For years, weve been yelling that we need to fortify our operating theaters. We have a responsibility for the area, we are alone, and we have so much work to do in the healthcare system. On Thursday, June 19, Codish came to work at 6:45 a.m. I love that hour. You can answer emails quietly. No one bugs you. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement At 7 a.m., the initial push alert was sounded. Since the administrative building had no shelter, he and others took a four-minute walk to the nearest bomb shelter. At 7:11, the air-raid sirens began. For us, its just another air-raid siren, right? Amongst the many Yeah... Houthis, Iranians, whatever. Bring it on, he thought. At 7:13 and 50 seconds, the bomb shelter, made of 50-cm. of concrete, rocked. It literally shook, he recalled. Im now sitting there, and I know the hospitals been affected. There was no doubt that this amount of level, noise, and impact meant something really bad had just happened, and its either us or very nearby, but it doesnt matter. Its the same, right? Its the same impact. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Knowing he shouldnt leave the shelter, he called the nursing staff into a corner to confer with them. Because one minute in, as far as I know, at this point in time, Im about to get news that there are dozens of corpses around the medical center, he said. As the nurses checked in, he began to get pictures of the mushroom cloud above the hospital. After secondary explosions and chemical/radioactive emissions were ruled out, all the planning paid off. The team met in the designated situation room to assess the damage. Search and rescue sent in their engineer. There was a lot of ground to cover to check all the facilities on the campus. There was a fire in one of the buildings. Some people were trapped when doors and windows blew out or warped. But miraculously, there were only around 40 light injuries. No one needed hospitalization, Codish says. Wow. Thats impressive. But our next step was to assess whether all our buildings were safe so we could prepare for the possibility of another incident. I was wondering, what happens if another missile hits somewhere in Beersheba? Can we treat people or not? Miraculously, the Emergency Department was full not of victims, but of doctors, nurses, medics, and staff, all wanting to help. And as you know, a rocket hit 500 meters away the very next morning. IDF Search & Rescue teams (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT) Was Soroka Medical Center a Deliberate Target? According to Prof. Codish, the strike on Soroka was no accident, and he is apparently not alone. Military experts who would not be named agreed say Soroka was a deliberate target. The act of targeting a hospital is a war crime. Standing in front of a map of the hospital campus with all its buildings, Codish points out that the missile hit the exact epicenter of the medical center. It wasnt something that was aimed at a nearby target and missed a bit, Codish asserts, I think its an attempt to cripple an anchor institute in southern Israel that everyone relies on and affect as many people as possible. Why [the] Weizmann [Institute of Science in Rehovot]? Youre affecting Israeli science. Why [the] Bazan [oil refinery in Haifa]? Youre affecting Israeli energy. Why Soroka? Youre affecting Israelis health. In fact, Article 8 of the Rome Statute defines an extensive list of war crimes the International Criminal Court in The Hague has jurisdiction over, including intentionally directing attacks against buildings dedicated to religion, education, art, science or charitable purposes, historic monuments, hospitals and places where the sick and wounded are collected, making an exception of targets that are military objectives. Shortly after the attack, Irans state news agency IRNA claimed the primary target was an army intelligence and command center in a tech park located 2.5 km. away from the hospital. To further justify the strike, Iranian outlets claimed that they were aiming at a military medical facility for soldiers at Soroka Military Hospital, and released an AI-produced video displaying tanks in an underground military storage under the hospital, which in reality does not exist. But Codish says Iran had a more nefarious strategic reason. When I present Soroka to people from abroad or people who dont know us, my opening slide is, Soroka: Israels most strategic hospital. Theres a whole explanation for why I think were so strategic. The Iranians are not stupid. You dont get any more central than this. This was a bullseye. It was a guided missile attack. I dont think there is any doubt, he reiterates, pointing out that although missiles from Gaza have hit nearby in the past, they landed randomly. This missile seemed to know exactly where it was going. They realized, out of the whole menu of Israeli medical centers, Lets target Soroka. And then lets follow it with a barrage of more rockets into Beersheba. But were stronger than that. An Iranian missile didnt cripple us. We were ready the next day to care for anyone who needed us. Somehow, we had a fully, fully operational medical center. The Long Road to Reconstruction Were looking at probably over $400 million to do what needs to be done, sums up Codish. We should not have to face a situation such as we face now, of a year of closed services. Were working like crazy to get back, but theres some facilities that will take a year to rebuild like the operating theaters. In the week after the blast, the shafts of the elevators all blew out, and a great many are still down. A benefit to buildings built in the 1950s is that some have ramps, which helps tremendously for transporting patients, although Codish said pushing patients uphill on stretchers is giving his staff an unanticipated workout. Pushing a patient up three flights of stairs on a ramp is not simple, he explains. He estimates that the renovation of the Internal Medicine Department will take from six to nine months, building two new floors for surgery, about three years, and the creation of the new Tekuma building to provide sheltered care for the next conflict may take six years. Seven wards lost their homes, including urology, ENT, ophthalmology, rehabilitation, dermatology, and the internal medicine intensive care unit. Replacing destroyed equipment beyond what property tax will cover is expected to cost over $400 million. As for the Northern Surgical Building, which suffered the direct hit, Codish says it is only useful for offices. I never want to go back into that building. It has no safe rooms. It was built in the 50s. It doesnt have a bomb shelter. It has no protected spaces. I dont want to put patients in a building that doesnt have shelters. Following the attack on Soroka, the Health Ministry says it is working closely with the hospitals management and Clalit Health Services to restore full functionality as quickly as possible. At the same time, the ministry is promoting processes to secure resources and budgets to ensure the continued provision of medical services at the highest level for southern residents. In addition, in coordination with the Home Front Command, the Health Ministry says it is continuously working to address gaps in hospital protection. Since the outbreak of Operation Iron Swords, thousands of hospitalization beds have been added in protected areas, alongside essential units to ensure hospitals operational continuity, including laboratories, imaging institutes, and dialysis units, says a ministry spokesperson. Additionally, the ministry has strengthened the resilience of critical infrastructure and backup systems... [and] preparedness levels have been further enhanced. Concurrently, the ministry is advancing a long-term strategic plan to systematically and thoroughly strengthen the healthcare systems essential infrastructure. Thankfully, Soroka Medical Center is a resilient entity. Buildings with 60% of our beds were affected in a major way. We are still doing a kind of triage on the overall structure, Codish says. Weve made makeshift areas, some of them really weird, like the only dermato-geriatrics ward or ophthalmology-urology ward in the world, he adds. We had to combine space but were at 80% capacity. This will take five to six years to build this building once money is provided. Providing healthcare is one of the basic moral obligations a country has to its citizens. This is not about me, its not about this hospital. Its about a million people whose lives depend on a medical center, who are now receiving care in basements and will be receiving care in basements for months. We can go through all of this together as long as we see a crane working there and the Israeli government says, We see you. We know what youre going through. Absolutely. We need the government to find the NIS 960m. it will take. They cant just send us to our great friends of Israel who are willing to help. Everything we moved that week needs to not move next time. Because theres an element of randomness to moving people around thats incomplete and dangerous. And we cant rely on miracles. It takes a team to perform a search and rescue As the ceasefire with Iran made the headlines in Israel, an Iranian ballistic missile hit a seven-story building in Beersheba. What happened next was only possible because of the confluence of a team of professionals and protocols that gathered and processed a voluminous amount of data in a very short amount of time. These were not the biggest of our global rescue missions, explained Professor F, the chief data officer of the three search and rescue units, when he isnt teaching classes at Technion. Our volunteer efforts during the earthquake in Turkey and the Surfside building collapse taught us how to improve. All our knowledge of former operations helped a great deal during these last few weeks. Each rescue team includes four professionals: an engineer, an intelligence officer, a rescue doctor, and a population affairs officer. Their skill sets combine to provide a quick overview of the rescue task at hand. The first half-hour is critical for gathering information, explained Amir B, a rescue engineer who collects and disseminates engineering advice on the damaged building. We get notification from the building commission, building plans, number of floors, how many housing units it contains, the layout of the apartments, construction information, and more. Security of the rescuers the soldiers who will go in is our first order of business. I check to see that the floor is solid, the ceilings wont fall in on them, and we assess who is actually in the building and who might be trapped and where. Based on the information gathered, Amir creates a visual analysis a hand-made drawing of the property to assess where people might be trapped and whether it is safe to go in for the rescue. But before going in, interviews are performed with neighbors and survivors to get even more information. In one interview, the team learned that in one apartment they needed to enter, there was a lot of furniture cluttering the entrance. Based on the neighbors input, they determined that it would be too complicated to enter that way, instead deciding to break the wall. The information led to the rescue of several people in the apartment. The rescue doctor, Dr. M, a urologist in his everyday practice, is a volunteer in the search and rescue brigade. His job is to assess and triage all patients, beginning with the ones visible, and to find ways to monitor those who might be trapped in the rubble. If there are many injured, I call for additional medical backup, he explained. We determine when and how to save people who are trapped. First we focus on what we see immediately. Sadly, he said, there are times when the building is so unstable and the people inside are so buried and injured that the determination has to be made to abandon the rescue, and sometimes urgent immediate amputations are required to release people trapped in unstable structures. Roboticans Rooster, a drone that rolls inside a cage, was deployed through a broken window and rolled through each floor looking for trapped and injured people. (credit: Courtesy Hagai Balshai, CEO, Robotican) Israeli Technology Saving Lives Professor F helps evaluate which tech tools are needed to safely complete a rescue. A professor at a leading Israeli university by day, F is in the reserves. We collect available information from all around the world on each structure, he explained, including the geographical information system. We build 3D pictures of the structure before and after the hit. We arrange to send thermal drones to the site to help the doctor understand how many are likely affected so he can arrange for medical care. In some cases, when people are buried in a structure, they may require respiratory assistance. They use 360-degree cameras that can go into the broken buildings and allow them to look at everything in the vicinity, he added. One of the drone companies that sprang into action as Iranian missiles were hitting Israeli buildings is Robotican, manufacturers of the Rooster. These drones not only hover and fly but also roll along debris-filled floors with cameras and thermal imagers using mesh communications to help the Home Front Command team locate the missing. Throughout the recent war, Robotican had teams dispatched in Haifa, Beersheba, and Tel Aviv, which helped search and rescue teams that didnt have their own drone pilots and provided Rooster units to the more experienced reserve teams that did. In addition to thermal sensors, the Roosters carried gas sensors to ensure that there wasnt a gas leak before rescue teams got too close. Within three minutes, the Rooster can scan an entire floor of a building, explained Mandy Rosenzweig, vice president of Robotican. A seven-story building can be completely scanned to locate people in about 20 minutes. Sometimes the Rooster arrived before the rescue teams, said Rosenzweig, so that when the teams got there, the drones were able to give them a complete visual picture of the structure and whether or not people were trapped inside. In fact, immediately after the Iranian missile attack on Soroka, while the building was still on fire, Robotican, whose headquarters are just 15 minutes away, showed up on the scene with several Rooster units. The drone flew to the top floors, finding accessible windows, entered, and rolled floor by floor, ensuring that no one was trapped anywhere in the building. In addition to thermal drones, the team uses cellphone triangulation, which pinpoints all the phones in the building. Most of the time the phones are near the owners, although sometimes the blast can blow phones to a different part of the structure. Professor F said this happened in one of the Iranian missile rescues. The phones had been found, and the victims were found nearby, but not alive. Xtend, an AI-driven drone company with autonomous capabilities, is headquartered in Tel Aviv with global subsidiaries. Their drones, designed for various missions, excel in indoor, subterranean, or outdoor environments. Last week, they scoured Bat Yam to locate missing individuals. Gal Nir, Xtends Chief Commercial Officer, noted the companys long-standing involvement in voluntary search and rescue missions, including life-saving efforts during the February 2023 Turkey earthquake. Currently, Xtend has two teams and multiple systems on standby for nationwide incidents. For building collapses, Xtend deploys two indoor drone types. The first is a massive drone that scans building by building and gets into wide spaces like salons and corridors, Nir explained. Then, a smaller drone, just 35 by 45 centimeters, that has the ability to fly in the dark and into small spaces under beds and into crawl spaces. It also can skid across the floors like a small RC car. Originally developed for navigating terror tunnels, these drones are highly effective in search and rescues. In one case, a small drone entered a home through a balcony opening to search for a woman presumed trapped in her safe room. The family learned she wasnt in the damaged house and later found her recovering in a hospital after being rescued by first responders. We are doing this for our brothers and sisters, Nir said. This is not about selling or training. We are proud to have developed this technology and to have personnel who can help. Every single life we save is like saving the whole world. Because thermal sensors cannot penetrate concrete, the team also uses ground-penetrating radar (GPR), which can pinpoint living people under rubble. Unfortunately, it does not work as well at locating dead bodies. According to Professor F, there is even laser-based distance measuring technology that can detect even the very faintest rise and fall of a chest wall breathing under debris and ultra-high frequency (UHF) detection to help find people trapped under cement ceilings or walls. With all the technology, according to Hadas, the Population Affairs Officer, the single most important factor they utilized in the recent search and rescues was word of mouth. To understand who we are looking for and where they are most likely to be found, we need to talk to people who were in the structure, she explained. Someone who is looking for a loved one or who is concerned is going to give us the best information on how to find them. Hadas, an attorney when she isnt serving in the reserves, is responsible for managing interactions with civilians in disaster zones and coordinating all civil-related aspects of the emergency response. She recalled one of the recent missile attacks where they needed to clear the building quickly and efficiently because the structure was going to collapse. They worked to evacuate the building, largely using the information provided by the population officer, who was coordinating with local authorities, emergency medical services, and welfare agencies to provide updates on the status of the people involved. They even joined WhatsApp groups to connect with all the residents of each building. Hadas is also the point person who aids civilians in the field, referring them to assistance centers, hotlines, and evacuation and reception facilities, and providing initial psychological support. Keeping track of who is in each building is a formidable task, said Hadas. We had a few abandoned buildings that were inhabited by homeless [people], but we interviewed local social workers and NGOs that work with the population to find everyone who might have been present. In a 10-story partial collapse or in the case of a higher building where just a few floors got hit, even in the middle of the building we had to evacuate people above and below the collapsed floors. Rescuers went up and down and got everyone out. Hadas asserted that people who followed the rules and listened to the Home Front Command helped the rescue teams save lives. Even after buildings got hit, she said, there was tremendous cooperation from the people in the building. When all is said and done, the systems and certification process developed by Israel to perform search and rescue are the very systems that were adopted by the United Nations, added Professor F. Whether the UN will advertise that factoid remains to be seen. The Soroka rescue, as described by one of the rescuers Captain Netanel, platoon commander of the rescue team that arrived at Soroka Medical Center just four minutes after the Northern Surgical Building was hit by an Iranian missile, showed up with his team of less than a dozen soldiers. The rest joined him later. He has been performing search and rescues for 13 years, and when not in the reserves, he is a social worker in a communication kindergarten for children on the autism spectrum. Netanel had deliberately stationed his team in Beersheba just in case and was involved in the rescue operation at Soroka and the one the next day at an apartment house. The first thing I saw at Soroka was a massive fire in one of the buildings, he recounted. We met with the police and firefighters. Many of the buildings adjacent to the one on fire had collateral damage. Often in search and rescue, collateral damage is worse than the direct hit itself. In this case, the building hit had been evacuated, but there were surgeries going on in the adjacent building. There was lots of panic, shock, and yelling, shards of glass and debris all over, and everyone firefighters trying to work together. We were trying to determine the safest route into the building. We scanned each floor and every room of the buildings, breaking all the doors [which had jammed shut during the blast] open. We had trained with special equipment. What we learned, [is that] most of the work involves figuring out how to evacuate people. In the building next door on one of the surgical floors, there were 120 staff members and patients in the process of surgery. We had to evacuate because the structure wasnt safe and the roof was burning. We were afraid if the building next door would have collapsed, it could take the second building with it. The head of the surgical unit said there was no way to evacuate patients mid-surgery. Even with lots of planning we were dealing with medical staff who had to be on standby as more rockets were hitting Beersheba. We evacuated the patients as soon as they were stitched up from their surgeries and stood by to make sure that other patients still in surgery would evacuate immediately afterwards. One thing that impressed me a lot is that the doctors were very, very devoted to their patients. They made it clear from moment one that there is no way they would leave their patients. We evacuated by stairs. Anyone who could walk, we helped. Others were taken out on stretchers down the stairs. Our own medics assisted the hospital staff. As the medical professionals went off shift, some asked if they could retrieve their equipment from their lockers. Unfortunately, we had to inform them that the rooms where they stashed their equipment no longer existed. We had other challenges. We had indications that there was radioactivity registering on Geiger counters, and there were oxygen tanks in rooms in the burning building. We have special teams that help us deal with chemical and radioactive agents. We carefully made our way upstairs to figure out how to handle the radioactivity and had an engineer come in and cut off all chemicals and remove oxygen from rooms that could come in contact with the fire. Even the roof the whole top floor was on fire and in danger of collapsing. We found a way to work around the radioactivity leak with the special unit and the fire department. The captain affirms: It was truly an act of God that there were no serious injuries at Soroka. We participated in the rescue the next day and saw the ambulances coming from Soroka. I knew the patients would be well taken care of. MIDLAND, Texas (KMID/KPEJ)- A former Midland ISD school teacher was arrested earlier this week following a months-long investigation involving unauthorized charges using a booster club debit card. Katherine Faye Brock, 44, has been charged with misappropriating funds, a state-jail felony. According to an affidavit, on June 6, the president of the San Jacinto Orchestra Booster Club visited the Midland Police Department to file a complaint after she noticed numerous unauthorized charges against the clubs account. The current president said that in March of this year, she was asked to pay two invoices on behalf of the club and that once she gained online access to the clubs business checking account she noticed that the previous treasurer of the club, identified as Brock, had been making suspicious charges since October of 2022. An in-depth look into the clubs financial records showed that Brock, then a teacher at Pease Elementary in Midland, had reportedly spent nearly $25,000 of the booster clubs money to pay for personal items, including car payments, new tires for a personal vehicle, utility payments, DoorDash purchases, grocery purchases, and more. The investigation revealed that Brock had used the card fraudulently as recently as August of 2024 before she was removed from her position with the club in November of the same year. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement After gathering all of the financial records, MPD investigators asked Brock to come to the station to answer some questions and an interview was scheduled for August 1; however Brock did not show up or call to reschedule. On August 4, Brock was arrested on a warrant and has since been released from the Midland County Detention Center on an unknown bond. The District said Brock is no longer an employee of MISD and will not be returning to the classroom. 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. UPDATE: The missing person alert for David Romilly has been cancelled. Greece police confirm he is safe. ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) The Greece Police Department is searching for an endangered man who went missing Thursday evening. 65-year-old David Romilly was last seen at 7:15 p.m. on Thursday on Ridgeway Avenue driving a red BMW SUV, but they described him as a man standing at 58, weighing 200 pounds, and having gray hair and brown eyes. He was last seen wearing a gray shirt and blue jeans. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to police, Romilly is an endangered adult who may be disoriented and in need of medical attention. Anyone with information on Romillys disappearance is asked to call 911. 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. DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) A 13-year-old is safe after being reported missing in Preble County. The Eaton Police Division asked the public Friday morning to help search for a teen who had been reported missing. Expect heavy traffic this week on US 127 Within a short time, Eaton police provided an update, saying the juvenile was found safe. Authorities thanked the public for their efforts in helping to locate the child. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. (NewsNation) The family of Amy Bradley, the 23-year-old Virginia woman who vanished during a Caribbean cruise with her family in 1998, believes she was abducted and is still alive, her brother tells Banfield. We believe she was targeted, we believe she was taken, and we believe she was removed from the ship, Brad Bradley said Thursday. A new Netflix docuseries, Amy Bradley is Missing, has reopened the nearly 30-year-old case. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Suspect admits he killed Natalee Holloway in Aruba in 2005, pleads guilty to extorting her mother Amy Bradley vanished aboard the Royal Caribbeans Rhapsody of the Seas on March 24, 1998, as she and her family sailed to Curacao. She was last seen on the balcony of the familys cabin early in the morning, leading to speculation the woman may have fallen overboard. Another theory held by her brother is that she became a victim of trafficking. Questions persist for Amy Bradley brother He shared puzzling anecdotes with Banfield, such as the disappearance of photographs of his sister from a formal ship event. Also, he said, two men asked him questions about the timeline of Amys disappearance, which he later realized could have been them trying to line up their own stories. Brad Bradley recently told TMZ that several tips have come in since the Netflix program began streaming. On Thursday, he said there are credible leads but declined to elaborate. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Netflix documentary features interviews with people who say theyve seen Amy Bradley, alive. Her family doesnt think shes dead. Its just a gut feeling, Brad Bradley said. My parents and I have shared the same feeling ever since Day 1. I dont know how to explain that to people or make it make sense to everybody. FBI still searching for Amy Bradley Bradley was legally declared dead in 2010. The FBI investigation into her disappearance remains open, with a $25,000 reward offered for information leading to her recovery. 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. JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) A Texas teenager, who disappeared one year ago, is still missing and may have traveled to Mississippi. According to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC), Danielle Frazier, who was 14 at the time, was last seen in Houston, Texas, on August 9, 2024. Two arrested in Adams County for stealing log truck Frazier is described as 5 feet 8 inches tall, weighed 140 pounds and has hazel eyes and black hair. NCMEC officials said authorities believe that Frazier may have traveled to Mississippi, or she may still be in the local or surrounding areas. Danielle Frazier (Courtesy: NCMEC) Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Frazier or her disappearance can contact the NCMEC at 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678) or the Houston Police Department (Texas) at 1-713-884-3131. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Daily 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 WJTV. UPDATE: Tammy Crowley has been found. SPARTANBURG, S.C. (WSPA) The Spartanburg Police Department is asking for help locating a woman after she left the hospital in the middle of the night. 56-year-old Tammy E. Crowley was last seen leaving the Spartanburg Emergency Room at 1:25 a.m. on August 7. Officers said Crowley was not medically discharged from the hospital. Crowley is prescribed multiple heart and blood pressure medications, which officers said she does not have with her at the time. Crowley also reportedly does not have her cellphone and is not familiar with the Spartanburg area. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Spartanburg Police Department asks anyone with information on Crowleys whereabouts to contact the Spartanburg Police Department at 864-596-2065 or 864-596-2222. 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 WSPA 7NEWS. FRANKLIN COUNTY, Mo. A Robertsville, Missouri, man is facing serious charges after deputies allege that he was in possession of child sexual abuse material (CSAM). According to Franklin County Sheriff Steve Pelton, the countys Special Victims Unit spent the last several weeks investigating reports of the sexual exploitation of minors. On July 9, detectives obtained a search warrant for the home of Timothy Flynn Sr., 43. They examined Flynns electronic devices and discovered multiple images and videos of minors being exploited. An arrest warrant was issued for Flynn on Aug. 6. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Franklin County Prosecuting Attorneys Office charged Flynn with 20 counts of possession of child pornography. Flynn remains in custody without bond. He has a court hearing scheduled for Aug. 14. Law enforcement officials say their investigation into the case remains ongoing. 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. Deandre Pointer, a man incarcerated at the Jefferson City Correctional Center, discusses his legal effort to get his parole date recalculated. If the date is not changed, Pointer will serve 40 years on a 23-year sentence (Rudi Keller/Missouri Independent). When Deandre Pointer appeared in front of a Jackson County judge in June 2023, his world was bright. After years of protesting his innocence of murder charges and failing to convince any court, Pointer cut a deal to trade his life without parole sentence for a 23-year term on two counts of second degree murder and two counts of armed criminal action. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He had been in custody for 21 years and thought the deal would mean hed served enough time to be released in 2024. The only reason why I took this plea was that my father was sick, Pointer said in an interview with The Independent at the Jefferson City Correctional Center. But when a Missouri Department of Corrections record clerk finished processing his paperwork, Pointers world turned dark. Instead of being given almost 7,000 days of credit for time served on all four charges, Pointer was allowed credit only for 557 days jail time before his 2005 trial on three of the four counts. He is not eligible for release until 2044. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As a result, he is back in court seeking a ruling that the records clerk made an error. For himself, and others who feel they have been short-changed on their time-served credits, the outcome of those cases will determine if they go home or stay in prison. Over almost 20 years in state prison, Pointer, 52, maintained hope he would find a way out. He worked in the license plate factory, paid his attorney out of the 80 cents an hour he earned, maintained contact with his family and became an ordained minister. I never took anxiety meds, Pointer said in an interview with The Independent. Never in my life. Now, you know, I have to take anxiety meds just to have a functional day. Pointers situation is tied to how parole dates are initially calculated, something that happens within 90 days of a person arriving to serve their sentence. Other people in custody complain that the Missouri Board of Probation and Paroles new interpretation of parole policies that state how much time must be served for one particular charge armed criminal action pushed their possible release date back, in some cases a decade or more. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advocates say there could be hundreds of others across the 19 adult prisons who thought theyd served enough time to be eligible for parole but were suddenly and unexpectedly years away from being released. Kent Gipson, an attorney from Kansas City who represents Pointer in his court battles, has handled several cases challenging the reinterpretation of how much time must be served for an armed criminal action charge. You get your sentence reduced, and then they recalculate it and say that you have to do more time than you did before you got your sentence reduced, Gipson said. This cant be right. Gipson called the Board of Probation and Paroles change to armed criminal action sentences egregious, because those guys actually had parole hearings scheduled, and they took them away from and said, Sorry, were moving it back 15 years because were changing this rule. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The board was using its authority and did not change how much of a life sentence must be served, even if those charged with armed criminal action think it was changed, Steven Mueller, operations manager for the board, wrote in an email. There is no maximum release date on any life sentence and release is at the discretion of the board, he wrote. For several months now, Pointer has been waiting for a court ruling in two cases challenging the calculation. Meanwhile, prisoner advocates are hopeful a working group empaneled by Gov. Mike Kehoe will address the issue. Kehoe directed the group to bring clarity, transparency and accountability to the parole process. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Parole policy or rule changes that would extend the time to be served for particular crimes or sentences should be forward-looking, applying only to new convictions, Clifton Davis of the Missouri Justice Coalition, a group that advocates for better treatment of incarcerated people, testified at the working groups June 13 public hearing. While (armed criminal action) carries a minimum, internal practices often add years that were not imposed by the sentencing court, Davis said. We ask that this working group ensure that the boards decision reflects legislative sentencing intent, not internal enhancements. The calculation The Jefferson City Correctional Center (Rudi Keller/Missouri Independent). Under the Missouri criminal code, second-degree murder since 1994 has been considered a dangerous felony, with a requirement that the offender serve at least 85% of their sentence before being considered for release. For a 23-year sentence like Pointers, that is a little more than 19 and one-half years. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement When Pointer pleaded guilty and was resentenced, he had been held for 6,929 days, or 18.9 years. In the calculation Pointer received on his return to prison, he found he was being required to serve 18 of the 23 years, or until 2039, on the armed criminal action charges. That was done based on the 2019 parole regulation revisions. But that isnt his release date, just the date that he will finish those charges. The second-degree murder conviction carries a requirement that he serve 85% of the 23-year sentence, with a release date in 2044. The change impacted anyone who had a parole hearing on an armed criminal action conviction scheduled after Sept. 1, 2019, moving their hearing date a decade or more into the future. Those who received a hearing, and a release date, before the revisions were issued went home. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advocates are uncertain how many other incarcerated people are serving sentences that extend beyond the time they were told to expect parole when they arrived in prison. Pointers charges On June 12, 2003, Pointer was at his rented home in Kansas City when Eddie Hall, who he was allowing to stay with him, arrived with a woman named Angela Ray. After they smoked crack cocaine, according to court records, Hall pulled a gun, forced Ray to have sex, then bound and strangled her. Hall disposed of Rays body with Pointers help, prosecutors claimed in court documents, by loading her into the trunk of her rented car, driving to an undeveloped area and setting it on fire. Five days later, Hall and Pointer were home when Bobby Roby, a cousin of Pointer, and another woman arrived in the evening. Near midnight, according to the statement Pointer made to police, Hall again pulled a gun, tied Pointer to a chair with speaker wire, bound Roby with duct tape to a basement support pole and raped the woman. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Hall then strangled Roby to death and forced the woman to go with him to dump the body in a pond by threatening to kill her children. They then returned to Pointers home, where he had been tied to a chair. About 12 hours later, Pointer went to a police division station and reported both murders. When police returned to his home, they arrested Hall and freed the woman. The initial court filing on Hall names Pointer as a victim. In an interview with The Independent, he said he didnt go to police immediately after Rays death because of fear of violence from Hall or his friends. Ray was killed, Pointer claims, because she had testified against one of Halls friends. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A year later, the woman involved changed her story and accused Pointer of participating in her rape and the choking death of Roby. Pointer was arrested and charged with first-degree murder. The charges were later amended to add second-degree murder for the death of Ray. After his October 2005 trial, Pointer said, prosecutors offered him a deal of 18 to 20 years in prison if he would testify against Hall. But Pointer says he was forced at gunpoint to help dispose of Rays body, and was tied to a chair during Robys murder. So he believed he was innocent and was unwilling to admit to committing a crime. I told (the prosecutor) I would testify, but I do not want to take the plea for something I did not do, Pointer said. I testified, but I didnt take the plea, because I wanted to keep my appeals open. Pointer was convicted in 2005 and sentenced to life in prison without parole on the first-degree murder charge and life in prison on second-degree murder and the two counts of armed criminal action. The terms were to be served consecutively. Hall was convicted of a single count of first degree murder in December 2005 and is now serving life without parole. Conviction reversed One of the most common ways to challenge a sentence or conviction, in addition to a direct appeal, is called post-conviction relief. Defendants who plead guilty lose their direct appeal rights. A person in prison can have the conviction or sentence set aside by successfully showing the constitution has been violated, or an attorney has failed in some manner. After his direct appeals were exhausted, thats what Pointer did in October 2007. A public defender was appointed to represent him. But in February 2008, after finding that Pointer filed a document too late, the judge rescinded the appointment and dismissed the case. In 2022 Gipson succeeded in reopening Pointers post-conviction relief case on the grounds that he had been abandoned by his public defender in 2008. Thats when negotiations began with the Jackson County Prosecuting Attorneys office ultimately leading to the original conviction being set aside so Pointer could plead guilty to two counts of second degree murder and two of armed criminal action. At the June 1, 2023, resentencing, Gipson conceded prosecutors had enough evidence to convict Pointer of the restated charges. And before he was formally resentenced, Burnett took testimony from family members of the victims. They, too, thought Pointer would be released soon and said they saw no justice in the re-sentencing. I feel its most unfortunate that I work every day, and my and others taxes go to feed this man, clothe him, house him, cool him, exercise him, at our expense, said Ruthie Kidd, mother of Angela Ray. Hes taken something from us that we canthat he cant give back, that we can never get back. Other cases Steven Tyler Decker, third from left, is incarcerated at the Jefferson City Correctional Center, where he feels his remaining time before parole has been miscalculated. He is shown in a family photo with, from left, Blake Decker, a brother, Fabian Camacho, an uncle, and his son Ryan (Submitted photo). Steven Tyler Decker, like Pointer, feels he is being shortchanged on jail time credit. In March 2021, Decker was charged with first-degree murder for a killing that occurred at a Kansas City motel. After charges were reduced to second degree murder, he was allowed to post a $50,000 bond while he waited for trial. Before he could be tried, however, he was arrested on drug and weapons charges. The judge in that case ordered he be held without bond, but the bond in his earlier case was never revoked. That, he said in a telephone interview from the Jefferson City Correctional Center, is the source of his complaint about how his parole date has been calculated. I should have been eligible for parole now, Decker said. He pleaded guilty in the drug case on Aug. 18, 2023, and was sentenced to five years on each of two drug counts and four years on unlawful use of a weapon, all to be served concurrently. Then he pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to seven years, to be served concurrently with his other conviction. Under state parole regulations, Decker has 523 days of jail-time credit. When he was sentenced, the judge ordered Decker be given credit for time served from March 16, 2022, to June 13, 2025. But that came with a caveat if the Department of Corrections didnt allow it, Decker couldnt file an appeal on that basis. With 1,185 days in custody, Decker thought the guilty plea would position him for release. But the department did not allow the time he was in jail on the drug charges or the time he was held by the state on the manslaughter sentence. They never revoked my bond, so technically, I was still out on bond on the murder case until the April guilty plea, Decker said. Decker is eligible for parole in 2028. His security level was recently reduced and hes seeking transfer to another prison. On Aug. 1, 2019, James Dunn received notice his parole hearing would be held in two months. He had been in custody since 1996, when he was arrested and charged with second degree murder and armed criminal action. He was given consecutive life sentences. At the time of his scheduled parole hearing, Dunn had completed 85% of the murder conviction and was approaching the three-year statutory minimum time for the armed criminal action charge. A month before he was to go before the parole board, the department issued its revised guidebook for parole procedures. It required anyone serving a life sentence with eligibility for parole to serve at least 15 years, or half of what the statutes define as a life sentence. Dunn was informed his hearing date had been changed to June 2036. Id done the time that makes me eligible to be released, and they moved the goal posts at the last second, Dunn said in a telephone interview from Jefferson City Correctional Center. Dunn challenged the change in court but was turned down in Cole County Circuit Court then lost again in his appeal. In the interview, Dunn said he feels he has received the punishment he was due for his crimes. I have two granddaughters, he said. I dont want anything special. I want to see my family, spend time with my mom while shes still around, and my granddaughters, and just live a normal life. Im not looking for an extravagant life when I get out here, I just want to get out of here. Fighting for release Pointer is directly challenging his parole date calculation in Cole County, where he is being held, and in Jackson County, where he was sentenced. In the Cole County case, Circuit Judge Brian Stumpe has been weighing his decision since April 24. It is simply shocking to the conscience that a state can, without consequence, require a prisoner to serve an additional 20 years beyond the maximum sentence imposed by the trial courts judgment and sentence, Gipson wrote in the petition in Jackson County. The calculation is correct, Assistant Attorney General Andrew Clark argued in a filing in Cole County, because his prior sentences were ordered to be served consecutively and he cannot receive credit for those offenses even though they were vacated and subsequently imposed concurrently. Hindsight provides a clarity that is not apparent as things are happening and for Pointer, the plea deal he was offered in 2005 to testify against Hall looks pretty good now. My oldest daughter, Monique, said, Dad, I wish that you would have just taken the pleas that they offered you a long time ago. Pointer said. Because if I would have taken the 20 year plea, I would have been gone, gone home, a way long time before now. This article has been updated to clarify the section on the resentencing hearing. There's little question that President Donald Trump and his MAGA devotees can dish it out. Few things epitomize this populist movement more than its irreverence toward established institutions and its willingness to obliterate traditional standards of civility as it targets political enemies (and erstwhile friends during some internecine squabble). Trump's social-media posts and statements are filled with invective and merciless mocking. Trump's schoolyard taunts rarely are sophisticated, as they frequently zero in on personal appearance. "He's got the smallest neck I've ever seen. And the biggest head. We call him watermelon head. How can that big fat face stand on a neck that looked like this finger?" Trump said about Sen. Adam Schiff (DCalif.). OK, I laughed when he called him "Adam Schifty Schiff," but that's only because it was so childishly stupid. That's its appeal, I suppose. One of Trump's ugliest insultsdating to his first electionwas when he mocked a disabled reporter by imitating his hand motions. The Wall Street Journal published a piece called, "The Art of the Insult." We know this is how Trump operates. You can find hundreds of examples with a Google search or on his Truth Social account. Even the official White House account does thiswhen it's not portraying Trump as a Kim Jong Un-style superhero. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It's so very funny. Whenever anyone calls them out on this, Trump defenders act as if they are just so above it all. "Don't you know the president is just trolling?" "Get a sense of humor." "You must be suffering from TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome)." Yadda, yadda. In full disclosure, I greatly value humor and have mocked my share of politicians over the years. But I find bullying taunts to be crass and the sign of those displaying low human capital. In politics, I prefer Ronald Reagan's brand of humor, as it was actually funny, incisive, and, well, intelligent. It could be biting: "A recession is when your neighbor loses his job. A depression is when you lose yours. And recovery is when Jimmy Carter loses his." He reportedly penned that one himself. But his humor often was self-deprecating. After getting criticized for his work ethic, Reagan said: "It's true that hard work never killed anybody, but I figure why take the chance?" By contrast, the new Republican standard-bearer cannot bear the slightest criticism. Even a ho-hum taunt brings a furious reactionsometimes followed by a cease-and-desist letter. Trump takes himself very seriously. I've never heard anything from him that's self-deprecating. Yet self-deprecation is a sign not just of intelligence, but of emotional well-being. Only dictatorsreal or wannabeand troubled personalities maintain a veneer of perfection. ("I'm the greatest president ever.") "We chose humor as a mechanism through which leaders express their concern for others (vs. the self) because of the potential for humor to be both a weapon to harm others and a tool to build relationships," according to 2014 research on humor and leadership. Great leaders use humorespecially the self-deprecating varietyas a tool to elevate organizations (and nations), whereas self-centered ones use it to diminish others. You see the parallels. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Recently, a South Park episode shows "Trump suing the tiny town of South Park when its parents resist 'anti-woke' policies, threatening anyone who isn't sufficiently pro-Trump, and literally getting into bed naked with Satan," USA Today gently explained. It also showed Trump with a tiny endowment. The cartoon is the epitome of irreverent humor. Its targets are all over the map. It's not my type of humor, but I chuckle even when it targets my own sacred cows, such as motorcycle riders. Yet a White House that routinely displays viciousness couldn't bear being on the receiving end. It called South Park a "fourth-rate" show that is "hanging on by a thread with uninspired ideas in a desperate attempt for attention." MAGA can be remarkably thin-skinned, the dictionary definition of people who can dish it out but can't take it. I'm a stickler for applying standards consistently to both sides of the political spectrum, so I'm flummoxed by this lack of self-awareness. Trump has undertaken a variety of not-so-funny assaults on the media, which, as my Southern California News Group colleague Larry Wilson recently documented, seem designed to quash criticism. Some media outlets have rolled over, but the best response is to keep up the pressure. The South Park producers offered a mock apology for the episode, which seemed like the appropriate response. In democratic societies, the public is free to ridicule its leaders. But you can't stop mockery even in unfree ones. Jokes in the Soviet Union could be amazingly clever, as the jokesters had to navigate a world of informants, secret police and humorless apparatchiks. I'd prefer a little more decorum in our political discourse, but since MAGA won't stop the insults it should get better at taking them. This column was first published in The Orange County Register. The post Mocking Elected Officials Is a Sign of a Healthy Democracy appeared first on Reason.com. Narendra Modi during a news conference at the White House in Washington, D.C. on Feb. 13, 2025. Credit - Stefani ReynoldsBloomberg via Getty Images Few leaders are as good at marketing themselves as Indias Narendra Modi. Since his election as Prime Minister in 2014, he has projected himself as the builder of a stronger and more assertive India, claimed credit for its robust economic growth, and has blamed his predecessors when things went wrong. A generation of voters believe Indias growing stature on the world stage is because of him. But then comes Donald Trump, the disruptor par excellence, who on Wednesday threatened staggering 50% tariffs on imports from the worlds fourth largest economy. India now faces among the steepest U.S. levies of any nation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The announcement is a remarkable development considering the past bonhomie between the two men. Modi and Trump are populists with ideological similarities and had previously campaigned for each other. And this year, Modi became one of the first world leaders to visit the White House following Trumps return to office in January. He called him a great friend during the February visit and the two pledged to double U.S.-India trade to $500 billion by 2030. But trouble boiled over in late July, when Trump announced a 25% tariff on Indian goods, which he doubled on Wednesday. The U.S. President has zeroed in on Indias significant purchase of Russian oil as a deadline for Moscow to agree to a cease-fire in Ukraine looms. Read More: Modi's Unraveling Has Begun The new tariffswhich come into force on Aug. 27wont necessarily protect U.S. markets or businesses. But they will punish a country that currently imports 36% of its oil from Russia, up from a mere 0.2% before the Kremlins full-scale invasion of Ukraine over three years ago. Much of this bargain oil is used for domestic consumptionIndia imports more than 80% of the oil it needs, and quickly finding another supplier will be neither easy nor cheap. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement That may be one reason the Indian government has shot back at the tariffs, calling them unfair, unjustified, and unreasonable. But another may be a sense that Western nations are being hypocritical. New Delhi has been quick to point out that the E.U. continues to do considerable business with Russia, and that Washington had previously supported Indias purchase of Russian oil to help stabilize global energy prices. Local refiners are now awaiting word from New Delhi on whether to continue buying Russian oil, sources told Reuters, while Indias national security adviser is in Moscow, where he said Putin will visit India later this year. Top Modi aides are expected to visit Russia in the coming days. But however the Modi government chooses to respond, one thing is clear. The friendship Modi thought he had with Trump was ultimately a dysfunctional dalliancedefined by Modis effusiveness and Trumps ruthless self-interest. The bromance is over. Personal chemistry cannot override the cold math of global interests. Even leaving aside the matter of Russian oil, the U.S. and India have been diverging on trade, tariffs, and geopolitics. Trump wants to bring back manufacturing jobs to the U.S.; Modis Make in India campaign is in part a pitch to American firms to relocate from China to India. Modis approach is simply incompatible with Trumps America First policies. India is also profoundly miffed about Trumps sudden, tactical tilt toward Pakistan. In June, he hosted the Pakistani army chief at the White House, and has recently announced an oil exploration deal with Pakistan. He also annoyed India no end by claiming credit for bringing about a ceasefire between India and Pakistan after a four-day conflict in May. None of this is pleasing to a country that has fought bitter wars with Pakistan, and whose officials have over the past two decades assiduously invested to elevate Indo-U.S. relations to a higher plane. Trumps moves have shaken those foundations. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Read More: How Modi's Economy Has Really Fared Under Modi His words have also shocked the Indian establishment. Trump went so far as to label Indias economy dead last week and accuse Modi of profiting from chaos, effectively turning a symbol of friendship into a lever for public shaming and coercion. Indian diplomats are used to quiet, behind-the-scenes diplomacy. After staying silent for some days, Modi on Thursday appeared to address the tariffs when he said that he would not compromise on the interests of Indian farmers. But he has a tough balancing act ahead. If he concedes on any point, he risks reputational damage at home. But if he attempts to take on America, he risks further escalation that can harm an inconsistent economy that is now intertwined with America more than ever before. The U.S. is Indias biggest trade partner and much of the countrys $86 billion in goods exports to America will not be viable if the tariffs come into force as expected in 20 days. Trumps tariff announcements are often arbitrary, and he routinely revises rates, sometimes backing off, but sometimes turning more aggressive. There are also domestic political risks for Modi. The opposition has seized on the moment, and upped the ante by calling the tariffs economic blackmail and an attempt to bully India into an unfair trade deal as negotiations continue. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The lesson for India is that hard interests, not warm hugs, drive policy. For Trump, no relationship seems sacredonly the art of the deal matters. Modi may have thought he could charm Trump; Trump was glad to be praised, but ultimately that is not enough. For the longest time, Indian foreign policy rested on the principle of strategic autonomy. But exercising such autonomy has costs, as we are seeing this week. The tariffs are a reminder to India that while its influence and economy have grown, its strategic relevance hasnt yet risen to a point where it can just have its way. Its foreign policy remains too independent for the Wests liking, its markets still closed for many Western products, its bureaucratic procedures still cumbersome for foreign businesses, and its industries vulnerable to outside forces. Contact us at letters@time.com. (NewsNation) Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the phone Friday amid tariff uncertainty and rocky relations with the United States. The news comes as Russia reaches a deadline to move toward peace with Ukraine or face additional economic sanctions from the U.S. Had a very good and detailed conversation with my friend President Putin, Modi wrote on social media. I thanked him for sharing the latest developments on Ukraine. We also reviewed the progress in our bilateral agenda, and reaffirmed our commitment to further deepen the India-Russia Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership. I look forward to hosting President Putin in India later this year. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trumps deadline for Russia to end war in Ukraine arrives President Donald Trump recently announced India would be hit with 50% tariffs starting at the end of August if India continues to purchase energy from Russia. That doubles an initial tariff of 25% that Trump previously assigned to the country, making good on earlier threats to enact what the president called secondary tariffs on countries that do business with Russia. India has not shown any sign of backing down in the face of the new tariff and recently paused plans to purchase arms from the U.S., another sign of deepening tensions. Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh was previously expected to come to the U.S., according to Reuters, to announce a purchase of military equipment, including Stryker combat vehicles, Javelin anti-tank missiles and Boeing P81 reconnaissance aircraft. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Markets drift amid investor caution as Trumps tariffs take effect India is the second-largest arms importer in the world, and the U.S. is the largest exporter. However, India has traditionally purchased more of its weapons from Russia than from America. Trumps previously friendly relationship with Putin appears to be fraying as well, as Trump has become increasingly frustrated by failed efforts to broker a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. During the campaign, Trump vowed to bring the conflict to a swift end within 24 hours of taking office but has thus far been unable to reach an agreement between the two countries. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Putin is expected to meet with Trump in the coming days for more discussions on how to reach a peace deal. GOPs FBI talk on Texas sparks firestorm with Democrats Initially, the White House said the meeting would be contingent on Putin agreeing to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, but Trump later walked that back. Friday marks the deadline instituted by Trump for Putin to stop the fighting in Ukraine or face more economic sanctions. On Thursday afternoon, however, Trump suggested the deadline was not as firm as previously indicated, giving more latitude for negotiations. 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. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin have agreed to strengthen bilateral ties, Modi's office said on Friday after the two leaders spoke by phone. The two reaffirmed their commitment to deepening to what the Indian statement calls a "special and privileged strategic partnership." During the call, Modi personally invited Putin to India for this year's annual RussiaIndia summit. A date for the meeting has not yet been set. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On social media platform X, Modi referred to Putin as "my friend" and thanked him for briefing him on the "latest developments regarding Ukraine," without giving details. New Delhi has maintained a neutral stance on Russias war in Ukraine, balancing its long-standing ties with Moscow and its relationships with Western partners. Modis office said he reiterated India's position that the conflict come to an end with a "peaceful resolution." The conversation came amid growing tensions between India and the United States. New Delhi has criticized Washington's announcement that it plans to impose new tariffs on Indian imports over its purchases of Russian oil. The proposed 25% surcharge would double the tariff rate for India to 50% by the end of the month. By imposing additional tariffs on Russian trading partners like India, the US aims to further weaken the country's war machine, mainly funded by sales from natural resources including gas and oil. NEED TO KNOW A Florida mother was charged with child and animal neglect after allegedly leaving her teenager and seven dogs in "deplorable" living conditions while vacationing in Las Vegas for two weeks, authorities allege Deputies found emaciated dogs without food or water and four inches of feces inside Jessica Copeland's home on Monday, Aug. 4 The teenager claimed to investigators that the living conditions had been that way "for years" A Florida mother was arrested after authorities allege she left her child and seven dogs living in a feces-strewn home for two weeks while she vacationed in Las Vegas. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Jessica Copeland, 37, was booked into the Putnam County Jail on one count of child neglect, three counts of felony animal neglect and four counts of misdemeanor animal neglect on Tuesday, Aug. 5, according to the Putnam County Sheriff's Office and online jail records. On Monday, Aug. 4, the sheriff's office said deputies were called Copeland's home in Palatka, Fla. a city located about 60 miles south of Jacksonville after a family member called for a welfare check on a teenager living there. When deputies responded to scene, they encountered an adult outside the home who told them he was cleaning before Copeland came home from a trip, per a sheriff's office statement shared on Facebook. "The teenager came outside and told deputies there were no issues and everything was fine," the post reads. "Deputies cleared the call having no information to enter the home." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to the sheriff's office, deputies returned later that day when another family member called, claiming he had "video of dogs being abused inside the home." The family member reportedly showed the video of "three severely emaciated dogs" to investigators and said he believed there was no running water or food in the house, per the statement. https://people.com/app/scene?sceneId=9de86c07-a15a-409e-8382-c1ab68eaf839&shortlink=kz7l4cuf&c=People.com%20Homepage%20Fourth%20Wall%20Revise%20Download%20070725&pid=People.com&af_xp=custom&source_caller=ui The sheriff's office said they weren't made aware of the alleged animal abuse when they first responded to the home. The teenager let deputies inside the home, where they claim they saw "vile living conditions, [including] layers of animal feces on the floor." They also allegedly saw "garbage and debris littered throughout and several emaciated dogs without food and water," the statement reads. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement While speaking with deputies, the teenager claimed Copeland left two weeks earlier, on July 21, to "go on vacation in Las Vegas," and that different people would come to the house to check on him and bring him food, per the post. 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. The sheriff's office said seven dogs were found inside the home, four of which were "locked in a bedroom covered in about four inches of feces." A fifth dog spotted in a cage was "severely emaciated." The rest of the dogs were in the living room also surrounded by feces. All of the dogs allegedly did not have adequate food or water, according to the sheriff's office. The teen allegedly told investigators that the living conditions had been that way "for years" because "Copeland maintains it that way and refuses to clean," per the post. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In body-camera footage shared by the sheriff's office, Copeland is confronted by a deputy about the "deplorable" living conditions and she says she "just got back from vacation." After the deputy says he has to arrest her, she complies, the footage shows. Putnam County Sheriff's Office Jessica Copeland in body-camera footage. Jessica Copeland in body-camera footage. Sheriff H.D. "Gator" DeLoach said "the depravity of this situation is both heartbreaking and infuriating." He added, "This wasnt neglect. This was deliberate cruelty, both to her child and to the animals she left behind." According to the sheriff's office, the dogs were given to Putnam County Animal Services and upon rehabilitation, will be available for adoption. Online jail records show Copeland is being held on $36,000 bond. It's unclear if she has entered a plea or retained an attorney to speak on her behalf. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. Read the original article on People The mom of a young boy who was attacked by a coyote in California earlier this week is speaking out following the traumatic experience. In an interview with ABC News' Los Angeles station KABC on Thursday, Melissa Palomar said that she and her family were at a local park in Carson for their daughter's softball tournament, when her 6-year-old son, Enoch Palomar, was attacked by a coyote. "It's traumatizing," Palomar said. "I was in shock." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 13-year-old shark attack survivor returns to the water: 'I wanted to go in' KABC - PHOTO: Enoch and Melissa Palomar appear in this screengrab from an interview. Palomar said that during the softball game on Monday morning, her son wanted to play at a nearby playground with other kids. She said that when Enoch ran to retrieve a ball that he was playing with, a coyote appeared and grabbed him out of nowhere. "It kept scratching me and biting me, I was yelling," said Enoch, who recalled the pain from the attack and thought it was a dog at first. KABC - PHOTO: Enoch Palomar, 6, of Carson, CA, appears in this screengrab from a video interview. His mom said, "At first I thought it was a dog, but he yelled immediately and as soon as the coyote bit him, I ran toward him and then I noticed it was a coyote and then I started making noise," she said. "And as soon as I got close to him, he ran off." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement She continued, "I picked up my son and I took him to the emergency room as soon as possible." Part of the incident was caught on camera by a bystander who was filming the softball game. In the video, Enoch is behind the fence screaming and running away from the coyote. The person filming also caught the coyote on camera. The injuries that Enoch sustained were bites on the back of his head, both of his legs and scratches, Palomar said, adding that he had to get more than 20 stitches and rabies shots. @planelord / TikTok - PHOTO: Screengrab of a coyote from a video shared on TikTok by @planelord. "His wounds are really deep," she added. Palomar said that she is grateful she was there to scare off the coyote when it attacked her son. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement She is also urging others to "be more aware" of their surroundings. "There's a lot of coyotes," she said about where she lives. "I've seen them in the street [while] driving, but I never thought they'd be so close to us. For a lot of people to be there and for a coyote to go to the playground and attack [kids] them, it's very shocking to me." Wildlife officials say that coyote sightings are common in California, but attacks on people and children are rare. Coyote spotted roaming in Central Park According to Citizens for Los Angeles Wildlife, an environmental organization aimed at protecting and restoring the environments of Los Angeles wildlife, the increased trend of coyote sightings is due to "habitat loss and fragmentation." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "As natural habitat is encroached upon and urbanized, the coyotes simply have fewer and fewer places where they can go," CLAW adds. If you ever encounter a coyote or if a coyote ever approaches you, Project Coyote, a national non-profit organization, advises not to run. "Wave arms, make noise and walk toward the coyote until he retreats," it notes on its website. "Be 'Big, Bad and Loud.'" Project Coyote also advises to "avoid areas where coyotes may be denning or feeding/hiding pups." NEED TO KNOW Maria Elvia died after trying to save her youngest daughter from drowning in a Georgia lake, according to local reports Yvonne Sanchez, one of Maria's four children, described Maria via GoFundMe as "a devoted mother and wife who always put her family first" Sanchez and her family are now seeking support from their community as they cope with Maria's sudden death A mom died while attempting to save her daughter from drowning in a Georgia lake. Now, her family is seeking support from their community. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Maria Elvia and her kids were visiting Stone Mountain Park on Saturday, Aug. 2, when her 9-year-old daughter slipped off a rock and into the lake, according to NBC affiliate WXIA-TV and WALB. Despite not knowing how to swim, Maria jumped into the water to try and save her daughter, WALB and FOX affiliate WAGA-TV reported. Marias son also jumped in the water and was able to get his sister to safety, per the reports. He and Marias husband then tried to save the mother, but were unable to do so. GoFundMe Maria Elvia with her daughter Maria Elvia with her daughter A police officer reportedly managed to recover Maria, who was taken to a hospital. She spent days in the intensive care unit before she ultimately died. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Maria leaves behind a husband and four children, the youngest being the one whose life she saved, according to a GoFundMe campaign started to support her family following her sudden death. https://people-app.onelink.me/HNIa/kz7l4cuf Her daughter, Yvonne Sanchez, who organized the online fundraiser, is now asking her community for help. Maria Elvia was a devoted mother and wife who always put her family first, Sanchez wrote on GoFundMe. She cared deeply for her children and husband, and her final act was one of selfless love and courage. Sanchez later said the funds raised through the online fundraiser will go toward covering Marias ICU and hospital bills, funeral expenses, and shipping her body to her home country, which Sanchez said was her wish. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This will also be [used] to provide ongoing support for her husband and children as they navigate this difficult time, Marias daughter explained. Any contribution will help ease the financial burden on her family and honor Marias legacy of love and sacrifice. More than $15,000 has been raised through the GoFundMe campaign as of Friday, Aug. 8. Thank you so much to everyone who has donated or shared their support during this incredibly difficult time, Sanchez wrote. Read the original article on People NEED TO KNOW Jayden Perkins was fatally stabbed while trying to protect his mother from a knife attack Crosetti Brand was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison The day before the attack, Brand had been released on parole from prison after an aggravated assault conviction The mother of an 11-year-old boy who died protecting her from a knife attack appeared in court for the killer's sentencing hearing on Tuesday, Aug. 5. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Jayden Perkins was fatally stabbed in March 24 as he tried to protect his pregnant mother, Laterria Smith. At the time, police said Crosetti Brand, who had once been in a relationship with Smith a more than a decade prior, had broken into the family's Chicago home as the children were getting ready for school, WGN reported. ABC 7 reported that Perkins died from a stab wound to the chest, while Smith, who was pregnant at the time, survived being stabbed 15 times. Jayden's 5-year-old brother witnessed the entire attack, the outlet reported. Related: Boy, 11, Died While Protecting Pregnant Mom from Alleged Attack by Felon Recently Released on Parole Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement NBC 5, ABC 7 and the Chicago Sun-Times reported that Brand was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of murder in June. Smith, NBC 5 reported, spoke at Brand's sentencing hearing, saying she still has nightmares from the attack. 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. "You have taken away one of the greatest gifts God has blessed me with," said Smith, according to NBC 5. "I am broken without my son." One day before the stabbing, Brand had been released on parole after he was convicted of aggravated assault and home invasion, Chicago police said at the time. Smith had a restraining order active against Brand. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Her 5-year-old son was also present and witnessed this attack," said Chicago Police Superintendent Larry Snelling at the time, per WGN. "We have to imagine what that 5-year-old is going to have to deal with the rest of his life after witnessing something so brutal." Read the original article on People The mother of a six-year-old boy waited two days before calling 911 to report her son was dead in their Passaic County apartment, according to police. Nakija Martin, 48, of Passaic, was arrested on July 29, about two weeks after first-responders found the child cold to the touch inside the womans apartment in Passaic, according to an affidavit of probable cause. Martin is charged with second-degree endangering the welfare of a child and remains in custody, authorities said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Police found the child unresponsive about 8:30 a.m. on July 15 in the home where the two lived on Aspen Place. The child was pronounced dead at the scene. Prosecutors said Martin on July 13 intended to kill her son, who had been diagnosed with autism, and attempted to take her own life. Two days later, she called police. Martin called 911, and in a calm, soft-spoken tone, stated twice that my son is deceased, a detective wrote in the affidavit. When Passaic police officers responded to the home, Martin told them the last time she saw [her son] alive was two days ago, the affidavit states. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement When police asked Martin where shed been for the past two days, she allegedly replied, here, in the apartment, according to police. Im just tired, Martin allegedly told investigators, according to the affidavit. When asked how the child had died, Martin was unsure. Trying to think. Maybe it was pills. I mean I choked him. Something like that, the affidavit states. First-responders said the childs body was cold, and that rigor mortis and lividity were present. An autopsy is pending to determine the official cause and manner of the boys death. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Attorney information for Martin was not listed in court records on Friday. The prosecutors office said Martin appeared in court Tuesday morning for a pre-trial detention hearing and will remain in custody pending future court proceedings. The investigation remains ongoing. Authorities are asking anyone with information to contact the Passaic County Prosecutors Office at 1-877-370-PCPO. Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. At a trailhead surrounded by sagebrush, a naturalist welcomes a group of visitors to Mono Lake beside a sign that reads Oasis in the Desert. Guide Ryan Garrett, his face alight, greets the group of vacationers and entreats them to see the value in the saline lake it teems with migrating birds, it's around a million years old, and it's affected by water use in Southern California more than 300 miles away. In the early 20th century, Los Angeles built a massive aqueduct to take water from the Owens Valley and soon dried up Owens Lake. Reaching for even more water, L.A. leaders pushed farther and began tapping water from the mountain streams that feed Mono Lake. Visitors demonstrate how tufa towers are formed by mixing a solution of calcium and carbonate during a tour of Mono Lake. Are they still taking water? one woman asks. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Yes, they are still diverting water, Garrett replies. As they continue, Garrett explains how Mono Lake rapidly declined from the 1940s to the 1980s. They pass interpretive signs showing how much the water level dropped: 7 feet by 1951, 25 feet by 1963. By 1982, the lake had fallen 45 feet from the natural level local people had once known. Starved of inflows, the lake lost about half its volume and became twice as salty. As they walk toward the shore, the group is dwarfed by the lake's famous craggy formations called tufa nearly 20 feet above them. Garrett stops to describe how the towers of calcium carbonate grew underwater around freshwater springs over thousands of years, then were left exposed as the water dropped. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement If we were here in 1941, we would be underwater," he says. The free tours , offered twice a day in the summer, take visitors down the South Tufa trail, located in the Mono Basin National Forest Scenic Area. Some tour leaders work for the state parks; others are guides from the Mono Lake Committee, a nonprofit group. Garrett is the committees education director. At the shore, he squats and dips a clear cup into the salty water. There are an estimated 4 to 6 trillion brine shrimp in Mono Lake. I got one! he says, passing around the cup, where a tiny brine shrimp is swimming. The species is found nowhere else in the world. The lake is filled with several trillion of them. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Reaching into the water, he shows his open palm. It's covered with dark flecks. They're the pupae of alkali flies, a traditional food source of the Native Kootzadukaa people. He urges everyone to taste one. It tastes salty, one man says with intrigue. A California gull runs open-beaked through a cloud of alkali flies at Mono Lake. These flies and brine shrimp are essential food for migratory birds including eared grebes, Wilson's phalaropes and California gulls. They need the lake to be at a healthy level and not too saline. The lake's threatened health became a rallying cry in the 1980s, when "Save Mono Lake" bumper stickers appeared on cars across California. In 1994, state regulators ordered the L.A. Department of Water and Power to take steps to raise the lake 17 feet by taking less water from the creeks, leaving more to flow into the lake. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Despite that, Garrett says, Mono Lake is not at the healthy management level." Read more: Decades ago, L.A. was ordered to take less water to save Mono Lake. But the city remains far from a key goal He opens his backpack and takes out a collapsible metal pole, extending it 9 feet. He stands it vertically on the sand to show the lake is still far below the target level agreed on 31 years ago. So, the question now becomes, is Mono Lake doomed? he says. Is this the highest it can get? No, absolutely not. Garrett notes that conservation efforts in L.A. have significantly reduced water use over the last three decades. Visitors to Mono Lake's South Tufa area walk along the shore, which was once covered in water as deep as the tallest tufa towers. The 1994 decision included a backstop: If the lake level doesn't rise enough, the State Water Resources Control Board is to hold a hearing to determine if the rules need to change an assessment that both environmental advocates and the DWPs managers say they hope will happen soon. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement What's super, super exciting is that hearing is right around the corner, Garrett says. So right now is the best time to learn about Mono Lake, because the next great effort to save Mono Lake is about to begin. As the tour ends, Jerardo Reyes, a roofing contractor from Rialto, says he hadnt known about Mono Lake and came away wanting to learn more about the places Southern California gets its water. He and his wife Jeannette had stopped to see the lake with their four children. Reyes says he believes that while L.A. needs water, the lake also needs it, and you've got to find a balance. It's a beautiful lake, Reyes says. I hope this lake is here for my kids to see, and my grandkids to see, in the future. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. The former U.S. Army soldier accused of gunning down four people at a Montana bar has been captured following a weeklong manhunt, the Granite County Sheriff's Office said Friday. Michael Paul Brown, 45, is suspected of opening fire on Aug. 1 at The Owl Bar in Anaconda, a city of about 9,000 people in southwestern Montana, authorities said. He shed his clothes and fled the scene following the shooting in a stolen vehicle, according to officials. There had not been a confirmed sighting of him in the days afterward. Anaconda - Deer Lodge County Law Enforcement Center - PHOTO: An undated photo of Michael Paul Brown. "One week ago today, devastation struck this small Montana community of Anaconda," Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte said during a press briefing on Friday. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "'Thank you' does not cover what we owe to these brave men and women," he said. "Sacrifice, time away from families, placing their lives on the line to bring peace of mind back to this community and this criminal to justice." MORE: Manhunt intensifies for Montana bar shooting suspect, 38 agencies part of the 'unrelenting' search At approximately 2 p.m. on Friday, authorities apprehended and arrested the suspect "near the search area in Anaconda," Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen said. Knudsen said he believes a large law enforcement presence on a hill in the search area on Thursday -- about 130 personnel -- helped in ultimately locating the suspect. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "We think that was directly correlated to flushing him out today -- getting him down into an area that we know we had searched before," Knudsen said during a press briefing on Friday. "It was not someplace he'd been hiding. He was flushed out." The suspect was armed, according to Knudsen, who did not elaborate on the weapon. Brown is now in custody of Anaconda-Deer Lodge County authorities, Knudsen said. Montana DOJ - PHOTO: Michael Paul Brown flees the scene after he allegedly opened fire killing a bartender and three patrons at The Owl Bar in Anaconda, Montana, Aug. 1, 2025. The homicide investigation remains ongoing, Anaconda Deer Lodge County Attorney Morgan Smith said during Friday's press briefing. No details will be released at this time "to ensure the fairness and the integrity of the case as it moves forward," she said. Those killed in the shooting were bartender Nancy Loretta Kelly, 64, and patrons Daniel Edwin Bailey, 59; David Allen Leach, 70; and Tony Wayne Palm, 74. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Brown lived next door to the bar and investigators believe he was familiar with most of the victims, authorities said. He is an Army veteran who served in the Iraq War and the Montana National Guard, according to Knudsen. MORE: Wife of convicted Delphi murderer breaks her silence: 'My husband's not a monster' Over 250 law enforcement personnel were involved in the search effort in the area from more than 39 local, state and federal agencies, according to Knudsen. Gianforte said law enforcement personnel "spent hours climbing over these mountains looking for this criminal." The governor attributed the length of the search to the terrain. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "It took a week because of the country he was in," Gianforte said. Montana Sen. Steve Daines thanked the "brave law enforcement officials who helped apprehend the Anaconda shooting suspect." "For the past week, Anaconda and the surrounding community showed the country the resilience and grit that makes MT special," he said on social media. "Our thoughts continue to be with the victims and their families." NEED TO KNOW The suspect accused by police of killing four people in a mass shooting at a Montana bar on Friday, Aug. 1 has been taken into custody, according to multiple reports Michael Paul Brown, 45, is suspected of opening fire at a bar in Anaconda, Mont., on Aug. 1, and killing four people One of the four victims killed in the shooting was 64-year-old Nancy Lauretta Kelley a bartender at The Owl Bar in Anaconda, Mont., officials said Michael Paul Brown, the suspect accused by police of killing four people by opening fire inside a Montana bar has been taken into custody, according to reports by KRTV, KTVH and KPAX. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The U.S. Marshals Service previously offered a reward of $7,500 for any information that led to the arrest or capture of the 45-year-old Brown. Authorities allege Brown fatally shot a bartender and three patrons inside The Owl Bar in Anaconda, Mont., around 10:30 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 1, PEOPLE previously reported. He then allegedly fled the scene wearing only a pair of black shorts or underwear, as seen in a photo later shared by the Montana Department of Justice on Facebook. Lee Johnson with the Montana Department of Justice previously said that authorities located the white Ford F-150 that Brown fled the scene in, though Brown was not found in or around the vehicle. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement At a press conference on Sunday, Aug. 3, Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen called Brown "a dangerous individual who has committed an absolutely heinous crime against this community and these victims." Montana Department of Justice From left: Daniel Edwin Baillie, Nancy Lauretta Kelley, David Allen Leach and Tony Wayne Palm. From left: Daniel Edwin Baillie, Nancy Lauretta Kelley, David Allen Leach and Tony Wayne Palm. 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. The victims were identified days after the atttack as Anaconda residents: Daniel Edwin Baillie, 59, Nancy Lauretta Kelley, 64, David Allen Leach, 70, and Tony Wayne Palm, 74, per a press releaseshared by the Montana Department of Justice. Kelley was a bartender at the business, Knudsen confirmed. Brown is an Army veteran who served in Iraq between 2004 and 2005, according to an Army spokesperson, per The New York Times. He also served in the Montana National Guard for about two years until March 2008, according to the outlet. Read the original article on People Selis Ksanka Qlispe (Formerly Kerr) Dam. (Martina Nolte, Creative Commons CC-by-sa-3.0) Montanas U.S. senators submitted a letter this week urging Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum to identify a path forward to maintain sufficient water levels in Flathead Lake in future years facing drought conditions. The Aug. 5 letter signed by Republican Sens. Steve Daines and Tim Sheehy asks the secretary to collaborate with local and regional stakeholder groups to find a solution that balances the myriad uses of the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi River. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I request that you identify a solution that maintains hydropower production and economic development, abides by statutory requirements and other legal obligations, including President Trumps recent Executive Order 141554-Unleashing American Energy, respects property rights, promotes outdoor recreation, has the support of the local communities, and minimizes future conflict, the letter states. While above-normal precipitation in July has kept Flathead Lake closer to normal levels than was anticipated earlier this year, the senators wrote a holistic approach to lake levels should be considered in the long term, as opposed to requiring one-off fixes every time there are drought conditions and potential low-water years. Montanas elected federal and state officials have mounted political pressure on dam operators and federal officials to maintain water levels on Flathead Lake for several years, following drought conditions in 2023 that led to record-low lake levels more than two feet lower than the lakes full-pool elevation of 2,893 feet by summers end. The primary ask from the state has been for the federal government to approve water releases from Hungry Horse Reservoir upstream, while Energy Keepers Inc., the tribal corporation that operates Selis Ksanka Qlispe (SKQ) Dam at the lakes southern end, decrease outflows to the lower Flathead River. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As lake levels dropped in late June of 2023, economic concerns in the region grew as boat launches and docks were largely unusable, farmers in the region dealt with decreased abilities to irrigate crops, and power generation from the SKQ Dam, which controls the lakes output, slowed. In early 2025, Energy Keepers stated that streamflow conditions in the Flathead Basin were similar to 2023 and 2024 and the dam was being operated to increase the likelihood of filling to full pool. To that end, dam operators requested, and received, approval from the federal government to make temporary modifications to outflows from the dam to maximize the chance of refilling under drought conditions, including reducing outflows in June and July. However, by June, dam operators announced they did not expect the lake to reach its full pool, with forecasts showing the lake dropping more than a foot by July. Flathead Lake elevation and forecast through the rest of the water year. Courtesy Energy Keepers Inc. Low levels of snowpack and warm weather throughout the spring led to the Flathead River basin sitting around 59% of its average snow water equivalent the amount of water is contained within the snowpack which Energy Keepers said was not enough to fill the lake, despite plans to reduce outflows through mid-July. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But precipitation in the region in July was nearly 300% of normal, according to the latest Energy Keepers update last week, which altered the lakes late-summer fate. Recent streamflow forecasts estimated the lake will remain in the top 12 inches through most of August, according to Energy Keepers, a full half-foot higher than originally anticipated. Despite the better-than-expected conditions, the letter submitted to Secretary Burgum, which praised his agencys actions granting the temporary modifications to SKQ operations, focused on an expected future of droughts in the region. Over the last several years, we have seen unseasonably warm conditions that have resulted in accelerated runoff in the northern reaches of the Flathead basin. Decreased inflows into the lake have precipitated lower lake levels, adversely affecting environmental and economic conditions for residents and visitors alike, the letter states. I urge you to identify a path forward that does not depend on granting annual emergency authorities to maintain sufficient lake levels for the local communities that call Flathead Lake home. During the 2023 drought, which ultimately saw Flathead Lakes surface level at 31 inches below full pool by the end of August, tensions around who gets a say in the lakes management ratcheted up. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Some groups in the region, led by members of the Flathead County Republicans and local property owners, blamed the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, who operate SKQ Dam through the tribally-owned corporation Energy Keepers Inc. Those groups challenged the scientific consensus that the low lake levels were due to historic warm and dry conditions that saw a rapid melt off of the areas snowpack. Complaints filed against Energy Keepers with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission led to FERC issuing an analysis that found the dam operators did not violate their operating license by allowing the lake level to drop. Under the FERC license, Energy Keepers is able to regulate the top 10 feet of the dam-controlled lake, amounting to 1.2 million acre-feet of water storage. Under normal operating procedures, the dam-controlled lake drops to its lowest point by April 15 to provide flood control across the region, then rises to 3 feet from full pool by Memorial Day, hitting a full pool elevation of roughly 2,893 feet by June 12. The goal is to then operate in the full-pool range through Labor Day, according to Energy Keepers CEO Brian Lipscomb, before lowering the levels in October to mitigate erosion from fall storms. However, there is no legal obligation to maintain a full pool in the license. A map opf the Columbia River Basin and Columbia River Dams. A red dot indicates USACE Dams, a yellow dot indicates dams owned by others, and a white triangle indicates US Bureau of Reclamation Dams SKQ Dam is part of the greater Columbia River Basin network of hydroelectric dam projects that regulate waterways for hydropower generation, flood control, navigation, fish and wildlife preservation, irrigation and recreation. A key part of the operating considerations for the regions dams are to protect and preserve threatened and endangered fish species including salmon and bull trout, the latter which are found throughout the Flathead River basin. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement However many businesses in the region rely heavily on Flathead Lakes recreational opportunities, with studies from the University of Montana shoring that roughly $600 million is spent in Flathead County from anglers, boater and other tourists visiting the lake. Montana politicians at the county, state, and federal level have voiced that concern, including in a resolution brought to the 2025 Legislature by Senate President Matt Regier, a Flathead Republican, which sought increased prioritization of recreation in management decisions. Changes to outflows from any one project can have a ripple effect downstream. The Columbia River Basin Technical Management Team (TMT), comprising of representatives from four states, the Bureau of Reclamation (BoR), Army Corps of Engineers, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Bonneville Power Administration and six tribal nations, manages the regions federally-operated dams as a whole system. During the 2023 drought, in subsequent legislation introduced in Congress by Montana U.S. Rep. Ryan Zinke, and in a 2025 letter from Zinke to Burgum, requests were made to authorize the release of water from Hungry Horse Dam into Flathead Lake. However, due to the size discrepancy between the two reservoirs, it would take roughly 15 feet of water from Hungry Horse to add eight inches to Flathead Lake. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I humbly ask you to authorize the release (of) more water from the Hungry Horse Reservoir to ensure viable lake levels for recreation on Flathead Lake this summer, Zinke wrote. I understand the lake will not get to full pool using these measures, however if we can prevent it from dropping to catastrophic levels, it will save small businesses and local tax revenue that is sorely needed. Studies published by the U.S. Geological Survey have indicated that releasing vast amounts of water from Hungry Horse dam would be detrimental to endangered bull trout in the Flathead River by decreasing habitat space and impacting the life cycle of aquatic insects, a primary food source for native fish. A big release would lead to cascading impacts to the entire aquatic ecosystem, Clint Muhlfeld, the researcher who authored several studies, told the Flathead Beacon in 2023. The business partner of Martha Nolan-O'Slatarra shared a touching memorial to the 33-year-old fashion designer on Wednesday. Nolan-O'Slatarra, who founded fashion brand East x East and was director of operations for K4 Capital Management, was found unconscious on a boat at Montauk Yacht Club Tuesday and later pronounced dead. Police are investigating the circumstances of her death. Dylan Grace, who was Nolan-O'Slatarra's partner at East x East, paid tribute to the Ireland native with a heartfelt Instagram post Wednesday morning. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "We dreamed big together, laughed harder than anyone else could understand, and built so much from nothing," Grace wrote in the caption. "Im truly blessed and grateful to have had you in my life. Love you so much Mar. Fly high girl ." View the original article to see embedded media. Nolan-O'Slatarra's death is being probed According to reports, Nolan-O'Slatarra, who went by Martha Nolan personally and professionally, was found unconscious on a boat around midnight Tuesday. The New York Post reported that some members of the Montauk Yacht Club, heard screaming from the docks late Monday. The Suffolk County Police Homicide Squad is investigating the case. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "The preliminary investigation and exam were inconclusive regarding the cause of death, which will be determined by an autopsy conducted by the Suffolk County Medical Examiners Office," the department said in a press release. "Anyone with information on this incident is asked to contact Homicide Squad detectives at 631-852-6392." Thus far, there has been no ruling on the manner of Nolan-O'Slatarra's death. Nolan-O'Slatarra appeared well-liked by locals The Irish entrepreneur, who came to the United States when she was 26, spent her summers in the Hamptons. Residents of the ritzy community of Montauk remembered her fondly this week. She was well known in the community. She was very friendly. Always smiling, a source told the Post. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Recently, Nolan-O'Slatarra hosted a pop-up of her fashion brand at The Gurneys Resort, an upscale spa in the town. We are deeply saddened by the tragic news regarding Martha Nolan and extend our sincere condolences to her family and loved ones, the spa said in a statement. While Martha was not an employee of Gurneys, we were proud to host her East x East pop-up and admired her entrepreneurial spirit and creative vision." Montauk Yacht Death: Martha Nolan-OSlatarra's Business Partner Posts Moving Tribute first appeared on Men's Journal on Aug 6, 2025 A sign inside the Montgomery County Courthouse, as seen on Oct. 10, 2023. A Montgomery circuti judge earlier this week dismissed a lawsuit from a group of parents who wanted to force the state to create a patient registry for medical cannabis use. (Alander Rocha/Alabama Reflector) A state judge Monday dismissed a lawsuit from parents of children who are potentially eligible to receive medical cannabis who wanted to force the state to create a patient registry. Montgomery County Circuit Judge James Anderson wrote in the order that the plaintiffs lacked the legal standing to bring the claim. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The plaintiffs, parents Dustin Chandler, Cristina Cain, Catherine Hall, Megan Jackson and Kari Forsyth, filed a lawsuit in April to direct the State of Alabama to uphold the Compassion Acts requirement that the commission establish a patient and caregiver registry and to secure performance by defendants of this duty owed to the public. The identity of qualified patients and caregivers will not be known, and the patient registry populated, until the (Alabama Board of Medical Examiners) authorizes physicians to identify and recommend medical cannabis and provide the necessary information regarding the qualified patients, the dismissal order stated. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Anderson in his order also said that plaintiffs werent the right party to sue on behalf of the state, and that the lawsuit would have to have participation or consent of the attorney general of Alabama. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Petitioners cannot demonstrate standing to invoke the Courts jurisdiction because they are not the proper party to institute a proceeding for mandamus in the name of the State in this matter and because they do not have standing to bring a claim individually related to the patient registry, the order stated. A message seeking comment was left with the parents lawyer. John McMillan, director of the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission (AMCC), said in a phone interview Thursday that he was pleased with the courts ruling, saying that this lawsuit could have been resolved with a phone call to our office. Until we get licenses issued in these other categories, (doctors) cant start certifying patients and putting them in the registry, McMillan said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A motion to dismiss filed by AMCC stated that the AMCC had already established a patient registry and was maintaining it. The reason it was not populated, according to the commission, was due to a series of lawsuits filed by disappointed license applicants that resulted in delays due to restraining orders and injunctions. The AMCC argued that those delays prevented them from issuing licenses, which is a prerequisite for the Board of Medical Examiners (BME) to certify physicians. Without certified physicians, patients cannot be registered. The BME is responsible for certifying physicians to recommend medical cannabis, and physician certifications can only be issued after the AMCC has granted at least one license to a cultivator, processor, transporter and dispensary, or one integrated facility. The petitioners response to the motion to dismiss countered that the commissions website expressively contradicts their claim of a functioning registry, and that the hold up with the medical boards requirement is on the Commission. Five deaths have been reported in Florida due to a "flesh-eating" bacterial infection, according to state health officials. The Florida Department of Health has confirmed 16 total cases of Vibrio vulnificus across 12 counties, as reported by local outlets. Last year, the state reported even higher numbers: 82 cases and 19 deaths. Deadly Bacterial Outbreak Infects Dozens In City Neighborhood As Officials Sound Alarm Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Louisiana is also seeing a higher-than-average case count, with the health department reporting 17 infections and four deaths so far in 2025. The U.S. sees an average of 150 to 200 infections per year, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Most cases of the infection occur in the Gulf Coast states (Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas). Read On The Fox News App Five deaths have been reported in Florida due to a "flesh-eating" bacterial infection, according to state health officials. Vibrio vulnificus is part of a wider group of Vibrio bacteria, which are found in coastal waters, the CDC states. This specific bacterium, Vibrio vulnificus, can enter open wounds when people are swimming. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Death Confirmed From Rare And Deadly 'Brain-eating Amoeba' In Southern Lake "Warmer waters provide a ready incubator for Vibrio growth," Dr. Nathan Goodyear, an integrative medicine physician at the Williams Cancer Institute in California, told Fox News Digital. "Flesh-eating bacteria are thermophilic halophiles, readily populating in warm, salty, brackish water." Additionally, an increase in plankton blooms, which harbor Vibrio bacteria, is associated with increased cases. Increased flooding and hurricanes, as well as other natural disasters, can also spread the medium in which the flesh-eating bacteria exist, Goodyear noted. Vibrio vulnificus is part of a wider group of Vibrio bacteria, which are found in coastal waters. Vibrio has the potential to cause severe infections, according to Dr. Andrew Handel, pediatric infectious diseases specialist at Stony Brook Children's Hospital in New York. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Those include invasive soft tissue infections (sometimes called "necrotizing fasciitis" or "flesh-eating bacteria") and bloodstream infections. Groups at highest risk include older adults and people who are immunocompromised or have chronic liver disease, Handel cautioned. "Raw oysters and other shellfish can also be infected with Vibrio, leading to severe gastroenteritis or food poisoning," he told Fox News Digital. Vibrio symptoms depend on the type of infection, according to Handel. "People who have skin infections often have high fevers and intense pain, swelling and redness at the site of infection, which usually occurs after an open wound is exposed to infected water," he told Fox News Digital. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Doctors Reveal Key Signs Of Lyme Disease As Tick Season Intensifies Across Us "The symptoms from skin infections can progress very quickly and quickly become life-threatening in a short time. Thankfully, those infections are rare." People who have eaten contaminated shellfish will have severe vomiting and diarrhea, which can lead to dehydration, the doctor warned. This specific bacterium, Vibrio vulnificus, typically lives in warm, brackish seawater, and can enter open wounds when people are swimming. While healthy people generally experience only mild symptoms, those who are immunocompromised or have chronic liver disease can face serious health risks. If Vibrio vulnificus enters the bloodstream, it can cause severe illness marked by fever, chills, septic shock and blistering skin lesions, according to Florida Health. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement About half of these bloodstream infections are fatal. Some severe cases can cause an infection called necrotizing fasciitis, which is when the flesh around an open wound dies, the CDC cautions. This rare side effect has led to Vibrio vulnificus being described as a "flesh-eating bacteria." The bacterial infection is diagnosed by testing cultures obtained from stool, wounds or blood, according to health officials. "People who have skin infections often have high fevers and intense pain, swelling and redness at the site of infection, which usually occurs after an open wound is exposed to infected water," a doctor told Fox News Digital. For mild infections, the CDC recommends increasing fluid intake to prevent dehydration. Those with severe or prolonged infections should receive antibiotics to improve survival rates. For people with infected wounds, surgery may be necessary to remove dead tissue. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Click Here To Sign Up For Our Health Newsletter "Antibiotics alone are not enough to calm the flesh-eating storm, Goodyear told Fox News Digital. "Early surgical debridement to remove infection sources is readily required." About one in five people will die from the infection, sometimes within a day or two of illness, the CDC states. To prevent Vibrio infections, experts recommend against swimming in open bodies of water like the ocean, rivers and estuaries if you have any open wounds. "To prevent Vibrio food poisoning, avoid eating raw shellfish, especially if you are immunocompromised or have chronic liver disease," Handel advised. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement For more Health articles, visit www.foxnews.com/health "If you do eat shellfish, make sure it has not been sitting out for a long time and comes from a hygienic source." The doctor noted that Vibrio infections are rare and "should not be a major cause of alarm." "For up-to-date information in your state and location, always check with your state and regional health departments for updates," Goodyear advised. Fox News Digital reached out to the Florida Department of Public Health for comment. Original article source: More cases of deadly flesh-eating bacterial infection in popular vacation destination The Trump administration has launched another purge at the FBI, forcing out three law enforcement veterans including a former head of the agency, according to two people familiar with the developments. Former acting director Brian Driscoll, Assistant Director in Charge of the Washington Field Office Steven Jensen, and Washington-based Special Agent Walter Giardina were informed they are being fired, according to the two people, who were not authorized to discuss the matter. Formal paperwork is expected to be issued Friday. Its the latest round of housecleaning at the FBI, which has seen convulsive turmoil in President Donald Trumps second term. The firings were reported earlier by the New York Times. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Many of those purged have been targeted due to their roles in the FBIs investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol. The vast probe involved agents, analysts and technical experts across the country. After Trump returned to office in January, some officials who worked on or supervised aspects of the Jan. 6 probe were allowed to stay in their posts or even promoted, but pressure from MAGA activists eventually led to many of those agents being dismissed. That appeared to be the case with Jensen, who was installed by Director Kash Patel as head of the FBIs critical Washington Field Office just four months ago. Trump allies quickly seized on Jensens selection for the powerful post, decrying him as a key driver of the FBI's aggressive approach to investigations and arrests of alleged perpetrators of the Capitol riot. The decision by Patel to retain and, in fact, promote him to lead the bureau's Washington field office prompted an early moment of discord between Trump's MAGA allies and the new administration. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Jensen had been expected to attend a press conference Thursday with Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for Washington. But Jensen did not show up. Pirro was flanked instead by FBI official Reid Davis, the special-agent-in-charge in Washington for criminal matters. Asked why Jensen was absent, Pirro replied: I'm not going to talk about politics today. An FBI spokesperson also declined to comment. Driscoll was tapped by Trump to serve as the FBIs acting director in January, although confusion surrounded that appointment from the beginning, with some officials saying Driscoll was supposed to have been appointed as the acting No. 2 official at the bureau. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Driscoll soon found himself in hot water with top Justice Department officials for resisting their demand for a list of all FBI personnel who worked on Jan. 6-related investigations. Emil Bove, then the acting deputy attorney general, indicated that Driscoll and others had engaged in insubordinationby refusing to share the roster with their superiors at DOJ. Giardina worked on aspects of special counsel Robert Muellers investigation into ties between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia. He was also involved in the arrest of Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro for refusing to testify before the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 riot. Navarros lawyers and a federal judge called the arrest unnecessary and questioned why he was not simply allowed to turn himself in. Navarro himself branded Giardina and the other agent involved in the arrest as kind Nazis. Sen. Mark Warner, a Virginia Democrat, called the new round of firings disturbing and urged fellow lawmakers to take action. The continued purging of experienced, non-partisan FBI agents by the Trump administration is nothing short of alarming, Warner said, calling the dismissals part of a disturbing pattern of retaliation and politicization at an institution charged with safeguarding national security and the rule of law. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The FBI Agents Association issued a statement saying it is deeply concerned about agents being summarily fired without due process for doing their jobs investigating potential federal crimes. Agents are not given the option to pick and choose their cases, and these Agents carried out their assignments with professionalism and integrity. Most importantly, they followed the law, the groups statement said. If these Agents are fired without due process, it makes the American people less safe. The latest firings come less than three weeks after U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb tossed a legal bid by anonymous FBI officials to bar their superiors from targeting them for exposure or dismissal over their roles in the Jan. 6 investigation. Though Cobb noted that the lawsuit was filed in a whirlwind of chaos and fear, she said the claim that the administration was going to retaliate against those involved in the Jan. 6 cases was too speculative. And she noted that an ongoing review of FBI officials for loyalty to the administration was not part of the original lawsuit and therefore could not be tacked on at the last minute. Cobb left open the possibility that the officials could submit a revised lawsuit and revive the litigation. Jacob Wendler contributed to this report. Joe Scarborough lashed out at GOP Rep. Mike Lawler in a heated exchange during Fridays Morning Joe over President Trumps Medicaid cuts. During a discussion about the impact of Trumps spending cuts on his New York district, which hospital trusts have claimed will eliminate staff, care, and services, Lawler cut Scarborough off and accused him of parroting is the same talking points being put out by the state and by the hospital association. So youre saying you know their business better than they do? Scarborough hit back, interrupting Lawler. Congressman, you can keep talking if you want to, but are you saying that you know their business, you know doctors business, you know hospital administrators business better than they know their own business? Is that what youre telling us here? Mike Lawler accused Scarborough of No, Joe, Lawler responded. If youd stop putting words in my mouth and let me answer the question, number one Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But Scarborough interrupted the congressman again. You said they were parroting. You said that actually they were having the words put into their mouth. You said they were parroting other peoples words! Earlier this year Congress approved the largest ever cuts to Medicaid in the programs history after Trumps Big Beautiful Bill, pledged to tax and spend nearly $3 trillion, which will be partially funded by cutting $1 trillion from Medicaid. Around 12 million low-income Americans are expected to lose access to health insurance over the next 10 years as a result of the cuts. Hospital associations such as Westchester Medical Center, Montefiore Nyack, both located within Lawlers district, have sounded alarm about the impact of the cuts, but when pressed on their warnings all the congressman could say is that they were all saying the same thing. Around $1 trillion is expected to be cut from Medicaid over the next ten years. / Bill Tompkins / Getty Images What Im saying, Joe, is theyre all parroting the same line from the state of New York and Greater New York Hospital Association, but when you actually drill down on the specifics, many of the challenges that our hospital systems in New York have faced actually stem from the decisions made by New York State over the past few years, Lawler claimed. New York has the most expensive Medicaid program in the country, he added. There is going to be continued growth within the system. New York needs to do a better job of actually managing its Medicaid dollars. West Nile virus, a mosquito-borne illness spread by the bite of infected mosquitos, has been detected in 21 cities and towns throughout Connecticut, according to officials. The Connecticut Agriculture Experiment Stations Mosquito Trapping Program has identified mosquitoes positive for the virus in Fairfield, New Haven, and Hartford counties within the last several weeks. Were seeing an expansion of the virus to a wider geographic area, said Phil Armstrong, a CAES chief scientist that heads up the states mosquito trapping program. Its not unusual to see West Nile virus in the state. This is the time we really see the virus amplify and expand in its geographic range, but this year we are seeing it in new towns. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement So far the virus has been detected in mosquitoes in Bethel, Bridgeport, Cheshire, Danbury, Darien, East Haven, Easton, Fairfield, Glastonbury, Greenwich, Groton, Hamden, Hartford, Hebron, Manchester, New Haven, North Branford, Stamford, Stratford, Wallingford, and Wethersfield, according to Armstrong. West Nile virus is commonly spread by the bite of the northern house mosquito, the most prevalent type in Connecticut, Armstrong said. These mosquitoes become infected by feeding on birds carrying the virus and can then transmit it to humans and other animals. The virus was first detected in the state in 1999 and has been found every year since, he said. The high risk areas tend to be more concentrated in urban and suburban communities, where we typically tend to see it, Armstrong said. The areas where we see the virus most is in the densely populated Fairfield and New Haven counties. But we are seeing now more in Hartford County and going northward. Armstrong said the mosquitoes that carry the virus typically live near or around peoples homes, including in storm drains and stagnant water sources where they breed and multiply. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Most people infected with West Nile virus dont have symptoms, according to Armstrong. About 1 in 5 people have mild symptoms like fever, rash and muscle aches. Rarely, West Nile virus can cause serious brain and spinal cord inflammation that can be deadly if not treated, according to the Centers for Disease Control. West Nile has become the dominant mosquito-borne disease in the United States and here in Connecticut, Armstrong said. The prevalence of the virus varies year to year and its somewhat unpredictable. It depends on the weather and if we have hot, humid weather leading to more mosquito activity. Late summer and early fall is when we start to see the first human cases. Last year, Connecticut reported 13 human cases of West Nile virus infection, with six cases classified as requiring hospitalization, according to Armstrong. The first human case of 2024 was announced on Aug. 16, in New Haven County. No human cases have been confirmed this year, he said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The human cases that get documented are often more serious and involve hospitalization, Armstrong said. But the majority of people infected with West Nile dont get symptoms or display mild symptoms like a fever. So its likely there is a larger human infection rate that may not be getting reported to the state. Now is the time to take precautions against mosquito bites, he added. We encourage everyone to take protective measures, such as using insect repellent and covering bare skin, especially during dusk and dawn when mosquitoes are most active. To reduce the risk of being bitten by mosquitoes, Armstrong said residents should: Minimize time spent outdoors between dusk and dawn when mosquitoes are most active. When it is necessary to be outdoors, use mosquito repellents containing an EPA-registered active ingredient, including DEET, Picaridin, IR3535, oil of lemon eucalyptus, para-menthane-diol (PMD) or 2-undecanone. EPA registration of skin-applied repellent products indicates that they have been evaluated and approved for human safety and effectiveness when applied according to instructions on the label. Wear shoes, socks, long pants and a long-sleeved shirt when outdoors for long periods of time or when mosquitoes are more active. Clothing should be light-colored and loose-fitting and made of tightly woven materials that keep mosquitoes away from the skin. Wear clothing and gear treated with permethrin. Permethrin is an insecticide that kills or repels mosquitoes and ticks. Be sure door and window screens are tight-fitting and in good repair. When sleeping outdoors, use tents or mosquito netting in an unscreened structure. Treat camping gear with permethrin when possible. Cover strollers and baby carriers with mosquito nets when outside. Stephen Underwood can be reached at sunderwood@courant.com. The Atlanta Humane Society says it recently rescued 32 dogs from deplorable conditions, including a female dog named Roo and her seven puppies. The Humane Society said the dogs were trapped in filth, scared, and facing unimaginable neglect when they were found at a north Georgia property. The agency said it is limited in what it can share about the rescue because the Georgia Department of Agriculture is still investigating the incident. TRENDING STORIES: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement (Roo) had nothing no clean water, no safe place to rest just her instincts and the will to keep her babies alive, the agency said about the mother and puppies. The Humane Society is asking for some help to cover Roo and her puppies recovery needs. When you give today, your gift will be 3X matched to support our Animal Protection Unit as they work to save the next Roo, the agency said. A little boy in Carson had a scary encounter with Mother Nature this week when he was attacked by a coyote at a softball game, leaving him with bites and scratches that required stitches. Enoch Palomar, 6, was at Del Amo park to watch his sister play in a softball tournament on Monday when the coyote attacked him. It just kept biting me and I was trying to kick it, Enoch told news station KTLA-TV. It was too fast and it just jumped. I was trying my hardest and then it didnt work, and then I yelled. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The attack unfolded in the background of a video being shot by a parent of the softball game. Video of the incident shows Enoch in the distance near a playground, screaming in panic and struggling to get up as the coyote scratched and bit him. Read more: 'Just not afraid of humans': Coyotes plague Mar Vista neighborhood as pets disappear His mother, Melissa Palomar, ran to her son and scared off the coyote, she told thew news station. I was like, Get up, get up! she said. I was just hysterical. After the attack, the coyote trotted away, and Enoch was quite shaken. Doctors patched up his leg with 20 stitches, KTLA reported. The coyote also bit his head, neck and scratched other parts of the boy's body. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Palomar's mother reported the attack to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the boy's clothing was collected as part of an investigation. Read more: What to do if you see a coyote on a trail or in your backyard While coyotes are a common fixture in many Southern California neighborhoods, the canines are typically skittish and avoid interactions with humans, according to Fish and Wildlife. But they are opportunists when it comes to food and will become conditioned to relying on trash left behind by humans, especially in areas bordering on their habitats or dens. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. A new video shows two people riding motorized wheelchairs traveling on an Ohio interstate. [DOWNLOAD: Free WHIO-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] The video was obtained through a public records request with the Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT) on July 30 in Columbus. TRENDING STORIES: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In the video, two people in motorized wheelchairs can be seen slowly going down the shoulder of Interstate 670. They can be seen going in the opposite direction of traffic. Law enforcement was called out to the interstate and eventually escorted both individuals off the interstate, WCMH in Columbus and WLTW in Cincinnati reported. Both people were given a warning. [SIGN UP: WHIO-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (WCBD) The Mount Pleasant Police Department may enforce harsher punishments amid growing safety concerns with e-bikes. According to MPPD, in the year to date e-bike enforcement statistics for July 2025, they had 38 incidents reports and 13 collisions. Also, they have given out 12 citations and 44 warnings all involving e-bikes. Parents including Angela Dyer told News 2, they have seen near-miss crashes in their neighborhoods every day as kids are not following the rules of the road. They will go right across, usually doing wheelies, right in front of my house and cars are having to slam on their brakes, Dyer said. Ive witnessed almost every day a child almost getting hit by one. Its a miracle at this point nothing has happened. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In response, MPPD hopes to ramp up their enforcement to prevent any major incidents. To help with these issues is a statute where a parent can be charged if theyre allowing their juvenile to ride what is actually a moped or an electric motorcycle. So, thats something is over 750 watts in power and go over 20 miles an hour, Sgt. Robert Blaschke, public information officer for MPPD, said. I think a lot of parents dont even know theyre getting these kids these E-bikes thinking oh, this is an e-bike. Its actually a moped. Moped and electric motorcycles require a person 15 years or older to operate it. Police are considering imposing fines up to $232.50 for any parent or guardian in violation. Im 100% for it if there is some type of fine that would happen for a parent because their child is not protecting themselves and really protecting the people around them. I believe that is probably the next step in this process, said Dyer. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Police will make the community aware before beginning full enforcement if they move forward with these fines. 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. MOUNTAIN CITY, Tenn. (WJHL) The Town of Mountain City hosted a special-called meeting on Thursday regarding the recently approved Bitcoin facility rezoning. The Mountain City council approved on first reading on July 1 a proposed rezoning that would allow a Bitcoin mining facility to move to 178 Rainbow Road. The facility, owned by Nevada-based company CleanSpark, would bring a 30-megawatt facility to the 50-acre site. Thursday, leaders discussed Ordinance 2044, which would rezone 178 Rainbow Road from a B3 to a B4. According to Town of Mountain City Mayor Jerry Jordan, a B4 property has more restrictions than a B3. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Jordan told News Channel 11 at the meeting that he believes the Town of Mountain City does not want to give [Bitcoin] a chance. They want it killed, dead, he said. And, make insinuations that we all need to be fired and removed from office. They dont realize how much time that we have to spend, you know, working on issues and, you know, were still going to try our best to make the right decision. Even if this rezoning passes, there is no guarantee that CleanSpark is even coming. RELATED: Mountain City planning commission member announces new job with Bitcoin mine proposers However, Jordan said he understands where each side of the Bitcoin fence is coming from. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I get it from both sides, Jordan said. Am I supposed to listen to everything everybody tells me, or am I supposed to look at the situation were in and try to make a decision for the betterment of the town? So Im going to try and do my best. The facility has sparked months worth of controversy in the Mountain City 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 WJHL | Tri-Cities News & Weather. Movies to see this week: 'Waiting for Guffman,' 'Lady Snowblood,' Herzog docs originally appeared on Bring Me The News. August is boom times for lovers of reboots, sequels, and and fans of familiar IP. While there's nothing wrong with that some of it's even, [gasp], good! theaters aren't just showing new stuff. There's always good repertory screenings happening, which you know if you've ever been here before. I don't have data to back this up, but it feels like a fairly ecclectic week for repertory movies. (At least for a week without a film festival.) Werner Herzog's short documentaries, Mishima, Lady Snowblood, the start of a series at Emagine Willow Creek focused on the films of Harmony Korine, a little Hitchcock... Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Here's what you'll find on screen at Twin Cities theaters this week. 'Do the Right Thing'Universal Pictures Do the Right Thing (1989) Thursday, Aug. 7Saturday, Aug. 9, at Riverview Theater Do the Right Thing, an unequivocal classic, gets the big-screen treatment in the weeks before Spike Lee's remake of Akira Kurosawa's High and Low, rechristened Highest 2 Lowest, arrives. Lee wrote, directed, and stars in the story of rising tensions in Brooklyn's Bed-Stuy neighborhood on a smoldering summer day. The bigotry endured by residents simmers until it hits a violent boil. Also, in honor of Lee's reunion with Denzel Washington on Highest 2 Lowest, The Main Cinema has a few of their collaboration on the calendar, including Macolm X (Aug. 9), Mo' Better Blues (Aug. 10), and Inside Man (Aug. 14). 3800 42nd Ave S, Minneapolis ($5.50) Contact (1997) Friday, Aug. 8Saturday, Aug. 9, at Walker Art Center Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Walker's "Compelling Speculations on Human Survival" series concludes this week with Contact, Robert Zemekis' quiet sci-fi film based on the Carl Sagan book. Ellie (Jodie Foster) finds evidence of alien life in a radio transmission that contains schematics for an intestellar spacecraft. While technology has shifted dramatically in the nearly 30 years since its release, Contact remains a challenging exploration of the search of alien life and how human society might not be ready to receive an answer from space's vast expanses. 725 Vineland Pl., Minneapolis ($15/$12 for members and seniors/free for students on Friday) The 45-Minute Documentaries of Werner Herzog Friday, Aug. 8Sunday, Aug. 10, at The Trylon Cinema Werner Herzog's distinctive voice is always present in his movies. That point of view is even more pronounced in the short documentaries he made for German TV in the '70s and '80s. In those docs, the director leans into his reverence and fear of nature and his appreciation for outsiders. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Trylon is screening new restorations of some of those, with a program that features "The Dark Glow of the Mountains," "God's Angry Man," "La Soufriere," "How Much Wood Would a Woodchuck Chuck," and "The Great Ecstact of Woodcarver Steiner." 2820 E 33rd St., Minneapolis ($8) Lady Snowblood (1973) Aug. 911, at Alamo Drafthouse Meiko Kaji delivers a memorable performance as Yuki (Kaji), a woman seeking revenge on the people who violently tore her family apart. It's a simple, familiar set-up that is executive with heaps of style and buckets of blood. Lady Snowblood is the kind of movie that, when seen for the first time, connects dots quickly as you realize the significant number of directors who were influenced by it. (See: Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill, among others.) 9060 Hudson Rd., Woodbury ($14.14) Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985) Sunday, Aug. 10, at Grandview Theatres Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Paul Schrader's episodic film about the life of Japanese writer Yukio Mishima (Ken Ogata) along with its striking score by Philip Glass is getting a rare moment on the big screen. It traces his life, interspersed with episodes from his books, and even recounts his final moments, taking a General of the Japan Self-Defense Forces hostage with his band of followers. 1830 Grand Ave., St. Paul ($14.44) Waiting for Guffman (1996) Monday, Aug. 11, at Heights Theater Christopher Guest and his cohort of improv-loving goofballs weren't newbies when Waiting for Guffman was released and they didn't invent the mockumentary. Yet, there's something special about that crew and its remarkable run of mockumentaries the first three of his four films in this style range from good to great. Waiting for Guffman isn't as polished as Best in Show and isn't as glibly in on the joke as A Mighty Wind. It feels somehow chaotic and more raw than the movies that would follow. That's enough to draw me into its world, into Blaine, a city that feels like it's being invented on the spot in each scene. Guest stars as Corky St. Clair, a pillar of the town's community theater who believes he's destined for Broadway with a new production about Blaine's history. It also featured Fred Willard, Catherine O'Hara, Parker Posey, Eugene Levy, Bob Balaban, and many other Guest regulars. 3951 Central Ave. NE, Columbia Heights ($16/$16.75) Related: Horror movies, positivity, and digging in the dirt: Mark Mallman discusses his new album, 'Magic Time' Movies playing in the Twin Cities this week: Related: An interactive, Instagram-ready light experience will make its world debut at Mall of America This story was originally reported by Bring Me The News on Aug 7, 2025, where it first appeared. An MP has admitted he mistakenly thought a charity rowing crew could have been "illegal migrants". Independent MP Rupert Lowe shared a picture on X on Thursday, showing a boat close to wind turbines off the Norfolk coast, and wrote: "Dinghies coming into Great Yarmouth, RIGHT NOW". HM Coastguard contacted the crew to confirm their identities and it was revealed the boat contained a team of charity rowers attempting to travel from Land's End, Cornwall, to John O'Groats, Caithness. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In a later post, Lowe said: "As a well done to the crew, I'll donate 1,000 to their charity - raising money for MND (motor neurone disease)." Lowe posted about the boat at about 20:25 BST and said he had alerted the authorities. He wrote: "Authorities alerted, and I am urgently chasing. "If these are illegal migrants, I will be using every tool at my disposal to ensure these individuals are deported. "Enough is enough. Britain needs mass deportations. NOW." However, at 06:38 on Friday, he explained the "unknown vessel" was a false alarm. He said: "We received a huge number of urgent complaints from constituents - I make no apologies over being vigilant for my constituents. It is a national crisis. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "No mass deportations for the charity rowers, but we definitely need it for the illegal immigrants!" Lowe has been vocal in his calls for stronger measures to tackle illegal migration, advocating mass deportations. He was elected as a Reform UK MP last year but was expelled from the party in March, amid claims of threats towards its chairman, Zia Yusuf. Lowe denied the allegations and the Crown Prosecution Service said he would not face criminal charges. The crew of four, which included Mike Bates, a British record-holder for rowing across the Atlantic solo, said they found the post "hilarious". Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Mr Bates said: "I looked to my right and there was maybe a dozen individuals stood on the shoreline staring at us. "I've not been mistaken for a migrant before. "The best comment was the one asking where the Royal Navy were when you need them. I'm a former Royal Marine, so the Royal Navy were on the boat." Mike Bates (left) said it was "almost vigilante-style" how people watched and followed them down the beach [Robby West/BBC] Mr Bates said it was "almost vigilante-style" how people followed them down the beach. Fellow crew member Matthew Parker said they had been trying find shelter and wait for the tide to turn when they saw a drone flying above and people starting to gather on the shoreline. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "You've got these people on the shoreline flashing torches at us," he said. "We've got the coastguard asking us questions, a police car arrives on the beach with its lights on - how has this managed to get escalated this way? "I just thought it was ridiculous." team of four had set off from Land's End on 25 July and headed north into the Irish Sea before bad weather forced them to stop at Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire. The team turned around and returned to Land's End and then started their challenge again in the other direction. So far they have raised more than 100,000 for charity and hope to raise even more. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Mr Bates said: "We're rowing for hope, we're rowing to find a cure, and hopefully we'll raise 57m - we certainly will if MPs keep talking about us." Follow Norfolk news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X. Related internet links [BBC] Sign up for our Politics Essential newsletter to keep up with the inner workings of Westminster and beyond. More on this story MSNBC host Joe Scarborough sparred with U.S. Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) on Friday over his vote to pass President Donald Trumps big beautiful bill" of spending cuts and tax breaks. Scarborough explained that hospitals in Lawlers district have already sounded alarm on the massive cuts to Medicaid included in Trumps big beautiful bill" signed into law last month. Lawler pushed back on Scarboroughs reporting, instead blaming the state of New York for the issues facing his districts hospitals. How are the hospitals in your district going to manage with all the cuts to Medicaid that are going to be coming up because its obviously some of them already said its going to impact them," Scarborough asked Lawler on MSNBCs Morning Joe on Friday. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement So this whole notion that is being fostered by Democrats like Kathy Hochul throwing out ridiculous numbers about who is going to lose coverage, or the impact on hospitals in New York. The fact is, its bunk. You look at the overall system in New York, New York has had serious challenges because of the mismanagement of its state by people like Kathy Hochul, Lawler responded. Scarborough then noted that the Congressional Budget Office estimated that about $900 billion to $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts as a result of the bill. He also reported that Montefiore Nyack Hospital and Westchester Hospitalboth in Lawlers districthave warned that the Medicaid cuts will result in staffing cuts and a reduction of care. Lawler responded by accusing the hospitals of parroting New York States and the Greater New York Hospital Associations talking points about the bill signed by Trump. What theyre parroting is the same talking points being put out by the state and by the hospital association" Lawler said before Scarborough interjected. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement You know their business better than they know their business? Scarborough said as Lawler tried to talk over him. Congressman, you can keep talking if you want to. But are you saying that they know you know their business, you know doctors business, you know hospital administrators business, better than they know their own business? Is that what youre telling us here? Scarborough said. Lawler then told Scarborough that he is putting words in his mouth before Scarborough asked what he meant by parroting talking points. You said they were parroting other peoples words! Scarborough said. Scarborough loses patience with Mike Lawler after Lawler lies that Republicans didn't actually cut Medicaid: "You know their business better than they know their business? Congressman, you can keep talking if you want to, but are you saying you know doctors' business, you know pic.twitter.com/489kkhxFtd Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 8, 2025 Lawler said that Scarborough should look into what the hospitals have released about the bill. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Go, look what theyve actually put out. And its all the same. Its all the same points that the greater New York Hospital Association and that the state of New York are parroting, Lawler said. But the bottom line is, and Ive met with all of them, they have had significant challenges because of the way the state has managed the Medicaid system in New York. Montefiore Nyack is a safety net hospital. 85% of its funding comes from Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements, he continued. This state has cut them off for years, refusing to give them the funding that they need through various programs, and instead telling them, go to your parent, Montefiore Health System based out of the Bronx, he added. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. CONSTANTINE TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WOOD) State police say a driver was killed in a crash Thursday night near Constantine. It happened around 8 p.m. at US-131 and Youngs Prairie Road. According to the Michigan State Police, an SUV was heading east on Youngs Prairie Road, approaching the intersection. Troopers say the SUV failed to yield, turned left at the intersection and collided with a southbound recreational vehicle. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The driver of the SUV, an 86-year-old man from Constantine, died on scene, according to MSP. His name was not immediately released. Its not clear whether he was wearing a seat belt. The occupants of the RV, including the 48-year-old Caledonia man who was driving, suffered minor injuries. State police say they were wearing seat belts. Investigators do not believe drugs or alcohol played a role in the crash. The crash 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 WOODTV.com. SEQOUYAH COUNTY, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) A Muldrow man has been convicted of aggravated sexual abuse of a minor, according to the United States Attorneys Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma. Evidence presented by federal prosecutors revealed that in May 2024, Justin Floyd Qualls, also known as Jay Qualls, 40, knowingly engaged in a sexual act with a child under the age of 12. The crime occurred in Adair County, within the Cherokee Nation Reservation. The investigation into Qualls was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Alma man dies in crash on Highway 64 Qualls will remain in custody of United States Marshal as he awaits sentencing for the felony offense. 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 KNWA FOX24. Cops arrested multiple protesters who gathered for a demonstration against Immigration and Customs Enforcement at lower Manhattans Federal Plaza on Friday, police confirmed. Several dozen protesters marched from City Hall Park to 26 Federal Plaza in Tribeca, where immigrant detainees are allegedly being held on the 10th floor in crowded and inhumane conditions. When a handful of faith leaders with the group were denied access to the building, two rows of protesters sat down in the middle of the roadway on Broadway, blocking traffic. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement About 30 police officers, along with numerous members of the media, surrounded the protesters, who held signs reading, ICE is Trumps Gestapo, Kidnapped by ICE and Release Them All. The NYPD could not immediately say how many people had been arrested, but confirmed that there were multiple arrests, and specifically that a total of 15 people were taken into custody. Cops also could not immediately say what the charges against those arrested were, but in similar instances in the past, protesters have typically been charged with disorderly conduct, trespassing and other misdemeanors. A police spokesperson clarified that it could be that some of the protesters taken into custody might only be given summonses, which is not an arrest. He said the number of arrests and charges would likely not all be sorted out until midnight Friday. In video shared on social media, at least one protester can be seen standing calmly as a police officer zip-ties his arms behind his back. Muscogee Nation has filed an appeal to the tribes supreme court decision that granted Creek Freedmen full citizenship rights. The Nations appeal says courts opinion rejected the will of the people when it canceled the Nations fundamental right to define citizenship. Former Muskogee City Councilor Ivory Vann, a Freedman who is also a member of Muscogee Nation, said the courts initial ruling constitutes justice for all Freedmen. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We also get the benefits and all the rights Creek Nation has, Vann said. I go the the Creek Community Center up here for senior citizens. When I first heard the news, I kind of teared up myself. Vann said the emotion arises when he thinks about his grandmother, who was part of the initial battle of regaining Muscogee citizenship. Its too bad my grandmothers not around to see it, Vann said. Shell get her citizenship back she passed away in the 80s but this is an exciting time for the Freedmen. Now Vann is upset that the Nation is trying to get the courts ruling thrown out. He pointed out that Muscogee Nation can do whatever it feels it has to do. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But they cant get around the Treaty of 1866, he said. They try to fight us and they cant get around that treaty. Thats the law of the land. Muscogee Nation states in the appeal document that this court rewrote the Constitution. The Court had no authority to do so; the people did not vote for this rewriting. The opinion creates potential challenges to all elections, laws and judicial laws in 1979, according to the document. Likewise, it cancels the Peoples requirement for a one-quarter blood quantum for their National Council, chiefs, justices and judges. Vann praised the Cherokee Nation and its requirement. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Cherokee Nation, you dont have to have nothing, Vann said. Chief [Chuck] Hoskin is one of the best chiefs there is. The court stated in its initial opinion Mvskoke law demanded it answer in the affirmative: For centuries, our people have endured removal from our homelands, forced assimilation, and near extinction in exchange for promises from the federal government, through numerous treaties. The United States Supreme Court has honored these treaties and [held] the government to its word. Today, our Nations Supreme Court is presented with a similar challenge. Are the Creek Freedmen, and their descendants, entitled to all the rights and privileges of native [Creek] citizens, as guaranteed by the Treaty of 1866, between the United States and the Muscogee (Creek) Nation? Are we, as a Nation, bound to treaty promises made so many years ago? Today, we answer in the affirmative. NEED TO KNOW Erin Patterson was previously convicted of the murders of her ex-husband Simon Patterson's parents, Don and Gail, as well as Gail's sister In newly released pre-trial evidence, Simon accused Erin of attempting to fatally poison him on multiple occasions One alleged incident left him hospitalized in a medically induced coma for 16 days with three emergency operations The Australian woman found guilty of killing her ex-in-laws and a third family member by poisoning them with death cap mushrooms at a lunch had allegedly previously tried to murder her estranged husband on multiple occasions, according to newly released evidence. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On July 7, the Latrobe Valley Magistrates Court in the South-Eastern Victoria town of Morwell heard that Erin Patterson, 50, had been convicted of the murders of her ex-husband Simon Patterson's parents, Don and Gail Patterson, both 70, as well as Gail's sister, Heather Wilkinson, 66, 9 News reported at the time. She was also found guilty of the attempted murder of Heather's husband, pastor Ian Wilkinson, 68, who was hospitalized for weeks following the family lunch, the outlet stated. Don, Gail and Heather were taken to the hospital and died within days after consuming the Beef Wellington served by Erin, which had been laced with the deadly mushroom at her Leongatha house in July 2023, PEOPLE previously reported. It's now been revealed that Erin's ex Simon Patterson, who was invited to the lunch but chose not to attend, claimed during pre-trial hearings last year that he'd suspected Erin had tried to kill him with tainted food for years, per the BBC. MARTA PASCUAL JUANOLA/The Age via Getty Erin Patterson Erin Patterson The pre-trial evidence details have only just been reported after the Supreme Court of Victoria lifted a suppression order on Friday, Aug. 8, per the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Erin had initially been charged with three counts of attempting to murder Simon, but prosecutors dropped all charges relating to her former husband the night before her trial began in April, so they never went before the jury, Sky News reported. The pre-trial hearing heard that Simon had first accused his former partner, whom he still isn't divorced from despite them separating in 2015, of trying to poison him with a Tupperware container of Bolognese penne pasta, the BBC noted. The ABC stated that the incident occurred between Nov. 16 and 17, 2021, the night before the family was due to go on a camping trip to Wilsons Promontory National Park. Simon confirmed he felt "nothing untoward" in terms of their relationship at the point of the Tupperware incident, telling Erin's lawyer, "If by 'nothing untoward', you mean anything that would make me think she would try and kill me, correct," per the BBC. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement After eating the food, Simon ended up spending the night in the hospital after suffering from vomiting and diarrhea, the outlet stated. Another incident saw Simon fall sick with the same symptoms during a camping trip at Howqua in Victoria's High Country between May 25 and 27, 2022, the ABC noted. MARTIN KEEP/AFP via Getty Simon Patterson Simon Patterson "We had a chicken korma curry on the second night," he told the pre-trial hearing in October 2024, the outlet stated. "While Erin was preparing food I was getting the fire going so I didn't watch her prepare it." He was assessed at the Mansfield Hospital, but was discharged later that afternoon. His condition then worsened a few days later once he'd returned home, and he claimed he ended up in a coma and required life-saving surgery at Melbourne's Monash Hospital, the ABC reported. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Per 9 News, Simon shared a since-deleted Facebook post in June 2022, stating he'd almost died and was placed in an induced coma for 16 days. "My family were asked to come and say goodbye to me twice, I collapsed at home, then was in an induced coma for 16 days through which I had 3 emergency operations mainly on my small intestine" the post read, according to the outlet. Simon then fell seriously ill again on Sept. 6, 2022 after he and Erin had gone back to Wilsons Promontory, and she allegedly said she'd "bring food for the trip," the ABC noted. "She brought items to make a curry, a vegetable wrap for me. I think she had some of those things but not in a wrap," Simon said, according to the outlet. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "I trust my memory of this. The wrap was prepared and when I see that I can picture the wrap in the aluminum foil, and I can picture the ingredients in her lunch which weren't wrapped," he added. Simon ended up passing out and was hospitalized again, with him experiencing slurred speech and possible seizures, the ABC stated. A family friend called Christopher Ford, who was also a doctor, suggested Simon start a food diary after he'd fallen ill multiple times, per the BBC. "I couldn't understand why these things kept on happening to him in such a way that he had essentially three near-death experiences," Ford told the court, the outlet stated. 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. The pre-trial hearing heard that Simon had returned to see Dr. Ford in February 2023, stating that Erin had claimed his daughter had baked a batch of cookies for him. She then repeatedly checked to see if he'd eaten any, per the BBC. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement https://people-app.onelink.me/HNIa/kz7l4cuf It's not known what Erin had allegedly been feeding Simon, but investigators suspect rat poison could have been used on at least one occasion after a file with information about it was found on Erin's computer, the outlet stated. A sentencing hearing for Erin has been set for Aug. 25. The Supreme Court of Victoria didn't immediately respond when contacted by PEOPLE for additional information. Read the original article on People Aug. 7"Everything's an act when you're pleasing everyone." So sings Peter in "Bare," the story of two boys at a Catholic boarding school who are secretly in love with each other and going through the ups and downs of adolescent life. "There are two gay boys who have fallen in love with each other within the struggles of the institution of religion, the institution of high school," Mark Pino, the director, said. "And then, of course, like society struggles (and) familial struggles." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Bare" will open at Musical Theatre Southwest, on Friday, Aug. 8, and run through Aug. 31. The show is in partnership with the New Mexico Gay Men's Chorus. Pino fell in love with the show when he saw it off-Broadway in the 2000s. "There was so much that I was kind of triggered by, so much that I related to, so much that just stayed with me in all of these years," Pino said. "The music, the story, the characters, also haunted me all this time." Pino has wanted to direct the production since then, and said he has found an "absolutely phenomenal" cast. "It's been a dream come true," Pino said. "It's better than I would have anticipated, better than expected." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Pino said the show has a way of staying with people, even those who acted in the show during its original debut. "My best friend reached out to a couple of them as a surprise (and) told them I was directing the show, told them how much it meant," Pino said. "Two of the main actors that were the main characters in that play, sent me these beautiful videos for good luck and how beautiful it is we're doing the show, and how much the show impacted them doing it." Pino hopes its themes will resonate with the community. "It's very relevant, especially in a state like New Mexico, where there's a high volume of Catholic people, also, people of Hispanic backgrounds," Pino said. "Historically, religious and ethnic backgrounds have been less progressive towards LGBTQ+ issues. So I think that it still really will have a powerful impact, not just now, but here." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He said he wants the show to spark conversations between families and more. "I'm hoping that if Catholic parents of students who may or may not be struggling with their sexual identity come to see this show, hopefully, it opens some minds," Pino said. "Hopefully it starts conversations where these families, these parents, these children, can talk about how the show impacts them. How it made them see something in a different light." Pino drew on his Catholic upbringing to represent the religious community in the play. "Also growing up Catholic, being an altar boy, really making sure that I still sort of honor the Catholic religion and people who are Catholic still and believe that," Pino said. "We haven't done anything in this show that sort of demonizes the Catholic religion. We let the story speak for itself." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The story goes beyond LGBTQ+ issues, Pino said, and includes topics such as bullying. The show is not appropriate for young children, Pino said, and audiences should be prepared for a bit of heartbreak. "It's beautiful, and it will, definitely, break audiences' hearts open, because it is pretty sad," Pino said. "I don't want to give away the ending too much, but definitely bring some tissues." By Angelo Amante MESSINA, Italy (Reuters) -Italy's decision to approve the construction between Sicily and the mainland of what would be the world's longest single-span bridge has set the stage for a legal battle that could further delay a project first conceived by the ancient Romans. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's right-wing government gave its final approval for the bridge over the Strait of Messina on Wednesday, earmarking 13.5 billion euros ($15.8 billion) for a project that has been under discussion for more than 50 years. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "They could offer me three times the value of my house, but that doesn't matter to me. What matters is the landscape. They must not touch the Strait of Messina," said Mariolina De Francesco, a 75-year-old living in the Sicilian city of Messina. More than 440 properties will have to be expropriated on the Sicilian side and in the Calabria region on the mainland to make way for the 3.7-km (2.3-mile) bridge and connecting roads and railways. "Our lawyers will take action, and we will stop them. That's guaranteed," said De Francesco, whose house lies near the site of one of the bridge's planned 399-metre-tall land towers. Infrastructure Minister Matteo Salvini said preliminary works should start in September-October, and has promised generous compensation to those required to surrender their property. The bridge is due for completion in 2032. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Messina Strait Company overseeing the project is bracing for a big legal fight. "(Legal appeals) certainly keep me busy because they waste a lot of our time," its CEO Pietro Ciucci told La Stampa newspaper. Environmental groups this week filed a complaint with the European Union, flagging serious risks for the local ecosystem. The Torre Faro district, on the northern edge of Messina, includes a nature reserve surrounding two ponds, and Calabria appears within arm's reach when strolling along the seafront. SEISMIC RISK Committees of 'No Bridge' residents say the area's environmental value and seismic risk make it unsuitable for the infrastructure. They also fear the works will drag on, making the neighbourhood unliveable because of the noise. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Messina Strait Company says the bridge will be designed to withstand very strong earthquakes and will not be placed on active fault lines. It has also promised mitigation measures to safeguard habitats and protected species. Contractual obligations will ensure that the timing and effects of construction activity, including noise, will be kept under strict control, the company added. Supporters of the project - awarded to the Eurolink consortium led by Italy's Webuild - say it will bolster the economy of an underdeveloped region. "The bridge could create jobs for young people, and maybe it could also change something in Sicily, where we always like to keep everything as it is," said 71-year-old Giuseppe Caruso, sitting on his bike near the beach. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Authorities have pledged strong safeguards against any mafia involvement. The two regions are home to the Cosa Nostra and 'Ndrangheta mafia organizations, which have a long history of infiltrating lucrative public works projects. The government is also considering whether to categorise investment in the bridge as defence spending, which would help Italy meet new NATO targets to boost military budgets. PUBLIC INTEREST House expropriations are set to proceed gradually, in line with construction progress. Activists and lawyers estimate some 1,000 people could lose their homes, and say the increased costs since the project was first awarded may breach European Union public procurement laws. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "We are a country governed by the rule of law within the EU, so even the government must respect the rules," said Antonio Saitta, a lawyer representing some Messina residents. The Messina Strait Company said the rise in costs, from 8.5 billion euros in 2011 - before the project was blocked - to the current 13.5 billion euros, was due to the sharp increase in construction material prices. Saitta said the main way of blocking the bridge was to file an appeal with an administrative court against the government's decision by the end of October. Gianluca Maria Esposito, an administrative law professor at Sapienza University of Rome, said the public interest prevails over the private in such cases and that blocking the project would be a daunting challenge. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "The citizen is entitled to compensation but cannot claim further damages, nor can they oppose the realization of the project," he said. ($1 = 0.8564 euros) (Reporting by Angelo AmanteEditing by Alvise Armellini and Gareth Jones) By David Brunnstrom WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A Washington lobbying firm has signed an agreement worth $3 million a year with Myanmar's Ministry of Information to help the long-time military-ruled country rebuild relations with the United States. According to documents submitted under the U.S. Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA), the DCI Group signed the agreement with the ministry on July 31, the day Myanmar's military nominally transferred power to a civilian-led interim government ahead of a planned election. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Myanmar's leadership under military chief Min Aung Hlaing seized power in a 2021 coup and that year an Israeli-Canadian lobbyist they hired to represent them in Washington and other capitals said he had stopped his work because U.S. sanctions on the generals prevented him from being paid. The U.S. Treasury Department, the DCI Group, the U.S. State Department and Myanmar's Washington embassy did not immediately respond to requests for comment when asked if U.S. sanctions would affect the agreement between the Myanmar ministry and the DCI Group. The formation of an interim government signals no change to the status quo in Myanmar, with Min Aung Hlaing holding on to all major levers of power as acting president while retaining his position as chief of the armed forces. He has appeared eager to engage with U.S. President Donald Trump's administration after years of isolation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement When Trump threatened new tariffs on Myanmar's U.S.-bound exports this month as part of his global trade offensive, he did so in a signed letter addressed personally to Min Aung Hlaing. The general responded by lavishing praise on Trump for his "strong leadership" while asking for lower rates and the lifting of sanctions. He said he was ready to send a negotiating team to Washington, if needed. "TRADE, NATURAL RESOURCES" According to the FARA filing, the DCI Group "shall provide public affairs services to (the) client with respect to rebuilding relations between the Republic of the Union of Myanmar and the United States, with a focus on trade, natural resources, and humanitarian relief." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The filing was signed on August 1 by DCI managing partner Justin Peterson, who served in the previous Trump administration, and another managing partner, Brian McCabe. Reuters reported last year that the FBI has been investigating the DCI Group over its alleged role in a hack-and-leak operation that targeted hundreds of its client Exxon Mobil's biggest critics. The DCI Group has said the allegations that it commissioned the hacking operation were false and that it directs all of its employees and consultants to comply with the law. In 2008, two top aides to then Republican presidential nominee John McCain resigned after work they did with the DCI Group for a previous military junta in Myanmar came to light. Jim Murphy, a former DCI president and managing partner, served as Trump's national political director during his 2016 campaign. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Myanmar's state media reported on Thursday that Myint Swe, who became Myanmar's president during the 2021 coup that saw the arrest of incumbent Win Myint and Nobel laureate and de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi, had died in hospital earlier in the day. Myint Swe, a 74-year-old former general, was placed on medical leave in July last year, with his duties passed to Min Aung Hlaing. Engaging the junta would be a sharp departure for the United States, given U.S. sanctions on the military leaders and the violence committed against the Rohingya minority that Washington calls genocide and crimes against humanity. Last month, the Trump administration lifted sanctions designations on several junta allies, but U.S. officials said this did not indicate any broader shift in U.S. policy toward Myanmar and was unrelated to the general's letter. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Last week Reuters reported that the administration had heard competing proposals on ways to divert Myanmar's vast supplies of rare earth minerals away from strategic rival China, although nothing had been decided upon amid major logistical and geopolitical obstacles. Securing supplies of so-called heavy rare earths, used in high-tech weaponry, is a major focus of the administration in its competition with China, which is responsible for nearly 90% of global processing capacity. (Reporting by David Brunnstrom; Editing by Don Durfee and Stephen Coates) Update: Leaders of the N.J. synagogue that burned to the ground in an overnight blaze vow to rebuild A synagogue in Rutherford went up in flames early Friday, drawing a response from firefighters across Bergen County before the building collapsed. No injuries were reported, but a rabbi and his family escaped unharmed. The cause of the fire remains unclear, but Rutherford police said Friday afternoon the initial outcome of an investigation determined it was not intentionally set. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The 4-alarm fire began about 2:45 a.m. at Beth El Chabad in the 100 block of Montross Avenue, authorities said. ABC-7 reported the building appeared to collapse about an hour after firefighters arrived. Rutherford Police Chief John R. Russo said a rabbi and his family were the only people inside the structure, and they were able to escape the flames. Preliminarily, there was nothing pointing towards criminal (activity) to the first-responders, but the ultimate determination will be made later today by the investigators, Russo said in an email. Fire officials said the synagogue was destroyed in the flames. Police said no injuries to any firefighter were reported as of Friday afternoon. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Congregation Beth El has been a pillar of the Rutherford Community for decades and our hearts go out to them during this difficulty time of devastating loss, Rutherford police said in a statement. Beth El Chabad was destroyed in the fire. Rabbai Yitzchok Lerman told NJ Advance Media he was home with his wife and four of his children when the fire broke out. I saw flames outside my window. We said, get the kids and ran outside, Lerman said. I turned around to retrieve our Torah scrolls, but unfortunately the building was already engulfed. Lerman said firefighters and police arrived in minutes with the building ablaze. Neighbors rushed out into the street and comforted the family. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Our neighbors gave us clothing, food socks water. They were just incredible, he said. Detectives from the Bergen County Prosecutors Office and arson investigators from the Bergen County Arson Task Force were at the scene Friday morning to investigate with local fire officials and Rutherford police. Preliminary investigation has confirmed that there were no injuries at this fire, the prosecutors office said in a statement. Detectives will now need time to investigate, the statement said. Detours will remain in place throughout the day and the public is asked to avoid the area, according to the prosecutors office. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In 2012, the same synagogue was firebombed by a man who threw Molotov cocktails at the structure. The rabbi said that incident occurred about two years before he arrived. Tom Riser has lived in the neighborhood for 40 years. He was awakened by the roar of fire engines coming down Montrose Avenue. The first thing you think terrorism, he said, recalling the 2012 firebombing. One of the firefighters who responded was his son, a volunteer with Rutherford. My son was here until 6 a.m. the went home and went to work. He works the town, Riser said. Beth El Chabad has served the Meadowlands, South Bergen County, and the Passaic and Clifton communities for more than 100 years, according to the synagogues website. NJ Advance Media Staff Writer Rich Cowen contributed to this report. Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. They were the pioneers of space exploration - the 24 Nasa astronauts who travelled to the Moon in the Apollo missions of the 1960s and 1970s. The loss of Apollo 13 commander Jim Lovell, who guided the stricken mission safely back to Earth in 1970, means there are now just five people remaining who have escaped the relative safety of Earth orbit and ventured deeper into space. Now, more than 50 years on, the race to put people back on the lunar surface is heating up once again. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Nasa hopes its Artemis programme will lead to astronauts living on the Moon this decade. China is also aiming to have people on the lunar surface by 2030, having landed a probe on the far side of the Moon in June 2024. A number of private companies have tried to send scientific craft to the Moon, although the mishaps have outnumbered the successes. Nasa had intended to launch Artemis 2, its first crewed lunar expedition since Apollo 17 in 1972, last year but that date has slipped into 2026, as the space agency says it needs more time to prepare. Meanwhile, companies such as SpaceX and Boeing continue to develop their own technology, although not without their setbacks. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The issues with Boeing's Starliner which left two astronauts stranded on the International Space Station were embarrassing for the aerospace giant, while the "rapid unscheduled disassemblies" of SpaceX's Starship have become a customary sight to space watchers. These delays highlight the sad fact that the number of remaining Apollo astronauts is dwindling. Apollo 13 was Jim Lovell's final mission [NASA] Along with Frank Borman and Bill Anders, Jim Lovell made history when the three undertook the first lunar mission on Apollo 8, testing the Command/Service Module and its life support systems in preparation for the later Apollo 11 landing. Their craft actually made 10 orbits of the Moon before returning home. Lovell was later supposed be the fifth human to walk on the lunar surface as commander of Apollo 13 - but of course, that never happened. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Instead the story of his brush with death was immortalised in the film Apollo 13, in which he was played by Tom Hanks. Following his retirement from Nasa in 1973, Lovell worked in the telecoms industry. Marilyn, his wife of more than 60 years, who became a focus for the media during the infamous incident, died in August 2023. But what of the remaining five Moon men? Who are they, and what are their stories? Buzz Aldrin (Apollo 11) Buzz Aldrin, right, along with his crewmates Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins, before their mission to the Moon [NASA] On 21 July 1969, former fighter pilot Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin left his lunar landing craft and became the second person to step on the surface of the Moon. Almost 20 minutes beforehand, his commander, Neil Armstrong, had been the first. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Aldrin's first words were: "Beautiful view". "Isn't that something?" asked Armstrong."Magnificent sight out here." "Magnificent desolation," replied Aldrin. The fact that he was second never sat comfortably with him. His crewmate Michael Collins said Aldrin "resented not being first on the Moon more than he appreciated being second". But Aldrin was still proud of his achievement; many years later, when confronted by a man claiming Apollo 11 was an elaborate lie, the 72-year-old Aldrin punched him on the jaw. And following Neil Armstrong's death in 2012, Aldrin said: "I know I am joined by many millions of others from around the world in mourning the passing of a true American hero and the best pilot I ever knew." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Despite struggles in later life, he never lost his thirst for adventure and joined expeditions to both the North and South Poles, the latter at the age of 86. While at @EH_Stonehenge yesterday I decided to send a message to the cosmos. #GYATM (Photo by James O.Davies) pic.twitter.com/ra5Y2OsSPB Dr. Buzz Aldrin (@TheRealBuzz) March 16, 2015 While embracing his celebrity, he has remained an advocate for the space programme, especially the need to explore Mars. "I don't think we should just go there and come back - we did that with Apollo," he says. And his name has become known to new generations as the inspiration for Buzz Lightyear from the Toy Story series of films. In January 2023, at the age of 93, he married for a fourth time.. Charles Duke (Apollo 16) There are only four people still alive who have walked on the Moon - Charlie Duke is one of them. He did it aged 36, making him the youngest person to set foot on the lunar surface. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In a later BBC interview, he spoke of a "spectacular terrain". "The beauty of it the sharp contrast between the blackness of space and the horizon of the Moon I'll never forget it. It was so dramatic." But he had already played another significant role in Nasa's exploration of the Moon. After Apollo 11 touched down in 1969, it was Duke - in mission control as the Capsule Communicator, or Capcom - who was waiting nervously on the other end of the line when Neil Armstrong said: "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed." Charlie Duke, along with Jim Lovell and Fred Haise in Mission Control, during the Apollo 11 mission [NASA] In his distinctive southern drawl, Duke replied: "Roger, Tranquility. We copy you on the ground, you've got a bunch of guys about to turn blue, we're breathing again." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "I really meant it, I was holding my breath the last minute or so," he later told the BBC. In 2022, Duke told the BBC he was excited about Nasa's Artemis mission - but warned that it wouldn't be easy for the new generation of astronauts. "They've picked near the South Pole for the landing, because if there's any ice on the Moon, it would be down in that region. So that's gonna be difficult - because it's really rough down there. But we'll pull it off." Charlie Duke now lives outside San Antonio, Texas, with Dorothy, to whom he has been married for 60 years. Fred Haise Fred Haise and his crewmates seemed surprised by their celebrity after they returned to Earth. [NASA] Fred Haise was part of the crew of Apollo 13 that narrowly avoided disaster in 1970 after an on-board explosion caused the mission to be aborted when the craft was more than 200,000 miles (321,000km) from Earth. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The whole world watched nervously as Nasa attempted to return the damaged spacecraft and its crew safely. Once back, Haise and his crewmates James Lovell and Jack Swigert became celebrities, to their apparent surprise. "I feel like maybe I missed something while I was up there," he told talk show host Johnny Carson when the crew appeared on The Tonight Show. Haise never made it to the Moon. Although scheduled to be commander of Apollo 19, that mission was cancelled because of budget cuts, as were all other flights after Apollo 17. He later served as a test pilot on the prototype space shuttle, Enterprise. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Like many of his fellow Apollo alumni, after leaving Nasa, Haise continued to work in the aerospace industry until his retirement. Harrison Schmitt (Apollo 17) Harrison Schmitt was the first scientist to visit the Moon [NASA] Unlike most other astronauts of the time, Schmitt had not served as a pilot in the US forces. A geologist and academic, he initially instructed Nasa astronauts on what to look for during their geological lunar field trips before becoming a scientist-astronaut himself in 1965. Schmitt was part of the last crewed mission to the Moon, Apollo 17, and along with commander Eugene Cernan, one of the last two men to set foot on the lunar surface, in December 1972. After leaving Nasa in 1975, he was elected to the US Senate from his home state of New Mexico, but only served one term. Since then he has worked as a consultant in various industries as well as continuing in academia. He is also known for speaking out against the scientific consensus on climate change. David Scott (Apollo 15) David Scott was the seventh person to walk on the Moon [NASA] David Scott, the commander of Apollo 15, is one of just four men alive who have walked on the Moon - but he was also one of the first to drive on it too. In 1971, Scott and crewmate James Irwin tested out the Lunar Roving Vehicle (LRV), "Man's First Wheels on the Moon" as it was called. Travelling at speeds up to 8 mph (12 km/h) the LRV allowed astronauts to travel large distances from the lunar lander much quicker than they could walk. "On a first mission you never know whether it's going to work," he later recalled. "The greatest thrill was to get it out, turn it on, and it actually worked." After returning from the Moon, Scott worked in various management roles within Nasa, before joining the private sector. He has also acted as consultant on several film and television projects, including Apollo 13 and the HBO miniseries From The Earth To The Moon. What will the next generation of lunar adventurers accomplish? (NewsNation) Astronaut Barry Butch Wilmore has officially retired from NASA months after returning from his prolonged trip to space. Wilmore worked with NASA for 25 years and spent a total of 464 days in space, nearly two-thirds of which came on his final voyage. Wilmore and fellow astronaut Suni Williams were stranded in space after what was supposed to be a weeklong trip to the International Space Station turned into nearly nine months due to technical issues with the Boeing Starliner spacecraft. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Both Wilmore and Williams are retired from the Navy. Williams still works with NASA. NASA chief to announce plan for nuclear reactor on the moon NASA announced Wilmores retirement Aug. 6. Throughout his career, Butch has exemplified the technical excellence of what is required of an astronaut. His mastery of complex systems, coupled with his adaptability and steadfast commitment to NASAs mission, has inspired us all, said Joe Acaba, chief of the Astronaut Office at NASA Johnson Space Center. 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. WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Four astronauts from NASA's Crew-10 mission departed the International Space Station on Friday aboard a SpaceX Dragon capsule, heading for a splashdown off the U.S. West Coast on Saturday morning after a five-month crew rotation mission at the orbiting lab. U.S. astronauts Nichole Ayers and Anne McClain, the Crew-10 commander, boarded the gumdrop-shaped Dragon capsule on Friday afternoon along with Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi and Russian cosmonaut Kirill Peskov ahead of a 17.5-hour trek back to Earth to a splashdown site off the California coast. The four-person crew launched to the ISS on March 14 in a routine mission that replaced the Crew-9 crew, which included NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, the astronaut pair left on the station by Boeing's Starliner capsule. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Five months after the Starliner mission's conclusion, Wilmore this week retired from NASA after a 25-year career in which he flew four different spacecraft and logged a total of 464 days in space. Wilmore was a key technical adviser to Boeing's Starliner program along with Williams, who remains at the agency in its astronaut corps. The four astronauts in the Crew-10 capsule are scheduled for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean at 11:33 a.m. ET (1533 GMT) Saturday. NASA said they are returning to Earth with "important and time-sensitive research" conducted in the microgravity environment of the ISS during the 146-day mission. The astronauts had over 200 science experiments on their to-do list. (Reporting by Joey Roulette; Editing by Leslie Adler) The first space race was about flags and footprints. Now, decades later, landing on the Moon is old news. The new race is to build there, and doing so hinges on power. In April 2025, China reportedly unveiled plans to build a nuclear power plant on the Moon by 2035. This plant would support its planned international lunar research station. The United States countered in August, when acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy reportedly suggested a U.S. reactor would be operational on the Moon by 2030. While it might feel like a sudden sprint, this isnt exactly breaking news. NASA and the Department of Energy have spent years quietly developing small nuclear power systems to power lunar bases, mining operations and long-term habitats. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As a space lawyer focused on long-term human advancement into space, I see this not as an arms race but as a strategic infrastructure race. And in this case, infrastructure is influence. A lunar nuclear reactor may sound dramatic, but its neither illegal nor unprecedented. If deployed responsibly, it could allow countries to peacefully explore the Moon, fuel their economic growth and test out technologies for deeper space missions. But building a reactor also raises critical questions about access and power. The legal framework already exists Nuclear power in space isnt a new idea. Since the 1960s, the U.S. and the Soviet Union have relied on radioisotope generators that use small amounts of radioactive elements a type of nuclear fuel to power satellites, Mars rovers and the Voyager probes. CC BY Nuclear energy in space isnt new some spacecraft are nuclear-powered. This photo shows the nuclear heat source for the Mars Curiosity rover encased in a graphite shell. The fuel glows red hot because of the radioactive decay of plutonium-238. Idaho National Laboratory The United Nations 1992 Principles Relevant to the Use of Nuclear Power Sources in Outer Space, a nonbinding resolution, recognizes that nuclear energy may be essential for missions where solar power is insufficient. This resolution sets guidelines for safety, transparency and international consultation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Nothing in international law prohibits the peaceful use of nuclear power on the Moon. But what matters is how countries deploy it. And the first country to succeed could shape the norms for expectations, behaviors and legal interpretations related to lunar presence and influence. Why being first matters The 1967 Outer Space Treaty, ratified by all major spacefaring nations including the U.S., China and Russia, governs space activity. Its Article IX requires that states act with due regard to the corresponding interests of all other States Parties. That statement means if one country places a nuclear reactor on the Moon, others must navigate around it, legally and physically. In effect, it draws a line on the lunar map. If the reactor anchors a larger, long-term facility, it could quietly shape what countries do and how their moves are interpreted legally, on the Moon and beyond. Other articles in the Outer Space Treaty set similar boundaries on behavior, even as they encourage cooperation. They affirm that all countries have the right to freely explore and access the Moon and other celestial bodies, but they explicitly prohibit territorial claims or assertions of sovereignty. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement At the same time, the treaty acknowledges that countries may establish installations such as bases and with that, gain the power to limit access. While visits by other countries are encouraged as a transparency measure, they must be preceded by prior consultations. Effectively, this grants operators a degree of control over who can enter and when. Building infrastructure is not staking a territorial claim. No one can own the Moon, but one country setting up a reactor could shape where and how others operate functionally, if not legally. Infrastructure is influence Building a nuclear reactor establishes a countrys presence in a given area. This idea is especially important for resource-rich areas such as the lunar south pole, where ice found in perpetually shadowed craters could fuel rockets and sustain lunar bases. These sought-after regions are scientifically vital and geopolitically sensitive, as multiple countries want to build bases or conduct research there. Building infrastructure in these areas would cement a countrys ability to access the resources there and potentially exclude others from doing the same. Dark craters on the Moon, parts of which are indicated here in blue, never get sunlight. Scientists think some of these permanently shadowed regions could contain water ice. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Critics may worry about radiation risks. Even if designed for peaceful use and contained properly, reactors introduce new environmental and operational hazards, particularly in a dangerous setting such as space. But the U.N. guidelines do outline rigorous safety protocols, and following them could potentially mitigate these concerns. Why nuclear? Because solar has limits The Moon has little atmosphere and experiences 14-day stretches of darkness. In some shadowed craters, where ice is likely to be found, sunlight never reaches the surface at all. These issues make solar energy unreliable, if not impossible, in some of the most critical regions. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A small lunar reactor could operate continuously for a decade or more, powering habitats, rovers, 3D printers and life-support systems. Nuclear power could be the linchpin for long-term human activity. And its not just about the Moon developing this capability is essential for missions to Mars, where solar power is even more constrained. A call for governance, not alarm The United States has an opportunity to lead not just in technology but in governance. If it commits to sharing its plans publicly, following Article IX of the Outer Space Treaty and reaffirming a commitment to peaceful use and international participation, it will encourage other countries to do the same. The future of the Moon wont be determined by who plants the most flags. It will be determined by who builds what, and how. Nuclear power may be essential for that future. Building transparently and in line with international guidelines would allow countries to more safely realize that future. A reactor on the Moon isnt a territorial claim or a declaration of war. But it is infrastructure. And infrastructure will be how countries display power of all kinds in the next era of space exploration. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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: Michelle L.D. Hanlon, University of Mississippi Read more: Michelle L.D. Hanlon is affiliated with For All Moonkind, Inc. a 501(c)(3) nonprofit focused on protecting cultural heritage in outer space. The four members of the SpaceX Crew-10 mission climbed aboard the Crew Dragon Endurance and departed the International Space Station on Friday evening for an overnight trip back to Earth. NASA astronauts Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers, JAXA astronaut Takuya Onishi and Roscosmos cosmonaut Kirill Peskov launched to the station back on March 14 from Kennedy Space Center arriving a day later. After 4 1/2 months on board, they undocked at 6:15 p.m. and now have to travel 17 1/2 hours home for a planned splashdown off the coast of California at 11:33 a.m. Saturday. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It has been an absolute privilege to cross paths with you, Crew-10 commander McClain said as the Dragon drifted away from the station. Godspeed. Tess Casswell from NASA Mission Control in Houston chimed in to say, Its been an honor for all of us around the world to support you as you lived and worked on the International Space Station. We cannot wait to welcome you home to the blue skies of Earth. McClain led a farewell ceremony earlier in the week as the population of the station prepped to drop from 11 to seven. As we complete our mission on space station, we really want to lead with gratitude for the absolute privilege of getting to live and work aboard this amazing International Space Station, she said. All of us are keenly aware that we may never get to do this again, and weve been very pensive over the last days of understanding what we have all got to be a part of. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ayers was the first from her NASA astronaut class chosen in 2021, known as The Flies, to make it to space. We got to see some amazing views, and we have had some really big belly laughs and a wonderful time together, she said about her Crew-10 crewmates. Leaving with a heart full of gratitude and excited to see where the International Space Station goes after we get home. While McClain is the Crew-10 commander, Onishi had been the Expedition 73 commander for the station. He handed over command to Roscosmos cosmonaut Sergey Ryzhikov during a ceremony Tuesday before departing. Ryzhikov is part of the Soyuz crew that flew up in April and wont leave until December. After Crew-10 leaves, its population will drop back from 11 to seven. I wish we could spend more time together, Onishi said about Crew-11 replacements that arrived last weekend. But you are in good hands. So Im sure the second half of Expedition 73 will be even better. Crew-10 is now leaving, but the science will continue here, because this place is the outpost for human beings to advance our technology and to explore further. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The California splashdown marks the first time a NASA mission with SpaceX has landed on the west coast with 10 previous crewed missions for NASA (Demo-2 and Crew-1 through Crew-9) on SpaceX Crew Dragons having splashed down off the coast of Florida instead. SpaceX made the shift in coasts, though, after several incidents of debris showing up on land around the world that turned out to be remnants of the Crew Dragon trunks, which had previously been discarded at higher altitudes during deorbit. Now the trunk is more safely discarded over the Pacific as it comes in for its landing. SpaceX has already knocked out two California landings this year on private missions Fram2 and Axiom Spaces Ax-4. McClain thanked her family for their support during her 4 1/2 months away. Well see you back soon on the greatest planet in the solar system. Weve checked, she said. Well back to Earth here shortly. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement For Crew-10, with around 148 days in space, it marks the shortest so far for an operational flight under NASAs Commercial Crew Program. The longest has been Crew-8 from March-October 2024 at more than 235 days. Most have been around six months long. The reason Crew-10 was short was twofold. It was originally targeting a February liftoff, but a delay from SpaceX with its fifth and final Crew Dragon forced a shuffle so Crew-10 flew with Endurance and the private Ax-4 mission ended up with the new vehicle, which they named Grace. Its departure also needs to come before the planned CRS-33 cargo Dragon mission slated to arrive later this month, and will need somewhere to park. That cargo Dragon has a special reboost capacity built in that will be used to elevate the space stations altitude, a first for SpaceX. The Russian Progress spacecraft are usually the ones responsible for space station reboost, but NASA is trying to store up fuel reserves for the eventual need to bring the space station back down to burn up in Earths atmosphere when its decommissioned after 2030. Endurance is completing its fourth mission to space having debuted in 2021 on Crew-3 and having since flown on Crew-5 in 2022 and Crew-7 in 2023. Its leaving behind the Crew-11 crew who arrived last weekend in the fleet-leading Crew Dragon Endeavour, which was the first SpaceX Crew Dragon to fly with humans back in 2020 on the Demo-2 mission and is now amidst its sixth trip to space. The other Crew Dragons are Resilience and Freedom. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Crew-11 is not slated to leave the station until next year after at least six months, although NASA and SpaceX are looking into potentially stretching that mission out to eight months still. Crew-10s arrival in March was part of the Starliner saga as it was the relief crew to the station that allowed for Boeing Starliners two crew to finally come home after nearly nine months in space. Starliner flew up to the station on the Crew Flight Test in June 2024, but the spacecraft suffered helium leaks and thruster failures on its propulsion system before docking. NASA ultimately chose to send Starliner home without crew in September meaning NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams had to remain on board the station until SpaceX was able to fly up a Crew Dragon with a pair of open seats that would allow them to fly home. While Crew-9 arrived to the station in fall 2024, Williams and Wilmore had to remain on the station until Crew-10 arrived and Crew-9 was able to make it home. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Commercial Crew Program originally contracted with Boeing and SpaceX to each build spacecraft to take over the responsibilities of shuttling astronauts on U.S.-based launches to and from the space station. NASA had to rely on Russia for rides to the station on Soyuz flights since the end of the Space Shuttle Program in 2011. Both SpaceX and Boeing faced issues getting their test flights up and running, but SpaceX eventually returned U.S.-based orbital flights nearly nine years later. Since Demo-2, SpaceX has flown its fleet of five Crew Dragons 19 times with 74 human passengers. Boeing suffered issues on its initial uncrewed Starliner flight in 2019 that forced a followup uncrewed flight that had its own issues to not fly until 2022. The CFT flight was supposed to open the door for NASA to trade off rotational flights between SpaceX and Boeing with each company flying once a year to support space station operations. Boeing and NASA, though, are back to fixing the issues found on the CFT mission with its next flight potentially reverting to an uncrewed mission to the station to ensure its propulsion systems are safe. Then NASA could begin flying operational missions with Starliner. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement SpaceX, though, is likely to fly Crew-12 for the next rotational mission sometime early next year. NASA only needs enough flights from among the two companies to support staffing on the station until it is decommissioned. At most that would likely mean only 10 more missions, but it might become less if stays on board get stretched. The Trump administration has recently pushed to pull back on the number of flights needed to the station before its decommissioned as well as limiting the number of astronauts. This all falls within a larger plan to invest more in NASAs efforts to get back to the moon and onto Mars while relying instead on future commercial space stations from companies like Axiom Space, Blue Origin and Vast, to satisfy any low-Earth orbit needs. A 19-year-old man who ran from a car with guns, methamphetamine and marijuana inside is being charged in connection with the July 2023 homicide of Christopher Harris. Nashville police chased the 19-year-old, who fled from the stolen vehicle from Charlie Place. When they questioned him, the suspect implicated himself Harris' fatal shooting, police said. noting that he was 16 years old at the time of Harris' death. He is charged with criminal homicide. The 19-year-old joins two other teens who were arrested in connection with the shooting on July, 4, 2023. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Police found Harris inside his vehicle at a Bordeaux-area apartment with multiple gunshot wounds. Witnesses told police Harris was outside his car when seven people surrounded him and opened fire. One person appeared to be holding a rifle, police said at the time. The following day, police arrested a 16-year-old for being out past curfew after a brief foot chase. He was found wearing the same clothing worn by one of the shooting suspects captured on video. The teen was charged with criminal homicide. A 17-year-old was arrested about a week later when police surveillance footage and tips from the community helped lead to the arrest of a second suspect. He is charged with criminal homicide, aggravated assault and unlawful gun possession. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Tennessean is not naming the suspects due to their ages at the time of Harris' death. This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Police: Nashville teen ran from cops, implicated self in 2023 murder The National Park Service plans to relocate and recreate the Fort Caroline Memorial in the Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve due to chronic storm and flooding damage. While the exhibit has been continuously repaired, the NPS says it is no longer sustainable or cost-effective. The Fort Caroline exhibit memorializes the French colonists who arrived in North America during the 16th century seeking religious freedom, wealth, and territorial expansion. The current exhibit provides visitors with a scaled representation of what the original Fort is thought to have looked like. The exhibit, currently located along the bank of the St. Johns River, would be reconstructed at an upland location out of the floodplain and closer to the Visitor Center. The current Fort Caroline exhibit will be removed from its space to allow native vegetation to take over. [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks] The public input period ends at 11:59 pm on August 8, 2025. Comments can be submitted online here. Construction is planned for between Winter 2026 and Spring 2027. >>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<< [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter] The Brief The National Weather Service is hiring again months after job cuts from the Trump Administration. They've been given the green light by the administration to bring back critical positions. Nicole Rice says shes grateful to see it but knew this would happen. DETROIT (FOX 2) - The National Weather Service is hiring. They've been given the green light by the Trump administration to bring back critical positions. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement One former employee says she foresaw this happening. Big picture view Some of the cuts are being reversed. FOX 2 spoke with Nicole Rice, a former employee of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. She says she's glad to see it. "Im surprised it took this long, to be honest with you, with the National Weather Service because its 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. But not surprised that its happening," she said. Months prior, the Trump Administration nixed hundreds of jobs at NOAA, including the National Weather Service. But Thursday, the NWS announced they're hiring once again, over 400 positions, to be exact, they say. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "When they went through and kind of slashed and burned without thinking about the actual implications of who they were getting rid of, we knew this would come back eventually where they say, Oh no, what have we done," she said. Nicole Rice says shes grateful to see it but knew this would happen. She once worked at NOAAs Great Lakes Environmental Research Lab in Saline and was laid off in February. "I was at a doctor's appointment and I didnt even get to go clean my office out that day. I had to go the following week to clean my office," she said. "So I had 10 years of work to clean out." She says it devastated the lab where scientists and technicians research how the lakes interact with the atmosphere. Without proper research at any of the NOAA labs, it can lead to tragedies, like the deadly flash floods that happened in early July in Kerr County, Texas. Over 100 people died. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "We said that from day one," she said. "Its going to take a tragedy, be it a national weather tragedy or some other worldwide tragedy, that its going to take to awaken people." Dig deeper Rice believes it may have led to the Trump Administration allowing the National Weather Service to hire again. While she has not been offered her job back, shes going to continue to look and get the word out about how important weather services are. "So its been really difficult for folks," she said. "I know a couple of folks have gotten jobs in different sectors and different technology work that theyve been working on. Its wonderful that theyve been able to do that, but many of us are still looking for jobs." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Rice is a city councilwoman. She goes on speaking engagements around Metro Detroit, educating folks about weather research and services. Some of the positions being offered at the NWS include meteorologists and radar technicians. The Source FOX 2 talked with Nicole Rice and used information from previous reporting. Heather Clah (left) was removed from her position as Navajo Nation Attorney General on August 6, 2025, by the Navajo Nation Council. This marks the second time the council has removed an attorney general within the past year. Photo Courtesy of the Navajo Nation Council The Navajo Nation Council voted to remove Heather Clah from her position as the Navajo Nation Attorney General, just weeks after her confirmation the second time the council has removed an attorney general in the last eight months. The Navajo Nation Council held a special session on Aug. 7 that included emergency legislation sponsored by Council Delegate Rickie Nez, calling for the removal of the attorney general. Nez was also the delegate to sponsor legislation to confirm Clah for the position on July 22. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The council has the authority under Navajo law to remove the attorney general, with or without cause. No cause was given before the council went into executive session to discuss the legislation and then voted to remove Clah, with 11 in favor and one opposed. The Council has acted within its full legal authority, Navajo Nation Council Speaker Crystalyne Curley stated in a press release. This was a necessary step to ensure our executive legal functions align with the best interests of the Nation. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX There is no Deputy Attorney General to assume the duties of the office. Under Navajo law, the appointment of a new Attorney General or Deputy Attorney General must be recommended by the Navajo Nation President and confirmed by the Navajo Nation Council. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren appointed Colin Bradley, a partner at the Zwillinger Wulkan law firm in Phoenix, where his practice focuses on Indian law and civil litigation. While this decision by the Council is disappointing, my administration remains committed to ensuring stability and continuity in our justice system, Nygren said in a press release. Colin Bradley represents a new chapter for the Navajo Nations legal leadership. Bradley is from Flagstaff with experience in state, federal, and tribal courts, according to the Office of the Navajo Nation President. He earned his bachelors degree from Northern Arizona University in 2011 and his Juris Doctor from Arizona State University in 2014. Bradley has previously worked with the Navajo Nation Department of Justice in the Natural Resources Unit and the Litigation Unit, where he represented Navajo Nation entities on various legal issues, including uranium claims and cases under the Navajo Preference in Employment Act. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Nygren said Bradley exhibits a calm and focused leadership style during a time when consistency is most needed. Colin has decided to come home for the right reasons to serve our Navajo people and thats what our Nation needs right now, Nygren said. I am honored that Mr. Bradley has accepted this very important appointment. In December, the council fired Navajo Nation Attorney General Ethel Branch during a special session. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Naval Station Great Lakes recruit dies NORTH CHICAGO (WGN) Naval Station Great Lakes has confirmed the death of a recruit assigned to its training command, otherwise known as Navy boot camp, according to a statement Thursday. The death of the unidentified recruit occurred on Wednesday, Aug. 6, authorities said. The update comes one day after the Naval Service Training Command confirmed with WGN-TV that officials were aware of reports of an incident on board Naval Station Great Lakes. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Tinley Park native takes command of Americas Favorite Carrier There was no active threat, officials added, and the base remained open for normal operations. In an update shared Friday, the Lake County Coroner confirmed that the recruit died by an apparent suicide. If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health, resources are available 24/7 on the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline website or by calling 988. 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. EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) A Navy Reserve sailor demonstrated the Navys mindset of responding and serving at any moment and without hesitation when he stepped in to assist a woman in need. The Navy Office of Community Outreach (NAVCO) made the announcement on Aug. 3 in a news release. Operation Specialist 1st Class (OS1) Ueldiv Ortiz Santiago, a native of Orocovis, Puerto Rico, and a U.S. Navy Reserve sailor assigned to the Navy Reserve Center (NRC) El Paso, noticed a wheelchair-bound woman appearing to be in a catatonic state near the intersection of Dyer Street and Fred Wilson Avenue, according to NAVCO. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement NAVCO said that without hesitation, Ortiz Santiago stopped and called 911 emergency services while he remained by the womans side and administered basic first aid. An unknown soldier also assisted during the situation, and together they remained on scene to ensure the womans safety until first responders arrived, NAVCO added. As a warfighter, readiness means to actively be able to step up when in a time of need, no matter what the circumstances may be, Ortiz Santiago said. Ortiz Santiago enlisted in the Navy in 2017. He monitors radar and satellite systems to track and guide surface vessels, aircraft, and submarines, according to NAVCO. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We are the eyes of the Navy, tracking and guiding surface vessels, aircraft, and even submarines with the help of radar and satellite systems, said Ortiz Santiago. In addition to his Navy Reserve duties, NAVCO said that Ortiz Santiago balances his military service with civilian life, a hallmark of the Navy Reserve force known as Selected Reserve Sailors. These men and women pursue civilian careers while remaining mission-ready for mobilization and global operations. I believe this is a great demonstration of what the Naval Reserve and NRC El Paso stand for, said Gunners Mate Petty Officer 2nd Class Erik Garcia, who was a witness to the selfless actions of Ortiz Santiago. 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. Gov. Josh Stein said legislation requiring further cooperation between sheriffs and ICE is unconstitutional. But fellow Democrat Jeff Jackson, the state attorney general, declined to share his views on the recently passed bill. With help from a Mecklenburg County Democrat, Republicans in the General Assembly overrode Steins veto of House Bill 318 last week. It will go into effect in October. Sheriffs already had to hold ICE detainees for 48 hours under House Bill 10, which passed late last year. Starting Oct. 1, they will also have to call the agency. And the hold now must start from the time the prisoner would otherwise be released from the facility, the bill says. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Stein, the North Carolina ACLU and others have worried that it is unconstitutional. My oath of office requires that I uphold the Constitution of the United States, Stein said in a statement when he vetoed the bill. Therefore, I cannot sign this bill because it would require sheriffs to unconstitutionally detain people for up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released. The Fourth Circuit is clear that local law enforcement officers cannot keep people in custody solely based on a suspected immigration violation. When The Charlotte Observer asked for Jacksons thoughts on the bill, he had no comment. We dont have anything for you on this, spokesperson Ben Conroy said in an email. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As attorney general, Jackson is North Carolinas lawyer and works with law enforcement across the state. ICEs requests do not have the same authority as an arrest warrant signed by a judge, said Sammy Salkin, a policy analyst for the North Carolina ACLU. ICE detainers are requests from ICE that an individual be held in custody, and they are NOT the same as judicial warrants, she said in an email. Notably, ICE detainer requests are not based on the same probable cause standard as criminal warrants. Its been litigated elsewhere. A Rhode Island woman born in Guatemala but a United States citizen sued ICE in 2012 after she spent extra time imprisoned because of a detainer request. She won. Federal courts ruled that ICEs detainers are just requests, not orders. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ryan Oehrli covers criminal justice in the Charlotte region for The Charlotte Observer. His work is produced with financial support from the nonprofit The Just Trust. The Observer maintains full editorial control of its journalism. Charlotte lawmaker rebuked by fellow Democrats after speech on immigration bill Sydney Meeks, NextGen regional organizing director, and Logan Parke, Chapel Hill field organizer, talk to a UNC-CH student during a National Voter Registration Day campus visit. (Photo by Lynn Bonner/NC Newsline) Digital IDs cannot be used to vote in North Carolina until the legislature explicitly allows it, under a settlement between the state Board of Elections and the Republican National Committee. The RNC and the state GOP sued the state Board last year after it voted along party lines to allow UNC-Chapel Hill students to use their mobile UNC One cards as photo ID. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement University student and facility IDs, if the state Board approves them, are among the acceptable forms of photo identification voters can use at the polls. Many campuses have replaced physical cards with multipurpose digital IDs. UNCs was the first digital university ID the state Board approved. A trial court last year sided with the state Board, but the state Appeals Court blocked use of the mobile IDs. Students werent allowed to use them for the 2024 election. As part of the agreement dismissing the lawsuit, the state Board agreed to not approve any more digital IDs unless the legislature passes a law allowing them. Democrats held a 3-2 majority on the elections board last year. Republicans now have a majority. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Two Democrats who voted with the majority last year to allow the mobile IDs are still on the elections board. On Friday, they defended their 2024 votes. I think that the previous Board made the correct decision to allow that ID, but the Court of Appeals order disagrees and we are bound to obey that, said Board member Siobhan Millen. I think with the way technology is changing with digital IDs that this will not be the last word on this subject. Democrat Jeff Carmon agreed with Millen.I know this is something we will see again as we move toward digital drivers licenses and things of that nature, he said. The legislature last year passed a law telling the DMV to study and implement a plan for digital drivers licenses. Flooding in western North Carolina from Hurricane Helene. (Photo: David Davis, County Extension Director, N.C. Cooperative Extension) Multiple Hurricane Helene aid programs in North Carolina are clearing key bureaucratic hurdles, state officials said Friday, as thousands in the mountains await help for their homes and farms nearly one year after the storm. A new state fund created to reimburse farmers for lost crops has received more than 7,000 applications. And Renew NC, the states home building and repair program, is one step closer to funding after a key agreement with federal officials this week. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement State lawmakers created the crop reimbursement program as part of a March aid bill. It sets out $300 million to pay farmers for crops that were washed away or destroyed last year. Two-thirds of that money is for Helene-impacted farms, and the rest is for other storms in 2024. Applications for the program closed in May. The Department of Agriculture received around 7,500 applications total when accounting for incomplete or duplicate ones, assistant commissioner Kaleb Rathbone told the governors committee on western recovery. In the months since, officials have sought to verify all of those applications. Farms will be reimbursed for their losses based on a formula outlined in state law. Payment is expected mid-summer, according to the departments website. We cant send money out for a category until weve reviewed and calculated the payments, so that nobody gets left behind, Rathbone said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The vast majority of applications around 6,400 are for farms affected by storms other than Helene. Of the roughly 1,100 Helene-impacted applicants, 500 of them involve farm infrastructure damage. Applications remain open through the end of the year, meanwhile, for the states primary homebuilding and repair program, Renew NC. Many home repairs out west have already begun paid for by a combination of homeowners own capital, FEMAs individual assistance payments and philanthropic groups. But Renew NC will be the states biggest effort at restoring damaged homes, primarily for low-income families. Thus far, only single-family housing is open to applications. The state has received 920 applications so far, said Matt Calabria, director of the governors recovery office. Around 350 of those have been deemed eligible and will now move into scheduled inspections. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement State officials do not yet have access to the $1.4 billion in federal grant funds that will fuel the program. But they signed an agreement with federal officials this week, Calabria said, a key step toward unlocking the money. Other requirements remain, like environmental reviews, before the money is made available. We are on the precipice of a lot of work getting done, Calabria said. A formal complaint asks the State Board of Elections to rule on the legality of a $6,800 donation to Rep. Sarah Stevens' judicial campaign. (Photo by Lynn Bonner/NC Newsline) Bob Hall, former director of the nonpartisan watchdog group Democracy North Carolina and a longtime campaign finance watchdog, filed a formal complaint Friday asking the State Board of Elections to rule that a $6,800 donation from lobbyist Harold Brubaker to Rep. Sarah Stevens judicial campaign violates state law. The complaint, submitted Friday, followed an NC Newsline story that highlighted a contribution from Brubaker, a longtime lobbyist and former House speaker. The story reported that Brubaker contributed to Stevens newly formed judicial campaign committee, Stevens for Justice, on June 23 while the General Assembly was still in session. Rep. Sarah Stevens (Photo: NCGA screengrab) Hall is asking the Board to declare the contribution illegal and require Stevens to forfeit the money to the states Civil Penalty and Forfeiture Fund, which supports public education. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This statute applies whether or not the General Assembly is in regular session, Hall wrote. It was also upheld by the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals as a reasonable restriction to address possible corruption. North Carolina law prohibits registered lobbyists from contributing to sitting legislators campaign regardless of the office the legislator is seeking, and also bars lawmakers from soliciting or accepting such donations. Rather than focus on the office being sought, the statute focuses on the persons status when the contribution is made is that person a legislator or not? Hall wrote. Put simply, it prohibits any state-regulated contribution from a lobbyist to any candidate campaign committee when the candidate is a member of the General Assembly. Stevens, a Republican from Surry County who chairs the House Election Law and Campaign Finance Reform Committee, converted her legislative committee into a Supreme Court campaign earlier this year. Her race is expected to be among the most closely watched in 2026. Bob Hall (File photo) Neither Stevens nor Brubaker have disputed that the contribution occurred. In comments to NC Newsline prior to the complaint, both maintained the donation was legal because it was designated for a judicial campaign, not a legislative one. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But Halls complaint argues that interpretation misreads the law. It also cites a separate $1,500 contribution made in June by lobbyist Andy Munn to Stevens judicial campaign, calling for similar forfeiture. Hall acknowledged in his letter that both Stevens and Brubaker likely believed the contribution was allowed. They did not intend to break state law, he wrote. However, I believe the contribution should be declared illegal and forfeited, as well as any others from registered lobbyists from early May into August. The complaint underscores confusion that may stem from a wave of lobbyist donations made to then Speaker Tim Moores congressional campaign last year. Those contributions were not subject to state restrictions because they went to a federal race. Brubaker, for example, donated the federal maximum of $6,600 to Moores 2024 campaign. The State Board of Elections has not yet announced whether it will investigate Halls complaint. All campaign finance investigations are confidential, according to the Board of Elections website. EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WEHT) Brent Jackson, a leadership member with the Presidents Neighborhood Association says he believes rising energy bills are forcing people to leave the River City, and says CenterPoint Energy is to blame. When you have low-income cities like us with high energy bills, says Jackson, its not sustainable. Jackson says residents in his neighborhood have faced energy shut-offs, unable to afford high bills, and believes the current billing cycle may force others to see the same fate this Fall. I think here in just a couple months that we will see some of our neighbors in that same situation, says Jackson. It is very disconcerting to see neighbors in that kind of position because it affects other neighbors, too. Protesters gather outside CenterPoint building in Evansville Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The decree by neighborhood leadership says the state of Indiana is allowing a monopoly to dominate. Jackson also says Evansville city leaders are not exploring all options, and would like to see a municipality-style option, similar to cities like Owensboro and Henderson. I believe that we can go that route and just go tell CenterPoint to go somewhere else, says Jackson. Its amazing that a bridge, a river, the Ohio River, separates us, and the cost is so great. The difference in the cost over the bridge is so great that no one can logically tell us why. The decree calls on state leaders to bring an end to monopolies in Indiana, and Jackson feels now is the time. I know, this is a mountain to climb, explains Jackson, but I think were ready for it. You can read the full decree from the Presidents Neighborhood Association in the viewer below. 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). NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) A South Nashville bar has been forced to close by court order, not by choice, after authorities said its become a nuisance to the public. For years, the Metro Nashville Police Department said 404 Bar & Grill in the 400 block of Elysian Fields Road has been the center of trouble, ranging from illegal gambling and fights to incidents involving drugs and guns. On Thursday, Aug. 7, Specialized Investigations Division detectives and Midtown Hills Precinct officers shut down the bar after a judge issued a temporary injunction and padlocking order. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Authorities said theyve responded to more than 120 calls for service at the bar since 2020, with regular goings on including reports of gunfire, fights, vandalism, and security guard issues. Officers even intercepted a drug deal allegedly conducted by a known MS-13 gang member in a neighboring parking lot. PREVIOUS: Metro police padlock 404 Bar & Grill as public nuisance In addition, police said the Metro Beer Board has looked into several issues concerning the bar, including the sale of beer to at least three people who were underage. According to law enforcement, MNPD and local officials have tried for years to work with 404 Bar & Grills management, warning them and even inviting them to a community meeting in November to discuss the concerns of nearby businesses and residential property managers. However, the owners and operators reportedly ignored the warnings and skipped the community meeting. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Weve made numerous contacts with the owners and management at this location, telling them our concerns for the location, advising them that if things dont change that were going to have to take further routes, and theres just been no change, and weve given them five years to do so, Midtown Hills Precinct Cmdr. Sean Richmond said. The bar will remain shut down pending a hearing on Monday, Aug. 11. No criminal allegations have been filed against the owners. I know myself, and probably the rest of the community, was pretty excited about having sort of that neighborhood gathering place, and it just didnt turn out to be that way, unfortunately, and for the past five-and-a-half years, it has really been a problem and a concern for the community, Metro Councilmember Courtney Johnston said. (Courtesy: MNPD) (Photo: WKRN) (Courtesy: MNPD) (Photo: WKRN) (Photo: WKRN) (Photo: WKRN) (Photo: WKRN) A resident at an apartment complex that backs up to 404 Bar & Grill told News 2 the bars nightlife has made sleeping nearly impossible. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The after-hours parties went sometimes until dawn and every night. I mean, [on] a holiday weekend, we would have parties all three nights. There were times I couldnt sleep in my bedroom because it was so loud, South Nashville resident Jessie Scott explained. Not only was it loud, but it was also dangerous, according to Scott. Within the last month, there was a gun fired, and it hit one of the apartments in the complex that I live in, she described. That is really, really hard to deal with. Its existential, and you dont want to be in a place where that is becoming the norm. Scott told News 2 shes looking forward to not having to dial 311 every night. | READ MORE | Latest headlines from Nashville and Davidson County You call, and you dont know if anything has come of it, and that goes on week after week. You wonder whether youre ever going to have satisfaction, and this is closure, she said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Johnston said if something new does move in, she hopes it is a business that cares about the community. We want people and businesses in the community to be a part of the community and an asset to the community, and so thats what I think the resolution is everyone is hoping for, Johnston concluded. The Midtown Hills Precinct commander said officers will be conducting extra patrols to make sure nobody breaks into the bar while its closed. However, the years-long investigation that led to the padlocking is not over. 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. BALTIMORE (WGHP) The co-founder of a violent, defunct neo-Nazi sect who plotted with his girlfriend to destroy a citys power grid has been sentenced to decades in prison. Brandon Clint Russell, 30, of Florida, was sentenced on Thursday to 20 years in prison and a lifetime of supervised release after he schemed to destroy the electrical infrastructure of Baltimore. He was found guilty of conspiracy to destroy an energy facility by a jury in February, after entering a not guilty plea. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He had been indicted in February 2023 along with a woman identified in documents as his girlfriend, Sarah Beth Clendaniel. Clendaniel pleaded guilty to conspiracy to destroy an energy facility and possession of a firearm by a prohibited person. She was sentenced in September of 2024 to 18 years in prison for the conspiracy charge and 15 years on the firearm charge. Those sentences will run concurrently, and, upon release, she will be subject to supervised release for life. An additional count of conspiracy to destroy an energy facility was dismissed upon Clendaniels guilty plea. Sentencing documents for Russell described him as a clear and present threat to all who reside in the United States. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Indicted Terrorgram neo-Nazi cited Randolph County substation attack, court documents show; This avenue of attack has really caught on This is not hyperbole, the document states bluntly. His ideology, and, more importantly, his actions reflect a willingness to harm those who do not look like him or share his viewpoint. He seeks to destroy the very fabric of society. As his conduct before and after the conviction demonstrates, there is nothing that will stop him. Due to this danger, the maximum sentence was sought and ultimately granted by the judge. For at least a decade, the defendant has espoused harmful and dangerous rhetoric. This is who he is. There appears to be no end in sight. Background Brandon Russell (Pinellas County Sheriffs Office via AP, File) Russell was one of the founders of the Atomwaffen Division, a now-defunct neo-Nazi organization that the Southern Poverty Law Center says was trying to usher in the collapse of civilization. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Atomwaffen Division rebranded itself National Socialist Order after Russell and his roommate were arrested. He served prison time after being convicted of unlawful storage of explosive material in 2018. National Guardsman accused in neo-Nazi power grid plot pleads guilty in North Carolina court His roommate, who was charged in the murders of two other people they lived with, told investigators at the time that Russell and his roommates had been planning to attack infrastructure, including power infrastructure and a nuclear plant in Florida. Russell was initially sentenced to five years in prison. He was released in August 2021. According to documents, Clendaniel and Russell believed that attacking five substations in the Baltimore area would spark cascading failures around the city and would ultimately destroy the whole city, according to alleged conversations between Clendaniel and an informant. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement During their conversations with the informant, Russell cited the shooting of multiple Moore County substations in December 2022 when asked how his plan would work. 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. By Steve Gorman (Reuters) -The founder of a neo-Nazi group was sentenced on Thursday to 20 years in federal prison, followed by a lifetime of supervised release, for plotting to sabotage Baltimore's power grid, the U.S. Attorney's Office for Maryland said. Brandon Russell, 30, of Orlando, Florida, was found guilty at trial earlier this year of conspiring to damage or destroy an energy facility. Senior U.S. District Judge James Bredar in Baltimore handed Russell the maximum sentence for that offense. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement His convicted co-conspirator in the plot, Sarah Beth Clendaniel, 37, of Catonsville, Maryland, pleaded guilty and received an 18-year prison term in September 2024. Prosecutors said the conspiracy targeting several electrical substations around Baltimore, which is predominantly Black and ranks as Maryland's largest city, was aimed at furthering a white supremacist ideology that sought the collapse of American society. "Russell allowed hatred to drive him and his co-conspirator to plot a dangerous scheme that could have harmed thousands of people," U.S. Attorney Kelly Hayes said in a statement announcing Thursday's sentencing. Evidence presented at trial showed that between November 2022 and his arrest in February 2023, Russell hatched a plan to simultaneously attack five substation transformers with gunfire in an attempt to cause a cascading city-wide power failure. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Prosecutors said such an attack, had they been carried out, would have caused more than $75 million in damage. Russell's lawyer, Ian J. Goldstein, had argued that Clendaniel was the more culpable of the two defendants and was seeking a lesser sentence than she received. We will be filing an immediate appeal, Goldstein said in an email to the New York Times on Thursday. There are significant appellate issues relating to what we believe to be the unlawful warrantless surveillance of Brandon Russell, a United States citizen protected by the Constitution. Reached by text message on a plane, Goldstein told Reuters he was accurately quoted by the Times. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Russell founded a neo-Nazi group called the Atomwaffen Division, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights organization that tracks U.S. hate groups. He was previously sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to possession of an unregistered destruction device and the improper storage of explosive materials in connection with an alleged plot to attack power lines in Florida. A confidential informant helped lead the FBI back to Russell while he was still under supervised release from the Florida case, linking him to encrypted internet messages from a user known as "Homunculus" urging attacks on electrical substations, according to federal authorities. (Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Lincoln Feast.) LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) Four Michigan men are facing felony charges, accused of being involved in a large counterfeiting operation on Amazon and Walmarts online marketplaces, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced Thursday. Nessel says that in October 2023, Walmart Global Security contacted Nessels office to assist in an investigation into suspicions that some merchants were selling counterfeit luxury perfumes and colognes. That investigation led to the uncovering of an illegal distribution network. In December of that same year, multiple law enforcement agencies executed search warrants in Port Huron, where they seized more than 300 boxes of counterfeit fragrances. A second series of warrants executed in Sterling Heights led to the seizure of more than 100,000 boxes of counterfeit products, including Victorias Secret, Bleu de Chanel, Abercrombie & Fitch, and LOreal. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As a result of the investigation, Shuba Barua, 29, of Sterling Heights; Ahasan Khan, 28, of Sterling Heights; and Bilal Ahmed, 28, of Warren have all been charged with one count of conducting a criminal enterprise, 13 counts of possession of counterfeit goods, and one count of using a computer to commit a crime. Kyle McIntyre, 38, of Port Huron, has been charged with one count of conducting a criminal enterprise, six counts of possession of counterfeit goods, and one count of using a computer to commit a crime. Conducting a criminal enterprise and using a computer to commit a crime are both 20-year felonies. Possession of counterfeit goods is a five-year felony. The four men are expected to be arraigned in the 41-A District Court in Sterling Heights. Arraignment dates have not yet been set. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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 WLNS 6 News. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accused Germany of "rewarding" Hamas with its decision to halt the export of arms to Israel that could be used in the 22-month war in the Gaza Strip. His office said he expressed his disappointment in a conversation with Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Friday. "Instead of supporting Israel's just war against Hamas, which carried out the worst attack against Jews since the Holocaust, Germany is rewarding Hamas' terrorism with an arms embargo on Israel," the statement said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Netanyahu told Merz that's Israels goal was not to take over the Gaza Strip, but to free it from Hamas, his office continued. Merz's decision, which marked a major shift in German foreign policy, came hours after Israel's Security Cabinet agreed to launch a new military offensive to seize control of Gaza City. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's controversial plans for a new military push in the Gaza Strip have raised warnings from the army leadership, opposition from hostage families and concerns that more Palestinians will be killed. They also risk isolating his country even further. In a meeting of the security cabinet that lasted 10 hours, ministers approved proposals for the "takeover of Gaza City", which is likely to be the first phase for the Israeli military to assume full control of Gaza, as Netanyahu says it is his intention. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A statement released by his office did not use the word "occupation" but, effectively, that is what the plans mean. It is not clear when the operations, which could take months, will start, as the military will have to call up thousands of reservists, exhausted after serving multiple times, and allow for the forced evacuation of residents from an area where around 800,000 Palestinians live. Many, if not most, have already been repeatedly displaced in this war. The plans will spark fresh condemnation from countries which have expressed anger over the situation in Gaza and urged Israel to end the war, which started as a response to the Hamas attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has described the decision as "wrong" and called on Israel to reconsider it "immediately". But international pressure is unlikely to force Netanyahu change his course. There is discontent at home, too. Polls suggest most of the Israeli public favour a deal with Hamas for the release of the 50 hostages, 20 of whom are thought to be alive, and the end of the war. The threat of a full occupation could be part of a strategy to try to force the group into making concessions in stalled ceasefire talks. Israeli leaders say Hamas, for now, is not interested in negotiating as, in their view, the group is feeling emboldened, a view that seems to be shared by the Trump administration which has not expressed opposition to Israel's plans. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Many here believe that Netanyahu is prolonging the conflict to guarantee the survival of his coalition, which relies on the support of ultranationalist ministers who have threatened to quit the government if the war ends. Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich have also publicly defended what they describe as the voluntary migration of Palestinians from Gaza - which could amount to the forced displacement of civilians, a war crime - and resettling it with Jews. Netanyahu's ideas have faced strong opposition from the army's Chief of Staff, Lt Gen Eyal Zamir who, according to reports in the Israeli media, had warned the prime minister that a full occupation Gaza was "tantamount to walking into a trap" and would endanger the living hostages. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Many of the hostages' families share those concerns, and say the only way to guarantee the release of the hostages is through a negotiated deal with Hamas and ending the war. According to the Maariv newspaper, the "prevailing assessment is that most and possibly all of the living hostages [will] die" during an expanded offensive, either killed by their captors or accidentally by Israeli soldiers. Ahead of the security cabinet meeting, Netanyahu gave an interview to Fox News in which he said Israel intended to take full control of Gaza. The decision of the cabinet appeared to stop short of officially endorsing that. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In the Fox interview, Netanyahu suggested that Israel did not want to keep the territory. "We don't want to govern it," he said. "We don't want to be there as a governing body. We want to hand it over to Arab forces." He did not give details about possible arrangements or which countries could be involved. Still, this was a rare indication of what he might be envisioning for a post-war Gaza. Netanyahu has, so far, failed to offer a vision for Gaza after the war apart from refusing to accept a governing role for the Palestinian Authority, the body that governs the occupied West Bank and recognises Israel. Israel's war in Gaza has killed more than 61,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry, which is run by Hamas. The Hamas 7 October attacks on Israel killed about 1,200 people, while 251 were taken to Gaza as hostages. (NewsNation) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday again denied claims he wants to take over the Gaza Strip to occupy it. We are not going to occupy Gaza we are going to free Gaza from Hamas, Netanyahu said in a post on X, hours after Israel confirmed its plans to intensify the war by attempting to completely overtake Gaza City. He said his plans for the region if he were to take it fully would include demilitarizing the area and establishing a peaceful civilian administration that is not run by Hamas or Palestinian officials. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Children from Gaza arrive in San Francisco for medical treatment This will help free our hostages and ensure Gaza does not pose a threat to Israel in the future, Netanyahu wrote. His post echoes sentiments he shared during a Fox News interview on Thursday, when he said a takeover of Gazas (formerly) most populous city would liberate its people. Just days ago, U.S. President Donald Trump stated it would be up to Israel to decide how much of Gaza it wanted to control, a signal that the U.S. would not work to stop Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip. US focused on Gaza aid as Israel considers full takeover Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Currently, Israel controls roughly 75% of Gaza, which it has repeatedly bombarded through air and ground invasions. Humanitarian groups have warned of mass starvation due to the destruction and reduction of aid getting through to the territory, which has been under Israeli blockade since 2007. An Israeli takeover in Gaza would come as the global community has put pressure on Netanyahu to end the campaign. It would also come after the United Kingdom, France and Canada announced they would recognize a Palestinian state, something most Western countries have not done. As of July 30, more than 60,000 Palestinians and nearly 2,000 Israelis have been reported dead from the war, according to the Gaza Health Ministry and Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement NewsNations Steph Whiteside 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 NewsNation. The prime minister's statement comes after a reportedly tense conversation with German Chancellor Fredrich Merz regarding Germany's halting of military aid to Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asserted that the IDF would only be expanding operations to demilitarize Hamas in a statement on X/Twitter on Friday. "We are not going to occupy Gaza - we are going to free Gaza from Hamas. "Gaza will be demilitarized, and a peaceful civilian administration will be established, one that is not the Palestinian Authority, not Hamas, and not any other terrorist organization. This will help free our hostages and ensure Gaza does not pose a threat to Israel in the future." Netanyahu, Merz hold tense talks on Gaza This comes after Netanyahu held a conversation with German Chancellor Fredrich Merz that was reportedly tense, according to Army Radio reporter Doron Kadosh, citing a senior Israeli official. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Defense Minister Israel Katz said that the Security Cabinet's decision sent a clear message that Israel is committed to its war objectives. He defined the objectives as: the complete defeat of Hamas, creating conditions for the return of all hostages, and ensuring the safety of Israeli communities through a strong security buffer around Gaza. Our enemies will find us as one strong, united fist striking them with great force, Katz said, adding that international criticism and threats of sanctions would not deter Israel." "This is the time for leadership to make decisions. We must be worthy of our heroic soldiers, both regular and reservists, who are fighting in the Gaza tunnels against Hamas monsters, of the families of the hostages who are waiting for their loved ones, of the families of the fallen who gave their lives for the sanctification of God's name, and for all the wounded who fought like lions to defend the homeland. Together, we will act and we will win," Katz concluded. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is accusing The New York Times of defamation over its reporting on starvation in Gaza, specifically a front-page photo of an emaciated child that the paper later acknowledged was misleading. "[The] New York Times should be sued," Netanyahu told Fox News Bill Hemmer during an exclusive sit-down interview Thursday. "I'm actually looking at whether a country can sue The New York Times, and I'm looking into it right now, because I think it's such a it's such clear defamation." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Netanyahus criticism stems from a photo used in a Times article headlined, "Young, Old and Sick Starve to Death in Gaza: There Is Nothing." The photo showed a young boy being cradled by his mother. He is clearly emaciated with his spine poking through his skin. The articles focus was meant to highlight the worsening humanitarian crisis in the war-torn region. Ny Times' Erroneous Cover Photo Of Gazan Child Joins Series Of Media Blunders Framing Stories Against Israel Days later, the Times issued a correction acknowledging that the child had a preexisting medical condition that contributed to his appearance. Neither the article nor the caption originally included this information. Read On The Fox News App Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "I mean, you put a picture of a child that's supposed to then represent all these supposedly starving children, yet" said Netanyahu, "they put in this picture of a child who has cerebral palsy." Netanyahu Responds After Israeli Hostage Seen Emaciated, Digging Grave: 'Cruelty Of Hamas Has No Boundaries' The Times correction noted that after the story was published, they were informed of the preexisting health condition by the boys doctor. The outlet wrote: "Had The Times known the information before publication, it would have been included in the article and the picture caption." But Netanyahu said the correction wasnt satisfactory. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Its [The New York Times] put out this thing," said Netanyahu. "Then it corrects it with a denial the size of a postage stamp buried in the back pages." A spokesperson for the Times told Fox News Digital said Netanyahu's threat of a lawsuit is an "increasingly common playbook" and that their reporters will continue to report on the war in Gaza. "Children in Gaza are malnourished and starving, as New York Times reporters and others have documented. Mr. Netanyahu is referring to an update we made to a story about how the food crisis is affecting the civilian population. After publication, we learned that a child shown in that story -- in addition to being severely malnourished -- also had pre-existing health problems. That additional information gave readers a greater understanding of his situation," they said. "Attempts to threaten independent media providing vital information and accountability to the public are unfortunately an increasingly common playbook, but journalists continue to report from Gaza for The Times, bravely, sensitively, and at personal risk, so that readers can see firsthand the consequences of the war." Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to the press after meeting with US Speaker of the House Mike Johnson at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on July 8, 2025. US President Donald Trump said he will meet again with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later today to discuss ending fighting in Gaza. Despite the Israeli leaders outrage at the story, several international organizations, including the United Nations, have warned about the worsening hunger situation in Gaza. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Ted Chaiban told Fox News that malnutrition in the region has reached famine levels. "After 22 months of war, two months of a blockade by Israel, people are in a horrendous state," Chaiban said. New York Times Admits Using Misleading Cover Photo Of Emaciated Gaza Child Netanyahu acknowledged the suffering but blamed Hamas for making the crisis worse. He's accused the terror group of looting aid shipments and reselling supplies at inflated prices. "I dont deny that theres suffering," Netanyahu said. "I want to end the suffering, and I want to end it by ending Hamas rule." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement During the interview, Netanyahu confirmed his intention to take full control of the Gaza Strip. The announcement marks a major policy shift after Israel left the territory nearly two decades ago. The article was updated to include a statement from the New York Times. Original article source: Netanyahu threatens to sue New York Times for 'clear defamation' over misleading Gaza reporting Palestinians in Gaza City are facing the prospect of further displacement with a mixture of fear and defiance after Israel announced plans for a military takeover of the largest city in the enclave, where nearly a million people are currently sheltering. The city was thrown into chaos on Friday after Israels security cabinet approved plans for the takeover, which would involve the forcible removal of Palestinians already displaced multiple times into concentration zones in the south. I swear to God that I have faced death like 100 times, so for me, its better to die here, said Ahmed Hirz, who has been displaced along with his family at least eight times since Israels war began. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I will never leave here, he told Al Jazeera. We have gone through suffering and starvation and torture and miserable conditions, and our final decision is to die here. That sentiment was shared by others who spoke to Al Jazeera. Rajab Khader said he would refuse to move to southern Gaza, to stay in the streets with dogs and other animals. We must stay in Gaza [City] with our families and loved ones. The Israelis will find nothing except our bodies and our souls, he said. Maghzouza Saada, who was previously displaced from northeastern Beit Hanoon, expressed her outrage over being forced to move again, when nowhere in the Strip could be considered safe. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The south is not safe. Gaza City is not safe, the north is not safe. Where should we go? she asked. Do we throw ourselves in the sea? State of panic Reporting from Gaza City, Al Jazeeras Hani Mahmoud said residents had been in a state of panic since the early hours of Friday over Israels plans to ethnically cleanse the area. He said that some had started to pack up whatever is left of their belongings. Not because they know where they are going, but because they dont want to be caught at the [last] moment. They want to be ready for the time the Israeli military is forcing them out, said Mahmoud. The fear, the concern, the desperation are all on the rise. The Israeli military promises an evacuation zone where people, in fact, end up being killed in these areas, he added. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Amjad Shawa, director of the Palestinian NGO Network, said residents were tired of being forcibly and repeatedly displaced. This time, he said, the prospect of evacuation posed even greater dangers, with hospitals, water facilities and other infrastructure destroyed. Now, there is nothing to give to the people, and its risky, he said. We have to move elders who cannot walk, and we have patients and injured people who cannot move. We cannot leave them behind, and we cannot give them services. Some 900,000 Palestinians at risk As news of Israels controversial escalation sunk in, the military continued its attacks on the vulnerable population, killing at least 36 people since dawn including at least 21 who were seeking aid according to medical sources. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Among the days attacks, an Israeli drone targeted Gazas southern municipality of Bani Suheila, east of Khan Younis city, killing two Palestinians, according to a source from Nasser Hospital who spoke to Al Jazeera. Al Jazeera Arabic reported that one aid seeker was shot dead by Israeli forces in northern Gaza. And at least two people were killed at an aid distribution site run by the controversial United States and Israel-backed GHF, which is slated for expansion under Israels new offensive. Reporting from Jordans capital, Amman, Al Jazeeras Hoda Abdel-Hamid said that the notorious foundation, which currently runs four aid sites where over 1,300 Palestinians have been killed while trying to get food, mainly by Israeli forces, would be operating 12 more hubs in the enclave. Abdel-Hamid said that Israel had not given an exact timeline for taking control of Gaza City, but that a ground offensive was in the offing, with troop movement along Israels southern border with Gaza. Forcibly removing up to 900,000 Palestinians from the city could, she said, take weeks. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In the longer term, military experts have said Israels plans which would see it assume security control over the enclave, establishing an alternative civil administration that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority could take years. War crime Amid mounting global condemnation from the United Nations, the European Union and a number of countries, it was unclear what Israels chief military backer, the US, made of the plans. US Vice President JD Vance declined to comment on whether his administration had been given prior notification about Israels Gaza City plans, but continued to withhold support for a Palestinian state and underlined that Hamas cant attack innocent people. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Experts say Israel would not be able to move forward with its plan to take total military control of Gaza without billions of dollars in backing from Washington. And few have forgotten President Donald Trumps stated desire to clean up Gaza and turn the enclave into the Riviera of the Middle East. On Friday, Hamas called Israels plans for Gaza City a war crime, saying that the decision explained why the country had suddenly withdrawn from the last round of ceasefire negotiations. In a separate statement on Telegram, it said Palestinians would resist any occupation or aggressive force, slamming the US for providing cover for Israel, and accusing the international community of complicity in crimes against the Palestinian people. The UN Security Council will hold an emergency session this weekend to discuss Israels escalation. California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Vice President J.D. Vance are the early White House favorites for their respective parties at least among California voters. Thats according to a new poll conducted by Emerson College, which was commissioned by KTLA parent company Nexstar Media for The Hill and Inside California Politics. Registered voters in California were asked to make their early picks for potential candidates in the 2028 presidential election, as well as provide feedback on other issues relevant to their priorities for the state. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Looking at 2028, with President Donald Trump constitutionally prohibited from being elected again due to the 22nd Amendment, there are already some well-known contenders for both of the nations two largest political parties. For Republicans, current Vice President and former Ohio Senator J.D. Vance is the odds-on favorite to secure the nomination. Vance has 40% support among Republicans who participated in the poll, four times that of his fellow Trump Administration colleague in Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Vance, who was originally a stark opponent of Trumps presidency, now seems the most likely to succeed him atop the GOP. Vice President JD Vance speaks at the Metallus plant in Canton, Ohio, Monday, July 28, 2025. (AP, Pool) Polling second among Republicans, Kennedy previously sought the Democratic Partys nomination in 2024, which was essentially uncontested in favor of the incumbent Joe Biden, before ultimately leading to then-Vice President Kamala Harris being chosen by the party after Biden bowed out. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Kennedy continued to run as an independent until August 2024, at which point he suspended his campaign and endorsed Trump. The environmental lawyer and anti-vaccine activist has never been elected to major political office. With Harris out, who is the favorite for California governor? Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis comes in third among Republican voters with about 9% support in the Emerson College poll. President Donald Trump, Gov. Ron DeSantis and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem talk to the media as they tour Alligator Alcatraz, a migrant detention facility on July 1, 2025, in Ochopee, Florida. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) DeSantis was once thought to be the most serious challenger to Trump during the Republican primaries, but ended up dropping out of the race and endorsing his longtime rival after failing to collect a single primary victory and a blowout loss in the Iowa Caucus. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Meanwhile, on the other end of the political spectrum, a handful of high-profile figures have emerged as early favorites for the Democrats. At the top of the list, according to survey respondents, is California Gov. Gavin Newsom. Newsom is in the final year of his final term as Californias governor. An outspoken critic of the Trump Administration, often utilizing social media to provide unfiltered retorts to the presidents agenda, Newsoms profile has been particularly elevated after Trump took office for a second time. California Gov. Gavin Newsom holds a news conference in Sacramento, California, on July 25, 2025. (AP Photo) Newsom has clashed with the president over his administrations unprecedented immigration enforcement operations in Southern California, fought back on the federal governments rollback of environmental regulations and abortion rights protections, and orchestrated his own political ploys to combat the MAGA agenda in the Golden State, including recently with a proposal to redraw congressional districts. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The governor has also had moments of diplomacy with the president, particularly in the wake of the deadly wildfires that ravaged Los Angeles County in January, and during the COVID-19 pandemic in the first Trump presidency. Newsom is currently leading the field of presumptive Democratic candidates with 23% support among registered voters in California. Those same survey respondents were also asked if they approve or disapprove of Newsoms overall job performance, with 44% saying they approve, while 38% say they disapprove. Trump, meanwhile, received a 30% job approval rating, and a 58% disapproval rating among California voters, according to pollsters. Another familiar face atop the list of potential contenders is former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg. Mayor Pete is polling at 17% among registered voters and is considered a serious player in 2028. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Buttigieg previously sought the office of the presidency in 2020, winning the most delegates in that years Iowa Caucus and taking second in the New Hampshire primary before losing momentum and suspending his campaign. He was named Bidens Secretary of Transportation, and considered to wield some of the most influence in the history of the cabinet position following the passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill. Former U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg listens to a question from the audience during a VoteVets Town Hall on May 13, 2025, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. (AP Photo/Cliff Jette) If chosen as the nominee for the Democrats, Buttigieg would become the first openly gay presidential candidate among the nations major political parties. Former Vice President Kamala Harris, who says she has no intentions of running for Governor of California, has yet to rule out a potential third go at the presidency. Currently, Harris has 11% support among voters who participated in the Emerson College poll. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, arguably the partys biggest rising star, garnered 9% support in the poll. Ocasio-Cortez, 35, would likely be the youngest candidate in the field, should she choose to seek the nomination. She already holds the title as the youngest woman ever elected to Congress, representing New Yorks 14th District, which includes parts of Queens and the Bronx. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Among the priorities for California voters, the economy remains the top issue for 30%, down from 40% in an April poll. Housing and affordability are the biggest issues for 19% of voters, and immigration is at 15%, up from 7% in April. Threats to democracy is the biggest issue for 13% of voters, and health care was the top response for 8%. On the topic of immigration, 60% of California voters are against the mass deportations of undocumented immigrants in the state, consistent with Aprils figures. Other issues affecting California that were discussed in the poll included how much the state spends on firefighting staffing and equipment, and whether or not Los Angeles is an appropriate venue for the 2028 Summer Olympics and Paralympics. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement For additional information about the Emerson College poll, including methodology and other survey responses, 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 KTLA. Anti-corruption officials believe the next step in the pressure campaign could be an attempt to replace the heads of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutors Office (SAPO). Source: NABU Director Semen Kryvonos and SAPO Head Oleksandr Klymenko during a briefing at Media Center Ukraine in Kyiv on 8 August Quote from Kryvonos: "Pressure has never stopped it takes different forms: veiled, direct, in various ways. These legislative changes are a form of pressure. Hints and threats whether veiled or direct are pressure. Over the past few days, weve been through a serious test. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I we believe, and we have such information, that the next attack could target the leadership itself. Like, lets come up with something, gather critical mass, and start reappointing the heads of NABU and SAPO under some pretext or another." Details: Kryvonos added that NABU and SAPO are aware of who is behind the planning, coordination and discussion of this pressure. "Just yesterday, the same Telegram channels launched a new media campaign, like the ones previously targeting NABU and SAPO only now focused directly on the leadership. Theres a lot of absurd stuff being floated, but we are ready for it," Kryvonos said. Klymenko confirmed and said, "There really is such information. [...] The next step is to change the heads to install leadership that is fully dependent. These attempts are already underway; the first clear steps have been made." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Kryvonos also noted that "the instigators are the same people". "We know everything, and now they know that we know. Theres also a temporary investigative commission working theyre collecting some kind of data. We are responding, we respect the process, we will show up when summoned, we will communicate, and we await the results," the NABU director concluded. Background: On 22 July, the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament) passed Law No. 12414 introducing amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code, which made the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutors Office (SAPO) dependent on decisions by the prosecutor general. That same evening, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed the law. In response, protests were held for several consecutive days in various Ukrainian cities following the adoption of this law. Reacting to public opposition and concern from international partners, Zelenskyy submitted a new draft law to parliament, which he said would "reinforce the rule-of-law system" and preserve "all safeguards for the independence of anti-corruption institutions". On 31 July, the Verkhovna Rada adopted a new law restoring the powers stripped from NABU and SAPO. Verkhovna Rada Chairman Ruslan Stefanchuk signed it at record speed, followed shortly by the president. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon! Directors of the citys NFC Development Corporation have approved changes to the requirements for access to a $5 million state grant program designed to support small business development in the Falls. The changes are intended to spur applications for the grant funds. NFC Corp says it has received only 14 applications for funding since the program began in November 2023. The program, the Niagara Falls Small Business Property Improvement Program (NFSBPIP), which specifically targets small business growth along Pine Avenue, Main Street and Portage Road in the city, is funded by New York state as part of a public-private partnership with the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation and other private donors. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The state has provided $3 million, with the Wilson Foundation and other philanthropic and corporate entities adding the remaining $2 million. These small business grants will help to continue the steady revitalization of downtown Niagara Falls by improving the business climate, increasing mixed-use opportunities, and breathing life into empty storefronts, Governor Kathy Hochul said when the program was first launched. The grants provide up to $100,000 to cover up to 50% of total project costs for small business owners looking to foster revitalization of traditional mixed-use business districts. Eligible small businesses and property owners can use the grant funds for commercial improvements such as facade restoration and other mixed-use building upgrades. Eligibility for the grants had been based, in part, on whether a business was located within the designated program district, as well as financial disclosures and citizenship. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Falls Planning Director Kevin Forma said six of the 14 applications received by NFC Corp have been funded. Six others remain incomplete and two have been disqualified based on the citizenship requirement. In an effort to increase access to the program funds, Forma recommended that NFC directors streamline the financial disclosure requirements that included three years of business and personal tax returns, a personal financial statement and a credit check. Forma told the directors that since the program was a grant and not a loan, the credit check requirement was unnecessary. Its a reimbursement program, Forma said. (Applicants) have to pay for the improvements up front and then we reimburse the cost. Theres no loan involved. Director Ralph Aversa, a former banker, objected. Aversa said a credit report provides critical information about applicants. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement If you dont have a credit report, you dont know who youre talking to, Aversa said. There is all kinds of information on a credit report, including past bankruptcies. Director and Falls Council Member Traci Bax also suggested that eliminating the credit report requirement opens us up to risk. The NFC directors unanimously rejected eliminating the credit report requirement. Forma also recommended that the directors eliminate the requirement that applicants must be U.S. citizens or permanent resident aliens. The planning director said that the requirement was blocking Canadians, who own a substantial number of businesses in the target areas, from accessing the grant program. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Directors voted unanimously to eliminate the U.S. citizenship requirement. The directors also voted to create a new requirement that at least 10% of the grant funding for a project must be used for external improvements to the property. If Earthlings are ever going to colonise Mars, they won't be able to do so on an empty stomach -- and Temidayo Oniosun thinks a helping of Egusi soup, a Nigerian staple, might just hit the spot. Space in Africa, the Lagos-based firm Oniosun founded, is expecting its Egusi melon seeds to splash down in the Pacific Ocean Saturday -- fresh from a trip to the International Space Station. Once Earthside, experiments will begin on what is being hailed as the first food native to west Africa to be sent to space. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As Oniosun told AFP on Friday, it could herald an era where space exploration reflects the planet's diversity. "When we talk about humans colonising other planets, this is not just an American mission or a European mission -- this is a global mission," he told AFP. And future African space explorers might enjoy a taste of home. Experiments on extraterrestrial food, which is to say tested in space, have been going on for years. Growing food in space is seen as a crucial part of long-distance space flight and long-term missions, where frequent resupply won't be feasible. - International tests - Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Scientists at the University of Florida in the United States, and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, in the southwestern Nigerian city of Ibadan, will examine the seeds "to see the effects of exposure to space" and zero gravity, including on the seeds' DNA. Once planted, researchers will monitor their post-space performance and germination. The seeds went up to the ISS on a SpaceX Flight last week, as part of NASA's partnership with private firms. Oniosun said the inclusion of Egusi seeds marked an important step forward, both for those on Earth as well as future astronauts. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement High in protein, they are typically used to prepare soups and stews across west and central Africa. Africa's most populous country has a small space industry, but the launch of the seeds seemed to generate more excitement on social media and in newspapers than previous launches of Nigerian satellites, he said. "The moment that we're sending food that they love, a food that holds significant cultural contexts to Nigeria... everybody starts getting interested in the subject," Oniosun told AFP. "The launch of Egusi melon seeds into space is more than a symbolic gesture," he added. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "The future of humanity among the stars must reflect the diversity and richness of life on Earth." Whether pounded yam -- the key dish served alongside Egusi soup -- will make its way to the final frontier remains to be seen. nro/sn/jj FREEPORT, Ill. (WTVO) Freeport Police are investigating a late-night shooting on S. Benton Avenue that happened Thursday night. Investigators said officers were alerted to the shooting by the citys gunshot detection system. Authorities did not locate any perpetrators at the scene, in the 600 block of S. Benton Avenue, when they arrived at approximately 11:58 a.m. However, they did find evidence that a gun had been fired, and collected evidence from a vehicle that had bullet damage. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The shooting is still 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 MyStateline | WTVO News, Weather and Sports. CHRISTIAN COUNTY, Mo. A man from Nixa has been sentenced to ten years in prison after police found drugs in his home in 2023. Robert Allen Mitchell mugshot, courtesy of Christian County Jail Under an amended plea agreement, Robert Allen Mitchell Jr. pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree trafficking drugs, one count of delivering a controlled substance, one count of unlawful use of a weapon and one count of second-degree endangering the welfare of a child. His sentences will be served concurrently for 10 years. PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Nixa man pleads guilty to trafficking drugs Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On May 5, 2023, Nixa police conducted a traffic stop and arrested someone who said they bought heroin from an address that belonged to Mitchell. Police searched Mitchells home and found a large amount of illegal drugs, including cocaine, fentanyl, methamphetamine, heroin, xanax and LSD. They also discovered drug paraphernalia, digital scales and lots of cash. Four people were also removed from Mitchells residence, including a 15-year-old juvenile. 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 KOLR - OzarksFirst.com. FRANKLIN TWP., N.J. In the heart of Hunterdon County, a void sits in the hearts of many. Everybodys devastated, said Gary Walia, owner of The Pittstown Inn. Just not the family, but everybody in town. More New Jersey News Walia says Lauren Semanchik used to frequent his restaurant. He was devastated to learn she and her boyfriend, Tyler Webb, were murdered just down the road. She was very personable, said Walia. She was very personable, very sweet person. Cant even imagine something like that happening to a person like that to anybody for that matter, but she was just an angel. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Hunterdon County Prosecutors Office announced a takeover of the Franklin Township Police Department, citing serious concerns about the departments operations and effectiveness following the murders of the 33-year-old Semanchik and 29-year-old Webb. The Chief and a Sergeant have been placed on administrative leave. The Prosecutors Office says they believe Semanchiks ex-boyfriend, identified as New Jersey State Trooper Ricardo Santos, shot and killed them both at a home on Upper Kingtown Road before traveling to Piscataway to take his own life. The victims families have told PIX11 News Semanchik tried to get a restraining order against Santos, but to no avail. A lot of times, my clients come away saying they dont feel like they were believed, said Lauren Van Metre, executive director of Safe in Hunterdon. Van Matre says survivors often face barriers in getting restraining orders. She says if they wish, they can bypass the police and go straight to the court system to start the process. She says at Safe in Hunterdon, an advocate will always be there to help. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement One of the things that I do recommend is call our hotline, talk to an advocate about what the process looks like, in a time that is safe for you to do so, said Van Metre, because the more information that you have going into it, the better youre going to feel about the process and that level of knowing what it is that you need to present to get your order is only going to help the client moving forward to safety. You can call the Safe in Hunterdon hotline 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 908-788-4044. 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. By Luc Cohen and Andrew Goudsward WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A U.S. appeals court overturned on Friday a lower court's ruling that found probable cause to hold Trump administration officials in contempt over their handling of the deportations of hundreds of Venezuelan migrants under a centuries-old wartime law. The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals also ordered Washington-based U.S. District Judge James Boasberg to hold further proceedings to decide whether the migrants may still press claims that their deportations to a prison in El Salvador violated their due process rights. The migrants were released last month. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The decision ending Boasberg's contempt probe was a win for Republican President Donald Trump and his allies, who have argued some judges are overstepping their authority and thwarting the executive branch's broad power to conduct foreign policy and law enforcement as it sees fit. Boasberg found in April that officials could face criminal contempt charges for willfully disregarding his March 15 order barring the deportations to El Salvador of alleged Venezuelan gang members under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act without the chance to challenge their removals. That ruling marked a dramatic escalation in a confrontation between the administration and the judiciary. Trump's critics say his administration has demonstrated a willingness to ignore unfavorable orders from the courts, a co-equal branch of government under the U.S. Constitution. On Friday, a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with the government in its appeal of Boasberg's ruling by a 2-1 vote. The majority found that Boasberg's March order blocking the deportations was not clear enough to justify contempt proceedings against Trump officials for violating it. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "The District Court's order raises troubling questions about judicial control over core executive functions like the conduct of foreign policy and the prosecution of criminal offenses," Circuit Judge Gregory Katsas, who was appointed by Trump during his first term as president, wrote in an opinion. In a post on X, Attorney General Pam Bondi called the ruling a "MAJOR victory" that affirmed the administration's argument that Boasberg's contempt probe was "failed judicial overreach at its worst." Circuit Judge Neomi Rao, also a Trump appointee, wrote a concurring opinion, with Circuit Judge Cornelia Pillard, an appointee of former Democratic President Barack Obama, dissenting. "Our system of courts cannot long endure if disappointed litigants defy court orders with impunity rather than legally challenge them," Pillard wrote. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement PRISONER SWAP The contempt ruling stemmed from Boasberg's order that the administration return to the U.S. hundreds of Venezuelans who had been swiftly deported to a prison in El Salvador under the Alien Enemies Act, used to intern and deport people of Japanese, German and Italian descent during World War Two. Lawyers for many of the deported men denied the Trump administration's allegations that they were members of the Tren de Aragua gang and said they were never given the chance to contest those claims in court. Last month, the 252 deported Venezuelans being held at El Salvador's notorious CECOT maximum security prison were released and sent home to Venezuela as part of a coordinated prisoner exchange in which 10 Americans held in Venezuela returned to the United States. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The American Civil Liberties Union, which represents the migrants, said the appeals court was right to ask Boasberg to determine if the migrants still had a path to pursue their claims that their rights were violated. The ACLU has said some of the migrants wish to return to the U.S. "No one should suffer what these men went through, being locked away in a notorious El Salvador prison for months on end with zero due process," ACLU lawyer Lee Gelernt said in a statement. (Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York and Andrew Goudsward in Washington; Editing by Mark Porter and Nia Williams) Aug. 8 (UPI) -- President Donald Trump's deadline for Russia to end its ongoing war in Ukraine or face stiffer U.S. economic sanctions arrived Friday. Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin had been pushing for trilateral negotiations with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Moscow announced Thursday that Putin and Trump would hold a meeting about cease-fire talks in the coming days. "It's gonna be up to him (Putin)," Trump responded Thursday when asked about the looming deadline. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "We're going to see what he has to say. It's gonna be up to him. Very disappointed." U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff (R) arrived in Moscow this week and has met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, although no official deal has been reported. Photo by Gavriil Grigorov/EPA-EFE There was no official word from Washington as Trump's deadline arrived Friday. U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff arrived in Moscow this week and has met with Putin. Officials have described those talks as constructive, while Trump this week called them "highly-productive." Last month, President Donald Trump announced he would enact "severe tariffs" if Russia failed to reach a peace deal with Ukraine within 50 days, later shortening the 50-day window. Photo by Yuri Gripas/UPI Russian and U.S. negotiators were reportedly close to a deal, Bloomberg News reported Friday, citing sources close to the matter. The deal would reportedly allow Russia to keep the territory it has gained thus far since it invaded Ukraine in February of 2022. U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin had been pushing for trilateral negotiations with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (L). File Photo by Stefano Spaziani/UPI Last month, Trump announced he would enact "severe tariffs" if Russia failed to reach a peace deal with Ukraine within 50 days. Those sanctions were to encompass 100% secondary tariffs on countries doing business with Moscow, including those buying Russian oil. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Weeks later, Trump said he would shorten that 50-day window to reach a deal. "I want to be generous, but we just don't see any progress being made," Trump told reporters at the time. Trump this week imposed new tariffs on India in response to that country's continued purchases of oil from Moscow. U.S. military forces will not strike Mexico, President Claudia Sheinbaum vowed Friday in response to reports that President Trump has secretly directed the Pentagon to take action against Latin American drug cartels. "There will be no invasion: That is rejected, absolutely rejected," an emphatic Sheinbaum told reporters at her regular morning news conference. "The United States is not going to come to Mexico with troops." The media accounts, originating in the New York Times, revived nationalist fears in a nation that has endured U.S. invasions and land grabs over the years though none in more than a century. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Sheinbaum said Mexico had been informed that Trump was issuing such an order, but "it has nothing to do with Mexican territory." The Mexican leader repeated her oft-stated mantra that Mexico "cooperates and collaborates" with its northern neighbor on drug trafficking and other bilateral issues, but rejects any U.S. military presence or strikes on Mexican soil. In May, Sheinbaum said she had rebuffed Trump's offer made in one of many telephone calls between the two leaders of direct U.S. military assistance. "We can share information, but we will never accept the presence of the United States Army on our territory," Sheinbaum said she told Trump in May. "Our territory is inalienable; sovereignty is inalienable." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Read more: Case of 'El Chapo' son cooperating with U.S. prosecutors roils Mexico It's unclear which countries might be a target for a U.S. operation, but in an interview Thursday with on the Eternal Word Television Network, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio noted that, aside from Mexico, there are cartels in Venezuela, Guatemala and Ecuador. Rubio said cartels were no longer just a law enforcement issue, but a national security issue. "We cannot continue to just treat these guys as local street gangs," he said. "They have weaponry that looks like what terrorists, in some cases armies, have." In Mexico, fears that U.S. forces may strike Mexican territory have been growing since the Trump administration formally labeled six Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. Many in Mexico view the designation as a prelude to unilateral Pentagon attacks on purported cartel targets. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trump has been complimentary of Sheinbaum but has denounced what he alleges is an "intolerable alliance" between Mexico's government and organized crime. Sheinbaum has rejected U.S. claims that organized crime permeates Mexico's government and controls vast swaths of Mexican territory. Trump has already imposed 25% tariffs on many imports from Mexico Washington's leading trading partner which he says is aimed at forcing authorities here to do more to curb the trafficking of fentanyl, the synthetic opioid blamed for tens of thousands of deaths in the United States. The Trump administration has also ramped up U.S. surveillance flights over and near Mexican territory and has massed U.S. troops on the southwestern border in an effort to crack down on drug smuggling and unauthorized immigration. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But Mexico is not the only nation where the Pentagon might consider striking drug cartels. Venezuela could also find itself in U.S. military crosshairs as Washington amps up its saber-rattling against the South American nation. On Thursday the Trump administration said it was doubling its existing reward to $50 million for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, a longtime adversary who faces drug-trafficking charges in the United States. Read more: 'The United States is the villain of our story.' Nationalism surges in Mexico amid Trump threats The U.S. State Department calls Maduro a "leader" of the Venezuelan-based Cartel de los Soles, which the Trump administration has labeled a terrorist group. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Washington also accused Maduro of links to Mexico's Sinaloa cartel, which is among the crime syndicates the administration has labeled a foreign terrorist organization. On Friday, Sheinbaum told reporters that Mexican authorities had seen no evidence connecting Maduro to the Sinaloa mob. Venezuelan authorities dismissed the U.S. charges against Maduro as "political propaganda." Maduro returned to office in January after declaring victory in a 2024 election that critics called rigged and was widely rejected by the international community. Washington does not recognize Maduro as Venezuela's president. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Special correspondent Cecilia Sanchez Vidal contributed to this report. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem traveled to Illinois on Friday to call out Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, accusing both Democrats of "being obstructionist" when it comes to getting criminal illegal immigrants off the streets. Noem, speaking in a Chicago suburb, highlighted the recent ICE arrests of a Mexican illegal immigrant convicted of predatory sexual criminal assault against a victim under the age of 13, a Polish national convicted of attempted murder and aggravated domestic battery and an illegal immigrant from Micronesia with three DUI convictions. "These individuals would still be out on our streets today committing crimes and attacking people and harming them and hurting our children if Governor Pritzker and Mayor Johnson had their way. Because their choice has been routinely over and over and over again to release these criminals back on the streets," Noem said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "The debate over so-called sanctuary policies has real consequences and has consequences for our law enforcement officers, but also for the families that live here and the businesses that are just trying to provide for their community," she added. Bondi Doj Names And Shames 35 Sanctuary Jurisdictions That Put American Citizens At Risk Representatives for both Pritzker and Johnson did not immediately respond Friday to requests for comment from Fox News Digital. Read On The Fox News App "I'm here today because the elected leaders in this state of Illinois are ignoring the law. In fact, they're being obstructionist when it comes to getting dangerous criminals off of their streets," Noem also said. "They are deciding the dangerous criminals that are murderers, rapists, money launderers, have committed assault, that are trafficking children are more important than the families that live in the communities here." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Noem Warns Of Unprecedented Threat Level For Ice Agents, Blames 'Lies' From Democrats U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement ICE agents walk down a street during a multi-agency targeted enforcement operation in Chicago, Ill., on Jan. 26, 2025. "That includes Governor Pritzker, Mayor Johnson and others who have worked so hard to protect these dangerous criminals. They'd rather be a sanctuary state and continue to put those individuals above American citizens, American citizens who built this country, who have raised their families here for generations," Noem added. Noem also told reporters Friday that "In just the last seven months, ICE has issued over 1,664 detainers in Chicago alone," marking a "106% increase" over what was issued during the Biden administration. Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker speaks at the office of the Center for American Progress (CAP) Action Fund on March 18, 2025, in Washington, D.C. "Unfortunately," she said, "Chicago and its leadership has only honored 8% of those." Original article source: Noem, in Illinois, calls out Gov. Pritzker, Chicago's mayor over their handling of criminal illegal immigrants Wendys wanted to make a spooky splash with its new Wednesday-themed chicken nuggets meal, decorating its restaurants with spiderwebs and eyeballs in a nod to the ghoulish Netflix series. But one Wendys in Cary took the horror props a distasteful step too far. I was out there Tuesday, munching a lunch, and I look up and theres a noose over my head, said Ed Funkhouser, a regular at the Harrison Avenue restaurant. I thought, Huh! Thats a noose. Of course, a noose is associated with racism and lynchings, and its very much a symbol of hatred and certainly offensive to many people. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Funkhouser explained his objection to the workers at the counter, but the noose remained on Wednesday. So he called Wendys customer care line, which led to a call back from corporate headquarters expressing agreement, and by Thursday afternoon, the noose came down. That is not approved decor, said a Wendys spokesman. Wendys did not approve of the noose The Harrison Avenue Wendys acted on its own without corporate approval and was the only known restaurant to add a noose to its Wednesday adornments. The hit Netflix show starts a new season this week, and its macabre imagery has include noose-shaped braids on Wednesday Addams, the lead character played by Jenna Ortega. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement For its Wednesday campaign, Wendys is offering a Meal of Misfortune, which involves Rest in 10-Piece nuggets and sauces labeled Dips of Dread, according to USA Today. But the stark piece of rope tied in a hangmans knot unnerved Funkhouser, and based on the response from his Facebook friends once he posted a picture, he wasnt overreacting. I spoke to a very nice man and said, This is something you want to do something about, Funkhouser said. This isnt right. A noose was found hanging in a Wendys restaurant in Cary on Thursday. The burger chain says it did not approve the rope as part of its Wednesday promotion. Anti-Lynching Awareness Month in NC Earlier this summer, Gov. Josh Stein proclaimed June as Anti-Lynching Awareness Month in North Carolina, noting that historians have documented at least 173 victims statewide since the Civil War. No charges were ever filed in those cases of vigilante violence directed toward minorities. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In 2015, a Duke University student issued a public apology after leaving a handmade noose around a low tree branch on campus, blaming a lack of cultural awareness and joking personality. My purpose in hanging the noose was merely to take some pictures with my friends together with the noose, and then texting it to some others inviting them to come and hang out with us because it was such a nice day outside, the student wrote in a letter published in Duke Today. If there was ever a pun with unintended consequences this was certainly one. In this case, whatever the intentions, the incident serves as a cautionary tale: Know your history. Electric transmission lines cross a field in central North Dakota. (Jeff Beach/North Dakota Monitor) State utility regulators have filed a complaint with a federal agency, saying a regional electrical grid planning groups system for assessing power line needs is misguided and will cost North Dakota ratepayers money. The North Dakota Public Service Commission on July 30 filed the complaint with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The complaint is against the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, which manages a regional electric grid that serves 15 states, including part of North Dakota, and parts of Manitoba, Canada. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In December, MISO revealed a plan for 24 transmission upgrade projects with an estimated combined cost of $22 billion. But the PSC says the group has changed the way it evaluates the costs and benefits of transmission projects to the detriment of North Dakota. During a meeting Thursday, Commissioner Jill Kringstad said the 24 MISO projects would help some states achieve renewable energy goals but pass some of the cost on to North Dakota ratepayers. She called the costs unjust and unreasonable for North Dakota. Commissioners estimated North Dakotas share of the projects at $5 per month for an average customer, which the customer would pay for decades. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Of the 22 projects, two reach into the eastern edge of North Dakota. The rest of the projects are in the northern tier of MISO states, from eastern South Dakota to western Ohio. Christmann said his objections arent over individual projects, but about how MISO changed its method to justify the projects. There is nothing to justify the kind of costs imposed on our people, Christmann said in an interview. North Dakota received support in its complaint from Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Montana. The southern states are not being asked to help pay for the project in the northern MISO area but Louisiana Public Service Commissioner Davante Lewis objects to the cost-benefit analysis that was used. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The cost-benefit allocations used in MISO-North might some day come down to MISO-South, Lewis said. MISO spokesperson Brandon Morris confirmed the cost allocation for the plan is on a subregional basis across the North and Central regions and does not include MISO South. MISO is reviewing the filing submitted to FERC, Morris said. The (proposed) portfolio was developed through a collaborative process that included substantial stakeholder engagement, including more than 300 meetings and feedback on the solutions and benefits. The portfolio supports reliability and the future needs of the system. While its not uncommon for state regulators to bring objections to MISOs governing board, it is rare for states to join forces for a federal complaint on an issue that doesnt apply to all members, Lewis said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In a news release, the North Dakota PSC said its concerns were brought up to MISO during the stakeholder process but were not addressed. MISO has 20 days from the date of the filing to file a response or request an extension with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Louisiana Illuminator reporter Wesley Muller contributed to this report. A court case brought by the Corner Post truck stop near Watford City, N.D., over debit card processing fees could have national implications. (Photo by Nicole Morton/For the North Dakota Monitor) A North Dakota federal judge says the Federal Reserve Board defied the law by allowing banks to benefit from inflated debit card transaction fees for nearly 15 years. The fees, which apply every time someone makes a debit card purchase, are meant to compensate banks for the cost of processing the transactions. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement These fees went unregulated for decades. After learning banks were making billions annually from the transaction fees, Congress in 2010 passed a law instructing the Federal Reserve Board of Governors to make sure they are reasonable and proportional to what debit card transactions really cost. The Federal Reserve Board adopted a rule implementing the law in 2011. U.S. District Court Judge Daniel Traynor in a Wednesday order concluded that the boards rule missed the mark in two major ways: by allowing the fees to reimburse banks more than Congress wanted, and by making the fees one-size-fits-all rather than tailored to individual purchases. If Traynors order stands, the rule would eventually be struck down and the Federal Reserve Board would have to adopt a new one. Traynor wrote he would hold off on repealing the rule pending any appeals. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A spokesperson for the Federal Reserve Board on Wednesday declined to comment on the case. The decision came in a lawsuit brought against the Federal Reserve Board by Corner Post, a Watford City truck stop and convenience store that opened in 2018. Corner Post says it has paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in transaction fees to banks under the boards rule. The truck stop owners ultimately hope the lawsuit will bring down the cost of fees for businesses and consumers, according to court records. Attorneys representing Corner Post did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The legal dispute centered, among other things, over what costs the transaction fees are supposed to cover. Corner Post claims the 2010 law said the fees should only cover a specific set of processing costs, while the Federal Reserves rule accounts for additional expenses like labor, technology infrastructure and fraud prevention. Corner Post reasoned this makes the fees more expensive than they should be. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Federal Reserve Board argued it was following the plain language of the act. Traynor disagreed. He wrote that the overall structure and legislative history of the statute supports Corner Posts reading of the law, and that the Federal Reserve was relying on minor grammatical inconsistencies in the text to justify its own interpretation. If Congress had written the statute more precisely, the matter may have never had to go to court, he added. When one wonders if studying grammar and Englishs oddities is worthwhile, this case answers with a resounding yes, Traynor wrote in his opinion. The boards rule also more or less imposes the same blanket fee on all transactions, which Traynor found ignored Congress directive to make the fees to be proportional to each purchase. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Federal Reserve Board previously argued that the complicated structure of debit card transactions would make this virtually impossible to implement. Traynor acknowledged that creating such a system would be difficult, but said the board is still obligated by law to try. The Board of Governors rule allows banks to charge up to 21 cents for all debit card transactions, regardless of how much it actually costs for them to process each sale. It also permits banks to charge an additional fee of .05% per transaction to make up for losses caused by debit card fraud. The rule only applies to banks with at least $10 billion in assets. Supreme Court case The Corner Post case was the subject of a U.S. Supreme Court decision last year. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It was originally filed in 2021 by the North Dakota Retail Association and the North Dakota Petroleum Marketers Association. Corner Post, which belongs to both groups, later joined as a plaintiff. Traynor in 2022 dismissed the case, finding that the plaintiffs couldnt bring the lawsuit because the six-year statute of limitations on challenging federal rules under the Administrative Procedures Act had already expired. The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld that ruling, but the Supreme Court in 2024 ruled that the clock on the statute of limitations does not start ticking until a plaintiff is first harmed by a rule. The high court decided that Corner Post could remain a plaintiff because it didnt open until 2018. North Dakota Monitor reporter Mary Steurer can be reached at msteurer@northdakotamonitor.com. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Residents of the North Star subdivision outside Helena have reported problems with water reliability since 2020. The Montana Public Service Commission will take up a fine amount against the private utility in July 2025. PSC President Brad Molnar said a fine requires court action. (Duane Schlabach for the Daily Montanan) The North Star utility company faces an $86,700 potential fine for failing to cooperate with the Montana Public Service Commission and failing to provide adequate water service an amount the utility likely cant afford to pay, according to a PSC staff memo. This week, the Public Service Commission, which regulates the utility, voted to adopt a staff recommendation to set preliminary penalties against the water utility serving roughly 275 customers in a subdivision outside Helena. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement However, the PSC also said the fine is a step toward inviting the North Star Development utility to negotiate infrastructure improvements instead, given any money the agency collects would go to the general fund, not to customers. Any negotiated order would also need approval by the PSC. Commissioner Jeff Welborn said the motion strikes an appropriate balance. It demonstrates that doing nothing just isnt an option, Welborn said. But I think that it gives ample and abundant opportunity to the utility to do better, and I think the ball is in their court to play it however they want. A PSC staff member said North Star was informed of the meeting Tuesday to take up fines but could not participate. North Star did not respond to a request for comment from the Daily Montanan. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement North Star residents have complained about inadequate water supply and poor service since at least 2020, according to a PSC staff memo. Customers have reported unexpected water shutoffs, prolonged water restrictions and poor communication from North Star. At least in relation to a recent problem, however, North Star owner Doug Boutilier said the system operator fixed an apparent electrical short within a couple hours. North Star also blamed residents for using too much water, although the PSC said the utility didnt have functioning meters installed on all residences until May 2025 to know for sure. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement At the meeting Tuesday, resident Keleen Aldrich said frustrations are running high. She said some neighbors have replaced their lawns with rocks as a result of inadequate water service, and some are even thinking about selling their homes. I dont have a large yard, but I take pride in my home and want to retain the value of keeping my lawn alive, Aldrich said at the meeting. Most homeowners spend a lot for fertilizing and to maintain our homes and our lawns, but without water available, its a waste of our time and money. In December 2024, it issued an order that found North Star should be monetarily penalized for failing to answer its questions in an investigation and for failing to provide reasonably adequate service. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Tuesday, commissioners unanimously voted to approve two sets of preliminary penalties to levy against North Star. Commissioners approved a penalty of $7,800, or $300 a day for 26 days, for North Stars failure to address PSC questions. However, a PSC staff member said communication with North Star has improved since March 2025 after the utility changed lawyers. Commissioners also approved a penalty of $78,900, or $300 a day for 263 days, for failing to provide adequate service to customers. Statute allows fines from $100 to $1,000 a day, and the staff memo said it recommended an amount that took into consideration the shaky financial position of North Star. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The memo said North Star has not earned a profit for several years, and it has lost money the last three years, including as much as $115,992 in 2022. A hearing is recommended no later than Sept. 16, but if North Star opts to negotiate stipulated penalties instead, the PSC will postpone the hearing. North Star residents have expressed frustration with both the utility and with the PSC, and members of the PSC also have aired concerns about the situation. Commissioner Randy Pinocci said the Public Service Commission doesnt have the authority to manage the water system itself. For example, the PSC cant order the utility to drill more wells, the staff memo said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement However, Pinocci said homeowners could request the Montana Legislature give the PSC more authority. He wondered if it was possible that a water system serving a minimum 20 customers be required to have a backup pump or storage, for instance. Commissioner Jennifer Fielder said she hopes North Star chooses to negotiate. Its not going to bring the immediate relief that the customers desire, Fielder said of the order. Its just not. But it is hopefully going to lead to some real and significant and serious corrections to that system. Commissioner Annie Bukacek made the motion to adopt the staff recommendation, and it passed with no audible votes in opposition. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Bukacek said she believes everyone at the PSC has a deep sympathy for the residents experiencing an inability to get life sustaining water. She said North Star has repeatedly violated its legal obligations to provide adequate service, and she met with some residents in person earlier about the problems. I just want to make sure they know theyve been heard, Bukacek said. (FOX40.COM) Northern California police are warning the public about a clever new scam that is targeting bank accounts. Video Above: Scams circulating in California According to the Rocklin Police Department, the new scam starts with a victim receiving a text, email, or call from someone posing as their bank. The sender inquires about fraudulent activity. After the victim confirms the fraud, they are transferred to a fake fraud or customer service department that will convince the person to allow access to a bank account. Semitruck filled with strawberries catches fire on Interstate 80 in Northern California Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement They eventually dupe you into transferring funds to another account via wire, gift cards, or a bitcoin ATM, RPD said. Or they may ask you to withdraw money from your bank and physically pick up the cash. The money is gone. Thousands of dollars, gone. RPD added, the problem is, it was never your bank to begin with. It was a scammer. Theyre getting clever. Using spoofed numbers to imitate banks or government entities. Theyll keep you on the phone during the process to instill a sense of urgency. They may tell you to lie to bank tellers about withdrawing money. They may tell you youre under investigation, or maybe the bank teller is in on it. Lies. Its all a scam. Police advised people who get a call or message about fraud to log into their accounts and check for themselves. Never, ever, ever, give anyone your account login information over the phone. Even if they have your info, RPD said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Anyone who becomes a victim of the new scam can call their local 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 FOX40 News. (FOX40.COM) A Northern California teen was arrested after allegedly being found to have several guns, including a loaded AR-15 rifle. Video Above: How to report a public safety threat? Around 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, the Yuba County Sheriffs Office executed a search warrant on the 5900 block of Park Avenue in Marysville. During the search, investigators said they found a juvenile suspect, who is also a gang member, with an unserialized AR-15 rifle loaded with a high-capacity drum magazine. Additionally, YCSO found two loaded handguns and extra ammunition. A teen was arrested in Yuba County on August 7, 2025, after allegedly being found with an AR-15 rifle and other guns./Yuba County Sheriffs Office Court strikes down California gun control law, background checks for ammo unconstitutional Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Deputies said the teen was arrested and booked at Juvenile Hall for numerous alleged weapon violations. 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. Correction: The father, Pedro Baez did not fall ill before dying, as previously reported. This correction was made around 9:00 a.m. BURLINGTON, Vt. (ABC22/FOX44) A Northfield man has been charged, and entered a not guilty plea for the alleged possession and sale of firearms stolen from his deceased father. A grand jury reportedly returned the indictment on 41-year-old Peter Baez on July 10. He pleaded guilty during an August 7 arraignment, where the judge ordered him to be released on conditions pending trial. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The formal indictment alleges Baez sold these firearms to nearby gun stores and kept the proceeds. Said guns belonged to his deceased father, Pedro Baez, who died suddenly in Fall 2024. Pedros home and property, firearms included, were left to his daughter in his will. Court officials note that Baez committed these illegal acts despite having notice of the terms of his fathers estate. If convicted, Baez faces up to 10 years of imprisonment. 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 ABC22 & FOX44. Northrop Grumman released images of its version of the U.S. Navys highly anticipated sixth-generation strike fighter. The defense behemoth posted concept art of the F/A-XX on its website, as competition for the contract heats up. The image appeared on the Northrop Grumman website, under its Naval Aviation section, with text emblazoned across it that reads, Project Power Anywhere. Its unclear when the image was posted. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The artwork doesnt reveal much, but does showcase a sleek-looking fighter with a long, sharp nose covered in shadows aboard an aircraft carrier. The F/A-XX, which will succeed the F/A-18 Super Hornet, is slated to wield new technologies including artificial intelligence and machine learning, according to Rear Adm. Michael Donnelly, who spoke at the 2025 Navy Leagues Sea Air Space conference. The upgrades will provide more battle space awareness and sharpen decision-making for naval aviators. Boeing is set to end its F/A-18E-F Super Hornet production line in 2025 and stopped taking orders for them in 2023. Donnelly said that the arrival of the fighter could usher in a new era in which unmanned and manned aircraft operate together. He also said the fighter would be expected to fly more than 25% farther than the Navys current fighters before needing a refuel. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Currently, the F/A-18 Super Hornet and carrier-based F-35C Joint Strike Fighter can fly more than 1,200 nautical miles. President Trump announced the Air Forces sixth-gen jet the Boeing F-47 Next Generation Air Dominance fighter at the Oval Office on March 21. With Lockheed Martin apparently out of the contract race, Northrop Grumman and Boeing appear to be the frontrunners for the F/A-XX contract, according to earlier Military Times reporting. But no official announcement has deemed a winner. East Nashville kicked off the annual Tomato Art Festival with an explosion Aug. 8. The boom wasn't someone blowing up tomatoes to make a tomato-inspired Jackson Pollock painting, a Bloody Mary or pasta sauce. It happened at Lake Sevier at Shelby Park, a little more than a mile away from the site of the annual Tomato Art Festival, which will feature a tomato costume contest, a Bloody Mary recipe contest, tomato 5K and a tomato redhead contest. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The blast had several residents stepping outside, or cocking their heads after feeling the rumble strong enough to shake some homes in the area a little after 2 p.m. on Aug. 8. Turns out, crews were executing controlled explosions near Omohundro Water Treatment Plant. But there was uncertainty about what the boom could have been for almost an hour after the fact as the Metro Nashville Police Department and Nashville Electric Service both reported they weren't sure what residents may have heard. Jackie Jones, a spokesperson with the Metro parks and recreation department, told The Tennessean at 3 p.m. Aug. 8 that the explosion shook the department's nature center at the Shelby Park. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A spokesperson with NES said it wasn't a blown transformer. "9-1-1 Nashville," the new ABC spinoff series, has been shooting across the city this summer in anticipation of an Oct. 9 release, leaving many to wonder if they were shooting a new scene in the area. Jenny Alison Casting, the company that's been working to fill in actors and extras during shoots, said the show was not filming scenes at the park, though production of the series is expected to continue through Aug. 13 at Ascend Amphitheater. In the end, Jones ended the mystery by confirming that the explosion was created by Metro Water Services and CSX for the Omohundro Water Treatment Plant. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Metro Water spokesperson Sonia Allman said contractors are building a new water pumping station on the bank of the Cumberland River and a new raw water intake in the river. Allman said three more explosions will occur in the next two months. The exact dates for those explosions have not been determined. Reach reporter Craig Shoup by email at cshoup@gannett.com and on X @Craig_Shoup. To support his work, sign up for a digital subscription to www.tennessean.com. This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Explosion for water plant project shakes East Nashville At the start of Russias full-scale invasion in 2022, thousands of foreigners flocked to Ukraine to join its defense against Russian forces. More than three years later, the foreign fighters who remain are a different breed driven by a deep commitment to Ukraine. As drones reshape the nature of warfare, surviving on the battlefield now demands new skills, and solid infantry or special forces experience alone is no longer enough. With its newly created International Battalion, Ukraine's legendary Azov Brigade aims to fill this gap, offering modern training for foreign soldiers. The Kyiv Independents Francis Farrell and Olena Zashko spoke with Azov's foreign fighters during training in the east of Ukraine. Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. EAU CLAIRE Trial is approaching for a Minnesota man authorities in Wisconsin say sexually abused a child here. Ryan McNally, 41, faces charges of first degree child sexual assault sexual contact with a child under age 13, and incest. The criminal complaint says the child told their mother McNally had put his hand down the front of their pants during an overnight stay at a hotel. She contacted Wisconsins Department of Human Services, which reported the case to Eau Claire police. Investigators were able to confirm McNally stayed in an Eau Claire hotel on the date of the accusation, though he did so under his middle name as Ryan Marshall. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement McNallys trial had been scheduled for this month, but his attorney told the court Wednesday he would not be able to get to Wisconsin in time for that. McNally is currently serving a 7.5-year prison sentence in Minnesota after a 2023 conviction for second degree criminal sexual conduct with a victim under the age of 13. He attended Wednesdays hearing by video from the Lino Lakes Correctional Institution. Neither the Eau Claire case nor the one in Minnesota appear to be the first time McNally was accused of sexual abuse. Documents in the Minnesota prosecution refer to a 2016 allegation, though that report does not appear to have led to charges being filed. The Minnesota case could have a direct bearing on what jurors hear during the Eau Claire trial. Generally speaking, trials focus solely on the events in question. Prosecutors cannot usually bring up conduct that isnt directly related. A case involving an OWI could not include testimony about petty shoplifting, for example. The exception is when those other acts show a pattern, offer motive or evidence of planning, or similar connections. In this case, the charge of sexual abuse may be directly bolstered by a similar conviction. Prosecutors filed a motion to admit that evidence, and the court approved it in July. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement While Wednesdays hearing rescheduled the trial to begin Nov. 3, it also brought a warning for McNally. Prosecutors brought up a third party contact to the court, something barred by McNallys bond in the case. In May 2021 McNally signed a $50,000 signature bond, which prohibits contact with those involved in the case. No contact orders include prohibitions on having a proxy contact those protected by the orders. Judge Jon Theisen told McNally he is to have no contact in any way, not even via a third party with any of the victims, according to court records. The Eau Claire case is a Class B felony, among the most serious under Wisconsin law. Such felonies can bring maximum sentences of 40 years in prison and 20 years extended supervision. "Sadly, my moms experience wasnt an isolated incident," the author writes. Illustration: Kelly Caminero/HuffPost; Photo: Getty Images There are no photos of my brother Paul. No one recalls what he looked like or what type of personality he had. He wasnt here long enough to create those kinds of memories for us. However, his short life and tragic death were indelibly seared on our mothers heart. She tried to conceal the pain she felt from losing him, while also keeping the truth about his tragic and unnecessary death actually, I would call it manslaughter hidden for decades. The story everyone had been told was that Paul inexplicably inhaled a large quantity of birth fluids while he was being delivered. The fluids congested his little lungs and he died less than seven hours after his arrival. This seemed like an atypical childbirth injury, but it turns out it was so much more than that. Related: I Gave Birth To My Children In A Car And A Laundromat. When I Finally Made It To The Hospital, I Was Shocked By How I Was Treated. As my parents youngest child, I recall visiting the local cemetery with them every Memorial Day to lay flowers on the graves of Paul and Johnny, another older brother I never met. Tragically, Johnny, who was born four years after Paul, died at age 2 due to a respiratory infection. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement My only living sibling was my sister, our parents first born, who was 14 years older than me. She married and started her own family when I was young, leaving me to often ponder what life would be like if Id had one or both of our brothers to grow up with. During those years, Pauls death remained shrouded in mystery. I didnt ask any questions about what happened and I didnt learn any new information about him until I was in high school. The author as a teenager Courtesy of Tammy Parker I dont recall the specific date when my mother told me about the appalling incident from 25 years earlier, but I suspect it may have been Oct. 8, the anniversary of Pauls birth ... and death. I was sitting at the kitchen table reading a magazine when Mom abruptly stopped preparing dinner and began telling me a story that sounded like something out of a gruesome horror novel. I listened in shock as she stoically and matter-of-factly explained why her first sons life ended hours after it began. Mom had been 28 years old in 1952 and, because Paul was her second full-term pregnancy, she knew how the delivery should play out. When her labor began, Dad rushed her to the hospital. All four of Moms babies were born quickly, but Paul had the misfortune of arriving in the early afternoon, when the family doctor was seeing patients and having trouble leaving his office to deliver a baby. Related: My Mom Abused Me For Years. After She Died, I Was Overwhelmed By What I Discovered In Her Diaries. In that small-town hospital, long before fathers were permitted inside the delivery room, my mother was trapped alone with a frenetic nurse who was completely unprepared for working in a maternity ward. As Mom cried out with intense labor pains, the nurse yelled, Your doctors not here! You cant have that baby now! Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement My mother stared off into the distance as she recalled telling the nurse that the baby was coming. In that instant, the nurse morphed from a seemingly compassionate medical care provider into a crazed assailant who did the unthinkable. She grabbed Moms right thigh, forcibly crossed it over the left one, and then sat atop both of my mothers legs, using her weight to keep the infant from emerging through the birth canal. Mom struggled to push the nurse away, but racked with hard contractions, she was no match for this woman. The author's parents in Abilene, Texas, where her father was stationed while serving in the U.S. Army (1942). Courtesy of Tammy Parker Minutes later the doctor finally arrived and delivered the baby, but it was too late. My brother had suffered fatal injuries. In the hours and days that followed, my parents told the doctor and hospital staff what this twisted nurse had done, but their outrage fell on deaf ears. No one believed a nurse would commit such a vile deed but she did. I recently received Pauls death certificate from the state of Colorado, and it exposed a startling surprise. I already knew my brother was born at 1:16 p.m. and died that same day at 8 p.m. of Atelectasis of Lungs Cong., meaning his lung sacs (alveoli) could not inflate properly due to congestion from inhaling birth fluids. However, the death certificate revealed another significant condition described as Rupture of Liver, a fact I dont believe my parents were ever told about. My heart sank as I realized this gory detail further underscored the nurses attempt to prevent Mom from delivering her son. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The way my mother and infant brother were treated is soul-quashing, and its unforgivable that because no one believed my parents, Pauls death was quietly tucked away into a forgotten history. Sadly, my moms experience wasnt an isolated incident. While most mothers havent experienced the kind of abuse that she did, an August 2023 report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control revealed 20% of the women surveyed said they experienced mistreatment by health care practitioners during pregnancy and delivery. Common types of abuse include being shouted at or scolded, being forced to accept unwanted treatment and being threatened with the withholding of treatment. Related: Marjorie Taylor Greene Showed My Photo In Congress And Called Me A Monster. Here's Why Im Fighting Back. An April 2024 Columbia University study offered similar results: more than 1 in 8 parents who had a live birth reported mistreatment by health care providers during childbirth. Patients who are unmarried, have no insurance or public insurance, or are LGBTQ-identifying are among groups cited as most likely to experience mistreatment. The author's parents celebrating her father's 75th birthday. Courtesy of Tammy Parker Such incidents can haunt traumatized parents for the rest of their lives. Mom was deeply depressed or angry at various periods throughout my childhood. My dad and I joked about her being a fiery redhead to explain away her fury, but I now realize that Moms inability to prevent the deaths of both her sons and her failure to attain justice for Paul made her equal parts despondent and enraged. How could it not? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Sadly, after Mom revealed her horrific story to me in 1977, we never again discussed it. I was far too immature and had no idea how to broach the topic with her, though I eventually asked my father about it. Dad confirmed everything, adding that my mother had desperately wanted to sue the hospital, but he talked her out of it. Not only did they not have money for an attorney, but a lawsuit wasnt going to bring the baby back, Dad said resignedly. Related: From Fame To Fade: My Faux Hollywood Big Break Astonishingly, the nurse kept working at the hospital despite her role in Pauls death. When Johnny was born four years later, she showed up to ask my parents what name to put on his birth certificate. Your mother threw a fit! She demanded that woman leave her room and stay away from Johnny, Dad recalled. She was so upset that I was afraid theyd sedate and restrain her. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement My sister and I had a phone conversation in late 2020 to discuss what to do with an antique Bible from our mothers side of the family. My sister had gotten the book after our parents passed away and mentioned that Mom had never added Pauls vital statistics to its family history pages, likely, we agreed, because doing so would have been too painful. The footprints of the author's brother Paul. Courtesy of Tammy Parker You should jot in the date of Pauls birth and death, I said, adding that he might have enjoyed a long life if not for the unbelievable actions of a panicked nurse. What do you mean? my sister asked. I was shocked. How could my only living sibling still not know the full story of Pauls death? I realized that she was just 6 years old when Mom was pregnant with Paul, and it would be another 25 years before our mother could muster the courage to speak about the pain of this loss. So, I relayed to my sister everything I knew about the violence that stole our oldest brother from the family. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement That conversation led me to consider writing about our family tragedy, but I kept delaying the task until I unexpectedly stumbled across Pauls original hospital birth certificate in a pile of family photos. As I unfolded the brittle paper, I touched for the first time the only physical remnant of my brothers life both of his tiny footprints, stamped with purple ink. Paul deserved to be more than a whispered secret. He was a healthy baby whose future was recklessly destroyed by a callous health care provider. By sharing what happened to him and our family, I hope to encourage more research and discussions regarding patient mistreatment during maternity care. I cant bring Paul back nor could I assuage our mothers grief but I have finally shared their story. A long-time journalist, editor and market analyst, Tammy Parker holds a BA in Mass Communications from the University of Denver and an MBA from the University of Colorado. Her freelance articles have appeared in a wide variety of business and consumer publications. You can reach her at tammy@tammyparker.com and follow her onLinkedIn. Do you have a compelling personal story youd like to see published on HuffPost? Find out what were looking for here and send us a pitch at pitch@huffpost.com. Related... Read the original on HuffPost BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First) An investigation by the Baton Rouge Police Department into injuries sustained by an elderly woman with dementia at a nursing home led to one womans arrest. Lakeisha Martin, 48, of Baton Rouge, was charged with cruelty to the infirm. Lakeisha Martin was arrested after being accused of injuring an elderly woman at a nursing home. The Baton Rouge Police Department responded to the Heritage Manor of Baton Rouge, 9301 Oxford Place Drive, just before 11 a.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 6. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement They initiated an investigation into how the 78-year-old woman sustained an injury to her face. BRPD was able to view a video that showed an employee entering and leaving the room where the elderly woman was staying. Martin was left in the room with the 78-year-old woman and her roommate. Those three left the room around six minutes after the other employee had exited, and the elderly woman is then seen sitting in a dining room chair. The elderly woman had a bruised nose along with dried blood under her nose and bottom lip, according to the affidavit. An officer spoke with Martin, who said she was taking care of Martins roommate when an employee brought the victim into the room to address the feces issue, according to the affidavit. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Baton Rouge woman said she wiped feces off the 78-year-old womans hands and face, but reportedly did not see her injuries. Martin said she didnt see the victim hit her face on anything while addressing the roommate. Police: Man shot multiple times overnight in Baton Rouge The Baton Rouge woman was booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison. Latest News Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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 Louisiana First News. CENTRAL HARLEM, Manhattan (PIX11) New York City officials gathered Thursday to address the growing concern regarding the cluster of Legionnaires disease cases in Central Harlem. As of Thursday afternoon, three people had died of the disease. There were 73 positive cases with 23 currently hospitalized. More Local News Dr. Michelle Morse, the Acting Health Commissioner and Chief Medical Officer of the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, spoke to the public, providing specific details about the disease and the spread. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement All of the towers that tested positive have been treated with antibacterial treatment to end the spread of bacteria. That was done urgently last week, because we know this bacteria grows and spreads quickly, said Morse. Morse advises that the bacteria cannot be spread from person to person. The most common place the bacteria grow is in cooling towers on top of buildings. The cooling towers spray mist or droplets. That mist is outdoors and can carry bacteria. She adds that while the cooling towers help cool equipment and regulate building temperature, the system is separate from indoor plumbing or water tanks. New Yorkers in Central Harlem can still safely drink tap water, bathe, shower, cook, and use air conditioners; those things are safe. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The cluster has been reported in zip codes 10027, 10030, 10035, 10037, 10039, and bordering communities, according to officials. More: Latest News from Around the Tri-State Lastly, Morse said the risk to Central Harlem was not limited to any specific building, and that the five zip codes are under active investigation. If you have any flu-like symptoms and live in Central Harlem in those five zip codes, call your doctor immediately, go to the emergency room, or urgent care. Legionnaires is completely treatable with antibiotics. Ben Mitchell is a digital content producer from Vermont who has covered both local and international news since 2021. He joined PIX11 in 2024. See more of his work here. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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 City opened the countrys first city-funded shelter for transgender and gender-nonconforming people experiencing homelessness. Aces Place, which opened this week in Queens and will offer 150 beds, is a collaboration between the NYC Department of Social Services and Destination Tomorrow, an LGBTQ nonprofit in the Bronx. Aces Place will provide transitional housing as well as other services including individual and group counseling, planning and assistance for permanent housing, referrals to medical and mental health services, support groups, life skills and financial literacy workshops and employment assistance. Destination Tomorrow is also developing a work-study program for the culinary arts for residents interested in working in hospitality and food service, according to a press release from the nonprofit. Aces Place is a community-driven answer to systemic neglect, and its only the beginning, Sean Ebony Coleman, founder and CEO of Destination Tomorrow, said in a statement. (Destination Tomorrow) We couldnt be prouder to make this historic announcement that strongly affirms our values and commitment to strengthening the safety net for transgender New Yorkers at a time when their rights are roundly under attack, Molly Wasow Park, Department of Social Services commissioner, said in a statement. Aces Place will offer Transgender New Yorkers a safe place to heal and stabilize in trauma-informed settings with the support of staff who are deeply invested in their growth and wellbeing. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Sean Ebony Coleman, founder and CEO of Destination Tomorrow, said Aces Place is a hard-fought declaration that our Transgender and gender nonconforming siblings will no longer be pushed to the margins. Aces Place is a community-driven answer to systemic neglect, and its only the beginning, Coleman said in a statement. The shelter will add to the available space the city has set aside specifically for trans and gender-nonconforming New Yorkers. In 2021, the city settled a lawsuit with Mariah Lopez, a trans woman who alleged she faced discrimination based on her sex and trans status at a DHS shelter. As part of the settlement, the city agreed to reserve a minimum of 30 beds in shelters across Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx specifically for trans New Yorkers. Neha Sharma, a spokesperson for the Department of Social Services, said that, in compliance with the settlement, the city had set aside 40 beds prior to opening Ace's Place, which will bring the total number of shelter beds that are reserved for trans and gender-nonconforming New Yorkers to 190. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trans people disproportionately experience homelessness, in part due to facing more employment discrimination. The 2022 U.S. Trans Survey, the largest nationwide survey of trans people, with more than 90,000 respondents, found that 30% of respondents reported experiencing homelessness in their lifetimes. Eleven percent of those who had ever held a job said they had been fired, forced to resign, lost the job or been laid off because of their gender identity or expression. More than one-third (34%) of respondents were experiencing poverty. Aces Place is one of only two organizations in New York City that will provide housing for adults in the LGBTQ community. Nearly all of the citys LGBTQ shelters are for people under 25. CORRECTION (Aug. 8, 2025, 10:40 a.m. ET): A previous version of this article mischaracterized the historical significance of the shelter. It is the first publicly funded shelter for transgender people in the country, not the first of any kind for transgender people. This article was originally published on NBCNews.com NYPD detectives have arrested a 21-year-old man for randomly stabbing a young woman in the back inside a Chelsea subway station during a disturbing, unprovoked attack, police said Friday. Carlos Rivera said nothing to his 25-year-old victim as he jammed a blade into her side as she descended a flight of stairs at the W. 23rd St. station during rush hour Tuesday, court documents show. Rivera was standing in the middle of the staircase and knifed her as she walked past. No one else was on the stairs at the time, cops said. After the 6:30 p.m. stabbing, Rivera calmly put up his hood and exited the station, again saying nothing, prosecutors said Friday as they arraigned him on attempted murder and assault charges. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement His victim didnt realize she had been stabbed until she reached the bottom of the stairs at the C/E platform and realized she was bleeding from a large wound on the left side of her torso, prosecutors said. The wound spanned six inches from her chest to her back and was about three inches deep, police later determined. EMS rushed the woman to Bellevue Hospital, where she was treated. Cops tracked down and apprehended Rivera on Wednesday following a brief investigation. His victim picked Rivera out of a photo array, but claimed she didnt know him nor had any interaction with him in the subway. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A Manhattan Criminal Court judge ordered Rivera held on $60,000 bail during a brief arraignment procedure on Thursday. Prosecutors, who asked for $300,000 bail, said he has two open cases in other boroughs: a grand larceny charge in Brooklyn in May and a petit larceny charges from Queens in June. A day after the Chelsea attack, a 29-year-old woman was slashed in the arm and back during a mugging on a No. 3 train rumbling into the Wall St. station in lower Manhattan, cops said. The womans train was entering the station from Brooklyn around 11:15 p.m. Wednesday when a man in his 20s sporting a white surgical mask pulled a knife and tried to rob her, cops said. The mugger slashed as he stole her cellphone, cops said. He then jumped off the train at Wall St. and ran out of the exit, where he was recorded leaving the station, cops said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The woman suffered injuries to her left arm, left elbow, both hands and back, cops said. EMS rushed her to Bellevue Hospital, where she was treated for minor injuries. Cops on Thursday released surveillance images of the mugger, hoping someone would recognize him. Hes described as Black and about 5-foot-11 with a slim build. At the time of the incident, he was wearing a blue hoodie and carrying a gray backpack, cops said. The back-to-back assaults on woman straphangers in the New York City subway system comes as police scale back the number of cops underground from 300 overnight patrols to 200, officials said. The fewer patrols were going to be bolstered by precision policing, where cops would send additional patrols to high-crime subway hubs. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Well continue making the subways safer by using our data-driven approach to deploy officers to the areas we know are problematic ensuring cops are on the right trains, at the right stations and at the right times, the department said in a statement last month. As of Sunday, overall crime in the subway system had dropped by 2%, down from 1,273 crimes at this time last year to 1,246. Assaults on the subway remain a concern and have jumped 7%, from 325 this time last year to 349, NYPD statistics show. Cops are asking anyone with information regarding Wednesdays attack to call NYPD Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS. All calls will be kept confidential. DECATUR Jeremy King might be the most excited staff member at the new Dansby Magnet School. King is the art teacher, and while the school was American Dreamer STEM Academy, located at the former Enterprise School on North Taylor Road, it was a tight fit. King had a cart full of supplies that he had to move from room to room and at Dansby, he has his own classroom and even has a kiln. It's been kind of overwhelming, he said. Everything is so amazing. He hasn't done ceramics since college and will have to refresh his memory about how to fire up a kiln, he said, but he's looking forward to teaching media like ceramics, and is excited about teaching painting and other messy art forms that just weren't possible without a classroom with storage and without carpet. Decatur's first day of school is Aug. 13, and families who haven't yet registered their students need to do so by calling their school or Student Services, 217-362-3060. Students who were not registered by the July 31 deadline will not be able to ride the bus the first few days of school, as bus routes cannot be altered until Aug. 18. Registrations will not be accepted at schools on the first day. Families are urged to download the Edulog Parent Portal before the start of school. More information is available at www.dps61.org/backtoschool. Families also need to be aware of the Oct. 15 deadline for having children's health records updated, and for immunizations to be completed. Students will be excluded from school beginning on Oct. 15 until immunizations and physicals have been completed. Beginning this school year, students who come to school smelling of marijuana or other offensive, distracting, and/or noxious odors will be instructed to call home for a change of clothes or may be picked up in order to change before returning to class. In addition, parents and visitors who arrive on any Decatur Public Schools campus with similar odors will be asked to leave the premises. The cell phone and electronics ban remains in effect and those items should be left at home or remain powered off in students' lockers during the school day, including during lunch and passing periods. For further information, visit dps61.org/codeconduct for the student handbook. Maria Lourdes Amador left her home country of the Philippines, including her husband and child, to come to Decatur to teach biology and physical science at MacArthur High School. She first heard about the opportunity a few years ago, but at the time, she thought her daughter was too young for her to leave. I will be sharing a lot (with students), she said. I came from a humble beginning and walked my way through getting an education. Education will give you a lot of opportunities. And I will share with them that our culture, we really respect people. You respect community. You respect the place. I always instill to my students that to have education is the best, however, you need to have character. Education will bring you to places, but character will bring you to the world. They should go together. Peoria is the J1 visa sponsor for their own international teachers and for partner districts like Decatur, said Decatur's Human Resources Director Monica Wilks. The teachers must be fluent in English and the program helps them acquire the proper certification to teach in Illinois. Most have several years of teaching experience already in their home countries and must have at least two years' experience to be considered. Decatur administrators interviewed over 80 teachers before choosing the 44 who were ultimately offered positions. Of those, nine are already in Decatur and going through new teacher orientation, settling into apartments, finding their way around, while the others are in various stages of obtaining visas, Wilks said. Adding the international teachers this year has eased the teacher shortage in Decatur by 55% and the international teachers will be evaluated and treated the same as any other teachers. Delicia Pollard is from Guyana and she, also, left a husband and three children behind to come to Decatur, including a 1-year-old. Her mother is helping look after the baby, and the older children are more independent, but it's difficult being away from them, in spite of daily video calls. I wanted to come to Decatur and experience what teaching is like over here, so I can learn new strategies, the way they teach and deal with the students, and I can use that back home to improve on my skills, said Pollard, who is teaching at Dennis Lab School this year. MacArthur High School Principal Cordell Ingram said he is anxious to help the international teachers there integrate into the staff and feel at home. Transportation is one issue, with some teachers dependent upon the city buses, so one thing he's trying is organizing carpools with teachers who live near the international teachers. Having a brand-new school is awesome, because you literally have a blank slate, so you can do anything as far as you can make it your own, said Dansby second-grade teacher Whitney Brown. Dansby middle school social studies teacher David Harding picked up some new ideas at a conference over the summer. The goal this year is to get the kids out of their desks a lot more, he said. Not so much their eyes buried in a book or a notebook or listening to me lecturing them. I want them to take the lead and me act as more of a facilitator. The learning never stops, even for teachers. I'm trying new things and learning new things every year. Netanyahu's cabinet decides: Israel will take over full control of Gaza City, per a cabinet vote, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced today. This comes after news broke yesterday that the Israeli military will also start a complete occupation of Gaza in order to stamp out Hamas, with the end goal being to surrender the territory to "Arab forces that will govern it properly without threatening us," in Netanyahu's words. This means the 800,000 to 1 million Palestinians who still reside there will be evacuated south, with a deadline of October 7 of this year. At the beginning of the war, which started after Hamas' October 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel, the Israel Defense Forces captured most of Gaza City before later giving it up again under the assumption, which turned out to be false, that Hamas had been eradicated in those areas. Currently, Israel controls about three-quarters of the Gaza Strip. Other countries have responded with sharp rebukes. Germany said this morning that it would no longer supply arms to Israel over the Gaza occupation plan. Officials from Belgium, Norway, and the U.K. have already voiced condemnation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement And "mediators from Egypt and Qatar are working on a new framework which will include the release of all hostagesdead and alivein one go in return for an end of the war in Gaza and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the strip," per two Arab officials, according to The Times of Israel. In some sense, this could have been Israel's plan all along. "The threat of a full occupation could be part of a strategy to try to force the group into making concessions in stalled ceasefire talks," notes the BBC. "Israeli leaders say Hamas, for now, is not interested in negotiating as, in their view, the group is feeling emboldened, a view that seems to be shared by the Trump administration which has not expressed opposition to Israel's plans." But Hamas has so far said that Israel's decision to expand the war shows that Netanyahu and other Israeli politicians are "indifferent to the fate of their captives" and "fully aware that expanding the aggression would mean sacrificing them." (It's estimated that there are 50 remaining hostages, 30 of whom are believed to be dead.) It's also possible that Netanyahu is responding to internal pressures: There are elements of the right-wing in Israel that view total eradication of Hamas as absolutely necessary, and an occupationfirst by the military, then by normal Israelisas the best means of achieving that. Israeli politicians Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich have advocated, for example, "what they describe as the voluntary migration of Palestinians from Gazaand resettling it with Jews," per the BBC. (But it's hard to say how exactly you get this voluntary migration, which sounds a little forced to me, especially if there's an Israeli military occupation of the territory; Netanyahu's comments about handing Gaza to "Arab forces" have so far rankled parts of his coalition.) Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "According to the Israel Hayom daily, taking over Gaza City is expected to take three months, and two additional months will be needed to also seize control of central Gaza's camps and clear the entire area of terror operatives," per The Times of Israel. "The plan is therefore estimated to take a total of seven months to complete, and to require calling up an estimated 200,000 reservists." "Netanyahu has set himself an unachievable definition of success, and therefore the operation will never succeed," Thomas R. Nides, former U.S. ambassador to Israel, told The New York Times. Scenes from New York: New rent strike exhibit opens at the Museum of the City of New York. QUICK HITS "Last week, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a law mandating mental health screenings for students attending the state's public schools. The bill orders that students be screened at least once per year, starting in third grade, though it did not specify what the screenings would consist of," writes a skeptical Emma Camp in "Does Mental Health Awareness Make Things Worse?" President Donald Trump just slapped tariffs on gold bars. Why elites still worship socialism, with Rob Henderson: The economics of airlines: In this week's @TheEconomist, I wrote about the special relationship between US airlines, their loyalty programs, and their credit card partners. US airlines tend to be profitable, but they lose money on their passenger operations. https://t.co/4ydCHEYrCs pic.twitter.com/DXcAvuUvfA Ben Marrow (@benmarrow) August 7, 2025 The post The Occupation appeared first on Reason.com. ODESSA, Texas (KMID/KPEJ)- A 19-year-old Odessa woman was arrested Thursday evening after investigators said she left a small child alone in a hot car. Karina Sanchez has been charged with Abandon/Endanger a Child with Intent to Return, a state jail felony. According to an Odessa Police Department report, around 6:40 p.m. on August 7, officers responded to the Sams Club parking lot off of John Ben Shepperd Parkway after someone called 911 and said that a crying and sweaty young child had been left alone in an unlocked vehicle. The person who called 911 operators that they walked by an unattended vehicle and saw a child jumping from seat to seat and yelling for help. The caller said the child was sweating profusely as outside temperatures hovered around 99 degrees. Investigators then made contact with Sanchez, who reportedly admitted to leaving the child alone in the hot car with the windows rolled up for more than 20 minutes while she shopped inside the store. The child in question did not belong to Sanchez, but she was the one tasked with caring for the child during that time. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Sanchez was arrested and booked in to the Ector County Law Enforcement Center where she remained as of Friday afternoon on a $7,500 bond. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, more than 1,010 children have died of heatstroke, because they were left or became trapped in a hot car over the past 25 years. These tragedies can happen to anyone, but are always preventable. Know the Facts A childs body temperature rises three to five times faster than an adults. When a child is left in a vehicle, that childs temperature can rise quickly, and the situation can quickly become dangerous. Heatstroke begins when the core body temperature reaches about 104 degrees. Death occurs at a core body temperature of 107 or above. In 2024, 39 children died of heatstroke in vehicles, up 35% from 2023. Everyone Can Help Prevent Hot Car Death 1. Never leave a child in a vehicle unattended for any length of time. Rolling windows down or parking in the shade does little to change the interior temperature of the vehicle. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 2. Make it a habit to check your entire vehicle, especially the back seat, before locking the doors and walking away. Over 50% of pediatric vehicular heatstroke deaths are a result of a parent or caregiver forgetting a child in a car. 3. Ask your childcare provider to call if your child doesnt show up for care as expected. 4. Place a personal item like a purse or briefcase in the back seat, as another reminder to look before you lock. Write a note or place a stuffed animal in the passengers seat to remind you that a child is in the back seat. 5. Store car keys and fobs out of a childs reach and teach children that a vehicle is not a play area. Secure Your Car Always lock your car when you arent using it. Even if you dont have a child of your own, a child in your neighborhood could get into your unlocked vehicle. Over 230 children have died from vehicular heatstroke since 1998 because they gained access to a vehicle and became trapped. Act Fast. Save a Life. If you see a child alone in a locked car, act immediately and call 911. A child in distress due to heat should be removed from the vehicle as quickly as possible and rapidly cooled. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) A San Diego Superior Court judge has tentatively dismissed a civil lawsuit alleging sexual harassment against former County Supervisor Nathan Fletcher, according to newly released court documents. Does this mean hes off the chopping block? The lawsuit, originally filed in 2023 by former Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) employee Grecia Figueroa, accused Fletcher of sexual misconduct, harassment and retaliation during his time as MTS board chair. Fletcher has consistently denied the allegations, though the case prompted his resignation from public office and has since became a flashpoint in San Diego politics. In a tentative ruling on Thursday, Aug. 7, Judge Matthew Braner seemingly sided with the former county supervisors legal team, stating in court documents that the plaintiffs complaint lacked sufficient legal grounds. Additionally, the judge pointed out that Figueroa had destroyed evidence related to the case, including text messages and even a voice recording. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Fletcher accuser responds to accusations of destroying evidence According to the Superior Courts Public Affairs Office, a motions hearing, scheduled for 9 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 8, remained on the calendar despite the tentative ruling. If the parties do not appear or have no objections, the tentative becomes the final ruling automatically, explained an official with the Public Affairs Office. The parties may still appear to give arguments and the judge may make adjustments to the final ruling following the hearing or take it under submission for a later decision. The official also explained that its common for civil cases to have a tentative ruling published by 4 p.m. the day before a hearing. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement FOX 5/KUSI reached out to both Figueroa and Fletcher for comment. While the defendant has not yet provided a response, the plaintiff pointed to statements she made in Fridays hearing. For instance, Figueroa said, At this point I have complied with discovery, I have sat for more than 25 hours of deposition, produced ten thousand messages between my friend and I have turned over medical records and personal records, and nothing was deleted with the intent to hide anything. In fact I wish I had some of the missing evidence because I think it could be helpful to my case. In other comments made in court, the plaintiff also stated, And if I never get the chance to testify in court, I want to say this: What I understood the day that Nathan Fletcher ended his deposition was that this lawsuit, and the courage that it took to bring it forward, and the women that also spoke up have already helped save many people from experiencing the same abuse of power, and that is something no one can take away. According to Figueroa, shes now planning to appeal the decision. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. Hungry customers were patiently waiting for their orders from a local food truck late at night when a police officer coated bystanders, and their food, with pepper spray, video shows. It was around 2 a.m. on August 3 when people were leaving the Flint Jazz Festival and a high school reunion nearby when Leon Lawson II and Leon Lawson III were cooking food, according to MLive. Lawson II said police told them to stop serving new customers, but that they could finish their current orders, he told the Detroit Metro Times. He added that they have a permit for their food truck Family Recipes x All the Smoke, according to the outlet. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Officers left, drove around the block and came back with sirens blaring and demanding the crowd disperse immediately, MLive reported. It agitated them that we were still fulfilling orders, but we werent taking new orders, Lawson II told the Detroit Metro Times. They werent getting the effect they were expecting. The video shows Leon Lawson III start dancing in front of the patrol vehicle that had pulled up behind him. Two officers then get out of the vehicle, are seen saying something to Lawson III and then put him in handcuffs as others from the scene try to intervene, the video shows. The tongs he used to cook food were taken as evidence, according to MLive. Lawson was arrested as another officer could be seen pushing a person nearby while bystanders yelled, the video showed. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement After Lawson III was placed in the patrol vehicle, the video shows one officer turning back to the yelling crowd while holding a spray can, then he disperses the spray toward the crowd and over the grill./ A portion of the crowd left the scene, but could be heard coughing on camera. Lawson III was arrested and held in jail for two days, according to the familys attorney Michael Manley via WJRT. He was released without criminal charges, according to MLive. Lawson III was accused of resisting arrest and obstructing a police officer, but Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton denied a request for a warrant due to lack of probable cause, officials told WJRT. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement To spray, whether it was mace, whether it was pepper spray, any type of spray, to spray at human beings and food, and things like that in the way that it was done, I dont think meets the standard of Chief Green, or Mayor Neeley, or any person thats ever been in the city of Flint, Manley told WJRT. The Flint Police Department did not immediately respond to McClatchy News request for comment on Aug. 7, but told MLive that they are conducting an internal review. Flint is about a 70-mile drive northwest from Detroit. 14-year-old shoots 15-year-old as hundreds of teens take over road, IL cops say Journalist hit by LA deputies round at ICE protest needed surgery, claim says 14-year-old in back seat killed in suspected road rage shooting, NM cops say New Zealand officials are taking action to protect a treasured habitat from invasive seaweed. In early July, according to regional outlet Local Matters, the Ministry for Primary Industries announced a Controlled Area Notice around Hauturu-o-Toi, also known as Little Barrier Island. The measure restricts ships anchoring around the island to a certain depth and bans any form of fishing that makes contact with the ocean floor. These provisions are intended to prevent further spread of exotic caulerpa, which has been found in patches on the island's northern and eastern coasts. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "We're currently dealing with a very dynamic situation," John Walsh, director of pest management for Biosecurity New Zealand, explained. "We know that exotic caulerpa can be inadvertently relocated when small pieces are caught on anchors, anchor chains and fishing or dive equipment." Two species of the exotic caulerpa, invasive to New Zealand's waters, were discovered there in 2021. It's unclear how they arrived, but perhaps the most likely explanation is that they were transported by a foreign vessel. Similar seaweed problems have been reported in Southern California. Like other invasive species, exotic caulerpa can present a threat to ecosystems to which it is not native by outcompeting native plants for resources. New Zealand is already acutely vulnerable to invasive species, but Hauturu-o-Toi is on another level entirely. Established in 1895, Hauturu is New Zealand's oldest nature reserve and one that has been left largely untouched by human hands. The Hauturu Supporters Trust has described it as "New Zealand's Ark" as it hosts a vast array of plants and wildlife. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Two-thirds of the island's surface is reportedly covered by forest and more than 400 species of native plants. Hauturu is a richly balanced home to all kinds of weird and wonderful critters, such as the giraffe weevil, which prospers in an area with little human contact. It's an essential habitat for rare species like the Hihi or stitchbird which went extinct on the mainland around 1883. With the eradication of cats and rats, the population of rare birds is thriving. The ministry's announcement highlights how critical local efforts can be in protecting the environment. By taking decisive action to halt a spreading threat, one of the most unique ecosystems on Earth may continue to thrive. Do you worry about air pollution in your town? All the time Often Only sometimes Never Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. 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. More than 400,000 Illinois residents received a letter warning them that dangerous "forever chemicals" had been discovered in their drinking water. What's happening? The message from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency went out to users of 47 public water systems after PFAS were discovered, according to Inside Climate News. Crest Hill, 30 miles southwest of Chicago, was one of the affected communities. Two PFAS chemicals perfluorooctanoic acid and perfluorohexanesulfonic acid were found in two of the city's wells in what the publication called "excessive quantities." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "PFAS is everywhere, but a lot of people don't know it," Crest Hill city engineer Ron Wiedeman told ICN. Why is PFAS contamination important? PFAS are a group of human-made chemicals that have been used in a variety of consumer products, including nonstick cookware and water-resistant clothing, for almost a century. They have also been used in firefighting foams at military bases and airports and are lurking in sewage sludge, a popular agricultural fertilizer. These chemicals have polluted lakes and other water bodies and made their way into public water systems across the globe. For instance, similar news about PFAS-contaminated drinking water has made headlines in Pennsylvania and France's Haut-Rhin region. Exposure to these chemicals has been associated with numerous health concerns, including cancer, birth defects, liver disease, thyroid disease, and lower sperm counts. What's being done about PFAS contamination? According to ICN, Illinois officials say they are continuing to collect statewide PFAS data and working with community water system operators to determine any necessary actions to reduce residents' exposure. For instance, Crest Hill and some other communities are transitioning from well systems to highly treated Lake Michigan water. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Meanwhile, University of Illinois Chicago researchers are investigating ways to eliminate PFAS by utilizing reactive electrochemical membrane filtration, the outlet added. Scientists at the University of Rochester are doing similar work to remove PFAS from water. You can limit your exposure to PFAS by forgoing nonstick cookware and stain- or water-resistant clothing. You can also purchase products from PFAS-free brands. 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. CHATHAM COUNTY, GA. (WSAV) Local law enforcement is searching for an alleged gang member wanted near Dean Forest Road, Chatham County Sheriff Richard Coleman told WSAV Thursday. Lee Antonio Polke reportedly fled from a traffic stop. The 43-year-old is wanted for aggravated assault, domestic violence, felony probation violation, failure to appear and contempt of court. Photo provided by Chatham County Sheriffs Office The Sheriffs Office said Polke is known to have Bloods affiliation from the jail. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Multiple jurisdictions are assisting in the search. Drones and K-9s are being utilized in the search. Polke was previously incarcerated on two different occasions for drug charges, once in 2004 and again in 2009, according to Georgia Corrections records. This is a developing story and WSAV has a crew on the way. We will update as more details become 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 WSAV-TV. An aggressive and destructive invasive species has wreaked havoc on many communities in California, and officials are scrambling to contain the situation. What's happening? As reported by SFGATE, wild pigs have become one of the most widespread invasive species in the state. With populations in 56 of California's 58 counties, wild pigs have been impacting vulnerable ecosystems and interfering with agricultural operations for decades. According to recent estimates, there are between 200,000 and 400,000 wild pigs in the state. Aaron Hebert, a natural resources manager for the Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority, detailed why wild pigs have garnered increased attention from wildlife experts in recent years. "From a public standpoint, pigs, in some ways, can be the most aggressive or dangerous of all animals you might encounter in our area," Hebert told SFGATE. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Hebert revealed that there were two separate reports of wild pig encounters with people around the Santa Clara Valley in 2024. While neither of these encounters resulted in injuries, the potential for bodily harm has experts worried. Why is the wild pig population important? Wild pigs, also known as feral swine, are considered an invasive species in many parts of the world, including North America. Originating from parts of Europe and North Africa, wild pigs can cause significant ecological and economic damage. They are able to consume large amounts of vegetation while destroying plants with their propensity to root. This can negatively impact native species and even crops in the region. Cassie Bednar, a natural resource program coordinator for Santa Clara County Parks, noted the damage that wild pigs are able to inflict on the region. "They're basically rototilling the land," Bednar said, per SFGATE. "They can be really devastating to those resources." With their large size, overwhelming strength, and surprising speed, wild pigs are known to charge toward anything or anyone that is perceived as a threat. They can often be very territorial and protective of their young. What's being done about wild pigs in California? In an attempt to keep the wild pigs at bay, wildlife experts have deployed a number of deterrents. Vince Bruzzone, owner of Full Boar Trapping & Wildlife Control, has been paid nearly $250,000 by the Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority to tackle the wild pig population head-on. Unfortunately, many of Bruzzone's methods have proved ineffective. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Vials of coyote urine, high-pitched sound devices, motion lights you name it," Bruzzone revealed to SFGATE. "Short of full exclusion with expensive fencing, very little truly stops a wild pig once it's set on finding food." In 2022, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed SB-856 into law. It focused on managing wild pig populations throughout the state by lifting restrictions on hunting wild pigs, allowing for better population control and habitat management. Do you think America does a good job of protecting its natural beauty? Definitely Only in some areas No way I'm not sure Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. 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. The active search to recover a 6-year-old boy who went missing when he fell into the Housatonic River at a boat ramp in Stratford on Wednesday has been suspended. The multi-agency search involved a number of water crafts, drones, dive teams and a helicopter, but after about 24 hours of combing the waters around the Birdseye Boat Ramp which empties into the Long Island Sound authorities said Thursday that they had exhausted all efforts, according to the U.S. Coast Guard and fire officials. This current is a very fast-moving current, Jermaine Atkinson, chief of the Stratford Fire Department, told reporters Thursday. The water is very dark here. Its hard to see, so theres limited visibility. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The search for the child commenced when he fell into the river around 1:30 p.m. According to officials, the child was with his mother when he fell in the water. Atkinson said the child was not wearing a personal flotation device. Capt. Jerry Pinto of the Stratford Police Department said an employee of United Illuminating jumped into the water to save the child, but he was not immediately found. An extensive search of the area which ultimately covered about 500 nautical miles was launched involving first responders from Stratford, Bridgeport, Fairfield, Westport, Shelton, Trumbull, Guilford and Monroe, as well as Connecticut State Police and the U.S. Coast Guard. Crews used boats, jet skis, drones, dive teams and a helicopter. A Coast Guard cutter and the Stratford Fire Marine unit continued searching the waters overnight Wednesday before crews regrouped the following morning. They shifted to a recovery effort that centered around dive teams before operations were suspended in the afternoon hours Thursday. The missing child is the latest in a series of incidents in the Housatonic River this summer. A sign for an emergency room. (Photo by David DeWitt, Ohio Capital Journal.) As they try to anticipate the loss of billions to the Ohio health care system, emergency doctors warned last month that it would make patient boarding a lot worse. Thats when people have to lie for hours in the emergency department, waiting for a bed to open up in the appropriate department of the hospital. Such waits are known to increase the likelihood of bad health outcomes and even death. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement An analysis published in June found that even before Medicaid cuts kick in, the problem is getting a lot worse. Health Affairs, a peer-reviewed journal, published the analysis. It found that boarding times reached their peak in January 2022 which is partly attributable to the coronavirus pandemic. But it also found that theyre still elevated above their pre-pandemic levels. we found that hospital boarding in the ED beyond four hours has become increasingly widespread, wrote the authors, Laura G. Burke and Adrian Haimovich, both of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, and Alexander T. Janke of the University of Michigan. Boarding in excess of twenty four hours, which was rare before the pandemic, is now more common, particularly among marginalized patient populations. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This means that sick patients who have been stabilized in the emergency room have to wait in a room or sometimes a hallway for many hours or even a full day or more, just to be admitted to the appropriate place in the hospital even the intensive care unit and receive the full care that they need. Patients in that situation often get sicker and sometimes die when they wouldnt have otherwise. A 2020 paper published in Critical Care Medicine said mortality among those sick enough to need intensive care was 37.6% if they were immediately admitted. Mortality rose to 43.4% if they had to wait in the emergency department between two and 12 hours. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Death rates rose from there, with 57.1% of patients who had to wait more than 24 hours dying at hospital. The analysis published in Health Affairs said that well under 15% of patients faced boarding times of four hours or more going into the pandemic. That rate had risen to about 25% as of last September, according to the analysis of 46.2 million hospitalizations. About 1% or less of patients had to wait 24 hours or more at the start of the pandemic in March 2020. That rose to more than 2% last year. Boarding is a key indicator of hospital capacity strain; its sustained increase portends dangerous clinical conditions during future pandemics or other disasters, the authors wrote. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Christina Campana, president of the Ohio Chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians, said boarding times and the time it takes to be first seen in the emergency department are going to get a lot longer once funding cuts under President Donald Trumps One Big Beautiful Bill Act begin to bite. Theyre estimated to slash nearly $1 trillion in Medicaid spending, including about $33 billion in Ohio. Estimates say the bill will create an additional 440,000 uninsured Ohioans. Many of its effects wont be felt immediately because the laws most important provisions dont take effect until January 2027 two months after the midterm elections. Campana said hospitals are going to have to figure out how to pay for people when they lose their insurance because theyre not going to stop getting sick. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement One way hospitals will cope is by limiting staff in emergency departments and elsewhere in the hospital, Campana said. That would increase how long patients have to wait before being taken to the place where they can get appropriate care. The analysis published by Health Affairs seems to indicate thats already happening. Were in a boarding crisis currently, Campana said in an interview last month. There are no hospital beds. She said there will be even fewer once the One Big Beautiful Bill Act takes full effect. Patients dont get the right care because the emergency department just doesnt have the capacity and resources to carry out inpatient medicine, she said. The patients suffer again because theres nowhere to put anybody. They dont get the care that they need. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Aerial image of Kyger Creek coal fired power plant in Gallia County, Ohio. (Stock photo from Getty Images.) This story was originally published by Canary Media. After six years and more than a half billion dollars in consumer costs, Ohio utility customers will no longer have to subsidize two 1950s-era coal plants, one of which is in Indiana. A new law that takes effect on August 14 officially eliminates the coal subsidies created by House Bill 6, the 2019 nuclear and coal bailout law at the heart of Ohios ongoing utility-corruption saga. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Despite the Trump administrations push to keep polluting coal plants open, their electricity is generally less competitive than alternatives such as combined-cycle gas, solar energy, and wind power. These two coal plants in particular are often among the most expensive options available in the grid region serving Ohio, and yet have run anyway. Lawmakers repealed HB 6s nuclear bailout less than a year after the corruption scandal became public, with the arrests of former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder and others in 2020, but multiple bills to repeal the coal plant subsidies failed. It wasnt until HB 15 passed in May that lawmakers finally agreed to end the mandated payments at least for the 5 million customers of Ohios regulated utilities. Since 2001, customers of Ohios regulated utilities have had the option to choose their electricity supplier, and utilities have generally been banned from favoring or subsidizing related generation companies. Starting in 2013, however, Ohio utility companies began seeking ratepayer-funded bailouts for the two old coal plants the Kyger Creek plant, in Cheshire, Ohio, and the Clifty Creek plant, in Madison, Indiana owned by the Ohio Valley Electric Corporation, or OVEC. OVECs shareholders are parent companies of Ohios regulated utilities. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, or PUCO, let some utilities begin collecting charges in 2017, but those orders faced challenges. Two years later, HB 6 guaranteed those payments through 2030. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX The subsidy cutoff comes none too soon, according to an August 4 analysis prepared by RunnerStone for the Ohio Manufacturers Association. Ohio utility customers could have paid over $413 million more through 2030. As things stand, the HB 6 subsidies plus earlier payments under challenged regulatory orders total more than $683 million, the analysis shows. Instead of propping up shareholders, this money should have gone to help Ohios families pay for needed items like groceries, health care, and other essentials, said Maureen Willis, who serves as Ohio Consumers Counsel. As she sees it, ending the coal plant subsidies is long overdue. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Yet controversy continues over whether large chunks of the charges were reasonable and prudent, as required by Ohio law. One case at the Ohio Supreme Court deals with amounts collected in 2018 and 2019. Another appeal challenges the PUCOs approval of charges in 2020 under HB 6. Both cases are waiting for the Ohio Supreme Court to schedule oral argument. The Ohio Manufacturers Association Energy Group, and the Ohio Environmental Council, and the Office of the Ohio Consumers Counsel are challenging the utilities decision to pass along the costs of running the old coal plants full tilt even when it was uneconomical, among other things. Challengers in the HB 6 case argue that the PUCO rulings improperly presumed that the coal plant charges were lawful, instead of making the utilities prove it. The commission then limited challengers ability to show that the costs for running the plants during poor market conditions failed to meet statutory requirements, they say. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The case for the 2018 and 2019 charges also includes an argument that the commission improperly influenced an independent audit. For instance, a commission staff member asked the auditor to tone down a draft report saying that the plants must-run strategy was not in the best interests of ratepayers. Beyond that, a pending regulatory case will examine the coal plants costs from 2021 to 2023. And a July 31 filing by the Ohio Manufacturers Association Energy Group and the Office of the Ohio Consumers Counsel has asked the public utilities to open a case to review the coal plant charges for 2024 and 2025. The commission has not yet ruled on the request. Meanwhile, spokespeople for American Electric Power and FirstEnergy told Canary Media their Ohio utilities will no longer include the coal charge on bills after August 14. Others still paying Due to a 2011 agreement among OVECs shareholders, both plants intend to keep operating until 2040. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement So while customers of Ohios regulated utilities will no longer have to pay for the OVEC plants, other consumers will continue to bear the costs, said Neil Waggoner, who heads the Sierra Clubs Beyond Coal program in the Midwest. Those include the more than 380,000 homes and businesses that get their electricity from Ohios Electric Cooperatives, whose supplier is Buckeye Power. Buckeye has an 18% share in OVEC, the next largest after AEPs stake of roughly 39%. Elsewhere in the Midwest, Michigans public service commission recently disallowed more than $2 million in expenses charged by AEPs Indiana Michigan Power for the same OVEC plants, while a July 23 ruling requires ratepayers in Indiana to pick up those costs. Environmental costs from the plants also continue. Since 2020, the Ohio Consumers Counsel estimates, the plants have spewed more than 63 million tons of carbon dioxide. The plants also emit nitrous oxides, sulfur dioxide, and particulate pollution that can cause health problems for those living downwind. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement That is a lot of dirty air, Willis said, adding that consumers got the bill, while the environment and public health paid the price. Both the Kyger Creek and Clifty Creek plants cleared PJMs capacity auction last month, which will pay generation facilities roughly $329 per megawatt/day starting in June, said American Electric Power spokesperson Scott Blake, who also speaks for OVEC. But even with the subsidies phasing out for many Ohio utility customers, Waggoner said that the bad business decision to keep these coal plants running has gotten even worse. These plants are really old industrial facilities, Waggoner said. Theyre at the end of their lives. Its time for these plants to be retired or replaced. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Aug. 7As red and blue states across the country threaten to use gerrymandering to tip the scales in the closely contested U.S. House of Representatives, Ohio prepares for another round of congressional redistricting before the end of the year. When Ohio redrew its 15 congressional districts at the start of this decade, the Republican-drafted plan was adopted by a simple majority vote along party lines. Under the Ohio Constitution, this meant the maps would only go into effect for two election cycles. A unanimous vote would have cemented the maps for the entire decade. Now, the state will need to go through the redistricting process once more, this time to set the congressional districts for the 2026, 2028, and 2030 elections. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In June, Ohio House Speaker Matt Huffman, R-Lima, told reporters that behind-the-scenes talks would take place over the lawmakers' summer recess. "I think there will be some probably informal negotiations starting in August, with the idea that it may be possible to have a bipartisan bill in September," Huffman said. "If that doesn't happen, the redistricting commission will meet in October, and if the commission doesn't come up with a bill, then the legislature is required by November 30 to file a redistricting bill." Ohio House GOP spokesperson Olivia Wile confirmed with this outlet that there's not yet a finalized plan to address redistricting before the looming September deadline. Meanwhile, redistricting has become increasingly politically charged over the summer, as political leaders in both parties brace for a contentious 2026 midterm election cycle. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Texas is underway with an effort to redraw its 38 congressional districts in an attempt to secure five more GOP seats in the U.S. House following pressure from President Donald Trump. In response, Gov. Gavin Newsom of California threatened that his state would take the same tack in favor of Democrats, thus setting off a cascade of Republican and Democratic leaders more openly talking about using gerrymandering as a political bludgeon. It remains to be seen what sort of impact this national conversation will have on Ohio's upcoming process. The Ohio Constitution has measures intended to protect against partisan gerrymandering on the state legislative level, and to a lesser extent on the federal level. But it's unclear to what extent these measures can actually prevent gerrymandering. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The state's current House delegation includes 10 Republicans and five Democrats, with three of those Democrats holding only a slight advantage in their districts. The Ohio Capital Journal reported last month that Ohio's senior U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno wanted the state's new maps to give Republicans a 12-to-3 advantage. House Minority Leader Dani Isaacsohn, D-Cincinnati, told reporters in June that such an advantage for Republicans would corrode Ohio's ability to be fairly represented in Congress. "It should be pretty even if we want to accurately represent the people of Ohio," Isaacsohn said. "Right now, it's already deeply out of whack, and I find it incredibly insulting to the people of Ohio that our elected officials would suggest we should have even less representative government through the redistricting process." ------ Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement For more stories like this, sign up for our Ohio Politics newsletter. It's free, curated, and delivered straight to your inbox every Thursday evening. Avery Kreemer can be reached at 614-981-1422, on X, via email, or you can drop him a comment/tip with the survey below. Loading... COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) When a distressed crow in the parking lot of a Hilliard architecture firm caught the attention of staff, workers called their resident wildlife lover, Leanne Grubb, on her day off to come to the rescue. Grubb told NBC4 she arrived at the office armed with a towel to cover and capture the bird, which she planned to take to Ohio Wildlife Center for evaluation. After the crow managed to evade Grubb, an additional volunteer was called to assist, and the animal was successfully placed in a box. LGBTQ+ book, coffee shop sets opening for location inside Stonewall Columbus Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement David Donahue, development and communications manager at Ohio Wildlife Center, confirmed that Grubb was on track with her rescue strategy. Instructions on the organizations website for containing an average-sized bird for transport recommend do-it-yourself captors wear latex or knit gloves for protection and use a pillowcase or small hand towel, such as Grubbs technique, to restrain the bird. The center notes that before placing the animal in a small box or paper bag, small holes should be poked in the container to allow for airflow. Photo Courtesy/ Leanne M. Grubb Photo Courtesy/ Leanne M. Grubb Photo Courtesy/ Leanne M. Grubb Photo Courtesy/ Leanne M. Grubb Photo Courtesy/ Leanne M. Grubb Photo Courtesy/ Leanne M. Grubb After the capture, Grubb, who was familiar with the nonprofit wild animal hospital, continued her mission to get medical assistance for the crow. I then took the bird to Ohio Wildlife on Billingsley Rd., and they said there have been quite a few crows coming in recently, many with West Nile virus, Grubb said. We all thought for sure the bird had a broken wing, but I guess the virus can make it seem like some other problem. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement While Donahue said that the organization could not confidently say the bird had West Nile, its injury might have occurred as a result of the diseases disorienting effects. The center does not specifically test for West Nile due to the high cost, but its signs are observable. Recently, Donahue posted on the centers social media account about the increase in West Nile Virus cases that begins in August. The mosquito-borne disease primarily affects birds by attacking their central nervous system. The symptoms listed included weakness, lethargy, head tilt and significant weight loss. West Nile virus is typically fatal in American crows. What Dan Read: Columbus library patrons reading list goes viral after death Ohio Wildlife Centers annual tracking of suspected cases of West Nile virus in birds showed a slight increase in 2025: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 17 in 2023 16 in 2024 19 so far in 2025, most commonly in American crows To help reduce the spread of the disease, the center recommends controlling mosquito populations by removing stagnant water in ponds without fountains or buckets and old tires that can fill with rain. In the case of Grubbs bird, she eventually learned its fate in an email from the agency. Im reaching out with sorrowful news that the American Crow you presented to Ohio Wildlife Centers hospital did not survive, the organization wrote. As soon as you passed them off into our care, the patient received a rehabilitation assessment and exam by our dedicated veterinary team. Due to the extent of the injuries, the best support for this animal was humane euthanasia. We know this is not the outcome we would hope for, but we always want whats best for the animal that is suffering. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Donahue confirmed the bird had a non-rehabilitatable shoulder injury. He said that last month, around 10 birds were admitted, a standard amount for West Nile season, though not all were believed to have the disease. Look inside: $2.9 million manor in New Albany While not the news she wanted to hear, Grubb remained upbeat about her intervention and noted the importance of Ohio Wildlife Center as a great resource. Ohio Wildlife Center, which runs solely on donations, has been helping wild animals in the Buckeye State since 1984. Among its services is a wildlife hospital with on-site veterinary care, as well as offering special programming and public events. Donahue said that the center sees an average of 9,000 animals a year. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. Environmental NGOs are raising concerns about the growing presence of petrochemical industry lobbyists at talks to forge a global treaty to combat plastic pollution. More than 180 countries are meeting at the United Nations in Geneva in a bid to thrash out a landmark agreement aimed at tackling the scourge of plastic pollution -- looking at the full life-cycle of plastic, from production to pollution. The Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) said it had counted 234 publicly disclosed fossil fuel and chemical industry lobbyists registered to attend the 10-day negotiations, which run until August 14. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Industry lobbyists "should not be able to attend these negotiations," CIEL's Rachel Radvany told AFP. They have "direct conflicts of interest with the goal of the treaty." "Their interest is in maintaining plastic production -- and the industry is set to triple by 2060," she said. Dubbed INC5.2, the talks resume the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to develop a legally binding international treaty on plastic pollution, continuing negotiations that stalled last year in South Korea. CIEL, a Washington- and Geneva-based non-governmental organisation which provides legal support to developing countries, scrutinises the lists of accredited participants provided by the UN. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It counted 104 fossil fuel and chemical industry lobbyists at the INC2 session in Paris in 2022; 143 at INC3 in Nairobi in 2023, and 196 at INC4 in Ottawa in April 2024. There were 220 at the supposedly final INC5.1 in Busan in South Korea in November 2024, which failed to seal a deal. - 'Here to listen' - The International Council of Chemical Associations (ICCA) confirmed they had 136 delegates at the talks representing the plastic, petrochemical and chemical manufacturing industries. "While we are significantly outnumbered by the more than 1,500 NGO participants, we recognise and value the UN's commitment to broad stakeholder participation as vital to achieving our shared goal of ending plastic pollution," ICCA spokesman Matthew Kastner told AFP. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Our delegates are here to listen to governments so we can understand the unique challenges they face and bring solutions." Radvany recalled that for the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, adopted in 2003, tobacco industry representatives were not allowed in during the negotiations. Green groups and have also long protested the heavy presence of oil, gas and coal lobbyists at annual UN climate talks. The burning of of fossil fuels is by far the main driver of global warming. - Hitting the roof - Beyond the 234 industry lobbyists CIEL has pinpointed in Geneva, INC5.2 has 3,700 registered participants and the NGO believes there are likely many more lobbyists operating more covertly within country delegations. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Some countries have delegates with titles like "third chemical engineer", which are not included in CIEL's count. Their study also does not include representatives from plastic-consuming sectors such as the food and cosmetics industries, which are also heavily represented at the negotiations. Another NGO, the International Pollutants Elimination Network (IPEN), denounced the limited seating for observers in the rooms where the technical details of the treaty are thrashed out, saying the chairs were "flooded by industry lobbyists" -- effectively preventing civil society from participating. Greenpeace staged a protest on Thursday at the UN's main entrance gate, scaling up to the roof to unveil banners reading "Big oil polluting inside" and "Plastics treaty not for sale". Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Each round of negotiations brings more oil and gas lobbyists into the room. Fossil fuel and petrochemical giants are polluting the negotiations from the inside, and we're calling on the UN to kick them out," said Greenpeace delegation chief Graham Forbes. "Corporate polluters that created this problem must not be allowed to stop the world from solving it." im-rjm/mh/lth MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, FL. (KFOR) The case against a former OU Health pediatrician, accused of killing her daughter, is moving forward. Neha Gupta is accused of killing her 4-year-old daughter and staging her death to look like a drowning. ORIGINAL STORY: Mother arrested following 4-year-olds death, police say Neha Gupta. Image courtesy Oklahoma County Detention Center. Gupta was expected in court Thursday morning, but was not there. Her attorney mentioned that she was quarantined at the jail, but they still moved forward with her charges. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Gupta was originally arrested after an arrest warrant was issued for first-degree murder. Thursday morning, at Guptas arraignment hearing, the state attorney changed the charges. The charges at this time, your honor, the state has filed are aggravated manslaughter charges, said Kathleen Hoague, Assistant State Attorney for Florida. A plea of not guilty was entered by Guptas attorney, despite her absence. The state attorney also made a motion to keep Gupta in jail until the trial. Court documents say that based on Guptas past and present patterns of behavior, she poses a threat of harm to the community. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Adding, if Gupta is released, she will leave the country for India. With regard to the risk of flight, the state has two jail calls, which we intend to introduce on that issue, said Hoague. Hoague says that the phone calls are of Gupta speaking with a family while in jail, speaking in Hindi. The state attorney is waiting for translation and certification of the phone call transcripts to prove if she is a flight risk. Guptas attorney says Thursdays hearing was a vindication for her. Circumstances have dramatically changed, and the affidavit that was filed by the Miami-Dade Sheriffs Department, where it indicates that she intentionally drowned her child, is no longer valid, said Michael Mirer, attorney for Neha Gupta. Our position from day one was that this was a rush to judgment, and this is just a validation of that. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Its unknown why Gupta is in quarantine. She is still being held without bond. 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. OLYPHANT The time has come for Olyphant to modernize its century-old clock tower. Borough council voted Tuesday to use $37,500 to pay for the rehabilitation and repair of the clock tower rising above its 113-year-old Municipal Building at 113 Willow Ave. The clock is original to the building from when it was built more than a century ago, although the mechanism was previously updated, borough engineer Lou LaFratte said. To modernize the inner workings of the clock while retaining its original appearance, the borough will bring in the same company that produced the clock in the early 20th century the Verdin Company, which is still in existence today, LaFratte said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement * Olyphant will modernize the inner workings of its century-old clock tower at Municipal Building this year, keeping the appearance the same while controlling the time digitally, as seen on Willow Avenue on Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. (FRANK WILKES LESNEFSKY / STAFF PHOTO) * Olyphant will modernize the inner workings of its century-old clock tower at Municipal Building this year, keeping the appearance the same while controlling the time digitally, as seen on Willow Avenue on Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. (FRANK WILKES LESNEFSKY / STAFF PHOTO) * Olyphant will modernize the inner workings of its century-old clock tower at Municipal Building this year, keeping the appearance the same while controlling the time digitally, as seen on Willow Avenue on Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. (FRANK WILKES LESNEFSKY / STAFF PHOTO) Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement * Olyphant will modernize the inner workings of its century-old clock tower at Municipal Building this year, keeping the appearance the same while controlling the time digitally, as seen on Willow Avenue on Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. (FRANK WILKES LESNEFSKY / STAFF PHOTO) Show Caption 1 of 4 Olyphant will modernize the inner workings of its century-old clock tower at Municipal Building this year, keeping the appearance the same while controlling the time digitally, as seen on Willow Avenue on Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. (FRANK WILKES LESNEFSKY / STAFF PHOTO) Expand The 183-year-old Cincinnati-based Verdin Company still crafts bells, clocks and towers, according to its website. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The modernization will take place this year, but there is not yet a timeline because the borough hasnt signed the contract yet, LaFratte said. When the contract is signed, Verdin will order parts. Once everything is ready, the actual work will take two weeks, he said. The discussion to rehabilitate the clock arose when LaFratte spoke with solicitor and borough Manager C.J. Mustacchio about fixing the clock, Mustacchio said. They contacted the Verdin Company, which had also previously worked on the clock for the borough, and decided to bring them in, Mustacchio said, adding that Verdin also made the clock at the boroughs renovated Queen City Station. We couldnt just go out there and keep trying to manually reset this clock with the time and everything else, and it was losing time a little bit, he said. It just needed to be rehabbed and updated. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement When workers from Verdin came to assess the clock, they told the borough they could modernize the clocks workings while keeping the same clock face, Mustacchio said, explaining the clock would be operated digitally. Currently, the borough has to manually set the time, LaFratte said. Advancing the clock one hour for daylight savings is easy and just involves speeding up the clock to move to rotate through an hour, but moving it back an hour every November is more complicated and requires the town to basically shut the clock off, wait 11 hours and turn it back on, he said. The borough also has to fix the time anytime there is a power outage, LaFratte said. The clocks original mechanism used a series of weights that had to be reset every so many days, LaFratte said. In the 1980s, Verdin came in and updated the system with a gearbox that controls the clock installed downstairs in the Municipal Building, he said. The new system will have a computerized controller using an atomic clock for its time, reducing needed maintenance and automatically keeping time, LaFratte said. When its installed, it will automatically adjust the clock to account for daylight savings and standard time, as well as after any power outages. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Once its set, were good, he said. The outer ring of the clock face and the numbers will stay the same, but there will be a new inner circle and hands, LaFratte said. Everything is going to look like the 1911 clock thats been there ever since the building was built, he said. * Olyphant will modernize the inner workings of its century-old clock tower at Municipal Building this year, keeping the appearance the same while controlling the time digitally, as seen on Willow Avenue on Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. The numerals and outer ring of the clock face will remain the same, but the inner ring and hands will be replaced. (FRANK WILKES LESNEFSKY / STAFF PHOTO) Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement * Olyphant will modernize the inner workings of its century-old clock tower at Municipal Building this year, keeping the appearance the same while controlling the time digitally, as seen on Willow Avenue on Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. The numerals and outer ring of the clock face will remain the same, but the inner ring and hands will be replaced. (FRANK WILKES LESNEFSKY / STAFF PHOTO) Show Caption 1 of 2 Olyphant will modernize the inner workings of its century-old clock tower at Municipal Building this year, keeping the appearance the same while controlling the time digitally, as seen on Willow Avenue on Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. The numerals and outer ring of the clock face will remain the same, but the inner ring and hands will be replaced. (FRANK WILKES LESNEFSKY / STAFF PHOTO) Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Expand Council President Jimmy Baldan called the clock tower a landmark in Olyphant that people see whenever they cross the bridge from Blakely into the town. With the borough working to revitalize its downtown in recent years, Baldan said both residents and his fellow council members take pride in their century-old buildings, and maintaining and investing in them sends the message that Olyphant is a great place to start a business, to come and live. We have to keep these landmarks alive and functioning because its a beautiful piece of property in town, and people enjoy looking up at the tower, Baldan said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Anytime theres an issue with the clock, residents let the borough know, he said. We dont even have to look up, Baldan said. The new system will make it much easier for the borough, he said. This has done its time, he said. Its well worth the investment into the building so it will go for another 100 years. LAWRENCE COUNTY, Miss. (WJTV) Two people were arrested a body was discovered in Lawrence County. Lawrence County Sheriff Ryan Everett said deputies responded to a call around 7:30 a.m. on August 5 about a body being located in the Silver Creek area. They were assisted by the Mississippi State Fire Marshals Office, the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation (MBI), the Lawrence County Coroners Office and McComb police, who had a report of a missing person about 24 hours earlier. Everett said the unidentified body was found tied up in a gravel pit and burned beyond recognition. The body was transported to the Mississippi State Crime Lab for an autopsy. Timothy LaShun Hathorn (Courtesy: Lawrence County Sheriffs Office) Ryan Elizabeth Tobias (Courtesy: Lawrence County Sheriffs Office) Shortly after midnight on August 6, Everett said deputies arrested Timothy LaShun Hathorn, of Brookhaven, in connection to the case. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Authorities were searching for Ryan Elizabeth Tobias, 39, in connection to the case. The sheriff announced Tobias was arrested on August 8. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Daily 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 WJTV. Killeen, TX (FOX 44) The friendly battle is back, and its all for a good cause to donate blood, support your favorite department, and help save lives. The Killeen Fire and Police Departments host the Battle of the Badges event annually to support community members. It saves a lot of lives, Police Chief Pete Lopez said. You never know when youre going to need it yourself or your family members. So any time we have an event like this, we always like to support it at KPD and KFD, and always will support the blood drive. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Every year, their goal is to have a larger turnout than the year before and to have as many people donate as possible. We only have a one-day supply in our local hospitals, Fire Chief James Kubinski explained. So whatever we can do today to help, maybe bolster that, if we can make it a two-day supply. Thats a huge win for the community, and thats all that matters. It doesnt matter whether its the Fire or the Police who get the most votes. The matter is the community wins when we get more people out here. All in good spirits, Chief Lopez joked that Chief Kubinski uses his dogs as a bribe but implied theyve got a mascot too. Since 2023, Chief Kaminski has just been cheating at this event, Lopez joked. He brings dogs out here, he brings helicopters, he brings donuts, and thats not fair. But it doesnt matter whatever he does, were going to beat them anyway. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In the Battle of the Badges, there are no losers both departments share the same goal at the end of the day, which strengthens the brotherhood between them. Our relationship couldnt be better, Chief Kubinski expressed. We have each others backs. We dont take it lightly when we say were Brothers in Red and Brothers and Blue. The fact of the matter is, when it comes down to it and when the works got to be done, weve got each others backs. Whether youre Team Boots or Team Badges, one things for sure every donation makes a difference. 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 KWKT - FOX 44. A man has died as a major wildfire rages out of control south-east of Athens, fuelled by strong winds, the local fire service said on Friday. Fire service spokesman Vassilis Vathrakogiannis confirmed that an elderly man was found dead in his remote home. Emergency services discovered the body at the scene. Residents of several villages have been evacuated, and civil protection authorities declared the highest level of fire danger across much of the Aegean. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Despite the measures taken, several dozen houses were burned, according to local media reports. The blaze, which erupted on Friday afternoon for reasons that remain unclear, is burning about 35 kilometres outside the Greek capital. Authorities said three water-bombing aircraft and five helicopters are battling the flames from the air, while firefighters from other parts of the country are reinforcing local crews. Additional support is on the way, state broadcaster ERT reported. Tourist facilities in the area are not currently at risk, according to reporters at the scene. The Athens meteorological service has warned of gale-force winds across the Aegean. Forecasters expect strong winds to continue hampering firefighting efforts in the coming days. Meteorologists warned that, given the ongoing drought, even small sparks could ignite a large blaze within minutes. COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) Police have identified a potential suspect involved in a fatal shooting outside of a north Columbus bar Friday morning. According to Columbus police, officers arrived at Ledos Tavern, in Old North Columbus, between the Ohio State campus and Clintonville. One victim was found suffering from a gunshot wound and was taken to the hospital in critical condition. Sam Gresham Jr., central Ohio activist, dies The victim, identified as 40-year-old Bryan Morris Jr., was pronounced dead a short time later, while the suspected shooter fled the scene in a white BMW. Police originally said the shooting occurred on the patio, just as the bar was closing at 2:26 a.m., but they are also canvassing areas just outside of the bar. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement At around 7 a.m., the suspects car was found parked at the LC New Albany Apartment Complex, but the suspect was not in the immediate area. One person was shot dead outside of Ledos Tavern in Old North Columbus, Aug. 8, 2025 (NBC4/Ronald Clark) One person was shot dead outside of Ledos Tavern in Old North Columbus, Aug. 8, 2025 (NBC4/Ronald Clark) One person was shot dead outside of Ledos Tavern in Old North Columbus, Aug. 8, 2025 (NBC4/Gracie Collins) P:olice search for a suspect in New Albany after one person was shot dead outside of Ledos Tavern in Old North Columbus, Aug. 8, 2025 (NBC4/Ronald Clark) The incident closed area streets around the intersection of North High Street and Duncan Street for several hours while authorities investigate, which includes reviewing video surveillance inside and outside of the bar. All streets were opened at 5:30 a.m. Columbus police identified 34-year-old Andre Jordan as the alleged suspect in a media release Friday evening. They are asking anyone who knows the whereabouts of Jordan to contact the Columbus Police Homicide Unit at 614-645-4730. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement People who live in The Old North neighborhood told NBC4 they were shocked to hear this news. They said they havent seen this kind of violence in this neighborhood in years. One man NBC4 spoke with said he goes and gets pizza at Ledos once a week. He said on the weekends, the bar is always busy. Oh, I was shocked. I mean, its crazy to see or hear about. You know, I was dead asleep, I guess. Yeah, I had no idea that it happened, Drake Welshons said. People said they still feel safe living here, but what happened overnight is horrible. I mean, its terrible. I mean, but its summertime. Thats what people do. I mean, people get angry and they shoot each other and they fight over stupid discrepancies, Sebastien Schohn said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Police were stopping into businesses as they started to open on Friday to see if anyone had security footage to help with the investigation. Police ask that anyone with information regarding this incident to call the Homicide Unit at (614) 645-4730 or Central Ohio Crime Stoppers at (614) 461-TIPS (8477). 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. Sioux Falls, S.D. (Canaries) Down to their final strike, the Canaries recorded their only hit in Thursdays contest; a walkoff three-run homerun off the bat of Jabari Henry. The Goldeyes broke a scoreless tie with a sacrifice fly in the top of the eleventh inning. Henrys roundtripper came with two outs on a full count in the bottom half and two runners on base. It was also Henrys 159th long ball as an MLB Partner League player, tying the all-time record set by David Washington. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Thomas Dorminy fanned eight over seven scoreless innings and Will Levine tossed two frames of relief to earn the win. The Canaries (44-34) open a three-game series with Kansas City on Friday at 7:05pm. 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. BLACK RIVER FALLS The Jackson County Sheriffs Office says one person was killed Wednesday in a rollover crash. According to the department, callers reported the crash just before 6:30 a.m. It happened on County Road C in Franklin Township. Deputies found the vehicle and that the driver, identified as Aurora Olson, 19, of Black River Falls, had been ejected in the crash. A helicopter took her from the scene, but she later died. Witnesses said the driver was going fast and failed to keep control on a curve. It ran into a ditch and struck a driveway, sending the vehicle airborne. DES MOINES, Iowa There are three Iowa Democrats in the race to win the partys nomination for Republican Senator Joni Ernsts seat. Nathan Sage was at the Iowa State Fair at the Iowa Democratic Party booth talking with Iowans about what issues matter to them. Sage also communicated the issues he deems as priorities and what he would push for if he was elected. You can view the full interview with Sage and WHO 13s Zach Fisher in the video above. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Grimes man charged after baby hospitalized with serious injuries Sage is the only candidate on the Iowa Democrat side that is not a state-elected official. State Representative J.D. Scholten (D) and State Senator Zach Wahls (D) are both also vying for the seat. When asked about how he views the primary competition, he feels that his message will resonate the most with voters. Well, I think, you know, when you look at it like the other candidates in this race are qualified, all great candidates. But Im not that; I am not your your normal politician. I am rough around the edges. I am not going to give you a one liners. Im not going to talk about political rhetoric. At the end of the day, I think were past that. I think were at a stage in this world, a stage in this state, where we need somebody that is actually going to call it how I see it. Be blunt about it, be honest and truthful with a lot of people and talk about issues that only I can talk about. Im the working class candidate. Im the guy that grew up in the trailer park, said Sage, in part. You can learn more about Sage, like him being a veteran and the Executive Director of the Knoxville Chamber of Commerce, and more about his policy points on his website. Iowa news Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. The FBI arresting Barack Obama in the Oval Office. The devastated Gaza Strip turned into a luxury seaside resort. Donald Trump as the next Pope, a jedi, Superman or in Sydney Sweeneys American Eagle jeans. If you have been online in recent months (chronically or no), chances are that you have come across these AI-generated images. More often than not, the images are not only posted by obscure social media accounts with 12 followers but also by the president and his closest allies. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Even the White Houses official accounts, which are passed down from one administration to the next, are joining in. Under Trump 2.0, American government officials and institutions have adopted a communication style that heavily relies on AI-generated comedic visuals and often diverts pop culture to ridicule political adversaries and marginalised groups. As a result, the Donald Trump has become the worlds troller-in-chief. Desensitise, demonise, dehumanise In the lead-up to the 2016 US presidential election already, humour emerged as a strong bonding agent in online alt-right communities. Memes like Pepe the Frog became rallying symbols for a political fringe that found its messiah in Donald Trump. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Sophisticated generative AI models have now taken meme production one step further. They offer a myriad of new possibilities to create manipulated and fictional content to target political enemies, Kurt Sengul, a researcher at Macquarie University in Australia, tells Euronews Culture. Preferred objects of mockery include women, the LGBTQ+ community, racial minorities and immigrants. Researchers found that AI-generated visuals depicting members of these marginalised groups attempt to demonise and dehumanise them. Related Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Immigrant men tend to be portrayed as scary monsters while women see their weight and age-related features distorted in a traditionally unattractive fashion. Humour can be a way of disciplining and alienating those who are seen as Others, says Sengul, whose research focuses on the political communication of far-right populism. In March, the White Houses official X account announced the arrest of alleged undocumented immigrant Virginia Basora-Gonzalez. The account later shared a Ghibli-style AI-generated image of Basora-Gonzalez crying while in handcuffs. The move prompted outrage. This is far beneath the Presidency, one X user wrote in a post liked 4,000 times. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement However, many Trump supporters loved it. Whoever runs this account deserves a raise,, one person wrote, while another posted: This is phenomenal. If you're here illegally, this can happen to you. Don't come here illegally. Don't be the next cartoon! Why so serious? While the Trump administration entertains its base with fictionalised content, real policies unfold. During his 2024 campaign, Trump said he would carry out the largest mass deportation in US history. Thousands of people have been deported since January 2025, some to countries that are not their own and where they face potential human rights abuses. The arrests will continue. The memes will continue, White House press aid Kaelan Dorr wrote on X shortly after Basora-Gonzalezs arrest. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The key ingredient to this online soup is extremism: from nativism to racial science to casual neo-Nazism and textbook misogyny, Nathan Taylor Pemberton wrote in a recent column for the New York Times. Generative AI is the latest tool that allows Trumps anti-woke visual humour to go always further while creating an ecosystem where nothing is serious. If you get upset, its because you are humourless and 'cant take a joke', Sengul explains. Elon Musks short stint as the de facto head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE, itself a meme reference) might have helped bring this AI-powered comedic pop culture into the White House. Musk founded his own AI company in 2023, which owns Xs AI chatbot Grok. His apparent Nazi salute was also responsible for one of the first memeified moments of Trumps second term. For Sengul though, this is a case of the chicken or the egg. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The online far-rights memetic warfare and use of humour was well underway before Elon Musks pivot towards Trump and MAGA, he says. Glorifying Trump In this ecosystem, Trump is the king. When he does not use AI memes against his adversaries, he represents himself as a jedi or, most recently, Superman. AI-generated visuals allow Trump to construct a superhuman persona which portrays him as an idealised leader with extraordinary In qualities, according to Noureddin Yeilaghi and Yi Mou from the Shanghai Jiao Tong University The US president seems to inspire others. Leaders like Argentinas Javier Milei and El Savadors Nayib Bukele have also used AI to depict themselves as superheroes. In Europe, far-right parties like Germanys Alternative fur Deutschland have not waited Trump to push narratives of foreign invasion thanks to AI. Whether the Trump administration eventually grows tired of this tasteless humour or keeps pushing comedic boundaries, one thing is certain: Weve been trolled. The Brief Peter Nguyen claims that he "only took one puff" of his vape in the bathroom of an American Airlines flight before a flight attendant barged in. Nguyen recorded the Aug. 4 encounter between him and the flight attendant on the SF-bound flight. According to the FAA, smoking on an aircraft in the U.S. is a federal offense. SAN FRANCISCO - An American Airlines passenger was caught vaping in the bathroom of a San Francisco-bound flight, then accused a flight attendant of assault after he got busted. Passenger claims he only took one hit What we know Peter Nguyen recorded the Aug. 4 encounter between himself and a flight attendant on American Airlines Flight 2860 from Phoenix to San Francisco International Airport, which was a two-hour flight, Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Nguyen told Storyful that he "only took one puff" of his vape before the flight attendant barged into the bathroom. "I told her I was just using the bathroom and I apologized for vaping and I was recording," Nguyen said. At the start of the nearly two-minute video, Nguyen is heard telling the flight attendant he was sitting on the toilet when she opened the door. The attendant appears to be explaining the safety hazards of his actions. Nguyen apologizes. "You can keep saying youre sorry, but I care about all these passengers," the flight attendant replies. According to the Federal Aviation Administration, smoking of any kind, including vaping, is prohibited on aircraft and is a federal offense. "You assaulted me" What they're saying In the video, the flight attendant appears to reach for Nguyens phone when she realizes he is recording. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Nguyen alleges the woman put her hands on him, though no physical contact is seen in the footage. "You do not put your hands on me," Nguyen said repeatedly. "You do not get to touch a passenger...You assaulted me." He then berates the attendant, demands an apology, and threatens to call the police once the plane lands, telling her shes "in so much trouble." When the flight landed, Nguyen was met by police. Its unclear if he faced any punishment. American Airlines confirmed an incident occurred on the flight. "A customer on American Airlines flight 2860 with service from Phoenix (PHX) to San Francisco (SFO) was removed from the aircraft upon arrival at SFO due to disruptive behavior. We thank our customers for their patience and apologize for any inconvenience," an American Airlines spokesperson said. The Source Storyful, American Airlines For years, teachers have been bashing their heads against the wall as students outsource their homework to large language model (LLM) chatbots like ChatGPT. The time-honored tradition of parenting-by-screen grossly exacerbated by the rise of LLM chatbots is now coming to a head with what many have called a "crisis in student literacy," as reading ability among children in the US hits all-time lows. The issue isn't just affecting K-12 either; university professors have reported a similar drop-off in reading ability among incoming college students. But as students of all ages grow to depend on AI to do their thinking for them, it seems AI companies also depend on students to make up a staggering proportion of their user base. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Data recently released by AI platform OpenRouter, a "one stop shop" for interacting with the medley of AI models on the market, shows a steep drop-off in ChatGPT queries from late May, when the school year is still in swing, to early June, when schools let out. Though OpenRouter's data doesn't reflect every ChatGPT user, it does collect anonymous usage data of approved LLMs from its user base of 2.5 million, offering a snapshot into overall trends across AI models. Taken together, the daily stats show that ChatGPT usage hit its peak on May 27, when users generated 97.4 billion tokens a unit of measurement for data processed by an AI system that OpenAI says is equivalent of about four English characters in a single day, right during finals season. In May, ChatGPT users generated an average of 79.6 billion tokens per day compared to 36.7 billion for the same period in June, when schools typically let out. OpenRouter's graph of the data speaks volumes: OpenAI data for ChatGPT usage, which begins on May 10, 2025, until August 7, 2025. The bar graph shows high volumes of tokens generated in May and early June, quickly falling by over half from June 12 and after. Interestingly, there were some dips during the school year as well which just so happened to line up with weekends. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Though the data collected by OpenRouter has some limitations, it's nonetheless one of the largest sources of public data on GPT usage available short of speculation, and is used by Cornell scholars and VC investors alike. However, what makes the correlation particularly compelling is the fact that this isn't the first time ChatGPT usage has seemed to drop off right when school lets out. In 2023, Business Insider first considered the theory that summer vacation was leading to a drop in ChatGPT queries. Months later in mid-September, Bloomberg reported that traffic was rising again, following estimates from third-party firms. And earlier this year, an in-depth study of 10,000 ChatGPT prompts by scholars at Rutgers found that student interactions with the bot strongly correlated with their school calendar. Spring break and summer were particular dead zones, leading the team to conclude that "most usage was academic." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In a strange twist fit for the AI era, the temporary loss of users over the summer is likely to OpenAI's benefit, at least in the short term. An analysis of OpenAI's 2024 finances found that the company burned through $9 billion to generate $4 billion in revenue, all of which went toward compute costs to process tokens. Put another way, OpenAI spent $2.25 for every dollar it brought in which is probably why the company doesn't expect to reach a positive cash flow until 2029. Its decision to launch GPT-5 this week may be a strategic one as well, since the inevitable surge in usage won't hit the extraordinary heights that it would if school was in session. AI's dominant role in academics is no accident. Back in July, it was reported that the leading LLM chatbot makers Microsoft, OpenAI, and Anthropic had lavished the American Federation of Teachers with some $23 million in a "partnership" meant to bring AI into classrooms. That's as the Trump administration which previously awarded OpenAI a $500 billion contract withheld over $6 billion in federal education grants earmarked for already struggling schools throughout the US. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Overall, it'll be interesting to watch how the data changes in September, when students return to classrooms and the chatbots that now seem to be a permanent fixture of them. More on ChatGPT: College Students Are Sprinkling Typos Into Their AI Papers on Purpose CHICOPEE There will be a new City Collector after Stanley Iwanicki announced his decision to retire last October. Rajesh Raj Sanghvi, a local businessman; Sandra Ann Peret, a career nurse and School Committee member; and Fred T. Krampits, a longtime City Council member, all pulled nomination papers for the position this year. The City Collector, which, in Chicopee, is not combined with the city treasurer or assessors office, is responsible for collecting residents taxes, excise bills, utility bills, parking tickets and sewer use fees. It is a full-time position and a four-year term. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Sanghvi, who owns the Shell FoodMart on Grove Street in Chicopee, said he wants to make sure everyone has the opportunity to succeed. Theres no ulterior motive, he said. I want to give back to the community that has given me so much. In 2009, the candidate, his wife Kamini Kamy Sanghvi, and their son, Jay, moved to Chicopee. Originally from Bombay, India, Raj Sanghvi said his story is an example of the American Dream. To come here with nothing and start from scratch at 44 (years old), we went through a lot of hardship, but, the kindness of the people he has met over the years has made all the difference, he said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As a small business owner, Sanghvi said he is passionate about the citys economic development, which led him to serve on the citys Planning Board. If elected, Sanghvis aim is to help the older, vulnerable community members have increased access to the Collectors Office. Whether its getting a meeting with residents or setting up drop boxes to ensure people are getting their bills paid on time, I want to make sure people know what is available to them, he said. In addition to the ideas he has for Chicopees older residents, Sanghvi said he is thinking of setting up a payment plan to help people pay all of their bills on time. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Recently, The Republican received an email from the Peret campaign voicing concerns that Sanghvis campaign used wording on his social media that closely resembles Perets slogan: From the heart of Chicopee for the good of Chicopee. When asked about this, both Sanghvi and his campaign manager, Jeff Trask, said none of the Sanghvi campaigns flyers, mailers, ads or signs include Perets slogan. My slogan is Service with a smile; Solutions from the heart, said Sanghvi, who said thats a personal motto that he lives by as well. Peret, a registered nurse and manager and director of operations at the Chicopee Visiting Nurse Association, said after serving a total of 16 years on the citys School Committee, she wanted to give someone else the opportunity. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I thought it might be good time to step back and let someone who has kids in the system and might have different insight and what (students and teachers) needs are, to have a say, she said. Peret announced she would no longer represent Ward 4 for the committee in May, but still wanted to continue doing something for the city, she said. The candidate is a third-generation Chicopee resident who owns a home and pays taxes in the city, she said. When she heard Iwanicki, the outgoing collector, was retiring, she said she spoke with him about the role and her decision to run for the position. Throughout her career, Peret said she has gained experience working closely with the municipal government in her role as the committees liaison to the city, and she has learned about complex billing regulations while at her day job the processes of which she said she has had to explain to staff and patients. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement She said she has also worked on case management and has learned how to figure out how to assess a persons needs and the services that will assist them. Peret said her campaign has been a grassroots effort, starting out with just her husband and daughter. Its energizing, she said. A range of people have gotten involved. Her slogan, she said, reflects on who I am and who my family is, she said. When asked what she might do differently if she is elected, Peret said no one really knows the position until youre in it. However, she said residents have suggested tax bills could go out more frequently than twice a year, which is the practice in Chicopee. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Theres a process to change things, and you cant just arbitrarily change the number of times bills can go out, but the city is compassionate and would welcome making a payment early, she said. She is also passionate about making the collectors website more easily accessible to Chicopees growing diverse population and updating the frequently asked questions portion of the collectors website. The candidate said while the city has made it possible to translate English into multiple languages, it would be good for the citys website to have the language capability prominent as one accesses the site. I pledge to the taxpayer that I will ask tough questions, answer their questions, and the door will always be open at the city office, she said, if elected. I will be truthful to them. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Peret said she will either take an extended leave of absence from her role at the visiting nurse association or she will resign so that she will available for the full-time role. Krampits, the third candidate, has served on the City Council for more than two decades, representing Ward 5. Krampits, appointed to the position to finish the term for his father, Frederick R. Krampits, who died in 2002. It has been humbling that people have re-elected me to the council, he said. Recently, Krampits became the vice president of the council, taking over for longtime At-Large Councilor Robert Bob Zygarowski, who died earlier this year. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Now, hes looking for a change of pace while remaining in public service. Krampits pulled papers in the spring. While on the council, which is a part-time role, Krampits said he gained experience handling municipal finances. I know how finances work through the city, I have worked with constituents on their issues and I have worked with department heads on how to avoid city bureaucracy, he said. I have the blueprint on who to go to. At his day job, Comark Communications in Southwick, where Krampits was a customer service engineer for three decades, the councilor said he learned how to build relationships with customers. He also works part-time as chief engineer for WTCC 90.7FM at Springfield Technical Community College. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Prior to reaching a decision to run for the position, Krampits said he met with Iwanicki, the longtime collector who announced his retirement last fall, to speak about the day-to-day operations. There isnt a lot of latitude because a collector has to follow Massachusetts General Laws for the processes, Krampits said, but he feels confident he can take on the job. I try my best when it comes to anything, Krampits said. If elected, Krampits said he would focus on: improving customer service by having a live online payment process; creating the ability to view past and present tax payments applied to a residents account; forming a pay-by-phone option to make the process customer-friendly; and doing research with the Assessors Office to look into the possibility of quarterly tax payments, he said. He also said he would work with Iwanicki to ensure there is a smooth transition between collectors. more news from Western Massachusetts Read the original article on MassLive. The first door Dorothy McCollum opened for someone in need was her childhood home. Her mother purchased the house in December 1970, and after her death, McCollum took over the property. By 2017, McCollum began using her home to shelter youth and victims of trafficking. This weekend, McCollum will open another door of hope for those in need at the grand opening of One9 Trauma and Behavioral Health, continuing years of supporting victims of human trafficking and abuse through her nonprofit, Ophelia Speaks. The new trauma center, located in the Harambee neighborhood at 2669 N. King Drive, will offer various holistic health services for victims of trafficking, domestic abuse and trauma, an issue that has become increasingly prevalent across the city. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The grand opening will take place from noon to 4 p.m. Aug. 9 and feature an opportunity to meet the One9 staff and other community resources. The center will offer talk therapy, medical services, art classes and eight rooms for transitional housing. McCollum, the executive director, said she founded Ophelia Speaks in honor of her deaf and mute niece, Ophelia Preston, who McCollum said was sex trafficked and later killed in a separate incident in 1994. Preston was only 24 when she was killed. Since 2018, Ophelia Speaks, formerly Saving Ophelia, has committed to creating "a world free from exploitation," and offering pathways to recovery for Milwaukee victims of trafficking and abuse. To date, the Milwaukee Police Department has recorded 28 human trafficking cases in 2025. Last August, there were 22 cases, marking a 27% increase between the years so far, according to Milwaukee Police Department crime statistics. At the end of 2024, there were 37 total cases. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The mission to carry on Preston's legacy will continue in One9, which will offer addiction and talk therapy as well as general medical services, according to McCollum, who serves as One9's lead therapist. Theres so many people in our community, Black and Brown people, who suffer with mental health, and they dont address it, or theyre not allowed to address it, McCollum said. Even today, kids are not allowed to talk about their trauma. McCollum said sometimes the best way to help those who come to the center is to begin with a breath. I always ask them to breathe, she said. Believe it or not, a lot of adults dont breathe. They sit there, and theyre not breathing." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Once they have taken a breath, she prods a little deeper. "I don't just want them to tell me what they are feeling, but where they are feeling it. Sometimes it ends with them crying and me crying with them." The center will eventually offer limited, transitional housing for recently incarcerated people, but the housing will not immediately be available after the grand opening. One of eight in-progress bedrooms on the upper floor of the One9 Trauma and Behavioral Health facility at the Ophelia Speaks building in Harambee in Milwaukee on Aug. 5, 2025. The upper facility will be used for people in transitional living, such as men coming out of prison. One9 will also host weekly art classes led by Zena Smith, a local artist who said the mission of the center is close to heart. Between 2020 and 2023, Smith lost her husband and sister to gun violence. She said art was always a part of her life, but the trauma of losing two people close to her further cemented the need to express herself through art. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Art can save you from so much," she said. The One9 center is just one of the major initiatives housed under Ophelia Speaks' organizational umbrella. The nonprofit is also home to Allies LLC, a program that supports local teens in foster care, and Oh Snap by Shell Photography. Ophelia Speaks will continue to offer shelter for youth and other victims of trafficking and violence at McCollum's childhood home, near North 19th Street and West Capitol Drive. Who was Ophelia Preston? Dorothy McCollum poses for a portrait with an image of her late niece, Ophelia Preston, at the Ophelia Speaks building in Harambee in Milwaukee on Aug. 5, 2025. The ONE9 Trauma and Behavioral Health facility will have a grand opening ceremony this Saturday at Ophelia Speaks. Preston was not just McCollum's niece, but her best friend, she said. McCollum's sister left Preston in the care of McCollum's mother when she was still a baby. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Growing up, McCollum helped look after Preston and was one of the only family members who learned sign language to communicate with her. The two were close as they lived through difficult times together. They both battled with substance use disorder, McCollum said. Preston went missing for the first time in 1990, McCollum said. Using a teletypewriter, a special phone system that allows the deaf to receive messages over phone networks, Preston sent a message to McCollum's sister, Carolyn Higgs, a few days after she went missing, saying she was in Chicago and needed help. McCollum said she and her husband drove to Chicago to find Preston. After successfully bringing Preston home, McCollum said that her niece later revealed that she was a victim of sex trafficking. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Preston went missing again in 1994. McCollum had not seen her for a few days and did not think much of it until Preston's daughter's third birthday party. "Birthdays in our family are big," McCollum said. "It is like your own personal holiday, and we got this big party in the back of my mother's house, and where is she at? One thing she is not going to miss is her daughter's birthday party. Her daughter is her life." Following the birthday party, McCollum waited for Preston to resurface until her brother suggested she check the morgue. What followed confirmed McCollum's deepest fear. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Preston was found at the morgue after being raped and strangled to death, then left in a dumpster near North King Drive and West Vine Street in Milwaukee, according to 2015 reporting from the Journal Sentinel. It took about two decades before a suspect was arrested for Preston's murder. DNA evidence from a rape kit pointed to Melvin Jones, according to a criminal complaint. In 2015, Jones was charged with first-degree intentional homicide and convicted the following year. At the time of his conviction, Jones was serving a 30-year prison sentence for assaulting and strangling another woman in 2001, according to the Journal Sentinel. "It was a big relief, but I hate my mother wasn't here to see it." McCollum said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Today, the "Ophelia Speaks" sign that hangs over One9 Trauma and Behavioral Health gives a voice to the voiceless, McCollum said. "Ophelia, she couldn't hear or talk," McCollum said. "Now, she has a voice, and her voice rings high." If you or anyone you know is a victim of human trafficking, help and support is available. If you are in immediate danger, call 911. The Human Trafficking Hotline phone number is +1 (888) 373-7888. If you cannot call, text 233733 or report a tip on the website. Everett Eaton covers Harambee, just north of downtown Milwaukee, for the Journal Sentinel's Neighborhood Dispatch. Reach him at ejeaton@gannett.com. As part of the newsroom, all of Everetts work and coverage decisions are overseen solely by Journal Sentinel editors. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Support for the Dispatch comes from Bader Philanthropies, Zilber Family Foundation, Journal Foundation, Northwestern Mutual Foundation, Greater Milwaukee Foundation and individual contributions to the Journal Sentinel Community-Funded Journalism Project. The project is administered by Local Media Foundation, tax ID #364427750, a Section 501(c)(3) charitable trust affiliated with Local Media Association. Learn more about our community-funded journalism and how to make a tax-deductible gift at bit.ly/MJS_support . Checks can be addressed to Local Media Foundation with JS Community Journalism in the memo, then mailed to: Local Media Foundation, P.O. Box 85015, Chicago, IL 60689. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Center for victims of trauma, trafficking, domestic violence opens in Harambee The 12-day Israeli air campaign in June was a test of technological dominance. It was a quick and massive victory for Israel and for the U.S. The war severely crippled Irans military, exposing critical weaknesses in its air defenses and aging air force. Irans fleet of Cold War-era jets was no match for Israeli stealth fighters, allowing Israel to quickly achieve air superiority. This dominance enabled Jerusalem to decimate Irans military leadership and destroy key nuclear and military sites. In response to these vulnerabilities, Tehran is now planning to acquire Chinese J-10C fighter jets to modernize its air force and reassert control over its airspace. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Iran-Israel war also tested the limits of Irans alliance with Russia, which offered little more than diplomatic support to Tehran during the conflict. Despite a recently signed strategic partnership agreement and years of close cooperation, Russias support for Iran during this crisis has proven largely rhetorical. Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned the U.S. attacks, describing them as unjustified. Putin called for dialogue without offering any military aid, claiming that Israel is almost a Russian-speaking country, much to the dismay of Iran. Russias failure to deliver on a 2023 agreement for Su-35 jets and its wavering commitment to help Iran during the Iran-Israel war have led Iran to openly question Russias reliability as an ally. Consequently, Tehran is now turning to China for advanced military hardware that Russia failed to provide. Irans weapons procurement talks with Beijing, therefore, mark a subtle but profound shift away from Moscows aerospace orbit, signaling a significant shift in Irans strategic partnerships and potentially impacting the fragile strategic balance in the region. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Iran is in high-level discussions with China to acquire up to 40 Chengdu J-10C multirole fighter jets, along with advanced air defense systems. The J-10C sometimes called the Rafale Killer after its successful engagement against French-made Indian Rafale jets in a 2025 India-Pakistan conflict could significantly alter the regional balance of power in Irans favor to the detriment of Israel and Arab Gulf states. This acquisition would be a major step in modernizing Irans air force, bridging the technological gap with its rivals, and potentially deterring future Israeli strikes. Such a deal would also solidify Chinas growing influence as a defense supplier in the Middle East and deepen its strategic partnership with Iran. Acquiring the J-10C jets could trigger a regional arms race, with other countries seeking to modernize their air forces to counter Irans new capabilities. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other Arab Gulf neighbors are concerned about the potential transfer of Chinese jets to Iran, but Israel is worried the most. Israel is closely watching these developments and is concerned that Irans acquisition of these advanced jets could deter future Israeli strikes and bolster Irans ability to defend its airspace. Israel seeks to halt the fighter jet deal between China and Iran. A successful deal would also cement Chinas position as a major arms provider to Iran, further strengthening their strategic partnership. Iran views the Chinese J-10C jets as a key to modernizing its almost nonexistent air force and countering Israels air superiority. If Iran succeeds in striking a deal, this will mark a clear strategic pivot toward China for military hardware. Currently, China appears to be the only nation willing to supply Iran with advanced weaponry. However, Beijing is proceeding cautiously due to several factors. Past attempts by Iran to acquire J-10Cs in 2015 were thwarted by a United Nations arms embargo and Chinas demand for cash payments over Irans proposed oil-and-gas barter. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In addition, Chinas reluctance to fully commit to large-scale arms exports to Iran is rooted in its desire to avoid Western backlash and its complex relations with Irans regional rivals, such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. These Gulf states are crucial energy suppliers and trading partners for China. Furthermore, China prioritizes stabilizing its relationship with Washington to focus on its own technological and economic self-sufficiency, which is a more critical goal than the potential profits from selling advanced weapons to Iran. Despite this hesitancy regarding advanced weapons sales, China is and will remain a vital ally for Iran through continued oil purchases in violation of international sanctions. More than 90 percent of Irans oil exports go to China, providing a crucial financial lifeline to the sanctions-stricken nation. The arms deal is far from certain. For China, maintaining access to the Gulfs energy resources and ensuring regional stability outweigh the benefits of supplying Iran with advanced weaponry. If unable to acquire Chinese fighter jets, Iran would be susceptible to recurring Israeli air strikes, hindering its ability to enhance its ballistic, drone, and nuclear capabilities. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The stakes are high for inaction. Washington possesses several leverages against Beijing. The U.S. is a major export market for China and contributes significantly to its GDP growth. America must use this leverage to prevent Chinas potential weapons sale to Iran. Ahmad Hashemi is a research fellow at the Hudson Institute. 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. NewsNation Chief Washington Anchor and On Balance host Leland Vittert was a foreign correspondent for four years in Jerusalem. He gives you an early look at tonights 9 pm ET show. Subscribe to War Notes here. What could go wrong : They Are 16 and 17 Years Old, and They Want to Vote. Like, Now, headlines The New York Times. NO! : 16-year-olds cant drive in many states so why on Earth should they be allowed to vote? SOCIALISM : Zohran Mamdanis victory as the Democratic nominee for mayor of New York City is largely thanks to very young progressives turning out for state-run grocery stores and rent control. Mamdani won nearly 80% of the vote in precincts where the median voter was under 40 years old. Letting those who pay for none of the cost of government vote on what the government shall provide is a losing proposition. President Donald Trump delivers remarks as he hosts an event on National Purple Heart Day in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, on August 7, 2025. (Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP) To Summit or Not Question of the day : Whos playing who? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement President Trump thinks hes playing Russian President Vladimir Putin, while Putin thinks hes playing Trump. Truth : Its probably a little of both to be sure, Putin thinks he overplayed his hand with Trump. Breaking : President Donald Trump took questions from reporters this afternoon about Russia check out part of the presidents exchange with reporters below: REPORTER: Is your deadline still standing for Vladimir Putin to agree with a ceasefire tomorrow, or is that fluid now? TRUMP: Its going to be up to him. Were going to were going to see what he has to say. Its going to be up to him. Very disappointed. Yeah. REPORTER: Does Putin have to meet with Zelenskyy in order and before you and Putin have to meet? TRUMP: No. They would like to meet with me, and Ill do whatever I can to stop the killing. So last month, they lost 14,000 people killed last month. Every week is four or five thousand people. So I dont like long waits. I think its a shame. And theyre mostly soldiers. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Earlier : Trumps comments come after the Kremlin announced earlier today that Putin will meet with Trump in the coming days. Putins willingness to meet with Trump comes after U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff spoke with Putin for three hours yesterday. President Trump gave Russia a deadline of August 8 tomorrow to reach a peace deal with Ukraine, promising severe sanctions if they do not come to the table for a deal. Whoa, Nellie: The White House says there isnt a summit scheduled. The two leaders held meetings multiple times during Trumps first term: July 2017: G20 Summit in Germany Nov. 2017: APEC Summit in Vietnam July 2018: Russia-U.S. summit in Finland Dec. 2018: G20 Summit in Argentina June 2019: G20 Summit in Japan What was said in these meetings? Well, no one really knows. Trump and Putin Have Met Five Times. What Was Said Is a Mystery, The New York Times wrote back in 2019. Be fair : Trump thinks foreign relations are based on his personal relationships with foreign heads of state so far, that hasnt panned out. Reality check : This is the closest we have gotten since the war started to a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement President Trump promised on the campaign trail that he could end the war in 24 hours, which clearly didnt happen, but he has gotten much closer to a deal than former President Joe Biden did while in office. Hes also threatening to hurt Putin far more than Biden ever did. Watch tonight : Ambassador John Bolton who was in the same room as Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin back in 2018 joins us on what a meeting between the two world leaders could look like. President Donald Trump flips through charts displaying economic data provided by the Heritage Foundation in the Oval Office on August 07, 2025. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images) Golden Age? The president loves to celebrate wins lots of winning, according to him he would be wise to remember that many have not felt a positive effect of his economic wins. Today: Trump took a victory lap in the Oval Office. Growing discontent : There is an increasing disconnect between what hes saying and celebrating and how real Americans feel. Look at the numbers : The president often points out the $80 billion America is bringing in from tariffs, but despite all of that money, 1 in 4 Americans say theyve had to skip a meal recently because of their financial situation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Bill OReilly made a salient point in his Message of the Day: Right now, outrageous insurance costs as well as medicine prices are hurting the average folks. Some of that is leftover from the hapless presidency of Joe Biden, but voters dont really care. They want relief now. Be fair : If they cant get relief, at least tell them you feel their pain a lot of people worry more about their grocery bill than their 401(k). Charlie Kirk debates with students at The Cambridge Union on May 19, 2025 in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire. (Photo by Nordin Catic/Getty Images for The Cambridge Union) The Brosphere In the worlds of television, politics and commentary, we all have egos. And nothing says the peak of cultural relevance more than being made fun of on South Park, an adult cartoon series. Recently, the show has been poking fun at President Trump and other figures in the MAGA world. In the latest South Park episode, one of the characters played conservative influencer and founder of Turning Point USA, Charlie Kirk. Click here to watch the clip. The real-world Kirk changed his profile picture on X to the character of him on the show, appearing to go along with the joke. The episode also features cartoon characters of President Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Well, Ive finally made it, Vance said in a post on X in response to being featured in the show. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Zoom out: Now that shows like South Park are trolling/featuring the Trump administration, where does the president stand in pop culture? Its not just cartoon series that seem to be growing less fond of Trump the podcast bros are following the same trend. The digital spaces with mainly conservative men dubbed the manosphere used to put lots of support behind President Trump, but some male podcasters and influencers are frustrated with the president. Popular members of the manosphere who have called out Trump include: Joe Rogan : The popular podcaster called the Trump administrations ICE raids insane despite endorsing Trump in the 2024 election. Theo Von : The podcaster called Trumps bombing of Iran a horrible idea. Andrew Schulz : The comedian who used to support Trump said that he is doing the exact opposite of everything I voted for. Watch tonight : Tony Kinnett and Kurt Bardella on why Trump is losing support among conservative male influencers. What can the GOP do to win the manosphere and their young, male audience back? Many seats remain empty during the session in the House Chamber at the Capitol in Austin, Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025. (Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman via Getty Images) Performance Politics at its Best/Worst The greatest thing that could possibly happen to the Texas state legislature Democrats who left the state to stop redistricting is getting arrested by the FBI And Republicans might do just that. Cornyn: FBI director approved request to help locate runaway Texas Democrats, our partners at The Hill write. If they get arrested, their fundraising will skyrocket, and the now-dying news story becomes the lead of every newscast. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Look back : Putting your political opponents in handcuffs doesnt work out too well just look at Donald Trump. Tune into On Balance with Leland Vittert weeknights at 9/8 CT on NewsNation. Find your channel here. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and not necessarily of NewsNation. 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. French President Emmanuel Macron announced on July 24 that his country would formally recognize the State of Palestine at the U.N. General Assemblys meeting in September. While 147 of the 193 U.N. member states previously recognized a Palestinian state, France represents the first major Western power to do so. Five days later, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced plans to follow suit in September. The following day, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney made a similar announcement. Unlike Macron, however, the two prime ministers each attached specific provisos to their plan to recognize Palestine. Starmer stated that Britain would proceed with recognition during the General Assembly meeting unless the Israeli government takes substantive steps to end the appalling situation in Gaza, agree to a ceasefire, and commit to a long-term, sustainable peace, reviving the prospect of a two-state solution. He added that this includes allowing the U.N. to restart the supply of aid, and making clear there will be no annexations in the West Bank. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Unlike Macron, Starmer also had a message for the terrorists of Hamas, saying that they must immediately release all the hostages, sign up to a ceasefire, disarm and accept that they will play no part in the government of Gaza. He promised to make an assessment in September on how far the parties have met these steps. Like Starmer, Carney made it clear that Canada could no longer tolerate the ongoing failure by the Israeli government to prevent the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian disaster in Gaza, with impeded access to food and other essential humanitarian supplies. In addition to reiterating that Hamas must immediately release all hostages taken in the horrific terrorist attack of Oct. 7; that Hamas must disarm; and that Hamas must play no role in the future governance of Palestine, Carney also focused on the role of the Palestinian Authority. Canadas intention to recognize a Palestinian state, he stated, is predicated on the Palestinian Authoritys commitment to much-needed reforms to hold general elections in 2026 in which Hamas can play no part, and to demilitarize the Palestinian state. And Carney, like Starmer, emphasized Canadas full support for Israels existence as an independent state. The same day Starmer issued his statement, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) won the support of 27 Democratic senators, among them previous staunch supporters of Israel, for a resolution to block the shipment of assault rifles to the Jewish State. In addition, 24 Democrats supported a second Sanders resolution to block the sale of offensive weapons to Jerusalem. Although both resolutions went down to defeat, they reflected growing American unease with the Israeli operation. While Carney and Starmer attached conditions to recognition that Hamas disarm and not play any part in Gazas future Hamas political bureau member Ghazi Hamad conveniently overlooked both demands. In an interview on Aug. 2, he crowed that the brutal Oct. 7 attacks had yielded very important historic achievements, notably to have prompted three major countries to recognize a Palestinian state. He also emphasized that we as Palestinians will not surrender our weapons not even a blank round. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Starmer and Carney were not alone in demanding that Hamas disarm. In a major political shift, the Arab League, meeting the same day as Starmers announcement and the Senate vote, not only unanimously called for a two-state solution but also demanded that the terrorist organization relinquish its weapons to the Palestinian Authority. A senior Middle Eastern diplomat indicated to me that if Netanyahu were to accept the two-state solution in principle even with many stipulated conditions for Palestine to obtain Israeli recognition that would suffice to win Arab support, undermine Hamass political momentum and increase international pressure on the group. In addition to international condemnation, domestic Israeli opinion has increasingly supported a deal that would release the hostages, both living and dead, in exchange for Israeli withdrawal from the Strip, whether or not Hamas disarms. Indeed, on August 1, approximately 600 former senior military, intelligence and police officers including former Mossad chief Tamir Pardo, former Shin Bet chief Ami Ayalon, former deputy Israeli army chief Matan Vilnai and former police chief Assaf Hefetz sent President Trump a remarkable letter calling upon him to pressure Netanyahu to end the Gaza operation and asserting that it is our professional judgement that Hamas no longer poses a strategic threat to Israel. At a meeting of senior officials that Netanyahu convened to consider the full occupation of Gaza, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces, reportedly opposed it. Unfortunately, Netanyahu will have none of it. Instead, on Thursday he announced the complete occupation of Gaza, which is clearly a prelude to the annexation of both the Strip and, most likely, the West Bank as well. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Netanyahus extremist far-right ministers have been pushing such policies for months. They envisage the eviction of all Gazans from their land, an act no different than Serbias violent attempt at ethnic cleansing during the 1990s Balkan conflict. The international reaction to the Cabinet decision is sure to be harsh. Washington may block any U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Israel, though even that outcome is far from assured. However, Britain, Canada and many members of the EU, perhaps with the exception of Germany, will likely impose economic sanctions against the Jewish State. Israels economy is already hurting from its nearly two-year-old war; sanctions could cripple it. As defense analyst Andrew Davidson points out, Israels military, with its small active force and heavy reliance on reserves, is structured for a short war, not a long conflict. Given the length of the war with Hamas, as well as ongoing demands for patrolling the countrys northern border against Hezbollah, the strains on the countrys reserve forces are weakening the human resources that are critical to Israels economy. Netanyahu and his right-wing henchmen are playing Russian roulette with their countrys welfare. They must be stopped. If more international pressure is needed to make that happen, so be it. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. This article was originally published in The Conversation. Public battles over what schools can teach about sex, identity and relationships, often framed around parental rights, have become more intense in recent years. Behind the loud debate lies a quiet contradiction. Many parents who say sex education should be taught only at home dont actually provide it there, either. As a scholar of sex education, I found that parents strongly opposed to comprehensive sex education in schools were the least likely to discuss health-promoting concepts such as consent, contraception, gender identity and healthy relationships. I discuss similar themes in my book, A Modern Approach to the Birds and the Bees. Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter Comprehensive sex education delays sexual activity, increases contraceptive use and reduces teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infection rates. It has a complex history, but has long received bipartisan support. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In recent years, however, old debates over sex education and funding have taken a sharper turn. In June 2025, the Trump administration ordered California to remove gender-identity materials from sex education lessons or risk losing over US$12 million in federal funding. This directive is part of a broader shift. Since the early 1980s, abstinence-focused policy has existed at the federal level under Reagan with the Adolescent Family Life Act. In recent years, however, a wave of state-level legislation, often driven by conservative advocacy groups, has tried to limit what schools can teach about sexuality. The parents rights movement In 2023, Florida expanded its Parental Rights in Education, also known as the Dont Say Gay law, to extend limits on discussing sexual orientation and gender identity to all K12 grades. The law states that sex can be defined only as strictly binary, limits discussions of gender and sexuality, imposes rules on pronoun use and increases school board authority over curricula. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Other states, including Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Kentucky, have imposed similar restrictions. Local school boards in states such as Florida, Idaho, Tennessee and Utah have removed textbooks, cut health courses and banned books with LGBTQ+ themes. Conservative, local school boards are reshaping sex education nationwide even though the vast majority of Americans oppose efforts to restrict books in public schools and are confident in public schools selection of books. Whos having the talk? As laws limit teaching about sex, gender and identity, I wanted to explore whether parents are stepping in to fill the gaps. About 10% of the surveyed parents said sex education should happen only at home. Those parents were also most likely to say they almost never or never discussed sex, sexuality and romance with their children. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement By contrast, parents who supported comprehensive, school-based sex ed were significantly more likely to discuss subjects including consent, contraception, identity and healthy relationships at home. The survey also found that parents who opposed comprehensive sex education were more likely to believe commonly circulated misinformation, such as the idea that talking about sex encourages early sexual activity and that condoms are not effective. These preliminary findings align with a robust body of peer-reviewed literature suggesting that parents who are more resistant to school-based sex ed are also less likely and less equipped to have open, informed conversations at home. These findings point to a gap between expert recommendations and what parents do. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement At the federal level, the Trump administration slashed funding for comprehensive sex education. The administration also expanded funding for abstinence-only programs, despite evidence of their ineffectiveness. Risks rise without education A 2022 report from Common Sense Media found that nearly half of teens report learning about sex online, with pornography among the top sources. Research indicates that even when schools and families avoid topics related to sexuality, young people still encounter sexual content. Yet, advocacy groups such as Moms for Liberty support the removal of what it considers age-inappropriate or sexually explicit materials from classrooms and school libraries. The absence of structured, accurate education likely has implications for public health. According to the CDC, individuals ages 15 to 24 account for nearly half of all new sexually transmitted infections in the U.S. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Mississippi, Alabama and Arkansas have some of the highest teen birth and sexually transmitted infection rates. Yet, these states are also among those with the most restrictive sex education policies and poorest sex ed ratings. These communities also face higher poverty, limited health care access and lower educational attainment. The combination deepens health disparities. LGBTQ+ youth are especially vulnerable to sexually transmitted infections and related health challenges. This vulnerability is compounded in regions with limited access to inclusive education. A 2023 CDC report found that students who receive inclusive sex education feel more connected to school and experience lower rates of depression and bullying. These benefits are especially critical for LGBTQ+ youth. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As debates over sex education continue, I believe its important for policymakers, school boards and communities to weigh parental input and public health data. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Look, were all tired of the Sydney Sweeney discourse. But if its going to cost Democrats politically and cost all of us brain cells we should at least understand why it mattered. Lets get through this together. For the blissfully uninitiated: The actress Sydney Sweeney was the face of a new ad for American Eagle where they say she has good jeans. This is obviously a play on good genes, which to most people was a reference to how she is good looking, and to a small cadre of extremely online lefty posters and SEO-chasing online media outlets was a reference to Nazism and eugenics. The right made a whole thing about it, accusing Democrats of being out-of-touch scolds, and somehow Democrats have found themselves on the defensive. The episode caused confusion, consternation and a wave of Democrats performatively affirming that yes, they too think Sydney Sweeney is beautiful. Welcome to 2025. You might be wondering why anybody cares about this. But heres the thing: The fact that this moment became a thing at all that a stupid pun could metastasize into a full-blown political moment says something real about the media ecosystem were all trapped in. And it says even more about why Democrats keep losing the culture war, and with it, the narrative war that inevitably shapes who wins elections. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In recent months, Democrats (myself included) reeling from Kamala Harris defeat (a campaign I worked for) have soul searched about why we lost. There are a lot of reasons why some of which are things that were in the campaigns control, some of which were not. But high perhaps the highest in the latter category was the national information environment. It moved the cultural current away from Democrats, and still, to this minute, is why were struggling to find our footing. Theres a fundamental asymmetry between the lefts information ecosystem and the rights. Some folks have dismissed the effort to address this as finding a liberal Joe Rogan a quixotic effort that is as ridiculous as it sounds. But the Sydney Sweeney affair has only underscored the political consequences of leaving the gap unaddressed: No one is going to vote on what Democrats think about Sydney Sweeney. They may well vote on whether or not the broader left is out-of-step with them culturally. For the right, the media-to-politics pipeline is pretty clear. In this instance, it started with a few random right-wing social media posters spotting the conversation about the American Eagle ad happening among a few hyper-online lefty TikTokers and started talking about it themselves. Seeing that it was getting traction, right-wing media figures like Megyn Kelly started talking about it, too. Right-wing media talking about it made it spread to non-political creators and more mainstream media like the Washington Post and New YorkMagazine. Right-wing politicians including President Donald Trump saw it was breaking through, and jumped on it themselves in a bid to criticize Democrats. A circle of gripes, with Republicans seeming to score easy points against Democrats even though no elected Democrat had gone anywhere near embracing this in the first place, and wouldnt (and shouldnt). Obviously, this chain of events had to do with more than just media mechanics. Messaging online is about metanarratives and implications and this brought up the standard notion that the left is a buzzkill. It let the average person gawk, and say, Isnt this ridiculous? And, of course, its attached to Sydney Sweeney, who is herself a viral lightning rod. But the right had the tools to take this from a weird thing that happened into a thing that for some reason were all talking about. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Meanwhile, in another corner of the internet, a bunch of conservative women started doing what appears to be actual Nazi salutes on Instagram (though some deny it). In many ways, it highlighted how ridiculous the good genes controversy was; as we saw during Medhi Hasans Jubilee episode, when right-wing influencers want to say theyre Nazi sympathizers, they dont exactly use invisible ink. But it also served as a reminder: Here were people doing an actually egregious thing, and Democrats didnt have the tools to make it stick. Indeed, Democrats have tried for years to tie the genuinely extreme, not-just-irritating views of the far right to the rest of the Republican Party, and most of the time, it fails. So, whats missing? I see two big things: First, Democrats need to invest in the communications infrastructure of today and tomorrow. And second, the party needs to recognize that message delivery has as much to do with resonance as persuasive value in and of itself. Persuasion starts at home. You need an enthusiastic, online base that shares your worldview. Progressives write off the value of partisan media at their peril. The rightward shift of cultural spaces online is because of the gravitational pull of a profitable, self-sustaining right-wing ecosystem. Its profitable because theres an audience that wants it, but theres an audience because they decided to invest in growing it. Too often, left philanthropy focuses on two-year time horizons on projects that we can prove lead to electoral outcomes. Whats really necessary isnt an effort to influence a specific election, but a long-term war plan aimed at shifting the cultural environment around us. If our partys awakening to new media ends up with Democrats running influencer campaigns that are just a paid-media line item, were losing. This is about funding, underwriting and providing stability to the profitable media entities that can push our perspectives in the places where voters are actually learning about the world. Ben Shapiro, Megyn Kelly and Charlie Kirk didnt get there on their own. They were invested in. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Which brings us to the other thing that stands in the way of us having nice things: We have a television view of politics, not a digital one and the television view often crowds out digital decision making. On the left, we start with a set of messages wed like for people to believe. We then test (like, wow, do we test) messages for their persuasive impact. We use paid media to get those messages in front of people, at which point we meet public perception for the first time, and fight against it. We treat politics as the slicing and dicing of issues, not the formation of perceptions. The right understands that virality is as much of a barometer for success as whether an argument is seen as persuasive. Conservatives use the internet as a testing ground for what has heat, and they work it up the ladder. Organic media wags the dog. Campaigns simply add kerosene to what people are already telling them they find resonant. In a world where voters dont trust institutions, messaging that feels native to their own conversations will be significantly more effective than whats being pushed to them in ads. This isnt to say that campaigns dont matter, or that ads dont work (in fact, another lesson from 2024 ought to be that they do). But theyre the last mile. If all youve got are ads after years of withering cultural definition, youre going to be playing from behind. Our space is just optimized for return on campaign investment, not shaping the narrative terrain on which theyre fought. Republicans have an always-on machine that shows not tells people a story about cultural values. And thats where real political resonance comes from. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Theres hope on the horizon. There is a hungry audience for left-of-center content that is fueling a massive outgrowth of upstarts. Outlets and creators like The Bulwark, Mutuals, Heather Cox Richardson, MeidasTouch and others are growing on YouTube, TikTok and Substack by the minute. But startups take investment, and if funders wait until close to the election to get started, it will be too late to influence both this one and the next one. Weve also seen that this kind of thinking can work when Democrats do it. Last year, both the Democratic presidential campaign and the broader progressive movement took Project 2025 from a viral curiosity and turned it into one of the Trump campaigns worst negatives. And right now, the party is effectively seizing on the Jeffrey Epstein saga, despite some initial hemming and hawing. Until recently, I ran into no shortage of people in D.C. who said Democrats should move on from the so-called Epstein files to economic issues not recognizing that Epstein is an economic issue. Its about elites doing terrible things and protecting themselves, a metanarrative that appeals to Americans sense that the system isnt working for them. Social media messaging is as much about implication as it is the blunt statement of fact. The Sydney-Sweeney-of-it-all showed how creating conflict around negative cultural narratives can lead to positive political outcomes. Democrats will just not be able to do it ourselves until we have both the mechanisms to let people try stuff that gets viral engagement and the will to use that information in political decision making. It takes some different thinking than were used to: Our reliance on the TV-and-press strategies of yesterday no longer fit. And when things dont fit, it might be time to get better jeans. On Thursday, President Donald Trump announced on Truth Social that he is ordering the Commerce Department to work on a new census that would exclude persons who are illegally in our Country illegally. Its often difficult to know from a social media post what Trump intends. But the president seems to be asking for a mid-decade census that would not count undocumented immigrants. There are just two problems with that idea: It is unconstitutional, and it is logistically impossible. The census of the U.S. population has many uses. Federal and state governments allocate money to communities based on their populations. Businesses use population forecasts to make decisions on where to expand. Law enforcement uses population counts to calculate crime rates and inform policing decisions. Health officials use the data to calculate disease rates to know where outbreaks occur and to send help. But Trumps idea concerns the census effect on political power. The federal government allocates congressional seats to states, which draw equal-population congressional and other districts using census population numbers. The most reasonable interpretation of the presidents missive is that he wants to affect the 2026 midterm elections. After all, Trump is pushing this amid the drama surrounding Texas redistricting efforts. There, Democratic state legislators have fled the state to deny Republicans a quorum needed to adopt a new congressional map, with the intended effect to tilt the table slightly toward the GOP in what will most likely be a challenging 2026 election environment. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A new census, similarly, would result in a different allocation of congressional seats to the states and another round of redistricting throughout the country. Yet it is difficult to know with certainty how excluding undocumented immigrants would affect population counts, since the Census Bureau does not ask about peoples legal status. The conventional wisdom (and presumably the presidents view) is that these people largely reside in Democratic areas, meaning these communities would be adversely affected. However, there is good reason to suspect that at least some Republican states and communities would be affected, too. For example, the red regions of Florida and South Texas both have sizable Hispanic immigrant communities, with Republicans representing districts in these regions. Regardless of which districts are affected, asking for a new census does not magically create one. Congress has to appropriate money. With red states and members representing red districts affected, it is unclear there are even enough votes to pass enabling legislation. And this is before Republican-allied organizations like business and law enforcement groups pressure Republican members of Congress to provide reliable population counts that would be jeopardized by the redirected resources needed to conduct a slap-dash census. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Then, the Census Bureau has to design and conduct a census. Planning, hiring and training tens of thousands of census takers and tabulating the collected numbers takes time. Indeed, we know how much time is required since the Census Bureau is already planning for when it will next conduct a census in 2030. Even in the extremely unlikely scenario Congress would appropriate money and the Census Bureau could produce new population counts, states would still need to draw new districts. And these new districts would have to be in place before 2025 primaries candidate filing deadlines, which are months away. The barriers to conducting a sweeping mid-decade redistricting before the 2026 elections are just simply insurmountable. Most likely is that Trump intends to affect how the 2030 census is conducted, and there is enough lead time to change that census. However, Trumps proposed change to exclude undocumented immigrants, whatever year the census is conducted, is unconstitutional. Section 2 of the Fourteenth Amendment clearly states that congressional seats are to be apportioned by the whole number of persons in each State. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trumps directive will be litigated, which poses yet another logistical barrier. The Supreme Court has sided with Trump on high-profile cases that consolidate his presidential power. Like Trump, it is difficult to read the minds of the six conservative justices. Still, these justices will have a difficult time dismissing the Constitutions plain language. If I were to guess what would happen, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick will order the Census Bureau to explore adding a question to the 2030 census asking for peoples legal status in the country. Congress may still need to pass enabling legislation, since adding a question is costly. Some people are already fearful to respond to the census, which leads to undercounts of immigrant communities. The addition of a legal status question would further deter their willingness to participate. In this scenario, the legal questions about using the data for apportionment and redistricting would be cans to be kicked down the road until the next president releases the population counts of the 2030 census. It would only be then that population counts could be used to apportion congressional seats to states and for redistricting. Advocacy groups representing immigrant communities would still most likely file lawsuits, though, alleging the addition of the status question negatively affects participation in the decennial census, thereby undermining the federal governments Fourteenth Amendment mandate. If there is a guarantee about anything Trump does with the federal government, it is that there will be lawsuits to follow. However the legal wrangling shakes out, one thing is certain: Just because the president says he wants an immediate census does not make it so. This article was originally published on MSNBC.com In a high-stakes skirmish over a GOP scheme to squeeze more House seats out of Texas, a buffer against losses in next years midterms, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker has provided a safe haven for the Lone Star States Democrats fleeing their legislature to block the power grab. Fighting fire with fire, Pritzker declared all bets are off, and vowed to retaliate by redrawing his states map too. (Other Democratic lawmakers are considering similar moves.) And while Texas Governor Greg Abbott is unlikely to be deterred, the battle must be fought. The battle matters. When it comes to political power, its best to act like you have it than to fold peremptorily. As the saying goes, fake it til you make it. This is an opportunity for Pritzker to showcase his chops. The House Chamber at the Capitol in Austin, Texas is pictured empty Aug. 5, 2025. A quorum was not present after most Democrat state representatives left Texas to break quorum and block a vote on a Republican plan for Congressional redistricting. / The Austin American-Statesman/He / Houston Chronicle via Getty Imag Former Obama advisor David Axelrod has referred to Pritzker as the Democrats break the glass candidate because hea billionaire scion of the family who owns the Hyatt hotel chainhas the financial resources and the political machine to step in on a moments notice and fund his own presidential campaign. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Reminded of that statement, Axelrod elaborated in an email to The Daily Beast: Pritzker has been as outspoken as any Democrat in challenging Trump. His speeches to Democratic audiences around the country have been rousing takedowns of Trump for his affronts to law, decency and American values, he wrote. Welcoming the renegade Texans is right in keeping with the role hes carving. Axelrod added that Pritzker is establishing himself as a bulwark against Trumpism, a lane also being staked out by California Governor Newsom. California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during a news conference with Texas lawmakers at the Governors Mansion on July 25, 2025 in Sacramento. / Justin Sullivan / Getty Images As Axelrod noted, Pritzker has a proud progressive record with a lot for Dems to like. Hes delivered on raising minimum wage, banning assault weapons and banning book bans. This showdown with Abbottan avatar for the post-Trump Republican party as it considers its 2028 prospectscould be his made-for-social media moment to get voters to take him seriously as a presidential contender. Of course, its a moment for Abbott too. And that gives us a glimpse of what lies ahead in the starkly and yet so evenly-divided America. Jessica Taylor, with the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, told The Daily Beast that Abbotts growing national prominence may entice him to think bigger than his current plans to seek a fourth term in officeif hes able to deliver for Trump on redistricting. (In his inaugural speech this past January, Trump lauded Abbott as a leader of the pack among the nations governorshigh praise indeed from a man who hates to raise anyones profile to the point they could become a threat.) President Donald Trump and Texas Governor Greg Abbott speak during a meeting with local officials and first responders in Kerrville, Texas, on July 11, 2025, following devastating flooding that occurred in the area over the July 4 weekend. / BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / AFP via Getty Images For all his bravado, one glitch for Pritzker is the Illinois congressional map. A non-partisan commission called the Independent Redistricting Commission oversees the process to determine what is broadly fair; Democrats hold 14 of 17 seats, leaving little left to gerrymander. Newsom is better positioned to find new blue seats in California, though redrawn districts would have to be approved by voters. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Taylor said that Newsom has made little effort to hide his presidential ambitions. And if he can save the House for the Dems by reacting to Republican overreach, he has a big bully pulpit from which to take credit. Still, Pritzker is right up there with Newsom, Taylor added. He can position himself as the savior of these Texas Democrats trying to save democracy. This plan cant work forever. The Democrats will have to go back at some point. Earlier today, the FBI agreed to assist in locating runaway Texas House Democrats following a request made by Republican Senator John Cornyn. Still, staving off the inevitable allows Democrats to shine a light on the GOPs power grab. This is about more than Texas redistricting. This is about states rights, Abbotts hardline immigration policies versus Chicago as a sanctuary city and proxy for other areas of American life that Trump has trod so mercilessly over. And its a referendum on Trumpism, as Axelrod mentioned, and its just getting underway. There will be a revolving cast of characters to duke it out as we move towards 2026 and then 2028, but the issue will be the same. Are we saving our democracy or allowing it to be destroyed? And can Pritzker, Abbott, Newsom or any of the other players jockeying for lead roles in this drama nail their audition? In an era when one political dumpster fire follows another, President Trump is striving to address a rekindled scandal that initially seemed more of a mattress fire. As any firefighter can attest, a mattress fire might seem to be extinguished as easily as one in a dumpster, only for it to continue smoldering deep inside and then suddenly reignite. Donald Trump, Melania Trump, Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell are pictured together at Mar-a-Lago. / Davidoff Studios/Getty Images But in recent days, the mess over Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell and the supposed Epstein files has persisted despite Trump repeatedly dismissing it as total bulls--t and a HOAX. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The seemingly never ending Epstein saga is threatening to become more like a lithium-ion battery fire. Despite all efforts to extinguish it, a smoldering lithium-ion battery can suddenly result in what is called a thermal runaway, resulting in intense fire that goes on for hours, even days. Think Tesla. President Donald Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk deliver remarks next to a Tesla Cybertruck on the South Lawn of the White House on March 11, 2025 in Washington, D.C. / Andrew Harnik / Getty Images You could throw that thing in the Hudson River and it could keep burning, a New York firefighter told the Daily Beast. It has to run its course. Similarly, the Epstein scandal has persisted in flaring up even after President Trump commanded everybody to douse it. Trump did not help matters by saying there was nothing unusual about Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanchethe number two in the Justice department and Trumps onetime criminal defense lawyermeeting with a sex offender for nine hours. Trump also pleaded ignorance about that same sex offender then becoming one of the very few, if not the only violent offender lodged in a minimum security prison camp. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I didnt know about it at all, no, Trump told reporters. I read about it just like you did. Donald Trump and Ghislaine Maxwell. / Arnaldo Magnani/Getty On Tuesday morning, CNN reported that Vice President JD Vance would be hosting a dinner the following evening where Blanche, Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel and others would hold a strategy session on whether to release a transcript of the nine hour chat with Maxwell. But on Wednesday afternoon, Reuters reported the gathering had been called off. The Daily Beast received a statement from a Vance spokesperson saying the initial CNN report had been pure fiction. There was never a supposed meeting scheduled at the Vice Presidents residence to discuss Epstein Strategy, the statement read. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement That does not mean there was not a meeting at the White House, without Vance. The question of what to do with the transcript remained. ABC reported that Maxwell told Blanche she had never seen or heard anything that could be detrimental to Trump. An aerial view shows the prison camp where Ghislaine Maxwell is being held in Bryan, Texas. It is considered a minimum-security facility and is surrounded by residential streets. / GO NAKAMURA / REUTERS One problem is that Maxwell has been described in court as someone who is ready and willing to lie whenever and however it best suits her. Anybody who doubts her continued willingness to lie need only read her August 5 court filing headed GHISLAINE MAXWELLS RESPONSE IN OPPOSITION TO GOVERNMENTS MOTION TO UNSEAL GRAND JURY TRANSCRIPTS. The nine-page document says that, after pedophile Jeffrey Epstein took his life in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan, prosecutors from the Southern District of New York pivoted and made Maxwell the face of his crimes. She became the scapegoat and the only person the government could put on trial. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement At the trial, four victims gave detailed testimony that Maxwell was not a scapegoat, but instead a predator who teamed with Epstein to target and groom vulnerable underaged girls. A courtroom sketch shows Ghislaine Maxwell speaking with defense attorney Jeffrey Pagliuca during her trial in New York City on December 8, 2021. / JANE ROSENBERG / REUTERS The witnesses against her included a Palm Beach, Florida, girl identified only as Jane whose account was recently detailed by The Daily Beast. It began when she was 13 and had just lost her father to leukemia and her home to medical bills. An older sibling had arranged for her to attend a Michigan summer camp; Jane testified in court that she had been sitting at a picnic table, eating ice cream with friends when a tall woman approached with a cute little dog. The dog was named Max. The woman was Ghislaine Maxwell. Jane was petting Max when a man approached whom Jane at first assumed was the womans husband. He was Jeffrey Epstein and he and Maxwell continued a routine that began with building trust and proceeded to soul-searing sexual assault. Jane testified that Epstein and Maxwell dropped Trumps name in an apparent effort to impress her. Jane also said that Epstein introduced her to Trump at the Mar-a-Lago Club when she was 14. Another victim, Virginia Roberts Giuffre testified that she was 17 and working at Mar-a-Lago when Maxwell approached her. She was lured away and the Epstein/Maxwell routine again led to sexual assault. Giuffre ended up taking her life in April. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Her siblings issued a statement on Wednesday saying that victims voices are going unheard. Their voices must be heard, above all, Sky and Amanda Roberts, and Danny and Lanette Wilson, said. As Virginia Roberts Giuffres siblings, we offer to represent her in her stead and we hope the administration takes our call to action seriously. A billboard in New York City's Times Square calls for the release of the Epstein files on July 23, 2025. Attorney General Pam Bondi briefed President Donald Trump in May on the Justice Department's review of the documents related to the Jeffrey Epstein case, reportedly telling Trump that his name appeared in the files. / Adam Gray / Getty Images The statement also asked the House Oversight Committee to give victims and their families the opportunity to testify when it holds hearings on the case. The committee has subpoenaed the Department of Justice (DOJ) to provide it with whatever Epstein files it has. The committee also wants relevant communications between Biden officials and DOJ. The siblings may well be asked to assist the committee, but there was no immediate word of an invitation to any meeting. What the Trump administration should do is release a transcript of his huddle along one of Blanches sessions with Maxwell. Some actual truth might emerge. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The core problem for Trump goes back to his friendship with Epstein and two particular moments. One is when Epstein introduced 13-year-old Jane to Trump. The other is when he learned that Epstein had lured 17-year-old Giuffre away from the Mar-Lago-Club, Nobody has suggested Trump molested either girl. He has always denied any wrongdoing or knowledge of Epsteins crimes. President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at his golf club on July 28, 2025 in Turnberry, Scotland. / Andrew Harnik / Getty Images But, Trump was once quoted that along with being a great guy, Epstein liked girls on the younger side. And Jane has said under oath that Epstein was referring to her when she heard him tell Trump, This is a good one, right? Trump had cause to at least suspect something was going on. And, if he did see something, he said nothing. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement If Trump in fact saw nothing wrong in Jane being with Epstein, that speaks to moral blindness. The fact of that encounter is set as deep in the Epstein tale as smoldering core of a Tesla fire in the making. And because Trump built so much of his support with the inflammatory stuff of conspiracy theories, there is a chance his base could witness the equivalent of a thermal runaway. LOS ALAMOS, N.M. (KRQE) The Oppenheimer Festival is back in Los Alamos this year. The event is being held from Aug. 16 to Aug. 31 under the theme Peace, Legacy & Explore. Story continues below Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Festival highlights are outlined below: Daily screenings of The Manhattan Series, short films, and VR experiences Opening Day Walk to the Oppenheimer House (Aug. 16) and Special Tribute to Nancy Bartlit Peace Week (Aug. 2124): Richland, Dr. Strangelove, First We Bombed New Mexico Legacy Week (Aug. 2831): The Cosmic Trigger premiere, LANL lectures, and Nolans Oppenheimer Guest appearances by historian Nicholas Lewis, activist Tina Cordova, filmmakers Larry Sheffield and Irene Lusztig, and others Guided tours & self-guided audio driving tours via app: Festival Tour with Augmented Reality and Road to The Hill Free Visitor Badge with rewards system redeemable for concessions and collectibles Explore Los Alamos through augmented reality, film locations, museums, and living historyall while supporting local businesses The festival won the New Mexico Top HAT Award for Best New Experience in 2024. Badges are available online. 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. In an aerial view, a person walks next to a flooded street caused by the rain and storm surge from Hurricane Debby on Aug. 5, 2024, in Cedar Key. Hurricane Debby brought rainstorms and high winds along Floridas Big Bend area. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) A nonprofit smart growth advocacy organization, 1000 Friends of Florida, is the latest entity calling for the Florida Legislature to repeal portions of a new law designed to expedite post-disaster rebuilding. The measure (SB 180), sponsored by Pinellas County Republican Nick DiCeglie, initially was hailed as support for homeowners in providing clear, streamlined permitting requirements to ensure families can make the repairs they need without being hit with higher tax bills. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The bill also increased disaster management planning, emergency resource coordination, financial transparency, and reporting across state and local government disaster management bureaucracies. However, its since become the most controversial new measure signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis this year. The problem? Language barring new local land-use or development regulations considered restrictive or burdensome, even if they are completely unrelated to storm recovery. And the law covers every part of the state, starting retroactively from August of 2024 and going up to October 2027. Thats listed in Section 28 of the law, which says that the new land use laws applies to each county listed in the Federal Disaster Declaration for Hurricanes Debby, Helene, or Milton and each municipality within one of those counties last year. The law specifically says that any person can serve a local government with notification of intent to sue on belief the local government has violated the law. The local government then has 14 days to correct any problem. If the government chooses to repeal the restriction, any case would be dropped. If it declines to repeal, that person can go ahead and file a lawsuit. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This legislative overreach ties the hands of communities striving to address urgent environmental, growth management, and disaster resiliency challenges, said 1000 Friends of Florida president Paul Owens in a press release on Thursday. By undermining local authority, SB 180 puts Floridians at greater risk from flooding, pollution, and unchecked sprawl. We urge lawmakers to act swiftly to repeal these harmful provisions in 2026. The law is already having an effect far from its stated original intent to help local residents harmed by a storm. Last week, the Florida Department of Commerce notified Orange County that its new Vision 2050 comprehensive plan eight years in the making violated state law and was null and void. That Vision 2050 plan largely updated the countys guidelines to discourage suburban sprawl and the development of still-untouched rural areas, touching on issues like affordable housing, transportation, and environmental protections. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement James D. Stanbury with the Florida Commerce Departments Bureau of Community Planning and Growth cited language establishing that counties and cities listed in the federal disaster declaration for one of last years hurricanes may not propose or adopt more restrictive or burdensome amendments to its comprehensive plan. Orange County officials say that they intend to meet with department officials soon to gain a clearer understanding of their concerns and to receive guidance on next steps. Meanwhile, other local governments are scrambling to adapt. On Tuesday, the Manatee County Commission unanimously authorized staff to collaborate with government regulation staff of Pasco County on submitting a legislative proposal that might fix the problems the law has created for local governments, the Bradenton Times reports. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In Volusia County, council members this week voted to request changes for next years legislative session. Deltona City Commissioner Dori Howington doesnt want to wait until next year to have Tallahassee work on the issue. Whats happening is, were seeing lawyers lining up to basically attack ordinances that developers have not liked seeing implemented, and as a result, the lawsuits are stacking up against us, she said. Anything that you do regarding land use, building codes anything can be challenged. Speaking with members of the St. Petersburg City Council last month, DiCeglie, who lives in a beach community in Pinellas County, spoke about his intentions with the legislation. He was motivated, he said, by the way some local governments came up short in helping residents following last falls hurricanes. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Make sure that the residents know what that plan is when it comes to permitting, he said. What that place is when it comes to storm debris collection. When that plan was not in place [last year], and folks were looking and knocking on the door at City Hall and nobody is answering the door. Nobody is answering the phone calls, he continued. The fact that local governments are not answering the call of their taxpayer to me was a complete disgrace and an ultimate failure. DiCeglie acknowledged that the regulation language was very broad. Fort Lauderdale attorney Jamie Cole has reached out to several local governments about a potential lawsuit challenging some provisions of the law. Although he was unavailable for comment, an associate with his law firm told the Phoenix, We are hearing from many cities and counties from all over the state, concerned about the impacts of SB 180 and considering whether to join in a lawsuit. The Deltona City Commission hasnt taken a vote yet on whether to join that coalition, Howington said, but likely will consider it soon. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said that the leaders of the leading EU countries should meet with the head of the Kremlin to ensure Europe's participation in diplomatic efforts to end the war between Russia and Ukraine. Source: European Pravda, citing 444.hu, an independent Hungarian news portal Details: Orban said that the problem is that the EU is unwilling to engage with Russian leader Vladimir Putin and is "not happy that the EU has fallen asleep". Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In his opinion, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron should go to Moscow for talks with Putin or initiate talks in a neutral country. Orban noted that otherwise, a potential peace deal following the talks between the US president and Putin, who are expected to meet in the near future, would be virtually without European participation. The Hungarian PM added that he believes that some kind of meeting between European leaders and Putin is necessary, if not before his meeting with Trump, then at least after it, because "the EU should not sit at home like an offended child" and "if there is a problem, you have to negotiate". Background: Orban personally flew to Moscow in the summer of 2024 during Hungary's presidency of the EU Council, after visiting Kyiv, describing the visit as a "peacekeeping" one; the EU distanced itself from his trip and stressed that he was acting solely on behalf of his own country in these interactions with the Russian leadership. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon! U.S. Rep. Maxine Dexter, representing Oregon's 3rd Congressional District, meets with reporters at the Portland International Airport April 22, 2025. Dexter was returning from a trip to El Salvador, where she and three other Congressional Democrats attempted to meet with wrongfully deported Maryland man Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who is being detained in an unknown location. (Alex Baumhardt/Oregon Capital Chronicle) After the arrest and deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a wrongfully deported man from El Salvador living in Maryland, U.S. Rep. Maxine Dexter in April traveled to El Salvador to advocate for his release. Abrego Garcia was taken to CECOT, a maximum-security prison known for placing gang members under harsh conditions. It was the number one thing, overwhelmingly, that we were hearing about, Dexter told the Capital Chronicle in a phone interview. People wanted me to go to El Salvador. They wanted me to take a stand. They wanted me to take action. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement While some Oregon Republicans called her trip performative and said she should focus on reducing crime in her district, Dexter said the trip and following visits to federal immigration detention facilities hold the Trump administration accountable and expose the cruelty behind federal immigration enforcement. This wasnt about one person, she said about her El Salvador visit. It was about the rights that were being completely ignored by this administration. If it could happen to them, it could happen to anyone. Since visiting El Salvador, the Portland physician and Democrat representing Oregons 3rd Congressional District spanning from east Portland to Hood River has made three other trips to immigration facilities to advocate for immigrants detained by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. Trumps immigration machine thrives in the shadows, she told the Capital Chronicle. He will continue to deny people access to due process and counsel if we turn a blind eye (These visits) are to follow through on my promise to my constituents, that I will stop at nothing to protect our communities and perform my oversight duties. What oversight duties do Congress members have? While advocacy groups or lawyers must represent a person in custody to access an immigration detention center, members of Congress do not need to meet that requirement. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Congress members under a 2019 law are entitled to unannounced visits to ICE detention facilities. Dexter said this duty is a way to oversee the executive branch and make sure they are following the law. Its our job to perform oversight and to make sure that these detention facilities are humanitarian and that theyre meeting the requirements that the federal government has stipulated, Dexter said. And frankly, Im concerned because these are for-profit institutions that benefit from detaining people. Dexter said these visits have been anything but straightforward, mentioning that in some parts of the country, immigration agents have denied Congress members access to the facilities. On July 30, a dozen Democratic Congress members, not including Dexter, sued the Trump administration, alleging it is blocking them from conducting these congressional oversight visits. Whats more alarming are the glaring discrepancies between what ICE tells us and what we hear directly from those detained, Dexter said, adding that there isnt a lot of transparency about the care or quality of life for those in custody. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement At best, this is negligence, she said. At worst, its an obstruction of constitutional oversight. Immigration attorney says ICE isnt complying with regulations, due process rights At least one Oregon immigration attorney said shes noticed ICE operating in the Pacific Northwest isnt complying with federal regulations. Caroline Keating Medeiros, an associate attorney at Marandas Garcia Law Group based in Lake Oswego, told the Capital Chronicle that recently one of her clients was transferred from a detention center in Tacoma to one in Bakersfield, California. I was never given notice that she was being transferred, and neither was her U.S. citizen husband, Keating Medeiros said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement That undermines federal regulations, she said, which states that while any immigration proceeding is pending, the Department of Homeland Security must immediately tell the immigration court in writing about a change in a persons custody location with the updated address. Because ICE failed to notify the court about the transfer, Keating Medeiros still appeared online for the scheduled hearing to represent her client. However, the virtual court session abruptly disconnected, and it wasnt until later that the judge realized that her client was no longer within their jurisdiction. This speaks more to due process concerns, she said, noting that most of her clients have no criminal background. That client was released from detention three weeks ago, and ICE has still not notified the court about her release which is delaying her client from getting her case transferred back to Portland, Keating Medeiros said. Immigration, democracy remains top concern among Oregons 3rd Congressional district Dexter said she is representing the interests of her district and that democracy remains the number one concern in her district. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Jill Eckenrode, Dexters constituent living in Welches, told the Capital Chronicle that she fully supports her representatives visits to detention facilities. We were told by the Trump admin that theyd be deporting hardened criminals, she said in a message to the Capital Chronicle. Maybe they are, but they are also deporting U.S. citizens, already naturalized citizens and immigrants trying to go to their scheduled hearings Its unethical, and frankly just plain gross Gestapo behavior. Last month, Dexter visited a customs and border patrol station in Ferndale, Washington, after a friend alerted her about another friend from Honduras who had disappeared after a planned family reunion along the Washington-Canada border. During the visit, Dexter, without the ability to speak to them, located Kenia Jackeline Merlos and her 9-year-old triplets and 7-year-old son, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported. They were in a windowless cell for two weeks without the ability to contact friends, family or a lawyer, Dexter told her constituents at a town hall at Franklin High School in Portland last month. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It is someone who is in the U.S. undergoing deferred action, has four citizen children and is a community pillar active in the church and in their school, Dexter told the Capital Chronicle about Merlos case. Like Dexter, U.S. Rep. Andrea Salinas, a fellow Oregon Democrat, said shes also heard outrage from her constituents about the Trump administrations immigration policies. Salinas, who has Mexican immigrant roots, said shes doing everything she can to help immigrant communities push back. Im sharing know your rights information in my community and connecting advocates with national resources, she said. Im also conducting oversight, sending letters demanding answers about some of the administrations most despicable immigration practices and supporting policies that support our immigrant neighbors and their rights to due process. Ill keep fighting this administrations actions while pushing for humane immigration policies. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE SNAP and EBT Accepted here sign. SNAP and Food Stamps provide nutrition benefits to supplement the budgets of disadvantaged families. (Getty Images) A group of West Virginia advocacy and food assistance organizations is calling on Gov. Patrick Morrisey not to comply with a request from the federal government for personal information belonging to recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, better known as food stamps. The 22 organizations which include the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy, the ACLU of West Virginia, Facing Hunger Foodbank and the West Virginia Food and Farm Coalition called the request an outrageous act of federal overreach without clear parameters for how the federal government intends to use the personal data. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement West Virginia SNAP recipients share their personal information with the state SNAP agency because they trust it will be used only to help them access food assistance, the letter says. That trust is grounded in longstanding state and federal laws and standards that strictly limit how this data can be used. Now, the USDA is attempting to bypass those protections pressuring states to hand over sensitive data for unrelated and undisclosed purposes. Earlier this year, the federal Department of Agriculture asked states to turn over SNAP recipients sensitive information to comply with an executive from President Donald Trump called Stopping Waste, Fraud, and Abuse by Eliminating Information Silos. The request included recipients names, dates of birth, personal addresses and Social Security numbers along with records to calculate the amount of SNAP benefits they got over time. President Trump is rightfully requiring the federal government to have access to all programs it funds, and SNAP is no exception, USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins said in a statement at the time. For years, this program has been on autopilot, with no USDA insight into real-time data. The Department is focused on appropriate and lawful participation in SNAP, and todays request is one of many steps to ensure SNAP is preserved for only those eligible. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The federal agency later broadened the request to other data points including recipients immigration status and household members. The USDAs Food and Nutrition Service said it would use the data to ensure program integrity, including verifying recipients eligibility and would follow up with states as necessary regarding next steps. Late last month, a coalition of 21 states and Washington D.C. led by Democrat attorneys general in California and New York sued the federal government over privacy concerns with the data request. They asked a judge to stop the government from making the demand or stop it from withholding funding from states that dont comply. In their letter, the West Virginia organizations write that complying with the request would compromise SNAP recipients personal data and cause fewer people to feel comfortable participating, undermining Morriseys efforts to improve health in the state through his Four Pillars of a Healthy West Virginia plan. In West Virginia last year, SNAP provided food assistance to 277,400, or one in six people, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. It fed more than 41 million Americans that year. A spokesman for Morrisey did not respond by deadline to a request for comment. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Orland Park is splitting sales tax money brought in by two restaurants, one of which is relocating in the village with the other having opened earlier this year. The inducement agreements are meant to help the businesses, both focused on a breakfast-lunch menu, defray the costs of opening, although what is paid to the restaurants is based on how well they perform. Village trustees approved agreements this week that will split sales tax revenue, for up to 10 years, to The Original Pancake House and Egg Harbor. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Original Pancake House told customers in April it would move from its existing home, 15256 S. La Grange, to 16153 S. La Grange, the former home of Houlihans, which closed in late 2019. Original Pancake House has been at its existing location more than 20 years. Its wonderful to have Original Pancake House stay in Orland, Trustee Cynthia Katsenes said before voting in favor of the agreement. We welcome them into the newer space. In the sales tax sharing agreement, Original Pancake House estimates annual sales at the new location will exceed $2.5 million. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The agreement calls for the restaurant to invest at least $2 million to renovate the space inside and out, which included outdoor dining when operated by Houlihans. The restaurant will receive tax revenue up to 25% of project costs, or a maximum of $500,000, over 10 years if needed. The agreement calls for Original Pancake House to be open by Nov. 18 of this year. Original Pancake House has four locations in Chicago along with Oak Forest and Orland. Orland Park Egg Harbor LLC opened in late March at 14301 S. La Grange, at the southeast corner of La Grange and 143rd Street, diagonally southeast of the villages Main Street downtown project. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Egg Harbor is in a cluster of businesses that includes McAlisters Deli and took over what had been City Barbecue, a chain based in Ohio, which closed in April 2023 after nearly five years. Katsenes called Egg Harbor a great restaurant addition for the village. A lot of people were excited when it was coming here, she said. Its always real busy. Egg Harbor has several other Chicago-area locations, including Arlington Heights and Barrington, and a handful of restaurants in Georgia and Wisconsin, according to its website. Egg Harbor said, in its sales tax agreement, it expects the Orland Park location to have annual sales of $2.5 million, and that the bill for renovating the space was at least $900,000. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It would get a maximum of 25% of project costs, with a cap of $225,000, according to the agreement. The amounts paid out in both the Original Pancake House and Egg Harbor agreements has the village cutting checks only after an accounting of construction costs is presented. No money is returned to the business until they complete necessary paperwork and the village does its own verification of costs, Village Manager George Koczwara told trustees. Orlando man sentenced to 20 years in prison over power grid attack conspiracy An Orlando man has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for attacking the power grid in Maryland. Brandon Russell targeted five electrical stations in Baltimore in 2023, motivated by his white supremacist beliefs, according to prosecutors. Investigators said he encouraged an ex-girlfriend to carry out a series of sniper attacks on electrical substations around Baltimore. Their goal was to cause significant damage to the infrastructure, leading to community violence. His accomplice involved in the attack is already serving an 18-year sentence. Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live. LAKE OZARK Missouri voters said no to a new casino at Lake Ozark last November, but that area looks to be getting one anyway with a different project. Voters rejecting Amendment 5 which would have constructed a Ballys Casino on the Osage River but a competing plan by the Osage Nation doesnt need voter approval since that would be built on land now owned by the tribe. An environmental report has just been released, which is a major step toward getting the green light for construction if its approved by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Governor Mike Kehoe. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement That new facility will include a 15-story hotel, restaurants, and a gaming floor with 750 casino machines. The project could lead to millions of dollars rolling into the local economy. I do think it will draw more people to the lake, which I think is good, said Merlyn Vandervort, owner of the Encore Lakeside Grill and Bar near where the potentional casino is expected to be built. Ive met the people of the tribe and I think theyre good people. The facility would be built on tribal-owned land in which they would not have to pay a sales tax, something Vandervort says concerns him. They would not have to pay sales tax, which would give them a competitive advantage, he says. Im a little concerned about human resources at the lake. You bring a casino in here, theyre going to take some of the workforce weve got, and housing. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement However, the close proximity can be a benefit, he said. Bill Borders, who owns Lil Rizzos, says he doesnt want the casino to open because he thinks it will cannibalize restaurant and bar sales. 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 KOLR - OzarksFirst.com. The Brief School zone cameras in Osceola County are back online after issuing over 17,000 tickets. Drivers caught speeding face fines. Deputies say slowing down for a short stretch could save lives. KISSIMMEE, Fla. - As thousands of Osceola County students prepare to return to class on Monday, deputies are stepping up enforcement in school zones, where speeders have already racked up thousands of tickets this year. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement They were joined by pedestrian safety awareness advocates for an operation known as "Best Foot Forward." What we know Speed-detection cameras, installed at 16 schools late last year, are back in use after issuing more than 17,000 citations in 2025. Drivers caught going more than 10 mph over the speed limit during school hours will receive a civil fine by mail. What we don't know Officials havent said how many repeat offenders have been identified or whether additional schools will receive cameras. It's also unclear how effective last year's initial rollout was in reducing speeds in the long term. The backstory The initiative began after consistent concerns about school zone safety, particularly with drivers ignoring posted signs and flashing lights. The cameras aim to provide 24/7 monitoring to capture speeding violations in real time and alert vehicle owners without the need for police to be physically present. Its about the safety of kids' What they're saying Narcoossee Middle School is among the campuses where drivers continue to be clocked well above the posted limits. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "The problem is we're still seeing people not reduce their speed," said Capt. Kim Montes of the Osceola County Sheriff's Office. "Thats putting crossing guards at risk. Thats putting children at risk. They come through these school zones at 40, 50, 60 miles an hour. If there's a collision with a pedestrian at that speed, someones going to be killed." Montes emphasized that the initiative is about deterrence, not punishment. CLICK TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX LOCAL APP "It tells us we have a problem," she said. "If you do receive one of these civil citations, we hope you learn your lesson and that you slow down. Again, its about the safety of kids and the unpredictability around the school area." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Law enforcement agencies across the county participated in "Operation Best Foot Forward," an effort to remind drivers to yield to pedestrians in crosswalks. "Its been a few months since our kids have been in school," said Elisah Dyer, the executive assistant for Bike Walk Central Florida. "We want to get out here before they do and remind our drivers that if you dont stop for pedestrians in the crosswalk, it will be a $160 fine, minimum." Deputies are urging drivers to stay alert, especially in the coming days as school resumes. "You've got to start looking for these school zones and just reduce the speed. Were only talking about a small distance," Montes said. "But the time that you reduce that speed may save somebody's life." Why you should care According to deputies, the speeding tickets issued by school zone cameras are civil infractions. They do not affect insurance rates and do not appear on a drivers record even if a teenager is behind the wheel of a parents vehicle. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In Florida, failure to yield for pedestrians in a crosswalk can result in a $164 fine, plus three points on your driver's license. Speeding through a camera-enforced school zone could result in a fine of around $100 for speeds exceeding 10 mph over the flashing school zone speed limit. SIGN-UP FOR FOX 35'S BREAKING NEWS, DAILY NEWS NEWSLETTERS The Source This story was written based on information shared by the Osceola County Sheriff's Office, Bike Walk Central Florida, and Florida Statutes. MIAMI, Okla. Concerned residents pack a public hearing in Miami over a permit application for a new mining operation in Ottawa County. Im very concerned about the environmental impact it might have on our area, said Ottawa County resident, Lynette Massey. The concerns are regarding a 100-year permit application filed with the Oklahoma Department of Mines, by Mid-States Materials, LLC. The company is looking to extract limestone, gravel, and granite from a quarry that would be located near 90th Road and Spring River in Ottawa County. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We hope that they stand up and notice that we are against it, said Ottawa County resident, Jack Massey. Residents living near the proposed site say theyre concerned the operation may cause different types of pollution. The water, the dust, the truck traffic, because that is a residential area out there, said Lynette Massey. The blasting and its impact on the foundation of our homes. There are two rural water wells very nearby, and theres a major pipeline that is just south of the proposed site, said Jack Massey. The proposed mining would take place on Peoria tribal land. When it comes to the permit, neighboring tribes say the Department of Mines should work directly with the tribes. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We would definitely appreciate more consultation. That is the main underlying issue, and I dont know that its required under this permitting process, said Quapaw Nation Data Analysis Manager, Dana Hummell. Those representing Mid-States Materials, LLC. did respond to some questions from residents but declined our request for an interview. The Oklahoma Department of Mines says it will take the public comments and questions into consideration before making a decision. 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 KSNF/KODE | FourStatesHomepage.com. Protesters in India are sounding the alarm about the worrying scale of development projects around Hyderabad Central University. "We're running out of time," a Redditor recently titled their post on the r/hyderabad subreddit, sharing a photo of a recently cleared area around HCU filled with a fleet of excavators and police cars. According to the post, students at HCU have been protesting the development of the project for a while due to environmental concerns. Photo Credit: Reddit Photo Credit: Reddit "The auctioning of these critical areas, as discussed in the media, not only displaces vulnerable species but also raises alarms over the potential loss of invaluable biodiversity in [the] face of climate change," they said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The OP added that a recent protest on the site resulted in over 40 detainments. They appeared to be referring to a March protest near Mushroom Rock. Police said they took 52 protesters into preventive custody, according to The Times of India. Other commenters on the thread shared in the Redditor's outrage. "Feeling so helpless, what fools we have as our leaders," one commenter said. "It's been a nightmare watching this happen in front of our eyes. It's a tragedy," the original poster replied. While the major project around HCU seems to have gone through official channels, developing land can have widespread, devastating effects. When entire forests are wiped out for the sake of development like in Hyderabad it can displace local animal populations and throw off ecological balance. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In some instances, these animals' displacement can have direct effects on local communities, as species scavenge for food in urban areas and adapt to living among humans. Not only does clearing natural land affect animals, but a study out of India has shown that green spaces can even save human lives over time. The Redditor said that the development occurring around HCU is a particular slap in the face to the legacy of the institution. "HCU has long been a symbol of intellectual growth, cultural diversity, and environmental responsibility," they explained. "To jeopardize its lands in the name of urban development is to ignore the long-term consequences of such short-sighted actions." As commenters rallied behind the post to continue to fight against this development, the Redditor gave a crucial note for conserving the local region. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Only through responsible planning and community-driven decision-making can we safeguard our planet and its future," they concluded. 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. Donetsk Oblast Military Administration has reported that 21,700 civilians remain in the active combat zone in the oblast, including 115 children. Source: Ukrinform news agency, citing Dmytro Petlin, head of the department for operational duty service, communications and alerting and informing the population within Donetsk Oblast Military Administrations department for civil protection, mobilisation and defence work, during an online briefing Quote from Petlin: "As for the hromadas classified as being in the active combat zone, there are 21,700 people remaining there. This number includes 115 children who are in the Lyman hromada." [A hromada is an administrative unit designating a village, several villages, or a town, and their adjacent territories ed.] Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Details: There are 18 hromadas classified in the active combat zone in the oblast: Shakhtarske, Marinka, Toretsk, Pokrovsk, Myrnohrad, Chasiv Yar, Bakhmut, Soledar, Zvanivka, Siversk, Illinivka, Kostiantynivka, Udachne, Lyman, Horodivka, Kurakhove, Ocheretyne and Novoselivka. Petlin said over 1,253,000 civilians had been evacuated from their permanent residences in territory controlled by the Ukrainian authorities in Donetsk Oblast, including around 194,000 children and 47,000 people with disabilities. More than 7,800 people have been evacuated out of the oblast in the past week, including 380 children. Petlin added that around 252,000 civilians remain in the Ukrainian-controlled part of Donetsk Oblast, including about 18,500 children. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon! At least 21,700 civilians, including 115 children, remain in the active combat zones of Donetsk Oblast, Dmytro Petlin, head of the Department of Civil Protection, Mobilization, and Defense Work of the local military administration, said during an online briefing on Aug. 7. Most of the children are located in the Lyman urban territorial community, according to Petlin. The Donetsk Oblast Military Administration has classified 18 communities as active combat zones, including Shakhovsk, Maryinka, Toretsk, Pokrovsk, Myrnohrad, Chasiv Yar, Bakhmut, Soledar, Zvaniv, Siversk, Illinivsk, Kostiantynivka, Udachne, Lyman, Hrodivka, Kurakhove, Ocheretynske, and Novoselivka. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ukraine has largely maintained a defensive posture in the east as Russia's summer offensive continues its steady advance. According to the official, a total of over 1.2 million civilians have been evacuated from their permanent residences in the Ukrainian-controlled territory of Donetsk Oblast. Among them are approximately 194,000 children and 47,000 people with disabilities. Ukraine's Donetsk Oblast (Nizar al-Rifai/The Kyiv Independent) In the past week alone, more than 7,800 people, including 380 children, have been evacuated from the region. Mandatory evacuation in Donetsk Oblast has been ongoing since August 2, 2022. As tensions persist in the region, diplomatic efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war appear to be gaining momentum. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Aug. 7 that discussions are underway on both bilateral and trilateral summits, following Moscows confirmation of an upcoming meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Preparations for the meeting are underway, while the venue has already been agreed upon, Russian foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said, according to state-owned news agency TASS. This would mark the first meeting between the presidents since Trump took office on Jan. 20. Read also: Its up to him Trump says ceasefire deadline depends on Putin Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. More than one million undocumented migrants have left the United States on their own since President Donald Trump took office, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Friday. Noem also said that hundreds of thousands of "criminal illegal aliens" have been arrested since January and "zero illegal aliens" have entered the country during the past three months. "(This) is the first time in this nation's history that we've seen that kind of security at our nation's border," she said at a press conference in Chicago. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Our top priorities have been these two items: securing our borders and arresting dangerous criminals. "We've been working on getting dangerous criminal illegal aliens out of our country -- murderers, rapists, drug traffickers, human traffickers," she said. Noem said thousands of migrants have "self-deported" using an app created by the Department of Homeland Security. "But we also know that hundreds of thousands of people have left on their own, not utilizing a government program to do so," she said. "We believe over a million people have gone home on their own since we have started this administration." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trump vowed during his White House campaign to deport millions of undocumented migrants and has moved to significantly expand the federal agency primarily responsible for doing so, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). "President Trump allocated to us the resources to hire 10,000 new ICE officers," Noem said. "We have had that open for less than a week and we have over 80,000 applicants for those jobs." Noem also lashed out during her press conference at officials in Illinois and other Democratic-ruled states, accusing them of "obstructing" federal efforts to remove undocumented migrants. cl/bgs Launched in 2020 in Bellville, Texas, the Trump Burger establishment was created as a loving nod to the president and as an excuse to sell Trump-stamped burger buns. Described as a patriotic restaurant, filled with Trump memorabilia, the fast-food chain has grown to include four other outlets across the state - furthering the reach of its politically themed menu. Which includes the First Lady Chicken Sandwich, in case you were wondering. However, the patty party could be over, as the co-owner of the Trump Burger chain, Roland Beainy, is reportedly (and somewhat ironically) being investigated by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) - the controversial agency central to Donald Trumps intensifying immigration crackdown. Trump Burger - X Beainy, originally from Lebanon, is facing deportation over his Green Card status, amid claims he provided false information on an immigration application. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson confirmed that Beainy is being looked into, telling Newsweek that the government "does not tolerate immigration fraud." Beainy, 28, reportedly entered the US in 2019 and claims to own 50 per cent of the restaurant chain Trump Burger. He was detained earlier this year, before being released on bond pending immigration proceedings. The Department of Homeland Security alleges Beainy applied for legal status through a woman he had purported to marry. However, DHS said there is no proof Beainy lived with the woman during the alleged marriage, reported the Fayette County Record. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "USCIS revoked the petition after evidence, including admissions from the petitioner's own family, exposed his marriage as a sham designed to game the system," the statement read. "This person has no Green Card, a history of illegal marriages, and an assault charge. DHS is actively pursuing all legal avenues to address this flagrant abuse of our immigration laws." Beainy's immigration hearing is scheduled for 18 November in Houston, Texas. Pakistani security forces have killed 33 fighters who tried to cross into the southwestern province of Balochistan from neighbouring Afghanistan, the military says, describing them as Indian-sponsored separatists. Pakistans military said in a statement on Friday that an overnight operation took place in the Zhob district of Balochistan province, where soldiers spotted Khwarij, a phrase the government uses for Pakistan Taliban fighters. The fighters were intercepted and engaged with precise fire, the statement said, adding that weapons, ammunition and explosives were recovered. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif praised the security forces for what he called a successful operation. Our brave soldiers risked their lives to foil this infiltration attempt and crushed the nefarious designs of the terrorists, the prime minister was quoted by the Associated Press of Pakistan as saying. Separatist fighters demanding mineral-rich Balochistan receive a bigger share of profits from its resources have stepped up attacks in recent months, particularly on Pakistans military, which has launched an intelligence-based offensive against them. Pakistan often accuses the Taliban government in Afghanistan of turning a blind eye to fighters operating near their shared frontier. Kabul denies the charge. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Pakistani military said on Friday that those killed had the backing of India although it offered no evidence to back up the allegation. Pakistan and India often accuse each other of backing armed groups. New Delhi denies supporting fighters in Pakistan and has not commented on the latest incident. The nuclear-armed neighbours with a history of conflict continue to engage in war rhetoric and have exchanged fire across the Line of Control, their de facto border in disputed Kashmir, after an attack in Pahalgam killed 26 civilians in India-administered Kashmir on April 22. Clashes with Pakistani Taliban On Friday, the government in Balochistan suspended mobile phone internet service until August 31 for security reasons before Thursdays Independence Day holiday, which celebrates Pakistan gaining independence from British colonial rule in 1947. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In recent years, separatist fighters in Balochistan have targeted people selling national flags before the holiday. Balochistan has for years been the scene of a rebellion by separatist groups along with attacks by the Pakistan Taliban and the outlawed Balochistan Liberation Army. The separatists demand independence from Pakistans central government in Islamabad. Pakistan has witnessed a surge in armed attacks, most claimed by the Pakistan Taliban, who are known as Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), and are allies of the Afghan Taliban. The TTP is a separate group and has been emboldened since the Afghan Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021. Many TTP leaders and fighters have found sanctuary in Afghanistan since then. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Pakistans security forces are also operating in northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where soldiers in April killed 54 Pakistan Taliban in what authorities described as the deadliest single-day clash with fighters this year. KARACHI, Pakistan -Pakistani security forces killed 33 militants trying to cross from Afghanistan overnight, the military said on Friday, describing them as "Indian-sponsored". The fighters were intercepted and engaged with "precise" fire, the military's public relations wing said, adding that weapons, ammunition and explosives were recovered. Pakistan and India, nuclear-armed neighbours with a history of conflict, often accuse each other of backing insurgents. New Delhi denies supporting militants in Pakistan. (Reporting by Ariba Shahid in Karachi; Editing by Alex Richardson) QUETTA, Pakistan (Reuters) -Pakistan has suspended cell phone data services for three weeks in the restive southwestern province of Balochistan in a bid to block communications among separatist insurgents behind a surge in recent attacks, an official and the government said. Separatist militants demanding a bigger share of profits from the resources of the mineral-rich province have stepped up attacks in recent months, particularly on Pakistan's military, which has launched an intelligence-based offensive against them. In an order on Wednesday seen by Reuters, the government said the services would be suspended until the end of the month because of the law and order situation in the province, home to key Chinese Belt and Road projects. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "The service has been suspended because they (militants) use it for coordination and sharing information," Shahid Rind, a spokesperson for the provincial government, said on Friday. Officials said there are 8.5 million cell phone subscribers in Balochistan, Pakistan's largest province by size, which borders Afghanistan and Iran. But it is thinly populated, with just 15 million from a national population of 240 million. The news follows Pakistan's ban on road travel to Iran late last month, citing security threats. The insurgency by the separatists, who accuse Pakistan's government of depriving them of their share in regional resources, has roiled the province for decades. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement They primarily attack Pakistani military or Chinese nationals and their interests, but have recently started targeting senior army officers. The military said an officer and two soldiers were killed in a roadside blast set off by the militants on Tuesday. The attack targeting a vehicle was claimed by the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), the strongest of the area's insurgent groups, which has also claimed responsibility for several attacks on senior officers in recent weeks. The region is home to the Gwadar Port, built by Beijing as part of a $65-billion investment in Pakistan in the Belt and Road programme designed to expand China's global reach. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Islamabad accuses arch-rival India of funding and backing the insurgents in a bid to stoke instability, as Pakistan seeks international investments in the region, a charge New Delhi denies. In March, the BLA blew up a railway track and took hostage more than 400 train passengers in an attack that killed 31, including 23 soldiers. (Writing by Asif Shahzad; Editing by Clarence Fernandez) PALESTINE, Texas (KETK) Before the new year begins on Monday, Palestine ISD students had the chance on Thursday to meet their new teachers and organize their lockers. Palestine High School Principal Joseph Mason emphasized how excited he is for the new school year to begin and to see the students again. Im their biggest cheerleader, Mason said. Im excited to see students return. I love just interacting with students. New courts and family-centered classes bring excitement to new school year Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The district is excited to introduce a new food truck service, staffed by their very own students. The trucks will serve food at Palestine ISD sporting competitions and various events throughout the school year. Through culinary arts and just an experience to expose students to that and learning and business model environment, but also providing nutritious meals and opportunities for student athletes as well as other extracurricular events, Mason said. Inside the Northside Primary School, the biggest buzz is a new learning lab center that will allow students imagination to run wild. Having that imagination to play in future careers like fireman, police, cosmetology, building, those are some of their careers that they can have their hands on activities, that hopefully will help our students shape and grow, Northside Primary School principal Dr. Pamela Stark said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Whether its creating culinary art inside a food truck or using their imagination in the new learning labs, Palestine ISD claims their focus going into the new school year is to help students find their calling in life. You can now stream KETK and FOX51 News live 24/7 on your smart TV with KETK+, our brand-new app! No antenna, cable, or satellite neededwatch for free, anytime. Just download it on your Roku, Apple TV, or Fire TV and start streaming. 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. As students across Palm Beach County head back to school, many will arrive eager, excited, and ready to learn. But for far too many, especially those in our elementary schools, reading remains a daily struggle. Last year, only 54% of third graders in Palm Beach County read at grade level, according to the Florida Department of Education. That means nearly half of our kids are starting this school year already behind. This isnt a new issue, but it is a consequential one. Third grade is a critical turning point in a childs education. Its when students move from learning to read to reading to learn. Without strong reading skills, everything else in the classroom becomes harder. And the consequences are long-lasting. Research shows that children who dont read proficiently by third grade are four times more likely to drop out of high school. That statistic doubles for students living in poverty. And while statewide reading scores are improving slightly 57% of Florida students in grades 3 through 10 now read at or above grade level that still leaves more than 40% of students across the state behind. Efforts by teachers and community partners across the state are making a difference, but the gaps remain too wide to ignore, and schools cannot be expected to close them alone. The pandemic widened already existing gaps in learning. Chronic absenteeism remains high. Teachers are stretched thin. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Now, more than ever, community support matters. I see these challenges up close with Roots and Wings, the largest local nonprofit focused on literacy and teacher recognition. We created Project UpLift, a free, after-school reading program offered in partnership with public elementary schools right here in Palm Beach County. We work directly with teachers and principals to identify students reading one to two grade levels behind and then provide small-group instruction tailored to their individual needs. Opinion: Palm Beach County parents should consider psych testing as kids go back to school These arent generic, one-size-fits-all lessons. Our certified teachers often the same ones students learn from during the day work with them in familiar classrooms, using tools and techniques that meet them exactly where they are. We focus on skill-building, confidence, and consistent support. And its working. Over 90% of students in Project UpLift improve their reading scores after a year in the program. But more importantly, they begin to see themselves differently. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Theyre not behind theyre improving. Theyre trying. Theyre being seen. Community groups accepting the reading challenge Junior League of the Palm Beaches Little Library Chair Emily Schachtel, left, Palm Beach Gardens and Maria Pumarejo, West Palm Beach, president elect of the Junior League of the Palm Beaches at Lake Park Elementary School in Lake Park, Fla., on December 12, 2024. As of this school year, we will be serving nearly 1,500 students in 20 Title One public elementary schools across the county, from Boca Raton to Jupiter. In recognition of this work, the Community Foundation for Palm Beach and Martin Counties recently awarded Roots and Wings a multi-year grant as part of $5.6 million in funding to 159 local nonprofits further reinforcing the regions investment in early literacy. Were not alone in this work. Groups like the Literacy Coalition of Palm Beach County have also been serving the community for decades, mobilizing volunteers and AmeriCorps members to tutor students across the district. Their impact is significant, and their approach, like ours, is rooted in the belief that literacy is a shared responsibility. That belief matters, because while programs like ours can help, it truly takes a village to raise a reader. Parents, neighbors, local businesses, faith groups, retired educators theres a role for everyone in creating a culture that values and supports early literacy. Whether its reading with a child at home, volunteering at a local school, or hosting a book drive, every action counts. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Opinion: Palm Beach County schools are in trouble. The wealthy must do more to help. This kind of shift matters. It matters to the student who raises their hand for the first time in class. It matters to the parent who finally hears their child read aloud with confidence. And it matters to our entire community, because our children are the future. At Roots and Wings, we dont view ourselves as the solution were part of the solution. Were one thread in a larger, community-wide effort to ensure every child in Palm Beach County has the opportunity to read well, and by extension, to learn, grow, and thrive. This year, as students return to the classroom each bringing their own needs, challenges, and potential lets also renew our commitment to them, and to the simple but important idea that every child deserves the chance to read with confidence and joy. Ted Hoskinson Ted Hoskinson is the founder of Roots and Wings, a nonprofit organization focused on improving literacy rates of children in Palm Beach County. Learn more at RootsandWingsInc.org. Join the Conversation: The Palm Beach Post is committed to publishing a diversity of opinions. Email us at letters@pbpost.com. Letters are subject to editing, must not exceed 200 words and must include your name, address and a daytime phone number to confirm the letter is for publication. We only publish names and cities with the letters. This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: FL reading, literacy need attention. It takes community | Opinion The Palm Beach Post is among the Top 3 for a statewide community leadership award as a result of coverage of its lawsuit seeking to make public transcripts of the 2006 Florida grand jury that indicted Jeffrey Epstein on only one count of solicitation of prostitution. The newspaper came in third place in the Florida Society of News Editors contest after the transcripts were released in 2024. The newspaper decided to sue after a 2019 investigation in which sources said then-State Attorney Barry Krischer had scuttled his own case before the grand jury. His decision to present the case to a grand jury was unusual. It was the first time a child sex crimes case was heard in the secret proceeding in Palm Beach County. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement After a 4-year-long battle in court, the transcripts were released in July 2024. The contents were stunning. The prosecutor running the proceeding told each of the only two underage victims who testified that they were prostitutes. One was 14 when she encountered Epstein. In 2019, The Post sued then-State Attorney Dave Aronberg and then-Clerk and Comptroller Sharon Bock in their official capacities, seeking a court order unsealing the grand jury records. They opposed The Posts lawsuit, Aronberg calling it frivolous and saying that he did not have the records. In October 2020, The Post dismissed Aronberg from the lawsuit after he publicly declared that he would not oppose release of the records. Nonetheless, Aronberg continued to seek sanctions against The Posts attorneys and an award of fees for his attorney. At a hearing in 2022, Aronberg testified that he believed The Post has an extreme dislike for him and this was a reason The Post sued him. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement After Aronberg was dismissed, the newly elected clerk & comptroller, Joseph Abruzzo, hired an attorney from the Tampa area on the taxpayer's dime for more than $30,000 in fees. His office had custody of the grand jury transcripts but could not release them without a judge's order. Circuit Judge Donald Hafele observed in his order denying The Post's efforts to release the records that the Clerk has zealously advocated the position against disclosure. Abruzzo asked the judge to remove that sentence from his order, but Hafele didn't. Jeffrey Epstein on the U.S. Virgin Islands sex offender registry. Legislation prompted by The Post's reporting and filed at the behest of Abruzzo passed the Legislature in 2024, and Gov. Ron DeSantis signed it at the Palm Beach Police station in February. The original investigation, which found dozens of girls who'd been sexually abused, was done by that department. The grand jury transcripts were released on the day the measure became effective on July 1, 2024. In addition to the FSNE award, The Post's Epstein coverage won first place for crimes, courts and law reporting in the Green Eyeshade contest, a Southeast regional journalism award. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Post also was a finalist for a national Freedom of Information award from Investigative Reporters and Editors. Holly Baltz is an editor at The Palm Beach Post. You can reach her at hbaltz@pbpost.com. This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Jeffrey Epstein coverage: Palm Beach Post in Top 3 for Florida award Attorney General Pam Bondi hasnt appeared on Fox News since backlash to the Trump administrations handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files started. Bondi, once a regular on the cable giant, was last on-air as a guest with Sean Hannity on June 30, just days before the Justice Department and FBI dropped a bombshell memo about the Epstein case that ignited weeks of chaos, Mediaite first noted. The memo poured cold water on the theory that Epstein had a client list, concluded that he died in a New York jail cell by suicide, and said that no further documents in the case would be released to the public. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It was the beginning of weeks of uproar over the administrations failure to release the full Epstein files despite making numerous promises to do so, and Bondi was in the middle of the MAGA firestorm. Fox News has largely followed President Donald Trumps lead and focused its attention on anything other than the controversy, which has dominated coverage at other outlets. Attorney General Pam Bondi hasnt appeared since June 30. Since being in office, she has been interviewed on the network regularly, including on Jesse Watters Primetime in February to issue 'breaking news' about the Epstein files (Fox News) Bondi has played a central role in the Epstein files saga. She told Fox News that the Epstein files were sitting on her desk back in February, but the comment came back to haunt her after the memo was released on the Fourth of July weekend. Its sitting on my desk right now to review, Bondi told John Roberts in February, who asked if the Justice Department would release the list of clients. Thats been a directive by President Trump. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy challenged Trumps press secretary Karoline Leavitt about Bondis comment at a press conference in July, following the DOJ and FBI memo. So, what happened to the Epstein client list that the attorney general said she had on her desk? Doocy asked Leavitt. Well, I think if you go back and look at what the attorney general said in that interview, which was on your network, on Fox News Leavitt said, before Doocy interrupted her to repeat Bondis quote from February. Leavitt pushed back and said that Bondi was referring to the entirety of all of the paperwork, all of the paper in relation to Jeffrey Epsteins crimes. Bondi has played a central role in the Epstein files saga. She told the network the Epstein files were sitting on her desk back in February, but the comment came back to haunt her (REUTERS) Bondi also infuriated MAGA after she invited right-wing influencers to the White House and gave them Phase 1 binders. The binders contained information already in the public domain. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Some of the headlines Fox has run about Bondi since have been less than favorable. Bondi under siege after DOJ reveals no Epstein client list, a July 7 headline read, which again railed against the comment about the files being on her desk. The network also covered the reported feud between Bondi and Deputy Director Dan Bongino, headlined: Inside Dan Bonginos tense meeting with White House officials over Jeffrey Epstein fallout. Despite some noise that he could walk over frustration with the Epstein case, Bongino remained in his role. Bondi briefly spoke with Fox correspondent David Spunt on July 18 during a tour of Alcatraz Island, but she did not appear as a guest as she has done many times previously. While Bondi was Floridas Attorney General, she once guest hostedThe Five and was a regular commentator on the network for years. BAY COUNTY, Fla. (WMBB) A Panama City Beach woman was found guilty Thursday and given a ten-year sentence in connection with a shooting, followed by five years on probation. Norma Jean Thomas, 50, gave her husband a pistol during a disturbance at a Thomas Drive convenience store on August 14, 2022. The defendants husband, Tighree Thomas, fired 8 shots at and into a truck, wounding two. Circuit Court Judge Shonna Young Gay sentenced Thomas to ten years in prison to be followed by five years on probation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Surveillance video from the scene showed the defendant handing her husband a gun after the initial confrontation as the victims tried to leave in their truck. If the court recalls the video, it was a very violent attack, not just by him but by this defendant. She made a choice, and she forever impacted 6 lives by getting that gun out, said VanDyke. At sentencing, VanDyke said the victims declined to attend. They dont want to give up any more of their time today theyve already lost so much time as a result of the shooting, the injuries, the damages. 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 mypanhandle.com. PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WMBB) A Panama City man is facing child sex-related charges after allegedly arranging to meet a teenager for sex. Bay County Sheriffs investigators arrested 58-year-old Blair Thomas Bigelow Wednesday evening. They say he contacted what he thought was a 15-year-old girl and offered to pay her $100 for sex. It turns out it was an undercover deputy portraying a teenager. When Bigelow allegedly arrived at the arranged location, deputies were waiting. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Bigelow is charged with traveling to meet a minor for sex after using a computer to lure a child. Hes being held in the Bay County Jail on a $50,000 bond. 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 mypanhandle.com. PANAMA CITY A local VFW decided to celebrate Purple Heart Day by honoring some local recipients with a small ceremony on Aug. 7. Purple Heart recipients from around Bay County piled into the old-school bar alongside veterans and family members. In all, VFW Post 8205 managed to get seven Purple Heart recipients into the room. The event kicked off with a posting of the colors by Rutherford High School Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps, followed by a speech by retired Air Force Lt. Col. Janet Pattison about the value of service and the history of the Purple Heart. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Purple Heart has a special meaning to me because my father was a veteran of World War II, and he received the Purple Heart," Pattison said. "Its story begins centuries ago, rooted in the ideals of a fledgling nation." She explained that the decoration dates to the Revolutionary War, when Gen. George Washington established the badge of military merit in 1782. "This was a groundbreaking moment in American history, as it was one of the first awards created specifically to honor the common soldier, not just high-ranking officers," Pattison said. "It was awarded to soldiers who displayed extraordinary bravery or meritorious service." They don't give the badge to just anyone, Pattison said. The badge was brought back in 1932 to commemorate Washington's birthday. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "It stands as a testament to the personal cost of war, whether for a soldier wounded in the trenches of World War I, a sailor injured in Pearl Harbor or a Marine harmed in the conflicts of Iraq or Afghanistan," Pattison said. "Each medal tells a story of bravery and loss, connecting recipients across generations to the legacy of Washington's original vision." After the speech, they recognized the Purple Hearts in the crowd with challenge coins and a salute, bringing them up one by one. "We usually do a lot of events for our veterans and any kind of military anniversary, but this year, we want to do something special for our Purple Heart recipients," Todd Boling, commander of Post 8205, told the News Herald. "There's not a lot of them left around. Obviously, you can still get it today, but the majority of them were given in World War I, (World War II), and Vietnam." Boling currently serves on active duty at Tyndall Air Force Base, working in maintenance and volunteering at the VFW on the side. Currently serving doesn't stop Boling from honoring those who went before him. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "My grandpa specifically talked about all his adventures overseas and everything, and it always inspired me to join and I started back in 2009 and continue today," Boling said. "And I got involved with these guys (trying) to give back to the generation before me." Boling said that although Bay County has a fairly tight-knit military community, it's still important to bring veterans together and honor legacies of service. One such legacy they celebrated was the service of David Trogdon. Trogdon is a retired Army chaplain who founded the nonprofit HOPE Project Inc. Humbled by the recognition, he said the real heroes were those who didn't come back home alive. "Thousands of others did exactly the same things," Trogdon said. "Again, the heroes are the ones that suffered the sacrifice." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trogdon enlisted "a long time ago" and served for nine years. After a break in service, he returned as a chaplain and served another 16 years. While doing chaplain work for explosive ordnance disposal soldiers in Iraq, he was hit with a missile. Trogdon played off the event, saying he "had some injuries." To him, being able to do the work he did as a chaplain far outweighed one incident. "I was so honored, blessed to be able to do it," Trogdon said. "For me, it was an honor to help someone try to survive the worst day or time." He didn't sugarcoat his work during the interview. Much of it dealt with grieving Soldiers and dealing with deaths. Trogdon spoke about many of the invisible wounds that veterans have and stressed the need for community. That's partially why he's continued his work even after his military service. He now runs a nonprofit bringing veterans together for equine therapy. "It's hard to adapt, you've got to have a purpose in life," Trogdon said. "You need that community and people you can trust and understand." This article originally appeared on The News Herald: Purple Heart recipients honored at Panama City VFW event Aug. 8 (UPI) -- Panamanian Geisha coffee made history again at the recent 2025 Best of Panama international online auction, selling for a record $30,204 per kilogram or $13,705 per pound. The winning lot, a washed Geisha grown by Hacienda La Esmeralda in Boquete, Chiriqui, was purchased by a buyer from Dubai, marking a new high in the global coffee industry, the Panamanian newspaper La Prensa reported. In the natural Geisha category, also from Hacienda La Esmeralda, a buyer from China paid $23,608 per kg., or $10,709 per pound, while in the varietal category, a lot of the Laurina variety sold for $8,040 per kg., or $3,647 per pound, to a buyer in Beijing. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In total, 30 of the 50 lots offered exceeded $1,000 per kg., of $454 per pound, generating record sales of more than $2.8 million and an average price of $2,861.20 per kg., or $1, 298 per pound -- more than double the figure recorded in 2024. International buyers played a strong role in the auction, with bids from China, Japan, South Korea, Dubai, the United States, Canada and the United Arab Emirates, among others. The Best of Panama is an international specialty coffee competition and auction organized annually by the Specialty Coffee Association of Panama. Rachel Peterson, who represents the winning farm, called the result "a recognition of the effort of our entire team and the dedication Panama has put into cultivating excellence." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Meanwhile, Richard Koyner, president of the Specialty Coffee Association of Panama, said the achievement "undoubtedly positions Panama as the country of the world's finest coffees" and opens new business opportunities for producers across the country. Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino congratulated the coffee growers and said the result puts Panama in a privileged position among the world's most demanding consumers. Geisha is an Arabica coffee variety native to Ethiopia, prized for its floral aromas, fruity notes, bright acidity and silky body. However, in Panama -- particularly in the highlands of Boquete and Volcan -- it has reached exceptional quality, thanks to altitudes above 4,900 feet, volcanic soils and unique microclimates. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Geisha's international fame began in 2004, when the Peterson family introduced the variety at the Best of Panama competition, revolutionizing the specialty coffee industry. Since then, it has won awards, broken price records and become known as the "champagne" of the coffee world. The coffee variety holds the record for the highest price ever paid for a coffee at a public auction. It succeeds in a highly competitive international arena that includes coffees from Ethiopia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala and other countries. The parents of a transgender teen who died by suicide after persistent bullying in school have sued a school district in Alabama. Carmeisha and Cory Williams filed suit Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama against the Elba City Board of Education and two past principals of Elba High School, Wynn Grimes and Warren Weeks. The Williamses are represented by Artur Davis at HKM Employment Attorneys and Matthew Billips, Constance Cooper, and Ben Stark at Barrett and Farahany. Their child, S.W., came out as gay and gender-neutral in seventh grade, according to the suit. They requested to be called Shane and use they/them pronouns. S.W. had been verbally harassed by white students since elementary school for being mixed-race, but following S.W.s disclosure of a transgender identity in seventh grade, harassment and ridicule from students only intensified, the suit says. Teachers refused to use S.W.s preferred name or preferred pronouns, despite an absence of school policies precluding them from doing so. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Both students and teachers mocked S.W. for their naming requests. The teen was further bullied and mocked for assuming traditionally male appearance in terms of manner of clothing and hairstyle, the suit says. From April 4 to April 18, 2023, S.W. was hospitalized for mental health treatment related to suicidal ideation caused by bullying by classmates and teachers. Carmeisha Williams informed Grimes of S.W.s mental health status and asked him to take action, but he made a conscious decision not to remedy the harassment, the suit says. Grimes failed to provide the family with bullying reporting forms, as required by Alabama law, or even tell them such forms are available, according to the suit. When S.W. returned to school, in a stunning display of cruelty, Students mocked S.W.s mental health status, calling them crazy and telling them they should try better next time to kill themselves, the suit says. At one point, when S.W. became ill and vomited from anti-anxiety medication, other students viciously accused S.W. of being pregnant. In May 2023, the Williams family tried to transfer S.W. to Coffee County Schools, but the Elba district refused to allow the transfer. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Weeks became principal of Elba High School June 3, 2023. Superintendent [Christopher] Moseley specifically recruited Weeks for this position despite being warned by guidance counselor Buffy Lusk that Weeks had a documented history of verbal and physical violence against students, teachers, and parents at Goshen High School, the suit says. Lusk had been a source of support for S.W., but she decided to resign when Weeks was hired. When S.W. returned to school August 7, 2023, they told Weeks they were being bullied based on race, sexual orientation, gender identity, and mental health status, according to the filing. But Weeks, like his predecessor, did not provide S.W. with a bullying complaint form, the suit says. The next day, Weeks confronted S.W. in front of about 50 other students as the lunch period was beginning. Weeks forcibly removed S.W.s hoodie, revealing that the teen was wearing only a small tank top underneath and exposing the outline of their breasts and their self-harm scars. S.W. had to continue classes in only the tank top all day. On August 9, 2023, S.W. died by suicide, leaving behind a note that referenced the persistent bullying and harassment they had endured at school, specifically mentioning the students their parents had complained about, the suit says. S.W. was 14 years old. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The suit accuses the school district of violating Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, both laws that prohibit discrimination in federally funded programs, and two other federal laws, the Americans With Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act. It accuses all defendants of violating the constitutional guarantee of equal protection. It also accuses Weeks of violating the constitutional guarantee of substantive due process as well as committing battery and extreme and outrageous conduct. The suit seeks a jury trial, punitive and compensatory damages, and for the court to issue permanent injunctive relief requiring comprehensive anti-bullying and anti-discrimination policies, mandatory training for staff, and clear protocols for addressing harassment complaints. Our Constitution and our laws are not silent about the obligations to children in public schools: they are to be nurtured and protected, not abandoned to cruelty, Davis said in a press release. This lawsuit seeks accountability for a school systems failure to respect this childs life. How any responsible school system could put a bully in charge of stopping bullies is beyond me, Billips added. They might as well put inmates in charge of the prison. Im grateful theres a new administration and hopefully they will turn this shameful episode into something that approaches justice for S.W. and their parents. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement If you or someone you know needs mental health resources and support, please call, text, or chat with the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline or visit 988lifeline.org for 24/7 access to free and confidential services. Trans Lifeline, designed for transgender or gender-nonconforming people, can be reached at (877) 565-8860. The lifeline also provides resources to help with other crises, such as domestic violence situations. The Trevor Project Lifeline, for LGBTQ+ youth (ages 24 and younger), can be reached at (866) 488-7386. Users can also access chat services at TheTrevorProject.org/Help or text START to 678678. This article originally appeared on Advocate: Parents of bullied trans teen who died by suicide sue Alabama school district As summer temperatures rise, many Parisians are warming to the idea of installing air conditioning in their apartments, ending a longstanding resistance to what is considered a basic comfort in many capitals elsewhere. Although commonplace in the French capital's modern office buildings and large stores, air conditioning has never been the norm in Paris homes, where it is considered to be climate-unfriendly, wasteful and -- at least so far -- mostly unnecessary. Complaints from foreign visitors mystified by Parisians' A/C rejection have usually been met with a Gallic shrug. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But fierce heatwaves in recent years, which experts say are exacerbated by global warming, are causing resolves to crumble -- though the newly converted often feel guilty about the environmental impact of operating an A/C unit. "Even when you know that it's a selfish pleasure, there comes a tipping point at which all counter-arguments get thrown out," said Ruben Arnold, a 47-year-old father of young children. As the boss of a startup company specialising in energy use in buildings, Arnold said he was well aware of the climate cost of air conditioning, but he needed the installation for him and his children to "get through" the heat. For people on the top floor of Paris buildings directly under a zinc-covered roof, typical of the city's many Haussmann-era buildings, hot summers can feel like living below a frying pan. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement - 'Didn't think that was even possible' - "During the last heatwave, the temperature went up to 41C (106F) at my place," said Marion Lafuste, who lives in northeast Paris. "I didn't think that was even possible." Ice packs placed in front of fans and firmly closed shutters brought scant relief, the 40-year-old said. Lafuste said she was lucky to have a place in the country where she and her family can sit out the worst of the heat. Otherwise she would have bought an A/C system "despite all the ideological problems I have with that". Although she worries about global warming, "I no longer judge people who get one", she said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Martine Bontemps, who also lives on the top floor of a Paris building, said she found the heat suffocating sometimes, but still "won't give in". Instead she makes do with a ceiling fan she got her landlord to install. The national weather service Meteo France predicts that Paris could regularly see heatwaves of up to 50C by 2050. There will also be a rising number of nights with tropical-like heat, it says, which poses a health problem because humans need to sleep in temperatures of under 20C to recover from daytime stresses. During a virulent French heatwave in 2003, a third of the heat-related deaths of elderly people occurred at home. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This is why Sophie Julini, 53, installed air conditioning in her home, giving her 86-year-old mother an opportunity to cool down for several hours every day. Air conditioning is not yet commonplace in Paris "but is in full development", according to a recent study by the APUR urban planning agency. - 'Very problematic' - Part of the pressure to upgrade comes from foreign visitors who rent private apartments, the report said. Hard numbers are still difficult to come by, because many Paris dwellers buy portable units that do not appear in building statistics. But overall, "we have observed a strong trend towards air conditioning", said Karine Bidart, director of the Paris Climate Agency (APC), calling the development "very problematic". Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The agency, founded by city hall to help citizens with the climate transition, does what it can to counter this "catastrophic mis-adaptation" to climate change, she said. "Several studies predict that a massive increase in private air conditioning will raise the outside temperature by 2C," said Dan Lert, in charge of the city's climate plan. "It's one thing to use it as a last resort, especially for vulnerable people," said Frederic Delhommeau, director for residential energy at APC. "But it's problematic to turn to air conditioning as a reflex, because there are other solutions that are cheaper and more efficient." Among them is the renovation of buildings, including by making changes to the many zinc-covered roofs, Lert said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But often such projects are blocked by heritage protection agencies "who rate patrimony more highly than people's health", he said. Despite everything, said Anne Ruas, a researcher, air conditioning in Paris's private apartments will only become more widespread in the coming years. "Instead of saying you can't have them, and guilt-tripping people, we need to think of solutions and come up with the least harmful systems possible," she said. juc/jh/sjw/js/ URBANA, Ill. (WCIA) A section of South Grove Street in Urbana is set to close on Monday for scheduled utility work. Springfields Reservoir Street closing for water main relocation project: CWLP The street will be blocked off to all through traffic between East Washington Avenue and East Oregon Avenue. Closures will begin on Aug. 11 at 6 a.m., and the roads are expected to be re-opened by Aug. 13 at 5 p.m. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This street closure is being put into effect as Illinois American Water contractors are set to perform utility work in the area. During the project, access will be maintained to all properties along South Grove Street. Officials said that motorists should drive carefully through the construction area. Any questions or concerns are asked to be directed to Lance Merry at 217-384-2342 or lance.merry@urbanail.gov. 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. The Brief The Texas Senate redistricting committee has approved the Republican-proposed congressional map on a party-line vote. The full Senate is expected to vote on the map as early as next week, while the House remains stalled due to a Democratic walkout. The map faces criticism for gerrymandering and is at the center of a debate over race and partisanship. While things remain stalled in the Texas house, the Senate redistricting committee approved the Republicans proposed congressional map. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This was approved on a party-line vote and while the house is stalled, the full senate will vote on the map as early as next week. What they're saying "Time will tell if this map will elect more or less people of color," said District 10 Senator Phil King. Race and partisanship are still at the center of the redistricting debate as the Texas Senate moves toward a full vote. Thursdays hearing started with fireworks when Republican Senator Bryan Hughes called out Democratic states for their gerrymandered maps, states like Illinois, where some of the absent Texas Democrats are staging their protest. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "We are Texans. I really dont give a (expletive) what other states. I just care about Texas," said Senator Borris Miles. Senator Borris Miles "If leaders in other states are going to criticize Texas and hypocritically criticize us for what we are doing, a little context is needed," said Senator Bryan Hughes. Senator Bryan Hughes One Democrat leader who left the state said the move is provided for in Texas' governing documents. "Quorum break is actually a tool that the founding fathers of the Texas constitution put in so that the minority party, since we do not have a filibuster, we have the quorum break and that's the tool that we're using," said Rep. Miheala Plesa. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Legal experts say Republicans have an uphill battle on their hands, arguing it's more about political posturing rather than a criminal matter. "To get somebody back from a foreign state, youd have to do the extradition process, and youd have to go before a court and convince the court theres some kind of criminal statute involved here. And thats just simply not the case," said former U.S. Attorney Paul Coggins. U.S. Sen. John Cornyn said Thursday that the FBI agreed to his request for help arresting the Democrats who are outside the reach of Texas law enforcement. Coggins says this is a surprising move. "Its a bad idea. The FBI has a core mission and thats to enforce federal criminal statutes. Theres no criminal or federal statutes involved here." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement FOX 4 reached out to the FBI for a statement. They declined to comment. Local perspective The Senate committee heard some of the same complaints that house lawmakers heard in their meetings. Urban districts would now sprawl even deeper into conservative rural areas. "Under this new map, someone in the White House, not Texas, wants to move me to CD 10, which would be a district that stretches almost to Louisiana," said Texas resident Sarah West. Last week, a house committee approved the map, but the Democratic walkout has stalled any further action. Republicans and the courts have held that redistricting for political gains is legal. But in the senate hearing where more than 100 people testified, most of those speakers did not see it that way. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "This is about taking power away from everyday Texans," said Texas resident Monica Gonzalez. "Texans dont believe our congressional maps fairly represent our communities," said another Texas resident, Daniel Kelly. The Source Information in this article was provided by FOX 4's Steven Dial. Aug. 7Pasco Mayor Peter Serrano, who ran unsuccessfully as a Republican last year for state attorney general, has been tapped as the new U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington. His selection will have to be considered by the U.S. Senate, but Serrano said via phone on Thursday that he is "excited and waiting for it to be finalized." He declined to provide further comment. The U.S. Attorney's Office, located in Spokane, also declined to comment. The appointment by President Donald Trump would effectively end the role of Acting U.S. Attorney Stephanie Van Marter, who assumed the position July 7 after the resignation of acting U.S. Attorney Richard Barker. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Barker resigned after five months in office. Serrano, a former lawyer with the U.S. Department of Energy, was selected as mayor in 2024 after serving on the Pasco City Council since 2017. Serrano described the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol rioters as "political prisoners" who were held on "political charges" during a debate with Nick Brown, the eventual winner of the state attorney general race. Trump earlier this year issued a blanket pardon for those who participated in the insurrection. Brown and Serrano clashed with one another in pre-election debates about gun safety and abortion, The Spokesman-Review reported in 2024. Serrano, in his early 40s, said in those debates he would struggle to defend Washington's abortion shield law. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Serrano is currently the director and general counsel of the Silent Majority Foundation, a conservative nonprofit that has sued the state of Washington over its COVID-19 vaccine mandates and gun laws. In his work at the Silent Majority Foundation, Serrano is representing evangelical preacher and self-described Christian Nationalist Sean Feucht in a lawsuit against the city of Spokane. The lawsuit was filed over the council's vote in 2023 to denounce then-Mayor Nadine Woodward for appearing on stage with Feucht and with former state Rep. Matt Shea during a stop on the Kingdom to the Capitol tour, a religious and political series organized by Feucht. U.S attorneys are appointed by current presidential administrations and need confirmation by the Senate. Trump has repeatedly said he doesn't want to appoint anyone in the U.S Department of Justice who is not loyal to him and has purged the department of attorneys who previously worked on his classified documents case, CBS and POLITICO reported. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Barker left his post for a role at Singleton Schreiber, a law firm with attorneys across the western half of the U.S. Barker wrote in a statement on LinkedIn last month he was grateful he "never had to sign an indictment or file a brief that I didn't believe in." The law firm Barker turned to also employs former U.S. Attorney Vanessa Waldref, a Biden appointee who departed in January. Credit: X/@jimmuldoon A passenger was sliced open after a water slide broke on the Icon of the Seas cruise ship. The male passenger reportedly received lacerations to his leg and back when a section of the Frightening Bolt slide cracked on Thursday, creating a jagged edge. Footage shows water gushing through the gaping hole in the slide as terrified passengers demand that the crew shut it down. The passenger did not fall through the hole but received severe cuts as he sped over the broken edge. He received medical attention on board and is reportedly in a stable condition. Passengers demanded that the crew shut the slide down as water poured through the hole - x.com/jimmuldoon The 46ft high slide, in the ships Thrill Island area, has the biggest drop at sea and includes a trapdoor launch and a 360-degree loop. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The cruise ship is heading to Royal Caribbeans CocoCay island and will then return to Miami. The seven-day round trip sees it docking at St Maarten, the US Virgin Islands and the Bahamas. Tickets for a week-long trip on the Icon of the Seas for the Eastern Caribbean and Perfect Day at CocoCay tour for a family of four start at 2,048, according to current availability. A Royal Caribbean Group spokesman said: Our team provided medical care to an adult guest when acrylic glass broke off a water slide as the guest passed through the slide. The guest is being treated for his injuries. The water slide is closed for the remainder of the sailing pending an investigation. The 46ft-high water slide, in the ships Thrill Island area, has the biggest drop at sea - Joe Raedle/Getty Images The 1,200ft-long Icon of the Seas and its sister ship Star of the Seas are the worlds biggest cruise ships. Each can accommodate 7,600 passengers. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The incident comes two weeks after an Icon of the Seas crew member stabbed a colleague and jumped overboard to his death. The South African man, 35, allegedly stabbed a woman, 28, multiple times on board the ship off the coast of San Salvador Island. He then jumped off the ship and was found dead by its onboard medical staff. The woman survived the attack. 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. Pasta, pepper, pecorino. And butter? Cacio e pepe, the creamy pasta dish, is traditionally composed of just three ingredients. But not according to Good Food, formerly owned by the BBC, which recently published a recipe for the traditional Roman favourite that snuck in a fourth. The website, which says the pasta dish makes for an easy, speedy lunch, calls for spaghetti (or, controversially, the thicker pasta bucatini), ground black pepper, pecorino and butter. It even adds insult to injury by suggesting that the pecorino could be substituted with plain old parmesan (many pasta purists would argue it cannot). A small change, perhaps, but one that has escalated into a full-blown crisis leading to a complaint being lodged at the British embassy, outraged headlines splashed over local papers and Roman chefs up in arms at the bastardisation of a beloved dish. Adding butter to cacio e pepe, they argue, is heresy as is suggesting that a delicate, surprisingly complicated recipe is both easy and speedy. The creaminess of the sauce must come from the combination of starchy pasta water and pecorino cheese alone. They join a long line of Italians complaining about how the British and others treat their cuisine, from mild misdemeanours, like putting cheese on seafood pasta, to the cardinal sin of cream in a carbonara. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Paolo Catarinozzi, owner of Zi Umberto, a restaurant specialising in classic Roman dishes in the heart of the capitals Trastevere district, pulls no punches. He describes the Good Food recipe, which appears to have been online for several months but has only now triggered a dispute, as disgusting. It is another dish altogether, he says. It is offensive. The English always ruin our recipes, because they try to adapt Italian recipes to please their customers, instead of producing dishes as they should be made. Catarinozzi runs his restaurant which serves cacio e pepe as it ought to be served, at least according to his clientele with his daughter Alice. For us it is not just about the food, she says. These are recipes [perfected] by our grandparents it is about respecting what they gave us, protecting their memories. Alice serves cacio e pepe pasta to customers at Zi Umberto restaurant in Trastevere, Rome - Chris Warde-Jones Others have gone further still with their criticism. Coldiretti, Italys largest farmers organisation, released a statement that called distorted recipes such as the Good Foods cacio e pepe a gastronomic gallery of horrors. Another case is spaghetti bolognese, a dish that is practically unknown in traditional Italian cuisine but very popular abroad, especially in the United Kingdom, it continued. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Irate Italophiles have always complained about the British take on Italian classics, but not until now has anyone attempted to escalate it to a diplomatic crisis. One disgruntled association of restaurateurs in the Italian capital is so het up about the addition of butter to the Good Food recipe that it has lodged a complaint with the British embassy in Rome. Claudio Pica, president of the Rome branch of the restaurant association Fiepet-Confesercenti, said the recipe is akin to us coming to Britain and demanding the finest double malt whisky mixed with lemonade in a letter addressed to Good Food and diplomats in the capital. The embassy declined to comment when contacted by The Telegraph. Picking up on the tensions, one headline in an Italian newspaper read, Butter and parmesan in cacio e pepe! Stunned! The British embassy informed! Another, the Rome-based Il Messaggero, quipped: Paraphrasing the famous British anthem God save the king, Rome restaurateurs are now saying: God save the cacio e pepe. But is this a valiant battle to protect the heart of Italian cuisine, or just a storm in a saucepan? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As Francesco Mazzei, one of the leading Italian chefs in the UK, argues, adding butter is a shortcut, perhaps even a cop-out. NO butter, he says, emphatically. Lets put it this way. Its easy to make a cacio e pepe with butter. Its extremely difficult to make a cacio e pepe with no butter. Mazzei argues that while the recipe might appear to be simple, simplicity is also sophistication. You need to know how to do it. Its all about skills and years and years and years of technique. Among the artworks in Zi Umberto is one celebrating cacio e pepe - Chris Warde-Jones Not everybody agrees. Conor Gadd, chef-owner at Trullo, a leading Italian restaurant in north London, is unapologetic about his use of butter in his restaurants version of the dish. He does, however, describe developing his take on the classic as the bane of my life. Adding butter isnt traditional, and Italians are the very essence of traditionalism, says Gadd. We played around with it for years, adding pecorino, parmesan, we used egg yolk sometimes, and eventually, we said, what are we doing here? Im not Italian. I dont have to stick to how my mother taught me to do things. Italian cooking is very simple, very pure, with an innate trust in the quality of ingredients, he continues. Thats all well and good, but the reason we would add butter is to adapt it to the British palette. Quite simply, with a knob of butter, the pasta just tastes better. And, he adds, on a cold night in north London, I think people just appreciate a bit of butter. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Perhaps this is exactly why the Good Food concoction does appear to have pleased British home cooks creamier, potentially tastier, and better suited to our climes. One suspiciously well-placed commenter on the websites recipe page posted: I cant believe adding a [little] butter turned this from a boring traditional recipe into something I actually like eating. This is one of those examples where a small update makes all the difference! Good Food has responded to the uproar by removing a line from the recipe that suggested it includes four simple ingredients spaghetti, pepper, parmesan and butter. The company said via a spokesman that it has been in touch with the Fiepet-Confesercenti association to explain that our recipe is designed to be easy to use for home cooks using readily available ingredients in the UK. With that in mind, we have edited the copy at the start of the recipe to make this clear and we have invited the Roman restaurant association to supply us with an authentic Italian version that we would love to upload and credit to them, the spokesman added. Cacio e pepe is prepared the traditional way at Zi Umberto extra pecorino is optional - Chris Warde-Jones Some adaptations are indeed necessitated by whats available (or not) on British supermarket shelves, which are not known to be heaving with the finest pecorino and perfectly cured guanciale. However, Britons do have a long and illustrious history of butchering the beloved Italian classics. There was a similar outcry when Mary Berry published a bolognese recipe that included double cream and white wine. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Nigella Lawson also found herself in hot water when she had the audacity to put nutmeg and double cream in her carbonara; despite the fact that she adds double cream to nearly everything, she was accused of heralding the death of Italian cuisine. And lets not forget the more recent carbonara crisis, when The New York Times suggested that tomatoes belong in the creamy, silky spaghetti dish. Tomatoes are not traditional in carbonara, but they lend a bright tang to the dish, a piece published by NYT Cooking in 2021 read. Backlash was immediate, and fierce, with some critics arguing the recipe should be illegal. And then there are the Frankensteinian horrors we or America have created ourselves: spaghetti and meatballs, ham and pineapple on pizza, and the atrocity that is Heinz tinned carbonara. However, the truth is that many of the recipes heralded as Italian classics have a history and origin that is fiercely contested. Luca Cesari, a leading food historian has suggested that according to the first carbonara recipe, unearthed from 1954, the dish should be made with pancetta (bacon) rather than the guanciale (pork jowl) that any self-respecting Italian would insist upon. He received death threats. Alberto Grandi, an Italian academic and pasta myth-buster, has gone so far as to suggest that many of the Italian classics, from pizza to panettone, are either relatively recent inventions or shock horror not even Italian recipes at all. He has even claimed that carbonara was an American invention. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement So, yes, buttery cacio e pepe may be an aberration, or at the very least a shameless adaptation. But if the Italians are at it too, is that really such a crime? Additional reporting by Josephine McKenna 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. The Brief Johns Hopkins and United Healthcare are in negotiations about care plans, leaving some patients in limbo. If they can't reach a deal, you will no longer be in-network at Hopkins facilities if you have United Healthcare's insurance. Johns Hopkins provides care to residents in 19 different locations across the D.C. area, so the deal could have widespread impacts. WASHINGTON - The home of Maryland's largest children's hospital, Johns Hopkins University, may force patients to pay out-of-pocket if they can't reach a deal with United Healthcare. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement If Johns Hopkins and United Healthcare can't reach a deal, you will no longer be in-network at Hopkins facilities if you have United Healthcare's insurance. What we know Johns Hopkins provides care to residents in 19 different locations across the D.C. area. Their facilities are widespread across our region and include major hospitals like Sibley and Suburban alongside specialists in neurosurgery, cardiology and colorectal surgeryall areas where it can take a long time to develop a relationship with your doctor. What they're saying Johns Hopkins is accusing United of pushing harmful practices that would hurt patients, like aggressively denying claims that delay patient care and excessive red tape forcing patients to wait for treatment. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement United says this isn't about money and that they've agreed to financial terms. They accuse Hopkins of including contract terms that would hurt employers. They also say those covered by United insurance will have other options in the DMV. One expert says we're not getting the full picture from these statements that Johns Hopkins is fighting for the right to reject certain United plans that would be unfair to patients. "The truth is that they're not wanting to refuse treatment to certain patients. They're wanting the right to refuse to work with certain healthcare plans under United that certain employers might choose because they've decided that certain plans engage in too much delay and deny," attorney Madeline Summerville, said. "This is Johns Hopkins' attempt to try to resolve that problem. You know we've heard about the delay and deny issue with the [United] Healthcare CEO, of course, and society's kind of accepted that that's an issue." What's next United says that if you are in the middle of treatment for a serious or complex conditionif you have cancer or are pregnant, for exampleyou are eligible for continuity of care. That means you can keep paying in-network prices until your treatment is done, but you have to apply for it and get approved as it is not automatic. Volunteers park in the shadows of downtown Dallas and open their trunks. Smiles brighten their faces as they wave to lines of homeless individuals crowding the sidewalks. They pass out bags of food and materials often with words of blessing. But the scene often turns quickly from charity to chaos. Parked cars, coolers, and folding tables line the sidewalks of S. Ervay Street, Corsicana Street, and Cadiz Street, drawing hundreds. Food wrappers, half-eaten meals, and trash pile up throughout the area. Volunteers do their best to clean up, though much of the trash remains. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Many well-intentioned volunteers meet at this location weekly. Others arrive once, pray, hand out supplies, and leave. The crowds and the aftermath continue to grow. In recent years, waves of Dallas-area charity groups have frequented the blocks from Young Street to I-30 every Saturday and to a lesser extent, every Sunday and Wednesday feeding those experiencing homelessness. Despite the best intentions, uncoordinated efforts can bring unfavorable consequences. What was once a quiet display of compassion has grown into a full-scale logistical mess creating tension among shelters, residents, city workers, and even among ministries themselves. The Whole Neighborhood Is Upset David Woody, president of The Bridge Homeless Recovery Center, said the uncoordinated street feedings generate widespread disruption. Folks like The Bridge, Downtown Dallas Inc., and the Sanitation Department from the City of Dallas have to come and clean up all the trash, Woody told The Dallas Express. The homeless leave all kinds of trash that the whole neighborhood is upset about, explained Woody. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Apart from the trash, homeless people at The Bridge often suffer from chronic diseases like diabetes from consuming unhealthy food, according to Woody. Medical studies have consistently shown that individuals experiencing homelessness suffer disproportionately from chronic conditions like diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular diseasecomplications that become harder to manage without access to refrigeration, medication, or consistent care. A 2023 population-based study published in Diabetes Care found that people with a history of homelessness were nearly twice as likely to be hospitalized for diabetes-related emergencies compared to the general population. Additional data from the National Academies of Medicine highlights the barriers to managing these conditions outside of shelter systems. Many of our homeless guests here on campus have diabetes, high blood pressure, they have other physical ailments that contribute to the disabilities, Woody said. So eating a nutritious meal is part of that recovery experience. When The Dallas Express visited the feeding, most charity groups were handing out pre-packaged food like cookies, cupcakes, and chips, or hot meals like mac and cheese and hot dogs. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Woody said the feedings just blocks from The Bridge may discourage people from engaging with shelter services. As The Dallas Express previously reported, The Bridge offers comprehensive programs to place people in jobs and housing. We all want something better, Woody said. They get to choose whether or not they will accept what we think would be better for them, but for us to enable them being in a situation that tugs at our heartstrings, it doesnt make sense. Research published in BMC Public Health found that homeless individuals most often relied on food from donations rather than shelters, and that such reliance often met immediate needs without connecting people to the comprehensive services such as case management, medical care, and job placement that facilities like The Bridge provide. A Chaotic Mess in the Name of Ministry Pastor Earl Fitzsimmons, founder of Bring The Light Ministries, told The Dallas Express he was previously addicted and homeless but he started feeding the homeless at 45 days sober, and has since been sober for nearly 19 years. For over 18 years, he has worked to help others tackle challenges he has known intimately. Bring The Light has a long history of feeding homeless people near S. Ervay Street, according to Fitzsimmons. But he said the overall Saturday feeding scene downtown has become what he called a chaotic mess, prompting his group to scale back to going downtown at lunchtime on Saturday once per quarter. For years and years, we were one of the only groups feeding homeless people at 10 a.m. on Saturday, he said. Now, its like a buffet. Its a ministry, Im called by God to do this, he said. However, theres a difference between what were doing were raising money for a facility to bring these people in and the people who hang out in this area handing out pizzas and sandwiches. Fitzsimmons said he doesnt believe that feeding people on the street keeps them out of shelters. He denied that feeding a homeless person enables them to stay on the street. Still, he expressed concern about what he sees as disorganized and duplicated efforts often without cleanup, coordination, or follow-through. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The outreach efforts are crazy, according to Fitzsimmons, with homeless people throwing half-eaten pieces of pizza on the ground when another sandwich or hot dog grabs their attention. Jesus said, Let those who have eyes see, Fitzsimmons said. Theres way more food than there are people at that time in that area. Youre wasting your food. Rarely, if ever, do I see other groups picking up trash in the streets besides Bring The Light Ministries. Bring The Light now hands out trash bags during events and connects homeless individuals with recovery services. When the city raised concerns about litter before COVID, Fitzsimmons said his group became more proactive. In 2023, as previously reported by The Dallas Express, Fitzsimmons and his team helped clean an encampment under I-45. We will rent or take our trucks, and clean up and haul away trash from the tent cities, he said. Fitzsimmons acknowledged that many of the volunteers have good intentions. Theyre doing a biblical work meaning theyre feeding the poor, theyre feeding the homeless, which is a good thing, he said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But when Bring The Light offers to coordinate, Fitzsimmons said they can never ever get a positive response. Im Looking at What Theyre Dropping On a recent Saturday, The Dallas Express visited the downtown corridor where dozens of volunteers were handing out food, water, and other supplies to individuals experiencing homelessness. Among them was Kenneth Reed, with Mt. Hebron Missionary Baptist Church, who was offering water and praying with people near the curb. All were doing is coming out here, serving people that are just a little bit less fortunate, Reed explained to The Dallas Express. All glory we give to God. Reed said his group tries to keep the area clean. As he picked up trash near his vehicle, he gestured toward the surrounding sidewalks. Im looking at what theyre dropping, he said. Throughout the blocks surrounding S. Ervay and Cadiz Streets, The Dallas Express observed piles of discarded food containers, uneaten items, and general litter. While some groups made an effort to clean up their immediate area, others appeared to leave behind the aftermath of their outreach. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The food being distributed included bottled water, pre-packaged oatmeal, peanut butter sandwiches, fast food meals, and snack bags. Some volunteers also handed out hygiene kits or offered prayers, while others provided bulk food without a clear plan for managing trash once recipients moved on. Reeds efforts reflected a broader concern echoed by shelter leaders and city officials that without proper oversight, these well-intended handouts contribute to disorder, unsanitary conditions, and missed opportunities for more structured support. Enforcement Without Action Before the organizations and volunteers can feed those experiencing homelessness, Dallas code requires charities serving more than 75 individuals to notify the city at least 24 hours beforehand. If they expect to serve fewer than 75, they can notify the city within 48 hours afterward. During the Saturday morning that The Dallas Express was onsite, the outlet saw code compliance workers checking the sidewalks and various stations. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement When they approached two men distributing food from the back of their car, the volunteers said they had not notified the city in advance. The officers allowed them to continue serving food. Its just pre-packaged? As long as its pre-packaged, one worker said. If you guys ever do want to share hot food, its okay, another said, handing the men a form. The Dallas Express attempted to interview the men and the workers, but both declined to comment. Despite repeated claims from city officials that supervision has increased, no citations have been issued this year for violations of the feeding ordinance. Rick Ericson, deputy director of communications for the City of Dallas, told The Dallas Express that the citys Consumer Health team had engaged with 177 groups or individuals as of July 15. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to Ericson, 18% of those groups have conducted feedings more than once, while 81.9% were one-time efforts. When The Dallas Express visited the site, several city vehicles were present including a pickup truck for waste, a police car for security, and cars with the Office of Emergency Management. Security from Downtown Dallas, Inc. also patrolled the area. We have heightened our supervisory presence, Ericson said. No citations have been issued at this time. He noted that once the city began promoting the advance-notice requirement, there was a 35% drop in repeat feedings, and a clear downward trend in total events week over week. Since May 22, notification compliance among groups feeding more than 75 people rose from 28.95% to 51.11%, according to Ericson. For groups serving fewer than 75, compliance increased from 6.25% to 37.5%. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Saturday remains the busiest day for feedings, accounting for 68.9% of events, followed by Sunday at nearly 25%. Another Path Some local leaders believe Dallas could benefit from looking at how other cities handle public feeding efforts. Vicar Dustin Messer of All Saints Dallas, an Anglican church in the middle of the feedings, told The Dallas Express the general disorder in the area makes him concerned for homeless people. I dont at all question peoples motives, Messer said. As I drive down and see people handing out warm mayonnaise sandwiches that could give someone food poisoning, I worry about the disorder caused by that for the sake of homeless people. Messer pointed to one example of how disorder can escalate: On Christmas Eve 2021, a nearby gift distribution led to a fight in a parking lot. One person was shot and killed. Without controls like security or trash cans, people can be violent, according to Messer. He believes Dallas should consider the more structured systems adopted in cities like Houston and San Diego. Houston asks homeless feeding groups to register with the city, get free food handling training, get consent from the property owner at the location, and schedule their service for maximum efficiency. San Diego County regulates charity feeding operations food quality, temperature, and cleanliness. When distributing hot food or pre-packaged perishable food, they must register with the Department of Environmental Health and Quality and provide proof of nonprofit status. I think theyre trying to be creative about it, Messer said. Theyre just realizing disorder isnt good for anybody, including the homeless. While Dallas has required notice, enforcement has been inconsistent prompting some leaders to look elsewhere for ideas. The Divide Between Groups While some volunteer organizations coordinate closely with the city and take steps to clean up after their outreach, others do not. Dorcas Heart, with Mena Ohwo, feeds people experiencing homelessness on the last Saturday of every month and hands out hygiene kits including toothbrushes, toothpaste, body wash, lotion, and sanitizer along with sleeping bags when possible. Ohwo said her group always notifies the city before each event and comes prepared with trash bags to clean the area. We come with trash bags so we can clean the area, she said, pointing to a volunteer picking up debris nearby. The worker told The Dallas Express they were part of the citys cleanup crew assigned to the Saturday feedings and that they regularly haul away multiple bags of trash from the blocks around S. Ervay and Cadiz Streets. The Walter Bruce Foundation sets up weekly on Saturday mornings, handing out meals in white foam boxes many of which were later seen littered across surrounding blocks. Walter Bruce told The Dallas Express he began the effort as a personal covenant with God. His group also distributes clothing and hygiene items, and he said they notify the city in advance. We give them food for a week, Bruce said. We have bags where they can pick anything they want, from perishables, whole foods, cookies Asked about cleanup, Bruce pointed to volunteers nearby collecting trash. If we make it dirty, the city wont allow it, Bruce said. So we have to make sure we keep it clean so we dont have any pushback. However, other ministries have scaled back their cleanup efforts or rely entirely on city crews. Chantrell Lacy, with the Ministry of Transformation, told The Dallas Express her group initially helped with cleanup, but they now rely on the city. We were prepared to do those things, she said. But right now, the City of Dallas pretty much helps out with that. Chandrea Middlebrook, from Run It Up Dallas, said during a Sunday feeding, her group tries to be responsible but acknowledged the limits of control. Were doing our best to clean up behind ourselves, she said. Obviously, we cant do anything once the residents take the food. The contrast between coordinated, recurring groups and more casual, pop-up efforts remains stark. And while most volunteers appear motivated by compassion, city officials and local ministries say good intentions dont always result in good outcomes. Whether structured or spontaneous, nearly all these groups share a common intent: to help. But the long-term impact of those efforts is now a matter of serious concern. Final Reflections From code enforcement to cleanup, feeding efforts in downtown Dallas operate in a gray area caught between charitable impulse and community impact. Those with long-term experience in street outreach say the difference between meaningful service and disorder often comes down to planning, follow-through, and whether the effort is truly embedded in the work of recovery. Pastor Earl Fitzsimmons, who has spent nearly two decades ministering to the homeless, described the problem plainly. Youre never going to find me overly criticizing somebody whos following a biblical imperative about, Did you feed me when I was hungry, because that drives me too, he said. However, theres a real issue I have with what I call hit and run people, he added. They hug a bunch of homeless people, they take a bunch of pictures, and hand out some pizzas. Then thumbs up Hey, were praying for you, maybe Heres some hygiene kits and then leave a mess in the wake behind them. The mess, others say, is more than just physical its the erosion of structure, accountability, and any real path out of homelessness. UPDATE: A district court in Tarrant County has placed a temporary restraining order against Beto ORourke and his organization Powered by People from supporting Democratic lawmakers who fled the state to oppose the Republican redistricting plan, according to a report from sister station KXAN. EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing former U.S. Rep. Beto ORourke and his organization Powered by the People, alleging unlawful fundraising activity, the Attorney Generals Office announced Friday, Aug. 8 in a news release posted on the offices website. Paxton calls ORourkes organization radical and alleges that is potentially operating a misleading financial influence scheme to fund runaway Democrats who fled Texas to break quorum amid the ongoing furor over redistricting. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Paxton also said that Democratic lawmakes have accepted Beto Bribes to finance fleeing from the state. ORourke represented El Paso in Congress from 2013-19. He also served on the El Paso City Council before unsuccessfully running for U.S. senator, governor and president. Democrat runaways are likely accepting Beto Bribes to underwrite their jet-setting sideshow in far-flung places and misleadingly raising political funds to pay for personal expenses, Paxton said. This out-of-state, cowardly cabal is abandoning their constitutional duties. I will not allow failed political has-beens to buy off Texas elected officials. Ill see you in court, Beto. ORourke and Powered by People intentionally misled donors to fund runaway Democrats personal expenses, despite advertising it as political fundraising, Paxtons office said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement By knowingly blurring the distinction, ORourke and Powered by People sought to take advantage of uninformed donors by directing them to explicitly political fundraising platforms, all while intending to use the funds for purposes they understood to be constituted as personal expenditures. Texas law prohibits organizations from engaging in false, misleading, and deceptive acts, such as the fundraising scheme operated by ORourke and Powered by People, the news release said. Paxton has requested a temporary restraining order and an injunction preventing ORourke and Powered by People from continuing to raise or distribute money for the purpose of funding the runaway Democrat House members, the Attorney Generals Office said. ORourke said on Facebook he and his organization are suing Paxton in state court and are taking the fight directly to him. ORourke issued a lengthier statement via X: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement They want to make examples out of those who fight so that others wont. Paxton is trying to shut down Powered by People, one of the largest voter registration organizations in the country, because our volunteers fight for voting rights and free elections the kind of work that threatens the hold that Paxton, Trump and Abbott have on power in Texas. In addition to helping register hundreds of thousands of voters, our members have volunteered in other important ways, including picking up thousands of shifts at Texas food banks. During Abbotts electricity grid failure in 2021, we made more than a million calls to connect seniors to warming centers and safety. We also purchased nearly a million dollars in supplies for Texans abandoned by their elected officials who were too busy fleeing to Cancun or letting their gas pipeline donors steal billions in illegal profits while hundreds of Texans were dying. Now Paxtons filed a restraining order to try to take us out of the fight. He wants to silence me and stop me from leading this organization. He wants to stop us from fighting Trumps attempt to steal the five congressional seats he needs to hang on to power. But Im not going anywhere. I plan on speaking at our rally to stop the power grab in Fort Worth (Saturday afternoon), ORourke 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 KTSM 9 News. Editor's note: This is a developing story. U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters on Aug. 8 that a potential peace deal between Moscow and Kyiv would likely include "some swapping of territories," as Trump prepares to hold a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin next week. "Well you're looking at territory that's been fought over for three-and-a-half years... So we're looking at that but we're actually looking to get some back," Trump said during a press conference alongside the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan. "Some swapping, it's complicated." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "We're going to get some back. We're going to get some switched. There will be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both," Trump added. Trump did not specify what he meant by "swapping," though it possibly referred to Crimea illegally annexed in 2014 and parts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson oblasts. Russia declared the annexation of the latter four regions, which are partially occupied by Russia, in 2022 following sham referenda. Seemingly ramping up pressure to come to a peace agreement, Trump said that Zelensky was "going to have to get ready to sign something," without specifying what terms to agreement may be present. The comments come ahead of a proposed summit between Trump and Putin that may be held at the end of next week, NBC News reported. The details or exact timing of the meeting remain unclear, according to NBC News. It was not immediately clear as to whether it would involve President Volodymyr Zelensky. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trump told European leaders and Zelensky that Putin is open to negotiations if land swaps are included in the talks, Bloomberg reported on Aug. 7, citing its undisclosed sources. Bloomberg later reported on Aug. 8 that the U.S. and Russia are seeking to reach a territorial agreement to cement Moscow's occupation of Ukrainian territories and end the war. The proposed deal is aimed at freezing the conflict and laying the groundwork for a ceasefire and technical negotiations toward a final peace settlement, the news agency reported, with Putin demanding that Ukraine cede all of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, as well as Crimea. A map showing Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine as of 2025. (The Kyiv Independent) Ukraine's Presidential Office has not yet commented on Trump's comments on swapping territory. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In his evening address, issued before Trump's public comments, Zelensky said that Ukraine is "continuing our active negotiations with partners to reach a common position for a reliable peace for Ukraine. A truly genuine peace," criticizing Moscow for continuously rejecting a proposed ceasefire. "So far, we see that the Russians are ignoring (a ceasefire) at least for now," Zelensky added. Putin has publicly demanded that Ukraine forgo NATO membership and withdraw troops from all four regions as preconditions for peace. Under this condition, several large cities under Ukrainian control would have to be handed over to Russia. Read also: Trump-Putin meeting tentatively scheduled for end of next week, NBC News reports Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. (FOX40.COM) The driver of the fatal crash that occurred in Natomas on Wednesday afternoon has been arrested after displaying signs of being intoxicated and remains in the hospital. Video above: Which states have the worst drivers According to the Sacramento Police Department, officers responded to reports of a vehicle vs. pedestrian crash that happened around 3:15 p.m. near Del Paso and El Centro Roads and found a male pedestrian down in the roadway and attempted life-saving measures. Lucky Powerball player wins more than $700,000 in Sacramento County Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Fire personnel had pronounced the pedestrian dead on the scene. The driver had sustained injuries and showed signs of being intoxicated. Due to the circumstances of the incident, detectives from the Major Collision Investigation Unit and Crime Scene Investigators responded to the scene to canvass and interview witnesses, police said. The Sacramento County Coroners Office will release the name of the deceased after the next of kin has been notified, SPD stated. Officials said the police department encourages any witnesses with information regarding this investigation to contact the dispatch center at 916-808-5471. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. RUTHERFORD COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) A pedestrian was killed in a crash in the Christiana community early Friday morning. The crash happened in the 4600 block of Shelbyville Highway near Christiana Elementary School around 5:30 a.m. Neighborhood News: Stories impacting your community | Read More According to the Tennessee Highway Patrol, 86-year-old Jerry Smotherman was hit by a 2013 Chevy Malibu traveling south on Shelbyville Highway. The THP reported Smotherman witnessed a crash and entered the roadway to help the victims of that crash when he was struck. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The 37-year-old man driving the Malibu stopped after the crash and is not expected to be charged. Shelbyville Highway was closed in both directions between Richmonds Retreat and Walnut Grove Road. No additional information was immediately released. Download the News 2 app to stay updated on the go. Sign up for WKRN email alerts to have breaking news sent to your inbox. Find todays top stories on WKRN.com for Nashville, TN and all of Middle Tennessee. This is a developing story. WKRN News 2 will continue to update this article as new information becomes available. Copyright 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. (WHTM) Governor Josh Shapiro calls it G-S-D, for getting stuff done. Perhaps he should add a Q for Quickly. The Governor trumpeted the speed his administration is approving permits and cutting red tape. But, is the state cutting corners? Thats the concern of at least one lawmaker. Speed saves money, the governor said at a recent press conference, adding that it makes the state money, too. Our work to speed up government is helping us secure billions of dollars in private sector investment. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Whats inside Pennsylvanias data centers? Like $20 billion from Amazon, coming to fruition, Shapiro said Thursday, because of streamlined permitting and speeding up government. We are now a model for other states and cities across this country for how to get it done and how to move at the speed of business, Shapiro said. But, is Pennsylvania moving too fast? These projects will need more power, which Pennsylvania is promising but is not currently producing. With all this talk of energy development, theres no talk of climate change, Rep. Greg Vitali (D-Delaware), chairman of the House Environmental Committee. Hes the legislatures fiercest environmentalist and calls the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) grossly understaffed, noting its complement has decreased in the past decade. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Pennsylvania Attorney General launches effort against robocalls The workload in that same time period has increased dramatically with the advent of the oil and gas industry, Vitali said. He suspects that too few inspectors overseeing power producers is the intent of Harrisburgs powerful. I think conservatives in Pennsylvania want a weak Department of Environmental Protection program so they cant do their jobs. He also criticizes his own party for not insisting on more DEP inspectors during budget negotiations. Governor Shapiro and House Democratic leadership are not sufficiently prioritizing the problems with inadequate staffing of the Department of Environmental Protection, Vitali said. Its a serious problem. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A concern the governor seemed to anticipate in his press conference, while staying on his lets move faster message. Were not there to throw up roadblocks, Shapiro said. Were there to figure out a way to get to yes, while also protecting public health and public safety in the interests of the taxpayers of this Commonwealth. Get the latest Pennsylvania politics and election news with abc27 newsletters! One thing Ive learned over my 30 years of doing this is, if you do climate policy in a fossil fuel state, your career is not going to be filled with many victories, Vitali 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 ABC27. (WHTM) Jobless claims increased in Pennsylvania last week. The U.S. Department of Labor reported 9,844 new unemployment insurance claims in the state for the week of August 2. Thats an increase by 375 claims from the previous week. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Local Business Beat Figures increased nationwide by 7,000 from the previous week to 226,000 new claims. The department also reported an increase by 38,000 people to the number of continuing jobless claims in the country as of July 26, bringing the total to 1,974,000 the highest since November 2021 during the pandemic. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Jobless claims are seen as a proxy for layoffs. President Trump fires labor statistics boss Pennsylvanias unemployment rate still remains below the national average after growing slightly in June to 4%. The states Department of Labor and Industry will release July figures on August 15. 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 ABC27. The Department of Defense plans to build the largest federal migrant detention facility in the U.S. to date, at Fort Bliss in Texas, which is expected to have up to 5,000 beds for illegal aliens. Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson announced the project during a press briefing Thursday, stating that construction began in July. "Since then, work has begun for initial detainment capacity of 1,000 illegal aliens with initial operating capacity likely to be achieved by mid to late August," Wilson said. "Once DOD achieves initial stand up, we will finish construction for up to 5,000 beds in the weeks and months ahead." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Wilson said the facility will become the largest of its kind in U.S. history, serving what she called "this critical mission: the deportation of illegal aliens." Trump Admin Offers $608M For States To Build Migrant Camps Modeled After Alligator Alcatraz An entrance to Fort Bliss as the Department of Defense plans to build the largest federal migrant detention facility in the U.S. at the post. The new facility is being established to support President Donald Trumps executive order to protect Americans against an invasion. Read On The Fox News App The announcement follows Indiana Gov. Mike Brauns recent statement that the state will build a facility dubbed the "Speedway Slammer" at the Miami Correctional Center, located between Indianapolis and Fort Wayne. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Named in reference to Indianas racing heritage, including the Indianapolis 500, the "Speedway Slammer" will house up to 1,000 migrants once operational. Self-deport Or End Up In 'Alligator Alcatraz,' Noem Warns Migrants During Trump Visit Indiana Gov. Mike Braun said the state would have a detention center for illegal immigrants built in Miami County, called the "Speedway Slammer." "We are proud to work with President Trump and Secretary Noem as they remove the worst of the worst with this innovative partnership," Braun said in a statement on Tuesday. "Indiana is taking a comprehensive and collaborative approach to combating illegal immigration and will continue to lead the way among states." Funding for the project comes from a reconciliation bill signed by Trump last month, which he referred to as the "one big, beautiful bill." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said the legislation funds the 287(g) program, which facilitates cooperation between Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and local authorities, as well as 80,000 ICE detention beds. The Trump administration has continued deportation operations while encouraging undocumented immigrants without additional criminal records to self-deport. Trump To Visit 'Alligator Alcatraz' For Grand Opening Of Swampy Everglades Detention Center For Illegal Aliens An aerial view of a migrant detention center, dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz," is seen located at the site of the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport in Ochopee, Florida on July 7, 2025. According to DHS, individuals who voluntarily leave the country are eligible for a $1,000 incentive and free travel, potentially allowing for legal reentry in the future. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Another facility, informally known as "Alligator Alcatraz," opened this summer under the supervision of federal officials and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. It serves as a staging center for deportations. Initially funded by the state, the facility will also receive support from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. It currently holds 2,000 people, with capacity expected to double. Deportation flights began late last month. The facility was converted from a decommissioned airport in the Everglades. A second center may follow, according to WJHL. State officials have faced criticism from immigration and environmental advocacy groups over the facilitys location and purpose. Fox News Digitals Greg Norman and Cameron Arcand contributed to this report. Original article source: Pentagon announces massive migrant detention facility at Fort Bliss in Texas with 5,000 beds The Pentagon could divert weapons built for Ukraine back into U.S. stockpiles, according to a July memo from the Pentagon's top policy official Elbridge Colby, CNN reported on Aug. 8, citing four unnamed sources. Based on the memo, written by Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Colby, the U.S. paused military aid to Ukraine in July. According to the sources, the memorandum permits the Pentagon to reclaim weapons produced for Ukraine under the U.S. Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) and return them to U.S. stockpiles. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The USAI is a Pentagon-led program that supplies arms to Ukraine through contracts with U.S. defense companies. Although no weapons appear to have been diverted so far, the provision could ultimately deprive Ukraine of billions of dollars worth of U.S.-made equipment slated for delivery in the coming months and years, CNN reported. "That appears to undermine what the president has said the U.S. is doing to get Ukraine to what it needs," one of the sources told the channel. Last week, a U.S. Senate committee approved $800 million for the USAI as part of the Pentagons annual budget, known as the National Defense Authorization Act. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement However, under the new Pentagon policy, it remains uncertain whether the weapons funded by that money will ultimately be delivered to Ukraine, sources told CNN. Colbys memo also reportedly categorizes U.S. weapons into three groups "red," "yellow," and "green." The first two indicate shortages and require additional approval before being sent abroad. This includes, among other things, interceptor missiles for Patriot air defense systems, according to CNN. Earlier this week, the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced the deal, saying that the U.S. State Department had greenlit the funds. The support includes technical assistance, training, publications, and other logistical support, with BAE Systems in Barrow-in-Furness, the U.K., as the principal contractor. Defense Minister Denys Shmyhal announced on Aug. 6 that Washington had approved foreign military sales for Ukraine worth over $200 million for artillery support, transportation, and logistics. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Washington provided more than $60 billion in military aid to Ukraine under ex-President Joe Biden's administration, including key capabilities such as Patriot air defense systems, HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems), and ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile Systems). Read also: US, Russia discuss deal to cement Moscows hold on occupied Ukrainian territories, Bloomberg reports Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) The Peoria Police Department has identified the officers involved in Tuesdays shooting incident. Officers Veronica Orozco and DaMonte Williams are currently on critical incident leave as a result of this incident, according to a Peoria police statement. Peoria County Coroner Jamie Harwood identified Brandon M. Lewis, 41, as the man who died from a single gunshot wound during the incident. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Peoria County Coroner identifies victim of officer involved shooting The officers initially responded to a report of a suspicious person near North East Glen Oak Avenue and North Prospect Road and approached Lewis, who was armed with a bat. When officers approached Lewis, he allegedly struck an officer. The officers responded with a stun gun, and the other discharged their gun. Lewis was pronounced dead at the scene. This is an active investigation that is being handled by the Illinois State Police, and all information released connected to this investigation must be released with the ISPs approval. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Today, we requested permission from ISP to release the names of the officers who have been placed on critical incident leave, The release said. ISP granted that permission, and we can confirm that Ofc. Veronica Orozco and Ofc. DaMonte Williams are currently on critical incident leave as a result of this incident. Once their investigation is complete, they will pass their finding to the Peoria County States Attorneys office, which will determine if the use of force was legally justified. 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 CIProud.com. The Perseids meteor shower considered one of the best shows in the sky is set to peak this week. But the peak for fireballs shooting through the night sky coincides this year with a bright moon that is expected to negatively impact visibility for eager viewers. The Perseids peak in 2025 is Aug. 12-13, specifically early Wednesday for those in North America. At that time, the moon will be 84% full, according to the American Meteor Society. "In 2025, the waning gibbous moon will severely compromise this shower at the time of maximum activity," the organization says. "Such conditions will reduce activity by at least 75 percent as only the brighter meteors will be visible." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Viewers this year can expect to see between 10-20 Perseids each hour, as opposed to 50 Perseids per hour under darker conditions, it says. "The strength of each Perseid display varies year to year, mainly due to lunar conditions," writes Robert Lunsford with the American Meteor Society. "If a bright moon is above the horizon during the night of maximum activity, then the display will be reduced. Most of the Perseid meteors are faint and bright moonlight will make it difficult to view." The Perseids meteor shower has been ongoing for several weeks. It started in mid-July and will continue until Aug. 23. A planetarium program coordinator at a museum in St. Paul, Minnesota, is advising people to instead go out a week or so past the peak when the moon isn't so bright. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Perseids "are an incredible meteor shower," Thaddeus LaCoursiere, of the Bell Museum, told The Associated Press. NASA says the best time to view the Perseids is early in the morning, before the sun comes up, in the Northern Hemisphere. However, meteors sometimes can be seen as early as 10 p.m. When looking at the Perseids, they appear to come from the constellation Perseus, which is why this meteor shower has its name. But the meteors don't originate from the constellation; they are space debris left by a comet. That debris interacts with Earth's atmosphere, disintegrating and resulting in colorful lines in the sky, according to NASA and the American Meteor Society. "The pieces of space debris that interact with our atmosphere to create the Perseids originate from comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle," which last visited the inner solar system in 1992, NASA says. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement During peak, Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, the Earth will pass closest to the core orbit of comet 109P/Swift-Tuttle, Lunsford writes. "To view the Perseids successfully, it is suggested you watch from a safe rural area that is as dark as possible," he says. "The more stars you can see, the more meteors will also be visible." President Trump says meeting with Russia's Putin is not to broker peace deal in Ukraine Trump says he's placing D.C. police under federal control, deploying National Guard Could Tropical Storm Erin become the first Atlantic hurricane of 2025? SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) San Francisco rescue swimmers pulled a person out of the bay Friday morning, according to fire officials. The San Francisco Fire Department received a call at 7:25 a.m. reporting a male in the water near Pier 1 1/2. SFFD Rescue Boat 35 responded and rescue swimmers reached the victim within minutes. He was pulled out of the water by 7:35 a.m., according to officials. (SFFD PIO) The victim was transported to a hospital for evaluation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It is unknown at this time how the person went into the water. 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. The Brief 18-year-old Noah Richardson was found in a strangers car just 15 hours after being released from jail. He refused to leave or cooperate, prompting a tactical police response. Hes now facing new charges and is being held on a $10,000 bond. WAUKESHA, Wis. - Just 15 hours after being released from the Waukesha County Jail, an 18-year-old man was taken back into custody after police say he refused to leave a strangers car parked just one block from the jail. What we know A resident called 911 around 5:30 a.m. on Wednesday after finding a man sitting in their mothers gray Honda CR-V on Pewaukee Road. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Police later identified the man as Noah Richardson. Noah Richardson Investigators say Richardson refused to exit the vehicle or show his hands. Fearing he had a gun, officers used a drone to safely look into the car. FREE DOWNLOAD: Get breaking news alerts in the FOX LOCAL Mobile app for iOS or Android Richardson was eventually removed by force and taken back into custody. Dig deeper On Thursday, Richardson was charged with felony bail jumping, obstructing an officer and disorderly conduct. He had to be physically carried to a holding cell, officials said. (Courtesy of Johann Rubi) "Despite his young age, Mr. Richardson is actively pending on numerous charges across various jurisdictions," a prosecutor said in court. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement SIGN UP TODAY: Get daily headlines, breaking news emails from FOX6 News Court records listed Richardson as homeless in a separate theft case out of Eagle on July 4. A woman posted his $1,000 bail on July 31, but he remained in custody due to felony charges out of Kane County, Ill., filed in June. Waukesha County Courthouse The family who discovered him in the car told FOX6 News they were ordered to shelter in place during the incident. They admitted they were unsure whether the vehicle had been left unlocked. What's next Richardsons cash bond is now set at $10,000. He is due back in court on Tuesday, Aug. 12. The Source The information in this post was collected and produced by FOX6 News. The Brief City of Phoenix is expanding a program that offers cold, free water. The water is dispensed via a number of water stations that are placed in public places. Seven new stations have been planned. PHOENIX - Hydration is key on hot summer days in the Valley. That's why a new City of Phoenix program is making it easier than ever for those in town to refill bottles with cold, free water. What we know Even when it's in the triple digits, you'll be able to find cold, free water in Phoenix. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The city has installed a number of chilled water stations. All it takes is place a bottle under the dispenser and press a button. Dig deeper The water stations are placed in public spaces, making them easy to locate. "They're pretty crucial for all types of people," said Gabriel Vasquez, a volunteer project lead. "Commuters, people on their bikes, anybody just taking a stroll." The water system produces cold water 24/7. "We have seven right now. We have a map that people can locate them," said Michael Hammett, City of Phoenix's Office of Innovation Director. To make sure the water stations stay in good, working condition, volunteers like Vasquez step in to help. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Every time we come, we check and make sure that the water pressure is working well, that the water is cool and, like I said, that it's presentable to use," Vasquez said. "If the water fountain is looking pretty grimy, then, you know, people arent going to drink out of it." By the numbers Since the program launched in 2024, the water stations have seen rather heavy use. "21,000 gallons since we started this," said Hammett. "That's equivalent to about 150,000 single-use plastic bottles of water that have been distributed." What's next Hammett said because of the program's success, they are looking to expand. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Also, we're using data to direct our efforts," said Hammett. "We're using data sheet data. We're using vulnerability data, proximity to public transportation to really hone in on areas, and then work with the community to say what is best for you?" The City of Phoenix is looking to add another seven chilled water stations. Hammett said the next two will be installed within the next month. Two men were linked by Phoenix detectives to the killing of Zariah Finley Dodd, the pregnant 16-year-old whose body was discovered in a west Phoenix park in early July, over the course of an investigation that spanned nearly a month, according to recently filed court documents. Police announced on Aug. 1 that officers had arrested Jurrell Davis, 36, and Jechri James-Gillett, 18, on multiple felony counts, including first-degree murder, in connection with Zariah's death. Davis, who police say impregnated Zariah, also faces a sexual misconduct with a minor charge. Both men are being held on $1 million cash-only bonds. Officers responded to Marivue Park near 55th Avenue and Osborn Road about 6 a.m. on July 5 and found Zariah's body face down in the grass with a gunshot wound to the head. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It took investigators several days to identify her. On July 9, a Surprise police detective notified Phoenix police that she was looking into the case of a missing girl who had left her group home with a man on the evening of July 4 and never returned, according to a police summary of investigators' work filed in Maricopa County Superior Court on Aug. 5. The missing girl's physical description a Black teenage girl with red hair who wore a nose ring and had braces matched the body found in Marivue Park. Dental records established the dead girl was Zariah. Teen killed before she could be interviewed about her pregnancy Zariah Finley Dodd is seen in this undated photo. The pregnant 16-year-old was found dead, the victim of a gunshot, at a Phoenix park, police said. Early in their investigation, detectives interviewed Zariahs Arizona Department of Child Safety caseworker, who confirmed the girl had lived at a group home in Surprise, court documents said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The caseworker told investigators that Zariah was pregnant and believed Davis was the father. Zariah had told the caseworker that Davis coerced her into having sex in December 2024 when she was 15, documents said. The caseworker said the girl feared what Davis would do with the handgun he had if she refused, according to the court documents. Zariah told the caseworker that Davis stopped talking to her after she told him about the pregnancy. She was scheduled to have an official interview about her relationship with Davis and her pregnancy on July 8, according to court documents. Surveillance footage captured Zariah with two men on night of July 4 Detectives spoke with girls who lived at the group home with Zariah. Two girls said James-Gillett was her current boyfriend, according to court documents. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement One girl told police that James-Gillett would go for weeks without contacting Zariah but would want to meet occasionally for sex, court documents said. The girl later identified Davis as being the father of Zariah's child. The girl told police she met Davis and James-Gillett only once at a park and described Davis as having anger issues, weird, and owning firearms, according to the court records. She said Zariah was excited to see James-Gillett on July 4, according to court documents. When staff at the residence denied Zariah's request to spend time with James-Gillett on the holiday, she asked for permission to walk around the block. She was given permission and left, and James-Gillett picked her up, according to court documents. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Convenience store surveillance footage was the last record of Zariah alive that was mentioned in the police narrative. QuikTrip cameras captured her with Davis and James-Gillett at about 8:40 p.m. on July 4, according to court documents. Another girl told investigators that she overheard Zariah and James-Gillett having an argument during a phone call a few days before her death, the court records said. Accused men had photos of investigators at death scene, police say Officers arrested Davis at the parking lot of his Phoenix apartment on July 15 on suspicion of unlawfully having a firearm after they noticed a handgun in his pocket while watching him, court documents said. Investigators obtained a warrant to search his apartment, where they found a second handgun underneath a pillow on his bed, court documents said. Davis acknowledged a handgun found in a vehicle with him but denied knowing about the handgun found in his apartment, according to court documents. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Information extracted from a phone associated with James-Gillett found in Davis apartment included text messages between the men that included links to news articles about Zariahs body being found, along with pictures of investigators at the scene shortly after her body was found, court documents said. The messages were exchanged before Zariah had been publicly identified, police said in the court records. Younger man tells officials he was ordered to kill teen, court records say While Davis was already in jail on prohibited possessor charges and then was arrested on first-degree murder and sexual misconduct with a minor charges, officers arrested James-Gillett at a home in Goodyear on the evening of July 31, according to court documents. James-Gillett made a full confession to killing Zariah when interviewed by detectives but claimed Davis had ordered him to shoot her or else he would kill both of them, court documents said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The younger man "regretted committing the murder and wished he could take it back, court documents said. Davis denied involvement in Zariahs death, according to the police summary. When investigators confronted him with evidence including a paternity test that showed Zariahs unborn child was his Davis told police he and James-Gillett picked her up in a car on July 4, court documents said. Davis told police he dropped the two of them off at the park where her body was discovered and met up with some friends, according to court records. He said he returned to the park after he received a text from James-Gillett asking to be picked up before he told Davis he had killed Zariah, court records said. Davis admitted to having sex with Zariah and knew that she was pregnant, saying it happened while he was drunk, police said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Attempts to reach Davis, James-Gillett and their lawyers were unsuccessful. Reach the reporter Perry Vandell at perry.vandell@gannett.com or 602-444-2474. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @PerryVandell. Under investigation: Human remains reportedly found in South Mountain area, Phoenix police say This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: How police say they linked 2 men to Zariah Finley Dodd's killing PICKERINGTON, Ohio (WCMH) The City of Pickerington is considering establishing a district where residents and visitors would be permitted to drink alcoholic beverages outdoors. In July, Pickerington City Manager Gregory Butcher submitted an application to create a DORA, or designated outdoor refreshment area, to the city council for review. The DORA would encompass 52 acres in Olde Pickerington Village. The boundaries of a proposed DORA in Pickerington. (Photo courtesy/City of Pickerington) The council plans to hold a public hearing to receive feedback on the DORA proposal in early September, according to a city clerk. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Providing an exception to open container laws, the proposal would allow those who are 21 and older to purchase alcohol from participating businesses and consume it while walking around within the DORAs boundaries. An Ohio dealership repossessed her car, so she took their name and then sued The application lists establishments that would be within the drinking areas boundary and may choose to participate, including Combustion Brewery and Taproom, Bobs Backyard Barbeque and a Local Cantina that is currently under construction. Participating businesses within the DORA boundary would serve alcoholic beverages in plastic bottles or other non-glass containers, the proposal states. Ohio requires participating businesses to serve alcohol in specific, branded cups. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement State law does not allow people to bring their own alcohol into a DORA. It also requires municipalities to post signage to alert people of the DORAs boundaries and mandates city councils evaluate their DORAs every five years to either approve their continued operation or dissolve them. Retailers within a DORA that do not participate may allow or disallow drinks inside their establishments, and typically have window signage specifying their rules. Patrons are generally barred from taking a drink purchased at one DORA participants establishment onto another participants premises. While Ohio maintains these regulations for DORAs, each has its own characteristics, such as operational hours, along with branded signage and cups. Pickeringtons application, which the city provided to NBC4, does not specify proposed hours or what branding would look like for cups or signage. South Western educators condemn school board members, allege unfair labor practice Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ohio legalized designated outdoor drinking areas in 2015, and they have since spread to more than 150 locations across the state. The programs are approved by local legislative bodies, such as city council or township trustees. If approved, Pickerington would join multiple other central Ohio areas that have a DORA in place, including Bexley, Downtown Columbus, Dublin, Gahanna, Grove City, the Arena District, Hilliard, Worthington, Powell and Westerville. The City of Reynoldsburg also established a DORA earlier 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 NBC4 WCMH-TV. A pickup truck driver died Thursday morning following a chain reaction crash on the New Jersey Turnpike that involved four other vehicles, investigators said. Shortly before 10:30 a.m. the pickup truck, a tractor-trailer, semi-trailer, van and car were traveling on the Turnpike southbound near milepost 68.2 in East Windsor, according to New Jersey State Police Sgt. Jeffrey Lebron. The semi-trailer struck the back of the pickup truck and side of the car, Lebron said. The pickup truck then slammed into the back of the tractor trailer, which caused one of its rear wheels to fly off and hit the van. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement After coming to a stop, the pickup truck became fully engulfed in flames and the driver was killed, he said. The pickup truck driver was not identified late Thursday night. The drivers of the van and the car sustained minor injuries, Lebron said. The crash was still under investigation Thursday night and no other details were released. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a voluntary subscription. Chris Sheldon may be reached at csheldon@njadvancemedia.com. The 186th Black Isle Show has taken place in Muir of Ord in the Highlands. Over its two days - Wednesday and Thursday - the north of Scotland's largest agricultural show drew a crowd of about 30,000 people. Tom Henderson, president of Black Isle Farmers' Society which organises the event, said: "It's been fantastic. "We've had a great attendance and a lot of exhibitors." People of all ages were among the 30,000 who attended this year's Black Isle Show. [BBC] Sheep shearing demonstrations are a feature of the show. [BBC] Mr Henderson said entries to the livestock competitions were above average, which he said showed confidence in the Highlands' cattle and sheep sectors. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He added: "All agricultural shows are important for the industry. "They give us a great shop window for the exhibitors and trade stands, but also the livestock." Livestock competitions are key element of the historic event. [BBC] Equestrian competitions are also a popular feature of the event. [BBC] The show was held on Wednesday and Thursday at Muir of Ord. [BBC] Black Isle Farmers' Society started its show as an event held on farms dotted across the peninsula. Since the 1950s the show has been held in the village of Muir of Ord, near Inverness. Over last 15 years the society has invested in improving the site with the laying of tarred roads and better toilets. The show ground is close to where old drove roads, used for moving cattle across Scotland, met and a market was held. Pictures by Samar Salam. The exhibits include classic and vintage farm machinery, such as these Massey Ferguson and Ford tractors. [BBC] Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Vintage David Brown tractors were also on display. [BBC] More on this story CSIRO says it is restructing its research arm to do 'fewer things, better'. Image: CSIRO Hundreds more job cuts are expected at CSIRO later this year, with Australias national science agency confirming it is reshaping its research teams to do fewer things, better. The warning of a further headcount reduction comes after more than 400 non-research staff were caught up in CSIROs previous cuts, during efforts to save at least $100 million in costs. A CSIRO spokesperson told Information Age that while the agency needed to retain its distinct advantages in research, it also needed to evolve, becoming sharper in our focus, doing fewer things, better and at scale. Workforce planning would ensure we have the right scale and scientific capability in place to deliver against national priorities, they said. This will be done in line with well-established processes, policies and our Enterprise Agreement, including our commitment to consult with staff prior to decisions being made. The earlier restructure of CSIROs non-research enterprise arm was now near completion, the spokesperson said. Confirmation of further cuts comes as the federal government works to improve the nations fledgling productivity with an economic reform roundtable later this month, and boost lagging research and development (R&D) through an ongoing review. Calls for government action to stop deep cuts The CSIRO Staff Association, which is part of the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU), called for government intervention on Thursday. CSIROs work was essential to lifting national productivity and driving economic growth, the union argued. Susan Tonks, the CSIRO Staff Associations secretary, said there was a clear disconnect between the Albanese governments goals of improving productivity and its failure to support the very institution that helps deliver it. Publicly funded research and development is where some of the biggest gains in productivity have come from, Tonks said. But deep job cuts at the CSIRO are directly undermining Australias ability to innovate, compete, and grow. And this will continue to be the case as long as this government sits on its hands while hundreds of staff at the CSIRO are shown the door with little to no explanation. If this government is serious about productivity, it must step in, stop the cuts, and back our countrys peak science institution." The Minister for Industry and Innovation, and Minister for Science, Tim Ayres, did not respond to a request for comment. Ayress predecessor, Ed Husic, did not intervene when he faced similar calls during his time as minister. The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) says the federal government should intervene to stop further job cuts at CSIRO. Image: CSIRO Biggest job cuts in a decade The CPSU said CSIRO had witnessed the organisations biggest job cuts in a decade under chief executive Doug Hilton, who took over the role in September 2023. This included the recent lapsing of around 200 contract roles, the union said. CSIRO has a strong history of research innovation which has led to commercial breakthroughs and increased productivity, the CPSU argued, including in products such as Wi-Fi, plastic bank notes, and flexible solar panels. The union said it had warned the government that Australias productivity and innovation capacity were being actively undermined by aggressive job cuts and underinvestment in CSIRO, as part of its submission to the upcoming economic reform roundtable. CSIRO employed around 6,600 staff as of 30 June 2024 according to its latest annual report, which described its employees as our most important asset, and critical to our success. The number marked a five per cent increase in staffing from the same time the previous year. Attorneys for Pierce County Prosecutor Mary Robnett said in a court filing on July 30 that the actions of a private lawyer seeking to represent Sheriff Keith Swank in his disputes with county officials are tantamount to a misdemeanor crime, raising tensions in the ongoing legal battle. The lawyer, Joan Mell, called the accusation defamatory in a legal response and said Robnett should be sanctioned for violating a court rule meant to prohibit misuses of the judicial system by requiring that court motions be grounded in fact. Robnetts description of Mells attempts to represent Swank as criminal came in a July 30 filing in a lawsuit against Mell that seeks a permanent injunction barring her from giving legal advice to Swank. The motion was prompted by Mell notifying Robnett via email that she would be seeking the lawsuits dismissal on First Amendment grounds under Washingtons Uniform Public Expression Act. That law is designed to protect free speech from being threatened by lawsuits. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Mells email to Robnett said the prosecutors public comments to The News Tribune through her offices spokesperson and threat of continued litigation were meant to intimidate her into ending her working relationship with Swank entirely. Mell said she would be seeking a $10,000 penalty under the law. I am not interested in being a chess piece in the political machinations of the prosecutors office, Mell wrote to Robnett and her attorneys July 18. In response, Robnett argued in a court filing that Mell was not entitled to the protections from litigation she was looking for because the First Amendment does not shield criminal conduct or civil suits brought by a victim of a crime. This action seeks to end an ongoing crime and to protect the citizens of Pierce Countys article I, section 1 right to consent to who may govern them and their article XI, section 5 right to select who may exercise the duties of the office of Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney, Robnetts July 30 motion states. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement What crime is Robnett a victim of? According to her, Intrusion into and refusal to surrender public office, or RCW 42.20.030. It is a gross misdemeanor. The claim that Mell has intruded on Robnetts duties as elected prosecutor is what the lawsuit is all about, and so far Superior Court judges in Pierce and King counties have agreed that Mell has overstepped. In June, King County Superior Court Judge Michael Ryan granted Robnett a preliminary injunction prohibiting Mell from holding herself out as Swanks attorney in his official capacity as sheriff, finding that it is a primary function of the Prosecuting Attorneys Office to provide legal advice to county officials. Pierce County Sheriff Keith Swank speaks with the News Tribune after an injunction was placed in a hearing in a civil case where Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney Mary Robnett is seeking to bar Joan Mell from acting as Swanks attorney on Monday, June 16, 2025, at the King County Courthouse in Seattle. The conflict between Robnett, Mell and Swank appears to be escalating with Robnetts invocation of criminal conduct in what has so far been a civil legal dispute. Because Robnett filed the lawsuit against a private attorney rather than Swank himself, it has avoided becoming a legal dogfight between two elected officials that could signal breakdowns in the relationship between the Prosecuting Attorneys Office and the Sheriffs Office. Perhaps not for long. On Aug. 6, Mell filed a legal answer to Robnetts original complaint in the lawsuit that asserts Swank should be joined to the suit as a cross defendant. Mell said the preliminary injunction entered in the case has disrupted Swanks right to exercise the core functions of his office, and that Robnett and others were invading his executive privilege. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement ... It is his retention of Mell and her assertion of his rights that are at issue, Mell wrote. Ryan will now consider whether Mells email about seeking dismissal under Washingtons Uniform Public Expression Act has affected the status of the preliminary injunction. Ryan will also decide a motion from Robnett asking to deny Mell a faster way to dismiss the lawsuit on First Amendment grounds. The preliminary injunction stemmed from a demand for mediation Mell served Robnett, County Executive Ryan Mello and County Council Chair Jani Hitchen on May 23. It said Swank had reached an impasse with them on six issues, including his intention to cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and a disagreement over whether he was subject to Mellos executive orders. Since Mell was temporarily barred from acting as Swanks attorney, the sheriff has complained publicly on social media and in a radio appearance about not being allowed to hand pick his own lawyer. In court filings, he has said he believes he has the right to private counsel to bring claims against the county and county officials. Swank also has offered Mell a job as a strategic advisor, which Mell has said she believes she cant accept because of the injunction. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement TIMELINE: Pierce County Sheriff Keith Swanks feuds with county officials On Aug. 5, in a legal response to Robnetts motion saying Mell didnt have a First Amendment right to represent Swank, Mell more fully explained why she wants to represent him, stating simply that she wants him to succeed. At this stage of my career, I help who I want to help, Mell wrote. The choices I make in who I work for reflect in part where I want to invest my name, reputation, business, time, and resources because I believe in the law, policies, politics, and people at issue. Mell went on to say that Swank was being maligned and bullied by self-interested politicians and officials, and Mell was exercising the First Amendment when she works with him. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Mell also argued that Robnett was trying to use this lawsuit against her as an investigatory fishing expedition to expose communications between Swank and ICE so he can be criminally prosecuted for violating the Keep Washington Working Act, a state law that prohibits cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities. Prosecuting Attorney Mary Robnett sits in the gallery for a hearing in a civil case where Robnett is seeking to bar Joan Mell from acting as Pierce County Sheriff Keith Swanks attorney on Monday, June 16, 2025, at the King County Courthouse in Seattle. Robnetts original complaint in the lawsuit asked that Mell be ordered to turn over all of her correspondence with Swank, but Mell has said she does not have any communications with ICE that implicate the sheriff. Adam Faber, a spokesperson for the Prosecuting Attorneys Office, told The News Tribune the idea that the lawsuit is a fishing expedition doesnt make much sense when you consider that they are talking about public records Swank is a public official, so communications with him would likely be considered public record. Faber also said it had been conveyed to Mells attorney, Brett Purtzer, that the Prosecuting Attorneys Office didnt see the need for either party to conduct discovery. So consider the logic of that: We didnt seek discovery, but she says were on a fishing expedition? It doesnt make much sense, Faber said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The lawsuit, Faber said, is to stop someone from performing the duties of a public office that she doesnt hold. On Aug. 6, Mell filed counter claims against Robnett, accusing her of violating her constitutional rights and claiming that Robnett has adopted an unconstitutional policy that she might be the sole legal advisor to Swank or other county officials. Swiss pilot Raphael Domjan on Friday made his first attempt of the year at setting a new aviation record: reaching an altitude of 10,000 metres in a solar-powered aeroplane. The SolarStratos electric plane took off from Sion airport in the Rhone valley in southwestern Switzerland at 1:21pm, in the hope that conditions higher up would prove favourable for record-chasing. But it soon became clear that the rising warm air thermals Domjan needed to boost the ascent were not there, and it was better to save energy and try again another day -- all in the pioneer spirit, according to the adventurer. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The wildfires in neighbouring France were likely among the reasons why the forecast conditions had changed. Domjan touched down 38 minutes later, deciding to preserve the charge in the batteries with a view to another go on Sunday or Wednesday, when the baking hot conditions look more promising. "The flight was good but we didn't find any thermals," he told AFP after opening the cockpit and taking off his helmet, sweat rolling down his cheeks. "We really needed to find something to climb... the sun was there but not the thermal activities. "It was clear that it would not work. We tried." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement - 10,000-metre challenge - Domjan is aiming to get to 10,000 metres or beyond -- flying at the same altitude as airliners. Such a flight would take at least five hours. "It's more difficult than expected," said the 53-year-old, who describes himself as an "eco-explorer" committed to climate protection. "That's why we are the first to go there," he said, adding: "We try because it's difficult." A warm-up flight on July 31 got to 6,589 metres -- the highest-ever for SolarStratos. The propeller plane, made of carbon fibre, is 9.6 metres (31 feet and six inches) long. It has a huge wingspan of 24.8 metres to accommodate the 22 square metres of high-spec solar panels topping the wings. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The current altitude record for a solar plane stands at 9,235 metres, set in 2010 by the Solar Impulse experimental aeroplane, flown by Swiss pilot Andre Borschberg. "We'll try and try until we go to 10,000 metres, or it's the winter when there is no sun and we cannot try anymore," said Domjan. On Friday, Domjan reached 1,769 metres but quickly decided there was no point draining the batteries looking for thermal currents that were not going to show. The slow-charging plane will be parked back out in the sun to fill the batteries for next time. - Hanging in the sky - Domjan's mother was there to wave him off on his record attempt. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement After getting strapped into his emergency parachute and making a few last-minute notes on paper, Domjan strode towards his plane. "Right, see you later," he said before clambering into the cockpit. The hubbub in the hangar went quiet as he tested his oxygen mask, donned his helmet, checked his instruments and gave a farewell fist-bump before closing the canopy. The plane taxied on the runway to the gentle sound of a traditional Swiss alphorn, with Sion's Tourbillon Castle and Valere Basilica providing a striking backdrop. Almost immediately, SolarStratos was airborne, its slow movement giving it the impression of hanging in the sky as it drifted down the valley. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The plane made several turns as it gradually climbed beyond the lower terraced vineyards, above the deep green pine trees, and then towards the snowless Alpine peaks piercing the clear blue sky. But Domjan found no rising thermals as he searched around Mont Gord -- and it was better to turn back. In 2012, Domjan became the first person to sail around the world in a fully solar-powered boat. "If you want to be a pioneer, when you start you will never know if you will be a pioneer of success or a pioneer of failure," he said, once back in the hangar on Friday. "To be a pioneer, an adventurer, it means trying something you are not sure will succeed. "The pioneer spirit for me, the spirit of adventure is to try something that nobody has tried before, and maybe you will not be able to reach success." rjm/vog/rlp NEW YORK (PIX11) Welcome to PIX on Politics Daily with Dan Mannarino where we break down the days political news, top headlines, and the issues that matter most to you through thoughtful, in-depth conversations. Join us every day at 1 p.m. on PIX11+ as we speak with newsmakers, lawmakers, and key figures shaping policies that directly impact our local communities. More News: Politics On Friday, Dan has an exclusive sit-down with New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani. Its his first interview since returning from Ghana and since the deadly mass shooting in a Midtown office building. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) Israel's decision to take over Gaza City was met with resignation and defiance by Palestinians who have survived two years of war and repeated raids. Many Israelis responded with fear and anger, worried it could be a death sentence for hostages held in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Friday that Israel would intensify its 22-month war with Hamas by taking over Gaza City, large parts of which have been destroyed by past bombardment and ground incursions. A major ground operation is almost sure to cause more mass displacement and worsen an already catastrophic humanitarian crisis. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement What does (Israel) want from us? ... There is nothing here to occupy, said a woman in Gaza City who identified herself as Umm Youssef. There is no life here. I have to walk every day for more than 15 minutes to get drinking water." Ruby Chen, a dual U.S.-Israeli citizen whose son, Itay, is a hostage held in Gaza, told The Associated Press that the decision puts the remaining hostages in danger. What is the plan now that is different from the last 22 months? he said. Ehud Olmert, a former prime minister and harsh critic of Netanyahu, told the AP theres not any objective that can be achieved thats worth the cost of the lives of the hostages, the soldiers and civilians, echoing concerns expressed by many former top security officials in Israel. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I will die here Netanyahu says military pressure is key to achieving Israel's war goals of returning all the hostages and destroying Hamas. On Thursday, he told Fox News that Israel intends to eventually take over all of Gaza and hand it over to a friendly Arab civilian administration. But Hamas has survived nearly two years of war and several large-scale ground operations, including in Gaza City. In a statement, the militant group said the people of Gaza would remain defiant against occupation and warned Israel that the incursion will not be a walk in the park. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled Gaza City in the opening weeks of the war, the first of several mass displacements. Many returned during a ceasefire earlier this year. Now, residents say they are too busy searching for food and trying to survive amid the city's bombed-out buildings and tent camps to think about another exodus. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I have no intention to leave my home, I will die here," said Kamel Abu Nahel from the city's urban Shati refugee camp. Israel already controls and has largely destroyed around 75% of the Gaza Strip, with most of its population of some 2 million Palestinians now sheltering in Gaza City, the central city of Deir al-Balah and the sprawling displacement camps in the Muwasi area along the coast. The offensive has killed over 61,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not say how many were fighters or civilians. It says women and children make up around half the dead. The ministry is part of the Hamas-run government and staffed by medical professionals. The United Nations and other experts consider its figures to be the most reliable estimate of casualties, while Israel disputes them. Ismail Zaydah said he and his family had remained in Gaza City throughout the war. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This is our land, there is no other place for us to go, he said. We are not surrendering ... We were born here, and here we die." This madman called Netanyahu Hamas-led militants abducted 251 people in the Oct. 7, 2023 attack that started the war and killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians. Though most of the hostages have been released in ceasefires or other deals, 50 are still in Gaza, less than half of them believed by Israel to be alive. Relatives of many of the hostages and their supporters have repeatedly protested against the continuation of the war, demanding that Israel reach a ceasefire with Hamas that would include the return of their loved ones. The long-running talks broke down last month. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Somebodys got to stop this madman called Netanyahu, said Yehuda Cohen, whose son Nimrod is held hostage. He said faith in the United States to help is also dwindling. I lost hope with Donald Trump ... hes letting Netanyahu just do whatever he likes, he said. But other Israelis voiced support for the decision. They need to go after Hamas, said Susan Makin, a Tel Aviv resident. Why are they not asking why Hamas has not given back the hostages and put (down) their arms? The agony around the plight of the hostages has worsened in recent days as Palestinians militants have released videos showing two of the captives emaciated and pleading for their lives. Families fear their loved ones, who may be held in other parts of Gaza, are running out time. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Amir Avivi, a retired Israeli general and chairman of Israels Defense and Security Forum, said there are a few hostages in Gaza City and the army will have to decide how to manage the situation. He said they might be able to surround the hostages and negotiate directly with their captors or leave those areas untouched. Under pressure, Hamas might decide to release the captives, he said. That strategy carries great risk. Last year, Israeli forces recovered the bodies of six hostages who were killed by their captors when troops approached the tunnel where they were being held. ___ Shurafa reported from Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip. Associated Press reporter Shlomo Mor in Tel Aviv contributed. ___ Follow APs war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war Plans have been lodged to create a seven-storey extension to a building at Leicester Royal Infirmary (LRI). University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust (UHL) has submitted a planning application to Leicester City Council to construct an extension to the Windsor Building on the LRI site. Planning documents stated the new space would house pharmacy services, laboratories and administrative space. According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS), the scheme was needed to enable a wider overhaul of Leicester's three hospital sites under the government's New Hospital Programme by relocating services expected to be displaced by the wider works. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The government announced in January the regeneration of Leicester's hospitals would be going ahead but on a delayed timeline, meaning work was expected to start between 2032 and 2034, the LDRS said. According to planning documents, the proposed extension was similar to a previous application submitted by the trust, which was approved but not implemented due to "funding constraints". Under the plan, the expansion would be built on the east wing of the building and a single storey building on the site would be demolished to make space for it. Follow BBC Leicester on Facebook, on X, or on Instagram. Send your story ideas to eastmidsnews@bbc.co.uk or via WhatsApp on 0808 100 2210. More on this story Related internet links This afternoon features plenty of sunshine with high pressure and general ridging taking place across much of the eastern US. A weak trough over the Shenandoah Valley in combination with slightly more heat and humidity could instigate an isolated shower or two across the high country in Greenbrier and Pocahontas Counties, however elsewhere we will be dry. Temperatures will rebound to close to average levels with highs around 80 degrees. Tonight provides partly to mostly clear skies. Patchy fog will be possible similar to what we saw this morning with low temperatures dipping back into the upper 50s. Enjoy the cool and crisp nights continuing through this weekend next week will be more humid. Saturday continues the nice weather pattern a pattern that will continue through the weekend. In a summer where many weekends have featured scattered thunderstorms, this weekend is looking nearly entirely dry with only an isolated chance for a brief shower or two across the high country in Greenbrier and Pocahontas Counties once again with a trough still lingering around in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. Otherwise, we are looking super solid with highs in the low 80s. Sunday will be yet another sun-sational day with plenty of sunshine expected. A light southeast wind will nudge temperatures closer to the mid 80s but once again, humidity levels will be held in check. Overall, its a great weekend to head to the State Fair of West Virginia. Hope to see you over at the Zach Top concert on Sunday evening! Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Monday provides one more day with completely dry weather, with high pressure in control. However, the position of that high pressure moving more due east provides more of a due southerly wind, ushering heat and humidity from the Gulf. As a result, high temperatures will climb into the mid 80s with partly sunny skies and a little more humidity. The State Fair of West Virginia in the 1940s Tuesday sees an isolated shower or storm chance over the high terrain in Pocahontas and Greenbrier Counties in the late afternoon and early evening with a touch more heat and humidity as temperatures climb into the mid 80s. Elsewhere, we will remain dry once again. Wednesday increases our chances for afternoon showers and storms as a front approaches in combination with heat and humidity. Though storms wont be widespread, they will be in more coverage. High temperatures will be in the low to mid 80s. Thursday provides an even higher chance for thunderstorms with an approaching front stalling nearby. Afternoon showers and thunderstorms are a good bet as a result with highs in the low to mid 80s once again. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Weather by the Numbers: A look at the State Fair of WV Friday continues the risk for a few isolated downpours but they will be in much less coverage with our front exiting to the south and east. Highs will be in the mid 80s. Looking ahead in your extended forecast, temperatures look to remain slightly above average in the mid 80s as we dry out. Saturday and Sunday provides mostly sunny skies with a slight risk for an isolated storm on Monday. THIS AFTERNOON Partly sunny. Nice! Stray mountain shower. Highs near 80. TONIGHT Mostly clear. Patchy fog. Lows in the upper 50s. SATURDAY Mostly sunny. Stray mountain shower. Highs in the low 80s. SUNDAY Mostly sunny. Highs in the mid 80s. MONDAY Partly sunny. Highs in the mid 80s. TUESDAY Isolated storms. Highs in the mid 80s. WEDNESDAY Scattered storms. Highs in the low to mid 80s. THURSDAY Scattered storms. Highs in the low to mid 80s. FRIDAY Isolated storms. Highs in the mid 80s. SATURDAY Mostly sunny. Highs in the mid 80s. SUNDAY Mostly sunny. Highs in the mid 80s. MONDAY Isolated storms. Highs in the mid 80s. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Aug. 8 that a pause in the Russia-Ukraine war could happen soon, after holding a phone call with President Volodymyr Zelensky. "There are certain signals... that perhaps a freezing of the conflict I dont want to say the end of the war, but a freezing of the conflict could happen sooner rather than later," Tusk told journalists at a news conference, according to the Guardian. The comments come before an expected high-stakes summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin as early as next week, part of Washington's efforts to hammer out a peace deal in Ukraine. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "There is hope for this. Today is the deadline for the ultimatum. President Zelensky is very cautious, but still optimistic," Tusk said. In July, Trump set a 50-day deadline for Putin to end hostilities or face 100% secondary tariffs. As trade between the U.S. and Russia is limited, the measure would effectively target countries purchasing Russian oil, such as China or India. Trump eventually shortened the deadline as he increasingly voiced frustration with Russian aerial attacks on Ukrainian cities and Moscow's delays in the peace process, giving Putin until Aug. 8 to end the war. U.S.-Russian diplomatic efforts gained fresh momentum this week after Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, met Putin in Moscow on Aug. 6, reaching an agreement on a summit between the U.S. and Russian leaders. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trump is also reportedly aiming to follow up the meeting with a trilateral summit involving President Volodymyr Zelensky. While the Ukrainian president signaled he is ready for such a format, Putin claimed he does not oppose the meeting in principle, but added that certain "conditions" must first be met. After his phone call with Tusk on Aug. 8, Zelensky said he informed the Polish prime minister about his previous conversations with Trump and other European leaders. "Ukraine, Poland, and other European nations alike need strong foundations for their security and independence," Zelensky said on X. "A reliable peace is essential for all, and I am grateful for the readiness to help along this path." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The call between Tusk and Zelensky followed the Ukrainian president's earlier discussions with other European leaders, including German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. Zelensky has repeatedly stressed that Europe must be part of the peace process, as worries grow that Kyiv's European partners might be sidelined in U.S.-Russia talks. Read also: This is child trafficking Russia launches catalog of Ukrainian children for adoption, sorted by eye and hair color Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. A chief constable has backed a police colleague after they were accused of covering up an asylum seeker rape case. Craig Guildford, Chief Constable of West Midlands Police, said police were always striving to be transparent but were governed by rules. Mr Guildford told LBC he would have taken the same action as his colleague from Warwickshire Police, Chief Constable Alex Franklin-Smith, after two men, reported to be Afghan asylum seekers, were charged over the alleged rape of a 12-year-old girl in Nuneaton. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement George Finch, the Warwickshire county council leader who represents Reform UK, said residents had not been told the full story and the only risk to public order came from the cover-up itself. In a letter published on the forces website, Mr Franklin-Smith wrote: The immigration status of Ahmad Mulakhil and Mohammad Kabir is now public knowledge, having been placed into the public domain by yourself. Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, said he absolutely believed information about charged suspects immigration status should be made available by police. Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, has called for more transparency from police about suspects, and said it was an operational decision for forces and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) over what information to release. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement When asked about the Home Secretarys comments during a phone-in, Mr Guildford said: Were always striving to be transparent in everything that we do, but were governed by rules. Rules are often set by Parliament, theyre set by the CPS, the courts. We have to be really careful that we do follow the rules, so we dont just make rules up as we go along. I spoke to my colleague next door in Warwickshire, hes followed the rules. Hes done the right thing. Asked if he would take the same action as his colleague in Warwickshire over the alleged rape case, Mr Guildford said: Yes, thats right. He added: I think the problem with providing more information is youve got to be so careful with the protocol that weve got and the guidance that weve got, and we need to make sure that we follow the rules. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement And if we dont, we dont want to come on the wrong side of the argument or prejudice any live proceedings. And that is really key. Cant underline that enough. The Law Commission has been asked by Sir Keir Starmer to fast-track a review of contempt of court rules, which restrict the information that police can put out on the basis that it could prejudice a suspects fair trial. The commission, which advises ministers on new laws, will make proposals in autumn on what information law enforcement agencies should be able to publish about suspects in attacks such as the murder of three young girls by Axel Rudakubana in Southport last summer. Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, has called for more transparency from police about suspects - Oli Scarff/Getty Mr Guildford added: At the moment, the rules are under review, and theyre under review by the CPS, the National Police Chiefs Council and, also, theres a Law Commission review. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement And I think what we need to do is wait and see what comes out of there, and then act accordingly and act properly. But in terms of the broadest theme of transparency, absolutely, we produce loads of data, and of course we want to give as much information as possible, but we have to operate within the bounds of the rules of the law. It follows concerns by three of the main policing bodies that the current contempt of court rules risk leaving an information vacuum that could be filled by unchecked misinformation and disinformation. The riots in Southport were partially blamed on false claims circulating on social media that the attacker was a Muslim asylum seeker who had arrived in the UK on a small boat. Other incorrect rumours suggested the killer had been on an MI6 watchlist. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The only information released by Merseyside Police about the suspects identity was that they were a 17-year-old from Banks, in Lancashire, who was originally from Cardiff. Two hours later, the force amended it to born in Cardiff. Police did not divulge family background details, including that the attackers parents were Christians who had come to the UK from Rwanda. The attacker was not named because he was one week shy of his 18th birthday. 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. WARREN, Ohio (WKBN) A second man has died following a weekend of violence in Warren. Police tell First News that Choice D. Washington, 34, was pronounced deceased Wednesday afternoon by Mercy Health Staff. Washington was shot in the head around 2:40 a.m. Sunday on Scott Street NE. The shooting was the second of three separate shootings in the city in a span of about nine hours. Throughout the weekend, two other people were hurt, and another man, David Lee Owens, III, was killed. 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. In a rapidly evolving cybersecurity landscape, identity is the new perimeter - and few understand this better than Brandon Traffanstedt, Field CTO at CyberArk. With over a decade at the company, Traffanstedt has had a front-row seat to the transformation of identity security, from privileged access management to todays complex web of human and machine identities. Speaking to ITWire, Traffanstedt gave a snapshot of CyberArks role: Our focus is identity security. The goal is to take any high-risk access, whether human or machine, in the cloud or on-prem, and build compensating controls around it. These controls range from password management and session brokering to more modern approaches such as zero-standing privileges and dynamic access. While CyberArk is well known for pioneering the privileged access management (PAM) space, the companys strategy has evolved significantly. Today, identity security spans across a broader canvas, especially as organisations embrace automation and AI. As Field CTO, Traffanstedt splits his time between internal product alignment and real-world field strategy. Its a nice bit of strategic work internally, but also actually being able to talk about it and just see what the pulse is going on in the environment today, he said. And what is the current pulse? AI agents and machine identities. An AI agent represents the ultimate combination of human identity with its unpredictability and goal orientation and machine identity, which offers scale and automation, Traffanstedt explained. It gets a little matrixy when we chat on it, he laughed, but AI agents are an evolution of machine identities. However, as businesses rush to deploy AI tools, many forget the basics. I wouldnt say theyre doing it wrong, but they're caught up in the science fiction, he noted. The foundational steps such as defining governance and assessing risk are often skipped in favour of chasing shiny buttons. One of the most striking figures comes from CyberArks annual Identity Security Landscape Report, which found that for every one powerful human identity, Australian organisations now have 79 powerful machine identities - a number that has nearly doubled over the past few years. Yet, 92% of surveyed companies only define privileged access for humans, not machines. That imbalance is risky. Machines shouldnt be treated as secondary identities, Traffanstedt said. Theyre not only among the most empowered identities in an enterprise but increasingly among the most attacked. He advises organisations to ensure that security automation keeps pace with operational automation. If your infrastructure builds dynamically but your security controls rely on manual approval processes, youre creating a dangerous imbalance. Looking ahead, Traffanstedt is optimistic about open-source contributions in this space. CyberArk itself has released tools such as Agent Watch and Agent Guard to help organisations gain visibility into AI agents - where they are, what theyre doing, and how to secure them. Reflecting on his 11 years at CyberArk, he noted the shift from fragmented solutions to consolidation: It used to be a question of how many vendors you needed to get it done. Now its about how to consolidate and gain visibility across native tools and platforms. His final message for businesses? Whether you're just starting or already knee-deep in AI and automation, dont let identity governance be an afterthought. Humans or machines, identity is everything. SYRACUSE, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) The Syracuse Police are investigating a stabbing incident that occurred on Butternut Street. On Friday, August 8th, around 3:12 a.m., Syracuse Police Officers were called to the 1200 block of Butternut Street for a report of a stabbing with injuries. When they arrived, Officers found a 38-year-old male with an apparent stab wound to the torso. The victim was taken to Upstate University Hospital and listed in stable condition. A suspect in the stabbing was identified as 35-year-old Elijah Quantae. Quantae was arrested and charged with Assault in the First Degree and Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Fourth Degree concerning this incident. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The investigation into this incident is active and ongoing. Anyone with information is asked to contact the Syracuse Police Department Criminal Investigations Division at (315) 442-5222. 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 WSYR. Police have announced a new update in the tragic death of New York fashion designer Martha Nolan-O'Slatarra. Nolan-O'Slatarra, 33, was found unconscious on a boat docked at the Montauk Yacht Club in the tony Hamptons community on Tuesday night. Despite the efforts of onlookers, who reportedly attempted to resuscitate the Ireland native, Nolan-O'Slatarra was later pronounced dead. The Suffolk County Police Department has been investigating the death, and the latest information gives a clue into what might have happened. According to the New York Post, officers said an autopsy determined Nolan-O'Slatarra's body did not show evidence of violence." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement No official cause of death has been announced. An entrepreneur's life cut short A native of Carlow, Ireland, Nolan-O'Slatarra emigrated to the United States nearly a decade ago. She did so with the intentions of broadening her hroizons and getting her career kickstarted Carlow is a small town, I was the small town girl who needed to get out to achieve her big dreams, Nolan-O'Slatarra told the Irish Independent in 2024. I always knew I wanted to be successful, that I was money-driven, business-driven and that fashion is a tough industry and it would be a slow road. Nolan O'Slatarra founded East x East, a sustainable resort wear brand, along with her business partner, Dylan Grace. Grace shared a tribute to Nolan-OSlatarra on Instagram Wednesday. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "We dreamed big together, laughed harder than anyone else could understand, and built so much from nothing," Grace wrote in the caption. "Im truly blessed and grateful to have had you in my life. Love you so much Mar. Fly high girl ." Carlow County counselor Thomas Kinsella also addressed Nolan-O'Slatarra's passing, calling it "very very tragic news for her family and her friends, especially being so far away from home." Police Say Martha Nolan-OSlatarras Body Had No Signs of Violence first appeared on Men's Journal on Aug 6, 2025 Idaho police have released new neighborhood surveillance video and scores of photographs, giving the public its most detailed look yet inside the off-campus house where Bryan Kohberger murdered four college undergrads in 2022. The Moscow Police Department turned over nearly 200 blurred and redacted crime scene photos to NBC affiliate KTVB through a public records request for documents related to the Nov. 13, 2022, murders of University of Idaho students Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20. Kohberger, a former Washington State University Ph.D. candidate, pleaded guilty to their murders last month and was sentenced to life behind bars. Shot of the stairs. Four empty cans and a takeout drink are on the stairs. Two lanyards are hanging on the rack, pink and black, of the University of Idaho. (Moscow Police Department) Many of the photos taken inside the since-demolished home at 1122 King Road show a typical college residence with red plastic cups, empty beer cans and strewn clothes. Living room with black couch, party items and backpack on floor. (Moscow Police Department) But a handful of images reflect the gruesome event that unfolded there almost three years ago, with blood on hardwood floors, bedding and walls. Leading into the room Kaylee/Maddie were in. (Moscow Police Department) The innocuous image of a sliding glass door would seem to have no impact without knowing that police believe that was the entrance Kohberger used to get inside. Open sliding door. (Moscow Police Department) Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A neighbor's security camera captured footage of a white car roaming the block and then speeding away a vehicle that police now know was Kohberger's Hyundai Elantra. In the weeks following the students' murders, police said little publicly about the case, drawing frustration from the public and loved ones of the victims. Investigators, however, were looking into Kohberger, following him back to his parents' home in Pennsylvania, where he was arrested on Dec. 30, 2022. Leading into empty room, bed on left, blurred photos on the wall but no sign of blood. (Moscow Police Department) Moscow police also released a picture of a stunned Kohberger, wearing a hoodie and sweats at his parents' home, handcuffed with a police officer in camouflage standing a few feet away. The killer is now residing in solitary confinement at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution. This article was originally published on NBCNews.com SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) Police in San Francisco are looking for a suspect in a daylight shooting that left one person injured in the Tenderloin Thursday afternoon. According to the San Francisco Police Department, officers responded to the area of Golden Gate Avenue and Jones Street at around 12:20 p.m. SJPD Homicide Unit seeks lone remaining suspect in fatal shooting At the scene, officers found a victim suffering from at least one gunshot wound. Officers rendered aid and the victim was transported to the hospital where they are in unknown medical condition, police said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Investigating officers were told that the suspect fled into a nearby building located on Jones Street. Police are still searching for the suspect. 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. ATLANTA (AP) Police say a suspect is dead and a police officer has been injured after active shooter reported at Emory University. DENVER (KDVR) The Parker Police Department is searching for answers after two dogs were abandoned near Pioneer Elementary on Wednesday. The dogs appear to be labradors, with police saying one is an adult female and the other a six-month-old puppy. Neither is microchipped and both show signs of neglect, according to the police department. These two dogs were dumped near Pioneer Elementary on Aug. 6, 2025. (Courtesy the Parker Police Department) The department said that theyve learned that the dogs were dumped off of Riva Ridge, which is near Pioneer Elementarys parking lot, at about 8:30 a.m. on Aug. 6. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement All we have at this time is that a white pick-up with a topper dropped these two dogs off and then drove away, the police department said. FOX31 Newsletters: Sign up to get breaking news sent to your inbox The agency said the driver was described as a white, middle-aged man of average build. The department is hoping someone has information about who may have been in the area or has dash or doorbell camera footage of the incident. The dogs were taken to a shelter. Tips about this incident can be sent to Parker Police Community Services Officer Jacob Gingold at jgingold@parkerco.gov or 303-805-6851. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has expressed the opinion that a temporary "freezing" of the conflict is possible in the war unleashed by Russia against Ukraine. Source: the Guardian with reference to a statement by the Polish prime minister, as European Pravda reports Details: Tusk stated that there could be a stalled phase in the war after a conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on the morning of 8 August. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "There are certain signals, I also have an intuition that perhaps a freezing of the conflict I dont want to say the end of the war, but a freezing of the conflict could happen sooner rather than later," he said. Tusk said that during the conversation, Zelenskyy was "very cautious, but still optimistic." "The Ukrainian side is very keen for Europe, including Poland, to take part in shaping this future ceasefire and, later, peace. We are also very keen on this, so that peace can prevail in our region, because that would also have a very positive impact on our security," he added. Background: At the end of July, Tusk said he saw "many signs" that the war unleashed by Russia against Ukraine could end, at least temporarily. Earlier, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that during a telephone conversation with US President Donald Trump and European leaders, potential formats for meetings at the leadership level were discussed. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon! WARSAW (Reuters) -A pause in the conflict in Ukraine could be close, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Friday after speaking to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump will meet in the coming days, the Kremlin said on Thursday, as the U.S. president seeks a breakthrough to end the Ukraine war, now in its fourth year, after voicing mounting frustration with his Russian counterpart and threatening him with new sanctions. "There are certain signals, and we also have an intuition, that perhaps a freeze in the conflict - I don't want to say the end, but a freeze in the conflict - is closer than it is further away," he told a news conference "There are hopes for this." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Tusk said Zelenskiy was "very cautious but optimistic" and that Ukraine was keen that Poland and other European countries play a role in planning for a ceasefire and an eventual peace settlement. NATO member Poland has been a staunch supporter of its eastern neighbour Ukraine since Putin sent tens of thousands of troops into the country in February 2022, citing threats to Russian security and plunging Moscow's relations with the West into deep crisis. Kyiv and its Western allies say Russia is engaged in a imperial-style land grab. In a post on X, Zelenskiy said he had spoken with Tusk about "the available diplomatic options and agreed to coordinate and work together for our common European interests". He had also informed the Polish prime minister about his conversations with Trump and other European leaders earlier this week. "Ukraine, Poland, and other European nations alike need strong foundations for their security and independence," Zelenskiy said. "A reliable peace is essential for all, and I am grateful for the readiness (of allies) to help along this path." (Reporting by Alan Charlish, Pawel Florkiewicz, Yuliia DysaEditing by Gareth Jones) The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. This is an edition of The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. Activists and organizers like to say that the world is run by those who show up, so the fact that what Texass Democratic legislators need to do to further their agenda is not show up is inauspicious for them. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Those lawmakers, most of whom are currently holed up in Illinois, are seeking to prevent Republicans from drawing new, gerrymandered districts that would help them expand Texass GOP delegation in the U.S. Houseand perhaps give the party a better shot at holding the House in the midterms, when the sitting presidents party tends to suffer (even with presidents far more popular than Donald Trump is currently). Democrats hope to deprive the legislature of quorum, thus blocking the passage of any new map. Traditionally, states redistrict after the decennial Census, and those maps endure for a decade, unless courts order changes, as they sometimes do. Texass current maps were drawn by Republicans, and in the most recent election, they produced 25 GOP seats and 13 Democratic ones. Thats 66 percent of districts with 58 percent of the total House vote for Republicansnot bad. But under pressure from the White House, Texas Republicans are now trying to squeeze out a little more juice. The attempt to redistrict is an unusual, brazen, and questionable move, though not entirely without precedent. In 2003, Texas Republicans redrew maps so as to give themselves a majority of the states House seats. Democrats, dubbed the Killer Ds, fled the state to prevent a quorum. They were initially successful, but a later attempt to prevent a quorum failed when a member broke ranks, and a new map passed. Texas Democrats are hoping they can learn the lessons of that attempt and win this time. They have a strategy, they have support from governors out of state, and, as Politico notes, they have the chance to run out the clock on a new map before a December deadline. Still, if Democrats had any better options, theyd take them. Maintaining caucus discipline for the next four months will be no easy task. And thats assuming some of the more draconian ideas offered to break them fail. State Attorney General Ken Paxton wants to have the Democrats removed from office for their absence. (Experts say this is legally dubious, and the idea of Paxton enforcing rectitude and duty is grimly hilarious.) U.S. Senator John Cornyn, whose reelection hopes are teetering precariously in a GOP primary against Paxton, tried to one-up that by requesting that the FBI help locate the Democratic fugitives. (Never mind that they havent obviously committed any crimes.) Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement All things being equal, legislators skipping sessions to prevent a state government from accomplishing business isnt a good thing. Oregon Democrats were so sick of state GOP legislators doing so that they enacted a law blocking chronic absentees from running for reelection in the next term. Then again, opportunistic mid-decade redistricting isnt a good thing, either. Gerrymanders produce worse governance because they are less representative; they also feed polarization by making elected officials dependent less on the general electorate and more on primary voters. And whats happening in Texas has already spread further. As soon as Republicans began talking about a Texas redistricting effort, Democrats in states including California and New York threatened to redraw maps to retaliate and push out Republicans. Now the GOP is looking at other red states, including Indiana and Missouri, to gain more seats. This is a disheartening example of what Ive called total politics, in which officials try to use every legal tool to gain any advantage, no matter the long-term consequences. In this worldview, what matters is whats possible, not whats wise. How successful these efforts outside Texas will be is not clear. Hoosier State Republicans appear unenthusiastic about redistricting, though the White House seems to believe it can twist their arm. Democrats, meanwhile, have challenges of their own. By some measures, the U.S.House map over the past two elections has had a slight Democratic advantage. Moreover, as my colleague Russell Berman reports, Democrats have spent the past decade pushing good-government reforms such as independent redistricting commissions that are designed to make extreme gerrymandering more difficult. People such as former Attorney General Eric Holder, who has been the leader of Democratic advocacy for fairer districts, are now embracing the tactics they shunned and trying, somewhat painfully, to rationalize them. The explanations really come down to this: Democrats believe that they are losing an existential battle and must do whatever they can. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But what they can do is limited. Gerrymanders that use race as a basis are unconstitutional, but gerrymanders that use partisanship are notalthough, in the South, Democratic affiliation is often a good proxy for Black voters. Chief Justice John Roberts has written that partisan gerrymanders are unfair, but the Supreme Court ruled that it has no authority to do anything about them. Roberts recommended that states handle the issue on their own. This is where gerrymandering becomes a devilish, self-perpetuating problem. Voters who want to stop gerrymanders at the state level find their path blocked by gerrymandering. Take North Carolina, which went from a 77 split in the U.S. House to a 104 GOP edge under a new map enacted ahead of last years elections. State legislators have also gerrymandered their own maps, so that although Democrats won narrow majorities of all the votes cast for both the state House and state Senate, they hold only two-fifths of the seats in both chambers. For decades, the Voting Rights Act has provided a path by which Black voters are guaranteed representation, through the drawing of majority-minority districts that would be otherwise considered unconstitutional racial gerrymanders. (Texas has one of the highest proportions of Black voters among states.) Yet as the law professor Richard Hasen writes in Slate, the Supreme Court now appears to be considering throwing out majority-minority districts as unconstitutional. This week marks the 60th anniversary of the VRA, but after years of hollowing out by the Roberts Court, the VRA seems to be nearing irrelevance. The Trump administration has indicated that the Justice Department will move away from prosecuting racial discrimination in voting and toward pursuing bogus allegations of voter fraud, while the Court may soon eliminate the ability of individuals and outside groups to bring claims under the law. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement President Lyndon B. Johnson, the Texan who signed the VRA into law, once said, This right to vote is the basic right without which all others are meaningless. If the shameless use of total politics to game districts is successful, it threatens to strip the meaning from that right. Related: Here are three new stories from The Atlantic: Todays News President Donald Trumps new tariff policy took effect at midnight, raising the overall average effective tariff rate to more than 18 percent, the highest since 1934. Trump posted on Truth Social yesterday that billions of dollars will begin flowing into the U.S., largely from countries he says have taken advantage of the United States for many years. Trump has directed the Commerce Department to change how the U.S. Census Bureau counts the population, aiming to exclude undocumented immigrants. A federal judge ordered a two-week pause on construction at Floridas Alligator Alcatraz detention center after a lawsuit raised concerns about its impact on the Everglades ecosystem. Evening Read My Brother and the Relationship That Could Have Been Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement By Liz Krieger The day my brother died, the dogwoods were in bloom. I sat by my bedroom windowsill, painting my nails. Junior prom was just hours away. I was 16. My brother, Alex, was 18just 22 months older than me. The car accident happened on a highway in upstate New York in the early morning. My brother was driving a group of his college classmates to an ultimate-frisbee tournament. Over time, my family has settled on the theory that he fell asleep at the wheel, though for a while my parents thought it was mechanical failure. They couldnt bear the alternative. The car flipped, and the roll bar above the drivers seat broke his neck. Everyone else walked away. This May marked 33 years after his death. Since it happened, Ive been thinking in numbers: days, months, eventually years. Its a compulsion, really, this ongoing tally. My own private math. I have just turned 50, an age unimaginable to that 16-year-old girl, and I will have been without him for more than twice as long as I knew him. Heres a story problem: If I live to 80, what percentage of my life will I have spent as someones sister? What percentage as no ones sister? Read the full article. More From The Atlantic Culture Break Read. In 2020, Myles Poydras recommended books about kids for adults. Explore. Last summer, Alan Taylor compiled photos of people keeping cool in the heat. Play our daily crossword. Rafaela Jinich contributed to this newsletter. When you buy a book using a link in this newsletter, we receive a commission. Thank you for supporting The Atlantic. Article originally published at The Atlantic Controversy around a GP management company has prompted politicians to demand an investigation into a health board and its relationship with the firm. Most of the GP surgeries managed by eHarley Street in Wales - which has been on the receiving end of concerns about safety, staffing and supply - have been handed back to Aneurin Bevan health board. Labour ministers and Torfaen politicians Lynne Neagle and Nick Thomas-Symonds said they were still hearing complaints about Pontypool Medical Centre, one of the company's three remaining surgeries in the health board area. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The GP partnership claimed it was being targeted because it was based in England. The health board said enhanced monitoring of the surgery had "not identified any contractual breaches or safety concerns". The GP management company was criticised by patients, doctors and even the first minister after BBC Wales revealed concerns about how the practices were run. Calls for an inquiry stretch back to last year when patients - some with terminal illnesses - complained of struggles to access appointments and treatments at surgeries linked to eHarley Street. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The GP partnership, based in Leicestershire, once remotely supported nine Welsh practices, eight in the Aneurin Bevan health board area. While five have been handed back, GPs behind eHarley Street still manage Gelligaer Surgery, near Ystrad Mynach, Caerphilly county, and Lliswerry Medical Practice in Newport, as well as in Pontypool, which serves about 17,000 patients. A surgery in Cardiff that was managed by the partnership has also been handed back. Neagle, the Member of the Senedd for Torfaen and Wales' education secretary, made the request jointly with Thomas-Symonds, the constituency's MP and UK government's EU relations minister. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement They wrote to public spending watchdog Audit Wales unhappy with the outcome of 10 meetings with the health board, which told them it had not "identified any immediate patient safety concerns". In a joint statement, the politicians said: "Given the months that have gone by, and continued public concerns, we do not believe that this response will provide constituents with the level of reassurance they need." They said their letter to the watchdog called for the auditor general to look into the health board's "engagement of eHarley Street and subsequent management of the contracts". They added that they were making no criticism of the staff at the medical centre, "who we know are working with great dedication, often in what we understand are difficult circumstances". Lynne Neagle said the health board was not reassuring patients [BBC] eHarley Street said the politicians had continued "to escalate the issue through the press while refusing multiple offers for constructive dialogue". Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "It is occurring in the context of a pre-election year, with the political landscape in Wales shifting rapidly," it added. The GP partnership complained of "chronic underfunding, outdated funding formulas and burnt-out workforce" in Wales and claimed to have spent "personal and private funds to stabilise operations and recruit clinical staff". It welcomed the involvement of Audit Wales, adding: "There is a growing view that the partnership is being targeted, at least in part, because it is an English-led provider operating in Wales." In response the two politicians said they make "no apology whatsoever, as democratically elected representatives, for doing our jobs in standing up for our constituents". Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The health board said it "continues to work closely with the partnership, through enhanced monitoring arrangements, in respect of the three practices to ensure contractual compliance and the ongoing delivery of accessible primary care services". It added: "The enhanced monitoring has not identified any contractual breaches or safety concerns." Audit Wales said it "already has work under way to obtain a better understanding of how the health board is managing the concerns they have set out". "Once that initial work has concluded, the auditor general will determine whether any further audit work is necessary on these matters." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The two politicians welcomed Audit Wales' approach and said they looked forward to hearing from Auditor General Adrian Crompton "in due course once he has decided the next course of action". The Welsh government said it was aware of concerns about Pontypool Medical Practice, but that the health board was "responsible for managing contractual compliance and any necessary support to the practice". xReality Group Limited (XRG) is pleased to announce that its wholly owned US Subsidiary Operator XR LLC has been awarded a contract up to the value of $5.7m to supply Operator XRs flagship OP-2 training systems to the Texas DPS. The contract consists of: A quantity of OP-2 software licenses and VR training systems Implementation, training, two years of support A further three years of optional support The systems will be used by Texas DPS for law enforcement training across the State of Texas. About Texas DPS The Texas DPS is the statewide public safety and law-enforcement agency for the State of Texas. DPS is responsible for highway patrol and traffic safety, statewide criminal investigations (including the Texas Rangers division), driver licensing and regulatory services, state crime laboratories, and coordination with local and federal partners on major incidents and homeland security. Given that Texas is the second-largest US state by both population and area, the DPS is a significant entity with substantial operational scale, managing the safety and security for over 30 million residents. Terms of the Contract: $4.3m for software licenses, systems, implementation and two years of support services Payment terms 30 days from receipt of systems (expected to be received in full in Q2 FY26) Optional Support Services for years 3, 4 and 5 totalling $1.4m (split over three years) XRG CEO Wayne Jones said Were proud to partner with the Texas Department of Public Safety, one of the largest and most respected law-enforcement agencies in the United States. Their selection of Operator XR underscores the readiness of our platform for statewide deployment and reinforces our U.S. growth strategy. This win expands our footprint with a high-credibility reference customer while helping officers train more often, more safely, and with better outcomes for the communities they serve. Image of a 2 person Operator XR OP-2 VR system This ASX Release is authorised by the Board of xReality Group Limited. A popular ice cream brand has recalled one of its flavors due to a packaging error. DFA Dairy Brands, LLC issued a recall on 324 cartons of Friendlys 48 fluid-ounce Cookies & Cream ice cream, according to a report shared Wednesday by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The recall was issued after it was discovered that the product was packaged in the Vanilla Bean flavor carton with a Cookies & Cream lid. The Vanilla Bean flavor does not have soy or wheat listed as ingredients, which may pose a serious or life-threatening allergic reaction to anyone with a food sensitivity or allergy. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Affected ice cream cartons have a best-by date of November 26, 2025, and were sold at stores across Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. No illnesses have been reported. The ice cream was sold in stores across Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania (FDA) Customers who have bought the recalled ice cream are able to return the carton to the place of purchase in exchange for a full refund. Friendlys ice cream isnt the first frozen treat to be recalled in the U.S. this summer. Last month, Rich Ice Cream Co. recalled more than 110,292 cases of various ice cream bars, according to a report shared July 17 by the FDA. The recall was issued because the products may have been contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, a disease-causing bacteria. 324 cartons of the ice cream were found to be mispackaged (Getty Images) The Rich Ice Cream products affected by the recall include Chocolate Crunch Cake Bars, Strawberry Shortcake Bars, Rich Bars, Crumbled Cookie Bars, Orange Cream Bars, Fudge Frenzy Bars, Cotton Candy Twirl Bars, Savagely Sour Blue Raspberry Bars, Savagely Sour Cherry Bars, and Cool Watermelon Bars. Potentially contaminated packages contain lot number 24351 through lot number 25156. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Affected ice cream bars were sold in 23 states: Alabama, Arizona, California, South Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Wisconsin. They were also sold in a popular foreign summer vacation spot: Nassau, Bahamas. The recall has also been classified as Class II, which is a situation in which use of or exposure to a violative product is not likely to cause adverse health consequences, according to the FDA. Consumers are urged not to eat these ice cream bars and to throw them away immediately. As noted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), listeria is a bacteria that can contaminate many foods, with infections caused by eating food with Listeria monocytogenes bacteria. Although symptoms can vary, a listeria infection can cause invasive illness and intestinal illness. Listeria infection is the third leading cause of death from foodborne illness in the U.S., killing roughly 260 people per year. Democratic former Rep. Katie Porter (Calif.) and Republican former Fox News host Steve Hilton are at the top of Californias primary for governor, new polling shows, after Vice President Harris decided against a bid. Emerson College Polling found Porter in the lead with 18 percent support, followed by Hilton at 12 percent. In Californias nonpartisan system, the top two candidates move on from the primary to the general, regardless of party affiliation. The poll comes after Harris, who was expected to clear the field if she entered the race, announced she would not run to replace term-limited Gov. Gavin Newsom (D). Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Republican Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, Democrat former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Republican-turned-Democrat Rick Caruso were next up, with 7, 5 and 4 percent, respectively. The rest of the field, including Former Biden Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra, Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis (D) and former state Controller Betty Yee (D), earned just 3 percent or less each. With Kamala Harris officially out of the race, Katie Porter has emerged as the Democratic frontrunner, increasing her support from 12 percent to 18 percent since the April Emerson poll, said Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling, in a release. Hilton has made his jump to 12 percent after entering the race in late April. Since the April poll, the share of undecided voters dropped from 54 percent to 38 percent. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Given Californias system, its possible that two Democrats could advance to the general in an intra-party fight, or the race could see a more classic Democrat-on-Republican contest. The last time a Republican won Californias governorship was 2006, when former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) scored reelection. And though Trump made inroads in California in November, the state has gone blue in the presidential race every cycle since 1992. Meanwhile, Harriss decision not to run for governor has raised questions about whether she could try again for the White House in 2028. Newsom, whose tenure as governor is up next year, has also long been seen as a potential 2028 contender. The Emerson College Polling survey was taken Aug. 4-5 among 1,000 active registered voters in California and had a credibility interval, similar to a polls margin of error, of plus or minus 3 percentage points. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) The city of Portland, Oregon, is set to pay $3.75 million to the estate of an unarmed man who was shot and killed by police in 2022 after being mistaken for an armed robbery suspect. The city settled with Immanueal Clark's estate, which had filed a wrongful-death lawsuit last year, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported. An officer mistook the 30-year-old as someone involved in an armed robbery earlier in the evening and shot him in the back as he fled from a police stop in November 2022. The news outlet, citing a database maintained by the advocacy group Portland Copwatch, reported it was the largest settlement on record paid by the city to an individual plaintiff. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement City councilors unanimously approved the settlement on Thursday after a meeting in which they questioned disagreement within the police department over whether the shooting was proper. An internal affairs investigator had found the officer who shot Clark violated bureau policy; the citys Police Review Board, which includes four members from the police department, two community members and an independent city staffer, voted 4-3 that the shooting was within policy, OPB reported. Police Chief Bob Day told councilors that while he was angered by Clark's death, it was his final decision to deem the shooting appropriate as he believed Officer Chris Sathoff acted reasonably according to the facts available at the time, OPB reported. A grand jury cleared Sathoff of criminal wrongdoing in 2023. The night of the shooting, a 911 caller told dispatchers he had been robbed at gunpoint in the parking lot of a fast-food restaurant by men who were definitely white. Officers mistook Clark's sedan as being involved in the robbery, and when they approached it in a church parking lot, Clark, who was Black, fled on foot. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In grand jury testimony, Sathoff said Clark had been digging his pockets as he ran away and that he thought Clark may have a gun. He fired three bullets from an AR-15 rifle. Councilor Loretta Smith said the shooting highlighted discrepancies in how Black and white Portlanders are treated by police. We did know the description of the robbers and the robbers were white. And Manny is clearly Black, Smith said. Day said the police department had made changes since the shooting, including how it trains officers to use rifles, OPB reported. PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) The Portland Police Bureau said they are seeking the publics help in locating a woman who has been missing for over three weeks. Heather Labarre has been uncharacteristically out of contact with family since July 13, 2025, and there is concern about her welfare, PPB said in a press release. Heather Labarre has been missing since July 13, 2025 (courtesy Portland Police Bureau). Labarre, 45, is described as a Caucasian woman, 503, 200 lbs, and its unknown what type of clothing she might be wearing. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement If anyone knows where Labarre is now, theyre asked to call 911. People with other information that might be relevant to the case, but is non-time-sensitive, are asked to call contact Portland police. 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. PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) Midway through 2025, Portland has seen a year-over-year drop in violent crime and homicides, according to a new report. The Midyear Violent Crime Report from the Major Cities Chiefs Association an organization of police executives representing the largest cities in the United States and Canada found Portland recorded the steepest drop in violent crime among the 86 U.S. agencies in the report in the first half of 2025. According to the report, compared to January through June 2024, overall violent crime in Portland has fallen 17%, noting aggravated assaults decreased from 1,442 incidents to 1,452, robberies dropped from 525 to 491 incidents, and sexual assault reports dropped from 185 reports to 163. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Aloha High School changes logo after appropriateness of previous mascot was questioned Additionally, homicides have fallen from 35 incidents to 17 incidents a 51% drop marking the largest homicide decrease of any major city in the report. Im proud that Portland is making real progress. Homicides are down 51 percent year-to-date, and weve even seen months with zero homicides, said Portland Mayor Keith Wilson. This achievement belongs to every family, community leader, neighborhood group, and faith organization that has stepped up to look out for one another. At the same time, we know more work remains, and well continue investing in proven programs, strengthening partnerships, and using clear data to guide our next steps. The drop in homicides during the first half of this year is a promising sign that our collective efforts are having a real impact, said Portland Police Bureau Chief Bob Day. This progress reflects the dedication of Portland Police Bureau members, as well as the strong partnerships weve built with community violence prevention programs, local organizations, and outreach workers across the city. While challenges remain, this milestone demonstrates the power of collaboration in making Portland safer for all. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Supervisor hospitalized after stabbing on TriMet paratransit vehicle The numbers are encouraging and show our coordinated efforts are saving lives, but too many in our community are still impacted by violence, Interim Public Safety Deputy City Administrator Bob Cozzie added. We will continue to look across all public safety bureaus and programs to see how we can build on this progress in the coming years. The City of Portland highlighted key efforts to reduce crime, including strengthening the Portland Ceasefire program an evidence-based strategy to reduce shootings and homicides that focuses resources on people who are at a higher risk of perpetuating or being victimized by gun violence. The City also pointed to investments by the Office of Violence Prevention in communities that are hardest hit by gun violence, along with investments supporting youth mediation and mentoring and recreational prevention activities. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. Aug. 8PORTSMOUTH The Alzheimer's Association of Greater Cincinnati is gearing up to celebrate with the Portsmouth community with the first Paint the Town Purple campaign. During the month of August, area businesses, families and individuals are being asked to support the fight to end Alzheimer's through participation in the campaign by displaying and wearing purple, entering in a 'forget-me-not" flower competition and registering for the annual walk. The contest winner will be announced on Fri., Sept. 12, and will receive a Paint the Town Purple trophy. The Paint the Town Purple campaign will serve as the official kick-off to walk season, exciting the community about the upcoming 2025 Southern Ohio Walk to End Alzheimer's to be held on Sat., Sept. 27 at Shawnee State University, 940 Second St. in Portsmouth. The campaign and the walk help raise awareness and funds for local Alzheimer's Association education, support, services and research. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "The annual Walk event has taken place in the Portsmouth community for 18 years now," said Veronica Amato, community engagement manager for the Alzheimer's Association Greater Cincinnati Chapter. "Participants and donors generously support local education programs, caregiver support groups and invest in research for diagnostics and treatments, and advancements toward finding cures. We're looking forward to bringing even more engagement and awareness to the event with the first Paint Portsmouth Purple this August!" Registration for the Walk is open and individuals can sign up as a team captain, join an existing team or register as a business team at alz.org/walkgreatercincinnati. For the first time, the number of people living with Alzheimer's disease in the U.S. is more than 7 million. That includes 236,200 in Ohio, according to the 2025 Alzheimer's Disease Facts and Figures. Deaths due to Alzheimer's more than doubled (142%) between 2000 and 2022, while deaths from the leading cause of mortality (heart disease) decreased by 2.1%. To learn more about Alzheimer's or other dementia and to access free local support and resources, visit alz.org/cincinnati or call the Greater Cincinnati Chapter at 513-721-4284 or the 24/7 Helpline at 800-272-3900. Authorities in Florida averted a potential mass shooting Tuesday morning after deputies stopped a vehicle just outside Palm Beach International Airport. The Miami Herald reported that deputies with the Palm Beach Sheriff's Office pulled over the vehicle at around 7:10 a.m. after airport workers alerted deputies about a "suspicious" man standing near a car in a restricted parking lot. The man, 41-year-old Michael Rodrigues, apparently drew suspicion when he was seen getting dressed outside the car. The car turned out to be a rental, but the contents found inside were disturbing. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Authorities say they found a fully loaded AR-15 plus an AR-15 magazine filled with bullets inside the glove compartment. They also found multiple knives hidden under a blanket. According to WPTV, surveillance footage showed Rodrigues entering the airport around 5 a.m. before he gradually made his way to a gated employee-restricted area. Two hours later he was seen walking over to the dumpsters and then going back into the trunk of his car. Related: Florida Man With 3 Secret Marriages Sentenced by Flabbergasted Judge Rodrigues was ultimately arrested without incident and faces numerous charges, including possession of a firearm as a convicted felon, trespassing at an operational area of an airport and possession of cocaine. He's being held on $1,040,000 bond. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It's unclear at this time what motive Rodrigues, a convicted felon, had in showing up to the busy airport with such an arsenal. But he's no stranger to major run-ins with the law. Rodrigues' long criminal history includes grand theft charges, running away from police, possession of drugs, and strangling the mother of his child unconscious. Potential Mass Shooting Stopped at Major Airport first appeared on Men's Journal on Aug 6, 2025 NEED TO KNOW In 1978, Patricia Roisinblit was eight months pregnant with her second child when she was abducted by armed men She and her partner were "disappeared" as part of Argentina's Dirty War, and never seen again Decades later, her mother, who joined the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, helped find Patricia's son after he was stolen following his birth in captivity Patricia Roisinblit was eight months pregnant when she and her 15-month-old daughter were kidnapped from their apartment by a group of armed men one day in October 1978. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Considered subversives by the military dictatorship during Argentinas Dirty War, she and her partner, Jose Manuel Perez Rojo, had finally thought they were safe until they were each separately abducted by at least 20 men, who converged on Joses elderly aunts house in a neighborhood north of Buenos Aires later that evening. The couple was trapped in vehicles and could only watch as their daughter, Mariana, was given to a relative in a basket. As Jose begged his family to take care of his little girl, Patricia gave one final yell, shouting, Im pregnant! Theyre taking me to, before her mouth was covered by a guard. They were never seen again. The harrowing scene is recounted in A Flower Traveled in My Blood by Haley Cohen Gilliland, which was published by Avid Reader Press last month. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Patricias disappearance, and the fate of her unborn child, prompted her desperate mother, Rosa Tarlovsky de Roisinblit, to go on a decadeslong search; first for her daughter and son-in-law, then, as horrifying details of their fates became clearer, for the unborn grandchild she hoped still lived. The story of Rosa, who will turn 106 in August, and other grandmothers like her, known as the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, is the focus of Gillilands debut work of nonfiction, which is the result of four years of investigative reporting and hundreds of hours of interviews. Of the estimated 500 grandchildren stolen between 1976 and 1983, so far, the grandmothers have found 140 the latest of whom they discovered just last month. Juan Mabromata/AFP/Getty Images Rosa near photos of her loved ones. Rosa near photos of her loved ones. The worst thing that could ever happen to them had happened, Gilliland tells PEOPLE of the grandmothers resilience. In a way, that was freeing because they felt they had nothing else to lose. The worst next thing would be giving up. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement After decades of political turmoil, one of Argentina's darkest periods began when a military junta led by Lieut. Gen. Jorge Rafael Videla unseated Isabel Peron in 1976 and launched a campaign of terror to get rid of perceived political opponents from the left, according to Britannica. Patricia and Jose were part of the Montoneros, a leftist group that supported President Peron, before it disbanded. An estimated 10,000 to 30,000 people, including pregnant women forced to give up their babies, were killed during the Dirty War. They became known as desaparecidos the disappeared. In A Flower Traveled in My Blood, Gilliland reveals the ways the grandmothers sacrificed everything even their lives to bring the truth of the killings to light, helping to topple the dictatorship and bring about revolutionary developments in genetic testing as they sought to reunite with stolen family members. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The level of brutality, the disappearances, the death flights that was shocking to Argentines across the board, and I think nobody could have predicted that, says Gilliland of the regimes state-sanctioned killings. It wasnt until February 1982 that Rosa learned that 25-year-old Patricia gave birth to a baby boy, whom she named Rodolfo Fernando, in captivity. Initially, Patricia had been kept blindfolded and tied to a chair in the same house where Jose was tortured. As her due date approached, she was brought to the infamous detention center Escuela de Mecanica de la Armada (Navy School of Mechanics), known as ESMA, where prisoners were brutalized. Later, the young womans family would piece together other details of her last days, including a rare statement from an air force officer who said that Patricia may have been thrown into the sea after giving birth to Rodolfo. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement While Jose and Patricia were disappeared, the family was unable to confirm if theyd been thrown into the Rio de la Plata like so many others. The existence of death flights had been previously documented, but in 1995, a former lieutenant commander made international headlines when he recounted how he helped throw naked and drugged political prisoners into the South Atlantic, according to the Los Angeles Times. Gilliland says it was Patricias strength and her mothers spirit that prompted her to highlight their familys story. I felt particularly drawn to Rosa, the author tells PEOPLE. She has always been a maverick. Avid Reader Press | Simon & Schuster The book was published by Avid Reader Press in July. The book was published by Avid Reader Press in July. Rosa, born to Jewish parents who escaped Europe during the pogroms, was an obstetrician, an untraditional path for women in Argentina during the 1960s and 70s. Rosas husband, Benjamin Roisinblit, died the same year their daughter was abducted. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Concerned about her firebrand daughters political movements, Rosa didnt become an activist herself until her family was ripped from her. Rosa joined up with the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo and served as the organizations treasurer for six years before working as vice president from 1989 to 2022. They really poured everything into her and made her the center of their universes, Gilliland says of Rosa and Benjamins love for their only child. And so I think her abduction and disappearance is an unimaginable blow. After years of searching, Rosa and her granddaughter Mariana Eva Perez, the child who was 15 months old when her parents and then unborn brother were taken finally found the baby boy theyd hoped was out there. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement By 2000, Patricia and Joses son was 21 years old and had been given the name Guillermo Francisco Gomez by the parents who raised him: Francisco Gomez, an air force intelligence officer, and Teodora Jofre, a cleaning lady. As a baby, Guillermo had been given to the couple after an air force official learned they were struggling with infertility and a falsified birth certificate was created, Gilliland writes. The child's upbringing was riddled with violence. "I saw him threaten her with a knife, hit her with a rifle butt, throw her on the floor and shout he would put a bullet in her, Guillermo would later tell a courtroom of the way Francisco allegedly abused Teodora until their divorce, The Guardian previously reported. While Guillermo was not physically hurt by his father, the older man gave the boy the nickname "the Jew." Guillermo believed he was their biological son until Mariana broke from the Abuelas standard procedure and approached her brother at the fast food restaurant where he worked with a note and photo of her parents. Juan Mabromata/AFP/Getty Images Rosa (center) with her grandchildren, Mariana (left) and Guillermo (right). Rosa (center) with her grandchildren, Mariana (left) and Guillermo (right). I was very afraid," Guillermo said of the life-changing moment, according to CBS News. "At that moment, I didn't know who I was. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement After a DNA test confirmed that his biological parents werent the people who had raised him, the young man struggled with depression. Never miss a story sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. He talked about the complete loneliness and overwhelming alienation of that experience and how long it took him to grapple with that, Gilliland says. Beyond the death of his birth parents, Guillermo also had to come to terms with the fact that Francisco, the man who raised him, had worked at the same detention center where Patricia was held after she gave birth to him, according to The Guardian. AFP/Getty Images Irma Rojas, Estela de Carlotto and Rosa Rosinblit of the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo in 2005. Irma Rojas, Estela de Carlotto and Rosa Rosinblit of the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo in 2005. He asked me to rest assured nothing bad happened to my mother while she was pregnant, though he couldnt say the same about my father, Guillermo told the paper of what Francisco said after he confronted him for the fourth time. He said he took care of my mother, that he brought her food secretly on weekends. It was too much information for me. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In 2016, Guillermo faced the man hed called father in court, according to the outlet. Francisco was sentenced to life in prison, while Teodora was separately sentenced to three years in prison for Guillermos abduction, according to CBS News. Franciscos conviction was part of a wave of hundreds of military personnel and leaders who were prosecuted for human rights abuses. https://people-app.onelink.me/HNIa/kz7l4cuf There was no sunshine-filled, scenic ending for Rosa and her grandchildren. The truth of what Mariana and Guillermos parents experienced was too heavy. But Guillermo, who adopted the last name Perez Roisinblit in honor of his birth parents, is now a human rights lawyer and works with his grandmothers organization. I hope when a reader closes the back cover that, instead of feeling weighed down by that darkness, they're inspired by how the Abuelas responded to it, Gilliland says, Their courage, resilience and the way that their love of family powered them forward. In her interview with The Guardian in 2016, Rosa, then 96, echoed that same sentiment when explaining why the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo continued to search for their missing grandchildren. The strength comes from the love for your children, she told the paper. If I had stayed home crying for the disappearance of my daughter, I would have died long ago. Read the original article on People Aug. 7A pregnant woman died and was left in a Middletown house for days before her body was found in Jackson Twp. on Sunday, according to the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office. Two men were arrested in Middletown earlier this week in connection to 28-year-old Brittany Fuhr-Storms' death. James R. Rothenbusch, 52, of Middletown is facing felony charges of corrupting another with drugs, specific to a pregnant woman; tampering with evidence; gross abuse of a corpse; trafficking in drugs and possession of drugs. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Rothenbusch is also facing misdemeanor charges of failure to report a crime or death and possession of drug paraphernalia. Ricky J. Sheppard, 47, of Middletown was charged with gross abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence, both felonies. Jackson Twp. police, the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office and Middletown police released additional information about the investigation during a press conference Thursday. The investigation began around 7:47 p.m. Sunday, when Jackson Twp. police responded to a report of a deceased woman found inside a plastic tote on Fort Anthony Road near Manning Road. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement People walking along the road reported there was a cooler with a bad smell, said Jackson Twp. Police Chief Mark Bruner. German Twp. officers initially responded because Jackson Twp. crews were at another scene, the chief said. They located a large, plastic storage tote, removed the lid and found a deceased woman, later identified as Fuhr-Storms, wrapped in towels and a tarp, Bruner said. The Montgomery County Sheriff's Office was requested to respond. The Montgomery County Coroner's Office also was called to the scene. An autopsy determined Fuhr-Storms was pregnant, according to the sheriff's office. Her unborn child did not survive. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The investigation led the sheriff's office to Fuhr-Storms' last known address in Franklin. Additional information learned there resulted in the sheriff's office contacting Middletown police, and a joint investigation began. It was determined Fuhr-Storms died under suspicious circumstances at a house in the 2000 block of Logan Avenue in Middletown, Montgomery County Sheriff's Office Chief of Staff Jeremy Roy said. Two men reportedly left her body in the shower for days before putting her in a plastic tote and leaving her in Jackson Twp. On Wednesday, Middletown police and the sheriff's office served a search warrant at the Logan Avenue home, Rothenbusch's residence. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A Rothenbusch was detained at the scene and investigators collected narcotics and other drug paraphernalia, according to the sheriff's office. Investigators reportedly found items related to the death investigation, resulting in a second warrant. During an interview, Rothenbusch admitted to drug trafficking and said Fuhr-Storms died at his home under suspicious circumstances, according to the sheriff's office. He allegedly kept her body in the home for around four days. Rothenbusch was then arrested, and the second suspect, Sheppard, was found on Baltimore Street in Middletown. Middletown Police Deputy Chief Ryan Morgan said Sheppard tried to flee, but was quickly apprehended. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Sheppard said Fuhr-Storms died from an alleged drug overdose and was in the house for approximately a week before her body was removed, Morgan said. The coroner's office has not determined Fuhr-Storms' cause and manner of death. Both men were reportedly aware Fuhr-Storms was pregnant. Roy praised the collaborative work between investigators across multiple law enforcement agencies in the region. "Everybody dropped everything, as they should when you find out that a mother-to-be was just dumped on the side of the road," he said. "You don't always get that cooperation all the time around the U.S. and in Ohio, but in this case you kind of have to tip your hat." Preparations are underway for a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin, which is tentatively scheduled for the end of next week. Source: NBC News, citing a senior White House official, as reported by European Pravda Details: The official said that possible venues for the meeting include the UAE, Hungary, Switzerland and Rome. The official added that Russia has submitted a list of demands for a possible ceasefire, and the US is now trying "to get buy-in" from the Ukrainians and European allies. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement They cautioned that further details of the Putin-Trump meeting are not yet known and may be subject to change. It is also unclear whether Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will attend. Background: Putins aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters earlier that a meeting between Putin and Trump is expected in the coming days possibly next week. Trump said he believed there was a good chance that there will be a meeting with Putin in the near future. Sky News reported that Trump has spoken with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni about holding the meeting with Putin in Rome. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon! COMPANY NEWS: XRG has been awarded a merit based grant for $2.1m as part of the Australian Governments Industry Growth Program, to accelerate Operator XRs AI product roadmap and become the leading VR tactical training offering across the Law Enforcement and Defence markets globally. The Industry Growth Program grant will enable Operator XR to: Accelerate the integration of advanced AI and cloud services into the training system enabling real time feedback to users, augmenting instructors and increasing the value and throughput of the training system. Increase manufacturing capacity of training weapons at the Sydney HQ by 100% through the addition of new additive manufacturing equipment and electronics design. Achieve a suite of global security and quality certifications required for large defence and government prime contracts. XRG CEO Wayne Jones said Operator XR has seen extraordinary growth over the last 3 years which shows no signs of slowing down. The IGP grant will allow XRG to fast track Operator XRs AI roadmap, which will further position Operator XR the market leader in tactical simulation, increasing both the training ROI for customers and the Companys growth. Commercial Terms The $2.1m Industry Growth Program grant will be paid quarterly over a 24 month period commencing 1st August 2025. The funding will be used for existing and new headcount, and capital equipment, with payments aligning to eligible expenses incurred through each quarter. Delivering on AI Roadmap announced in March This builds on XRG announcing Ash Crick appointment to actively advance XRGs AI roadmap in the first half of the year. Ash has been driving the adaptive learning, automated scenario creation and AI-powered decision support to keep XRG at the forefront of immersive training. Continuing to build on long-term product differentiation for customers XRG is continuing to embed AI across Operator XR to deliver further value through personalised training, real-time feedback and scalable solutions. This ensures reduced costs and a clear advantage for military and law enforcement customers. About Operator XR Operator XR is a wholly-owned subsidiary of XReality Group Limited, specialising in extended reality (XR) training solutions designed specifically for law enforcement and military. The company's immersive training platform helps agencies enhance decision-making, stress management, and tactical response in high-pressure situations. President Donald Trump has reportedly put his signature to a secret directive allowing the Department of Defense to use military force against Latin American drug cartels that the government has designated as foreign terrorist organizations. Citing persons familiar with the matter, the New York Times reported Friday that the secret order gives official authorization for potential military operations against cartels in international waters and on foreign soil. Since returning to office in January, Trump has aggressively pushed to involve the military in law enforcement operations, testing the bounds of a Civil War-era law, the Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibits the U.S. armed forces from engaging in domestic law enforcement. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He has also directed the State Department to designate various cartels and criminal groups as foreign terrorist organizations, including Tren de Aragua, Mara Salvatrucha (known as MS-13) and several other groups that the department says constitute a national-security threat beyond that posed by traditional organized crime. Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth during a cabinet meeting at the White House. The president has signed off on plan to use military to go after drug cartels, according to a report. (REUTERS) The use of American troops or naval forces against cartels or their members persons who are civilians could raise thorny legal issues because of previous opinions from the Justice Department suggested that killing civilians outside of an armed conflict authorized by Congress could be considered to be murder. White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly justified the secret directive in a statement to the Times in which she said Trumps top priority is protecting the homeland. Its not unheard of for military resources to be used to assist civilian law enforcement, such as when U.S. Navy vessels have intercepted suspected drug smugglers while operating under the supervision of the Coast Guard. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But the use of the military in direct actions against cartels would be a significant departure from past practice. A Mexican Army soldier holds a rocket propeller grenade, RPG-7, part of an arsenal seized to alleged members of drug cartels. The use of American troops or naval forces against cartels or their members persons who are civilians could raise thorny legal issues (AFP via Getty Images) A previous use of the military in law enforcement overseas came in 1989, when then-president George H.W. Bush used active duty troops to invade Panama to arrest dictator Manuel Noriega, whod been indicted on drug trafficking charges in an American court. At the time, the U.N. General Assembly slammed the move as a flagrant violation of international law even though the Department of Justice had said it was within Bushs authority to use troops to arrest a foreign fugitive overseas. Its possible that Trump may try a similar gambit against another Latin American leader, the Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On Thursday, the Department of Justice and the State Department said they were offering a $50 million reward for information leading to the arrest of Maduro, who like Noriega has been indicted for drug trafficking by federal prosecutors. At a press conference, Attorney General Pam Bondi said Maduro will not escape justice and he will be held accountable for his despicable crimes. A U.S.-brokered deal to end a decades-old conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan will include a new trade and transit corridor named for President Donald Trump, the White House has said. The agreement between the two nations will create a major trade and transit corridor called the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity. It will connect mainland Azerbaijan with the autonomous Nakhchivan region, satisfying a major objective of the Azerbaijani government in the peace talks between the countries. The two European nations have been in conflict for decades. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly said the deal will create a roadmap that will build a cooperative future that benefits both countries, their region of the South Caucasus and beyond by allowing unimpeded connectivity between the two countries while respecting Armenias sovereignty and territorial integrity and its people. Trump announced plans for Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to visit the White House Friday to sign the peace agreement as well as individual bilateral agreements with the United States to pursue Economic opportunities together, so we can fully unlock the potential of the South Caucasus Region. President Donald Trump is set to announce a new peace deal with Armenia and Azerbaijan - but his name will be on a key part of the deal. (AP) Writing Thursday on Truth Social, Trump boasted of his role in reaching the agreement between the longtime enemy nations. Many Leaders have tried to end the War, with no success, until now, thanks to TRUMP, Trump said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The prospective agreement could potentially put an end to decades of conflict and set the stage for a reopening of key transportation corridors across the South Caucasus that have been shut since the early 1990s. The president is fond of naming things after himself, and has delighted in efforts by members of Congress to rename various Washington landmarks after him and his family members. But in this case, the White House maintains he was not the primary advocate of lending Trumpian eponymity to the new peace corridor. One senior administration official who briefed reporters on the plan said it was Armenian officials who broached the idea. It was the Armenians who came and said, that's why we're going to call the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity. This isn't just about Armenia. It's not just about Azerbaijan. It's about the entire region, and they know that that region is going to be safer and more prosperous with President Trump, the official said. President Donald Trump said Friday that he will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin next Friday in Alaska to discuss ending the war in Ukraine, a potential major milestone after expressing weeks of frustration that more was not being done to quell the fighting. Speaking to reporters at the White House after announcing a framework aimed at ending decades of conflict elsewhere in the world between Armenia and Azerbaijan Trump refused to say exactly when or where he would meet with Putin, but that he planned to announce a location soon. Later on social media, he announced what he called the highly anticipated meeting would happen Aug. 15 in Alaska. He said more details would follow. The Kremlin has not yet confirmed the details. He suggested earlier Friday that his meeting with the Russian leader could come before any sit-down discussion involving Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Were going to have a meeting with Russia, start off with Russia. And well announce a location. I think the location will be a very popular one, Trump said. He added: It would have been sooner, but I guess theres security arrangements that unfortunately people have to make. Otherwise Id do it much quicker. He would, too. Hed like to meet as soon as possible. I agree with it. But well be announcing that very shortly. If it happens, the meeting would be the first U.S.-Russia summit since 2021, when former President Joe Biden met Putin in Geneva. It could mean a breakthrough in Trumps effort to end the war, although theres no guarantee it would stop the fighting since Moscow and Kyiv remain far apart on their conditions for peace. Still, Trump said, President Putin, I believe, wants to see peace, and Zelenskyy wants to see peace. He said that, In all fairness to President Zelenskyy, hes getting everything he needs to, assuming we get something done. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trump also said that a peace deal would likely mean there will be some swapping of territories between Ukraine and Russia but didnt provide further details. Trump said of territory generally were looking to get some back and some swapping. Its complicated. Nothing easy, the president said. But were gonna get some back. Were gonna get some switched. Therell be some swapping of territories, to the betterment of both. Analysts, including some close to the Kremlin, have suggested that Russia could offer to give up territory it controls outside of the four regions it claims to have annexed. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Pressed on if this was the last chance to make a major peace deal, Trump said, I dont like using the term last chance, and said that, When those guns start going off, its awfully tough to get em to stop. Exasperated that Putin did not heed his calls to stop bombing Ukrainian cities, Trump almost two weeks ago moved up his ultimatum to impose additional sanctions on Russia and introduce secondary tariffs targeting countries that buy Russian oil if the Kremlin did not move toward a settlement. The deadline was Friday. Prior to his announcing the meeting with Putin, Trumps efforts to pressure Russia into stopping the fighting have so far delivered no progress. The Kremlins bigger army is slowly advancing deeper into Ukraine at great cost in troops and armor while it relentlessly bombards Ukrainian cities. Russia and Ukraine are far apart on their terms for peace. Ukrainian troops say they are ready to keep fighting Ukrainian forces are locked in intense battles along the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line that snakes from northeast to southeast Ukraine. The Pokrovsk area of the eastern Donetsk region is taking the brunt of punishment as Russia seeks to break out into the neighboring Dnipropetrovsk region. Ukraine has significant manpower shortages. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Intense fighting is also taking place in Ukraines northern Sumy border region, where Ukrainian forces are engaging Russian soldiers to prevent reinforcements being sent from there to Donetsk. In the Pokrovsk area of Donetsk, a commander said he believes Moscow isnt interested in peace. It is impossible to negotiate with them. The only option is to defeat them, Buda, a commander of a drone unit in the Spartan Brigade, told The Associated Press. He used only his call sign, in keeping with the rules of the Ukrainian military. I would like them to agree and for all this to stop, but Russia will not agree to that. It does not want to negotiate. So the only option is to defeat them, he said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In the southern Zaporizhzhia region, a howitzer commander using the call sign Warsaw, said troops are determined to thwart Russias invasion. We are on our land, we have no way out, he said. So we stand our ground, we have no choice. Putin makes a flurry of phone calls The Kremlin said Friday that Putin had a phone call with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, during which the Russian leader informed Xi about the results of his meeting earlier this week with Trump envoy Steve Witkoff. Kremlin officials said Xi expressed support for the settlement of the Ukrainian crisis on a long-term basis. Putin is due to visit China next month. China, along with North Korea and Iran, have provided military support for Russias war effort, the U.S. says. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on X that he also had a call with Putin to speak about the latest Ukraine developments. Trump signed an executive order Wednesday to place an additional 25% tariff on India for its purchases of Russian oil, which the American president says is helping to finance Russias war. Putins calls followed his phone conversations with the leaders of South Africa, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Belarus, the Kremlin said. The calls suggested to at least one analyst that Putin perhaps wanted to brief Russias most important allies about a potential settlement that could be reached at a summit with Trump. It means that some sort of real peace agreement has been reached for the first time, said Sergei Markov, a pro-Kremlin Moscow-based analyst. Analysts say Putin is aiming to outlast the West Trumps Friday comments came after he said he would meet with Putin even if the Russian leader will not meet with Zelenskyy. That stoked fears in Europe that Ukraine could be sidelined in efforts to stop the continents biggest conflict since World War II. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Putin said in a previous statement that he hoped to meet with Trump as early as next week, possibly in the United Arab Emirates. The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think tank, said in an assessment Thursday that Putin remains uninterested in ending his war and is attempting to extract bilateral concessions from the United States without meaningfully engaging in a peace process. Putin continues to believe that time is on Russias side and that Russia can outlast Ukraine and the West, it said. Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW The Brief The primary for the special election to fill the seat held by Rep. Melissa Hortman will be held on Tuesday. Rep. Hortman and her husband were fatally shot in their Brooklyn Park home. The suspect pleaded not guilty in federal court. The primary is set for Tuesday, Aug. 12, with the election scheduled for Sept. 16. BROOKLYN PARK, Minn. (FOX 9) - Voters will soon decide who will fill the seat formerly held by slain Minnesota House Rep. Melissa Hortman, who was killed in June. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The primary for House District 34B is scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 12, with the special election scheduled for Sept. 16. Filings to run for the office seat closed on July 22. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz issued a writ of special election to fill the vacant seat after Rep. Hortman and her husband were fatally shot in their home. Special election for House District 34B Local perspective The heavily blue district covers parts of Anoka and Hennepin counties, including portions of Brooklyn Park, Coon Rapids and Champlin. The race includes three DFL candidates and one GOP candidate. The primary on Tuesday is for the Democratic candidates. Christian Eriksen Brooklyn Park City Council Member Christian Eriksen (Photo via Christian Eriksen for Minnesota House Facebook page). (Supplied) Brooklyn Park City Council Member Christian Eriksen, a Democrat, was the first candidate to announce his run for the seat last month. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Eriksen represents Brooklyn Park's east district and said he is running with respect to Hortman's legacy. Eriksen shared the following post on social media: "With many emotions, I am announcing my candidacy for Minnesota House District 34B. I know in our communities, this seat will endure as 'Melissa's Seat.' It is with great respect to her legacy, as well as the legacy of all those whom have served before us, that I run for this office. I look forward to meeting with you in the coming weeks and learning what is important to you." In his official campaign news release, Eriksen said, "It is my goal to look at every issue facing state government through a lens of equity, inclusion, and social progress. Every action of the state government should center the full participation of every Minnesotan in our society." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Before being on the Brooklyn Park City Council, Eriksen says he served two years as chair of the city's Human Rights Commission. Xp Lee Former Brooklyn Park City Council member Xp Lee announces run for Minnesota House 34B special election. (Supplied) Former Brooklyn Park City Council member Xp Lee, a Democrat, also announced his candidacy in July. Lee said the following in his campaign announcement: "As a refugee, a union member, a father, and a public servant, Im running because I believe our communities deserve bold, compassionate leadership that listens and delivers real results. "I grew up in public housing, raised by hardworking parents who believed in the promise of America. Ive dedicated my life to serviceon the Brooklyn Park City Council and now as a health equity leader at the MN Department of Healthfighting to make sure no one is left behind. Now, Im ready to take that fight to the State Capitol." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Lee also paid tribute to Hortman, saying, "Melissa Hortman wasnt just a powerful voice at the Capitolshe was our neighbor. Her legacy of principled, visionary leadership continues to inspire me. Im committed to honoring her work and carrying forward the progress she helped build." Lee says his past accomplishments in the Brooklyn Park City Council include expanding opportunities for youth, uplifting small businesses, enhancing public safety, and advancing racial and economic equity. Erickson Saye Erickson Saye, a Hennepin County prosecutor, is running to fill Minnesota House District Seat 34B. (FOX 9) Hennepin County Prosecutor Erickson Saye, a Democrat, said in his July campaign announcement that he works to "uphold justice and accountability for the people of Minnesota." Part of that announcement said the following: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "After graduating, I returned home to Brooklyn Park energized to build a more diverse and vibrant community in the place I call home. I worked for the DFL party, where I managed the field operations for the party in the Northwest Suburbs. My team increased voter turnout and led critical civic engage work alongside New Americans which led to the election of leaders like Governor Tim Walz, Senator Tina Smith, and Attorney General Keith Ellison. "Following the historic 2018 election, I joined Governor Tim Walzs administration as his Public Engagement Liaison where I expanded outreach efforts statewide to advance the vision of "One Minnesota." After my time in the Governors Office, I returned to what I loves mostcivic engagement. I became the Public Policy Director at Minnesota Voice, a nonprofit dedicated to increasing civic participation and voter engagement across the state." Saye adds that he hopes to earn the trust and support of his neighbors and continue delivering for them. Ruth Bittner Ruth Bittner is running for Minnesota House District 34B. (Supplied) The sole GOP candidate, Ruth Bittner, said in her announcement that "In these times of extreme partisanship, I can think of no more important mission than to restore people's trust in government." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Bittner also honored Hortman's legacy, saying, "All Minnesotans are still shocked at the tragedy of her death. We appreciate her service and the dedication she brought to her role in serving this state." Despite never holding public office, Bittner says, "I am far from unprepared for the immense challenges the role will require. I believe the purpose of serving is to make a better future for all Minnesotans. As a lifelong, loyal Minnesotan, I am looking forward to representing my community as a citizen." Her top three priorities include: Common sense budgets that bring back fiscal stability to Minnesota Safety and security in our streets and in our homes Restoration of educational excellence by supporting teachers and parents in our schools. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Bittner is a new voice in Minnesota politics, bringing experience as a business owner and a relator. She also worked as a food scientist for Land O'Lakes. How to vote What you can do The special election primary will be held on Aug. 12, but absentee ballots can be cast before that. State officials are recommending voters drop off their ballots at one of the in-person locations due to the short timeline of the election. For Anoka County residents, those locations include the Anoka County Government Center and Coon Rapids City Hall. Hennepin County residents can go to the Hennepin County Government Center, Brooklyn Park City Hall or Champlin City Hall. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The hours for early in-person voting at all of those locations will be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 9, and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 11. The special election will be held on Sept. 16 with absentee voting starting on Sept. 2. More information on the race can be found on the Secretary of State website. Residents can find their polling place here. Minnesota lawmaker shootings The backstory The Hortmans were fatally shot in their Brooklyn Park home after another lawmaker, John Hoffman, and his wife, were shot and injured on June 14, 2025. READ MORE: Remembering Melissa Hortman, Minnesota giant with humble beginning Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The shootings sparked a dayslong manhunt for the suspect. He was eventually taken into custody near Green Isle. He faces state and federal charges, and recently pleaded not guilty in federal court. The Source This story uses information from statements shared by candidates and previous FOX 9 reporting. PRINCE GEORGES COUNTY, Md. (DC News Now) A Prince Georges County man was sentenced Friday to 30 years in prison with 15 years of supervised release for child sex crimes, according to the United States Attorneys Office (USAO) for the District of Maryland. David Jamal Watson, 40, pleaded guilty to sexually exploiting two children and producing child sexual abuse material. He is also required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. According to court documents, from September 2023 to October 2023, Watson sexually exploited a nine and thirteen-year-old, forcing them to produce, distribute, and try to sell child sex abuse materials (CSAM) that he would later distribute on social media. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 1 taken to hospital after house fire in Riverdale: PGFD The USAO states that the Maryland Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force received two tips in July 2023 from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children that an IP address tracing back to Watson had uploaded over 50 files of suspected CSAM to Googles platforms. In October 2023, a search warrant was executed for Watsons home, where five devices were seized that a forensic analysis later discovered to contain over 600 CSAM images, including images of the two children he was sexually exploiting. Investigators also found that Watson had been messaging people on Telegram and Instagram, where he sold the CSAM content to at least three people. Court documents add that during an interview with Maryland State Police, Watson admitted to viewing, retaining, and distributing CSAM and that he had recorded the CSAM material in his home. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The USAO states that Watson was arrested in November 2023 at his home and has since remained in custody. 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 DC News Now | DC, Virginia, Maryland News, Weather, Traffic, Sports Live. Welcome to The Scoop the ultimate back-to-the-office water cooler cheat sheet, your go-to source for all things everyone really wants to know! Get the latest on everything from the political swamp maneuvering in D.C. and Hollywood drama to jaw-dropping small-town shenanigans from Paula Froelich. Subscribe to her newsletter here. (NewsNation) There is a lot of talk these days of King Charles or Prince William (when he succeeds Charles) pulling Prince Andrew and Prince Harrys Duke titles due to their respective bad behaviors (to be fair: Prince Andrews behavior has been demonstrably worse than Harrys but both are on the bottom of the public opinion totem pole in the U.K.). But I wouldnt hold my breath. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement There is no way Charles would do it, a well-placed insider told me. Prince Harry denies books claim of physical fight with Prince Andrew Everyone keeps saying William will take away Andrew and Harrys titles when he becomes king, but he literally cant do that without an act of Parliament, my insider explained. There is absolutely no way William would do that as it would bring even more attention to the issues with them both. Instead, Andrew will be relegated to royal Siberia (even more so than he is now), and not be invited to any family gatherings. As of now, Andrew is still invited to Sandringham for Christmas and walks with the family to church. Prince Andrew will not be invited to anything with William in charge However, after King Charles dies and William is in charge, there is no way Andrew will be invited to anything anymore. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As for Harry, unless there is a serious breakthrough in the coming years, he will likely get the same treatment from William silence. FILE Britains Prince Andrew appears at the Royal Chapel at Windsor, following the death announcement of his father Prince Philip, April 11, 2021, in England. Prince Andrew has lost another ceremonial honor as groups throughout Britain cut ties to the royal disgraced by allegations of sexual misconduct. Councilors in the northern city of York on Wednesday night, April 27, 2022, voted unanimously to withdraw the princes status as a freeman of the city. The honor was awarded to Andrew in 1987 after Queen Elizabeth II made him the Duke of York. (Steve Parsons/Pool Photo via AP, File) King Charles has to invite his brother to family events, my insider said. William doesnt. And while King Charles may want to revive contact with Harry, and perhaps see his grandchildren Lilibet and Archie, one last time before he dies, William is done with his brother. William and Kate wash hands of Harry and Meghan As an insider told me earlier this year, theres no way would Kate or William allow them a private audience, my source said. They havent spoken to them (since Harrys tell-all memoir Spare in which he talked about both Kate and William came out early last year) and dont want to. It would be a PR opportunity and theyd likely blab everything to Gayle King a day later. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement William and Kate are said to have washed their hands of Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, and are not interested in any drama that a visit (or renewing of relations) might bring. MARLOW, UNITED KINGDOM OCTOBER 12: Catherine, Princess of Wales and Prince William, Prince of Wales attend a SportsAid mental fitness workshop at Bisham Abbey National Sports Centre to mark World Mental Health Day on October 12, 2023, in Marlow, England. The Prince and Princess of Wales are carrying out engagements across the UK to mark World Mental Health Day and to highlight the importance of mental wellbeing, particularly in young people. (Photo by Max Mumby/Indigo/Getty Images) This spells bad news for Harry, who is said to be desperately lonely in Montecito, and for Meghan, who, as I wrote two weeks ago, needs to be seen as royal in order for her varied businesses to succeed. Meghan celebrates 44th birthday, thanks Prince Harry and friends A close insider told me in July after palace reps were seen talking to Harry and Meghans PR people: Meghan realizes she miscalculated when she orchestrated Megxit and then basically smeared the royal family in the Oprah Winfrey interview and the Netflix docuseries. The royal family does not need Harry or Meghan, my insider said. But Harry and Meghan need the royal family they are only valuable individually if they are tied to the royal family. Being royal translates to money and deals for them. If [Harry and Meghan] are cast aside, they have no value. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But while Harry may keep his title, its small solace for the prince who is having his own Annus Horribilis. Harry and Meghans charitable efforts has been bumpy The U.K.s Charity Commission cleared Harry from bullying complaints leveled at him by the Sentebale chair, Sophie Chaundauka. Instead, it criticized all sides for letting the fight play out publicly, according to The New York Times. Chandauka made a series of allegations against Harry, Prince Seeiso of Lesotho, his co-founder and against the board of trustees after they resigned in March. She accused them of abuse of power, bullying, harassment, misogyny and misogynoir, a term that refers to sexism toward Black women. Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, and Prince Harry pose for pictures after visiting the observation desk in One World Trade in New York, Thursday, Sept. 23, 2021. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig) The two princes stepped down in solidarity with five of the boards nine trustees, who had quit after they lost confidence in Chandauka and called on her to resign. The former trustees also reported their concerns to the Charity Commission, the independent watchdog that oversees charities in England and Wales. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Howard Sterns show may be canceled; host promises hell be back Harry is said to be fuming that he was criticized at all in the matter and his rep told People that the report fell troublingly short in many regards. The charity has been a deeply personal and transformative mission for Prince Harry, established to serve some of the most vulnerable children in Lesotho and Botswana, the statement added. For 19 years, its dedicated staff and steadfast supporters have provided vital care to over 100,000 young people across southern Africa, including young people living with HIV/AIDS and those facing mental health challenges. As custodians of this once brilliant charity, Prince Seeiso, Prince Harry and the former Board of Trustees helped grow Sentebale from the seed of an idea to like its namesake a flowering force for good. With the original mission of Sentebale firmly in mind and in honour of the legacy he and Prince Seeiso began The Duke of Sussex will now focus on finding new ways to continue supporting the children of Lesotho and Botswana. Either way, Harrys dream of devoting his life to charity has hit several snags this year. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As well as formerly heading Sentebale, Harry is head of Invictus Games a charity he started in 2014 for wounded warriors is on the board of Africa Parks and heads up Archewell, the foundation he started with his wife. As I exclusively reported last month, Archewell was found to have given over $50,000 to an anti-Israel activist (upon learning from me about the allegation, Archewell immediately cut ties with the group), and now, theres massive trouble afoot with his other beloved cause, African Parks. Last month, it was announced that an investigation led by Cherie Blair the wife of the former British Prime Minister Tony Blair found that a charity Prince Harry is connected to admitted its rangers commit human rights abuses against those in the Republic of Congo indigenous communities, according to reports. Harry is also said to be stung that he and Meghan were passed over by TimeE magazine for its 100 list of philanthropists the magazine instead awarded the honor to Harrys nemesis, brother Prince William and Princess Catherine. 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. SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WCIA) Texas U.S. Senator John Corryn (R-TX) said hes working with FBI director Kash Patel to find the lawmakers who left his state, many of whom are in Illinois. Governor J.B. Pritzker said he is not worried about them being arrested. Most of the Texas House Democrats have been denying quorum this week by staying in a hotel in suburban Chicago with the help of Governor J.B. Pritzker. This has stalled the vote for Texass redistricting map which would redraw five congressional seats to favor republicans. Corryn thanked President Donald Trump and Patel for holding these supposed lawmakers accountable for fleeing Texas. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement New Illinois law expands police training requirements for responding to sexual assault We cannot allow these rogue legislators to avoid their constitutional responsibilities, Corryn said in a statement Thursday morning. Pritzker criticized the move as grandstanding. I welcome the FBI coming to the state, Pritzker said at a news conference Thursday. I hope they take in the State Fair. I hope they go see the beauty of Lake Michigan. But they wont be arresting anyone, because there is no US federal law that prohibits those Texas House Democrats from being here in the state of Illinois. He also said the Texas lawmakers were heroes. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Were doing the right thing and Im proud of it and Im not going to back down, he added. New law cuts red tape from process of Illinoisans applying for disability driving placards Illinois Republicans have criticized Pritzker for signing off on maps they view as gerrymandered. Princeton Universitys Gerrymandering Project gave both Texas and Illinois an F rating for its Congressional maps. When Pritzker welcomes fleeing lawmakers and plays national politics, its not just hypocritical, its offensive, House Republican Leader Tony McCombie (R-Savana) said in a statement. Illinoisans continue to lose faith in a system where competitive districts have vanished, communities are carved for party gain, and voters are stripped of real choices. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. RADFORD, Va. (WFXR) In a unanimous vote, the Virginia Board of Education approved the creation of the New River Valley Governors School for the Arts and Humanities. According to officials, this is the first new Governors School approved in the Commonwealth since 2009. The half-day program will be housed on the Radford University campus and serve students in Giles County, Montgomery County, Floyd County, Pulaski County, and Radford City Public Schools. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Officials say the New River Valley Governors School will provide students with access to high-level coursework, creative problem-solving, and immersive, interdisciplinary experiences in the arts and humanities while remaining enrolled in their home high schools. This partnership reflects our shared vision of creating transformational educational opportunities for students in our region, said Radford University President Bret Danilowicz. Radford University is proud to host this program and support the next generation of creative leaders and scholars in Southwest Virginia. Students display creativity at the Montgomery Museum Art & History Museum art show The Governors School will offer a curriculum that allows students to earn up to 30 university credits, potentially achieving sophomore status upon entering Radford University or other Virginia colleges and universities. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement School administrators say they are partnering with local arts and humanities businesses and nonprofit organizations. They hope that these collaborations will provide students with hands-on learning experiences, mentorship opportunities, and exposure to real-world applications of their studies, thereby building pathways to meaningful careers in the creative industries across the region. The program will emphasize interdisciplinary collaboration, engaging students in projects that connect the arts, humanities, and other academic disciplines while maintaining a strong focus on career development. Students will also benefit from field experiences at museums, galleries, performance venues, and historical sites. Conversations continue over banning cell phones in West Virginia schools Radford University will play an active role in the schools success by offering faculty collaboration, access to facilities, and continuing programmatic support. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Officials say this joint effort reflects a strong commitment to advancing gifted education and expanding academic opportunity in rural Virginia. The approval of the application to establish the New River Governors School for the Arts and Humanities is an incredible milestone for education in our region, said Superintendent of Pulaski County Public Schools Robert Graham, who served as the administrative contact for school divisions. This is a tremendous opportunity for students across the New River Valley to pursue advanced studies in the arts and humanities, and we are thrilled that it will be housed on the beautiful campus of Radford University. The partnership with Radford brings access to outstanding resources, faculty, and inspiration that will help shape the next generation of creative and critical thinkers. We couldnt be more excited about what this means for our students and our community. The program is scheduled to open its doors as early as fall 2026, pending the completion of final implementation and funding steps. It is anticipated to begin with up to 110 students in total, across grades 10, 11, and 12, with room to grow over 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 WFXRtv. A proposed federal rule aims to assist Florida citrus growers by reducing the required sugar level in pasteurized orange juice from 10.5% to 10%. The rule is designed to help local citrus growers use more of their own product and decrease reliance on imported juice. This change comes in response to challenges faced by the industry, including citrus greening and hurricane damage. US Senator Ashley Moody, R-Florida, supports the rule, stating, Consumers will not see any difference in terms of taste or quality. What it will do is allow growers here in Florida to compete, to offer oranges for orange juice at a competitive price. That always works in favor of consumers. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The proposed rule will undergo a 90-day public comment period before it can be finalized. This period allows stakeholders and the public to provide feedback on the proposed changes. Floridas citrus industry has experienced a significant decline, with production dropping by 90% over the past three decades. This decline has been attributed to various factors, including disease and adverse weather conditions. Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live. NEW YORK (AP) Prosecutors said Friday they might appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to try to restore a murder conviction in the 1979 disappearance of 6-year-old Etan Patz, a bewildering case that went without an arrest for decades. A federal appeals court recently overturned the conviction of Pedro Hernandez, the former convenience store clerk who became a suspect over 30 years after the New York City first-grader vanished. The appeals court ordered him freed unless he is retried within a reasonable period. Prosecutors asked the appeals court Friday to hold off sending the case back to a lower-level federal judge to set a retrial date. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The abduction and murder of Etan Patz is one of the most infamous crimes in recent American history, the Manhattan District Attorneys Office wrote. This courts decision unsettles a nearly decade-old conviction that previously was upheld. Saying the situation presents substantial legal questions, prosecutors wrote that they were determining whether to file a petition to the Supreme Court this fall. Hernandez's lawyers said they would oppose prosecutors' request to put the case on hold while they contemplate an appeal. We dont believe there is any basis to ask the Supreme Court to revisit - let alone reverse" the appellate court ruling, said one of Hernandez's attorneys, Edward Diskant. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Hernandez already has been tried twice his 2017 conviction came after a prior jury couldnt reach a verdict. Now 64, he has been serving a sentence of 25 years to life in prison. Etan disappeared while walking little more than a block to his school bus stop. He became one of the first missing children pictured on milk cartons, and his anguished parents helped reshape how American law enforcement agencies responded to missing-child cases. Other parents, meanwhile, became more protective of children over the years after Etan's case and others. No trace of Etan was ever found. After many years, his parents eventually had him declared legally dead. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Investigators scoured the city, and even overseas, for leads. But no arrests were made until 2012, when police got a tip that Hernandez who worked in Etan's neighborhood when the boy was last seen had made remarks in the ensuing years about having harmed or killed a child in New York. Hernandez then told police that he had offered Etan a soda to lure him into the basement of the shop where Hernandez worked. The suspect said he then choked the boy and put him, still alive, in a box and left it with curbside trash. Hernandezs lawyers say he confessed falsely because of a mental illness that sometimes made him hallucinate. The attorneys emphasized that the admission came after police questioned him for seven hours without reading him his rights or recording the interview. Hernandez then repeated his confession on tape, at least twice. The trials happened in a New York state court, but the Hernandez appeal eventually wound up in federal court. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The high cost of federally invalidating a state-court conviction is especially pronounced in this case, prosecutors wrote. At issue was the state trial judge's response to jurors' questions about whether they had to disregard the recorded confessions if they found the first, unrecorded one was invalid. The judge said no. The appeals court said the jury should have gotten a more thorough explanation of its options, which could have included disregarding all of the confessions. Prosecutors argue that the confessions were freely given, and that the appeals court inappropriately applied a federal legal rule when assessing the state court's handling of the jury note. Men having prostate cancer treatment could be spared erectile dysfunction thanks to a breakthrough. The ERECT trial, investigating methods to preserve erectile function in men undergoing treatment, treated them using MRI-guided radiotherapy. This method targets the prostate while avoiding the nerves and blood vessels needed for erections. Erectile dysfunction is one of the most common side-effects of prostate cancer treatment, especially following radiotherapy or surgery. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Treatments can affect the nerves and blood vessels involved in achieving and maintaining an erection, leading to varying degrees of sexual dysfunction in many patients. The study, by University Medical Centre Utrecht, found the targeted method had less than half the risk of erectile dysfunction compared with standard techniques. In the UK, prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men. Each year, approximately 55,000 men are diagnosed with it and, despite advances in detection and treatment, around 12,000 die from the disease annually with around 10,000 deaths a year in England. The incidence of prostate cancer has been rising, partly because of increased awareness and PSA testing. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement However, survival rates have also improved significantly. Nearly 80 per cent of men diagnosed with prostate cancer today are expected to survive for at least 10 years. The Telegraph is campaigning for the introduction of targeted screening for prostate cancer. Health advisers are currently considering the evidence for rolling out screening that could target tests to those at increased risk of the disease, such as black men or those with a family history of the disease. However, getting the focus right is crucial. Too many false positives can lead to over treatment of slow-growing disease, which can mean needless potentially distressing side-effects. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Dr Jochem van der Voort van Zyp, the lead investigator, said: With MRI guidance, we limit radiation to erectile tissues but still treat the prostate effectively. With the enhanced precision of MRI guidance, we gain the confidence to limit the dose these erectile tissues receive. The prostate gets the therapeutic dose while the erectile tissues receive a much lower dose, thus preserving their function. The trial of 70 men found that, at six months, six per cent had erectile dysfunction, compared to 21 per cent with conventional treatment. After 18 months, 16 per cent experienced dysfunction compared to 36 per cent in the control group. Experts said the new technique could offer men a better chance of maintaining sexual function following prostate cancer treatment without compromising cancer control. It is estimated that more than 16,000 men a year those with low to intermediate risk disease who receive radiotherapy could potentially benefit from such advances. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement So far, the technology is being used at the The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust and The Christie NHS Foundation Trust in Manchester, with plans for rollout to two more sites. The device used, the Elekta Unity MR-Linac, combines MRI with radiation delivery for precise treatment. It allows doctors to see the prostate and surrounding tissues in detail and adjust treatment in real-time to avoid damaging healthy structures. John Christodouleas, Elektas senior vice president of medical affairs, said: These results add to growing evidence that minimising radiation to normal tissues improves quality of life for men with prostate cancer. Elekta Unity MR-Linac is the worlds first and only device to combine a high-field MRI with a state-of-the-art linear accelerator. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Experts said that enabled clinicians to use imaging to guide radiation delivery to tumour targets and avoid surrounding structures. In addition, while treatment is ongoing, the system allows clinicians to non-invasively monitor the position of the target. If, for example, if the prostate shifts because of motion of the bowels or bladder filling, the radiation treatment can be discontinued to avoid unnecessary radiation to surrounding normal tissues. The preliminary results were presented by clinicians from University Medical Centre Utrecht at the European Society for Radiotherapy and Oncology annual congress earlier this year. 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. Some 2,000 demonstrators have joined a protest against a ban on abortion procedures in a German clinic run by a Catholic hospital operator, police said on Friday. The demonstration at the Lippstadt Clinic in the western state of North Rhine-Westphalia was called by chief physician Joachim Volz and Green politician Sarah Gonschorek, under the motto "Stop the Catholic ban on abortion." It came ahead of a decision by the Hamm Labour Court expected on Thursday on a lawsuit brought by the doctor against his employer. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The gynaecologist performed abortions during his 13 years as head physician at the Evangelical Hospital in Lippstadt. However, following a hospital merger, he was forbidden to do so by the new Catholic management - even in cases of severe foetal malformations. The ban has been in force since February and also covers his private practice in Bielefeld. Exceptions are only to be made if "the life and limb of the pregnant woman are in danger." On the sidelines of Thursday's protest, Volz told dpa that he does not see the dispute as an isolated incident. Wherever Catholic organizations are involved in politically motivated mergers of hospitals, it is to be feared that abortions are no longer offered, the gynaecologist warned. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Volz said he is concerned women will be marginalized and stigmatized, and could even resort to going abroad to secure an abortion. The doctor said he believes he has a "good chance" of victory in court, saying his legal team had "provided many very good arguments." Demonstrators carried banners with slogans such as "Heaven hell hypocrisy! Church, set women free." Police said the protest was carried out peacefully, with only five people joining a counterdemonstration. BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) A group of protesters gathered outside the Kern County Child Protective Services office on Friday following the death of 8-year-old Genesis Mata. The protest took place outside the Kern County Department of Human Services building in Bakersfield, located at 100 California Ave. It began at around 10 a.m. and protesters are demanding an independent investigation into Kern Countys CPS. Daisy Gomez, a family friend of Genesis family, told 17s Justin White that Genesis death could have been prevented and that it seemed like CPS were doing nothing. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Grand Jury report highlighted staffing, budgeting concerns within Kern County Child Protective Services I hope CPS gets investigated, I hope that they open up full investigation, Gomez said. Who was responsible of the case? Who was the supervisor of the case? Who was in charge of their case? Because they need to be investigated, and why didnt they do anything? The protest comes after Genesis was found dead in a motel room following two days of alleged torture by her father and stepmother. Family members of Genesis claim CPS had been notified of the abuse for years. According to court documents, CPS had an active case against Ray Mata, Genesis father, in relation to a boy who had been missing school and had visible bruises on his arm when at school. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A grand jury report from April also found Kern Countys CPS struggled with underfunding and understaffing, as well as an overflow of caseloads that ultimately affected the department. Court documents indicate Ray Mata was already under investigation by CPS Mata and Graciela Bustamonte, Genesis stepmother also charged with murder and torture in Genesis death, allegedly poured scalding hot water on Genesis and crushed her hand at the La Quinta Inn on Riverside Drive. Both parents are charged with first-degree murder, two counts of child cruelty, two counts of torture, aggravated mayhem and inflicting injury on a child. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The next hearing for Mata and Bustamonte is set for Aug. 14. 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. MANHEIM TOWNSHIP, Pa. (WHTM) A Pennsylvania State Police helicopter circled a Lancaster County neighborhood for hours Thursday night, and troopers said Friday it was the result of a police chase involving missing teens. According to the State Police at Lancaster, the chase started on the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Lebanon County. Troopers said the chase left the turnpike at the Lancaster/Lebanon interchange and multiple municipal police forces sought the vehicle. Child dies after Lancaster County farm equipment incident Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Manheim Borough Police found the vehicle on Route 72 and the chase continued, ending off Route 501 on Roseville Road in Manheim Township, just north of Lancaster proper. An abc27 News viewer shared video as a State Police aviation unit assisted in the search and circled the area for hours. Troopers said four teens were in the car and ran after the chase ended. Three of the teens, including the driver, were caught. Two of those teens, troopers said, were reported missing from Michigan. The fourth, troopers said, was at large Friday. Manheim Township Police had identified the teen and said late Friday that he had been located. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Download the abc27 News+ app on your Roku, Amazon Fire TV Stick, and Apple TV devices Troopers said the investigation is ongoing. 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 ABC27. ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) Public broadcasting in New Mexico is facing significant funding cuts, jeopardizing a service many familiesespecially in rural and tribal communitiesrely on not just for news, but for emergency communication and cultural connection. Story continues below Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Trump Administrations decision to eliminate more than a billion dollars in funding for local public media has left stations scrambling. A major casualty is the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which, after nearly 60 years of support for public media, has announced it will begin shutting down operations. In Albuquerque, U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D) and Ben Ray Lujan (D) met with local broadcasters for a roundtable discussion about whats at stake. Station managers warned that the cuts could mark the beginning of the end for the kind of unique, local news and programming that New Mexicans depend onand cant find anywhere else. In some regions without cell service, public media is the only way residents receive alerts for fires, floods, and other emergencies. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Sen. Heinrich called the congressional hostility and funding cuts deeply concerningparticularly for a geographically vast and rural state like New Mexico. We rely, in our rural and tribal communities, on public broadcasting for emergency services. This has real impacts on peoples lives. We need broadcasting that is informative, that is fact-based. This puts that kind of programming at risk. Adrian Velarde, general manager of KRWG in Las Cruces, said a projected $1.1 million cut next year could result in staff layoffs. We really have to consider the impact this is going to have on outages. I may not have staff that can respond to a translator that may be out, which would jeopardize service, public safety alerts, whatever that might be in that area, said Velarde. In Albuquerque, radio station KUNM expects to lose about 12% of its annual budget for fiscal year 2025. General manager Jeff Pope warned that fewer staff could mean less coverage of local government and politicssomething he says plays a critical role in sustaining democracy. When you dont have local news and information that we can count onthat we agree It happened. It happened at city hall last night; somebody was there to document it; we saw it; now we can take action, said Pope. Thats critically important to our democracy. I speak for my colleagues; we like to call ourselves the fourth estate. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement KENW in Portales is facing even steeper losses38% of its television budget and 27% for radio. General Manager Porfirio Delgado said PBS and NPR programming could be among the first things to go due to high airtime fees. We reach as far north as Raton, as far east as Ruidoso, down to Carlsbad, New Mexico, said Porfirio. Tribal stations are among the hardest hit. Some relied entirely on federal grants that have now disappeared. Barbara Maria, general manager of KTDB in Ramah, said those grants supported childrens programming as well as content focused on health and cultural preservation. Thirty-five tribal stations are now grappling with cuts. For KTDB, the impact goes beyond dollars. We speak in Navajo languages, and this is really something vital. The news that we get every day, we have to interpret all of that for them, said Maria. The cuts extend beyond broadcasting. A $28 million reduction in federal education grants could also eliminate many childrens programs. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Katie Stone, executive director and producer of The Childrens Hour, said those programs are essential for inspiring the next generation. We make a huge effort on The Childrens Hour to feature scientists and leaders of people of color from different cultural backgrounds, said Stone. So that kids around the nation are hearing voices that sound like the voices in their own home. Other stations have also been heavily impacted. NMPBS in Albuquerque lost 18% of its annual budget, while KGLP in Gallup saw a staggering 56% cut. 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. TOPEKA (KSNT) Kansas health officials are monitoring a new and evolving health concern at a popular local wildlife area. Jill Bronaugh with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) said a public health advisory is in effect due to the discovery of dangerous blue-green algae mats at the Pillsbury Crossing Wildlife Area in Riley and Wabaunsee Counties. The KDHE and Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks (KDWP) are monitoring the situation. Kansas game wardens bust boaters at huge Milford Lake event Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The KDHE reports that harmful algal mats (HAMs) are blue-green algae that grow attached to the bottom of a body of water or other surfaces. The mats can become detached and float freely where they may wash up on nearby riverbanks or shores. Bronaugh said HAMs can emit harmful toxins similar to harmful algal blooms (HABs) and may be mistaken for other vegetation. HAMs pose a public health hazard for those who come into contact with it. The health risk from HAMs is greatest when exposure occurs through ingestion and when contact or disturbance of algal mat material occurs (particularly for small children and dogs). KDHE HAB Response Program will notify public waterbody managers if HAMs are detected at the waterbody while responding to algae bloom complaints and recommend that signage be posted. KDHE press release excerpt People who see a sign posted for HAMs should avoid recreational activity in the water. The KDHE encourages people and pets to avoid eating, touching or transporting any of the HAMs from the Pillsbury Crossing Wildlife Area. Motorcyclist clocked at 164 mph on the Kansas Turnpike Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement For more local news, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news in northeast Kansas by downloading our mobile app and by signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track Weather app by clicking here. Follow Matthew Self on X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/MatthewLeoSelf Copyright 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 KSNT 27 News. The closing of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting could affect how rural areas access emergency transmission and public TV and radio stations, as well as what people see and hear on those stations. The corporation announced it would close at the end of the year because Congress stopped funding it. The nonprofit corporation, established by Congress in 1967, subsidizes more than 1,500 public radio and TV stations, as well as PBS and NPR. Jennifer Mullins, OETA vice president of marketing and communications, said the state public TV network is funded through the end of fiscal year 2026. She said 17% of the OETA budget comes from the corporation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "We are still looking at all the options, how it's going to affect us," Mullins said. "We will see if we can raise more through donations in the coming years." She said the corporation helps fund OETA's four high-power TV transmitters, including KOET in Eufaula, which covers eastern Oklahoma and west Arkansas. The other three transmitters are Tulsa, Oklahoma City and Cheyenne. OETA also has 14 smaller transmitters in southern and northwest Oklahoma. "That allows OETA to broadcast programming statewide, as well as be a backup system for PBS Warn for emergency broadcasts," Mullins said. "When FEMA or anyone else comes out with an emergency broadcast message and cell towers go down, we are the statewide 'always on' transmitter for those messages." Mullins said it's too soon to say how the end of Corporation for Public Broadcasting funding would affect the transmission towers. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "We are looking at all our options," she said. Rich Fisher, general manager of Public Radio Tulsa, said about 10% of the station's budget between $150,000 and $160,000 comes from the corporation. The station, based at University of Tulsa, operates a classical music station, public radio station and a high-definition jazz station. "We've been expanding our news coverage," he said. "Right now, we're at a point of retrenchment, making sure we can hold onto all our positions." Fisher said underperforming programs could be cut nationally. The station also would have to negotiate its own licensing agreements with such groups as Broadcast Music Inc. and the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, Fisher said. The corporation provided stations with blanket rights and music licensing. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Fisher said most 20th century composers are still copyrighted. Tulsa Public Radio has a good local funding source, he said. "We will be there for listeners in Muskogee County," he said, adding the station's transmitter is near Coweta. Smaller public stations, such as ones in Lawton and Pittsburgh, Kansas, could be hurt more because they get a larger percentage of corporation funding, Fisher said. A Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission investigation into Pennsylvania American Waters operations in Scranton and Northeast Pennsylvania did not find any systemic problems, but identified localized issues involving breaks of old pipes and levels of chlorine and the mineral manganese in water. The water company has already implemented or completed projects to address these matters, according to a PUC report dated May 7 and issued Tuesday. The report calls for continued monitoring over the next three years of PAWs northeast service area. The PUC investigation stemmed from a rate hike request in November 2023 that generated a deluge of widespread opposition from area legislators, residents and the municipalities of Scranton and Dunmore, as well as numerous complaints about water quality and service. In July 2024, the PUC slashed the big rate increase sought by PAW by over $100 million, or more than 50%, and launched an investigation into the companys water quality and service in its Northeast Pennsylvania territory. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This area includes the counties of Lackawanna, Luzerne, Schuylkill, Wyoming, Susquehanna, Wayne, Pike, Monroe, Carbon, Lehigh and Northampton. In these counties, PAW has 36 water systems, each with their own operating characteristics and raw water quality, and the largest of which is Scrantons water system. The report concluded that there are no systemic issues affecting the companys water service in the area, and staff expressed satisfaction with the companys efforts to manage water service matters, PAW spokeswoman Susan Turcmanovich said in a statement Wednesday. The company will support the commissions ongoing monitoring and reporting requirements and will continue to seek opportunities to improve service quality and meet customer needs. PUC findings included: Chlorine in Scranton: During rate-request hearings held in Scranton, the PUC heard customer complaints about water in the Scranton system being discolored or having a strong odor of chlorine. The PUC investigation found that Scrantons water system exhibited higher-than-average chlorine residual compared to its other systems. Chlorine is added to disinfect water and the residual is an amount left over after disinfection. Maintaining an adequate chlorine residual is vital for disinfection. Because of the size and complexity of the Scranton water system, PAW maintains higher chlorine residual than other systems to ensure compliance with federal Environmental Protection Agency minimum levels. PAW has constructed a 3.5-million-gallon baffled water storage facility at the Lake Scranton Water Treatment Plant that will improve overall chlorine disinfection efficiency for the system. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Manganese in NEPA: A naturally occurring mineral and chemical element found ubiquitously in air, soil and water, manganese is an essential nutrient at low doses, but chronic exposure to high doses may be harmful to health, according to the EPA. It sets secondary maximum containment levels (SCML) of manganese to address aesthetic considerations of taste, color and odor of water; and sets health advisory levels (HAL) to protect the health of water consumers. The PUC found that PAWs northeast water systems have exhibited manganese levels above EPA levels for SCML or HAL. Scrantons manganese levels above the SCML were attributed to the Lake Scranton reservoirs turnover, which is a rapid cooling and warming of water that causes stratification, or layering, and high concentrations of organics and metals like manganese and iron to rise to the surface. Turnover also might be a key cause for brown, dirty or discolored water complained about during the rate-hike proceedings. PAW upgraded its chemical feed system at Lake Scranton, allowing it to respond more rapidly and improve water quality. The company also recently invested $2.3 million in tanks to better control manganese, and which has resulted in reduced levels. The Montrose water system has periodically experienced seasonal variations in manganese above SCML, and the Susquehanna water system is supplied from a source prone to rapid changes in raw water quality that causes treatment challenges. PAW is redesigning the Montrose filter system to improve effectiveness and is designing a new treatment plant for Susquehanna. The Blue Mountain Lake water systems manganese above EPA health advisory and secondary levels likely occurred from groundwater sources, lower aquifer levels from drought and recent geological activity. On March 27, PAW completed installation of a $2.6 million manganese removal system that has reduced the mineral below EPA levels. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Scranton water main breaks and replacements affect significantly more customers than elsewhere in the region because the system is PAWs largest in the northeast and has a significant quantity of older cast iron pipes. For example, a break Sept. 28, 2023, closed four schools. The companys infrastructure replacement program has rehabilitated sections of the Scranton system. In fall 2024, PAW completed replacement of 28,851 feet of old cast iron pipe installed between 1868 and 1924. In February, PAW began a project in Scranton and Dunmore involving replacement of 30,000 feet of pipe dating from 1888 to 1964. PAW also intends to improve customer communication regarding infrastructure improvement to increase awareness of current and future projects. The commission acknowledges that steps toward improvement are being made. However, this report is but one snapshot in time and to ensure that these apparent improvements continue to result in improved quality of service, the commission commits to continued monitoring of PAWCs northeast water system, the reports says. Over the next three years, the PUC will obtain metrics every six months on chlorine and manganese concentrations in Scranton and other applicable systems, and on turnover at Lake Scranton and summaries of water-main breaks in the Scranton system. The PUC also says it will periodically contact customers who raised issues during the rate-hike proceeding to check on their water quality and service. The intent will be for the commission to learn if the improvements observed at this initial investigation are manifesting tangible results at the customer taps, according to the report. [Source] Yeonsoo Go, a 20-year-old South Korean student at Purdue University, has been released from federal immigration custody and reunited with her family in New York after being detained for four days in a case that sparked widespread community outcry. What happened: Go, the daughter of an Episcopal priest, had just completed a routine immigration hearing in Lower Manhattan on July 31 and was set to return later this month when ICE agents took her into custody. She was transferred to Richwood Correctional Center in Monroe, Louisiana, where she remained for the next three nights. Amid her detainment, loved ones, community members and local officials called for her release in protests across the city. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Without any explanation, she was returned to New York and freed shortly before 8 p.m. Monday. I always had faith that [Id] be out soon, she told reporters as she walked out of 26 Federal Plaza. About Go: Go first arrived in the U.S. in March 2021 on an R-2 visa with her mother, Rev. Kyrie Kim, who became the first female Anglican priest ordained in Seouls diocese. After completing high school in Scarsdale High as an honors student, she went on to Purdues College of Pharmacy while remaining active in the Episcopal church. Trending on NextShark: Purdue student reunites with family after release from days-long ICE detention We used to do midnight runs together and make sandwiches and meals for the homeless, a friend named Caitlin told CBS New York. Shes a college student, a daughter, a friend. She belongs here, not in a detention center. While authorities claim Go is an illegal alien who had overstayed her visa that expired more than two years ago, her legal team says it remains valid through December 2025. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement What her family is saying: Rev. Kim, who welcomed her daughter back, expressed relief in their tearful reunion. Im just happy that shes with me, Kim said while acknowledging others in similar circumstances. The religious leader previously called the situation incomprehensible, telling Yonhap News Agency she never expected her family to become targeted despite her work advocating for Korean immigrants. New York State Assemblymember Amy Paulin, who spoke with Go by phone, reportedly described her as happy, relieved and finally free. Trending on NextShark: Asian students dominate NYCs specialized high school admissions The big picture: Gos arrest as someone with no criminal record reflects a documented shift in the Trump administrations immigration enforcement efforts. After White House officials set a daily arrest target of 3,000 in May, data shows more than half of those detained by ICE lack criminal convictions, far from the previous focus on targeting serious criminals. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Gos case also follows that of Tae Heung Will Kim, a South Korean-born researcher and legal permanent resident detained at San Francisco International Airport in July, contributing to concerns within the Korean American community. Trending on NextShark: Eddie Huang claims his 'Vice' documentary shelved over Israeli defense ties protest This story is part of The Rebel Yellow Newsletter a bold weekly newsletter from the creators of NextShark, reclaiming our stories and celebrating Asian American voices. Subscribe free to join the movement. If you love what were building, consider becoming a paid member your support helps us grow our team, investigate impactful stories, and uplift our community. Subscribe here now! Trending on NextShark: Kamala Harris raises alarm about 'broken' US democracy Download the NextShark App: Want to keep up to date on Asian American News? Download the NextShark App today! Russian leader Vladimir Putin held a phone conversation with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday 8 August to discuss Ukraine and bilateral relations. Source: Modi on X (Twitter); Kremlin-aligned Russian news agency RIA Novosti Quote from Modi: "Had a very good and detailed conversation with my friend President Putin. I thanked him for sharing the latest developments on Ukraine. We also reviewed the progress in our bilateral agenda and reaffirmed our commitment to further deepen the India-Russia Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership." [N.B. Ukrainska Pravda does not recognise Putin as president ed.] Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Details: The Kremlin said Putin had briefed Modi on key outcomes of his meeting with Steve Witkoff, US President Donald Trumps Special Envoy for the Middle East, in Moscow on 6 August. The Kremlin claims that "Modi confirmed Indias consistent position supporting a political and diplomatic resolution of the situation around Ukraine". Background: Putin also spoke by phone with Chinas leader Xi Jinping, the presidents of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan and the self-proclaimed president of Belarus; topics included the US and Ukraine. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon! Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke by phone with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko on Aug. 8, days before his expected meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, Russian state media reported. Both Xi and Lukashenko are among Putin's closest international allies. The calls come as the U.S. president prepares to meet with Putin next week in what would be the first direct talks between the two since Trump took office on Jan. 20. According to China's pro-government outlet CCTV, Putin briefed Xi on recent contacts with the U.S. The Chinese president reportedly welcomed dialogue between Washington and Moscow and reiterated Beijing's support for efforts to resolve the war. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Russian president also updated Lukashenko, one of his closest allies, on "negotiations and agreements" with the U.S., Belarusian state outlet Belta reported. Putin also held talks on Aug. 8 with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, according to the Kremlin. The Russian president briefed the two on his meeting with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff. They also discussed cooperation in trade and energy affairs. Separately, Putin also held a conversation with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "I thanked him for sharing the latest developments on Ukraine," Modi wrote on X without providing further details. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Putin's meeting with Trump comes amid growing U.S. pressure aimed at cutting off Russia's war funding. Oil revenues make up roughly one-third of Russia's federal budget, and Washington is targeting those flows through secondary tariffs. The U.S. president issued an ultimatum to Moscow on July 28, demanding a ceasefire within 10 days or face severe U.S. sanctions. As the Aug. 8 deadline approached, Trump signaled impatience and said the decision now "depends on Putin." State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott said the U.S. does not view the upcoming summit as a matter of trusting Russia, but rather as a demand for "concrete results." China has supported the Kremlin through trade and dual-use technology. The U.S. has warned that continued oil purchases could trigger tariffs of up to 100% on Chinese exports. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Lukashenko, who has ruled Belarus since 1994, allowed Russian forces to launch attacks on Ukraine from Belarusian territory at the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022. Read also: Polands Tusk says Russia-Ukraine war could be frozen sooner rather than later Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Washington Russian President Vladimir Putin gave President Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff an award to pass along to a senior CIA official whose son was killed in Ukraine while fighting alongside Russian forces, according to sources familiar with the matter. The award, the Order of Lenin, was meant to be handed off to Juliane Gallina, whose 21-year-old son, Michael Gloss, was killed in 2024. Gallina is currently serving at the CIA as deputy director for digital innovation. It could not be immediately determined what was done with the award. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Multiple sources told CBS News that Putin gave Witkoff the award during his trip to Russia this week, which a Russian official said the U.S. initiated, to discuss ending the Ukraine war. The gesture by Putin, known for mind games and attempts to expose adversaries' points of weakness, was likely meant to raise unhelpful questions and highlight that a CIA official's son fought for Russia in the war. In this pool photograph distributed by the Russian state agency Sputnik, Russia's President Vladimir Putin greets U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff prior to their talks in Moscow on Aug. 6, 2025. / Credit: GAVRIIL GRIGOROV/POOL/AFP via Getty Images In a statement in April, CIA officials said the death of Gallina's son, who struggled with mental health challenges, was not a national security issue. Two sources familiar with the matter told CBS News there was no indication that Gloss had been recruited by the Russian government, and that the Kremlin did not appear to be aware of Gloss's family background when it repatriated his remains. Spokespeople for the White House, the CIA and Witkoff didn't respond with comment for this article. A Russian embassy spokesman contacted by CBS News said there was no official comment, and no acknowledgement of the award has been publicly disclosed by the Kremlin or Russian Foreign Ministry. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Putin's move comes at a sensitive time, as Mr. Trump has expressed increasing frustration with the Kremlin and has vowed secondary tariffs starting on Friday, even as negotiations are underway for a possible summit. The Order of Lenin is a Soviet-era award meant to highlight outstanding civilian service. It has been given to high-level spies, including the U.K.'s Kim Philby, a double agent for the Soviet Union. Gallina's son was never an employee of the CIA, according to a person familiar with the matter. Putin, a former KGB operative, has met five times with Witkoff, who left real estate development to become Mr. Trump's envoy for sensitive peace missions. Witkoff's reliance in the past on Russian government translators during high-stakes diplomacy has drawn scrutiny. A source familiar with the talks told CBS News that Witkoff had a U.S. government translator with him for the encounter on Wednesday, two days before Mr. Trump's deadline for Putin to end the war or face severe financial penalties via sanctions. That same day, the Trump administration put an additional 25% tariff on Indian goods to punish New Delhi for continuing to purchase Russian oil. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Mr. Trump described the Wednesday meeting in Moscow as "highly productive." The White House said the Russians were eager to continue engaging with the United States and said that secondary sanctions were due to be implemented on Friday. However, as of Friday afternoon, no such sanctions had been issued. On social media, Gloss published posts of himself in Moscow and voiced his support for Russian troops. Russian media first published news of Gloss' death in April. The CIA's statement at the time said Gallina and her family had suffered "an unimaginable personal tragedy." An obituary for Gloss said he was "tragically killed in Eastern Europe" on April 4, 2024. Gloss's father, Larry Gloss, an Iraq War veteran, told the Washington Post in an interview that he and Gallina did not know their son was in Ukraine or that he had enlisted in the Russian army. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Our biggest fear while we were waiting for him to be repatriated was that someone over there [in Moscow] would put two and two together and figure out who his mother was, and use him as a prop," Larry Gloss said. Global stock markets react to Trump's sweeping tariffs in effect now Sean "Diddy" Combs wants to go back to Madison Square Garden in the future, attorney says Israel's Security Cabinet approves plan to take over Gaza City Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks with partners on Friday ahead of a possible summit with US President Donald Trump on the Ukraine war. The Kremlin said Putin informed Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and his Kazakh counterpart Kassym-Jomart Tokayev by telephone about his discussions with US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow on Wednesday. Both were said to be in favour of diplomatic efforts to end the war in Ukraine, which began with the full-scale Russian invasion in February 2022. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to reports from Minsk and Beijing, Putin also spoke on the phone with Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Neither the United States nor Russia have provided any information on what proposals Witkoff made in Moscow for ending the conflict. However, the first summit between US and Russian leaders since 2021 has been agreed and could take place in the coming days. A location has not yet been named. US President Donald Trump said Friday he would meet Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in one week in Alaska, and suggested that an eventual deal between Moscow and Kyiv to end the war in Ukraine could involve swapping territory. Tens of thousands of people have been killed since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, with millions forced to flee their homes. Putin held consultations Friday with the leaders of China and India ahead of the summit with Trump, who has spent his first months in office trying to broker peace in Ukraine without making a breakthrough. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "The highly anticipated meeting between myself, as President of the United States of America, and President Vladimir Putin, of Russia, will take place next Friday, August 15, 2025, in the Great State of Alaska," Trump said on his Truth Social site. He said earlier at the White House that "there'll be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both" Ukraine and Russia, without providing further details. The Kremlin did not immediately confirm the date or location for the talks. Three rounds of negotiations between Russia and Ukraine have failed to bear fruit, and it remains unclear whether a summit would bring peace any closer. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Russian bombardments have forced millions of people to flee their homes and have destroyed swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine. Putin has resisted multiple calls from the United States, Europe and Kyiv for a ceasefire. He has also ruled out holding talks with Volodymyr Zelensky at this stage, a meeting the Ukrainian president says is necessary to make headway on a deal. At talks in Istanbul last month, Russian negotiators outlined hardline territorial demands for halting its advance -- calling for Kyiv to withdraw from some territory it controls and to renounce Western military support. The Alaska summit would be the first between sitting US and Russian presidents since Joe Biden met Putin in Geneva in June 2021. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trump and Putin last sat together in 2019 at a G20 summit meeting in Japan during Trump's first term. They have spoken by telephone several times since January. - Witkoff visit - The Kremlin said Friday that Putin had updated Chinese President Xi Jinping on "the main results of his conversation" with US special envoy Steve Witkoff, who visited Moscow earlier this week. Xi expressed support for a "long-term" solution to the conflict, the Kremlin said. China's Xinhua state news agency quoted Xi as having told Putin: "China is glad to see Russia and the United States maintain contact, improve their relations, and promote a political settlement of the Ukraine crisis." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Moscow and Beijing have deepened political, economic and military ties since the start of Russia's offensive in Ukraine. Putin also spoke by phone to India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, after both countries condemned new US tariffs over New Delhi's oil purchases from Russia. Xi and Modi have both tried to tout their own peace initiatives for Ukraine, though they have gained little traction. Putin, a former KGB agent who has ruled Russia for more than 25 years, said in June that he was ready to meet Zelensky, but only during a "final phase" of negotiations on ending the conflict. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In his regular evening address on Thursday, Zelensky said "it is only fair that Ukraine should be a participant in the negotiations." Donetsk governor Vadym Filashkin said Friday that families with children would be evacuated from 19 more villages in the region's east, where Russian forces have been advancing. The villages, home to hundreds of people, are all within about 20 miles (30 kilometers) of the front line. bur-wd/bgs/sst Russian leader Vladimir Putin has held phone conversations with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, the presidents of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan and the self-proclaimed president of Belarus; topics included the US and Ukraine. Source: RIA Novosti, a Kremlin-aligned Russian news outlet, citing China Central Television; Kremlin on Telegram Details: According to the Russian media outlet, Xi supposedly told Putin that Beijing welcomes continued communication between Russia and the United States. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Regarding Russias war against Ukraine, Xi reportedly stated that "there are no simple solutions to complex problems," but that China "will continue to promote peace and negotiations." The Kremlin also reported on Telegram that Putin spoke with Uzbekistans President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Kazakhstans President Qasym-Jomart Toqayev. Putin briefed Mirziyoyev and Toqayev on his meeting with Steve Witkoff, US President Donald Trumps Special Envoy for the Middle East. The parties also discussed cooperation in trade and economic, energy and cultural-humanitarian areas. RIA Novosti additionally reported that Putin had spoken by phone with self-proclaimed Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Lukashenko is reported to have supported the Kremlin leaders narratives, as usual, and proposed Minsk as a venue for talks between Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Putin. Background: Putins aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters earlier that a meeting between Putin and US President Donald Trump is expected in the coming days possibly next week. Trump said he believed there was a good chance that there will be a meeting with Putin in the near future. The Russian leader believes the United Arab Emirates would be a suitable venue for a US-Russia summit at the level of heads of state. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon! The Brief A major fire broke out at a synagogue in Rutherford, New Jersey, early Friday morning, resulting in a complete loss of the building. The rabbi, his wife, and their six children were sleeping inside but escaped unharmed. The cause of the fire is currently unknown. The synagogue was previously targeted in a firebombing incident in 2012. RUTHERFORD, NJ - A synagogue in Rutherford, New Jersey, was destroyed by a major fire early Friday morning. The rabbi, his wife, and their six children, who were all sleeping inside when the blaze started, managed to escape the building unharmed. What we know The call for help came in shortly before 3 a.m. after a fire alarm went off inside the Congregation Beth-El synagogue on Montrose Avenue. Fire crews responded quickly to the scene, but the blaze was described as "very intense" and spread rapidly due to the building's wooden structure. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The mayor of Rutherford, who was on the scene, called the fire "absolutely devastating" for the entire community. Despite the total loss of the structure, all six family members were able to get out safely. The Borough of Rutherford issued an alert on X (formerly Twitter) shortly after the fire began, advising residents near the corner of Montrose and Fairview avenues to be on the lookout for falling embers. It was also noted that the same synagogue was the target of a firebombing incident in January 2012, which led to the arrest of a 19-year-old man. While fire crews have extinguished the main flames, officials are continuing to work on hotspots and investigate the cause of the fire. The community has been left with many questions as officials continue their work. What they're saying Congregation Beth-El posted the following statement to its website: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Early Friday morning, a large fire ripped through our beautiful synagogue; thankfully, Rabbi Yitzchok and Bina Lerman were able to get it just in time before the entire building was engulfed in flames. This is a devastating loss; all support is very much appreciated at this time. Were going to rebuild bigger and stronger than we were before!" POLK COUNTY, N.C. (WSPA) Officials in Polk County advised residents to be mindful of wild animals after a person was attacked by a skunk on Tuesday. Deputies with the Polk County Sheriffs Office Animal Control Division said the attack occurred in the area of Houston Road, Kuykendall Drive and Roy West Drive in Columbus. The Polk County Health and Human Services agency has been notified of the attack, deputies added. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It is important to remember that wild animals typically avoid human contact. If you see a wild animal that seems unusually friendly, aggressive, or disoriented, it may be a sign of illness, including diseases like rabies, said Natalie Trachsel, the interim health director of Polk County Health and Human Services. The skunk was located and tested positive for rabies on Thursday. We urge the public not to try to capture suspicious animals, but instead to call Polk County Animal Control, Trachsel continued. There is always a concern that animals such as skunks may carry rabies, which can lead to severe health outcomes for both humans and animals. Animal control officers said that rabies is preventable through routine vaccination. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Although we were able to capture the skunk, we encourage the public in the vicinity of the attack to be mindful of their pets, and we remind anyone observing a wild animal or pet displaying symptoms of rabies that they should call Polk County Animal Control, said animal control officer Patti Lovelace. Interested in getting you or your pet vaccinated? The next vaccine clinic is scheduled for Saturday, August 23 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Mill Spring Fire 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 WSPA 7NEWS. DENVER (KDVR) Thousands of people could be descending on a remote part of San Miguel County, the sheriffs office warned Wednesday, and they could remain in the area for up to a month. Its all connected to the Rainbow Family of Living Light, a nebulous group of people known for large, informal gatherings on public lands where they promote peace, love, community and alternative lifestyles. Rio Blanco County wildfires continue to grow, nearly 60k acres burned Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The group was first formed in 1970 after its founders were inspired by the first Woodstock Festival, and held its first gathering at Strawberry Lake in the Arapaho National Forest, near Granby, in 1972. In 2022, the group assembled in the Routt National Forest for its 50th anniversary event. The gathering drew thousands of people to the remote area, and also drew hundreds of citations from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. ** APN ADVANCE FOR SUNDAY, JULY 30 **Rainbow Family members hold hands as they gather for their annual prayer circle in a meadow in the Routt National Forest north of Steamboat Springs, Colo. on Tuesday, July 4, 2006. (AP Photo/Peter M. Fredin) People walk along a trail in the Rainbow Family encampment Tuesday, July 1, 2014, in the Uinta National Forest, Utah. About 4,000 members of a counterculture group known as the Rainbow Family have poured into the woods about 60 miles east of Salt Lake City for an annual festival that culminates in a four-day celebration beginning Tuesday. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer) A Forest Service officer patrols the periphery of the Rainbow Gathering on Friday, July 2, 2021, in the Carson National Forest, outside of Taos, N.M. More than 2,000 people have made the trek into the mountains of northern New Mexico as part of an annual counterculture gathering of the so-called Rainbow Family. While past congregations on national forest lands elsewhere have drawn as many as 20,000 people, this years festival appears to be more reserved. Members (AP Photo/Cedar Attanasio) Musician and photographer Patrick Hamilton takes a photo of an AP photographer at the annual Rainbow Gathering on Friday, July 2, 2021, in the Carson National Forest, outside of Taos, N.M. More than 2,000 people have made the trek into the mountains of northern New Mexico as part of an annual counterculture gathering of the so-called Rainbow Family. While past congregations on national forest lands elsewhere have drawn as many as 20,000 people, this years festival appears to be more reserved. Members (AP Photo/Cedar Attanasio) Rainbow Family members arrive in the Routt National Forest north of Steamboat Springs, Colo., Saturday, July 1, 2006, where as many as 20,000 took part in the annual Rainbow Family gathering. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski, File) ** APN ADVANCE FOR SUNDAY, JULY 30 **U.S. Forest Service police officer Duane Crims, right, writes Rainbow Family member Buck a ticket for participating in an illegal gathering on Saturday, July 1, 2006, north of Steamboat Springs, Colo., in the Routt National Forest. It was the fourth time that Buck had been ticketed in four days. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski) The last time they were in San Miguel County, dispatchers received a marked increase of calls reporting alleged criminal activity and trespassing, including camping on private property, the San Miguel County Sheriffs Office said. One member was arrested for vehicle theft. Residents should be aware of increased activity in the area and exercise vigilance. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The sheriffs office said it is particularly concerned about wildland fire risks, as the area is experiencing dry conditions and active fire restrictions; environmental and infrastructure strain, due to the potential unregulated camping, trash accumulation and strain on emergency responders; and trespassing and general public safety. The sheriffs office says that initial reports indicate the gathering will take place off Forest Service Road 615, south of Highway 145. The area is about an hour west of Telluride and is part of the Uncompahgre National Forest. The U.S. Forest Service also confirmed that the group was meeting in San Miguel County in the Norwood Ranger District. District staff have met with camp managers to discuss emergency access, fire restrictions, and environmental impacts, a public affairs officer told FOX31. Law enforcement and fire personnel are conducting daily patrols to ensure safety and compliance. The forest is under Stage 1 Fire Restrictions. No Incident Management Team is assigned at this time, but the Forest Service is coordinating with local partners and monitoring conditions closely. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In July, the group gathered in Mark Twain National Forest, which is in Missouri, prompting the Forest Service to mobilize a National Incident Management Team. The Forest Service said that the peak of the gathering had 1,471 participants. Gatherings of over 75 people on Forest Service land require permits. The Forest Service says the group consistently refuses to comply with the permit process during national gatherings, claiming to have no leader and saying that no single member can speak for the group and sign a permit on behalf of the group. 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. As a drought wreaks havoc on the island of Hawaii, many ranchers are being forced to make tough decisions regarding their own future. What's happening? According to data from the National Integrated Drought Information System, over half of the Hawaiian islands are experiencing drought conditions. Another 31% of the state is facing abnormally dry conditions. Perhaps the most affected area in the entire region is the island of Hawaii. As reported by Honolulu Civil Beat, the ongoing drought has proved to be an enormous challenge to the island's many ranchers. With 20% of the island dedicated to ranching, the agricultural industry plays a vital role in the local economy. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement However, with rainfall in short supply, many ranchers are finding that it's become increasingly difficult to make a living. "It's been a struggle," said Guy Galimba, a rancher in Hawaii. "It's hard to make grass-fed animals without grass." Why is the drought in Hawaii important? With just under 150,000 head of cattle, Hawaii is responsible for supplying nearly 9 million pounds of beef every year. But with drought conditions impacting the pastures that the cattle feed on, ranchers are now being forced to thin out their herds because of a lack of feed. Civil Beat noted that Galimba has recently decreased his herd from 1,300 head to around 800. With little relief in the forecast, Galimba has resorted to wishful thinking to end the drought. "I want a bad year," the rancher said, referring to heavy rain events such as tropical storms or even hurricanes. "I hate to put it that way, but it's just the facts." The dire conditions have caught the attention of many climate experts. Ryan Longman, a drought researcher at the University of Hawaii, said that pinpointing the exact cause of the extended drought has been a bit of a challenge. The impact of rising global temperatures has been well-documented by researchers, but weather phenomena such as El Nino, the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, and the Madden-Julian Oscillation each may play a part as well. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "It's complex to say the least," Longman explained. "And it's dynamic." What's being done about the climate in Hawaii? For years, researchers have warned that the rising global temperature can significantly contribute to an increase in severe droughts. Higher temperatures increase evaporation, leading to drier soils and reduced precipitation, while also potentially shifting storm tracks away from certain regions. This means that even if some areas experience more rainfall overall, others may face more frequent and intense droughts, like in Hawaii. However, not everyone is so sure that the climate is evolving. Lani Petrie, a rancher and president of the Hawaii Cattlemen's Council, looks to the past as her evidence. "I think the world's been moving in directions for millions of years and we're not going to see, in a couple of decades, a big change," Petrie said. "The sky is not falling in." Should the government be allowed to restrict how much water we use? Definitely Only during major droughts No way I'm not sure Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. In the meantime, Petrie explained to Civil Beat that investing in water infrastructure has been cost-effective. That includes a $1 million water reservoir, which helps during extended drought conditions. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "With our catchment system right now, half an inch of rain is 100,000 gallons of water," Petrie noted. "As ranchers and farmers, we built these kinds of things into our equations." 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. A brush fire in a mountainous area north of Los Angeles ignited and spread quickly Thursday, forcing thousands of evacuations. The Canyon Fire ignited around 1:30 p.m., growing to over 2.3 square miles in five hours, according to Ventura County emergency response. It remained zero percent contained late Thursday afternoon and was spreading east, the county said. The fire is burning just south of Lake Piru, a reservoir located in the Los Padres National Forest. Its close by Lake Castaic, a popular recreation area burned by the Hughes Fire in January. That fire burned about 15 square miles in six hours and put 50,000 people under evacuation orders or warnings. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In Los Angeles County, around 4,200 residents and 1,400 structures are under an evacuation order, and another 12,500 residents are under an evacuation warning, said spokesperson Andrew Dowd for the Ventura County Fire Department. A California Department of Corrections fire crew looks on as the Canyon Fire burns on Thursday in Halsey Canyon, California. - Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP The evacuation zones in nearby Ventura County are relatively unpopulated, Dowd said. Fifty-six people were evacuated from the Lake Piru recreation area. Dowd said the fire was a very dynamic situation caused by hot, dry weather, steep and rugged terrain and dry fuel. There were 250 firefighters on the ground coordinating with helicopters and other air support, he said. Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who represents the district, urged residents to evacuate. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Extreme heat and low humidity in our north county have created dangerous conditions where flames can spread with alarming speed, Barger said in a statement. If first responders tell you to leave, gowithout hesitation. A California Department of Corrections fire crew battles the Canyon Fire on Thursday, in Halsey Canyon, California. - Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP The new blaze comes as a massive wildfire in Central California became the states largest blaze of the year, threatening hundreds of homes and burning out of control in the Los Padres National Forest. The Gifford Fire had spread to 154 square miles by Thursday afternoon and was at 15% containment. It grew out of at least four smaller fires that erupted last Friday along State Route 166, forcing closures in both directions east of Santa Maria, a city of about 110,000 people. It has injured at least four people. The causes of the fires are under investigation. A resident rides a golf cart as he exits his property while the Canyon Fire burns on Thursday in Halsey Canyon, California. - Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP Wildfire risk will be elevated through the weekend across much of inland California as a heat wave gripping the area intensifies. August and September are typically the most dangerous months for wildfires in the state. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In Southern California, the threat is driven by persistent drought, high grass loads, and weakening coastal moisture, according to a wildfire forecast by the states fire department. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com About the book Keep Me Safe A psychological thriller called Keep Me Safe, set across Kirkcaldy and the surrounding areas of Fife, Scotland. When an unsolved small-town murder resurfaces when a high profile sportsman goes missing, investigative journalist Maggie Shields unravels a web of crime, corporate corruption, and family betrayal. It is due to be published on the 28thSeptember 2025. By author Allison Meldrum is a former journalist from Edinburgh/ Dundee has drawn on her own career and OCD challenges in her debut crime thriller. Plaudits An absorbing, intelligent mystery with an absolute corker of a high concept hook that is just brilliant. Sophie Hannah - Author of Havent They Grown and The Monogram Murders Competition Here is your chance to win a copy of this Mystery Thriller about technology that is quitely creepiong into our lives, by the former journalist based on many of her own experiences. To be in with a chance of winning this absorbing book all you need to do is answer the question below then complete the attached entry form below. Question: Where is Keep me Safe based A. Aberdeen B. Kirkcaldy C. Cardiff GOOD LUCK Prize provider The Book Guild Ltd by Natalie key for www.femalefirst.co.uk Tagged in Competition Closing Date : 25th September 2025 A man previously convicted of sexual assault who killed a Connecticut visiting nurse at a halfway house pleaded guilty to murder and was sentenced Friday to 50 years in prison in a case that reignited calls for better protections for home health care workers across the country. Michael Reese, 40, admitted that he killed Joyce Grayson on Oct. 28, 2023, at the home in Willimantic where he was living under electronic monitoring while on probation for stabbing and sexually assaulting another woman in 2006. The prison sentence, which mandates no early release or parole, was part of a plea deal. Grayson, a 63-year-old mother of six and a nurse for 36 years, had gone to the house to administer medication to Reese, who was on probation after having served more than 14 years in prison for the 2006 attack. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Reese, who wore a tan prison suit and a black face mask, did not speak during the hearing at Danielson Superior Court. His lawyers spoke on his behalf, saying he apologizes to Grayson's family and is ashamed of what he did. Grayson's relatives gave victim impact statements in court, saying the loss of such a beloved family member was devastating and her community lost a person dedicated to helping others. A lawyer for Grayson's family, Kelly Reardon, said in a statement that no matter how long Reese's prison sentence is, they wouldn't be able to truly heal. And they hope that Joyces death will continue for years to come to inspire others, including the State of Connecticut, to pass legislation and make significant changes in the way violent offenders are monitored when they are released into our communities and home health nurses are protected from dangerous patients," Reardon said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Police arrest Reese, find Grayson dead in basement Police responded to the halfway house when Graysons daughter reported that her mother had missed several appointments later that morning and she could not reach her. She said a phone location app showed her mother was at Reese's address, according to an arrest warrant. Officers arrested Reese as he exited the rear of the house. Inside, they found Grayson dead in the basement and naked from the waist down except for her socks. The medical examiner's office said she died of compression of the neck and had blunt force injuries. Authorities said there was no DNA evidence of her being sexually assaulted. In phone calls Reese made in prison that were recorded, he appeared to refer to the murder when he said it was a robbery gone wrong and blamed his drug use, according to the arrest warrant. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Reese was charged with murder, felony murder and attempted first-degree sexual assault in April 2024. He had been detained since the day of the killing on drug paraphernalia and larceny charges, with police saying he had a crack cocaine pipe and some of Grayson's belongings on him when he was arrested. Nurse's death led to new law Her death spurred Connecticut legislators last year to approve a new law aimed at improving safety for home health care workers, including providing grants to employers to fund emergency alert buttons, buddy escort systems, tracking devices and safety training. It also drew comments and social media posts from industry and worker groups across the country, expressing shock and sadness and calling for greater protections for health care workers from increasing violence. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In a national survey of nearly 1,000 nurses released last year by the National Nurses United, the largest union of registered nurses in the U.S., more than 80% responded that they had experienced at least one type of workplace violence in 2023. Nearly half of them reported an increase in workplace violence over the previous year. Husband files lawsuit Grayson's husband, Ronald Grayson, filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against her employer, Elara Caring, its affiliated companies and others. The lawsuit alleges Elara Caring repeatedly ignored workers safety concerns about treating dangerous patients, which the company denies. The lawsuit is pending. In May of last year, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued a proposed $161,000 fine against Elara Caring, saying the company exposed home healthcare employees to workplace violence from patients who exhibited aggressive behavior and were known to pose a risk to others." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Dallas-based Elara Caring, which provides home care for more than 60,000 patients in 18 states, said it disputed OSHAs findings. An Elara spokesperson said the company entered remediation with OSHA and reached a resolution but did not provide details. An OSHA spokesperson said details of what happened with the fine were not available. Online records indicated that the case is still open. Elara issued a statement about Reese's sentencing, saying, We continue to grieve Joyces loss and are grateful the justice system has delivered accountability through this conviction and sentencing. Graysons family is also seeking permission to sue the state Judicial Branch, which oversees probation, and the Department of Correction for $25 million in connection with their oversight of Reese. State officials have declined to comment. Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) is calling on FBI personnel to not take part in efforts to track down Texas Democrats who fled the state to block the state GOPs mid-decade redistricting. The FBI is not a national secret police force operating at the beck and call of President Trump, Raskin said in a statement to The Hill. It has no legal authority to track down state legislators who are breaking no federal laws just for standing up to a Republican scheme to purge Democrats from Congress and rig our elections. FBI personnel should refuse to participate in this act of political harassment and persecution, the lawmaker added. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Maryland Democrats stance was first reported by HuffPost. Raskin is the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, which conducts oversight of the FBI. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) claimed Thursday that FBI Director Kash Patel approved his request to assist with efforts to force those who fled Texas to return. Democrats say the bureau lacks the authority to do so, and its not clear whether the agency has actually followed through on Cornyns claim. The political fight stems from a group of Texas Democrats who decamped to Illinois, California and other locations to prevent the Texas House from moving forward on a new Congressional map widely seen as an effort to gerrymander the GOP into keeping a House majority in next years midterm elections. Trump and Gov. Greg Abbott (R) have supported the FBIs proposed involvement. The president earlier this week said Republicans are entitled to pick up at least five House seats in the Lone Star State. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In response, Texas Republicans took the largely symbolic step of issuing civil arrest warrants that are only enforceable within state lines. Despite the threats, Democrats have vowed to keep fighting. Midterm elections typically swing against the party in power in Washington. In response to the GOPs redistricting effort, which has also eyed Florida and Indiana, blue states including California and New York have also looked at redrawing their maps. 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 Brief A Tacoma man was arrested after evading police in three pursuits, including ramming a firetruck. The suspect faces charges of eluding police, reckless driving, and attempted assault. Police arrested him at his workplace, finding a handgun, and his bail is set at $100,000. KENT, Wash. - Police arrested a man accused of evading officers in three separate pursuits, including one that started after he intentionally rammed a firetruck. Timeline The suspect, a 38-year-old Tacoma man, is facing multiple charges for eluding police, reckless driving, and attempted assault. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The first police chase happened on June 20 in Seattle after an officer spotted a man in a suspected stolen vehicle near an impound lot in the Delridge neighborhood. Police say he illegally entered the tow yard and was trying to get his previously impounded vehicle, which he allegedly reported to Seattle police as stolen a few days prior. The suspect is then accused of reversing his car towards the officer's patrol vehicle, continuing until the officer's car was pinned against the tow yard's gate, according to court documents. He then fled the scene, eluding multiple officers, driving in oncoming lanes and cutting off another car before the pursuit was terminated. Four days later, Kent police officers noticed the same vehicle run a red light and attempted to stop the suspect. Court documents state the suspect accelerated when police turned on their emergency lights, ignored officers' demands, and drove around a set of stop sticks. Officers later terminated the pursuit out of concern for public safety. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement FOX 13 previously covered the Kent police pursuit back in July: The next incident happened on Aug. 3 in Belltown, where the suspect for some reason offered Seattle firefighters a whippet, a small canister of nitrous oxide. After the firefighters refused, police say he decided to ram their firetruck with his vehicle. Seattle police officers located the suspect's vehicle at a gas station on Aurora Avenue North in Shoreline and attempted to conduct a high-risk traffic stop. The suspect is accused of aggressively brake checking police, intentionally reversing toward officers and attempting to ram their patrol cars. This pursuit was also terminated. The arrest Through collaboration between Seattle PD and Kent PD, along with tracking the suspect's phone records, police were able to arrest the accused reckless driver at his workplace in Fife. He was taken into custody while taking his lunch break outside, with officers adding he had a handgun on him at the time of his arrest. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The suspect was booked into jail on three counts of attempting to elude a police vehicle, reckless driving, and second-degree attempted assault. What's next His bail was set at $100,000. King County prosecutors expect to receive case referral from police in the coming days to officially charge the suspect. The Source Information in this story came from the Kent Police Department and King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office. MORE NEWS FROM FOX 13 SEATTLE Veteran Seattle cop Deanna Nollette awarded $3M in settlement TSA warns flyers to avoid public USB ports 'Presence, not activity': New tool helps track ICE agents across U.S. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 1 dead, 1 injured in shooting at Tacoma hospital Art mural defaced for second time in Seattle's Chinatown-International District To get the best local news, weather and sports in Seattle for free, sign up for the daily FOX Seattle Newsletter. Download the free FOX LOCAL app for mobile in the Apple App Store or Google Play Store for live Seattle news, top stories, weather updates and more local and national news. A recruit assigned to Recruit Training Command at Great Lakes, Illinois, died Wednesday, the Navy confirmed. While the U.S. Navy did not immediately identify a cause of death, an investigation is underway into the circumstances surrounding the incident. The sailors name is being withheld until 24 hours after official notification of next of kin. Out of respect for the family and to preserve the integrity of the investigative process, no further details will be released at this time, a spokesperson for the Naval Service Training Command told Navy Times in an emailed statement. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Lake County coroner reportedly told ABC7 that it was a male sailor who died at the scene after a gunfire incident at 1:45 p.m. Other Lake County news outlets reported that the fatal shooting occurred at the Naval Station Great Lakes gun range. The Navy is providing full support to the family, friends, and shipmates affected by this tragic loss, the spokesperson said. A coalition of anti-gerrymandering groups urge Utah voters to reject a constitutional amendment on ballot initiatives during a rally at the Utah Capitol in Salt Lake City on Aug. 26, 2024. (Katie McKellar / Utah News Dispatch) The nation is at the cusp of a redistricting arms race, sparked by a rare mid-decade redistricting fight in Texas and fanned by other states like California signaling theyre willing to pause their own independent redistricting rules if Texas Republicans get their way. While other states, both red and blue, eye changes to their own congressional maps ahead of 2026 to gain partisan advantages, its possible Utah could also be propelled into the national redistricting spotlight but for reasons that have been years in the making. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Any day now, a district court judge is expected to rule in a longstanding redistricting lawsuit that has the potential if the judge sides with plaintiffs to force the Republican-controlled Utah Legislature to scrap the congressional boundaries it last set in 2021. Before then, one of Utahs four U.S. House seats was a competitive seat for Democrats. Today, Republicans consistently dominate all four. Utahs ongoing redistricting battle In the Utah redistricting lawsuit, plaintiffs argue lawmakers violated the Utah Constitution when they repealed and replaced a 2018 voter initiative creating an independent redistricting commission, then used the replacement law to adopt a congressional map that cracked Democratic strongholds. The anti-gerrymandering group Better Boundaries, the group that successfully pursued that 2018 voter initiative known as Proposition 4, has been closely watching Utahs lawsuit and is now watching with dismay as Texas, California and other states engage in redistricting wars. Elizabeth Rasmussen, who in March replaced Katie Wright as Better Boundaries executive director, told Utah News Dispatch on Thursday that she worries Republicans and Democrats are heading toward a point of no return. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Its very disheartening to see that we have national acceptance of just blatantly partisan gerrymandering to gain an advantage, she said. Its obviously something that weve been against from the beginning. Thats how we started. She fears the domino effect could jeopardize efforts for nonpartisan, fair redistricting processes to represent voters across the country, but also here in Utah. We have Texas, and then we have trigger laws in California that could go into effect for redistricting there to even the playing field, and then it just keeps cascading down, she said, noting other states including Illinois and New York are now eying their own redistricting plans. While Utah, for now, is in a holding pattern while it awaits a court decision, Rasmussen said a ruling could thrust Utah into the redistricting wars, one way or another. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We are expecting a ruling any day now, she said. So I dont know when that will happen, but whenever it does Utah will be in the spotlight. While Texas Republicans mid-decade redistricting effort comes at the prompting of President Donald Trump purely for partisan advantage, Rasmussen said, Utahs (if the judge sides with plaintiffs) would be court-ordered. But even if anti-gerrymandering plaintiffs get a favorable ruling in the Utah court case, Rasmussen worries that openly partisan gerrymandering playing out in states like Texas and California could embolden the Utah Legislature to continue to ignore these processes. If theres retaliatory redistricting in other states, will that put our independent redistricting commission in jeopardy? she said. Theres a lot of possibilities here, but I dont see many positives from it. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Better Boundaries foresees three scenarios that could play out, depending on the judges looming decision. One would be a complete victory for plaintiffs if the court reinstates Proposition 4 and orders new congressional maps for 2026. Another, a partial victory, would be that the court reinstates Proposition 4 but requires additional proceedings before new maps can be ordered. Or plaintiffs could lose, and the court could side with the Legislatures authority to repeal voter initiatives. Regardless of what happens, more court appeals are likely, whether thats from state leaders or from the plaintiffs. Judge Dianna M. Gibson makes remarks during an injunction hearing in 3rd District Court in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Sept. 11, 2024, challenging the inclusion of Constitutional Amendment D on the general election ballot. (Pool photo by Chris Samuels/The Salt Lake Tribune) And as time goes on, even if plaintiffs get a favorable ruling, the likelihood of new maps being drawn in time for the 2026 election is dwindling. Utah election officials have said in court documents that ahead of next years election, boundaries would need to be set by this November. The longer it takes to get a ruling, the more challenging it becomes to get fair maps or these new maps before 2026, Rasmussen said. Not impossible, but yeah. It does get more difficult. As weve seen through this whole case, things continue to be delayed and take a long time. We prefer (a decision) sooner rather than later. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement If not 2026, though, its possible new maps would be redrawn before the 2028 election. It all depends on what happens next in the lawsuit. A Utah Republican congressman opposes mid-decade redistricting One member of Utahs all-Rebublican congressional delegation has opposed the mid-decade redistricting efforts playing out in Texas, making him the first member of the U.S. House GOP leadership to speak out against it. Moore is vice chair of the House Republican Conference. I do not agree with state efforts to redistrict mid-decade, Rep. Blake Moore, R-Utah, said in a prepared statement, first reported by The Salt Lake Tribune. It undermines established norms and gives blue states a glaring green light to do the same. Partisan gerrymandering is clearly done by both sides, but to allow this wildfire to spread mid-decade is a step too far. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Before Moore was first elected to Congress in 2020, Moore helped lead Better Boundaries efforts. But in 2021, he supported the Utah Legislatures redistricting efforts. Then in 2023, he joined Utahs three other GOP congressmen in writing a brief submitted to the Utah Supreme Court that argued the U.S. Constitution offers no protections against partisan gerrymandering. Moores office on Thursday did not immediately respond to requests asking about Moores current stance on Utahs redistricting lawsuit and whether he supports the idea of an independent redistricting commission, given his past involvement with Better Boundaries. Rasmussen said she agrees with Moores comment that mid-decade redistricting is wrong, but she said partisan gerrymandering in general should be opposed more wholeheartedly. I just hope that those who have stood against gerrymandering in the past would continue to stand on that principle, she said. I know its tempting to fight fire with fire, and its hard to fight one side thats playing with unfair rules, but if we dont continue to stand up for what the right process is, I dont see a natural ending point to whats happening. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE The leader of a Reform UK-led council says the party needs to prove it's competent enough to run local authorities. Ian Cooper, leader of Staffordshire County Council, said the first 100 days of Reform's control over the authority had seen it begin "changing perceptions" and getting on with the job. The party won power from the Conservatives during the local elections on 1 May, winning 49 out of 62 seats with 41% of the vote. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Councillor Phillip White, leader of the Conservative opposition on the authority, said Reform had wasted its first 100 days. Decisions made since Reform's victory included stopping non-essential roadworks in parts of Stafford and not spending 4.5m of government money on electric vehicle charging points. The council also said it was spending almost 14,000 on a new role to improve special needs education in the county. "We have to prove to people we are competent," Cooper told BBC Radio Stoke. He said many people told the party after they came into power that they "did not know how to run things" and had no history in local government. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "We're changing that perception," he added. "We have great projects we are in the process of delivering and finding the money for." He said they had "lots of great things" in the pipeline but would not confirm what they were. 'A 'do-nothing' council' White told BBC Radio Stoke "very little had happened" in the first 100 days of Reform's administration. "Some people have been calling Staffordshire County Council a 'do-nothing council' over the last few months," he added. "It's really worrying, without another council meeting until October, that it's actually true. First 100 days - there's actually not a lot to write home about." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Reform UK leader Nigel Farage previously said it would send an Elon Musk-style Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) team into local authorities it controls to assess "wasteful spending". It was said in response to him being questioned about the county council having to pay an estimated 27,000 for a by-election after Councillor Wayne Titley stepped down from his Gnosall and Eccleshall seat, just two weeks after he was elected. The contest, held on 17 July, was won by Conservative candidate Jeremy Pert, with Reform coming in third place behind the Green Party. Cooper previously defended the cost and said he would not "take any lectures from other parties". Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Follow BBC Stoke & Staffordshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram. More on this story Related internet links Reform UK has won a by-election triggered by the resignation of a councillor due to ill health. Louise Penders was elected on to Durham County Council as representative for Easington and Shotton on Thursday, increasing the party's majority. The by-election had been called when former Reform councillor John Bailey stepped down in June. Reflecting on her win, the new councillor, who has lived in Easington since 2018, said: "A huge thank you to everyone who has supported me with the campaign over the past few weeks." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The latest win is another boost for Reform after the party took control of Durham County Council for the first time in May. Penders secured 1,208 votes, with Angela Surtees of the Labour Party second on 523 and Independent Chris Hood third with 520 votes. The new Reform councillor vowed to put the villages within the ward "back on the map in a positive light for all to see", the Local Democracy Reporting Service said. Penders said: "Next week cannot come quick enough, and we can start getting things done for Easington and Shotton. "One of my biggest priorities is getting youth groups set up for kids and teenagers. At the moment, there is nothing for them to do." The turnout for Thursday's by-election was 21.7%. Follow BBC North East on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram. More stories from BBC North East and Cumbria Related internet links ISLAMABAD (AP) Reintegrating Afghan refugees is critical to the countrys peaceful future as social cohesion will be reduced without it, a U.N. official said Friday. Some 2.2 million Afghans have crossed the border from Iran and Pakistan since the start of the year, according to the latest figures from the U.N. refugee agency. They arrive in a country struggling with climate change, a stagnant economy and a humanitarian crisis. Some 60% of those returning to Afghanistan are under 18. Stephanie Loose, a country program manager at U.N. Habitat, said reintegrating these millions was critical for a peaceful future in Afghanistan. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement If you come back to a country where resources are already scarce, theres a lot of competition already for jobs, land, housing, any sort of services, its clear that if you dont foster dialogue between the local population and those arriving, this feeling of competition will grow and reduce social cohesion, which is like creating another root cause for war and conflicts, Loose told a media briefing in Geneva. And the country has seen enough of that. It is important for people to understand that those returning are not a burden, she added. They come with skills and are part of a solution for social and economic stability. People bring what they can carry from Iran and Pakistan, leaving behind their homes and the majority of their belongings. Afghan authorities offer support at the border with cash, food, shelter, health care and onward transport to settlements across the country. The Taliban have urged their neighbors to avoid forcibly returning Afghans and to treat them with dignity. Iran and Pakistan deny targeting Afghans, saying they are expelling foreigners living in their countries illegally. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Women and girls are particularly hard hit once they return to Afghanistan, where education is banned for females beyond grade six and the Taliban restrict access to many jobs and public spaces. Loose said Afghan women and girls lacked social, educational and economic development opportunities. Requirements to have a male guardian when leaving the home created further barriers for women-headed households. CHICAGO (WGN) On the anniversary of the day she was killed, Chicago police officer Ella French was honored. The street in front of the criminal courthouse will now be known as Honorary Officer Ella French Way. The moment is not just about a street sign. Its about a life of service, courage and deep compassion, Fallen officer Ella French helped save life of infant wounded in Englewood mass shooting Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ella was just 29 years old when she was shot and killed in the line of duty on Aug. 7, 2021. Slain CPD officer Ella French The shooting happened during a traffic stop on a vehicle in the 6300 block of South Bell Avenue in Chicago Lawn. Ella was shot and killed by one of the passengers inside the vehicle, while her partner, Ofc. Carlos Yanez, was shot in the face, but survived. Every time I pass by her nowI carry Ella with me all the time, but Ill see Ella now on the street, Yanez said. Frenchs killer, Emonte Morgan, has been sentenced to life in prison. Officer Ella French scholarship gives life to a legacy Prior to her time at CPD, Ella also served as a corrections officer with the Cook County Sheriffs Office. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Dozens of officers and deputies from both departments were at Thursdays ceremony, along with several city leaders including Mayor Brandon Johnson. I pray that this is a symbol that serves as a lasting tribute, a tribute of love and gratitude and an enduring respect for Officer French, Johnson said. CPD Supt. Larry Snelling remembered Ellas bravery and the time she saved a babys life. Be more like Ofc. Ella French. Be tough enough and strong enough to go after the most dangerous, but have enough empathy and be gentle enough to save the children, Snelling said. Ellas mother said the street in front of the courthouse was chosen because it represents her time with both departments. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Read more: Latest Chicago news and headlines Ella learned and grew as a person during her time as a corrections officer. I saw a deepening of her respect and compassion for others. As a Chicago police officer, she continued to learn and to grow, but more importantly for me, she brought her respect and compassion for others to the streets of Chicago as she worked to keep the communities a safer place to live, Ellas mother, Elizabeth French, said. Ella is survived by her mother and brother. Those who knew Ella best remember her great sense of humor, something many thought of when a light-hearted moment delayed the unveiling of the sign. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement With help from the Chicago Fire Department and their ladder, the official sign was finally revealed, serving as a permanent reminder of her heroism. Things like this bring that back into the spotlight again, that she wanted to make a difference, Elizabeth 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 WGN-TV. NEOSHO, Mo. A man familiar to Newton County voters says his new role is about continuing to serve them. Earlier this year, former state representative Ben Baker accepted an appointment by President Trump to serve as the USDA State Director for Rural Development in Missouri. Baker tells us that the role involves overseeing a program for loans and grants through the federal government, specifically designed for rural communities. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He oversees a staff of 45 in 24 offices around the Show Me State. Baker says there are some things he misses about being a state representative, and some things he doesnt, but tells us this new role is a continuation of service to the state, just in a more focused manner. Youre able to focus on one thing. In the legislature, youve got a million different things going all at once, different types of industry and legislation that youre working on, which I enjoyed that, I enjoyed the challenge of that, but for once in my life I get to focus on one thing, said Baker. Baker says that while his focus right now is entirely on his role with the USDA, he cant rule out a return to politics in the future. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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 KSNF/KODE | FourStatesHomepage.com. State Rep. James Talarico has inquired with television stations about potential Senate ad rates, according to two sources with knowledge of his requests the most concrete step he has taken yet toward running for statewide office. Already a Democratic rising star, Talarico, a fourth-term representative from Austin, has been ubiquitous since Democrats decamped to Illinois Sunday over a Republican plan to redraw Texas congressional map. The 36-year-old has appeared everywhere from network television to podcasts to Washington newsletters, flooding the zone with discussions of the redistricting clash. He logged 25 interviews in the first 24 hours of the quorum break and reached 9.8 million viewers around the country through his TV hits alone, he told the Tribune. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Talarico, a seminary student and former teacher, has built a large social media following, including on TikTok, through his criticism of Christian nationalism as a progressive Democrat and devout Christian himself. A number of Talaricos widely circulated clips show him confronting Republican colleagues on the House floor during the legislative session that ended in early June. Shortly after, he revealed his interest in a possible 2026 Senate run. His star rose further in July when he was a guest on Joe Rogans popular podcast, having a nearly three-hour conversation with the comedian. Rogan, who endorsed Trump in 2024 and has ripped Democrats messaging as out of touch, told Talarico in the episode that he should run for president. [Texas Democrats know they may lose redistricting protest, but hope to spark a national fight] Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On Tuesday, Talarico told The Texas Tribune he had intended to decide about the Senate race this week, but the quorum break pushed back his deadline. He said he is still undecided. I was elected by 200,000 people in Central Texas to do this job, to fight for them in the state Capitol, to be kind of like their lawyer in state government, Talarico said. And I intend on doing that job before I start applying [for] other jobs. Talarico could not immediately be reached for comment Friday. Despite suffering blowout losses in 2022 and 2024, Texas Democrats are buoyed by the prospect of a 2026 Senate race that could give the party its best shot of winning a statewide office in Texas since then-Rep. Beto ORourkes narrow loss to Sen. Ted Cruz in 2018. Democrats hope to recreate a similar political climate in 2026, the first midterm cycle under President Donald Trump since ORourke defeat by 2.6 percentage points his partys best finish in a Senate race in Texas in 30 years. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement If Talarico enters the race, he would face a primary against former U.S. Rep. Colin Allred of Dallas, who ran against Cruz in 2024 and lost by 8.5 percentage points. Talarico has only ever been on a ballot in the Austin area. Allred, Talarico and other potential Senate hopefuls met in June to discuss the race; Allred launched his campaign shortly after. Talarico and other prospective candidates will need to decide whether to enter the race by the Dec. 8 filing deadline. The primary is in early March. Republicans, meanwhile, are locked in a messy primary fight between incumbent Sen. John Cornyn, who has handily dispatched several Democratic challengers over decades of statewide service, and Attorney General Ken Paxton, whom public polling has shown could be vulnerable in a general election. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement If we Democrats in Texas cant beat Ken Paxton, if we cant meet the moment and organize people across our state and build a big coalition, then we dont deserve to win, Talarico said on the Higher Learning podcast on Tuesday, one of his many media hits this week. But I do think this will be a huge moment for us in our state. He went on to tell the hosts he would discuss with his family whether to run for Senate once we get past this quorum break. I do think we have a moral imperative to beat Ken Paxton, Talarico said. And I do think I have certain things I can offer my party, but more importantly, the state of Texas. But thats also a huge decision a huge life decision. Shape the future of Texas at the 15th annual Texas Tribune Festival, happening Nov. 1315 in downtown Austin! We bring together Texas most inspiring thinkers, leaders and innovators to discuss the issues that matter to you. Get tickets now and join us this November. TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase. Rep. Cory Mills is disputing allegations that he threatened to release nude videos of his ex-girlfriend and has retained a criminal defense lawyer who says the Central Florida Republican congressmans messages to her referred to footage of the pair together at events. Attorney Aaron Delgado acknowledged the politician had an emotionally charged breakup, but he says the public hasnt gotten the full context of Mills interactions with Lindsey Langston, a GOP state committeewoman and the reigning Miss United States beauty queen. Our position is this is a breakup, a disintegration of a relationship that had lasted for years, he said on Friday. Emotions are going to be high any time that happens. Its just unfortunate that this is now in the public domain instead of being treated privately. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Though not a flattering situation, its not criminal, he added. Mills, who joined Congress in 2023, represents Seminole County and portions of Volusia County. Hes faced a firestorm of controversy this year, and Democrats are targeting his seat in next years election. Langston, 25, filed a report July 14 with the Columbia County Sheriffs Office, accusing Mills of threatening to release nude images and videos of her, to include recorded videos of her and Cory engaging in sexual acts. The complaint was forwarded to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for further investigation. Langston is also seeking a restraining order against Mills. A judge declined to issue an immediate restraining order but set a hearing for later this month. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In one of the messages shared publicly, Mills, 45, wrote, Okay Linds. Get me his number and I can send him videos. Take care. In another, he messaged, Im sorry to see this is how you treat things. Good luck to you/ Thanks again for the videos. In a third exchange, Mills wrote, Let him put his actions behind his mouth/ I can send him a few videos of you as well/ Oh, I still have them. Delgado did not dispute the authenticity of those messages, but he said Mills wasnt referring to sexual content. He added that the public is only seeing snippets of their interactions, not in chronological order. You see the word video, but you dont see sex or nudity, Delgado said. There is no context given for the videos. My client had no intention of releasing any kind of explicit or intimate content. Mills was referring to videos of him and his ex-girlfriend together at events that contradict a narrative that she was advancing with other men, Delgado said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Langston, who did not return a message seeking comment, told the authorities she started a romantic relationship with Mills in November 2021 and lived with him at his New Smyrna Beach home, according to the police report. Though Mills was married, he said he had separated from his wife, Langston told deputies. In March, Mills told The Floridian news website he has been working through divorce proceedings for the past two years. Langston told officers she moved out of Mills house in February, when an incident made headlines involving the congressman and another woman. That month, the District of Columbias Metropolitan Police Department opened a probe of Mills following a report of an alleged assault at Mills penthouse apartment near the Capitol. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Mills, 45, vehemently denied any physical altercation occurred. Sarah Raviani, the 27-year-old woman listed as the victim by police, also denied she was assaulted in a statement to the Orlando Sentinel and other media outlets. Police sent an arrest warrant to the U.S. Attorneys office for consideration, but it was returned unsigned, according to the Metropolitan Police Department. In a statement, Mills called the latest extortion allegations lawfare being pushed by one of his political rivals, Anthony Sabatini, an attorney, Lake County commissioner and former state representative. Sabatini lost to Mills in the 2022 GOP congressional primary. Breakups happen, but its truly tragic when a washedup politician drags someone else into his vendetta, Mills said. I wish Ms. Langston well and genuine happiness. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Sabatini initially said he was representing Langston but then said Friday that she does not have a legal agreement or contract with him. He said she has consulted with him on legal questions about the issue. Langston signed three affidavits under penalty of perjury that he sent these threats and she was extorted a cumulative 15 years in prison if she lied, he wrote in a text message. EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) Texas state Rep. Vince Perez, D-El Paso, along with four other Democratic colleagues, have arrived in California on Friday, Aug. 8 and will meet with Gov. Gavin Newsom and other California leaders about the redistricting controversy in Texas. Perezs office said that Texas Republicans are attempting to pass the most racially discriminatory map Texas has since the Passage of the 1965 Rights Act in an attempt to give President Trump at least five additional Republican seats until the courts overturn their unlawful map. These maps are so racially discriminatory that Latino and Black residents have only one-third and one-ffith the value of white residents in Texas, Perez said. At least 26 of Texas 38 congressional districts (70%) were racial engineered to give white residents unfair advantages over Hispanic and Black neighborhoods that were fractured to deliberately prevent them from influencing the outcome of the congressional elections in those districts. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The remaining districts were designed to be vote dumpsters to sideline the votes of millions of black and Hispanic Texans solely based on their race. These maps not only severely undermine Hispanic and Black Texans, the political advantage Texas is trying to get from this racially segregated map will also come at the expense of the people of California, and millions of others across the United States. Thats why were here to expose the racial engineering thats being done to give Donald Trump a temporary boost in power until the courts overturn this injustice, Perez added. The passage of this map would result in Texas Hispanics becoming the largest and most underrepresented racial/ethnic minority in the United States, Perezs office said. Perez joins fellow Texas Democrats in breaking quorum to protest and resist what he has called the most unjust and racially engineered maps Texas has seen since the 1960s. The delegation is calling national attention to how the GOP-drawn maps suppress Latino and Black voting power in direct violation of democratic principles. Perez also added: It doesnt matter if youre Republican or Democratic, white, Black, Latino, or Asian all Americans should be appalled at what Texas Republicans are proposing. What will happen when our government does not feel it is accountable to all people, but only one group that it hand picks, particularly when that is done solely on the basis of skin color? I urge all Americans to resist this attempt to take our society back to the turbulence of the 1960s and the struggle for civil rights. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit with the Texas Supreme Court to purse vacating the seats of 13 Democratic lawmakers who have fled the state to prevent a quorum and stall Republican-led redistricting efforts. None of the 13 lawmakers are from El Paso. Perez and other Democrats will be joining Newsom for a news conference at 3 p.m. Mountain time. You can find the event on Newsoms Facebook page by clicking here. https://www.gov.ca.gov/2025/08/07/tomorrow-governor-newsom-and-california-leaders-to-host-texas-democrats-breaking-quorum-to-fight-gop-map-rigging 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. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Houston have arrested nearly 50 illegal aliens in a recent operation, many of whom had long criminal records and multiple illegal re-entries into America. Backed by Border Patrol and local law enforcement agencies, ICEs Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) agents took 42 people into custody on August 5 during a sweep through Houston, focusing on repeat immigration offenders and those with violent criminal histories. ICE will continue to conduct these operations, without apology, to protect law-abiding residents and restore integrity to our nations immigration system, said ICE Field Director Gabriel Martinez. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Some of the high-profile arrests included: Marvin Joel Castillo, a 39-year-old Honduran national, was previously convicted of assaulting two law enforcement officers. Carlos Enrique Choc-Sacul, a Guatemalan national deported three times and convicted of forgery and illegal entry. Francisco Javier Martinez Robles, a Mexican national deported in 2017, was later convicted of assaulting a family member in 2022. In a separate operation just days earlier, ICE picked up six additional illegal aliens who, between them, accounted for a jaw-dropping 48 criminal convictions and a combined 42 illegal entries into the U.S. For the past 20 years, these six violent criminal aliens have brazenly violated our nations immigration and criminal laws, wreaking havoc in our local communities and leaving countless victims in their wake, Marinez added. Thanks to the current administrations focus on securing the border and making immigration enforcement a priority, they have been removed from the local community and will no longer be able to prey on innocent Americans. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The second group of arrestees included: Oscar Moran Valle, a 43-year-old Mexican national and documented member of the violent Paisas gang, who illegally entered the U.S. 12 times and racked up 11 criminal convictions, including drug possession, DWI, and giving false ID to law enforcement. Thanh Van Nguyen, a 53-year-old from Vietnam with nine convictions, including burglary and assault. Alex Salomon Reyes-Chavez, Marvin Javier Marquez Celaya, and Angel Bonilla Barahona all from Honduras each with long rap sheets involving burglary, drug trafficking, domestic violence, and assault. Jose Angel Munoz Saucedo, a 40-year-old from Mexico who entered illegally 12 times and had multiple DWI convictions. None of these men was new to ICE. Most had already been deported more than once. Some were picked up by local authorities in the past, only to be released back onto American streets. ICE stressed that these operations will continue, and encourages the public to report suspected immigration violations through its tip line at 866-DHS-2-ICE. (FOX40.COM) On Tuesday, two repeat offenders were caught in a storage burglary, according to the San Joaquin County Sheriffs Office. Video Above: Property Crime Statistics Deputies confirm seeing a man jump a fence and cut the lock off a storage unit at Big E Storage in Stockton before fleeing in a vehicle. Man killed in pedestrian vs. vehicle accident in Modesto Deputies say they quickly stopped the vehicle and found Brandon Ellingson and Johnathan King inside, both convicted criminals. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement After searching the vehicle, deputies found over $33,000 in stolen property. Items included cash, collectibles, tools and the bolt cutters used in the break-in according to the sheriffs office. Ellingson is currently on county probation for possessing a stolen vehicle and previously had an active warrant out of San Francisco, the sheriffs office said. King is on active parole with two outstanding warrants for negligent discharge of a firearm and the other for burglary and conspiracy, according to the sheriffs office. Deputies returned all stolen items to the rightful owner. 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 former flight attendant is heading to federal prison for taking photos of passengers in an airplane bathroom, and now one of his victims has filed a lawsuit against American Airlines. Channel 9s sisters station WSOC reported the lawsuit claims an 11-year-old girl was one of the victims, and the lawsuit alleges the airlines didnt do enough to prevent this from happening on a flight from Orlando International Airport to North Carolina. Estes Carter Thompson was caught recording a young girl on a flight to Charlotte in 2023, and the FBI found evidence that it had happened on multiple flights. Evidence showed that he would tape a smartphone in the lavatory to record passengers, according to WSOC. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The familys attorney told WSOC American Airlines should have known Thompson was a risk to minors because they argue his coworkers had made complaints to the airline about his conduct before this happened. American Airlines released a statement regarding the incident saying, Americans core mission is to care for people and the foundation of that is the safety and security of our customers and team. We are reviewing the complaint, and we take the allegations involving a former team member very seriously. Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live. A child works on spelling "safety." A new state report logged a sharp rise in the Oregon's child care capacity for preschoolers, but found far less of an infrastructure available for infants and toddlers.(Alex Baumhardt/Oregon Capital Chronicle) Two years ago, state analysts said half of Oregons 36 counties lacked sufficient infrastructure and capacity to care for preschool children in the area. Now that number has been cut in half to one in four, according to a report on Oregons 2024 child care system commissioned by Oregons Department of Early Learning and Care and published last month by researchers at Oregon State University. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But the findings also note little improvement in access over the past two years when it comes to infant and toddler child care. Only two counties reported enough capacity for families with children 2 and younger. Northeast Oregon and western wine country remain most vulnerable to a lack of child care access for preschool children, aged 3 to 5. Only Multnomah and Gilliam counties qualify as non-deserts for toddlers and infants. The state has requested such snapshots of Oregons child care system every two years since 2018. This year, researchers found that nine counties in the state are child care deserts for preschool children, down from a finding of 18 counties in a similar 2022 report. Their report also found that the capacity for care in small family homes increased for the first time since 2016, bolstering an overall increase in available licensed child care providers. This report shows that there is a supply recovery in process, said Megan Pratt, the lead author and an associate professor of practice in the OSU College of Health and the Extension Family and Community Health Program. Theres more child care available than there has been in the recent past. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Researchers 27-page analysis found that public investments in early education programs like Head Start for low-income families, kindergarteners and pregnant women have made significant inroads in stemming the states historic shortage of child care. The states report does not factor in non-licensed programs supported by local school districts and counties, nor does it consider employer-provided day care. But analysts note that without public funding for programs like Head Start, more than three in four Oregon counties would be considered shortage zones for preschool childrens child care, a figure that includes all counties when infants and toddlers are accounted for as well. Those programs have been at the center of legal challenges amid disputes over restrictions on immigration status and eligibility implemented by the Trump administration in early July. Historically, Oregon has struggled to address its shortage of available child care, a problem that researchers say can ripple into the economy when families dont have time to work or leave their kids alone. A 2022 report for the states early learning department found that most families in the state struggle just to find an arrangement when it comes to education and care. Its incredibly encouraging to see state investments delivering real results for Oregon families, said Alyssa Chatterjee, director of the Department of Early Learning and Care. The fact that more communities are no longer child care deserts for preschoolers means more children are accessing the early learning experiences they deserve, and thats a win for our entire state. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Access for thousands of children and families regardless of immigration status to Head Start programs in Oregon has been in limbo for the past two months. The Trump administration announced rules in July that would ban access to community-based benefits like Head Start for immigrants without permanent legal status. But child care advocates and state officials say the restrictions would require their programs to close until a new mechanism to collect information about immigration status is developed. In the wake of those concerns, the federal government in late July agreed to pause enforcement of the restrictions until September in Democrat-led states like Oregon who are litigating the policy. In another suit led by Head Start providers and advocates against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, a federal judge in Washington heard arguments Tuesday on whether to grant a more expansive temporary restraining order halting the policy and postponing its implementation. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE CATLETTSBURG, Ky. (FOX 56) Multiple deputies have been treated for whats been reported as a fentanyl exposure at the Boyd County Detention Center. FOX 56 reached out to the detention center staff on Friday. Officials initially denied comment on the situation. The Franklin County Jail extended its condolences on Friday afternoon, Aug. 8. LATEST KENTUCKY NEWS: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and Boyd County Detention Center, as three of their deputies have come into contact with suspected fentanyl, among other chemicals, jail officials wrote. Boyd County Jailer William Hensley wrote to FOX 56, elaborating that on Thursday evening, a deputy collapsed in the facilitys secure entryway, or sally port, during intake procedures. Its believed that it may have been due to exposure to an unknown substance. The deputy presented severe seizure-like symptoms and was physically weak, Hensley said. Once at the hospital, they experienced respiratory failure and had to be resuscitated. The affected deputy remains in a medical coma. Medical personnel are hopeful for recovery and plan to begin reducing sedation, Hensley said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Later, a second deputy began to experience milder symptoms consistent with the exposure. Theyve since been released from the hospital, the jailer told FOX 56. A few days before the deputy collapsed, Hensley said there was a separate and unrelated exposure involving a deputy conducting a property inventory on an inmate transferred from a West Virginia detention center. The deputy reportedly recovered a white powdery substance that was hidden in the brim of a hat. Read more of the latest Kentucky news After it was found, the deputy began to experience symptoms and was taken to the hospital. It is important to clarify that the deputy involved in that incident was not involved in last nights incident, Hensley emphasized. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Two deputies have reportedly been treated and are doing well, while another remains in critical condition, per Franklin County officials. The sally port has since been cleared and declared safe, Hensley said. We commend the immediate and professional response of our staff, medical teams, and first responders. Their efforts were instrumental in ensuring the health and safety of those involved. The prayers of the entire Boyd County Detention Center team are with both deputies and their families during this time. Further updates will be provided as they become available. The deputies names will not be released. On Aug. 9, detention center officials wrote that the deputy who was hospitalized was awake, breathing on their own, and able to communicate. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He remains in the hospital and still has some recovery ahead of him, but we are very pleased with his progress so far, Boyd County authorities wrote. The deputys lab results are still pending; the specific substance he encountered has not yet been identified. 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. EXCLUSIVE: The highest-ranking Minnesotan in Congress is blasting Gov. Tim Walz after a man who murdered his family as a teenager was released from prison. "Once again, Tim Walz proves why he is one of the worst governors in the country," House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., told Fox News Digital. "Not only do his soft-on-crime policies rob victims of the justice they deserve, but they also put the safety of every Minnesotan at risk. Being a self-proclaimed knucklehead doesn't excuse the chaos he has caused with his dangerous, far-left agenda." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Gop Lawmakers Clash Over Strategy To Avert Government Shutdown Crisis Emmer, as the GOP whip, is the No. 3 House Republican leader. He's joining other Republicans from his state in criticizing the release of David Brom, a man who was convicted of killing his parents and two younger siblings with an axe in 1988. Brom was 16 years old at the time. Read On The Fox News App "Allowing murderers like David Brom back onto our streets is a slap in the face to these victims and their families, undermines the rule of law, diminishes the publics trust in our judicial system, and jeopardizes the safety of our communities," Emmer said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Brom was granted supervised work release after Minnesota passed a new law in 2023 that limited life-long prison sentences for juvenile offenders. David Brom was convicted of killing his family with an axe when he was 16 and has served 37 years in prison. It began as a bill in the state legislature before being signed into law by Walz, thereby applying both to future offenders and retroactively to people like Brom. Emmer criticized Walz and the Minnesota DemocraticFarmerLabor Party's policies as "soft-on-crime" and argued such law changes would "have serious consequences." "Theyre forcing law-abiding Minnesotans to pay the price," Emmer said. Brom served 37 years behind bars after being convicted on four charges of first-degree murder, with a jury rejecting his plea of not guilty due to mental illness. He was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences and one concurrent life sentence. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Gop Governor Nominee Pushes Redistricting To Oust State's Lone House Dem The Minnesota state legislature passed the bill, signed into law by Walz, in 2023. Without the new law, Brom would have been eligible for parole in 2037, after serving 52 years in prison. The law does not grant automatic release to juvenile offenders, but rather gives them the right to appear before a Supervised Release Board after serving a minimum of 15 years but in some cases could be longer, depending on the nature of the crime to present their arguments for early release. Brom was granted supervised release and was let out of prison early last week. Fox News Digital reached out to Walz's office for comment but did not immediately hear back. Original article source: Republican leader shreds Tim Walz over Minnesota law that freed axe murderer Sterling Heights Republican Robert Lulgjuraj launched his campaign for Michigan's 10th Congressional District on Aug. 7 to seek an open congressional seat in what could prove one of the most politically competitive races in 2026 and help decide which political party controls the U.S. House. U.S. Rep. John James, R-Shelby Township, decided not to seek re-election and instead run for Michigan governor. Lulgjuraj is a prosecutor with the Macomb County Prosecutor's Office and previously worked as a trial attorney at the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office, according to his campaign website. "Democrats are now pushing forward radicals like Zohran Mamdani of New York who want more socialism and more government control over your lives," Lulgjuraj said in a video posted on Facebook announcing his candidacy that references the New York mayoral candidate, whose name he mispronounces. "And I will fight every day to protect the American dream from socialist Democrats," Lulgjuraj adds. Robert Lulgjuraj is running for the Republican nomination in Michigan's 10th Congressional District. President Donald Trump endorsed James' U.S. House campaigns in 2022 and 2024, but the president has raised concerns about his decision to vacate his seat. "You know he's running for governor, but I'm not sure I'm happy about that, John. Do we have somebody good to take your seat?" Trump asked at a June ceremony at the White House during which the president approved a measure James sponsored to overturn a California vehicle emissions standard. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Absolutely," James said in response to Trump's question. Republicans hold a narrow 219-212 majority in the U.S. House. In addition to Lulgjuraj, the GOP side of the race for Michigan's 10th Congressional District includes open carry advocate Casey Armitage of Vassar, who filed a statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission in June. Candidates on the Democratic side of the race include former Commerce Department lawyer Eric Chung, Army veteran Alex Hawkins of Rochester, Pontiac Mayor Tim Greimel and former candidate for Macomb County prosecutor Christina Hines of Warren. Michigan's 10th Congressional District covers parts of Oakland and Macomb counties. In Macomb County, the district encompasses Center Line, Clinton Township, Eastpointe, Fraser, Harrison Township, Mount Clemens, Roseville, Shelby Township, St. Clair Shores, Sterling Heights, Utica and Warren and includes part of Macomb Township. The district also covers Oakland County's Rochester and Rochester Hills. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Michigan Politics: Former House Speaker Joe Tate drops out of Michigan race for U.S. Senate The district was drawn by an independent commission charged with creating fair voting districts in Michigan that don't disproportionately benefit any political party. The first election held in the newly drawn 10th Congressional District was in 2022 when James beat former Macomb County judge and prosecutor Carl Marlinga by 0.49 percentage points or 1,600 votes of the 326,237 total cast. It was one of the closest U.S. House races that year. In 2024, James and Marlinga faced off again, but James defeated Marlinga by a more comfortable 6.14 percentage points or 26,074 votes of the total 425,301 cast. To qualify for the August 2026 primary ballot, Democratic and Republican congressional candidates in Michigan must collect at least 1,000 voter signatures and file them by April 21, 2026. Contact Clara Hendrickson at chendrickson@freepress.com or 313-296-5743. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Robert Lulgjuraj enters Michigan's 10th Congressional District race (NewsNation) A significant drop in the number of vocalizations from blue whales has researchers and wildlife advocates alarmed. A 2025 study published in the journal PLoS One shows global heatwaves during the last 10 years have led to an increase in toxic algae, which threatens whales food supply. While a decrease in whale vocalizations doesnt necessarily mean a population decline, researchers believe whales are spending more time trying to find food as krill and anchovy populations drop. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Chance the Rapper presses play on CD revitalization It caused the most widespread poisoning of marine mammals ever documented, coauthor and Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute biological oceanographer John Ryan told National Geographic. These were hard times for whales. Scientist Roger Payne was the first to discover that whales could sing in 1967 during a research trip to Bermuda in which a Navy engineer provided him with a recording of curious underwater sounds documented while listening for Russian submarines. Payne identified the haunting tones as songs whales sing to one another. Whale songs would enter the popular imagination via everything from a 1971 episode of The Partridge Family to a 1979 issue of National Geographic that included a flexi disc with excerpts from Songs of the Humpback Whale. It remains the best-selling environmental album in history. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) Residents and officials in Alaska's capital city prepared Friday for the possibility of glacial flooding that in past years has swept away houses, swamped several hundred homes and eroded the river fed by the popular Mendenhall Glacier. The state, federal, city and tribal officials who would run an incident command center during any flooding held a briefing to outline steps and to issue pleas to the public to be prepared. The threat of so-called glacier outburst flooding has become an annual concern in parts of Juneau since 2011. The Mendenhall Glacier a thinning, retreating glacier that is a major tourist attraction in southeast Alaska acts as a dam for a basin that fills each spring and summer with rainwater and snowmelt. The basin itself was left behind when a smaller, nearby glacier retreated. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement When the water in the basin creates enough pressure, it forces its way under or around the ice dam created by the Mendenhall Glacier, entering Mendenhall Lake and eventually the Mendenhall River. The water level in the basin as of Friday stood at 1,353 feet (412 meters) and continues to rise, said Nicole Ferrin with the National Weather Service. It's just 15 feet (1.5 meters) from topping the ice dam. The basin has been rising at an unpredictable rate, so there is no way to pinpoint when water would go over the top, she said. Some days when there's no rain, it only rises by a foot (0.30 meters), she said. Other days when there is heavy rain or a lot of sunshine, it rises by 4 feet (1.22 meters), so it's a variable. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In some years, there has been limited flooding of streets or properties near the lake or river. But 2023 and 2024 marked successive years of record flooding, with the river last August cresting at 15.99 feet (4.9 meters), about 1 foot (0.3 meters) over the prior record set a year earlier, and flooding extending farther into the Mendenhall Valley. Last year, nearly 300 residences were damaged in the flooding. Capital City Fire/Rescue Chief Rich Etheridge warned people to stay away during flood stages because logs and other debris in the river can put would-be rescuers at extreme peril. Once the water tops the dam, the city will set up a hotline where people can get information. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A large flood event can release up to 15 billion gallons of water, according to the University of Alaska Southeast and Alaska Climate Adaptation Science Center. Thats the equivalent of nearly 23,000 Olympic-size swimming pools. During last year's flood, the flow rate in the rushing Mendenhall River was about half that of Niagara Falls, the researchers say. City officials responded to concerns from property owners this year by working with state, federal and tribal entities to install a temporary levee along roughly 2.5 miles of riverbank in an attempt to guard against widespread flooding. The installation of about 10,000, four-foot (1.2-meter) tall barriers is intended to protect more than 460 properties from flood levels similar to last year, said Nate Rumsey, deputy director with the city's engineering and public works department. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is at the start of what's expected to be a yearslong process of studying conditions in the region and examining options for a more permanent solution. The timeline has angered some residents, who say it's unreasonable. Outburst floods are expected to continue as long as the Mendenhall Glacier acts as an ice dam to seal off the basin, which could span another 25 to 60 years, according to the university and science center researchers. ___ Associated Press writer Becky Bohrer in Juneau contributed to this report. URBANA, Ill. (WCIA) A car crash in Urbana has prompted community members to ask how an intersection can be made safer. Thursday morning, Urbana police shut down the intersection of Florida and Lincoln Avenue because of a two vehicle collision. It involved a deputy and a Reynolds tow truck driver. Both were taken to the hospital. PREVIOUSLY: Urbana intersection reopens to traffic after deputy-involved crash Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This intersection has had several crashes and it continues to be a problem. WCIA talked with one person who lives in the area. She said these type of scenes happen pretty often. Over 20 years ago, I think they made it into a, you know, with the lights, which I think helped quite a bit. One year I think the kids were in high school or middle school. We actually had a car go through our fence. You know that there was an accident that put a car through our fence. So, people do need to kind of take care and slow down in this area, community member Susan Frobish said. The Champaign County Sheriffs Office said the deputy is in serious but stable condition. Reynolds Towing did not want to comment while the investigation is still going on. The Champaign County Regional Planning Commission studied this intersection before. It found people believe its the most problematic campus location. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. Restaurant in west-central Minnesota asks for community's support to stay afloat originally appeared on Bring Me The News. A west-central Minnesota restaurateur is asking for donations to stay in business amid compliance issues and other challenges stemming from the pandemic and a 2019 fire. Ryan Carlson, the owner of Stellas Restaurant & Bar, recently created a GoFundMe in order to "keep our doors open." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The restaurant has locations in the popular tourist town of Battle Lake and in Fergus Falls, though the Battle Lake location is temporarily closed as long-term repairs are carried out on damage caused in a 2019 fire. Stellas is currently facing challenges including operating expenses, debt, and compliance issues preventing it from serving alcohol, according to the fundraiser. The problems are exacerbated by issues stemming from the Battle Lake restaurant fire and the COVID-19 pandemic, Carlson said. "Every dollar will go toward keeping Stellas open, compliant, and ready to serve our community for years to come, the GoFundMe reads. "This is not about bypassing the law its about meeting it head-on and doing whats needed to get there." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On Facebook, Carlson said he initially intended for the fundraiser to be a "way for a few close family and friends who had asked how they could help to have a place to chip in if they felt moved to. Stellas opened its second location in downtown Fergus Falls in 2024. As of Friday, the fundraiser had reached around $6,300 of its $12,000 goal. This story was originally reported by Bring Me The News on Aug 8, 2025, where it first appeared. A Russian state-owned explosives manufacturer has obtained Siemens automation equipment through a Chinese intermediary, bypassing Western sanctions. Source: Reuters Details: The purchase of Siemens equipment for production automation at the Biysk Oleum Plant (BOZ) in southern Siberia was carried out through the Russian intermediary company Techpribor, which procures industrial equipment from Chinese wholesalers and resellers. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Procurement documents show that in October 2022, BOZ signed a contract with Techpribor for the supply of Siemens equipment. A few days before the end of the 140-day delivery period, Techpribor received a shipment from China via a company called Huizhou Funn Tek, located in Guangdong Province. Reuters matched Siemens product codes against customs records and scrutinised document details to establish that two power regulator devices delivered by Huizhou Funn Tek correspond to those ordered by BOZ. Siemens press service stated that the company strictly complies with international sanctions and requires the same from its clients, but some products may reach Russia without its knowledge. A Siemens spokesperson did not confirm whether the company was aware of the equipment being supplied specifically to a Russian explosives plant. Techpribor, BOZ, and its parent company did not respond to a Reuters request for comment. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement BOZs parent company, the Yakov Sverdlov Federal State Company, is already under US and EU sanctions for assisting Russias military efforts. Production at the Biysk plant has been expanding since the start of Russias full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Notably, new production lines for RDX explosives, essential for ammunition, are being built there. Automation of production using Western technology is critically important for increasing productivity, especially amid labour shortages, as noted in a report by the British defence think tank RUSI. Analyst Konrad Muzyka (Poland) stated that the supply of high-precision components from the West via China prolongs the war, as it supports Russias rearmament. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Without them, Russia's capacity to sustain or scale its war effort would be more time-consuming, expensive and place a bigger burden on the labour market," he said. Procurement and customs data confirm that between 2022 and 2023, Techpribor imported Siemens equipment from China multiple times, particularly from Huizhou Funn Tek and New Source Automation in Xiamen. Representatives of these Chinese companies confirmed they buy equipment directly from Siemens, which does not ask about the end user. European politicians have called this a "major loophole" in sanctions that helps Russia sustain its war effort. In December 2024, the EU imposed sanctions for the first time on Chinese companies supplying the Russian military. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The BOZ plant produces TNT and HMX explosives, which are used for civilian purposes as well, but the majority of its production is directed towards defence needs. A shortage of explosives is one of the reasons for Russias deficit of artillery shells, mines, and aerial bombs, forcing Moscow to turn to allies such as North Korea and Iran for ammunition. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon! The Brief Angel Santiago continues searching for his stolen emotional support dog, Bam Bam, a 14-year-old dachshund mix taken from his backyard on June 5; he's legally blind and has walked miles daily to distribute flyers. Despite offers of donations and a GoFundMe, Santiago has declined all financial help, saying he only wants his dog back. A $1,000 reward is being offered, and anyone with information is urged to call 1-866-597-2424. CHICAGO - Forty-eight hours after his story gained attention, Angel Santiago is still clinging to hope that he will be reunited with his emotional support dog, Bam Bam. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Santiago, who is legally blind due to glaucoma and Type 2 diabetes, said hes received calls from across the country some even offering to start a GoFundMe. But he declined the financial help. All he wants, he said, is to hold his 14-year-old dachshund mix again. What we know For more than two months, Santiago has stood outside Tonys Fresh Market at North Monticello and West Fullerton avenues, asking for help to bring Bam Bam home. On June 5, two individuals entered his backyard in the 2300 block of North Monticello Avenue while Bam Bam was outside for a brief bathroom break. Santiago said he tried to stop them, but was overpowered. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Since then, hes walked miles each day distributing flyers. Volunteers have joined the search, but Santiago has refused donations. His only focus is finding Bam Bam. What's next Bam Bam has a one-inch dark brown patch on his forehead. A $1,000 reward is being offered for his safe return. Additionally, PETA is offering a reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to the safe return of Bam Bam and the arrest and conviction of those responsible for stealing him. If you have any more information on the dog's whereabouts, call 1-866-597-2424. Chicago police can also be contacted at 312-746-6000. RELATED: 'Let your eyes be mine: Blind man pleads for help finding stolen service dog SOUTH KINGSTOWN A Woonsocket native who was wounded driving a boat full of soldiers onto Omaha Beach under heavy fire on D-Day will receive an award for self-sacrifice and public service on Saturday, Aug. 9, from the Rhode Island-based World War II Foundation. Richard Fazzio, 100 years old and one of the last living first-wave veterans of D-Day, will receive the Senator Bob Dole WWII Leadership Award for his actions in Normandy, France, on D-Day, according to the World War II Foundation. U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, an Army veteran and the son of a World War II veteran, will present the award to Fazzio at 2 p.m. at the Museum of World War II in Wakefield. Woonsocket native Richard Fazzio joined the Navy at age 17 and was wounded in the D-Day invasion of Normandy. U.S. Reps. Gabe Amo and Seth Magaziner, both Democrats from Rhode Island, will also attend and speak. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The World War II Foundation presents the award annually to "an individual of the Greatest Generation, or their family, who, as an individual, reflects the values of self-sacrifice, public service, and everlasting commitment to our nation's principles of freedom and democracy." More: D-Day memories are still vivid for this 99-year-old RI vet. Mark Patinkin shares his story The award is named in honor of the late U.S. Sen. Bob Dole, a veteran who was left with a permanent disability from injuries suffered while trying to save a fellow soldier during World War II. In 2019, the foundation presented Dole with its Leadership Award at its D-Day Victory Event at the French Embassy. The award was later named in Dole's honor. Richard Fazzio recalls his experiences at Omaha Beach during World War II during a 2024 interview. More: We came that close: RI vet recalls kamikaze attack and Japan's historic surrender Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Fazzio joined the Navy at age 17. On D-Day, he was an 18-year-old Navy coxswain delivering more than 30 soldiers of the 1st Infantry Division onto Omaha Beach. Fazzio piloted the fifth boat in the first wave, headed toward the Easy Red sector of Omaha Beach, one of the most heavily defended areas by the Germans on D-Day, according to the foundation. Many soldiers were killed when the Higgins boat landed on the beach and dropped its ramp. Fazzio was hit by a bullet that struck his upper right side below his arm and exited from his back. The event at the museum is free, but reservations were required, and the space is full. Fazzio will arrive in style, as his family has rented a limousine, according to Tim Gray, president of the World War II Foundation. This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Woonsocket native, 100, to receive award from WW II Museum on Saturday JOHNSTOWN, Pa. (WTAJ) With a new school year around the corner, the Richland School District is testing its All-Hazard Plan. The district organized an active shooter drill at Richland High School on Thursday in collaboration with Tactical Threat Solutions, a company that specializes in safety consulting and emergency preparedness. You hope it never comes. But you have to face reality. It has happened in Pennsylvania in schools. And I think a lot of people feel it cant happen here. It cant happen because we have a police department thats 300 feet away. Well, it can happen here. That police department could be somewhere else and those officers could be somewhere else. So we have to be prepared, Arnold Nadonley, Superintendent of Schools for Richland School District, said. The Richland Police Department, Richland Fire Department, East Hills E.M.S., and the Cambria County Emergency Management Agency were the first responders on scene at the high school. Conemaugh DART also participated in the drill. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The drill started at 9 a.m. Staff and students acted as volunteers. Centre County man charged after social media threats targeting Trump To maintain the safety of everyone participating, details surrounding the event were not released to the public to reduce the risk of someone causing harm while it was happening. However, the school district notified parents, staff, students and the community of the drill minutes before it started. Sarah Louder played the role of a student who let the shooter into the building. It was definitely an interesting role to play, but it made me learn a lot. And how, like, thats not something you should do and like consequences for your actions, Louder said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Louder says being immersed in the drill and working with first responders was an eye-opening experience. Im going into my sophomore year, and I definitely have learned a lot of kind of just what to do in this situation and kind of who to go with and who to trust in a situation like this, Louder said. Bob Haddad, the owner of Tactical Threat Solutions, said annual drills are important, and theres always more to learn because threats are evolving every day. By doing that, we learn the things that are happening, the trends. What happened ten years ago may not be the trend today. And so when those trends are coming and as we start to see them happen, thats how we need to then start retraining everybody. So yes, you may have done ten active shooter drills, but number one to number ten should be different, Haddad said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Moving forward, the school will review different observations and use the input received to determine what went well and what didnt work. It will be incorporated into future planning. Get the latest news, weather forecasts and sports stories delivered straight to your inbox! Sign up for our newsletters. Superintendent Nadonley said larger drills will be planned at a later date with more students when school is in session. 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. HONOLULU (KHON2) A serious crash on Wednesday, Aug. 6 sent three people to the hospital after a car hit a horse near the Dillingham Polo Field on Oahu. Honolulu police said a 16-year-old girl was riding the horse when it was struck around 7 p.m. on Farrington Highway. Two women, ages 48 and 23, were also injured in the two-car collision. 16-year-old girl on horse in serious condition after being struck by a vehicle Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement All three were taken to the hospital in serious condition. The horses condition is unknown. Greg Smith, owner of Gunstock Ranch, said drivers need to be more aware. From animal advocacy to pageant queen: Mrs. Hawaii United States Theres more horses than people think on Oahu, Smith said. On our ranch, we have over 100 horses. Gunstock Ranch is between Kahuku and Laie on the North Shore, but Smith said horses can be found in many rural areas across the island. Even in Waimanalo, theres hundreds of horses out there. Out in Waianae, theres lots of people that own horses, he explained. The problem is, most drivers dont expect to see horses at all. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Inherently, horses can be unpredictable sometimes, Smith said. If youre not around horses very much, you just dont realize how they will react to certain situations. Given the sometimes fickle behavior of these animals, Smith says to be prepared for unpredictable actions. Get Hawaiis latest morning news delivered to your inbox, sign up for News 2 You The main thing you can do is really just slow down, Smith said. That gives your reaction time so much better. Some drivers even try to scare horses on purpose, he said. Unfortunately, they think its funny to, you know, scare a horse or something like that with a honk of the horn or rev up an engine type of thing, Smith said. They dont think about the consequences. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Even though some may interpret scaring the animals as humorous, Smith says it is anything but funny for the horse. It can have a bigger effect on an animal that doesnt understand pranks, he said. Its fearing for its life. Get news on the go with KHON 2GO, KHONs morning podcast, every morning at 8 You can click here to find out more about Gunstock Ranch. We just encourage people to just be slow and quiet around horses, Smith 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 KHON2. A Rock Island man is in the Scott County Jail after police say he shot a man in the chest in Davenport and broke into cars in Scott County in separate incidents. One criminal complaint filed in Scott County Court says Davenport Police responded to the 5200 block of N. Ripley Street on July 5 at about 8:03 p.m. about a person who was shot in the chest. The defendant, identified as Vester Anderson III, 18, allegedly shot the victim with a handgun in the chest. The victim was taken to Genesis East-Mercy One Hospital for emergency surgery. Vester Anderson III (Scott County Jail) Another criminal complaint says on July 12 at about 6:43 a.m. Anderson was a passenger in a Toyota Camry that had been reported stolen by the registered vehicle owner. The car was valued at approximately $23,000 $26,500 according to Kelly Blue Book. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The complaint says Anderson is accused of burglarizing a Ford Explorer in Parkview, Iowa. He and a passenger were seen on video going up to the unlocked Explorer and going through it. The owner said she was missing a bag from her center console that contained miscellaneous items like scissors, hair ties and bandages. Anderson attempted to burglarize a Honda Civic in Long Grove but did not get into the vehicle. He was the backseat passenger in the Toyota Camry during a vehicle pursuit that ended in an accident. After the accident, Anderson fled on foot and ignored orders from officers/deputies. A warrant for Andersons arrest was issued on July 23 and he was taken into custody on August 7. He has been charged in four different court cases with: Attempted murder Control of a firearm by a domestic abuse offender Willful injury 2 counts of interference with official acts Attempted third-degree burglary Third-degree burglary Possession of a controlled substance First-degree theft Probation violation Anderson is being held in the Scott County Jail on a combined cash-only and secured bond of $56,250 and has a preliminary hearing on August 15. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) Rockford Police arrested Mitchel Williams, 30, for allegedly attacking the owner of a Citgo Gas Station near the front of the business. On August 6, around 7 p.m., officers were called to the Citgo Gas Station on South Alpine for reports of an armed man. Williams was begging for money, the business owner reported. The victim told authorities that the suspect threatened him with a pole and punched him in the face. Mitchell Williams. Photo: Winnebago County Jail Williams admitted to officials that he punched the store owner. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Security footage showed the suspect hit the victim with a notebook before multiple patrons diffused the situation. Williams is charged with aggravated battery in a public place and criminal property damage. 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 MyStateline | WTVO News, Weather and Sports. TAMPA If youre going to dine at Mangos Southern Kitchen + Bar anytime soon, you should probably make a reservation. Thats what owners Nadege Dee Andre and David Andre would like guests to know. At least, its what they wish they wouldve let guests know a few weeks ago, when hundreds of fans swarmed the Seminole Heights restaurant on opening day. The couple, who own a popular but much smaller fast-casual restaurant in Temple Terrace, knew they had a big following. They just didnt know how big. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On opening day,more than 200 people arrived around the same time to the new spot, which is located inside a two-story carriage house at 5137 N Florida Ave. Accommodating that many customers was impossible, but rather than turn people away, they tried to do what they could to get everyone in. But the staff wasnt prepared, and seemingly everything that could go wrong did. Point-of-sale systems crashed. Some diners waited hours for their food. And a social media post advertising the restaurants dress code didnt go over well. Later, guests turned to social media and reviewing platforms to complain. Meanwhile, the restaurant remained slammed. It lasted for a week, Dee Andre, 44, said. I wanted to run away. What the restaurant experienced isnt unheard of in todays volatile social media landscape. Navigating negative commenters online simply comes with the territory of owning a restaurant in 2025. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Though she said she made a point to not get lost in the comments, Dee Andre asked her staff to help mine them for positive feedback, and took to heart some things that needed to change. They hired more people. They fixed technical glitches. And, perhaps most importantly, they startedlimiting the number of reservations available on any given night. A lot of it was compromised, David Andre, 44, said. Food, quality ... it was a shock. We knew we had to scale back and get the systems in place. Now, a little over three weeks later, the Andres said the restaurant is beginning to more closely resemble the elevated Southern spot they had in mind. The couple, who are both of Haitian descent, opened their flagship Mangos location in Temple Terrace in 2021. (The name Mangos is a reference to all the tropical fruit Dee Andre grew up eating as a child in Miami.) The couple also ran a catering operation of the same name for several years, and said owning a full-scale restaurant had always been a dream. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement At first, the Temple Terrace spot had its own growing pains. The business opened in the middle of the pandemic, and by the end of the second year, the couple considered closing the restaurant because it was too slow. It was putting such a toll on our family, Dee Andre said. Then, in 2023, everything changed. Ironically, it was the social media landscape that gave the spot a lifesaving boost: Influencers and out-of-town foodies began posting rave reviews on Instagram and TikTok . Local chefs started frequenting the spot and, soon enough, there were consistent lines out the door. At some point, the couple realized they needed to expand. They chose the current Seminole Heights location for the neighborhoods historically robust culinary scene and tight-knit community. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It supports locals and mom-and-pop businesses, David Andre said. It was pretty much the perfect match we wanted to be part of the exciting growth and redevelopment. The new restaurant, which occupies the building once home to trailblazing restaurant The Refinery, has been completely renovated into a three-level, 2,800-square-foot space. Downstairs, which the owners call 1.0, theres a chic, 50-seat dining room outfitted in plush green armchairs and booths along with a 12-seat bar. Up a short flight of stairs, guests are greeted by a bright green plant wall emblazoned with glowing neon letters reading: This Must Be the Place. That leads to a small and cozy upstairs lounge (called 1.5), which includes a small second bar. And outside on an upstairs rooftop space (2.0) theres a large open-air patio decorated with plants and dangling pendant lights. While the food at the Temple Terrace location has more Caribbean flair, the new restaurant will focus heavily on Southern and comfort food dishes, with some Caribbean specials on occasion. But the Haitian and Caribbean influence is still there, from the homemade spice rubs and marinades to the Haitian pikliz a spicy, tangy pickled vegetable condiment thats a hallmark of the cuisine. To start, there are dishes like fried salmon bites served with a Creole aioli ($14), fried chicken wings tossed in a sweet and spicy Thai chile sauce ($10), and a creamy collard green and cheese dip ($14) served with butter-pressed Cuban bread from La Segunda Bakery across the street. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Entrees and larger dishes run the gamut: smothered turkey wings ($22), lobster and shrimp pasta tossed in a creamy Cajun sauce ($44), braised oxtail ($35), a garlic-and-herb salmon ($40), a whole grilled or fried snapper ($37) served with an herbed butter sauce. Sides include Southern staples like collard greens with smoked turkey ($7), baked mac and cheese ($7) and cinnamon-spiked candied yams ($7). Though the Andres said theyve made drastic improvements following their opening, there are some things they say theyre not budging on, including a business casual dress code (they said they havent had any issues so far). Their original vision hasnt wavered either: to own and operate an elevated Southern restaurant with a community focus. It taught us a hard lesson, David Andre said. Theres got to be a balance we knew that was not who we are. I think were finally at a point where we can show the Tampa Bay community the mission we have. ROME, NY (WUTR/WFXV/WPNY) Rome Police are asking for the publics help in an early-morning dispute in which one person ran over another with his vehicle. Officers were called to the Ramblin Inn on North James Street in the City of Rome at approximately 2 am on Friday, August 8. While en route, officers were also informed of a motor vehicle accident involving a pedestrian. Upon their arrival, officers found that a physical altercation had begun inside the Ramblin Inn and continued into the street. During the incident, one of the individuals got into a vehicle and began driving recklessly up and down North James Street. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to police, the victim then entered the roadway to confront the suspect. At that point, he was struck by the suspects vehicle. The driver had fled the scene before police arrived. The victim sustained multiple injuries in the accident, including several spinal fractures. Rome Police are asking anyone with any information regarding this case to contact the Rome Police Departments TIP Line at 315-339-7744. You may also submit a fully anonymous tip online through the Mohawk Valley Crime Stoppers website, over the phone at 1-866-730-8477 (TIPS), or by using the P3 Tips mobile app. This incident remains under investigation. Eyewitness News will provide more information as it becomes available to us. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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 WUTR/WFXV - CNYhomepage.com. A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPMs Morning Memo. Sign up for the email version. The Retribution: FBI Edition President Trump continues to decimate the senior ranks of the FBI with the unlawful firings of career agents, all of whom hold non-political career positions with civil service protections. The ongoing purge of FBI personnel follows Trumps repeated promises, made over years, to retaliate against the investigators who pursued criminal charges against him for his first-term misconduct. But the purges have expanded beyond those investigators to include officials who have refused to do the White Houses bidding in conducting the purges. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Among the latest casualties is former acting FBI director Brian Driscoll, who stood up to the Justice Department early in Trumps second term as it tried, among other thing, to obtain the names of agents who had investigated Trump. To put a finer point on it, the Trump administration is forcing out the man it plucked from relative obscurity to serve as acting director until Kash Patel could be confirmed by the Senate (although it should be noted that the White House had originally intended to name Driscoll acting deputy director but mistakenly swapped his name with Robert Kissanes and never corrected the error). I understand that you may have a lot of questions regarding why, for which I have no answers, Driscoll said in a message to colleagues reported by the AP. No cause has been articulated at this time. Other officials reportedly fired, effective as soon as today, included: Steven Jensen , an assistant director whom Patel put in charge of the Washington field office in April; Spencer Evans , who had already been demoted from his position running the Las Vegas field office; Walter Giardina , a former Marine who worked on Trump-related investigations, including the contempt of Congress case against Peter Navarro; and Christopher Meyer, who had worked on Trump investigations. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement None of the men appeared eligible to retire, according to the NYT, which reported that Giardinas wife died of cancer last month. Using and Abusing the FBI Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) said the FBI had agreed to his request to help track down Democratic state legislators who fled Texas to deny Republican lawmakers a quorum in their mid-decade redistricting scheme. The FBI has no obvious legal authority to track down state legislators who have committed no crimes, let alone force them to return from Illinois to Texas. Florida Joins GOP Redistricting-palooza Florida Republicans have begun the process of a mid-decade redistricting of their own as President Trump and the GOP go all out to preserve their narrow House majority. Trumps Sows Confusion With Census Post President Trumps social media post yesterday morning declaring that he was ordering a new census with a citizenship question included set off a day of confusion. Was Trump ordering a new unprecedented mid-decade census or was he re-upping his past failed bid to add a citizenship question, this time for the next census in 2030? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A day later, its still not clear. The best reporting, like NPRs, explicitly noted the confusion and that the administration was not responsive to efforts to clear it up: The press office for the White House did not respond to NPRs requests for comment. In a statement, the Commerce Department said: The Census Bureau will immediately adopt modern technology tools for use in the Census to better understand our robust Census data. We will accurately analyze the data to reflect the number of legal residents in the United States. The worst reporting danced around the uncertainty posed by an erratic president with itchy thumbs and his own social media platform. Trumps Birthright Citizenship EO Blocked Again Since the Roberts Court used the birthright citizenship case to rewrite the law on universal injunctions, three different federal courts have used the class action workaround to block President Trumps executive order nationwide, the WaPo notes: The upshot is that the president is facing injunctions from more lower courts than he was before the Supreme Courts ruling, and federal judges have demonstrated, at least for now, that they maintain significant authority to slow down the implementation of the administrations most consequential policies. The big test, of course, is still to come: Will appeals courts and ultimately the Supreme Court uphold the nationwide class action certifications? Stay tuned. Only at TPM TPMs Josh Kovensky: HHS Has Revived a Failed Program to Scrape Americans Data and Track Autism, Senate Suggests Good Read Wired: A string of previously undisclosed break-ins at Tennessee National Guard armories last fall marks the latest in a growing series of security breaches at military facilities across the United States, raising fresh concerns about the vulnerability of US armories to theft and intrusion. At least some of the break-ins seem to point to potential insider help. Neo-Nazi Gets 20 Years for Power Grid Plot Brandon Russell, a founding member of the neo-Nazi Atomwaffen Division, was sentenced Thursday to the maximum possible of 20 years for his conviction plotting to attack Baltimores electrical grid, part of a rise in accelerationist extremism. Sign of the Times Have a Great Weekend! Before you head out for the weekend, please take a moment to contribute to the TPM Journalism Fund. We only need $50,000 to reach our goal of $500,000. Help put us over the top before the week is up so we can get back to regular programming next week. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement If thats too big of an ask but you still want to support TPMs independent journalism, were offering a discounted annual membership for just $25. Click here to join. Our profound thanks to all who have contributed or joined during the drive. Its an amazing demonstration of support from the TPM community. Were deeply grateful. Do you like Morning Memo? Let us know! Political pundit Karl Rove said both Democrats and Republicans face an uphill battle when it comes to redistricting, amid state regulations and contested campaigns. First of all, lets admit there are going to be consequences for both parties as a result of what is happening in Texas that neither party will like, Rove said during a Thursday appearance on Fox Newss Americas Newsroom. The former Bush administration adviser said GOP candidates wont automatically win races if five additional House seats are added in the Lone Star State, as their opponents pose stiff competition. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement There are not a lot of places you can see a clear path for the Democrats picking up a number of seats to counter what might happen in Texas, a gain of four or five, Rove told Fox News. And remember, when we talk about five seats in Texas, one of those seats requires the Republicans to beat a popular, albeit troubled, Democratic incumbent who ran 6 points ahead of Kamala Harris last fall and one of the 13 people who 13 Democrats who won a seat that Donald Trump carried, he added, likely referring to Rep. Henry Cuellar. Democrats in New York and California are pushing to counter Republican efforts by altering state constitutions to approve redrawn congressional districts outside a census cycle. Rove said the measures are unlikely to advance, citing the hurdles California Gov. Gavin Newsom and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul face. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Gov. Newsom would need to first get legislation through his very pliant democratic Legislature, which he can do. But then he would have to go to the voters in November and get them to retroactively remove the provision from the constitution and validate his plan, and thats a very big uphill climb, the political pundit noted earlier in the segment. New York, Gov. Hochul says, All is fair in love and war, and were going to retaliate, but her constitution prohibits them from mid-decade redistricting and so, hard for us to see how that gets done. Now, can Maryland step in maybe and by legislation make take away the one Republican seat in the state, he added. Texas Democrats have fled the state in an effort to block a vote that would approve additional House seats. However, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) has urged the FBI to ensure lawmakers return under the threat of legal recourse. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement President Trump has said the FBI may have to get involved after telling reporters GOP officials were entitled to additional representatives from the state. 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. BATH COUNTY, Ky. (FOX 56) A Bath County court found a man guilty on Thursday of installing tracking and surveillance devices on the car and residence of a person who filed an emergency protective order (EPO) against him. George Tackett, 36, of Rowan County, was convicted of first-degree stalking on Wednesday, Aug. 6. LATEST KENTUCKY NEWS: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A Commonwealths attorney posted on social media that the jury gave a verdict of one year in prison for Tackett. A formal sentencing hearing date for Tackett has not yet been announced. 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. SACRAMENTO, California Texas Democrats appearing alongside California Gov. Gavin Newsom here Friday vowed to press forward with their quorum-breaking effort to counter a Republican-led redistricting in Texas, as the war over redistricting escalates. We are running from nothing, said Texas state Rep. Ann Johnson, one of a group of state Democrats who fled Texas to deny Republicans quorum. We see the danger that is coming and we are running straight for it. The tableau of Johnson and several other Texans at the California governors mansion, for the second time in as many weeks, illustrated how quickly the struggle over Texas districts has transformed into a national battle over the Trump agenda, with Newsom leading Californias to retaliate with a redistricting of its own. State legislators in single-party states around the country are being enlisted to either counter Texas, as in California and New York , or to build on it, as in Indiana . Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This is not just about Texas, Johnson said. The national redistricting standoff has intensified since Newsom, a likely presidential contender, last hosted dissident Texas lawmakers at the governors mansion. Texas Democrats left the state to block the Republican majority from approving new GOP-friendly districts, with many decamping to the safer ground of Illinois. Sen. John Cornyn retaliated by asking the FBI to track down the lawmakers, a request that he said on Thursday the FBI agreed to. As Texas moves closer to approving new maps and the Trump administration reaches out to other red states , Newsom and top California Democrats in Congress have ramped up their campaign to draw California Republicans out of office. If theyre trying to destroy our democracy, state Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas said at a news conference with Newsom and the Texas Democrats, youre going to have to come through California. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Said Newsom: We will nullify what happens in Texas. Newsom is pushing the Democratic-controlled Legislature to trigger a November special election, laying the groundwork for a campaign by circulating polling, as mapmakers hammer out a blueprint to eliminate a half-dozen of California's remaining House Republicans. Rep. Zoe Lofgren said on Friday that every California House Democrat supports the plan. The Legislature will need to vote to put a new map to voters just days after returning from recess on Aug. 18 (Rivas said the map will become publicly available next week). Democratic leaders said they expect theyll have the votes to place a measure on the ballot, and they projected confidence that California voters will also be on their side. I believe the people of the Golden State will do the right thing, said Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire. I trust the voters of California more than I would ever trust Trump and his lackeys in Texas. Challenged by attorneys and pressed for answers by federal judges in Miami, the DeSantis and Trump administrations have released documents that they say establish the states legal authority to hold hundreds of immigrant detainees for the federal government at a detention camp deep in the Everglades. The state and federal governments asserted in court and in legal filings submitted late Thursday that agreements authorizing officers in state agenciestoperform certain federal immigration enforcement functions such as detention govern operations at the unprecedented complex known as Alligator Alcatraz. One of those 287(g) agreements, with the Florida Department of Corrections, was amended on Wednesday to say that corrections officers could detain immigrants outside state prisons at ICE-approved facilities and applied retroactively to cover the six weeks the facility has been open. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The states attorney, Nicholas Meros, pointed to agreements with nine state agencies including the Florida Department of Lottery, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to show why the DeSantis administration is able to detain and supervise the detention of illegal aliens at Alligator Alcatraz. All nine agencies are performing detention duties at the facility, Meros wrote in a court filing Thursday. It is unclear how many of the agencies officers are currently deputized and working at the site. The governments answers come as immigration attorneys and environmental groups have questioned the legality of the detention center, which appears to operate differently than other facilities run by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Most immigration detention centers are run by the federal government or on its behalf, through contracts with private companies or state and municipal authorities. Alligator Alcatraz is run by the state, with limited access to federalimmigration courts, according to attorneys and legal documents. In two separate lawsuits filed in federal court in Miami, lawyers and judges last month demanded the DeSantis and Trump administrations produce legal agreements between the state and federal governments related to the detention camps operations. Thursdays filings offered the first glimpse at their explanation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Notably, there was no agreement with the Florida Division of Emergency Management, which has overseen the construction and operation of the site since its inception. There was also no evidence of an Intergovernmental Service Agreement, which typically authorizes state or municipal officials to help ICE manage detention facilities. Paul Schwiep, a lawyer who is representing environmental groups in a lawsuit over the sites operations, argued in a court hearing Thursday that the site itself should have a 287(g) agreement or an intergovernmental agreement in order to have authority over detainees. Either the state is operating this detention center under color of federal authority, or they are operating a completely rogue facility that is unregulated and unlawful, Schwiep said. The states argument To establish legal custody of detainees sent to Alligator Alcatraz, the state is relying partly on a document signed with the Florida Department of Corrections one day before the judges Aug. 7 deadline to provide copies of any agreement explaining the state and federal governments relationship to the site. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The document an amendment to the state agencys 287(g) agreement from 2020 says the states corrections department may provide detention services for ICE-approved, state-operated detention facilities, other than the Departments correctional facilities, that maintain, on ICEs behalf, custody of aliens detained pursuant to the federal immigration laws. Prior to being amended, the agencys 2020 agreement only covered correctional facilities within the Department of Corrections. The document, signed on Aug. 5 and 6, now covers persons providing detention services operating under the supervision of the Department dating back to the start of June, the month in which the Florida Division of Emergency Management seized an airfield from Miami-Dade County and began building the countrys newest immigration detention center. The Department of Corrections is the only agency with a 287(g) agreement involving correctional facilities. The state agency did not respond to a request seeking comment on how many deputized correctional officers were currently staffing the makeshift detention camp. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In court filings, the Division of Emergency Management, the Florida State Guard and two private contractors Critical Response Strategies and GardaWorld Security Services Inc. were identified as the entities responsible for carrying out detention operations at the detention camp. The State Guard, which is a civilian military force under the governors command, is the only one with a 287(g) agreement with the federal government, though it was not part of the responses to the court order. Questions in Court Lawyers representing the Trump administration provided different documents on Thursday in response to demands to explain how Alligator Alcatraz operates. During a court hearing on Thursday in a lawsuit over the environmental impact of the detention center, federal lawyers said the 287(g) agreement between the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and ICE established the authority to run the facility. Marissa Piropato, an attorney representing the Department of Homeland Security, said the federal government had no final say over actions at Alligator Alcatraz where it was built, how it was built or how many detainees are held there. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams asked whether there were any federal officials who visited the site at all. Piropato said there are ICE agents who go every so often, but they do not supervise the facility on a daily basis. Williams pointed out that legally, immigration detention facilities must be run by trained immigration personnel. She asked who those personnel would be, if not federal agents. Piropato said it would be through officials who entered into 287(g) agreements. When asked to specify, she said that the Florida Department of Law Enforcement agreement was the one that applied to Alligator Alcatraz in particular. At the time, federal lawyers had submitted that 287(g) document as their evidence of an agreement. The position made it into Williams order on Thursday halting construction at the site for two weeks. State lawyers, however, submitted Florida Highway Patrols 287(g) document. The Highway Patrol was not brought up during the hearing. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement When attorneys for the state and federal government responded to an order in a separate lawsuit to provide legal agreements establishing the operation of the site, they submitted nine 287(g) agreements. Florida Department of Law Enforcement did not respond to a request seeking comment. A staging facility In a little over a month, more than 1,000 detainees have been held at the Florida immigration detention center, which the DeSantis administration erected in eight days on an airfield in the Everglades. It was billed as a one-stop shop for detention and deportations and DeSantis has falsely said that site is only holding immigrants whom a judge has ordered removed from the country. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Juan Lopez Vega, the deputy field office director for ICE in Miami, said in a sworn declaration submitted on Thursday that detainees who end up at the site are at various stages of immigration processing. He said that while ICE may make decisions regarding transfers, Florida retains ultimate decision authority as to who is detained in the facility. The detention camp, Lopez Vega added, is meant to provide short-term housing while ICE figures out where to place immigrant detainees on a long-term basis, to start or to continue their removal proceedings, or to start the process of deporting them. The statement was filed in response to a lawsuit that stems from immigration attorneys facing struggles with legal access. In the lawsuit, lawyers maintain that immigrants held at the site are unable to challenge their detention because there is no federal immigration court overseeing their cases there. On Thursday, Lopez Vega said in court filings that detainees can file a request for a bond hearing with the immigration court with jurisdiction over their removal proceedings or an immigration court with the jurisdiction over the place of their detention. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But immigration lawyers say immigrant detainees are held at Alligator Alcatraz without access to immigration court. Lopez Vega said that if a detainee had already requested a bond hearing at the federal Krome Detention Center in Miami-Dade County, then they would be transported to the immigration court there. However, for weeks lawyers had said that Krome was not scheduling bond hearings for detainees detained at Alligator Alcatraz and some had been canceled. SWEETWATER, Texas (KTAB/KRBC) For Dr. Kim Alexander, CEO of Collegiate Edu-Nation, the future of rural Texas hinges on one thing: education. A more highly educated rural population will lead to the innovation that creates rural jobs, Alexander said at this weeks SPUR Conference, hosted at Texas State Technical College in Sweetwater. His nonprofit partners with small school districts to connect public education with college and workforce opportunities, serving about 30,000 students in Texas and 8,000 more nationwide. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Rural Texas is very important to us providing the food, fuel, and fiber necessary to not only run Texas, but the U.S., Dr. Alexander added. Alexander was among more than 100 nonprofit leaders, educators, and public officials who gathered for the inaugural Strategic Philanthropy Uniting Rural (SPUR) conference, organized by the Community Foundation of Abilene. Over two days, attendees explored strategic planning, fundraising, and nonprofit storytelling all aimed at strengthening rural communities. The conference continues through tomorrow, August 8. 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 KTAB - BigCountryHomepage.com. Almost 90% of North Dakota more than 39 million acres is used for either farming or ranching. The state leads the country in agricultural production in a range of categories, including spring wheat, durum wheat, dry edible peas, dry edible beans, honey, flaxseed and canola. Yet, over the last decade, dozens of rural grocery stores across the state have closed from 137 in 2014 to 90 in 2025 increasing the prevalence of food deserts, or areas where people must travel more than 10 miles to reach a grocery store. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Rural stores often struggle to compete with big-box stores and corporate chains, Ellen Huber, rural development director for the North Dakota Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives, said in a news release. The wholesale price these small-town stores are paying for certain products is more than what you could buy that product for at retail level at one of the big-box stores. Related: Iowa farmland consolidation expected to grow as state faces 'tidal wave' of transition Now, the association will test whether a grocery and local food hub model works in the north-central part of the state, and if successful, it could expand elsewhere in North Dakota and beyond. A food hub "actively manages the aggregation and distribution of food products," the news release says, with services that can include transportation, marketing and sales, along with light processing and packaging, a commercial kitchen and training center. A study conducted earlier this year in a pilot area a roughly 100-mile radius around Minot identified six to eight grocery stores interested in "collaborative purchasing and product redistribution," the news release says. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The overarching goal is to provide rural residents with convenient access to healthy, affordable foods, including fruits, vegetables, meat, dairy and grains that are produced right here in North Dakota," Huber said. The advancement of the project was made possible through a $12.6 million grant commitment from the Bush Foundation. What is a food desert? In general, food deserts are "geographic areas where residents have few to no convenient options for securing affordable and healthy foods, especially fresh fruits and vegetables," according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation. About 39 million people, or 13% of the U.S. population, were living in low-income, low-access areas more than one mile in urban areas or 10 miles in rural areas from the nearest supermarket or large grocery store, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture report published in 2022. This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Food hub project seeks to aid North Dakota's rural grocery stores Audrain Community Hospital in Mexico, Missouri, closed its doors in 2022. Rural hospital leaders say the recently approved federal budget plan will impact patients no matter what type of insurance they have, as more Missourians defer care and rely more on emergency departments (Meg Cunningham/The Beacon). Missouris 67 rural hospitals are pondering a dramatically different future under President Donald Trumps new budget plan. The recently approved budget bill will slash federal Medicaid spending by more than $1 trillion over the next decade. By some estimates, it could lead to 8.6 million people nationwide losing health coverage. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Various estimates conclude that between 130,000 and 170,000 Missourians could lose coverage under the states Medicaid program, known as MO HealthNet, over the next decade. And even if you have commercial insurance, the impact on hospital operations and finances could still affect your health care. As people delay treatment for their health conditions due to a lack of insurance, theyll start relying more on the emergency room as their primary form of health care, experts say. That will lead to more crowded emergency departments. Moreover, the burden to pay for uninsured patients will shift onto the hospitals that provide the care, and eventually back to patients. With the budget plan in motion and spending cuts materializing, Missouris hospitals are now taking a look at their finances and preparing for an uptick in costs. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement For rural Missourians, even those who arent on Medicaid, it means the types of health care available to them in the form of obstetric units, primary care providers or specialty providers could be changing. Or their nearby hospital could be gone altogether. We are likely going to see rural hospital closures, said Sheldon Weisgrau, the vice president of health policy at the Missouri Foundation for Health, in a press briefing. We have not had any rural hospitals close since we expanded the Medicaid program, he said. We are likely to see rural hospitals close because they operate on the financial edge. What do worsening hospital finances under Medicaid cuts mean for you? Mercy, which is based in the St. Louis area, operates 112 hospitals and emergency rooms across Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and Arkansas and has a large footprint in rural Missouri. Mercy estimates that the budget will lead to bigger revenue losses every year. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Five years from now, they estimate, theyll lose $300 million in revenue annually. Thats going to mean were going to have to radically look at how we deliver care differently that is still responsive to our communities, said Cheryl Matejka, the executive vice president and chief financial officer at Mercy. Its going to be different for us to survive and thrive. Under the plan, Missouri stands to lose an estimated $23 billion in federal funding over the next decade, according to the Missouri Foundation for Health.* Much of Missouris federal money covers the cost of Medicaid for the Affordable Care Act expansion group, which voters approved coverage for with an amendment to the state constitution in 2020. The new federal budget restricts how states and hospitals can pay for the services they provide by limiting the fees that states can collect from health care providers. It also puts limits on what states can pay hospitals to help them fill gaps in their finances for treating Medicaid patients. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Broken down by year, Missouris federal funding for Medicaid will drop about 20% annually as the plan moves forward, Weisgrau said. All of this is going to have a disproportionate impact in rural communities, Weisgrau said. The Missouri Foundation for Health analyzed the budget plan, he added, and found that rural health care providers could lose 21 cents of every dollar they currently get from Medicaid. According to KFF, hospitals overall had an operating margin of 5.2% in 2023. For rural hospitals, that margin was 3.1%. The bulk of the concern stems from an expected rise in uncompensated care hospitals treating patients even if they cannot pay. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement When folks lose their insurance coverage, it doesnt mean they dont continue to get sick, Weisgrau said. A lot of them stay out of the health care system because they know they cant afford it. Once their health deteriorates to a certain point, they go to the emergency room, where they are required to be treated, even if they cannot pay for that care. Mercy, for example, sets aside part of its budget to account for that cost. We give away about half a billion dollars of uncompensated or unreimbursed care, said John Mohart, the executive vice president and chief operation officer for Mercy. Some of that is for Medicaid patients already, because it doesnt cover the costs that we have. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But for smaller hospitals, the flexibility to provide that uncompensated care isnt there. Fewer insured people will only increase costs. If you see an uninsured patient, then you probably have to assume that there is a pretty good chance youre just going to have to eat those costs, said Timothy McBride, a public health expert and economist at the Washington University School of Public Health. As a result, even those covered by commercial insurance could see their premiums rise to help cover the care. These costs are passed on to the rest of us, Weisgrau said. We will see private insurance premiums going up. Even folks who have good coverage from their employers and think they might be immune from some of these Medicaid cuts will see impacts of this down the line. How far will the rural hospital fund go in saving at-risk hospitals? To help offset some of the costs rural hospitals are taking on, senators in Washington lobbied for the inclusion of a rural hospital stabilization fund. The budget included $50 billion for rural hospitals over the next five years with the possibility of renewing the fund in the future. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Half of it will be distributed by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, while the other half will flow to states to then send to hospitals. But the fund wont be enough to offset the losses rural hospitals are anticipating. Medicaid spending in rural parts of the country is expected to fall by $137 billion over the next decade $87 billion more than was allocated to the rural hospital fund, according to KFF. And even those estimates, KFF said, are modest because they dont account for how states may change the way they fund Medicaid. During negotiations surrounding the budget bill, senators asked the University of North Carolina Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research to analyze how many rural hospitals may be at risk under the plan. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Their report found that nearly 340 rural hospitals were at risk nationwide, based on the rate of Medicaid patients they serve and their consecutive years of financial losses. In Missouri, four hospitals were considered at-risk, while in Kansas, six hospitals were listed. One of those hospitals is Bothwell Regional Health Center in Sedalia, the citys largest employer with more than 1,000 employees. In 2024, the hospital posted its first profit since 2018, Bothwell CEO Lori Wightman said in a press release in July. Notably, Medicare and Medicaid provided 78% of the payments for its patients. These programs pay well below the actual cost of providing care, Wightman said in the release. Commercial insurance alone cannot close the gap, and that is where subsidies available to rural hospitals are essential. Unfortunately, the cost of providing care, from personnel to technology, continues to rise making a difficult situation harder to stabilize. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Other Missouri hospitals included on the list were Scotland County Memorial Hospital in Memphis, Parkland Health Center in Bonne Terre and Lafayette Regional Health Center in Lexington Sen. Josh Hawleys hometown. Studies show that after a rural hospital closure, low-income and elderly patients were more likely to defer or skip their health care altogether because of transportation challenges. Rural hospital closures also lead to a loss of physicians. One study found that the closure of a rural hospital led to an 8.3% drop in primary care physicians and a 4.8% drop in obstetricians and gynecologists. Health care providers are big employers, Weisgrau said. They are big users of local supplies and commodities. All of that will have to be reduced. People will lose jobs. Economies will decline as a result of these cuts. *Meg Cunninghams coverage of rural health is funded by the Missouri Foundation for Health. This article first appeared on Beacon: Missouri and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Russian forces have attacked Ukraine with 104 Shahed loitering munitions, decoy drones of various types and eight high-speed (jet-powered) drones since the evening of 7 August. Ukrainian air defence has managed to down 82 aerial assets, but hits have also been recorded. Source: Ukraine's Air Force Quote: "As of 08:00, air defence had downed or jammed 82 aerial assets: three jet-powered drones and 79 enemy Shahed UAVs and decoy drones of various types in the country's north, south, east and centre. Hits by 26 UAVs were recorded in 10 locations and the falling of downed drones (debris) in eight locations." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Details: Drones from the Russian cities of Shatalovo, Kursk, Bryansk and Primorsko-Akhtarsk as well as from Cape Chauda in temporarily occupied Crimea. Aircraft, anti-aircraft missile units, electronic warfare units, unmanned systems units and mobile fire groups from Ukraine's defence forces were involved in repelling the attack. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon! US President Donald Trumps deadline for a Russia-Ukraine peace deal is today, but the chances of a ceasefire look slim after the Kremlin launched another barrage of drone strikes. Russian President Vladimir Putin this week met the US special envoy, and an agreement has apparently been reached for the Russian and American leaders to meet. Trump had said that if no ceasefire begins today, then Moscow would face new oil tariffs, though it was not clear if the deadline was still in force. He has had more success dealing with another conflict, between Armenia and Azerbaijan: The two countries leaders will sign a peace deal at the White House today, although the agreement is largely symbolic, The Washington Post reported. Russia launched five Shahed attack drones on an oil depot belonging to the Azerbaijani oil company SOCAR in Ukraines Odesa Oblast on the night of 7-8 August 2025, causing a fire and damaging a diesel pipeline. Source: Ekonomichna Pravda sources in Ukrainian law enforcement Details: The fire was quickly contained, but four SOCAR employees were seriously injured and received emergency medical care. Damage assessments and urgent repairs are ongoing. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Official investigation data has not yet been released, but the locations of strikes by five guided drones clearly indicate that the oil depot was the primary target of the attack," the law enforcement officers said. This is the second deliberate strike in recent weeks on critical infrastructure facilities in Ukraine linked to Azerbaijan. Earlier, a gas distribution station near Orlivka, close to the Romanian border, was also hit. The station is a key part of the Trans-Balkan gas pipeline, through which Azerbaijani gas is planned to flow to Ukraine. Given repeated mentions of Azerbaijani assets as "legitimate targets" in pro-Russian media, the law enforcement sources stressed a high risk of further attacks on SOCAR facilities. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Background: On 28 July 2025, Ukraine received its first import of Azerbaijani gas via the Trans-Balkan corridor. On 8 August, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev are scheduled to meet in Washington, D.C., to sign a peace agreement. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon! Russia is pressuring the Central African Republic (CAR) to phase out the Russian Wagner mercenary group and replace it with Moscow's state-controlled Africa Corps, the Associated Press reported on Aug. 6, citing unnamed sources. The Africa Corps, a newly created unit under the Russian Defense Ministry, is part of Moscow's broader effort to centralize control over foreign military operations once handled by Wagner. Russia's Defense Ministry reportedly demanded cash payments for security services, marking a departure from previous arrangements under Wagner, which involved compensation in the form of natural resources. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement CAR officials have pushed back, reportedly telling Russian negotiators that they are unable to meet the financial demands and want to retain the existing model. The CAR government prefers Wagner, which they view as a more effective force with deep ties to local military and political structures. An undisclosed Russian deputy defense minister has reportedly visited the African country multiple times in 2025 to press for the transition, proposing a cash-based agreement worth billions of CFA francs equivalent to millions of dollars. CAR leaders reportedly have offered to continue payments in gold, uranium, and iron ore, a model used since Wagner's arrival in 2018. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A CAR lawmaker familiar with the talks confirmed Moscow's position to the AP on condition of anonymity, saying the government is expected to present a counterproposal soon. Wagner has played a central role in CAR's internal conflict since 2018, offering military support in exchange for access to resource-rich mining sites. The group gained extensive control over the country's gold and diamond sectors. The mercenary group has also been repeatedly accused of war crimes and extrajudicial killings. After Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin died under suspicious circumstances in a plane crash in August 2023 two months after he staged a short-lived rebellion against the Kremlin Russia began sidelining Wagner and incorporating parts of it into state-controlled military structures. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Several former commanders joined the Russian Defense Ministry or aligned forces like the Chechen-led Akhmat unit. Wagner's influence has waned since withdrawing from Ukraine following Prigozhin's mutiny. Read also: What its really like being Black in Russia Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Russian forces attacked Kyiv Oblast with drones on the night of 7-8 August, causing fires and damage and injuring people. Source: Kyiv Oblast Military Administration Quote: "The enemy has attacked peaceful settlements in Kyiv Oblast with drones. The Bucha district came under attack." Fire Photo: Kyiv Oblast Military Administration Details: Kyiv Oblast Military Administration reported that two women aged 56 and 80 and a 16-year-old girl had been injured in the attack. Quote: "Fires broke out in a residential area due to the enemy attack. Houses were damaged. All the services are working at the scene." Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon! The Russian oligarch billionaire lifestyle can be yours for the potentially low, low price of tens of millions of dollars, courtesy of the U.S. government. The National Maritime Services, working on behalf of the U.S. Marshals Service, is auctioning off a superyacht, the $300-million-plus Amadea, which currently sits in a San Diego harbor, with a bid deposit starting at $10 million. Florida-based Fraser Yachts, the auctions promotional agents, described the prize as one of the most comprehensively equipped yachts in her class. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The 348-foot-long ship was built in 2017 and can comfortably host 16 guests in eight luxurious staterooms. An additional 21 cabins can house a professional crew of up to 36 workers. One of the ship's jewels is a glass elevator that serves all decks, while a second lift is available for crew. The yacht includes a glass-edged mosaic pool with submerged barstools, and an outdoor bar area surrounded by sun pads (cushioned areas for perfecting your tan). The ships main salon showcases a piano and marble fireplace. The superyacht Amadea sails into San Diego Bay on June 27. (Gregory Bull / Associated Press) The yacht was designed by Espen ino, the acclaimed Norwegian designer and naval architect, while its decadent interiors were created by designer Francois Zuretti. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The ship has an ocean-crossing range of 8,000 nautical miles at a speed of 13 knots. Read more: So who are the Russian oligarchs slapped with U.S. sanctions? For starters, theyre billionaires For late-arriving quests, the Amadea also boasts a helideck. The U.S. Justice Department maintained in a 2023 civil forfeiture complaint that Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov was the ships owner. Kerimov took possession of the vessel sometime around 2021, though his transactions were cloaked through shell companies, according to the complaint. The Amadea is escorted by the Coast Guard in the ocean off San Diego. The vessel was seized from a sanctioned Russian oligarch, officials say. (Gregory Bull / Associated Press) Kerimov was sanctioned by the U.S. in 2018 and labeled a "specially designated national" for his alleged role in money laundering related to the purchase of French villas. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The U.S. Department of the Treasurys Office of Foreign Assets Control determined Kerimov was a direct beneficiary of Russian President Vladimir Putin and played a key role in advancing Russias malign activities, which includes the invasion of Ukraine. The U.S. has said its working with allies to put pressure on Russian oligarchs, some of whom are close to Putin and have had their yachts seized, to try to compel him to stop the war, the Associated Press reports. The Amadea was seized in Fiji in April 2022 and arrived in San Diego in June that year. Read more: Fiji says U.S. can seize Russian yacht despite disputed ownership but allows appeal Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ruled in March that the Amadea was to be forfeited to the federal government. That decision is being appealed by the man who claims to own the sumptuous vessel Eduard Khudainatov, the nonsanctioned former chairman of Russian state-controlled oil giant Rosneft, according to the Associated Press. U.S. prosecutors maintain that Khudainatov is a straw owner of the yacht. On July 1, the Marshals Service authorized Fraser Yachts as the promotional agent for the sealed bid auction. The auction is being conducted in U.S. dollars and is running until 11 a.m. on Sept. 10 at amadeaauction.com/ . The initial deposit necessary to make a bid is $10 million. All bids will remain sealed, with the highest bidder winning the yacht. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Should multiple participants tie with the top price, each bidder will be given a chance to increase their offering until a winner is determined. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Russian forces attacked Sumy Oblast with drones on the night of 7-8 August, injuring a man and damaging houses, buildings and cars. Source: Oleh Hryhorov, Head of Sumy Oblast Military Administration, on Telegram Details: Sumy Oblast Military Administration reported that non-residential buildings, a shop and a car had been damaged in the Sumy hromada. [A hromada is an administrative unit designating a village, several villages, or a town, and their adjacent territories ed.] Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A 54-year-old man has been injured in the attack. Several high-rise buildings, cars and social infrastructure facilities were damaged in strikes by three drones on the Shostka hromada. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon! KIGALI (Reuters) -A Rwandan man, who was arrested in Norway for crimes he allegedly committed during the East African nation's 1994 genocide, has been repatriated, a spokesperson for Rwanda's prosecutor's office said on Friday. Francois Gasana, who was a student during the genocide in which more than 1 million Tutsis and moderate Hutus were systematically massacred by Hutu extremists, was arrested in Norway in 2022. Norwegian police announced in March that he would be sent back to Rwanda after a court said conditions for his extradition had been met. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Faustin Nkusi, spokesperson for the prosecutor's office, confirmed his arrival in Kigali, adding that Gasana was accused of killing a child during the genocide and inciting others to participate in the killings. "The crimes we are charging him (with) are crimes of genocide," Nkusi told journalists at Kigali's airport after Gasana's arrival. It was not immediately known whether Gasana had secured legal representation, and he was not allowed to speak to journalists. Photos published in Rwandan media showed police officers escorting Gasana from the plane that flew him from Norway. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, which was set up in Tanzania in late 1994 to try the masterminds of the genocide, closed in 2015 after convicting 61 suspects. Other prominent suspects have since been captured around the world following decades on the run, and Rwanda's own internal justice system has handled nearly 2 million cases. (Reporting by Philbert Girinema; Editing by George Obulutsa, Ammu Kannampilly and Joe Bavier) State schools Superintendent Ryan Walters says the Oklahoma State Department of Education will allow school districts to use alternative benchmark assessments approved by the agency in place of current so-called high-stakes testing in math and English language arts in grades 3-8. The announcement came as the more than 500 districts across the state are gearing up for the start of the 2025-26 school year. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, as well as some district superintendents and the state's education secretary, raised immediate questions about the potential consequences of dropping the state tests. Walters cited an unscientific survey he conducted, which he said indicated 81% of almost 23,000 respondents said state testing isnt necessary for evaluating student learning. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement By moving away from outdated state tests and empowering local districts, were reducing the burden on students, parents, and teachers while ensuring high-quality education that is no longer driven by bureaucrats or outside groups, Walters said. Walters, however, does not have the authority to unilaterally make such a decision. According to state law, the State Board of Education shall adopt a statewide system of student assessments that comply with the federal Every Student Succeeds Act. Walters is the chair of the board, which has seven members, six of whom are appointed by the governor. Walters and the four newest board members, appointed earlier this year, have clashed on multiple issues. The Oklahoma Legislature also would likely weigh in on any such action. One of the most influential legislators on education issues, Rep. Dell Kerbs, who's the chair of the House Education Oversight Committee, threw proverbial cold water on Walters' idea. "End-of-year state assessments are mandated by both state and federal law," said Kerbs, R-Shawnee. "The Legislature has consistently worked to make student testing more efficient and meaningful for students, parents and teachers. We look forward to continued collaboration with Superintendent Walters and school districts so that any proposed changes to student testing align with state law and provides clear, actionable information on student college and career readiness." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Also according to state law, another agency, the Commission for Educational Quality and Accountability, shall determine the cut scores for the performance levels on all statewide assessments. In May, the commission reset the cut scores which measure student proficiency levels to more closely align with national standards, after approving standards in 2024 that proved problematic, as they lowered the bar for students to achieve a proficient score. The 2024 standards had been recommended by Walters' agency. The (state Board of Education) and the Legislature needs to be involved in this, said former state Rep. Mark McBride, a Republican from Moore who once chaired the Oklahoma House Appropriations and Budget Education Subcommittee. He cant just wave his wand and make this happen. This would be the makings of something that we could possibly agree on, but it needs more thought put into it than what he's put. We have way too much testing and we need to cut back on some of that. but he needs to bring some people in who know more about the testing than he does. District superintendents skeptical about latest Ryan Walters mandate Like McBride, Mid-Del Schools Superintendent Rick Cobb said hes never been a fan of state testing and also questioned whether Walters can singlehandedly upend them. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement There are a lot of questions about, How is this even possible? Cobb said. My phone has been blowing up ever since those news alerts started going out. Mid-Del schools will still have state testing in the spring unless theres clear guidance about ending it, Cobb said. For now, he said hes going to have to determine what to communicate to principals and teachers. We have all this momentum getting people excited about getting their classrooms ready and all of that, Cobb said. I dont want my people to quit focusing there and start talking about this because its a distraction in my opinion. Andy Evans, the interim superintendent of Kingfisher Public Schools, said doing away with standardized testing would threaten access to two major pots of funding for Oklahoma common education: from the federal government, which requires standardized testing, as well as from the so-called "1017 Fund" at the state level. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to the nonpartisan Oklahoma Policy Institute, the 1017 Fund, also known as the Education Reform Revolving Fund, is a dedicated revenue fund that the Oklahoma Legislature appropriates to the Oklahoma State Department of Education. It was created by an education reform law passed in 1990 known as House Bill 1017. It consists of revenues generated from income, tobacco and sales taxes, as well as tribal gaming exclusivity fees and horse track gaming. Evans said one of that law's stipulations for access to the fund is for the state education agency to conduct standardized tests. About $1.068 billion which is about 27.7% of total state appropriations for the state Department of Education was appropriated from the 1017 Fund in fiscal year 2025. Earlier in August, Walters' agency said it would ask the federal government for a five-year waiver from the testing requirements under the Every Student Succeeds Act, commonly known as ESSA. However, that waiver has not yet been granted, as such requests require a 30-day public comment period, which won't end until Sept. 8. The waiver request from the state agency asks for the federal agency to grant it starting with the 2025-26 school year. It also asks for "flexibility to expand its use of alternative assessments including the Classical Learning Test (CLT), the SAT, and innovative benchmark assessments. These would be used in lieu of assessments constrained by a peer review system that has grown restrictive, outdated and effectively monopolistic." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement State Education Secretary Nellie Tayloe Sanders, the chair of the Commission for Educational Quality and accountability, noted the unpopularity of the standardized tests but said more thought is needed before simply throwing them out. "Oklahoma students deserve to have a high quality education," Sanders said. "Standardized tests have long been criticized in the education system. While we can all agree that the status quo isnt working, tossing out tests without thinking through next steps can be short sighted. I look forward to working with the Oklahoma State Department of Education to find a path forward to ensure our kids have the skills they need for their futures. Walters has tried before to push the boundaries of his authority It's not the first time Walters has tried to implement major education policy changes in Oklahoma without seeking approval from those with authority to make those changes, such as the state Board of Education or the Legislature. Most recently, he tried to mandate that every Oklahoma district pay for meals for every student, after boards for those districts already had approved budgets for the 2025-26 school year and without providing the millions of dollars in extra funding such a mandate would require. At the time, state Rep. Dick Lowe, R-Amber, the chair of the House Common Education Committee, said Walters did not have the Constitutional or legal authority to direct how individual school districts allocate their budgets. As such, there is no legal basis for the State Department of Education to retaliate through special sanctions over budget decisions that are entirely within districts' rights." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Reacting to Walters' latest move to end state testing, Rep. Melissa Provenzano acknowledged that teachers and parents have been calling for a similar move for years. "And yet there is the lawful way, and then there is this approach," Provenzano, D-Tulsa, said in a post on social media. A former school administrator, Provenzano noted Walters did not present his plan to the State Board of Education for approval. Senate Minority Leader Julia Kirt said "Oklahomans are tired" of Walters. "As students are going back to school, what parents want to know is pretty simple: Does my child have a quality teacher in their classroom, and do they have the support they need to educate my child and set them up for success?" said Kirt, D-Oklahoma City. "The only reason Ryan Walters is even talking about high-stakes testing is to distract folks from the countless scandals that have happened under his watch. (This story was updated to add new information.) This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Oklahoma state testing: Walters says he'll end some statewide tests SALISBURY, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) A man accused wielding a machete during a robbery of a Salisbury convenience store was arrested Friday. According to the Salisbury Police Department, officers responded to the 1000 block of East Innes Street, near Interstate 85, at 3:45 a.m. Aug. 8. They were told that a man armed with a machete had entered the store and demanded money. Rowan County alleged burglar who was shot at by homeowner arrested after car crash: Sheriff Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The man was reportedly given an undisclosed amount of money, and at that time, he left in a vehicle. Officers were able to watch surveillance video and identify the vehicle in which the suspect, 31-year-old Rudolph Alfredo Smith Jr., reportedly left the scene. With the assistance of the Rowan County Sheriffs Office, the vehicle was located a mile away on Bringle Ferry Road. Smith was arrested at this address and charged with robbery with a dangerous weapon. He was placed in the Rowan County Detention Center under no bond. 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 Queen City News. SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) Friday marked the anniversary of when two giant pandas made their public debut at the San Diego Zoo. The pair, Yun Chuan and Xin Bao, arrived in San Diego from China in June as a gesture of diplomatic goodwill between the U.S. and the East Asian nation. Their arrival was the first time a giant panda from China had been sent to the U.S. in over two decades, according to the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Yun Chuan is a five-year-old male with a long, slightly pointed nose whose mother, Zhen Shen, was born at the San Diego Zoo in 2007. Xin Bao is a four-year-old female recognized by her large, round face and fluffy ears. Both pandas were born at the Wolong Shenshuping Panda Base in Sichuan, China. On Friday, families from Ronald McDonald House visited the zoo in Balboa Park to celebrate what California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared last year as California Panda Day. The families visiting the zoo on Friday received a private tour of the Panda Ridge exhibit, where the black-and-white duo can now be found. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Guests visiting the zoo will need to scan a QR code at the entrance to receive a complimentary timed ticket to Panda Ridge. The pandas enclosure is about 6,000 feet in size and has a viewing capacity of no more than 173 guests, which more than doubles the capacity of the previous panda habitat, according to the wildlife alliance. More information about Yun Chuan and Xin Bao, as well as the zoos conservation efforts, can be found at sdzwa.org/giantpandas. 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. San Francisco already requires most new buildings to eschew gas and run solely on electricity. Now, the metropolis is moving to ensure that substantial renovations in existing buildings are also all-electric. Last week, the city and countys Board of Supervisors completed the first of two votes to pass the All-Electric Major Renovations Ordinance, a climate-forward building standard that will apply to commercial and residential structures. The initial 110 vote was a resounding sign of approval; the final hearing is likely to occur Sept. 2, according to the San Francisco Environment Department, the agency that developed the rules. We cant build the San Francisco of the future with fuel from the past, Board of Supervisors President Rafael Mandelman said in a statement. This legislation picks up where we left off with the All-Electric New Construction ordinance and affords us the opportunity to eliminate the use of fossil fuels in our existing buildings, improve indoor and outdoor air quality, and make San Francisco a safer, healthier, and more resilient place to live and work. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The proposed ordinance was years in the making, but the city is now fast-tracking its approval before a new statewide pause on updates to building codes kicks in. Under the law, signed in June, San Francisco and other jurisdictions in the Golden State have only until Oct. 1 to adopt stronger building codes unless they claim an exception. San Francisco can't meet its climate goals unless it moves buildings away from fossil fuels. The city has vowed to slash carbon pollution by 61% from 1990 levels by 2030 and to achieve net-zero emissions by 2040 five years faster than California as a whole. Buildings in San Francisco account for 44% of the citys planet-warming pollution, the largest emitter after transportation, at 45%. If enacted, the new ordinance will affect projects that are similar in scope to new construction, including additions as well as renovations that rip out mechanical systems. It wont bear on single equipment replacements, however, like replacing a gas furnace. The ordinance essentially closes a loophole in the new construction requirement, Cyndy Comerford, climate program manager at the SF Environment Department, told Canary Media. For example, on the same downtown parcel of a five-story brick building, a whopping 46-story glass edifice was recently added, she said. That addition was allowed to have gas in it when it was a totally separate building. The new ordinance would put a stop to similar cases in the future. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Lawmakers are leaving room for exceptions to the all-electric standard, including restaurants that use gas for cooking, buildings composed of 100% affordable housing units (with gradual compliance after July 2027), and projects that cant get enough power from the utility in time. Building owners would seek exemptions from the SF Environment Department. In many cases, the cost of all-electric construction is actually lower than that of mixed-fuel buildings, according to the department. Summarizing several analyses, it estimates that newly built or majorly renovated all-electric single-family homes are cheaper than conventional construction by more than $2 per square foot, on average. Contrast that to the higher estimated costs to switch to all-electric appliances after construction. The department estimates such retrofits would cost San Francisco homeowners an added $2 to $4 per square foot. And all-electric retrofits are coming. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In 2023, San Francisco Bay Area air regulators passed landmark rules to phase out the sale of gas-burning water heaters by 2027 and furnaces by 2029 for single-family homes. When old combustion appliances conk out after those dates, homeowners will need to foot the bill to replace them with zero-emissions units. The same will hold for multifamily building owners by 2031. Developers aren't always incentivized to think [about] who's going to be living in this property 10 or 15 years from now, said Tyrone Jue, director of the SF Environment Department. And that's where government has to step in to say ... Yes, we want you to build housing, but we want you to do it smartly so that we don't end up having to carry the financial burden down the road. Fossil gas also carries heavy social costs. In addition to contributing to an increasing drumbeat of climate disasters, burning fossil fuels in home appliances releases a slew of pollutants, from carbon monoxide to nitrogen oxides, that concentrate indoors and spill outdoors. These by-products can lead to respiratory disorders, cardiovascular disease, and premature death. One in eight childhood asthma cases are linked to gas stoves. All-electric equipment doesnt emit these compounds. As a city, we're responsible for the well-being of our citizens, Comerford said. Gas lines are also a particular liability in the earthquake-prone region. Liquefaction of the earth can sever underground pipelines, which are more prone to damage than the citys electrical system, Jue said. In a 2020 report, utility Pacific Gas & Electric estimated that after a 7.9 earthquake, it would take up to six months to restore gas services citywide; electricity could be brought back on line in two weeks. The all-electric renovations ordinance comes as the federal government is rolling back environmental regulations and pushing for more fossil fuel use, not less. This is a moment for cities like San Francisco to step up, Jue said. And this is San Francisco drawing a clear line, not waiting for permission from Washington to protect our people, our health, and the planet. ST. JOSEPH, Mo. (News-Press NOW) A Missouri woman is suing the City of St. Joseph and St. Joseph Police officers after spending 43 years in prison on a wrongful conviction. Sandra Hemme was exonerated in 2024, after a judge found her to be wrongfully convicted and imprisoned in the murder of Patricia Jeschke. On Thursday, July 24, almost a year after her release, Hemme filed a civil lawsuit against the City of St. Joseph and the St. Joseph police officers involved in the investigation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Hemme was a 20-year-old woman around the time of her imprisonment in 1980, following the murders. Hemme was also confined in a psychiatric ward at the St. Joseph State Hospital because of mental illness. When the murder occurred, Hemme was not in St. Joseph, but the St. Joseph Police Department still interviewed her, due to an incident in the ward where she threatened a nurse with a knife. The lawsuit claims, Hemme was taken advantage of during the interrogation sessions and was under constant abuse and pressure, which led to her eventually admitting to the murder of Jeschke. News-Press NOW reached out to the city, who was unable to comment on the matter, due to the pending litigation and also reached out to one of Hemme's attorneys, who did not respond. News-Press NOW will provide more details on the case, as it develops. NBC 6 is proud to partner with the Nell Shehee Foundation on Operation Kindness. MINDEN, La. (KTAL/KMSS) Sara McDaniel gained national acclaim after appearing on HGTV and the Magnolia Network and highlighting her mission to makeover her hometown of Minden. About five years ago, if you would have walked down West Union Street, it was very much blighted, McDaniel said. She purchased and renovated several properties along West Union: The Creekside Apartments, The Villas at Spanish Court, and The Fuller White House. However, her latest project could have the biggest impact, a 1920s craftsman style bungalow. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Supposedly drugs were being run out of this house, all of the copper was cut out, McDaniel explained. It was destroyed on the inside. She purchased the home, without knowing what it would become, until her father Phillip Carroll passed away in 2023. He was a legend in this area. He served in the public school system for about 39 years and was a Bible vocational youth pastor, and just loved others more well and deeply than anyone I know, McDaniel shared. In honor of her father, McDaniel created a non-profit and named the home Phillips Cottage. Its undergoing a transformation, just like the families who will soon live there. Phillips Cottage will be a transitional home for women with children, who graduate from Louisiana Teen Challenge, which is a faith-based residential program. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement They can stay with us for about a year while they are gaining employment, theyre saving money and it will be a safe affordable place for them to live while they reintegrate into society, said McDaniel. Loretta Lester: Championing kindness and inclusivity in schools McDaniels career has changed dramatically from her past career as a teacher. Restoration has become the theme of her journey; as she helps restore homes, neighborhoods, the lives of others and especially her own life. I walked through a horrible divorce in 2009 and I thought my life is over. Im never going to be happy again but God has been so faithful to redeem, McDaniel reflected. Now everyday, l get to show grace, hope, mercy and redemption through blighted properties. So, He had a plan. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The first families will move into Phillips Cottage by September. The non-profit still needs to raise about $50,000. Donations can be made online at www.phillipscottage.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 KTALnews.com. The Sauk County Sheriff's Office is reviewing a possible connection between a 2020 unsolved stabbing death at Devil's Lake State Park in Baraboo and a recent double homicide in a park in northwest Arkansas. Andrew James McGann, 28, was arrested July 30 and charged with killing Clinton and Cristen Brink while they were hiking with their two daughters at Devils Den State Park in Washington County, Arkansas. State police confirmed that McGann's DNA matched DNA found at the scene. Now, investigators in Wisconsin are looking at whether there's a link to the unsolved murder of 24-year-old John Craig Schmutzer of Wauwatosa on Oct. 14, 2020, on the Grottos Trail at Devils Lake State Park. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Drew Bulin, a Sauk County Sheriff's Office detective sergeant who's heading the review, said the office got multiple tips from people in Wisconsin and Arkansas about the similarities between the cases. The sheriff's office then contacted Arkansas authorities to compare evidence to see if McGann could be connected to, or ruled out from, the Schmutzer stabbing. Bulin confirmed the Schmutzer case remains active in light of the recent developments. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Sauk County investigators look for link to 2020 Devil's Lake murder EDGEFIELD, S.C. (WJBF) South Carolina Lieutenant Governor Pamela Evette made an announcement in Edgefield on Thursday about increasing safety for law enforcement officers. Evette is one of several candidates running for to be governor of the state of South Carolina. She spoke to supporters who gathered at the the Edgefield County Jail and Law Enforcement Center on Aug. 7 about her plans for the office, which includes support for law enforcement. They are trying to protect themselves, protect their weapons, look around them and be able to watch whats going on in front of them, said Evette. And he said with the HALO Act, what were asking is that when a law enforcement officer or a first responder says back away, that anybody coming up into their space has to back away 25 feet so that they can do their job and not worry about being harmed. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Photojournalist credit: Regynal McKie 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. COLUMBIA, S.C. (WSPA) Students are now heading back to school in South Carolina, and the State Attorney General Alan Wilson (R South Carolina), is urging parents to have conversations with their kids about online safety and the dangers of fentanyl. Once youve been harmed, or once youve lost your life, we can go after the bad guy, but preventing it is really what were talking about. An ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure, Wilson said. Holly Alsobrooks wished she had that conversation with her son Cody, who died by a singular pill that was laced with fentanyl. I had spoken to Cody about alcohol, and I had told him theres worse things out there, you know, than alcohol. You need to be careful. I think back and think, what could I have done? She said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Alsobrooks said it could have changed everything. One night, one poor choice, and his life is over, and in a sense, a part of mine is as well. Alsobrooks agrees with Wilson and said this is something parents must do. We as parents have to say something, and the knowledge is out there now. The information is out there. Dont think that your child is not doing it. Your child may not be doing it. Their friend might be doing it, and they dont know what to do about it, Alsobrooks said. Wilson added another danger is online predators that are using social media to manipulate children and sometimes without parents ever knowing. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Parents have to have conversations with kids about how they put information out on the internet, what social media apps theyre using, who they communicate with. What are your privacy settings? You know, what are your tracking settings? Wilson said. Wilson said parents need stay involved and have conversations with their children about these risks. You can learn more from the Attorney Generals Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force 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 WSPA 7NEWS. Indianapolis officials are asking department heads except those who lead public safety agencies to reduce their annual budgets by about 4% heading into 2026 as the city adjusts to higher labor costs, lower property tax revenue forecasts due to Senate Bill 1 and other state policy changes. Without those proposed cuts, city leaders would be staring down a roughly $43 million budget deficit caused in part by property tax reforms passed by state lawmakers this spring, City Controller Abby Hanson told IndyStar in a recent interview. After Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett made clear that he wanted to present the city's 10th straight balanced budget with no tax increases, Hanson is pushing most departments to cut 4% of their budgets that "we could live without." Officials are also asking the local police, sheriff's and fire departments to limit their budget growth to 2%. "Frankly, the amount of property taxes that I was expecting us to have in 2026, that didn't come to fruition," Hanson said in an exclusive Aug. 6 interview with IndyStar, noting that property taxes accounted for about a third of city revenues in 2025. "That's not the amount of growth that we ended up having." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Experts have warned that SB 1, which is forecast to reduce property tax growth by $1.4 billion statewide from 2026 to 2028, would force local governments to tighten their belts and could force hard decisions about whether to cut public services in the coming years. Starting next year, cities will start collecting less money as homeowners earn tax credits that lower their property tax bills by up to $300. A state analysis shows that under the new law, the Indianapolis city-county and Marion County governments will miss out on about $11 million in expected property tax revenue growth in 2026. But Hanson said the actual loss is nearly $18 million after factoring in separate taxing districts that are split up in the analysis, including the police, fire and sanitation. SB 1 was a component of the revenue shortfall, but not the only factor. New multi-year labor contracts that the city signed with public sector unions at the end of 2024, including the Fraternal Order of Police and the Indianapolis Professional Firefighters Union, have significantly increased its expenses. The four-year contract with the FOP includes annual pay raises for officers across the board and boosted the starting salary for an Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officer to nearly $75,000 in 2025, according to the contract. A patrol officer with three years of service is set to earn nearly $88,000 in 2026. Hanson also said a state change that increased the pension rates paid to firefighters and police officers will cost the city more money. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In 2025 the city spent nearly $1 billion, or 60%, of its $1.65 billion budget on public safety and criminal justice services including the Indianapolis police and fire departments, the Marion County sheriff's and prosecutor's offices, and the Marion County courts. Months of Indianapolis budget hearings begin Aug. 11 Where exactly the 4% reductions show up in city services will become clearer during months of budget negotiations that formally begin at the Aug. 11 City-County Council meeting. Presentations by Hogsett and Hanson that night will kick off weeks of hearings at which each department presents its budget to council committees. Hogsett's Chief of Staff Dan Parker told IndyStar that despite the cuts, no "significant" city programs will disappear next year and new investments will still be announced. The growth of the overall budget is expected to be in line with previous years, too, although city officials would not cite an exact amount. The $1.65 billion 2025 budget was about 6% higher than the 2024 budget. "This wasnt an ax being taken to the budget," Parker said. "It was really more of a scalpel because we empowered the agencies to look at their budgets." City preparing to get $100 million in new road funding by 2027 Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsetts Chief of Staff Dan Parker, right, attends a City-County Council meeting on Monday, Aug. 12, 2024, in Indianapolis. The city will also set up a new fund for the Department of Public Works that draws mainly on organic growth in local income tax revenues, with the goal of raising $50 million in new money to spend on roads by 2027, Parker said. Starting that year, the state will offer up to $50 million a year in matching grants to help Indianapolis repair its battered roads. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Parker said the new state program will make amends for a road-funding formula that disregards lane and traffic counts, sending the same amount of money to a two-lane road in a rural county and a six-lane road in Indianapolis. If the city earns the full matching grant, Indy would spend $100 million more each year on roads. The city's 2025 budget for roads, bridges and greenways was about $200 million. "The mayors position was that Marion County residents were overpaying into a state system where they werent getting their fair share," Parker said. "Well, with this bill we're now eligible to get our fair share, and so we want to make sure this budget lays the foundation to be able to get that $50 million and put even more dollars out into road construction." Email IndyStar Reporter Jordan Smith at JTsmith@gannett.com. Follow him on X: @jordantsmith09 This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Cuts coming in 2026 Indianapolis budget amid property tax reform A group of manufacturing firms have launched a scheme to encourage more female recruits, in a sector where only a quarter of the workforce are women. The Advanced Manufacturing Forum (AMF), which represents more than 70 companies across the north-east of England, said outdated perceptions were putting off potential applicants. It has set up a women in manufacturing and engineering group, which will work with colleges and universities to encourage more female recruits and support mentoring for women already in the industry. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Gateshead engineer Amy Gilmore, 23, who backs the drive, said: "I think people see it as a men's world - that's completely not true, it's for everyone." A 2024 report says despite women making up approximately half of the UK's working population, they represent only 26.1% of the manufacturing workforce. AMF director Rachel Skeoch said: "The biggest misconception is probably that it is incredibly dirty or old-fashioned. "But that couldn't be further from the truth." Inclusive workforce Mrs Skeoch said increasing the number of women working in the sector would boost talent and economic growth. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "They approach things very differently, they have an incredible skill set," she said. "And it's just so incredibly important that they are represented in one of the UK's most vital sectors." Electric motor and battery-maker Turntide sponsored Ms Gilmore through university. "I have a really lovely team and I love the work," she said. Turntide's senior director of operations Paul Turbitt said the company was aiming to attract more women, having "seen the benefits" of a more inclusive workforce. The firm has also introduced more flexible working arrangements. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "There's more part-time, the flexible hybrid, remote working," Mr Turbitt said. Follow BBC North East on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram. More like this Related internet links School district implements anti-grooming videos for students There is a new effort to protect students from being targeted and groomed by adults. Its the first time that Cabarrus County Schools are requiring students to watch a safety awareness video of this kind. ALSO READ: Cabarrus County schools gear up for new year with new student information system Public school students will have to watch anti-grooming videos as soon as they go back to school next week. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The video must be shown to students no more than five days after the first day of school to students in grades 6-12. The videos were created by the North Carolina Center for Safer Schools, which is in the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation. A Cabarrus County Schools spokesperson said, Experience has shown us that proactive actions by adults are far more effective than relying on children to protect themselves from sexual abuse. It is equally important for children to receive accurate, age-appropriate information about sexual abuse, along with the assurance that trusted adults will support and protect them. In the video at the top of this webpage, Channel 9 asks moms in downtown Concord what they thought of the videos. Below are the student safety videos VIDEO: Cabarrus County schools gear up for new year with new student information system With the school year approaching, local physicians say families should review childrens vaccinations and make doctor appointments. Vaccinations begin in infancy and continue into the teen years, so its a good idea to check on requirements as children age. Were completely booked until September, said Dr. William Baier, M.D., of Lockport Pediatrics, who serves as the Lockport City School Districts physician. According to the New York State Department of Health, children attending daycare and pre-K through 12th grade must receive all required doses of vaccines in order to attend. This includes all public, private, and religious schools, unless a child receives an exemption due to a medical condition that prevents them from receiving a vaccine. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Baier said the requirement applies to children who are home-schooled as well. Some parents only want vaccines required by the school, and that is not all the vaccines recommended for children, he said, explaining that the American Academy of Pediatrics has its own list. I find that most parents are on board with vaccinations. Some people like to spread the schedule of vaccinations out a little bit because theyre concerned about their children getting two or three at a visit. In 45 years of practicing in Lockport, taking care of probably 40,000 children, in all honesty, Ive had one child have a serious issue, Baier said. I find that most kids tolerate the vaccines very well. Dr. Robertus Salis, pediatrician for the Community Health Center of Niagara Falls, said vaccine misconceptions persist. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Theres always a group of people who have very strong opinions about vaccine use, Salis said. I always say I want to hear their reason. The biggest concern, Salis said, is that the measles, mumps and rubella shot at 15 months of age causes autism. Salis said parents may first notice signs of autism around that age, but it is not linked to the vaccination. One of the biggest things in autism is the speech delay and the social delay, Salis said. The second year is far more of a socially interactive time. You can imagine that diagnosing autism at 9 months is very difficult, since children are just babbling. Measles has been making a comeback in many parts of the country, but only a handful of cases have occurred in New York, said Tracy Fricano Chalmers, public information officer for the Niagara County Department of Health. Public Health Ontario has reported a number of active measles outbreaks in the province this summer. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In Niagara County, Salis said, Luckily, we have enough people that are vaccinated. I would still encourage people to get vaccinated to keep the numbers up. I havent seen a case in a long, long time. Im the only one in the office that has seen measles, Baier said, referring to cases a number of years ago. It can cause some very high fevers and it can affect not only young children but pregnant moms and people with weakened immune systems. Baier said measles is highly contagious and airborne, with dangerous outcomes including pneumonia and severe brain infections. Salis said the human papillomavirus vaccination (HPV) is highly recommended for children ages 9 and up, and their last tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis combination vaccination is needed at age 11. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Some people think HPV is only transmitted by sexual activity and that is absolutely not true, Baier said. Getting to whats at stake, he said, If I had a daughter and I could prevent cervical cancer, I would be getting her vaccinated. Vaccination for bacterial meningitis is important in the teen years, Salis said. Its a tremendously debilitating disease with infection around the brain, he said. The disease can cause disability, including hearing loss and paralysis, he said. Meningitis B vaccinations are recommended but not required for school, but recommended by all physicians and every college, Baier said. Since college-bound students are required to have the vaccination, Baier recommends that parents have their children receive it at ages 16 to 18. For complete school vaccination information, go to https://www.health.ny.gov/publications/2370_2026.pdf . Schoolchildren as young as five have been asked to write Valentines Day cards to asylum seekers. The activities in Labour-run Birmingham were co-ordinated by the Schools of Sanctuary Network, which includes an estimated 1,200 primary and secondary schools across the country. One group of children created heart-shaped messages with slogans such as You are welcome here!. Laura Trott, the shadow education secretary, said that children as young as five shouldnt be used to push political agendas. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Promoting partisan political views in the classroom is against the law, but there is no suggestion that writing Valentines Day cards meets that threshold. Pupils at one school created cards which were sent to St Chads Sanctuary, a local group which supports asylum seekers. Another schools Valentines Day card-making was promoted on social media by the Birmingham Schools of Sanctuary group. Laura Trott worries that very young children are being used to push political agendas over asylum seekers - Clara Molden The Telegraph has seen a post on the groups X account which showed images of three pupils holding a large card, which the network says will be given to refugee recipients. Another held a Special Refugee Day on Valentines Day, which included talks from refugees to young children, who were then directed to create messages and hearts for the immigrants. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, said: Labours Britain is one where safeguarding is thrown out the window, classrooms are turned into propaganda hubs, and children are weaponised to push a dangerous ideology. Classrooms should be for teaching maths, not immigration. Labour-run Birmingham council are allowing political campaigning to creep into our schools. Birmingham city council stressed that the scheme was a national one launched by the charity City of Sanctuary Network, and was independent of local authorities. A spokesman added: Schools apply independently to become schools of sanctuary. In a diverse, welcoming and inclusive city like Birmingham, it comes as no surprise that several schools across the city have signed up independently to be schools of sanctuary. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In 2015, Birmingham city council committed to joining the City of Sanctuary Network. A kind act of welcome Cities of Sanctuary UK, which operates the network, said that they are not directly involved in the delivery of activities in schools but that they understand that the welcome card activity referenced involved children writing anonymised letters of welcome to people seeking safety in their communities. They added: We are confident that teachers adopt rigorous safeguarding approaches when undertaking any activity in school, in line with their responsibilities to ensure every child is safe. This activity just reflects a thoughtful and kind act of welcome to people who have fled to the UK and are waiting for their claims of asylum to be reviewed. We believe these simple acts of compassion should be celebrated rather than criticised. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The official website of the city-wide movement celebrated the adoption of the status by the council, with a spokesman at the time adding: The city council is recognising the contribution that migrants make to our citys economic and cultural capital. Earlier this year it was reported that council tax in the city had been increased by 7.5 per cent, despite reports of rats infesting rubbish bags as refuse collectors went on strike. 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. NORTH TOWANDA TWP., Pa. (WETM) A Schuylkill County man has been sentenced to serve time in state prison after he was found guilty on assault charges and burglary. Joseph C. Caporusso, 37, of Zion Grove, was sentenced to a minimum of 15 months to a maximum of 10 years in state prison for the crimes of aggravated assault, burglary and simple assault, as stated in a release from the Bradford County District Attorneys Office. Bradford County inmate sentenced for aggravated assault Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Officials say Caporusso was charged with the crimes by Pennsylvania State Police after an investigation into an incident where he assaulted a woman at her home in North Towanda Township and then fought with state police after being arrested. The DA noted that Caporusso had no prior criminal history and that blood tests ruled out the possibility of having drugs in his system at the time of the incident. The DA further stated that the victim of the incident reported that Caporusso seemed to have been having a mental episode at the time of the assault. Towanda man sentenced for attempting to sell meth in Bradford County As a result, the DA stated that once Caporusso is released from prison, he will be under observation by state parole officers who will monitor his behavior and mental health treatment as needed. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. Hunger exists on a spectrum. On the one end is food insecurity, where people are forced to adjust to fewer meals. As food becomes scarce, the body consumes its own reserves. The journey from hunger to starvation starts with a drop in energy levels, then the body breaks down fat, then muscle. Eventually, critical organs begin to fail. From undernourishment, to acute malnutrition and finally starvation, the process reaches a point where the body can no longer sustain life. In Gaza today, thousands of children under five and pregnant or lactating women are experiencing acute malnutrition. In Sudan, conflict and restricted humanitarian access have pushed millions to the brink of starvation, with famine warnings growing more urgent by the day. We asked nutritionists Ola Anabtawi and Berta Valente to explain the science behind starvation and what happens to your body when its deprived of food. What is the minimum nutrition a body needs to survive? To survive, people need more than clean water and safety. Access to food that meets daily energy, macronutrient and micronutrient requirements is essential to preserve health, support recovery and prevent malnutrition. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to the World Health Organization (WHO), adults require different amounts of energy depending on age, sex and level of physical activity. A kilocalorie (kcal) is a measure of energy. In nutrition, it tells us how much energy a person gets from food or how much energy the body needs to function. Technically, one kilocalorie is the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of one kilogram of water by one degree Celsius. The body uses this energy to breathe, digest food, maintain body temperature, and especially in children to grow. Total energy needs come from three sources: resting energy expenditure: the energy used by the body at rest to maintain vital functions such as breathing and circulation physical activity: may vary during emergencies depending on factors like displacement, caregiving, or survival tasks thermogenesis: the energy used to digest and process food. Resting energy expenditure usually forms the biggest portion of energy needs, especially when physical activity is limited. Other factors including age, sex, body size, health status, pregnancy, or cold environments also influence how much energy a person requires. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Energy needs vary throughout life. Infants require approximately 95kcal to 108kcal per kilogram of body weight per day during the first six months and between 84kcal and 98kcal per kilogram from six to 12 months. For children under the age of ten, energy needs are based on normal growth patterns without distinction between boys and girls. For example, a two-year-old child typically requires about 1,000kcal to 1,200kcal daily. A five-year-old needs about 1,300 to 1,500 and a ten-year-old generally requires between 1,800 and 2,000 kilocalories per day. From age ten onward, energy requirements begin to differ between boys and girls due to variations in growth and activity, and allowances are adjusted based on body weight, physical activity and rate of growth. For adults with light to moderate physical activity, the average daily energy requirement for men aged 19 to 50 is about 2,900kcal, while women in the same age group require roughly 2,200kcal per day. These values include a range of plus or minus 20% to account for individual differences in metabolism and activity. For adults over 50 years, energy needs decrease slightly, with men requiring about 2,300kcal and women around 1,900kcal daily. In humanitarian emergencies, food aid provision needs to guarantee the widely accepted minimum energy intake to maintain basic health and function, which was set to 2,100kcal per person per day. This level aims to meet fundamental physiological needs and prevent malnutrition when food supply is limited. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This energy must come from a balance of macronutrients, with carbohydrates supplying 50%-60% (such as rice or bread), proteins 10%-35% (like beans or lean meat), and fats 20%-35% (for example, cooking oil or nuts). Fat requirements are higher for young children (30%-40%), as well as for pregnant and breastfeeding women (at least 20%). In addition to energy, the body requires vitamins and minerals, such as iron, vitamin A, iodine and zinc, which are critical for immune function, growth and brain development. Iron is found in foods like red meat, beans and fortified cereals. Vitamin A comes from carrots, sweet potatoes and dark leafy greens. Iodine is commonly obtained from iodised salt and seafood. Zinc is present in meat, nuts and whole grains. When food systems collapse, this balance is lost. What physically happens when your body is starved? Physiologically, the effects of starvation on the human body unfold in three overlapping stages. Each reflects the bodys effort to survive without food. But these adaptations come at great physiological cost. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In the first stage, which lasts up to 48 hours after food intake stops, the body draws on glycogen stored in the liver to keep blood sugar levels stable. This process, called glycogenolysis, is a short-term solution. When glycogen runs out, the second stage begins. The body shifts to gluconeogenesis, producing glucose from non-carbohydrate sources like amino acids (from muscle), glycerol (from fat), and lactate. This process fuels vital organs but results in muscle breakdown and increased nitrogen loss, especially from skeletal muscle. By day three, ketogenesis becomes the dominant process. The liver starts converting fatty acids into ketone bodies molecules derived from fat that serve as an alternative fuel source when glucose is scarce. These ketones are used by the brain and other organs for energy. This shift helps spare muscle tissue but also signals a deeper metabolic crisis. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Hormonal changes including reduced insulin, thyroid hormone (T3), and nervous system activity slow the metabolic rate to conserve energy. Over time, fat becomes the main energy source. But once fat stores are exhausted, the body is forced to break down its own proteins for energy. This accelerates muscle wasting, weakens the immune system, and increases the risk of deadly infections. Death, often from pneumonia or other complications, typically occurs after 60 to 70 days without food in an otherwise healthy adult. As the body enters prolonged nutrient deprivation, the visible and invisible signs of starvation intensify. Physically, individuals lose substantial weight, and experience muscle wasting, fatigue, slowed heart rate, dry skin, hair loss, and compromised wound healing. Immune defences weaken, increasing vulnerability to infections, particularly pneumonia a frequent cause of death in starvation. Psychologically, starvation creates profound distress. People report apathy, irritability, anxiety and a constant preoccupation with food. Cognitive abilities decline, and emotional regulation deteriorates, sometimes leading to depression or withdrawal. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In children, long-term effects include stunted growth and impaired brain development. Both can become irreversible. During starvation, the body adapts in stages to survive. Initially, it uses glycogen storage for energy. As starvation continues, it begins to break down fat, and eventually, muscle tissue. This gradual shift explains both the physical weakness and psychological changes like irritability or depression. But starvation does not stop at the individual. It fractures families and communities. As energy declines, people are unable to care for others or themselves. In humanitarian crises like Gaza and Sudan, starvation compounds the trauma of violence and displacement, creating a total collapse of social and biological resilience. What are the steps to break the cycle? After a period of starvation, the body is in a fragile metabolic state. Sudden reintroduction of food, especially carbohydrates, causes a spike in insulin and a rapid shift of electrolytes like phosphate, potassium, and magnesium into cells. This can overwhelm the body, leading to whats known as refeeding syndrome, which may result in serious complications such as heart failure, respiratory distress, or even death if not carefully managed. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Standard protocols begin with therapeutic milks called F-75, specially designed to stabilise patients during the initial phase of treatment for severe acute malnutrition, followed by ready-to-use therapeutic food, a specially formulated peanut-butter paste or biscuit with the power to bring a malnourished child from the brink of death to full nutritional recovery in just four to eight weeks, oral rehydration salts, and micronutrient powders. These must be delivered safely. Consistent humanitarian access is essential. Airdrops are not part of food security. Survival requires sustained, coordinated efforts that restore food systems, protect civilians and uphold humanitarian law. Anything less risks repeating cycles of hunger and harm. When food assistance falls short in quality or quantity, or when clean water is unavailable, malnutrition rapidly worsens. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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: Ola Anabtawi, An-Najah National University and Berta Valente, Universidade do Porto Read more: The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment. Scientists have found new evidence that Ozempic-like drugs can help reverse aging yet another health benefit added to the laundry list of off-label usages for the popular diabetes jab. In a new, not-yet-peer-reviewed paper, research led by scientist Varun Dwaraka of the TruDiagnostic aging lab in Kentucky suggests that once-weekly shots of semaglutide, the GLP-1 drug in Ozempic and its weight loss sister drug Wegovy, can reduce one's "biological age" by up to three years. The basis of this study, like some others that look into anti-aging properties, is what's known as "biological age." As opposed to chronological age, which is how old we are in years, your biological age is basically how old your body feels and using certain tools, researchers like Dwaraka say they can measure that. In this study, biological age was determined using so-called "epigenetic clocks," which measure a person's biological age via DNA methylation, or the chemical signals added or removed from DNA as we age. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement At the start of the study, the TruDiagnostic team and their academic partners took initial blood samples from 184 participants with HIV-associated lipohypertrophy, a condition that results in excess fat and rapid cellular aging, to measure their biological ages. Chosen because they exhibit "accelerated biological aging, characterized by premature onset of age-related conditions, persistent low-grade inflammation, and metabolic dysfunction," that cohort was uniquely suited for the experiment, the paper suggests. For 32 weeks, half of the participants were given a placebo shot once per week, while the other half got active semaglutide jabs. At the end of the trial, the subjects' blood was collected again and analysis found that those who received the GLP-1 "became, on average, 3.1 years biologically younger by the end of the study," Dwaraka told New Scientist. Not only was their biological age reversed, but as the study explains, the active semaglutide group exhibited slowed-down aging signals in their kidneys, hearts, inflammatory systems, and brains the latter of which showed age reversal of up to five years in some participants. Though the trial participants had HIV, Dwaraka insists that similar benefits could easily be exhibited in people without the virus as well, thanks to Ozempic's documented propensity to improve metabolic health and fat distribution the latter of which can, New Scientist notes, trigger molecules that promote aging. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Acknowledging that it would be "premature" to start prescribing people semaglutide as an anti-aging drug, the TruDiagnostic scientist is nevertheless excited about what the future may hold. "Semaglutide may not only slow the rate of aging," Dwaraka told New Scientist, "but in some individuals partially reverse it." More on Ozempic: Doctors Are Warning That Ozempics Severe Side Effects May Outweigh Its Benefits A type of South American ant is invading Florida, according to the Herald-Tribune. What's happening? Tawny crazy ants were introduced to Florida in the late 90s. What has differentiated this population from its South American counterpart is that it has grown to form a singular super colony spreading across multiple southern states. This means the tawny crazy ants in America share lineage and don't conflict with one another over territory. The tawny crazy ant isn't alone, either. The Asian needle ant, a novel hybrid fire ant, and a European ant in New York are just some of the ant species challenging ecosystems across America. Why are tawny crazy ants important? Tawny crazy ants will eat just about anything, leading to infestations in homes in Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. Crazy ants are aggressive enough even to drive out the infamous fire ant. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Invasive species are generally introduced to new areas by human transportation, without the natural checks and balances present that a species evolved with, it can rapidly outcompete others in a new territory. This can lead to a monopoly on resources, which ultimately pushes out native species and reduces biodiversity. In the case of the tawny crazy ant, scientists have been able to see the palpable effect. "There's no insect noise and there's no bird noise," said ecologist Edward LeBrun in regards to areas overrun by the species, per Science. "They have really profound ecological impacts." The critical loss of biodiversity means a loss of ecosystem services that humans rely on, too. One study suggested this amounts to hundreds of billions of dollars in economic losses due to invasive species worldwide every year. What's being done about crazy tawny ants? Researchers have found a particular fungal infection that has been able to wipe out entire colonies of crazy tawny ants. Otherwise, experts recommend a few mitigation strategies, like eliminating nesting areas by sealing entries into a home, and controlling food sources like trash and dirty dishes. Do you worry about air pollution in your town? All the time Often Only sometimes Never Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. 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. Researchers were shocked to discover that a weather station at the top of the Greenland ice sheet had registered temperatures approaching the melting point in mid-July, according to MKweather.com. With 8% of the world's freshwater locked in its ice, the melting of the Greenland ice sheet would result in a cataclysmic 24 feet of sea level rise around the world, according to NASA. What's happening? On July 13, the Summit Station in Greenland registered a high temperature of 30.92 degrees, frighteningly close to water's melting point and only a few degrees below the station's all-time record high, MKweather.com reported. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The measurement sparked concern among researchers, as liquid water speeds up the rate at which the ice sheet breaks apart and slides off into the ocean. "Higher temperatures at summit can lead to increased surface melting, even at the ice sheet's summit, which historically has remained cold enough to avoid major melt events," explained Marek Kucera for MKweather.com. Why does Greenland's ice sheet matter? Unlike Arctic sea ice, which does not directly contribute to sea level rise as it melts because it already is floating in the ocean, land ice does add to the total volume of the oceans as it slides into the sea. This causes water levels to rise around the world. In the past 40 years, the Greenland ice sheet has lost about 20% of its total mass, a study by NASA found. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Rising seas increase flooding and displace coastal communities while contaminating agricultural lands and underground aquifers with saltwater, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council. Coastal regions are vital for national economies and food supplies. In the U.S., coastal counties generate $9.5 trillion worth of goods and services annually, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. These activities sustain over 58 million jobs across numerous industries, from fishing and tourism to real estate and defense. Rising tides place these jobs and economic activity at risk. Do you worry about air pollution in your town? All the time Often Only sometimes Never Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. What's being done about melting Arctic ice? Due to an effect known as Arctic amplification, the Arctic region is warming faster than other parts of the globe. This is bad news for Greenland's ice sheets. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In order to reverse the trends of rising temperatures and melting land ice, it is necessary to significantly reduce the amount of heat-trapping pollution entering the atmosphere. While doing so will require international cooperation and large-scale collaborations between government and industry, there are still significant steps that can be taken at the local level. For example, by driving an electric vehicle or installing solar panels on your home, you can do your part to help reduce planet-heating pollution. 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. Dozens of veteran climate scientists are launching a coordinated response to a Trump administration report that casts doubt on the severity of climate change. The report, released last week alongside proposals to deregulate some polluting sectors, was authored by five researchers well-known for sowing doubt over the impacts Americans are feeling from the climate crisis. The scientists, responsible for authoring or contributing research to hundreds of peer-reviewed studies, want to counter what they interpret as the Trump administrations attempts to wipe credible, widely accepted climate science off the record. In addition to the report, which the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Agency are using as evidence to weaken pollution rules, the administration has removed all congressionally mandated climate assessments from federal websites. Energy Sec. Chris Wright said the administration is changing those previously published assessments before they put them back on the web, CNN reported. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The scientists are planning to author a public comment on the Energy Departments report released last week, according to Andy Dessler, director of the Texas Center for Extreme Weather at Texas A&M University, who is organizing the response. We want to get all the science into the public record, so that any debate over this will have access to solid science, Dessler told CNN. In addition to the self-organized efforts by mainstream climate scientists, the National Academy of Sciences announced Thursday it is launching a comprehensive review of climate science findings since 2009 the year the endangerment finding was issued, which concluded climate pollution was endangering public health and welfare. The fast-track review, which the academy says will be self-funded, is set to be completed by September. Decades of climate research and data have yielded expanded understanding of how greenhouse gases affect the climate, NAS president Marcia McNutt said in a statement. We are undertaking this fresh examination of the latest climate science in order to provide the most up-to-date assessment to policymakers and the public. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In stark contrast to the National Climate Assessments, which take years to research with multiple rounds of peer review, the five-person Trump report took just two months to research and write, with no peer review. Several climate scientists whose research was cited in the Trump report said it misused or misrepresented their work. Dessler said scientists are going through the report section by section to address all the mistakes (and) the things they left out. There are a lot of things in there that fall into both those categories, he added. It is not a valid representation of the science of climate change, and we want to make that clear. Energy Secretary Chris Wright speaks with CNN on Tuesday. - CNN One federal climate scientist, who requested anonymity because they are not authorized to talk to the media, told CNN the notion that the DOE report is an assessment or comprehensive review of climate science is nonsensical on its face. The scientist pointed to the lack of peer review, paucity of the reports authors and rushed timeframe, among other reasons. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Its just garbage, the scientist said, referring to the reigniting of the false debate over whether climate change is caused by humans and threatens lives and livelihoods. Its like somebody took all the bullshit from 10 years ago, didnt refrigerate it and has now regurgitated it. Kim Cobb, who directs the Institute at Brown University for Environment and Society and is part of the group working to respond to the DOE report, told CNN its significant that the Trump administration is deep-sixing the climate assessments at the same time its releasing a misleading new report. The fact that this administration has buried the gold standard for climate science the National Climate Assessments while lifting up a report filled with misrepresentations and half-truths is a grim historical marker, she said in an email. Its giving me flashbacks to 2005, when such false debates raged. Cobb said she hopes to help set the record straight on climate science in their response to the DOE report. She intends to speak at the public hearing on the repeal of the endangerment finding, a 2009 scientific finding that human-caused climate change endangers human health and safety, which has underpinned many of the federal governments biggest pollution regulations. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Wright told CNN he hand-picked the four researchers and one economist who authored the Trump administration report: John Christy and Roy Spencer, both research scientists at the University of Alabama at Huntsville, Steven E. Koonin of Stanford Universitys Hoover Institution, Georgia Tech professor emeritus Judith Curry and Canadian economist Ross McKitrick. I just made a list of who do I think are the true, honest scientists, Wright said. I made a list of about a dozen of them that I thought were very senior and very well respected. I called the top five, and everyone said yes. Zeke Hausfather is one of the scientists whose work was misrepresented in the DOE report and is the climate research lead at financial services company Stripe. Hausfather also helped author the Fifth National Climate Assessment. Hausfather told CNN he wasnt that surprised that his research was included, because it has focused on how climate modeling can be improved. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The problem with the way both the EPA and DOE report used my findings is they left out the context of how the community has adapted and evolved on modeling, Hausfather said. In arguing for the endangerment finding to be overturned, the Trump EPA highlighted how the direst climate scenarios are getting less likely; therefore, the US government doesnt need continue to adhere to the endangerment finding a bit of circular reasoning these scientists are particularly frustrated about. Its as if the Trump administration is saying, Were heading towards a slightly less dire future in terms of emissions, so we can roll back existing climate policy, Hausfather said. Power generating wind turbines tower over the rural landscape near Pomeroy, Iowa, on July 5. - Scott Olson/Getty Images The worst-case scenarios, like the planet warming to 4 degrees Celsius by the end of the century, are looking less likely precisely because nations are cutting their planet-warming fossil fuel emissions and moving to clean tech like wind, solar, batteries and electric vehicles. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement That doesnt mean the planet is out of the woods. A 3-degree world by 2100 is going to be a world with huge climate damages, Hausfather said. Wright called the critiques about the DOE report misusing others research an unfair assessment. I dont know that particular author, but if some data set is taken from some author and his conclusions are different from the data set, well, thats the process of science, Wright said. Itll be improved as we get feedback and comments from others, and well continue to elaborate on it. Dessler, the climate scientist leading the response to the DOE report, said the science community is angry about their work being deleted and twisted to fit the Trump administrations narratives promoting fossil fuels and downplaying the severity of climate change. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement People are really mad, Dessler said. Weve devoted our lives to doing good science, and bad science is offensive. Theyre not raising interesting questions and theyre not identifying things that scientists have overlooked; much of it is already debunked. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Heres what youll learn when you read this story: Scientists are aware of planetary boundariesa series of climate change thresholds that, once crossed, could cause a cascade of negative environmental effects. Now, scientists are developing a methodology to discover positive tipping points a series of actionable green energy goals that could similarly compound in benefit once crossed. While were already well on the way to reaching some of these tipping pointsi.e. lowering the cost of wind and solar energytheres still lots of work to be done to stay within the two degrees Celsius range stipulate by the 2015 Paris Climate Accords. To live in an era of anthropogenic climate change is to be constantly reminded of the warming threat to our planet. One way scientists illustrate this threat is by using climate tipping points, also known as planetary boundaries, which showcase around nine critical ecological thresholds that could have devastating effects for life on Earth once crossed. These include things like biosphere integrity, ozone depletion, ocean acidification, and a relative newcomer known as aquatic deoxygenation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Although these thresholds are discussed with deadly seriousness, scientists wonder if the reverse of these doom-and-gloom thresholdspositive tipping points, if you willcould help encourage people, communities, and countries to adopt more aggressive green policies. In a new study, published in the journal Sustainability Science, experts from the University of Exeter in the U.K. explain these positive tipping points would be moments in societys adoption of green technologies or behaviors that could perpetuate a cascade of positive outcomes. The goal of this new paper is to design a methodology for identifying possible positive tipping points, understand how close we are to achieving these tipping points, identify what factors (both positive and negative) can influence them, and suggest what actions could be done to trigger them. The challenge now is to identify potential positive tipping points, and the actions that can bring them forwardwhile avoiding wishful thinking about their existence, or oversimplification of their nature, drivers, and impacts, Tim Lenton from the University of Exeter said in a press statement. The global economy is decarbonizing at least five times too slowly to meet the Paris Agreement target of limiting global warming to well below two degrees Celsius. The good news is that were not starting from zero. Thankfully, were already well on our way to achieving some of these tipping points. For example, the widespread adoption of wind and solar energy over the past few decades has both increased renewable energy generation and driven investment into those industries, which in turn has lowered the once pricey costs of these technologies. The study also mentions that things like the widespread adoption (at least, in the U.K.) of heat pumps may be considered a tipping point more broadly, and that even certain changes in societal behaviors could be under consideration. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Other transformationssuch as a major shift away from meat consumptionmight also be more likely than they appear, Steve Smith from the University of Exeter said in a press statement. In other sectors there is little sign of approaching tipping points and in a few, such as nuclear power and concrete production, we should not expect there to be tipping points at all. The researchers invite other scientists to help refine the parameters of these positive tipping pointswhat the team called antidotes to the gloomy atmosphere that typically pervades the climate change conversation. While the planetary red flags are immensely important for us to keep our eye on, it also helps to put in place actionable climate goals that can help us make the planet a healthy one for generations to come. You Might Also Like By utilizing cutting-edge technology, a research team from the University of Florida has developed a method to survey wildlife with remarkable accuracy. As explained in a summary posted on Phys.org, the team used images captured by drones and statistical modeling to document over 41,000 giant South American river turtles along the Guapore River, which runs through Brazil and Bolivia. The drones helped create orthomosaics, which are hundreds of overlapping photographs stitched together by a computer program. This helped researchers track turtle numbers without disturbing the habitat. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Over 12 days, the drone captured thousands of images to supplement the work of observers on the ground to estimate the turtle population. Ismael Black, one of the study's authors, noted there were other possibilities for the research. He said, "Although the method is used to count turtles, it could be applied to other species." The giant South American river turtle is also known as the Tartaruga-da-amazonia ("Amazon turtle") in Brazil. It's one of the largest freshwater turtles in the world, and it spends the vast majority of its life in the water; females only leave to lay eggs. While the adult turtles don't have much to worry about, the hatchlings are vulnerable to predators and poaching. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As an article by Permian Global states, the once plentiful turtles' numbers dwindled dramatically in the 1800s. Between 1848 and 1859, approximately 48 million eggs were gathered annually by locals for export to Europe. Their numbers have since rebounded, but they're still at risk. The study demonstrates the benefits of employing technology in conservation efforts. Similar key insights were gained from deploying tiny "backpacks" on hummingbirds in South America. Another example is the efforts to use drones to protect the plants that declining numbers of monarch butterflies depend on to survive. Trail cameras are another key tool used to form conservation strategies for the most elusive species. Do you think America does a good job of protecting its natural beauty? Definitely Only in some areas No way I'm not sure Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. The insights gained can also serve as a catalyst for raising public awareness of a threatened species and its specific needs. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In this instance, the study mentioned the importance of protecting the breeding grounds: "The estimated number of females in this study confirms the utmost importance of this site for the conservation of the species." 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. Scottsdale Mayor Lisa Borowsky is exploring the possible relocation of 50 to 60 Salt River wild horses from the Tonto National Forest to a newly proposed sanctuary in the McDowell Sonoran Preserve. Borowsky in a release noted peoples concerns about the horses fate because the Arizona Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Forest Service wants to thin the herd of about 282 animals to as low as 100. Numerous Mesa residents have expressed concern for the horses fate. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The nonprofit Salt River Wild Horse Management Group has humanely managed the horses without any removals under a contract that has expired, and the government seems determined that the new contractor be prepared to fulfill the governments intention to aggressively reduce the herd, according to Borowskys release. It noted that in the Apache National Forest in Northern Arizona, home of the Alpine wild horse for centuries, the Forest Service hired a contractor to round up some 650 horses and send them to auctions, where kill buyers buy them for dog food in the U.S. and human consumption in Mexico. Salt River Wild Horse Management Group has intervened in many of the auctions, outbidding the kill buyers, though the fate of several hundred animals in earlier auctions remains unknown. First and foremost, we can act with humanity and save these beautiful horses while helping meet government-mandated directives, Borowsky said. This aligns with Scottsdales identity as The Wests Most Western Town and could also serve as a unique visual for promoting our city globally. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Borowsky said she is committed to reviewing an ad hoc citizen committees report on the benefits and the feasibility of creating a sanctuary and will seek public input before presenting any formal proposal to City Council. She cited unspecified ecological, financial, and logistical considerations before moving forward. The mayor and the committee have already presented the report to the city manager for his review. The McDowell Sonoran Preserve spans more than twice the size of Manhattan and is lightly trafficked in many areas, Borowsky said. The key question is whether adding wild horses will enhance or harm the land. That answer will guide our decision. She also noted that Scottsdale is incapable of taking all the horses, so she intends to pursue additional solutions, including working with other jurisdictions, the Governors Office, nonprofits and individuals. ELYRIA, Ohio (WJW) The search for a missing teenager, who is believed to have fallen into the Black River, resumed on Friday morning, as police deployed an aerial drone. Authorities are investigating a possible drowning after a witness reported 16-year-old Vincent Pabon had fallen into the river early Thursday morning and never resurfaced. I-Team: Search for suspect after 2 East Cleveland officers shot Vincent Pabon (Elyria Police Department) Pabon was last seen early Thursday, Aug. 7, near East Falls Riverwalk on the Black River, accompanied by a 24-year-old man, according to a Thursday news release from police. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The pair had spent the night in the area, drinking and talking, police said. Police were told that Pabon fell into the water at some point. Sobriety checkpoints planned in 2 NE Ohio counties The 24-year-old man told investigators he tried to help Pabon, but that he also fell into the water. The man made it out of the water, but said he could no longer hear or see Pabon. Pabon was reported missing to police just before 8 a.m., according to the report. Elyria firefighters and a Lorain County dive team on Thursday, Aug. 7, searched for hours near the falls behind the city police department, according to a previous news release. (Credit: Elyria Firefighters Local 474) (Credit: Elyria Firefighters Local 474) (Credit: Elyria Firefighters Local 474) (Credit: Elyria Firefighters Local 474) (Credit: Elyria Firefighters Local 474) After investigating the circumstances surrounding Pabons disappearance, police charged Pabons companion, identified by police as 24-year-old Jacob Rosado, with a felony count of tampering with evidence. Rosado was also charged with a misdemeanor count of contributing to the unruliness of a minor, for allegedly supplying the teen with alcohol. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Authorities said they may consider additional charges as the investigation continues. Jacob Rosado (Elyria Police Department) Rosado had his first court appearance Friday morning in Elyria Municipal Court, where he was handed a $100,000 bond. Hes due back in court on Thursday, Aug. 14. Our hearts are with Vincents family during this incredibly difficult time, Elyria police Capt. Bill Lantz is quoted in the release. This is a challenging and complex search, and we remain fully committed to locating him. We are utilizing every available resource and deeply appreciate the continued support from the many first responder agencies assisting in this effort. Anyone with information on Pabons whereabouts or who may have interacted with Pabon or Rosado from the evening of Wednesday, Aug. 6, to the morning of Thursday, Aug. 7, is urged to call Detective Tyler Loesch at tloesch@cityofelyria.org or call 440-326-1205. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. The Brief Giovanni Pelletier, 18, has now been missing for one week. He texted "help me" to his mom shortly after leaving Englewood with people hed never met in person. Brevard County Sheriff, Wayne Ivey says family has willingly turned over the car Giovanni was in. No evidence of wrongdoing was found. BRADENTON, Fla. - The search continues for 18-year-old Giovanni Pelletier, who texted help me' to his mother and vanished while traveling with his cousin and friends to visit relatives across the state. Disappearance of Giovanni Pelletier The backstory Pelletier was on vacation in Englewood with family from North Carolina when he left around 1:30 a.m. Friday, Aug. 1, to go visit relatives on Floridas east coast. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He got into a vehicle with a cousin from his biological fathers side of the family, along with two of the cousin's friends, but according to relatives, Giovanni had never met the men in person. He had only spoken to one cousin on the phone before. After reconnecting with his biological fathers side of the family, Pelletier made plans for his cousins to pick him up to see additional family in Brevard County. Courtesy: Pelletier family. "Prior to even coming down to Florida, he had been talking to his cousins for weeks on Facetime," said Jeremy Brown, who considers Pelletier his son. "Hes been super excited. That night, he was supposed to be picked up early before dinner, and he had his backpack on him. In the house, just sitting by the door. Just like a kid waiting to go to kindergarten," said Brown. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It was a time meant to reconnect with his biological fathers side of the family, but more questions than answers remain after Pelletier has gone missing. RELATED: Search underway for missing 18-year-old last seen in Manatee County Roughly 25 minutes into the trip, Pelletier sent a chilling message to his mother: "Help me." He also messaged other family members with similar pleas. That was the last time anyone heard from him. His cousins told Brevard County deputies Pelletier began acting erratically before exiting the vehicle and walking away near State Road 70 in Manatee County. His backpack and phone were the only items found. What they're saying "Everyone we have interviewed - their story is consistent throughout. Not just the three boys but also family members, timeline, everything else," Brevard Sheriff Wayne Ivey said on Friday morning. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Sheriff Ivey said the family willingly turned over the vehicle to be processed. "They said take it, do whatever you need to do. The crime scene went through it and there was no evidence of wrongdoing," said Sheriff Ivey. The sheriff added, "Theres great concern for this young mans safety especially as time goes on. Someone disappearing just off the face of the earth is difficult to do." The Charlotte County Sheriffs Office is the lead agency with the investigation. They told FOX 13 in a statement: "We have no information that we can share about the investigation or efforts to locate Giovanni. Everything we can release was in our original Facebook post. The message we would like to put out is that if anyone knows anything about where this young man is, please contact your local law enforcement so we can find him. Our thoughts are with everyone who knows Giovanni and we are all praying for a safe return." The search for Giovanni Pelletier Dig deeper On Friday, one week after he disappeared, Pelletiers family and friends searched for him off of River Road in Sarasota County. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement They tried to retrace the route they believe Pelletier and his cousins took one week ago. His family is offering a $25,000 reward for information on his whereabouts. Soaring temperatures and at times heavy thunderstorms did not stop Brown from searching. "While there is light at, there are boots on the ground from sunup to sundown," he told FOX 13. Hes joined by friends, family and strangers. They searched anywhere and everywhere that came to mind. "Its been an up and down emotional time," Brown explained. Each day that passes, worry continues to grow for a family that just wants their son back. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Its been very hard to not see him every day. Its been the scariest time Ive had in my whole life," said Brown. Ongoing search and call for video What you can do Pelletier's family continues to search along with We Are the Essentials, a nonprofit comprised of retired law enforcement officers and private investigators, has been helping coordinate search efforts alongside Pelletier's family. Theyre urging anyone who was driving on I-75 in the early morning hours of Aug. 1 to check their dashcam footage for the white Malibu or someone walking on or near the interstate. The teens family wants to expand to water searches and are hopeful people with John-boats or kayaks can help. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Anyone with information is asked to contact the Charlotte County Sheriffs Office non-emergency number (941) 639-2101. The Source All information in this article is based on official statements from the Charlotte County Sheriffs Office and FOX 13 News interviews with search volunteers and Giovanni Pelletiers family. Update: DUCHESNE COUNTY, Utah (ABC4) The 14-year-old girl who was last seen on a family trip in the Uinta Mountains has been found safe, according to family. She was reportedly found by helicopter. According to the family, when she realized she was lost, she made her way to a trailhead and stayed there until she heard a helicopter. At that point, she went to a meadow and waved it down. The helicopter then took her back to another trailhead where she was reunited with others. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement She is totally fine, physically and emotionally, the family stated. She is acting as if nothing major happened, and outside of some minor scrapes and a sunburn, she is physically in great condition. No further information is available at this time. Original Story: DUCHESNE COUNTY, Utah (ABC4) Search and Rescue teams with the Duchesne County Sheriffs Office are actively searching for a missing 14-year-old girl who was last seen on a family trip in the Uinta Mountains. The Duchesne County Sheriffs Office said the girl was last seen with her family in the Painters Basin area near Kidney Lakes. The initial call reporting disappearance reportedly came in just after 11 a.m. on Thursday, Aug. 7. Duchesne County Sheriffs Office said search efforts began immediately with horse-mounted search teams entering the area. A helicopter was also deployed, but was reportedly forced to land due to high winds. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement She was last seen wearing a pink hoodie and gray capri pants. Search crews are continuing and expanding their efforts both on the ground and in the air, as conditions allow, according to the Duchesne County Sheriffs Office. Anyone who may have been in the Painters Basin or Kidney Lakes area, or who may have any information regarding her whereabouts, is encouraged to contact the Duchesne County Dispatch by calling 435-738-2424. Latest headlines: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. CHICAGO (WGN) Authorities are asking for help in the search for a teen girl who officers say is missing from her home on the Northwest Side. According to Chicago police, 16-year-old Athena Acosta was last at her home in the 6200 block of West Fullerton Avenue, in Belmont Central, at around 8:15 a.m. Thursday, but has not been contacted since. Read more: Latest Chicago news and headlines The missing teen, who stands 5-foot-6 and weighs around 130 pounds, has brown eyes and light brown hair with pink highlights. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Officers said Acosta was last spotted wearing a black t-shirt, black shorts and pink Crocs shoes. Photo provided by Chicago police shows 16-year-old Athena Acosta, who disappeared from her Northwest Side home on Thursday, Aug. 8, 2025. Additionally, the missing teen is known to have piercings on her nose and lips. Authorities shared details about the teen girls disappearance in a news release sent out on Thursday afternoon. LATEST CASES: Missing people in Chicagoland Anyone with information on the whereabouts of 16-year-old Athena Acosta is asked to contact the CPD Area Five SVU at 312-746-6554 or dial 911. Those with information that could help authorities in their investigation can also leave a tip at CPDtip.com. Tips can be filed anonymously. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. A man from Seattle was convicted of producing child sexual abuse material with a coconspirator in Vietnam, according to the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). Richard Stanley Manness Jr., 38, was found guilty of two federal felonies and faces a mandatory minimum of 15 years in prison, with a maximum sentence of up to 30 years. In April 2024, Vietnamese law enforcement rescued two young children who had been kidnapped and taken to an Airbnb rented by Manness, where his female coconspirator held them, according to prosecutors. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Court documents say Manness directed the sexual abuse of a child as young as six years old. Manness has been in federal custody since August 2024 after a coordinated arrest by Homeland Security officials who were given information from Vietnamese detectives about the child kidnapping and abuse. This case is part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative launched by the DOJs Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS) to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse. The initiative aims to locate, arrest, and prosecute those who exploit children online, as well as to identify and rescue victims, the DOJ says. Manness will be sentenced on November 14. Aug. 8Neighbors living on Iowa Street showed up to another public hearing this week to argue against the removal of a closed bridge, but this time they offered solutions. Even so, their efforts were met with scrutiny and skepticism from Jasper County leaders. Mindy Adkison, who lives along Iowa Street, provided supervisors and the county engineer with studies and information regarding railcar bridges, which uses decommissioned flatcars as a cost-effective solution for bridge replacement. County Engineer Michael Frietsch acknowledged that he was familiar with railcar bridges being used by other counties, but he questioned their lifespan. He flat-out refused to consider using a railcar bridge for Iowa Street, in large part because of the North Skunk River and its history of floods and high-water events. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "If it wasn't the North Skunk River, we would consider it," Frietsch said. "...I did go look at one of those bridges. This past summer I did go out to Buchanan County ... We looked at what they were doing. It would not be an applicable solution for the North Skunk River based on what we saw." Frietsch said a tier for those types of bridges is placed in the center of the channel. The bridge on Iowa Street has been damaged a number of times over the years, and the spans had been replaced at least two different times. One time it was because of floods. Frietsch also noted the bridge suffers from debris issues. "Putting anything with a center span with less than about 100 feet out there would be a very risky proposition for the county," Frietsch said. "The most you can get on a railcar span is about 89 feet at best ... You're not going to get a long enough center span with a railcar." Despite resistance from Frietsch, Adkison encouraged supervisors to speak with the county engineer from Buchanan County. She suggested his more than 30 years experience might be invaluable in a case like this. Other neighbors went so far as to ask the supervisors to commit to meeting with him. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The board made it clear they could not make any promises. At the first public hearing, county officials said the bridge has needed to be replaced for some time. However, inaction from past boards led to the bridge deteriorating past the point of maintenance or safe use. It is currently closed off to traffic. Jasper County is obligated to remove the bridge for liability purposes. ARE CREATIVE SOLUTIONS FEASIBLE? Frietsch offered other solutions, such as acquiring grants to pay for a new bridge. Two grants were pursued, but the county was unsuccessful in receiving funds. The county engineer also said supervisors could authorize the construction of new roads, but the idea was not popular due to the potentially high price tag. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Supervisor Brandon Talsma said the county reached out to other landowners about selling property and creating a new easement. The landowners said no. Other ideas like a bond issue were suggested, but Frietsch noted it would be at the expense of future projects for at least a year. Still, Adkison said Buchanan County Engineer Brian Keierleber believed other options could be pursued for the bridge on Iowa Street, based on the information he was given. Jasper County leaders said it would cost around $2.5 million to replace the bridge, but she said Keierleber found cheaper solutions. "Talking to the county engineer of Buchanan County, he has looked at our bridge and he believes we can do it for $500,000," Adkison said. "He said we could apply for a bridge water easement ... That could possibly get the span down where we wouldn't be required to have 250 feet and even reduce the cost." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Neighbors ultimately fear removing the bridge will cause Jasper County to ignore the residents and the issues they are facing. "It feels like once it's removed it's out of sight, out of mind," Adkison said to the board of supervisors. "It's not going to be addressed. We feel like we are in you have put us in a precarious situation. We are in a situation where we don't like having one access and it being across railroad tracks." Supervisors noted this issue is not an easy decision and they are trying to consider all options and find solutions, even after the public hearings are over. Talsma also noted the county is not legally required to hold these public hearings to remove the bridge, or even close the bridge. If it fails an inspection, it closes. "This is a process that we are creating because we know the severity of the situation and your guys' concerns," Talsma said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement FIRST RESPONDERS GIVEN ALERTS TO POSSIBLE TRAIN Jasper County leaders also offered a solution to the concerns residents had with trains blocking ambulances or firetrucks from entering the neighborhood during an emergency. Jamey Robinson, director of Jasper County Emergency Management Agency, said adjustments were made to the dispatch system. Specifically, he said Sheriff Brad Shutts had identified all of the properties north of the railroad crossing so that when a 911 call is made in the neighborhood, an alert will be issued to first responders of the exact railroad crossing ahead so that they can call Iowa Interstate Railroad to get any trains moved ahead of time. "They'll have the crossing number and the (phone) number," Robinson said. "Dispatch is going to call the rail proactively and check to see while responders are responding if there is a train there and to start getting it moved ... If there is something there, it should be moved." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Typically, if first responders find they are blocked by a train, they are taught to call the railroad and get it moved immediately so they can cross. Jasper County EMA and the sheriff's office will also be monitoring the railroad crossing at the intersection. Cameras will be installed in the area to determine just how often and how long trains are stopped at the crossing. Robinson noted the narratives from the railroad and from neighbors are conflicting. Robinson also said a representative from Iowa Interstate Railroad will be present at the next public hearing to answer questions and address other concerns. Adkison appreciated the efforts from EMA and the sheriff's office, but to her and her neighbors the real solution is replacing the bridge. "I'm glad to have the camera out there, but if it stops one time and it's the wrong time, it really doesn't matter to me how many times the train stops, it's the fact that it has and it does stop," she said. "...I appreciate all the work that goes into it, but we need a second access. That's the bottom line." A second bomb threat was reported at the Illinois hotel housing Texas Democrats who fled their state over the weekend, local police reported Friday. The St. Charles Police Department said in a press release it responded to a report of a possible bomb threat at 8:32 a.m. CDT on Friday at the Q Center. The St. Charles Police Department, in coordination with the Kane County Sheriffs Office Bomb Squad and the Explosive Detection K-9 Unit, conducted a thorough search of the area. No explosive device was found. The area has been secured by authorities, and all 70 hotel guests are safe, the department said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This mornings secondary threat occurred two days after the initial bomb threat was reported to police by the Q-Center on Aug. 6, the department continued. In both instances, no explosive devices were found, and the designated areas were deemed safe. As a continued precaution, the St. Charles Police Department has increased patrols in the area since the initial report. The Hill has reached out to a spokesperson for the Texas House Democrats for comment and the St. Charles Police Department for additional details. Texas Democrats had to evacuate their hotel earlier this week due to another bomb threat, though no devices were found and those inside were unharmed. But the events underscore concerns of rising threats of political violence, particularly in light of the assassination of a Minnesota lawmaker in June. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Texas Democrats fled the state to stop Republicans from trying to pass a new set of GOP-friendly House maps, but the Texas GOP is threatening there will be consequences and further moves to vacate lawmakers seats if they dont show up later Friday for their special session. 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 has secretly signed a directive authorizing the use of military force against some Latin American drug cartels, according to a Friday report from The New York Times. The order provides an official basis for the possibility of direct military operations at sea and on foreign soil against cartels, says the report. U.S. military officials have started drawing up options for how the military could go after the groups, the people familiar with the conversations said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive internal deliberations. On Thursday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio reiterated his support for the administrations decision earlier this year to designate certain international cartels as terrorist organizations, saying that they can no longer be treated as simply drug-dealing organizations. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trumps Mexican counterpart, Claudia Sheinbaum, rejected the idea that the United States was planning any kind of invasion. The United States is not going to come to Mexico with their military, Sheinbaum said during a Friday press conference. We cooperate, we collaborate, but there will be no invasion. Its off the table, absolutely off the table. Sheinbaum acknowledged Trumps directive, but insisted that it had nothing to do with the participation of any military or any institution on our territory. There is no risk that they will invade our territory. The threat of a war across the border isnt new for Trump or his allies. Former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper wrote in his 2022 book that, during his first term in office, the president had suggested shooting missiles into Mexico to destroy drug labs. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement While he served as Senator, now Vice President J.D. Vance said he wanted to empower the American president, regardless of party, to take military action against the cartels. After last years election, there were reportedly discussions within Trumps inner circle about how aggressive the military invasion of Mexico should be. Republicans in Congress have also in recent years signaled rhetoric and legislative support for possible military action across the border. While its full extent remains unclear, the new directive marks the most concrete step yet toward potential U.S. military action against cartels beyond its borders. The post Secret Trump order authorizes military strikes on drug cartels: report appeared first on Salon.com. A dog named Doodle was a brave boy in the face of a bear that broke into his Southern California house, and it was all caught on video. What's happening? Security footage showed a large black bear swiping at the dog, who dodged the attack and barked boldly. The dog briefly stood its ground before the bear walked into the room while Doodle ran and wisely hid. The Monrovia home's owner, Zoe Cadman, said it wasn't until the bear opened her fridge that the light woke her up. The bear left on its own, she said, according to 6abc. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Bears, deer, coyotes, bobcats, and gray foxes are pretty commonly seen roaming the streets in the northern part of the city," one commenter explained. Some people asked why the bear was wearing a collar or, per one goofy joke, "headphones" and it turns out it was not listening to Bear Naked Ladies, as another person quipped, but that it was a tracking device used to keep tabs on bears that have had such encounters. "He was first fitted with that tracking collar last summer because he is such a nuisance," one commenter said. Why are animal encounters like this important? The University of Wisconsin-Madison published findings about the "proximity in space and time of animals of various species," and the research supports what's called "the compression hypothesis," which states that the more humans there are in an area, the more encounters there will be. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Compression works like a house party. The more people you crowd into a party, the less elbow room you're going to have and the more likely someone is going to step on your toes," Neil Gilbert, the lead author, said. The changing climate also contributes to these clashes. A study by University of Washington researchers shows that "shifts in temperature and rainfall, both short-term extreme weather events and long-term changes to the climate, were the most common drivers of human-wildlife conflicts," as Inside Climate News reported. What's being done about these interactions? Raising awareness of the presence of bears and how to behave around them is one approach. The Forest Service of the Department of Agriculture recommends that people "Be bear aware" and offers guidance on what to do if you do happen to find yourself in a tete-a-tete with a bear. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On a global scale, the United Nations met for a biodiversity conference in 2022 to address human-animal conflicts and create a joint agreement. "Resolving conflicts about wildlife is not a simple matter of installing fences, lights or noisemakers to keep animals away from crops, property or livestock," Alexandra Zimmerman, who chairs the IUCN SSC Human-Wildlife Conflict and Coexistence Specialist Group, wrote for The Conservation. "Resolving human-wildlife conflicts means resolving divisions and disharmony between people." 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. One of the most influential foreign policy voices in Washington, D.C., Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, gave a full endorsement of President Donald Trumps approach to Ukraine, Iran and Taiwan on Thursday. Cotton told Utah members of Congress and community leaders in attendance at the annual Orrin G. Hatch Foundation Titan of Public Service Award Gala that the United States must be ready to go to war with China if it wants to prevent the Asian superpower from invading its neighbor. The surest way to preserve the peace is to be prepared for war, Cotton said. We need to be prepared for war with China thats the surest way to deter war with China, in which there are almost no winners. Is Trump an isolationist? Cotton, who was recognized for his rise in Republican leadership with the Hatch Foundations Titan of Public Service award, has made a name for himself over the past decade as one of the Senates premier hawks on global affairs. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement After graduating from Harvard law school, Cotton served with distinction in the U.S. Army, getting deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan before entering the U.S. House in the tea party wave of 2013, and winning his Senate seat one year later. Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton speaks after receiving the Titan of Public Service Award during a special gala event of the Orrin G. Hatch Foundation at Salt Lake City's Grand America on Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. | Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News Cotton has since become one of Trumps most consistent advocates on themes of national security. Cotton is now the third-ranking member of the Senate GOP, as chair of the Senate Republican Conference, and chairs the powerful Senate Intelligence Committee. During a discussion with former Oregon Sen. Gordon Smith on Thursday, Cotton argued that the foreign policy of Trump is not at all isolationist. Rather it consists of bold American leadership that achieves peace by promising punches, and following through if countries threaten American interests. He says what he means, and he means what he says, and no one should think that he bluffs or will back up, Cotton said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The senator pointed to Trumps decision to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities after a 60-day period Trump had given the Islamic Republic to accept a deal that prohibited the development of nuclear weapons. It was Trump who successfully pressured NATO allies in Europe to increase their defense budgets, who slapped a 25% tariff on India for buying Russia oil, and who has threatened Russia with additional sanctions if a ceasefire is not reached with Ukraine, Cotton said. Cotton targets China Orrin G. Hatch Foundation Board Chair A. Scott Anderson presents Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton with the Titan of Public Service Award during a special gala event of the Orrin G. Hatch Foundation at Salt Lake City's Grand America on Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. | Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News But it is Trumps approach on China that may have shifted bipartisan consensus the most. And, according to Cotton, it is bipartisan action to end unfair trade practices with, and unsafe trade dependence on, China that will secure the safety of future Americans. The U.S. needs to pursue a path of strategic decoupling from China in the areas of pharmaceuticals and critical minerals for aerospace, defense and computer technology, said Cotton, who published his book Seven Things You Cant Say About China earlier this year. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Prior to Thursdays gala, Cotton spoke at a policy roundtable with members of Utahs congressional delegation and aerospace and defense industry where he discussed Chinas infiltration on many levels throughout our country, Utah Rep. Mike Kennedy told the Deseret News. On Wednesday, Cotton sent a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth pressuring him to immediately change Pentagon policies to prevent noncitizens from accessing Department of Defense programs after a ProPublica report found Microsoft used China-based engineers to maintain them. Cotton sent another letter on Wednesday to computer chip manufacturer Intel with questions about its new CEO Lip-Bu Tans connections to China, including current investments in Chinese chip firms. Trump responded on Thursday with a message of his own, posting to his Truth Social platform that, The CEO of INTEL is highly CONFLICTED and must resign, immediately. There is no other solution to this problem. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Cottons leadership on the bipartisan priority of countering Chinas aggression at home and abroad is one of the many reasons he was chosen to be honored with Thursdays award, according to Matt Sandgren, the executive director of the Orrin G. Hatch Foundation, and Hatchs final chief of staff. Sen. Cotton has been sounding the alarm about what we need to be watching for and making sure that we dont have a foreign adversary like China taking over, Sandgren said in an interview with the Deseret News. Is bipartisanship still possible? The Hatch Foundation selected Cotton to receive the award because of his record of sacrifice to serve in the military and his commitment to respectful dialogue despite serious disagreement, according to Sandgren. Past recipients of the award include former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, his wife, former Secretary of Labor and Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao, and current Senate Majority leader John Thune. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Current United States Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer also attended Thursdays event, offering brief remarks in support of Cotton and of President Trumps policies. In his role, Cotton has not been afraid to take partisan stances. Over the past week, Cotton has pushed the Office of Special Counsel to investigate whether former special counsel Jack Smiths legal actions related to Trumps effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election and his handling of classified documents were politically motivated. But in an interview with the Deseret News Cotton said the age of bipartisan compromise that made Utahs longest-serving senator the most effective legislator in Congress is not dead. Cotton said he learned from Hatch that the senator who is your implacable opponent today, they may your indispensable ally tomorrow. I think those are permanent human virtues that Orrin Hatch embodied, and theyll always going to be respected, not just in the United States Senate, but among all people, Cotton said. State Sen. Phil King is raising concerns over ongoing academic failures in Fort Worth ISD, suggesting that a full replacement of the school board may be necessary. As previously reported by The Dallas Express, the Texas Education Agency (TEA) notified Fort Worth ISD in May that state intervention is required due to persistent underperformance at a now-closed campus. This issue could lead to a district-wide takeover or further school closures. During a Texas Senate Education Committee hearing on Wednesday, King questioned TEA Commissioner Mike Morath about the timeline for action, according to CBS News. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We are actively evaluating that decision now, Morath replied. Ive had multiple interactions with the leadership team in Fort Worth. Ill be going back and doing some on-site visits as soon as school starts up. I want to get a good basis for the facts on the ground. Were also analyzing other factors. King responded, saying, Well, they are still, as I understand it, the lowest-performing large school district in the state. Ive got more Fort Worth ISD than any senator. And I just dont know what the right decision is, but if I had to bet today, its replacing the board. Fort Worth ISD released a statement addressing the senators comments. LEE COUNTY, Va. (WJHL) Sen. Tim Kaine toured the Lee County Community Hospital on Thursday with concerns about how federal cuts will impact rural health care. Kaine helped reopen the hospital in 2021, and since the passing of President Trumps Big Beautiful Bill in July, hes been working on legislation to combat cuts to food assistance programs and health care. Its a real amazing story, Kaine said. A hospital, especially a rural hospital that closed and then reopened. And so I wanted to come back and see, okay, how is it going, how does Lee County feel about this? Hows the hospital on the Ballad network serving the community? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Reps. Griffith, Harshbarger visit Lee Co. hospital after Big Beautiful Bill passes Kaine said there were elements of the bill he agreed with, even having some of his own legislation included, but voted against it because cuts to Medicaid and other programs were too severe. Im worried about how those cuts to Medicaid or how the cuts to premium supports that people get to afford health insurance could affect rural hospitals, Kaine said. He believes there is an openness to discuss possible middle ground solutions with his colleagues on both sides of the aisle with budget season around the corner. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I think theres going to be an opportunity in that discussion in September, Kaine said. Might we go backwards a little bit on some of the cuts that were made? Might we soften the blow? Might we figure out ways that both individuals who, you know, are receiving care, but also the providers are not affected so significantly? He is focusing on Southwest Virginia as a part of the state that relies heavily on Medicare and Medicaid. Look at the percentage of people that rely on Medicare because of the age of the population in Southwest Virginia, its higher than in some parts of the state, Kaine said. So any cuts to the Medicaid program do have a disproportionate effect here. I know what the statewide projection is, that the bill that was passed, the GOP bill, if its not changed, about 325,000 people in Virginia will lose health insurance and others will see their premiums go up pretty significantly. Cindy Elkin, administrator at the Lee County Community Hospital, said the hospital is financially stable because of the support from its representatives and hopes the facility can be an example for other rural hospitals. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We truly believe that rural health care could look to Lee County as an example of how to do it. And were giving that information to our leaders, and sharing it and willing to go to conventions and talk about it, willing to go to Washington and talk about it, Elkin said. The legislation Kaine introduced is called the Improving Care in Rural America Reauthorization Act, which will try and regain some of the federal grant programs that have been cut. 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. The Bureau of Prisons moved Ghislaine Maxwell to one of its least restrictive facilities last week at the behest of the Trump administration, which has given no explanation for the bizarrely preferential treatment. So on Friday, Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) demanded a formal explanation for the move from the director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Given the highly unusual nature of the transfer, it would have had to be personally approved by a high-level BOP staffer. In the letter, addressed to BOP Director William Marshall, Reed asks directly if BOP approved the transfer in response to a request from President Donald Trump or any other Trump administration official. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Sex offenders are not allowed to be sent to such facilities under BOP rules and require a special waiver for that to happen. Sexual predators shouldnt be afforded preferential treatment, Reed said. Earlier this week, BOP transferred Ms. Maxwell to ... the least restrictive facility operated by BOP, reserved for non-violent first-time offenders or inmates who are at the tail end of longer sentences and are slated for release, Reed noted in the letter. A serious felon can be transferred to a minimum-security prison camp only after the personal approval by the Chief of the BOPs Designation and Sentence Computation Center, who ultimately reports to you, he added. Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence for sexually abusing and trafficking children alongside Jeffrey Epstein, the disgraced financier and former friend of Donald Trump who died in prison while awaiting trial during Trumps first term. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trumps former personal lawyer, Todd Blanche, met with Maxwell just days before the transfer. (Blanche now serves as the number two official at the Department of Justice.) Ms. Maxwells victims and the taxpayers are owed an explanation of why BOP undertook this highly unusual transfer, said Reed. These circumstances raise serious questions ... about whether BOP is being politically pressured into reclassifying a violent felon as a low security risk against all evidence, which seems to elevate protection of President Trumps personal reputation above public safety. Trump found himself engulfed in the conflagration after his administration touted that it would release the governments files on the Epstein case and then refused to do so. Trumps name reportedly pops up repeatedly in the files. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The president has also repeatedly refused to rule out pardoning Maxwell, who presumably could likely offer devastating testimony on Trump and Epsteins relationship. Reed has asked Marshall to respond to the letter no later than Aug. 20. Related... Sentebale, the African charity Prince Harry had co-founded with Prince Seeiso of Lesotho in 2006, has called on the Charity Commission to provide clarity about its recent probe, according to a report. The organization is asking the investigating body to make it clear that its recent report did not specifically look into accusations of racism and misogyny directed at the Duke of Sussex. Sources close to the duke told Sky News that the charity is rehashing unsubstantiated allegations of bullying, misogyny and more saying its latest move is not just provocative, its pitiful. Sentebale, the charity Prince Harry had co-founded, has called on the Charity Commission to provide clarity about its recent probe, according to a report. Getty Images for Sentebale We have written to the Charity Commission stating that the onus is on the commission to restate for the record that individual allegations of bullying have not been investigated or addressed in the commissions report, a source close to the organization told the outlet. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Insiders have also slammed the media coverage surrounding the probe, specifically reports of the Spare author being cleared of bullying as sources suggest that the stance is misleading, given that the regulator did not examine specific allegations raised by the chair, Dr. Sophie Chandauka. Its remarkable, just yesterday Ms. Chandauka was applauding the Charity Commissions findings, yet today, after a flurry of unflattering headlines, shes back on the warpath, a source close to the Invictus Games founder told the outlet. Issuing yet another media statement only reinforces the commissions criticism about using the press to air internal disputes. The organization is asking the investigating body to make it clear that its recent report did not specifically look into accusations of racism and misogyny directed at the Duke of Sussex. Getty Images for Sentebale The Duke of Sussex speaks at a Sentebale panel discussion on April 11, 2024, in Miami Beach, Florida. Getty Images for Sentebale Rehashing unsubstantiated allegations of bullying, misogyny and more, which the commission found no evidence of and dressing them up as veiled threats isnt just provocative, its pitiful, they added. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The insider suggested that Chandauka should spell out her concerns, or better yet, redirect her energy toward something truly worthwhile, like raising money for the children Sentebale exists to support. The Charity Commission has since spoken out, telling The Post, We have issued the charity with an action plan which sets out steps the current trustees need to take to improve governance weaknesses and rectify findings of mismanagement. On Thursday, the former working royals reps told The Post that Harry is deeply upset by the entire fiasco. Getty Images Earlier this week, the probe found no overreach by Harry or Chandauka. However, it criticized both parties for allowing the dispute to play out publicly. Getty Images for Sentebale We now urge all involved to put their differences behind them and allow the charity to focus on its work and beneficiaries, the statement concluded. The Post has reached out to reps for Prince Harry and Sentebale for comment. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Earlier this week, the probe found no overreach by Harry or Chandauka. However, it criticized both parties for allowing the dispute to play out publicly. Follow The Posts royal family live blog for the latest pics, news, exclusive details and more The Commission also pointed to poor internal governance at Sentebale and claimed that the pairs failure to resolve disputes internally severely impacted the charitys reputation and risked undermining public trust in charities more generally. As a result, Harry, 40, issued a response in which he said it wasnt surprising the Commission found no evidence of wrongdoing at Sentebale, which he kick-started in honor of his late mother, Princess Diana. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On Thursday, the former working royals reps told The Post that Harry is deeply upset by the entire fiasco. Prince Harry resigned as patron of Sentebale in March. Getty Images for Sentebale The Duke is, of course, deeply upset by this entire ordeal; though he remains absolutely committed to continuing the work he began 19 years ago that being to support the children of Lesotho and Botswana living with HIV/AIDS and struggling with mental health issues, his rep said. Prince Harry and Prince Seeiso both resigned as patrons of Sentebale in March following Chandaukas shocking claims. (NewsNation) Sephora is actively reviewing comments made by the founder of the successful Huda Beauty where she shared what some are calling an antisemitic theory about Israel. In a video posted to her 11 million followers on TikTok, beauty influencer Huda Kattan shared a post spreading a theory that Israel was responsible for the two World Wars, 9/11 and Hamas Oct. 7 attack on the country, according to CNN. All of the conspiracy theories coming out and a lot of evidence behind them that Israel has been behind World War I, World War II, September 11, October 7 they allowed all of this stuff to happen. Is this crazy? Kattan said before TikTok removed the video. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement US focused on Gaza aid as Israel considers full takeover World War I and World War II occurred before Israel was founded. There is no evidence that Israel was behind the Sept. 11 terror attack and the Oct. 7 attacks. Sephora is driven by its mission to create a welcoming and inclusive shopping experience for all. We recognize that comments from one of our brand partners have raised concerns and want to be clear: promoting hate, harassment, or misinformation does not align with our values or code of conduct, a Sephora spokesperson told CNN in a statement. We take this matter very seriously and can confirm we are actively reviewing this issue internally, including working with the brand. Calls for boycott grow According to CNN, Jewish groups have called for Sephora and other retailers that carry Huda Beauty to cut ties with the brand. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Superman actor Dean Cain says hes joined ICE to save America Huda Kattan built a brand around beautybut these antisemitic conspiracy theories are nothing short of ugly hate, said Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League. Spreading vile myths about Jews to millions of followers isnt just recklessits dangerous. Huda Beautys success Kattan built a successful business that sells more than 100 beauty products and brings in around $200 million in sales a year, according to Forbes. PARIS, FRANCE APRIL 02: Huda Kattan speaks onstage at the Huda Beauty Easy Bake Setting Spray event on April 02, 2025 in Paris, France. (Photo by Francois Durand/Getty Images for Huda Beauty) In 2017, private equity company TSG Consumer Partners acquired a small minority stake in Huda Beauty in a deal valuing the company at $1.2 billion. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. NORTHFIELD, Vt. (ABC22/FOX44) In a ceremony on Sunday presided over by the adjutant general of Vermonts Army National Guard, one soldier was recognized not for his bravery in combat, but for an extraordinary act right here in the Green Mountain State. Sgt. 1st Class Josh Smith witnessed the aftermath of a car crash on Interstate 89 near Waterbury on July 28, 2024. Injured people were trapped inside as the vehicle began to burn. Despite the inferno, he gained entry into the vehicle, worked to see if the injured could be extracted, and extinguished what flames he could, wrote the 86th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (IBCT) on social media. Vermont Chamber of Commerce honors National Guard general as Citizen of the Year Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Smith then directed response efforts until emergency services arrived, even taking charge of traffic control on I-89. U.S. Army Sgt. First Class Josh Smith, right, with Maj. Gen. Gregory Knight, receives a U.S. Army Soldiers Medal in Northfield, Vt., August 3, 2025. (U.S. Army photos by Staff Sgt. Barb Pendl) U.S. Army Sgt. First Class Josh Smith, left, receives a U.S. Army Soldiers Medal during a ceremony held at the Vermont Army National Guard Readiness and Regional Technology Center, Northfield, Vt., August 3, 2025. (U.S. Army photos by Staff Sgt. Barb Pendl) U.S. Army Soldiers of the 186th Brigade Support Battalion, 86th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Mountain), Vermont Army National Guard, assemble at the cermony in Northfield, Vt., August 3, 2025. (U.S. Army photos by Staff Sgt. Barb Pendl) He was awarded the U.S. Army Soldiers Medal, which is only given for heroism not involving actual conflict with an enemy. The award requires the voluntary risk of life, similar to the Distinguished Flying Cross for heroism in aerial combat. Norwich University alumnus nominated for high US Air Force post 86th IBCT wrote that Smiths courage and selfless actions exemplify the U.S. Armys highest values and reflect positively on himself and the entire 86th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Mountain) community. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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 ABC22 & FOX44. James Jake Harrison Newcomer, a 28-year-old registered sex offender, pleaded guilty Friday in U.S. District Court in Seattle to federal charges related to sexually abusing children and teens, according to a release from the Department of Justice (DOJ). Prosecutors say Newcomer admitted to the alleged sexual abuse between February and April 2024. Prosecutors say the victims he met online range in age from 12 to 16. Newcomer was under state supervision following a 30-month prison sentence for two counts of rape of a child. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He was required to wear an ankle monitor, but it lost connection in January 2024 after he left his home and couldnt be located after law enforcement went to his home to arrest him, according to a DOJ release. During the following months, Newcomer used social media to connect with teen girls and provided them with drugs and alcohol before sexually assaulting them, prosecutors say. The victims were from various counties in Washington, including King, Kitsap, Snohomish, Lewis, Clark, Thurston, and Spokane counties, as well as in Woodburn, Oregon. Newcomer pleaded guilty to charges of travel with intent to engage in sexual acts with a minor and two counts of attempted enticement of a minor, according to the U.S. District Court. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The case is part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative by the Department of Justice to combat child sexual exploitation and abuse. Newcomer will be sentenced on November 17. The DOJ says both prosecutors and defense attorneys will recommend a 17-year sentence. Shaftesbury Road murder trial, Day 3: Texts show victim feared for her life DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) Prosecutors in the trial of a man accused of killing two people and an unborn fetus rested their case Thursday after presenting evidence that one of the victims was worried she would be killed by the defendant. Nicole Nico Cunigan Jr. is accused of killing Deonte Johnson,16, Precious Taste, 32, and Tastes unborn child in May 2024. He faces a dozen counts, including four counts of murder and two of felonious assault. Shaftesbury Road murder trial, Day 2: New video gives timeline of events Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On the trials third day, a detective with the Montgomery County Sheriffs Office shared a text chain from Tastes phone with someone alleged to be Cunigan. More than 50 pages of texts were shared in the courtroom, with some from Taste referring to the other person as baby and others referencing Nico. In one text exchange, Taste said that she knew that the other person had a gun, and showed worry that she would be killed. The response from what the state alleges is Cunigan replied, He gave it to me cus I said I need to protect my family. Another message sent to Taste read I would never kill you. An expert with the Hamilton County Coroners Office Crime Lab also took the stand Thursday, testifying that all the bullets found at the scene, as well as the two recovered from Tastes and Johnsons bodies, were confirmed to have been fired from the same gun. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Montgomery County deputy coroner testified that the bullet found in Tastes neck was fired from a higher angle. The Trial of Nico Cunigan Jr. Its the barrel of the weapon is above that as it goes in the direction of this one is front to back, right to left it downwards, said Sean Swiatkowski. That means that the barrel when it was fired had to be above the head going down. So if somebody was going down the stairwell, be consistent with somebody above them on that. The deputy coroner also confirmed that Taste and Jackson were killed by the gunshot wounds. Swiatkowski said that measurements of Tastes unborn child showed it was approximately 14-15 weeks along. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The jury was dismissed early Thursday. Closing arguments in the case are expected Friday. It is currently unknown if Cunigan himself will speak on the stand. 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. Suffolk County Sheriff Steven Tompkins was arrested Thursday on federal extortion charges, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts. Federal prosecutors allege the 67-year-old Massachusetts sheriff had pressured a cannabis company executive for a secret investment deal worth $50,000. Tompkins, who had led the Suffolk County Sheriff's Department since 2013 and oversaw about 1,000 employees, was arrested in Florida and charged with two counts of extortion, the U.S. attorney's office said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to federal court documents, Tompkins had used his position as sheriff to force his way into buying pre-IPO (initial public offering) stock in a Boston cannabis company at a discounted price. When the investment later lost value, prosecutors alleged he demanded and received a full refund of his money. Suffolk County Sheriff's Department - Boston, MA - PHOTO: Sheriff Steven W. Tompkins, 67, was indicted on two counts of extortion under color of official right. The scheme started in 2019 when the cannabis company, which wasn't named in court documents, wanted to open a store in Boston, the indictment stated. The company needed Sheriff Tompkins' help, according to the indictment, as his department would refer former inmates to work at the store, which was required by the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission for their state license. MORE: DOJ issues subpoenas to NY AG Letitia James, including over Trump civil fraud case: Sources Federal investigators said Tompkins allegedly took advantage of this partnership. According to the indictment, he pressured a company executive, reminding them that he had helped with their license application. The executive feared Tompkins would end their partnership if they didn't give in to his demands for stock, prosecutors said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement After getting the shares in November 2020, court documents showed Tompkins initially saw his $50,000 investment grow to about $138,000 when the company went public. United States Attorney's Office - District of Massachussetts - PHOTO: Sheriff Steven W. Tompkins, 67, was indicted on two counts of extortion under color of official right. However, when the stock price later fell, prosecutors alleged Tompkins demanded his money back. The executive paid him through five separate checks, with some labeled as "loan repayment" to hide what the payments were really for, according to the indictment. The executive agreed to the demands for repayment, fearing Tompkins would use his position to harm their business operations, according to the indictment. "What the Sheriff saw as an easy way to make a quick buck on the sly is clear cut corruption under federal law," FBI Boston Division Special Agent in Charge Ted E. Docks said in a statement. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement If found guilty, Tompkins could face up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine, according to the U.S. attorney's office. U.S. Attorney Leah B. Foley said in a statement that the case showed her office's commitment to fighting public corruption. "Elected officials, particularly those in law enforcement, are expected to be ethical, honest and law abiding not self-serving," Foley said in the press release. According to federal officials, Tompkins will first appear in court in Florida before facing the charges in Boston at a later date. ABC News reached out to Tompkins' attorney who did not immediately respond for comment. The Suffolk County Sheriff's Department declined to comment when contacted. EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) A 41-year-old man was arrested this week after stealing a Circle K cashiers wallet and using the stolen credit cards throughout El Paso, according to the El Paso County Sheriffs Office (EPCSO) in a news release. Danny Joseph Navarro, 41, was arrested on Thursday, Aug. 7, on two criminal warrants for theft of property and credit card abuse with a $21,000 bond. He was booked into the El Paso County Detention Facility, according to EPCSO. On Wednesday, Aug. 6, deputies responded to a theft at the Circle K in the 12200 block of Eastlake. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The cashier reported that an unknown man reached behind the counter and stole the cashiers wallet, which contained cash, multiple debit and credit cards, and personal identification, before fleeing in a gray Honda Accord, according to EPCSO. An investigation was immediately initiated, collecting surveillance footage from surrounding businesses and utilizing license plate reader databases. EPCSO said these efforts led to the identification of the vehicle involved. Later that day, the victim began receiving alerts from his financial institutions about multiple attempted and completed transactions using the stolen cards. The deputy followed up at several transaction locations within El Paso, obtaining video and still images showing the same individual, later identified as Navarro, who had taken the wallet using the victims cards, according to EPCSO. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A day later, the investigating deputy, assisted by additional units, conducted a surveillance operation that led to Navarros arrest, according to EPCSO. The El Paso County Sheriffs Office remains dedicated to protecting our community and seeking justice for all victims. We are committed to holding offenders accountable and will continue to investigate, identify, and arrest those who choose to commit crimes in El Paso County, read the news release. 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. BOSTON (SHNS) Suffolk County Sheriff Steven Tompkins of Boston was taken into custody in Florida on Friday in connection with extortion charges that the U.S. Justice Department said involve the purchase of an equity interest in a Boston-based cannabis company. U.S. Attorney Leah Foleys office said the 67-year-old sheriff, who has held that post since 2013, was indicted by a federal grand jury on two extortion counts. Prosecutors said Tompkins would have a court appearance in Florida at 11 a.m. and appear in federal court in Boston at a later date. Mr. Tompkins is a sitting Sheriff, responsible for over 1,000 employees, who was elected by the good people of Suffolk County, Foley said in a statement. Today, he is alleged to have extorted an executive from a cannabis company, using his official position as Sheriff to benefit himself. Elected officials, particularly those in law enforcement, are expected to be ethical, honest and law abiding not self-serving. His alleged actions are an affront to the voters and taxpayers who elected him to his position, and the many dedicated and honest public servants at the Suffolk County Sheriffs Department. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ted Docks, Special Agent in Charge of the FBIs Boston Division, said in a statement that Tompkins was taken into custody for allegedly extorting $50,000 from the owner of a national cannabis retailer seeking to do business in Boston. Sheriff Tompkins Indictment Download We believe what the Sheriff saw as an easy way to make a quick buck on the sly is clear cut corruption under federal law, said Docks. The citizens of Suffolk County deserve better, not a man who is accused of trading on his position to bankroll his own political and financial future. 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. BOSTON (WWLP) One in three American women lives in a state where they are not able to get an abortion. Governor Healey signed a law on Thursday ensuring access to reproductive care is standard in the Bay State. This law updates a 2022 version dubbed the Shield Act, and functions by strictly regulating the release of personal data, including physicians names, and preventing out-of-state investigation and prosecution of health care services that are legal in the Bay State, including abortions. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement No one is going to come to Massachusetts and attack our people, attack our institutions, and attack our providers, because we believe in freedom, said the governor. Lawmakers are responding to a series of Trump administration policy changes that decrease funding and access to health care, including life-saving, medically necessary abortions. Senator Cindy Friedman, who chaired the committee in charge of working out House and Senate differences with the proposal, said this bill is not just about healthcare. It also symbolizes Massachusetts autonomy from other states. Whether you agree with these issues or not, whether youre pro-choice or notnobody, nobody outside our state should get to decide that. Nobody, said Friedman. In addition to protecting patients and providers of reproductive care, it protects those engaging with gender affirming care. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Lawmakers say they anticipate making further updates to the Shield Act in response to federal decisions in the coming months and years. Local News Headlines WWLP-22News, an NBC affiliate, began broadcasting in March 1953 to provide local news, network, syndicated, and local programming to western Massachusetts. Watch the 22News Digital Edition weekdays at 4 p.m. on WWLP.com. Copyright 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. LAS VEGAS (KLAS) A man who went missing at Lake Mead was found two days later, stranded on a steep hill with no shirt, shoes, food or water. Information provided by the Mohave County Sheriffs Office (MCSO) Search and Rescue team recounts the rescue and provides some detail on a disjointed search effort involving the National Park Service and MCSO. The mans identity and current condition were not disclosed. The high temperature at Lake Mead was 105 to 106 degrees on the days he was missing. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The 42-year-old man went missing near Kingman Wash on the Arizona side of Lake Mead around 7 p.m. on Sunday, July 27, while his family was celebrating the birthday of a family member. When it was time to leave, no one could find the man. The family decided to leave behind some supplies for him, and then left. A 42-year-old man rescued at Lake Meads Kingman Wash was found with no shirt, shoes, food or water. (Photo: Mohave County Sheriffs Office Search and Rescue) He wasnt reported missing to the National Park Service (NPS), which has jurisdiction at Lake Mead National Recreation Area, until about noon on Monday, July 28. While MCSOs Search and Rescue team was working on another missing person case on Tuesday morning about 14 miles away, the sheriffs office got a call from a person fishing at Kingman Wash about someone yelling for help and that they needed water. At the time, MCSO was unaware of the missing persons report from the previous day. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement When officers called NPS to inform them that the other missing person had been located, they learned of the missing person report near Kingman Wash on Monday. The team went to Kingman Wash to assist an NPS ranger in the search. A steep cliff at Kingman Wash where a missing man was found two days after he was separated from family members. (Photo: Mohave County Sheriffs Office Search and Rescue) Shortly after arriving in the area, searchers were alerted by people who were fishing on the shoreline that they also heard someone yelling for help. Searchers were able to make verbal contact with the missing male and determined he was on a steep hill to the west of Kingman Wash, but teams could not visually see him, according to a social media post recounting the rescue. A ranger and searchers went up the hill, while continuing to talk to the man. When he was found, he was given water and electrolytes. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Rescuers brought him down the steep hill to the shoreline of Lake Mead, where an NPS boat transported him to the Nevada side of the lake. Emergency medical personnel took charge there. A photo provided with the social media post showed the man wearing black shorts after rescuers brought him down the hill. It remains unclear why Mohave County was not initially notified of the missing person report filed with NPS the day before, according to the social media post. Kingman Wash is a 50-mile drive from Las Vegas, about 3.5 miles off of U.S. 93 on the Arizona side of Lake Mead. 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. When state troopers Joseph Perechinsky and William Jenkins were tasked Thursday morning with checking on a call of shots fired at a home in rural northeastern Pennsylvania, they had no idea about the danger they were driving toward. By the end of the day, both would be in a hospital recovering from gunshot wounds and praised as heroes while investigators recounted the details of an ambush and standoff that included the commandeering of a semi-truck, the shooting down of a drone and the fear of a propane tank being turned into a bomb. When the troopers arrived at the scene on State Route 171 in Thompson Township, they were immediately attacked by a gunman with several rounds of rifle fire from a good distance, Pennsylvania State Police Col. Christopher Paris said, declining to say exactly how far away the gunman was when he opened fire. Both troopers were wounded. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He was using a semi-automatic long gun from which he fired several dozen rounds through this incident. Prior to the troopers arrival, the suspect, Carmine Faino, 61, used a semiautomatic rifle to shoot and kill his neighbor, Lori Wasko, 57, outside her home, Paris said. Waskos longtime boyfriend who lived with her in the home which sits across the two-lane road but several hundred yards away from Fainos reported the shooting around 11:17 a.m., prompting the troopers response, officials said. Perechinsky was shot twice, in the chest and torso area. Jenkins was also shot twice once in each arm. Their cars, where they had arrived and gotten out of, were also riddled with gunfire, Paris said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Its been a tragic and harrowing day for the community here in Susquehanna County and the Pennsylvania State Police, Paris told reporters Thursday. As additional troopers and emergency responders rushed to the scene, Perechinsky managed to place a tourniquet on each of his fellow troopers arms. One of the responders, an EMT in a quick response SUV, was shot at as he arrived, Paris said. He took evasive action and veered off the side of the roadway and crashed. He was able to make it out of his vehicle and he actually hid for fear that (Faino) would continue firing upon him, Paris said, noting the EMT was injured and in stable condition. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Once Perechinsky and Jenkins had been pulled away from the gunfire by other troopers, a severely injured Perechinsky managed to commandeer a passing semi-truck, ordering the driver to pull the rig across the roadway, blocking others from danger, Paris said. While working to establish a perimeter, law enforcement deployed a drone, which Faino shot down actively with a firearm, Paris said. At one point during negotiations with law enforcement, Faino sat on a propane tank, which raised fears he had attempted to turn it into an improvised explosive device. We were concerned about other weapons, not only the weapon that he was using, Paris said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement After a period of attempting to negotiate with him, he continued to be a threat and he was shot by members of the Special Emergency Response Team, the colonel said. He is deceased. A motive for the incident wasnt immediately shared by law enforcement. Mike Cottrell, a resident of nearby Jackson Township, told CNN affiliate WNEP the police response was unprecedented in the rural area. Ive never seen that many An armored vehicle went by, and Ive never seen that either, and I mean its just nonstop cops and ambulances going by, Cottrell said. They are very lucky to be alive The troopers response, particularly the actions of Perechinsky who continued to protect others despite being seriously wounded, has drawn praise from state officials, but the shooting resulting in the death of the armed suspect has prompted a formal investigation by the district attorneys office on police use of force. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Were very lucky today with the two troopers, Paris said as both were in stable condition Thursday night. They are very lucky to be alive. Both troopers were still hospitalized but in good condition as of Friday afternoon, a spokesperson for Geisinger, a Pennsylvania hospital system treating the men, told CNN. Paris also said he knew the troopers personally and described them as the best of who and what the state police are. Perechinsky was still thinking at that point in time, after being shot twice in the chest, What can I do to secure this location? What can I do to make sure nobody else gets hurt? Paris added. Police officers block the street leading to where two Pennsylvania state troopers were shot Thursday, near Thompson Township in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania. - WBNG-TV Perechinsky has been a trooper for six years and comes from a law enforcement family, with his father and brother both serving in Pennsylvania police departments, Paris said. Jenkins has been on the force for 10 years and is a father of four. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The district attorneys office is conducting a use of force investigation, and the troopers who shot at Faino have been put on leave pending results, which is typical for the situation, Paris said. Susquehanna County District Attorney Marion OMalley said her office will be involved in the probe. My primary function here, given the fact that Mr. Faino is now deceased, will be to participate in the investigation and make the determination about the use of force in this case. Gov. Josh Shapiro, after visiting Perechinsky and Jenkins in the hospital, said both represent the absolute best of the Pennsylvania State Police. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This morning, they went towards danger to keep our neighbors safe and they saved lives by doing so. We owe them an immense debt of gratitude, Shapiro said in a social media post. In 2024, 457 law enforcement officers in the US were reported to have been injured by firearms the second-highest annual total in the past 10 years, according to the FBI. Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly spelled the first name of Lori Wasko. CNNs Danny Freeman and Taylor Romine contributed to this report. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) City leaders take part in a city-wide domestic violence forum. Many key players from different agencies all took turns sharing things they are seeing and how they can collectively combat domestic violence. The Shreveport Police Department says local domestic violence cases are on the rise. During a forum to address the issue, City Council Chairwoman Tabatha Taylor said city leaders are taking proactive steps to confront the problem head-on. YWCA of Northwest Louisiana marks 100 years of empowering women Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Shreveport being one of those areas we started trending down and now were trending back up, so I think its important for individuals to know, who are affected by domestic violence, what resources are available, said Councilwoman Tabatha Taylor. Community leaders from every corner of the justice system, including law enforcement, advocacy groups, and social service providers, are discussing solutions to the domestic violence crisis, and education leaders are also intervening. Those fighting for change say their message and mission are clear. Were seeing deaths of individuals that are impacted by this, which means that there are children that are left parentless because either its the mother and father that are happening, you know, our other domestic partners are where were seeing, and the impacts are great, said Taylor. More crime news Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We know that schools, of course, are a reflection of society, and when things are happening at homes and in communities that are negative, that of course follows that child in the school, said Superintendent of the Caddo Parish School Board. Were a big advocate if we know that something happened with that child or with that family, then we can intervene early. Were coming for you and holding you accountable for disrupting and even ending the lives of the people here in the state of Louisiana and Caddo parish, were coming for you, said Project Celebration spokesperson, Angela Henderson. 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. SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) The city of Shreveport is continuing its efforts to fight against squatters in the historic Highland neighborhood. Issues in the Highland neighborhood, such as squatters, vacant house fires, and other property concerns, have been a major topic of conversation this year. However, thanks to a new local law passed by the Caddo Parish Commission back in April, improvements are being made. Statewide anti-squatting bills supported by Shreveport City Council Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Melody Rosser, a homeowner in Highland, shares her ongoing concerns about the neighborhood. In this neighborhood, particularly, the age and the construction of the houses, combined with the proximity, and the lack of general maintenance for yard debris, theres a really big concern that fire is gonna spread, she says. Costly solutions to squatting faced by City of Shreveport to address ongoing issue With Operation A.S.K. B.L.U.E. (Addressing Squatters Knowledgeably Bold Legal Unified Efforts) put into effect in to the new local law, squatters are being brought to justice by the Shreveport Police Department (SPD) Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Since the ordinance has been established, we have made over fifty arrests for squatting and squatting-related offenses. But we are still asking the public to call us if they know of places where individuals are squatting. So that we can get there and take action and take these individuals into custody, says Corporal Chris Bordelon, Public Information Officer for SPD. Shreveport police crackdown on squatters with operation blue You can report any suspicious activity or potential squatters on the Port City 311 website or mobile app, or by calling the SPD non-emergency line at (318) 673-7300. 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. By Greg Torode, Ben Blanchard and Yimou Lee HONG KONG/TAIPEI (Reuters) -The exercise presented a fraught scenario: China's military had blockaded Taiwan by air and sea, and Southeast Asian countries were grappling with how to evacuate as many as 1 million of their nationals trapped on the besieged island. Over two days in April at a Singapore hotel, some 40 participants and observers in the war game, including serving and retired Asia-Pacific officials and military officers, as well as security scholars, simulated their responses to the unfolding crisis, according to four people familiar with the discussions. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Hours ticked by as some players weighed unified action through the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, while others reached out to the mock U.S., Chinese and Japanese delegates to negotiate special air and sea corridors to extract foreign nationals. Eventually, the people said, a stark conclusion emerged: The Southeast Asian states needed a Singaporean airlift to have a chance of evacuating their people. "Nothing was moving until the Singaporeans stepped in at the 11th hour," said one participant in the event at the Jen Singapore Tanglin hotel. "They had found a way of getting their own people out, and offered to get others out, too." Reflecting its discreet and decades-old security presence inside Taiwan, where its forces train, Singapore was able to leverage access to airfields and aircraft, the person said. But the exercise ended before any detailed discussion of how Singapore had reached a deal with China to secure an evacuation route through the blockade, or how precisely it would work, three of the people told Reuters. The previously unreported exercise comes amid an escalating battle between the U.S. and China for dominance in the Asia-Pacific region. It offers a rare window into contingency planning over Taiwan, which some Asian and Western military attaches and security analysts say is becoming increasingly necessary because an assault on the island by Beijing could draw in the U.S. and imperil other countries. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement While the scenario didn't reflect official policies, participants playing the roles of foreign and defence ministers worked from the known positions of at least nine governments depicted in the simulation, said the four people, who like some others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter. Besides Singapore, China, Taiwan and the U.S., the rest included Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines, they said. Southeast Asians account for about 94% of the almost 1 million foreign nationals resident in Taiwan, according to Taiwan's National Immigration Agency. Indonesians, Vietnamese and Filipinos make up the vast majority of those foreigners, with comparatively small numbers of Japanese and Americans. Singapore's defence ministry said it wasn't involved in the "workshop" and none of its officials attended in any capacity. Neither the defence nor foreign ministries addressed Reuters questions about Singapore's military presence in Taiwan and planning for Taiwan conflict scenarios, including evacuations. China's foreign ministry said it had "always resolutely opposed countries with whom it has diplomatic relations having any form of official relations with the Taiwan region, including military dialogue and cooperation," adding that it wasn't aware of the circumstances of the exercise. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), which organised the exercise, told Reuters in a statement that participants had attended in their private capacities, and that it could not comment on "discussions, attendees, or any other elements." Taiwan's defence ministry and the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta didn't respond to questions. A Pentagon official said they were not aware of any official participation in the event by the U.S. Defense Department. "We routinely engage with allies and partners to ensure readiness for a range of contingencies, but it would be inappropriate to discuss operational planning or hypothetical evacuation scenarios," the official said. Weeks after the exercise, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told a security conference in Singapore that the threat of China using force to take Taiwan was "imminent" amid intensifying air and naval operations around the island by the Chinese military, the People's Liberation Army. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Chinese officials have said Hegseth and other Trump administration officials are playing up "the so-called China threat", with the Chinese embassy in Singapore saying his speech was "steeped in provocations and instigation". China claims Taiwan as its territory and has never renounced the use of force to seize it. Taiwan's President Lai Ching-te and his government strongly object to China's sovereignty claims, saying it is up to the island's people to decide their future. Drew Thompson, a Singapore-based security scholar, said it was vital for Southeast Asian countries to move beyond war games and contingency discussions to build meaningful, unofficial ties with Taiwan, particularly its military. These countries have diplomatic ties with Beijing and don't officially recognise Taipei. "The big takeaway here is that a plan is one thing but you need the access and the relationships to put it into play," said Thompson, of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, who wasn't involved in the exercise. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Singapore has long had these ties, the Philippines is building them, but it remains an open question whether the other countries in Southeast Asia have the unofficial networks in place to meaningfully engage with Taiwan in a conflict." The Philippines foreign ministry told Reuters the government has contingency plans for a Taiwan emergency, without offering specifics. It added that Manila has "legitimate interest in Taiwan due to geographic proximity and the presence of Filipino nationals there". The foreign ministries of Indonesia and Vietnam didn't respond to requests for comment. Japan's defence ministry declined to comment. 'USEFUL PERCH' Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Given recent drills in which Chinese vessels encircled Taiwan, some military attaches and analysts say any attempt by Beijing to seize the island could start with a blockade, which would be considered an act of war under international law. The risks are felt acutely in Singapore, a financial and shipping hub that hosts U.S. Navy ships and surveillance aircraft yet maintains strong cultural, diplomatic and economic ties with China. Singaporean forces have conducted military training in Taiwan since 1975, under an arrangement known as Project Starlight. The presence is seldom publicly acknowledged by officials in Singapore, which does not have formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. But it remains important to Singapore's defence forces, according to seven diplomats and security scholars familiar with the matter. Singapore rotates up to 3,000 infantry troops and commandos annually through three training camps in southern Taiwan, according to five of the seven people, where the mountains and jungles replicate conditions found on the Malay Peninsula. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "It gives Singapore a useful perch from which to watch both the Taiwan Strait and the top part of the South China Sea," said one Western security official. China has long objected to the arrangement. But Singapore has held fast, in part because a withdrawal would represent a change to the delicate strategic and diplomatic balance around Taiwan, three of the scholars told Reuters. Singapore's forces also train regularly in Australia, France, Brunei and the U.S. The city-state has the best-equipped military in Southeast Asia, according to an annual survey of the world's armed forces produced by the IISS. Yet an outbreak of war in Taiwan could trap Singapore's forces there or render them bargaining chips that could give China military and diplomatic leverage over Singapore, according to some analysts and military attaches. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In a conflict, Southeast Asian governments would face an arduous task in evacuating their nationals from Taiwan, Ngeow Chow Bing, a Malaysia-based security scholar, wrote in a study published last year by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. But, Ngeow wrote, Beijing has clear incentives to ensure that most, if not all, ASEAN members remain neutral. "If Beijing cares how it is perceived in Southeast Asia during a Taiwan crisis, it follows that Beijing would view the evacuation of Southeast Asian citizens as crucial for its own diplomatic posture," he added. (Reporting by Greg Torode in Hong Kong and Ben Blanchard and Yimou Lee in Taipei. Additional reporting by Singapore bureau, Laurie Chen in Beijing, Phil Stewart in Washington, Mikhail Flores in Manila, Faith Hung in Taipei, Khanh Vu in Hanoi, Tim Kelly in Tokyo and Ananda Teresia in Jakarta. Editing by David Crawshaw.) British holidaymakers heading to Spain and Portugal this summer could be facing serious travel disruption as strike action at 17 major airports threatens to cause chaos through August. Holiday chaos More than 3,000 workers in Spain are set to begin strike action from the weekend of August 15, 2025, with walkouts set to hit key tourist hotspots including Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Malaga, Alicante, Ibiza and Majorca. Travellers flying in and out of Girona, Tenerife South, Lanzarote and Santiago de Compostela are also being warned to expect disruption. The walkouts are not confined to Spain, as strike action has also been taking place across Portugal since the end of July. The disruption is occurring weekly from Friday to Monday and is expected to carry on until September 1. Flights to and from Portugal are already feeling the impact, with delays and cancellations reported at Lisbon, Faro and Porto Santo airports. The strikes involve baggage handlers, aircraft servicing staff and check-in desk workers, with delays piling up as the summer getaway season reaches its peak. The UK Foreign Office (FCDO) has issued updated travel advice warning holidaymakers of the risks. It said: "Industrial action by baggage handlers at Portuguese airports from Friday to Monday during July and August may cause delays. If you are travelling over this period, check for announcements and follow the advice of your airline or tour operator." Passengers are being urged to arrive at the airport early, stay up to date with the latest announcements and pack essentials in hand luggage in case of long waits or missed connections. SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KCAU) A Sioux City woman, found guilty of killing her grandmother, has requested a new trial. Court documents stated Jessica Bino was found guilty by a judge on the charge of first-degree murder in July after her grandmother was found stabbed to death in 2023. Now, shes requesting a new trial. Story continues below Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Court documents alleged that there was no evidence that Bino inflicted fatal injuries to the victim or any evidence that indicates she played an essential role in helping her mother with the crime. Additionally, they claimed a portion of the DNA evidence was too weak to be conclusive, and since the DNA came from household items, its too hard to tell when the DNA contamination took place. 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 SiouxlandProud | Sioux City, IA | News, Weather, and Sports. MONTREAL, Ontario, Canada (KCAU) The Siouxland Miracle Riders are nearing the halfway point in their 10th annual ride to benefit local children facing medical challenges. On Friday, the group is set to travel from Montreal to Woodstock in New Brunswick. Over the weekend, they will reach Nova Scotia and begin the return journey to Sioux City. Well continue to check in with the riders and share their daily destinations weekday mornings on Good Day Siouxland as they make their way back to Siouxland. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Story continues below The riders have also brought along stuffed animals belonging to the kids helping to announce their destinations each day. You can see some photos the group has shared with KCAU 9 below. This years ride totals more than 5,000 miles, and the group is looking to raise $75,000 for the UnityPoint Health St. Lukes Childrens Miracle Network. Over the years, the Miracle Riders have raised more than $400,000. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement If youre interested in supporting the Miracle Riders mission, you can visit them online here. A cat stuffie on the road / image credit Matt Thompson Ready to ride / image credit Matt Thompson Another stuffed friend along for the ride / image credit Matt Thompson Some of the Ontario scenery / image credit Matt Thompson Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement More stuffed animal friends / image credit Matt Thompson A little bear visiting two bigger bears / image credit Matt Thompson Another photo of the group / image credit Matt Thompson 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 SiouxlandProud | Sioux City, IA | News, Weather, and Sports. Cancer survival has doubled in the past half a century, but around 167,000 people still die of the disease in the UK every year. Much of this is down to ever-growing waiting lists health officials are now considering ways for patients to skip the GP stage and go straight to see specialists. In recent years, there have been many exciting steps forward in medical science. Kevin Harrington, a professor of biological cancer therapies at The Institute of Cancer Research and an honorary consultant oncologist at the Royal Marsden (RMH) and St Georges Hospital in London, is optimistic that advances in treatment will improve outcomes. In 20 years, I confidently expect we will cure a substantially larger number of cancer patients, he says. And we will cure them with far smarter and kinder treatments than current approaches. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This does not mean there will ever be a single cure for cancer, says Dr Claire Bromley, a senior science communications manager at Cancer Research UK. Cancer is not a single disease, she adds. There are over 200 types of cancer, and all of them can be split into different subtypes. Its unlikely that there will be one silver bullet. However, a combination of many different treatments means we can ultimately beat cancer for everyone. Here are the newest breakthroughs to celebrate: The take-at-home tablet that disarms cancer What is it? The drug, known as KCL-HO-1i, is a tablet that works by disarming a defence mechanism that tumours use to protect themselves. Early tests on mice found the drug even helped chemotherapy-resistant tumours to respond to treatment. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It is hoped KCL-HO-1i can be trialled on humans, with researchers suggesting it could one day be a valuable companion drug to chemotherapy, helping patients to avoid more aggressive treatments. Chemotherapy is used to treat many kinds of cancer and works by disrupting the way cancer cells grow and divide. However, it is not as effective as it should be in some patients because the bodys own immune cells can act as a barrier around tumours. These cells produce a protein called heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), which helps shield the tumour from the immune system and block the effects of chemotherapy. KCL-HO-1i, created at Kings College London (KCL), targets this protein to make tumours more responsive to treatment. What will it treat? Early tests on mice found the drug made breast cancer tumours more responsive to different types of chemotherapy, but it could translate to other forms of cancer as well. Miraz Rahman, a professor of medicinal chemistry at KCL, says: If human trials are successful, KCL-HO-1i could become a valuable companion drug to existing cancer therapies helping more patients to benefit from the treatments that are already available and reduce the need for more aggressive cancer therapies in the future. When will it be ready? Researchers are now hopeful that trials involving patients with breast cancer and other forms of the disease could begin within two years. Vaccines that can cure cancer and prevent it coming back What are they? We tend to think of vaccines as treatments we have when we are well. They teach the immune system to recognise a virus so it is destroyed before it can make us sick or at least make us less sick than we would otherwise be. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement However, cancer immunisations are different. While some are being developed to prevent the disease in high-risk patients, most are given when a person has been diagnosed. And they are bespoke treatments, tailored to the patients own unique cancer. Cancer vaccines may be able to cure even advanced, previously terminal cancers and stop cancer coming back and spreading after it has been treated. Three out of four cancer deaths occur because cancer spreads to other organs, which often happens after a period in which stray cancer cells go to sleep, becoming undetectable before waking up and forming tumours. A cancer vaccine not only trains the immune system to recognise and fight off the initial cancer, but also teaches the immune system to recognise any stray cells so they can be picked off if they become active. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The key to effective anti-cancer treatments is to create an immunological memory response, said Prof Harrington. We want the patient to have a standing army of immune cells trained to recognise and kill cancer if it wakes up. There are several different types of cancer vaccines in development which all work in slightly different ways. Many employ the mRNA technology used to create Covid vaccines. What will they treat? More than 20 mRNA-based vaccines entered clinical trials by 2021 targeting hard-to-treat cancers including bowel cancer, pancreatic and the brain cancer glioblastoma. This month, over 100 people with advanced head and neck cancer will take part in another mRNA-based vaccine trial. When will they be ready? One patient, a 55-year-old lecturer with bowel cancer, has already become the first to take the vaccine. In a national first, father-of-four Elliot Phebve received the developmental jab at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, one of several sites taking part in the colorectal cancer vaccine trial sponsored by BioNTech SE. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Meanwhile this month, the NHS announced that patients in England with head and neck cancer will be fast-tracked onto a clinical trial for a potentially transformative new vaccine. The first patients have already received the jab with more set to be enrolled at their nearest NHS hospital. More than 100 patients with advanced forms of the disease will be matched to the trial, known as AHEAD-MERIT (BNT113), which will run at 15 hospitals over the next year. In July last year, the Government signed an agreement with the pharma company to provide up to 10,000 UK patients with precision cancer vaccines by 2030. The Trojan horse therapy that destroys blood cancer What is it? The drug, called belantamab mafadotin, has been dubbed a Trojan Horse therapy because it tricks cancer cells into absorbing it before killing them from within. An advanced form of chemotherapy, it can halt the advance of multiple myeloma (an aggressive type of blood cancer) for nearly three times longer than current therapies. The treatment was developed in the UK and is set to be rolled out to thousands of NHS patients in England. The health service is the first in the world to make the drug available to people with multiple myeloma. However, side effects can cause blurry vision and other eye symptoms, including ocular toxicity, difficulty seeing clearly, dry eyes and photophobia. Patients must undergo regular eye tests and routine ophthalmological assessments before starting treatment and after each of the first three treatments. What will it treat? While multiple myeloma is incurable, the treatment is designed to extend peoples lives as much as possible while minimising the impact of side effects on quality of life. Around 1,500 patients a year in England will benefit from the treatment, which was approved by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. The drug will be offered to patients whose cancer has progressed or has not responded to the first choice of treatment using another drug, lenalidomide. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Patients who are prescribed the drug will receive it via an infusion once every three weeks in combination with two other cancer treatments. Prof Peter Johnson, NHS Englands national clinical director for cancer, says the life-changing drug has the potential to keep cancer at bay for years longer, giving people the chance of more precious time with friends and family. When will it be ready? NHS England is fast-tracking access to the treatment for patients from today, through immediate funding via the Cancer Drugs Fund. Eligible patients will be treated via an infusion every three weeks in combination with other cancer drugs, bortezomib and dexamethasone. The revolutionary DNA blood test What is it? In a world first, the NHS will roll out liquid biopsies for patients with suspected lung cancer and women with breast cancer who havent responded to previous treatment. This blood test detects tiny fragments of tumour DNA in the blood, allowing clinicians to rapidly identify genetic mutations driving cancer, and match patients with targeted therapies tailored to a tumours genetic profile. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Experts say these advances will allow for live monitoring of both disease and treatment meaning faster diagnoses and fewer side effects. The NHS will become the first health service in the world to roll out a blood test-first approach to diagnosing lung cancer, with health chiefs hailing it the golden key to unlocking personalised medicines. What will it treat? The rapid test could benefit up to 20,000 patients each year 15,000 with suspected non-small cell lung cancer who have suspected stage three or four cancer after a CT scan, and 5,000 women with advanced breast cancer which is not responding to treatment. The hope is they might respond to drugs which can slow or halt the progress of disease. It will be offered to non-small cell lung cancer patients after a CT scan shows signs of disease. Whilst it isnt a replacement for tissue biopsies, it could help patients begin targeted treatment up to two weeks earlier, whilst waiting for results. In some cases, it will allow patients to avoid further tests or even chemotherapy altogether, as medics can narrowly focus treatment to be as specific as possible, meaning its kinder on the body. When will it be ready? Following a successful pilot, the roll-out begins this year for patients with suspected lung cancer and advanced breast cancer. It could then expand to cover six types of cancer. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Results from pilot NHS schemes for lung cancer show the approach can fast-track patients to start treatment two weeks earlier, and avoid repeated scans, delays and needless toxic therapies. Prof Peter Johnson, the national clinical director for cancer at NHS England, says the approach could have more potential in the future, as it may be able to screen apparently healthy patients for signs of disease, too. The pill that stops lung cancer in its tracks What is it? A daily pill, called lorlatinib, could stop cancer from spreading in lung cancer patients. Trial results suggest that it works for at least five years in 60 per cent of patients, including just over half of the participants whose cancer had already spread to the brain by the time they joined the trial. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement For comparison, an alternative cancer growth blocker crizotinib (branded as Xalkori and offered to some NHS patients) works in just 8 per cent of patients for five years. Researchers have been unable to calculate exactly how long lorlatinib typically works for because most study volunteers have not seen their cancer progress since they began taking the medication. Cancer experts say the results are a really major step forward in lung cancer care. What will it treat? It was trialled in patients who have ALK-positive lung cancer, which stands for anaplastic lymphoma kinase. ALK is a gene that is switched off in the womb but can turn back on for some people and cause cancer. Around 49,000 people are diagnosed with lung cancer in the UK each year but only around 350 people have the ALK-positive type. When will it be ready? Lorlatinib is already available on the NHS but only for patients who have not had success with other treatments, but is only given to around 80 patients a year. The pill costs around 167 per day based on its list price. It was rejected for wider use last year by spending watchdog, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice), owing to a lack of evidence but could be reconsidered soon in light of the new data. The breast cancer prevention treatment What is it? Anastrozole is a type of drug called an aromatase inhibitor. It cuts down the amount of the hormone oestrogen that a patients body makes by blocking an enzyme called aromatase. Oestrogen can stimulate the growth of some cancers in the body. Anastrozole is already licensed in Britain as a treatment for breast cancer, but now its licence has been extended to be used as a preventative measure. What will it treat? NHS England said the drug will be available for post-menopausal women at moderate or high risk of breast cancer. They will include women with a family history of the disease, or who have faulty genes such as BRCA1, the so-called Angelina Jolie gene, that put them at greater risk. Studies have shown that anastrozole can nearly halve the chances of breast cancer if taken daily for five years. If post-menopausal women are concerned about their breast cancer risk because of their family history, its best they speak to their GP to decide whether this treatment is appropriate, said Melanie Surtevant, Associate Director of policy, evidence and influencing at Breast Cancer Now. When will it be ready? The drug is available now. Its been recommended since 2017, but uptake has been low. However, the fact that it is now licensed for prevention should lead to an increase. The tumour annihilator What is it? The AOH1996 drug is named after Anna Olivia Healy, who was born in 1996 and died aged nine after being diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a rare childhood cancer affecting the nerves. Researchers in the US have developed a molecule that appears to annihilate all solid tumours in preclinical research while leaving healthy cells unharmed. The experimental cancer-killing pill is taken twice a day and blocks a protein called proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA). In a mutated form, PCNA is critical to the growth and repair of tumours. PCNA is uniquely altered in cancer cells, and this allowed us to design a drug that targeted only the form of PCNA in cancer cells, killing tumours while leaving healthy cells untouched, said Prof Linda Malkas of the department of molecular diagnostics and experimental therapeutics at the City of Hope Hospital, Los Angeles. Cancer cells before, left, and after being treated with the AOH1996 drug - City Of Hope Hospital/PA Wire What will it treat? PCNA is found in all cancers, and AOH1996 has shown promise in 70 cell lines, including breast, prostate, brain, ovarian, cervical, skin and lung cancers. It is now being trialled in people for whom standard treatments, such as chemotherapy, have not worked. When will it be ready? Prof Harrington said that the drug is extremely promising. However, AOH1996 has only just entered phase 1 human trials. Even with accelerated trials and evaluation to test AOH1966 for safety and effectiveness, the treatment will take at least five to 10 years to gain approval in the UK, he said. A drug to supercharge your immune system What is it? Immunotherapy, which harnesses the power of our immune system to attack cancer, has revolutionised cancer treatment. Nicholas Turner, a consultant medical oncologist at The Royal Marsden NHS Trust and professor of molecular oncology at The Institute of Cancer Research, said: Twenty years ago, metastatic melanoma [skin cancer that has spread to other organs] had an average survival of around seven months with virtually nobody cured. Today, thanks to immunotherapy, survival rates are around 40 per cent. But cancers are wily: they can reach out to press off switches on our immune cells, calling off their attack. As a result, said Prof Harrington, cures occur in far too few patients. New drugs called checkpoint inhibitors block cancers ability to hit off switches on the immune system. The best-known checkpoint inhibitors target an off-switch protein called PD-1. Prof Harrington said: The problem is that there are dozens of these off switches. If we find a way to block one, cancer will find another. We need drugs to back cancer into a corner by blocking all the ways it turns off the immune system. A new drug, relatlimab, blocks an off-switch protein called LAG-3, making immunotherapy likely to work on more people and more types of cancer. What will it treat? Opdualag, a new drug which combines relatlimab with a PD-1 checkpoint inhibitor called nivolumab (Opdivo), has recently been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for advanced melanoma which cannot be removed by surgery or has spread to other parts of the body. Other drugs targeting LAG-3 are being trialled for the treatment of multiple myeloma, oesophagal and gastric cancer, among other types of cancers. Opdualag is also being studied in clinical trials of other cancers, including lung, colorectal and liver cancer. When will it be ready? The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence approved nivolumab-relatlimab within the NHS for people 12 years and over who have untreated, advanced melanoma last year, with more approvals expected in the coming years. The Government and BioNTech signed a deal to provide up to 10,000 UK patients with precision cancer vaccines by 2030 - Reuters/Wolfgang Rattay Flash radiotherapy What is it? Radiotherapy is often considered an old-fashioned treatment. It uses X-ray energy to kill cancer cells but can also burn and damage healthy tissue in vital organs such as the brain and heart. However, in flash radiotherapy, radiation is delivered a thousand times faster than in conventional radiotherapy. A therapeutic dose can be given in a fraction of a second. This intensity damages the DNA in cancer cells but is up to 50 per cent less damaging to normal cells. Cancer Research UK-funded scientists in the UK have found that flash radiotherapy speeds up oxygen use in the tissues being treated. In normal cells, this creates a condition called hypoxia, and this protects the normal cells from DNA damage. This protection means clinicians could potentially increase radiation doses to levels that would cause unacceptable side effects with conventional radiotherapy. An alternative to conventional radiotherapy could be around the corner - Baran Ozdemir/E+ What will it treat? In future, flash could be used for hard-to-kill cancers in the brain, lungs or gastrointestinal area, where healthy tissue surrounding tumours is particularly vulnerable to damage from radiation exposure. The potential is enormous, said Dr Bromley. When will it be ready? So far, flash radiotherapy is only being used in trials. Dr Bromley added: It could take as long as 10 years before flash becomes routine. Super-viruses that can infect cancers What is it? What could be cleverer than giving cancer a disease? Thats the premise of a new breed of engineered viruses created to infect cancer cells but not healthy ones. The viruses essentially trick cancer tumours into destroying themselves. First, the virus is injected directly into tumours. It then hijacks and replaces the tumour DNA to replicate itself. As the virus grows within cancer cells it bursts them open, and then spreads to other cells while also prompting the immune system to combat the cancer throughout the body. A new therapeutic virus, RP1, has been created from the herpes simplex virus, which causes cold sores. Tumours are categorised as hot or cold depending on how much they trigger an immune response. Melanoma is hot while breast, pancreatic and prostate cancers are cold. RP1 is designed to work on hotter tumours, including in patients for whom immunotherapy hasnt worked. Sister viruses RP2 and RP3 have been designed to treat more immunologically cold tumours. What will it treat? In trials, researchers have used an engineered virus to make immunotherapy more effective on brain tumours. It is also being trialled on patients with organ transplants who often develop skin cancers. A quarter of patients saw their cancer disappear. It has also been trialled in the UK on a small number of last-chance patients with advanced cancers including skin, eye, oesophageal and head and neck cancer. All had failed to respond to other treatments, including immunotherapy. A quarter saw their cancers shrink and one patient with salivary gland cancer saw his tumour disappear completely. He remains free of cancer 15 months after starting treatment. When will it be ready? Availability will depend on the benefit of treatment and the cost of therapy. In the next three to five years, RP viruses could be available to NHS patients, said Prof Harrington. 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. JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) Six men pled guilty to narcotics distribution offenses after an ATF Operation in Jackson in 2024 and 2025. According to court documents, the ATF Jackson Field Office began a street-level narcotics operation in the capital city in September 2024. Over the course of four months, the ATF made multiple controlled purchases of illegal narcotics and executed search warrants at three separate residences in Jackson. Two arrested in Adams County for stealing log truck Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Prosecutors said fentanyl, cocaine, methamphetamine, cocaine base and ecstasy were seized during the operation. Authorities also seized firearms, ammunition and two ballistic vests. The following men pled guilty and await sentencing: Stevenson Bentley , 46, of Jackson: pleaded guilty to Possession with the Intent to Distribute Methamphetamine on August 7, 2025, and awaits sentencing scheduled for November 5, 2025. Bentley faces a mandatory minimum penalty of ten years imprisonment and a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. Michael Murrell , 61, of Jackson: pleaded guilty to Possession with the Intent to Distribute Methamphetamine on May 28, 2025, and awaits sentencing scheduled for August 27, 2025. Murrell faces a mandatory minimum of five years imprisonment and a maximum penalty of 40 years imprisonment. Lorenzo Loggins , 35, of Jackson: pleaded guilty to Possession with the Intent to Distribute Fentanyl on May 13, 2025, and awaits sentencing scheduled for August 11, 2025. Loggins faces a maximum penalty of twenty years imprisonment. David Ransom , 56, of Jackson: pleaded guilty to Possession with the Intent to Distribute Cocaine Base on July 11, 2025, and awaits sentencing scheduled for October 17, 2025. Ransom faces a maximum penalty of twenty years imprisonment. Rodrick Hunter , 48, of Jackson: pleaded guilty to Possession with the Intent to Distribute Methamphetamine on June 13, 2025, and awaits sentencing scheduled for October 16, 2025. Hunter faces a maximum penalty of twenty years imprisonment. Brian Hobson, 35, of Jackson: pleaded guilty to Possession with the Intent to Distribute Cocaine Base, and awaits sentencing scheduled for October 16, 2025. Hobson faces a maximum penalty of twenty years imprisonment. Stevenson Bentley (Courtesy: Madison County Detention Center) Michael Murrell (Courtesy: Madison County Detention Center) Lorenzo Loggins (Courtesy: Madison County Detention Center) David Ransom (Courtesy: Madison County Detention Center) Rodrick Hunter (Courtesy: Madison County Detention Center) Brian Hobson (Courtesy: Madison County Detention Center) The United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosive is investigating the case with assistance from the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, the Mississippi Bureau of Narcotics, Jackson Police Department and the Capitol Police Department. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Daily 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 WJTV. NEED TO KNOW A skydiver has died after a mid-air collision with another jumper at an annual event in Montana, according to reports The tragedy occurred on the morning of Monday, Aug. 4 at the Lost Prairie Boogie event hosted by Meadow Peak Skydiving The victim was pronounced dead at the scene, while the other individual was medically cleared after being tended to by emergency personnel, per NBC Montana A skydiver has died after an apparent mid-air collision with another person jumping at an event in Montana, according to reports. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On Monday, Aug. 4 shortly before 9:45 a.m. local time, the Flathead County Sheriffs Office responded after the accident occurred during the annual Lost Prairie Boogie event hosted by Meadow Peak Skydiving in Marion, per local station KPAX News. Two skydivers had attempted to jump over the Lost Prairie area before tragedy struck, NBC Montana reported, citing the sheriff's office. One of the skydivers was reportedly able to deploy a parachute after jumping from the plane and managed to land safely, while the second skydiver's parachute deployed automatically, the outlet stated. Both individuals were treated following the collision, but sadly, the second skydiver was pronounced dead at the scene, per NBC Montana. The other individual was medically cleared after being tended to by emergency personnel. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The victim's name hasn't been released by authorities. Flathead County Sheriff's Office/Facebook A Flathead County Sheriff's Office vehcile A Flathead County Sheriff's Office vehcile The Flathead County Sheriffs Office extends its deepest condolences to the family, friends, and skydiving community affected by this tragic loss, police said according to KPAX News, citing a news release. A Meadow Peak Skydiving spokesperson said in a news release following the tragedy, "Our hearts are broken," per local newspaper the Daily Inter Lake. "This is a devastating loss, and our deepest sympathies are with the [parachutist's] family, friends and the entire sky diving community," the representative added. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A message on the Meadow Peak Skydiving website confirmed 2025 marked the 58th annual Lost Prairie Boogie event, as well as the 15th anniversary of the skydiving company operating. According to the Daily Inter Lake, this marks the third death at the event over the past 15 years. A Colorado man previously died after his parachute became entangled in 2010, before a man from Washington died the following year in 2011. An experienced skydiver from Minnesota also died following a parachute malfunction in 2019, according to the outlet. Never miss a story sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Meadow Peak Skydiving said it is working with the United States Parachute Association and local authorities following the accident, the Daily Inter Lake noted. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The investigation continues. The Flathead County Sheriff's Office, Meadow Peak Skydiving, the United States Parachute Association and the Marion Fire Department did not immediately respond after being contacted by PEOPLE for additional information. Read the original article on People A passenger aboard the worlds largest cruise ship had a frightening surprise on Thursday when part of a water slide he was riding broke off, causing injuries, Royal Caribbean has confirmed. Our team provided medical care to an adult guest when acrylic glass broke off a water slide as the guest passed through the slide, Royal Caribbean Group said in a statement to the Miami Herald. The guest is being treated for his injuries. The water slide is closed for the remainder of the sailing pending an investigation. Icon of the Seas. Water slide breaks #iconoftheseas pic.twitter.com/AfCDSbjQlg Jim Muldoon (@jimmuldoon) August 7, 2025 Cellphone footage posted to X shows the tense moments following the incident aboard the Icon of the Seas. Onlookers can be seen staring up at the broken slide as water poured out. Several shouted for the ride to be stopped. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Oh my God, someone just fell out of the slide, the person taking the video said. According to Royal Caribbean, the injured passenger made it to the end of the slide, did not fall out or through the slide, and is in stable condition. The Icon of the Seas departed from Miami on Saturday and is currently in CocoCay, Bahamas, according to CruiseMapper. The cruise ship is expected to return to Miami on Saturday. MORE: Royal Caribbean crew member stabs female colleague, jumps overboard. Hes found dead Last month, a 35-year-old South African crew member aboard the ship fatally stabbed a 28-year-old female colleague before jumping overboard near the Bahamas, where he was later found dead. Miami Herald staff writer Vinod Sreeharsha contributed to this report. SMITH COUNTY, Texas (KETK) The Smith County Emergency Management Office hosted their Community Preparedness Night on Thursday to educate residents on how to be prepared for impending disasters. VIDEO:Crash on Old Jacksonville Highway flips vehicle onto its side The event was held at UT Health Northeast in the amphitheater of the main building from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Smith County Emergency Management Coordinator Brandon Moore spoke at the event about recent disasters, public education and training opportunities. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Moore also spoke about opportunities for residents with the Smith County Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) and how to provide input in the countys Hazard Mitigation Plan. Residents were also encouraged to sign up for the Rave mass notification system, which allows emergency managers to notify citizens of necessary information in times of local emergency or disaster. For more information about Smith Countys Emergency Management Office, residents can visit the Smith County website. You can now stream KETK and FOX51 News live 24/7 on your smart TV with KETK+, our brand-new app! No antenna, cable, or satellite neededwatch for free, anytime. Just download it on your Roku, Apple TV, or Fire TV and start streaming. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. Kenya is one of nine African countries selected for the initial rollout of lenacapavir (LEN), a new injectable drug for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention, scheduled for January 2026. Several posts shared on social media describe the jab as a vaccine, but this is misleading: LEN is a long-acting injectable antiretroviral (ARV) that is administered twice a year to protect against HIV infection. Unlike vaccines, which stimulate the immune system to build long-term immunity, LEN works by blocking the virus from replicating in the body. UPDATE: WHO has approved Kenya to roll out the Lenacapavir injectable HIV vaccine. You will rush for this more than the one for Corona, reads an English and Swahili Facebook post published on July 15, 2025. Screenshot of the misleading Facebook post, taken on August 1, 2025 Similar claims were published here and here on Facebook. HIV breakthrough HIV is a virus that attacks the bodys immune system by targeting white blood cells. These cells are essential in helping the body fight against infections and diseases (archived here). Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It is transmitted through contact with bodily fluids such as blood and semen from an infected person, and if left untreated, HIV can advance to AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome), the most severe stage of infection. At the end of 2024, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that 40.8 million people were living with HIV globally, with 65 percent of them in the WHO African Region. Administered as a twice-yearly injection and developed by Gilead Sciences, LEN represents a major advancement in the fight against HIV and was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration on July 1, 2025 (archived here and here). Drugmaker Gilead manufactures lenacapavir JUSTIN SULLIVAN GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA JUSTIN SULLIVAN / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA During the 13th International AIDS Society Conference (IAS 2025) on HIV Science in Kigali, Rwanda, this July, the WHO also endorsed the drug, issuing guidelines recommending it as an additional pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) option for people at high risk of HIV infection (archived here). Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement PrEP is medication taken by individuals who do not have HIV but are at risk of contracting it. In case of infection, these treatments help the body stop the virus from replicating (archived here). Kenya was selected as one of the nine early adopter countries for the rollout of LEN, scheduled for January 2026. According to the countrys health ministry, each dose is expected to cost 6,000 Kenyan shillings (about $46) (archived here and here). However, social media posts describing LEN as a vaccine are misleading. Not a vaccine According to its manufacturer, Gilead Sciences, LEN, marketed under the brand names Sunlenca and Yeztugo, is approved for two uses: as a treatment for adults who are resistant to other HIV treatments -- combined with other ARVs -- and as a PrEP option to reduce the risk of sexually acquired HIV (archived here and here). Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement ARVs are used to treat HIV. They do not cure the virus but are a lifelong treatment that works by suppressing the infection to prevent it from progressing to AIDS (archived here). Kenyas director general for health, Dr. Patrick Amoth, told AFP Fact Check: Lenacapavir is not a vaccine. It is an antiretroviral medicine that prevents HIV infection. This is different from how a vaccine affects the body. Vaccines train the immune system to recognise and fight specific pathogens before a person is infected. They do so by imitating an infection to trigger the bodys natural defences. This helps the body identify the pathogen so it can respond quickly if exposed to it in the future, preventing disease (archived here). Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In contrast, ARVs like LEN are used to treat those already living with HIV or to prevent infection in the case of PrEP. These drugs work by blocking the virus at different stages of its lifecycle, and when taken consistently, they help control the infection and prevent transmission to others (archived here). Vaccines work by stimulating the body to produce antibodies against a disease, Amoth said. Lenacapavir is a capsid inhibitor, blocking HIV from replicating by interfering with viral assembly and release, hence allowing the body to prevent new infections. The capsid is the protein shell of an infectious virus that encases its genetic material. Capsids help viruses such as HIV survive. Drugs that are capsid inhibitors, like LEN, disrupt viral replication and protect the host from infection (archived here and here). Dr Andrew Mulwa, head of Kenyas National AIDS & STI Control Program (NASCOP), reiterated that LEN is not a vaccine. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Lenacapavir, just like Cabotegravir, is an antiretroviral drug, Mulwa told AFP Fact Check. Cabotegravir, marketed as Apretude and Cabenuva, was the first long-acting injectable PrEP that was approved by the FDA in 2021. It is administered as two initial injections four weeks apart, followed by an injection every two months (archived here). During his opening remarks at the IAS 2025 conference, WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: While an HIV vaccine remains elusive, lenacapavir is the next best thing: a long-acting antiretroviral shown in trials to prevent almost all HIV infections among those at risk (archived here). AFP Fact Check has debunked other HIV-related claims here. When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Credit: CBS The merger between Paramount and Skydance has officially been finalized. The two organizations are now one company. What the future holds is far from clear. There are numerous questions, particularly surrounding CBS as a news organization and whether we might see significant changes to the way news is handled under the new regime. One person with a lot of money riding on the situation recently said no. CBS made some interesting moves in the months before the merger was finalized, including settling a lawsuit brought by President Trump against 60 Minutes and announcing the cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Some analysts suggested the moves were made to help smooth the path toward federal approval of the merger by currying favor with the White House, and thus wonder if CBS News may be compromised going forward. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In a press conference following the finalization of the merger, Gerry Cardinale, founder and managing partner of Redbird (the top investor in the new company), told Deadline that there will be no outside influence on the news for the "simple" reason that its a bad investment. Cardinale said Theres no way were going to try to influence the news, because if you do that, you kill the investment basis. Its that simple. One of the requirements set by the FCC in approving the merger was the installation of an ombudsman whose job wouldn't be to take complaints over alleged bias in coverage. The new Paramount team pushed back during the press conference that that position would necessarily influence the news, saying the ombudsmans job was transparency, not oversight. At the end of the day, Redbird is looking for a return on its investment, and if it believes that CBS News as an objective organization will provide that, its less likely to influence it. Cardinale feels that when investing in a news organization, independence is the thing that you're really investing in. He went on... Heres the deal for a guy like me. Dont buy into a news organization, whether its broadcast or print, if you want to influence it, because thats just bad business, right, because the kernel of the entire investment thesis is independence and objectivity. If you cant get your head around that, dont buy it. Its understandable why there are so many questions surrounding the future of CBS News. Following the settlement of the lawsuit with President Trump, Late Show host Stephen Colbert referred to the deal as a bribe, and the announcement of the shows cancellation was only days later. While CBS claimed the decision was purely financial, a lot of people dont believe that, as evidenced by the number of folks who have been flooding Paramount's social media channels with calls to cancel Paramount+. It will likely take months to see if there is truly a discernible difference in the way CBS News is presented. Certainly, a lot of very interested people will be watching. One who might be is Stephen Colbert himself, who, with his show set to end in May, seemingly has little left to lose. While Jason Hong was celebrating his 75th birthday, he suddenly found himself thinking about his 1958 Cessna Skyhawk, a white and red single-engine beauty with colorful stripes that he calls his "old treasure." He doesn't fly it much anymore, but given the occasion he resolved to visit his plane as soon as he could to "say hi," like a lifelong friend you see around holidays and special occasions. Hong headed to Corona Municipal Airport after church on July 27, but when he got there, the plane was not where he'd left it. Hong was dumbfounded. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "I got confused," he said. "I thought, did I park it somewhere else, did the airport manager move it? But I looked all over." It was gone. Hong was so shocked, he initially didn't know who to reach out to about a missing, stolen plane. He wondered, did someone fly it out of the airport unnoticed? How long had it been missing? The questions piled up. But the mystery only deepened. Read more: A bloody frying pan and a mystery fire: Unraveling a doctor's slaying inside a San Marino home As Hong would come to find out, the colorful aircraft had been flown across Southern California by an unknown pilot, unnoticed, in a series of joyrides or joy flights at least twice before and then simply returned to the airport. Both Hong and police were left scratching their heads. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The first time he discovered it missing, Hong reported it to Corona police, unsure that he'd ever see the plane he's owned for nearly 30 years again. After all, he thought, who steals an entire plane? Then on the morning of July 29, he got a call from La Verne Police, telling him his plane was found in Brackett Field Airport. "There's my airplane, sitting there in the airport," Hong said, finding cigarette butts and garbage strewn about in the cockpit. He barely took time to process what happened when, frustrated, he decided to pull out the battery from the plane, close it up, and go home. The plane wouldn't start without the battery, he figured, and he could come back the next weekend when he had time to clean and inspect it. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Except that, when he returned that Sunday, Aug. 3, the plane had vanished again. Hong reported the plane missing again with La Verne Police, and wondered what was going on. It wasn't long before he got another call. This time, El Monte Police told him his plane was sitting at San Gabriel Valley Airport. When Hong got there to inspect his plane, his confusion only grew. "I found it with a battery," he said. Read more: 'Largest jewelry heist in U.S. history': 7 indicted in massive Brink's job It hasn't been just Hong who has found himself befuddled by his disappearing and reappearing plane. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "This plane just keeps disappearing out of the blue," said Sgt. Robert Montanez of the Corona Police Department. "It's just weird." Montanez said when Hong reported his plane missing the first time, he'd last seen the aircraft in May in the small Corona airport. For police, a case of an entire plane being stolen was so rare, that officers used the same form used for stolen cars, to take Hong's report. Officers are also aware that the plane has been taken multiple times, and returned, making the incidents more perplexing. But Montanez said there's no immediate indication as to who the culprit is. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "There's no camera video, there's no real leads as to who stole the plane," Montanez said. After finding his plane a second time, Hong said he's tried to put details of the thefts together, but the more he learns the more he grows confused about the circumstances. Hong looked up his plane on Flight Aware, a site that tracks flights and aircraft, and found that on his 75th birthday, someone took off with his plane from La Verne airport at 9:54 p.m., for a 51-minute flight that at one point neared Palm Springs. A few hours later, on July 26, the colorfully striped plane was in the air once again, this time for a brief 22-minute flight from Riverside County toward La Verne that started at about 1:30 a.m. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It was the next day that Hong would discover it missing. Read more: $1 million in cash in a downtown L.A. bodega: Inside the crackdown on retail theft 'fences' At first, Hong said, he thought it might have been a random incident, but the details of the repeating incidents didn't make sense to him, he said. The multiple flights indicate that, whoever has taken his plane has had some sort of flight training, since they've been able to land the plane on multiple occasions. "Landing is not easy, so they're trained," he said. Hong said he's also found a headset in the plane, as well as a new battery to replace the one he removed, meaning this mysterious pilot had spent hundreds of dollars on equipment to get his plane back in the air. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The replacement of the battery, Hong said, also suggests its someone familiar with not just flying, but the mechanics of the plane as they seemed to have the tools and know-how about the type of battery needed, and how to install it. Having his airplane stolen has been frustrating, Hong said. But learning that the suspect has also been spending money and equipment to use and return the plane has just been confusing. "Someone breaks into your house, they're looking for jewelry or cash right?" he said, trying to reason with the circumstances. "But in this case, what's the purpose? It's like someone breaks my window, and then they put a new one up." The fact that someone has been traveling in it to different airports also puzzles him. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The 75-year-old Yorba Linda resident said he's spoken to regular pilots and employees at the San Gabriel Valley Airport in El Monte, who said that they saw the plane flying in and out of the airport multiple times in July. "On and off, they flew in and out, in and out, almost an entire month without knowing," he said. "This is really a rare situation." One regular at the airport, Hong said, told him he saw a woman, about 5 feet, 3 inches tall, and in her 40s or 50s, flying and sitting in the plane on multiple occasions. The man told Hong he had a conversation with her at one point, and distinctly remembered her because she was often seen sitting in the cockpit during the day, making people at the airport wonder why she wouldn't just relax in the air-conditioned airport lounge. "Very strange," Hong said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement For now, Hong has chained his plane in San Gabriel Valley Airport and said he's uncomfortable flying it until he can thoroughly inspect it. Other than that, he's not sure what to do to keep his plane grounded, or to find out who has been secretly flying it out. "I have no idea what to do," he said. "It's the strangest thing." Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. Deaths from the flesh-eating bacteria Vibrio vulnificus are rising along the southeastern US coast, with at least five fatalities reported in Florida, four in Louisiana, and one in North Carolinas Outer Banks this year. The bacteria flourish in warm seawater and can lead to necrotizing fasciitis, a serious infection that rapidly damages surrounding tissue. Health officials report that Florida has recorded 16 cases this year. Seventeen cases have reported Louisiana, with seven and three cases also reported in North Carolina seven and Mississippi, respectively. Vibrio vulnificus can enter the body through open wounds exposed to salty or brackish water and can also be contracted by eating contaminated raw seafood, particularly oysters. About 20 percent of those infected with this bacterium die from the infection. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Antarpreet Jutla, an engineering professor at the University of Florida, told NBC that infections remain rare but something is off this year. This is certainly not normal, thats one thing, Jutla said. We havent had that many cases early on in the summer for a very long time. About one in five people infected with Vibrio vulnificus die from the illness (Getty Images/iStockphoto) While Jutla said there are too many unknowns to be certain what is causing the spike, researchers are following some leads. For one, his group is investigating why there is such high concentrations of plankton and chlorophyll in Floridas panhandle, which may be linked to the surge in Vibrio bacteria. Although most Vibrio species cause mild gastrointestinal illnesses, Vibrio vulnificus is particularly dangerous due to its rapid progression and severe symptoms. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Jutla also explained that Vibrio vulnificus infections often rise following hurricanes, which stir up bacteria in floodwaters. Florida recorded 82 cases last year, a number that may have been worsened by the extremely active hurricane season, as the bacteria can persist in floodwaters caused by storms. Something happened this year that triggered the pathogens a little bit more than before, he said. People at greatest risk include those with liver disease, weakened immune systems, or who are over 65 years old. Symptoms typically appear within hours and include redness, swelling, painful blisters, and potentially life-threatening sepsis if untreated. Vibrio vulnificus infections may have increased due to last years active hurricane season, with this years season also forecasted to be above average (Getty Images/iStock) Health experts recommend covering any open wounds before entering ocean waters and seeking immediate medical attention if infection signs develop. Early treatment with antibiotics can prevent serious complications. This years infections and deaths have been reported across a wide range of Floridas coastline, including counties such as Bay County in the Panhandle, Hillsborough County near Tampa, Broward County in the southeast, and St. Johns County near Jacksonville. A year after Kenneth Mortimer killed his mother and injured his father in a stabbing at the familys home in Green Township, a judge sentenced him to a decades-long prison term. Hamilton County Common Pleas Judge Christopher Wagner sentenced 41-year-old Mortimer to at least 45 years in prison during a hearing on Aug. 8. Mortimer pleaded guilty during the same hearing to involuntary manslaughter, attempted murder, kidnapping and felonious assault. He also pleaded guilty to a low-level felony assault charge in an unrelated case. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As part of his plea agreement, prosecutors reduced the most serious charge of aggravated murder, which Mortimer was indicted on in August 2024. Police: Green Twp. couple was trying to call for help before stabbing Prosecutors said in court filings that Mortimer fatally stabbed his mother, 75-year-old Barbara Mortimer, and seriously wounded his father in an Aug. 9, 2024, attack at his parents home on Palmhill Lane. Investigators said Mortimer had gotten into an argument with his mother after she told him he couldnt stay the night at the family home. After Barbara Mortimer asked her husband to call psychiatric services, Kenneth Mortimer took a knife from the kitchen and began attacking his parents, who were seated on the couch, according to police. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement His mother tried to escape through the front door, but Mortimer chased her and dragged her back into the house, prosecutors said. She was stabbed multiple times. Kenneth Mortimer, 41, appears for in Hamilton County Common Pleas Court for a plea and sentencing hearing on Friday, Aug. 8. Mortimer admitted to killing his mother and wounding his father during a stabbing at the family's Green Township home. Mortimers father, Thomas Mortimer, was hospitalized after suffering numerous injuries from the attack, including fractured ribs and a punctured lung, prosecutors said. Kenneth Mortimer fled the scene in his car but was apprehended by Cincinnati police a short time later, investigators said. He admitted to police that he stabbed both of his parents. Mortimer declined to speak during his sentencing hearing. His attorney, Connor Reilly, did not offer an explanation as to why Mortimer attacked his parents and only asked the judge to impose the sentence recommended in the plea agreement. Aunt says stabbing 'changed my sense of safety' Mortimers father was not present in court, but Hamilton County Assistant Prosecutor Christopher Lipps said the elder Mortimer agreed with the plea deal. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This has caused a lot of emotions with the family, Lipps said. Its something that theyre going to have to live with forever. Janet Stansbury, Barbara Mortimers sister, told the judge that the attack has scarred the family. It changed my sense of safety and trust in others, Stansbury said. She said that Barbara Mortimer was fighting cancer before she was killed. She was a mother who loved everybody, Stansbury said. Wagner, the judge, said that he reviewed Kenneth Mortimers psychological reports that were submitted as part of the case. Some people will say that this was, with hindsight, inevitable, Wagner said. I completely disagree with that. That would be an insult to the victims memory. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Under a state law that says the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction can extend someone's sentence based on conduct in prison, Mortimer could serve up to 50 years. This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Green Township stabbing: Son sentenced for killing mom, injuring dad At the beginning of 2025, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa was able to look out on the year ahead with some optimism. At home, the awkward and fractious coalition government Ramaphosa was forced to assemble after the long-ruling African National Congress, or ANC, failed to win a majority in the May 2024 legislative elections had been stabilized. On the global stage, South Africa had assumed the chair of the G20, giving it the opportunity to enhance its global status and advance its agenda across a range of issues important to the country and the Global South, whose cause Pretoria looks to champion. By the mid-year point, however, these aspirations had been dashed by events at home and abroad, which raised anew questions about Ramaphosas ability to steer South Africa through the choppy waters in which it now finds itself. Domestically, while the government of national unity, or GNU, remains intact, it is inherently unstable and operates in permanent crisis mode. Since the government took office in June 2024, its two principalsRamaphosas ANC and the countrys erstwhile main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, or DAhave locked horns over the budget, how to tackle the countrys endemic corruption crisis, reforms to national health insurance and a land reform measure that included expropriation without compensation in limited cases. These disputes might be viewed benignly as a process in which South Africas political parties are learning the art of coalition politics after three decades of ANC dominance. Yet neither the ANC nor the DA gives the impression that it is truly comfortable within the GNU, and despite the GNUs continuing popularity among the wider electorate, each is aware of the strong antipathy felt toward the arrangement by their own rank and file. At present, the GNU survives in part because neither the ANC nor the DA want to bear responsibility for its collapse, but mainly because the alternative to itan ANC coalition with former President Jacob Zumas Umkhonto we Sizwe, or MK, party and Julius Malemas Economic Freedom Fightersis such an unpalatable prospect. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement However, the ideological distance between the ANC and the DA inevitably translates into serious, irreconcilable policy differences. These in turn produce at best incoherent government and at worst either inertia or lowest common denominator policies. Nor is there any easy and obvious way out of this political limbo. To the contrary, with the 2026 municipal elections on the horizon, the politicking and posturing within the GNU will only intensify, as each party seeks to claim any successes as their own while attributing all failures to the other. To get more in-depth news and expert analysis on global affairs from WPR, sign up for our free Daily Review newsletter. Moreover, despite Ramaphosas breezy optimism, the GNU has been unable to reverse the countrys precarious economic situation, while the systemic corruption within the ANC and South African state resurfaces at regular intervals to embarrass the president. Most recently, National Police Minister Senzo Mchunu and other law enforcement officials, including senior members of the Gauteng province judiciary, have been accused of acting in concert with a criminal syndicate, drugs cartels and assassins, and of seeking to prevent a meaningful investigation into political killings. So serious are these allegations that Ramaphosa felt compelled to announce a judicial commission of inquiry. On the international scene, Ramaphosa has felt the full force of the gale accompanying U.S. President Donald Trumps return to the White House in January. South Africas ambitious agenda as chair of the G20 includes the Global South debt crisis, the democratization of global governance, addressing structural trade imbalances and the ongoing conflict in Gaza. All of that, however, has been destabilized by Trumps disdain for international institutions and multilateralism, both of which are historically key pillars of South Africas foreign policy, and his commitment to tariffs both as an instrument of economic policy and as a stick to punish states deemed to be acting contrary to U.S. global interests. Although Ramaphosas approach falls well short of the dynamic leadership South Africa needs, it is difficult to see how any other leader could do better in the current environment. As part of his global trade war, Trump announced a 30 percent tariff on all South African goods entering the U.S. market in April. Although he quickly suspended the levies for 90 days pending negotiations, he subsequently reaffirmed the 30 percent rate on South Africa, which went into effect this week. The Trump administration has also laid waste to the U.S. commitment to foreign aid, which was traditionally viewed by Washington as an important soft power tool. The U.S. now prefers operating outside of global institutions and cutting deals bilaterally, where it feels less constrained and can more readily bring its strength to bear to shape outcomes. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As a result, chairing the G20 very quickly looked more like a poisoned chalice than an opportunity for South Africa to shape the global agenda and punch above its weight, as Ramaphosa had hoped. Indeed, the U.S. has absented itself from almost all G20 ministerial meetings thus far under South Africas tenure, and Trumps attendance of the leaders summit scheduled for November is very much in doubt, leading to talk of a G19. Moreover, the Trump administration has demonstrated a specific animus toward South Africa that is rooted in policy differences, such as the genocide case Pretoria has brought against Israel before the International Court of Justice and its close ties with Iran. Trump has also personally endorsed the South African nationalist rights false narrative of a white genocide unfolding in the country, using it to justify flights of Afrikaner refugees to the U.S. for asylum. This all culminated in the infamous ambush sprung upon Ramaphosa during his White House meeting with Trump in May. Notably, the major point of friction between South Africa and the administration of former President Joe Bidennamely, Pretorias refusal to criticize or distance itself from Moscow following Russias all-out invasion of Ukraine in 2022is now barely mentioned, not least because Trump and his MAGA base have frequently echoed Russian positions about the origins of that conflict. But that too may change, as Trumps position on Ukraine has begun to shift as his efforts to end the war flounder. There are mitigating circumstances that make it unfair to blame all of South Africas current challenges on Ramaphosas shortcomings. Managing a party as fractious as the ANC would test the ability of the most consummately skilled leader. This is particularly true in an era when the ANC is in decline, making it now a coalition within a coalition. Moreover, corruption is so embedded within the partys national, provincial and local structures that any proposed measures to tackle it inevitably encroach upon the material interests of its various factions and therefore generate stiff resistance. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The presence of other parties in the government has added another layer of complexity that frequently makes the GNU an exercise akin to herding cats. In fact, Ramaphosa is well-suited to such an exercise, as his political skills lie in being a natural consensus-seeker and mediator of differing interests and positions, whether within the ANC or the GNU. Although this falls well short of the dynamic leadership South Africa needs, it is difficult to see how any other leader could do better in the current environment. Indeed, it may be the best and even the only option available in the absence of a fundamental political realignment. Equally, with regard to foreign policy, Ramaphosa is not the only leadernor South Africa the only statethat has been forced to adapt to the Trump administrations capricious and often bizarre policies. Nor is there anything uniquely awful about his performance in this regard. To the contrary, he and his cross-party team won plaudits for calmly repudiating Trumps more outlandish claims and maintaining their composure throughout their White House ordeal . That said, Ramaphosas presidency has been frustrating and disappointing. He took office in 2018 on a wave of goodwill after Zumas scandal-ridden presidency, but he has largely squandered that dividend. His commitment to reform and tackling graft in both the ANC and the South African state has been contradicted by his simultaneous commitment to party unity. Clearly, any attempt at thoroughgoing reform, particularly on tackling entrenched corruption, will trigger convulsions within the ANC, something the risk-averse Ramaphosa is simply unwilling to countenance. This is evident in his extreme reluctance to act when confronted by the wrongdoing of ANC ministers, which contrasts sharply with his dismissal in June of Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry Andrew Whitfield, of the DA, for making an unauthorized trip to the U.S. in February. This unwillingness to lead causes Ramaphosa to resort to measures that give the impression of action but deliver little of substance, such as a proposed National Dialogue aimed at uniting the country and the commission of inquiry into the allegations surrounding his national police minister. South Africa has seen many such commissions in recent years, and few, if any, have enhanced the quality of governance. These familiar responses are also being dismissed with increasing cynicism, and even ridicule, by voters. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ramaphosa was already damaged goods after last years elections, in which he led the ANC to its worst-ever electoral performance. And with the party set to elect a new leader in 2027, he is now moving into lame duck territory. That means we can expect to see more muddling through in the months ahead, at a time when dealing with South Africas problems requires so much more than that. James Hamill has been a lecturer in the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Leicester since 1991. He has a long-standing research interest in South African politics, particularly in the countrys post-apartheid development, and is a frequent visitor to the country. He has published articles on South Africa in International Relations, Diplomacy & Statecraft, The World Today, Politikon: The South African Journal of Political Studies and The Round Table: The Commonwealth Journal of International Affairs. The post South Africas Ramaphosa Is Having a Very Bad Year appeared first on World Politics Review. Content warning: This article contains information about alleged child sexual abuse material. Reader discretion is advised. Report CSAM to law enforcement by contacting the ICAC Tip Line at (801) 281-1211 or your local law enforcement agency. SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) A South Jordan man previously convicted for possessing over 500 files of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) has been sentenced to federal prison for his crime. Daniel David Egli, 51, of South Jordan, was convicted on Nov. 4, 2024, for possessing CSAM while on federal supervision for another charge during 2021. Senior U.S. District Court Judge Tena Campbell sentenced him today. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Egli was sentenced to 210 months imprisonment over 19 years. He will also serve a lifetime term of supervised release, meaning that he will be required to check in with a probation officer for the rest of his life, and can be sent back to prison if he violates the terms of his release. PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Repeat sex offender found guilty for third time in federal child exploitation case According to a press release from the U.S. Attorneys Office District of Utah (UAO), Eglis parole officer discovered that Egli had a laptop and smartphone, as well as other electronic devices he was not permitted to have as part of his release conditions. When Eglis devices were reviewed, it was discovered that he had accessed, viewed, and possessed nearly 500 files of CSAM. He was charged with the offense in 2022 and convicted in 2024. He had a history of child exploitation and had been convicted of the same offense in 2004 and again in 2010. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Egli is a repeat offender of child exploitation, and he has shown a complete lack of remorse and rehabilitation in his continued behavior, Acting U.S. Attorney Felice John Viti of the District of Utah is quoted in the release. Community safety is a priority of the U.S. Attorneys Office, and our law enforcement partners. Our community and the children in it are safer with Egli behind bars. Charges are allegations only. All arrested persons are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Latest headlines: 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. Just 22 days after getting married, a South Sound woman and her husband died in a head-on wreck last month while they were moving out of state. Serenne Dildanges Mikel and Casey Daniel, both 23, were on their way to their new home in Texas on July 29 when the crash happened on New Mexico Highway 371. Mikels aunt, Brea Mikel, a Tacoma resident, is raising funds on GoFundMe to help with funeral expenses and to transport Mikels remains to Palau, where she said the newlyweds families are from, among other costs. In four days, the GoFundMe raised over $7,000. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Her niece lived in Federal Way, and the newlyweds were driving to Texas to start a new chapter of their lives, she told The News Tribune on Aug. 6. New Mexico State Police were dispatched around 4 p.m. on July 29, spokesperson Wilson Silver told The News Tribune on Thursday. Mikel and Daniel were in a 2007 Ford vehicle, while the other driver was in a 2016 Hyundai. Silver said the driver of the Hyundai was flown to a hospital in Albuquerque, and his condition is currently unknown. An investigation into the crash is ongoing. Brea Mikel said the newlyweds died at the scene. Dildanges was so excited to start her new life in Texas with her husband, and that life was unfairly taken from both of them, Mikels aunt stated in the GoFundMe post. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Staff writer Puneet Bsanti contributed to this report. Editors note: An earlier version of this article misstated the scope of the fundraiser. The GoFundMe campaign will only help pay for Mikels funeral expenses and transporting her remains to Palau, among other costs. A Southern California man was sentenced to prison for defrauding the government of over $6.9 million through a scheme that targeted small business loans during the COVID-19 pandemic. The man was identified as Abraham Park, 67, of La Mirada, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office. His scheme defrauded the Small Business Administration (SBA) out of millions of dollars in loans through the Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) Program, officials said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to court documents, the crimes occurred from March 2020 through October 2022. Park was the owner of a financial services company that helped clients repair credit scores and obtain financing, including loans. When the pandemic began, Park told his clients to create fake corporate entities so that he could submit fraudulent EIDL loan applications to the SBA on their behalf. In return, his clients would pay him a portion of the loans received as a kickback, prosecutors said. Park also submitted false applications for himself and his family members. In total, he submitted over 120 fraudulent applications through this method. Although only 73 loans were funded, it resulted in a nearly $7 million loss to the SBA. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On March 20, Park pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering. On Aug. 7, he was sentenced to 3 years and 10 months in prison and ordered to pay $6,993,700 in restitution and $535,041 in forfeiture. Since the inception of the CARES Act, the Fraud Section has prosecuted over 200 defendants in more than 130 criminal cases and has seized over $78 million in cash proceeds derived from fraudulently obtained PPP funds, as well as numerous real estate properties and luxury items purchased with such proceeds, federal officials said. More information, including ways to report fraud cases, 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 KTLA. (COLORADO) The Common Sense Institute (CSI) is shedding light on school climate, student behavior, and academic performance across Colorados 21 largest school districts. Three Southern Colorado districts, including Harrison School District 2 (D2), were mentioned in the study over an array of potential problems, such as behavioral incidents. According to the study, D2 had the highest behavioral incident rate at 389 per 1,000 students. The average was 137. D2 said while the study highlights data, it may not reflect D2 in the most favorable light and does not tell the full story of how the district approaches student behavior and support. D2 is deeply committed to addressing the complex challenges our students bring with them to school. Our focus is not simply on counting referrals but on what happens after a referral is made. In D2, referrals are often the starting point for meaningful intervention not punishment. They lead to restorative practices, family conferences, connections to our Student Success Centers, and referrals to both in-school and community mental health services. Unlike in other environments where referrals may be solely punitive, in D2 they are most often a gateway to connection with a caring adult and needed support. Its also important to note that many of the behaviors leading to referrals are not dangerous or extreme, as might be implied in the report. District 2 Harrison Schools The school district reported D2 ranks in the middle range for violent incidents across districts. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We are working diligently to respond to behavior with a restorative and instructive lens. Last school year, half of all behavior incidents were resolved using restorative practices, said D2. Our students are noticing this shift. In our 2024-25 School Culture Survey, 89% of students in grades 35 and 80% in grades 612 reported feeling safe at school. Additionally, 89% of younger students and 83% of secondary students said their teachers respond appropriately when behavior issues arise in the classroom. At D2, we believe every behavior is an opportunity for growth, reflection, and connection and we are investing in systems that help students succeed both in and out of the classroom. Another Colorado Springs area district, D11, landed in the second spot with a rate of 335 incidents per 1,000 students. Pueblo City District 60 was also found to have one of the highest chronic absenteeism rates, with a 43% They also ranked at the top spot for marijuana violations, D11 landed in second place. Findings in the study showed that districts with higher rates of behavioral incidents and chronic absences tend to perform worse on standardized tests. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The findings are clear: school safety isnt just about immediate well-beingits also a leading indicator of academic performance, said Cole Anderson, CSI Deputy Director of Policy & Research and co-author of the report. A disruptive environment impacts every student, and if we want to close achievement gaps, we have to take school culture seriously. FOX21 News has reached out to D11 and Pueblo School District 60, and will update this article with comments. 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. Just last week a number of different airlines were forced to make cancellations and delay flights due to serious weather conditions. While Southwest Airlines was among those in distress, the airline suffered an extra problem when it was forced to halt all departures. Southwest Statement on Previous Outage On July 31 the airline issued a statement apologizing for a "brief outage" that led the carrier to suspend departing flights. Southwest Airlines temporarily paused departures this afternoon due to a brief outage that affected network connectivity to our dispatching and operations system. The system has been restored and departures have resumed. We apologize to our Customers for any inconvenience. Nothing is more important to Southwest than the Safety of our Customers and Employees. New Data Reveals How Many Flights Southwest Canceled A new report from Travel and Tour World revealed the airline canceled 758 total flights - many to major hubs in the United States like Dallas Love Field (DAL), Denver International Airport (DEN), Chicago Midway (MDW), Phoenix Sky Harbor (PHX), Las Vegas McCarran (LAS), Orlando International Airport (MCO), and Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Travel and Tour World speculated that the cancellations came following a combination of operational and external factors, such as weather conditions, particularly thunderstorms in the Midwest and West Coast. "Another factor is the strain on air traffic control systems, which have been under pressure due to higher-than-usual air travel demand and airspace congestion. These delays, compounded by Southwests reliance on a point-to-point flight model, which can create scheduling issues when one flight is delayed, could have cascaded and led to such widespread disruptions," it wrote. Over the weekend several major airlines were forced to cancel flights as weather conditions across the United States led to cancellations of more than 300 flights. It appears Southwest may have been hit even harder than originally reported. Related: Southwest Airlines Announces Change on All Flights Starting August 13 Southwest Airlines Cancels More Than 750 Flights first appeared on Men's Journal on Aug 6, 2025 Spain could see its longest heatwave in several years, with temperatures of 40 degrees Celsius in large parts of the country set to last until Thursday. As the heatwave edges towards 12 days, a period last seen in 2022, the national weather service Aemet said 14 of the country's 17 autonomous communities were under alert warnings on Friday. Temperatures could reach 44 degrees in south-western Spain on Tuesday, while red alerts are in place for the Canary Islands this weekend. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The archipelago, which lies off the western coast of Africa, is very popular with holidaymakers. Temperatures on the Balearic Islands, around Barcelona and on the southern Costa del Sol were lower than inland at around 35 degrees. However, humidity is often higher by the sea, which can exacerbate the heat. Nature is also suffering amid the heatwave. According to Spanish media reports, a noticeably higher number of weakened chicks are being handed in to animal rescue centres, many after falling out of their nests prematurely. PORTSMOUTH, Va. (WAVY) Democratic candidate for governor Abigail Spanberger announced her plan to improve Virginia schools during a gathering at I.C. Norcom High School Friday afternoon. Surrounded by parents, teachers and fellow candidates, including Norcom alum State Sen. Louise Lucas (D), Spanberger said, I know that the strength of Virginia schools is personal to so many of us, because it is personal to me. A key part of Spanbergers education plan is an early start. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The studies are clear, the data are clear, she said. Early childhood education is one of the strongest investments that Virginia can make in setting our kids up for job and career success. But what if parents cant afford child care? Spanberger acknowledged the rising cost. In many parts of Virginia, it costs more to send your child to daycare than to a four-year public institution, Spanberger said. Ill give parents more options and a little bit more breathing room. I will make sure more parents can access high-quality options in their own communities and expand access to assistance for families who need it. Some of Spanbergers plan includes repairing and modernizing crumbling schools, rejecting the use of public education funds for voucher programs, increasing support for students with disabilities and their parents and making college more accessible and affordable. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Spanberger said a single education policy wont work when flexibility is needed across the Commonwealth. It comes down to unique challenges based on student population, community size or classroom size. Spanbergers press office says these are the key points of her Strengthening Virginias Schools Plan: Recruiting, retaining, and providing ongoing support to high-quality teachers to address Virginias teacher shortage Upholding academic excellence and rigor in Virginias public schools Repairing and modernizing crumbling schools Preparing students with advanced academic programs and career-ready skills by promoting innovation within Virginias public schools Rejecting efforts to divert funding from public education to pay for voucher programs Increasing support for students with disabilities, and their parents Giving kids the opportunity to focus on learning at school by supporting wraparound services including making it easier for rural school divisions to implement telehealth programs for mental health services Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Democratic candidate for governor says her plan will strengthen Virginias institutions of higher education by: Making college more affordable and accessible for Virginia students, including by improving financial aid options for students Supporting Virginias Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), which have been chronically underfunded Increasing access to college coursework for high school students, particularly for courses aligning with Virginia industry needs and regional demands Recognizing and leveraging Virginias colleges and universities as engines for economic development and to promote innovation Supporting Virginias community colleges including by strengthening the G3 and Fast Forward programs Enhancing support services to allow students to focus on academic success Protecting Virginias institutions of higher education from political influence Spanberger says her plan will strengthen Virginias child care and early childhood education opportunities by: Making sure more parents have access to high-quality child care options in their area. Creating greater access to the Child Care Subsidy Program Expanding public-private partnerships to lower child care costs for Virginia parents, including by working with the General Assembly to establish an Employee Child Care Assistance Pilot Program Helping more Virginians enter the early child care sector and improving worker retention Increasing the supply of child care, particularly in areas of the Commonwealth with child care deserts Preventing benefit cliffs to support more hardworking Virginia families Increasing access to enrichment activities, wraparound services, and healthcare for infants and toddlers Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. FENTRESS COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) A Jamestown man has been charged with violation of the sex offender registry, according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. TBI agents received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in July about child sexual abuse material being distributed on the social media platform Kik. Pedestrian killed in crash on Shelbyville Highway in Christiana Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Investigators determined the account belonged to 59-year-old Joel Merriel, who is a registered sex offender in Fentress County, according to the TBI. Merriel was taken into custody by TBI agents and deputies from the Fentress County Sheriffs Department on Wednesday. He was charged with one count of violation of the sex offender registry. Merriel was booked into the Fentress County jail on a $100,000 bond and has since been released. Read todays top stories on wkrn.com The investigation remains ongoing. Anyone with information about this case is asked to call 1-800-TBI-FIND. 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. Anybody who thinks American optimism is dead doesnt know a thing about our cut-throat politics. Each day the legacy media details President Trumps latest alleged outrage and its devotees cheer, "We got him now." On the other side of the mirror, the conservative-leaning media reports on the lefts latest seeming cover-up and lie, and its fans shout, "Theyre going down." Then nothing happens. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trump is never frog-marched out of the White House. President Obama and his former crew are never tried for treason. Instead of leg-irons, the accused get rewarded. Through two impeachments, 34 felony convictions, old photos of him cavorting with an infamous pervert, and countless other scandals and kerfuffles, President Trump remains incredibly rich, married to a supermodel, and in addition to all that, the most powerful person on the planet. President Obama may have used drones to assassinate an American citizen, inspired the IRS to shut down his critics, and pushed bogus evidence to kneecap his successor, but since leaving office he has become fabulously wealthy while his halo continues to glisten for half the country. Meanwhile, Obamas Russiagate version of Ehrlichman, Halderman, Mitchell, and Dean - Comey, Clapper, Brennan, and Strzok - are revered as reliable sources by the legacy media. Disgraced FBI agent Peter Strzok even received a $1.2 settlement from the DOJ for alleged privacy violations after anti-Trump texts from his work phones were released. Not only did Hunter Biden receive a full pardon but he is now being touted as a potential presidential candidate in 2028. You cant make this up. Its good to be them. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Undaunted, Americans keep hoping against hope. They never lose faith that tomorrow the arc of history will bend toward the rough justice their enemies deserve. The next outrage will assuredly seal the deal. On one level, this echoes the classic definition of insanity. Despite drumbeat evidence to the contrary, we just cant believe that Trump, Obama, and all the other pooh-bahs will get away with it all. But they do. Crazy, right? Even as I write this, I am fresh off reminding my yellow-dog Democrat friends about their beloved partys terrible behavior: ginning up the Russiagate scandal; silencing those who questioned the Chinese lab origins of COVID-19; normalizing the political violence connected to the Black Lives Matters riots during the summer of 2020; lying about the evidence of the Bidens family influence-peddling schemes on Hunters laptop; weaponizing the justice system to go after Trump and his associates; and hiding President Bidens decline. None of this seems to matter, even after I remind them, you guys screwed up so much that Donald Trump was elected president - twice! Still, the minds need to believe that reality will eventually conform to our views is so powerful that I think just maybe the recent evidence documenting the Obama administrations efforts to frame Trump as a Russian asset will do the trick. Hope springs eternal. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement For their part, my Democrat friends cannot fathom why I am not repulsed by Trump, a long-time philanderer and convicted sexual abuser who urged his followers to march on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2020, and who is supposedly corrupting the government while profiting from his office in unseemly ways. I am a mystery to them; they feel sorry for me. Honestly, I have thought deeply about their concerns. I have no choice. While conservative views are still largely cubby-holed in the national discourse, progressive narratives are almost impossible to ignore; their authors remain the oligarchs of the information economy, creating gross inequalities in the political discourse. I get where they are coming from but do not see an equivalency. To my mind, Trump is trying to clean house in a bureaucracy that has been captured by the left. They want to hold on to their power. He wants to seize it. What they call the "authoritarian playbook" is just politics, which is often a nasty business. Still, I wont deny that the log in my brothers eye looms larger the speck in my own - Trump routinely crosses the line to get things done. As a result, people on both sides end up embracing a victim narrative - the bad guys on the other side made me do it - that gives a pass to unacceptable behavior. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We are so divided, so sure of our opponents sinfulness, that it is hard to see a way out. Calls for people to clean up their own house can be rightly heard as demands for unilateral disarmament. This is the mess we find ourselves in. Its hard to be optimistic about that. J. Peder Zane is an editor for RealClearInvestigations and a columnist for RealClearPolitics. Follow him on X @jpederzane. Spirit Halloween, the ephemeral seasonal retailer that haunts vacant stores nationally each year, will enliven the darkened voids of six suburban Milwaukee stores in September and October. The spaces in Brookfield, Cudahy, Glendale, Greendale, Waukesha and West Allis are all high-profile shopping venues, most previously inhabited by brand-name retailers and some of which have now stepped into the retail afterlife. They're the kind of spaces the company, since 1999 affiliated with mall retailer Spencer Gifts, has sought in recent years since introducing its pop-up stores in the 1980s. "We like to locate our stores in power centers, strip centers, free-standing stores, major downtown retail locations and in major malls surrounded by a national retailer mix," the company says on its website. "While our ideal locations feature between 5,000 to 50,000 square feet of sales floor space with awesome visibility, no store is too large (or too small)." Spirit Halloween in Waukesha's Shoppes at Fox River center works toward a late August or early September 2025 opening. The seasonal pop-up store retailer has found high traffic shopping venues locally since 2020, as it has across the country. In the Milwaukee area this year, those stores are: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Brookfield: the former JoAnn Fabrics store at 16800 W. Bluemound Road Cudahy: the former JoAnn Fabrics store at 5656 S. Packard Ave. Glendale: the former Forever 21 store at 5766 N. Bayshore Drive in Bayshore Greendale: the former Kohls department store inside Southridge Mall, 5300 S. 76th St. Waukesha: the former Tuesday Morning store at 1110 W. Sunset Drive in the Shoppes at Fox River West Allis: the former ACB thrift store at 6731 W. Greenfield Ave. in the Market Square Shopping Center More: Joann is closing over 250 stores by the end of the month. How many are in Wisconsin? The company, which operates around 1,500 stores each fall, said it looks for spots located in an area that has about 35,000 people living within three to five miles of the store, and plenty of vehicle traffic. In Waukesha, for instance, Spirit Halloween has operated annually along Sunset Drive, first in the center that included the former Kmart and then at the Shoppes at Fox River at different spots there. The stores will operate mostly in September and October, though, according to Spirit Halloween's website, some are expected to open before the end of August. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The leases generally run from mid-July to mid-November, giving the retailer time to set up the dramatically decorated and merchandised stores, which include Halloween costumes, large yard decorations, Halloween party items and ghoulish gifts. Company officials did not respond to emails asking for more information about its seasonal business, including the peak shopping period during its lease period. Contact reporter Jim Riccioli at james.riccioli@jrn.com. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Spirit Halloween makes most of old retail spots in Milwaukee suburbs SPRINGDALE, Ark. (KNWA/KFTA) A Benton County jury found a Springdale man guilty of sexually assaulting an 11-year-old boy. Deondre Locket, 22, was convicted of sexual assault and sentenced to six years in the Arkansas Department of Corrections on Aug. 7. Deondre Locket (COURTESY: Benton County Sheriffs Office) Locket was arrested in Nov. 2024 after Springdale police received a report of sexual abuse involving the child. According to a probable cause affidavit, the boy told investigators Locket had inappropriate sexual contact with him and had asked him to be his boyfriend. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Locket admitted to spending time with the boy on multiple occasions, playing board games and video games together, according to court documents. 6-year-old child reported missing found dead in Benton County, sheriffs office says The potential penalty for sexual assault in the state is a fine of up to $15,000, a sentence of five to 20 years in prison or both. Locket will be eligible for parole review in a year. Locket was order not to contact the victim or any other minor and will be required to register as a sex offender. He was also ordered not to play online video games with those under 18. 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 KNWA FOX24. SPRINGDALE, Ark. (KNWA/FOX24) The largest public school district in Arkansas is creating a task force to combat the fast-growing world of artificial intelligence. Springdale Public Schools team will consist of teachers, administrators, and even students with a common goal to better understand AI and how to utilize it in the classroom. The task force plans on assembling within the coming weeks. Communications director for Springdale Public Schools, Trent Jones, said this is an opportunity to advance the education system in Springdale. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Springdale High School hires new boys basketball head coach We are quickly seeing this as becoming an opportunity for students to really advance themselves in multiple different fields, Jones said. So what were trying to do, the core center part of education, is to provide our students the appropriate tools so that they can launch themselves into whatever their lifes pursuit is. Jones said once the task force is assembled, it plans to meet quarterly to workshop best practices throughout the school year. Members of the team will be diverse and range across all the schools in the district. The hope for the task force is to provide best practices for students during the year. Jones said the district will also be looking into ways to combat the negatives of AI. He said, The negatives are part of the process. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement With AI growing nationwide at a rapid rate, Jones said that Springdale isnt shying away but embracing all the possible opportunities that come with it. Every teacher lives to serve our kids at the highest possible level. So, when tools come around that can legitimately change peoples lives, were excited. Its fun to get after it. Its not fearful. Its excitement. We want to get into it. We want to put these tools in our kids hands, Jones said. Springdale Public Schools is set to start class Monday, August 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 KNWA FOX24. SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) The FBI has a new way for residents to see crime rates in their community. But local police departments are warning the public about the information. Holyoke DPW union continues fight for fair contracts and better pay Springfield police say on the FBI website, youll see that crime data is broken down into five major categories. Up until 2021, annual crime reports were gathered by the FBI from local police departments through the Uniform Crime Reporting Program. Springfield Police say that the system is best used when looking at crime data in the same city for the last 10 years. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement All the most accurate local data is shown on the states website. That information is gathered by police in the National Incident-Based Reporting System Spokesperson for Springfield Police Ryan Walsh told 22News, The one thing that we dont see accurately on the states best website is our clearance rates. If theres not an onsite arrest, an investigation leads to an arrest down the line, and more often when that happens, the majority of our serious violent crime cases, those clearances arent going to be updated. To make sure information is updated, Walsh says the department is working on getting a new record management system in the next year. If youd like to check out the new FBI crime data explorer and compare it to the states site. 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. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. 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. Happy Friday! In todays edition, we dig into a tentatively scheduled summit next week between President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Plus, Kristen Welker previews her interview this weekend with Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker. And Aria Bendix answers this weeks reader question on the Trump administrations latest vaccine moves. Sign up to receive this newsletter in your inbox every weekday here. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Adam Wollner Trump appears to hand Putin a diplomatic win with a tentatively scheduled summit By Alexander Smith Just when Ukraine and its European allies thought President Donald Trump was coming around to their view of the war, he appeared to give a huge win to his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. For Kyiv, this was Trumps deadline to Putin: stop the fighting by Friday or face tough new economic sanctions. Instead, Trump has handed Moscow a diplomatic coup by agreeing to meet Putin face-to-face in a matter of days, their first encounter since the invasion of Ukraine. Trump had initially suggested that such a summit would only go ahead if Putin agreed to meet with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, something the Ukrainian presidents administration has long called for but has been resisted by Russia. On Thursday, Trump dispelled the idea that they would have to get together raising the specter of a bilateral negotiation that freezes out Kyiv. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The latest: Gabe Gutierrez and Monica Alba report that the meeting between Trump and Putin is tentatively scheduled for the end of next week. The location is still being discussed, a senior White House official said, but possibilities include the United Arab Emirates, Hungary, Switzerland and Rome. Further details and logistics of the meeting are still unclear and remain very fluid, including whether Zelenskyy will be involved. The stakes: The danger for Ukraine is actually quite grave, said Jonathan Eyal, international director at the Royal United Services Institute, a London-based think tank. There will be a sense of alarm in European capitals. For Eyal and others, Ukraines nightmare is now one step closer to reality: Trump will be so pleased by what he perceives as the great achievement of getting Putin to the negotiating table that he grabs any kind of offer that is made, Eyal said. The danger of half-baked compromise, which Trump can claim as his main achievement, is very high. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement That compromise could be a temporary ceasefire that would allow Russia to restock its army and give its economy a break from international sanctions, according to Hope for Ukraine, a nonprofit organization based in Roseland, New Jersey. Even if there is no truce agreement, a meeting with Trump no matter the outcome would be a big diplomatic victory for Putin, Yuriy Boyechko, Hope for Ukraines executive assistant, said in an email. Putin wants to break his diplomatic isolation, and such a meeting will stroke his ego. Read more The ripple effects of the growing redistricting wave Analysis by Kristen Welker The redistricting fight has boiled over. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott vowed Thursday in an interview with NBC News to call special session after special session after special session until state Republicans can pass new maps to pad the partys majority in Congress, as Republicans ramp up their legal threats against the Democrats who fled the state to block their progress. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Democrats are vowing to push back. Governors like Illinois JB Pritzker, Californias Gavin Newsom and New Yorks Kathy Hochul are warning they may move forward on efforts to redraw their own states districts to boost Democrats if Texas enacts new congressional lines. This push by national Democrats to go nuclear puts them in line with the fight that their voters have said they want to see from their leaders, at a time where poll after poll shows the party at its lowest marks with the American public in decades. But its a risky bet potentially more so for Democrats than Republicans. Democrats are up against a significant time crunch to get a special election onto the ballot this fall that could allow them to redraw maps in California. Hochuls tough talk in New York is chastened by the laws there, which require a lengthy legislative process that wouldnt likely lead to new maps until the 2028 elections. And Pritzkers float of a redraw in Illinois runs up against more practical concerns can Democrats squeeze any more juice out of a congressional map that has 14 Democrats and three Republicans? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement And if all these efforts are successful, creating a new world where America redraws its congressional districts constantly for short-term political gain, will that be the final nail in the coffin for the already endangered species of political moderates on Capitol Hill? Well discuss this issue and many more on Sundays Meet the Press, which includes exclusive interviews with Pritzker, former Attorney General Eric Holder and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. Mailbag: The impact of RFKs latest vaccine policies Thanks to everyone who emailed us! This weeks reader question is about Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.s recent moves on vaccine funding: Will there be enough Covid and flu shots available this fall? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement To answer this, we turned to health reporter Aria Bendix:Were not anticipating any major supply issues right now. Kennedys decision this week to cut $500 million in mRNA vaccine contracts doesnt apply to the current shots. Rather, hes slashing federal funds for research projects intended to develop new vaccines, such as inhaled Covid or flu vaccines or shots that protect against bird flu. mRNA vaccines are seen as a critical tool for the next pandemic, since they can be produced and updated quickly. As far as this fall and winter are concerned, flu vaccine manufacturers have already begun shipping doses to health care providers and pharmacies in anticipation of flu season starting around October. And the FDA approved new formulations of the Covid vaccine to be rolled out later this year. However, there may still be a few impediments to getting vaccinated: Its not clear whether insurers will cover Covid vaccines for healthy children or pregnant people after Kennedy said the CDC was no longer recommending them for these groups. And flu vaccines containing the preservative thimerosal which made up a very small portion of last years shots wont be available, per a decision from a Kennedy-appointed vaccine advisory panel. Today's other top stories Middle East update: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus plans to take control of Gaza City drew intense international pushback, with Germany announcing it would halt military exports to Israel over the move. Read more Targeted probes: Attorney General Pam Bondi has appointed Ed Martin, a conservative activist and former interim U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C., as a special attorney to investigate mortgage fraud allegations against Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and New York Attorney General Letitia James. Read more IRS shakeup: Trump is removing the Internal Revenue Service commissioner, Billy Long, and temporarily replacing him with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Read more On campus: The Trump administration has proposed a $1 billion settlement with UCLA amid a larger battle over federal funding, a sum school officials said would have disastrous effects on the university. Read more ICE recruitment: Immigration and Customs Enforcement is pushing the message that it wants patriotic Americans to join its ranks and that new perks come with signing up. Read more Revisiting Trumps IVF pledge: Trumps campaign push to expand access to in vitro fertilization has been complicated by members of the Make America Healthy Again movement who have suggested that he redirect his attention to a little-known holistic approach called restorative reproductive medicine. Read more New allegations: Rep. Cory Mills, R-Fla., is facing allegations that he threatened to release sexually explicit videos and images of a woman who said she was previously in a relationship with him, according to a police incident report obtained by NBC News. Read more Without a paddle: Vice President JD Vances security detail had an Ohio rivers water level raised last weekend to accommodate a kayaking trip he took with his family to celebrate his birthday, The Associated Press reported. Read more Follow live politics updates Thats all From the Politics Desk for now. Todays newsletter was compiled by Adam Wollner and Dylan Ebs. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. CORRECTION (Aug. 8, 2025, 5:07 p.m. ET): A previous version of this article misattributed a comment about Putins diplomatic isolation. The statement was made by Yuriy Boyechko, not Gabriella Ramirez. This article was originally published on NBCNews.com U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.) met with retirees at the North Domingo Baca Multigenerational Center in Albuquerque on Aug. 7, 2025. (Courtesy photo by Dylan Bonner) Ahead of Social Securitys 90th anniversary next week, U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.) said during a news conference in Albuquerque on Thursday that actions taken against the social safety net program by the so-called Department of Government Efficiency are laying the groundwork for its privatization. Part of what weve seen since DOGE has taken over Social Security is that theyve dramatically cut back hours, theyre trying to shut down centers all over New Mexico, including in Rio Rancho, she said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement There are 468,030 New Mexicans who receive monthly Social Security benefits, including retirees, disabled workers and children, according to a news release from Stansburys office. Albuquerque has one of the largest Social Security call centers in the country, Stansbury said, which serves beneficiaries across the nation. The staff there told her office during a recent visit that the facility was built to house as many as 500 workers, and is now down to approximately 200, she said. DOGE has hacked into the computer systems and data of the Social Security system, she said. The system is crashing. John JD Doran, an American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees retiree and second vice president of the NM Alliance for Retired Americans, said people using Social Security to survive are experiencing longer wait times, broken websites and delayed claims. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement You have no idea what retirement security means until you retire and find out you dont have it, Doran said. Were trying to prevent that from happening. Social Security contributes more than $3 million to New Mexicos economy every month thats what keeps this state strong. Stansbury last month introduced the Hands Off Our Social Security Act, which would make it illegal for any federal administration to privatize Social Security; require Congressional consent to downsize the Social Security Administrations workforce and offices; mandate that the program maintain public access via phone lines; and protect beneficiaries sensitive personal data. Stansbury said the bill was prompted by the DOGE Subcommittees last hearing in which a panel of conservative analysts with the Heritage Foundation and associated organizations discussed privatizing the program. Stansbury is the committees ranking Democratic member. When Stansbury introduced the legislation, she said on the floor of the House of Representatives that the Trump administration is trying to systemically dismantle Social Security. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement More than 70 million Americans rely on Social Security, co-sponsor U.S. Rep. John Larson told the House. He said it is the countrys number one anti-poverty program for seniors and children, and more veterans rely on it than the Veterans Administration. Stansbury said on Thursday Larson told her the GOP and think tanks in favor of privatizations end goal is to break the Social Security system now so that they can make the case for privatizing it later. They dont want it to work, she said. Really big money is behind being able to take the principal that you paid into Social Security your entire life that you worked, and they want to take that money and gamble it on the stock market so that they can make money off of it. Stansbury said she doesnt think its likely the current Congress will take up her bill because it is trying to dismantle so many of these programs. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But we felt it was important to take a strong stand and say: Do not privatize Social Security, she said. Were going to fight back with everything that we can. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Israel's plans to take over Gaza City are "wrong" and "will only bring more bloodshed", Sir Keir Starmer has said. The prime minister urged the Israeli government to immediately reconsider its decision "to further escalate its offensive in Gaza", after Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet approved the plans overnight by a majority vote. Netanyahu had earlier said he wanted to take control of the whole of the Gaza strip but the approved plan focuses specifically on Gaza City, the largest city in the enclave. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The move has also prompted warnings from the army leadership and family members of hostages held in Gaza, who fear the offensive would endanger the 20 captives believed to still be alive. In a statement, Sir Keir said: "This action will do nothing to bring an end to this conflict or to help secure the release of the hostages. It will only bring more bloodshed. "Every day the humanitarian crisis in Gaza worsens and hostages taken by Hamas are being held in appalling and inhuman conditions. "What we need is a ceasefire, a surge in humanitarian aid, the release of all hostages by Hamas and a negotiated solution. Hamas can play no part in the future of Gaza and must leave as well as disarm." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He added: "Our message is clear: a diplomatic solution is possible, but both parties must step away from the path of destruction." Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said the plans were "utterly abhorrent" and "it's increasingly clear [Netanyahu's] goal is ethnic cleansing". "This plan will only serve to wreak more devastation on the lives of millions of Gazans - whose homes and communities have already been destroyed - while endangering the lives of those hostages still held by Hamas," he said. "Rather than sitting on its hands and issuing strongly worded statements, the UK government needs to take decisive action. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Keir Starmer needs to stop the export of all UK arms to Israel - today - and sanction Netanyahu and his cabinet." It comes as Foreign Secretary David Lammy is due to meet US Vice President JD Vance at his official country residence of Chevening House, in Kent, later. Vance and his family are in the UK for a private family holiday. However, the pair are also expected to hold a bilateral meeting, with the White House saying they will discuss "a variety of topics pertaining to the US-UK relationship". Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Last week, the UK announced it would recognise a Palestinian state in September unless Israel takes "substantive steps to end the appalling situation in Gaza", including agreeing to a ceasefire and committing to a two-state solution. The move was strongly criticised by Israel who said it "rewards Hamas's monstrous terrorism". It also puts the UK at odds with the US, which, like Israel, has suggested recognition would reward Hamas. Lammy and Vance agree that Israel must open up aid deliveries, they differ on Israel's military actions and on what pressure it should face. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But Vance has said "we've also got to wage war on Hamas so that those folks stop preventing food from coming into this territory". The United Nations has warned that a complete military takeover would risk "catastrophic consequences" for Palestinian civilians and Israeli hostages held in Gaza. The Israeli military currently controls about three-quarters of Gaza, and almost all of its 2.1 million citizens are situated in the quarter of the territory that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) do not control. In a statement released on Friday morning, Netanyahu's office detailed a five-point plan for "defeating Hamas" and "concluding the war". Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "The IDF will prepare to take control of Gaza City while providing humanitarian aid to the civilian population outside the combat zones," it said. The plan lists five objectives: disarming Hamas, returning all hostages, demilitarising the Gaza Strip, taking security control of the territory, and establishing "an alternative civil administration that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority". [BBC] [BBC] Sign up for our Politics Essential newsletter to keep up with the inner workings of Westminster and beyond. The Brief A lawsuit alleges State Attorney Monique Worrell's office improperly stored and deleted records during her 2023 term. Worrell calls the lawsuit over public records "baseless" and politically motivated. Worrell has vowed reforms and is changing policy. ORLANDO, Fla. - Orange-Osceola State Attorney Monique Worrell is pushing back against a lawsuit accusing her office of mishandling public records and launching what she calls a politically motivated criminal investigation. Worrell called the allegations "baseless" and said she is taking steps to prevent similar claims in the future. What we know A 14-page lawsuit filed this week accuses Orange-Osceola State Attorney Monique Worrell and members of her administration of failing to preserve public records and using private email accounts to store official documents. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The lawsuit, filed this week by William Eric Edwards, alleges that Worrells former chief of staff, Keisha Mulfort, used private Gmail accounts to store public records during Worrells tenure in 2023. According to the suit, Mulfort deleted or withheld the records when she left the office, and Worrell, along with others, failed to preserve official communications in violation of state law. CLICK TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX LOCAL APP The suit also alleges that during an investigation conducted last Septemberafter Worrell had been suspended from officeit was discovered that Worrell, Mulfort and others had "intentionally and systematically" failed to preserve public records under Worrells direction. According to the filing, findings from Edwards investigation were forwarded to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and State Attorney Bill Gladson of the Fifth Judicial Circuit for a possible grand jury review, though the probe did not result in an indictment. What we don't know The status of any grand jury proceedings remains undisclosed, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement has not commented. What they're saying Worrell denied the accusation during a news conference Thursday. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "The lawsuit falsely states records were destroyed at my direction," Worrell said. "Let me be very clear: there was no such direction ever given by me to anyone on my team during my time in office." Worrell criticized the investigation as politically motivated, accusing the previous administration of pursuing a criminal case under the guise of an administrative review. SIGN-UP FOR FOX 35'S BREAKING NEWS, DAILY NEWS NEWSLETTERS "The appointed executive team intentionally conducted a criminal investigation under the pretense of an administrative investigation," Worrell said, "for the sole purpose of ensuring the defamatory and false information used to convene a grand jury would become public in the event there was no indictment." What's next In response to the controversy, Worrell said she is implementing new policies to clearly separate criminal investigations from administrative matters moving forward. The Source This story was written based on information gathered from documents filed in the Ninth Judicial Circuit Court and by State Attorney Monique Worrell. Read Aloud Delaware strives to not only introduce children to the world of reading but also help start them on the right path to success and achievement. Read Aloud is currently looking for volunteers to read one-on-one with children for five to 15 minutes to help build their literacy skills. Volunteers who are 18 years of age or older must undergo a fingerprinted criminal background check. Student volunteers must be at least 16 years of age. Those with a love of reading and a love for the next generation are strongly encouraged to join. Staff members, volunteers and community members with Read Aloud Delaware during the Highmark Walk at Tubman-Garrett Riverfront Park in Wilmington. The walk is dedicated to the memory of staff member Kristin Strouss-Peyton. Volunteers also are required to attend an hour-and-a-half training session. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Volunteer applications for Read Aloud in New Castle, Kent and Sussex counties can be found at readalouddelaware.org/volunteer. For those looking to contribute in other ways, Read Aloud Delaware is also accepting a wide range of donations. Donations can be made on the Read Aloud website at readalouddelaware.org/give. Related: Wilmington nonprofits team up to open transitional housing in the city Other volunteer opportunities The state nonprofit Literacy Delaware is looking for volunteers to help tutor individuals on basic reading, writing and English language skills. Literacy Delaware is also looking for volunteers to help tutor individuals on English language and basic reading and writing skills. Volunteers must be at least 18 years of age and commit to at least one year with roughly two to four hours of instruction every week. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Volunteers also must attend a new tutor information session offered online. Upcoming dates include: Sept. 9 from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Oct. 7 from 1 to 2 p.m. Nov. 4 from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Dec. 2 from 1 to 2 p.m. Becoming a lifelong reader: Reading is a gift that came from a life-changing experience Registration is required to attend. Additional requirements include submitting an application form and references and completing a background check and tutor training. More information can be found on the Literacy Delaware website at literacydelaware.org/tutors. Olivia Montes covers state government and community impact for Delaware Online/The News Journal. If you have a tip or a story idea, reach out to her at omontes@delawareonline.com. This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: Read Aloud Delaware Literacy Delaware in search of volunteers The Trump administration has removed all references to violence against LGBTQ+ people and gender-based violence in drafts of the State Departments much anticipated annual report on international human rights. The draft of the report, which was leaked to and first reported by The Washington Post on Wednesday, scales back its critiques of abuses in countries with a record of human rights abuses. In particular, the Post learned of drafts of human rights reports for El Salvador, Israel and Russia that completely excise references of LGBTQ+ people and violence toward those communities. The erasure of LGBTQ+ people and the abuses they face in the draft report underscores the Trump administrations intention to scale back references to human rights broadly and take its anti-LGBTQ+ agenda worldwide. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The 2024 Human Rights report has been restructured in a way that removes redundancies, increases report readability and is more responsive to the legislative mandate that underpins the report, a senior State Department official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to brief the news media, told reporters on Wednesday. The human rights report focuses on core issues. The State Department did not immediately respond to HuffPosts request for comment. In a section about El Salvador, the draft report notes the country had no credible reports of significant human rights abuses. In a previous report from 2023, the State Department found significant human rights issues in El Salvador, including politically motivated killings and harsh and life-threatening prison conditions. This spring, President Donald Trump secured a multimillion-dollar deal with El Salvadors President Nayib Bukele to allow 252 Venezuelan men in the U.S. to be deported and housed within the countrys notorious new Terrorism Confinement Center, known as CECOT. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement After being jailed for more than 120 days at CECOT, the men, most of who had no criminal history, told stories of being physically and mentally abused for days on end. Jerce Reyes Barrios, one of the men held at CECOT, told HuffPost reporters Jessica Schulberg and Matt Shuham about his harrowing experience inside the prison. Reyes Barrios recalled a prison official saying, Welcome to hell on earth, where youll be condemned to spend the rest of your lives; where Im going to make sure that you never eat chicken or meat again. Andry Jose Hernandez Romero, a gay Venezuelan makeup artist, alleged that CECOT guards groped him and forced him to perform oral sex while he was in solitary confinement. A former State Department employee, Keifer Buckingham, said the removal of references to violence against LGBTQ+ people was a glaring omission, especially when it comes to Russia. In 2023, Russias supreme court deemed what it called an international LGBT public movement as extremist, and the courts began their first convictions of people last year under the order. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In February of 2024, a man in Volgograd was found guilty of displaying the symbols of an extremist organisation after posting a photo of the LGBTQ pride flag on social media. That same month, a woman near Moscow was sentenced to five days detention for wearing frog-shaped earrings that were rainbow colored. The drafts of the reports for El Salvador and Russia were marked finalized, and the draft for Israel was marked quality check, according to the Post. It is still unclear when the reports, which are typically released to the public each March or April, will be sent to Congress and then the public, and if they will include these omissions. U.S. diplomats have released the State Departments annual human rights reports for nearly 50 years. Historically their findings have been widely read and anticipated by foreign leaders and diplomats, and have been used in legal proceedings both domestically and abroad. However, this year human rights advocates decried the news about the ways in which the Trump administration has softened the descriptions of human rights abuses, especially the violence against LGBTQ+ people. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Uzra Zeya, the CEO of Human Rights First, an international human rights nonprofit, said in a statement that the changes were a radical break from the original goal to objectively and even-handedly describe the human rights situation in every country and territory in the world. This severely undermines their credibility and value in guiding U.S. decision-making on a wide range of critical foreign policy issues. Purging mention of elections, corruption, and global human rights abuses against LGBTQI+ persons, persons with disabilities, women and girls, refugees and other vulnerable groups runs counter to American interests and values and makes Americans abroad less safe and informed, she continued. Amanda Klasing, the national director of government relations for Amnesty International, said in a statement that she believes the mandate to scale back the report came from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who instructed employees to delete sections that included stories from survivors of human rights violations and to ignore instances of repression in certain countries. The secretarys instructions were to cut everything not legislatively mandated, but the leaked documents appear to show effort to narrow the scope of what the world hears about human rights abuses around the world, she wrote. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The downplaying or exclusion of key issues, such as discrimination and attacks on civil society, from this years report will hinder efforts from governments and civil society organizations around the world to respond to these abuses, she continued. The Trump administrations erasure of LGBTQ+ people and gender-based violence has continued on other international stages. At a United Nations meeting in June, a U.S. delegate spent much of her time in a routing meeting on pollution to discuss the United States new national position on gender. Use of the term gender replaces the biological category of sex with an ever-shifting concept of self-assessed gender identity and is demeaning and unfair, especially to women and girls, the delegate said. In at least six speeches before the United Nations, U.S. delegates have condemned what it calls gender ideology, and pushed the Trump administrations support for recognizing so-called biological sex, according to ProPublica. During his first day in office, Trump signed an executive declaring that the federal government only recognizes two sexes, male and female, and signaled that all references to gender would thus be replaced with the term biological sex. US State Department Spokesperson Tammy Bruce has stated that President Donald Trump is using Americas economic power to achieve results in talks and Ukraine and Russia "must step up to bring the conflict to a full stop". Source: Bruce on X (Twitter); Interfax-Ukraine Quote from Bruce: "President Trump continues to work to end the Russia-Ukraine war. Using America's economic power to drive results in the negotiating process is one of his many options. Both sides must step up to bring the conflict to a full stop." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Details: Bruce said in a posted video that Trump is "very patient" and "does what he says". Quote from Bruce: "There have been mechanisms like the tariffs or additional sanctions... regarding those who purchase Russian oil, because the economy for Russia is on its heels. This has been a long war, and this is a dynamic that would hurt them." Details: Bruce added that Trump has a clear understanding of Americas economic power and the methods he can use. Quote from Bruce: "If the president feels it's worth his time to bring that home, he'll do so." Background: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Following the meeting between Steve Witkoff, US President Donald Trump's Special Envoy, and Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin, Trump had a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and several European leaders. After this, media reports indicated that Trump told the European leaders he intended to meet with Putin "as early as next week" and, afterwards, to organise a trilateral meeting also involving Zelenskyy. Later, the Kremlin confirmed that Russia and the United States had agreed on a meeting between Putin and the US president in the coming days. Zelenskyy also stated that potential formats for high-level meetings were discussed during the phone call with Trump and European leaders. The Polish news outlet Onet reported that it had learned the details of a "favourable" American proposal regarding Ukraine which had been presented to Putin during talks with Witkoff in Moscow. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon! As antisemitic incidents continue to rise alarmingly across the country, the Anti-Defamation League in a new analysis released on Friday said many states can be doing more to protect Jewish communities. The ADL evaluated legislative and policy efforts to combat antisemitism and found only nine states leading with meaningful action. Those were Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, New York, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia. Twenty-nine other states, including New Jersey, were classified as progressing states that had moved on some key pieces of legislation while demonstrating a clear path for future action. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The other 12 states were found to have made little effort to address antisemitism through policy, said the ADL, a Jewish nonprofit that tracks antisemitism and white supremacy across the nation. With antisemitic incidents at record highs nationwide, we need more than rhetoric we need real, measurable policy action, said Jonathan Greenblatt, the ADLs CEO and national director, in a statement, calling for a whole-of-government approach to fighting antisemitism. The group said its Jewish Policy Index was intended as an interactive tool to evaluate every states response to antisemitism through legislation, education and public policy, that looked at providing a roadmap for all states to follow. ADL officials said the aim was to push policy forward, equip advocates with data, and hold lawmakers accountable by measuring initiatives among different states. Scott Richman, ADL New York/New Jersey regional director, said New Jersey, which is home to one of the largest Jewish populations in the country, has made progress enacting policies that remain key in the fight against hate crime. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The ADL cited the states robust bias incident reporting, through a coordinated system between schools and law enforcement. Under a revised 2023 Memorandum of Agreement education institutions and law enforcement, New Jersey schools are required to report all suspected bias-related acts to law enforcement. Last year, Attorney General Matthew Platkin and Sundeep Iyer, director of the state Division on Civil Rights, also acknowledged the rise in antisemitic, anti-Muslim, and other bias-based incidents in New Jersey. They urged schools in a joint statement to promptly address bias-based harassment and make clear to members of the school community that they would not tolerate bias-based conduct. Still, the ADL said New Jersey, which ranked No. 23 among all states for its efforts to combat antisemitism, needed to take stronger action in both K-12 schools and on college and university campuses, where it said Jewish students continue to face bias and harassment every day. Another important step, said the ADL, would be creating an antisemitism task force to develop resources and recommendations to address antisemitism across New Jersey. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The unprecedented rise of antisemitism needs to be met with 21st century tools and all possible means in our arsenal, said Richman. State governments are on the frontlines. Many of the tools needed to fight antisemitism, whether in education, law enforcement, or public safety, are controlled at the state level. Nationally, the ADL in April found the number of antisemitic acts across the country grew for a fourth consecutive year in 2024 hitting their highest level since the organization started tracking them in 1979. The number of such incidents hit 9,354 in 2024, an increase of 5% from the previous year when there were 8,873 incidents. Much of the increase appeared to be sparked by anti-Israel rallies and an outpouring of antisemitism in the wake of the conflict in Gaza triggered by the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas that killed 1,200 people in Israel. In New Jersey, the ADL audit found 719 reported antisemitic incidents in 2024. More than half of the incidents involved claims of harassment. Another 220 involved vandalism and there were 17 assaults, according to the report including one individual who entered a Jewish school during Purim and attacked a security guard in Teaneck. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The states own data on bias reports, meanwhile, also has found a large increase in antisemitism incidents since 2022, and to a lesser extent, reports of those deemed anti-Islamic or anti-Arab. The number of Islamophobic incidents in the state is at its highest point since 1996, according to a report recently released by CAIR-NJ, the Council on American-Islamic Relations. __ Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. Ted Sherman may be reached at tsherman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on X @TedShermanSL. Aug. 8New Mexico's Office of Broadband Access and Expansion will give southern New Mexico internet providers more than $1.25 million to build and repair broadband infrastructure in parts of Lincoln County hit by fires and floods. The state awarded $1 million to Penasco Valley Telephone Cooperative and $251,300 to TDS Telecom, OBAE announced in a news release Thursday. The money comes from New Mexico's $117 million allotment to increase broadband access from the American Rescue Plan Act, a COVID stimulus bill. The grants will be used to build and repair broadband devices like cable lines, conduits, telephone poles and fiber connections, according to OBAE spokesperson Michael Curtis. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The South Fork and Salt fires in Lincoln County last summer damaged at least 1,500 structures. Burn scars from the fires led to deadly flash floods in the months since, and flooding in early July in Ruidoso killed three people and damaged hundreds of homes. TDS which provides wireless service to schools, businesses and government buildings in the area lost its central equipment hub in the 2024 wildfires. Service has been restored to the majority of customers who lost it, though restoration efforts are not yet complete, in part due to cost, said TDS spokesperson Kit Beyer. Flooding has further complicated restoration, Beyer said, but the company plans to use its grant money to fund construction in hard-to-reach and costly areas. "The grant will greatly assist TDS's efforts to finish rebuilding facilities that were destroyed in the 2024 wildfires and subsequent flooding," Beyer said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Penasco Valley's infrastructure did not sustain damage during the fires and floods, but the company will use its $1 million award to build a second backup fiber optic line to service the village of Capitan, said Penasco Valley Chief Operating Officer Mitch Hibbard. "When the fiber optic cable that served the village of Capitan was damaged in the fire, Capitan became an island without any internet, without any mobile service, without any 911," Hibbard said. The company will build about nine miles of new cable "to make sure Capitan stays connected when this happens again, because it will happen again," Hibbard said. In a statement, OBAE Director Jeff Lopez said his office was prepared to "support families and communities recovering from these devastating incidents." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Replacing and fixing broadband infrastructure is vital to communities as they work to rebuild," Lopez said. To qualify for grant funding with OBAE, projects must deliver service to locations that have little to no high-speed internet, characterized by download speeds of anywhere from zero to 100 megabits per second. The Turlington Building, which houses the Florida Department of Education, stands in the foreground, with the Tallahassee skyline, including the Capitol building, beyond. Photo taken from the FAMU campus on Dec. 31, 2024. (Photo by Jay Waagmeester/Florida Phoenix) The Florida Department of Education is developing a rule to govern distribution of Family Empowerment Scholarship payments to families, the agency noticed Friday. If requested by the public, the department would hold a meeting on Aug. 22 to set limits on when eligible scholarship students can receive all four quarterly scholarship payments in a year. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Text for the proposed rule was not available Friday. The limits will be dependent on when the department receives a request for funding from a scholarship funding organization. In addition, other amendments to improve the scholarship will be considered, the public notice states. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Dialogue but no decision Lawmakers considered but didnt pass a major package, SB 7030, this session to address school choice scholarships, including how and when payments should be distributed to schools and families. In the early days of the 105-day session, school administrators voiced concerns that state money meant to follow students to their schools of choice was at times getting lost, and the state was losing track of where students were enrolled. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement At the time of the bills presentation, sponsor Sen. Don Gaetz said that at any given time the state cannot locate 23,000 students. Hendry County Superintendent Mike Swindle told a legislative committee that if the state maintained a universal system to track students locations at any snapshot in time, that would cut out a lot of the forecasting, cut out a lot of voodoo math, if you will, that really creates quite a conundrum for all of us. Polk County Superintendent Frederick Heid during the same meeting said, citing a district analysis, that 750 students claiming a school choice scholarship were also taking at least one class at Polk County public schools, resulting in $1.3 million, or 30 teachers salaries worth, of funding that is not reaching the school. Fluctuation in funding can affect the continuity of our programs and services offered to students, Heid said. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) Illinois State Senator Dave Koehler has secured over $11 million in additional funding for local school districts. Several school districts within Tazewell, Peoria and McLean counties will receive new evidence-based funding, Koehler said in a news release. He also said this is in addition to the base funding the state provides for all schools. Every dollar directed from the evidence-based funding model helps our schools meet the unique requirements of their students, said Koehler. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He said the evidence-based funding formula updates Illinoiss K-12 funding by calculating each districts requirements based on factors such as enrollment, poverty levels, special education and English-language learners. This approach to school funding is about fairnessmaking sure resources follow students and allowing districts with a higher need to receive the support necessary so all children have the chance to succeed, he said. Koehler said the following school districts will receive funding: DeWitt/Livingston/Logan/McLean Regional Office of Education Regional Safe School Program: $30 DeWitt/Livingston/Logan/McLean Regional Office of Education Alternative Learning Opportunities Program: $321,506 McLean County Unit District 5: $714,203 Bloomington School District 87: $415,818 Peoria Regional Office of Education Regional Safe School Program: $24,992 Pleasant Valley School District 62: $55,088 Bartonville Grade School District 66: $15,604 Oak Grove School District 68: $15,783 Pleasant Hill School District 69: $9,337 Monroe School District 70: $30,149 Peoria School District 150: $8,853,916 Limestone Community High School District 325: $84,465 Peoria Heights Community Unit School District 325: $207,702 District 50 Schools: $47,031 Robein School District 85: $48,061 East Peoria School District 86: $24,718 East Peoria Community High School District 309: $57,891 Illinois State University Lab School: $558,439 Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The State Senator said the Fiscal Year 2026 budget invested $300 million in new funding into the success of students through the evidence-based funding model. For more information on the FY26 evidence-based funding distribution, visit the Illinois State Board of Educations 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 CIProud.com. Transmission towers carry electricity in LaPlace on Dec. 28, 2021. (Photo credit: Wes Muller/Louisiana Illuminator) North Dakota utility regulators have recruited support from their counterparts in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Montana to oppose electric grid upgrades from the transmission operator that delivers power to their states and across the nations midsection. Partisan points have worked their way into the debate, with some Republican public service commissioners voicing their distaste for grid plans that involve renewable energy. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On July 30, the North Dakota Public Service Commission filed a complaint with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission regarding the issue of who benefits more when major power line projects are built and whether the calculations to determine those benefits are fair. An organization called the Midcontinent Independent System Operator manages a regional electric grid that services 15 states and parts of Manitoba, Canada. In December, MISO revealed 24 transmission upgrade projects with an estimated combined cost of $22 billion. The projects are part of an annual plan MISO develops every year to identify maintenance and upgrades for its infrastructure. All of the projects are in the MISO-North subregion, and the costs will be allocated to those states. North Dakota regulators argue the benefit calculations used for the projects are unjust and unreasonable for customers in the state, according to a news release they issued Thursday. They have garnered support for their stance from other MISO network members, even though the southern states wont have to pay for any of the projects. While its not uncommon for state regulators to bring objections to MISOs governing board, it is rare for states to join forces for a federal complaint on an issue that doesnt apply to all members, Louisiana Public Service Commissioner Davante Lewis, a Democrat, said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Although the complaint is already technically filed, Louisiana still has to ratify it, and partisan lines have already been drawn. Republicans hold a 3-2 advantage on the state Public Service Commission, which meets next on Aug. 20. Lewis said he plans to vote against ratification and rejects the premise of arguments Republican commissioners are making. This has nothing to do with Louisiana paying for things up in the north, Lewis said. The federal complaint relies on a hypothetical situation that the cost-benefit allocations used in MISO-North might some day come down to MISO-South, Lewis said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Commissioner Jean-Paul Coussan, a Republican, said he believes its a real concern. We are not allocated the costs of the transmission projects now, but the precedent and the possibility of a future cost re-allocation that could impact us were factors that prompted us, Mississippi and Arkansas to join in, Coussan said, adding that hes closely considering the idea of Louisiana leaving MISO altogether. Commissioner Mike Francis, also a Republican, said theres a lot of windmill projects up north that only benefit the local area up there. Although the complaint is an argument against transmission costs, it specifically mentions that some of the proposed power lines would hook up to renewable energy generation. Lewis said North Dakota and Montana regulators are underscoring the presence of wind turbines in MISO-North in an attempt to turn their complaint into a partisan issue that can drum up support from other states. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Thats exactly what they are doing, Lewis said. During its meeting Thursday, North Dakota Public Service Commissioner Jill Kringstad, a Republican, said the slate of 24 MISO projects would help some states achieve renewable energy goals but pass some of the cost on to North Dakota ratepayers. She called the costs unjust and unreasonable for North Dakota. Kringstad and her colleagues estimated North Dakotas share of the projects at $5 per month for an average customer, which the customer would pay for decades. Commission Chair Randy Christmann, also a Republican, said there could be additional costs for increased power generation on top of the transmission projects. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement They said MISO has changed the way it evaluates the cost-benefit of transmission projects to the detriment of North Dakota. MISO spokesman Brandon Morris confirmed the cost allocation for the plan is on a subregional basis across the North and Central regions and does not include MISO South. MISO is reviewing the filing submitted to FERC, Morris said. The [proposed] portfolio was developed through a collaborative process that included substantial stakeholder engagement, including more than 300 meetings and feedback on the solutions and benefits. The portfolio supports reliability and the future needs of the system. Jeff Beach with the North Dakota Monitor contributed to this report. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Correction: The next regular meeting of the Louisiana Public Service Commission is scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2025. An earlier version of this article mistakenly reported the incorrect day of the week. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Stephen Colbert told Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., that he hopes the senator is successful in getting citizenship for illegal immigrants, in spite of the "brutality and cruelty" of President Donald Trump s administration. Padilla, who was detained in June after rushing a press conference with Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem, said that he introduced a bill called "updating the registry" to give illegal immigrants citizenship on "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert" on Thursday. "What tends to get lost in the conversation are the millions of people who not just are here in the United States, who have been here in the United States for years if not decades, paying taxes, raising families, otherwise law-abiding, no criminal conviction or history," Padilla said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Democrats Cash In After Padilla Forcibly Removed From Trump Admin Press Conference Stephen Colbert told Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., said that he hopes the senator is successful in getting illegal immigrants citizenship in spite of the "brutality and cruelty" of President Donald Trumps administration. "They deserve a way to come out of the shadows and take a step towards legal status and so, surprise, surprise, I have a bill. Its called Updating the registry," he added. "As a registry law thats been on the books for almost a century with a deadline that has been a moving target over the last 100 years, last updated under Republican president Ronald Reagan, that says if youve been here for seven years or longer, youve paid your taxes, no conviction, et cetera, a few other requirements, you should be able to register and move towards legal status. So I introduced a bill to do just that." Colbert, whose show will be canceled in May 2026, said he agreed with Padilla, and asked him if he was hopeful the bill would get through the Senate. Read On The Fox News App Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Im hopeful because its not just me that has called out this administration for being extreme and overreaching, the public polling, the American people know that this is wrong and an abuse of power when even Steven Scalise from Louisiana, the number two Republican in the house, says theres got to be a better way, Im hoping and praying that things are shifting just enough," Padilla said. "That would be wonderful," Colbert agreed. "Because I think people who love our country this is a beautiful country. I love our country, but it breaks my heart to see that the overt policy of the administration is brutality and cruelty." Crockett Said She 'Broke Down In Tears' Watching Alex Padilla Get Forcibly Removed From Press Conference U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla is pushed out of the room as Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem holds a news conference regarding the recent protests in Los Angeles on Thursday, June 12, 2025. Earlier in the conversation, they discussed how Padilla was detained by police in June after he attempted to interrupt Noems press conference. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "I want to point out, it took three guys to take you down," Colbert said, and followed up by asking Padilla more about what happened. Sen. Alex Padilla was temporarily detained after approaching Sec. Noem's podium at the news conference. "I identified myself, the whole reason I was there Im a senator, I have oversight responsibility," Padilla said. "I had questions hoping for more information and there we saw what happened when I tried to ask the question but as Ive been saying every day since that press conference, what happened to me its not about me. I think about what this administration is doing to so many people across the country, but especially in California right now with the obsession they have with this mass deportation agenda when the reality is we know this from ICE statistics, the vast majority of people being arrested, being detained, being deported, are the same people that so many families trust to care for our children." Original article source: Stephen Colbert cheers on Alex Padillas bill that would make illegal immigrants citizens White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller on Thursday compared the nations capital to several foreign war zones, as the Trump administration readies plans to deploy an unspecified number of federal law enforcement to parts of the city. It is more violent than Baghdad, it is more violent than parts of Ethiopia, and parts of many of the most dangerous places in the world, Miller told NewsNation, The Hills sister network. Violent crime in the district, however, hit a 30-year low in 2024, including marked decreases in homicides, robberies and armed carjackings compared to 2023. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The White House announced Thursday night that federal law enforcement from various agencies would patrol city streets for the next week. Its unclear how many officers might be involved or where they might be deployed. Trump has threatened a federal takeover of Washington repeatedly during his second term, a move that would require the approval of Congress. His administration and D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) have butted heads on matters ranging from the GOPs withholding of $1 billion in city money to potential damage to the capitals streets from tanks used in Trumps military parade that coincided with his 79th birthday and the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army. The announcement comes after Edward Coristine, a former Department of Government Efficiency staffer better known as Big Balls, was attacked in an attempted carjacking in Dupont Circle. City police have arrested two 15-year-olds in connection with the incidents. Trump, after the beating, also pressed the city to update its laws to allow teenagers 14 and older to be prosecuted as adults. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Bowsers office declined to comment on the issue. Miller also argued Thursday that forthcoming action from the White House was in the citys best interest. The presidents been very clear that hes going to take the action necessary to secure the city of Washington for the people who live here, for all the American people who visit here, he said. Updated at 9:40 a.m. EDT. 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. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller defended the presidents unprecedented midterm power grab with a factually incoherent rant about Democrats cheating. Facing angry voters and razor-thin margins in the House of Representatives, President Donald Trump has demanded that Republican-controlled states redraw their political maps ahead of the midterms, and has called for the Department of Commerce to hold a mid-decade census that would exclude undocumented immigrants. Both the U.S. Constitution and federal law require the census to be held every 10 years and to count non-citizens, prompting critics to accuse the president of trying to rig the midterms. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement During an interview Thursday with Newsmax, Miller tried to defend the move by claiming it was actually the Democrats who have used the census to steal House seats. Donald Trump called for a legally dubious mid-decade census and told Texas Governor Greg Abbott to redraw his state's congressional maps. / Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images Democrats have stolen 20 to 30 House seats by counting illegal aliens in the census. Just think about that for a second, Miller said. Now you have Democrats talking about, Oh Republicans cant change their congressional maps? According to The Poynter Institutes Politifact, the number Miller cited was amplified last year by prominent Republicansincluding Elon Muskand is based on pure fantasy. To get there, anti-immigration advocates took one unofficial and unreliable estimate for the total number of undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. (16.8 million) and divided it by the number of people that each congressional seat represents (761,169). Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Then they assumed that every single one of those undocumented immigrants lived in blue stateseven though far more immigrants moved to red states than blue states between 2019 and 2023and concluded that Democrats stole 22 seats. In fact, the Department of Homeland Security estimates there are about 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. Studies have shown that removing them from the census would barely change the House political make-up, if at all, according to Politifact. One study found that excluding undocumented immigrants from the 2020 census would have led to California and Texas each losing a seat, and Ohio and New York each picking one up, resulting in a partisan wash. Miller nevertheless ranted at Democrats, You have literally brought invaders into this country by the tens of millions to rig the results of the census and the apportionment of our congressional seats. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He also suggested Republicans were justified in redrawing their political maps to pick up seats because Democrats have also drawn congressional districts to their advantage. Stephen Miller is the architect of President Trump's mass deportation plans. / Mostafa Bassim/Anadolu via Getty Images Even though Republicans won a landslide in the [2024] House popular vote, Democrats have so thoroughly rigged the gerrymander and manipulated their districts beyond all recognition that Republicans only gained a four-seat majority, despite winning a much smaller majority in the popular vote in 2010 and getting 63 seats, he said. In fact, Republicans won the House popular vote by 6.8 percentage points in 2010, compared to just 2.6 percentage points in 2024. Nationwide, Republicans enjoy a 16-seat advantage in Congress because of gerrymandering, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. Democratic governors have vowed to retaliate if Texas and other red states changes their maps to entrench the current Republican majority. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Generally speaking, its up to each states legislature to decide how the state will draw its own political map. Some states keep the process in the hands of lawmakers, while others have created special commissions to draw political districts. During the Biden administration, Democrats tried to pass the Freedom to Vote Act, which would have outlawed partisan gerrymandering, but Republicans filibustered the legislation in the Senate. / Pool / Getty Images The maps, however, cannot violate the Constitution or the 1965 Voting Rights Act, and, usually, theyre redrawn after each censusnot in the middle of the decade. Congressional Democrats tried in 2022 to outlaw partisan gerrymandering with the federal Freedom to Vote Act. The legislation passed the House but died in the Senate after Republicans filibustered it. Despite those efforts, Democrats cheat, Miller told Newsmax. We all know Democrats cheat, he added. Aug. 7After almost 30 years of service to the community, Sterling Police Chief Alex Chavira has announced he will retire next month, officially stepping down Friday, Sept. 19. Chavira made the announcement at Monday night's City Council meeting, surprising many on the council and in the community. He joined the Sterling Police Department in September 1996 and spent his entire career with the agency. "From a young age, I've always been interested in criminal investigations and crime scene work," Chavira told Shaw Local. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Chavira's journey began in the patrol division, responding to calls ranging from accidents to barking dogs. Over the years, he advanced into more specialized roles, serving in the detective division and later working undercover with the Illinois State Police Blackhawk Area Task Force. Chavira returned to Sterling in 2014 and worked his way up through the ranks, first as a detective sergeant and later as deputy chief of operations. In July 2020, he was appointed interim chief, and just three months later, officially named chief of police. Listen to "Sterling police chief Alex Chavira announces retirement" on Spreaker. Despite those leadership roles, Chavira said becoming chief was never part of his plan. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Looking at all the different opportunities I've had in my career, I think some doors opened up for me because of those different career paths I chose," Chavira said. "When I was promoted to sergeant, that's when I kind of started to say, 'All right, maybe in this role, I can help improve the efficiency of my department.'" As chief, Chavira has focused on providing his officers with modern equipment, training and support. He oversaw the early implementation of body-worn cameras, two years ahead of the state mandate, while helping secure upgraded portable radios, significantly improving communication and safety in the field. "Our portable radios, which in the past were subpar, to say the least," Chavira said. "We were able to do some research and get state-of-the-art digital radios versus analog radios, and that's been a huge difference for the officers, not only for morale purposes. They know that when they key that mic, someone's going to hear them on the other end." Reflecting on his time as chief, Chavira said the position has taught him the value of patience and thoughtful decision-making. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Not everything requires an answer today," Chavira said. "Unlike patrol officers making life-and-death decisions quickly, I have the luxury of taking my time to make certain decisions." Throughout his career, Chavira remained focused on mentoring officers and supporting leadership development. But he said his favorite aspects of the job have always been the department's camaraderie and community engagement. "Law enforcement is the most noble profession in the world," Chavira said. "Anytime you can help someone else and solve a problem, not just help people, but solve problems, you're doing a good thing." Although the city has not yet announced a successor, Chavira expressed confidence that the next chief is already within the department's ranks. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "My role is to confer with the city manager and share what my succession plan has been," Chavira said. "We've already had some conversations about that, and I shared my belief that we have the next chief of police for Sterling within our ranks." Chavira said his decision to retire was not driven by a single event, but rather a sense that the time is right. "I have a lot of friends that are retired from law enforcement who've always said, 'Alex, you're gonna know when it's your time to go,'" Chavira said. "I'm leaving on a great note. We're doing a lot of great things. I'm excited for the city. I'm excited for the police department." He plans to travel, possibly fish in Costa Rica, all while enjoying some well-earned downtime. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement To the community, Chavira shared a final message of reassurance and gratitude. "Your officers, they train constantly. They are prepared," Chavira said. "They're just people, but they're here to do a good job for you." To his fellow officers, he urged them to stay professional and united. "Be kind to one another and keep being professional. It goes a long way," Chavira said. "Never lose focus on the mission, and at the end of the day, we're here to provide a service to the community, and that's the priority while remaining safe." He offers the following advice to his successor: "Be patient, and never ignore the needs of the majority to protect the interests of a few," Chavira said. "Always do what's best for the organization, the city and the community." Steve Bannon is mulling over a run for president in 2028 because he does not think that vice president JD Vance is tough enough according to a new report. The former White House advisor, right-wing podcaster, conspiracy theorist and convicted felon, now fancies a shot at the top job, sources close to the matter told The Daily Mail. It comes after Donald Trump tipped his deputy as a likely successor following the conclusion of his second and final term in office. "Well, I think most likely. In all fairness, he's the vice president," Trump told reporters Tuesday. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But sources close to Bannon told Mail the 71-year-old War Room host has bad-mouthed Vance in private, claiming credit for helping nail down his MAGA identity during the Ohio Senate primaries previously. The former White House advisor, right-wing podcaster, conspiracy theorist and convicted felon, now fancies a shot at the top job, sources close to the matter told The Daily Mail (Getty Images) One source claimed Bannon had also pushed and propped Vance up for the role of VP and, in essence, created his image. Love him but Vance is not tough enough to run in 2028, is the message that Bannon is sharing with his close inner circle, according to the outlet. Bannons plan to launch and run his own campaign is still in the most hypothetical and contemplative stages. I don't think like a politician All I do is back President Trump and try to move the populist agenda and the America First agenda, Bannon said during an interview with Politico in March, adding then that the idea of him running was too absurd. It comes after Donald Trump tipped his deputy as a likely successor following the conclusion of his second and final term in office. Well, I think most likely. In all fairness, he's the vice president, Trump told reporters Tuesday. (Getty Images) But he did not completely rule out the possibility of a run for the presidency. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In line with Trumps remarks this week, attendees at a CPAC conference in February chose Vance as the top contender to succeed the president with 61 percent of the vote. Bannon was second with 12 percent. That is of course, if Trump doesnt run for a third term as he has joked about several times previously. Id like to run, he said when asked about the possibility on CNBCs Squawk Box Tuesday. I have the best poll numbers Ive ever had. After a report by the Daily Mail cited "well-placed" sources close to Steve Bannon who claim he is gearing up for a 2028 presidential run, the former chief strategist to Donald Trump gave a two-word response. "Trump 2028," Bannon said in response to a report he's seeking political advice for a potential run. The report also claimed Bannon had privately disparaged Vice President JD Vance, considered the top contender to run for the presidency on the GOP's ticket in 2028. A source in Bannon's inner circle told the Daily Mail Bannon has repeatedly said he does not think Vance is tough enough to run in 2028. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 21 Democrats Who May Try To Succeed Trump In The 2028 Presidential Election Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon rejected rumors he is gearing up for a potential 2028 run, reiterating his support in response to the claims. However, this week, President Trump said JD Vance would most likely be his successor. He added that Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio would make a formidable ticket, noting it was "too early" to discuss the matter. "I think JD Vance would be a great nominee if he decides he wants to do that," Rubio said during an interview with Lara Trump. Read On The Fox News App Succeeding Trump: 6 Republican Potential Presidential Hopefuls To Keep Your Eyes On In 2028 Bannon's two-word response was published by the conservative news outlet The National Pulse, which blasted the Daily Mail for the "thinly sourced story" and argued the article was an effort to drive division within the Republican Party. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Bannon told Politico in March that "all I do is back President Trump and try to move the populist agenda and the America First agenda. I don't think like a politician." Bannon also described the notion of him running for president as "absurd." In April, Bannon told News Nation that there are "many different alternatives" that could permit Trump to sidestep constitutional term limits, noting in another interview the same month that "we have a team" looking at those alternatives. Three days after Trump's 2025 inauguration, Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., introduced a constitutional amendment that would allow the president to serve a third and final term. According to Congress.gov, that proposal was referred to the House Judiciary Committee but has received no further consideration thus far. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The official Trump Store continues selling "TRUMP 2028" merchandise, such as a hat for $50, which has further fueled speculation about a potential Trump run for a third term. Original article source: Steve Bannon has two-word answer to dismiss 2028 presidential candidacy rumor Desperate to escape abuse as a teenager, Shawn Shea fled to Springfield with a friend, hoping for safety and a fresh start. But instead of refuge, he found himself surrounded by fear and violence living on what he called the most dangerous street in Springfield. Without anywhere else to go, Shea found himself on a path that would end in unimaginable tragedy: the death of a 14-year-old girl. Yet its the weight of those experiences that now drives Shea to want to help others like him and the young girl once a friend he killed. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I want to deal with at-risk youth and just try to give them the hope and the access to role models that I didnt have, Shea, now 35, said during his May 27 parole board hearing. Because I think thatll not only save lives physically, but itll keep a lot of the emotional trauma thats happening from happening in the first place. May 10, 2007 Four men, including 17-year-old Shea, associated with the Springfield street gang SWAT Team, drove toward a house that was a known hang-out spot for a rival gang on May 10, 2007. Before they arrived, they stopped and got a .40 caliber Glock semiautomatic pistol. When they arrived at the house, located at 338 Wilbraham Road, a group of people were standing on the porch. Shea leaned out the passenger window and fired six shots. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Fourteen-year-old Dymond McGowan was among the group. But she wasnt associated with a gang. She was a neighbor girl that Shea knew who had recently left her foster home and had been reported missing. But that night, she was caught in the crossfire of a street gang rivalry and was killed after being shot in the stomach. Family members described McGowan as a teen who was trying to find her way, but still had close family ties and was making progress toward getting her life back on track. She enjoyed dancing, knitting and taking care of younger children. When she was born, she was so bright and shiny, her mother, Jacquelyn Ballard, previously said, explaining why she chose the unique name of Dymond for her daughter. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Shea was arrested by the Springfield Police Department on May 16, 2007 for unrelated warrants. At that time, he was asked about his role in the shooting that killed McGowan, and he admitted to being the shooter. Shea was convicted of first-degree murder and related charges in Hampden Superior Court in December 2008, after jurors deliberated for a day. His mother sobbed, and Shea, looking younger than his years in a suit and glasses, hung his head after the verdict was read. As he was led from the courtroom during a recess before his sentencing, he burst out, I didnt even kill that girl, and became agitated later as Ballard addressed Judge Peter A. Velis. I heard him as he was going out: I didnt kill that girl, Ballard told the judge before Sheas sentencing. He doesnt even know her name. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I know her name. Her name is Dymond. Ive known for five years, he shot back. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. In 2011, the state Supreme Judicial Court affirmed Sheas first-degree murder conviction and life sentence. Judge Ralph D. Gants said he reviewed the record of Sheas case and found no error that produced a substantial likelihood of a miscarriage of justice, nor any other reason to order a new trial or to reduce the defendants murder convictions to a lesser degree of guilt. However, Shea was later allowed to ask for parole due to a law change that prohibits teenagers from being sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He first went in front of the parole board in 2022 after serving 15 years. But he was denied. Shea described McGowan as a friend. He said he originally denied killing her to everyone, including himself, until at least 2015. The board was also concerned with his nearly 40 disciplinary reports. Mr. Shea presented well during his initial parole hearing; however, the Board remains concerned that he needs to display a longer period of positive adjustment, the parole board wrote, also encouraging him to enroll in other programs over the next few years. Change Shea said hes not the same person he was three years ago. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I was creating harm constantly because I was harmed and hadnt dealt with all the things that I had done, he said. Leah Johnson, a friend of Sheas, was sitting next to McGowan when she was shot. She blames their childhood and the adults in their lives for contributing to what happened. Johnson, Shea and McGowan were just children trying to survive together, Johnson said. There were even nights where we shared the same bed or a plate of food. And it was never at any of our homes. There was no mother or father present to save Shawn, to save Dymond or myself. We were all left prey to the street by neglectful parents, along with other lost kids in the neighborhood. We laughed and joked and cried and survived together, she said during the May parole board hearing. She recalled the older gang members telling her, Dymond and another girl that it wasnt safe to be on the porch that night. But where else were they to go? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement My mother no longer lived in the neighborhood. Dymonds grandmother said she couldnt come inside, and Katies mother said we couldnt stay at their house, Johnson said. So we remained on that porch, supporting each other and refusing to leave one another alone. She remembered Shea being a nerdy kid looking for acceptance. He was quiet, kind, and a good person, she said, adding that she believes the gang took advantage of his need for love after a childhood of being in and out of foster care and experiencing multiple kinds of abuse. If Dymond, Shawn or I had proper care, none of us would have been out that night, she said. She asked the parole board to judge Shea on the man hes become, not the lost 17-year-old boy he was when he fired those shots. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Judge him now for the man he is today. Hes a good person. Hes prudent, forward looking and deliberate in everything he does. Hes a thoughtful person with sound judgment and good moral character, she said. Ultimately, she lost two friends that night, she said. But theres still hope. I cant have Dymond back. And I know itll always hurt, but Im still praying that I can have Shawn back, she concluded. Forgiveness In May, there were multiple voices absent from the hearing that shouldve been there. But their grief didnt go unnoticed. Shea wished Dymonds family, including her father, wouldve been at the parole board hearing in May to once again apologize. But he was grateful they were there in 2022. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I listened and took in what he said. I heard pain, pain that he had that had not lessened in the years since I took his daughters life. I heard his grief over an inability to make up for time lost and have his own second chance with his daughter, Shea said. He hopes to take their grief and his own and one day turn it into something to better society. I have an obligation to Dymond, to her family, friends and the community to repair a harm that cannot ever be fully repaired. I will be living out that obligation for the rest of my life, he said. He said hes been able to talk with some of McGowans friends over the years about the pain and trauma he caused them. He took it to heart and they forgave him. I still dont understand your forgiveness, but I am so grateful for it. Thank you, he said. Every day Ill be working to earn the forgiveness that you have gifted me. Being part of various programs while incarcerated have also given him the opportunity to hear from other survivors of trauma caused by people in their communities. Those stories, Shea said, became a lifeline helping him begin to understand the hurt he caused and rebuild his life. But amid the healing, theres a silence that can never be filled. One voice, forever missing. I wish I could sit with Dymond and hear her survivor story every day, he said. More on the Massachusetts Parole Board Read the original article on MassLive. ST. LOUIS A teen arrested for carjacking a rideshare driver is now accused of doing the same crime again, officials say. According to police, both incidents happened in north St. Louis. These latest crimesinvolving minorsraise concerns for rideshare drivers and officials. These back-to-back crimes highlight the continued challenges our community faces, especially when it comes to violent crime involving juveniles, said Mitch McCoy, director of Public Affairs for the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department (SLMPD). Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The first carjacking was reported on Aug. 5, in which a 67-year-old Uber driver was carjacked around 11:30 p.m. near Kennerly and Newstead. Police pursued the vehicle until the car ended up with a flat tire near interstate 70 and Lindbergh. Police say the uber driver sustained no injuries, but a gunshot was fired as he ran away. Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Daily News On Thursday morning, another carjacking near Carter and North Newstead was reportedabout a mile from the original crime scene. Police say a 36-year-old Lyft driver was attacked and pulled out of the car. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement These carjackings leave Robert Williams, an Uber driver, worried about his safety. Its just unfortunate people out here doing people harm while trying to make money for their family, said Williams, who has done the profession for about two years. Under Missouri law, juvenile courts cannot confirm juvenile charges or custody status. Statute 211.031 shields those records, even in violent cases. Its shameful for us who live here in St. Louis; we cant go to the store or stop at a stop sign, its ridiculous; its hurting, Rose Neal, a St. Louis resident, said. FOX 2 reached out to both rideshare companies for a statement about the back-to-back carjackings involving their drivers but has not heard back. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Police say they are working to identify additional suspects who fled from the stolen vehicle. Those who may have any information about these incidents are urged to contact Crime Stoppers. 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. Elon Musk, speaks at an unveiling event for The Boring Company Hawthorne test tunnel in December in Hawthorne, California. (Photo by Robyn Beck-Pool/Getty Images) Despite the willingness of Las Vegas officials to roll over for an underground Loop, Elon Musks Boring Company wants more: mainly approval to bring Teslas above ground to compete with taxis and ride-shares. The Nevada Current, a sister publication of the Tennessee Lookout, reports the Paradise Transportation Company, a subsidiary of the Boring Company, which plans to build the Music City Loop in Nashville, wants a Nevada license to offer regular transportation services from the Vegas strip to Harry Reid International Airport and other resorts, as well as 104 tunnel stations. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The report says Paradise would charge about half the price of a Lyft, Uber or taxi, potentially undercutting the competition. Shockingly, an application Paradise Transportation filed in fall of 2024 tried to hide the Boring Companys connection to the shuttle service request by using obscure names, the news outlet reports. Not until it filed a revised version late last year did people catch on to the relationship between the Boring Company and Paradise. As Musks company jockeys for above-ground business, its still seeking permission to tunnel to the Vegas airport, and, oddly enough, the Federal Aviation Administration and federal environmental studies are the only hurdles keeping it from picking up an automatic 58 million riders annually, according to the report. Never mind a ProPublica report showing the company built tunnels without permits for work on county property, dumped untreated water into storm drains and sewers, then was fined $112,000 a pittance over workers complaints about severe burns and muck spills. Boring is contesting those violations, according to the report. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Those are minor inconveniences as Boring and Musk drill their way into the hearts of leaders willing to capitulate for visitors to enjoy a seamless trip to Vegas where, no doubt, they will rake in hundreds of thousands at the Roulette tables, or maybe break even at best. If it sounds too good to be true Back in Nashville, were finding out the Boring Company started floating tunnel ideas with Metro Nashville officials in May 2024. Mayor Freddie OConnell didnt attend that earliest meeting, and talk about a tunnel on the East Bank came and went without a serious proposal, according to the mayors office. Yet, OConnells office put together a list of 70-plus questions about the Nashville proposal for Boring to sort out before it announced plans at an airport gala event. The company didnt respond this week when the Lookout asked whether it had any comment. The mayors office asked about everything from cost and ownership to liability and emergency service plans. In short, who takes the blame if the project hurts someone or fails. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Gov. Bill Lee says Boring will bear the entire cost of the project. When someone says that, get ready to slap leather (thats a wallet for those whove gone cashless). One of the most interesting questions, though, dealt with escaping, which is critical for claustrophobic types. Thats some mighty narrow clearance. (Promotional video from Boring Company.) The query says the tunnel width in Vegas allows only 3 inches between the vehicle door and tunnel wall, which is built for the size of a standard Tesla Model Y. Nevada sources tell me the tunnels are 12 feet, which should be wide enough to open car doors in case of an accident or medical crisis. It beats taking a ride in an MRI. These people are smart enough to bore a tunnel through the desert and, presumably, through Tennessee limestone, though well have to wait and see if it can be done without hitting irregular rock formations, underground water and Nashville utilities. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement They claim to have 30,000 passengers daily using 2.2 miles of tunnels and five stations in Vegas. But for the good of people who get antsy riding in a box up to the top of the St. Louis Arch or driving through the mountain tunnel between Tennessee and North Carolina, some sort of response would be helpful, especially when it comes to emergency responses into a 12-foot-wide tunnel through which traffic can travel only one direction at a time. Dont count on it. The Boring Company provided little to no information at the July 28 announcement. And state officials havent been much better, directing all questions through the Governors Office, which is largely silent on the deal. Boring proposals in Los Angeles, Chicago and other large cities didnt come off quite as well when people opposed them. Similarly to Vegas, though, Tennessee appears to be bending over backwards for Musks company, first by fawning over the proposal at the airport, then by approving a no-cost lease three days later for a state-owned parking lot near the Capitol where tunneling is to be launched. The whole route, which could branch out to areas other than the Music City Center, Broadway and the airport, is said to be going under a long-term state lease in which Borings only responsibility would be to build it. And that leads to another question: Why is the state willing to give property to the richest man in the world? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Is this really designed to cut down on Nashvilles traffic congestion, which has nothing to do with the airport? (The mess at the airport is self-inflicted, not the fault of commuters.) Or is it an attempt to cozy up to Musk and, ultimately, President Donald Trump, even though they have an on again/off again relationship that appears to depend on which way the wind blows. Or whether Tesla sales are up or down. A new era? After two-plus years of turbulence, the Tennessee State University Board of Trustees named Dwayne Tucker as the schools new president, removing the label interim from his title. Tucker took over the post in December 2024 as part of a last-ditch effort to keep the state from taking over operations of the historically Black university, one of two land-grant institutions in Tennessee. He opted against taking a salary at the time, but considering he had to wade through shark-infested waters to draw enough money to keep the school operating, he should be due a bit of compensation. Dwayne Tucker, right, with Tennessee Comptroller Jason Mumpower, will finally get a paycheck to serve as president of Tennessee State University. (Photo: John Partipilo) My focus remains on putting TSU on a path to sustainability, Tucker said in a statement after the boards decision. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement No single person deserves the blame for TSUs plight. The campus has been neglected for decades, in part because the state failed to fund it adequately. State and federal studies show it was shorted by $150 million to $540 million over a century, while a federal report found it was underfunded by $2.1 billion over 30 years. Considering those numbers, theres plenty of blame for everyone to shoulder. The legislature and Gov. Bill Lee softened the pain with a $250 million grant that is being used, in part, for daily operations as Tucker and staff embark on a long-term survival plan. Maybe Tucker can put the past in TSUs rearview mirror, sending a message to state leaders that the university doesnt need micromanagement while also letting college officials know the campus isnt their personal playground either. Carefree highway, let me slip away, slip away on you. * *Gordon Lightfoot, Carefree Highway SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Two people are in custody after officers spotted a stolen car for sale on Facebook Marketplace Friday. [DOWNLOAD: Free WHIO-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] Around 2:30 p.m., Huber Heights officers were told by a Fairborn detective that a truck stolen out of their city was spotted for sale on Facebook Marketplace. Huber Heights police and the Fairborn detective set up a sale at the Rave Cinema parking lot with the suspect, according to a media release. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The stolen truck was accompanied by a Kia Stinger. TRENDING STORIES: As officers moved in to detain the suspects, the driver of the truck attempted to get away, reversing the truck and striking an unmarked police vehicle. Officers dropped a county-wide call for backup due to the erratic behavior of the suspects. Officers deployed Stop Sticks to deflate the trucks tires, but the driver continued to drive southbound on Waynetowne Blvd. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A Huber Heights cruiser attempted to disable the truck by striking it, causing the driver to momentarily lose control. The chase continued onto Old Troy Pike and Fishburg Road, where the driver lost control and came to a stop after driving over a curb and through a parking lot. The driver, only identified as a woman, was taken into custody. The passenger of the Kia was taken into custody in the parking lot of Rave Cinema. The driver of the Kia Stinger drove off from the scene and has not yet been found. [SIGN UP: WHIO-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] Authorities in Washington seized two stolen firearms and illegal drugs, just hours after President Trump ordered federal law enforcement officers to patrol the streets of the nations capital over the next week. Overnight, USPP officers and our federal partners collaborated to enforce EO 14252, Making the District of Columbia Safe and Beautiful, The U.S. Park Polices Washington office said Friday morning in a post on the social platform X. Our teams made arrests for possession of two stolen firearms and illegal drugs removing these dangerous items from the community, the officers added. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosivess Washington Field Division said the agency, along with its federal law enforcement partners, including FBI, U.S. Marshals Service, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Homeland Security Investigations team, are out ensuring that the residents of the District of Columbia are safer this evening. Trump directed the increased presence of law enforcement officials, starting midnight Thursday, with the White House arguing that the city has has been plagued by violent crime for far too long. The directive came shortly after the president said he was considering a federal takeover of the nations capital after the attack by teenagers on a former Department of Government Efficiency employee known as Big Balls. Trump has criticized the city council and mayor Muriel Bowser in recent weeks, objecting to the citys handling of homelessness and crime. He also pressed authorities to pass a law allowing teens 14 years or older to be sentenced as adults. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Violent crime for 2024 in D.C. is down 35 percent from 2023, the lowest rate in more than 30 years. The president could temporarily take over D.C.s police department, under the Home Rule Act, if he determines special conditions of an emergency nature exist. White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller told NewsNation on Thursday that Washington is more violent than Baghdad, parts of Ethiopia and parts of many of the most dangerous places in the world. 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. Warning: This post contains spoilers for Stolen: Heist of the Century Stolen: Heist of the Century, a documentary about whats considered the worlds largest diamond heist, is a cut above other true crime fare because in this one, the filmmakers interview the mastermind of the crime about how he pulled it off. The robber, Leonardo Notarbartolo, who had an office in the building he stole from, speaks on camera for the first time about his role in the theft of about $100 million worth of diamonds in Antwerp, Belgium, over the weekend of Feb. 15, 2003. His memory is selective, however, and Stolen also features law enforcement officials who fact-check his claims. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The documentary, out on Netflix on Aug. 8, is based on the 2010 book Flawless: Inside the Largest Diamond Heist in History, which examines how the diamond thieves pulled off the heist and what led to police eventually catching them. Here, the book's co-author Scott Selby talks to TIME about the flawless theft and what he thinks about Notarbartolos account. How the thieves pulled off a massive diamond robbery Antwerp has long been considered the diamond capital of the world: About 85% of the worlds diamonds pass through the city. The thieves targeted a building called the Antwerp Diamond Center, which housed dozens of gem trading companies. Pedestrians pass a giant advertisement for diamonds in the diamond district of Antwerp, Belgium, on July 20, 2017. Dario Pignatelli/BloombergGetty Images While the center was heavily guarded on the weekdays, there was less security on the weekends. Authorities believe that the thieves entered through the garage where a door led to the ground floor of the building and then opened it by modifying an alien key. Stolen shows thieves covering motion sensors with hairspray, light sensors with black duct tape, and cameras with black plastic bags. When the thieves were done, they stole security tapes so that no one could see them committing a crime. Somehow, they managed to break into the explosion-resistant steel door to the vault. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement For me, the biggest mystery is, how did they get past that combination lock? Selby says. In the doc, Notarbartolo claims he hid a camera inside a fire extinguisher, which enabled him to see what combination was inside. But Selby argues the only way to see the numbers on the lock is through a piece of glass on top of the lock that acts like a magnifying glass. To open each safe deposit box in the vault, the thieves invented a device that hooks into the keyhole and then uses leverage to bend the deadbolt so the door pops open. Notarbartolo claims he trained for the heist in a recreation of the vault outside of the building. But Selby doesnt believe that because Notarbartolo had a safe deposit box in the vault. I'm not sure why one would need a replica of a vault that you already have total access to, he says. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement To this day, almost all of the diamonds remain unaccounted for. Many of the safe deposit box owners did not have insurance because the Antwerp Diamond Center was considered the safest place to store diamonds, with plenty of CCTV and armed police guarding it during the week. Its important to remember these real victims, Selby says. Real people with small businesses were wiped out. Notarbartolo does not seem to have any regrets. Ive always wanted to be part of something like this, he says in the film, adding later, We felt proud of doing something so strong and powerful. How the thieves got caught The theft itself was flawlessI mean, they pulled it off, right? Its just that the getaway was badly bungled, says Selby. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Police found some helpful clues in a heap of trash that was tossed into the last bit of forest off of the highway between Antwerp and Brussels. Unfortunately for the thieves, they dumped their trash onto the property of a man named August Van Camp, who routinely picked up the trash ditched by drivers and sifted through it to see if he could identify who was littering, regularly reporting the contents to the police. In this case, he told police that the trash had diamond-related materials, and since they were in the process of investigating the diamond heist, the police showed up right away. Inside the trash were tiny emeralds. There was a supermarket receipt, and police were able to go to the store and look at security footage to identify the person ringing up the listed items, Ferdinando Finotto, someone police had been looking for in connection to a different robbery. There was a piece of paper identifying Elio D'Onorio, an alarm specialist, authorizing him to do security work for Leonardo Notarbartolo, who had a safe deposit box at the Antwerp center. Police found out that he was from Turin, Italy, and called the head of the detectives for the robbery squad in the city to find out who Notarbartolo was and learned he was on their radar. Turin authorities told Antwerp authorities about the so-called School of Turin, a network of criminals in the area. Then, the building manager of the Antwerp Diamond Center was able to point him out for authorities on security footage. Notarbartolos safe deposit box was one of the safe deposit boxes that had not been broken into, which was suspicious. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Nearly a week after the heist, on Feb. 21, Notarbartolo was caught when he returned to the scene of the heist to enter the building with his badge so that it didnt look like he was the only tenant who didnt go into the building after the heist. The buildings security team had already been fielding questions from authorities about him for days, so they recognized him immediately when he showed up. The building manager called the police, and then stopped Notarbartolo at the door, talking his ear off until the police arrived and arrested him. By then, you surrender, Notarbartolo says in the doc. You face the situation. Police ordered Notarbartolo to direct them to the thieves safe house, where they found a carpet covered in emeralds, the same kind that police found in the trash pile. Notarbartolo was sentenced to 10 years in prison, because he was found guilty of being the mastermind, while DOnorio and Finotto were each sentenced to five years in prison. What happened to Notarbartolo? Notarbartolo already did his time for the crime, so he can talk openly about it. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement There's no longer any legal jeopardy for him, Selby explains. He served his time. Notarbartolo lives with his wife in the countryside on the outskirts of Turin, where police still monitor him closely. He has a small business making wood pellets commonly used for fireplaces. Throughout the doc, he talks about how a man named Alessandro commissioned him to do the heist. But authorities interviewed say they never found any evidence of a partner named Alessandro. I don't think any outside partner commissioned him to do this, Selby says. While the diamond heist was a complex operation, there are everyday steps that people can take to keep their personal property safe. Just because you live in a gated community doesn't mean that you don't need a good lock on your door, says Selby. It doesn't mean that you can be complacent and just not have your security alarm on. Write to Olivia B. Waxman at olivia.waxman@time.com. PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) Three juvenile suspects were arrested by Ridgefield police on Thursday after a series of callers reported suspicious activity that morning. One suspect remains at large, according to a post on the City of Ridgefields Facebook. The first caller reported seeing a man in a ski mask driving through the Pioneer Canyon neighborhood just before 7 a.m. with a shattered window. At 7:45 a.m., another caller reported seeing a vehicle with the same description occupied by four teenagers in downtown Ridgefield. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Officials say that authorities located the vehicle, a stolen white Kia Optima with Oregon plates, near Main Avenue and Mill Street. Officers attempted to initiate a traffic stop, but the driver fled. Police deployed spike strips near Main Avenue and Pioneer Street, but the driver continued eastbound, driving into oncoming lanes, officials said. The driver later hit another vehicle at a roundabout at the intersection of Pioneer Street and North 35th Avenue. No injuries were reported, and the driver fled. Officers used spike strips a second time near the 4200 block of Pioneer Street. The vehicle was eventually stopped near the entrance to a business complex in the 5000 block of Pioneer Street. The driver and one other passenger fled on foot, while the other two remained at the scene and were taken into custody. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Police deployed a drone and a K9 unit from Vancouver Police. The Clark County Sheriffs Office also assisted in the search. Eventually, the driver of the vehicle was located and arrested. The fourth suspect, a 15-year-old Hispanic male, remains at large. He was last seen running south near the Legacy Trails apartments, wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt and purple sweatpants. Anyone with information related to this incident or the whereabouts of the outstanding suspect is asked to contact the Ridgefield 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 KOIN.com. The Brief Georgia State Patrol says a police chase involving a stolen pickup truck in Gainesville led to a crash that killed 50-year-old Agustin Rivera. Troopers attempted multiple PIT maneuvers before the suspect rear-ended Riveras vehicle, forcing it off the road and into trees. The suspect, 35-year-old Daniel Thomas Davis of Jefferson, was arrested after fleeing on foot and faces charges including murder, DUI, and motor vehicle theft. HALL COUNTY, Ga. - A Gainesville man was killed Wednesday evening during a police chase in Hall County involving a stolen pickup truck, according to the Georgia State Patrol. What we know Troopers say they spotted a blue Chevrolet Silverado around 5:49 p.m. on Shallowford Road that matched the description of a vehicle, reportedly stolen from Hardy Chevrolet in Gainesville. When they tried to pull the driver over, he sped away, leading officers on a pursuit. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement During the chase, troopers attempted two Precision Immobilization Technique, or PIT, maneuvers on State Route 60, but both were unsuccessful. As the driver continued south on Candler Road, the Silverado rear-ended another vehicle, forcing it off the roadway and into several trees. The driver of that vehicle, identified as 50-year-old Agustin Rivera of Gainesville, later died from his injuries. The suspect kept driving, prompting another PIT attempt on State Route 332. This time, the maneuver caused the truck to strike a power pole. Troopers say the driver tried to run away, but was stopped after they used a taser. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The suspect, 35-year-old Daniel Thomas Davis of Jefferson, was booked into the Hall County Jail on charges including murder, felony fleeing or attempting to elude, DUI, motor vehicle theft, driving with a suspended license, misdemeanor marijuana possession and multiple traffic violations. What we don't know FOX 5 Atlanta is attempting to obtain a mug shot for Davis. At this time, we do not have any other information about the suspect. A Confederate soldiers group that filed a lawsuit last month to stop a truth telling exhibit from opening at Stone Mountain Park were dealt a blow by Georgias attorney general. The Georgia Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans filed the lawsuit against the state park, saying officials broke state law by planning an exhibit exploring ties to slavery, segregation, and white supremacy. Georgia law 50-3-1(b)(3) states no publicly owned monument on property owned by the State of Georgia can be relocated, removed, or hidden. Georgia mandate (12-3-192.1) also states the purpose of the Stone Mountain Memorial Association is to maintain an appropriate and suitable memory for the Confederacy. Both passed in 2019. Read More: Confederate Supporters Sue over Slavery and Segregation Exhibit at Stone Mountain With an $11 million budget, allocated by Georgias General Assembly in 2023, the Stone Mountain Memorial Association enlisted Warner Museums to design a truth telling center. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The interpretive themes developed for Stone Mountain will explore how the collective memory created by Southerners in response to the real and imagined threats to the very foundation of Southern society, the institution of slavery, by westward expansion, a destructive war, and eventual military defeat, was fertile ground for the development of the Lost Cause movement amidst the social and economic disruptions that followed, the exhibit proposal says. But their work, with the stated purpose of removing Confederate symbols, contextualizing the Confederacy and attracting new attendees, came under fire from the group. In a surprising move yesterday, Attorney General Chris Carr, who is currently running for governor, has reportedly moved to dismiss three lawsuits filed by Sons of the Confederacy, citing the group does not have legal grounds to sue. Georgia is protected by sovereign immunity a legal framework that can shield governments from lawsuits. Read More: Where MARTA Runs, Lives were once Sold into Bondage But recent moves by the Trump administration may indicate the struggle over the narrative surrounding Stone Mountain may not be over. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In March, Trump signed the Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History executive order, writing: It is the policy of my Administration to restore Federal sites dedicated to history, including parks and museums, to solemn and uplifting public monuments that remind Americans of our extraordinary heritage, consistent progress toward becoming a more perfect Union, and unmatched record of advancing liberty, prosperity, and human flourishing. Museums in our Nations capital should be places where individuals go to learn not to be subjected to ideological indoctrination or divisive narratives that distort our shared history. The administration announced plans for two statues commemorating the Confederacy to be reinstalled in Washington, D.C., last week. The Stone Mountain truth telling exhibit is scheduled to open by the end of the year. The post Stone Mountain Controversy: Georgia Moves to Dismiss Confederate Suit Over Slavery Exhibit appeared first on Capital B News - Atlanta. NATIONAL AFFAIRS: Whether this is chaos by design or simply dysfunction on full display, talk over reoccupying Gaza have led to a critical inflection point. If one were charitable, one might think that all the noise the loud noise, the deafening noise about whether to occupy all of Gaza is just one big smoke screen, a giant ruse to confuse and confound the enemy. Otherwise, what the country witnessed this past week just doesnt make any sense. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement What did it witness? The very public dispute between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir over whether or not to occupy all of Gaza. Netanyahu is reportedly in favor; Zamir is reportedly opposed; and the issue was scheduled to be discussed at a high-stakes security cabinet meeting Thursday night. But the political fracas didnt stop at the top. Netanyahus son Yair posting on social media, apparently from the comfort of Miami launched an attack on Zamir, blaming Defense Minister Israel Katz for appointing him. Katz shot back, publicly defending Zamir in a move that widened the fissure between the defense establishment and the political leadership. That whole exchange the top-level dispute and its ripple effects was just the first movement in a weeklong cacophonous political symphony. IDF soldiers operating throughout the Gaza Strip, August 5, 2025. (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT) Then came the war planning or, more precisely, the public discussion of the war planning. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The IDF might reoccupy all of Gaza, meaning a full push into Gaza City and the central refugee camps of Deir el-Balah and Nuseirat. Or it might surround those areas and rely on overwhelming firepower and commando raids to try to bring Hamas to its knees. It wasnt clear which. But what was clear is that the entire world, including Hamas, now knows what options are on the table. Add to this a shouting match inside the IDF General Staff Headquarters between the head of the air force and the head of the Southern Command plus a steady stream of media reports about how exhausted and burned out the troops are and how badly they need a break. All of that the yelling, the leaking, the hand-wringing must be part of some grand deception plan. Because if it wasnt, then why would Israel be broadcasting so many of its military cards in plain view of an enemy that is watching very, very carefully? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A Channel 12 report on Wednesday said that it was Hamas leaders in Turkey who instructed the terrorist organization to harden its negotiating position on the hostages. Of course they did. They see the confusion. They see the internal divisions. They see the international pressure that has intensified as a result of Hamass well-coordinated Israel is starving us to death campaign a campaign that has succeeded in shaping international headlines and agendas. They also hear the anguished cries of the hostage families raw, emotional, and utterly human pleading for a deal to end the war, even if it means leaving Hamas as it is now. Those voices are powerful and impossible to ignore. But emotional urgency, however justified, doesnt always align with what is best for long-term national security. Ruti Strum the mother of one released hostage and of another hostage, Eitan Horn, still being held pleaded with the security cabinet ministers to think with your hearts, and not only your heads. Her sentiment is deeply moving and profoundly human. But when it comes to shaping national policy, the burden falls on leaders to weigh not only the heartbreak of the present but also the consequences for the future. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Considering all this, is it any surprise that the Hamas leadership, holed up in bunkers or sitting comfortably in Istanbul or Doha, believes it can wait Israel out? Now flip the lens. What do we know about the mood in Gaza? Any sense of what Hamas leaders are thinking? Any idea even of who those leaders are? What internal arguments are they having? Whether theyre confident or panicking? Whether the population supports them or is ready to revolt? No. Very little. Hamas knows so much about us and our internal deliberations, yet we know virtually nothing about theirs. That gives them a distinct advantage. And every time we shout across podiums or leak to the press or argue on social media, that advantage only grows. Its all reminiscent of the lead-up to the IDFs move into Rafah in May 2024. For weeks beforehand, the country government, media, anonymous political and military leaders couldnt stop talking about it. Debating it, leaking details, speculating, infighting. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The result? The world grew anxious. The Americans applied pressure. Expectations ballooned. And when the operation finally came, it was far less painful militarily and politically than the months of buildup had suggested. Disagreements over what Israel should do in Gaza next are inevitable and even healthy. It is appropriate, even vital, for the political echelon to challenge the military leadership on strategy and goals. And it is equally important for the generals to challenge the politicians in return: What exactly do you want to achieve? What comes next? What are the costs of what they are proposing in terms of casualties, both military and civilian? But those critical conversations dont need to happen under a spotlight, with the countrys adversaries taking notes. Some things, especially in wartime, are better done in private. Chaos by design, or dysfunction on full display? UNLESS, OF COURSE, it is all a ruse. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On June 15, just three days after Israels devastating first attack on Iran in Operation Rising Lion, Fox Newss Bret Baier interviewed Netanyahu. I think weve set them back quite a bit, the prime minister said of Irans nuclear program. I think they were completely surprised. And, you know, surprise is a great element of success. What is true of Iran is also obviously true of Gaza. Then how could the prime minister, who by his own words understands the strategic value of surprise, now be telegraphing his moves to the enemy? It must be deception, say those who cannot believe that the state could possibly be as clumsy in figuring out what to do next in Gaza and how to apply leverage on Hamas as it appears now. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In the lead-up to the strike on Iran, the public also saw apparent chaos. A phone call between Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump was portrayed as tense and adversarial, when the opposite was true. The Prime Ministers Office announced that Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and Mossad head David Barnea were heading to Washington before the next round of US-Iran nuclear talks, though no such trip was planned. At the time, political attention was fixed on the haredi draft crisis, which conveniently served as cover for military preparations. Even the security cabinet meeting the night before the attack was framed as focusing on a hostage breakthrough, when it was actually to green-light the Iran strike. The country seemed consumed by dysfunction, but it was all a decoy. Which raises the question: could the current disarray over Gaza be one as well? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Maybe, but then again, maybe not. The 22 months of war in Gaza have been rife with so much indecision, backtracking, conflicts, firings, that what we are seeing now seems sadly par for the course. Perhaps its just wishful thinking to believe we are too smart to show our cards in this matter, and it must be part of a greater strategic plan. Sometimes, as Sigmund Freud was once said to have quipped, a cigar is just a cigar. Sometimes a mess is just a mess, which might be the situation the country is in now regarding the next steps in Gaza. IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Eyal Zamir said at a situational assessment, we are dealing with matters of life and death.' (credit: IDF) Israel's leaders reach critical inflection point STILL, WHETHER this is chaos by design or simply dysfunction on full display, it has led to a critical inflection point. The security cabinet met Thursday night to weigh two starkly different paths forward: a complete military occupation of the remaining 25% of Gaza, or a containment strategy that avoids a full takeover. Both come with costs. Both come with risks. Neither offers any guarantees. Supporters of full occupation argue that it is the only way to finish the job: to eliminate what remains of Hamass military infrastructure, restore deterrence, and rescue hostages still believed to be held in the dense refugee camps of central Gaza. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement They say half measures have not worked: that Hamas has exploited every pause and partial withdrawal to regroup; that the last 22 months of combat have brought the IDF this far to the edge of Hamass last stronghold and that stopping now would squander the gains. Some go further and say that only a sustained IDF presence will prevent Hamas from returning, given the absence of a credible day after alternative. Others go in a different direction, arguing for the conquest and resettlement of Gaza on ideological grounds. But critics, including reportedly Zamir and other senior officers, argue the price would be staggering. Not just in terms of IDF casualties, which they say could be dozens or more in booby-trapped urban warfare, but also in terms of hostages killed in the crossfire, global condemnation, and diplomatic isolation. They point out that Israel has already achieved a strategic dismantling of Hamas as an organized army. What remains is guerrilla warfare. An occupation, they warn, would mire Israel in an open-ended conflict that would drain the countrys coffers, and for which there is no exit strategy, no local partner, and no clear victory conditions. The alternative to full occupation laying siege to Hamas strongholds by cutting them off, surrounding them with ground forces, and striking from the air or with artillery is also no magic recipe for success. It would keep Hamas under pressure, but might not eliminate its remaining forces. It could help preserve the lives of the hostages, but wouldnt dismantle Hamas completely. It might preclude the need to take over and fully control Gaza and its two million residents, but without bringing the war any closer to a decisive conclusion. In other words, it might avoid the messiness of occupation, but without resolving any of the core dilemmas still hanging over the war. For now, the country waits. And Hamas watches. And everyone reads the leaks, studies the statements, and tries to guess whether what were seeing is part of an orderly playbook or just the chaos before the next chapter. One hopes it is the former. But one has doubts. NORTHAMPTON, Mass. (WWLP) A stray dog found in Northampton, who was named Puddles by animal control, has since been adopted by a loving family in Vermont, who they call Buddy. Northampton animal control found Puddles, a Boston Terrier, near the intersection of Easthampton Road and Earle Street on May 5th. They said that he was about five years old and wasnt neutered or chipped. Clear the Shelters marks 11 years of nationwide pet adoptions Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Pictures of him were shared on social media the next day, seeking his owner however, they were not located. Puddles received medical treatment and was placed into foster care. Northeast Boston Terrier Rescue (NEBTR) shared updates on Puddles, who was renamed Buddy. They say that he was found curled up in a puddle on the doorstep of a business. He was emaciated and had a severe skin issue that caused bleeding and hair loss. (Northampton Animal Control) (Northampton Animal Control) (Northampton Animal Control) The non-profit organization thanked the community for donations and volunteers throughout his journey to recovery. On June 18th, he was ready for his forever home, and the call for adoptions was put out, and within five days, applications were closed. Meet Buddy, the lost Northampton Boston Terrier who found a new home Buddy finds new home Buddy finds new home Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Three months after being found in Northampton, Buddys new family contacted 22News to share his new story! Ann and Dan Sivori of Northfield, Vermont, adopted him on June 26th. They decided to keep his name as Buddy and shared photos and a video of him. He has been neutered and microchipped and adjusting to his new home for the past six weeks, where his new family makes him feel safe and loved. We are working slowly and patiently with him to make him feel safe, but most of all, giving him a loving environment, said Ann and Dan in an email to 22News. The family spends their time with Buddy on daily walks, watching their chickens from afar, playing with toys, and more. He is eating healthy, and is continuing his treatment with medicated shampoo to help grow his fur back, which he will need to keep warm in the Vermont winters, the Sivoris said. In sharing their story, Ann and Dan hope to get answers on Buddys past. They say that he remembers, and they want to help him navigate around any negative past treatment he may have had. Buddy doesnt like thunderstorms, fireworks, or heavy rain on our roof. He enjoys car rides but gets anxious when the vehicle comes to a stop. If you have any information about Buddys past, email Ann at annlsivori@gmail.com. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Sivori family thanks everyone involved in Buddys survival, Northampton Animal Control Officer Dawn Ubelaker, South Deerfield Veterinary Clinic, fosters and volunteers at NEBTR, and all the people who donated to his cause. NEBTR has volunteers based in NY, Nj, PA, CT, MD, and DE that help Boston Terriers in need. To donate, visit nebostonrescue.com/donate-now. Buddy makes us laugh each and every day, gives us kisses now and is a quick learner for his commands. Most of all, he is loved, Ann and Dan Sivori. Clear The Shelters 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. CENTRAL ILLINOIS (WCIA) Ameren bills are skyrocketing across the state with many people saying they are paying nearly double what they paid just last month. Thursday afternoon, WCIA posted a question on our Facebook page asking people if they have been affected by the recent Ameren rate hike. That post generated more than 2,000 comments and reactions. Ameren Illinois customers to see 18-22% rate hike due to auction results Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Youve got food, youve got phone bills, car payments, all thats really being affected right now. said Danville resident Christi Langellier. Shes not the only one. Some of the comments online include: someone saying horribly, many saying their bill more than doubled, and one person even joking that theyre going to try and make their own electricity to combat the rise. Its hitting everyone hard. WCIA heard from small business owners, single moms and more all with the same message. They were already struggling to make ends meet, and these prices are making things nearly impossible for their families. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Weve been wanting to talk about this issue and bring awareness to whats going on here in the state of Illinois, said State Representative Chris Miller (R-Hindsboro). And on Thursday at the Embarras bar in Villa Grove, they did. Miller stopped in to eat last week, and the owner told him about his electric bill. Last year, that same bill same time was about $2,000 to $2,100, owner Ryan Garrett said. Big electricity bills impacting small businesses in Central IL This year, it was almost three thousand. Garrett said hes had to start cutting his employees hours just to stay open. And its not unique to businesses or to Villa Grove. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement WCIA talked to someone in Danville whose bill last month was just upwards of $300. And this month, our bill was $724, Danville resident Tammy Clow said. And, shes already on budget billing, which Ameren said helps level out seasonal changes. Youre on a tight budget as it is, and now youve got to come up with an extra 300 some dollars. It takes a lot out of it, Clow said. Christi Langellier said shes one of those people. Shes a single mom and a teacher fighting to stretch her checks, which are significantly reduced during the summer. We already called my car company to try to split payments on car payments. Ive split payments for aqua. Thank goodness I have a really amazing landlord thats letting me do split payments throughout the month instead of all of it right up front, Langellier said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Shes also turned the thermostat as high as it will go, even in the summer heat. She still complains that its hot, so shes got little fans and everything. Like I care mainly about my kid. But I do have to take care of the stress of the other bills. So its been a struggle. But Im doing the best I can right now, Langellier said. WCIA reached out to Ameren to try and find out why the bills are jumping as high as they have. We have not heard back yet. 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. While cities like Raleigh and Nashville are thriving with booming job markets and rising wages, not every American city is keeping up. A new report from Checkr has revealed that Bakersfield, California, ranks as the worst city in the country for job opportunities. Checkr analyzed data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Census Bureau, and Bureau of Economic Analysis to assess the 100 largest U.S. cities. They measured employment opportunities based on unemployment rates, labor force growth, job openings, and workforce size. Bakersfield finished dead last. Why Bakersfield Ranks at the Bottom Bakersfields struggles stem from its over-reliance on industries like agriculture and energy, which have seen stagnation and job cuts in recent years. CNBC reported that according to Sam Radbil, Checkrs research strategist, these industries tend to require on-site work, limiting remote job opportunities and offer fewer high-paying roles compared to tech or service-based economies. Advertisement Advertisement The citys unemployment rate stands at 9.6 percent, more than double the national average of 4.2 percent, making it one of the hardest places in America to find a job. It's Not Just JobsWages Are Stagnant, Too Even for those who do find work, Bakersfield doesnt offer much in terms of earning potential. The citys real per capita income growth has been sluggish, and few households crack the $200,000 mark. As Radbil explained, While jobs are difficult to find, its even more difficult to get paid the national average. Bakersfield isnt alone in this struggle. Other cities like Scranton, Pennsylvania, and McAllen, Texas, also ranked near the bottom for employment opportunities, battling similar issues of economic stagnation and declining industries. A Vicious Cycle of Economic Struggles One of the biggest concerns is the lack of new businesses setting up shop. Without a steady influx of companies offering diverse job roles, cities like Bakersfield face a vicious cycle of high unemployment, low wages, and a dwindling talent pool. Advertisement Advertisement Theres not a ton of new jobs being generated, and that can always limit the opportunity for a city to grow, Radbil noted. New Study Reveals Worst American City for Jobs first appeared on Men's Journal on Aug 6, 2025 Scotland's former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has described her arrest by police investigating the SNP's finances as the worst day of her life. Sturgeon describes being questioned by detectives as part of Operation Branchform in an extract from her upcoming memoir which has been published in The Times. Sturgeon also writes about her "utter disbelief" about police raiding the home she shared with her husband Peter Murrell in April 2023. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Elsewhere in the extracts, the former SNP leader describes the pain of suffering a miscarriage and sets out her views on sexuality, which she says she does not consider "to be binary". Sturgeon writes that she was in bed when her husband answered the door to police officers around 07:00 on 5 April 2023. "It was with a sense of utter disbelief that I realised the police were in my home, that they had a warrant to arrest my husband and search the house," she writes. "I was in despair, struggling to comprehend what had happened." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Sturgeon was arrested in June 2023. She was told in March this year that she would face no further action and was no longer a suspect. Her husband, the former SNP chief executive Peter Murrell, was charged with embezzlement in April 2024. The couple announced they were separating earlier this year. Sturgeon said that during period between the raid on their home in April 2023 and her arrest she felt like she "had fallen into the plot of a dystopian novel." When she was arrested, she was: "Horrified and devastated, though also relieved in a strange sort of way. At least the ordeal of waiting was over. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Sunday, June 11, was the worst day of my life. Being arrested and questioned by the police is an experience I'm not sure I will ever get over. "When I eventually left the police station, late that afternoon, I was in a bad state mentally. I went to a friend's house in the northeast of Scotland and stayed for a week." She said the day when she was informed that no action would be taken against her, a day on which Mr Murrell appeared again in court, was "a day of deeply mixed emotions." "The feeling of relief, and release, was overwhelming," she writes. Nicola Sturgeon describes the experience of having the media camped outside her home during the Branchform investigation [BBC] Sturgeon also talks in detail about her experience of becoming pregnant and suffering a miscarriage aged 40 in 2010. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement She said she had never yearned for a baby but her husband desperately wanted to be a dad. When she found out she was pregnant, she writes, "Peter was ecstatic. I wanted to be. I told him I was. But and I still feel so guilty about this I was deeply conflicted. "In my stupid, work-obsessed mind the timing couldn't have been worse. By the Scottish election, I would be six months pregnant. It may seem hard to believe now, but even in 2010 it wasn't obvious how voters would react to a heavily pregnant candidate," she writes. Sturgeon writes about the guilt she felt at being conflicted about the pregnancy and the guilt she now feels after miscarrying. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Later, what I would feel most guilty about were the days I had wished I wasn't pregnant. There's still a part of me that sees what happened as my punishment for that," she writes. She also describes continuing to work while suffering "constant agony, the most excruciating pain I have ever experienced" and feeling "heartbroken" about the loss. Sturgeon says that she was convinced the baby would have been a girl called Isla, writing: "I do deeply regret not getting the chance to be Isla's mum. "It might not make sense, but she feels real to me. And I know that I will mourn her for the rest of my life." Sturgeon was appearing at an event in Glasgow on Friday evening [BBC] The former first minister also addresses rumours about her sexuality, in particular an unfounded claim that she was having an affair with a female French diplomat. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "There were slightly different versions of the story, but the consistent theme seemed to be that I was having a torrid lesbian affair," she writes. "In one of the variants of the story, there had been a violent encounter between us, involving an iron, in Edinburgh's Balmoral Hotel. We had also supposedly set up a love nest, in a house in Bridge of Allan, that I had bought from Andy Murray's mum, Judy." Sturgeon writes that she would normally have ignored such "wild stories from the darker recesses of social media," but this one ended up being discussed by her neighbours, family and friends. She describes much of the social media and online comment as being driven by homophobia. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "For many of those peddling it, "lesbian" and "gay" are meant as insults. However, while the fact I was being lied about got under my skin, the nature of the insult itself was water off a duck's back," she writes. "Long-term relationships with men have accounted for more than thirty years of my life, but I have never considered sexuality, my own included, to be binary. Moreover, sexual relationships should be private matters." Frankly will be published on Thursday 14 August. The FBI Agents Association (FBIAA) has issued a rare public warning to Bureau leadership over reports that Special Agents case agents and senior leaders alike are facing summary firings without the due process guaranteed under the agencys own procedures. In a statement posted Wednesday on X by NBC News correspondent Ken Dilanian, the FBIAA said agents carried out their assignments with professionalism and integrity and followed the law, stressing that the review process for employment actions exists to keep the FBI independent and apolitical. FBI Agents Association statement: The FBI Agents Association (FBIAA) is deeply concerned by reports that FBI Special Agentscase agents and senior leaders alikeare going to be summarily fired without due process for doing their jobs investigating potential federal crimes. Ken Dilanian (@DilanianMSNBC) August 7, 2025 Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Associated Press reported that the group warned that bypassing the process makes the American people less safe by distracting agents from their work and potentially targeting them for the cases they were assigned. Senior Officials Removed According to Reuters, The Washington Post, and the Associated Press, those dismissed include: Brian Driscoll , former acting FBI Director, who reportedly resisted demands to reveal the names of agents involved in the January 6 investigation Steven Jensen , head of the Washington Field Office Walter Giardina, tied to the prosecutions of Trump associates The terminations are part of a broader leadership shakeup under FBI Director Kash Patel, a Trump appointee. Patel was confirmed earlier this year with a stated mission of de-weaponizing the Bureau. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Mark Warner (D-Va.) has called the firings a disturbing pattern of retaliation. Supporters of the moves, including Trump-aligned commentators on social media, argue they are necessary to remove politically motivated officials. The FBI has declined to comment on the dismissals. Past Due Process Criticism The FBIAAs call for strict adherence to its own rules contrasts with longstanding criticisms that the Bureau has itself bypassed due process in politically sensitive investigations. Past controversies documented by the Department of Justice Inspector General and covered by The Dallas Express include: FISA Surveillance Powers Proposed expansions to Section 702 could compel any company or individual providing services, such as internet routers or cell towers, to assist government surveillance efforts, raising concerns over Fourth Amendment protections. Mar-a-Lago Search Questions over whether the 2022 FBI raid targeted a declassified congressional intelligence report that undermined the official Russia probe narrative. FBI Informants on January 6 A Justice Department Inspector General finding that 26 confidential human sources were at the Capitol on January 6, raising questions over the Bureaus role and treatment of defendants. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Civil liberties advocates and former officials have argued that the FBI selectively applies due process, pursuing aggressive tactics against political targets while shielding its own. Whether the FBIAAs legal review leads to reinstatements or court challenges remains to be seen, but the dispute underscores a growing internal rift inside the nations top law enforcement agency. For children who might not know the world beyond Florida, exploration begins at summer camp. The Lealman and Asian Neighborhood Family Centers 8-week summer program is a celebration of diversity around the United States. It struck me that, hey, were all immigrants, said Donna McGill, executive director of LANFC. In past years, the camp has been named Summer Around the World. But McGill noticed that the children coming to LANFC didnt know much about any state outside of Florida. For McGill, it was important to educate children about the range of identities within their home country. Most of the campers, who are second- or third-generation immigrants, have not traveled outside the state. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Angelo Paloma, 11, of Seminole, has been a LANFC camper for years. He likes to hang out with friends, cook and eat food from different states and play at the pool on sunny days. His mother, Ana Paloma, was born in Mexico and moved to the United States as a teenager. She is a pre-K teacher and assists at LANFCs summer camp to earn extra money for her family of five. The farthest she and her children have traveled is to Savannah, Georgia, and Mexico to visit family. Ana Paloma admires LANFCs initiative to teach the campers about the United States. We want the kids to learn that this country is being made by immigrants; its what it is because of immigrants. Like McGill, Ana Paloma emphasizes that LANFC staff teaches the importance of empathy. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Thats the most important thing: that my kids can go to a summer camp where they can have fun and play and not have to worry about anything else. What really matters is seeing that friendship, and that sense of community. Being really close together. Even the staff, we are just a few people, but I feel like we can trust each other. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement LANFC fosters a tight-knit and supportive community through their longtime staff members. McGill credits the strength of the summer camp to her dedicated team members, I have the best staff, she said. These people are just so caring. Were tough, but were also loving, and the kids keep coming back every year. Thuat Truong has worked at LANFC for 20 years. Before coming to Florida, she was a geography professor in Vietnam. Truong works closely with the local Vietnamese community, helping with anything from English lessons to paperwork. Sometimes they may just want to see a friendly face. Her relationship with families doesnt end when children graduate and leave Florida, or when families no longer need help. They know its their second home, said Truong. LANFC offers immigration support, food pantry donations, family resources and after-school childcare. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Primarily funded by the Juvenile Welfare Board, LANFC serves younger community members with English language lessons, after-school activities and camp. McGill and her staffs mission has been and always will be to teach kids respect for their community. Campers are taught to appreciate the world around them. Learning about the uniqueness of each state is just a start to teaching children the importance of diversity. One day I will visit all states, said an enthusiastic Angelo Paloma. On the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress, just 30% of eighth-graders were proficient in reading, down from 34% in 2019. But for students in the 10th percentile the lowest achievers that score has dropped 19 points in a decade. Theyre not alone: Youngsters in the 25th percentile have seen a 13-point decline over the same period. These disastrous drops are often masked by averages that include higher scores posted by students at the top of the achievement ladder. But it is clear that struggling readers in middle school are now reading at much lower levels. Some of this may be because they are reading less than they used to. Just 14% of 13-year-olds reported reading daily for fun in 2023, compared with 37% 30 years earlier. Op-eds and analyses mourn that teenagers no longer read books; meanwhile, children ages 8 to 18 spend 7.5 hours per day, on average, on screens. If theres one institution that can make teenagers read, its school. And if theres one time of year when teens have ample time on their hands, its summer. Indeed, to read a 300-page book over nine weeks of summer vacation is to read five pages a day. So it would make sense for schools to ask students to read more books when class is out. Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter I looked at 32 high schools in Maryland, the District of Columbia and Virginia to understand the state of summer reading assignments in 2025. The results are disheartening. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Related NAEP Scores Flashing Red After a Lost Generation of Learning for 13-Year-Olds Only 54% assign any summer reading for incoming ninth-graders. While 90% of private schools studied have such a requirement, only 38% of public schools do and at three of those, the summer reading assignment doesnt actually involve a book. Marylands Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School asks incoming ninth-graders to read three New York Times articles and write a short paragraph about each. Catonsville High School in Baltimore County asks new high school students to read an article titled Zombie Apocalypse. The Summer Reading Choice Board at Albert Einstein High School in Kensington, Maryland, requires completion of one of four tasks: watching a documentary, listening to a music album, or reading an article or a six-page short story. In Montgomery County, Maryland; Fairfax County, Virginia; and neighboring districts, splashy graphics on school websites tell students they should strongly consider reading a book over the summer which wont convince anyone who isnt interested in reading to start or entice a student who is reading to tackle something new or challenging. Five schools actually ask students to read more than one book all of them private schools. Holton-Arms, an all-girls school in Bethesda, leads the pack with a four-book requirement. A six-minute drive away, at public Whitman High School, students are told to read any book that is at least 150 pages and to take notes in the margins or on sticky notes. Whitman is in the same district as Einstein and Bethesda-Chevy Chase high schools, so its clear the central office plays no role in requiring student summer reading. The same is true in the District of Columbia Public Schools, which before COVID required students to read a book and complete a writing assignment over the summer and posted an 80% compliance rate but now has nothing. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Even when districts do attempt to set a reading bar, the results are uneven. For example, the Newark Board of Education declared that this summer, incoming ninth-graders in the districts 18 high schools would be required to read S.E. Hintons The Outsiders and complete three related activities. But on East Side Highs school website, the summer English assignment is to watch a TED talk and a movie. Central High prominently displays the assignment for The Outsiders, but most other Newark high schools dont have anything listed on their websites at all about summer reading. Related New NAEP Scores Dash Hope of Post-COVID Learning Recovery Evidence from my survey suggests that public schools serving more affluent communities are more likely to mandate summer reading. Whitman is one of the most affluent neighborhood high schools in Montgomery County and the only one to require students to read a book. Similarly, Staples High School in Westport, Connecticut, where 2% of students are low-income, requires ninth-graders to read two books; Highland Park High School, outside Dallas (no low-income students), requires incoming ninth-graders to read Paulo Coehlos The Alchemist; and New Trier High School, just north of Chicago (3% low-income students), assigns specific books based on incoming students ninth-grade English placement. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But affluence doesnt guarantee a commitment to summer reading, either. Newton North High School, outside Boston, asks students to consider picking up a book, as does Harriton High School on Phillys Main Line. Both districts have fewer than 18% low-income students. Georgetown Day School, the D.C. prep school where Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson sends her child, provides only a suggested reading list, as does New York Citys Dalton School. The class that enters ninth grade this fall was in third grade when the pandemic hit. By the time these students began middle school, education was back to normal, and theyve had years to be sold on the importance of academics, community and all that school has to offer. But a survey of middle schoolers in 2024 found that only 28% agree that in school, people dont give up when the work gets hard. Less than half agree that at my school, we use our thinking skills, rather than just memorizing things. In their recent book The Disengaged Teen, authors Rebecca Winthrop and Jenny Anderson write that to address these sobering statistics, what kids need now is to become better at learning. Reading positively affects adolescent language ability and brain development, among other benefits, suggesting that literacy itself might be a tool for helping young adults further develop their ability to learn. Demanding a few hours of reading over the course of the summer is a small but meaningful step that can only help. Sunbeam assists with Helping Children Thrive Campaign through Aug. 31 OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) Sunbeam Family Services is accepting donations to assist children across Central Oklahoma to flourish. Sunbeam officials say donations will be matched through August 31 up to $10,000, thanks to Express Employment International. Express Employment International is honored to support Sunbeams Helping Children Thrive Campaign, said Bob Funk, Jr., CEO and chairman of the board at Express Employment International. Through a variety of targeted programs and services, Sunbeam can provide the resources necessary to create a brighter future for children and families across our community. And right now, more than ever, we can all use a little bright spot. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Limits to SNAP purchases starting January 1 Sunbeam is an Early Head Start and Head Start provider in Oklahoma City. The nonprofit prepares young children for school and life success, says Sunbeam. Donations raised through August 31 will match the following: provide safe homes for children in foster care, help grandchildren who are being raised by their grandparents support childrens mental health and well-being Babies and toddlers are born ready to learn and their early attachment experiences with caregivers wire their brains for learning, said Sunbeam CEO Sarah Rahhal, LCSW. By supporting this generous match, you can help us make so much good happen for children and their families. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Jersey Mikes is also joining the campaign through Cookies for Kids, with 100% of cookie sales aiding Sunbeams Foster Care program. For more information, or to donate, click here or contact (405) 609-2311. 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. CHICAGO (WGN) More than two months after his beloved emotional support dog was stolen, a legally blind Chicago man is still walking the streets in search of him. Angel Santiago says his 14-year-old tan and white dachshund, Bam Bam, was taken from his backyard near Monticello and Fullerton Avenues in Logan Square on June 5. Santiago, who is legally blind due to glaucoma, says two unknown people entered through his gate. He tried to stop them and even grabbed one of the suspects, who he believed was a teen wearing long sleeves, but they took Bam Bam. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Bam Bam is microchipped but was not wearing a collar at the time of the theft. Since the incident, Santiago says he has walked up to seven miles a day distributing flyers and calling out for Bam Bam. Stolen puppy returned: Peter back safe at Anti-Cruelty Society A GoFundMe was started to raise money for search efforts, including reward money, pet detective services, making flyers and organizing volunteer groups to canvas the area. Additionally, PETA is offering a reward of up to $5,000 for any information that leads to the return of Bam Bam, as well as the arrest of those who took him. Anyone with information on Bam Bams whereabouts should contact the Chicago Police Department at 312-746-6000 or submit an anonymous tip online. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is once again openly touting the far-right, Christian nationalist views of his favorite pastor, Doug Wilson. All of Christ for All of Life, Hegseth wrote Friday in a post sharing an interview that Wilson did with CNN the day prior. In the video, Wilson proceeds to describe his theocratic, patriarchal vision for America, which has clearly had a significant influence on Hegseth. Id like to see the town be a Christian town, Id like to see the state be a Christian state, Id like to see the nation be a Christian nation, and Id like to see the world be a Christian world, the Moscow, Idaho, pastor said. Every society is theocratic. The only question is whos Theo? In a secular democracy, it would be Demos, the people. In a Christian republic, itd be Christ. FULL CNN segment on Doug Wilson's "Crusade for Christian Domination in the Age of Trump" pic.twitter.com/JCsjlyqi1e Canon Press (@canonpress) August 7, 2025 Wilson also bans women from leadership roles in his church and believes that they should not have the right to vote, arguing they should only be mothers and homemakers. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Women are the kind of people that people come out of, he told CNNs Pamela Brown in the clip shared by Hegseth. So you just think theyre meant to have babies, thats it? Theyre just a vessel? Brown responded. No, it doesnt take any talent to simply reproduce biologically. The wife and mother, who is the chief executive of the home, is entrusted with three, or four, or five eternal souls. Im here as a working journalist and Im a mom of three Good for you. Is that an issue for you? No, its not automatically an issue. Wilson holds some of the extreme views on gender on the Christian right. In the past, hes written that men have a sexual right to women and that unsubmissive women are at fault for any sexual violence committed against them. The sexual act cannot be made into an egalitarian pleasuring party. A man penetrates, conquers, colonizes, plants. A woman receives, surrenders, accepts. He also posits that God created women to make the sandwiches and thinks that giving women the right to vote led to a long, sustained war on the family. This is the man the U.S. defense secretary is enthusiastically platforming. And this isnt the first time. Hegseth and Wilson go way back. The defense secretary has attended Wilsons services, posted in support of his private Christian schools, praised Wilson for not masking during the pandemic, and went on Wilsons Association of Classical Christian Schoolsaffiliated CrossPolitic podcast shortly after his nomination. Wilson is a mouthpiece of a militantly regressive wing of Christianity with a very specific agenda, and the man leading the U.S. military continues to be one of his strongest advocates. Only time will tell just how much influence Wilson will continue to levy over the next three years. The Brief A man wanted for a fatal Father's Day shooting in Fort Worth has been arrested in California. Daleshawn Hopson, 28, is accused of killing 19-year-old Anthony Rangel and injuring two others. Hopson is expected to be extradited back to Texas, but the timeline is currently unknown. ALAMEDA, California - A man accused of fatally shooting a teen in Fort Worth on Father's Day has been arrested in California. Daleshawn Hopson arrested What we know Daleshawn Hopson, 28, was arrested in Alameda, California, Fort Worth police confirmed on Thursday. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Hopson is expected to be extradited back to Texas. What we don't know Hopson's bond amount and charges were not included in FWPD's release. Fort Worth PD says they are unsure when he will arrive back in Texas. Anthony Rangel fatally shot 19-year-old Anthony Rangel (Source: Family members) The backstory Hopson was wanted in connection with the murder of 19-year-old Anthony Rangel on July 15 around 12:30 a.m. Along with Rangel, two others were injured in the shooting. Investigators say two females were fighting over one of the shooting victims. Unknown suspects arrived at the house party, and one of them got into a fight with one of the shooting victims. The suspect then pulled out a gun and fired multiple shots. The Source Information in this article came from the Fort Worth Police Department. The suspect in the deadly Montana bar shooting was captured after a weeklong manhunt, Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte announced Friday. Michael Brown, 45, had been on the run in the mountains around the town of Anaconda since Aug. 1, when authorities say he killed four people at The Owl Bar. "The Anaconda shooter Michael Brown has been apprehended. Incredible response from law enforcement officers across Montana. Thank you to all partners for your commitment to the search," Gianforte posted on X. Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen said authorities apprehended and placed Brown under arrest near the search area in Anaconda at approximately 2 p.m. Friday. He said about 130 law enforcement officers pushed hard after getting tips that helped verify they were looking in the right area. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "I am proud of the unrelenting law enforcement effort this week to find and arrest Michael Paul Brown. The support we've seen for the community of Anaconda from across the state and the nation has also been remarkable. The families and friends of the victims remain in my prayers," said Knudsen. It was not immediately clear if Brown had legal representation. Email and phone messages by the Associated Press were left Friday with the Montana public defender's office. Officials have said the suspect went into the bar last Friday morning and allegedly opened fire, killing Daniel Edwin Baillie, 59; Nancy Lauretta Kelley, 64; David Allen Leach, 70; and Tony Wayne Palm, 74. "By all indications, this is an unstable individual who walked in and murdered four people in cold blood for no reason whatsoever," Knudsen told reporters Sunday. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The suspect lived next door to the bar and appeared to be a regular, Knudsen said. After the shooting, Brown fled the scene, and he was believed to have gotten rid of some of his personal belongings, including his clothes, Knudsen said. Authorities had released an image of the suspect taken shortly after the shooting. showing him shirtless and barefoot, wearing only a pair of black shorts. He was believed to have acquired new clothes from a stolen vehicle, Knudsen said. Investigators believe the suspect used his own rifle in the shooting, Knudsen said. Brown served in the Army from 2001 to 2005, including a deployment to Iraq, and then in the Montana National Guard from 2006 to 2009. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Brown's niece, Clare Boyle, told The Associated Press that her uncle struggled with mental illness for years, and several local residents told CBS News they were aware of his troubles. Kristian Kelley, whose mother Nancy Kelley was among the victims, said, "He was somebody that needed some serious resources. He had some mental health issues as well as PTSD from being in the military." She added, "I've never known him to be violent. He was a person who would tell pretty strange stories and different things like that." Another area resident, Shane Charles, said Brown "would tell us stories that he was John Wick one day or he was the president's right-hand man." Charles knew Nancy Kelley, who was working as the bartender when the shooting happened. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Nancy was a fun, bubbly person, always happy, had a smile on her face, always the first to say, 'Hello, how's your day going,'" Charles said. He added, "All of the victims were great people. Our community is suffering because they've lost some great, great people." Israel's Security Cabinet approves plan to take over Gaza City Why Trump is calling for Intel CEO's immediate resignation Saturday Sessions: The Black Keys perform "Lonely Boy" The Brief A 22-year-old recent college graduate, Ronnie Burns, was killed in a car crash caused by an alleged drunk driver in Houston. Burns and his friend, Jayden Flemming, were on their way to a fraternity picnic when their car was hit and caught fire. The suspect, Rene Hernandez, has been charged with two counts of murder and is scheduled for a court date on August 21. DUNCANVILLE, Texas - Ronnie Burns' parents had just spoken to their son on Thursday. He was on the fence about whether to go to a fraternity picnic in Houston. He ended up going. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Hours later, his parents would learn that he had been killed by an alleged drunken driver. What we know It was an overnight awakening no parent ever wanted to get. Just after 2 a.m. on Saturday morning, Kimberly and Ronnie Burns got an automatic alert on her cell phone that said their son, 22-year-old Ronnie Burns II, had been involved in a car crash. Burns, a Duncanville High School alum, had just graduated from Florida A&M and gotten a job in Atlanta. He decided to drive to Houston, along with a fellow Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity brother, Jayden Flemming, to attend the Texas Greek Picnic. But his future was cut short, when according to a Harris County Constable, Burns' Lexus was struck by a drunken driver. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The impact caused Burns' car to catch fire, killing him and his friend. The medical examiner notified Burns' parents. What they're saying "I got that alert because he had me in his phone as an emergency contact," said Kimberly. "We call, no answer. I call, no answer. Text? No answer, no response," said Burns father. "He was really excited about starting this part of his life. Excited about his future," said Kimberly. "That's when they told us that my baby was involved in a wreck. You know, he burned up. We're like, can we come get anything? Nothing for me to get of my baby," said Burns father. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Burns family visited the crash site on Wednesday. They said, while difficult, they are comforted by the outpouring of support. One friend sent Burns' dad a recent video of his son. "He's missed. He's missed already. Boy, he is missed." said the father. Dig deeper That suspected drunk driver, 21-year-old Rene Hernandez, ran a red light and collided with Burns' Lexus, after fleeing from deputies who saw him crash into multiple cars, according to the constable's office. This is video of Hernandez appearing before a judge in a wheelchair early Thursday morning, after being transferred to jail from a hospital. Big picture view "We're Christians, we believe in forgiveness. We're thankful for the years that we had with our son, but he did he rob us of our son, of his life and legacy," said Kimberly. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "I want his legacy to be take care of business. You say you are going to do it. Do it," said Burns' father. And as for Burns' legacy "And have fun. He was going to have fun. He's going to do that," the parents say. What's next His parents told FOX 4 that he worked hard and played hard. Hernandez faces two counts of murder. His next court date is set for August 21. The Source Information in this article was provided from an interview conducted by FOX 4's Alex Boyer. (FOX40.COM) On Tuesday, two suspects in the 2024 fentanyl-related death of a 25-year-old man were arrested, according to the Citrus Heights Police Department. A 20-year-old woman and a 22-year-old man were taken into custody and charged with homicide, CHPD announced. Video Above: How deadly is fentanyl? CHPD detectives determined that the two suspects provided the fentanyl that caused the victims death in October. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Detectives also found evidence that both suspects had full knowledge of the fatal effects of fentanyl before selling it to the victim. On October 23, 2024, CHPD officers and Sacramento Metro Fire medical responded to a report of an unresponsive 25-year-old male at a home in Citrus Heights. The man was pronounced dead at the scene, despite life-saving efforts. Detectives reported fentanyl overdose as the cause of death. Additional information on the incident can be reported to the CHPD Tip Line at (916) 727-5524. 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 swastika on a parked car and several other complaints of antisemitism have prompted a police investigation in Closter, a normally quiet, affluent borough in Bergen County. The investigation began around the time a watchdog group posted a photo of the car earlier this week on X. We are deeply aware of the recent incidents and rhetoric that have caused concern and fear within our community, the Closter Police Department said in a letter to residents on Tuesday. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement StopAntisemitism, a U.S.-based watchdog organization posted a photo on X of a black car with a swastika that it said was parked on Lockwood Street in Closter. The vehicle had an EMT license plate on the back bumper. Imagine experiencing a medical [emergency] and this is the person responsible for your care, while youre wearing a Star of David necklace, StopAntisemitism said in the post. This isnt just disturbing, its dangerous, the group said. In a letter to the community, Closter Mayor John Glidden urged residents to be respectful of each other. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Hate speech of any kind hurts all of us as a community, not just the targeted subjects, Glidden wrote. Closter officials stand in solidarity with Jewish neighbors and we strive to maintain our towns reputation of valuing human dignity, equality, and justice, the letter said. NorthJersey.com reported that an Aug. 3 blog filled with antisemitic rhetoric and conspiracy theories had been written by a local resident. In his letter, the mayor declined to identify the resident. We will not mention the name of this individual here, their website or their writings, because we do not want to provide them with the attention they seek, Glidden said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In addition to police, members of The American Jewish Committee, and the Anti-Defamation League have been made aware of the situation in Closter, the mayor said. Anthony G. Attrino may be reached at tattrino@njadvancemedia.com. 1. Yes. The district should save money wherever possible. Consolidating schools is worthwhile. 2. Yes. KISD did this as part of its bond initiative in 2018, and it has paid dividends. 3. No. Closing and consolidating schools often involves busing and inconveniences families. 4. No. District residents paid $426 million for new schools in 2018. Why close campuses now? 5. Unsure. Its hard to say. There are likely some good arguments on both sides of the issue. Vote View Results HASSAKEH, Syria (AP) Hundreds of representatives of Syrias various ethnic and religious groups called Friday for the formation of a decentralized state and the drafting of a new constitution that guarantees religious, cultural and ethnic pluralism. The declaration came at the conclusion of a one-day conference where some 400 representatives of Syria's ethnic and religious minorities gathered in an attempt to assert the rights of their communities in the countrys evolving political framework following the fall of President Bashar al-Assad last December. The transition is to include elections scheduled for September and the eventual drafting of a constitution a process that could take years. The post-Assad transition has so far been marred by violence against minorities, raising fears about the future. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In their statements, the representatives condemned recent acts of violence by pro-government gunmen against the countrys minorities primarily Alawites, Druze and Christians and argued that these amount to crimes against humanity. Ghazal Ghazal, the spiritual leader of Syrias Alawite minority, to whom Assad belongs, said extremist ideology in Syria is imposing its will on Syrians in the name of religion and killing minorities. Ghazal called for setting up a decentralized or federal system in Syria that protects religious and cultural rights of all components of the Syrian people. The conference was held in Hassakeh, a northeastern Syrian city under the control of the Kurdish-led and U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces. Elham Ahmad, a senior official with the autonomous administration in northeast Syria, said she hopes to see the emergence of a Syria built on cultural and ethnic pluralism. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This conference sends a message of civil peace and national reconciliation, she said. Violence against minorities following the December fall of the Assad family dynasty have killed hundreds of people and sent shockwaves throughout the country. The violence occurred despite pledges from interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa, a former leader of al-Qaidas branch in Syria, that all Syrians would be equally treated. Hakemat Habib, one of the conference organizers, said that central governments and tyrannical regimes over the past decades have failed and that a democratic and decentralized state agreed upon by all Syrians is the only way to move forward. Syrian identity includes all Syrians, he said. Druze spiritual leader Sheikh Hikmat Al-Hijri, whose fighters clashed with pro-government gunmen last month, told the conference in a televised speech that pluralism is not a threat but a treasure that strengthens unity. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Also Friday, a top commander with the SDF, Sipan Hamo, blasted al-Sharaas government and accused it of continuing Syria's decades-old dictatorship. Hamo said in an interview with a local media outlet that the SDF wants to join the national army but the al-Sharaas government is not giving hope for a democratic state. The interim government in Damascus did not comment on the conference. (KRON) A new Taco Bell Cantina location is set to open up in one of San Franciscos busiest tourist districts. We can confirm that our newest Taco Bell Cantina will be coming to San Franciscos Fishermans Wharf, a Taco Bell representative told KRON4.com Friday. SF tech CEO tells workers to take a buyout, or work 80 hours a week Taco Bell would not confirm an opening date for the cantina, which will be the second Taco Bell Cantina location in the city, with another location on Third Street. KRON4 Unlike your typical Taco Bell, Taco Bell Cantinas boast unique menu items and an upscale restaurant design. More notable perhaps, is that they also sell alcoholic beverages. Facade of Taco Bell Cantina with American flag and parked cars on a sunny day, Cabrillo Highway, Pacifica, California, May 26, 2024. (Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images) The most well-known Taco Bell Cantina location in the Bay Area is undoubtedly on the Cabrillo Highway in Pacifica. Dubbed the worlds coolest Taco Bell, the Pacifica location reopened earlier this year after being closed for renovations. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We dont have an official opening date for the Fishermans Wharf Taco Bell Cantina yet, but stick with KRON4 and well keep you updated. 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. HONOLULU (KHON2) Two local nonprofits received a boost this week as part of a record $28 million in grants awarded nationwide by the Taco Bell Foundation. The Boys & Girls Club of Hawaii was granted $55,000, and Junior Achievement of Hawaii received $30,000. Hawaii crisis: State ranks highest for unsheltered, homeless youth Both groups were nominated by RBD Hawaii Restaurants Limited for their work with youth on Oahu. Their programs focus on mentorship, education and career readiness. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Local high school takes bold step to develop Hawaiis future workforce We are pleased to support the Boys & Girls Club of Hawaii. Their programs provide a safe, inspiring space for thousands of local keiki, helping them unlock their full potential and build brighter futures, said Yong Min Kim, operations director of RBD Hawaii Restaurants Limited. Were also excited to continue our partnership with Junior Achievement of Hawaii, whose hands-on learning programs prepare students to succeed in the real world. Back to school: Inside Hawaiis childhood education crisis The $28 million awarded in 2025 marks the largest grant investment in the foundations history, and it helped nearly 500 nonprofit organizations selected across the country. That amount is $5 million more than last year. Get Hawaiis latest morning news delivered to your inbox, sign up for News 2 You Funding came largely through Taco Bells Round Up campaign. That was where customers donated an average of 44 cents per transaction. The campaign raised more than $50 million last year and earned national recognition as the top point-of-sale fundraiser in the country. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This year, 45% of Community Grant funds supported career readiness programs. Another 29% went to academic mentorship, and 11% supported college readiness. For more information, click here. Get news on the go with KHON 2GO, KHONs morning podcast, every morning at 8 In addition to the grants, RBD Hawaii Restaurants Limited awarded $14 million in Live Mas Scholarships to Taco Bell team members in 2025. 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. Aug. 7Be your own bartender at a new drink and dining destination in the Strip District. Tapville Social opened Monday, offering 32 beers and 16 wines lining a wall offering a self-pour tap experience. The nationally franchised eatery offers plenty of food and a full-service bar for those who don't want to pour their own and a variety of "flights," small tastings of various alcoholic drinks, like the Lemonade Flights of mini-margaritas. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertising a "socially-driven dining experience," the concept encourages trying different drinks and mingling among other patrons while pouring your own libations. "We had been looking for a while to do something like this and I came across the Tapville Social in Wexford. We visited the one in Chicago and he and his team were very welcoming. We loved the concept," said co-owner Sheila Durmis of Irwin. Sheila and her husband, Denny Durmis, were looking for another restaurant opportunity in the Pittsburgh region. The high school sweethearts spent a lot of time scouting leasing options around Pittsburgh to find the best fit for their second restaurant venture. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The couple owns Moe's Southwest Grill in North Huntington, Westmoreland County. "Growing up, we loved visiting the Strip. I would go to get flowers at the terminal and go to see the Regatta and now it's truly a totally different atmosphere, so that was attractive to us," said Sheila Durmis. Seating is available for almost 240 patrons and there's an outside patio. The pour-your-own concept for customers is made easy with a "pour pass" issued to each customer via their credit card tab. The patron can self-pour using the card and is charged per ounce of beer or wine. Servers wait on the customers seated at dining tables, but if a customer wants to get their refill themselves, they can just visit the tap and avoid any delay. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Tapville Signature Burger ($18) is made with a half pound of fresh ground sirloin, chipotle mayo, monterey jack and pepper jack cheeses, smoked applewood bacon, crispy onion straws and a side of Tapville sauce. Bites include crispy avocado ($12), beer-battered pickle chips ($11) and Wisconsin cheddar curds ($14). The Cajun pasta ($25) is a Tapville specialty featuring Gulf shrimp, Italian sausage, red peppers, red onions, poblano-cream served over cavatappi. Salads, handhelds, desserts, entrees (served after 3 p.m.) and shareables round out an extensive menu that includes Pittsburgh menu-must-haves such as The Pittsburgh Salad ($15) and Guinness-battered fish and chips ($18). Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Denny Durmis said the busy Strip District is ideal for their business plan as customers can just walk in, although reservations are accepted. "We're getting a lot of walk-ins and we are getting out-of-town traffic because we are near hotels," he said. "We chose the Strip because of its rebirth. It's up and coming and we're excited to be a part of that." Tapville Social is located on Smallman Street in Vision on 15th, a new mixed-use commercial building. A second Tapville Social under different franchise ownership opened in 2022 in Wexford. Joyce Hanz is a native of Charleston, S.C. and is a features reporter covering the Pittsburgh region. She majored in media arts and graduated from the University of South Carolina. She can be reached at jhanz@triblive.com While taxpayers likely won't get stimulus checks this month, new legislation has been introduced to distribute rebate checks from surplus tariff revenue. President Donald Trump told reporters July 25 he is considering such rebates for Americans. "We have so much money coming in, were thinking about a little rebate," he said. Following this, a legislator introduced a bill dubbed the American Worker Rebate Act on July 28. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said July 11 tariffs in place at that time had already raised $100 billion, USA TODAY reported. The administration has since announced new tariffs on a range of goods and countries However, it's worth noting the Trump administration's tariffs could end up costing American households an average of $2,400 this year, according to a July 28 report from The Budget Lab at Yale. More: Trump has announced new tariffs on dozens of nations. What to know in Wisconsin Here's what Wisconsinites should know: What is the American Worker Rebate Act of 2025? Days after Trump expressed interest in a potential rebate check, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., introduced legislation to make it a reality. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The American Worker Rebate Act of 2025 would provide at least $600 to tax-paying adults and dependent children, or $2,400 for a family of four, according to a July 28 press release from Hawley's office. It would be reduced by 5% for joint filers with an adjusted gross income above $150,000 or single filers earning more than $75,000 individually. It also allows for a larger rebate if the tariff-generated revenue exceeds projections. The terms of the 14-page bill would be similar to the 2020 stimulus checks issued at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the release said. You can read the full bill online at https://www.hawley.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Hawley-American-Worker-Rebate-Act-Bill-Text.pdf. Does Trump's 'Big, Beautiful Bill' mention tariff rebates or stimulus checks? No. Trump's "Big, Beautiful Bill," signed into law July 4, does not mention stimulus checks. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement More: Will Wisconsinites get a stimulus check in August? Here's what we know Margie Cullen, Maria Francis and Bart Jansen contributed to this report. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Trump tariff rebates: Are tariff rebate checks coming to Wisconsin? Michigan House Speaker Joe Tate (D-Detroit) speaks to reporters in Lansing following Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's State of the State address on Jan. 24, 2024. (Photo by Andrew Roth) Former Michigan House Speaker Joe Tate of Detroit announced today that he is stepping out of the race to become the states next U.S. senator, adding that hell support whomever becomes the Democratic Party nominee. Tate announced his exit from the race in a news release Friday. The Associated Press was the first to report the news. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Over the last three months, I traveled across Michigan. I listened. I asked questions. I shared in their frustration, Tate said in a statement. They told me the truth. People arent getting ahead like they used to. Our nation is struggling to find its way. I entered this race to fight for those voices. And Im proud of what we accomplished together in the Legislature for Michigan. After citing numerous accomplishments during his time in the House, Tate said hes decided to leave the race after careful reflection. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Im not stepping back. Im shifting how I serve, Tate said. I love Michigan. This state gave myself and my family an opportunity to succeed. It prepared me to serve my country in the United States Marine Corps, and has allowed me the honor of serving in the Michigan State Legislature since 2019. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Tate added that hell continue to do what he can to support Democrats up and down the ballot, as well as the eventual Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate race in 2026. With Tates departure, that leaves U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Birmingham), state Sen. Mallory McMorrow (D-Royal Oak), former gubernatorial candidate Abdul El-Sayed and research specialist Rachel Howard in the hunt for the Democratic nomination. At present, former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers of White Lake is the only Republican seeking his partys nomination for the seat after U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga of Holland Township declined to enter the race. ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) Its a new funding source for some special parts of Albuquerque, promising to pay for millions of dollars in new sidewalks, lighting, and more. That new tax fund is aimed at the Downtown and West Central areas. Businesses there wont pay more taxes, but some of the money they already pay will now go into this special upgrade fund. This gives us way more funding to invest in these areas, said Terry Brunner, Director for the City of Albuquerques Metropolitan Redevelopment Agency. Story continues below Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement There are new investments ahead, thanks to new tax districts that city councilors approved this year. Two so-called Tax Increment Financing districts or TIFs are now in play in some neighborhoods on Central Ave. Those create a special funding source, generated by the GRT that businesses already pay. These are traditionally underinvested areas that need renovation and need rehabilitation, so this should give us the funding that we need to jump-start downtown and help make improvements on west central, said Brunner. The new TIF fund is eventually expected to generate more than $200 million per district over two decades, money that can be spent on signage, sidewalks, lighting and business exterior improvements, and more. Start a closing fund for businesses trying to start up in the area and expand or using revenues from the tax increment financing district to entice people in to downtown, maybe major employers, said Brunner. Downtown, the city said its expecting to spend TIF money on projects outlined in the Downtown 2050 plan, something the longtime Lindys Diner is excited for. If you want to have an active nightlife downtown here you know it has to be attractive. Some more festive type of lighting that they could put in and stuff that draws people down, or even they just want to come and take a look at it, said Dawn Vatoseow, co-owner, Lindys Restaurant. The city says theyll also take input on projects businesses want to see. I think it can really be catalytic for Downtown and West Central and really change those areas for the better, said Brunner. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The city said the fund just started collecting money on July 1. It could start paying for projects by the end of next year. The city has created a detailed look at the maps showing both of the areas that this new tax district affects. 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. Police in Vermont are investigating a potential connection between an Arkansas double homicide suspect and the unsolved killing of a beloved school dean in 2023. Andrew James McGann, 28, is charged with two counts of capital murder in last months fatal shooting of Clinton David Brink, 43, and Cristen Amanda Brink, 41, who were hiking with their two young children in Arkansas when they were killed. Authorities say McGann did not know the victims and had a transient history, moving between four school districts in three different states in recent years. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Following his arrest on July 30, Vermont investigators contacted Arkansas authorities to determine whether McGann could be linked to the murder of Honoree Fleming nearly two years ago, according to WCAX. Andrew James McGann, 28, is charged with capital murder in last months shooting of Clinton David Brink, 43, and Cristen Amanda Brink, 41 (Washington County Sheriff's Office) Fleming, 77, a retired dean of education and well-known professor at Castleton University, was shot and killed while walking on a popular bike path in Castleton on October 5, 2023. Her death was ruled a homicide caused by a single gunshot wound to the head. Police released a composite sketch based on witness accounts of a man seen on the trail before they came across Flemings body while they were hiking, The suspect was described as a white man in his 20s, about 5 feet 10 inches tall, with short red hair. He was reportedly wearing a dark gray t-shirt and carrying a black backpack. Police at the time considered him armed and dangerous. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Vermont State Police say they continue to actively pursue all leads in the case and have not confirmed any direct connection to McGann at this time. Honoree Fleming, 77, a retired dean of education and well-known professor at Castleton University, was shot and killed on October 5, 2023 (Ron Powers Facebook / Vermont State Police) Shortly after Fleming was killed, police released a composite sketch based on witness accounts of a man seen in the area around the time of the murder McGann, who has teaching certifications in Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Texas, was set to begin teaching in Springdale Public Schools this month. Parents in Texas allege that he was forced to resign from an elementary school there after alleged concerning behavior toward young girls, according to 5 News. Arkansas State Police Colonel Mike Hagar said authorities are trying to determine a motive for the stabbing attack last month. During an interview with police, McGann admitted to killing the couple, Hagar said. DNA matching McGanns was found at the scene of the crime, Hager said, and a search of his residence allegedly turned up items consistent with being involved in this particular crime. PALATINE, Ill. A teachers aide at a suburban high school is facing a slew of felony charges after authorities say he used an instant messaging app to share images depicting child sexual abuse. Bradley Robertson, a 41-year-old man who works as a teachers aide at Palatine High School, has been indicted on eight counts of reproduction of child pornography with a victim under 13, and possession of child pornography, Cook County States Attorney Eileen ONeill Burke announced Friday morning. According to Burke, the case against Robertson began in early 2025 after investigators with the states attorneys office received a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about child sexual abuse material allegedly accessed by an account on the messaging app Kik. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement After executing multiple search warrants, investigators were able to obtain the IP address, email address, phone number and home address of the person believed to have been associated with the account. Read more: Latest Chicago news and headlines After identifying Robertson as the individual suspected of operating the account, authorities then took steps to conduct a search at his home on June 17. Prosecutors said Robertson was not home at the time, but he allowed law enforcement to enter and conduct their search. They later seized three laptops from the home. Later that same day, prosecutors said Robertson turned himself in at the Palatine Police Department. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement At the time he was taken into custody, he was allegedly in possession of a cell phone. After searching the phone he had on him at the time of his arrest, police allegedly uncovered at least three files containing child sexual abuse material depicting children under 13. LATEST CASES: Missing people in Chicagoland In addition to the alleged files shared over Kik, prosecutors said Robertson also allegedly discussed sharing child sexual abuse images with other users of the app. Following his first court appearance on June 19, Robertson was ordered detained and remains in custody in the Cook County jail. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Robertson is set to return to court on Friday. 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. (WJW) The FOX 8 I-Team cut through government red tape, solving a mystery with tens of thousands of dollars worth of unclaimed funds. An I-Team camera rolled as a local man opened a box from the state to see if he had finally received what hed been trying to collect for months. Well certainly be a lot happier once we open it up, said attorney Ed Hargate. So, we took a look at whats in the box. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Bait-and-tackle shop, contents being auctioned off Since last year, local businessman Sam Tamburrino had been trying to collect unclaimed funds from the state a big set of savings bonds left behind in a safe deposit box after Sams mother and father passed away. We even showed you Hargate on the phone, running into nothing but red tape. But, days after the I-Team started asking questions, a box came in the mail. Tamburrino and his lawyer opened it and found another box inside. When they looked, they found it stuffed with several hundred savings bonds, cash and coins, valuable collectors items. What we have here is several hundred U.S. savings bonds, Hargate said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Tamburrino said, They just kept on saying they dont have this pretty much how it went until we talked to you. Then, all of a sudden, everybodys got em. Hargate added, I got a call the next morning from the chief legal counsel for the Department of Commerce. Volunteered to help and cut through the red tape, and she certainly did that. We got it in nine days rather than nine months. Unclaimed funds have been making headlines since state lawmakers just awarded $600 million from those funds to help the Cleveland Browns build a dome. When we asked about this claim, the Department of Commerce sent us a statement that read, in part: Its important to note in general that while some unclaimed funds are rather straightforward to process, there are occasions in which more complex scenarios, often times involving deceased individuals, may result in a delay of processing while we verify the legitimacy of the claimants identity. Legal requirements necessitate specific documentation, and we are committed to preventing fraudulent claims. We deeply appreciate the familys patience and understanding during this process and your bringing this to our attention so we can make sure the family receives their rightly owned funds and property as soon as possible. Statement from the Ohio Department of Commerce Not the biggest issue: Trash violation fines causing confusion, concern in Cleveland Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Hargate thanked FOX 8. Tamburrino said, With all the computer systems they have now, youd think theyd have a little better system. An added surprise in that box included bills marked to show they were unique and more valuable. A bank had also claimed it still had the bonds, but it turned out the bank only had empty envelopes. 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. [Editors note: This article has been updated to correctly identify Lateek Shabazz as the East Cleveland mayor.] EAST CLEVELAND, Ohio (WJW) Authorities have arrested a male suspect in connection with the shootings of two East Cleveland police officers, the FOX 8 I-Team has learned. An overnight manhunt ensued after two officers were shot and wounded late Thursday night in separate but connected incidents, according to city officials. Sobriety checkpoints planned in 2 NE Ohio counties Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The officers had responded to a shooting that ultimately killed two civilians. It began as a domestic incident involving the alleged gunmans relatives, East Cleveland Mayor Lateek Shabazz said Friday. The domestic disturbance was reported at about 11 p.m. Thursday along North Taylor Road. One officer was shot in the leg at the scene, Shabazz confirmed. As police surrounded the home and awaited a SWAT team, more gunfire was heard nearby. A second officer was shot minutes later at the Town House Motel on Euclid Avenue, about a mile from the initial scene. That officer suffered a gunshot wound to the buttocks, officials said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The gunman fired on the second officer while concealed behind some brush, said Mansell Baker, the citys safety director. FOX 8 photo (WJW photo) WJW photo WJW photo WJW photo WJW photo WJW photo WJW photo WJW photo WJW photo WJW photo Both officers were rushed to University Hospitals and were reported to be in stable condition as of early Friday morning. One of the two officers shot was in good spirits on Friday, though shaken up, Shabazz told reporters later Friday morning. Officer Joshua Durda, who was shot in the leg, has been with East Cleveland police for four years, said Police Chief Reginald Holcomb. Hes expected to be admitted to the hospital, authorities said later Friday. Officer Brandon Hernandez, shot in the buttocks, joined one year ago. Hes expected to be released from the hospital later Friday. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Holcomb called both exemplary officers. This is a stark reminder of the risks our officers face every day, he said. I commend their courage and strength and assure the public we are doing everything possible to protect the public. With the loss in manpower, the Cuyahoga County Sheriffs Office is now helping respond to the citys calls for service, Holcomb said. Authorities said later Friday theyll be in the city from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. through the weekend. City officials believe the same suspect is responsible for both shootings. Authorities have not yet released the identity of the alleged gunman, pending formal charges. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Dozens of officers were at the scene, and Euclid Avenue near the motel was heavily secured as the manhunt continued. Police surrounded the motel, and the area was combed for the suspect, who was considered armed and dangerous. An Ohio State Highway Patrol aerial unit scanned the area with an infrared camera. Forty members of a U.S. Marshals task force joined the search, U.S. Marshal Pete Elliott told the I-Team. Residents in the area were urged to remain indoors and report any suspicious activity to law enforcement. Officers caught up with the suspect near Shaw High School, near the intersection of Shaw and Euclid avenues, behind a home with no other connection to the incident, Elliott said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement They had him boxed in. He couldnt get out, Shabazz said. Elliott said the man charged at a member of a Marshals task force, who then deployed a stun weapon to subdue him. The suspect had removed his clothes and was wrapped in garbage bags, Elliott said. Whenever a police officer is shot, we will continue to stand united in law enforcement and pursue and capture those responsible, no matter where they run or hide, Elliott said. Search to resume for teen who fell into Black River SkyFOX The identities of the two people killed have not been released, pending identification by the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiners Office. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Anyone with information on the incident is urged to call East Cleveland police. The number is 216-451-1234. 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. A teenager accused of cutting off his ankle monitor and then shooting a man multiple times in Washington County has been arrested. Tristan Lassic, 16, was taken into custody Thursday night after a SWAT situation. The shooting happened on July 29 around 1:30 a.m. near the intersection of East Hallam and Ridge avenues in the City of Washington. The victim was taken to UPMC Presbyterian in Pittsburgh. Earlier this year, prosecutors with the Washington County District Attorneys Office argued to keep the teenager behind bars after a firearms charge, but a judge released him on bond. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We objected to him being released. We had a hearing in front of a judge, and a judge allowed him to post bond, then sent him home on an ankle braceletwhich he cut off, Washington County District Attorney Jason Walsh told Channel 11 last week. Lassic is currently in the Washington County Prison and was denied bail. Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW A teenage mother had to run from a moving car with her infant after her Lyft driver canceled the ride, drove past a turn for her destination, and locked her inside the vehicle, she told Indianapolis police. The 18-year-old mother told investigators she was only able to get out when her 2-month-old son started crying, and the driver rolled down the window to console the baby with fresh air, police wrote in a probable cause affidavit for the man's arrest. The driver is facing charges of kidnapping and criminal confinement in the case and remained in the Marion County Jail early Aug. 8. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In a statement to IndyStar, Lyft said the driver's account was immediately banned after they learned about the Aug. 5 incident they called "deeply disturbing." "We have been in touch with the rider to offer our support," the company said, noting they are assisting law enforcement with the investigation. The case highlights longstanding safety concerns among passengers and drivers, especially women, using rideshare apps like Lyft and Uber. How the rideshare trip ended with criminal charges At 4:34 p.m., Aug. 5, an Indianapolis Metropolitan Police officer responded to a gas station in the 3800 block of North Mitthoefer Road after being called by the mother. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Earlier that afternoon, she told police, the teen ordered a ride to get to a family member's east side home from her apartment on the city's north side, a roughly 4-mile drive. According to court documents, she was picked up in a Chevrolet Malibu at 3:13 p.m., and after a couple of minutes, the driver cancelled the Lyft ride, and said to her "I don't know why it did that." The driver took the woman and child nearly 7 miles away their intended destination. During the trip the mother called family to let them know about the situation and attempted to get out of the vehicle, but told police the child safety lock was engaged. Near the intersection of East 38th Street and North Mitthoefer Road, the driver rolled the window down because the baby had started crying, according to court documents. That's when the teen reached through the window to unlock a car door from the outside, causing the man to suddenly brake. According to court records, she ran from the vehicle with her baby, and a family member who had been tracking her location picked her up and took her to the gas station. Before the family member had picked her up, she said the Lyft driver was sitting nearby in his vehicle and later circling the area in the car. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Police did not document in the probable cause affidavit if they interviewed the driver. 'My daughter was a shining star,': Loved ones remember mom slain after ordering Uber Woman raped, murdered after hailing rideshare Almost exactly one year ago another rideshare encounter made headlines, but that time it was fatal. Chanti Dixon, 30, was shot and killed in the early morning hours of Aug. 9, 2024, after taking an Uber from her job. Her loved ones filed a missing persons report a day after she didn't come home, and her body was discovered in a wooded area near her apartment. The driver was arrested and formally charged with murder, rape, and abuse of a corpse. His case remains pending. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Uber sent IndyStar a statement at the time reading, our hearts break for Ms. Dixons family and loved ones in the midst of this tragedy," and that "The details of this act of violence are atrocious." The company vowed to assist Indianapolis police in their investigation. Sexual assault problems with rideshares A New York Times investigation revealed that Uber received a report of sexual assault or sexual misconduct in the United States almost every eight minutes on average between 2017 and 2022. Over 400,000 Uber trips resulted in reports of sexual assault and sexual misconduct, according to court documents. Previously, the company had only disclosed 12,522 accounts of serious sexual assaults for that same period, without indicating the total number of reports received. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Uber has not released data for the years since, though an examination by the New York Times incidates reports of incidents have increased. Lyft, which is considered Ubers smaller rival, has also reported thousands of sexual assaults. Court documents revealed that while Uber faces thousands of lawsuits in federal and state courts, Lyft is facing hundreds. Both companies have launched options that allow passengers to select female drivers. On July 23, Uber announced its preference option, which is piloting in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Detroit this month with plans for it to expand throughout the U.S. Lyft's Women+Connect option on the app offers women and nonbinary drivers a preference that helps them match more often with the same type of riders. Jade Jackson is a Public Safety Reporter for the Indianapolis Star. You can email her at Jade.Jackson@IndyStar.com and follow her on X, formerly Twitter @IAMJADEJACKSON. This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Teen mom, baby escape Lyft car, company calls case 'deeply disturbing' TEMPLE, Texas (FOX 44) The Temple community attended the funeral of police officer Toaloa Charlie Aumua on Friday morning. Temple PD invited the public to attend the service, which took place at 10 a.m. at the Vista Community Church, located at 7051 Stonehollow. There was not an escort departing the funeral. Vista Community Church also hosted a live stream of the funeral for community members who wished to pay their respects but were unable to attend in person. The grief of Aumuas death also extends beyond the badge, as FOX 44 News recently spoke with the Temple community about the dedicated public servant. You can read our previous story here. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Hundreds gathered to honor Officer Charlie a devoted public servant, loving father and husband, and a man committed to his faith. He was so en vicious, very popular in school, always had charisma and charm, Charlies brother K.J. Aumua described. He made friends so easily. People were drawn to him, such a likable person. Theres no doubt he was my hero and I was proud to be his brother. Those who spoke described him as their personal Superman. You see, to us, Charlie was Superman, Pastor Jeff Tuiasosopo said. Not because he was invincible, but because he was brave. He was dependable. Willing to step into danger for others. He lived courageously, loved deeply, and served sacrificially. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement To Superman, the legacy and indelible mark you leave on us is beyond explanation and certainly beyond words, Temples Police Chief Shawn Reynolds said. We will miss your smile and your laughter and your mustache. K.J. detailed the shared dreams the two had while growing up, which led to the duo being officers at the same police department. We served on the same SWAT Team together, K.J. reminisced. I was beaming with pride when he made it through selection on the SWAT Team. Charlie was literally living the dream. Its something that we always wanted to do as kids, we always wanted to be cops. Following the service, Chief Reynolds presented a folded flag to Charlies family. A 21-gun salute honored his service outside. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Superman may have hung up his badge, but hell forever be watching over and protecting from 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 KWKT - FOX 44. Tennessee will seek waivers to restrict SNAP benefits from being used to purchase foods that list sugar or similar sweeteners as the first ingredient. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) Tennessee is seeking federal waivers that would restrict Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits from being used to purchase soda and sugary processed foods, Gov. Bill Lee announced Friday. The waivers sought would also allow SNAP recipients to use benefits to purchase hot prepared chicken, including rotisserie chicken and grilled chicken. Fried or breaded chicken would not be eligible. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The proposed changes will ensure SNAP fulfills its intended purpose of promoting healthier eating habits, supporting improved health outcomes and reducing chronic conditions for low-income families, according to a news release from Lees office. The proposed waivers include: Allowing SNAP recipients to purchase hot prepared chicken, including rotisserie chicken and non-fried, non-breaded items like grilled chicken tenders Excluding items that list sugar, corn syrup, high-fructose corn syrup, or similar caloric alternatives as the first ingredient Excluding beverages in which carbonated water and sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, or similar caloric alternatives are the first two ingredients The USDA has already approved waivers for 12 states, most of which used the waivers to restrict the purchase of soda and candy. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Im grateful to the Trump Administration for its leadership to Make America Healthy Again, and thank our grocery retailers, convenience stores, food producers, and beverage manufacturers for working to ensure that healthier choices reach every community across our state, Lee stated in the news release. Nearly 734,000 Tennesseans received about $1.4 billion in SNAP benefits in fiscal year 2022, with an average monthly benefit of $161 per person, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. SNAP funding cuts tied to new work requirements approved in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act are projected to reduce SNAP benefits by 20% for Tennesseans, totaling a loss of about $250 million. Its not clear when these work requirements will go into effect. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX The spirit of Ecuador fills the street around Peter Francisco Park in Newark during the annual Ecuadorian Festival. The two-day festival will also include a parade down Ferry St. on Sunday August 14. The spirit of Ecuador fills the street around Peter Francisco Park in Newark during the annual Ecuadorian Festival. The two-day festival will also include a parade down Ferry St. on Sunday August 14. Four-year-old Elijah Gomez gets his face painted during the annuall Ecuadorian Festival. The two-day festival will also include a parade down Ferry St. on Sunday August 14. The spirit of Ecuador fills the street around Peter Francisco Park in Newark during the annual Ecuadorian Festival. The two-day festival will also include a parade down Ferry St. on Sunday August 14. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Traditional Ecuadorian food for sale during the annual Ecuadorian Festival at Peter Francisco Park in Newark. The two-day festival will also include a parade down Ferry St. on Sunday August 14. Vendors cook pork at stalls around Peter Francisco Park in Newark during the annual Ecuadorian Festival. The two-day festival will also include a parade down Ferry St. on Sunday August 14. Peter Potty (left) and his wife Evelyn don their Ecuadorian bracelets and hats during the the annual Ecuadorian Festival in Newark. The two-day festival will also include a parade down Ferry St. on Sunday August 14. The spirit of Ecuador fills the street around Peter Francisco Park in Newark during the annual Ecuadorian Festival. The two-day festival will also include a parade down Ferry St. on Sunday August 14. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Sister Lovely (left) of Teaneck, paints a henna design on the hand of eleven-year-old Kaylynn Cordero during the annual Ecuadorian Festival at Peter Francisco Park in Newark. The two-day festival will also include a parade down Ferry St. on Sunday August 14. Newark will alight with the colors of red, yellow and blue this weekend in celebrations of Ecuadorian independence, with an official flag raising on Saturday followed on Sunday by a parade and all-day festival in the citys Ironbound section. Members of the citys Ecuadorian community will join city officials at 1 p.m. on Saturday in the City Hall rotunda to raise the tri-color flag of Ecuador in a 1 -hour ceremony open to the public, a city spokesperson said Friday. Sundays 15th Annual Ecuadorian Parade and Festival will begin when the parade steps off at noon at the Ironbounds Five Corners intersection of Merchant and Ferry streets and Wilson Avenue. Marchers will proceed up Ferry Street for a dozen blocks northwest to Edison Place, just outside Newark Penn Station, where the festival is scheduled to rave on until 10 p.m. Last years parade and festival attracted some 50,000 people, said Diego Munoz, president of the Ecuadorian-American Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey, the events sponsor. Munoz said he expects at least as many people this Sunday. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It gets better every year, said Munoz, who also plans to attend Saturdays flag-raising. The festival will highlight Ecuadorian culture, with booths selling ceviche, hornado and other traditional foods, tricolored merchandize, and two stages for traditional Ecuadorian folk music and popular performers including Paulo Plaza, Juanita Burbano, and Hector Jaramillo. Aug. 10, 1809 was the date that Ecuadorians asserted their independence from Spain, though it wasnt until 1820 that it was achieved, and then as part of broader Gran Colombia, from which Ecuador emerged as a sovereign nation in 1830. There were just over 237,000 ethnic Ecuadorians in New Jersey as of 2020, according to Census figures, making up 2.6% of the states population, second only to New York. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement New York City will host a parade and festival on Sunday, also starting at noon, on Northern Boulevard in Carona, Queens. Elsewhere in New Jersey, Nunez said there used to be a parade in Union City, but that was discontinued several years ago. He said another annual march and celebration thats usually held in Trenton was cancelled this year. As in other largely immigrant communities, Nunez said the current crackdown on people without valid documentation was a concern among ethnic Ecuadorians. But, he added, Sundays festival will be a way to forget about all that, at least for the day, when forecasts call for mostly sunny skies and temperatures in the 80s. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement They come here with no worries, to celebrate, he said. Theyre coming here because everything is good. A flier for the 15th Annual Ecuadorian Parade and Festival on Sunday, Aug. 10, celebrating Ecuador's declaration of independence from Spain on that date in 1809. Nobody knows Jersey better than N.J.com. Sign up to get breaking news alerts straight to your inbox. Steve Strunsky may be reached at sstrunsky@njadvancemedia.com Sometimes the slide down a slippery slope is very fast. Soon after taking office, President Donald Trump designated several Mexican, Salvadoran, and Venezuelan gangs as terrorist groups. Many observers, including myself, thought that the listing could be a pretext to start an unauthorized war in Latin America. On Friday, The New York Times reported that Trump was doing exactly that. The president "has secretly signed a directive to the Pentagon to begin using military force against certain Latin American drug cartels that his administration has deemed terrorist organizations," according to the Times. It's not clear exactly which cartels will be targeted or what kind of U.S. military force will be brought in; the Times reports that the military is drawing up plans for "direct military operations at sea and on foreign soil against cartels." As usual, Congress and the American people aren't being given a chance to deliberate on the war they're being committed to, and the media has to play guessing games about what that war will look like. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It's possible that these attacks on cartels would be carried out in cooperation with friendly governments, along the lines of the joint U.S.-Columbian hunt for cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar in 1993. El Salvador's President Nayib Bukele is quite eager to be in Trump's good graces. Although Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has denounced foreign "interference" in Mexico's war on drugs, she has also brushed off reports of U.S. drone overflights as just a "little campaign." But Trump could also be opening the door to hostile acts of war. In 1989, the U.S. used Panamanian President Manuel Noriega's ties to the drug trade as a pretext for a regime change war in Panama. The Trump administration certainly seems like it could be ginning up similar justifications for action against Venezuela. Despite intelligence to the contrary, the Trump administration has claimed that the Venezuelan government is controlling the Tren de Aragua gang as part of a hostile invasion force. Two weeks ago, it added the Cartel de los Soles gang to the terrorist list, accusing Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro of running it. And on Thursday, the Justice Department announced a $50 million bounty for information leading to Maduro's capture. The terrorism designation "gives us legal authorities to target them in ways you can't do if they're just a bunch of criminals. It's no longer a law enforcement issue. It becomes a national security issue," Secretary of State Marco Rubio told EWTN, a Catholic news channel, on Thursday. "It allows us to now target what they're operating and to use other elements of American power, intelligence agencies, the Department of Defense, whatever, to target these groups if we have an opportunity to do it. We have to start treating them as armed terrorist organizations, not simply drug-dealing organizations." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) and Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) lists were not originally meant to be a war authorization. Instead, they're an economic sanction. In 1996, Congress made it illegal for Americans to give "material support" to an FTO, as defined by the State Department. After the 9/11 attacks, the Bush administration tasked the Treasury's Office of Foreign Asset Control with seizing the property of SDGTs. But hawks have been trying to turn these designations into war authorizations for years. Perennial war enthusiast Sen. Tom Cotton (RArk.) tried (and failed) in 2020 to pass a blanket declaration of war against any group on the FTO list. At the time, Sen. Tim Kaine (DVa.) pointed out the circular logic behind authorizing the president to attack any enemy defined by the president. "The FTO list has never been a war authorization," Kaine said. "It's created by the administration. It adds the names to it." Whatever the label means legally, calling someone a terrorist is still a powerful political tool. Instead of asking Congress for proactive permission to go to war, the past few presidents have simply started wars and dared Congress to stop them. Since nobody wants to be seen as "soft on terrorism," Congress has been reluctant to push back on wars in progress. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Again, it's hard to know exactly how Trump's secret directive will play out on the ground. However, it's not hard to guess how it will play out inside Washington. The administration will continue to tease out just enough information to show that it's taking tough action, but not enough information to debate whether that action is a good ideauntil it's too late to stop. The post From Terror Sanctions to Military Strikes? Trump's Cartel Policy Sidesteps Congress appeared first on Reason.com. UPDATE: The Texarkana Police Department announced that they arrested 17-year-old Kamarion Omar Fricks of Ashdown, Ark., for the murder of 22-year-old Trewan Sanders of Texarkana that happened Friday morning. Mugshot of Kamarion Omar Fricks, courtesy of Bowie County Jail Fricks is currently being held at the Bowie County Jail on a $2 million bond for the murder. TEXARKANA, Texas (KETK) The Texarkana Police Department is investigating after a 22-year-old was found murdered Friday morning. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to Texarkana PD, shortly before 5 a.m., officers responded to the 1200 block of Nolthenius Street, where they found a 22-year-old who had been shot to death just inside the door of the house. Photo courtesy of Texarkana PD Man arrested for approaching 11-year-old while wearing diaper near Tyler school Its very early in the investigation, so there are more questions than answers at this point, officials said. Detectives are still working to determine exactly what happened there and identify the suspect(s). If anyone has any information about this case, they are encouraged to contact Texarkana PD at 903-798-3116 or Texarkana Area Crime Stoppers at 903-793-STOP. You can now stream KETK and FOX51 News live 24/7 on your smart TV with KETK+, our brand-new app! No antenna, cable, or satellite neededwatch for free, anytime. Just download it on your Roku, Apple TV, or Fire TV and start streaming. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. While Texas House Democrats hunker down in Illinois, breaking quorum to prevent their Republican colleagues from voting on redistricting during a special session, the Lone Star State is pursuing legal action, hoping to get the Prairie State to assist in apprehending the state legislators. A filing with the Eighth Judicial Circuit Court, Adams County, Illinois, names the Texas House of Representatives as the petitioner and various state House members as respondents. After the Democrats absconded, the state House sought to compel their attendance, voting in favor of a lawmaker's motion for the sergeant-at-arms to send for lawmakers with unexcused absences "for the purpose of securing and maintaining their attendance, under warrant of arrest if necessary." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Gov. Greg Abbott Threatens To Redistrict 8 Seats For Gop If Dem Lawmakers Don't Return To Texas "Accordingly, Speaker of the House Dustin Burrows issued civil warrants for the members who had deliberately and without excuse broken quorum," the court filing states. The state wants Illinois to help. Read On The Fox News App "The Texas House of Representatives seeks an order recognizing the Quorum Warrants as a public Act of the State of Texas that is entitled to full faith and credit in Illinois, and requests that this Court issue civil warrants directing the appropriate Illinois law enforcement officials to effectuate the civil arrest of Respondents and coordinate with the Sergeant of Arms of the Texas House of Representatives and the Texas Department of Public Safety to return them to Texas," the filing declares. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Obama Labels Texas Redistricting Push A Power Grab That Undermines Our Democracy Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton who is running for U.S. Senate, hoping to defeat incumbent Republican Sen. John Cornyn referred to the Democrats who fled the state as "rogue legislators." "We are pursuing every legal remedy at our disposal to hold these rogue legislators accountable. Texas deserves representatives who do their jobs instead of running away at the behest of their billionaire handlers. If theres one thing Texans cant stand more than losers, its cowards," Paxton noted, according to a press release. All-out War: Fleeing Texas Dems Side With Newsom As Redistricting Standoff Continues: Fire With Fire Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "From day one, I have said that all options are on the table when it comes to making sure my colleagues who have fled the House return to fulfill their constitutional obligations," Burrows said, according to the attorney general office's press release. "The members who fled have been given ample time and opportunity to return on their own accord, and because they have continued to refuse their responsibilities to their constituents and return to Texas, the State has no choice but to pursue additional legal remedies to compel their return from other states." Original article source: Texas asks Illinois court to enforce arrest warrants for Democratic lawmakers EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) The Texas House of Representatives is scheduled to reconvene for the 89th legislative session at 12 p.m. MT on Friday, Aug. 8, but it seems unlikely that the over 50 Democrats who left the state to break quorum will show up, despite pressure from Republicans. These are the worst maps that we have seen since the 1960s and the passage of the Voting Rights Act. The implications for the Hispanic Latino community in Texas are going to be really bad for decades to come. So Im prepared to continue talking about these maps, State Rep. Vince Perez, D-El Paso, said in an interview Thursday afternoon, Aug. 7, when asked if he was going to be present at the special session on Friday. Perez is one of 50 members of the Texas Democratic Caucus who left the state earlier this week to block a vote on a congressional map that would favor Republicans come the 2026 midterm elections. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In a previous interview, Perez said he will not return to the state until the proposed congressional map is rescinded. Abha Sing, a distinguished senior lecturer in political science at the University of Texas at El Paso, said it is uncertain how long the stalemate between Texas Democrats and Republicans will last. If Democrats continue to break quorum, this session will expire on Aug. 19. But under the Texas Constitution, the governor of Texas has power to call an unlimited number of sessions. So, he can call one right after this one expires. And then after this, it will be difficult for Democrats to stay far away and for so long from their families and their constituents, Singh said. Because the quorum has remained broken, the Texas Legislature has been unable to move forward with the special session and address other agenda items that both Texas Republicans and Democrats had said were urgent. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Gov. Greg Abbott had placed 18 agenda items for Texas lawmakers to discuss in the special session. Forming new and improved legislation in the aftermath of the floods in the Texas Hill Country had been presented as a major topic of the special session when Abbott first announced the agenda. We delivered on historic legislation in the 89th Regular Legislative Session that will benefit Texans for generations to come, read a statement from Abbott on his special session proclamation. There is more work to be done, particularly in the aftermath of the devastating floods in the Texas Hill Country. We must ensure better preparation for such events in the future. Among the numerous agenda items, Texas lawmakers were set to discuss legislation to provide relief funding for the floods, to improve flood warning systems, flood emergency communications, natural disaster preparation, and recovery. Over the past few days, Republicans and Democrats have blamed each other for the delayed discussions. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Republicans have said Democrats are to blame because they halted the special session by breaking quorum. Texas House Democrats abandoned their duty and are holding flood relief and property tax cuts hostage, stated Abbott in a post via X on Aug. 4, when he directed the Texas Department of Public Safety to arrest Democrats who broke quorum. This order will remain in effect until all missing Democrats are accounted for, the post read. Democrats, meanwhile, have said Republicans prioritized redistricting over the agenda items related to the floods. Democrats showed up for the special session, and we had sent letters to the speaker of the House that we had wanted those priority issues to be considered first, starting with the flood relief. But what Republicans did is that they used all of those issues, as critical as they are, as a ruse to keep Democrats there in Austin, Perez said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Singh also said that Democrats have made the argument that Abbott holds the power to provide flood relief funding in the Texas Hill Country without having to wait on the Texas Legislature. Under the governors authority, he does have the power to find the funding from other sources and release it for flood relief, Singh said. As to why both parties have been steadfast in this redistricting battle, Singh said it is because the outcome is likely to have an impact in next years midterm elections. Based on history, the track record for many decades and centuries is that the party which is in power, the presidents party, loses seats in midterm elections. Now, the point here is that Republicans know they are likely going to lose, but by how many seats? So, they are trying to minimize that loss by redrawing those districts, which are already in the Republican camp. And they are trying to make sure that even if they lose, they still have some cushioning there, especially in those Republican states, Singh said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Texas Democrats, who are breaking quorum to avoid voting on redrawing Congressional maps in their home state, were welcomed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom in Sacramento on Friday. There, they joined Newsom, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Rep. Zoe Lofgren as well as state lawmakers, to discuss California's re-districting plan. This week, Gov. Newsom said California would retaliate against Republicans' redistricting plans, specifically calling out President Donald Trump for trying to tilt the balance of power in Congress. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It's a plan that would slash five GOP US House seats from the Golden State, but it's also a plan that has seen criticism from the likes of former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has said he is prepared to campaign against this Democratic-led effort. Texas Republicans want to redraw House districts in order to strengthen the GOP hold on the chamber in 2026. But they haven't been able to vote on redrawing those districts because Texas Democrats have left the state, something Republicans are calling a dereliction of duty. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has even gone as far as calling for the House Democratic leader to be removed from office over the walkout. The Texas lawmakers are also facing arrest and fines over the walkout. What they're saying Six Texas lawmakers stood side-by-side with Newsom at the State Capitol on Friday. California lawmakers said they expect new maps to be redrawn as early as next week to counter Texas Republicans. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "We are running from nothing. We see the danger that is coming and we are running straight for it," said State Rep. Ann Johnson of Texas. "We proudly stand with Californians in this moment that when faced with Texas' steal, they have met it head-on with courage and with a sense of urgency to protect the entire nation." "An unprecedented time required an unprecedented approach and unprecedented leadership to build the kind of consensus that we believe we have," said Newsom. Newsom is leading the charge of blue states countering Texas by drawing their own maps to try to send more Democrats to the House in the 2026 mid-term election. State and congressional Democrats have received briefings about map renderings that could go before voters in a November special election. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "This is self defense for our democracy," said Pelosi. "They have stricken. They have hit out at our democracy and we are here to defend it." State Senator Mike McGuire said two wrongs don't make a right. "The response that we have to be prepared for is not a wrong. It's not a wrong to stand up for the constitution of the state and for the constitution of the United States of America in the face of those who destroy it for their own power and profit." Dig deeper State lawmakers have to act fast. They have an Aug. 22 deadline to approve and declare a ballot initiative for what could be a costly special election. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement When California state lawmakers return from summer break, they will have five days to get the issue approved and on the ballot. Newsom, the state legislature, and California representatives in Washington are confident they can get the measure on the ballot. "This has the potential to be a thermo-nuclear arms race of campaign funding centered in California. This ain't the recall of 2021 the potential recall against Gavin Newsom. It's bigger and badder than that," said David McCuan, political science professor at Sonoma State University. Newsom said California will charge ahead only if Texas approves its gerrymandered maps facing pressure from President Trump. Gov. Abbott threatened to continue calling special sessions until lawmakers return. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued to remove the Democratic seats. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Not necessarily trying to handcuff em but get em back to the state of Texas, hold em in contempt and if they refuse to come, hopefully put em in jail," Paxton said. However, Newsom and the delegation of Democrats said they're not backing down. "We're talking about emergency measures to respond to what's happening in Texas and we will nullify what happens in Texas," said Newsom. "We are here because we do know that courage is contagious," said Rep. Johnson. "And we are here to give hope to others to stand up and be courageous in this moment." What's next Our political reporter, Greg Lee, asked Gov. Newsom what his backup plan is if voters do not approve of the California redistricting proposal. The governor said he's confident Democrats, Republicans and Independents will help lawmakers send a message to Washington D.C. and to President Trump. Meanwhile, the Texas lawmakers who have fled their home state say they will stay away for as long as it takes despite threats they've received, including death threats. They are also receiving calls of support from their constituents who say they are all for the lawmakers countering what Texas Republicans are doing in the Texas state House. AUSTIN (Nexstar) Texas Democratic lawmakers remained out of the state Thursday as Republican leaders escalated legal threats to force their return, with Gov. Greg Abbott petitioning the Texas Supreme Court to remove at least one legislator from office and the FBI now involved in locating the absent lawmakers. Abbott filed a petition seeking to remove House Democratic Chair Gene Wu, D-Houston, alleging he forfeited his office by leaving the state. Wu has until 5 p.m. Friday to respond to the petition. Abbott files petition to remove Rep. Gene Wu from office Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Attorney General Ken Paxton has vowed to begin removal proceedings for other absent lawmakers on Friday if they dont return to Austin by then. Despite mounting pressure, Texas Democrats appear undeterred by the threats. We must march forward, said State Rep. Mihaela Plesa, a Dallas Democrat who represents Collin County. Plesa is facing pressure from Republican delegates in her district who signed a letter calling on her to return to work. But she defended the quorum break as a constitutional tool. My district has asked for me to break quorum. Breaking quorum is a tool in the toolbox that our forefathers, that wrote the Texas Constitution, gave us, Plesa said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Gov. Greg Abbott asks Texas Supreme Court to expel House Democratic leader who left state The stakes have been raised further with U.S. Sen. John Cornyns announcement that the FBI will help Texas locate the lawmakers. it remains unclear whether federal agents can arrest anyone to bring them back to Texas. We dont know, but I anticipate, with Donald Trump as our president, that they can, and were all prepared to do that, Plesa said. While Democrats remained outside state lines, redistricting efforts continued in the Texas Senate, where tensions flared during committee proceedings. State Sen. Bryan Hughes, R-Mineola, compared Texas redistricting process favorably to Democratic states, like Illinois and Massachusetts. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The results of their non-partisan process yield hyper partisan results, much more than Texas has today, Hughes said. The comment prompted a blunt response from State Sen. Boris Miles, a Houston Democrat. Were Texans. I really dont give a s**t what goes on in any other community in another state. I just care about Texas, Miles responded. The Senate redistricting committee approved the same congressional map that the House committee approved last week. The measure now heads to the Senate floor for a final vote. It remains unclear when the Texas Supreme Court will make its decision on Wus case, but Paxton has made clear he will pursue judicial remedies against other lawmakers starting Friday if they dont return to the Capitol. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. Texas Democrats on Friday again defied Republican Gov. Greg Abbott and the state GOP and did not show for a vote on a Republican-proposed redistricting plan Shortly after, the state's Republican attorney general went to court to try to remove some of them from office. The GOP-proposed new congressional maps would give Republicans more seats in Congress -- potentially allowing the GOP to keep control of the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Despite threats of arrest, restriction on pay and calls from the governor that they be removed from office, the majority of the Democrats did not appear for the special session when the Texas House convened Friday afternoon and no quorum was reached. Brandon Bell/Getty Images - PHOTO: U.S. Congressional District maps are displayed as the Senate Special Committee on Congressional Redistricting meets to hear invited testimony on Congressional plan C2308 at the Texas State Capitol on August 6, 2025 in Austin, Texas. Democratic state Rep. Gene Wu, the Texas House minority leader, earlier told ABC News Thursday that he believes his caucus would hold out on Friday and once again deny the legislature a quorum, though he said they would be willing to come back to Austin if state Republicans promise to focus solely on other issues before the special session, including flood mitigation and disaster preparedness. Members who were present Friday do not have to return in person until Monday at 2 p.m. ET, when the Texas House Republicans will attempt to reach a quorum for the fourth time. Democrats who have fled the state appear likely to stay away until Aug. 19, the end of the special session. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The defiance took place as Abbott has also requested the Texas Supreme Court to remove Wu from office. Wu's attorneys repsonded Friday afternoon asking the court to deny the governor's request. The attorneys argue, in part, that the court does not have jurisdiction over state legislators, that Rep. Wu would have a right to a jury trial, which the state supreme court cannot provide. That the governor does not have the standing to bring the case, according to Wu's attorneys who added Abbotts suit would fail in any court. His lawyers also argued that the state constitution covers lawmakers for quorum breaking in certain circumstances. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton told Fox News on Friday that he is willing to take other Democrats to court if they don't return. MORE: Texas governor orders police to find and arrest Democrats who fled over redistricting "If they show up today, we're all happy, we can get our business done, and everybody is good. If they do not show up, we will be in an Illinois courtroom ... [trying] to get them back to the state of Texas, hold them in contempt, and if they refuse to come, hopefully put them in jail," he said. He shrugged off concerns that the optics of arresting Democrats would give them a public opinion win. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "I think in Texas -- I don't know what it's like in other states, but I do know in Texas, people expect their representatives to go to work," Paxton said. Paxton said on Friday afternoon that he had filed a lawsuit with the Texas Supreme Court petitioning for 13 of the over 50 Texas House Democratic members who left the state to break quorum to be removed from their positions. The filing argued that these members "have absented themselves from the State with the express purpose of denying the House a quorum so that the Legislature as a whole cannot carry out its constitutional lawmaking function." "These cowards deliberately sabotaged the constitutional process and violated the oath they swore to uphold. Their out-of-state rebellion cannot go unchecked, and the business of Texas must go on," the AG said in a statement. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Texas House Speaker Dustin Burrows targeted the wallets of the absent Democrats in an effort to draw them back. On Thursday, he sent a memo to all members and their staffs requiring that any member who is absent from the special session to break quorum must collect their monthly paycheck in person. Direct deposits were suspended for those skipping out until the House reaches quorum, according to memo. Burrows says that he expects more suits filed in other states to come after the one filed by Abbott Thursday to try to enforce the civil arrest warrants out of state, and that another legislator contacted the Sergeant at Arms of the Illinois House of Representatives asking for their assistance in bringing back members. He added later that if the Department of Public Safety civilly arrests "our absent colleagues" during the weekend, legislators are on call and need to come back to Austin with a minimum of six hours' notice. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Abbott has called for the Democrats' arrest, and Republican Sen. John Cornyn has called on the FBI to track down those elected officials. Congressional Democrats who sit on the House Judiciary and House Oversight Committee sent a letter Friday to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI director Kash Patel asking them to clarify and explain if and how their agencies are involved in locating Democratic Texas lawmakers who left the state to prevent a quorum in order to stop the new congressional maps. "We write with great concern about the abuse of federal public safety resources for completely political purposes and without a law enforcement rationale that is reportedly taking place right now," the members wrote. The governor said in a podcast released Friday that he was willing to go further than creating more than five new seats the GOP could flip if the Democrats continued to block the GOP effort. Jacquelyn Martin/AP - PHOTO: Texas Gov. Greg Abbott speaks during a roundtable discussion with President Donald Trump, first responders and local officials at Hill Country Youth Event Center in Kerrville, Texas, during a tour to observe flood damage, July 11, 2025. "We may make it six or seven or eight new seats we're going to be adding on the Republican side," he said during an interview on the podcast "Ruthless." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement MORE: GOP's Texas map has Austin residents sharing district with rural Texans 300 miles away In the meantime, Texas Democrats have fled to various blue states, including Illinois and California. Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty Images - PHOTO: Texas Rep. Gene Wu speaks in front of Democratic members of Congress and Texas House Democrats during a news conference, August 4, 2025 in Warrenville, Illinois. California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom is slated to hold a news conference with those Democrats Friday afternoon, along with Rep. Nancy Pelosi and California state Democrats to show their support. "The governor and state leaders have floated a potential statewide ballot measure that would reaffirm California's commitment to national independent redistricting and allow voters to temporarily adjust the state's congressional map only if Texas or other GOP-led states manipulate theirs," Newsom's office said in a statement. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement California Democrats are preparing to respond to Texas Republicans' proposed new congressional districts by possibly targeting five GOP-held districts in the Golden State, sources recently confirmed to ABC station KGO-TV. But the office of the California Secretary of State told ABC News that if legislators don't move fast, it becomes nearly impossible for the state to run a statewide election that meets federal standards. ABC station KGO-TV's Monica Madden contributed to this report. Texas House Democrats unveiled their legal counterattack Friday against Gov. Greg Abbotts bid to oust them from office, saying the governors emergency bid is riddled with fatal flaws. Rep. Gene Wu, the leader of the Texas House Democratic caucus, argued in court papers filed with the state Supreme Court that Abbotts plan would violate the Texas Constitution, which leaves it to the legislature to discipline its own members. The Democrats left the state to try to derail Abbotts ultra-partisan redistricting proposal. Abbott has asked the state Supreme Court to eject them from office, saying their decision amounted to a legal abandonment of their posts. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Wu argued that the effort by Democrats to break quorum and deprive Republicans of the ability to conduct legislative business is not an abdication of their duty but an affirmation of it. When in the course of legislative proceedings, the act of the majority is so shocking of the conscience, it is the duty of the legislator to not, with ease, render his body a means to the end, Wus attorneys wrote. The lawyers emphasized that there is a long history of quorum breaking in Texas and that it is contemplated in the states constitution. Wu also flicked at a simmering tension between Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton, who argued in his own letter to the court earlier this week that the governor may not have the legal authority to take action against the legislators. Underscoring the point, Paxton filed his own separate actions Friday afternoon in the Texas Supreme Court to remove 13 Democrats including Wu from the legislature. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Paxton, inhis letter, said that while he appreciates Abbotts passion, only the attorney general has the legal authority to seek the lawmakers removal. Sen. John Cornyn, who is locked in a primary campaign against Paxton, seized on that tension as well, filing a brief with the Texas Supreme Court that largely featured criticism of the attorney general's legal strategy. Cornyn said Abbott was the proper official to file the initial lawsuit and chided Paxton for what he said was a "delay" in seeking to pursue removal of the House Democrats. The broader fight has in some ways become a proxy battle between Paxton and Cornyn, who has inserted himself repeatedly into the fight. Cornyn made an initial request for the FBI to help locate the Democrats, which Paxton initially criticized as ill-considered. Abbott and Cornyn say the FBI has agreed to help but the bureau has not detailed its role. Wus filing is the latest volley in a deepening crisis that has extraordinary national implications for the future of both political parties. Fifty-one members of the Texas Democratic caucus fled the state earlier this week to prevent Abbott and Republicans from adopting new congressional district boundaries expected to net Republicans five seats in the U.S. House. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The quorum-breaking gambit has drawn support from national Democrats, including several governors who have welcomed the fleeing lawmakers to their states and vowed to protect them. Meanwhile, Texas battle to redraw political boundaries has inspired both Republican and Democratic governors to consider corresponding efforts that could remake the parties fortunes in the 2026 midterm elections, as President Donald Trump fights to maintain his grip on Congress. Abbott sued on Tuesday, claiming that Wu as well as the other Democratic quorum-breakers had legally abandoned their offices, which would permit the court to declare their seats vacant. But Wu contended that he and his colleagues were in fact fulfilling their roles as legislators by refusing to give their GOP counterparts a quorum. Wu also argued that Abbott erred by filing his suit directly to the Supreme Court, evading review by the lower courts that would typically consider Abbotts bid first. He also said that only the legislature can remove its own members, which the constitution provides for by a two-thirds majority, a far greater hurdle than Abbotts bid to corral five Supreme Court justices. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement And Wu added that the governors petition relies on allegations about the lawmakers subjective intent that arent grounded in facts and evidence. He said he plans to invoke his right to a jury trial, which would require a more complete record of evidence than Abbott has offered. If Representative Wu is to stand trial, he should do so on evidence, yet the Governor bases his petition on hearsay, Wus lawyers wrote. ST. CHARLES, Illinois If Gov. Greg Abbott is determined to pass a gerrymandered congressional map, Texas Democrats know he has the votes and the power to eventually get his way. But for the dozens of Democrats who left the state this week in protest of the map, its not just about winning its about fighting. Away from their families and regular jobs, Texas Democrats, most of whom are hunkered down in a suburb about an hour west of Chicago, are facing $500-per-day fines, civil arrest warrants and threats from Republican state leaders to remove them from office. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Now five days into the walkout, they plan to stay away until at least the end of the special session on Aug. 19. When they return, they face the possibility of being stripped of their leadership positions and even further marginalized in a chamber where they are already outnumbered. And no matter how long they stay away, Abbott can just call another special session to pass the map. But it will all be worth it, they say, if they can lay the groundwork for a national fight over redistricting and ensure enough voters across the country understand what they frame as an attempt by President Donald Trump to stack the deck in the midterm election next year. State Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer of San Antonio, seen in St, Charles, Ill., on Aug. 5, 2025, is among the dozens of Democrats who left Texas in protest of a Republican-driven redistricting map. Credit: Jamie Kelter Davis for The Texas Tribune It takes an act of defiance like this to wake up the country and let them know that our democracy is being stolen right in front of our eyes, said Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer of San Antonio in an interview. If were going to be the spark that lights that fire, then were doing our jobs. When House Democrats last walked out in 2021 to stop new state voter restrictions, lawmakers were on the lam for over a month before the caucus fractured and enough members returned to restore quorum. Republicans quickly pushed the measure through, but Democrats say they were successful in drawing national and congressional attention to the topic and removing some of the worst parts of the bill. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This time around, theyre seeking to block a congressional map redrawn in the middle of the decade to create five new GOP seats next year, putting them at the front lines of an issue with national stakes: control of the U.S. House for the last two years of Trumps term. Those implications have elevated the Texas Democrats decamped in Illinois and elsewhere, stiffening their resolve and garnering them nationwide attention and support that they hope can help sustain their movement in a way that was missing four years ago. Its not, Houston, we have a problem, Martinez Fischer said. Its, America, we have a problem, and we need to rise up. The walkout, meant to deny Republicans the quorum needed to conduct legislative business and bring the House to a standstill, has also set off a possible national redistricting war. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom of California has promised to draw more blue seats in his state if Texas approves its plan, and national Democratic leaders are looking to reshape maps in Illinois, New York and Maryland. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The effort reflects a push within the Democratic Party, particularly after last years disastrous election results, to re-establish itself to voters as a party of fighters willing to meet Republicans on their level. We are going to match Donald Trumps energy when it comes to redistricting, U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey of Fort Worth said Monday. Democrats we have shown up to a gunfight with nothing but good intentions and dull knives, and that era is over. We are not going to unilaterally disarm, and that is whats different this time around. U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Fort Worth, speaks at a press conference with members of the Texas House Democratic Caucus at IBEW Local 701 in Warrenville, Ill., on Aug. 4, 2025. Credit: Jamie Kelter Davis for The Texas Tribune The message was reiterated repeatedly this week, with top Democrats from Illinois, New York, California and Massachusetts all joining the Texas delegation in pledging to stand up to the Trump administration, which is also pressing other red states to redraw their congressional maps in favor of the GOP ahead of next years midterm election. The Trump-Abbott gerrymander is a test case for the rest of the country, Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin said Tuesday alongside Texas Democrats. What Republicans are trying to do in Texas is a model for other red states to lie, cheat and steal their way to victory. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Democrats began floating the possibility of a walkout as soon as Abbott put redistricting on the special session agenda in July at the behest of Trump. But in discussions over Zoom and in person before the session began, they decided that the stakes of the issue hadnt yet been communicated to the public in a way that would explain a nuclear act. Some also held out for a committee process that might allow them to temper any draft map, or for a GOP proposal less aggressive than Trump had demanded. Then, the Republican-led redistricting committee unveiled a map last week that would dismantle several Democratic districts to squeeze out five new red seats. While Republican lawmakers said the map was drawn purely to maximize partisan advantage which is legal, according to the U.S. Supreme Court Democrats saw a plan that would achieve that edge by suppressing the vote of people of color in violation of the Voting Rights Act. The power grab by Trump and Abbott doesnt just have the goal of getting five more seats in Congress, Rep. Ramon Romero Jr. said Tuesday, the eve of the Voting Rights Acts 60th anniversary. It has another goal, a goal more sinister than that, and that is to make people believe that their vote doesnt really matter. Thats why its all of our fight. Surrounded by Democratic state representatives from all over the country, state Rep. Armando Walle, D-Houston, speaks at a press conference on the front steps of the Massachusetts State House in Boston on the 60th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act on Aug. 6, 2025. Credit: Lucy Lu for The Texas Tribune With Republicans moving to approve the map at a quick clip, the determination to deny quorum solidified among Democrats in the 48 hours before they got on a chartered plane headed for Chicago. Others made their way to Albany to meet with New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, and to Boston for a state legislative conference. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Democrats say theyre buying valuable time by walking out, drawing attention to the issue among voters and getting other blue states involved even while recognizing that Texas map is likely to get passed and will need to be fought in court. The spotlight has been turned on, Rep. James Talarico of Austin said in an interview. Im hoping this courage that my colleagues and I have shown will be contagious, and itll inspire other legislators in blue states to respond with their own redistricting attempts. Using their hotel complex as a base camp, Democrats have done scores of media interviews out of their cramped rooms and a small park off the Fox River in Illinois; hosted news conferences with federal, state and party leaders at local union halls and blue state capitols; and met with Democratic governors and elected officials from across the country. Talarico, who is mulling a run for U.S. Senate, said he did 25 interviews in the first 24 hours of the quorum break, ranging from TV and traditional platforms to podcasts with ranging ideological bents. His TV hits alone reached 9.8 million viewers across the country, he said, not including thousands of others on social media. State Rep. James Talarico, D-Austin, speaks at a redistricting rally at Delco Activity Center in Austin on July 25, 2025. Credit: Ronaldo Bolanos/The Texas Tribune Republicans appear to have more paths toward maximizing their representation in Congress in a redistricting war with Democrats. Redrawing congressional maps in the middle of the decade will be harder for the handful of blue states that have clamped down on partisan gerrymandering by handing their redistricting authority to independent commissions. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Still, Texas Democrats see the support blue state and national Democratic leaders have expressed for retaliatory redistricting as a sign that their gambit is working. This, I think, is well on its way becoming a national fight, and thats whats going to be important if were going to counter the GOP, said Rep. Chris Turner of Grand Prairie, who led the 2021 quorum break. Republicans blasted the Democrats who left, arguing that they abandoned their office and were refusing to participate in the legislative process because they did not like the inevitable outcome. Critics also mocked the contingent for seeking refuge from Texas law enforcement in Illinois, which is heavily gerrymandered in favor of Democrats. But Democrats said that by denying the House a quorum, they were doing the very job their constituents had elected them to do and were now demanding they follow through on. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement While the 2021 walkout required Democrats to do a lot of explaining to their constituents about what a quorum break was and why they were doing it, Rep. Diego Bernal of San Antonio said, this time around, they were telling us that their expectation was that we would use everything at our disposal to try and stop it. Democratic members of the Texas House and Senate gather for a joint press event to update Texans on their work in Washington to advocate for federal voting rights protections, at the Washington Plaza Hotel on July 14, 2021. Credit: Shuran Huang for The Texas Tribune Democrats also said they dont take the decision to leave lightly. Talarico noted that theres an abundance of GOP legislation that Democrats stay and fight against in the chamber. They reserved the most drastic option for what he framed as direct attacks on democracy. We have to love democracy, even when we lose, he said. But we do that because we always have a chance to win the next election. And if this happens, we wont and so we have to take an extreme step to stand up for our constituents and for all Texans. The lineup for The Texas Tribune Festival continues to grow! Be there when all-star leaders, innovators and newsmakers take the stage in downtown Austin, Nov. 1315. The newest additions include comedian, actor and writer John Mulaney; Dallas mayor Eric Johnson; U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota; New York Media Editor-at-Large Kara Swisher; and U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, D-El Paso. Get your tickets today! TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase. Texas House Republican leadership has suspended direct deposit for more than 50 Democratic lawmakers who fled the state to block a GOP-backed redistricting plan, forcing them to collect paychecks and per diems in person at the Capitol. The move is the latest escalation in what Republicans are calling a redistricting mutiny. House Speaker Dustin Burrows said the suspension applies to any member absent solely to break quorum. Daily fines of $500 also remain in effect, and civil arrest warrants have been authorized for the absent members. HOLY CRAP! The Texas House is REVOKING the automatic check deposit ability of ANY Dem who didnt appear solely to break quorum. They have to appear on the grounds to obtain their pay. This is how you do it! pic.twitter.com/Ddq6NgV3oR Gunther Eagleman (@GuntherEagleman) August 8, 2025 From Bipartisan Wins to Quorum-Breaking Standoff Just months earlier, during Texas 89th Legislative Session, Republicans and Democrats worked together to pass legislation on: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Mental health expansion boosting crisis intervention services and community-based care Education reform revising student discipline rules under House Bill 6 Energy reliability legislation enhancing grid accountability while balancing traditional and renewable sources Preserving the Texas Dream Act siding with Democrats to maintain in-state tuition for certain undocumented students That cooperation ended in the August special session called by Governor Greg Abbott to address mid-decade redistricting. The GOP proposal, supported by President Donald Trump, would reshape congressional districts in ways Republicans say reflect population changes, while Democrats argue it dilutes minority voting power. The Mutiny Unfolds On August 3, more than 50 House Democrats left for Illinois and other states, preventing the two-thirds quorum needed to conduct business. Rep. Brian Harrison (R-Midlothian) posted on X: FACT: Texas Republican leadership ALLOWED the quorum break to happen. FACT: Texas Republican leadership has all the tools to end it. FACT: We do NOT need the courts to force the Democrats back. Brian Harrison (@brianeharrison) August 8, 2025 Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed suit in Illinois seeking cooperation in returning lawmakers to Texas. Republicans have also frozen certain members office budgets, newsletter capabilities, and travel reimbursements for members who have broken the quorum until they return. High-Stakes Fight Democrats acknowledge they cannot stop the redistricting plan forever but hope to delay passage and draw national attention ahead of the 2026 midterms. Republicans have pledged to keep calling special sessions until the maps pass, ensuring the redistricting mutiny remains the focal point in Texas politics heading into fall. State Rep. Claudia Ordaz, D-Texas, claims shes been falsely accused of being present to make quorum while dealing with a personal health matter. Ordaz took to social media on Friday, shortly before 12 p.m., saying troopers with the Department of Public Safety showed up at her family members home looking for her. The El Pasoan stated that her family was harassed. Ordaz claims she is being falsely accused of being involved in political games, viewing Republican Gov. Greg Abbotts actions as a deliberate abuse of power and an intimidation tactic. No Texas House quorum as Democrats remain outside the state ahead of Friday deadline It is with a troubled heart that I write this, literally from a hospital waiting room. From the very beginning, I have made it clear: I will not be in the chamber due to a personal health matter. Yet today, DPS officers showed up to a member of my familys home looking for me. On top of that, I am now being falsely accused of being in the chamber to make quorum. Harassing my family, spreading lies, and dragging my name into political games is beyond unacceptable it is a deliberate abuse of power and an intimidation tactic. I do not appreciate any of it, and neither side is helping the cause. State Rep. Claudia Ordaz (D-Texas) On Monday, Ordaz explained to KTSM she was excused from the legislative session for a personal health matter. She pointed out in a statement that she stands in full solidarity with my Democratic colleagues who have broken quorum to stop this shameless power grab. They are standing up for every Texans right to fair representation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Texas Republicans on Friday warned they would escalate efforts to end a nearly weeklong holdout by Democrats if they dont return to vote on new congressional voting maps sought by President Donald Trump in a widening battle over redistricting across the U.S. Texas AG threatens legal action against absent Democrats The dozens of Texas House Democrats who left the state on Aug. 3 have shown no signs of buckling for now: A group of them was headed to California to meet with Gov. Gavin Newsom, who wants to redraw his own states lines in retaliation if Texas puts in place redrawn maps for the 2026 midterm elections. Editors Note: The Associated Press contributed to this report. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. A millionaire Texas rancher and big game hunter was killed after a Cape buffalo he was tracking attacked him during a hunting trip in South Africa, according to multiplereports. Asher Watkins, 52, was on a guided safari hosted by Coenraad Vermaak Safaris in South Africas Limpopo Province on Aug. 3 when the animal fatally gored him, the safari company said Thursday in a statement obtained by multiple outlets. Hans Vermaak, the head of Coenraad Vermaak Safaris, confirmed Watkins death on behalf of the company in the statement. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It is with deep sadness and heavy hearts we confirm the tragic death of our client and friend Asher Watkins from the USA, Vermaak said. Vermaak called the deadly attack by the unwounded buffalo sudden and unprovoked. The buffalo reportedly weighed 1.3-ton. He was tracking it together with one of our professional hunters and one of our trackers. This is a devastating incident, and our hearts go out to his loved ones, Vermaak continued. We are doing everything we can to support the family members who are here with us and those back in the United States as they navigate this tragic loss. Vermaak noted that the family and our team members who were present at the time are understandably shaken by the deeply traumatic incident. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Cape buffalo is considered the most dangerous animal to pursue in Africa, let alone the world, and the animal causes several deaths and many injuries to hunters each year, according to the safari companys website. The website also noted that Cape buffalos are known to charge unprovoked. Watkins founded and managed the Watkins Ranch Group, a Dallas-based firm trading that specializes in luxury ranch properties across Texas and other states. South African authorities are investigating Watkins death. Related... AUSTIN (Nexstar) The Texas House once again does not have enough lawmakers for a quorum, as Texas House Democrats remain scattered across the nation. Each one of you knows that eventually you will come back and we will pass the priorities of the special session, House Speaker Dustin Burrows said after gaveling in the session. But with each passing day, the political cost of your absence is rising, and it will be paid in full. Only 95 members were present at the Texas Capitol today, just five members short of a quorum. More than 50 Democratic lawmakers left the state late Sunday night, breaking quorum and bringing Republicans mid-decade redistricting proposal to a screeching halt. Burrows condemned the representatives for holding the state hostage, issuing warrants for their civil arrest to get the special session back on track. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to the Texas Constitution, two-thirds of elected members must be present in a chamber to take action on bills. Learn More: What is a quorum? U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton who are running against each other in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate have upped their efforts to get Democrats back in the state. Just yesterday, Cornyn said the FBI honored his request to help Texas law enforcement agencies locate quorum-breaking Democrats. Meanwhile, Paxton launched an investigation into whether Beto ORourke and George Soros political groups are illegally funding the lawmakers out-of-state travel. READ: Texas Democrats face removal threats, FBI involvement as quorum break enters fourth day Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Abbott is also pressuring Democrats to return to Austin, filing a petition in the Texas Supreme Court to remove House Democratic Chair Gene Wu, D-Houston. Wu has until 5 p.m. today to respond. Paxton quickly followed suit, announcing any House members who do not return to the state by this afternoon will risk losing their seats. READ: Abbott files petition to remove Rep. Gene Wu from office But despite Republican threats, Texas Democrats have remained firm in their commitment to remain out of state. Once again, the Attorney General and now the Speaker of the Texas House are using the justice system to hunt down their political opponents and silence the voices of millions of Texans and Americans across the country, State Rep. John Bucy, D-Austin, wrote in a statement Thursday night. If defending democracy is a crime, Im proud to be an outlaw. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Here is a list of which Democrats were absent for Fridays session. 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. Texas redistricting standoff rose to a new level Friday as Democrats once again denied a quorum to allow the House to consider the GOP-led plan and Republicans responded by threatening more punitive action. Republicans in the state House tried again Friday to advance efforts to redraw the states congressional maps, producing as many as five more US House seats for Republicans and handing President Donald Trump a major victory ahead of the midterms. But not enough Democrats were in attendance to meet the quorum requirements as dozens were out of the state. Both parties remain at a crossroads. Republicans may not have enough time to pass the new maps before the end of a 30-day special session, requiring Gov. Greg Abbott to call a new one. Dozens of Democrats, meanwhile, still face a decision about how long to stay out of Texas without a clear endgame, even as they held their ranks together to deny Republicans the chance to move forward Friday. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Republicans have ramped up their pressure campaign on the absent lawmakers. They have gone to court to try to remove the House Democratic leader from his seat, threatened bribery charges and opened investigations against groups supporting the lawmakers, and attempted to enlist the FBI. California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced plans to host some Texas Democrats on Friday afternoon for an event in Sacramento. House Speaker Dustin Burrows, Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton have all promised to punish Democrats who dont show up. Earlier this week, Burrows signed civil arrest warrants for the absent Democrats. On Thursday evening, Paxton filed an emergency petition in Illinois Eighth Circuit Court to make the Texas arrest warrants enforceable in the state of Illinois, where dozens of Texas Democrats traveled this week. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Yesterday, Attorney General Ken Paxton and I took action to domesticate the civil arrest warrants in the state of Illinois seeking to make them enforceable beyond Texas state lines. I expect suits in other states will be forthcoming, Burrows said in the chamber Friday. The court is based in Quincy, Illinois, some 300 miles from the Chicago area where the Democrats are staying. As of Friday morning, no hearing had appeared on the courts docket, and its unclear when a judge might weigh in on the matter. Speaker of the House Dustin Burrows speaks at a news conference at the Capitol in Austin, on Monday. - Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman/Getty Images Abbott already filed an emergency petition with the states Supreme Court to declare vacant the seat of state Rep. Gene Wu, a House Democrat who fled to Chicago on Sunday. The Texas Supreme Court has set a Friday deadline for Wu to respond. And US Sen. John Cornyn said Thursday that he had enlisted help from FBI Director Kash Patel to assist state law enforcement in tracking down the absent lawmakers. Patel offered agents from the FBIs Austin and San Antonio offices, Cornyn said in a radio interview. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Notably, Cornyn and Paxton are competing against each other in the Republican primary for US Senate. Texas Democrats could also soon face financial pressures. Absent Democrats are subject to a fine of $500 per day, and lawmakers cannot use their campaign or official funds to cover their own fines. State House members in Texas earn $7,200 a year. Texas Democrat Beto ORourke has said he is raising funds for the Democratic members who left the state. At the same time, Paxton announced potential bribery investigations into the fundraising efforts of Powered By People, ORourkes political action committee in the state, and Texas Majority PAC, which is backed by the liberal billionaire donor George Soros. We have all committed to staying out of the state capital until this corrupt special session ends in two weeks. And thats not easy to do, Texas state Rep. James Talarico said on a livestream with MoveOn, a progressive organization. We are facing fines of $500 a day, which were going to have to pay ourselves. Thats not going to be easy for us to do that, but were willing to because of the importance of this fight. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Talarico noted the quorum break keeps lawmakers away from their day jobs and families and can rack up expenses on food, lodging, and travel for lawmakers and their staff. Katherine Fischer, director of the Texas Majority PAC, accused Paxton and Abbott of having bent the knee to DC and failed the people of Texas. This investigation is a sham, Fischer said. We wont back down. Lawmakers and elected officials speak after a House meeting at the state Capitol on Tuesday. - Brandon Bell/Getty Images Can law enforcement compel Democrats to return? Abbott said there is a dragnet taking place to find Democrats currently in the state, citing the Texas Department of Public Safety. Texas DPS and the FBI are tracking down the derelict Democrats. They will be taken directly to the Texas Capitol, he said on X. Those who received benefits for skipping a vote face removal from office and potential bribery charges. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But its unclear whether the FBI has mobilized any resources to aid state law enforcements efforts. Democrats, including Wu, who chairs the Texas House Democratic caucus, and some legal experts have argued the FBI does not have jurisdiction in a state-level case. Law enforcement in Texas would likely not be able to arrest people outside the state on the civil arrest warrants Burrows signed. We know that the governor has no power outside of the state, and we know that the federal government cannot get involved in this unless there is a legal reason why they are allowed to get involved, Wu told CNNs Pamela Brown. Some Democratic lawmakers said they received a security briefing on Thursday but would not detail what was discussed. A delegation of Texas House Democrats had to evacuate their hotel in Illinois Wednesday morning due to a potential bomb threat. Whats the long-term outlook for this dispute? Both Democratic- and Republican-led states are under pressure to redraw their maps and respond to Texas mid-decade redistricting. Californias Newsom has announced a plan to push for a map that could erase up to five GOP-held seats if the Texas plan passes. And Vice President JD Vance went Thursday to Indiana to meet with Republican leaders about trying to squeeze out one or both of the states US House Democrats. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Abbott has vowed to get these maps passed regardless of how long the Democrats hold out. We do expect a quorum to be coming sometime soon but listen if its not, were not afraid because a special session lasts 30 days, and I will be calling special session after special session, Abbott said in a Fox News interview Thursday. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, who has welcomed the Texas Democrats to his state, has accused Republicans threatening law enforcement action of attempting to thwart democracy. So as far as Im concerned, were doing the right thing, and Im proud of it, and Im not going to back down, Pritzker said at a press conference. Were going to do everything we can to protect these Texas House Democrats and to help them do what theyre doing. This story has been updated with additional details. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are set to meet within days, possibly next week in Russia. This high-stakes summit follows a flurry of diplomatic manoeuvres amid the intensifying war in Ukraine. Trump has hinted that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky may also join the dialogue, raising hopes for a rare three-way summit. While the aim is peace, deep-seated hostilities and Moscow's guarded posture remain formidable challenges. Trump-Putin Talks: Hopeful but Fraught with Risk Trump remains both hopeful and restrained about the upcoming talks. He underscores that while progress has been made since the start of his term, no definitive breakthroughs have occurred. 'I don't call it a breakthrough... we have been working at this for a long time. There are thousands of young people dying... I'm here to get the thing over with,' said Donald Trump via BBC. Despite some movement, longstanding territorial disputes and contrasting demands between Russia and Ukraine make a peace agreement elusive. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has stressed that significant obstacles must still be overcome. Behind the Curtain: Steve Witkoff's Quiet Diplomacy Steve Witkoff, Trump's special envoy, has become a key figure in the ongoing US-Russia diplomacy. Since early 2025, he has visited Moscow five times. Trump described Witkoff's most recent meeting with Putin as 'highly productive', laying the groundwork for the impending summit. However, previous visits have sparked anticipation only to yield limited outcomes, highlighting the complexities of bridging the divide between Moscow and Kyiv. Economic Leverage: Tariffs as Political Tools Trump has intensified economic pressure by imposing a 25% tariff on Indian imports, doubling previous rates, due to India's ongoing purchases of Russian oil. This move is part of a broader campaign to isolate Russia financially and press for negotiations. Trump has called Russia's actions in Ukraine a 'national emergency', citing them as justification for the tariff hike. Secondary sanctions on other countries trading in Russian oil are also under consideration. The Long Shot: A Trilateral Peace Summit According to The Guardian, Trump has floated the idea of a trilateral summit involving Putin, Zelensky, and himself. However, Moscow has yet to issue an official response, suggesting hesitation or unresolved tensions. Zelensky supports direct negotiations but insists that Europe must be involved to ensure sustainable peace. Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov acknowledged that the idea was mentioned but left 'completely without comment', a clear signal of Moscow's caution. Strategic Messaging: Russia's Narrative Playbook Russian media and officials have portrayed Witkoff as a pragmatic and moderate negotiator, a calculated contrast to Trump's more blunt and confrontational tone. This narrative strategy is part of Russia's broader psychological operations, framing the Kremlin as reasonable while depicting the US as volatile. Such messaging reflects Moscow's intent to shape global perception as talks approach, blurring the lines between sincerity and spin. Countdown to Ceasefire: Trump's Firm Deadline Trump has issued a clear ultimatum: Russia must agree to a ceasefire by Friday, 8 August 2025, or face sweeping secondary sanctions. These would target Moscow and countries continuing to import Russian oil. Yet despite this looming deadline, Russian air strikes and military offensives in Ukraine have escalated, heightening the urgency and the stakes of the proposed summit. Global Impact: Allies Brace for Geopolitical Shifts European leaders and NATO officials are closely watching these developments. Trump has briefed US allies following Witkoff's Moscow visit, underscoring the importance of coordination among international partners. Zelensky remains engaged with European leaders, advocating for a collaborative and transparent path forward. The outcome of this summit may not only redefine Russia-US-Ukraine relations but also recalibrate broader global alliances. The forthcoming Trump-Putin meeting stands as a pivotal inflection point in the Ukraine war. Whether it yields peace or prolongs conflict, its ripple effects will be profound. For now, the world watches, cautiously hopeful, yet acutely aware of the stakes. Originally published on IBTimes UK In what at least one legal expert called longshot litigation, Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton and Illinois state Sen. Jil Tracy said Friday they asked a court in downstate Quincy to compel Illinois law enforcement to enforce civil warrants issued by the speaker of the Texas House against Democrats who fled their state. Tracy, a veteran Republican lawmaker from Quincy, said she was deputized by Paxton as an uncompensated assistant Texas attorney general. She electronically filed the petition in Adams County Circuit Court, and said she thinks the Texas Democratic legislators neglected their duty by leaving their state weeks after they began a special session. Its our job. You may not like the map. You may not like a bill. You vote no. And you do your job. And you work to express your opinion and those of your constituents at the same time as to why you support or do not support a bill, said Tracy, who has served on and off in the Illinois General Assembly since 2006. But you have a duty under your oath of office. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement By filing the petition in Adams County in rural west-central Illinois along the Mississippi River, Republicans may be looking for a more conservative court to try to make their case, rather than filing it in the Chicago suburban region where the House Democrats have relocated. For a second day, their heavily secured St. Charles hotel was the subject of a bomb threat, but local law enforcement found nothing. The court filing sought an emergency hearing on the matter. The court petition is the latest development in the escalating national battle between Republicans and Democrats that boiled over when Texas House Democrats fled to Illinois and other northern states to deny Republicans a quorum to enact a mid-decade redrawing of Texas congressional districts to flip five Democratic seats to Republican. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The unusual Republican remap effort is being done at the behest of President Donald Trump, whose administration is encouraging similar actions in other Republican-led states as a means of holding the GOPs slim majority in next years midterm elections for the remainder of Trumps second term. Governors of Democratic states, like California, are plotting counter moves with their states maps. Typically, political maps are redrawn only once per decade following the U.S. Census, and Texas Democrats have called out Republicans for trying to change the rules and disenfranchise Texas citizens for purely political reasons. The Republican speaker of the Texas House, Dustin Burrows of Lubbock, issued the civil warrants to compel the chambers Democrats to return to Austin for a special session set to end on Aug. 19 that was ostensibly called to act on relief for the deadly July 4th floods that killed more than 130 people in Texas Hill Country. But the civil warrants are enforceable only within the boundaries of Texas. The absent House members have not been charged with any criminal activity, which could be the trigger to allow for their arrest out of state. Texas requests and is entitled to the assistance of its sister state, the State of Illinois, to enforce the quorum order and quorum warrant as to each of the Texas House members breaking quorum and evading civil arrest in Illinois, the petition filed by Paxton and Tracy said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Texas seeks enforcement of the rule of law in Illinois, the assistance of Illinois law enforcement officials, and this courts assistance, to lawfully return to Texas the Respondent legislators who fled to Illinois to evade their duties to participate in the ongoing special session of the Texas Legislature, the petition said, naming 33 House Democrats as respondents. The petition requests that this court issue civil warrants directing the appropriate Illinois law enforcement officials to effectuate the civil arrest of Respondents and coordinate with the Sergeant of Arms of the Texas House of Representatives and the Texas Department of Public Safety to return them to Texas. The petition cites the U.S. Constitutions full faith and credit clause as well as the legal principle of judicial comity in respecting the laws and court decisions of other states. But former federal prosecutor Ron Safer said both provisions cited by Texas Republicans entail other states respecting judicial decisions issued by courts not political actions of enforcing legislative civil rules. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement There are various safeguards present in judicial proceedings that are simply absent in legislative proceedings, Safer said. So, often, a state courts opinion is being asked to be respected by another state. Thats not this case. Safer said, anybody can file a lawsuit, anybody can get a hearing for anything. It doesnt mean that theyre going to get what they want. Texas Democratic state Rep. John Bucy, who is among the lawmakers cited in the petition, dismissed the filing as one more thing thats not really worthy of our time or attention. Weve got Texans that are in need, Texans that need Republican lawmakers to remember they serve them and not Donald Trump, and instead theyre playing political games and wasting time, said Bucy, who represents the Austin area. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement (Texas Republican Gov.) Greg Abbott right now has executive power to help the people of Texas, to help the flood victims. And instead, hes continuing to use their memories in a disgraceful approach to force Donald Trumps rigging (elections), Bucy said. Theyre not going to get a quorum soon. That wont happen. But Abbott, in an interview with NBC News, vowed to call special session after special session after special session if the current session expires without the House Democrats return. He also threatened a new map that could flip as many as eight Democratic seats to Republicans if the absent lawmakers dont come back. Meanwhile, Vice President JD Vance, who during a visit to Indianapolis on Thursday encouraged Republicans in neighboring Indiana to redistrict, told Fox News that Republicans were seeking redistricting to make up for states like California whose large congressional contingent he said was inflated by the federal census counting such a high population of illegal aliens. Taxpayers in Ohio and Indiana and elsewhere, they have fewer congressional representatives because of what California has allowed to happen. Thats ridiculously unfair, Vance said in remarks released in advance of the airing of Sunday Futures on Sunday at 9 a.m. And the only real way to fight back against it is for us to redistrict in some ways as aggressively as these hard blue states have done. Northwest Indiana U.S. Rep. Frank Mrvan, the most likely of the two Democrats in the states congressional delegation to see his seat flipped to favor Republicans, said after Vances visit that he thought a remap in his state was a done deal. But he vowed to fight for reelection no matter what district they put me in. Texas State Rep. Vince Perez (D-El Paso) said he isnt backing down from fighting what he calls an overtly racist redistricting map that would disenfranchise millions of non-white voters. Perez, the House Democrats deputy whip, and dozens of other Democratic state lawmakers are facing threats of arrest and violence after leaving the state to deny House Republicans a quorum to gerrymander district lines. If Republicans get their way, President Donald Trump will pick up five more GOP-leaning congressional seats in Texas ahead of the 2026 midterms. The new map will also take voting power away from Latino and Black voters. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Perez, speaking to HuffPost from an undisclosed location in Illinois, explained the dire implications of the new map. There are more than 11 million white residents in Texas, and the Latino population is roughly the same. Currently, Republicans hold 25 of the states 38 congressional districts. But under the proposed new lines, Republicans could take 30. Related: Rising Dem Star Says Party Isn't Playing Dead Amid Gerrymandering Chaos From GOP 'Bullies' The new redistricting would only give Latinos one-third of the political power of a white resident, Perez said. Related: Stephen Miller's Wife Just Spilled The Beans On His Favorite Condiment And It Tracks Theres a great disparity in the political representation, Perez explained. When you divide the 11 million by the 26 seats that are coming to white residents, that means that it only takes 435,000 white residents to get one congressional seat. But if youre Latino, it takes 1.2 million to get one congressional seat. That means that white voters have three times the voting power of Latino voters. Related: Trump Has Resorted To Making Numbers Up And Experts Say It Should Worry All Of Us Perez said the voting power for the more than 3 million Black residents in Texas will be one-fifth that of a white voter. He called it the worst map Texas has seen since before the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1965. Related: Trump's Urging For Epstein Distraction Will Lead To Shocker At Putin Summit, Michael Wolff Says This is clearly a racially engineered map that I think all Americans would be appalled by if they really looked at the details of this, he added. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trump has not been coy about his blatant power grab, saying hes entitled to pick up five seats. We have an opportunity in Texas to pick up five seats, Trump said on CNBC Tuesday. We have a really good governor, and we have good people in Texas. And I won Texas, Trump said on CNBC Tuesday. I got the highest vote in the history of Texas, as you probably know, and we are entitled to five more seats. Perez called the move blatantly unconstitutional. President Trump is trying to get five additional seats at all costs, he said. He doesnt care how racist or discriminatory or segregationist this map is, he just wants the five additional seats. I think this map is so bad, Republicans have to know that this is clearly not only a violation of the Voting Rights Act, its blatantly unconstitutional. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Theyre going to pass something that is overtly racist, and theyre going to leave it to the courts to clean up, he added. Gov. Greg Abbott (R) threatened to push for even more GOP-leaning congressional seats if Democrats continue to block the redistricting effort. And Texas Sen. John Cornyn (R) has asked the FBI to track down and arrest Democrats who have left the state. Earlier this week, Texas lawmakers were forced to evacuate their hotel in Chicago due to a bomb threat. This morning there was a bomb threat at our hotel. We were evacuated and everyone is safe, Texas state Rep. John Bucey III wrote in a post online. This is what happens when Republican state leaders publicly call for us to be hunted down. Texas Democrats wont be intimidated. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Perez said threats of arrest and violence wont stop him and his colleagues from fighting for their constituents. Any sort of damage that they try to do to me arrest me, take me to wherever they want to take me pales in comparison to the damage thats going to be done to generations of Texans who will live in a society where the color of their skin determines the value of their political representation. We cannot allow that to happen. More on Politics Melania Trump Demands Hunter Biden Retract 'Extremely Salacious' Epstein Comments The Supreme Court May Be About To Deal A Final Blow To The Voting Rights Act GOP Senator Spills On The Illegal Measure He Takes To Deal With DC Crime Fears Read the original on HuffPost Federal agents in Texas claim they seized nearly 300 pounds of narcotics and arrested multiple individuals, including a previously convicted felon and several illegal border crossers, during a week of immigration-related enforcement actions across the state. Here are this weeks biggest takedowns: 1. ICE Nabs Aggravated Assault Felon in Texas U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested a 44-year-old Mexican national on July 31 who had previously been convicted of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and intent to kill, according to a post from social media user @ERODALLAS. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Criminal aliens like Valentin Meza-Estrada arent slipping through the cracks anymore. ICE officers are going after them, the account posted. ICE @ERODallas arrested a 44-year-old Mexican national convicted for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and intent to kill July 31. Criminal aliens like Valentin Meza-Estrada arent slipping through the cracks anymore. ICE officers are going after them. pic.twitter.com/DVudatCeI8 ERO Dallas (@ERODallas) August 4, 2025 A separate post from Lubbock County Mugshots on Facebook listed an arrest by local authorities, just a few days earlier: MEZA-ESTRADA, VALENTIN 07/31/2025 Age: 44 Charges: Immigration Customs Enforcement Detainer Arresting Agency: ICE. The agency did not publicly announce further details about Meza-Estradas case, including whether he would face new charges or immediate removal proceedings. 2. Cocaine Found in Soft Drink Shipment, Mobile Home Raid in Mission On August 1, Donald R. Kusser, Director of Field Operations for CBPs Laredo office, announced a seizure at the Roma Port of Entry after agents referred a tractor-trailer hauling soft drinks for inspection. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement @CBP officers at Roma, TX referred a tractor trailer hauling a shipment of soft drinks for an enforcement inspection. A canine inspection resulted in an alert, and a physical examination resulted in the discovery of 73 packages containing 212.30 pounds of cocaine. #OFOProud, Kusser posted at 7:46 a.m. on X. .@CBP officers at Roma, TX referred a tractor trailer hauling a shipment of soft drinks for an enforcement inspection. A canine inspection resulted in an alert, and a physical examination resulted in the discovery of 73 packages containing 212.30 pounds of cocaine. #OFOProud pic.twitter.com/EENZcQUCdo Director of Field Operations, Donald R. Kusser (@DFOLaredo) August 1, 2025 Several days later, Chief Michael W. Banks of the U.S. Border Patrol posted about another drug seizure in the Rio Grande Valley. $1.5M WORTH OF COCAINE, SMUGGLERS, & ILLEGAL ALIENS FOUND IN A MOBILE HOME! 7/30- USBP and Texas DPS disrupted a stash house and drug distribution hub operating out of a mobile home in Mission, TX, Banks wrote. The post alleged that two individuals present were smugglers in the country illegally, and three others, citizens of Nepal, El Salvador, and Guatemala, were waiting to be moved further into the U.S. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Banks said the primary smuggler will face charges for felony illegal re-entry, and the remaining individuals would be processed for removal. Authorities allegedly recovered 48 pounds of cocaine stored in wooden boxes. 3. Marijuana Interdiction Near Brownsville Agents in the Rio Grande Valley and officers with the U.S. Coast Guard say they intercepted nearly 100 pounds of marijuana in a joint operation near Brownsville, Texas. RGV Border Patrol & USCG Seize 97 lbs of Marijuana RGV Agents & the U.S. Coast Guard intercepted a smuggling attempt near Brownsville, TXseizing ~97 lbs of marijuana worth $77K. Great teamwork! Honor First! #RGV #BorderSecurity #USCG #PublicSafety #FortBrownStrong pic.twitter.com/5IU1nPm2W8 Jason E. Schneider, (Acting) Chief Patrol Agent (@USBPChiefRGV) August 7, 2025 The post praised the operation, calling it great teamwork, and included the phrase Honor First, a motto used frequently by the Border Patrol. No further details on arrests or criminal charges were included. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The post was made from @USBPChiefRGV, an account that previously belonged to Gloria Chavez and now appears to be under the administration of Jason E. Schneider, (Acting) Chief Patrol Agent. Texas Takedown Weekly is a recurring series from The Dallas Express chronicling the most significant immigration-related arrests and interdictions across the state. Read last weeks edition here: Texas Takedown Weekly: Cocaine Coldplay Jokes And Sex Offender Arrests (August 1). BRISTOL, Tenn. (WJHL) A new therapy dog has enrolled at Tennessee Middle School. Honey, a six-month-old goldendoodle, is the newest addition to Bristol, Tennessee City Schools therapy dog program. The program provides a therapy dog to schools to help reduce anxiety and stress among students and staff. Crockett Days, High Knob Outdoor Fest and more | Weekend events in the Tri-Cities All the schools that have had a program like this [have] been very positive so far, Principal Luke Douthat said. Its been really impactful at [Tennessee High School]. What weve seen so far in just a few days is a lot of energy and excitement. Our students are responding very well. Theyre just really excited to have [Honey] with us every day. WJHL Photo WJHL Photo WJHL Photo WJHL Photo Douthat said Honey will go throughout the school daily, bringing positive energy with her. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement [Honey] is there to interact with the students if theyre having a bad day; she can be present to hopefully cheer them up some, Douthat said. She is going to be in the car line in the mornings and the bus line just to greet students Shell be walking around the building during class change. Again, just that visibility, that presence we hope will really just impact [students] social emotional well-being. 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. (NewsNation) While CEOs are feeling less concerned about President Donald Trumps tariffs, a growing number still expect to cut headcount over the next year. About a third of CEOs (34%) plan to shrink their workforce over the next 12 months, up from 28% last quarter, according to the Conference Boards latest CEO confidence survey released Thursday. The uptick marks the fifth straight quarterly increase and the first time since 2020 that more CEOs expect to reduce the size of their workforce than expand it. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement At the same time, recession fears among CEOs have significantly declined from 83% expecting a downturn in the next 12 to 18 months in the second quarter to just 36% last quarter. Share of overdue consumer debt hits highest level since 2020 CEO confidence rebounded in the third quarter following a collapse driven by trade war uncertainty, but the report noted the recovery fell short of a return to optimism. The improvement is a continuation of the trend seen after tariff disputes between the US and China became less intense and potentially reflects ongoing progress on trade negotiations, said Stephanie Guichard, senior economist, global indicators at the Conference Board. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The apparent disconnect between CEO confidence and workforce expectations underscores the dual threat facing American workers: a cooling labor market and the rise of AI. Why job numbers change: Understanding the latest revisions Almost all of the CEOs surveyed (93%) said they intend to manage costs and boost productivity by leveraging technology, like AI or automation, over the next six months. Roughly two-thirds (64%) plan to manage costs by passing them on to customers. Julys lackluster jobs report has also increased anxiety about the overall health of the labor market. U.S. employers missed analysts expectations last month, but even more concerning were the major downward revisions that wiped out hundreds of thousands of previously reported gains a sign the job market is weaker than economists thought. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The report was so grim that Trump fired Erika McEntarfer, the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, alleging, without evidence, that the jobs data was manipulated for political reasons. That said, the unemployment rate ticked up only slightly to 4.2%, reflecting a stagnant no hire, no fire market. Moodys Analytics Chief Economist Mark Zandi is more pessimistic and warned that the economy is on the precipice of a recession in an X post Sunday. Unemployment remains low, but thats only because labor force growth has gone sideways, Zandi wrote. The foreign-born workforce is shrinking, and labor force participation is declining. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Zandi said increasing U.S. tariffs and highly restrictive immigration policy are why the economy is struggling. On Thursday, Trumps reciprocal tariffs on dozens of countries kicked in, and the president says more sector-specific levies on semiconductors and pharmaceuticals are coming. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 is hovering near its record high, and stocks are on pace for their third weekly gain in the last four as of midday Friday. A total of 122 CEOs participated in the Conference Boards third quarter survey, which was fielded from July 14 to 28. 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. The Atlantic Daily, a newsletter that guides you through the biggest stories of the day, helps you discover new ideas, and recommends the best in culture. Sign up for it here. If theres anything Donald Trump loves more than tariffs, its a deal. So you can understand his excitement lately. Over the past few weeks, the president has announced tariff-related deals with three major trading partnersthe European Union, Japan, and South Koreathat have been hailed as major victories for the United States. In each case, Americas partners agreed to accept 15 percent tariffs on their exports to the U.S. while lowering trade barriers on American goods and promising to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in the U.S. economyin essence paying Trump to impose trade restrictions on them. Europe Caves to Trump on Tariffs read a representative New York Times headline. In the days following the European Union deal announcement, the White House released a fact sheet quoting all the positive coverage. On Thursday, Jamieson Greer, Trumps top trade official, published a New York Times op-ed boasting that, with the completion of these deals, the administration had successfully remade the global order. But upon closer inspection, Trumps trade deals arent nearly as impressive as they sound. In fact, they arent really trade deals in the traditional sense, and they might not benefit the U.S. at all. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trump did prove the doubters wrong in one important way. When the president originally announced his Liberation Day tariffs, other countries threatened to respond in kind, leading many economists and journalists (myself included) to conclude that the tariffs would lead to a spiral of retaliation. With a few exceptions (notably China and Canada), that didnt happen. Instead, Trump has gotten key trading partners to back down. But simply avoiding retribution was never the goal of tariffs. The whole point of Trumps dealmaking strategy was supposedly to get foreign countries to lower their existing trade barriersthe classic purpose of a trade agreement. In his Liberation Day announcement, Trump complained at length about what he considered to be the excessive restrictions that other countries had imposed on American goodsincluding not only tariffs but also currency manipulation, value-added taxes, and subsidies to domestic firmsand vowed not to back down on tariffs until those countries lowered them. [Scott Lincicome: What the U.K. deal reveals about Trumps trade strategy] The announcements of the new deals purport to have delivered on this promise, giving Americans unprecedented levels of market access to Europe, breaking open long-closed markets in Japan, and making South Korea completely OPEN TO TRADE with the United States. But the details of the deals, which remain sparse, tell a very different story. None include agreements by trading partners to meaningfully reform their tax or regulatory codes, strengthen their currencies, or reduce the barriers that have long been major sticking points in prior trade negotiations. Instead, the announcements are full of vague statements of intentThe United States and the European Union intend to work together to address non-tariff barriers affecting trade in food and agricultural products (my emphasis)and references to things such as openings for a range of industrial and consumer goods. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The main concrete action that the EU agreed to was to eliminate its tariffs on American industrial products. This sounds impressive unless youre aware that the average EU tariff rate on nonagricultural goods prior to the deal was just 1 percent. The main difficulty in trade negotiations with the EU has long been its barriers on agricultural products, which appear to have been untouched by these deals. South Korea and Japan, meanwhile, agreed to allow more American-made cars into their marketswhich also sounds great until you realize that the main reason American companies dont sell a lot of cars to those countries is the fact that almost nobody wants to drive a truck or SUV in Tokyo or Seoul. Lower trade barriers wont change that. What about the investments? According to the announcements, South Korea, Japan, and Europe have respectively pledged to invest $350 billion, $550 billion, and $600 billion in the United States (In an interview with CNBC, referring to the EU investment, Trump claimed that the details are $600 billion to invest in anything I want. Anything. I can do anything I want with it.) The EU has also agreed to purchase an additional $750 billion of American oil and gas. Those are big numbers, but they might not add up to much in the real world. The EU has no authority to require European companies to invest in the U.S. or buy its products. What the Trump administration touted as commitments were mostly rough numbers based on what European companies were already planning to invest and buy. We cant force the company to do anything, nor will be able to pretend that we can, but we can talk to them, we can get their intentions, and we can transmit that as a faithful indication to our partners in the U.S., Olof Gill, a spokesperson for the European Commission, the EUs trade-negotiation body, said after the deal was announced. The investments from Japan and South Korea, meanwhile, might not be investments at all. Shortly after the deal with Japan was announced, the countrys top trade negotiator said that he anticipated only 1 or 2 percent of the $550 billion fund would come in the form of direct investment; the rest would mostly consist of loans that would need to be repaid with interest. South Korean officials have made similar statements. These numbers bear no relation to any conception of reality, Brad Setser, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations who served as a trade adviser to the Biden administration, told me. Everyone has figured out that Trump really likes big numbers to sell his trade deals and doesnt need much substance to do so. Recent history supports this view. As part of Trumps first-term trade deal with China, Beijing agreed to increase its annual purchasing of American goods by $200 billion. In the event, it didnt increase its purchasing at all. If Americas trading partners didnt agree to meaningfully lower barriers to U.S. imports, and if their promises of investment are likely vaporous, then the only real concession that Trumps tariffs have won is the right to impose tariffs. This means that the value of the deals comes down to the value of the tariffs. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Tariffs can help domestic producers by making their foreign competitors products more expensive. But tariffs can also hurt them, by raising the costs of the inputs they import to make their products. Several studies of the tariffs imposed during Trumps first term, which were much smaller and more targeted, found that manufacturing employment either stayed level or actually fell as a result. The ultimate result of the current wave of tariffs is yet to be determined, but so far, since Liberation Day, the manufacturing sector has shed tens of thousands of jobs and investment in new factories has fallen. A quarterly survey conducted by the National Association of Manufacturers in May found that optimism among manufacturing firms had fallen to its lowest point since the height of the coronavirus pandemic; trade uncertainty and raw-material costs were cited as top concerns. [Roge Karma: The mystery of the strong economy has finally been solved] The new deals should at least give companies some much-needed certainty about tariff rates, which will help them make investment decisions. But in other ways, the deals actively undermine key American industries. Foreign cars, which represent the single largest American import from Japan and South Korea and the third largest from the EU, will face 15 percent tariffs. That is far lower than the rate American car companies have to pay to import car parts, which are tariffed at 25 percent, and crucial car-building materials like steel and aluminum, which are tariffed at 50 percent. As Jim Farley, the CEO of Ford, said in a recent interview, foreign competitors such as Toyota now have a $5,000 to $10,000 cost advantage over American-made vehicles. Ford projects that it will lose $2 billion in profits this year alone because of higher tariffs; General Motors forecasts losses of $4 billion to $5 billion by the end of the year. The deals announced so far are only the beginning. The Trump administration is currently in the midst of negotiations with several trading partners, including China, Mexico, Switzerland, and Taiwan, and just yesterday implemented a new round of tariffs on about 90 countries, the ostensible goal being to bring those nations to the bargaining table too. If recent events are an indication, any future pacts will be framed as historic milestones in the quest to remake the global trade system in Americas favor. The White House will issue pronouncements of eye-popping investments, drastically reduced foreign-trade barriers, and major concessions to American industry. When that happens, remember to look closely at the details. Article originally published at The Atlantic Clothing is optional at nudist beaches and four of the top 10 beaches in the United States are located in Florida, according to a recent ranking. California tied with Florida with another four beaches making the list compiled by VIP Grinders. 2 Florida nude beaches named among best in the world in 2023. See list where you can drop your top .... and bottom In July, VIP Grinders analyzed TripAdvisor reviews, average summer temperatures and rainfall, Instagram hashtags, and Google searches of the most well-known nude beaches to determine which ones are the most loved. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Nude beach culture is thriving in the U.S. at the moment, where tourists and locals can step out of their comfort zones and feel free in a nonjudgmental space," said Telma Casaca from VIP Grinders in a statement to USA TODAY. Here are the best nude beaches in the U.S. as listed by VIP Grinders. 4 Florida beaches make top 10 best nude beaches in US Four Florida beaches were ranked among the best nude beaches in the United States. Beaches listed were: Playalinda Beach at Canaveral National Seashore Blind Creek Beach in Fort Pierce San Gregorio State Beach in San Gregorio, California Ship Island in Gulfport, Mississippi Secret Cove Beach in Lake Tahoe, Nevada Black's Beach in San Diego, California Apollo Beach in Volusia County Haulover Beach in Miami Baker Beach in San Francisco, California Pfeiffer Beach in Big Sur, California Playalinda Beach at Canaveral National Seashore offers relaxed nude experience As part of the Canaveral National Seashore, Playalinda Beach feels remote and undeveloped, with picturesque sand dunes and crashing waves. For decades, a specific section has been welcoming nudist beachgoers. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Playalinda Beach is a gem for those seeking a relaxed, nude beach experience," according to nudebeachmap.com. "Come prepared with everything you need, as amenities are sparse. The nudist area, while not officially sanctioned, is generally tolerated, making it one of the best nude beaches in Florida. Just be mindful of the steep parking and entrance fees ($25 per car), and the occasional enforcement of local nudity laws." Blind Creek Beach in Fort Pierce, Florida, site of annual skinny dip Blind Creek Beach is the only clothing-optional beach on Florida's Treasure Coast and is also located within a 409-acre coastal preserve to lend visitors a serene atmosphere. The beach offers "unspoiled charm and respectful atmosphere," according to nudebeachmap.com. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The beach was designated official clothing-optional beach in 2020 by St. Lucie County commissioners and is the site of annual skinny dip Apollo Beach in Volusia County, Florida, described as 'delightful spot' A wide, undeveloped stretch of sand, Apollo Beach sits at the southern tip of Volusia County on Florida's east coast, and is one of two nudist beaches in the area, the other being Playalinda Beach. "This delightful spot" also is part of the Canaveral National Seashore and "offers a unique sunbathing experience where the sun gently caresses your skin, and your smile is the only dress code," according to New Smyrna Stays, which added parking is limited "at this secluded gem." Nude beach along A1A in Volusia is naturist beachgoers' go-to spot Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Apollo Beach includes a designated clothing-optional area, which is marked. Haulover Beach in Miami, Florida, regularly ranked among best clothing-optional beaches in world Haulover Beach is located within the bustling Miami Beach, set on the Atlantic Ocean. "Haulover Beach is one of the best clothing-optional beaches in the world, as ranked by many online and print publications. As many as 7,000 people visit the beach in a single day," according to hauloverbeach.org. Haulover Nude Beach is situated between the Intercostal Waterway and the Atlantic Ocean and is part of Haulover Beach Park. Approximately 66% to 85% of visitors use the nude beach area. Other nude beaches among top 10 in US California San Gregorio State Beach, San Gregorio: Located just below San Francisco, San Gregorio State Beach is a sandy beach enclosed by rugged bluffs and backed by a protected estuary that wildlife call home. Besides its picturesque nature, the beach is also known as a gay nude beach. Black's Beach, San Diego: Named after an influential family who moved to San Diego's La Jolla community in the 1940s, Black's Beach is a popular spot for surfing and relaxing. Nudity is legal along the northern stretch of the beach, and some consider it to be one of the biggest nude beaches in the U.S. Baker Beach, San Francisco: With views of the Golden Gate Bridge, Baker Beach welcomes nudist beachgoers at its northern end, according to the National Park Service. Just beware of the riptides and chilly water. Pfeiffer Beach in Big Sur: Big Sur's Pfeiffer Beach sits as a stunning crescent-shaped beach with rugged rock formations and flecks of purple sand. Nudists are allowed to enjoy the north side of the beach since it's technically on federal land. Mississippi Ship Island, Gulfport: A barrier island about 12 miles offshore of Mississippi, Ship Island has a historic fort and multiple beaches, including a small area that's unofficially known as a nude beach. Nevada Secret Cove Beach, Lake Tahoe: Although not quite a secret anymore, Secret Cove Beach on the shore of Lake Tahoe is a clothing-optional beach where nudists are welcome. A one-mile hike takes beachgoers to the shoreline, where they can bask in the sun or climb onto the giant granite boulders that extend into the water. Contributing: Kathleen Wong, USA Today This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Florida nude beaches ranked in top 10 in US Travellers to six Portuguese airports have been warned to expect delays until September amid ongoing ground handler strikes. Scheduled strikes by SPdH and Menzies staff could cause travel chaos for up to 60 UK flights per week bound for Portugal's busiest airports. Since 25 July, staff in aircraft servicing, baggage handling and on check-in desks have participated in walkouts over low wages, unpaid night shifts and inadequate parking following a takeover by Menzies Aviation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Airports in holiday hotspots Lisbon, Faro and Porto may experience delays and cancellations, as well as aviation hubs in Madeira, Porto Santo and the Azores. Air passengers will face disruption from Friday to Monday every weekend in August through to 1 September. The UK Foreign Office (FCDO) has warned travellers of the delays during peak season travel to Portugal. FCDO advice reads: Industrial action by baggage handlers at Portuguese airports from Friday to Monday during the months of July and August may cause delays. If you are travelling over this period, check for announcements and follow the advice of your airline or tour operator. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Passengers flying to Portugal may be affected by airport strikes on the following dates: 8-11 August 15-18 August 22-25 August 29 August - 1 September The Independent has contacted Menzies Aviation for comment. Strikes at 12 airports in Spain are similarly disrupting travel plans this summer. More than 3,000 workers at Azul Handling, part of the Ryanair group, are set to walk out following a decision by the General Union of Workers (UGT). Airports in Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Malaga, Alicante, Ibiza, Palma de Mallorca, Girona, Tenerife South, Lanzarote and Santiago de Compostela are due to be affected by action on 15, 16 and 17 August. Strikes will then continue every Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday until 31 December 2025. For more travel news and advice, listen to Simon Calders podcast WASHINGTON COUNTY, Tenn. (WJHL) Two people were killed in a crash on Highway 11E Wednesday night, according to the Tennessee Highway Patrol (THP). A THP crash report states a 2018 Kia Forte was heading east on the highway at a high rate of speed. Johnson City last call ordinance moves forward, but may be changed According to the THP, the Kia collided with a 2018 Mazda CX9 at the intersection of Knob Creek Dock Road shortly after 6 p.m. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The driver of the Kia and an adult passenger in the Mazda were pronounced dead at the scene of the crash. The driver of the Kia was identified as 31-year-old Thomas Elliott. Elliot was reportedly not wearing his seatbelt. The deceased Mazda passenger was identified by the highway patrol as Peter Sokol, Jr., 75. The driver and a juvenile passenger in the Mazda were both listed as injured. 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. ALEXANDRIA, Va. (DC News Now) Three brothers from D.C. were sentenced for a string of armed robberies across Maryland and Virginia, according to the United States Attorneys Office (USAO) for the Eastern District of Virginia. Andre Joel White Jr., 41, Abdullah Khalil Ismael DeVaugh Michelle, 43, and Aaron Isaiah Devaughn Aaron White, 29, all pleaded guilty to various firearm charges for their role in a series of robberies from September 2023 to February 2024. The USAO states the three men robbed a convenience store, four tobacco shops, and a gas stationwhich they robbed twice, and tried to rob another gas station. Court documents note that during the robberies, the men brandished firearms and assaulted victims before stealing money and cigarettes. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Honda catches air fleeing trooper, crashes into car, causing injuries near I-395 in Prince William County According to court documents, in December 2023, Michelle saw a ride-share driver leave his car to help a passenger with their luggage, so he entered the vehicle and drove away. The stolen car would be used to commit robberies in Virginia before they abandoned it after the car became disabled during a robbery. Michelle then rented a van that was later reported stolen, resulting in him being arrested in February 2024 while driving. Court documents say Michelle was sentenced to 21 years in prison after he pleaded guilty in February 2024 to charges of conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery and two counts of using, carrying, and brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence. Aaron White was sentenced to 14 years in prison after pleading guilty in February 2024 to two counts of using, carrying, and brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The final defendant, Andre White, was sentenced Thursday to ten years and six months in prison after pleading guilty in December 2024 to three counts of using, carrying, and brandishing a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence. 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 DC News Now | DC, Virginia, Maryland News, Weather, Traffic, Sports Live. The Brief Three individuals are charged with defrauding COVID-19 relief programs and laundering nearly $2 million, involving fraudulent PPP loans and EIDLs. Authorities, including U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg and Special Agents Steven N. Schrank and Paul Brown, condemned the actions as a betrayal of public trust and emphasized ongoing efforts to target fraudsters. The case is part of the Department of Justices COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force's broader efforts to combat pandemic-related fraud, encouraging public reporting of suspected fraud. ATLANTA - Three individuals face federal charges for allegedly defrauding COVID-19 relief programs and laundering nearly $2 million in proceeds. Salimot Akande, 41, of Atlanta; Garey Henderson, 45, of Marietta; and Jacqueline Rollizo, 52, of Woodstock, were arraigned on fraud and money laundering charges today. What they're saying U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg condemned the scheme, stating, "The federal government created programs to provide critical relief to small businesses and support our economy during the COVID-19 pandemic. Unfortunately, unscrupulous fraudsters exploited these programs for personal gain, stealing from taxpayers and legitimate business owners who desperately needed help." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Hertzberg emphasized that authorities will continue to pursue those who break the law for personal enrichment. Steven N. Schrank, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations for Georgia and Alabama, called the actions "a betrayal of the public trust and a direct attack on businesses that truly needed help during a time of crisis." He assured the public that his agency would continue to aggressively target those exploiting relief programs. Paul Brown, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta, added, "These defendants are accused of stealing from programs meant to keep small businesses afloat during a national emergency. Their alleged fraud not only siphoned off vital resources from those in real need but also undermined public trust." What we know According to the indictment, Akande, Henderson, and Rollizo fraudulently obtained approximately $1.6 million in Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans for seven businesses connected to them. To secure these loans, the defendants submitted false tax filings and loan applications. Akande and Henderson also received fraudulent Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDLs). Akandes business received $48,900, while Hendersons businesses received $299,800. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The indictment further alleges that the defendants moved the loan proceeds through various bank accounts to conceal the origins and control of the funds. The 38-count indictment charges the trio with bank fraud, wire fraud, money laundering conspiracy, and related offenses. Why you should care This case is part of broader efforts by the Department of Justices COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force, which was established on May 17, 2021, to prevent and combat pandemic-related fraud. The Task Force is enhancing coordination across government agencies to investigate and prosecute fraud. What you can do Anyone with information regarding suspected COVID-19 fraud is encouraged to report it to the National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form at justice.gov/disaster-fraud. The Source The U.S. Attorney's Office provided the details for this article. The above video is from an article posted on Feb. 17. WATERBURY, Conn. (WTNH) Three Waterbury men were charged on Friday with several offenses in connection with the shooting of a Waterbury police detective back in February. BACKGROUND: Connecticut Office of Inspector General releases body camera footage of suspect shooting Waterbury police officer Officials announced that 21-year-old Arian A Perez-Feliciano, 19-year-old Alberto NeNe Rodriguez, and 18-year-old Sydney Syd Reid have all been charged with offenses related to their alleged role in a robbery, carjacking, attempted carjacking and the shooting. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A federal grand jury returned the seven-count indictment in August, and the three men have been detained since their arrests. 3 suspects face judge after Waterbury police officer shot during carjacking investigation The indictment alleges that Perez-Feliciano, Rodriguez and Reid planned to steal firearms and marijuana, and to commit carjackings using stolen vehicles. On Jan. 13, Rodriguez and Reid allegedly pointed a firearm at a victims face and stole a shotgun, narcotics, cash and other items from multiple victims. Waterbury police officer shot while investigating attempted carjackings During the incident involving the officer on Feb. 13, Perez-Feliciano, Rodriguez and Reid allegedly attempted to commit an armed carjacking on Waterville Street. Shortly after, they allegedly committed an armed carjacking on Chase Avenue. As they fled from police, the indictment states that Perez-Feliciano opened fire on a Waterbury police detective and shot him in the thigh. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The indictment charges the three men with the following: Conspiracy Conspiracy to interfere with commerce by robbery Interference with commerce by robbery Carrying, using, and brandishing a firearm during, and in relation to, a crime of violence Attempted carjacking Carjacking Carrying, using, brandishing, and discharging a firearm during, and in relation to, a crime of violence. If convicted on all charges, each defendant faces a minimum term of imprisonment of 17 years and a maximum term of imprisonment of life. 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 WTNH.com. Three more victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks have been identified, according to authorities in New York City. Ryan Fitzgerald, of Floral Park, New York, and Barbara Keating, of Palm Springs, California, were named Thursday. A third victim was also identified but their name is being kept private at the request of their family, according to NYC Mayor Eric Adams and Dr Jason Graham, the city's chief medical examiner. Keating, 72, was on board one of the passenger jets that was flown into the World Trade Center. Fitzgerald, 26, was a trader working for a firm based in the World Trade Center, NPR reports. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Identification was made possible thanks to advancements in DNA analysis and the help of the victims' families, Graham said at a press briefing. Nearly 25 years after the disaster at the World Trade Center, our commitment to identify the missing and return them to their loved ones stands as strong as ever, Graham said. Ryan Fitzgerald, of Floral Park, New York, left, and Barbara Keating, of Palm Springs, California, right. Both Fitzgerald and Keating were killed in the 9/11 terror attacks. Their remains were positively identified in 2025, nearly 24 years since the attack (Family handouts) Keating's remains were recovered in 2001, and Fitzgerald's were found in 2002, according to the officials. The three newly identified victims represent the 1,651st, 1,652nd, and 1,653rd victims of the attacks to be identified. While the victims' remains have only now been identified, their loved ones knew that they died during the 2001 terrorist attacks. As such, Keating and Fitzgerald's name are already included on the 9/11 Memorial in New York City. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Barbara Keating's son, Paul, described the work that the city as "stunning." "They're doing this for us. They're doing it like they're possessed," he told NPR. He said that the pain of losing a loved one in the 9/11 attacks has been a constant in his and his family's lives for more than two decades. The September 11 memorial in New York City. The three newly identified victims represent the 1,651st, 1,652nd, and 1,653rd victims of the attacks to be identified. (Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.) "Not a day went by for years that [9/11] wasn't part of our lives, we had no choice," he said. "It affected everybody in our family. My two sons were truly affected. They were almost seven and four. They wake up one day and grandmom is dead and bad guys killed her. There's no way my mom would have wanted that for them." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to the medical examiner, there are approximately 1,100 victims of 9/11 whose remains are still unidentified. "Each new identification testifies to the promise of science and sustained outreach to families despite the passage of time. We continue this work as our way of honoring the lost," Graham said. The September 11 terrorist attacks killed 2,977 people. Some 2,753 of those deaths occurred in New York City. Another 184 people were killed when American Airlines Flight 88 crashed into the Pentagon, and 44 lives were lost after the passengers of United Airlines Flight 93 fought their hijackers and crashed the plane into a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. MUSKOGEE, Okla. (KNWA/KFTA) Three people pleaded guilty to federal drug conspiracy charges in Oklahoma. According to a press release from the Eastern District of Oklahoma, John Lamar Clayton, 46, of Fort Coffee in LeFlore County, pleaded guilty to one count of drug conspiracy on July 16. Brian Lee Steele, 45, of Fort Coffee and Brandon Leal Castro, 34, of Mexico, pleaded guilty to one count of drug conspiracy on July 24. The release says conspiracy to distribute 500 or more grams of methamphetamine is punishable by 10 years to life in prison and a $50,000,000 fine. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Arrest made in Fort Smith aggravated robbery According to the release, between October 2024 and November 14, 2024, Clayton, Steele, Castro and others knowingly conspired to distribute 500 grams or more of a mixture and substance containing a detectable amount of meth. The charges arose from an investigation by the Drug Enforcement Administration, Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics, Oklahoma Highway Patrol, the District 16 Drug and Violent Crime Task Force and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The U.S. District Court Judge will determine a sentence for the three after considering guidelines and other statutory factors. The three will remain in custody of the United States Marshals Service until they are sentenced. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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 KNWA FOX24. Boynton Beach officials have been cleared of significant misconduct violations, two extensive Palm Beach County Inspector General investigations concluded. The office wrote there is evidence to possibly support allegations to some degree but did not detail sufficient evidence to justify reasonable conclusions to support the allegations. One investigation examined eight allegations against City Manager Dan Dugger, Deputy City Manager Andrew Mack, City Attorney Shawna Lamb and Internal Accountability Director Danielle Whitefield. The Inspector General's Office found insufficient evidence to support each of the eight allegations. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Access The Palm Beach Post on the go with the app: Our app offers a personalized experience to your liking. Download our app to personalize your news alerts, swipe and scroll through stories faster, and bookmark them to save and read later. The 49-page report examined all claims against the city officials that included alleged racial bias in hiring, unauthorized severance payments, nepotism, timekeeping improprieties and alcohol use during working hours. The investigation determined that none of the allegations met the evidentiary threshold of a policy or law violation. A separate investigation examined three allegations against former City Human Resources Director Tennille Decoste. The Inspector General's Office partially supported an accusation that Decoste inappropriately solicited a campaign donation. On one occasion there was sufficient evidence to conclude that she solicited a donation from a co-worker during work hours. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The report found that Decoste, on one occasion, inappropriately took leave to attend a campaign-related event, but that on other alleged occasions there was no inappropriate activity. No recommendations were made in either report and the City of Boynton Beach supported the findings. The documents have been released publicly. The investigations were initiated by referrals from the Citys Office of Internal Investigations and Accountability, Mayor Ty Penserga, multiple members of the City Commission and Decoste. Boynton Beach investigation of city officials dates back to late 2023 Boynton Beach City Manager Dan Dugger. (Jorge Milian / Palm Beach Post) The controversy started in late November and early December of 2023 when city leaders notified Decoste that she would be investigated and placed on paid administrative leave. Dugger said he "received complaints from numerous people regarding alleged malfeasance by one of the citys department directors." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Dugger said he forwarded the allegations to the Palm Beach County Commission on Ethics and the Palm Beach County Office of the Inspector General. Decoste said at the time the actions taken against her were retaliation by her efforts to hold city leaders accountable in the past. BOYNTON NEWS: City nears $8 million deal to purchase, demolish aging hotel off I-95 BOYNTON NEWS: Hurricane Alley owner wants to keep Florida vibe as lengthy relocation process begins BOYNTON NEWS: City commissioner facing battery charge involving former political opponent Decoste said she confronted Mack and Dugger after they allegedly made comments that she was "hiring too many Black women," creating friction between the director and city managers. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Decoste further alleged that both Mack and Dugger failed to investigate other employees when serious accusations arose, including a city employee who reportedly filed fraudulent timesheets and another who allegedly came to a commission meeting intoxicated. Decoste said neither employee was questioned or placed on leave, and the HR director questioned why she was being treated differently. Dugger called allegations raised by Decoste "both groundless and appear retaliatory." DeCoste filed a lawsuit in 2024 against the city, alleging that she was improperly fired for exposing wrongdoing by the administration. Her case was transferred to federal court late last year. The city called on a federal judge on Aug. 1 to dismiss the case without it going to trial. The judge has yet to issue an opinion. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Mike Diamond contributed to this report. James Coleman is a journalist at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at jcoleman@pbpost.com and follow him on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @JimColeman11. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today. This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Top Boynton Beach officials cleared of wrongdoing by Inspector General TOPEKA (KSNT) THE ROCK Conference by Reentry Reframed helps support those reentering society following incarceration by providing resources and skills. The idea to start the reentry conference came in 2021 from the Shawnee Reentry Council, Melissa Goodman Vice President of Reentry Services told 27 News. We wanted to create a place for statewide public advocacy to enhance support and improve reentry services. The Topeka nonprofit Reentry Reframed hosts a podcast by the same name. Goodman hopes its content will strengthen people and communities by helping individuals cultivate hope and redefine their lives. The podcast features guests who have experienced the reentry process first-hand like ex-convicts, certified clinical trauma professionals, rehabilitation program leaders and artists. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Goodman believes reentry for ex-convicts is happening every second of every day, and that breaking the cycle of incarceration means obtaining gainful employment, housing, reintegration with family and developing a prosocial support network in the community. K-State band director talks Farmaggedon in Ireland Theres so much stigma around the formerly incarcerated reentering society, and theres so much that people dont know about, Goodman told 27 News. Whether you know it or not, if you work in the public works youre a part of the reentry process. The conference will feature topics like the impact incarceration has on families, educational opportunities, second chance employment and more. Additionally, there will be a Reentry Simulation on Aug. 26, which will give attendees a chance to understand the challenges people face when reentering society. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Goodman wants people to know that the deadline for registration is being extended to August 15, and that you can register for the simulation, the conference, both or even just a one day pass. This event could not happen without Stormont Vail, and they have been incredible sponsors since the conference began. If you have any questions about the event you can reach out to the organizers on their website. Shawnee Co. commissioners and district attorney butt heads over funding THE ROCK Reentry Conference organized by: Annie Buckland from Stormont Vail Health, Mitch Flower from the Shawnee County Department of Corrections, Melissa Goodman from Mirror, Rodney Harmon a Reentry Advocate, Justin Knutzen from the Shawnee County Department of Corrections, Melody Lawrence from KU TRIO Educational Opportunity Centers, Kelli Martinez from Mission Creek Consulting, Frederick Morrisette a Reentry Advocate, Noel ONeil from Kansas Federal Public Defenders, Lisa Pasilas from the Kansas Department of Corrections, Kori Thiessen a Reentry Advocate, Jimmy Zirkle from the Shawnee County Community Corrections. Photo of the organizers, the ROCKettes (Photo Courtesy/Melissa Goodman) Best kept secret in the art world: Volland Foundation supports arts in rural Kansas Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The conference is set to take place on Aug. 27 and 28 at the Stormont Vail Main Campus located at 1500 SW 10th Ave, Topeka, KS 66604. There are limited spots remaining, but you can register for the conference and simulation here. For more local news, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news in northeast Kansas by downloading our mobile app and by signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track Weather app by clicking here. Copyright 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 KSNT 27 News. TOPEKA (KSNT) The Topeka Fire Department (TFD) is reopening a local fire station after significant renovations. The TFD is reopening a newly renovated fire station on Friday, Aug. 8 at 2447 Southeast 29th Street. The city made key improvements to the fire station, including raising the roof height to accommodate larger apparatus, upgrading sleeping quarters and modernizing facilities. Station 9 represents our citys ongoing investment in public safety and in the wellbeing of the men and women who serve our community, said City Manager Robert Perez. These upgrades help ensure our firefighters have the tools and space they need to protect Topeka residents more effectively. Photos by Tim Schoepflin. Photos by Tim Schoepflin. Highway closure will create nearly 60-mile detour in north-central Kansas Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement City of Topeka spokesman Dan Garrett said around $900,000 was spent on the renovations to help modernize the station. Up to eight members of the TFD will use the facility to sleep, train and pursue their job duties in Topeka. These renovations allow us to extend our service capabilities and better support the firefighters who dedicate themselves to keeping our community safe, said Interim Fire Chief Chad Longstaff. For more local news, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news in northeast Kansas by downloading our mobile app and by signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track Weather app by clicking here. Copyright 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 KSNT 27 News. TOPEKA (KSNT) Topeka police made dozens of arrests during a recent two-month anti-violent crime initiative in the Capital City. The Topeka Police Department (TPD) announced in a press release on Aug. 8 that it recently concluded an initial 60-day Police and Community Together (P.A.C.T.) violent crime reduction push. The P.A.C.T. included 10 officers across all bureaus and specialties of the TPD in a big effort to reduce violent crime and increase trust through community collaboration tactics. People saw firsthand that when they spoke, we listened and we acted, said TPD LT Andrew Beightel. That feedback created a level of trust that TPD intends to maintain moving forward. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Police launched the initiative on May 26, 2025, focusing on high-crime parts of the city and repeat offenders. The TPD wrapped up operations on July 26, 2025 with the following results: Arrests 66. Felony charges 85. Felony warrants 19. Misdemeanor charges 45. Misdemeanor warrants 24. Firearms seized 18. Drug seizures 19. Bankruptcy causes two teen fashion stores to shut down at West Ridge Mall The TPD said the P.A.C.T. efforts have led to a 10% reduction in violent crime compared to the same time period in 2024. Police will continue to work with members of the community, local leaders and stakeholders to pursue an overall reduction in violent crime in the Capital City moving forward. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement For more local news, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news in northeast Kansas by downloading our mobile app and by signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track Weather app by clicking here. Follow Matthew Self on X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/MatthewLeoSelf Copyright 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 KSNT 27 News. BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First) Towne Center at Cedar Lodge, a shopping center at the corner of Corporate Boulevard and Jefferson Highway, has sold for $81 million, according to East Baton Rouge Clerk of Court documents. The 20-year-old Baton Rouge shopping complex has a Whole Foods, restaurants, clothing shops and boutiques. Plans for the opening of a Barnes and Noble bookstore location were confirmed in February. Some major store brands with locations in the shopping center: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Banana Republic Gap J. Crew Nike Ulta Beauty Mall of Louisiana JCPenney store sold: What happens now? Latest 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 Louisiana First News. One person is dead after a tractor-trailer veered off Interstate 93 into the Winnipesaukee River in Tilton, according to New Hampshire State Police. Tilton tractor-trailer crash A crash early Friday on I-93 in Tilton left the driver dead, according to New Hampshire State Police. State Police dispatch received reports shortly before 2 a.m. of a crash involving a tractor-trailer on I-93 southbound near mile marker 57. Troopers assigned to Troop D responded to the scene and located the wreck. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The preliminary investigation determined that the driver of the tractor-trailer had failed to negotiate a curve in the road for reasons that remain under investigation, according to the news release. The rig broke through the center median guardrail and traveled across the median, the embankment, and railroad tracks, where it came to rest on its side in the Winnipesaukee River, officials said. The driver has been identified as Benjamin A. Willson, 48, of Granby, Vermont. Anyone with information that may assist the investigation is asked to contact Trooper Conor Davis at Conor.K.Davis@dos.nh.gov. The left lane of I-93 southbound near mile marker 57 remains closed and delays are to be expected in the area. Troopers were assisted by members of the Tilton-Northfield Fire District, the Tilton Police Department, and the New Hampshire Department of Transportation. sgreen@unionleader.com India is unhappy with the Trump administrations trade negotiations. On Wednesday, President Donald Trump doubled the tariffs on the South Asian country to 50%. India already struggled to strike a deal that the Trump White House considered fair enough so it faced a 25% rate in reciprocal tariffs. But in recent days, Indias closeness with Russia also earned it an additional penalty of another 25% tariff. Trump accused India of buying oil and weapons from Russia, which the president labeled a war machine for its yearslong conflict with Ukraine. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Earlier this week, India called the tariffs, as well as the penalty, unjustified and unreasonable. Trump has been stern in his responses, but held back from criticizing Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi directly. New Delhi is responding to Washington, D.C., with its own moves. India reaches out to Russia amid Trumps tariff Modi got on the phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, where the two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to each other and their strategic partnership. I look forward to hosting President Putin in India later this year, Modi added. A laborer drinks water while working at a flyover construction site in Jammu, India, Friday, Aug 8, 2025. | Channi Anand India is the worlds second-largest importer of weapons after Ukraine due to the security concerns it faces from its neighbors like Pakistan and China. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Although New Delhi used to depend on Russias weapons supply, a shift took place in recent years. Under Modi, India attempted to diversify its suppliers and began importing arms from the West, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute think tank. Amid the instability surrounding the tariff news, reports suggested New Delhi no longer sought to buy weapons from the U.S. but Indian defense officials called these reports false and fabricated. It is clarified that the various cases of procurement are being progressed as per the extant procedures, a Defense Ministry source said. Future of India-U.S. partnership Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged the two countries to resolve their trade issue and said the basis of the U.S.-India partnership is very solid. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But could this decades-long allegiance go up in flames? We are in a situation now where he is completely upset with India, and the 25 years of effort to build a relationship seems to be going down in 25 hours, Mukesh Aghi, the president and CEO of the U.S.-India Strategic Partnership Forum, told Politico. We need to arrest this in some manner because the relationship is critical for both nations. Indias decision to align closer to Russia after the tiff with Washington, D.C., hasnt made the situation any easier to untangle. But from New Delhis perspective, it was being singled out for doing business with Russia for logistical reasons. Indian Ministry of External Affairs Randhir Jaiswal argued that India only began importing oil from Russia after traditional supplies were diverted to Europe after the outbreak of the conflict before noting the U.S. appreciated this move at the time as it kept the global energy markets stable. Mala Malani, owner of Sona Chaandi, one of the first Indian boutiques in "Little India," specializing in imported hard embroidered Indian fabrics, handcrafted gold jewelry and diamonds, in Artesia, Calif., Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025. | Damian Dovarganes The Trump White House is actively engaging with Moscow to bring an end to the war in Ukraine. U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff met with the Russian president in Moscow for three hours on Wednesday but didnt share many details about his conversation since getting back to Washington, D.C. As Witkoff chatted with Putin, Trump tried making headway with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other European leaders and revealed the possibility of a meeting with Putin in the coming days. A group of incarcerated transgender women and men have sued Georgia corrections officials, challenging a new law that prevents them from receiving gender-affirming medical care. The lawsuit, filed Friday morning, accuses the state of violating the Eighth Amendment, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. Five transgender plaintiffs two men and three women brought the class action lawsuit on behalf of nearly 300 other people in Georgia state prisons, who argue that the states law will have catastrophic consequences. In some cases it is forcing trans people who have already received hormone replacement therapy and other services for years to detransition without their consent. We are very much in the thick of seeing policies like this be adopted, said Chinyere Ezie, a senior staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights, which brought the lawsuit with co-counsel Bondurant Mixson & Elmore LLP. Its really unfortunate, I think that it has and will cost peoples lives. I think that the plan is to really just eradicate trans people from public life, to really contrary to medicine make the treatment of gender dysphoria a culture war, as opposed to a serious medical need that requires treatment. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In May, Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, signed SB 185, a bill passed by the states majority conservative legislature that prohibits the use of state funds or resources for surgery, hormone replacement therapy, cosmetic procedures and other treatments used to address gender dysphoria. The law states explicitly that incarcerated people may still receive treatments like hormone replacement therapy if they are medically necessary for conditions other than gender dysphoria. Ezie told The 19th that the bills sponsors indicated during hearings that incarcerated trans people would not be allowed to pay for treatment themselves, either. Her team has also heard this from their clients, she said. The 19th reached out to the Georgia Department of Corrections to confirm whether incarcerated trans people can pay for these procedures themselves. Senate Bill 185 prohibits the use of state funds or resources for the following treatments for state inmates: A. Sex reassignment surgeries or any other surgical procedures that are performed for the purpose of altering primary or secondary sexual characteristics; B. Hormone replacement therapies; and C. Cosmetic procedures or prosthetics intended to alter the appearance of primary or secondary sexual characteristics, wrote Joan Heath, the departments director of communications. Thus, the GDC cannot use state resources to transport an offender to be seen by a provider paid for at their own expense, nor allow a provider being paid by an offender to treat such offender at a GDC facility, she continued. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The legal complaint filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights includes details about the plaintiffs who described the effects of being cut off from their gender-affirming medical care. One trans woman named Fantasia Horton, incarcerated in Phillips State Prison, had been receiving hormone therapy since 2019 but was completely cut off following the law, despite being told that her dosages would gradually decrease before ending, according to the Center for Constitutional Rights. Due to Defendants policies and actions in terminating her treatment, Ms. Horton is now at grave risk of physical and psychological harm, the complaint stated. Three years ago, after losing access to hormone therapy for just one week after her prisons supply of hormone therapy was temporarily depleted, Ms. Hortons mental health plummeted and her depressive symptoms returned. Gender dysphoria is a condition recognized by medical journals and professionals. It is defined as the sense of discomfort or anxiety a person feels when their physical gender feels out of sync with their gender identity. This can lead to long-term mental health effects, including periods of depression, thoughts or acts of self-harm. Forced detransition due to anti-trans legislation, coupled with the poor conditions and discrimination that incarcerated trans people often experience, can worsen these mental health consequences. From a physical standpoint, doctors recommend that any termination of hormone replacement therapy takes place gradually over three to six months, rather than cold turkey. Taking away individuals access to gender-affirming therapies while in prison constitutes cruel and unusual punishment and increases the likelihood of abuse and detrimental health consequences, Jan T. Mooney, an Atlanta-based psychologist, and Mark Spencer, an Atlanta-area internal medicine physician, wrote in an April column about the Georgia bill. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Abrupt cessation or forced weaning of medically necessary, ongoing treatment is a health risk. Physical effects of hormone withdrawal are accompanied by psychological distress, which may manifest as anxiety, depression, and suicidality, they continued. The class action lawsuit comes 10 years after the Center for Constitutional Rights first sued over another ban on gender-affirming care in Georgia prisons. In that case Ashley Diamond, a Black transgender woman, sued the Georgia Department of Corrections in 2015 after being held in mens prisons and denied hormone treatments. The case drew attention from the U.S. Department of Justice, which said at the time that blanket policies barring hormone therapy violate the Eighth Amendment because they do not provide for individualized assessment and treatment. Diamond won an undisclosed settlement in 2016, and her case prompted policy changes in Georgia meant to facilitate better treatment of incarcerated transgender people. But six years later, Diamond sued again, asserting that the state failed to provide her adequate health care or protect her from sexual assault after a second incarceration. Ultimately, Diamond dropped that lawsuit to protect her mental health, according to her lawyers. To see the same issues come up again in 2025 feels like being in a time machine going back in time, said Ezie, who represented Diamond 10 years ago. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I think that is a feeling thats shared by many trans rights activists, Ezie said. It feels like, rather than seeing a forward march of progress when it comes to securing basic rights and basic dignity for transgender people, we are now fighting to hold on to very basic legal wins that you know we achieved, at times, decades ago. Ezie and the legal team at the Center for Constitutional Rights are hopeful that the courts will overturn Georgias law, as they have in other similar cases. For example, Wisconsin enacted a law in 2005 that barred prison doctors from providing hormone therapy or gender-affirming surgery to incarcerated transgender people in state custody. But a federal court ruled that denying this medical care constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. Another state-level class action lawsuit in Colorado resulted in a negotiated settlement agreement between the state and the Department of Corrections requiring an overhaul of how it houses incarcerated transgender women and provides medical care to all trans people behind bars. If the Center for Constitutional Rights is successful in Georgia, Ezie anticipates that there will still be a long road ahead in the effort to challenge anti-trans legislation and policies. Were going to continue to use the courts, were going to continue to organize, were going to continue to as we did prior to the passage of this bill lobby against bills like this that seek to cause so much preventable harm, she said. This is why we fight. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The post Trans people in Georgia prisons are being forced to detransition. Now theyre suing. appeared first on The 19th. News that represents you, in your inbox every weekday. Subscribe to our free, daily newsletter. Georgia Gov. Kemp and the state's majority conservative legislature passed a bill that prohibits incarcerated transgender people from receiving access to hormone therapy and other treatments used to address gender dysphoria. (NIKKI KAHN/THE WASHINGTON POST/GETTY IMAGES) This story was originally reported by Candice Norwood of The 19th. Meet Candice and read more of her reporting on gender, politics and policy. A group of incarcerated transgender women and men have sued Georgia corrections officials, challenging a new law that prevents them from receiving gender-affirming medical care. The lawsuit, filed Friday morning, accuses the state of violating the Eighth Amendment, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Five transgender plaintiffs two men and three women brought the class action lawsuit on behalf of nearly 300 other people in Georgia state prisons, who argue that the states law will have catastrophic consequences. In some cases it is forcing trans people who have already received hormone replacement therapy and other services for years to detransition without their consent. We are very much in the thick of seeing policies like this be adopted, said Chinyere Ezie, a senior staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights, which brought the lawsuit with co-counsel Bondurant Mixson & Elmore LLP. Its really unfortunate, I think that it has and will cost peoples lives. I think that the plan is to really just eradicate trans people from public life, to really contrary to medicine make the treatment of gender dysphoria a culture war, as opposed to a serious medical need that requires treatment. In May, Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican, signed SB 185, a bill passed by the states majority conservative legislature that prohibits the use of state funds or resources for surgery, hormone replacement therapy, cosmetic procedures and other treatments used to address gender dysphoria. The law states explicitly that incarcerated people may still receive treatments like hormone replacement therapy if they are medically necessary for conditions other than gender dysphoria. Ezie told The 19th that the bills sponsors indicated during hearings that incarcerated trans people would not be allowed to pay for treatment themselves, either. Her team has also heard this from their clients, she said. The 19th reached out to the Georgia Department of Corrections to confirm whether incarcerated trans people can pay for these procedures themselves. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Senate Bill 185 prohibits the use of state funds or resources for the following treatments for state inmates: A. Sex reassignment surgeries or any other surgical procedures that are performed for the purpose of altering primary or secondary sexual characteristics; B. Hormone replacement therapies; and C. Cosmetic procedures or prosthetics intended to alter the appearance of primary or secondary sexual characteristics, wrote Joan Heath, the departments director of communications. Thus, the GDC cannot use state resources to transport an offender to be seen by a provider paid for at their own expense, nor allow a provider being paid by an offender to treat such offender at a GDC facility, she continued. The legal complaint filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights includes details about the plaintiffs who described the effects of being cut off from their gender-affirming medical care. One trans woman named Fantasia Horton, incarcerated in Phillips State Prison, had been receiving hormone therapy since 2019 but was completely cut off following the law, despite being told that her dosages would gradually decrease before ending, according to the Center for Constitutional Rights. Due to Defendants policies and actions in terminating her treatment, Ms. Horton is now at grave risk of physical and psychological harm, the complaint stated. Three years ago, after losing access to hormone therapy for just one week after her prisons supply of hormone therapy was temporarily depleted, Ms. Hortons mental health plummeted and her depressive symptoms returned. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Gender dysphoria is a condition recognized by medical journals and professionals. It is defined as the sense of discomfort or anxiety a person feels when their physical gender feels out of sync with their gender identity. This can lead to long-term mental health effects, including periods of depression, thoughts or acts of self-harm. Forced detransition due to anti-trans legislation, coupled with the poor conditions and discrimination that incarcerated trans people often experience, can worsen these mental health consequences. From a physical standpoint, doctors recommend that any termination of hormone replacement therapy takes place gradually over three to six months, rather than cold turkey. Taking away individuals access to gender-affirming therapies while in prison constitutes cruel and unusual punishment and increases the likelihood of abuse and detrimental health consequences, Jan T. Mooney, an Atlanta-based psychologist, and Mark Spencer, an Atlanta-area internal medicine physician, wrote in an April column about the Georgia bill. Abrupt cessation or forced weaning of medically necessary, ongoing treatment is a health risk. Physical effects of hormone withdrawal are accompanied by psychological distress, which may manifest as anxiety, depression, and suicidality, they continued. The class action lawsuit comes 10 years after Ezie first sued over another ban on gender-affirming care in Georgia prisons. In that case Ashley Diamond, a Black transgender woman, sued the Georgia Department of Corrections in 2015 after being held in mens prisons and denied hormone treatments. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The case drew attention from the U.S. Department of Justice, which said at the time that blanket policies barring hormone therapy violate the Eighth Amendment because they do not provide for individualized assessment and treatment. Diamond won an undisclosed settlement in 2016, and her case prompted policy changes in Georgia meant to facilitate better treatment of incarcerated transgender people. But six years later, Diamond sued again, asserting that the state failed to provide her adequate health care or protect her from sexual assault after a second incarceration. Ultimately, Diamond dropped that lawsuit to protect her mental health, according to her lawyers. To see the same issues come up again in 2025 feels like being in a time machine going back in time, said Ezie, who represented Diamond 10 years ago. I think that is a feeling thats shared by many trans rights activists, Ezie said. It feels like, rather than seeing a forward march of progress when it comes to securing basic rights and basic dignity for transgender people, we are now fighting to hold on to very basic legal wins that you know we achieved, at times, decades ago. Ezie and the legal team at the Center for Constitutional Rights are hopeful that the courts will overturn Georgias law, as they have in other similar cases. For example, Wisconsin enacted a law in 2005 that barred prison doctors from providing hormone therapy or gender-affirming surgery to incarcerated transgender people in state custody. But a federal court ruled that denying this medical care constitutes cruel and unusual punishment. Another state-level class action lawsuit in Colorado resulted in a negotiated settlement agreement between the state and the Department of Corrections requiring an overhaul of how it houses incarcerated transgender women and provides medical care to all trans people behind bars. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement If the Center for Constitutional Rights is successful in Georgia, Ezie anticipates that there will still be a long road ahead in the effort to challenge anti-trans legislation and policies. Were going to continue to use the courts, were going to continue to organize, were going to continue to as we did prior to the passage of this bill lobby against bills like this that seek to cause so much preventable harm, she said. This is why we fight. Perched in his sparse kitchen, beef farmer James Penny seems edgy. But once hes outside in the fields he visibly relaxes, approaching his animals softly and with unexpected tenderness. The farmer is clearly heartbroken. Three weeks ago, six of his 25 Shetland ponies many bred by him on his land near the village of Cadnam in the New Forest, nine miles from Southampton disappeared, presumed stolen. On August 2, following a two-week nationwide social media campaign, two mares a mother and her three-year-old filly, just 28 inches high were recovered 75 miles away in London, roaming along a roadside. They were starving, he believes, and had lost some 15kg each. The youngster was red raw on her flank where, Penny alleges, someone had tried to razor off the branding of his initials. When Penny and his neighbours rushed to collect them, it was the first time in the 70-somethings life that he had ventured onto the M25. Each of Pennys herd of Shetland ponies is branded with his initials - Natalie Marsh/Solent News & Photo Agency You cant do anything, youre sort of helpless, he explains quietly of the sense of loss that tormented him, and still does. The fact he is a man of few words makes his restrained emotion even more devastating to witness. These animals are pets and he could tell immediately that they were traumatised the distressed mother, who had still been feeding a year-old foal back at the farm, galloped away from it around a field for three hours. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Its just the way they looked at you, they were off wild eyes. And something we call tucked up, he adds, explaining how he knew they were starving. They draw their stomach in like a greyhound with no food you can see that stress. A few days on and the recovered ponies still warily stand back from the herd. The youngster, named Snippy for the snip of white on her nose, is furthest away, her little brown face stock still, her big eyes watchful, her body taut. She has a visible brown patch from the deep shaving. Penny wafts hay towards her gently, his angular shoulders slumped with concern. Of the missing four he says: Youre just thinking about them, waiting The younger pony, Snippy, has a patch where an attempt was made to shave her branding off - Ollie Thompson/Solent News & Photo Agency His neighbours are nervous. While Pennys are the only ponies known to have disappeared from the forest this summer, numerous Commoners (the name for those who live here who have certain legal rights to graze livestock on the ancient land) have been living in dread of losing their own ponies, fearing thieves at large. Three admit they have been sleeping in their yards in barns, caravans and even horseboxes to guard them. Only this week have they started to ease off. While no suspect has been confirmed in relation to the theft of Pennys Shetlands, the Commoners admit they have reluctantly pointed their suspicions towards a large group of travellers who arrived in the forest shortly before the animals went missing. A few, including Penny, describe encounters in their yards, fields and liveries with members of the community which has now moved on. The stolen mares were reunited with Penny and brought back to the New Forest after being found in London - Paul Grover for The Telegraph Penny claims that on July 17 he came across a group of traveller men and children handling one of his mares a few evenings before he realised his ponies were missing. There was a man who had hold of one by the mane, he claims. They had a truck and a car there and a bowl of food. They had gripped hold of her and she was pulling a bit. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I said what do you think youre doing? and they said they were showing the kids [the pony]. He released her then. I said they were all branded and microchipped. With a bad feeling, the next morning Penny gathered the Shetlands and moved them from the common to his field. He discovered his six ponies missing between July 20 and 22. So does Penny believe the travellers came back and took the Shetlands? Yes, its no good beating about the bush, you might as well say it, he says frankly, adding: The ponies were there before they arrived and disappeared when they arrived. George Hunt, 44, who keeps three riding ponies including a forest pony and a coloured one so-called for its brown and white markings in a livery three miles up the road, called police around the same dates when on three occasions, she claims, members of the traveller community attempted to enter her yard. We were all tending to our horses, and [three young lads] jumped over the back gate, she says, perched on bags of horse feed in the store where she works. She says they made three attempts at different times so she, along with five others, spent nine nights sleeping there [in her yard] in cars. I had around 10 hours sleep [the whole time]. George Hunt says travellers attempted to enter her yard at around the same time Pennys ponies disappeared - Paul Grover for The Telegraph At another local farm the owner, who asks to remain anonymous because she fears reprisals, sounds extremely tired. She also stayed up shifts with her husband in their store barn for seven nights. They have 25 New Forest ponies and a livery. They contacted police about numerous concerns, including travellers entering their land with torches late at night, and chasing the ponies on quad bikes, she claims. It was a very stressful time. Everybody was tired from lack of sleep. It was just really unsettling, she says. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary confirms that between July 17 and 19 it received a number of reports of incidents in that location including suspicious individuals trespassing on farmland, quad bikes being driven over land and distress being caused to horses. It also confirms the travellers camp was unauthorised and officers used their powers to move them on. On the theft of Pennys ponies, a spokesman says: We understand this incident is causing great concern in the local community, and urge anyone with information about the incident, who may be involved, or any suspicious people or vehicles in the area to please report this to police immediately. Neighbour Leesa Merritt, 58, a training manager, and her daughter Anna, 22, also slept in their yard, in their horse box, up to a couple of nights ago. They have had their ponies since they were babies, Anna explains. She started the social media search for Pennys ponies and Leesa was part of the rescue squad on August 2. Leesa and Anna Merritt, who helped with the search for neighbour Pennys ponies - Paul Grover for The Telegraph The appeal was shared over a couple of thousand times very early on, Anna says. The breakthrough came on August 1, with the discovery of a notice on a lost-and-found site in Hillingdon, west London, about two Shetlands loose on a lane near Harefield village. One had been caught and stabled, the other was still loose in a maize field. They both had Pennys branding. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement When they arrived in London, usually friendly Snippy backed away. I couldnt get near her, Penny says. They spent three hours in a 20-acre maize field trying to entice the mother. She was frightened to death, says Penny. She looked pretty empty, starved. She knew my voice but we couldnt get within 100 yards. Only now can he get within a few metres. It is not only the Commoners who fear pony theft. On July 11 a Shetland foal called Lucy, just two months old, went missing near Truro, Cornwall. Her owner Jean Curd, 73, who has a herd of 14 Shetlands, told The Telegraph the foals mother had been distraught; Lucy had not been weaned. She was taken from a field during the night and has not been found. Curd fears she may not have survived. It was really distressing, her mother kept going back to the gap in the fence, calling, she says. It was awful. At that age it is so difficult to keep them alive she would be of no value, but she was valuable to me. Furthermore, in May a six-year-old miniature pony, 30in-high Mini Mouse, was taken from her stable in Soham, Cambridgeshire. Police say enquiries are ongoing. Shetland ponies such as Pennys arent particularly valuable, but may be attractive to thieves because of their size - Paul Grover for The Telegraph David Collings, coordinator at Hampshire Horsewatch, states that horse theft is nowhere near as prevalent as it once was, but there may be a trend in the offing, although he reiterates that given the spacing of the thefts there is no way of making a positive connection to any of them. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This number of thefts is not large in the greater scheme of things but obviously a worry for owners, Collings adds. He encourages people to review their security, comply with legislation to microchip their horses and keep clear photographs of them in their winter and summer coats. The recent thefts are of concern and the equine community can assist one another and the police by reporting suspicious behaviour on or near equine properties. While riding ponies are valued in their thousands, the Shetlands are worth just 500-800 each, says Penny. Collings believes they are attractive to thieves because of their size. They are easy to transport away in a van or large car. These ponies can easily be sold on. It could be that they were stolen with a view to breeding them. Penny wont turn his herd loose on the forest for a while. They will remain in his field, which is unusual, even in winter. The other ponies are struggling to accept Snippy and her mum, and he wants to see their trauma ease. He softly rattles the handle of his bucket again, but the pair just turn and walk away. 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. A tree worker was rescued after being stuck high above ground this week in Ohio. [DOWNLOAD: Free WHIO-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] The North Canton Fire Department posted on its social media page that a tree service workers bucket malfunctioned. It left him stranded 75 feet in the air! TRENDING STORIES: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A firefighter went up a fire truck ladder to assist the worker to the ground, according to the North Canton Fire Department. The department posted photos of the rescue on its Facebook page. No one was hurt. Photo contributed by North Canton Fire Department (via Facebook) Photo contributed by North Canton Fire Department (via Facebook) [SIGN UP: WHIO-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCBD) The Tri-County Human Trafficking Task Force will have its quarterly meeting Friday morning. The meeting will feature a presentation on key findings from the task forces newly released biennial report as well as a discussion of proposed state legislation. The task force served the counties of Charleston, Berkeley, and Dorchester in regional anti-trafficking efforts. Charleston County Sheriff Carl Ritchie is expected to take part in a discussion on current and upcoming legislative efforts impacting anti-trafficking work in the state. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The meeting will be held in Charleston County Council Chambers in North Charleston. 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. TRINITY COUNTY, Texas (KETK) The Trinity County Commissioners Court is expected to call for a bond election regarding the construction of a new Trinity County Jail. If the election is held, Trinity County Sheriff Woody Wallace is urging residents to make an informed decision about whether or not to support the construction of a new jail facility. Cherokee County Sheriffs Office mourns sudden loss of K-9 officer As your sheriff, I am not asking you to vote for or against the jail, Wallace said. I am simply asking that you get the facts and become as informed as possible before making your decision. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement To help inform residents about the impacts of a new jail, Wallace will be hosting several town hall meetings and live social media forums. Wallace stated that the meetings are not intended to persuade voters but to educate them and provide them with accurate information. The current Trinity County Jail. Information that Wallace said he will include at the meetings is: The true cost of operating our current jail. The reason a new facility is being proposed. The advantages and disadvantages of constructing a new jail. What the future could look like if the jail is or isnt built. Our goal is simply to ensure that every voter has accurate facts and a clear understanding of the issues involved before heading to the polls, Wallace said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. A federal court judge has sentenced a man for the abduction of a 12-year-old North Carolina girl who was found by authorities in the cab of an 18-wheeler at a Mississippi truck stop in October 2024. U.S. Senior District Judge Sharion Aycock sentenced Randy Taylor, 35, of Columbia, South Carolina, to 210 months (17.5 years) in prison followed by 10 years of supervised release for transporting a minor from North Carolina to Louisiana through Mississippi with intent for sexual conduct. That is according to a Thursday, Aug. 8, press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Mississippi. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to court documents, Taylor solicited a minor online to engage in sexual activity with him. Records state that Taylor picked up the 12-year-old outside of her home in his 18-wheeler and took the child to Louisiana where he recorded a sexual interaction between the two of them. "This defendant earned every year of this sentence when he transported a 12-year-old child across state lines and sexually assaulted her," U.S. Attorney Clay Joyner states in the news release. "Assistant U.S. Attorney Parker King and our partners at the FBI and the Carroll County Sheriff's Office have demonstrated that there will be zero tolerance for those who would take advantage of innocent victims." At the time of the incident, the Carroll County Sheriff's Office said deputies and FBI agents responded on Oct. 1, 2024, to an alert regarding a missing and/or endangered 12-year-old Native American child from North Carolina. The sheriff's office said deputies were notified that the child might be at a truck stop in the Vaiden area, which is a little over 80 miles north of Jackson. The photo shown is of Randy Donovan Taylor's truck being towed after authorities arrested him. Update on police sergeant's death: Off-duty Mississippi police skilled in suspected murder-suicide Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Upon arrival, FBI Agents and Carroll County deputies began searching vehicles at the 35/55 Truck Stop in Vaiden and discovered the girl in a cab of the semitruck. Taylor was then taken into custody and booked. Authorities provided an update in the Thursday news release stating the minor was returned home safely to her family. Carroll County Sheriff Clint Walker previously stated that following the minor's abduction on Sept. 29, the FBI, with support from multiple law enforcement agencies including but not limited to the Jackson Metro area, Intel Analysts, Mississippi Bureau of Investigation, Rankin County Sheriff's Office and Madison County Sheriff's Office worked to track and locate the child. Walker made a follow up statement in the Thursday news release, thanking God that the child's life was saved and "her victimization ended." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "We do not tolerate child sex predators operating in Carroll County," Walker states in the news release. "We remain committed to protecting children from predators. Parents should be more vigilant than ever concerning their childrens online activities. Unfortunately, these types of cases dont always end this well." Pam Dankins is the breaking news reporter for the Clarion Ledger. Have a tip? Email her at pdankins@gannett.com. This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Man sentenced after abducting 12-year-old girl later found at MS truck stop On Tuesday, the Trump administration unveiled another disturbing nickname for an immigrant detention facility this time in Indiana. If you are in America illegally, you could find yourself in Indianas Speedway Slammer, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote in a post on X. DHS then shared an image of a race caradorned with ICE lettering and bearing a No. 5 label, which is the number for Pato OWard, the only Mexican driver in the IndyCar series. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Both posts allude to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which famously hosts the Indy 500 each year, and is located roughly 75 miles from a newly announced detention site. They also come as MAGA voters have gleefully welcomed Republicans shocking moniker for the Alligator Alcatraz facility in the Everglades and point to how Trump officials have used these names to make light of their cruel practices. In a press release, Noem said the agency would be partnering with Indiana to detain as many as 1,000 immigrants at the states Miami Correctional Facility. The arrangement is similar to the one the administration used in Florida: Under a policy known as 287(g), federal authorities can work with state and local officials on expanding immigration enforcement, including detention. In Indianas case, it wont be building a new facility,but housing people in vacant beds at an existing one. Noems branding attempts have generated significant backlash given how casually the agency is referring to an immigrant detention facility, which plays a key role in Trumps violent and hardline enforcement practices. Additionally, the graphic containing OWards car number hasbeen criticized as racist since it appears to single him out, as federal agents have targeted Mexican immigrants and other people of color. The use of the speedway imagery has been contested as well, with IndyCar requesting that its intellectual property not be utilized in this way. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It caught a lot of people off guard. Definitely caught me off guard, OWard said on Wednesday of the DHS image. I was just a little bit shocked at the coincidences of that and, you know, of what it means... I dont think it made a lot of people proud, to say the least. IndyCar also pushed back in a Wednesday statement. We were unaware of plans to incorporate our imagery as part of yesterdays announcement, the organization said. Consistent with our approach to public policy and political issues, we are communicating our preference that our IP not be utilized moving forward in relation to this matter.The town of Speedway, Indiana, which is home to the famous racetrack, put out a statement noting that it hadnt been involved in the naming process, either. An AI generated image of a car with ICE on the side does not violate anyones intellectual property rights, a DHS spokesperson said in a response to IndyCar. DHS will continue promoting the Speedway Slammer as a comprehensive and collaborative approach to combating illegal immigration. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement DHS actions follow Noems statements describing Alligator Alcatraz as amodel that the agency intends to replicate across multiple states due to what she says are cost savings and convenience the federal government can get out of these partnerships. The Florida facility has been condemned for the inhumane treatment of detainees there, including a lack of water to bathe in, sweltering temperatures, and unreliable access to counsel. Related... The Trump administration asked a federal judge to dismiss Harvard Universitys lawsuit over international students, claiming the students present serious national security and public safety risks, according to a Friday court filing. The filing is part of Harvards second lawsuit against the Trump administration. A federal judge has already granted two preliminary injunctions related to the case in late June. One preliminary injunction allows Harvard to host international students. No appeal has been filed on that decision. The other rejects a Trump administration attempt to ban Harvard foreign students from entering the country to study. This decision was appealed by the Trump administration and will now go to the First Circuit Court of Appeals. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Trump administration explained the second action in a Friday filing by claiming that Harvard has faced increased crime rates, disciplinary failures, unrest on campus, entanglement with foreign adversaries and ongoing discrimination in admissions. After requesting Harvard to provide the disciplinary and criminal records of its foreign students, the federal government said the universitys responses have been woefully inadequate. Meanwhile, Harvards first lawsuit focuses on the stripping of $2.6 billion of Harvards federal dollars by the Trump administration. The federal judge has yet to make a decision on the case. Read more: Legal document shows discord between Harvard and Trump admin amid negotiations Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The latest push from the Trump administration to dismiss the lawsuit comes after a court filing on Wednesday, where the Trump administration said it made an offer to Harvard that it would not use a May 22 letter revoking a key certification that allows the university to host international students. The offer was made in an attempt to simplify this case and narrow the issues in dispute, according to the filing. The Trump administration also said it was open to counterproposals and a meet and confer, but Harvard didnt accept. At the end of July, The New York Times reported that Harvard University was open to a potential $500 million settlement as a means of ending the months-long battle with the Trump administration. However, faculty at Harvard close with President Alan Garber dispute that, according to three unnamed sources in reporting by The Harvard Crimson. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The sources said that information was leaked to the press by White House officials and that the university is interested in resolving the dispute through its two federal court cases, according to the outlet. What has happened between the Trump admin and Harvard? The Trump administration has gone after Harvard since April, cutting billions of dollars. Demanding an overhaul of Harvards leadership structure, admissions and hiring the federal government warned the school could risk losing $9 billion in funding. Harvard rejected those demands, stating they seek to invade university freedoms long recognized by the Supreme Court. Then the fight over funding occurred. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It began with a $2.2 billion funding freeze on April 14 after the school refused to comply with the federal administrations demands. In response, Harvard filed a lawsuit on April 21, arguing that its constitutional rights had been violated by the governments threats to pull billions of dollars in funding. Harvard President Garber also signed onto a letter with hundreds of other university presidents pushing back against government overreach and political interference by the Trump administration. At the beginning of May, the Trump administration said it would bar Harvard University from acquiring new federal grants while the school continues to refuse to comply with the administrations demands for change on its campus. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A few days later, eight federal agencies cut $450 million in grants and then the United States Department of Health and Human Services cut $60 million in grants from the university. Harvard went on to amend its lawsuit against the Trump administration. On May 16, a wave of nearly one thousand federal research grant terminations began, amounting to more than $2.4 billion, according to an analysis by Nature. In response, Harvard established a new Presidential Priorities Fund, asking for donations in the midst of federal cuts. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Some of Harvards schools, including its School of Public Health, took to social media to ask for donations after nearly every single federal grant had been terminated. Other investigations and threats have been made against the institution, some of which have focused on threatening the universitys ability to enroll international students. This prompted Harvard to open a second lawsuit against the Trump administration over its ability to accept international students. Most recently, the State Department opened an investigation into Harvard Universitys use of international visas. The Department of Homeland Security has also subpoenaed Harvard over its failure to provide documents concerning the misconduct or criminal actions of foreign students. More Higher Ed Read the original article on MassLive. The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to lift a judges limits on roving immigration raids in the Los Angeles area. A federal judge last month ruled Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were conducting raids that likely ran afoul of constitutional protections against unreasonable seizures. The limits prohibit ICE from relying on someones apparent race, use of Spanish, presence at a particular location or their type of work to form reasonable suspicion to stop and detain them. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement No one thinks that speaking Spanish or working in construction always creates reasonable suspicion. Nor does anyone suggest those are the only factors federal agents ever consider, Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote in the administrations Supreme Court papers. But in many situations, such factorsalone or in combinationcan heighten the likelihood that someone is unlawfully present in the United States, he continued. Sauer said the ruling interferes with law enforcement in an epicenter for ICE operations, estimating that 2 million people in the country illegally live in the judicial district where the ruling applies. It covers the Central District of California, which spans Los Angeles and surrounding areas of the state, including Riverside, San Luis Obispo and San Bernardino. U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong, an appointee of former President Biden, imposed the limits last month as a lawsuit filed by five migrants stopped by ICE and four private organizations proceeds. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Sauer contended that the plaintiffs dont have legal standing to bring the case because they dont face immediate risk of being subjected to an unconstitutional stop. Sauer also argued the judges ruling misapplies the Fourth Amendment and flouts the Supreme Courts recent decision clawing back universal injunctions. The administrations Supreme Court appeal comes after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals largely left the judges ruling in place. The Trump administration has regularly sought the high courts emergency intervention when lower judges block major policy priorities. Thursdays filing marks the administrations 22nd emergency application at the Supreme Court since taking office, and almost all have been successful. 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. SUFFOLK, Va. (WAVY) Since March, employees at national parks, under orders from President Trump, have been told to cover up or remove any content that might inappropriately disparage Americans. But would this provide a more accurate account of history, or a sanitized version of it? The emotion can be visceral when you view the unforgiving landscape Africans crossed to escape the tortures of slavery. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In 2004, the Great Dismal Swamp was designated a landmark on the National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom, but the stories of pain and determination could soon vanish under that presidential directive. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Trump Administration seems bent on ensuring that only history that does not make some White people feel uncomfortable about what our country did to them in the past is not told or just completely erased for the landscape, said Dr. Cassandra Newby, an endowed professor of Virginia Black history and culture at Norfolk State University. This week, the National Park Service announced plans to restore a Confederate statue that was downed following the 2020 death of George Floyd at the hands of police. The Department of the Interior issued this statement to 10 On Your Side. Secretarys Order 3431, Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History, directs the Department of the Interior to identify and, where appropriate, restore historical monuments, markers, exhibits, and memorials altered or removed since 2020. This effort reinforces our commitment to telling the full and accurate story of our nations past. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement At the historic site of the underground railroad, new information greets visitors. It reads in part, Please let us know if you have identified any areas of this site that need repair, or any services that need improvement or any signs or other information that are negative about either a past or living Americans, or that failed to emphasize the beauty, grandeur, and abundance of landscapes and other natural features. Newby, who uncovered Norfolks hidden role in the intrastate slave trade, is calling on the nation learn and grow. I always say, because you feel uncomfortable, for whatever reason, talking about those difficult moments, it makes it hard for us to move forward collectively as a nation if we try to hide our past, Newby said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A program called Save our Signs is asking people to upload pictures taken at national parks that tell the nations history. 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. By Idrees Ali and Brendan O'Boyle (Reuters) -President Donald Trump's administration can use the military to go after Latin American drug gangs that have been designated as global terrorist organizations and has directed the Pentagon to prepare options, U.S. officials said. The Trump administration designated Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel and other drug gangs as well as Venezuelan criminal group Tren de Aragua as global terrorist organizations in February, as Trump stepped up immigration enforcement against alleged gang members. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Thursday the administration could now use the military to go after cartels. "It allows us to now target what they're operating and to use other elements of American power, intelligence agencies, the Department of Defense, whatever... to target these groups if we have an opportunity to do it," Rubio said. "We have to start treating them as armed terrorist organizations, not simply drug dealing organizations." The New York Times reported on Friday that Trump had secretly signed a directive to begin using military force against the groups. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, confirmed that move but said military action against the designated groups did not appear imminent and it was unclear exactly what type of operations they would carry out. A second U.S. official said the authority would, among other things, give the U.S. Navy the authority to carry out actions at sea and could include drug interdiction operations. Operations could also include targeted military raids. The U.S. military has already been increasing its airborne surveillance of Mexican drug cartels to collect intelligence to determine how to best counter their activities. NOT ENTERING MEXICAN TERRITORY? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said on Friday that members of the U.S. military would not be entering Mexican territory. Sheinbaum said her government had been informed of a coming order but that it had nothing to do with the U.S. military operating on Mexican soil. Any move to use U.S. military forces against cartels could raise legal questions. Brian Finucane, with the International Crisis Group, has written that military action in Mexico would "be hard to square with domestic or international law." "Even though U.S. military action in Mexico would almost certainly be unlawful, as a practical matter such illegality may not serve as an effective impediment," Finucane said after the February global terrorist designations. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trump has previously offered to send U.S. troops to Mexico to help Sheinbaum combat drug trafficking, an offer Sheinbaum said in May she had refused. He has said publicly the U.S. would take unilateral military action if Mexico failed to dismantle drug cartels. Sheinbaum has called any such action a violation of Mexico's sovereignty. Trump considered military action in Mexico during his first term. His former defense secretary, Mark Esper, wrote in his memoir that Trump asked at least twice in 2020 if the military could "shoot missiles into Mexico to destroy drug labs." Esper wrote that he replied that it would be illegal and an act of war. Washington's actions to prosecute and combat cartel activity in Mexico have caused tension with its southern neighbor, which sees them at times as challenges to Mexican sovereignty. Sheinbaum on Friday questioned U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi's accusation a day earlier that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was linked to the Sinaloa Cartel, saying Mexico was not investigating alleged ties and had no evidence of such, and that if Washington did, it should share it. (Reporting by Idrees Ali; Editing by Nia Williams and Alistair Bell) The Trump administration is seeking a $1 billion settlement from the University of California, Los Angeles, CNN has exclusively learned, marking the latest effort by the White House to shape higher education and extract significant concessions from universities. Last week, the Trump administration began freezing millions in funding to UCLA, with the schools chancellor Julio Frenk saying in a letter to the university community this week that $584 million is suspended and at risk and warning of devastating consequences to its research mission. Officials from UCLA have now returned to the negotiating table, a source familiar with the matter said, and have made clear they would like to reach a deal to restore that funding. The Trump administration, in turn, is laying its marker for a high-dollar settlement. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement University of California President James B. Milliken responded to the proposed deal in a statement Friday afternoon, saying that the school is reviewing the document from the Department of Justice but casting the settlement figure as a nonstarter that would devastate the university. Earlier this week, we offered to engage in good faith dialogue with the Department to protect the University and its critical research mission. As a public university, we are stewards of taxpayer resources and a payment of this scale would completely devastate our countrys greatest public university system as well as inflict great harm on our students and all Californians, Milliken said. A draft of a proposed agreement sent to the school Friday and obtained by CNN requires UCLA to pay the federal government $1 billion over multiple installments, along with a $172 million claims fund for people impacted by violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex or national origin. The agreement the administration is proposing which, if agreed to, would mark the biggest settlement its received from a higher education institution requires a resolution monitor to oversee the school, as well as a new senior administrator who will be focused on compliance with anti-discrimination laws. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The proposed agreement prohibits overnight demonstrations and calls on the school to revise its policies and procedures on protests. It also requires UCLA to discontinue race and ethnicity-based scholarships and provide the resolution monitor with admissions data. The proposal would ensure single-sex housing for women on campus and ensure athletic recognition for female athletes in womens sports. The UCLA hospital and medical school will also be expected to stop providing gender-affirming care. In return, UCLAs funding would be restored and the school would be eligible for future federal grants and contracts. The Trump administration has targeted UCLA, along with other schools, as it cracks down on alleged antisemitism on college campuses. The school is currently under an antisemitism investigation by the Department of Justice. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement UCLA in March launched its own initiative to combat antisemitism and last week settled a lawsuit that accused the university of letting Jewish students get targeted during 2024 pro-Palestinian protests on campus. The proposed deal comes as President Donald Trump and his team have pushed for policy changes at colleges and universities, including over diversity, equity and inclusion and other initiatives. The Trump administration has heralded multi-million-dollar deals in recent days with Brown University and Columbia University, and it remains engaged in a pair of lawsuits with Harvard University. California state Sen. Scott Wiener, a Democrat, lambasted the proposed agreement with UCLA as morally unacceptable and mob boss behavior by Trump. In California, we support trans people, we welcome immigrants, we celebrate our beautiful diversity, and we uphold academic freedom. We do not bow to fascist tactics, Wiener said in a statement to CNN. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Wiener, who co-chairs the states Legislative Jewish Caucus, acknowledged that there have been serious antisemitism issues at UCLA but said the school is taking steps to address it and has made progress. This story has been updated with additional developments. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com The Trump administration is demanding more than $1 billion from the University of California, Los Angeles, as part of an effort to reinstate hundreds of millions in previously suspended federal research funding, according to media reports. Under the proposal, obtained by The New York Times on Friday, UCLA would pay $1 billion to the U.S. government and contribute $172 million to a claims fund to compensate victims of civil rights violations. More from TheWrap Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement If accepted, it would mark the largest payout by any university to reach a deal with the White House. By comparison, Columbia University agreed to pay $221 million in its settlement, while Brown University committed $50 million to state workforce programs. University of California President James B. Milliken said in a Friday statement that the document, sent by the Department of Justice, was just received by the school and they were in the process of actively reviewing it. He continued: As a public university, we are stewards of taxpayer resources, and a payment of this scale would completely devastate our countrys greatest public university system as well as inflict great harm on our students and all Californians. In recent months, the Trump administration has focused heavily on elite private universities, framing its actions as part of a broader campaign to combat antisemitism and reform institutions it perceives as bastions of liberal ideology. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Its attention on UCLA, however, has escalated quickly. On July 29 the same day that University of California settled a lawsuit alleging the school allowed pro-Palestinian protesters to block Jewish students on campus the Justice Department announced it believed UCLA had committed civil rights violations. Later that week, school chancellor Julio Frenk confirmed the federal government had begun freezing the universitys research funding. The suspension of these funds is not only a loss to the researchers who rely on critical grants, Frenk said in a statement, it is a loss for Americans across the nation whose work, health and future depend on our groundbreaking research and scholarship. He added: We are doing everything we can to protect the interests of faculty, students and staff and to defend our values and principles. The UC Board of Regents and the UC Office of the President are providing counsel as we actively evaluate our best course of action. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement President Milliken also addressed the cuts to funding, noting they do nothing to address antisemitism. He also said that the extensive work that UCLA and the entire University of California have taken to combat antisemitism has apparently been ignored. The announced cuts would be a death knell for innovative work that saves lives, grows our economy and fortifies our national security. It is in our countrys best interest that funding be restored. Columbia was the first university to settle with the Trump administration over antisemitism claims back in July. Harvard University has sued the administration over their funding cuts and negotiated for a restoration of their federal backing. The two Ivy League schools were among 10 universities Trumps Federal Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism flagged as campuses with increased antisemitic incidents since Oct. 7, 2023. Columbia; Harvard; George Washington University; Johns Hopkins University; New York University; Northwestern University; the University of California, Berkeley; the University of Minnesota and the University of Southern California are currently under investigation by the task force, along with UCLA. Other Ivy League schools that have since been targeted include Brown, Cornell, the University of Pennsylvania and Princeton. The post Trump Administration Seeks $1 Billion Settlement From UCLA in Federal Funding Dispute appeared first on TheWrap. The Trump administration turns, once again, to the Supreme Court for quick help in carrying out executive actions that lower courts have halted for their apparent illegality. At issue in the latest outing are the so-called roving patrols by immigration authorities in central California. A federal district judge ruled last month that individuals and groups who sued the government would likely succeed in proving that the administration is conducting roving patrols without reasonable suspicion and denying access to lawyers. U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong said the government cant rely on the following factors to make stops: apparent race or ethnicity; speaking Spanish or English with an accent; presence at a particular location, such as a bus stop, day laborer pickup area or agricultural site; or ones type of work. Last week, a three-judge panel of Democratic-appointed judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit refused to halt the Biden appointees order. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Approving the factors laid out by Frimpong, the panel observed that apparent Hispanic or Latino race or ethnicity has limited relevance in this context, because large numbers of native-born and naturalized citizens have such physical characteristics, especially in central California. The judges further noted that many people who are lawfully in this country speak Spanish or accented English. They likewise downplayed any suspicious nature to being at a particular location or working a certain job, citing Supreme Court precedent on the Fourth Amendment. In its emergency application to the Supreme Court, the administration conceded that no one thinks that speaking Spanish or working in construction always creates reasonable suspicion. But U.S. Solicitor General John Sauer wrote that in many situations, such factors alone or in combination can heighten the likelihood that someone is unlawfully present in the United States. Sauer complained that immigration agents cant detain people based on those factors even after encountering someone who speaks only Spanish and works as a day laborer at a worksite that has been cited 30 times for hiring illegal aliens as day laborers. As the administration has done throughout President Donald Trumps second term, Sauer casts the latest litigation as yet another instance of the justices needing to check their lower court colleagues. When lower courts have tried to stymie other areas of immigration enforcement with unlawful, blunderbuss injunctions, this Court has not hesitated to stay those orders, he wrote, citing recent examples of the high court siding with the administration (over dissent from Democratic-appointed justices). Against that backdrop, Sauer is pleading with the justices to free the administration from what he called the straitjacket on law-enforcement efforts. How the court handles the request could indicate whether the justices agree with that dramatic framing, or whether they see that claimed confinement as a consequence of the Constitution rather than defiance of it. Subscribe to the Deadline: Legal Newsletter for expert analysis on the top legal stories of the week, including updates from the Supreme Court and developments in the Trump administrations legal cases. This article was originally published on MSNBC.com President Donald Trumps administration urged the Supreme Court on Thursday to allow immigration enforcement officials to continue what critics describe as roving patrols in Southern California that lower courts said likely violated the 4th Amendment. At issue were a series of incidents in which masked and heavily armed Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents pulled aside people who identify as Latino including some US citizens around Los Angeles to interrogate them about their immigration status. Lower courts found that the agency likely had not established the reasonable suspicion required to justify those stops. A US District Court last month ordered the Department of Homeland Security to discontinue the practice if the stops were based largely on a persons apparent ethnicity, language or their presence at a particular location, such as a farm or bus stop. The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals largely upheld that decision, which applied only to seven central California counties. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Trump administration urged the high court to block that decision as it continues to aggressively crack down on illegal immigration. No one thinks that speaking Spanish or working in construction always creates reasonable suspicion, the Justice Department told the Supreme Court. But in many situations, such factors alone or in combination can heighten the likelihood that someone is unlawfully present in the United States. Immigration agents, the Justice Department said, should be entitled to rely on these factors when ramping up enforcement of immigration laws. Five individuals and three immigration advocacy groups sued over the patrols. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The case is the latest of nearly two dozen emergency appeals the administration has filed at the Supreme Court since Trump began his second term in January. Many of those have dealt with Trumps immigration policies. The Supreme Court will likely deal with the emergency appeal in the next several weeks. In siding against Trump, US District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong said the administration was attempting to convince the court in the face of a mountain of evidence that none of the plaintiffs claims were true. Frimpong, appointed by President Joe Biden, said in her ruling that the court needed to decide whether the plaintiffs could prove that the Trump administration is indeed conducting roving patrols without reasonable suspicion and denying access to lawyers. This court decides based on all the evidence presented that they are, Frimpong wrote. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In its appeal Thursday, the administration argued lower courts weighing the case had flouted the Supreme Courts decision in late June that limited the ability of lower courts to issue sweeping orders blocking a presidents agenda. Rather than limiting relief to the named respondents, the court enjoined the government as to any detentive stops of anyone among the 20 million inhabitants of the Central District of California whether those stops affect respondents or not, the administration said. But the 9th Circuit concluded that Frimpongs decision was in bounds. To start with, the appeals court said, the geographic impact Frimpongs order was limited. It also only incidentally affected the non-named parties, the court reasoned. And any other outcome, the appeals court wrote, would be unworkable. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement How would a federal agent who is about to detain a person whose identity is not known, the court asked, discern in advance whether that person is on the list of individuals who sued. CNNs Kaanita Iyer contributed to this report. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com U.S. President Donald Trump announced that he will host the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan on Aug. 8 for a "Historic Peace Summit" at the White House, aimed at resolving decades of hostilities between the two nations. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev are scheduled to join Trump for an "official Peace Signing Ceremony," according to Trump's post on his Truth Social platform. "These two Nations have been at War for many years, resulting in the deaths of thousands of people," Trump wrote. "Many Leaders have tried to end the War, with no success, until now, thanks to TRUMP. My Administration has been engaged with both sides for quite some time." He added that he was "very proud of these courageous Leaders for doing the right thing." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The two nations have been sworn enemies for decades, engaging in two wars over Nagorno-Karabakh region, a long-disputed enclave primarily populated by ethnic Armenians, but internationally recognized as Azerbaijan territory. Azerbaijan recaptured the territory from Armenian forces in a swift 2023 offensive, prompting the exodus of more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians. Despite holding previous talks aimed at a peaceful resolution, including a meeting last month in the United Arab Emirates, a breakthrough had proven elusive until now. Read also: Explainer: Why Armenia-Russia relations continue to deteriorate Trump, who has previously expressed his belief that his mediation efforts deserve the Nobel Peace Prize, added that Washington would sign bilateral agreements "with both Countries to pursue Economic opportunities together" to unlock the region's potential. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to officials who spoke with the Associated Press, the prospective agreement would grant the U.S. leasing rights to develop a new transit corridor, which would be named the "Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity." This corridor is designed to connect Azerbaijan to its Nakhchivan region, separated by a 32-kilometer (20-mile) stretch of Armenian territory. The new route is expected to eventually include rail, oil, gas, and fiber optic lines, facilitating the movement of goods and people. The deal stipulates that private corporations, not the U.S. government, would fund its construction. Read also: Best way to ramp up Western sanctions on Russia is to double down on their enforcement Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. The White House announced on Thursday that it will use federal law enforcement officers to help police Washington D.C. The move comes one day after President Donald Trump threatened to take over the citys police force in response to an attempted hijacking that left one Trump administration staffer injured. Washington, DC is an amazing city, but it has been plagued by violent crime for far too long, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. President Trump has directed an increased presence of federal law enforcement to protect innocent citizens. Starting tonight, there will be no safe harbor for violent criminals in D.C. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The effort will begin as a seven-day operation, with the option to extend as needed, according to a White House statement. Increased law enforcement will be present on the streets at midnight, led by the U.S. Park Police, with participation from all members of the Making DC Safe and Beautiful Task Force established under a March executive order. The focus will be on high traffic tourist areas, the statement said. Those law enforcement groups include the Metropolitan Police Department, United States Capitol Police and Metro Transit Police Department, among many other groups. The D.C. mayors office declined to comment, but District officials have long resisted federal efforts to encroach on what they believe are local affairs. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Homeland Security Investigations, as well as Enforcement and Removal Protections, two subsets of ICE, will also be deployed. Federal officers will be identified, in marked units, and highly visible, the statement said. The announcement comes as the White House has criticized local government in the nations capital for not adequately dealing with violent crime in the city. Last year, violent crime in Washington hit a 30-year low, according to city police data. WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) The president is pushing to crack down on crime in our nations capital starting Friday. The White House is moving forward with plans to increase federal law enforcement presence in D.C. This comes just days after a former DOGE staffer was assaulted in the city. Not long after, the president threatened to take federal control of D.C., calling crime out of control. President Trump said on Truth Social Washington, D.C., will be a safe place very soon. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He reposted an image of a former DOGE employee who was attacked in D.C. Youll be seeing more soon, I dont want to get too far ahead of ourselves, said White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller. White House officials say the district can expect to see more federal police presence starting Friday. The president has been very clear hes going to take the action necessary to secure the city of Washington, said Miller. The administration says its part of the presidents goal to make the city safer and aligns with an executive order establishing a task force to reduce crime in the district. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Though D.C. data shows total violent crime down 26% this year compared to last year U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro says its still too high. We just have too much crime, said Pirro. Pirro says the administration and the Metropolitan Police Department are looking to increase law enforcement efforts, especially when it comes to teens. Over the past two years D.C. police department data show 56% of carjacking arrests involved those under 18. Young people are coddled, and they dont need to be coddled anymore, said Pirro. This increased law enforcement presence is supposed to be a seven-day effort, but could go longer if needed, according to the White House. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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 DC News Now | DC, Virginia, Maryland News, Weather, Traffic, Sports Live. It was a rare instance of potential consequences for Trump administration officials back in April, when U.S. District Judge James Boasberg raised the prospect of criminal contempt over Alien Enemies Act flights to El Salvador in March. But two Trump-appointed appellate judges just vacated his probable cause order, granting the administration extraordinary relief over dissent from an Obama appointee. Each of the three judges on the appellate panel in Washington, D.C., wrote their own opinions, contained in a document published Friday spanning over 100 pages. The upshot is that accountability is not likely to come for anyone in the administration who violated Boasbergs order. The Constitution does not tolerate willful disobedience of judicial orders especially by officials of a coordinate branch who have sworn an oath to uphold it, Boasberg wrote in April, finding probable cause that government defendants had violated his order. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement That sentiment was echoed by the dissent on Friday, with Judge Cornelia Pillard backing her fellow Obama appointee in writing that the panel majority does an exemplary judge a grave disservice by overstepping its bounds to upend his effort to vindicate the judicial authority that is our shared trust. Yet it was Boasberg who overstepped, according to the Trump-appointed judges in the majority, Gregory Katsas and Neomi Rao. While noting that the trial judge was placed in an enormously difficult position in dealing with fast-paced litigation, Katsas wrote that the governments conduct clearly and indisputably was not criminal. Rao wrote that Boasberg used the threat of criminal contempt to coerce the Executive Branch to comply with an order it had no authority to enforce. Pillard closed her dissent by citing legal principles regarding obeying court orders and the fair administration of justice. The rule of law means those principles apply to officials in the executive branch just as they apply to all of us, she wrote. But practically speaking, Fridays ruling is the latest evidence that that might not be so. Subscribe to the Deadline: Legal Newsletter for expert analysis on the top legal stories of the week, including updates from the Supreme Court and developments in the Trump administrations legal cases. This article was originally published on MSNBC.com President Donald Trump has secretly authorized military force against Latin American drug cartels designated by the United States as foreign terrorist organizations, according to reports. The move, reported by the New York Times, would give U.S. forces permission to engage the cartels, which traffic drugs like fentanyl across the US-Mexico border, "The president is determined to not just dismantle but completely destroy [Venezuelan dictator Nicolas] Maduros Cartel de Los Soles and obliterate their operations in the Western Hemisphere," a source close to the White House said, the New York Post reported. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Us Accuses Venezuelan Regime Of Narco-terrorism Over Alliances With Tren De Aragua, Sinaloa Cartel President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, on January 20, 2025, including one that designates Mexican cartels as foreign terror organizations. The anti-cartel effort is being coordinated among several departments, including the Department of Defense, Justice Department, Department of Homeland Security, Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Treasury, the source added. "President Trumps top priority is protecting the homeland, which is why he took the bold step to designate several cartels and gangs as foreign terrorist organizations," deputy White House press secretary Anna Kelly said in a statement to Fox News Digital. Read On The Fox News App Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Friday said the U.S. military would not be entering Mexican territory following reports that Washington could take action to combat the cartels. Rubio Rips Venezuela's Maduro As 'Narco-terrorist' Leader Threatening Us One Year After Disputed Election President Donald Trump and an image of fentanyl pills. Trump is considering using military force to combat Latin American drug cartels classified as foreign terrorist organizations. "It has nothing to do with Mexican territory," she said. "It has to do with their country. It does not involve our territory." Trump has previously discussed using military force against drug cartels in an effort to stop the flow of drugs and illegal immigrants across the southern border. He has also sanctioned high-ranking members of Cartel del Noreste, one of the most violent drug-trafficking organizations in Mexico and a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Most recently, he has used the threat of tariffs to force Mexico and Canada to actively participate in anti-smuggling efforts. In relation to Latin American cartels, the administration has also singled out Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who is wanted by the U.S. On Thursday, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced a $50 million reward for information leading to his arrest. "Maduro uses foreign terrorist organizations like TdA (Tren de Aragua), Sinaloa and Cartel of the Suns (Cartel de Soles) to bring deadly violence to our country," Bondi said in a video message. "He is one of the largest narco-traffickers in the world and a threat to our national security." Weeks after taking office, the White House announced the extradition of 29 members of various Mexican drug cartels. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "The previous Administration allowed these criminals to run free and commit crimes all over the world. The Trump Administration is declaring these thugs as terrorists, because that is what they are, and demanding justice for the American people," the White House said at the time. Original article source: Trump approves military action against Latin American cartels classified as terrorist organizations A controversial statue of a Confederate Civil War general that was once removed will be reinstalled in Washington, D.C. The National Park Service announced that it would revive and reinstall a statue dedicated to Albert Pike, a national figure after the Civil War for his involvement with the Freemasons. The statue was removed in 2020. Much like Pike's, several statues dedicated to Confederate soldiers and generals have been removed in Tennessee over the last 15 years. While a few of these statues and monuments were removed, dozens remain in the state. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Here are the statues that have been removed in Tennessee. What Confederate statues have been removed in Tennessee? Prior to the 2020 Black Lives Matter Movement that caused numerous cities and towns to remove their monuments and statues dedicated to Confederate soldiers and generals, Tennessee instituted a law in 2013 to prevent the removal of these items. The Tennessee Heritage Protection Act, enacted in 2013 and amended in 2016, 2018, 2023 and 2025, prohibits the removal, relocation, or renaming of a memorial that is, or is located on, public property. While the measure does not only protect Confederate monuments, it is primarily used to prevent their removal. Petitions for the removal of any memorial are still permitted, but they must be submitted through the state government. In the past 15 years, several statues were still removed under the guidance of the THPA, and several were statues dedicated to Confederate memorials. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In 2017, the city of Memphis sold two public parks containing Confederate monuments to nonprofit Memphis Greenspace Inc. The sale allowed Greenspace to legally do what the city of Memphis could not: Remove the statues from their visible perches in the parks. The removed statues in Memphis included Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest on his horse, Confederate President Jefferson Davis and a bronze bust of Capt. J. Harvey Mathes. In 2020, the Nashville private school Montgomery Bell Academy pledged to remove the statue of Confederate soldier Sam Davis from its campus. According to the school, Davis was honored for his connection to one of MBA's predecessor schools and the attributes of loyalty and friendship associated with his life and story. In 2021, a statue of early Ku Klux Klan leader and former Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest was removed from its spot along Interstate 65 in Nashville. The statue, which sat south of downtown off Hogan Road, was repeatedly vandalized, had been shot several times and was in disrepair. The Nathan Bedford Forrest bust is removed from the State Capitol Friday, July 23, 2021 in Nashville, Tenn. The State Building Commission on Thursday gave approval for the relocation of the Forrest bust to the Tennessee State Museum, a final step in a process that has taken more than a year since Gov. Bill Lee first said it was time for the statue to be moved. A bust of Forrest was also removed from the Tennessee Capitol in 2021, following years of protests and pressure by activists. Why was Albert Pike's statue removed? In June 2020, a group of demonstrators during the Black Lives Matter protests toppled and set the statue on fire. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The monument was the only one in the District of Columbia dedicated to a Confederate Civil War general. The 11-foot bronze statue has been in storage since it was toppled in 2020. It was approved for installation by Congress in 1898 and built by the order of Freemasons. Why does Trump want to reinstall Albert Pike's statue? The National Park Service announced on Aug. 4 that it plans to restore and reinstall the bronze statue. The placard on the statue honors Pike's leadership and work in Freemasonry. Both the Executive Order on Making the District of Columbia Safe and Beautiful and the Executive Order on Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History are cited by the National Park Service as reasons for the restoration and reinstatement of the statue. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In the first few months of his second term, Trump ordered all military bases to return their names to their previous names of Confederate Soldiers. He signed the executive order for the restoration of public monuments that were removed during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests. The National Park Service aims to complete the project by October 2025. Jordan Green covers trending news for The Commercial Appeal. She can be reached at jordan.green@commercialappeal.com. This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Trump reinstalling Confederate statue. How many were removed in TN? A Texas businessman who runs a string of President Donald Trump-themed restaurants was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Trump Burger owner Roland Beainy entered the U.S. in 2019 as a non-immigrant and was allowed to remain in the country through February 2024. The 28-year-old from Lebanon was arrested in May and released on bond in June to face immigration proceedings, according to ICE officials. Beainys eateries have no known ties to the president or The Trump Organization, though photos of the chains four operations posted online use the 79-year-old fast-food loving world leaders likeness. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Despite false claims to the contrary, Roland Mehrez Beainy does not have any immigration benefits that prevented his arrest or removal from the United States, ICE said in a statement sent to the Daily News. The Trump administration has made restricting entry to the U.S. and deporting people who are in the country illegally a top priority since the 47th president took office in January. Under the current administration, ICE is committed to restore integrity to our nations immigration system by holding all individuals accountable who illegally enter the country or overstay the terms of their admission, ICE said with regards to Beainys case. This is true regardless of what restaurant you own or political beliefs you might have. Trump Burger has a rating of three out of five stars on Yelp!, where online activity was being monitored due to the sudden increase of media attention coming to that business page. _________ NEED TO KNOW The owner of several Trump Burger restaurants is facing deportation under the Trump administration Roland Beainy was arrested earlier this year on charges of immigration fraud and overstaying his visa He reportedly has an immigration hearing set for November The owner of burger restaurants that pay tribute to President Donald Trump is facing the consequences of his administration's ramped-up deportation efforts. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Roland Beainy, 28, is a Lebanese immigrant who opened his first Trump Burger location in Bellville, Texas, in 2020. He and co-owners later expanded to multiple locations, all of which feature MAGA memorabilia and photos of the president, though they have no official affiliation with Trump himself. According to their website, the menu features a signature "Trump Burger," which is an eight-ounce Angus beef patty, two slices of yellow American cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, mayonnaise and homemade barbecue sauce. There is also a double version of the burger, called the "Trump Tower." Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via Getty Burgers are cooked during lunch at Trump Burger in Bellville, Texas Burgers are cooked during lunch at Trump Burger in Bellville, Texas Despite his reverence for the president, however, Beainy was arrested in May after reportedly overstaying his visa. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) shared this statement with multiple outlets: "Despite false claims to the contrary, Roland Mehrez Beainy does not have any immigration benefits that prevented his arrest or removal from the United States. Beainy is a 28-year-old illegal alien from Lebanon who entered the United States in 2019 as a non-immigrant visitor, but he failed to depart by Feb. 12, 2024, as required under the terms of his admission.ICE officers arrested him on May 16, 2025, and he was placed into immigration proceedings. On June 13, an immigration judge granted his request for bond while he undergoes his proceedings." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Under the current administration, ICE is committed to restore integrity to our nations immigration system by holding all individuals accountable who illegally enter the country or overstay the terms of their admission. This is true regardless of what restaurant you own or political beliefs you might have." Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via Getty Trump Burger location in Bellville, Texas Trump Burger location in Bellville, Texas Beainy is also reportedly being charged with immigration fraud. According to The Fayette County Record, the local newspaper's investigation into legal drama between Beainy and his Trump Burger co-owners showed that ICE was investigating Beainy for applying for legal status through a woman he claimed to be married to. In January 2025, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) said they were revoking his claim due to a lack of evidence that the couple ever lived together. The Daily Mail reports that Beainy has an immigration hearing scheduled for Nov. 18. PEOPLE has reached out to Beainy's legal representation for further comment. Never miss a story sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. DHS confirmed the allegations to Chron, saying, "USCIS revoked the petition after evidence, including admissions from the petitioner's own family, exposed his marriage as a sham designed to game the system. This person has no Green Card, a history of illegal marriages, and an assault charge. DHS is actively pursuing all legal avenues to address this flagrant abuse of our immigration laws." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Beainy was unable to offer comment due to legal advice, however, he did tell the outlet, "90 percent of the s--t they're saying is not true." https://people-app.onelink.me/HNIa/kz7l4cuf Read the original article on People President Donald Trump has proposed removing undocumented people from an upcoming U.S. Census, a move that while difficult to execute could dramatically reduce school funding in some states, experts say. In an early-morning Truth Social post Thursday, Trump said he told the U.S. Department of Commerce to begin work on a new census based on modern day facts and figures adding, People who are in our Country illegally WILL NOT BE COUNTED IN THE CENSUS. The U.S. Census count is held once a decade and helps determine federal education funding. Bruce Baker, a professor at the University of Miami and a leading scholar on public school financing, said that if fewer people are counted, federal funding for schools, which is based on census data and child poverty rates, would shrink. Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter The states that depend more on federal aid have the most to lose, he said. And while the percentage of such aid is relatively small, he said, these days, every dollar matters. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Pew Research reports the federal government provided 13.6% of total funding for public elementary and secondary schools in fiscal 2022, according to Census Bureau data. The National Education Association said the money helps lower class size, support students with disabilities and feed hungry children. It breaks down the data by state. Other studies confirm federal education funding varies widely across the U.S. Mississippi reported the greatest percentage of federal education aid in 2022, coming in at 23.3% followed by South Dakota at 21.7%, Montana at 20.9%, Alaska at 20.6% and Arkansas at 20.4%. Federal money is delivered to schools in many forms. In fiscal year 2024, Pew notes, the Education Department doled out $18.8 billion for schools with large numbers of poor, neglected, delinquent and other educationally disadvantaged students, $15.5 billion for special education programs for children with disabilities, $5.5 billion for school improvement, and $2.2 billion for career, technical and adult education among many other grants. The federal government also spent billions on COVID recovery. Trumps call to revise the census comes amid massive cutbacks at the education department, changing how critical programs are implemented and toward the end of a nail-biting summer with many in education gripped by fear after the administration temporarily withheld $7 billion in funding. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It also comes just weeks after he announced undocumented children could no longer participate in Head Start. In addition, adults without papers were banned from career and technical education programs and adult education, though both groups now have a brief reprieve. The nation is home to some 11 million undocumented immigrants. California had 2.6 million such residents in 2022, followed by Texas, with more than 2 million and Florida which had 590,000, according to data released last year. Related From Head Start to Adult Ed, Trump Narrows Pathway for Undocumented Students This isnt the first time Trump has tried to tinker with the U.S. Census: In his first term, he proposed the addition of a citizenship question, one critics say would have resulted in a dramatic undercount and produced a massive loss of funding in immigrant-heavy communities where even those in the country legally would be fearful of responding. The matter made its way to the Supreme Court, with Chief Justice John Roberts casting the deciding vote against the addition. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Julia Gelatt, associate director of the U.S. Immigration Policy Program at the Migration Policy Institute, said Trump could try to obtain residents immigration status in two ways: add questions about citizenship to the census itself, as he earlier proposed, or try to pull information from other federal data. In either case, she said, undocumented immigrants and those who live, work and study alongside them, would lose out. If there are more people in a community, there is more need for infrastructure, she said. U.S. citizens would be hurt if that funding was insufficient. However, Trumps census plan would be difficult to enact and its unclear when it would be implemented: Population counts take several years to plan. Also Congress, not the president, determines the manner of conducting the tally. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trumps intention to exclude undocumented immigrants from the census, coupled with his earlier attack on birthright citizenship, is enough to roil those concerned about the dignity of all U.S. residents. If you dont count all people, you wont be able to provide equal protection to all people, said Alejandra Vazquez Baur, a fellow with The Century Foundation. So this plan to not count undocumented people is a clear abandonment of that constitutional promise of equal protection. And with each new edict targeting the undocumented, she said, she fears the nation will inch closer to a direct attack on Plyler v. Doe, the landmark 1982 Supreme Court ruling that a child cannot be denied a public education based on immigration status. Hayward Derrick Horton, a professor of sociology at the University of Albany, said the census impacts all areas of civic life, calling it the engine that makes society work. He noted, too, that the U.S. Census is the gold standard for data collection and is respected globally. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement So, whats being threatened is not only the integrity of what this society is about in terms of being able to know exactly how many people we have and the allocations of the right resources to the right places, but it also invalidates this society to the world, he said. Horton said he believes the fear of losing a numerical majority and the power and money that comes with it is driving these efforts to erase an entire group in this case, mostly Hispanic immigrants from the census. White people comprised 80% of the total U.S. population in 1980. Recent reports put the current figure at less than 60%. White residents will no longer be the majority by 2045, The Brookings Institution reported. Here in the U.S., the white population controls the wealth, status and power and they also control the numbers, he said. President Donald Trumps deadline for Russia to end its war in Ukraine or suffer severe economic punishment expires Friday, but its unclear how he plans to proceed amid new efforts toward a summit with Vladimir Putin and delicate trade negotiations with China. Trump promised earlier this week to apply new sanctions on Russia even as he questioned how effective they would be. The White House said Wednesday he still intended to slap secondary sanctions on countries that continue to purchase Russian energy. But by Thursday after he initiated preparations to try and meet Putin face-to-face he was less committal. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Its going to be up to him, Trump said, referring to Putin, when asked whether his deadline still stands and the new measures would take hold. The complications of applying new sanctions on Moscow while simultaneously preparing for potential talks with Putin only underscored the uncertain moment for the war in Ukraine. Trump has been wary of appearing to be strung along by Putin, with whom hes grown increasingly frustrated and has accused of duplicity. But he is also eager for a peace deal, and seems open to hearing out the Russian leader face-to-face. US officials suggested Thursday nothing had been finalized including the format, date or location for talks. In the past, Trump has been reluctant to apply new sanctions on Moscow, fearing they could push Putin further away from the negotiating table. His renewed threat to apply both sanctions on Russia itself and purchasers of its energy this week was the closest hed come to implementing new measures. On Wednesday, for example, he announced an additional 25% tariff on India to go into effect later this month as punishment for importing Russian oil. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The president has also been considering other options, including targeting the aging tankers that make up Russias shadow fleet used to skirt existing Western sanctions, administration officials said. Officials have also looked for ways to tighten enforcement of sanctions on Russia that are already in place. Some European officials privately said they feared a summit was just another attempt by Putin to prolong the war while also avoiding new US sanctions. Several European leaders spent Thursday on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky discussing how to approach the new diplomatic efforts. Trump has sounded no less frustrated with Putin in recent days and isnt ruling out the new economic measures. Even so, he has tasked his team with moving ahead on a potential summit, and American officials were working through the logistics and policy preparations for a meeting both the White House and the Kremlin have said could occur as early as next week. US President Donald Trump meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin during the G20 summit in Osaka on June 28, 2019. - Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images/FILE The Kremlin seized on the prospective summit on Thursday, saying they were moving ahead with plans for talks. Putin even raised a potential location, the United Arab Emirates, though no venue has been settled upon. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The meeting may take place in one of the Arab countries, Russian state media TASS reported Friday, citing an unnamed source. The TASS source also said Europe is not being considered as a location for the summit. The idea for a meeting arose during talks Wednesday between Putin and Trumps foreign envoy Steve Witkoff; the Kremlin said it was Trumps idea while the White House said it was the Russians. Trump relayed his intentions for a summit to European leaders in a phone call afterward. He said in that conversation he wanted to meet Putin, but also meet with both Putin and Zelensky in a trilateral formal, according to sources familiar with the call. A day later, Trump said he would not condition a summit with Putin on the Russian president also meeting with Ukraines leader. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement No, he doesnt, Trump said when asked whether Putin must meet Zelensky for his own summit to proceed. They would like to meet with me, and Ill do whatever I can to stop the killing. He didnt rule out moving ahead with the new sanctions, which have been championed by Republican lawmakers and welcomed by European leaders. But he suggested he first wanted to hear Putin out. Were going to see what he has to say, Trump said. Its going to be up to him. Very disappointed. Trumps first use of so-called secondary sanctions his threatened additional 25% tariff on India is set to take effect on August 27. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement India is the second-largest importer of Russian energy products. Moscows biggest customer is China, with whom Trump officials are engaging in a delicate negotiation over trade. US officials have described significant progress on those talks. But earlier this week, Trump did not rule out applying the new secondary sanctions on Beijing, despite the potential for scuttling the trade discussions. One of them could be China, he said. It may happen. I dont know. I cant tell you yet. Chinas leader Xi Jinping held a phone call with Putin on Friday, in which he welcomed that Moscow and Washington are working to improve their relations, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement China is glad to see Russia and the United States maintain contact, improve their relations, and advance the political resolution of the Ukraine crisis, Xi told Putin in a phone call held at the latters request, CCTV said. CNNs Anna Chernova, Lauren Kent and Nectar Gan contributed to this report. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com (NewsNation) President Trump is weighing the idea of inviting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to his Alaska summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin next week, a White House official told NewsNation Saturday. The move, if it comes to pass, would transform a high-stakes bilateral meeting for a potential peace deal in Ukraine to a trilateral meeting in which Putin and Zelenskyy would personally cross paths more than three years after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. The President remains open to a trilateral summit with both leaders. Right now, the White House is planning the bilateral meeting requested by President Putin, the White House official told NewsNations Libbey Dean. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ukraines Witches of Bucha on the hunt for Russian drones Trump, who has long claimed he could end the war in Ukraine, had been putting increasing pressure on Moscow to come to the negotiating table or face additional economic sanctions. As the deadline hit Friday, the White House announced the Aug. 15 meeting in Alaska between Trump and Putin. During talks last week with Trumps special envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow, Putin reportedly shared a proposal for a complete ceasefire, which would entail Ukraine withdrawing its military from the Donetsk region, allowing it to be under the Kremlins control, along with Luhansk. Trump on Friday said some territorial swapping would take place for the betterment of both countries. Zelenskyy on Saturday pushed back on that idea, saying, Of course, we will not give Russia any awards for what it has done. The Ukrainian people deserve peace. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Cheap Ukrainian drones inflict costly damage to Russian war machine Meanwhile, European leaders this weekend expressed support for Ukraine and said it must be involved in any peace negotiations. We are convinced that only an approach that combines active diplomacy, support to Ukraine and pressure on the Russian Federation to end their illegal war can succeed, they said in a prepared statement. The Hill 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 NewsNation. President Donald Trump is preparing to announce new secondary tariffs Friday on nations who conduct trade with Russia amid its deadly war in Ukraine. The White House has remained tight-lipped on what those tariffs will look like after the president first said in July they would amount to "100%" tariffs before causing confusion earlier this week when he told reporters he "never said a percentage." While the specifics of what tax rates nations that trade with Russia could face remain unclear, Trumps change in posture toward Russian President Vladimir Putin has become increasingly evident. President Donald Trump, right, meets Russian President Vladimir Putin on the first day of the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, June 28, 2019. From Talk To Tactics: Trump Pivots On Russia Strategy To End War Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Trump's frustrated that the Russians have not taken advantage of his patience and generous offers, but it's very interesting that even after Trump announced he was moving submarines, and even after he announced the tough tariffs, the Russians still want to talk to him," Fred Fleitz, who served as a deputy assistant to Trump and chief of staff of the National Security Council during the presidents first term, told Fox News Digital. "Putin does not want to anger Trump," he added. "Putin never worried about angering Biden, and I think that this shows a degree of respect. Read On The Fox News App "It shows what Trump has achieved by exercising leadership on the global stage. And we'll see what happens," Fleitz said, adding he hoped it was not merely a stalling tactic by Putin. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trumps return to the White House brought with it a sense of shock as he appeared to distance Washington from its top allies in Europe in favor of attempting to improve diplomatic relations with Putin, culminating in the infamous Oval Office showdown with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in February. While the tussle brought renewed support from his top MAGA base, who favor ending U.S. involvement in foreign wars, it prompted concern among security experts. Ultimately, Trumps patience with Putin began to shift, with the president consistently expressing his frustration at the Kremlin chiefs continued brutal attacks in Ukraine. In mid-July, while sitting next to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Trump announced Putin had 50 days to enter into a ceasefire or face "very severe" tariffs that would affect Moscow's top commodity, oil. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meet in the Oval Office of the White House Feb. 28, 2025, in Washington, D.C. Zelenskyy Tells Putin To 'Be Brave' And Finally Agree To Trilateral Meeting With Trump Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Tariffs at about 100%, you'd call them secondary tariffs," he had said, indicating that nations that trade with Russia will see 100% tariffs slapped on them when trading with the U.S. This would most greatly affect China and India, according to data released by the U.S. government Thursday, which showed both nations account for 46% of all Russian oil purchases in 2025. But the U.S. is also the No. 1 export market for both China and India, which means higher price tags at the checkout line on their products will make Americans think twice before completing those purchases. After ongoing trade negotiations with both nations and Putins continued war effort in Ukraine, Trump last week pushed up his deadline to within 10 days of July 29, forcing a new deadline of Friday. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But while his promised tariffs were met with applause by some in the GOP, including Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. he, along with Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-C.T., is pushing the charge for 500% sanctions on Russia other Republican members have not backed the move. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., has been outspoken against not only Trumps tariffs but the bipartisan sanction push and argued to Fox Business Larry Kudlow this week that Trumps tariffs on allies and foes alike will amount to $2 trillion in taxes for the American consumer. But Fleitz pushed back on this argument and said he is not convinced that the tariffs will hurt the U.S. or Chinese economy, though Russia and India are likely to feel the pain. "I think they're going to hurt the Russian and Indian economies," he said, noting that India could recover by buying oil elsewhere. Though some reporting has suggested that India may have saved over $30 billion by increasingly turning to Russian oil during 2022-2024 due to Moscows price cuts. President Donald Trump displays a signed executive order imposing tariffs on imported goods during a "Make America Wealthy Again" trade announcement event in the Rose Garden of the White House April 2, 2025. Trump Open To Meet Putin Face-to-face Next Week Followed By Three-way Talks With Ukraine's Zelenskyy Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "It is going to be another factor that's going to pressure Putin to agree to a ceasefire. I don't know if that's going to happen immediately or in a few months, but I think it is going to put real pressure, inflict real pain on Russia," Fleitz said. Once a staunch Trump ally, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R- Ga., took to X this week in response to a post by Trump that he would be enforcing tariffs on India for purchasing Russian oil and said, "End Indian H1-B visas replacing American jobs instead and stop funding and sending weapons to the Obama/Biden/Neocon Ukraine Russia war." Trumps favorable transition toward Ukraine and European allies has also ruffled some MAGA feathers, though security experts have argued it has given the president better leverage to take on major adversaries like Putin, and by extension, China. President Donald Trump, right, and Mark Rutte, NATO secretary general, shake hands during a meeting in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., July 14, 2025. "Diplomacy and negotiations are a good thing," said Fleitz, who serves as vice chair of the America First Policy Institute's Center for American Security. "Peacemaking takes time, and the U.S.-Russia relationship was in a very bad situation when Trump came to office. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "I think these sanctions will hurt Russia very badly," Fleitz continued. "The fact that Trump knows that secondary sanctions on India has, at least temporarily, hurt our relationship is really a remarkable sign of how committed Trump is to these sanctions. "There's not going to be exceptions. It's not going to be some type of soft strategy with all kinds of loopholes," he added. "I think it shows to Putin how serious Trump is, and it gives Trump leverage to negotiate with Putin." Original article source: Trumps deadline on secondary tariffs arrives; US-Russian relations hang in the balance President Donald Trump demanded a massive $1 billion fine from the prestigious University of California system on Friday as the administration pushed its claims of antisemitism in UCLA's response to 2024 student protests related to Gaza. The figure, which is five times the sum Columbia University agreed to pay to settle similar federal accusations of antisemitism, would "completely devastate" the UC public university system, a senior official said. President James Milliken, who oversees the 10 campuses that make up the University of California system, including Los Angeles-based UCLA, said managers had received the $1 billion demand on Friday and were reviewing it. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "As a public university, we are stewards of taxpayer resources and a payment of this scale would completely devastate our country's greatest public university system as well as inflict great harm on our students and all Californians," he said. "Americans across this great nation rely on the vital work of UCLA and the UC system for technologies and medical therapies that save lives, grow the US economy, and protect our national security." Asked about Trump's fine during a press conference on Friday, California Governor Gavin Newsom -- who sits on the UC's board -- said "we'll sue" and accused the president of trying to silence academic freedom. "He has threatened us through extortion with a billion dollar fine unless we do his bidding," Newsom said, crediting the UC system as "one of the reasons California is the tentpole of the US economy, one of the reasons we have more scientists, engineers, more Nobel laureates, than any other state in this nation." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Media reports suggest the government wants the money in installments and is demanding the university also pay $172 million to a claims fund to compensate Jewish students and others affected by alleged discrimination. The UC system, with schools that are consistently ranked among the best public universities in the United States, is already grappling with the Trump administration's more-than half-billion dollar freeze on medical and science grants at UCLA alone. The move appears to follow a similar playbook the White House used to extract concessions from Columbia University, and is also trying to use to get Harvard University to bend. Columbia's agreement includes a pledge to obey rules barring it from taking race into consideration in admissions or hiring, among other concessions, drawing criticism from Newsom. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "We will not be complicit in this kind of attack on academic freedom, or on this extraordinary public institution. We are not like some of those other institutions that have followed a different path," Newsom said. Pro-Palestinian protests rocked dozens of US campuses in 2024, with police crackdowns and mob violence erupting over student encampments, from Columbia to UCLA, with then-president Joe Biden saying "order must prevail." Universities have been in Trump's sights since he returned to the White House in January. His Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement views academia as elite, overly liberal and hostile to the kind of ethno-nationalism popular among Trump supporters. hg/amz/sla/jgc President Donald Trump is increasing the presence of federal law enforcement officers in Washington, D.C., in what the White House described as an effort to make D.C. safe again, even as data show that violent crime in the nations capital is down significantly. The White House on Thursday announced the deployment of federal officers for at least a week, saying after seven days it may extend the operation as needed. Washington, DC is an amazing city, but it has been plagued by violent crime for far too long, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to news outlets. President Trump has directed an increased presence of federal law enforcement to protect innocent citizens. Starting tonight, there will be no safe harbor for violent criminals in D.C. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The move came after Trump decried what he called totally out of control crime in D.C. and threatened to federalize the city, following news that a Department of Government Efficiency staffer was assaulted during an attempted carjacking. We have a capital thats very unsafe, the President said to reporters earlier this week. We have to run D.C. Read more: Trump Threatens to Federalize D.C. After Beating of Big Balls According to city police data last updated Friday, however, violent crime in D.C. is down by 26% so far this year compared to 2024. And in January, the U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of Columbia said that, last year, total violent crime in D.C. fell to the lowest it has been in over 30 years. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement D.C., which has a heavily Democratic population and has consistently voted both for Democratic mayors and presidential tickets for decades, has frequently attracted criticism from Trump and other Republican politicians. Some other GOP lawmakers have pushed to establish federal control over the city, which was granted a greater degree of self-governance under the District of Columbia Home Rule Act of 1973, but is still subject to congressional oversight and legislative review. Personnel from various agencies will be involved in the federal law enforcement operation directed by the President, including U.S. Capitol Police, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Drug Enforcement Administration, among others, according to The Associated Press. The increased officer presence will be focused on high traffic tourist areas, POLITICO reported. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Washington Field Division said in a post on X early Friday morning that its agents were out ensuring that the residents of the District of Columbia are safer this evening, along with federal law enforcement partners. It mentioned several other federal agency accounts, including from the U.S. Park Police, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the FBI, and the U.S. Marshals. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D.C.s non-voting representative in Congress, criticized the move to increase federal law enforcement in D.C. in a statement to news outlets. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Sending in the FBI, DEA, Homeland Security officers and others throughout the District in response to an assault where the existing police presence was sufficient to catch two assailants as they were leaving the scene is a disproportionate overreaction thats offensive to D.C., Norton said. Moreover, this needless escalation will heighten tensions and potentially make D.C., which achieved its lowest violent crime rate in 30 years in 2024, less safe. Contact us at letters@time.com. Geoff Duncan, former Republican lt. governor of Georgia, talks with Jen Psaki about how the Republican Party is unrecognizable to him now, having become a cult for Donald Trump, and explains why he has not only left the GOP but has switched to the Democratic Party. A few months ago, at an event in the Oval Office, a reporter asked Donald Trump a question related to Letitia James, New Yorks Democratic state attorney general. The presidents response was unrestrained. Shes a disaster for New York, the Republican said. Shes a horrible, horrible human being, and I think shes a total crook. Theres no question about it, but thats just my opinion. ... Shes a very bad person. Shes a very, very bad, a very bad person. ... Shes a sick person. Subtle, it was not. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As part of the same rant, Trump pointed at Attorney General Pam Bondi, who was in the room, adding, Pam is going to have to do what she wants. ... Pam is going to do whats right. She always does. Three months later, NBC News reported: Federal prosecutors are in the early stages of an investigation into the office of New York Attorney General Letitia James, who brought a civil fraud case against President Donald Trump, according to three people familiar with the matter. The probe is focused on whether James office caused a deprivation of legal rights under the color of law through its civil suits against Trump and his businesses as well as the National Rifle Association, these people said. A spokesperson for the state attorney generals office told NBC News in a statement, Any weaponization of the justice system should disturb every American. We stand strongly behind our successful litigation against the Trump Organization and the National Rifle Association, and we will continue to stand up for New Yorkers rights. In case anyone needs a refresher, its worth taking a moment to review how we arrived at this point. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It was nearly three years ago when James and her office announced a sweeping lawsuit against Trump and the Trump Organization. The civil case was rather devastating: The state attorney generals office pointed to more than 200 instances of alleged fraud over 10 years, and announced that it was seeking civil penalties against the Republican and his business. The case was a success: A New York judge assessed the evidence and ruled that Trump and the Trump Organization did, in fact, engage in systemic business fraud. As part of his verdict, Judge Arthur Engoron ordered hundreds of millions of dollars in penalties against Trump and his co-defendants. And while that ruling is still being appealed, the presidents team isnt just pushing back against the verdict. On the contrary, in April, Trumps federal housing director wrote a criminal referral letter about James to Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, both of whom used to represent Trump. Now, it appears federal prosecutors are also moving forward with an investigation into the state AGs office. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The news comes just days after Trumps attorney general directed Justice Department prosecutors to launch a grand jury investigation into Obama administration officials, which came on the heels of news that the Trump administration had also launched criminal investigations into former CIA Director John Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey, two longtime targets of the president. (Disclosure: Brennan is a paid contributor to MSNBC and NBC News.) Trump has also signed first-of-their-kind executive orders seeking investigations into two former officials Christopher Krebs, who led the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and Miles Taylor, a former high-ranking Department of Homeland Security official whom he now sees as enemies. Weeks later, Trump broke new ground again by directing the Justice Department to launch a wide-ranging investigation into Joe Biden and officials in the Democrats administration, based on Republican conspiracy theories about the former presidents mental health. Trump also endorsed California Gov. Gavin Newsoms arrest; demanded that CNN face criminal prosecution for running reports the White House didnt like; and called for the prosecution of Barack Obama, Kamala Harris, Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff, Beyonce and Oprah Winfrey, among many others. And did I mention that in recent months, a Democratic mayor, a Democratic U.S. House member, the staffer of a different Democratic U.S. House member, a sitting judge and a labor leader have all been criminally charged, detained or taken into custody by Trump administration officials? Because that happened, too. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Two weeks ago, the official White House social media account published a weird item with just six words of text: They came after the wrong man. The sentence appeared alongside a large image featuring the words, I was the hunted NOW IM THE HUNTER, attributed to Trump. In other words, a sitting American president, using White House resources to promote North Korealevel propaganda, pushed a twisted message about his determination to seek vengeance against other Americans. The relevance of the tweet and its message lingers for a reason. The New York Times, assessing Trumps intensifying campaign of retribution, reported a couple of weeks ago, This is what Washington thought retribution would look like. The report added: Repeatedly in his first term, Mr. Trump accused his perceived enemies of treason and tried to push the F.B.I. and Justice Department to indict them. He told his chief of staff that he wanted to get the I.R.S. on those who crossed him. Many of them were investigated, and two of them were the subjects of highly unusual and invasive audits, but none of them were ever charged. The difference now is that Mr. Trump, much more so than during his first term, is surrounded by aides and cabinet members who often appear willing to follow through on his angriest and most authoritarian impulses. The analyses came to mind anew as Trumps DOJ targets New Yorks attorney general in new ways. This post updates our related earlier coverage. This article was originally published on MSNBC.com President Donald Trump on Thursday offered a major concession to Russian President Vladimir Putin, fueling uncertainty about the United States role in the future of the three-year conflict. Trump told reporters Putin doesnt have to confirm his attendance for a three-way meeting between him and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a condition for holding face-to-face talks with him. They would like to meet with me, and Ill do whatever I can to stop the killing, Trump said of Russian leaders. Trump had previously told European leaders, including Zelenskyy, on Wednesday that he would be meeting with Putin shortly before holding a trilateral summit with the leaders of the two nations at war, according to The New York Times. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But Putin poured cold water on that prospect a day later, saying certain conditions should be created for such a meeting, while making clear that he isnt prepared to agree to sit down with Zelenskyy. Asked whether his Friday deadline for Putin to agree to a ceasefire to avoid fresh economic sanctions still stands amid preparations for their upcoming meeting, Trump did not seem as determined to stick to his earlier threat. Its going to be up to him, Trump said of Putin. Were going to see what he has to say. While Putin floated the United Arab Emirates as a potential location for his meeting with Trump, two sources familiar with the negotiations between Russia and the U.S. told Fox News the meeting could happen as early as Monday in Rome, but the plans have yet to be finalized. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement If the meeting goes ahead, it would be the first time Putin meets a sitting U.S. president since his Geneva summit with then-President Joe Biden in June 2021 ahead of his full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Meanwhile, a BBC Verify analysis published on Wednesday showed that Russia has more than doubled its drone and missile attacks on Ukraine since Trumps inauguration in January, despite the U.S. presidents claims during the 2024 campaign that he would swiftly bring the conflict to a close as soon as he returned to the White House. President Donald Trump signed a deal with the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan on Friday to end decades of fighting, a diplomatic victory that also helps Trump in his push to present himself as a peacemaker on the world stage. Trump was jubilant at the signing ceremony at the White House alongside Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. Trump proclaimed an end to a bitter conflict between the two Caucasus countries, which produced dozens of wars and skirmishes between the two neighbors over 35 years, and voiced confidence that the peace would hold in the long term. Now theyre friends, and theyre going to be friends for a long time, Trump said. You two are going to have a great relationship and if you dont, call me and Ill straighten it out. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In achieving a long-elusive deal that has the potential to reshape a geostrategically critical region at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, Trump benefited from good timing and years of concerted diplomatic efforts from high-level officials in the Biden administration. Armenia and Azerbaijan have also both shown a much greater willingness to negotiate an end to their conflict. Per administration officials who briefed reporters ahead of the signing ceremony, what ultimately put the deal over the metaphorical goal line was the Trump's decision to articulate a creative solution to one of thorniest issues in the dispute: the future of a stretch of Armenian territory between Azerbaijan and its Nakhichevan exclave. The agreement signed on Friday at the White House by Trump, Aliyev and Pashinyan will see the United States administer a stretch of southern Armenia along Armenias border with Iran known as the Zangezur Corridor. An American company will further develop transportation links in the region, which in Trumpian fashion will be named after the president, to connect Azerbaijan and Nakhichevan. Trump has privately expressed his desire to win the Nobel Peace Prize, and his second term has been punctuated by a pronounced willingness to publicly wade into several volatile conflicts. World leaders eager to get in Trumps good graces, including Aliyev, have proposed nominating Trump for the prize. And in recent months, Trump has taken credit for deescalating brewing conflicts between India and Pakistan and later Thailand and Cambodia, as well as securing a ceasefire between Rwanda-backed militants in east Congo and the Congolese central government. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In sum, the White House and the president claim that Trump has thus far stopped six wars, averaging about a war a month. But Trump has struggled to secure more high-profile peace agreements, namely one to end Russias war against Ukraine and one to permanently end Israels conflict with the Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Trump campaigned on ending both conflicts, saying that hed end the Russia-Ukraine war on his first day in office. In the case of the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the Trump team built off diplomatic work undertaken during the Biden administration and using many of the same frameworks the Biden administration proposed to Armenia and Azerbaijan. We moved the ball quite far down the field obviously did not get a ratified peace agreement, but got the essence, the major principles of a peace agreement agreed between the two sides, argued Mike Carpenter, who served as senior director for Europe on the Biden administration National Security Council. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Aliyev and Pashinyan both reacted positively to the frameworks the Biden team outlined, but Baku opted to wait for the presidential election to unfold, former officials said, before committing to any peace deal. The deterioration of the relationship between Russia and Azerbaijan also helped get the deal across the line, argued Matthew Bryza, a former U.S. ambassador to Azerbaijan. On Christmas Day 2024, Russia allegedly downed an Azerbaijani passenger plane using a surface-to-air missile. Russian leader Vladimir Putin apologized for the incident, but did not accept Moscow was at fault for downing the plane; successive mistreatments of Azeris in Russia also rattled Aliyev. Fridays deal affords Baku a great deal of other concessions. The U.S. will again provide Azerbaijan with security assistance which at one point totaled $100 million between funding and military equipment. Washington will also withdraw from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europes Minsk Group, a negotiating group led by the United States, Russia and France which Azerbaijan complained was unnecessary after it took back the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave after its 2020 war with Armenia. Armenian diaspora groups have criticized the agreement, arguing that it blocks any lasting peace by postponing discussions about the right of Armenians displaced from the Nagorno-Karabakh enclave in 2023 to return to their homelands, as well as the status of prisoners of war taken by Azerbaijan and Armenian cultural sites in the enclave. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But the White House insists the deal is still a positive one for Yerevan, one that gives it the U.S. and a strategic commercial partner. Trumps embrace of dealmaking on the world stage wasnt an expected component of his America First foreign policy. The White House says Trumps America First definition hasnt changed, but limited knowledge of international conflict at the time prevented him from speaking about it more. Meanwhile, part of Trumps most loyal MAGA base disagrees with some of Trumps international involvement. There's only so much that you know on the campaign trail and then when you get into the West Wing, you understand what the hell is actually happening in the world, said a White House official granted anonymity to speak about internal strategy. And in many ways, had [Trump] known this, I think it probably would have been a larger foundation of his campaign. In some corners, the hope is that ending the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict could also help Trump end the Russia-Ukraine war. Trump said Friday that Putin wants to see peace and that he would meet with the Russian leader soon. Later he posted on social media that he would meet with the Russian leader on Aug. 15 in Alaska. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This Azerbaijan-Armenia thing squeezes Putin. This is Trump bringing peace to two former Soviet republics, said Victoria Coates, who served as deputy national security adviser during the first Trump administration. Myah Ward contributed to this report. CORRECTION: A previous version of this article misstated the nature of Putins apology about the downing of an Azerbaijani airliner. The first time Donald Trump was president, the head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency developed a regulation known as the science transparency rule. The administration liked to call it the secret science rule. Transparency sounds positive, but this rule instead prevented the EPA from using some of the best available science to protect human health. For example, it required the EPA to ignore or downplay studies that established links between exposure to chemicals and health damage if those studies were based on confidential patient information that could not be released to the public. The problem: Many health studies, including those underpinning many U.S. pollution rules, rely on confidential patient information. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A U.S. District Court struck down the rule on procedural grounds a few weeks after it was issued. But now, the idea is back. Trumps so-called Restoring Gold Standard Science executive order of May 23, 2025, resurrects many features of the EPAs vacated rule, but it applies them to all federal agencies. To many readers, the executive order might sound reasonable. It mentions transparency, reproducibility and uncertainty. However, the devil is in the details. Whats wrong with transparency and reproducibility? Transparency implies that scientists should adequately explain all elements of their work, including hypotheses, methods, results and conclusions in a way that helps others see how those conclusions were reached. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Data transparency is an expectation that scientists should share all data used in the study so other scientists can recalculate the results. This is also known as reproducibility. Trumps executive order focuses on reproducibility. However, if there are errors in the data or methods of the original study, being able to reproduce its results may only ensure consistency but not scientific rigor. More important to scientific rigor is replicability. Replicability means different scientists, working with different data and different methods, can arrive at consistent findings. For example, studies of human exposure to a set of pollutants at different locations, and with different populations, that consistently find relationships to health effects, such as illness and premature death, can increase confidence in the findings. Replicability doesnt require releasing confidential health data, as reproducibility would. Instead, it looks for the same results broadly from other sources. During the first Trump administration, people in cities across the U.S. participated in marches for science, protesting the administrations actions to cut the use of scientific evidence out of policymaking. Michael Siluk/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images The science transparency rule in the first Trump administration was intended to limit the EPAs ability to consider epidemiologic studies like those that established the health harms from exposure to secondhand smoke and to PM2.5, fine particles often from pollution. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Many large-scale studies that assess how exposure to pollution can harm human health are based on personal data collected according to strict protocols to ensure privacy. Preventing policymakers from considering those findings means they are left to make important decisions about pollution and chemicals without crucial evidence about the health risks. These attempts to create barriers to using valid science echoed tactics used by the tobacco industry from the 1960s well into the 1990s to deny that tobacco use harmed human health. Uncertainty: A matter of balance Trumps new executive order also emphasizes uncertainty. In the first Trump administration, the EPA administrator and his hand-picked science advisers, none of whom were epidemiologists, focused on uncertainty in epidemiological studies used to inform decisions on air quality standards. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The EPAs scientific integrity policy requires that policymakers shall not knowingly misrepresent, exaggerate, or downplay areas of scientific uncertainty associated with policy decisions. That sounds reasonable. However, in the final 2020 rule for the nations PM2.5 air quality standard, the EPA administrator, Andrew Wheeler, stated that limitations in the science lead to considerable uncertainty to justify not lowering the standard, the level considered unhealthy. PM2.5 comes largely from fossil fuel combustion in cars, power plants and factories. In contrast, an independent external group of scientific experts, which I was part of as an environmental engineer and former EPA adviser, reviewed the same evidence and came to a very different conclusion. We found clear scientific evidence supporting a more stringent standard for PM2.5. Skepticism versus denial The executive order also requires that science be conducted in a manner that is skeptical of its findings and assumptions. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A true skeptic can be swayed to change an inference based on evidence, whereas a denialist holds a fixed view irrespective of evidence. Denialists tend to cherry-pick evidence, set impossible levels of evidence and engage in logical fallacies. The first Trump administration stacked the EPA Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee, which advises EPA on setting health-protective air quality standards, with opponents of environmental regulation, including people connected to industries the EPA regulates. The committee then amplified uncertainties. It also shifted the burden of proof in ways inconsistent with the statutory requirement to protect public health with an adequate margin of safety. The current administration has been dismantling science advisory committees in various agencies again and purging key EPA committees of independent experts. Who decides when politics trumps science According to Trump, violations of his executive order will be determined by a senior appointee designated by the agency head. This means a political appointee accountable to the White House. Thus, science in each federal agency will be politicized. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The political appointee is required to correct scientific information. Anyone can file a request for correction regarding a published agency report. During the first Trump administration, chemical companies or their representatives repeatedly filed requests for changes to final EPA toxicity assessments on ethylene oxide and chloroprene. The administration delayed health-protective actions, which were finally addressed during the Biden administration for both chemicals. The request for correction process is intended to correct errors, not to bias assessments to be more favorable to industry and to delay protective actions. The bottom line on Trumps gold standard While the language of the executive order may seem innocuous based on a casual reading, it risks undermining unbiased science in all federal agencies, subject to political whims. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Setting impossible bars for transparency can mean regulators ignore relevant and valid scientific studies. Overemphasizing uncertainties can be used to raise doubt and unduly undermine confidence in robust findings. A politicized process also has the potential to punish federal employees and to ignore external peer reviewers who have the temerity to advance evidence-based findings contrary to White House ideology. Thus, this executive order could be used to deprive the American public of accurate and unbiased information regarding chemicals in the environment. That would prevent the development of effective evidence-based policies necessary for the protection of human health, rather than advancing the best available science. 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: H. Christopher Frey, North Carolina State University Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Read more: H. Christopher Frey receives funding from the California Air Resources Board via a research grant to North Carolina State University. He was on leave from NCSU to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from 2021 to 2024. From 2021 to 2022, he served as Deputy Assistant Administrator of Science Policy. From 2022-20224, he served as the senate-confirmed Assistant Administrator of the Office of Research and Development and concurrently served as the EPA Science Advisor. He was a member of the EPA Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee from 2008 to 2012, and chaired CASAC from 2012 to 2015. Donald Trump is planning to send migrants to a maximum security jail where inmates compete in prison rodeos. The US government is reportedly proposing to send 450 migrants to the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola, Louisiana, which houses violent criminals and was once known as the bloodiest prison in the country. It comes as Mr Trump escalates his efforts to try and fulfil his campaign promise of carrying out the largest mass deportation drive in US history. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Last month the government opened Alligator Alcatraz in Florida, while Kristi Noem announced migrants would also be detained in a facility called the Speedway Slammer in Indiana. The Louisiana prison is the largest maximum security facility in the US, sitting on 18,000 acres between the Mississippi River and the Tunica Hills. A prisoner walks with his horse during an inmate rodeo - BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP Critics have raised concerns with the deal, which the Wall Street Journal reports will be announced next month. It would see migrants housed in one of the countrys most violent prisons, where more than 70 per cent of the 4,300 current inmates are serving life sentences, according to data from the states department of corrections. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The prison, which is built on an old plantation and was once dubbed the Alcatraz of the South, is also known for hosting an inmate rodeo, which has been running since 1965. Held in an arena with capacity for 10,000 spectators, inmates volunteer to take part in the event, which includes a challenge called convict poker, during which inmates are sat at a table as a bull runs loose until there is one player left sitting. Another contest called guts and glory sees competitors try and remove a poker chip attached to the head of a longhorn bull. Inmates make arts and crafts during a rodeo held at the prison in April 2023 - BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP The prison also offers tours which focus on the facilitys history and tour groups do not enter prison camps or dorms. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Sources told The Advocate migrants could be housed in an abandoned prison wing called Camp J, which has been closed since 2018 after prisoners were able to evade security checks after cell locks malfunctioned. Last month Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry declared a state of emergency to speed up repairs on Camp J. The Louisiana plans come as the Trump administration ramps up efforts to expand ICEs detention capacity after Mr Trumps one big, beautiful bill ring-fenced an additional $75bn in funding for the agency. 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. US President Donald Trump will host the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan on Friday, with the two South Caucasus rivals expected to sign a deal advancing peace efforts after decades of conflict. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijan's longtime President Ilham Aliyev will attend a "Historic Peace Summit" at the White House, Trump announced on his Truth Social platform. He did not elaborate on the deal's details, but it would join a growing list of US-brokered initiatives for which the president believes he should win a Nobel Peace Prize. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Many Leaders have tried to end the War, with no success, until now, thanks to 'TRUMP,'" he boasted. Christian-majority Armenia and Muslim-majority Azerbaijan have feuded for decades over their border and the status of ethnic enclaves within each other's territories. The former Soviet republics went to war twice over the disputed Karabakh region, which Azerbaijan recaptured from Armenian forces in a lightning 2023 offensive, sparking the exodus of more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians. - 'Trump Route' - The two countries agreed on the text of a comprehensive peace deal in March, but Azerbaijan has since outlined a host of demands -- including amendments to Armenia's constitution to drop territorial claims for Karabakh -- before signing the document. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Pashinyan has announced plans for a constitutional referendum in 2027, but the issue remains deeply divisive among Armenians. White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly, in a briefing with reporters on Friday, said the two countries would sign a "joint declaration" establishing a transit corridor between Azerbaijan and its exclave of Nakhchivan, a longstanding demand of Baku. The United States will have development rights for the corridor, dubbed the "Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity" (TRIPP), she said. The two nations will also sign a letter officially requesting the dissolving of the Minsk Group, a now defunct mediation body under the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Kelly added. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The White House did not elaborate on how Friday's agreement aligns with the broader comprehensive deal. - Nobel? - Both countries are also expected to sign bilateral economic deals with the United States. "Armenia walks out of this with an enormous strategic commercial partner, probably the most enormous and strategic in the history of the world: the United States of America," a White House official said. "The losers here are China, Russia, and Iran," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Trump has repeatedly praised his own diplomatic efforts to help halt deadly conflicts, notably between Cambodia and Thailand, and arch-foes India and Pakistan. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On Thursday, Cambodia's prime minister announced he had nominated Trump for a Nobel Peace Prize. Months of efforts have however yet to solve the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and the hunger plaguing Gaza during Israel's offensive. A deal to normalize ties between Armenia and Azerbaijan would be a major breakthrough in a region where Russia, the European Union, the United States and Turkey all jostle for influence. aue-mlm/des/bgs President Donald Trump will host the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan on Friday as he looks to secure one more peace deal under his belt following fighting that reignited in 2020. "I look forward to hosting the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, and the Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, at the White House tomorrow for a Historic Peace Summit," Trump said in a Thursday night social media post. "President Aliyev AND Prime Minister Pashinyan will join me at the White House for an official Peace Signing Ceremony," he added. "The United States will also sign Bilateral Agreements with both Countries to pursue Economic opportunities together, so we can fully unlock the potential of the South Caucasus Region." Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, right, and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan meet in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, on July 10, 2025. Armenia And Azerbaijan Move Toward Normalized Relations As The First Border Marker Is Placed Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Despite the president's comments, experts familiar with the ongoing negotiations have told Fox News Digital that the leaders are not expected to sign a formalized peace agreement, but rather a letter of intent following more than a year of negotiations. However, even as an official peace agreement is not expected to be signed, the meeting is still viewed as a major win for not only regional stability, but for Trump as well. Read On The Fox News App "I believe they've had a significant position in this whole process," Matias Perttula, director of Save Armenia, told Fox News Digital. "We just returned from Armenia over the last week [where] we had several government meetings, including with the national security advisor, the president of Armenia and a couple other ministries, and from what we can tell the engagement from the Trump administration has been a lot more robust than the Biden administration." An Azeri serviceman stands near trenches at a former Armenian separatists military position in the village of Mukhtar (Muxtar) retaken recently by Azeri troops, during an Azeri government-organized media trip, in Azerbaijan's controlled region of Nagorno-Karabakh, on Oct. 3, 2023. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan are each expected to meet with Trump prior to signing a pledge for peace between the two nations, which have been embroiled in, at times, brutal conflict since the late 1980s. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The conflict largely centered around the status of the Nagorno-Karabakh region, a mountainous area in Azerbaijan with a majority-Armenian population, but which declared independence in 1991. While Armenia, along with the international community, never formally recognized the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic as an independent state, it became its chief financial and military backer. The territory assumed a de facto role in Armenia until Azerbaijani forces overwhelmed the republic in a swift campaign in September 2023, prompting mass evacuations of ethnic Armenians before it was then dissolved on Jan. 1, 2024. This region is expected to remain a major issue in the ongoing negotiations. A protester wearing the Armenian national flag stands in front of Russian peacekeepers blocking the road outside Stepanakert, capital of the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh region of Azerbaijan, on Dec. 24, 2022. Armenia's Prime Minister Urges Swift Border Agreement To Avoid Conflict With Azerbaijan Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Though both nations announced in March that they had reached a consensus on finalizing a peace deal, several factors surrounding the mountainous area have prevented a finalized agreement from being reached, as witnessed in the July meeting between the leaders when they met in the UAE but failed to find a resolution. Chief among Azerbaijans demands is that Armenia should amend its constitution and remove all references to the Nagorno-Karabakh territory. Though this demand is not a simple request that just Pashinyan can agree to as it would require a national referendum. "There's no legal consequence whatsoever," Perttula told Fox News Digital, explaining that both Armenian and American legal experts have refuted the demand as inconsequential, and therefore should not serve as a precursor to reaching a formalized peace deal. "There needs to be a real consideration for the right of return for the 120,000 Armenian Christians that were forced off the lands of Nagorno-Karabakh that has been their ancestral homeland for centuries," Perttula added. "I think that needs to be a key point in terms of formalizing this whole peace agreement." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "We want peace at the end of the day," he added. "We want peace and normalization." Citizens visit their loved ones at Yerablur Military Cemetery who were killed recently during September in Nagorno-Karabakh. Netanyahu Surprises Trump With Formal Nobel Peace Prize Nomination During Historic White House Meeting Trump, while on the campaign trail, highlighted the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict and accused then-Vice President Kamala Harris of doing "NOTHING as 120,000 Armenian Christians were horrifically persecuted and forcibly displaced." Trump said he would "work to stop the violence and ethnic cleansing, and we will restore PEACE between Armenia and Azerbaijan." Trump has repeatedly championed his push to end conflict across the globe and in June celebrated a peace agreement that the U.S. helped broker between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda with an Oval Office signing. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "In a few short months, weve now achieved peace between India and Pakistan, India and Iran, and the DRC and Rwanda, and a couple of others, also," Trump said during the event. President Donald Trump holds up a signed document to present to Congo's Foreign Minister Therese Kayikwamba Wagner, right, as Rwanda's Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe, from left, Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio watch on Friday, June 27, 2025 in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington. The president who has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as leaders from Pakistan and Cambodia has on several occasions argued his credentials should be recognized under the international award that has been granted to four other U.S. presidents. In a February meeting with Netanyahu, Trump said, "They will never give me a Nobel Peace Prize. Its too bad. I deserve it, but they will never give it to me." The White House last week lobbied for the president to win the award come December when White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, "Its well past time that President Trump was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize." Original article source: Trump to host Armenia, Azerbaijan leaders ahead of peace pledge as White House eyes Nobel Peace Prize US President Donald Trump has announced plans to host a "peace summit" between long-time adversaries Armenia and Azerbaijan at the White House on Friday. Trump announced the meeting on his Truth Social platform on Thursday, saying Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan would attend. "President Aliyev AND Prime Minister Pashinyan will join me at the White House for an official Peace Signing Ceremony," Trump wrote, without providing further details. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Tensions remain high between the two countries. In 2023, Armenia lost control of the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region during a lightning offensive by Azerbaijan, which is ruled by Aliyev in an authoritarian manner and possesses significant oil wealth. Since then, Yerevan has faced a serious political crisis, with more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia. Baku has also continued to apply military pressure on Yerevan. Trump also said the United States would sign bilateral agreements with both countries to pursue economic opportunities and "fully unlock the potential of the South Caucasus Region." The US president wrote that many leaders had tried to end the conflict "with no success, until now, thanks to "TRUMP." United States President Donald Trump has confirmed that he will host the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia for a historic peace summit. Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan, and Nikol Pashinyan, the prime minister of Armenia, will meet with Trump at the White House on Friday for an official peace signing ceremony, the president wrote on his Truth Social platform. These two Nations have been at War for many years, resulting in the deaths of thousands of people. Many Leaders have tried to end the War, with no success, until now, thanks to TRUMP, he wrote. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement News of the talks in Washington was reported earlier this week when Pashinyans government announced the meeting in a statement on Telegram. The two countries, former Soviet republics, have faced off over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh since the late 1980s, when Nagorno-Karabakh broke away from Azerbaijan with support from Armenia. The region, which was claimed by both Azerbaijan and Armenia after the fall of the Russian Empire in 1917, had a mostly ethnic Armenian population at the time. The two sides fought a bloody war that lasted into the early 1990s, and the region has remained a major flashpoint ever since. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The conflict resumed in 2020 when Azerbaijan tried to retake Nagorno-Karabakh from Armenia. Azerbaijan recaptured Nagorno-Karabakh in September 2023, prompting almost all of the territorys 100,000 Armenians to flee to Armenia. The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan met in Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates, for peace talks last month, but no breakthrough in the decades-old conflict was announced. The Trump administration intensified its efforts to seek a resolution in March when the president dispatched his special envoy, Steve Witkoff, to the region. The prospective agreement could potentially put an end to decades of conflict and set the stage for a reopening of key transportation corridors across the South Caucasus that have been shut since the early 1990s. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement US officials told The Associated Press news agency that the agreements included a major breakthrough establishing a key transit corridor across the region, which had been an obstacle in peace talks. The agreement, according to the officials, would give the US leasing rights to develop the corridor and name it the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity. It would link Azerbaijan to its Nakhchivan region, which is separated from the rest of the country by a 32-kilometre (20-mile) patch of Armenias territory. The transit corridor is expected to eventually include a rail line, oil and gas lines, and fibre optic lines, allowing for the movement of goods and eventually people. President Trump is set to host the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia at the White House on Friday to sign a peace deal that would potentially end decades of conflict between the two nations. Azerbaijans president, Ilham Aliyev, and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan will meet with Trump separately and sign bilateral agreements with the United States to boost investments in their respective countries, Trump said. The three leaders will then gather for a peace ceremony. The extent of the agreement was not immediately clear, but if successful it could bring an end to decades of fighting over disputed regions between the two former Soviet republics. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Multiple news outlets reported that the peace agreement was centered on establishing a transit corridor across the region. These two Nations have been at War for many years, resulting in the deaths of thousands of people. Many Leaders have tried to end the War, with no success, until now, thanks to TRUMP,' Trump posted on Truth Social on Thursday night. I am very proud of these courageous Leaders for doing the right thing for the Great People of Armenia and Azerbaijan. It will be a Historic Day for Armenia, Azerbaijan, the United States, and, THE WORLD, he added. Trump has touted his efforts to broker regional peace deals around the world during his second term so far, citing his role in easing tensions between India and Pakistan and the Congo and Rwanda. He also secured a pause in fighting between Israel and Iran. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement However, he has so far been unable to bring an end to the fighting in Ukraine, something he had pledged on the campaign trail to do before even taking office, and fighting has continued in Gaza, leading to a worsening humanitarian crisis. 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 met with the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia on Friday to sign a joint peace declaration aimed at ending nearly four decades of conflict between the two former Soviet states. The agreement, which Trump referred to as a peace deal, includes a pact giving the U.S. exclusive rights to develop a transit route through a mountainous stretch of Armenian territory between Azerbaijan known as the Zangezur corridor. The securing of that route marks a significant setback for Russia and Iran in the South Caucasus, a region that sits at the crossroads of trade and energy flows that both countries have long sought to dominate. The route will be named after Trump, with the Administration calling it the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperityor TRIPP, for short. Azerbaijan and Armenia have been in conflict since 1988the final years of the USSRwhen ethnic tensions and violence erupted over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh enclave, which later declared independence from Azerbaijan as the Soviet Union collapsed. Intermittent clashes killed more than 30,000 people in the early 1990s and at least 6,000 during a 44-day conflict in 2020. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Its a long time, Trump said at the ceremony. Thirty-five years they fought and now theyre friends and theyre going to be friends for a long time. He added that the new transit route will allow Azerbaijan to get full access to the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh while respecting Armenia's sovereignty and allowing the U.S. to develop the corridor for up to 99 years. They're going to be able to really live and work together, Trump said. Russia has long sought to negotiate a permanent peace agreement in the region, with President Vladimir Putin brokering a ceasefire in 2020 and regularly convening the leaders of Azerbaijan and Armenia. But after Russia turned its attention to its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Putins influence over the conflict began to wane. In 2023, Russian military forces stationed in the region failed to prevent Azerbaijan from taking control over the Nagorno-Karabakh area, forcing around 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee their homes. Read more: Inside Armenia's Mission to Make Itself Indispensable Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Since then, Armenia and Azerbaijan have yet to agree where the border would run between them. Ahead of Fridays signing ceremony, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan signed a joint letter officially requesting that the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, an intergovernmental body, disband the Minsk Group, which was formed in 1994 to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The group is chaired by Russia, France, and the United States, but was considered powerless by some as it was not able to prevent Azerbaijan from taking the disputed enclave by force in 2023. Trump had earlier framed the agreement as a peace deal, writing on Truth Social that Many Leaders have tried to end the War, with no success, until now, thanks to TRUMP. Its unclear how significant a step withdrawing from the Minsk Group and establishing the new U.S. trade route would be toward lasting peace, though the leaders of both countries indicated that they are committed to peace and intended to honor the agreement, which is not a legally-binding document. There should be no doubt and no suspicion that any of the sides would step back, Aliyev of Azerbaijan said. If any of us, Prime Minister Pashinyan or myself, had in mind to step back, we wouldn't have come here. So you can be absolutely sure, as well as Azerbaijani community, that what has happened today will result in peacelong-lasting peace, eternal peace in the Caucasus. The deal adds to the handful of peace and economic agreements brokered this year by Trump, who has made no secret of his wish to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Several world leaders have nominated Trump for the award for his role in addressing long-running conflicts across the globe, including a tentative peace deal between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda and a trade agreement that stopped a conflict between Cambodia and Thailand. Indian officials have recently refuted Trumps claims of the U.S. playing a pivotal role in ending a conflict with Pakistan in May. Escalating wars in Gaza and Ukraine, meanwhile, remain unresolved. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I came in and this whole world was on fire, Trump said Friday. All these things were sort of happening. We've only been here for six months. The world was on fire. We took care of just about every fire." The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan both said they would nominate Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize. We will defend that, and we will promote for that, Pashinyan of Armenia said. Aliyev added: Who, if not President Trump, deserves the Nobel Peace Prize? As soon as we [return], we will agree to issue a joint letter. Earlier on Friday, the White House said the arrangement between Azerbaijan and Armenia would give the U.S. exclusive development rights to a transit route across southern Armenia that is meant to bolster cooperation in energy, technology and the economy. What this will do for American businesses, and, frankly, for energy resources across Europe, will be enormously powerful, a senior administration official told reporters on a call previewing the deal. The losers here are China, Russia and Iran. The winners here are the West. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trump said he anticipates significant infrastructure development by American companies along the route, which he believes will economically benefit all three of our nations. Write to Nik Popli at nik.popli@time.com. President Trump hosted the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan on Friday for the signing of a peace accord he said would bring to an end 35 years of fighting between the two former Soviet republics. Its a long time 35 years they fought, and now theyre friends. And theyre going to be friends for a long time. But its a big, beautiful honor to welcome everyone to the White House for this very historic peace summit between Armenia and Azerbaijan, Trump said while seated between Armenia Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev. At the center of the trilateral agreement is a call for developing what will be called the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP). Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The White House said the transit corridor a long-held desire for Azerbaijan will cut through Armenia and respect the countrys sovereignty and territorial integrity and its people. We will turn the page of standoff, confrontation and bloodshed, and provide bright and safe future for our children. So I am very happy, because today we are writing a great new history, Aliyev said. The U.S. signed separate bilateral deals with Armenia and Azerbaijan that will allow for investments in energy, technology, economic cooperation, border security, infrastructure and trade. Leaders argued it would be a boost for American companies, as well as for the economies of Armenia and Azerbaijan. Trump touted the event as the latest foreign policy success for his administration at a time when his allies are pushing for him to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan both argued Friday that Trump would be worthy of the Nobel Prize for his efforts. I think President Trump deserves to have the Nobel Peace Prize. We will promote for that, Pashinyan said. Trump president cited his role in easing tensions between India and Pakistan and the Congo and Rwanda, as well as Cambodia and Thailand. However, he has so far been unable to bring an end to the fighting in Ukraine, something he had pledged on the campaign trail to do before even taking office, and fighting has continued in Gaza, leading to a worsening humanitarian crisis. Updated at 4:33 p.m. EDT Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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 went off after being questioned over reports that he was set to have a strategy meeting with his administration officials to discuss the handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files. Bloomberg / Bloomberg via Getty Images Multiple reports on Wednesday signaled that the meeting would take place at Vice President JD Vances residence to discuss whether to release the transcript from Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanches interview last month with Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell. CNN was the first to report. Bloomberg / Bloomberg via Getty Images Related: Hillary Clinton Just Hit On One Of Donald Trump's Biggest Insecurities With Three Words The meeting was said to include Trump, Vance, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel, and Blanche. Reporters asked Trump on Wednesday about the meeting that was reportedly set to occur that evening, but the POTUS wasnt having it. I dont know, I could ask you that question, Trump fired back before looking at Vance. I dont know of it, but I think, heres the man right here. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / AFP via Getty Images Vance then took a swipe at the credibility of those reports. I saw it reported today, and its completely fake news. Were not meeting to talk about the Epstein situation, and I think the reporter who reported it needs to get better sources, Vance alleged. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / AFP via Getty Images Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Related: Gavin Newsom Is Going Viral For Shutting Down JD Vance With One Single Map Declaring the whole thing is a hoax, Trump went on to place the blame on the Democrats. Its put out by the Democrats because weve had the most successful six months in the history of our country, and thats just a way of trying to divert attention to something thats total bullshit. OK? Trump added. The meeting was reportedly canceled, according to Reuters. The White House and the FBI didnt immediately respond to HuffPosts request for comment. Win McNamee / Getty Images Related: Uhhh, People Zoomed Into This Picture Of Donald Trump And Found A Scary Surprise The POTUS also claimed earlier this week that he wasnt briefed on the decision to move Maxwell from a federal prison in Florida to a federal prison in Texas. I didnt know about it at all, Trump said. Its not a very uncommon thing. Maxwell, a longtime accomplice to the convicted sex offender and disgraced financier Epstein, was moved to Texas while serving her 20-year prison sentence due to her legal team appealing her case to the Supreme Court. Davidoff Studios Photography / Getty Images Earlier this week, Vances office doubled down on denying the reports. The CNN story is pure fiction. There was never a supposed meeting scheduled at the Vice Presidents residence to discuss Epstein strategy, Vances communications director William Martin said. Bloomberg / Bloomberg via Getty Images Related: People Cannot Believe Donald Trump Made This "Super Creepy" And "Homophobic" Comment About Pete Buttigieg Trump has repeatedly snapped at the media in recent weeks for questioning him about the Epstein files. Earlier this month, he called out his past supporters who believe in the Democratic bullshit a bunch of weaklings in a heated Truth Social post. Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images/ @realDonaldTrump / Via truthsocial.com Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This article originally appeared on HuffPost. Also in In the News: 5 Absolutely Horrifying Ways Republicans Are Explaining Why They're Fine With People Losing Healthcare Also in In the News: Trump's ICE Director Reportedly Made A Statement So Horrifying That People Are Calling It "The Most Insanely Depraved Thing" They've Ever Heard Also in In the News: Pete Buttigieg Has A Name For What Trump Does When He's Desperate, And It's Spot On Read it on BuzzFeed.com The Justice Department has opened an investigation into New York State Attorney General Letitia James, in an apparent act of Trumpian retribution. Two grand jury subpoenas were issued to Jamess office, requesting information pertaining to the Attorney Generals previous investigations into the Trump Organization and the National Rifle Association, reported CNN. The subpoenas are related to Trumps bank fraud case, which James won against Trump in 2024, forcing him to cough up $454 million for his familys faulty business practices. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Sources that spoke with the network also revealed that a grand jury investigation has been opened in Albany, examining whether James violated Trumps constitutional rights in taking legal action against him. Jamess office vehemently rejected the accusations, underscoring its efforts to hold Trump accountable. Any weaponization of the justice system should disturb every American, a spokesperson for the New York state attorney general told The New Republic. We stand strongly behind our successful litigation against the Trump Organization and the National Rifle Association, and we will continue to stand up for New Yorkers rights. Jamess attorney Abbe Lowell went a step further, telling CNN that the Trump administrations investigation into Jamess closed case has to be the most blatant and desperate example of this administrations carrying out the presidents political retribution campaign. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Weaponizing the Department of Justice to try to punish an elected official for doing her job is an attack on the rule of law and a dangerous escalation by this administration, Lowell added. If prosecutors carry out this improper tactic and are genuinely interested in the truth, we are ready and waiting with the facts and law. New Yorks top cop has become one of the presidents chief legal adversaries since the civil fraud case. In April, the Trump administration launched an investigation into her personal finances, accusing the attorney general of lying on her bank statements in order to obtain better mortgage rates. At the time, Trump referred to James as a totally corrupt politician and a wacky crook, and accused New Yorks first Black woman in statewide office of being racist. President Donald Trump lashed out at former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan after he joined the Democratic Party earlier this week. Duncan, who served as the GOP lieutenant governor of Georgia from 2019 to 2023, revealed in an op-ed for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he will be leaving the Republican Party and joining the Democrats. Duncan has been a fierce critic of the president since Trump falsely claimed that he won the 2020 election. Trump criticized Duncan in a scathing Truth Social post at about 1 a.m. on Friday. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Failed former Lt. Governor Geoff Duncan, of Georgia, is a total loser. Was never able to get anything done, all he ever did was complain. We didnt want him in the Republican Party any longer, so Im told he became a Democrat. Good riddance Geoff. You dont even have a chance!!! Trump wrote. Duncan, who spoke at the Democratic National Convention in support of then-Vice President Kamala Harris last year, said in the op-ed that his journey to becoming a Democrat started well before Donald Trump tried to steal the 2020 election in Georgia. Theres no date on a calendar or line in the sand that points to the exact moment in time my political heart changed, but it has, he wrote. My decision was centered around my daily struggle to love my neighbor, as a Republican. My journey to becoming a Democrat started well before Donald Trump tried to steal the 2020 election in Georgia. My decision was centered around my daily struggle to love my neighbor, as a Republican.https://t.co/1SPSRzUlYo Geoff Duncan (@GeoffDuncanGA) August 5, 2025 He criticized the Republican Party for voting to slash Medicaid and implement more tax cuts as part of Trumps big beautiful bill signed into law last month. He said that GOP is ignoring Americans pleas for change and also criticized his former party for making cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Duncan also took aim at Republicans lack of support for commonsense gun laws and Trumps heartless immigration raids. The list of reasons why Im now a Democrat continues to grow. Most importantly, my decision puts me in the best possible position each day to love my neighbor, he concluded. Our journalism needs your support. Please subscribe today to NJ.com. While other presidential administrations have issued Dear Colleague letters to schools, the Trump administration is the first to treat the letter like a law that mandates action. (iStock/Getty Images Plus) Its been about six months since the U.S. Department of Education sent a Dear Colleague letter to all schools that receive federal funding, warning them that they could risk losing this money if they promote what the department calls pervasive and repugnant racial preferences. The letter, among other things, reversed previous presidents positions on how diversity, equity, and inclusion influences schools disciplinary measures. It advised schools to, within two weeks, begin to eliminate all discipline protocols rooted in DEI, on the grounds that this work is discriminatory against white students. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trump also issued an executive order, Reinstating Commonsense School Discipline Policy, in April 2025, doubling down on the letter. Trumps letter and executive order exert an unusual level of influence over how schools can decide the best way to teach and, when necessary, discipline students. It also cuts against recognized research that Black, Latino, and Native American students are disciplined more frequently and harshly than white and Asian students. I am an educational scholar who has spent the past 13 years analyzing school discipline policy. While previous administrations have issued Dear Colleague letters to schools, Trumps is the first that frames itself as though it were law setting a potential new precedent for the executive branch to issue educational mandates without the approval of the judicial or congressional branches of government. While all but two states have responded to Trumps letter, about half of them have said they are not going to comply with its terms despite the administrations threat of cutting funding if they do not follow the guidance. Understanding DEI in education Equity-oriented education, or diversity, equity, and inclusion, refers to an ideology and programming that intend to ameliorate patterns of racial inequality. In the context of discipline in schools, DEI strategies could include teachers having conversations with children about their behavior, rather than immediately suspending them. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Research shows that these techniques can help reduce racial discipline gaps in academic achievement and disciplinary outcomes. The Obama administration in 2014 recognized this research in its own Dear Colleague letter to schools. The administration advised schools to either reform their discipline practices toward nonpunitive alternatives to suspension or risk being investigated for discrimination. The first Trump administration rescinded this letter in 2018. Then, in 2023, the Biden administration released a document along the same lines as Obamas letter. Trumps February 2025 letter grouped all of these recommendations under the banner of DEI and argued that such practices are discriminatory, privileging students of color over white and Asian students. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In his April executive order, Trump reiterated that if schools did not eliminate DEI, they would be out of compliance with Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. This act prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin, Public school districts regularly have to issue a certificate of compliance to the government showing that their work is in line with Title VI. While the Trump administration characterizes DEI as smuggling racial stereotypes and explicit race-consciousness into everyday training, programming, and discipline, it does not define exactly what constitutes DEI programming. This puts school districts at risk of losing funding if they maintain any initiatives related to racial equality. Legal concerns with Trumps directives The executive office and members of Congress typically issue Dear Colleague letters, which are not legally binding, to advise schools and others on policy. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Yet Trumps letter was written like a mandate and reinforced by an executive order, which is legally binding. Some scholars are calling the letter an overreach of legal authority. In the spring of 2025, I analyzed states responses to Trumps letter and executive order. Two states, Iowa and Tennessee, had not yet provided public responses. Twenty-three states complied with the administrations directive by signing the letter as of May 30. Some, like Oklahoma, not only certified the letter but also passed state laws banning DEI policies and programs. The remaining 25 states refused to certify the letter, asserting that they already complied with Title VI and that their policies are not discriminatory. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In addition, 19 of those 25 states sued the Trump administration over the letter in April, culminating in a court injunction later that month that temporarily released states from having to comply with its demands. I noticed that many states that refuted Trumps letter used the same exact words in their responses, signaling a concerted effort to resist Trumps directives. States that did not sign on to the letter but objected to its intent generally resisted on legal grounds, ethics, or both. A legal argument Most states that rejected it grounded their refusal to sign Trumps letter in federal law. They cited the Civil Rights Act and the Paperwork Reduction Act, which protects states from having to file redundant paperwork. Because these states already certified compliance with Title VI, this argument goes, they should not have to do so again under Trumps directive. Education commissioners from a few states, including Illinois and Minnesota, also cited specific language used by Betsy DeVos, Trumps former education secretary in his first term, who supported DEI policies. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Charlene Russell-Tucker, the education commissioner for Connecticut, also pointed out that in order for the federal government to cancel DEI programming, it would have to first legally change the definition of Title VI. States resisting on other grounds Some education officials also argued that their DEI work is ideologically necessary for providing supportive learning environments for all students. Patrick Tutwiler, Massachusetts interim education commissioner, wrote in an April 16 letter, for example, that Massachusetts will continue to promote diversity in our schools because we know it improves outcomes for all of our kids. Other officials displayed more subtle resistance. Randy Watson, Kansas education commissioner, for example, affirmed the states commitment to comply with all Federal statutes, including Title VI but did not explicitly address Trumps Dear Colleague letter. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Similarly, Kentucky informed the Department of Education of its compliance with federal law, while simultaneously encouraging local districts to continue diversity, equity and inclusion work. Mississippis state department of education pointed out that school districts operate independently, so the state cannot force policies on them. However, Mississippi signaled compliance by citing a new state law banning DEI and confirmed that each of its individual school districts have already certified compliance with federal laws. More legal pushback It is not yet clear what might follow the April court injunction, which largely prevented the Department of Education from cutting federal funding to schools that continued their DEI-related programs and policies. While the Trump administration has made major cuts to the Department of Education, it has not announced that states refusing to certify the letter will lose funding. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This is the first time an administration is issuing such a direct threat to withhold K-12 funding, placing schools in an unknown place, without a clear blueprint of how to move forward. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. President Donald Trump has signed an executive order requiring colleges to prove they do not consider race in admissions by submitting detailed racial and academic data to the federal government. The order, which was issued on Thursday, mandates that colleges and universities provide data, including race, GPA, and standardized test scores of applicants, admitted students, and enrollees, according to a news release from the U.S. Department of Education. Trump stated in the order that Education Secretary Linda McMahon must force colleges and universities to provide adequate transparency into admissions. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The persistent lack of available data paired with the rampant use of diversity statements and other overt and hidden racial proxies continues to raise concerns about whether race is actually used in admissions decisions in practice, continued the memo, as reported by The AP. This move seeks to further enforce the Supreme Courts 2023 ruling that banned affirmative action based on race in college admissions but allowed consideration of race only through applicants personal disclosures. Trump has now alleged that colleges have been using indirect methods like personal statements and diversity proxies to circumvent the ban. Universities will be expected to submit data on a website called the Postsecondary Education Data System, which had previously only asked for racial information on enrolled students. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Moving forward, this website will collect information regarding both applicants and enrollees, with the Department of Education writing that this change will enable the American public to assess whether schools are passing over the most qualified students in favor of others based on their race. McMahon supported the directive in the Department of Education release, writing that universities will now be required to provide this data directly to us through an existing data system. We will not allow institutions to blight the dreams of students by presuming that their skin color matters more than their hard work and accomplishments. The Trump Administration will ensure that meritocracy and excellence once again characterize American higher education. Despite the call for action by the President and the Education Secretary, some have raised concerns about the ability of the Department of Education to accomplish this goal, pointing to the recent budget and staffing cuts that the department has undergone in recent months. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Jason Cottrell, the former data coordinator for the Education Departments Office of Postsecondary Education, said that collecting the data will prove difficult due to the lack of employees. This isnt flipping a switch or typing something up and saying, Just do it, he explained, per NPR. Currently, there is no indication about when Trump expects these numbers to arrive. Still, there remain concerns about whether the Department of Education will be able to complete the task in a short timeframe. President Donald Trump is moving to target Latin American drug cartels with the military, US media said Friday, after Washington designated several narcotics trafficking groups as "terrorist" organizations earlier this year. The New York Times reported that Trump has directed the Pentagon to use military force against cartels deemed terrorist organizations. The Wall Street Journal said the president ordered options to be prepared, with the use of special forces and the provision of intelligence support under discussion, and that any action would be coordinated with foreign partners. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly, while not confirming the reports, said in a statement that Trump's "top priority is protecting the homeland, which is why he took the bold step to designate several cartels and gangs as foreign terrorist organizations." The United States designated Venezuela's Tren de Aragua, Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel and six other drug trafficking groups with Latin American roots as terror groups in February. The US embassy in Mexico released a statement later Friday, saying both countries would use "every tool at our disposal to protect our peoples" from drug trafficking groups. But the Mexican foreign ministry stressed that Mexico "would not accept the participation of US military forces on our territory." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement - 'No invasion' - Trump's administration has since added another Venezuelan gang, the Cartel of the Suns, which has allegedly shipped hundreds of tons of narcotics into the United States over two decades. The United States accuses Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro of leading that cartel -- an allegation Caracas has rejected as a "ridiculous smokescreen." Trump signed an executive order on January 20, his first day back in the White House, creating a process for the designation of the cartels, which he said "constitute a national-security threat beyond that posed by traditional organized crime." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a Thursday interview with EWTN that the designations allow "us to now target what they're operating and to use other elements of American power, intelligence agencies, the Department of Defense, whatever -- to target these groups." "We have to start treating them as armed terrorist organizations, not simply drug dealing organizations," Rubio said. "It's no longer a law enforcement issue. It becomes a national security issue." Trump vowed in March to "wage war" on Mexico's drug cartels, which he accused of rape and murder. His Mexican counterpart Claudia Sheinbaum, following the reports of potential US military action against cartels, insisted on Friday that there would be "no invasion" of her country. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Sheinbaum has made strenuous efforts to show Trump she is acting against Mexico's cartels, whom he accuses of flooding the United States with drugs, particularly fentanyl. "We are cooperating, we are collaborating, but there will be no invasion. That is absolutely ruled out," she said. Sheinbaum has been dubbed the "Trump whisperer" for repeatedly securing reprieves from his threats of stiff tariffs over the smuggling of drugs and migrants across their shared border. wd/bgs/abs/mtp WASHINGTON (AP) The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan are expected to sign a peace deal Friday at the White House that could potentially put an end to decades of conflict, President Donald Trump said. Trump said Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev would also be signing agreements with the U.S. to pursue Economic opportunities together, so we can fully unlock the potential of the South Caucasus Region. Many Leaders have tried to end the War, with no success, until now, thanks to TRUMP, Trump wrote Thursday night on his Truth Social site. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The prospective agreement could potentially put an end to decades of conflict and set the stage for a reopening of key transportation corridors across the South Caucasus that have been shut since the early 1990s. Three U.S. officials, who were not authorized to speak publicly ahead of the announcement and spoke on condition of anonymity, said the agreements included a major breakthrough establishing a key transit corridor across the region, which had been a hang-up in peace talks The agreement, according to the officials, would give the U.S. leasing rights to develop the corridor and name it the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity. It would link Azerbaijan to its Nakhchivan region, which is separated from the rest of the country by a 32-kilometer (20-mile) patch of Armenias territory. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The transit corridor is expected to eventually include a rail line, oil and gas lines, and fiber optic lines, allowing for the movement of goods and eventually people. The deal does not call for the U.S. to pay for the construction of the transit corridor, but instead for private corporations to develop it. The deal was reached after a visit earlier this year by Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff to Azerbaijans capital of Baku and continued talks between the parties. Nearly four decades of bloodshed between the two Armenia and Azerbaijan faced off for nearly four decades of fighting for control of the Karabakh region, which was known internationally as Nagorno-Karabakh. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement During the Soviet era, the mostly Armenian-populated region had an autonomous status within Azerbaijan. Long-simmering tensions between Christian Armenians and mostly Muslim Azerbaijanis fueled by memories of the 1915 massacre of 1.5 million Armenians by Muslim Ottoman Turks boiled over as the Soviet Union frayed in its final years. Clashes erupted in 1988 when the region made a bid to join Armenia. As the USSR collapsed in 1991 and Armenia proclaimed independence, hostilities escalated into a full-blown war that killed an estimated 30,000 people and displaced about 1 million. When the war ended with a cease-fire in 1994, ethnic Armenian forces backed by the government in Yerevan not only took control of the region but also captured broad swaths of Azerbaijan. Decades of international mediation efforts failed. In September 2020, Azerbaijan launched an operation to reclaim the region. NATO-member Turkey, which has close ethnic, cultural and historic bonds with Azerbaijan, gave it strong support. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In six weeks of fighting involving heavy artillery, rockets and drones that killed more than 6,700 people, Azerbaijani troops drove Armenian forces from areas they controlled outside Karabakh. They also reclaimed broad chunks of Karabakh. A Russia-brokered peace deal saw the deployment of about 2,000 troops to the region as peacekeepers. Azerbaijan then reclaimed all of Karabakh in September 2023 in a lightning military campaign. Over 100,000 people, nearly all of Nagorno-Karabakhs ethnic Armenian population, fled to Armenia in a week, fearing Azerbaijani rule. Russia, busy with its war in Ukraine, didnt intervene, angering Armenias leadership, which responded by scaling down its ties with Moscow and bolstering relations with the West. Prospects for peace and better relations Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement After reclaiming Karabakh, Azerbaijan engaged in talks with Armenia on normalizing ties. As part of the negotiations, Armenia agreed to hand over several border villages to Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan also has demanded that Armenia rewrite its constitution, which contains a reference to the prospective reunification of Armenia and the Karabakh region. The authorities have yet to present a revised draft in the face of public protests. A key stumbling block in peace talks was Azerbaijan seeking a land bridge to its Nakhchivan region. Azerbaijan doesnt trust Armenia to control the so-called Zangezur corridor, while Armenia had staunchly resisted control by a third party, seeing it as a breach of its sovereignty. It was not clear how that resistance had been overcome in the deal. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Russia, which has a military base in Armenia, had previously proposed deploying its troops to secure the corridor. Armenia, bent on scaling down ties with Russia in favor of closer relations with the West, rejected the idea. Russia has been left on the sidelines, because the Kremlin has nothing to offer to Armenia and Azerbaijan, said Olesya Vartanyan, a South Caucasus expert, noting that Moscows regional influence withered after it focused on the war in Ukraine. Russia now lacks resources to deal with Armenia and Azerbaijan, Vartanyan said. The prospective peace deal also would pave the way for Turkey and Azerbaijan to reopen borders with Armenia that have been shut for nearly four decades, leaving the landlocked country to rely on limited transit routes via Georgia and Iran. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Turkey views the prospective agreement as part of its efforts to expand its influence in the South Caucasus, while Armenia sees the reopening of the border and resuming trade with Turkey as a top priority. Pashinyan, who visited Turkey in June in the first such visit by an Armenian leader, has made normalizing ties with Turkey a key goal. For Armenia, it would guarantee stability and allow access to the Turkish market, ports and investments, as well as its inclusion into key regional transport corridors, Vartanyan said, adding that a peace deal would help make Armenia a key link between Europe and Asia. Armenia has an extensive transport infrastructure since the Soviet times, including railways and highways that could significantly expand trade routes via South Caucasus, she said. ___ President Donald Trump delivers remarks during a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron in the East Room at the White House on Feb. 24, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) President Donald Trump will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Aug. 15 in Alaska, Trump said in a social media post Friday. The location, timing and other details were not immediately available. Staff for all three members of Alaskas congressional delegation said they were unaware of the announcement ahead of time. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The highly anticipated meeting between myself, as President of the United States of America, and President Vladimir Putin, of Russia, will take place next Friday, August 15, 2025, in the Great State of Alaska, Trump wrote on Truth Social. Trump has repeatedly said on social media that he is interested in negotiating with Putin in order to bring an end to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This story is developing and will be updated. Alaska Beacon is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Alaska Beacon maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Andrew Kitchenman for questions: info@alaskabeacon.com. Should Donald Trumps meeting with Vladimir Putin go ahead, one principle must rest at the core of discussions: the United States should not make concessions over Ukrainian territory and sovereignty without having first agreed them with Kyiv. Early assurances of a swift end to the war and attempts to pile pressure on Kyiv to make concessions were a disastrous mistake, and it is clearly for the good that the White House now appears to understand that Putin is the primary barrier to peace. It is to Mr Trumps credit that he seems, belatedly, to have come to this conclusion, and that he has accompanied this with measures targeting Russias wartime economy. The declaration that Moscow poses an extraordinary threat to the US, and the sanctions on India over purchases of Russian oil, both speak to a willingness to put pressure on the Kremlin to make concessions. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This pressure should be maintained. But Mr Trump must not allow himself to fall into the trap of making compromises for a swifter peace. Putin may well feel that attrition is now working in his favour, or that Ukraines forces are on the back foot, and wish to either play for time or use his perceived battlefield advantage for leverage. The line that must not be crossed is the US agreeing to attempt to force a deal on Ukraine that Putin finds favourable, and Kyiv intolerable. The cost of this war is terrible, but an unjust peace would be worse than its continuation. 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. President Donald Trump in his second term often seems to be throwing things at the wall and seeing what does and doesnt stick. Thats certainly the case with his highly unorthodox push for a new census. The issue has stung him several times before, but hes apparently back for another bite at the apple no matter the obvious and numerous obstacles. To recap: Trump announced Thursday that hes ordered the Commerce Department to immediately begin work on a new and highly accurate CENSUS that will not count undocumented immigrants. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The administration for some reason isnt saying precisely when Trump intends to conduct this census whether it would be an unprecedented mid-decade census or if hes referring to improvements to the existing and upcoming census in 2030. But given some Republicans like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia have pushed the mid-decade route and that Trump seems to be seeking whatever advantage his party can get in the 2026 midterm elections right now (see: Texas redistricting), theres a decent chance he means this should happen now. There would be a number of pronounced problems with that. One is the sheer magnitude of the census process. It literally takes a decade of work, with strict rules about pieces of the process, including that its questions need to be agreed-upon two years in advance. Pushing to make anything amounting to an actual, traditional census happen in such short order feels pretty naive. Even if you ignore the timeframe issue, theres the matter of authority. Article 1 of the Constitution gives Congress, not the president, the power over the actual enumeration of the population. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Congress has authorized the Commerce Department to conduct a sort of mid-decade census in years ending in 5, like 2025. But that cant legally be used to redistrict or reapportion House seats the real potential political value of this for Trump and the GOP. (There is evidence that a new census could take several congressional districts out of blue states and put them in red states.) Houses undergo construction in a neighborhood in Austin, Texas, in April. Trump has ordered the Commerce Department to begin work on a new census. - Brandon Bell/Getty Images Finally, theres the other main reason Trump seems to want to do this: to get undocumented immigrants out of the count. But the Constitution says congressional districts are to be apportioned based on the whole number of persons in each State. Trump might not like undocumented immigrants being in this country hes made that clear but its difficult to see even the most favorable court deciding they dont constitute people. The other gob smacking part of this is Trump is once again trying to confront a beast that has repeatedly beaten him in the past. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trumps quest to use the census to weed out undocumented immigrants has been a lengthy one, dating to the early days of his first term. His many attempts have come up short at every juncture sometimes in pretty embarrassing ways. The big effort early in Trumps first term wasnt to get noncitizens out of the count, at least on its face, but to merely put a citizenship question on the census. But the administration botched it from the start. It claimed it was doing this not for political gain but to enforce the Voting Rights Act, yet contemporaneous documents sharply undercut that justification. Ultimately, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, in a remarkable 2019 rebuke striking down the citizenship question, said the administrations justification appeared to be contrived and a distraction. Trump responded to this by saying he would ask the lawyers whether they could delay the Census, no matter how long. They couldnt. His threats never came to pass. Federal agents detain a man after his July hearing at immigration court in New York City. Trump says the new census won't count undocumented immigrants. - Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images/File Soon, Trump basically copped to the actual justification for his gambit: a political one. Trump signed a memorandum in mid-2020 stating that undocumented immigrants shouldnt be used in apportionment of districts. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement That was about as puzzling as Trumps announcement Thursday. How were those tasked with apportioning congressional seats supposed to comply with Trumps memo if they didnt have the underlying census data that excluded non-citizens? The administration occasionally claimed it could somehow use other data that was less robust, but that seemed far-fetched. By August 2020, the administration launched another census-related power play: officials sought to cut the census short by a month, apparently so they could reapportion districts before Trumps term ended on Jan. 20 (in case he lost the election, which he ultimately did). Officials scrambled to provide some kind of data on undocumented immigrants. There were ugly power struggles for months over the administrations clear politicization of the process. It ultimately failed. In the end, it was perhaps the most undersold minor scandal of the first Trump administration ultimately overshadowed by the events of Jan. 6, 2021. The Trump administration clearly tried to game the system, and it repeatedly came up short. And Trump apparently wants to run it back again. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com Before he came into office, Donald Trump said he could stop the war in Ukraine in 24 hours. Now he has had more than 24 weeks, but the fighting continues unabated. Today the possibility looms of a meeting between President Trump and President Putin, so people are excited. They say Trump has hardened against Russia; America has threatened Russia with tougher sanctions. Might something actually happen? If you look at Trumps presentation of the issue since coming into office, you will certainly observe some alteration. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In the early months, he spoke almost as if using Russian talking points, and badmouthed President Zelensky of Ukraine. But he probably registered that the disgusting scene in the Oval Office in February in which he and Vice-President Vance tried publicly to humiliate Zelensky had not been such a brilliant idea. Trump also became annoyed with Putin for not accepting his ludicrously favourable offer to Russia just like that. This burst out in his telling tweet on May 27: What Vladimir Putin doesnt realise is that if it werent for me, lots of bad things would already have happened to Russia and I mean REALLY BAD. He was accidentally admitting that his idea of peace in Ukraine was to give Russia most of what it wanted, and he had been working hard to that end. Why was friend Vlad not grateful? He felt personally affronted that Putin would often (as he still does) kill some more civilians shortly after one of the two mens friendly phone calls: Hell talk so beautifully, and then hell bomb people at night. Occasional Trump expressions of outrage have continued. But so have his deadlines that pass unnoticed. He has never come through with a major deterrent against Russia. The latest trip to the Kremlin of the presidents envoy, Steve Witkoff, seems to have effaced the sanctions deadline against Russia which Trump claimed, a few days earlier, to have brought forward. One senses that Trump, not Putin, is the one begging for a deal. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Imagine it from Putins point of view. Certainly, he wants to keep on the right side of Trump, but he has very different priorities. His quarter of a century in power has been shaped by wishing to rebuild the Russian empire and, in the process, destroy European security as established with the fall of the Soviet Union. In the words of James Sherr, the veteran British-Estonian Russia watcher, Putin sees Ukraine simply as an amputated vassal to be subdued. He does not want peace before that work is finished. Conceivably, Putin might want the sort of ceasefire that Trump advocates, but only if he could extract immediate advantage. He is not currently under enormous pressure to stop fighting. He has enough cash and arms (Russia now gets more shells from North Korea than Ukraine gets from the whole of the EU) and, despite losing about 1,000 a day, enough men whom that money can buy. At the back of his mind is the long-standing Russian belief that the United States is its permanent enemy: so three more years of the Russophile Trump may seem of little account. Putin will also sense the danger of losing momentum. Like Macbeth, he is in blood / Steppd in so far that, should I wade no more, / Returning were as tedious as go oer. Without the joy of victory or the tension of continued combat, Russians will start asking difficult questions of a leader who has demanded so much of them with so little to show for it and has ceded economic and political power to China. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Strange to say, the psychological position of Ukraine is not so dissimilar. It is true that it has far fewer men and resources than Russia. If the issue comes down to attrition alone, it will eventually lose; but the fashion in the West for saying the Ukraine has lost is not borne out by the facts. More than two years ago, I helped deliver a field ambulance to a stabilisation point near the Bakhmut front. I was told this week that, despite continuous fighting, the total Russian advance in that area since then has been three miles. A year ago, we were all reporting that Pokrovsk was about to fall. Today, despite the Russian 2025 offensive, we are reporting the same thing. Ukrainian advances in drone warfare in that time have been spectacular though Russia catches up with technology fast. The raids at the end of May which knocked out Russian UAVs, some of them in Russian bases thousands of miles away, were astonishing. The Ukrainians long for respite, of course. The strain on their troops is enormous, but there is virtual unanimity in the country that they must keep as much territory as possible and remain independent and sovereign. I expect they would concede some things de facto loss of Crimea, perhaps but only as part of a policed settlement. They fear indeed they know, because Trump has said as much that America is not prepared to protect any deal it may broker. So how much use is anything it may propose? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ukraine also has the unity born of war. A ceasefire would be an invitation to restart the favourite sport of Ukrainian politicians, which is to tear one another apart. Zelensky, who recently had to capitulate to crowds protesting against his suspension of anti-corruption bodies, feels that fragility. So when either side looks at Trump, neither sees an all-powerful saviour or wise mediator. They see someone who does not understand or share their modes of thought. He cannot grasp what an existential war means, and therefore how a lasting peace could be arrived at. For discreditable reasons, he is pro-Russia, and never admits the evil of Russias aggression, but the main point is that he can hustle but not deliver. Obviously, he is a very powerful man, and so must be humoured, but if either Russia or Ukraine accepts a ceasefire, each will be doing so only to weaken the other side, militarily or diplomatically. No ceasefire will last. The other aspect of the situation which Trump seems not to understand is the threat to European security and global order, and Natos role in protecting the post-1945 peace that guarantees these things. This makes him dangerous, but also, in a sense, marginal. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This is where Europe has benefited from Ukraines courage and tenacity. With the honourable exception of Britains quick-acting military support, led by Boris Johnson in February 2022, the main European powers were flummoxed by Putins invasion. If Ukraine had not so successfully resisted, European security today would be broken, north, south and east. Ukraine has bought us time, and with it, a greater toughness and realism about collective defence. The EU plus Britain have a GDP 12 times the size of Russia. We are getting better, though much too slowly, in helping to supply Ukraine and giving it a freer hand to make much more of its own defence equipment. It is preparing new generations of weapons. And now, as part of fairer burden-sharing, the United States is selling us, through Nato means much less bureaucratic than EU ones, kit we can then supply to Ukraine. It is well within our power and rights to create a situation in which Russia cannot win in Ukraine and cannot achieve the wider destabilisation which it is attempting from Estonia to the Balkans. We should not be deflected by Trumps sound and fury, signifying not all that much. 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. President Donald Trump has reportedly ordered federal law enforcement officers to patrol Washington, D.C., as Stephen Miller claimed crime in the capital was more violent than Baghdad. The White House announced that additional officers would be on the streets of D.C. from midnight in what would reportedly begin as a seven-day operation in a bid to clamp down on crime. Its our capital city, it is more violent than Baghdad, it is more violent than parts of Ethiopia and parts of many of the most dangerous places in the world, White House deputy chief of staff Miller told NewsNation Thursday. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trump has been threatening to federalize the capital all week following an attack on a former Department of Government Efficiency staffer, Edward Coristine. Trump re-posted the bloodied photo of Coristine on Truth Social Thursday evening and addressed him directly in his post. Edward: The Crime situation in Washington, just like our Southern Border where ZERO Illegals entered in the last three months, will be a safe place very soon, Trump wrote. Thank you for your bravery and heart. Stay tuned! Trump has been threatening to federalize the capital all week following an attack on a former Department of Government Efficiency staffer, Edward Coristine. (@realDonaldTrump/Truth Social) Additional support will come from the D.C. National Guard, FBI, Marshals, ICE, Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security, according to CBS. Washington, D.C. is an amazing city, but it has been plagued by violent crime for far too long, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement Thursday. President Trump has directed an increased presence of federal law enforcement to protect innocent citizens. Starting tonight, there will be no safe harbor for violent criminals in D.C. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The crackdown in D.C. will reportedly focus on tourist areas and other busy hotspots. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser approved the White Houses request, received overnight Wednesday, to bolster the capitals law enforcement presence, according to CBS, citing an official in the mayors office. Figures from the Metropolitan Police Department found that crime was down 35 percent in 2024 compared to 2023 in the citya 30-year low. Preliminary numbers from the police found that violent crime was down 26 percent for 2025 so far. A source told CBS there had been little to no coordination between the MPD and federal law enforcement about the plans, adding that the force has not been notified about what the increase in federal law enforcement might look like in D.C. Trump threatened to take responsibility for law enforcement in D.C. away from the city several times this week. (Getty) The Independent has contacted the MPD for further information. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement At a news conference Thursday, Trump-appointed prosecutor Jeanine Pirro said young people in D.C. are being coddled and committing too much crime. They dont need to be coddled anymore. They need to be held accountable, said Pirro, who handles most of the capitals adult crime. They shouldnt be going to arts and crafts in family court. They need to understand that enough is enough. And the D.C. Council has to repeal some of these absurd ordinances and laws that theyve had passed that do nothing to protect the people of this city and of this District. Trump threatened to take responsibility for law enforcement in D.C. away from the city several times this week. If D.C. doesnt get its act together, and quickly, we will have no choice but to take federal control of the city, and run this city how it should be run, and put criminals on notice that theyre not going to get away with it anymore, the president said Tuesday on Truth Social. A sign in that said, Heal Fast Big Balls Thanks, Trump! was spotted on August 7 in Washington, DC. (Getty) Perhaps it should have been done a long time ago, then this incredible young man, and so many others, would not have had to go through the horrors of violent crime, he said, referring to Coristine. If this continues, I am going to exert my powers, and FEDERALIZE this city. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Coristine, known by the nickname he gave himself on LinkedInBig Balls was with an unnamed woman in downtown D.C. at 3 a.m. Sunday when a group of juveniles approached their car, according to the police report of the incident. The report explains that the suspects approached the victims standing next to the vehicle parked on the 1400 block of Swann Street and demanded that they hand it over before assaulting one of the victims. During the alleged attack, an MPD cruiser pulled up, prompting the attackers to flee. Two of the suspects were apprehended by the on-scene officers. At the same time, one of the victims [Coristine] was treated on scene by emergency services personnel for injuries sustained during the assault. The pair arrested was two 15-year-olds, a male and a female, from nearby Hyattsville, Maryland. They were subsequently charged with unarmed carjacking. Coristines iPhone 16, worth $1,000, was reportedly stolen during the incident. WASHINGTON (AP) The White House said Thursday night that there will be increased presence of federal law enforcement in the nation's capital to combat crime for at least the next week, amid President Donald Trump 's suggestions that his administration could fully take over running the city. Washington, DC is an amazing city, but it has been plagued by violent crime for far too long," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. Donald Trump has directed an increased presence of federal law enforcement to protect innocent citizens. She added that the increased federal presence means there will be no safe harbor for violent criminals in D.C. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trump has repeatedly suggested that the rule of Washington could be returned to federal authorities. Doing so would require a repeal of the Home Rule Act of 1973 in Congress, a step Trump said lawyers are examining but could face steep pushback. We have a capital thats very unsafe, Trump told reporters at the White House this week. We have to run D.C. The White House said the increased law enforcement would make D.C. safe again and would be present on the streets starting at midnight led by U.S. Park Police following an 11 p.m. Thursday roll call at an established command center. The push will last the next seven days with the option to extend as needed," under the authority of Trumps previous executive order establishing the Making DC Safe and Beautiful Task Force. The added federal officials will be identified, in marked units and highly visible, the White House said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Participating law enforcement include personnel from the U.S. Capitol Police, Homeland Security Investigations, the Federal Protective Service, the Drug Enforcement Administration, Enforcement and Removal Operations, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the U.S. Marshals Service and the U.S. Attorneys Office for the District of Columbia. The police forces for Amtrak and the city's Metro rail service are also involved. However a two-hour tour of the D.C. streets, starting around 1 a.m. Friday, revealed no evidence of the sort of multi-agency flood of uniformed personnel described in Trumps announcement. There was a robust, but not unusual, Metropolitan Police Department presence in late-night hot spots like 14th Street and along Florida Avenue. But there was no overt or visible law enforcement presence other than the MPD. Trump has long suggested crime and violence is on the rise in Washington, and has lately begun to criticize things like litter and graffiti. But the catalyst for the order to increase police presence was the assault last weekend on a high-profile member of the Department of Government Efficiency by a group of teenagers in an attempted carjacking. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The victim, Edward Coristine, nicknamed Big Balls, was among the most visible figures of DOGE, which was tasked with cutting jobs and slashing the federal bureaucracy. Police arrested two 15-year-olds and say theyre still looking for other members of the group. If D.C. doesnt get its act together, and quickly, we will have no choice but to take Federal control of the City, and run this City how it should be run, and put criminals on notice that theyre not going to get away with it anymore, Trump posted on Truth Social earlier this week. The president subsequently said he was considering repealing Washingtons limited Home Rule autonomy or bringing in the National Guard, maybe very quickly. Thursday's announcement comes as Washington Mayor Muriel Bowsers government can claim to have reduced the number of homicides and carjackings both of which spiked citywide in 2023. Carjackings in Washington overall dropped significantly the following year in 2024, from 957 to just under 500, and the number is on track to decline again this year with less than 200 recorded so far more than halfway through 2025. Among the many issues that have plagued the Internal Revenue Service in recent months is the revolving door at the commissioners office: Between January and May, the tax agency went through five different chiefs in five months. The revolving door appeared likely to stop after Senate Republicans overlooked former Rep. Billy Longs controversial background to confirm him as the new IRS commissioner. Exactly three weeks ago, Donald Trump who picked Long despite his complete lack of qualifications held a ceremonial swearing-in ceremony for the Missouri Republican in the Oval Office. It was a provocative move in its own right: Since Watergate, presidents from both parties have taken a hands-off attitude toward the IRS, treating it as an apolitical and largely independent agency. The incumbent president, in contrast, seemed eager to signal his control over the IRS. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Just 21 days after that White House event, Trump has apparently decided it is time for a new commissioner. The New York Times reported: President Trump is removing Billy Long from his job leading the Internal Revenue Service just two months after he was confirmed as commissioner, according to four people familiar with the matter. Mr. Long, a former Republican congressman and staunch ally of Mr. Trump, is expected to be nominated to an ambassadorship, the people said. The Times report, which has been verified by NBC News, added that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent who ostensibly already has a full-time job will serve as acting IRS commissioner for a while. For those keeping score, Senate Republicans confirmed Long on June 12, and he formally took the office on June 16, which means he lasted just 53 days or in the parlance, roughly five Scaramuccis. Its unlikely that Senate Democrats, who tried to derail Longs nomination, will be sorry to see him go. After all, during his tenure in the U.S. House, he repeatedly sponsored legislation to eliminate the agency he was later tapped to lead. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Whats more, The New York Times reported late last year that Long has a problematic record of peddling a pandemic-era tax credit that the IRS warned was a magnet for fraud. Longs record was so controversial that Senate Democrats suggested he face a criminal investigation. For his part, Long told NBC News he'll soon be nominated to serve as the U.S. ambassador to Iceland, which will also require Senate confirmation. As for why the president, who's appeared eager to sic the IRS on his perceived political foes, decided to oust Long so quickly, the story is still coming into focus. For now, the motivation behind the developments are a mystery, though its unlikely to remain a mystery for long. Watch this space. This post, which updates our related earlier coverage, has been revised to reflect Long's upcoming ambassadorial nomination. This article was originally published on MSNBC.com For the first time during President Donald Trumps second term in the White House, he is expected to meet in person with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. According to BBC, on Thursday, the Kremlin stated that the two presidents have agreed to meet in the coming days. This announcement comes after Trump earlier this week said there was a good chance he could meet with both Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy very soon to discuss an end to the war in Ukraine. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Zelenskyy has indicated support for a meeting between the three leaders but Putin has not shown the same sentiment. This talk of meetings comes shortly before Trumps Friday deadline for Russia to agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine or receive more sweeping sanctions, per BBC. The Kremlins announcement of a meeting between Trump and Putin comes one day after U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff met with the Russian president in Moscow on Wednesday. It is unclear what exactly Witkoff and Putin discussed in their meeting, per The New York Times. What the U.S. has said about potential meetings The New York Times reported that Trump told European leaders he intended to meet with the Russian president and then that follow up by meeting with both Zelenskyy and Putin. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On Thursday, a Kremlin aide said that Moscow had not agreed to the three-way meeting but that it had been a suggestion from Witkoff. When asked about a meeting between Trump and Putin, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said a lot has to happen before that can occur, per The Associated Press. Rubio said that the U.S. would be having talks with European allies and Ukrainian leadership over the next few days. He added that having Trump meet directly with the Russian and Ukrainian presidents would help finalize an agreement but said Weve got to get close enough to that point so that a meeting like that will be productive and worth doing. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trump has not met with Putin yet this year, but met with him five times during his first term, per the AP. What Russia has said about potential meetings According to The New York Times, when speaking about the coming meeting with Trump the Kremlin did not set an exact date or location for the summit. When speaking about a meeting with Zelenskyy as well as Trump, Putin said he is not against the idea but reiterated that certain conditions must be met before that happens. We are unfortunately, at the moment, far away from those conditions, Putin said, per The New York Times What Ukraine has said about potential meetings In a statement on X, Zelenskyy said that a number of meeting formats had been suggested, per the AP. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ukraine is not afraid of meetings and expects the same brave approach from the Russian side, he wrote. It is time we ended the war. Thank you to everyone who is helping. According to the AP, Zelenskyy has been willing to meet in person with Putin to end the fighting, but the idea has been repeatedly rejected by Russia. Zelenskyy has met with Trump several times this year. President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are planning on meeting in Alaska, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter. Mr. Trump confirmed on Truth Social the meeting will take place in Alaska on Friday, August 15. One senior White House official told CBS News the planning for next Friday's summit is still fluid, and that it is still possible that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy could end up being involved in some way. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The White House said earlier this week that Mr. Trump is open to meeting with both Putin and Zelenskyy, but Mr. Trump suggested Friday he may start by just meeting with Putin, telling reporters he plans to "start off with Russia." Mr. Trump also said he believes "we have a shot at" organizing a trilateral meeting with the Ukrainian and Russian leaders. Russian businessman and Putin adviser Kirill Dmitriev acknowledged the planned meeting in a post on X that didn't mention the Russia-Ukraine war. He suggested the U.S. and Russia should "partner on environment, infrastructure & energy in Arctic and beyond." The expected meeting comes as Mr. Trump presses Putin to strike a ceasefire deal with Ukraine. It would be the first face-to-face meeting between Putin and an American leader since former President Joe Biden met with his Russian counterpart in Switzerland in June 2021, eight months before Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Friday, August 8, is the Trump-imposed deadline for Putin to either cut a ceasefire deal or face hefty sanctions targeting the Russian economy, including possible secondary sanctions on countries that do business with Russia. Mr. Trump imposed 50% tariffs on Indian goods earlier this week, in part because India buys oil from Russia. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The status of those additional sanctions is unclear. "This is another opportunity for the Arctic to serve as a venue that brings together world leaders to forge meaningful agreements," Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska wrote in a social media post Friday night regarding the meeting. "While I remain deeply wary of Putin and his regime, I hope these discussions lead to genuine progress and help end the war on equitable terms." Mr. Trump has grown frustrated with Putin in recent weeks, as Russia has continued to pummel Ukrainian cities with drone and missile attacks. Mr. Trump has described some of his recent phone calls with the Russian president as disappointing. The Trump administration's tone has appeared to shift in recent days. Mr. Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, met with Putin in Moscow for hours on Wednesday, which the U.S. president described as "very productive." The White House and the Kremlin later indicated they were open to a Putin-Trump summit. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The president told reporters Friday: "President Putin, I believe, wants to see peace, and Zelenskyy wants to see peace." But the actual terms of any possible peace deal remain unclear. Russia's military occupies large swaths of eastern Ukraine, including both territories that it has captured since 2022 and ones that it annexed in a lower-intensity conflict that began in 2014. Russian leadership has indicated in the past that it wants Ukraine to withdraw its own forces from much of the country's east possibly including areas that Russia hasn't even captured and to end its longstanding push to join NATO. Zelenskyy has pushed back on those demands. Mr. Trump said Friday he expects "some swapping of territories" between Russia and Ukraine. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The U.S. president has blamed both Zelenskyy and Putin at various points for slow progress on a ceasefire deal. Mr. Trump publicly argued with Zelenskyy in the Oval Office earlier this year, and he claimed Zelenskyy was prolonging the conflict by refusing to cede the Crimean peninsula to Russia. The Trump administration has also paused military assistance to Ukraine at least twice, before restoring the aid shipments. Global stock markets react to Trump's sweeping tariffs in effect now Israel's Security Cabinet approves plan to take over Gaza City Why Trump is calling for Intel CEO's immediate resignation A summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin is tentatively scheduled to occur late next week, NBC News reported on Aug. 8, citing a senior White House official. The details or exact timing of the meeting remain unclear, according to NBC News. It was not immediately clear as to whether it would involve President Volodymyr Zelensky. Preparations for the meeting are underway, the Kremlin said on on Aug. 7, claiming that the venue has already been agreed upon. The White House official disputed that claim in a comment to NBC News, claiming that the location is still to be determined, with possible venues including locations in the United Arab Emirates, Hungary, Switzerland, and Rome. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Sky News reported, citing sources in the Italian government, that Trump held a call with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, speaking about the possibilities of holding the meeting in Rome. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov previously dismissed the prospects of future peace talks in the Vatican. Earlier reports indicated that Trump would agree to meet with Putin only if Putin also met with President Volodymyr Zelensky. Later, however, Trump told reporters at the White House that such a meeting between Zelensky and Putin was not a prerequisite for his own meeting with Putin. Zelensky on Aug. 7 signalled willingness for Ukraine's involvement in the meeting. The comments follow a meeting between Putin and U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff on Aug. 6, just two days before Trump's deadline for Russia to agree to a ceasefire in Ukraine. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The New York Times reported that Trump is preparing not only for a one-on-one with Putin, but also for a potential trilateral meeting with Zelensky shortly afterward. Bloomberg reported on Aug. 8 , citing undisclosed sources, that the U.S. and Russia are seeking to reach a territorial agreement to cement Moscow's occupation of Ukrainian territories and end the war. The proposed deal is aimed at freezing the conflict and laying the groundwork for a ceasefire and technical negotiations toward a final peace settlement, the news agency reported. Putin is demanding that Ukraine cede all of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, as well as Crimea, Bloomberg wrote. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Washington is reportedly trying to secure support from Ukraine and its European allies for the potential deal, which remains far from certain. The U.S. president issued an ultimatum to Moscow on July 28, demanding a ceasefire within 10 days or face severe U.S. sanctions. As the Aug. 8 deadline approached, Trump signaled impatience and said the decision now "depends on Putin." Read also: US, Russia discuss deal to cement Moscows hold on occupied Ukrainian territories, Bloomberg reports Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. While President Donald Trump previously refrained from speaking ill of Russian President Vladimir Putin, those days are over. The ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine has changed the nature of their dynamic. Although the two appeared to get along, at least publicly, during Trumps first administration, their relationship has unraveled as the more recent conflict persists. In recent weeks, Trump has refused to mince his words when asked about Putin. Trump said during a Cabinet meeting July 8 he was fed up with Putin and said he was eyeing potentially imposing new sanctions on Russia. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "We get a lot of bulls--- thrown at us by Putin, if you want to know the truth," Trump said. "He's very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless." Trump Moves Nuclear Submarines Weeks After Praising Sub's Power In Iran Strikes While President Donald Trump previously refrained from speaking ill of Russian President Vladimir Putin, those days are over. John Hardie, Russia program deputy director at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said Russia started to attract ire from Trump dating back to March after Ukraine agreed to a 30-day ceasefire. But Russia has failed to get on board with a ceasefire. Read On The Fox News App "Really, since then, I think Trump has come to view the Russians as the main impediment to a deal," Hardie told Fox News Digital Thursday. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Additionally, Hardie said that Trump has also grown frustrated that Russia will launch drone and missile attacks against Ukraine, even after directly speaking with Putin. "What he's sort of latched on to are these Russian drone and missile barrages," Hardie said. "That really seems to resonate with him." Tensions only have continued to escalate between the U.S. and Russia since the July Cabinet meeting. Trump announced July 14 that he would sign off on "severe tariffs" against Russia if Moscow failed to agree to a peace deal within 50 days. He then dramatically reduced the deadline to only 1012 days which ends Friday. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The decision to reduce the timeline prompted former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to caution that "each new ultimatum is a threat and a step towards war." Trump Lifts Veil On Us Submarines In Warning Shot To Kremlin In Clever Repositioning Move The decision to reduce the timeline prompted former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to caution that "each new ultimatum is a threat and a step towards war." In addition to economic sanctions, Trump responded to Medvedev and issued a rare statement disclosing that two U.S. Navy submarines would be moved in response to escalating threats from Russia. "I have ordered two Nuclear Submarines to be positioned in the appropriate regions, just in case these foolish and inflammatory statements are more than just that," Trump said Aug. 1. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trump's disclosure of the submarine presence puts additional pressure on Russia to come to the negotiating table, according to Bryan Clark, a retired submarine officer and director of the Hudson Institute think tanks Center for Defense Concepts and Technology. "We have used very sparingly submarines to try to influence adversary behavior before, but this is pretty unusual, to do it against a nuclear-powered adversary like Russia in response to a nuclear threat by Russia," Clark told Fox News Digital Monday. "So I think this is trying to essentially push back on Russia's frequent and long-standing threats to use nuclear weapons in part of the Ukraine conflict." Momentum is picking up on negotiations though, and U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff met with Putin Wednesday. Trump said in a post on Truth Social afterward that "great progress" was made during the meeting. And now, Trump and Putin are expected to meet face to face imminently in an attempt to finally advance negotiations to end the war between Russia and Ukraine. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Still, Hardie said he is skeptical that the meeting between Putin and Trump will result in meaningful progress. "I don't expect a summit to produce much," Hardie said. "And I think Putin could try to use the summit to placate Trump and kind of buy more time continues assault on Ukraine, but I think his goal is he'd love to be able to enlist Trump in his effort to impose these harsh terms on Ukraine." Russia has pushed for concessions in a peace deal that include barring Ukraine from joining NATO, preventing foreign peacekeeper troops from deploying to Ukraine after the conflict, and adjusting some of the borders that previously were Ukraine's. Its unclear if Trump plans to announce any additional economic burdens upon Russia Aug. 8, 2025, in accordance with the deadline that he imposed demanding that Russia signal willingness to end the conflict. Its unclear if Trump plans to announce any additional economic burdens upon Russia Friday in accordance with the deadline that he imposed demanding that Russia signal willingness to end the conflict. But according to Trump, the ball is in Putins court. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Its going to be up to him," Trump told reporters Thursday. "Were going to see what he has to say. Its going to be up to him. Very disappointed." The White House did not disclose any details regarding potential Friday sanctions, but said that Trump wants to meet with Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Putin to resolve the conflict. "The Russians expressed their desire to meet with President Trump, and the President is open to this meeting," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "President Trump would like to meet with both President Putin and President Zelensky because he wants this brutal war to end. The White House is working through the details of these potential meetings and details will be provided at the appropriate time." Original article source: Trump and Putins relationship turns sour as president pushes for resolution with Ukraine (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump is removing Billy Long as the commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will temporarily serve as acting commissioner, a White House official and a source familiar with the matter said on Friday. The New York Times, which first reported the news, said Long, a former congressman from Missouri, was expected to be nominated for an ambassador post, but did not name the country. "Secretary Bessent will now serve as acting commissioner of the IRS," the White House official said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A Treasury spokesperson declined to comment. Long was sworn in as the 51st Commissioner of the IRS in June, with his term meant to run through November 2027. (Reporting by Andrea Shalal, with additional reporting by Ryan Patrick Jones and Bhargav Acharya in Toronto; Editing by Rosalba O'Brien) US President Donald Trump has commented on the deadline he set for Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin to make progress in achieving a peaceful resolution to Russias war against Ukraine. Source: Trump speaking to journalists at the White House, as reported by European Pravda Details: The 10-day deadline announced by Trump is set to expire on Friday 8 August. The US president had earlier warned that secondary sanctions against Russia would follow if progress was not made. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement When asked whether the deadline still stands, Trump replied: "It's going to be up to him [Putin ed.]. And we are going to see what he has to say Very disappointed." It is worth noting that after US Special Envoy Steve Witkoffs visit to Moscow, Trump began to talk about "significant progress". Background: The Kremlin stated earlier that there had been an exchange of "certain signals" concerning the Russo-Ukrainian war during the conversation between Putin and Witkoff. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon! US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin does not need to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky before their planned summit. When asked by a reporter if Putin must first meet with Zelensky to secure a meeting with the United States, Trump replied, "No." Trump and Putin are expected to meet for the first time next week to discuss ending Russia's war against Ukraine. Both leaders have said that the moment is right for such a summit, although the date and location are still to be confirmed. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The US president did not say how he will handle his 10-day deadline for a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine, which is coming up on Friday. If no progress is made, Trump has threatened sanctions on Russia's trading partners. He has already announced tariffs on India. Asked if the deadline still stood, Trump said, "We're going to see what he [Putin] has to say. It's going to be up to him." Russia has been waging a destructive war against Ukraine for more than three years. Trump had repeatedly stated his desire to end the war quickly. The summit would be the first between a sitting US president and Putin since 2021, when Joe Biden met Putin in Geneva. President Donald Trump announced Friday he will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin as the White House presses for a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine. Trump told reporters during a trilateral meeting with the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan he will meet with Putin very shortly." Later, Trump announced on social media the meeting will be Aug. 15 in Alaska. It would be the first U.S.-Russia bilateral meeting since former President Joe Biden met with Putin in 2021, months before Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Kremlin said Thursday a meeting between the two leaders would occur in the coming days, and Trump has privately told European counterparts he planned to meet with Putin in person. The announcement opens a new avenue for negotiations to end the war between Russia and Ukraine. Trump has increasingly expressed displeasure with Putin in recent months over what he sees as efforts to prolong the war. My instinct really tells me that we have a shot at it, Trump said Friday about the likelihood of an agreement. Trump had set Friday as a deadline for Russia to agree to a ceasefire with Ukraine or else face secondary sanctions from the U.S. On Wednesday, White House special envoy Steve Witkoff met with Putin in which great progress was made, the president said on social media afterwards. On Thursday, Trump said he would not force Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to meet as a requirement for a Trump-Putin meeting, contradicting a previous statement from the White House. The Trump administration is targeting UCLA again for the second time in a week, seeking to force the school to pay a $1 billion fine for alleged antisemitism on campus. The news broke Friday, a week after grant funding to the university was frozen. The Los Angeles Times reports that the federal governments proposal would restore that grant funding, worth more than $500 million, in exchange for the $1 billion fine. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement University of California System President James Milliken confirmed that theyve just received a document from the Department of Justice and [are] reviewing it. Earlier this week, we offered to engage in good faith dialogue with the Department to protect the University and its critical research mission, Milliken said. As a public university, we are stewards of taxpayer resources and a payment of this scale would completely devastate our countrys greatest public university system as well as inflict great harm on our students and all Californians. Americans across this great nation rely on the vital work of UCLA and the UC system for technologies and medical therapies that saves lives, grows the U.S. economy, and protects our national security. The announcement of the $1 billion figure comes just one day after Gov. Gavin Newsom said the University of California system should not be on their knees to kowtow to President Donald Trump and his allies. Schools like Brown and Columbia already reached deals with the Trump administration over alleged antisemitism, but Newsom rejected that idea. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Were not Brown, were not Columbia, and Im not going to be governor if we act like that, Newsom said, as reported by the Times. Period. Full stop, I will fight like hell to make sure that doesnt happen. 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. Donald Trump has ordered US army officials to begin using military force against drug cartels. The extraordinary move has threatened a diplomatic row with Claudia Sheinbaum, the Mexican president, insisting US forces will not enter the country. The directive marks a significant escalation in the presidents aggressive campaign against the Latin American cartels, which he has designated as foreign terrorist organisations. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Pentagon officials have started looking at plans to target the groups, sources told the New York Times. The move opens up the possibility of military operations at sea and on foreign soil against the criminal groups. It also raises legal concerns, such as whether killing criminal suspects outside an armed conflict zone would constitute murder. Responding to the developments, Ms Sheinbaum said: The United States is not going to come to Mexico with military forces. We cooperate and collaborate, but there will be no invasion; that is ruled out. We have stated this in all the calls. Guards transfer alleged members of Tren de Aragua inside an El Salvadorian prison Mr Trump has been fixated on the idea of launching direct attacks on drug cartels since his first term, when he reportedly suggested firing missiles into Mexico to target the gangs. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In April, he asked Ms Sheinbaum to allow US troops into the country to help fight the cartels. Mr Sheinbaum rejected the proposal, telling Mr Trump the countries could collaborate but with you in your territory and us in ours. Mr Trump said he had suggested the idea because the cartels are horrible people that have been killing people left and right and have... made a fortune on selling drugs and destroying our people. Mr Trump has already reinforced the southern border with National Guard troops in an effort to stop drugs such as fentanyl flowing into the country. The US also ramped up its aggressive approach to dealing with the cartels earlier this year by increasing covert CIA drone flights over Mexico to hunt for fentanyl labs. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In February, the State Department designated Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and Central American group MS-13 as foreign terrorist organisations, which posed a national-security threat beyond that posed by traditional organised crime. In July, Mr Trump also added Venezuelan gangs Cartel de los Soles to the group of terror groups, claiming it was headed by Nicholas Maduro, the countrys president. Donald Trump has doubled a reward for information leading to the arrest of Nicholas Maduro (pictured) - Jesus Vargas On Thursday, the Trump administration doubled a reward for information leading to the arrest of Mr Maduro to $50m (31m), accusing him of being one of the worlds largest narco-traffickers and working with cartels to flood the US with fentanyl-laced cocaine. Pam Bondi, the US attorney general, said Mr Maduro will not escape justice and he will be held accountable for his despicable crimes. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state and Trumps national security adviser, said designating cartels as terrorist organisations allows the country to use other elements of American power, intelligence agencies, the department of defence, whatever, to target these groups if we have an opportunity to do it. During an interview with Catholic news network EWTN, he added: We have to start treating them as armed terrorist organisations, not simply drug dealing organisations. Anna Kelly, a White House spokeswoman, told the New York Times: President Trumps top priority is protecting the homeland, which is why he took the bold step to designate several cartels and gangs as foreign terrorist organisations. The department of defence declined to comment. 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. The call was described by NBC sources as a direct, mostly one-way conversation about the status of humanitarian aid in which Trump was doing most of the talking. The Prime Minister's Office addressed a recent NBC report stating US President Donald Trump confronted and shouted at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a July phone call, when both leaders discussed the ongoing war in Gaza, calling it completely false. "It's fake news," the PMO stated. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to NBC, which cited two US officials, Netanyahu told Trump that reports of widespread starvation in Gaza were false, and that Hamas had fabricated them. Trump interrupted Netanyahu and began yelling, saying that he did not want to hear that the starvation is fake and that his aides had shown him proof that children there are starving, officials told NBC. The call was described by the officials as a direct, mostly one-way conversation about the status of humanitarian aid in which Trump was doing most of the talking. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Donald Trump meet in the Oval Office last month. (credit: KEVIN MOHATT/REUTERS) The US not only feels like the situation is dire, but they own it because of GHF, the former official said, referring to the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Fund. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Following the call, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff was deployed to the Middle East in order to be briefed on a concrete plan that could tackle the humanitarian situation, the return of the hostages, and the end of the war. Both White House officials and Israeli officials declined to comment on the phone call. Trump and Netanyahu's ongoing disagreement on starvation in Gaza The situation began on July 27, after Netanyahu said in a speech that there is no policy of starvation in Gaza, and there is no starvation in Gaza. When asked about those comments the next day during his trip to Scotland, Trump contradicted Netanyahu. Children in Gaza look very hungry, he said, adding that there is real starvation. You cant fake that, he concluded. By Kanishka Singh and Jasper Ward WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday to tighten federal grant approvals, with grant award decisions to now undergo evaluation by Trump's political appointees, the White House said. WHY IT'S IMPORTANT The Trump administration has threatened to cut federal funds for various agencies and educational institutions over a range of issues. These include pro-Palestinian protests against U.S. ally Israel's war in Gaza, climate initiatives, transgender policies and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement KEY QUOTES The order signed on Thursday and released by the White House said "discretionary awards must, where applicable, demonstrably advance the President's policy priorities." It said subject matter experts would also be involved in decisions on awarding grants. The order criticized DEI programs, assistance for immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally, and transgender initiatives. It said federal grants shall not be used to fund "any other initiatives that compromise public safety or promote anti-American values." CONTEXT Rights advocates have raised concerns about Trump's federal funding threats, saying they harm free speech and academic freedom and amount to political interference that can undo decades of progress. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trump and his allies defend his steps by saying his administration is combating ideologies they consider "far left" and "anti-merit." (Reporting by Kanishka Singh and Jasper Ward; Editing by Tom Hogue) US President Donald Trump has spoken with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni about the possibility of holding a meeting with Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin in Rome. Source: Sky News, citing informed sources within the Italian government, as reported by European Pravda Details: The sources said that on 7 August, Trump and Meloni discussed the possibility of holding a meeting with Putin in Rome next week. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The sources added that if the US president and the Russian leader did meet in Rome, it would be at the Vatican City. A spokesperson for the Italian Foreign Ministry told Sky News that Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani believes that "no matter how and wherever a genuine diplomatic dialogue between Russia and Ukraine proceeds, Italy will be ready to support this process sincerely and constructively". It is worth noting that if Italy or the Vatican were chosen as the venue for negotiations between Trump and Putin, the issue of the International Criminal Courts arrest warrant for the Kremlin leader would arise. Should Putin set foot in Italy, the country would be compelled by the Rome Statute to arrest him. Background: Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon! The Trump administration is privately gauging European allies' reactions to a possible ceasefire proposal with Russia after special envoy Steve Witkoff relayed Russian President Vladimir Putin's demands for a deal, according to a White House official and a European helping facilitate talks with the administration. Witkoff returned from a meeting with Putin this week and told President Donald Trump that the Russian president had presented the terms under which Russia would agree to stop hostilities in Ukraine, the White House official said. The official declined to describe Russias terms, but Trump said Friday that land swaps between Russia and Ukraine are under discussion. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Its complicated, Trump said Friday in the Oval Office. Therell be some swapping of territories to the betterment of both, but well be talking about that either later or tomorrow." In the past Putin has made maximalist demands such as controlling territory in areas it did not take militarily, which Ukraine has rejected out of hand. Despite that, the Trump administration is moving ahead with plans for a summit next Friday in Alaska between Trump and Putin. It would be the first time an American president has met with Putin since Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2022. It does not mean a deal or a truce has been agreed upon, said the White House official, granted anonymity to share the administrations thinking. The president is discussing it with all the relevant parties. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trump said he does believe Putin wants peace and is prepared to at least hear him out, even as last month he bemoaned the Russian presidents propensity to spout bullshit. On Friday, however, Trump sounded more optimistic. My instinct really tells me that we have a shot at it, okay, and you'll find that out later on, and maybe even today, but we have a shot at it, Trump said. Look, it's got to be solved. His overture is the latest in a monthslong White House effort to end the war between Russia and Ukraine, an oft-repeated campaign pledge. U.S. emissaries have met with Russian officials several times, but there has been little progress toward concluding the more than three-year war and some of the most intense Russian assaults have taken place over the last few months. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement That has spurred tougher rhetoric from a clearly frustrated Trump who has threatened new sanctions on Russia as well as higher tariffs on countries like India that help keep Putins war machine funded by buying Russian oil. Trump also allowed European allies to purchase American weapons for use in the battlefield in Ukraine and the U.S. has begun sending that assistance. Trump had set Friday as a deadline for Putin to agree to an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine, or face the new, aggressive sanctions. But Trump declined to say whether he is making good on his threat or allowing Putin a little more time now that a meeting has been agreed upon. Well have some more information for you a little bit later, Trump said Friday afternoon. European allies have welcomed Trumps gradual moves to crack down on Russia but are watching the latest diplomacy warily, hoping Trump will capitalize on the opportunity to seek concessions from Moscow. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A senior European official granted anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy, attributed Putins willingness to meet Trump to joint pressure from Washington and its allies and said that Europe hopes Trumps tougher tactics will continue. There is finally some movement on Putins part and it is thanks to Trump allowing weapons deliveries and taking steps on sanctions, the senior official said. This shows Putin does respond to serious pressure. Now we just have to apply more pressure to better results. Putin has long sought a meeting with Trump since his return to office and it would be a major victory for Putin to get one absent any meaningful compromises, or without Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump has said he will meet Putin whether or not he agrees to see Zelenskyy. Putin has declined the White Houses many calls to meet Zelenskyy, which the U.S. sees as key to ending the war. Its really the Kremlin that is interested in this, and Putin wants it to get back into the big game, and that gives Trump leverage, said William Taylor, former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine now at the Atlantic Council. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The president doesn't view a meeting with Putin as a concession, but does care about the perception of whatever agreement is ultimately reached, said Victoria Coates, a deputy national security adviser in Trump's first administration. "Trump wants a good deal, she said. He's not going to want to be criticized for having handed the farm to Putin." Clea Caulcutt and Esther Webber contributed to this report. The Kennedy Center is likely dropping its famous rainbow ribbon following Donald Trumps takeover of the cultural institution, according to a report. Having blasted the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Trump crowned himself chairman, elevated his loyal lieutenant Richard Grenell, and stacked the board with White House insidersprompting a slew of artist walk-outs and staff departures. Now the organization could be planning to drop the rainbow-colored ribbon which it awards to annual lifetime achievement honorees and symbolizes diversity in the performing arts, sources familiar with the matter told CBS News. Actor and filmmaker George Clooney arrives during the Kennedy Center Honorees Reception in the East Room of the White House on Sunday, December 4, 2022, in Washington, DC. But the mutli-colored sash is likely being redesigne. / The Washington Post / Al Drago for The Washington Post via Getty Images While the rainbow theme reportedly wont disappear entirely, the ribbon for the lifetime achievement medallion will likely be redesigned, possibly with a black or gold ribbon instead, the sources said. They added that the Kennedy Center has delayed naming its list for this years honoreeswho are typically announced in Augustand will be revealed closer to the event in December. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The rainbow flag is synonymous with the LGBTQ+ community, but has long grated on Team Trump. In 2019, the administration blocked U.S. embassies from flying Pride flags on their flagpoles, calling the banners an unnecessary political statement. The following year, Trumps then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows reportedly torpedoed Melania Trumps plan to light the White House in rainbow colors for Pride Month. Music legend Tony Bennett seen here sporting a rainbow sash in 2005. / Consolidated News Pictures / Ron Sachs/CNP/Getty Images Rainbow colors have long been synonymous with the Kennedy Centerthough perhaps no more. / The Washington Post / Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post via Getty Images Behind the scenes, the changes to the D.C. institution are said to run deeper than just cosmetic adjustments. CBS News reports that the Honors weekend will be changed with a new streamlined schedule, instead of several events at the White House, State Department, and other locations, according to CBS News. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The traditional multi-day celebration, long considered a cornerstone of Washingtons cultural calendar, is being pared down amid concerns about cost and logistics. In a move that appears to further highlight the direction of change, the Kennedy Centers development team has been drastically slashed from more than 60 to fewer than 20 people, according to CBS News. Some departments have been eliminated entirely, raising questions about the institutions fundraising capacity. Trump in the presidential box at the Kennedy Center shortly after parachuting himself in as board chairman, in March. / Carlos Barria / REUTERS The financial impact has been swift and stark. Giving by Democratic donors has declined, although fundraising more broadly has continued and even surpassed previous years, thanks to an increase in corporate sponsors, according to multiple sources who spoke to CBS News. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement While the shift reflects the broader political realignment under Trumps leadership, Grenell, who initially worked without pay but now earns $175,000 annuallysignificantly less than his predecessors seven-figure salaryinsists the changes arent politically motivated. I dont want to lose a single Democratic donor. Were working hard to keep them and expand the donor base. The arts should not be political, Grenell, named the Centers interim head in February, told CBS News. Ric Grenell speaking at the Republican National Convention in July 2024Trump made Grenell the president of the Kennedy Center with a promise to get rid of anti-American propaganda. / Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images During Trumps first presidency, he broke with tradition by not attending the Honors shows after several recipients criticized him. President Biden, by contrast, went to all four ceremonies during his term. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In July, Republicans proposed renaming the centers opera house after First Lady Melania Trump. Missouri Rep. Bob Onder, meanwhile, pushed for renaming the entire institution after President Trump. Despite the upheaval, Kennedy Center officials maintain an optimistic public face. While spokesperson Roma Daravi declined to discuss specific changes with CBS News, she promised the December ceremony would deliver. If anything, its going to be more exciting. The Daily Beast has approached The Kennedy Center for comment. President Donald Trump keeps saying hell solve the politically fraught problem of reconciling the need for undocumented farm labor with his mass deportation plan. But the White House does not appear close to a policy decision and farmers are getting frustrated with the delays. My understanding is they still really havent put pen to paper, said a person close to the White House, granted anonymity to discuss private conversations. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Even as angst grows among the nations farmers, no new policy is imminent, according to White House aides, farm lobbyists and people familiar with the discussions. Border czar Tom Homan also told reporters this week that no formal policy had been agreed to. There is the possibility that Trump could just come out with an executive order instructing the agencies to come up with some sort of a plan to help out the farmers, but there still seems to be a lot of discussion about how theyre going to do it, said the person close to the White House. Trump, this week on CNBC, attempted to strike a balance between the competing interests that have roiled this debate from the beginning, promising to deport criminals while saying he wants to work with farmers to find solutions for undocumented immigrants whove lived in the country and paid taxes for decades. He even made it sound as if the White House had finalized a touchback program for some laborers, requiring them to leave the U.S. and reenter through a legal pathway. The Trump administration said no program has been finalized, but Trumps tease underscores the concern that any allowance for undocumented workers would cause political blowback, both from the base and from hard-liners inside the administration. The presidents aides have spent weeks on defense, repeatedly vowing there will be no amnesty for undocumented immigrants. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I think they think the touchback is a way to avoid it being called amnesty but theres still some pushback there, and on the DHS side of things, they tend to be more hard-line on this, said the person close to the White House. My gut is that this was just Trump signaling, saying, No, we havent forgotten about this. Were just still trying to figure out if were going to do something, what its going to look like. Still, with no formal policy announced, many in the agriculture industry are growing frustrated, according to a farm lobbyist granted anonymity to avoid angering the administration. Farmers are familiar with a slow-moving policy process, but their patience is running thin as Trump keeps hinting at progress, the lobbyist said. Another farm group representative, who was granted anonymity to candidly react to Trumps remarks Tuesday, said that farmers have concerns about the mixed messaging and the promises of a plan but no action from the White House. White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson did not provide an update on timing for a new policy but said, President Trump is a tireless advocate for American farmers. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He trusts farmers and is committed to ensuring they have the workforce needed to remain successful, she said, adding that deporting dangerous criminals and targeting the sanctuary cities that provide them safe harbor is a top priority for the president. And some argue that given the complexities of the topic, its better for the administration to go slowly. Its a good thing its taking a long time theyll be better able to avoid problems if they take their time, said Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies at the Center for Immigration Studies, a group that looks to restrict illegal and legal immigration. What is not clear is how theyre going to manage the issue of people whove been working here illegally, and giving them the impression that theyre going to be able to come back. The Trump administration noted that it has already taken action to help farmers, including the formation of a new office inside the Department of Labor to handle work visas, part of an effort to ease the complex process of hiring noncitizens for farmwork and other agricultural jobs. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer are also exploring adjustments to the H-2A visa program, which allows agriculture employers to hire seasonal labor and has traditionally enjoyed bipartisan support. Its a controversial topic as some inside the White House and the Department of Homeland Security would prefer to target and deport all undocumented immigrants and believe labor challenges can be resolved with native-born workers. There is a battle underneath [Trump] with White House staff like [deputy chief of staff Stephen] Miller and more pragmatic elements like Rollins, the farm lobbyist said. But Rollins who has faced the brunt of the MAGA blowback over the issue has insisted discussions on H-2A are focused more on ensuring the existing program is efficient and helpful to farmers and ranchers without being cost prohibitive. She said that in Texas, a citrus farmer pays roughly $30 an hour for an H-2A employee, while across the border in Mexico, farmers pay workers $2 an hour. So, we have to find a balance there, she said. We have to support our farmers while making sure that we are moving toward a 100 percent legal workforce. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Department of Agriculture did not respond to a request for comment. While the issue divides the MAGA base, polling suggests swing state Republican voters are sympathetic to undocumented immigrants who have long lived in the United States working on farms, and in hotels and restaurants. Polling from the American Business Immigration Coalition, conducted in late July by the Tarrance Group, a GOP polling firm, found that 78 percent of Republicans across eight swing states agree with the presidents suggestion that these immigrants should be allowed to get a work permit and stay in the U.S. As the White House searches for a permanent solution, Trump officials have said raids are being conducted on a prioritized basis, after the presidents temporary pause on worksite enforcement in the agriculture and hospitality industries in early June spurred outrage in some wings of the party. We try to prioritize our worksite enforcement on criminal cases those we have information of forced labor trafficking, those [we] have information on tax evasion. Thats what were doing, Homan told reporters Wednesday. Jordan Wolman and Grace Yarrow contributed to this report. President Donald Trump fired off an attack on a former Republican official in a Truth Social post just after 1 a.m. Eastern time on Friday. Failed former Lt. Governor Geoff Duncan, of Georgia, is a total loser, Trump wrote of Duncan, who called out the presidents lies about the 2020 election and has remained an outspoken critic ever since. Was never able to get anything done, all he ever did was complain, Trump wrote. We didnt want him in the Republican Party any longer, so Im told he became a Democrat. Good riddance Geoff. You dont even have a chance!!! Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Duncan, who was expelled by the state GOP in January, announced this week that he had left the Republican Party and become a Democrat. In 2020, Duncan voted for Trump. But after losing the election, Trump pressured officials in multiple states including Georgia to overturn the results. Trump frequently attacked Duncan as well as Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, both Republicans, for refusing to overturn Joe Bidens narrow win in that state. Duncan ultimately chose not to seek reelection, while Kemp and Raffensperger each overwhelmingly won reelection in 2022 despite Trumps criticism. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Duncan has since made regular appearances in the media, speaking out against Trump. In 2023, he said Trump has a moral compass more like an ax murderer than a president. Hes also said the Republican Party today is not the one he grew up with. Donald Trump completely controls the entire GOP, Duncan said on CNN last month. The only example I can give that equates to it is like a rogue cult leader coming into a church and taking it over. Hes brainwashed them. Duncan spoke at the Democratic National Convention last year as he endorsed then-Vice President Kamala Harris. There is speculation that Duncan could run for governor as a Democrat in 2026, when Kemp will not be able to seek reelection due to term limits. Trumps trade war now is now targeting more than 90 countries, with tariffs at their highest rates since the Great Depression. Joining The Weeknight are two advisors to the Cost Coalition: Terry Holt, former spokesperson to President George W. Bush, and Andrew Bates, former senior deputy White House press secretary under President Joe Biden. The Brief President Trump wants to see undocumented immigrants excluded from the census. Experts say the proposal faces major legal, logistical hurdles. The proposal comes amid a redistricting standoff between Texas and California. OAKLAND, Calif. - President Donald Trump wants to change how the once-a-decade census collects data. In a Truth Social post, he said he directed the Commerce Department to begin work on a new census, that would not count people who are in the country illegally. Some concerns What we know Experts raised immediate concerns at the suggestion and question the practicality of the proposal. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Its not only not easy, and would not even be feasible, if we want to have an accurate census," said Terri Ann Lowenthal, a former congressional staffer and census consultant. "Its probably unconstitutional." Lowenthal points to the Census Act, the law which requires any changes to the count, be approved by Congress. Its not clear whether the president wants to amend the upcoming 2030 count, or if hes calling for a mid-decade census, which the Census Act does allow for, though its never been done. Either way, Lowenthal said executing a census is a huge undertaking. "This country has never taken a mid-decade census," said Lowenthal. "But even if it did, the law is very clear, it cannot be used to reapportion Congress or to redraw congressional district lines" Census data is used for many purposes, including redistricting and allocation of federal funds. Criticism and condemnation The Latino Community Foundation condemned the suggestion, and released a statement that reads in part: "Any attempt to change the purpose of the census is unconstitutional, undermines our democracy, and threatens political representation, as well as vital resources for education, healthcare and more." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The proposed census changes come amid a redistricting fight between Texas and California. "Its not the thing we want," said Matt Barreto, founder of the UCLA Voting Rights Project. Its not something you want to see in a democracy, but Texas started this fight. Its good Californias taking it seriously. Plans are moving forward in Sacramento to counter the new map benefitting Republicans making its way through the Texas legislature. State Democrats announced that on Friday, Texas Democrats, who are breaking quorum, would be in Sacramento to meet with Gov. Newsom, Former House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi and other state lawmakers. California Democrats recently received a briefing from Barretos organization on how lines could be re-drawn legally to help their party in the state. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "You can create many more minority opportunity districts," said Barreto. "In particular for Asian-Americans and Latinos, minority groups, while still achieving the Governors objective of creating more democratic seats." Barreto believes, regardless of how the lines are drawn, that efforts in both states will face legal challenges. Governor Newsom who is leading the charge to put a redistricting measure on the ballot, if triggered by changes to the Texas map, is not backing down from the standoff. "The idea the president can say that hes entitled to five seats should sicken everyone," said Newsom. "Theres nothing normal about it--thats shocking." During his first term, President Trump wanted to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census, but was blocked by a 2019 ruling by the Supreme Court. U.S. decision to withdraw from UNESCO again is blatant act of putting America First People's Daily Online) 10:41, August 08, 2025 Cartoon by Ma Hongliang U.S. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce recently announced that the U.S. will pull out of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and the decision will take effect on Dec. 31, 2026. According to Bruce's statement, the U.S. cited several reasons for its withdrawal, including that UNESCO works to advance divisive social and cultural causes and maintains an outsized focus on the UN's Sustainable Development Goals, and is at odds with the America First foreign policy. This will be the third time that the U.S. has left UNESCO. The U.S. first left the organization in 1984 and rejoined in 2003. It exited again in 2017 and returned to the organization in 2023. The U.S. hasn't paid arrears for a long time while repeatedly joining and withdrawing from the organization. This is not what a responsible major country should do and represents a blatant act of putting America First. (Web editor: Chang Sha, Liang Jun) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country's political echelon intends to take full control of the Gaza Strip to "ensure our security and remove Hamas." Speaking to Fox News, Netanyahu said the goal is to "enable the population to be free and pass it to civilian governance that is not Hamas or anyone advocating for the destruction of Israel." FOX: Will Israel take control of all of Gaza? NETANYAHU: We intend to pic.twitter.com/bMS0aESwYO Open Source Intel (@Osint613) August 7, 2025 "We want to liberate ourselves and the people of Gaza from the awful terrorists of Hamas," Netanyahu added. It is not yet clear what the strategy will look like, but according to Israeli outlet Channel 12 reporter Amit Segal, it will begin with the evacuation of Gaza City, where almost 1 million people leave. Segal detailed that the evacuation notice for Gaza City will lead to weeks of preparations where there won't be any fighting to allow for the building of infrastructure. At the same time President Donald Trump is expected to give a speech announcing the increase of aid into Gaza, expanding distribution centers from four to 16. The journalist analyzed that the move could be aimed at reaching one of two outcomes: an agreement with the military brass that doesn't involve the full occupation of the strip, considering Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir is reportedly against the scenario; or a scenario that leads to a ceasefire agreement. 49 hostages are still in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead. The decision comes after negotiations to achieve a ceasefire collapsed yet again in July. Reuters noted that U.S. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff said last Saturday that he was working with the Israeli government on a plan to effectively end the war in the enclave. The outlet quoted another senior Israeli official who said that after the meeting "an understanding was emerging between Washington and Israel" on a need to shift from a partial deal to one that would "release all the hostages, disarm Hamas, and demilitarize the Gaza Strip." The Netanyahu government could move forward despite warnings from almost 20 former senior security officials, who on Sunday issued a joint video calling for the war to end. They argued that Israel has lost more than it won and that the fighting has continued for political reasons rather than military ones. Originally published on Latin Times President Donald Trump alleged in a bizarre rant Thursday that The Wall Street Journal wants to see China WIN, BABY, WIN. The reason that The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board is always negative on TRUMP, and the Hundreds of Billions of Dollars were bringing into our Country through Tariffs, numbers that the U.S.A. has never seen before, is because they are China centric or, at a minimum, Globalists, and they would rather see China and the World, for reasons unknown, WIN, BABY, WIN, the POTUS wrote in a Truth Social post. Trump then insisted that if the United States were not able to charge Tariffs to other Countries, it would be Economically defenseless and, of no further force or effect. The only thing that can destroy our Country are Crooked, Radical Left Judges, of which there are many! Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The president has faced scrutiny over his sweeping global tariffs, which went into effect Thursday, subsequently raising the prices of household goods for Americans. The tariffs are projected to affect imports from more than 60 countries. The WSJ which has grilled the presidents efforts during his second term in office and Trump have been embroiled in an ongoing feud. The dispute ignited further after the outlet published a report about an alleged, racy birthday cardthat Trump sent to convicted sex offender and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein in 2003. The letter was said to contain a drawing of a naked woman and a strange message about secrets, according to the WSJ. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trump, who is suing the WSJ over its report on the letter, has denied writing the letter. I never wrote a picture in my life. I dont draw pictures of women, he told the Journal. Its not my language. Its not my words. The president added: Im gonna sue The Wall Street Journal just like I sued everyone else. Trump further slammed the WSJ over their report in a separate Truth Social post, calling the article a false, malicious, and defamatory story. Related... By Courtney Rozen and Valerie Volcovici WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency moved to end its contract with unionized employees, according to the union's president, the latest action in President Donald Trumps push to weaken collective bargaining across the federal government. The union, which represents 8,000 EPA employees, is planning a legal response to the decision, said Justin Chen, president of the agency's chapter of the American Federation of Government Employees, in a statement on Friday. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The decision gets Trump closer to his goal to strip hundreds of thousands of federal workers of the ability to collectively bargain with U.S. agencies. Eliminating union deals would allow agencies to more easily fire or discipline employees, according to attorneys representing federal workers. "EPA is working to diligently implement President Trump's Executive Orders with respect to AFGE, including 'Exclusions from Federal Labor-Management Relations Programs', in compliance with the law," an EPA spokesperson said in a statement, referring to the executive order Trump issued in March. The order involves removing collective bargaining rights at more than 30 federal agencies, including the EPA, and is currently being challenged in court by unions who say it violates free speech and obligations to bargain with workers. The EPA had more than 16,000 employees as of March 2025, according to federal HR records. That figure doesnt include employees that accepted buyouts. The agency said in July it would cut the size of its workforce by at least 23% and close its scientific research office as part of Trump's broad effort to downsize the federal government. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Unions are suing to stop Trumps effort to dismantle collective bargaining agreements. A federal appeals court on August 1 said the administration could move forward with exempting certain federal agencies from their obligation to negotiate with unions. AFGE, which represents the EPA workers, is a plaintiff in that lawsuit. (Reporting by Courtney Rozen; editing by Diane Craft and Aurora Ellis) A new executive order from President Donald Trump targets banks he believes are denying services to conservatives. Trump told CNBC on Tuesday that JPMorgan and Bank of America have refused to accept his deposits. Crypto-connected Trump supporters like Marc Andreessen made debanking a rallying cry in 2024. President Donald Trump made his feud with big banks official. After making his grievances against banks clear earlier in the week, Trump signed an executive order for federal banking regulators to eliminate guidance that encourages what he calls "politicized" or "unlawful" debanking. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to the executive order and a White House fact sheet, the order requires various federal regulators and agencies to "make reasonable efforts" to reinstate debanked customers. The Treasury Department is tasked with creating a strategy and new regulations to prevent "unlawful" debanking, while the Attorney General would oversee and investigate cases of people suspected of being debanked in discriminatory ways. The Trump Organization and Eric Trump sued Capital One earlier this year for closing accounts in the wake of the January 6, 2021, riot. Capital One has denied wrongdoing, and litigation is ongoing. Earlier this week, Trump told CNBC's "Squawk Box" in an interview that Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase had previously refused to accept his deposits. "They totally discriminate against, I think, me maybe even more, but they discriminate against many conservatives," he told show host Andrew Ross Sorkin. "I think the word might be 'Trump supporters' more than conservatives." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In a statement to Reuters, JPMorgan said it doesn't close accounts for political reasons, while Bank of America did not address Trump's claims. In January at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Trump claimed Bank of America and other banks were refusing to accept conservative customers, which the Charlotte-based lender denied. Prior to the inauguration, crypto-connected supporters of the president turned debanking into a political issue. Well-known venture capitalist Marc Andreessen said on Joe Rogan's podcast that dozens of tech founders had been cut off from banking services during former President Joe Biden's administration. Banks are just the latest industry to draw the president's ire, despite the fact that the securities and investment industry gave more to Trump than his opponent, former Vice President Kamala Harris, according to political donation tracker OpenSecrets. Trump's cabinet also includes Howard Lutnick, a banker who ran Cantor Fitzgerald before becoming the Secretary of Commerce. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The executive order could result in fines for banks found to have discriminated against conservatives, mimicking the White House's tactics for punishing other industries. Trump started his year by pulling funding from elite higher education institutions that he accused of condoning discrimination on campus. He soon pivoted to an ongoing legal battle with the country's biggest law firms, some of whom have represented clients in court cases against him. Then, as his tariff policies intensified, Trump went after the likes of Amazon and Walmart for potentially being explicit about how these trade barriers would drive up prices for US consumers. More recently, Big Pharma executives woke up one morning to a letter from the president, threatening them to lower the prices of drugs. Capitol One and the Bank of America did not immediately respond to requests for comments. Read the original article on Business Insider KYIV, Ukraine (AP) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy quickly reversed course last month on a law that would have curbed the independence of the countrys anti-corruption watchdogs after widespread protests that threatened the stability of his leadership for the first time since Russias invasion. It's unlikely that the damage to the presidents image can be changed as easily. Zelenskyy's reversal followed years of public discontent that simmered around his inner circle, some of whom have been accused of corruption. But Ukrainians have been largely deferential toward their president in wartime, trusting him to lead the fight against the Kremlin and even acquiescing in the suspension of some civil liberties. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The protests showed the limits of that goodwill after the public concluded that Zelenskyys fast-tracking of the law was a step too far. People will support Zelenskyy in whatever he does as it relates to the war. But the previous level of trust that he will carry out everything correctly, without outside interests, has been damaged," said Tetiana Shevchuk, a board member of the Ukrainian nonprofit Anti-Corruption Action Center, which fights graft. Zelenskyy "will need to work hard to get it back. A Gallup poll released Thursday found that about two-thirds of Ukrainians approve of the way Zelenskyy is handling his job as president, down from 84% in 2022. Another poll released Wednesday by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology found a similar pattern, with trust in Zelenskyy down from just before the war started and a sharp decrease since after the signing of the law. Both polls were conducted in July and excluded adults living in regions of the country that were not controlled by Ukraine or were under entrenched Russian control. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The initial decision to sign the proposal hurt Zelenskyy's standing among Ukrainians, loyal lawmakers and Western allies, including one foreign minister who told The Associated Press that his willingness to backtrack on the law would help restore lost trust. Zelenskyy says bill was designed to root out Russian influence Zelenskyy sparked the outcry when he signed measures to reduce the powers of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau, or NABU, and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutors Office, or SAPO. Zelenskyy said the initial bill was meant to root out Russian influence in those agencies, but he did not provide evidence to support the claim. The bill became a law so quickly that lawmakers said they barely had time to read it. For the Ukrainian people, patience wore thin. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement From the outset of Russias full-scale invasion in 2022, the public tolerated restrictions such as martial law and postponed elections. But critics also argued that the consolidation of the presidents authority undermined the countrys democratic institutions, along with the checks and balances necessary for transparency. Members of Zelenskyys inner circle and the corruption allegations fueled public resentment. The resulting anti-corruption protests in July in Kyiv and other cities were among the largest in years, drawing thousands of demonstrators and reflecting widespread public demand for transparency and accountability even during wartime. Its not one law that brought people to the streets, but a series of events and mostly an accumulation of feelings and wanting to show the government there are certain red lines, Shevchuk said. Ukrainian leaders have been sensitive to public opinion ever since the Euromaidan protests of 2013 and 2014, which ignited extraordinary political changes, including the ousting of pro-Russia President Viktor Yanukovych. Those protests marked a decisive moment in Ukraines history and galvanized public intolerance toward corruption and abuse of power. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Until recently, Zelenskyys decisions and public statements aligned mostly with public opinion. He watches polls closely. For instance, he did not say that Ukraine would be unable to win back occupied territory militarily until polls showed that Ukrainians were willing to end the war for territorial concessions. Many of the suspicions about Zelenskyys inner circle focused on the head of his presidential office, Andriy Yermak, who is seen as having too much power, according to activists and Ukrainian and Western officials. In recent weeks, two other individuals close to Zelenskyy sparked public ire ahead of the protests. The first was former Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksii Chernyshov, a close ally of Zelenskyys, who in June was formally named a suspect in a high-profile land-grab case. Later, the NABU announced that he was the sixth suspect in a large corruption scheme led by a Kyiv property developer. The other individual is Tymur Mindich, a close friend of Zelenskyys. Ukrainian news outlet Ukrainska Pravda reported that the NABU and the SAPO were in the process of issuing a formal notice of suspicion against the businessman, who is involved in drone production. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ukrainians are united around the president in his war efforts, in his efforts to gain support from allies right now and the necessary military aid," Shevchuk said. "But at the same time, people know what is happening with the close allies of the president, the allegations of corruption, so this does not go unnoticed. The protests "were a reminder to the president from the people basically saying, We see everything, remember everything. And we dont want the president to use his power to protect corruption, she added. Lawmakers will no longer blindly accept laws backed by Zelenskyy Lawmakers who speedily passed the first law limiting the NABU and the SAPO said the backlash undercut the blind trust in bills backed by Zelenskyy. Bills supported by him were once passed with little objection, with few exceptions. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I voted not because I agreed with the law, but because it was the presidents decision, said lawmaker Oleksandr Merezhko, a member of Zelenskyys party. I had no time to read it, but I understood what was at risk, and I voted like other people because we trusted the president. It was his decision, and we are team players. Zelenskyy himself conceded that communication about the law had been lacking. Probably there should have been a dialogue. Communication is always necessary, he told reporters on July 24. The firm faith in Zelenskyy led one lawmaker to joke that if the president nominated a spoon for prime minister, Parliament would likely vote in favor. But that sentiment has changed, Merezhko said, with parliament now becoming more independent. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Now members of parliament will be more careful, he said. If before we had a presumption of trust with respect to the president or cabinet of the bills, we now have a presumption of mistrust. If similar bills are introduced," members of parliament "will remember what happened. They dont want to be framed or blamed for what happened. But lawmakers commended Zelenskyy for acting swiftly to reverse his decision and quiet the anger on the street. Last week, parliament passed another bill restoring the independence of the NABU and the SAPO. People asked for changes. We responded, Zelenskyy told reporters. Law also raised doubts in the West Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The proposed law also drew concern among Ukraines European allies, who suggested it could imperil support for Kyiv and affect Ukraine's bid to join the EU. Ukraine's closest allies welcomed the swift turnaround. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer raised the issue in a July 24 call with Zelenskyy. A readout of the call from Starmers office said the leaders "agreed on the importance of the role of independent anti-corruption institutions at the heart of Ukraines democracy. In Germany, Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul expressed dismay when Zelenskyy approved the measures to reduce the powers of the NABU and the SAPO. When Zelenskyy reversed course, Wadephul wrote on X that the Ukrainian parliaments vote "was a positive and necessary step toward regaining lost trust. Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump, who often weighs in on matters in foreign countries, including their domestic affairs, has been silent about the Ukrainian corruption law. ___ Associated Press writers Michelle Price and Amelia Thomson-DeVeaux in Washington contributed to this report. Earlier this summer, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) began testing a major change that would make travel much easier for families. Now, it sounds like the TSA is already expanding that initiative. The TSA began testing its brand new "Families on the Fly" initiative at the Orlando International Airport and the Charlotte Douglas International Airport, providing travelers with a dedicated family lane at airport security that will be faster and less stressful for families with children 12 and under. "We understand that air travel can be challenging, especially for parents managing strollers, diaper bags, and young kids, TSA Federal Security Director for Orlando Pete Garcia said in a statement last month. Thats why were excited to launch Families on the Flya dedicated TSA security lane at every checkpoint, tailored for families with children 12 and under. This program goes beyond convenience; its about addressing the unique needs of traveling families to provide a smoother, more supportive experience at our security checkpoints. Were dedicated to making travel smart, secure, and family friendly." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Now, it sounds like the initiative is moving forward with the same initiative at another airport. This month, Santa Anas John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California, officially launched its family-friendly lane as part of the "Families on the Fly" initiative. When families arrive at John Wayne Airport, they will find a specially designated lane for them at the centrally located Checkpoint B, Jason Pantages, TSA federal security director for John Wayne Airport, told the Orange County Register. With Southern California being one of the top tourist destinations in the U.S. for vacationing families, I am excited that we can now expedite their screening process and enhance their overall airport experience. This will not be the final airport in the TSA's rollout of the new initiative, as Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu, Hawaii, will also take part in the initial stage of the new "Families on the Fly" initiative, with plans to expand to other airports throughout the country in the near future. So next time you fly with your family, there's a chance it could be a much smoother process. TSA Officially Moves Forward With Major Change first appeared on Men's Journal on Aug 6, 2025 Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met with Syria's interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa in Damascus on Thursday, as the new government struggles to unify and assert control over the country. Syria's state-run news agency SANA said only that the "two sides discussed regional and global developments and ways to enhance joint cooperation in various fields." Ankara has been a strong backer of the interim government in Damascus since former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was toppled in a lightning rebel offensive in December. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Last month, Syria requested Turkey's support to strengthen its defence capabilities following sectarian violence that increased tensions in the country and drew an Israeli military intervention. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, left, sits with Syria's interim President Ahmad Al-Sharaa during their meeting in Damascus, 7 August, 2025 - AP Photo Clashes erupted last month between members of Bedouin tribes and armed factions from the Druze religious minority in the southern Suwayda province. Government forces that intervened, ostensibly to quell the fighting, ended up siding with the Bedouins. Israel then launched strikes on government convoys in Suwayda and on the Defence Ministry headquarters in Damascus, saying it was acting to protect the Druze. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Turkey has been vocally critical of Israeli intervention in Syria and also wants to curb the influence of the Kurdish groups controlling north-eastern Syria. The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) has been a key US ally in the fight against the so-called Islamic State terrorist group. Syrians who had fled their homes during the civil war gather to celebrate their return to their homes in Arbeen, 4 August, 2025 - AP Photo Ankara however regards the SDF as a terrorist group and the Syrian off-shoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which waged a decades-long insurgency in Turkey. In March, the SDF and Damascus reached an agreement to merge their forces, but its details were vague and the deal has not been implemented. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Turkish defence ministry officials, speaking on condition of anonymity in accordance with regulations, accused the SDF on Thursday of not following through on its commitment. They said Ankara remains "committed to supporting the Syrian administrations fight against terrorist organizations and to providing the requested training, advisory, and technical assistance to strengthen its defence and security capacity." ANKARA (Reuters) -Turkey's foreign minister will travel to Egypt on Saturday for talks with senior officials on Israel's plan to take control of Gaza City and on the humanitarian situation there, a Turkish Foreign Ministry source said on Friday. Israel's political-security cabinet approved a plan early on Friday to take control of Gaza City, as it expands its military operations despite growing domestic and international criticism over the devastating almost two-year-old war. NATO member Turkey, which has said Israel's assault on Gaza amounts to a genocide and halted all trade with it, condemned the plan of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's "fundamentalist government", and urged world powers and the United Nations Security Council to act to prevent its implementation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement During his visit to Cairo, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will meet Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and other officials to discuss bilateral ties and regional issues, including the Gaza ceasefire negotiations - mediated by Egypt, Qatar and the United States - as well as Israel's takeover plan, the source said. Fidan will "evaluate joint efforts to end the genocide in Gaza and allow the unhindered access of humanitarian aid into Gaza, emphasise that the occupying Israel's actions targeting a two-state solution and its latest steps toward the annexation of Gaza are the biggest obstacle to regional peace and stability," the source said. Ankara has praised Egypt, Qatar and the United States for their mediation efforts between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas, whose attack in 2023 prompted Israel's war on Gaza. It has rejected any Gaza takeover plans or attempts to displace Palestinians. Fidan will also discuss developments in Africa, including in Libya, Sudan and Somalia, the person added. (Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Daren Butler and Sharon Singleton) Aug. 7While U.S. Rep. Mike Turner spoke to members of the Dayton Defense trade group within the DoubleTree by Hilton Thursday, a crowd of about 40 people outside urged him to speak with constituents in public "town hall" meetings. "He needs to talk to his constituents," said Pam Beatty, an Oakwood resident, who picketed on Presidential Drive and Center Park Boulevard. "He's never held a town hall, and we have questions. I think he owes us some answers." Carol Finley, also an Oakwood resident, said she has had good interactions with Turner's staff. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "But we never hear from Turner," she added. In the past, Turner has declined to discuss his stance on hosting town halls. But in a written statement shared with the Dayton Daily News Wednesday, he said: "People see me all the time. I meet with and speak with local groups and organizations frequently and answer questions. I'm not going to participate with these radical groups who are only interested in promoting themselves and not our community." In remarks to the Dayton Defense trade group, Turner said, "When I go to work every morning, I have a file filled with things to do for my community." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The protest was peaceful. Two Fairborn police SUVs were parked on Presidential, with officers watching the rally. Some 40 people stood at the intersection of Presidential and Center Park, with several more protestors on the "Wright State Way" pedestrian bridge over Interstate 675 behind the DoubleTree. The bridge protestors laid out a sign for motorists to see: "Talk to us, Turner." In late July, Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy and Florida Rep. Maxwell Frost, both Democrats, stopped in Dayton as part of a national tour, appearing with State Rep. Desiree Tims, D-Dayton. Frost in Dayton said he and Murphy were spotlighting Republican Congressional leaders who have admonished their senators and representatives to avoid holding town halls. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "People were showing up, people were getting angry, and people were asking hard questions," Frost said in Dayton. It's a common political strategy to urge partisan opponents to have town halls or public meetings when they're seen to be publicly vulnerable. "Such scenes of angry constituents confronting lawmakers are nothing new," the news outlet Politico noted in a recent story. "They were commonplace in 2009 as Democrats pressed forward with a health care overhaul and in 2017 when Republicans sought to undo it." U.S. Rep. Greg Landsman, D-Cincinnati, held a town hall in Blue Ash in February, with an online event the next day. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Landsman hosts public meetings regularly, said Alexa Helwig, a spokeswoman for the congressman. "They're important," she said. "He recently held events in East Westwood and Bond Hill, and a town hall with seniors in Northside. He has another one coming up in Warren County." The Springboro Chamber of Commerce is hosting a Landsman town hall at 115 Wright Station Way Sept. 12, according to the chamber web site. The site says the event is free and "open to the public, with a primary focus on business-related issues." "I've always seen them as essential to doing the job well," Landsman said in an interview, referring to town hall gatherings. "I don't how you can do this well without being in constant communication with the people you serve, and there's a whole host of ways to do that." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Obviously, the town halls help," he added. "All of that is essential to being able to do this the right way." Questions about their stances on town halls were sent to representatives of the offices of Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Troy, who represents all of Butler County and Rep. Mike Carey, R-Columbus, whose district includes parts of Clark and Miami counties. Neither responded. A 33-year-old Honduran man, Jose Antonio Marquina-Bonilla, was arrested Sunday in Dallas on charges of continuous sexual abuse of a young child and sexual abuse of a child under 14, Grapevine police announced. Marquina-Bonilla, recently added to Texas 10 Most Wanted Criminal Illegal Immigrants List, now faces an immigration hold. Grapevine police issued a warrant for Marquina-Bonilla on June 16, following allegations he sexually abused his live-in girlfriends juvenile daughter. According to an arrest warrant affidavit, the victim was taken to a hospital in June for abdominal pain, where doctors discovered she was approximately five months pregnant. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The girl reported to investigators that Marquina-Bonilla had been sneaking into her room weekly for about a year, stating that she did not want to have sexual intercourse with him but felt compelled to do what he said, Fox 4 KDFW reported. Marquina-Bonilla, who is 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighs about 170 pounds, has a history of deportations. U.S. Customs and Border Protection encountered him in Arizona in 2016, leading to his deportation. In October 2023, he was arrested by Grapevine police for assault causing bodily injury to a family member, convicted, and deported again by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement the following month. Authorities believe he returned to Texas and began abusing the child in November 2024. Texas Crime Stoppers had offered a reward of up to $5,000 for information leading to his arrest, guaranteeing anonymity for tipsters, as previously reported by The Dallas Express. Funded by the Governors Public Safety Office, the program has facilitated the arrest of 40 fugitives in 2025, including 14 sex offenders and 10 criminal illegal immigrants, with $28,000 paid in rewards. Marquina-Bonilla is currently held in Dallas County Jail. Authorities did not disclose details about what led to his capture. NEED TO KNOW A Hughes 369D helicopter crashed on a barge in the Mississippi River near East Alton, Illinois, on Thursday, Aug. 7 East Alton is roughly 20 miles north of St. Louis, Missouri Two people died as a result of the crash Two people are dead after a Hughes 369D helicopter crashed on a barge in the Mississippi River near East Alton, Ill. According to a statement from the Federal Aviation Administration, the crash occurred around 11:05 a.m. local time on Thursday, Aug. 7, with two people on board. East Alton is roughly 20 miles north of St. Louis, Mo. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement During a press conference, Cpl. Dallas Thompson of the Missouri State Highway Patrol confirmed that two people were deceased. Their identities were not released, and there were no other reports of injuries. According to Thompson, Saint Charles County officials contacted the state highway patrol earlier that morning regarding a helicopter that had crashed over the Mississippi River. Jeff Roberson/AP A tarp covers the wreckage of a helicopter after it clipped a power line and crashed onto a barge A tarp covers the wreckage of a helicopter after it clipped a power line and crashed onto a barge "The report said that the helicopter had crashed into some power lines crossing over the river and then fell down into a barge that was underneath," he said. Thompson said that when officials arrived, "the helicopter was on top of the barge," along with a fire, which was put out "very quickly." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) confirmed in a statement shared with PEOPLE that the helicopter collided with power lines and subsequently crashed into a barge in the Mississippi River and experienced a post-crash fire. Officials do not believe there was anyone on the barge when the incident occurred, but they are "still working to confirm that information," said Thompson. As a result of the incident, one of the power lines fell into the water, prompting an evacuation of the immediate area as a precautionary measure, said Thompson. Officials later learned that it was not a live power line. Jeff Roberson/AP A blue tarp covers the wreckage of a helicopter crash onto a barge Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025 A blue tarp covers the wreckage of a helicopter crash onto a barge Thursday, Aug. 7, 2025 Utility company Ameren confirmed to PEOPLE that a contractor and its subcontractor were repairing and replacing tower lighting and marker balls on transmission lines in Madison County, Ill., when the incident occurred. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "We are saddened about todays tragic incident. Our thoughts and heartfelt condolences are with the victims families and colleagues. We will cooperate with the investigation," said a company spokesperson in a statement shared with PEOPLE. There were no power outages in response to the incident. Never miss a story sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. An NTSB investigator is en route and expected to arrive on site Friday, Aug. 8, to begin documenting the scene and examining the aircraft. The aircraft will then be recovered to a secure facility for further evaluation. Read the original article on People Two men have been charged under the Hate Crime Act following a protest held outside accommodation used for asylum seekers in Aberdeen. The 37 and 39 year olds were arrested in connection with inciting racial hatred on Saturday. The 37-year-old man was also charged in connection with an assault. Police said they were following positive lines of inquiry in trying to identify others involved the protest. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ch Insp Darren Bruce, local area commander for Aberdeen city north, said: "Police Scotland supports everyone's right to lawful protest, but when criminality occurs during these events, we will take appropriate action to identify those responsible and bring them to justice. "There's no place for hate crime in our society and our inquiries are continuing in relation to other reports of criminality that took place last Saturday." Police Scotland has appealed for anyone with any information to contact them. Related internet links Two Vietnamese tourists died at sea in Greece on Friday, the coastguard said, as gale-force winds confined many ferries to port, disrupting tens of thousands of summer travellers, and sparked wildfires. A coastguard spokeswoman said a man and woman had died at the Sarakiniko beach on the tourist island of Milos in the Cyclades, as firefighters battled blazes near Athens and on the island of Cephalonia. "The man and woman were found unconscious in the sea and were taken to the local health centre," the spokeswoman said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "They were Vietnamese tourists on a cruise ship group. The woman fell in the water and the man apparently tried to save her," she said. The civil protection ministry had said wind gusts would reach 88 kilometres (54 miles) an hour, especially in the southern Aegean and the Sea of Crete. More than 200 firefighters backed by 11 water bombers and seven helicopters were battling a fire in Keratea, southeast of Athens, Costas Tsigkas, head of the association of Greek firefighter officers, told ERT state television. "It's a difficult fire... (owing) to wind gusts," he said, adding that several communities had been evacuated. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "The fire front is seven kilometres, homes are under threat," a local mayor, Dimitris Loukas, told ERT, adding that the wind was complicating efforts to douse the blaze from the air. The Cephalonia fire was earlier placed under control, local officials said. National weather service EMY said the winds would weaken after midnight. - 'Left stranded' - The coastguard said most ferries were unable to depart on schedule from Piraeus and other Athens ports, especially to the Cyclades or Dodecanese islands. Several services were cancelled and others postponed. At Piraeus, hundreds of people crowded outside a ferry that was bound for the Cycladic islands of Paros and Naxos, waiting for news on a possible departure. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Nearby, stranded travellers surrounded by rucksacks and suitcases formed a huge queue outside a ticket office and made desperate phone calls hoping to make rearrangements to save their journeys. "There's huge lines, huge commotion, everyone's waiting in the sun and it's a very tough time," said Philip Elias, an American tourist. Sergi Gros, a 51-year-old civil servant from Spain, said he was scrambling to find last-minute accommodation in Athens for two nights, having already lost his booking on the island of Astypalea. "We arrived at 6:45 in the morning and they told us the ferry was cancelled," Gros told AFP, saying there was a "total lack of information". Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "I don't think (the hotel) can be refunded because it's not their fault. It's a great shame because we booked with a big (ferry) company, and there are people who reserve months in advance... they left us stranded," he said. Maritime connections with the Saronic islands near Athens including Aegina, Hydra, Poros and Spetses and the Ionian Sea were unaffected, the coastguard said. Strong winds are common in Greece at this time of year, and firefighters have already faced several major blazes this summer, including on the islands of Evia and Chios and in the western Peloponnese. imm-jph-hec/js OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against Oklahoma over a state law that allows undocumented students to receive in-state tuition for college. Two decades ago, Texas made history as the first state to give in-state tuition to undocumented students whod lived and gone to high school there. Twenty-four other states, including Oklahoma, followed their lead. However, President Donald Trump argues that the state law conflicts with federal law. When this happens, according to the Supremacy Clause in the U.S. Constitution, the federal law takes precedence. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Board members say Walters office TV incident has left them deeply disturbed ECF-No.-2-ComplaintDownload Lorena Rivas, an Immigration Attorney, tells News 4, Because of their legal status, theyre being punished. Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond supports the president and jointly filed the lawsuit in an Eastern Oklahoma District Court. Motion-for-Consent-JudgmentDownload Attorney General Drummond released a statement Tuesday. Today marks the end of a longstanding exploitation of Oklahoma taxpayers, who for many years have subsidized colleges and universities as they provide unlawful benefits to illegal immigrants in the form of in-state tuition. Rewarding foreign nationals who are in our country illegally with lower tuition costs that are not made available to out-of-state American citizens is not only wrongit is discriminatory and unlawful. I am proud to stand with President Trump and support his efforts to secure our border, deport criminal illegal immigrants and ensure that benefits intended for American citizens are protected. Attorney General Gentner Drummond Attorney Rivas said its already a challenge for undocumented students to get accepted into college. Theyre not eligible for federal grants. Its not like theyre receiving assistance from the government to pay for their college, Attorney Rivas added. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement News 4 reached out to the State Board of Regents to ask how many undocumented Oklahoma students are enrolled in universities here and how they plan to adapt. They also sent a statement. We are aware that the Oklahoma Attorney General filed a joint motion for entry of consent judgment with the U.S. Department of Justice asking the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma to rule that the current state statute allowing in-state tuition rates for undocumented students violates the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution and is therefore invalid. The Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education will follow federal law. State system institutions will determine their next steps in concert with their respective campus governing boards. We are currently in the process of determining approximately how many students may be impacted. Angela Caddell, Vice Chancellor for Communications I reached out to the Attorney Generals office to explain how taxpayers contribute to undocumented students whove grown up in Oklahoma. They say that since the state subsidizes public colleges and universities, giving them a price break ends up costing taxpayers. At the University of Oklahoma, for example, in-state tuition is around $10K, and out-of-state tuition is around $28K per year. 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. The Trump administration has doubled the reward for the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to $50 million, alleging he is among the worlds largest narcotics traffickers. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the increase on Thursday in a video posted on X, accusing Maduro of working with criminal organizations such as Tren de Aragua, the Sinaloa Cartel, and the Venezuela-based Cartel de los Soles to traffic cocaine into the United States. Maduro uses foreign terrorist organizations to bring deadly drugs and violence into our country, Bondi said. Under President Trumps leadership, Maduro will not escape justice and will be held accountable. She said the Department of Justice has seized more than $700 million in assets linked to Maduro, including two jets and nine vehicles, and traced nearly 7 tons of seized cocaine directly to him. Today, @TheJusticeDept and @StateDept are announcing a $50 MILLION REWARD for information leading to the arrest of Nicolas Maduro. pic.twitter.com/D8LNqjS9yk Attorney General Pamela Bondi (@AGPamBondi) August 7, 2025 The U.S. first indicted Maduro in Manhattan federal court in 2020, during Trumps first term, on narco-terrorism and conspiracy charges. A $15 million reward was initially offered for his arrest, which the Biden administration later increased to $25 million in January. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The State Department previously designated Maduro as a leader of the Cartel de los Soles, alleging in official pronouncements that he negotiated multi-ton shipments of cocaine with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and coordinated with traffickers in other countries. It claims he provided military-grade weapons to the FARC and sought its assistance in training a militia allied with the cartel. Maduro has denied involvement in drug trafficking, telling The Washington Post in 2020 that the allegations [make] me laugh. Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil dismissed the latest reward increase as pathetic and accused Bondi of orchestrating a crude political propaganda operation. In a statement reported by CNN, Gil added, Her show is a joke, a desperate distraction from her own misery, and paired the announcement with a yawning emoji. The U.S. and dozens of other countries have not recognized Maduro as Venezuelas president since 2019, citing irregularities in the 2018 election and, more recently, his claim to victory in the disputed July 2024 presidential race. The Biden Administration recognized opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez as the winner of that contest. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday called Maduro the head of the vicious Cartel de Los Soles, a narco-terror organization which has taken over Venezuela, adding, Maduro MUST be brought to justice. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Despite the mounting pressure, Maduro remains in power in Caracas. In July, the Trump administration struck a deal with Maduro to release 10 Americans jailed in Venezuela in exchange for several deported migrants from Venezuela who were being held in El Salvador being sent home. Days later, the White House granted U.S. oil giant Chevron permission to resume operations in Venezuela after sanctions had previously halted drilling. The U.S. Treasury Department designated the Cartel de los Soles as a specially designated global terrorist organization, alleging it supports foreign terrorist groups threatening U.S. national security. The Biden and Trump administrations have maintained sanctions blocking Venezuela from the U.S. financial system and restricting oil imports, though both administrations have occasionally loosened or tightened the various sanctions. Maduro became president in 2013 following the death of Hugo Chavez. His tenure has been marked by economic collapse, sanctions, political repression, and a migration crisis that has seen at least 7 million Venezuelans leave the country, according to a January 2024 report from the Congressional Research Service. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The $50 million reward is one of the largest currently offered by the U.S. under its Narcotics Rewards Program (NPR). To date, the NRP has helped bring more than 75 foreign major violators of U.S. narcotics laws to justice, and the Department of State has paid over $135 million in rewards to individuals who came forward with information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of these criminals, the Department of State website says. The United States Department of State has an extensive database of travel advisories, providing potential travelers with all the information they need to stay safe while abroad. However, there are 21 countries that the United States warns Americans should not travel to for any reason. There are four levels to the State Department's travel advisories, ranging from Level 1 to Level 4, with Level 4 being the most severe. A Level 1 advisory reminds travelers to "exercise normal precautions" when traveling abroad, while a Level 2 advisory warns travelers to "exercise increased caution." The travel advisories begin to get a little more serious at Level 3, which warns travelers to "reconsider travel" to that destination. A Level 4 travel advisory, meanwhile, simply warns travelers "do not travel" to that destination. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The United States currently has Level 4 "do not travel" warnings for 21 different countries. Here is the full list, along with when the travel advisory was published or most recently updated and why the warning was issued. Sudan: Issued April 22, 2023, due to armed conflict, civil unrest, crime, terrorism, and kidnapping. Mali: Issued July 31, 2023, due to crime, terrorism, and kidnapping. Ukraine: Issued Nov. 14, 2024, due to Russias war against Ukraine. Belarus: Issued Dec. 18, 2024, due to the Belarusian authorities arbitrary enforcement of local laws, the risk of detention, the continued facilitation of Russias war against Ukraine, the potential of civil unrest, and the Embassys limited ability to assist U.S. citizens residing in or traveling to Belarus. Central African Republic: Issued Dec. 26, 2024, due to armed conflict, crime, civil unrest, and kidnapping, as well as Embassy Banguis limited capacity to provide support to U.S. citizens. Afghanistan: Issued Jan. 13, 2024, due to civil unrest, crime, terrorism, risk of wrongful detention, kidnapping, and limited health facilities. Democratic Republic of the Congo: Issued Jan. 29, 2024, due to Armed Conflict, Crime, Civil Unrest, Kidnapping, and Terrorism. South Sudan: Issued March 8, 2025, due to crime, kidnapping, and armed conflict. Iran: Issued March 31, 2025, due to the risk of terrorism, civil unrest, kidnapping, arbitrary arrest of U.S. citizens, and wrongful detention. Yemen: Issued March 31, 2025, due to terrorism, civil unrest, crime, health risks, kidnapping, armed conflict, and landmines. Burkina Faso: Issued April 16, 2025, due to terrorism, crime, and kidnapping. North Korea: Issued April 29, 2025, due to the continuing serious risk of arrest, long-term detention, and the threat of wrongful detention of U.S. nationals. Russia: Issued May 8, 2025, due to danger associated with the continuing war between Russia and Ukraine, the risk of harassment or wrongful detention by Russian security officials, the arbitrary enforcement of local laws, and the possibility of terrorism. Burma (Myanmar): Issued May 12, 2025, due to armed conflict, the potential for civil unrest, arbitrary enforcement of local laws, poor health infrastructure, land mines and unexploded ordnance, crime, and wrongful detentions. Venezuela: Issued May 12, 2025, due to the high risk of wrongful detention, torture in detention, terrorism, kidnapping, arbitrary enforcement of local laws, crime, civil unrest, and poor health infrastructure. Somalia : Issued May 14, 2025, due to crime, terrorism, civil unrest, health, kidnapping, piracy, and lack of availability of routine consular services. Lebanon: Issued July 3, 2025, due to crime, terrorism, civil unrest, kidnapping, unexploded landmines, and the risk of armed conflict. Haiti: Issued July 15, 2025, due to kidnapping, crime, terrorist activity, civil unrest, and limited health care. Libya: Issued July 16, 2025, due to crime, terrorism, unexploded landmines, civil unrest, kidnapping, and armed conflict. Iraq: Issued July 17, 2025, due to terrorism, kidnapping, armed conflict, civil unrest, and the U.S. governments limited ability to provide emergency services to U.S. citizens in Iraq. Syria: Issued July 23, 2025, due to the risk of terrorism, civil unrest, kidnapping, hostage taking, and armed conflict. If you find yourself traveling in the near future, these are all locations that you should avoid under any and all circumstances. You can view the entire database of travel advisories at the State Department's website. U.S. Has Issued 21 'Do Not Travel' Warnings first appeared on Men's Journal on Aug 6, 2025 Aug. 8 (UPI) -- The United Nations' human rights chief on Friday joined several nations' leaders condemning the plan by Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to expand military control of the Gaza Strip. Volker Turk, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, said in a statement: "The Israeli Government's plan for a complete military takeover of the occupied Gaza Strip must be immediately halted." On Friday night, Netanyahu posted on X that Israel would not "occupy" but said the military will "free Gaza from Hamas" and "Gaza will be demilitarized, and a peaceful civilian administration will be established." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The cabinet's decision did not use the word "occupy," and instead referred to "taking over," due to legal reasons pertaining to Israel's responsibility for civilian matters in Gaza, according to the Ynet news site. Netanyahu's decision, approved by Israel's Security Cabinet overnight Thursday, was sharply criticized by Arab leaders, as well as leaders who are close allies of Israel, including British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, European Council President Ursula von der Leyen and European Commission President Antonio Costa. Germany announced it will suspend exports of arms to Israel that could be used in the Gaza Strip "until further notice. China, Australia and Pakistan have expressed concern, but Israel's closest ally, the United States, has not criticized the decision. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Hamas said Israel's stance "constituted a war crime" and they are "taking all steps necessary to pave the way for an agreement." Turk said Israel's plan "runs contrary to the ruling of the International Court of Justice that Israel must bring its occupation to an end as soon as possible, to the realization of the agreed two-State solution and to the right of Palestinians to self-determination." Turk said further escalation "will result in more massive forced displacement, more killing, more unbearable suffering, senseless destruction and atrocity crimes." Though he said "the war in Gaza must end now," he said Israelis and Palestinians "must be allowed to live side by side in peace. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Turk said Israel, instead of intensifying the war, "should put all its efforts into saving the lives of Gaza's civilians by allowing the full, unfettered flow of humanitarian aid. The hostages must be immediately and unconditionally released by Palestinian armed groups. Palestinians arbitrarily detained by Israel must also be immediately and unconditionally released." An estimated 90% of Gaza's 2.4 million residents have been displaced, the Agency for Palestinian Refugees said in May. Hamas invaded Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, with 1,000 people killed and 250 taken hostage. Israel began the war that day and more than 61,000 Palestinians, including women and children, have died, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry. Famine became widespread in Gaza when Israel blocked the entry of humanitarian aid in March. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In July, nearly 12,000 children under 5 were identified as suffering from acute malnutrition with the situation worsening, said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organization. On Thursday, he said so far this year that 99 people have died from malnutrition, including 29 under 5. He noted these numbers are likely underestimates. On July 27, Israel said there would be daily military pauses so aid can be delivered by the newly formed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. Since May 27, at least 1,373 Palestinians have been killed seeking food: 859 near the foundation and 514 along the convoy routes, according to the Agency for Palestinian Refugees. SEOUL, Aug. 8 (UPI) -- Washington has noted "with interest" a recent statement by the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un suggesting a willingness to resume dialogue with the United States under certain conditions, a U.S. State Department official said. Seth Bailey, acting deputy assistant secretary in the State Department's Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, made the remark at a public event Thursday in reference to comments made last week by Kim Yo Jong. In a published statement, Kim dismissed the notion of resuming denuclearization talks with Washington but appeared to leave open the possibility of a new approach to negotiations. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "The recognition of the irreversible position of the DPRK as a nuclear weapons state ... should be a prerequisite," Kim said. "It would be advisable to seek another way of contact on the basis of such new thinking." The Democratic People's Republic of Korea is the official name of North Korea. She added that her brother's relationship with U.S. President Donald Trump was "not bad." "We have seen high-level statements from the DPRK leadership, including recent statements from Kim Yo Jong, which we note with interest," Bailey said at an event in Arlington, Va., held by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency for family members of missing troops from the Korean War. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Bailey said that the Trump administration remains committed to the principles outlined in a joint statement from his 2018 Singapore summit with Kim Jong Un. "Since the beginning of President Trump's second term, he has made clear his willingness to engage in negotiations with North Korea to achieve these policy goals," Bailey said. "The president has offered to engage Chairman Kim Jong Un on multiple occasions." Bailey also noted the efforts by the administration of South Korean President Lee Jae Myung to improve relations with the North. "The new ROK administration has demonstrated a willingness to engage with North Korea, taking meaningful steps to reduce tensions across the Korean Peninsula," Bailey said, using the official acronym for South Korea. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Earlier this week, the South Korean military removed loudspeakers that had been installed along the DMZ to blast anti-Pyongyang messages across the border. Seoul also recently repatriated six North Koreans and has made multiple public calls for the North to resume inter-Korean communications. On Thursday, the United States and South Korea announced details of their upcoming large-scale Ulchi Freedom Shield joint military exercise. Roughly half of their 40 planned field training exercises will be postponed until next month, both militaries said, citing factors such as an ongoing heat wave. However, speculation has swirled that the move was made in an effort to avoid provoking Pyongyang, which frequently condemns the drills as rehearsals for an invasion. Seoul's Unification Ministry on Friday echoed Bailey's calls for the resumption of diplomacy with North Korea. "South Korea and the United States share the position that they are open to dialogue with North Korea for peace on the Korean Peninsula and a peaceful resolution to the North Korean nuclear issue," ministry spokeswoman Chang Yoon-jeong said at a press briefing when asked about Bailey's remarks. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "The government has also repeatedly expressed its active support for the resumption of North Korea-U.S. talks," she said. Chang added that the Unification Ministry is working on proposals for cooperation between Seoul and Washington on North Korean issues ahead of an expected summit between Presidents Lee and Trump later this month. "In preparation for the South Korea-U.S. summit, we are in close consultation with relevant organizations regarding peace on the Korean Peninsula and the restoration of inter-Korean relations," she said. The U.S. government announced on Thursday an unprecedented $50 million reward for information leading to the arrest of Venezuelan ruler Nicolas Maduro, accusing him of heading one of the worlds most dangerous narco-trafficking networks. The reward, which doubles the previous offer, was revealed in a video posted on social media by U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, who said the Maduro regime has become a direct threat to U.S. national security. Bondi accused Maduro of using foreign terrorist and criminal organizations including the Tren de Aragua gang, the Mexican Sinaloa Cartel, and the Venezuelan Cartel de los Soles, Cartel of the Suns to flood the U.S. with cocaine. He is one of the largest narco-traffickers in the world and a threat to our national security. Therefore, weve doubled his reward to $50 million, Bondi said in the video. Maduro uses foreign terrorist organizations like TDA, Sinaloa and Cartel of the Suns to bring deadly drugs and violence into our country. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In the video, Bondi also announced the seizure of more than $700 million in Maduro-linked assets, including two private jets, nine vehicles and various properties. Despite these enforcement actions, Bondi warned, Maduros reign of terror continues. Although Maduro was not among the early Venezuelan officials tied to narco-trafficking during the previous Hugo Chavez presidency, a federal indictment filed in New York shows his rise through the ranks of the Cartel of the Suns, a drug organization embedded within the Venezuelan military. According to court documents, Maduro gained increasing influence in the cartel after Chavezs death in 2013, eventually becoming one of its top leaders. The indictment notes that Maduro helped manage and, ultimately, lead the Cartel de Los Soles, as the drug operation became intertwined with the Venezuelan state. While other top leaders in the Venezuelan regime such as Diosdado Cabello and Tareck El Aissami were often seen as the cartels figureheads, the new evidence suggests Maduros role was far more significant than previously believed. The indictment claims the purpose of Venezuelas drug trafficking apparatus goes beyond self-enrichment. The cartel, it says, aimed to flood the United States with cocaine and inflict the drugs harmful and addictive effects on users in this country. U.S. authorities had estimated earlier this decade that more than 250 tons of cocaine transit through Venezuela annually, but recent intelligence reports suggest that number may have doubled in recent years to compensate for the shortfall in revenue caused by U.S. sanctions on the countrys oil industry. Abu Dhabi rejected a claim by the Sudanese army that it had shot down an Emirati plane carrying dozens of Colombian mercenaries. International observers have accused the United Arab Emirates of backing the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in the Sudanese civil war, a conflict which has displaced millions and triggered the worlds first famine in decades, with hundreds of thousands struggling to survive each day. Last month, the latest US-brokered attempt to reach a ceasefire collapsed after the UAE and Egypt which backs the Sudanese army failed to agree on what role each of the fighting forces would have in ruling the country, Al-Monitor reported. Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday said UC should not bend "on their knees" to the president as university leaders negotiate with the Trump administration to restore more than half a billion dollars in frozen UCLA grants amid antisemitism accusations. Newsom chided settlements Trump struck with two Ivy League universities. Columbia and Brown agreed to pay hefty fines and make sweeping campus changes in exchange for the restoration of research money that was also canceled over Trump antisemitism allegations. Harvard too is negotiating with the government over similar charges. "Were not Brown, were not Columbia, and Im not going to be governor if we act like that," Newsom said, referring to settlements the universities announced last month. "Period. Full stop, I will fight like hell to make sure that doesnt happen." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Columbia's and Brown's agreements included highly criticized payouts. Columbia will pay more than $200 million to the federal government and Brown will pay $50 million to Rhode Island workforce programs in addition to promises to share admissions data with federal authorities. The Trump administration has accused elite universities, including UCLA, of illegally considering a person's race when deciding whom to admit. Read more: Trump orders colleges to prove they don't consider race in admissions as three UCs face probe Columbia also agreed to review its Middle Eastern studies programs and submit to an outside monitor to oversee whether it was following the settlement. Faculty have accused the university's leaders of relenting on coveted higher education values of academic freedom independent of government or political influence. The remarks from Newsom were his first public comments about how UC should proceed with Trump, and the first indication if vague of how a UC settlement with Trump may or may not look. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The university system, run by its president and Board of Regents, is independent under the state Constitution of "all political or sectarian influence." At at the same time, the governor can exercise political sway over the regents, whose members he appoints. Newsom also holds an ex-officio seat on the board. Newsom, speaking in San Francisco, made the remarks during a media question-and-answer period after an event about artificial intelligence workforce partnerships the state announced with Google, Adobe, IBM and Microsoft. "Theres principles. Theres right and wrong, and well do the right thing. This is about our competitiveness. Its about the fate and future of this country. Its about our sovereignty. Its about so much more than the temperament of an aggrieved individual who happens to currently be president of the United States," Newsom said. Asked about UC's negotiations, Newsom said, "They'll do the right thing." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "I have the confidence and I'll do everything in my power to encourage them to do the right thing and not to become another law firm that bends on their knees, another company that sells their soul or another institution that takes a shortcut and takes the easy wrong versus the hard right." UC and UCLA spokespeople did not immediately respond Thursday to a question about Newsom's comments. Read more: UCLA will negotiate with Trump over $339 million in medical and science grant freezes UC President James B. Milliken said Wednesday that the university system was "agreeing to engage in dialogue with the federal administration" after the Department of Justice sent a letter to UC last week saying it found UCLA had violated the civil rights of Jewish students after activists erected a pro-Palestinian encampment in April 2024. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Milliken said the the goal of negotiations was for all suspended and at-risk federal funding restored to the university as soon as possible. The grant suspensions affect research into areas including neuroscience, clean energy and cancer. The Justice Department and U.S. Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi said on July 28 that UCLA would pay a heavy price for acting with deliberate indifference to the civil rights of Jewish and Israeli students who complained of antisemitic incidents since Oct. 7, 2023. The date marks when Hamas attacked Israel, which led to Israels war in Gaza. In his Wednesday statement, Milliken said that the cuts "do nothing to address antisemitism. Moreover, the extensive work that UCLA and the entire University of California have taken to combat antisemitism has apparently been ignored. The announced cuts would be a death knell for innovative work that saves lives, grows our economy, and fortifies our national security. It is in our countrys best interest that funding be restored. In a campuswide letter Wednesday, UCLA Chancellor Julio Frenk said the grant suspensions were devastating for UCLA and for Americans across the nation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Times staff writer Taryn Luna contributed to this report. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times. The University of Georgia has identified and named a meteorite that crash-landed in a Georgia residence as the McDonough Meteorite, estimated to be over 4.56 billion years old. The meteorite, which made a dramatic entry into Earths atmosphere on June 26, tore through a residential roof in Henry County, Georgia, before being handed over to UGA researchers for analysis. [DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] This particular meteor that entered the atmosphere has a long history before it made it to the ground of McDonough, said Scott Harris, a researcher in the UGA Franklin College of Arts and Sciences department of geology. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The meteorite, classified as a Low Metal (L) ordinary Chondrite, is believed to have formed in the presence of oxygen, making it older than Earth itself. RELATED STORIES: Harris explained that the meteorite belongs to a group of asteroids in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, linked to a breakup of a larger asteroid about 470 million years ago. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The meteorite caused significant damage to the Henry County home, penetrating the roof, HVAC duct, and leaving a dent in the floor. UGA received 23 grams of the meteorite for analysis, and the findings will be submitted to the Nomenclature Committee of the Meteoritical Society. Additional pieces of the meteorite will be displayed at the Tellus Science Museum in Cartersville. The McDonough Meteorites discovery and analysis provide valuable insights into the history of asteroids and the potential impact of larger space rocks on Earth. [SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter] KAMPALA (Reuters) -A Ugandan judge refused to grant bail on Friday to veteran opposition figure Kizza Besigye, who has been in jail for nearly nine months on treason charges. The case has raised concerns among government critics, including opposition leader Bobi Wine and rights groups, about a crackdown ahead of Uganda's national election early next year in which President Yoweri Museveni, 80, is seeking re-election. The government denies targeting opposition figures and says all those who have been detained have committed crimes. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A former ally and personal physician of Museveni, Besigye has stood and lost against Museveni in four elections. He has not said whether he is running again. Besigye, who denies any wrongdoing, was forcefully returned to Uganda from neighbouring Kenya in November last year, and initially charged in a military tribunal, before his case was transferred to a civilian court. His lawyers argued he should be automatically released on bail because he has spent more than 180 days in jail without his trial starting. Judge Emmanuel Baguma said the 180-day maximum period before mandatory bail is granted only began when he was remanded in the civilian court on February 21, which means he falls short by 12 days in order to secure bail. (Reporting by Elias Biryabarema; Editing by Hereward Holland and Alison Williams) LONDON (Reuters) -British authorities arrested almost one in five people they checked in a week-long crackdown on migrants working illegally as delivery riders last month, the government's interior ministry said on Saturday. Immigration enforcement officers stopped and questioned 1,780 individuals between July 20 and 27 and 280 people were arrested, the interior ministry said, adding asylum support was being reviewed for 53 of those detained. The operation was part of a push by the government to tackle illegal migration which also includes new legal requirements for companies to verify workers' immigration status. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Prime Minister Keir Starmer is facing pressure to show voters he can counter illegal immigration with support rising for Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage's Reform UK party. "This government is making sure rules are respected and enforced," border security minister Angela Eagle said. As well as the arrests, civil penalty notices were issued to 51 businesses, including car washes and restaurants, which could face fines for employing illegal workers, the ministry said. Police seized 71 vehicles, including 58 e-bikes, and confiscated 8,000 pounds ($10,751.20) in cash and 460,000 pounds worth of illicit cigarettes. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The interior ministry said immigration enforcement teams would receive a 5 million-pound funding boost for the work tackling illegal working. Last month, the government struck a new deal with food delivery firms, including Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just Eat, to share information aimed at preventing illegal working. In the 12 months to July, Britain returned 35,052 people with no right to remain, up 13% on the previous 12 months. France this week agreed to accept some undocumented migrants who arrive in Britain by small boats with Britain accepting from France an equal number of legitimate asylum seekers with family ties in the country. ($1 = 0.7441 pounds) (Reporting by Sam TabahritiEditing by William Schomberg) The British government is paying a US-based company to carry out spy plane flights over Gaza in order to look for hostages held by Hamas, Defense Ministry sources told The Times. The British military has hired US contractors to carry out spying missions over the Gaza Strip on behalf of the IDF due to a shortage of Royal Air Force (RAF) aircraft, British outlet The Times reported on Wednesday. The British government is paying a Nevada-based company to carry out spy flights over the enclave in order to look for hostages held by Hamas terrorists, British Defense Ministry (MoD) sources told the outlet. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The MoD refuses to officially confirm that they have hired the aircraft due to the "sensitive" nature of the mission. However, two MoD sources confirmed the lease agreement to The Times, but have made no comments on the length or cost of the agreement. The aircraft's July flight path over Gaza's Khan Yunis was leaked due to a "schoolboy error," the report noted. The RAF has been using Shadow R1 aircraft, based in RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, to carry out intelligence-gathering flights over Gaza, sharing the data with the IDF, the report noted. However, RAF sources confirmed to The Times that none of the eight Shadow R1s are currently stationed in RAF Akrotiri, as they have been assigned to other missions or are undergoing maintenance. Shadow R1, 14 Squadron - RAF Waddington (credit: RHL Images/Wikimedia Commons) A previous report by The Times stated that the MoD confirmed that these missions were still ongoing despite an apparent lack of Shadow surveillance flights. The new report indicates that the ongoing missions were likely carried out by the leased aircraft rather than Shadow R1s. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The MoD's contract is with Straight Flight Nevada Commercial Leasing LLC, a subsidiary of the Sierra Nevada Corporation, one of the largest military contractors in the world. RAF pilots do not fly the aircraft hired from the US contractors, the report clarified. Growing dissatisfaction at MoD over Israel-Hamas war, Gaza humanitarian concerns The MoD and Britain's military disagree with the British Foreign Ministry over support for Israel, with the latter calling out Jerusalem for alleged "grotesque" treatment of Palestinians, and threatening sanctions. However, MoD's patience with Israel and the IDF "appears to be running out," according to The Times. This is particularly after photographs emerged of allegedly starving Palestinians. Israel has repeatedly denied that Palestinians are starving, providing evidence that many of those photographed are suffering from severe illnesses that are not related to nutrition, such as cerebral palsy. A senior British military source, who spoke to The Times on condition of anonymity, said, "Instead of sending a message to Israel that we arent going to do surveillance for you, we are happy to hire an American company and pay for it. Aug. 8ASHLAND, Ky. UK King's Daughters has once again received the American Heart Association's highest recognition for stroke care: Get With The Guidelines Stroke Gold Plus with Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite Plus with Advanced Therapy and Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll. This national distinction is a remarkable milestone, not only marking 12-plus consecutive years of excellence in stroke care but also highlighting continued commitment to improving outcomes for stroke patients across the region. In fact, UK King's Daughters is one of only three medical centers in Kentucky to achieve this level of recognition and the only one in the Tri-State. What This Means for Patients Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Get With The Guidelines program honors hospitals that demonstrate consistent, evidence-based care that leads to better recovery, reduced disability, and improved survival rates for stroke patients. By adhering to rigorous clinical guidelines, we help ensure patients receive the right treatment at the right time when every minute matters. Research has shown that hospitals participating in this program have better patient outcomes, including reduced readmissions and lower risk of long-term disability. Our recognition reflects not only our ability to meet but to exceed those standards. The Work Behind the Award Achieving this recognition is no small feat. It reflects excellence in a wide range of performance measures, including: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Administration of clot-busting medication (IV thrombolytics) within 4.5 hours of symptom onset Door-to-needle times: Medication delivered within 60 minutes and for the Elite Plus honor roll, 75% of patients within 45 minutes, and 50% within 30 minutes Antithrombotic therapy by hospital day 2 and at discharge VTE prophylaxis and dysphagia screening by hospital day 2 Stroke education, smoking cessation counseling, rehabilitation assessments Prescribing anticoagulation for patients with atrial fibrillation/flutter NIH Stroke Scale (NIHSS) documentation Intensive statin therapy prescribed at discharge Each of these steps plays a vital role in helping stroke patients recover faster and return to their lives with fewer complications. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This award belongs to every member of our stroke care teamfrom the moment a patient arrives at the hospital to their continued recovery. It takes unwavering coordination and excellence from: Emergency department physicians, advanced practitioners, and nurses The ACT team Radiology and vascular lab teams EMS crews who identify strokes quickly in the field ICU and Neurosciences Unit Our neurologists, intensivists, hospitalists and many more We are deeply grateful for the team's dedication, skill, and passion for helping stroke patients when they need it most. Leading the Way in Kentucky and Beyond Stroke remains a leading cause of death and disability in the U.S. But efforts are changing that. This recognition confirms that UK King's Daughters is not just keeping pace with national standards, they're setting them. (Refiles to fix first paragraph to reflect Starmer's language) LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Friday said Israel's decision to take control of Gaza City was wrong and urged the Israeli government to reconsider. "The Israeli Governments decision to further escalate its offensive in Gaza is wrong, and we urge it to reconsider immediately," he said in a statement. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "This action will do nothing to bring an end to this conflict or to help secure the release of the hostages. It will only bring more bloodshed." (Reporting by Sam Tabahriti; Editing by William James) KYIV (Reuters) -Ukrainian journalist Viktoria Roshchyna, who died in Russian captivity last year, was buried in Kyiv on Friday, while her colleagues called for international pressure to secure the release of other Ukrainian reporters held by Moscow. Several hundred people gathered in the centre of Kyiv for a solemn ceremony to pay tribute to Roshchyna, 27, whose first-hand reporting provided a rare glimpse into life under occupation in the early months of Russia's invasion. "It is very sad... it is really about losing a professional who was braver than any of us," Nataliya Gumenyuk, a journalist, told Reuters. "We pay tribute while there are still other Ukrainian reporters behind bars, and with what has happened to her, it is our duty not to stop." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Roshchyna went missing in August 2023 during a reporting trip to Russia-held eastern Ukraine. She died after a year in detention. The body of the journalist was discovered among bodies that Russia handed over to Ukraine earlier this year. Ukrainian forensic experts were unable to determine the cause of death, but found signs of injuries and possible torture, Ukrainian prosecutors have said. Moscow did not comment on Friday, but has previously denied allegations of torture. Ukraine's National Union of Journalists said that it had verified a list of at least 30 Ukrainian reporters who were in detention in Russia. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Several of Roshchyna's colleagues who attended the funeral said that more political and international pressure on Moscow was required to help release the reporters. Ukraine and Russia regularly exchange prisoners of war, and several large swaps took place after Kyiv and Moscow met for three rounds of talks in the Turkish capital Istanbul. The exchanges typically include servicemen from both sides but not civilians. (Reporting by Sergiy Karazy, writing by Olena Harmash; Editing by Sharon Singleton) Ukraine's military intelligence (HUR) attacked a Russian air defense brigade in the town of Afipsky in Russia's Krasnodar Krai on Aug. 8, a HUR source told the Kyiv Independent. The operation struck Russia's 90th Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade, which has been involved in Russian assaults in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts, according to the source. Two explosions near a checkpoint killed at least 12 Russian soldiers and injured dozens more, the source said. Russian military equipment was also destroyed, they added. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Russian Telegram channels reported that air raid sirens sounded across several settlements in Krasnodar Krai on the morning of Aug. 8 due to a drone threat. Details of the operation remain undisclosed. The HUR source claimed that an "anti-terrorist operation" had been declared in Afipsky following the explosions. The Kyiv Independent could not verify these claims. Krasnodar Krai, located just east of occupied Crimea, has become an increasingly frequent target of Ukrainian drone strikes. The region's military infrastructure is critical for Russia's air operations in the south and over the Black Sea. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Russian region is frequently targeted by Ukraine. On Aug. 7, Ukrainian drones struck and damaged the Afipskiy oil refinery, Ukraine's General Staff reported. Read also: Polands Tusk says Russia-Ukraine war could be frozen sooner rather than later Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Key developments on Aug. 12: Ukraine takes 'effective measures' to stop Russian infiltration near Dobropillia, Pokrovsk, military says Ukrainian drones strike 'only Russian facility' producing helium for rockets, HUR source claims Second deep strike in days hits Shahed-type drone storage site in Russia, SBU says 'No sign' Russia preparing for end to war, Zelensky says ahead of Trump-Putin summit Ukrainian forces are taking "effective measures" to halt Russia's advance in the Dobropillia and Pokrovsk sectors of Donetsk Oblast, the General Staff said on Aug. 12, describing the situation as "complex and dynamic." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The update follows claims from battlefield monitoring group DeepState that Russian troops pushed toward the DobropilliaKramatorsk highway, allegedly piercing Ukrainian defenses. Earlier on Aug. 12, the military acknowledged that a small group of Russian troops bypassed Ukrainian positions near Dobropillia but rejected reports of a breakthrough. The General Staff said more than 110,000 Russian troops are concentrated in the Pokrovsk area and are attempting to penetrate defenses by sending small infantry units between Ukrainian lines. "Our units are engaged in heavy defensive battles against superior enemy forces," the statement reads, claiming that some infiltrating groups had already been destroyed. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The military added that Russian infantry groups "attempted to advance" in the village of Zolotyi Kolodiaz, where 44 residents live. The Russian military has also entered settlements including Vesele, Vilne, Rubizhne, and Kucheriv Yar, the statement added. Military spokesperson Victor Tregubov earlier said such incursions typically involve five to ten soldiers and "look very different from how it appears on the map," emphasizing that no significant territory had been actually captured in the attack. The Donetsk Operational-Tactical Group, the regional command formation responsible for operations in the area, accused Russia of inflating minor infiltration gains into an image of larger battlefield successes in its media. The Kyiv Independent could not verify the claims. A map showing Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine's Donetsk Oblast as of 2025. (The Kyiv Independent) Russian forces are using human wave assaults supported by artillery and guided aerial bombs, Maksym Bakulin, spokesperson for the 14th National Guard Brigade, told Ukrainian media outlet Suspilne. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to Bakulin, favorable weather has allowed Russian troops to hide in forested areas and move equipment forward, prompting Ukraine to intensify drone surveillance. Pokrovsk, located about 70 kilometers (43 miles) northwest of Donetsk, remains one of the most fiercely contested sectors of the front, where Moscow has concentrated its main offensive efforts since March. The fighting comes days before U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are scheduled to meet in Alaska on Aug. 15, with the Kremlin seeking to improve its position ahead of potential peace talks. Ukrainian brigades, weakened by manpower shortages, continue to face pressure in Donetsk Oblast, where evacuations remain dangerous amid repeated Russian attacks on civilians. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Read also: War-hit Ukrainian employers expand recruitment in South Asia Ukrainian drones strike 'only Russian facility' producing helium for rockets, HUR source claims Ukrainian military intelligence (HUR) drones on Aug. 11 struck the Orenburg Helium Plant, a key Russian facility lying some 1,200 kilometers from the front line in Ukraine, a source in the agency told the Kyiv Independent. "This is the only facility in Russia that produces a critically important component used in rocket manufacturing, the space industry, and the aviation sector," the source claimed. Local residents reportedly heard drones flying overhead and a series of explosions near the plant. At 8 p.m. local time on Aug. 11, Russian authorities closed off a section of the M-5 Ural highway near Perevolotsky and Kholodnye Klyuchi, where the factory is located. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The extent of potential damage to the plant remains unclear. Orenburg Oblast Acting Governor Yevgeny Solntsev reported that two drones were shot down over the region on the evening of Aug. 11. The official did not comment on any possible damage or casualties. A drone raid alert was also issued on the morning of Aug. 12. The Kyiv Independent could not verify the claims. Join our community Support independent journalism in Ukraine. Join us in this fight. Support Us Orenburg Oblast lies at Russia's southern border with Kazakhstan, while the helium facility is located roughly 1,200 kilometers (750 miles) from the front line in Ukraine. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The intelligence source described the helium plant as "Russia's sole helium production facility and one of the largest in Europe, with an annual capacity to process around 15 billion cubic meters of natural gas." However, Russian media report that while the Orenburg Helium Plant was the country's only helium producer before 2021, Russia also operates Gazprom's Amur Gas Processing Plant in the Far East and another helium plant in Irkutsk Oblast as of 2025. The noble gas can be used, among other applications, to pressurize and purge rocket propulsion systems. The HUR source told the Kyiv Independent that the plant is one of the key facilities of the Russian military-industrial complex and is directly involved in Russian aggression against Ukraine. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Kyiv has escalated long-range drone strikes against Russian military and industrial targets deep in the rear, aiming to undermine Moscow's ability to wage war. Another wave of Ukrainian drones reportedly targeted Russia overnight on Aug. 12, with drone strikes reported at a plant producing synthetic sapphires in Stavropol. Read also: How Ukraine is building a system of returning, reintegrating, and protecting children abducted by Russia Second deep strike in days hits Shahed-type drone storage site in Russia, SBU says Ukrainian drones hit a storage facility in Russia's Republic of Tatarstan, home to Shahed-type attack drones and foreign components used in their assembly, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said on Aug. 12. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The strike warehouses in the village of Kyzyl-Yul, roughly 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) from Ukraine, igniting a fire at the site. The attack follows a similar strike on Aug. 9 and underscores Kyiv's efforts to disrupt Russia's drone production capabilities. The Alabuga Special Economic Zone in Tatarstan is home to a facility producing Shahed-type long-range attack drones and other reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). "The repeated attack on this military-industrial complex facility aims to reduce the enemy's capabilities for 'Shahed terror' against Ukraine," the SBU said in a statement. 0:00 Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement / 1 The Kyiv Independent could not independently verify the SBU's claims. Tatarstan, located in central European Russia's Volga-Ural region, is far from the front lines. Its capital, Kazan, lies about 800 kilometers (497 miles) east of Moscow. According to Russia's Defense Ministry, nine Ukrainian drones were shot down over Tatarstan during the attack on the morning of Aug. 9. Shahed-type drones, known in Russia as Geran-2, are long-range "kamikaze" strike UAVs modified from the original Iranian-model, that have become a central part of Moscow's arsenal due to their range, payload capacity, and relatively low cost. Capable of flying up to 2,500 kilometers (1,554 miles) at speeds of 180 kilometers per hour (112 miles per hour), they have been used extensively since late 2022 for long-range attacks, often painted black to blend in during night operations. Read also: Breakthrough unlikely at Putin-Trump meeting as US, Russia, Ukraine differ on key issues 'No sign' Russia preparing for end to war, Zelensky says ahead of Trump-Putin summit Russia is preparing to launch new offensives in Ukraine and has shown "no sign" of readiness for a ceasefire, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his evening address on Aug. 11. Zelensky's warning comes days ahead of Russian President Vladimir Putin's meeting with U.S. President Trump on Aug. 15. The leaders will meet in Alaska to discuss a possible settlement to end Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine. "(Putin) is definitely not preparing for a ceasefire and an end to the war," Zelensky said. "Putin is only interested in presenting the meeting with America as his personal victory and continuing to act as before, putting pressure on Ukraine as before." Ukrainian intelligence and military officers briefed the president on Russia's ongoing military preparations, Zelensky said. "There is no sign that the Russians have received signals to prepare for the post-war situation, at least not yet. On the contrary, they are moving their troops and forces in such a way as to launch new offensive operations. If someone is preparing for peace, they are not doing this." Trump said on Aug. 11 that after his meeting with Putin, Zelensky would be involved in the negotiations, either in bilateral talks with Putin or trilateral talks with the Russian president and Trump. Read also: EU to prepare 19th sanctions package as Russia continues to reject ceasefire, Kallas says Trump-Putin Alaska summit to be a 'listening exercise,' White House says The Aug. 15 meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Anchorage will be a "listening exercise," for Trump, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Aug. 12. The summit, set to be held in Alaska's largest city, will mark Putin's first visit to the U.S. in a decade and their first face-to-face meeting with Trump since the U.S. president took office on Jan. 20. "This is a listening exercise for President (Trump)," Leavitt said, indicating that the talks might not produce immediate results, and adding that one-on-one discussions are "part of the plan." The Trump administration has promoted the meeting as a breakthrough in the peace process, though Ukrainian and European officials remain wary of negotiations that exclude Kyiv. Trump himself described the talks as a "feel-out meeting" to assess Russia's readiness for peace. The U.S. president announced the summit on Aug. 8, reportedly telling Ukrainian and European leaders that Moscow may be open to negotiations if "land swaps" are included. A Ukrainian Presidential Office source told the Kyiv Independent that the Kremlin's proposal would require Kyiv to withdraw from partially occupied Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts in exchange for a Russian pullback from parts of Sumy and Kharkiv oblasts. Putin has also publicly demanded Ukraine's withdrawal from partially occupied Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts and a ban on its NATO membership as preconditions for peace. Moscow reiterated these demands during the May Istanbul peace talks and again in the July 3rd round of talks, which wrapped up in less than an hour. President Volodymyr Zelensky has rejected handing over any new territory, urging a ceasefire as the first step toward negotiations, a stance supported by Kyiv's European partners. The Ukrainian president is scheduled to hold an online meeting with Trump and European leaders on Aug. 13, two days before the Alaska summit. 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. Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. This Saturday, NewsNations Robert Sherman reports live from Ukraine for a special report, Ukraine: On the Frontlines. The one-hour program will air 8p/7C. Find out how to watch. (NewsNation) As the fighting continues in Ukraine, military drones have emerged as the greatest innovation of the war to date. But Ukraine has developed some innovative ways of defending against Russian air strikes. One of them is a volunteer group made up almost entirely of women that has made it its mission to take those drones down. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement They call themselves the Witches of Bucha. By day, members work normal jobs. By night, they lace up and shoot down enemy drones. Cheap Ukrainian drones inflict costly damage to Russian war machine NewsNations Robert Sherman got an inside look at their lives in and out of uniform. All hands on deck in Ukraine war The bloodiest war in Europe since World War II has raged on for 3 and a half years. Hundreds of thousands have been deployed to the front lines between the two sides, never to come home. There was a time when only Ukrainian men could serve in combat roles. That changed in 2017. And with Russia at the doorstep, the old days are long gone. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Olena Sylchenko already wears plenty of hats. Shes a mother, runs the house and has a massage therapy business on the side. In her spare time, shes a mixed martial arts fighter. Then, theres another hat, or helmet, for her night job. When the sun sets, she finds herself deep in the woods, on the outskirts of Kyiv watching and waiting. Shes one of the so-called Witches of Bucha, a nearly all-female group of volunteer soldiers. Swarms of Russian drones attack Ukraine nightly as Moscow puts new emphasis on the deadly weapon Witches are women who are strong-minded and motivated, Olena said. One calls herself a witch because it is going to be just how we say it and want it to be. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Their job is to defend the skies from Russias drones. We can only breathe easy when we either have shot them down or they are gone, she said. Otherwise, its vigilance and more vigilance. Witches credited with saving homes Theres no shortage of action, as Russian drones rain down on Ukraine practically every night. The Ukrainians estimate that more than 6,000 drones were launched at their country in the month of July alone. Volunteers like Olena must be trained and ready to go for whatever Russia puts in the air. Age, gender none of that matters when your back is against the wall. These are full-fledged forces of defense of Ukraine, and thanks to these women, today, most of our energy, most of our homes, are intact, said Col. Andrii Verlatyi, chief of staff for the Bucha Volunteer Defense Forces. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement For some, its their first time picking up a weapon. The Russian invasion left everyday civilians like Olena little choice. It was the atrocities committed in Bucha, a suburb of Kyiv that was raided by Russian forces at the start of the war, that spurred the formation of this group. I didnt want to just hide in the basement, Olena said. I wanted to join and help. I wanted my family and children to sleep well. So, in her world, there are now even more hats to juggle. 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. Semen Kryvonos, director of the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU), has said that he had received materials from the Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) concerning one of the NABU employees who was served with a notice of suspicion of treason, but he did not have permission to disclose them. Source: a briefing by the heads of NABU and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutors Office (SAPO) at Media Centre Ukraine Quote from Kryvonos: "Two employees are in custody, not only under investigation. We have three more employees who have been served with a notice of suspicion of committing road accidents; the investigation is ongoing. Two employees are in custody on charges of treason. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I have already mentioned that two internal investigations were immediately launched at the NABU, and I have sent a request to the SSU to provide supporting materials and evidence that confirms these two employees' involvement in Russian influence. Yesterday, I received a letter from the SSU regarding one of them, but I have not been granted permission to disclose its contents publicly. Details: The NABU director noted that he is waiting for a response from the SSU regarding another employee and will ask permission to publish the relevant materials provided by the SSU. "I will definitely request additional materials. I am waiting for a response regarding another employee. I will ask for permission to publish the materials provided to me. Because I do not see that they should be hidden from Ukrainian society, the bureau's staff and international partners, and I would also ask the SSU to publish all available materials on both employees in the public domain," Kryvonos said. Background: Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon! Ukrainian unmanned systems struck more than 23,000 Russian targets and killed over 5,000 Russian soldiers in July, Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi said on Aug. 8. "The main priority is to destroy Russian personnel," Syrskyi wrote following a monthly meeting on the development of the Unmanned Systems Forces. The commander noted that drones have become "an integral part" of Ukraine's military operations, playing a crucial role alongside infantry and artillery in repelling Russian forces. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Syrskyi said first-person-view (FPV) drones and night bombers were responsible for most of the hits, adding that Ukraine is forming units equipped with robotic ground platforms. "We will develop both the logistical and combat components in this area," he said. Commanders also reviewed progress on MiddleStrike, a strike drone with a 50120 kilometer (3175 miles) range, and other projects aimed at strengthening Ukraine's drone capabilities. "I listened to the proposals and requests, defined the tasks for building up the unmanned component of the Armed Forces," Syrskyi said, adding that preserving soldiers' lives remains the main goal. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Drones are crucial in Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, with both sides heavily depending on unmanned systems for surveillance, artillery spotting, and targeted strikes. Kyiv has ramped up long-range drone attacks against Russian territory, aiming to disrupt logistics, stretch air defenses, and force Moscow to divert resources away from the front lines. Read also: Best way to ramp up Western sanctions on Russia is to double down on their enforcement Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Defence Intelligence of Ukraine (DIU) carried out a special operation in Russias Krasnodar Krai on Friday 8 August, resulting in at least a dozen Russian service members being wiped out. Source: an Ukrainska Pravda source in intelligence Details: The source said that DIU attacked a military unit belonging to the 90th Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade in the settlement of Afipsky in the Krasnodar Krai on the morning of 8 August. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Two explosions were heard near the checkpoint of the military unit, resulting in the death of at least 12 service members and leaving dozens of soldiers injured and equipment destroyed, the source said. Local media and channels reported two explosions in Afipsky, while local secret services blocked the area and imposed an "anti-terrorist operation" regime. Ambulances and emergency and special service vehicles gathered at the scene. Meanwhile, to cover up the sabotage at the military unit, Russian media circulated claims that the explosions were caused by faulty gas-cylinder equipment in a vehicle. Furthermore, the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) is reportedly trying to erase mentions of the incident from mainstream and social media, the Ukrainska Pravda source added. For reference: The 90th Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade, which was attacked in the special operation, is involved in Russias armed aggression against Ukraine in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts. Background: On 7 August, the Ukrainian defence forces confirmed a successful strike on the Afipsky oil refinery in Russias Krasnodar Krai. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon! WASHINGTON (AP) President Donald Trump said he will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin next Friday in Alaska to discuss ending the war in Ukraine, a potential breakthrough after weeks of expressing frustration that more was not being done to quell the fighting. The Kremlin has not yet confirmed the details, which Trump announced on social media, but both nations had said they expected a meeting could happen as soon as next week. Such a summit may prove pivotal in a war that began more than three years ago when Russia invaded its western neighbor and has led to tens of thousands of deaths although theres no guarantee it will stop the fighting since Moscow and Kyiv remain far apart on their conditions for peace. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In comments to reporters at the White House before his post confirming the date and place, Trump suggested that any agreement would likely involve some swapping of territories," but he gave no details. Analysts, including some close to the Kremlin, have suggested that Russia could offer to give up territory it controls outside of the four regions it claims to have annexed. Trump said his meeting with Putin would come before any sit-down discussion involving Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Trump also previously agreed to meet with Putin even if the Russian leader would not meet with Zelenskyy. That stoked fears in Europe that Ukraine could be sidelined in efforts to stop the continents biggest conflict since World War II. Trump's announcement that he planned to host one of America's adversaries on U.S. soil broke with expectations that they'd meet in a third country. The gesture gives Putin validation after the U.S. and its allies had long sought to make him a pariah over his war against Ukraine. Early in Putin's tenure, he regularly met with his U.S. counterparts. That dropped off and the tone became icier as tensions mounted between Russia and the West after Moscow illegally annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and faced allegations of meddling in the 2016 U.S. elections. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Putin's last visit to the U.S. was in 2015, when he attended the U.N. General Assembly meeting in New York. The meeting in Alaska would be the first U.S.-Russia summit since 2021, when former President Joe Biden met Putin in Geneva. After announcing Friday a framework aimed at ending decades of conflict elsewhere in the world between Armenia and Azerbaijan Trump said he would meet with Putin very shortly." His subsequent post said the highly anticipated meeting would happen Aug. 15 in Alaska and more details would follow. Swapping territories Trump had told reporters that the summit would have been sooner, but I guess theres security arrangements that unfortunately people have to make. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trump said, President Putin, I believe, wants to see peace, and Zelenskyy wants to see peace." He said that, In all fairness to President Zelenskyy, hes getting everything he needs to, assuming we get something done. Trump said a peace deal would likely mean Ukraine and Russia would swap some territory they each control. Nothing easy," the president said. But were gonna get some back. Were gonna get some switched. Therell be some swapping of territories, to the betterment of both. Pressed on if this was the last chance to make a major peace deal, Trump said, I dont like using the term last chance, and said that, When those guns start going off, its awfully tough to get em to stop. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Exasperated that Putin did not heed his calls to stop bombing Ukrainian cities, Trump almost two weeks ago moved up his ultimatum to impose additional sanctions on Russia and introduce secondary tariffs targeting countries that buy Russian oil if the Kremlin did not move toward a settlement. The deadline was Friday. But the White House did not answer questions that evening about the state of possible sanctions after Trump's announcement of an upcoming meeting with Putin. Prior to Trump announcing the meeting with Putin, his efforts to pressure Russia into stopping the fighting had delivered no progress. The Kremlin's bigger army is slowly advancing deeper into Ukraine at great cost in troops and armor while it relentlessly bombards Ukrainian cities. Russia and Ukraine are far apart on their terms for peace. Ukrainian troops say they are ready to keep fighting Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ukrainian forces are locked in intense battles along the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line that snakes from northeast to southeast Ukraine. The Pokrovsk area of the eastern Donetsk region is taking the brunt of the punishment as Russia seeks to break out into the neighboring Dnipropetrovsk region. Ukraine has significant manpower shortages. Intense fighting is also taking place in Ukraine's northern Sumy border region, where Ukrainian forces are engaging Russian soldiers to prevent reinforcements being sent from there to Donetsk. In the Pokrovsk area of Donetsk, a commander said he believes Moscow isnt interested in peace. It is impossible to negotiate with them. The only option is to defeat them, Buda, a commander of a drone unit in the Spartan Brigade, told The Associated Press. He used only his call sign, in keeping with the rules of the Ukrainian military. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I would like them to agree and for all this to stop, but Russia will not agree to that. It does not want to negotiate. So the only option is to defeat them, he said. In the southern Zaporizhzhia region, a howitzer commander using the call sign Warsaw said troops are determined to thwart Russias invasion. We are on our land, we have no way out, he said. So we stand our ground, we have no choice. Putin makes a flurry of phone calls The Kremlin said Friday that Putin had a phone call with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, during which he informed Xi about the results of his meeting earlier this week with Trump envoy Steve Witkoff. Kremlin officials said Xi expressed support for the settlement of the Ukrainian crisis on a long-term basis. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Putin is due to visit China next month. China, along with North Korea and Iran, have provided military support for Russias war effort, the U.S. says. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on X that he also had a call with Putin to speak about the latest Ukraine developments. Trump signed an executive order Wednesday to place an additional 25% tariff on India for its purchases of Russian oil, which the American president says is helping to finance Russias war. Putins calls followed his phone conversations with the leaders of South Africa, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Belarus, the Kremlin said. The calls suggested to at least one analyst that Putin perhaps wanted to brief Russias most important allies about a potential settlement that could be reached at a summit with Trump. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It means that some sort of real peace agreement has been reached for the first time, said Sergei Markov, a pro-Kremlin Moscow-based analyst. Analysts say Putin is aiming to outlast the West Putin said in a previous statement that he hoped to meet with Trump as early as next week, possibly in the United Arab Emirates. The Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think tank, said in an assessment Thursday that Putin remains uninterested in ending his war and is attempting to extract bilateral concessions from the United States without meaningfully engaging in a peace process. Putin continues to believe that time is on Russias side and that Russia can outlast Ukraine and the West, it said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement ___ Stepanenko reported from the Dnipropetrovsk region of Ukraine. Associated Press writers Samya Kullab in Kyiv, Ukraine, and Michelle L. Price in Washington contributed to this report. ___ Follow APs coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine The Embassy of Ukraine in Georgia has reported that measures have been taken to provide food, essential items and medicine to Ukrainian citizens stranded in the buffer zone at the Georgian border. Source: Radio Liberty, citing Andrii Bilyk, First Secretary of the Embassy of Ukraine in Georgia Details: Bilyk said that the situation involving Ukrainian citizens who have been deliberately and unlawfully deported by Russia to Georgia remains under the control of Ukraines Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Embassy of Ukraine in Georgia and other state agencies of Ukraine. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He stressed that the embassy has "taken measures to provide Ukrainian citizens with food, essential items and medicine". "The Russian side, through its unlawful actions in violation of international law, is exerting pressure on Ukraine by exploiting the human factor," Bilyk said. The Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs is ready to provide a humanitarian corridor for Ukrainian citizens to transit through Georgian territory as part of evacuation efforts. Quote: "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, in cooperation with the foreign ministries of transit countries, is working on evacuation routes and coordinating the technical aspects of bringing Ukrainian citizens to their homeland. The embassy continues to keep the situation under control." Background: On 6 August, it was reported that since the second half of June, Russia has significantly intensified the deportation of Ukrainian citizens across the border with Georgia, causing a humanitarian crisis in the buffer zone of the Dariali border crossing point, with some Ukrainians declaring a hunger strike. Human rights groups and the media occasionally report on the plight of deported Ukrainian citizens stranded at the border between Russia and Georgia. At the end of June, the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs commented that it was aware of the problem of these Ukrainian citizens and was working to bring them back. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon! The Brief The University of Maryland has renamed its Office of Diversity and Inclusion to Belonging & Community at UMD. The change follows feedback from UMDs Belonging & Community Survey, which measured campus climate and reported experiences of unfair treatment. The rebrand comes amid growing scrutiny of DEI programs nationwide, particularly from the U.S. Department of Education. COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The University of Maryland has re-branded its Office of Diversity and Inclusion, now calling it "Belonging & Community at UMD." What we know The office announced the change in a statement posted to its website this week, explaining that the new name "best reflects the fact that we interact with all of the unique identities in our community" and "align[s] with the work we perform on behalf of the entire campus community." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The office houses several units that address LGBTQ+ equity, bias incident response and support for multi-ethnic and underrepresented students. The move comes as colleges and universities nationwide reassess how they present their inclusion effortsespecially amid increased scrutiny of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs by the U.S. Department of Education under the current administration. Dig deeper The announcement said the change is tied to feedback from the universitys recent Belonging & Community Survey, which assessed how comfortable students, faculty and staff feel across different areas of campus life. Questions included: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement How comfortable are you with the climate at UMD? How comfortable are you with the climate in your classes/department at UMD? In the past year at UMD, have you personally experienced any negative or unfair treatment that interfered with your ability to learn, live or work? What's next The university has released an interactive dashboard showing results from the survey at the campus level. As part of the rollout, links to the offices staff pages, previously listed under the title "Diversity Officers" and "Diversity and Inclusion Staff" have been temporarily disabled. It remains unclear whether staffing roles or responsibilities are being restructured. "Stay tuned for additional changes to come," the statement reads. "We look forward to continuing to serve the entire UMD community, adhering to the values and compassion that have always driven our work and dedicated staff." By Layli Foroudi PARIS (Reuters) -The U.N. Committee on Enforced Disappearances has launched an inquiry into the whereabouts and fate of a Syrian man who was deported by Austria in early July and has not been in contact with his legal team or family since. Austria has been asked by the U.N. committee "to make formal diplomatic representations to the Syrian authorities to determine whether the (person) is alive, where he is being held, in what conditions, and (to) request diplomatic guarantees to ensure his safety and humane treatment," according to a letter dated August 6 from the U.N. Petitions Section, seen by Reuters. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The 32-year-old man was the first Syrian national expelled from European Union territory since the fall in December of President Bashar al-Assad to rebels, who are now in power with their leader as interim president vowing stability and reforms. Millions of Syrians fled Assad's bloody crackdown on opponents in the country's 2011-24 civil war. EU countries took in many of the refugees but some are now looking into repatriations, citing the changed political situation in Syria, though sectarian violence has continued in some areas. Rights groups raised concerns at the time of the man's deportation on July 3 that he risked inhumane treatment in his home country and that his case would set a dangerous precedent. Now, the man's legal team in Austria and close family have not been able to make contact with him, his Austrian legal adviser Ruxandra Staicu told Reuters. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "This shows what we said before: nobody can say for sure what will happen after deportation to Syria, because the situation in Syria is not secure, not stable; it is still changing," she said. The Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs confirmed that its office received the letter and "will now examine any further steps together with the ministries responsible". The man, who was granted asylum in Austria in 2014, lost his refugee status in 2019 after being convicted of an unspecified crime. He was deported while awaiting a decision on a new asylum application. That decision is still pending. (Reporting by Layli Foroudi; editing by Mark Heinrich) A spokeswoman for the United Nations on Friday described Israel's decision to capture Gaza City as "deeply alarming." "It is clear that this would risk catastrophic consequences for millions of Palestinians and further endanger the lives of the remaining hostages in Gaza," spokeswoman Alessandra Vellucci said in Geneva, after the Israeli Security Cabinet approved the expansion of operations overnight. "Any decision to expand Israeli military operations in Gaza [is] deeply alarming," she said in a press conference in response to a journalist's question. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement She explained that suffering and hunger would increase as a result, and humanitarian aid would be hindered. The humanitarian situation for the approximately 2 million Palestinians in the blockaded coastal area has deteriorated to such an extent that UN organizations and experts are warning of famine. Israel continues to fight the Palestinian Islamist organization Hamas in the now largely destroyed Gaza Strip, where hostages are still being held. According to Israeli assessments, there are still 50 hostages in Gaza, of whom 20 are believed to be alive. The war was triggered by the massacre carried out by Hamas and other extremists from the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023, which left 1,200 people dead and around 250 abducted to the Gaza Strip. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement More than 60,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel in the ensuing conflict, according to figures from the Hamas-run health authorities in the Gaza Strip. The figures do not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but are seen as credible by the United Nations and other organizations. LONDON -- On the heels of Israel's security cabinet approving plans to occupy Gaza City, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, said "this further escalation will result in more killing, more unbearable suffering, senseless destruction," according to a statement released Friday morning. Turk called for the offensive to be "immediately halted." "The Israeli Government's plan for a complete military takeover of the occupied Gaza strip must be immediately halted," Turk said. "It runs contrary to the ruling of the International Court of Justice that Israel must bring its occupation to an end as soon as possible, to the realisation of the agreed two-State solution and to the right of Palestinians to self-determination." Mahmoud Issa/Reuters - PHOTO: A Palestinian boy carries a stroller at the site of a morning Israeli strike on a house, in Gaza City, Aug. 8, 2025. European Union Council President Antonio Costa strongly urged the Israeli government to reconsider its decision to take over Gaza City, saying it will only worsen the situation in Gaza. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Such an operation -- together with the continued illegal expansion of settlements in the West Bank, the massive destruction in Gaza, the blockade of humanitarian aid, and the spread of famine -- not only violates the agreement with the EU announced by the High Representative on July 19 but also undermines fundamental principles of international law and universal values," Costa said in a post on social media. "Such a decision must have consequences for EU-Israel relations," he said. "The situation in Gaza remains dramatic, and the decision by the Israeli government will only further worsen it. The two-state solution remains the only sustainable, long-term solution for peace and security in Israel and the region," Costa said. MORE: Israeli security cabinet approves Netanyahu's plan to occupy Gaza City Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Germany, one of Israel's closest allies, announced Friday it will suspend the exports of arms to Israel that could be used in the Gaza Strip "until further notice." Germany said the "release of hostages and purposeful negotiations on a ceasefire are our top priority." "The even harsher military action by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip, approved last night by the Israeli Security Cabinet, makes it increasingly difficult, from the German government's perspective, to see how these goals are to be achieved," German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said in a statement. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushed back on the decision. "Germany is rewarding Hamas terrorism by embargoing arms to Israel," Netanyahu said in a statement released after he spoke with Merz. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Germany is the second-biggest exporter of military equipment to Israel, after the U.S., according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Bashar Taleb/AFP via Getty Images - PHOTO: Buildings destroyed in Israeli strikes surround makeshift shelters for displaced Palestinians in Gaza City on Aug. 8, 2025. In response to Israel's plans to take over Gaza City, Hamas claimed this was the reason Israel withdrew from the last round of negotiations, and that they had been "on the verge of reaching an agreement for a ceasefire and prisoner exchange." Hamas called Israel's latest plan a new war crime, saying the Israeli government "do not care about the fate of their captives," and that they are sacrificing them. Hamas reaffirmed "maximum flexibility and positivity" toward a ceasefire, but warned Israel the current plan "will come at a high cost and will not be a walk in the park." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Family members of hostages and other protesters gathered in front of the building where the Israeli cabinet was in session to protest Netanyahu's current proposal to occupy all of Gaza, calling the move a "death sentence" for the remaining hostages in a statement from the Hostages and Missing Families Forum Headquarters. "For a year and ten months we've been trying to believe that everything is being done to bring them back - you have failed. Now it's necessary to do the one thing the government hasn't yet done - put a comprehensive deal on the table that will bring them all home together," said Anat Angrest, mother of hostage Matan Angrest. MORE: 8 die from hunger, including child, in Gaza over past day, health ministry says Israel's plan for an expansion of military operations comes amid international condemnation of the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "The Security Cabinet has approved the Prime Minister's proposal for the defeat of Hamas," the Israeli prime minister's office said in a statement released on Thursday. "The IDF [Israel Defense Forces] will prepare for the takeover of Gaza City while ensuring the provision of humanitarian aid to the civilian population outside the combat zones." Turk, however, said that the potential escalation will only lead to more problems in the region. leading to, what he says, "senseless destruction and atrocity crimes." "The war in Gaza must end now. And Israelis and Palestinians must be allowed to live side by side in peace," said Turk. "Instead of intensifying this war, the Israeli Government should put all its efforts into saving the lives of Gaza's civilians by allowing the full, unfettered flow of humanitarian aid. The hostages must be immediately and unconditionally released by Palestinian armed groups. Palestinians arbitrarily detained by Israel must also be immediately and unconditionally released." Mahmoud Issa/Reuters - PHOTO: Aftermath of a morning Israeli strike on a house, in Gaza City In a Fox News interview earlier this week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said repeatedly that he does not want to "govern Gaza," but he wants to "hand it over to Arab forces that will govern it properly without threatening" Israel. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Hamas, responding to the Fox News interview, said in a statement that "Netanyahu's statements represent a blatant reversal of the negotiation process and clearly expose the real motives behind his withdrawal from the latest round of talks, despite us nearing a final agreement." On Sunday, an Israeli official told ABC News that Netanyahu was pushing to expand the military operation in Gaza on the grounds that he felt Hamas is not interested in reaching a new ceasefire deal under which surviving hostages could be released. When asked about the possible expansion of the campaign in Gaza, U.S. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said Tuesday, "Reporting is one thing. Real plans might be another. We are not in the business of interpreting statements from foreign governments when and if they're made." "We do remain focused on freeing the hostages, including the remains of two Americans, and ensuring that Hamas never rules Gaza again," Bruce said. Unarmed soldiers rushed a fellow service member who allegedly opened fire at Fort Stewart in Georgia, Army Secretary Dan Driscoll said Thursday. Five soldiers were wounded in the shooting, and the suspect, a sergeant at the Army base, is in custody. "They were unarmed and ran at and tackled an armed person who they knew was actively shooting their buddies, their colleagues, their fellow soldiers," Driscoll told reporters Thursday morning. The suspect, identified as Sgt. Quornelius Radford, is being held in pretrial custody awaiting charges. According to his service record, the suspect joined the Army in 2018 and is assigned to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team. Officials had said the shooting happened in the combat team's area at the base. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "We train for this on the battlefield, and it's a different situation when it happens on an installation with one of your own," Brig. Gen. John Lubas said. Lubas said that the suspect used his personal weapon in the shooting. Six soldiers were given the Meritorious Service Medal for their actions during the shooting: 1st Sgt. Joshua Arnold, Staff Sgt. Robert Pacheco, Sgt. Eve Rodarte, Staff Sgt. Melissa Taylor, Master Sgt. Justin Thomas and Sgt. Aaron Turner. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll comforts Sgt. Aaron Turner after Turner received the Meritorious Service Medal with five other soldiers outside Fort Stewart in Georgia, Aug. 6, 2025. / Credit: Hyosub Shin /Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP "It's our training that kicked in," Arnold told reporters. "Mine kicked in, and you just go to work." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Taylor said she was in her office at the opposite end of the building and heard Arnold yell about gunshots. She left her office and saw smoke at the end of a hallway. "I noticed there was a soldier laying on the ground, so I immediately sprinted over to the soldier and started rendering aid," she said. Three of the five soldiers wounded in the shooting have been released, said Lubas, the commander of the 3rd Infantry Division and Fort Stewart. Two soldiers are still hospitalized but are expected to make a full recovery. One soldier is receiving treatment at the hospital on base and another soldier is at a hospital in Savannah, about 40 miles away. Soldiers used their training to quickly stop the bleeding until ambulances arrived. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "When we spoke to the surgeons in the hospital, it was clear that the actions they took, primarily stopping that bleeding before they were loaded up into ambulances and quickly evacuated to Winn Army Medical, certainly saved their lives," Lubas said. The Army Criminal Investigative Division is investigating the shooting. Sneak peek: The Strange Shooting of Alex Pennig Neil deGrasse Tyson weighs in on plans for a moon-based nuclear reactor Why Trump is calling for Intel CEO's immediate resignation Im Brian Gordon, tech reporter for The News & Observer, and this is Open Source, a weekly newsletter on business, labor and technology in North Carolina. When COVID-19 cases were surging, Dr. David Wohl saw patients hungry for air fill UNC hospital wards. What most saved lives, he said, were vaccines developed with unprecedented speed using mRNA technologies. These vaccines really do work, Wohl, an infectious diseases professor who co-lead UNCs clinical pandemic response, said. Its ridiculous to even be talking about this given the profound difference we saw once the vaccines became available. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Wohl spoke on Thursday, two days after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. cancelled close to $500 million in contracts and grants for mRNA vaccine development. The Department of Health and Human Services said it would also not fund any new mRNA-based projects under the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, which launched in 2006 to treat public health emergencies. And in May, the health department ended a $590 million contract with Moderna to create an mRNA-based vaccine for bird flu. As the pandemic showed us, mRNA vaccines dont perform well against viruses that infect the upper respiratory tract, Kennedy said in a video Tuesday. This statement, multiple UNC and Duke University medical researchers told me, is patently false. Completely untrue, Wohl said. The COVID-19 virus, SARS-CoV-2, infects the upper airway. Dr. Charles Carter, a professor of biochemistry and biophysics at UNC, called the Trump administrations retreat from mRNA technology its most impactful long-term decision. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Theres absolutely no basis for Kennedys decision, he said. In contrast to traditional vaccines that introduce weakened or deactivated viruses, mRNA (or messenger RNA) treatments teach bodies to ward off diseases by making proteins that activate immune responses. Though known for decades, mRNA was first used in vaccines by Moderna and Pfizer against COVID-19. Researchers say mRNA quickened vaccine development by bypassing the lengthy step of growing viruses. Beyond COVID, it has also shown promise in the emergence of influenza and cancer treatments. Scientists locally have embraced the technology: UNC patients participated in Modernas COVID-19 vaccine trials, CSL Seqirus has worked on self-amplifying mRNA vaccines at its flu vaccine plant in Holly Springs, and Dr. Barton Haynes of Duke University credited mRNA with advancing his teams HIV vaccine. It takes two years to make a protein thats safe enough and go through all the hoops to be tested and have the FDA approve it to get it into humans, Haynes told The N&O in June. Thats two years per protein. Whereas we can make an mRNA, just as safe, but we can get it done in six months. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement CSL Seqirus was one of the drugmakers the federal government listed this week as having its mRNA-related work cut. In an email to The N&O, a company spokesperson said its mRNA programs cited by HHS arent active and thus this decision has no impact on our research. In his video Tuesday, Kennedy said mRNA only codes for a small part of the viral proteins, usually a single antigen. The new U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., shakes hands with President Donald Trump after a swearing in ceremony in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 13, 2025. One mutation, and the vaccine becomes ineffective, he continued. This dynamic drives a phenomena called antigenic shift, meaning that the vaccine paradoxically encourages new mutations and can actually prolong pandemics. Kennedys description, Wohl said, is all incorrect and a misunderstanding of how vaccines work. He explained that while viruses do evolve, the vaccines remain effective because the evolved virus still shares proteins with the original. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Of course, a new variant can come along thats completely different, Wohl said. All the more reason why mRNA technology is important. Because you can quickly re-engineer the vaccine to respond to that. Canada invited hundreds of NC H-1B workers. It now doesnt want more. In July 2023, Canada encouraged 10,000 workers in the United States on high-skilled H-1B visas to relocate north. This unprecedented attempt to attract tech talent proved popular as visa holders filled all available slots within two days. Among the applicants were 428 North Carolina residents, Canadas immigration office told The N&O last year. Only six states had more. Counting family members, nearly 600 people were given the option to leave North Carolina for Canada. But how many have actually gone? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to new data provided by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, around 1,780 H-1B workers nationwide moved to Canada in the two years since the program launched. This is 18% of the original applicant pool and includes around 45 workers who listed North Carolina as their primary address. And these numbers dont tell whether the workers stayed. Mist rises from Lake Ontario in front of the Toronto skyline during extreme cold weather on Saturday, Feb. 13, 2016. Such low participation suggests many visa holders viewed Canada as a backup. And its unlikely more slots will open soon given our northern neighbors shifting attitudes toward immigration. Theres been a complete pendulum reversal from what we were seeing between 2022 and 2023, said Daniel Mandelbaum, an immigration attorney in Toronto. Canada introduced its H-1B program at a time the country aggressively courted temporary foreign workers. Its three-year open permits offered several advantages to U.S. H-1B visas: Workers werent tethered to specific employers, their spouses had an easier time starting jobs, and in Canada, many professionals saw a shorter path to permanent residence. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But over the past 12 months, the Canadian government has implemented highly restrictive immigration policies, Mandelbaum says, as many in the country link temporary workers to rising home prices and strains on health care. Its not that demand from U.S. visa holders has dissipated. Were getting tons of calls from Americans, said Daniel Kingwell, an immigration lawyer in Toronto. People in the States, in universities or workers, want to come to Canada. But our programs, theyve really clamped down. Theres not a lot of opportunity right now. Clearing my cache NCInnovation has a $500 million endowment that both North Carolina General Assembly chambers now look to claw back. The nonprofits CEO tells The N&O why it should be given more time. Microsoft still wont say what it plans to do with the Person County megasite it purchased last year. Unfortunately, we have nothing to share at this time, the company said in an email this week. Be surprised though if the plans dont involve data centers. The White House told my colleague Danielle Battaglia it has frozen $108 million in federal funding for Duke University . More than 150 employees at two Sibelco quartz plants in Mitchell County have filed to unionize, with elections scheduled next month. Sibelcos North Carolina quartz mines are considered critical to the global supply of semiconductors. Medical tech firm Baxter International opened its Customer Experience Center this week in Raleigh, where the company has more than 200 employees. The area that we want to focus on mostly is bringing in software engineers, bringing in more (Internet of Things) engineers, said Donny Patel, Baxters president of integrated services. Staff at the North Carolina State Treasurers Office saved more than 30 minutes a day using ChatGPT, a commissioned report on the OpenAI pilot program found. Holly Springs residents can now get Google Fiber . Will they make T-shirts? Bankrupt Durham semiconductor supplier Wolfspeed named industry veteran Bret Zahn to head its automotive division. The Catawba County-based company CommScope has sold its connectivity and cable solutions division for $10.5 billion to the fiber cable manufacturer Amphenol. REI has reached a national bargaining structure for first contracts with its unionized stores, including the outdoor recreation chains Durham location. Rep. Deborah Ross, a Democrat from Wake County, tours the new Baxter International Customer Experience Center in Raleigh on Aug. 5, 2025. National Tech Happenings At the White House this week, Apple said it would invest another $100 billion in the United States bringing its domestic commitment to $600 billion over the next four years. Its announcement didnt mention any spending on the companys promised and postponed Research Triangle Park campus. Palantir , an analytics software company thats garnered favor during the second Trump administration for its Defense and Homeland Security work, has surpassed $1 billion quarterly revenue for the first time. OpenAI will offer its premium ChatGPT Enterprise platform to U.S. federal agencies through 2026 for the price of $1. Thanks for reading! In a Thursday email blast to all University of New Hampshire employees, UNH President Elizabeth S. Chilton informed staff that the university is eliminating 36 positions. Twenty-three employees were laid off and 13 unfilled positions were eliminated. Another 10 employees had their hours reduced. We recognize how hard these changes are for individuals, teams, and the university as a whole, and are deeply grateful to the affected employees for their service, Chilton said in the announcement. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Chilton said the staffing reductions are part of the universitys effort to cut its expenses by approximately $12 million, to achieve a 3% across-the-board spending reduction. UNH departments are also reducing their spending by scaling back professional development, student employment, building hours, dining hall hours, travel, printing, and other operational services. Chilton described these changes as an effort to realign our resources with our financial reality, adding that the work is not over. She said the university is preparing for an additional $10 million reduction in state appropriations next year. We must stay focused on our mission and long-term sustainability. UNH will continue to adapt, and in doing so, will look different in the years ahead. Our strategic plan will guide our decisions about where to focus our efforts, Chilton said. These staffing reductions come in the wake of $18 million in cuts to state aid to the University System of New Hampshire, which includes UNH, Plymouth State University, and Keene State College. DURHAM The University of New Hampshire, in collaboration with the Virtual Learning Academy Charter School, announced the launch of UNH Early College, a dual-enrollment program designed to give high school students in the state and beyond access to college-level courses. UNH Early College offers students the opportunity to earn both high school and college credit simultaneously through a suite of online courses taught by UNH faculty. This partnership with VLACS, New Hampshires leading online public charter school, ensures that students can participate from anywhere, removing traditional barriers such as location, transportation and scheduling conflicts. The University of New Hampshires Thompson Hall in Durham. Dual enrollment is a proven pathway to college success, Mike Decelle, dean of UNH College of Professional Studies. By partnering with VLACS, were making it easier than ever for students to get a head start on their college journey without the financial or logistical hurdles that often stand in the way. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement UNH is touting the following benefits: Increased access: Students statewide and beyond can enroll regardless of their school district or geographic location. Affordability: Students have the opportunity to earn four undergraduate credits per course tuition-free for New Hampshire residents. With only a $150 administrative fee, and no book or instructional costs, this eases the financial burden on New Hampshire students and families. College readiness: Students gain exposure to the rigor of college coursework, boosting confidence and preparedness. Flexible learning: Online delivery allows students to learn at their own pace and on their own schedule. VLACS is thrilled to partner with UNH to expand opportunities for students, said Steve Kossakoski, VLACS chief executive officer. This program aligns perfectly with our mission to provide personalized, competency-based education that meets learners where they are. Enrollment for UNH Early College is now open to apply at cps.unh.edu/earlycollege. This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: UNH and VLACS expand access to early college courses DENVER (KDVR) In about a week and a half, some workers in Denver may lose their jobs when citywide layoffs begin to take effect. Who will be subject to layoffs remains a mystery. Denver city workers are on edge as they wait to hear how the city plans to lay off and which departments could be impacted. Union members braved the heat to share their frustrations with us. Coloradans will not see TABOR refunds with state facing $700M shortfall: Legislators Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I hear from workers every day; they feel like the city has betrayed them. They feel like Mayor Mike Johnston has betrayed them. They tell me, Brother Houston, I thought the mayor was for collective bargaining. Obviously, he is not, said Ronnie Houston, a longtime Teamsters organizer in Denver. Though he is retired, Houston is worried about what could happen to other union members who work for the city. Unions are set to begin their collective bargaining process with Denver in January. The city recently changed its layoff policy to consider merit-based layoffs instead of layoffs based on seniority. What we are hearing from the workers inside the building is that some of the coworkers are afraid to sign these cards. These cards are cards that they sign to join the union. They are afraid that if they sign the card that the city is going to take some kind of retribution against them, Houston said as he sat outside of a Denver Department of Infrastructure building on Thursday. Polis calls special session, announces hiring freeze amid $700 million hole in Colorado budget Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He and other Teamsters like Arthur Hale of Local 455 have been setting up information tents around the city to offer support for workers before the layoffs begin. Teamsters 17 represents public city workers at places like the airport, parks and recreation, and the Department of Transportation, which also covers sanitation workers. Leaders said they are trying to help workers think ahead. They are feeling a little bit defeated. You know we have been in there trying to encourage them to keep their heads up and stay strong. Were gonna help you as much as possible, basically try to give them our idea of what we need to do moving forward, said Hale. Uniformed workers like police and firefighters are exempt from the layoffs per the mayors initial announcement. Union leaders said workers feel their service to the city is not being appreciated. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Denver, facing over $200M budget gap, will begin layoffs on Aug. 18 Youve tried to help everybody else, do all you can to help the worker. The workers that keep the city running and make our lives good. You know? We can go to the parks, and enjoy a nice a park, we can have our nice clean streets and have our trash picked up regularly. They do a fine job, Hale said. Well try to help them design some kind of strategy to win because right now, we are really the only advocate that they have because I dont think the people that work at the city are advocating on behalf of the workers, Hale added. They are advocating on behalf of the city budget and those type of things, so you know, we are here to help them and well do all we can. FOX31 reached out to the Mayors Office to try to gain clarity on who could be included in the layoffs. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We are still working through budgets, and do not have final numbers. We owe it to our employees to share final decisions with them first once those decisions are made, and we will have more to share in the coming weeks, a spokesperson told FOX31. Workers are set to learn about the layoffs on Aug. 18. The city has provided a dashboard for impacted workers 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. By Kanishka Singh (Reuters) -The University of California said on Friday it was reviewing a $1 billion settlement offer by President Donald Trump's administration for UCLA after the government froze hundreds of millions of dollars in funding over pro-Palestinian protests. UCLA, which is part of the University of California system, said this week the government froze $584 million in federal funding. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trump has threatened to cut federal funds for universities over pro-Palestinian student protests against U.S. ally Israel's war in Gaza. The government alleges universities, including UCLA, allowed antisemitism during the protests, while some faculty groups have sued saying the cuts have chilled free speech. Large demonstrations took place at UCLA last year. Protesters, including some Jewish groups, say the government wrongly equates their criticism of Israel's military assault in Gaza and its occupation of Palestinian territories with antisemitism, and their advocacy for Palestinian rights with support for extremism. "The University of California just received a document from the Department of Justice and is reviewing it," University of California President James Milliken said in a statement, adding the institution offered to have talks earlier this week with the government. Last week, UCLA agreed to pay over $6 million to settle a lawsuit by some students and a professor who alleged antisemitism. It was also sued this year over a 2024 violent mob attack on pro-Palestinian protesters. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Last month, the government settled its probes with Columbia University, which agreed to pay over $220 million, and Brown University, which said it will pay $50 million. Both institutions accepted certain government demands. Talks to settle with Harvard University are ongoing. The $1 billion settlement offer for UCLA marks an unusually high amount. The White House had no immediate comment. Experts have raised concerns about the government's federal funding threats to universities, saying they amount to an assault on free speech and academic freedom. The government has also attempted to deport some international students, over which civil rights groups have raised due process concerns. Rights advocates note a rise in antisemitism, anti-Arab bias and Islamophobia due to the conflict in the Middle East. The Trump administration has not announced equivalent probes into Islamophobia. (Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Aurora Ellis) As Moldova heads towards parliamentary elections in September, concerns are mounting over an alleged Kremlin-backed campaign to alter the countrys pro-European direction. Moldova's pro-European leader, President Maia Sandu, has warned that Moscow is orchestrating an "unprecedented" campaign to sway the outcome in its favour. "The Russian Federation wants to control Moldova from the autumn," she declared at a press conference on 30 July. "They are preparing massive interference to get their people into the next parliament." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Sandu, who has been a vocal critic of the Kremlin, particularly since Russias invasion of Ukraine in 2022, outlined a broad playbook of alleged interference tactics: vote-buying funded through cryptocurrencies, violent protests, cyberattacks and information manipulation all coordinated from a "single command point" in Moscow. France strengthens support for Moldova as Russian destabilisation efforts persist Diaspora targeted With the country's European Union accession talks officially launched in June 2024, the outcome of the parliamentary vote could cement, or derail, Moldovas Western trajectory. The ruling centre-right Action and Solidarity Party (PAS), led by Sandu, is currently polling at 39 percent, with the pro-Russian Socialist party trailing at just under 15 percent. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement However, a sizable 30 percent of voters remain undecided. "Its clear Russia is pulling out all the stops," said Stanislav Secrieru, Moldovas national security adviser, in an interview with Politico. He pointed to a "renewed blitz" targeting Moldovans abroad, with nearly a quarter of a million voters outside the country eligible to cast their vote. "The campaign is designed to demobilise diaspora voters encouraging them to stay home and to manipulate those who do vote into supporting a fake pro-EU force." Moldovas diaspora overwhelmingly supported Sandu in last years presidential vote, which was also dogged by accusations of Russian meddling, including a cash-for-votes scheme and staged protests abroad. Pro-Russian governor imprisoned In a move that has stirred controversy both at home and abroad this week, a Moldovan court sentenced pro-Russian regional governor Evghenia Gutul to seven years imprisonment for illegal party financing a ruling the Kremlin quickly condemned as "politically motivated". Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Gutul, the outspoken governor of the autonomous Gagauzia region in southern Moldova, was found guilty on Tuesday of channelling illicit funds to the now-banned Shor party, once led by fugitive businessman Ilan Shor. Prosecutors say she helped transport undeclared money from Russia to Moldova between 2019 and 2022, while serving as the partys secretary. Gutul has denied the charges, calling the ruling a "political reprisal" and accusing the government of trying to silence opposition voices ahead of Septembers election. Her lawyer pledged to appeal the verdict, branding the trial "a public execution". The sentencing sparked protests in the Moldovan capital, with dozens of Gutuls supporters chanting "Shame!" and accusing Sandu of stifling dissent. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Gutul, 38, has frequently travelled to Moscow and maintains close ties to Russian officials even appealing directly to Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this year after she was briefly detained at the capitals airport. European leaders meet in Moldova in show of unity against Russia 'Strategy of chaos' Experts say the Kremlins interference has aims far beyond the coming elections. Speaking to RFI, Christine Dugoin-Clement, a researcher at IAE Paris-Sorbonne, described Moscows approach as a calculated "strategy of chaos". "Russian operations exploit the weaknesses of democracies and the echo chamber of social media to destabilise, confuse and polarise," she said. "Its not just about winning elections its about undermining democratic processes over the long term." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement At the centre of the alleged interference is the Social Design Agency (SDA), a Kremlin-linked firm whose internal workings were exposed in a major data leak. The SDA has been implicated in several influence operations, including "Doppelganger" an effort to impersonate reputable European media outlets to spread disinformation. SDA evolved from a small provincial consultancy into a key service provider for the Kremlins digital interference operations, said Kevin Limonier, an expert in Russian cyberspace. Speaking to RFI, Limonier said: "The leak shows how deeply integrated these firms are into Moscows political warfare strategies, but also how vulnerable they can be to exposure." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Moldova's vote on EU membership in deadlock as president cites 'foreign interference' Over recent months, Moldovan police have arrested dozens of paid demonstrators and shut down scores of pro-Russian Telegram channels which Sandu has criticised for ignoring reports of electoral manipulation. Police have also released videos warning voters about apps such as Taito, allegedly used to facilitate vote buying. Moldovan media outlet NewsMaker reported earlier this week that police alerted the public to a scheme involving illegal financing and paying for votes, allegedly coordinated from Russia via the Taito app, which runs on the Telegram platform. Moldova's General Police Inspectorate has also advised citizens to avoid using the app and to refrain from sharing any personal information. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement AI-generated content too is playing a role, with Moldova becoming a testing ground for new forms of hybrid warfare from synthetic media to cyber sabotage and even Russian missile overflights designed to stoke fear and instability. Synthetic media is content generated or manipulated by AI to appear convincingly real. This includes fabricated news videos, deepfake social media profiles, and digitally altered images that mimic credible outlets or public figures to spread false narratives. Authorities have flagged examples of AI-generated reports designed to look like European media outlets, pushing anti-EU disinformation to confuse voters and suppress turnout, particularly among the diaspora. At the same time, Russia continues to deploy intimidation tactics in the physical realm. On Thursday, several Russian cruise missiles reportedly flew through Moldovas airspace en route to targets in Ukraine a violation that has become symbolic of the Kremlins disregard for Moldovas sovereignty. Though no physical damage was done, officials warned that the incursions were intended to create a climate of fear and uncertainty ahead of the elections. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Moldova hosts first EU summit as leaders tackle Russias interference threat Wider European concern There are fears too that what happens in Moldova wont stay in Moldova. "This election is no longer just about our country," said Secrieru. "Its a European election by proxy." The EUvsDisinfo project the EUs counter-disinformation arm has labelled Russias campaign as a "coordinated effort" to discredit Sandu, manipulate public discourse and weaken Moldovas democratic resilience. The July arrest of fugitive oligarch Vladimir Plahotniuc in Athens has added another twist to the tale. Suspected of working with Kremlin power broker Dmitry Kozak the architect of a 2003 federalisation plan that would have split Moldova Plahotniuc is alleged to be plotting a return to power by reactivating his old political networks. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The former lawmaker is one of the chief suspects in Moldova's "theft of the century" the disappearance in 2014 of $1 billion from the Moldovan banking system, the equivalent at the time of 12 percent of the country's GDP. For now, the PAS government is hoping that transparency, security and international support will counter the Kremlins plans. But with disinformation swirling and digital attacks intensifying, the road to 28 September promises to be anything but smooth. Key Takeaways: Over the course of six months in 1999, four women and girls were murdered in and around Yosemite National Park. The FBI initially didnt believe the cases were connected and unwittingly had the killer, 37-year-old maintenance worker Cary Stayner, help them collect evidence. Days after killing his fourth victim, Stayner voluntarily confessed to his crimes and remains in prison today. Netflixs new hit show Untamed tells the story of federal agent Kyle Turner as he investigates a murder in Californias Yosemite National Park. The limited series is fictional, but Yosemites history actually does include a real serial killer: Cary Stayner, who took four lives there nearly three decades ago. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In March 1999, the FBI located the bodies of three female Yosemite tourists whod disappeared the previous month. Stayner, then 37, was a handyman at the victims motel. Investigators interviewed him but didnt consider him a potential killer at that point. Four months later, the decapitated body of a young woman who worked at Yosemite was discovered in the park. Stayner had been seen in the area and was questioned but not arrested. It was only when the FBI conducted another interview that Stayner confessed to all four murders. If Untamed has sparked your interest in real-life Yosemite murders, heres what you need to know about Stayner and his crimes, including the family tragedy that haunted him, how he was brought to justice, and where he is today. Stayner escaped suspicion after he killed three Yosemite sightseers Stayner had worked a maintenance job at Cedar Lodge, a motel outside Yosemite in El Portal, California, since 1997. He wasnt on-duty the night of February 15, 1999, having been furloughed during the off-season. But he lived at the motel and noticed a woman and two teens staying there. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Stayner lied about a leak to get inside the room then pulled a gun on 42-year-old Carole Sund; her 15-year-old daughter, Juliana Juli Sund; and 16-year-old family friend Silvina Pelosso. He bound all three then left the teens in the bathroom while he strangled Carole. Stayner hid Caroles body in her rental car before sexually assaulting Silvina and Juli. He next strangled Silvina. He then took Juli to a reservoir overlook and slit the girls throat. The Sunds and Silvina were soon reported missing, but FBI initially wasnt sure if theyd run into trouble at their motel or after their departure. A few days after the murders, Stayner hoped to misdirect authorities by dropping Caroles wallet in Modesto, California. During the investigation, Stayner, who had no criminal history aside from a 1997 arrest for marijuana possession, was so off the FBIs radar that he helped them collect blanket samples for evidence. On March 18, 1999, a torched car was spotted near Long Barn, California, about 100 miles from the Cedar Lodge motel. The next day, the FBI found Carole and Silvinas burned bodies inside the trunk. Stayner then sent the FBI an anonymous letter with a map directing them to Julis body, which investigators located on March 25. As the case became a murder investigation, the FBI investigation focused on two half-brothers with extensive criminal histories who lived close to where Caroles wallet was found. In June, the Bureau announced they had the Sund-Pelosso murderers in custody on other charges. Stayners vehicle was seen near his next Yosemite murder Seemingly in the clear, Stayner struck again on July 21, 1999. That day, a Wednesday, he spotted 26-year-old naturalist Joie Armstrong in front of her cabin in Yosemite and threatened her with his gun. He started to drive off with a bound Armstrong, but she threw herself out of his car and tried to run. Stayner killed her during a struggle then beheaded her. Her remains were found the next day. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement After Armstrongs murder, a witness said theyd spotted Stayners vehicle near the scene of the crime. The FBI questioned Stayner but didnt detain him. At the time, FBI agent James Maddock said the Bureau didnt believe there was a connection between the Sund-Pelosso and Armstrong murders. Ben Margot Yet investigators realized they needed to interview Stayner again as a potential material witness. Hed left the Cedar Lodge motel, but on Saturday, July 24, agents tracked him to a nudist colony and brought him to the FBIs offices in Sacramento for another interview. Stayner confessed to the FBI and then on TV The agent who drove Stayner to Sacramento was special agent Jeff Rinek, who felt he formed a connection with the handyman on the drive. Inside the FBI offices, Stayner stunned Rinek when he offered to confess. While being recorded, Stayner admitted to killing Armstrong. He next claimed responsibility for murdering the three Yosemite tourists. Stayner also told the FBI hed wanted to kill his girlfriend and her two daughters but didnt because she had a caretaker on her property. ZUMA Press, Inc. / Alamy Stock Photo Stayner provided confirming details and was arrested. On Monday, July 26, he was charged with Armstrongs murder. That same day, he gave a jailhouse interview to a San Francisco TV station. He again confessed to the murders and said that as a 7-year-old boy hed observed female cashiers at a grocery store and imagined killing them. His deadly fantasies about women had continued for 30 years. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Stayners confessions and arrest reignited interest in a family tragedy: In 1972, when Stayner was 11, a child molester kidnapped his 7-year-old brother, Steven, from their hometown of Merced, California. He remained missing until 1980, when Steven escaped along with a 5-year-old boy his abuser had recently abducted. Yet the reunion wasnt entirely joyful for Stayner, who grew jealous of the attention his younger brother received. His lawyers said Stayner killed because he lost control Because Stayner killed Armstrong inside Yosemite, he faced federal charges for her death. He pleaded guilty to her murder and, on November 30, 2000, received a life sentence without the possibility of parole. In 2002, Stayner was tried in state court for first-degree murder for killing the Sunds and Pelosso. He pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. Stayners defense team conceded he was the murderer but argued that he should be found guilty of second-degree murder because his mental state meant he wasnt in control of his actions. A psychiatrists evaluation prepared before his trial noted that Stayner had lifelong mental health issues. An adolescent Stayners intrusive thoughts included images of women being sexually assaulted. In addition to the trauma of his brothers disappearance, the psychiatrists report said the spotlight that accompanied Stevens return worsened Stayners intrusive thinking. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The jury, however, wasnt convinced that Stayner was unable to control himself at the time of the murders. On August 26, 2002, they found him guilty on three counts of first-degree murder and other felonies that included burglary, kidnapping, and sexual assault. After the jury recommended the death penalty, a judge sentenced Stayner to death on December 12, 2002. The Yosemite serial killer remains in prison today Stayner began his sentence on Californias death row at San Quentin State Prison (now San Quentin Rehabilitation Center). But over the years, there have been a number of changes to the states death penalty practices, including Governor Gavin Newsom signing a moratorium on all executions in 2019 and a ballot measure letting condemned inmates enter the general population at secure prisons. An online search of the states records this month showed that Stayner, now 63, is incarcerated at Pelican Bay State Prison in Crescent City. As a condemned prisoner he isnt eligible for parole. ZUMA Press, Inc. / Alamy Stock Photo Stayners brother, Steven, died in a motorcycle accident in 1989, the same year his kidnapping and escape were the subject of the TV movie I Know My First Name is Steven. In his July 1999 jailhouse interview, Stayner said hed like a TV movie to be made about his life, too. Netflixs Untamed isnt about Stayner, but a show about murder in Yosemite underlines how this killers actions havent been forgotten. You Might Also Like Members of Aerostar, an aerospace and defense company, conduct a high-altitude balloon launch from the Malemute Drop Zone during exercise ARCTIC EDGE 2025 (AE25) at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, Aug. 4, 2025. AE25 is a North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command-led homeland defense exercise designed to improve readiness, demonstrate capabilities, and enhance Joint and Allied Force interoperability in the Arctic. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Jonathan McElderry) On Tuesday, southcentral Alaskans may have noticed an unusual sight in the sky: a large white and silver balloon, carrying an unidentified payload. It wasnt a repeat of 2023, when an unmanned Chinese balloon flew across much of the United States. This weeks balloon was part of an U.S. military exercise taking place in Alaska. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The exercise is being organized by U.S. Northern Command, which covers North America, and NORAD the North American Aerospace Defense Command, a unified Canadian-American group. Maj. Jhanelle Haag, director of public affairs for the Alaskan Command and the Alaskan NORAD region, said the balloon was part of Arctic Edge 2025, taking place this month at sites across the state. The exercise, pointed toward Russia, includes activities in Nome, Kotzebue, Cold Bay and other sites near the U.S.-Russian maritime border. Some of the training includes practice in how to track and intercept incoming cruise missiles, according to information published by U.S. Northern Command, which covers North America. A high-altitude balloon rises from the Malemute Drop Zone during exercise ARCTIC EDGE 2025 (AE25) at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, Aug. 4, 2025. The launch was conducted to test the use of hydrogen in high-altitude balloons. AE25 is a North American Aerospace Defense Command and U.S. Northern Command-led homeland defense exercise designed to improve readiness, demonstrate capabilities, and enhance Joint and Allied Force interoperability in the Arctic. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Jonathan McElderry) This weeks balloon launch was from a South Dakota firm called Aerostar. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Russ Van Der Werff, vice president of stratospheric solutions for Aerostar, said in an interview his firm has been in the Alaska area several times, both for commercial flights and testing, but you know, it never fails were down here in South Dakota, and we fly lots of these every year, and we still get, about every two years, a news story from the local folks going, what is this? It catches the attention. Van Der Werff said Aerostar makes a variety of products, including high altitude balloons like the one tested this week in Alaska. The companys balloons are designed for missions that require eyes in the sky, but ones that can fly longer and higher than drones or manned aircraft. Launching a satellite can be expensive and take time, he said, but a balloon can be brought into place quickly. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Balloons move at the orders of the wind, but Aerostars balloons are designed to change altitude, using outside air as ballast, which can change its altitude and stability. If the wind isnt blowing the right way at a certain altitude, the balloon can rise or fall to a place where the wind is blowing the correct direction. This spring, Aerostar tested a balloon that flew for 336 consecutive days, the longest flight ever by a controlled vehicle. We build a variety of different products, but within the high-altitude balloon space, we do equipment for commercial use, whether thats disaster response, communication, environmental monitoring, scientific work, a lot of stuff with NASA, and then also the defense-related work, like were talking about here, he said. Neither Van Der Werff or military officials were willing to discuss details about what this weeks balloon was carrying, but typically, the companys balloons are used for communication and remote sensing, putting cameras or other sensors above a particular target. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Its not all defense and those kinds of things, he said, explaining that some balloons have been used to provide long-term aerial coverage of wildfires, and that the same balloon can track the spread of flames and provide a cellphone signal in remote areas. Thats a good example of how a communications and sensing platform regionally positioned and persistently stationed in one location over multiple months can really connect, protect and save lives, he said. Correction: This article has been updated to clarify the Aerostar test balloon flew for 336 consecutive days over many areas, not just over South Dakota. UPMC Childrens Hospital has received hundreds of thousands of dollars in awards to put toward cancer research. The hospital received $800,000 in grants from Hyundai Hope On Wheels. A presentation took place at the hospital on Thursday at 10 a.m. The money came in the form of three different awards: The Hyundai Scholar Award, which gave $400,000 to Dr. Lisa Maurer, for her project Inhibition of MALT1 for the treatment of Pediatric T-cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. The Hyundai Young Investigator Award, which gave $300,000 to Dr. Jenny Ruiz, for her project Barriers to and facilitators for communicating with limited English proficient (LEP) caregivers of children with cancer. The Hyundai Impact Award, which gave $100,000 to the Lemieux Institute for Pediatric Cancer Research Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement During the ceremony, pediatric cancer patients at UPMC Childrens Hospital placed their handprints in colorful paint on a Hyundai Tucson, symbolizing each childs personal triumph over cancer. Researchers say this kind of funding goes a long way. The generous support by Hyundai is absolutely critical to be able to both do research and then also pursue new areas of research. So this is essential, said oncologist Lisa Mauer. Hope on Whells has given almost $5 million to UPMC Childrens Hospital since 2004. Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW By David Shepardson (Reuters) -A U.S. agency announced on Friday an investigation into the government's management of airspace around Reagan Washington National Airport after the January 29 collision between an American Airlines regional jet and an Army helicopter that killed 67 people. The U.S. Transportation Department Office of Inspector General said it is auditing the Federal Aviation Administration's management of airspace and its allowance of exemptions of the use of a key safety system known as ADS-B, which transmits an aircraft's location, by some military aircraft. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The FAA has faced criticism from lawmakers, the National Transportation Safety Board and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy for failing to act on reports of near-miss incidents before the collision in January. "Every sign was there that there was a safety risk, and the tower was telling you," NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said last week during a three-day hearing by her agency into the collision. "You transferred people out instead of taking ownership over the fact that everybody in FAA, in the tower, was saying there was a problem. ... Fix it. Do better." The FAA said it supports the review and welcomes scrutiny. "There must never be another tragedy like the one on January 29, the FAA's chief, Bryan Bedford, said. The crash, which occurred just southeast of the airport over the Potomac River, was the deadliest U.S. air disaster in more than 20 years. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In May, the FAA barred the Army from helicopter flights around the Pentagon after a May 1 close call that forced two civilian planes to abort landings. The FAA this month said the helicopter flights remained on hold even after the agency disclosed it had signed a new agreement with the Army on July 1. The NTSB disclosed in March that since 2021 there had been 15,200 air separation incidents near Reagan Washington National Airport between commercial airplanes and helicopters, including 85 close-call events. U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell, a Democrat of Washington state, praised the audit, saying it "will demand answers about why the FAA ignored more than 15,000 dangerous helicopter incidents and allowed military aircraft to fly without critical safety equipment in DCA's congested airspace." DCA is the airport code for Reagan Washington National Airport. Cantwell called on the Army's inspector general "to step up and launch" its own audit. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Last month, Senator Ted Cruz and several other Republican senators unveiled legislation to require the use of ADS-B by military helicopters near civilian planes and the use of ADS-B for all civilian aircraft. The helicopter involved in the accident in January was not using ADS-B at the time of the collision. ADS-B, or automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast, is an advanced surveillance technology that transmits an aircraft's location. The FAA is now requiring military helicopters to use ADS-B near Reagan. (Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Paul Simao and Leslie Adler) The U.S. Air Force is looking to add two Tesla Cybertrucks to its precision munition weapons testing program at New Mexicos White Sands Missile Range, according to recently submitted contracting documents. The request, submitted by the Air Force Test Center, singled out the vehicle by name among a 33-vehicle procurement list while citing the Cybertrucks unique design and growing relevance as a potential battlefield threat. While most of the listed vehicles are standard sedans, pickups and SUVs, the Cybertrucks, known for their stainless steel exteriors and sharply angular design, are the only brand-specified models requested for target practice. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Military planners say the trucks could realistically be used by adversaries in future conflicts and that training must reflect those real-world possibilities. In the operating theater, it is likely the type of vehicles used by the enemy may transition to Tesla Cybertrucks, as they have been found not to receive the normal extent of damage expected upon major impact, the service request states. Testing needs to mirror real world situations. The testing falls under U.S. Special Operations Commands Standoff Precision Guided Munitions program, which includes air-launched weapons such as the AGM-114 Hellfire, AGM-176 Griffin and the GBU-39/B Laser Small Diameter Bomb. These munitions are designed to strike vehicles and other ground targets with high accuracy while minimizing collateral damage. The Air Force request notes the inclusion of Cybertrucks in the contract is due to a design and electrical architecture that set it apart from any other vehicle currently on the market. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A February 2025 market study cited the vehicles unpainted stainless steel exoskeleton and sharply angular form features that differ from the painted steel or aluminum bodies of conventional vehicles along with an efficient 48V electrical system as features competitors are only beginning to explore. As commercially available vehicles increasingly appear in irregular warfare and non-state conflicts, the Air Force is taking steps to prepare for less predictable battlefield conditions. The inclusion of Cybertrucks in testing scenarios reflects a broader trend: planning not just for traditional threats, but for those that may emerge from repurposed consumer technology. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled 2-1 Friday that U.S. District Judge James Boasberg cannot move forward with possible contempt proceedings against the Trump administration. The case involves the administrations alleged violation of an emergency court order blocking the administration from using a 1798 law to summarily deport hundreds of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador the latest in an evolving, high-stakes court clash that has played out for months in various courts. Judges Gregory Katsas and Neomi Rao, two Trump appointees on the majority-Democrat bench, sided with the Trump administration Friday in blocking Boasbergs contempt motion from moving forward. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Judge Nina Pillard, an Obama appointee, dissented. The 2-1 ruling is all but certain to be appealed to the full court to be heard en banc, where the Democrat-majority bench is seen as more favorable to the plaintiffs, or directly to the Supreme Court for review. Who Is James Boasberg, The Us Judge At The Center Of Trump's Deportation Efforts? Read On The Fox News App "The district court here was placed in an enormously difficult position," Katsas said Friday, writing for the majority. "Faced with an emergency situation, it had to digest and rule upon novel and complex issues within a matter of hours. In that context, the court quite understandably issued a written order that contained some ambiguity." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Katsas noted that the appellate court ruling does not center on the lawfulness of Trump's Alien Enemies Act removals in March, when administration officials invoked the 1798 immigration law to send more than 250 Venezuelan nationals to CECOT, the maximum-security prison in El Salvador. "Nor may we decide whether the governments aggressive implementation of the presidential proclamation warrants praise or criticism as a policy matter," he added. "Perhaps it should warrant more careful judicial scrutiny in the future. Perhaps it already has." "Regardless, the governments initial implementation of the proclamation clearly and indisputably was not criminal." President Donald Trump speaks before Pam Bondi is sworn in as U.S. Attorney General in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 5, 2025 as Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, right, looks on. The ruling comes months after Boasberg originally found grounds to move on potential contempt proceedings in the case. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It comes as Boasberg has also ordered ongoing status updates on the location and custodial status of the 252 CECOT class migrants, after they were deported last month from El Salvador to Venezuela as part of a prisoner exchange between the U.S. and Venezuela. It is unclear how many of those migrants had pending asylum applications in the U.S. or had been granted a "withholding of removal" order blocking their return to their country of origin. 100 Days Of Injunctions, Trials And 'Teflon Don': Trump Second Term Meets Its Biggest Tests In Court The long-awaited ruling comes months after Boasberg ruled that the court had found probable cause to move on criminal contempt proceedings after he issued a late-night temporary restraining order on March 15 blocking the Trump administrations use of the Alien Enemies Act to summarily deport certain migrants to El Salvador. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Boasberg had also ordered all migrants to be "immediately returned" to U.S. soil, which did not happen. Despite the order, hundreds of migrants were deported to the Salvadorian prison, CECOT, in March, where they remained until late last month, when they were sent from the prison in El Salvador to Venezuela, as part of the prisoner exchange. Boasbeg ruled in April that there was "probable cause" to move on criminal contempt proceedings against the Trump administration for failing to return the planes to U.S. soil and said the court had determined that the Trump administration demonstrated a "willful disregard" for his order. The appeals court granted the Trump administrations request for an emergency stay of the ruling months earlier, prompting questions as to why they did not move more quickly on the motion. Appeals Court Blocks Trump Admin's Deportation Flights In Alien Enemies Act Immigration Suit James Boasberg, incoming chief judge of the U.S. District Court, in Washington, D.C., on Monday, March 13, 2023. Still, the decision is almost certain to be appealed either to the full circuit court to be heard en banc, or directly to the Supreme Court for review. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Trump administration for months has sparred with judges who have blocked the presidents executive orders from taking force. Boasberg, in particular, has emerged as one of Trump's biggest public foes. Last month, the court attempted to have him removed from overseeing the case and have it reassigned to another case a long-shot effort that legal experts and former judges suggested is unlikely to go far. This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates. Original article source: US appeals court blocks Trump contempt proceedings ordered by Boasberg A US federal appeals court on Friday dismissed a contempt finding against President Donald Trump's administration over its summary deportation of alleged Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador. The 2-1 decision by the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit overturns a ruling by a federal district judge that there was probable cause to find officials in contempt of court over the deportation flights. The case stems from Trump's use in March of the obscure 1798 Alien Enemies Act (AEA) to deport more than 200 alleged Tren de Aragua gang members to a notorious prison in El Salvador. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement District Judge James Boasberg verbally ordered a halt to the deportation flights and for the planes to be turned around but it did not happen, leading to his criminal contempt inquiry. The two Trump appointees on the appeals court panel ruled that Boasberg had overstepped his authority while the third judge, an appointee of former Democratic president Barack Obama, dissented. Judge Neomi Rao, one of the Trump appointees, said Boasberg's finding was an "abuse of the contempt power" and an "intrusion on the President's foreign affairs authority." "The order forces a coequal branch to choose between capitulating to an unlawful judicial order and subjecting its officials to a dubious prosecution," Rao wrote. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In her dissent, Judge Nina Pillard, the Obama appointee, said "the rule of law depends on obedience to judicial orders." "Our system of courts cannot long endure if disappointed litigants defy court orders with impunity rather than legally challenge them," Pillard said. "That is why willful disobedience of a court order is punishable as criminal contempt." Attorney General Pam Bondi welcomed the decision as a "major victory" for the Trump administration and its use of the AEA "to deport illegal alien terrorists." "The DC Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed what we've argued for months: Judge Boasberg's attempt to sanction the government for deporting criminal-alien terrorists was a 'clear abuse of discretion' -- failed judicial overreach at its worst," Bondi said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The White House has been sharply critical of district courts that have blocked some of the president's executive actions, and Trump called in March for Boasberg to be impeached. That earned the Republican president a rare public rebuke from Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts. "For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision," Roberts said in a statement. "The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose." cl/sst At a recent exercise, a US Army captain told Business Insider that gamers make top drone pilots. The officer said soldiers experienced with video games were able to fly drones faster and more accurately. Ukrainian drone units have also sought out gamers, saying they have the skill sets for flying drones. Soldiers who regularly play video games are transferring those skills to flying drones, making them top pilots, a US Army captain told Business Insider. At an exercise in southern Germany, BI saw how soldiers are designing, building, and flying cheap quadcopter drones, as well as working out problems in the field as the Army adapts to the challenges of drone warfare. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement At the Drone Innovation Cell in Vilseck near the Hohenfels Training Area, Capt. Ronan Sefton, an intelligence officer in the Army's 2nd Cavalry Regiment, explained to Business Insider's Graham Flanagan that there is a strong connection between gaming and the skills needed to fly a drone well. "The top pilots," the officer said, "the people who are learning the fastest, able to fly the most controlled, fly the fastest, and very accurately," are gamers. "Those are the soldiers who, when they get off on Fridays, then go and play video games." Playing video games has applications when piloting uncrewed aerial vehicles, though it's not exactly a one-for-one. A US Army soldier looks out over a training area. Screenshot/Business Insider/Graham Flanagan Transferable skills include the kind of hand-eye coordination that a gamer would have from playing with a controller and looking at a screen, which isn't unlike flying a drone via a monitor or operating a first-person-view drone. The latter requires pilots to wear goggles similar to many of the commercially available virtual reality/augmented reality headsets. These present the world from the perspective of the camera on the drone. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Other skills include the ability to multitask, recognize patterns, maintain situational awareness, and comfortably interact with digital interfaces. Some studies have also shown that gamers have quicker reaction times and do well making decisions under pressure, potentially critical in high-stakes drone warfare. US military personnel have been training to pilot small quadcopter drones in the field and through simulator programs, like one on display at a recent US Special Operations Forces exercise that simulated flying a drone through buildings and around a city. It can be more difficult than it appears, even with gaming skills. Gamers still rise to the top, though. In Russia's war against Ukraine, Ukraine's military has seen the value of having pilots who play video games, even actively recruiting for them to join the ranks of drone units. Some operators in the war have attributed their successes flying drones for reconnaissance and strike missions to their gaming skills. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement There's even a video game called "Death From Above" that puts players in the position of a Ukrainian FPV operator, prompting them to fly through the battlefield, target enemies, and drop bombs on vehicles. But while the skills overlap, drone warfare isn't a game. It's an intense, high-stakes fight with real consequences. In the Ukraine war, a driver for modern drone warfare developments with small, cheap platforms, operators are priority targets for conventional threats such as artillery and newer ones, like other drone pilots. "People think flying a military drone is like playing 'Call of Duty,' until they realize there's no restart option," an operator from Ukraine's special drone Typhoon unit told Business Insider earlier this year. Read the original article on Business Insider US astronaut Jim Lovell, the commander of the Apollo 13 Moon mission which nearly ended in disaster in 1970 after a mid-flight explosion, has died at the age of 97, NASA announced Friday. The former Navy pilot, who was portrayed by actor Tom Hanks in the 1995 movie "Apollo 13," died in a Chicago suburb on Thursday, the US space agency said in a statement. The astronaut's "life and work inspired millions of people across the decades," NASA said, praising his "character and steadfast courage." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Lovell travelled to the Moon twice but never walked on the lunar surface. Yet he is considered one of the greats of the US space program after rescuing a mission that teetered on the brink of disaster as the world watched in suspense far below. "There are people who dare, who dream, and who lead others to the places we would not go on our own," Hanks said in an Instagram post. "Jim Lovell, who for a long while had gone farther into space and for longer than any other person of our planet, was that kind of guy." - 'Houston, we've had a problem' - Launched on April 11, 1970 -- nine months after Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on the Moon -- Apollo 13 was intended to be humanity's third lunar landing. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The plan was that Lovell would walk on the Moon. The mission, which was also crewed by astronauts Jack Swigert and Fred Haise, was already considered fairly routine. Then an oxygen tank exploded on the way there. The disaster prompted Swigert to famously tell mission control: "Houston, we've had a problem." Lovell then repeated the phrase, which is slightly different to the one used in the Ron Howard movie, according to NASA. The three astronauts and crew on the ground scrambled to find a solution. The United States followed the chaotic odyssey from the ground, fearing that the country could lose its first astronauts in space. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Around 200,000 miles from Earth, the crew was forced to shelter in their Lunar Module, slingshot around the Moon and rapidly return to Earth. The composed leadership of Lovell -- who was nicknamed "Smilin' Jim" -- and the ingenuity of the NASA team on the ground managed to get the crew safely back home. Lovell was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, but never returned to space. - 'Our Hero' - Born on March 25, 1928 in Cleveland, Ohio, Lovell worked as a Navy pilot before joining NASA. He was one of three astronauts who became the first people to orbit the Moon during the Apollo 8 mission in 1968. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The mission also took the famous image "Earthrise," in which the blue planet peeks out from beyond the Moon. Lovell's family said they were "enormously proud of his amazing life and career," according to a statement released by NASA. "But, to all of us, he was Dad, Granddad, and the Leader of our family. Most importantly, he was our Hero," the statement added. "We will miss his unshakeable optimism, his sense of humor, and the way he made each of us feel we could do the impossible." cha/dl-sst/bgs The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan plan to sign a joint declaration at the White House on Friday committing to a peace deal facilitated by the Trump administration that would end nearly four decades of conflict between the two countries. Both nations are also expected to sign agreements expanding bilateral ties with Washington, a breakthrough made possible because the U.S. helped resolve a dispute over the development of a shared transit corridor, according to three U.S. officials. I look forward to hosting the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, and the Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, at the White House tomorrow for a Historic Peace Summit, Trump posted Thursday on his Truth Social platform. The United States will also sign Bilateral Agreements with both Countries to pursue Economic opportunities together, so we can fully unlock the potential of the South Caucasus Region. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Key to easing the long-standing conflict is the agreement on the transit corridor, which includes a commitment to developing the mountainous stretch of Armenian territory between Azerbaijan and its Nakhichevan exclave known as the Zangezur Corridor, said the three officials, who were granted anonymity to preview the White House ceremony. We were able to boil it down to if we can just unblock one of the pieces, maybe the rest of the pieces begin to fall into place, one of the officials said. In a Trumpian flourish, the U.S. has deemed the corridor the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity and is calling Fridays event the TRIPP Peace Summit. Armenia has agreed to award the U.S. exclusive special development rights on the Zangezur Corridor land for 99 years. The U.S. would sublease the land to a consortium that will develop rail, oil, gas and fiber optic lines and possibly electricity transmission along the 27-mile corridor. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The joint declaration is believed to be the first ever bilateral declaration signed by the two long-hostile countries, said the third official. The foreign ministers are expected to initial the text of a treaty that the sides said they had agreed to in March but have made slow progress on since. Tomorrow is the handshake in writing the check, and we still have to ink the contract and cash the check, the official said. The agreement is the culmination of decades of U.S. efforts to broker an end to the conflict, which arose when the countries gained independence from the Soviet Union. The Biden administration came close to securing a similar deal. As part of the agreement, the U.S. will make several gestures of goodwill towards Baku, a once-close ally that has gravitated toward Russia in recent years. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The U.S. will lift restrictions on defense cooperation with Baku when the administration issues a document waiving a section of the Freedom Support Act of 1992, a law that prohibits direct assistance to the government of Azerbaijan because of its disputes with Armenia. Administrations have allowed such aid after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks under a waiver authority. But the Biden administration quietly paused it as Aliyev kept floating the idea of future military operations against Armenia. At one point, Baku received $100 million worth of military equipment and other funding from the U.S. Under the agreement, Azerbaijan and Armenia will also leave the OSCE Minsk Group which also includes France, Russia and the United States and worked for decades to try and resolve the dispute between the two countries. Azerbaijan had protested since the outbreak of a 2020 war between the two countries that the OSCE Minsk Group was no longer needed since Azerbaijan had taken the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh enclave by force. The agreement is expected to disappoint many Armenian-Americans because it apparently lacks specific provisions to address the displacement of people from the historically Armenian enclave as well as prisoners of war taken in the conflict. Real peace must be predicated on justice and accountability for Azerbaijans ongoing human rights violations these issues shouldnt be left on the back burner, said Alex Galitsky, program director at the Armenian National Committee of America advocacy group. A deal that rewards Azerbaijans aggression, undermines Armenias sovereignty, and denies justice to Artsakhs Armenians will only make it harder to resolve these critical human rights issues down the line. Some U.S. citizens who are victims and family members of victims of Hamas and Hezbollah attacks have filed a lawsuit against the largest U.N. agency that provides humanitarian assistance for Palestinians, accusing the aid organization of promoting terrorism. Filed in a Washington, D.C., district court last week, the lawsuit targets the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and its U.S.-based non-profit, UNRWA USA, which is based in Washington, D.C. The 200 plaintiffs accuse UNRWA of violating antiterrorism laws by allegedly providing funds and other methods of support to Hamas and Hezbollah, which are classified by the State Department as foreign terrorist organizations. They also accuse the agency of employing staff who they say were directly involved in terror attacks. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement MORE: UNRWA chief says Gaza has become 'graveyard of children' as medicine, fuel shortages threaten hospitals In a press release, UNRWA slammed the lawsuit as "meritless, absurd, dangerous, and morally reprehensible." "Both UNRWA and UNRWA USA's missions are legal, moral, and humanitarian," the organization said in the statement. It called the allegations "misinformation to dismantle a life-saving institution precisely because of its central role in keeping Palestinian refugees and the hope of Palestinian freedom and self-determination alive." Abir Sultan/EPA/Shutterstock - PHOTO: Families of hostages protest, demanding the release from Hamas captivity in the Gaza Strip, at the plaza known as the hostages square in Tel Aviv, Israel, Aug. 2, 2025. One of the plaintiffs, the Mathias-Troen family, is suing on behalf of Shachar Deborah Troen Mathias and his wife, Shlomi David Mathias, who were "heinously murdered" by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, according to the lawsuit. In addition to their deaths, the couple's son was physically injured, prompting 12 family members to seek reparations for the "severe mental anguish and extreme emotional pain and suffering" they endured. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement While many of the allegations center around Hamas' Oct. 7 attack in Israel, some plaintiffs are also seeking compensation for attacks that occurred years prior. "This is a case seeking justice and accountability against an entity that holds itself out as 'humanitarian' but which has utterly failed in its mission and purpose while unconscionably providing material support for terror," Richard D. Heideman, lead counsel for the plaintiffs, said in a statement to ABC News. MORE: UNRWA director: Israel ban on aid agency will 'destroy' humanitarian efforts Samuel Silverman, counsel for all plaintiffs, told ABC News that the lawsuit is about putting an end to the "foster[ing of] a culture of terrorism." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The plaintiffs seek unspecified compensatory and punitive damages, with Heideman telling ABC News that they demand payment for "any judgment for which [the defendants] are found liable." A similar lawsuit was filed in New York last year, where noncitizen victims and their families accused UNRWA of assisting Hamas during the Oct. 7 attack, citing alleged instances in which they say UNRWA employed Hamas members, contributed to the construction of Hamas military centers, and held Israeli hostages, among other allegations. Dawoud Abu Alkas/Reuters - PHOTO: Palestinians, displaced by the Israeli offensive, shelter in tents, amid a hunger crisis, in Gaza City, Aug. 1, 2025. UNRWA USA called this a "baseless lawsuit," filing a motion to dismiss the case. "This legal attack is not just on UNRWA USA but on millions of Palestine refugees who rely on its funding for critical needs like food, water, and medical care," they said in a statement. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The agency argued that it should be immune from litigation because it is a subsidiary organ of the U.N. As a subsidiary of the U.N., the Biden administration supported UNRWA having immunity from civil liability, which protected the agency from this legal action. But the Trump administration's Justice Department reversed this stance in April, issuing a letter to the judge overseeing the case that said the prior administration's stance on the matter was "wrong." "Previously, the Government expressed the view that certain immunities shielded UNRWA from having to answer those allegations in American courts. The Government has since reevaluated that position, and now concludes UNRWA is not immune from this litigation," the letter read. Silverman called this reversal "a real step in the right direction" and emphasized the need to "support victims of terrorism," which he believes to be "bipartisan." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "This lawsuit is sort of going to be novel, as we've seen by the two positions that the Justice Department has taken," he said of the 2025 lawsuit, expressing his confidence in the case. Mark Schiefelbein/AP - PHOTO: President Donald Trump enters the Roosevelt Room to sign a Congressional Bill at the White House in Washington, July 30, 2025. Outside of the courts, the Trump administration has determined that UNRWA as an organization is "compromised" and should be "dismantled." "We can confirm the Administration has determined UNRWA is irredeemably compromised and now seeks its full dismantlement," a State Department spokesperson told ABC News on Tuesday. Earlier this year, Trump signed an executive order demanding "renewed scrutiny" for UNRWA, particularly regarding its role in Oct. 7, citing reports that the agency was "infiltrated" by members of foreign terrorist organizations. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement MORE: Trump administration lifted sanctions on Israeli settler accused of killing Palestinian activist In a January interview with ABC News, Director of UNRWA's DC office, Bill Deere, promised that "every allegation that is brought to our attention with information gets investigated." UNRWA previously acknowledged possible wrongdoing in the Oct. 7 attack, terminating nine U.N. employees last summer for potential involvement in the attacks after an investigation led by the U.N.'s Office of Internal Oversight Services. The Biden administration paused UNRWA funding in January 2024 in light of these allegations and the subsequent investigation. The funding remains frozen today, despite multiple congressional efforts to restore it. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement MORE: Netanyahu pushing 'military solution' to free hostages: Source "Without the US government's full financial support, UNRWA's ability to continue its life-saving work for Palestine refugees at the scale needed, including in Gaza will be in jeopardy," UNRWA USA said in a statement in March. According to an UNRWA report released last Friday, food parcels ran out "several weeks ago," and "no UNRWA supplies entered the Gaza Strip" since March. The largest U.N. agency operating in Gaza, UNRWA was established in 1949 as a "subsidiary organ" of the UN General Assembly, with operations commencing a year later. Mahmoud Issa/Reuters - PHOTO: A Palestinian child waits to receive food from a charity kitchen, amid a hunger crisis, in Gaza City, Aug. 2, 2025. "UNRWA provides humanitarian assistance and contributes to protection of refugees through essential service delivery, primarily in the areas of basic education, primary health care and mental health care, relief and social services, microcredit, and emergency assistance, including in situations of armed conflict, to millions of registered Palestine refugees located within its five fields of operations (Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza)," their mandate says. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Deere also told ABC News that UNRWA "represents most of the U.N. staff, the facilities, the expertise and supporting infrastructure for the response in Gaza." In 2021, UNRWA said the U.S. was their "largest donor with a total contribution of over US$338 million across all UNRWA funding portals." They have also referred to the U.S. as one of their "most reliable supporters." The UK would have lost World War Two if Sir Keir Starmer had been its leader at the time, the US ambassador to Israel has suggested in an attack on the prime minister's response to Israel's Gaza City takeover plan. In a post on social media, Mike Huckabee wrote: "So Israel is expected to surrender to Hamas & feed them even though Israeli hostages are being starved?" "Did UK surrender to Nazis and drop food to them? ... If you had been PM then UK would be speaking German!" he said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement His comments come after Starmer condemned Israel's plans to take over Gaza City as "wrong" and urged its government to immediately reconsider its decision "to further escalate its offensive". A spokesperson for No 10 said they had nothing to add to Starmer's comments. In his post on X on Friday, in which he reposted a statement by Starmer, Huckabee said: "Ever heard of Dresden, PM Starmer? "That wasn't food you dropped. If you had been PM then UK would be speaking German!" During World War Two, British and American forces dropped 4,000 tons of bombs on the eastern German city over two days, killing tens of thousands of civilians. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Starmer's earlier statement said: "The Israeli Government's decision to further escalate its offensive in Gaza is wrong, and we urge it to reconsider immediately. "This action will do nothing to bring an end to this conflict or to help secure the release of the hostages. It will only bring more bloodshed," he added. In the early hours of Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's security cabinet approved plans to take over Gaza's capital, in a controversial escalation of its war in the territory. Netanyahu has previously said he wants to take control of the whole of the Gaza Strip but the approved plan focuses specifically on Gaza City in the territory's north, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians live. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Israel's move has been staunchly opposed, including from within Israel, such as by members of the country's army leadership and the families of hostages being held in Gaza. The plan has also been heavily criticised internationally. The United Nations' human rights chief Volker Turk warned further escalation of the war would cause "more massive forced displacement, more killing, more unbearable suffering". Following the announcement of Israel's plan, Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the country would suspend the export of arms to Israel, which could be used in Gaza, saying it was "increasingly difficult to understand" how Israel's military plan would achieve legitimate aims. However, the US has not condemned the move. On Tuesday, President Donald Trump said it was "pretty much up to Israel" whether to fully occupy Gaza. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement During a meeting with the UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy in Kent on Friday, US Vice-President JD Vance refused to disclose whether the US government knew about Israel's plans to take over Gaza City. He added that Trump would address the issue, saying their aim is to stop Hamas "attacking innocent people" and to solve humanitarian problems in Gaza. Netanyahu and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have outlined five "principles" for ending the war. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement These include the disarmament of Hamas, the return of all Israeli hostages, the demilitarisation of the Gaza Strip, Israeli security control over the Gaza Strip and the establishment of an alternative civilian administration that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority. More than 61,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the IDF began its military operation, in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage. Fifty hostages are still being held by Hamas - 20 of whom are believed to still be alive. The United States has offered a $50m reward for information leading to the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, doubling an earlier reward of $25m set by the Trump administration in January. The US has accused the Venezuelan leader of being one of the worlds leading narco-traffickers and working with cartels to flood the US with fentanyl-laced cocaine. In a video posted to social media on Thursday announcing the historic increase in reward money, US Attorney General Pam Bondi accused Maduro of collaborating with Venezuelan crime syndicates Tren de Aragua, Cartel of the Suns and the notorious Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He is one of the largest narco-traffickers in the world and a threat to our national security. Therefore, we doubled his reward to $50 million, Bondi said. Under President Trumps leadership, Maduro will not escape justice, and he will be held accountable for his despicable crimes, she said, before giving the public a hotline phone number where they can report tips. Bondi also said that the US Department of Justice had so far seized more than $700m in assets linked to Maduro, including two private jets, nine vehicles, and claimed that tonnes of seized cocaine had been traced directly to the president. Today, @TheJusticeDept and @StateDept are announcing a $50 MILLION REWARD for information leading to the arrest of Nicolas Maduro. pic.twitter.com/D8LNqjS9yk Attorney General Pamela Bondi (@AGPamBondi) August 7, 2025 Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil responded on the Telegram platform to Bondis announcement, saying it was the most ridiculous smokescreen ever seen and designed to distract attention from the Jeffrey Epstein controversy in the US. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It does not surprise us, coming from who it comes from. The same one who promised a non-existent secret list of Epstein and who wallows in scandals of political favours, the minister said. Her show is a joke, a desperate distraction from her own miseries. The dignity of our homeland is not for sale. We reject this crude political propaganda operation, he said. Maduro was indicted in a US federal court in 2020, during the first Trump presidency, along with several close allies, on federal drug charges. At the time, the US offered a $15m reward for his arrest. That was later raised by the Biden administration to $25m the same amount the US offered for the capture of Osama bin Laden following the September 11, 2001, attacks. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In June, a former director of the Venezuelan military intelligence pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and narco-terrorism charges in the US, a week before his trial was set to begin. Hugo Carvajal, who served in the government of the late President Hugo Chavez from 2004 to 2011, admitted guilt in four criminal counts, including narco-terrorism conspiracy, conspiracy to import cocaine and weapons charges. US federal prosecutors had alleged the former major-general, along with other high-ranking Venezuelan government and military officials, led a drug cartel that attempted to flood the US with cocaine. Then-Venezuelan lawmaker Hugo Carvajal attends a meeting at the National Assembly administrative offices, in Caracas, Venezuela, in 2016. Carvajal, a former head of military intelligence, has pleaded guilty to drug trafficking charges by the US [File: Fernando Llano] Carvajal had served as a diplomat representing Maduros government before breaking with him to support the countrys US-backed political opposition. He was extradited from Spain to the US in July 2023 following more than a decade-long campaign by the Justice Department. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Despite the US rewards, Maduro remains in power after his re-election as president in 2024 in a vote that was condemned as a sham by Washington, the European Union and several Latin American governments. Last month, the Trump administration struck a deal to secure the release of 10 Americans jailed in Caracas in exchange for Venezuela seeing the return home of dozens of people deported by the US to El Salvador under the Trump administrations new immigration crackdown. Shortly after, the White House also reversed course and allowed US oil giant Chevron to resume drilling in Venezuela after it was previously blocked by US sanctions. As of Wednesday, the State Dept. urged US travelers to the UAE to exercise increased caution due to the threat of terrorism and missile or drone attacks. The US Mission to the United Arab Emirates urged US citizens in the UAE to avoid locations associated with the Jewish and Israeli communities, including places of worship, in a statement on Friday. The US Embassy cited awareness of information indicating threats towards the communities in the country as the reason for caution. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As of Wednesday, the State Department urged US travelers to the UAE to exercise increased caution due to the threat of terrorism and missile or drone attacks. Last Thursday, Israels National Security Council issued an updated travel advisory for Israelis planning to visit the UAE and raised alert levels to Level 3. It urged those traveling in the UAE to avoid displaying Israeli or Jewish symbols. It also called on Israeli travelers to limit gatherings and avoid Israeli or Jewish institutions. Israel also evacuated most diplomats from the country following the advisory. However, the Foreign Ministry said representatives in the UAE continue to operate at their embassy in Abu Dhabi and their consulate in Dubai in cooperation with local authorities. People enjoy the beach during the summer heat in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, August 3, 2025. (credit: REUTERS/AMR ALFIKY) This change comes in response to growing concerns about terrorist organizations, including Iranian factions, Hamas, Hezbollah, and global jihad groups, increasing their efforts to harm Israel. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement These groups are believed to be particularly motivated by the recent war with Iran and the heightened anti-Israel sentiment since the start of the Israel-Hamas war. Situation in Middle East has worsened following Hamas's campaign to pressure Israel According to the statement, the situation in the Middle East has worsened, especially following Hamas's "starvation campaign" in Gaza, which aims to place international blame and pressure on Israel to end the war. Historical trends show that terrorist groups often target neighboring countries, prompting the NSC to raise its alert on the risk to Israeli and Jewish targets in the UAE, the statement read. This threat is especially high during Jewish holidays, festivals, and Sabbaths. US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. cited false claims to justify terminating 22 federal contracts for mRNA-based vaccines, researchers said Friday, a day after the World Health Organization called the decision a major blow. Kennedy on Tuesday announced the cancellation of contracts worth around $500 million, marking his latest attempt to infuse vaccine skepticism into the core of US health policy. Citing medical experts, disinformation watchdog NewsGuard identified a series of false claims about the vaccines - credited with saving millions of lives during the Covid-19 pandemic -- that Kennedy promoted to explain the termination. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Kennedy claimed that mRNA vaccines were responsible for "new mutations" of the virus, thus creating new variants that can prolong pandemics. "Kennedy is mistaken in statements made when ceasing funding for mRNA vaccine development," Stephen Evans, a professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, told the London-based Science Media Centre. "No vaccine, including mRNA encourages new mutations." Kennedy also made two previously debunked claims about the effectiveness of the vaccines. He stated that mRNA vaccines "fail to protect effectively against upper respiratory infections like Covid" and added that mRNA technology "poses more risks than benefits." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Evans said the vaccines were "extremely effective against Covid, preventing deaths, hospitalisations and clinical or sub-clinical infection." "No vaccine has a zero incidence of side-effects, some of which can be serious, but the benefits of both mRNA vaccines and other types of vaccine - lives saved and illness reduced -- hugely outweigh the risks," Charles Bangham, a professor of immunology at the Imperial College London, told the Science Media Centre. On Thursday, WHO immunisation figurehead Joachim Hombach called the US decision to terminate the contracts a "significant blow." "mRNA vaccines are a very important technology and platform which has served us extremely well for Covid. We also know there is very promising work going on in relation to influenza vaccines," he said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Echoing those comments, US experts have warned that the funding cuts threaten critical research and public health around the world. "This sets back vaccine science by a decade," Andrew Pekosz, a professor of molecular microbiology and immunology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, wrote on X. "Of course they didn't read the science or listen to the experts... if they did, they wouldn't have made this decision." Kennedy, who spent two decades sowing misinformation around immunization, has overseen a major overhaul of US health policy since taking office. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He has fired, for example, a panel of vaccine experts that advise the government and replacing them with his own appointees. In its first meeting, the new panel promptly voted to ban a longstanding vaccine preservative targeted by the anti-vaccine movement, despite its strong safety record. He has also ordered a sweeping new study on the long-debunked link between vaccines and autism. burs-ac/bgs Elon Musk has spent recent days promoting videos posted by Tesla drivers around the world documenting their experience talking with an unhinged version of the AI virtual assistant Grok but one clip amplified by the tech billionaire stands out because of where some of it was filmed: A highly secure government facility. Now, a US intelligence agency that has personnel working at the sensitive site is looking into the incident, CNN has learned. The video primarily offers the mans interactions with Musks Grok AI language tool from xAI, as he records himself interacting with a new feature called unhinged mode while driving to work in his Tesla. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The footage was posted to X and subsequently amplified by Musk, accumulating over 16 million views to date. By enabling unhinged mode, the driver in the video prompted Grok to respond to his questions like an amateur stand-up comic who is still learning the craft sometimes being objectionable, inappropriate, and offensive, according to Xs description of the feature. While the video may have gained attention for its vulgar and colorful quotes from the AI, where the video was taken raises its own set of questions, as recording video and taking photos without authorization is prohibited on campus and a violation of federal law. A closer look at the video shows the man entering what is known as NSAs friendship annex a sensitive federal complex located in Linthicum, Maryland, where thousands of intelligence professionals and cleared contractors work in relative obscurity, according to a CNN analysis of the video and sources familiar with the site. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Recording video within the boundaries of sensitive Federal facilities is banned for very good reasons, Jason Kikta, a former US Cyber Command official, told CNN. Sensitive equipment could be getting installed. There could be personnel within view who need to remain publicly unaffiliated. Allies could be conducting a sensitive visit, etc. US Cyber Command, one of the intelligence agencies with employees who work at the complex, is now reviewing the incident, a spokesperson told CNN on Friday, days after the video was posted to social media. U.S. Cyber Command is aware of the video and the incident is under review, a Cyber Command spokesperson in response to a CNN inquiry about the video. X did not respond to CNNs request for comment. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The NSA annex, which was established in the 1970s, functions as a cyber espionage station and is used to conduct highly sensitive intelligence work related to foreign hackers. This photo from the National Security Agency show the agency's Friendship Annex. - National Security Agency It is also a facility where US officials analyze highly sensitive signals intercepts and conduct screenings of new government employees, including polygraph and psychological tests; it also serves as the main campus of the National Cryptologic School. In the video geolocated by CNN, a man driving a Tesla is seen turning into a parking lot at the annex. The sign seen in the video as the car enters the site reads FANX 1, which is one of three main buildings at this NSA location. Based on a review of Google Street imagery from the location and the cars path seen on the Tesla map in the vehicle, the man in the video appears to approach a gated security entrance before proceeding to park inside the lot in front of FANX 1, one of the main buildings at the NSA complex. This photo combination shows a still from a video posted to X.com shows a man using Elon Musks Grok AI language tool while driving a Tesla into the National Security Agencys Friendship Annex in Linthicum, Maryland, and a screenshot from Google Street View showing the annex's entrance in May 2021. Note: CNN has highlighted a portion of this photo to more clearly identify the signs in the photo. - From @mericamemed/X, Google Two sources familiar with the sites layout also confirmed to CNN that the driver in the video appears to go through an access control checkpoint at the facilitys entrance while filming and then continue to record once on campus. The sources spoke to CNN on condition of anonymity to prevent retribution for speaking on sensitive topics. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The fact that this individual was able to simply drive onto the secure site clearly indicates he is either a member of the intelligence community or a cleared contractor, likely working for the NSA, both sources said. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com By Daniel Wiessner (Reuters) -A federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump from refusing to fund domestic violence programs that promote diversity, equity and inclusion or transgender rights. U.S. District Judge William Smith in Providence, Rhode Island, agreed with a coalition of 17 groups that the conditions set by the U.S. Department of Justice in May, which reflect the administration's broader agenda, were likely arbitrary and violated federal law. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "If the Court does not grant preliminary relief ... this could result in the disruption of important and, in some cases, lifesaving services to victims of sexual assault and domestic violence," wrote Smith, an appointee of President George W. Bush, a Republican. Smith blocked the Justice Department's Office on Violence Against Women from imposing the conditions pending the outcome of the lawsuit, which could take months or longer to resolve. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Democracy Forward, which is representing the plaintiffs along with other groups, said the ruling ensures that survivors of domestic violence can access services and support. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "The Justice Department should be exploring what they can be doing to keep people and communities safe, not threatening funding for local and community organizations with proven results," Skye Perryman, the group's president, said in a statement. The Justice Department office was created to implement the Violence Against Women Act of 1994, which authorizes federal grant funding for programs related to domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, and other violent crimes against women. The office in May updated grant announcements to include an expansion of existing "out-of-scope activities" for grant recipients. The agency barred funding for research projects and programs that promote violations of federal immigration law, discrimination including diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, and "gender ideology." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trump, a Republican, has engaged in an aggressive campaign to eradicate DEI programs in the federal government and the private sector and to wipe out legal rights for transgender people. The 17 groups that sued the Justice Department in June claim the conditions imposed on domestic violence grants violate program operators' constitutional rights of free speech and due process, and are arbitrary in violation of a federal law governing agency rulemaking. Smith in Friday's decision did not address the groups' constitutional claims. (Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien) A hunter from the United States has been killed by a buffalo he was tracking during an expedition in South Africa, organizers said this week. Asher Watkins, from Texas, was killed on Sunday while on a hunting safari with us in South Africas Limpopo Province, Coenraad Vermaak Safaris (CVS), the safari company that organized the trip, said in a statement sent to CNN. Hans Vermaak, who leads CVS, which says on its website that its the longest-running hunting safari company in South Africa, said Watkins was fatally injured in a sudden and unprovoked attack by an unwounded buffalo he was tracking together with one of our professional hunters and one of our trackers. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Vermaak did not say whether the animal was later killed. Safari-style hunting is common in Southern Africa and involves driving around hunting areas in an open-top safari truck in search of game. When the target animal is spotted, hunters trail them on foot before taking a shot. CVS team member Sarah Vermaak told CNN in an email that the group does not intend to share any specific details regarding the tragic event (involving Watkins) publicly out of respect for the familys privacy and in recognition of the sensitive and traumatic nature of the situation. The Custodians of Professional Hunting and Conservation (CPHC), an association representing South Africas hunting industry, said in a statement sent to CNN that the circumstances surrounding the incident are (being) reviewed. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Buffalos, which can weigh up to nearly 2,000 pounds, are regarded as the most dangerous animals to trail in Africa, according to CVS. In 2018, a big game hunter was similarly killed by a buffalo in the province, according to local reports. Another man in the area was reported to have been attacked and killed by a buffalo after he fired shots at it. South African authorities have faced criticism and even legal action from wildlife groups who condemn trophy hunting. This didnt have to happen. Trophy hunting is a cruel pastime that turns sentient beings into targets, all for a grotesque photo, animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) said in a Facebook post. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Another group, called We Will Not Be Silenced about Hunters, posted on social media: If Asher Watkins had not come to our country to steal the lives of South African wildlife, he would still be alive and his family and friends would not be heartbroken right now. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com The U.S. and Mexico have signed a breakthrough agreement aimed at addressing the 50 million gallons of sewage flowing every day from Mexico into Southern California via the Tijuana River, The New York Times reported. The memorandum of understanding included commitments by Mexico to spend $93 million on infrastructure to address the sewage issue. In return, the U.S. agreed to unlock funds and commence delayed water projects at the border, including work to repair a dilapidated pump. For years, millions of gallons of raw sewage, industrial chemicals, and other hazardous materials have been dumped untreated into the Tijuana River, where they flow across the border into San Diego County and the Pacific Ocean, The New York Times reported in May. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement While the issue dates back at least a century, the problem has grown much worse in recent years, as the population of Tijuana has exploded. Meanwhile, essential infrastructure like sewage treatment plants have fallen into disrepair on both sides of the border, the Times report indicated. Raw sewage contains harmful bacteria that can cause serious short-term and long-term health problems, ranging from gastroenteritis (stomach flu) to hepatitis A to typhoid fever, according to the Indiana Department of Health. Officials in Southern California have detected a slew of harmful contaminants in the water there, including "arsenic, heavy metals, hepatitis, E. coli, salmonella, banned pesticides such as DDT, and more," per the May article in The New York Times. In a report examining the impacts of San Diego County's polluted waters on military readiness, the Department of Defense noted that "the effects of exposure to contaminated water may be evident immediately or may be delayed by several years." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The contamination has hit the city of Imperial Beach in San Diego County especially hard. Once a thriving beach community full of tourists and surfers, Imperial Beach saw its shoreline closed for 1,200 consecutive days due to the unsafe conditions, according to the May report from The New York Times. "It's a public health ticking time bomb that isn't being taken seriously," Paloma Aguirre, the mayor of Imperial Beach said at the time, per the Times. "We need help." Do you think sewage pollution is a major problem in America? Yes In most states In a few states No Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. With the new agreement calling on the Mexican infrastructure projects to be completed by December 2027, relief hopefully will be on the way. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement And not a moment too soon. The report by the Defense Department's Inspector General found that, from January 2019 through May 2023, military medical personnel diagnosed 1,168 cases of acute gastrointestinal illness among Navy SEAL and Special Warfare Combat Crewman candidates training in the area. The report determined that the military had ignored public-health warnings and proceeded with ocean-based training exercises even when local authorities had identified dangerous levels of contamination in the waters. The situation has grown so serious that the pollution could impact the military's training mission in the area, the report concluded. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The signed agreement between the U.S. and Mexico "marks a significant step forward," Jim Desmond, a member of the San Diego County Board of Supervisors, wrote on X, per The New York Times. "Our beaches must be clean, safe, and open year-round anything less is unacceptable," he continued. As for local residents, their requests have remained simple and straightforward. "We want to be able to survive," said Jesse Ramirez, who has owned a surf and skate shop in Imperial Beach for 30 years, according to the Times' May report. 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. (Reuters) -The United States mission to the United Arab Emirates said on Friday it was aware of information indicating threats towards the Jewish and Israeli communities in the UAE. On July 31, Israel's National Security Headquarters upgraded its travel warning for Israelis in the Gulf country, saying: "terrorist organizations are operating with increased intensity these days in efforts to harm Israel". (Reporting by Yomna Ehab and Enas Alashray; Editing by Andrew Heavens) By Steve Gorman (Reuters) -The Trump administration is allowing the U.S. National Weather Service to restore most of the hundreds of jobs eliminated by the cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency once led by Elon Musk, several members of Congress said on Tuesday. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, parent agency of the NWS, plans to hire 450 weather service meteorologists, hydrologists and radar technicians, U.S. Representatives Mike Flood, a Nebraska Republican, and Eric Sorensen, an Illinois Democrat, said in a joint statement on Thursday. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The two lawmakers have sponsored legislation to exempt weather service employees from DOGE-imposed layoffs and early retirement by reclassifying those positions as critical to public safety. Musk was originally named by President Donald Trump to spearhead the DOGE program, but the billionaire entrepreneur resigned from the administration months later. Flood and Sorensen said they welcomed the hiring turnaround but would keep pressing for passage of their bill to ensure the newly hired staff will remain permanent, protecting them from any future reductions. "Hundreds of unfilled positions have caused NWS offices across the country to cancel weather balloon launches, forego overnight staffing and force remaining meteorologists to overwork themselves," Sorensen said. A third lawmaker, Republican Mark Alford of Missouri, also hailed the administration's "move to hire 450 front-line mission critical staff" at the NWS. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement CNN, which broke the news before statements emerged from lawmakers on Capitol Hill, reported that the new hiring figure included 126 positions previously approved by NOAA, a U.S. Commerce Department agency. Representatives of the NWS and NOAA could not immediately be reached for comment. Layoffs and early retirement "buyouts" had reduced the NWS workforce by more than 550 positions from levels before Trump's second term, leaving fewer than 4,000 employees remaining, according to CNN. Thursday's announcement of a reversal comes during a summer of weather extremes, including flash floods that ravaged Texas Hill Country last month, claiming at least 137 lives. The devastation raised questions about whether job vacancies at local NWS offices were a factor in the scale of the disaster. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer urged the Commerce Department's acting inspector general last month to investigate whether staffing vacancies at the NWS's San Antonio office contributed to "delays, gaps, or diminished accuracy" in forecasts of the flooding. In May, the National Weather Service chief Ken Graham said large staffing and budget cuts at NOAA, including his agency, would not hinder the government's ability to forecast devastating storms and warn the public. At the same time, NWS forecasters were predicting an above-normal 2025 hurricane season. (Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Kate Mayberry) For US President Donald Trump, it's up to Israel to decide what to do next in Gaza -- meaning Washington is offering quiet support for its ally's plans to expand the offensive in the war-wracked Palestinian territory. While numerous European and Arab capitals urged Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday to reconsider his decision to "take control" of Gaza City, Trump this week has effectively given the Israeli prime minister free rein -- even if it means pushback from the international community. After nearly two years of devastating conflict, Israel's security cabinet approved Netanyahu's plan to "defeat" Hamas, which triggered the war with its October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Before Israel's announcement, when asked if he could support such a plan, Trump told reporters at the White House on Tuesday that he was focused on securing an increase in the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza to help starving Palestinians. "As far as the rest of it, I really, I really can't say -- that's going to be pretty much up to Israel," Trump said. Then on Thursday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio echoed that position, telling Catholic TV network EWTN, "Ultimately, what Israel needs to do for Israel's security will be determined by Israel." Trump and Rubio's comments speak volumes about the US strategy: since Israel-Hamas talks on a ceasefire in Gaza fell apart, Washington has broadly embraced Israel's views following US envoy Steve Witkoff's visit last week. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Details of Witkoff's meeting with Netanyahu have not been made public, but it is hard to imagine that Trump's emissary was not briefed on Israel's plans. While Washington has amped up the pressure on Israel to allow more aid into the Gaza Strip, it has also insisted that all Israeli hostages -- dead or alive -- be freed from Hamas captivity and the complete annihilation of the militant group. "Our goals are very clear," US Vice President JD Vance said Friday during talks with British Foreign Secretary David Lammy. "We want to make it so that Hamas cannot attack innocent Israeli civilians ever again, and we think that has to come through the eradication of Hamas." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has offered Israel ironclad support, even while pushing for better humanitarian support. He seemed to throw in the towel on securing a ceasefire following repeated failed efforts at mediation, especially after talks crumbled late last month in Doha when Hamas refused a deal to free the hostages. Hamas still has 49 Israeli hostages abducted during the October 2023 attack, 27 of whom are presumed dead. - Capitulation - The US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee -- who is prone to making eyebrow-raising statements -- slammed all criticism of Israel's plans for Gaza. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "So Israel is expected to surrender to Hamas & feed them even though Israeli hostages are being starved?" Huckabee wrote on social media. "Did UK surrender to Nazis and drop food to them?" he said in response to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who called Netanyahu's approach "wrong." In his interview with EWTN, Rubio said "as long as Hamas exists, particularly exists as an armed organization, there will never be peace in Gaza." Rubio said he understood why the famine facing Palestinians in the territory was getting "almost all the media coverage" but lamented what he called a lack of attention to the plight of the remaining Israeli hostages. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In recent weeks, Washington has sharply criticized international initiatives to formally recognize a Palestinian state, led notably by French President Emmanuel Macron, warning that it emboldens Hamas not to give up. lb/sst/bgs The US has doubled a reward for information leading to the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to $50m (37.2m), accusing him of being "one of the largest narco-traffickers in the world". US President Donald Trump is a long-time critic of Maduro, who returned to office in January following an election marred by vote-rigging allegations. The results were widely rejected by the international community. Attorney General Pam Bondi said the US would double its already announced reward of $25m (18.6m), and said Maduro was directly linked to drug smuggling operations. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil said the new reward was "pathetic" and labelled it "political propaganda". "We're not surprised, coming from whom it comes from," Gil said, accusing Bondi of attempting a "desperate distraction" from headlines related to backlash over the handling of the case of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. During Trump's first term, the US government charged Maduro and other high-ranking Venezuelan officials with a range of offences, including narco-terrorism, corruption and drug trafficking. At the time, the US Department of Justice claimed Maduro had worked with the Colombian rebel group Farc to "use cocaine as a weapon to 'flood' the United States". Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In a video posted on X on Thursday, Bondi accused Maduro of coordinating with groups like Tren de Aragua - a Venezuelan gang that the Trump administration has declared a terrorist organisation - and the Sinaloa Cartel, a powerful criminal network based in Mexico. She claimed the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) had "seized 30 tons of cocaine linked to Maduro and his associates, with nearly seven tons linked to Maduro himself". Maduro has previously rejected US claims he has direct involvement in drug trafficking. Bondi's comments are an extension of long-running tensions between the US and Venezuelan government - but the attorney general did not provide any further indication over how the government envisioned the renewed appeal and cash incentive would yield results. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Maduro - who is leader of the United Socialist Party and succeeded Hugo Chavez in 2013 - has been repeatedly accused of repressing opposition groups and silencing dissent in Venezuela, including with the use of violence. He weathered protests in the wake of last year's contested election and has retained his grip on power. But in June, Hugo Carvajal - formerly the head of Venezuela's military intelligence - was convicted of several drug trafficking charges after being arrested in Madrid and put on trial in the US. Carvajal had been a feared spymaster who went by the name El Pollo, or The Chicken, but fled Venezuela after calling on the army to back an opposition candidate and overthrow Maduro. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He initially denied the drug charges but later changed his plea to guilty, fuelling speculation he had cut a deal with US authorities for a lesser sentence in exchange for incriminating information about Maduro. The UK and EU announced sanctions against Maduro's government following his return to office earlier this year. The US Department of Justice and State Department on Thursday doubled the reward for information leading to the arrest of Venezuela's authoritarian leader Nicolas Maduro to $50 million. "Maduro uses foreign terrorist organizations like TdA [Tren de Aragua], Sinaloa and Cartel of the Suns [Cartel de Soles] to bring deadly violence to our country," US Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a video statement, calling the bounty "historic." Bondi said that, to date, the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has seized "30 tons [27 metric tons] of cocaine linked to Maduro and his associates, with nearly 7 tons linked to Maduro himself, which represents a primary form of income for the deadly cartels based in Venezuela and Mexico." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "[Maduro] is one of the largest narco-traffickers in the world and a threat to our national security. Therefore, we doubled his reward to $50 million," Bondi said. According to the US government, the Maduro regime has turned Venezuela into a narco-state, entering into partnership with Colombian guerrillas to export drugs to Europe and the US through an organization known as the Cartel of the Suns, allegedly made up of high-ranking Venezuelan officials. In 2020, Maduro was charged in a Southern District of New York federal indictment for narco-terrorism, conspiracy to import cocaine, and possession and conspiracy to possess of machine guns and destructive devices. In January, the US increased the reward offers to up to $25 million for information leading to the arrest of Maduro as he was sworn in for a third six-year presidential term following an election that many in the international community and the opposition considered rigged. The US government has not recognized Maduro as Venezuela's president since 2019. Energy Secretary Chris Wright falsely claimed the link between rising temperatures worldwide and extreme weather is "nonsense," as Bloomberg detailed. What's happening? Wright, who was sworn into office on Feb. 3, twice took aim at the well-documented correlation between the frequency and severity of extreme weather and an overheating planet. In an August 4 post on X, Wright (@SecretaryWright) introduced the topic without prompting. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "The ceaseless repeating from the media, politicians and activists claiming that climate change is making weather more dangerous and severe is just nonsense. That is just NOT true," he said. It's standard practice to include or append something like a report or study to validate such claims, particularly ones that fly in the face of scientific consensus worldwide. It would be folly of the same sort to counter his claim with repeated instances of extreme weather in recent months. A United Nations "Global Issues" page on changing global temperatures explains that "burning fossil fuels" over time caused an "increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, which have caused dangerous impacts on nature and people worldwide." In lieu of a credible citation, Wright followed his tweet with a link to his then-recent appearance on podcaster Ben Shapiro's show. During that appearance, Wright reiterated his claims. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He recalled seeing The Hill's reporting on "decades of data and scientific consensus that [indicate] climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of storms" in relation to the EPA's concurrent attempt to reverse the landmark Endangerment Finding. "Like, just, the headlines are just wrong," Wright continued, again making no effort to substantiate his assertions about the known, primary driver of extreme weather events. In simple terms, gases such as carbon dioxide and methane act as heat-retaining greenhouse roofing around the planet when they concentrate in higher levels, which has led to clear documented increases in average global temperatures in recent decades. Hotter temperatures lead to more evaporation of moisture into the air which is why basements often need a dehumidifier in the summer and bedrooms often need a humidifier in the winter. This additional moisture in the air, plain and simple, leads to more dangerous heat waves as well as stronger storms from higher volumes of rain all of which endangers us all at higher levels than decades ago. Why is this so important? In a very short span of time, the EPA moved to undermine enforcement of the Clean Air Act in its efforts to vacate the Endangerment Finding, and Wright claimed without evidence that extreme weather is unrelated to greenhouse gas emissions. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement When Wright was named as a potential candidate for Energy Secretary in November, both The Hill and ABC News reported that he had a history of science denialism. It's possible that Wright's repeated failure to corroborate claims about extreme weather is due to the fact that no such corroboration exists. An avalanche of credible evidence to the contrary is readily available. Imperial College London researcher Ben Clarke didn't pull punches when he spoke to Bloomberg about Wright's perplexing assertions. "Greenhouse gases are causing increases in extreme weather today. This destroys wealth, lives, and livelihoods, all in the name of preserving an outdated energy system to enrich a few people at the expense of everyone else," he explained. What's being done about it? As federal agencies move to roll back key environmental protections, the "lives and livelihoods" of Americans are increasingly jeopardized. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Contacting lawmakers is one way for people to make their voices heard on these matters, and staying up to date on key environmental issues is more important than ever. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet. The United States has halted all routine visa applications for Zimbabwean citizens, marking the latest in a series of travel restrictions impacting African nations. This follows a pilot scheme unveiled days earlier, requiring travellers from Malawi and Zambia to pay a bond of up to $15,000 for tourist or business visas. This sum will be forfeited if the applicant remains in the US beyond their visa's expiry date. The State Department said the U.S. Embassy in Zimbabwe would pause all routine visa services starting Friday while we address concerns with the Government of Zimbabwe. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The embassy described the measure as temporary and part of the Trump administration's efforts to prevent visa overstay and misuse. Most diplomatic and official visas would be exempt from the pause, the U.S. said. The U.S. has enforced new travel restrictions on citizens from several African countries under President Donald Trump's broader immigration enforcement policies. US Serbia Rubio (Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.) In June, the U.S. put in place travel bans on citizens from 12 countries, seven of them in Africa. It applied heightened restrictions on seven other nations, three of them African. The U.S. has also demanded that 36 countries, the majority of them in Africa, improve their vetting of travelers or face a ban on their citizens visiting the United States. Zimbabwe, Malawi and Zambia were all on that list of 36 countries asked to improve their citizens travel documentation and take steps to address the status of their nationals who are in the U.S. illegally. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Trump Administration is protecting our nation and our citizens by upholding the highest standards of national security and public safety through our visa process," the U.S. State Department said Thursday. The new bond policy announced Tuesday requires Malawians and Zambians to pay bonds of $5,000, $10,000 or 15,000 as part of their application for a tourist or business visa to the U.S. Under the program, citizens of those countries must also arrive and depart at one of three airports; Bostons Logan International Airport, New York's JFK International Airport or Dulles International Airport near Washington D.C. The visa bond pilot program will start on Aug. 20, the State Department said. The inside of terminal four at John F Kennedy Airport (JFK) [File: Chris Hondros/Getty Images via AFP] The United States has announced a pause on all routine visa applications for citizens of Zimbabwe. The State Department said in a statement on Thursday that the US embassy in Zimbabwe would pause all routine visa services starting from Friday while we address concerns with the Government of Zimbabwe. The embassy described the measure as temporary and part of the Trump administrations efforts to prevent visa overstay and misuse. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Most diplomatic and official visas would be exempt from the pause, the US said. The US has enforced new travel restrictions on citizens from several African countries under President Donald Trumps broader immigration enforcement policies. In June, the US put in place travel bans on citizens from 12 countries, seven of them in Africa. It increased restrictions on seven other nations, three of them African. The US has also demanded that 36 countries, the majority of them in Africa, improve their vetting of travellers or face a ban on their citizens visiting the United States. Zimbabwe, Malawi and Zambia were all on that list of 36 countries asked to improve their citizens travel documentation and take steps to address the status of their nationals who are in the US illegally. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Trump Administration is protecting our nation and our citizens by upholding the highest standards of national security and public safety through our visa process, the US State Department said on Thursday. The announcement came days after the US unveiled a pilot project requiring citizens of two other African countries, Malawi and Zambia, to pay a bond of up to $15,000 for tourist or business visas. The bond will be forfeited if the applicant stays in the US after their visa expires. The new bond policy announced on Tuesday requires Malawians and Zambians to pay bonds of $5,000, $10,000 or $15,000 as part of their application for a tourist or business visa to the US. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Under the programme, citizens of those countries must also arrive and depart at one of three airports: Bostons Logan International Airport, New Yorks John F Kennedy International Airport or Dulles International Airport near Washington, DC. The visa bond pilot programme will start on August 20, the State Department said. By Muvija M and Barbara Lewis (Reuters) -Eddie Jen, a drag queen from San Francisco, wants to show that "America still fights for kindness", while Abby Govindan, a U.S. stand-up comic of Indian heritage, aims to convince audiences Texas is not what they think. The performers are among those who make the number of U.S. acts at this year's Edinburgh Fringe the highest in at least a decade. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Edinburgh International Festival, held every August, was established in the aftermath of World War Two with the goal of using culture to heal divisions. It immediately spawned an unofficial Fringe that became bigger than the original festival, attracting thousands of more maverick performers in venues across the city. This year's Fringe includes productions from Armenia to Zimbabwe, organisers say. The percentage of U.S. acts is 12.1%, compared with 11.1% last year and 6.1% in 2014. No earlier data is available. British acts have decreased to 69.8% of the total, from 71.2% in 2024, and 81.5% in 2014. Performers have said high costs, especially for accommodation, are a deterrent. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement For U.S. artists, that can matter less. Their numbers had already risen as producers chose Edinburgh to test the appeal of musicals as a cheaper alternative to Broadway. U.S. President Donald Trump, who changed laws on diversity after he returned to office in January, making many artists anxious about freedom of expression, is a factor. Govindan said she would have brought her show "How to Embarrass Your Immigrant Parents" to Edinburgh "regardless of politics". Her aims include doing justice to Texas, which she says is "commonly misrepresented as white and racist". "Houston, my hometown, is the most diverse city in the country," she said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Jen is also keen to get beyond stereotypes with "Seeking a Pen Pal for the End of the World" that tells the story of an immigrant drag queen exchanging letters with his high school English teacher - a retired, white, Republican woman from Bountiful, Utah. "When Trump was re-elected in November, I wanted to let the world know that America still fights for kindness," Jen said. The number of Canadian acts at the Fringe has hovered around 1% for the last decade. Connor Malbeuf, who has lived in the United States for eight years, says the Fringe is "a safe space" for his show "Sorry: A Canadian's Apology for America". Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Theres no better neutral ground to comment on the absurdity, political landscape, and poke the bear without the bear threatening the possibility of deportation," he said. For Govindan, whose comedy is established in the United States, Edinburgh amounts to healthy risk-taking. "Being here is really pushing me out of my comfort zone in a way that is undoubtedly going to make me a better performer and comedian," she said. (Reporting by Muvija. M and Barbara Lewis; Editing by Alison Williams) The Trump administration plans to incinerate more than $9.7 million worth of contraceptives funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) that have been lying in a warehouse in Belgium since President Trumps order freezing foreign aid and shutting down USAID. The U.S. government is spending more than $160,000 to burn the mix of birth control pills, shots, implants, and IUDs at a facility in France that destroys medical waste, according to The New York Times. The Department of State said in a statement to The Hill that it has made a preliminary decision to destroy some abortifacient birth control products, meaning that they induce abortions. It said no HIV medications or condoms would be destroyed. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But the Times reported that none of the supplies registered for storage in the Belgian warehouse fit that description, and USAID, under the law isnt allowed to purchase products that induce abortions. The department in the statement to The Hill argued it has avoided an additional $34.1 million in taxpayer costs by negotiating no-cost cancellations of pending orders placed by the Biden administration. It also said the Kemp-Kasten amendment prohibits it from providing assistance to an organization or program that supports or participates in the management of a program of coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization. This includes non-abortifacient contraceptives provided as assistance to entities that do not make the commitment required under the policy, the statement reads. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A spokesperson for the Department of State did not immediately respond to requests for clarification. European governments and activist groups have decried the decision. The International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), a nonprofit, estimates incinerating contraceptives will leave 1.4 million women and girls across Africa with access to life-saving care. For the past nine years, USAID has spent $607.5 million on global family planning and reproductive programs, according to the Guttmacher Institute. Those funds have helped operate family planning and reproductive health programs in more than 30 countries. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement France is under pressure to stop the impending destruction of the stockpile from French reproductive rights groups and family planning organizations, though officials said earlier this month they cannot legally seize the contraceptives. The IPPF estimates 77 percent of the supplies are earmarked for five African countries: Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Mali, and Congo. More than 40 percent of the soon-to-be destroyed supplies were meant for Tanzania alone, according to the nonprofit. The IPPF wrote in a statement the supplies are being needlessly and egregiously destroyed and that many of the contraceptives will not expire until 2027 at the earliest and 2029 at the latest. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This decision to destroy ready-to-use commodities is appalling and extremely wasteful, said Marie-Evelyne Petrus-Barry, Africa regional director of the IPPF. These life-saving medical supplies were destined to countries where access to reproductive care is already limited, and in some cases, part of a broader humanitarian response, such as in the [Congo]. Destroying the contraceptive supplies will result in 362,000 unintended pregnancies which can force some to seek out unsafe abortions, and will cause 161,000 unplanned births, according to the Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition (RHSC). The IPPF estimates that once the contraceptives are destroyed, Tanzania will have more than 1 million fewer injectable contraceptives and 365,100 fewer implants to distribute or about 28 percent of the countrys total annual need. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Mali will experience a shortage of more than 1,100,000 oral contraceptives and 95,800 implants or roughly 24 percent of the countrys annual need. Zambia will have 48,400 fewer implants and 295,000 injectable contraceptives to distribute to women. In Kenya, nearly 14 percent of the countrys annual contraceptive need will not be met, and more than 100,000 women will not be able to access contraceptive implants this year. 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 United States doubled its bounty on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro -- who faces federal drug trafficking charges -- to $50 million on Thursday, a move Caracas described as "pathetic" and "ridiculous". Washington, which does not recognize Maduro's past two election victories, accuses the South American country's leader of leading a cocaine trafficking gang. "Today, the Department of Justice and State Department are announcing a historic $50 million reward for information leading to the arrest of Nicolas Maduro," Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a video on social media. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "He is one of the largest narco-traffickers in the world and a threat to our national security." The previous bounty was set in January at $25 million. Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil said Bondi's "pathetic" bounty was "the most ridiculous smokescreen we have ever seen." "The dignity of our homeland is not for sale. We reject this crude political propaganda operation," Gil said on Telegram. In 2020, during President Donald Trump's first term in office, Maduro and other high-ranking Venezuelan officials were indicted in federal court in New York on several charges including participating in a "narco-terrorism" conspiracy. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement - 'Cartel of the Suns' - The Justice Department accused Maduro of leading a cocaine trafficking gang called "The Cartel of the Suns" that shipped hundreds of tons of narcotics into the United States over two decades, earning hundreds of millions of dollars. Investigators say the cartel worked hand-in-hand with the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which the United States has labeled a terrorist organization. Bondi said Maduro also had worked with the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua and Mexico's Sinaloa cartel. The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) "has seized 30 tons of cocaine linked to Maduro and his associates, with nearly seven tons linked to Maduro himself," Bondi said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The US government has also seized more than $700 million in Maduro-linked assets, including two Venezuelan government aircraft, since September last year, according to Bondi. "Yet Maduro's reign of terror continues," she said. "Under President Trump's leadership, Maduro will not escape justice and he will be held accountable for his despicable crimes." The 62-year-old Maduro, a former bus driver and trade unionist, faces up to life in prison if he can be tried and is convicted. At the time of the indictment, Maduro slammed what he called "spurious, false" accusations. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In June, Venezuela's former intelligence chief Hugo Armando Carvajal pleaded guilty to US drug trafficking and narco-terrorism charges. The Miami Herald, citing sources familiar with the case, said Carvajal had offered to provide US authorities with documents and testimony implicating Maduro. - 'Deeply flawed' - Relations between Washington and Caracas have been deteriorating for years. The US government has not recognized Maduro, who first took office in 2013, as the duly elected president of Venezuela since what the State Department has called a "deeply flawed 2018 presidential election." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "In the July 28, 2024 Venezuelan presidential election, Maduro fraudulently declared himself the victor despite evidence to the contrary," the State Department said in an announcement of the earlier bounty in January. "The United States joined many other countries in refusing to recognize Maduro as the legitimate winner of the July 2024 presidential election." Washington has placed an array of economic sanctions on Maduro's government. For its part, Maduro's government has long denounced US interference in Venezuela. On Thursday, Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello announced that security services had thwarted a bomb attack in a commercial area of the capital Caracas. As Venezuelan authorities often do in such cases, Cabello accused the US and the Venezuelan opposition of instigating the thwarted attack. sst-nr-dl/ksb The U.S. and Russia are seeking to reach a deal to cement Moscow's occupation of Ukrainian territories and end the war, Bloomberg reported on Aug. 8, citing undisclosed sources. The news come as U.S. President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin are expected to meet as soon as next week. U.S. and Russian officials are working on a territorial agreement, the sources told Bloomberg. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The proposed deal is aimed at freezing the conflict and laying the groundwork for a ceasefire and technical negotiations toward a final peace settlement, the news agency reported. Putin is demanding that Ukraine cede all of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, as well as Crimea, Bloomberg wrote. Russia currently occupies roughly 20% of Ukraine's territory. This includes the whole of Crimea, occupied in 2014, and large parts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson oblasts. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Moscow illegally declared the annexation of the latter four regions in 2022 and insists on Ukraine's full withdrawal from them as part of a peace deal, even though it does not control them completely. The Kremlin is also pushing for formal recognition of its control over occupied Ukrainian territories. While Trump has reportedly signaled a willingness to recognize Russias occupation of Crimea, Ukraine has firmly rejected this move along with any withdrawal from the territories it currently holds. As part of the deal currently under discussion, Russia may cease offensive operations in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts along existing front lines, according to Bloomberg's sources. The terms remain in flux and could be changed. It remains unclear whether Moscow is prepared to relinquish any of the territories it currently occupies, including Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, according to Bloomberg. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Washington is reportedly trying to secure support from Ukraine and its European allies for the potential deal, which remains far from certain. The Kyiv Independent reached out to the President's Office for a comment. The Trump-Putin meeting comes amid growing U.S. pressure aimed at cutting off Russia's war funding. Oil revenues make up roughly one-third of Russia's federal budget, and Washington is targeting those flows through secondary tariffs. The U.S. president issued an ultimatum to Moscow on July 28, demanding a ceasefire within 10 days or face severe U.S. sanctions. As the Aug. 8 deadline approached, Trump signaled impatience and said the decision now "depends on Putin." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Read also: Polands Tusk says Russia-Ukraine war could be frozen sooner rather than later Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. Investing.com -- The United States and Russia are working toward an agreement to end the war in Ukraine that would allow Russia to maintain control of territories it has occupied during its military invasion, according to a Bloomberg report citing anonymous sources familiar with the matter. U.S. and Russian officials are preparing for a potential summit between Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin that could take place as early as next week. The officials are currently negotiating territorial arrangements ahead of this meeting, according to the sources who requested anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the discussions. The U.S. is reportedly seeking support from Ukraine and European allies for the potential deal, though agreement is not guaranteed. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to the sources, Russian President Putin is insisting that Ukraine surrender the entire eastern Donbas region as well as Crimea, which Russian forces annexed in 2014. This would require Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to order Ukrainian troops to withdraw from parts of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions that remain under Kyivs control. Such a concession would grant Russia territorial gains that its military has been unable to secure through combat operations since launching its full-scale invasion in February 2022. News of the potential peace negotiations caused oil prices to decline on Friday. Related articles US and Russia seek Ukraine peace deal, oil prices dip These Under-the-Radar Stocks Offer Better Risk-Reward Ratio Than Nvidia If Powell goes, does Fed trust go with him? LITTLE ROCK, Ark. Officials with the U.S. Department of Education said Secretary of Education Linda McMahon will visit Arkansas the week of Aug. 11 as part of a national tour. Officials said the Arkansas visit is part of the departments Returning Education to the States tour. The tour plans for state-by-state stops for McMahon to hear from students, teachers and school leaders about education models and reforms. When you find your purpose, its not a job Pine Bluff High School teacher speaks on life changing opportunity through Arkansas Teacher Corps Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Louisiana and Tennessee are also on the secretarys schedule for the week of Aug. 11. President Trump entrusted me with a vital mission to return education to the states, and part of that is learning best practices from each state, McMahon said. As students head back to school, I will travel across our great nation to visit classrooms, listen to voices on the ground, and spotlight the incredible work happening at the local level. McMahon added that she would focus on ideas that are working and broadening school choice. New Arkansas laws to know ahead of the first day of school The agenda for the secretarys Arkansas visit has not been announced. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's declaration that Israel intends to take control of all of the Gaza Strip signals an escalation that flies in the face of some emphatic international warnings. But it is one that, at least so far, the US government has greeted with a telling and collective shrug. On Tuesday, President Donald Trump said it was "pretty much up to Israel" whether to fully occupy Gaza. And when asked the following day whether he was giving Israel a "green light", he instead spoke about the US strikes on Iran earlier this year. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Washington's Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee was even more direct - and his answer was that Netanyahu's Gaza plan is not America's concern. "It's not our job to tell them what they should or should not do," he said. "Certainly, if they ask for wisdom, counsel, advice, I'm sure the president would offer it. But ultimately, it's the decision that the Israelis and only the Israelis can make." Netanyahu has faced some opposition to his plan - notably from the Chief of Staff Lt Gen Eyal Zamir who, according to Israeli media, had argued against a full-scale occupation. In the event, an announcement after a meeting of Israel's security cabinet did not say Israel would take control of the entire territory of the Gaza Strip, but rather that it would "prepare for taking control of Gaza City". Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It did, however, mention that one of five principles for ending the war was "Israeli security control in the Gaza Strip". Some have suggested a full takeover of Gaza has always been on the table. "Netanyahu had always planned to take over Gaza, he just was waiting for the right moment," Amin Saikal, emeritus professor of Middle Eastern, Central Asian and Islamic Studies at the Australian National University, told the BBC. Netanyahu has suggested Israel does not want to keep the territory, however, but "hand it over to Arab forces" - without specifying which. Whatever the plan, however, the Trump administration is not giving Netanyahu any public indication that he is wrong. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement That represents a marked change in White House policy. Trump previously had been more than willing to outline his views on Gaza's future - even when it caught Netanyahu and the Israelis by surprise. In February, just weeks into his second presidential term, he said the US could be deeply involved in the reconstruction of Gaza as a global resort and suggested Palestinians might have to be relocated outside of the territory. And while the US joined Israel in attacking Iran's nuclear facilities in the brief clash between the two nations in June, Trump publicly and forcefully pressured Israel to abide by the ceasefire that ended that conflict. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Americans also expressed their unhappiness with Israeli attacks on Syria last month - publicly disapproving, while offering even sharper criticism in private. "Bibi acted like a madman," a White House official told the news website Axios. "He bombs everything all the time." The White House has also been invested in ending the Gaza War, even pressuring Netanyahu for a ceasefire before Trump took office in January. Steve Witkoff, the real estate magnate with a broad diplomatic portfolio in the Trump White House, has been the point person for these negotiations, seeking to broker a permanent ceasefire along with the release of the remaining hostages taken by Hamas in its 7 October 2023 attack. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As recently as a month ago, the White House was optimistic that a deal was within reach. "We are hopeful that by the end of this week, we will have an agreement that will bring us into a 60-day ceasefire," Witkoff said on 8 July, adding that it could lead to a "lasting peace in Gaza". But just over two weeks later, ceasefire talks had collapsed, and Witkoff was publicly accusing Hamas of being selfish and not acting in good faith. "Hamas didn't really want to make a deal," Trump said on 25 July. "I think they want to die, and it's very, very bad." Trump's comments - and his decision to abandon talks with Hamas and stay ambivalent about what could represent a massive new Israeli military operation - could be a ploy designed to force the Palestinian group to make new concessions at the negotiating table. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement If so, that will become apparent soon enough. "The Trump administration has got a lot of leverage, " said Prof Saikal of the Australian National University. "I think Netanyahu would not make this move unless he had some sort of consent or tacit support from Washington." [BBC] This American change of course from public disapproval to obvious distancing could, however, also be part of an effort by the president to return to his non-interventionist outlook - a position he temporarily abandoned during the Iranian strikes, much to the consternation of parts of his political base. "There's increasing concern that this is inconsistent with an America-first policy, getting the United States deeper and deeper into this horrible war is not something that the president ran for office on," Frank Lowenstein, special envoy for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations during the Barack Obama administration, told the BBC. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "But for the time being, anyway, I think Trump is going to let Netanyahu do whatever he wants." If so, Trump's position stands in stark contrast to the recent statements by France, the UK and Canada on recognising a Palestinian state. These moves were designed to bring additional pressure on Israel to wind down its military operations and reach a negotiated settlement with Hamas. That diplomatic recognition, as well as America's studied indifference to the prospect of a long - and possibly indefinite - Israeli military occupation, take the US and its allies in markedly different directions. But both represent a tacit acknowledgement that the current situation is untenable, and that a negotiated peace is further away than ever. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement With Trump, there is no telling how long this trend will last. But by the time Trump changes course again, Israel could be well down a path in Gaza that will be very difficult to reverse. [BBC] Follow the twists and turns of Trump's second term with North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher's weekly US Politics Unspun newsletter. Readers in the UK can sign up here. Those outside the UK can sign up here. Comparta este articulo The Fourth Transformations austerity narrative has taken another hit. Morena Congressman Sergio Gutierrez Luna and his wife, Labor Party Congresswoman Diana Karina Barrerasknown online as #DatoProtegidoattended an exclusive party during the 2024 Mexican Grand Prix. VIP tickets ranged from $3,500 to $8,500 USD per person. Both legislators gained access via complimentary invitations from the upscale Club 51, a clear violation of at least two laws: the Austerity Law and the General Law of Administrative Responsibilities. A gift that breaks the law Club 51, located in Mexico Citys Torre Mayor, publicly confirmed it extended two complimentary invitations to Gutierrez Luna for the event held in their private suite during the race. However, under current Mexican law, public servantslegislators includedare prohibited from receiving any gift or benefit, directly or indirectly, that could compromise their official duties. Public servants must decline gifts, donations, underpriced sales, or similar situations that could interfere with the performance of their duties. General Law of Administrative Responsibilities, Article 6, Section III Additionally, the 2019 Austerity Lawchampioned by then-President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and passed by Morenas congressional majorityexplicitly forbids legislators from accepting economic benefits unrelated to their duties. Attending a party worth more than two months of their official salary falls squarely into that category. Lavish lifestyles that dont add up The congressional couple has drawn increased scrutiny following the release of photos showing them wearing designer apparel and accessories that far exceed their reported incomes. Highlights include: A Hublot watch valued at 600,000 pesos ( Gutierrez Luna ) ) Marsell boots priced at 19,000 pesos Ferragamo and Dolce & Gabbana sunglasses worth up to 18,000 pesos A Cartier ring valued at over 1 million pesos ( Barreras ) ) A Cartier necklace worth 115,000 pesos Thebs jacket and Paul Parkman shoes, each over 10,000 pesos Barreras by La Silla Rota None of these luxury items appear in their publicly filed asset declarations, even though the law requires elected officials to report personal property, including art, jewelry, and high-value items. #DatoProtegido and judicial shielding Barreras recently won a case in the Federal Electoral Tribunal requiring a social media user to publicly apologize without mentioning her name. The case has drawn criticism and raised concerns that some lawmakers within the Fourth Transformation (4T) are using institutions to shield themselves from public accountability while enjoying a lifestyle starkly opposed to their public message. Gutierrez by La Silla Rota Austerity for whom? Gutierrez Luna, who previously criticized the high salaries of electoral officials at Mexicos National Electoral Institute (INE), now finds himself accused of wearing shoes more expensive than the monthly salary of those same workers he once defended. In 2024, he reported total annual income of 1.1 million pesos; his wife declared 349,000 pesos. Combined, their official earnings totaled less than 1.5 million pesosyet their possessions easily exceed two million. Conclusion The case of lawmakers Gutierrez Luna and Barreras illustrates a glaring contradiction between the Fourth Transformations rhetoric and its reality. While advocating budget cuts and demanding public sacrifice, they accept illegal gifts and flaunt a lifestyle their official income cannot sustainseemingly under the protection, implicit or explicit, of their political parties and the power they wield. UNETE A NUESTRO CANAL DE WHATSAPP. EL PODER DE LA INFORMACION EN LA PALMA DE TU MANO SIGUENOS EN EL SHOWCASE DE GOOGLE NEWS lrc The US Department of State has stressed that a potential meeting between US President Donald Trump and the Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin should not be viewed as a matter of trust in Russia, but rather as a matter of actions by the aggressor state. Source: European Pravda, citing a briefing by Tommy Pigott, Principal Deputy State Department Spokesperson Quote from Pigott: "Its not a question of trust, its a question of actions. The president has described how hes been disappointed in the actions that we have seen from Russia over recent weeks. Hes talked about needing to see actions, not just words." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Details: This was Pigotts direct response to a question about a possible TrumpPutin meeting and whether the US trusts the Kremlin leader. "So, this is not a question of trust, per se. This is a question of seeing actions to match up the words, but also is indicative of the commitment that we have made clear from the beginning of this administration, that we stand ready to aid in the pursuit of peace, try to end this conflict, stop the carnage," Pigott stressed. Pigott also said the United States remains in regular contact with its partners in Europe and with Ukraine. He reiterated that the Trump administrations ultimate goal is getting the sides to the negotiating table, securing a ceasefire, and achieving long-term peace. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Background: Putins aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters earlier that a meeting between Putin and US President Donald Trump is expected in the coming days possibly next week. Trump said he believed there was a good chance that there will be a meeting with Putin in the near future. The Russian leader believes the United Arab Emirates would be a suitable venue for a USRussia summit at the level of heads of state. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon! The US State Department called upon all countries to put pressure on Hamas to surrender, disarm, and release all remaining hostages, especially dual Israel-US citizens Itay Chen and Omer Neutra. The United States reaffirmed its commitment to freeing the hostages still held in Gaza and ensuring the disarmament of Hamas in a recorded snippet of a statement shared on X/Twitter on Thursday. President Donald Trump, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, and Secretary [of State] Marco Rubio continue to work tirelessly to end the war, release the hostages, including Itay Chen and Omer Neutra, the two Americans still held by Hamas, the State Department representative said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Chen, an Israeli-American IDF soldier who was taken hostage by Hamas from his tank on October 7, was later declared deceased by the military. Chens family, though given permission by the Rabbinate to commemorate the shiva mourning period despite not being able to bury his remains, continues to wait for his return before beginning the Jewish traditions of grief. Neutra, a lone soldier from New York, served as a tank platoon commander in the Gaza border communities area. He was killed by Hamas on October 7, the IDF confirmed in late November 2024, and his body was taken to the Gaza Strip. The US is also determined to give Gaza a future free of Hamas. Saudi Arabia and France, backed by Egypt, Qatar, and the Arab League, have also called for Hamas to disarm and hand both their weapons and authority over to the Palestinian Authority. US involvement in aid efforts Colleagues, no one wants to see Palestinian civilians in Gaza go hungry and thirsty," the video concluded. As President Trump has said, the US is going to be even more involved in these efforts. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Witkoff and US Ambassador Mike Huckabee visited the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) aid distribution site in Rafah last week to witness the operation themselves in order to provide Trump with a clear understanding of the situation. We want to help people, the US president told Axios last Friday. We want to help them live. We want to get people fed. It is something that should have happened a long time ago. Yonah Jeremy Bob and Reuters contributed to this report. U.S. Vice President JD Vance and British Foreign Secretary David Lammy shake hands at Chevening House in Sevenoaks, Britain, August 8, 2025 (photo credit: REUTERS/Suzanne Plunkett/Pool) Britain and the United States may disagree about how to address the crisis in Gaza but they share common goals in the region, Vance said at the start of the meeting. Britain and the United States may disagree about how to address the crisis in Gaza, but they share common goals in the region, US Vice President JD Vance said at the start of a meeting with British Foreign Secretary David Lammy in southern England. Asked about Britain's plan to recognize Palestine, Vance said the US and Britain had a common goal to resolve the crisis in the Middle East, adding: "We may have some disagreements about how exactly to accomplish that goal, and we'll talk about that today." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Vance also reiterated that the US had no plans to recognize a Palestinian state, saying he didn't know what recognition actually meant, "given the lack of a functional government there." Vance, who has previously criticized Britain and its governing Labour Party, landed with his wife, Usha, and their three children in London before heading to Chevening, the large, red-brick country residence used by the British foreign minister. Appearing before reporters and TV cameras, the two leaders exuded plenty of bonhomie, with Lammy recommending Vance enjoy a coastal walk in Kent and the vice president professing his "love" for Britain. U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Britain's Foreign Secretary David Lammy during a meeting at Chevening House in Sevenoaks, Kent, Britain August 8, 2025 (credit: KIN CHEUNG/POOL VIA REUTERS) Britain takes harder stance against Israel Britain, by contrast, has taken a harder stance against Israel, declaring its intention to recognize Palestine along with France and Canada to put pressure on Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu over the continuing conflict and humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Vice President JD Vance struck a conciliatory tone on Friday after touching down in London when he told reporters the U.S. and U.K. may disagree on strategy when it comes to ending the war in Gaza, but they "share" the same goal of peace. "We have no plans to recognize a Palestinian state," Vance said ahead of a meeting with U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy. "I don't know what it would mean to really recognize a Palestinian State, given the lack of a functional government there. "Obviously, it's not an easy problem to solve, or it would have already been dealt with," he added, noting the need to not only eradicate Hamas but to end the humanitarian crisis across the Gaza Strip. "But we share, I think, that focus and that goal. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "We may have some disagreements about how exactly to accomplish that goal, and we'll talk about that today," Vance added. U.S. Vice President JD Vance shakes hands with British Foreign Secretary David Lammy during a meeting at Chevening House on August 8, 2025, in Sevenoaks, England. Israel Security Cabinet Approves Plan To Occupy Gaza City British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced in late July a major shift in UK policy toward Israel and said that if Jerusalem does not agree to a ceasefire by September, it would recognize a Palestinian state a status that Israeli leaders have long objected to. Read On The Fox News App Starmers warning, which echoed similar positions taken by France and Canada, was in direct response to growing frustration with Israel over its continued military operations and the dire humanitarian situation that Palestinians have been facing for months. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Though the U.K.s approach to dealing with the escalating situation runs counter to President Donald Trumps position when it comes to recognizing a two-state solution, Trump has also increasingly expressed his concern over access to food aid and the "real starvation" there. It is unclear how the U.S. will be increasing its involvement to help with food aid, but the Trump administration has distanced itself from its top allies when it comes to Israels military operations in Gaza, with Trump telling reporters on Monday that it was "pretty much up to Israel." Palestinians, carrying pans, gather to receive hot meals on July 23, 2025. Netanyahu Vows To Take Full Control Of Gaza Strip, Liberate People From Hamas Israels security cabinet on Friday approved a plan formed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to occupy Gaza City despite international pushback. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But Netanyahu countered any immediate geopolitical outcry in a post on X and said, "We are not going to occupy Gaza - we are going to free Gaza from Hamas. "Gaza will be demilitarized, and a peaceful civilian administration will be established, one that is not the Palestinian Authority, not Hamas, and not any other terrorist organization," he added. "This will help free our hostages and ensure Gaza does not pose a threat to Israel in the future." Destroyed buildings lie in Gaza, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, July 28, 2025. The plan is still expected to be met with international condemnation, but it's not the only issue at the top of Western minds as Vance and Lammy meet on Friday. "We have a lot to discuss. There's a lot going on in the world," Vance said. "Of course, the situation in the Middle East, the situation with Ukraine and Russia. There's a lot of news there and a lot of things to update each other on." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Apart from the major international security concerns, the duo are also expected to address economic partnerships, which could include recent U.S. tariff announcements. Original article source: US, UK 'disagree' on Gaza plan but 'share' same goal Vance says ahead of Lammy meeting (U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo.) A court-martial for a cadet accused of sexual assault has resulted in a jail sentence and the cadets termination from the Air Force, according to a spokesperson. In a press release, the spokesperson said Cadet Viet Zaengle was convicted and sentenced following a general court-martial that concluded on Wednesday, Aug. 6. USAFA said Zaengle elected trial by jury and was found guilty of one count of sexual assault in violation of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The Academy said the three-day trial included testimony from the victim, witnesses, and presentation of evidence from the U.S. government as well as the defense. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Zaengle was sentenced by a military judge to 30 months confinement (two and a half years), dismissal from the Air Force, a reprimand, and forfeiture of all pay and allowances. 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. USS Savannah returns to Naval Base San Diego after 1-year deployment SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI)Dozens of families welcomed home about 75 U.S. Navy sailors Thursday as the USS Savannah came back to its homeport, Naval Base San Diego. The USS Savannah is a combat ship that was deployed for 12 months and had a dual crew. Part of the crew served the first six months of the mission, and then switched in the Philippines to another crew who returned home after serving the second half of the mission. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I cant wait, we cant wait to see him, said Suzanne Walters, who was waiting for her son, Casey. She and her husband flew in from East Tennessee to welcome their son home. The USS Savannah returned from its maiden deployment, making port visits across the Indo-Pacific, including Cambodia, Singapore, and the Philippines. Those ports we visited are important; they are allies to the US Navy, said Commander Robert Schmidt. The U.S. Navy doesnt disclose deployment timelines, so there is no word on how long the sailors will be home, but they will have time to rest and enjoy family. 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. SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) Dozens of families welcomed home about 75 U.S. Navy sailors Thursday as the USS Savannah came back to its homeport, Naval Base San Diego. The USS Savannah is a combat ship that was deployed for 12 months and had a dual crew. Part of the crew served six months and then switched in the Philippines to another crew who returned home after serving the second half the mission. I cant wait, we cant wait to see him, said Suzanne Walters who was waiting for her son, Casey. She and her husband flew in from East Tennessee to welcome their son home. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The USS Savannah returned from its maiden deployment, making port visits across the Indo-Pacific including Cambodia, Singapore and the Philippines. Those ports we visited are very important to us, they are allies to the U.S. Navy, said Commander Robert Schmidt. The U.S. Navy doesnt disclose deployment timelines, so no word on how long the sailors will be home, but they will have time to rest and enjoy family. 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. (Texas Scorecard) Newly released financial records report that the University of Texas at Austin funded a pro-abortion activist in 2021. As previously reported, activist Rebecca Gomperts had sent an invoice to the university for work she had performed to assist Dr. Abigail Aikenprincipal investigator for the pro-abortion Project SANA at the University of Texas at Austinwith an academic paper. While the records used for the previous report contained an invoice, they did not contain records of whether payment was made. Texas Scorecard sent a follow-up open records request to UT-Austin for records related to this payment. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The university released those records on July 30. They include Gomperts contractor agreement with the university and detailed information about her wire transfer payment. Gomperts entered into a three-year agreement with Project SANA in November 2018. As part of this agreement, Gomperts was expected to provide data to Aiken by November 2019. For this data, Gomperts contractor agreement stated she would receive $6,000. The agreement also outlined two additional pieces of work for Gomperts to perform for an additional $6,000. However, based on the two sets of records Texas Scorecard has examined, this second round of work does not appear to have been done. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Gomperts requested payment in the previously reported 2021 invoice. UT-Austin authorized a payment to Gomperts, a resident of the Netherlands, of 4983.87 euros on May 7, 2021. The total amount in euros is based on that days exchange rate. UT-Austin paid Gomperts 4983.71 euros by wire transfer on May 27, 2021. By that time, however, changes in the exchange rate meant that the amount paid in U.S. dollars had risen to $6,142. Gomperts founded the group Aid Access, which sends abortion drugs through the mail. According to its website, the group has facilitated over 200,000 online abortions to women in the USA since its start in 2018. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Texas Right to Life has called the group an illegal abortion cartel. Also affiliated with Aid Access, Dr. Margaret Carpenter of New Paltz, New York, is currently entangled in legal proceedings with Attorney General Ken Paxton due to her role in sending abortion drugs into Texas. These discoveries come as state lawmakers are considering new restrictions on the interstate trafficking of abortion drugs. Gov. Greg Abbott has placed legislation further protecting unborn children and their mothers from the harm of abortion on the call for the current special session of the Texas Legislature that started on July 21. A Union Pacific train transports coal through Spanish Fork Canyon in Utah County on Wednesday, July 31, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch) A Utah mine is set to be the first in the nation to take advantage of new federal rules expediting leases for coal production on federal land, passed as part of the congressional Republicans big, beautiful bill last month, the U.S. Department of the Interior said Wednesday. Canyon Fuel Company, the operator of Carbon Countys Skyline Mine since 1981, is requesting leasing the Little Eccles Federal Coal Lease Tract, comprising up to 120 acres and containing 858,000 to 1,025,000 tons of recoverable coal, according to the environmental impact analysis. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The company is also applying to expand its existing lease for the Flat Canyon Federal Coal Lease Tract to increase the tract acreage by 660 acres, adding approximately 2,095,000 tons of contiguous recoverable coal, according to the analysis. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX If approved, the developments would produce nearly 3 million tons of recoverable coal on federal land and nearly 4.6 million tons of private coal, in addition to the 40 million tons of coal mined over the last 10 years. Also, the life of the Skyline Mine would be extended for 18 months past its January 2032 estimated retirement date. This is a critical step in unleashing the full economic potential of our coal resources and delivering reliable, affordable energy to American families, Acting Assistant Secretary for Lands and Minerals Management Adam Suess, said in a statement. President Trump made it clear that we will not tie up American energy in red tape. Under his leadership, were cutting delays, boosting production, and putting miners back to work. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Thats the first coal leasing process accelerated because of the big, beautiful bill. Let us know what you think... The law required the accelerated processing of pending coal lease applications, giving the Secretary of Interior 90 days to review them, to publish any required environmental review for public comment, establish the fair market value, hold a lease sale and identify the highest bidder for coal tracts. The secretary may also grant additional approvals to previously issued coal leases so mining can start. The Department of the Interior also highlighted in a news release that the action supported Trumps executive orders seeking to propel the countrys coal industry. (The executive orders) support the domestic coal industry by enhancing coal production and use as a means of securing economic prosperity and national security, lowering electricity costs, and supporting job creation, the environmental review says. They further outline a series of policies and actions to remove regulatory barriers, promote coal exports, and assess coal resources on federal lands, while also encouraging the development of coal technologies. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Bureau of Land Management will soon open a public comment period to determine the fair value market and the maximum economic recovery of the federal coal in the lease area. In a social media post, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox commended the action, saying it would deliver reliable power, rural jobs, and greater American energy independence. Energy abundance means economic strength and national security, he wrote. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Utah is building a legislative wall when it comes to foreign investors purchasing land. Governor Spencer Cox emphasized this new approach when discussing the blocked sale of a property near Provo Airport. Officials had realized that the purchasing company was linked to the Chinese government. Don't miss Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "We will not allow adversarial foreign entities to buy up strategic land in our state," Cox said during a press conference held on a fifth-generation family farm in Palmyra. "The proposed investment was millions of dollars and hundreds of jobs. I dont care. We are not for sale." Utah is one of 26 U.S. states that have passed laws restricting foreign ownership of land, particularly near military installations and other secure institutional landmarks. The move aligns with a broader national push to limit land sales to individuals or corporations tied to countries deemed national security threats, such as China, Russia, Iran and North Korea. What is behind the blocked land deal? The Provo land deal reportedly involved Cirrus Aircraft, a majority state-owned business that manufactures drones and aircraft under the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) umbrella. According to Utah officials, the company's ties to the Chinese government violated a state law that bans people or companies from "adversarial" nations from purchasing property in the state. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement State land purchase amendments, made in 2024 and sponsored by Rep. Candice Pierucci (R-Herriman), have already led to the forced sale of over 35,000 acres in Utah. That owned land fell under the amendments restricted foreign entity definition. It also bans new land acquisitions near sensitive areas and limits access to secure government facilities. Utah sits at the nexus of national security, said Cooper Wimmer, executive vice-president of Strider Technologies, a Utah-based data firm. Weve got the NSA, Hill Air Force Base, Special Forces groups so it makes us a target for foreign influence. Utah's efforts mirror the federal governments National Farm Security Action Plan, which was introduced in August to ban land purchases by Chinese nationals and other foreign entities. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins called it a response to a massive threat to national security. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth added that the Pentagon would block foreign land purchases near military bases in the future. As someone whos charged with leading the Defense Department, I want to know who owns the land around our bases, Hegseth said. Stay in the know. Join 200,000+ readers and get the best of Moneywise sent straight to your inbox every week for free. Subscribe now. How much U.S. land does China own? According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Chinese interests held roughly 277,000 acres of American farmland as of the end of 2023. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Foreign-owned land makes up just over 3% (40.83 million acres) of the total agricultural land in the United States. Canada owns the most with 0.97%, then the Netherlands at 0.37% and Italy at 0.21%, according to the Farm Service Agency. Of that, companies and individuals from adversarial countries hold just 1%, according to researchers at Cornell University. Theres been talk, especially now during election season, that China is trying to potentially control millions of acres of U.S. farmland, says Wendong Zhang, assistant professor and extension economist at the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management. The percentage of land that is under foreign control, either through purchases or long-term leases, is very low overall." Critics argue that allowing restricted foreign entities to own land near military facilities or within the food supply chain could threaten national security. Concerns include surveillance, sabotage and the use of land to influence local school districts and universities. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Others warn that the fears are exaggerated. Foreign investments can boost rural economies and fund infrastructure improvements. In many cases, these purchases are made by international companies with no political ties. Still, Utah lawmakers said they prefer to err on the side of caution. Pierucci is already crafting new legislation targeting water infrastructure and Chinese-made technologies. Water is a critical resource, she said. Were going to do an assessment on the vulnerabilities we have in our water system. For Utah residents, the law may create a sense of improved security, but it could have unintended side effects. Developers may see less funding from international investors, and farmers hoping to sell land might face a smaller pool of buyers. As Utah and the federal government continue to take action, more states may follow suit with similar laws. What to read next This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind. TAHLEQUAH Being prepared for the worst-case scenario is daunting, and with cuts to budget and staffing at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, forecasting of weather events may be compromised. "In 2024, there were 27 confirmed weather/climate disaster events with losses exceeding $1 billion each to affect United States," states the National Centers for Environmental Information website website. "These events included one drought event, one flooding event, 17 severe storm events, five tropical cyclone events, one wildfire event, and two winter storm events." Many of the infrastructure assets of Lake Region Electric Cooperative are exposed to outside elements, said General Manager and CEO Glen Clark. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "The well-being of facilities is always a concern for any utility company. Storms, particularly high winds, cause a lot of damage to the overhead lines," Clark said. "A major contributor to the damage is trees that are blown over or branches that fall and tear down the electric lines." Right-of-way easements are 30 feet 15 feet on each side of the electric line, Clark said. "It is a constant task to keep those areas free from trees and brush. We also deal with a lot of fallen trees that are outside our easement," Clark said. "Many trees in our region grow to well over 60 feet tall. When they fall and hit lines, they can break several poles, creating a domino effect." Clark said that over the past several years, LREC has shortened the distance between the poles and uses heavier and taller poles to try to build a stronger system. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Lightning is another weather force we deal with. LREC has a lot of electronic equipment on our distribution grid that allows us to make adjustments to our network from the dispatch center," Clark said. "Lightning can also hit the electric line and transformers, causing breakers and fuses to blow, which can lead to outages for our members." General Manager Jim Reagan, Northeast Oklahoma Public Facilities Authority, said the utility has an emergency plan. "We meet with local officials, police, sheriffs, fire departments, city officials, and civil defense to ensure that we all know what our role is in the event of a natural emergency," Reagan said. Customers and the public are updated and made aware of what to do in an emergency situation, Reagan said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "[We do that] by handing out awareness papers to our customers, mailing out damage prevention and awareness inserts with the bills, placing ads in the local newspaper, posting on our website, and through social media," Reagan said. The two-page awareness document informs customers what to do if a leak is discovered and whom to contact; that pipeline markers are used by the utility to make them easier to locate; and that NOPFA does not maintain the pipes from the meter into the home. Four things to look for to identify a gas leak are: a dense fog, mist or white cloud; bubbling in water and creeks or blowing dust and discolored or drying vegetation; a rotten egg odor added to the odorless gas for leak detection; and a whistling, hissing or roaring noise. The city of Tahlequah-Cherokee County Emergency Management department is a volunteer organization formed to minimizing the effects of a disaster upon the community. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "The professional and volunteer staff of TCCEM is trained to respond to a wide variety of technological and natural disasters," states the plan. "Hazard mitigation is an important part of group activities and includes the identification and elimination of possible long-term hazards." The group coordinates with local, state and federal to respond to a disaster, states the city's site. The coordination of disaster emergency response and the Emergency Operation Center is the responsibility of TCCEM. Emergency shelters are located in several areas around the county. The public storm shelter in Tahlequah is in the Northeastern State University Center basement; other locations are Hulbert, Keys, Peggs and Lowery schools, and the Keys, Welling and Chicken Creek Fire Departments. "CivicReady" is a countywide mass notification system that to issue urgent notifications, emergency instructions, warnings, announcements and routine communications to citizens via email, text and voicemail, to keep citizens informed. Residents can access this service by going to cherokeecounty-911.com/civic-ready. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Once users are logged in, they can opt in to available groups, edit contact details and select notification preferences," states the city's site. Director Kim Dorr, Tahlequah Public Works Authority, said TPWA continually looks for ways to keep the communities' services in full operation, no matter what the weather brings. "During a major weather event, TPWA starts with a priority list which includes hospitals, retirement centers, nursing homes, and any customers who have communicated that they are on mandatory medical devices that require constant service," Dorr said. "We have entire teams out that get these places taken care of so that we can then focus on the rest of the community." TPWA communicates heavily with local emergency management to collaborate on the best way to quickly and efficiently resolve these situations, Dorr said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Dorr said that during major weather events, it's not uncommon for services to be interrupted. "But our preventative measures help tremendously during these times," Dorr said. "Our plants water and wastewater do their due diligence on maintaining enough fuel on hand for generators, as well as applying consistent inspections on generators, emergency pumps and heavy equipment." The Electric Department works to ensure all supplies and materials are stocked to remain prepared for a significant weather event, Dorr said. "Our electric brush crew also works hard at keeping the trees trimmed and maintains rights-of-way," Dorr said. "Our water and sewer departments diligently survey lines throughout the city to ensure they are clear of debris to help with backups that could be brought forth during floods." NEED TO KNOW A local Virginia councilman who was set on fire at his office has sustained second- and third-degree burns over more than half his body Lee Vogler, a husband and father of two children, is expected to remain in the hospital for at least six months, his family said this week Local police arrested Shotsie Michael Buck Hayes, 29, hours after the attack and alleged the incident was inspired by a personal, not political matter between the two men A Virginia elected official who was doused in gasoline and set on fire at his office last week sustained second- and third-degree burns over more than half his body, according to an online update shared by friends and family. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Lee Vogler, a longtime member of the Danville City Council, in Danville, Va., is currently recovering at the UNC Chapel Hill Burn Clinic and is in stable but critical condition, according to the update posted to a GoFundMe page set up to help the 38-year-old pay for medical expenses. His wife, Blair, and their children are by his side as he begins what will be a long, painful, and uncertain recovery, the page reads. He faces multiple surgeries, an extended hospital stay, and months if not years of rehabilitation. The Danville Police Department said the July 30 attack on Vogler was personal and not political, PEOPLE reported last week. "An individual forced his way into our office carrying a five gallon bucket of gasoline and poured it on Lee," according to Andrew Brooks, who runs Showcase Magazine and co-owns it with Vogler. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Brooks, who also launched the GoFundMe page for Vogler, said in an emotional social media video that Vogler had attempted to flee after being doused with the gasoline and ran to the front of the building, but the individual followed him and set him on fire." Danville Police announced hours after the attack that Shotsie Michael Buck Hayes had been arrested and charged with attempted first-degree murder and aggravated malicious wounding. Police said Hayes, 29, had fled the scene in his car after burning Vogler. Based on the investigation at the time of this release, the victim and the suspect are known to each other and the attack stems from a personal matter not related to the victims position on Danville City Council or any other political affiliation, the Danville Police Department said in a statement. Danville City Council Lee Vogler Lee Vogler Brooks described the attack on Vogler as a horrific and senseless act of violence in the fundraiser, which has raised nearly $130,000 as of Friday, Aug. 8. Vogler shares two young children with his wife Blair, who said in an update this week that doctors expect the councilman to be in the hospital for at least six months while recovering. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement https://people-app.onelink.me/HNIa/kz7l4cuf Lees injuries will permanently impact his and his familys lives, and the sheer amount of financial resources required for long-term care is difficult to even estimate, she said. Lee is a fighter, Voglers wife added in another statement. He has always faced challenges with courage, determination, and an unbreakable spirit. We are incredibly thankful for the exceptional care at UNC Chapel Hill and the overwhelming support from friends, neighbors, and our Danville community. At this time, we kindly ask for privacy as Lee continues to heal, and we appreciate your continued prayers for our family and the medical team. Read the original article on People The Brief The Department of Education says five Northern Virginia school districts are in violation of Title IX. The DOE says the school districts must reverse their bathroom polices or risk imminent enforcement action, including referral to the U.S. Department of Justice. Prince William County school board members privately met with their lawyers Thursday night, as other districts reviewed the DOE's letter as well. PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, Va. - Prince William School District Board members met privately with district attorneys Thursday night amid pressure from the Department of Education to reverse its policy that allows transgender students to use the restroom consistent with their gender identity. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This comes as the DOE says five Northern Virginia districts are in violation of title IX and must amend their policies. What we know Several years ago, a Virginia-based federal appeals court ruled transgender students can use restrooms consistent with their gender identity. But this past January, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that essentially called on the Department of Education to block federal funds to schools that support students who identify as transgender. Days later, a conservative group filed a complaint with the Department of Education against five Northern Virginia school districts over their bathroom policies. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In late July, the DOE came back and said its investigation found the following districts are in fact in violation of Title IX: Alexandria City Public Schools, Arlington Public Schools, Fairfax Public schools, Prince William County Public Schools and Loudoun County Public Schools. The DOE said specifically its Office for Civil Rights "determined that the Divisions policies, which allow students to access intimate, sex-segregated facilities based on the students subjective gender identity, violate Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972." The DOE announced if the school districts don't reverse their policies, they "risk imminent enforcement action including referral to the U.S. Department of Justice." How they're responding In a statement to FOX 5, Prince William County Public Schools said Thursday night that it "continues to review and work through legal issues related to the proposed Resolution Agreement provided by the U.S. Department of Educations Office for Civil Rights (OCR). As we prepare for the first day of school on August 18, please be assured that PWCS remains firmly committed to fostering a safe, inclusive, and respectful learning environment for all students and staff. Our policies and practices are guided by our core values and by applicable federal and state laws. PWCS continues to support the well-being and dignity of every student." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The district did not disclose any details about its board members' private discussions with attorneys. Fairfax County Public Schools told FOX 5, "Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) received on July 25 the letter referenced in the U.S. Department of Educations Office for Civil Rights (OCR) press release dated July 25, 2025. We are reviewing the document in detail and will respond after we have completed our review. FCPS remains committed to fostering a safe, supportive, welcoming, and inclusive school environment for all students and staff." Loudon County Public Schools told FOX 5 "the board is planning to discuss this Tuesday evening at their regularly scheduled board meeting." And Arlington County Public Schools said "APS has received a letter from the U.S. Department of Education regarding Title IX and transgender students in our schools. We are reviewing the letter, assessing next steps and engaging with DOE on the issues involved in their inquiry. As we prepare for the new school year, we remain committed to supporting all students, including our LGBTQIA+ community. We are committed to adhering to the requirements of Title IX and other federal and Virginia law provisions, as well as ensuring every student in our care has access to a safe, supportive learning environment." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We did not immediately hear back from Alexandria City Public Schools. What's next FOX 5 will continue to monitor each district's ongoing reviews and discussions to see if they reverse or amend their policies, and they don't, what action, if any, the DOE takes. TROTWOOD, Ohio (WDTN) First responders were called to a fire Friday morning in Trotwood. WDTN Photo/Jared Thrush According to Montgomery County Regional Dispatch, firefighters were dispatched at 10:24 a.m. to the area of Forestdale and Hoover avenues. Crews were sent to the area in reference to a reported fire. Expect heavy traffic this week on US 127 Our 2 NEWS crew arrived to the area, and located firefighters in the 900 block of Olive Road. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A fire chief told 2 NEWS at the scene that crews arrived to find a vacant house on fire. The chief also said no injuries have been reported as a result of the fire. 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. When Val McDermid failed to publish a new novel last year, speculation was rife. Had the celebrated author been too busy writing her close friend Nicola Sturgeons soon-to-be-published memoir, Frankly, to focus on her own work? I did not help with it. She did it herself. Truly, she says, with the sort of pained smile that comes from having to repeat the same denial. All McDermid admits to doing is cracking the whip. [Nicola] messaged me one morning and said, Im sitting here staring at the screen and theres nothing coming. I dont know what to do. So, I said, Stop fannying about on WhatsApp and get writing. Just write. It doesnt matter if its rubbish, you can fix it later. At 70 years old, with over 40 novels to her name, and sales of more than 19 million, there is little McDermid doesnt know about crafting a bestseller. Last years publishing hiatus was because she was having back surgery to treat spinal stenosis, which causes intense nerve pain. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I was out of action for quite a while, she tells me over Zoom, looking very well and trim, despite admitting to some residual nerve pain. Sitting and writing all the time doesnt help. I try to get up and move every hour. We live opposite a nature reserve so there is no excuse for not going for a wee walk, she adds, of her home in Edinburghs Stockbridge neighbourhood. This October will see McDermid back on her publishing schedule, with the next instalment of her Karen Pirie series Silent Bones, currently on its second ITV series, in which the cold case cracking specialist has to figure out what a book club might have had to do with the death of a hotel manager. Julia Brown as Cat Grant in ITVs second series of Karen Pirie - Mark Mainz The trouble is, Miss McDermid, you have no sense of the dramatic Meanwhile, McDermid has been busy investigating a particularly icy case of her own from the late 16th century: the murder of 29-year-old Christopher Marlowe in an alehouse in Deptford, south-east London, in 1593. The death of the Elizabethan playwright, whose work included Doctor Faustus and The Jew of Malta, has provoked centuries of speculation and inspired countless dramatic versions of what might have occurred that night. The latest example is the Royal Shakespeare Companys forthcoming Born With Teeth with Ncuti Gatwa, the erstwhile Doctor Who as Marlowe, and his Sex Education co-star Edward Bluemel as Shakespeare. In his day, Marlowe overshadowed the upstart playwright and, in 2016, he was credited as co-writing Shakespeares three Henry VI plays by the editors of the New Oxford Shakespeare. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement McDermid will add her take on what might have happened to Marlowe, who was said to have been homosexual, an atheist and a spy, in her first serious attempt at writing a stage play, And Midnight Never Come. The frame of the play is Marlowes last day, but there are cut scenes in blank verse that go back and explain where we were, she says. The Royal Shakespeare Companys forthcoming Born With Teeth stars Ncuti Gatwa as Marlowe and Edward Bluemel as Shakespeare - Handout It is being performed as a script-in-hand reading at the Pitlochry Festival Theatre and at the Edinburgh International Book Festival this month, with the hope of being picked up for a full theatrical run at a later date. The more people talk about Marlowe, the more exciting it becomes, she says, about the RSCs version of Marlowes life, which she is keen to see, not least because Gatwa is a fellow Fifer and we have to stick together. McDermid has been working on her play off-and-on for more than 40 years after falling for Marlowe as an English undergraduate at Oxford, where she was the first student from a Scottish state school to be accepted at St Hildas College. I first tried writing this in my 20s. But I didnt have a clue what I was doing, she says. One of my tutors at Oxford once said to me, The trouble is, Miss McDermid, you have no sense of the dramatic, which I think I have disproved over the years, but I had no idea of how to construct a drama that would work [on stage]. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement McDermids version leans into Marlowes sexuality, making that the crucial factor in his death. She looks askance at the documentary evidence to reveal a love story, rather than a spy story or any of the other narratives that emerge from the archives. She once had a play staged before, by accident, when she was a young trainee journalist in Devon. An actor friend read her first attempt at writing the Great English Novel and suggested she turn it into a play. So I just basically crossed out the descriptions and left in the dialogue and wrote some more dialogue. A local theatre director staged it as part of a season of new plays. But I didnt succeed beyond that because I didnt know what I was doing. She spent 16 years as a journalist before turning to writing full time. Teaming up with Sturgeon McDermid and Sturgeon have been friends for the past decade, after the crime writer was interviewed by the former first minister at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. McDermid invited Sturgeon and her then-husband to dinner first, to break the ice, she has said; the evening went so well that the guests stayed until after midnight. Given that McDermid and Sturgeon have form teaming up on stage as a special double act called Books & Banter, might they join forces on a book? Who knows, says McDermid, not ruling it out. She thinks Sturgeon probably will write another book, adding: She has learnt a lot during the process of writing [her memoir] Frankly. Val McDermid and Nicola Sturgeon hosting their Books & Banter show during Glasgow International Comedy Festival - Jane Barlow Sturgeon who was cleared by police investigating the finances of the ruling Scottish National party in March will discuss her new memoir with Kirsty Wark at Edinburghs book festival. (Her estranged husband, Peter Murrell, the former SNP chief executive, still faces a charge of embezzlement of SNP funds.) In the past year or so, Sturgeon has sometimes stayed at the Edinburgh flat McDermid and her partner still own when shes needed a place to stay. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Shes been treated appallingly by Police Scotland and by the media, outside Scotland and inside, says McDermid, of the two-year investigation into her friend. Ive seen some of the stuff she gets poured on her head and its horrible. You would not say that to your wife or your sister but to say it to a complete stranger seems to be acceptable. It is misogynistic. Any woman in Scottish politics will tell you the same thing. I have friends who have left politics because of it. I have friends who grit their teeth and go into work every day and put up with it. It is not just Nicola who is the victim of this. Violence against women In 2013, McDermid herself suffered a physical attack when a woman who took offence at a paragraph the author wrote in 1985 threw ink in her face. For a few months I was quite anxious and Id keep an eye on the queues at signings to see if I could spot anyone behaving oddly, but you cant allow yourself to be defined by something like that, she has said of the incident. Female crime authors are routinely called out for writing about violence against women, to which McDermid has replied: I dont understand why we are somehow not supposed to write about that which affects us. Born 4 June 1955, McDermid grew up in Kirkcaldy, in the heart of the Fifes mining community. She met her partner Jo Sharp in 2013, when Sharp came to listen to McDermid give a talk at her old Oxford college. When McDermid was growing up and coming to terms with her own sexuality there was a desert of queer fiction [and] what there was, was often negative, she says, citing Radclyffe Halls The Well of Loneliness. If you read that and thought I dont want to call myself Steve [like Halls female protagonist] and I dont want to kill myself and I dont want to wear a suit, so Im obviously not a lesbian, that was your formula. Val McDermids latest book Silent Bones will be published by Sphere in October - Getty Images Her first novel, Report for Murder (1987), featured publishings first lesbian detective, Lindsay Gordon. Back then, the crime novel was about white, middle-class people from the Home Counties, mostly. There was almost nothing regional and certainly nothing working class. An editor pushed back when she pitched her next series, about Kate Brannigan, a straight private investigator, who lived in Manchester, asking if people will really care what happens in Manchester? I say that now, and it sounds ludicrous. But she thought that was a perfectly reasonable question back in 1990. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Luckily, cultural expectations change, she adds. The publishing industry is more open to queer writers and queer characters in fiction, [as well as] other lives on the fringe. Its important that we reflect all of our society otherwise [fiction] just becomes this unpleasant ghetto of people with a particular mindset. How about men? Are men now the ones having trouble getting published? I think men are whinging about it more. But men have been whinging about this since the 1980s. Oh, youve got to be a woman to get published these days. No, youve just got to write a good book, she says. That is the basic ground rule for getting published. Write. A. Good. Book. And Midnight Never Come will take place in the Studio at Pitlochry Festival Theatre on Aug 18 and at the Edinburgh International Book Festival on Aug 19. Silent Bones will be published by Sphere on Oct 23 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. VALPARAISO, Ind. A Porter County man has been ordered to pay more than $120,000 in restitution for his role in a scheme to defraud the Indiana Department of Environmental Management. Alan Jones, a 55-year-old Valparaiso resident, was sentenced to 12 months of probation and ordered to pay $123,523 in restitution to the Indiana Department of Environmental Management, Acting United States Attorney Scott Proctor announced Thursday. Overnight South Side crash leaves motorcyclist dead Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to prosecutors, the scheme unfolded while Jones was working at an environmental consulting company in Chesterton, Indiana. Jones and the company had been hired by gas station owners to manage and perform remediation work related to underground storage tank leaks and in order to help reimburse the remediation costs, the State of Indiana created a state trust fund, administered by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management. But prosecutors said Jones wenbt on to submit false and fraudulent applications for reimbursement of costs that were not actually incurred, reaping the benefit of state funds he was not entitled to. Man killed after argument leads to stabbing on South Side Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Alan Jones participated in a scheme to fraudulently obtain public money from the State of Indiana, Proctor said. This district is committed to prosecuting those who defraud government programs. I want to thank the combined team of state and federal law enforcement professionals for the thorough investigation that supported this prosecution. On Wednesday, United States District Court Judge James Moody handed down the sentence. Jones had previously pleaded guilty to a federal felony for mail fraud. It is unclear when the scheme unfolded and prosecutors did not provide a booking photo for Jones. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. Aug. 7By Sarah Nelson, The Minnesota Star Tribune (TNS) MINNEAPOLIS Accused assassin Vance Boelter entered a not guilty plea to his federal charges Thursday in connection with the political shootings of two Minnesota lawmakers and their families last month. Boelter, 58, of Green Isle, made the plea during a brief hearing in a Minneapolis federal courtroom after waiving the reading of his six-count indictment by U.S. Magistrate Judge Dulce Foster in connection with the stalking and slaying of state Rep. Melissa Hortman, her husband, Mark Hortman, the shooting of John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, and attempted shooting of their daughter, Hope, in the families' homes. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Boelter's federal defender, Manny Atwal, indicated ahead of the arraignment that he would plead not guilty to his counts. According to charging documents, Boelter drove an SUV designed to look like a police cruiser and donned a hyper-realistic mask and law enforcement uniform during the gunfire. Two of Boelter's federal charges carry the possibility of the death penalty if convicted. Prosecutors have not made a decision whether they will pursue a capital sentence, which would require the green light from Attorney General Pam Bondi. An unshaven Boelter, wearing a neon orange sweatshirt, did not address the court beyond agreeing to enter a plea. The court also laid out a schedule for Boelter's federal proceedings that stretched into 2026, though no trial date has been set. Federal prosecutors said the case will require review of an enormous volume of discovery due to the investigation arising from the largest manhunt in Minnesota history. The 43-hour search for Boelter following the shootings ended in Green Isle when investigators found him just one mile from his home. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "That discovery will include likely hundreds or even thousands of hours of video footage, including body-worn camera and squad video from more than a dozen different law enforcement agencies," prosecutors wrote in court records. Boelter also faces state charges including two counts of second-degree intentional murder and two counts of second-degree attempted intentional murder. JD Vances travel plans have been attracting scrutiny after reports that the vice president had water levels raised ahead of a birthday boating trip with his family. However, it now seems it was the Secret Service who asked military engineers to raise the water level of Ohios Little Miami Riverwithout the VPs knowledge. A spokesperson for the vice president said neither Vance nor his staff had any knowledge of the request, according to The Guardian. The Secret Service often employs protective measures without the knowledge of the vice president or his staff, as was the case last weekend, the statement read. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) confirmed that its Louisville district received a request to increase outflow at Caesar Creek Lake to support what it called the safe navigation of the vice presidents security detail. The agency complied. Little Miami River Near Yellow Springs, Ohio. / Spencer Wood / Getty Images/iStockphoto The Secret Service followed up Thursday with a revised statement reiterating that the vice presidents office was not involved in the decision and that the change had been operationally necessary to accommodate motorized watercraft, law enforcement, and emergency responders. According to the Secret Service, a public safety boat reportedly ran aground during a scouting mission with agents ahead of the trip, prompting the request to raise the water level. The incident is the latest in a string of travel-related issues for Vance. The vice president, his wife Usha, and their three children are expected to arrive in the United Kingdom this weekend. Their itinerary includes sightseeing in London, a cottage stay in the Cotswolds, and a trip to Scotland, according to The Telegraph. Graphs on the USGS website show an increase followed by a sudden drop in the lake's water levels in early August. / USGS British protesters aligned with anti-Trump movements have already pledged to disrupt Vances visit to the English countryside. The Cotswoldsfrequented by King Charles III, Hugh Grant, and David Beckhamhas also become home to Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi, who moved to the U.K. after Trumps 2024 re-election. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Vances previous vacations have also been met with resistance. In March, demonstrators forced him to leave a Vermont ski resort over the administrations stance on Ukraine. Protesters held signs calling him a national disgrace and told him to go ski in Russia. In early July, more than 100 protesters gathered outside Disneylands Grand Californian Hotel, where the Vances were booked, to denounce the Trump administrations deportation policies. The director of Craigavon House has said reports of vandalism at the historic site are "extremely disappointing". A former home of Northern Ireland's first Prime Minister, Sir James Craig, the house was built on the Holywood Road in the 1880s. The Somme Association, who now manage the historic site, said a "malicious and destructive act of vandalism" has taken place at the property. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Carol Walker said vandals "broke in and intentionally destroyed the beautifully crafted 150-year-old spindles on the double return staircase". She added that they then "removed some of the original ornate cornice to use as a weight for the Union flag that they ironically erected". The Somme Association made an appeal "to anyone who works with the youth of east Belfast to please educate them on the significance of this historic house and to encourage them to stop this wilful destruction". The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) said it attended a property on the Circular Road area of east Belfast on Friday 8 August after receiving a report of burglary and criminal damage. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In a statement, it said: "It is believed that entry was gained to the building sometime on Monday night, 4 August, with damage subsequently caused to the interior". TUV Councillor Matthew Warrick said Craigavon House "deserves better". "Craigavon House is not just a building," he continued. "It is a symbol of Ulster's contribution to history, and it deserves better than this - better than vandalism, and better than neglect." What is Craigavon House? Craigavon House was built for Sir James Craig's father, James Craig senior and was designed by the Waterford-born architect Thomas Jackson. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The house was the backdrop for the reading of the Ulster Solemn League and Covenant by former unionist leader Edward Carson in 1912. The lawns at the front of the house were used as a location for anti-Home Rule rallies and during the formation of the Ulster Volunteer Force in 1913. In 1917, it was opened as a hospital for those sick and injured in the the First World War. BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First) A recent multi-agency operation led to the arrest of two people and the seizure of a gun and various drugs in Louisiana. The operation included a drug bust at KC Vapes located at 659 West Main Street in New Roads, according to the Pointe Coupee Parish Sheriffs Office (PCPSO). A gun, fentanyl, and marijuana were seized during an investigation in Pointe Coupee Parish. (Photo courtesy of Pointe Coupee Parish Sheriffs Office) Deputies said they found a substantial cache of illegal narcotics and related contraband. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The sheriffs office seized a .357 caliber Glock 32 handgun, THC vape cartridges, fentanyl in the form of pressed pills and a powdered substance, illegal nicotine vapes, around eight grams of marijuana, and two boxes of drug paraphernalia. Cullen Carmesin and Cameron Wilkinson were arrested in connection with this investigation. Carmesin was arrested by the West Feliciana Parish Sheriffs Office and charged with one count of distribution and possession with the intent to distribute Schedule I CDS, one count of prohibited acts, one count of possession of a Schedule I CDS, one count of illegal carrying of a weapon and one count of manufacturer transfer for possession of machine gun. PCPSO said Wilkinson was arrested in Baton Rouge on July 16. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement During the investigation, PCPSO learned that marijuana was being mailed from California. Officers successfully intercepted the operation before the suspects could receive their next shipment, an anticipated two-pound order, the sheriffs office said. The fentanyl supply was linked to Wilkinson, PCPSO said. This operation represents a clear threat to public safety, particularly with the presence of fentanyla highly lethal substance even in small doses, said Sheriff Rene Thibodeaux. We are actively working to revoke the business license associated with the premises and will pursue all legal avenues to ensure this location is not used for illegal activity in the future. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Pointe Coupee Narcotics Task Force was assisted by the ATF, NRPD, West Feliciana Parish Sheriffs Office, and DEA on this case. 2 teens accused of multiple vehicle burglaries in Livingston Parish Latest 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 Louisiana First News. US President Donald Trump on Thursday ordered officials to work on a new census excluding undocumented immigrants, as the White House presses Republican states to draw more favorable voter maps ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. Trump called for a "new and highly accurate" census that he wanted based on unspecified "modern day facts and figures" gleaned from the 2024 election. "People who are in our Country illegally WILL NOT BE COUNTED IN THE CENSUS," he said in the social media post. The US Constitution since 1790 has required a census every 10 years that counts the "whole number of persons in each state" -- including people in the country illegally. The next one is not due until 2030, although preparations for the enormous task are already underway. Trump did not make clear if he was referring to the regularly scheduled population count or a special survey undertaken earlier. The census is used to determine how many members of Congress are elected from each state, and the Pew Research Center estimates that ignoring unauthorized migrants in 2020 would have deprived California, Florida and Texas of one House seat each. It is also used for apportioning votes in the state-by-state "electoral college" that decides presidential elections and for allocating trillions of dollars in federal funding. Trump attempted similar moves in his first term, including the addition of a citizenship question to the census, but was blocked by the Supreme Court. The court declined to rule on whether the millions of people in the country without legal status should be excluded. Trump's call for a new census comes with state-level lawmakers and officials in Texas locking horns over a new electoral map that would likely net Republicans up to five extra House seats in 2026. More than 50 Texas Democratic lawmakers have fled to multiple Democratic states in an effort to block the passage of the proposed blueprint during a special legislative session. Texas Republicans have threatened to arrest them, and US Senator John Cornyn announced he had successfully petitioned the FBI to help state and local law enforcement locate them. Republican governors in several other states are exploring new maps in a bid to protect the party's razor-thin majority in the House, which would flip next year with three Democratic gains. Vice President JD Vance was scheduled to visit Indiana on Thursday to discuss redistricting with Governor Mike Braun and press local Republicans to eke out another seat for the party. Politico reported that Republicans could draw as many as 10 new seats ahead of the midterms and are targeting Ohio, Missouri, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida. But some Republicans have warned that opening a Pandora's box of mid-cycle partisan redistricting -- known as "gerrymandering" -- risks making conservative lawmakers an endangered species in liberal states Republican congressman Kevin Kiley, whose seat would likely disappear under a retaliatory gerrymandering in California, has introduced a bill to block all mid-decade redistricting. In Indiana, Braun said any redistricting conversation would be "exploratory," as the state's maps were drawn fairly in 2021, Indianapolis public broadcaster WFYI reported. "We tried to adhere to township lines and the configurations don't look like an octopus," Braun said, according to the TV and radio network. Democrats have vowed to retaliate with their own proposals, possibly in New York and California, the country's largest states. Texas legislators were evacuated from their suburban Chicago hotel on Wednesday morning following an unspecified threat. State representative John Bucy told NBC News the group had spent two hours outside the building but had not been diverted from pursuing their "fight for voting rights." Democratic Illinois Governor JB Pritzker authorized state police to guard the group. Venezuelans make up the largest share of migrants deported to third countries since President Donald Trump returned to the White House, according to a Miami Herald analysis of federal data. The records, which show that two of every five migrants deported to third countries are Venezuelan, were obtained by the University of California, Berkeleys Deportation Data Project through a public records request. While the dataset, covering the first half of the year, is likely incomplete, it nonetheless reveals that roughly 2,900 Venezuelan nationals were deported to countries where they were neither born nor were citizens. Almost all were transferred to Spanish-speaking nations, including Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador, Spain and Portugal. But there were anomalies: At least two were sent to Austria, one to Italy, one to Syria, and one to the remote Pacific archipelago of Vanuatu. Out of 7,900 total deportations to third countries so far this year, more than a third involved Venezuelans a group that has increasingly been targeted by federal immigration authorities amid allegations that the Nicolas Maduro regime has deliberately released criminals and gang members into U.S.-bound migrant caravans. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Trump Administration is committed to keeping the Presidents promise to the American people and removing illegal aliens from the United States, Abigail Jackson, a White House spokesperson told the Herald. In March, the administration invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to justify the mass deportation of 230 Venezuelans to El Salvador, labeling them criminals or members of the feared Tren de Aragua gang. Upon arrival, they were placed in El Salvadors maximum-security prison known as CECOT. But according to immigration records, more than half of those deported under the so-called alien enemies executive order had no criminal convictions or pending charges. Many had simply applied for asylum. After four months in Salvadoran custody, most were later flown to Venezuela. The rest of the Venezuelans deported to third countries have experienced dramatically different circumstances. Approximately 1,850 were sent to Mexico, 680 to Honduras and more than 200 to El Salvador. While those migrants were not imprisoned upon arrival, many were left vulnerable and stranded without legal recourse, identification, or financial means to continue their journeys. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In northern Mexico, migrants are often dropped off in remote towns where there is little infrastructure and no access to legal assistance. Elizabeth Amaran, a South Florida-based immigration attorney, said migrants are being sent to these locations with only a 10-day transit permit and no opportunity to apply for asylum or legal residency. Mexican authorities reportedly inform them upon arrival that no refugee process is available and instruct them to leave the country within days. Left without the option to travel north or remain legally, many find themselves trapped in a legal and humanitarian limbo. Theyre put on buses and told theyre going to an office to apply for asylum in Mexico, but that never happens, Amaran said. When they arrive, Mexican officials tell them theres no such process and just give them a 10-day pass to leave. They cant go north, they cant stay. Theyre trapped. The policy currently driving the deportations to third countries is rooted in a July 9 memo by Todd Lyons, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The directive grants immigration officials new latitude to deport migrantssometimes with as little as six hours notice. The memo allows ICE to deport non-citizens, including long-term U.S. residents, to countries other than their own, so long as the individual is given an opportunity to speak with an attorney. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement That discretionary power was reinforced by a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that upheld the administrations authority to deport migrants to third countries, provided they are given some form of notice. However, the ruling did not define what constitutes adequate notice or due process, creating a legal gray area that immigration lawyers say has left vulnerable migrants without protections. In practice, legal advocates say the six-hour window is not sufficient for migrants to mount a legal defense or even contact family and lawyers. Many are held in remote facilities far from legal services or consular support. In some cases, migrants have been transferred from detention centers in Florida to others in Louisiana or Texas just days before being deported, with minimal warning. South Florida, home to one of the largest concentrations of Cuban, Venezuelan, Nicaraguan and Haitian immigrants in the country, has emerged as one of the regions most affected by the policy. Many of those affected are asylum seekers with pending applications, refugees with protected status, or longtime residents with old deportation orders that had not been previously enforced. The governments of Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua are frequently described as totalitarian regimes and face multiple international accusations of human rights violations, while Haiti is currently under a wave of violence that has left most of the country under the control of criminal gangs. Ineffective protections The data show that 514 Cubans were reported to third countries during the first half of the year, most of them to Mexico. Around 230 Nicaraguans and roughly 90 Haitians were also moved to countries to which they had no connections. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Under the current guidelines, legal protections like withholding of removal a status that allows individuals to remain in the U.S. if returning to their home country would result in persecution have become increasingly ineffective. Migrants now must also prove that they would face harm in the third country to which theyre being sent, a difficult legal burden, especially when that country is unfamiliar or unsafe. For many Venezuelans, Cubans and Nicaraguans in legal limbo, the erosion of the protections has meant renewed vulnerability. Some had fled political persecution, gang violence, or humanitarian collapse in their home countries. Others had built lives in the U.S. over many years, only to find themselves suddenly subject to removal proceedings under a legal framework that offers few options for appeal. Cases involving Cuban migrants have also come under scrutiny. While the U.S. has historically limited deportations to Cuba due to Havanas strict conditions for accepting returnees, the third-country policy has provided a loophole. Now, Cubans who would otherwise be shielded from deportation are being sent to Mexico or Central America, where they lack legal status, support networks or protection from violence and exploitation. Two of Amarans recent cases involved Cuban men detained in Florida who were being held in the Krome detention center before being transferred to Louisiana detention facilities. One had a minor theft conviction; the other had no criminal record and was awaiting a decision on a family petition to legally migrate to the United States. Both, she said, were deported to Mexico without adequate warning or the opportunity to present a credible fear interviewa legal step that could have paused their removal and given them the chance to apply for asylum. Neither had legal representation at the time of deportation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Once in Mexico, her clients were put on buses and were told that they would be taken to an office where they would be able to apply for a temporary status to stay in the country. But they were misled, Amaran said. They were tricked into getting on the buses to avoid any kind of confrontation, and were taken to a small town the middle of nowhere where officials told them, Theres nothing for you here, we dont have no papers, no permits to give you. So you have 10 days to leave the country. They were given only a 10-day temporary pass stating that they could only travel south, not north, she said. So basically, they were left in the middle of nowhere, with no authorization to stay in the country and no money to leave the country. They had to start looking for people, relatives, that could help them leave Mexico, but even sending them money proved hard because they didnt have the documents needed to collect the money transfered, she said. Only one of them found a way to get out, and that is because a relative was able to travel to where he was and got him out... and return to Cuba. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In many deportations to third countries migrants are served removal notices only hours before their flights. Attorneys say the notices often arrive late at night or shortly before business hours begin, making it nearly impossible for detainees to contact legal counsel or consular services. Even when the opportunity to speak with an attorney exists in theory, the logistical realitylimited phone access, language barriers, remote detention centersmeans that most deportations proceed without meaningful legal intervention. The problem is compounded by bureaucratic technicalities. Migrants who fail to file their asylum applications within one year of arrival in the U.S. are automatically disqualified from the formal asylum process unless they can prove exceptional circumstances. Others who arrived legally as children but later lost their status due to minor infractions now find themselves targeted under the third-country deportation policy. As the Trump administration doubles down on its hardline immigration agenda, advocates warn that the new deportation strategy undermines established humanitarian norms. By rerouting vulnerable migrants to unfamiliar nations with little to no infrastructure for receiving refugees, the policy effectively circumvents long-standing international commitments to asylum seekers. Though the administration insists the deportations target criminals and threats to national security, available data suggest otherwise. The majority of deported Venezuelans had no criminal history. Many had applied for asylum or other forms of relief and were still awaiting outcomes. Others had been swept up in enforcement operations due to old removal orders or minor legal infractions. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The trend has become a source of concern for the leadership of Venezuelas opposition, even though the movement continues to see Washington as its biggest ally in its struggle against Maduro. Reacting to the administration sending Venezuelans to a maximum security prison in El Salvador, Venezuelan opposition leaders Maria Corina Machado and Edmundo Gonzalez expressed support earlier this year for the U.S. governments crackdown on the dangerous Tren de Aragua gang, but urged President Trump not to penalize honest, hard-working Venezuelans seeking refuge abroad. We urge the competent authorities... to take extreme precautions when administering justice, clearly distinguishing between criminals employed by the Maduro regime to commit crimes abroad and the vast majority of innocent migrants, the opposition leaders said in a joint statement, thus avoiding the unjust criminalization of Venezuelan migrants in general. SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KCAU) A verdict has been reached in the case against Angela Bino, who is accused of killing her mother with the help of her daughter. Angela Bino is charged with first-degree murder in the death of her mother in 2023. Bino waved her right to a jury trial, and now, the judge has returned with a verdict. Bino was found guilty of first-degree murder. Story continues below Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Binos daughter, Jessica, was also charged in the case and found guilty. Now, shes requesting a new trial. Angela will have her sentencing date set at a later 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 SiouxlandProud | Sioux City, IA | News, Weather, and Sports. SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) A Vermillion man was sentenced to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to one count of First-Degree Rape involving a minor, and one count of Sexual Contact with a child. According to a press release from the Clay County States Attorney, 32-year-old Robert Slack was sentenced on Wednesday in Clay County Circuit Court. $4 million winning lottery ticket bought in Vermillion Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On top of his 30-year prison sentence, Slack was ordered to serve 30 years of parole following his release. According to the 2023 enacted Truth in Sentencing law, offenders of certain violent crimes are required to serve their entire penitentiary sentence behind bars. Clay County States Attorney officials say Slack wont be eligible for parole until November 2054. Slacks conviction stems from his sexual abuse towards two minor victims. The abuse came to light after the young victims disclosed what happened to them in the days after the November 2024 incident. The defendant did not just violate the law, he violated the most basic moral boundary we have: the obligation to protect children, Clay County States Attorney Michael J. Smith told the court during sentencing arguments. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. VERSAILLES, Ky. (FOX 56) Credit cards can be convenient to use, but thats not always the case for local businesses, with the processing fees adding up. Judy Martin is the owner of Callies Home Style Restaurant and had to make the tough decision not to accept credit cards because of problems with the terminal. She said she was thrilled to find that this didnt stop customers from coming. It just became too much for the customers. The fees became too much for us, so we just stopped using them. We had to cut it off and start charging cash and check only, Martin said. Its very scary when you do something like that because a third of my customers use the credit card machine. I worried more about them, but they have all been amazing about it. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Frankfort library back to normal after near-historic April flooding Callies was losing roughly $800 to $900 a month from the credit card fees adding up, but after going cardless, the restaurant is making a difference of roughly $500 a day, keeping the business financially healthy. Woodford County Chamber of Commerce president and CEO Emily Downey said this is a great sign of an understanding customer base. I think a lot of people are familiar with the credit card fees that come, but understanding if a business chooses not to, its not because theyre trying to make it harder on the consumer. It just is a tough process. If the system goes down, the fees are too much to incur, so just having patience with the business to understand what the best model for them is, Downey said. LATEST KENTUCKY NEWS: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement At the end of the day, Martin said its not about the money, but its more about the loyal customers who love Callies, like biscuits love gravy. I have a very loyal customer base, and they love Callies. They sent me emails and came into the office and talked to me, sent me texts. We had put a sign up on the door that said cash or check only, and I told my staff that if regulars come in and they dont know about us not having the credit card machine to put their bill up on the wall put their name and number and they can come back and pay cash. They were totally understanding, and theyve been great about it. Our customers are amazing in Woodford County, Martin 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 FOX 56 News. Longtime Democratic strategist James Carville on Thursday warned Republicans that theyre going to pay a heavy price at the ballot box this year and next because of President Donald Trumps unpopularity. Im very, very, very confident that this administration is gonna be widely rejected in the elections coming up, he told SiriusXM host Dan Abrams. And theyre gonna be particularly widely rejected in the elections in 2026. The prediction came as the two debated a prediction Carville made in February: that the administration would suffer a massive collapse in public opinion within 30 days. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Carville insisted he was right, saying Trump now has a 37-40% approval rating with terrible marks for the economy. I think its collapsing now, he said. It is collapsing right in front of you. Abrams had pointed to poll aggregations from The New York Times and RealClearPolitics showing Trump with an approval rating of 44-45.8% and a disapproval rating of 51.4-53%. Thats not a collapse, Abrams said. Thats basically a little bit above where he was. Carville argued that the special elections held this year bear him out more than those polls. I see something completely different, he told Abrams. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Democrats this year have outperformed former Vice President Kamala Harris 2024 numbers during many of the special elections held so far. I think were were running away with every election weve had, he told Abrams, then pointed to two states with gubernatorial elections this year: Were going to run away with Virginia. Were going to win New Jersey. In 16 special elections held in the first months of the year, Democrats outperformed their 2024 margins by an average of 11.5%, NBC News reported in April. In June, Democrats beat expectations in five of six special elections, according to data journalist G. Elliott Morris. Morris noted this week on Bluesky that Democrats are 2.6% ahead of Republicans in generic ballot polls, which is ahead of pace for the average out-party at this point in midterm election cycles since 2006. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement And CNN data analyst Harry Enten said Trump himself is almost historically unpopular. If we are comparing him to other presidents at this point in their presidencies, he is the second lowest on record compared only to himself, who does worse, he said Tuesday. If were comparing him to other second terms, hes certainly in the bottom of the list aside from Richard Nixon, who was in a worse position. See more of Carvilles conversation with Abrams below: (Reuters) -Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said in an interview published on Friday that he did not intend to seek another term, and denied he was lining up his son as a successor. Lukashenko, a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has led Belarus through more than three decades of authoritarian rule and was re-elected in January for a seventh five-year term. In a long interview with TIME magazine, Lukashenko, 70, said he was "not planning" to seek re-election, although he teasingly added that U.S. President Donald Trump was "looking decent" at nearly 80. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He said that whoever replaced him should "not break anything right away" but keep developing the country in order to avoid any "revolutionary breakdown". Lukashenko rejected long-standing speculation that he might be grooming his son Nikolai to replace him. "No, he is not a successor. I knew you would ask that. No, no, no. Ask him yourself, he may be really offended," he said in excerpts from the conversation, published in Russian by Belarusian state news agency Belta. Lukashenko crushed huge street protests in 2020 after an election that the opposition and Western governments accused him of stealing, and all his leading opponents were jailed or forced to flee the country. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Several hundred people convicted of "extremism" and other politically related offences have been released since mid-2024 in what analysts see as a bid by Lukashenko to ease his isolation from the West. However, human rights groups say nearly 1,200 are still behind bars. Lukashenko denies there are any political prisoners in the country. (Reporting by Mark TrevelyanEditing by Gareth Jones) LONGVIEW, Texas (KETK) On Thursday, the United States honored the men and women whove sacrificed for the countrys freedom. One East Texas assisted living center celebrated National Purple Heart Day by surprising their one of their own residents whos a Purple Heart recipient. Tyler officially recognized as Veteran-Friendly Community Anyone can see the patriotism that 93-year-old veteran Tom Klotz carries since its proudly displayed on his Marine hat. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement My heart is all I have for it, Im blessed, real blessed living in this country, Klotz said. In 1949, Tom Klotz joined the Marine Corps Reserve and was called to the Korean War for active-duty service in 1951. He was in Korea for about eight months, he was a team leader of our tour group, Arabella Longview Veterans Group Leader Fred Winters said. Women veterans in East Texas honored by Camp V While on a combat mission, a land mine exploded, causing Klotz to lose his right leg and left eye. In one of his actions, he was wounded in combat and received his Purple Heart for that, Winters said. 73 years later, the assisted living center, Arabella of Longview, saluted his service with a surprise celebration for National Purple Heart Day. They sang the national anthem, the Pledge of Allegiance and gave Klotz a plaque of honor. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Its an honor to celebrate him and honor him for what he did, his sacrifices to our country, Winters said. You can now stream KETK and FOX51 News live 24/7 on your smart TV with KETK+, our brand-new app! No antenna, cable, or satellite neededwatch for free, anytime. Just download it on your Roku, Apple TV, or Fire TV and start streaming. 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. TOPEKA (KSNT) The Topeka Police Department identified the victim in Topekas 14th homicide investigation of the year. Lt. Ronnie Connell said in a press release Thursday Drew Davis, 42, of Topeka died in an Aug. 6 shooting near the 100 block of northwest Kendall Avenue. Officers responding to the shooting located a person, later identified as Davis, suffering from life-threatening injuries. Davis was eventually pronounced deceased by medical personnel on the scene. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Topeka Police Department acquires new robot dog For more local news, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news in northeast Kansas by downloading our mobile app and by signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track Weather app by clicking here. Copyright 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 KSNT 27 News. BOARDMAN, Ohio (WKBN) An armed robbery and carjacking took place in the parking lot of the Dunkin Donuts on Market Street early Friday, a Boardman police report said. Read next: Motorcyclist killed after hitting deer in Trumbull County Around 4 a.m. Friday, the Boardman Police Department received a call from two individuals who reported being robbed at gunpoint in the Dunkin Donuts parking lot. Both victims stated that they were parked by the front door of Dunkin Donuts when they noticed three males walk past their vehicle. One of the males then approached the front passenger door, tapping aggressively on the car window with a gun, according to the report. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The report states that the robbers demanded that both victims hand over their wallets and ordered them to step out of the vehicle. The victim in the drivers seat of the vehicle reported that they decided to put the car in reverse, but then decided against driving away. Both victims proceeded to comply with the robbers demands and got out of the vehicle with their hands up, the report said. The robbers demanded their phones and keys, and then got into the victims vehicle and drove away northbound into Youngstown, the report stated. According to the report, the victims walked back to their place of work to retrieve another car before driving to the Boardman Police Department to file their report. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The robbers were described as being older teenagers, wearing black ski masks and dark colored hooded sweatshirts. Later Friday morning, at approximately 5:04 a.m., the report states that the Youngstown Police Department located the stolen vehicle in Youngstown and initiated a pursuit. The three suspects proceeded to bail from the vehicle while it was in motion. A female suspect was apprehended and placed into custody by the Youngstown Police Department. None of the other suspects have been found or identified at the time the report was filed. 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. A senior Transport for London manager has claimed that there is no need to tell motorists whenever speed limits are temporarily lowered. Gerard OToole, the authoritys network regulation manager, told a court that he believed details of emergency cuts to speed limits did not have to be made available to the public even though such orders effectively create new criminal offences. Mr OToole was giving evidence during the trial of John Dunlop, 55, who is accused of breaking a temporary 40mph speed limit imposed on the A20 near Sidcup, south-east London, last year. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement As many as 60,000 motorists have been prosecuted for speeding along the same stretch of road between late 2023 and early 2024, campaigners have previously said. Victory by Mr Dunlop could potentially lead to the conviction of these drivers being overturned. Those previously prosecuted include LBC radio presenter Iain Dale, who said last year that the case against him collapsed after a police witness failed to attend court. Normally the speed limit on that stretch of the A2, which is the main road between south-east London and Kent, is set at 70mph. It was lowered at short notice in October 2023 after standing water formed on the carriageway, causing a traffic safety hazard. Mr Dunlops defence is that temporary speed limit signs put up by TfL contractor FM Conway were below the legally required minimum size. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He also claims they were positioned too low down at the sides of the road for motorists to see them, as traffic sign rules require. Mr Dunlop, of Chislehurst, Kent, also claims a temporary traffic regulation order (TRO) made by TfL, giving precise details of where the speed limit had been dropped, could not be read by any member of the public despite putting drivers in legal peril if they broke it. At Bromley magistrates court on Friday, Mr OToole was asked by Mr Dunlops counsel Chris Jeyes: You recognise, undoubtedly, that making a traffic order is making a serious step? It may criminalise actions that may not otherwise be criminal? The TfL manager, who was wearing a grey suit, rimless glasses with black arms and white-soled shoes, replied Yes, later adding that for temporary TROs: Theres no statutory requirement on us to publish them. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement When asked if he believed that the Openness of Local Government Regulations 2014 apply to TfL a law which says public authorities must make formal records of their decisions available to the general public Mr OToole answered: The openness regulations, yes, they apply to Transport for London. Obviously they dont apply to the making of traffic orders. Because traffic orders have their own legislation and own set of statutory guidance. Mr OToole also said that TfL had taken out advertisements in local newspapers the Bexley News and the News Shopper saying that the speed limit on the A20 near Sidcup had been lowered. District Judge Sarah Turnock adjourned the case until Nov 13. 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. (Getty Images) Chemours Chemical Company must immediately stop discharging dangerous forever chemicals from its facility near Parkersburg, West Virginia into the Ohio River, according to a federal court order released Thursday. The order and opinion was issued by U.S. District Judge Joseph R. Goodwin in response to a lawsuit filed by the West Virginia Rivers Coalition last year over continued and excessive pollution from Chemours Washington Works plant. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This case is simple and all too familiar. For years, Defendant Chemours Company has discharged pollutants into the Ohio River. The level of discharge far exceeds the legal limits that bind Chemours, Goodwin wrote in his opinion and order. Those pollutants endanger the environment, aquatic life and human health. Today, that unlawful, unpermitted discharge stops. A representative for Chemours told Mountain State Spotlight reporter Sarah Elbeshbishi that the company was disappointed in the ruling and strongly disagree[d] with the courts characterizations. Chemours plans to appeal the decision. The Ohio River supplies drinking water to 5 million people across several states, though not all of them are downstream from the Chemours facility. The Rivers Coalition filed its initial suit in December 2024. A preliminary injunction hearing for the case was held in May. Goodwin said on Thursday Chemours continues to boldly violate discharge limits set in its state-issued permit and, in that hearing, admitted as much. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In a statement Thursday, members of the West Virginia Rivers Coalition celebrated the courts order. This is a victory for public health and the Ohio River, said Autumn Crowe, deputy director of West Virginia Rivers. The court recognized what communities have known for years: Chemours has been polluting our water and ignoring its legal obligations. Representatives for Chemours previously told the court that it would take more than two years for the company to come into compliance with discharge limits. Attorney Dave Yaussy said in May that the court shouldnt issue a preliminary injunction to stop the facility from operating because even that wont stop necessarily exceedances from occurring. In Thursdays order, Goodwin didnt much care for this argument. He said the company should take any measures necessary to achieve and maintain compliance. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement [Chemours] could shut down its plant, modify its manufacturing processes, reduce production or send process wastewater off-site to achieve compliance, Goodwin wrote. Compliance may be expensive and burdensome, but it is possible. Goodwin said the preliminary injunction to order Chemours to stop exceeding discharge limits is in the public interest due to the environmental and health harms known to be associated with perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS. PFAS, called forever chemicals because they dont break down in bodies or the environment, are known carcinogens, and exposure to them has been linked to reproductive health issues, fetal development complications, thyroid diseases, various cancers and more. They also can endanger aquatic life and alter ecosystems where they are present. States and the federal Environmental Protection Agency set certain standards for how much of specific pollutants companies are allowed to discharge into waterways. Those standards are based on research showing what exceedances could pose a threat to human and environmental health and are often enforced through the federal Clean Water Act as well as in permits issued to companies by states for operation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to documents provided to the court, Chemours Washington Works plant has been accused of at least 199 violations of its state permit, and therefore the Clean Water Act, for discharge exceedances. [Chemours] permit is not a suggestion; rather, its permit protects public health and environmental life while balancing the needs of manufacturing, Goodwin wrote. But I cannot weigh the scales of that balance to inflict further harm on the communities that rely on clean water for life and livelihood. The Clean Water Act protects the public, and I will enforce it. Attorneys for Chemours previously argued to the court that the harms of these exceedances are too difficult to quantify and, therefore, impossible to prove to a degree appropriate for court action or to render relief for. Goodwin said the harm of PFAS exposure is clear. To argue that relief cant be sought due to difficulty in quantifying the actual harm, he wrote, is dangerous. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement [Chemours] argument posits a dangerous premise: exposure to a harmful pollutant like [PFAS] is acceptable on some average, despite many permit violations, and the purpose of the Clean Water Act. Under this theory, a plaintiff exposed to concentrations of [PFAS] has no recourse until she develops a serious illness. This theory of irreparable harm cannot be, Goodwin wrote. Instead all those who use the Ohio River suffer irreparable harm with each incremental exposure to [PFAS]. Incremental exposure, resulting in incremental harm, is irreparable harm. It need not be calculable. The order issued Thursday is not the end of this case; a trial is set for Sept. 16. Jennie Smith, the executive director of the West Virginia Rivers Coalition, said the organization is looking ahead to the trial in hopes it will resolve remaining issues, namely civil penalties, and to a full and fair process that reflects the publics interest in clean, safe water. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Charles Byrd is accused of killing his wife and hiding her rotting remains in their Texas home for a month and allegedly bragged that his arrest was his first brush with the law by flippantly crowing, Go big or go home, lawmen say. According to Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar, the accused, 49, made the glib remark after being apprehended in relation to the death of Angela Byrd, 44. Per News 4 San Antonio, authorities state Byrds son called to report a foul odor at the couples San Antonio residence and expressed fears that Angela, his stepmother, had been murdered. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement During a press conference, Salazar said responding officers discovered Angelas corpse wrapped in plastic, stating her body was in a severe state of decomposition. After Byrd was bagged at another home in the neighborhood, Salazar said the suspect claimed he and his spouse fought after he accused Angela of infidelity and admitted he strangled her and bit her face hard enough to draw blood. The sheriff also claimed Byrd confessed to watching his wife take her last breath. The victims death was determined to be the result of homicidal violence. The unhinged hubby is charged with tampering with evidence and murder, is being held on $650,000 bond and is slated to undergo a mental health evaluation, officials say, per Fox News. In the press conference, Salazar acknowledged details of the shocking crime are going to stay with him a long, long time. (WFXR)- In recent months, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers have been accused of shielding their identities as ICE agents. This includes wearing masks, plain clothes, and driving unmarked cars. Virginia senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner have now introduced a bill to end that. I cant go onto the Senate floor with a bag over my head and introduce a bill, said U.S. Sen. Mark Warner. I think the same should be the case for law enforcement. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The New York Times reports that immigration arrests in the Commonwealth have increased more than 350% since 2024. Virginia State Police have assisted ICE, and Governor Glenn Youngkin has preached a tough on crime mindset. Your Local Election HQ Its that simple, said Youngkin. We are putting Virginians first. The bill contains exemptions to protect the identity of undercover agents or SWAT team members. But thats not enough for those who support ICE agents using masks. A senior department of homeland security official said quote, Sanctuary politicians are trying to outlaw officers wearing masks to protect themselves from being doxed and targeted. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Meanwhile, immigration attorney Brian Casson says the senators bill enforces transparency. It allows for courts, and then the federal government even, to hold these agents accountable for their actions in the event they are engaging in certain abuses, said Casson. The democratic senators say the bill would protect Americans in courtrooms, federal buildings and on the streets. Somebody comes in in a mask, not identifying themselves, brandishing weapons, possibly grabbing people, telling them they need to be detained. It raises all kinds of security questions in crowded courthouses, said U.S. Senator Tim Kaine. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement To become law, the bill would have to be passed in both the House and Senate. With republicans having control of Congress, that is not likely to happen. 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 WFXRtv. EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) Mark your calendars, the official Vivamos Mexico, El Grito Celebration will be returning in September, and the community is invited to celebrate the anniversary of Mexicos Independence. The Consulate General of Mexico in El Paso and Visit El Paso partnered up to announce this years date of Sept. 13 at the El Paso Convention Center and surrounding area. Vivamos Mexico is a free event celebrating the 214th anniversary of Mexicos Independence and will take place from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m. this year and is absolutely free. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Aside from the announcement of this annual event, the El Paso Mayor, Renard Johnson, took the time to remind the public that the City of El Paso will introduce an international nonstop route to Chihuahua, Mexico, next year. City introduces international nonstop flight to Chihuahua, Mexico 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. Ada County Democrats have launched billboards attacking Idahos Republican congressional delegation for their votes supporting President Donald Trumps budget bill, the start of what they called an accountability campaign to more aggressively denounce the GOP for its actions. U.S. Sens. Jim Risch and Mike Crapo and Reps. Mike Simpson and Russ Fulcher voted for billionaires tax breaks, the Boise billboards read, one near the intersection of Curtis Road 175 and Franklin Road and another along Gowen Road and Orchard Street. Because of the bill, the national debt will increase by $3 trillion, and 17 million Americans will lose health care, the displays read, citing data from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office and the Kaiser Family Foundation , a nonprofit focused on health policy. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The billboards, which went up Monday, represented a new tactic for the party, which sees an opportunity to rally support for among people that are tired of an unfair system, Jared DeLoof, the county partys vice president, told the Idaho Statesman by phone. Its only the beginning of an accountability campaign targeting the states congressional delegation, he said. Ada County Democrats have unveiled billboards, including this one on Curtis Road in Boise, targeting Idaho Republicans support for tax breaks and health care cuts. We really think this is a galvanizing moment, he said. Theres such an outcry right now. In a letter to the editor he published in the Statesman, Crapo disputed that the bill would explode the national debt, and that a more accurate estimate by the Congressional Budget Office showed the bill would reduce the deficit by $400 billion. David Pace, Crapos spokesperson, did not immediately respond to a request for the source of this alternative estimate. Spokespeople for Risch, Fulcher and Simpson did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The billboards will be up for at least three months, DeLoof said, and the county party may follow them with another round elsewhere in the Treasure Valley. Other county parties have also reached out, interested in putting up billboards of their own, he said. The party is already seeing the campaign pay off through a Facebook post about the billboards, which got about 100 times the engagement it normally does, DeLoof said. And the campaign has brought in a ton of donations. Our base is just really fired up, he said. Some Idahoans are angry at Trump, Legislature. Its giving Democrats a boost WASHINGTON COUNTY, Va. (WJHL) A pedestrian was killed on Interstate 81 near the Tennessee-Virginia state line, according to Virginia State Police (VSP). A VSP spokesperson said a call came in around 6 a.m. Friday. THP: 2 dead after crash near Winged Deer Park The crash reportedly occurred in the southbound lane near the state line. According to VSP, the Tennessee Highway Patrol is also assisting in the investigation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Traffic maps from both states show traffic backed up for about 1.75 miles into Virginia, as of 11 a.m. 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. Potential buyers try out guns which are displayed on an exhibitors table during the Nations Gun Show on Nov. 18, 2016 at Dulles Expo Center in Chantilly, Virginia. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images) A Washington gun shop is taking its case against the states ban on the sale of high-capacity ammunition magazines to the U.S. Supreme Court. Gators Custom Guns in Kelso filed a petition this week, asking the high court to review the state Supreme Courts decision in May upholding the controversial law. Supporters of the restriction see it as an important step for quelling gun violence. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Walter Wentz, the Cowlitz County stores owner, said Friday he hopes to convince the Supreme Court justices to do their job and not accept all these lower courts waving their finger at them. I look forward to exercising our rights, he said. Hopefully, well get some justice out of this. A spokesperson for the state attorney generals office said Friday afternoon, These reforms are constitutional, as every Court of Appeals to review similar large capacity magazine reforms has found. The Supreme Court has previously declined multiple petitions like this one, leaving lower court rulings upholding these public safety reforms in place, the spokesperson, Mike Faulk, said in an email. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Gators has argued the states 2022 ban on the sale of gun ammunition magazines that hold more than 10 rounds violates the Washington and U.S. constitutions. The state constitution protects the right of the individual citizen to bear arms in defense of himself, or the state. But in their 7-2 decision, state Supreme Court justices ruled high-capacity magazines arent arms, but just a component of a gun that isnt generally used for self-defense. By restricting only magazines of a capacity greater than 10, the statute effectively regulates the maximum capacity of magazines, leaving the weapon fully functional for its intended purpose, Justice Charles Johnson wrote in the majority opinion. Indeed, we can safely say that individuals are still able to exercise the core right to bear arms when they are limited to purchasing magazines with a capacity of 10 or fewer. The U.S. Supreme Court has, for years, expanded the understanding of what the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution covers. The justices have ruled the Second Amendment protects firearms that are in common use and are typically possessed by law-abiding citizens for lawful purposes. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In their petition for review, Gators attorneys write that Johnsons opinion deepens an acknowledged division of authority among federal courts of appeals and state courts of last resort over whether these ubiquitous instruments are Arms that cries out for resolution. If this Court does not step in and stop the piecemeal removal of integral firearm components from the scope of the Second Amendments plain text, soon neither the piece nor the whole will be left with any constitutional protection at all, the lawyers wrote. At the state court level, the gun shop argued the magazines popularity meant they met those legal tests. Two of the state Supreme Court justices were sympathetic to this argument. In 2022, in a case known as Bruen, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled state firearm laws must stay true to the nations historical tradition of firearm regulation. This left lower court judges to deduce how laws written over a century ago would square with technological advances, like high-capacity magazines and semi-automatic weapons. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The majority from the state Supreme Court didnt grapple with the Bruen decision because they didnt find the magazines were considered firearms in the first place. Recent federal court decisions give reason for optimism on the state side. This spring, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals turned down a challenge to Californias similar law on these ammunition devices. And in June, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a challenge to Rhode Islands restriction on high-capacity magazines. The Washington law, which has been in effect during the court process, still allows people to own high-capacity magazines, but bans importing or selling them. Over a dozen states have similar restrictions. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The case went to the state Supreme Court after a Cowlitz County Superior Court judge struck down the ban in April 2024. The judge, Gary Bashor, ruled the law violated the Second Amendment and the right to bear arms for self-defense granted in the state constitution. He cited the Bruen decisions historical tradition test as justification. In this latest appeal, the gun shop is represented by Paul Clement and Erin Murphy, who also represented the plaintiffs challenging a New York state gun law in the Bruen case. Its a shift from lower courts, where the Pasco-based Silent Majority Foundation argued for the shop. The two teams will now work in tandem. Clement, the former U.S. solicitor general under President George W. Bush, and Murphy didnt respond to requests for comment. Nor did Austin Hatcher, the shops attorney from the Silent Majority Foundation. Pete Serrano, the Pasco mayor and failed Republican candidate for state attorney general, has also represented the shop. The Trump administration is now considering Serrano to lead the U.S. Attorneys Office for the Eastern District of Washington. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Tom Parker was working alone three miles (4.8km) off the Devon coast when his fishing boat hit a wave and lurched to one side. "I was pulling one of the ropes and I slipped and fell," he says. "I had this really, really bad pain in my ankle. So much so, I couldn't get up off the floor." He didn't know it at the time, but Tom, 37, had broken his fibula and badly damaged his ankle ligaments. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He somehow hauled in his fishing gear and made it to hospital to get patched up, but months after the accident his wound just wouldn't heal properly. It was only after he turned up at an innovative clinic on the quayside in Brixham that he was put on strong antibiotics and told he needed a second operation. "Without that service, I would have probably ended up with my leg turning septic and I'm not too sure what would have happened after that," he says. Under a 10-year plan, published last month, health officials said the NHS in England needed to undergo a radical shift, away from hospitals to community care, and away from treating sickness to preventing it in the first place. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement There are already small-scale examples of that approach in action across the country. So what can we learn from the Brixham model and how can the idea of targeted, local care be extended to treat millions more NHS patients? The fishermen's health clinic in Brixham is one of 79 Seafit clinics set up in fishing ports across the UK since 2019 [BBC] On a clear summer morning a spare room in the trawler agent's offices in Brixham harbour is quickly being converted into a temporary health clinic. Blue screens are dragged across to split up the space: a makeshift reception at the front and then just enough room to cram in two GPs, a pharmacist, a physiotherapist, two nurses and someone organising prostate cancer tests. There's a steady line of port workers coming in, from buyers in the fish market next door to crews from the trawlers in the harbour. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "The skippers of the boats and the whole fishing community now know exactly where to find us," says Dr James Gunning, the local NHS GP in charge of the clinic that day. "They're a community that fits into health inequalities, where a population either can't access, or struggles to access, normal NHS services." Clinic staff start early in the morning, walking around the docks and coaxing workers off the boats with promises of free health screenings and physio. "Fishermen don't have nine-to-five jobs, they don't have lunchtime where they can just pop off their fishing boat and to the GP's office, and so it's really important that we take those services to them," says Sandra Welch, chief executive of the Seafarers Hospital Society, which runs the initiative along with another charity, the Fishermen's Mission. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A pop-up Seafit clinic operates every three months in Brixham and at similar sites at ports across the UK, including Folkestone, Peterhead and Kirkeel in Northern Ireland. Some services have started to expand and now offer skin cancer checks, mobile dental services and access to mental health counselling. Dr James Gunning, a local GP in Brixham, runs the fishermen's health clinic at the port along with a team of doctors, nurses and physiotherapists [BBC] In its 10-year plan the NHS accepts that those who live in coastal and rural areas are more likely to experience worse health outcomes and to die younger. Seaside and coastal towns often have older populations with more complex health needs, while at the same time local NHS services can suffer from recruitment problems, leaving staffing gaps where they are needed most. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement An analysis of hospital statistics by the BBC suggests NHS trusts in England treating coastal communities tend to have higher than average wait times for both emergency care and appointments booked in advance, like surgery. Click here to see the BBC interactive The answer, according to NHS bosses and the Westminster government, is to shift as much treatment as possible out of those expensive hospitals. Under the 10-year plan a network of 300 neighbourhood health centres will be opened across England, starting in areas with the lowest healthy life expectancy. The sites, which should eventually be open 12 hours a day, six days a week, will be staffed by a mix of GPs, nurses, social care workers, pharmacists, mental health specialists and other medics. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The big idea, as with the Brixham fishermen's clinic, is to better tailor health services to local communities, and offer people more checks and tests to stop them falling sick in the first place. Much of this might feel very familiar. Similar ambitions were set out by ministers in 2019, 2015 and even by the Blair government back in the early 2000s. "Despite being the right aim, none of those truly delivered," says Luisa Pettigrew, a GP and senior policy fellow at the Health Foundation think tank. "Moving money out of hospitals and into community services is hard to do. You need the upfront investment and the results might not be visible for five or 10 years, in some cases longer." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Healthcare unions have also questioned how the new centres will be staffed, saying doctors "must not be moved around like pieces on a chess board or made to work even harder". Rob Caunter, 66, was diagnosed with prostate cancer after being given a blood test at the fishermen's clinic in Brixham [BBC] The medics working in Brixham though are convinced their local, preventative approach can benefit not just the fishing community but the wider health service. "We've managed to find new diabetic patients who otherwise may have gone on to develop more serious disease," says Dr Gunning. "We've picked out others with cardiovascular disease, and those with high blood pressure. So we would certainly hope we can prevent more costly illness from developing." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Rob Caunter, who finally retired from the fish market this year, is just finishing his radium treatment for prostate cancer. The 66-year-old, who has a family history of the disease, was diagnosed after staff at the clinic convinced him to take a blood test. "I was gobsmacked really because I didn't think there was anything wrong with me," he says. "If I never went for the checks, I don't think I would be here today. So it was a real godsend for them to come down to the quay." Republican House Speaker Brian Bosma, left, met with House Democrat Leader Patrick Bauer, center, - along with other members of their leadership teams - to try to settle a 2011 walkout. (Niki Kelly for the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette) Surreal is the only way to describe a gaggle of Hoosier reporters gathering around a speakerphone to record a gruff voice beaming in from Illinois. But thats what happened in 2011, when Indiana House Democrats staged a walkout to block a variety of bills. The memories of those peculiar media availabilities with Rep. Pat Bauer, D-South Bend, came flooding back when I heard Texas Democrats had also fled the state this time to block a mid-cycle redistricting. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The nearly six-week Hoosier walkout likely led to a GOP supermajority and has had lasting negative impacts to this day. House Democrats left Indiana on Feb. 22, 2011, for a Comfort Suites in Urbana, Illinois. The caucus was fighting several anti-union bills, though a host of other issues also played a role, including state-funded vouchers for private schools. Their absence meant the House couldnt put together a quorum to conduct business. Dozens of bills died on the calendar during the walkout. The absent members were fined tens of thousands of dollars, but they held off right-to-work legislation for a year and got other, smaller concessions. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Was it worth it? Definitely not. Whats happening now The Texas fiasco is happening on a much bigger stage and centers on one issue that is relatively simple to explain to voters: should Texas Republicans redraw congressional districts early instead of after the 2030 census to create more GOP seats and help the party hold a narrow U.S. House margin? Given the higher profile and tighter focus, the impact of the Texas Democrats walkout could be more effective. Indiana lawmakers might face a similar situation soon as pressure mounts from President Donald Trumps administration for other red states to redistrict early. But Democrats wont have the option of a walkout this time. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Thats because the GOP controls the House 70-30 and the Senate 40-10. It takes a quorum of 67 and 33 to conduct business, respectively, which means Republicans dont need Democrats for a quorum or to pass a bill. Indiana Republicans have a big decision to make. They have to weigh public transparency and fiscal prudence in deciding whether to redistrict in a special session. Gov. Mike Braun, in particular, has spent months preaching financial discipline resulting in state layoffs as well as cuts to benefits and services for Hoosiers. The decision to call a special session is ultimately up to Braun, but legislative leaders would have to be on board to avoid embarrassment. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The GOP would need to find a cogent message on why the move is necessary. After all, Indianas population has increased minimally, about 1.5%, since 2021, so there simply arent large migration and demographic changes to adjust for. Whats left is purely partisan politics. And its hard for me to to believe that the GOP leaders here would move forward with a special, superfluous session that could cost upwards of $200,000 just for that. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Aug. 7After more than a month of unexplained delay, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service released endangered Mexican gray wolf Asha, her pups and her mate into the wild Wednesday. "Hopefully at some point we'll understand why it was delayed," said Greta Anderson, deputy director of the Western Watersheds Project. "But for today, we're just celebrating the fact that we've got seven sets of paws on the ground." While U.S. Fish and Wildlife confirmed the wolf pack release, the agency still has not explained why the release date was pushed back. Concerns about wolves killing livestock flared earlier this year in Catron and Socorro counties, and Anderson believes the delay was politically motivated. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Female wolf F2754, nicknamed Asha, captured public imagination when she twice wandered outside the experimental population area where Fish and Wildlife is working to recover the species. In 2023, Asha was placed in captivity at the Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge in the hopes she would breed. "I think at the time, their reasoning was they didn't want her to keep running north," Anderson said. "We think that's a mistake. She should be allowed to go where she wants. It's a happy circumstance that she's back out and free and wild, and there's puppies, but letting wolves determine their own recovery area makes the most sense." This spring, the agency celebrated when Asha gave birth to five pups. Fish and Wildlife planned to release Asha, her captive-born mate M1966 and her pups on Ladder Ranch in June. The agency timed the proposed release during the peak of elk calving season to encourage the pups to learn to hunt elk instead of developing a taste for livestock, according to a translocation proposal. The private land is managed by Turner Enterprises, which focuses on ecotourism and conservation. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The release was abruptly delayed with no explanation. Despite repeated requests from advocacy groups and the Albuquerque Journal for an explanation, none has been offered. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service did not break the news of the wolf pack's release. Instead, advocacy groups who have been asking for the pack's release shared the update Thursday. Fish and Wildlife confirmed the information. "The pack will add to the genetic diversity in the wild population, helping meet recovery goals," an agency spokesperson said in a statement. "The Service is aware and shares the increasing concerns in the community about negative impacts to ranching from the growing wolf population. We, with the Interagency Field Team, are committed to immediately addressing any conflicts if/when they arise in partnership with the local community." Livestock kills declined in 2024 to 99 from 111 in 2023. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But cattle ranchers in Catron County raised the alarm earlier this year that they were concerned about more wolf kills. In April, Fish and Wildlife killed a 5-year-old male wolf from the Hail Canyon pack near Reserve because the pack was connected to seven confirmed and two probable livestock kills. The Catron County Commission issued an emergency declaration over wolf kills that same month. The Socorro County Commission followed suit in May. "The Mexican Grey Wolf Recovery Program (MGWRP) was imposed on the people of Catron County by the federal government even though livestock production is a key positive socioeconomic factor, and major land use in Catron," the Catron County emergency declaration reads. Mexican gray wolves are protected under the Endangered Species Act. Killing or harming an endangered species can result in a hefty fine or jail time. Nikita Nesterov, a paediatric traumatologist from Vinnytsia Oblast, has traded his job in the rear for saving wounded soldiers near the front line. The medic explains his decision by saying that he "went where he was needed most". Source: Medical Forces Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine told the story to UP.Zhyttia Details: Nikita had dreamed of becoming a paediatric traumatologist since his school days. This was because he often visited the emergency room as a child. Although these visits were painful, the professionalism and calmness of the doctors left him with good memories. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "If anyone thinks that paediatric traumatology is an easy job, they are very much mistaken," Nikita notes. Medical officer Nikita Nesterov Photo: Command of the Medical Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine He often had to treat children with multiple injuries after traffic accidents. And with the start of the full-scale war, the young doctor began treating patients with shrapnel wounds. It was at the Vinnytsia Oblast Children's Hospital, where Nikita worked, that Roman Oleksiv, a boy who survived a missile strike on Vinnytsia on 14 July 2022, received first aid and wore a mask for two years to prevent scarring on his face. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Working with traumatised children became a psychological preparation for military service for Nikita. "I was already prepared for blood and wounds," says the doctor. He understood that the army lacked specialists in his field, so he decided to sign a contract and become a military medic. "Not to sit idly by, but to be where I am needed most," the man explains his decision. Within a year, he completed training at the military department and earned the rank of junior lieutenant in the medical service. In 2024, Nikita joined the Military Medical Clinical Centre of the Central Region. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement At first, he worked with the wounded in hospital, then joined one of the medical units stationed near the front line. On his first assignment, Nikita was sent to a mobile surgical hospital near Zaporizhzhia. The wounded were evacuated there from stabilisation points and directly from the battlefield. "In civilian medicine, there is sometimes confusion, but here everything works like clockwork," the medic shares. This hospital was located underground. Nikita said that it is psychologically easier to work there. When there is shelling above, you feel relatively safe below, at your workplace. Although the attacks were constant, people still adapted to them. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "It's like living near a railway. At first, you flinch at loud noises, but then you don't notice them anymore," explains the medic. Nikita remembers most vividly the case when a young man was hit by a homemade drone. Half of his face was injured, but he was conscious and breathing on his own. The doctors stabilised his condition. "When you see a person with half of their face missing, and they are talking, it's shocking. But you act without losing your concentration," says the doctor. After his rotation, he went to Vinnytsia, and after a few days of rest, he returned to the front line. Nikita says that the support of his family helps him a lot psychologically. But he always feels that the real work is there, near the front line. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "It's addictive. I want to go back. Because that's where you're needed," says Nikita. He is now preparing for his next trip. He doesn't know where exactly and doesn't ask. He just hopes that there will be as few patients as possible. "Because I don't want the guys to suffer," the medic adds. Background: Earlier, we told the story of 32-year-old soldier Ruslan Chaika, who was seriously wounded at the front and couldn't reach the evacuation point for three days due to constant Russian attacks. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon! (COLORADO SPRINGS) If skydiving has piqued your curiosity but fear of the skies consumes you, iFLY Colorado Springs, an indoor skydiving park, could be the best of both worlds. The facility, located at 281 Kaycee Case Place, offers group and corporate options, a kids club, STEM education, and assists the military in training exercises. Opening in 2022, iFLY Colorado Springs is owned by three Air Force Academy classmates who were looking to serve Southern Colorado in a new way. Catch all the thrilling sights and sounds of iFLY Colorado Springs 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 FOX21 News Colorado. The Brief A warm and humid stretch of weather is on the way Friday and Saturday. There's a chance of thunderstorms as well into most of next week. Wildfire smoke could return on Friday night. MILWAUKEE - A warm and humid stretch of weather is on the way, and with it comes a chance for thunderstorms. Here's what to expect. Heat and humidity Local perspective As we wrap up the first full week of August, a warm and humid weather pattern will settle in. Air temperatures are expected in the 90s on Friday and again on Saturday. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "It's not the heat, it's the humidity" is a common phrase we hear this time of year. Gulf moisture streaming north, combined with "corn sweat" or evapotranspiration that is, moisture from the corn crop are both increasing humidity levels across the Midwest. Dew points will remain in the 70s through most of next week. This is important, because not only does the dew point tell us how humid it feels (dew points above 70 feel like the tropics), it also dictates what low temperatures will be at night. FREE DOWNLOAD: Get breaking news alerts in the FOX LOCAL Mobile app for iOS or Android The air temperature will never drop below the dew point. When we have a really humid environment like this, it's not only the daytime heat we need to be concerned about, but also the fact that low temperatures will not drop below 70 degrees through next week. Make sure to find a way to keep cool at night as well. Thunderstorm outlook Dig deeper With all of this heat and humidity in place, there will also be several chances for thunderstorms over the next week. As of now, many of these chances are relatively scattered in nature. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement However, Saturday night appears to be the best chance in the coming days for widespread storms and possibly a line of strong storms. Strong winds and heavy rain are the main threats should this line develop. The timeframe is after 4-6 p.m. on Saturday, but that could change. It will be a hot and humid day on Saturday with a chance for thunderstorms at night. This also includes Green Bay, so if you are heading to the Packers pre-season game, make sure to have the FOX LOCAL Mobile App and the FOX6 Storm Center App. Wildfire Smoke Local perspective Wildfire smoke has largely left our skies. However, we could see a little more move in from the west on Friday night and Saturday. As of now, most of this should remain elevated, meaning we will see it but not breathe it in here at the surface. FOX6 Weather Extras Local perspective Meanwhile, FOX6Now.com offers a variety of extremely useful weather tools to help you navigate the stormy season. They include the following: FOX6 Storm Center app FOX LOCAL Mobile app FOX Weather app What is the FOX Model? FOX Weather Maps and radar We have a host of maps and radars on the FOX6 Weather page that are updating regularly to provide you the most accurate assessment of the weather. From a county-by-county view to the Midwest regional radar and a national view its all there. School and business closings When the weather gets a little dicey, schools and businesses may shut down. Monitor the latest list of closings, cancellations, and delays reported in southeast Wisconsin. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement FOX6 Weather Experts in social media The Source Information in this story is from the FOX6 Weather Experts. Labour has been warned the government won't be trusted on renters' rights after it emerged that MPs rake in at least 830,000 a year in rent. Some 83 members of parliament earn a minimum of 10,000 from renting properties, according to the latest register of interests, with Sir Keir Starmer's party leading the pack of mostly residential landlords. The true figure which MPs earn from rent is unknown, but is likely to be higher than 830,000, as 170 registered properties have received rental income in the past year. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Campaigners said the number of landlords in parliament was shocking and called for greater scrutiny over what they described as a blatant conflict of interest when voting on legislation that would directly affect them. High-profile ministerial landlords include chancellor Rachel Reeves and foreign secretary David Lammy. Ms Reeves moved to Downing Street following her new role in government. It comes as the government reels from the resignation of homelessness minister Rushanara Ali, who quit over claims she evicted tenants from a property she owns and then increased the rent by several hundred pounds. Homelessness minister Rushanara Ali has quit over claims she evicted tenants from a property she owns and then increased the rent by hundreds of pounds (UK Parliament) She was accused of staggering hypocrisy as her department is bringing in legislation to ban landlords who evict tenants in order to sell their property from relisting it for rent for six months. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ms Ali is not Labours only landlord, nor its most profitable. In fact, many of the most property-rich MPs are members of Sir Keirs party, data from the parliamentary register of interests shows. Tulip Siddiq, Labours anti-corruption minister who stepped down amid investigations she was gifted a flat by an ally of her aunt Sheikh Hasina, also declares rental income from two properties. MPs have registered income from 170 properties across the UK, with at least 10,000 generated in yearly profits per landlord. But this is probably higher in some cases, considering that average monthly rents are 1,399 in the UK. The majority of these (86 per cent) are residential properties, meaning they are being leased out to private renters, not businesses. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Eight MPs have declared that they have stopped receiving rental income at some point in the past year. The figure does not include properties rented by some MPs who charge less than 10,000 a year, such as Sir Keir, who has previously revealed he rents to his sister. The highest concentration of properties rented out are in London, Edinburgh, Guildford and Oxford, with Lib Dem MP Charlie Maynard declaring rent for a house in upstate New York. Some 82 of these are rented out by Labour MPs. MPs have registered income from 170 properties across the UK, with at least 10,000 generated in yearly profits per landlord (PA Wire) Ilford Labour MP Jas Athwal is the most prominent landlord in the Commons, renting 15 residential properties and three commercial, including a private care home. Mr Athwals rental earnings come alongside his MP salary of 93,904. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Mr Athwal came under fire soon after being elected, as his tenants claimed their flats were filled with black mould and ant infestations. He has since stood down from his role as a councillor in Redbridge. The register also shows that one in five Tory MPs 27 out of 121 are also landlords, down from 83 in the previous parliament. Former chancellor Jeremy Hunt is the Conservatives biggest landlord, taking rent from eight residential properties and one office building, partly through his property holding company Mare Pond Properties. In 2023, flats owned by Mr Hunt in Southampton were reportedly rented out for 1,700 to 2,000 a month. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Tory MP Sir Geoffrey Clifton Brown is also the landlord of five residential properties, and was among a group of backbench MPs who were accused last year of signing amendments to gut the now-scrapped Renters Reform Bill. Jae Vail, spokesperson for the London Renters Union, said: "The sheer number of landlords in parliament is shocking. During an unprecedented housing crisis, its a blatant conflict of interest that MPs are making millions from struggling renters while some even use taxpayer money to cover their own personal rents. Tenants need a government that works for us, not one that profits from our hardship. Until parliament is free of landlord MPs, renters will not trust the government to deliver the bold action we need. Its time for the government to ban landlords from parliament and start working for ordinary people, investing in council housing and capping rents." Tom Darling, director at the Renters' Reform Coalition, said it probably doesn't reflect well on parliament that so many MPs are landlords. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In the longer term, renters risk losing confidence in a political system where those that extract rent from them are hugely overrepresented and it certainly didn't help the last government's efforts to pass the Renters [Reform] Bill," he said. A Labour spokesperson said: "There are rightly strict parliamentary rules that MPs must adhere to when renting property. Our Labour government is delivering landmark legislation transforming rights and security for renters across the country. Tory MPs opposed it every step of the way, Labour will deliver it." Rishi Sunaks government was accused of watering down planned protections for renters in England, after some Conservative MPs raised concerns they would be too burdensome on landlords. The Independent has also reached out to the Conservative Party and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government for comment. Bloomberg has reported that Washington and Moscow are working on an agreement to halt the war in Ukraine that would lock in Russias occupation of some of the territories it has seized during its full-scale invasion. Source: Bloomberg, citing unnamed sources, as reported by European Pravda Details: The sources said that US and Russian officials are negotiating terms regarding the territories in preparation for a planned meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin, which could take place as early as next week. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The US is said to be seeking support from Ukraine and European allies for this deal, which is far from certain. The sources say that as part of the agreement, Russia would halt its offensive in Ukraines Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts along the current front lines. However, they caution that the terms and plans are still being worked out and may change. It is not yet known whether Moscow is willing to give up any occupied areas, particularly the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. The purpose of the deal, the sources say, is to effectively freeze the war and pave the way for a ceasefire and technical talks on a final peace settlement. The sources also said it is not yet known whether Putin will agree to participate in a trilateral meeting with Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Many officials, particularly those from the US, are sceptical that Putin is ready to end the war and genuinely enter into a peace agreement that does not meet his declared objectives in Ukraine. This is not the first source-based report to have appeared in the media since Trumps Special Envoy Steve Witkoff travelled to Moscow to meet with Putin. The Polish news outlet Onet recently reported on the content of a US proposal on Ukraine that was presented to Putin during the talks in Moscow. The proposal is said to have included a clause that would effectively recognise Russian-occupied territories by deferring the issue for either 49 or 99 years. Background: Putins aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters earlier that a meeting between Putin and Trump is expected in the coming days possibly next week. Trump said he believed there is a good chance that there will be a meeting with Putin in the near future. Sky News has reported that Trump has spoken with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni about holding the meeting with Putin in Rome. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon! A Washington Post columnist admitted Thursday that mainstream journalists could never prove that President Donald Trump colluded with Russia in 2016 despite their best efforts, suggesting it shouldn't have turned into such a media circus. On "The Don Lemon Show" podcast, The Washington Posts Perry Bacon Jr. warned Lemon and other journalists not to report too definitively about Trumps alleged links to sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein, in order to avoid a Russiagate situation in which the media insinuated collusion without proving it. "You and I were covering the Russia thing a fair amount probably in 2017, 2018. We never really proved the thing we were sort of hinting atthat maybe [Vladimir] Putin and Trump are cheating and so on," Bacon said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Butter Knife To A Gunfight': Democratic Lawmaker Rips His Party's Strategy In Redistricting Battle President Donald Trump. In the clip flagged by NewsBusters' associate editor Nicholas Fondacaro, Lemon remarked that Trumps relationship with Epstein has broken into the previously uninterested mainstream media. "After last night, I was like, How should they be treating this story? And I ask because, look, this was sort of a Republican and a MAGA conspiracy theory, a la Pizzagate initially," he said. Read On The Fox News App He noted how some outlets were interested in the story at the time, but said, "for the most part, sort of centrist media, they were not obsessed with this Epstein story." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Cnn's Anderson Cooper Shows Up To Support 'Late Show' Host Stephen Colbert After Cancellation Lemon then asked Bacon how he felt about the media now taking an interest in it and peppering Trump with questions about the topic. "Yeah, I mean, the medias now covering it," the columnist and New Republic writer acknowledged. "I think people were slow to it, but I think people are onto it." But Bacon urged the media to show some restraint on the subject to avoid a years-long Russiagate narrative that turned up zero smoking guns on the presidents alleged collusion with the Kremlin to steal the 2016 election. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The sprawling Russia investigation dominated the news cycle for years, but dubious sources like the Steele dossier and revelations about the Hillary Clinton campaign's role in disseminating the Russia narrative have sparked fierce criticism of the media's handling of the saga. Click Here For The Latest Media And Culture News "It was sort of obvious that Putin wanted Trump to win, but Im not sure we got the sort of smoking gun," Bacon admitted. "So, I think people should cover this, cover this aggressively, but not it shouldnt turn into like, every hour on MSNBC is Epstein, cause also, theres a lot of other problems," he said. "Whats happening in Texas is a big story," the columnist continued, noting the story of state Republicans pushing a redistricting vote with Democratic lawmakers going AWOL to avoid it. Original article source: Washington Post columnist admits mainstream media pushed Russiagate story but never got 'smoking gun' Aug. 8 (UPI) -- A British Columbia woman's home security camera recorded the moment a bear that broke into her house was chased back out by her 6-pound Pomeranian. Kayla Kleine shared security camera footage from her West Vancouver home showing the moment a bear wandered into the house Monday while she had the door propped open for circulation amid high heat. The footage shows the bear investigating the home's TV before raiding the breakfast Kleine had put out for her small dog, Scout. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Seconds later, Scout comes running out from a side room and chases the bear while barking. The started bruin burglar darts out of the house as Kleine comes out to see what the commotion is about. "He came sprinting around the corner, and I just saw the bear running out of our kitchen and he chased it out of the house," Kleine told Global News. She said Scout chased the bear through the yard until the much larger animal vaulted over a fence. Kleine said Scout was apparently upset at the bear for eating his breakfast. "I was surprised but he's also scary when he's mad so I could see him going full speed at the bear," Kleine said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Kleine praised Scout, who was not injured during the encounter. "He's the best. He's super cuddly and affectionate but he's really feisty and really protective of me and my husband," she said. President Trump on Friday afternoon welcomed the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan to the White House, as the nations sign a peace deal to end decades of conflict. Trump was also expected to sign individual bilateral agreements with both nations to boost investment in the U.S. just a day after his latest tariff rollout went into effect on dozens of trading partners. Multiple news outlets reported that the agreement between the nations was centered on establishing a transit corridor across the region. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Watch a replay of the video coverage 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 The Hill. Russian forces have entered Dnipropetrovsk Oblast and advanced near the village of Dachne in the region, the open-source battlefield monitoring group DeepState said on Aug. 8. Victor Tregubov, the spokesperson for Ukraine's Dnipro group of forces, told the Kyiv Independent that intelligence and operational data showed no Russian presence in the area on the morning of Aug. 8. "A few days ago, an attempted Russian attack in that direction was repelled," Tregubov said. "They (Russian troops) are now regrouping for further attempts, but remain positioned in Donetsk Oblast." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement According to the DeepState, Russian soldiers have been spotted on the opposite bank of the Vovcha River, across from Dachne. DeepState added that most of Dachne lies in a gray zone and that Russian forces have not secured a foothold in the settlement. Russia is reportedly deploying small infantry units to maintain pressure in the area. In July, Kyiv acknowledged that small Russian units had entered Dachne on several occasions, but claimed that Ukrainian troops have been able to push Russian troops back. The Russian Defense Ministry on July 7 claimed to have seized Dachne, which would be the first village under Russian control in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Ukrainian military denied the alleged capture, calling it "disinformation." The estimated advance of Russian forces in Ukraine's east as of Aug. 7, 2025. (DeepState/OpenStreetMaps) Dnipropetrovsk Oblast is frequently targeted with missile, drone, and aerial bomb strikes. The news comes as Russia continues to grind forward with its summer offensive, which has been ongoing since May. Ukraine has been largely on the defensive in the east, with Russia steadily pushing forward. Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk Oblast (Nizar al-Rifai/The Kyiv Independent) Weve been working hard to bring you independent, locally-sourced news from Ukraine. Consider supporting the Kyiv Independent. The watchdog group Democracy Defenders Fund, led by a former Obama administration ethics official, has formally requested a federal investigation into the Pentagon's acceptance of a Qatari luxury jet on behalf of President Trump. According to a memo obtained by CBS News, the group asked the Department of Defense's inspector general and the Government Accountability Office to probe whether the Pentagon broke laws and engaged in impropriety by accepting the gift on Mr. Trump's behalf from the Qatari royal family. The memo was sent to the inspector general and GAO on Friday. The Democracy Defenders Fund is a nonpartisan advocacy group founded by Obama ethics czar Norm Eisen. Its memo said the agencies should investigate whether the Defense Department had improperly invoked its authorities to accept the jet aircraft and to reportedly transfer $934 million in funding from a nuclear missile program to help retrofit the aircraft. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "If true, this would mean that the DoD is diverting critical nuclear defense funds to outfit an unprecedented gift from a foreign government to a U.S. president," the group said in a 10-page memo. Earlier this year, President Trump confirmed that the Qatari royal family was donating a Boeing 747-8 for his use. Valued at $400 million, the jumbo jet is set to be donated to Mr. Trump's presidential library after his term is over. "There are so many things wrong with this picture, it's a challenge to know where to begin," said Virginia Canter, chief counsel for ethics and anti-corruption at Democracy Defenders Fund. "The fact that taxpayers are now funding a fifth Air Force One, originating from a foreign monarchy, is a staggering abuse of public trust, fiscal priorities, and national security interests," Canter said. The memo from Democracy Defenders Fund said the jet was redundant and unnecessary, pointing out the U.S. Air Force operates two 747 jets as Air Force One, and two replacement aircraft were authorized in 2018 for $3.9 billion. Despite the existence of both an active and future fleet, Mr. Trump pursued the $400 million Qatari plane, which he referred to in May as a "gift." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "If we can get a 747 as a contribution to our Defense Department to use during a couple of years while they're building the other ones, I think that was a very nice gesture," the president said. The memo from the Democracy Defenders Fund also argued that Justice Department guidance prohibits agencies from accepting gifts that would incur costs in future fiscal years, as appears to be the case with the Qatari jet. "The Air Force has already made clear that the Qatari jet is not able to operate as Air Force One in its current state," the memo said. The group also argued that even if it were legal, "the use of the (Defense Department's) statutory authority to accept a foreign gift that is not fit for purpose and then expend a billion dollars from appropriations for nuclear deterrence to upgrade that plane would be wasteful, a gross mismanagement of funds and an abuse of the (Defense Department's) statutory authorities in support of the President's attempt to evade Constitutional restrictions on acceptance of foreign emoluments." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A memorandum of understanding between Qatar and the Defense Department that was viewed by CBS News outlined the "unconditional donation" of one Boeing 747-8 jumbo aircraft. It was signed earlier this month by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Qatar's deputy prime minister and minister of state for defense affairs. It does not specifically mention Air Force One but says the jet can be used by the Pentagon "in any manner it deems appropriate." The Defense Department inspector general declined to comment. Global stock markets react to Trump's sweeping tariffs in effect now Sean "Diddy" Combs wants to go back to Madison Square Garden in the future, attorney says Israel's Security Cabinet approves plan to take over Gaza City LOWER ALLEN TWP, Pa. (WHTM) Once again, Wawa is looking to spread its wings further across the Midstate after proposing a new store location in Cumberland County. Back on July 15, the Lower Allen Township planning commission discussed new business as it relates to previously submitted land development plans outlining the construction of a new Wawa convenience store and gas station at 920 Century Drive. Close Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Local Business Beat This future Wawa site would be situated right next to the existing Wesley Drive Plaza shopping center. According to land development plans, this proposed Wawa would rest on an approximately 2.3-acre parcel and would be just over 6,000 square feet in size. The proposed Wawa would also boast eight fueling stations. Current plans also indicate 50 parking spaces, which would include two overside spaces and ADA spaces as well. Most recently, on July 28, the Lower Allen Township Board of Commissioners granted a 90-day extension for the submission of final land development plans from Wawa. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement RELATED: Cumberland County Wawa now open Once open, this new location would become just the second store to debut in Cumberland County. The first one officially opened its doors in Enola on 100 Metropolitan Way back in December 2024. According to Wawas website, the company currently operates over 1,110 convenience stores across Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Florida, Alabama, North Carolina, Georgia, Ohio, and Washington DC. Additionally, the company employs approximately 47,000 associates. This is a developing story. Stay with abc27 News as more information becomes available Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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 ABC27. Palestinians walking amongst ruins in Gaza City ahead of Israel's approval of a new war strategy that will see the occupation of the entire territory, Aug. 7. Credit - Mahmoud Abu Hamda - Anadolu via Getty Images Germany and Britain joined a chorus of international voices on Friday condemning Israels newly announced plan to occupy the Gaza Strip, with Berlin moving to halt weapons sales that could be used in the territory. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said his government would no longer authorize any military exports capable of being deployed in Gaza, following the Israeli security cabinets approval of a strategy that would see its forces take control of the entire enclave. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The new military push agreed by the Israeli security cabinet makes it increasingly unclear how these goals are to be achieved, said Merz. The German Government will, until further notice, authorise no military equipment exports that can be used in the Gaza Strip. In London, Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the Israeli decision wrong and urged it to be reconsidered immediately. A diplomatic solution is possible, but both parties must step away from the path of destruction, he said. Read more: Why U.K. Police Plan to Arrest Anyone Showing Support for Palestine Action at Upcoming Protest The plan, announced by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahus office early Friday, would begin with the Israel Defense Forces seizing Gaza City. It outlines five objectives: the return of all hostages held in Gaza, the dismantling of Hamas, the strips demilitarization, and full Israeli security control, alongside the installation of an alternative governing authority one neither led by Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority, which administers parts of the West Bank. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A decisive majority of Security Cabinet ministers believed that the alternative plan that had been submitted to the Security Cabinet would neither achieve the defeat of Hamas nor the return of the hostages, a statement from Netanyahus office said. United Nations Human Rights Chief Volker Turk said that Israels plan must be halted immediately, saying that it runs contrary to the ruling of the International Court of Justice that Israel must bring its occupation to an end as soon as possible. The plan would lead to more massive forced displacement, more killing, more unbearable suffering, senseless destruction and atrocity crimes, Turk warned in a press release Friday. Belgiums Foreign Minister Maxime Prevot said that he would summon the Israel ambassador in Brussels to discuss the security cabinets decision. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Turkeys foreign ministry described Israels latest plan on Gaza as a new phase of its expansionist and genocidal policy in the region, adding that it seeks to render Gaza uninhabitable, in a statement on Friday. Netanyahus military expansion plans were reported earlier this week, with officials close to the Prime Minister quoted as saying: The die is cast. We are going for the complete conquest of the Stripand the defeat of Hamas. The proposal had drawn protests from Israeli families of hostages. On Thursday, family members sailed out on boats towards Gaza calling for the government to bring their loved ones home. Vicki Cohen, the mother of hostage Nimrod Cohen, called Netanyahus plan a death sentence for her son and other hostages still alive in Gaza during a protest in Tel Aviv on Tuesday. Read more: Former IDF Chiefs Call on Israel to End War in Gaza as Netanyahu Claims Starvation Is Hamas Libel Contact us at letters@time.com. SIOUX FALLS, SD (KELO) Some regulars at a downtown Sioux Falls restaurant welcomed back an old friend Wednesday night to one of their weekly gatherings that date back decades. Jokes and laughter overflow at the bar every Wednesday inside Minervas Restaurant. Im not the only one here that will tell you, this is the highlight of our week is coming down here, Wednesday Study Group member Denny Graber said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement UPDATE: 1 dead in Wednesday 10th Street crash This happy-hour social gathering is known as the Wednesday Study Group. The ground rules are simple. We dont talk religion. We dont talk sales, we dont talk politics. But we talk about everything else, Graber said. Wednesdays guest of honor was 98-year-old Bill Pay, a longtime Sioux Falls photographer, who was the original founding member of the group that first met at Minervas forty years ago. Im the only survivor, up to now, Pay said. PERRY: How does that make you feel? Lucky! Pay is as sharp-witted as the good-natured barbs he receives from his fellow members. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Whats your name? I didnt recognize you. Im Bill Pay. Bill Pay, okay. Bills going to pay. Youre confused. I already tried that one. While he might not always pick up the tab, Pay has always been the straw that stirs the drink among the groups members. We wouldnt be here without Bill and every time Bill is here, we always have a good time, but when Bills here, its even a better time, Graber said. This gathering is all the more special because its Pays first time here in a year. Im incapacitated somewhat. I use a walker and I cant drive, so finding a ride down here is the biggest problem, but I get around, Pay said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Wednesday Study Group would like to see more new members join. Their ranks really thinned during the pandemic. Before COVID, there were days that was full over there and there was people standing here. Thered be 15-20 people down here for that and COVID just hit us hard. Since COVID, if we have 8-10 people, its a good day for us now, Graber said. Spending time at the bar in the company of Pay, himself, as he sips his Grain Belt beer, should be enough of an incentive for new recruits to have no reservations about joining. A lot of people know that were here and some of them join and they never show up again. But thats okay, theyre missing out on something, Pay said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement There are no qualifications for joining the Wednesday Study Group. Just show up at Minervas at 4:30 p.m. on any given Wednesday, and youre in. 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. Several firefighters work to extinguish the fire in the area of Fuente de Faro de Brantuas, in Ponteceso, A Coruna. A forest fire that is active in the Coruna municipality of Ponteceso, specifically in the parish of Cospindo, has forced to evict the residents of the village of Balares, next to the beach. Gustavo De La Paz/EUROPA PRESS/dpa Weiss Memorial Hospital in Chicago, which had been scheduled to lose Medicare funding Saturday, ceased most of its operations Friday, officials confirmed. They also warned that without additional funding, West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park could face the same fate. Resilience Healthcare, which operates both facilities, plans to appeal to federal authorities to restore Medicaid and Medicare funding for Weiss so that it can reopen, CEO Dr. Manoj Prasad said during an Oak Park news conference, but the process may take a year or longer. In the meantime, Prasad committed to continuing to operate West Suburban Medical Center but said it, too, could face closure. Any hospital can do that, I hate to say, with the environment that has changed, he said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Inpatient care at Weiss, including surgeries and the emergency room, ended Friday, but outpatient care and doctors offices will remain open. A notice on the Weiss website said the medical records department remains open, and listed a phone number for patients seeking copies of records to call. Elderly neighborhood residents, community organizers, Weiss staffers and elected officials rallied outside the hospital Friday afternoon, carrying signs that read Corporate greed kills and Saving Weiss saves lives. The few dozen protesters called for the hospital to remain open for two months. People over profits, health care is a human right, they chanted. State Sen. Mike Simmons, state Rep. Hoan Huynh and Ald. Leni Manaa-Hoppenworth, 48th all Democrats who represent swaths of the North Side spoke at the rally. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Huynh emphasized the importance of the hospital to Uptowns immigrant community, calling the neighborhood the Ellis Island of the Midwest. This hospital has been a lifeline for all of us whove come here, who have been low-income, who rely on Medicaid and Medicare coverage, said Huynh, who, like Simmons, is running for Congress. The closing of Weiss Hospital is what happens when private equity treats poor people as disposable and when healthcare is treated as a way to make profit, instead of providing access to quality care for people, Ald. Angela Clay, 46th, said in a statement Friday. Weiss ownership ignored violation after violation that put their federal funding in jeopardy without communicating to local officials or staff. Clay was part of a group of local elected officials and community organizations who wrote the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services this week asking for an eight-week funding extension and a reevaluation of conditions at Weiss before the hospitals participation in the federal program is terminated. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The federal agency issued a public notice last month saying that the Uptown hospital would lose its ability to participate in Medicare on Aug. 9 because it was out of compliance with rules related to nursing services, physical environment and emergency services. The notice did not elaborate on specific problems, but it came after the Illinois Department of Public Health conducted an on-site investigation at the hospital in June in response to complaints of high temperatures after air conditioning equipment at the facility failed, according to a state health department memo obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. Weiss and West Suburban have both depended on Medicare or Medicaid to pay for 70% to 80% of their patients, though at lower reimbursement rates than private insurance, Prasad said. Prasad defended his handling of Weiss, saying his company could not get loans to rescue the facility, but took it over when no one else came forward to buy the two hospitals out of bankruptcy in 2022. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The company was trying to fix and replace parts of the heating and cooling system and address other shortcomings identified by inspectors when the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services suddenly shut off funding, Prasad said. Fridays closure means many of the 800 employees of Weiss are suddenly out of work. West Suburban, which has 1,000 employees, is hiring some workers from Weiss, but not all will be able to make the commute. Daniel Maser, a registered nurse who worked in the Weiss emergency room, said a lot of people are panicking and scrambling to find jobs. Maser said he was told of the closing this week by his direct supervisor. Its brutal, Maser said. The loss of the hospital is going to make care much less accessible for many people. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Democratic state Reps. La Shawn Ford and Camille Lilly appeared at the news conference with Prasad at West Suburban Friday and called for increased state funding to ensure that the hospital continues operating despite federal cuts. West Suburban serves mostly Black and low-income patients from Chicagos West Side. Health cares a right, and we need to work collectively to make sure everyone has access, Lilly said. Weiss patients were evacuated to West Suburban and other hospitals June 18 after the air conditioning at Weiss failed. West Suburban had issues maintaining its own air conditioning with the influx of patients, Prasad said, but those issues have been addressed. Weiss, a 76-year-old facility, hadnt been maintained and had been losing more than $30 million annually for several years when Resilience took it over, Prasad said. The two hospitals together had an $81 million debt to vendors. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Although Resilience had to cut out frills and certain services at Weiss, Prasad said, the hospital kept meeting its payroll. But the hospital hit a wall in the spring when its electronic medical record system could only support about one-third of its bill collections. By cutting wasteful spending, Weiss upset a lot of people, Prasad said, including an employee who was passed over for a promotion and called authorities to file a complaint about conditions at the facility, which triggered state inspection violations. The violations were addressed but then Weiss got notice of termination of federal funding. In July, West Suburban had to shut down its mother-baby unit, Prasad said, because it didnt have enough staff to cover the required seven nurses per shift. The hospital is now recruiting for another model that will only require three nurses per shift, he added. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement West Suburban also recently signed an agreement to share some of its behavioral health patients with another hospital. So the intent is to continue and make it work with whatever resources we have, Prasad said. Weiss Memorial Hospital appeared to close Friday morning, just a day before it was scheduled to lose Medicare funding. The emergency room and other facilities closed as of 7 a.m., emergency room registered nurse Daniel Maser said. Two other hospital staffers, who asked to remain unnamed, told the Tribune Thursday that the facility was slated to close. The hospital was quiet on Friday morning, and one person was seen walking out of the facility with a cardboard box. Weiss hospital to remain closed while Medicare funding cut is appealed. West Suburban Medical also at risk. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Dr. Manoj Prasad, the head of the company that owns the hospital, and other hospital officials did not respond to requests for comment Thursday. Prasad is scheduled to speak at 11:30 am today at a news conference at West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park, which his company also owns. Maser said he was told of the closing two days ago by his direct supervisor. A lot of people are panicking and scrambling to find jobs, Maser said of the Weiss hospital staff. Its brutal, Maser said. The loss of the hospital is going to make care much less accessible for many people. Doctors, nurses, and community supporters plan to hold a 1 pm rally outside Weiss shuttered emergency room to call for keeping it open two more months until an operational plan can be implemented. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On Thursday, the hallways in the Uptown hospital were mostly empty. The emergency room was deserted, and some of the offices and waiting rooms had signs reading permanently closed. A white folding table at the entrance of Weiss held four flyers with instructions for patients about how to get medical records, ask billing questions and find their doctors at other locations. Its devastating, said Marianne Lalonde, an Uptown resident and past president of the Lakeside Area Neighbors Association, of the possible closure. It serves a population that is really in need. I think people are really going to struggle to find care and especially more vulnerable populations are going to struggle. Worries about closure follow news last month that the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services planned to terminate Weiss from the Medicare program Aug. 9, which is this Saturday. The federal agency issued a public notice, at the time, saying that the Uptown hospital would lose its ability to participate in Medicare because it was out of compliance with rules related to nursing services, physical environment and emergency services. The notice did not elaborate on specific problems, but it came after the Illinois Department of Public Health conducted an on-site investigation at the hospital in June in response to complaints of high temperatures after air conditioning equipment at the facility failed, according to a state health department memo obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The state health department found temperatures as high as nearly 89 degrees in the hospitals intensive care unit and nearly 87 degrees in the emergency department, according to the memo. At the time, the hospital moved all of its inpatients to West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park and other hospitals because of the heat, according to a previous news release from the hospital. The air conditioning was supposed to be fixed by the end of June, according to the state memo. The air conditioning appeared to be working again Thursday, at least in parts of the hospital. The state health department said in a statement Thursday that no patients were currently housed at Weiss. The department said it was continuing to monitor developments around the status of Weiss Memorial Hospital. The Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services confirmed Thursday that if the hospital loses Medicare funding, it will also lose Medicaid dollars, under federal regulations and state law. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It would be difficult for any hospital to keep its doors open without Medicare and Medicaid funding, and especially so for Weiss. In 2023 about 88% of Weiss inpatients and nearly 67% of its outpatients were on Medicare or Medicaid, according to the Illinois Health Facilities and Services Review Board. This week, a number of local elected officials and community organizations wrote a letter to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services asking for an eight-week extension and a reevaluation of conditions at Weiss before the hospitals Medicare participation is terminated to give the hospital more time to become compliant with the agencys standards. Our communities stand to lose not only a critical healthcare provider, but also a key employer and stabilizing force in the Uptown neighborhood, they wrote in the letter. Signers included Ald. Angela Clay, 46th; Rep. Kelly Cassidy, D-Chicago; Rep. Hoan Huynh, D-Chicago; and Sen. Mike Simmons, D-Chicago, among many others. The elected officials said in the letter that theyve convened emergency meetings with leaders at Weiss, the state and city health departments and officials from the mayors office, among others, to help find solutions. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Its been a critical safety net hospital for working families and seniors and communities of color, immigrants and refugees, and so we want to make sure that this hospital is here to stay, Huynh told the Tribune. Ruth Castillo, with the Lakeside Area Neighbors Association, said that if the hospital closed, it would be heartbreaking. Its such an important resource for the community, she said. There are so many neighbors that are on Medicare and Medicaid. They wont have a resource (thats) walking distance or a short bus ride away. She said, however, she thought years ago that something like this might happen. The hospital has gone through a series of ownership changes in recent years. A previous owner, California-based Pipeline Health, agreed several years ago to sell a Weiss parking lot to a developer, angering community members who worried, in part, that it was the beginning of the end for Weiss. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A hospital that has a future plan is not going to sell the last bit of land that it has to develop, Castillo said. Pipeline later sold Weiss and West Suburban Hospital in Oak Park to a new company called Resilience Healthcare led by Prasad, who touted, at the time, his ability to turn around struggling hospitals. Over the past 30 years Ive had the privilege of leading numerous health care organizations and have rescued a number of challenged facilities, Prasad told the Health Facilities and Services Review Board in 2022 as he sought to buy Weiss and West Suburban. WBEZ and the Chicago Sun-Times first reported news of the hospitals potential closure. BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First) West Baton Rouge Mosquito Control confirmed the presence of West Nile Virus (WNV) in a mosquito sample. On July 30, the mosquito control company submitted 23 mosquito samples from areas near Bueche and Alfords and sent the results to the LSU Disease Diagnostic Lab for testing. Experts say one sample can contain between five and 100 mosquitoes. This particular sample was identified to carry 100 female Southern House Mosquitoes, according to West Baton Rouge Mosquito Control Department Superintendent George Bragg. Following the detection of WNV, the company plans to implement enhanced measures, including daytime larviciding and multiple nighttime spray missions, to focus on the identified area. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Bragg said residents should not panic, but take precautions. West Baton Rouge officials suggest residents take the following steps to protect themselves from mosquitoes: Empty all containers of rainwater weekly. Drain and treat areas of standing water. Eliminate holes in window screens. Make sure gutters and drains are free of debris. Avoid activity during dusk and dawn. Wear loose-fitting clothing. Wear mosquito repellent. According to the Louisiana Department of Health (LDH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), three people died after contracting WNV in 2024. A significant number of people experienced WNV neuroinvasive disease, which is a more severe form of West Nile Virus. What is West Nile Virus? According to the CDC, West Nile Virus is a viral disease that spreads to humans through mosquito bites. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement WNV circulates in the environment between mosquitoes and birds. Mosquitoes feed on infected birds and then bite people. It is the most common mosquito-transmitted virus in the United States, with cases reported in 49 states. There were over 51,000 symptomatic cases in the U.S. since its discovery in 1999. Symptoms of WNV include fever, headache, body aches, swollen lymph nodes, nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, rash, joint pain, sore throat, and pain behind the eyes. Mild symptoms can last a few weeks, while some can linger for months. Cleveland Clinic reports that WNV can be fatal to 1 in 1,500 people with the virus. There is no known vaccine or medicine to prevent WNV at this time. Latest News Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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 Louisiana First News. A member of Cass County Vector Control shows mosquito larvae in a testing cup. (Photo provided by Cass County Vector Control) Cases of West Nile virus are springing up earlier this year in North Dakota due to wet weather creating prime mosquito breeding grounds, according to a state health official. Fourteen human cases of West Nile virus, including three cases requiring hospitalization, have been reported in the state this summer. Cases have been identified in nine counties: Cass, Burleigh, Hettinger, McLean, Mercer, Richland, Morton, Kidder and Stutsman. Most cases have been reported since mid-July, with cases nearly doubling this week. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The virus is likely popping up earlier due to a rainier-than-normal summer creating more stagnant water pools, said Amanda Bakken, West Nile virus surveillance coordinator for the Department of Health and Human Services. The virus typically begins spreading in late August or September, she said. I think we are on track to certainly have more cases than last year, she said. In 2024, North Dakota reported 38 human cases of West Nile virus, down from 58 in 2023, according to state data. Bakken said most of the West Nile cases so far this year have been non-neuroinvasive, which means they havent been the most severe types of cases. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement West Nile virus is typically spread by mosquitoes and birds. Most people who become infected do not develop any symptoms, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. About one in five people who contract West Nile will develop a fever, headache or body aches. About one in 150 people could develop serious symptoms that include swelling of the brain that could be fatal. As of Thursday, only three cases involved people over 60 years old. Older people are typically more susceptible to severe symptoms, Bakken said. Cass County has six cases, more than any other county. Ben Prather, vector control director for Cass County, said the increasing numbers of mosquitoes and cases of West Nile are putting the state on a bad trajectory. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement His team has been spraying for the pests more frequently and will continue to trap and test the bugs for the disease while mosquitoes remain at elevated levels. Were firing on every cylinder right now, Prather said. In ground testing, Cass County Vector Control is seeing increases in the species of mosquito that typically transmits the virus, but that doesnt necessarily translate directly to higher human cases, Prather said. An aerial spray of the Fargo area is planned in the coming days. Minot also announced aerial spraying this week in a social media post. Bakken said there is no statewide vector control program for North Dakota. Typically, larger cities and counties have implemented their own mosquito control measures because they levy tax dollars to pay for the program, she said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Some vector control districts avoid spraying during the peak migration of monarch butterflies, which is expected in North Dakota during the third week of August, Bakken said. Mosquitoes also need to be taken seriously because they can spread other diseases, such as St. Louis encephalitis, Eastern equine encephalitis and Western equine encephalitis, Bakken said. She encourages all North Dakotans to take precautions to avoid attracting mosquitoes, such as maintaining their landscapes and ensuring all doors, windows and screens are secure. Prather advises wearing long sleeves and pants, applying bug spray and staying away from buggy areas during dawn and dusk. He added residents can also talk to local vendors in their area to schedule a spraying of their property. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Be prepared and assume everything is a flying needle of West Nile, he said. Im not really looking forward to the second half of August. North Dakota Monitor reporter Michael Achterling can be reached at machterling@northdakotamonitor.com. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX The best hospital in Pennsylvania is a 3.5-hour drive from State College, according to a recent ranking from U.S. News & World Report. The publication released its Best Regional Hospitals Report for 2025, and Penn Presbyterian Medical Center took Pennsylvanias top spot. Penn Presbyterian is one of the hospitals in the University of Pennsylvania system and is located at 51 N. 39th St. in Philadelphia. U.S. News looked at the performance of more than 4,000 hospitals based on factors like risk-adjusted mortality rates, preventable complications and level of nursing care, according to a July 29 press release. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement These local hospital rankings, entirely performance-driven, equip individuals and their families, in consultation with their medical providers, to choose the highest quality care available in their own communities, Ben Harder, chief of health analysis and managing editor at U.S. News, said in the press release. Penn Presbyterian was nationally ranked across 11 adult specialties, and was rated high in performance for one adult specialty and 22 conditions and procedures. Its high-ranked specialties include cancer (No. 10 in the nation); cardiology, heart and vascular surgery (No. 9 in the nation); ear, nose and throat (No. 7 in the nation); geriatrics (No. 8 in the nation); neurology and neurosurgery (No. 8 in the nation) and orthopedics (No. 9 in the nation). See which hospitals topped the 2025-2026 Best Regional Hospitals list and learn how theyre setting the standard in patient care: https://t.co/KjJH8xfAZv U.S. News Health (@USNewsHealth) July 30, 2025 In addition to the first place in the state recognition, Penn Presbyterian Medical Center also gained a spot on U.S. News & World Reports honor roll, which recognizes the best of the best. Also on the honor roll were hospitals like John Hopkins, Mayo Clinic, Stanford Health Care and more. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Centre Daily Times has reached out to Penn Presbyterian for comment. For those in Centre County, Mount Nittany Medical Center in State College was ranked 20th in the state for best regional hospitals, with high-performing marks for 10 procedures and conditions. US News & World Reports best regional hospitals in Pennsylvania Here are the five highest-ranking hospitals in Pennsylvania, according to U.S. News, including a three-way tie for third place: No. 1: Hospitals of the University of Pennsylvania-Penn Presbyterian No. 2: UPMC Presbyterian Shadyside, 5230 Centre Ave., Pittsburgh No. 3: Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest-Jefferson Health, 1200 S. Cedar Crest Blvd., Allentown No. 3: Penn Medicine Lancaster General Hospital, 555 N. Duke St., Lancaster No. 3: Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals-Jefferson Health, 111 S. 11th St., Philadelphia President Trump is putting infrastructure development and economic deals at the center of a peace deal between Azerbaijan and Armenia, as the administration pushes to achieve a historic truce in a decades-long conflict in the south Caucuses. Trump will host Armenia Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev for a signing ceremony at the White House on Friday. Included in the deal is a call for developing the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP). The White House described it as a multimodal transit area connecting mainland Azerbaijan and its Nakhchivan enclave, an autonomous region bordered by Armenia, Iran and Turkey. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The White House said the transit corridor, which will cut through Armenia, will respect Yerevans sovereignty and territorial integrity and its people. The regional transit corridor is a long-held desire for Azerbaijan, and the Trump deal triggered pushback from Armenian diaspora groups in the U.S. who oppose moving forward with Baku without justice for years of conflict and the more recent Azerbaijani takeover of the Nagorno-Karabakh region, once an autonomous, Armenian stronghold. Real peace must be predicated on justice and accountability for Azerbaijans ongoing human rights violations these issues shouldnt be left on the back burner, Alex Galitsky, program director at the Armenian National Committee of America advocacy group, told Politico. A deal that rewards Azerbaijans aggression, undermines Armenias sovereignty, and denies justice to Artsakhs Armenians will only make it harder to resolve these critical human rights issues down the line. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Part of the agreements being signed Friday include a commitment by Yerevan and Baku to sign a joint letter calling for the dissolution of the Minsk Group chaired by the U.S., France and Russia that was established to find a peaceful solution to the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh. The Trump administration said Armenia is bought in for the economic benefits expected from the transit corridor and separate deals signed with the U.S. Trump is expected to sign separate deals with Azerbaijan and Armenia spanning energy, technology, economic cooperation, border security, infrastructure and trade. Armenia walks out of this with an enormous strategic commercial partner, probably the most enormous and strategic in the history of the world, the United States of America. They wind up without concern about yesterdays conflict, and theyre completely and totally optimistic about tomorrows future, a senior administration official said. The deal signed Friday is a directive to set up the TRIPP negotiating team to establish the commercial entities in control of development. The negotiations are likely to begin next week. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Since the announcement yesterday morning, I received calls from nine different operators. I was pleased to see three different American operators, a senior administration official said. Were going to get everybody around the table. Were going to find the most first-class operating system that we can, not because it brings peace, although thats a fantastic thing, but its also going to bring commercial prosperity, which will ensure peace beyond just todays signing ceremony. But the signing ceremony does mark a significant breakthrough in a devastating, more than three-decade conflict and has drawn bipartisan praise. This administrations infrastructure plan is a new and powerful element that could finally move the two sides closer to a ratified peace treaty. Good move, Michael Carpenter, who served as former President Bidens senior director for Europe at the National Security Council, wrote on social media. 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 an effort to crack down on crime in the nations capital, President Donald Trump is ramping up federal enforcement in Washington, D.C., and deploying additional federal law enforcement agents this week. Backed by a March executive order, the White House, respective federal agencies and local officials will work together to drive down D.C. crime. D.C. residents can expect an increase in federal enforcement starting as early as Friday, officials said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Washington, D.C., is an amazing city, but it has sadly been plagued by petty and violent crime for far too long," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt wrote in a statement to Fox News Digital. "President Trump is committed to making our nations capital safer and even more beautiful for its residents, lawmakers, and visitors from all around the world." Dc Us Attorney Says Enough Is Enough As Youth Crime Puts Spotlight On Nations Capital Trump on Monday threatened to federalize Washington, D.C., calling for local minors and gang members over the age of 14 to be prosecuted as adults after a former Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) employee reported being violently beaten in the city by two juveniles. Read On The Fox News App Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A White House official told Fox News Digital the effort to revitalize the capital has been an ongoing priority for the president, who established the D.C. Safe and Beautiful Task Force through the "Making the District of Columbia Safe and Beautiful" executive order. Federal officials will monitor D.C.s sanctuary city status to ensure compliance with federal immigration law and support the full accreditation of the districts forensic crime laboratory to aid local investigations. Trump Threatens To Federalize Dc After Ex-doge Employee 'Big Balls' Violently Beaten The task force is also providing assistance to the city's Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) to boost recruitment, retain officers and facilitate work with federal personnel to reduce crime. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Other areas of focus include expediting the concealed carry permitting process in D.C., ending fare evasion and other crimes within the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority system and reviewing prosecutorial policies on pretrial detention to ensure suspects who pose a genuine threat to public safety are detained. White House officials said the MPD will receive federal assistance to combat D.C. crime. Watch: Trump Hints He Will Federalize Dc Soon, Bring In National Guard After Big Balls Attack One of the most visible changes will be a heightened federal law enforcement presence in and around key locations in the city. Officials said deployments will include areas including the National Mall, Lafayette Park, Union Station, Rock Creek Park and major parkways. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The task force has already made progress, using federal enforcement and the National Park Services to increase enforcement, arrest illegal immigrants and remove homeless encampments from parks and public spaces. Operational details had not been finalized as of Thursday afternoon. Original article source: White House launches federal security blitz as president vows to end DC 'crime plague' The Corporation for Public Broadcasting announced last week that it would shut down after Congress voted to claw back over $500 million of federal funding from the organization. The announcement imperils local PBS and NPR stations around the country that have provided news and educational content for kids for nearly half a century. Amid the stripping of these federal funds, last month, the White House debuted a new educational partner at its launch event for its new Founders Museum exhibit: PragerU, a nonprofit organization that specializes in creating right-leaning educational short videos for adults and children. Department of Education Secretary Linda McMahon introduced the partnership, followed by PragerU CEO Marissa Streit. For the White House exhibit, PragerU created AI-generated videos of the Founding Fathers delivering patriotic accounts of the Revolution. In one, an AI-generated John Adams borrows a catchphrase from conservative pundit Ben Shapiro and tells the viewer, Facts do not care about our feelings. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Since its founding in 2009, PragerU has become a juggernaut in the conservative educational media space, with their videos reaching millions of followers across social media. The organization has helped launch the media careers of right-wing figures like Candace Owens. Their popular videos elevate narratives that have been sharply criticized as climate denialist, Islamophobic, and misleading about slavery. PragerUs partnership with the Department of Education is not the first time the conservative content mill has partnered with the government. Over the past few years, the organization has partnered with states and superintendents throughout the country to make their educational material widely available to public school children and teachers. Today, Explained co-host Sean Rameswaram spoke with Laura Meckler, national education writer for the Washington Post, about how PragerU partnered with states to bring its content to the classroom and if the organization is poised to fill the educational void left by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Below is an excerpt of their conversation, edited for length and clarity. Theres much more in the full podcast, so listen to Today, Explained wherever you get podcasts, including Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and Spotify. Whos behind PragerU? Is there, like, a Mr. Prager? A Mrs. Prager? There is a Mr. Prager; its Dennis Prager. Hes a conservative talk show host who started this whole thing. It was founded in 2009. His partner was the screenwriter named Allen Estrin, who you may have never heard of. Their goal really was both educational and political. They viewed the educational system we have now as being too liberal and too dominated by those ideas. So, they were going to counter it. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But, at first, they were for college students, and then, in 2021, it started to expand into younger students. Can you give us an example of a PragerU video that seems to be explicitly trying to provide a conservative narrative in response to a preexisting liberal one? I think a good example is the New York Times 1619 project, which was published to mark the 400th anniversary of the first slaves brought to what became the United States. The 1619 project really centered slavery in the American story and said that this was an essential to understanding American history. And a lot of conservatives objected to that to the idea of framing American history in such a negative way. They were saying, Why are we saying all of American history is shaped by this? Why not talk about how we got rid of slavery? Why not talk about abolitionists? Why not talk about, you know, freedom and all of the other things that were behind the Revolution and all of that. So that was the conservative pushback, and what we see in these PragerU videos, in sort of subtle ways, is a bit of a counter to that. Theres a video with Christopher Columbus, who is talking to some modern-day kids who are saying, basically, I heard bad things about you. And he says, You have to judge me by the standards that were true at the time. The upshot of this video and other Prager videos is to I think its fair to say minimize the role of slavery or how much we should focus on it or how upset we should be about it from our past and to try to look on more, shall we say, uplifting ideas from American history. What states are buying into this variety of educational material, if you can call it that? There are about eight states that have some sort of partnership with Prager U, which keep in mind that these partnerships do not mandate that schools use this material. It makes it available to them as approved content from the state. So, it doesnt require it, but it puts it on a list of available material, and were not really sure exactly how many are using it. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement That said, about a year ago, when we first reported on this, there were a half dozen states that had partnerships of one sort or another, which included Louisiana, Florida, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Montana, and Arizona. And then South Carolina and Idaho maybe those are less surprising [partners] have since formed partnerships with PragerU as well. In Oklahoma, they actually are quite excited about it. Now, Ryan Walters is the very controversial and very conservative education commissioner in Oklahoma, and he actually recently said that he wants to use PragerU material to evaluate teachers who are coming from other blue states Wow. to make sure that they are, actually, not bringing indoctrination at least indoctrination from the left with them. It sounds like PragerU has the attention of the White House, but the White House wants to give education back to the states. So, are the states a crucial part of the PragerU plan? Well, I think the states are the heart of the PragerU plan. Despite the fact that Donald Trump says on a very regular basis that he wants to, quote, return education to the states, the fact is that education is already at the states. Doesnt mean theres not a federal role, but you know, education is run by states and school boards, so they are really the ones who decide whether this material is available or not. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement [PragerU] does have quite a few followers on their social media millions of followers when you add it all up together. I think last year, when we totaled it, it was [roughly] over 11 million across platforms. So, they do make their material available directly to viewers anybody who wants it. None of this is secretive; this is very much out there. They want people to see these videos; they want people to get their content. They think its an important contribution to our overall culture and education. This is not something that you need to pay money for or thats being hidden. Its funny to think of the preponderance of PragerU in state curriculum or even just online at the same time as the federal government just defunded PBS, essentially. Do you think thats a coincidence? Yes and no. I dont actually think these two decisions are directly related in any way at least that Im aware of but I do think that they maybe both reflect a larger worldview, which we very much are seeing from this administration: an effort to stamp out what they would call woke ideology. They see that in lots of different places, and theyre going after it in all sorts of different ways, whether it be pressure on universities to diversify their faculty, [or] whether it be defunding PBS and NPR, which they think are overly liberal. All of these are examples of using the power of the federal government to try and essentially diminish or change institutions that are not ideologically aligned [with them]. And that has happened across schools where you saw bans on conversations about race in classrooms in a bunch of different states. Youre not allowed to talk about quote-unquote divisive topics. [There is] a lot of concern that topics like slavery were not going to be properly taught anymore, or the civil rights movement, or all sorts of other things that get at the various elements of systemic racism in our country. That said, lets not give it more power than it has. If you go to most education in this country, most classrooms have teachers who are doing their best to present a fair-minded read of history. The best teachers are challenging their students to look at it from multiple points of view and to understand that there is more than one way to read history. And I think that if its presented in the context of, There are [different] ways of viewing American history, [then] I dont think that material that isnt factual should be taught. But I dont think thats most of the criticism of the PragerU stuff. I think the criticism of most of it is the ideology behind it. But if students are being challenged to consider things from multiple points of view, thats not a bad thing necessarily. Media reports have indicated that the White House is working on organising a trilateral meeting between US President Donald Trump, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin. Source: Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne, citing sources in Trump's administration Details: Suspilne noted that the talks could take place as early as next week, although the venue has not yet been determined. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that Trump is open to meetings with the leaders of both countries. Quote from Leavitt: "As President Trump said yesterday, the Russians expressed their desire to meet with President Trump, and the President is open to this meeting. President Trump would like to meet with both President Putin and President Zelenskyy because he wants this brutal war to end. [N.B. Ukrainska Pravda does not recognise Putin as president ed.] The White House is working through the details of these potential meetings and details will be provided at the appropriate time." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Previously: Earlier, an unnamed White House official told The New York Post that Trump's meeting with Putin would take place only if Putin also met with Zelenskyy. Trump denied media claims that his meeting with Putin would only take place if Putin also met with Zelenskyy. Background: Following the meeting between Steve Witkoff, US President Donald Trump's Special Envoy, and Putin, Trump had a phone call with Zelenskyy and several European leaders. After this, media reports indicated that Trump told the European leaders he intended to meet with Putin "as early as next week" and, afterwards, to organise a trilateral meeting also involving Zelenskyy. Later, the Kremlin confirmed that Russia and the United States had agreed on a meeting between Putin and the US president in the coming days. Zelenskyy also stated that potential formats for high-level meetings were discussed during the phone call with Trump and European leaders. The Polish news outlet Onet reported that it had learned the details of a "favourable" American proposal regarding Ukraine which had been presented to Putin during talks with Witkoff in Moscow. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon! The White Houses trend-thirsty X account posted a video hijacking clips of anti-MAGA Hollywood stars to hail President Donald Trumps MAGA agenda. The erratic edit stitches together scenes from TV series and films, featuring celebs including Leonardo DiCaprio, Will Ferrell, Keanu Reeves, Nick Offerman, Jeremy Allen White, and Jenna Fischer to deliver the modest claim that all Trumps done in the first 200 days of his second term is win. 200 Days. ALL WE DO IS WIN: No tax on tips. No tax on overtime. Massive investments. Trade deals. Historic peace deals. MAHA in full force. American energy dominance. Economy roaring. Woke culture? Canceled. We dont sleep - we win. pic.twitter.com/dzgsPRdysk The White House (@WhiteHouse) August 7, 2025 The stars may not be too thrilled to find their clips repurposed to hype MAGA, however. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ferrell, 58, has made his disdain for Trump clear. The comedian endorsed Kamala Harris in the 2024 election, wearing Loud White Men for Kamala shirts and teaming up with Harris for a campaign video. In March, the Elf actor trolled the administration for dismantling the Department of Education, during the Mark Twain Prize ceremony at the Kennedy Center. Offerman, whos best known for his role as the libertarian Ron Swanson on Parks and Recreation, trolled Trump in a song he released last September. Trump is a f---ing d---, so Im proud to be a Kamala man whos quit the GOP, he sings, Because I just cant stick with the man convicted of 34 felonies. (Offerman has never publicly endorsed Trump and is an outspoken critic of the GOP.) Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Harris also garnered the support of DiCaprio, who bashed Trump before the election for rolling back environmental protections, and for his dealings with the oil and gas industry. Donald Trump continues to deny the facts. He continues to deny the science, DiCaprio said in an Instagram video. Climate change is killing the earth and ruining our economy. We need a bold step forward to save our economy, our planet and ourselves. Thats why Im voting for Kamala Harris. The White House X account has regularly made waves on the Elon Musk-owned platform with its unhinged posts seemingly aimed at a Gen Z and Millennial audience. Last week, the account tried to make light of Trumps fixation on Sydney Sweeney. It has also gone so far as to present the 79-year-old president as Superman, and tried to turn the Trump administrations deportations into a cute cartoon meme. The Daily Beast has reached out to Ferrell, Offerman, and DiCaprio, as well as the White House, for comment. "Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links." Key Takeaways: The Apollo 13 space mission in April 1970 riveted the public as NASA successfully saved the three astronauts onboard after a mid-flight equipment malfunction. The survival tale has inspired several movies and books, including a heavily fictionalized 1974 TV movie that Apollo 13 astronaut Jim Lovell called a disservice. Decades later, Lovell consulted on the beloved Ron Howard film Apollo 13 that won two Oscars. On April 11, 1970, Apollo 13 astronauts Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert, and Fred Haise were determined to reach the moon as their craft took off from Floridas Kennedy Space Center. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Two days later, they were simply determined to make it back to Earth alive. The terrifying events of the doomed mission and the ensuing operation to bring the trio home is now widely known due to the 1995 Oscar-winning movie Apollo 13. But surprisingly, it took a long time for Lovellwho died Thursday at age 97his flight partners, and the ground crew involved to have their tale fairly told onscreen. The rescue gripped the world in real time Courtesy of Netflix - Netflix Two days after the launch of Apollo 13, an oxygen tank exploded, depleting the astronauts Command Module, named Odyssey, of power and oxygen. Ah, Houston, weve had a problem, Lovell grimly remarked, kicking off a dramatic rescue more than 200,000 miles from Earth thatthanks to blanket news coverage through print, radio, and, most importantly, televisioncaptivated observers throughout the world. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Millions of Americans tuned into newscasts for updates, as Lovell, Swigert, and Haise battled perilous conditions such as freezing temperatures and rising carbon dioxide levels. On April 15, Pope Paul VI even led a prayer for the trios safety. Flight Director Eugene Kranz and the crew at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston provided valuable assistance, calculations, and even helped the astronauts construct a makeshift CO2 filter using duct tape, cardboard, and a sock. With that aid, the astronauts finally splashed down on April 17 in the South Pacific Ocean. The New York Times reported that as many as 40 million people watched their recovery roughly 600 miles from American Samoa. People involved in the operation were feted with congratulations. President Richard Nixon appeared at the MSC (now known as the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center) to present the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Kranz and the Apollo 13 Mission Operations Team. Nixon then did the same for the three astronauts at the Hickam Air Force Base in Honolulu, deeming the mission successful despite the aborted moon landing. We are glad to be here, and we are glad to be a part of America, Lovell said, according to NASA. The dramatic story of Apollo 13 was told on film four years laterand not without controversy. The first Apollo 13 movie was almost entirely fictional Universal Studios became the first to adapt the Apollo 13 rescue for the screen, but the effort resembled a daytime soap opera more than a riveting survival saga. On March 2, 1974, ABC aired that movie Houston, Weve Got a Problem. That the title was a misquote of Lovell became an early sign of the creative liberties the film would take in adapting the story. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Starring Robert Culp and Sandra Dee, the moviemade with NASA assistancetook the unusual approach of focusing on the workers inside Mission Control, not the Apollo 13 astronauts. While NASA permitted filming inside its Johnson Space Center facilities and allowed real personnel to appear as extras, the agency stayed out of the projects creative development. We did not and do not feel we should be arbiters of whats artistic or in good taste, or not, NASA Public Affairs representative John P. Donnelly wrote in a memo, adding he was hopeful the movie might humanize the space program. It certainly did little to humanize the three astronauts, none of them are listed as characters, and there are no scenes in outer space. Meanwhile, during the course of the movie, members of the team in Houston grapple with personal issues that played no role in the real rescueincluding a heart ailment affecting Culps character and a custody dispute involving another. Lovell said the movie was a disservice Getty Images The studio explained the changes by saying the network would never have accepted a documentary-style project. It also emphasized the added disclaimers that to point out the movies fictitious elements. What we did was take the basic facts and add additional drama on top, Universal executive producer Herman Saunders said in February 1974. How would you keep people in suspense, otherwise, when they all know the outcome of the story already? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Houston, Weve Got a Problem is largely forgotten by everyone except Lovell, who read the script and found it to be in poor taste and a disservice to the flight crew and ground personnel involved in the entire mission. If one is to believe this story, it was obviously more traumatic to be in Mission Control than to be on board the crippled spacecraft, Lovell said. The Apollo 13 story in itself is an exciting adventure tale without the embellishments found in an afternoon serial program. If NASA wanted exposure of this nature, this story should have been based on a fictitious space flight. The movie was the only noteworthy adaptation of the mission that Swigert witnessed. He died at age 51 of complications from bone cancer in late December 1982. Meanwhile, Lovell became determined to tell the real story of Apollo 13 and played a critical role in doing so 20 years later. Lovell had direct involvement in 1995s Apollo 13 In 1994, Lovell collaborated with journalist Jeffrey Kluger on the autobiographical book Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13. This novel would serve as the inspiration for director Ron Howards eponymous 1995 blockbuster Apollo 13 about the doomed mission. From the get-go, Lovell consulted on the movie to make it as realistic as possible. He even requested that actor Kevin Costner, who bore a striking physical resemblance, play him onscreen. The role eventually went to Tom Hanks, with Bill Paxton playing Haise, Kevin Bacon portraying Swigert, and Ed Harris in the critical part of Kranz. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Lovell personally helped Hanks prepare for the movie, welcoming the Forrest Gump star to his home in Horseshoe Bay, Texas, and flying him in his personal airplane. Hanks also spent more than four hours in NASAs Vomit Comet, the airplane used to train astronauts for rocket flight by alternating between negative gravity and 2Gs of force. Unlike the maligned Houston movie, much more attention was devoted to the astronauts and the realism of their spacecraft. Haise consulted with the sound effects team on alarm and equipment noises, while Space Works Inc. created replicas of the Apollo 13 command and lunar modules down to every last rivet and piece of velcro. The attention to detail proved worthwhile, with Apollo 13 earning nine Academy Award nominations, with wins in two categories. Despite its further alteration of Lovells famous quotechanged to the now iconic Houston, we have a problemthe movie ultimately earned the astronauts approval. Ron Howard really followed it down the line, Lovell said, adding another director might have put this thing on Mars with David Bowie or something like that. Lovell approved of a 2024 documentary on the mission Getty Images Since the premiere of the Apollo 13 movie, the real mission has continued to be the subject of much interest and analysis. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Haise published his own memoir, Never Panic Early: An Apollo 13 Astronauts Journey, in 2022 that details his experience and career. Apollo in Real Time, a website launched in 2020, allows viewers to see photographs and listen to Apollo 13 audio transmissions as they happened in 1970. In 2024, Netflix released the documentary Apollo 13: Survival that examined the true knife-edge, life-or-death drama that unfolded with the help of archived recordings and testimony from people close to the mission. Lovell gave it his full stamp of approval. More than 50 years after the mission, the film put me right back in the captains seat, he said, according to the Independent. Those were the days! Seeing the historic footage and hearing the perspectives of family and friends on the ground truly stirred my emotions. I am grateful the world now has this excellent documentary showing the raw emotions and triumph we felt back then. All of these projects help ensure the true legacy of Apollo 13 endures for years to come. You Might Also Like This article was first published in the On the Hill newsletter. Sign up to receive the newsletter in your inbox on Friday mornings here. Hello, friends. Congress recess is in full swing and for the first time in months, lawmakers (and reporters!) are able to take a breath. Ive been in Utah this past week catching up with members of the Utah delegation as theyve been catching up with constituents and local organizations about recent legislation. (Read: The Big Beautiful Bill and what exactly that means. More on that below.) But first, Im putting on my campaign hat for a moment to take a look at some of our House members who are hanging up their congressional hats and instead want to return home. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Cami Mondeaux The Big Idea: Why House members want to be governor instead Members of the U.S. House run for reelection every two years. And every cycle, we see dozens of members leave office either to run for another position like the Senate or to retire altogether. But this year I noticed an interesting trend: Theres an increasingly high number of House members who are opting to run for governor instead of staying in Congress. Now this concept isnt necessarily new. Every cycle, there are a good chunk of lawmakers who retire from the House and instead launch a bid for the statewide seat. But this year shows an even higher number than usual, according to an analysis I conducted through House records over the last decade. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Lets run through the numbers: So far this year, there are 10 House members who have announced their bids for governor. (And there are more waiting in the wings considering their own run, but they just havent made it official yet.) Thats the biggest cohort of House incumbents leaving office for a gubernatorial bid since 2018, when eight members did the same. Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., speaks during an interview in Henrico County, Va., Nov. 25, 2024. | Ryan M. Kelly Only two left the House to run for governor in last years elections: North Dakotas Kelly Armstrong, who won, and Abigail Spanberger, who is currently the favorite for Virginias governor election this November. But the fate of House-members-turned-governor-candidates isnt always so promising. Four House lawmakers ran in their states gubernatorial elections in 2022: Kaialii Kahele in Hawaii; Charlie Crist in Florida; Lee Zeldin in New York; and Tom Suozzi, who later ran for his old House seat when former Rep. George Santos was ousted from the New York seat. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Aside from the interesting numbers at play here, it always raises the question: What is the motivation behind leaving the House to run for a statewide seat? I spoke with GOP Rep. Dusty Johnson, who is running for governor in South Dakota, and he told me his decision was made purely because he loves state government. (Before Johnson was elected to the House in 2019, he worked as the chief of staff to former Gov. Dennis Daugaard.) He acknowledged the experience would be different switching from a Congress viewpoint to a governor focus, but in some ways it would be the same. After all, South Dakota only has one House representative, so hes used to statewide campaigning. But Johnson noted that his experience is not like his other colleagues who are eyeing the governors mansion. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I know its a difficult time in Congress, but Im not running away from the dysfunction in D.C., he told me. But thats not necessarily the case for others. Johnson said that the deadline-driven nature of Congress makes it hard for several of his colleagues to focus on their families back home, and often leads to missed anniversaries, weddings, birthdays, and more. That takes a toll on some peoples souls. There are people who, I think, would serve eight or 10 years who end up departing after four because they are frustrated serving in an organization that doesnt get its work done on time, he told me. Those arent factors that affect me, but it is the kind of thing that is a drag on many other members. Other House members face another unique challenge: Theyll be running against one of their colleagues for the governors seat. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement At least three governors races will see some incumbent-on-incumbent action next November, which could make things interesting for a) their current House dynamic and b) for our Republican friends, whether Trump will weigh in on the GOP primaries. Take for example the South Carolina governors race. Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., made her bid official earlier this week, announcing on Monday she would throw her hat in the ring in the ever-growing Republican pool of candidates. Thatll pit her against fellow Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., who announced his bid in late July. Will this affect their relationship? Norman doesnt seem to think so. This is what he told me about it this week: I like Nancy, shes a friend of mine. I think as the campaign unfolds for the next eight months, seven months, youll see the differences. Shell point out the differences that she brings, and Ill point out the differences (I bring) and what we want to focus on. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Mace, on the other hand, appeared to be singing a different tune. During her first stop on what appears to be a campaign tour, Mace made a not-so-veiled attack on Norman for initially hesitating to support House Speaker Mike Johnsons speaker bid at the beginning of this year. One of those two holdouts is in this race, Mace told rally attendees. Who knows if Trump will weigh in on the Republican vs. Republican standoff, or if hell wait until a GOP nominee is confirmed. Other incumbent races to watch: Democratic Reps. Mikie Sherrill and Josh Gottheimer will face each other for the governors mansion in New Jersey. And in Tennessee, Rep. John Rose, R-Tenn., wont be running against a House incumbent but instead will face Sen. Marsha Blackburn, who announced her candidacy this week. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement There are other lawmakers who are still weighing gubernatorial bids, so Ill be keeping an eye on how that develops in the coming months and how that will affect House races next year! Cami Mondeaux Stories driving the week Curtis delays Trump nominees: Utah Sen. John Curtis has placed holds on at least three of President Donald Trumps nominees for the Treasury Department until he gets answers on how the department will implement the phaseout of wind and solar tax credits passed last month by Congress, a source familiar with the plans told me this week. Lee eyes D.C.: Republican lawmakers, including Utah Sen. Mike Lee, are pushing Trump to take control of Washington, D.C., reiterating previous threats to federalize the nations capital after a prominent ex-member of the Department of Government Efficiency was assaulted by teenagers last weekend. Paging the Clintons: The House Oversight Committee approved nearly a dozen subpoenas compelling former government officials to appear before the panel, including former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Its the latest escalation in the Jeffrey Epstein saga. One Big Beautiful month? Its been one month since Republicans passed the One Big Beautiful Bill, enacting a majority of Trumps domestic agenda in one fell swoop. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Since then, GOP lawmakers have been tasked with selling the budget behemoth back home which is proving to be easier said than done for some members. Rep. Mike Flood, R-Neb., hosted an in-person town hall this week to kick off the August recess, but he was quickly met with boos and shouting from those in the audience. While the Nebraska Republican tried his best to walk through the details of the massive tax package, he was drowned out time and time again with cries of Liar! Theres been a lot of misinformation out there about the bill, Flood tried to tell attendees. If we didnt pass the Big Beautiful Bill, there would have been a $1,600 tax increase to every Nebraska family. But that didnt seem to quell the anger bubbling within the crowd. After a while, Flood seemed to acknowledge his uphill battle. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The only way were going to get through tonight, he told attendees, is if I get a chance to tell you how I voted. Floods town hall underscores the challenges that other Republicans are likely to face on their trips back home: Concerned constituents upset about spending cuts to welfare programs and clean energy initiatives, among other things. For the most part, GOP lawmakers have been expecting this. Remember: Earlier this year, House Republican leaders encouraged members to conduct events with their constituents through virtual calls rather than in-person events due to an increase of protests at in-person meetings. Top Republicans have blamed Democrats for ambushing these meetings to generate negative press, so virtual calls make it easier for lawmakers to moderate questions and avoid any outrage. Most party members have taken leaderships advice including Utah Rep. Celeste Maloy, who hosted a teletown hall on Tuesday evening. Maloys town hall did not have the same level of drama as Floods, but there were several questions about the massive tax package and recent government spending cuts. Maloy took every opportunity she could to highlight policy wins in the big, beautiful bill repeating those exact words at least a half dozen times, according to my transcript. It seemed that Maloy was following through with the task of selling the policy bill, and repeating the name appeared to be an effort to increase name recognition. Rep. Blake Moore, R-Utah, also had a chance to clarify key components of the bill this week while meeting with local groups and government officials. I tagged along with Moore as he met with the Weber County Commission on Thursday, during which officials asked him about policies related to Medicaid and other tax-related measures. Moore told me afterward that the briefing, along with others I sat in that day, was a regularly scheduled meeting that he likes to hold when hes back in town. But, he noted, those questions naturally happened because of the massive impact of the legislation. Cami Mondeaux Quick hits From the Hill: California Republican wants to ban congressional map changes before midterms. Rep. Burgess Owens says Utahs prison workforce program could be answer to national labor shortage. Effort to crack down on TSA facial recognition hits unexpected turbulence. From the White House: RFK Jr. pulls major funding for vaccine development. Trump to lead White House task force on LAs 2028 Olympics. Trump administration weighs in on its IVF plans. From the courts: Utah faith group sues to use psychedelic mushrooms. Suspect in shooting of Minnesota lawmakers pleads not guilty (Reuters). Whats next The House and Senate remain on August recess. Ill be heading back to D.C. this weekend for a return to the quiet halls of Congress next week. As always, feel free to reach out to me by email with story ideas or questions you have for lawmakers. And follow me on X for breaking news and timely developments from the Hill. U.S. Rep Mike Flood, R-Neb., speaks during his town hall in Lincoln on Aug 4. 2025. (Juan Salinas II/Nebraska Examiner) LINCOLN The hostile crowd Nebraska Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Flood faced this week in his districts most Democratic city may have helped him choose to host the event. Floods third and final town hall of the year drew national headlines and eyes on social media sites including X, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok for the reception he received. Attendees jeered him as he defended voting for President Donald Trumps budget and tax bill the president calls big and beautiful. Flood was asked how much it cost to be a fascist and faced chants of vote him out and tax the rich throughout the 90-minute affair. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The national attention particularly online, where voters increasingly get their news might have been the point. Flood is a modern rarity among congressional Republicans, one who faces the electorate without pre-screening the crowd. He is the last among Nebraskas all-GOP House delegation to host town halls that way. Nebaska U.S. Rep Mike Flood talking to attendees before his town hall in Lincoln on Aug 4, 2025. (Juan Salinas II/Nebraska Examiner) Dona-Gene Barton, a political science professor who studies political behavior at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, described the town hall as an opportunity for Flood, an attorney and former speaker of the Legislature from Norfolk, to showcase his debate skills. Flood also owns TV and radio news stations, so he is no stranger to a microphone. He may be feeling more comfortable having these conversations with constituents that may disagree with him, because he believes that a larger portion of the district is going to support his actions now, Barton said of Flood, who represents eastern Nebraskas 1st Congressional District. Flood answered questions from some of the roughly 700 Lincoln town hall attendees about Medicaid provisions in the Trump mega bill, war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, the Jeffrey Epstein files and reducing spending on the social safety net to offset tax cuts. One attendee praised Flood for becoming chair of the House GOPs Main Street Caucus. Many criticized him. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Lancaster County, home to Lincoln, is the second-most populous area in the state, behind only Omaha. Both are heavily Democratic cities that supported former Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election. Lincoln has a Democratic mayor and a Democratic city council. But Flood, as Barton pointed out, won his 2024 re-election bid with 60% of the vote against Carol Blood, which may be why he feels more bullish than other Republicans in the federal delegation. He won Lancaster County that year by about 4,600 votes. Flood acknowledged the GOP lean of the rest of the district near the end of the town hall, when he talked directly to viewers of a Nebraska Public Media livestream while getting booed, saying, For those of you who [are] watching from home, please know that Im on your side. I never forget who Im working for. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Earlier this year, national leaders advised House Republicans, including Flood, to avoid in-person town halls after several members hosting them since Trumps reelection faced public protests and angry constituents. Retiring U.S. Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., who represents the Omaha-based 2nd Congressional District, had held town halls for years. He said he switched to telephone town halls because of large interest and because it is more civil. Democrats have argued Bacon feared facing the people he represents. The new format allows his staff and vendor to pre-screen callers and cut them off if they go too far, but Bacons office says theyve never ended a call early. Frankly, its more conversational, Bacon told reporters in March. When you got moms and dads saying we cant bring our kids to a town hall, theres a problem. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Tuesdays event isnt the first of Floods town halls to go viral this year. Parts of his town hall in Columbus were widely shared online after Flood told attendees that he hadnt read part of the Trump mega bill before passing it. Bacon said in March that Flood likes to do in-person town halls as a way to make the far left look bad. Flood told reporters after his Lincoln town hall that he considers it his job to answer their questions, and its the town square. You have an obligation to stand in the town square, regardless of your comfort level, and answer peoples questions, Flood told the Examiner after the event. I believe what Im doing in Congress is the right thing. A long line for Nebaska U.S. Rep Mike Floods town hall at Lincoln on Aug 4. 2025. (Juan Salinas II/Nebraska Examiner) Flood said he understands why other Republicans are holding tele-town halls and other more controlled events, as some communicate better in that format, but in-person events are the right thing for him. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Thank you for being here, Congressman Flood I want to ask, why it seems like you make voting decisions based on capital rather than the working class, an attendee asked during the Q&A part of the town hall. Some national Republican strategists said town halls dont help highlight the positive aspects of Trumps second administration and its signature piece of budget and tax legislation. The reason: News and social media coverage often focuses on the outbursts and congressional reactions to them instead of the cases Republicans are trying to make about the changes. The National Republican Congressional Committee released a memo in late July on how House Republicans can make August count as they try to sell Trumps domestic agenda to constituents. It says they need to sell the strengths of Trumps new law, which much polling indicates is unpopular among Americans. The memo suggests congressional members host more focused events, such as the small business roundtables that GOP U.S. Sens. Pete Ricketts and Deb Fischer often hold, as a way to counter Democrats efforts with a disciplined and compelling communications effort. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Fischer, for example, has an agricultural roundtable planned for Saturday with Trumps Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins in rural Saunders County. Ricketts held town halls this year in Scottsbluff, Valentine and Kearney. This is a critical opportunity to continue to define how this legislation will help every voter and push back on Democrat fearmongering, the memo reads. The playbook is simple: Focus on President Trump and House Republicans efforts to improve voters everyday lives and show the contrast with out-of-touch Democrats. Most of the states federal delegation recently praised the One Big Beautiful Bill during a question-and-answer session with business leaders in Ashland. Nebraskas congressional delegates spoke optimistically about federal policies helping the states economic future, despite some warning signs that Nebraskas ag industry is struggling. State and national Republican strategists have acknowledged the poor polling of Trumps domestic agenda, but said focusing on specific provisions, such as new temporary tax breaks for workers earning less, could help improve public perception of the law, as they bank on the idea that long-term messaging about the bill could shape the 2026 midterms. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Nebraska Democrats also see potential advantages in Flood holding town halls, where activists and regular people can ask questions and frame his answers for social media sharing, which reaches more voters than a typical news story. Some also argue that much of the anger at the town halls is organic. A protester holding a sign at Nebraska U.S. Rep Mike Floods town hall in Lincoln on Aug 4, 2025. (Juan Salinas II/Nebraska Examiner) Nebraskans, like Americans all across the country, are sending a loud and clear message to Republicans: You voted against us. Now well vote you out, said Nebraska Democratic Party Chair Jane Kleeb in a statement. Floods Democratic challenger, Eric Moyer, attended the Lincoln town hall and posted on Instagram, This isnt going to be a friendly crowd. Moyers official campaign kickoff event is next week. National and state Democrats point to the tax and spending bills unpopularity, but the party has its own problems, as recent polling shows the Democratic Party has a worse approval rating than Trump, whose approval rating remains underwater. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Still, Democrats hold a slight lead in the party head-to-head RealClearPolitics polling average for the generic congressional ballot a poll that basically asks voters which candidate for Congress they would prefer if the choice were between a generic Republican and a generic Democrat. Barton, the UNL political scientist, said only time will tell if the energy from Floods Lincoln town hall continues and if discontent from the bluest part of Floods district is widespread. Midterms are over a year away. These are unusual political times where you have a Nebraska congressman being called a fascist at his own town hall, Barton said. Flood responded to the comment during the event, saying, Fascists dont hold town halls with open question-and-answer sessions. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Editors note: This story has been revised to reflect that U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts held three town halls this year and to clarify the final margin of victory in Lancaster County. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Earlier this week, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) called on FBI Director Kash Patel to track down Democrats in the State House of Representatives who fled to blue states to break quorum. Texas Democrats fled to places like California, New York and Illinois after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called a special session at the behest of Donald Trump to redraw Texass congressional maps in the middle of the decade to give Republicans give more seats. On Thursday, the FBI granted Cornyns request, and Cornyn preened. Specifically, he criticized Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for not going after the Democrats. On the surface, Cornyns acts might make a casual politics observer wonder what that has to do with the price of crude in Houston? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But Paxton is now running in the Republican primary to unseat Cornyn next year. In response, Cornyn has spent the last few months prostrating himself before Trump, taking photos in front of Trump Burger in Houston and photographing himself reading Trumps book The Art of the Deal. Its the latest instalment in one of the ugliest Senate fights in the country, and one that could determine the fate of the GOP in their biggest state. The Independents newsletter Inside Washington ranked the Senate race as the fifth most likely to flip given Paxtons extensive baggage. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) is in the battle of his life. And hes hoping the redistricting fight can save it (AP) Understanding the feud requires some history. As Texas became solidly Republican on the national level after native Texan Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act like the rest of the South, Democrats continued to dominate on the state level. Then George W. Bush won the governorship in 1994. Bushs 1998 re-election opened the floodgates and Cornyn became the first Republican elected attorney general since Reconstruction. That began Texas Republicans dominance in the state. The same year Cornyn became a senator in 2002, Texas Republicans took over the legislature and Abbott became attorney general. Cornyn moved up the ladder, becoming Senate majority whip and a staunch conservative on economic policy to the U.S.-Mexico border. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement To many conservatives, hes a RINO and a vestige of the past. That came into starker relief when after a shooter at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde killed 19 children and two adults, he negotiated a gun control bill with Democrats that Joe Biden signed. For gun-loving Texas conservatives, that was an unforgivable sin. George W. Bush, with Cornyn, played an instrumental role in the GOPs takeover of Texas. Now members of his party have their sights set on Cornyn for being a Bush Republican (TIM SLOAN/AFP via Getty Images) In 2014, Cornyns successor as attorney general Abbott became governor while Paxton became attorney general and a darling of the right. MAGA lauded him for his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election; he even spoke at the White House Ellipse on January 6, though he did not participate in the riot that followed. Paxton also faced numerous scandals, facing federal indictment almost as soon as he became attorney general, though the charges were dismissed after he finished a restitution agreement. Despite this, in a poetic move, Paxton beat Bushs nephew George P. Bush in the primary in 2022. But in 2023, his fellow Republicans in the state House impeached him, though Trump intervened at the last minute and the Texas Senate acquitted him. Texas Attorney Ken Paxton and his wife Angela announced their divorce last month. Republicans fear Paxtons baggage could cost them a seat (Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.) Now conservatives want to target Cornyn, whom they see as the last of the Bush Republicans they despise, while establishment Republicans fear Paxtons baggage could cost them a Senate seat in what should be a safe state. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Last month, Paxtons wife Angela, who was a state senator who had to hear about the attorney generals affairs during the impeachment trial, announced she would divorce Ken on on biblical grounds, a signal suggesting Ken had been unfaithful since the Bible permits divorce for infidelity. This explains why Cornyn is rushing to Paxtons right flank and the National Republican Senatorial Committee has released an ad praising Cornyn. Cornyn fears not only for his Senate seat, but also that if Paxton wins, the Democrats might get a foothold. The whole reason Republicans called this special session was to use their victory in Texas to shore up future elections and a Paxton primary victory could make that all for naught and allow for the Democrats to be at least competitive in the Lone Star State. If that happens, Republicans will now have to fight for a state they long considered safe and it could change the political calculus. After all, they did the same in Texas many years ago. WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) The Wichita City Council on Thursday approved $130,000 to add a new outdoor fitness court at Osage Park in south Wichita. The project is part of the National Fitness Campaign, which builds small, open-air gyms. Wichitas first fitness court, installed at Pat Garcia Veterans Memorial Park in 2023, has been more popular than the national average, according to usage data, the city says. First-of-its-kind ceremony in Wichita honors Purple Heart recipients Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas is contributing a $40,000 grant toward the $170,000 project. The rest will come from the citys Pawnee Prairie Park Improvements fund. Osage Park already features ballfields, courts, a splash pad, and a playground. City officials say the new court will give residents more free exercise options. Installation is expected later this year. For more Kansas news, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news by downloading our mobile app and signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track 3 Weather app by clicking here. To watch our shows live on our website, 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 KSN-TV. WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) The Wichita City Council on Thursday approved a $30,000 contract with CPS HR Consulting out of California to assist in the search for the citys next manager. The firm will conduct a nationwide recruitment process, working with the council to identify and vet candidates. Wichita could be best sports-event host city; how to vote The move comes as current City Manager Robert Layton prepares to retire at the end of the year. Layton, who has served since 2009, has worked under four mayors and 21 different council members. The city manager is the citys chief executive, tasked with carrying out council policy and overseeing day-to-day operations. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Laytons last day will be Dec. 31. For more Kansas news, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news by downloading our mobile app and signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track 3 Weather app by clicking here. To watch our shows live on our website, 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 KSN-TV. William Webster, the only person to lead both the FBI and CIA, has died. He was 101. The proud and loving family of the Honorable William H. Webster sadly announces the death of a beloved husband, father, grandfather, great grandfather and patriot, his family said in a statement Friday. At the time Webster was selected to lead the FBI in 1978 by then-President Jimmy Carter, the bureaus reputation was badly damaged by congressional revelations that unearthed corruption and extrajudicial spying on Americans under longtime Director J. Edgar Hoover. Webster, who was previously a Republican-appointed federal judge from Missouri, sought to restore the bureaus image: one of his first acts in office was to remove the bust of Hoover from the directors office, The Washington Post reported in a laudatory 1987 editorial. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement When his nine-year term leading the FBI concluded, Webster was quickly tapped by then-President Ronald Reagan to head up the CIA, which itself was in the middle of a public relations fiasco stemming from the Iran-Contra scandal. There, again, Webster moved to clean up the agencys image, this time by cracking down on the kinds of secret practices that led to the arms sale scandal and disciplining lower-ranking officials who were involved, The New York Times reported. His time at Langley, from 1987 to 1991, coincided with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Persian Gulf war. Webster was highly regarded for his stewardship in both roles, at least as far as the mainstream press was concerned. Regarding his time as FBI director, the Post approvingly said Webster used his reputation for personal integrity to restore public confidence in a tarnished agency, and the Times hailed his CIA leadership in restoring public trust in American intelligence. Upon his departure from the CIA, Webster emphasized the need to establish public confidence in American intelligence agencies. We are entering a period of reexamination of the intelligence organization, Webster said, a reference to the end of the Cold War. Whatever the outcome, I am convinced that the most important ingredient is professional respect and mutual trust. No laws can make these happen. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In a statement to CNN, former FBI Director Christopher Wray described Webster as a giantnot only in the history of our nations security, but in the hearts of all who believe in public service grounded in integrity and principle. Judge Websters visionary leadership helped shape and build the FBI into an amazing and enduring institution. His steadfast commitment to the rule of law, his integrity, and his humility set the standard for what it means to lead, Wray, who resigned in January from his post as it became clear that President Donald Trump would force him out, said. His legacy will endurenot only in the institutions he guided, but in the generations of public servants he inspired to carry the torch forward. Longtime federal judge Webster was born March 6, 1924, in St. Louis, according to the FBI. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from Amherst College, a law degree from Washington University Law School and served in the Navy as a lieutenant during both World War II and the Korean War. Webster served as a district judge in the Eastern District of Missouri from 1970 to 1973, and on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit from 1973 to 1978, according to the Homeland Security Advisory Council, on which he held the title of chair emeritus. He was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1991. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The FBI has at times called upon Websters experience since his departure to conduct reviews on the agency, including following the exposure of double agent Robert Hanssen in 2001 and again in 2009 to review the policies, practices and actions leading up to the massacre of 13 people and an unborn child by an Army psychiatrist at Fort Hood. Webster also served a three-week stint in 2002 on the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board, which held the power to inspect and discipline auditing firms in the wake of corporate scandals like the fall of Enron. President Jimmy Carter, left, smiles as Chief Justice Warren Burger administers the oath of office to new FBI Director William H. Webster in Washington on February 23, 1978. - Bob Daugherty/AP He occasionally made headlines in later life: Webster helped thwart a phone-scammer who, apparently not realizing the target, tried to extort the intelligence veteran and his wife Lynda in 2014 and penned an op-ed in The New York Times in 2019 condemning then-President Donald Trump for attacking the credibility of the FBI. Calling F.B.I. professionals scum, as the president did, is a slur against people who risk their lives to keep us safe, Webster wrote. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Webster was married to Drusilla Lane Webster for 34 years until she died at age 57 in 1984. They had three children together, Amherst College reported in 2022. Webster remarried six years later to Lynda Clugston Webster. CNNs Jamie Gangel contributed to this report. This story has been updated with additional details. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com WILLIAMSON COUNTY, Texas (KXAN) The Williamson County Commissioners discussed budget recommendations for the upcoming fiscal year in Tuesdays commissioners court meeting. The total recommended budget by Williamson Countys budget office is $735,644,714. There are three major parts within the budget: General Fund Budget, Road & Bridge Fund, and Debt Service Fund. The General Fund Budget covers core functions of the county, like administration and public safety. Its recommended at $375,657,616, which is $14,000,000 more than what was approved last year. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Road & Bridge Fund supports transportation infrastructure. Its recommended at $72,734,889. The Debt Service Fund helps pay off county loans and bonds for past projects like building and infrastructure. Its recommended at $222,704,539. Getting a budget that meets the needs of the county and the fast growth of the county and still stay efficient and keep tax rate as low as possible is going to be very important, said Steven Snell, who is serving his first year as the Williamson County Judge. Currently, Williamson County property owners pay just 39.99 cents per $100 of valuation. The county has not determined what the rate will be this year yet, but commissioners did vote not to exceed 41.37 cents for the rate which is the 2025 Voter-Approval Rate. Anything higher would have required approval in an election. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Thats basically our ceiling. And then after that, we can always go down from it, and Im sure we will go down from it we have in the past, said Valerie Covey, Williamson County Commissioner for Precinct Three. Covey said that balancing the budget with a booming population can be a difficult task. According to the U.S Census Bureau, Williamson County is the eight fastest growing county in Texas. Its difficult with such a growing county and the needs that we have, Covey said. Snell said that as conversations progress, he wants to make sure first responders are a priority in the budget. We just had an experience with the flood. We need to make sure they have everything they need to take care of our county, Snell said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Changes and proposals will be made throughout the month. The budget will be finalized on Aug. 25. 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. A simulation of what the US Wind windfarm might look like from 84th Street in Ocean City. (Rendering courtesy US Wind) Ocean City is pursuing every avenue in its ongoing fight to block an offshore wind farm including one avenue that didnt appear to exist until a month ago. Thats when the Environmental Protection Agency told the state that it erred when it said appeals of the air quality permit it granted for the US Wind project could only be challenged in court. The proper venue is the agencys Environmental Appeals Board (EAB), said the EPA, which ordered the state to rewrite its notice. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement State officials refused and have challenged the EPA claim, as has US Wind, the developer behind the Ocean City project. Local environmental attorneys said the move appears to be an attempt by Trumps EPA to figure out ways to undercut what the Biden administration did, by muddying the waters about how an appeal should proceed. Ocean Citys attorneys felt that the correct location was the EPA environmental appeals board and filed its appeal there, said City Manager Terry McGean in a statement. But it filed in Worcester County Circuit Court, too, just in case. In order to make sure our appeal was not thrown out based on a procedural issue, we filed in both places. Apparently the EPA agreed with us, McGean wrote. Its the latest twist in a long-running battle over the project, which calls for construction of 121 wind turbines about 10 miles off the Delmarva coast. When complete, the project could generate 2,200 megawatts of energy, enough to power up to 718,000 homes, according to the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The project has the backing of the Moore administration and the administration of former President Joe Biden (D), which granted a key federal permit for it. But it has long been opposed by some leaders in tourism-dependent Ocean City, who fear the distant turbine towers will harm the view from the beach. Wind projects have another opponent in President Donald Trump (R). The EPA appeals board recently took action against a different offshore wind project. In March, the appeals board revoked a Clean Air Act permit issued for New Jerseys Atlantic Shores wind project during the Biden administration. The board sent the permit back to EPA for a new decision in light of a Trump executive order that paused new wind permitting and leasing, and required federal agencies to reevaluate their policies. But, critically, that permit was issued by EPAs Region 2 not a state agency. Local environmental attorneys called EPAs arguments about the Maryland permit unconventional. Typically, a challenge to an air pollution permit issued by MDE would be filed in court in the county where the project is proposed, they said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I am a bit baffled by EPAs assertion, said Jon Mueller, director of the Environmental Law Clinic at the University of Marylands Francis King Carey School of Law, who said the administration may simply be looking for a way to block a Biden-era project. Ive never seen it say youve got to go through the EAB before unless there was some clear statutory requirement, Mueller said. In a previous statement to Maryland Matters, an EPA spokesperson criticized Maryland for not complying with its directive to reissue the air permit with instructions for appellants to go to the Environmental Appeals Board. They dont seem to care about complying with legal requirements, an EPA spokesperson said about MDE. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The appeals board is a three-judge panel that reviews permitting disputes involving federal statutes like the Clean Air Act. Members are appointed by the EPA administrator, to consider appeals on their behalf, but the board is impartial and independent from all other agency components outside the office of the administrator, according to its website. The EAB is still considering whether it has jurisdiction to review the MDE-issued air permit for the Ocean City project. In an order issued Monday, the board required the EPAs general counsel to chime in by Aug. 18. Amy Van Blarcom-Lackey, regional EPA administrator for the mid-Atlantic, told Maryland on July 7 that it needed to defer to the EAB. That same day, Ocean City filed its appeal with the EAB, making arguments similar argument to Trumps EPA. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The citys attorney, Nancie Marzulla, wrote that EPA delegated authority to MDE to issue the Clean Air Act permit, but the federal agency retains oversight over the permit, in part because it covers a project on the outer continental shelf, a federal enclave, Marzulla wrote. Both of Ocean Citys filings in court and before the appeals board challenge MDEs construction permit on several grounds, arguing that MDE failed to consider alternatives for the offshore wind project, issued the permit late and relied on uncertain emissions estimates for construction vessels, among other faults. US Wind believes that the towns appeal is less about air quality and more about the very existence of the Project, wrote Toyja E. Kelley, Sr., an attorney for the company, in a filing before the appeals board. Be that as it may, Petitioners have a right to challenge the MDE Permit, but only in the forum legally authorized to hear them out: a Maryland Circuit Court. Liz Burdock, president and CEO of Oceantic Network, a trade group supporting offshore wind development, agreed with US Wind, saying in a statement that she has full confidence in Marylands permit and the states appeals process. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement MDE issued the permit for US Wind after a lengthy, well-documented, science-based approach that followed years of precedent and included US EPA Region 3 every step of the way, Burdock wrote. In its filing with the EPA board, the Baltimore-based wind developer contended that MDE followed the rules when it issued the air permit. It also argued that the air emissions tied to the project will occur almost exclusively during the construction and commissioning phase, thanks to engines aboard construction vessels and diesel generators on the offshore substations before they are connected to the electrical grid. The turbines themselves will generate no air emissions, US Wind wrote, and in fact will displace electricity that would otherwise be generated by fossil fuel powered sources that have historically created significantly more air emissions. In its filing with the appeals board, MDE wrote that EAB lacks jurisdiction based on past precedent, and Ocean Citys petition misconstrues federal law. It warned that an improvident grant of jurisdiction could result in conflicting judicial rulings given the Petitioners concurrent filing currently proceeding in the Maryland courts. Phil Federico, a Maryland environmental attorney who handles class action suits related to groundwater and air pollution, said he also found it strange that EPA was arguing the wind permit should go to its appeals board. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Its a novel argument, Federico said. And I think theyre relying heavily on the fact that the Clean Air Act permits the EPA to delegate authority to the state to issue Clean Air Act permits. Federico said it seems as though the federal agency, having already delegated authority to Maryland to enact Clean Air Act permits on the outer continental shelf, is now moving the goalposts. If youre going to delegate this authority to MDE, and they do issue a Clean Air Act permit consistent with the EPA standards, then I dont see the problem, Federico said. My guess is this is probably to some degree being impacted by political preference. In its filing, MDE also argued that many of Ocean Citys contentions were not brought forward during the public comment period, making them ineligible subjects for an appeal. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The state still countered each deficiency cited by Ocean City, arguing that it was allowed to rely on previous alternative analyses conducted by the U.S. Department of the Interior, that its vessel emissions estimates were sound and that the permit underwent ample public comment. Responding to the contention that the appeals board should overturn the permit because it was issued after a statutory deadline, MDE argued that would be an absurd remedy, since the deadline was set to protect permit applicants from a never-ending review process. A contrary ruling would allow an agency to avoid ever having to make a decision, reads MDEs filing. Whats 9 feet tall with an enlarged head, big shoes and a left arm beefier than the right one? The new sculpture of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in Winter Park. The larger-than-life-size bronze statue of King by artist Andrew Luy of Huntsville, Ala., was unveiled July 12 to a round of applause during the dedication ceremony for Unity Corner at West Morse Boulevard and South Denning Drive in the citys 23-acre Martin Luther King Jr. Park. Since then, some city residents and members of the Central Florida community have panned it as deformed or cartoonish and want it fixed or redone entirely. But many city leaders say they stand behind the artist and his statue which was approved by King family representatives. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The city does plan to add a small sign at the site explaining the meaning behind its features an idea Luy supports, saying the exaggerations were intentional. Pictures: Martin Luther King Unity Corner Statue in Winter Park Jonathan Blount, co-founder of Essence Magazine and a civil rights advocate, said in an interview that the statue looks nothing like King, whom he saw in 1969 at a rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, while a student activist at Shaw University. The head is too big, its disproportionate, said Blount, an Orlando resident. The image of his facial structure bears no likeness to Dr. King at all. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He said the citys plan to add a sign at the site was a positive development but isnt enough, still pushing for fixes. On Tuesday afternoon, Winter Park resident Tyler Stewart stopped by the park on his bike to see what people were talking about online. His verdict: Its not super realistic. It just looks cartoonish. The statue stands on a circular black granite plinth facing the corner surrounded by concentric seating and walls inscribed with names of Black residents the city forced off their land in the 1950s to make way for the park. The installation is titled The Ripple, which Luy said was born of Kings teachings and how his influence has rippled throughout history. The $500,000 installation was funded by the citys Community Redevelopment Agency. Luy was chosen for the job by a city selection committee and unanimously approved by the city commission in 2023. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In an interview, Luy said he received much praise at the unveiling but was prepared for feedback of all stripes because the statue was never intended to be a hyperrealistic replica of King. He said it was conceived through an in-depth, iterative process guided by a committee of residents, civic leaders and cultural stakeholders individuals committed to honoring the legacy of King and the residents who once lived on the parkland with care, thoughtfulness and meaning. Together, we focused not only on physical likeness but on capturing the spirit, message and enduring presence of a leader whose impact continues to ripple through time, Luy said. Luy said the decision was made to enlarge Kings shoes after a committee member remarked, he had big shoes to fill, and he felt the symbolism should be evident in the statue. It was also suggested to slightly enlarge his head to maintain visibility from the corner of Morse and Denning, Luy continued. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Additionally, the girth of his left arm was increased to emphasize the weight and power of the book he holds symbolizing knowledge, faith and ideals that guided his leadership. Exactly what book hes holding is left for the viewer to interpret, he said. Public art invites conversation and critique and I embrace that dialogue, Luy said. At the same time, I stand by the intent and integrity of this piece. A statement Wednesday from City Manager Randy Knight echoed those sentiments. The city proudly stands with the MLK Shady Park Planning Committee and artist, Andrew Luy, who worked together to build a space for our community to visit, reflect, honor and pay tribute to the life and meaningful work of Dr. King, he said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The statue sparked a lively discussion among city leaders and attendees during the July 23 commission meeting, where Blount first went public with his criticisms, saying the statue looks deformed. Commissioner Craig Russell, who last year became the first Black member of the group since the late 1800s, told Blount he believes sentiment was so great and so grand for King and hopes that overshadows any subjective preferences of those viewing the statue. Russell added that statues of people often generate controversy: (NBA legend) Allen Iverson had a bust of him done a couple years ago and some people loved it, some people hated it. But Mayor Sheila DeCiccio acknowledged the concerns about the depiction of King, while saying she wasnt sure anything could be done considering the cost of the project: Maybe it just didnt come out the way everyone had hoped it would. (WFRV) The Wisconsin Humane Society is asking for the publics help after an unprecedented intake of animals, especially surrendered cats, in recent days. On Tuesday alone, 100 cats and kittens came in as surrenders or strays across WHS locations. The organization is currently caring for 1,500 animals, including nearly 1,100 felines about 250 more cats on a daily basis compared to 2024. Baldwin visits Green Bay, holds roundtable on tariff impact with local businesses Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Kennel space has become so tight, weve had to set up temporary accommodations in unconventional spaces at some of our campuses, said Angela Speed, vice president of marketing and communications. As novel as it is to have cats in office spaces, these kitties would greatly appreciate a vacation in your spare room or even bathroom. To become a WHS foster home, people can watch an online orientation video, fill out an application, and receive next steps and access to the list of animals in need. Animals may need foster care to recover from illness or injury in a home environment, are too young for adoption, or to open space at the shelter for other animals. Foster for space is the highest need right now, and WHS notes: You dont need a lot of space. You can foster if you have children. You can choose which animal to foster. You can foster if you already have pets. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement No experience is necessary, and WHS provides supplies, instructions and support. Wisconsin home care business to close, laying off 50 workers In addition to our plea for foster parents, we are also running several adoption promotions for both cats and dogs to help encourage more adopters, Speed said. From $75 adoption fees for adult dogs to 50% off all kitten fees and entirely waived fees for adult cats, were hoping to find homes for hundreds of animals in August. For more information, 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 WFRV Local 5 - Green Bay, Appleton. This week, one Wisconsin State Park visitor was shocked to see "Prairie Farms" printed on his box of cream puffs he bought at the State Fair. "That's a huge Illinois dairy," he told Public Investigator in an email. "Why is the state fair scamming Wisconsinites into believing that they are supporting a Wisconsin dairy?" Since its debut in the 1800s, the Wisconsin State Fair has celebrated the best of the state's agricultural heritage. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement For decades, the original cream puff has been one of the most popular food items. The light, airy pastry filled with sweet cream offers a taste of what many Wisconsin dairy farms have to offer. It's been a staple of the fair since 1924, according to the state fair website. But is the filling in these iconic pastries made outside of the Dairy State? Sort of. For the past 12 years, Prairie Farms Dairy a multibillion-dollar, farmer-owned dairy manufacturing company headquartered in Edwardsville, Illinois has produced the cream inside the Wisconsin State Fair's cream puffs. However, a Prairie Farms Dairy representative reassured fairgoers that it uses milk from Wisconsin. Cream puffs at the Wisconsin State Fair in West Allis on Aug. 7, 2025. "Prairie Farms is proud to source the cream used in the iconic Wisconsin State Fair Cream Puffs from our Wisconsin dairy farms and farmer-owners," Prairie Farms told Public Investigator in an email. "We receive milk from more than 50 Wisconsin dairy farm families, supporting local agriculture and ensuring the freshest possible cream for fairgoers to enjoy." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Wisconsin State Fair spokesperson Tim McCormick shared an identical statement with Public Investigator. Prairie Farms produces a wide range of dairy products like butter and ice cream, sourcing dairy milk from more than 600 family farms across 18 states, including Wisconsin. One reason the State Fair is using cream made out-of-state is that there aren't many milk processing plants in Wisconsin. For example, Lamers Dairy, a 112-year-old milk processing company in Appleton, says it is one of only three fluid milk processing plants left in the state. For 88 years, Golden Guernsey Dairy in Waukesha supplied cream to the State Fair until it closed unexpectedly in 2013. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The Wisconsin Bakers Association, which runs the cream puff operation, scrambled to find a Wisconsin dairy farm that could produce 1,200 to 1,500 gallons of cream for each day of the fair. But nobody in Wisconsin could do it, former Wisconsin Bakers Association CEO Dave Schmidt told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel back in 2013. That year, Prairie Farms stepped into the role and has remained there since. Tell us: Are you satisfied with the origin of the cream in the Wisconsin State Fair cream puffs or do you feel duped? Reach Public Investigator reporter Gina Castro at gcastro@gannett.com. Questions? Tips? Contact Public Investigator Government corruption. Corporate wrongdoing. Consumer complaints. Medical scams. Public Investigator is a new initiative of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and its sister newsrooms across Wisconsin. Our team wants to hear your tips, chase the leads and uncover the truth. We'll investigate anywhere in Wisconsin. Send your tips to publicinvestigator@gannett.com or call 414-319-9061. You can also submit tips at jsonline.com/tips. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Are the Wisconsin State Fair cream puffs actually from Illinois? The first bystander to reach the body of Manhattan fashion designer Martha Nolan-OSlatarra at the Montauk Yacht Club said he and his friend were fast asleep when all hell broke loose. The chaos unfolded around midnight Tuesday, when the two were awakened by screaming and saw the alleged owner of the boat where the tragedy unfolded dashing down the dock in a panic, the man said. We were sound asleep, the eyewitness, who asked not to be identified, told The Post. Martha Nolan-OSlatarra, 33, was found dead on a boat at the Montauk Yacht Club. Instagram/Dylan Grace We heard someone shouting, stuff bouncing off the side of the boat. He threw sunscreen at our boat trying to wake us up, he said. He was running up and down, naked, screaming, Do something! Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He called 911 and then they boarded the Ripple the boat where Nolan-OSlatarra lay dead or dying. Suffolk County police said the bystanders tried to resuscitate the popular designer before first responders arrived but it was too late and the 33-year-old Irish-born beauty was pronounced dead. The 911 caller and his pal, regulars at the yacht club, did not recognize Nolan-OSlatarra. Cops said there was no evidence of violence done to Nolan-OSlatarras body, but have not ruled out foul play and have not released details of the departments investigation. The Post revealed Martha Nolan-OSlatarras rags-to-riches-turned-tragic story following her mysterious death. According to sources, the owner of the boat also owns a second one at the marina. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Nolan-OSlatarra moved to Manhattan in 2018 from the small Irish town of Carlow, starting off as a bottle service girl in Soho before founding East x East, her swimwear fashion company. Martha Nolan-OSlatarra, 33, was found dead or dying on the Ripple at the Montauk Yacht Club on Tuesday. Luiz C. Ribeiro for New York Post Driven to succeed and gifted at marketing, she summered in the Hamptons in recent years, hosting pop-ups and wowing the upscale clientele drawn to Montauk and surrounding resort towns. Montauk, specifically, is so seasonal, one connected local businessman said Thursday. So, you have to be more confident in yourself, because youve got 90 days if it doesnt rain to make money. Bystanders at the Montauk Yacht Club described the chaos that led to the discovery of Martha Notlans body. Dennis A. Clark It was very obvious to me that she was very driven and wanted to succeed, the man said. I got the impression that she is a young, ambitious, driven young woman who had a vision, and she thought that Montauk was a very good fit. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement While Nolan-OSlatarras death has rattled some in the East End, others are taking it in stride. Were just on vacation so its not something Im not thinking about much, one visitor who only identified herself as Ally told The Post. Nonetheless, local resident Travis Fischer, 15, said news of the high-profile death has dampened the mood. Were still having fun and enjoying ourselves, but its definitely on the back of my mind every now and then. Conservationists who are pushing for additional protections for wolves say a recent Montana court ruling represents a major victory for wolves. (File photo courtesy of MacNeil Lyons/U.S. Fish and Wildlife) Although conservationists are celebrating a legal victory this week in their fight to restore protections for wolves in the West, wolves remain under state control in Idaho, where hunting and trapping remain legal, Idaho Department of Fish and Game officials said Thursday. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The issue involves a new ruling in a lawsuit filed earlier this year in U.S. District Court for the District of Montana. This week, conservationists told the Idaho Capital Sun they filed the lawsuit seeking additional protections for wolves in part because of the expansion of wolf hunting and trapping in states like Idaho. In 2021, the Idaho Legislature passed, and Gov. Brad Little signed into law, Senate Bill 1211, which eliminated limits on the number of wolf tags hunters could purchase every year, allowed the state to enter into contracts with other government agencies and third parties to kill wolves and legalized trapping on private land year round. Wolves are a native species that were nearly driven to extinction in the Western U.S. by the 1930s following a campaign of government bounties and widespread poisoning. Recovery took decades. Wolves were one of the first animals added to the Endangered Species List in 1974. Then, the U.S. government reintroduced wolves to Idaho and Yellowstone National Park in 1995 and 1996 using wolves captured in Canada, the Idaho Capital Sun previously reported. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But in 2011, the U.S. Congress removed wolves in Idaho, Montana and parts of other Western states from the Endangered Species Act, setting the stage for hunting, trapping and state management of wolves. Judges ruling in lawsuit is a huge victory for wolves and science, conservationists say Conservationists said they filed the new lawsuit because they worried wolves are once again in danger of being driven to dangerously low population levels. Need to get in touch? Have a news tip? CONTACT US States represent they want to maintain a smaller population of wolves, Western Watersheds Project Idaho Director Greg LeDonne said in a phone interview. The concern raised in comments the plaintiffs submitted and in this case is that low populations put wolves at risk of being extirpated again, driven to extinction in the West, and put back in the same position. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement On Tuesday, Montana Fourth District Judge Donald Molloy ruled in favor of the conservationists and tossed out a decision from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that found wolves in the Western United States do not qualify for Endangered Species Act protections. Its a huge victory for wolves, for science and fact and for the many organizations and individuals who worked on this for literally decades in some cases, Patrick Kelly, the Montana and Washington director for Western Watersheds Project, said in a phone interview. Although the ruling itself does not change the status or protections of wolves in Idaho, one of the lead attorneys on the case said the ruling is a clear victory for wolves and conservationists. Judge Molloy wholly rejected nearly every argument put forth by the Fish and Wildlife Service in their briefs and oral arguments, Kate Schultz, senior attorney for the Center for a Humane Economy and a lead counsel in the case, said in a written statement. This decision was a thorough repudiation of the agencys handling of wolves, and it is a continuation of a long pattern of cases in which courts have found that the federal government has violated federal law and failed to properly protect wolves in the United States. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Several plaintiffs said they hope the ruling represents a step toward adding additional protections for wolves and allowing wolves to recover to the point they return to playing their original, natural role in ecosystems. Idaho Department Fish and Game and Gov. Brad Littles spokesperson disagree with new wolf ruling Idaho Department of Fish and Game Director Jim Fredericks and Gov. Littles spokeswoman disagreed with the ruling and said the courts should stay out of local wolf management decisions. Were extremely disappointed with the decision considering Idaho has managed a wolf population above federal recovery goals for decades and sustained more-than-adequate wolf populations since Congress removed them from Endangered Species Act protection in 2011, Fredericks said in a written statement. Fish and Game officials said Idahos most recent wolf population estimate for May 2024 is 1,235 wolves, which they said is above the recovery goal of 150 wolves. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Littles office also disagreed with the ruling and called Molloy an activist judge. This ruling is yet another example of an activist judge using the Endangered Species Act to harm Western states, Press Secretary Joan Varsek said in a written statement late Wednesday. While Congress and the Trump administration work on necessary reforms to the ESA, we are doubling down and reaffirming that state management of wolves has worked for this recovered population. Idaho is and will continue to be a leader in these efforts. Although wolves status in Idaho did not change with the ruling, Idaho Department of Fish and Game officials said Thursday morning the case and its fallout could potentially lead to changes for wolves in Idaho. Idaho could eventually be affected because the court case involves the (Endangered Species Act) status of wolves across the Western U.S. where theres a mix of federally protected wolves and federally unprotected wolves depending on which state theyre in, Fish and Game officials wrote in a press release. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement We monitor wolves and continue to manage them in accordance with our management plan to ensure the population exceeds federal recovery criteria while staying within the ecological and social carrying capacity of Idaho, Fredericks said in a written statement. Wolves are polarizing, and some people simply dont believe wolves should be hunted or trapped at all. Where we have sustainable populations, we believe those decisions should be left to the states, and not dictated by the federal government or the courts. What led to the lawsuit seeking protections for wolves in the West? The case originated from the Western Watersheds Project and several other conservation groups filing a lawsuit in January. Conservationists filed the lawsuit after the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service rejected their petition to provide protections for wolves after states including Idaho worked to decrease the wolf population by expanding wolf hunting and trapping, by eliminating the limit on wolf tags hunters could purchase and by allowing the state to enter into contracts with government agencies and third parties to kill wolves. If you look at Idaho Code, in 2011 the Idaho Legislature declared a disaster emergency concerning wolves, and that sort of anti-wolf hysteria or even paranoia has driven Idahos policies since that point, LeDonne of the Western Watersheds Project said in a phone interview. Its become progressively more anti-wolf, and its really seeking to drive the population down to an unsustainable level. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Kelly, who is also with Western Watersheds Project, said state governments are resurrecting some of the tools and policies that originally led to killing off wolves in the West. One big indication is that Idaho and now Montana have instituted bounty systems where private individuals get reimbursed for killing wolves, Kelly said. That is a practice from the 1800s that has been resurrected driven by fear mongering and anti-wolf hysteria in state legislatures in Idaho, Montana and elsewhere where armchair biologists step in to make decisions about wolves that have nothing to do with ecology or wildlife biology. In previous interviews with the Idaho Capital Sun, Idaho Fish and Game officials were adamant their program is a reimbursement program designed to help hunters who successfully and legally kill a wolf recover costs for things like licenses, ammo, guns, fuel or even an all-terrain vehicle used for hunting wolves, and not a bounty. Moving forward, Molloys ruling throws out the U.S. Fish and Wildlifes previous decision and sends it back to Fish and Wildlife to reconsider. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Kelly said the ruling means Fish and Wildlife must issue a new decision that reflects the latest science and concerns raised in the lawsuit. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has the right to appeal Molloys ruling. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) A central Ohio non-profit announced the opening of an affordable housing project aimed at helping some of the communitys most vulnerable residents. Community Housing Network held the grand opening of Poplar Fen, affordable housing for seniors experiencing homelessness or mental health challenges. Forty-four central Ohioans are now safely housed thanks to the project and the work doesnt stop there. Poplar Fen is one way central Ohio is trying to address the housing crisis, with one resident who said it changed her life. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement An Ohio dealership repossessed her car, so she took their name and then sued My life has turned around so much, Poplar Fen resident Patricia Tinsley said. Tinsley struggled with alcoholism and homelessness for years. Then one day, she felt she received a sign: hundreds of birds guiding her to a church. They just kept guiding me and I said, Let me go in this church and see whats going on, Tinsley said. And thats when I changed my life. I couldnt keep living the way I was living, being on the streets from place to place. From there, a case worker connected her with Community Housing Network and earlier this year, she became one of the residents in the Poplar Fen project. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I put the key in that lot for the first time, because this is my very, very first owned place ever and Im 55 years old, Tinsley said. Intel CEO under pressure to resign from President Trump, Ohio Senator Moreno Poplar Fen houses 44 seniors and connects them with resources to stay healthy and in their homes. We have an aging population and we have a lot of individuals who are suffering from mental health disorders and other disabilities, and its just so important that we provide housing, a basic need to everyone who is in need of shelter, Community Housing Network CEO Annissa Lambirth-Garrett said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The project is the result of many community, state and federal partners. When youre able to see the entire community come together to open up units of permanent supportive housing, to help our neighbors, it just makes me really proud of this community, Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther 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 NBC4 WCMH-TV. A woman was airlifted to the hospital with serious injuries following a house fire in Killingly on Thursday afternoon. The fire broke out around 1:30 p.m. at a home on Hartford Pike where crews had to help a woman out of the burning home, according to the East Killingly Fire Department. She was flown via Life Star to an area hospital. Her condition was not immediately clear. Another person was able to make it out of the home, according to fire officials. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Fire officials said hoarding conditions in the home made it difficult to battle the blaze. Crews used tanker trucks as a water supply. The home sustained heavy damages. The East Putnam Fire Department said they assisted crews from East Killingly. According to Connecticut State Police, the agencys Fire and Explosives Investigative Unit responded to assist the local fire marshal. The fire remains under investigation. WASHINGTON (DC News Now) A woman is recovering in the hospital after she was shot in Southeast D.C. Thursday night, according to police. According to the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD), just minutes before 11 p.m. on Aug. 7, officers were called to the 5000 block of H St. after gunshots were heard in the area. While canvassing H Street, police did not find any victims. Moments later, police were notified that a woman had arrived at the hospital with gunshot wounds. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Early morning death investigation leads to heavy police presence in Alexandria MPD told DC News Now that when officers got to the hospital, the woman was conscious and breathing. A lookout was issued for a male wearing a black jacket with a white tank top and black shorts with white shoes. Police noted that he was last seen running east on H Street toward 51st Street, with a black colored handgun. Detectives are still working to learn what led up to the shooting. Anyone with information about this case is asked to call 202-727-9099 or text MPD at 50411. Check DCNewsNow.com for updates. To keep up with the latest news and weather updates, download our Mobile App on iPhone or Android. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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 DC News Now | DC, Virginia, Maryland News, Weather, Traffic, Sports Live. NEED TO KNOW A woman in South Carolina got exactly what she was hoping for when she "prayed for a lottery win" I was shaking when I signed the ticket. It's a dream come true," the lucky winner told the South Carolina Education Lottery The woman told lottery officials she has already cashed out the ticket and used some of her earnings to donate to charity Can you manifest a lottery win? According to this South Carolina woman, the answer is yes. One woman from the Midlands of South Carolina said that her "miracle" occurred after she purchased a $20 scratch-off ticket from a gas station she'd never been to before. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I was riding down the road, and I prayed for a lottery win. And thats exactly what I got," she told the South Carolina Education Lottery in a Friday, Aug. 1, press release. https://people-app.onelink.me/HNIa/kz7l4cuf The woman purchased the lottery ticket at the City Fuel & Food gas station on Bush River Rd. in Columbia and she immediately decided to test her luck by scratching each section on the ticket, only to be surprised by a "MONEYBAG symbol and "2MIL." That's right, she ended up winning a $2 million lottery prize. Google Maps Stock image of gas station Stock image of gas station After seeing what was on her ticket, the woman told lottery officials she walked out of the store and sat in her car, completely stunned. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I was shaking when I signed the ticket. It's a dream come true," she told lottery officials. City Fuel & Food Inc. in Columbia received a commission of $20,000 for selling the claimed ticket, while the woman has already cashed in her ticket and used some of her winnings to donate to her favorite charities. Never miss a story sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. The odds of winning the top prize in the $2 million are 1 in 1,536,000. According to the South Carolina Education Lottery, only one more $2 million prize remains. Read the original article on People A Cook County Judge on Friday ordered a Pilsen woman held pending trial on charges that she twice attacked and threatened people who tried to stop her from defacing a neighborhood mural of a Mexican man and a Palestinian man resting in a field. Danielle Wasserman, 37, faces four counts of aggravated battery, two counts of hate crime and a single count of criminal damage. Prosecutors said at Wassermans first court appearance Friday afternoon that she had approached people who were painting the mural as early as April 30 and said she knew the mural would be antisemitic because the people painting it were wearing Palestinian scarves called keffiyehs. Wassermans attorney didnt immediately return a phone call requesting comment. On May 9, Wasserman was allegedly dumping trash next to the mural, located at the intersection of West 16th Street and South Ashland Avenue, when a woman passing by tried to record her on her phone. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Prosecutors said Wasserman and the woman, who was wearing a keffiyeh scarf, spoke briefly before the woman tried to cross the street. Wasserman allegedly began saying Arabic words to the woman, told her she was Jewish and that she would find her if she tried to do anything. Prosecutors alleged that Wasserman grabbed the woman, pinned her down and started to pull at the scarf around her neck so the woman could not breathe. The woman was able to get away and went to the hospital a few days later to get medical treatment and report the confrontation. On June 13, prosecutors said Natalie Figueroa was riding her bike home past the same mural when she saw that it had been painted with a message in white lettering that read THANK YOU ISRAEL <3 WOME. Wasserman, who was allegedly painting the message, had not yet finished the n in women. Prosecutors said Figueroa approached Wasserman and asked if she was there to support genocide. Wasserman allegedly replied, Youre welcome, and started to walk away. When Figueroa followed her, prosecutors said Wasserman hit her on the side of the head with a metal three-hole punch, pinned her to the ground and told her that no one would believe her if she went to the police. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement A man who was trying to pull into his garage in a nearby alley called police, and the police report stated that an arriving police officer found Wasserman pinning Figueroa to the ground near the mural. Wasserman allegedly told police that she did not want anything, that Figueroa had been following her and walked away from the scene. Figueroa showed police a video shed taken of Wasserman wearing a dark hoodie and sunglasses as she painted on the mural, the report stated. By the time police went to find Wasserman about a block away, she was gone, the report stated. Prosecutors said that Wasserman had filed her own police report a few days after the second alleged attack that mentioned the altercation and stated she had been experiencing harassment through social media. Wasserman turned herself into authorities Tuesday, court records show. Cook County Judge Luciano Panici Jr. ordered her held pending trial, noting that she had allegedly behaved violently on two separate occasions, apparently motivated by the cultural material of the mural. She is next set to appear in court Aug. 12, records show. AUGUSTA, Ga. (WJBF) A woman has been charged with Cruelty to Children in the second degree after her 1-year-old son died at home in Augusta back in June. The Richmond County Sheriffs Office arrested 30-year-old Genysis Lowery on Aug. 2. According to an arrest warrant, Lowery is accused of of leaving unsecured prescribed liquid methadone medication on an eating table inside of a rear bedroom. The children were reportedly playing without adult supervision and the medication spilled on the floor. Lowery removed the children from the bedroom and later cleaned up the spilled medication. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Lowery allegedly placed her child, identified the 16-month-old as Traeson Dunn, into a play pen to sleep for the night, and hours later, the child was found to be unresponsive. First responders arrived on the scene and the child was pronounced deceased. Report results from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Division of Forensic Sciences determined the child was positive for methadone, with levels of an overdose. 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. NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) A night out in Antioch turned deadly, and a woman is facing serious charges after her friend suffered a deadly fall while car surfing. Police said the victims friends failed to get her immediate medical attention. Friends said 31-year-old Shannon Kilgore had a promising life ahead of her. She was also a mom to 9-year-old Alaina. In April, Kilgore came to Nashville from Florida to see friends, including Ashley Sells. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement CRIME TRACKER | Read the latest crime-related reports from across Middle Tennessee Its unbelievable, Kilgores family friend Sean Terrell said. It doesnt feel real. This whole situation is beyond any of us because of the type of person she was, Kilgores friend Rachel Cuevas said. The group had likely been drinking. Police said Kilgore was doing stunts on Sells car when she was thrown off. Friends said Sells and another person took Kilgore to an apartment instead of calling 911. Its honestly inhumane to look at someone and say I love you but not get them help, Cuevas said. Hours later, police said that Sells took Kilgore to the hospital, where she died. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Friends said they logged into Kilgores iCloud account and found videos of her car surfing and falling. Read todays top stories on wkrn.com Investigators said that Sells is facing a vehicular homicide charge as a result of the deadly incident. Shannons loved ones said they plan to attend upcoming court hearings, wanting justice for their friend and young Alaina. Nothing will bring Shannon back but having this person accountable will make all the difference in the world, Terrell said. Sells is out on a $30,000 bond, and you can follow this link for a GoFundMe set up for Kilgores daughter, Alaina. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. A woman has died after suffering severe injuries in a Russian attack on the centre of the city of Kherson on Friday 8 August. Source: Oleksandr Prokudin, Head of Kherson Oblast Military Administration, on Facebook Quote: "Doctors fought to save the life of the 78-year-old woman until the very end. However, her injuries proved too severe." Details: Prokudin expressed his condolences to the woman's family and loved ones. Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon! MOATSVILLE, W.Va. (WBOY) A woman was flown from Barbour County to Morgantown Thursday night after multiple crews helped rescue her from the Tygart River. According to a release from the West Virginia State Police, at around 7 p.m. Thursday night, crews were alerted to a missing boater in the Tygart River near the Cover Run access point, which is near the headwaters of Tygart Lake. When crews arrived on the scene, they learned that Bonnie J. Brady, 61, had been swept downriver and over a series of waterfalls after a boat that she and her husband were in had capsized. Brady was reported missing at that point. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Healthnet called after 2 fall about 20 feet in Wood County Corporal Ben Stout of the West Virginia State Police and Barbour County Sheriffs Deputy Josh Mayle then traveled more than a mile downstream on foot in an attempt to locate Brady, who they eventually found and gave first aid. Crews with Barbour County EMS and every single Barbour County fire department assisted in evacuating Brady from the river and transporting her to a landing zone, where Healthnet took her to Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown. There was no official word on her condition as of Friday afternoon. According to the Philippi Volunteer Fire Department, the womans husband was also taken to the hospital by ground as he appeared to be having a medical emergency while crews were tending to his wife. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Editors note: This article has been updated to include additional information provided by the Philippi Volunteer Fire 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 WBOY.com. PAWTUCKET, R.I. (WPRI) A woman was rushed to the hospital Friday morning after a crash in Pawtucket. According to Battalion Fire Chief David Cairrao, a dump truck and a black sedan collided in the area of Mendon Avenue and Benefit Street around 7:45 a.m. A utility pole was also snapped in half as a result of the collision, and wires were down on the street, forcing Rhode Island Energy to block off the road. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Jose Jacomb, the owner of Js Brothers Restaurant on Benefit Street, told 12 News his wife was already at the restaurant when the crash happened, who rushed in along with other bystanders to help the driver get out of the sedan. ALSO READ: Attleboro Fire Department responds to flash explosion The woman was ultimately removed from the car by first responders and taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. The dump truck driver appeared to be uninjured and refused treatment, Cairrao said. Police said the truck was towing an excavator at the time of the crash. Jacombs breakfast restaurant had to close for two hours during its busiest time of day, but hes just glad no one was seriously injured. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Im very happy everybodys safe, he said. Its unclear what led up to the crash at this time, and police said any traffic citations are pending. Download the WPRI 12 and Pinpoint Weather 12 apps to get breaking news and weather alerts. Watch 12 News Now on WPRI.com or with the new 12+ smart TV app. Follow us on social media: Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Breaking 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 WPRI.com. A woman was killed after being struck by a vehicle in Covington on Aug. 7. Police said Mary K. Wilmink, 63, of Covington, was struck in the 1300 block of West Pike Street just after 7 p.m. Wilmink was taken to UC Medical Center in critical condition and later died. The driver of the striking vehicle remained on the scene and cooperated with investigators, according to police. Police have not named the driver and no charges have been filed. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "At this time, impairment does not appear to be a factor, though the investigation is ongoing," a Covington police news release states. "The circumstances surrounding the crash including speed and whether the pedestrian was in a crosswalk remain under review." Anyone who witnessed the incident or may have relevant dashcam footage is urged to contact Covington police at 859-292-2254 or Cincinnati/NKY Crime Stoppers at 513-352-3040. This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Woman killed after being struck by vehicle in Covington PATERSON, N.J. (PIX11) A man is accused of breaking into a womans home and sexually assaulting her in Paterson back in March, according to prosecutors. Prosecutors said 27-year-old Jesus Mora Cruz allegedly held a knife to the victims neck as she slept during the home invasion on March 26. When she woke up, Mora Cruz was accused of sexually assaulting and attacking her, according to prosecutors. More Local News Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Prosecutors said he allegedly stole items from the home before fleeing. The woman was taken to a local hospital for stab wounds, according to prosecutors. Prosecutors said Mora Cruz was arrested on July 24 and charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault, aggravated sexual assault, aggravated criminal sexual contact, robbery, home invasion burglary, terroristic threats, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, and unlawful possession of a weapon. Mora Cruz is being held in jail pending his trial. 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. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. NEED TO KNOW A 66-year-old South Carolina woman has been found alive after walking away from a car crash and disappearing earlier this summer Susan Rhodes was last seen on Wednesday, June 11, according to the North Augusta Department of Public Safety Authorities located her on Tuesday, August 5, and an investigation is ongoing A 66-year-old South Carolina woman who disappeared after walking away from a car crash earlier this summer has been found safe at home, authorities said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Susan Rhodes was last seen around 1:48 p.m. local time wandering toward the woods after she was involved in a collision on Wednesday, June 11, the North Augusta Department of Public Safety said in a series of statements as the investigation began. "She appeared to be disoriented and possibly suffering from some type of medical issue," authorities said, adding that she was last seen with her right arm in a sling. Multiple agencies collaborated on the initial response. An incident report shared with PEOPLE says Rhodes' roommate told authorities she'd been complaining of stroke-like symptoms earlier that day. The roommate briefly made contact with Rhodes over the phone while sheriffs were at her residence. During the call, she sounded "confused and disoriented." Authorities tried to get Rhodes to call 911 so they could ping her phone and obtain her location, but she hung up. The next day, officials continued to seek information from locals about Rhodes' whereabouts as they returned to the scene of her disappearance to search on foot. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement https://people-app.onelink.me/HNIa/kz7l4cuf The North Augusta Department of Public Safety said in an additional statement that authorities used drones, a helicopter and tracking dogs to search the woods where she was last spotted. "We have found no evidence leading to her location in that area. This investigation is still ongoing," the department said on Thursday, June 12, circulating a missing person flyer. Without providing specifics, the department said on Friday, June 27, that Rhodes' case was still under active investigation and again pleaded for tips from the public. On Tuesday, August 5, officials announced Rhodes had been located alive, adding the investigation is still ongoing. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "Thank you to everyone who shared the information and assisted in the search," the department said in a statement. "Your support and vigilance played a vital role in helping bring this situation to a safe conclusion." Never miss a story sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. After receiving a report from Rhodes' roommate, authorities found the missing woman inside her home, hiding from them in a bathroom, according to the incident report. While speaking with her, I observed her voice to be very low and not able to talk in a normal voice, a first responder said in the report. I asked Susan what happened and she stated she does remember being in a wreck and then she left and walked into the woods. She said she was in a creek and it turned into a river. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement She also told authorities that strangers had helped her return home, although she appeared to have difficulty remembering details. After she was located, Rhodes was transported to a hospital for an evaluation due to her memory loss. It is not yet clear whether Rhodes has been released from the hospital. Read the original article on People SPARTANBURG COUNTY, S.C. (WSPA) A drug dealer in Woodruff was sentenced to a decade in prison for distributing meth and fentanyl. 44-year-old Travis Legg plead guilty to conspiracy to distribute over 500 grams of methamphetamine and over 40 grams of fentanyl, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office, District of South Carolina. He was arrested on federal charges in June 2024 and was under possession of additional meth and marijuana, the attorneys office said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Legg was sentenced to slightly over 10 years in prison and a five-year term of supervision. 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 WSPA 7NEWS. A 30-year-old Worcester man was found guilty of second-degree murder on Thursday for killing a man in the Central Massachusetts city in July 2020, prosecutors announced. Leroy Thompson Jr. was convicted of the killing of Joshua Lopez, 24, of Worcester. Lopez died on July 6, 2020, a day after he was shot while sitting in the back seat of a car near Almont Avenue in Worcester. A child was in the car at the time of the shooting, Worcester County District Attorney Joseph Early Jr. said in a statement. The shooting came after an argument between Thompson and a group of people that included Lopez over the payment of a restaurant bill, according to a police report. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Thompson was also convicted of reckless endangerment of a child. He will be sentenced in Worcester Superior Court on Sept. 24, Earlys office said. In the statement, Early thanked police and prosecutors for their work on the case. More News Read the original article on MassLive. Cameroon's constitutional council has upheld the decision by the country's electoral body to exclude opposition leader Maurice Kamto from the 12 October presidential election. While the firebrand political figure was sidelined, 92-year-old President Paul Biya whose candidacy also faced opposition, was cleared to run for what would be his eighth term in the oil-rich Central African nation. If he were elected for another seven-year term, he could remain in power until he was almost 100. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Kamto was ruled out because a rival faction of the Manidem party which endorsed him presented another individual as a candidate, highlighting an internal squabble. In his first public comments, Kamto on Thursday evening said the decision was "arbitrary" and taken for political reasons. Who are the main candidates? Of the 83 candidates who submitted their applications to the electoral body, only 12 have been approved. The reasons given by Elections Cameroon (Elecam) for the disqualification of the 71 range from incomplete files, non-payment of the required deposit, to multiple candidacies from the same party. Of all the contestants, six are seen as the main contenders: 1. Paul Biya At 92, Paul Biya is the world's oldest serving head of state. He has been in power for nearly 43 years since 1982. Biya leads the ruling CPDM party which dominates the political scene. He is widely considered the favourite, now that his main rival, Kamto, is out of the way. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The veteran politician has never lost an election since the return of multi-party politics in 1990. However, his victories have been marred by allegations of vote rigging claims which his party and the government have continuously denied. Announcing his intention to run, Biya said his eighth mandate would focus on the wellbeing of women and young people. 2. Bello Bouba Maigari Bello Bouba Maigari, 78, is an experienced politician who hails from Cameroon's vote-rich northern region. He is the president of the National Union for Democracy and Progress (NUDP) party founded in 1990. He served in the governments of both of Cameroon's presidents -Ahmadou Ahidjo and Paul Biya. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In fact, he was Biya's first prime minister between 1982 and 1983. Since 1997, Maigari has forged an alliance with Biya's CPDM party that helped the latter clinch significant votes from the north. However, this political marriage ended in June following pressure from within his party to run independently. While serving as Minister of State for Tourism and Leisure, Maigari announced his resignation and declared himself a candidate against Biya, who he also faced in the 1992 presidential election. 3. Issa Tchiroma Bakary Another former Biya ally whose candidacy came as a surprise is 75-year-old Issa Tchiroma Bakary. Like Maigari, he is from the country's north and has been influential in helping Biya secure the region's votes. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement After a 20-year stint in different government roles, Tchiroma finally pulled the plug on his time with the 92-year-old leader, resigning from his role as Minister of Employment and Vocational Training to announce his candidacy. Tchiroma, who heads the Cameroon National Salvation Front (CNSF) party, criticised Biya's governance style and hinged his presidential bid on a promise to overhaul the system, which he described as "suffocating". Supporters of Joshua Osih came out in donned in party colours when he campaigned in the 2018 election, but he came fourth [AFP via Getty Images] 4. Cabral Libii Cabral Libii, president of the Cameroon Party for National Reconciliation (PCRN), is a vibrant member of parliament who is making his second attempt at getting the country's top job. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In 2018, he was the youngest of the nine presidential candidates, aged just 38, coming third with 6% of the vote. Libii's candidature in this year's election was challenged by PCRN founder Robert Kona, who disputed the lawmaker's legitimacy to lead the party. However, the Constitutional Council rejected Kona's petition and upheld the electoral body's decision to allow Libii to stand. 5. Akere Muna Akere Muna was a candidate in the 2018 presidential election but pulled out at the last minute and threw his weight behind Kamto. This time around, Muna, a staunch international anti-corruption lawyer, says he wants to challenge Biya himself. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The 72-year-old is from a family of politicians - his late father Solomon Tandeng Muna served as Prime Minister of West Cameroon after independence, Vice-President of the then Federal Republic of Cameroon and Speaker of the National Assembly. As Speaker, Solomon Muna swore in Biya when he took over as president after Ahmadou Ahidjo resigned. Muna is promising to rid the bilingual country of the corruption and bad governance that he says have soiled its image at the international scene. 6. Joshua Osih Joshua Osih is jumping into the presidential race for the second time after his first attempt in 2018 proved futile. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He heads the Social Democratic Front (SDF) party, succeeding the iconic late opposition leader John Fru Ndi. The SDF used to be the country's main opposition outfit, but its influence later dwindled, exacerbated by infighting and the expulsion of several party members in 2023. Osih, 56, came fourth in the 2018 polls with 3%, but is hoping to defeat Biya through a promise of social and institutional reforms. Maurice Kamto said the decision to exclude him was "arbitrary" and taken for political reasons [AFP via Getty Images] Who poses the strongest challenge to Biya? For many decades, President Biya has succeeded in maintaining a firm grip on power, making it difficult for him to lose elections. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The decision of political heavyweights Bello Bouba Maigari and Issa Tchiroma Bakary to challenge him appeared to make life more difficult, but some analysts believe they do not pose a significant threat to Biya. Dr Pippie Hugues, a policy analyst with Cameroonian think-tank Nkafu Policy Institute, argues that their alliance with the current regime lessens their credibility with opposition voters. "Cameroonians need more than just a resignation to trust them," he told the BBC. "Both have been with the system and watched the nation suffer." Dr Hugues further suggested that the two northern candidates might be part of a political plot staged by the regime. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement However, ruling party officials have portrayed the rupture as genuine, acknowledging that the CPDM could struggle to obtain as many votes from the north as before. Given Kamto's exclusion, Biya's strongest challenger in 2018, third-placed Libii could arguably claim to be his main threat this year. Although he got just 6% of the vote, Libii's political evolution since then has been praised. He led his party to win five seats in parliament and seven local councils during the 2020 legislative and municipal elections. Since becoming a member of parliament in the process, he has challenged the government on key policy issues, promising sweeping changes if he takes over the reins of power. However, Dr Hugues says Libii's vision is opaque, citing Akere Muna as a more convincing candidate with a much clearer project for the nation of nearly 30 million people. "Muna has a wealth of international experience and diplomatic character, and that is what the nation needs now," he said, while praising the renowned lawyer's five-year transition plan to "put the nation back on track". Could the opposition unite? Historically, Cameroon's opposition has been fragmented especially during elections, with analysts saying this has disadvantaged them. Ahead of this year's presidential election, there has been much talk about the need for the opposition to unite and harmonise strategies to take on Biya. But with each candidate prioritising their own interests, it remains unclear if most let alone all of them would work together, despite the risk this could help the president. "It might be the end of their political careers, or their parties, if they don't come together," said civil society leader Felix Agbor Balla. "Kamto and the others must look for someone in the opposition who can carry the baton and they must put the nation first, rise above their personal ego to look for a consensual candidate that can give the CPDM a run on the 12th of October," he told the BBC. Maurice Kamato has drummed up support among Cameroonians in the diaspora, as protests in support of him have taken place in Paris, France [Anadolu via Getty Images] Dr Hugues agrees that Kamto should use his influence to drum up support for an opposition coalition since he is now out of the race. He insists "change must not [only] come with him [Kamto], but change can come through him". Kamto did not address these calls on Thursday, but said: "I'm on my feet and will remain at your side. The struggle continues." Dr Hugues says that an opposition coalition is possible and made reference to a meeting attended by opposition figures on 2 August in Foumban town in the West region. Prince Michael Ekosso, president of the United Socialist Democratic Party (USDP), who took part in the meeting, told the BBC the aim was to lay the groundwork for a "consensual candidate". While no specific candidate has been designated yet, the criteria for consideration were laid down. "We want a figure who is going to be responding to the aspirations of Cameroonians, someone who is flexible to work with others, someone who is bilingual and able to mobilise other candidates and political actors," Ekosso said. In the 1992 presidential election, firebrand opposition leader John Fru Ndi was backed by the Union for Change, a coalition of political parties and civil society organisations. Although he was not the only opposition candidate, analysts say the coalition helped him get 36% of the vote just shy of Biya's 40%. That was the closest anyone has ever got to beating Biya. Fru Ndi even claimed victory, but the authorities rejected allegations of vote rigging and confirmed Biya as the winner. Many believe if the opposition doesn't band together as it did in 1992, Biya might have an easy ride to the presidency. "He has the experience, the human resources and the system to his advantage," says Dr Hugues. More about Cameroon from the BBC: [Getty Images/BBC] Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent. Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica BBC Africa podcasts Crown Point Bulldog Park: 183 S. West St. This years Awaken NWI event will take place at 4 p.m. September 14 at Bulldog Park. The event is a night of worship. For more information, visit: https://shorturl.at/wv2S4. CrossPoint Church: 219 S. Court St. CrossPoint Church will have a blood drive on August 12 in memory of Sterling Raspe who was born with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS) and Kabuki Syndrome and was once saved by a transfusion, proving that every donation matters. For more information or to sign up for a time slot, visit https://www.crosspoint.family/events/sterling-strong-blood-drive-zd8hr. CrossPoint Church will have an outdoor service at Bulldog Park beginning at 10:30 a.m. August 16. After the service, there will be bounce houses and outdoor games for recreation. Attendees should feel free to pack and lunch to picnic with friends and family. St. Matthias Roman Catholic Church: 101 W. Burrell Drive St. Matthias Roman Catholic Church will have a trivia night cookout from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. August 9. Attendees are asked to bring their favorite side dish or dessert, and hamburgers and hot dogs will be provided. Dinner will be served at 5 p.m. and trivia will begin at 6 p.m. Babysitting is provided with advanced notice. Call 219-663-2201 to reserve a spot or visit https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/trivia-night-cookout for more information. Gary St. Timothy Community Church: 1600 W. 25th Ave. All are welcome to attend St. Timothy Community Churchs fourth annual Back 2 School/Back to Christ Jam event from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. August 9. Backpacks and school supplies will be distributed, and a limited amount of laptops will be raffled. The event will also have food, games, bouncy houses, vendors, prizes, gift cards and more. Registration can be completed here: https://shorturl.at/Lvq2V. The church will have Gospel Extravaganza, presented by Urban League of Northwest Indiana, at 4 p.m. Sept. 14. VIP tickets are $75, and general tickets are $25. For more information, call 219-887-9621 or visit Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/gospel-extravaganza-tickets-1353361313119. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Marquette Park United Methodist Church: 215 N. Grand Blvd. All are welcome to worship at 11:15 a.m. Sundays at Marquette Park United Methodist Church. There will be refreshments to follow in the Fellowship Hall. Hammond Faith United Church of Christ: 3030 175th St. Faith United Church of Christ holds its worship service at 10 a.m. on Sundays, followed by fellowship and coffee at 11:30 a.m. Portage St. Peter Lutheran Church: 6540 Central Ave. Services are held every Sunday at 10 a.m. Valparaiso Porter County Expo Center: 215 E. Division Rd. The Diocese of Gary will host Emmaus, a Missionary Discipleship conference, on Aug. 9 at the Porter County Expo Center in Valparaiso. Breakout sessions are available in English and Spanish. To register, visit dcgary.org/emmaus. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Valparaiso Baptist Church: 612 Emmettsburg St. Valparaiso Baptist Church will have a family night at 6 p.m. August 13. There will be a teens of truth session and a team kid session at 6 p.m., with an adult Bible study at 7 p.m. For more information, visit https://shorturl.at/Qrfqh or call 219-464-1443. To submit worship news, email cnance@post-trib.com. Four shipwrecks including the remains believed to be a 1748 Spanish privateer ship were recently found at a historical site in North Carolina. A team of archeologists with East Carolina University's program in maritime studies was searching the Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson State Historic Site in Brunswick County, North Carolina, in May and June when they made the discoveries. In a statement, the university said the team collected wood samples that suggest the shipbuilders incorporated raw materials from Spanish Caribbean colonies in the 18th century. The team said that while more work is needed to confirm any identification of the remains, they believe they may be those of La Fortuna, a Spanish privateer from Cuba that exploded near the colonial wharves during an attack on the port at the end of King George's War in September 1748. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "I came across several wooden frames barely sticking out of the clay mud with evidence of planking just barely visible on the surface," maritime studies graduate student Cory van Hees, who was part of the discovery, said in the press release. "I didn't understand what I was looking at in that moment, but I knew I should relay the wooden structure to faculty." These are remains of what archaeologists at East Carolina State University believe to be La Fortuna, a historic Spanish privateer ship that exploded off the North Carolina coast in 1748. / Credit: East Carolina University's Program in Maritime Studies He added, "Later that day, Dr. Jason Raupp was able to confirm this was a wreck, which may be La Fortuna. It was kind of overwhelming and a little emotional feeling once it set in." The ship was involved in an attack that took place during King George's War between 1744 and 1748 several decades before the American Revolution. ECU Maritime Studies professor Dr. Jason Raupp leads graduate students in the recovery of an intact section of wreckage from the possible La Fortuna shipwreck. / Credit: ECU Program in Maritime Studies According to ECU, the wreck lies in proximity to where an 18th-century cannon thought to be from La Fortuna was recovered in 1985. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement More than 40 pieces of timber from what is thought to be La Fortuna were collected as part of an "emergency recovery" to save the ship's remains from advancing erosion and other threats, university officials said. "The shipwreck sites and colonial waterfront features previously covered beneath the protective marsh were found exposed and eroded in this area," officials said. "Although the site itself had broken apart, individual shipwreck timbers demonstrated a remarkable degree of preservation with some containing tool markings left by the historic shipwright." ECU research team screening excavated sediment from the suspected La Fortuna shipwreck site. / Credit: ECU Program in Maritime Studies All the collected timber was transferred to the North Carolina Office of State Archaeology's Queen Anne's Revenge Conservation Laboratory at ECU's campus in Greenville for storage and eventual conservation treatment. "The successful recovery of the possible La Fortuna shipwreck and documentation of heritage at risk within a nationally significant historic site demonstrates the effectiveness of the collaborative efforts of the research team," said Dr. Jason Raupp, assistant professor in the Department of History and maritime studies, who led the team. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Additional discoveries The remains of three other shipwrecks were uncovered at the historic site's waterfront along the Cape Fear River. Preliminary analysis suggests that one was used for land reclamation at the waterfront, while another is a potential colonial flatboat, which was historically used to transport people and goods between the port and nearby plantations, the university said. The fourth was barely exposed and its remains are still unidentified. "Additional colonial port infrastructure and artifacts identified through the field schools include two timber-crib wharves, a causeway over the historic marsh, and numerous artifacts that shed light on colonial life, trade, maritime activity and military conflict at the historic site," the university said. Spanish majolica ceramic sherd found among the assemblage of shipwreck timbers recovered from the beach at Brunswick Town. / Credit: ECU Program in Maritime Studies "We are extremely excited about these important sites, as each one will help us to better understand the role of BTFA as one of the state's earliest colonial port towns," Raupp said in a statement. "These submerged colonial waterfront features are incredibly well-preserved and present an excellent opportunity for ECU students to engage in hands-on, collaborative research." Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Global stock markets react to Trump's sweeping tariffs in effect now Sean "Diddy" Combs wants to go back to Madison Square Garden in the future, attorney says Israel's Security Cabinet approves plan to take over Gaza City A man wrongly convicted of murder has lost a legal challenge to reclaim money he was charged for bed and board during the 11 years he spent behind bars. Michael O'Brien was one of three men wrongly convicted of the 1987 killing of Cardiff newsagent Phillip Saunders. After his release, Mr O'Brien had 37,500 deducted from his compensation to cover "saved living expenses" while in prison, which he has been campaigning to have returned. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But a High Court judge has rejected his attempt to bring a judicial review of the deduction, which was made by the Ministry of Justice. An MoJ spokesperson said the deductions were "no longer taken" from victims of miscarriages of justice, but said the change "does not apply retrospectively". Mr O'Brien, 57, described the ruling as a "blow", saying he had hoped to have a hearing in front of judges. "Unfortunately that's not the case, and at the moment we cannot take it further because if we do they'll charge us for all the costs," he said, estimating that could cost "over 100,000". Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He added that he was "very angry" when he heard the news. Mr O'Brien brought the claim alongside Paul Blackburn, who spent 24 years in prison for a 1978 child murder in north-west England that he did not commit. Mr O'Brien received 692,900 in compensation in 2002, three years after his release, and Mr Blackburn was awarded 1,370,500 in 2011. Mr Blackburn had around 100,000 deducted for saved living expenses. In August 2023, Alex Chalk, then Conservative Justice Secretary, scrapped the policy of taking bed and board deductions from all future payouts. It followed the high-profile case of Andrew Malkinson who was wrongfully imprisoned for 17 years for rape. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Mr O'Brien and Mr Blackburn applied for further compensation following the rule changes, but last year the new Labour government said those who had previously received payouts could not claim back the deductions retrospectively. In this week's ruling, Mr Justice Ritchie refused to allow the case to progress, although the pair have a week to appeal. He found the claimants had not been discriminated against and that "the applications were dealt with and completed long before the time the policy changed". Michael O'Brien was one of three men wrongly convicted for the 1987 killing of Cardiff newsagent Phillip Saunders [PA Media] Andrew Taylor, a Cardiff-based barrister, described the ruling as "unfair", comparing the case to the fight for justice by former postmasters caught up in the much-publicised Horizon scandal. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He said creating "as much publicity as possible", like those involved in the Horizon scandal, could be an effective next step for Mr O'Brien. "He's been a tireless campaigner since his release, and I don't think that this is necessarily the end of the matter," he added. "If you have been convicted of a murder that you didn't commit, nobody recovers," he said, adding that the decision was "another kick in the teeth" for Mr O'Brien. Mr O'Brien said his options now were to try to get the law changed or take his campaign "onto the streets", adding that he would be lobbying MPs. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement He also said his fight for justice had impacted his health, adding that he had post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), comparing it to soldiers who had served in Iraq. "That gives you an idea of the damage they've done to me and many other victims of miscarriages of justices," he added. BECKLEY, WV (WVNS) West Virginia Hive has announced submissions are being accepted for this years Pitch Southern West Virginia competition. Beckley City Council hears first reading of vape ordinance For years, the annual contest has given entrepreneurs a chance to showcase their innovative ideas, and this year contestants will have a chance to secure $20,000 in funding. WV Hive Executive Director, Judy Moore said beyond the funding, the competition offers an opportunity to receive valuable feedback from the competitions panel of judges. It actually gives them the opportunity to present their idea or their business model, and its reviewed by judges all along the way, Moore told 59News. Submissions for the first round of applications are open until September 2nd. The Pitch Southern West Virginia event itself is scheduled to take place at Concord University on November 20th. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 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. MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (WBOY) With two weeks left before classes are set to begin at West Virginia University, there is a growing buzz on campus. Resident assistants are back in student housing to train and prepare for the onslaught of college students about to return to Morgantown. Its a busy time, WVU Director of Housing Eric OHara said. [Later this month], well have over 4,000 students coming into the residence halls. So theyre going to be greeted by volunteers, by university police officers, and residence hall staff. Theyre going to help get them into the residence hall, get them settled, make it their new home, and then get ready for all the activities that are going to occur throughout the week. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement This semester, students will occupy one of the more established and historic dorms on the Evansdale campus for the first time in four years. WVU scholarship created in memory of Doug Skaff Well, were really excited to bring Lyon Tower back online, OHara said. We were able to open up a couple floors for returners that were looking for single options, and then also, because of increased enrollment, we have a couple first-year floors that were offering in Lyon as well. Lyon Tower reopens as one of its neighbors remains closed to students for renovations. Brooke Tower is expected to reopen in 2026 after upgrades to pod-style bathrooms. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Another thing students will be waiting for will be classes themselves. Move-in begins on Aug. 14 with classes beginning six days later. It does allow students to get settled in, OHara said. It does allow them to get comfortable with campus, engage with the Resident Assistants so they know what to expect and find out where those classes are going to be, where those other resources are located, so they can really hit the ground running when classes do start. It also allows them to fully participate in Welcome Week and all those activities that are designed to get them engaged. FallFest headlines Welcome Week on Aug. 18 and its lineup will be announced on Aug. 15. 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. At his office in Taipei, Wu Chih-chung pulls out a small stack of papers titled Xi Jinpings Gradual Move Toward Personal Dictatorship. On each sheet are copies of the front page of the Peoples Daily, Chinas largest state-run newspaper, spanning from 1997 to 2022 each capturing a different era in Chinese leadership. As Mr Wu, Taiwans deputy foreign minister, goes through the pages, there is a noticeable shift when Mr Xi comes on the scene in 2012. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement While his predecessors opted for small, modest portraits, says Mr Wu, the image of Mr Xi takes up almost the entire front page. Do you see the difference? Do you know what I mean? You see the rise of Hitler, of someone who tries to be the only one who rules China, said Mr Wu, warning that Taiwan needs to learn and to work with China to avoid war with a nuclear power. Its the rise of a dictatorship. Its exactly what happened at the beginning of the 20th century with Hitler and Mussolini, he added. Mr Wus made this comparison in a wide-ranging interview with The Telegraph in which he said he believes the Chinese president wants to be the greatest emperor of China, and thinks about conquering Taiwan every day. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The comments are likely to anger Chinese officials as tensions grow in the region over possible war. Wu Chih-chung says the rise of Xi Jinping is the rise of a dictatorship in the vein of Hitler and Mussolini The Peoples Daily clippings shown to The Telegraph by Mr Wu were taken from past coverage of Chinas National Congress, the Chinese Communist Partys (CCP) most important leadership meeting held every five years. The front cover from 1997 includes a small photograph of Jiang Zemin, Chinas former president and general secretary, along with seven other members of the CCPs politburo. Its a similar story in 2002 and 2007 with Hu Jintao, another former president. At this time, China was ruled by this kind of collective rule. It was a committee that would rule China with one chief, said Mr Wu. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement But now, you can no more recognise the other rulers of China apart from Mr Xi, he said. Front covers of the Peoples Daily over the years each capturing a different era in Chinese leadership. It is noticeable how small the pictures of Xis predecessors are Since Mr Xi became president in 2012, as well as general secretary of the CCP and chairman of the Central Military Commission, he has taken steps to consolidate his power, expanding the scope of his control well beyond his predecessors. Mr Xi launched a widespread anti-corruption campaign, targeting those at all levels of the politburo and military, in what many believe has been an effort to weaken his rivals and reinforce his grip on power. He also initiated reforms within Chinas military, the Peoples Liberation Army, to centralise its command and turn it into one of the largest and strongest in the world. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement These efforts have been undertaken with a key objective in mind to reunify the motherland by bringing Taiwan under Beijings control and to use force if necessary. Fear of provocation Over the last several years, China has increasingly applied pressure on Taiwan through grey zone incursions measures that fall short of full blown warfare but seek to coerce the country ahead of a possible attack. These tactics include cyber attacks, intrusions into Taiwans waters and airspace as well as misinformation campaigns, which Mr Wu says have been particularly troubling. The real worry in my heart is not military aggression from China. Its the division within Taiwan because China has become very sophisticated in dividing Taiwanese society, he said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Experts previously told The Telegraph that if China were to attack Taiwan, its likely it would first seek to erode trust in the government through propaganda or misinformation in order to turn more support towards Beijing. Prior to his appointment as deputy foreign minister, Mr Wu worked for many years as a political science professor in Taipei before serving as Taiwans ambassador to France from 2018 to 2024. He noted that Chinas constant threats against Taiwan and its defence capabilities have been a major obstacle in Taipeis ability to establish formal relations with other countries. Taiwan, with a population of more than 23 million people, only has official diplomatic ties with 12 countries, mostly small nations in the Caribbean and the Pacific. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The deputy foreign minister said that while its very frustrating that Taiwan cannot have formal relations with more countries, the reality is if they recognise Taiwan, China may use force against Taiwan. Of course, we are very unhappy about our international status, but we need to be pragmatic. We cannot provoke China, said Mr Wu. Its a similar story when it comes to defence commitments. Many countries including the US and the UK subscribe to the principle of strategic ambiguity where they refrain from affirming support for Taipei if China invaded. Its better if we can have a guarantee but if we cannot its because a formal assurance to Taiwan would provoke China too much, said Mr Wu. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement With the US, Taiwans most important partner, said Mr Wu, the problem is that no one knows what Donald Trump is thinking about. He added: We are working very hard to build this common interest between US and Taiwan and if this interest is big enough, then the support will come to Taiwan naturally. Behind the scenes Although Taiwan is restricted in its ability to forge formal relations, both diplomatic and defence, this has not prevented the country from establishing strong informal relations. The existing framework still allows for countries such as the UK and the US to work with Taiwanese officials unofficially and it depends on us to define unofficially, said Mr Wu. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In addition to its 12 diplomatic missions, Taiwan has 97 representative offices around the world, many of which serve as de facto embassies in the absence of formal ties. A man reads a newspaper featuring a front page photo showing Xi Jinping riding in a limousine with Kim Jong Un during a visit to North Korea - Greg Baker/AFP via Getty Mr Wu said that he has noticed a shift over the six years he served as ambassador in France with more actors looking to engage with Taiwan. When I arrived in France in 2018 ... people would ask me where I came from and when I said Taiwan, you could feel the air immediately freeze, said Mr Wu. But when he left France in 2024, the mood had changed. Credit: Reuters This, he said, was because of Taiwans handling of the pandemic and a greater awareness of the countrys role as the leading producer of semiconductors. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It was also a result of increasing pressure from China. The contribution of Taiwan, the know-how of Taiwan, the military aggression [from China] is making Taiwan more famous and attracting more attention ... people began to learn that Taiwan is so important, he said. Not today This greater engagement has led to a rise in Taiwans exports, which grew by a record 9.9 per cent in 2024, as well as an increase in defence cooperation. The US, Taiwans primary source for weapons, signalled that it will be increasing its arms sales to the island in the coming years as part of an effort to deter China, with new deals signed earlier this year for more advanced missile and drone technology. Taiwans president Lai Ching-te pledged this week to boost next years defence budget to more than 3 per cent of GDP, but Mr Trump has previously said it should be closer to 10 per cent to deter China. Mr Wu said the goal is to demonstrate that we have the strong will to defend ourselves. If we reach three per cent of our GDP, it will occupy more than 20 per cent of our annual government budget much higher than any European country and America, said Mr Wu. He added that higher defence spending is in the interest of the US because we will only buy more military equipment from the US. Taiwan increased its defence budget target to three per cent of GDP 14bn but Mr Trump said it should be closer to 10 per cent to deter China. Increasing our defence budget is good and is in the interest of the US because we can only buy more military equipment from the US, said Mr Wu. A naval mine-laying drill by an M109 assault boat patrol in July. Chinas obvious ambition is to invade Taiwan - I-Hwa Cheng/AFP via Getty Many Western countries have also stepped up their military presence in the Indo-Pacific. The US has increased its involvement in military drills in the region, expanding the size and scope of its exercises with partners like Japan, the Philippines and Australia. For its part, the UK deployed its largest carrier strike group, the HMS Prince of Wales, to the region in April as part of a months-long demonstration of its capabilities in the Indo-Pacific. Mr Wu also said that a new security agreement between Taiwan and Canada would be signed very soon for greater collaboration between the two countrys coast guards. While all technically carried out informally, this growing international cooperation is a critical component of what Mr Wu and others call the not today policy an effort to deter China, and its leadership, indefinitely. Xi Jinping wants to be the greatest emperor of China so every morning after he wakes up, when hes shaving, he says, OK, I really want to conquer Taiwan, its my dream, but today is not a good day, said the deputy foreign minister. We cannot let Xi Jinping make his dreams come true. Then that would be a success for the whole of humanity. 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. BEIJING (Reuters) -China is pleased to see Russia and the United States maintaining contact and improving ties to advance a political resolution of the Ukraine crisis, President Xi Jinping said in a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday. Beijing will maintain its stance on the need for peace talks and a diplomatic solution to the conflict, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV quoted Xi as telling Putin. The call was held at Putin's request, CCTV said. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The call came after the Kremlin said on Thursday that Putin would meet U.S. President Donald Trump in the coming days in the search for an end to the war, now in its fourth year. Trump took a more conciliatory approach towards Russia after returning to the White House in January but has voiced growing frustration with Putin over the lack of progress towards peace and has threatened to impose heavy tariffs on countries including China that buy Russian oil. Trump on Wednesday said he could announce further tariffs on China similar to the 25% duties he has already imposed on India over its purchases of Russian oil. A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, in response to those remarks by Trump, said on Friday that China's trade and energy cooperation with Russia was "just and legitimate". Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "We will continue to take reasonable measures to ensure energy security based on our own national interests," spokesperson Guo Jiakun said in a statement released by the Chinese Foreign Ministry. Friday's call between Xi and Putin was their second in less than two months. The two countries have further bolstered their economic, trade and security cooperation since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, which triggered a sharp deterioration in Moscow's relations with the West. Putin is expected to visit China in September for events marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War Two. (Reporting by Ethan Wang, Yukun Zhang and Ryan Woo; Editing by Alex Richardson and Gareth Jones) The New York Times issued a strong statement Thursday in response to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who told Fox News during a sit-down interview this week that the paper should be sued over its reporting on Israels ongoing assault on Gaza. Im actually looking at whether a country can sue The New York Times, Netanyahu said in the interview, which aired Thursday. And Im looking into it right now because I think its such... its such clear defamation. Netanyahu was referring to a front-page Times report on the mass starvation of besieged Palestinians in Gaza. His gripe appears to be that the story didnt originally note that one of the malnourished boys featured in the piece suffered from pre-existing health issues, which may have affected his physique. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Netanyahu told Fox News that the reported rise of antisemitism is tied directly to a campaign of vilification that is done by so-called reputable news media and slammed the Times for updating the story with what he called a lacking editors note on July 29. The editors note reads, This article has been updated to include information about Mohammed Zakaria al-Mutawaq, a child in Gaza suffering from severe malnutrition. After publication of this article, The Times learned from his doctor that Mohammed also had pre-existing health problems. The Times rebuked Netanyahu, whose relentless bombing campaign in Gaza saw him accused last year of crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court, in a statement Thursday that also sternly defied his threat against a free American press. Children in Gaza are malnourished and starving, as New York Times reporters and others have documented, read the statement. Mr. Netanyahu is referring to an update we made to a story about how the food crisis is affecting the civilian population. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement After publication, we learned that a child shown in that story in addition to being severely malnourished also had pre-existing health conditions, the Times continued. That additional information gave readers a greater understanding of his situation. The paper then addressed Netanyahus consideration of taking legal action. Attempts to threaten independent media providing vital information and accountability to the public are unfortunately an increasingly common playbook, the Times continued, in an apparent nod to President Donald Trump and his litigious assaults on the media. The paper noted that journalists will continue to report from Gaza for The Times, bravely, sensitively, and at personal risk, so that readers can see firsthand the consequences of the war, which has killed or injured more than 50,000 children in Gaza since October 2023. Netanyahu claimed on Fox News that papers like the Times contribute to antisemitism. Julia Demaree Nikhinson/Associated Press On Thursday, World Health Organization director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said an estimated 12,000 children in Gaza under 5 years of age are suffering from acute malnutrition. He said the number, identified in July, was the highest monthly figure ever recorded. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement During that same Fox News interview in which he threatened to sue the Times, Netanyahu claimed that the shocking images of Gazas flattened landscape arent due to Israels airstrikes over the past 22 months but the result of booby traps laid by terrorists. He then confirmed his military plans to take control of the entire Palestinian territory. MURFREESBORO, Ark. One New York woman completed her mission of finding the key part for her engagement ring after snagging a 2.3-carat diamond at the Crater of Diamonds State Park in Arkansas. About two years ago, Manhattan, New York, native Micherre Fox decided to find her own diamond for an engagement ring. She set out on a month-long break after completing graduate school to search for one. Theres something symbolic about being able to solve problems with money, but sometimes money runs out in a marriage, she explained. You need to be willing and able to solve those problems with hard work. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement She said she was willing to go anywhere in the world to make it happen, researching and finding the Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro. Its kind of a unicorn, 3.36-carat diamond found at Crater of Diamonds State Park During a three-week, Fox searched for diamonds nearly every day. On her last day at the park, she said she found the most diamond-y diamond she had seen. After all the research, theres luck and theres hard work, she said. When you are literally picking up the dirt in your hands, no amount of research can do that for you; no amount of education can take you all the way. It was daunting! Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Meet the French visitor who discovered 7.46 carat Arkansas souvenir at Crater of Diamonds State Park Her diamond find is the size of a human canine tooth, with a smooth, round shape and metallic luster. Fox named her gem the Fox-Ballou Diamond after her and her partners last name. This marks the third-largest diamond found at the park in 2025 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 KARK. BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) Alexis Okeowo tries to avoid what they call easy stereotypes. Its a philosophy they have carried with them around the world, covering conflicts and marginalized communities in Africa, Mexico and the Deep South, many of which have been published in The New Yorker magazine. In some ways, trying to avoid these stereotypes was one reason they have tried to tell people about their home state of Alabama in a different way than people realize. It was something they faced almost immediately after leaving their home town of Montgomery, Alabama to attend Princeton University. Later moving to New York City, Okeowo noticed how many of their own friends and colleagues had their own idea on what Alabama was, far different than the Alabama they knew. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement It was a big reason they decided to cover more stories in Alabama, as well as tell its story in a different light, one that moves past the overly covered civil rights movement into more modern times as well as describe their own experience growing up there. The end result was Blessings and Disasters: A Story of Alabama, which was published earlier this week by Henry Holt and Company. Its endlessly fascinating, Okeowo said. Having contributed to The New Yorker since 2010, Okeowo had written several stories from Alabama before Blessings and Disasters, covering wastewater mismanagement in the Black Belt to the sexual assault allegations against former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore. In the book, Okeowo touched on the states history, but took special effort to chronicle more recent events in the state, from its controversial 2010 immigration law to its abortion ban in 2019. Alabama leaders talk sixty years of the Voting Rights Act Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I think part of the problem is this conception of Alabama stops somewhere in the past, they said. Because of that, it kind of limits thinking about what it is and what it has become, so I wanted to get a mix and everything right here. For Okeowo, writing about Alabama was far easier than writing about themselves and their own experience. Growing up in Montgomery, Okeowo attended The Loveless Academic Magnet Program, better known as LAMP, a specialized high school program made up of some of the citys most academically gifted students. In many ways, they credit Alabama with instilling certain values they continue to carry with them. I realized that a lot of crucial moments where I was thinking about, as a teenager, the freedoms I didnt have being a girl, being Black but also feeling like this is a place where I can grow and be challenged, they said. Okeowo will be at New South Bookstore in Montgomery on Aug. 12 and Thank You Books in Birmingham on Aug. 14 to promote the book. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement For more information, 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 CBS 42. YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio (WKBN) A man who pleaded guilty in June to having a gun while running from a stolen car will spend 30 days in jail as part of his probation. Denzel Jarrett, 20, was sentenced to three years of probation overall by Judge Maureen Sweeney on charges of receiving stolen property and carrying a concealed weapon, both fourth-degree felonies, and obstructing official business, a fifth-degree felony. The sentence was recommended by the attorneys in the case and adopted by Judge Sweeney. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The charge stems from an Oct. 20 arrest by Youngstown police who were called about 4:05 p.m. to the 200 block of Broadway Avenue for a report of a car behind an abandoned house. As officers arrived, three men ran from the car. Police initially chased them but lost them, reports said. One of the men was spotted a few moments later on Broadway Avenue, and he ran away into Wick Park, where he gave himself up by the pavilion, reports said. The man, later identified as Jarrett, admitted to having a gun when police asked if he had one, reports said. Officers found a loaded 9mm pistol on him, reports said. Jarrett told police he did not steal the car, but he was in it, reports said. He was charged with receiving stolen property because he admitted to being in a stolen car, reports said. He received the gun charge because, under Ohio law, a person under 21 cannot have a handgun. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Jarret has been free on bond since his arraignment. His attorney told Judge Sweeney this is the first time Jarrett has been in trouble. 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. By Chris Mfula LUSAKA (Reuters) -Zambia's government voiced concern on Friday about the "unnecessary financial strain" that would be caused by a new rule requiring its citizens to pay bonds of up to $15,000 to obtain some types of U.S. visas. Starting August 20, U.S. President Donald Trump's administration will require applicants from countries with high rates of visa overstays - including Zambia and neighbouring Malawi - to post a bond of $5,000, $10,000 or $15,000 under a pilot programme for some tourist and business visas. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "While the (U.S.) government has a prerogative to initiate policy changes, the Zambian government views this development with serious concern, given its potential economic implications on trade, investment, tourism and people-to-people exchanges," Zambian Foreign Minister Mulambo Haimbe said in a statement. "This includes the unnecessary financial strain on Zambian nationals." The move comes as Trump cracks down on illegal immigration, boosting resources to secure the border with Mexico and arresting people in the U.S. illegally. The bond amount will be returned if the applicant leaves the U.S. within the allowed window of time and complies with all the terms of their visa status. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Even so, average household income in Zambia is roughly $150 per month, according to government data, making the bond a huge sum in the Southern African country. "For most Zambians... this bond is not just unaffordable, it's laughable," said Anthony Mukwita, a Zambian international relations analyst and former diplomat in a Facebook post. "It could drill a borehole and bring clean water to an entire village," Mukwita said. "Instead, it is being used to buy a chance at an American dream, a dream that's increasingly looking like a gated community with a very expensive entry fee." In Malawi, Foreign Minister Nancy Tembo met a delegation from the U.S. embassy on Thursday to discuss the policy. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "The minister expressed concern on the policy's impact on law-abiding Malawian travellers and overall bilateral diplomatic relations," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. ($1 = 23.1500 Zambian kwachas) (Reporting by Chris Mfula; Additional reporting by Frank Phiri;Writing by Nellie Peyton and Alexander Winning;Editing by Helen Popper) President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has held a phone call with his Latvian counterpart Edgars Rinkevics to discuss efforts toward peace, continued support for Ukraine and deeper Euro-Atlantic integration. Source: Zelenskyy on X (Twitter) on Friday 8 August Details: Zelenskyy said he had briefed Rinkevics on Ukraines diplomatic engagements and outlined the next necessary steps. "Ukraine and all other European countries need a reliable peace and a guaranteed future. It is important that we share the same understanding: this can be achieved through US support and European unity. We agreed to coordinate our efforts," Zelenskyy tweeted. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The two leaders also discussed NATOs new Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) initiative to provide military support to Ukraine. Latvia has confirmed its readiness to join the effort. "I also informed [Zelenskyy] about Latvias support for the new NATO initiative for arming Ukraine (PURL). I also reaffirmed Latvias support for the speedy EU accession process of Ukraine," Rinkevics wrote on X. Ukraines path to EU membership was also on the agenda. "Ukraine has done everything required. It will be fair and just to open the first negotiating cluster for us and Moldova simultaneously. Latvia firmly supports Ukraines membership in both the EU and NATO. We greatly value this position," Zelenskyy added. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Background: Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon! NEW YORK (PIX11) Democratic nominee for New York City mayor, Zohran Mamdani, said he supports Rep. Mikie Sherrill in her bid to become New Jerseys next governor. Much has been made about who is and is not endorsing Mamdani, a 33-year-old Democratic socialist who currently represents Queens in the New York State Assembly. While some have waffled on supporting him, Mamdani said in a new exclusive interview with PIX on Politics that he absolutely supports Sherill when asked directly. More Local News Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The definitive support for Sherrill by Mamdani comes despite many establishment Democrats like House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, both New Yorkers, still declining to formally endorse him. Sherill herself has waffled. Immediately after Mamdanis primary win, she said: If hes the Democratic candidate, which it sounds like he is, I assume I will [support him], the Democratic nominee for New Jersey governor said to NBC Philadelphia. A month later, on PIX11 News, Sherrill said: I have not weighed in. I have not made endorsements in New York because Im running in New Jersey. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Her Republican opponent, Jack Ciattarelli, has made tying Sherrill to Mamdani a central theme of his 2025 campaign. Ciattarelli himself once distanced himself from President Donald Trump, but he is now endorsed by Trump. Mamdanis relevance to an important neighboring race in 2025 may be a preview of what Republicans seek to accomplish during the crucial 2026 midterm elections. More: Latest News from Around the Tri-State In response, Mamdani has repeatedly said he would remain focused on affordability and uniting Democrats on that issue. On the midterms next year, Mamdani was specifically asked on PIX on Politics how he would handle them. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement What Im excited about is creating an example in this city of what it means to deliver for working people, Mamdani said. When we make buses faster, when we freeze the rent, when we deliver universal childcare, let that be an example of when Democrats actually get into office, deliver for working people. 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. A zoo in Denmark wants you to give its lazy carnivores free handouts in the form of your small, unwanted pets. In unrelated news, someone's timeline for moving into that dream condo just got moved up. "If you have a healthy animal that needs to be given away for various reasons, feel free to donate it to us," the Aalborg Zoo wrote in Facebook and Instagram posts, as quoted by the Associated Press. Rest assured, the donated pets will be "gently euthanized" by trained staff before becoming some washed up apex predator's cheat meal. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "That way, nothing goes to waste," the zoo said, "and we ensure natural behavior, nutrition and well-being of our predators." Naturally, this sparked some outrage on social media. "What a bunch of sociopaths, a zoo should care about all animals," wrote one netizen. "F*ck the Aalborg Zoo," seethed another. In its posts, the zoo argues that it's simply imitating the natural processes of the food chain, minus its occasionally cruel vicissitudes. And it specified that it's asking for animals like chickens, rabbits, and guinea pigs. (It didn't mention cats and dogs, if it makes a difference.) Some experts are defending the zoo's practice. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "If you agree to the general principle that you have carnivorous animals in a zoo, you somehow succumb to the necessity that you have to feed them animal material," Marcus Clauss, co-director of the Clinic for Zoo Animals, Exotic Pets and Wildlife at the University of Zurich, told the Washington Post. "If you do this in a way that is not primarily directed at economics, but at animal welfare, you will strive to get animals that had high welfare, ideally." Or maybe you don't accept that premise. Enter PETA. "It's not 'natural behavior' for predators from Asia, who roam and hunt for their meals, to be captive in Denmark," vice president of the animal rights group said in a statement, per WaPo. "If Aalborg Zoo truly cares about animal welfare, it should focus on protecting these species in their natural habitats, instead of keeping them in captivity." If you're not onboard with abolishing zoos, however, then Clauss makes a fair point. Carnivores need their meat, and it has to come from somewhere. Is it any more wrong that the meat is from animals that we, humans, decided we like, instead of farm animals, which we know are raised in cruel conditions? Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Stamos Tahas, a vet at the Copenhagen Zoo, said that the practice is considered "very normal" in Denmark, and felt that the backlash comes from people "over-romanticizing nature and the world," he told WaPo, and "Disney-fying things a little bit." (In 2014, the Copenhagen Zoo became a cause celebre after euthanizing a healthy giraffe, purportedly to avoid inbreeding, before dissecting it in front of zoo-goers and feeding its carcass to lions which is certainly one way of reminding the public that nature isn't all sunshine and roses.) Pet owners can't be blamed for being a little horrified at the idea of their beloved critters being reintroduced back into the food chain. But as Tahas is getting at, nature can often be pretty grisly. And in any case, the zoo insists the animals will be put down "gently" not hunted and thrown to the literal wolves. Plus, for many animals in pain, euthanizing them can be a more humane alternative. The problem is that not everyone can afford such a costly procedure. And as Clauss artfully put it to WaPo, "people who want to get rid of their animals will find a way of doing that." It's not a pleasant thing to think about and maybe the zoo is a little guilty of trying to drum up controversy but what it's offering probably beats taking Old Yeller out behind the shed, we suppose. More on wildlife: Scientists Alarmed as Whales Suddenly Going Silent The battle over redistricting in Texas has been one of the biggest stories in politics over the past week. Republicans in the Lone Star State are hoping to approve new congressional maps that could secure the GOP five additional seats in the House of Representatives if theyre in place in time for the 2026 midterms. That plan is stalled at the moment, however, because dozens of Democrats have fled the state in order to prevent the legislature from having enough representatives present to consider the proposal. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has threatened to have the absent Democrats arrested or remove them from office, but so far, they have remained committed to staying away. The partisan battle over redistricting that started in Texas has quickly spread across the country. Republicans are eyeing other red states where they might be able to collect a few additional seats with new maps. Blue-state Democrats have promised to counterbalance any gains the GOP makes by redrawing the lines in their own states. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Heres a breakdown of where things stand in states other than Texas that are considering redistricting and what it might mean if those plans become a reality. Republican targets Ohio Potential swing: Two or three more seats for Republicans Where things stand: Unlike most states, Ohio is obligated to redraw its congressional districts because of unique laws in the state. Republicans already hold 10 of the states 15 seats in the House, but the experts say they could pick up at least two more by targeting Democratic districts in Akron and Toledo. Some Republicans reportedly have eyes on a third seat in Cincinnati, but state laws could make that a trickier task, according to the Columbus Dispatch. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Ohio has until Nov. 30 to approve its new map if its going to be in use for the 2026 midterms, but there are important procedural deadlines before then that could limit how dramatically the GOP is able to redraw the states congressional lines. Missouri Potential swing: One additional seat for Republicans Where things stand: Though they havent officially started the process yet, Republicans in Missouri appear open to redrawing the states congressional maps. Currently, the GOP holds six of the eight seats in the state. Only one of the remaining districts, centered in Kansas City, seems to be in play. The other Democrat-led district covers St. Louis, an overwhelmingly blue city that would be very difficult to break up into multiple districts because of protections in the Voting Rights Act. Indiana Potential swing: One or two more seats to Republicans Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Where things stand: Vice President JD Vance traveled to Indianapolis on Thursday to urge Republican Gov. Mike Braun and state legislative leaders to move forward with redistricting. Braun has not publicly committed to redrawing the states district lines, telling reporters only that he and other GOP leaders had listened to Vances pitch. Even if Republicans do get fully on board, theres only so much that the GOP can gain in the Hoosier State. They already control seven of the states nine congressional districts. Both of the remaining districts have a dense Democratic voter base. One of them, which includes a number of Chicago suburbs, could be made more favorable to Republicans with some changes to district lines around the edges, experts told CNN. Flipping the other one would be a much harder task. Incumbent Democrat Andre Carson won that seat, which includes most of Indianapolis, by 40 points in last years elections. Florida Potential swing: Three additional seats for Republicans Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Where things stand: The GOP speaker of Floridas House of Representatives announced Thursday that hes forming a select committee to look into redrawing the states congressional districts with the backing of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis. Republicans hold 20 of Floridas 28 congressional seats, in part because of a map DeSantis signed into law three years ago that flipped four blue seats to red. Republicans are reportedly eyeing three districts in South Florida, a region that has been steadily shifting toward the GOP in recent years, as their primary targets for increasing their representation in Congress. State laws could complicate their efforts, though. An amendment added to the Florida Constitution in 2010 prohibits lawmakers from drawing districts for partisan gain or in a way that deliberately diminishes the voting power of minorities. Democrat targets California Potential swing: Up to five additional seats for Democrats Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Where things stand: California Gov. Gavin Newsom has pledged to fight fire with fire and push to redraw his states maps if Texas goes through with its redistricting plan. Democrats currently hold 43 of Californias 52 congressional seats. Newsom shared a map on social media that theoretically could turn the entire state blue, but reports suggest that a draft plan under consideration by state lawmakers would match Texas Republicans by flipping five seats to their favor. Under current law, Californias congressional map is drawn by a nonpartisan independent committee. Voters would have to approve any proposal to give that power back to the state Legislature. Newsom has said hes willing to call a special election to put the issue on the ballot, but only if Texas passes its new map first. New York Potential swing: Unclear Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Where things stand: New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has been equally adamant that her state should redraw its maps to counter the GOPs moves in Texas and elsewhere. Democrats currently hold 19 of the states 26 congressional seats. Though analysts say there are ways Democrats could manipulate the map in their favor, so far its uncertain how they might do that or how many seats theyd attempt to flip. Like California, Hochuls states districts are drawn by an independent commission. But New Yorks laws would require a much lengthier process to give that ability back to lawmakers, making it highly unlikely that the new maps would be in place in time for next years midterms. Illinois Potential swing: Unclear Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Where things stand: Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker has been one of the most prominent faces in the Texas redistricting battle because of his support for Democrats in their effort to block Republicans from approving their new map. Pritzker has said that redistricting in his own state is on the table. Unlike in California and New York, lawmakers in Illinois do have the power to redraw maps on their own. But the GOP only holds three of the states 17 congressional seats under current district lines, which are among the most heavily gerrymandered in the country, according to rankings by 538. That could make it hard for Democrats to draw up maps that gain them any additional seats. Maryland Potential swing: One additional seat for Democrats Where things stand: The Democratic leader of Marylands House of Delegates has proposed a bill that would trigger new maps if any other state redistricts outside of the normal 10-year cycle. The problem for Democrats, though, is that they already hold seven of Marylands eight congressional seats. Turning that lone red district blue could be difficult because any new map would have to navigate around Chesapeake Bay to connect Democratic areas in the west to the Republican-dense areas in the east. Fox News host Jesse Watters said President Donald Trump could annex part of Canada if Democrats keep pushing back against Republicans' redistricting initiative. Speaking on "The Five," Watters said "Trump is not going to let this slide anymore." "If he needs to gerrymander, he is going to gerrymander, and if they want to add stars to the flag, okay, we will just take Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba." Watters: If he needs to gerrymander, he is going to gerrymander, and if they want to add stars to the flag, okay, we will just take Alberto, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and it doesn't have to be aggressively. We can take it peacefully. It will be mostly peaceful invasion. And those pic.twitter.com/UPGSiJrxlh Acyn (@Acyn) August 7, 2025 "And it doesn't have to be aggressively. We can take it peacefully. It will be mostly peaceful invasion. And those are three states -- that means six Republican senators. See what we did there?" Watters added. Both parties are engaged in a fierce clash over redistricting and gerrymandering after Texas' Republicans called a special session to change congressional districts, a move that would give the GOP five more seats. Governor Greg Abbott warned on Thursday that Democrats who left the state to block the push won't be able to return for years because he will keep the issue at the top of the agenda indefinitely. Speaking to NBC News, Abbott said he will call "special session after special session," meaning that if Democrats maintain their strategy "they're not going to come back until like 2027 or 2028." Democrats, in the meantime, are seeking for donations to face the costs associated with having left the state. State House Democratic leader Gene Wu said the party is "getting a lot of small-dollar donations," which are going to "help keep this going." Among the costs are hotel bills for the dozens of lawmakers and daily fines for not attending the sessions. They are also facing the threat of being arrested, with Texas Republicans saying on Thursday that the FBI has agreed to help track down Democrats and help bring them back. Watters had already made threats to Texas Democrats involved in the clash. Earlier this week he said they ould end up in El Salvador's mega prisons where Venezuelan migrants were sent earlier in the Trump administration. "Democrats had until 3 to show and they didn't. So Gov. Abbott is sending out a posse to arrest them for dereliction of duty and drag them back to the Capitol. They told us no one is above the law. And if they resist, they'll wind up in El Salvador with the Maryland dad," Watters claimed. Elsewhere, Democratic governors in California, New York and Illinois are threatening to conduct initiatives of their own to counter Texas. House Minority leader Hakeem Jeffries is also on board. Originally published on Latin Times The government is enhancing its response to extreme weather events through four key strategies, as revealed during the eighth regular meeting of the Central District Community Service Consultative Council. Officials highlighted a cross-departmental approach, with greater use of artificial intelligence (AI) to improve weather forecasting and public communication. The Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau representatives noted that global warming has led to increased tropical cyclones, heavy rainfall, and high temperatures in recent years. Since 2015, five No.10 typhoon signals have been issued. Record-breaking rainfall occurred in June 2021, while annual average temperatures continue to rise. In response, the bureau plans to optimize its monitoring network by adding more observation sites and introducing AI and scientific research collaboration to strengthen forecasting. Alerts will now follow a two-step system: qualitative assessment followed by quantitative detail. Information will be disseminated earlier through expanded channels, including display screens at Zhuhai-Macau border checkpoints. Authorities also aim to improve regional coordination. Regular joint discussions with meteorological services from mainland China, Hong Kong, and Guangdong will enhance major weather analysis. A video-conference system will support timely cross-departmental communication during typhoons. According to the officials, the public will also benefit from enhanced outreach, with educational campaigns and visualized updates on social media and new platforms. In 2024 alone, nearly 8,800 people participated in science outreach programs. Additional suggestions included setting up a typhoon shelter in the Central District, developing voice-enabled wearable warning devices for the visually impaired, and releasing wind data for the Macau Bridge to assess possible safe use during storms. Times Reporter Like this: Like Loading... Amid the second phase of the West Bengal assembly elections, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Thursday lodged a complaint with the Election Commission against the CRPF jawans, who have been deployed to conduct elections in the state. The ruling party has accused the jawans of not allowing polling agents and beating them. The Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) in Jammu and Kashmir has intensified its crackdown on unsafe meat supplies, seizing and destroying over 3,500 kg of rotten and unlabeled meat, including mutton, across the Kashmir Valley in recent days. At least six people died and several were left injured in a head-on collision between two Uttar Pradesh Roadways buses on the Lucknow-Hardoi road on Wednesday. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath expressed grief over the incident and ordered proper treatment of the injured. While, UP Roadways has ordered a three-member committee to conduct an inquiry and submit a report within 24 hours. * Back home savings in peril Indonesians in Macau worry their bank accounts back home could be frozen following the enforcement of new financial regulations in their country, according to a Times investigation Animal rights | Adoptions decline amid shelter overcrowding, euthanasia El Malagueno The bill aiming to enforce amendments to the Road Traffic Law is about to expire due to a lack of progress in its discussion Police link victims of Avenida da Amizade fatal crash to bar visit Top 10 property developers in Zhuhai and Jiangmen achieved combined sales of RMB28.38 billion this year a 51.8% increase DOWNLOAD PDF Friday, August 8, 2025 edition no. 4776 Like this: Like Loading... The Judiciary Police (PJ) arrested a Hong Kong man earlier this week for stealing two luxury watches valued at RMB3.78 million from a mainland woman. PJ spokesman Cheong Un Hong announced the arrest during a special press conference, identifying the suspect as a 58-year-old man surnamed Chung. The PJ received a report on May 31 from the woman, who operates a luxury watch trading business. She informed police that the watches were stolen from a safe in an empty shop in a city-center shopping mall earlier that day. Cheong noted that the suspect had asked the woman to bring the watches to Macau and meet a man interested in purchasing them, who was still at large at the time. During the meeting, the man requested that she temporarily store the watches in a locked safe in the empty shop, showing her a bag of cash as assurance. After stepping outside for a smoke, the victim was told to wait while the man went to the washroom, but he never returned. Chung then entered through the back door of the mall, opened the safe, took the watches, and fled. After meeting Chung, the man left Macau via the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge checkpoint. The police intercepted Chung upon his re-entry and identified him as a co-conspirator. He was transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office (MP) on Wednesday, facing a theft charge. Times Reporter Like this: Like Loading... Chief Executive Sam Hou Fai calls for pragmatic and efficient reforms to boost operational effectiveness, reduce redundancy, and improve the use of human and public resources. The citys top official said the government is refining departmental responsibilities and improving internal management systems to ensure that all operations are implemented in an orderly and effective manner. He made the remarks at the second working meeting of the leading group on public administration reforms. According to a statement released by the Government Information Bureau, topics discussed included streamlining departmental structures, reallocating functions, enhancing staffing control, and upgrading information systems. The Chief Executive emphasized that reforms must be tailored to support the economic and social development goals, while avoiding disruption to essential services. One major focus is the consolidation of overlapping functions and the establishment of upper limits on institutional scale. The statement noted that authorities are also working to standardize job responsibilities and explore fair, flexible promotion pathways as part of a broader optimization of staffing structures. LV Like this: Like Loading... A recent rule enforcement by the Indonesian Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK) has caused havoc, particularly among the many Indonesian nationals working abroad. The PPATK suddenly enforced the temporary suspension of dormant bank accounts, saying that the measure aimed to address the accounts vulnerability to misuse for crimes such as money laundering and online gambling. According to several Indonesian media outlets, an unknown number of bank accounts are on the line. The PPATK recently announced that it has already released access to about 30 million previously frozen bank accounts. The case has drawn significant attention and impacted the country, leading President Prabowo Subianto to summon the head of PPATK, Ivan Yustiavandana, to the Presidential Palace on July 30 to report on the case. In Macau, many non-resident workers (TNRs) and some residents have also reported having had issues with their bank accounts, as has reportedly happened in the neighboring region of Hong Kong. The Times spoke to Yosa Wariyanti, the leader of the Indonesian Migrant Workers Union (IMWU), who told the Times to be aware of a high number of cases affecting people in Macau, including herself. Concurrently, she noted that in some cases, banking institutions are requesting account users to provide information such as family certificates and other documents not in the TNRs possession, potentially forcing them to travel to their home country to solve this issue. In Hong Kong, several cases have been reported of people who suddenly needed to resort to their savings due to health-related matters and found out that their assets had been frozen and were not available to be used, causing even more complex problems. Wariyanti explained that as many of the TNRs in Macau and Hong Kong use these Indonesian bank accounts to deposit and keep their savings, these accounts have a low usage, which is why the measure targeted so many overseas workers. According to what the Times could ascertain with the Bank Negara Indonesia (BNI) branch in Hong Kong, lately, there has been an enormous movement of people at the bank in an attempt to unfreeze their accounts. According to the Indonesian media, the Financial Services Authority (OJK) has recently announced plans to review dormant bank account regulations to ensure financial system stability and provide legal certainty for both banks and customers, Indonesia Business Post reported. The outlet noted that OJKs Chief Executive of Banking Supervision, Dian Ediana Rae, said over the weekend that the agency will establish standardized treatment of dormant accounts, referring to international best practices. We will set the same rights and obligations for banks in providing services to their customers, Dian said in Jakarta on Saturday. According to Dian, the policy has generated different interpretations from different institutions, ultimately resulting in the issue. He stressed that OJK is committed to crafting policies with a long-term perspective to ensure financial stability while supporting the governments goals. We need to read the situation to ensure the governments objectives are achieved and financial stability remains intact, Dian said. Concurrently, PPATK spokesman Natsir Kongah said President Prabowo expressed his support for the measures in the meeting. The President supports measures taken to safeguard the publics bank accounts from criminal acts, Natsir said. PPATK reported that freezing dormant accounts has effectively reduced online gambling deposits by 70%, from Rp5 trillion at the start of the year to Rp1 trillion in June 2025. Transaction frequency also plummeted from 33 million in April to 2.7 million in June 2025, but it is not specified which type of transactions fell the most. One of the direct consequences of the freezing of millions of accounts was the inability of overseas workers to send remittances, which affected not only the sender but also the lives of those who, back home, expected this form of income. measure violates citizens rights Heard also by Business Post, Nailul Huda, an economist at the Center of Economic and Law Studies (Celios), argued that freezing dormant accounts without customers consent violates their rights. Account freezing or closure must have the account owners consent. Without it, PPATKs actions are illegal, he remarked. Nailuls opinion is backed by Didik Rachbini, a senior economist and Paramadina University Rector, who said that PPATKs actions overstepped its mandate. According to Law No. 8/2010 on the Prevention and Eradication of Money Laundering, PPATK only has the authority to analyze and recommend actions, not block accounts directly. To ease public outcry, PPATK has assured that customers funds are not lost, noting that the accounts are only temporarily frozen for verification purposes and that the procedure will not last too long. It wont last long. This is a preventive measure, and it has proven effective in sharply reducing potential abuses, Ivan said. Under the laws that govern Indonesias financial sector, the OJK has the authority to block accounts with suspicious transactions. When questioned on the topic, Dian reiterated that OJK is taking firm but fair measures to respect customers rights. We will ensure any solution provides a win-win outcome for all parties, he said. Not quick or straightforward process According to the Times investigation on the case with BNI in Hong Kong, the procedure is not as simple as it seems and requires documentation and the filling of a large number of forms that are delivered at the bank branch, but that later will be forwarded to the OJK and PPATK. According to BNI tellers, if the request for unfreezing the account is successful, it might take some 20 working days. In some cases, if any documentation is missing or incomplete, the process can be voided, and the user needs to restart it from the beginning. In more extreme cases, it might be necessary for the users to go in person to the branch where the account was originally opened, a situation that carries high costs and work implications. Wariyanti noted that many workers are concerned because they cannot make remittances to their families and cannot take time from their work to fly home just to solve the banking issue. We have very few annual leave days. Its a huge problem if we cannot solve this problem without having to go back to Indonesia, she said, noting that several people have failed to solve the issue in Hong Kong. The representative of IMWU has said that, for the time being, the group is alerting the Indonesian TNRs in Macau to check if their bank accounts have been affected and be aware of this issue. She also claims that information on effectively solving the matter is unclear. Economic impacts yet to be addressed According to the World Bank Group, in 2024, the number of registered placements of Indonesian migrant workers reached 297,434, surpassing the previous years figures. Indonesia also saw a significant remittance increase, totaling USD15 billion or 1.1% of the Gross Domestic Product. Families economies, particularly in rural areas, are perceived to suffer an even bigger impact, but the real extent has yet to be addressed. Like this: Like Loading... Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin are reportedly working toward a deal that would lock in Russia's territorial gains in Ukraine, according to a new report. Bloomberg explained in Friday that the U.S. is working to get the approval of Ukraine and European allies, adding that such an outcome is far from certain. Putin demands Ukraine gives up the Donbas and Crimea. This scenario would require Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to withdraw troops from parts of Luhansk and Donetsk that are still held by Kyiv. The outlet noted that Zelensky could be at risk of facing an offer that would entail accepting the loss of Ukrainian territory without being involved in the negotiations. Russia would halt its invasion in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia along the battlelines, but it is unclear if Moscow has accepted to give up any gains. Trump recently threatened to impose sanctions on Russia if it didn't take steps towards ending the war, but has not announced any direct measures so far. He did double tariffs on Indian goods to 50% for its purchases of Russian oil. Trump said on Thursday he would be willing to meet with Putin despite him not agreeing to meet with Zelensky. "They would like to meet with me and I will do whatever I can to stop the killing," he said. Originally published on Latin Times The Department of Migrant Workers (DMW) is strengthening efforts to document overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in West Africa as it seeks to establish a Migrant Workers Office (MWO) in Abuja, Nigeria. A DMW team led by Migrant Workers Secretary Hans Leo Cacdac is set to visit Nigeria and Liberia this week until August 19. - Advertisement - The visit aims to further deepen bilateral labor relations as directed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. It also targets personal engagements with the Filipino community in the Western African countries, ensuring their safe working and living conditions. We are not really promoting overseas employment, but we always look out for the protection of our OFWs. Number one there is the safe and ethical recruitment to make sure that our OFWs are documented and protected, Cacdac said in a mix of English and Filipino. The DMW plans to set up a MWO in Abuja to expand its presence in Western Africa and immediately provide assistance and services to the regions growing OFW population. There are 150 OFWs in Liberia and around 6,000 in Nigeria, where the majority of OFWs are employed as clerical support workers, managers, and machine operators. So if we have an office there, efficient the channeling of services is more efficient. Also through our AKSYON Fund it is easier to channel legal, medical, financial, and humanitarian assistance to OFWs in need, Cacdac said. He emphasized providing assistance to Filipino seafarers who encountered piracy and to undocumented OFWs under the third-country hiring. The DMW has limited presence in Northern Africa through its MWO in Rabat, Morocco, which only covers Libya, Algeria, Chad, Mali, Niger, Mauritania, and Tunisia as part of its oversight jurisdiction. The establishment of an MWO in Abuja would expand DMW presence and assistance to an estimated 7,000 Filipinos in Nigeria and its jurisdiction in West Africa. The Philippines commitment to defending its sovereignty in the West Philippine Sea has not changed despite its policy of non-belligerence, President Ferdinand Bongbong Marcos Jr. said yesterday. His clarification came amid perceptions of a softer tone on the WPS issue in his recent State of the Nation Address, followed by the Chinese governments criticisms directed towards him. - Advertisement - There is no shift in tone, Mr. Marcos said in his BBM Podcast, responding to comparisons between his earlier remarks, including his 2022 vow that not an inch of our territory will be abandoned and his latest SONA, where he said the country is a friend to all and an enemy to none. He stressed that asserting the Philippines territorial claims does not conflict with maintaining a foreign policy that seeks to avoid confrontation. Continuing to defend strongly our territory is not mutually exclusive from being a friend to all and an enemy of none, he said. We will defend our sovereignty and territory. You can do both, he added. The president reaffirmed his support for a binding code of conduct in the South China Sea, which he said would establish clear rules for all parties and reduce tensions. The Philippine leaders clarification came even as Beijing called him out over his recent remark that the Philippines has to get involved should a full-scale war between the United States and China erupt over a possible Taiwan invasion. In a statement, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun insisted that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China and settling the Taiwan question is a matter for the Chinese ourselves, which brooks no interference. China claims Taiwan is part of its territory and has threatened to use force to bring it under its control. In an interview with Indian media outlet Firstpost on the sidelines of Mr. Marcos state visit, the President said it would be inevitable for the Philippines to engage to be able to protect Philippine territory as well as the Filipinos living in Taiwan. To be very practical about it, if there is confrontation over Taiwan between China and the United States, there is no way that the Philippines can stay out of it simply because of our physical, geographic location, he said Wednesday. Meanwhile, three China Coast Guard (CCG) vessels have been spotted patrolling both sides of Batanes, effectively bracketing the northernmost Philippine province, according to maritime security tracker SeaLight. SeaLight director Ray Powell said CCG ship 4304 was located about 60 nautical miles west of Batanes, while ships 3301 and 3304 were positioned roughly 70 nautical miles to the east. In a post on X (formerly Twitter) Thursday night, Powell described the movement as a bracketing pattern, where vessels are deployed on opposite sides. When asked on Friday if the CCG vessels were still in a bracketing pattern, Powell said, Yes, bracketing in the sense that they are patrolling both east and west sides of Batanes. I think this is really significant, as Ive never seen CCG conduct an intrusive patrol on the east side of the Philippine archipelago before, said Powell, program head of Stanford Universitys Gordian Knot Center for National Security Innovation. As this developed, Pangasinan fisherfolk recovered an underwater drone in waters off Pangasinan, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) said on Friday. The Philippine Coast Guard has confirmed the recovery of an alleged underwater drone by local fishermen in Bolinao, Pangasinan, PCG spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea, Commodore Jay Tarriela, said in a statement. He said the object was found on Wednesday, approximately 149 nautical miles northwest of Bolinao town. The drone was described as measuring approximately 160 centimeters in length, 20 inches in width, and weighing around 100 kilograms. The alleged underwater drone was surrendered to the appropriate authorities for further investigation and analysis, Tarriela said. The National Police Commission (Napolcom) on Thursday said it is looking into the possible involvement of several police generals in the disappearance and alleged execution of cockfighting enthusiasts collectively known as the missing sabungeros. At a press conference in Quezon City, Napolcom Vice Chairperson and Executive Officer Rafael Vicente Calinisan said the probe goes beyond the testimony of accused-turned-whistleblower Julie Dondon Patidongan, also known as Totoy. - Advertisement - Lets just say that 18 were charged by Totoy, 12 were charged by our legal service, but Napolcoms investigation is ongoing. We still have a few more names that havent been made public and we are pursuing these, Calinisan said. He noted that this follows the directive of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to dig deeper into the case, especially regarding police involvement. No stone unturned. The Presidents instruction is simpleinvestigate properly. There are no sacred cows. Were not afraid of anyone, regardless of rank. We have generals under investigation, he added. Patidongan earlier implicated former NCRPO chief Lt. Gen. Jonnel Estomo (retired) and other active police officers. Estomo has denied any involvement and accused Patidongan of defamation. I categorically deny my involvement. I will present evidence to clear my name. There is no sufficient evidence linking me to the case, Estomo said in a statement. Only the truth not the words of others should prevail in the search for justice. Estomo said he is ready to face any inquiry and has instructed his lawyers to prepare criminal charges against Patidongan for malicious and baseless accusations. Earlier this week, Napolcom imposed a 90-day preventive suspension on 12 active police officers named by Patidongan, including Col. Jacinto Malinao Jr., former Batangas provincial police director. Malinao is facing administrative charges of grave misconduct, grave neglect of duty, and conduct unbecoming of a police officer. Napolcom clarified that the suspension is not a penalty but a procedural step to protect the integrity of the probe. The suspended officers include Lt. Col. Ryan Jay Orapa, Maj. Mark Philip Almedilla, Executive Master Sergeants Aaron Ezrah Cabillan and Arturo dela Cruz Jr., Senior Master Sergeants Joey Encarnacion, Mark Anthony Manrique, and Anderson Abary, Master Sgt. Renan Fulgencio, Staff Sergeants Alfredo Andres and Edmon Munoz, and Cpl. Angel Joseph Martin. Meanwhile, the Department of Justice (DOJ) is seeking assistance from the University of the Philippines (UP) and the Japanese government in analyzing bones recently found in Taal Lake. In a Thursday briefing, DOJ spokesperson Mico Clavano said the department has formally requested help from UP due to the limited forensic capacity of the Philippine National Police (PNP). While the PNP is ideally positioned because they were on the scene, they have admitted limitations in capability. So, weave asked help from the UP Forensic Pathology and Anthropology departments, and the Japanese government, Clavano said. The arrangement is being finalized after Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla sent a formal request to UP. Clavano said the goal is to streamline the custody and analysis of the remains. Well be giving a timeline to UP to help determine how long the individuals have been dead, he added. The DOJ is also preparing an inventory of the recovered items including bones, hair, and clothing alongside reports and photographs from the Philippine Coast Guard. Authorities believe the materials will be crucial in resolving the case. Editors Note: This is an updated article. Originally posted with the headline: Napolcom puts top cops under scrutiny in missing sabungeros probe BEIRUT Lebanons Cabinet met again on Friday for the second time in days to discuss disarming Hezbollah, after the Iran-backed group rejected the governments decision to take away its weapons. The meeting considered a US proposal that includes a timetable for Hezbollahs disarmament, with Washington pressing Beirut to take action. - Advertisement - Information Minister Paul Morcos said the Cabinet endorsed the introduction of the US text without discussing specific timelines. The government said on Tuesday that disarmament should happen by the end of this year. The introduction endorsed in Thursdays meeting lists 11 objectives including ensuring the sustainability of a November ceasefire with Israel, and the gradual end of the armed presence of all non-governmental entities, including Hezbollah, in all Lebanese territory. It also calls for the the deployment of Lebanese troops in border areas and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the five places in the south they have occupied since last years war with Hezbollah. The November ceasefire that sought to end more than a year of hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah stipulated that weapons in Lebanon be restricted to six military and security agencies. Following the Cabinet decision on Tuesday, Morcos said the Lebanese government was waiting to review an executive plan on Hezbollahs disarmament. The army was tasked with presenting a plan to restrict the possession of weapons to government forces by the end of August. Only then would the government review the full provisions of the US proposal, whose implementation is dependent on the approval of each of the concerned countries, the information minister said.AFP Four Shiite Muslim ministers, including three directly affiliated with Hezbollah or its ally the Amal movement, walked out of Thursdays meeting in protest at the governments disarmament push, Hezbollahs Al Manar television reported. They also refused to discuss the proposal submitted by US envoy Tom Barrack, the report said. Environment Minister Tamara Elzein, who is close to Amal, told Al Manar that the government first hoped to consolidate the ceasefire and the Israeli withdrawal, before we could complete the remaining points in Barracks proposal such as taking away Hezbollahs weapons. In a post on X, Barrack hailed Lebanons historic, bold, and correct decision this week to begin fully implementing the November ceasefire. Frances foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot in a message on X hailed Lebanons disarmament initiative as a brave and historic decision that would enable the country to rebuild and protect all its communities. Under Lebanons sect-based power-sharing system, the absence of the Shiite ministers from this weeks cabinet meetings could support the claim that the decisions taken lacked consensual legitimacy, however. Before last years war with Israel, Hezbollah had wielded sufficient political power to impose its will or disrupt government business. But the Shiite group has emerged from the war weakened, reducing its political influence. Hezbollahs parliamentary bloc called on the government on Thursday to correct the situation it has put itself and Lebanon in by slipping into accepting American demands that inevitably serve the interests of the Zionist enemy. The group said on Wednesday that it would treat the governments decision to disarm it as if it did not exist, accusing the cabinet of committing a grave sin. Late Thursday, hundreds of Hezbollah supporters took to the streets of Beiruts southern suburbs to protest the government decision, AFP photographers reported. Lebanese media shared footage of similar rallies in other areas of the country where Hezbollah holds sway, while troops deployed to maintain order. Israel which routinely carries out air strikes in Lebanon despite the November ceasefire has already signalled it could launch military operations if Beirut failed to disarm the group. The Lebanese health ministry said Israel carried out several strikes on eastern Lebanon on Thursday, killing at least seven people. Andrea Tenenti, spokesperson for UN peacekeepers in Lebanon, said on Thursday that troops had discovered a vast network of fortified tunnels in the south. UN spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters that peacekeepers and Lebanese troops found three bunkers, artillery, rocket launchers, hundreds of explosive shells and rockets, anti-tank mines and about 250 ready-to-use improvised explosive devices. Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said in June that the Lebanese army had dismantled more than 500 Hezbollah military positions and weapons depots in the south. AFP European logistics giant Samskip has unveiled a groundbreaking maritime service that promises to transform fresh produce transport between Morocco and Northern Europe. The new Moroccan Reefer Service (MRS) establishes the first direct, high-speed container route from Agadir and Casablanca to Thamesport in the UK and Rotterdam in the Netherlands, offering unprecedented efficiency for time-sensitive cargo. The weekly service delivers remarkable transit times, with shipments from Agadir reaching Ireland in just six daysa significant improvement over traditional Mediterranean ferry and road combinations. This speed advantage positions the MRS as the only container service fast enough to transport vegetables while maintaining optimal freshness, setting new benchmarks for cold chain logistics between North Africa and Europe. Utilizing 45-foot refrigerated containers that match standard trailer capacity, the service achieves up to 80% reduction in CO2 emissions compared to full road transport. The integration of seamless customs clearance and inland delivery creates a comprehensive door-to-door solution that streamlines the entire logistics chain for Moroccan exporters. Samskip has secured a long-term partnership with the Moroccan Fruit Board to support this initiative, reflecting strong industry confidence in the services potential. Through Rotterdams sophisticated transshipment and cross-docking capabilities, goods can reach Norway, Poland, Sweden, Finland, and the Baltic states within days of arrival, dramatically expanding market access for Moroccan producers. Olafur Orri Olafsson, Chief Business Officer at Samskip, emphasized the collaborative approach behind the service: Weve listened to growers, importers, and retailers, and will deliver a service thats faster, greener, and more reliable. Its a powerful example of what we can achieve when we combine local expertise with Europes largest multimodal network. The launch represents a strategic milestone in Moroccos evolution as a fresh produce export hub, eliminating complex multi-modal arrangements while providing faster, more sustainable access to Northern European markets at a time when demand for efficient cold chain logistics continues to surge. Seven Ethiopian migrants have died from hunger and thirst during a harrowing seven-day journey across the sea from Bossaso, Somalia, to Yemen, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) confirmed on Wednesday, August 6. The vessel, carrying 250 migrants including 82 children, broke down before reaching Yemens southern Arqah area. The IOM, which has been providing emergency aid to survivors, described the ordeal as a week of hell, with migrants enduring extreme conditions, fear, and exploitation throughout the voyage. Abdusattor Esoev, IOMs chief of mission in Yemen, warned that such tragedies will persist as desperate migrants continue risking their lives along the perilous Eastern Route. Since the start of 2025, over 350 deaths and disappearances have been recorded on this migration path, though the true figure is likely much higher. Despite the dangers, Yemen remains a transit point for many from the Horn of Africa, particularly Ethiopia and Somalia, who brave treacherous seas in search of improved livelihoods in the Gulf. A Sudanese airstrike on Nyala airport in the conflict-torn Darfur region has reportedly killed at least 40 suspected Colombian mercenaries and destroyed a shipment of arms and equipment allegedly sent by the United Arab Emirates to the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Sudanese officials claim the strike also destroyed an Emirati military aircraft, describing it as a new equation of deterrence against foreign interference. The UAE has denied the allegations, calling them unfounded and part of an ongoing campaign of disinformation. Colombian President Gustavo Petro has ordered an investigation into the reported deaths of his nationals. The Nyala airport, seized by RSF last year, has been accused by the Sudanese military of being converted into a military hub for arms deliveries and gold smuggling. The United Nations confirmed earlier this year that Colombian mercenaries were present in Darfur, hired by a private security firm to assist RSF. Tensions between Sudan and the UAE have escalated sharply, with Sudan severing diplomatic ties earlier this year over Abu Dhabis alleged support for RSF. In a further sign of strain, Sudans aviation authority said UAE airports have barred Sudanese planes from landing or taking off. Meanwhile, the humanitarian crisis deepens in Darfur as RSF maintains a complete blockade on el-Fasher, the last major city in the region under military control. According to satellite analysis by the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab, all routes in and out of the city are controlled by RSF checkpoints, with civilians facing bombardments targeting markets, schools, and mosques. Earlier this year, RSF forces overran the Zamzam displacement camp near el-Fasher, killing hundreds and forcing thousands to flee, underscoring the intensifying brutality of Sudans civil war. This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: A new weight loss pill made by Eli Lilly helped people lose a significant amount of weight in a recent study. Taken at the highest dose, orforglipron helped patients lose an average 27.3 pounds, or 12.4% of their body weight, over 72 weeks. Eli Lilly says it plans to apply for U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval by the end of the year to market the drug. If approved, the pill could become a simpler alternative to injectable medications like Wegovy, Ozempic, Zepbound and Mounjaro, which are used to treat obesity and type 2 diabetes. Pills are easier to make and "can be manufactured at a significant scale," Kenneth Custer, Eli Lilly's president of cardiometabolic health, told The New York Times. "There are orders of magnitude differences in how many we can support," he said, adding that pills could also help people in countries without access to cold storage needed for injected drugs. Like the injected medications, the new pill belongs to the GLP-1 class of drugs. GLP-1 drugs work by helping people feel full longer and by slowing digestion, according to the Cleveland Clinic. The recent study included 3,127 adults who were randomly assigned to take orforglipron or a placebo. Three different dosages of the drug were evaluated. In addition to weight loss, people taking the drug also saw improvements in cholesterol, triglyceride levels and blood pressure. Side effects were similar to those seen with injectable drugs and included vomiting, diarrhea, constipation and indigestion, The Times said. Earlier this year, Lilly also tested orforglipron in people with type 2 diabetes and found that it lowered blood sugar and led to weight loss similar to Ozempic. The company plans to seek FDA approval to market the drug for diabetes use in 2026, The Times reported. Orforglipron has not yet been compared directly with injected drugs like Wegovy or Zepbound. In a previous study, Zepbound helped people lose 20.2% of their weight, and Wegovy led to a 13.2% weight loss over 72 weeks. Still, experts say the new pill may have key benefits. It may not be as powerful as injections, though, said Dr. David Cummings, an obesity expert at the University of Washington in Seattle. But if it's a lot cheaper and easier to make, Cummings said, then "that feature alone could make it truly impactful." Eli Lilly has not yet said how much the pill will cost, and plans to decide after the FDA reviews it for marketing approval. About 8 million Americans now take obesity medications, even though an estimated 170 million could benefit, according to Custer. He said a major reason is that making injected drugs is expensive and slow, The Times said. Because pills are easier to make and store, this new drug could help reach more people, Custer added. 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved. This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Texas A&M University architecture students create full-scale health care environment mockups, testing layouts, workflows and design choices in real-time with medical professionals. Credit: Texas A&M University College of Architecture In a time when health care systems are under pressure to be safer, more efficient and more compassionate, one program at Texas A&M University is leading the charge, not just with ideas, but with action. The Architecture for Health group is transforming how health facilities are designed, using evidence-based research and immersive learning to create environments that truly support healing. "Design impacts healing," said Dr. Roxana Jafari, assistant professor of architecture and program director. "The environment plays a critical role in health outcomes, but it's often overlooked. We're working to change that." The program is a living lab for innovation. Students create full-scale health care environment mockups, testing layouts, workflows and design choices in real-time with medical professionals. These mockups allow clinicians to test spaces before construction. AI-driven simulations track behavior and improve safety. Real impact In a graduate-level health care design studio led by Jafari, students collaborated with Page, a national architecture firm, to develop design iterations for an ambulatory orthopedic surgery center, receiving direct feedback from the firm's design team to optimize the operating room for orthopedic procedures. And the program's reach extends well beyond its home state. One recent example was an initiative in Rwanda, co-hosted by the Rwanda Children Educational Foundation, where Texas A&M students collaborated with health care professionals and local partners to design a maternity center in the rural village of Ruli. The multidisciplinary project focused on creating a culturally responsive, sustainable facility that supports maternal and infant health. Students traveled to Rwanda to conduct site visits, engage with community members and refine their designs based on real-world needs. "We're not just teaching architecture," said Jafari. "We're teaching students how to design for people." Jafari's own research is a testament to the power of design. Inspired by her mother's battle with heart disease, she studied ICU environments while obtaining her Ph.D. and discovered that patients in rooms with windows recovered fasterstaying, on average, one day less than those in windowless rooms. Decades of creating healing spaces Founded more than 45 years ago, the Architecture for Health program was one of the first in the nation to focus on health care environments. Today, it continues to set the standard, offering students hands-on experience with top firms like HKS, HDR and Stantecmany of which are on the program's Health Industry Advisory Council. Each year, 20 to 30 students participate, with many earning a graduate certificate in health systems and design. But the program's influence extends beyond hospitals. Its emphasis on wellness, human factors and user-centered design prepares students for careers in aviation, residential design and other fields where people and environments intersect. As the program approaches its fifth decade, Jafari is focused on expanding its reach. This summer, students are evaluating a sensory room prototype designed to reduce stress and anxiety, part of a growing emphasis on mental health and student well-being. Future projects will explore how AI, immersive environments and interdisciplinary collaboration can shape the next generation of health care spaces. "I've worked with students at several institutions, and I'm constantly impressed by the talent and dedication of Aggies," Jafari said. "They're not just learning to design buildings, they're motivated to design for healing." 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: Health officials in China are reporting more than 8,000 cases of chikungunya, a virus spread by mosquitoes that can cause fever and painful joints. The outbreak is centered in Foshan, a city in the southeastern province of Guangdong with nearly 10 million people. Hong Kong, Macao and Hunan provincemore than 400 miles northhave also reported cases. In response, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a warning for travelers headed to China and other countries dealing with outbreaks, including Bolivia, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mayotte, Reunion, Somalia and Sri Lanka. Chikungunya can cause serious pain, especially in the joints. "[It] can leave people disabled for weeks, months and potentially years," Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious disease expert at the University of California, San Francisco, told The Washington Post. The chikungunya virus is spread by two types of mosquitoes: Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus. The virus is common in many warm regions, including Asia, Africa and the Americas, according to the World Health Organization. Mosquitoes become infected when they bite someone who already has the virus, according to the CDC. They can then pass the virus to others through new bites. The virus could be passed through blood transfusions or contact with infected blood. It is not spread by coughing, sneezing or touching. Symptoms usually begin three to seven days after a person is bitten by an infected mosquito, the CDC says. These include fever, joint pain, headaches, rash and more. Though chikungunya is rarely deadly, the joint pain can last for a long time. Older adults, babies and people with conditions like high blood pressure, diabetes or heart disease are more likely to get seriously ill. As of July, about 240,000 chikungunya cases have been reported worldwide this year, and 90 people have died, according to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control. There is no specific medicine to cure chikungunya, but two vaccines are now approved in the U.S., with the first receiving approval in 2023, The Post said. However, China doesn't have access to those vaccines. Instead, health officials there are using other methods to slow the outbreak, such as using drones to spray mosquito repellent and releasing fish into ponds to eat mosquito larvae. Hospitals are required to report new cases within one day, The Post reported. To prevent mosquito bites, the CDC recommends wearing long sleeves and pants when outdoors, using insect repellent and staying inside places with air conditioning or screened windows. Further, vaccines are recommended for people traveling to areas with outbreaks, especially for folks staying for extended periods. Chin-Hong added that vaccines are a major step forward. "It will be a matter of implementing them in the places that need it the most," he told The Post. More information: The Cleveland Clinic has more on the causes, symptoms and treatment options for chikungunya. 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved. This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain Aggressive immigration practicessuch as detention, deportation, and workplace raidsare contributing to widespread emotional trauma among both immigrant and U.S.-born children living in mixed-status households, according to a report published by a team of mental health professionals in the School of Medicine at the University of California, Riverside. Published in Psychiatric News, the report warns that immigration enforcement in the United States is a public health emergency for millions of children. "Psychiatry, as both a clinical discipline and a social institution, cannot remain on the periphery," the authors write. "The current moment calls for a reexamination of how structural and intergenerational trauma are diagnosed, understood, and treated." The report explains how U.S.-born children in mixed-status families face constant anxiety about their parents being detained or deported. It notes that both pre- and post-migration family separations harm children's emotional development and academic performance. Immigrant caregivers, especially mothers, often suffer from trauma, which limits their ability to support their children emotionally, the authors write. As national debates around immigration continue, the report urges the media, policymakers, and clinicians to confront the human costs of enforcement-driven immigration systems and to prioritize the emotional well-being of the youngest and most vulnerable. "We are witnessing the effects of chronic fear, disrupted attachment, and intergenerational trauma on a massive scale," said Dr. Lisa Fortuna, professor and chair of psychiatry and neuroscience at the UCR School of Medicine and the lead psychiatrist behind the report. "The threat or reality of separation from a caregiver fundamentally reshapes a child's development and mental health." The report includes clinical case studies and community-based data that reveal how trauma is transmitted across generations and shaped by conditions such as poverty, discrimination, and fear of enforcement. It also outlines emerging models of care that are proving more effective and ethical than traditional mental health interventions. "Psychiatry must take an active rolenot just in treatment, but in advocacy," said co-author Dr. Kevin Gutierrez, an assistant clinical professor of health sciences in the UCR Department of Psychiatry and Neuroscience. "The mental health of immigrant children is inseparable from the systems that shape their lives." In the following Q&A, Fortuna and Gutierrez, who are also providers at UCR Health, answer some questions pertinent to the report. What inspired you to explore the mental health effects of immigration enforcement on children and families? Fortuna: As chair of the APA Council on Children, Adolescents, and Their Families, I was drawn to this issue due to its growing urgency nationwide. Children and families affected by immigration enforcement are especially vulnerable to trauma, and we wanted to address the psychiatric impact beyond politics, focusing on how policy shapes mental health and how psychiatrists can respond. Gutierrez: When Dr. Fortuna invited me to join the project, I saw it as a chance to reframe psychiatry's rolenot just diagnosing but addressing the broader social forces causing harm. We aimed to challenge the systems behind these policies and highlight our responsibility to engage beyond the clinic, especially in advocating for vulnerable children. Is there a clinical example that illustrates what this trauma looks like in practice? Fortuna: In our article, we share a composite case called "Ana," based on real clinical experiences. It highlights the intense anxiety children face, such as fearing parental deportation, avoiding school or therapy, and feeling unsafe even when seeking help. Clinicians often help families create safety plans in case of separation, which, while necessary, reinforces the deep instability they're living with. Even those pursuing legal immigration paths feel unsafe, and U.S. citizen children worry they could be targeted too, leading to constant fear and withdrawal. How are caregivers coping with this? Fortuna: Many are experiencing intense anxiety, stress, and depression. Some are even reporting suicidal thoughtsfeeling hopeless and helpless about their situation. There's significant fear within families: children worry their parents won't come back from work, and parents are terrified of being separated from their children. This fear leads to tension and emotional strain at home. Gutierrez: In my practice with adults, I've had patients share concerns about how their children are coping. One parent told me their sons were being bullied at school by kids wearing MAGA hats, who threatened to call ICE on them. These boys are Latino, and although this kind of threat might sound abstract to some, it's rooted in real incidents. Children are dealing with separation anxiety not as a developmental phase, but as a daily reality. One parent asked me what to do when their child came home asking, "Are they going to call ICE on us?" The parent didn't have an answer and neither did I. That's part of the trauma: not having answers, not knowing what's safe or predictable anymore. Kids need stability to thrive. When their world feels uncertain and parents can't guarantee safety, it creates chronic anxiety that harms emotional and brain development. Fortuna: False reassurance, for example, telling a child everything is fine, can backfire. Children sense when things aren't okay. It's better to be honest in an age-appropriate way and validate their fears. We help families make practical planswho the child can turn to, where they'll be safe, how to stay in touchto give them some sense of control amid the chaos. Are there specific age groups where the mental health impact is particularly severe, or is it affecting children across the board? Fortuna: It affects all age groups, but differently depending on development. When infants and toddlers suffer from disrupted attachment, it can lead to issues like sleep or eating problems. School-age kids are more aware and show anxiety or fear, even if they can't fully express it. Adolescents often take on adult roles, suppressing their emotions and facing depression or anxiety. Gutierrez: Adolescents in particular face "parentification," taking on adult responsibilities like caregiving or running errands due to fear of enforcement. This is common even in mixed-status or citizen families because fear affects everyone, regardless of legal status. Fortuna: Many teens fear losing their parents or being forced into foster care. Even kids not directly affected feel the impact when their communities are disrupted, creating a sense of collective trauma and loss of safety. How should immigration policy and mental health policy intersect going forward? Gutierrez: It's hard to see how current enforcement can ever be humane. These practices create chronic stress and trauma in children and meet the criteria for PTSD. The harm is systemic, not isolated, and affects even those not directly targeted. Fortuna: Mental health professionals must recognize policy as a key driver of mental health. Enforcement decisions are violating children's basic rights: safety, family, education, and identity. Until we connect policy choices with health outcomes, especially for marginalized kids, we're overlooking the full impact. If nothing is done to address these mental health impacts, what are the long-term consequences? Fortuna: Unaddressed childhood trauma can lead to lifelong issues like PTSD, anxiety, and depression. When kids withdraw from school, health care, or relationships due to fear, they miss key developmental milestones. These effects can even be passed down through generations. Gutierrez: Children learn by watching their caregivers. When that stability is disrupted, it impacts how they relate to others and see the world. Without safe, nurturing environments, we limit their potential emotionally, socially, and cognitively. Given what you have learned in writing this report, what gives you hope? Fortuna: I find hope in communities, their resilience, their support for each other, and their refusal to give up. I'm also inspired by my colleagues and the next generation of professionals who are deeply committed to change. Gutierrez: The kids themselves give me hope. Despite everything, they survive, and their communities build support systems long before we show up. Our job is to strengthen those systems. Even small interventions can change a child's future, and that keeps me going. More information: Lisa Fortuna et al, Special Report: U.S. Immigration Policy and the Mental Health of Children and Families, Psychiatric News (2025). DOI: 10.1176/appi.pn.2025.08.8.19 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: Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (2025). DOI: 10.2215/CJN.0000000739 Researchers have found that a common tool used by clinicians for predicting kidney failure could be underestimating the risk of failure for some people. The study, "Frailty in Adults with Chronic Kidney Disease and Validation of the Kidney Failure Risk Equation in Frailty Sub-Groups," is published in the Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. Led by the University of Glasgow, the study suggests the Kidney Failure Risk Equation (KFRE), a prognostic tool that is widely recommended in clinical guidelines, could be underestimating the risk of kidney failure for individuals with chronic kidney disease who also have frailty. The findingswhich looked at 24,489 people from the UK Biobankalso show that the prediction of kidney failure is improved for these people when a simple, alternative blood test, which can also be used to measure kidney function, is used alongside the KFRE tool. The study shows that the addition of the cystatin C-testwith analyses accounting for the competing risk of people dying before they progress to kidney failurecould greatly improve predictions of kidney failure for this group of people. Cystatin C has been proposed as a more accurate test for assessing and estimating kidney function, compared to the commonly used creatinine test, particularly in older patients. Previous research has shown it can be a better way to test kidney function for some groups of people; and, as it is also more sensitive, may be able to identify a heightened risk of developing and dying from cancer in people with chronic kidney disease. Chronic kidney disease is characterized by gradual loss of kidney function over time. Although kidney failure requiring dialysis is rare, mild kidney disease is common, affecting around 10% of the population, and it is usually asymptomatic and therefore not routinely diagnosed and monitored infrequently. Frailtya condition of increased susceptibility and vulnerability to stressors, with increased risk of adverse events such as falls, delirium and hospitalizationsis also common among adults with chronic kidney disease, and its presence can impact chronic kidney disease and risk of death, and individuals with chronic kidney disease are more likely to experience frailty than those without it. Currently, clinical guidelines recommend the use of just the Kidney Failure Risk Equation (KFRE) to guide the management of the disease, and there is limited evidence to guide how chronic kidney disease management should be altered in the presence of frailty. Dr. Heather Walker, Research Fellow at the University's School of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Health, said, "Our findings could have important implications on clinical practice and the way patients with frailty and chronic kidney disease are tested and cared for. It is important not to overlook this group of patients, who are more likely to experience frailty alongside multiple long-term health conditions." Dr. Bhautesh Jani, Clinical Senior Lecturer at the University's School of Health and Wellbeing, said, "Frailty is often related to aging, and people with frailty are likely to have multiple health conditions. We need to improve our understanding of frailty's impact on health outcomes for conditions like chronic kidney disease to offer more appropriate treatment options for patients." More information: Heather Walker et al, Frailty in Adults with CKD and Validation of the Kidney Failure Risk Equation in Frailty Subgroups, Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (2025). DOI: 10.2215/CJN.0000000739 Journal information: Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology 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: Michael S. Helfenbein One-third of people older than 85 in the United States are estimated to live with Alzheimer's disease today, according to the National Institute on Aging. The condition's characteristic long, slow decline places an enormous burden on families and on society. While the need for new treatments is urgent, Alzheimer's is a complex disease that requires multidisciplinary research across a wide range of specialties. In a new article led by Yale's Amy Arnsten, researchers from across numerous disciplines share an update on the varied efforts that are driving these new treatments. Writing in the journal Alzheimer's & Dementia, the group of expertswhose fields span neuropathology, fluid biomarkers, PET imaging, and proteomics/transcriptomics, as well as basic researchfocus specifically on the early stages of the disease when new preventive therapies may be most effective. This integrated view highlights that Alzheimer's pathology can be initiated by many different factors, including protein buildups in the brain and inflammation that appear to drive neurodegeneration in the common, late-onset form of the disease, said Arnsten, the Albert E. Kent Professor of Neuroscience at Yale School of Medicine (YSM) and professor of psychology in Yale's Faculty of Arts and Sciences. "We're at a tipping point in Alzheimer's research today where we have begun to have the first treatments for the disease, but we still have a long way to go," Arnsten said. "We need to keep pushing ahead to have more effective medications with fewer side effects." In an interview, Arnsten explains why so many more people are expected to develop Alzheimer's in the coming decades, the opportunities for new treatments, and challenges that threaten to halt this progress. In addition to Arnsten, the Albert E. Kent Professor of Neuroscience at Yale School of Medicine (YSM) and professor of psychology in Yale's Faculty of Arts and Sciences, contributors include Christopher H. van Dyck, the Elizabeth Mears and House Jameson Professor of Psychiatry and of neurology and neuroscience at YSM, Dibyadeep Datta, assistant professor of psychiatry and of neuroscience at YSM, as well as Heiko Braak and Kelly Del Tredici from the University of Ulm in Germany; Nicolas Barthelemy from Washington University in St Louis; and Edward Lein and Mariano Gabitto from the Allen Institute for Brain Sciences and the University of Washington. The interview has been edited for length and clarity. What is the state of Alzheimer's disease research today? Alzheimer's research has expanded tremendously over the last decade, and we are now at an extraordinary time. After decades of research, the lessons we've learned about the brain changes that cause the disease are beginning to translate into FDA-approved treatments. There are currently two approved antibody treatments that remove beta amyloid, one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer's disease, from the brain, and slow the course of the disease. But they don't stop it, and they don't work for everyone. They can also have some pretty serious side effects. Why is dementia so prevalent now? Aging is the greatest risk factor for Alzheimer's disease, and people are living so much longer, especially now with many effective treatments for diseases like cancer. Aging is also a risk factor for other causes of dementia, such as vascular dementia, and dementia related to Parkinson's disease. Sometimes the forms overlap, which is particularly confusing for neuropathologists. These diseases place an enormous burden on patients and on their families. What is new research focusing on? There are many new approaches in the pipeline. Early intervention is one big priority. We need effective treatments with benign side effects so we can catch the disease earlymaybe even before people start showing symptomsand slow it down. My lab is researching the toxic actions caused by inflammation that contribute to Alzheimer's. The goal would be to have a treatment you could use very earlyonce the test indicates risk even if the patient has no symptomsthat is also remarkably safe. You want to be able to use this with a patient who is, say, 50 years old, because the process can start when you're still young. Why does it take so long for discoveries in the lab to become medications people can take? In many ways, Alzheimer's researchers have had to invent the field, and innovations from disciplines such as genetics, cell biology, neuroscience, spectroscopy, and brain imaging have all been necessary to figure out what was changing in the brain and why. There appear to be multiple drivers of brain pathology, for example, where inflammation may contribute greater risk in some people than in others, which makes things more complex. But it also offers more opportunities for different kinds of treatments. This type of translational science is necessarily slow, as it takes time to unravel the many factors that initiate and drive the pathology. And once you have discerned a possible therapeutic target, it takes great time and expense to determine that a treatment is effective and safe in patients. What are some of the more notable new breakthroughs in the field? One key recent breakthrough is a new blood biomarker that can detect the beginnings of tau pathology [accumulation of the tau protein in the brain], which is a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease. This signal of emerging pathology in the brain can be seen long before one can use PET imaging to see later stage tau pathology in the brain. This new blood biomarker will also allow us to track whether a new treatment is working. There are many new, and likely better, treatment strategies also in early stages of testing that will likely not come to fruition if Congress cuts the NIH [National Institutes of Health] budget. This would be a tragedy for so many patients and their families, and would also be very short-sighted, as the financial burden of caring for patients by the federal government is enormous. In my lab, we've worked for 20 years to understand some of the early changes that especially afflict the neurons that generate memory and higher cognition, and we have identified a compound that we think can stop these early, toxic effects of inflammation with few side effects. But now, due to NIH budget cuts, we can't get the funding to continue. These cuts will be devastating to so much research, and the field can't just bounce back from them, because they will destroy so much of the research pipeline, hurting our health and also the U.S. economy. In the past, Congress understood the importance of NIH-funded research to American strength; we hope that rational strategies can still prevail. More information: Amy F. T. Arnsten et al, An integrated view of the relationships between amyloid, tau, and inflammatory pathophysiology in Alzheimer's disease, Alzheimer's & Dementia (2025). DOI: 10.1002/alz.70404 Journal information: Alzheimer's & Dementia 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 Fewer Kentucky kindergarten students have received the vaccines required to attend school, and data from the state's School Immunizations Survey shows religious objections are a growing reason why. State data for the 202425 school year puts the overall percentage of kindergarten students fully caught up on required vaccines at 82%. That's behind the national rate of 92.1% for the diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTaP) vaccine and 92.5% for the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) and polio vaccines, according to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data. The trend comes as the federal government is withdrawing investment in mRNA vaccine technology, which helped pull the nation out of the coronavirus pandemic and led to the first COVID-19 vaccines. The Department of Health and Human Services announced this week that Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has canceled nearly $500 million in grants and contracts for developing mRNA vaccines. Earlier in May, HHS canceled a nearly $600 million contract for the development of a bird flu vaccine, according to The New York Times. Kentucky Public Health data shows a growing share of vaccine objections are because of religious reasons. The state allows for vaccine exemptions on religious grounds if parents or guardians provide a written and sworn statement. Out of the 51,319 Kentucky kindergarten students surveyed in 2024-25, as many as 15.9% were not up to date with all vaccines. Up to 2% of students surveyed objected on religious grounds, and that rate has been steadily rising since 2020-21, when it was 0.83% of 50,595 kindergarten students surveyed, state data show. Kentucky's data mirror a national trend, with the rate of non-medical exemptions growing from 1.9% in 202021 to 3.4% in 202425, CDC data show. Kentucky kindergarten students are also behind on vaccines for measles, whooping cough (pertussis), polio and other diseases, state data show. As of Thursday, there have been 385 confirmed whooping cough (pertussis) cases in Kentucky in 2025, according to Kendra Steele, spokesperson for the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services. "Kentuckians are urged to remain up-to-date on pertussis immunizations. The pertussis immunization is combined with the tetanus and diphtheria vaccines (DTaP and Tdap) and is required for Kentucky school children. Data from the 20452025 Kentucky school immunization survey indicates that only 86% of kindergartners and 85% of seventh graders are up-to-date on their required pertussis immunizations," Steele wrote in an email to The Lexington Herald-Leader. Kentucky isn't alone. The CDC notes that during the 202425 school year, vaccination coverage among U.S. kindergarten students decreased for all reported vaccines from the year before. Coverage with MMR, DTaP, polio and varicella (chickenpox) vaccines declined in more than half the states compared to the previous year. To understand why, we spoke with Dr. Steve Davis with the Lexington-Fayette County Health Department. Question: Why are more Kentucky students behind on required vaccinations? Answer: Davis, who is 75, is old enough to have seen first-hand the severe complications unvaccinated children can suffer, either by their parents' decision or simply because an effective vaccine wasn't available at the time. That includes children with brain and blood infections, meningitis, pneumonia, heart disease, liver disease and polio, Davis said. "One of the things I would want parents to know is the immunizations that we're asking children to take. It's not to prevent just mild illness, it prevents serious illness or even, unfortunately, death," Davis said. "I have seen this occur. I mean, I've been at the bedside when this has occurred, and it's tragic because these are vaccine-preventable diseases." Davis points to several factors to explain the downward trend in Kentucky's school immunization rates in recent years. The COVID-19 pandemic and the disruptions to health care are significant, but Davis also points to a general need for more public health education. 2025 Lexington Herald-Leader. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain A woman in east Pierce County contracted malaria despite not having traveled out of state recently, according to the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department. The woman was diagnosed with malaria on Saturday August 2 and is receiving treatment, a news release states. If the investigation finds the woman contracted the disease from a mosquito in Washington, it would be the state's first locally acquired case. It would also be the first known instance of malaria being contracted west of the Rockies. The county health department is working with the state Department of Health and the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to investigate the source of the infection. "The risk of getting infected with malaria in Pierce County remains very low," Tacoma-Pierce County Health Officer Dr. James Miller said in a written statement. "Malaria is a rare disease overall in the United Statesand the vast majority of cases in the United States occur following exposures in countries with ongoing transmission." Health officials will trap and test mosquitoes to trace the infection. U.S. malaria cases are usually linked to travel, mainly from sub-Saharan African countries, according to the CDC. The U.S. sees about 2,000 to 2,500 cases per year, and Washington sees 20 to 70 reports of malaria in travelers each year, according to the state Department of Health. In 2023, the United States saw its first locally acquired malaria case in 20 years. Ten cases were reported across four statesFlorida, Texas, Maryland and Arkansasfrom May to October 2023. About 95% of people who contract malaria did not take malaria prevention medication, the CDC says. Malaria is mosquito-borne and typically causes fever, chills, body aches, headaches and fatigue. Without treatment, it can be fatal. The disease can be treated with antimalarial drugs. Malaria has a seven-to-30-day incubation period, but doesn't spread directly from person to person. Some prevention measures against malaria include medication, insect repellent with DEET and long-sleeved clothing. Currently, two malaria vaccines exist, but they are mainly distributed to children in high transmission areas and are not widely available. 2025 The Seattle Times. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Graphical abstract. Credit: American Journal of Physiology-Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology (2025). DOI: 10.1152/ajpgi.00040.2025 With colorectal cancer on the rise in people under 50, researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign are looking at the colon's tiniest inhabitants to reveal causes and potential treatments. In a study in genetically modified mice, the researchers mimicked the colon environment of humans likely to experience early-onset colitisthe inflammation that often precedes colorectal cancer. The study, "Gut microbiota dysbiosis in a novel mouse model of colitis potentially increases the risk of colorectal cancer," is published in the American Journal of Physiology-Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology. They wanted to understand how microbes in the colon, along with substances they produce during metabolism (metabolites), interact with gene signaling pathways implicated in disease progression. "When these mice are under stress, they develop more severe colitis and then have a higher risk of developing early-onset colorectal cancer. We found in this study that this higher risk is due to dysbiosisdisruption of the gut microbial communityand the metabolites those microbes produce," said corresponding author Hong Chen, associate professor in the Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, part of the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at Illinois. Chen and her colleagues characterized the microbiome of genetically modified mice lacking a specific gene involved in regulating immune response and inflammation. Without this gene, which has been shown to be mutated in early-onset colorectal cancer patients, the mice were more likely to develop colon inflammation similar to Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis in humans. Inflammation favors the growth of certainusually "bad"microbes, crowding out their beneficial counterparts. Then, as these problematic microbes respond to the stressful environment of an inflamed colon, they produce chemicals, or metabolites, that can be harmful to the host. That contrasts with microbes in a stable environment, which produce beneficial metabolites. Nutritional Sciences doctoral student Abrory Pramana (right), FSHN associate professor Hong Chen (left), and summer research intern Henry Liu (center) investigate gut microbiome balance and its roles in early-onset colorectal cancer. Credit: College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Comparing the makeup of the microbial community and their metabolites in modified mice versus normal lab mice, the researchers could tell how the microbes react to and, in some cases, exacerbate inflammation. "In mice with a genetic makeup consistent with early-onset colitis, we found an imbalance between bad, disease-prone microbes and decreased beneficial microbes. This gave us an easily identified signature of dysbiosis that we could associate with colorectal cancer risk," Chen said. "We also found some key signature metabolites associated with human colorectal cancer risk in this transgenic mouse model, making it a very good system to study and discover future intervention tools." Chen said that identifying which beneficial microbesand their associated metabolitesdecreased in the mice could inspire future studies. Specifically, she and her collaborators plan to test targeted pro- and postbiotics (metabolites produced by beneficial microbes) to offset the bad microbes in an inflamed colon. "We hope to test both the probiotic as well as the metabolites we identified to find a way to better supplement and intercept this cancer risk," Chen said. More information: Abrory A. C. Pramana et al, Gut microbiota dysbiosis in a novel mouse model of colitis potentially increases the risk of colorectal cancer, American Journal of Physiology-Gastrointestinal and Liver Physiology (2025). DOI: 10.1152/ajpgi.00040.2025 This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Credit: Journal of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography & Interventions (2025). DOI: 10.1016/j.jscai.2025.103783 The Society for Cardiovascular Angiography & Interventions (SCAI) and the Heart Rhythm Society (HRS) have published the first rigorous, evidence-based, multisociety recommendations to guide the use of transcatheter left atrial appendage occlusion (LAAO) for stroke prevention in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF). The "2025 SCAI/HRS Clinical Practice Guidelines on Transcatheter Left Atrial Appendage Occlusion (LAAO)" were published in JSCAI and Heart Rhythm Journal. An accompanying technical review provides a detailed analysis of the underlying evidence base, highlighting both the progress and ongoing knowledge gaps in the field. "These guidelines represent a critical step towards ensuring that patients with NVAF receive high-quality, consistent care tailored to their individual needs and preferences. We based our recommendations on the best available evidence while acknowledging where evidence is limited and further research is needed," said Andrew M. Goldsweig, MD, MS, FSCAI, chair of the guideline writing group. "Furthermore, these guidelines reflect a truly collaborative effort between SCAI and HRS to address one of the most pressing clinical needs facing our specialties. They provide clinicians with clear, practical recommendations to guide evidence-based care and use of LAAO." Addressing a critical clinical need NVAF affects more than 12 million people in the United States and increases stroke risk fivefold. Oral anticoagulation (OAC) remains the standard of care for preventing stroke in NVAF, but more than one-third of patients cannot take long-term OAC due to bleeding risk, medication adherence challenges, cost, or personal preference. Transcatheter LAAOa minimally invasive procedure that seals off the left atrial appendage, the source of most stroke-causing clots in NVAFhas emerged as an important alternative, with over 90,000 procedures performed annually in the United States. Despite increasing adoption of LAAO, clinical practice has varied widely. Indications, imaging strategies, antithrombotic regimens, and management of complications such as peri-device leak (PDL) and device-related thrombus (DRT) differ significantly among centers and operators. Recognizing the need for standardized, evidence-based guidance, SCAI and HRS convened a multidisciplinary panel to develop these comprehensive guidelines. The panel was comprised of interventional cardiologists, electrophysiologists, cardiovascular imaging specialists, and methodological experts. A systematic review of more than 3,700 studies was conducted to evaluate evidence on eight key clinical questions. Key recommendations The guidelines provide specific recommendations for clinicians, patients, and policymakers. Among the key guidance: Patient selection: LAAO is suggested over no therapy for patients with NVAF and a contraindication to OAC, acknowledging that most patients would prefer to reduce stroke risk despite potential procedural risks. Either OAC or LAAO is appropriate for patients seeking stroke prevention when OAC is not absolutely contraindicated. Pre-procedural imaging: Pre-procedural imaging with transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) or cardiac computed tomography (CT) is preferred over no pre-procedural imaging, as pre-procedural imaging improves procedural planning and outcomes. Intra-procedural imaging: Either TEE or intracardiac echocardiography (ICE) can be used to guide the LAAO procedure, allowing flexibility to accommodate patient characteristics and institutional resources. Post-procedural antithrombotic therapy: Either OAC or dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) is reasonable following LAAO, with the choice individualized based on bleeding risk and patient preferences. Surveillance imaging: Post-procedural imaging with TEE or CT is suggested to detect complications such as PDL and DRT. Management of complications: Guidance is provided for the management of PDL and DRT, while acknowledging that optimal approaches remain uncertain, and further research is necessary. The guidelines are intended to support shared decision-making between clinicians and patients, promote quality improvement initiatives, and inform policy and coverage decisions. The guidelines identify several critical research priorities, including: Optimal antithrombotic regimens following LAAO, particularly the role of single antiplatelet therapy (SAPT). Best practices for managing PDL and DRT. The utility of routine post-procedural imaging, including optimal timing and modality. The role of LAAO in broader NVAF populations beyond those with OAC contraindications. "As transcatheter LAAO becomes more widely used, it's essential that care remains centered on each patient's unique needs," said Christopher R. Ellis, MD, FHRS, co-chair of the guideline writing group. "These guidelines reflect a true collaboration between specialtiesproviding a shared foundation for interventional cardiologists, electrophysiologists, imagers, and care teams to align around the best practices for stroke prevention, guided by both evidence and patient values." More information: Andrew M. Goldsweig et al, 2025 SCAI/HRS Clinical Practice Guidelines on Transcatheter Left Atrial Appendage Occlusion, Journal of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography & Interventions (2025). DOI: 10.1016/j.jscai.2025.103783 Edmond M. Cronin et al, SCAI/HRS Technical Review on Transcatheter Left Atrial Appendage Occlusion, Journal of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography & Interventions (2025). DOI: 10.1016/j.jscai.2025.103784 Benghazi, Libya (PANA) - At the conclusion of its proceedings, the first National Forum for the Development of Health Systems in Libya recommended the creation of a sovereign health fund to ensure the continuity of health services in the country This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Axon bundles in the human retinal nerve fiber layer. Credit: Nature Neuroscience (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41593-025-02011-3 The human brain builds mental representations of the world based on the signals and information detected via the human senses. While we perceive simultaneously occurring sensory stimuli as being synchronized, the generation and transmission speeds of individual sensory signals can vary greatly. Researchers at the Institute of Molecular and Clinical Ophthalmology Basel (IOB), University of Basel and Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule (ETH) Zurich recently carried out a study aimed at better understanding how the human visual system achieves this synchronization, regardless of the speed at which visual signals travel. Their paper, published in Nature Neuroscience, reports a previously unknown mechanism through which the retina synchronizes the arrival times of different visual signals. "We can see because photoreceptors in the retina at the back of our eyes detect light and encode information about the visual world in the form of electrical signals," Felix Franke and Annalisa Bucci, senior author and first author of the paper, respectively, told Medical Xpress. "The retina needs to send these signals to the visual areas of the brain, which it achieves via the axons of retinal ganglion cells that connect each part of the eye to the brain. However, our vision is not uniform across the visual field. Only in a small area in the very center of our visionthe foveacan we see sharply, read, and recognize faces. Axons cannot cross over the fovea because they would blur our central high-resolution vision, so they need to bend around and avoid that region." This recent study was inspired by a simple anatomical observation, namely that while axons in the retina cannot cross the fovea (i.e., small specialized region of the retina that supports detailed vision and the detection of color), visual signals picked up by different photoreceptors leave the eye via different pathways. As the pathways followed by the signals also vary in length, the researchers tried to determine how the signals are kept in sync, enabling a smooth vision of the world. "The idea behind our study was simple, but the implications touched on how the brain preserves precise timing from the very first stages of sensory processing," said Franke. "Our goal was to find out whether the retina itself helps coordinate the timing of visual signals before they even reach the brain." Average voltage recording of an action potential of a foveal RGC reconstructed from action potentials recorded with different electrode configurations. Data was bandpass filtered and processed to optimize visualization. The color encodes the voltage at each electrode (arbitrary unit). The pixel position encodes the electrode position. Dashed line: Outline of the explant on the HD-MEA surface. Black circle: Outline of the foveola. Credit: Nature Neuroscience (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41593-025-02011-3 To better understand how the brain synchronizes sensory information, Franke, Bucci and their colleagues used a variety of experimental techniques. Since the timing of sensory signals is a network effect, to study it, researchers must collect both precise local measurements of the times when the signals arrive and the global organization of the network. "To bridge these different scalesfrom microsecond-precise measurements of traveling electrical signals within individual axons to reconstructing the wiring pattern of axons across the entire human eyewe relied on human organ donations from which we could retrieve entire eyeballs," explained Franke. "A major achievement was to keep this tissue in such a high quality during the experiments, that the retina was functionally still active, i.e., the neurons in the retina of these eyes were still sending signals," said Bucci. In their experiments, the researchers used high-density microelectrode arrays, devices that record videos of electrical fields with a temporal resolution of 20kHz, to record the electrical signals leaving the fovea of human participants. Using the same technique, they could also determine the speed at which these signals were traveling, which were found to vary significantly depending on the length of the axons carrying them. "Because the speed of axons can be influenced by the diameter of the axons, we used transmission electron microscopya technology that can measure nanometer-precise anatomical detailsto estimate the diameter of the axons in different parts of the human retina," said Bucci. "Using labeling techniques and high-resolution microscopy, we made images of the axonal pathways across the entire human eye. We then constructed a model of the human eye and used mathematical theory to understand the precise details of the wiring pattern and the lengths of each individual axon." Same as Supplementary Video 1 but for a different RGC from the same preparation. Credit: Nature Neuroscience (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41593-025-02011-3 By collectively analyzing all the data they collected, the researchers were able to relate the length of axons with their thickness and the speed at which they transmitted signals. This allowed them to unveil a compensatory mechanism that takes place in the human eye, which appears to support the synchronization of visual information. "We showed that longer axons are thicker and therefore transmit faster to compensate for their increased length," explained Franke. "To see if this anatomical fine-tuning of transmission speed is important for human visioni.e., if it has perceptual consequenceswe employed yet another technology." The additional technology used by the researchers is known as adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (AOSLO). Franke, Bucci and their colleagues teamed up with a lab led by Wolf Harmening in Bonn, who is highly skilled in the experimental application of this technique. "The AOSLO technique allowed us to image individual photoreceptors in the back of the eye of healthy participants," said Franke. "We also used this technique to stimulate these individual photoreceptors with brief flashes of light and asked the participants to press a button as fast as possible after seeing the flash. We showed that human reaction times to single photoreceptor stimulation are remarkably uniform across the foveaa result that is only possible if the signals from different parts of the fovea are precisely synchronized." Overall, the findings of this recent study suggest that the human retina employs a specific mechanism to ensure that visual signals remain in sync before they even leave the eye. This finding is particularly significant because axons in the human retina are unmyelinated (i.e., they lack myelination). Estimation of axonal trajectories in whole-mount human retinae. Credit: Nature Neuroscience (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41593-025-02011-3 "Myelination is a fat layer that the brain wraps around axons, providing electrical insulation and massively increasing their transmission speeds," explained the authors. "It is thought that myelination is one of the major ways in which the brain influences and coordinates axonal transmission speeds. However, myelination is visually opaque (which is the reason why the white matter in the brain is white) and would obfuscate our vision. "This discovery has two important implications: First, throughout the nervous system, unmyelinated axons may contribute substantially to temporal synchronization. Second, it suggests that the retina plays a more active role in fine-tuning temporal precision than previously thought." The researchers hope that their findings will inform new studies aimed at better understanding the new mechanism they uncovered. In the future, their efforts could enrich the present understanding of early sensory processing, while also potentially informing the treatment of diseases or medical conditions that impact visual processing. "Our next step is to explore what happens when this finely tuned system breaks down," said Bucci. "Now that we've built a model of the retinal nerve fiber layershowing how axon length, thickness, and conduction speed are matched to preserve timingwe can begin to ask how disease might disrupt that balance. "In glaucoma, for instance, retinal ganglion cells with longer axons often degenerate first. These cells are more vulnerable because longer axons require more energy to maintain, depend on efficient long-range transport, and are subject to greater mechanical strain at the optic nerve headespecially where they bend to exit the eye." As part of their future research, Franke and Bucci also hope to shed light on how the synchronization mechanism they discovered develops or, in other words, how the retina "knows" the speed at which individual signals should travel. In addition, they could try to determine whether the nervous system employs any other similar synchronization strategies. Written for you by our author Ingrid Fadelli, edited by Gaby Clark, and fact-checked and reviewed by Robert Eganthis article is the result of careful human work. We rely on readers like you to keep independent science journalism alive. If this reporting matters to you, please consider a donation (especially monthly). You'll get an ad-free account as a thank-you. More information: Annalisa Bucci et al, Synchronization of visual perception within the human fovea, Nature Neuroscience (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41593-025-02011-3. Journal information: Nature Neuroscience 2025 Science X Network Geneva, Switzerland (PANA) - The UNs top human rights official insisted on Friday that the Israeli Government must not pursue a complete military takeover of the Gaza Strip, beginning with full control of Gaza City The Bombay High Court on Thursday heard the matter concerning the ban on pigeon feeding in Mumbai and clarified that its earlier order continuing the ban would remain in force. The court emphasised that the ban had been imposed by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), not the court itself. This clarification came after the state government, while lifting the ban earlier this week, attributed it to a court directive. However, the Bench of Justices Girish Kulkarni and Arif Doctor observed that the court had merely permitted the BMCs decision to demolish Kabootarkhanas, based on scientific reports highlighting the potential health hazards posed by such sites. Notably, the Court on July 31 had ordered the closure of 51 Kabootarkhanas across Mumbai due to public health concerns, including respiratory illnesses linked to pigeon droppings and feathers. Following this directive, the BMC moved swiftly to seal the Kabootarkhanas using tarpaulins and bamboo structures. During Thursdays hearing, the petitioners requested the court to allow at least one hour daily for feeding pigeons. However, the bench directed them to file a formal application before the BMC. The court also expressed displeasure over the manner in which its previous orders were violated by forcibly feeding pigeons, remarking, If you do not want to respect court orders, then dont come to court. We will stop issuing orders. The court reiterated that it would leave the matter to the government's discretion and suggested the formation of a committee of experts to assess the issue scientifically. The findings of this committee are to be submitted on August 13, when the matter will next be heard. Clarifying its role in the matter, the court stated, The ban was not ordered by the court. We do not want to project an image as if the court, which is not an expert in such matters, has imposed the ban. It was a BMC decision. Now, let the government constitute an expert committee to analyse the evidence on record. If the committee concludes that Kabootarkhanas must be demolished, then all partiesincluding the BMC and the statemust respect the findings. The court also noted that scientific evidence submitted by the BMC and pulmonologist Dr Sujit Rajan from Bombay Hospital demonstrated that the congregation of pigeons and the accumulation of their droppings pose serious health risks. The bench observed that protecting public health is a fundamental duty of the government, which acts as the custodian of citizens rights. It further noted that it is also the fundamental duty of every citizen to foster scientific temper and reform. Earlier this week, on Tuesday, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis convened a meeting and temporarily lifted the ban on pigeon feeding until alternative arrangements could be made. During the meeting, the Chief Minister emphasised that protecting pigeons, safeguarding the environment, and ensuring public health were all equally important. He added that the abrupt closure of Kabootarkhanas was inappropriate, and that interim measures must be taken while implementing any long-term solutions. To ensure the well-being of pigeons and prevent adverse effects on public health, a proper feeding schedule should be prepared, specifying when feeding is and isnt allowed, the Chief Minister stated. He also acknowledged that the rising pigeon population across the city was contributing to respiratory illnesses, pollution from droppings, and hygiene issues. Accordingly, he directed officials to undertake a scientific study and prepare a detailed report with assistance from health and environmental experts. A leading chest physician has sounded a fresh alarm over Mumbais open pigeon-feeding zones, calling them a public health hazard responsible for fatal respiratory illnessesespecially among the young. In a written statement to the Bombay High Court on August 7, Dr Sujeet K Rajan, Director of the Breath First Foundation, warned that pigeon droppings contain fungal spores and pathogens that can cause serious lung diseases like hypersensitivity pneumonitis (fHP). Vulnerable groups such as children, the elderly, and those with weakened immunity are most at risk. Several teenagers with no prior health issues have died from irreversible lung damage caused by airborne particles from pigeon droppings, wrote Dr Rajan. These deaths were preventable. No tradition should cost human lives. His statement was filed in connection with ongoing litigation over regulating bird-feeding in public areas. Feeding pigeons is a long-standing practice across Mumbai, particularly near temples and markets, but experts say that kabutarkhanas have become dangerous sources of bioaerosols in densely populated areas. Citing a 2019 study, Dr Rajan noted that antifibrotic drugs only slownot reverselung damage. In India, unlike the West, a disproportionate number of young people require lung transplants due to pigeon-related fHP, he added. He also flagged a worrying trend in housing societies, where residents suffering from fHP often have no voice, while pigeon-feeding continues with support from building management. Its frustrating to watch lives lost when the solutionbanning pigeon feedingis so simple, he said. The Foundation has recommended alternatives like closed aviaries and hygienic, controlled feeding zones. The Court has earlier pulled up the BMC for lack of oversight and asked for a plan to regulate kabutarkhanas. Residents in areas like Dadar, Girgaum, and Kalbadevi have also reported worsening air quality and rising respiratory issues, which they blame on uncontrolled pigeon feeding. One lawyer involved in the case said the Court took note of Dr Rajans statement, but has deferred action to an expert committeea move influenced by the Advocate Generaldelaying urgent intervention. Compassion must extend to both animals and humans, Dr Rajan concluded, but never at the cost of preventable deaths. State Transport Minister Pratap Sarnaik found himself in hot water again after being spotted at a Rapido-sponsored public event, sparking sharp criticism from the Opposition. The controversy surrounds the 'Pro Govinda League, a Dahi Handi competition organised by Sarnaiks son Purvesh, which was sponsored by the app-based taxi service Rapido. This comes just weeks after the minister made headlines for conducting a "sting operation" and filing an FIR against Rapido for allegedly operating bike taxi services in Mumbai without a valid permit. With this as the backdrop, Sarnaiks presence at an event prominently sponsored by the same company has raised eyebrows in political circles. Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar suggested that the initial crackdown was a calculated move. In a tweet, Wadettiwar sarcastically "congratulated" Sarnaik for "demonstrating to the Maharashtra govt how to raise funds". He alleged that the minister's actions were a "stunt" to build his public image before securing sponsorship from the "private app companies that are in trouble". Wadettiwar's tweet further claimed that while the state's treasury is in "dire straits", the minister "set a precedent for how to raise funds." National Congress Party leader Rohit Pawar tweeted, "Transport Minister's #Double_Dhamaka. Rapido Bike arrived... The minister himself stopped it and took action... News broke, publicity was gained... The minister swiftly changed his stance, and finally, a deal was struck with sponsorship obtained." Pawar concluded his tweet by calling it "an abuse of ministerial power? #Blackmail_Government". Sarnaik defended his actions, stating, "There is no connection with the sponsorship and the action that I took as a state transport minister." He acknowledged that his son heads the league, which is in its third year, but maintained that the opposition was unfairly targeting him. "Around 24-25 firms sponsored the event, including Rapido. One sponsorship does not mean that the government has been bought by them," he said. "As a minister, I did not merely issue a notice, but I reported an FIR on them... Whatever is illegal is illegal, and we will continue to crack down on such illegality in the future as well." When asked why Rapido had not pulled out of the sponsorship, Sarnaik said, "Why would they pull out, as there's no connection with this (government action). If they pull out, it will only prove the Opposition claims." The main water pipeline at Cuffe Parades plot number 105 was allegedly punctured by water mafia operatives, purportedly aimed at cutting off the water supply to the residential area and diverting it to the recently constructed illegal encroachments at plot number 106. The water meant for the upscale residential area was allegedly being siphoned off for supply to the illegal and unauthorised structures, leading to a water crisis for the legally occupied buildings, Cuffe Parade Residents Association (CPRA) president Laura DSouza told Mumbai Mirror. Following CPRA complaints, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials intervened. However, instead of repairing the damage, the pipe fittings were sealed and cemented over, residents said. Moreover, the disputed site at plot 105 is currently under court litigation, complicating the situation further. Illegal pipes laid After the main pipeline for the Cuffe Parade buildings was destroyed, DSouza alleged, illegal water pipes were laid down in the disputed plot. She stated that she had written to the concerned Assistant Municipal Commissioner (AMC) Jaydeep More on the illegal laying of pipes. Unauthorised work is being carried out on plot no. 105, which is under the jurisdiction of the Collector and currently under litigation. The activity is being undertaken without requisite permission or authority and is contempt of court besides being a case of laying pipes to get illegal water supply to the new encroachment, reads the letter dated July 31. The water mafia is not scared of the civic officials as they brazenly laid a pipeline after puncturing the main pipelines, which they are now using to supply the adjacent slums, claimed DSouza. The land is under the Collectors jurisdiction and any such construction, development or infrastructural activity on it must be done only after proper intimation and approval from the competent authority, she said while adding, There is an active court stay on any form of work or construction within the boundaries of this land. The illegal laying of pipelines started on July 21, she stated. Slum dwellers claimed the BMC was behind the work, but the BMC denied any work order for the plot. These people wear civic clothes and pretend to be BMC officials to carry out the pipeline laying work, she alleged. Once the pipelines were laid, the water was being diverted from the main road outside Palm Spring Building through plot 105 to the illegal structures in plot 106. Brief halt The CPRA president further added that after the complaint was made before the BMC, officers came and they halted the water theft in the area. Since I was legally fighting, the encroachers and slum dwellers, who were benefitted by the water theft, threatened me with dire consequences. But I did not keep quiet and complained before all the other agencies for my safety and security, she added. Following BMC action, the water mafia in their alleged connivance with the civic officials, concealed the illegal pipelines laid on plot number 105, she said. But after just a few days, they resumed diverting the water fearing no crackdown by the authorities, she added. BMCs response A senior civic officer, requesting anonymity, said, We have not given any permission to lay a pipeline in plot number 105 or to siphon water from the main pipeline. If anyone has done it and my office has received a complaint, then I will ask my AMC to look into the matter and report to me to decide the further course of action. If required, we will also register an FIR against the water mafia, they added. A growing wave of discontent is sweeping across Mumbai as residents allege that the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) has installed new smart meters without their consent resulting in sudden and unexplained hikes in electricity bills, in some cases as much as four times the previous amounts. No prior notification The smart meters, introduced to provide real-time consumption data and improve billing accuracy, are reportedly causing financial strain and confusion among consumers. Arshad Malik, a 27-year-old business owner from Antop Hill in Wadala, shared his ordeal with Mirror. My bills jumped from around Rs 2,000Rs 2,500 to Rs 4,000Rs 5,000 after a smart meter was installed without any notice. When I visited the F-North office, officials simply told me the installation is part of a citywide initiative and that future readings would reflect the smart meter. When Malik questioned the lack of prior notification, he was directed to the Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission (MERC). He filed complaints with MERC, the ward office, and the BEST General Manager, requesting verification of the meter by the Metrology Department and supporting documents but received no response. As his complaints went unanswered, Malik stopped paying his bills. After five months, his electricity supply was cut off, and the outstanding amount had ballooned to Rs 40,470. He was informed that reconnection would only occur after full payment. Malik eventually paid the full amount to restore power only to continue receiving monthly bills as high as Rs 5,000. No occupancy, still soaring bills Ashish Ajmera, 53, a resident of Matunga, expressed shock after receiving an Rs 8,500 bill for an unoccupied flat undergoing interior renovation. The first bill was Rs 1,200, which made sense given the flat was unused. But the next month, it shot up to Rs 8,500. No AC, fridge, washing machine, or fans were in use just basic wiring work. Ajmera also stated that the meter had been replaced without any prior notification. He was informed by the builder that BEST officials had installed the meters during construction. Consent under question Anup Patel, 55, from Malabar Hill, said meters in his building were replaced on July 7 or 8 without resident consent. We were told a notice was sent to the society, but none of us received individual intimation. Why was my consent not taken? The society can't make such decisions unilaterally. Patel referred to a statement by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in the assembly, indicating that smart meter installation is not mandatory. Without proper documentation, how can they claim it's mandatory? he asked, alleging that the Managing Director of his housing society approved the meter replacements without member consultation. Residents blocking installations Amid mounting scepticism, several residents have started refusing entry to BEST officials attempting to replace their meters. Anil Dubbhash, 71, from Mahim, criticised the notices issued by BEST as lacking legal backing, consumer-specific information, and contractor details. These notices are misleading. We do not wish to change our meters and are not allowing officials to proceed. Legal action initiated Activist Kamlakar Shenoy has accused BEST of violating consumer rights and bypassing regulatory protocols. He claims the smart meters were wrongfully installed with the intent to deceive. BEST is not even eligible under the Revamped Distribution Sector Scheme (RDSS), meant for state-owned discoms. Their transmission losses are already as low as 3.5%, well below the required 15%. Moreover, many meters were installed without proper Metrology Department certificationraising serious concerns about billing manipulation. Shenoy has filed criminal proceedings against the BEST General Manager, Additional Municipal Commissioner, and MERC members for alleged collusion, calling it a case of fraud, cheating, and breach of trust. He also pointed out contradictions in BESTs public communication. While notices claim the installation is free, written confirmations state that costs will be recovered from consumers. This is deliberate misinformation. Installation now mandatory In response to the growing backlash, BEST PRO Dattatray Dagde stated, The installation of smart meters has become mandatory. Based on that, bills are now being generated. The bills are accurate, reflecting actual supply and consumption, he added. With cash-strapped utilities under attack by China and Iran, DEF CON's Franklin launches new scalable cybersecurity solution Teams in Indiana, Oregon, Utah, and Vermont already providing cybersecurity as public serviceno mandates, no red tape LAS VEGAS, Aug. 7, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- In the face of escalating cyberattacks by hostile actors like China and Iran, DEF CON Franklin today unveiled the next phase of its mission: scaling a free, volunteer-powered cybersecurity model to protect thousands of U.S. water systems. The announcementmade at the DEF CON 2025 conference in Las Vegascomes after a successful nine-month pilot pairing DEF CON hackers with small water utilities across four states. "We've seen both the urgency of the threat and the potential of a community-driven solution," said Jake Braun, co-founder of DEF CON Franklin and Executive Director at the University of Chicago's Cyber Policy Initiative. "This next phase brings together top minds from DEF CON, academia, industry, and philanthropy to provide support in ways that are designed specifically for the unique realities of the water sector." More than 50,000 U.S. water utilities operate with limited cyber capacity. Many lack the staff, resources, or tools to defend themselves against today's threats. With little federal funding or enforcement in place, Franklin is stepping into the gap. "This isn't just about protecting networks," Braun said. "It's about protecting drinking water, public health, and national resilience." Franklin is deploying skilled hacker-volunteers to help the most at-risk utilitiesoffering hands-on support for operational technology (OT) mapping, password protocols, and vulnerability assessments. It's cybersecurity as public serviceno mandates, no red tape. "While Congress debates and agencies sound the alarm, Franklin is already in the field," said Braun. "We're creating real protections, one utility at a time." The initiative also publishes the Hackers' Almanacka post-DEF CON report that translates hacker-disclosed vulnerabilities into actionable insights for U.S. cybersecurity policy. Franklin's expanded network includes new partnerships with DEF CON, the National Rural Water Association (NRWA), Cyber Resilience Corps, Aspen Digital, the American Water Works Association, Cyber Solarium 2.0, Red Queen Security, and UnDisruptable27. The initiative is supported by generous contributions from Craig Newmark Philanthropies, among others. "Protecting our nation's critical infrastructure isn't a want but a necessity, and for the nearly 50,000 water systems nationwide, they need the tools and resources to not only be cyber aware but also resilient," said Matt Holmes, CEO of the National Rural Water Association, a founding partner of Franklin. "By designing solutions that are scalable, we are ensuring that even our smallest systems have the ability to protect themselves." The cyber volunteers are now looking at how they can recommend enhanced cybersecurity options for the water utilities, particularly with free tools industry has made available for critical infrastructure like Dragos' Community Defense Program. "The partnership between DEFCON Franklin and the National Rural Water Association is a model for community cybersecurity," said Ann Cleaveland, Executive Director of the UC Berkeley Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity and a founding partner of the Cyber Resilience Corps. "This is what cyber civil defense looks like, when skilled cyber volunteers are stepping up, when industry is stepping up, and when NRWA and its members are stepping up to fill the cybersecurity gap together." "Water remains the weakest link in our National critical infrastructure, placing many other infrastructures at risk," said Mark Montgomery, Director, Cyber Solarium 2.0. "Efforts like this to strengthen the cybersecurity of water utilities will enhance national security, economic productivity and public health and safety." The initiative has already deployed teams in Indiana, Oregon, Utah, and Vermont, offering no-cost support on network mapping, password protocols, and OT assessments. And this is just the beginningmore deployments and partnerships are on the horizon. About Named for Benjamin Franklinfounder of America's first volunteer fire department and publisher of Poor Richard's AlmanackDEF CON Franklin's mission is to provide a free cyber volunteer taskforce to help put out cyber "fires" for vulnerable critical infrastructure, starting with water systems, wastewater facilities, and schools across the nation. The project also publishes the Hackers' Almanack, turning insights from DEF CON's annual conference to better U.S. cybersecurity policy. DEF CON Franklin is a collaboration between DEF CON, the National Rural Water Association, and the University of Chicago Harris Cyber Policy Initiative, with support from Craig Newmark Philanthropies. For more information or to be connected with a hacker or utility, visit defconfranklin.com. Follow us for updates: Twitter/X: @DefConFranklin Bluesky: @projectfranklin.bsky.social LinkedIn: def-con-franklin SOURCE DEF CON Franklin TURKMENISTAN, Aug 8: Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli is returning home on Friday after attending the Third United Nations Conference on Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs) held in Awaza, Turkmenistan. The Prime Minister left for Dubai via the Turkmenbashi International Airport this morning. Related story PM returning home after completing US visit today Deputy Chairman of Turkmenistan Cabinet of Ministers, Rasit Meredow saw off the Prime Minister at the airport at 8.30 AM local time. PM Oli is scheduled to arrive in Kathmandu via Dubai at 11.05 PM today. President William Ruto has vowed to reduce the price of motorbikes by half, an initiative he maintains will empower the common man in Kenya to own a bike and improve their economic status. The President made the pledge during a meeting with bodaboda representatives of each of the sub-counties in the country at State House Nairobi on Thursday, August 7, 2025. The President set out a series of actions to ease motorcycle ownership and further develop the boda boda business. According to the proposed plan, the cost of purchasing a motorcycle will reduce significantly from Ksh190,000 to Ksh95,000. The down payment will also be reduced from Ksh70,000 to Ksh9,500, making motorbikes even more accessible to more Kenyans. In addition, daily repayment rates will fall from Ksh500 to just Ksh180. These changes, the President noted, are meant to open up opportunities for young people and low-income earners by easing the financial burden of entering the motorcycle transport business. I want us to have a plan where an ordinary citizen has the chance to own a motorcycle. The motorbikes that citizens own, the price is not Ksh190,000, it is Ksh95,000. The deposit is not Ksh70,000, it is Ksh9,500. Daily payments are not Ksh500; it is Ksh180. President Ruto said. Ruto to Scrap Motorcycle Taxes President Ruto also announced plans to push for legislative changes in Parliament to eliminate taxes currently levied on motorcycles. He explained that scrapping these taxes could lower prices by an additional Ksh10,000. I will go to Parliament to remove the taxes available on motorbikes, which may reduce the prices by a further Ksh10,000. He praised boda boda operators as hardworking businessmen who play an important role in the economy and must be fully supported by the government.. To support their growth, Ruto pledged to work closely with stakeholders in the sector to draft a law that promotes self-regulation while fostering a safer, more organized, and prosperous industry. Bodaboda operators are legitimate entrepreneurs whose businesses must be supported. We will work with all stakeholders to enact a law that embraces self-regulation that will help spur the sectors growth.Gave amnesty to owners of motorcycles which have been detained at police stations and are not linked to criminal cases. Asked the Ministry of Interior to work with the Inspector-General of Police to have the motorcycles released in the next week, Ruto added in a statement. VANCOUVER, BC, Aug. 8, 2025 /PRNewswire/ - International Tower Hill Mines Ltd. (the "Company") - (TSX: ITH) (NYSE American: THM) today announced that it has filed its unaudited second quarter Financial Statements and associated Management Discussion and Analysis and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the three- and six-month period ended June 30, 2025. Shareholders can obtain copies of the Company's unaudited second quarter Financial Statements and associated Management Discussion and Analysis and Form 10-Q on SEDAR+ at: www.sedarplus.ca, EDGAR at www.sec.gov and on the Company's website at: www.ithmines.com. The Company will also provide hard copies of these documents, free of charge, to shareholders who request a copy directly from the Company. About International Tower Hill Mines Ltd. International Tower Hill Mines Ltd. has a 100% interest in its Livengood Gold Project located along the paved Elliott Highway, 70 miles north of Fairbanks, Alaska. On behalf of International Tower Hill Mines Ltd. (signed) Karl L. Hanneman Chief Executive Officer This news release is not, and is not to be construed in any way as, an offer to buy or sell securities in the United States. SOURCE International Tower Hill Mines Ltd. President William Ruto has strongly refuted claims that his government has abandoned boda boda riders and mama mbogas a group he has forever been calling the pillars of his bottom-up economic program. Addressing a meeting with national boda boda leaders at State House yesterday, Ruto reiterated the governments emphasis on addressing welfare issues of ordinary Kenyans at the grassroots level. There are many people criticizing me, saying I have forgotten boda boda riders and mama mbogas in our plan, Ruto said in Swahili. But I want to respond clearly today. Every government policy that this administration has rolled out has been informed by the bottom-up philosophy, first taking into account the people at the bottom of the pyramid. Ruto pointed out that he has always been a defender of the boda boda fraternity and how he brought the boda boda operators and mama mbogas to national discourse in the last general election. In the last election, I elevated bodaboda riders until they became central to the election agenda, he said. There were two groups at the center of it all, bodaboda and mama mboga. Who else, if not me, introduced them into the national conversation? He assured the riders that his government remains fully committed to safeguarding their livelihoods. That is why today, no one can threaten the businesses of bodaboda riders, he said. Ruto said his administration aims to create a country where every Kenyan from small-scale traders to large investors plays an active role in nation-building. He said Kenya must serve everyone, not just the privileged few. We want a Kenya where everyone contributes and is included, starting with those at the bottom and moving upward, he said. Cabinet Secretary for Internal Affairs Kipchumba Murkomen has strongly condemned the shocking revelations of child sexual exploitation in Maai Mahiu, Nakuru County, that were unearthed in a new BBC documentary. The investigative piece has stirred national outrage by uncovering a child trafficking syndicate operating in the area, triggering swift reactions from top government officials. When he addressed the public at a Jukwaa la Usalama meeting in Kericho on August 7, 2025, Murkomen termed the offenses as serious and unacceptable. He assured Kenyans that the government would act with speed and with swiftness to eliminate the vice. Trafficking in persons, including children for sexual exploitation, as recently exposed by the BBC, is a serious crime we are confronting, he stated. To strengthen the fight against human trafficking, Murkomen announced plans to expand the Anti-Narcotics Unit to include a specialized team that will focus exclusively on sex trafficking cases. He also revealed that the next National Police Service (NPS) recruitment will incorporate officers specifically trained to handle trafficking of both children and adults. In the next NPS recruitment, we will factor in a section of police to deal with trafficking in persons, he said. Murkomen further cited related crimes like gender-based violence and defilement, which he said still occur in counties such as Kericho. He appealed to families and communities to abandon the culture of silence and report such incidents actively, even when the perpetrators are family members. We urge the public to help in reporting such cases, especially where family members are the perpetrators, he added. To protect victims and whistleblowers, Murkomen guaranteed that the government will institute robust witness protection. He emphasized that protecting the whistleblowers is essential in order to provide justice and break the exploitation chain. Meanwhile, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) has directed the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) to launch a full-scale investigation into the claims in seven days. The ODPP noted that protection of children and administering justice is not just a rule of law but a constitutional one that must be adhered to without compromise. The Social Health Authority (SHA) has disbursed over Ksh56 billion in the past ten months to accelerate the rollout of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) across Kenya. Speaking during the official launch of the National Equipment Service Project at State House, Nairobi, President William Ruto revealed that SHA channeled Ksh49.7 billion through the Social Health Insurance Fund (SHIF) and an additional Ksh6.7 billion through the Primary Healthcare Fund. President Ruto applauded SHAs performance, stating that the authority has already outpaced the now-defunct National Health Insurance Fund (NHIF) in terms of impact. He noted that by the time SHA marks its first anniversary, it will have disbursed nearly three times NHIFs highest-ever annual payout. Since October 2024, SHA has paid a total of Ksh.56.4 billion, comprising Ksh.49.7 billion from the Social Health Insurance Fund and Ksh.6.7 billion under the Primary Healthcare Fund. This digital transformation is giving Kenyans faster, more transparent, and more dignified access to healthcare, he stated. In a year, the most NHIF ever paid was between Ksh.22 billion and Ksh.25 billion. In 10 months, SHA has paid Ksh.56.4 billion. In fact, by the first anniversary, SHA will have paid three times what NHIF ever paid in a year. Ruto revealed that the Social Health Authority (SHA) enrolled more than 25.2 million Kenyans and involved more than 11,000 medical providers at inception. These include hospitals, clinics, and health centers spread across the country, incredibly expanding medical services availability. The Head of State also issued notice to individuals attempting to defraud the health system. He made it clear that any malpractice reported by SHAs monitoring system would be thoroughly investigated and punished in accordance with the law. If you are trying to game the system, beware: You are already on our radar. The system is flagging such attempts, and investigations are ongoing. In due course, the outcomes will be made clear to all, and the fraudsters shall face the consequences of their criminal actions, President Ruto warned. The United Nations is scaling up its presence in Kenya, with several of its Agencies, Funds, and Programmes relocating central aspects of their regional and international operations to Nairobi. The strategic move is aimed at increasing the global presence of the UN while enhancing the cost-effectiveness and sustainability of operations. Among the agencies already establishing a greater presence in Nairobi are the United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and UN Women. While their main headquarters remain in New York, these organizations have moved parts of their international functions to the Kenyan capital, reinforcing Nairobis growing role in multilateral affairs. At its center is the United Nations Office at Nairobi (UNON), the only UN headquarters in Africa and the wider Global South. To accommodate the expanding mandates and operations, UNON is currently undergoing a comprehensive infrastructure overhaul. The UN General Assembly endorsed Resolution 78/253 in December 2023, paving the way for a bold redevelopment of the UNON complex at Gigiri. It is a major win for Kenya, becoming a key UN operational hub for global programs. Insiders note that this expansion supports the UNs long-term goals of improving cost-efficiency and aligning its physical footprint with sustainability targets. The growth also reflects the organizations plan to decentralize and establish a stronger presence in the Global South. Gigiri, which houses the UN Secretary-Generals representative office in Kenya, has become central to this vision. To support the increasing demand for international operations in Nairobi, UNON is actively rolling out infrastructure upgrades across its compound. Kenya currently accommodates some 6,000 UN staff, of which some 5,000 are in the Gigiri complex. The employees serve in 80 offices and manage most major UN operations in Somalia and Sudan, and oversee peacekeeping and Special Political Missions throughout the region. Speaking during the UN Civil Society Conference in May 2024, Mrs. Zainab Hawa Bangura, Under-Secretary-General and Director-General, UNON, clarified the scope of redevelopment. According to her, redevelopment work would entail the refurbishment of office blocks A to J and the construction of six new office blocks. A major upgrade to the conference facilities is also part of the plan, all under the umbrella of the Gigiri Master Plan (GMP). UNON is currently undergoing a historic transformation that will not only accelerate our path to energy neutrality but also promote biodiversity, thanks to the complex-wide reforestation initiative launched by the Secretary-General exactly one year ago, said Mrs. Hawa. The UN General Assembly approved two major construction projects under this plan, amounting to a total investment of $340 million (about Ksh.43.8 billion). Of that, $265.6 million (around Ksh.34.3 billion) has been dedicated to upgrading the conference facilities a move that received overwhelming support from UN member states. When completed, the Conference Facility Project (CFP) will position Nairobi amongst the best venues for hosting large-scale global conferences. The upgraded facilities will host 9,000 delegates, up from the current capacity of 2,000. Plans include building 16 new meeting rooms, expanding the total to 30, and constructing a state-of-the-art Assembly Hall with a capacity of 1,600 delegates, rivaling those in Geneva and New York. This UN Secretariat 2023-approved investment is already the largest ever made by the UN Secretariat in Africa. Late 2025 will see the beginning of construction, followed by high-scale building activities deploying in late 2026. The entire project will be delivered by 2030. In line with the reform, the UN is also accelerating its greening UNON initiative aimed at bringing building in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the areas of energy efficiency, climate action, and environment sustainability. The scheme promotes green operations and eco-friendly infrastructure, taking advantage of the Nairobi climate, which makes heating or cooling machinery unnecessary. These sustainability criteria are articulated in the Building Performance Manual for the Design and Construction of UN Common Premises Office Buildings so the future UNON will be environmentally sustainable, efficient, and internationally applicable. Yemisi Anderson, a client of SIU's Illinois Small Business Development Center, prepares original seasoning blends for her company, The JAY Effect, in a kitchen at Dunn-Richmond Economic Development Center. (Photo by Russell Bailey) New $1.6M SouthernTECH High-Tech Food Incubator will foster growth of businesses by Christi Mathis CARBONDALE, Ill. The regions entrepreneurs will soon have a new, state-of-the-art high-tech food processing and manufacturing incubator at Southern Illinois University Carbondale designed to help them expand and flourish the only one of its kind within several hundred miles. Funded by a nearly $1.6 million grant from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, the SouthernTECH High-Tech Food Incubator will feature a high-tech, energy-efficient, kitchen of the future. Officials say the incubator will offer shared space for six semi-permanent tenants to support the growth of small business food manufacturing, and officials anticipate they will rent space for anywhere from a few months to a few years. Other businesses will have access to the facilities, equipment and supportive services as needed. The new facility will provide a cost-effective, accessible and professionally equipped space that will enable small food producers to scale operations, meet food safety standards and reach broader markets, said Ken Stoner, director of incubator operations and workforce initiatives through SIUs Office of Innovation and Economic Development. Helping producers overcome challenges Currently, small enterprises can operate food businesses under cottage food laws that allow them to rent space, prepare items and take them to events to sell, but the logistics limit the growth potential, said Melissa Ray Roach, director of business incubator programs who has experience in hospitality, business operations and entrepreneurship. The new incubator will allow them to legally and safely reach larger markets, and that is exciting for future prospective tenants, including Yemisi Anderson, who in 2021 with husband, James, created The JAY Effect, a business producing high-quality natural seasoning blends. As a small, product-based business, having access to sufficient space and equipment is essential to growth, Anderson said. With our current facility nearing capacity, the announcement of this new center brings real hope for businesses like mine. Commercial kitchen space is limited in our region, and many companies could benefit from a dedicated space to create, test and scale their products. Im excited to see how many local businesses will thrive because of this opportunity. Area food entrepreneurs like Anderson, especially those involved in wholesale manufacturing, meal prep and baking, face a variety of challenges such as limited access to licensed kitchens, inadequate storage and high startup costs, officials said. A market research study conducted by the Illinois Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at SIU as well as subsequent research, found a need for a next-generation, shared-use commercial kitchen and food processing facility in Southern Illinois, Stoner said. Some of the most common needs reported are for dry storage, bottling equipment, packaging support and flexible scheduling along with business advising and shared retail opportunities. Phase one of the project includes construction of a fully compliant, flexible production space in the Gower Translational Research Center at 1785 University Press Drive. It will accommodate the needs of a wide variety of food-based enterprises. In the future, clients will be able to engage in high-tech food manufacturing operations there, and plans call for installation of equipment for bottling, packaging, sanitation and temperature-controlled storage. Lynn Andersen Lindberg, executive director of the Southern Illinois Research Park and SouthernTECH project manager, said the incubator will provide complementary services to, rather than compete with, existing co-packers who package products for food entrepreneurs. The facility is geared toward small businesses, offering them not only the facilities they need for their innovative product manufacturing but also help in obtaining certifications, access to funding, and the support of the Office of Innovation and Economic Development staff and various programs. Part of a larger, ongoing effort SouthernTECH will occupy about 2,500 square feet of the 56,000 square-foot Gower facility , named after Bob and Beth Gower, who donated $2.5 million to advance and support translational research activities across campus. SouthernTECH will be at the south end of the building and is an important piece of SIUs expanding business innovation ecosystem, officials said. Gary Kinsel, professor of analytical chemistry, said the BioLaunch labs will be available to provide support for SouthernTECH users by providing product testing and development, including testing for microbial contamination. Kinsel said BioLaunch will also support various aspects of the SouthernTECH operation such as through assessment of cleaning procedures to address any cross-contamination concerns between various products made there. It all fits together, said Lindberg. Everyone affiliated with this project and the other components at Gower brings something different to the table. We are all working to provide support to local businesses and industries while also translating research into the marketplace. Weve invested in the project by combining staff and vendor expertise with client-expressed needs. Stoner, who has experience teaching educators and entrepreneurs to use technology, said the support will include assisting clients with all aspects of entrepreneurship, from protecting the name and intellectual property to completing paperwork and more. In addition, entrepreneurs will benefit from the services of Vanessa Sneed, director of business innovation and research, who has experience in event planning, logistics and agriculture as well as an extensive network of providers and suppliers. SouthernTECH also provides another significant benefit for the region, Sneed said. It will give us commercial space to do business training in a real-world setting, she said. We can take our training from classroom to experiential. Opening soon While the timeline for opening the new facility isnt finalized as yet, Lindberg said, officials are hopeful it will open in the next 18-24 months. Professionals may be able to offer training onsite even sooner. SIU is one of four statewide entities to receive Innovation and Economic Development grants, a total of about $7 million, through the Tech Incubator Enhancement Grant (TIEG) Program. For more information about SouthernTECH High-Tech Food Incubator or the Office of Innovation and Economic Development, its many programs and services, visit the website, call 618-536-4451 or email lindberg@siu.edu. NICOSIA, Cyprus, Aug. 8, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- ISX Financial EU Plc ("the Company") has been advised by its Managing Director and CEO, Mr N Karantzis, that he will be lodging an appeal against the outcome of Australian Federal Court proceedings that concluded today. The Court has ordered that Mr Karantzis be disqualified from managing Australian corporations for 6 years and is liable to pay A$ 1 million in a case brought by the Australian companies regulator, arising out of acting in his role as CEO of Southern Cross Payments Limited in events of 2018 and 2020. The board notes that the proceedings were civil and not criminal proceedings and relates to disclosure and corporate communications some five to seven years ago in difficult and unprecedented circumstances that the Southern Cross Payments company faced. Mr Karantzis maintains a solid track record, and has been managing regulated financial entities since 2017, including as CEO of the holding company of an ASIC Tier 1 regulated Australian market operator between March 2020 and March 2022. The board of ISX Financial maintains full confidence in Mr Karantzis. Mr Karantzis is unable to comment on the judgment given that he will be appealing. The Board states that under its obligations as a licenced Electronic Money Institution it has duly notified the competent authorities of the above matters and will undertake all prescribed actions required under the relevant Laws and Directives applicable to it. Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/2700025/5346146/ISX_Financial_Logo.jpg SOURCE ISX Financial EU PLC Feature: Tradition meets experimentation: Chinese puppetry reimagined in U.S. 11:19, August 08, 2025 By Li Xirui ( Xinhua Stephen Kaplin organizes stage props at Chinese Theatre Works in New York, the United States, on June 19, 2025. (Photo by Li Xirui/Xinhua) NEW YORK, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- A sunlit loft in Long Island City houses a miniature world stitched together by time. Hand-carved puppets, silk costumes and calligraphy brushes sit beside projectors, laptops and stage lights. This is the creative home of the Chinese Theatre Works (CTW), where centuries-old Chinese puppetry traditions are reimagined through experimental theater to connect with contemporary American audiences. Founded by Chinese opera performer Kuang-Yu Fong and American avant-garde puppeteer Stephen Kaplin, the CTW has become a rare cultural laboratory. Here, art forms rooted in China's rich intangible cultural heritage not only survive -- they evolve, speaking in new voices, across new stages, to new generations. VOICES EMERGING "Puppetry is very playful," said Charlie Santos, 29, a newcomer to Chinese puppetry who grew up with Western community theater. "It brings me back to being a kid, playing with toys, animating them in your imagination, and creating little worlds." The world Santos now builds is steeped in Chinese tradition. His journey into puppetry began online, when a glimpse of the CTW's workshop piqued his curiosity. He started out as a volunteer at their shows, gradually immersing himself in the stylized movements, rhythms, and discipline of Chinese performance. The leap from spray-painted sets to shadow puppets was vast -- but for Santos, that gap became a bridge. "The theater I grew up in was very much like everything was fresh and new. Anyone can come in and do something," he said. "At CTW, there is a deep respect for tradition, and that is humbling. These art forms have long histories, and honoring that legacy is essential." "There is this beautiful culture that I have been learning so much about and getting to sink my teeth into. On the other hand, I am not a part of it," he said. "In that respect, it has been a really good place for me, pushed me outside of that comfort zone." Santos said he likes to be an "outsider." "Traditions need voices that are not bound by regulation or convention. I think there is value in contributing a different perspective, as long as it's rooted in respect," he said. While Santos represents new energy and a break with tradition, Chen Xiuyuan, a graduate student at New York University Tisch School of the Arts, stands for a young generation willing to promote their cultural heritage. "There are fewer and fewer young people who devote themselves to this traditional art form with nothing but passion, like people who perform, promote and preserve it with their own hands for decades," he said. Chen did not step directly onto the stage -- he stepped into the past, digitizing decades-old archival footage and piecing together fragments of history. "Since 1995, they have recorded an extraordinary collection of material on tape -- rich in content, varied in style," he recalled. "The formats were outdated, the equipment unreliable. But the stories they held -- those were priceless." STAGES REIMAGINED "This is the new energy Chinese art needs," said Fong, executive director and co-founder of the CTW. "We need someone who is not held back by tradition. What we are doing is a mix -- we keep the traditional but blend it with contemporary styles." That spirit of experimentation has also shaped Fong's own journey within the organization. "Over time, I began to understand the many layers of 'role-playing' in artistic work," she said. "I am a producer, a stage director and an educator. I've transitioned from being an artist to becoming an organizer." For Fong, who was trained in classical Chinese opera, promoting Chinese theater in America is not about a one-time performance -- it is about cultivating a lasting cultural presence through thoughtful evolution. Her team has consistently sought out emerging voices like Santos and Chen, who navigate both Chinese and Western sensibilities. This evolution also means experimentation. Traditional shadow puppetry is reimagined through projections and live silhouettes. Scripts draw on Chinese myths, while dialogue often unfolds in English. In "The Legend of the White Snake," ancient folklore merges with modern multimedia to create a visual language that transcends cultures. "This is exactly the direction we are exploring: using Western technical vocabularies to reinterpret Chinese tradition, and crafting a new kind of contemporary performance," she said. "We want to emphasize what I call a 'serious playfulness' in our theater work. In English, 'play' means both performance and game," she added. "We take our work seriously -- but we also believe art should be fun, organic and alive." BRIDGING GENERATIONS For Kaplin, the CTW's co-founder, this blend of old and new is not only artistic, but also personal. Trained in American experimental theater, he once saw Chinese traditional arts as "from another planet." But after meeting Fong, that distance became the basis for collaboration -- and marriage. "They are very different," he said. "But you find ways to bridge them." Kaplin fell in love with puppetry due to its fusion of writing, design and performance, viewing it as a serious artistic medium capable of deconstructing traditional theater. His mission to reframe puppetry got fresh impetus when he and Fong began collaborating. Kaplin said that his collaboration with Fong is fun, as Chinese traditional theater performers usually follow strict movements to make the art look professional and authentic, while Western artists are more casual. The couple began merging puppetry with Chinese culture, using comedy to tell stories of immigration, shadow puppetry to express contemporary struggles, and a handmade toy theater to explore everyday life. "We started doing Monkey (the character from the Chinese novel "Journey to the West") in New York," he said. It was not a mere adaptation, but a cultural reinterpretation. Instead of simply replicating Chinese art, their goal was to reinterpret it in ways that resonate with Western audiences. While traditional Chinese art values inheritance, American avant-garde theater emphasizes experimentation. Kaplin said it is still important to ensure authenticity and maintain elements from the original art. For Kaplin and Fong, preserving tradition is not about resisting change -- it is about guiding it, and resurrecting old art forms through experimentation, collaboration and cross-cultural imagination. "Don't throw out the past. Yes, there's all this incredible technology here, but it has its limits ... Think about Chinese culture, how long it's been around. We should make good use of it," he said. Kuang-Yu Fong (L) and Stephen Kaplin pose for a photo at Chinese Theatre Works in New York, the United States, on June 19, 2025. (Photo by Li Xirui/Xinhua) (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) CHICAGO, Aug. 8, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- H.W. Lochner, Inc. (Lochner), a leading provider of infrastructure planning, design, and engineering services, is pleased to announce the addition of Chad Edwards to its growing national transit team. Chad brings more than two decades of experience advancing transit and rail initiatives across Texas, serving in key leadership roles at Trinity Metro, Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART), and the City of Fort Worth. Chad Edwards, Senior Project Manager, Lochner Chad will partner with clients nationwide to deliver impactful transit and rail projects, from strategic planning and alternatives analysis to final design, construction, and operations planning. His extensive agency experience, deep knowledge of federal programs, and successful track record of securing funding and building stakeholder consensus will be instrumental in helping clients deliver projects in today's evolving public transportation landscape. "We are excited to welcome Chad to our team," said Gary Thomas, National Transit & Rail Market Director at Lochner. "With more than 20 years serving as a public transit and rail advocate, Chad brings firsthand agency perspectivesomeone who not only understands the day-to-day challenges transit leaders face, but also the complexities of navigating federal requirements and funding processes." Most recently, Chad served as Executive Vice President of Strategy, Planning & Development for Trinity Metro in Fort Worth, Texas, where he successfully secured over $125 million in capital funding and oversaw the implementation of transformative system-wide initiatives. His previous roles included Assistant Director of Transportation & Public Works for the City of Fort Worth, and Assistant Vice President of Capital Planning at DART, managing multi-billion-dollar transit infrastructure programs, including the Silver Line. Chad was named to Fort Worth Inc.'s, The 500 Most Influential People in Fort Worth in 2025 and is a graduate of both Leadership Fort Worth and Leadership APTA, reflecting his deep commitment to advancing public transportation and regional mobility. About Lochner Founded in 1944, Lochner provides planning, environmental, design, construction engineering and inspection, and program/construction management services for surface transportation, aviation, and water clients across the United States. The company is ranked No. 98 in Engineering News-Record's list of the Top 500 Design Firms. CONTACT: Laura White Director of Marketing and Business Development [email protected] 737.704.3080 701.269.2110 (cell) SOURCE H.W. Lochner, Inc. PNN New Delhi [India], August 8: TimesPro, India's market leader in Higher EdTech and a part of the Times Group, announced a planned leadership transition. Anish Srikrishna, the TimesPro CEO since 2015, will step down after a transformative decade at the helm, having executed an elaborate succession process to ensure business continuity. Abhishek Arora, a dynamic leader with expertise in e-commerce and education, will assume the role of CEO effective 1st August 2025. Over the past decade, TimesPro achieved market leadership in the H.EdTech space, delivering 70% CAGR growth and sustained profitability. The period established TimesPro as India's most trusted Higher EdTech brand, solving for access and affordability in Higher Education while bridging industry-academia gaps through innovation and strategic partnerships. Mr. Vineet Jain, Managing Director, Times Group, stated: "Anish's contribution in building TimesPro from inception to a market leader in H.Ed Tech is appreciable, and I wish him the very best in his future endeavours. Abhishek's blend of commercial acumen and tech-first mindset positions TimesPro for its next and very exciting growth phase. This carefully planned and executed succession plan reflects TimesPro's governance maturity." Anish Srikrishna remarked: "Leading TimesPro has been a unique honour. With the business robust, profitable, and future-ready, now is the ideal time to pass the baton. Abhishek is the right leader to harness the emerging opportunities for TimesPro, and I look forward to seeing the company do even better under his able leadership. I thank Mr. Vineet Jain, MD, stakeholders from the Times Group, our valuable partners and our wonderful teams for their unwavering trust in me and in TimesPro." Abhishek Arora, Incoming CEO, added: "I am privileged to build on TimesPro's extraordinary legacy. TimesPro will accelerate its mission of democratizing education through technology, while deepening industry alliances and learner impact." About TimesPro: TimesPro, established in 2013, is a leading Higher EdTech platform dedicated to empowering the career growth of aspiring learners by equipping them with skills to rise in a competitive world. TimesPro's H.EdTech programmes are created to meet the rapidly changing industry requirements and have been blended with technology to make them accessible & affordable. TimesPro offers a variety of created and curated learning programmes across a range of categories, industries, and age groups. They include employment-oriented early career programmes across BFSI, e-Commerce, and technology sectors; executive education for working professionals in collaboration with premier educational institutions like IIMs and IITs; and organisational learning and development interventions at the corporate level. TimesPro also collaborates with India's leading organisations across varied sectors to provide upskilling and reskilling solutions to boost employability and create a robust workforce. TimesPro is a Higher EdTech initiative by The Times Group. (ADVERTORIAL DISCLAIMER: The above press release has been provided by PNN. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same) PNN New Delhi [India], August 8: Corporate Connect Global Magazine is a leading publication, providing a platform for entrepreneurs, business leaders and innovators to share their stories, connect with their target audience and create a solid industry presence. With a focus on business excellence, innovation and sustainability, the magazine aims to empower individuals and organisations striving to thrive. At Corporate Connect Magazine, we believe that success goes beyond accomplishing your objective - it is about pushing beyond it to reach new heights and making a lasting impact. With our latest "Indian Business Excellence Awards 2025:, we recognise individuals and organisations that embody the spirit of dedication, determination and resilience amid obstacles. Join us as we celebrate business trailblazers, change-makers and innovators who have created a revolution in the business world and created inspirations to follow others. This is the best opportunity to draw inspiration from their triumph and be part of a community that drives excellence and innovation. Aegte LifescienceRupali Sharma - Founder & CEO Award Category: The Best Makeup & Skincare Products Provider of the Year 2024 The creative vision of Rupali Sharma, Founder & CEO, Aegte offers a range of Makeup and Skincare essentials. The company strives to lay the foundation to understand the potential of natural ingredients when combined with beauty products. Voxya: Making Legal Support Accessible, Affordable, and Empowering for Consumers in India Voxya is an innovative online platform that empowers consumers in India by offering easy, affordable legal support to resolve complaints against companies. It helps users address common issues like denied refunds, delayed replacements, defective products, and service deficiencies through a simple legal process. Key services include drafting legal notices, preparing consumer court cases, and connecting users with verified consumer lawyers for expert assistance. Voxya eliminates costly in-person consultations, making it easier for individuals to seek redressal and assert their rights through proper legal channels. M.B. Engineering IndustriesMahabir Prasad Mishra (Proprietor) Excellence In Indigenous Machinery Development 2025 M.B. Engineering Industries is a 55-year-old establishment founded by its Mentor, Shri Ram Shiromani Mishra, and continued by its proprietor, Mr. Mahabir Prasad Mishra. The company manufactures Vertical Injection Moulding Machines and EVA press machines, which are proudly used by most of the renowned manufacturers in the footwear and automobile industries. As the first and oldest manufacturers of these machines, M.B. Engineering Industries has supplied its products across India and exported them to several countries. The company use all indigenous parts, maintaining high-quality standards and striving for continuous development with the latest Technology. Its 40,000 square ft workshop is equipped with skilled workers and CNC Machines, ensuring precise standards and accuracy. Centre for HearingC/O Anand Hearing CareAnup Singh Anand (Executive Director) India's Most Trusted Hearing Care Specialists - 2025 Centre for Hearing is a leading chain of audiology and hearing care clinics in India, dedicated to improving lives through expert diagnosis and personalized treatment. Led by Executive Director Anup Singh Anand, our skilled team offers hearing tests, hearing aid fittings, cochlear implants, and speech therapy. We combine advanced technology with trusted international brands to deliver effective, empathetic care. With decades of experience and a patient-first approach, we help individuals reconnect with the world around them. Walter Cuminns Shipping ServicesMr Reegesh Ramakrishnan (CEO) Most Promising Maritime Solutions Brand Of The Year 2025 Walter Cuminns Shipping Services (WCS), established in 2021, has rapidly emerged as a global maritime leader, earning the title of Most Promising Maritime Solutions Brand of the Year 2025. Under the visionary leadership of Founder and CEO Mr. Reegesh Ramakrishnan, WCS has set benchmarks in operational excellence, customer focus, and innovation. Offering a wide range of services across key global ports, WCS stands out for its commitment to sustainability, digital transformation, and strategic partnerships, redefining modern maritime standards with reliability, integrity, and forward-thinking solutions. MindskillzCavita Mehra (Managing Director) Impact Recognition: Corporate Learning Innovation Award - 2025 The brainchild of Cavita Mehra, Mindskillz is well-known for offering innovative learning solutions and empowering organisations to upgrade their workforce. Since its inception in 2008, it has been focused on nurturing talent through strategic and impactful learning solutions and has now introduced the LMS C-Factor offering self-paced learning micro modules, further enhancing its blended learning approach in step with the times. Mindskillz drives accelerated performance with personal growth; it currently has a pan-India presence across 33 cities and a global foothold with a network of more than 250+ consultants and trainers. EDUCATION STATIONROHIT SIKKA (DIRECTOR) Most Trusted Immigration Consultancy - 2025 Education Station is a distinctive platform that provides students with the right guidance for studying abroad and also expert professionals to help them identify their capabilities. With Rohit Sikka at the helm, the company is supporting students to lead them to their destinations. The entire team is dedicated to empowering students to meet their career aspirations and make them fully satisfied. Inbounderz India Leading ROI Based Digital Marketing & Branding Agency - 2025 Sajil TG (Founder & CEO , Nidhinraj MV - Founder & CFO) Incorporated in 2017, Inbounderz India has grown rapidly and become more than just a digital marketing firm. It has carved a niche for itself in branding, digital marketing, video ads, website development, and other marketing and development services. Because of its dedication and excellence, the company has become the first choice for all loyal clients, whether starting a new venture or expanding an existing business. FlipspacesKunal Sharma (Founder & CEO) Fastest Growing Interior Design Venture in Commercial Spaces 2025 Flipspaces is a global interior design and build company transforming the commercial space experience through technology. Flipspaces has transformed over 8Mn SqFt with its tech-first cost cost-efficient approach. Its proprietary software suite enables space planning, virtual walkthroughs, procurement and turnkey execution under one integrated platform. Operating across India, the United States and the U.A.E., Flipspaces serves enterprises, startups, and SMEs seeking agile, future-ready interiors. Cherysh TrustSapna Ravindran (CEO) Best NGO for Promoting STEM Education Among Rural Girls 2025 Committed to empowering girls and women in rural India for over a decade, CherYsh Trust is an NGO transforming lives through quality education and meaningful work opportunities. Focused on bridging the gender gap in STEM, CherYsh works tirelessly to break the urban-rural digital divide, giving underprivileged girls access to knowledge, skills, and confidence to thrive in a technology-driven world. Under the visionary leadership of CEO Ms. Sapna Ravindran, CherYsh fosters curiosity, builds digital literacy, and creates pathways to higher education and sustainable livelihoods for rural girls. Sheel Biotech LimitedDr S.N. Chandak (Chairman & Executive Director) Greenhouse Innovation Excellence Award 2025 Sheel Biotech Limited is a leading biotech company, renowned for its innovative agri-solutions. The company is led by Dr S.N. Chandak, Chairman & Executive Director, and is committed to making a positive impact in the industry. It has established itself as a trusted player in the biotech sector due to its dedication to innovation and excellence. Corporate Connect Global Magazine is a leading publication, providing a platform for entrepreneurs, business leaders and innovators to share their stories, connect with their target audience and create a solid industry presence. With a focus on business excellence, innovation and sustainability, the magazine aims to empower individuals and organisations striving to thrive. At Corporate Connect Magazine, we believe that success goes beyond accomplishing your objective - it is about pushing beyond it to reach new heights and making a lasting impact. With our latest "Indian Business Excellence Awards 2025:, we recognise individuals and organisations that embody the spirit of dedication, determination and resilience amid obstacles. Join us as we celebrate business trailblazers, change-makers and innovators who have created a revolution in the business world and created inspiration to follow others. This is the best opportunity to draw inspiration from their triumph and be part of a community that drives excellence and innovation. Aegte LifescienceRupali Sharma - Founder & CEO Award Category: The Best Makeup & Skincare Products Provider of the Year 2024 The creative vision of Rupali Sharma, Founder & CEO, Aegte, offers a range of Makeup and Skincare essentials. The company strives to lay the foundation to understand the potential of natural ingredients when combined with beauty products. Voxya: Making Legal Support Accessible, Affordable, and Empowering for Consumers in India Voxya is an innovative online platform that empowers consumers in India by offering easy, affordable legal support to resolve complaints against companies. It helps users address common issues like denied refunds, delayed replacements, defective products, and service deficiencies through a simple legal process. Key services include drafting legal notices, preparing consumer court cases, and connecting users with verified consumer lawyers for expert assistance. Voxya eliminates costly in-person consultations, making it easier for individuals to seek redressal and assert their rights through proper legal channels. M.B. Engineering IndustriesMahabir Prasad Mishra (Proprietor) Excellence In Indigenous Machinery Development 2025 M.B. Engineering Industries is a 55-year-old establishment founded by its Mentor, Shri Ram Shiromani Mishra, and continued by its proprietor, Mr. Mahabir Prasad Mishra. The company manufactures Vertical Injection Moulding Machines and EVA press machines, which are proudly used by most of the renowned manufacturers in the footwear and automobile industries. As the first and oldest manufacturer of these machines, M.B. Engineering Industries has supplied its products across India and exported them to several countries. The company use all indigenous parts, maintaining high-quality standards and striving for continuous development with the latest Technology. Its 40,000 square ft workshop is equipped with skilled workers and CNC Machines, ensuring precise standards and accuracy. Centre for HearingC/O Anand Hearing CareAnup Singh Anand (Executive Director) India's Most Trusted Hearing Care Specialists - 2025 Centre for Hearing is a leading chain of audiology and hearing care clinics in India, dedicated to improving lives through expert diagnosis and personalised treatment. Led by Executive Director Anup Singh Anand, our skilled team offers hearing tests, hearing aid fittings, cochlear implants, and speech therapy. We combine advanced technology with trusted international brands to deliver effective, empathetic care. With decades of experience and a patient-first approach, we help individuals reconnect with the world around them. Walter Cuminns Shipping ServicesMr Reegesh Ramakrishnan (CEO) Most Promising Maritime Solutions Brand Of The Year 2025 Walter Cuminns Shipping Services (WCS), established in 2021, has rapidly emerged as a global maritime leader, earning the title of Most Promising Maritime Solutions Brand of the Year 2025. Under the visionary leadership of Founder and CEO Mr. Reegesh Ramakrishnan, WCS has set benchmarks in operational excellence, customer focus, and innovation. Offering a wide range of services across key global ports, WCS stands out for its commitment to sustainability, digital transformation, and strategic partnerships, redefining modern maritime standards with reliability, integrity, and forward-thinking solutions. MindskillzCavita Mehra (Managing Director) Impact Recognition: Corporate Learning Innovation Award - 2025 The brainchild of Cavita Mehra, Mindskillz is well-known for offering innovative learning solutions and empowering organisations to upgrade their workforce. Since its inception in 2008, it has been focused on nurturing talent through strategic and impactful learning solutions and has now introduced the LMS C-Factor offering self-paced learning micro modules, further enhancing its blended learning approach in step with the times. Mindskillz drives accelerated performance with personal growth; it currently has a pan-India presence across 33 cities and a global foothold with a network of more than 250+ consultants and trainers. EDUCATION STATIONROHIT SIKKA (DIRECTOR) Most Trusted Immigration Consultancy - 2025 Education Station is a distinctive platform that provides students with the right guidance for studying abroad and also expert professionals to help them identify their capabilities. With Rohit Sikka at the helm, the company is supporting students to lead them to their destinations. The entire team is dedicated to empowering students to meet their career aspirations and make them fully satisfied. Inbounderz India Leading ROI Based Digital Marketing & Branding Agency - 2025 Sajil TG (Founder & CEO, Nidhinraj MV - (Founder & CFO) Incorporated in 2017, Inbounderz India has grown rapidly and become more than just a digital marketing firm. It has carved a niche for itself in branding, digital marketing, video ads, website development, and other marketing and development services. Because of its dedication and excellence, the company has become the first choice for all loyal clients, whether starting a new venture or expanding an existing business. FlipspacesKunal Sharma (Founder & CEO) Fastest Growing Interior Design Venture in Commercial Spaces 2025 Flipspaces is a global interior design and build company transforming the commercial space experience through technology. Flipspaces has transformed over 8Mn SqFt with its tech-first cost cost-efficient approach. Its proprietary software suite enables space planning, virtual walkthroughs, procurement and turnkey execution under one integrated platform. Operating across India, the United States and the U.A.E., Flipspaces serves enterprises, startups, and SMEs seeking agile, future-ready interiors. Cherysh TrustSapna Ravindran (CEO) Best NGO for Promoting STEM Education Among Rural Girls 2025 Committed to empowering girls and women in rural India for over a decade, CherYsh Trust is an NGO transforming lives through quality education and meaningful work opportunities. Focused on bridging the gender gap in STEM, CherYsh works tirelessly to break the urban-rural digital divide, giving underprivileged girls access to knowledge, skills, and confidence to thrive in a technology-driven world. Under the visionary leadership of CEO Ms. Sapna Ravindran, CherYsh fosters curiosity, builds digital literacy, and creates pathways to higher education and sustainable livelihoods for rural girls. Sheel Biotech LimitedDr S.N. Chandak (Chairman & Executive Director) Greenhouse Innovation Excellence Award 2025 Sheel Biotech Limited is a leading biotech company, renowned for its innovative agri-solutions. The company is led by Dr S.N. Chandak, Chairman & Executive Director, and is committed to making a positive impact in the industry. It has established itself as a trusted player in the biotech sector due to its dedication to innovation and excellence. (ADVERTORIAL DISCLAIMER: The above press release has been provided by PNN. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of the same) US President Donald Trump's decision to impose an additional 25 per cent tariff on Indian goods has drawn criticism and concern, even as Industry stakeholders expressed confidence in their long-term resilience. The Trade Promotion Council of India's founder chairman, Mohit Singla, was blunt in his reaction. "It seems like a strategy to single out India in the global market," he told ANI. Calling the tariff hike as an "unjustified approach towards Indian exports," Singla warned that India had both legal and strategic options at its disposal. "There are other available markets that the Indian industry is free to look at," he added, suggesting that exporters may shift focus beyond the US. Still, he struck a note of optimism: "Our industry will definitely find its way out... Our government will be able to navigate this tough time and negotiate a common ground with American counterparts soon," he added. The additional duties have created uncertainty for Indian exporters, but Deepak Shetty, CEO and managing director of JCB India remains cautiously optimistic. His company is closely monitoring the implications. "Presently, we are just watching the tariff conditions and their final applicability and their impact," he noted in an ANI interview. However, Shetty emphasized the strong reception Indian products have received abroad. "We have received a very positive response to the machines we have already exported... They are like ambassadors from India, providing a fantastic experience for customers." For Shetty, this goodwill is key to future success: "As this matter settles, the market will be there for us." Industry bodies are also placing trust in the Indian government's measured response. Prashant Girbane, director general of the Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA), echoed this sentiment. "I am very glad to see how the Indian government has responded to it," he told ANI. "The Indian government is very calm, composed and responding to it one step at a time." Girbane remains hopeful that "sense would prevail in the US administration" and that "the tariffs would be a lot more reasonable and a lot more acceptable for both sides" once negotiations progress. (ANI) Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, emphasised the crucial role of the construction equipment (CE) industry in building a developed India by 2047. Speaking at the Indian Construction Equipment Manufacturers' Association (ICEMA) Annual Session 2025, Gadkari highlighted the industry's resilient 3% growth in FY25, with equipment sales reaching 1,40,191 units and exports growing by 10%. Gadkari stressed the need for technological advancement and sustainability in construction equipment, citing the benefits of green fuel, electric, and hydrogen-based vehicles. These alternatives are not only environmentally responsible but also more economical and profitable. "Green fuel, electric and hydrogen-based vehicles are not only environmentally responsible, they're more economical and profitable," he stated. "Adopting sustainable practices is a strategic move that benefits all stakeholders. If the CE industry embraces sustainability, quality, and innovation, I can guarantee global demand will grow significantly." The Minister emphasised infrastructure as a national growth engine, with roads, railways, and mining being key drivers in the coming years. Gadkari reiterated the government's zero-tolerance stance on quality lapses, stating that anyone compromising quality will be held accountable. He urged the CE industry to invest in high-capacity machinery for tunnelling and pre-cast construction, highlighting the need to adapt European advanced tunnel boring equipment for Indian conditions. The Minister assured industry members that policy support is forthcoming, with a new bill to be introduced in the next Parliament session to address the challenges faced by the CE industry in competing with global players. "We are bringing a new bill in the next Parliament session to address the challenges the CE industry is facing in competing with global players. Your concerns have been heard, and they will be addressed," said Gadkari. V Vivekanand, President of ICEMA and Managing Director of Caterpillar India, requested the Minister's guidance on making operator skilling mandatory to improve quality, minimise risk, and unlock long-term productivity. "To build a safer, more efficient future, we must make skilling mandatory for all operators. It's not just about compliance, it's about improving quality, minimising risk, and unlocking long-term productivity. We seek the Hon'ble Minister's guidance on making this mandatory in our industry," said Vivekanand. Deepak Shetty, President-Designate of ICEMA and CEO & Managing Director of JCB India, emphasised the importance of strengthening domestic manufacturing, embracing digital transformation, and green practices to drive growth and global competitiveness. "We stand at a critical juncture where innovation, sustainability, and workforce development will shape our growth. Strengthening domestic manufacturing and embracing digital transformation are key to India's global competitiveness. We are fully committed to green practices and open to all collaborations that support a cleaner, greener future for the CE sector," said Shetty. The ICEMA Annual Session 2025 reinforced the construction equipment industry's vital role in India's infrastructure development. With shared commitment from government and industry leaders, the sector is poised to drive progress toward Viksit Bharat 2047 through cutting-edge technology, sustainable practices, and enhanced global competitiveness. (ANI) VMPL New Delhi [India], August 8: AGNIT Semiconductors Private Limited, India's only vertically integrated Gallium Nitride (GaN) semiconductor startup, has been awarded the prestigious Deep Tech Emerge 50 Award 2025 by NASSCOM. The award was presented during NASSCOM Future Forge 2025, held in Bengaluru on August 7, 2025. Hareesh Chandrasekar, Co-founder & CEO of AGNIT, received the honour from Dr. Tapan Sahoo, Executive Officer Digital Enterprise, Information & Cybersecurity, Maruti Suzuki Limited. The recognition marks a significant milestone in AGNIT's mission to build a fully vertically integrated GaN semiconductor ecosystem making it one of the few companies globally to manage the entire value chain in-house. Incubated by the Foundation for Science Innovation and Development (FSID) at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc). AGNIT has been recognized for its pioneering work in indigenous GaN technology and has received several accolades, including the ELEVATE startup grant from the Government of Karnataka in 2021 and the Semiconductor Startup Award 2025 from the India Electronics and Semiconductor Association (IESA). Speaking on the achievement, Hareesh Chandrasekar, CEO and Co-founder of AGNIT Semiconductor said, "Winning the Deep Tech Emerge 50 Award 2025 from NASSCOM is a powerful affirmation of AGNIT's mission to place India at the forefront of global GaN semiconductor innovation. As India's semiconductor landscape hits a defining moment, the urgency to develop indigenous IP and future-proof capabilities has never been greater. GaN technology is not just an enabler it's a catalyst for transformation in high-performance electronics. At AGNIT, we are building the core of that shift. With our RF GaN devices now entering customer-level system testing and strong support from IISc (Indian Institute of Science) and MeitY (Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology), we are doubling down on our vision to embed India deeper into the global semiconductor value chain." The NASSCOM Future Forge 2025, hosted/organised in Bengaluru, spotlighted India's most disruptive deep tech startups. Bringing together industry leaders, entrepreneurs, policymakers, and investors, the event celebrated the country's shift from technology consumer to global innovator. This year's edition highlighted how deep tech ventures are solving complex challenges and socio-economic issues, driving impact at scale and shaping the next wave of India's innovation-led growth. In line with the 'Make in India' initiative, AGNIT in December 2023 also signed an MoU under the iDEX program with the Ministry of Defence to develop next-generation wireless transmitters using GaN technology for defense applications. To date, the five-year-old Bengaluru-based startup has raised $4.87 million from 3one4 Capital, Zephyr Peacock, and Lakshmi Narayanan, the former CEO of Cognizant. About AGNIT Semiconductors: AGNIT Semiconductors Private Limited is a Bangalore, India-based Gallium Nitride (GaN) semiconductor company. We design and manufacture GaN materials (wafers) and electronic components primarily for radio-frequency applications. AGNIT's GaN components offer compelling performance-price-footprint advantages for the defense and telecommunication industries. AGNIT's patent-protected, differentiated technology is the result of >15 years of R&D at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India and spans the key verticals of Gallium Nitride materials, manufacturing processes and device design. All three elements are essential to offering high-performance, customizable GaN-based solutions to electronic sub-system and systems designers/manufacturers. (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) Union Minister Jayant Chaudhary urged businesses to step up by offering better pay for certified workers and shifting away from informal hiring practices, stating, "everyone understands our skilling gap -- young people are graduating, but we cannot hire them". Speaking at the 16th FICCI Global Skills Summit, the minister likened the current gap in valuing certified workers to the early days of carbon pricing, where the absence of clear mechanisms delayed meaningful climate action. He called for a shift in how India values skilled labour. "Currently, we don't have a price for employability, for skilling," he said. India is staring at a disconnect between formal education and employability, with policymakers and industry leaders warning that without urgent reforms, the country risks turning its demographic dividend into a liability. Reinforcing this sentiment, Jayant Chaudhary told ANI, "FICCI showed solidarity with the efforts the GoI is making to ensure national interest is kept supreme. Our Prime Minister also said that there is no way the interest of our farmers, fishermen, agricultural workers or rural artisans can be compromised." Industry leaders echoed the urgency. Bijay Sahoo, chair of FICCI's Skills Committee and HR head at Reliance Industries, pointed to India's tech talent and noted that 80 million Indians are already paying for tools like ChatGPT. "It's not that India doesn't have these capabilities -- we all need to be committed to creating an ecosystem," he said. AAP MP Vikramjit Singh Sahney, vice chairman of the Central Apprenticeship Council, announced plans for a regional apprenticeship programme across Punjab and Haryana, aiming to train 10,000 youth starting 15 October. "Skills are being taught, but there is a lack of connectivity between industry and skills. We have to make youth a dividend instead of a liability," Sahney told ANI. With over 230 million Indians aged 15-29, the clock is ticking. "The future of skills, the future of new tech and industry and disruption is already here -- we just need to prepare ourselves," Chaudhary said, stressing the role of the National Education Policy 2020 in bridging the skills gap through corporate partnerships and foreign collaborations. (ANI) Union Home Minister Amit Shah will laid foundation stone for the Maa Sita temple at Punaura Dham in Sitamarhi, Bihar on Friday. In a post on X, Shah said, "Tomorrow is an extremely auspicious and joyous day for the entire country, and especially for Mithilanchal, when the foundation stone for the comprehensive development plan of the sacred 'Punaura Dham Temple' and its premises will be laid at the birthplace of Mother Sita in Sitamarhi, Bihar" https://x.com/AmitShah/status/1953483869719564377 "Additionally, to enhance connectivity for the devotees visiting here, PM Shri @narendramodi ji has approved the Sitamarhi-Delhi Amrit Bharat Train, which will be inaugurated tomorrow," the post added. Union Ministers Giriraj Singh and Chirag Paswan have hailed the scheduled foundation stone-laying ceremony of the Maa Janaki Temple at Punaura Dham in Sitamarhi by Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, terming it as "historic." The State will face Assembly elections later in the year. Speaking to reporters, Singh said, "Last year on the land of Sitamarhi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that as the Ram temple has been constructed, now the temple of Sita Mata will be built. Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar will perform the Bhoomi Pujan of the temple. This is historic." Paswan also welcomed the move and lauded the upcoming foundation stone-laying ceremony of the Maa Janaki Temple at Punaura Dham in Bihar's Sitamarhi district, describing the initiative as a fulfilment of a long-cherished dream and a key step towards boosting religious tourism in the state. "It has been a wish of every Bihari for a long time...We resolved to fulfil this dream of ours through 'Bihar First, Bihari First' and every other available platform. I have always expressed the desire for a grand temple of Mata Sita to be built," Paswan told reporters. Paswan said that the project will boost Bihar's economic development through religious tourism, citing Uttar Pradesh's experience with the Shri Ram temple in Ayodhya, He said, "It will also boost Bihar's economic development. I have said this many times that there are unlimited opportunities for religious tourism in Bihar...UP is one such example. After the construction of the Shri Ram temple in Ayodhya, the whole region became self-reliant. I believe it is a historic step to increase the revenue generation in Bihar." Bihar BJP President Dilip Jaiswal said, "...The people of Bihar and Mithila residents were waiting for this historic moment to come. That day is coming tomorrow. It is a very historic moment, I am thrilled. People from every household in Mithila are gathering here to witness this historic moment...I thank the CM Nitish Kumar and Union HM Amit Shah, for giving us the opportunity to witness this occasion..." While the NDA, comprising the BJP, JD(U), and LJP, will once again seek to continue its stint in Bihar, the INDIA bloc, comprising the RJD, Congress, and left parties, will aim to unseat Nitish Kumar. In the current Bihar Assembly, comprising 243 members, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) consists of 131 members, with the BJP having 80 MLAs, JD(U) having 45, HAM(S) having 4, and the support of 2 Independent Candidates. The Opposition's INDIA Bloc comprises 111 members, with the RJD leading with 77 MLAs, followed by Congress with 19, CPI(ML) with 11, CPI(M) with 2, and CPI with 2. (ANI) The Delhi High Court on Thursday refused to stay the release of the Movie Udaipur Files. Mohd Javed, an accused in the Kanhaiya Lal murder, had approached the court seeking a stay on the release of the movie. This movie is set to hit theatres tomorrow. The division bench comprising Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyay and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela refused to stay the release of the movie. Accused Mohd Javed had approached the High Court on Thursday seeking a stay on the release of the movie. He had claimed that his right to a fair trial would be affected if the movie were released. On Wedneday, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) dismissed all revision petitions challenging the certification of the controversial film Udaipur Files: Kanhaiya Lal Tailor Murder, thereby clearing the path for its public release. This decision followed weeks of legal disputes, multiple appeals, and widespread public attention stemming from the film's alleged communal undertones and its depiction of matters still under judicial consideration. In its final ruling issued on August 6, 2025, the Ministry affirmed several key findings. The Revisional Authority determined that the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) had followed due process and committed no procedural errors in granting certification. It noted that the filmmakers had complied with the 55 cuts required by the CBFC and had also carried out additional voluntary edits. Furthermore, the order highlighted that no new evidence or compelling arguments had been presented to warrant a reversal of the certification. Invoking Section 6(2) of the Cinematograph Act, 1952, the Ministry concluded that there was no legitimate basis to suspend or alter the classification of the film. It underscored that all concerned parties had been provided a fair chance to present their views during the proceedings. According to the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, Section 6 allows the government to cancel the certification of a film by the Censor Board and suspend its exhibition. The Additional Solicitor General (ASG) informed the Delhi High Court that the Central Government has decided to withdraw its directive recommending six cuts in the film 'Udaipur Files'. Noting the statement given by the Additional Solicitor General (ASG), the Delhi High Court disposed of two petitions seeking a stay on the release of the movie. The film 'Udaipur Files: Kanhaiya Lal Tailor Murder' has been in headlines lately, since the Delhi High Court ordered a stay on its release on July 11. The film is based on the 2022 murder of Kanhaiya Lal, a tailor in Rajasthan's Udaipur who was brutally killed by two men in broad daylight. Earlier, last week, the High Court had directed the Central government to hear afresh the revisions and pass an order. The High Court has directed that you appear before the Central Government. After hearing the revisional authority dismiss the revision on Wednesday. (ANI) Union Minister Pralhad Joshi on Thursday hit out at Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi over his recent allegations targeting the Election Commission, questioning why the Congress had not objected through "legal means" and accusing the party of selectively blaming the poll body depending on electoral outcomes. "There is no need to take him seriously. Why did the Congress party not file any objection? Why he did not file any election petition?" Joshi told ANI, while responding to the Rahul Gandhi's allegations of "voter fraud" in the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly elections, Joshi alleged that the Congress party's stance on EVMs and the EC is inconsistent, given they themselves have appointed Chief Election Commissioner (CECs) in the past. He said, "The states where Congress party wins the elections, EVMs and the Election Commission are good. They always try to blame the Election Commission. These people appointed Manohar Singh Gill as the Chief Election Commissioner of India and then made him an MP of the Congress party. Earlier, the Prime Ministers, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, used to appoint the Chief Election Commissioner on their own. Now there is a proper system." He also accused the Congress of "misusing" election scheduling for political gain. He said, "When Rajiv Gandhi was killed, they (Congress) could have postponed the election in just his constituency, but they postponed the election in the entire nation. Congress wanted to take the sympathy votes. Those who have conducted elections like this are trying to teach us lessons about elections today." "Today, the opposition leader is part of the three-member panel to select the Chief Election Commissioner," he said. The state's Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) has asked the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha to submit a sworn affidavit and provide specific evidence of alleged inclusion or deletion of electors from the voter rolls. (ANI) WESTON, Mo., Aug. 8, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Holladay Distillery, owned by McCormick Distilling Company, is proud to announce a new partnership with Australian spirits importer Honey Barrel, bringing the award-winning Holladay Bourbon to the Australian market. Award Winning Holladay Bourbon Founded by Melbourne natives Kia Rasteh and Brynley Cullen, Honey Barrel is a boutique spirits distributor on a mission to deliver rare, high-quality whiskeys and craft spirits tailored to the Australian palate. The duo's deep passion for bourbon makes them the ideal partner to introduce Ben Holladay's portfolio to a new audience of discerning drinkers. "Bourbon and rye have always been at the heart of our journey," said Honey Barrel co-founder Kia Rasteh, who specializes in sourcing and distributing premium American whiskeys to independent bottle shops, cocktail bars, and bourbon-centric venues across Australia. "We're thrilled to bring Ben Holladay to our market it's a brand that speaks to everything we love about heritage, flavor, and craftsmanship." Honey Barrel made its first splash with the Ben Holladay Rickhouse Proof, which they personally imported from the U.S. and introduced to Australian consumers through exclusive tastings at their curated bourbon bar. "We couldn't be more excited to work with passionate partners like Honey Barrel," said Ben Hammond of McCormick Distilling International. "Their deep appreciation for quality spirits and their connection to Australia's premium retail and bar scene will ensure that Ben Holladay Bourbon is presented in the way it deserves." Holladay Distillery, Missouri's oldest distillery-and primary purveyor of Bottled-in-Bond bourbon made in the state, continues its international expansion with this milestone Australian launch. Holladay Bourbon is expected to reach the Australian shores later this summer. About Holladay Distillery Originally founded in 1856 by Ben Holladay, Holladay Distillery produces Missouri bourbon steeped in history, including Holladay Soft Red Wheat and Ben Holladay Bourbon, which uses an original recipe more than 160 years old. Located in Weston, Missouri, (US) Holladay Distillery offers tours with the opportunity to explore fascinating local history and to experience Real Missouri Bourbon being made. Learn more at holladaybourbon.com. Media Contact: Audrey Sisco | Holladay Distillery Marketing Communications Manager [email protected] 816.509.3122 SOURCE Holladay Distillery Eleven representative women of the Soan Chiraiya Self Help Group and the Gulabo Mata Self Help Group located in Varanasi handed over a packet of Rakhis to Colonel Vinod Kumar to deliver it to the soldiers deployed at various borders of the country through Indian Post. These women work for their livelihood through various organisations under Deendayal Ajeevika Yojana (Urban). Addressing the members of the self-help groups on this occasion, Colonel Vinod Kumar assured them that all the Rakhis would be delivered safely to the soldiers, enabling them to feel more emotionally strong. The representatives included Seema Vishwakarma, Om Shanti Group; Sushila Sharma, Akriti Group; Kusum Devi, Saraswati Maa Group; Sarita, Sati Maa Group; and Moni, Purvanchal Group. Shweta Rai, Sushil Kumar, and Bablu, City Mission Managers, were also present with the women representatives. On this occasion, Colonel Vinod noted that last year, only three thousand Rakhi envelopes were sold. In contrast, more than one lakh Rakhi envelopes have been purchased by the public in just fifteen days this year. The target for this year has been set to sell more than two lakh Rakhi envelopes. He informed the self-help groups about the post office's savings schemes and also mentioned the necessary insurance schemes for them. He urged everyone to change their thinking as a better option for themselves and set a big goal so that they get positive energy in their life so that they can increase their income by showing their talent in society. Apart from this, in a similar effort, 53,000 women from Gujarat's Anganwadis prepared and sent 3.5 lakh rakhis to soldiers guarding the nation's borders. These rakhis, symbolising the sacred sibling bond, were part of a heartfelt tribute to the brave personnel serving far from their families, a press release from the Gujarat CMO said. In Gandhinagar, the "Raksha Sutra Kalash" was presented to the armed forces in the presence of Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel. This unique initiative earned Gujarat a place in the India Book of Records. Representatives of the organisation presented the official certificate and medal to the Chief Minister in recognition of this collective effort. (ANI) Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS) Working President KT Rama Rao (KTR) launched a scathing attack on Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy and the Congress government, accusing them of deceiving the Backward Classes (BCs) and indulging in non-stop political theatrics, according to a press release. Welcoming new leaders and cadre from the Parigi constituency into the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) at Telangana Bhavan, KTR strongly criticised the Congress's handling of BC reservations and governance failures. KTR alleged that the Congress party has blatantly misled the people on the issue of BC reservations. "They promised 42% reservations with legal backing before the elections and secured votes. But now, CM Revanth Reddy says BC reservations will only be granted if Rahul Gandhi becomes Prime Minister. Was this condition mentioned in the BC Declaration?" KTR asked. Drawing a sharp contrast, KTR reminded that KCR went to Delhi with a mission to secure Telangana statehood and succeeded. "Can Revanth claim he brought back BC reservations from Delhi?" he challenged. As per the press release, KTR mocked, saying that CM Revanth Reddy suffers from 'KCR Phobia'. KTR stated that even in Delhi, Revanth couldn't stop talking about KCR. "It appears Revanth is mentally obsessed with KCR. He's suffering from a clear case of KCR-phobia," KTR mocked. He added that the Congress government is using the BC reservations issue as a diversion while ignoring other commitments made in the BC Declaration. He said, "Revanth's Governance is a 'Drama Show'". In the press release, calling Revanth Reddy's entire governance style a "drama", KTR said, "When I point out how he's betraying BCs and faking governance, Revanth tries to silence me with personal attacks. But the truth is, everything he's doing--whether with Modi, Rahul Gandhi, or even for Chandrababu Naidu--is pure drama." KTR also questioned Revanth's silence on the implementation of over 420 pre-poll promises. "Even his claim that he will remain in the Congress till the end is just another drama," KTR said. According to the release, KTR alleged Congress is gearing up to use corrupt funds in local polls. With local body elections around the corner, KTR warned the public that Congress leaders were preparing to distribute "ill-gotten money" amassed through 20 months of corrupt governance. He urged voters to support BRS if they wanted to curb Congress atrocities and ensure officials respond to public grievances. He said, "Congress has cheated every section of society". KTR painted a grim picture of Congress rule, highlighting power cuts, fertiliser shortages, failing village and urban governance. He said Telangana has been pushed back 10 years. "After the polls, they will even cancel Rythu Bandhu," he warned. "In this Congress regime, not a single individual or community has been spared from betrayal," he thundered. KTR made a call to the BRS cadre saying, "Fight & win local elections". KTR admitted that during BRS's 10-year rule, the focus was on Telangana's development, and cadre may not have received individual attention. But he assured that once BRS returns to power, workers would be given due recognition and growth opportunities. He issued a clarion call to all senior leaders and grassroots workers: "Work hard and ensure victory in every village during the upcoming local body elections. As long as Telangana exists, the pink flag will fly high. We will wipe out Congress and BJP, and bring back KCR as the Chief Minister", said the release. (ANI) Bollywood actor Huma Qureshi's cousin, Asif Qureshi, was murdered in Delhi following an altercation over parking a scooter. The two accused in the case have been apprehended, Delhi Police said on Friday. According to a statement by Delhi Police, Asif Qureshi, son of Ilyas Qureshi and resident of Bhogal, Jangpura, aged 42 years, was murdered on August 7 at around 10:30 pm following an altercation with the accused over the issue of parking of a scooter belonging to the accused. During the altercation, one of the accused attacked the victim with a sharp pointed object (poker) on the chest, which resulted in the death of the victim. Police on Friday registered an FIR Number 233/25 under Sections 103(1)/3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). The accused, identified as Ujjwal, aged 19 years, and Gautam, aged 18 years, have been apprehended, according to the Delhi Police. Further investigation into this matter is underway. Earlier on Wednesday, A 50-year-old woman was found murdered in her home in Delhi's Ranhola area. Police have identified her estranged husband, Parmod Jha (60), as the prime suspect in the case. The police identified the deceased as Kiran Jha. According to the Delhi Police, a PCR call reporting the murder was received around 4:09 am. The deceased, who worked as a caretaker for patients, had been living with her daughter-in-law Kamal Jha, granddaughter, and son Durgesh Jha. Initial investigation revealed that the accused, Parmod Jha, had arrived in Delhi on August 1 after nearly a decade, having been away in his native village, Chidiabad in Jamalpur city, Munger district, Bihar. Police said Kiran and Parmod had been living separately for the past ten years. Durgesh, the couple's son, currently works with a Micro Finance Company in Darbhanga, Bihar. During inquiry, Kamal, the daughter-in-law of the deceased, informed police that the accused had not been in contact with the family for years and was unemployed. CCTV footage from the Delhi government's camera installed outside the residence reportedly captured the accused leaving the premises at approximately 12:50 am, hours before the murder was discovered. (ANI) The Andhra Pradesh State Election Commission informed the High Court that it has taken all necessary steps to ensure free, fair, and peaceful conduct of the upcoming local body by-elections scheduled for August 10, 2025. This was in response to a writ petition filed by YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) General Secretary Lella Appi Reddy, who sought directions for stronger safeguards during the election process. The petition highlighted the need for CCTV surveillance, webcasting, police protection for contesting candidates, deployment of independent observers, control rooms, and full video documentation. It urged that these measures be implemented to maintain a level playing field. Meanwhile, on Thursday, the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, slammed the Election Commission of India (ECI), alleging that the elections are "choreographed". Addressing a press conference, Rahul Gandhi said that Congress won other seats while Mahadevapura was swept by the BJP. Rahul Gandhi alleged, "Elections are choreographed... Our internal polling told us we would win 16 seats in Karnataka; we won nine. We then focused on seven unexpected losses. We chose one Lok Sabha, and our team decided we could only focus on one Vidhan Sabha (seat). So we focused on Mahadevapur...". "We found 1,00,250 votes stolen. Stolen in five different ways. Duplicate voters, fake and invalid addresses, and bulk voters in a single address, on a building with 50-60 people living. But when we go there, no record of those people living there. One family living in that house," he added. Doubling down on his 'vote theft' claim, Rahul Gandhi on Friday said that times would change and punishment would surely be meted out to those who were involved in the "scam". In a post on X, Rahul Gandhi said, "Vote theft is not just an electoral scam, it is a major betrayal committed against the Constitution and democracy. Let the nation's culprits hear this - times will change, punishment will surely be meted out." Earlier on July 27, Former Lok Sabha Speaker and Congress leader Meira Kumar expressed "hope" and said that it was the duty of the Election Commission of India to fulfil its responsibility of conducting free and fair polls in the country. "Our Constitution has entrusted the responsibility of conducting elections to the Election Commission. Whether at the national or state level, it is their solemn duty to conduct fair elections and to do so in a manner that ensures the complete trust of the country's people. The Constitution has given the Election Commission the responsibility to maintain this trust. I hope they will work towards this," Meira Kumar told reporters while speaking on Special Intensive Revision being carried out in Bihar. (ANI) Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav is scheduled to visit the Tamot Industrial Area in Raisen district on Friday and will lay the foundation stone and dedicate development works worth Rs 416 crores on the occasion, according to an official release. During the visit, he will hold an investment dialogue, lay foundation stones for industrial units, dedicate completed units and distribute letters of intent. Additionally, the Chief Minister will visit the unit of Sagar Manufacturer Pvt. Ltd. operating in Tamot and he will participate in a social programme organised on the occasion of Rakshabandhan. Along with this, CM Yadav will also interact with industrialists and highlight the investment-friendly environment being developed across the state. CM Yadav will perform Bhoomi Pujan of 6 new units with a proposed investment of Rs 300 crore, expected to provide employment opportunities to 970 people. He will also inaugurate 6 completed industrial units set up with an investment of over Rs 116 crore, offering jobs to 211 individuals, the release read. Additionally, CM Yadav will distribute letters of intent related to land allotment to entrepreneurs and share the state government's key priorities for industrial development. This initiative will not only boost investor confidence but also pave the way for new employment opportunities for the youth, reinforcing the state's commitment to rapid and inclusive industrial growth, it added. Principal Secretary, Industrial Policy and Investment Promotion and MSME, Raghavendra Singh will present detailed insights into the state's industrial strategy and recent policy reforms. Representatives from prominent investor groups will also share their perspectives on the investment-friendly environment and progressive policies of Madhya Pradesh. Earlier on Thursday, the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister said that the 'Har Ghar Tiranga' campaign in view of the Independence Day would be held in three phases this year with an emphasis on the spirit of 'Swadeshi' and cleanliness. CM Yadav also highlighted that as part of this campaign, efforts would be made to remember the heroics of the Indian armed forces in Operation Sindoor, expressing gratitude to the armed and police forces, and planning to send them rakhis on behalf of the public. "Har Ghar Tiranga campaign, now in its fourth year, will be held based on the spirit of Swadeshi and a focus on cleanliness this time. Our freedom fighters, revolutionaries and common people struggled to make the country independent and Bhopal has more importance of tricolour...This time, the Har Ghar Tiranga Abhiyan will have three phases: from 2 to 8 August, from 9 to 12 August, and from 13 to 15 August. Under this campaign, we decided to remember the heroics of the Indian armed forces in Operation Sindoor, expressing gratitude to the armed and police forces, and planning to send them rakhis on behalf of the public," CM Yadav told reporters. He further said that it (Har Gar Tiranga Campaign) is an important occasion for our national unity. Many types of instructions have been issued, ranging from organising. (ANI) Two people have been arrested in the case in which a 42-year-old man was killed following a dispute over parking in the Bhogal area of the national capital, Delhi Police said on Friday. According to Delhi Police, the incident took place around 10:30 pm on August 7 when the victim, Asif Qureshi, got into an altercation over the parking of a scooty belonging to the accused. During the altercation, one of the alleged accused attacked Qureshi with a sharp-pointed object (poker) on the chest, which resulted in the death of the victim. Qureshi, was a resident of Church Lane, Bhogal, Jangpura. Following the incident, an FIR (No. 233/25) was registered under Sections 103(1) and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) at Hazrat Nizamuddin Police Station on August 8. Both the accused, Ujjwal (19 years old) and Gautam (18 years old), who are also residents of Church Lane, Bhogal, Jangpura, were arrested by the police. Further investigation into the matter is underway. Earlier, in the national capital's Ranhola area a 50-year-old woman was found murdered in her home in the early hours of Wednesday. Police have identified her estranged husband, Parmod Jha (60), as the prime suspect in the case. The police have identified the deceased as Kiran Jha. According to the Delhi Police, a PCR call reporting the murder was received around 4:09 am. The deceased, who worked as a caretaker for patients, had been living with her daughter-in-law, Kamal Jha, granddaughter, and son, Durgesh Jha. Initial investigation revealed that the accused, Parmod Jha, had arrived in Delhi on August 1 after nearly a decade, having been away in his native village, Chidiabad in Jamalpur city, Munger district, Bihar. Police said Kiran and Parmod had been living separately for the past ten years. Durgesh, the couple's son, currently works with a Micro Finance Company in Darbhanga, Bihar. During the inquiry, Kamal, the daughter-in-law of the deceased, informed police that the accused had not been in contact with the family for years and was unemployed. CCTV footage from the Delhi government's camera installed outside the residence reportedly captured the accused leaving the premises at approximately 12:50 am, hours before the murder was discovered. Crime and forensic teams were promptly dispatched to the scene. The crime scene has been secured, and the weapon of offence has been recovered from the room where the incident occurred. Police have launched a manhunt to trace the accused and have deployed teams to major railway stations and bus terminals across the city. (ANI) Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) president Saurabh Bharadwaj on Friday criticised the law and order situation in the national capital, alleging a sharp increase in street crimes and accusing the police of focusing on targeting AAP leaders instead of public safety. His remarks came after Bollywood actor Huma Qureshi's cousin, Asif Qureshi, was stabbed to death in Jangpura on August 7 following an argument over scooter parking. Speaking to ANI, Bharadwaj said, "Crime is constantly increasing in Delhi. A few days ago, an MP's chain was snatched in Lutyen Zone's Chanakyapuri. Chain snatching, mobile snatching, and breaking into cars for theft have become so common that people have now stopped registering complaints." "Murders, rapes, and robberies are constantly increasing. Delhi Police and other agencies have been given just one task, to falsely frame AAP leaders," he added. According to Delhi Police, Asif Qureshi, 42, was killed around 10:30 pm in the Bhogal area of Jangpura after an argument with two local youths. Police said the dispute escalated when one of the accused attacked Qureshi with a sharp-pointed weapon, injuring him fatally in the chest. "Asif Qureshi, son of Ilyas Qureshi and a resident of Bhogal, was murdered during an altercation over scooter parking. One of the accused struck him in the chest with a sharp-pointed weapon, leading to his death," Delhi Police said in a statement. The accused, identified as Ujjwal (19) and Gautam (18), have been arrested, and further investigation is underway. An FIR, numbered 233/25, has been registered under Sections 103(1) and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). The incident comes days after another high-profile crime in the capital, when Tamil Nadu MP R Sudha's gold chain was snatched in Chanakyapuri on August 4. She was walking near Gates 3 and 4 of the Polish Embassy with fellow MP Rajathi when a man wearing a full helmet rode up on a two-wheeler and snatched the chain before fleeing. In a letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Sudha detailed the attack, which took place between 6:15 am and 6:20 am on Monday. Delhi Police on Wednesday announced that the case had been solved with the arrest of one accused. "The case of snatching of chain of Hon'ble Member of Parliament has been solved. The accused has been arrested and the chain has been recovered. More details shall be shared in due course," police posted on X. Congress MP R Sudha later expressed gratitude for the arrest but added that she hoped "the common man gets the same treatment." (ANI) Two people have been arrested in the case in which actor Huma Qureshi's cousin, Asif Qureshi, was murdered in Delhi following a dispute over parking in the Bhogal area of the national capital, Delhi Police said on Friday. The wife of the victim, Shaina Qureshi, has alleged that the murder was pre-planned. Shaina, the deceased's wife, alleged that this was a pre-planned murder, highlighting that the whole conflict was religion-based and the accused had a problem with them staying in a Hindu area. She said, "Asif was a Muslim boy, and all the other residents here are Hindus. They (both the accused) had a problem with how he is so friendly with the Hindus. Why do they speak well of him? This was the whole issue. We do not even talk to them." She also alleged that the accused's younger sibling had a criminal record and is involved in nefarious activities. She said, "Their younger child is involved in theft and does drugs. He has a criminal record. The elder brother is also like him and supports him." She further added, "They attacked purposefully. If there is a fight, you can say what you have to. His sister is abusing me and Asif as well. She did not stop her brothers. This was a pre-planned murder. The girl kept saying 'maro maro' (beat them). " Earlier, the Delhi Police informed that the incident took place around 10:30 pm on August 7 when the victim, Asif Qureshi, got into an altercation over the parking of a scooty belonging to the accused. During the altercation, one of the alleged accused attacked Qureshi with a sharp-pointed object (poker) on the chest, which resulted in the death of the victim. Qureshi was a resident of Church Lane, Bhogal, Jangpura. Following the incident, an FIR (No. 233/25) was registered under Sections 103(1) and 3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) at Hazrat Nizamuddin Police Station on August 8. Both the accused, Ujjwal (19 years old) and Gautam (18 years old), who are also residents of Church Lane, Bhogal, Jangpura, were arrested by the police. Further investigation into the matter is underway. (ANI) Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath visited Kakori Shaheed Memorial, dedicated to freedom fighters of 'Kakori Kand', for the closing ceremony on the 100th anniversary of the historic event on Friday. CM Yogi also celebrated Raksha Bandhan with young girls. Deputy CM KP Maurya and State Minister Jaiveer Singh were also present at the event. He also planted a tree sapling at the Kakori Shaheed Memorial. The Kakori Train Action or Kakori Conspiracy was a train robbery that took place at Kakori, a village near Lucknow, on 9 August 1925 during the Indian Independence Movement against the British colonial rule. Hindustan Republican Association organised the robbery, and more than 40 persons were arrested in this incident. They were finally sentenced to death by the British government, and also severe punishments were given to those people who helped with this incident. Uttar Pradesh government under CM Yogi renamed the 'Kakori Kand' to 'Kakori Train action' in the year 2021, as the word 'Kand' denotes a sense of insult to this incident under India's Independence struggle, said the UP government officials. Earlier, on Thursday, CM Yogi Adityanath inaugurated and laid the foundation stone for 222 development projects worth Rs 659 crore in Bahjoi, Sambhal district. While addressing a large public gathering, he spoke on the preservation of Sambhal's religious heritage, historical injustices, and political opponents. Describing Sambhal as a symbol of Hindu faith, CM Yogi targeted foreign invaders, Congress, and Samajwadi Party, warning that "those who sin with Sambhal will face severe punishment for their actions." Yogi Adityanath exposed the historical truth of Sambhal and fiercely attacked the foreign invaders. He stated that there were once 68 pilgrimage sites, 19 holy wells, and parikrama routes in Sambhal, but "foreign barbaric invaders desecrated and destroyed our pilgrimage sites. All the wells and pilgrimage sites were seized. The 24 and 84 Kos Parikrama routes were obstructed. A despicable attempt was made to erase the truth." Describing this injustice as a "despicable attempt," the Chief Minister stressed that his government will now take responsibility for renovating these 68 pilgrimage sites and 19 wells. Giving the example of Lokmata Ahilyabai Holkar, he said that just as she renovated the Kashi Vishwanath and Somnath temples, the pilgrimage sites of Sambhal will also be revived. CM Yogi emphasised that development is meaningful only when it is connected to heritage. This, he said, is not just the preservation of heritage but also a campaign to realise the golden dreams of the present and future. The Chief Minister, while emphasising the religious significance of Sambhal, stated that this place is a collective darshan sthal of both Hari (Vishnu) and Har (Shiva), where Kalki, the 10th incarnation of Lord Vishnu, will appear. Citing the Puranas, he mentioned that Sambhal is discussed in the Shrimad Bhagwat Mahapuran, Skanda Purana, and Vishnu Purana, and will be the centre for Lord Kalki's incarnation in Kaliyug. CM Yogi noted that some might find this topic controversial, as individuals with a controversial background often perceive controversy in Hindu traditions. However, he made it clear that this cannot be a subject of controversy. He specifically targeted those who try to make Hindu heritage controversial and warned that such malicious attempts would be crushed. (ANI) BJP National Spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari launched a sharp attack on Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi over his allegations against the Election Commission. Bhandari challenged Gandhi to submit a written affidavit to the EC to substantiate his claims, asserting that Gandhi would not do so. "I challenge Rahul Gandhi to respond to the Election Commission in a written affidavit if he thinks his allegations have substance, but he will not do so... He is an immature person who did not realise that he was supporting SIR during his entire presentation. He mentioned a person named Aditya Srivastava, whose name was found in three places, while the Election Commission has clarified that this name was not found in this EPIC number in Uttar Pradesh or Maharashtra. If he does not apologise to the country or give a written affidavit to the Election Commission, it will prove that he is a wannabe dictator who spreads misinformation when he does not win democratically," he said Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, today said that times would change and punishment would surely be meted out to those who were involved in the "scam". "Vote theft is not just an electoral scam; it is a major betrayal committed against the Constitution and democracy. Let the nation's culprits hear this - times will change, punishment will surely be meted out," Rahul Gandhi said in a post on X. Meanwhile, under the leadership of the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi and AICC President Mallikarjun Kharge, the Congress party is set to hold a massive protest at Freedom Park in Bengaluru today, opposing alleged irregularities in the voter list. On Thursday, Rahul Gandhi said 1,00,250 "fake votes" were created in the Mahadevapura Assembly segment in the Bangalore Central Lok Sabha constituency in Karnataka to ensure a win for the BJP. Taking the reporters through a detailed presentation of the 'fraud' at the Congress headquarters in Delhi, the LoP alleged that "collusion" had happened between the Election Commission of India and the BJP, which resulted in Prime Minister Narendra Modi securing his third term. "Narendra Modi became Prime Minister with just a margin of 25 seats... Election Commission is helping BJP destroy the electoral system in India... The Election Commission is not giving us the data because of what we did in Mahadevpur (Karnataka Assembly constituency); if we do it in other Lok Sabha seats, then the truth about our democracy will come out. This is the evidence, criminal evidence (pointing to the physical voter list)," Rahul Gandhi said. The Congress leader further alleged that the poll body is "destroying evidence" through the directive on only preserving CCTV and webcasting footage of the election process for only 45 days after the whole process is completed, unless the election result is challenged in court. Taking cognisance of Gandhi's allegations of voter roll manipulations in a Karnataka Assembly segment, the State Chief Electoral Officer asked him to submit his evidence under oath. (ANI) COLLEGE PARK, Md., Aug. 8, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- A free online certificate course focused on artificial intelligence for career development from the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business has drawn more than 25,000 learners worldwide. Artificial Intelligence and Career Empowerment was launched in May 2025. Smith's Office of Executive Education, which provides business education for local companies and individual learners around the world, facilitates the offering. The course is specifically designed for those transitioning from the federal civil serviceto help build AI literacy, explore job opportunities and navigate career transitions with expert guidancebut it is free and open to all. In addition to transitioning federal workers, learners worldwide have used the course to empower their careers with AI, including Surbhi Sethi, an Atlanta-based AI education teaching and learning consultant. "I am incredibly proud to share that I am part of the first graduating cohort of the new AI and Career Empowerment certificate program from the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business," she says. "This was a phenomenal experience A huge heartfelt 'thank you' to the brilliant faculty who collaborated to design and deliver this incredible learning journey." Balaji Padmanabhan, director of Smith's Center for Artificial Intelligence in Business, initiated the course of 10 self-paced modules taught by top Smith faculty: "AI Literacy, Capabilities, Building AI Systems" (Padmanabhan), "The Marketing Revolution" (Bobby Zhou and Yogesh Joshi), "AI and Organizations" (Anil K Gupta), "AI and Supply Chain" (Suresh Acharya and Humberto Coronado), "Responsible AI," (Margret Bjarnadottir), "AI in Financial Services" (Tania Babina). "Being your own Startup" (Oliver Schlake), "Negotiating from a Position of Weakness" (Rellie Derfler-Rozin and Vijaya Venkataramani) "Job Search in the Age of AI" (Kim Rice DeGross) and "The Road Ahead" (Padmanabhan). "We are deeply grateful to our 10 world-class faculty for creating high-impact content that builds AI literacy and prepares the workforce for the future," said Smith School Dean Prabhudev Konana. "Their work is key to enhancing employability and driving economic growth in Maryland and the regionreflecting our deep commitment to developing a future-ready workforce." To enroll or for more information, go to the Free Online Certificate in Artificial Intelligence and Career Empowerment website. About the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business The Robert H. Smith School of Business is an internationally recognized leader in management education and research. One of 12 colleges and schools at the University of Maryland, College Park, the Smith School offers undergraduate, full-time and flex MBA, executive MBA, online MBA, business master's, PhD and executive education programs, as well as outreach services to the corporate community. The school offers its degree, custom and certification programs in learning locations in North America and Asia. Contact: Greg Muraski, [email protected] SOURCE University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business Congress leader Jairam Ramesh took a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi for attempting to portray himself as a champion of Indian farmers, after being "hurt and subdued" by recent criticism from US President Donald Trump. Ramesh recalled the 2020-21 farmers' protests against the three farm laws, alleging that the Prime Minister mocked the agitators by calling them "protest enthusiasts" in Parliament. He claimed that over 700 farmers lost their lives during the protests, yet the Prime Minister expressed no regret or sympathy. "Five years ago, there was a time when the Prime Minister, in Parliament, mocked the protesting farmers by calling them 'protest enthusiasts.' More than 700 farmers lost their lives during the protests against three black, anti-farmer laws, but not a single word of pain, regret, or sympathy came from the Prime Minister's mouth for them. Farmer organizations are still demanding a legal guarantee for MSP, calculated by adding 50% profit to the total cost of production (C2), along with concrete debt relief. The Prime Minister remains completely silent on these demands, even though these same issues were raised by India's former Vice President," he posted on X. "In November 2019, the Prime Minister was fully prepared to include India in the RCEP trade agreement, which could have caused significant harm to Indian farmers and dairy producers. However, due to persistent pressure from the Congress Party and farmer organisations, Prime Minister Modi had to back down at the last moment," he added. He further took a jibe, saying, "Now, hurt and subdued by Trump's attacks, PM Modi is trying to present himself as the greatest champion of Indian farmers, but no one is under any illusion about this." On Thursday, in a message against the tariffs imposed by the United States, Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserted that farmers remain India's top priority and that the country would never compromise their interests. "For us, the interest of our farmers is our top priority. India will never compromise on the interests of farmers, fishermen and dairy farmers. I know we will have to pay a heavy price for it, and I am ready for it. India is ready for it," PM Modi said while addressing the MS Swaminathan Centenary International Conference. His remarks come amid the Trump administration doubling the tariff imposition to 50 per cent on goods from India. During trade negotiations, the United States was pushing for greater access to India's agricultural market, especially for corn, soybeans, and cotton. However, India has so far resisted the opening of the agricultural sector and dairy products due to concerns about domestic livelihoods and potential impacts on farmers. (ANI) Ahead of Union Home Minister Amit Shah's visit today, preparations are in full swing at 'Punaura Dham Temple' in Bihar's Sitamarhi district. Union Home Minister Amit Shah will lay the foundation stone for the redevelopment of Janaki Mandir in Punaura Dham, the birthplace of Maa Sita, later today. On Thursday, In a post on X, Shah said, "Tomorrow (August 8) is an extremely auspicious and joyous day for the entire country, and especially for Mithilanchal, when the foundation stone for the comprehensive development plan of the sacred 'Punaura Dham Temple' and its premises will be laid at the birthplace of Mother Sita in Sitamarhi, Bihar" "Additionally, to enhance connectivity for the devotees visiting here, PM Shri @narendramodi ji has approved the Sitamarhi-Delhi Amrit Bharat Train, which will be inaugurated tomorrow," the post added. Speaking to reporters, Union Minister Giriraj Singh said, "Last year on the land of Sitamarhi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that as the Ram temple has been constructed, now the temple of Sita Mata will be built. Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Bihar CM Nitish Kumar will perform the Bhoomi Pujan of the temple. This is historic." Union Minister Chirag Paswan also welcomed the move and lauded the upcoming foundation stone-laying ceremony of the Maa Janaki Temple at Punaura Dham in Bihar's Sitamarhi district, describing the initiative as a fulfilment of a long-cherished dream and a key step towards boosting religious tourism in the state. "It has been a wish of every Bihari for a long time...We resolved to fulfil this dream of ours through 'Bihar First, Bihari First' and every other available platform. I have always expressed the desire for a grand temple of Mata Sita to be built," Paswan told reporters. Paswan further said, "It will also boost Bihar's economic development. I have said this many times that there are unlimited opportunities for religious tourism in Bihar...UP is one such example. After the construction of the Shri Ram temple in Ayodhya, the whole region became self-reliant. I believe it is a historic step to increase the revenue generation in Bihar." (ANI) The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday asked Congress MP Rahul Gandhi to sign the declaration by Chief Electoral Officers of Maharashtra and Karnataka or apologise for his "absurd" allegations, sources said. ECI sources said, "If Rahul Gandhi believes in his analysis and believes that his allegations against ECI are true, he should have no problem in signing the Declaration." ECI asked Rahul Gandhi to apologise if he does not sign the affidavits. "If Rahul Gandhi does not sign the Declaration, it would mean that he does not believe in his analysis and resultant conclusions and absurd allegations. In which case, he should apologise to the nation. Therefore, he has two options: Either sign the Declaration or apologise to the Nation for raising absurd allegations against ECI," sources said. This comes after Rahul Gandhi claimed 1,00,250 "fake votes" in the Mahadevapura Assembly segment in the Bangalore Central Lok Sabha constituency in Karnataka to ensure a win for the BJP. The Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) responded in a strongly worded letter asking him to sign an affidavit. "It is understood that during a Press Conference held today, you had mentioned about the inclusion of ineligible electors and exclusion of eligible electors in the Electoral Rolls cited at Para 3. You are kindly requested to sign and return the enclosed Declaration/Oath under Rule 20(3)(b) of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, along with the name(s) of such elector(s) so that necessary proceedings can be initiated..." the letter stated. On Gandhi's allegations of "voter fraud" in the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly elections, the state's Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) asked him to submit a sworn affidavit and provide specific evidence. "It is understood that during a Press Conference held today, you had mentioned about the inclusion of ineligible electors and exclusion of eligible electors in the Electoral Rolls...You are kindly requested to sign and return the enclosed Declaration/Oath along with the name(s) of such elector(s) so that necessary proceedings can be initiated," the CEO's letter to Rahul Gandhi said. The CEO also reiterated that the electoral rolls were "prepared in a transparent manner," and noted that both the draft and final electoral rolls were shared with the Congress in August and September 2024. "The electoral rolls were shared in August 2024 and September 2024, and the party did not file any appeals during that time," the CEO added. (ANI) In a statement issued by DHCBA President, Senior Advocate N Hariharan, the association conveyed its solidarity with those impacted, particularly in light of the tragic events in Uttarkashi, Uttarakhand, earlier this week. On August 5, a massive flash flood struck Uttarkashi district following a cloudburst, leaving at least five people dead and over 50 missing. Dharali village, located on the pilgrim route to Gangotri Dham, suffered extensive destruction. Connectivity to the region was severely disrupted, with the Char Dham Yatra also affected due to rain-triggered landslides and flooding. The Indian Army has been providing medical assistance to the injured at its facility in Harsil. "The Delhi High Court Bar Association is deeply saddened by the devastating floods and landslides that have ravaged several states, including Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, and Bihar. Our thoughts and prayers are with the people and communities affected by this calamity," Hariharan said in the statement. The association has urged all its members, as well as the wider legal fraternity in Delhi, to extend support for relief efforts. "Your generosity and support will go a long way in alleviating the suffering of those affected," the statement added. Relief operations are ongoing in the affected regions, with rescue teams racing against time to locate missing persons and restore essential connectivity. (ANI) Delhi's Tis Hazari court has granted bail to the prime accused in the alleged fatal assault of a 65-year-old person in West Punjabi Bagh, nearly five years after the incident. The accused had been in judicial custody since September 26, 2020, facing charges of murder, attempted murder, dacoity, criminal conspiracy, and other offences under the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The case stems from an incident on the night of September 25-26, 2020, when Jagdish (Deceased) returned home after walking a stray dog and was allegedly attacked by Sonu (Accused), his friend, and others. Jagdish's wife and children sustained injuries while trying to protect him. He was taken to Acharya Bhikshu Hospital and later shifted to RML Hospital, where he died the same evening. Appearing for the accused, Advocate Ravi Drall argued that the accused had already spent nearly five years in custody, with no further investigation pending. All key eyewitnesses, including the victim's wife and daughter, had been examined. The defence claimed that the police had failed to establish any motive for the crime and had falsely implicated Sonu and others. Drall further alleged that the police concealed a crucial fact -- an earlier assault on Jagdish by one Rakesh Pradhan about six hours before the alleged incident, which could have caused the injuries leading to his death. Sessions Judge Nipun Awasthi, while passing judgement last week, noted significant lapses in the investigation. The Investigating Officers admitted that they had not recorded Jagdish's statement during his stay at Acharya Bhikshu Hospital between 1:40 a.m. and the morning of September 26, 2020. The judge remarked that this failure was "imprudent, indifferent, malicious or motivated, but not reasonable." The court also noted that the statement of the victim's wife, who was injured in the incident, was not recorded during that period, with no explanation given for the delay. Taking into account the nearly five years Sonu had spent in custody, the completion of key witness examinations, and the anomalies in the investigation, the court ruled that his continued detention was unwarranted for the purposes of investigation or trial. (ANI) The Delhi Police has rejected all the claims of a communal angle in the actor Huma Qureshi's cousin, Asif Qureshi, who was murdered in Delhi following a dispute over parking in the Bhogal area and has noted that the incident was the result of issues between the neighbours. Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) South East, Hemant Tiwari, said to ANI, "Last night at 11:35 pm, we received a PCR call from National Heart Institute East of Kailash. We were told that one Mohd Asif Qureshi, aged 45 years, was brought dead to the hospital after an altercation. Upon receiving information, our SHO and IO teams arrived at the hospital, while ACP and ADCP teams proceeded to the incident site. The deceased and the accused are neighbours." DCP Tiwari recounted the events of last night and added, "Last night around 10:30 pm, one accused Ujjwal, who had returned from his music class, parked his scooty in front of the victim's house, to which the victim objected, after which they got into an altercation. Ujjwal's brother Gautam also came downstairs, and one of them attacked the victim with a sharp poker. The victim fainted. He was taken to the hospital,l where he was declared dead. The two accused have been arrested, and the murder weapon has been seized... The victim owns a butcher's house in the East district..." Discarding the claims made by the victim's wife, the SHO said, "There is no communal angle to the incident, it is just an issue between two neighbours which led to the incident..." Earlier, Shaina, the deceased's wife, alleged that the murder of his husband, Asif Qureshi, was pre-planned, highlighting that the whole conflict was religion-based and the accused had a problem with them staying in a Hindu area. She said, "Asif was a Muslim boy, and all the other residents here are Hindus. They (both the accused) had a problem with how he is so friendly with the Hindus. Why do they speak well of him? This was the whole issue. We do not even talk to them." She also alleged that the accused's younger sibling had a criminal record and is involved in nefarious activities. She said, "Their younger child is involved in theft and does drugs. He has a criminal record. The elder brother is also like him and supports him." She further added, "They attacked purposefully. If there is a fight, you can say what you have to. His sister is abusing me and Asif as well. She did not stop her brothers. This was a pre-planned murder. The girl kept saying 'maro maro' (beat them)." Bollywood actor Huma Qureshi's cousin, Asif Qureshi, was murdered in Delhi following an altercation over parking a scooter. The two accused in the case have been apprehended, Delhi Police said on Friday. According to a statement by Delhi Police, Asif Qureshi, son of Ilyas Qureshi and resident of Bhogal, Jangpura, aged 42 years, was murdered on August 7 at around 10:30 pm following an altercation with the accused over the issue of parking of a scooter belonging to the accused. During the altercation, one of the accused attacked the victim with a sharp pointed object (poker) on the chest, which resulted in the death of the victim. Police on Friday registered an FIR Number 233/25 under Sections 103(1)/3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). The accused, identified as Ujjwal, aged 19 years, and Gautam, aged 18 years, have been apprehended, according to the Delhi Police. (ANI) In line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's call for students to "spend one day as a scientist", the Department of Health Research (DHR) and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) organized a nationwide open day titled S.H.I.N.E. - Science, Health and Innovation for Nextgen Explorers across its institutes and DHR- Model Rural Health Research Units (MRHRUs) on August 7-8. The event welcomed 13,150 students in grades 9-12, drawing participants from over 300 schools across 39 districts in 16 states and union territories to various ICMR institutes. The initiative aimed to introduce students to the field of health and biomedical research, highlight ICMR's contributions to improving the nation's health, and motivate young learners to pursue careers in science and public health, supporting India's journey towards Viksit Bharat by 2047. Speaking on the occasion, Rajiv Bahl, Secretary, DHR & Director General, ICMR stated, "This is a unique initiative of ICMR to ignite scientific curiosity, foster innovation and inspire the next generation of health researchers." He emphasised the importance of scientific temper, innovation, and youth engagement in shaping the future of Indian research and healthcare. "Today is not just a visit, it's an invitation to step into the shoes of a scientist," Dr Bahl said while addressing the students. "We want you to observe, question, and experience firsthand the spirit of scientific inquiry. Engage with our scientists, explore the labs, and witness the strides India has made in medical and health research. This is how we shape a Viksit Bharat -- through curiosity, evidence, and ambition," he added. The programme included a range of interactive activities such as guided laboratory tours, research exhibitions, poster walks, video presentations, and live demonstrations of ongoing scientific work. The students also had the opportunity to interact with ICMR scientists, gaining insights into their research journeys, areas of expertise, and everyday work in public health. To make the experience more engaging, a mascot named Dr. Curio was introduced as a friendly and relatable guide for the students throughout the day. In addition, students viewed four specially curated short films highlighting ICMR's key initiatives: the development of Covaxin-India's indigenous Vaccine, the iDRONE initiative for innovative healthcare delivery, India's TB elimination efforts, and Vishanu Yudh Abhyas - a nationwide mock drill to assess future pandemic preparedness. Notably, the 8th of August also marked the 104th birth anniversary of Dr. Vulimiri Ramalingaswami, a distinguished Indian medical scientist, pathologist, medical writer, and Director General of ICMR. His legacy continues to inspire generations of researchers and adds significance to the occasion. Through the S.H.I.N.E. initiative, ICMR reaffirmed its commitment to fostering scientific curiosity among young learners and promoting awareness of the vital role of research in advancing public health. (ANI) Amid political chaos over the allegations of "vote theft" against the Election Commission (EC), Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) or NCP SP MLA Rohit Pawar on Friday said that people are thinking that the EC is an extended department of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). "With proof, Rahul Gandhi highlighted a lot of things about the Election Commission yesterday, and people are now thinking that the Election Commission is an extended department of the BJP," Pawar told reporters here. The NCP SP MLA said that many people had raised objections to the election process following the results of the 2024 Maharashtra assembly elections. Pawar claimed that those who were elected as MLAs were also "surprised" by the results of the assembly elections. "We saw how people were celebrating during the results of the Lok Sabha elections, while no one came out during the Maharashtra Assembly elections. Those who were elected were also surprised. Somewhere, many people had raised objections to the election process. This was in people's minds," he added. Doubling down on his 'vote theft' claim, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi today said that times would change and punishment would surely be meted out to those who were involved in the "scam". "Vote theft is not just an electoral scam; it is a major betrayal committed against the Constitution and democracy. Let the nation's culprits hear this - times will change, punishment will surely be meted out," Rahul Gandhi said in a post on X. Gandhi earlier said that 1,00,250 "fake votes" were created in the Mahadevapura Assembly segment in the Bangalore Central Lok Sabha constituency in Karnataka to ensure a win for the BJP. Taking the reporters through a detailed presentation of the 'fraud' at the Congress headquarters in Delhi, the LoP alleged that "collusion" had happened between the Election Commission of India and the BJP, which resulted in Prime Minister Narendra Modi securing his third term. "Narendra Modi became Prime Minister with just a margin of 25 seats...Election Commission is helping BJP destroy the electoral system in India...The Election Commission is not giving us the data because of what we did in Mahadevpur (Karnataka Assembly constituency); if we do it in other Lok Sabha seats, then the truth about our democracy will come out. This is the evidence, criminal evidence (pointing to the physical voter list)," Rahul Gandhi said. The Congress leader further alleged that the poll body is "destroying evidence" through the directive on only preserving CCTV and webcasting footage of the election process for only 45 days after the whole process is completed, unless the election result is challenged in court. Taking cognisance of Gandhi's allegations of voter roll manipulations in a Karnataka Assembly segment, the State Chief Electoral Officer asked him to submit his evidence under oath. On his allegations of "voter fraud" in the 2024 Maharashtra Assembly elections, the state's Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) has also asked the Leader of Opposition to submit a sworn affidavit and provide specific evidence of alleged inclusion or deletion of electors from the voter rolls. (ANI) Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday launched a scathing attack against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), alleging "vote theft". Addressing the Congress' 'Vote Adhikar Rally' in Bengaluru's Freedom Park, Mallikarjun Kharge claimed that the party had lost the 2019 General Elections due to 'fake votes'. "The current government is a government of theft. Modi is making this country cry with bogus votes. I had said this in 2019. In my entire life, I lost in the 2019 elections, I also lost because of bogus votes, which has now come to light," Kharge said. Reiterating Rahul Gandhi's "vote theft" claim in Mahadevapura in Bengaluru Central, Kharge claimed that the Election Commission works at the behest of PM Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah. He said, "In the elections held in Bengaluru, a legislative assembly has verified 6,60,000 votes. The last election was a betrayal election. Modi's attempt is that even if people do not vote, Modi and Amit Shah order the Election Commission to decide where to vote less and where to vote more. PM Modi has already intimidated the Congress and other parties and gained a majority." He said that the BJP won the Maharashtra and Karnataka Assembly polls and the 2024 Lok Sabha elections illegitimately. "Earlier in Maharashtra, and in Karnataka, he has continued the same trick. Modi and company did not win the 2024 elections," he said. He added that the INDIA bloc MPs will march to the Election Commission's office in Delhi on August 11. "This government will not survive, we will make you shunned by the people. Not just to bring them down, we will teach them a lesson; they are ruining our country with bad economic policies. On Monday, all the MPs will walk to the Election Commission and appeal to the Commission in Delhi. We have called a meeting of the INDIA alliance leaders. We should all be united; otherwise, PM Modi would have come to power like this," Kharge stated. Recalling Mahatma Gandhi's famous speech during the Quit India Movement, Kharge said, "Do or die to protect the Constitution." The Congress leader said, "At that time, they did Quit India on August 9. In the same way, we are going to do or die to protect the Constitution. I thank Rahul Gandhi. He is working to create awareness among the people. He is ready for anything. Even though he has 40-50 cases against him, he is continuing his good work." Addressing the rally, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, demanded that the EC provide immediately the voter lists and video recordings from the last 10 years. "BJP's ideology is against the Constitution of India. Every Congress leader and worker will protect it...Election Commission of India should give us the voter lists and video recordings from the last 10 years, immediately," Rahul Gandhi said. He said that in yesterday's press conference, he had proved 100 per cent that the Election Commission and the BJP have committed theft of votes. He said that a poll in Karnataka had indicated that the Congress would get 15-16 seats in the last Lok Sabha election. "According to our polling, we were ahead in 16 seats. But we only won 9 seats, after which we started asking whether we really lost those seats. We sought help from the Election Commission. We asked for the voter list and CCTV footage, but they didn't help us at all. Then they changed the law regarding providing videos," he said. "We have protected the Constitution of India. The voices of Ambedkarji, Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Sardar Patel echo in the Constitution of India. Basavana, Narayana Guru and Phule Ji voices echo from it. Our Constitution of India gives the right to every person to vote," Rahul Gandhi said. (ANI) Union Minister Bhupender Yadav on Friday took a sharp jab at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for making serious allegations against the Election Commission of India (ECI), accusing the Leader of Opposition of the Lok Sabha of spreading misinformation and targeting constitutional bodies. Yadav's remarks came a day after Gandhi alleged large-scale voter manipulation in Karnataka's Mahadevapura constituency and claimed the 2024 Lok Sabha elections were "choreographed" to favour the BJP. Bhupendra Yadav questioned the credibility of Gandhi's claims and the Congress leader's tone against officials. "His foundational statement yesterday was that there has been an addition of 1 crore voters in Maharashtra... According to the ECI, there was an increase of only 40 lakh voters. This is straight-up 60% less than what Rahul Gandhi said", he said. Yadav further pointed out the coincidence, saying, "In Maharashtra, they have won most of their seats in places where the votes have increased" Condemning Gandhi, Yadav also accused him of using intimidating language directed at ECI officials. "For the last many days, our LoP Rahul Gandhi talked about releasing an atom bomb... If truth be told, the aggression in the language spoken by Congress's 'yuvraj' and the country's LoP was for Election Commission officials. He said, "When we come to power, there will be consequences for Election Commission officers, big and small." Does such language used by the LoP against government employees suit the position he holds? If someone attacks the valour of our forces, it is Rahul Gandhi. They never miss out on criticising the remarks of the Supreme Court", he said. The remarks came in response to a press conference held by Rahul Gandhi on August 7, where he claimed that the 2024 Lok Sabha elections were "choreographed" by the EC to benefit the BJP, which he said appeared "immune to anti-incumbency." Citing internal analysis, Gandhi said the Congress expected to win 16 seats in Karnataka but ended up with only nine. He said the Congress investigated seven unexpected losses, zeroing in on Mahadevapura, where he alleged vote theft involving 1,00,250 votes. Presenting Congress' research on voting in the Mahadevapura Assembly in Karnataka, Rahul Gandhi alleged "vote chori" (vote theft) of 1,00,250 votes. "Our internal polling told us we would win 16 seats in Karnataka; we won nine. We then focused on seven unexpected losses. We focused on Mahadevapur...All data is 2024 data from the Election Commission; the total votes polled in the Lok Sabha were 6.26 lakhs. The BJP won with 6,58,915, securing a margin of 32,707. But then we look at Mahadevapura, where Congress polls 1,15,586 and BJP polls 2,29,632. Congress wins all Vidhan Sabhas but this one," the Congress leader said. "We found 1,00,250 votes stolen. Stolen in five different ways. Duplicate voters, fake and invalid addresses, and bulk voters in a single address, on a building with 50-60 people living. But when we go there, no record of those people living there. One family living in that house," he added. (ANI) PHOENIX, Aug. 8, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- PetSmart LLC ("PetSmart") announced today that, together with its wholly-owned subsidiary, PetSmart Finance Corp. (the "Co-Issuer" and, together with PetSmart, the "Issuers"), it has priced an offering (the "Offering") of $1,950 million aggregate principal amount of 7.500% senior first lien notes due 2032 (the "Secured Notes") and $750 million aggregate principal amount of 10.000% senior notes due 2033 (the "Unsecured Notes" and, together with the Secured Notes, the "Notes") in a private offering. The Secured Notes will mature on Sept. 15, 2032, and the Unsecured Notes will mature on Sept. 15, 2033. The Notes were offered at a price of 100.00% of the aggregate principal amount. The sale of the Notes is expected to close on or about Aug. 18, 2025, subject to customary closing conditions. The Secured Notes will be senior secured obligations of the Issuers and will be guaranteed by certain of their wholly-owned domestic restricted subsidiaries. The Unsecured Notes will be senior unsecured obligations of the Issuers and will be guaranteed by certain of their wholly-owned domestic restricted subsidiaries. In addition, an affiliate of PetSmart will guarantee the Notes and pledge a number of shares (the "Pledged Chewy Stock") of Class B common stock of Chewy, Inc. ("Chewy") to secure to Secured Notes. The shares of Pledged Chewy Stock are convertible into an equivalent number of shares of Chewy's Class A common stock and had a market value of approximately $1.4 billion as of Aug. 7, 2025, assuming conversion of all outstanding Pledged Chewy Stock into an equivalent number of shares of Chewy's Class A common stock and based on the closing price of Chewy's Class A common stock on the New York Stock Exchange of $35.80 on Aug. 7, 2025. The Issuers intend to use the proceeds of the Offering, together with cash on hand and borrowings under PetSmart's $2,000 million amended and restated term loan facility (the "Amended Term Loan Facility" and, together with the Offering, the "Refinancing Transactions"), to fund the early redemption, repurchase or repayment (including satisfaction and discharge) in full of outstanding debt under PetSmart's existing term loan (the "Existing Term Loan"), 4.75% senior first lien notes due 2028 (the "Existing Secured Notes") and 7.75% senior notes due 2029 (the "Existing Unsecured Notes" and, together with the Existing Secured Notes, the "Existing Notes") and to pay related fees, costs, premiums, expenses and accrued interest in connection therewith. This press release shall not constitute a notice of redemption with respect to any series of Existing Notes or a notice of repayment with respect to the Existing Term Loan, and any redemption of our Existing Notes or repayment of our Existing Term Loan will be made in accordance with the terms and conditions of the relevant indenture governing the Existing Notes and the credit agreement governing the Existing Term Loan, as applicable. The Notes and related guarantees are being offered only to persons reasonably believed to be qualified purchasers (as defined in Section 2(a)(51) of the Investment Company Act and the rules thereunder) who are also reasonably believed to be qualified institutional buyers in reliance on Rule 144A under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"). This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy the Notes and related guarantees. Any offers of the Notes and related guarantees will be made only by means of a private offering memorandum. The Notes and related guarantees have not been registered under the Securities Act, or the securities laws of any other jurisdiction, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from registration requirements. CAUTIONARY STATEMENT ABOUT FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS Certain statements included in this press release (including statements related to the proposed Refinancing Transactions above and the use of proceeds therefrom) may be considered "forward-looking" statements," which are based on information available to PetSmart on the date of this release. We have attempted to identify forward-looking statements by words such as "anticipate," "believe," "can," "continue," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "plan," "potential," "predict," "should" or other comparable terminology. However, such terminology is not the exclusive means of identifying forward-looking statements and its absence does not mean that the statement is not forward-looking. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which are based on currently available information and management's current expectations and beliefs about future events or future financial performance. Actual results may differ materially from the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Although we believe the expectations and beliefs reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, such statements speak only as of the date of this press release, and we do not undertake any obligation to update or revise, publicly or otherwise, any of the forward-looking statements after such date unless required by law. ABOUT PETSMART PetSmart is the leading omni-channel pet retailer in North America with a mission to help everyone experience more joy with pets. The company offers a compelling assortment of pet care essentials, exclusive brands and must-have items for each season, along with expert pet services. With nearly 1,700 stores across the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico plus a seamless shopping experience at PetSmart.com and through the PetSmart app PetSmart's convenient shopping options are complete with autoship, same-day delivery and in-store pickup. Expert services include a professional grooming salon in every store, veterinary care in more than 700 locations, pet training, and Doggie Day Camp and PetsHotel overnight boarding in many locations. The PetSmart Treats Rewards loyalty program provides value to pet parents through personalized offers and points on every purchase that can be used for future savings. PetSmart and PetSmart Charities have a long-standing commitment to supporting pets and people in the communities they serve, and PetSmart Charities is the largest funder of animal welfare in North America. Together, they are proud to have helped more than 11 million pets find loving homes through in-store pet adoption programs. For more information, visit PetSmart.com . SOURCE PetSmart The injured personnel are attached to the 209 CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action) unit-- a specialised elite force of the CRPF trained to tackle guerrilla warfare, jungle warfare, and insurgency operations, particularly in Left Wing Extremism (LWE) or Naxal-affected areas like Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Bihar, and Maharashtra. According to officials, the CRPF personnel sustained injuries around 11 am during a joint operation being conducted by troops of the 209 CoBRA unit and state police when the blast occurred. "Immediate evacuation efforts were initiated, with both injured personnel being moved on foot to the Digha camp. From there, they are scheduled to be airlifted by helicopter for further medical treatment," the officials said. Officials confirmed that both injured personnel are currently in stable condition. (ANI) The Enumeration Forms for 7.24 crore electors were collected out of about eight crore forms distributed and downloaded during the Enumeration Phase of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voter list in Bihar, the Election Commission of India (ECI) said in a press release on Friday. Giving the reasoning behind the gap between the forms distributed and collected, the ECI stated, "BLO did not find these electors or did not get back their Enumeration Forms because they: Became electors in other States/UTs, or were not found in existence, or did not submit the form till 25 July, or were not willing to register as an elector for some reason or other (Para iv of Enumeration Form at Page 17 of SIR order refers)." The ECI released the cumulative data for the forms distributed, downloaded, collected, and digitised. The press release also shared the graphical data for the Enumeration Forms distributed, collected and digitised daily. According to ECI's graph, the gap of 65 lakh electors is attributed to 22 lakh deceased individuals, 36 lakh who have either permanently shifted from Bihar or were not found, and the remaining 7 lakh who were enrolled in multiple places. According to the press note, the objective of SIR is to ensure that no eligible elector is left behind and no ineligible elector gets included. Any genuine electors can still be added back in the electoral rolls during the Claims and Objections period from 1st August to 1st September 2025. Earlier today, ECI reiterated that no claim or objection has been submitted by any political party regarding the draft electoral rolls in Bihar. It has been over a week since the EC asked to submit claims and objections to rectify any errors in the draft electoral roll of Bihar, which was published on August 1. The Election Commission has been repeatedly asserting that no eligible elector will be left out and no ineligible elector will be included in the final electoral roll of Bihar. However, the EC has received 6,257 claims and objections directly from the electors with respect to the draft roll till today, said the ECI in a daily bulletin on the special intensive revision (SIR) of the electoral roll in Bihar. (ANI) Responding to the tariffs on India imposed by the United States, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Friday said, that India must also safeguard its own interests. "What is happening is concerning. A country with which we had close relations, and we were working as strategic partners. If that country has changed its behaviour, then India will have to think about many things...Perhaps in the coming two to three weeks, we can hold talks and find a way out. India will also have to look after its own interests...".Tharoor said. Tharoor had yesterday said that India should also raise tariffs on American goods to 50 per cent in response to the US imposing an additional 25 per cent duty on Indian exports. Tharoor questioned why India should stop at the current 17 per cent tariff and emphasised that the country should not be intimidated by such actions. He also said that no country should be allowed to threaten India in this manner. Addressing reporters here, Tharoor said, "It will definitely have an impact because we have a trade of $90 billion with them, and if everything becomes 50 per cent more expensive, buyers will also think why should they buy Indian things?... If they do this, we should also impose a 50 per cent tariff on American exports... It is not that any country can threaten us like this...". "Our average tariffs on American goods are 17 per cent. Why should we stop at 17 per cent? We should also raise it to 50 per cent... We need to ask them, do they not value our relationship? If India doesn't matter to them, they should also not matter to us," Tharoor said. On Wednesday, US President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order imposing an additional 25 per cent tariff on imports from India. Trump cited matters of national security and foreign policy concerns, as well as other relevant trade laws, for the increase, claiming that India's imports of Russian oil, directly or indirectly, pose an "unusual and extraordinary threat" to the United States. Terming the United States' move to impose additional tariffs on India over its oil imports from Russia as "unfair, unjustified and unreasonable," the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) declared that New Delhi will take "all actions necessary to protect its national interests. (ANI) BJP leaders have launched a counterattack on Rahul Gandhi after he accused the Election Commission of manipulating the 2024 Lok Sabha polls in BJP's favour. BJP MPs Ravi Kishan and Rajiv Pratap Rudy, along with Shiv Sena's Naresh Mhaske, dismissed Gandhi's claims of "vote theft" in Karnataka's Mahadevapura constituency and accused him of disrespecting the constitution and democracy. BJP MP Ravi Kishan suggested that Rahul Gandhi should look into history. "... If you look at history, there are many proofs in the past as well, when entire booths would be captured when Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister. Wherever, in whichever state they have won, they have no complaints over there. But wherever they lose, they start cribbing and crying... Had we been using unfair means, we would have won all states and all seats... They should first give an answer as to why they don't question anything when they win... You are raising questions about the voters, the electoral process, the constitution, and democracy," Ravi Kishan told ANI. Rajiv Pratap Rudy also slammed the Congress leader's inconsistent stance and said, "I dont understand, sometimes he talks about fake voters, on other times he complains about removal of voters. What does he want?... The Election Commission has issued a notice on 1 August. He needs to go and tell the Election Commission about the voters who have been left out." Echoing similar sentiments, Shiv Sena MP Mhaske has accused the opposition of disrespecting the voters. ""This opposition only creates ruckus in the Parliament... The opposition is insulting the voters who sent them here." The remarks came in response to a press conference held by Rahul Gandhi on August 7, where he claimed that the 2024 Lok Sabha elections were "choreographed" by the EC to benefit the BJP, which he said appeared "immune to anti-incumbency." Citing internal analysis, Gandhi said the Congress expected to win 16 seats in Karnataka but ended up with only nine. He said the Congress investigated seven unexpected losses, zeroing in on Mahadevapura, where he alleged vote theft involving 1,00,250 votes. Presenting Congress's research on voting in the Mahadevapura Assembly in Karnataka, Rahul Gandhi alleged "vote chori" (vote theft) of 1,00,250 votes. "Our internal polling told us we would win 16 seats in Karnataka; we won nine. We then focused on seven unexpected losses. We focused on Mahadevapur...All data is 2024 data from the Election Commission; the total votes polled in the Lok Sabha were 6.26 lakhs. The BJP won with 6,58,915, securing a margin of 32,707. But then we look at Mahadevapura, where Congress polls 1,15,586 and BJP polls 2,29,632. Congress wins all Vidhan Sabhas but this one," the Congress leader said. "We found 1,00,250 votes stolen. Stolen in five different ways. Duplicate voters, fake and invalid addresses, and bulk voters in a single address, on a building with 50-60 people living. But when we go there, no record of those people living there. One family living in that house," he said. (ANI) Bhartiya Janta Party State President BY Vijayendra called Congress Leader and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi a "desperate leader" for his allegation over creating fake votes in Karnataka. Vijayendra said, "I feel pity for Rahul Gandhi. He is a desperate leader who has failed continuously to gain the confidence of the people of this country... Failed Rahul Gandhi has alleged malpractices and blamed the Election Commission..." Narrating a past incident, Vijayendra said, "When Manmohan Singh was in the Parliament, Mamata Banerjee raised the issue in the Parliament that thousands of illegal Bangladeshi migrants were added to the voter list in Bihar, for which she was suspended from the Parliament... Rahul Gandhi and Congress are following themselves." The remarks came in response to a press conference held by Rahul Gandhi on August 7, where he claimed that the 2024 Lok Sabha elections were "choreographed" by the EC to benefit the BJP, which he said appeared "immune to anti-incumbency." Citing internal analysis, Gandhi said the Congress expected to win 16 seats in Karnataka but ended up with only nine. He said the Congress investigated seven unexpected losses, zeroing in on Mahadevapura, where he alleged vote theft involving 1,00,250 votes. Presenting Congress' research on voting in the Mahadevapura Assembly in Karnataka, Rahul Gandhi alleged "vote chori" (vote theft) of 1,00,250 votes. "Our internal polling told us we would win 16 seats in Karnataka; we won nine. We then focused on seven unexpected losses. We focused on Mahadevapur...All data is 2024 data from the Election Commission; the total votes polled in the Lok Sabha were 6.26 lakhs. The BJP won with 6,58,915, securing a margin of 32,707. But then we look at Mahadevapura, where Congress polls 1,15,586 and BJP polls 2,29,632. Congress wins all Vidhan Sabhas but this one," the Congress leader said. "We found 1,00,250 votes stolen. Stolen in five different ways. Duplicate voters, fake and invalid addresses, and bulk voters in a single address, on a building with 50-60 people living. But when we go there, no record of those people living there. One family living in that house," he added. (ANI) The Supreme Court on Friday said it will pass an order to suspend the operation of the Committee under the Uttar Pradesh Shri Bankey Bihari Ji Temple Trust Ordinance, 2025, which has been vested with the management of the Bankey Bihari temple in Vrindavan, Mathura. A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi also said that it will refer the matter to the Allahabad High Court to challenge the constitutional validity of the Ordinance. Till the High Court decides the matter, the Committee will be kept in abeyance, it said. It further said that in the meantime, to ensure the smooth administration of the temple, the apex court will constitute another Committee, which will be headed by a former Judge of the High Court. The Committee will also have certain government officers and the representatives of the Goswamis, who are the traditional caretakers of the temple, said the bench. The bench also orally proposed to recall the directions in the May 15 judgment, which allowed the government to use the temple funds for the corridor. Stating that the apex court will try to upload the order by tomorrow, it said, "We will grant you liberty to challenge the Ordinance before the High Court. The constitution of the Committee as per the Ordinance will be kept in abeyance so that the Ordinance is not given effect till the matter is decided by the High Court... In the interregnum, we will constitute a Committee headed by a former judge of the High Court... The Committee will see to developmental activities in the area." The apex court was also hearing a petition filed by Devendra Nath Goswami seeking the modification of its order permitting the Uttar Pradesh government to utilise funds from the Shri Banke Bihari Temple in Vrindavan to purchase five acres of land around the temple for corridor development. Earlier, the top court had questioned Uttar Pradesh over its "tearing hurry" in promulgating the Shri Bankey Bihari Temple Trust Ordinance, 2025, for taking over the management of the temple. The 2025 UP Ordinance is stated to vest the temple administration with a statutory trust. According to it, the management of the temple and the responsibility of facilities for the devotees shall be handled by the 'Shri Banke Bihari Ji Mandir Nyas'. As per Ordinance, 11 trustees shall be nominated, a maximum of 7 members can be ex-officio, and government and non-government members shall be followers of Sanatan Dharma. It had slammed the Uttar Pradesh government for "hijacking" the litigation between two private parties over management of the Shri Banke Bihari temple. Goswami has said that he was a "lineal descendant" of the temple's founder Swami Hari Das Goswami and his family had been managing the affairs of the sacred temple for the last 500 years. The plea said he was actively involved in managing the temple's daily religious and administrative affairs. Filing the plea, he said the implementation of the proposed redevelopment project was practically unfeasible, and any attempt to redevelop the temple premises without the involvement and inputs of those who were historically and operationally associated with the temple's functioning was likely to result in administrative chaos. On May 15, the top court had permitted the state to use the Trust's fund and also allowed the use of Sri Banke Bihari Temple Trust's fixed deposits after taking into note the state government's Rs. 500 crore development plan for the corridor. The apex court had modified the order of the Allahabad High Court, which had prohibited the purchase of land around the temple using its funds. The top court had taken into note the records placed by the government regarding the proposed scheme for the development of the temple. The apex court's approval of the state government's development plan for the Shri Banke Bihari Temple Corridor had come particularly in light of incidents such as the 2022 stampede at the Banke Bihari Temple. The top court had also taken note of maladministration in temples in the Braj region and emphasised that effective temple governance is not only a legal requirement but also a matter of public and spiritual welfare. (ANI) The Supreme Court on Friday ordered a trial court in Karnataka to reconsider a petition by the Dharmasthala Temple secretary seeking to block the publication of allegedly defamatory reports related to the Dharmasthala mass burials case. A bench of Justices Rajesh Bindal and Manmohan questioned whether a media gag was required in the matter. "We direct the trial court to decide the application within two weeks from the next day of hearing. Any observations made by the High Court shall not influence the trial court while entertaining the application for stay afresh," the apex court ordered. Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing the temple administration, contended that day after day, news channels and social media were running defamatory reports and showed the court posts of allegedly defamatory internet memes. The apex court was hearing plea of Harshendra Kumar D, Secretary of the Dharmasthala Temple body, challenging a recent order of the Karnataka High Court quashing a media gag on reportage surrounding the controversial Dharmasthala mass burial case. On August 1, the High Court had set aside an earlier gag order issued by a Bengaluru civil court restraining reportage on the burial case. He approached the top court seeking the removal of alleged defamatory content targeting the family that manages the temple. On July 23, the top court had declined to hear a petition filed by YouTube channel Third Eye challenging a sweeping gag order that restrained media houses from reporting on matters related to the brother of Dharamadhikari D Veerendra Heggade of Dharamsthala in Karnataka. The gag order was passed on reports on the alleged murders of women in Dharmasthala in the state's Dakshina Kannada district. The YouTube channel had questioned the legality of the order, which directed as many as 390 media houses to remove nearly 9,000 links and stories related to the Dharamsthala burial case. The gag order was passed by the local court in Kumar's defamation suit alleging the spread of false and defamatory online content, despite the absence of specific allegations against him or the temple authorities in any FIR. The state government has constituted a special investigation team to probe the allegations. A former sanitation worker employed at the Dharmasthala Manjunathaswamy Temple had claimed in a police complaint that he had been forced by his supervisors to bury numerous bodies, including those of women, for nearly two decades. He did not name any specific individuals as accused of a crime, but the revelations triggered significant public debate and media reportage. (ANI) Posting a status on social media X updated today on 2:30 pm, the Chamoli Police wrote, "The road is blocked since yesterday due to landslide near Bhanrepani on Badrinath National Highway. The work of opening the road by machines is going on a war footing." Meanwhile, the Uttarakhand government confirmed the evacuation of 566 people till noon today from Dharali and Harsil in the Uttarakashi district, where Tuesday's massive flash floods disrupted normal life. State authorities said that the evacuation of nearly 300 more stranded individuals is currently underway. The Indian Army is using dog squads, drones, and ground-penetrating radar for search and rescue operations in the area. Director General of Police (DGP) Deepam Seth is overseeing the ongoing rescue and relief measures in Uttarkashi. He reviewed the rescue operations by holding a meeting with the police officers in Matli and gave necessary instructions to everyone to speed up the relief and rescue operations. Earlier on Thursday, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) confirmed the usage of Cartosat- 2S data to assess the flash floods in Dharali and Harsil. High resolution images have revealed submerged buidlings, spread debris, and altered river paths whic are also an important information for the rescue teams on ground. https://x.com/isro/status/1953515056135909619 In a post on social media X, ISRO wrote "Satellite Insights Aiding Rescue & Relief Ops ISRO/NRSC used Cartosat-2S data to assess the devastating Aug 5 flash flood in Dharali & Harsil, Uttarakhand. High-res imagery reveals submerged buildings, debris spread (~20ha), & altered river paths, vital for rescue teams on ground." (ANI) Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday hit out at the Opposition parties for opposing the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voter list in Bihar, accusing them of indulging in vote bank politics. Shah alleged that the opposition parties were opposing the SIR because infiltrators form part of their vote bank. The Union Minister further asserted that this exercise is not happening for the first time, and former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru started it. Addressing a rally here, Shah said, "Elections are going to happen in Bihar. Before I came here, newspapers were filled with the question of whether SIR should be conducted or not. I am a BJP worker, but I want to ask people, should we not remove the immigrants from the voter list? Who does Lalu Prasad Yadav want to save? ... Do you want to save those Bangladeshis who come from outside and snatch jobs from the people of Bihar? ..." "Rahul Gandhi should stop this vote bank politics, and SIR is not happening for the first time. It was started by Jawaharlal Nehru and it happened in 2003 as well...They are finding reasons as they are going to lose the Bihar elections," he added. Taking aim at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Union Minister Shah stated, "Before the Bihar assembly elections, should the names of infiltrators be removed from the voter list or not? The Constitution of India does not give the right to vote to those who are not born in India. Rahul Gandhi is roaming around carrying the Constitution; he should also open it and read it... They are opposing SIR because infiltrators are their vote bank..." Amit Shah exuded confidence that the NDA will form its government in Bihar with a majority in the assembly elections. "...The NDA government will be formed in Bihar with a majority..." he said. The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar has sparked a political row, with the opposition INDIA bloc alleging that the revision process could lead to the deletion of a large number of voters. In Parliament, opposition parties have been demanding a discussion on the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in Bihar since the commencement of the monsoon session of Parliament. (ANI) Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Friday handed over appointment letters to 312 newly selected drawing teachers in a formal ceremony held in Shimla, posted in various schools of the State. On the occasion, he also gave a send-off to a group of five students from government schools who were embarking on an educational tour to Japan. These students would visit various academic institutions and historical sites across Japan. During the event, the Chief Minister launched several educational initiatives, including the student-centric news platform edsk Express, Baseline School Ranking Accreditation Report, Geo-tagged and Geo-fenced Smart 'Upsthiti' (attendance monitoring system) and the Vidya Samiksha Kendra. Congratulating the newly appointed teachers, the Chief Minister highlighted the significant progress that the state has made in education quality over the past two and a half years. He siad that "When the present congress government came to power, the state ranked 21st nationally in terms of quality education. Today, we have moved up to the 5th position". He noted that the survey also revealed Himachal Pradesh to be ranked second in class 3, fifth in class 6, and fourth in class 9 for its provision of quality education to students. The Chief Minister said that the teachers have made immense contributions in elevating the state's educational standing and emphasised the need to prepare for future challenges collaboratively. He said that the state government was seriously considering not retiring teachers in the middle of an academic session to avoid disruption in students' learning. CM Sukhu said that his government was committed to bringing revolutionary reforms in the education sector, with several initiatives already underway. "The previous government opened various schools for political gains, but our focus was to ensure that no child was deprived of education and that they receive quality instruction," he said. The government has already appointed 5,100 TGT (Trained Graduate Teacher) posts in medical, non-medical and arts streams. A rationalisation drive has also been initiated in schools where student-teacher ratios were imbalanced. The government was also establishing Rajiv Gandhi Day-Boarding Schools equipped with all subject-specialist teachers, for which recruitments would begin soon, he added. Referring to recruitment reforms, he stated that while the Himachal Pradesh Subordinate Services Selection Commission had been marred by paper leaks during the previous BJP government's tenure, the present government has taken strict measures to restore transparency. As a result, the outcomes for several post codes have been declared and on Friday, appointment letters were being issued to 312 drawing teachers. Highlighting developments in the health sector, the Chief Minister said, "The state was bringing in modern technologies similar to those used at AIIMS, despite financial constraints. Robotic surgeries were set to begin soon and outdated MRI, CT, and ultrasound machines were being replaced to facilitate the patients. Over the next six months, Chamyana hospital would be upgraded to match AIIMS-level healthcare facilities, followed by the phased upgradation of all medical colleges." He said that robotic surgeons would be offered packages of Rs 1 crore to attract top talent to the State. The Chief Minister reiterated the government's commitment to strengthening the rural economy. He said the state was offering Minimum Support Price (MSP) on naturally grown maize, wheat, turmeric and barley to empower farmers financially. Major investments were also being made in the tourism sector, including the construction of heliports and the expansion of Kangra Airport. CM Sukhu said the government was assertively fighting for Himachal's rights over water resources and has won key legal battles in the Supreme Court, including cases related to Wildflower Hall and JSW. "We engaged top legal experts and fought with full strength," he said, emphasising the government's focus on policy reforms and addressing inequality. Reaffirming the government's stand on the Old Pension Scheme (OPS), the Chief Minister said, "There was pressure to revert to the UPS, but we would not step back from OPS. We did not bring it back for political gains, but to ensure a dignified life for government employees post-retirement." He criticised opposition leaders for misleading people over the Job Trainee Policy, clarifying that trainees would be regularised after two years of service. Education Minister Rohit Thakur praised the Chief Minister's leadership and stated that the State was on the path to achieving 100 per cent literacy, although the journey has been challenging. "We are hill people and we are equipped to overcome tough conditions," he said. He attributed the rise in education rankings to the CM's vision and the relentless efforts of the education department staff. He said that earlier, fifth-grade students in government schools couldn't read first-grade textbooks. Now, as per the latest surveys, we're one of the top states. To preserve the state's cultural heritage, efforts were being made to promote local dialects in schools," he said. Earlier, Education Secretary Rakesh Kanwar welcomed the Chief Minister at the event and said that under his leadership, several reformative steps have been taken, yielding positive results. As a result of these efforts, the state has secured the fifth position in the country in terms of quality education. Director of Higher Education Dr Amarjeet Singh, Director of School Education Ashish Kohli, Samagra Shiksha Project Director Rajesh Sharma, Deputy Commissioner Anupam Kashyap and other dignitaries were present on the occasion. (ANI) Faruqi & Faruqi is a leading national securities law firm with offices in New York, Pennsylvania, California and Georgia. The firm has recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for investors since its founding in 1995. See www.faruqilaw.com. As detailed below, the complaint alleges that the Company and its executives violated federal securities laws by making false and/or misleading statements and/or failing to disclose (1) that Lockheed Martin lacked effective internal controls regarding its purportedly risk adjusted contracts including the reporting of its risk adjusted profit booking rate; (2) that Lockheed Martin lacked effective procedures to perform reasonably accurate comprehensive reviews of program requirements, technical complexities, schedule, and risks; (3) that Lockheed Martin overstated its ability to deliver on its contract commitments in terms of cost, quality and schedule; (4) that, as a result, the Company was reasonably likely to report significant losses; and (5) that, as a result of the foregoing, Defendants' positive statements about the Company's business, operations, and prospects were materially misleading and/or lacked a reasonable basis. On October 22, 2024, before the market opened, Lockheed Martin announced it was forced to recognize losses of $80 million on a classified program at the Company's Aeronautics business segment "due to higher than anticipated costs to achieve program objectives." The Company also announced it had recognized a reach-forward loss in its Rotary and Mission Systems segment "as a result of additional quantity ordering risk identified on fixed-price options." On this news, the Company's share price fell $37.63 or 6.12% to close at $576.98 on October 22, 2024, on unusually heavy trading volume. Then, on January 28, 2025, before the market opened, Lockheed Martin announced it was forced to record pre-tax losses of $1.7 billion associated with classified programs at its Aeronautics and Missiles and Fire Control business. The Company explained "as a result of performance trends" and "in contemplation of near-term program milestones," it had "performed a comprehensive review of the program requirements, technical complexities, schedule, and risks" based on which it recognized $555 million of losses in its Aeronautics program. The Company further reported additional losses of approximately $1.3 billion in its Missiles and Fire Control business due to, among other things, the "future requirements of the program, discussions with the customer and suppliers." As a result, the Company's net earnings in 2024 were $5.3 billion, or $22.31 per share, compared to $6.9 billion, or $27.55 per share, in 2023. On this news, the Company's share price fell $46.24 or 9.2% to close at $457.45 on January 28, 2025 on unusually heavy trading volume. Then, on July 22, 2025, before the market opened, Lockheed Martin disclosed it was forced to record an additional $1.6 billion in pre-tax losses on classified programs, including $950 million in losses related to its Aeronautics Classified program due to "design, integration, and test challenges, as well as other performance issues." The Company also recorded $570 million in losses on its Canadian Maritime Helicopter Program due in part to providing "additional mission capabilities, enhanced logistical support, fleet life extension, and revised expectations regarding flight hours." The Company further recorded a $95 million charge related to its Turkish Utility Helicopter Program due to the "current status of the program." As a result, the Company reported sharply lower net earnings of $342 million, or $1.46 per share, including $1.6 billion of program losses and $169 million of other charges. On this news, the Company's share price fell $49.79 or 10.8%, to close at $410.74 on July 22, 2025, on unusually heavy trading volume. The court-appointed lead plaintiff is the investor with the largest financial interest in the relief sought by the class who is adequate and typical of class members who directs and oversees the litigation on behalf of the putative class. Any member of the putative class may move the Court to serve as lead plaintiff through counsel of their choice, or may choose to do nothing and remain an absent class member. Your ability to share in any recovery is not affected by the decision to serve as a lead plaintiff or not. Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP also encourages anyone with information regarding Lockheed Martin's conduct to contact the firm, including whistleblowers, former employees, shareholders and others. To learn more about the Lockheed Martin class action, go to www.faruqilaw.com/LMT or call Faruqi & Faruqi partner Josh Wilson directly at 877-247-4292 or 212-983-9330 (Ext. 1310). Follow us for updates on LinkedIn, on X, or on Facebook. Attorney Advertising. The law firm responsible for this advertisement is Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP (www.faruqilaw.com). Prior results do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome with respect to any future matter. We welcome the opportunity to discuss your particular case. All communications will be treated in a confidential manner. SOURCE Faruqi & Faruqi, LLP Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said on Friday that the Congress high command will soon decide the new Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president and hinted that a cabinet reshuffle would follow. Addressing media persons in Shimla upon his return from Delhi, Sukhu said he had sent a letter to the party leadership urging that either a Scheduled Caste leader be considered for the post, or if a cabinet minister is to be chosen, their opinion should be sought first. "I have written a letter saying that anyone can be made Congress president -- either someone from the Scheduled Castes or, if a cabinet minister is interested, their view should be taken. For me, everyone is equal. The Congress will decide after consulting the high command," Sukhu said. "No name has been proposed from my side. I have only written that whoever is appointed will carry forward the Congress legacy. I have said it could be a person from the Scheduled Caste community, or a minister's opinion can also be fake if they want to be the state party chief," he added. Sukhu further said that the party high command has to decide whether a cabinet minister can hold the PCC chief's position while retaining their ministry. On cabinet changes, Sukhu said, "Based on the discussion in Delhi, a cabinet reshuffle will certainly happen. Everything will happen in due course. Even two to three months usually go into consultations. The name of the new PCC president will be announced soon." CM Sukhu announced that the Centre has cleared the Sanjauli heliport in Shimla. "I'm happy to share that our meeting in Delhi was fruitful. We've received permission for the Sanjauli heliport. We will soon start flights from Chamba to Chandigarh and Rampur to Chandigarh," he said. The Chief Minister also sought a special relief package and welcomed the BJP leaders visiting Delhi and the affected areas. On the monsoon disaster, the CM said the state government is pressing the Centre for a special relief package. "We are demanding a special relief package from the Central Government. It is a good thing that BJP leaders, including Nadda, are also visiting the state. Our cabinet ministers have also visited affected areas. The damage is extensive, and the situation is being continuously assessed. We sympathise with the affected farmers and horticulturists. Their grievances are under study," Sukhu said. Commenting on an incident where BJP workers allegedly targeted Minister Jagat Negi's car during his tour of Mandi district earlier last month, Sukhu accused the BJP of insulting the national flag. "Jagat Negi ji was in the vehicle and had already spoken to the protestors, but even then, BJP workers insulted the Tiranga by throwing shoes at it and waving black flags. Insulting the flag is an insult to the country. We won't tolerate this. FIRs will be filed; those found innocent will be let off after a proper inquiry. But let it be clear, we will never tolerate disrespect to the Tiranga," the CM asserted. Taking a Jibe at BJP MLA Sudhir Sharma donating Rs 1 lakh to disaster victims on his birthday, Sukhu said, "It's good, but we need to check whether the money he donated was the same that he received when he switched from Congress to BJP. Did it come from his account or someone else's? This needs to be investigated." Speaking at an Education Department event, Sukhu said the previous BJP government had opened educational institutions in June 2022 without any staff or teacher requirement, just for political gains. "Our government brought reforms that led to Himachal jumping from 21st to 3rd position in the overall education ranking. We merged the two directorates to create one Directorate of School Education. We introduced English-medium teaching from Class 1, rationalised schools, and started new model boarding schools," he said. The CM lauded teachers for improving the quality and congratulated them for their efforts. "Today, I handed over appointment letters to 315 drawing teachers. We also launched an online attendance system for students and teachers. All data will now be available on a real-time dashboard," he added. The CM said his government has issued appointment letters to over 3,00 people so far. "Like the Prime Minister, I too believe in handing over appointment letters personally. BJP leaders claim no jobs were given. I say we'll show them," Sukhu said. On the Leader of Opposition Jairam Thakur's allegation that a deal was struck to reintroduce lottery in Himachal, Sukhu challenges Jai Ram to prove the allegations and name the persons involved. "If he has any proof, let him name the person or entity with whom the deal was made. Lotteries exist in Madhya Pradesh, Goa, Kerala, and even in BJP-ruled states. Ours will be online only. If someone doesn't want to play, they don't have to. What's the problem?" he raised questions. The CM announced that robotic surgeries will now be available for Himcare cardholders. "The Himcare card will be issued four times a year in July, October, December, and March. Emergency Himcare cards can be issued at all medical colleges by principals or medical superintendents, who have the power to issue up to 100 cards," he said. On the issue of delayed salaries of Himachal Pradesh University teachers, Sukhu said the funds have been released and necessary corrections made. Regarding the Blind Association's threats of self-immolation over pending demands, Sukhu said the government is ready to address the demands raised in June, within legal provisions. (ANI) The Himachal Pradesh High Court on Friday refused to discharge three faculty members of the VNR Vignana Jyothi Institute of Engineering and Technology, Hyderabad, who are facing charges culpable negligence under Sections 336, 304-A read with Section 34 of the IPC, in connection with the 2014 Beas River tragedy that claimed the lives of 25 students and a tour manager near Thalout in Mandi district. Justice Virender Singh, while dismissing the revision plea (Cr. Revision No. 284 of 2024) filed by professors A. Aditya, C. Kiran, and Sumabala, upheld the trial court's February 8, 2024, order, which had denied their discharge under Section 258 of the CrPC. The court noted that the petitioners, who were acting as tour guardians, had stopped the bus during a college trip and allowed students to venture down to the riverbed for photographs, despite being aware of the dangerous nature of mountain rivers and the possibility of sudden water surges from dam releases. "Faculty members were knowing that by not stopping the students from going to the river bed, they were likely to die, which is clear from the fact that while going into the river bed, the faculty member had not taken their own child along," the judgment stated. "This Court finds that the negligence was so gross that it is a criminal negligence punishable under Section 304 IPC," the Judge added, while rejecting the argument that Section 34 IPC (common intention) was not applicable. On June 8, 2014, 48 engineering students and faculty members were travelling from Shimla to Manali when they stopped near the Beas river at Shala-Nala for a photo session. With the river level appearing low, many students moved into the dry riverbed. Suddenly, water was released from the Larji Dam upstream without any prior hooter or warning system in place, sweeping away 25 students and a tour manager. The bodies were recovered over the following weeks from downstream, including Pandoh Dam. The postmortem reports confirmed drowning as the cause of death. The High Court also referenced the earlier findings, which indicted the Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board (HPSEB) and Larji Dam officials. According to the police investigation, "No proper mechanism of sounding a hooter was in place. Out of three hooters, one was non-functional, and the others were not manned. No vehicle or guard was deployed to warn the public. There were no danger boards. It was sheer negligence." Despite receiving instructions from the SLDC, Shimla, to reduce electricity generation before the incident, the Larji Dam authorities failed to release water in a regulated or cautious manner. Discharge increased from 20 to 450 cumecs within an hour, the court noted. The faculty members contended that they were not directly responsible for the water release and had not committed any criminal act under Sections 336 or 304-A IPC. However, the High Court dismissed this argument, ruling: "Their collective conduct of permitting students to go into a potentially hazardous river zone, despite being aware of the dangers, clearly reflects shared culpability." The court cited precedents, including Sushil Ansal vs State and S.N. Hussain vs State of Andhra Pradesh, to reinforce that gross negligence which endangers life constitutes criminal liability. With the High Court affirming the trial court's stand, the case will now proceed at the Mandi Court against all the accused, including six dam officials and the three faculty members. This order marks a significant development in the long-pending case and reinforces the principle of legal accountability for duty of care, particularly in educational and public safety contexts. (ANI) Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma honoured specially challenged women of the State, attending the 'Vishesh Yogyajan Behan Samman Diwas' program in Jaipur's Jamdoli on Friday. According to an official statement, the specially abled women also tied a rakhi to the CM, ahead of Rakshabandhan celebrations on August 8. "The protective shield of disabled sisters is a blessing for me," CM Sharma said. Sharma participated in the programme at 'Apna Ghar Ashram' in Jamdoli and presented the inmates with gifts. He distributed tricycles to specially abled boys and girls. The Chief Minister took to X to post, "Participated in the 'Specially Abled Sisters Honour Day' program organized at the Social Justice Complex in Jamdoli, Jaipur. On this occasion, motorized tricycles were distributed to needy sisters, and tree plantation was carried out in the complex under the 'One Tree in the Name of Mother' and 'Green Rajasthan' campaigns." Addressing the program, Chief Minister said that Apna Ghar Sanstha which began from two rooms is now serving disabled brothers and sisters in a huge building. "I will work in accordance with the spirit with which the Rakhi has been tied. Our society is like a human body, if we cannot experience the pain of the last person then life is meaningless. The happiness on the faces of Divyang sisters in this holy month of Sawan is the inspiration for our work," the Rajasthan Chief Minister said. During the programme, an exhibition of Rakhis prepared by the Divyang was also organized, which the CM observed. During this, a 6-year-old girl tied a Rakhi to the CM, which he also accepted with affection. "The festival of Rakshabandhan is a symbol of purity and celebrating it here is auspicious for me. All possible help will be given to Divyang sisters," the Chief Minister said. During this, the Chief Minister gave the message of environmental protection by planting a sapling. Cabinet Minister Avinash Gehlot, ACS Aparna Arora, senior BJP leader Ashok Parnami, Apna Ghar Director Dr. BM Bhardwaj and Ashish Modi were also present in the program. Additionally, Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ashok Parnami, party candidate Ravi Nayyar, District Minister Kailash Jatwada, former Sarpanch Kamlesh Sharma and a large number of people were present. (ANI) Minister of State for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh on Friday said that the government has engaged with the Chinese side to facilitate the resumption of border trade through all three trade routes - Lipulekh Pass in Uttarakhand, Shipki La Pass in Himachal Pradesh, and Nathu La Pass in Sikkim. Singh was responding to questions raised by Rajya Sabha MP Dorjee Tshering Lepcha. The Minister, in a written reply, said that existing bilateral arrangements designate three points for conducting border trade between India and China, which was disrupted during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and has not been resumed since. "The existing bilateral arrangements designate three points for conducting border trade between India and China: Lipulekh Pass in Uttarakhand (since 1992), Shipki La Pass in Himachal Pradesh (since 1995), and Nathu La Pass in Sikkim (since July 2006). However, during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, trade through all these points was disrupted and has not been resumed since. The Government of India has engaged with the Chinese side to facilitate the resumption of border trade through all these trade routes," the MoS said in his written reply. Earlier in the day, Union Minister of State (MoS) for External Affairs Kirti Vardhan Singh informed the Lok Sabha in a written reply that there has been no formal discussion on F-35 fighter jets with the United States (US). "During PM Modi's US visit, the joint statement issued after the meeting with Trump mentioned that the US will review its policy on releasing F-35 and underwater systems to India. However, no formal discussion has taken place on this issue so far," theminister said. On the role of American diplomats in stopping hostilities between India and Pakistan, MoS Singh said that there were a number of diplomatic conversations with various countries, including the US. He asserted that the discussion to cease military action took place directly between India and Pakistan, and it was initiated at Pakistan's request. "With specific reference to the United States, it was conveyed to Vice President JD Vance on May 9 that India would appropriately respond if Pakistan launched a major attack. The discussion to cease military action took place directly between India and Pakistan through the existing channels of communication between the two armed forces, and it was initiated at Pakistan's request," the reply read. When asked about whether India has evaluated the impact of receiving US military assistance on the autonomy of its foreign policy, considering strategic implications, especially in a conflict scenario involving third-party mediation, Singh said that the outstanding issues with Pakistan will be discussed only bilaterally. "Our longstanding position remains that any outstanding issue with Pakistan will be discussed only bilaterally. This has been made clear to all nations, including by the Prime Minister to the US President," the reply read. "The India-US Comprehensive Global Strategic Partnership is anchored in mutual trust, shared interests, goodwill and robust engagement between our citizens. The partnership has also benefited from growing strategic convergence and cooperation. The Government of India closely evaluates all its external partnerships, including those in the defence and strategic domains, through the prism of India's national interest and commitment to strategic autonomy," it added. (ANI) Union Minister of State Kirti Vardhan Singh on Thursday said that India has been engaged with global partners at various levels to enter into strategic partnerships and defence agreements in various domains, including intelligence-sharing agreements to bolster national security and address emerging threats. The MoS, in a written reply, said that the ministry regularly conducts Joint Working Group (JWG) meetings, during which proposals for intelligence sharing agreements are also discussed. Singh was responding to questions raised by Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal. "With a view to bolster national security and address emerging threats, India has been engaged with global partners at various levels to enter into strategic partnerships and defence agreements/MoUs in various domains, including intelligence-sharing agreements. In addition, the Ministry regularly conducts Joint Working Group (JWG) meetings, during which proposals for intelligence sharing agreements are also discussed," the Minister said in his written reply. He further said that Seven all-party delegations travelled to 33 countries to convey India's national consensus to combat terrorism and held substantive discussions with important and influential interlocutors in the executive and legislative branches, media, think tanks and Indian community. "Seven all-party delegations travelled to 33 countries to convey India's strong national consensus and resolute approach to combating terrorism in all its forms and manifestations. The delegations held substantive discussions with important and influential interlocutors in the executive and legislative branches, media, think tanks and Indian community. The delegations briefed their interlocutors on the Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor and also the long history of Pakistan-sponsored terror attacks in India," the reply added. Earlier, Singh said that the government has engaged with the Chinese side to facilitate the resumption of border trade through all three trade routes - Lipulekh Pass in Uttarakhand, Shipki La Pass in Himachal Pradesh, and Nathu La Pass in Sikkim. The Minister, in a written reply, said that existing bilateral arrangements designate three points for conducting border trade between India and China, which was disrupted during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and has not been resumed since. "The existing bilateral arrangements designate three points for conducting border trade between India and China: Lipulekh Pass in Uttarakhand (since 1992), Shipki La Pass in Himachal Pradesh (since 1995), and Nathu La Pass in Sikkim (since July 2006). However, during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, trade through all these points was disrupted and has not been resumed since. The Government of India has engaged with the Chinese side to facilitate the resumption of border trade through all these trade routes," the MoS said in his written reply. (ANI) Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Friday announced a free travel facility for women in the buses operated by the Uttarakhand Transport Cooperation on the eve of Raksha Bandhan, stated a release. The CM also extended greetings on Raksha Bandhan, stating that the festival symbolises mutual affection and trust, and is associated with rich cultural traditions and historical significance. Dhami also highlighted the state's continuous efforts on women's empowerment. "The dream of a prosperous Uttarakhand cannot be fulfilled without empowering women. We expect the people of the state to cooperate in the creation of an ideal society for the empowerment of women and their progress," the CM said. Meanwhile, in a heart-touching incident that took place during the CM's visit to Dharali, a tourist from Gujarat who had been trapped due to the flash floods and landslides tore a piece of her dupatta and tied it to the CM. Dhangauri Baraulia, a resident of Ishanpur in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, had come to Uttarakhand with her family for Gangotri Darshan. Due to the terrible disaster on August 5, she got stuck with her family in Dharali. The situation had become extremely challenging due to the blockage of the road, continuous debris, and strong currents. The Chief Minister himself has been monitoring the relief operations by being present in the area continuously for three days. Due to the tireless efforts of the rescue teams, Mrs. Baraulia and her family were evacuated safely. The Chief Minister also humbly accepted this emotional moment and said that the state government stands with every affected citizen in this hour of disaster and every possible help will be provided. He said that the state government is working with full commitment for relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction. This scene of human sensitivities in a remote area like Dharali became an example of hope, faith and social solidarity amidst the disaster. (ANI) The Election Commission of India on Friday dismissed the claims circulating on social media platforms that the polling body has removed the e-voter rolls of many states from its website overnight, terming it as "fake news." In a social media post on X, the ECI said, "This is a fake news. Anyone can download the Electoral Roll for any of 36 States/UTs through this link: https://voters.eci.gov.in/download-eroll." This comes after several social media users claimed that ECI has removed E-Voter Rolls of many states from its website overnight including Bihar, Haryana, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, and Madhya Pradesh. These came in response to a press conference held by Rahul Gandhi on August 7, where he claimed that the 2024 Lok Sabha elections were "choreographed" by the EC to benefit the BJP, which he said appeared "immune to anti-incumbency." Citing internal analysis, Gandhi said the Congress expected to win 16 seats in Karnataka but ended up with only nine. He said the Congress investigated seven unexpected losses, zeroing in on Mahadevapura, where he alleged vote theft involving 1,00,250 votes. Presenting Congress's research on voting in the Mahadevapura Assembly in Karnataka, Rahul Gandhi alleged "vote chori" (vote theft) of 1,00,250 votes. "Our internal polling told us we would win 16 seats in Karnataka; we won nine. We then focused on seven unexpected losses. We focused on Mahadevapur...All data is 2024 data from the Election Commission; the total votes polled in the Lok Sabha were 6.26 lakhs. The BJP won with 6,58,915, securing a margin of 32,707. But then we look at Mahadevapura, where Congress polls 1,15,586 and BJP polls 2,29,632. Congress wins all Vidhan Sabhas but this one," the Congress leader said. "We found 1,00,250 votes stolen. Stolen in five different ways. Duplicate voters, fake and invalid addresses, and bulk voters in a single address, on a building with 50-60 people living. But when we go there, no record of those people living there. One family living in that house," he said. (ANI) Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma shared a post on his official 'X' handle and informed about the development. "Stern action against illegal infiltration continues! In the wee hours today, Assam Police pushed back 10 illegal Bangladeshi infiltrators from Sribhumi sector. Attempts to alter Assam's demography will NOT BE TOLERATED. Borders secured, infiltrators REPELLED!," the 'X' post said. Earlier on August 3, in a stern action, the Assam police had pushed back three illegal Bangladeshi citizens from the Shribhumi sector. Meanwhile, the Assam government has carried out eviction drives in various parts of the state to evict illegal settlers who grabbed the government lands, forest lands, VGR/PGR lands. The Assam government has already freed more than 1.29 lakh bighas of encroached land. A day earlier, the Assam CM stated that all unauthorised occupation of VGRs (Village Grazing Reserves), PGRs (Professional Grazing Reserves), Satras, Naamghars, forest land, and other public areas would be cleared in a phased manner. "The government will clear all illegal encroachments on VGR, PGR, Satras, Naamghars, and forest land across the State in a systematic and phased manner," said CM Sarma. The Chief Minister visited Uriamghat in Golaghat district on Friday to inspect areas that have been encroached upon and for which the state government has already issued eviction notices. Sarma said that thousands of bighas of land in the area had been unlawfully occupied. He observed that certain families had encroached upon as much as 300 to 400 bighas of land, using it for various economic activities. Emphasising that the government could not remain indifferent to such developments, the Chief Minister affirmed that appropriate action would follow, urging the public to cooperate with the measures the state government intends to implement. (ANI) Bharatiya Janata Party MP Manoj Tiwari, on Friday, shared a heartwarming experience where he, along with his wife Surabhi and their 4.5-year-old daughter Sanvika, met Prime Minister Narendra Modi. During the meeting, they presented the Prime Minister with a prasad penda from Baba Baidyanath Dham, a sacred site in Deoghar, Jharkhand, revered by devotees of Lord Shiva. The prasad, a sacred offering, was presented to Prime Minister Modi on behalf of all the barefoot Kanwariyas, devotees who undertake the Kanwar Yatra pilgrimage to collect holy water from the Ganges River. Upon receiving the prasad, Prime Minister Modi chanted "Har Har Mahadev," expressing his reverence for Lord Shiva. He appeared pleased and inquired about the Kanwar Yatra and the well-being of the Kanwariyas. "On behalf of all the barefoot Kanwariyas, we presented the prasad penda of Baba Baidyanath Dham to the world's most popular leader, a strong advocate for humanity and peace, India's illustrious Prime Minister Narendra Modi today," Tiwari posted on X. "Upon receiving the prasad of Baba Baidyanath Dham, the Prime Minister chanted Har Har Mahadev and appeared very pleased. Prime Minister Ji also inquired about the Kanwar Yatra of Baba Dham and the well-being of the Kanwariyas, along with me. My wife Surabhi was also with me. Additionally, we presented a painting made by our 4.5-year-old daughter Sanvika," his post added. The last Monday of Sawan took place on August 4, with Kanwar devotees completing their annual pilgrimage of Kanwar Yatra earlier. The pilgrimage reached its final stage across various Shiva temples to perform the ritual of 'Jalabhishek' on Sawan Shivratri, with crores of people carrying water from the Ganga river from Haridwar within 15 days. Shravan (or Sawan) holds immense significance in Hindu mythology. It is believed that the Shravan month is the most beloved month of Lord Shiva. Worshipping Shiva in this month gives relief from all troubles. The Lord Shiva temples across the nation reverberated with Vedic chants, accompanied by the sounds of conch shells, bells, and hymns. Devotees were seen queuing up to offer prayers and perform rituals dedicated to Lord Shiva, as the auspicious month of Sawan continues to draw crowds. This year, Shravan began on July 11 and will conclude on August 9. (ANI) Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati is leading the initiative to set up nodal centres for defence and national security research throughout the country. Established under the aegis of the Ministry of Education, Government of India, and led by Prof. Devendra Jalihal, Director, IIT Guwahati, the "Manekshaw Centre" is working towards next-gen education, innovation, productisation, manufacturing and research-based consulting/operations. To support the initiative, a high-level delegation recently briefed Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on the establishment of a Nodal Centre in Indian Premier Institutes dedicated to Defence and National Security Research. The delegation included - Prof Devendra Jalihal, Director, IIT Guwahati and Chief Patron, Manekshaw Center of Excellence; Prof Manindra Agrawal, Director, IIT Kanpur and Dy Chief Patron, Manekshaw Center of Excellence; Lt Gen Dr Subrata Saha (Retd.), Executive Chairman and Chief Operating Officer of the Manekshaw Center of Excellence. Speaking about the initiative, Prof. Devendra Jalihal, Director, IIT Guwahati, said, "Manekshaw Center will act as an interface between Indian Academia and defence forces. IITs, IISc, IIITs and NITs will be the members of the centre. The centre will periodically engage in dialogues with defence agencies and actively participate in defining and designing systems to meet India's security needs. It will work towards finding Indian solutions, thus fulfilling the aspiration of Atmanirbhar Bharat." The meeting was also attended by Vineet Joshi, Secretary, and Saumya Gupta, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Education, Govt. of India. Highlighting the need for inter-institutional collaborations, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan expressed strong support for the initiative. He underlined the Ministry's commitment to supporting the Manekshaw Centre in building a robust innovation ecosystem that brings academia, defence, armed forces, security agencies and industries together to address the evolving challenges of national security. Aligning with the Government of India's Atmanirbhar Bharat mission, this visionary initiative will unite IITs, IISc, IIITs, and NITs on a collaborative academic and research platform focused on defence technology and national security. The idea of setting up this nodal centre for collaboration among IITs was conceived by Lt Gen Dr Subrata Saha (Retd.) and Prof. Sukumar Nandi, Dean of Administration, IIT Guwahati. Currently, the Manekshaw Centre includes - IITs: Guwahati, Madras, Kanpur, Jodhpur, Dharwad, Delhi, Bombay, Kharagpur, BHU-Varanasi, ISM-Dhanbad; IISc Bangalore; IIIT Delhiwith more institutions expected to join soon. Established in March 2025, IIT Guwahati's MCoENSSR is working towards bridging the gap between Defence Forces, Security Agencies, and Academic & Research Institutions that can enable convergence of strategic vision, operational excellence, and technological expertise to strengthen national security. Other key objectives of the centre include - Create a new-age Security Industrial Complex/Ecosystem to promote Govt. of India's Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative to "win India's wars with Indian solutions"; Collaborate with start-ups, industry partners, foreign institutes to achieve higher technology readiness level and cater the requirements of the Indian Armed Forces and Security Agencies; Organise Dialogue Series, Workshops, Seminars, Ideathons, Conference with Indian Armed Forces and other key national security stakeholders on new-age national security challenges, next-gen asymmetric hybrid non-contact warfare, futuristic technologies. (ANI) CHICAGO, Aug. 8, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- ShipBob, a leading global supply chain and fulfillment platform for SMB and mid-market omnichannel merchants, announced its De Minimis Defense Program to help merchants impacted by the Executive Order suspending duty-free de minimis for all countries. This suspension starts at or after 12:01 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time on August 29, 2025. With this Executive Order, merchants are now having to navigate another macro policy change just months before the peak holiday season commences. 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"Merchants that relied on low-duty or duty-free imports are suddenly facing massive cost, cash flow, and compliance pressures. Many merchants need our infrastructure, technology, and support to protect their margins and future-proof their business." To complement its De Minimis Defense Program, multiple Foreign-Trade Zone (FTZ) warehouses are also now available across the ShipBob network. ShipBob's network includes bi-coastal FTZ warehouses located in California and Pennsylvania near ShipBob's West Hub and Northeast Hub, respectively. While FTZ warehouses are physically in the U.S., there are potential key benefits to FTZ warehousing, including duty deferral, duty elimination, inverted tariff relief, simplified logistics and compliance, and cash flow optimization. FTZs turn "pay duty on arrival" to "pay duty on sale" so merchants unlock impactful leverage right now, as they can pull forward revenue, protect margin, and de-risk their operations. With de minimis suspended and the massive influx in demand ShipBob has seen as a result, it's clear that merchants across all categories, but especially apparel and beauty, are seeking the outsized benefits available from using FTZs and need to quickly find a U.S.-based fulfillment network and reliable long-term supply chain partner. In addition, compared to bonded customs warehouses, FTZs provide an indefinite storage cap and more flexibility. All ShipBob Plus qualified brands will have access to the bi-coastal FTZ warehouses. Merchants can apply here: https://product.shipbob.com/de-minimis-defense-program The De Minimis Defense Program is subject to terms and conditions. ShipBob is not a licensed customs broker and does not provide legal, tax, or regulatory advice. FTZ authorization may be held by third parties operating under contract with ShipBob. All customs brokerage services are provided by licensed customs brokers. Any relationships with any of ShipBob's referral network partners are governed by your specific terms of engagement with that provider. About ShipBob ShipBob is a leading global supply chain and fulfillment technology platform designed for SMB and Mid-Market ecommerce merchants to provide them access to best-in-class capabilities and to deliver a delightful shopper experience. ShipBob's technology provides merchants a single view of their business and customers across all sales channels to manage products, inventory, customization, orders, and shipments, leveraging real-time analytics and reporting, dedicated support, and access to over one hundred technology and retail partners. Merchants can outsource their entire fulfillment operations, utilize ShipBob's proprietary warehouse management system for in-house fulfillment, or take advantage of a hybrid solution across ShipBob's 60+ fulfillment center network in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Europe, and Australia. Learn more by visiting shipbob.com. SOURCE ShipBob A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi questioned the petitioner why he was singling out Air India. "Why just Air India? What about others?" they asked while rejecting the petition. That plea was filed in the wake of a recent crash of an Air India Boeing aircraft operating on the Ahmedabad - London route, which claimed 270 lives. The PIL was filed by Narendra Kumar Goswami and Laxman Prasad Goswami seeking an independent probe by a retired judge of the Supreme Court into Air India's safety practices, maintenance procedures, and operational protocols. The petition also asked for a comprehensive safety audit of Air India's entire fleet by an international aviation safety agency accredited by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), addressing deficiencies identified in the 2024 ICAO audit report. It further sought a time-bound report by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) regarding the Ahmedabad plane crash. (ANI) Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav on Friday held a virtual interaction with flood victims and announced the release of Rs 30 crore as relief assistance to the accounts of over 28,000 affected people across the state. CM Yadav spoke with victims from Shivpuri, Guna, Damoh, Raisen and Chhindwara districts, inquiring about the arrangements made by the administration during the floods. The interaction was held from Samatva Bhavan at the Chief Minister's residence in Bhopal. According to an official release, the CM said that the state government is with flood-affected families in this hour of crisis. He informed that this monsoon season has brought 37% more rainfall than normal, causing flood situations in several areas of the state. He visited affected areas to meet victims and assess the situation on the ground. The CM further said the state government had made advanced preparations to tackle floods during the monsoon. State and Union ministers remained in constant coordination to ensure effective rescue and relief operations in affected areas. SDRF, NDRF and Army personnel were deployed to the affected areas. He also commended the vital role played by social and religious organisations in assisting victims and expressed gratitude for their support. Sharing his experiences from flood-affected areas, the Chief Minister said that in Shivpuri, two people who had been trapped in floodwaters for 36 hours were rescued by the administration, and they credited their survival entirely to these efforts. Additionally, CM Yadav cautioned that the rainy season is not yet over and urged people to remain alert to the possibility of heavy rains and floods. He said Rs 28 crore had already been disbursed to flood victims earlier, with an additional Rs 30 crore released on Friday. This amount does not include compensation for crop loss, for which surveys are underway. So far in 2025-26, Rs 123 crore in relief has been distributed under various heads, and adequate funds have been allocated to all districts for disaster management. (ANI) Amritsar (Punjab) [India], August 8: In a significant breakthrough, the Amritsar Commissionerate Police has solved the pro-Khalistan graffiti case reported during the night of August 6-7 at three locations in the city, said the Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab, Gaurav Yadav, on Friday. According to the police, two accused, including a minor and both residents of Dargabad village in Batala, have been apprehended within 24 hours of the incident. In a social media post on X, the Director General of Police, Gaurav Yadav, wrote, "In a major breakthrough, Amritsar Commissionerate Police cracks the Pro-Khalistan #Graffiti case reported on the night of August 6-7 at three locations in the city. Two accused, including a minor--both residents of Dargabad village, #Batala--have been apprehended within 24 hours." According to the preliminary investigation, the accused were in contact with foreign-based Shamsher Singh alias Shera Mann, who allegedly directed them to carry out the act on the instructions of Gurpatwant Singh Pannu. Police said the graffiti was executed after the accused received instructions and designs via Snapchat, though the promised payment was never made. The post reads, "Preliminary investigation reveals they were in contact with foreign-based Shamsher Singh @ Shera Mann, who directed them to carry out the act on instructions from Gurpatwant Singh Pannu. The accused executed the graffiti after receiving instructions and designs via #Snapchat, but the promised payment was never made." An FIR has been registered in the matter, and further investigation is underway. "FIR has been registered. Further investigation is underway. @PunjabPoliceInd remains committed to curbing anti-national activities and maintaining peace and harmony in the state," the DGP posted on X. Earlier, Amritsar Commissionerate Police apprehended four accused involved in cross-border arms smuggling and recovered seven sophisticated pistols from their possession. The arrested accused have been identified as Akashdeep Singh alias Akash (20) of village Daoke in Amritsar, Ramanpreet Singh (23) of village Bagha Kalan in Amritsar, Pratap Singh (25) of village Sur Singh in Ferozepur and Sarbjit Singh alias Babbal (25) of Debi Wala Bazar in Amritsar. The recovered pistols include two 9MM PX5, two 9MM Glock and three .30 bore pistols. (ANI) After the Election Commission asked Congress MP Rahul Gandhi to either sign a declaration or apologise for his "absurd" allegations, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Saurabh Bhardwaj said the poll body should respond with facts. Speaking to ANI, the AAP leader accused the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar of "planting news" based on sources. "...Gyanesh Kumar ji should be ashamed. Can the Election Commission plant news quoting sources? If he has any self-respect left, then he should take action against those who ran the information about Rahul Gandhi on sources.... Before the Delhi election, we had told EC about voter list manipulation...But what happened? Where was Rahul Gandhi when we had raised this issue before him? At the time, he should have raised his voice. When he did this, he didn't fulfil his responsibility... The Election Commission should respond to him with facts..." Bhardwaj told ANI. This comes after the Election Commission of India (ECI) asked Congress MP Rahul Gandhi to sign the declaration by the Chief Electoral Officers of Maharashtra and Karnataka or apologise for his "absurd" allegations, according to sources. At a press conference on August 7, Rahul Gandhi claimed that the 2024 Lok Sabha elections were "choreographed" by the EC to benefit the BJP, which he said appeared "immune to anti-incumbency." Citing internal analysis, Gandhi said the Congress expected to win 16 seats in Karnataka but ended up with only nine. He said the Congress investigated seven unexpected losses, zeroing in on Mahadevapura, where he alleged vote theft involving 1,00,250 votes. Presenting Congress's research on voting in the Mahadevapura Assembly in Karnataka, Rahul Gandhi alleged "vote chori" (vote theft) of 1,00,250 votes. "Our internal polling told us we would win 16 seats in Karnataka; we won nine. We then focused on seven unexpected losses. We focused on Mahadevapur...All data is 2024 data from the Election Commission; the total votes polled in the Lok Sabha were 6.26 lakhs. The BJP won with 6,58,915, securing a margin of 32,707. But then we look at Mahadevapura, where Congress polls 1,15,586 and BJP polls 2,29,632. Congress wins all Vidhan Sabhas but this one," the Congress leader said. "We found 1,00,250 votes stolen. Stolen in five different ways. Duplicate voters, fake and invalid addresses, and bulk voters in a single address, on a building with 50-60 people living. But when we go there, no record of those people living there. One family living in that house," he said. (ANI) Hitting out at Lok Sabha LoP Rahul Gandhi's recent allegations against the Election Commission of India (ECI), Union Minister Pralhad Joshi on Friday said that the Congress leader lectures about the poll body without any logic or basis. Addressing a press conference in Delhi, Joshi said that on June 12, the ECI sent a letter to Rahul Gandhi asking him to visit its office and explain the facts related to his allegations. However, the Congress MP had not responded, which Joshi claimed showed his "lack of seriousness." "They teach us about the Election Commission without any basis and logic... On June 12, the EC sent him a letter to visit their office and explain the facts, but he has not yet done so, as he lacks seriousness. The Chief Electoral Officer of Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Haryana also asked Rahul Gandhi to submit a signed affidavit to initiate the formal proceeding in this regard; till now, he has not submitted it," Joshi said. The Union Minister said Rahul Gandhi considered everything fine when he won elections, but blamed the ECI and EVMs when he lost. "When we lost the Lok Sabha election in Maharashtra and they won, then everything was fine there... In 2023, they won in Karnataka, and in 2024, we won, so they are saying that the electoral roll is not correct... Is there any logic? ... This means that you lose because of the election commission, EVM, and because eligible voters were deleted, but if you win, then there is no issue," he said. On Thursday, Rahul Gandhi accused the BJP and the ECI of "collusion" that helped Prime Minister Narendra Modi secure a third term. "Narendra Modi became Prime Minister with just a margin of 25 seats...Election Commission is helping BJP destroy the electoral system in India...The Election Commission is not giving us the data because of what we did in Mahadevpur (Karnataka Assembly constituency); if we do it in other Lok Sabha seats, then the truth about our democracy will come out. This is the evidence, criminal evidence (pointing to the physical voter list)," Rahul Gandhi said, holding up a voter list. The Congress leader also alleged that the poll body was "destroying evidence" through the directive on only preserving CCTV and webcasting footage of the election process for only 45 days after the whole process is completed, unless the election result is challenged in court. "The Election Commission is looking to destroy the evidence across the country. It is the 21st century; you can store as much data as you want on a hard drive, including 10-year-old data. However, the Election Commission wants to destroy the CCTV footage within 45 days without providing the voter list. They are colluding with the BJP to destroy the election system in India," he alleged. (ANI) The Armed Forces Tribunal (AFT), Principal Bench, New Delhi, celebrated its 16th Raising Day with a solemn and dignified ceremony. The event was graced by the Chairperson, Justice Rajendra Menon, Former Chief Justice of the High Courts of Delhi and Patna, along with Members of the Tribunal. Also in attendance were A.K. Trivedi, President of the Bar Association, esteemed members of the legal fraternity, JAG Officers from the Indian Army, Navy, and Air Force, officers from the Registry, administrative staff, and other distinguished guests. Since its inception in 2009, the Principal Bench has received a total of 38,090 cases and has disposed of 21,806, underscoring its steady commitment to delivering justice. Across all 11 benches of the Tribunal, a cumulative total of 1,17,416 cases have been filed, with 89,684 cases disposed of--reflecting a commendable disposal rate and the Tribunal's unwavering dedication to timely adjudication. Additionally, the Tribunal has handled 1,25,361 Miscellaneous Applications, of which 90,791 have been disposed of. Despite operational challenges such as vacancies and intermittent limitations in court functioning, the Chairperson and Members have continued to hear cases proactively, including matters from other Regional Benches, ensuring continuity and access to justice. The Chairperson, in his address, acknowledged their commitment and reaffirmed the Tribunal's resolve to ensure justice is not delayed. Marking a significant step forward in digital transformation, the Chairperson also launched the new website of the Armed Forces Tribunal, Principal Bench, which will start functioning soon. The platform features online filing, real-time case status updates, and SMS notifications for litigants and advocates--aiming to enhance transparency, efficiency, and accessibility. Acknowledging existing challenges such as staff shortages, space constraints, and the need for technological upgrades, the Chairperson expressed confidence that, with continued support from the Ministry of Defence and cooperation of all stakeholders, these hurdles would be effectively addressed. The ceremony concluded with a reaffirmation of the Tribunal's core mission: service to justice and to those who serve the nation--ensuring that the rights of soldiers, sailors, and air warriors are upheld with efficiency, empathy, and integrity. (ANI) Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on Friday dismissed allegations made by Congress MP Rahul Gandhi against the Election Commission, stating that neither his party nor his party workers believe in his claims. Speaking to reporters, the Union Minister, citing Rahul Gandhi's statement, said if there are common entries, then Special Intensive Review (SIR) becomes all the more important. He further asked Congress to decide whether they are supporting or opposing SIR. "I have said this earlier too, that neither his political party nor his party workers believe what he says. So, I think the country also need not take his words very seriously...In his press conference yesterday, Rahul Gandhi presented data collected through software and discussed common entries across different states. I want to ask one thing: if there indeed are common entries, then Special Intensive Review (SIR) becomes all the more important. He and his party have to decide whether they are supporting or opposing SIR," Shekhawat stated. These came in response to a press conference held by Rahul Gandhi on August 7, where he claimed that the 2024 Lok Sabha elections were "choreographed" by the EC to benefit the BJP, which he said appeared "immune to anti-incumbency." Citing internal analysis, Gandhi said the Congress expected to win 16 seats in Karnataka but ended up with only nine. He said the Congress investigated seven unexpected losses, zeroing in on Mahadevapura, where he alleged vote theft involving 1,00,250 votes. Presenting Congress's research on voting in the Mahadevapura Assembly in Karnataka, Rahul Gandhi alleged "vote chori" (vote theft) of 1,00,250 votes. "Our internal polling told us we would win 16 seats in Karnataka; we won nine. We then focused on seven unexpected losses. We focused on Mahadevapur...All data is 2024 data from the Election Commission; the total votes polled in the Lok Sabha were 6.26 lakhs. The BJP won with 6,58,915, securing a margin of 32,707. But then we look at Mahadevapura, where Congress polls 1,15,586 and BJP polls 2,29,632. Congress wins all Vidhan Sabhas but this one," the Congress leader said. "We found 1,00,250 votes stolen. Stolen in five different ways. Duplicate voters, fake and invalid addresses, and bulk voters in a single address, on a building with 50-60 people living. But when we go there, no record of those people living there. One family living in that house," he said. (ANI) Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) MP Kanimozhi on Friday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the national capital, where she raised important issues related to her constituency and state, Tamil Nadu. The DMK MP from the Thoothukudi constituency thanked PM Modi for upgrading the airport in her constituency. "Today in New Delhi, I met the Hon'ble Prime Minister and raised important issues related to my constituency and Tamil Nadu, including the transhipment hub at VOC Port in Thoothukudi. I also thanked him for the support in upgrading Thoothukudi Airport," the DMK leader wrote in a post on X. https://x.com/KanimozhiDMK/status/1953756364259701193 Earlier today, Rajya Sabha MP and actor Kamal Haasan met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the national capital and requested him to "expedite the recognition of Keeladi's antiquity." Taking to X, Kamal Haasan shared several pictures from his first meeting with the PM after being sworn in as a Member of Rajya Sabha last month. In his post, he expressed that it was an honour to meet the Prime Minister and took the opportunity to convey the key concerns of the people of Tamil Nadu. "Today, I had the honour of meeting the Hon'ble Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi ji. As a representative of the people of Tamil Nadu and as an artist, I placed before him a few requests; foremost among them was the call to expedite the recognition of Keeladi's antiquity," Kamal Haasan shared. "I urged the Prime Minister to extend his support to the Tamil people in showcasing to the world the grandeur of Tamil civilisation and the timeless glory of the Tamil language," he added. As a symbolic gesture, the MP also presented Prime Minister Modi with a memento themed around Keeladi village, 12km from Madurai on the banks of the Vaigai river, an ancient site dating back to the Sangam era. However, the Centre and the DMK-led Tamil Nadu government have been at loggerheads over the Keezhadi, also spelt Keeladi, findings. (ANI) Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday responded to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) India's demands regarding the elephant 'Madhuri', also known as Mahadevi, stating that the organization has no right to dictate where the elephant should be kept if the state is making necessary arrangements for her safety. He further reiterated that the state government is taking all necessary steps to ensure the safety of the elephant in Kolhapur itself, currently residing in Jamnagar. "But one thing PETA must understand is whether the elephant is safe or not. If we are making all the necessary arrangements for her safety in Kolhapur itself, then PETA has no right to dictate where the elephant should be kept. And they have no right to lecture us on that either," CM Fadnavis said in a press conference here. The controversy surrounds the relocation of Mahadevi from a Jain monastery in Kolhapur to Vantara, a wildlife rescue and rehabilitation center in Gujarat's Jamnagar district. CM Fadnavis dismissed claims regarding a meeting between the organisation and certain officials of the state government on the issue of relocation of Madhuri. "They are talking about a PETA meeting, but I'm not aware of any such meeting taking place at our level," he added. The return of Mahadevi has been a demand by Nadani Jain Math. However, the elephant was moved from the Math in Kolhapur to Vantara's sanctuary in Jamnagar (Gujarat) following a Supreme Court order upholding the decision of the Ministry of Environment's High Powered Committee. Thousands of people have participated in a silent march in Kolhapur, demanding Mahadevi's return from Vantara. The protesters argue that the elephant was taken away without considering the emotional attachment and cultural significance she holds for the community. Notably, the Vantara sanctuary, on August 6, announced the decision to establish a satellite rehabilitation centre for the Mahadevi elephant in the Nandani area of Maharashtra's Kolhapur. Vantara has defended its role in Mahadevi's relocation, stating that it acted solely on court orders and prioritised the elephant's welfare. The facility has offered specialised care, including hydrotherapy and socialisation with other elephants, to address Mahadevi's health issues. "Vantara acknowledges the deep religious and cultural significance that Madhuri holds for the Jain Math and the people of Kolhapur. For decades, she has been an integral part of deep-rooted spiritual practices and community life. We recognise and respect the sentiments of the devotees, the leadership of the Jain Math, and the wider community who have expressed their concerns and attachment to Madhuri's presence in Kolhapur," the statement said. The Maharashtra government had earlier decided to file a review petition in the Supreme Court, with Vantara joining in with the state government to return Madhuri to Kolhapur. "In alignment with our commitment to lawful conduct, responsible animal care, and community cooperation, Vantara will extend full support to any application filed by the Jain Math and the Government of Maharashtra before the Hon'ble Court requesting Madhuri's return to Kolhapur. Subject to the Court's approval, Vantara will provide complete technical and veterinary assistance for her safe and dignified return," the statement read. The rehabilitation centre for the Mahadevi elephant will include facilities such as a night shelter, a Hydrotherapy Pond and a veterinary clinic. "Furthermore, Vantara will work in close coordination with the Jain Math and the State Government to establish a satellite rehabilitation centre for Madhuri in the Nandani area of Kolhapur. The proposed facility will be developed in accordance to the established animal welfare guidelines, after consultation with experts from the High-Powered Committee and consensus of the Math, while aligned to international best practices in elephant care," Vantara said. Vantara will identify the land for the proposed facility after consultation with the Guru of the Jain Math and the Government of Maharashtra. Earlier on August 5, CM Fadnavis also chaired a meeting on the issue, where he reiterated his support for the devotees' demand. Fadnavis shared on X, "State Government Stands Firm With Devotees! For 34 years, Madhuri, also known as Mahadevi has been a part of Nandani Math's tradition and the lives of the people. Her presence holds emotional and spiritual meaning and the strong public sentiment for her return has been deeply understood." The elephant had been transported 13 times from Maharashtra to Telangana between 2012 and 2023, often without proper forest department permissions. On 8 January 2023, the Telangana Forest Department registered Wildlife Offence POR No. 12-07/2022-23 under Sections 48A and 54 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, against Mr. B. Ismail, the elephant's mahout, for using her in a public procession unlawfully. The offence was later compounded upon payment of Rs25,000 an admission of guilt and custody was returned to a local handler in Kolhapur. (ANI) The Supreme Court on Friday recalled it's recent order in which it had issued adverse observations against Allahabad High Court judge Justice Prashant Kumar for the latters' decision in having allowed criminal proceedings to continue in a civil money recovery dispute. In its August 4 order, a bench of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and R. Mahadevan had asked the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court to remove Justice Prashant Kumar from the criminal roster -- meaning the judge will not be handling criminal matters until his retirement. The top-court had also directed the High Court Chief Justice to change Justice Kumar's roster and bench him along side a senior judge of the High Court. However, following the top-court's observation against Justice Kumar, at least thirteen Allahabad High Court judges wrote to the High Court's Chief Justice Arun Bhansali to convene a full-court meeting in defiance of the adverse observations made by the top-court against Justice Kumar. Subsequently, the Chief Justice of India (CJI) B.R. Gavai wrote to Justice Pardiwala urging the top-court judge to reconsider the said directions against Allahabad HC judge Justice Kumar. Therefore, the bench led by Justice Pardiwala decided to recall the said order and deleted the two paragraphs in which it had issued adverse directions against Justice Kumar. The bench while dictating its order today, said "At the outset we must clarify our intention was not to cause embarrassment or aspersions on the concerned judge. However, when matters cross a threshold and the dignity of the institution is in peril it is the responsibility of this court to ensure that its dignity is held high". The top-court acknowledged that it's is the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court who is the master of roaster and that the top-court's directions are not interfering with the administrative powers of the HC. "We hereby delete the said paras. The order be corrected accordingly. While we are deleting the said directions, we leave it to the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court to look into the matter. We fully acknowledge that the Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court is the Master of the Roster of the High Court. But, as observed above, our directions are not interfering with the administrative power of the High Court. The Court also referred to a recent Supreme Court order in which a bench comprising of former CJI Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar had pulled up UP government for initiating criminal prosecution in civil cases and imposed a cost of Rs 50,000. The top-court went on the observe that Courts are being flooded with cases of civil wrongs that have been made into criminal wrongs. "We hope in future no such perverse and unjust orders be issued from any High Court. If the rule of law is not maintained, it will be the end of the entire justice delivery system in the country", the Court added as it closed the case. (ANI) WASHINGTON, Aug. 8, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Growth Energythe leading voice of America's biofuel industryis commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), which opened fuel markets to competition from homegrown biofuels produced from U.S. farm crops. Joining Growth Energy in celebration of the August 8th birthday are leaders from across the heartland, who have helped to make the RFS America's single most successful policy for increasing U.S. energy security, holding down fuel costs, reducing emissions, and strengthening the farm economy. Since the RFS became law in August 2005, American biorefineries have produced more than 250 billion gallons of ethanol. In that same time period, American ethanol plants have purchased 92.7 billion bushels of corn, driving more than $425 billion of revenue to American farmers. As a result of these benefits, the program is supported by a broad, bipartisan spectrum of stakeholders. Growth Energy "The RFS is the foundation of America's bioeconomy," said Growth Energy CEO Emily Skor. "It supports hundreds of thousands of rural jobs and has shielded an entire generation of drivers from volatility in global oil markets. More than 10 percent of U.S. fuel supplies now come from renewable sources like ethanol, representing billions of gallons in savings. And it's still fueling growth. As part of a drive toward U.S. energy dominance, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently proposed to set biofuel blending at the highest volume in the history of the program. Those numbers aren't yet final, and the EPA still needs to address petitions from refiners seeking to skirt the RFS, but if we remain on a growth trajectory, the benefits to American motorists and farmers are overwhelming." Farmers "The RFS is more than a law. It's a vital outlet for surplus grains that provides stability and prosperity to American farmers facing higher input costs and uncertain export markets," said Bill Couser, a farmer from Iowa who grows commercial corn that he sells to local plants to be processed into fuel ethanol. "I don't know that our family's farm would be as strong as it is today if it weren't for the RFS and the American biofuels industry." "Since the RFS was enacted, America's net farm income has more than doubled. In Iowa alone, biofuel plants purchase more than half the state's corn crop transforming it into homegrown fuels, high-quality animal feed, food-grade CO2, and a host of other co-products," said Kelly Nieuwenhuis, a third-generation corn and soybean farmer based in northwest Iowa. "It's an integral part of the agricultural supply chain." Lawmakers "For two decades, the Renewable Fuel Standard program has helped us produce fuel that reduces our emissions and fosters energy independenceand I'm proud to help continue leading the push in the Senate to increase the use and supply of American-grown, American-made biofuels across the country," said Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.). "We're pushing hard for our bipartisan bill to enable the year-round sale of E15 nationwide, and as founding co-chair of the Sustainable Aviation Caucus in the Senate, I'm working to bolster and help expand our nation's sustainable aviation fuel industry. Investing in American biofuels doesn't just help us reduce our nation's carbon footprintit helps lower gas prices for middle-class families and support our farmers. It's a win-win-win that would not be possible without the RFS." "Over the last 20 years, the Renewable Fuel Standard has been essential to empowering heartland communities, adding value to crops grown by our hardworking farmers, securing American energy independence, and giving consumers a cleaner, cheaper choice at the pump," said Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa). "Iowa farmers already feed our nation, and by guaranteeing homegrown Iowa biofuels are blended into our nation's fuel supply, the RFS secures their role in fueling our nation's future. I look forward to continuing my work with the Trump Administration to ensure the RFS stays strong, so we can keep delivering for Iowa's famers, biofuel producers, and rural communities." "Nebraska is the nation's second-largest producer of ethanol, and much of that is made possible by the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), established 20 years ago," said Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.). "The RFS has played a critical role in supporting Nebraska's ag economy, driving both the use and production of renewable fuels across the state. I look forward to continuing to work with the EPA to ensure a strong RFS that will further advance Nebraska's biofuels industry." "The Renewable Fuel Standard is one of the federal government's most successful clean fuels policies," said Senator Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.). "For two decades, renewable fuels like ethanol and biodiesel have saved consumers money, supported Nebraska agriculture, cleaned our environment, and unleashed American energy." "For 20 years, the Renewable Fuel Standard has created incredible new opportunities for our farmers. I've seen firsthand the important markets it creates for our corn and soybean growers, and the cost savings it brings for folks at the pump," said Rep. Nikki Budzinski (D-Ill.). "As we celebrate this important anniversary, I remain committed to championing renewable fuels every single day and pushing for policies like nationwide, year-round E15." "A strong Renewable Fuel Standard is vital to a vibrant agricultural economy and the success of Iowa biofuels," said Rep. Randy Feenstra (R-Iowa). "For twenty years, this American energy initiative has supported Iowa farmers, biofuels producers, and our rural communities by ensuring that Iowa ethanol, biodiesel, and other advanced biofuels are blended into our nation's fuel supply. The RFS also helps reduce our dependence on foreign oil, lowers gas prices for families, and incentivizes rural energy production. Representing hardworking farmers and biofuels producers, I will always advocate for a strong Renewable Fuel Standard that invests in rural Iowa, supports the production of homegrown Iowa biofuels, and stands with our farmers and agricultural communities." "For two decades, the Renewable Fuel Standard has provided long-term market certainty and predictability for American biofuels producers, fuel retailers, farmers, and other market participants," said Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-Iowa). "It's incredible to see how far we've come in blending more homegrown biofuels into our nation's fuel supplyand how the RFS supports Iowa farmers and rural communities. Biofuels play a crucial role in our energy strategy to bolster energy independence and lower costs for consumers. I look forward to continuing my work with the Trump Administration and my colleagues in Congress to expand the use of biofuels as part of an all-of-the-above and all-of-the-below energy strategy." "I'm proud to support access to new markets for our nation's farmers that strengthens our domestic energy resources," said Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio). "Investing in American biofuels strengthens our energy supply, creates good-paying jobs, and drives economic growth in communities that feed and fuel our nation. By advancing biofuel innovation we're building a more secure, independent, and prosperous future for the American people. As we mark 20 years of the Renewable Fuel Standard, we recognize one of the most impactful commitments our nation has made to energy security and rural prosperity." "For 20 years, the Renewable Fuel Standard has been a cornerstone of our nation's energy policystrengthening rural economies, reducing our dependence on foreign oil, and creating new markets for our family farmers," said Rep. Eric Sorensen (D-Ill.). "In Illinois and across the Midwest, biofuels mean good-paying jobs, cleaner air, and opportunity. As we look ahead, we must ensure the RFS translates to affordable low-carbon options for consumers while supporting industry growth domestically. I'll continue fighting to make sure biofuels remain a key part of America's energy future." To learn more about rural America's priorities under the RFS, click here. ABOUT GROWTH ENERGY Growth Energy is the leading voice of America's biofuel industry. Our members operate and support biomanufacturing facilities at the heart of America's bioeconomy, delivering a new generation of clean fuel options. For more information, visit us at GrowthEnergy.org, follow us on X (formerly Twitter) at @GrowthEnergy, or connect with us on Facebook. SOURCE Growth Energy Labelling Rahul Gandhi's claims as 'baseless", the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday said that the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha is trying to "sensationalise" the issue instead of availing the legal processes. The poll body in a statement said that Rahul Gandhi repeated a "tired" script. "At his recent press conference, Rahul Gandhi repeated a tired script. In 2018, it was then Kamal Nath, the then President of MPCC; today, it's the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha playing the same tune. In 2018, they tried to mislead the Supreme Court by producing documents from a private website to demonstrate that there are mistakes in the electoral rolls in as much as the same face was shown again for as many as 36 voters. Wherein, in reality, the defects were rectified around 4 months ago and the copy of the same was supplied to the party. This was made ground to seek the searchable pdf format for electoral rolls. The Court refused to accept the prayer of Kamal Nath," ECI said. The ECI further said that the name of Aditya Srivastava, which was alleged to be in three different States, was rectified months ago. "Now, in 2025, they, being aware that the same trick cannot be played in the Court, tried to mislead the people by claiming irregularities in the electoral rolls, inter alia, that the same names are occurring at different places. In fact, the name of Aditya Srivastava, which was alleged to be in three different States, was rectified months ago," it added. The poll body further alleged that the Lok Sabha LoP has no respect for the Supreme Court of India's decisions. ECI also asked Congress MP Rahul Gandhi to sign the declaration by Chief Electoral Officers of Maharashtra and Karnataka or apologise for his "absurd" allegations. "The Kamal Nath judgement gives a settled position with respect to the machine-readable document and raising the same issues repeatedly shows that Mr Gandhi has no respect for the Supreme Court of India's decisions. Law provides a specific procedure for both making objections to the roll and for making appeals. Instead of availing himself of the legal processes, he tried to sensationalise the issue by making baseless claims in the media. It is a settled proposition that if law requires a certain thing to happen in a certain manner, then it should be done in that manner only and not in any other manner. Therefore, if Rahul Gandhi believes in his analysis and believes that his allegations against ECI are true, he should have respect for the law and sign the Declaration or Apologise to the Nation for raising absurd allegations against ECI," ECI added. (ANI) The devastating flash floods in Uttarakhand's Dharali and Harsil regions have left a trail of destruction, with survivors recounting harrowing moments of terror as they fought to save their lives. As rescue operations continue in Uttarakhand's flood-hit areas, survivors are coming forward to share their horrific experiences, describing the moment when their homes and belongings were swept away. "Our house got washed away. All our things were in it... Everything is gone. We just ran to save our lives..." said one of the victims to ANI. The flash floods in Uttarakhand have brought unimaginable destruction, with survivors describing the disaster as a nightmare that will stay with them forever. Three days after the devastating floods hit Dharali and Harsil, a total of 566 people were evacuated by Friday noon from the affected areas, while personnel still carried out rescue operations for 300 people who were stranded. At least five people have been reported dead, and 50 are still missing. The State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) has been actively involved in the rescue operations, utilising state-of-the-art equipment, including a victim locating camera and thermal imaging camera. Dog squads have been deployed alongside rescue personnel to search for stranded individuals. Lal Babu Sharma, a resident involved in the rescue operations stated that he was working along with 11 other men when the disaster occurred, further stating that no trace of them has been left. "11 people were working with us when this disaster struck. There is no trace of those 11 men. We request the administration to help find them as soon as possible," Sharma told ANI. Upendra, another resident engaged in the rescue operations stated that there was no possibility of anyone's survival. "I came here just five minutes after the incident. There was no possibility of anyone surviving here. We tried our best to save people... But this place was completely covered with debris... 12-13 of our people are missing," Upendra told ANI. Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has been closely monitoring the situation, coordinating with rescue agencies, and ensuring that the state's development agenda remains on track. He has also chaired a cabinet meeting in the disaster-affected area, demonstrating his commitment to the region's development despite the crisis. As per a statement, the CM is also ensuring no hindrance in the development of the state. Camp offices have been set up to ensure the development works are speeded up. A high-level review meeting was also held with the G ITBP, DG NDRF and DGP Uttarakhand Police. In this, the progress of the rescue operation, ground challenges and strengthening mutual coordination were discussed in detail. Instructions were sent by the CM to ensure quick access to all affected areas, early rescue of stranded people and adequate deployment of relief teams in the inaccesible areas. Special emphasis was also laid on quick restoration of communication, electricity and road connectivity and uninterrupted supply of relief material. The Chief Minister gave clear instructions that there should be no delay in reaching assistance to any affected person and the administrative machinery should work with full sensitivity. Additionally, mobile network was also restored in the disaster-hit Harsil valley. The landslides have also disrupted the Char Dham Yatra. Nepal has initiated diplomatic efforts to search for 17 Nepali workers who went missing in the floods. The Nepali Prime Minister has condoled the incident and requested assistance from the Indian government. Nepali Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli while on his way back from Turkmenistan, took to social media platform Facebook and condoled the incident. "I am deeply concerned by the tragic news of the huge loss of life and property due to floods in Uttarakhand, a neighbouring and friendly country in India. It has been reported that more than 17 Nepali citizens have also been affected by the floods. Immediate diplomatic discussions were held through the embassy for their rescue. I pay my respects to all those who lost their lives in the floods and landslides and wish the bereaved families the strength to bear the loss," Oli wrote on Facebook. Amongst those missing 17 are from Jajrkot District and four others from Bardiya district local officials has confirmed. As per the officials whereabouts of them is unknown since Tuesday afternoon after a devastating flood hit the Dharali area of Uttarkashi district in Uttarakhand, India. "The missing locals have not been contacted since the flood, and their families are deeply worried. We also have requested the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to assist in search and rescue operations," Hari Chandra Basnet, Chairperson at Kushe Rural Municipality in Jajarkot District told ANI over phone. Additionally, President, Uttarakhand Finance Service Officers Association, Jaipal Singh Tomar has informed that all Finance Service officers of the state would voluntarily donate one day's salary to the Chief Minister Relief Fund (CMRF). The decision reflects human sensitivity and social responsibility towards the disaster victims by the association. The situation remains critical, with the authorities working tirelessly to provide assistance to those affected by the disaster. The rescue and relief efforts are ongoing, with a focus on restoring communication, electricity, and road connectivity in the affected areas. (ANI) In a major push toward modernising Pune's law enforcement system, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday inaugurated several critical infrastructure and surveillance projects under the Pune City Police Commissionerate. CM Fadnavis also laid foundation stones for new police stations and unveiled a cutting-edge integrated command and control centre. At the event held at Shivajinagar Police Headquarters, CM Fadnavis announced the approval of five new police stations at Lohgaon, Laxminagar, Narhe, Manjri, and Yewalewadi. The Chief Minister said these stations would soon get the green light, along with the recruitment of 1,000 additional personnel to strengthen policing in the rapidly expanding city. "A comprehensive structural reform of the police force is underway for the first time in 60 years. We are setting up specialised units such as Narcotics and Forensics. The government remains committed to fully supporting police modernisation," said Fadnavis. During the event, CM Fadnavis made several key announcements for Pune Police, including the approval of five new police stations, a proposal to recruit 1,000 new police personnel for these stations, and the sanctioning of two new Deputy Commissioners of Police (DCPs) for Pune. The government has already approved seven new police stations in Pune, a first for any city in Maharashtra. Pune's rapid expansion demands enhanced law-and-order infrastructure and smarter policing, the CM added. CM also launched a High-Tech Surveillance and Command centre, the 'Drishti' Integrated Command and Control Centre, calling it one of the most advanced CCTV-based surveillance systems in the country. "This AI-enabled surveillance system will allow real-time traffic and crime monitoring. Criminals won't be able to hide from police anymore," he said. This surveillance network includes 2,800 new CCTV cameras across the city, Automated alerts for camera malfunctions with 24-hour repair guarantees, Public Address Systems being installed at busy junctions, Introduction of 5 mobile command and control vans equipped with drones, functioning as mini-commissionerates during emergencies or disasters. Fadnavis also announced plans for a satellite-powered Integrated Traffic Management System (ITMS). The ITMS will sync with traffic signals to optimize flow and reduce congestion, AI-backed monitoring will be implemented across Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, and PMRDA regions, the system will support diversion planning and real-time incident response. Commending Pune Police for their proactive efforts in the anti-drug campaign, Fadnavis emphasised continued vigilance on drugs, "The anti-narcotics drive will continue with full force. Pune Police have set a good example, and we want this momentum to continue." He also praised the city police for introducing reform programs for juvenile delinquents and called on the department to suggest legal amendments to improve juvenile justice mechanisms. During the event, CM Fadnavis also inaugurated the newly built Chandan Nagar Police Station, laid the foundation for new police stations being built in Loni Kalbhor, Nanded City, Kharadi, and Kondhwa, and also launched drone surveillance, mobile command vans, and the ITMS project. CM also felicitated police officials who used CCTV systems to trace and safely rescue a missing two-year-old girl, Komal Kale, from Katraj and solve the infamous Kondhwa Rape case. The event was attended by Minister Chandrakant Patil and others, senior officials like DGP Rashmi Shukla, Additional CS (Home) Iqbal Singh Chahal, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Vinay Kumar Choube, and District Collector Jitendra Dudi, along with Pune CP Amitesh Kumar. (ANI) The Bhog and Antim Ardas of the Akhand Path in memory of Indian Army soldier Daljeet Singh, who lost his life in a recent accident in Ladakh, was solemnly observed on Friday at Gurdwara Sri Tahli Sahib, Galhri in Punjab's Gurdaspur, a release said. Defence Services Welfare, Freedom Fighters and Horticulture Minister Mohinder Bhagat attended the ceremony to pay homage and announced that the family would be given an ex-gratia grant of Rs 1 crore. On behalf of the Punjab Government, Mohinder Bhagat offered floral tributes to ALD Daljeet Singh, stating that the entire nation is proud of its brave son. He said Daljeet Singh rendered exemplary service in the challenging terrain of Ladakh and attained martyrdom while defending the country. Bhagat conveyed that he had come on the directions of Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann to share the grief of the bereaved family and assured them that the Punjab Government stands firmly with them in this difficult time. The Cabinet Minister announced that the family would be given an ex-gratia grant of Rs 1 crore, of which a cheque of Rs 6 lakh was handed over today, with the remaining Rs 94 lakh to be released soon after completion of formalities. He further announced that Shaheed Daljeet Singh's brother would be given a government job, the village government school would be renamed in the martyr's honour, and a memorial gate would be constructed at the village entrance. He affirmed the Punjab Government's commitment to the welfare of martyr families, calling them invaluable assets of the nation and the community. On the occasion, Bhagat also honoured Shaheed Daljeet Singh's father, S Gulzar Singh. Chairman Punjab Health Systems Corporation Raman Behl, senior leader Shamsher Singh, and various religious and political figures also paid heartfelt tributes to the soldier. (ANI) In a massive state-wide security and anti-drug crackdown ahead of Independence Day, Punjab Police on Friday carried out coordinated checking operations at 151 railway stations across all 28 police districts. The exercise was conducted from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. as part of heightened security measures ordered by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to ensure peaceful celebrations. The state-level Cordon and Search Operation (CASO) was conducted on the directions of Director General of Police (DGP) Punjab Gaurav Yadav and was closely monitored by Special Director General of Police (Law and Order) Arpit Shukla. All Commissioners of Police (CPs) and Senior Superintendents of Police (SSPs) were directed to deploy heavy police presence at stations, supervised by officers of Superintendent of Police (SP) rank and above. Thousands of passengers and individuals entering and exiting the railway premises were checked during the three-hour operation. As part of the crackdown, at least 72 suspicious persons were detained for questioning. Parallelly, on Day 160 of the ongoing state-wide anti-drug campaign Yudh Nashian Virudh, Punjab Police carried out raids at 352 identified drug hotspots across the state, resulting in the arrest of 96 drug smugglers. A total of 59 FIRs were registered during the day's operations, taking the overall tally of arrests under the drive to 25,149 since its launch. The raids led to the recovery of 1.2 kilograms of heroin, 1.1 kilograms of opium, 12,627 intoxicant pills, and Rs 2.3 lakh in drug-related cash. The Special DGP said that over 232 police teams supervised by 106 gazetted officers conducted these searches and checked at least 375 individuals found at or near suspicious locations. As part of the state's ongoing efforts toward rehabilitation and de-addiction, Punjab Police also convinced 53 drug-affected individuals to undergo formal de-addiction and rehabilitation treatment on the same day. Officials reiterated that the dual strategy of security enhancement and continued crackdown on narcotics would remain in force throughout the run-up to Independence Day, aiming to ensure both public safety and the eradication of drug networks in Punjab. (ANI) Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday said that development works are progressing rapidly across the state, with welfare schemes benefitting a large section of the population. Addressing a public rally in Sitamarhi, Chief Minister Kumar stated that around 1.12 crore elderly, specially abled and widows are going to benefit from the increased pension. "The development works are ongoing rapidly in all places. We have increased the pension to the elderly, specially-abled and widows from Rs 400 to Rs 1100 (per month). Around 1 crore 12 lakh people are to benefit from this," the Chief Minister said. The Chief Minister iterated that the Central government will redevelop the Maa Janki temple complex at a cost of Rs 883 crore. He said, "The Central government will re-develop the Maa Janki temple complex at a cost of Rs 883 crores. The government is working to improve connectivity between Sitamarhi and Ayodhya by road and rail networks. Today, a train is being introduced between Sitamarhi and Delhi..." Earlier today, Union Home Minister Amit Shah performed the Bhoomi Pujan for the comprehensive development of the Punaura Dham temple and complex, the birthplace of Mata Sita in Sitamarhi district. Shah also flagged off the Amrit Bharat train from Sitamarhi to Delhi through video conferencing. Many dignitaries, including Bihar Chief Minister Shri Nitish Kumar, were present on this occasion. He laid the foundation stone for the redevelopment of Janki Mata Temple at Punaura Dham in Sitamarhi in Bihar. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Deputy CM Samrat Chaudhary were also present during the event. Punaura Dham, also known as Maa Janaki Janmabhoomi Temple, is widely considered to be the birthplace of Goddess Sita, the wife of Ram. After the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, multiple people associated with the Janaki temple brought gifts for Lord Ram during the Pran Pratishtha ceremony held on January 22, 2024. According to Bihar tourism, Punaura Dham also contains other attractions, like a lake which is believed to help with her pregnancy, and Panth Pakar, which is associated with Sita's marriage. (ANI) The Delhi High Court on Friday rejected the bail plea of one Sukhbir Singh, who is an alleged member of an organised crime syndicate allegedly run by Anwar Khan alias Chacha and Shabir Chaudhary. Sukhbir Singh is an accused in a case registered under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma dismissed the bail plea of Sukhbir Singh, who had moved to the High Court after his bail plea was dismissed by the Patiala House Court. "This Court finds no merit in the present petition, and the same is accordingly dismissed," Justice Sharma said in the judgment of August 8. The default bail plea was dismissed by the trial court. The court had extended the period of investigation after considering the report filed by the Special Public Prosecutor. It was contended by the accused that extension was not a valid one as at the time of filing the report, a notification was not in place as to the effect of the appointment of a special public prosecutor. After considering the facts, the High court said, " If the State's contention is that the case is of a serious and grave nature, requiring the Court to adopt a cautious and stringent approach, it is equally incumbent upon the State to act with due promptitude and avoid delays in critical processes such as the appointment of an SPP." This observation is made only as a note of caution, with the expectation that greater administrative efficiency will be ensured in such cases going forward, the High Court clarified. Additional standing counsel Sanjeev Bhandari, along with SPP Akhand Pratap Singh, appeared for the Delhi police and opposed the bail plea. On the other hand, senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, along with Advocate Rajiv Mohan, appeared for Sukhbir Singh. Delhi Police Special Cell on August 5 filed a charge sheet against one Sukhbir Singh, who is alleged to be a member of the Organised crime syndicate of Anwar Chacha and Shabir Chaudhary. This charge sheet has been filed under section of MCOCA charges of murder and criminal Conspiracy. The charge sheet has been filed in the court of Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Chander Jit Singh, who listed the matter for consideration on August 18. Delhi police is investigating a case of murder of Sunil Jain in Farsh Bazar area on December 7, 2024, which is allegedly committed by the organised crime syndicate allegedly run by Anwar Khan and Shabir Chaudhary. Delhi Police's Special Cell has arrested Hashim Baba, his wife Zoya Khan, Sameer Baba, and Anwar Khan alias Chacha under the MCOCA. They are all in judicial custody after police interrogation. However, Shabir Chaudhary has not yet been arrested. He is at large. At the initial stage, syndicate member Sukhbir Singh was arrested by police on February 16, 2025. He is running in judicial custody after police interrogation. (ANI) Mizoram Governor, General (Dr) Vijay Kumar Singh, PVSM, AVSM, YSM (Retd), visited Lunglei District on Friday and engaged with senior Government officials, Non-Governmental Organisations, Church leaders and Ex-Servicemen, said a press statement. He also visited the 20 Assam Rifles Headquarters, where he interacted with personnel and also laid a wreath at the War Memorial to honour fallen soldiers. Upon arrival at Kawmzawl Helipad, the Governor was received by Addl. DC Pi Rochuangkimi Khenglawt and SP Pu J Lalmuankima. The 2nd Battalion of the Mizoram Armed Police accorded a Guard of Honour, while the Pipe Band from the 2nd Battalion MAP English Medium School welcomed him with a splendid musical performance. At a meeting with government department heads in the Lunglei DC's Conference Hall, Governor General (Dr) Vijay Kumar Singh commended the effective implementation of welfare schemes through the Deputy Commissioner's office, describing them as exemplary. He urged officials to address the challenges faced by marginalised communities with viable solutions and sustained efforts. Highlighting the Central Government's significant investments in education, he noted the establishment of esteemed institutions such as Eklavya Model Residential Schools, Kendriya Vidyalayas, and Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas in Mizoram. He encouraged public participation to leverage these institutions for entry into Central Services and other top jobs in the country. The Governor also emphasised the Central Government's commitment to welfare schemes for women, children, youth, farmers, and underprivileged communities, urging officials to ensure these initiatives deliver tangible benefits. He stressed the need for collaborative efforts across departments to achieve optimal outcomes. Advocating for stringent enforcement of law and order, as well as measures to combat substance abuse, he called upon Non-Governmental Organisations and Churches to work closely with the government. He underscored the importance of addressing issues concerning neighbouring countries and regional developments with vigilance, urging citizens to cooperate responsibly with authorities to uphold law and safeguard the state. Lunglei Addl. DC Pi Rochuangkimi Khenglawt delivered a welcome address, providing an overview of Lunglei District's progress and ongoing initiatives under the Deputy Commissioner's office. She highlighted the Healthy Lunglei District Campaign, which has organised 39 camps to combat Non-Communicable Diseases. She also elaborated on Project LEAP for supporting individuals with disabilities, the Good Governance Campaign (Prashasan Gaon Ki Ore) implemented in six villages, Project BLOOM for maternal and child health in the Aspirational Rural Development Block of Lungsen, and the Elementary English Literacy Programme. Lunglei SP Pu J. Lalmuankima apprised the Governor on law enforcement efforts in the district. He reported that, as of July this year, 89 cases were registered under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and 127 under local and special laws. Thirteen cases related to heroin trafficking were recorded, with 1,625.88 grams of heroin, valued at Rs 48,66,450, seized. Two arm-related cases were also registered. The interactive session concluded with a vote of thanks by Addl. DC Pi Zoramdini, formally closing the proceedings. Following the meeting, the Governor visited the 20 Assam Rifles Headquarters at Lunglawn, where Commandant Colonel Jaswinder Singh, SM, briefed him on their operations. He also met with representatives of Non-Governmental Organisations, Church leaders, and Ex-Servicemen at the Lunglei Circuit House. His visit culminated with a wreath-laying ceremony at the Chanmari War Memorial to pay tribute to martyred soldiers. (ANI) Trinamool Congress (TMC) general secretary and party's leader in the Lok Sabha Abhishek Banerjee on Friday backed senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's claim of voter list manipulation in the 2024 Lok Sabha election, alleging that if the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) is being carried out due to irregularities in the voter list, then the government is "illegal" as it was "elected through illegal votes." Speaking to reporters in Kolkata, Banerjee accused the BJP of being "entangled in the same tactics" it had tried to use against the Opposition and warned that they would face a "strong reply" in the upcoming polls. "The issue of fake voters is before everyone. In some cases, there are 5 voters with the same name. One person has voted more than twice in Varanasi as well as Karnataka. Those who talk about SIR, in conducting SIR, have exposed the person on whose behest he was working. If they have been elected to power through illegal votes, the Govt is illegal too. They are entangled in the same tactics that were attempted to be used against the Opposition. It has been exposed. People will not forgive them. In the upcoming elections, they will receive a strong reply. They should be prepared for it," he said. Banerjee alleged that the BJP and the Election Commission were working in collusion to exclude poor voters from electoral rolls. "Rahul Gandhi has briefed the media about the vote theft. The way in which BJP wants to carry out SIR, the names of the poor people will be excluded first. In Bihar, the names of 65 lakh voters have been removed. We have told Congress that in Karnataka, Mahadevapura Assembly segment, they should take strict action against the Booth Officers (BLOs), and along with it there should be protest against then Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar. In many seats in West Bengal, the BJP won by a margin of less than 15 to 20 thousand votes. In such cases nearly 2500 votes can be manipulated," he said. The TMC leader also said that an Opposition delegation would meet the Election Commissioner on August 11 to press for a discussion on the SIR exercise in Parliament. "We want the House to function. We have requested the Speaker that if there is nothing to hide, then why are they not allowing discussion on SIR? When Bengali is called a Bangladeshi language and insulting it, and then causing atrocities on Bengalis in BJP-ruled states we want a discussion on it. An exercise like SIR which takes 2 years how can that be done in a month? Last time SIR was done in 2002 and list was announced in 2004. If they say that there is manipulation in voter list then the government was formed in 2024, then that government is also illegal. If voter's rights are snatched from anyone we will do gherao in EC office," he said. Earlier on Thursday, Rahul Gandhi said 1,00,250 "fake votes" were created in the Mahadevapura Assembly segment in the Bangalore Central Lok Sabha constituency in Karnataka to ensure a win for the BJP. Taking the reporters through a detailed presentation of the 'fraud' at the Congress headquarters in Delhi, the LoP alleged that "collusion" had happened between the Election Commission of India and the BJP, which resulted in Prime Minister Narendra Modi securing his third term. "Narendra Modi became Prime Minister with just a margin of 25 seats...Election Commission is helping BJP destroy the electoral system in India...The Election Commission is not giving us the data because of what we did in Mahadevpur (Karnataka Assembly constituency); if we do it in other Lok Sabha seats, then the truth about our democracy will come out. This is the evidence, criminal evidence (pointing to the physical voter list)," Rahul Gandhi said. (ANI) The Centre and opposition on Friday sparred over Congress MP Rahul Gandhi's allegations of "vote theft" against the Election Commission of India (ECI), with BJP leaders and allies dismissing his claims as "baseless." However, the opposition members backed his charges and demanded a parliamentary discussion. This came in response to a press conference held by Rahul Gandhi on August 7, where he claimed that the 2024 Lok Sabha elections were "choreographed" by the EC to benefit the BJP, which he said appeared "immune to anti-incumbency." Union Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said neither Rahul Gandhi's party nor his party workers believed his claims, adding that if common entries in voter lists existed, a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) was necessary. Speaking to reporters, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat said, "I have said this earlier too that neither his political party nor his party workers believe what he says. So, I think the country also need not take his words very seriously...In his press conference yesterday, Rahul Gandhi presented data collected through software and discussed common entries across different states. I would like to ask one thing, if there indeed are common entries, then Special Intensive Review (SIR) becomes all the more important. He and his party have to decide whether they are supporting or opposing SIR." BJP MP Jagdambika Pal accused Gandhi of attempting to defame a constitutional body without evidence, terming his approach a "hit and run." "...He is telling a constitutional body that the statements he gave to the media is his statement. You are levelling such serious allegations against a Constitutional body, after such serious allegations you are not ready to give it in writing or produce proof for the same. So, you are attempting to defame the EC. This 'hit and run' won't work. If he has any proof, he will have to produce the same. Otherwise, he should be ashamed of himself and apologise..." Jagdambika Pal asserted. Shiv Sena MP Naresh Mhaske said disruptions in Parliament over the matter insulted crores of voters. Mhaske stated, "Whatever is going on is really bad. This is an insult to crores of voters. These voters elect us as MPs...But with such ruckus and disruption of the proceedings of Parliament, crores of voters are being insulted." Labelling Rahul Gandhi's claims as 'baseless", the Election Commission of India (ECI) today said that the Leader of Opposition (LoP) in Lok Sabha is trying to "sensationalise" the issue instead of availing the legal processes. The poll body, in a statement, said that Rahul Gandhi repeated a "tired" script." According to the sources, the poll body had also asked Rahul Gandhi to sign the declaration by Chief Electoral Officers of Maharashtra and Karnataka or apologise for his "absurd" allegations. ECI sources said, "If Rahul Gandhi believes in his analysis and believes that his allegations against ECI are true, he should have no problem in signing the Declaration." ECI asked Rahul Gandhi to apologise if he does not sign the affidavits. "If Rahul Gandhi does not sign the Declaration, it would mean that he does not believe in his analysis and resultant conclusions and absurd allegations. In which case, he should apologise to the nation. Therefore, he has two options: Either sign the Declaration or apologise to the Nation for raising absurd allegations against ECI," sources said. Countering Gandhi's claim, sources pointed out that the Congress-led Karnataka government itself relies on electoral rolls for its crucial caste census policy. On the other hand, Congress MP Manickam Tagore described the BJP government as a "stolen government" with 30 extra seats, citing alleged vote theft in Karnataka's Mahadevapura constituency. He accused Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of working for Union Home Minister Amit Shah. "...This is a classic example of how 2024 elections have been stolen from the Opposition. This Govt, which is run by Mr Modi and Amit Shah, is a stolen Govt with 30 more seats...Any neutral Election Commission would have asked that there will be a committee, they would have examined the complaint...But we can't these things from Gyanesh Kumar because he is not T. N. Seshan. He works for Mr Amit Shah, not the Election Commission of India..." Tagore alleged. Congress MP Karti Chidambaram criticised the ECI's handling of the matter, while SP MP Rajeev Rai questioned why affidavits were sought from complainants but not from the ECI. "...It is sad in our democracy that the body that is entrusted with the function of running free and fair elections is behaving in this manner. It is such a bad fall from the days when the EC was headed by legendary Civil Servants like TN Seshan. This is so churlish and so petty. Will the EC next say that they will file a defamation case against LoP?..." Chidambaram argued. SP MP Rajeev Rai said, "Why does the Election Commission ask for an affidavit whenever there is a genuine complaint? ... The Election Commission should also give an affidavit that if the voter list is wrong, then a case of fraud be filed against them..." Citing internal analysis, Gandhi said the Congress expected to win 16 seats in Karnataka but ended up with only nine. He said the Congress investigated seven unexpected losses, zeroing in on Mahadevapura, where he alleged vote theft involving 1,00,250 votes. Presenting Congress's research on voting in the Mahadevapura Assembly in Karnataka, Rahul Gandhi alleged "vote chori" (vote theft) of 1,00,250 votes. "Our internal polling told us we would win 16 seats in Karnataka; we won nine. We then focused on seven unexpected losses. We focused on Mahadevapur...All data is 2024 data from the Election Commission; the total votes polled in the Lok Sabha were 6.26 lakhs. The BJP won with 6,58,915, securing a margin of 32,707. But then we look at Mahadevapura, where Congress polls 1,15,586 and BJP polls 2,29,632. Congress wins all Vidhan Sabhas but this one," the Congress leader said. "We found 1,00,250 votes stolen. Stolen in five different ways. Duplicate voters, fake and invalid addresses, and bulk voters in a single address, on a building with 50-60 people living. But when we go there, no record of those people living there. One family living in that house," he said. 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The Ministry has specially commended Visakhapatnam Port for its outstanding efforts in cleanliness and sanitation initiatives, Port Secretary T Venugopal said in a press release. As per the guidelines issued by the Ministry, the Port undertook several impactful initiatives under the themes of "Swachhta Ki Bhagidari" (Participation in Cleanliness) and "Sampoorna Swachhta" (Total Cleanliness). These included large-scale cleanliness drives, tree plantation campaign titled "Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam" (One Tree in Mother's Name), wall murals and artwork, awareness programs in schools, cultural events, and creative competitions to promote the message of Swachh Bharat (Clean India). A particularly noteworthy initiative was a mega clean-up drive at the Fishing Harbour, during which sunken boats that had been submerged for over 15 years were removed. The Port's Medical Department organised a Safai Mitra Suraksha Camp for sanitation workers, offering: preventive health checkups, distribution of PPE kits and access to healthcare facilities. In a strong step towards environmental sustainability, the Port has undertaken extensive greenery development and landscape beautification, planting a total of 31,800 saplings across the ASR, Anakapalli, and Visakhapatnam districts. The Port also organised a trek and cleanliness drive at the Kambalakonda Eco-Tourism Park, involving 350 participants. This initiative fostered community unity and enhanced the beauty of the park's surroundings. On Visakhapatnam Port achieving the top national rank in Swachhta, Port Chairman Dr. M. Angamuthu, IAS, expressed happiness and congratulated the staff and partners involved. He reiterated the Port's commitment to a clean, green, and healthy environment, aligned with the goals of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. (ANI) Union Petroleum Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Friday hailed the Centre's recent decision to pay Rs 30000 crores to oil companies in 12 parts, which has kept prices of Liquefied Petroleum Gas stable in the country. In a significant decision, the Union Cabinet, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved a compensation of 30,000 crore to be paid in twelve parts to oil companies that have kept LPG prices stable despite global uncertainty. Despite a 63% hike in Saudi CP, the Modi government has kept LPG prices stable, insulating mothers and sisters from the price rise. Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) have suffered heavy losses to make LPG available to kitchens at nearly half the cost at which it is sold in neighbouring countries. "Even when LPG prices soared in the wake of global uncertainty and there was a 63% hike in Saudi CP, PM Narendra Modi kept our mothers and sisters insulated against the price rise and ensured they didn't feel any negative impact. Today, in a big decision taken by the Union Cabinet under the leadership of PM Modi Ji, 30,000 crore will be paid in twelve parts to oil companies which have kept the LPG prices stable," Hardeep Singh Puri wrote in an 'X' post. Hardeep Singh Puri, highlighted the government's efforts to make LPG affordable and accessible to the masses. The decision to compensate OMCs reflects the government's commitment to ensuring the financial health of these companies, which play a crucial role in the energy sector. Puri highlighted that the Oil Making Companies incurred losses to make LPG available in every household at a lower price compared to other neighbouring Indian countries. "Our energy sector OMCs suffered heavy losses to make LPG available to the kitchens at nearly half the cost at which it was being sold in the countries in our neighbourhood," the 'X' post said. The Modi government's decision to compensate OMCs for stable LPG prices demonstrates its focus on providing affordable energy to citizens, particularly in difficult geopolitical times. This move is expected to support the financial health of OMCs and ensure the continued availability of LPG at affordable prices. The Union Minister said that the fund of Rs 30000 will support the financial health of the OMCs and ensure the availability, affordability and sustainability of energy supply for the citizens of the country. "The compensation, which will be divided amongst the three energy sector OMCs, will support the financial health of these companies which ensure availability, affordability and sustainability of energy supply for the citizens of the country in difficult geopolitical times and uncertainties. In the last 11 years of Modi Government, we have witnessed a major transformation in India's energy landscape, with special focus on providing access to clean energy to the masses," Hardeep Puri wrote on 'X'. More than 10.33 crore Ujjwala families can cook food at just 6 per day due to affordable fuel. About 56 lakh domestic LPG cylinders are delivered every day, and around 6 crore consumers visit retail outlets daily across the country. "India sells LPG at the cheapest prices in the world despite being an importer. More than 10.33 crore Ujjwala families are able to cook food at just Rs 6 per day due to affordable fuel. About 56 Lakh domestic LPG cylinders are delivered every day and about 6 cr. consumers visit retail outlets every day across the country and to strengthen availability of fuel in rural areas, of the total LPG distributors added during the last decade, around 86% are rural distributors," the 'X' post read. The Union Minister said that Public Sector Undertaking OMCs have suffered loss appros Rs 41000 crores in the financial year 2024-25. He stated that the fund of Rs 30000 will reimburse the losses faced by the PSU OMCs. "By making LPG available at a price lower than cost, the PSU OMCs have suffered under-recoveries to the tune of approx. 41,000 crore during FY 24-25. Through this Cabinet proposal, it is proposed to seek approval of the Government for partial reimbursement (i.e. 30,000 crore) to the PSU OMCs against the under-recoveries already made by them," the 'X' post read. Highlighting India's increased LPG network, the Union Minister mentioned that 3000 km LPG have been laid across the country since 2014. "The LPG pipe network has also been strengthened. LPG Pipelines of ~3000 kms laid since 2014. While Kandla-Gorakhpur LPG pipeline is the world's largest LPG pipeline ~2805 KM, and Paradip-Haldia-Motihari of ~1707KM is under construction," Puri wrote on 'X'. Domestic LPG Cylinders are supplied at regulated prices to consumers by the public sector Oil Marketing companies namely, IOCL, BPCL, HPCL. The international prices of LPG remained at high levels during 2024-25 and continue to remain high. However, to insulate consumers from fluctuations in international LPG prices, the increase in cost was not passed on to consumers of domestic LPG which led to significant losses for the three OMCs. Despite the losses, the Public Sector Oil Marketing Companies have ensured continuous supplies of domestic LPG in the country at affordable prices. This compensation will allow the OMCs to continue meeting their critical requirements such as crude and LPG procurement, servicing of debt, and sustaining their capital expenditure, thereby ensuring uninterrupted supply of LPG cylinders to households across the country. This step also underlines the Government's commitment to protect consumers from volatility in global energy markets while maintaining the financial health of these PSU OMCs. It also reaffirms the objective of ensuring the widespread availability of clean cooking fuel to all consumers of domestic LPG, including those under flagship schemes like PM Ujjwala Yojana. (ANI) The Delhi School Education (Transparency in Fixation and Regulation of Fees) 2025 bill was passed in the Delhi Assembly on Friday. Delhi CM Rekha Gupta and ministers of her cabinet greet the media after the Assembly passed the Delhi School Education (Transparency in Fixation and Regulation of Fees) 2025 Bill. "The 52-year-long 'vanvas' of the parents in Delhi has ended today. For the first time after 1973, there is a Government in Delhi which had the courage to do justice to all parents in Delhi in a transparent manner and provide them relief...The Bill has been passed today after a detailed discussion," CM Gupta said. Education Minister Ashish Sood on Monday tabled the "Delhi School Education (Transparency in Fixation and Regulation of Fees) Bill, 2025" in the Delhi Assembly, stating that the legislation seeks to end commercialisation of education and take action against those exploiting it for profit. The proposed law aims to regulate the arbitrary fee hikes by private schools in the national capital, providing relief to lakhs of students and their families. Earlier on Wednesday, Parents of school students met Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta and Delhi Education Minister Ashish Sood, thanking them for the School Education (Fee Regulation and Transparency) Bill, 2025. On the Delhi School Education (Fee Regulation and Transparency) Bill, 2025, Jahanvi Kaur, a parent whose child is enrolled in a school in Delhi, said, "No minister has ever had such a commendable performance. The fact that this bill was passed is a very wonderful thing. We were afraid to ask the school why the fees keep increasing because we were afraid that some staff member could do something to our child. I hope that the future of our students will be even brighter." The Bill was tabled on the first day of the Monsoon session of the Eighth Legislative Assembly, which commenced on Monday and will continue until August 8. However, the session may be extended depending on the exigencies of legislative business. Sood stated that education is "a sacred duty -- a duty we must fulfil for the progress and prosperity of our motherland." He emphasised that the aim of education should not be 'earning', but rather 'learning' and nation-building. "This bill is a small effort on our part to honour Dr Mukherjee's vision and to ensure that education does not become a burden on the people of India but instead becomes a path leading them to a better future," he said. (ANI) The Delhi High Court on Friday rejected an appeal of Shahid Yousuf, son of Hizbul Chief Syed Sallauddin. However, his brother has been granted bail by the High Court. The brothers had challenged a trial court order denying them bail in a terror-funding case. "This court cannot ignore the larger conspiracy brought forth by the prosecution, which poses a threat to the unity, integrity, and security of the nation," the High Court said while dismissing the appeal of Shahid Yousuf. This case triggered from an investigation when the Special Cell of the Delhi Police received information that funds originating from Pakistan were being routed to Jammu & Kashmir through hawala channels operating via Delhi, for the purpose of funding terrorist and secessionist activities in Jammu and Kashmir. On the basis of the information, an FIR was registered in 2011. Late on the investigation was handed over to the NIA. The division bench of justices Navin Chawla and Shalinder Kaur rejected the appeal for Shahid Yousuf. However, the High Court has allowed the appeal of Syed Ahmed Shakeel. He has been granted bail subject to furnishing of a bail bond of Rs one lakh and two sureties. While discussing the bail plea of Shahid Yousuf, the High Court said, "The nature of theallegations and the material placed on record prima facie establish the petitioner's involvement in this conspiracy and his direct contact with known members of the proscribed terrorist outfit." "He is alleged to have received money from co-accused Aijaz Ahmad Bhat alias Aijaz Maqbool Bhat, knowing that the funds would be used to further terrorist activities," the High Court said in the judgement. The counsel for Shahid Yousuf emphasised his prolonged incarceration and submitted that he has been in custody for a period of seven years and four months, which is violative of his right to liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. Therefore, he is entitled to be enlarged on regular bail. The High Court rejected the submissions and said, "Undisputedly, the appellant has been in custody since the date of his arrest, that is, August 30, 2018, and is facing trial under Sections 13, 17, 18, 20, 21, 38 & 40 of the UAPA. The charges have been framed, and the case is presently at the stage of recording of evidence of the prosecution witnesses." "This court is conscious of the fact that the appellant, being an undertrial, has a right to a speedy trial. At the same time, statements of protected witnesses is being recorded before the Special Court. This court cannot ignore the larger conspiracy brought forth by the prosecution, which poses a threat to the unity, integrity, and security of the nation," the High Court pointed out. The High Court noted that the prosecution has highlighted the use of hawala channels to route terror funds into Jammu and Kashmir, and the appellant (Yousuf) is allegedly part of this network. While dismissing the appeal, the High Court also said that Shahid is a flight risk. "The possibility of the appellant being a flight risk cannot be ruled out, especially in light of the allegation that he had earlier travelled on a passport with a falsified parental identity and later destroyed the document. There exists a real likelihood of his tampering with evidence and influencing witnesses. It is alleged that as part of a larger criminal conspiracy, to raise and send funds to Jammu & Kashmir for carrying out terrorist activities, the appellant Shahid Yousuf and the appellant Syed Ahmad Shakeel willfully received and collected money from Aijaz Ahmad Bhat alias Aijaz Maqbool Bhat on different occasions. During the course of investigations, the disclosure statements of the appellants, as well as evidence of their receipt of terror funds from Aijaz Ahmad Bhat, were recorded, the agency alleged. Accused Shahid Yousuf was arrested on October 24, 2017, and Syed Ahmad Shakeel was arrested on August 30, 2018. (ANI) Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan on Friday delivered an insightful talk on his seminal book 'Ready, Relevant and Resurgent: A Blueprint for Transformation of India's Military' at the Vivekananda International Foundation in New Delhi. During his address at the event, General Chauhan revealed that the title of the book was framed in 2023 during the Combined Commanders Conference 2023. The conference is chaired by the Prime Minister of India and is held once in two years. "Let me begin by saying the title of the book, 'Ready, Relevant and Resurgent', this was what we framed for ourselves when we went for the Combined Commanders Conference in 2023. The Combined Commanders Conference is chaired by Prime Minister and is held every two years. That was the theme we had selected for that conference, 'Ready, Relevant and Resurgent'", CDS General Anil Chauhan said. The CDS informed that the sequel to the war doctrine is already in the works. He noted that India's military transformation is not just "structural" but a cultural and cognitive shift rooted in both "Shastra and Shastra". "I want to talk about it more, and in fact, I'm ready with the sequel to this particular book, another one which covers a few more ideas about how we're going to transform our armed forces. Maybe what I can say is what I was talking in the recent CAPS seminar that in Indian system Shastra or Shashtra, both are important and knowledge of weapon system, strategy, tactics, statecraft, everything is, both of them have to go hand in glove and that's what we require. And few odd very intelligent, competent generals like used to happen in the past, one Guderian, one Manstein, one Patton, that will not work", CDS General Chauhan said during the event. The talk highlighted the significant progress being made in India's military transformation, with a focus on jointness, future readiness, and strategic agility. The reforms outlined in the book aim to equip the Indian Armed Forces with the skills and knowledge necessary to meet the challenges of the future. General Chauhan said that the main purpose of writing the book was to spread awareness about the happenings in the uniform community. "Of course, the purpose behind writing this particular book, my basic idea was that there is a need for me to spread awareness at least among the uniform community to what is happening. It is the part of my job, my job has taken me to, I don't have exact statistics but every kind of command, every kind of training institute in which we have addressed officers," CDS Chauhan said. The talk highlighted major reforms, including tri-Service Staff College integration to foster jointness, doctrine development accelerated 4x through distributed authorship, online training & evaluation linked to career progression and rank-agnostic future warfare courses open to services, academia and industry. Civilian faculty to bring academic rigour to military education and a pan-services E-library system for shared knowledge resources. CDS reiterated that true Atmanirbharta lies in creating indigenous systems to maintain surprise and strategic advantage, and that collaboration between services, DRDO, MOD departments, ISRO, NTRO and others is already showing results. A sequel to the book is already in the works, indicating the ongoing nature of India's military transformation. On Thursday, CDS Genl Anil Chauhan and Secretary, Department of Military Affairs, formally released the declassified versions of the Joint Doctrines for Cyberspace Operations and Amphibious Operations during the Chiefs of Staff Committee meeting in New Delhi. The declassification of these doctrines underscores India's commitment to enhance visibility, accessibility and wider dissemination of joint war-fighting concepts. The Joint Doctrine for Cyberspace Operations outlines a unified approach to defend national cyberspace interests, integrating offensive and defensive cyber capabilities and enabling synchronised operations across the three Services. It emphasises threat-informed planning, resilience building, real-time intelligence integration and development of joint cyber capabilities. The Joint Doctrine for Amphibious Operations, which are operations carried out over water and land, defines the framework for planning and executing amphibious operations by integrating maritime, air and land forces. It stresses interoperability, rapid response capability and joint force application to influence operations ashore. A Defence Ministry release said the CDS has initiated development of numerous new doctrines/primers covering contemporary as well as niche areas of war-fighting such as Military Space Operations, Special Forces Operations, Airborne/Heliborne Operations, Integrated Logistics, Multi Domain Operations. These doctrines will provide stakeholders and policymakers with a common lexicon and guidelines for effective planning and smooth execution of joint military operations. Joint Doctrine for Amphibious Operations mentions the importance of Amphibious operations which necessitate 'Jointness and Integration' among the three services with seamless coordination and synergy. (ANI) The West Bengal Junior Doctors' Front (WBJDF) took out a protest rally on Friday night demanding justice for the victim doctor. A trainee post-graduate doctor was raped and murdered in R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata, where she was on her night duty on August 9, 2024. Meanwhile, the father of the victim arrived in Delhi on Wednesday expecting speedy justice for his deceased daughter. He expressed his disappointment with the CBI and Kolkata Police over the investigation, alleging that the Health Secretary was involved in the crime, and demanded his arrest. He said, "We have come to Delhi with hope. It has been a year now, and we have been roaming around for justice. We will try to put pressure on CBI. We will try to meet the CBI Director tomorrow. If we meet Union Home Minister Amit Shah, then he can persuade the CBI to do the task more efficiently. CBI and Kolkata Police have given the wrong perspective to the people. Our fight is to provide a safe environment for women in society. In the last one year CBI could not bring out any facts." He further alleged that such cases frequently occur in colleges in the state, as earlier, a similar incident took place in a law college. "The Bengal government is doing everything to stay in power by paying money and taking votes. They have no concern for the public. CM Mamata Banerjee keeps telling lies. Our IO in CBI lies about everything. At least 30 to 40 people are involved in this. The person who is involved in destroying the evidence, which we have seen with our own eyes but the CBI is turning a blind eye to, it is not doing anything. Whatever CBI should have done, it is not doing. We want justice. Whatever is happening in society, West Bengal will end with justice. The health secretary is connected to the crime and he should be arrested," he added. The RG Kar Medical College rape and murder incident occurred on August 9, 2024, when a 31-year-old female postgraduate trainee doctor was found dead in a seminar room on campus. The case led to widespread protests and outrage across the country, with many demanding justice for the victim. The investigation was transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) after the Calcutta High Court expressed dissatisfaction with the police's handling of the case. The CBI has since arrested several individuals. (ANI) Bihar Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Sinha speaking on the redevelopment of the Janki Mata temple in Sitamarhi stated that it was a big step towards prosperity and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of Viksit Bihar. "Today is an auspicious and historic day. It is a step towards Bihar's prosperity and the Prime Minister's vision of Viksit Bihar," Sinha told ANI. Punaura Dham, also known as Maa Janaki Janmabhoomi Temple, is widely considered to be the birthplace of Sita, the wife of Lord Ram. Following the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, people associated with the Janaki temple presented gifts for Lord Ram during the Pran Pratishtha ceremony on January 22, 2024. According to Bihar tourism portal, the site also contains other attractions, like a lake which is believed to help with her pregnancy. Union Minister Giriraj Singh also hailed the laying down of the foundation stone and stated that both the leaders had "raised the flag of Sanatan." "CM Nitish Kumar and the country's Home Minister Amit Shah have created history and raised the flag of Sanatan here. Today is a historic day. When we take the name of Ram in Ayodhya, it's not complete without Maa Sita. Lord Ram also saw those sinners for hundreds of years, those who denied his existence," Singh told ANI. BJP General Secretary Vinod Tawde also expressed happiness over the temple redevelopment project. "When Ram Mandir was built in Ayodhya, we were happy, but we also wondered when Maa Sita temple would be built. PM Modi, CM Nitish Kumar, and Home Minister Amit Shah have now fulfilled this dream," Tawde told ANI. Earlier in the day, Amit Shah, along with Nitish Kumar and Deputy CM Samrat Chaudhary, laid the foundation stone for the temple's redevelopment. In an X post on Thursday, Shah had called it an "extremely auspicious and joyous day" for the country, especially for Mithilanchal."Tomorrow is an extremely auspicious and joyous day for the entire country, and especially for Mithilanchal, when the foundation stone for the comprehensive development plan of the sacred 'Punaura Dham Temple' and its premises will be laid at the birthplace of Mother Sita in Sitamarhi, Bihar," he wrote. "Additionally, to enhance connectivity for the devotees visiting here, PM Shri @narendramodi ji has approved the Sitamarhi-Delhi Amrit Bharat Train, which will be inaugurated tomorrow," the post added. (ANI) US President Donald Trump has said there will be no trade negotiations with India until a dispute over tariffs is resolved, following his administration's decision to double tariffs on Indian imports. When pressed by ANI at the Oval Office,whether he expected talks to resume in light of the new 50% tariff."No, not until we get it resolved," he replied. The White House on Wednesday issued an Executive Order imposing an additional 25 percentage points in tariffs on Indian goods, raising the total levy to 50%. The administration cited national security and foreign policy concerns, pointing specifically to India's ongoing imports of Russian oil. The order claims that these imports, whether direct or via intermediaries, present an "unusual and extraordinary threat" to the United States and justify emergency economic measures. According to US officials, the initial 25% tariff came into effect on 7 August. The additional levy will take effect in 21 days and apply to all Indian goods entering US ports -- with exceptions for items already in transit and certain exempt categories.The order also provides flexibility for the president to modify the measures, depending on changing geopolitical circumstances or retaliatory actions by India or other nations. India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi responded defiantly during a speech at the MS Swaminathan Centenary International Conference in New Delhi, signalling that New Delhi would not back down in the face of economic pressure. "For us, the interest of our farmers is our top priority," PM Modi said. "India will never compromise on the interests of farmers, fishermen and dairy farmers. I know we will have to pay a heavy price for it, and I am ready for it. India is ready for it." India has consistently pushed back against opening sensitive sectors such as agriculture and dairy to international competition, citing the potential impact on millions of rural livelihoods. The standoff marks a sharp escalation in trade tensions between the two countries, as both sides dig in over economic policy and matters of national interest. (ANI) According to Taipei Times, officials said the firms are suspected of secretly setting up offices in Taiwan and hiring local staff without authorisation. Between July 15 and August 6, more than 300 investigators carried out searches at 70 locations in Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan and Hsinchu. Around 120 people linked to the companies were questioned during the raids. The agency noted that Taiwan's high-tech sector is the backbone of its economy, making its talent pool a key target for Chinese businesses. Investigators said the companies allegedly faked business registrations, pretending to be branches of overseas firms with foreign or Taiwanese investment. The firms under investigation include Hefei-based Lontium Semiconductor Corp, Shanghai's Cista Limited, Novosense Microelectronics Co, Chipone Technology (Beijing) Co, and Huntkey Group, as per Taipei Times. According to the bureau, Cista is suspected of using a Hong Kong-based front company to disguise itself as a foreign business and open an office in Taiwan to recruit semiconductor engineers. Huntkey, one of China's largest IT firms, is accused of posing as a Hong Kong-based company to set up operations and hire PC power supply engineers locally. The bureau warned that such activities harm Taiwan's technological competitiveness and said it will continue strict action against Chinese firms operating illegally in the country, Taipei Times reported. (ANI) In a written appeal, prominent Baloch human rights activist Mir Yar Baloch has urged US President Donald Trump to formally recognise the Republic of Balochistan as an independent state, separating it from Pakistan's territorial control. The appeal, shared via a public letter on his official X (formerly Twitter) account, accuses Pakistan of illegal occupation, systemic exploitation, and fostering global terrorism through its rogue military-intelligence apparatus. https://x.com/miryar_baloch/status/1953485924320387555 Mir Yar Baloch, who is a member of the Free Balochistan Movement, a human rights defender, and special advisor to the Balochistan Studies Project at MEMRI, framed the letter as a plea from a nation under siege. He described Balochistan as a sovereign, secular, and tolerant land, currently suppressed by Pakistan and Iran despite its immense natural wealth in oil, gas, rare earth minerals, and strategic geography. "We address you on behalf of the people of the Republic of Balochistan, an ancient, sovereign nation under illegal occupation by Pakistan and Iran," he wrote. The letter, posted ahead of the anticipated U.S. visit of Pakistan Army Chief General Asim Munir, accused the Pakistan Army and ISI of overseeing mass human rights violations, including the enforced disappearances of over 40,000 Baloch civilians. He questioned whether the United States would continue to engage with a military "that sheltered Osama Bin Laden and continues to harbour radical Islamist groups." "Ask General Munir: On what legal or moral grounds does Pakistan claim Balochistan's natural wealth as its own? Can he point to any similar reserves in Punjab, the true center of Pakistan's military elite?" Mir Yar Baloch wrote. The letter condemns US policy after 9/11, saying Washington made a "critical error" by trusting Pakistan rather than empowering secular forces like the Baloch, Sindhi, and Pashtun. He warns that training camps for ISIS and Daesh are now operating under ISI supervision, posing a grave threat to both regional and international security. "The Baloch people have always upheld religious tolerance," he stated, adding that Pakistan's military instead empowers groups chanting "Death to America" and "Death to Israel." Mir Yar Baloch urged Trump to initiate direct engagement with exiled pro-independence Baloch leadership, particularly under Hyrbyair Marri, president of the Free Balochistan Movement. He concluded with a call to align US foreign policy with democratic, anti-extremist values:"The Baloch nation seeks peace, justice, and recognition. Support for Balochistan aligns with America's long-term strategic interests." The post has triggered heated discourse online, with many questioning Pakistan's legitimacy over Balochistan and calling for international recognition of the Republic of Balochistan. (ANI) In a scathing indictment of Pakistan's systemic failure to protect its women, the Women's Action Forum (WAF) released a comprehensive report on Monday documenting 2,176 cases of gender-based violence (GBV) in Sindh between July 2021 and June 2025. The report, based on daily monitoring of media outlets by WAF's Hyderabad chapter, paints a grim picture of entrenched misogyny, state inaction, and patriarchal impunity that continues to claim the lives and dignity of countless women and girls. According to Voicepk, WAF's data was compiled through meticulous tracking of print, digital, and social media reports, though activists emphasise that the actual figures are "significantly higher" due to underreporting, fear of retaliation, and the collapse of trust in police and legal institutions. In the most damning revelation, murders of women increased by 216% between 2021 and 2022, while rape cases surged by 291%, and suicides nearly doubled. In just four years, WAF recorded 531 murders (excluding so-called 'honour' killings), 307 honour-based killings, 250+ rapes, 139 domestic violence cases, and 548 suicides. Most of the perpetrators were close male relatives, husbands, fathers, brothers, and in-laws. "These are not random tragedies," WAF told Voicepk.net. "They are part of a patriarchal design that controls women's lives through fear, punishment, and silence." Pakistan's Patriarchal Machinery: A Culture of Silent Violence The report challenges the deeply held assumption that violence must be visible to be real. Voicepk.net highlights how the WAF report deconstructs patriarchy as a system that doesn't always need to be violent; it can enforce control through surveillance, forced marriages, restricted mobility, denial of education, and economic dependency. In this climate, women who seek autonomy are branded immoral. Those who demand rights are silenced, either by murder, rape, or pushed to suicide. Alarmingly, many suicides involved girls under 25, some as young as 12 years. Even more disturbing is the state's complicity. Voicepk.net notes that very few rape or murder cases resulted in arrests or convictions. Courts are slow, police are indifferent, and society is hostile. In 94 reported cases of workplace harassment, including in schools, survivors received little to no institutional support. Honour, Hate and the Weaponisation of Religion: The report points to the growing ideological attacks on feminist resistance. According to Voicepk, religious hardliners and conservative media outlets have branded movements like Aurat March and women's rights protests as "obscene," "Western," or "anti-Islamic." These smear campaigns, WAF warns, do more than damage reputations; they provide moral justification for violence. "Labelling equality as foreign or immoral creates an environment where violence against women is not only tolerated but celebrated," the report states. Sexually demeaning language used against women in politics, particularly opposition figures, has been widely televised without censure. Voicepk.net underscores how this media irresponsibility emboldens everyday misogyny, reinforcing inhumane portrayals of women and validating abuse. When Justice Protects Perpetrators, Not Victims: Perhaps the most chilling aspect of the report is the systematic failure of justice. Of the hundreds of honour killings reported, over 95% were carried out by male family members, with most going unpunished. Voicepk.net reports that women face retaliation for speaking out, while perpetrators enjoy immunity through tribal customs, weak laws, or direct state apathy. In some cases, police even refused to register FIRs unless pressured by the media or protests. WAF members said that they had to intervene directly in over 80% of cases to ensure that at least some follow-up action was taken. A Feminist Call to Action: Despite the bleak statistics, WAF continues to push back. As Voicepk.net reported, the organisation has stood with survivors, launched legal aid campaigns, held vigils, and challenged state apathy at every level. Yet their four-year study leaves one conclusion unmistakable: Pakistan is not a safe country for its women. And until the state stops enabling patriarchy, silencing feminists, and criminalising resistance, violence will remain the rule, not the exception. (ANI) China voiced its opposition to the US announcement of tariffs against India. The Spokesperson of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Guo Jiakun, in his press briefing while responding to media queries called the act an 'abuse of tariffs'. When asked on comments on Trump's executive order to place an additional 25 percent tariff on India for its purchases of Russian oil, he said, "China's opposition to the abuse of tariffs is consistent and clear." "China opposes the US politicizing tech and trade issues and using them as weapons to maliciously blockade and go after China. The US should earnestly protect the legitimate and lawful rights and interests of Chinese nationals," he added. Trump's order drew criticism from within the country as House Foreign Affairs Committee Dems warned that Trump's actions risk the carefully developed US-India relationship. In a post on X, House Foreign Affairs Committee Dems said, "RM Gregory Meeks: Trump's latest tariff tantrum risks years of careful work to build a stronger US-India partnership. We have deep strategic, economic, and people-to-people ties. Concerns should be addressed in a mutually respectful way consistent with our democratic values." https://x.com/HouseForeign/status/1953591647809544399 Earlier in the day, Trump said there will be no trade negotiations with India until a dispute over tariffs is resolved, following his administration's decision to double tariffs on Indian imports. When pressed by ANI at the Oval Office, whether he expected talks to resume in light of the new 50% tariff. "No, not until we get it resolved," he replied. The White House on Wednesday issued an Executive Order imposing an additional 25 percentage points in tariffs on Indian goods, raising the total levy to 50%. The administration cited national security and foreign policy concerns, pointing specifically to India's ongoing imports of Russian oil. The order claims that these imports, whether direct or via intermediaries, present an "unusual and extraordinary threat" to the United States and justify emergency economic measures. According to US officials, the initial 25% tariff came into effect on 7 August. The additional levy will take effect in 21 days and apply to all Indian goods entering US ports -- with exceptions for items already in transit and certain exempt categories. (ANI) China has ramped up its naval and coast guard presence in the South China Sea over the past week in direct response to India and the Philippines conducting their first-ever joint patrols in the contested waters, according to reporting by the US Naval Institute (USNI) News. The People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) conducted "routine patrols" from Friday to Monday, aimed at countering what Beijing described as "provocative actions" by Manila and unnamed "non-regional countries." As per USNI News, the Southern Theatre Command of the PLA accused the joint activities of undermining peace and stability in the region. Tian Junli, the command's spokesperson, reiterated China's opposition to "external interference" in what it considers its sovereign waters. The week-long escalation follows a high-profile maritime cooperative activity on Sunday, where three Indian Navy warships, guided-missile destroyer INS Delhi (D 61), anti-submarine corvette INS Kiltan (P 30), and fleet tanker INS Shakti (A 57), joined the Philippine Navy's BRP Jose Rizal (FF 150) and BRP Miguel Malvar (FFG 06) in joint combat drills. These included surface warfare, anti-air and anti-submarine operations, USNI News reported. Two PLAN warships were seen shadowing the exercise, which unfolded within the Philippines' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) but also inside Beijing's controversial 10-dash line claim. According to USNI News, the Chinese Coast Guard simultaneously conducted maritime law enforcement patrols at Scarborough Shoal, reinforcing its presence at one of the region's most sensitive flashpoints. The timing of these developments is critical. As per USNI News, Philippine President Bongbong Marcos is currently visiting New Delhi, where both countries formally upgraded their relationship to a strategic partnership. The visit included renewed commitments to deepen defence and maritime cooperation, further agitating Beijing, which views such partnerships as hostile. India's involvement in the South China Sea, traditionally outside its sphere of influence, signals a bold strategic shift. USNI News notes that New Delhi's arms exports, including the landmark delivery of BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles to the Philippines, are aimed squarely at countering China's growing maritime dominance. One missile base is already operational near Scarborough Shoal, within striking distance of key Chinese installations. While China frames its recent manoeuvres as routine, USNI News underscores that the uptick in activity reveals heightened concern in Beijing over the formation of a multilateral coalition backing Manila. This includes not just India, but also the U.S., Australia, Japan, and several European partners, all asserting navigational rights in defiance of Chinese claims. As per USNI News, with new military pacts, arms deals, and joint patrols now underway, the South China Sea is entering a new and dangerous phase of great power competition. (ANI) The Indian government has taken note of reports about China's commencement of construction on a massive hydropower project on the Brahmaputra River, in Tibet. The Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement that they were carefully monitoring China's hydropower project on the lower reaches of the Yarlung Tsangpo (upper reaches of the Brahmaputra) River in Tibet. This project, first made public in 1986, has been a subject of concern for India due to its potential impact on the country's interests and the livelihoods of local tribes. Minister of State for External Affairs, Kirti Vardhan Singh, said that the government carefully monitors all developments related to the Brahmaputra River and takes necessary measures to protect its interests. The government has consistently conveyed its views and concerns to the Chinese authorities, emphasising the need for transparency and consultation with downstream countries. "The Government of India has taken note of reports about the commencement of construction of the mega dam project by China on the lower reaches of the Yarlung Tsangpo (upper reaches of the Brahmaputra) River in Tibet. This project was first made public as far back as 1986 and since then, preparations have been underway in China," the MEA stated in response to an unstarred question in the Rajya Sabha. The MEA said that the government remained committed to safeguarding Indian interests in the region. "Government carefully monitors all developments relating to the Brahmaputra river, including plans by China to develop hydropower projects, and takes necessary measures to protect our interests, including preventive and corrective measures to safeguard life and livelihood of Indian citizens residing in downstream areas," the statement said. India has discussed various issues related to transboundary rivers with China under an institutionalised Expert Level Mechanism established in 2006. The government has also urged China to ensure that any activities in upstream areas do not harm the interests of downstream states. "Various issues relating to trans-border rivers are discussed with China under the ambit of an institutionalised Expert Level Mechanism which was established in 2006, as well as through diplomatic channels. As a lower riparian state with considerable established user rights to the waters of the trans-border rivers, Government has consistently conveyed its views and concerns to the Chinese authorities, including on the need for transparency and consultation with downstream countries and has urged them to ensure that the interests of downstream states are not harmed by any activities in upstream areas," he said. Singh said that the government noted the need for cooperation on the trans-border issue and has conveyed it to China. "The need for cooperation on trans-border rivers, including resumption of provision of hydrological data by the Chinese side has been highlighted by the Government in several bilateral interactions with China including during the recent visit of EAM to China from 14-16 July 2025 for the SCO Foreign Ministers' Meeting," he said. During the recent visit of External Affairs Minister to China for the SCO Foreign Ministers' Meeting, the need for cooperation on trans-border rivers, including the resumption of hydrological data provision by the Chinese side, was highlighted. The Indian government remains vigilant and proactive in protecting its interests and ensuring the well-being of its citizens. (ANI) As the Chinese Communist Party gears up for grand celebrations marking the 60th anniversary of the founding of the so-called "Tibet Autonomous Region" (TAR) on September 9, Tibetan advocacy groups have sharply criticised the move, calling it a facade that masks decades of repression, forced assimilation, and cultural destruction in Tibet, according to Phayul. In a statement released on August 6, the Washington-based International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) denounced the anniversary, stating that Tibetans have endured 60 years of "calamity" under Chinese rule. "Instead of forcing Tibetans to put on a performance of gratitude, China must change course and put the interests of the Tibetan people ahead of their own compulsive need for power and control," said ICT President Tencho Gyatso, as quoted by Phayul. The so-called TAR, established in 1965, comprises less than half of Tibet's traditional territory and includes only parts of the historical provinces of U-Tsang and Kham. ICT highlights that the formation of the TAR followed years of broken promises after China's 1950 military invasion and the coercive signing of the 17-Point Agreement in 1951, which had promised autonomy and cultural preservation, promises that ICT says were quickly abandoned. According to Phayul, since the 1965 formation of the TAR, no Tibetan has ever held the top political post of Party Secretary. Instead, Han Chinese officials have maintained control, including Chen Quanguo, later sanctioned by the U.S. for human rights violations in East Turkestan, and Wu Yingjie, who in 2024 was reported to be under investigation for massive bribery. Tibetans continue to face harsh restrictions, the ICT says, including the criminalisation of the Dalai Lama's image, the disappearance of the 11th Panchen Lama, and the imposition of Mandarin Chinese in schools and courts, despite constitutional guarantees for ethnic language rights. As Phayul reports, a 2023 Human Rights Watch investigation further exposed the growing use of boarding schools to assimilate Tibetan children forcibly. The ecological relocation of tens of thousands of Tibetan nomads, dam construction, and mining on the Tibetan plateau, without local consent, have also contributed to cultural erosion and environmental degradation, ICT warned. Freedom House has consistently ranked Tibet among the least free regions globally, assigning it a score of 0 out of 100. The U.S. State Department, UN bodies, and the European Union have all expressed serious concern, Phayul notes. As Chinese authorities prepare to stage official celebrations across TAR cities, Phayul reports that rights groups are urging the international community not to be misled by the spectacle, which they say serves to whitewash six decades of occupation and suppression. (ANI) Danish Ambassador to India Rasmus Abildgaard Kristensen said Denmark and the European Union remain critical of any country aiding Russia's war in Ukraine, while commenting on India's continued purchase of Russian oil. "Whatever country that clearly aids and abets Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine, we would remain critical of," he said in an interview with ANI. "Whomever aids and abets the Russian war in Ukraine, it's not something we condone or necessarily like," he added. He also expressed concern over the shadow fleet transporting Russian oil to India. "These are ships that are not registered. Typically, you cannot see where they are on the map, and they're not insured. You can reach all kinds of environmental disasters coming out of that," Kristensen said. Explaining Europe's position, the ambassador said, "From a European perspective, Russia's invasion of a sovereign country... was a blatant violation of principles in the UN Charter. This becomes existential to us, because who will be the next country?" He clarified that the EU's position is not about denying others access to Russian energy. "We are not necessarily saying that you cannot buy oil from Russia. But our dependence has gone down to a very low point. We are trying to get out of it and we are almost there," he noted. In response to India's charge of double standards, Kristensen acknowledged External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar's criticism. "That's a fair point," he said, in reference to Jaishankar pointing out that European nations also purchased energy from Russia during the war. On whether current geopolitical shifts, including tariffs, were pushing India closer to Russia and China, Kristensen said, "We are, of course, both critical and sceptical from a Danish perspective of the increased alignment between Russia and China." Asked about India being called a "dead economy" by some Western commentators, the ambassador firmly disagreed. "On the contrary, it's the world's fastest-growing economy. A testament to that fact is that the EU and India are negotiating a free trade agreement. I think that would be mutually beneficial," he said. He added that the EU-India free trade agreement has been in the works for over a decade, but negotiations have picked up speed. "We are close to reaching a deal and I remain confident," he said. "Certainly from a Danish, European perspective, we see India as a very promising place to invest and do business with. That would not be the case if it was a dead economy." On India's tariff regime, he said the EU acknowledges India's need to protect certain sectors. "If you have high tariffs, of course, the alternative is you come here and you manufacture in India," Kristensen said. "We are in favour of a rules-based international order where it's not a question of the big players just dictating what small players should do," he said, adding that the EU believes in good-faith negotiations that are mutually beneficial. Drawing a comparison with India's reaction to terror attacks, Kristensen said Europe's response to the Ukraine war is similarly rooted in existential concern. "This becomes existential to us... I think that's not too different from what you expect from other countries when it came to the attack in Pahalgam," he said. He also recalled Denmark's swift condemnation of the Pahalgam terror attack. "We have our own experiences... This has been a very consistent part of Danish foreign policy to speak out against any kind of terrorism," he said. Describing India-Denmark ties, the ambassador called it a "perfect match" and said the year 2020 marked a turning point in elevating the relationship. (ANI) Denmark's ambassador to India, Rasmus Christensen, said that the European Union and India are close to making a trade deal, which is a testament to the fact that India is not a "dead economy," as touted by US President Donald Trump. In an interview with Christensen the diplomat said that Denmark sees India as a promising place to invest. "I certainly do not see India as a dead economy. On the contrary, it's world's fastest growing economy. And I think a testament to that fact is that the EU and India is negotiating a free trade agreement. I think that will be mutually beneficial," Christensen said. He said that Denmark views India as a promising place to conduct business, which contradicts Trump's claims. "So certainly from a Danish European perspective, we see India as a very promising place to invest and do business with. And that would not be the case if it was a dead economy," the Danish envoy said. He further said that though Denmark holds the rotating presidency of the European Union, all trade policies are thoroughly discussed among all member states and the EU is currently interested in exploring options to invest in India. "Indeed, Denmark currently holds the rotating presidency of the European Union. Although when it comes to trade policy, as we discussed, it's a responsibility of the EU Commission. But I think we do see a very significant momentum now in the negotiations between the EU and India, probably for all kinds of reasons. Certainly, the EU is also very interested in diversifying its trade relationships," he said. The Ambassador further said that India is an important player in trade with the EU and that now there is an urgency now to conclude the trade agreement. "India is an important player. And I think the same goes for India. So maybe the reason why we have been negotiating for so long was a certain lack of urgency. But I think the urgency is there now. And whether we can conclude it during our presidency in November or December, or whether it comes slightly later, nobody knows," Christensen said. "But I think we are close to reaching a deal. And I remain confident that we will reach a deal," he added. When asked if Europe saw India as a counterbalance to China, Christensen said that Europe is farther away from Asia, and now Europe is realising the downside of having to depend on one country for certain goods. "Of course, Europe is, in that sense, we are kind of a little bit far away from the Indo-Pacific. But I think if you look at it from a geoeconomic perspective, certainly in Europe, there is a growing realisation that, again, we need to diversify our economic partnerships. I think in Europe, in the past couple of years, I think we have also come to realise the reliance we have on one country in particular when it comes to imports of certain goods," he said. Christensen said that the EU is looking to diversify their trade ambit, noting that very few countries could contribute what China did through exports. "And we would like to diversify that. We will, the Europe will keep trading with China, but we would like to increase our trade with others and make sure that our supply chains are more diversified, that we can get access to goods, manufactured goods, whatever from different places. And I think, to be very honest, there are very few countries that could deliver what, for example, China has delivered to the global economy," he said. He futher noted that India is seen as the best alternative to China. "And India is probably the best example of that. So that's why, if you're sitting back in Brussels or Copenhagen or the European capitals and look out into the world, India is probably the upcoming alternative to what we've seen. So therefore, we will invest here," he said. (ANI) Launched by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2022, the Global Security Initiative (GSI) represents a significant effort by China to reshape global governance and establish a favourable environment for its resurgence as a Great Power, the Africa Center for Strategic Studies reports. Though the GSI is publicly framed around themes of cooperative security, non-interference, and respect for the United Nations Charter, messages that resonate strongly across Africa and the developing world, its foundations lie firmly within Chinese concepts of national security. According to the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, the GSI Concept Paper issued in 2023 must be understood alongside China's 2025 White Paper on National Security, which outlines four pillars: political (regime) security as the foundation, economic security as the base, military and social security as the guarantee, and international security as support. The initiative is evolving from vague principles into tangible policies. At the Ninth Forum for China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in September 2024, Xi described the FOCAC 2025-2027 Action Plan as an "example of early GSI implementation," underlining the integration of Chinese security strategy into Africa. Between late 2024 and mid-2025, eight high-level military exchanges took place, including a training event in Nanjing for 90 early-career African officers from 40 countries hosted by the People's Liberation Army. The Africa Center for Strategic Studies highlights how the GSI's incorporation into China-Africa relations carries direct implications for security cooperation. The FOCAC Action Plan targets training 6,000 senior and 500 early-career African officers, alongside 1,000 police officers by 2027, aligning with China's broader push to mainstream the GSI. African perspectives on the GSI are mixed. While some governments welcome enhanced access to economic aid, infrastructure financing, and affordable security equipment, others raise concerns about the risks tied to China's emphasis on absolute ruling party control over "national security work." Africa's fraught history with authoritarian regimes informs fears that Chinese security models could undermine democratic civil-military relations and entrench party supremacy over the military. Moreover, the Africa Center for Strategic Studies warns that GSI-related security ties risk drawing African countries into global geopolitical rivalries, especially as countering Western influence is central to GSI narratives. This threatens Africa's traditional commitment to non-alignment. The GSI is part of a broader Chinese agenda alongside the Global Development Initiative and the Global Civilizational Initiative, all designed to challenge Western-led global norms. The GSI's six core principles -- including respect for sovereignty, abiding by the UN Charter, and promoting cooperative security -- are carefully crafted to appeal to developing countries but mask China's strategic interests, such as defending territorial claims and prioritizing regime security. China's growing military and law enforcement cooperation with African countries, such as joint operations, training programs, and security agreements protecting Belt and Road investments, demonstrates how the GSI is operationalised on the continent. Roughly 40 African countries now have ties with Chinese police institutions, highlighting the deepening of China's security footprint. According to the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, African leaders and civil society must critically assess these developments. "The opportunities will depend on whether African countries can exert greater agency," said security expert Lungani Hlongwa. Local stakeholders are urged to set agendas that reflect genuine security needs and ensure cooperation does not undermine democratic norms or citizen interests. As the GSI continues to unfold globally, its impact on African security governance and international alignments will remain a crucial area for scrutiny and debate. The Africa Center for Strategic Studies calls for greater transparency and domestic engagement in shaping security cooperation with China to safeguard African sovereignty and democratic values. (ANI) Denmark's ambassador to India, Rasmus Christensen, has reaffirmed his country's support for India's bid for a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). In an interview with ANI, Christensen said that Denmark backs reforms to broaden participation in the UNSC. "We have been very clear that we are supportive of reforming the UN Security Council, which also means that the participation should be broadened. And we have made it very clear that we support India's bid to have a permanent seat in the UN Security Council -- no doubt about that," he said. India has reiterated its commitment to securing a permanent seat in the UNSC. Earlier, in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said that India accords highest priority to getting permanent membership for India in an expanded United Nations Security Council. India remains engaged, both at the bilateral and multilateral level, in this endeavour. India strongly believes that it has all the credentials to be a permanent member of a reformed and expanded UN Security Council that reflects contemporary global realities. India engages actively in the ongoing Inter-Governmental Negotiations (IGN) on UNSC reforms. India is working alongside other reform-oriented countries through its membership in the G-4 Group (India, Japan, Brazil and Germany) and the L.69 Group (cross-regional group of developing countries from Asia, Africa and Latin America) to build support among the UN Member States for expansion of the UN Security Council. We have also been constantly engaging with countries of the Global South. The process of reforming the UNSC would require amendments to the Charter of United Nations, MEA stated. As per Article 108 of the UN Charter: "Amendments to the present Charter shall come into force for all Members of the United Nations when they have been adopted by a vote of two thirds of the members of the General Assembly and ratified in accordance with their respective constitutional processes by two thirds of the Members of the United Nations, including all the permanent members of the Security Council." (ANI) A Chinese citizen and Australian permanent resident based in Canberra was charged on Monday under Australia's foreign interference laws for covertly collecting information about an Australian Buddhist association, police said, according to the Taipei Times. The woman, whose identity is withheld by court order, was charged in a Canberra court with secretly gathering intelligence on the local branch of the Guan Yin Citta Buddhist association, which is banned in China. Authorities allege she acted on behalf of China's Public Security Bureau, the Taipei Times reported. "We allege the activity was to support intelligence objectives of China's Public Security Bureau," Australian Federal Police (AFP) Assistant Commissioner Stephen Nutt told reporters. He added that this is the first time the AFP has charged someone with foreign interference targeting members of the general Australian community rather than government officials or politicians, as cited by the Taipei Times. "Foreign interference is a serious crime that undermines democracy and social cohesion. It involves covert, deceptive conduct or threats of serious harm carried out by or on behalf of a foreign principal," Nutt explained, according to the Taipei Times. The woman was arrested at her home on Saturday and remanded in custody. If convicted, she faces up to 15 years in prison, the Taipei Times said. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded by stating it was not aware of the case details but denied interfering in other countries' internal affairs. It added that China would monitor the situation closely and protect its citizens' rights, as reported by the Taipei Times. This marks only the third charge laid under Australia's foreign interference laws passed in 2018 and the first involving a foreign national targeting the general public. Previous cases include Vietnam-born Melbourne businessman Di Sanh Duong, sentenced last year for attempting to influence a federal minister on China's behalf, and Sydney businessman Alexander Csergo, charged with accepting payments from suspected Chinese spies, the Taipei Times noted. Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) Director-General Mike Burgess praised the agency's role in the arrest. "Foreign interference of this kind is an appalling assault on Australian values, freedoms and sovereignty," he said, as cited by the Taipei Times. The charge comes amid Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's recent efforts to mend frayed ties with China. Albanese visited Beijing last month and met Chinese President Xi Jinping for the fourth time since his election in 2022, according to the Taipei Times. (ANI) After the US imposed a 50% tariff on Indian goods, citing national security and foreign policy concerns, particularly India's ongoing imports of Russian oil, former Indian diplomat Rakesh Sood said that US President Donald Trump loves tariffs and the Nobel Peace Prize, hinting that India's lack of recognition on the latter might be a reason for the former. Speaking with ANI, Sood said, "There are two things that President Trump loves - One is tariffs, and the second is the Nobel Peace Prize, so he will do anything to get to the bottom of these two. He has repeatedly said how he stopped the war between India and Pakistan and prevented a nuclear war. We've not given him comfort on the Nobel, so I guess we are facing the tariffs. We'll see how we deal with it." Trump's love for tariffs is evident in his protectionist trade policies. He believes tariffs are an effective tool to negotiate better trade deals and protect American industries. During his presidency, Trump imposed significant tariffs on various countries, including India, citing national security and foreign policy concerns. Trump has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize multiple times. In 2024, he was nominated by Republican leader Buddy Carter for his efforts in brokering a ceasefire between Israel and Iran. Pakistan also nominated him for his alleged role in establishing peace between India and Pakistan during a cross-border crisis. Trump has publicly expressed his desire for the Nobel Peace Prize, often comparing himself to past winners like Barack Obama. He has repeatedly claimed credit for brokering peace deals, such as the Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between Israel and some Arab countries. Trump has also claimed to have brokered a ceasefire between India and Pakistan, although this claim has been disputed by India. Despite his efforts, Trump has not received the Nobel Peace Prize, which has only fueled his desire for it. On Friday, the White House yet again claimed securing "a ceasefire between India and Pakistan" among the list of US President Donald Trump's "Foreign Policy Victory." https://x.com/WhiteHouse/status/1953579654784462949 Prime Minister Narendra Modi had informed the Parliament that no leader in the world told India to stop Operation Sindoor, carried out to retaliate against the Pahalgam terror attack. Meanwhile, former Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran reiterated the government's stance, emphasising the need for continued negotiations on the trade deal. Speaking to ANI, he said, "We hope that as we go forward, the negotiations on the trade deal may still be continued. We hope that over time, we can overcome this kind of hitch in the relationship. We have been through many ups and downs in India-U.S. relations, so perhaps we should keep it in perspective that we should not panic." He advised against panicking and overreacting, noting that India has navigated similar situations in the past. "We should not overreact to this situation and keep our head down and hope that we are able to overcome this obstacle as we have been able to do in the past. But there is no way we can deny that this is a severe development and could have very major consequences for the Indian economy, and the government and the people of India have to be ready for those kinds of consequences," said Saran. Sharing his thoughts on the reaction of the Global South to the slew of tariffs from the United States, he said, "There is no doubt that in facing this kind of new situation, the cooperation among some of the major developing countries, emerging economies like Brazil and India would be very important." Earlier on Thursday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi received a call from the Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. The two leaders exchanged views on various regional and global issues of mutual interest. "We are committed to deepening our Strategic Partnership, including in trade, energy, tech, defence, health and more. A strong, people-centric partnership between Global South nations benefits everyone", PM Modi said in a post on X. The Brazilian President in a post on X shared that India and Brazil, "reaffirmed the importance of defending multilateralism, the need to address the challenges of the current situation, as well as to explore possibilities for greater integration between the two countries." https://x.com/LulaOficial/status/1953493558729548265 Earlier, China voiced its opposition to the US announcement of tariffs against India. The Spokesperson of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Guo Jiakun, in his press briefing while responding to media queries called the act an 'abuse of tariffs'. The White House on Wednesday issued an Executive Order imposing an additional 25 percentage points in tariffs on Indian goods, raising the total levy to 50%. The administration cited national security and foreign policy concerns, pointing specifically to India's ongoing imports of Russian oil. On Thursday (US local time), US President Donald Trump said there will be no trade negotiations with India until a dispute over tariffs is resolved, following his administration's decision to double tariffs on Indian imports. The US statement department on Thursday stated that "India is a strategic partner" and that the US is engaging with India in "full and frank dialogue" even as relations between the two countries continue to witness tension amid the tariff dispute. On being asked whether China and other BRICS nations are trying to take the lead in organising a pushback against US trade measures, the US State Department said the dialogue with India "will continue". (ANI) China has officially extended a welcome to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit, which will be held in Tianjin at the end of this month. Addressing a press briefing in Beijing on Friday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun made this announcement, expressing optimism that the gathering would strengthen regional cooperation. The Ministry of External Affairs has not yet issued a statement on the Prime Minister's visit. The development comes amid tariffs imposed on India by United States President Donald Trump for buying Russian oil. "China welcomes Prime Minister Modi to China for the SCO Tianjin Summit. We believe that with the concerted effort of all parties, the Tianjin summit will be a gathering of solidarity, friendship and fruitful results, and the SCO will enter a new stage of high-quality development featuring greater solidarity, coordination, dynamism and productiveness," the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson stated. China will host the SCO Summit in Tianjin from August 31 to September 1 this year and leaders of over 20 countries, including all member states of the SCO, and heads of 10 international organisations will attend relevant events as per the Chinese Ministry spokesperson. Prime Minister Modi last visited China in 2018 on two occasions. First, during the month of April for the India-China Informal Summit at Wuhan, and later in June for the 18th meeting of the Council of Heads of State of SCO in Qingdao. Prime Minister Narendra Modi last met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in October 2024 on the sidelines of the 16th BRICS Summit in Kazan, Russia. During their meeting, both leaders welcomed the agreement on patrolling arrangements along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh. They agreed that the Special Representatives would meet at an early date to oversee the management of peace and tranquillity in border areas and to explore a fair, reasonable and mutually acceptable solution to the boundary question. This meeting occurred shortly after the disengagement and patrolling agreement, and the resolution of issues that had arisen in the India-China border areas in 2020. It was a highly anticipated meeting between PM Modi and President Xi, as it came at a pivotal moment in India-China relations, during a time when there was a border standoff between India and China that began in eastern Ladakh along the LAC in 2020, sparked by Chinese military actions. PM Modi also assured India's full support to China's 2025 SCO presidency during the meeting. the SCO was established in the year 2001. Apart from India the other countries in the bloc are China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan,Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Iran and Belarus. Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Defence Ministers' meeting in Qingdao in China in June this year. Earlier this year, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, along with fellow Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Foreign Ministers, called on Chinese President Xi Jinping in Tianjin. During the meeting, Jaishankar apprised Xi of the recent development of bilateral ties and conveyed the greetings of President Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Xi. The EAM was on an official visit to China to attend the SCO Foreign Ministers Meeting. (ANI) As Japan marked the 80th anniversary of atomic bombing in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, its ambassador to India has expressed deep regards to the people of India for their unwavering compassion towards the victims of the horrific tragedy. "Japan has been advancing efforts toward a world without nuclear weapons to ensure that a tragedy of will never be repeated. The people of India have shown us deep sympathy as friends seeking peace," Ambassador of Japan to India, Ono Keiichi said on Friday. The Japanese envoy inaugurated a photo exhibition in the national capital today to mark the bombing in the Japanese cities of Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 and three days later in Nagasaki. He called the exhibition held at the India International Centre here as an opportunity to reflect upon the preciousness of peace. Addressing a gathering of students and guests, Ambassador Ono Keiichi said, "In August 1945, the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki claimed hundreds of thousands of precious lives in an instant. And even those who survived have had to live with indescribable suffering. Since then, as the only country to have suffered atomic bombings during war, Japan has been advancing efforts toward a world without nuclear weapons to ensure that such a tragedy will never be repeated. The people of India have shown us deep sympathy as friends seeking peace", he said. Ambassador Keiichi said "In October 1957, the then Prime Minister, Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, visited Hiroshima as the first foreign leader to visit the city after the atomic bombings. Then in May 2023, Prime Minister Modi visited the city during the G7 Hiroshima Summit meeting. This marked the second visit to Hiroshima by an Indian Prime Minister since Pandit Nehru. Prime Minister Modi visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and laid flowers at the cenotaph for the atomic bomb victims. Prime Minister Modi also unveiled the bust of Mahatma Gandhi, which was donated to Hiroshima city by India." The Japanese envoy highlighted that the G7 Hiroshima Summit was a historic opportunity for G7 leaders and other world leaders, including Prime Minister Modi, to have a first-hand look at the reality of the atomic bombings and share their aspirations for a world without nuclear weapons. The diplomat brought to attention the moment of silence which was observed in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, in memory of the victims of the atomic bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. "The moment of silence has been observed almost every year for 40 years since 1985. I believe that India is the only country that continues this practice to this day. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the people of India for their unwavering compassion for the victims in both cities over such a long period," he said. https://x.com/MEAIndia/status/1953019408571330929 Ambassador Ono Keiichi in his concluding remarks expressed hope that the event would serve as an opportunity to connect the hearts of Japanese and Indian people, "who seek a world without nuclear weapons and to reflect on the preciousness of peace." The Ambassador also signed the visitors book and wrote, "May the world without nuclear weapons be realized". Expressing his views on the exhibition, India's first Ambassador to Permanent Representative to the Conference on Disarmament at the United Nations in Geneva, former Ambassador Rakesh Sood told ANI, "The message to today's generation- who will be leaders tomorrow, scientists tomorrow, diplomats tomorrow, remains the same, 'never again'. " Speaking on the topic of nuclear deterrence, Sood stated, "It would be reasonable to have both doctrinal and technical measures. We need to strengthen the nuclear fuses, need to have more communication, develop instruments to reduce nuclear risks through accidental or inadvertent escalation and we need to have doctrinal approaches like no first-use policies." Former Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran who was among the visitors at the exhibition told ANI, "The reason why we have this exhibition and have invited the Japanese Ambassador to be present here and inaugurate this exhibition is because over a period of time- 80 years since the bombing took place, the kind of concern-- people being aware of the vast devastation which occurred, seems to have receded into the background". Saran said that the exhibition serves as a medium particularly for the younger generation to understand the kind of catastrophe that the use of nuclear weapons could bring and how the new generation should come together to start championing the cause of nuclear disarmament. The photo exhibition that will go on till August 14 is themed 'Remembering Hiroshima-Nagasaki'. It features survivors' testimonies, physical after-effects, relief and rescue work, former PM Jawahar Lal Nehru's visit to Hiroshima, visuals from the G7 Summit in Hiroshima, PM Modi unveiling Mahatma Gandhi's bust in the city, amongst several other key historic moments. (ANI) The Embassy of Ireland in New Delhi has expressed anguish over the recent violent attacks against Indian citizens that have taken place in Ireland. The Embassy also said that the Irish Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs will be meeting with representatives of the Indian community in Ireland on August 11. In an official statement, the Embassy said, "We condemn these attacks in the strongest possible terms. They are an assault on the values of equality and human dignity that Ireland holds dear." Saying that racism and xenophobia have no place in Irish society, the Embassy said the actions of the few do not reflect the spirit of the Irish people and will not be tolerated. Highlighting the contribution of the Indian community, the statement said, "Over 100,000 Indians now call Ireland home. Our society is enriched by the diversity of people who live in Ireland, particularly our Indian community, whose contributions continue to deepen the bonds between our nations." "The Embassy is in regular contact with the Indian mission in Dublin and the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs is in ongoing contact with An Garda Siochana, Ireland's police force, regarding investigations. The Irish Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs will be meeting with representatives of the Indian community in Ireland on Monday 11 August", the post further added. https://x.com/IrlEmbIndia/status/1953779794119692440 Earlier on August 1, the Indian Embassy in Ireland had advised all citizens to take precautions and be aware of their surroundings for their personal security following a recent increase in physical attacks against Indian nationals in the country. According to MEA, Ireland has become a significant destination for Indian students seeking higher education, particularly post-graduate, doctoral and post-doctoral students in the areas of engineering, technology, medicine, and management. There are about 10,000 Indian students in Irish educational institutions. (ANI) Danish Ambassador to India Rasmus Abildgaard Kristensen has expressed concern over the growing alignment between Russia and China amid geopolitical shifts. In an interview with ANI, Kristensen said, "We are, of course, both critical and sceptical from a Danish perspective of the increased alignment between Russia and China." The increased alignment between Russia and China has been strengthening since Russia's war with Ukraine in 2022. "Whatever country that clearly aids and abets Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine, we would remain critical of. Whomever aids and abets the Russian war in Ukraine, it's not something we condone or necessarily like," he added. Bilateral trade between Russia and China reached a record high in 2023, with a 26.3% increase to $240 billion. China has become Russia's largest trading partner, with Russia relying heavily on China for goods and technology. Russia's energy exports to China have also surged, with China purchasing discounted Russian oil and natural gas. Kristensen also flagged concern over the "shadow fleet" transporting Russian oil, saying, "These are ships that are not registered. Typically, you cannot see where they are on the map, and they're not insured. You can reach all kinds of environmental disasters coming out of that." Joint military exercises between Russia and China have increased in frequency and complexity, with 26 joint drills held since February 2022, including naval and aerial patrols. Russia and China have stepped up their strategic coordination, including closer diplomatic cooperation and outreach in multilateral forums like the BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). Both countries oppose Western dominance and seek to promote a multipolar world order. They have expressed concerns about the US-led international order and have worked together to challenge Western influence in various regions. Russia and China have increased the use of their national currencies in bilateral trade, reducing dependence on the US dollar. The Chinese yuan has become a significant currency in Russia's economy, with its proportion in Russia's international trade rising sharply. The two countries have invested in infrastructure projects, including border crossings, bridges, and checkpoints along the Amur River, facilitating trade and transit. Explaining Europe's position, the ambassador said, "From a European perspective, Russia's invasion of a sovereign country... was a blatant violation of principles in the UN Charter. This becomes existential to us, because who will be the next country?" He clarified that the EU's position is not about denying others access to Russian energy. "We are not necessarily saying that you cannot buy oil from Russia. But our dependence has reached an all-time low. We are trying to get out of it, and we are almost there," he noted. Responding to India's charge of double standards, Kristensen acknowledged External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar's criticism. "That's a fair point," he said, about Jaishankar pointing out that European nations also purchased energy from Russia during the war. Rejecting claims by some Western commentators that India is a 'dead economy,' he said, "On the contrary, it's the world's fastest-growing economy. A testament to that fact is that the EU and India are negotiating a free trade agreement. I think that would be mutually beneficial." He added that the EU-India free trade agreement has been in the works for over a decade, but negotiations have picked up speed. "We are close to reaching a deal, and I remain confident," he said. "Certainly, from a Danish European perspective, we see India as a very promising place to invest and do business with. That would not be the case if it was a dead economy." On India's tariff regime, he said the EU acknowledges India's need to protect certain sectors. "If you have high tariffs, of course, the alternative is you come here and you manufacture in India," Kristensen said. "We are in favour of a rules-based international order where it's not a question of the big players just dictating what small players should do," he said, adding that the EU believes in mutually beneficial good-faith negotiations. Drawing a comparison between Europe's response to the Ukraine war and India's stance on terrorism, Kristensen said, "This becomes existential to us... I think that's not too different from what you expect from other countries when it comes to the attack in Pahalgam." He also recalled Denmark's swift condemnation of the Pahalgam terror attack, saying, "We have our own experiences... This has been a very consistent part of Danish foreign policy to speak out against any kind of terrorism." Calling India-Denmark ties a "perfect match," he said the year 2020 marked a turning point in elevating the relationship. (ANI) Rome [Italy], August 8 (ANI/ WAM): The FAO Food Price Index, a benchmark for world food commodity prices, averaged 130.1 points in July 2025, up 1.6 per cent from June, driven primarily by rising international prices of meat and vegetable oils. Despite this monthly increase, the index remains 18.8 per cent below its peak in March 2022, although 7.6 per cent higher than its level in July 2024. The index tracks monthly changes in the international prices of a set of globally traded food commodities. In July, price increases in the meat and vegetable oil indices more than offset declines in the cereal, dairy and sugar indices. The FAO Cereal Price Index averaged 106.5 points, down 0.8 per cent from June. Declining wheat and sorghum prices outweighed increases in maize and barley. Fresh seasonal wheat harvests in the northern hemisphere put downward pressure, though adverse conditions of spring wheat in parts of northern America provided some price support. The FAO All Rice Price Index dropped 1.8 per cent, driven by ample export supplies and weak import demand. The FAO Vegetable Oil Price Index averaged 166.8 points in July, marking a sharp rise of 7.1 per cent from the previous month, reaching a three-year high. The increase reflected higher quotations for palm, soy and sunflower oils. Palm oil prices rose on robust global demand and improved competitiveness, while soy oil was supported by expectations of firm biofuel sector demand in the Americas. Sunflower oil prices also climbed due to tightening export supplies in the Black Sea region. In contrast, rapeseed oil prices declined with the arrival of new crop supplies in Europe. The FAO Meat Price Index averaged 127.3 points, up 1.2 per cent from June, reaching a new all-time high. The increase was led by higher prices for bovine and ovine meat, supported by strong import demand, particularly from China and the United States of America. Poultry meat prices also edged up slightly amid resumed imports from key partners following Brazil's regaining of its avian influenza-free status. Conversely, pig meat prices declined due to ample supplies and reduced global demand, especially in the European Union. The FAO Dairy Price Index edged down by 0.1 per cent from June to 155.3 points, marking the first decline since April 2024. Prices for butter and milk powders decreased, reflecting abundant export supplies and subdued import demand, particularly from Asia. However, international cheese prices continued to rise, driven by strong demand in Asian and Near East markets and tighter export availability in the European Union. The FAO Sugar Price Index averaged 103.3 points, down 0.2 per cent from the previous month, continuing its downward trend for a fifth consecutive month. (ANI/ WAM) Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Friday launched a sharp attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, accusing them of "extreme moral cowardice" over their continued silence on Israel's ongoing military operations in Gaza. In a strongly worded post on X, Ramesh condemned what he called a "genocide" in Gaza and criticised the Indian government for not speaking out against Israel's plans to occupy Gaza City. "The Prime Minister and his government have been demonstrating extreme moral cowardice during the genocide that has been in stark evidence in Gaza over the past eighteen months. Israel is now all set to occupy Gaza City, to begin with. This move has been widely criticised. But Mr. Modi and the External Affairs Minister continue to remain totally silent," the Congress leader stated in a post on X. Earlier today, the Israeli Security Cabinet approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's proposal for the establishment of a "civil administration" in the Gaza Strip to conclude the conflict, which will be neither in control of Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority. In a statement, the Israeli Prime Minister's Office stated that the Israeli "Security Cabinet has approved the Prime Minister's proposal for defeating Hamas." According to the proposal, the Security Cabinet had adopted "five principles" to conclude the war, which include the "disarming of Hamas", the "return of all the hostages", the "demilitarisation of the Gaza Strip", "Israeli security control of the Gaza Strip", and the "establishment of an alternative civil administration that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority". Ramesh, in his post, further added that the Congress have strongly condemned "Israel's latest plans in Gaza", calling the situation an assault on humanity itself. "The Indian National Congress condemns in the strongest possible terms Israel's latest plans in Gaza. It is an assault not just on the Palestinian people but on humanity itself," his post added. Earlier in July, India's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Harish Parvathaneni, emphasised the need for a two-state solution to the Israel-Palestine conflict, urging purposeful dialogue and diplomacy to bring the parties together while delivering a statement at the High-Level International Conference in New York. According to Al Jazeera, since the beginning of Israel's war on Gaza, following the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas, the overall Palestinian death toll has reached 61,330, with 152,359 people reported injured. (ANI) The German government has announced that it will suspend all military equipment exports to Israel that could be used in the Gaza Strip, citing growing humanitarian concerns and increasing ambiguity around Israel's military objectives in the ongoing conflict. The announcement was made by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in a series of posts on X, where he stated that while Israel has the right to defend itself against terrorism, the latest military escalation by the Israeli security cabinet has raised serious questions. "Israel has the right to defend itself against Hamas' terror. The release of the hostages and negotiations on a ceasefire are our top priorities. The disarmament of Hamas is imperative - Hamas must not be allowed to play a role in Gaza in future," Merz stated. "The new military push agreed by the Israeli security cabinet makes it increasingly unclear how these goals are to be achieved. The German Government will, until further notice, authorise no military equipment exports that can be used in the Gaza Strip," he added. This decision by the German Chancellor came after the Israeli Security Cabinet, earlier today, approved Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's proposal for the establishment of a "civil administration" in the Gaza strip to conclude the conflict, which will be neither in control of Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority. Chancellor Merz also expressed Germany's deep concern over the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza and urged Israel to take full responsibility for ensuring that essential aid reaches the civilian population. He further called on Israel to build upon recent steps taken to improve the humanitarian situation and to avoid any future actions that could lead to the annexation of the West Bank. "The German Government remains deeply concerned about the suffering of the civilian population in Gaza. With the planned offensive, the Israeli Government bears even more responsibility than before for ensuring that civilians can be provided with the supplies they need," the statement read. "It must enable comprehensive access for relief supplies, including for UN organisations and other non-state institutions. Following the correct steps of recent days, Israel must continue to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza in a comprehensive and sustainable way," it added. "In addition, the German Government urgently calls on the Israeli Government to refrain from taking any further steps towards an annexation of the West Bank," the Chancellor further added. Earlier today, the Israeli Prime Minister's Office, in a statement, stated that the Israeli "Security Cabinet has approved the Prime Minister's proposal for defeating Hamas." According to the proposal, the Security Cabinet had adopted "five principles" to conclude the war, which include the "disarming of Hamas", the "return of all the hostages", the "demilitarisation of the Gaza Strip", "Israeli security control of the Gaza Strip", and the "establishment of an alternative civil administration that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority". According to Al Jazeera, since the beginning of Israel's war on Gaza, following the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas, the overall Palestinian death toll has reached 61,330, with 152,359 people reported injured. (ANI) The protest by the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) demanding the release of its leaders entered its 24th day on Friday, with the group alleging that the families of forcibly disappeared were being subjected to police blockades, surveillance, and threats. In a post on X, the BYC said, "For 24 days, Baloch families, mothers and sisters, have been sitting in Islamabad, demanding the release of Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC) leaders and an end to enforced disappearances. Instead of being allowed to set up a peaceful camp, they are met with police blockades, surveillance, racial profiling, and threats. Even the Press Club, a supposed space for the oppressed remains sealed to them. We urge you to show up, speak out, and stand in solidarity. Whether you are a journalist, student, activist, lawyer, or citizen, your voice matters." https://x.com/BalochYakjehtiC/status/1953808797694349495 Enforced disappearances in Balochistan have been a grave human rights issue for decades, rooted in the region's long-standing political and ethnic tensions. For the last several decades, Baloch nationalists, students, activists, and intellectuals have been targeted, allegedly by state security agencies, for demanding greater autonomy or rights. Thousands have reportedly gone missing without due process, and many remain unaccounted for. Families are often left without information, legal recourse, or justice. Human rights organisations, both local and international, have condemned these actions, calling them violations of international law. The Pakistan government has consistently denied involvement, but has failed to transparently investigate or resolve the cases. In recent years, peaceful resistance--through sit-ins, marches, and now social media--has grown, led by groups like the Baloch Yakjehti Committee (BYC). These families, driven by grief and hope, continue to demand the safe return of their loved ones and an end to the culture of impunity. (ANI) Oxford summer program promotes AI learning, China-UK understanding Xinhua) 13:01, August 08, 2025 LONDON, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- A group of 25 Chinese students have begun a two-week summer program at St Hilda's College, Oxford, focusing on artificial intelligence (AI) and computer science. The initiative, part of the WeChat Global Exploration Plan, includes opportunities for students to present their self-developed digital mini-programs to the public in Oxford and London. The program officially opened Tuesday, where British educator H-J Colston praised the participants' international mindset. "Chinese people are much more globally-minded than we are," Colston said at the ceremony. Tang Jiahao from southern Chinese city of Guangzhou has developed a health management app to help his mother track her well-being. The mini-program uses AI to recognize food through photos, log nutritional data, and generate personalized health recommendations. "Innovation has no boundaries," Tang said. "As long as we use technology effectively, anyone can be a creator." Colston, who co-founded the educational charity Engage with China (EwC), addressed the audience following the student demonstrations, commending their ability to offer practical, real-world solutions. "These young experts from China are helping navigate life with technology," she said. A veteran educator who has visited China more than 30 times since the 1980s, Colston said the country's rapid development, from a bicycle-dominated society to a leader in AI, has influenced her commitment to building cultural understanding between the UK and China. Founded in 2018, EwC launched a program to promote a "China-literate" generation among British students through school outreach and scholarships for educational visits to China. To date, the charity has reached more than 6,500 students across primary and secondary schools in the UK. Colston cited an imbalance in cultural knowledge as a key motivation for the charity's work. "Many Chinese students are familiar with Shakespeare and Western culture, but few young Britons know much about modern China," she said. She added that exchange programs like the Oxford summer camp are essential for fostering global perspectives. "Making friends with Chinese people will be eye-opening for British students and a chance to see the world from a new perspective," she said. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) Infratil and the New Zealand Superannuation Fund (NZ Super) have entered into a binding agreement to sell their 100% interest in RetireAustralia to Invesco Real Estate, the global real estate investment business of Invesco Ltd., for A$845 million. Infratil and NZ Super each own a 50% interest in RetireAustralia with both shareholders interests managed by global infrastructure investment manager Morrison. The transaction is subject to the satisfaction of a limited number of conditions, including FIRB approval, and is expected to complete in the final quarter of the 2025 calendar year. At completion, Infratil expects to receive proceeds of approximately A$300 million (NZ$328 million), with final proceeds to be adjusted for transaction costs and completion adjustments. Jason Boyes, Infratil Chief Executive, said: RetireAustralia is a quality business in a strong position for future growth under Invescos ownership. Since Infratils initial investment in 2014, RetireAustralia has undergone significant change, including the appointment of new leadership, a refreshed strategy, and a strengthened development pipeline. Unfortunately, over the same period, the sector has faced a number of challenges, which have contributed to us not being able to fully realise our ambitions for the RetireAustralia business. RetireAustralia is ably led by Chief Executive Dr Brett Robinson, and Id like to acknowledge and thank the management team for their ongoing leadership and contribution to Australias Retirement Living Sector. As at 31 March 2025, the carrying value of Infratils investment in RetireAustralia was NZ$404 million, with the transaction expected to result in an accounting loss on sale of approximately NZ$80 million. The forecast sale proceeds are expected to preserve almost all contributed capital when taking into account capital contributed and distributions received, delivering an internal rate of return (IRR) close to nil over the ~11 year holding period. Although at a loss, the decision to sell RetireAustralia is consistent with the strategy outlined at our full-year result, where we indicated our intention to divest businesses unlikely to scale under our ownership to increase balance sheet flexibility for reinvestment. Further work toward our $1 billion divestment target continues. When Infratil made its initial investment of A$215 million in December 2014, our market capitalisation was NZ$1.6 billion. With a market capitalisation now exceeding NZ$11 billion, and despite a positive outlook for the business, it is increasingly difficult for an investment of this size to deliver meaningful returns for Infratil shareholders. The transaction also results in a forecast negative realised incentive fee of approximately NZ$21 million in relation to RetireAustralia as at 31 March 2026, which is expected to be offset against other incentive fees at that time. Comments from our readers No comments yet Add your comment: Your name: Your email: Not displayed to the public Comment: Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved. Anti-spam verification: Type the text you see in the image into the field below. You are asked to do this in order to verify that this enquiry is not being performed by an automated process. Related News: August 26th Morning Report August 25th Morning Report Skellerup achieves another record result August 21st Morning Report Me Today signals capital raise and provides trading update Seeka Announces Interim Result and Updates Guidance FBU - Fletcher Building announces FY25 Results August 20th Morning Report RUA - New Zealand grown products support Rua's global strategy Devon Funds Morning Note - 19 August 2025 Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday defended his government's vexed proposal of taking control of the Gaza strip, following the approval of Israel's Security Cabinet to establish a "civil administration" in the Gaza Strip. In a post on X, Netanyahu clarified that the aim of the proposals was not to occupy the Gaza territory but to eliminate Hamas and establish a peaceful alternative administration. "We are not going to occupy Gaza - we are going to free Gaza from Hamas," Netanyahu said, amid the growing international scrutiny of Israel's military intentions in the region. Earlier today, the Israeli Security Cabinet approved Prime Minister Netanyahu's proposal for the establishment of a "civil administration" in the Gaza Strip, which will be neither in control of Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority. In a statement, the Israeli Prime Minister's Office stated that the Israeli "Security Cabinet has approved the Prime Minister's proposal for defeating Hamas." According to the proposal, the Security Cabinet had adopted "five principles" to conclude the war, which include the "disarming of Hamas", the "return of all the hostages", the "demilitarisation of the Gaza Strip", "Israeli security control of the Gaza Strip", and the "establishment of an alternative civil administration that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority". Netanyahu further stated in his post that the long-term objective is the full demilitarisation of Gaza and the establishment of a new civilian administration that would not involve Hamas, the Palestinian Authority, or any other group classified by Israel as a terrorist organisation. "Gaza will be demilitarised, and a peaceful civilian administration will be established, one that is not the Palestinian Authority, not Hamas, and not any other terrorist organisation. This will help free our hostages and ensure Gaza does not pose a threat to Israel in the future," he added. Meanwhile, the German government has announced that it will suspend all military equipment exports to Israel that could be used in the Gaza Strip, citing growing humanitarian concerns and increasing ambiguity around Israel's military objectives in the ongoing conflict. The announcement was made by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in a series of posts on X, where he stated that while Israel has the right to defend itself against terrorism, the latest military escalation by the Israeli security cabinet has raised serious questions. "Israel has the right to defend itself against Hamas' terror. The release of the hostages and negotiations on a ceasefire are our top priorities. The disarmament of Hamas is imperative - Hamas must not be allowed to play a role in Gaza in future," Merz stated. "The new military push agreed by the Israeli security cabinet makes it increasingly unclear how these goals are to be achieved. The German Government will, until further notice, authorise no military equipment exports that can be used in the Gaza Strip," he added. (ANI) Tourism Expert Committee Chairman at the Chamber of Commerce, Subhash Goyal, has questioned why India is being singled out over its purchase of Russian oil, saying the European Union has bought "much more gas" from Moscow than India. He said, "India will buy oil from wherever it gets the cheapest." Goyal also expressed confidence that India, with its good relations with both the West and Russia, can play a "very important role" in finding a peaceful resolution to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. He also noted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's upcoming visit to China, his first in seven years, could help advance global stability. "We reaffirmed India's stance of having a peaceful resolution of the Russia-Ukraine war and India is the country that can play very important role as it has good relations with the West as well as Russia. PM is also going to China, and I hope that these developments will result in a better, safer, and more peaceful planet for us. It is high time that we resolve all our conflicts. India will buy oil from wherever it gets the cheapest, and the EU has bought much more gas from Russia than India. Why is India being targeted?" Goyal asked. Without naming them, he slammed the West for supporting "a terrorist state like Pakistan," saying it goes against the interests of a peaceful and better planet. It is surprising that a terrorist state like Pakistan is being supported by some countries, which is against the peaceful interests of the planet. This comes amid ongoing tensions after a 25 per cent additional tariff was imposed on India as a penalty for purchasing Russian oil. On Friday, Prime Minister Modi said he had a "very good and detailed" telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, during which he thanked the Russian leader for updating him on the latest developments in Ukraine. The two leaders reviewed bilateral cooperation and reaffirmed their commitment to deepening the India-Russia Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership. Modi invited Putin to visit India later this year for the 23rd Annual Bilateral Summit. According to the Ministry of External Affairs, the call took place amid "ongoing tensions" following the US tariff decision. President Putin briefed PM Modi on Ukraine and both sides reiterated their desire to strengthen long-standing ties. (ANI) According to the embassy, the talks covered a wide range of issues under the bilateral military-technical cooperation framework. Both sides also reviewed the progress of joint projects in other strategic sectors, including civil aircraft manufacturing, metallurgy, and the chemical industry. "The parties discussed topical issues of #RussiaIndia military-technical cooperation, as well as the implementation of joint projects in other strategic sectors, including civil aircraft manufacturing, metallurgy, and the chemical industry," the embassy posted on X (formerly twitter). https://x.com/RusEmbIndia/status/1953901471457747436 A day before the meeting with Manturov, NSA Doval had held talks with President Putin and Russia's Security Council Secretary Sergey Shoigu on August 7. On August 8, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a telephonic conversation, during which they discussed trade, economic, and investment cooperation. PM Modi later described the call as "very good and detailed," adding that he had thanked President Putin for briefing him on the latest developments in Ukraine. "Had a very good and detailed conversation with my friend President Putin. I thanked him for sharing the latest developments on Ukraine. We also reviewed the progress in our bilateral agenda, and reaffirmed our commitment to further deepen the India-Russia Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership. I look forward to hosting President Putin in India later this year." PM Modi said in a statement on X. The development comes amid ongoing tensions following the imposition of tariffs on India for buying Russian oil. During their call, President Putin briefed PM on the latest developments concerning Ukraine, as per a statement by the External Affairs Ministry. The two leaders also reviewed progress in the bilateral agenda, and reaffirmed their commitment to further deepen the Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership between India and Russia. Prime Minister Modi invited President Putin to India later this year for the 23rd India-Russia Annual Summit. (ANI) Lynchburg City Schools advocate Danny McCain resigned from the school boards Ad Hoc Achievement Gap Committee, walking out of its Wednesday meeting. This was the second meeting of the committee, which was formed last month to reduce the achievement gap between Black and white students in Lynchburg. I dont want to waste this committees time, and I think I would be best-served doing something on another committee, because weve got to have accountability and those kind of things, McCain said at the meeting. So, at this point, Im just going to resign. McCain said he felt the committee was just thrown together because of what happened to him. McCain was banned from speaking at school board meetings after he went over his allotted time at the June 3 meeting, saying he would only sit down after the school board agreed to meet with him to discuss the achievement gap between Black and white students in Lynchburg. The school board later rescinded its motion to ban McCain after he agreed not to disrupt future meetings. My feeling is that the school board is really not serious about what we are doing, McCain said at the committees meeting. If they were, something would have happened a long time ago because they knew about these problems a long time ago. The committee is chaired by District 2 representative Letitia Lowery, who attended Wednesdays meeting alongside District 3 representative Brenda Farmer, former school board Vice Chair Martin Day and community member Kimberly Dyke-Harsley. At the meeting, McCain said after he presented data on the achievement gap to the school board last October, he doesnt recall a school board meeting where the achievement gap was mentioned. At the June school board work session where the board rescinded its motion to ban McCain, Day, who was the school board vice chair at the time, laid out a timeline of McCains interactions with the school board. He said McCain gave a presentation to the academic success committee at its Oct. 8 meeting last year, and continued conversation with McCain was part of the committees agenda on Nov. 7 and Dec. 3. He said McCain continued to attend committee meetings through Feb. 25. Day said McCain did not attend the committees last few meetings, including one where the committee briefly followed up on one of his suggestions. At Wednesdays meeting, Lowery said the school boards academic success committee handled the data from McCain. Thats why you were invited to come all year long last year, Lowery said. McCain countered that, at those meetings, nothing was even discussed in that to the point it was submitted to the board. He said he has been paying close attention, and the school board hasnt had any vision or set any goals related to the achievement gap. Theres been no accountability, he said. Lowery said the achievement gap committee is the product of that. Youve mentioned that youre not seeing anything being done to address this for some time, Day said. I think part of the problem is nobody knows quite what to do, and thats what this committee is supposed to come up with some ideas for. So, without some concrete suggestions for what is to be done, I dont know what you can expect. McCain said he hopes the committee can do whatevers best for the children. The rest of the meeting The committee said it will create a final report by Sept. 10 that contains recommendations to reduce the achievement gap. After McCain walked out, the committee discussed assigning members to five subcommittees, which included data and student performance, community solutions and family engagement, school and family relations, community resource mapping and instruction and student support practices. As part of community resource mapping, the committee discussed expanding high school level tutoring in the division, especially by local college students. Dyke-Harsley asked if LCS could make a call to the larger community asking for high school tutors, and Lowery suggested offering families a volunteer sheet at registration, which she said is the best time to reach all parents. The committee also brought forward a solution involving the LCS Community Resource Guide, which is maintained by the LCS school social workers. Although it is offered on the LCS website, Dyke-Harsley said each individual school should also provide a link to the guide. So they dont have to navigate through LCS, Lowery said. If they go to their schools web page, then they can find that resource link there. The committee ultimately decided because it had so many topics to discuss, it would not divide work into subcommittees, as previously planned. Lowery said the committee should work through topics together. With only two meetings left, the committee considered the idea of meeting more frequently, but decided to stick to its original schedule. The committee decided it would continue to discuss solutions to the achievement gap in three areas community solutions and family engagement, school and family relations, and community resource mapping over email until the next meeting. So, maybe if we start working that way through our emails, then when we come back together, weve already put down certain solutions and we can keep moving forward, Lowery said. The committee will meet again at 4:15 p.m. on Aug. 27. OSAKA, Aug 09 (News On Japan) - Ahead of the Obon holiday period beginning on August 9th, Kansai International Airport is already seeing a wave of travelers heading overseas. The international departures lobby was crowded from the morning, with families and other travelers carrying large suitcases. According to Kansai Airports, the number of outbound passengers is expected to peak on August 9th, with approximately 47,000 people departing that day. Over the entire Obon period, which runs from August 9th to 18th, a total of 765,000 passengers are projected to use the airport's international flights. A traveler heading to Bangkok said, "I'm going to Bangkok, Thailand." When asked if this was an annual tradition, she replied, "Not every year, but fairly often. My husband is staying home. So is my daughters husband." Another traveler commented, "We're going to Guam. I dont just want to swimI want to relax and do nothing." To which a child quipped, "Why are you going just to do nothing?" The most popular destination is expected to be China, followed by South Korea. The peak for returning travelers is forecast for August 16th. Source: KTV NEWS August 8, 2025: Earlier this year the United States threatened to halt $336 million is aid to the Palestinian Authority/PA if the Palestinians did not halt their Pay for Slay program. Recent payments were substantial, with some Palestinian terrorists receiving over a million dollars. The most recent payment totaled $142 million for 738 Palestinian terrorists. That averages $193,000 per terrorist. Last year the PA continued using its Pay For Slay program to reward Palestinian terrorists. Since October 2023, the PA declared nearly 10,000 imprisoned Palestinian and Hamas terrorists as eligible for Pay for Slay money. The PA also recognized an additional 39,000 families of dead terrorists as eligible for Pay for Slay payments. While the PA agreed to the American demands, it is believed that the PA would seek to find a way to make the payments anyway. The Palestinians responded by establishing a foundation to handle the money. The foundation is still run by Palestinians who simply deny any involvement with the Pay for Slay effort. The foundation dispenses money to needy Palestinians, all of them just happen to be needy terrorists. The Americans have been through this before and this time the PA deceptions may not work. The PA has long used foreign aid money to run their pay-for-slay program. Since the 1970s the PA has diverted nearly half a billion dollars in foreign aid to pay Palestinian terrorists for killing Israeli civilians and soldiers. There is an elaborate system for paying the families of dead Palestinian terrorists as well as lesser payments for those imprisoned for attacks on Israelis. Foreign donors eventually learned of this program, which used money donated for the welfare of Palestinian civilians. Donors tried to enforce rules prohibiting use of cash for pay-for-slay programs. The PA keeps finding ways to circumvent these restrictions and continue making terrorism profitable for Palestinians. PA leaders take a portion of the aid for themselves as a reward for continuing to deceive foreign donors. In 2019 the Palestinian Fatah government threatened to cause an economic catastrophe by refusing partial payments from Israel and donor nations unless everyone stopped deducting the money Fatah spends on supporting and encouraging terrorist activity. In 2018 Israel passed a law to deduct Pay For Slay payments from the $130 million a month it collects in taxes and fees for the Palestinians in the West Bank. Despite that Fatah paid over $20 million to Palestinian terrorists in prison or to their families for deceased terrorists. The U.S. had already enacted a similar law and was deducting a similar amount from the $300 million it currently gives to the West Bank Palestinians. Other foreign donors have taken similar measures. Fatah complains that the U.S., Israel and other donors are being unfair. Yet it is no secret that many Palestinians become terrorists because they are attracted to the financial rewards, which are considerable for many impoverished Palestinians impoverished by Fatah corruption and incompetence. Palestinians who are jailed, injured or killed while trying to kill Israelis receive large payments from Fatah. For example families of dead terrorists get an immediate payment of $1,700 from Fatah plus monthly payments for the life of the immediate family. These monthly payments consist of $400 to over $1,000 depending on the number of wives and children and can make a family relatively affluent and open new opportunities, like enough cash to afford a people smuggler who can get one or more family members to the West. There is also a bonus of $86 a month if you are a legal resident of Israel and a similar monthly bonus if you were a resident of Jerusalem. Fatah currently pays about $200 million a year to the families Monthly payments to jailed Palestinians vary according to how long they have been in jail, how many dependents they have and so on. There are also bonuses for how many Israelis the prisoner killed or injured. Some of these convicts get over $50,000 a year. Fatah currently spends nearly $200 million a year to reward over 6,000 jailed terrorists. Fatah considers this payment program a success even though hundreds of Palestinians have died in the Fatah-promoted violence. These attacks also left a growing number of Israelis dead and for Fatah that is political gold as far as Arab language media is concerned. With this approach, Fatah and Hamas together currently spend over $400 million a year to make murder economically attractive to many young Palestinians. Most of it comes from Fatah although Hamas is trying to make more payments to Palestinians in the West Bank who support Hamas and attack Israelis in the name of Hamas. The Arab language media throughout the Middle East take for granted that these payments are just and necessary for the war against Israel. In response to the current American and Israeli efforts to penalize Fatah for what is spent to encourage terror attacks, Fatah made it clear it would not halt payments to families for dead or jailed terrorists. Instead, it cut pay to Palestinians who worked for the West Bank government. But by refusing foreign aid money still being offered, Fatah caused shortages of food and other necessities in the West Bank. The ensuing Palestinian outrage and resulting damage were blamed on the efforts to halt pay for slay terrorism support. Fatah is pleading with Russia and Arab oil states to help them out. Russia is broke and prefers to be on good terms with Israel. The Arab oil states are fed up with the Palestinian preference for self-destructive behavior. When the PA cannot obtain the needed Pay for Slay cash from the usual sources, it records missed payments as debts that must eventually be paid. Pay for Slay is an essential PA program because it brings in more Palestinian men willing to die for money. Families receiving the money honor their dead benefactors for a long time. While a decision by the Iowa Board of Regents to propose changes to its policies relating to academic freedom and the teaching of controversial topics is being seen as a good first step, a key Iowa lawmaker said one of the states public universities has lost some respect in the wake of repeated incidents relating to diversity, equity and inclusion. Rep. Taylor Collins, R-Mediapolis, said in an interview he believes its significant that the Iowa Board of Regents will bring forward proposed policy changes for adoption, though language has shifted drastically from the first to final draft. The new version eliminates mentions of diversity, equity and inclusion and critical race theory and inserts that instructors can teach controversial topics if it relates to the course and is taught in a manner that fosters critical thinking and avoids indoctrination of one perspective. I think theyre coming to the same realization that many of the legislators have come to, that its just inappropriate that some of these materials are forced on Iowa students, Collins said. And ultimately, this is about restoring trust in our institutions. Collins previously posted online that the Iowa Legislatures Higher Education Committee, which he chairs, would be ready to act if the board didnt approve the previous policy. With the new policy released, he said it ensures controversial topics are dealt with in a manner that is appropriate in the classroom and wont indoctrinate students into a certain ideology. New suggested policy OKs has caveats The initial policy, originally set to be read and approved in June, had concerned students, university staff, members of the public and Sen. Herman Quirmbach, D-Ames, speaking out against the harm it could cause, leading the board to slow down the approval process. Board President Sherry Bates announced in July another delay in consideration of the policy, setting a special meeting date for Aug. 12. As shown in board documents released ahead of the meeting next week, the proposed policy revision has shifted its focus from diversity, equity and inclusion and critical race theory-related topics to not referring to specific areas of study at all. Instead, it clarifies that controversial topics can be taught as long as they relate to the course and adds guidelines for how instructors should teach these areas. The original policy restricted requiring students to take classes that include substantial content that conveys DEI or CRT. The new proposed addition to the boards academic freedom policy instead states faculty are expected to uphold academic integrity, encourage open and respectful inquiry, and present coursework in a way that reflects the range of scholarly views and ongoing debate in the field when teaching controversial subjects, of which no examples are provided. If approved, state universities will be required to implement practices to ensure compliance with the new policy and the board will have the power to direct staff to audit these practices. Another addition to board policy stated classes should incorporate opportunities for students to openly examine and discuss the concepts, ideas, and materials addressed in the class, and student grades must reflect their mastery of course content and skills, not their agreement or disagreement with particular viewpoints expressed during instruction or in their work. UI president sees diminished trust As the board of regents and its universities work to come under compliance with state and federal law when it comes to DEI programs and policies, Collins told University of Iowa President Barbara Wilson in an email the university needs to recognize the DEI ideology is present in campus culture and send a strong message that DEI is done. The UI last week came under scrutiny of national media and state government when Fox News aired a video showing Andrea Tinoco, assistant director of UI Leadership and Student Organization Development, telling someone about how she still uses the term DEI and how the university could be working around DEI restrictions. Gov. Kim Reynolds referred the incident to the state attorney general for review of potential violations of state law. Both the university and board said they are working to investigate the incident. Collins said he found another violation made by the university in a drafted orientation schedule for the UIs radiation sciences program, which was sent to him by a student. A training session titled Implicit Bias and Microaggressions and IRESPOND Toolkit was included in the schedule on the document, which Wilson said in her email was a draft taken from last years program and not ready to be published. The document has now removed this session, she said. I am sorry for this error, and I apologize for the concern it has raised, Wilson said in her email. The Carver College of Medicine assures me that they are redoubling their efforts to comply fully with directives from the Iowa Board of Regents as well as state and federal laws enacted to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion programming and initiatives. I am confident they will make every effort to ensure this will not happen again. Collins said in his response he hopes UI leadership will recognize the current approach of treating these situations individually and hoping things will blow over is not sustainable and seek to change the culture that continues to encourage this kind of behavior. Me and my colleagues trust in your leadership was severely diminished this week, Collins wrote to Wilson. The UI has fumbled the elimination of DEI since April 2024, Collins said in his email, and if incidents like these continue to occur, the reputation of our states flagship institution will continue to deteriorate. My colleagues and I recognize that our legislative emails will continue to inundated with concerns from students, faculty and staff until we fundamentally change the culture in higher education specifically at the University of Iowa, Collins said in his email. He added the university needs to work on encouraging intellectual diversity on campus, and said the pattern behind these incidents is why there was such broad support for legislation passed last session establishing a center for intellectual freedom at the UI. Looking ahead to the next legislative session, Collins said one issue remaining for him in higher education in Iowa is core curriculum requirements and how he believes a student studying an area like accounting shouldnt be required to take courses with DEI content. One of the things that I look forward to having a stronger conversation on next year is really civics education and making sure that we have strong standards when it comes to students, Collins said, making sure that they have three credit hours of American history, making sure that they have three credit hours of American government. By all appearances, Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune is engaged in a whirlwind of diplomatic activity. From Rome to Algiers, from energy deals to symbolic gestures, his administration projects an image of international engagement and strategic relevance. Yet, beneath the surface lies a troubling reality: Algeria is increasingly isolated, diplomatically marginalized, and economically strained. The flurry of handshakes and photo ops masks a foreign policy devoid of substance, coherence, or strategic direction. Tebbounes recent visit to Rome exemplifies this paradox. Italian officials rolled out the red carpet, not for Algerias geopolitical importance, but for its gassold at bargain prices that defy economic logic. While Algeria supplies over 40% of Italys gas needs, it does so at rates as low as $4$5 per million BTU, far below the $11$15 global LNG average. The result: billions in lost revenue for a country whose hospitals lack basic equipment and whose citizens drive decades-old vehicles. In exchange, Tebboune receives a veneer of legitimacy that neither Paris nor Washington is willing to offer. This pursuit of recognition has led to uncomfortable contradictions. Tebboune has cozied up to Giorgia Meloni, Italys far-right leader, while his regime routinely vilifies critics at home by associating them with the French far-right. The irony is stark: Algerias New Era praises extremism abroad while condemning it domestically. Such inconsistencies underscore a foreign policy driven more by optics than principles. Back home, the Algerian government continues to trumpet hollow victories. The visits of mid-level representatives from ExxonMobil and Chevron were hailed as breakthroughs, despite yielding nothing more than vague promises of exploratory studies over the next decade. No CEOs, no signed deals, just symbolic meetings repackaged as economic triumphs. Meanwhile, the United States reaffirmed its support for Moroccos sovereignty over the Sahara territory, further sidelining Algeria on a dossier it considers existential. In a desperate bid to appear generous and influential, Algeria pledged $200 million to rebuild southern Lebanon-a Hezbollah stronghold- while neglecting its own impoverished southern regions. This gift, revealed not by Algerian media but through Russian and Lebanese sources, was neither a loan nor a structured partnership. It was a silent transfer of funds from a country that rations medicine and restricts imports to preserve dwindling foreign reserves. When faced with mounting criticism, Tebboune resorts to exaggeration. In a recent press encounter, he claimed a Malaysian investor was preparing to inject $20 billion into Algeria, nearly half the countrys foreign currency reserves. The reality? Lion Group, a Malaysian conglomerate with an annual turnover of $2.4 billion, has shown interest since 2020 but has made no commitments. The numbers simply dont add up. Algerias foreign policy today resembles a stage play, complete with actors, props, and scripted lines, but lacking a plot. The proliferation of summits, memorandums, and ceremonial farewells cannot conceal the absence of strategic vision. As journalist Mohamed Sifaoui aptly put it, This is no longer diplomacy, but a choreography of emptiness. Until Algeria replaces spectacle with substance, its diplomacy will remain a theater of shadows, designed not to serve the nations interests, but to distract from its failures. The question is no longer whether the world takes Algeria seriously, but whether Algeria takes itself seriously. Over the past three marketing years, Moroccan tomato exports to Denmark have increased nearly sixfold, reaching 1,660 metric tons between July 2024 and June 2025 This represents a 32% increase compared to the previous year and a 67% jump over 2022/2023, according to East Fruit, a specialized fresh produce website. While Denmark still accounts for less than 1% of Moroccos total tomato exports, the consistent growth signals a strategic breakthrough. Moroccan tomatoes are now shipped to Denmark monthly, with no seasonal interruptions. Notably, October, previously the weakest month, saw a record high in the current marketing year This expansion aligns with Moroccos broader strategy to diversify export destinations, moving beyond traditional markets like France, the UK, and the Netherlands. Tomatoes remain Moroccos top fruit and vegetable export, generating over 25% of the sectors foreign currency earnings The impact in Denmark is tangible: Moroccos share of Danish tomato imports rose from less than 1% in 2021/22 to 3.7% in 2023/24, and now exceeds 5% If current trends continue, Morocco is poised to surpass Italy and enter Denmarks top five suppliers for the first time. Morocco also stands out as the only non-European country supplying tomatoes to Denmark over the past two years Beyond Denmark, Morocco is expanding its footprint across Scandinavia, having set a new export record to Norway this year The country also exports pickled vegetables, watermelons, almonds, and recently added strawberries to its Danish portfolio. Libya has recorded 76 drowning incidents between June 8 and August 6, including 55 Libyan nationals, amid critical shortages in maritime rescue resources. Misbah Al-Ghazewi, Head of the Maritime Rescue Room, told local outlet Fawasel that vast stretches of coastlineparticularly between Tajoura and Al-Qarabolliare without any rescue presence, while the Tripoli unit lacks even basic boats and operates with extremely limited supplies. He noted that eastern coastal rescue units are better equipped than those in the west, highlighting a stark disparity in resources. Al-Ghazewi disclosed that the site in Tobruk where three siblings drowned on Wednesday had been marked as unsafe for swimming a week earlier. He urged the public to heed official sea safety warnings, emphasizing that the absence of proper personnel, equipment, and logistical support is severely undermining rescue operations. Without immediate investment and coordination, he warned, the country risks further preventable deaths along its shores. Morocco dominates the top 10 biggest listed companies in North Africa following the success and expansion of Moroccan businesses, driven by steady growth and an effective pan-African expansion strategy. According to Africa Business news platform, the first six places have been grabbed by Moroccan companies with largest market capitalization. Attijariwafa bank ($15.6 billion) tops the 2025 list followed by Maroc Telecom ($11 bln), Managem ($6 bln), the Banque Centrale Populaire ($6 bln), Marsa Maroc ($5.7 bln) and TAQA Morocco ($5.6 bln). Egypts Commercial International Bank ($4.9 bln), ranked 7th followed by LafargeHolcim Maroc ($4,6 bln), Moroccan Bank of Africa ($4,4 bln) and Egyptian El Sewedy Electric Company ($3,4bn). According to experts, Moroccan companies are growing stronger every year. They are actively expanding their presence across Africa, with a focus on various sectors like banking, insurance, retail, and construction. This expansion is driven by South-South cooperation, where Morocco shares its expertise and experiences with other African nations. The North African Kingdom is also positioning itself as a gateway for international companies, offering a stable environment, attractive investment charter, and strong infrastructure for those looking to enter the African market. Furthermore, the 2025 ranking of the 500 African Champions, published lately by Jeune Afrique, listed 54 Moroccan companies, including 39 from the private sector, with a combined revenue of $55.9 billion. The total trade between the UK and Morocco reached 4.4 billion ($5.8 billion) in the first quarter of 2025, an increase of 16.4% or 616 million compared to the same period of last year. According to latest figures published by the Department for Business & Trade, this growth is largely driven by Moroccan exports which amounted to 2.7 billion ($3.5 billion). Fruits and vegetables remain the main Moroccan exported products followed by electrical equipment, furniture, and textiles. Services also contribute to this dynamic, with a booming tourism sector. British visitors generated 823 million in revenues for Morocco over this period. UK exports to Morocco also increased by 23%, reaching 1.7 billion ($2.25 billion). The list of exported products includes refined petroleum, vehicles, industrial machinery and professional services. UK trading with Morocco increased due to business-friendly environment, efficient logistics and a shared desire to deepen bilateral cooperation. Morocco and UK maintain strong economic cooperation ties based on the Association agreement, which facilitates trade through preferential rates, tariff quotas and clearly defined rules of origin. August 2025 Update August 8, 2025: Mali soldiers and the Russian Africa Corps are accused of kidnapping or executing numerous Fulani tribesmen. Nearly 20 Fulani were killed and over 80 kidnapped. These operations were part of an effort to halt the movement of Moslem Fulani horsemen and their raids against Christian farmers in the north. The Russians are fighting the Fulani and Islamic terrorists to gain an edge in obtaining gold mining permits. Meanwhile the government is demanding more money from the foreign gold mining companies. As a result most mining operations have been shut down until a new arrangement on taxes. Mali is the third largest gold producer in the world. What divides Mali more than anything else is ethnicity and geography. The desert and semi-desert north contains more than half of the territory, but only about 12 percent of Mali's 22 million people. This semi-desert area just below the Sahara extends from the east coast of Africa all the way to the Atlantic. In the southern third of Mali, where 88 percent of the population lives, the population is quite different from the northerners. While most Malians are Moslem there are some sharp ethnic and tribal differences. The Tuareg are the majority in the north and are North African while over 80 percent of Malians are various black African tribes. Most Malians live south of the Niger River, known as Nile of West Africa. These areas are more prosperous because they have more water. The hostility between the army composed of black Africans from the south and the lighter skinned Tuareg groups in the north goes back a long time. Before 2012 the rebellious Tuareg around Timbuktu tried something different and adopted Islamic terrorism as a promising tool to help their fight for autonomy or a separate Tuareg state. That has often failed in the past because the Tuareg have been unable to unite. Islamic radicalism has not solved that problem either as it didnt work. The French arrived in the 19th century and over the next 68 years created a united Mali. The black Africans along the Niger River prospered and generally ignored the Tuareg in the desert north. But after the French left in 1960, and Mali became independent, the more populous south was forced to deal with the Tuareg-dominated north they now owned and were not willing to give up. This has not worked out well for either side. Most of the 12,000 UN peacekeepers were up north, dealing with problems the Mali government has caused and failed to remedy. The government has not come through with the autonomy and economic aid it agreed to back in 2014 if the Tuareg separatist rebels made peace. The government is still corrupt and inefficient and continues to be run by southerners who still do not trust the tribes up north. The most dangerous rebel group in the north is the Tuareg Liberation Army of Azawad/MNLA, which signed a peace deal in June 2015. The government made a lot of promises to MNLA, mainly to keep the MNLA from reuniting with its former ally Ansar Dine, which long worked with Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb/AQIM. Ansar Dine is, like the MNLA, largely Tuareg. France points out that MNLA and Ansar Dine leaders still communicate with each other, mainly because they are all Tuareg and have tribal connections. MNLA and Ansar Dine relations with AQIM are less friendly and most MNLA members see AQIM as unwelcome outsiders. This unstable situation up north wont resolve itself unless the government keeps its side of the peace deal. MNLA is obviously ready to work with Ansar Dine again if the central government keeps stalling on meeting its obligations. The Tuareg never trusted the national government and the current situation does not help. Azawad is the Tuareg term for their homeland in northern Mali and several other North African nations. Ansar Dine refuses to make peace and continues to fund its terrorist operations with drug smuggling profits. MNLA gave up drug smuggling and cooperation with Islamic terrorists when it signed the 2015 peace deal. The continued smuggling explains Ansar Dine involvement with the new Islamic terror group Macina Liberation Front/FLM down south. AQIM is still something of an umbrella organization for Islamic terrorists in the region and survives in the north largely because the government has not complied with the peace deal. Most Tuareg do not belong to MNLA or Ansar Dine and are mainly concerned with taking care of their families and clans. The clans often have militias and if economic conditions dont improve up there a lot of those militiamen will use their weapons to get what they need or simply want. There are still a lot of unresolved disagreements between the many pro-government and former rebel tribes and clans up there. These feuds are proving more difficult to solve because of the governments refusal to deliver aid and autonomy. This is causing enough anarchy to give the Islamic terrorists opportunities to move around and carry out attacks and keep their drug smuggling enterprise running. The local squabbles tie down the peacekeepers and make it more difficult for the French led counter-terror operations. The Mali government wants the UN to allow peacekeepers to be more forceful with uncooperative groups, especially Tuareg, up north. The UN is reluctant to do that. While it worked in places like Congo, it would likely backfire in northern Mali. In addition to the peacekeepers there were also a thousand French special operations troops there who were not part of the peacekeeping force and concentrated on finding and destroying Islamic terrorists. This French force is part of Task Force Barkhane, which has over 3,000 French troops that operate throughout the Sahel. The French have since left. Task Force Barkhane can send more troops to Mali, but rarely does because it has so much to do in the rest of the Sahel. There are also several thousand Mali Army troops up north where they are regarded by the Tuaregs as a hostile occupying force. That attitude goes back a long way and the 2015 peace deal was to have addressed that mistrust. It hasnt and no UN member is eager to get involved in that kind of mess. Since 2018 the UN has been threatening sanctions against individuals and groups in Mali if the government and local leaders in northern Mali dont implement the 2015 peace treaty that ended the war in the north, but has not yet brought peace. To placate the UN and major donors the government has agreed to work things out with the Tuaregs. But promises like that have been made before and always broken. The federal government continues to tolerate corrupt practices which includes stealing a lot of the aid money meant for the north and sending officials up there who demand bribes to get anything done. The UN also insists that presidential elections be held on schedule and would prefer that the incumbent kept it legal and not become another president-for-life. The president is also under pressure from the UN to issue a December 2017 order for police to shut down any unauthorized protests. That meant all protests against government corruption and mismanagement were to be attacked and that has created more popular Michelle Gomez issues statement after Harry Potter casting backlash: I understand why this is painful https://t.co/ijApc1HuKZ pic.twitter.com/UiuXCT26jw PinkNews (@PinkNews) August 7, 2025 Michelle Gomez released a statement after it was revealed she would be voicing Professor McGonagall for the upcoming Harry Potter audible series. On Wednesday, she posted a message to her Instagram Stories directed to "my LGBTQ+ fans, and especially the trans community.""I want to speak directly to the concerns that have been raised about my involvement in this project," she wrote. "I hear you, and I understand why this is painful for many. I want to be clear that I stand with trans people, and I support trans rights fully and without hesitation.She continued, "When I accepted this role, I did so as someone who has always loved the stories and what they meant to so many especially those who found comfort and identity in that world. I now understand more clearly how deeply complicated and hurtful this association can feel, and I take that seriously."Gomez concluded her message saying, "Being an ally means listening even when it's uncomfortable and taking accountability where it's needed. I'm committed to doing both."She also shared that she had made a donation to Callen-Lorde, an LGBTQ+ health organisation in New York. As Big Oil companies like Shell and Chevron exit Colombia's upstream sector, they are increasing their investments in other South American countries such as Suriname and Guyana. Since 2022, Colombia has stopped issuing new oil exploration contracts, increased taxes on the hydrocarbon sector, and banned fracking, making the investment environment less favorable for oil companies. Major international oil and gas companies are reducing or ending their offshore exploration and production activities in Colombia due to stricter regulations imposed by President Gustavo Petro's administration and underwhelming exploration outcomes. Major international oil and gas companies have scaled back or quit operations in Colombias offshore exploration and production areas, as the countrys leftist president has imposed stricter rules and exploration drilling failed to live up to expectations. Since leftist President Gustavo Petro took office in 2022, the barriers to oil industry investors have increased with tighter regulations for conventional oil and gas exploration and a ban on fracking. Colombia stopped awarding new oil exploration contracts while hiking taxes for the economically crucial hydrocarbon sector in November 2022. Petros administration introduced a scalable surcharge starting at 5%, which kicks in when the international Brent price hits $67.30 per barrel, doubles to 10% when prices are $75 or more and tops out at 15% at $82.20 per barrel. The government also attempted to remove royalty payment as a tax deduction for exploration and production companies, although this was eventually overturned by Colombias Constitutional Court in a November 2023 ruling. The current Colombian administrations quest to reduce the countrys reliance on fossil fuels has had the opposite effectit became more reliant on energy imports as falling oil and gas production created energy shortages. The adverse investment environment was soon felt by Big Oil, which has hastened to quit the upstream sector. Earlier this year, Shell said it would pull out of three offshore gas projects in Colombias Caribbean which it co-owned with Colombian state-owned oil company Ecopetrol. Chevron has also quit its last remaining offshore block and has now reduced its Colombian operations to downstream only, company sources have told Reuters. Chevron has kept a sizeable downstream presence in the country, the company told Reuters. This includes six terminals and more than 500 pump stations. While Big Oil are downsizing in Colombia, they are boosting investments and presence in other South American countries that have become hotspots for exploration, such as Suriname and, of course, Guyana. By Michael Kern for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com The European Union has increased its imports of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) by 9% since the war in Ukraine began in 2022, even as it calls out other nations for allegedly financing the Kremlin. According to The Economic Times, Russian LNG shipments to the bloc rose while purchases from the U.S. and other exporters fell. In 2024 alone, the EU imported 17.8 million tonnes of Russian LNGup more than 2 million tonnes from the previous yearreaching what Rystad Energy analyst Jan-Eric Fahnrich described as record levels. The surge has provided ammunition for critics in India, which is now facing U.S. and EU pressure over its own energy ties to Russia. On Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump imposed an additional 25% tariff on India, raising the total to 50%, and accused the country of fueling the war machine. The move came weeks after the EU sanctioned Indias Nayara Energy refinery due to Rosnefts 49.13% ownership stake, again citing the refinerys role in financing Putins war. India has pushed back, pointing out that both Washington and Brussels continue to trade extensively with Russia despite their rhetoric. EU member states still import substantial volumes of oil, gas, iron, steel, nickel, and fertilizer. Since January 2022, the bloc has bought 297 billion euros worth of Russian goods. Still, Indian claims of hypocrisy omit the broader trade trajectory. Eurostat data shows that EU imports from Russia have plunged 86% since the war began. In the first quarter of 2025, the bloc imported just 8.74 billion euros ($10.11 billion) in Russian goods, down from 30.58 billion euros in Q1 2021, largely due to sweeping sanctions on pipeline gas, coal, oil, and industrial inputs. Nonetheless, LNG remains a notable exception. The Political Chaos of Numbers According to Rystad Energy gas analyst Jan-Eric Fahnrich, EU imports of Russian LNG reached record levels in 2024. The EU imported 17.8 million tonnes of LNG from Russia in 2024, an increase of more than 2 million tonnes from the previous year. Last year, the EU purchased 49.5 billion cubic metres of Russian pipeline gas and a further 24.2bcm in the form of super-chilled gas. Related: Why Oil Prices May Be Stuck Below $72 However, zooming out and looking at the bigger picture, the story is less clear. The EU continues to purchase substantial volumes of oil, natural gas, iron, steel, nickel and fertilizer from Russia, with the bloc importing 297 billion euros' worth of Russian goods since January 2022. However, trade between the EU and Russia has seen a massive decline since the beginning of the war thanks to numerous sanctions on Russian products. Indeed, imports from Russia from the beginning of 2022 through Q1 2025 fell 86%, according to Eurostat data. The EU bought Russian goods worth 8.74 billion euros ($10.11 billion) in the first quarter of 2025, down from 30.58 billion euros in the first quarter of 2021. Contrary to claims by India, Europes overall purchase of Russian energy commodities has declined massively. The continents imports of Russian oil fell to 1.48 billion euros in Q1 2025, a small fraction of the 14.06 billion euros spent on the commodity in the comparable period four years ago. Europe currently imports ~17% of its natural gas, including LNG plus TurkStream pipeline gas, from Russia, down from 48% in Q1 2021. Russian LNG exports to Europe in the first half of the current year clocked in at 7.9 million tons, good for a 13% Y/Y decline. Further, Europe imports substantially less non-energy commodities from Russia now than it did before the war. The EU imported 7.71% of its iron from Russia in the first quarter of 2025, down from 18.28% four years ago while Russias share of the blocs fertilizer imports fell slightly from 28.15% in Q1 2021 to 25.62% in Q1 2025. A similar trend can be observed with the United States, with data from the U.S. Census Bureau and U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis showing that total imports from Russia slumped to $2.5 billion in H1 2025, down from $14.14 billion four years earlier, according to Reuters. Last year, U.S. imports of Russian fertilizer hit $1.27 billion, up slightly from $1.14 billion four years ago; enriched uranium and plutonium fell to $624 million in 2024 from $646 million in 2021; and imports of Russian palladium declined to $878 million in 2024 from $1.59 billion in 2021. Overall, the U.S. has imported goods worth $24.51 billion from Russia since the war began. In sharp contrast to Europe and the U.S., India's imports from Russia have skyrocketed since the war began, surging to $65.7 billion in 2024 from $8.25 billion in 2021, according to Indias The Business Standard. Not surprisingly, crude oil has been the biggest driver of this growth, with imports from Russia jumping to $52.2 billion in 2024 from just $2.31 billion four years ago. Indias imports of Russian coal and cola-related products surged to $3.5 billion in 2024 from $1.12 billion in 2021 while fertilizer imports more than tripled to $1.67 billion in 2024 from $483 million four years ago. By Alex Kimani for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com The Red Sea sits at the intersection of global energy flows and geopolitical leverage, connecting the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean via the Suez Canal, with over 8 million barrels per day of oil and gas normally transiting the corridor. It also offers a critical redundancy route for Gulf producers: Saudi Arabias East-West pipeline moves crude directly to the Red The concern now is structural. Gulf-backed deals are locking in long-term control over ports, airstrips, and security infrastructure, often without central government oversight. African states are losing operational leverage. At the same time, Trumps trade war has increased the strategic value of these Gulf-held corridors, especially for actors looking to reorient supply chains or reduce exposure to U.S. pressure. These developments are unfolding in a zone already marked by institutional weakness and fractured sovereignty. If left unchecked, this external overlay could become the dominant organizing force across the Red Sea basin. Gulf involvement in the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea corridor has entered a significant new phase, and one that is set to be more permanent and less accountable. This weeks activity, including a new Emirati delegation to Somaliland and renewed Saudi engagement around the Red Sea Council, confirms that Abu Dhabi and Riyadh are deepening their competing models of influence across this strategic zone. The shift isnt new, but the scale and pace are clearly accelerating. Gulf involvement in the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea corridor has entered a significant new phase, and one that is set to be more permanent and less accountable. This weeks activity, including a new Emirati delegation to Somaliland and renewed Saudi engagement around the Red Sea Council, confirms that Abu Dhabi and Riyadh are deepening their competing models of influence across this strategic zone. The shift isnt new, but the scale and pace are clearly accelerating. The concern now is structural. Gulf-backed deals are locking in long-term control over ports, airstrips, and security infrastructure, often without central government oversight. African states are losing operational leverage. At the same time, Trumps trade war has increased the strategic value of these Gulf-held corridors, especially for actors looking to reorient supply chains or reduce exposure to U.S. pressure. These developments are unfolding in a zone already marked by institutional weakness and fractured sovereignty. If left unchecked, this external overlay could become the dominant organizing force across the Red Sea basin. The Red Sea sits at the intersection of global energy flows and geopolitical leverage, connecting the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean via the Suez Canal, with over 8 million barrels per day of oil and gas normally transiting the corridor. It also offers a critical redundancy route for Gulf producers: Saudi Arabias East-West pipeline moves crude directly to the Red Sea, bypassing the Strait of Hormuz, and the UAE is working to replicate that model through port infrastructure and overland routes across the Horn. As global trade patterns shift under renewed tariff pressure and supply chain rerouting, control over Red Sea ports, terminals, and chokepoints becomes a way to lock in future influence. And not just over oil and gas, but over the strategic terms of trade between Asia, Europe, and Africa. Gulf states have entrenched themselves as key external power brokers across the Horn of Africa and Red Sea corridor. The UAE is the most operationally active, using a mix of port concessions, paramilitary training, and political patronage to secure logistics and security footholds, mostly through substate actors in Somaliland, Puntland, and southern Yemen. The UAE is looking to cement permanent reach across both sides of the Bab al-Mandab without any messy bilateral agreements. Saudi Arabia is trailing in terms of physical footprint but is attempting to reframe Red Sea influence through multilateral diplomacy, notably via the Red Sea Council. Its ability to turn this into some actual leverage is pretty limited at this point, however, and it continues to rely heavily on financial tools and episodic mediation. Riyadhs model is slower, more state-centric, and far more vulnerable to shifting political alignments in the Horn of Africa. Qatar is re-entering the region primarily through soft-power proxies, focusing on Sudan and Islamic charities to rebuild lost influence post-Gulf rift. Doha is betting on its familiarity with Islamist factions and its prior mediation networks to re-establish relevance, but its reach is narrow compared to the UAE, especially. But this Gulf competition is a destabilizing force. Fragmented security agreements, overlapping port deals, and opaque investment terms are undermining African state sovereignty and intensifying rivalries between local factions. Mogadishu, in particular, has lost effective control over key ports and airstrips now governed by foreign-aligned subnational actors. Gulf-backed paramilitary structures in Somalia and Eritrea remain largely unaccountable to central authorities. Emirati-backed security forces operating in Puntland and Jubaland are doing so outside of federal command, undermining Somalias ability to enforce unified control in the capital and fueling competition between federal and regional factions. Trumps trade war will get entangled in these dynamics, as well. As the U.S. escalates tariffs and pushes adversarial trade diplomacy, Gulf-controlled ports in Berbera, Assab, and Bosaso gain strategic value as alternative trade corridors for Asian and African exporters trying to bypass Western chokepoints. The UAE is repositioning itself not just as a logistics hub but as a long-term enabler of east-south trade reorientation, filling a gap left by Western retreat and exploiting the supply chain realignments triggered by U.S. tariff pressure. This adds urgency to Gulf efforts to secure permanent maritime and inland nodes before China, Turkey, or others move in more aggressively (and Turkey, in particular, is moving fast). The anticipated Trump-Putin meeting has become the dominant storyline in commodity markets this week, as traders and analysts weigh the chances of a sweeping geopolitical deal. August 8, 2025 The Trump-Putin meeting has become the main commodity market news of this week, with analysts speculating about the likelihood of a comprehensive deal and the impacts this could have on oil markets. ICE Brent has been gradually sliding closer to $65 per barrel as lower sanction risks on Russia could further erode the markets in-built risk premium, however a potential failure in the talks could spark another price rally above $70. Saudi Arabia Hikes September Prices. Saudi Aramco (TADAWUL:2222) hiked its formula prices for September-loading cargoes, raising Asia-bound OSPs by 1.20 per barrel for both its light grades and by 0.90 per barrel for its largest export stream Arab Light, in line with changes in the Dubai M1-M3 spread. US Crude Exports Dip on Tightly Shut Arbitrage. US crude exports fell to 3.1 million b/d last month, a 0.5 million b/d drop compared to June and the lowest monthly rate since October 2021, mostly driven by Asias weakening appetite for light sweet WTI with China continuing to boycott US crude imports. Iraq Flaunts Imminent Kurdish Pipeline Restart. Iraqs oil minister Hayan Abdul Ghani announced this week that 80,000 b/d of oil exports through the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline (shut since February 2023) are poised to begin this week, even though most of Kurdish production remains offline after drone attacks. Exxon Launches Fourth Guyanese FPSO. Four months ahead of schedule, the Stabroek consortium led US oil major ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM) began production at the One Guyana FPSO, its fourth project in the country that adds 250,000 b/d in capacity and develops the Yellowtail-Redtail fields. Indian Refiners Go Big on Spot Tenders. Indias state-owned oil refiner IOC bought 5 million barrels of crude from Brazil, US and Libya in its second spot tender organized this week, taking the total volume of spot crude bought this week in avoidance of Russian supply shocks to a whopping 22 million barrels. Israel Signs Giant Gas Deal with Egypt. Israel and Egypt have signed a 25-year natural gas supply deal worth 35 billion that would see gas output from the offshore Leviathan field delivered by pipeline to Egyptian customers, totalling 130 bcm by 2040 at an average assumed price of 7.75 per mmBtu. Argentina Consolidates Its Oil Assets. Argentinas state-controlled oil firm YPF (NYSE:YPF), already the countrys largest producer with oil output soaring to 270,000 b/d lately, has agreed to sell TotalEnergies (NYSE:TTE) oil-weighted assets in the Vaca Muerta shale basin for 700 million, adding 51,000 net acres. Mexico Mulls Lifting Fracking Ban. Pemexs new 10-year strategic plan envisages a thorough evaluation of Mexicos potential for hydraulic fracturing, a practice banned by former President Lopez Obrador but now tacitly greenlighted by Claudia Sheinbaum, to stop the collapse in oil production rates. Chevron Tankers Start Returning to Venezuela. According to Reuters, at least three tankers chartered by US oil major Chevron (NYSE:CVX) are returning to Venezuela as flows to the United States will resume as early as this month with Chevron also reactivating its supply agreement with refining giant Valero. Chinese Rare Earth Exports Slide Back Again. Rare earth exports from China dropped by 23% month-over-month in July, quashing hopes that the temporary truce between Beijing and Washington could keep supplies afloat, with most of the supplied 5,994 metric tonnes sent to Western carmakers. BPs Giant Brazil Find Might Be Problematic. Bumerangue, the much-lauded discovery in Brazils offshore presented by BP last week, might go undeveloped as there might be no scalable technologies to deal with elevated levels of carbon dioxide found in the 500m deposit, just as Petrobras Jupiter field. Beijing Doubles Down on Steel Exports. Chinas steel exports rose to an all-time high of 9.84 million metric tonnes in July, according to Chinese customs data, defying protectionist measures recently introduced by top trading partners Vietnam and South Korea, sending more semi-finished steel instead. World Food Prices Hit 2-Year High. The UNs Food and Agriculture Organization warned that global food commodity prices rose to their highest since February 2023, with the FAO index averaging 130.1 points, as soaring vegetable oil and meat prices more than offset falling cereal and sugar prices. By Tom Kool for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com Argentinas booming Vaca Muerta shale play isnt immune to the decline in oil prices and company spending this year. Drilling activity is set for a near-term slowdown as foreign firms and the biggest domestic producer YPF SA are pulling out some frac crews amid lower international oil prices and a major asset reshuffle with mergers and acquisitions in recent months. But the long-term prospects of the Vaca Muerta shale resourcesone of the worlds biggestremain intact, and Argentina is looking to monetize both the oil and gas production. Vaca MuertaSpanish for dead cowhas been dubbed the Argentinian Permian, although its geologic properties have been compared more appropriately to the Eagle Ford. The shale play is estimated to hold recoverable resources consisting of 16 billion barrels of oil and 308 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Those numbers make the Vaca Muerta the worlds second-largest shale gas deposit and the fourth-biggest shale oil resource. In the first quarter of 2025, Vaca Muerta built on last years strong production performance, with oil output surging 26% and gas production rising 16% year-on-year, Rystad Energy has estimated. Near-Term Slowdown Production is rising, but the number of drilling rigs was down as of the end of July compared to the same time last year. Some companies are pulling out rigs and crews amid reduced spending. As a result, drilling activity in Vaca Muerta is set for a near-term weakness, according to Horacio Marin, chief executive at Argentinas oil and gas giant YPF. We might have to pull out a couple of fracking crews, Marin said at an energy conference in Argentina, adding that this is basically because of the slowdown we are seeing from international partners. However, the slowdown is part of a new normal for Argentina and Vaca Muerta, YPFs top executive noted. We have to get used to a normal Argentina, where activity slows down a bit when the price of oil drops, Marin said. Five rigs out of operation in Vaca Muerta is not a cause for concern, he said, expressing optimism in the medium and long-term prospects of the shale play. Personally, I believe nothing can stop Vaca Muerta anymore, Marin commented. Related: Why Oil Prices May Be Stuck Below $72 Long-Term Boom Currently, companies are responding to the lower oil prices and the consolidation drive that has seen several major deals in recent months. In April, local independent firm Vista Energy bought the stake of Malaysias Petronas in the prolific La Amarga Chica (LACh) unconventional concession in Vaca Muerta. This week, TotalEnergies announced the sale of its 45% operated interest in two unconventional oil and gas blocks in Vaca Muerta, Rincon La Ceniza and La Escalonada, to YPF for $500 million. But TotalEnergies remains fully committed to Argentina, where it operates a large unconventional area of 183,000 net acres in Vaca Muerta. Deals and other strategic positioning of foreign firms show that Argentina may have reversed its fortunes and become an attractive investment destination. In a notable recent reversal, Norways Equinor which had planned to exit the shale play has reconsidered its earlier decision and will now remain in the region, Rystad Energy noted in June. The end of monetary restrictions in Argentina and the improvement in infrastructure and export viability have prompted Equinor to remain in Vaca Muerta. A shift in Equinors stance has marked something of a turning point, reaffirming international confidence in Argentinas shale resurgence, Rystad Energy said. Despite the short-term slowdown, expectations for the longer term are that Argentina has finally entered a period of oil and gas production growth after years of waiting for Vaca Muerta to start paying off. YPFs Marin says the company can develop all of Vaca Muerta at oil prices as low as $45 per barrel. The shale play can also deliver so much natural gas that it could make Argentina a major LNG exporter. But the country needs to build up infrastructure to ship the gas from supply centers to interstate regional pipelines and planned LNG export facilities. This could be made possible with continued reforms to attract foreign investment and reverse decades of investors shunning the country due to economic and fiscal instability. Argentina has several LNG export projects in the works. YPF, for example, has signed agreements with international majors Shell and Eni to enter the project development of the Argentina LNG project, which includes gas production from Vaca Muerta gas blocks and its transportation through pipelines. These pipelines will extend 580 kilometers (360 miles) to a processing and liquefaction terminal to be built in Sierra Grande, Rio Negro, on the Atlantic coast. Argentina has already taken a final investment decision (FID) on a floating liquefaction facility with a capacity of up to 2.5 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa). It is also evaluating an additional 3.5 Mtpa unit under the Southern Energy consortium consisting of Pan American Energy, Pampa, Harbour Energy, YPF, and Golar. Vaca Muertas strong oil gains are no surprise anymore as its track record speaks for itself. However, what were seeing now is that gas is stealing the spotlight, says Radhika Bansal, vice president for Upstream Research at Rystad Energy. To leverage this momentum, the country is actively pursuing a bold, multi-phase national LNG export strategy, meaning Argentina could soon become a pivotal player in global gas supply, significantly reshaping markets and energy geopolitics. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com Despite progress on peace and border issues, challenges remain, including Armenia's insistence on sovereignty over transit routes and concerns from Russia and Iran regarding US involvement in the region. The proposed economic agreements include the development of a strategic transportation corridor, potentially named the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP), to link Azerbaijan to its Nakhchivan region. A US-brokered peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan is anticipated to be signed in the White House, aiming to resolve decades of conflict and promote economic cooperation in the South Caucasus region. The leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan are expected to sign a US-brokered peace deal that could end decades of conflict when their leaders are hosted by US President Donald Trump in the White House on August 8. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev will also sign agreements with the United States to "pursue Economic opportunities together, so we can fully unlock the potential of the South Caucasus Region," Trump said on Truth Social on August 7. "Many Leaders have tried to end the War, with no success, until now, thanks to 'TRUMP,'" Trump wrote, adding that it would be an "an official peace signing ceremony." Pashinian is already in Washington and on August 7 visited the Museum of the Bible, his press service said. Promoting Peace And Prosperity The press serviceon August 6 said Pashinian would visit the United States and hold a bilateral meeting with Trump and a trilateral meeting with Trump and Aliyev "to promote peace, prosperity, and economic cooperation in the region." However, until Trump's social media posts on August 7 there was no definitive statements from any of the three governments on whether a peace agreement would be signed. The economic agreements could set the stage for a reopening of a strategic transportation corridor across the South Caucasus that has been shut since the early 1990s. The agreements, according to the US officials quoted in media reports on condition of anonymity, would give the US leasing rights to develop the Zangezur corridor and name it the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP). It would link Azerbaijan to its Nakhchivan region, which is separated from the rest of the country by an arm of Armenian territory 32 kilometers wide and would eventually include a rail line, oil and gas lines, and fiber optic lines, allowing for the movement of goods and eventually people. The deal does not call for the United States to pay for the construction of the transit corridor, but instead calls on private corporations to develop it. The deal was reached after a visit earlier this year by US special envoy Steve Witkoff to Baku and continued talks between the parties. Post-War Fence-Mending Armenia and Azerbaijan have fought two major wars over a region known as Nagorno-Karabakh since they gained independence following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. The two South Caucasus nations have taken significant steps to mend relations since the last major armed conflict in 2020 and the subsequent exodus of the ethnic Armenian population from the disputed region that officials in Yerevan now recognize as a sovereign Azerbaijani territory. Although the internationally hailed finalization of a peace agreement text was announced in March after years of bilateral negotiations, the document has yet to be signed. Azerbaijan has repeatedly made its signing conditional on Armenia removing from its constitution a reference to the 1990 Declaration of Independence that in turn cites a 1989 unification act adopted by the legislative bodies of Soviet Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh and agreeing to disband the Minsk Group of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) -- the only international mediating body, spearheaded by the United States, France, and Russia, that had for decades sought a negotiated settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Armenia has effectively agreed to both demands, maintaining, however, that as a matter of principle the adoption of a new constitution in the next couple of years should remain Armenia's internal matter and that a joint application to the OSCE to disband the Minsk Group can occur simultaneously with the signing of the peace agreement. Yet these are not the only questions standing in the way of a final agreement. Border Issues In another diplomatic breakthrough welcomed by the international community, Armenia and Azerbaijan conducted the first-ever delimitation and demarcation of a 13-kilometer section of their northern border in spring-summer 2024. As a result, the Armenian military withdrew from four uninhabited villages that were part of Soviet Azerbaijan before the war broke out between the two countries in the early 1990s. Both sides agreed to continue the border delimitation and demarcation process, but over the past year no progress has been made on other sections of the border -- where Armenia claims Azerbaijan continues to occupy more than 200 square kilometers of its territory. The Armenian opposition has denounced the controversial border demarcation and further diplomatic moves by Yerevan as "capitulation," calling for Pashinian's resignation. However, sustained opposition street protests and rallies that drew thousands in May and June 2024 eventually fizzled out, with the Armenian prime minister claiming that his government's pursuit of sustainable peace with Azerbaijan still enjoys broad public support. The Zangezur Corridor Under one of the clauses of the Moscow-brokered 2020 cease-fire agreement -- which ended the bloody 44-day war in Nagorno-Karabakh -- Armenia is to guarantee "the security of transport connections" between mainland Azerbaijan and its western exclave of Nakhichevan, ensuring "the unimpeded movement of citizens, vehicles, and cargo in both directions." Armenia, landlocked by Azerbaijan and Turkey, has insisted any transit route must be part of a broader regional unblocking process and must respect Armenia's sovereignty, jurisdiction, and territorial integrity. Officials in Yerevan have rejected the idea and even the narrative of an extraterritorial corridor, calling it a veiled territorial claim by Azerbaijan. In 2024, unable to reach a common solution, Azerbaijan and Armenia indicated that the connectivity issue would be handled separately from the broader peace agreement. According to the 2020 cease-fire agreement, control over transport links between Armenia and Azerbaijan was to be exercised by Russia's FSB Border Guard Service. However, following a series of events -- including the failure of Russian peacekeepers to protect the region's ethnic Armenian population during Azerbaijan's offensive in September 2023 and their subsequent withdrawal -- Armenia has shifted its geopolitical orientation, distancing itself from Moscow and aligning more closely with the West. A Role For The United States The talk about possible US involvement in the administration of the road as part of a solution to the lingering dispute emerged around the time of the July 10 summit between Pashinian and Aliyev in Abu Dhabi, where five-hour talks purportedly also focused on connectivity issues. The US ambassador to Turkey, Thomas Barrack, in particular, indicated that Washington has proposed a 100-year lease on such a transport link in a bid to facilitate a peace deal between the two South Caucasus nations. "They [Armenia and Azerbaijan] are arguing over 32 kilometers of road, but this is no joke," Barrack told reportersin New York on July 11. "It's been going on for a decade -- 32 kilometers of road." Pashinian's spokesman, Nazeli Baghdasarian, dismissed the idea of a lease, but at a press conference on July 16, the Armenian premier confirmed the United States had suggested the transit of people and cargo through Syunik be administered by a US company. Baghdasarian signaled Yerevan's readiness to "outsource" administration of the route through Syunik to a third-party, including a US company or a newly established joint venture, while insisting Armenia must maintain sovereignty over its only region bordering Iran. "We talk a lot about railways and highways, but in this context we are also talking about pipelines, power lines, telecommunications cables, and that is an infrastructure that needs to be managed and created," he said. Aliyev, in turn, reiterated his demands. "Azerbaijani cargo and citizens should not have to see the faces of Armenian border guards or anyone else," he said in July, renewing pressure on Yerevan. "There should be no physical contact, and guaranteed security measures must be in place to ensure our people and cargo can pass freely." The Armenian government has rejected these claims. Meanwhile, opposition parties in Armenia are calling for a broader dialogue -- not only about opening this specific transit route but all routes in the region -- with the aim of ending Armenia's ongoing blockade. Reaction From Regional Players Sustainable peace and the opening of a transit route through Armenia has the potential to link the oil- and gas-rich Caucasus and Central Asia to Europe, bypassing Russia and Iran. Both Russia and Iran have expressed concern about a potential US presence in Armenia's strategic Syunik region, bordering Iran. Moscow has accused Washington of trying to hijack the Armenian-Azerbaijani peace process and sideline regional powers. "The Westerners aim to transfer the reconciliation process of Baku and Yerevan to their tracks," Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, said at a news briefing on July 24. "We also know where these tracks usually lead. This can lead to an imbalance of the security system in the region." Iran has also voiced strong opposition to any deal that it believes could jeopardize its northern border with Armenia. A top adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has warned countries "in or outside the region" to stop seeking a land corridor for Azerbaijan that would pass through an Armenian region bordering the Islamic republic. By RFE/RL More Top Reads From Oilprice.com In a major U-turn in energy policy, Mexico has unveiled a 10-year plan to reverse a years-long decline in oil and gas production by tapping more unconventional resources through fracking. Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, the worlds most indebted energy firm, has seen declines in its output in recent years as old shallow-water conventional fields mature. Now the government and its state-controlled energy giant want to revitalize production via fracking, Reuters reports, citing the revitalization plan. In the late 2010s, then-President Enrique Pena Nieto sought to open shale basins, including the Burgos Basin, a shale-rich basin in northeastern Mexico, for natural gas exploration and development by private companies. However, Pena Nietos successor, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, cancelled the contracts. Former president Lopez Obrador ruled out fracking during his term in office between 2018 and 2024. But his successor and mentee, current President Claudia Sheinbaum, has agreed to give the green light increased fracking despite a campaign pledge last year that she would not allow it. We're going to address all the geological potential we have, Reuters quoted Pemex chief executive Victor Rodriguez as saying during a presentation of the plan. Pemex has been fracking onshore fields close to the Gulf of Mexico coast, but it does not report shale production separately and it is not clear how much the fracking has contributed to output. Its clear that most of oil and gas production comes from conventional resources at old offshore platforms in shallow waters. The steady decline in Pemexs output and the tense trade and tariff relations with the U.S. has apparently prompted Mexico to expand domestic fracking in a bid to reduce its high dependence on natural gas imports from the United States. Over the past decade, Mexican imports of U.S. natural gas, mostly via pipelines, have jumped thanks to new pipelines built between the U.S. and Mexico. Mexico has an estimated 545 Tcf of technically recoverable shale gas resources, the sixth largest in the world, per U.S. government data. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com NASA is accelerating plans to set up a nuclear reactor to the Moon by the end of the decade, to power bases there and help America be the first nation to have an energy base powered by 24/7 nuclear power on the Moon and win the second space race with Russia and China. Back in 2020, NASA was planning to build a base and a nuclear power plant on the Moon by 2026 and invited proposals from companies ready to take on the challenge. The timeline has long lapsed, but NASA isnt giving up, all the more so that Russia and China have announced on several occasions intentions to put up nuclear reactors on the Moon, too. Last year, the head of Russias space agency Roscosmos said that Russia is considering a nuclear power plant installation on the moon starting between 2033 and 2035. Russiaalong with Chinais considering the idea of placing a nuclear power plant on the moon over the next decade or so, and the two countries have been working together on a lunar program for nuclear space energy. Today we are seriously considering a projectsomewhere at the turn of 2033-2035to deliver and install a power unit on the lunar surface together with our Chinese colleagues, Yuri Borisov, head of Roscosmos, said in March 2024. Now NASA wants to beat the Russia-China venture and have a nuclear reactor on the Moon by 2030. U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy, who is also the interim NASA administrator, announced this week accelerated plans to have nuclear energy power future bases on the Moon, POLITICO reported first earlier this week. Were in a race to the moon, in a race with China to the moon, Duffy said during a news conference this week. And to have a base on the moon, we need energy. It remains to be seen how soon and how feasible such an effort would be, and who will win the space race for setting up 24/7 energy to power future bases on the Moon, and, at some point in the more distant future, on Mars. By Michael Kern for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com Russias Urals crude grade, which usually goes from the western Russian ports to India, is now being offered at discounts in China amid uncertainties over Indian purchases of Moscows oil following the additional tariffs. Spot Urals shipments going to China would be a significant re-routing of the Russian oil export flows. Prompt Urals cargoes are now being pitched to Chinese buyers, who typically import the Far Eastern Russian grade ESPO. Urals is being offered at a premium of $1.50 over London Brent, down from a $2.50 a barrel premium last week, traders familiar with the trade offers told Bloomberg. China is the top buyer of Russian crude, but most of its imports consist of the ESPO grade shipped from Russias port of Kozmino in the Far East. Urals, on the other hand, is being shipped from the ports in western Russia to India and China hasnt imported much of the grade due to higher shipping costs and longer voyages. However, with the hiked U.S. tariffs on India over its imports of Russian crude, trade flows have started to shift. The biggest Indian state-owned refiners are pulling out of spot purchases of Russian crude for cargoes loading in October, sources familiar with the procurement plans told Bloomberg on Thursday, a day after the U.S. announced an additional 25% tariff on India over its imports of crude from Russia. Indian state-owned refiners have secured on the spot market at least 22 million barrels in non-Russian crude for delivery in September and October, due to the tariff threat. U.S. President Donald Trump signed on Wednesday an executive order enacting an additional 25% tariff on Indian goods, explicitly targeting Indias ongoing imports of Russian crude oil. The overall 50% tariff on Indian goods will take effect 21 days after August 6. Even if China stepped up Urals spot purchases, it is unlikely to that it could absorb all the crude Indian refiners have been importing, analysts told Bloomberg. By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com More Top Reads From Oilprice.com US officials keep expressing enthusiasm for expanding trade in critical minerals with Central Asian states. But while Washington talks, China is taking substantive action to expand its hold over Central Asias abundant resources. During her recent Senate confirmation hearing, Julie Stufft, the Trump administrations nominee to be US envoy to Kazakhstan, reaffirmed US interest in developing Central Asias critical minerals sector. Almost half of the minerals recognized by the [US Geological Survey] as critical to our economy and national security are in Kazakhstan, and one of my main goals, if confirmed, would be to ensure that US investment in this sector takes place, she stated. She added that containing Chinese influence in the regions minerals sector was also a priority for US foreign policy. Stuffts comments are consistent with repeated statements made by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other top administration officials since Donald Trump returned to the presidency in January. Central Asian states are relatively eager for US participation in developing the sectors potential and are equally keen to limit Chinese economic influence while diversifying trade options. But some Central Asian officials have quietly complained that there has been little follow-up to the US expressions of intent. Meanwhile, China, which already has a strong position in Central Asias mining sector, is moving aggressively to tighten its grip. On August 6, a Chinese state-owned entity, China National Gold Group, concluded a deal with Uzbekistans Ministry of Mining and Geology covering cooperation in such areas as geological exploration in promising areas for precious metals and critical minerals. The agreement also contains provisions on joint mining ventures, as well as the production of high-value-added products, technology transfers, personnel training and the financing of promising projects. In late July, the Association of Chinese Entrepreneurs in Uzbekistan proposed the establishment of a $500-million investment fund to develop the countrys green minerals potential. The plan includes provisions to conduct joint research, develop shared environmental standards and personnel training, according to a statement issued by the Uzbek Ministry of Mining and Geology. Also in late July, Uzbek officials expressed interest in a Chinese proposal to establish a metallurgical industrial park near the capital Tashkent. A report distributed by the state-aligned outlet UzDaily stated that the sides will work out the conditions for signing a relevant agreement. Chinese firms are likewise assiduously building dominant positions in other fast-emerging economic sectors in Central Asia, including renewable energy and AI. On July 24, for example, Uzbekistans Ministry of Energy and Shanghai Linkwise Data Intelligence signed a memorandum of understanding to build a 300 Megawatt data center in Bukhara. Some US analysts contend that even if the United States ramps up engagement efforts, it will have a hard time competing with China in the Central Asian critical minerals sector. Just because the region has critical minerals, does not mean the United States can easily access them. Taking a closer look at the region, infrastructure, governance, topography, and geopolitical complexities presents numerous challenges for US companies to navigate, states an analysis published by the Atlantic Council in April. Any possibility of substantive US-Central Asian trade in critical minerals will require the rapid development of the Middle Corridor, a transit network still in its infancy, the Atlantic Council analysis added. In its current state, the Middle Corridor is incapable of accommodating the United States critical mineral needs. Its limited capacity and higher-than-average transit costs would offer little strategic benefit to US businesses while exposing investors to significant financial and geopolitical risks, according to the analysis. For investors to see the benefits of Central Asian critical mineral mining, improved transit routes are necessary; some studies have estimated 18.5 billion is required to ensure commercial viability, it adds. By Eurasianet More Top Reads From Oilprice.com After redesigning the speakeasy Osteria Segreto into a barbershop-themed bar in March, owner Mike DiGiacomo didnt anticipate receiving a notice that it was illegal to use the name barber shop. The bar which is themed after the owners father, Dominic DiGiacomo, a barber who formerly owned the building is now undergoing a name change after the Nebraska Board of Examiners of Barbers reached out, citing the illegal use of the title. This came as a surprise to DiGiacomo, since the name was approved through the Nebraska Secretary of State. The initial indication of conflict surrounding the name came after announcing the new refresh of Osteria Segreto and the grand opening of The Barber Shop, when DiGiacomo received an email from a barber in the state, claiming the owners were making the industry into a fad. The Barber Shop, located in in Omahas Blackstone District, posted the email with a response to its Facebook, saying The Barber Shop is deeply personal to us. To DiGiacomo and his partners, its all about celebrating the barbershop industry and his father. Were not some corporate entity thats just trying to make a quick buck, he said. This bar has special meaning to us. DiGiacomo started the business with his two siblings back in 2016. In March, the siblings decided the original speakeasy needed a refresh and wanted to pay homage to their father. Thats when the idea of a barbershop-themed bar was born. Following the email from the barber and the grand opening of the bar, he said the Nebraska Board of Examiners of Barbers received a complaint about the bar. Then, DiGiacomo received a letter from Nebraska Board of Examiners of Barbers on April 15, citing the Barber Act Nebraska statute, which prohibits the use of the word barbershop and the use of barber poles unless the entity or person has the required license. The board asked the business to amend its advertising, saying the use of the images of barber poles and the title was inappropriate and must be corrected. DiGiacomo responded to the letter, providing more information about the bars intentions and his interpretation of the law. He wrote, No reasonable person would expect to get a haircut or shave from our staff. And my argument was the intent of the law was a public health safety issue where you dont want people going into hair places that cut hair and getting a shave or a haircut from an unlicensed barber, DiGiacomo said. Thats the intent. So the intent of the law was to protect people from that, and that was our argument. He also noted the bars advertising states that the bar does not cut hair. We even say we dont cut hair. Were a bar, DiGiacomo said. Nobodys going to come down there and get confused and think that theyre coming in for a quick trim and a shave. The board didnt back down, though, writing in a follow-up letter on June 24 that the owners legal obligations have not changed. The Nebraska Board of Barber Examiners declined to comment after receiving a phone call from The World-Herald. DiGiacomo met with the board recently, and now the bar is looking to rename the establishment while keeping the same spirit of the bar. Alongside that, the bar will repaint the barber poles outside of the bar to black and white instead of the traditional red, white and blue. He said theyre working together to resolve the situation, but he still disagrees with the interpretation of the law. The intent of the law is not what I think is appropriate in this case, DiGiacomo said. Were just a theme bar. Were not cutting hair. Were not trying to do that. DiGiacomo said the state of the bar is in limbo as he works with his team to come up with a new name. The board will have to approve the name at their next meeting in October. Following this incident, community members have come together to support the bar, according to DiGiacomo. If thats the one positive that comes out of it is, weve gotten a lot of support from the community and a lot of barbers, too, DiGiacomo said. By Taxpayers Association of Oregon OregonWatchdog.com In rural areas of Oregon, and counties throughout the nation, more people are dying than giving birth, and they have been since 2020, according to The Oregonian/OregonLive. In some counties, twice as many people died as were born, but in Curry County near Oregons southern border, three times as many died, which means the population will decline significantly unless they can entice more younger people to live there. Stateside, about 1.1 people in Oregon died for every person born. Was this helpful? Contribute online at OregonWatchdog.com (learn about a Charitable Tax Deduction or Political Tax Credit options to promote liberty). 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: Nataliya Vaitkevich from Pexels "Spill the Tea, Honey: Gossiping Predicts Well-Being in Same- and Different-Gender Couples" is the name of a new study from UC Riverside psychology researchers that found gossip within couples is associated with greater happiness and better relationships. The paper is published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships. "Whether or not we want to admit it, everyone gossips," said Chandler Spahr, first author of the study, which is the first to examine the dynamics of gossip and well-being within romantic partnerships. "Gossip is ubiquitous." Gossip is more than idle chatter, the study affirms. Couples' gossip is strongly and reliably related to happiness. Gossip is also relatedalbeit to a lesser extentto relationship quality. In the current study, 76 same-gender and different-gender romantic Southern California couples participated. Participants wore a portable listening device called the Electronically Activated Recorder, or EAR. The EAR samples what people say throughout the day; about 14% of their daily conversation was recorded in the study, then analyzed by research assistants. The EAR technology found participants spent about 38 minutes per day gossiping, with about 29 of those minutes gossiping with their romantic partners. Woman-woman couples produced the greatest amount of gossip. While couples in general reported high levels of happiness, same-sex couples reported higher levels of happiness than different-sex couples. Woman-woman couples reported the highest level of relationship quality. The authors surmised that gossiping among romantic partners may serve as a form of emotional bonding. Consider a driving-home-from-a-party scenario. "What do you do in the car?" asked Megan Robbins, a UCR psychology professor and the paper's senior author. "You talk about everybody at the party. Who said what; what's going on with their relationship." Didn't Veronica look great? Didn't Joe look awful? Did you sense tension between them? "Negatively gossiping with one's romantic partner on the way home from a party could signal that the couple's bond is stronger than with their friends at the party, while positively gossiping could prolong the fun experiences," the study authors wrote. "It may reinforce the perception that partners are 'on the same team,' enhancing feelings of connectedness, trust, and other positive relationship qualities, as well as contributing to overall well-being." The authors also suggest gossip may function as a "social regulation tool," helping to establish expectations and behaviors that contribute to a harmonious relationship. The study is a follow-up to a study Robbins published in 2019 that dispelled some long-held gossip myths. That study, which also employed EAR technology, found women don't engage in "tear-down" gossip more than men, and lower-income people don't gossip more than wealthy people. It also found that younger people engage in more negative gossip than older adults. Gossip, through the researchers' lens, is not necessarily negative. It's simply talking about someone who isn't physically present, and gossip may be positive, neutral, or negative. Unlike in the 2019 study, in the current study the researchers did not factor the nature of the gossip: positive, negative, or neutral. More information: Chandler Spahr et al, Spill the Tea, Honey: Gossiping Predicts Well-Being in Same- and Different-Gender Couples, Journal of Social and Personal Relationships (2025) Journal information: Journal of Social and Personal Relationships 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 adult Cooper's Hawk that was live-captured, banded, and translocated away from the Los Angeles International Airport. Credit: Brian E. Washburn, USDA Wildlife Services. To a hawk, an airport can look like the perfect place to settle down. The layout provides ample open space, perches, and nice habitat for a variety of prey species. However, congregations of birds, especially big birds, pose a safety issue for aircraft. A new study focusing on Cooper's Hawks (Accipiter cooperii), published in the Journal of Raptor Research, found that removing a hawk from an airfield and taking it somewhere else, called translocation, can serve as a method for reducing this risk. Researchers also showed that the age and sex of individual hawks as well as the distance moved were all factors that impacted hawk return rates to the airport of origin. Management teams have a higher chance of reducing the incidence of raptor-aircraft collisions, without needing to resort to lethal methods, if they incorporate species-specific research like this into their programs. Regarding the safety of the flying public and raptor conservation both, this matters. Cooper's Hawks are medium-sized, aerodynamic raptors that specialize in hunting other birds. They have successfully adapted to populated areas, including the Los Angeles Basin of southern California where this study took place. As lead author Brian Washburn puts it, Cooper's Hawks "thrive in non-traditional environments," making them something of a suburban all-star in the world of wildlife. From 2017 through 2022, Washburn and his colleagues from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services captured over 600 Cooper's Hawks at six different airports in the Los Angeles Basin and fitted them with individually coded leg bands. They also noted the age and sex of each bird. After capture, the hawks were translocated away from their home airport at four different trial distances24, 48, 72, and 96 kilometers. The goal was to investigate which factors most impact whether a hawk would return to the airport from which they came. A to-be-translocated American Kestrel sits safely inside a Swedish Goshawk trap and a hatch-year Cooper's Hawk comes to investigate at the Los Angeles International Airport. Credit: Brian E. Washburn, USDA Wildlife Services. In tandem with this field research, the team asked the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to provide a report on the number of documented Cooper's Hawk aircraft strikes that occurred between 1990 and 2023 in the United States, to garner a sense of whether this species is in fact problematic at airports. Over that time period, the FAA reported 217 Cooper's Hawk strikes, with a notable 3,200% increase in occurrence, including a substantial uptick after the year 2014. In the big picture, this species is not a huge issue for airports compared to some other North American raptors. However, knowing which factors impact translocation success for Cooper's Hawks bolsters overall knowledge of how best to approach raptor-strike mitigation programs, especially as it relates to species that hunt other birds. A second-year Cooper's Hawk showing an excellent example of feather molting patterns that was live-captured at the Los Angeles International Airport. Credit: Todd J. Pitlik, USDA Wildlife Services. Of the captured hawks in this study, only 10% exhibited homing behavior, meaning they returned to their initial airport and were sighted by an observer. Although the authors deem this a conservative estimate, these results suggest that translocation, when done right, can indeed reduce the resident population of Cooper's Hawks at airports in the Los Angeles Basin. Discover the latest in science, tech, and space with over 100,000 subscribers who rely on Phys.org for daily insights. Sign up for our free newsletter and get updates on breakthroughs, innovations, and research that matterdaily or weekly. Specifically, the team found that hawks in their second year of life demonstrated the highest return rate; females returned more often than males, and the further away a hawk was moved, the less likely they were to return. In the United States, wildlife strikes with commercial aircraft result in over $1.5 billion dollars in damages per year, with raptors being one of the most frequently struck wildlife guilds. Airport administrators are naturally interested in adopting efficient collision-reduction programs while also keeping costs of implementation low. Therefore, to facilitate the highest chance that a hawk will stay away once translocated, the authors recommend that authorities move them at least 48 kilometers from the airport and focus on translocating only hatch-year and adult birds, because young hawks have not yet established a territory. Washburn says this study adds to the growing toolkit of human-raptor conflict mitigation techniques and "increases safety for the flying public using humane means while also minimizing the number of Cooper's Hawks removed from the wild population." He hopes to conduct future work on what happens to the hawks after successful translocations, ideally using GPS transmitters to fine-tune understanding of movement patterns, survival, and habitat use. The paper also recommends that management teams reduce the attractiveness of airports for Cooper's Hawks' favorite prey species, like House Sparrows (Passer domesticus) and Rock Pigeons (Columba livia). Raptors are top predators and therefore their continued existence is an important thread in the fabric of a healthy environment. Raptor-strike management programs that reduce risk to public safety but also support the continued success of the species at hand offer a potential model for airports worldwide. More information: Brian E. Washburn et al, Factors Associated with Homing Behavior in Cooper's Hawks Following Mitigation Translocations from Airports, Journal of Raptor Research (2025). DOI: 10.3356/jrr2465 Provided by Raptor Research Foundation This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain The international community must reverse cuts to humanitarian aid for the Rohingya and work with Dhaka authorities to improve conditions in refugee camps, a new study says. The work is published in the journal Third World Quarterly. Both "impossible choices" for the Rohingyaa return to Myanmar where they are met with intense repression or remaining in refugee campsamount to "social death," the analysis says. This means it has never been more urgent to act and address the Rohingya tragedy. Other countries should facilitate dialogue between the Arakan Army and Rohingya refugees with the view of ensuring their human rights' protectionincluding the right to return to their homes in Arakan / Rakhine. The study, by Professor Klejda Mulaj, from the University of Exeter, says Rohingya dignity and survival cannot be assured by just charity. The international community should pressure the emerging rulers in Naypyitaw and Sittwe to put an end to extortion against the Rohingya population; acknowledge their suffering and provide redress; institute Rohingya's citizenship rights and allow them a dignified return to their homeland. Excluding the Rohingya from Myanmar risks increased instability and violence in the region. Prolonged violence against the Rohingya has permutated to violence against designated "Others" in Myanmar. Professor Mulaj said, "The genocide against the Rohingya people of Myanmar is one of the greatest tragedies of our time. The marginalization, maltreatment and expulsion of this persecuted minority has been ongoing for more than six decades. "This human rights catastrophe is a result of state policy and ideology based on nationalism, which has informed the nation-state building process and has cast the Rohingya as a threatening "Other" that ought to be extirpated. Their insecurity and neglect is socially constructed via official policies that have been met with Buddhist-majority endorsement. "Educating the world community on the Rohingya expulsion is a starting point for resisting their international neglect and drawing attention to the urgent need to stop the cascades of violence against them." The research says growing violence towards the Rohingya since the 1970sculminating in genocide in the 2010shas been caused by the "negative expression of sovereignty in a totalitarian setting" and an exclusivist nationalist ideology which has framed the Rohingya as outcast. The study says they have been "othered" during efforts to buildexclusivelya nation-state and national identity centered on Buddhist religion and culture. Professor Mulaj said, "In the Buddhist-majority Myanmar, lacking Buddhism and cultural affinity with it, the Rohingya have become the fearsome other. Successive Burmese/Myanmar regimes have isolated, marginalized, deprived, maltreated and expelled the Rohingya since the 1970s via a wide range of targeted, chauvinistic state policies, which have been inscribed by the very writ of state laws. "Sovereignty in Myanmar has been exercised in coercive ways, in the process using discriminatory legislation that has led to abrogation of rights and repudiation of citizenship, providing a framework for the comprehensive exclusion of the Rohingya. This process has been possible thanks to a direct relationship between law and violence and has led to discrimination, insecurity and coercive removal of the Rohingya people. "Given the present tumultuous situation in Arakan/Rakhine and Myanmar, a feasible response to the Rohingya predicament cannot be their return to Rakhine without guarantees of their human rightsand first and foremost of their citizenship rights." More information: Klejda Mulaj, Cascades of violence to genocide: sovereignty, nationalism and the predicament of the Rohingya of Myanmar, Third World Quarterly (2025). DOI: 10.1080/01436597.2025.2518595 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: Looking down the Leavens Creek watershed, where a fatal debris flow event occurred following the Eagle Creek Fire. Notice the steep, rocky channels and waterfalls that debris flows travel down. Credit: Google Earth In the wake of a wildfire, there's often an assumption that burned landscapes will be more susceptible to landslides. But new research from the University of Oregon suggests it's not always that simple. An analysis of the Columbia River Gorge, which runs along the border between Oregon and Washington, shows that steep, rocky watersheds in that area have been prone to debris flows and rockfall for thousands of years. Those events didn't measurably increase after the Eagle Creek Fire, which scorched 47,000 acres of the gorge over the course of three months in 2017. UO geologist Josh Roering and members of his lab published their findings in Science Advances, highlighting the importance of context and geological history in landslide risk assessments. The study could also help inform safety and hazard awareness projects in the gorge, in both burned and nonburned areas. After the Eagle Creek Fire, Oregon land managers were concerned about landslides, especially in the vicinity of the Interstate 84 transportation corridor that runs through the gorge. Their fears were, in large part, informed by what's transpired in places like Southern California, where post-fire slides have caused devastating casualties and millions of dollars in damage. That phenomenon can happen because, as wildfire destroys vegetation and ground cover, slopes become more prone to debris movement, erosion and rock fall, Roering said, which can be more easily triggered by rain and storm events. Surveying Tumalt Creek, a debris flow channel near Dodson, OR. Note the large boulders that are moved around by powerful debris flows. Credit: Brook Hunter "When Eagle Creek burned up such a massive area of the Columbia River Gorge, the natural question was: Is that going to happen here?" Roering said. "The gorge provided a great laboratory to examine how fire affects steep and rocky landscapes." In his lab's latest project, Roering and doctoral student Maryn Sanders analyzed recent debris flows in the gorge to better understand the likelihood of slope movement after a fire and to explore how to predict when debris flows will occur. Debris flows occur when loose sedimentlike mud, rocks and other debrisrapidly moves down a slope, often fueled by a storm or heavy rain. Sanders and her team turned to a remote-sensing technology known as airborne lidar, or light detection and ranging, which allows them to see through the tree cover so they can analyze physical changes on the ground below, like where erosion has occurred. That tool, alongside field observations, helped them map out debris flows so they could assess movement across the study area. As Sanders mapped the data, she found that many debris flows were concentrated in the watersheds near Dodson, just a few miles east of Multnomah Falls on the Oregon side of the gorge. Those are some of the steepest and fastest eroding watersheds in the state. The debris flows in that region have been especially frequent and destructive. They've caused fatalities and threatened additional human lives, homes and infrastructure, which makes them even more vital for state agencies to understand. Looking up the Leavens Creek watershed, with the deposit of the fatal Leavens Creek debris flow in the foreground. Credit: Oregon Department of Transportation Sanders noticed a few interesting characteristics of the landscape as she studied the data, which suggested fire might not be the most significant cause of slope movement in that area. It also hinted that steep, rocky terrain behaves differently than slopes in a place like Southern California. Discover the latest in science, tech, and space with over 100,000 subscribers who rely on Phys.org for daily insights. Sign up for our free newsletter and get updates on breakthroughs, innovations, and research that matterdaily or weekly. The researchers found massive amounts of sediment accumulation in fan-like formations at the base of the rocky catchments in gorge watersheds. At first glance, those features looked unassuming because they were covered in vegetation, but with lidar imaging it was clear something more notable was going on beneath the surface. "The size and makeup of the fans suggest that frequent debris flows have been happening in these watersheds for a really long period of time, in the magnitude of thousands of years," Sanders said. She also observed that the slopes were collecting sediment much faster than more stable terrain does, likely through temperature fluctuations that cause rockfall. That sets them up to produce debris flows more frequently, typically every few decades. Sanders took a closer look and analyzed the erosion rates in the area. She found frequent debris flows throughout its geological history and saw that the landscape had behaved in a consistent manner over thousands of years, something that remained relatively unchanged after the 2017 fire. The steep, rocky Rock of Ages Creek that was burned, but no debris flows occurred. Credit: Oregon Department of Transportation "Because we found similar rates of erosion before and after the fire, we believe the rocky environment was not as sensitive to fire," she said. "Our analysis suggests that fire plays a relatively small role in triggering these events and emphasizes how important it is to consider the history of a place." Still, the frequency, size and nature of debris flows in the gorge remains an ongoing cause for concern. The researchers are in the final stages of developing a tool that could help the Oregon Department of Transportation and other stakeholders predict debris flows in the gorge. That would help them make better use of safety features like roadside warning signs and closures, alerting travelers about the heightened risk of landslides during intense storms. "These watersheds are highly active and inherently hazardous, irrespective of fire," Sanders said. "We want our research to help agencies like ODOT better understand this geologically-complex landscape." More information: Maryn Sanders, The influence of wildfire on debris flows in a landscape of persistent disequilibrium: Columbia River Gorge, OR, USA, Science Advances (2025). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adw8633. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adw8633 Journal information: Science Advances This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Egusi soup with pounded yam is a Nigerian staple. If Earthlings are ever going to colonize Mars, they won't be able to do so on an empty stomachand Temidayo Oniosun thinks a helping of Egusi soup, a Nigerian staple, might just hit the spot. Space in Africa, the Lagos-based firm Oniosun founded, is expecting its Egusi melon seeds to splash down in the Pacific Ocean Saturdayfresh from a trip to the International Space Station. Once Earthside, experiments will begin on what is being hailed as the first food native to West Africa to be sent to space. As Oniosun told AFP on Friday, it could herald an era where space exploration reflects the planet's diversity. "When we talk about humans colonizing other planets, this is not just an American mission or a European missionthis is a global mission," he told AFP. And future African space explorers might enjoy a taste of home. Experiments on extraterrestrial food, which is to say tested in space, have been going on for years. Growing food in space is seen as a crucial part of long-distance space flight and long-term missions, where frequent resupply won't be feasible. International tests Scientists at the University of Florida in the United States, and the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, in the southwestern Nigerian city of Ibadan, will examine the seeds "to see the effects of exposure to space" and zero gravity, including on the seeds' DNA. Once planted, researchers will monitor their post-space performance and germination. The seeds went up to the ISS on a SpaceX flight last week, as part of NASA's partnership with private firms. Oniosun said the inclusion of Egusi seeds marked an important step forward, both for those on Earth as well as future astronauts. High in protein, they are typically used to prepare soups and stews across West and Central Africa. Africa's most populous country has a small space industry, but the launch of the seeds seemed to generate more excitement on social media and in newspapers than previous launches of Nigerian satellites, he said. "The moment that we're sending food that they love, a food that holds significant cultural contexts to Nigeria... everybody starts getting interested in the subject," Oniosun told AFP. "The launch of Egusi melon seeds into space is more than a symbolic gesture," he added. "The future of humanity among the stars must reflect the diversity and richness of life on Earth." Whether pounded yamthe key dish served alongside Egusi soupwill make its way to the final frontier remains to be seen. 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: Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain How can quantum technologies be developed responsibly? In the journal Science, researchers from the Technical University of Munich (TUM), the University of Cambridge, Harvard University and Stanford University argue that international standards should be established before laws are enacted. Prof. Urs Gasser explains why the authors propose a quality management system for quantum technologies, how standards create trust and where even competing countries such as China and the US can cooperate. Quantum technologies could have an even more disruptive impact than artificial intelligence. This is why there are growing calls to steer technological development in a socially responsible direction at an early stage through legislation, unlike with AI. Why do you see things differently? We are not fundamentally opposed to legal regulation. At a later stage, when the applications of quantum technologies are more clearly foreseeable, legislators should draw red lines, particularly for high-risk applications. However, in the current early development phase, we believe that a different approach is more promising for achieving goals such as security, interoperability, transparency and accountability: the creation of international technology standards on which legislation can be based. In other words: standards first. This sounds like we want to get to grips with the most complex technology in history using DIN standards. Precisely because the technology is so complex, technical standards must come first. The issue becomes clear in the case of AI regulation in Europe, where the reverse approach was taken: we now have an EU AI Act, but standards will need to be developed feverishly in the coming years to understand what the regulation means and what compliance looks like in practice. This can create significant legal uncertainty and strain the innovation climate at a critical moment. Are there any examples of successful standardization of complex technologies? Numerous technologies have been guided by standards on which regulation could be based. For example, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has created essential standards for information security, which are crucial for companies in all industriesand thus also for their customersin the protection of sensitive data in the digital age. The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) has established safety requirements for medical electrical equipment to ensure the protection of patients and users. And the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) has created the technical basis for Wi-Fi with its standards for wireless networks, enabling devices from different manufacturers to communicate seamlessly with each other. In a similar way, we can now also define protocols, interfaces and numerous technical specifications for quantum technologies. What standardization work is already underway and what should be done now? A wide range of standardization processes are already underway at international and national level. For instance, ISO and IEC established Joint Technical Committee 3 (JTC 3) in early 2024 to develop fundamental standards for quantum computing, quantum communication and related areas. The IEEE, the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) are also working on standards for post-quantum cryptography, interoperability, security and performance benchmarks. Building on this, our proposal recommends the introduction of a certifiable quality management system (QMS) for quantum technologies. This would not only take technical aspects such as stability and security into account, but also systematically integrate legal, ethical and thus socially relevant aspects into development and operation. It won't be the individual product that is certified, but the company's management systemsimilar to the current practice in medical technology. Such certificates could be issued by independent, accredited bodies such as TUV once a standard has been defined. This would create a trustworthy framework that ensures quality, transparency and accountability. Discover the latest in science, tech, and space with over 100,000 subscribers who rely on Phys.org for daily insights. Sign up for our free newsletter and get updates on breakthroughs, innovations, and research that matterdaily or weekly. Given the technological and economic competition, is it realistic to expect an international agreement on such a system? Standards facilitate international cooperation even where political cooperation is currently lackingfor instance, between China, the United States and Europe. In committees such as ISO, IEC and IEEE, experts develop globally recognized rules that create trust in new technologies and give companies security for their investments. In addition, these soft laws are more flexible than traditional laws as they can be quickly adapted to technical developments, thus facilitating innovation without losing sight of the risks. Isn't that a very technocratic process lacking democratic legitimacy? Standard setting is certainly not a classic democratic process such as parliamentary legislation. Nevertheless, it is not a closed expert system. International standardization organizations often bring together various stakeholders, including companies, civil society groups, research institutes and public authorities. In national committees that help shape international work, different interest groups are often even more closely involved. In addition, many standards today are developed not only to address technical issues, but also increasingly to take ethical, social and legal aspects into accountfor instance, in areas such as data protection, security or inclusion. Social values, risks and rights are an integral part of standards for quality management systems in particular. At the same time, there is justified criticism. Some standardization processes are dominated by economically powerful actors, and social perspectives are not equally represented. These shortcomings are well known and are increasingly being addressedfor example, in current debates on the development of AI standards in Europe, where conscious efforts are being made to give greater consideration to civil society voices and fundamental rights issues. It is important to note that standards do not replace political regulation. Rather, they can precede it and establish a compatible foundation. The actual regulation remains the task of democratic institutions, which establish legally binding frameworks on this basis, adapted to national contexts and societal debates. More information: Mateo Aboy et al, Quantum technology governance: A standards-first approach, Science (2025). DOI: 10.1126/science.adw0018 Journal information: Science This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Graphical abstract. Credit: Environmental Science & Technology Letters (2025). DOI: 10.1021/acs.estlett.5c00486 In early 2025, wildfires spread in Los Angeles, destroying tens of thousands of homes and businesses. During the fires, smoke blanketed the region and online maps provided residents with rapid air quality information. Now, a study in Environmental Science & Technology Letters compares the data that went into the maps from federal monitoring stations, low-cost sensors and satellites. Their results highlight the importance of combining multiple data sources to form easily accessible information for the public. "Timely and accurate air quality information is crucial for the public to reduce their smoke exposure during wildfire events," says Claire Schollaert, the study's corresponding author. "Combining federal monitors, low-cost sensors, and satellite data can provide a more complete picture of local air quality, which can help people make safer choices in real time." Wildfires create smoke and haze that can be harmful to breathe. To reduce smoke exposure and mitigate potential health risks, public health experts recommend checking the local Air Quality Index (AQI) before stepping outside. The AQI ranks outdoor air from "Good" to "Hazardous," calculating values from the levels of air pollutants present, including fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ). The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) AirNow Fire and Smoke Map and the PurpleAir low-cost sensor network are online platforms that provide AQI information from ground monitors. Additionally, the AirNow Fire and Smoke Map provides smoke plumes from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Hazard Mapping System. Satellite observations of near-real-time air pollution are also collected but aren't readily available on these popular online platforms. In a retrospective of the January 2025 LA wildfires, Schollaert and colleagues compared the data provided in these three publicly available datasets to understand where overlaps and informational gaps may occur. The researchers obtained air quality monitoring data for LA County from eight EPA stations in the AirNow network, 728 low-cost particulate matter sensors, and satellite data of smoke plume outlines and pollutant concentrations. During the fire period, when the Eaton and Palisades wildfires ignited and intensified (Jan. 712, 2025): EPA stations detected elevated PM 2.5 levels in downtown LA and Compton, reaching "Unhealthy" and "Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups" AQI categories, respectively. levels in downtown LA and Compton, reaching "Unhealthy" and "Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups" AQI categories, respectively. Twelve of the low-cost sensors located closer to the fires (within 4.7 miles, 7.5 kilometers) had PM 2.5 levels in the "Hazardous" AQI range. levels in the "Hazardous" AQI range. Satellite images tracked the movement of light- to heavy-density smoke in the atmosphere, which generally matched places on the ground with elevated PM 2.5 levels. The stationary ground monitors showed that high AQI values generally aligned with the locations of thick smoke plumes seen by the satellites, though this was not always the case. Additionally, each data source has its advantages and disadvantages: the EPA monitors are highly accurate but limited in number, the low-cost sensors are less accurate but more prolific, and the satellites cover even more ground but don't always reflect the conditions on the ground. But combined, these tools could be useful for people in smoke-impacted areas to make informed decisions about their exposure risks in near real time, the researchers say. More information: Claire Schollaert et al, Air Quality Impacts of the January 2025 Los Angeles Wildfires: Insights from Public Data Sources, Environmental Science & Technology Letters (2025). DOI: 10.1021/acs.estlett.5c00486 Journal information: Environmental Science & Technology Letters 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: Trump's energy secretary, Chris Wright, is the former executive of major fracking company Liberty Energy. US President Donald Trump's administration is revising past editions of the nation's premier climate reportits latest move to undermine the scientific consensus on human-caused global warming. The decision, announced by Energy Secretary Chris Wright during a CNN appearance Tuesday night, follows the government's revocation of the Endangerment Finding, a scientific determination that underpins a host of regulations aimed at curbing greenhouse gas emissions. Asked by CNN's Kaitlan Collins why previous editions of the National Climate Assessment were no longer available online, former fracking company CEO Wright responded: "Because we're reviewing them, and we will come out with updated reports on those and with comments on those." First published in 2000, the National Climate Assessment has long been viewed as a cornerstone of the US government's understanding of climate science, synthesizing input from federal agencies and hundreds of external experts. Previous editions warned in stark terms of mounting risks to America's economy, infrastructure, and public health if greenhouse gas emissions are not curtailed. But in April, the administration moved to dismiss the hundreds of scientists working on the sixth edition. Under the Global Change Research Act of 1990, the government is legally obligated to deliver the climate assessment to Congress and the president. Trump's administration and the Republican-controlled Congress have pressed forward with their pro-fossil fuel agendadismantling clean energy tax credits through the so-called "Big Beautiful Bill" and opening more ecologically sensitive lands to drilling. Last month's proposed revocation of the Endangerment Finding by the Environmental Protection Agency was accompanied by the release of a new climate study from the Department of Energy, authored by climate change contrarians. The study questioned whether heat records are truly increasing and whether extreme weather is worsening. It also misrepresented the work of cited climate scientists, according to several who spoke to AFP, and suggested that rising atmospheric carbon dioxide could be a net benefit for agriculture. 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: Credit: Markus Winkler from Pexels The United States could achieve modest economic benefits by applying uniform tariffs on all trade partners, according to new research led by a University of California, Davis, economist. However, the complicated realities of supply chains, global trade and its downstream effects on people and businesses could offset economic gains and even lead to significant losses. "The Trump administration's tariffs represent a significant experiment in economic policy with both potential benefits and substantial risks," said Ina Simonovska, a UC Davis associate professor of economics and lead author of a new paper. She is also a senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The paper, "Making America Great Again? The Economic Impacts of Liberation Day Tariffs," was published in the Journal of International Economics. In the paper, researchers analyzed the U.S. proposed tariff schedule released on so-called "Liberation Day" in April as well as various trade-war scenarios with major trade partners. They also looked at a unilaterally optimally designed tariff system, analyzing policy effects on welfare, exports, imports, deficit, employment and consumer prices. Positive outcomes are possible, but the policy's long-term sustainability depends on multiple factors, most of which are out of the United States' control, she said. So far, the United States has avoided tariff retaliation by other countries, which is significant for the U.S. economy, she said. Supply chains, global trade Using a model of the global economy that incorporates trade and supply chain linkages, the authors show that a unilaterally optimally designed tariff of 12.5%, which the United States would apply to all trade partners, could reduce the U.S. trade deficit by 13% and raise U.S. economic welfare by as much as 2.15%. However, these gains would evaporate when trade partners retaliate, Simonovska said. Supply chain linkages describe the interdependence of how goods are made among various countries or trade partners, for example, with raw materials coming from more than one country and manufacturing and distribution happening in yet other countries, complicating tariff structures. The proposed changes in tariffs could have a ripple effect on the economy, researchers said. The gains that the United States can achieve through tariffs are what economists term "Beggar thy neighbor," Simonovska said. This means that the gains come at the expense of trading partners. Smaller countries such as Canada, Mexico, Ireland and several Southeast Asian nationswhose exports to the United States represent a significant share of their GDPare the most harmed by the proposed tariffs. When trade policy creates costs for key partners, alliances can be strained, researchers said. Partners may look to reduce their dependence on the United States and form other alliances. Revenue realities The administration has promoted tariffs as a fiscal tool, but the numbers tell a more sobering story, researchers said. Tariffs can generate revenues that account for up to 5% of the federal budget, thus offsetting projected deficit increases due to the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," which has become law. Moreover, the federal government would only benefit if tariff revenue is used to eliminate inefficiencies in the economy, such as replacing income taxes on labor. Lump-sum transfers to Americans, which have been discussed by the administration, would wash out all potential gains, however, researchers said. Tariff costs fall disproportionately on lower-income households, who spend a greater share of their income on tradeable goods, Simonovska said. This regressive impact creates tension with stated policy goals of supporting working-class Americans and highlights the complex relationship between trade policy and domestic inequality. Further, industries that rely heavily on imports that are not easily replaced with domestic alternatives will suffer because of these tariffs, researchers said. Small- and medium-sized enterprises could have difficulty navigating the new tariff structure and lack resources to absorb cost increases that larger competitors can manage more effectively, researchers said. More information: Anna Ignatenko et al, Making America great again? The economic impacts of liberation day tariffs, Journal of International Economics (2025). DOI: 10.1016/j.jinteco.2025.104138 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 bacterium deinococcus radiodurans was engineered to light up red when it is "reading" the poems. Credit: The University of Texas at Austin Greek doctor and philosopher Hippocrates once said (loosely translated), "life is short, and art is long." History is littered with quotes from great thinkers with the same idea: art endures. But limitations remain. Classic works get lost or changed as they pass through generations. Paper decomposes. Enter world-renowned poet Christian Bok and Texas Engineer Lydia Contreras. They have collaborated to make a piece of art that can live on forever. They have used synthetic biotechnology to encode one of Bok's poems about a famous Greek tragedy, implanting this poem into a "deathless bacterium" that, in turn, recites a complementary poem, expressed as an engineered, RNA-encoded protein. "We've made very few things that could outlast the sun. This artifact is a gesture, a way of showing that we could conceivably build technology that might preserve messages over the lifespan of Earth, hardening our cultural heritage against planetary disasters that could wipe out our civilization," said Christian Bok. This work is the centerpiece of a new book called "The Xenotext: Book 2", the second entry in a series Bok has worked on for over 25 years. The first entry, released in 2015, serves as proof of concept. Bok gives readers a refresher in genetics, showing his first steps in developing this poetic microbe, encoding his work into a much less durable organism. This time, he has fully accomplished his goal, with the help of Contreras and her research team, led by graduate student Antonio Cordova. Together, they have encoded a poem, written in the limited language of DNA, inserting this gene into Deinococcus radiodurans, an "extremophile" microorganism, otherwise known as "Conan the Bacterium" because it is among the most resistant to tough conditions, like desiccation, UV light, and radiation. Texas Engineer Lydia Contreras. Credit: The University of Texas at Austin Biotechnology, the controlled use of organisms to perform specific tasks, plays a role in many products that we use every day. It's how genetically engineered bacteria make plastics, everyday chemicals, and components of drugs. "The synthetic use of this really robust organism to merge the borders of languagegenetic language and the English languageis philosophically very exciting," said Contreras, a professor in the McKetta Department of Chemical Engineering at UT. Bok was inspired by scientific research focused on extraterrestrial communication as well as technologies for the genetic engineering of bacteria. Bok started on this quest to make real the sci-fi idea of using bacteria to encode messages for other species across the universe to read, while making something that could outlive us all. He worked with several partners throughout his project. He found Contreras and her work on Deinococcus radiodurans, and so he cold-emailed her, kicking off what has become a years-long partnership. Contreras was impressed by Bok's work, and her students were enthusiastic about participating and having an opportunity to make a broader impact with their research. Contreras and her students' long-term expertise in Deinococcus radiodurans proved critical for this plan to work. There are always risks that when a new piece of code is added to an organism's genetics, the lifeform might reject it, or the code might not perform the desired action, since this code is of no native benefit to the organism. It has taken many periods of trial and error to get the process just right. Encoded into the genome of the bacterium is a poem that Bok has written, called "Orpheus," (whose opening line reads: "Any style/of life is prim"). When the bacteria is chemically activated, it "reads" this poem as a set of genetic instructions for writing a complementary poem, entitled "Eurydice" (whose opening line reads: "The faery/ is rosy of glow"). The organism translates the DNA into a series of amino acids, which produce a protein. Each piece of DNA and each acid in the protein corresponds to a letter of the English alphabet. Moreover, the protein has been engineered to glow bright red, so that the organism fluoresces rubescently, like the "faery" described in the poem itself. Discover the latest in science, tech, and space with over 100,000 subscribers who rely on Phys.org for daily insights. Sign up for our free newsletter and get updates on breakthroughs, innovations, and research that matterdaily or weekly. Orpheus and Eurydice is a classic Greek tragedy. Orpheus uses his unmatched musical talent to rescue the love of his life, Eurydice, from the underworld, only to lose her on their way home. To write the two poems, Bok developed a mutually bijective cipher, a type of code in which each letter of the alphabet corresponds exclusively to another. For example, in the first line of "Orpheus" and "Eurydice," the letters A and T are mutually transposable, as are the letters N and H and Y and E. These letter-to-letter substitutions must hold for all the words used in both poems. The poems, Bok said, took four years to write. He also spent many years learning engineering and coding skills to prove to potential scientific partners that his ideas could be realized with the right expertise. While this exciting feat has immense implications for creating living art, the potential applications go beyond this accomplishment. Robust tiny organisms can better store information than any man-made technology. Scientists across disciplines are hard at work figuring out how to use these skills to revolutionize modern data storage because the future of technological growth demands more efficient methods for archiving data. "What this ultimately comes down to is how do we store information that will forever survive," Contreras said. "How do we keep it and guard it? Living organisms are the ultimate storers of information, and it's something these technologies are showing with ideas of synthetic biotechnology being incorporated into other futuristic applications like self-healing buildings." 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 Towering walls of water traveling at the speed of a jetliner, with coastal communities from Japan and Hawaii to South America and the U.S. West Coast in their path. That was the frightening possibility seismologists and others feared when an 8.8-magnitude earthquakeone of the most powerful tremors ever recordedstruck off Russia's eastern coast on July 29, triggering a Pacific-wide tsunami. Warnings and evacuation orders were issued across the Pacific. But compared to past devastating tsunamissuch as the Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004, which killed more than 200,000 people across 15 countriesthe waves and resulting damage proved moderate. The only reported death: a 58-year-old woman who died when the car she was driving plunged down a cliff as she attempted to evacuate in central Japan. "The world was lucky," said geologist Gregor Eberli, the Robert N. Ginsburg Endowed Chair in Marine Geosciences at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science. Eberli, who has studied the Earth's sediments as recorders of environmental changes for most of his scientific career, said that while the earthquake that struck off Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula was the sixth largest ever recorded, large-scale vertical displacement of the seafloor did not occur. "It is the vertical displacement of the seafloor that is mostly responsible for the height of the tsunami wave," he explained. "But even a flat tsunami can be dangerous because local coast topography can build up the wave. Luckily, this tsunami was announced early enough that coastal communities could evacuate." Last week's temblor was not the first to strike the region, which is located within the Pacific Ring of Fire, so called because of the high number of earthquakes and volcanoes that occur there. A 9.0-magnitude quake hit the peninsula in 1952, spawning a tsunami that devastated the coasts of Kamchatka and the Kuril Islands, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The Indian Ocean tsunami of Dec. 26, 2004, is widely considered the deadliest, with estimates placing the death toll at approximately 230,000. But long before that, tsunamis wrought havoc in coastal areas. As many as 50,000 people perished after an 8.5-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Lisbon, Portugal, on Nov. 1, 1755, producing a tsunami with waves that crested up to 59 feet. NOAA's Global Historical Tsunami Database includes information on tsunami events from 2000 B.C. to the present. It is in the sediment that scientists can document and learn about tsunamis that occurred centuries ago. "They leave a signature," said Sam Purkis, professor and chair of the Rosenstiel School's Department of Marine Geosciences. "As the wave smashes into the coastline, it moves huge quantities of rocks and sediment and trees and detritus. And that forms a layer that preserves the past." Geologists drill cores or dig trenches in areas where they suspect a tsunami has occurred, then use carbon dating to determine the age of the material, creating a historical record of tsunamis when human memory of those events no longer exists, Purkis explained. Such research is critically important, as it gives geologists a way to predict tsunamis of the future. "Tsunamis are the geologic record of earthquakesespecially the mega earthquakes and the tsunamis that cause destruction across ocean basins," Eberli said. "These mega earthquakes in subduction zones, where one tectonic plate slides under an overriding plate, occur because, as the plates move together, stress is built up that is released, momentarily causing the rupture and displacement. The general theory is that the rate of convergence is mostly responsible for the frequency of the earthquakes, or stress release, at a given subduction zone. And by studying the recurrence rate of past tsunamis, future occurrences can be estimated." Discover the latest in science, tech, and space with over 100,000 subscribers who rely on Phys.org for daily insights. Sign up for our free newsletter and get updates on breakthroughs, innovations, and research that matterdaily or weekly. Both Eberli and Purkis have conducted extensive tsunami-related research. Eberli has studied everything from the sedimentology record of tsunamis in the Indian Ocean to the likelihood of a tsunami hitting South Florida. In a 2014 study, Eberli's marine geosciences colleague, Falk Amelung, and doctoral student Kelly Jackson traveled to Sri Lanka to take cores from coastal lagoons to search for earlier tsunami deposits. "One lagoon proved to have an excellent record of older tsunami deposits and allowed us to establish the recurrence rate in the last 6,645 years," Eberli said. One might say Eberli was destined to study tsunamis. He grew up close to Lucerne, Switzerland, learning about the 1601 earthquake that triggered a tsunami that engulfed the city. Later, during studies at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, he learned about the mechanics and causes of tsunamis. "Lately, I have focused my studies on the large current deposits in the world's oceans," he said, "but I have not forgotten tsunamis." Meanwhile, in a 2023 study, Purkis and a team of scientists studied the 2022 eruption of a submarine volcano in Tonga that was more powerful than the largest U.S. nuclear explosion. In their study, they used a combination of before-and-after satellite imagery, drone mapping, and field observations to create a tsunami simulation of the Tongan Archipelago, discovering that the underwater terrain of the region helped trap tsunami waves and ultimately spared the inhabited islands of Tonga from much more serious damage. With the Earth constantly changing due to geologic forcing, more earthquakes and the tsunamis they generate will surely happen in the future. But just how effective are the detection, forecasting, and warning systems that are in place around the world? "After the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the scientific community advocated for a warning system based on buoys in the ocean that detect vertical displacement caused by a tsunami wave, and that system is in place now," Eberli said. That warning system, he added, "worked perfectly and gave coastal areas several hours to evacuate." NOAA's two tsunami warning centers operate around the clock, seven days a week, with the mission of protecting life and property. Staff monitor for tsunamis and the earthquakes that may cause them, forecast tsunami impacts, and issue tsunami messages. ADIRONDACKS The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) euthanized the bull moose thats been residing on Goodman Mountain in Tupper Lake Wednesday. During an Aug. 6 site visit, wildlife biologists and the New York State veterinarian confirmed a significant decline in life. They observed advanced signs of disease in the moose, including severe emaciation, and determined euthanasia to be the most humane course of action. The Post-Star previously reported on the moose and trail closures nearly a month ago. It was first sighted near the summit of Goodman Mountain in May by hikers who reported the moose was oddly tolerant of close human presence. After assessing the mooses condition and attempting to encourage it to voluntary move, DEC temporarily closed the trail to protect the moose and the recreating public. According to a DEC statement, the moose was monitored for months using trail cameras and in-person site visits. DEC closely monitors the moose population across the Adirondack region to understand overall moose health, including the presence of underlying diseases that may impact New Yorks moose population, DEC Director of the Division of Fish and Wildlife Jacqueline Lendrum said. Following a thorough assessment, DEC experts made the difficult decision to euthanize the moose due to its deteriorating condition and low likelihood of survival. Lendrum said the DECs top priority is always public safety and the well-being of wildlife. She explained euthanasia was the most responsible course of action in this case, adding that information gathered from the animal will help DEC better understand and manage other moose across the state. The DEC stressed in its statement that euthanizing any animal is always a last resort, and it only advances this option when the animal is suffering or presents an immediate public health/safety risk. The mooses health had clearly deteriorated over time, said Dr. Jennifer Bloodgood, an assistant professor specializing in ecosystem health at Cornell College of Veterinary Medicine. Performing a necropsy will help us to understand the cause of the decline and give us more information on threats to moose health in New York State. A post-mortem necropsy will be conducted to help determine the potential cause of the mooses failed health and unusual behavior. More information will be shared by the DEC when it becomes available. The Goodman Mountain Trail will temporarily remain closed while the DEC completes a study of the area, fully evaluating the animals foraging behavior and habitat range. Once all the work is completed, the trail will be reponed and the public will be informed, the DEC statement said. Moose in the Adirondacks Moose living in the boreal forests of the Northern Hemisphere first entered New York State in the 1980s after having been absent for nearly 100 years. They are currently located in the Adirondack Mountains as well as the Taconic Highlands along the borders of Vermont and Massachusetts. Over 700 are expected to be living in the Adirondacks today, according to DEC estimates. One of the largest land mammals in North America, adult moose generally stand six feet hoof-to-shoulder, weigh more than 1,000 pounds, and eat 40 to 60 pounds of browse in a day. Moose are browsers, primarily feeding on the leaves, twigs, and buds of trees and shrubs in the region they call home. The ideal moose habitat contains large quantities of nutritious food produced by regrowth following a clearcut or fire. Moose prefer to live in areas consisting of wetlands, mature mixed forests, and large open areas created by logging or controlled burns. Seeing as the mammals typically live in these vast 50-square-mile-plus areas, it was quite unusual for a bull to linger in a specific spot on Goodman Mountain so long. This was one of the first things that tipped the DEC off to the fact that this particular animal was not in good health. It is also very uncommon for moose to spend extended periods of time around buildings or people. While DEC staff regularly respond to moose-related incidents, most situations do not require intervention. However, potentially dangerous animals like bear or moose showing up in unusual places can require action. The DEC has stated its primary goal in these situations is for the animal to return to their usual habitat on their own, as unnecessary intervention and handling of the animal can lead to stress and death. The second leading cause of death for moose in New York State (behind automobile accidents) are those related to parasites such as brain worm and liver fluke, according to DEC statistics. Moose are particularly susceptible to fascioloides magna (liver fluke) infestation, which white-tailed deer are tolerant of and carry. Though they are not the parasites natural host and it cannot reproduce in them, moose can potentially die after suffering from weakness and emaciation caused by liver fluke the same symptoms the Goodman Mountain moose exhibited. For more information about moose, including the NY Moose Research Project, visit dec.ny.gov/nature/animals-fish-plants/moose. CFE called in during the night to deal with Cancun power outage Cancun, Q.R. Power has been restored to the Villas Otoch Paraiso subdivision of Cancun after a Wednesday night blackout. Citizens took to the street after spending hours in the dark. They were met by City Council member Pablo Gutierrez Fernandez who called in CFE personnel. The group of residents and City Hall officials met on a darkend Ninos Heroes Avenue in Villas Otoch Paraiso after the area lost power late Wednesday night. CFE personnel were called in early Thursday morning in response to residents protesting the interruption in the electricity supply. Upon instructions from Mayor Ana Patricia Peralta, Cancun Secretary General Pablo Gutierrez Fernandez met with citizens, reiterating that in Cancun, the government listens, responds, and acts hand in hand with its people, he said. While in the area, Gutierrez Fernandez coordinated repairs with personnel from the Federal Electricity Commission (CFE), Municipal Public Services and members of the Fire Department. Thanks to this intervention, electricity was restored in the area. Pablo Gutierrez Fernandez met with residents late Wednesday night. Gutierrez Fernandez said that this issue of power loss will be closely monitored, as civil works are required to ensure the community does not suffer similar impacts again. Our commitment is clear: to serve our people, resolve issues promptly, and work toward long-term solutions, he stated. CFE was brought in and power restored early Thursday morning. The municipal government thus reaffirms its commitment to closeness, care, and collaborative work with the people of Cancun, particularly in areas where infrastructure strengthening and quality basic services are most needed, Mayor Peralta said. George Maxwell, Vaalcos Chief Executive Officer, commented, We continue to consistently deliver successful quarterly results that either meet or exceed our guidance. Both our sales and NRI production for the second quarter of 2025 were above the high end of guidance, leading to solid net income of $0.08 per diluted share and Adjusted EBITDAX of $49.9 million. We continue to execute our strategic vision as we prepare for multiple production enhancing drilling campaigns across our diversified asset base. In Cote dIvoire, the FPSO refurbishment project is well underway, with the vessel at the shipyard in Dubai and we are preparing for a drilling campaign in 2026 to augment the production and economic life of the Baobab field. In Gabon, we are preparing for the 2025/2026 drilling program which is expected to begin near the end of Q3 2025 as we wait for the drilling rig to complete its current commitments. In Egypt, we continue to efficiently drill wells and the success of the program in the first half of the year is expected to lead to incremental projects in the second half of 2025. As a reminder, in the first quarter, we entered into a new reserves-based credit facility that will supplement our internally-generated cash flow and cash balance to assist in funding our robust organic growth projects. In the second quarter we drew on this facility, as planned, and will continue to utilize it to assist in our growth plans. (1) Adjusted EBITDAX, Adjusted Net Income Capital and Free Cash Flow are Non-GAAP financial measures and are described and reconciled to the closest GAAP measure in the attached table under Non-GAAP Financial Measures. (2) All NRI sales and production rates are Vaalco's working interest volumes less royalty volumes, where applicable. (3) All WI production rates and volumes are Vaalco's working interest volumes, where applicable. (4) Net cash is defined as cash and cash equivalents less long-term debt. Declared quarterly cash dividend of $0.0625 per share of common stock to be paid on September 19, 2025. Reiterated full year guidance which previously included a reduction to capital expenditures in Q1 2025 by approximately 10%, without impacting full year production or sales guidance; and Reported a net cash (4) position of $7.9 million that did not include approximately $24.0 million of cash receivables that was collected in July 2025; Produced 16,956 net revenue interest ( NRI ) (2) barrels of oil equivalent per day (BOEPD), above the high end of guidance, or 21,654 working interest ( WI ) (3) BOEPD, toward the high end of guidance; HOUSTON, Aug. 07, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- VAALCO Energy, Inc. (NYSE: EGY, LSE: EGY) (Vaalco or the Company) today reported operational and financial results for the second quarter of 2025. Story Continues We believe that we are well positioned to fund the significant growth and opportunities that we have planned over the next few years which should lead to even greater growth and value for the remainder of the decade. In May, we provided additional details at our Capital Markets Day regarding the meaningful upside that we believe is available to drive future organic growth and support our commitment to consistent shareholder returns. Our track record of success in delivering results at or above expectations should provide our investors with assurance that we will execute on the portfolio of opportunities we discussed in the Capital Markets Day presentation. Operational Update Gabon The Company secured a drilling rig in December 2024 for its 2025/2026 drilling program, which is expected to begin near the end of Q3 2025 as we wait for the drilling rig to complete its current commitments. The program includes drilling multiple development wells, and appraisal or exploration wells, and perform workovers, with options to drill additional wells. Vaalco plans to drill the wells at both the Etame platform and at its Seent platform, as well as a re-drill and several workovers in the Ebouri field to access production and reserves that were previously removed from proved reserves due to the presence of hydrogen sulfide. In July 2025, the Company performed planned, staged shutdowns of the Gabon platforms to perform safety inspections and necessary maintenance to increase the integrity and reliability of the assets. Egypt The drilling campaign in Egypt, which commenced in December 2024, continued through Q2 2025. During the quarter, Vaalco completed six wells and three of the wells drilled during Q2 2025 will be hydraulically fractured in Q3 2025. Based on detailed analysis completed in Q1 2025 to evaluate the well inventory potential, a series of workover re-completions, re-activations and well optimizations have also been carried out resulting in an incremental production gain. Canada In 2024, Vaalco drilled and completed five horizontal wells in Canada, with all laterals being greater than two miles long. These wells continue to meet production expectations and the Company is monitoring their longer-term performance for future drilling opportunities. In 2025, the Company has decided to defer the drilling of additional wells in Canada to reduce the Company's overall capital expenditures. Cote d'Ivoire As part of the planned dry dock refurbishment, the Baobab Floating Production, Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel ceased hydrocarbon production on January 31, 2025 and the final lifting of crude oil from the FPSO took place in February 2025. The vessel departed from the field in late March 2025 and arrived at the shipyard in Dubai ahead of schedule in mid-May 2025. The FPSO refurbishment is now underway in the shipyard. A rig has been secured for significant development drilling which is expected to begin in 2026 after the FPSO returns to service bringing meaningful additions to production from the main Baobab field in CI-40. The Company is also evaluating the anticipated impact of the potential future development of the Kossipo field, which is also on the CI-40 license. Equatorial Guinea Vaalco owns a 60% working interest in an undeveloped portion of Block P offshore Equatorial Guinea where it is the designated operator. The Company has an existing plan of development of the Venus field discovery on Block P, which focuses on key areas of drilling evaluations, facilities design, market inquiries and metocean review. The Company completed a Front End Engineering and Design study and is currently targeting a Final Investment Decision by the end of 2025. Financial Update Second Quarter of 2025 Vaalco reported net income of $8.4 million ($0.08 per diluted share) for Q2 2025 which was up compared with net income of $7.7 million ($0.07 per diluted share) in Q1 2025 and down 70% compared with net income of $28.2 million ($0.27 per diluted share) in Q2 2024. The increase in earnings compared with Q1 2025 was driven by higher sales volume in Q2 2025 of 1,765 MBOE compared to a sales volume of 1,717 MBOE in Q1 2025 and lower production expense, depreciation, depletion and amortization (DD&A) and lower income tax expense partially offset by lower realized pricing driven by a decrease in oil market index prices. Adjusted EBITDAX totaled $49.9 million in Q2 2025, a 12% decrease from $57.0 million in Q1 2025. The decrease was primarily due to lower realized pricing offset by higher sales volumes and lower production expense. Adjusted EBITDAX was down 31% from $72.5 million generated in Q2 2024 primarily due to lower realized pricing. Quarterly Summary - Sales and Net Revenue $ in thousands Three Months Ended June 30, 2025 Three Months Ended March 31, 2025 Gabon Egypt Canada Cote d'Ivoire Total Gabon Egypt Canada Cote d'Ivoire Total Oil Sales $ 67,964 $ 55,188 $ 3,751 $ 354 $ 127,257 $ 59,864 $ 57,656 $ 5,325 $ 18,042 $ 140,887 NGL Sales 1,298 1,298 1,808 1,808 Gas Sales 572 572 636 636 Gross Sales 67,964 55,188 5,621 354 129,127 59,864 57,656 7,769 18,042 143,331 Selling Costs & Carried Interest 65 (179 ) (240 ) (354 ) (149 ) (232 ) (381 ) Royalties & Taxes (9,462 ) (21,752 ) (666 ) (31,880 ) (7,677 ) (23,587 ) (1,357 ) (32,621 ) Net Revenue $ 58,567 $ 33,257 $ 4,715 $ 354 $ 96,893 $ 52,187 $ 33,920 $ 6,180 $ 18,042 $ 110,329 Oil Sales MMB (working interest) 1,034 995 62 2,091 757 920 80 238 1,995 Average Oil Price Received $ 65.72 $ 55.31 $ 60.44 $ $ 60.87 $ 79.09 $ 62.49 $ 66.17 $ 75.87 $ 70.61 Change (14 )% Average Brent Price $ 68.07 $ 75.87 Change (10 )% Gas Sales MMCF (working interest) 448 448 413 413 Average Gas Price Received $ 1.28 $ 1.28 $ 1.54 $ 1.54 Change (17 )% Average Aeco Price ($USD) $ 1.35 $ 1.35 $ 1.43 $ 1.43 Change (6 )% NGL Sales MMB (working interest) 60 60 69 69 Average Liquids Price Received $ 21.65 $ 21.65 $ 26.39 $ 26.39 Change (18 )% Revenue and Sales Q2 2025 Q2 2024 % Change Q2 2025 vs. Q2 2024 Q1 2025 % Change Q2 2025 vs. Q1 2025 Production (NRI BOEPD) 16,956 20,588 (18 )% 17,764 (5 )% Sales (NRI BOE) 1,765,000 1,764,000 1,717,000 3 % Realized commodity price ($/BOE) $ 54.87 $ 66.05 (17 )% $ 64.27 (15 )% Commodity (Per BOE including realized commodity derivatives) $ 54.92 $ 66.03 (17 )% $ 64.34 (15 )% Total commodity sales ($MM) $ 96.9 $ 116.5 (17 )% $ 110.3 (12 )% In Q2 2025, Vaalco had a net revenue decrease of $13.4 million or 12% compared to Q1 2025 primarily due to lower average realized price received of $54.87 per barrel in Q2 2025 compared to $64.27 per barrel in Q1 2025, offset by an increase in the total NRI sales volumes of 1,765 MBOE which was 3% higher than the Q1 2025 volumes of 1,717 MBOE but was flat compared to 1,764 MBOE for Q2 2024. Q2 2025 NRI sales were above the high end of Vaalcos guidance. Costs and Expenses Q2 2025 Q2 2024 % Change Q2 2025 vs. Q2 2024 Q1 2025 % Change Q2 2025 vs. Q1 2025 Production expense, excluding offshore workovers and stock comp ($MM) $ 40.3 $ 52.4 (23 )% $ 44.7 (10 )% Production expense, excluding offshore workovers ($/BOE) $ 22.87 $ 29.70 (23 )% $ 26.08 (12 )% Offshore workover expense ($MM) $ $ 0.1 (100 )% $ % Depreciation, depletion and amortization ($MM) $ 28.3 $ 33.1 (15 )% $ 30.3 (7 )% Depreciation, depletion and amortization ($/BOE) $ 16.02 $ 18.78 (15 )% $ 17.65 (9 )% General and administrative expense, excluding stock-based compensation ($MM) $ 7.1 $ 6.6 8 % $ 7.8 (9 )% General and administrative expense, excluding stock-based compensation ($/BOE) $ 4.04 $ 3.80 6 % $ 4.51 (11 )% Stock-based compensation expense ($MM) $ 1.4 $ 0.9 57 % $ 1.4 % Current income tax expense (benefit) ($MM) $ 12.8 $ 13.3 (4 )% $ 17.7 (28 )% Deferred income tax expense (benefit) ($MM) $ (5.8 ) $ (4.0 ) 45 % $ (1.6 ) 262 % Total production expense (excluding offshore workovers and stock compensation) of $40.3 million in Q2 2025 decreased by 10% compared to Q1 2025 and 23% compared to Q2 2024. The decrease in Q2 2025 compared to Q1 2025 and Q2 2024 was driven by a reduction in production expenses in the Cote dIvoire segment. DD&A expense for Q2 2025 was $28.3 million, which was 7% lower than $30.3 million in Q1 2025 and 15% lower than $33.1 million in Q2 2024. The decrease in Q2 2025 DD&A expense compared to Q1 2025 and Q2 2024 is due primarily to a reduction in DD&A expenses in the Cote dIvoire segment. General and administrative (G&A) expense, excluding stock-based compensation, decreased to $7.1 million in Q2 2025 from $7.8 million in Q1 2025 due to lower salaries and wages, IT expense and other expenses and increased from $6.6 million in Q2 2024. The increase in G&A expenses compared to Q2 2024 was primarily due to higher professional service fees, salaries and wages, and accounting and legal fees. Q2 2025 cash G&A was within the Companys guidance. Non-cash stock-based compensation expense was $1.4 million for Q2 2025 flat compared to Q1 2025 and higher compared to $0.9 million for Q2 2024. Exploration expense was $2.5 million for Q2 2025 which was attributable to the purchase of seismic data to be used in Block 705 in Cote dIvoire. There were no exploration costs incurred in Q1 2025 or Q2 2024. Other income (expense), net, was an expense of $1.8 million for Q2 2025, compared to an expense of $2.4 million for Q1 2025 and income of $17.1 million during Q2 2024. Other income (expense), net, normally consists of foreign currency losses and interest expense, net. In Q2 2024, there was a $19.9 million bargain purchase gain associated with the Svenska acquisition offset by $3.1 million in transaction costs related to the Svenska acquisition. Income tax expense (benefit) was an expense for Q2 2025 of $7.0 million which includes a $3.1 million favorable oil price adjustment as a result of the change in value of the government of Gabon's allocation of Profit Oil between the time it was produced and the time it was taken in-kind. After excluding this impact, income taxes were $10.1 million for the period. Income tax expense for Q2 2024 was an expense of $9.3 million. This expense is comprised of current tax expense of $10.4 million including a $1.1 million favorable oil price adjustment as a result of the change in value of the government of Gabon's allocation of Profit Oil between the time it was produced and the time it was taken in-kind. After excluding this impact, current income taxes were $10.4 million for the period. Taxes paid by jurisdiction are as follows: (in thousands) Gabon Egypt Canada Equatorial Guinea Cote d'Ivoire Corporate and Other Total Cash/In Kind Taxes Paid: Three months ended June 30, 2025 $ 35,288 13,587 $ 951 $ 49,826 Financial Update - First Six Months of 2025 WI Sales for the first six months of 2025 increased to 4,358 MBOE compared to 4,134 MBOE in the first six months of 2024. The increase was driven primarily by timing, number and size of crude oil liftings in each quarter and do not always coincide with volumes produced in any given period. The average realized crude oil price for the first six months of 2025 was $65.62 per barrel, representing a decrease of 12% from $74.75 realized in the first six months of 2024. This decrease in crude oil price reflects the softening of commodity prices over the past year. The Company reported net income for the first six months of 2025 of $16.1 million, which compares to $35.8 million for the first six months of 2024. The decrease in net income for the six months ended June 30, 2025 compared to the same period in 2024 was primarily due to the bargain purchase gain related to the Svenska acquisition completed in April 2024, along with lower realized pricing in 2025. Year to Date Summary - Sales and Net Revenue $ in thousands Six Months Ended June 30, 2025 Six Months Ended June 30, 2024 Gabon Egypt Canada Cote d'Ivoire Total Gabon Egypt Canada Cote d'Ivoire Total Oil Sales $ 127,828 $ 112,844 $ 9,076 $ 18,396 $ 268,144 $ 127,115 $ 128,506 $ 13,700 $ 17,240 $ 286,561 NGL Sales 3,106 3,106 3,898 3,898 Gas Sales 1,208 1,208 1,205 1,205 Gross Sales 127,828 112,844 13,390 18,396 272,458 127,115 128,506 18,803 17,240 291,664 Selling Costs & Carried Interest 65 (328 ) (473 ) (736 ) 1,174 (228 ) (461 ) 485 Royalties & Taxes (17,139 ) (45,339 ) (2,022 ) (64,500 ) (17,111 ) (55,836 ) (2,269 ) (75,216 ) Net Revenue $ 110,754 $ 67,177 $ 10,895 $ 18,396 $ 207,222 $ 111,178 $ 72,442 $ 16,073 $ 17,240 $ 216,933 Oil Sales MMB (working interest) 1,791 1,915 143 238 4,087 1,528 1,903 191 211 3,833 Average Oil Price Received $ 71.37 $ 58.76 $ 63.68 $ 77.36 $ 65.62 $ 83.17 $ 67.52 $ 71.70 81.70 $ 74.75 Change (12 )% Average Brent Price $ 72.03 $ 83.83 Change (14 )% Gas Sales MMCF (working interest) 861 861 892 892 Average Gas Price Received $ 1.40 $ 1.40 $ 1.35 $ 1.35 Change 4 % Average Aeco Price ($USD) $ 1.39 $ 1.39 $ 1.15 $ 1.15 Change 21 % NGL Sales MMB (working interest) 128 128 152 152 Average Liquids Price Received $ 24.17 $ 24.17 $ 25.63 $ 25.63 Change (6 )% Capital Investments/Balance Sheet For the second quarter of 2025, net capital expenditures totaled $45.9 million on a cash basis and $40.9 million on an accrual basis. These expenditures were primarily related to project costs and long-lead items for Gabon, Egypt and Cote d'Ivoire and the development drilling program in Egypt. On June 30, 2025, Vaalco had an unrestricted cash balance of $67.9 million. During July 2025, the Company received cash payments of current receivables totaling approximately $24.0 million, primarily related to collection of approximately $19.0 million receivable for the lifting that occurred in Gabon in late June and approximately $5.0 million received from EGPC. Working capital at June 30, 2025 was $62.8 million compared with $56.2 million at December 31, 2024, while Adjusted Working Capital at June 30, 2025 totaled $79.9 million. In March 2025, Vaalco entered into a new reserves based revolving credit facility (the new facility) with an initial commitment of $190 million and the ability to grow to $300 million, led by The Standard Bank of South Africa Limited, Isle of Man Branch with other participating banks and financial partners. The new facility, which is subject to customary administrative conditional precedents, replaces the Companys previously undrawn revolving credit facility. The Company arranged the new facility primarily to provide short-term funding that may be needed from time-to-time to supplement its internally generated cash flow and cash balance as it executes its planned investment programs across its diversified asset base over the next few years. As of June 30, 2025, the Company had $60.0 million outstanding borrowings. Quarterly Cash Dividend Vaalco paid a quarterly cash dividend of $0.0625 per share of common stock for the second quarter of 2025 on June 27, 2025. The Company also recently announced its next quarterly cash dividend of $0.0625 per share of common stock for the third quarter of 2025 ($0.25 annualized), to be paid on September 19, 2025 to stockholders of record at the close of business on August 22, 2025. Future declarations of quarterly dividends and the establishment of future record and payment dates are subject to approval by the Vaalco Board of Directors. Hedging The Company continued to hedge a portion of its expected future production to lock in strong cash flow generation to assist in funding its capital and shareholder return programs. The following includes hedges remaining in place as of the end of the second quarter of 2025: Settlement Period Instrument Index July 2025 to September 2025 October 2025 to December 2025 January 2026 to March 2026 April 2026 to June 2026 Crude oil: Swaps Dated Brent Total volumes (Bbls) 100,000 Weighted average fixed price ($/Bbl) $ 65.45 $ $ $ Collars Dated Brent Total volumes (Bbls) 405,000 480,000 400,000 360,000 Weighted average floor price ($/Bbl) $ 63.02 $ 60.83 $ 62.29 $ 61.88 Weighted average ceiling price ($/Bbl) $ 74.36 $ 67.81 $ 68.63 $ 67.95 Natural Gas: Swaps AECO 7A Total volumes (GJs)(a) 342,000 114,000 Weighted average fixed price (CAD/GJ) $ 2.15 $ 2.15 $ $ (a) One gigajoule (GJ) equals one billion joules (J). A gigajoule of natural gas is approximately 25.5 cubic meters standard conditions. The table below presents commodity swaps entered into subsequent to June 30, 2025. Settlement Period Instrument Index October 2025 to December 2025 January 2026 to March 2026 July 2026 Crude oil: Collars Dated Brent Total volumes (Bbls) 75,000 Weighted average floor price ($/Bbl) $ $ $ 65.00 Weighted average ceiling price ($/Bbl) $ $ $ 71.00 Natural Gas: Swaps AECO 7A Total volumes (GJs)(a) 100,000 150,000 Weighted average fixed price (CAD/GJ) $ 2.86 $ 2.86 $ 2025 Guidance: The Company has provided third quarter 2025 guidance and full year 2025 guidance. All of the quarterly and annual guidance is detailed in the tables below. FY 2025 Gabon Egypt Canada Cote d'Ivoire Production (BOEPD) WI 19250 - 22310 7000 - 8300 9750 - 11100 2200 - 2600 300 - 310 Production (BOEPD) NRI 14500 - 16710 6200 - 7100 6200 - 7200 1800 - 2100 300 - 310 Sales Volume (BOEPD) WI 19850 - 22700 7300 - 8300 9750 - 11100 2200 - 2600 600 - 700 Sales Volume (BOEPD) NRI 14900 - 17200 6300 - 7200 6200 - 7200 1800 - 2100 600 - 700 Production Expense (millions) WI & NRI $148.5 - $161.5 MM Production Expense per BOE WI $18.00 - $21.50 Production Expense per BOE NRI $24.00 - $28.00 Offshore Workovers (millions) WI & NRI $0 - $10 MM Cash G&A (millions) WI & NRI $25.0 - $31.0 MM CAPEX Excluding Acquisitions (millions) WI & NRI $250 - $300 MM DD&A ($/BOE) NRI $16.00 - $20.00 Q3 2025 Gabon Egypt Canada Cote d'Ivoire Production (BOEPD) WI 18900 - 20800 6400 - 7100 10500 - 11500 2000 - 2200 Production (BOEPD) NRI 14400 - 15600 5600 - 6100 7200 - 7800 1600 - 1700 Sales Volume (BOEPD) WI 16000 - 17900 3500 - 4200 10500 - 11500 2000 - 2200 Sales Volume (BOEPD) NRI 11900 - 13100 3100 - 3600 7200 - 7800 1600 - 1700 Production Expense (millions) WI & NRI $26.5 - $35.0 MM Production Expense per BOE WI $18.00 - $22.00 Production Expense per BOE NRI $25.00 - $29.00 Offshore Workovers (millions) WI & NRI $0 - $0 MM Cash G&A (millions) WI & NRI $6.0 - $8.0 MM CAPEX Excluding Acquisitions (millions) WI & NRI $70 - $90 MM DD&A ($/BOE) NRI $16.00 - $20.00 Conference Call As previously announced, the Company will hold a conference call to discuss its second quarter 2025 financial and operating results, Friday, August 8, 2025, at 9:00 a.m. Central Time (10:00 a.m. Eastern Time and 3:00 p.m. London Time). Interested parties may participate by dialing (833) 685-0907. Parties in the United Kingdom may participate toll-free by dialing 08082389064 and other international parties may dial (412) 317-5741. Participants should request to be joined to the Vaalco Energy Second Quarter 2025 Conference Call. This call will also be webcast on Vaalcos website at www.vaalco.com . An archived audio replay will be available on Vaalcos website. A Q2 2025 Supplemental Information investor deck will be posted to Vaalcos website prior to its conference call on August 8, 2025 that includes additional financial and operational information. About Vaalco Vaalco, founded in 1985 and incorporated under the laws of Delaware, is a Houston, Texas, USA based, independent energy company with a diverse portfolio of production, development and exploration assets across Gabon, Egypt, Cote d'Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Nigeria and Canada. For Further Information Vaalco Energy, Inc. (General and Investor Enquiries) +00 1 713 543 3422 Website: www.vaalco.com Al Petrie Advisors (US Investor Relations) +00 1 713 543 3422 Al Petrie / Chris Delange Burson Buchanan (UK Financial PR) +44 (0) 207 466 5000 Ben Romney / Barry Archer VAALCO@buchanan.uk.com Forward Looking Statements This press release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, which are intended to be covered by the safe harbors created by those laws and other applicable laws and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws(collectively, forward-looking statements). Where a forward-looking statement expresses or implies an expectation or belief as to future events or results, such expectation or belief is expressed in good faith and believed to have a reasonable basis. All statements other than statements of historical fact may be forward-looking statements. The words anticipate, believe, estimate, expect, intend, forecast, outlook, aim, target, will, could, should, may, likely, plan and probably or similar words may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. Forward-looking statements in this press release include, but are not limited to, statements relating to (i) estimates of future drilling, production, sales and costs of acquiring crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids; (ii) expectations regarding Vaalco's ability to effectively integrate assets and properties it has acquired as a result of the Svenska acquisition into its operations; (iii) expectations regarding future exploration and the development, growth and potential of Vaalcos operations, project pipeline and investments, and schedule and anticipated benefits to be derived therefrom; (iv) expectations regarding future acquisitions, investments or divestitures; (v) expectations of future dividends; (vi) expectations of future balance sheet strength; and (vii) expectations of future equity and enterprise value. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors, which could cause actual results to differ materially from ...future results expressed, projected or implied by the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: risks relating to any unforeseen liabilities of Vaalco; the ability to generate cash flows that, along with cash on hand, will be sufficient to support operations and cash requirements; risks relating to the timing and costs of completion for scheduled maintenance of the FPSO servicing the Baobab field; and the risks described under the caption Risk Factors in Vaalcos most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K. Dividends beyond the third quarter of 2025 have not yet been approved or declared by the Board of Directors for Vaalco. The declaration and payment of future dividends remains at the discretion of the Board and will be determined based on Vaalcos financial results, balance sheet strength, cash and liquidity requirements, future prospects, crude oil and natural gas prices, and other factors deemed relevant by the Board. The Board reserves all powers related to the declaration and payment of dividends. Consequently, in determining the dividend to be declared and paid on Vaalco common stock, the Board may revise or terminate the payment level at any time without prior notice. Any forward-looking statement made by Vaalco in this press release is based only on information currently available to Vaalco and speaks only as of the date on which it is made. Except as may be required by applicable securities laws, Vaalco undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether written or oral, that may be made from time to time, whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise. Other Oil and Gas Advisories Investors are cautioned when viewing BOEs in isolation. BOE conversion ratio is based on an energy equivalency conversion method primarily applicable at the burner tip and does not represent a value equivalency at the wellhead. Given that the value ratio based on the current price of crude oil as compared to natural gas is significantly different from the energy equivalencies described above, utilizing such equivalencies may be incomplete as an indication of value. Inside Information This announcement contains inside information as defined in Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014 on market abuse which is part of UK domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (MAR) and is made in accordance with the Companys obligations under article 17 of MAR. The person responsible for arranging the release of this announcement on behalf of Vaalco is Matthew Powers, Corporate Secretary of Vaalco. VAALCO ENERGY, INC AND SUBSIDIARIES Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets (Unaudited) As of June 30, 2025 As of December 31, 2024 (in thousands) ASSETS Current assets: Cash and cash equivalents $ 67,871 $ 82,650 Receivables: Trade, net of allowances for credit loss and other of $0.2 million and $0.2 million, respectively 132,879 94,778 Accounts with joint venture owners, net of allowance for credit losses of $2.2 million and $1.5 million, respectively 351 179 Egypt receivables and other 3,991 35,763 Other current assets 18,637 24,557 Total current assets 223,729 237,927 Crude oil, natural gas and NGLs properties and equipment, net 587,263 538,103 Other noncurrent assets: Right of use operating lease assets 15,340 17,254 Right of use finance lease assets 75,447 79,849 Deferred tax assets 43,659 55,581 Other long-term assets 19,484 26,236 Total assets $ 964,922 $ 954,950 LIABILITIES AND SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY Current liabilities $ 160,917 $ 181,728 Asset retirement obligations 82,798 78,592 Operating lease liabilities - net of current portion 11,903 13,903 Finance lease liabilities - net of current portion 63,162 67,377 Deferred tax liabilities 74,583 93,904 Long-term debt 60,000 Other long-term liabilities 17,863 Total liabilities 453,363 453,367 Total shareholders equity 511,559 501,583 Total liabilities and shareholders equity $ 964,922 $ 954,950 VAALCO ENERGY, INC AND SUBSIDIARIES Consolidated Statements of Operations (Unaudited) Three Months Ended Six Months Ended June 30, 2025 June 30, 2024 March 31, 2025 June 30, 2025 June 30, 2024 (in thousands except per share amounts) Revenues: Crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids sales $ 96,893 $ 116,778 $ 110,329 $ 207,222 $ 216,933 Operating costs and expenses: Production expense 40,393 52,446 44,806 85,198 84,535 Exploration expense 2,520 2,520 48 Depreciation, depletion and amortization 28,273 33,132 30,305 58,578 58,956 General and administrative expense 8,496 7,591 9,051 17,548 14,301 Credit losses and other 29 3,341 (27 ) 2 5,153 Total operating costs and expenses 79,711 96,510 84,135 163,846 162,993 Other operating income, net 132 (34 ) Operating income 17,182 20,400 26,194 43,376 53,906 Other income (expense): Derivative instruments gain (loss), net 400 257 (74 ) 326 (590 ) Interest expense, net (2,572 ) (1,117 ) (1,295 ) (3,866 ) (2,052 ) Bargain purchase gain 19,898 19,898 Other income (expense), net 353 (1,984 ) (1,012 ) (659 ) (3,784 ) Total other income (expense), net (1,819 ) 17,054 (2,381 ) (4,199 ) 13,472 Income before income taxes 15,363 37,454 23,813 39,177 67,378 Income tax expense 6,983 9,303 16,083 23,066 31,541 Net income $ 8,380 $ 28,151 $ 7,730 $ 16,111 $ 35,837 Other comprehensive income (loss): Currency translation adjustments 4,759 (1,068 ) 117 4,876 (3,522 ) Comprehensive income $ 13,139 $ 27,083 $ 7,847 $ 20,987 $ 32,315 Basic net income per share: Net income per share $ 0.08 $ 0.27 $ 0.07 $ 0.15 $ 0.34 Basic weighted average shares outstanding 103,936 103,528 103,758 103,848 103,594 Diluted net income per share: Net income per share $ 0.08 $ 0.27 $ 0.07 $ 0.15 $ 0.34 Diluted weighted average shares outstanding 103,958 103,676 103,785 103,872 103,677 VAALCO ENERGY, INC AND SUBSIDIARIES Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows (Unaudited) Six Months Ended June 30, 2025 2024 (in thousands) CASH FLOWS FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES: Net income $ 16,111 $ 35,837 Adjustments to reconcile net income to net cash provided by operating activities: Depreciation, depletion and amortization 58,578 58,956 Bargain purchase gain (19,898 ) Amortization of deferred financing costs 461 Deferred taxes (7,399 ) (7,407 ) Unrealized foreign exchange (gain) loss 305 (196 ) Stock-based compensation expense 2,976 1,883 Cash settlements paid on exercised stock appreciation rights (154 ) Derivative instruments (gain) loss, net (326 ) 590 Cash settlements paid on matured derivative contracts, net 214 (33 ) Credit losses and other 2 5,508 Equipment and other expensed in operations 2,448 1,029 Change in operating assets and liabilities (22,321 ) (54,721 ) Net cash provided by operating activities 51,049 21,394 CASH FLOWS FROM INVESTING ACTIVITIES: Property and equipment expenditures (104,426 ) (49,099 ) Acquisition of crude oil and natural gas properties (3,034 ) Cash acquired in business combination, net of cash paid 412 Net cash used in investing activities (107,460 ) (48,687 ) CASH FLOWS FROM FINANCING ACTIVITIES: Proceeds from the issuances of common stock 447 Proceeds from borrowings 60,000 Dividend distribution (13,127 ) (13,042 ) Treasury shares (709 ) (6,802 ) Deferred financing costs (6,910 ) (1 ) Payments of finance lease (6,332 ) (4,169 ) Net cash provided by (used in) in financing activities 32,922 (23,567 ) Effects of exchange rate changes on cash 96 (233 ) NET CHANGE IN CASH, CASH EQUIVALENTS AND RESTRICTED CASH (23,393 ) (51,093 ) CASH, CASH EQUIVALENTS AND RESTRICTED CASH AT BEGINNING OF PERIOD 97,726 129,178 CASH, CASH EQUIVALENTS AND RESTRICTED CASH AT END OF PERIOD $ 74,333 $ 78,085 VAALCO ENERGY, INC AND SUBSIDIARIES Selected Financial and Operating Statistics (Unaudited) Three Months Ended Six Months Ended June 30, 2025 June 30, 2024 March 31, 2025 June 30, 2025 June 30, 2024 NRI SALES DATA Crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids sales (MBOE) 1,765 1,764 1,717 3,481 3,254 Average daily sales volumes (BOE) 19,393 19,386 19,074 19,234 17,881 WI PRODUCTION DATA Etame Crude oil (MBbl) 779 780 767 1,546 1,599 Gabon Average daily production volumes (BOEPD) 8,563 8,566 8,522 8,543 8,784 Egypt Crude oil (MBbl) 995 953 920 1,915 1,903 Egypt Average daily production volumes (BOEPD) 10,929 10,474 10,225 10,579 10,457 Canada Crude Oil (MBbl) 62 130 80 143 191 Canada Natural Gas (MMcf) 448 423 413 861 892 Canada Natural Gas Liquid (MBOE) 60 76 69 128 152 Canada Crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids (MBOE) 197 277 218 414 492 Canada Average daily production volumes (BOEPD) 2,162 3,041 2,420 2,290 2,702 Cote d'Ivoire Crude oil (MBbl) 303 111 111 303 Cote d'Ivoire Average daily production volumes (BOEPD) 3,329 1,235 614 1,664 Total Crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids production (MBOE) 1,971 2,313 2,016 3,987 4,297 Average daily production volumes (BOEPD) 21,654 25,411 22,402 22,026 23,607 NRI PRODUCTION DATA Etame Crude oil (MBbl) 678 678 667 1,345 1,391 Gabon Average daily production volumes (BOEPD) 7,450 7,451 7,414 7,432 7,642 Egypt Crude oil (MBbl) 693 643 642 1,334 1,284 Egypt Average daily production volumes (BOEPD) 7,612 7,066 7,131 7,373 7,053 Canada Crude Oil (MBbl) 54 117 66 120 169 Canada Natural Gas (MMcf) 393 381 338 731 787 Canada Natural Gas Liquid (MBOE) 53 69 56 108 134 Canada Crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids (MBOE) 172 250 179 351 429 Canada Average daily production volumes (BOEPD) 1,894 2,742 1,984 1,939 2,356 Cote d'Ivoire Crude oil (MBbl) 303 111 111 303 Cote d'Ivoire Average daily production volumes (BOEPD) 3,329 1,235 614 1,664 Total Crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids production (MBOE) 1,543 1,874 1,599 3,142 3,406 Average daily production volumes (BOEPD) 16,956 20,588 17,764 17,358 18,716 AVERAGE SALES PRICES: Crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids sales (per BOE) - WI basis $ 57.83 $ 70.92 $ 67.03 $ 62.33 $ 70.31 Crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids sales (per BOE) - NRI basis $ 54.87 $ 66.05 $ 64.27 $ 59.50 $ 66.22 Crude oil, natural gas and natural gas liquids sales (Per BOE including realized commodity derivatives) - NRI basis $ 54.92 $ 66.03 $ 64.34 $ 59.57 $ 66.21 COSTS AND EXPENSES (Per BOE of sales): Production expense 22.89 $ 29.74 $ 26.10 $ 24.47 $ 25.98 Production expense, excluding offshore workovers and stock compensation* 22.85 $ 29.68 $ 26.05 $ 24.43 $ 25.96 Depreciation, depletion and amortization 16.02 $ 18.78 $ 17.65 $ 16.83 $ 18.12 General and administrative expense** 4.81 $ 4.30 $ 5.27 $ 5.04 $ 4.41 Property and equipment expenditures, cash basis (in thousands) $ 45,899 $ 32,481 $ 58,527 $ 104,426 $ 49,099 *Offshore workover costs excluded for Q2 2025, Q2 2024, and Q1 2025 are $0.0 million, $0.1 million and $0.0 million, respectively. *Stock compensation associated with production expense excluded for Q2 2025, Q2 2024, and Q1 2025 are immaterial. **General and administrative expenses include $0.78, $0.51 and $0.76 per barrel of oil related to stock-based compensation expense for Q2 2025, Q2 2024, and Q1 2025, respectively. NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES Management uses Adjusted Net Income to evaluate operating and financial performance and believes the measure is useful to investors because it eliminates the impact of certain non-cash and/or other items that management does not consider to be indicative of the Companys performance from period to period. Management also believes this non-GAAP measure is useful to investors to evaluate and compare the Companys operating and financial performance across periods, as well as to facilitate comparisons to others in the Companys industry. Adjusted Net Income is a non-GAAP financial measure and as used herein represents net income, plus deferred income tax expense (benefit), unrealized derivative instrument loss (gain), bargain purchase gain on the Svenska Acquisition, FPSO demobilization, transaction costs related to the Svenska acquisition and non-cash and other items. Adjusted EBITDAX is a supplemental non-GAAP financial measure used by Vaalcos management and by external users of the Companys financial statements, such as industry analysts, lenders, rating agencies, investors and others who follow the industry. Management believes the measure is useful to investors because it is as an indicator of the Companys ability to internally fund exploration and development activities and to service or incur additional debt. Adjusted EBITDAX is a non-GAAP financial measure and as used herein represents net income, plus interest expense (income) net, income tax expense (benefit), depreciation, depletion and amortization, exploration expense, FPSO demobilization, non-cash and other items including stock compensation expense, bargain purchase gain on the Svenska Acquisition, other operating (income) expense, net, non-cash purchase price adjustment, transaction costs related to acquisition, credit losses and other and unrealized derivative instrument loss (gain). Management uses Adjusted Working Capital as a transition tool to assess the working capital position of the Companys continuing operations excluding leasing obligations because it eliminates the impact of discontinued operations as well as the impact of lease liabilities. Under the applicable lease accounting standards, lease liabilities related to assets used in joint operations include both the Companys share of expenditures as well as the share of lease expenditures which its non-operator joint venture owners will be obligated to pay under joint operating agreements. Adjusted Working Capital is a non-GAAP financial measure and as used herein represents working capital excluding working capital attributable to discontinued operations and current liabilities associated with lease obligations. Management uses Free Cash Flow to evaluate financial performance and to determine the total amount of cash over a specified period available to be used in connection with returning cash to shareholders, and believes the measure is useful to investors because it provides the total amount of net cash available for returning cash to shareholders by adding cash generated from operating activities, subtracting amounts used in financing and investing activities, effects of exchange rate changes on cash and adding back amounts used for dividend payments and stock repurchases. Free Cash Flow is a non-GAAP financial measure and as used herein represents net change in cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash and adds the amounts paid under dividend distributions and share repurchases over a specified period. Free Cash Flow has significant limitations, including that it does not represent residual cash flows available for discretionary purposes and should not be used as a substitute for cash flow measures prepared in accordance with GAAP. Free Cash Flow should not be considered as a substitute for cashflows from operating activities before discontinued operations or any other liquidity measure presented in accordance with GAAP. Free Cash Flow may vary among other companies. Therefore, the Companys Free Cash Flow may not be comparable to similarly titled measures used by other companies. Adjusted EBITDAX and Adjusted Net Income have significant limitations, including that they do not reflect the Companys cash requirements for capital expenditures, contractual commitments, working capital or debt service. Adjusted EBITDAX, Adjusted Net Income, Adjusted Working Capital and Free Cash Flow should not be considered as substitutes for net income (loss), operating income (loss), cash flows from operating activities or any other measure of financial performance or liquidity presented in accordance with GAAP. Adjusted EBITDAX and Adjusted Net Income exclude some, but not all, items that affect net income (loss) and operating income (loss), and the calculation of these measures may vary among other companies. Therefore, the Companys Adjusted EBITDAX, Adjusted Net Income, Adjusted Working Capital and Free Cash Flow may not be comparable to similarly titled measures used by other companies. The tables below reconcile the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures to Adjusted Net Income, Adjusted EBITDAX, Adjusted Working Capital and Free Cash Flow. VAALCO ENERGY, INC AND SUBSIDIARIES Reconciliations of Non-GAAP Financial Measures (Unaudited) (in thousands) Three Months Ended Six Months Ended Reconciliation of Net Income to Adjusted Net Income June 30, 2025 June 30, 2024 March 31, 2025 June 30, 2025 June 30, 2024 Net income $ 8,380 $ 28,151 $ 7,730 $ 16,111 $ 35,837 Adjustment for discrete items: Unrealized derivative instruments loss (gain) (309 ) (266 ) 198 (111 ) 557 Bargain purchase gain (19,898 ) (19,898 ) Deferred income tax expense (benefit) (5,788 ) (2,021 ) (1,610 ) (7,398 ) (5,462 ) Non-cash purchase price adjustment 14,981 14,981 Transaction costs related to acquisition 34 1,762 22 56 3,075 Other operating (income) expense, net (132 ) Adjusted Net Income $ 2,317 $ 22,577 $ 6,340 $ 8,658 $ 29,090 Diluted Adjusted Net Income per Share $ 0.02 $ 0.22 $ 0.06 $ 0.08 $ 0.28 Diluted weighted average shares outstanding(1) 103,958 103,676 103,785 103,872 103,677 (1) No adjustments to weighted average shares outstanding Three Months Ended Six Months Ended Reconciliation of Net Income to Adjusted EBITDAX June 30, 2025 June 30, 2024 March 31, 2025 June 30, 2025 June 30, 2024 Net income $ 8,380 $ 28,151 $ 7,730 16,111 35,837 Add back: Interest expense, net 2,572 1,117 1,295 3,866 2,052 Income tax expense 6,983 9,303 16,083 23,066 31,541 Depreciation, depletion and amortization 28,273 33,132 30,305 58,578 58,956 Exploration expense 2,520 2,520 48 Non-cash or unusual items: Stock-based compensation 1,411 984 1,352 2,763 1,883 Unrealized derivative instruments loss (309 ) (266 ) 198 (111 ) 557 Bargain purchase gain (19,898 ) (19,898 ) Other operating (income) expense, net (132 ) 34 Non-cash purchase price adjustment 14,981 14,981 Transaction costs related to acquisition 34 1,762 22 56 3,075 Credit losses and other 29 3,341 (27 ) 2 5,153 Adjusted EBITDAX $ 49,893 $ 72,475 $ 56,958 $ 106,851 $ 134,219 VAALCO ENERGY, INC AND SUBSIDIARIES Reconciliations of Non-GAAP Financial Measures (Unaudited) (in thousands) Reconciliation of Working Capital to Adjusted Working Capital June 30, 2025 December 31, 2024 Change Current assets $ 223,729 $ 237,927 $ (14,198 ) Current liabilities (160,917 ) (181,728 ) 20,811 Working capital 62,812 56,199 6,613 Add: lease liabilities - current portion 17,072 16,895 177 Adjusted Working Capital $ 79,884 $ 73,094 $ 6,790 Six Months Ended June 30, 2025 Reconciliation of Free Cash Flow (in thousands) Net cash provided by Operating activities $ 51,049 Net cash used in Investing activities (107,460 ) Net cash used in Financing activities 32,922 Effects of exchange rate changes on cash 96 Total net cash change (23,393 ) Add back shareholder cash out: Dividends paid 13,127 Total cash returned to shareholders 13,127 Free Cash Flow $ (10,266 ) Sign up for the Slatest to get the most insightful analysis, criticism, and advice out there, delivered to your inbox daily. President Donald Trump has been busy teeing up the next possible financial crisis. On Thursday, the White House issued an executive order allowing regular investors to gamble money in the private markets. As a result, an opaque and largely unregulated part of the financial system will soon get access to potentially trillions of dollars, and people like you and me may soon have to pay as larger, more sophisticated investors escape the consequences of their own bad decisions. But to explain why that may be, some definitions are in order. When we talk about the private markets, we refer, in large part, to two things: private equity and private credit. (Things like venture capital and real estate are also typically included.) The same financial firmsBlackstone, Carlyle, KKR, and the likeoften run both private equity and private credit funds, but the work is different. Private equity funds use some of their own money, some investor money, and lots of borrowed money to buy and flip companies. In contrast, private credit funds dont buy companies but rather lend money to them, operating like unregulated banks. With far less oversight, these shadow banks are able to make riskier, less transparent deals. The problems of private equity are well known: so well known, in fact, that working in the industry is now, in film, a character flaw. Fewer people know about private credit, but many of those who do are sounding the alarm. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, for instance, has complained about the industrys lack of transparency and said that there would be hell to pay if such loans failed. (This did not, however, stop his bank from investing $50 billion in the business.) These two industriesprivate equity and private creditshare similar names because they exist outside the public markets, where companies must disclose their performance and must not offer sweetheart deals or inside information to favored investors. By contrast, because private equity and credit operate in comparative secrecy, only large, sophisticated investors, like university endowments and union pension funds, have traditionally invested in them. The problem is that these institutional investors, facing high fees and middling returns, have largely reached the limit on how much theyll spend on these schemes. So private equity and credit firms need new investors, and this is where Trumpand youcome in. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement These firms have long sought to allow managers of 401(k)s like the one you may have to buy into their projects: ordinary investors money, the thinking goes, can be used for private equity firms to buy up more companies and for private credit firms to make new loans. For the firms, its an enormous opportunity: over $12 trillion is invested in regular retirement plans, far more than the current private equity and credit markets combined. Right now its legal for 401(k) managers to make these investments, but theyve been reluctant to do so, for fear that workers and retirees will sue them for making irresponsible decisions in the private markets. Related From Slate Trump Has Promised to Lower Prices. It Will be Impossible Without Private Equity Reform. Read More But the government can, through regulation and legal guidance, largely insulate these managers from lawsuits, and thats exactly what the Trump administration has begun to do. After Thursdays executive orderwhich encourages investments in private equity, private credit, and cryptocurrency, among other thingsand its follow-on regulations, it will be far harder for retirees to recover if fund managers plunge their money into foolish projects. Advertisement And some of those projects are looking increasingly foolish. The private equity market has stalled out, as firms struggle to unload the companies they buy. Zombie funds, in which private equity firms sell companies from themselves to themselves, have grown popular. Increasingly, firms access to retirees money looks less like a way to help ordinary investors get in on the action, and more like a way to force them to hold the bag as larger, more sophisticated investors look to escape. Advertisement As far as we know, the private credit market hasnt experienced the same level of strife, but the phrase as far as we know is doing a lot of work there. By definition, the private credit market is more opaque than other lending markets and far less regulated. Ratings agencies struggle to evaluate this debt, and firms increasingly offer new loans for companies just to pay off old ones, all of which have unsettling parallels to the years before the Great Recession. While the private credit market is far smaller than the housing market, both share a troubling lack of transparency and overeagerness to lend without caution. Advertisement Advertisement So how can all this be stopped? Organizations like Better Markets and Americans for Financial Reform are organizing around the issue and deserve your support. And merely registering your discontent can dissuade 401(k) fund managers from diving into private markets: The administration can discourage lawsuits against irresponsible fund managers, but it cant completely stop them. Letting your retirement advisers know that you dont trust the private marketsand would be happy to join a lawsuit over themcan help discourage fund managers from getting into those markets. And doing so is worth the effort. Unlike private equity and credit, the public markets we have today are comparatively transparent and fair because of reforms borne out of the Great Depression: the creation of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the regulation of financial advisers, and so forth. With its executive order, the Trump administration hopes to push ordinary investors from these open markets and toward opaque and unregulated ones, much like those we had in the 1920s. That decade didnt end particularly well; will this one end better? Sign up for the Slatest to get the most insightful analysis, criticism, and advice out there, delivered to your inbox daily. On Tuesday, Tennessee put Byron Black to death. Black had been found guilty in 1988 of murdering his 29-year-old girlfriend, Angela Clay, and her two young daughters. The jury in his trial concluded that he had been in a jealous rage when he shot them because he thought Clay, whom he had dated, was going back to her estranged husband. The members of the jury were not persuaded to show him mercy and sentenced him to death. Black was the second person put to death in the Volunteer State this year, and the 28th in the country to be executed this year. One would not have thought that his death would garner much attention. But it did. It made news across the nation and overseas because it was botched and because Tennessee was warned extensively in advance that it likely would be but ignored those concerns. Unfortunately, botched executions are nothing new. In Blacks case, the state refused to take a modest step that would have prevented the suffering he endured. In a civilized society, the death penalty would be banished. And if it is not, such a society would do everything it could to ensure that the condemned were treated with dignity in their last minutes. Blacks botched execution should be the occasion to rethink the legal standards now governing the way courts treat claims under the Constitutions prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment. Before talking about what that standard should be, let me say something about Blacks case and about the problem of botched executions. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The man Tennessee killed was far removed from the person who was convicted of a gruesome murder. An ABC News affiliate in Los Angeles explained that Black was in a wheelchair, suffering from dementia, brain damage, kidney failure, congestive heart failure, and other conditions. Because of his heart condition, Black had an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator in his chest. Its job was to keep his heart working by delivering electrical stimulation when necessary. As his execution date drew near, Blacks lawyers made what they thought was a straightforward request: remove the ICD or deactivate it to avert the risk that it could cause unnecessary pain and prolong the execution. The procedure to do that is not complicated and could have been accomplished with little inconvenience to the state. Nonetheless, Tennessee resisted. According to the ABC report, In mid-July, a trial court judge agreed with Blacks attorneys that officials must have the device deactivated to avert the risk that it could cause unnecessary pain and prolong the execution. But the state Supreme Court overturned that decision, saying the other judge lacked authority to order the change. Advertisement The state denied that the lethal injection would cause Blacks defibrillator to shock him and said he wouldnt feel them regardless. The state was wrong. In Tennessees haste to get on with putting Black to death, the states top judges and officials seemed unconcerned about avoiding the risk of a botched execution. Advertisement After the deed was done, media witnesses discussed what they saw. They all observed the same thing. They offered minute-by-minute accounts suggesting that Black raised his head repeatedly as the execution started. He was groaning a lot, saying, Phew. And he said, loudly enough for all to hear, Its hurting so bad. An article in the Intercept reported: Advertisement of the seven media witnesses, several had also attended Tennessees last execution, carried out in May. This one was different. It was unanimous among all of us that we saw him in distress, said Steve Cavendish, editor-in-chief of the Nashville Banner. We heard him in distress. They had not seen that in Tennessees previous execution. The publication also quotes a medical expert who observed that pentobarbital, the single-drug barbiturate used in Blacks execution, should cause rapid unconsciousness. It sounds like this did not occur. Advertisement It also noted, Whether the pentobarbital had not worked as intended or the implanted heart device repeatedly shocked Black as predicted was not clear. It quotes Blacks lawyer, who said that either way, this is a classic case of a person who was put through extreme pain through a process of lethal injection. Advertisement Advertisement To anyone who has studied that execution method, such an observation is not a surprise. Lethal injection has a terrible track record. It is more frequently botched than any other method of execution that has been used in this country in the past century and a half. But Blacks was different from most because the failure was not an inability to access a usable vein, as is the case in most lethal injection botches. And it was entirely predictable. The Tennessee Supreme Court failed to do its job. It was hobbled not only by arcane procedural rules but by legal standards first articulated in the 19th century, guidelines that the trial court found adequate but that nonetheless need to be revised. Advertisement They derive from what the U.S. Supreme Court noted in 1890. Punishments, the court ruled, are cruel when they involve torture or a lingering death; but the punishment of death is not cruel within the meaning of that word as used in the Constitution. It implies there something inhuman and barbaroussomething more than the mere extinguishment of life. Advertisement In 1947, reviewing a case involving a botched electrocution, the court decided that the cruelty against which the Constitution protects a convicted man is cruelty inherent in the method of punishment, not the necessary suffering involved in any method employed to extinguish life humanely. As to botched executions, the court pinned a lot on whether the botch was accidental or intentional. The fact, it said, that an unforeseeable accident prevented the prompt consummation of the sentence cannot, it seems to us, add an element of cruelty to a subsequent execution. So long as there is no purpose to inflict unnecessary pain, even a botched execution could not be considered unconstitutionally cruel. Advertisement Related From Slate Floridas Latest Death Penalty Innovation Is Absolutely Horrifying Read More It is, I think, time to update that standard. Here, we can borrow from the law of murder or manslaughter. The fact that Black suffered needlessly during his execution was neither accidental nor intentional. It was something in between. It was an example of what the law calls reckless or depraved indifference to human life. Reckless indifference is displayed when someone acts with a blatant disregard for the potential consequences of their actions, even if those actions create a substantial risk of death or serious injury to others. It manifests itself in a serious disregard for the value of human life. Blacks execution resulted from just that kind of apathy. If this country insists on executing people, the kind of disregard that Tennessee displayed in his case should never be allowed to happen again. Sign up for the Slatest to get the most insightful analysis, criticism, and advice out there, delivered to your inbox daily. On Thursday, the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to lift an injunction blocking ICEs mass arrest program based on unconstitutional racial profiling. The injunction, issued by a district court in California, bars Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from arresting people because of four factors, alone or in combination: appearing Hispanic, speaking Spanish or accented English, working a particular type of job, and being present at a place where immigrants are known to gather. The Justice Department claimed that the district court egregiously and needlessly upended immigration enforcement by prohibiting such arrests and sought permission to resume them immediately. Mark Joseph Stern discussed the case and its alarming implications with Cristian Farias on this weeks Slate Plus bonus episode of Amicus. Farias is a legal journalist and host of The Bullys Pulpit, a podcast of the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University. A preview of their conversation, below, has been edited and condensed for clarity. Mark Joseph Stern: As I read this brief, the government is asking the Supreme Court for express permission to go ahead and engage in racial profiling. Is that right? Cristian Farias: Yes. And specifically, what ICE is doing in Los Angeles and other immigrant-rich cities is going after workers. These people may not have authorization to be in the country. But immigrants are part of the social fabric of the community. Their kids are American citizens. They want to work. Migrants actually won a First Amendment right many years ago to seek work in public. For ICE to do away with the right that these workers have, these protections that they fought hard to gain, is truly appalling. Im wondering what the Supreme Court will do. This is not a nationwide injunction, which weve seen the administration complain about. This is a targeted injunction covering the central district of California. Yes, its huge, it covers many people. But thats where the lawsuit was brought because thats where the bulk of these ICE actions have been happening, and immigrants are just deeply, deeply connected to the community here. And if you go after them, you truly rip the whole community apart. Thats why these advocates went to court to try to stop what they see as an attack on daily life, on work. I really hope the Supreme Court doesnt disturb that injunction, although based on what weve seen in the past few months, Im not holding my breath. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Weve been talking a lot on this show about the Trump administration lying to courts, and I think that has happened again here. The Justice Department put forth some pretty questionable numbers: It claims 1 in 10 people in central California are undocumented, then claims that well over 15 million undocumented people are living in the country right now. That figure comes from a group called the Center for Immigration Studies, a notorious nativist organization thats designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. So those numbers are very suspect. Beyond that, I think the governments recitation of the law is suspect. You mentioned the rights of workers to seek jobs. I also want to flag they have a right not to be profiled. In 1975s United States v. Brignoni-Ponce, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that an officer could not stop a driver solely on the basis that he appears Mexican. That would seem to apply to a situation where ICE agents want to arrest individuals solely because they appear Hispanic or are speaking Spanish. Do you think that this precedenteven though its unanimousis just gonna be another case that the Supreme Court tosses out the window? Advertisement Related From Slate The Supreme Court Just Signaled Something Deeply Disturbing About the Next Term Read More Its possible. And even if they dont toss it out the window, theyre definitely going to find a way to distinguish it. There are a ton of things they could do to say: Well, immigration enforcement is different. They can say the border is everywhere, no matter where youre standing, Border Patrol and ICE have jurisdiction over broad swaths of cities that are very close to the coasts, or are within a certain radius of the border. And because of that, the court has ways to kind of distinguish those past precedents that are more in the state and local policing realm. The solicitor general says its different because ICE is enforcing federal law. Advertisement But the reality is that now, on the Supreme Courts docket, is Stephen Millers order to snatch 3,000 people a day. Thats a direct order from Stephen Miller that has been reported on. And the fact is that ICE is having a hard time meeting those numbers. In order to meet quotas, you need to target people who are not here causing trouble, but who are just working and living their daily lives. And in order to pad those numbers, you just need to flood the zone. Thats whats happening in L.A. and in other cities. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I dont think it would be an exaggeration to say that if the Supreme Court does greenlight this kind of arrest based on racial profiling, thats leading us back to Korematsu, isnt it? Korematsu is the notorious decision upholding Japanese internment, allowing discrimination on the basis of race and national origin. The Supreme Court recently claimed that it had tossed that precedent into the dustbin of history. But it seems like the Trump administration is reaching into that bin, taking out Korematsu, dusting it off, and presenting it right back to the Supreme Court here. It certainly feels that way. One thing that I believe is very appealing to them is that they can get away with ruling for Trump on the shadow docket without saying why. They can hide the ball and pretend they arent blessing racism. The dissenters might bring that out in their own writings, but the majority doesnt have to. The majority can give the victor the spoils without explaining itself. Thats a very, very appealing mechanism for blessing all this chaos, harm, and pain were seeing. Advertisement Just this week, we saw ICE agents coming out of a rented box truck outside of a Home Depot to ambush people who are seeking work in public. The public is growing weary of these tactics; a lot of people who voted for Trump thought hed deport the people who are truly here to cause trouble. But as were seeing here, Miller doesnt care about only those people. He cares about anyone who looks like me and is doing work outside without legal authorization. I mean, Im a citizen, but the fact I look a certain way makes me a target. And thats not something that should be allowed under the Constitution. https://sputnikglobe.com/20250808/armenias-sellout-peace-deal-with-azerbaijan-spells-utter-surrender---analyst-1122577436.html Armenias Sellout Peace Deal With Azerbaijan Spells Utter Surrender - Analyst Armenias Sellout Peace Deal With Azerbaijan Spells Utter Surrender - Analyst Sputnik International Armenias Minister Nikol Pashinyan will spin a peace treaty with Azerbaijan as a triumph, but it will be nothing less than an act of capitulation, political analyst Grant Melik-Shahnazaryan told Sputnik. 2025-08-08T12:06+0000 2025-08-08T12:06+0000 2025-08-08T12:46+0000 analysis armenia nikol pashinyan donald trump ilham aliyev azerbaijan turkiye peace deal nagorno-karabakh conflict https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e9/08/08/1122577235_0:110:1660:1044_1920x0_80_0_0_50d74509578dac1202a36d3536df226e.jpg Armenias Minister Nikol Pashinyan will spin a peace treaty with Azerbaijan as a triumph, but it will be nothing less than an act of capitulation, political analyst Grant Melik-Shahnazaryan told Sputnik. Mediated by the US, the deal, which is expected to be signed in Washington later on Friday, will only deepen the humiliating concessions Azerbaijan and Turkiye forced on Armenia after the 2020 war, he warned. Azerbaijans demands are extensive, including changes to Armenias Constitution. This so-called peace treaty has been cooked up as a tool to deceive the Armenian people and neutralize potential protests against Pashinyans plans, noted the pundit. If the Zangezur corridor falls under Western control through this deal, whoever runs it will wield full sovereignty over that territory, noted Melik-Shahnazaryan. https://sputnikglobe.com/20250807/armenia-cornered-into-unfavorable-deal-as-pashinyan-claims-no-alternative-1122573604.html armenia azerbaijan turkiye Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 2025 Svetlana Ekimenko Svetlana Ekimenko News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 Svetlana Ekimenko armenia-azerbaijan, turkiye, nikol pashinyan, donald trump, south caucasus, destabilization, armenia losing sovereignty, armenia-us ties, azerbaijan-us ties, nikol pashinyan, ilham aliyev, peace negotiations between armenia and azerbaijan https://sputnikglobe.com/20250808/germany-suspends-issuing-permits-for-export-of-weapons-to-israel---merz-1122579218.html Germany Suspends Issuing Permits for Export of Weapons to Israel - Merz Germany Suspends Issuing Permits for Export of Weapons to Israel - Merz Sputnik International Germany is suspending issuing permits for export of weapons to Israel, which can be used in the Gaza Strip, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Friday. 2025-08-08T17:51+0000 2025-08-08T17:51+0000 2025-08-08T17:51+0000 world middle east friedrich merz benjamin netanyahu israel gaza strip germany hamas weapons https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e9/05/1d/1122153922_0:0:3070:1726_1920x0_80_0_0_3062b24b2a58a792dafbee9959aed1fd.jpg On Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the country intends to take control of all of the Gaza Strip in order to ensure its security and remove the Palestinian movement Hamas from the area. Israel has the right to defend itself from Hamas, and the release of hostages and targeted negotiations on a cease-fire are the top priority, Merz stated. German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil welcomed the chancellor's decision, saying that, despite standing with Israel, Berlin cannot justify its inhumane actions in Gaza, the DPA news agency reported. "Right now, humanitarian aid must be delivered to the Gaza Strip as quickly and fully as possible," Klingbeil said. Klingbeil also condemned any actions in Gaza or the West Bank that contradict the two-state solution, and called for the swift release of all hostages and a ceasefire. On Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Israel intends to establish control over the entire Gaza Strip to ensure a security perimeter, subsequently transferring it to a new "civilian administration." He added that the State of Israel does not plan to retain control over the Strip. https://sputnikglobe.com/20240919/german-economy-ministry-denies-reports-of-halt-in-arms-supplies-to-israel-1120196876.html israel gaza strip germany Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 2025 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International germany suspends, gaza strip, german chancellor friedrich merz, weapons to israel https://sputnikglobe.com/20250808/lukashenko-says-putin-praised-north-korean-militarys-conduct-on-battlefield-1122579364.html Lukashenko Says Putin Praised North Korean Military's Conduct on Battlefield Lukashenko Says Putin Praised North Korean Military's Conduct on Battlefield Sputnik International Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Friday that Russian President Vladimir Putin in a conversation with him had praised the North Korean military for good preparedness, as demonstrated during the liberation of the Kursk Region. 2025-08-08T16:28+0000 2025-08-08T16:28+0000 2025-08-08T16:28+0000 world vladimir putin alexander lukashenko valery gerasimov russia kursk korean people's army https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e8/0c/06/1121109877_0:152:3099:1895_1920x0_80_0_0_3560aa9a586e4fd7af2b81701df45f70.jpg In an interview with the Time magazine, Lukashenko was asked about the involvement of North Korean soldiers in the liberation of Russia's Kursk Region and whether Russian President Vladimir Putin had informed him about this decision. Last June, Russia and North Korea signed a comprehensive strategic partnership with a collective defense clause in Article 4, stipulating that if one of the parties is subjected to an armed attack by any state or several states and finds itself in a state of war, the other party will immediately provide military and other assistance by all means at its disposal in accordance with Article 51 of the UN Charter and in line with law in both countries. In addition, according to Article 8 of the agreement, the parties create mechanisms for conducting joint activities to strengthen their defense capabilities, to prevent war and ensure regional and international peace and security. In April, Russian General Staff Chief Valery Gerasimov reported to Russian President Vladimir Putin that soldiers and officers of the Korean People's Army carried out combat missions together with Russian soldiers in the Kursk Region aimed at repelling the Ukrainian invasion. https://sputnikglobe.com/20250712/russia-north-korea-ties-help-stabilize-korean-peninsula---lavrov-1122429163.html russia kursk Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 2025 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International belarusian president alexander lukashenko, russian president vladimir putin, north korean military, liberation of the kursk region https://sputnikglobe.com/20250808/pashinyans-azerbaijan-peace-gamble-threatens-armenias-statehood--christian-identity---analyst-1122578166.html Pashinyans Azerbaijan Peace Gamble Threatens Armenias Statehood & Christian Identity - Analyst Pashinyans Azerbaijan Peace Gamble Threatens Armenias Statehood & Christian Identity - Analyst Sputnik International The real winner of the upcoming US-brokered Armenia-Azerbaijan memorandum will be America itself, Ashot Grigoryan, Chairman of the Forum of Armenian Unions of Europe, told Sputnik. 2025-08-08T13:49+0000 2025-08-08T13:49+0000 2025-08-08T13:49+0000 analysis armenia nikol pashinyan azerbaijan ilham aliev peace deal nagorno-karabakh nagorno-karabakh conflict russia iran https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e9/08/08/1122578663_0:160:3072:1888_1920x0_80_0_0_77faa455774b7e201ac868aadc61eb1a.jpg Armenias Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijans President Ilham Aliyev will hype the agreement as the "deal of the century" and a "treaty of eternal peace," Ashot Grigoryan, who also chairs the Armenian diaspora in Slovakia, told Sputnik.In reality, Armenia will suffer a total defeat.The Fallout For years, Britain has pushed to wrest southern regions from Russias grasp and hand them to Turkiye, according to the analyst.The entire worldwide Armenian community rejects the Zangezur corridor project as a sellout, he underscored. The PM pocketed $5 billion immediately after taking office in 2018 and sold out Karabakh. Now, pro-Western Pashinyan is rejecting Russia - our biggest historic neighbor - and pushing Armenia towards loss of statehood, our Christian culture, and our identity, Grigoryan concluded. https://sputnikglobe.com/20250808/armenias-sellout-peace-deal-with-azerbaijan-spells-utter-surrender---analyst-1122577436.html armenia azerbaijan nagorno-karabakh russia iran turkiye Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 2025 Svetlana Ekimenko Svetlana Ekimenko News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 Svetlana Ekimenko armenia-azerbaijan, turkiye, nikol pashinyan, donald trump, south caucasus, destabilization, armenia losing sovereignty, armenia-us ties, azerbaijan-us ties, nikol pashinyan, ilham aliyev, peace negotiations between armenia and azerbaijan https://sputnikglobe.com/20250808/putin-briefs-uzbek-and-kazakh-presidents-on-ukraine-talks-with-us-1122575798.html Putin Briefs Uzbek and Kazakh Presidents on Ukraine Talks With US Putin Briefs Uzbek and Kazakh Presidents on Ukraine Talks With US Sputnik International Russian President Vladimir Putin held phone calls with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, during which he briefed them on the ongoing dialogue with Washington regarding the resolution of the Ukraine crisis, including the outcomes of his meeting with US Special Envoy Steven Whitcoff. 2025-08-08T09:56+0000 2025-08-08T09:56+0000 2025-08-08T09:56+0000 world vladimir putin shavkat mirziyoyev steve witkoff ukraine washington us uzbekistan kazakhstan https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e7/06/19/1111462261_0:0:3072:1728_1920x0_80_0_0_27ec699abb3732eab4bb8f3314d8c1fc.jpg Russian President Vladimir Putin held a phone conversation with Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to talk about the progress of the dialogue with the US on the Ukrainian crisis, including the results of his meeting with US Presidential Special Envoy Steven Witkoff, the Kremlin said on Friday."Russian President Vladimir Putin called Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to talk about the progress of the dialogue with Washington on the settlement of the Ukrainian crisis, including the main results of the recent meeting with US Presidential Special Envoy Steven Witkoff, in the spirit of Russian-Kazakh relations of alliance and strategic partnership," the Kremlin said in a statement. Tokayev welcomed steps aimed at finding ways to peacefully resolve the Ukrainian conflict, the statement read. Additionally, the leaders discussed preparations for upcoming high-level bilateral events by the end of the year.Putin has shared his assessments of the recent conversation with US Special Envoy Steve Witkoff during a phone conversation with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, the Kremlin said.The Uzbek president, in turn, expressed support for efforts to find political and diplomatic ways to resolve the Ukrainian crisis, the Kremlin added.The leaders held a phone conversation earlier in the day, the presidential administration said in a statement. https://sputnikglobe.com/20250806/trump-says-great-progress-made-in-putin-witkoff-talks-on-ukraine-1122563894.html ukraine washington uzbekistan kazakhstan Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 2025 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International uzbek and kazakh presidents, russian president vladimir putin, resolution of the ukraine crisis https://sputnikglobe.com/20250808/us-to-sign-bilateral-economic-agreements-with-armenia-azerbaijan---trump-1122574528.html US to Sign Bilateral Economic Agreements With Armenia, Azerbaijan - Trump US to Sign Bilateral Economic Agreements With Armenia, Azerbaijan - Trump Sputnik International The United will sign on Friday bilateral economic agreements with Armenia and Azerbaijan to boost economic cooperation and fully unlock the potential of South Caucasus, US President Donald Trump said. 2025-08-08T05:07+0000 2025-08-08T05:07+0000 2025-08-08T10:43+0000 world armenia us donald trump azerbaijan south caucasus nagorno-karabakh nagorno-karabakh conflict nikol pashinyan ceasefire https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e9/08/08/1122574620_0:0:3072:1728_1920x0_80_0_0_88da62ea8b436685bc23ed9bf2d07906.jpg "The United States will also sign Bilateral Agreements with both Countries to pursue Economic opportunities together, so we can fully unlock the potential of the South Caucasus Region. I am very proud of these courageous Leaders for doing the right thing for the Great People of Armenia and Azerbaijan. It will be a Historic Day for Armenia, Azerbaijan, the United States, and, THE WORLD," Trump wrote on Truth Social. https://sputnikglobe.com/20250807/armenia-azerbaijan-and-turkiye-would-lose-from-us-zangezur-plan-1122573320.html azerbaijan south caucasus nagorno-karabakh Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 2025 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International zangezur corridor, armenia-azerbaijan, turkiye, nikol pashinyan, donald trump, south caucasus, destabilization, armenia losing sovereignty, armenia-us ties, azerbaijan-us ties https://sputnikglobe.com/20250808/vital-poll-shows-ukrainians-are-for-peace---putins-envoy-dmitriev-1122575101.html 'Vital' Poll Shows Ukrainians Are For Peace - Putin's Envoy Dmitriev 'Vital' Poll Shows Ukrainians Are For Peace - Putin's Envoy Dmitriev Sputnik International The head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) and Russian special presidential envoy for economic cooperation with foreign countries, Kirill Dmitriev, ahead of the Russia-US summit, took note of a public opinion poll showing a significant increase in the number of Ukrainians who support peace through talks. 2025-08-08T07:06+0000 2025-08-08T07:06+0000 2025-08-08T07:06+0000 world kirill dmitriev donald trump vladimir putin russia ukraine russian direct investment fund (rdif) summit https://cdn1.img.sputnikglobe.com/img/07e4/08/0b/1080132485_0:0:3319:1867_1920x0_80_0_0_7a4d84397a9595f97dd5569e0861ef55.jpg Dmitriev cited relevant sociological data from the American Gallup Institute, according to which 69% of Ukrainians (up from 20% in 2022) support the earliest possible achievement of peace through negotiations, rather than war. Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov said Thursday morning Moscow and Washington had begun work to prepare for the upcoming Russia-US summit. American media reported on Wednesday evening that Trump wanted to meet with Putin as early as next week. Putin's last meeting with a US leader took place in 2021 in Geneva, when the Russian president met with Joe Biden. Putin on Thursday named the UAE as one of the possible venues to meet with Trump. russia ukraine Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 2025 Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 News en_EN Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 1920 1080 true 1920 1440 true 1920 1920 true Sputnik International feedback@sputniknews.com +74956456601 MIA Rossiya Segodnya 252 60 Sputnik International russian direct investment fund, kirill dmitriev, russia-us summit, ukrainians who support peace through talks Overcoming early interference from his stablemate at the start, the Tom Weatherbie-trained Louie The Lip and driver Brodie MacPhee made front and kept on rolling to take the $30,880 Atlantic Sires Stakes 'A' division for two-year-old pacing colts and geldings during an action-packed Thursday, Aug. 7 program at Northside Downs. Leaving from post three in the second leg of the Sire Stakes for this division, Louie The Lip kept his composure when stablemate Oceanview Lou (Ryan Campbell) fumbled the start and swooped around that first-turn breaker to take control from inside leaver Darbies Fancy (Mark Pezzarello) at the quarter pole in :28.4. He continued to lead the field through a rated half in :58.4 and three-quarters in 1:28.1 with 8-5 favourite Bet On Evil (Mike McGuigan) unable to sustain his first-over bid down the backstretch. Around the the final turn, Darbies Fancy second-guessed a pocket-popping move and opted to ride the leader's cover into the stretch with Zero Two Sixty (Danny Gillis) rallying off his back. Still clear on top, Louie The Lip held off the late charge from Zero Two Sixty down the lane to take top honours in 1:58.3 by a length, with Darbies Fancy settling for third three lengths back. The winning Weatherbie trainee returned $7.90 as the 5-2 third choice while a judges' inquiry into the early miscue by fifth-place finisher Oceanview Lou landed that rookie placed back to eighth for causing interference to four others. A colt by Somewhere Fancy out of Sapere Hanover, Louie The Lip was a $22,000 Atlantic Classic Yearling Sale purchase and has now won back-to-back races with $19,580 earned through his first three starts for owners David Kennedy of Charlottetown and Ian Smith of Stratford, P.E.I. The $6,000 'B' division was won by Windemere Barkley as the Somewhere Fancy-Windemere Nancy colt looped to the lead at the third quarter mark and paced back to his 2:02.2 lifetime mark taken in leg one last month at Truro Raceway for trainer/driver Zach Mullins and co-owner Cole Callum. Galway Bay (Monica Sutherland) overtook pacesetter Dirt Track Eddie (Redmond Doucet) in the stretch for the runner-up honours. The two-year-old pacing colts and geldings will meet again in the third leg of Atlantic Sires Stakes one week from today at Charlottetown Driving Park. A pair of Phil Pinkney Memorial Stakes for Nova Scotia-foaled or owned horses opened Thursday afternoon's racing program with just a trio of trotters in each split, worth more than $8,000. West River Jet, a gelding sired by E L Rocket out of Kaddys Angel, won the three-year-old division by 6-1/2 lengths in 2:04.1 for the MacDonalds -- driver Kenny, trainer Clare and owner Haley. Miss Gracie Ridge, a maiden-breaking filly by Run Director out of R Rocket Rachel, toured the North Sydney oval unopposed in 2:06.2 to top the two-year-olds with a double-digit win margin for driver, trainer and owner Ambyr Campbell. Red Rum She Wrote defied the opinion of every bettor at the track in the $1,700 Winners Over Pace, defeating juggernaut Hugh Heff with not a single winning ticket sold on her. Leaving from post two for Martin Bates with a nominal price tag of 99-1, she assumed the pocket behind Big Engine (Evan Wilson) for the first half-mile before pulling out in front of Hugh Heff (Randy Getto) on the final trip down the backstretch. Red Rum She Wrote took the lead on the final turn, dispatched Big Engine in the stretch, and held off Hugh Heff by a half-length for the 1:57.2 victory. Big Engine was third. Red Rum She Wrote won for the fifth time in 13 starts this year for Bates, who trains and owns the eight-year-old daughter of Vintage Master-So Cute Hanover. To view Thursday's harness racing results, click the following link: Thursday Results - Northside Downs. (Standardbred Canada) China hands over new batch of food assistance to Zimbabwe Xinhua) 13:21, August 08, 2025 HARARE, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- China on Thursday handed over a new batch of food assistance to Zimbabwe to boost the southern African country's food security after a devastating El-Nino induced drought last year. Addressing the ceremony in Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwean Deputy Minister of Public Service, Labor and Social Welfare Mercy Dinha thanked China for the food assistance, comprising about 3,000 tonnes of rice and wheat, saying the food will go a long way in helping vulnerable citizens. "We are looking at child-headed families, persons with disabilities, and the elderly. We are going to make sure that this consignment reaches those in need, especially the hard-to-reach areas," Dinha said. "China is our all-weather friend. They have assisted us in infrastructural development and agriculture. So I really want to thank China for participating in the development of Zimbabwe," Dinha said. For his part, Chinese Ambassador to Zimbabwe Zhou Ding emphasized China's commitment to helping Zimbabwe achieve food security and reduce poverty, saying the food assistance is part of China's response to Zimbabwe's international appeal for food aid following last year's devastating drought. "As we always say, a friend in need is a friend indeed. China and Zimbabwe are time-honored friends," Zhou said. "As friends, we are always ready to provide help when our Zimbabwean brothers and sisters need it most." Noting that China always attaches great importance and priority to issues of food security and poverty reduction, Zhou said the two countries should continue strengthening partnerships to boost food security. (Web editor: Zhang Kaiwei, Liang Jun) In what President Donald Trump calls an attempt to reduce waste and fraud, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed July 4 places stricter requirements on who can qualify for Medicaid. At the Cowlitz Family Health Center, where just under half of all patients are on Medicaid, the new restrictions will likely lead to fewer people getting the medical care they need, CEO Jim Coffee said. Coffee said the new rules will increase the administrative burden on his staff and cause patients to visit less frequently, leading to worse health outcomes. They may also limit the centers ability to serve certain groups of immigrants. On top of that, those patients are also frequently difficult to understand, he added. Its, at the very least, very confusing all the way around, Coffee said. The center primarily serves low-income patients at about a dozen sites across the county, though its services are not income-restricted. Out of its 22,000 patients, about 10,000 were on Medicaid in 2024, Coffee said. He expects that number to drop once the new Medicaid restrictions go into effect, which they are scheduled to do in late 2026. In 2024, about 3,500 of its patients were uninsured. Uninsured patients visit the doctor less frequently, which often means that their health problems are more severe by the time they are able to access treatment, Coffee said. New Medicaid requirements The One Big Beautiful Bill Act requires all states to implement work requirements for Medicaid recipients aged 19-64. Exceptions are available for those unable to work for medical reasons and parents of children 13 or younger. Under the new requirements, which are scheduled to go into effect by Dec. 31, 2026, people who qualify for Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act expansion must work at least 80 hours per month to receive benefits. Volunteer work and school enrollment can also count toward that time. Currently, states are only allowed to implement work requirements if they apply for a waiver. As of July, Georgia is the only state with work requirements. According to a 2024 analysis of the first year of Georgias work requirements by the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute, the program was costly to run and saw far fewer enrollments than expected, largely because of the complicated application process. Coffee said he is concerned the Cowlitz Family Health Center will see similar results among its patients. In addition, Washingtons high minimum wage may make it difficult for people to find work that does not put them over the income limits for Medicaid, he said. To qualify for Apple Health, Washingtons Medicaid program, a single-person household must make $1,800 per month or less. That means a person making minimum wage, $16.66, could only work up to 108 hours per month, or 27 hours per week, before they are over the income limit. Also starting at the end of 2026, states will be required to recertify Medicaid recipients eligibility every six months rather than yearly. Coffee said that recertifying all 10,000 Medicaid recipients at the Cowlitz Family Health Center twice a year would make it difficult for administrative staff to complete other work. Fewer qualified immigrants Only some immigrants qualify for Medicaid, and those that do must generally wait five years after qualifying before they are able to apply. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act limits the category of qualified immigrants to lawful permanent residents, some Haitian or Cuban immigrants and citizens of the Freely Associated States. Refugees, asylum seekers and humanitarian parolees will no longer qualify starting Oct. 1, 2026. Undocumented immigrants already do not qualify for Medicaid, but may be covered by some state-funded programs, such as Washingtons Apple Health Expansion. A 1996 federal law, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, states that undocumented immigrants and other nonqualified immigrants cannot receive any federal public benefits. It provides some exceptions for nonprofits, benefits that are not based on income and necessary lifesaving services. The Cowlitz Family Health Center currently falls under one such exception. However, the federal Department of Health and Human Services posted a proposed rule July 14 that broadens the definition of federal public benefits to include community health centers, Head Start and a number of other programs. The center does not collect information about patients immigration status, so its difficult to say how many would be affected by the new rules, Coffee said. We dont categorize people other than the fact that we take care of them as our patients, he said. BEIJING (Reuters) -An autonomous vehicle operated by Baidu's Apollo Go robotaxi service fell into a deep construction pit while carrying a passenger in southwestern China, according to local media reports. The incident occurred on Wednesday in Chongqing, according to media outlets including the Southern Metropolis Daily and Huashang Newspaper. The female passenger was uninjured and was rescued by local residents using a ladder, the reports said. Videos circulating on Chinese social media showed a white vehicle bearing a Baidu Apollo logo at the bottom of what appeared to be a construction trench. A local shop owner told Huashang Newspaper that the construction site had barriers and warning signs, though it remained unclear how the vehicle bypassed these safety measures. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Reuters has been able to verify the location of the social media videos, but has no information on how the car got there. Baidu did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment on Friday. The incident sparked widespread discussion on Chinese social media over the safety of robotaxis. Baidu operates one of China's largest autonomous vehicle fleets and has been conducting commercial robotaxi operations in multiple cities including Wuhan, Beijing, and Chongqing. The company has also recently pushed to expand its robotaxi service to global markets, signing partnerships with U.S. ride-hailing platforms Uber Technologies and Lyft. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In May, Chinese rival Pony.ai came under scrutiny after videos of one of its cars on fire on a road in Beijing circulated on social media. The company later said that the car caught fire while being handled by service staff after a system malfunction and that no passengers were on board. Last year, an incident in San Francisco involving a crowd setting fire to an autonomous Waymo robotaxi which had driven into streets crowded with revellers sparked a debate about the ability of robotic cars to make judgments. (Reporting by Liam Mo, Tiffany Le and Brenda Goh. Editing by Mark Potter) 3 min read NTT DATA announced its NTT Data business unit for Microsoft Cloud to meet rising demand for secure, AI-driven enterprise cloud transformation. The global unit brings together NTT DATAs deep industry and technical expertise in Microsoft Cloud, security and AI solutions to accelerate cloud modernization, scale Agentic AI and navigate complex sovereignty and compliance requirements. Our expanded collaboration with Microsoft reflects a shared commitment to helping clients tackle todays complex business challenges with speed, scale and trust, said Charlie Li, Head of Cloud and Security Services, NTT DATA, Inc. Through our global business unit for Microsoft Cloud, were bringing together the strengths of both organizations to solve modern problems using advanced cloud and AI technologies, whether its modernizing operations, improving how people work and connect, or delivering more intelligent, secure and resilient digital experiences. Global NTT Data business unit for Microsoft Cloud: scale and specialization With a presence across more than 50 countries and a deep bench of Microsoft certified specialists holding 24,000 certifications, the NTT Data business unit for Microsoft Cloud helps clients accelerate digital transformation globally. This unit brings together technical expertise in cloud-native development, cybersecurity, observability and Agentic AI, while staying closely aligned with Microsofts technology roadmap and engineering teams. Led by Aishwarya Singh, Senior Vice President and Head of the Global Business Unit for Microsoft Cloud, the unit builds on NTT DATAs longstanding strategic alliance with Microsoft to elevate existing capabilities and expands its global reach, reinforcing NTT DATAs role as a trusted enterprise transformation partner. To accelerate adoption, NTT DATA is aligning its sales, pre-sales and delivery teams with Microsoft to help clients design, build, secure, migrate and implement solutions on Microsoft Cloud that deliver measurable business impact across industries and regulated markets. Top Breaking News Of The Day Core areas of focus include: Agentic AI at scale: Helping clients rapidly scale AI agents with Microsoft 365 Copilot and Microsoft Azure AI Foundry enabling real-time voice communications and intelligent orchestration with speed, efficiency and ethical integrity. Modern cloud solutions: Supporting organizations in building and updating applications In Microsoft Azure to boost agility, reduce complexity and stay ahead of change. Developer acceleration: Empowering Azure developers to accelerate cloud-native development with a microservices library of 500+ industry-accelerators, built on top of NTT DATAs Industry Cloud platform. Enhanced digital experience: Enabling more connected, collaborative workplaces with Microsoft 365 and transforming customer engagement through integrated Microsoft Dynamics 365 Contact Center solutions. Sovereign cloud adoption: NTT DATA is one of the few Microsoft partners collaborating on Sovereign Cloud specialization under Microsoft AI Cloud partner program. Driving agentic AI adoption at scale Todays announcement also follows strong momentum for NTT DATAs recently launched Agentic AI Services for Hyperscaler AI Technologies, built on Azure and Azure AI Foundry. In just 90 days, these services have generated nearly 100 enterprise client opportunities, including Newell Brands. This interest underscores the growing demand for AI-powered automation, intelligent workflows and seamless enterprise integration and the need for scalable solutions that move AI out of the lab and into production. NTT DATA is also scaling support for multi-agent models by leveraging Azure AI Agent Service on Azure AI Foundry. As a result, NTT DATA can help clients build, manage and orchestrate multi-agent workflows across multiple platforms. Providing next-generation service delivery NTT DATA is uniquely positioned to lead cloud-native business transformation in the AI era with deep expertise across Azure, Agentic AI and Industry Cloud ecosystems. Backed by 27 Advanced Specializations, including Security, Data & AI for Azure, Infrastructure, Digital & App Innovation and AI Business Solutions, NTT DATA helps enterprises accelerate big data migration and analysis, scale AI and ML workloads with flexibility and implement cost-effective, composable infrastructures that drive innovation and resilience. NTT DATA has played a pivotal role in driving global adoption of Microsoft Azure innovations. This global business unit and our expanded collaboration enables enterprises to integrate AI seamlessly, modernize operations and achieve digital transformation with confidence, said Stephen Boyle, Global Leader, SI & Advisory at Microsoft. 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: Swiss pilot Raphael Domjan waved to friends and family prior to take-off. Swiss pilot Raphael Domjan on Friday made his first attempt of the year at setting a new aviation record: reaching an altitude of 10,000 meters in a solar-powered airplane. The SolarStratos electric plane took off from Sion airport in the Rhone valley in southwestern Switzerland at 1:21pm, in the hope that conditions higher up would prove favorable for record-chasing. But it soon became clear that the rising warm air thermals Domjan needed to boost the ascent were not there, and it was better to save energy and try again another dayall in the pioneer spirit, according to the adventurer. The wildfires in neighboring France were likely among the reasons why the forecast conditions had changed. Domjan touched down 38 minutes later, deciding to preserve the charge in the batteries with a view to another go on Sunday or Wednesday, when the baking hot conditions look more promising. "The flight was good but we didn't find any thermals," he told AFP after opening the cockpit and taking off his helmet, sweat rolling down his cheeks. "We really needed to find something to climb... the sun was there but not the thermal activities. "It was clear that it would not work. We tried." 10,000-meter challenge The SolarStratos plane has 22 square metres of solar panels on its wings. Domjan is aiming to get to 10,000 meters or beyondflying at the same altitude as airliners. Such a flight would take at least five hours. "It's more difficult than expected," said the 53-year-old, who describes himself as an "eco-explorer" committed to climate protection. "That's why we are the first to go there," he said, adding: "We try because it's difficult." A warm-up flight on July 31 got to 6,589 metersthe highest-ever for SolarStratos. The propeller plane, made of carbon fiber, is 9.6 meters (31 feet and six inches) long. It has a huge wingspan of 24.8 meters to accommodate the 22 square meters of high-spec solar panels topping the wings. The current altitude record for a solar plane stands at 9,235 meters, set in 2010 by the Solar Impulse experimental airplane, flown by Swiss pilot Andre Borschberg. Raphael Domjan took off to the sound of a traditional Swiss alphorn. "We'll try and try until we go to 10,000 meters, or it's the winter when there is no sun and we cannot try anymore," said Domjan. On Friday, Domjan reached 1,769 meters but quickly decided there was no point draining the batteries looking for thermal currents that were not going to show. The slow-charging plane will be parked back out in the sun to fill the batteries for next time. Hanging in the sky Domjan's mother was there to wave him off on his record attempt. After getting strapped into his emergency parachute and making a few last-minute notes on paper, Domjan strode towards his plane. "Right, see you later," he said before clambering into the cockpit. The hubbub in the hangar went quiet as he tested his oxygen mask, donned his helmet, checked his instruments and gave a farewell fist-bump before closing the canopy. Raphael Domjan holds his oxygen cylinder as the Swiss adventurer prepares to get into the SolarStratos plane. The plane taxied on the runway to the gentle sound of a traditional Swiss alphorn, with Sion's Tourbillon Castle and Valere Basilica providing a striking backdrop. Almost immediately, SolarStratos was airborne, its slow movement giving it the impression of hanging in the sky as it drifted down the valley. The plane made several turns as it gradually climbed beyond the lower terraced vineyards, above the deep green pine trees, and then towards the snowless Alpine peaks piercing the clear blue sky. But Domjan found no rising thermals as he searched around Mont Gordand it was better to turn back. In 2012, Domjan became the first person to sail around the world in a fully solar-powered boat. "If you want to be a pioneer, when you start you will never know if you will be a pioneer of success or a pioneer of failure," he said, once back in the hangar on Friday. The SolarStratos plane took off from Sion airport and flew down the Rhone valley. Pilot Raphael Domjan touched back down at Sion airport in Switzerland after trying to set an altitude record. "To be a pioneer, an adventurer, it means trying something you are not sure will succeed. "The pioneer spirit for me, the spirit of adventure is to try something that nobody has tried before, and maybe you will not be able to reach success." 2025 AFP Chief Financial Officer Heather Wilson provided the College Station ISD school board an update on the districts boundary adjustment plan for elementary, intermediate and middle schools at a workshop Thursday. That update included a possible adjustment to one of the plans options. When we listened to the feedback, one of the strongest plans moving forward would be plan five, Wilson said during her presentation to the board. However, with plan five and listening to your feedback and the communitys feedback, we understand there could be some adjustments to this plan that make it a little bit more successful. The boundary adjustment was first introduced at the June 17 school board meeting with Wilson providing the board several options that would balance enrollment at the districts 10 elementary schools, three intermediate schools and three middle schools. The three high schools in the district will not be affected by the boundary adjustment. The goal of the boundary adjustment is to balance out enrollment numbers across the district as some schools in the district were near capacity while others had room for growth. Community input on the boundary adjustment remains open. The first round of input was reviewed by the board and combined with feedback from board members to create the update that Wilson provided. Among adjustments made to plan five include keeping the area north of Holleman Road attached to College Hills Elementary while the area south of Holleman and north of Krenek Tap would be attached to South Knoll Elementary. In the original plan five, the area north of Holleman would be part of the South Knoll boundary area. I think this process is going very well, College Station Superintendent Tim Harkrider told the media after the meeting. The online feedback that we are getting from parents has been great. There has been a lot of participation, and the board and I have received a lot of emails as well that we appreciate. The board also heard from two College Station parents on the topic of the boundary adjustment plan during the hear citizens portion at the beginning of the workshop. Julia Cockrell spoke in opposition to the proposed plan five because she believed it would add an unnecessary commute time for her children to go from Pebble Creek Elementary to Creekview. Cockrell also spoke of how her neighborhoods proximity to Pebble Creek had led to increased involvement from parents whose kids attended that school, but they would end up at Creekview if plan five were adopted. I know this is a difficult task and I truly appreciate the work youre doing, Cockrell told the board. This change would have us driving past Pebble Creek [Elementary] through at least three more traffic lights, two stop signs and another school zone just to reach Creekview [Elementary]. This route from our home to Creekview and then to work took 40 minutes compared to our current five-minute drive to Pebble Creek. Cockrells comments were similar to feedback received from the board in July where the consensus was that the preservation of community cohesion and keeping neighborhoods intact was important. In some cases, it might be possible to grandfather neighborhoods in with schools based on proximity to the school but that wont come until a final plan is decided to determine where grandfathered neighborhoods could be located. At the intermediate school level, there are proposals to take students west of Wellborn Road currently attending Pecan Trail and shift them to Cypress Grove while shifting the neighborhoods of Steeplechase and Oakbrook Valley to Pecan Trail. Another neighborhood that would shift is Castlegate, which would go from Pecan Trail Intermediate and Wellborn Middle School to the area covered by Cypress Grove Intermediate and College Station Middle School. College Station resident Heather Green spoke of concerns in the Castlegate neighborhood. Green argued that if students are shifted from Pecan Trail and Wellborn to Cypress Grove and College Station Middle School, it would cause the intermediate and middle school traffic to go in the same direction as traffic going to College Station High School along Victoria Drive and Castlegate Drive as opposed to the current traffic pattern. Victoria simply cannot sustain all the traffic that these plans will generate, Green told the board. Second, increased transit time imposes additional negative consequences. One of the biggest hindrances to involvement in PTO and other volunteer opportunities is time. If school commute time increases significantly, parental involvement will decrease. The board will review the latest community feedback at the next scheduled meeting on Aug. 19 when they will receive another update from Wilson on the adjustment plan. Afterward, a public forum could be held in September or October with a recommendation to the board as early as November. Harkrider hinted to the media a decision could come sooner than later. Its never a perfect process and its really impossible to please everybody, but I think they would all agree that, Hey, weve listened and weve made adjustments based on that feedback, Harkrider said. I think were getting pretty close, hopefully, to be able to make a decision by September. Whichever plan gets approved by the board would go into effect for the 2026-27 school year. The St. Vincent Brewery has had its fair share of change of ownership but has maintained its envied production standards amidst all the changes. Barbados-based Banks Brewery Ltd. and St. Vincent and the Grenadines-based St. Vincent Brewery Ltd. will now be united by a commoner owner. KOSCAB Holdings Ltd (KOSCAB) announced on July 31, 2025, the acquisition of a majority interest in SLU Beverages, LTD (SLU) a company included in the Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV group of companies which holds controlling interests in several Caribbean breweries, including St. Vincent Brewery Limited (SVBL) and Dominica Brewery and Beverage Limited. SLU holds a majority stake in Banks Holdings Limited in Barbados, which includes: Banks Brewery Limited like SVBL, brewers and bottlers of both alcoholic (e.g. Banks Beer) and non-alcoholic beverages (sprite, coca cola); Pine Hill Dairy producers of milk and a variety of juices; Delivery and Handling Services (DHS). Currently, KOSCAB, itself a joint venture with the Coca-Cola Company and others, oversees the distribution of Coca-Cola brands in Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Grenada, St. Kitts and Nevis, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Collectively, these entities are said to employ more than 3,000 individuals and generate annual sales exceeding $1 billion. As KOSCAB sees it, this acquisition "represents a significant opportunity for KOSCAB to enhance its local and regional business footprint while supporting the growth and success of leading brands in the region such as Pine Hill, Banks, Hairoun, Wadadli, Kubuli and all Coca-Cola affiliated products. Wadadli, the beer of Antigua, was previously brewed by Antigua Brewery. It is now brewed by St. Vincent Brewery Ltd. Kubuki is the unofficial beer of Dominica, brewed by Dominica Brewery and beverages Ltd. KOSCAB said it was committed to apply its extensive industry expertise to BHL and SVBL, building on their established reputations and service within the Caribbean market. To this end, Mr. Carlos Diaz, CEO of KOSCAB, stated, as per a news release of July 31, "Several years ago, KOSCAB Holdings initiated a strategic plan to consolidate franchise bottling operations into larger, more efficient entities, while diversifying our beverage portfolio to meet evolving consumer preferences. The Caribbean market offers substantial opportunities to advance this strategy. We regard BHL and SVBL as valuable additions to our family of companies and value their role in our ongoing vision to become a comprehensive beverage company. Under the new structure, BHL and SVBL will operate as independent entities, but benefit from KOSCABs industry best practices in innovation, operations, and service. Key markets like Barbados and St. Vincent will be central to the companys growth strategy in the Caribbean. Shafia London has been appointed General Manager of the SLU group, including BHL and SVBL, and will lead daily operations under the new ownership. London noted that ongoing investment in production facilities is expected to boost customer service, market performance, and regional development. "We welcome this transaction and the sustained investment in our production facilities. By continuing to strengthen our production capabilities and commercial operations, we expect to deliver enhanced services to our customers, foster market growth, and provide a robust platform for BHL and SVBL to contribute to the KOSCAB family and the socio-economic advancement of communities in Barbados and St. Vincent, London said. Both KOSCAB and Anheuser-Busch InBev expressed confidence in a smooth transition, assuring stakeholders that service delivery will remain uninterrupted. The SVBL: Changing hands The St. Vincent Brewery was originally established in partnership with the German brewery Haase Brauerei and a number of local corporate and private individual investors/shareholders. This collaboration blended German brewing expertise with the unique characteristics of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, including its abundant spring water. The brewery began bottling Hairoun beer in June 1985. Haase Brauerei, which was later renamed Brauhaase International Management GmbH, maintained a strong presence providing full technical/managerial and commercial support, and under their tutelage the brewery grew and quickly established a reputation for technical excellence and good quality products. In 2007 the Danish brewery Royal Unibrew acquired controlling interest in the St Vincent Brewery Limited, and was in control until around 2009/2010 when it sold its shares to Cerveceria Nacional Dominicana (CND), the primary beer producer in the Dominican Republic. By 2012 Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev), a multinational and the worlds largest brewer and also owners of global favourites Budweiser and Corona beers, acquired a controlling stake in CND, meaning that as of that date, Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev) became the principal shareholder and effective owner of the St. Vincent Brewery. The musical chairs surrounding the ownership of the St. Vincent Brewery Ltd., a major contributor to the GDP of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, continues well into 2025 as is evident with the recent takeover by KOSCAB. A trained and friendly staff is ready to serve the Canouan community with their money transfer needs. The Vincent and the Grenadines Postal Corporations (SVGPC) MoneyGram Money Transfer Service operation in Canouan has been expanded. The expanded service, which became operational on July 31, 2025, is available at the Postal facility located in the Canouan Administrative Complex. According to a release from the Postal Corporation, "the new service will enhance the existing traditional products which are currently offered at the Postal facility, by facilitating inter-island, regional and international money transfers to visitors and residents. The Corporation has also advised that the freight forwarding US Mail box service will also be available in Canouan. According to Mrs. Jacqueline Adams Ollivierre, Director of Postal Services: "SVG Post continues to diversify to align with the changing demands of our customers. Many new products and services are offered at its head office in Kingstown and at the twenty-two district post offices, that complement the existing traditional letter mail and Parcel Post products. The Money/Gram Money Transfer service is now offered at the Postal Corporations outlets in Kingstown, Georgetown, Mesopotamia, Calliaqua, Layou, Barrouallie, Chateaubelair, Bequia, Canouan and Union Island. In addition to this service the, Corporation also offers a US Mail Box freight forwarding service, and Utility Bill Payments, US and Canadian Visa application and Lotto sales services. The Jaden Sun on fire at the Grenadines Wharf on Thursday morning. (Photo Source: Donald De Riggs) Just around 8 am on Thursday, August 07, 2025, billows of thick black smoke erupted from the port (left) stern (rear) area of the Jaden Sun fast ferry, while it was docked at the Grenadines wharf. The fast ferry, owned and operated by Captain Elvis Gooding, was partially gutted by the flames causing damage to the entire passenger seating area. Speaking briefly with Captain Gooding when asked how the fire began, he said that he had no idea what could have caused the fire as he was not on board when it started. He preferred not to speculate. Preliminary observations revealed that the fire started somewhere in the left rear section of the vessel, as that was the first part that showed intense damage. Captain Gooding confirmed that there was no damage to the engine room and that the generators were actually running and had to be turned off after the fire started. The officers attached to the Fire Department arrived on the scene in quick time and took over from the crew, who had tried in vain to control the fire with on board fire extinguishers. The response of the crew and the quick action of the fire department officers prevented the fire from destroying the vessel. The Coast Guard vessel Hugh Mulzac was also deployed just in case the fire got out of control and the vessel needed to be removed from the wharf. Traffic in and out of the Kingstown port, the Grenadines wharf and uptown areas was disrupted for a while, to allow fire tenders access to the scene of the fire for the general safety of citizens. An investigation will be mounted into the cause of the fire and the extent of the damage will be fully assessed. Residents of and travelers to and from the Southern Grenadines in particular, and who rely on the service of the Jaden Sun will no doubt miss the quick turn around provided by the fast ferry. In the immediate aftermath of hurricane Beryl last year, Jaden Sun was among the main carriers for workers, residents and first responders to/from the Southern Grenadines, while the Gem Star and Southern Grenadines Express moved the heavier cargo and relief supplies. The Jaden Sun is a one hundred and five (105) foot long, jet propelled, twin hulled High-Speed Craft with a maximum speed of 34 knots and a capacity of 218 passengers. Nicole Theriot, U.S. Ambassador to Guyana, told the media that the US has no interest in interfering in Guyanas elections. The United States has firmly denied accusations that it is attempting to influence the outcome of Guyanas upcoming general and regional elections, scheduled for September 1. The clarification comes amid ongoing controversy surrounding the candidacy of billionaire businessman Azruddin Mohamed, leader of the We Invest in Nationhood (WIN) party. Mohamed is one of four presidential contenders, alongside incumbent President Irfaan Ali of the Peoples Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C), Aubrey Norton of A Partnership for National Unity (APNU), and Nigel Hughes of the Alliance for Change (AFC). In June 2024, Mohamed was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Departments Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for allegedly evading over US$50 million in taxes owed to the Guyanese government. In response to criticisms that Washington is targeting Mohamed to influence the elections, U.S. Ambassador to Guyana Nicole Theriot told reporters that the U.S. has "absolutely no interest in interfering in the electoral process. "I have no interest or intention of interfering in the government of Guyanas elections. This is a sovereign country. You run your elections as you see fit, Theriot said. "I was asked the question, I gave the facts, as I understand them as they are published on our Department of Treasury website. She added that her previous comments regarding the implications of electing an OFAC-sanctioned individual were factual, not political. "When you see an OFAC-sanctioned individual become an official within a government, it sends concerns through the private sector in the United States. They sometimes look to de-risk or to even cut ties with the country. Mohamed, for his part, has dismissed the sanctions as politically motivated and reiterated that his candidacy reflects the will of the Guyanese people. Since entering politics, several commercial banks in Guyana have closed the accounts of individuals associated with Mohameds WIN party. President Ali has acknowledged the issue, stating recently that "more young people will receive letters of closures of their accounts from other banks, but denied any government involvement. Ambassador Theriot also distanced the U.S. from the actions taken by local banks. "The decision by the banks here was entirely independent. We were not consulted, we were not asked. The OFAC sanctions are for the U.S. They pertain solely to what happens in the United States and business being done in the United States. She noted that while local banks may have communicated with their U.S. correspondent institutions, "we have no opinion on the matter. Banks here make their own decisions. You have reached a premium content area of Transitions. To read this entire article please login if you are already a Transitions subscriber. Not a subscriber? Subscribe today for access to: Full access to the website, including premium articles videos, country reports and searchable archives (containing over 25,000 articles). THE week saw 18,038,406 shares traded on the First Tier Market, an increase of 636.87% on the previous weeks total of 2,447,969 shares crossing the floor. The value of the shares traded was up 272.12% to $76,633,818.45 from the previous weeks value of $20,593,956.82. Massy Holdings Ltd (MASSY) was the volume leader for the week with 96.77% of the market activity or 17,455,994 shares traded, followed by Angostura Holdings Ltd (AHL) with 0.99% of the market activity or 177,759 shares traded. SIXTY-YEAR-OLD David Greeves died after he attempted to save his home which caught fire whil INDIA is saying in no uncertain terms that it is independent in the fullest sense of the wor 60 Minutes wins defamation case This case was one of the first tests of a public interest defence for reporting. Nine has won a high profile defamation case brought against it by Orthopaedic surgeon Dr Munjed Al Muderis. Al Muderis had sued 60 Minutes following a story by Tom Steinfort, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age over a series of reports in September 2022 he claims ruined his reputation and set back the field of prosthetic limbs by 20 years. Nine defended the claims as true or otherwise protected as journalism in the public interest. I accept the evidence of the journalists that they each held a subjective belief that the publications were in the public interest, Justice Wendy Abraham said in handing down her verdict. The positive media coverage his practice had enjoyed needed correcting, and that the investigation revealed another side of his practice. This case was one of the first tests of a public interest defence for reporting. A Nine spokesperson said: Nines victory today on the basis of public interest is a significant moment in Australian defamation case law. We will always stand behind our journalism. Al Muderis was previously profiled by 60 Minutes in 2018. He has also featured on Australian Story, Andrew Denton: Interview, Inside Story, Anhs Brush with Fame, Foreign Correspondent, Insight, and SBS documentaries The Surgeon and the Soldier and First Day. Axed: FBoy Island Abbie Chatfield dating series ends at two seasons. Noisy dating series FBoy Island, hosted by Abbie Chatfield, is not returning for a third season. Over two wild and entertaining seasons, FBoy Island flipped traditional dating formats on its head, and amongst all of the jokes, laughter and questionable behaviour the show challenged gender dynamics and encouraged men to be accountable for their bad behaviour, a spokesperson told Mumbrella. We thank our production partners at Warner Bros, our host Abbie Chatfield, and our contestants FBoys and all for an incredible two seasons on Binge. During the shows two season run Chatfield pushed back on criticism of the show, arguing it flipped the power in relationships to the shows single women. An Ad Standards panel also cleared Foxtel of an ad on Free to Air with Foxtel saying, There is a 0.5-1 second cut where a female clothed in a blue, long-sleeved dress has a male contestant grind against her while she is laughing (there is no tongue licking, and the shot, which is a very short one, is not a close-up). This is in the context of a talent show game from the show itself, and reflects the comedic, light-hearted nature of the scene. The Ad Standards panel ruled the ad would have been possible for children to have seen the advert if they were watching BVOD services with a family account. Foxtel will hold its 2026 Upfronts on September 11. Report: UK pursues 5 year site deal for Im a Celebrity Producers in discussion with local council to extend access to Murwillumbah NSW location. British Reality TV producers are reportedly trying to lock down the Australian site for Im a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here for 5 years. The location, in Murwillumbah NSW, has been used since 2003 -save for pandemic impacted seasons in 2020 / 2021. It has also been used by Germany, one US season, and the Australian series in 2021. But producers are seeking to expand upon a 3 year agreement to one of 5 years which requires approval by Tweed Shire Council. They will need to seek permission again we cant give open-ended filming permissions to anyone, a representative reportedly said. The 25th series, hosted by Ant & Dec, is slated to air this Spring, but ITV has yet to officially announce the full roster of celebrity participants. Source: Wales Online Vale: David Dale Veteran journalist, who wrote a must-read television column for the Sydney Morning Herald, has died. Veteran journalist David Dale, who wrote a must-read television column for the Sydney Morning Herald, has died, aged 77. The Sydney Morning Herald reports he died at Chris OBriens Lifehouse, following illness. Born in 1948 in Sydney he graduated in psychology at University of Sydney before taking up a Herald cadetship. He did was a political reporter on The Australian but returned to Fairfax where he worked on the National Times and The Sun-Herald before rejoining his old masthead in 1981. His daily column Stay In Touch mixed fact, fiction, satire, gossip and humour, leading to New York as the Heralds correspondent and then the editorship of Kerry Packers Bulletin magazine. But Packer did not welcome his Bulletin cover story Australias 100 most appalling people, which drove up circulation, because many were Packers friends. Later at SMH he penned culture column The Tribal Mind which religiously dissected television ratings and trends, becoming a must-read for industry and television fans alike as well as nearly 20 books on travel and food. He also worked as a broadcaster for ABC radio and 2GB Sydney and became a journalism lecturer at the University of Technology, Sydney and the University of NSW. Richard Glover, whodid a weekly segment on his breakfast show as Mr Magazines also featured Dale as a TV critic on his ABC Drive show. He told TV Tonight, David was one of Australias greatest wits absolutely in the tradition of Clive James or Barry Humphries. He was brilliant at popping pomposity skewering those from the top end of town, and others who might have tickets on themselves. He had a lovely writing style, on display particularly in the Stay In Touch column, in which had would take the sort of tiny, odd stories that others might throw in the bin, and turn them into sparkling, hilarious prose. Who can forget, for instance, his habit of reporting news from New Zealand while using a Kiwi accent. Later he saved The Bulletin, before being punished by Kerry Packer for doing just what hed been hired to do. When he finally came to radio, he took to it instantly creating an enormous sense of fun and listener connection on the ABC Sydney breakfast show. He was a great person to share food with, always knowledgeable but with a generous eye and a delight in the people whod brought such terrific food to Australia. It was David who first taught me that, when three or four people are dinning, you must always share the dishes. That way you have the chance to taste more of what the kitchen could do. Which is merely showing respect to the chef. Everyone who knew him, will miss him so much. Debi Enker, from The Age Green Guide said, David Dale was a distinctive and valuable cultural commentator: witty and perceptive, he reliably offered a fresh take on well-trodden terrain. Victoria Buchan, Nines former Director of Communications also recalls, I was lucky enough to learn and discover the joys of Italian food and the long lunch with David in the 1980s. Memories of his passion, joy and endless ability to dissect a dish, construct a menu and entertain still bring a smile to me. I treasure his cookbook from Pulchinella and will make a favorite dish to share in his honor this weekend. David was a journalist I admired and respected he inspired so many to write critically and with humour a trailblazer for many who followed. Journalist and former TV Week Editor John Burfitt said, David Dale was one of the reasons I went into journalism as his style, wit and talent in his Stay in Touch column in the SMH throughout the 1980s was essential reading and made a huge impression on me when considering a future in the media. Reading his work always made me think, I want to write like that. He showed the way lifestyle and popular culture and political journalism could all clash together in the most brilliant and hilarious way. Five years ago, I worked with David when we were both teaching journalism at the UNSW in Sydney and I was so in awe of the great man, and always wanted to tell him what an impact he had on me but never did as I didnt want to come across as a fanboy. But I was. I do remember thinking of his students, Those kids have no idea how lucky they are to be taught by a man as talented and great as that.' .I think I only met DD once, but loved to read The Tribal Mind. A great connoisseur of all things televisual. Farewell. Updated. Authorities in Pakistan have suspended cellular and mobile internet services for three weeks in the restive province of Balochistan in a bid to contain a raging insurgency. The order came a day after a suicide attack on a paramilitary convoy in the Kech district killed at least three personnel and injured many more. Separatist insurgents demanding a larger share of profits from the resources of the mineral-rich province have stepped up attacks in recent months on the military, which has retaliated with an intelligence-based offensive. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The government said the services would be suspended until the end of the month, Reuters reported. The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority said that mobile internet had been blocked in Kohlu, Chaman, Qila Abdullah, Pishin, Loralai, Ziarat, Qila Saifullah, Nushki, and Harnai. The service has been suspended because they use it for coordination and sharing information," provincial government spokesperson Shahid Rind said on Friday, referring to the insurgents. This weeks attack was claimed by the outlawed Baloch Liberation Army, the strongest of the insurgent groups deemed responsible for the killings of almost 100 people in Balochistan in 2024. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement In March, the group blew up a railway track and took more than 400 train passengers hostage in an attack that left 31 people dead, including 23 soldiers. Authorities say there are 8.5 million cell phone subscribers in Balochistan. Pakistan's largest province by size borders Afghanistan and Iran, but it is thinly populated, accounting for just 15 million of the national population of 240 million. The suspension follows last months ban on road travel to Iran. Authorities had cited security threats to impose that ban. Insurgency has roiled Balochistan for decades. The insurgents primarily attack the Pakistani military or Chinese nationals and their interests. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement The province is home to the Gwadar Port, built by China as part of a 48bn investment in Pakistan under the Belt and Road programme. Pakistan accuses rival India of funding and backing the insurgents in a bid to stoke instability as Islamabad seeks international investments in the region, a charge New Delhi denies. In May, President Faure Gnassingbe of Togo stepped down from his post. Since then, Jean-Lucien Savi de Tove has been president but Gnassingbe has not relinquished power. Instead, he is now president of the Council of Ministers, a new body created following a constitutional amendment. Most of Gnassingbe's previous presidential powers have been transferred to his new position, leaving President de Tove serving as a ceremonial head of state. The opposition and civil rights activists have called it a "constitutional coup" because Gnassingbe's new position is not elected, but appointed by the strongest faction in parliament. Gnassingbe's UNIR party (Union for the Republic) has a comfortable majority there. There are no term limits, and Gnassingbe could rule indefinitely without ever having to stand for direct election again. Togolese 'fed up' with Gnassingbe family dynasty "That is really the biggest problem because the recent riot that happened in the country was not just about the arrest of the people, it was simply because people are fed up with this family which is controlling the country for more than 50 years now," Pape Ibrahima Kane, director of the Open Society Initiative for West Africa in Dakar, told DW. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Kane said the Gnassingbe family wields control over all aspects of Togo's governance structures, including the parliament. The Togolese government has disregarded the African Charter on Democracy, Elections and Governance, Kane added. The charter, signed off by the African Union in 2007, came into effect in 2012. The document says member states should aim, through regular, free and fair elections, to legitimize representative government and democratic transfers of power. However, the charter has so far had no impact on the balance of power in Togo, where the Gnassingbe family has ruled the country for 58 years. Faure Gnassingbe took power in 2005 from his father, Gnassingbe Eyadema, who had ruled for almost four decades. With this latest move, he has further consolidated power. "This is undoubtedly a terrible development for the Togolese people," Fredson Guilengue of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation in Johannesburg, told DW. Are African leaders tricking the electorate? Observers fear Gnassingbe might just be the first African leader to use a constitutional amendment to cement power without having to answer to the electorate. "That fact that it will inspire other leaders to change the constitution in order to maintain themselves in power is a worrying truth," said Esso-Dong Divin Aymard Kongah, a Togolese human rights lawyer. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "This is a worrying trend regarding democracy, human rights and civic space, because all this is leading to a shrinking civic space where people are having less and less power to influence the way public affairs are being done," he told DW. Gnassingbe's political move is nothing new. Several other African leaders have sought to change their country's constitution to remain in power. In the Central African Republic, President Faustin Archange Touadera had the constitution amended so he could run for a third term in the election later this year. In January 2026, Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni, 80, will seek reelection for the seventh time, after he pushed for the removal of age limits for presidential candidates in 2017. Cameroon's 92-year-old President Paul Biya is aiming for an eighth term, at the end of which he would be 99 years old. Togolese security forces clashed with protesters in June AFP President Denis Sassou-Nguesso has ruled the Republic of Congo for 41 years. Ivory Coast heads to the polls in October 2025, where 83-year-old Alassane Ouattara has announced another election bid, after he too sought a constitutional amendment, which began in 2016. The world's longest-serving head of state is 83-year-old Teodoro Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea. Widely regarded by political analysts, international watchdogs and rights activists as a dictator, Nguema has been in office since 1979. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Systemic repression of the opposition in those countries has allowed their leaders to hold onto power. When younger generations demand political change, protests are violently crushed. In Togo, at least seven people were killed when demonstrators demanded the government's resignation over the constitutional amendment and a disputed local election. Human rights organizations have for years accused the Togolese state of repressing freedom of speech and gatherings. Sahel juntas: Togo's role model? Fredson Guilengue warned that events in Togo may have been inspired by the rise of the junta-led governments of the Sahel countries. Between 2020 and 2023, there were six military coups in West Africa, with the military rulers of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger choosing to work with Russia over former colonial power France. While the junta governments have not ruled out a return to civilian rule and democracy, efforts to establish a transition have not materialized, said Guilengue. For instance, in July, Mali's leader Assimi Goita gave himself a five-year leadership extension without the prospect of an election. Similar moves might be tempting for countries such as Uganda, Rwanda or Equatorial Guinea, Guilengue told DW. But he said the risk varies across the continent. A further threat to liberal democracy, he added, is the current global context, which has seen the erosion of democracy and multilateralism. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement "The world is becoming so divided, which might allow leaders to operate without major pressure when it comes to their undemocratic decisions," said Guilengue. Silja Frohlich contributed to this article, which was originally written in German. Correction, August 8, 2025: An earlier version of this article misspelled the name of Fredson Guilengue. DW apologizes for the error. Edited by: Chrispin Mwakideu Aboitiz Group is seeking opportunities to invest in Vietnams power projects. Photo:VGP Danel C. Aboitiz, chairman and CEO of Aboitiz Power, made the statement during a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Chi Dung on August 5. In addition to its expertise in coal power and experience in developing hydropower projects, the group is researching the application of AI to build maintenance systems and enhance the operational efficiency of power plants, Aboitiz said. DPM Dung emphasised that Vietnam is striving for rapid and sustainable economic growth, targeting double-digit growth to lay the foundation for achieving its two centennial goals. Consequently, the demand for electricity, particularly for emerging industries such as AI and big data, is significant. Vietnam is committed to ensuring energy development meets three key criteria: sufficient, clean, and stable power. In all circumstances, the power supply must be adequate to meet economic development needs, he said. To meet the growing electricity demand, Vietnam introduced the National Power Development Plan VIII, aiming for renewable energy sources to account for approximately 28-36 per cent of total capacity by 2030 and 74-75 per cent by 2050. Vietnam will continue to refine its legal framework, create a favourable legal corridor, and develop a synchronised, smart grid system to promote the implementation of large-scale, high-impact power projects. Aboitiz will promptly engage in detailed discussions with the Ministry of Industry and Trade and relevant localities to identify suitable investments, particularly in wind power, solar power, and LNG. The group should explore investments in renewable energy power plant models integrated with data centres, and develop supporting industries to serve the groups projects in Vietnam, with an eye towards exporting to international markets, the DPM said. Established in 1988, Aboitiz Power currently operates nearly 50 power plants in the Philippines, with a total capacity of approximately 5,000 MW, including thermal power, hydropower, geothermal, wind, and solar power sources. In Vietnam, since 2014, the group has invested in the agricultural sector, operating animal feed production plants in various localities such as Ho Chi Minh City, Tay Ninh and Dong Thap provinces. British International Investment commits $50 million to VPBank British International Investment (BII), a UK development finance institution (DFI) and impact investor, on July 29 announced a $50 million loan to VPBank, supporting Vietnams green energy transition. Green finance the key to unlocking Vietnams energy future As Vietnam strengthens its commitment to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, the challenge is not whether a clean energy transition will occur, but how it will be financed. Green finance is no longer a niche concept. It is now the foundational mechanism required to mobilise the trillions of VND needed to reshape the national energy landscape. Zoe Energy Retains BNEF Tier 1 Battery Status Consistency is power Zoe holds its spot among the worlds energy storage elite. May 2025 marked an important milestone for Opella when it launched as a standalone company. This continues its legacy of more than 70 years in Vietnam, where sustainability has always been embedded in the way the company operates. The sustainability journey In Vietnam, Opella has its manufacturing site in Ho Chi Minh City and its only research and development (R&D) centre in Asia is also based here. This shows the companys long-term strong commitment to the country. The state-of-the-art facility in Saigon Hi-Tech Park stands as a regional benchmark. Certified by WHO-GMP, Australias TGA, and Koreas MFDS, the park is equipped with cutting-edge automation. This site serves not only Vietnamese consumers but also exports to 13 international markets, elevating the regions confidence in Vietnam as a hub for high-quality healthcare products. A defining moment in Opellas global sustainability journey came in June, when it became the first global consumer healthcare company to achieve B Corp Certification. This milestone is not just a badge of honour, it reflects a bold, multi-year transformation of its entire business model. It demonstrates that we hold ourselves accountable to the highest global standards for social, environmental, and ethical performance, and weve built that accountability into the very fabric of our leadership and decision-making, Valentina Belcheva, general manager of Vietnam and Cambodia, told VIR. Valentina Belcheva, general manager of Vietnam and Cambodia, Opella. Photo: Opella Opellas move is in alignment with responsible and sustainable investment trends among EU businesses. According to EuroCham, 66 per cent of European companies are actively engaged in bilateral trade and supply chains, bringing capital and technology to support a sustainable business ecosystem and Vietnams Net Zero 2050 goal. 2025 marks the fifth anniversary of the EUVietnam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA), a milestone in strengthening bilateral cooperation. A key highlight of Vietnam-EU relations is the shared commitment to sustainable development, with the EVFTA driving EU businesses to invest in responsible and sustainable sectors, clean technology, and circular economy initiatives. What truly sets it apart is how Opella localises these ambitions into real, measurable impacts on the ground. In Vietnam, the company has operationalised these global standards into meaningful, high-impact actions. Its manufacturing site, for example, runs entirely on 100 per cent renewable energy and has remained landfill-free since 2023, a testament to the companys commitment to responsible and sustainable operations. It is also transforming its operations to advance circularity, reduce single-use plastic, and increase recycled and reusable materials across the supply chain, while taking a holistic approach to water stewardship - reusing wastewater from cooling systems and harvesting rainwater to reduce its environmental impact. On the societal front, the company goes far beyond delivering quality products. It collaborates with the government and healthcare stakeholders to strengthen Vietnams healthcare system, promote self-care, and improve health literacy. It also champions community wellbeing, exemplified by initiatives like the School Hygiene Project, recognised by AmCham three years in a row for its outstanding contribution to public health and education. Opellas annual CSR initiatives - School Hygiene Project. Photo: Opella "These are not one-off projects; they are long-term environmental and social commitments embedded in our sustainable roadmap aligned with Vietnams green growth and our global planet mobilisation targets she added. By making sustainability tangible and accountable at every level, we are not only meeting expectations, we are helping raise the bar for what responsible business should look like. Vietnams healthcare sector is accelerating innovation and sustainable development to increase health accessibility to local people. And on this path, it needs support from stakeholders. Core pillars of sustainable care commitment Opellas sustainable care commitment serves as a guiding principle for innovation and product delivery, aligned with evolving consumer expectations and contributing to a fair, inclusive, and regenerative economy. Accordingly, it has focused R&D to deliver products that meet Vietnamese consumers rising demand for personal healthcare. By 2025, healthcare is projected to rank among the top three household spending categories (48 per cent). The company is also driving the shift towards an inclusive, fair, and circular economy by transforming its operations to support long-term sustainability. Our responsibility extends beyond product excellence. We are transforming the health journey through education, QR-enabled digital labelling, and engaging formats that make health information both accessible and actionable. We also invest in the ongoing development of healthcare professionals, empowering them to be champions of responsible self-care in their communities, said Belcheva. Opellas sustainability agenda is anchored in its Sustainable Care Pledge, a global, enterprise-wide framework that unifies its actions under two strategic pillars: healthy society and healthy planet. Healthy society reflects the business belief that everyone deserves the knowledge, tools, and confidence to take charge of their health. It drives large-scale awareness campaigns on disease prevention and responsible self-care, improves access to healthcare information through innovative digital tools, and supports the professional development of healthcare workers. Internally, it cultivates a purpose-driven culture, one that values inclusion, wellbeing, and equal opportunity for every employee. Healthy planet defines the companys responsibility to preserve and protect the environment. It is radically rethinking its operations, reducing emissions, accelerating the use of renewable energy, optimising water use, and moving towards circularity across the value chain. Sustainability is no longer an initiative, its how it does business. Just as critical is our approach to governance. We operate with uncompromising integrity, transparency, and compliance, ensuring that our sustainability commitments are embedded not only in strategy but also in execution, across every level of our organisation in Vietnam and beyond, Belcheva shared. Future vision With significant milestones, especially in sustainable development and consumer healthcare, Opella has been making meaningful contributions to Vietnams healthcare sector as a leading multinational self-care company with French heritage, with sustainability at the heart of its commitment. Looking forward, Belcheva shared that Opellas ambition is bold and unwavering: to become the best and most trusted fast-moving consumer healthcare company in and for Vietnam. To achieve this, sustainability is not a department, its a mindset, a commitment, and a competitive advantage. We are on track to achieve net-zero Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2027 at our Vietnam site, with projects already underway to expand renewable energy use, install rooftop solar, and further enhance water and waste systems, she shared. On the societal front, the firm will continue scaling initiatives that deliver real health impacts, from deepening its support for healthcare professionals, to expanding its hygiene, education, and access programmes in underserved communities. In awareness that achieving sustainable healthcare at scale requires collaboration, the business plans to continue building strong partnerships with government agencies, non-governmental organisations, and industry peers to advance Vietnams health and sustainability goals. Ultimately, we see our role not only as a provider of trusted self-care solutions, but as a catalyst for systemic change. We are committed to driving a model of growth that is inclusive, resilient, and sustainable, one that inspires others to act, not just follow, she noted. Opella achieves global certification, redefining leadership in self-care France-headquartered Opella announced on June 26 that it is the first global consumer healthcare company to achieve B Corp certification, after meeting the rigorous social and environmental standards set by B Lab, the nonprofit behind the certification. Empowering innovation for Vietnam's sustainable healthcare VIR plans to host a healthcare conference on September 25, expecting to attract about 200 participants, including policymakers, international organisations, senior experts, and those from the business community.